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In general
- I Am X, Son of Y: How all Shu names are formatted. Boys have Yul-[father's name] and girls have Kir-[father's name] as their last names. The only exception is the royal family, who all use Yul/Kir-Taban after Queen Taban, the first ruler of Shu-Han.
- Lady Land: Downplayed but still present. While for the most part men are allowed to do pretty much anything women can do, there are two very significant glass ceilings: men aren't allowed to be in the Tavgharad, the elite imperial guard, or to hold the throne. In fact, empresses don't even get married specifically to prevent any man getting bright ideas about ruling.
Tolya Yul-Bataar
Tolya Yul-Bataar
A Heartrender mercenary working as a member of Sturmhond's crew.
- Chaste Hero: To date Tolya's never shown to be interested in romance. It's unclear if he's prioritizing his duty or if he's Asexual
- Half-Identical Twins: Both he and his twin sister are ruthless Shu Han Heartrenders who rely more on their physical combat skills than blood-bending to disable their opponents. They also believe in the Sun Saint and agree on most things.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: What the twins look like standing side by side.
- Like Brother and Sister: With Alina. To wit, her friendship with Tolya is one of the few male friendships she has without any hint of attraction or romance. The original trilogy even ends with Tolya declaring Alina his and Tamar's sister.
- Warrior Poet: Tolya is a skilled warrior and also loves reciting epic poetry.
Tamar Kir-Bataar
Tamar Kir-Bataar
A Heartrender mercenary working as a member of Sturmhond's crew.
- Action Girl: Tamar is both a Heartrender and very good with mundane weapons.
- Half-Identical Twins: Both she and her twin brother are ruthless Shu Han Heartrenders who rely more on their physical combat skills than blood-bending to disable their opponents. They also believe in the Sun Saint and agree on most things.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: What the twins look like standing side by side.
- Relationship Upgrade: Marries Nadia by King of Scars after the two spent the majority of Ruin and Rising mutually flirting.
Kuwei Yul-Bo
Kuwei Yul-Bo
The son of Bo Yul-Bayur, the scientist who invented jurda parem.
- All Love Is Unrequited: He appears to have a thing for Jesper, with him doodling sketches of Jesper over half his notebooks and being more than happy to return Jesper's interest when he thought he was Wylan. Jesper, however, doesn't reciprocate.
- Fish out of Water: Spends both books far away from his native Shu Han surrounded by people he doesn't really know.
- Hiding Behind the Language Barrier: Acts like he doesn't speak much Kerch in order to get out of having to talk to the others.
- Meaningful Rename: It's mentioned in King of Scars that he's been calling himself Nhaban which apparently means "little phoenix."
- Playing with Fire: Kuwei is a powerful Inferni whose father wanted to help him hide his powers, leading to the creation of jurda parem.
- Scheherezade Gambit: Pulls this with his Fjerdan captors in the Ice Court by holding back the formula for jurda parem.
- Walking Spoiler: It's pretty much impossible to talk about Kuwei without revealing that his father, the scientist Bo Yul-Bayur who the Crows were contracted to break out of the Ice Court in the first place, is dead and Kuwei is the only remaining record of his work.
Ehri Kir-Taban
The youngest Shu Han princess, beloved by her people. She has come to Ravka to court Nikolai.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Honestly believes that Makhi will let her live a normal life somewhere under a false identity after she helps with the plot to kill Nikolai. Even after her sister orders Ehri's Tavgharad detail to burn themselves and Ehri alive, Ehri still refuses to believe it was an assassination attempt until Mayu finally talks some sense into her.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Ehri wants to have an ordinary life where she can just play her music and marry for love. Being a Taban princess, however, doesn't give her that choice.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: She's nigh-fatally naive, but once she fully accepts the reality of her situation, Ehri gears up and turns into a serious political player who outmaneuvers her sister.
Makhi Kir-Taban
Shu Han's ruthless empress.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Adores her niece and genuinely wants to protect her country from the blight. Unfortunately, that niece is caught by the blight and killed instantly right in front of her.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: She legitimately does not understand why people like Ehri better than her, or why her mother chose Ehri over her to succeed as Empress, because she just can't fathom that kindness is a valuable trait. This bites her in the ass when her ruthlessness loses her the favor of her grandmother, the one person in the world who still outranks her.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: While she's not unstable and is for the most part actually good at running her country, she's also the one behind the khergud, human test subjects forcibly experimented on and turned into super soldiers by parem-addicted Grisha slaves. Oh, and she wants to kill her own sister and take over Ravka.
- Karma Houdini: Her only punishment for her attempted assassinations of Nikolai and Ehri, not to mention the horrors of the khergud program, is to be forced off the throne. Her position as a Taban princess, even a disgraced one, means she's essentially immune from real consequences.
- The Wrongful Heir to the Throne: Subverted. Makhi thinks she is, hiding her mother's dying wish to crown Ehri because she believes Ehri is too weak. Ehri herself actually agrees with this assessment and doesn't want the throne. But Makhi's cruelty ultimately makes her just as bad for the country. Ehri's solution is to convince their grandmother to resume power—Shu law allows a retired empress to reclaim the throne at any time—and choose an heir from her great-grandchildren, skipping Makhi's and Ehri's generation entirely.
