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Royal family

King Alexander III

The king of Ravka.

Abdicate the Throne: His son Nikolai forced him to abdicate and after that exiled him and his wife.
Dirty Old Man: He uses his position of power to rape servant girls.
The Exile: After it's revealed he raped Genya, Nikolai forces him to abdicate and go into exile.
Puppet King: His own court members show little fear insulting him, often speaking about how naive and easy to manipulate the king is.

Queen Tatiana Lantsov

The queen of Ravka.

Arranged Marriage: She was married off to Alexander III in a flimsy alliance between Fjerda and Ravka.
Lie to the Beholder: Excessive tailoring by Genya Safin allows the actually quite plain queen to look twenty years younger and always stunningly gorgeous.
No Name Given: Her name is never said in The Grisha Trilogy.
- Averted in later books set in the Grishaverse when her name is given as Tatiana.

Vasily Lantsov

Played by: George Parker

The eldest son of king Alexander III and the heir to the Ravkan throne.

The Alcoholic: Loves heavily drinking. Always shows up to war meetings hungover.
Always Someone Better: As Crown Prince, Vasily studied ruling and statecraft, but he’s clearly, in charm, strategy, politics, and looks, completely outshone by his younger brother.
Big Brother Bully: Called Nikolai “Nikolai Nothing” despite Nikolai’s hero worship of him when Nikolai was a child, constantly implies Nikolai is a bastard, and likely tried to poison Nikolai when he was twelve.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Dies after a nichevo’ya tears his arm right out of his socket, and he bleeds to death.
Entitled Bastard: Thinks he is owed the throne, and yet puts in absolutely no effort to rule the country or figure out Ravka’s problems.
Princeling Rivalry: Inverted. Nikolai sees his brother as unsuitable for the throne, but tries to just act as a better ruler rather than trying to physically hurt his older brother. Vasily, however, likely tried to poison Nikolai when he was twelve.
Prince Charmless: An arrogant brat who annoys most characters. He proposes to Alina but she very carefully turns him down.
Sibling Rivalry: He and his younger brother Nikolai do not get along. Vasily accuses his brother of being a bastard and trying to steal his throne, and Nikolai thinks his brother is lazy, unintelligent, and that he would make a terrible king.
Spanner in the Works: Prince Vasily is normally just useless, but then he announces that he arranged a treaty with Fjerda by allowing them free access to the roads in Ravka without interference from the First Army. While the Darkling and his army are looking for a way to invade Os Alta. On the night the most important people in Ravka would all be in one place celebrating Nikolai's birthday.
Spoiled Brat: Vasily is the crown prince of a country on the brink of war that is nearly bankrupt. He continues to live an ostentatious lifestyle, spending his time getting drunk and spending the country’s tight finances betting on horses. His solution to the country’s problems is to lower the draft age to thirteen. He frequently shows up to council meetings drunk, and gets angry when he can’t have his way.
Upper-Class Twit: Vasily is a prince who is very unintelligent, arrogant and lazy. He is also way more interested in drinking and horses than in actually ruling a country. Luckily he dies before he can become king.

Nikolai Lantsov / Sturmhond

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nikolai_lantsov.jpg

The younger Ravkan prince. Becomes the king of Ravka after his father's abdication and his brother's death.

All for Nothing: His efforts to prove he'd make a better king than Vasily end up being this. Vasily dies at the end of Seige and Storm, making Nikolai heir by default.
Animal Motifs: He's often associated with dogs and foxes.
Arranged Marriage: After the failure of a Shu plot to assassinate Nikolai at the end of ''King of Scars", he gives princess Ehri-Kir Taban (second in line to the Shu throne) two choices: marry him or be executed.
Badass Longcoat: He wears a teal frock coat, extremely gaudy, but extremely dramatic.
Black Sheep: The people at the Ravkan court call him the black sheep of the family, because he chose to serve in the infantry as an ordinary Ravkan, earning his ranks himself instead of starting out as a officer like most royals.
…But He Sounds Handsome: When someone mentions that the prince isn't bad looking, he's compelled to put in that he's 'damnably handsome', among a long litany of other inflated qualities.
Deadpan Snarker: Arguably more than Alina.
Demonic Possession: It's revealed in King of Scars that the darkness inside of him has its own mind.
The Charmer: Clearly knows his way around others, is beloved by the court and his people. Constantly flirts with Alina, and uses his charms to manipulate his way through social situations.
Consummate Liar: About almost anything. He lies to Alina about his true intentions, then his true identity, and continues to lie in various small ways throughout the books. Most of the time, no one suspects a thing.
The Engineer: Helped to invent the world's first flying craft, machine guns, and several other devices.
Fate Worse than Death: Played with in Ruin and Rising, when his body becomes merged with one of the Darkling's shadow soldiers.
Forceful Kiss: Kisses Alina against her will in order to convince his people she is his 'Sun Queen'.
Commanding Coolness: Sturmhond's official title on board the Volkvolny.
Guile Hero: While Nikolai is a good fighter, he mostly uses his silver tongue, manipulation skills and his talent for scheming and politics to win the day.
Heroic Bastard: Nikolai is officially the son of the former king Alexander III and his wife, the queen, but there are some rumours that he was actually born from one of the queen's affairs. This later turns out to be true when the queen tells him that his father is Magnus Opjer, a Fjerdan diplomat.
Insistent Terminology: He is quite insistent that he is a privateer, not a pirate.
It's All About Me: He has a very carefree attitude, and tends to make things about himself as a joke. He's playing off his own arrogance.
Loveable Rogue: You want to hate him, but you just can't.
Nikolai: I have several ships. The Darkling wanted a whaler, so I got him one.
Alina: You mean you stole it.
Nikolai: Acquired it.
Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Acts as a gender flip version for both Alina and Zoya.
Mind Rape: What the Darkling did to Nikolai, by turning him into a monster, had strong shades of this. The Darkling forced something into Nikolai and Nikolai tried to fight back but couldn't. He made Nikolai completely helpless to his own body and mind, and totally perverted who he was. Luckily, after the Darkling’s death, he gets his own body back again, but, in the sequel series, is still haunted by what happened.
Mirroring Factions: At the end of Rule Of Wolves he muses that he and the Darkling had pretty much the same goal, trying to be Ravka's salvation; and he has the potential to go the same way as his nemesis if he doesn't take steps to right his course. He also mourns the young man that the Darkling once was, who was very similar to Nikolai himself in believing he could accomplish anything if only he was clever, strong and brave enough.
Meaningful Name: An in-universe example. His childhood nickname was Sobachka (Ravkan for puppy), which he plays on to create his later alias, Sturmhond.
The Mutiny: He and his crew overthrow the Darkling and his men from their ship, thereby mutinying against a superior officer.
Non-Answer: Notorious for this.
Alina: Do you ever answer a question directly?
Nikolai: Hard to say. Ah, there, I've done it again.
Polyglot: Albeit not a very good one. He knows Zemeni, Ravkan, Kerch, and some Shu, though he's not perfect.
Prince Charming: A rare modern example. Despite his introduction and tendency to win with trickery, Nikolai fits all the key traits. He is a very handsome prince with a magnetic personality, who is very brave, and is also quite kind and fair, and he’s also fundamentally good.
Princeling Rivalry: Subverted. Nikolai thinks his older brother is unsuitable for the throne, but he tries to act as a better ruler, rather than trying to assassinate his older brother. In fact, Nikolai never tries to actually physically hurt his older brother, despite his brother likely trying to poison him when he was a child.
Privateer: Operated as one under the name Sturmhond for several years.
Really Royalty Reveal: After the Hummingbird crashes, Sturmhond is revealed to be Nikolai.
Resist the Beast: Nikolai attempts to prevent himself from changing, and warns others of it in King of Scars.
Royal Brat: He was this when he was much younger, before the castle decided to enforce discipline by punishing one of his friends rather than Nikolai himself.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Nikolai left court as soon as he could, insisted on doing his military service in the infantry, apprenticed to a gunsmith, and then later went to study shipbuilding. This turns out to be useful when he becomes a pirate—er, privateer.
Screw the Rules, I Have Money!!:He's not above bribery, and he's very willing to disregard rules.
Nikolai: Pauper or Prince, every man can be bought.
Sibling Rivalry: He and his older brother Vasily do not get along. Vasily accuses his brother of being a bastard and trying to steal his throne, and Nikolai thinks his brother is lazy, unintelligent and that he would make a terrible king.
Spare to the Throne: He is next in line to the Ravkan throne after his brother, Vasily and he becomes the new king after his brother dies and his father abdicates.
Too Clever by Half: He screams it. He's extremely intelligent and he knows it, and is thus unafraid to remind others of it.
Transformation of the Possessed: His body morphs and changes significantly with the darkness in control.
White Sheep: His father, actually step-father, raped Genya, his servant, when she was still a child and likely did this to other servants. Additionally, he’s a naive and apathetic ruler who ran his country into the ground. Nikolai’s mother, the queen, groomed and physically abused Genya, and appears just as negligent to the common people as her husband. Nikolai’s brother is an entitled brat who never puts an ounce of work in, looks down on the common people, and wants to lower the draft age to thirteen. Nikolai, by contrast, cares deeply for the people of Ravka and will do anything to do right by them, including giving his life. He is constantly working, has a strong sense of justice, and generally does the right thing.

The First Army

Malyen Oretsev

Played by: Archie Renaux

Alina's childhood best friend, a former soldier of the First Army and a gifted tracker.

The Ace: Mal is handsome, an unbelievably good tracker, and makes friends very easily. Alina muses that you could drop him anywhere in the world and before long he'd fit in perfectly.
Childhood Friends: He and Alina have known each other since they were very young, growing up in the same orphanage.
Betty and Veronica: There's a subversion here. While the Darkling is definitely the Veronica, being a handsome and seductive stranger in contrast to Malyen's status as Alina's childhood friend, Malyen isn't much of a Betty besides being a childhood friend given how much sleeping around he does.
Heroic Sacrifice: At the climactic confrontation of Ruin and Rising, Mal, having realized that he's the third amplifier, guides a badly-wounded and utterly broken Alina into driving a knife to his chest, taking her power to its logical conclusion.
Hypocrite: He flirts and sleeps with women as much as he wants while in the First Army, but when he sees Alina wearing signs of the Darkling's favor, he gets furious and accuses her of being a whore. He gets possessive of her around Nikolai, but then kisses Zoya. In front of her.
It's All About Me: He complains to Alina about how she doesn't have time for him anymore... while she's trying to keep the Second Army afloat, help Nikolai's political game, and keep a civil war from breaking out. Yeah...
Like Brother and Sister: Mal sees Alina as his sister instead of a potential girlfriend, much to her silent torment. He comes around.
Love Epiphany: Mal comes to realize just how much he loves Alina back while they are in hiding from The Darkling.
Love Triangle: Stuck in one for the bulk of the series, with Alina and the Darkling, and later, Alina and Nikolai.
Mr. Fanservice: Mal is described as a very handsome man, turning heads wherever he goes, much to Alina's annoyance.
No Guy Wants an Amazon: Downplayed. Mal spends a lot of the series resenting Alina’s powers and the position they give her, and wanting her to go back to “normal”, even though repressing her powers causes her to be sickly, weak, and miserable. He also takes issue with the social life she gains at the Little Palace independent of him.
Really Gets Around: Implied hook up with many women during his time in the First Army.
Scarily Competent Tracker: It's said of Mal that he can "turn rocks into rabbits." He's so good he can even track a sea-serpent on the open ocean. It turns out that this ability is supernatural and derived from his power as an amplifier. Since "like calls to like" is the rule of the Grishaverse, he's naturally drawn to other amplifiers like the stag and the sea serpent.

Isaak Andreyev

A soldier in the First Army who became a member of the royal guard.

Assassination Attempt: He gets murdered by a Shu agent, while he is disguised as King Nikolai.
Fish out of Water: Isaak is a normal, rather shy guy from a poor family, so he is rather out of his comfort zone when he has to pretend to be King Nikolai and has to navigate complicated diplomatic situations, because the real king is missing.
King Incognito: Inverted, Isaak is a normal guard pretending to be the king to prevent chaos after the real king went missing.
Polyglot: Aside from his native Ravkan he is fluent in Shu, Zemeni, Kerch, and Suli languages.
Praetorian Guard: He is a member of the royal guard, tasked with protecting the king and his family.
Undying Loyalty: He is completely loyal to King Nikolai, who got him a job as a royal guard, which allowed him and family to escape from poverty.

The Second Army

Shadow/Sun Summoners

The Darkling /Aleksander Morozova

The Darkling / Aleksander Morozova

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_darkling.jpg

Played by: Ben Barnes

"Fine, make me your villain."

The mysterious force that leads the Grisha.

The Ageless: The Darkling states that he is 120 years old, but it's implied that he's much older than that. It turns out that he accidentally created the Shadow Fold, which is around four hundred years old, so he's older even than that.
Age Lift: In a physical sense. Though he's The Ageless, the books describe him as looking a little older than Alina (roughly late teens to early twenties). For the series, he's played by Ben Barnes, who was 38 when filming the first season.
All Girls Want Bad Boys: The Darkling has this appeal for Alina, encouraged by her belief that Mal has forgotten about her. She comes to despise him after the events of the first book, but a very strong attraction is still clearly there.
Ambition Is Evil: He wants to make the world a safer place for Grisha, so he'll just conquer the world. The Shadow Fold was also brought about by him experimenting too much and too darkly with magic.
Ax-Crazy: He was always this, but it becomes most prominent in Ruin and Rising, where he declares that he'll destroy everything that Alina loves so that she has nothing left but him.
Beauty Is Bad: He's a thoroughly gorgeous man, but thoroughly ruthless and power hungry.
Betty and Veronica: There's a subversion here. While the Darkling is definitely the Veronica, being a handsome and seductive stranger in contrast to Malyen's status as Alina's childhood friend, Malyen isn't much of a Betty besides being a childhood friend.
Big Bad: Revealed to be the Black Heretic, the one who created the Shadow Fold, halfway through the first book, making him the main villain of the Grisha Trilogy. His goals are further revealed to be expanding the Fold to consume Ravka, and he even declared Alina can make him the villain if she wants.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: For the majority of Shadow and Bone he seems like a good and even kind man who only wants the best for his country and encourages Alina in her training. By the end of the book, he sheds this mask to reveal his true persona.
Call-Forward: It is stated in The Demon in the Wood that as a child, the Darkling loved sunlight and was afraid of the dark, perhaps foreshadowing his future infatuation with Alina, the sun summoner.
Casting a Shadow: His main ability; he wouldn't be called the Darkling if he didn't manipulate shadows.
The Chessmaster: He is a master at manipulating people and events to serve his purposes.
Consummate Liar: He manipulates most of the people around him with a web of lies and flattery.
The Corrupter: One of his major goals is to either get Alina to abandon her principles and join him willingly...or force her into doing so.
Crazy Jealous Guy: Towards Alina; he leaves Mal to die in the Shadow Fold and later transforms Nikolai into a volcra at least partly because Alina cares so deeply for them.
Dark and Troubled Past: Explored in The Demon in the Woods; when he was a child, he and his mother spent their lives on the run since Grisha were feared and hunted, and when he actually made a friend she ended up trying to murder him so she could use his remains as an amplifier. He ended up killing both her and another boy who also wanted his bones, which in turn caused the destruction of a nearby otkazat’sya village when he had to frame them in order to protect himself from reprisal.
Dangerous Forbidden Technique: His dabbling with his shadow-related powers ended up accidentally creating the Shadow Fold.
Diagonal Cut: Possesses the rare ability called "The Cut", which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
The Dreaded: Even the Grisha feel uneasy around him in Siege and Storm.
Drowning Pit: A girl he befriended at 13, Annika, betrayed him by luring him into a lake and using her Tidemaker powers to freeze it over after learning he’s a living amplifier.
Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: He's pale-skinned and dark-haired and very creepy. Even before he's revealed as evil, people are scared and unnerved by virtue of his powers.
Eternal Love: He believes that eventually as Alina comes to accept her immortality, they will share this.
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Played with. He sees his mother as someone who can share his immortal life, but blinds her when she helps Alina. But then later when she commits suicide, he not only tries to stop her, but Alina feels him grieving through their link.
Even Evil Can Be Loved: Despite all the terrible things he's done, his mother still loves him and Alina still feels something for him, to the point she cries when she kills him. This helps the narrative humanize the Darkling.
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He's addressed as "the Darkling", and apparently has been for centuries. We don't find out his real name until the end.
The Extremist Was Right / Villain Has a Point: The following Crows and Nikolai duologies go into excruciating detail on just how terribly Grisha are treated around the world outside of Ravka (save for Novyi Zem, and even they're willing to provide Fjerda with weapons, while the Grisha there are considered 'blessed' but also have to live in hiding for fear of being abducted by slavers from other countries) and how new developments in technology and warfare could either enslave or wipe Grisha out altogether. Plus in Rule of Wolves, it emerges that Fjerda is breeding captive Grisha to create future generations of slaves. The Witch of Duva and The Demon in the Woods take place in a time when Ravkan Grisha were forced to live as fugitives in fear of being slaughtered. Even at the time of the original trilogy a lot of non-magical Ravkan people still hate and fear the Grisha, despite the Second Army being all that stands between them and conquest by Fjerda or Shu Han; the Darkling probably feared that if the Shadow Fold were destroyed and the need for the Second Army diminished, Ravka might well have turned against its former protectors. In fact, when the Fold is destroyed things arguably become even worse for Ravka and its citizens now that Fjerda and Shu Han can easily attack the country, and the Grisha still have to endure discrimination; at one point Zoya mentions that certain towns forbid Grisha from owning property and will readily drive them from their homes. All of this serves to vindicate the Darkling's cause to make a truly safe place for Grisha, during which he's had to endure numerous incompetent and corrupt Ravkan kings, and the King he currently serves and attempts to depose, Alexander III, is genuinely awful.
Faux Affably Evil: He is very suave and seductive in nearly all his scenes, which only serves to increase his cold and manipulative aura.
From Nobody to Nightmare: He started out as one of a persecuted few, constantly on the run from those hunting Grisha. His experiences as a child led him to first make Ravka safe for Grisha — and then scheme to take over the world.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: His face is faintly scarred by a volcra attack after the end of Shadow and Bone.
Hates Being Alone: Seems genuinely troubled by the prospect of spending the rest of his long life by himself.
The Darkling: Don't let me be alone.
Hobbes Was Right: He certainly seems to believe that without him as its sole ruler, Ravka will never be a great power again.
I Have You Now, My Pretty: When he captures Alina after she attempts to escape with Mal in Shadow and Bone.
I Just Want to Be Loved: In Ruin and Rising Alina concludes: "For all his crimes, the Darkling had loved Ravka, and he'd wanted its love in return."
If I Can't Have You…: Towards Alina and Ravka both, preferring to destroy them rather than see anyone else have them.
It's All About Me: He claims his actions are for the good of Ravka, but as Alina points out, it's only as long he is the ruler.
Lack of Empathy: One of his most prominent qualities. The Demon in the Woods and Ruin and Rising seem to imply this developed as a survival and coping mechanism.
The Darkling: If I still felt as you do, if I ached as you do, I could not have borne this eternity.
Life Isn't Fair: He exasperatedly espouses this philosophy to Alina in Shadow and Bone.
Living Emotional Crutch: Given his level of obsession with Alina and the more irrational he becomes at her rejection, she seems to become this to him.
Love Is a Weakness:
The Darkling: The problem with wanting is that it makes us weak.
Love Makes You Crazy: He certainly seems to act more irrationally when it comes to Alina.
Love Makes You Evil: All his wicked deeds are rooted in his love for Ravka. And if his claims to love Alina are true, a few can be attributed to his feelings for her.
Love Triangle: In one with Mal and Alina, with Nikolai later added to the mix.
Manipulative Bastard: He plays with Alina's emotions to get what he wants.
Mindlink Mates: At the end of Siege and Storm he and Alina become a romantically one-sided version of this.
Morality Chain: He tells Alina she could become this for him eventually. She counters that he would corrupt her.
The Darkling: You might make me a better man.
Alina: And you might make me a monster.
Moral Sociopathy: The Darkling seems to have a kind of moral structure, but it is incomprehensible to all but himself.
Murder the Hypotenuse: Repeatedly threatens to kill or attempts to kill Mal in order to have Alina all to himself.
Not Good with Rejection: He really cannot take being turned down by Alina, especially since she prefers men that, to him, are deeply inferior.
Not So Stoic: His usual demeanor is cool and distant, but he's highly selective of what emotions he shows and who he shows them to. How much of it is genuine is up for interpretation.
Power is Sexy: This combined with his looks makes the Darkling a much-desired man among women. He himself has this for Alina, to the point of obsession.
Say My Name: Asks this of Alina as he's dying.
The Darkling: Once more. Speak my name.
Stalker with a Crush: Really begins to come across as this, especially in Siege and Storm.
Thousand-Yard Stare: Almost exactly how Alina describes the expression in his eyes when she comes to him at Keramzin.
Tom The Darklord: Alina is quite amused to learn that his real name is Aleksander, an incredibly common and mundane name in Ravka.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Baghra says he used to be just a brilliant, talented boy. The short story The Demon in the Wood features a 13 year old Darkling (then Eryk, to hide his identity for safety) and gives insight into what his childhood was like. His narrowly escaping being murdered by his new friend, who wanted to use his remains as an amplifier, being forced to kill her and another boy who also wanted his bones, and framing the nearby otkazat’sya village for their deaths which results in their slaughter as well clearly breaks something inside him.
Utopia Justifies the Means: Claims he wants to use the Shadow Fold to make Ravka a safe place for Grisha.
Villainous Crush: The Darkling has feelings for The Hero Alina; they edge between this and Dating Catwoman depending on the book.
Visionary Villain: His goal is to make Ravka a great nation and a haven for other Grisha.
What Beautiful Eyes!: His grey-colored eyes are frequently described in loving detail by Alina's narration.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Certainly comes off as this in The Demon in the Woods. This however is debatable by the time of Shadow and Bone.
Yandere: Very much so towards Alina. By the time of Ruin and Rising, he's so far gone he declares that he'll destroy everything she loves so she has no shelter but him.

Alina Starkov

Played by: Jessie Mei Li

"I'm the Sun Summoner. It gets dark when I say it does."

The protagonist of the first series and The Chosen One, one of the most powerful Grishas who has ever lived and the only one capable of destroying the volcra and the Shadow Fold.

Achey Scars: In Siege and Storm, Alina gets one from the Darkling's shadow soldiers. It itches whenever the Darkling is near.
The Ageless: What Alina supposed to become, considering the amount of power she wields. She loses it later.
All Girls Want Bad Boys: The Darkling has this appeal for Alina, encouraged by her belief that Mal has forgotten about her. She comes to despise him after the events of the first book, but a very strong attraction is still clearly there.
Brought Down to Normal: Ultimately Alina's fate at the end of Ruin and Rising is to lose all of her powers.
The Chosen One: Happens when you're the world's only Sun Summoner and the only Grisha with the power to destroy The Shadow Fold.
Character Development: She's a sickly and naive girl when we first meet her but soon proves to be a lot more competent over the course of the trilogy.
Deadpan Snarker: One of Alina's most defining traits is her dry wit.
The Darkling: What are you smiling at?
Alina: Myself.
The Darkling: Are you that funny?
Alina: I'm hilarious.
Differently Powered Individual: She's a Sun Summoner, an exceptionally rare Grisha who manipulates light. She's the only one in existence, and furthermore the only one born in centuries.
Heartwarming Orphan: Alina starts out as an orphan working as a cartographer in the First Army, and not only saves her best friend's life, but also saving the world from the Darkling.
It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Her belief. She feels alone during her Grisha training because she's one of a kind and can't relate to anyone but the Darkling.
Light 'em Up: The gist of her abilities is light manipulation.
Like Brother and Sister: With Tolya. He's arguably one of her closest male friends, but distinctly lacks any attraction or romance on both ends. Tolya even asserts that Alina is his and Tamar's sister at the end of the trilogy.
Love Triangle: Between Mal, Alina, and The Darkling. In the second book, this becomes a love square between Mal, Alina, the Darkling, with the addition of Nikolai.
The Marvelous Deer: Alina's first amplifier is taken from the horns of a great stag.
Messianic Archetype: She's the Chosen One, has a group of loyal followers, gets betrayed by someone she trusted, defeats a great evil, figuratively dies and is resurrected.
Pent-Up Power Peril: She was constantly sickly growing up due to subconsciously suppressing her powers. Once she starts using them regularly, her health improves greatly.
Please, I Will Do Anything!: Threatens to fight against The Darkling for the rest of her life if he harms Mal. But if he spares him, she promises to spend it "proving [her] gratitude."
Power Dyes Your Hair: Her hair turns white as a consequence of using merzost.
Power High: Despite her hesitation, she thrives when she is using her powers.
The Power of the Sun: Her abilities derive from sunlight, which means it's more difficult for her to use her powers at nighttime or underground.
Reluctant Warrior: She honestly doesn't want to be The Chosen One.
Secret-Keeper: Becomes one for the Darkling regarding his name. Worth mentioning that it was never explicitly stated that she wasn't allowed to tell anyone, but she never does.
Slave Collar: The first amplifier goes around her neck and can't be removed; Baghra tells her it was created with the intention of chaining her to the Darkling.

Corporalki

Fedyor Kaminsky

Played by: Julian Kostov

A heartrender.

Not the Fall That Kills You…: He winds up getting thrown from the roof of the Little Palace.

Genya Safin

Played by: Daisy Head

"I am not ruined. I am ruination."

The queen's tailor who befriends Alina Starkov. After the war she becomes a member of the Grisha Triumvate.

Badass Boast: Delivers one to the king after explaining the effects of her poison and how she used it to poison him. Doubles as Appropriated Appellation after being called "Razrusha'ya" (the ruined) after her disfigurement.
Genya: I am not ruined. I am ruination.
Beauty to Beast: She receives horrible disfiguring scars in Siege and Storm.
Best Served Cold: Her revenge on the king was designed to be as slow and painful as possible.
Beware the Nice Ones: Is generally a kind and polite person, unless you hurt her. Then you’re really in trouble.
Face–Heel Revolving Door: It's hard to keep track of whose side she's really on.
Red Heads Are Ravishing: Has red hair and is considered to be very beautiful, both by Alina (who comments on Genya's beauty constantly in her narration) and by the standards of the world around her.
Relationship Upgrade: With David after her trial in Ruin and Rising. King of Scars revealed they got married sometime after the war.
So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Her beauty was the reason why the King takes such an interest in her and raped her.
The Makeover: Her main superpower is Tailoring, altering someone's appearance. While this can be used for disguises, at court Genya is mostly called upon for making people prettier.

Ivan

Played by: Simon Sears

A powerful heartrender loyal to the Darkling.

Battle Trophy: His amplifier are the claws from the forepaw of a Sherborn bear that Ivan personally hunted down and killed. He wears them on a chain around his neck.
Freudian Excuse: Ivan follows the Darkling because he believes that the Darkling can end the centuries-long wars that his brothers, uncle and father died fighting in.
Undying Loyalty: He is unwaveringly loyal to the Darkling, believing he is the only person who can save Ravka and give them peace.

Nina Zenik

For information on Nina click here.

Sergei Beznikov

A heartrender.

Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: After he sells out Alina's location to the Darkling, the latter has him dismembered by his creatures.

Etherealki

Adrik Zhabin

A squallor who is determined to fight in the war even though he is too young. Nadia's younger brother.

Handicapped Badass: He loses one of his arms in the war, but he remains a badass.
Ship Tease: He admits to Nina that he has a crush on Leoni, but he isn't doing anything about it because he is her commanding officer. However, Nina points out that after their mission is over, he won't be anymore.

Harshaw

An inferni from the Wandering Isle.

A Dog Named "Dog": He named his cat 'Oncat', which is Kaelish for cat.
Dark and Troubled Past: When he was younger his brother got murdered for being a Grisha. Harshaw then burned down their entire village in revenge.

Zoya Nazyalensky

Played by: Sujaya Dasgupta

A powerful squaller in the second army. She later becomes a member of the Grisha Triumvirate and Commander of the Second Army.

Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She has black hair and doesn't show her emotions very often.
Alpha Bitch: When she first meets Alina, she plays this role.
Characterization Marches On: At first she fills the Alpha Bitch role, and is just mean to Alina, but she is later characterized as generally cold around everyone.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Usually aloof and cold, she gradually starts letting this drop around Nikolai in King of Scars.
Everyone Has Standards: When they first met, she was eager to fall into the Darkling's good graces. However, she has nothing but disdain for him after his actions resulted in the deaths of her beloved aunt Liliyana and her adoptive cousin.
Green-Eyed Monster: Initially, Zoya doesn't like Alina because she's jealous of how the Darkling favours Alina and all the attention Alina gets in the Little Palace.
Girl Friday: To Nikolai, in King of Scars. She is his advisor.
Hidden Heart of Gold:
- Several of Zoya's admirers insists she has one and is just looking for the "right man" to reveal it.
- King of Scars reveals that she really does have one and Zoya cares far more than she's willing to admit.
Old Man Marrying a Child: She nearly fell victim to this. Her mother Sabina arranged for Zoya to marry a man in his sixties while she was nine. The wedding was only stopped when Liliyana protested the entire affair. When Zoya's fiancé tried to attack Liliyana, Zoya discovered her Grisha powers and Liliyana brought her straight to the Little Palace to guarantee the wedding wouldn't happen. The ordeal more or less ruined Zoya's relationship with her mother.
Parental Substitute: In some ways, her aunt Liliyana was a more proper mother figure to Zoya than her real mother.
Proud Beauty: She is beautiful and she knows and enjoys it.
Weather Manipulation: As a squaller she can summon lightning and manipulate the wind. By the end of King of Scars she also possesses Elemental Powers as she shows the ability to summon wind, water, and fire.

Materialki

David Kostyk

Played by: Luke Pasqualino

A brilliant fabrikator with a talent for inventing things. After the war he becomes a member of the Grisha triumvate.

Absent-Minded Professor: David is a brilliant inventor who often gets completely lost in his work.
Adaptational Attractiveness: David is by no means ugly, but he is described as being rather plain, enough to get people wondering why someone as supposedly drop dead gorgeous as Genya would go for him. Well, David is played by Luke Pasqualino in the Netflix adaptation, so it's really not hard to imagine why at all.
Relationship Upgrade: With Genya in Ruin and Rising. King of Scars revealed they married some time after the war.

Leoni

An Zemeni alkemi who is stationed in Fjerda with Nina and Adrik as part of the Hringsa. She is later appointed the Materialki representative in the Triumvirate.

Connected All Along: Jesper's mother Aditi Hilli sacrificed herself to save Leoni from poison when she was a child.
Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Adrik and Leoni, respectively.
The Pollyanna: She is described by Nina as "walking sunshine".

Other

Baghra

Played by: Zoë Wanamaker

A short-tempered woman who teaches Alina how to summon her power.

Antagonistic Offspring: She spends the whole trilogy trying to find ways to redeem the Darkling. Lampshaded by Nikolai:
Baghra: The little Saint, returned to save us all.
Nikolai: Well, she did almost die trying to rid us of your cursed spawn.
Casting a Shadow: She is the mother of the Darkling, and has similar powers.
Cynical Mentor: Baghra is not impressed with Alina's progress.
Darwinist Desire: A particularly cold example.
Baghra: I wanted a child, so I sought out the most powerful Grisha I could find. He was a Heartrender. I don't even remember his name.
Old Master: She's Alina's mentor. She's the Darkling's mother, so as old as he is, she's even older.

Dunyasha Lazareva

A mad assassin hired by Pekka Rollins to eliminate Inej, Dunyasha claims descent from royalty.

All There in the Manual: Her last name isn't given in the narrative; it's revealed in the Dramatis Personae at the end of Crooked Kingdom.
Axe-Crazy: Insane enough that Fjerda decided she was too unstable to back for the throne.
The Chosen One: Subverted. Dunyasha seems like a prototypical YA chosen one. She has royal blood, has been trained as an assassin, and kills as holy work. Of course she's also a delusional lunatic, who hires herself out as a Psycho for Hire.
Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of YA protagonists. All the traits are there: An extremely skilled fighter, claim to royalty, beautiful. Inej notes that she could be the main character of a story. Ultimately she's a footnote in the Grishaverse, however. Also people don't think her white assassin outfit is cool, they make fun of her for it.
Disney Villain Death: She's tricked by Inej into falling to her death during their fight at the top of a church.
Evil Redhead: Auburn hair and no conscience.
Expy: A hammy, arrogant assassin who claims royal heritage. Some readers have pointed out that she seems a lot like a villainous version of Celaena Sardothien from Throne of Glass.
Ninja: Complete with shiriken.
Psycho for Hire: She's a lunatic who hires herself out as a killer because she gets off on it.
The Unreveal: It never is confirmed whether or not she's Ravkan royalty, or just deluded. She's mentioned in King of Scars but her claims are dismissed just as casually as she was mentioned.
Worthy Opponent: How she refers to Inej, even using the exact phrase, just before subverting the trope.
Dunyasha: There is no shame in meeting a worthy opponent. It means there is more to learn, a welcome reminder to pursue humility. (Beat) I have learned humility. And now you will learn that some are meant to serve. And some are meant to rule.

Sabina Garin

Zoya's mother.

Abusive Parents: She was emotionally abusive towards Zoya and tried to marry her to an old man when she was only nine years old.
Maligned Mixed Marriage: She married a Suli man, which caused her parents to cut her off.
Marry for Love: She married a poor Suli man, despite her parents disaproval, because she loved him. She eventually comes to regret this, as she ends up living in poverty and estranged from her family.

Liliyana Garin

Zoya's maternal aunt.

Only Sane Man: The only one who objects against nine year old Zoya being married to an old man
Posthumous Character: She died before the start of The Nikolai Duology, but she is still important due to the influence she's had on Zoya's life.

Characters / The Grishaverse Ravka

Royal family

King Alexander III

Queen Tatiana Lantsov

Vasily Lantsov

Nikolai Lantsov / Sturmhond

The First Army

Malyen Oretsev

Isaak Andreyev

The Second Army

Shadow/Sun Summoners

The Darkling / Aleksander Morozova

Alina Starkov

Corporalki

Fedyor Kaminsky

Genya Safin

Ivan

Sergei Beznikov

Etherealki

Adrik Zhabin

Harshaw

Zoya Nazyalensky

Materialki

David Kostyk

Leoni

Other

Baghra

Dunyasha Lazareva

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Characters / The Grishaverse Ravka

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Royal family

King Alexander III

Queen Tatiana Lantsov

Vasily Lantsov

Nikolai Lantsov / Sturmhond

The First Army

Malyen Oretsev

Isaak Andreyev

The Second Army

Shadow/Sun Summoners

The Darkling / Aleksander Morozova

Alina Starkov

Corporalki

Fedyor Kaminsky

Genya Safin

Ivan

Sergei Beznikov

Etherealki

Adrik Zhabin

Harshaw

Zoya Nazyalensky

Materialki

David Kostyk

Leoni

Other

Baghra

Dunyasha Lazareva

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Index

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