October Daye / Characters

The October Daye series is richly described and also well-populated with a variety of characters. Several of the characters are Walking Spoiler and spoilers are unmarked up to A Rose-Red Chain, so go forward at your own risk.

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The Knowes

Alien Geometries: If asked nicely by Toby (everyone else thinks it weird and embarrassing), the Knowe will rearrange itself within a small limit to make things easier for her.
Genius Loci: The Knowes have not revealed an ability to to communicate directly, but Toby respectfully asks them for assistance on a regular basis and the Knowes respond as much as an Underhill fae construct can be said to help her. They also have strong opinions on who they like and dislike. Goldengreen and The Mists are the two Knowes with the most personality so far.
The Power of Glass: The Mists has stained glass windows in its halls which change the scenes they depict in Fae history according to the Knowe's mood or the situation inside the Knowe at any given moment. Toby has had to politely ask the Knowe to tone it down when the windows depict upsetting or unkind scenes.

The Firstborn (Serious Spoiler Warning)

The Firstborn are the sons and daughters of the Lord and Ladies of Fairy: Oberon, Maeve, and Titania. Maeve's children are hot, Titania's children are cool, and Oberon's children are heroes (a bit ironic, given that Maeve is the Winter Queen, and Titania the Summer). They are as powerful compared to their children as the Lord and Ladies are compared to them - practically gods. Most are the progenitors of one (or possibly more) fae races. Who they are counts as spoilers, so beware unmarked ones. They were given real names by their parents, but took titles as a warning to their children.

The Firstborn as a group:

Cain and Abel: They're not allowed to actually kill each other, per Oberon's Law, but that does not stop Maeve's children and Titania's children from engaging in feuds. Like Eira manipulating a bunch of merlins into slaughtering the Roane en masse, as punishment for not telling the future to her and being her sister's children.
Monster Progenitor: The Firstborn are collectively the originators of the many races of Fae.
Parental Abandonment: Oberon and all of his wives, Maeve, Titania and one whose name is yet to be revealed, are all gone. Perhaps never to return.
Really Gets Around: The firstborn are in one combination or another, the parents of every single faerie race — of which there are many, many.

Amandine

Toby's mother, the first Dochas Sidhe. The Last of the First. Known as the Liar to other Firstborn.

Magic Signature: Blood and roses.

Abusive Parents: She might be a Mama Bear when other people go after Toby, but Amandine, as far as she's concerned, has the complete right to treat her half-human daughter however she wants. Even if that includes things like "forcibly changing her species" or "kidnapping her friends". Being her favorite child is no prize either, to the point that August repudiates her and chooses to be only Simon's child during the divorce. Just because she's superficially sweeter doesn't make her an ounce less controlling.
Blood Magic: Considered the best blood-worker in Faerie.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: She went mad (or at least madder than before) when Toby was a child.
Domestic Abuse: According to the Luidaeg, she was never good for Simon; it's obvious when they interact that she views him as one more possession.
Evil Matriarch: Has no problem whatsoever taking hostages to make Toby do what she wants.
Fantastic Racism: Is one of the purebloods who considers the animal shapeshifting fae as filthy and worthless as they do changelings.
Freudian Excuse: Losing August and then having her husband leave her for Oleander did a number on her, clearly.
Missing Mom: Obviously one of these for Toby, since her retreat from reality into madness caused Toby much grief after Toby's Changeling's Choice. However, her own mother also counts as one, since she is the daughter of Oberon, but not of either of his Queens, Maeve or Titania.
My Nayme Is: Apparently, Oberon wanted her name to be Almandine, but Janet made the call to leave out the 'l' after Oberon's disappearance.
Parental Favoritism: Amandine has two daughters. August, the eldest, is a pureblood, and thus the favored child. When she went missing and her husband Simon took off to find August, Amandine dallied with a human and had Toby, the changeling. Amandine found her second child no Replacement Goldfish and tried to turn her completely human. Failing that, when Changeling's Choice backfired (had Toby chosen Human she would have been killed), Amandine became the Missing Mom in emotional supportiveness until Toby ran away and ended up with Devin in Home.
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: She tries to stop Simon divorcing her by saying she's Oberon's own daughter and she doesn't want it to happen. It doesn't stick, because the Luidaeg's had it with her.
Spoiled Brat: As the youngest of the Firstborn, the only people strong enough to tell her "no" and make it stick vanished when she was little. Her siblings mostly left her to herself, so she grew up surrounded by people who couldn't really rein her in (or didn't want to, in Simon and Sylvester's case).
Why Couldn't You Be Different?: A little bit, regarding what small love she has for Toby...enough that she saved Toby's life ... so she could force her to go find August later.

The Luidaeg

Not a sea witch, the Sea Witch. The mother of all Roane ... and Selkies. Maeve's and Oberon's first-born daughter - possibly the only remaining one. First born of the Firstborn.

Defrosting Ice Queen: More like Defrosting Terrifyingly Powerful Bad-Tempered Loner.
Bizarre Taste in Food: The Luidaeg likes ice cream. And burritos — with the foil still on. She also brews coffee and tea with saltwater, and when served coffee prepared with tap water, adds sour cream and table salt to it.
Deal with the Devil: Several of the spells, favors and other magical assistance she can offer come with a price that borders on this for the dealmaker. This is generally deliberate on her part, either because she doesn't like the individual, or because she does and is trying to discourage them from doing something she knows will end badly.
The Dreaded: The Sea Witch is basically a monster from sidhe legend who's known for two things- that she will take any deal offered, and that she will charge a terrible price.
Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: October's laidback approach to friendship works on her.
Equivalent Exchange: Favors from the Luidaeg can be paid in simple things like blood or service. But the larger the request, the dearer the price. She cannot refuse a deal when offered. She can only try to dissuade the dealmaker by setting a price so high they will refuse to pay and withdraw their request. Unfortunately, this doesn't work nearly as often as she would like it to.
Exact Words: The Luidaeg is under a compulsion to always tell the truth, except when it comes to her kith and kin (ie, selkies and roan). When a character who is now a selkie asks if this means the Luidaeg has been lying, she points out that being able to lie and actually lying are different things.
Friendless Background: It seems implied that the Luidaeg doesn't have anyone she's friends with until Toby comes along. This is expanded upon slightly in "In Sea Salt Tears".
Heroic Vow: People who make these end up on the Luidaeg's bad side.
- Simon Torquill made a promise to care for Amandine and remain at her side. Breaking it resulted in the Luidaeg referring to him only as "Failure" ... until he made amends and redeemed himself.
- August made a rash promise to find Oberon, father of all fae and bring him back, and agreed to the terrible price the Luidaeg asked. Simon is now paying the price for her failure and foolish hubris.
I Know Your True Name: In Chimes at Midnight, Toby learns that her name is Antigone of Albany, which explains her use of the nickname "Annie" when she doesn't reveal her nature as the Sea Witch. In The Winter Long, the Luidaeg reveals she has also gone by "Vivienne," one of the names of the Lady of the Lake.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In The Winter Long, October's first clue of just how bad the situation actually is... is when she realizes that the Luidaeg is afraid.
Parental Abandonment: In "In Sea-Salt Tears," she shares her family history with her lover (unbeknownst to her) - Oberon gave her the sea, and when Maeve was lost (see An Artificial Night, where it's implied that the Ballad of Tam Lin is that story) he couldn't stand to be around her anymore, and told her to take care of the sea.
Trash of the Titans: The Luidaeg lives in an apartment in a very seedy part of San Francisco. If you're unwelcome or not a friend (which is pretty much anybody other than Team Toby), the apartment looks like it's crawling with mildew, mold, and wettish things best not examined too closely. The reality is that it's not untidy at all. She does it to scare people away.

Blind Michael

Leader of the Wild Hunt. The Erl King. Son of Maeve.

A God Am I: He declares to Toby that he is a God, and she even starts to believe it once she's taken prisoner. Within his realm, he might as well be.
Big Bad: Serves as main villain of An Artificial Night having abducted various children to help with his Wild Hunt.
Fair-Play Villain: A children's horror, and thus must abide by the rules of children's tales.
Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: He wasn't always evil and even started his hunt with the best of intentions but become more obsessed with gaining power just for the sake of it as time went on. His wife Acacia even explains this to Simon in that "If you were considering the virtues of becoming a lord in your own land, I recommend you find a better way. Stronger men than you have been corrupted by the lure of empire."
Killed Off for Real: By Toby in An Artificial Night. Comes back to bite her when the Queen accuses her of breaking Oberon's Law (the prohibition against killing someone with fae blood) in Late Eclipses.
Psychopathic Manchild: Is highly childish. When Toby's friends show up to rescue her, he throws a tantrum about how it "isn't fair" that he can't do whatever he wants unopposed.
Seeing Through Another's Eyes: Blind Michael sees through the eyes of his Riders and the children he's abducted to force into The Wild Hunt. When they ride on Halloween night, the Riders also see through all of each other's eyes at once.
Would Hurt a Child: He's described as "a children's horror" and forcefully breaks their minds and bodies transforming them into his riders and steeds with many not surviving the process.

Acacia

Blind Michael's consort, the first Dryad and Luna's mother. Daughter of Titania.

Creepy Child: The kidnapped children who were made part of the hunt — or their mounts — and who could not go home again are under her care and protection. They are all unsettlingly off, somehow.
Fisher King: She now rules Blind Michael's lands after the events of An Artificial Night and they are beginning to bloom.

Eira Rosynhwyr

Daughter of Titania. Firstborn of the Daoine Sidhe. The Luidaeg's mortal enemy. See Evening Winterrose

Black Annis and Gentle Annie

Daughters of Maeve, sisters of the Luidaeg. Killed by Titania's children.

I Know Your True Name: Gentle Annie's name was Anglides, the Mother of Trees.

Amorica and Elton

Twins. Firstborn of the Tuatha de Dannan.

Killed Off for Real: Amorica, the first time the Firstborn went to war against each other.

Arawn of the White Stag

A wild Firstborn who created the deep realm of Annwn.

Captain Pete of the Duchy of Ships

Real name Amphitrite, Firstborn of the Merrow.

Abusive Parents: Titania was neglectful at best, only interested in Pete because she thought Pete could help her take the sea from Maeve. Pete has zero desire for Titania to be found.
Black Sheep: She's Titania's daughter, but her siblings didn't like her because she was sea fae, while Maeve's children took her in, so she and the Luidaeg are uncharacteristically fond of each other.
Only Known by Their Nickname: She doesn't go by Amphitrite anymore, partly because it's too old-fashioned for her tastes but mostly because she's trying to keep a low profile (merrow react badly to seeing her, and she doesn't want her siblings rolling up to pick a fight).

Shadowed Hills

Shadowed Hills is the knowe held by Sylvester Torquill, who is one of the most beloved nobles in fae society. He runs his household with kindness and love, and is pretty much fatherly toward changelings, where most full-blooded fae are disdainful toward fae with human blood.

Sir October Christine Daye

The protagonist of the series. First and only Changeling ever to have been knighted. Her knighthood is enforced by her liege, and she eventually is recognized as a Hero of the Realm by the Queen in the Mists.

Magic signature: Copper and cut grass...leading more in later books to blood and cut grass.

Action Girl: October can hold herself in a fight.
Character Tics:
- Toby wipes her fingers on her jeans all the time, from whatever she happened to get on her fingers. Most often blood; sometimes it's her own.
- After the events of the first book, Toby starts compulsively checking the back seat every time she enters a car (or even gets close to it).
Good Thing You Can Heal/Luckily, My Powers Will Protect Me: After book 4. And tweaked, in that Toby realizes her tendency to count on her enhanced magical gifts means she's starting to slip away from her humanity.
Heart Is an Awesome Power: Not one of her more obvious superpowers, but Toby's compassion for the supposedly lesser or non-sentient parts of Faerie, such as the pixies and the knowes, ends up saving the day more than once.
Honorary Aunt: To the Brown kids. They call her "Aunt Birdie," because Cassandra couldn't pronounce her actual name as a little girl.
Iconic Item: The leather jacket she got from Tybalt in Rosemary and Rue has become this for Toby. It's one part light armor, one part Security Blanket.
Martyr Without a Cause: Toby's personal death wish is pointed out to her in book 3.
Missing Mom: After Toby spent fourteen years as a fish, her quarter-fae daughter has grown up, has a new family, and wants nothing to do with her birth mother.
Must Have Caffeine: The fae are largely nocturnal. Due to her Private Investigator job, Toby has to be awake frequently for mundane daylight hours.
- After becoming addicted to goblin-fruit in book 7, Toby quits caffeine. As of the latest books, her Healing Factor has been amped up so high it wouldn't work on her anyway.
Psychoactive Powers: Toby's fae magic is usually weak, but it strengthens when she's angry. Has changed a bit since Late Eclipses, the revelation that her mom is a Firstborn, and her blood has been rebalanced from being more human to its original state.
Sarcasm Mode: Toby's primary defense mechanism.
Take a Third Option: The Hope Chests usually present a user with the Changeling's Choice: Human or Fae. Toby wants to hang onto her humanity as much as she can, so the first time the chest does this to her, she chooses "both". The second time, she flat out refuses to consider it and tells the chest to put her back the way she wants to be.
The Un-Favourite: Her mom's opinion on her is that she should have let herself be turned fully human, given October was a child in the 50's that roughly translates to "I wish you died". Now compare her other daughter August she spent 100 years searching for and wasn't above hurting October to find.
Unfortunate Names: Toby's full name is October Christine Daye — the unfortunate combination resulting from a loopy Fae mother who doesn't take into account that her changeling child will be tormented by human children.
Walking Disaster Area: Where Toby goes, death and destruction are sure to follow. Acknowledged in-story, to the point where some characters actively hold this against her. This has actually gotten better over time - in the first two books, she qualifies as a full-on Doom Magnet.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: In Toby's case, the completely justified phobia of water comes from involuntarily having spent 14 years as a fish. And she lives in San Francisco, the city by the bay. And one of her cases involves the sea fae.

Connor O'Dell

A Selkie, old friend and flame of Toby's.

Arranged Marriage: To Rayseline
Killed Off for Real performing a Heroic Sacrifice to protect Toby's daughter.
Star-Crossed Lovers: With Toby, both when they were younger and when they became adults due to politics. Though they eventually get together and Connor decides to renounce his loyalty to Saltmist to stay with Toby, Connor dies not long after.

Etienne

Pureblood Tuatha de Dannan. First knight of Shadowed Hills. Hidebound, traditionalist, inflexible - but also decent, kind, and determinedly loyal. Toby's grudging trainer, and eventual friend after Ashes of Honor.

Magic signature: Limes and cedar smoke.

Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Was never told his daughter Chelsea existed until she vanished because Bridget knew he would take her away (or have to kill her, if she chose human).
My Greatest Failure: He believes he abandoned Sylvester during his time of need by sneaking out to see Bridget.
Papa Wolf: Once he finds out he has a daughter, that is.
Thinking Up Portals: As a Tuatha de Dannan, he can create portals to teleport.

Grianne

Pureblood Candela, a species of fae with accompanying illuminating Merry Dancers, which can help teleport, scout, and many other useful things. Third-in-command of Sylvester's knights. Pretty taciturn.

Jin

Pureblood Ellyllon who works as Shadowed Hills's healer.

Sarcasm Mode: tends to operate in this mode. Dealing with October "constantly mortally injured" Daye probably has something to do with it.

Duchess Luna Torquill

Abusive Parents: Blind Michael. She left her parents' realm to escape his grasp, and has no compunctions in admitting he was a monster.
Happily Married: To Sylvester
Love Martyr: Raysel tries to kill her. Nevertheless, a mother's love is eternal, and it's easier for her to be angry at Toby than her daughter.
My Beloved Smother: The re-awakened Rayseline in Be the Serpent cites this as one reason why she wanted service in Toby's household for a year. Rayseline loves her mother, but she also feels Luna is this Trope personified. Luna's influence won't help her healing and personal growth.
Took a Level in Jerkass: She used to be a calmer person until she lost her kitsune skin and her relationship with Toby fell through. Though her relationship with Toby began to sour when she knowingly sent October on a suicide mission to Blind Michael's lands, it didn't completely shatter until Rayseline is Elfshot after trying to kill Luna and Sylvester. It's made even worse when Toby fails to awaken Raysel while changing the balance of her blood.

Quentin Sollys

A Daoine Sidhe teenager, in blind fosterage until age 21. He serves as official Squire to Sir Daye.

Magic signature: Heather and steel.

Big Eater: As a growing teenager, he regularly eats tons of food.
Puppy-Dog Eyes: though he doesn't generally turn them on intentionally.
Secret Identity: It began as one, but put blind fosterage together with the fact that usually that's done only for royalty, and you come up with the fact that Quentin is the Crown Prince of North America's faerie. Sylvester as his foster knew. Toby and her family group figured it out.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Prince of the realm, squired to a hero who regularly gets into deep, deep trouble.

Rayseline Torquill

"Hello, failure."

Sylvester and Luna's only child. Left horribly damaged after her uncle Simon kidnapped her and her mother and held them in a formless black nothingness for years with no way to determine the passage of time. She hates Toby for failing to find them, even though it was Simon's fault Toby failed. She wants revenge on pretty much everyone for her suffering.

Magic signature: Mustard flowers and hot wax.

Arranged Marriage: To Connor.
The Atoner: Becomes one upon being awaken from Elf Shot in Be the Serpent. Thanks to having had her blood stabilized, Rayselin does feel remorse for her actions. Toby honors the request she asked during the changing and Rayselin is bound to her service for at least a year to begin making amends.
Ax-Crazy: The result of being kidnapped as a child and was left in a really bad place for over a decade, combined with very unstable blood (it doesn't help that her mother is not the species everyone thought she was).
Big Bad Duumvirate:She and Oleander together serve as the main villains of Late Eclipses having been responsible for all the cases of poisonings to occur in a plot to have Toby framed for them.
The Nicknamer: As a way of making sure Toby never forgets she failed at the task set her by her liege, Rayseline never calls Toby by her name. She addresses her only as "Failure."
Sympathy for the Devil: Rayseline gets a little—a very, very little—bit of this when it's revealed that what Simon did to her and Luna was imprison them in a literal nothing, and that was where she grew up. One of her diary entries states that sometimes she actually misses the dark. Toby feels a little sorry for her, but it's hard to really pity someone who keeps trying to kill you and kidnaps your daughter.

Duke Sylvester Torquill

Toby's liege lord. He has a twin brother, Simon, who is considered one of faerie's greatest criminals. They are not really on speaking terms.

Magic signature: Dogwood flowers and daffodils.

Cain and Abel: The Abel to Simon's Cain.
Happily Married: to Luna
Fluffy Tamer: Perfectly happy to walk up to giant monsters and scritch them behind the ears.
Papa Wolf: Protective of his own child, but anyone he considers under his protection as well.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: He does not hesitate to step in when those under his protection need him.
Red-Headed Hero: He has fox-red hair and was, during his younger days, a hero who ran around questing and defeating things with his sword.
We Used to Be Friends: His close working relationship with Toby gradually sours over the course of the series due to the Rayseline and Simon situations and Toby's role in them (with additional influence from Luna's own growing hatred of Toby). Of course, it cuts both ways as Toby's equally angry at Sylvester for concealing vital information about her family and heritage. It gets to the point where Sylvester 'encourages' Toby to steer clear of Shadowed Hills for the foreseeable future. The first steps towards reconciliation finally begin during Be the Serpent, thanks in part to Tybalt calling Sylvester out during his and Toby's wedding reception in the previous book.

Melly and Ormond

Hobs (who love cleaning) - in charge of Sylvester's cleaning staff.

Chelsea Ames

Etienne's daughter, who was hidden away by her human mother until she came into her power and Toby had to rescue her. Loves science and all things Star Trek.

Magic signature: Calla lilies and smoke.

Fangirl: She loves Lord of the Rings and Star Trek. (Although she explains that she played her enjoyment up a lot so that if anyone ever saw her ears, she'd have plausible deniability.)
For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: Would sometimes dress up as Arwen for Halloween.
Power Incontinence: Not at first, but as her magic grew stronger she lost all control and couldn't stop jumping.
Thinking Up Portals: As a Tuatha de Dannan changeling, she can create portals to teleport, even between dimensions.

The Tea Gardens

Lily

Undine Lady of the Tea Gardens.

Killed Off for Real

Marcia

A quarter-blooded changeling who needs faerie ointment to see Faerie at all. Lily took her in when most of Faerie wouldn't. As of One Salt Sea, she is the seneschal to the Count of Goldengreen - first to Toby, then to Dean Lorden.

Obfuscating Stupidity: Marcia spends a lot of time in the early books acting the part of the Dumb Blonde, but when she is given trust and responsibility, she lives up to it splendidly.

Walther Davies

A Tylwyth Teg who teaches chemistry at UC Berkeley.

Alchemy Is Magic: Toby reaps the benefits of Walther's genius many, many times.

Tamed Lightning

A small independent County, home of A Local Habitation Software.

January O'Leary

Countess of Tamed Lightning, niece of Sylvester Torquill, daughter of September Torquill. Half Daoine Sidhe, and like many blood mixes, slightly insane, but not in an evil way.

Et Tu, Brute?: How January dies.
Back from the Dead: In "Of Things Unknown," April figures out a way to resurrect her mother.

April O'Leary

January's adopted daughter. A dryad who lost her tree, January worked the last still living bits of wood into the circuitry at Tamed Lightning, and made her a cyber-dryad. She inherits Tamed Lightning after her mother's death.

Character Tics: Tends to use robot-esque syntax and euphemisms, like referring to death as being "removed from the network" (though the latter is justified as, being both a pureblood fae and a computer program with backups, she doesn't know what death actually means at first.)
Creepy Child: She appears as a creepily emotionless young girl, until she becomes Countess. She now is a slightly creepy adult in appearance.
It's All My Fault: Blames herself for being deceived by the killer which resulted in her mother's death.

Elliott

January's seneschal.

Neat Freak: It's a Bannick thing (they're bath spirits.)

Alex and Terrie

A brother and sister pair of changelings that work at ALH. Also essentially walking spoilers.

Killed Off for Real: Terrie, which is just a bit awkward for her brother. As of "Of Things Unknown," Back from the Dead.
Sharing a Body: As a result of being Gean-Cannah changelings. Purebloods of their race can shapeshift, but they ended up being two personalities in one body, forced to change at nightfall.

Dreamer's Glass

Treasa Riordan

"On the internet, nobody knows you're an all powerful faerie monarch, now, do they?"

Pureblood Daoine Sidhe. Either insane or insanely ambitious. Duchess of Dreamer's Glass. Has a bunch of air faery guards called the Folletti. Recently relocated to the Deeper Faerie realm of Annwn and established her Duchy there. She currently has no way back to the Summerlands or Earth and as such is considered missing. A regent has been installed in her absence.

Magic signature: Apples and snowdrops.

Ambition Is Evil: Riordan always has her sights set on gaining more and more even if its to the detriment of others.
Big Bad Duumvirate: Samson and her together serve as the main villains of Ashes of Honor. They plan on overthrowing Tybalt and taking over the throne of the king of cats from him.
Character Tics: Talks like a Southern belle.
Conspicuous Consumption: Decorates everything in the tackiest, gaudiest way possible—although sometimes this is a show of powerful illusion magic, not necessarily actual money.
Faux Affably Evil: She speaks in a very polite tone that does nothing to hide her limitless desire for power.
Gamer Chick: Loves World Of Warcraft.

Li Qin Zhou

Shyi Shuai - luck-bending species. Wife of January O'Leary. "Temporary" regent of Dreamer's Glass after Riordan's...unfortunate "accident."

Magic Signature: Black tea and white hydrangeas.

Equivalent Exchange: A racial trait of her specific kind of fae. For every luck spell she does to make the luck go well for her target, there is a corresponding backlash. The more the odds are against the success she creates, the stronger and more harsh the backlash will be. (This would be how Toby gets disemboweled twice in one book.)
Genre Savvy: Li Qin knows very well that fairy tales have all sorts of impossible things happening. She does her best to get into Toby's good graces so that when she needs to have the impossible happen, Toby will be kindly disposed to help.

The Court of Cats

The Court of Cats has no precise location, and is connected by the Shadow Roads, accessible only by the Cait Sidhe and perhaps by actual cats. Kings (and Queens) of cats are not beholden to the Divided Courts of the fae, and may come and go as they please. Fantastic Racism dictates how well this is taken by any given fae.

The Court of Cats as a whole:

Animorphism: All Cait Sidhe can turn at will from human to cat. Some of their cat traits will remain present in their human forms, if they are not hidden from human eyes by a glamour.
Cats Are Magic: This applies to the rest of the Cait Sidhe as well, of course.
Forced Transformation: All Cait Sidhe can be forced into their cat form against their will, although it is considered an extreme breach of manners and protocol to do so to a Royal Cat.
Shadow Walker: How the Shadow Roads should be read. Yes, this makes every single one of them seriously prone to pulling Stealth Hi/Bye intentionally or not.

Tybalt

"Hello, little fish."

The current King of Cats of San Francisco.

Magic signature: Pennyroyal and musk.

Cats Are Mean: When he's not being sexy, mysterious or (heaven forbid) nice.
Cats Are Snarkers: Hoo boy. There are quite a few snarkers in this series, but Tybalt takes the cake.
Cats Hate Water: Tybalt actually uses up a spell to keep his feet from getting wet.
Cats Have Nine Lives: At least, up to nine. He isn't saying how many.
Defrosting Ice King: Goes from openly antagonistic to Toby in the first books to admitting his love and getting engaged to her.
Freudian Excuse: For all that he's not a villain, there's still a reason behind Tybalt's animosity to Toby and all Changelings that goes deeper than just Fantastic Racism. He once fell in love with a human, but she died of an illness. He refused to let himself love again, and as a changeling, Toby reminded him too much of her.
Friendly Address Privileges: Tybalt began calling Toby 'Little Fish' as a genuine insult when she came out of the pond. Gradually it became an Insult of Endearment, and now it is an affectionate name that no one but Tybalt ever gets to use for any reason.
Hidden Heart of Gold: He admits after he and Toby formalize their relationship that much of his antagonistic behavior to her prior to that had been a cover because he knew how hostile the false queen was to her, so pretending to be hostile to Toby meant that he was freer to help her.
Meaningful Rename / That Man Is Dead: In "Rat-Catcher", Rand renames himself Tybalt when he becomes King of Cats.
My Car Hates Me: Inverted. It's more that Tybalt, being a creature of a time before cars, finds them extremely unsettling and uncomfortable. The fact that May Drives Like Crazy does not help. He prefers to either take the Shadow Roads or if he must be in a car, he rides in cat form.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Tybalt usually splits his time between ruling his kingdom and annoying, er, assisting Toby in her various endeavours. He drops the "just here to annoy you" part pretty much when it turns out he actually does care about Toby.
Sexy Cat Person: Tybalt is the king of the local Court of Cats and a cat shifter. When he is first introduced, he is explicitly described as "basically walking sex appeal".

Raj

Royal Kitten, being groomed for succeeding the king when Tybalt is ready to retire. He is the first born in sixty years, so he is considered very, very precious. He is deeply devoted to Toby, who has rescued him from several terrible situations since they've met. He is Samson's son, Tybalt's adopted nephew, Quentin's best friend, and Toby's unofficial squire. Dating Helen, a half-Hob who helped him when they were both taken by Blind Michael in An Artificial Night.

Magic signature: Pepper and burnt paper.

Meaningful Name: "Raj" means "king" or "royalty" in several Indian languages, befitting Raj's status as Prince of Cats.
Warrior Prince: He starts out as a bit of a Distressed Dude in his first appearance, but grows into this over the course of the books.

Julie

This commoner Cait Sidhe was one of Toby's oldest friends. She is now a former friend, due to Julie holding a grudge that Toby got her human boyfriend killed. It wasn't quite as cut-and-dry as all that, but Julie doesn't want to see reason.

No Sympathy For Grudge Holders: Towards Toby.
Revenge Before Reason: Julie has it in for Toby because Toby accidentally got Julie's human boyfriend killed years ago. There was more to the story than that, but Julie doesn't want to hear it, and tries to kill Toby on sight more than once. It's only after Toby saves the Court from poisoning that she stops.
We Used to Be Friends: They used to run together under Devin, but what broke their relationship was the death of her boyfriend. While she eventually stops trying to kill Toby, she's still bitter about her.

Samson

Samson is Raj's father but not related to Tybalt, who once regrets letting them remain with Raj after Tybalt claimed him.

Big Bad Duumvirate: He and Riordan together serve as the main villains of Ashes of Honor. They plan on overthrowing Tybalt and taking over the throne of the king of cats from him.
Killed Off for Real: When his plans to stage a coup against Tybalt in tandem with Riordan fail in Ashes of Honor.

Home

Home: a halfway house for down and out Changeling children. Since humans were weirded out by changelings (or the Changelings themselves couldn't fit in with human society) and the fae disdain them, Home was a place where changelings could be counted on to look out for each other to a degree. It burned to the ground early in the series.

Devin

Owner/operator of Home. He is pretty much The Fagin of the operation. Also Toby's first love, and lover. Part Lamia, part other things - but not pureblood.

Big Bad: He is the main antagonist of Rosemary and Rue being the one who 'killed' Evening Winterrose in his quest to become a pureblood fae and gain immortality.
Berserk Button: He expects nothing but complete and immediate compliance from anyone under his command. His kids are often shown with abuse injuries from even minor infractions, which is backed up by flashbacks to Toby's memories of her own life in Home. It's even implied that Toby's escape from under Devin's thumb burned at him for years afterwards and only Duke Sylvester's power prevented Toby from feeling his wrath earlier. It's Dare's attempt to save Toby at the climax of Rosemary and Rue that set off his Villainous Breakdown, where he killed Dare and began ranting about how Toby killed her.
Even Evil Has Standards: It's brought up several times that, despite his abusive behaviour, he's one of the least bad options for runaway changelings. We see how much worse it can get in Ashes of Honor. He also prevents the circulation of goblin fruit..
Evil Former Friend: Guess who 'killed' Evening Winterrose and tried to have Toby killed at the start of Rosemary and Rue?
The Fagin: He owns Home, a place for young changelings with nowhere else to go. Aside from teaching them criminal skills, he also grooms them into having sex with him.
Immortality Seeker / Immortality Immorality: He plans on using a Hope chest (which has the power to transform a changeling into either a human or a pureblood fae) to make himself into a pureblood, so he can live forever. He's willing to kill as many people as he needs to to get it.
Love-Interest Traitor: He was Toby's first love years back and she even lost her virginity to him. They even rekindle their relationship in Rosemary and Rue, only for it to turn out he was using her and is the real Big Bad of the book.
The Mentor: Was this to Toby, before Shadowed Hills, and taught her many things before the series started.
Pet the Dog: Despite beating changelings who have asked to leave him and Home, he gave Mitch and Stacey his blessing.
Treacherous Advisor: He was Evil All Along, pretending not to know who killed Evening and sending assassins after Toby as well. He only cared about her getting the hope chest for him.

Dare Lorimer

A Tylwyth Teg changeling, sister of Manuel.

Chekhov's Gunman: Slightly, in a strange way. After her death when Toby meets the Nighthaunts for the first few times the one that ate Dare and took her memories and personality is one of the unofficial spokesmen. It's implied that one of reasons they agree to help Toby is due to Dare's continued affection for her despite how things turned out. Later, after May shows up it is eventually revealed that May was originally that same Nighthaunt before becoming Toby's Fetch and that she volunteered for the job. She still has those memories to some degree but never brought it up because of how awkward and weird it would make things. This revelation makes her breaking the rules to help save Toby in earlier books extremely in character and gives a deeper relationship to the two/three characters. Toby's good treatment of May also seems to be a factor in the continued assistance of the other Nighthaunts in later novels.
The Dog Bites Back: Dare and Manuel came to Devin out of lack of alternative, but once they are assigned to follow Toby around Dare makes it perfectly clear that she knows what kind of man Devin is and wants out. She goes to Toby because she was able to get out from under Devin's influence and she wants the same for her and her brother. She turns on Devin in the end when he tries to kill Toby.
My Greatest Failure: Toby sees her as this for quite a while. Dare looked up to her as a hero and despite Toby trying hard to keep her out of things, Dare ended up dying trying (and succeeding) in saving Toby's life. Toby continually disparages how she got Dare killed and the girl still saw her as a hero up to the very end.

Manuel Lorimer

Brother of Dare.

The Dog Bites Back: He was totally onboard with helping Devin until he killed Manuel's sister for daring to disobey him, at which point he killed Devin.
I Just Want to Be Loved: Something he shares with Dare, and the reason he sides with Devin instead of Toby - he got to Manuel first.
I Thought Everyone Could Do That: In Late Eclipses, he's able to navigate around Shadowed Hills by looking at slight differences in heraldic roses on the walls.
Misplaced Retribution: He blames Toby for Dare's death when she was trying to save her, and allies with Oleander and Rayseline to get revenge.
Redemption Equals Death: How he made it up to Toby for siding with Devin, and trying to kill her thereafter while plotting with Rayseline and Oleander.

In and around San Francisco

Danny MacReady

A local Bridge Troll who drives cabs. Toby rides free due to having saved Danny's sister.

Character Witness: for Toby.
Cool Car: He drives a yellow cab that looks ordinary to humans, but to the fae-sighted, it has had all kinds of magic done on it so he can ignore traffic laws, and so that his enormous form can even get into it.
Fluffy Tamer: He treats Barghests like puppies, starting a rescue service for them after the second (third?) book.
Insists on Paying: Inverted. Toby helped him out once, and as a result he won't let her pay for his services.
Nigh-Invulnerable: He's seven feet tall and his skin has a similar texture to granite. He's one of Toby's few allies that she never worries about in a fight because he's more or less impervious to anything short of dynamite or a jackhammer.

May Daye

May is, to all intents and purposes, and legally speaking for the mundane world, Toby's twin sister. The truth of her existence is a bit stranger. Specifically, she's Toby's Fetch. Dating Jasmine ("Jazz"), a Raven-maid.

Magic signature: Cotton candy and ashes.

Born as an Adult: May Really Was Born Yesterday, and is for all intents and purposes a magical clone/identical twin of Toby. She has all of Toby's memories up to when she was created, so she remembers childhood even if she never actually experienced it.
Chekhov's Gunman: Due to how Fetchs come to be, May is actually the Nighthaunt that ate Dare and absorbed her memories and personality. It makes her breaking the rules to save Toby's life make much more sense in hindsight.
Doppelgänger: She's Toby's Fetch, a perfect copy of her that is supposed to guide her on after death.
Drives Like Crazy: May has all the memories of having learned to drive without the skill that goes with actually learning it. This leads to a woman who treats traffic laws like mere suggestions and uses brakes in a way that they were not generally intended. This does not improve as the books go on.
Portent of Doom: It's said that Fetches like May foretell the immediate death of whomever they appear to (and disappear after that). She exists like this for years by now... this might tell you something about Toby, or Amandine. Or we might misunderstand what people like her are. Fetches are Night Haunts who tasted living blood. The people whose living blood they're most likely to taste are those who live high-risk lifestyles... heroes, powerful kings, etc. So the legend is sort of reversed.
Punny Name: "Mayday" is a communications term for "we are in grave danger".

The Brown Family

Mitch and Stacy Brown are a changeling couple and two of Toby's oldest friends. They have five children: Cassandra, Jessica, Karen, Anthony and Andrew.

Dream Walker: Karen is the first Oneiromancer born in at least a century.
Heroic Sacrifice: Jessica distracts Titania when she tries to murder Andrew and Anthony, allowing them to escape at the cost of her own life.
I Cannot Self-Terminate: What remains of Stacey claws back control long enough to beg Toby to kill her so she can't hurt her remaining children.
Offing the Offspring: When Titania resurfaces, her first act is to try and kill Andrew and Anthony, leading to Jessica's death when she intervenes.
Seers: All five of the Brown children are seers, thanks to their status as Firstborn. While Toby knew about Karen because of Blind Michael's actions and (later) Cassandra, she didn't know about the others until the events of Be The Serpent.

Humans

Officer Michael Thornton SFPD

Human police officer. Helped Toby when she first broke free of the fish curse, and later followed her to Annwn in Ashes of Honor. Rescued from Annwn in The Brightest Fell and currently in the care of the Luidaeg.

Broken Bird: Treasa Riordan kept him in a filthy cell and abused him for her amusement since the events of Ashes of Honor, until the events of The Brightest Fell. That's roughly five to six years earth time, though because Annwn is Deep Faerie, there's no telling how long it was for Officer Thornton.
King Incognito: He's actually King Oberon in disguise. He'd been posing as a human police officer, apparently for his own amusement. His confusion was caused by him somehow being hit with one of his own curses to keep humans out of the Summerlands, causing him to forget his true identity. October winds up realizing who he is in A Killing Frost and using the knowledge to restore his mind and also end Simon's curse.
Meaningful Name: Thorn is one of the sacred woods fae swear by. Officer Thornton keeps getting involved in fae business. And is, in fact, their king and forefather.
Mind Wipe: Toby is considering it if his mind isn't already too broken by his ordeal, since her name will inevitably come up when he tells the authorities about his disappearance and reappearance.

Cliff

Toby's former human lover, now remarried to a woman called Miranda. At this point in the series, he has chosen to believe Toby walked out on him and their new baby for 13 years without an explanation, and wants nothing to do with her. His wife is openly hostile to Toby and has learned tricks to keep the fae away from Gillian.

Locked Out of the Loop: Is completely ignorant of the fairy world and the connections that literally everyone else in his household has to it.
Weirdness Censor: It was easier for Cliff to believe Toby had abandoned him and their child than the truth, which was that she'd been magically turned into a fish. But it also was easier to believe Toby had abandoned him for 13 years rather than being, say, in a coma all that time.

Miranda

Cliff's wife, stepmother to Gillian. She has several fae related secrets she's keeping from Cliff and Gillian, starting with her real name.

Long-Lost Relative: Is secretly Janet, lover of Tam Lin, who was partially responsible for the disappearance of Maeve and the breaking of Oberon's court. She's also the mother of Amandine, and as such, Toby's grandmother and Gillian's biological great-grandmother.
No Sympathy for Grudgeholders: She holds an extremely long grudge against the fae. Once revealed, Toby and pretty much everyone else she meets are completely justified in having no sympathy.
Really 700 Years Old: After causing the loss of Maeve, she was cursed to live until Maeve returned. That was a very long time ago.
Unwitting Pawn: To Eira/Evening and Titania, who used her to break Maeve's Ride and force Maeve to give herself to the Heart of Faerie in Tam Lin's place.

Gillian

Toby's daughter by Cliff. Due to being related to Toby and the fae not considering changelings "real" fae, she has been repeatedly pulled into danger to get to Toby. Toby made the ultimate sacrifice and took all the fae out of her blood, leaving Gillian completely human. But the fae pulled Gillian into their machinations again, resulting in the family having to rush in and change Gillian again to save her.

Emergency Transformation: Twice now.
- Toby was forced to give Gilly the Changeling's Choice. Gillian chose human.
- Ends up being turned into a selkie with a spare skin. Toby did not have anything to do with it this time. The Luidaeg did it as a freebie because it was the right thing to do. To prevent Gilly's death by elf-shot —again.
Half-Human Hybrid: Temporarily. When she was shot with a poisoned arrow, Toby was forced to give her Changeling's Choice. Gillian chose human and Toby removed all fae from her blood, making her completely human. She was then subjected to a Mind Wipe and sent back to her human father.
The Bus Came Back: For Night and Silence. Toby has to rescue her again but this time Gillian can't escape Faerie.
Deceptive Legacy: Miranda did most of the poisoning of Gilligan's mind against Toby. Cliff more allowed it than actively participated out of fear and a grudge over his broken heart.
First-Name Basis: Depending on how upset/weirded out by events she is, Gillian refers to her mother as "Mom" or "Toby."
Missing Mom: Toby vanished from her life for fourteen years. While she eventually gets over being abandoned when she realizes that it wasn't exactly Toby's fault, she soon develops a new reason to not want to have much to do with her biological mother— all the people who attack her to harm Toby.

Bridget

Professor of Folklore, UC Berkeley and human lover of Etienne. She is also mother to Chelsea, who Toby turned completely fae-blood as of Ashes of Honor.

Belligerent Sexual Tension: Mild version; she and Etienne met by getting into an argument over the last pastry at the Berkeley coffee shop, and mostly flirted through spirited debate.
Deceptive Legacy: By accident. Bridget is a professor of folklore, but human folklore gets a lot wrong about the fae. So she filled her daughter Chelsea's head with a bunch of well-intentioned but incorrect nonsense.
Happily Married: Or the closest thing to it, to Etienne.
Mama Bear: Perfectly willing to menace a fae knight with a frying pan if that will help her find her daughter.
My Beloved Smother: Minor example; to keep people from seeing past Chelsea's disguise, she could never allow her daughter to do a lot of normal kid things like sleepovers or summer camp.
Star-Crossed Lovers: Initially, with Etienne, partially because of the Interspecies Romance thing and partially because everything at Shadowed Hills was going to hell during their romance.

Animals

Cagney and Lacey

Toby's cats. As such they also are subjects to Tybalt's local Court of Cats.

Cats Are Superior

Spike

A Rose Goblin (a magical creature that looks like a cat made from a rosebush) that Toby accidentally adopted when she named him.

Evil-Detecting Dog: In An Artificial Night, Spike reacts aggressively when it enters the rooms where the children were abducted from.
Planimal: Rose goblins look like a cat made out of a rosebush, with thorns instead of fur.

The Undersea

There are four realms of Faerie - Land, Sea, Air, and Fire. Since Toby is a Land fae, the books primarily deal with Land fae and their society. However, Connor, as a Selkie, is part of the Undersea, and through him and the Luidaeg (the Sea Witch), Toby comes into contact with the powerful Duchy of Saltmist, which runs up most of the California seaboard.

Duchess Dianda Lorden

Merrow (basically mermaid with storm powers - also the most common and powerful of the Undersea species - called by Toby the Daoine Sidhe of the Undersea). Regent of Saltmist. Incredibly powerful, incredibly hot tempered, incredibly awesome. On land, likes to fight by jumping at her enemies in her two legged form, then transforming and using her very muscular tail to beat her opponents senseless. Magic scent: Amber and water lilies.

Action Mom: One of her sons cannot breathe water as he took after his land-fae father. She is, as a result, very protective.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Undersea society runs on this, unlike land society. Although Dianda did technically inherit her title, to both get the chance to inherit and keep it, she had to become the biggest badass in her duchy.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: The way Dianda has to manage her two-legged form—she can only maintain it so long before it becomes too painful, so she has to save her steps for when she really needs them—is similar to how many real-world mobility-impairing disabilities work.
King Incognito: In Heaps of Pearl, she spends the entire ball in her honor in the kitchen with Patrick, who thinks she's a minor noble like him. She catches on and does nothing to disabuse him because she's enjoying herself.
Maligned Mixed Marriage: As a sea fae married to a land fae, she's faced a lot of prejudice.
Mama Bear: Dianda's sons are her dearest loves besides her husband. Threaten them at your own peril. Harm them, and she is going to bring down a world of pain.
Mermaid in a Wheelchair: Dianda, like most merrows, can transform her tail into legs, but that doesn't mean she wants to. When she meets Toby privately for the first time, she's in a wheelchair with no human disguise.
Violently Protective Girlfriend: Well, wife.

Patrick Lorden

Pureblood Daoine Sidhe. Was a landless baron until he married a Duchess of the Undersea and renounced his title to play ducal consort. Friendly, levelheaded, and a good balance to his wise but fierce wife.

Gadgeteer Genius: His favorite pastime is engineering fae-friendly alternatives to mortal technologies. He even goes so far as to work directly with iron machines to see how they fit together, although he needs heavy protective gloves.
Maligned Mixed Marriage: He got it even worse than Dianda, as Countess Winterrose has very strong opinions about Daoine Sidhe marrying other types of fae, even other types of land fae. She's apparently trying to breed an army of them, and only Simon's intercession stopped her from mind-controlling Patrick into breaking up with Dianda.
Polyamory: He's in love with Dianda, and equally in love with Simon.
We Used to Be Friends: Patrick and Simon Torquill used to be good buddies before Patrick left the land to marry Dianda. See Simon's entry.

Dean Lorden

One of their two sons. His brother Peter inherited his mother's Merrow form, while he inherited his father's Daoine Sidhe form (but with webbed hands). Toby transferred her title of Count of Goldengreen to him in One Salt Sea.

The Mists

Formerly held by a false queen. Toby identified her, removed from her blood the method she used to wrest control, and put the rightful Queen on the throne. The rightful Queen, daughter of King Gilad (who hid his children to protect them from being murdered for the throne) was placed on the throne and now rules. The Royal Knowe is Muir Woods.

Queen of the Mists

The false queen of the mists. She took the throne during the chaos of Gilad's death until she was disposed by Toby.

Cruel and Unusual Death: She almost inflicts this on Toby when she charges her with the death of Blind Michael. She not only locks Toby up in an iron room to suffer excruciating iron poisoning but she also would've burned her to death at the iron crossroads.
Compelling Voice: Due to her Siren heritage, she was able to inflict pain or compulsion on the listener. However, she lost this when Toby removed the Siren from her blood.
God Save Us from the Queen!: She's established from book 1 to be a less than stable ruler. Later books imply her mixed-blood may've had something to do with it.
No Name Given: Her true name is unknown. According to her, she sold her name in exchange for power.
Politically Incorrect Villain: She's disdainful of changelings and thinks nothing of distributing goblin fruit, even if it means her changeling subjects will suffer for it.
The Usurper: With the help of Evening Winterrose and other nobles.

Arden Windermere

The rightful queen of the mists, and current holder of the hope chest which can switch the balance of a fae's blood.

Innocently Insensitive: Her years working retail in the mortal world conditioned her to say "thank you", which is horrifically rude to the fae. She accidentally offends one of her staff into quitting.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Arden is quickly becoming appreciated by the fae of the San Francisco area. She also is very good at delegating because she's kind of trapped in this position she really doesn't want.
Shared Family Quirks: One gold, one silver (or Pyrite and Mercury as described). Her brother's eyes are opposite hers.
Teleportation: Racial trait of all Tuatha de Dannan.
Walking Spoiler: It's difficult to talk about her without revealing the truth of the Mists throne.

Nolan Windermere

Arden's brother, currently in the process of recovering from a Rip Van Winkle sleep of centuries.

Shared Family Quirks: One silver, one gold. His sister's eyes are opposite his.
Teleportation: Racial trait of all Tuatha de Dannan.

Madden

Arden's seneschal. He is a Cu Sidhe, which makes him a faerie who can become a dog.

Animorphism: Madden can switch back and forth between human shape and dog shape at will.
Big Friendly Dog: This is Madden's default state. He comes across this way even in human form.
Character Tics: Because he's a dog, Madden tends to lead all his facial and head gestures with his nose, rather than with his chin like humans and non-animal fae do. That he stops doing so is a tell that someone has him under a spell.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Madden isn't really dumb. He just comes across that way to people who don't know him well because his method of thinking is very canine and therefore pretty straightforward.
Real Men Cook: Madden is a barista at a cafe as his day job. He makes at least delicious cups of coffee and tea.
Undying Loyalty: As a result of being a dog, once he has chosen someone to be loyal to, all other considerations fall far below secondary.

The Silences

The Silences is the kingdom directly north of the Kingdom in the Mists. Originally ruled by the Tylwyth Teg Yates family, they went to war against the Kingdom of the Mists but were defeated. The Yates family was deposed and elf-shot and the false Queen of the Mists installed a puppet King until Toby restored the Yates.

Rhys

The former King of the Silences. With the help of the false Queen of the Mists, he disposed the Yates family and became King until Toby disposed him.

Bigot with a Crush: His bigotry against mixed heritage extends even to pureblooded fae with mixed parentage, despite his lover the false Queen of the Mists having ancestry from at least three different bloodlines, although Toby pulls one of them out of her. When they have an argument, he admits that he thinks that what Toby did was an improvement.
Faux Affably Evil: Though he puts on a show of being a reasonable ruler, it doesn't take long for the facade to fall aside.
Politically Incorrect Villain: He's extremely cruel and prejudiced against changelings and animal shapeshifters, even allowing goblin gruit to be openly served and handled by changelings despite knowing it highly addictive.
Unholy Matrimony: With the false Queen of the Mists.

Marlis Davies

Walther's sister and seneschal to the Silences. She's served under both Rhys (unwillingly) and Siwan (willingly).

Alchemy Is Magic: Like her brother and the rest of the family.
Brainwashed and Crazy: Rhys controlled her for years through alchemic potions. He forced her to not only serve the one who destroyed her family, but he also had her help him dose her family with elf-shot and cut their body parts off for spells. Once Walther feeds her a counteragent, she snaps back to her true loyalties.
The Dog Bites Back: She feigns continued brainwashing long enough to strike Rhys back at the right moment.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Played with. Even while brainwashed, she still cared deeply for her Aunt Ceres and jumped to her defense when she thought she was in trouble.

Queen Siwan Yates

The current ruler of the Silences. She and her family were elf-shot in the war and later restored to power.

Alchemy Is Magic: A skilled alchemist. Using Toby's blood, she was able to restore body parts that were removed by Rhys and later save Tybalt's life.

Unaffiliated

Simon Torquill

Twin brother of Sylvester. His plot to kidnap Luna and Rayseline is the reason Rayseline became Ax-Crazy, and the reason Toby lost 14 years and her relationship with her lover and her child. Magic scent: Candle smoke and rotten oranges/apple cider depending on where he is on the scale between good and evil. The rotten oranges of course are the evil.

Alas, Poor Villain: Everything he has done, he has done for his missing daughter—and it's hard not to feel sorry for him when they're finally reunited and she can't even recognize him, or when he takes her curse onto himself and loses every trace of his Character Development.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: Like many Purebloods and this leads to unintended consequences. While he turned Toby into a fish to protect her, he didn't take into account that losing 14 years of her life would affect her so much since 14 years means little to a Pureblood.
Easily Forgiven: Dean Lorden and his parents aren't too upset about Simon turning Dean into a tree, since by Undersea standards that's practically pacifist. Quentin is a lot madder about it than they are.
Evil Former Friend: Simon and Patrick used to be friends before Simon's well-intentioned but ultimately fatally flawed quest to find his missing daughter August turned him evil and earned him the enmity of all his old friends.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He genuinely loves both his daughters and his wife. He also truly cares about Oleander. As well as his friend Patrick, which is what convinced him to believe Toby even a little bit about the past he didn't remember after the Luidaeg took his way home.
Heel–Face Turn: Starts it in The Brightest Fell, but then it gets interrupted (see Redemption Failure below). Manages to actually do this in A Killing Frost.
Heroic Sacrifice: Both non-fatal examples. First, he casts a don't-look-here on Toby, even knowing that the terms of his geas will interpret that as attacking her and put him back to sleep. Then he takes August's curse so she can go home, meaning he is magically prevented from going home himself, in such a way that wipes a huge chunk of his memory and alters the rest—when he shows up again, he can't even remember being married, and thinks Patrick is dead.
Insecure Love Interest: Pined for Patrick for ages, but believed he was unworthy of him, not to mention being too scared to divorce Amandine.
Marry Them All: Simon eventually divorces Amandine to marry both Patrick and Dianda.
Must Make Amends: Though almost no one believes it, Simon regrets his actions when he was working with Oleander and Winterrose. He manages to convince Toby in The Brightest Fell.
My Beloved Smother: Mixed with yandere. He is Amandine's husband and still genuinely loves both her and Toby. He truly believed that turning her into a fish and attempting to turn her into a tree was the best option for her since it would leave her out of Eira's line of fire and he wouldn't be forced to kill her with a geas.
Parental Favoritism: Subverted. Unlike Amandine, Simon has genuine affection for Toby, and was trying, in his most misguided way to help Toby by subjecting her to a Forced Transformation.
Redemption Failure: Simon had partially redeemed himself, even earning Toby's forgiveness. The man he used to be was returning and his magic was clearing up. But he made a Heroic Sacrifice for the sake of his daughter, and the magic erased all his progress and all memory of it. He is back to being the man he was when he was still with Oleander. A deadly villain who hates Toby.

Oleander de Merelands

Simon's lover, an altogether nasty piece of work. Half Peri, half Tuatha de Dannan, all evil.

Big Bad Duumvirate: She and Rayseline together serve as the main villains of Late Eclipses having been responsible for all the cases of poisonings to occur in a plot to have Toby framed for them.
Card-Carrying Villain: She quite delights in her own evil even referring to herself as an actual monster.
Domestic Abuse: Of the emotional kind. Her employer offered her Simon as a plaything, which is heavily implied to be one of the reasons his magic changed scent. When Simon talks about her, he casually drops that he was pretty sure she would've murdered him if he hadn't put so much effort into keeping her happy.
Master Poisoner: Her specialty is using Poison to kill her victims and is responsible for multiple cases of assassination and mass murder with it over the years.
Meaningful Name: In the language of flowers (which shows up as a frequent symbology in the books) oleander flowers mean to take caution - certainly good advice when dealing with a psycho bitch like Oleander. In addition, Oleander is so obsessed with her name and the scent of her namesake flower (which also appears in her magical signature) that she uses the herb in all of her killings.

Evening Winterrose

Pureblood Daoine Sidhe, Countess of Goldengreen, champion of Toby when she brought the murderer of her sister Dawn to justice. Helped Toby get back into human society after returning from her accursed exile. Her murder kicks off the series. Magic scent: Roses and snow.

Abusive Parents: To the Daoine Sidhe as a whole. She's perfectly willing to mind-control them at the drop of a hat, and views them as expendable tools and playthings.
Big Bad: of The Winter Long
The Call Left a Message: She geases Toby via her answering machine to solve her murder.
Evil All Along: She's truly Eira Rosynhwyr, the Daione Sidhe firstborn and has committed various atrocities like the near extinction of Roane and plunging the Mists into turmoil by assassinating King Gilead.
Faking the Dead
Greater-Scope Villain: She's behind most of the events of the series but only gets involved personally in book 8. She's responsible for having Oleander kill King Gilad and hence plunge the kingdom into turmoil under the new false queen of the Mists.
Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: Yes, technically she's elf-shot for the next hundred years, but that doesn't stop her from continuing her schemes via dream-walking—especially when she can get her blood inside someone else. Toby raises the rather terrifying possibility that if Simon doesn't stop using her blood to borrow her magic soon, Eira could possess him.

August Torquill

August is the daughter of Amandine and Simon Torquill. She was missing until Amandine forced Toby to find her. She is half-sister to Toby, who has a different father. She is cousin to Rayseline Torquill.

Blood Magic: Inherited from her Firstborn, Amandine. Amandine took the time to teach her, so she is viciously precise with her bloodwork. She turns Toby 80% human in a matter of seconds.
Crippling Overspecialization: August can do blood magic (and some illusions)... and pretty much that's it. She is very good at said blood magic, but that doesn't help her if she can't touch people or draw blood. October could down her easily with a baseball bat after realizing this while almost fully human. And she doesn't even know that much about the technical aspects, either. This is one of the reasons she disowns Amandine; once she gets some perspective she sees that Amandine has badly undereducated her and will never teach her more, because Amandine sees her as a possession.
Daddy's Girl: She dotes on her father, but anytime things don't go her way she threatens to tell Daddy, and that he will punish whoever she's upset with with terrible magical retribution. Her father is rather astonished as when she knew him last he was not evil, nor inclined to dramatic magic gestures. Turns out, she loves him enough that she chooses to be his daughter instead of Amandine's in the divorce due to Simon knowing how to be a parent rather than an owner.
Everybody Has Standards: Is she arrogant? Yup. Abrasive? Very. Racist against changelings? Better believe it. On board with Amandine not letting people go as she promissed? Hell no.
Heroic Wannabe: She was dead set on fulfilling the prophecies about Amandine's line, especially the "they'll bring Oberon back" part, consequences be damned! Her attempt at the quest even brought her to several of the places October got to be a hero at, where she repeatedly failed to do the actually heroic thing. For example she reached Blind Michael's domain and she just snatched the kid she had use for and RAN. (See also: Too Dumb to Live)
Long-Lost Relative: Simon's quest to find August after she went missing is why he fell from grace. Toby being forced to find her by Amandine is why she is no longer long-lost.
Morality Pet: To Amandine, surprisingly enough. If not for her request, Amandine would have kept Tybalt and Jazz forever just to teach Toby a lesson.
My Beloved Smother: There is perhaps a reason that she ran off on the most dangerous and impossible quest known to fae. Everyone notes that when around Amandine, she faded into her mother's shadow, and she outright says that Amandine thinks she owns her when she chooses Simon in the divorce.
Spoiled Brat: She knows she's royalty, and is quite at home ordering her "lessers" around. She learned how to be brutal with her magic from her mother, and her Fantastic Racism as well. She is frequently astonished and stunned when told "no", and will fly into a tantrum easily.
Too Dumb to Live: August set out on a quest that is considered literally impossible by all the fae, unanimously. When she went to the Luidaeg to get started, the Luidaeg repeated to her three times at least that her quest was doomed and an extremely bad idea. Finally, the Luidaeg demanded a dear price (which anyone who knows anything about the sea witch knows is the closest the Luidaeg can get to saying no). August took it, and when Toby brought her back, acted like no one had ever warned her of the consequences of her choice.
Unskilled, but Strong: She spent some time living an agrarian lifestyle in Annwn so is physically strong and can hold her own against Toby in a fight involving Good Old Fisticuffs.

The Pixies

The pixies have been part of the series since the beginning. Usually they're considered pests and mildly predatory and vicious. As of The Brightest Fell Toby gets to know them better: they're as intelligent as the human-size fae but are too small to be understood unless they are magically reduced to the same size. Toby happens to be in their good graces because even while not understanding them at human size, she was never cruel or unkind to them. She also freed several of them from being held prisoner as lanterns, so they owe her gratitude for their freedom.

The Pixies as a whole:

Mouse World: since they're tiny as pixies tend to be.
Magic Mushroom: They rig giant puffball mushrooms in the Summerlands as traps for unwary human-size people.

Poppy

Poppy joins Toby on part of her journey in The Brightest Fell because pixie magic combined with Walther's potion magic and left one of her team incapacitated. Toby took her team member to the Luidaeg for help, but there was a price to be paid to restore them. Poppy, innocent of the Luidaeg's deals and their prices, accepted the indisposed person's debt because it would help Toby. She is now a human size pixie.

Brought Down to Normal: Poppy loses her light, chiming bells and flight as the price she must pay to take on the debt of curing an unconscious Simon Torquill so Toby can finish her mission.

Lilac

Another of the Summerlands pixie flock who remembers Toby from Goldengreen.

Characters / October Daye

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