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Located on the southern coast of the Reach, the city of Oldtown is the largest in Westeros and one of the largest in the known world, as well as a major trading hub. It is a sprawling urban moloch, prone to corruption and with infamously high crime rates. In fact, the situation has gotten so out of hand that gang leaders, self-appointed crime lords, largely control the city instead of House Hightower, who are nominally in charge.

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House Hightower

"We Light The Way"

—Words of House Hightower

The ruling house of Oldtown, House Hightower is among the principal bannermen of House Gardener of Highgarden, although they have a famously strained relationship with their overlords. Almost their equals in terms of power, the Hightower's still yearn for the old days, when they used to rule over Oldtown as kings. Many Hightowers have been ambitious and only reluctant to follow the orders of their Gardener kings. Under their rule, Oldtown became a massive sprawling hive and one of the most important locations in Westeros. Their current head is Manfred Hightower.

In General

Always Second Best: Many Hightowers feel this way about their relationship with House Gardener.
Big Fancy Castle: Their seat is the Hightower, known as the highest building in Westeros, rumoured to be even higher than the Wall.
Famous Ancestor: They have several, such as Peremore Hightower, who helped set the foundations of the Citadel, and Lymond Hightower, the Sea Lion, who repelled an iron born invasion and became first lord of Oldtown.
Lighthouse Point: Their seat also doubles as a lighthouse, to allow ships to find the harbour of Oldtown.
Vice City: The city they rule over has devolved into one under the rule of the current Lord Hightower, Manfred.

Lord Manfred Hightower

Lord Manfred Hightower:

Lord of the Hightower, Lord of the Port, Voice of Oldtown, Defender of the Citadel, Beacon of the South

The Lord of Oldtown at the time of the story. He is an elderly lord and though the head of a powerful house, he doesn't govern his city too well, leading to it getting partially controled by criminal gangs.

Authority in Name Only: Played with. Manfred has a lot of authority, being the most powerful lord of the Reach and second only to the king himself. However, his authority in Oldtown is minor at the best.
Idle Rich: Doesn't really do a lot, safe for living a luxurious life inside his tower.
I Have Many Names: See the impressive number of titles above, which far exceeds those of a common noble lord in Westeros.
Minor Major Character: He is the Lord of Oldtown, which makes him one of the most powerful noblemen in the story. However, he only made one small personal appearance in Chapter 6, during the masquerade at Lord Vyrwel's estate in the city.
Orcus on His Throne: As the head of the law in Oldtown, he is technically the villain from the Point-of-View of the criminal gangs. This includes the protagonist Jaron, who works for the Burned Man. Still, Manfred rarely leaves his tower and does little to personally stop anyone, leaving the defense of Oldtown in the hands of Maron Mullendore.
The Rival: Thre have been hints that he and Robert Raylan used to be bitter rivals in their past. Apparently, it started when Morna, Robert's sister, rejected Manfred's proposal.

Ser Arryk Bulwer

A knight, originating from House Bulwer of Blackcrown, who eventually took a position at the court of House Hightower, as the personal bodyguard of Lord Manfred Hightower.

Armor Is Useless: Completly averted. During the attempt on Manfred Hightower's life, only his armour prevented him from getting killed by the Alley Cats.
Face of a Thug: Despite being noted to look ugly and thuggish, he is a loyal and brave knight without many flaws.
Praetorian Guard: His role at the court of House Hightower is to be this.
The Quiet One: Arryk rarely speaks unless necessary, he prefers to observe.
Sherlock Scan: Finds out quite quickly that his old acquaintance Jarek is not supposed to be at the masquerade.

The City Guard

Ser Maron Mullendore

The commander of the city guard of Oldtown by the time of the story. Maron is a crude and hot-headed man, yet known for bravery and his strong convictions. Under his rule, the city guard was turned into a highly efficient task force, though he constanly wages war against the crimelords that have parts of the city under their control.

Alliterative Name: Maron Mullendore.
Almighty Janitor: For all his power, Maron is technically barely a nobleman himself. He comes from the cadet branch of a lesser noble house, his father was merely a cavalry officer among the Hightower forces. Therefore, his social standing is far lower than that of most other noblemen in the Reach. However, as the commander of the city guard of Oldtown, he is a highly powerful man regardless. His status as the crimelord Butterfly also means that he is perhaps one of the most powerful men in the Reach.
Ambiguous Situation: For a short while after being wounded by Harpy, his status was unclear and he was moved to the 'Unknown' section of the character list. A talk between the Sphynx and the Tom have since revealed that he survived.
Ambition Is Evil: His ambitions are what drive him to such extreme measures and acts of villainy. As a result, they are portrayed entirely in a negative light.
Anti-Villain: Of the Well-Intentioned Extremist category. Maron doesn't have much speaking in his favour, but he isn't a clear villain, mostly because of his goals and his standards.
Arch-Enemy: He tends to be this to anyone that gets into a fight with him. His most serious arch-enemies are the crimelords of Oldtown. Or, only the Burned Man, since he himself is Butterfly.
Bad Boss: Since he is both, the crimelord Butterfly and the commander of the city guard, he regularly sacrifices men on both sides to make it seem as if Butterfly is at war with him.
Beneath the Mask: Behind his crude facade, Maron is actually a highly intelligent man with big ambitions. He is also the crimelord Butterfly adding yet another layer behind his mask.
Big Bad: As the crimelord Butterfly, Maron is this to the Oldtown arc. All in all, his actions are the cause of a lot of bad things in the main storylines, which makes him the stories primary example of this trope.
Book Dumb: Even though parts of his persona is a result of Obfuscating Stupidity, there have been hints that Maron is not a particularly knowledgeable man when it comes to the classic fields, like history or science. However, he is a skilled and capable man, a tactician and commander.
Broken Pedestal: Mern Gardener is this to him. He has once admired the man and fought in the war against the Storm King for him. However, Mern's surrendering, even after Mullendore suffered near-crippling wounds for him, has crushed his view on the king and made him see the man as weak and a failure.
Brutal Honesty: Maron honestly doesn't seem to be bothered with hurting anyone's feelings. He never minces his words, no matter how insensitive he might appear with it. This is particularly clear in the way he treats Lucas, when he describes what Butterfly would do to his girlfriend if he ever catches them.
But for Me, It Was Tuesday: As it turns out he honestly doesn't remember how many he killed and whom. This strongly contrasts him with Harpy, who remembers all she lost by his hands and it only serves to make her more angry.
Catchphrase: "All will be well" is his. It used to be said by his father and he has made it his mantra. The fact that some of the Solvers say this phrase as well is a clue that he is secretly their leader.
The Chessmaster: He is behind most of the major schemes in Oldtown, playing both, the city guard and the Solvers against each other, while convincing his enemies that he and Butterfly are two completely different persons. He does all of this with such a subtlety that no one even suspects him up until it is too late.
Consummate Liar: As seen above, he is such a skilled liar that absolutely no one even suspects him. Safe for the more paranoid characters, he can win anyone's trust and even those that don't trust him only do so as a matter of principle and have no suspicions against him being the crimelord Butterfly.
Dark Secret: His entire identity as Butterfly is one big dark secret.
Dirty Old Man: Maron has a taste for younger women, despite being in his fifties. It is so prominent that even his own guards are unsettled by it, as evidenced by one man who warned Lucas to keep Lunett away from him.
Even Evil Has Standards: Despite his own brutal actions, he absolutely despises organized crime, or evil acts that are just commited for the sake of evil, without any higher goal in mind.
Evil All Along: The Chapter 4 finale reveals that he is the crimelord Butterfly, who has opposed the protagonists from the beginning of the story.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: At several points in the story, Maron has shown himself to be incapable of understanding selfless or outright self-sacrificing acts. This always comes back to bite him, as he fails to protect himself against Harpy's attack, leaving him crippled. Later again, he fails to understand that Richard is trying to stall him, inevitably resulting in the escape of Leonard and Kersea.
Evil Gloating: One of his flaws is his fondness of this trope. Once he has won, he just can't not rub it in the faces of those he has beaten. He usually shows enough restraint to only do it when he has the upper hand though.
Evil Redhead: His physically most distinctive feature is a head full with bright red hair.
Eye Scream: As a result of him underestimating Harpy's willingness to kill him, he receives a knife to the eye. It would have killed him if he wouldn't have moved his head in the right moment.
False Flag Operation: It eventually turns out that he has run one of these for years, constantly luring members of his own city guard into ambushes if they refuse his offer of joining the Solvers. This resulted in the death of dozens of guardsmen and helped with maintaining the illusion that he is at war with Butterfly.
False Friend:
- He is rather friendly in his interaction with Lucas in Chapter 4, to the point where the knight is fully willing to trust him. It only makes his inevitable betrayal all the worse.
- His interaction with Jaron is also jovial and he even gives him relationship advice with Harpy, which Jaron highly appreciates.
Fatal Flaw: His most prominent flaw is his tendency to belittle others. He sees himself, quite rightfully, as a master schemer and tactician, but he doesn't stop to consider that others can pose a threat to him.
Faux Affably Evil: Maron is introduced as a friendly, if somewhat crude-mannered man and some of his actions even after The Reveal come off as jovial and cheerful. However, he is The Unfettered and all of his friendliness is gone the moment someone stands in his way. In such a situation, he shows the real Maron Mullendore, a brutal, unrepentant murderer.
For the Evulz: While he tries to justify it as a case of Necessarily Evil, some of his actions are so cruel that they cross the line to this trope. They always advance his goals in some way, but are still not necessary. Torturing and raping Lunett is only the most serious example of this.
Hoist by His Own Petard: His Fatal Flaw comes to bite him in the back in the Chapter 6 finale. Not only does he underestimate Harpy, he also decides to taunt her, which enrages her to the point where she willingly risks her life to take him out.
Hypocrite: For all his talk about moral superiority, he is actually this and a serious example of it. He wishes to stop the criminals in Oldtown, but employs methods that are worse than anything they have ever done. Many of the innocent citizens he seeks to protect have suffered from his men on top of all that.
Jerkass: Even before The Reveal, Maron is hardly a pleasant person. Perhaps a bit jovial, but still with no manners and a very crude sense of humour. The reveal that he is Butterfly puts him way beyond Jerkass status and makes him a clear villain, on top of all his already unlikable qualities.
Jerkass Has a Point: A jerk he might be, but he is vry much justified with his belief that the city of Oldtown won't have a future with the rival crimelords warring against each other. He also gave Lucas a lot of chances to work with him before making his move.
Kick the Dog: Not counting his usual villainous moments, which generally kick the dog quite seriously on their own, his murder of Lunett deserves special mention. He mutilates her and rapes her more than once before Lucas even arrives, which only serves to break her. Afterwards, he brutally blinds her on one eye and after Lucas gives in, cuts out her other one before killing her. Even in a story in which he does something horrible in every chapter, this act stands out.
Knight Templar: In his mind, Maron is a good guy, a hero and the only one who genuinely cares for the future of the city. In reality, he is a brutal murderer who doesn't have any moral qualms when it comes to achieving his goals.
Light Is Not Good: The colours of House Mullendore are white and orange, though Maron is among the most villainous characters in the entire story.
Morality Pet: Surprisingly, even he has one. It is Briar Catelins, Kersea's little sister, whom he treats with genuine care, up to the point where the girl is genuinely fond of him.
Necessarily Evil: He sees his own actions as this, though it is very much a case of YMMV how correct he actually is with this assumption.
Obfuscating Stupidity: He is a bit Book Dumb, but far from stupid. Nonetheless, he likes to pretend to be far less educated than he is, up to the point where he pretends to be illiterate, to give his enemies a seeming advantage over him and a false sense of security.
Offing the Offspring: His orders to bring Dairon to him explicitly included to bring him alive and unharmed. However, during the fight, one of his men accidentally wounded the boy mortally, which makes Maron indirectly responsible for his death. Not that he cares though.
Pet the Dog:
- His treatmnt of Briar Catelins plays this straight. He is genuinely nice to the girl, unlike anything he has displayed before and she is genuinely fond of him.
- In an odd variation, he goes out of his way to give Lucas chances to work with him and only makes his move after it became clear that he is never going to get the answers he hopes for otherwise.
Pyrrhic Victory: His situation at the end of Chapter 6 is a classical example of this. He has succeeded in defeating his last and greatest enemy, but in the process, said enemies adopted daughter crippled him and exposed his secret to the general public. While she had no evidence for her claims, she knew perfectly well that a rumour will suffice to ruin his reputation, effectively making his victory moot.
Rags to Riches: Rags might stretch it a little bit, but he was born as a lowly nobleman, part of a cadet branch of the main line of House Mullendore, with no hopes of ever inheriting his families ancestral seat at Uplands. Through hard work, he eventually became a knight, a war-hero and the commander of the city guard of Oldtown.
The Unfettered: There is absolutely no line he is not willing to cross to achieve his goals. There might be some things he is hesitating to do, but he's never stepping back on his goals, even if it means to kick the dog.
Walking Spoiler: Almost every trope of his gives away the big spoiler that he is the crimelord Butterfly and the main villain of the story.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Emphasis on the extreme part, but Maron's goals as Butterfly are genuinely good. He wishes to end the street war in Oldtown and organized crime in general, so that the city could gain a chance at peace, where no one has to fear for their lives anymore as long as they obey the law. Until then however, he is drowning the streets with blood.
Would Hurt a Child: Would kill a child, to be precise. He has no problems with torturing and murdering Himani Sand to get the answers he wants and it has been outright stated that the other Solvers follow the same creed.
Xanatos Gambit: Maron is a master of this. Special mention goes to his master plan. He sends one of his men to impersonate him during a meeting with Harpy, the Burned Man's adopted daughter. If this decoy succeeds in capturing her, he has someone to force the Burned Man out of hiding, where he would be killed in a heartbeat. If the decoy fails, he can fake the death of Butterfly, therefore making his enemies careless. One way or the other, he would be in a situation where victory is the only option.

Ryder Harrington

A high-ranking captain in the city guard and Maron Mullendore's right-hand man. He is also the brother of Samuel Harrington, one of Butterfly's sellswords.

Affably Evil: Well-mannered, friendly, helpful, serial kinslayer.
Always Someone Better: He is this to Samuel. As children, he has already been the stronger and more skilled fighter and even when they meet again, many years later, Ryder still wipes the floor with his brother.
Ambiguously Evil: Ryder's side of the story, the murder of his family and everything is currently not know. So far, all that is known is Samuel's story. According to several people he interacts with on a regular base, Ryder is a friendly, well-meaning man, who is far from the monster Samuel paints him as.
Beneath the Mask: If Samuel's accusations are true, then Ryder must be truly murderous beneath his mask.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: As it turns out, the seemingly mild-mannered and fair guard captain is perfectly capable of murdering his entire family in what appears to be cold blood. In his talks to Lucas and Leonard, he comes off as perfectly reasonable, to the point where Samuel's accusations seem completely out-of-character for him.
Cain and Abel: He is the Cain to Samuel's Abel.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: If he is truly evil, then he at least is capable of feeling affection. He is genuine friends with Farris Flowers and seems to be very fond of Donna, one of the prostitutes at the Thousand Shades of Flowers.
Even Evil Has Standards: As amoral as he can be, he is disgusted by Haar attempting to rape Behara, and threatens to castrate him if he does it again.
Kick the Dog: His younger siblings have been completely incapable of defending themselves, yet he slaughtered them nonetheless.
Locked Out of the Loop: It has been confirmed by Mullendore himself that Ryder has no idea about his boss actually being the crimelord Butterfly.
Punch-Clock Villain: In Book 2, he begins to work for the Ghiscari slavers Abbas and Bakr, guarding them and their slaves on their way to Yunkai. He remains just as affable and friendly as ever and it is clear he is not working for Abbas out of any fondness for the man or out of any cruel intention, but simply because he needs a well-paid job while making his way east.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After his climactic confrontation with Samuel, Ryder decides that the situation in Oldtown has grown too heated even for him and he leaves for Essos. It likely saves his life when Hishi returns and starts to purge Oldtown from the Solvers and anyone closely associated with Maron Mullendore.
Retired Monster: It seems like this at least. Though a serial kinslayer and the source of Samuel's hatred for the past twenty years, he has settled down as a captain of the city guard and now lives a normal life as a well-respected citizen of Oldtown.
Self-Made Orphan: He murdered his parents and younger siblings (save for Samuel, who hasn't been home at the time), for reasons that are currently unknown.
True Companions: With Farris Flowers, his best friend.

Farris Flowers

Another captain of the city guard and a good friend of Ryder Harrington.

Alliterative Name: Farris Flowers
By-the-Book Cop: He follows the rules strictly, which sets him apart from other guardsmen, who either serve Butterfly or lean more towards the Cowboy Cop variety. That said, he is willing to make a tiny exception for Samuel Harrington on his quest to find Ryder.
The Cavalry: Towards the end of Book 1, he breaks off a fight between Ryder Harrington and his brother Samuel. Though he arrives slightly too late, he is still quick enough to take Samuel into custody.
Heroic Bastard: As his surname implies, he is a bastard. So far, he has also shown to be a caring and capable guardsman who is genuinely dedicated to make his city a better place.
Locked Out of the Loop: There have been no indications that he knows anything about his boss actually being the crimelord Butterfly.
Reasonable Authority Figure: By all accounts, Farris is a reasonable and well-meaning captain of the city guard.
True Companions: With Ryder Harrington, his best friend.
You Are in Command Now: At the end of Book 1, there is no other way but for him to become the new commander of the city guard, since every other candidate is either dead or has left the city.

The Criminal Underworld

The Burned Man and Associates

The Burned Man

Arkan Gorys, the Burned Man

Born as Arkan Gorys, the Burned Man is one of the crimelords of Oldtown and the most influential one at that. He has been heavily crippled as punishment by his former slave master and now has to use his wits to survive in the cutthroat world of Oldtown.

Affably Evil: If you see him as evil, the Burned Man is undeniably this, being a very affable and friendly man, who is capable of jovial talks with people he barely knows. His charisma makes him likeable in the eyes of Jaron and his sympathetic traits do the rest to paint him as this trope.
Ambiguously Evil: It's not entirely clear if the Burned Man is truly evil. A lot of points can be made for both sides.
An Arm and a Leg: When he is captured, his left hand is severed to send a message towards Harpy. It was the burned one, so he barely felt it, but it nonetheless brought Maron's point across.
Anti-Hero: Though an overall benevolent man, the Burned Man is nonetheless a crimelord, who is capable of a lot of brutality of forced to. He never commits a truly evil act if it isn't absolutely necessary though.
Anti-Villain: If you see him as a villain for being a criminal, he still deserves credit for caring about the lowest of the low in Oldtown's society, the ones no one else cares about. He employs children in his crimes, but cares highly for them at the same time, something that sets him apart from Butterfly.
Arch-Enemy: He is this to Butterfly and the only one who is even accepted as such by the man himself.
Because I'm Good At It: This is eventually revealed to be his sole reason for still being in Oldtown. He is long sick of the war going on there
Benevolent Boss: In stark contrast to Butterfly, he genuinely cares for the ones working for him, never gives up on any of them and makes sure they all have more or less stable lives. This is especially true for children.
Break Her Heart to Save Her: Realizing how dangerous Oldtown would become in the near future, he devises such a plan, in which he would send Harpy away from his side, a move that would obviously break her heart. With Jaron by her side, he was confident that she would never return, therefore being spared the worst Oldtown has to offer for her. Unfortunately, he comes up with this plan a little too late.
The Chessmaster: His plans are usually long, complex and foolproof, making him a textbook example of this trope.
Dark and Troubled Past: Once, the Burned Man was known as Arkan Gorys, a gambler from Lorath. He lived a common life and even had a small family. Unfortunately, he had debts with the wrong people. They killed his family to make a statement and sold him as a slave to the city of Yunkai, to pay for his debts. There, he ended up as a slave for the cruel Razdal zo Yunzak. It was also there where he met the young girl that would grow up to be Harpy, his adopted daughter. When she, a girl of five at the time, made a fatal mistake that ended with the death of Razdal's favourite son, he took the blame and received the punishment. Said punishment resulted in him being tied above four braziers, each below one of his limbs, to slowly burn them to the point where he was permanently crippled. Afterwards, he was thrown out to die. The only reason he is still alive is that Harpy saved him, by escaping from Razdal with enough coin to buy a passage to Westeros for both.
The Don: His role in the criminal underworld of Oldtown has strong vibes of this. His introductory scene even could have gotten straight out of the Godfather and he cultivates the image of a wealthy, tasteful criminal boss.
Evil Cripple: If you see him as evil, that is, but the Burned Man is at least a morally ambiguous and highly crippled man.
The Fagin: A rare sympathetic form of the trope, as the Burned Man genuinely wishes to give otherwise homeless street urchins a new perspective and a place in life. He still uses them for criminal purposes though.
Friend to All Children: By far his most redeeming trait is how much the Burned Man cares for the children of Oldtown. Not only Oldtown actually, as he even has the habit of buying child slaves from his contacts in Slaver's Bay, to free and employ them, giving them a better life than they ever would have had in Essos.
Genius Cripple: After being tortured by the Masters of Yunkai, the Burned Man is left unable to properly use his limbs. As a result, he had to use his intelligence to achieve his goals, proving that he is in fact extremely intelligent.
Guile Hero: Being a Genius Cripple, he is basically forced to use his wits instead of raw power. All things considered, he also qualifies as a hero, for using his intelligence to better the lives of Oldtown's lowest of the low.
If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: He almost quotes this trope word for word when he gives Jaron his blessing for his relationship with Harpy.
Mercy Kill: After getting captured by the Solvers, he is tortured to such a severe degree that moving him out of their dungeon is impossible. When Jaron and Harpy finally find him, they realize that they can't do anything for him anymore, aside from granting him a quick death, to spare him further torture.
Morality Pet: He fully admits that Harpy serves as one to him.
Neighbourhood-Friendly Gangsters: His entire organization is a group of these. They are criminals, very much so, but he and most of his men genuinely care for Oldtown and try to better the lives of its people.
Noble Demon: The Burned Man is well-intentioned, affable and honestly polite, even towards enemies. That doesn't change the fact that he is a criminal, who uses dishonourable tactics to win. He knows that he, at best, qualifies as an example of this trope, so he fully embraces it. If a villainous act is not absolutely necessary, the Burnd Man simply won't take it.
Non-Action Guy: Naturally, the severe burns he suffered at the hands of the masters have crippled him to the point where he is absolutely unabl to fight, or even to do most things on his own. Instead, he relies on his underlings to fight for him.
Papa Wolf: Towards Harpy. There is no one the Burned Man loves more than her. It gets to the point where he doesn't allow her to do anything that could put her into danger.
Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Apparently, he would have been this if not for his wounds. Jaron notices that he would have been a handsome man otherwise, though the gruesome burns on his limbs tarnish the effect quit seriously.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: To a slightly similar degree than Butterfly, but the Burned Man is still willing to use absolutely criminal tactics to achieve his goals, which often includes a willingness for violence, even if he ses it as a last resort.

Harpy

Harpy was born a slave and spent her early childhood in Yunkai, as a slave to Razdal zo Yunzak, before escaping together with the Burned Man, who acts as her father figure. She now serves as his handmaiden and confidante in his organization, actively working towards his goals.

Action Girl: Having grown up in Oldtown, Harpy is no stranger to combat and not afraid to fight herself. While not particularly skilled, she is fast, which is her main advantage in any fight. Over the course of the story, she is seen personally fighting at least three times, with the implication that it hasn't been her first fights in any way.
Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Initially. She grows out of it once she starts to trust Jaron a bit more.
Anti-Hero: At the least, Harpy has good intentions, but her flaws, particularly her anger and vengefulness prevent her from becoming a full hero. Over the course of the story, she shows several darker shades of herself, proving that she is a Pragmatic Hero at best.
The Atoner: Harpy is clearly shaken by what she did to the fake Butterfly in a moment of weakness. She spends a majority of the next two chapters trying to atone for her actions, as much as Butterfly deserved them. This culminates in her willingness to die to take out the real Butterfly, Maron Mullendore.
Beautiful Slave Girl: Played With. She used to be a slave girl, but was only a young child by the time she escaped. Eventually then, she grew up to be very beautiful.
Born into Slavery: Harpy was born as the daughter of a Lysene slave and a slave from Ghis, being raised as property to Razdal zo Yunzak. She didn't get to know freedom until she was five years old, which was where she escaped with the Burned Man.
Broken Bird: It's clear that years of emotional suffering so close to Butterfly have left a toll on Harpy, turning her from a formerly idealistic girl into a cynical young woman, who hides genuine feelings under a mask of snark. The events of the story do little to actually improve her situation.
But Not Too Foreign: Harpy is of Ghiscari and Andal descent, with her mother being a native slave from Slaver's Bay and her father being a slave from Lys. As a result, she has the physical features of a Ghiscari, save for oddly fair skin.
Dark and Troubled Past: Being born into slavery is basically a guarantee for this. However, Harpy takes it a step further, as seen in the Burned Man's entry. To this day, she personally blames herself for his condition and she knows that she isn't even entirely wrong with this assumption. Seeing countless friends dying in agonizingly brutal ways at the hands of Butterfly and the Solvers do the rest to turn her into a massive case of a Broken Bird.
Deadpan Snarker: After a slightly aloof beginning, Harpy quickly proves that she has her moments.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Though initially cold and distant, Harpy quickly grows to trust (and eventually love) Jaron. Her initial behaviour is likely very much a defense mechanism, to prevent getting close to someone who is going to die either way in the brutal street war in Oldtown.
Friend to All Children: Like her adopted father, Harpy shows a high fondness for the children of Oldtown.
Guile Heroine: Though Harpy knows how to fight, she is not a particularly strong physical combatant. As such, and considering that she lives in the dangerous city of Oldtown, she had to rely mostly on her wits and her ability to think quickly and to improvise correctly.
Happily Adopted: Harpy is considered to be the Burned Man's daughter in all but blood. She is incredibly fond of him, a feeling that is mutual, since she serves as his Morality Pet.
Heroic BSoD: She crosses it one big time after the Burned Man's death.
Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Her killing of Butterfly, especially with how brutal it has been, would have been a massive Kick the Dog moment or even a Moral Event Horizon if she would have killed any other character. However, Butterfly himself is not only responsible for a lot of emotional trauma she had to suffer, but also one of the most vile people in Oldtown, responsible for countless deaths or worse. While many, herself included, still consider her having gone too far, absolutely no one misses the man that actually suffered this death.
Mafia Princess: This is her role in the Burned Man's organization. It is partially subverted though, since she takes an active role at her adoptive father's side, managing the needs of the many people working for them, as well as showing signs of being trained as his designated leader.
My God, What Have I Done?: After realizing how horrifyngly brutal her murder of Butterfly was, she has such a reaction. While not feeling guilty for killing him, she feels nonetheless horrible for doing it in such an unnecessarily brutal way. It leads to her becoming The Atoner in the following chapter.
Neighbourhood-Friendly Gangsters: Much like her adopted father, Harpy cares for the city of Oldtown and for the ones living in it. Especially the street children of Oldtown know that she is always willing to help them.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Eventually, Harpy gets a chance to kill Butterfly and she gives in to it, delivering one of the stories most prominent examples of a Cruel and Unusual Death. In doing so, she deprives the Burned Man of a chance to interrogate the crimelord, which would have resulted in a chance to learn that he is not the real Butterfly, but a Fall Guy, installed by Maron Mullendore for exactly this situation. It gives him the opportunity to finish his plans, by luring the criminals of Oldtown out into the open and it results in the deaths of her adoptive father and most of her friends.
Revenge Before Reason: This is Harpy's biggest flaw. Years of suffering under Butterfly have turned her vengeful and bitter, especially towards him and she'd go very far to achieve her vengeance. Given the opportunity, she proves herself to be incapable of holding back.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Harpy was born without a name, being treated as an object by her cruel master. Razdal never cared to give her a name. Instead, she gained her current name as a term of affection by the Burned Man.
Opposites Attract: Harpy, the pragmatic Mafia Princess, slowly develops feelings for Jaron, a naive Knight In Shining Armour. She lampshades this trope and states it as one of the reasons she is crushing on him, since his morals and views are so charmingly strange in her eyes.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She outright states that this is one of the reasons she initially got attracted to Jaron. In Oldtown, there is a heavy lack of good men, which is why she is fascinated by him pretty early after their first meeting.
Ship Tease: From Chapter 3 onwards, she gets copious amounts of it with Jaron. It results in an unsurprising Relationship Upgrade in Chapter 5.
Stepford Snarker: Jaron quickly realizes that Harpy, though with a genuinly sarcastic attitude, uses a lot of her humour as a mask to avoid having to talk about genuine feelings.
Tsundere: Harpy shows signs of both types, though she is typically a Type B, sweet and friendly towards most people, but with a harsher, mocking side which she shows in her interactions with Jaron. It greatly decreases after their Relationship Upgrade though.
Violently Protective Girlfriend: After her Relationship Upgrade with Jaron, Harpy shows a fiercely protective, perhaps even downright possessive side of hers, which shines through even before. Whenever he gets into danger, most prominently during the warehouse fight in Chapter 5, Harpy is capable of reacting with extreme anger and violence in her attempts to help him.

Ser Jaron the Bastard*

Ser Jaron

Ser Jaron the Bastard

A young, inexperienced hedge knight, who started to travel through the world on his own after the death of his mentor. He is a bastard, but unlike many others, he fully embraces his status as such and his proud of his heritage. He is also one of the primary Point-of-View characters in the story.

Anti-Hero: After several chapters of character development, Jaron ends up as one, having started off as a Knight In Shining Armour.
Back-to-Back Badasses: He prominently forms such a team-up with Ayden Blackwell in the Chapter 6 finale.
Badass in Distress: Despite being quite a formidable fighter, three Solvers who took him by surprise are able to qound him heavily, up to the point where they would have surely killed him if not for Terroma.
Bling of War: As a reward for his loyal service and to ensure his safety, Harpy gifts him with a highly expensive and elaboretely crafted armour with extensive golden ornates on it.
Determinator: One of Jaron's stronger character traits is his determination to finish a goal he sets for himself. This overlaps with Heroic Resolve in a fight, where he refuses to go down. But even outside of a fight, his determination keeps him going even in situations that seem hopeless.
Disappeared Dad: Jaron never learned who his father was. His mother only told him that he was one of her customers and a lord, which Jaron believed her. Before her death, she never got to tell him more about it.
Fish out of Water: For Oldtown, where his naivety puts him into a lot of danger. Before arriving there, he had absolutely no experience with the reality of a huge city like this, or how to deal with members of a criminal underworld, who are not as easily put into the Black-and-White Morality has been taught about.
Glory Seeker: Jaron's primary motivation is to gain glory and fame, to prove that even he as a bastard is capable of great things. Arguably, he grows out of this mindset after a while, but a hint of his yearning for recognition remains.
Going Native: Eventually, he grows out of his more naive behaviour, partially compromising his honour in the process and becoming pragmatic enough to survive in Oldtown. He fully embraces the Oldtown lifestyle by the time he starts a relationship with Harpy.
Heroic Bastard: As his nickname implies, Jaron is a bastard and since his father never acknowledged him, he doesn't even have a bastard surname. He is also one of the more heroic and well-meaning characters in the story.
Heroic Resolve: In situations that seem particularly grim, Jaron just keeps going, way beyond his usual level of stamina and to the point of complete and utter exhaustion. He tends to get more angry and emotional in these situations and his sudden outburts of power, while not necessarily enough to defeat his enemy, is at least always enough to keep him going for quite a while.
Love Makes You Evil: Evil is quite a stretch and Jaron never goes beyond Pragmatic Hero levels of evilness, but all of his more morally questionable actions are motivated by his love for Harpy.
Kick The Son Of A Bitch: His refusal to stop Harpy from killing Butterfly might have been quite harsh, but there's no arguing that the man used to be a terrible racist and sexist, who fully earned the hatred people had for him. This makes Jaron's actions an example of this trope instead of being a Kick the Dog-moment.
Knight In Shining Armour: He started the story as a morally uptight and well-meaning knight, who took all of his vows seriously and yearned for adventure. Interestingly, by the time he got an actual shining armour, he already turned down a path that would lead him to becoming more of a Pragmatic Hero.
Made of Iron: Downplayed example, but Jaron seems to take quite a bit more punishment in a fight than many other characters. One of the early chapters sees him taking a crossbow bolt to the arm, which breaks it, but despite that, he continues to fight in the following chapters, despite his wound being barely healed. He makes it only worse by putting too much stress on the broken limb, but he still shows to be able to fight.
Naïve Newcomer: He starts off as this to the world of Westeros in general and the city of Oldtown in particular. Before the death of his mentor, he never went on a journey on his own and never had to deal with many of the hardships a lonely traveller has to suffer. It gets only worse in Oldtown, where his Wide-Eyed Idealist tendencies tend to bring quite some trouble for him at first.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He allows Harpy to kill Butterfly, in the attempt to grant her closure after years of suffering. This turns out to be a terrible mistake, when the man that seemed to be Butterfly ends up being revealed as a decoy. By killing him, Jaron lost a chance to gain valuable information. It also meant that the Burned Man and his associates walked right into a trap the real Butterfly lay for them, which ends in an ambush that results in half of the organization and the Burned Man himself being slaughtered by Butterfly's Solvers.
Odd Friendship: The naive Knight In Shining Armour Jaron forms one of these with the cocky sellsword Martin.
Opposites Attract: This trope is the cause of his attraction to Harpy and also the reason why she is quite willing to reciprocate his feelings. They couldn't be more different, especially in the way they grew up and in their morality, but it makes their bond all the stronger.
Pragmatic Hero: Plenty of Character Development is necessary for him to grow into this, but eventually, Jaron adopts a more pragmatic mindset, where he is willing to resort to trickery and dishonourable behaviour to ensure the survival of himself and his loved ones. Generally though, he still puts more emphasis on the hero part.
Sadistic Choice: The story in general features plenty of these, but Jaron seems to have an extraordinary amount of them in his storyline. Two examples would be his choice to allow Harpy to kill Butterfly or stop her and his later choice to Mercy Kill the Burned Man or let Harpy or Samuel do it.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: His storyline in a nutshell. It doesn't take him long to realize that the Burned Man is perhaps the least evil and least corrupt faction in Oldtown, despite being opposed to the law. As such, he joins him and his organization in their mission to defeat their far worse opponents.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After starting a relationship with Harpy, he realizes that he cares too much for her to let her die in Oldtown. For this, he devises a plan together with the Burned Man
Ship Tease: He has this going on with Harpy for quite a while, until their eventual Relationship Upgrade at the end of Chapter 5.
Son of a Whore: Quite literally. His mother, Janissa, was a whore and Jaron's father has been one of her clients. According to her, he has been a high lord, something Jaron fully believes and embraces.
Took a Level in Cynic: The suffering Jaron undergoes in Oldtown not only hardens him and makes him more pragmatic, it also shatters his beliefs as an idealist and turns him into a far more noticeable cynic, even if he still clings to his key morals.
Tragic Dream: Jaron has to learn the hard way that life is not like one of the stories he dreamt about. His attempts at being a noble hero in a vile and rotten city end just as well as you'd expect.
Vitriolic Best Buds: After surviving Tanner's Alley together, he forms one of these with Martin.
The Watson: As a newcomer to the situation in Oldtown, he is able to realistically ask questions that provide exposition about the differnt factions in the city for the readers, who know just as much as he does.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: At the very least, he starts at one. The longer he stays in Oldtown, the less wide-eyed he becomes, though he never gives up on his idealism completely.
Wrong Genre Savvy: He starts off believing that life is like the romantic tales he heard about as a child. Not only couldn't he be more wrong, the fact that his first exposure to the real world all on his own is his stay in Oldtown makes things only worse.
Younger Than They Look: Jaron has quite an impressive stubble for someone his age. Looking like a man in his mid-twenties, he actually is only eighteen years old.

Martin Wilshere

Martin is among the highest-ranking sellswords in the Burned Man's organization. Originally from Braavos, he moved to Westeros years ago and arrived in the city of Oldtown, where he started working for the Burned Man, eventually becoming one of his most trusted associates.

Anti-Hero: Despite the fact that he is portrayed as a likable and heroic man, he still serves a crimelord and is at best a Pragmatic Hero.
Big Brother Instinct: His feelings for Harpy are decidedly non-romantic, which makes them a part of this trope.
Big Damn Heroes: He pulls one in the Chapter 4 finale, when he and his men arrive at the warehouse just in time to save Jaron and Harpy from meeting their untimely fates at the hands of Butterfly.
Chivalrous Pervert: Martin is known for dropping lewd comments, even towards Harpy, whom he sees more as a little sister than anything else. This doesn't stop him from being quite the hero if necessary though.
Deadpan Snarker: Like most sellswords in Oldtown, Martin is no stranger to making snarky jokes. In his case, he rarely seems to say anything else, to the point where he comes off as completely unable to take things seriously.
Defiant to the End: Knowing that he has no chance to escape with his life, Martin decides to go down fighting, with the hopes that he will at least be able to cover his friends' escape.
Disappeared Dad: We never learn just what happened, but his father died years ago. Martin is quite fond of him, even keeping his ring as a memento, though he does not like to speak about it.
Heroic BSoD: He hits it after Keira's death.
Heroic Sacrifice: He decides to buy a wounded Jaron time to escape. To do this, he fights the Tom, even though he himself is already mortally wounded.
Ladykiller in Love: In his earlier years, Martin has been very much a ladykiller. However, this changed when he met Keira, whom he genuinely fell in love with an who reciprocated his feelings.
The Lancer: He starts off as having this role to Harpy, but eventually, he grows to becoming one for Jaron as well.
Mauve Shirt: For all the characterization he gets, Martin ends up as one, when he dies only four chapters after he gets first introuced. During this time, he has been quite important to the plot in Oldtown though.
Oh, Crap!: Having a history with the man, Martin has such a reaction whenever he encounters the Tom.
Pragmatic Hero: To a slightly lesser degree than most of the other sellswords in Oldtown, but Martin has no problem using violence even against allies to succeed at his missions. Despite that, he is one of the more heroic characters in Oldtown.
Pretty Boy: Martin is described as looking more like a pretty boy than a grown man.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After Keira's death, Martin basically loses it. He goes onto a rampage to take down the Tom, not taking his personal health into account. It ultimately gets him killed.
Vitriolic Best Buds: After bashing heads with him initially, when his sarcasm rubbed him off the wrong way, Martin formed a genuine friendship with Jaron. It doubles as an Odd Friendship.

Himani Sand

One of the children that work for the Burned Man. Himani is originally from Dorne, but was sold into slavery, until the Burned Man bought him and gave him his freedom. Ever since, he loyally worked for his organization.

The Artful Dodger: One of several kids who work as a thief for the Burned Man.
Cheerful Child: No matter the situation, Himani is cheerful, positive and energetic.
Cold-Blooded Torture: He suffers such a fate when he gets captured by the Alley Cats, who bring him to the Sphynx.
Deadpan Snarker: His humour is quite a prominent trait of his, especially when it comes to being snarky.
Death of a Child: He gets killed during the events of the Chapter 6 finale, making him the first child to be killed on-screen.
Made a Slave: He suffered this fate in his backstory. The new wife of his father had a heavy dislike for him and eventually arranged for him to be sold to slavers and brought to Slaver's Bay. He was supposed to undergo the training for an Unsullied, but fortunately for him, he was sold to the Burned Man instead, who freed him and gave him a new life.
Street Smart: Himani's main strength is how good he knows his way on the streets of Oldtown. He has contacts among the local beggars, knows which places to avoid or where to go for a good shortcut and his knowledge exceeds those of many adult characters in the story.
Street Urchin: He is outright referred as one at several points of the story.

Jarek

A sellsword and Oldtown native, who joined the Burned Man's group years ago, but who still takes on several freelance jobs as a sellsword.

Abhorrent Admirer: He clearly shows signs of being attracted to Keira. However, she is greatly disgusted at his more jerkish qualities and therefore has made it very clear that she's not into him.
Anti-Hero: So much that he barely qualifies as a hero at all. However, during the events of the story, he firmly fights on the side of the good guys. Nonetheless, he is a pragmatist and more than willing to Kick the Dog if necessary.
Deadpan Snarker: Like most of the sellswords in Oldtown, Jarek can be quite witty.
Fragile Speedster: His fighting style mostly relies on being faster than his opponent, to outmanuver them. Most of the time, this works very well for him. However, once someone actually manages to grab him, things tend to get messy pretty quickly.
Friend to All Children: One of his most redeeming traits is how friendly he is with children. He quickly becomes a friend to Ellena after being assigned to guard her ship and he is one of the few characters that treat Himani with nothing but kindness.
Jerkass: Usually, Jarek shows little nice traits. He is rude, coldly pragmatic and has very little patience. He doesn't even refrain from using slurs against Harpy, once he got the opinion that she would betray them.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: However, he does have a softer side, as shown in his interaction with Ellena.
Mauve Shirt: He only appeared in two chapters, where little of his backstory is revealed, before being killed off by the Moggy during the ambush at the end of Chapter 6.
Pragmatic Hero: Jarek is a very pragmatic person and so much of an Anti-Hero that he barely qualifies as a hero at all. However, he has some sort of loyalty to his employers at the least.
Your Head Asplode: After the Moggy gets ahold of him, their fight quickly ends with this trope.

Robb

One of the Burned Man's sellswords, Robb is a prime example of someone that has been broken by his life in a city as depraved as Oldtown. Once a proud warrior, he is now a shell of his former self, though still serving the Burned Man.

The Alcoholic: The brutal reality of Oldtown and getting constantly rejected by Harpy have taken a toll on him and he turned to the bottle for solace. This caused him to become a wreck, completely dependant on alcohol.
All Love Is Unrequited: He used to and somehow still has strong feelings for Harpy. However, she has made it clear that she is not interested in him at several points in the past, which he is quite bitter about.
Ambiguously Evil: During his time in the story, it remains a source of debate among the characters whom Robb is loyal to. Nominally a member of the (somewhat) heroic group of the Burned Man, he has also cultivated contacts with Butterfly's Solvers. Even his Heroic Sacrifice opens the question if he ever genuinely intended to betray Jaron and Harpy and only got doubts about this during the act, or if he truly never considered betraying them.
Anti-Hero: He barely qualifies as a hero at all, making him a Hero In Name Only even at the times he is on the heroes side.
Butt-Monkey: Robb is one of the biggest examples of this trope in the entire story. Two years ago, he used to be a handsome and charismatic sellsword. His unrequited feelings for Harpy turned him to alcoholism, which led to him losing control of his life. He gets zero respect from the other members of the Burned Man's group, up to the point where he is physically beaten and the girl he loves grows to downright hate him. Despite his claims of being loyal to them, nobody trusts him and the moment he gets a chance to prove himself, he is killed by Butterfly, becoming one of the characters with the shortest lifespan in the entire story.
Fake Defector: He claims that his role in the Burned Man's organization is to be this towards the Solvers. The Burned Man backs up his claims, but it remains unclear if Robb remained true to his objective or if he became an actual defector.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: One thing about Robb is that no one is exactly sure on whose side he is on. He is introduced when Jaron overhears a talk between him and the Tom, Butterfly's dragon, but later claims that it is part of a ruse. Later, he organizes a meeting between Butterfly, Jaron, himself and Harpy, during which he seemingly switches sides to Butterfly for good. He dies as a Face though, when pulling a Heroic Sacrifice while turning against Butterfly.
Heroic Sacrifice: Surprisingly for being such a massive Jerkass, Robb goes out as a hero. After deciding to turn against Butterfly for good, he takes on the man himself, in order to buy Jaron time to save Harpy, the girl they both love. This act of selflessness actually switches the way both, Jaron and Harpy, see him from there on.
Jerkass: Robb's most defining trait is that he is a massive example of this trope. During his time in the story, almost every single appearance of his involves him antagonizing Jaron, Harpy or Martin, even when he is clearly outmatched. It reaches levels where he almost kicks the dog in the way how far he goes with his douche behaviour.
Love Makes You Evil: Much like Jaron, Robb is in love with Harpy. In his case, he claims that he did some pretty bad things out of love to her. Her rejection also drove him to his current Jerkass behaviour. Of course, he is a highly Unreliable Narrator, so how much of his actions are truly Harpy's fault can only be guessed, especially since she tells a completely different story.
We Hardly Knew Ye: He only appears in a single chapter, during which he switches between being an uneasy ally or an ambiguous enemy, until he is killed by Butterfly during the events of the Chapter 4 finale.
Younger Than They Look: It's hard to imagine, but Robb is only two years older than Jaron, which would make him twenty years old. As a result of his destructive lifestyle, especially the excessive drinking, he has aged prematurely and looks at least ten years older than he truly is.

Ayden Blackwell

The newest addition to the Burned Man's group. Originally a freelancing sellsword, he reluctantly decided to take up work from the Burned Man during the events of the story, mostly for the payment, so that he can provide for his pregnant girlfriend Taria.

Back-to-Back Badasses: He briefly has such a scene with Jaron during the Chapter 6 finale, where they fight off a group of city guardsmen in that way. While they are heavily outnumbered, they both manage to survive.
Big Damn Heroes: Together with Martin Wilshere and Samantha Ducard, Ayden is one of several sellswords who arrive to save the day in the Chapter 4 finale. However, he isn't identified as being part of them until Chapter 5, where his involvement is confirmed,
Cold-Blooded Torture: After getting captured by Butterfly, he is subjected to some serious torture, which leaves him with painful wounds all over his chest and back.
Determinator: No matter what, Ayden will not break if it means that he can keep his family safe.
Family Man: Ayden is a dedicated family man and very much in love with his girlfriend, the singer Taria Templeton. At the time of the story, they even expect their first child together.
Heroic Sacrifice: He tries to pull one off in the Chapter 6 finale, when he lures away a number of guardsmen to cover the escape of his girlfriend and several others. While he survives, he fully expected to die.
Hidden Depths: A common sellsword at first glance, Ayden is revealed to be not only a loving Family Man, which in itself is a rarity in the cutthroat reality of Oldtown, but also a lot smarter than he initially seems.
Not Quite Dead: For a brief amount of time between Chapter 6 and 7, he was considered dead by his friends, after breaking free from the fight to lure away some of the guardsmen that would have otherwise overpowered the others. As it turns out, he has been captured and brought to the dungeons, though he is freed before anything truly bad could happen.
Put on a Bus: After helping Jaron out one last time in the first chapter of Book 2, he decides to stay behind with Taria and their soon-to-be-born baby instead of joining the knight's quest to save Harpy. However, he tells Jaron to seek out his estranged brother Arryn in Lys if he wishes to have another fighter on his side.
Sixth Ranger: To the Burned Man's organization as a whole. He only joins them during the final days of the street war in Oldtown, just as they plan on taking down Butterfly once and for all.
The Smart Guy: His intelligence an tactical understanding far exceeds those of common sellswords. The Burned Man himself took note of that and decided to make him part of his advisors pretty quickly.

Erik Inchfield

One of the common sellswords in service of the Burned Man. Erik wisely keeps his distance to the higher-ups in his organization, though he is far from content with his low position, always seeking ways to improve it.

Anti-Hero: A backstabbing, opportunistic and greedy man, yet nonetheless more or less heroic by Oldtown's standards.
Ascended Extra: In-Universe. He started off as a lowly member of the Burned Man's organization. However, after recent events claimed a lot of lives among his companions, the higher-ups are eventually forced to directly rely on his help and he gets to accompany Jaron an Harpy during an important mission.
Dude, Where's My Respect?: Erik repeatedly puts his life on the line to help Jaron out in Book 1. As such, he is understandably a bit pissed off that the reward he was promised for this no longer exists and even more disappointed that Jaron is so quick to dismiss his contributions.
In the Back: He kills Jaqoreo Kotos, one of the sellswords that wished to collaborate with Butterfly, in that way, saving the lives of Jaron and Harpy in the process and winning their trust.
Only in It for the Money: He never failes to point out that this is his sole motivation to help, since he hopes for extraproportionally huge rewards one the mision succeeds, knowing fully well that his employers are in no position to decline.
Pet the Dog: Even though he knows how dangerous it is, he joins the fight against Samuel Harrington, despite earlier reluctance. His intervention gives Jaron far more of a chance to win.
Pragmatic Hero: Opportunistic to a high degree, especially in a fight. Erik has no problem stabbing a companion in the back to gain an advantage, yet he is still more or less one of the heroes of the story.
Self-Made Orphan: His cousin Gerald claims that he killed his own mother, though the circumstances behind this haven't been revealed yet.
Sixth Ranger: For Jaron and Harpy, as he joins them only temporarily in Chapter 7, during their mission to free the Burned Man from Butterfly's dungeons.
Social Climber: Erik dreams of a rich, carefree life. Unfortunately for him, he is merely a lowly sellsword, though thanks to his pragmatism and ambition, he is slowly rising in the ranks. At the moment, he is working for Hishi, who is proving to be a far more benevolent and stable boss than the Burned Man has ever been, with chances to improve his standing in the future.

The Solvers

Butterfly

The leader of the Solvers. Butterfly appeared in the city of Oldtown years ago and quickly made a name for himself for his utter ruthlessness with which he fought against the other crimelords. His ultimate goal is to rid Oldtown of the influence of organized crime, so that the city can advance into a golden future.

An Arm and a Leg: Before his death, he loses his sword hand in his duel against Samantha.
Big Bad: Butterfly is the leader of the Solvers, one of Oldtown's big criminal gangs and through them quite likely the worst criminal in the entire city. His war against the more well-meaning Burned Man is a major story arc in Book 1 and directly affects a lot of the plot, making him (or rather, the actual Butterfly) one of the main villains of the entire story.
Cruel and Unusual Death: First he loses a hand and an eye, then he is slowly and viciously castrated by Harpy, before violently getting stabbed to death, a process that also claims his remaining eye. Finally, Harpy cuts his throat, killing him for good.
Decoy Leader: As it turns out the man posing as Butterfly is in no way the true leader of the Solvers. This (questionable) honour goes to none other than Maron Mullendore.
The Dreaded: For good reason, Butterfly is perhaps the most feared man in all of Oldtown.
Even Evil Has Standards: As little as they are in terms of standards, but Butterfly claims not to bring harm to law-abiding citizens. However, they more than often get in the crossfire during his fights, which he does not seem to particularly mind.
Fall Guy: The man that seems to be Butterfly is merely this to Maron Mullendore. His death gives Maron a chance to fake the death of Butterfly, to lure out his enemies, to kill them off and to put the Butterfly persona to rest at the same time.
From Nobody to Nightmare: While Butterfly's real identity is not know, it can be agreed upon that absolutely no one heard of him before he and his movement came to Oldtown. Except not really. The real Butterfly is Maron Mullendore, who has been an important figure in the city for decades before taking on the role of Butterfly.
Hate Sink: Word of God has been outright stated that nothing about this man was meant to be seen as likable in any way. The reason behind this was to make sure that the choice to kill him or spare him would be made harder than it otherwise would have been.
Hypocrite: Though Butterfly claims to have good intentions and to only stop the crime in Oldtown
I Have You Now, My Pretty: Once he actually gets his hands on Harpy, he makes it clear just what he intends to do with her. On top of that, he reportedly has a history of raping his female prisoners.
Jerkass: Perhaps the most foul-mouthed and hateful character in the entire story.
Karmic Death: Butterfly suffers one of the most horrible and painful deaths in the story, quite similar to the way he himself has killed countless of people. On top of that, he is killed by Harpy, whom he has constantly insulted and belittled for her heritage and allegiance.
Minor Major Character: He only appears in a single chapter, in three parts, even though he is among the most influential people in the city, whose offscreen actions drive a majority of the plot. Only that he isn't the real Butterfly, just one of his underlings, who poses as him to play the role of a Fall Guy.
Only Known by Their Nickname: It's Butterfly. We never learn about his real name and he goes to great lengths to keep his identity a secret. He also hides the fact that even his nickname is not his own. He's not Butterfly at all, just one of his underlings.
Politically Incorrect Villain: A lot of his screentime in his introductory scene is spent hurling racial and sexistic slurs towards Harpy, whom he hates with a particular passion. Many of these slurs are meant to insult her personally, but it shines through that he really believes in them to a worrying degree.
Walking Spoiler: Many of the tropes here give away the twist that this man is not the real Butterfly, but merely a high-ranking member of the Solvers who willingly poses as the leader himself to avoid attention for the true Butterfly.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: With special emphasis on the extremist part, but Butterfly genuinely wants to change Oldtown for the better, by destroying organized crime at all cost. He has long since crossed the line in his fight though and became at least as bad as those he fights though.
Would Hurt a Child: His entire organization is willing to even kill children if necessary and Butterfly has a particularly cruel habit of mutilating children who work for the Burned Man so much that their friends are only able to give them a Mercy Kill afterwards.

Samuel Harrington

The Fang of Shadows

One of Butterfly's top henchmen, Samuel Harrington is among the most influential of the Solvers, as well as one of the most well-known of them. He is a famous sellsword, feared for his skill with the sword.

Affably Evil: By far the most affable of the Solvers, capable of being genuinely polite to a degree that is way above the Faux Affably Evil tendencies of most others in his organization.
Anti-Villain: Of the Noble Demon variety. He eventually becomes an Anti-Hero after his Heel–Face Turn.
Cain and Abel: He and his brother Ryder have such a rivalry going on. Samuel sees himself as the Abel, but how much he truly is remains up for intrpretation.
Co-Dragons: Together with the Tom, Samuel serves as one of Butterfly's top enforcers.
Combat Pragmatist: This trope is one of the reasons why Samuel is such a dangerous fighter. He is pragmatic and cold-hearted, up to the point where he tricks his opponents and uses otherwise dishonourable and very painful attacks, literally anything to gain the upper hand.
Dark and Troubled Past: Eventually, he opens up and reveals the reason for him joining the Solvers. He wishes to gain information on his brother, who is supposed to hide somewhere in the city. Said brother, Ryder, is responsible for murdering his entire family, his parents, his older sister and his younger brother. Samuel has hunted him down ever since, finally cornering him somewhere in Oldtown. To gain the information he needs, he has agreed to join Butterfly, one of the most well-connected men in the city.
The Dreaded: As befitting for a man that is a known Master Swordsman to Memetic Badass degrees, people are usually terrified with the thought of having to face him. On top of that, he constantly proves that he earns this position.
Good Is Not Nice: Even after his Heel–Face Turn, he remains a pragmatist, who is not afraid to do morally questionable things. The main difference is that he is doing them for better reasons now, such as harming his former employer.
Has a Type: As he himself claims towards a group of soldiers, he has a thing for Valyrians. His attraction to Raenna seems to be a further indication to this, since Samuel doesn't have a reputation of being much of a ladies man otherwise.
Heel–Face Turn: It doesn't come as much of a surprise when he decides to turn on Butterfly for good. Realizing that he has been tricked by his former employer makes him not only angry enough to turn on him, it also makes him so vengeful that he decides to cut ties with the Solvers and to help Jaron and Harpy with one final strike against Butterfly.
Lightning Bruiser: Part of the reason that makes him so dangerous is that Samuel's fighting style has been perfected to the point where he has few obvious weaknessess. He is fast, he is strong and tough, which makes for a deadly combination.
Master Swordsman: One of the most famous examples in the entire story.
Memetic Badass: In-Universe example, as Samuel is generally treated as one of the best swordsmen alive by the characters around him. This reputation seems to be well-deserved, since the instances where we see him fighting all have him curb-stomping his opponents, even if they outnumber him. Being a massive Combat Pragmatist only helps.
Noble Demon: Samuel isn't actually that much of a bad guy once you get to know him. He has plenty of redeeming traits and is a Punch-Clock Villain on top of that. He is also capable of remorse, something many of his companions lack, as evidenced by his genuine apology towards Ellena.
Noble Top Enforcer: As part of his position as The Dragon to Butterfly, paired with his status as an Anti-Villain, Samuel has shades of this. He is by far the most affable of the Solvers encountered, with genuinely redeeming traits and no signs of actual villainy outside of his work for Butterfly.
Pet the Dog: His apology towards Ellena after nearly killing her comes off as genuine, so genuine that she even accepts it. He genuinely feels bad for momentarily losing his cool and even reveals a bit of his Dark and Troubled Past towards her. The fact that she actually accepts his apology moves him deeply and convinces him further to undergo a Heel–Face Turn.
Pragmatic Villainy: A major case. Samuel's main strength is not his skill as a Lightning Bruiser and Master Swordsman, it's his intelligence and his ability to know exactly when it is better not to commit an evil act. In fact, he is so pragmatic that he barely qualifies as evil at all, since he never does anything villainous without reason.
Punch-Clock Villain: Samuel plays this trope straight. He is by no means a bad guy when not on duty for Butterfly. While there are only few things he wouldn't do for his employer, he shows himself to be an affable and cultivated man whenever he is off-duty.
One-Steve Limit: Averted with him and Samuel Puffer. For additional confusion, they both even appear in the same storyline for a short time. During these moments, this Samuel is commonly referred to as Harrington though, further indicating that Raenna and Terroma haven't warmed up to him yet.
Only in It for the Money: Averted. It seems that his motivation is solely to gain the generous paycheck Butterfly gives him. As it turns out, he actually wishes to gain information on the whereabouts of his brother, which Butterfly, as one of the most well-connected men in the city, can surely provide him with. Little does he know that Butterfly is secretly employing his brother as well, playing them both against each other, for the sake of having two master swordsmen at his disposal.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The closer Samuel gets to find Ryder, the more unhinged and emotional he becomes, a far cry from his usual stoic self. This reaches its logical conclusion when he fights against Ryder, where he almost loses control over his actions.
Red Baron: Among the criminals of Oldtown, he is known as "The Fang of Shadows".
Ridiculously Average Guy: Physically at least. The characters who describe Samuel always find it hard to do, since he has a lack of truly distinctive features that cause him to stand out. This in turn means that he has absolutely no problem with blending in a crowd.
Sixth Ranger: For a brief amount of time in Chapter 7, he joins Jaron and Harpy for their mission to free the Burned Man. However, he makes it clear that he expects them to help him in return once their mission is over.
Ship Tease: He gets plenty with Raenna during their mission together in Chapter 6.
Suddenly Shouting: Usually bordering on being The Stoic, save for some rare moments, Samuel is shown to genuinely lose his cool in the Chapter 9 finale, when he even begins to shout and scream at Ryder, after finally confronting him.
Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Despite his rather blank features, he is seen as handsome, by Raenna at least. He also has some moments where he displays a very dry sort of humour.
The Worf Effect: After being built up as one of the best fighters in Oldtown for six chapters and getting plenty of time to show off his skills, Samuel is defeated pretty soundly by his older brother, to show that despite all this, Ryder is still the better man in a combat situation.
Would Hurt a Child: One of his first actions in the story is to slap Ellena, when she tried to attack him during his attempt to capture her. Later on, when she tried to run away, she only narrowly avoided a strike of his sword, which would have stopped her, but also would have put her into the danger of getting seriously wounded.
You Owe Me: His reason for helping Jaron and Harpy is only partially the wish to get revenge on Butterfly and to deny him one final triumph. Most of it all, he wishes some competent help for a future favour.

Jaylon Gordus

Longbow Jaylon

A sellsword from the North, who ended up working for Butterfly as one of the higher ranking agents of the Solvers. He also poses as a member of the city guard, where he has become one of several captains.

Alas, Poor Villain: After spending much of the previous chapter in a road to redemption, during which a far more likable side of him gets revealed, the torture Jaylon has to suffer at the hands of Mullendore himself finally breaks him to the point where he becomes fiercely loyal to his boss once more. Then, he gets killed by Jaron in a completely unrelated situation, dying a highly undignified and unceremonious death. It is likely that the ones who got to see his more likable side, Samantha and her group, as never even going to hear of his death.
Anti-Villain: Quite surprisingly, he manages to be this and a Jerkass. Jaylon is a rude jerk through and through, but he has some redeeming qualities and eventually even gains a chance at becoming a better person.
Being Evil Sucks: After spending years on the side of evil, he has grown sick of it. Unfortunately for him, he also regards himself as a case of being Trapped in Villainy, seeing no real way out.
Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Jaylon actually pulls a Heel–Face Turn in Chapter 5. However in the time between Chapter 5 and 6, he is captured and severely tortured. This results in him becoming once more a loyal member of the Solvers.
Butt-Monkey: What Robb is to the Burned Man's organization, Jaylon is to the Solvers. He is constantly ridiculed, beaten and humiliated, not only by his own men, but also by those he is supposed to take down. Few of his plans in the story actually work out in any way, with most of them ending with him beaten or worse.
Conflicting Loyalty: Chapter 5 sees him having to choose between loyalty to Samantha, who treated him with kindness, or Butterfly, whom he swore loyalty to. He chooses Samantha, briefly, before going back to Butterfly's side after being on the receiving end of Cold-Blooded Torture.
Dirty Cop: He poses as a member of the city guard, while ultimately loyal only to the Solvers.
Dude, Where's My Respect?: One of the reasons for his temporary Heel–Face Turn in Chapter 5 is the fact that he is a source of mockery from everyone he is supposed to work with, something he finds insufferable.
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: The first redeeming trait that is seen from him is when he reacts quite angrily when Samantha implies an insult to his mother in one of her comments. As it turns out, he loves her dearly and deeply regrets leaving her behind with his abusive father.
Fingore: After remaining behind to distract the Alley Cats, he is not killed, but captured. We don't get to see the full extent of what Mullendore does to him afterwards, but he loses at the very least every finger on his left hand. The pain is also enough to cause him to undergo a Face–Heel Turn again.
Heel–Face Door-Slam: He arguably undegoes a full-fledged Heel–Face Turn in Chapter 5, where he turns against Butterfly's men and remains behind to distract them. However, instantly afterwards, he is captured, tortured into submission and reprogrammed into a loyal Solver drone. His fate comes shortly afterwards, when he joins Mullendore during the ambush against Harpy and Jaron. He himself gets into a duel with Jaron and is eventually killed unceremoniously.
Hidden Depths: Behind his jerkish facade lies a highly insecure and troubled man, who is capable of empathy and love, but who also considers himself too far gone to change his ways.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: Part of his jerkish behaviour is a result of him feeling absolutely inferior towards others, in terms of looks, in terms of skills and in terms of the respect they get. He channels this frustration in being as arrogant as possible.
Informed Ability: From his nickname, it can be guessed that he is a talented archer. However, he is never shown using a bow during his entire time in the story.
Jerkass: Jaylon is one of the most prominent examples of this trope in the entire story. Most of what he says is aimed to hurt and he is a thoroughly unpleasant person, without a genuine moral compass and not afraid to Kick the Dog.
Kick the Dog: Many of his most jerkish moments result in one of these. Mocking and beating Lucas directly after Lunett's death arguably qualifies as his worst deed though.
Oh, Crap!: He has a massive one when he realizes that he is about to face the Moggy.
Punch-Clock Villain: Outside of his work for Butterfly, Jaylon might still be a Jerkass, but he never showed any signs of open villainy in these occasions.
The Dog Bites Back: His temporary betrayal of Butterfly is partially motivated by the wish to get back at those who mocked and belittled him for all these years. He even ends up killing some of the guardsmen who mock him.
Trapped in Villainy: Jaylon came to the conclusion that Being Evil Sucks years ago. Unfortunately, he is already one of the key members of the Solvers and he knows that quitting is not easy. In fact, it is more work than he is willing to do and more danger than he is willing to risk, so he continues to go along with Butterfly's schemes.

The Tom

The Tom/Erik Mogfield

The leader of the Alley Cats, a group of violent sellswords who hide their faces behind masks shape like the heads of cats. Little is known about him aside from this occupation and the fact that he allied his group with the Solvers.

Affably Evil: It is hard to say if he falls under this trope or under Faux Affably Evil, but he is certainly an affable man, who respects a good fight and is capable of genuinely admiring his opponents, even if he wants them dead.
Blood Knight: The Tom yearns for fighting, especially to the death and enjoys a good challenge. So far, duels against skillful opponents have ben the only moment he expressed genuine joy at a situation.
The Creon: As it turns out, he is highly satisfied with his position as Butterfly's dragon, since it gives him a position of importance, while still keeping him invisible from the worst enemies of his employer.
Co-Dragons: Together with Samuel Harrington, he serves as The Dragon to Butterfly. After Samuel's Heel–Face Turn, he becomes the sole dragon, with a brief phase of Dragon Their Feet.
Combat Pragmatist: Interstingly, it overlaps with being a Fair-Play Villain. The Tom loves a good fight, he absolutely does, but at the same tim, he uses tactics that are generally considered as unfair, like throwing knives at his opponents.
Cool Sword: Much attention has been put onto his weapon of choice, an exotic, curved sword from the east.
Dance Battler: Once he actually gets to fight, he does so with remarkable speed, using swift, graceful moves to outmaneuver his opponent, before hitting with surgical precision.
Dark Is Evil: Aside from his mask he dresses exclusively in dark colours, which puts further emphasis on his absolutely evil nature.
Dragon Ascendant: After Butterfly's supposed death, the Tom seemingly took over the entire organization. As it turns out, it has been part of a ruse and in reality, Maron Mullendore still pulled the strings, but for a while, all of the Solvers and his enemies fully believed in this trope.
The Dreaded: His reputation is tied to the Alley Cats, who are a collective group of The Dreaded. But even among them, he stands out for being absolutely terrifying. His reputation is even worse than those of the other Alley Cats, particularly for his unrivaled skill in combat.
Duel to the Death: The Tom has a liking to these particular fights, especially against a Worthy Opponent. In such moments, he even displays honour, as he prefers fights that are, for a given value of the term, fair.
Facial Horror: Chapter 9 reveals that his face beneath the mask is horribly disfigured after having been nearly completely flayed, the remaining flesh being ghastly pale and scarred.
Fair-Play Villain: In a strange variation, this overlaps with being a Combat Pragmatist. The Tom loves a good fight and this goes so far that he even allows his opponents to take a break during their fight. It doesn't stop him from fighting dirty though if the fight actually starts.
The Heavy: The Tom is by far the most active underling of Butterfly, involved in a majority of the man's work, especially for the important tasks or when someone has to be killed.
Hero Killer: The Tom directly kills Martin Wilshere and Keira during the events of the Masquerade. He later kills Lucas during the Trial by Combat.
Light Is Not Good: His mask is white and golden, yet no one in their right mind would call the Tom a good person.
Malevolent Masked Man: Every member of the Alley Cats prefers to hide their face behind a mask that is shaped like the head of a cat. In case of the Tom, it is white and golden.
Master Swordsman: The Tom has a reputation for being one of the best swordsmen in Oldtown, a city in which being a badass fighter is almost mandatory. Sure enough, he has been shown to effortlessly win every fight he is thrown into, even when outnumbered.
Mysterious Past: As of now, the only thing that has been revealed about him is his first name, which is Erik. Anything beyond that is quite the mystery, even if the author has stated that he has a rather rich backstory. The end of chapter 9 reveals his full name is Erik Mogfield, therefore related to House Frostborn through the marriage of Elizabeth Mogfield and Lionel Frostborn.
Pet the Dog:
- Him allowing Lucas a moment to regain his footing and collect his sword definitely counts, given that they were in a Duel to the Death at the time. He notably defies his master's orders to kill Lucas immediately in order to give him a fighting chance and end the duel honourably.
- Blink and you'll miss it, but during Richard's execution, he steps in and holds Nora Recton back, preventing her from intervening, which in turn would have likely caused her death as well. Unlike Lucas, who gave him the good fight he craved for, this decision has no apparent benefit to him at all.
Pragmatic Villain: The Tom's actions are motivated by pragmatism above all other things. He is a Combat Pragmatist, but beyond that, this trope is the source of his loyalty for Butterfly. When Maron is wounded in a fight, the Tom remains loyal to him even though his advisors urge him to take the position as crimelord of Oldtown for himself. He refuses, since he knows that being a crimelord means being targeted by people whose full attention he prefers to avoid.
Secret-Keeper: He is among the few people who fully know about Butterfly's real identity.
Soft-Spoken Sadist: His voice is deep and melodic, never raising beyond a soft, dark purr.
Spell My Name with a "The": All of the Alley Cats have this trope going for them. In his case, it is The Tom.
Undying Loyalty: Towards Butterfly, even if most of it is a result of his Pragmatic Villainy. He eventually explains that is baffling amount of loyalty to the man is part of a plan to become invaluable to him, while simultaneously remaining unimportant enough to avoid the attention of Butterfly's numerous enemies.
Whole Costume Reference: The design of his clothes and mask has been heavily inspired by Amon.
Worthy Opponent: At the end of their trial by combat he has begun to see Lucas as such, complimenting the dying knight on the fight he put up.

The Sphynx

The Sphynx/Rodrik Grimthorn

A high-ranking member of the Alley Cats and one of the few who know the Tom's real name. He serves as the groups medical officer and chief torturer.

Dissonant Serenity: Even when flaying someone alive, the Sphynx remains completely calm. Sometimes he even shows outright amusement at the suffering of his victims.
The Dragon: Basically his role among the Alley Cats. He is the Tom's most trusted underling, the only one who seems to know more about his past and the go-to guy for the most difficult tasks.
Enemy Mine: He surprisingly offers Arthur and Ryler an alliance to hunt and kill Wolfius Woodbark.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The Sphynx surprisingly turns out to be Rodrik Grimthorn, the uncle of Ryler and Lucia and he claims to be highly protective of his nephew and niece.
Even Evil Has Standards: A brutal and cruel torturer he might be, but even he's actually disgusted with Lupin Frostborn's work and believes killing Wolfius is a Mercy Kill.
Evil Genius: More than once did the Sphynx prove his vast intelligence. He has impressive knowledge about the human body, which he uses for healing purposes, for alchemistic modifications of the body and mostly for torture.
Faux Affably Evil: The Sphynx is unfailingly polite, even friendly towards all he encounters. That said, he even maintains these mannerisms while torturing someone, making it clear that none of them are genuine in any way.
Good Powers, Bad People: It has been shown that the Sphynx, on top of his clearly bad powers of torturing, is an incredibly gifted healer, able to bring back people from the brink of death, or maybe even beyond. His knowledge about the human body could do a lot of good in the medieval society of Westeros and he has also been implied to be involved in the alchemistic process of creating a Moggy, giving the recipient superhuman strength and endurance.
Ironic Nursery Rhyme: He loves to sing nursery rhymes during his torture sessions, likely to appear even more creepy and unnerving than he already does by default. The effect is unsettling for everyone around him.
Light Is Not Good: Save for his mask he is clad entirely in white robes. Given how much time he spends with torturing prisoners, keeping them clean must be one hell of a task.
Long-Lost Relative: His original name is Rodrik Grimthorn, uncle of Ryler Grimthorn.
Malevolent Masked Man: As with all the Alley Cats, he constantly wears a mask shaped like a cat's head. His mask is black, with red markings on it.
Mysterious Past: So far, the only thing known about his backstory is that his first name is Rodrik. Anything beyond that is a complete mystery. The second chapter of Book 2 reveals he's a survivor of House Grimthorn.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The only time he has shown more than smug amusement is when Maron Mullendore is about to kill Lucas before receiving an answer. He goes from being a Soft-Spoken Sadist to Suddenly Shouting, trying to prevent his boss from killing a valuable prisoner already and he is dead serious about it.
- He's also visibly disturbed at the idea of releasing The Fang into the general population to hunt Kersea, seeing him as more harm than good.
Pragmatic Villain: Despite having a sick fondness of torture, the Sphynx is a calm, analytical and always pragmatic man, who knows exactly how far he can go with his prisoners and never goes beyond that.
The Reveal: He's a member of House Grimthorn, specifically uncle of Ryler and Lucia Grimthorn.
Secret-Keeper: Like his boss, the Tom, he is aware of Butterfly's real identity.
The Sociopath: It seems to be that the Sphynx has absolutely no regards for anyone but himself, to the point where he seems virtually incapable of any empathy beyond curiosity.
Soft-Spoken Sadist: Always speaks and sings in an eery, high-pitched an hoarsy voice.
Spell My Name with a "The": It is The Sphynx.
Torture Technician: This is by far his main task among the Alley Cats and the Solvers. The Sphynx' already mentioned knowledge about the human body allowed him to know exactly how much he can torture somebody and it has been stated that he can break anyone. It's always only a question how long he needs for it.

The Moggy

The Moggy is a hulking brute and the Tom's bodyguard and chief muscle. Little is known about him, but he rarely speaks and is by far the strongest character in the entire story.

Beware the Quiet Ones: The Moggy doesn't talk much and what he says usually has little relevance, yet he is incredibly dangerous and short-tempered.
Bodyguarding a Badass: He is the Tom's bodyguard, though the man has proven himself time and again to be incredibly dangerous in his own right and quite likely even more deadly than the Moggy.
The Dreaded: Due to his size and strength, the Moggy has a terrifying reputation among his enemies, but also among his companions, who avoid him for his short temper. When Jaylon is confronted with the possibility of facing him, he almost pisses himself and those who mock him for it are quickly reminded why the Moggy is a straight example of this trope.
Dumb Muscle: The Moggy is outright stated to be dim-witted and his actions have not proven this statement wrong. His main use is to be the Tom's muscle and bodyguard.
Evil Is Bigger: The Moggy is by far the tallest character in the cast. His size is absolutely inhuman and it has been hinted that it is the result of a birth defect.
Hero Killer: The Moggy is personally responsible for the deaths of Dairon and Jarek. He accidentally kills Dairon when the boy attacks him and he crushes Jarek's head after getting wounded by him.
Malevolent Masked Man: He is never seen without his Alley Cat mask. In his case, the mask is white and splattered with blood and of course, like every Alley Cat mask, shaped like the head of a cat.
Mysterious Past: Typical for most of the Alley Cats, the Moggy's past before joining the group is a mystery.
One-Handed Zweihänder: As a result of his strength, he is able to wield an enormous greatsword with one hand.
Psychopathic Manchild: It goes with being a Dumb Muscle for him, as the Moggy never grew up beyond the mental state of a child. He has been compared to a sandbox bully in the body of an eight-feet tall giant.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: As a result of his albinism, he has red eyes. He is also one of the most physically dangerous characters in the story, due to his freakish strength.
The Quiet One: As a result of his mental handicap, the Moggy has trouble with speaking and his sentences are usually short and without much substance. He mainly communicates with grunts and screams.
Spell My Name with a "The": As with all of the Alley Cats, it's The Moggy, not just Moggy.
White Hair, Black Heart: It goes with being an albino villain.

Connor Frostborn

The youngest son of Lord and Lady Frostborn and younger brother to Alphyn, Lupin and Evelyn, Connor is a member of House Frostborn. He ran away from home and found himself as the top student of the Sphynx.

Big Brother Worship: Connor absolutely worships his big brother, Lupin. Unfortunately, Lupin is the Black Sheep of the Frostborn family and known for his evil deeds, which led to him being banished. Certainly not the best role model for a boy in Connor's age.
Malevolent Masked Man: Averted. Despite being a member of the Alley Cats, he hasn't yet earned a mask, being merely a low-ranking apprentice for one of their members.
Slasher Smile: His most unsettling physical trait is his wide, bloodthirsty smile. Since he is the only member of the Alley Cats with noteable facial expressions this is all the more obvious and those who see it consider it to be highly unsettling.
Teens Are Monsters: He is only fourteen years old and already on his way to become just as messed up as his brother Lupin or his master, the Sphynx.
Torture Technician: His role as the Sphynx' apprentice is to learn how to become one. So far, he has shown a lot of potential, but at the same time, his temper often gets in his way there.
Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: More a teen than a child, but his behaviour is nonetheless absolutely unsettling, especially as it has been implied to have gone on for a long time, since he was clearly still a child.

The Fang

The last remaining creation of Lupin Frostborn. Released from captivity by The Tom to hunt down Leonard Constantine and Kersea Catelins.

Axe-Crazy: So much Arthur thinks he makes Wolfius Woodbark look sane in comparison.
Bald of Evil: Not at hair on his head, not even eyebrows which make him look even more disturbing, and is a beast in the skin of a man.
Giggling Villain: Arthur describes his giggling as disturbing to hear.
Humanoid Abomination: The way the Sphynx and Mullendore speak of him, and how he acts, he's more like a wild beast than an actual human being.
Scary Teeth: His teeth are sharpened like fangs.
Slasher Smile: Gives an unnaturally wide smile when agreeing to hunt for Leonard and Kersea.
Third-Person Person: When he does speak, is in this way.

Other inhabitants of Oldtown

The High Septon

The head of the Faith of the Seven, the High Septon is an elderly man, who is notable and famous for his debauched lifestyle that stands against everything his Faith preaches.

Dirty Old Man: His exact age is not stated, but he is at least in his sixties. It doesn't stop him from shamelessly flirting with any young woman he encounters during the masquerade at Lord Vyrwel's estate.
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Justified, since a High Septon is required to give up on his name when taking the title.
Fat Bastard: A heavily overweight man who uses his religion as an excuse to get away with all kinds of disgusting and morally questionable acts of debauchery.
Hiding Behind Religion: The High Septon is not above using his faith to get immunity from the many sins he preaches against.
Minor Major Character: He only appears in a single chapter and barely gets any dialogue, yet as the head of the Faith of the Seven, he is a driving force in the world of Westeros.
Refuge in Audacity: His sinning is especially shameless since he knows that no one has the guts to make a move against him.

Davith Lanser

A former member of the city guard, who left them after his father, a famous guardsman, got killed by Butterfly's men. He now lives on his own as a vigilante in Oldtown.

Amazon Chaser: The first time his crush on Samantha becomes obvious is after her fight with the Moggy. In general, Davith seems to admire her skill as a fighter at least as much as her beauty.
Big Damn Heroes: During the raid on Raylansfair, he momentarily distracts Ser Rodrik Stone, despite being heavily wounded, to give Sasha more time to save herself.
Defector from Decadence: After his father got murdered, he left the city guard, being disgusted by their inaction to put the ones responsible up for trial. His decision gets cemented when he learns about the deal many of the guardsmen have made with Butterfly.
Disappeared Dad: Davith's father used to be a member of the city guard of Oldtown and Davith joined the guard to make him proud. However, not long afterwards, he was murdered by the Solvers, for refusing to join Butterfly's organization.
Forceful Kiss: He gives on to Samantha before pulling his Heroic Sacrifice. In his mind it was probably more of a Big Damn Kiss, but Samantha clearly did not enjoy it in the slightest and only went through with it due to being too stunne to resist.
Heroic Sacrifice: He attempts to pull one of these off, by luring the Ally Cats away from Samantha, Sasha and Leonard. However, he doesn't die and doesn't even get captured by them, making this nothing more than the attempt at this trope.
Incompatible Orientation: It becomes pretty obvious that he has a big crush on Samantha. Unfortunately for him, Samantha is solely into women and develops a bit of a crush on Sasha at the same time.
Lantern Jaw of Justice: One physical trait of his that gets mentioned a lot is is broad jaw, which symbolizes his idealistic and heroic mindset.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Surviving in the labyrinth below the Hightower for an entire week definitely qualifies. We never get to see how he managed to avoid the patrolling Alley Cats, but it was apparently a mixture of luck and sheer badassery.
Undying Loyalty: To Samantha. Even after getting separated from her, he crosses half a kingdom to get back. It shows just how deep his crush on her truly is, which makes it all the more tragic that she is unable to reciprocate it.
Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Eventually, it is his turn to get the offer to join Butterfly's men. He refuses and is the first known person to escape with his life from such a scene.
Vigilante Man: After leaving the city guard, he turns to fight crime on his own. Ironically, this makes him a criminal in the eyes of his former comrades as well, to the point where they put a prize on his head.

Taria Templeton

Taria Templeton:

A singer in Oldtown and Ayden Blackwell's girlfriend. She is also pregnant with his child by the time she is first seen in the story. She is very distantly related to House Templeton of the Vale.

The Chanteuse: Her job in Oldtown is to be this. She is a skilled singer and looks very good, which makes her one of the most popular singers in Oldtown.
Imperiled in Pregnancy: At the time the story starts, she is pregnant. Naturally, she gets badly wounded by taking a throwing knife to the shoulder in her first chapter. However, she turns out fine and is expected to make a full recovery.
Lovable Alpha Bitch: A haughty and snobbish young woman, who also turns out to be not all that bad once one gets to know her better.
Put on a Bus: In the first chapter of Book 2, she remains in Oldtown while Jaron leaves the city. Ayden decides to remain by her side and neither has been seen since.
Someone to Remember Him By: After Ayden gets missing during the ambush in Tanner's Alley, Taria believes their child to be this. Fortunately for her, it turns out that her beloved is not dead and they are eventually reunited.
The Tease: In her role as a singer in Oldtown, it is absolutely required of her to have such a mindset.
Tsundere: She has shades of a Type A, in that she is quite a bit rude and snobbish towards others at first. She drops this trope entirely once she gets to know someone a bit better.

Samuel Puffer

Introduced as simply an old friend of Terroma and a resident of Oldtown, Samuel is eventually revealed to be far more than that. He is the son of one of Terroma's former companions and has been trained as an assassin by him.

Badass in Distress: Make no mistake, Samuel is a major badass, capable of ending several foes at once. However, he bites off more than he can chew against the Solvers that occupy a house he wishes to clean. He gets wounded and has to barricade himself in a room, while the Solvers try to break in, having to wait for the help of Terroma to get him out of the situation.
Disappeared Dad: His father, Phoenix Puffer, was killed in his line of work when Samuel was only a small child.
Like Father, Like Son: Similar to his father, Samuel ended up as a Professional Killer. Terroma, who knew both, also points out their physical similarities and their matching attitudes.
Professional Killer: He was trained to be one and used to work as one for many years. Though he no longer operates in this field of work, he still has the necessary skills to qualify as one.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: We never get to see it, but he somehow manages to kill quite a number of Solvers and clear one of their houses all by himself. While he receives a wound in the process, he gets an impressive amount of kills before that.
One-Steve Limit: Averted with him and Samuel Harrington. They even appear in the same storyline at one point.
Out of Focus: He appears in three chapters and has an interesting connection with Terroma, but in two of these chapters, he only appears in one scene, while the third sees him getting wounded early on and spending a majority of the time away from the action. When Terroma and Raenna leave Oldtown, he remains behind, as a result of the abovementioned wounds.
Reluctant Hero: Samuel is very reluctant to actually step out of his comfortable retirement. The only reason he helps Terroma is because of the friendship between him and his father.
Retired Badass: Despite only being in his late twenties, Samuel has left his life as a Professional Killer behind, to settle down for a far more mundane life as a butcher in Oldtown.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After having to commit one too many murders he deemed unnecessary, Samuel left his old organization behind and settled down in Oldtown. This trope sums up his attitude while doing so.

Roach

An eccentric homeless man who lives in the sewers beneath Oldtown. He is a loner, known for his antisocial behaviour and odd mannerisms, yet he also knows his way around the city like no other.

Animal Motifs: Take a look at his name and take a guess.
Cloud Cuckoolander: Not to the extent of, say, Jarow, but Roach's mind is clearly not all too bright. He doesn't really seem to be aware of his pathetic living conditions, for starters.
Creepy Long Fingers: As part of his insect motive, Roach has very long and thin limbs in general, but his fingers stand out.
Loners Are Freaks: A creepy, antisocial man without any friends or positive social contacts. Even by the case of the story, he can be considered a freak, on top of that.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Stealing the Burned Man's letter from Ellena and Himani triggers a chain of events that leads to Himani's capture and the subsequent destruction of the Burned Man's group. It's obvious that he never planned for anything like this to happen.
Sticky Fingers: Roach is a kleptomaniac, virtually incapable of stealing everything he wishes to steal, or at least to try it. Wether he succeeds at keeping the things he steals depends on the case.
Third-Person Person: Roach has a habit of speaking about Roach in the third person.

Keat the Trickster*

Keat the Trickster

A thief who hails from Oldtown. Despite that, he is introduced as part of the Raylansfair storyline, where he offers his service to Maya Iresons and her group. He later becomes a POV character in Book 2, after his return to Oldtown.

Ascended Extra: Keat goes from a supporting character in Maya's storyline in Book 1 to a POV character in book 2.
The Bus Came Back: In-Universe example in Book 2, where Keat returns to Oldtown, his home town and where a majority of his friends live, after having been gone for half a year.
Deadpan Snarker: Rarely says anything that isn't snarky in some way.
Ear Ache: Thorrin Bannister cuts off his right ear and feeds it to his dogs to remind him they have more than his scent.
Gentleman Thief: He likes to be seen as one. YMMV if he actually succeeds, but he is at least a charming and charismatic thief with a personal code. Quite notably, he fulfils his contract even after things go sour while working for Maya.
Hidden Heart of Gold: One interpretation of why Keat goes through with stealing the documents even after Maya stopped expecting it from him is that he actually wanted to help her, knowing how important they are for her. Sure, he was getting paid handsomely, but it was still a decent move. He is also shown to care deeply for his siblings.
I Gave My Word: His word is his only law, as Keat has demonstrated his willingness to go through with a contract even after being captured by the city guard once. And this second time, he even outright succeeds.
Lovable Rogue: A result of his Gentleman Thief antics and his code of honour, he crosses into this territory.
The Magnificent: Keat the Trickster. Quite fittingly, he is one of the most crafty characters in the story.
Oh, Crap!: After returning to Oldtown, Keat quickly realizes that Thorrin Bannister has not forgotten about him and neither have his hounds forgotten his scent. His reaction to being hunted by them is quite fitting.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: During the raid on Raylansfair, he, quite rightfully brings up that this is not what he has been hired for by Maya's group. As a result, he leaves her and the others behind after they get into an ambush, to hide from the violence.
Sixth Ranger: For Maya's group, as he only joins them when they make their move to rob the archive.
The Smart Guy: Keat knows that he is smart and he puts his intelligence to good use when necessary. This is especially shown after his return to Oldtown, where he is quick thinking even in the face of danger.

Thorrin Bannister

One of several criminals in Oldtown, Thorrin has, unlike many, never joined one of the factions warring for control over the local underworld, instead preferring to remain independent. Not particularly powerful as a result, he is not to be underestimated regardless, as he is a strong, violent man always accompanied by two trained attack dogs.

Beard of Evil: A wild, bushy one, bordering on being a Beard of Barbarism, considering the rest of his looks.
The Beastmaster: Thorrin's greatest asset in the day-to-day survival in Oldtown are his two dogs, Barh and Perfh, eastern breeds of attack dogs who share his temper, but are absolutely obedient to their master.
Even Evil Has Standards: Though he is a violent criminal, Thorrin has never been a part of the Solvers, despite having a temper to match theirs. This isn't even much of a pragmatic choice, apparently he had genuine ideological disagreements with their way of handling things.
Faux Affably Evil: Soft-spoken and polite on a surface level, Thorrin is not afraid to order his dogs to hunt someone down, threatening people or punching them without warning, all the while rarely raising his voice.
Scarily Competent Tracker: Completely justified due to owning two dogs trained precisely for this, yet he nonetheless manages to find Keat in an astonishingly short amount of time after the man's return to Oldtown, mostly due to his dogs picking up his scent.
Villain Has a Point: Sure, Thorrin is certainly not a nice guy and his method of dealing with opponents is more than questionable, but he actually has good reason to be angry at Keat. After all, the thief stole from him, cheating him out of what is implied to be a lot of coin, before leaving Oldtown without a trace.

The Thousand Shades of Flowers

Hishi

The Ambiguous Lover

Hishi is a mysterious and colourful person even by Oldtown's standards. As the owner of the Thousand Shades of Flowers, they more or less control the prostitution in Oldtown, by virtue of owning the largest and most well-known establishment in the city. Despite this, little is known about Hishi themselves, not even their gender.

Ambiguous Gender: Hishi is such a mysterious person that not even their gender is known. Apparently, it can't be guessed by their appearance. Hishi is aware of this and enjoys this trope so much that they even use gender-neutral pronouns.
Ambiguously Evil: While perfectly affable and friendly around others, there are rumours Hishi is involved in Oldtown's underworld. How much of this is true and if Hishi is evil according to the setting (especially considering Oldtown's Grey-and-Gray Morality), is not yet entirely clear.
Beware the Nice Ones: Hishi is definitely nice and friendly as long as people remain on their good side. However, messing with one of their workers is a safe way to provoke a terrifying wrath, as the Solvers eventually find out.
The Ghost: Frequently mentioned in Chapter 6 and 7, where two of his workers are also playing important roles, but not appearing in the story in person. It is mentioned that Hishi has business in Dorne to attend to during these chapters. They finally make their first appearance in the second chapter of Book 2.
It's Personal: Harming one of their underlings always makes it personal for Hishi.
Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Hishi is described as pale-skinned, dark-haired and very beautiful.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After Keira's death, Hishi is enraged. They take a page from their right-hand man Lanford's book and vow to hunt down the remaining Solvers, who are left leaderless, showing no mercy to them.
Shrouded in Myth: A lot about Hishi is up for debate, from their past, to their morality, to their goals, even to their gender. They encourage this debate, as it keeps them more mysterious.
Team Switzerland: One thing Hishi and their brothel are very proud of is their utmost neutrality in all cases. They serve those working for the Burned Man, those working for Butterfly and anyone else, without taking a side in the conflict.

Lanford

An old friend of Hishi and perhaps the only person that knows most of their secrets. He acts as the head of security for the Thousand Shades of Flowers and as Hishi's second-in-command in case they have to leave Oldtown for a business trip.

Cold Sniper: His weapon of choice is a crossbow and he has the cold attitude required for this trope.
Grumpy Old Man: Overlaps with being The Quiet One. Lanford is not a man of many words and those he speaks are not minced in the slightest. His exact age is not stated in the story, but he is nearing his fifties.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Lanford is a grumpy, cynical and rude man, but he undeniably has a weak spot for those that work for Hishi and is not afraid of doing the right thing if necessary.
The Lancer: This is his role towards Hishi, being his oldest and most trusted underling.
Loophole Abuse: During Jaron's fight with Samuel, he hesitates to shoot the Fang of Shadows. However, he hands his weapon to Harpy, maintaining his neutrality by simply giving the choice to her.
Morality Pet: Keira is this for him. By extension, he cares for everyone working for Hishi. It's the death of Keira that drives him to give up on Hishi's principle of remaining neutral at all costs.
Neutral No Longer: After Keira's death, he decides to join Harpy and what is left of the Burned Man's group in order to oppose Butterfly.
Number Two: His role in Hishi's organization, as the captain of his personal guard and second-in-command to the organization as a whole. If Hishi is gone for a business trip, he even leads the organization, together with Joshawa.
Old Retainer: He has served Hishi for many years, as their first and most loyal guard. It is also rumoured that Lanford is the only one who knows Hishi's real gender.
Pet the Dog: After the fight between Samuel and Ryder, which got crashed by the city guard, Lanford saves a wounded Jaron from being charged with attempted murder by the city guard. Though he has slightly pragmatic reasons for doing so, he also acts out of respect for Harpy and despite the fact that it would have been easy and without any consequences for him to just allow Jaron to be taken.
Pragmatic Hero: For a given value of heroism. Lanford is not afraid of attacking his enemies from behind or from afar, giving little about having a fair fight and instead focussing simply on winning.
Sixth Ranger: He briefly joins Jaron and Harpy in Chapter 7, on their quest to free the Burned Man from Butterfly's torture chambers. He does this mainly to deny Butterfly his ultimate victory, having grown to ahte the man due to the death of Keira.
This Is Unforgivable!: Keira's death is this for him. He outright refuses Samuel Harrington's offer to continue their neutrality because of how fond he was of her and his actions make it clear that he will never forgive Butterfly's men.

Joshawa

One of the workers at the Thousand Shades of Flowers and a close confidant of Hishi, whom he serves as a sort-of second-in-command while the owner of the brothel is away for business trips.

Beware the Nice Ones: Being a prostitute and worker at the Thousand Shades of Flowers, Joshawa is unquestionably polite and kind. However, he is also a cunning schemer and shrewd businessman, who knows how to manipulate a situation to his favour.
Camp Gay: Joshawa is a male prostitute who, while serving both genders, is specialized to male needs. As such, it is expected of him to behave in a campy way towards male customers.
Last Episode, New Character: He is introduced in the final chapter of Book 1.
Loophole Abuse: After being confronted by Samuel and realizing that the man is there to kill his own brother, Ryder, Joshawa is willing to allow him to do this. When confronted by Lanford that they are obliged to keep Ryder, one of their guests, save, he replies that fighting Samuel or throwing him out will put every other guest at risk, therefore it would be far better for the guests as a whole if Samuel is allowed to confront Ryder. Of course, doing so also gives him access to the considerate amount of information Samuel possesses about the criminal underworld of Oldtown.
Number Two: Joshawa serves as this for Hishi, together with Lanford. Whereas Lanford is the head of security and leader of the Thorns, Hishi's personal guard, Joshawa deals with the business itself.
Silk Hiding Steel: A seemingly soft man, campy and cheerful, Joshawa is actually a highly intelligent man, who shares Hishi's ice-cold scheming and is more than willing to achieve success through morally questionable ways.
The Smart Guy: As the one in charge of the business while Hishi is away, it's only natural that he is a cunning and scheming man, who can easily see the advantages a situation is giving him.

Keira

The Trustworthy Violet

One of Hishi's whores and among his most famous ones. She is well-liked for her beauty and secrecy. However, she actually uses her skills to spy for Hishi. Despite this, she is in a genuinely loving relationship with Martin Wilshere.

Femme Fatale Spy: Her secondary role in Hishi's organization is to spy on her clients and to gather their secrets. The only one she ever refused to spy on is Martin, whom she has genuine feelings for.
High-Class Call Girl: One of the most expensive and most talented prostitutes in Oldtown.
Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Keira is a major example. While being a hooker and spying for Hishi on her clients, she is ultimately a good person, friendly and sociable, without much of a bad bone in her body.
Nice Gal: The only time Keira is decidedly not nice is when she is botherered by Jarek. Other than these minor incidents, she is always unfailingly kind and generous.
Taking the Bullet: She accidentally steps into the path of a throwing knife that was meant for Harpy. It hits her in the head and kills her almost immediately.
We Hardly Knew Ye: Is killed only a chapter after her introduction. Over her time in the story, she barely contributed to the plot as well and arguably, her death brought up the first important thing about her, as it causes Hishi to rethink his/her neutrality in the war.

Donna Flowers

Rosemouth

One of the prostitutes at the Thousand Shades of Flowers, as well as the one generally seen as the most beautiful, most seductive and most wanted. These traits got her the attention and favour of Ryder Harrington, a captain of the city guard.

Aroused by Their Voice: Jaron notices that despite her considerate beauty, her most arousing feature is her highly pleasant and soothing voice, which also gave her her nickname.
Hooker with a Heart of Gold: As detailed under Nice Gal below, Donna is a fundamentally pleasant person. She genuinely cares for Ryder, her client, and even makes the attempt to prevent a fight between him and his brother even after she was told to leave them.
Last Episode, New Character: She is introduced in the final chapter of Book 1.
Morality Pet: Surprisingly, she is this to Ryder, who is at best Ambiguously Evil, at worst a full-blown Retired Monster. He outright says that he is fond of her and goes out of his way to keep her safe during his fight with Samuel.
Nice Gal: In her brief appearance in Book 1 and 2, she shows herself to be this.
Odd Friendship: She got along surprisingly well with both Harrington brothers.
Platonic Prostitution: While her relationship with Ryder has apparently been physical, she offers no sexual favours, but emotional comfort and support to his brother Samuel.

The Citadel

Archmaester Quent

The Archmaester of History

An elderly man, who is first introduced as the Archmaester of History. It is quickly revealed that he is none other than the younger brother of Maester Eaton, the maester of Raylansfair.

Broken Pedestal: His talk with Lucas makes it clear that his brother is this for him. He looked up to Eaton, but the fact that he effortlessly succeeded at everything Quent had to work for made him quite bitter about it. On top of that, being appointed Maester of Raylansfair and denying him his final triumph as Archmaester of History made things only worse.
Chekhov's Gunman: First mentioned in a single sentence in the Prologue. As it turns out, he is Maester Eaton's brother and he turns into a major character in the first half of the Book.
Evil Twin: Not exactly evil, but a colossal Jerkass, as well as the younger brother of Maester Eaton.
Grumpy Old Man: By far the grumpiest character in the entire story, as well as one of the oldest.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: At least in his youth, he used to be the responsible sibling to Eaton, who was carefree and a bit of a womanizer. As they grew older, both became responsible, arguably.
Jerkass: Save to say, Quent is a jerk. His constant belittling and mocking of Lucas and Leonard, of whom he has heard far more than they are comfortably with, qualify him as one of the biggest non-evil jerks in the entire story. However, it bites him in the back when his attitude is precisely the reason Lucas and Leonard do not trust him and refuse to work with him.
Pet the Dog: After Lucas and Leonard refused to work with him, he was under no obligation to keep Dairon save. He did so regardless, out of a last bit of respect he had for his brother and when the boy came to get his help, he brought him to the only man in the Citadel whom he knew to be neutral in the street war in Oldtown.
Sibling Yin-Yang: In contrast to his talkative, caring and kind-hearted brother, Quent is a cold, abrasive and smug man.
Small Role, Big Impact: He only appears in a single chapter, in two parts at the beginning of Chapter 4, yet he has been a driving force in the plot until then and his actions heavily influence what happens after.

Archmaester Wulvren

The Archmaester of Magic, Grand Maester

Born as a member of House Fossoway, Wulvren was always fascinated with magic. This fascination brought him to the Citadel, where he made it his life's work to study the arcane arts. His dedication to the craft caused him to become Archmaester of Magic a few years before the story starts.

Agent Mulder: He not only follows the common theory that magic once existed before fading away, he also believes that magic still exists and holds more than just a bit of power in the world. From what is seen from characters like Noelle, he is definitely not wrong with his belief.
Cool Old Guy: A knowledgeable and quick-thinking old man with a firm set of morals and a couple of impressive tricks in his sleeve, that allow him to perform feats most would see as magic, despite not being a wizard himself.
Grumpy Old Man: Wulvren is a highly grumpy and unfriendly man, with bad social skills and a bit of a temper.
Guile Hero: His complete absence of any physical skills makes it necessary for him to use his wits. Fortunately, he is one of the most knowledgeable men in Westeros, being an Archmaester of the Citadel.
Heroic Neutral: If left alone, Wulvren would do nothing more than his research about magic. It takes him a bit, but if forced into action, he generally sticks to do things that would be expected from one of the good guys.
Horrible Judge of Character: He trusts Noelle, at first out of friendship. Even after getting a glimpse of her plans, he continues to support her, out of the conviction that he is able to change her.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: A grumpy, harsh and antisocial old man who locks himself in his study and prefers books over people. However, he is also a man with strong morals, which come out in dangerous situations.
Pet the Dog: Freeing Ellena in Chapter 7 definitely counts. It is a completely altruistic deed that has, at the time, been guaranteed to give him immediate and serious repercussions. Surely enough, Marak almost kills him and Noelle leaves him to be killed by wolves. Fortunately for him, he is saved by Raenna.
Put on a Bus: Last seen leaving the western Reach, with the goal to travel to King Aegon Targaryen, whom he wishes to advice in the coming war.
- The Bus Came Back: Arrives to Aegon's side mere days before Ellena and Noelle do, and is not happy to see the Red Priestess again.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Noelle and Marak nearly kill him for resisting their orders and freeing Ellena, he has enough of their schemes, especially after Noelle leaves him to die. He decides that he no longer wants anything to do with either of them.
The Smart Guy: Though not a strong fighter by any means, his knowledge about alchemy allows him to quickly build the Westerosi equivalent of a handgrenade, which he uses to heavily wound the Moggy. He is also way past his prime when it comes to his age.
Wizard Classic: He looks the part, being a tall, thin and old man with a long, grey beard. On top of that, he has more theoretical knowledge about magic than perhaps any other person in the known world. However, he does not possess any sort of magic himself.
Younger Than They Look: As a result of his studies in a small, dimly lit room, Wulvren has aged prematurely. He looks like a man in his late sixties, though is a good ten years younger than that.

Characters / Forum of Thrones - Oldtown

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