Characters / Magnificent Century Imperial Family

Major family

Sultan Süleyman Khan

Sultan Süleyman Khan

(Played by Halit Ergenç)
(Voiced by René Sagastume and Andrés Skoknic [Latin American Spanish dub])
Sultan Süleyman is the 10th sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

• Authority Sounds Deep: He's the undisputed ruler of the Ottoman Empire, revered by his people and dreaded by his enemies. To further emphasize this, he's played by Halit Ergenç, an actor with a notably deep voice.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Even after being demoted in favor of Hürrem, Mahidevran was respectful to Suleyman. However, she becomes less loving of him after he caused too much suffering to their son Mustafa.
  • For most of the series, Gülfem was loyal to Suleyman. However, Bayezid's death was the last straw for her, and she goes to the point of attempting to kill him, only to be killed in the process.
  • Citizens in general stop respecting him at the later episodes of the series.
• Deus Exit Machina: When he departs to go for wars, things become tough for Hürrem. The other sultanas use this and try to attack Hürrem in any way.
• Doom Magnet: Most of his acquaintances end up suffering.
• Good Is Not Soft: He will not pull punches when it comes to enforcing justice. The closest thing to an exception is Hürrem due to their love, but not even her is safe of his rage.
• The Good King: He takes his ruling job very seriously. He has visited the city at times to see the welfare of the people and has punished corrupt people in his rule. He also cares for the inhabitants of places invaded by him and Christians in his lands.
• Good Parents: At least before the Princeling Rivalry began, Süleyman was a nurturing father who sought to educate his children well.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: The only person who's above all the endless intrigues and backstabbing, and who's unambiguously honest, is probably Süleyman himself.
• King Incognito: When leaving the palace, he dresses in a brown cape to pass as another citizen.
• The Magnificent: Süleyman the Magnificent, in Turkish Muhteşem Süleyman, which is where the show's name comes from.
• Offing the Offspring: He murders Sehzade Mustafa by having him strangled.
• One True Love: The woman he loves the most is Hürrem, even when he has had romances with other women.
• Outliving One's Offspring:
  • He lost Mehmet first, when he was in a war in Austria.
  • After he has Mustafa killed, his son Cihangir dies of despair.
  • His young daughter Raziye dies.
  • Due to a treacherous action, Bayezid is killed by his brother Selim.
• Papa Wolf:
  • When he is made aware of some janissaries attempting to corner and kill Sehzade Selim, he kills the one responsible behind that.
  • Learning about Shah Tahmasp incarcerating Bayezid in a jail makes him order to discontinue negotiations with him.
  • He is quick to snap a demand or dole out a death glare when his daughter is hurt or ill.
• Parental Favoritism: His first two children by Hurrem, Mehmet and Mirimah, are his favourites. Mirimah, specially, is described as his weakness.
• The Paranoiac: Sultan sees others' mistakes as (often) almost unforgivable treason. For example, when Nasuh hides some facts about Sultan's sons since he didn't think they were of great importance (but could have angered Sultan anyway), Sultan sends him off of the palace, even though he was one of his most trusted servants he ever had. Another example can be his reaction to a fabricated letter that was to 'confirm' Mustafa's vile intents. Sultan always feared Mustafa would overthrow him (for no good reason) and instead of at least having a talk with Mustafa, he decides to have him strangled. And of course let's not forget about Ibrahim—Sultan thought he tried to usurp power due to his pride, so, despite Ibrahim being his best friend he orders to have him strangled. It turned out later, however, that all his fears and suspicions were him being paranoid—Sultan got Ibrahim's diary which read that Ibrahim admired Sultan and it was strongly implied he would never act against Sultan
• The Nicknamer: He sometimes refers to the members of his family by nicknames in his most tender moments. Mustafa, Mehmet and Cihangir are called 'My Lion'and Mihrimah is affectionately referred to as 'My Moon and Sun'.
  • Hurrem's own name is nickname, as it means happiness, Suleyman's happiness.
• Parental Marriage Veto:
  • He has vetoed most romances of his son Mustafa, or at least has shown disapproval. When Huricihan leaks Mustafa's illegal marriage to Mihrunissa, he gets angry at him.
  • After learning of the relationship of Bayezid with Huricihan, he is even angrier at him.
• Perilous Old Fool: He is adamant to go to the battlefield before dying despite his previous pain caused by the gout. Mihrimah knows her father won't come back due to this and was already prepared for the outcome of him dying far away.
• Shipping Torpedo: He is unhappy when he learns Malkocoglu is having an affair with Silvia, the niece of the ambassator of Venice.
• Time-Passage Beard: His beard grows with age, as does his badassery.
• Took a Level in Cynic: He tended to smile more and be more cheerful with his family in the earlier seasons. However, the enmity of Hürrem and Suleyman's family makes him less and less hopeful. He becomes even sadder after Hürrem's death, to the point he has gold elements from the palace pulled and forbids celebrations in the palace.
• Tragic Hero: He genuinely wants to be a good king, but his paranoia and his constant sexual adventures with concubines end up being his and the Empire's undoing.
• You Have Failed Me: Heroic example. If you work for Suleyman and he thinks that you have broken his trust or failed him in a task, he will fire you at best and have you executed at worst.

Hürrem Sultan

Aleksandra aka Roxelana aka Hürrem Sultan

(Played by Meryem Uzerli & Vahide Perçin)
(Voiced by: Noelia Socolovsky [Latin American Spanish dub])
Süleyman's second wife and favorite, Aleksandra aka Roxelana aka Hürrem is a Crimean girl who comes to the harem a slave, kidnapped in a raid that killed her family. In the harem, she rises to great heights after she catches his attention, and more so after she has a son.

• Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: In her hometown she was engaged to Leo, but after being made a slave and sent to Suleyman Sultan's harem, she quickly falls in love with him. When Leo tries to reconnect with her, her love for Suleyman is far bigger and even if she wanted, she cannot resume her relationship with him.
• Affably Evil: While not truly evil, she is unscrupulous and vindictive. However, she has a polite demeanor when she is not threatened and is capable to Pet the Dog at times.
• The Alibi: Her short size and her red hair prove her innocence in Ayse Hatun's murder case. An eyewitness reveals that she saw that the murderer (Sadika) was brunette.
• All for Nothing: Her attempts to protect her sons were rendered null, since most of them end up dying anyway.
• Antagonist in Mourning:
  • Inverted; she is sad about Mustafa's death after he is executed and remembers that he was a good man trapped in an unsolvable conflict with her due to Ottoman laws.
  • When visiting Ibrahim Pasha's tomb, she laments not having him alive to close her accounts with him.
• Anti-Hero: While she never becomes outright evil, she's not above killing or framing her political opponents. However, she sometimes shows some remorse later.
• Character Development: At the beginning of the show she's quite naive, bratty and very impulsive. In later seasons she grows more ladylike, but also more ruthless, calculating and wiser in political game.
• Converting for Love: She converts to Islam after Sümbül Ağa tells her Süleyman will never marry a Christian.
• Dead Man Writing: After dying, she leaves a letter to Bayezid and Selim, in which she asks them to fight back-to-back and united. Too bad their relationship is too estranged for that.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul":
  • When Mahidevran calls her Alexandra, she announces that her new name is Hürrem. Hafsa has her go for considering that irreverent.
  • Hürrem is not happy that Leo persists on calling her Alex.
• Easily Forgiven: Süleyman himself is quite aware that he lets her get away with things that would get any other person executed, simply because he loves her that much. It also helps that she never once used her position to directly harm or overthrow him even when she could.
• Establishing Character Moment: She has two. In the first she screams, fights and curses at the men who hold her captive on a slave ship. In the second she waves to some of the concubines on the upper floors.
• Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Despite being an Unscrupulous Hero that often does morally gray or outright wrong cases, she still wants her children to be good people, as evident when she reprimanded Bayezid for his reckless attitude.
• The Exile: She was sent to the Edirne palace twice and to Kuhtaya once as a punishment.
• Fake Faint: She captures Suleyman’s attention by falling into his arms.
• Fake Pregnancy: Her first time. She claims to be pregnant to prevent being sent away and married off. An Accidental Truth—she actually was pregnant with her firstborn, Mehmet, at the time, though she didn't know yet.
• Fake Shemp: During the plot of her kidnapping, the scene revealing that she was alive did not show her face, just showing a woman with a red hair lying on the floor, with the kidnapper bringing food for her used as a confirmation on her being alive. After Bali Bey rescues her and sends her to the palace, her face is barely seen. This was done due to Meryem Uzerli's departure.
• Fiery Redhead: She first appears as a captive on a slave ship, and even there she is unbroken and defiant.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: She was a peasant in her hometown, but after being captured by the Tatars and receiving multiple mistreatments from Ibrahim and most Sultanas, she has become a manipulative woman who does not hold back when attacking her enemies.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In-universe. Hürrem is divisive in the Ottoman Empire itself, but in Poland, she is seen as a hero and an example of a strong woman.
• Had to Be Sharp: Since she was trapped in a cruel environment, she decides to become more unscrupulous to protect herself.
• The Heart: She was the only one keeping Selim and Bayezid from declaring war on each other.
• He Who Fights Monsters: She ends copying the worst from Mahidevran, Hafsa, and Ibrahim. Made specially clear when she attacks Gülnihal and even puts a corrosive substance in her fur.
• Hot Consort: To Suleyman. Hurrem is the Ms. Fanservice of the show, having the most fancervice-y scenes. Ibrahim choses her for Suleyman based on her beauty, and Hurrem herself is aware of this, seducing Suleyman while dancing for him, and making her way to the Golden Path, aka, the Sultan's bed. Even decades after her death, she is is still remembered for her beauty and intelligence.
• Hypocrite: While she might be rightfully angry that Mahidevran assassinated her son Mehmet, she has no right to condemn Mahidevran's murder of someone of royal blood when Hürrem herself already attempted to assassinate Sehzade Mustafa twice and is already plotting to murder him.
• I Choose to Stay: She turns down Leo's request to escape with him, stating to be happy with Suleyman and her children.
• Ironic Name: "Hürrem" is an odd name for an unhappy woman who has suffered a lot for the mistreatment she had in the palace.
• Kick the Dog: After learning that Gülnihal was the concubine selected by Suleyman, she does not only conform with a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, but pours a corrosive substance over her fur.
• Lady in Red: Hürrem wears more red than any other character.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Soon after she finally manages to gets Mustafa executed, her youngest son Cihangir dies of grief after his brother's death.
• Leitmotif: The lullaby "Luli" and some variants of her tone are often played with scenes important for Hürrem, as it connects her to her upbringing.
• Mama Bear: Hurrem isn't morally upstanding, but she adores her children and goes ballistic if anyone threatens them. Her chief goal is to make one of her sons the next sultan- because, according to Ottoman law, if it's their half-brother Mustafa who ascends the throne, he is legally required to strangle all his brothers to avoid civil war in future. (Though with the show's portrayal of Mustafa, it's quite clear he wouldn't do that. His mother, Mahidevran, on the other hand...)
  • After the death of Mehmet and Cihangir, she wont think twice make enemies even with her own husband for the protection of her kids, and she let Suleyman know this.
• Manipulative Bastard: She relies on manipulating people around her to survive.
• Meaningful Rename: Named Aleksandra at birth, Süleyman gives her the name Hürrem when she becomes a favorite. It means "joy"—that she's his joy.
• Meet Cute: Completely planned on her part, playing the lovable dork card in order to catch the Sultan's eye.
• Mistaken for Murderer: After Sadika murders Ayse Hatun for knowing her real intentions, Hürrem is treated as the killer until her innocence was proven. Hürrem was not willing to kill at the moment.
• Morality Pet: After Sümbül Aga agrees to serve her, he becomes loyal and caring to her. He remains brash and cruel when he wants to be, but genuinely grows to love Hürrem as a friend.
• Mother Makes You King: After bearing children to Süleyman, one of her motivations is getting one of her sons to become the next Sultan. Should Mustafa arrive to the throne, he can murder them as he sees fit; he does not have such intentions, but Mahidevran or other of Hürrem's enemies could get a way to fulfill the fratricide law.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: She ordered Nurbanu to kill Nazenin. This comes back to bite her as Nurbanu blackmails her by threatening to reveal to Süleyman the letter telling Nurbanu to kill Nazenin unless Hürrem proves Nurbanu’s innocence in Huricihan’s murder case.
• Must Have Caffeine: After Sümbül introduces coffee to her, she becomes enthusiastic about coffee when learning that sweetening it makes it a delicious drink and that coffee makes one energetic. She is saddened when Suleyman decides to ban coffehouses, but Sümbül manages to smuggle coffee for her.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • When Gülnihal decides to accompany her to Edirne, she expresses her remorse about putting the corrosive substance on her fur, especially taking into account that she remained loyal to her after that.
  • She apologizes to Sümbül for neglecting him despite his own sad backstory and his loyalty to her.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • She wants Bayezid to become the next Sultan, but to protect him, she subtly pushes Suleyman to choose Selim as the next governor of Manisa so Mustafa's supporters become less focused on Bayezid. However, she does not disclose this to Bayezid. Due to the wrath he has accumulated, his relationship with his father and especially with Selim gets increasingly worse. When Hürrem finally tells him why she pushed Selim to Manisa, the damage was already done.
  • By successfuly getting Mustafa killed, she makes things worse, as Cihangir dies of despair after realizing of his brother's death and Bayezid becomes more aggressive after losing his two beloved siblings. It also strenghtens the rivalry Selim and Bayezid already had.
• Not Me This Time:
  • Mihrimah thinks Hürrem was behind Taslicali's forced break up with her, but she is not. Mahidevran is.
  • When Suleyman is ill and Hürrem sends for Mustafa, Rüstem secretly plans to assassinate Mustafa and ends up killing one of his guards. Mustafa wrongly thinks it was Hürrem due to her previous attempts, but Hürrem genuinely wanted to bring him to help Suleyman recover.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: Hürrem was initially supportive of Nurbanu's relationship with Selim, but after she attempts to weaken Bayezid on repeated occasions, Hürrem threatens her and fails to make Fahriye assassinate her.
• Opportunistic Bastard: When she learns that Ibrahim Pasha cheated on Hatice, she takes advantage of it to weaken his political power.
• Outliving One's Offspring: She lost Mehmet when she was kidnapped and Cihangir when she had Mustafa killed.
• Parental Favouritism: Hurrem loves Mihrimah Sultan the most.
• Parental Marriage Veto:
  • She is unhappy about Mihrimah's romance with Taslicali.
  • Hürrem is disapproving of Bayezid's relationship with Huricihan, since it is illegal due to them being cousins and it could bar his son from being the next Sultan.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: When meeting her enemies, she tends to enter in a dialogue full of false politeness and threats.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Hürrem saves one of Ibrahim and Hatice's children as a baby.
  • When Hatice is in shock, she tells her to fight for her love for Ibrahim and her unborn child. She gets Haticie to recover from her panic attack for a while.
  • She apologizes to Sümbül for neglecting him and decides to manumit him.
  • She agrees to grant the Polish princess' request.
  • When Afife is dying, she asks for forgiveness for any possible offense.
  • After having banished Sümbül for revealing her illness to Sultan Suleyman, when they meet again Hürrem retracts the "horrible things" she told him.
  • During her tenure, she made efforts to open and run charities.
• The Phoenix: Her theme is that she has survived multiple attacks and became stronger with each of them, like a phoenix. When she dies, she sees a phoenix comin close to her.
• Preacher's Kid: She is the son of a Ruthenian Orthodox priest. While she is not evil, she does a lot of morally ambiguous or outright immoral things to be with the man she loves and to save her children from a possible execution.
• Put on a Bus: On the later parts of Season 3, Hatice has her kidnapped and she does not appear onscreen outside of a scene that avoids showing her face but confirms that she is alive, and her return. This was done as a way to find a replacement for Meryem Uzerli.
• Rags to Royalty: Cinderella style, played darker than usual. To become a Sultana, she had to deal with the multiple attacks done by Ibrahim and the Sultanas, which made her stronger but has caused her a terrible emotional pain and lessening morals.
• Redhead In Green: Her most recurring outfit is green.
• Sensual Slavs: She begins her "career" in harem with seducing sultan. She's Ukrainian.
• Shoot the Dog: Mustafa acceding to the throne will put her children in a certain death; while Mustafa is a good person and he does want to waive the execution of his brothers, Mahidevran or his supporters may still either force him to kill them or do it themselves behind his back. To avoid this, Hürrem seeks to get him killed even when she learns that he is a good person.
• Silver Fox: Gracia Mendes mentions that Hürrem has kept her beauty in her old age, although Hürrem herself doesn't think she is that beautiful.
• Slave Liberation: Suleyman liberates her. Due to this, she pushes him to get married.
  • Hurrem herself liberates Sumbul Agha.
• Social Climber: She is fighting to achieve political status, to be in a more equitable place from her enemies and to seek to secure the throne to her children.
• This Is Unforgivable!:
  • After Ibrahim Pasha has Leo murdered, she calls him a murderer and promises that the blood that he has spilled will drown him.
  • She remains angry with Nigar for a while for failing to warn her about Ibrahim intending to kill Leo.
  • After returning from her kidnapping and learning Mahidevran assassinated her son Mehmet, she hates her even more.
• Tragic Dream: She wants her children to fight united when one of them becomes the Sultan, but the Ottoman system does not allow it.
• Undying Loyalty: While Hürrem has used Suleyman in her plans, she remained a loyal spouse to Suleyman and never plots to overthrow him. Suleyman tells Fatma Sultan that while Hürrem is no saint, she has had absolute loyalty to him.
• Unscrupulous Hero: She is willing to kill or incriminate people in order to achieve her goals. She is not evil, but the Sultanate is a cruel system that exposes her and her children to be killed.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: She was much nicer and happier in her hometown. Being sent to the palace as a concubine transformed her in an unscrupulous, manipulative person that will cross lines to gets what she wants.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: When Suleyman becomes ill due to the gout in Season 4, she becomes very protective of him and warns her children in no uncertain terms that she would not let them usurp the throne or bring harm to him.
• Was Too Hard on Him: After Sümbül tells Suleyman about her illness, she banishes him from the palace and says ugly things to him. After meeting again in the palace, she apologizes and retracts everything she said to him.
• Wealthy Philanthropist: Hürrem has been steadfast about benefitting the Ottoman people, since she pushed Suleyman to open a public bath and a charity complex. She also grants Princess Anna her help request for food for the Polish. When she is dying, she asks Sümbül to donate the jewels gifted by diverse royalties to fund mosques and monasteries so people can pray in peace.
• Will Not Be a Victim: She spends half of episode 1 screaming and cursing at her captors, Valide Sultan, and cursing the Ottoman Palace.
• Yandere: Mahidevran and Hürrem are both, almost equally, yanderes over Süleyman. Partly justified because their children's fates are on the line, but there's still a lot of petty jealousy involved too.

Hafsa Sultan

Valide Sultan

(Played by Nebahat Çehre)
(Voiced by: Luciana Falcón [Latin American Spanish dub])
Also of Crimean origin, Hafsa Sultan is Süleyman's mother and by Ottoman tradition, effectively his queen. While Hürrem and Mahidevran are queens of a sort as well, they have very little power. As the Valide Sultan, Hafsa completely rules the harem, and even wields some power outside it.

• Alpha Bitch: Very rich, very proud, and no one should disobey her.
• And I Must Scream: At her final moments, she becomes unable to speak.
• Broken Pedestal: Hürrem tells her that she used to admire her for her beauty and her strength, but she alienated her with her hostility.
• Death by Despair: After realizing Ibrahim cheated on his wife with Nigar and attacking Nigar angrily, she enters in a catatonic condition and eventually dies.
• Doting Grandparent: She adores all her grandchildren whether she likes their mothers or not, and is overjoyed whenever they're born.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Her title is Valide Sultan, which in Turkish means "Queen Mother". She is almost always called by her title, though sometimes shortened to just Valide. In case you're wondering, her real name is Ayşe Hafsa.
• Good Parents: For all her moral ambiguity, she was a loving mother to her sons.
• Jerkass to One: She’s hardly the nicest person around, but she hates Hürrem more than anyone else.
• His Name Is...: When she wants to tell Suleyman about Ibrahim and Nigar's affair, she becomes catatonic out of the despair of the fallout and the fear of it hurting Hatice.
• Mama Bear: When she learns Nigar Kalfa was in an affair with Ibrahim Pasha, Hatice's husband, she gives her a Bitch Slap and threatens to get her executed. However, she becomes unable to speak and the imperial family discover the situation much later.
• My Beloved Smother: Completely allowed, and even expected under this system, though Suleyman and Hatice still get angry and tell her off for it sometimes.
• Silver Fox: Ayse Hafsa Sultan has been occasionally complimented for her beauty in her old age. At her deathbed, her daughter Hatice includes her beautiful face when admiring her traits, and even Hürrem tells her that her beauty was one of the traits of her that she admired before Hafsa became hostile to her.
• This Is Unforgivable!: When she discovers that Ibrahim cheated on Hatice with Nigar, she attacks Nigar with no mercy. She is so angry that enters into a catatonic state.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She strenghtened the rivalry between Hürrem and Mahidevran by causing the latter a Forced Miscarriage.
• What Beautiful Eyes!: In a flashback, Sultan Selim I contemplates her beautiful eyes.

Mahidevran Sultan

Mahidevran Sultan

(Played by Nur Fettahoğlu)
(Voiced by: Angélica Vargas [Latin American Spanish dub])
Süleyman's first wife and the mother of his eldest son, Mahidevran falls from favor after Süleyman becomes sultan and Hürrem arrives. Her abuse of Hürrem brings his wrath, and significantly hurries this process.

• Affably Evil: Outside of her plots to defeat Hürrem which involve immoral things, she is mostly polite.
• Arch-Enemy: She is one of Hürrem's worst enemies, since her love with Suleyman caused her demotion and she worsened it all with her attempts to attack or murder her. There is also the fact that the Ottoman Empire has a rule that forces, not just allows, the reigning Sultan to murder his brothers. This makes them even more antagonistic, since Hürrem seeks to kill or eliminate Mustafa to protect her children from either him or his supporters.
• Bewildering Punishment: When Hafsa caused her a Forced Miscarriage, she never told her the intentions and it makes her and Hürrem bitter enemies.
• Disposable Fiancé: Mahidevran was Süleyman's wife, but after he falls in love with Hürrem she becomes relegated. Mahidevran's attempts to attack Hürrem end up estranging even more her relationship with Süleyman.
• Driven by Envy: Mahidevran is very unhappy about being demoted. She goes as far as to try to Murder the Hypotenuse, but it backfires horribly.
• Due to the Dead: Despite being defunded by Sultan Suleyman, she orders the building of a mausoleum for his late son Mustafa.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While she is not exactly evil, she still does many immoral acts. However, she adores her son Mustafa.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • She might be a Yandere, but she is uncomfortable with Hatice's obsession with Ibrahim after his death. She is also uncomfortable with Hatice hiring a witch to curse Hürrem, her antagonism to the latter notwithstanding.
  • She is disgusted that Hürrem forced Mihrimah to marry Rüstem Pasha.
• Fallen Princess: After Mustafa's death she becomes poor, while Suleyman cuts down a great part of her pension after she was revealed to give money to Mustafa supporters. Her granddaugther Nergissah was married off and Mahidevran only has the company of Fidan and Yusuf.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: After losing favor with Suleyman, she attempts to attack Hürrem. Her attacks, however, have been the most ineffectual to defeat Hürrem and instead have made Hürrem more powerful and Suleyman less interested on her. She is obviously saddened by this outcome.
• It's All About Me:
  • When appointed as director of the Harem, Mahidevran is very willing to waste budget of the campaigns to decorate her rooms.
  • When Hatice is distraught about Ibrahim's execution, she is willing to make her more hostile to Hürrem and put her on plots to attack her, even if their plots just make her even more powerful and that would make Hatice more sorrowful.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Hurting Hürrem brought her to her downfall and culminated in the loss of the person he loved the most.
• Mama Bear: She is protective of her son Mustafa. Her enmity with Hürrem is not only because of her demotion, but also because her son's life is at stake due to the same fratricide law that Hürrem is attempting to protect her children from. Hürrem did attempt to have him assassinated twice.
• Moral Myopia: When Hürrem visits her to apologize to her, Mahidevran is quick to bring up that she killed Mustafa while conveniently forgetting she killed Mehmet.
• Never My Fault: She fails to acknowledge her own guilt on the fallout of her conflict with Hürrem, since she made Hürrem become more aggressive with her attempts against her. In the grand finale, Mihrimah is so disgusted with her failure to admit her guilt and her self-righteousness that she tells her to Get Out!.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Mahidevran's various attempts to destroy Hürrem lead to Süleyman being angry with Mahidevran for hurting Hürrem, and caring for poor Hürrem even more because she was hurt.
• Parental Marriage Veto: She tends to be disapproving of Mustafa's romances, especially those with legal ramifications. Eventually averted with Mihrunissa, where she becomes a supportive mother in law after Mustafa marries her anyway.
• Shipping Torpedo: Due to possible conflicts of interest and the ban on romancing princesses, she discourages Taslicali from romancing Mihrimah, and finally vetoes it by an ultimatum.
• Took a Level in Cynic: She smiled more often in Season 1, but as her relationship with Suleyman decays and she gets more and more disgraced, she becomes more unhappy.
• Yandere: Mahidevran and Hürrem are both, almost equally, yanderes over Süleyman. Justified because their children's fates are on the line, but there's still a lot of petty jealousy involved too.

Hatice Sultan

Hatice Sultan

(Played by Selma Ergeç)
(Voiced by: Agostina Longo and Mariana de Iraola [Latin American Spanish dub])
The Valide Sultan's daughter and Süleyman's sister—the only one of his sisters who lives in Constantinople. Once widowed, she later marries İbrahim.

• Awful Wedded Life: Despite marrying Ibrahim for love, his cheating on her and her growing whiny and depressed leads to an unhappy marriage.
• Best Friends-in-Law: She is close to Mahidevran, Süleyman’s first haseki.
• Bungled Suicide: Out of despair and a broken heart, she tries to commit suicide in the first season. It doesn't work, and because she's a Muslim and Islam condemns suicide, Hatice doesn't try again for a while. She eventually succeeds.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of Princess Classic. She starts out as a kind, delicate princess in love with a good man. However he eventually cheats on her leading to her depression and obsession with him.
• Excessive Mourning: After Ibrahim Pasha's death, she becomes madly obsessed with him.
• Flanderization: In Season 3, her whininess and obsession with Ibrahim become her defining traits.
• Grew a Spine: Initially very meek, the first noticeable change occurs when and after she snaps at Hürrem and Mahidevran about halfway through the first season. Once she gets married and moves out of the harem, becoming the mistress of her own house and getting out from under her mother's thumb, the process keeps going.
• Heel–Face Turn: After Ibrahim’s death, she swears revenge upon Hürrem.
• Hero Antagonist: Aside from wrongly antagonising Hürrem, she is a sympathetic character nice to her family members.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Her plot to put a curse on Hürrem backfired on her. She gets beaten by an angry Hürrem, almost dies, and fails to persuade Suleyman that Hürrem beat her.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: In the time that Hürrem has two healthy babies, maternal Hatice who so wants a baby, has a miscarriage. Hürrem seems almost sheepish to bring her baby around Hatice—embarrassed by her unfair fertility.
• Marry for Love: She marries Ibrahim for love. It doesn’t work out.
• Misplaced Retribution: After discovering Ibrahim's infidelity, she starts to attack Hürrem and blaming her for ruining her relationship with Ibrahim, when it was Ibrahim who ruined it. While Hürrem is obviously taking advantage of the situation to get rid of Ibrahim, it was still Ibrahim who cheated on her.
• My Beloved Smother: After a miscarriage, she's understandably overprotective of her firstborn, Mehmet. She's right to be…
• Odd Friendship: In the first season, she gets along with Hürrem despite the latter's more rebellious and daring attitude back then. Too bad this friendship does not last due to the enmity Hürrem has with Hatice's love.
• The Ophelia: Her beauty and grace hides a mad personality that only gets worse after being cheated on by Ibrahim and after he got executed. Even her estranged sister Sah becomes fearful that she could commit suicide.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: She started out as kind and fair. However she eventually becomes just as much Hürrem’s enemy as Sah and Fatma.
• Princess Classic: Hatice begins as something like this. She was married and widowed once before, and more mature for it, but still more or less a pure, feminine, beautiful, and kind princess. However, she does become more vicious.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Sah and Beyhan’s blue.
• Revenge by Proxy: Since Suleyman stripped her of Ibrahim, Hatice intends to kill Hürrem to make him feel the same pain. She later kidnaps her to get revenge that Ibrahim has a nameless tomb.
• Staircase Tumble: During the Janissaries riots, Hatice falls down the stairs, causing the miscarriage of her first baby.
• Stealing from the Till: She deliberately hides money confiscated from Ibrahim Pasha after his execution. Rustem discovers that there is money missing by asking the secretary and is tasked to investigate it before resuming his job as Bey of Beys.
• Time-Delayed Death: When Suleyman finds her in the balcony, she seems fine, but strange breaths and an empty container show that she drunk a lethal poison.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: After Hürrem exposes Ibrahim's adultery, Hatice becomes more vicious. She is not above exposing an innocent maid to be killed by Hürrem, or embezzling Ibrahim Pasha's confiscated money.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Like Beyhan before her, she considers that Suleyman's execution of Ibrahim is an unforgivable act. However, she takes it far worse than Beyhan did.
• We Used to Be Friends: Early, she got along with Hürrem and for most of Season 2 was the only sultana to treat her with basic decency. At one point, Hürrem even gave her strength to trust that Ibrahim would return despite Ibrahim being her enemy. While she started to grow sick of her, she still was civil to her. However, she became openly hostile to Hürrem after the latter exposes Ibrahim's affair with Nigar, to the point both try to kill each other.
• "You Used to Be Better" Speech: Before dying, she tells Suleyman that he used to be a compassionate king before falling in love with Hürrem and that he is becoming as bad as his father.

Selim I

• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Suleyman tells Hurrem his father wrote his wife, Hafsa, beautiful poems, and he seemed at the very least fond of her, as they had more than the customary single child.
• Offing the Offspring: He attempted to murder Suleyman by giving him a poisoned coat.
• Patricide: He murdered Sultan Bayezid to get the throne. Suleyman was not approving of this.
• Posthumous Character: He dies before the series begins, and his death is what makes Suleyman the Sultan.
• The Caligula: Most references to him are negative. When he is brought up, it usually is to accuse Suleyman of becoming as brutal as him.
• The Usurper: He killed his own father to get the throne.

Mustafa and his family

Şehzade Mustafa

Şehzade Mustafa

(Played by Yusuf Berkan Demirbağ, Tunç Oral, & Mehmet Günsür)
(Voiced by: Andrea Higa (child), Pablo Gandolfo (older) [Latin American Spanish dub])
Mahidevran and Süleyman's only son; the first of the royal princes.

• Affectionate Nickname: His father used to call him 'My Lion', though the nickname is eventually passed down to his brother Mehmet, a subtle hint at Suleyman's favoritism.
• Calling the Old Man Out: He calls his father out in a posthumous message for breaking the agreement they had by having him killed.
• Cartwright Curse: When he becomes an adult, he enters in a series of romances that for one reason or another don't stick or end badly for his lover.
• Chick Magnet: Once he becomes an adult, the Harem girls fantasize about him.
• Dead Man Writing: He writes a letter to his father Suleyman to be read when he is killed. In that letter, he calls him out on his breach of the promise.
• Good Is Not Soft: While he is not as unforgiving as his father, he is perfectly willing to punish or execute severe lawbreakers.
• Hypocrite: He frowns on Bayezid's romance with Huricihan due to being against the rules, but his own marriage to Mihrunissa is illegal as well. He later calls them to Amasya to let them meet.
• Military Maverick: Deconstructed. He is not above taking decisions without consulting Suleyman and his decisions tend to be great, but these decisions create a breach between Suleyman and him due to the latter's paranoia.
• Momma's Boy: Mustafa might be a Nice Guy and The Wise Prince, yet his love and loyalty to his mother often lead him to defend her actions to the Sultan, which eventually strains their relationship.
• Morality Pet:
  • Mustafa is the only thing his mother, Mahidevran, genuinely loves and cares about once it's evident Suleiman is too far gone on Hurrem.
  • Bayezid is constantly nice to his brother Mustafa, because he respects him that much. He is very saddened when Huricihan leaks Mustafa's romance with Mihrunissa and when Suleyman executes him.
• Mr. Fanservice: He is one of the characters that is often shown underdressed.
• Nice Guy: A good and wise man with no ulterior motives other than being a worthy prince. Even Hurrem sees he is kind and fair despite suspecting of him most of the series and even admits to not wishing to have to defeat him. But he is a pawn in his mother and Hurrem's games.
• Not Helping Your Case: Mustafa's rebellious attitude makes his father Suleyman think poorly of him. Ideas like paying the Janissaries and failing to defuse the excessive worship to him also make him look suspicious. Mihrimah calls him out for the latter.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Excluding the two unborn sons he lost due to their mothers' deaths, Mustafa lost his son Suleyman to smallpox.
• Papa Wolf: When his son Mehmet gets lost, he threatens to punish all his soldier companions, including Taslicali.
• Princeling Rivalry: With Mehmet. They start arguing about it when they're about 10 and 5.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: He overlooks consulting Suleyman first before taking decisions and even disobeys him to do the right thing. It backfires horribly on him.
• Shipping Torpedo: He discourages Bayezid from continuing his romance with Huricihan. However, he still sends Huricihan with him.
• Turn the Other Cheek:
  • When he wrongly thinks that Bayezid exposed his marriage with Mihrunissa, he turns down Mahidevran's idea of exposing Bayezid's romance with Huricihan.
  • Despite being crossed by his father, he still refuses to betray him or allow his men or the Janissaries attack his father. He still lets his father execute him so the Janissaries do not set a rebellion to dethrone him.
• The Unfavorite: Suleyman has a low opinion of him, as shown by his decision to stop bringing him to wars or his disgust by his disregard for law.
• White Shirt of Death: To prepare for his execution, he wears white clothing, including a turban and a royal tunic.
• The Wise Prince: He is doing efforts to be a genuinely good ruler by helping out his people and by addressing possible invasions. He also wants to spare his siblings from the fratricide law. At Season 4 Hürrem admits that she would want him to be her son and doesn't actually want to fight him, but they cannot be friends.

Mihrunissa Sultan

Mihrunissa Sultan

Mustafa’s wife.

• Action Girl: She can use a knife to try to defend herself or to intimidate someone. When sparring with Sehzade Mustafa, she keeps a good fight.
• Despair Event Horizon: She loses all hope when Mustafa and later her son Mehmet are executed.
• Happily Married: She and Mustafa have a loving marriage.
• Good Parents: She was a loving mother to Mehmet.
• Last Girl Wins: She was the last Love Interest of Mustafa, and the one who marries him.
• Military Brat: She grew up with her father Barbaros.
• Remember the New Guy?: Barbaros' daughter suddenly appears in the plot despite not being mentioned beforehand, and Sehzade Mustafa knew her time ago.

Sehzade Mehmet (son of Mustafa)

• Babies Make Everything Better: He saved her mother's life similarly to how the deceased prince that he would be named after, that is, by ruling out the possibility of being killed.
• Dead Guy Junior: Due to Mehmet's death, Mustafa wanted to name a son after his beloved brother. He gets to do so with his son with Mihrunissa.
• Killed Offscreen: He obviously dies when he is carried away.
• Lamarck Was Right: He is depicted as very similar to child Mustafa.

Nergissah Sultan

Nergissah Sultan

Played by Alize Gördüm

Mustafa's daughter.

• Morality Pet: She is a humanizing character for Mahidevran.
• Sole Survivor: Nergissah is the only of Mustafa's children to make it into adulthood. Two siblings died in utero when their mothers were killed, one died of smallpox as a baby and one was executed when he was a child following Mustafa's execution.

Mehmet and his family

Şehzade Mehmet

Şehzade Mehmet

(Played by Efe Bartu Yavuz, Arda Aranat, & Gürbey İleri)
(Voiced by: Alejandro Graue [Latin American Spanish dub])
Hürrem and Süleyman's firstborn; the second of the royal princes.

• Babies Make Everything Better: His existence solves a lot of problems for his mother, even in utero. Initially a Fake Pregnancy, Hürrem actually was pregnant and just didn't know it yet. Little fetus Mehmet meant that Hürrem didn't get killed for lying about that, didn't get married off, and became Süleyman's wife.
• Big Little Brother: He is taller than Mustafa despite being born later than him.
• Chick Magnet: Like Mustafa, the harem girls are obviously attracted to him.
• Horrible Judge of Character: He is nice and trusting to Mahidevran, who poisons him.
• Love Hurts: He is forced to abort Nurbahar's child and she is banished from the harem.
• Momma's Boy: He has no issue confronting Mustafa over the possibility of him being involved in his mother's disappearance or scolding a young Bayezid in front of high ranking generals for not thinking about how their mother would feel to find him gone.
• Morality Pet: He was one of the few people Hurrem loved unconditionally, and she was notably happier once she had him.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: Not even Mihrimah or his concubine could foresee his death, while Suleyman was at a war and Hürrem was yet to be rescued.
• Nice Guy: Mehmet is always friendly and polite to all his acquaintances and family.
• Parental Favoritism: Süleyman imagines Mehmed as his successor because of the dream he had the night the boy was born. Later when Mehmed is dead, he builds a throne on his tomb. Mehmet is also likely Hürrem's favourite son as her first-born and thus the one to make her sultana. She does everything she can to give him the throne.
• Princeling Rivalry: With Mustafa. They start arguing about it when they're about 10 and 5. They remain civil and obviously care for each other, unlike Bayezid and Selim, though.
• Spanner in the Works: As a baby, his risk of drowning sabotaged Sadika’s plan of assassinating Suleyman. Mahidevran being forced to save him since Mustafa saw him fall to a pool creates a scandal in the palace and Sadika had to interrupt her plan.
• The Wise Prince: He is praised as a good prince and people speak highly of him during his government in Manisa.

Mihrimah and her family

Mihrimah Sultan

Mihrimah Sultan

(Played by Ayda Acar, Melis Mutluç, & Pelin Karahan)
(Voiced by: Natalia Pupato [Latin American Spanish dub])
Hürrem and Süleyman's second child, and only daughter.

• Affectionate Nickname: Is called 'My Moon and Sun' by her father.
• Against My Religion: She refuses to go with Pedro because as a Sunni Muslim, she may not marry non-Muslims. She dissuades him from converting to Islam and asks him to go.
• All for Nothing: Being an accomplice in Mustafa's framing to save Bayezid from being executed under the fratricide law turns futile, since Mustafa and Cihangir's deaths make Selim and Bayezid hate each other even more and have an enmity that culminates in Bayezid being executed for creating a mutiny. Her entire marriage to Rüstem is this, as hse only put up with him due to his power to protect his siblings.
• All Love Is Unrequited: She is attracted to Bali Bey, but he can't help but see her as a little girl and is too loyal to the Empire to involve in this romance.
• Arranged Marriage: Hürrem pushes her to marry Rüstem Pasha in order to secure him a higher position and let him protect her children. It is no secret for anyone that she does not love him, since she marries with tears in her eyes.
• Anti-Hero: She is not evil, just as morally gray as her mother.
• Brainy Brunette: While her hair is darker than Hürrem's, she is every bit as cunning and manipulative as her.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: Being Süleyman's only daughter she has shades of this, but grows out of it later.
• Cool Big Sis: To Bayezid whom she supports in his quest to the throne. Also to Cihangir.
• Daddy's Girl: Süleyman himself states there are only two persons he can't refuse: Hürrem and Mihrimah.
• Due to the Dead: Mihrimah orders Sumbul to give Atmaca proper rites after he and Rüstem kill each other.
• Easily Forgiven: Suleyman lets her get away with disobeying orders and making demands of him with barely a thought, something his sons could never do. In one occasion, her tearful apology gains her forgiveness in less than a minute.
• Extremely Protective Child: As an adult, she is protective of her mother. She hasn't let go of Hatice, Sah or Mahidevran's attempts to damage Hürrem. On Season 3, when Hürrem is kidnapped she plots to have Sah Sultan go away from the palace and blackmails her into leaving so she can leave in "good" terms.
• Everyone Has Standards: She is angry at Selim for killing Bayezid and his sons, pointing out that Bayezid’s youngest son Mehmet was only three years old, despite being part of the conspiracy to frame Mustafa.
• Hypocrite: She condemns Sehzade Selim for executing their brother Bayezid, but she co-conspirated to get Mustafa unjustly killed and she tried to cover up Bayezid's plot to kill Selim. Had Selim been murdered, she wouldn't have minded the situation at all.
• Irony: Despite her lower status, Hürrem can be with the man she loves, but Mihrimah cannot despite having more freedom.
• Lamarck Was Right: She is the most cunning and pragmatic out of the Royal Children, an inherited trait from Hurrem.
• Like Parent, Like Child: Lampshaded by Şah Sultan in season 3 final: "You're not behaving like Hürrem, you are Hürrem." Also, Süleyman says he loves her that much, because she's so much like her mother.
• Love Hurts: She could never be with a man she loved. Taslicali? Their relationship puts him in a conflict of interests due to her being Hürrem's daughter and him being Mustafa's bodyguard. Malkocoglu? He doesn't want to be with her for one reason or another, and both got married with different people. Pedro? Mihrimah is already married to Rüstem and him being Christian bars a marriage between them according to Sunni Islam. When Rüstem dies, she desists from searching love.
• Mal Mariée: She was forced to marry the vastly older Rustem by Hürrem despite being promised before to be allowed to marry whoever she can. Mihrimah is obviously uncomfortable with him and is in a Sexless Marriage. While she almost cheated on him with physician Pedro, she makes him desist from pursuing her further. When Atmaca informs her that he will kill Rüstem, Mihrimah allows it and is visibly happy when Rüstem dies.
• Mama Bear: To her daughter Ayşe Hümaşah.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Among Suleyman's children, she is the sole woman with 5 brothers, until Suleyman has Raziye.
• May–December Romance: Her husband is around 20 years older than her.
• Mistaken for Cheating: After it is revealed that someone sent her a poetic letter, Rüstem starts accusing her of cheating on him.
• More Deadly Thanthe Male: The more cunning, vengeful and vicious of Hurrem's children.
• Parental Favoritism: Suleyman, both in fiction and real life, adored her immensely. Hatice, as she plots against Hürrem, warns Firuze to not anger Mihrimah, as the Sultan loved her and would fight the world for her.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: She is involved in a speech with Esmehan that greatly resembles her mother's subtle animosity with her enemies.
• Precocious Crush: On Balı Bey. She tries to act on it when Taslicali breaks up with her.
• The Promise: Hürrem promised her she would be able to Marry for Love. This promise is not fulfilled.
• Shared Family Quirks: Both Hürrem and her make similar grins when they are thinking on their plans.
• This Is Unforgivable!: The last straw on Rüstem is when he discourages Pashas from assisting Bayezid and when he assists on persecuting him.
• Undying Loyalty: To her mother, to the point she defies the rest of the Imperial Family to defend and avenge her.
• Why Couldn't You Be Different?: When Mihrimah is born, Hürrem is horrified that her daughter is a daughter, ruining Hürrem's Badass Boast that she would only have sons. (Ironically, the historical Mihrimah would be an extremely powerful figure in the Sultanate of Women) Mihrimah herself does not blame Hürrem for that feelings.

Rustem Pasha

For tropes pertaining to Rustem Pasha, see Magnificent Century Pashas.

Ayse Humasah Sultan

Ayse Humasah Sultan

Mihrimah and Rüstem’s daughter.

• Morality Pet: Rüstem Pasha treats her with love, as she is his daughter.
• Strong Family Resemblance: As a child, she looks like her mother Mihrimah looked.

Selim and his family

Şehzade Selim

Şehzade Selim.

(Played by Yiğit Üst & Engin Öztürk)
(Voiced by: Patricio Lago [Latin American Spanish dub])
Hürrem and Süleyman's third child and second son; the third of the royal princes.

• The Alcoholic: He develops an addiction to alcohol.
• Black Sheep: The alcoholic, as mentioned above, the one most prone to intrigues, as mentioned below, and the least talented of princes. None of his siblings seems particularly fond of him and his own mother sends him to Manisa so that their enemies attack rather Selim than Bayezid whom she descibes as her hope.
• Broken Pedestal: Suleyman was supportive of him, and is disgusted when he realizes that the rumors on Selim being drunk are true.
• Dead Guy Junior: Süleyman named his son after his father, Sultan Selim Khan—the boy's grandfather.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • When he attents a war for the first time, he vomits during an execution.
  • In his adult days, he is shown being late to a meeting due to oversleeping after having sex past night, much to Mihrimah's annoyance.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: He is immoral, but he clearly loves his mother Hürrem. He also loves Suleyman and is uncomfortable about his impending death.
• Evil Redhead: He's the only one of Hürrem's children to inherit her red hair in his beard and also the one of the princes most prone to intrigues and backstabbing.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Hürrem lets slide Selim's attempt to frame Bayezid as sympathizing with a Mustafa imposter, but still is understandably disgusted by it.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: He is depicted as a treacherous person and his flaws are exaggerated to create a feeling of tragedy. He is depicted as willingly attempting to execute Bayezid unbeknownst to Suleyman even if the latter was executed by Suleyman in real life.
• Hookers and Blow: He is an alcoholic, and he has too much sex, using both as an attempt to run away from his suffering.
• Inadequate Inheritor: He is the least qualified and the more immoral of Suleyman's children, yet he receives the throne.
• Lean and Mean: He is leaner than his siblings, and he is the most immoral of them.
• My God, What Have I Done?: He is remorseful over killing his brother Selim and knows his father is punishing him when he reassigned him to Kuhtaya.
• Pet the Dog:
  • He selflessly saved Cecilia (later Nurbanu) from her suicide by bandaging her wounds.
  • When a man badmouthing him is killed by his guards when the battle becomes more heated, he gives the widow support and a property as a compensation. When Sultan Suleyman reopens the case of that man, he does not withdraw his support, which leaves it clear that his intent was not to bribe her.
  • He gives Mahidevran a pension. She did awful things, but she had to deal with her own pains.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: When Suleyman knows about the duel Selim and Bayezid had and the dishonest acts of both, he punishes both by reassigning them. Selim is sent to Konya.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: Suleyman's anger towards Selim is mitigated when he realizes that the support to the widow of the man that badmouthed Selim was higher than the required and that the support was kept even when the lawsuit was reopen.
• The So-Called Coward: Most of his detractors write him off as a coward, but he is not. When Suleyman was comatose and the Janissaries were ready to put Mustafa in the throne, he still went to rebuke them for their attitude despite knowing that the Janissaries would not listen to him and could even kill him.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Growing with so much distrust on him makes him become as evil as the people comment about him.
• Undying Loyalty: To Hurrem. He defends her even after her death.
• Ungrateful Bastard: He does not thank Mustafa at all for saving his life, being blinded by his fear of being executed by him.
• Villain Has a Point: When Mihrimah called him out for betraying Bayezid, he rightfully mentions that she was complicit in a conspiracy to frame Mustafa.
• Would Hurt a Child: As well as Bayezid, he murders his children.

Cecilia Baffo/Nurbanu Sultan

Nurbanu Sultan

Selim’s haseki sultan.

• Anti-Hero: Like Hürrem, she is unscrupulous. Later on, she becomes a Villain Protagonist.
• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: When trying to bribe Sümbül into allowing her in Selim's harem, she denies to be bribing him, but there is no true distinction when she says that she will give him the special offer if he sends her with Selim.
• Bungled Suicide: Out of despair, she attempted to cut her wrist to bleed to death. However, she was discovered early enough that Sehzade Selim could save her and she could receive medical intervention.
• Gone Horribly Right: Hürrem let her join Selim's harem to make him more insightful. This backfires, as she makes him strong enough to ruin his brother.
• Heroic Bastard: She was the illegitimate daughter of Baffo.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: She has far more insight than Selim, so she pushes him to take the decisions.
• I Have Your Wife: She forces Defne to poison Bayezid by threatening to harm her little sister.
• Mistaken for Cheating: Huricihan threatens to tell the sultan about Nurbanu having an affair. Nurbanu kills her to save her and her children’s lives.
• Undying Loyalty: She is very loyal to Selim.
• Wicked Stepmother: Her stepmother in Venice is implied to be one, since she wanted to marry her off.
• Would Hurt a Child: She blackmailed Defne into killing her sister. She also helps Selim murder Bayezid’s young sons.
• You Remind Me of X: Hürrem tells Cecilia that she reminds her of a person she knew time ago. Hürrem is referring to herself.

Esmahan, Sah, and Gevherhan Sultan

Nurbanu and Selim's triplets.

Tropes pertaining to all of them:

• Same-Sex Triplets
• One-Steve Limit: Two of them were named after their great aunt Sah and Sah’s daughter Esmahan.
• Morality Pet: Nurbanu is not a nice person, however she loves her daughters.
• The Cutie: They are all cute as children.
• Pink Is Feminine: They have a lot of matching pink outfits as children.
• Arranged Marriage: Nurbanu marries them off them to various pashas.
• Age Lift: Historically they were around one or two years older than Murad. In the show they’re around four years younger than Murad.

Tropes specifically pertaining to Esmahan

• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She was unaware Nurbanu stole Hurrem’s ring, so she wore it, which led to Fahriye Kalfa discovering Nurbanu’s theft, which led to Fahriye attacking Nurbanu.

Tropes specifically pertaining to Gevherhan

• Redheaded Stepchild: Inverted. She is envious of Hurrem’s red hair, and wishes she had inherited it.

Tropes specifically pertaining to Sah

• Teen Pregnancy: She has a son, Mehmet, in the last episode. She is about four years younger than Murad. Murad is 20 in the last episode.

Sehzade Murad

Selim and Nurbanu’s son.

• Momma's Boy: He loves Nurbanu a lot. The historical Murad III was known for being devoted to his mother.
• Young Future Famous People: He’s the future Murad III.
• Evil Nephew: Not particularly ‘evil’ as Bayezid was rebelling against Selim, but he is the one who nearly kills Bayezid with an arrow.
• Big Brother Instinct: He is loving to his three younger sisters.

Bayezid, Cihangir and their family

Şehzade Bayezid

Şehzade Bayezid

(Played by Özgür Ege Nalcı, Erhan Can Kartal, & Aras Bulut İynemli)
(Voiced by: Santiago Florecín [Latin American Spanish dub])
Hürrem and Süleyman's fourth child and third son; the fourth of the royal princes.

• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: A variation where Bayezid begs for his sons’ lives. Bayezid is defiant at first of Selim, however Selim invokes this and Bayezid begins to plead for his sons’ lives.
• Big Brother Worship: He thinks very highly of his brother Mustafa. Even after his death, he becomes very vocal after his support for him and is disgusted about his mother and his sister's involvement in his death. It's also inverted since he also adores his younger brother Cihangir.
• Cartwright Curse: Huricihan is killed by Nurbanu, Rana is wrongly blamed for killing Huricihan and hanged, and Defne commits suicide to avoid being executed.
• Dead Guy Junior: Süleyman named his son after his grandfather, Sultan Bayezid—the boy's great-grandfather.
• Death by Irony: His death is caused by doing some of the things Hürrem and Mihrimah framed Mustafa of doing, like committing treason and affiliating to Tahmasp. The worst part is that Hürrem and Mihrimah framed Mustafa to save Bayezid's life from the fratricide law.
• Defiant to the End: When Selim is executing him, Bayezid tells him that he would be remembered as a bad king and as a drunk.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: The real Sehzade Bayezid was not executed by Sehzade Selim.
• Don't Shoot the Message: In-universe, he dissuades a mob by convincing them that he doesn't approve it despite being sad about Mustafa's death.
• Everyone Has Standards: While he hates his brother Selim, he is disgusted to learn that the Janissaries attempted to kill him.
• Fan Disservice: The nudity of his corpse accentuates the feeling that he is dead.
• Good Parents: He loves his children and is actively trying to avoid that they enter in the Sibling Rivalry he is with Selim.
• Green-Eyed Monster: He becomes jealous of Selim when the latter become the governor of Manisa. Their already bad relationship gets worse.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He is so easy to make angry, which may be his Fatal Flaw. As a child, his mother had to constantly punish him by depriving him of training, while he let himself be manipulated by Selim into making a mutiny due to his hatred.
• Kissing Cousins: He enters in a romance with Huricihan. Hürrem and especially Suleyman do not take this well.
• Lethally Stupid: He and his sons die as a consequence of him fleeing to Persia, the Ottoman Empire’s greatest enemy.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By sneaking in a war, he exposed Hürrem to be picketed by her enemies and made innocent parties be executed.
• Parental Favoritism: Hürrem becomes more interested that he becomes the next Sultan, since he is fitter for the throne.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: He is reassigned to another province after he participated on a duel with Selim.
• The Unfavorite: He never received the same amount of love and support his siblings (particularly Mehmet, Mihrimah and Cihangir) get from their father.
• This Is Unforgivable!:
  • He is understandably angry with Huricihan for leaking Mustafa's marriage to Mihrunissa, and while he still loves her, he cannot let it go.
  • When discovering about Selim's attempts to steal gold from Kutahya, Bayezid states that calling him a brother would be an insult to Mustafa or Cihangir. He even sends him the head of the thief.
  • He is disgusted with Lala Mustafa Pasha and Rüstem Pasha's betrayal.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: He craved approval from his father, but he always ignored him. He was more loving to Mehmed, Mihrimah, Cihangir, Selim and even Mustafa than to him.
• Workout Fanservice: After being banned from seeing Huricihan, he does sparring shirtless, although that scene is more focused in his anger than in his physique.

Şehzade Cihangir

Şehzade Cihangir

(Played by Aybars Kartal Özson & Tolga Sarıtaş)
Hürrem and Süleyman's fifth child and fourth son; the fifth of the royal princes.

• All Love Is Unrequited: He loves Huricihan, but she doesn’t love him back.
• Beware the Nice Ones: When he realized that Rüstem Pasha had plotted to damage Suleyman and Mustafa's relationship, he becomes more rebellious and openly threatens Rüstem.
• Big Brother Worship: He adores Mustafa, and thinks he should be the next Sultan. Hürrem is not happy about this due to the possibility that Mustafa, Mahidevran or Mustafa's supporters kill him and his other brothers.
• Conflicting Loyalty: He ultimately prefers not to testify about the poisoned jacket, since it makes him decide between his brother and his sister Mihrimah.
• Death by Despair: He does not take Mustafa's death well at all, and enters in a deep pain.
• Gentleman and a Scholar: The most bookish of princes, and one of the nicest.
• Genius Cripple: He has a deformed back, and he is very smart and bookish. Sehzade Mehmet is unable to win him in a tabletop game, and Mustafa is impressed of hearing his ideas about the war.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: He does not bother pursuing Huricihan, since she loves another person.
• Jerkass Realization: In his deathbed, he realizes he was an awful brother to Selim and apologizes to him.
• Morality Pet: He is a humanizing character for Sehzade Bayezid, Mihrimah Sultan, and Hürrem Sultan.
• Nice Guy: He is a very nice and sweet person.
• Right Through His Pants: When he has sex with a concubine, he keeps most clothing since the actor lacks the kyphosis of his character. The concubine is fully naked, though.
• Sibling Triangle: He is in love with Huricihan, but his brother Bayezid is too.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: He is the nicest prince and one of the few unambiguously good characters of all the series, and he dies out of grief when his older brother Mustafa is executed.

Huricihan Sultan

Huricihan Sultan

Hatice and Ibrahim’s daughter.

• Like Parent, Like Child: Both she and her father Ibrahim were willing to make a false adultery accusation to get rid from a rival sultana. And for both, this proved their downfall, although Huricihan dies first.
• Morality Pet: Both of his parents loved her and Osman despite their decaying morals.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: Despite trying for years, she had no children with Bayezid.
• Good Stepmother: Despite her infertility, she is a loving stepmother to Bayezid's sons with Rana.
• Dude Magnet: She is constantly praised for her beauty and attracts the attention of both Bayezid and Cihangir.
• She Is All Grown Up: When she returns alongside Fatma Sultan, her beauty is constantly praised.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She looks similar to her mother Hatice. Her bent eyebrows come from her father Ibrahim.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Despite Mustafa allowing them to be together, she still leaks his marriage to Mihrunissa to Sultan Suleyman.

Ayse Sultan (daughter of Bayezid)

Bayezid’s daughter with Rana.

• Missing Mom: Her mother Rana is killed when she is a toddler. She takes this harder than her brothers.
• Daddy's Girl: She is close to her father, and calls his name before Bayezid leaves on campaign.
• Children Are Innocent: She refuses to believe Defne could have harmed Bayezid.
• The Cutie: She is very cute due to being a little girl.

Other family members

Beyhan Sultan

Beyhan Sultan

(Played by Pınar Çağlar Gençtürk)

One of the Valide's other daughters, who lives in a province on the Danube.

• Big Brother Instinct: She is very protective and caring towars Hatice.
• Black Sheep: Beyhan declares I Have No Brother and estranges herself from her family after her brother—with the help of their mother—has her husband executed.
• The Bus Came Back: After her self-imposed exile, she returns briefly to mourn Valide Sultan's death and to visit Hatice some time later.
• Foreshadowing: She tells Hatice she will not understand her pain until Suleyman kills her husband. Later on, Suleyman kills Ibrahim Pasha.
• Morality Pet: Her sisters are not saints, but generally treat her with respect.
• Nephewism: She is taking care of her sister Hatice's children after Hatice committed suicide.
• The Lost Lenore: She was more faithful to her husband Ferhat than to her biological family. When Suleyman has him executed, she disowns her biological family and exiles herself.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Her and her husband Ferhat Pasha.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Decides to stop acknowledging Suleyman as her brother after Ferhat's execution. Time later, she concedes that Ferhat's execution was rightful, but states that Suleyman should have given him a more lenient punishment, like jail or exile.
• White Sheep: Out of all her generation, she is the most moral of the Sultanas, since she does not involve in all the treacherous plots.

Fatma Sultan

Fatma Sultan

(Played by Meltem Cumbul)

One of the Valide's other daughters.

• Awful Wedded Life: Even before she poisons him, she had an unhappy marriage with Mustafa Pasha.
• Beware the Silly Ones: She is playful and smiling, but she is as manipulative as her sister Sah.
• Cartwright Curse: Three of her significant others die. Her first husband Mustafa Pasha is poisoned by her, Elkas Mirza is left to die by Suleyman and Kara Ahmed Pasha is executed after being revealed to frame Bayezid.
• Establishing Character Moment: Her rebellious spirit is first shown when she grabs an apple from a vendor, and after paying them for her and her companions, she tells them that this liberty must be exploited before arriving to the palace.
• Everyone Has Standards: Even she is appalled by Mustafa’s execution.
• The Exile: Sultan Suleyman sends her off after she attempts to arrange a riot to have Hürrem killed.
• Rebellious Princess: She doesn't really like following strict rules of Ottoman Dynasty.
• Remember the New Guy?: The people at the Topkapi palace knows her despite not appearing at all before.
• Til Murder Do Us Part: To outsmart Hürrem and to prevent him from revealing her adultery, she gives her husband an overdose of sweets to kill him.

Aybige Hatun

Aybige Hatun

Hafsa Sultan's niece.

• Kissing Cousins: She was originally going to marry Mustafa.
• Morality Pet: She becomes one of Hurrem's few friends with her easy-going nature and wit.
• Put on a Bus: After Malkocoglu is pardoned and leaves the palace for the time being, she goes away.
• Warrior Princess: She is depicted as a skilled fighter and as a warrior prince.

Sah and her family

Şah Sultan

Şah Sultan

(Played by Deniz Çakır)

One of Selim and Hafsa’s daughters.

• Ambition Is Evil: The most ambitious of Selim’s daughters, and a manipulative woman scheming against Hürrem.
• Arranged Marriage: With Lutfi Pasha whom she clearly detests.
• Awful Wedded Life: She hates Lutfi, due to him being amoral.
• Brainy Brunette: The smartest of sultan's sisters. So much that she is more perceptive than Mahidevran or Hatice and knows that their plans against Hürrem are so hasty that have but empowered her.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She is not as friendly as she wants to appear, since she uses her apparent kindness to manipulate people and hide her true intentions.
• Everyone Has Standards: She is horrified when her husband Lufti burnt the vagina of a prostitute just to make a point.
• Ice Queen: She is extremely cold, pragmatic and emotionless.
• False Friend: She feigns to be fond of Hürrem to gain her trust. After watching her discussing with Ibrahim, she starts to doubt if she would turn against her of if she is really on her side. However, Hürrem plays along until Sah reveals her real intention.
• Good Parents: She is a loving mother to Esmahan.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: After Mihrimah blackmails her into leaving, she decides she has enough of fighting with her own family.
• Hypocrite: She asks Ayas Pasha to serve loyally to the Empire and scolds him for being associated to Hürrem, but it is clear she wants him to do the same for him.
• Locked Away in a Monastery: She gives all her belongings to Hürrem's charity complex and goes to a dervish community to avoid being blackmailed by an angry Mihrimah.
• Long Bus Trip: Mihrimah blackmails her with exposing her spying on her and her complicity on kidnapping Hürrem, so she will not return to the series.
• Not Me This Time:
  • Due to being one of her opponents, and one of her toughest at that, Hürrem thinks Sah was behind Nigar's kidnapping of Mihrimah's daughter. Sah only wanted her to kill Rüstem.
  • Rüstem thinks she is behind the conspiracy to get Mustafa in the throne. She is not.
• Put on a Bus to Hell: She leaves the Topkapi palace after Mihrimah threatens to pin the blame of participating in Hürrem's kidnapping on her. She is forced to surrender her belongings to Hürrem's complex and is Locked Away in a Monastery.
• Related in the Adaptation: The real Şah Sultan was Hafsa's stepdaughter. Here, Sah is Hafsa's daughter.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue to Hatice and Fatma’s red.
• Remember the New Guy?: She never appeared in the two earlier seasons, but all the main characters know her.
• Sibling Triangle: It is revealed that Sah was attracted to Ibrahim and she distanced from Hatice after she got to marry him.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With Hatice. She is very cold while Hatice is very emotional.
• Silly Rabbit, Romance Is for Kids!: Unlike her sisters, she seems to have given up on finding love.
• Thicker Than Water: She and Hatice don't get along well, but when Hatice goes missing, Şah is clearly petrified. She has sought to protect her from her pain and has been vigilant to protect her from suicide attempts.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In her first trick against Hürrem, she never intended to start estranging Suleyman and Mustafa, but as Hürrem said, doubts will start to set them apart.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Traumatic as the attacks by Mahidevran or Ibrahim were, they still ended up empowering Hürrem due to their recklessness. On the other hand, Şah Sultan does think things through and is more creative when conspiring against Hürrem.

Lutfi Pasha

For Lutfi Pasha, see Magnificent Century Pashas.

Esmehan Sultan

Esmehan Sultan

Sah and Lutfi’s daughter.

• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She seems a completely friendly girl when she appears, but then she starts mocking Mihrimah for her unrequited crush on Malkocoglu.
• Disproportionate Retribution: She mocks Mihrimah’s crush on Bali Bey. Mihrimah has her join the dervish community.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: She steals the letter from Malkocoglu to Mihrimah declining her advances to make the harem girls mock her, when Mihrimah exploits that the letter has no named recipient by making them think that the letter was for Esmehan.
• Jerkass Has a Point: She was hateful while bringing Bali Bey's reluctance to marry Mihrimah, but she is completely right about that.
• Jerkass to One: She is really only mean to Mihrimah, and has a brotherly relationship with Mehmet.
• Kick the Dog: For no good reason, she teases Mihrimah by mocking her crush on Bali Bey.
• Like Brother and Sister: Her relationship with Sehzade Mehmet is utterly brotherly.
• Locked Away in a Monastery: She is going to join her mother in the dervish community.
• Morality Pet: One of the few characters Sah Sultan is unambiguously nice to.
• Remember the New Guy?: Like her mother, she is known by Hürrem and her children despite never appearing onscreen nor being mentioned in the two earlier seasons.
• Smug Snake: She acts arrogant to Mihrimah for being rejected by Malkocoglu and for thinking of her as a cause of Suleyman's veto of Esmehan's engagement to him. Esmehan's pride makes her oblivious that Mihrimah is as cunning as Hürrem and her plan to mock her backfires on her.