All the things you ever wanted to know about characters from Medallion. Spoilers ahead.
Andreya Orifax
The heroine. Ruler of her people, but horribly scarred by the loss of her innocence at a young age.- Age-Appropriate Angst - When she was younger, she lost everyone in her immediate family. She still feels terrified of being abandoned.
- Be All My Sins Remembered - After Kespa's defeat, the Ilvir and the Xarn rally around her as the hero who won the war for them. But due to Anshi taking on her wounds and dying in her stead after really defeating Kespa, she doesn't feel she deserves the praise and adulation.
- In leaked chapters of the untitled sequel, she actively fights against anyone praising her for what happened to end the war.
- Berserk Button - Calling her "Andreya", "Your Majesty", or any other honorific. Also, insulting her family or (God help you) Anshi.
- The Chains of Commanding - She feels trapped by the responsibilities of royalty, which isn't helped by the fact that her people hang all their hopes for a return to the surface and a prosperous life on her very young, very untested shoulders.
- Chaste Hero - She's asexual.
- The Chosen One - Her people consider her this, as she's descended directly from their greatest leader who established the matriarchal monarchy.
- Dreya, on the other hand, considers herself The Unchosen One.
- Establishing Character Moment - her first conversation with Melane, when she refuses to take her advisor's advice and says she'll ignore what her subjects think and do what she wants.
- Fatal Flaw - Dreya's very, very bad at ignoring insults and taunts.
- Humble Pie - her ill-fated attempt to fight her way out of Kespa's fortress, which led to her imprisonment and her poisoning.
- Minidress of Power - It reaches to her knees, but in a culture where long skirts are the norm for royalty it's as mini as you can get.
- Real Women Don't Wear Dresses - Averted since the majority of the book has her in a dress.
- Rebellious Queen - At least until the midpoint of the story. Thankfully she has Melane to help her out.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni - Red to Anshi's blue. She's the one who's always off to save someone.
- Royal Blood - Well, she's a queen.
- Sibling Team - With Anshi.
Tamox
A refugee experiment-gone-wrong who literally runs into Dreya.- Butt-Monkey - Everything happens to him, and half the time it's not his fault.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass - In a literal sense. He's a good fighter but none of it is intentional - he can't control how good he is, it's literally bred into him.
- Declaration of Protection - Said to Keplan about his daughter Saela
- The Fool - He always gets in trouble
- Humble Hero
- Loser Protagonist
- Magitek - His unique abilities are a result of magically-enhanced genetic engineering.
- Phlebotinum Rebel - Against Kespa, his creator. He was supposed to be the perfect soldier.
- The Pollyanna - Compared to the others, he's a bastion of sunshine.
Cassy
A Quirlwing juvenile who originally acts as a guide but sticks around for the adventure.- Apologetic Attacker - In the final battle
- Beware the Nice Ones - She's the least likely to attempt to kill you. But she can wipe your mind clean of all brain activity.
- Mix-and-Match Critters - take a squirrel, a cat, and a bird and combine them and you get something close to her species.
- Mystical Waif - As close as you can get while being a winged squirrel cat.
- Telepath - Capable of Mind Manipulation, taking a Journey to the Center of the Mind, and Mind Probe.
- Conversely able to get Mind Raped by anyone powerful enough to sense her.
Anshi Hitaro
- Action Girl
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished - Averted. She LOST A FREAKING ARM.
- Nearly becomes a Broken Bird as a result
- BFS - Her broadsword's pretty fantastic.
- Cultured Warrior - Due to her service in the Guard
- The General's Daughter - Her father's the CO of Dreya's army.
- Lamarck Was Right - If her father's any evidence.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Dreya's red, even limiting her killing sprees when she's injured
- Samus Is a Girl - A short story details her rescue of the Xarn, and to many she's the first elf they've ever seen. So when she singlehandedly takes out five Myrl and they only see her from the back, it's a shock when her true gender is revealed.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran - though she keeps it under control well.
- Sibling Team - With Dreya.
Saela Jano
A friend to Tamox, and the first Xarn Dreya ever meets.- Actual Pacifist - Until she Took a Level in Badass at the final battle.
- Break the Cutie - After the capture of her mother.
- Faux Action Girl
- Plucky Girl - After her recovery.
Sirold Treln
- Cultured Badass - He keeps the most argumentative court in the country in line. And he will kill you if you strike first.
- Heroic Neutral - All he really wants is to rule his people in peace. It takes Dreya's involvement to convince him to fight.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner - "Freedom? I don't call this freedom. I call it practical emancipation." Cue his
one-handed fight out of a ring of Myrl. - Reluctant Warrior - He genuinely wants to avoid bloodshed, especially seeing as how his people are already facing extinction.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality
- Supporting Leader - He's basically responsible for the organization of his army and keeps Kespa from overrunning the forest while Dreya's dealing with her True Companions.
Kieral Treln
- Blood-Splattered Innocents
- Daddy's Girl
- Damsel Scrappy - In one of the short stories, she falls down a well and stops an entire party of refugees
- Hidden Depths - She loves to dance.
- Lady of Adventure - Becomes one at the end passing the throne on to a relative and sets out to seek her fortunes.
- Princess Classic
- Took a Level in Badass - Then quickly suffered Badass Decay after an inconvenient injury.
Keplan Jano
- The Charmer - At least in his own mind.
- Non-Action Guy - Pretty much paralyzed by his family troubles.
- Prince Charming Wannabe
Kespa (also known as Cesla Kahn)
- Ambition Is Evil - How she got to be the villain of the piece.
- Big Bad
- Combat Stilettos - Subverted. She wears high heels... at home, to announce her arrival to her servants. She's got a pair of combat boots for practical use.
- Evil Redhead
- Flaw Exploitation - She uses Dreya's obsession with revenge against all wrongs to distract her.
- God Save Us from the Queen! - Usurped the throne of Norigoth and titled herself Queen of the Realm
- Subverted somewhat in that she's not technically ruler of anything - yet.
- Lipstick Lesbian - She loves corsets and feminine dresses.
- Nigh-Invulnerability - Granted by the (almost) all-powerful Medallion
- Psycho Lesbian - She and Krysty were lovers.
- There Are No Therapists - Justified, as Ilverin civilization hasn't yet developed psychotherapy. Though many characters would benefit from it...
- Tomboy and Girly Girl - With Krysty or Aora as the tomboy
Krysty Anaril
- Ax-Crazy
- Dark Action Girl - Compared to Dreya's heroine. Too bad she doesn't stick around long.
- Femme Fatale Spy
- Lesbian Jock - Doesn't play sports, but she is a soldier.
- Mysterious Woman - Though that changes quickly.
Aora Kahn
- All of the Other Reindeer
- Emotionless Girl - Until her backstory is revealed.
- Girl with Psycho Weapon - She forged it herself
- Loners Are Freaks - At least according to the population of Tralnrt..
- Tomboy and Girly Girl - With girly girl Valeria
Melane Elantur
- Angst? What Angst? - She lost her best friend Mayara to Kespa. The loss is never mentioned, probably because she's busy caring for said friend's daughter.
- Badass Bookworm - She was caretaker of the elven library, making her the most educated of any of the cast. She declines to join in the final battle, but she has scars from the Myrl War
- Girl Friday - To Dreya's Crusoe.
Mayara Orifax
- Action Mom - She fought in the Myrl War on the front lines with a baby daughter at home.
- Almighty Mom
- Dreaming of Things to Come
- Fainting Seer
- The Fatalist
- Girl in the Mirror
- The High Queen - Until her not quite death.
- Mama Bear - The woman will do anything required of her to save her daughter.
- Or her husband, for that matter.
- Missing Mom
- Never Got to Say Goodbye
- Parents in Distress
- Prophecies Are Always Right - the short story "Let Us Burn" reveals that Mayara has tried time and again to change the futures revealed to her by her visions, but nothing she does can alter it, so she's come to accept this trope as fact.
- Ridiculously Successful Future Self - In Becoming Emerald, Mayara is portrayed as a clumsy, forgetful, somewhat out-there girl who struggles with her undeveloped psychic powers. Fast forward two centuries, and she's queen.
- Seer
- Unwilling Suspension
- You Can't Fight Fate - Everything Mayara did to try and prevent the events she foresaw from happening ended up ultimately allowing said events to come into existence.
Darys Orifax
- The Charmer
- Hot Consort - To his wife Mayara
- Manly Men Can Hunt - According to
Word of God, before he became king he hunted wildcats. Ilverin-eating wildcats. - Scarily Competent Tracker
- Screw Destiny - compared to Mayara, he firmly believes he's in control of his fate.
Treyn Hitaro
- Hysterical Woman - Occurs when she realizes her daughter wasn't really dead.
- The Ophelia - Partially. She was mentally fragile, but wasn't truly ill.
Aril Hitaro
- Back-to-Back Badasses - With his daughter, Anshi.
- Badass Cape - He wears one. And he's awesome.
- Four-Star Badass - He's the Captain of the Guard, which in the Medallion universe puts him in complete control of every soldier in the Guard and makes him subordinate only to Dreya herself.
- Papa Wolf - Do. NOT. Touch. His. Daughter.
- And then when she dies, he almost has a breakdown...
Valeria
- Alpha Bitch - To Dreya
- Bratty Teenage Daughter - Of the Orifax family (though not related to Dreya).
- The Fashionista
- Socialite - She's actually the only one shown with a large circle of friends.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl - The girly one to Aora's tomboy
