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Main Characters:
Jude Duarte
The main character of the novels and the story is told from her point of view. The story begins with her and her sisters' kidnapping by the faerie Madoc. The story later picks up when she is in her late teens and details years of being ostracized by the faeries. Initially, she begins the story as wanting approval from the faeries but later takes on the mantle of being a human that bests the faeries. She is proving to be a cunning character that defies expectations. Her pride and determination catches the interest of the Faerie Prince Cardan. Their rivalry serves as one of the key point in the books. Upon receiving a request from a member of royalty to serve as a spy she slowly works in the shadows to unmask dark secrets within the Faerie Court.
- Acquired Poison Immunity: Jude works on this to the point that she becomes addicted to poisons.
- Always Someone Better: One of her main issues with faeries is their mistreatment of humans and years of continuous harassment has pushed her limits.
- Anti-Hero: Jude starts off as a normal teenager in an unnatural setting until she is drawn into the darker sides of Elfhame being a spy for a member of royalty. Overtime her ruthlessness and cunning has made her a deadly foe to match the wit of faeries. While initially horrified on committing murder as the story progresses she has hardened to the point of murder being a necessary evil.
- Badass Boast: Two of themJude: If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse.Jude: (after Cardan tries to coerce her into kneeling and apologizing to him) I am going to keep on defying you. I am going to shame you with my defiance. You remind me that I am a mere mortal and you are a prince of Faerie. Well, let me remind you that means you have much to lose and I have nothing. You may win in the end, you may ensorcell me and hurt me and humiliate me, but I will make sure you lose everything I can take from you on the way down. I promise you this is the least of what I can do.
- Badass Normal: Despite being a completely normal human, her swordmanship is good enough that she manages to best many of her classmates, and has an Acquired Poison Immunity due to her sheer determination of best her weaknesses as a mortal.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: The story is often known for the love-hate relationship between Jude and Cardan.
- Brainy Brunette: A brown-haired human who survives through her guile and wits.
- The Chessmaster: Becomes this in disguise to Cardan after he is crowned King.
- Can't Stay Normal: It's mentioned a few times that Jude would be very happy in the human world. After all, it was once her home and she could recount a time when her parents just wanted to pay the bills and raise three girls. Yet, she ends up in Heroic BSoD when Cardan exiles her, despite the fact that she is technically Queen of the realm, and spends her days watching television and taking fairy assassin jobs to pay her half of the rent.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: In the sequel she is imprisoned by the Undersea's Queen Orlagh. The queen and her servants waste no time starving Jude and isolate her as a tactic of breaking her. To further add salt to injury they are unaware Jude cannot be glamoured and begin mentally manipulating her by making her eat garbage and trying to force her into servitude to their court.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: She often comments and at time is horrified to learn how much she can actually stomach.
- Daddy's Little Villain: Becomes a spy for Prince Dain and major bane to her adoptive father in his political schemes to rise in power.
- Deadpan Snarker: Mostly internal in The Cruel Prince due to her not having much power to shield herself from the fae, but in the second book she delivers snark left and right as she is now the second hand of the High King.
- The Dog Bites Back: When her faerie classmates prank her a few times too many she starts fighting back. Another incident shows that after being denied knighthood by her adoptive father, Madoc, a distraught Jude is challenged by Cardan post-competition upon her victory and she lets him have it.
- The Dragon: Becomes this for Cardan, after he is crowned King, while also serving as the schemer behind the scenes.
- Foil: To several characters actually. The first being her twin sister, Taryn, the second being her classmate turned love interest, Prince Cardan, and even her adoptive father, Madoc.
- Freudian Excuse: After witnessing her parents being murdered by a faerie her entire world and lifestyle is changed. Her outlook on life is often cynical and bitter.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: After years of being kicked around by faeries the human finally fights back and she proves herself to be someone feared.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Towards the faeries and her sister in winning Locke's feelings initially.
- Handicapped Badass: Loses the tip of a finger in childhood from a faerie assault. She still proves herself a capable fighter.
- Happily Adopted: Inverted. While she grows to love Madoc as a father-figure she never forgets his brutal murder of her parents.
- Horrible Judge of Character: She was particularly bad at this in the first book. She assumes Prince Dain and Locke are both decent people by the folk standards. However, Dain went as far as to poison his lover to kill his unborn child and he's revealed self-centered and manipulative. Meanwhile, Locke pitted Jude and Taryn against each other for no deeper reason than entertainment. She gets better as the story continues.
- Humans Are Flawed: Jude being a human is both her strength and weakness in order to navigate Elfhame. For one, she's able to lie, which Fae cannot do. However, her ambitious nature gets the better of her more than twice in the story.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Being exiled by King Cardan after being wedded to him has made her this.
- Humiliation Conga: Has suffered humiliation from faeries her entire life but two notable examples Getting glamoured by faerie classmates into stripping and telling them her admiration of them. Then, being heartbroken over the order of being exiled from Elfhame by her love interest and husband, Cardan.
- I Work Alone: Gets captured in second novel due to refusal to collaborate with fellow members of the Shadows.
- The Kingmaker: In what is probably the most signature part of the series Jude being one of the few privy to several secrets concerning Elfhame and the Greenbriar line, explicitely invokes this by staging the crowning of her little brother Oak, with the help of Cardan and the Court of Shadows ... or so it seems, actually she has Oak crowning Cardan, and since just before, she convinced him to pledge an oath to her, she is basically the one who through Cardan will rule Faerie, until Oak is ready to take the throne.
- In the second book, Kingmaker is one of the many names the Folk calls her, being that she is now the Seneschal of the High King of course none of them know she has Cardan under her control, making this trope more ironic.
- Love Interest: First, to Locke, who tricked her into growing affection through a feeling of kinship, then to Prince Cardan, they both have belligerent sexual tension and show signs of desire for one another despite their wishes.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Despite her hand being forced to kill Valerian when he sneaks into her room with intentions to assassinate her she is horrified in the aftermath of the killing. She has a hysterical breakdown afterwards until realizing it was a necessary evil.
- Also in the aftermath of tricking Cardan into becoming the High King, Jude has a moment where she thinks this and dreads what will become of her.
- Oblivious to Love: While no one can blame her for being overly cautious given her experience as a mortal living in Faerie, there are certain moments when Jude seems a little bit too commited to take the slightest implication of attraction to her as hostile, for example some of Cardan's behaviors like writing her name over and over in a piece of paper, or staring at her with intensity, even when he's being groped by two other faes, are all things she interprets as further proof of how much he hates her.
- In The Cruel Prince, during her trip to the mortal world, she ends up punching some random guy when all he wanted to do was flirt with her, she takes this as yet another proof that she doesn't belong in the mortal world anymore.
- When she practically forced Cardan to spew out his desire for her, her first reaction is to think he must be playing her, even though he, being a faerie, can't lie.
- The Paranoiac: Living as a second-class citizen within a city that hates humanity leaves Jude justifiably paranoid of who to trust.
- Rebellious Spirit: Refuses to accept faeries' treatment of humans and does not make it a habit to back down from challenges.
- The Rival: To Prince Cardan during practice combat and academics. Later to her twin sister Taryn in seeking affection from Faerie Locke. Then Madoc, in trying to decide who should rule over Elfhame.
- She Who Fights Monsters: In her quest to earn a place in Elfhame, she ends up becoming every bit the type of manipulative person, who barely thinks twice on betraying and murdering people who put her plans in danger, she is not a complete monster, but she's definitely become as ruthless as the fae by the second book.
- "Take That!" Kiss: While initially in disbelief, about Cardan confessing feeling attraction to her, she realizes he's being honest when she noticed his reaction when she closes distance between them and kisses him because she realizes he also hates it; unfortunately for her, she gets a little too swept into the kiss.
- Unwitting Pawn: Has been tricked by a few faeries despite her skills at manipulating. She does this to Cardan though.
- Young Conqueror: Responded to discrimination and feelings of powerlessness by orchestrating her slow rise to power within faerie.
- Youngest Child Wins: She's the youngest of her sisters and in the end, she's the High Queen of Elfhame.
Cardan Greenbriar
The Faerie Prince who serves as a major player in the stories as Jude's rival. Prideful and considered cruel by faeries and humans alike he serves the majority of the story in conflict with the human Jude. Their interactions start out hostile but overtime there are signs of there being more to the prince than his cruelty.
At the end of the first book, through a series of machinations staged by Jude, he is now the High King of Faerie.
- Achievements in Ignorance: Cardan escapes execution by getting so drunk he fails to be in proper position at the event alongside his family where he would have been killed.
- The Alcoholic: Chooses to drink instead of dealing with his problems. Sometimes played for comedy.
- Always Someone Better: One of the key reasons he dislikes Jude is her capability to best him in academics and sports to the point his family looks down on him. He is humiliated that a lowly human appears superior to a faerie prince.
- Abusive Parents: Inverted. His oldest brother, Balekin, is the one who abuses him. His other siblings show no interest in his existence.
- Attention Whore: During his school days, he admits it's the only way his father ever gave him any attention.
- Bad Liar: Jude notices his habit of smiling when he's nervous and his tail is often hidden because it often displays his anxiety.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: The story is often known for the love-hate relationship between Jude and Cardan.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: He's not a fool by any means but simply lacks a desire to prove his intelligence by choosing to remain a spoiled prince.
- Cannot Tell a Lie: A flaw for faeries but most of them have learned how to work around it. Cardan has found ways to voice his true thoughts on subjects but Jude hardly takes notice due to their past history. Cardan sometimes compliments her, albeit sarcastic ways, but Jude does not pickup on it.
- Deadpan Snarker: His most noticeable trait. The man can be intoxicated or held at knife-point during captivity he will always dish out some of the best sarcastic lines.
- Defrosting Ice King: Cardan warms considerably in the second book, no longer acting cruel and is kind and vulnerable with Jude.
- Drowning My Sorrows: To the point of possibly being considered an alchoholic if he wasn't fae, but special mention goes to the coronation when he was so distraught over his father leaving, Dain getting to be High King, and possibly his feelings for Jude that he ends up completely plastered by the time the actual coronation begins, luckily for him, it saved him from being murdered along with the rest of his family.
- Entitled Bastard: This is the image Jude has of him at the beggining of the series, whether this is a type of Hidden Heart of Gold or not is up to anyone's guess, but in any case, he slowly loses this trait as the series progresses, possibly when the full responsability of being the High King kicks in.
- Everyone Has Standards: While he participated somewhat in his friend's pranks on Jude there are small signs he does not always approve of these actions. Two times he has shown this.- First, when Jude is glamoured into stripping and enticed to crawl to Cardan and lick his boots. Even a glamoured Jude takes notice he shows some disgust in what he's doing. Another is when Nicasia slaps Jude during their banter where he is unable to mask his disgust, much to Nicasia's chagrin.
- Establishing Character Moment: Ripping the wings off a fairy attending a party for simply getting in his way.
- Green-Eyed Monster: He admits to Jude that a big reason of why he hated her was because despite being a human, she had many of the things he desired for himself: the love of her father, a good relationship with her sister and on top of it that Jude manages to best him at everything, which Balekin never fails to throw at his face.
- It's heavily implied that part of his bullying of Jude in The Cruel Prince was also out of jealousy towards Locke when he thought she was having an fling with him.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: For a given definition of normal in Faerie at least, in the aftermath of the coronation, his only desire is to get lands far from Elfhame and walk away from the court and its machinations, even telling Jude that Balekin could father some brat to succeed him for all he cared, too bad Jude had other plans for him.
- Inhumanly Beautiful Race: He's attractive per Faerie standards that even Jude begrudgingly admits to him being handsome.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Not noticeable initially but there are signs he has some signs of nobility by small acts he does.
- Longing Look: In an extra story from the B&N edition, where Kaye (From the Modern Faerie Tales series) meets Cardan during the coronation of Dain, she notices the way he stares at Jude, he's just apparently very good at hiding it, except he was ''very'' drunk at the time, highlight goes to this moment:The prince paused his retreat to watch her go with an expression Kaye recognized— The look of someone who wondered if the other person might be made of glamour and smoke, if they might fade away with a touch.
- Love Interest: Initially to his friend, Nicasia, then to Jude, whom he detests but he has extreme belligerent sexual tension towards her and has shown signs of having a strong desire for her.
- Loving Bully: Unlike most examples, this is played for drama, because one; Jude doesn't take it well in the slightest, which considered what he put her through is undertandable and because Oh, how he hates his attraction to Jude, a human.Cardan: Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It's disgusting, and I can't stop.
- Manipulative Bastard: He manages to become this by the end of The Wicked King, where he managed to both make the Queen of the Undersea to give Jude back to him, have Jude release him from his oath to her, and with his now unleashed power as the High King, made Orlagh back down from declaring war by summoning an island from under the water and threatening her daughter and ultimately keeping her hostage.
- Only Sane Man: Shockingly, he has his moments. One notable moment is when the Court of Shadows think Grimsen could be a threat, and immediately discuss ways to murder him. Cardan, disturbed by this, points out how bloodthirsty they are.
- Parental Neglect: His father, High King Eldred, shows no interest in Cardan and often disregards him in favor of his older siblings.
- Pretty Boy: Cardan is described as beautiful, even by people who dislike him, including Jude, initially and Taryn. With his constant partying and dislike of physical activity, Cardan isn’t exactly heavily muscled. His nickname, ’the Boy King’ also implies he’s boyish-looking in appearance, but to be fair, this is also probably a jab at his inexperience.
- Reluctant Ruler: Change reluctant for flat out unwilling ruler, since Jude deceived him in order to crown him, and he ends the book telling her that he will be an useless king and leave all the work to her, come the second book and it seems he has made good on this, at least until the end...
- Royal Brat: How he behaves in the first book, since no one dares to go against a prince of Elfhame he pretty much pulls whatever he wants and professors let him get away with it.
- Sexual Euphemism: Possibly combined with Get Thee to a Nunnery due to Faerie being in a type of Medieval Stasis, but in The Cruel Prince Cardan provokes Jude by taunting her about Taryn being green gowned by anyone who asks her, which is an old expression for a woman who has engaged in illicit sexual activity.note Then it turns out he was not just provoking her.
- Sketchy Successor: How many of the Folk see him after be becomes the High King, many have taken to call him the boy king.
- Technical Pacifist: Jude is surprised to realize that Cardan, while not adverse to hurting others, not only dislikes fighting but is adamantly opposed to murder, and even took pains to ensure that none of his bullying killed her.
- The Tell: Cardan has a good poker face, but has to keep his tail hidden so it won’t give him away.
- Token Good Teammate: Believe it or not, and to Jude's surprise, he was actually this in his own gang of bullies; however cruel and arrogant he was, he always went on his way to keep Nicasia, Locke and specially Valerian from doing their worse to Jude or anyone, he wasn't always successful but after thinking back on certain situatiions, Jude reluctantly admits it.
- The Un Favourite: The royal family’s disdain for the youngest member is not subtle. The closest any of them come to kindness is that Balekin likes to teach Cardan cruelty through example. In The Wicked King, it's casually mentioned that he was so neglected even as an infant that his mother left him to be nursed by a cat.
- Unwitting Pawn: How he became King, he considered Jude as an ally until she tricked him into becoming a ruler. He gets his revenge in the second novel.
- Wants to Be Hated: Due to a lonely childhood combined with being a member of the royal household, Cardan learns that lashing out and behaving badly gets him attention, even if it's negative. By the time we see him as an adult, he's fully embraced his reputation as the bad seed of the Greenbriar family, including taking credit for murders he didn't actually commit. When he and Jude wind up dealing with their Belligerent Sexual Tension, her saying that she hates him is what turns him on.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Is shocked when Jude is helping him escape, after the massacre, to be rewarded with a knife at this throat. Also, with the Court of Shadows constantly falling back on murder when dealing with problems.
- He also delivered this to Taryn, after finding out that she and Locke had tricked Cardan and his friends into thinking it was Jude whom he had left Nicasia for, and allowing her sister to take the fall for it.
Cardan: You're awful. And the worse part is that you believe otherwise. - With Friends Like These...: Hanging out with Nicasia, Locke, and especially, Valerian, brings out the worst in him. While he always puts forth the attitude of superiority he often is much more tolerable when away from this group.
- Youngest Child Wins: To the surprise of everyone, being that he is The Un-Favourite, He ends up not only surviving the royal family massacre at the hands of Balekin and Madoc, but he also ends up being crowned High King, albeit unwillingly...
Humans:
Taryn Duarte
Jude's older twin sister.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Initially appears as a kind character but she is proving to be manipulative in her own ways.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Detests Locke's ambiguous affections towards Jude- whom Taryn believes he considered the more interesting sister.
- It's All About Me: However questionable actions Jude has committed and how ruthless she's become, she never does it out of purely selfish reasons. Whereas the only time Taryn seems to truly regret what happened between her, Jude and Locke, it's in The Lost Sisters novella, and even there, one would be hard pressed to find a part where her apologies are not followed by excuses, justifications and accusations to Jude.
- Not to mention that in the second book, she only approaches Jude when she wants something from her.
- Smarter Than You Look: Appears less intelligent than Jude but she's starting to prove herself quite the tactician.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: With Taryn being the beautiful sister - the one who wants to belong among the Folk by playing by their rules - and Jude being the smart sister - because in Taryn's words, she never backs down from any challenge and want to earn her place by her own merit not sucking up to anyone -. Interestingly this is one-sided for the most part on Taryn's side; because Jude had always thought that they were struggling together when it came to surviving in Faerie and she often thinks that by earning a place she can also protect her sister, Taryn however is constantly filled with thoughts about besting Jude in something since she's always considering herself as inferior to her, and has some very surprisingly bitter thoughts about her, and even hates that Jude is so oblivious to it all:I wished that I could kick you. I wished I could slap you. Looking at you was like looking into a mirror and hating what I saw. And your obliviousness, in that moment, made it worse. I know it was a terrible thing to think, but at least I am admitting it.
- Thinks Like a Romance Novel: There are many shades of this in the novella The Lost Sisters which is written like an apology letter to Jude, she keeps comparing her situation to the princesses in fairytales and despite seeing the red flags of Locke's behavior she prefers to believe he truly likes her.
- Unwitting Pawn: Taryn, along with her sisters, are not aware of Madoc's true intentions. Subverted possibly in the second book where she may be assisting her adoptive father in gathering an army to challenge Cardan for the throne. Then again, Madoc may just be using her.
Eva Duarte
The mother of Vivi, Taryn and Jude.
- Interspecies Romance: She is a human and her first husband Madoc is a faerie.
Heather
Vivienne's human girlfriend
- Forced Transformation: Heather, while fascinated by the cat-boy faerie, did not want him to turn her into a cat-girl.
- Offscreen Breakup: Heather and Vivi broke up near the end of the second book, because she did not appreciate Vivi glamouring her. They get back together in the third book.
Madoc's Household:
Madoc
A redcap who is the chief general to the king. He is also Vivi's father and Taryn and Jude's foster father.
- Affably Evil: While he is ruthless and ambitious and desires war to break out in the entirety of Faerie, hes also quite courteous, polite and has standards.
- Archnemesis Dad: Becomes this to the sisters after murdering their parents. Jude and Taryn shamefully admit growing to love him as cares for them growing up.
- Blood Knight: He is the chief general to the king and lives for war and fighting.
- The Chessmaster: Madoc is skilled at manipulating events in his favour, such as planting ideas to trick opponents into acting in a certain manner that he wants or secretly plotting against them for his own ends.
- Colonel Kilgore: Madoc is the king's most trusted general and adores war and the thrill of battle. He seeks to start them all over Elfhame and plunge the region into conflict.
- Dragon with an Agenda: While he is Balekin's second-in-command, he is plotting to have Oak take the throne and use him as a Puppet King. This would leave Madoc in charge of Elfhame.
- Education Mama: Trains Jude and Taryn in combat and sends them to lessons.
- Family-Values Villain: Despite being a redcap note and ruthless general, he cares about family a lot, being the reason why he adopted Jude and Taryn despite being product of his wife infidelity, and to his insistence, he arranged for them to be raised with the same education and privileges of the gentry children. On top of all, it's heavily implied that second only to his War is Glorious mentality, the reason he betrayed Prince Dain, was because he found out that he tried to murder his own son while still in the womb.
- Follow in My Footsteps: Tries to do this with Vivi but she refuses. It is Jude who takes after him the most.
- I Did What I Had to Do: His justification for his immoral actions.
- Manipulative Bastard: Fools different characters in his quest for the throne.
- Parental Substitute: After taking in the sisters he tries to treat Jude and Taryn like his own daughters.
- Promotion to Parent: Adopts Jude and Taryn after murdering their parents.
- Taking the Kids: Madoc kidnapping Jude and her sisters is what kick-starts the plot.
- Villainous Parental Instinct: Madoc is an evil warmonger, but sincerely loves his adopted children. He's fiercely protective of them and flies into a rage when Jude gets hurt in the first book.
- War Is Glorious: He plans to manipulate his way to the throne, so he can start wars across Faerie to satisfy his love for it.
- What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: His murder of Eva and Justin shows traces of this. Even Madoc appears horrified by his actions in the aftermath.
Vivienne
Jude's older half-sister who is half-faerie.
- Affectionate Nickname: Everyone calls her "Vivi."
- Antagonistic Offspring: Does everything in her power to aggravate Madoc who murdered her biological mother and stepfather.
- Big Sister Mentor: Her younger sisters Jude and Taryn often seek her advice.
- Half-Human Hybrid: She is half-human and half-faerie.
- Cool Big Sis: Her younger sisters both have good relationships with her and both admire her.
- Offscreen Breakup: Heather did not appreciate Vivienne glamouring her.
- Only Sane Woman: Vivienne had the appropriate response to her father murdering her mother and stepfather and kidnapping her and her sisters: RUN! She returned to the human realm, and strove to make a life for herself. Jude even admits that Vivienne, despite having fairy blood, seems to have the best measure of the situation. Most of the time at least.
Oriana
Madoc's second wife.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: She has a milky blue skin.
- Marriageof Convenience: She tells Jude that the reason she married Madoc was basically to get away from the machinations of the court and to protect Oak
- What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: Feels this way towards faerie prince Dain after he orders the assassination of her best friend for carrying his bastard son.
- Wicked Stepmother: Downplayed; Jude thinks most of the time Oriana looks down on them and must think of her and Taryn as mere inconveniences and often reprimands them of behaving themselves in court as to not shame Madoc, but she never does anything actively malicious towards them, Subverted when she thinks that Jude is having a fling with Prince Dain and makes her promise that she will tell her first if Jude ever bores him a child, as the reveal of Oak's parentage comes to light, it's becomes evident that Oriana was truly trying to protect Jude from a similar fate to the one of Liriope.
Oak
Madoc and Oriana's son. He is later revealed to actually be the child of prince Dain and Liriope, Oriana's best friend.
- Child of Forbidden Love: He is the child of Prince Dain and Liriope, a consort of his father.
- Creepy Child: Since he is a fae, he has his moments; Jude mentions a time when he unknowingly glamoured Jude to slap herself, and kept doing it for a long while, because he thought it was funny, obviously she did not share the sentiment.
- Give Him a Normal Life: At the end of The Cruel Prince Jude resolves to hive him in the mortal world with Vivi, both for his safety and to hopefully make him a better king one day whe he comes back and he can have a childhood in the meantime.
- Hidden Backup Prince: Madoc has kept Oak's true parentage a secret in part to protect him from Dain and in part to have influence over a potential future king. The revelation that there's a third surviving member of the royal family allows Jude and Cardan to circumvent Balekin completely in their scheme to steal the crown.
- Little Bit Beastly: He has tiny horns atop his head which ends up being a hint of his true parentage.
- Long-Lost Relative: Two-fold. Not only is he a Greenbriar prince through Dain but he's also Locke's younger half-brother.
Tatterfell
Royal Family of Elfhame:
The Greenbriar Royal line ruling Over Elfhame for centuries.
In General
- Inhumanly Beautiful Race: They're all attractive in their own way. Seems to run in the family.
- Together in Death: By the end of the second novel Cardan and Oak are the only surviving members.
- What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: Subverted, instead of human it's faerie life. While it's logical on Balekin's end on why his family had to die it doesn't make his actions any less barbaric.
Eldred Greenbriar
The High King of Faeire, grandson of Queen Mab, who wants to abdicate the throne due to growing weary.
- Immortal Procreation Clause: Averted in his case, he somehow managed to have six children; which is seen as extremely lucky, and it's lampshaded in one of the extra stories:Dulcamara: Most Folk are lucky, if in a hundred years, they beget a single child. Two is considered a great blessing. Six is vulgar fortune.
- Parental Favoritism: He plans to crown his third-born son Prince Dain as the new High King, skipping his two eldest children Balekin and Elowyn. It ends up dooming him and almost his entire family when Balekin interrupts the coronation demanding to be crowned instead. When Eldred refused, Balekin killed him and most of his siblings.
Balekin Greenbriar
King Eldred's first child.
- Carrying the Antidote: Balekin in The Wicked King after Cardan is poisoned, very likely under his orders.
- I Did What I Hadto Do: His logic for why he agrees to the execution.
- Karmic Death: After all the murders and betrayals he is finally killed off by Jude, as an added insult, he thinks very lowly of humans and treats them badly.
Elowyn Greenbriar
King Eldred's second child.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Balekin runs his blade through her while she is distracted watching Dain's coronation.
Dain Greenbriar
King Eldred's third and favourite child.
- Antagonistic Offspring: How he views his secret child Oak.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Fools Jude into thinking of him as an honorable character until she learns of his ordering the slaughter of his father's concubine impregnated with Dain's child.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How he gets murdered by Balekin.
- Prince Charming: Deconstructed Character Archetype. As a golden-haired, handsome knight with a reputation for being honorable, Dain appears to be the traditional image of a charming prince. Additionally, he recognizes potential in Jude and offers her a job when no one else does. In reality, he is just as cruel and self-centered as his siblings. Acting as a kind, honorable knight was in reality personal branding in order to gain his father’s and the court’s favor. The attention of others and favoritism of his father has made him self-important and arrogant. Additionally, he intentionally sabotaged the reputation of others in order to make himself look better, such as framing his little brother for murder.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Failing to kill his son, Oak, fulfills the prophecy of him never being crowned king.
Caelia Greenbriar
One of King Eldred's children.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The Ghost shoots an arrow into her chest swiftly killing her.
- Resignedtothe Call: Almost crowns Balekin king despite her disgust until she is killed by The Ghost.
- Satellite Character: Only converses with her siblings and little is known of her personality.
Rhyia Greenbriar
One of King Eldred's children who is friends with Vivi.
- Driven to Suicide: Heartbreakingly kills herself to stop Balekin.
- A Good Way to Die: Chooses to slit her throat to prevent Balekin from ascending the throne.
- Lady of War: Unlike her sisters Rhyia enjoys hunting and combat.
- Only Friend: The only friend Vivi has in faerie.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Instead of idly sitting by while Balekin takes the throne she chooses to die disproving of his methods of taking the throne and refuses to allow him be crowned king.
- The Tomboy: In comparison to her feminine sisters she displays more tomboyish tendencies.
Court of Shadows
Members of Dain's secret court that act as assassins and spies.
In General
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": They all have alias pending on their skill-sets.
The Bomb
- Demolitions Expert: Her primary job on their team.
The Roach
- Big Brother Mentor: Not actually related to Jude or rest of Court of Shadows but he cares for his comrades and often offers advice.
Other Faeries
Nicasia
A classmate and friend of Cardan's
- Alpha Bitch: She's a faerie princess and this makes her superior so don't you forget it!
- Establishing Character Moment: She has two pivotal moments; Coaxing a glamoured Jude to admit to hidden insecurities and slapping Jude during an argument.
- Rich Bitch: She is a princess and loves to flaunt it.
Locke
A classmate and friend of Cardan's
- A Family Affair: Locke turns out to be in a secret relationship with Taryn, despite already being in one with her sister Jude.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Acts like he is a morally sound guy within Cardan's group until he proves himself a bastard wanting to incite conflict between Jude and Taryn by playing with their affections. Then, he tries to murder Jude in the second novel...guy's an asshole.
- Hate Sink: In a series where Grey-and-Grey Morality runs rampant Locke gets the honor of being downright hated by nearly everyone who knows him in-universe. It could be said that the difference between Locke and most other faerie in the books is that they know they're manipulative and scheming, while Locke pretends he's above that sort of thing while he seduced Nicasia into leaving Carden, promptly dumped her for Taryn, then manipulated Taryn and Jude into fighting over him all for the sake of entertainment. Unsurprisingly, very few mourn him after Taryn kills him in a fit of madness.
- Manipulative Bastard: Pretends to have feelings for Jude and charms her into developing feelings for him then reveals his true intentions of wanting her and Taryn to fight over him just to have a story to gossip about.
- Token Evil Teammate: Hard to determine between Valerian and Locke which is the more despicable one in the group.
Valerian
A classmate and friend of Cardan's
- Absolute Xenophobe: If Cardan weren't around to rein him in during lessons he would waste no time murdering Jude and Taryn since he despises humans.
- Ax-Crazy: Attempts to murder Jude twice. He's not lucky in their second encounter.
- The Bully: A more deathly variety than usual, because since he hates humans a believes they're worthless, he has absolutely no qualms about killing them either. And would have killed Jude or Taryn many times over had Cardan not dissuade him.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: The most vicious member in Cardan's troupe. Even after his death he is hardly ever mentioned again showing their lack of care for the guy.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Nobody spends time searching for the guy.
- Jerkass: Absolutely despises humans and is very callous in nature.
- More Hateable Minor Villain: While General Madoc murders heroine Jude Duarte's parents and is a warmonger, he also has genuine sympathetic features like honor, the fact he took in and raised Jude as his own, and genuine affability. In contrast, Valerian acts as a more solid figure to hate. Valerian is a smug, Fantastic Racist who despises humans and demeans Jude and her sister in the novel for being human rather than Fae. He's also a callous Jerkass who eventually tries to kill Jude out of spite and bigotry because he feels like it.
- Terrible Trio: With Nicasia and Locke, and Cardan as the leader.
- Token Evil Teammate: Hard to determine between Valerian and Locke which is the more despicable one in the group.
