Characters from A Memoir of Lady Trent
Please note that the presence of some tropes may constitute a spoiler! You have been warned.
Isabella Camherst, Lady Trent
- Action Survivor: Isabella is far from an Action Girl, but finds herself in many dangerous situations. Book five even has Suhail note her knack for survival.
- All Girls Like Ponies: When forbidden from studying natural history (including dragons) as a teenager, she turns to horses since they're an acceptable pastime for young ladies.
- Artists Are Attractive: Isabella isn't bad looking but in the field she dresses for practicality not appearance. Interestingly her skill as an Artist makes her more attractive in Erigan culture, a West African inspired country.
- Brutal Honesty: Isabella has very little in the way of a brain-to-mouth filter, which causes her trouble more than a few times.
- Career Versus Man: Why she avoids marriage after Jacob's death. Eventually fully averted with her marriage to Suhail, in whom she finds a kindred spirit and whose contributions actively help her career.
- Cartwright Curse: She spends most of one book fearing that she's a carrier.
- Lady of Adventure: An intrepid adventurer-scientist in a similar vein to real-life examples such as Gertrude Bell.
- Maternally Challenged: Although Isabella loves her son, she freely admits that parenting isn't her best skill. She more or less leaves young Jake to his nursemaid until he's old enough to carry a conversation, though in the third book she takes him on the eponymous voyage around the world to make up for it.
- Missing Mom: To Jake in one book when she goes adventuring, and it comes back to haunt them briefly during the next book.
- Science Foils: Compared to her successors and contemporaries Isabella is an ill-educated autodidact, she calls her own education piecemeal more then once. However her intelligence, scientific rigor, and theoretical brilliance makes her stand out among them. Her acceptance to the philosophers colloquium took so long due to the institutions ingrained sexism, having published several acclaimed papers beforehand.
- Snobs Versus Slobs: Part of her early issues with Tom comes from their different social positions. She makes several assumptions that annoy Tom and damage their early friendship. However her gender keeps her from the Philosopher's colloquium while Tom's let in fairly quickly.
- Spirited Young Lady: Isabella Hendemore is the only daughter of a Scirling nobleman, and is expected to focus on ladylike pursuits rather than her true passion, dragon biology. When forbidden from studying natural history (including dragons) as a teenager, she turns to horses since they're an acceptable pastime for young ladies. She eventually satisfies both her parents and herself when she marries Jacob Camherst, who is fully supportive of his wife's scientific career, and interested in dragons himself.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Played with in Isabella and her childhood friend Amanda Lewis - Isabella is sometimes dismissive of the more romantic and fashionable Amanda, but Amanda is also supportive of her friend's tomboy scheme to join a hunt.
- Traumatic Haircut: She's mortified when her hair is cut during an illness, although the resulting Boyish Short Hair helps save her later.
Jacob Camherst
Isabella's husband and a naturalist in his own right.- Disappeared Dad: He's gone long before his son is born.
- The Lost Lenore: To Isabella, who never stops mourning him even after she remarries.
- Understanding Boyfriend: Understood and encouraged his wife's love of dragons, and brought her on her first expedition. It's noted in the narration and later books how uncommon his attitude was for the time.
- Pair the Smart Ones: A major basis for his attraction to Issabella, first seeing her standing toe-to-toe with another Natural historian about the various dragons at the Kings Nature Preserve.
Thomas Wilker
Lord Hilford's protege, and Isabella's scientific partner for most of her adventures.- Confirmed Bachelor: Tom never shows any sign of romantic interest, he seems focused on his scientific career. A Gender inverted case of Career Versus Man perhaps.
- Fire-Forged Friends: He and Isabella didn't get along at first, but eventually become best friends through their mutual love of dragons.
- The Not-Love Interest: Isabella's friend and scientific partner. Since it's in the Victorian era, however, everyone assumes they're sleeping together and slut shames Isabella for it whenever she shows too much affection or goes anywhere unchaperoned with him.
- Penny Among Diamonds: Much is made of him being of, as Isabella states it, less than gentle birth, which makes advancement in his field difficult.
- Platonic Life-Partners: He and Isabella never think of each other romantically, but are close friends their entire lives.
- Prone to Sunburn: A Running Gag is Tom's skin becoming very red whenever he's exposed to the sun for too long, and wherever he goes, the locals nickname him some form of "red" or "red man".
- Science Foils: Tom had the benefit of a formal education and mentor, Earl Hilford, that gives him a through grounding in hard sciences. Hilford helped Tom get where he is so he has grounding in method right out the gate that Isabela lacks, unlike her Tom's birth was specifically low class and his career was hampered by this just like Isabella's Sex hampered her own.
- Snobs Versus Slobs: Part of his early issues with Isabella comes from their different social positions. It levels out at the first book but they settle into their real partnership after The Tropic of Serpents has them perform a cleansing ritual.
Suhail ibn Ramiz ibn Khalis al-Aritati
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Suhail researches Draconean ruins, and his first scene has him diving off a cliff. Short time after, he reveals that he's conducting his research in ruins occupied by a quetzalcoatl.
- Beard of Sorrow: He grows one in Within the Sanctuary of Wings when he thinks Isabella has died.
- Cunning Linguist: He speaks so many languages that when asked how many, he has to stop and think about it before answering.
- Patronymic: Standard for Akhian names. Ramiz is his father, Khalis is his grandfather, and the Aritat are his tribe.
- Science Hero's Babe Assistant: While a science hero himself, depending on what you think of archeology, and his intro below firmly establishes him as eye candy. But in Voyage of the Basilisk he is more of a facilitator of the plot than the driver himself, he even acts as a notetaker for some of Isabella's musing. Later books let him showcase his specialties more.
- Shirtless Scene: He's introduced this way in Voyage of the Basilisk after vigorous high dives off a cliff, and gets a few more as the book goes on.
Jake Camherst
Son of Jacob and Isabella. Later becomes an oceanographer when he grows up.- Dead Guy Junior: Jake is named after his deceased father.
- Follow in My Footsteps: Averted, despite Isabella's hope that Jake will take up hers and Jacob's passion for dragons, he turns out to be in love with the sea instead.
- Like Parent, Like Child: That said, he becomes a scientist himself when he's old enough, though an oceanographer rather than a dragon naturalist.
- Plucky Middie: He gains a love for the sea during the world voyage in the third book and serves as one of these to the captain as practice.
- Someone to Remember Him By: After Jacob is killed, Isabella finds out she's pregnant and names the baby after him.
Natalie Oscott
Lord Hilford's niece and a talented engineer. She travels to Eriga with Isabella and Tom in the second book.- Celibate Hero: The reason she shows up in The Tropic of Serpents is to get away from her stifling family and try some self determination on for size. Incredibly important to the plot and thanks to her Isabella is able to find the Cataract Stone.
- Confirmed Spinster: The author calls her this
and spends her entire life trying to make man fly. - Out of Focus: Her role is reduced in importance after the second book, she has her own career outside the main casts adventures though.
- Science Hero: A more traditional engineering one in a crowd of biologists, we hear about her further exploits in snatches now and then.
- Wrench Wench: An atypical older version, but nonetheless a great engineer who creates and maintains her own circle of lady inventors.
Andrew Hendemore
- Cool Big Bro: Isabella's older brother Andrew is the only one she has a close relationship with, and he's always been supportive of her and her chosen profession - in fact, him stealing Natural History of Dragons for her from their father is how she got into dragon naturalism in the first place. Isabella, in turn, seems to adore him.
- Field Promotion: Isabella was able to buy him a lieutenant's commission in the Scirling Army, and when his captain was killed he was promoted.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: He sabotages his own caeliger to keep his commanding officer from colonizing the Draconeans, something that could get him court-martialed at the very least.
Maxwell Oscott, Earl of Hilford
- Cool Old Guy: Financed Isabella's expedition even though she's a woman.
Audrey Camherst
Jake's daughter and Isabella's granddaughter, the protagonist of Turning Darkness Into Light.- Cunning Linguist: She's hired to translate a collection of Draconean tablets, and started studying the language when she was six.
Kudshayn
A priest and scholar, and Audrey's best friend. He works on the translation with her.- Face of a Thug: His Draconic Humanoid features are frightening to most people who have never met a Draconean before, but he's a friendly guy who only really gets angry when he or his friends and family are in danger.
- Patronymic: Draconeans use matronymics, so he's Kudshayn, son of Ahheke, daughter of Iztam.
Cora Fitzarthur
Lord Gleinleigh's niece and ward, she's assigned to be Audrey's assistant.- Friendless Background: Cora is very lonely at Stokesley, lacking kids her own age, though letters she sent to a friend from the school she attended before moving there imply she didn't have any real friends there either; nobody ever replied to her letters.
- Nephewism: She's been her uncle's ward since her parents died in a train accident when she was ten.
