Characters / Seraphina

Seraphina Dombegh

• Affectionate Nickname: Glisselda calls her 'Phina'.
• The Big Damn Kiss: With Kiggs, at the end of the first book.
• Birds of a Feather: With Kiggs.
• Body Horror: Her growing scales as a child. Although considering what others of her kind suffer in this regard, she gets off lightly.
• Elegant Classical Musician: Seraphina rockets from nobody to this very trope shortly into the first scene, when, with no one else to play the flute solo at the prince's funeral, she plays the role herself — her first public performance, ever, and it astounds everyone who hears her.
• Geeky Turn-On: She and Kiggs bond over ancient philosophers and dragon lore, among other things.
• Genetic Memory: her mother left her a few key memories of her own life, to be activated when Seraphina first saw Orma in his dragon form.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Half-human, half-dragon.
• Internalized Categorism: Seraphina thinks of herself as a monster.
• Interspecies Romance: With the very human Kiggs.
• Inter-Class Romance: She is a commoner while Kiggs is a prince.
• Like Brother and Sister: With Lars, after finding out that they are both half-dragons.
• No Infantile Amnesia: Presumably because of her heritage, Seraphina has clear memories of the day she was born — even, in fact, the time before she was born.
• Oblivious to Love: She didn't realized Glisselda was in love with her until Glisselda kissed her.
• Official Couple: With Kiggs.
• Out-of-Clothes Experience: briefly once when checking on Fruit Bat.
• Psychic Powers: As a half-dragon; the first indication being her "mind garden", which is actually more like a shared psychic dreamspace that only her kind can exist in.
• Seeing Through Another's Eyes: Seraphina can do this with the grotesques in her mind garden.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Kiggs, due to him being engaged to his cousin Glisselda and their loyalty to her. That Seraphina herself isn't completly human, and that he is a prince doesn't help, either.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: To a lesser degree than her uncle, but still.

Prince Lucian Kiggs

• Affectionate Nickname: Prince Lucian doesn’t like to be called such outside of formal circumstances, and instead prefers his shortened surname, Kiggs. Which makes it more heartbreaking when he tells Seraphina to call him 'Prince Lucian' after the first encounter with Imlann.
• Arranged Marriage: With his cousin Glisselda. They go through with it by the end of the second book, despite the fact that both Glisselda and Kiggs are in love with Seraphina.
• The Big Damn Kiss: With Seraphina, at the end of the first book.
• Birds of a Feather: With Seraphina.
• Geeky Turn-On: He and Seraphina bond over ancient philosophers and dragon lore, among other things.
• Interspecies Romance: With the half-dragon Seraphina.
• Inter-Class Romance: He is a prince while Seraphina is a commoner.
• Love Interest: Seraphina's.
• Nice Guy
• Officer and a Gentleman: A competent military captain as well as a prince and a genuine Nice Guy.
• Official Couple: With Seraphina.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: He is a military captain with a reputation for his investigative talent.
• Royal Blood
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Seraphina, due to him being engaged to his cousin Glisselda and their loyalty to her. That Seraphina isn't completly human, and that he himself is a prince doesn't help, either.
• Unfortunate Names: According to Kiggs, when he first arrived in Goredd as a child his embarrassing Samsamese surname, Kiggenstane, contributed to the awkwardness surrounding his mother’s elopement and his subsequent status as a bastard.
• The Wise Prince

Princess/Queen Glisselda

• Affectionate Nickname: Glisselda has one for Seraphina (Phina) and Milliphrene (Millie).
  • Lucian himself calls her Selda.
• Arranged Marriage: With her cousin Lucian.
• Big Good: Once she becomes queen.
• Genius Ditz: Glisselda is giggly, silly, and a highly capable leader when she puts her mind to it.
• Good Is Not Soft: As a ruler, she didn't hesitate to declare war on the Tanamoot to protect her people.

• Politically-Active Princess: See Royals Who Actually Do Something below.

• Royals Who Actually Do Something: She learns everything she can about how to run her future kingdom and later declares war on the Tanamoot when they break the peace.

Ardmagar Comonot

• Our Dragons Are Different
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Conomot is fascinated by all human emotions, not just love, and demands that Seraphina explain his feelings to him.

Queen Lavonda

• Big Good: See Royals Who Actually Do Something below.
• The High Queen
• The Magnificent: actually referred to as "the Magnificent".
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: She put her life on the line in her youth to negotiate a peace with Admagar Comonot, trekking up a dangerous mountain pass with only two guides, and she continues to put a lot of energy into keeping peace with the dragons for the next forty years.

Linn

• Death by Childbirth
• Interspecies Romance: With Seraphina's father, although he didn't know she wasn't human.
• Missing Mom: She is Seraphina's.
• Not Quite Back to Normal: Though she cannot experience the emotion, Linn still remembers her love for Claude Dombegh once returning to dragon form, and wants it back.
• Our Dragons Are Different

Lady Milliphrene

• Affectionate Nickname: Glisselda calls her 'Millie'.
• Lady-In-Waiting: Millie is Glisselda's lady-in-waiting, and they get on pretty well.

Orma

• Implied Love Interest: Ironically enough with the dragon who is supposed to be examining him for the censors. She confirms the relationship in the sequel.
• Our Dragons Are Different
• Parental Substitute: Orma is for all intents and purposes Seraphina's father in all but name, as her actual father is emotionally absent.
• Sand In My Eyes: Anticipating that the Censors will remove his memories of his sister and niece.

  Seraphina: I want to say goodbye to you while you still know me.

  Orma: ... My apologies. This body's ridiculous larynx seized up. It's functioning normally again.

• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Although he acts brash and rude at times, it's very clear that he cares a lot about his niece.

Prince Rufus

• The Hunter Becomes the Hunted: dies mysteriously after going off on his own during a hunting expedition.

Viridius

• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Lover and Beloved: Seraphina suspects that Viridius and Lars have this sort of relationship, and it’s ambiguous for a good part of the novel.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: He knew all along that Seraphina was half-dragon, having known her mother.

Seraphina's Mind Garden

Common Tropes

• Body Horror: All ityasaari suffer some form of deformity, though how said deformities manifest may vary.
• Half-Human Hybrid: All the characters in Seraphina's mind garden are half-human, half-dragon, known in-universe as ityasaari.
• Psychic Powers: All ityasaari are able to manipulate what is known as "mind-fire", though some are more adept at it than others.

Lars

A lover of loud music and inventions, Lars hails from Samsam and is the first ityasaari Seraphina encounters. He is named "Loud Lad" by Seraphina.

• Gadgeteer Genius: Young inventor of war machines and musical instruments.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Half-human, half-dragon.
• Like Brother and Sister: With Seraphina, after finding out that they are both half-dragons.
• Lover and Beloved: Seraphina suspects that Viridius and Lars have this sort of relationship, and it’s ambiguous for a good part of the novel.
• Psychic Powers: Part of being a half-dragon.
• Sorry, I'm Gay: Seraphina imagines that Lars will use this on her when he thinks she is attracted to him.

Dame Okra Carmine

Also known as "Ms Fusspots", Dame Okra, the Ninysh ambassador to Goredd, is a bitter, pessimistic old lady with a dragon's tail. She also has the ability to predict the future by sheer gut instinct.

• Body Horror: Has a dragon's tail, which she hides under her skirt.
• Good Is Not Nice: Dame Okra's personality is a sliding scale between grumpy and downright mean, but she's firmly on the side of good—at least, when she's not at least when she's not being controlled by Jannoula and leverages her considerable diplomatic authority to that end.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Half-human, half-dragon.
• Jerkass with a Heart of Gold: She means well, even if she doesn't show it.
• Older Than They Look: Okra Carmine gives her age as one hundred and twenty, but to Seraphina she looks middle-aged or a bit elderly, certainly not centenarian.
• Psychic Powers: Part of being a half-dragon; hers manifest as gut feelings that have always helped her be in the right place at the right time.

Abdo

Also known as "Fruit Bat", Abdo is a cheerful 12-year old Porphyrian dancer who is unable to speak, due to scales growing on the inside of his mouth.

• Body Horror: The inside of his mouth is covered in scales, rendering him mute.
• Break the Cutie: After sustaining a serious injury, Abdo briefly loses his optimistic cheerfulness. Happens again when Jannoula begins to take hold of his mind.
• Heroic BSoD: Once after being seriously injured. Again during his painful struggle with Jannoula.
• Psychic Powers: Part of being a half-dragon. He seems to be more adept at it than others of his kind, being able to communicate telepathically As well as being able to hold off Jannoula for most of the second book.
• The Speechless: Justified, as he suffers from a deformity that prevents him from speaking. Subverted by the end of Shadow Scale as he learns to telepathically communicate with everyone present-essentially the same as speaking.

Neoduard

A plague doctor from Ninysh who sports a serrated beak, Neoduard is known as "Finch" in Seraphina's mind garden.

• Body Horror: He has a beak where his mouth should be.
• Killed Off for Real: At the end of Shadow Scale, where Jannoula throws him off a wall.
• Psychic Powers: Part of being a half-dragon. His aren't particularly strong though.
• Sticky Fingers: He's a kleptomaniac.

Blanche

A shy, reclusive hermit who lives deep in the Pinabra. A lover of spiders and machines, she constructs robot spiders to keep her occupied. In Seraphina's mind garden, she is named "Glimmerghost".

• Break the Cutie: Her struggle with Jannoula hurt her so badly she repeatedly attempted to commit suicide.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Even more so than Lars.
• Giant Spider: Downplayed. She can create giant robot spiders but only the size of dogs.

Od Fredricka

In Seraphina's mind garden, she is known as "Bluey". A talented, arrogant and bitter painter with a chip on her shoulder, she resides in Ninysh. Her scalp is covered in scales.

• Jerkass: Refuses Seraphina's invitation to join the rest of the ityasaari in the rudest way possible, insulting Seraphina's efforts and screaming at her.

Gianni Patto

A wild man with scaly, clawed feet. In Seraphina's mind garden, he is named "Tiny Tom".

• Wild Man: Described as such repeatedly.

Jannoula

An ityasaari girl who once attempted to take over Seraphina's mind, forcing Seraphina to lock her in the Wee Cottage. As a child, she was taken by the Censors to be experimented on, including an incident where she was cut open.

• A God Am I: She is the first who discovers that the Saints were all half-dragons. As such, she believes that all ityasaari, including her, are saints, and should be treated as such. As a result of also being a Manipulative Bastard, she manages to convince all of Goredd into believing that she is basically a god.
• The Antagonist: Of Shadow Scale.
• Big Bad: See Manipulative Bitch below.
• The Dreaded: Seraphina feared this ityasaari more than any of the others. It's later revealed that Seraphina wasn't the only ityasaari Jannoula attempted to control, and that she was The Dreaded to many of the ityasaari as well.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Half-human, half-dragon.
• Jerkass: Reveals Kiggs and Seraphina's affair to Glisselda just For the Evulz.
• Lack of Empathy: This is noted about her.
• Manipulative Bitch: And how! For one thing, she manipulated Dame Okra and Pende into reaching out with their mind fire so she could control them. What's more, she manipulated both the humans and the dragons into thinking she was on their side, when she was really trying to kill all of them AND she manipulated all the citizens of Goredd into thinking she was a Saint. In fact, it's likely that the entire war, including all the events in the first book, was part of HER plan to destroy all humans and dragons.
• Psychic Powers: Part of being a half-dragon, although her psychic powers are the strongest out of all the ityasaari.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Endured unspeakable torture at the hands of hands of the Censors. She is also the result of her dragon mother's rape by a human. This helps explain why she despises dragons and humans equally, and wants to kill all of them.

Ingar

Ingar is the Earl of Gasten, a fat bookworm from Samsam who sports two not-so vestigial wings folded against his back. In Seraphina's mind garden, he is known as "The Librarian".

• Implied Love Interest: It's implied that he and Camba become romantically involved.
• Omniglot: Has the uncanny ability to pick up new languages almost instantly.
• Unwitting Pawn: Of Jannoula for several years.

Camba

Appearing as a tall, muscular man known as "Master Smasher" in Seraphina's mind garden, Camba is a transgender ityasaari from Porphyry. Seraphina once talked her out of committing suicide.

• Implied Love Interest: She is implied to become involved with Ingar.
• Statuesque Stunner: Half a head taller than Seraphina, but still described as stunningly beautiful.

Paulos Pende

An elderly priest with a wattle-like growth on his neck, Paulos Pende, or "Pelican Man", protects the Porphyrian ityasaaris and is the only person who can "unhook" Jannoula from the minds of her victims. That is, until Seraphina came along.

• Mood-Swinger: Largely due to his deteriorating mind.
• Papa Wolf: Behaves like this in regards to the Porphyrian ityasaaris.

Phloxias

An elderly Porphyrian lawyer with a mouth full of razor sharp shark's teeth. Nicknamed "Gargoyella" by Seraphina.

• Stealth Pun: She's a lawyer, with a mouth full of shark's teeth. She's a Shark Lawyer.

Mina

Named "Miserere" by Seraphina, Mina is a feathery bird-woman who patrols the skies of Porphyry and upholds the law.

Brasidas

A blind, elderly market singer with short limbs from Porphyry. Known as "Newt" by Seraphina.

Gaios and Gelina

Fraternal twin athletes who reside in Porphyry. Seraphina knows them as "Nag and Nagini".

• Twin Telepathy: Sort of. Gaios and Gelina can see each other's mind-fire but not anyone else's.

Saint Pandowdy

Pandowdy is an ityasaari who takes the form of a giant scaly slug in Seraphina's mind garden. In Shadow Scale, it's revealed that Pandowdy is actually Saint Pandowdy, the lover of Seraphina's patron saint Saint Yirtrudius. As punishment for betraying the saints, he was buried alive, but remained alive for seven hundred years. His true form is a colossal human covered in silver scales, and the giant slug Seraphina pictures him as is merely his finger.

• Buried Alive: Although he didn't die, and simply lay beneath the earth, slowly growing.
• Don't Wake the Sleeper: Was buried alive as punishment for betraying the saints. However, instead of dying, he remained in a sort of hibernation. Seraphina (and prior to that, Abdo) awakens him.
  When he lived, he killed and lied,
  This Saint who lies submerged.
  The ages passed, the monster died;
  I ripen, I emerge.
• The Dreaded: Aside from Jannoula, Seraphina dreaded meeting Pandowdy the most. Shadow Scale reveals he was this to the other Saints.
• That's No Moon: See that giant, scaly slug? That's not Pandowdy, that's his finger.
• Walking Spoiler: Courtesy of a big reveal in Shadow Scale.