Characters who appear in The Kane Chronicles.
Beware of unmarked spoilers.
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The Kanes
Carter Kane
One of the main characters and the eldest child of Julius and Ruby Kane. Is very knowledgeable of Egyptian myths and artifacts and shows enhanced skills in combat. In The Red Pyramid, he becomes the host of Horus, although the god departs from his body by the end of the book.
- Awesome Moment of Crowning: Towards the end of The Serpent's Shadow, he's named Pharaoh of the House of Life.
- Badass Boast: "I am Carter Kane! Blood of the Pharaohs, Eye of Horus! And now, Set - brother, uncle, traitor - I am going to crush you like a gnat."
- Badass Bookworm: Knows a lot about Ancient Egypt and its myths, as he traveled with his dad for half his life. Sadie often teases him about this. Despite all of this, however, he is very capable of kicking your ass with little more than a curved sword (or his magic combat avatar).
- Big Good: At the end when he is named Pharoah of the House of Life. Though, for the moment, he decides to leave the actual ruling part to Amos.
- Black and Nerdy: Well, mixed race and nerdy, anyway. Sadie even calls him "Mr. Wikipedia".
- Brother–Sister Team: With Sadie.
- The Chosen One: Implied to be the one meant to claim the throne of the House of Life and restore it to greatness. He does become pharaoh at the end of The Serpent's Shadow.
- Cool Sword: His khopesh.
- Dual Wielding: He wields the crook and flail in the final fight against Apophis.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The responsible one to Sadie.
- Homeschooled Kids: Spent six years of his life being homeschooled by his dad. Carries some of it over to when he becomes a teacher. School was over for him when his dad was satisfied, so school is over for his pupils when they perform to his satisfaction as well.
- Kid Hero: Is only fourteen when he becomes a magician. He's fifteen when he becomes Pharaoh.
- Named After Somebody Famous: In-universe, he's named for Howard Carter, the archaeologist who discovered King Tut's tomb.
- Official Couple: With Zia.
- Promoted to Parent: In the Brooklyn House.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Originally only wears pressed dress shirts and trousers. Sadie thinks it just makes him look like an old man.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: With Sadie.
- Socially Awkward Hero: When it comes to romantic issues, at least.
- Super Mode: Horus' combat avatar.
- You Killed My Father: Set killed his father.
- You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: Especially if you hurt Zia. When he thinks she's died, he momentarily blacks out and when he comes to, Apophis itself has three huge gash marks, courtesy of yours truly.
Sadie Kane
One of the main characters and the younger sister of Carter. Has the ability to read hieroglyphs with ease and can open portals despite her lack of training thanks to the presence of Isis. In The Red Pyramid, she becomes the host of Isis, although the goddess departs from her body by the end of the book.
- Action Girl: Even though she doesn't fight with a sword, she still takes on two gods and comes out on top without Carter's help.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: For American readers, this is the reaction they get when Sadie starts narrating. The most-obvious difference: she's freaking snarky. The second-most obvious difference: her chapters are written in British English.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Carter does consider her to be annoying.
- Book Dumb: She may be able to read Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, but leaves the fact-checking to Carter.
- Boots of Toughness: Rarely seen without her combat boots.
- Brother–Sister Team: With Carter.
- But Not Too Foreign: Looks quite like her white mother, despite being half-black. This is a minor source of angst for her due to people having trouble believing she's related to Carter and Julius.
- Deadpan Snarker: Constantly. If Sadie isn't making fun at someone's expense, then you know things are serious.
- Divine Date: She has a mutual attraction with Anubis. The two end up together via Anubis merging with Walt.
- Dumb Blonde: Not actually dumb, though, just not by-the-book. She's also one of the few blond-haired characters in the series.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: While she's not foolish, she very much acts impulsive, which firmly makes her the foolish one to Carter.
- Girly Bruiser: She is a boy-crazy, glamorous, emotional teenage girl who is also becomes a badass Action Girl.
- I Just Want to Be Special: She's secretly resentful of Carter, because, being raised by Muggle grandparents in a stable London home made her life fairly uneventful and boring, while Carter got to travel the world with their father and endure some quite life-threatening but colorful life. When the Egyptian world invites her in, she immediately answers their call.
- I Know Your True Name: She knows Carter's Ren, though only is told it to save him from dying of poison.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Is often sarcastic, rebellious and is not afraid when it comes to breaking rules. That said, she is always willing to put her friends and family first beforehand.
- Kid Hero: Sadie is twelve when she becomes a magician.
- Lemony Narrator: She's much less serious compared to Carter.
- Love Triangle: Between her, Walt, and Anubis. Eventually resolved when Walt becomes Anubis's host.
- Motor Mouth: Characters always comment on how she never stops talking, especially in The Serpent's Shadow.
- Official Couple: With Walt/Anubis.
- Parents as People: Has the unfortunate luck of being in the receiving end of this from both parents, as, unlike Carter, she didn't have the chance to bond with either. Her mother died when she was little, while her father was unwelcome to be in her grandparents' house for more than a few days; the one time when he is able to, he is killed by Set and becomes Osiris. For that matter, before the series started, she was never close to Carter.
- Perky Goth: Possibly the perkiest goth ever, if there's a title.
- Raised by Grandparents: Sadie's maternal grandparents took custody of her after Ruby's death, while Carter went with Julius.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Isis's blue, being quite hot-tempered in contrast to Isis's calmer and more calculating demeanor.
- Shipper on Deck: Supports Carter/Zia.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: With Carter.
- Talk About the Weather: Does this once while traveling in the desert with Walt.
- Tap on the Head: Averted. The head injury she sustained in the fight with Sobek would have killed her if Geb didn't intervene.
- Tsundere: Type A.
- Vocal Evolution: A literary example. She starts out the first book with a thick British accent, but starts to lose it by the start of the second.
- You Killed My Father: Set killed her father.
Amos Kane
The brother of Julius Kane and the uncle of Carter and Sadie. By the end of The Throne of Fire, he becomes the Chief Lector of the House of Life. In The Red Pyramid, he (unwillingly) became the host of Set, although the god departs from his body after using him to lead Carter and Sadie into his trap.
- Big Good: Takes this role when he becomes the Chief Lector.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: As Set's host, he's forced to lure his niece and nephew into a trap.
- Cool Uncle: To Carter and Sadie. He's a very supportive guy and cares deeply about the two.
- Dark Is Not Evil: After following the Path of Set and willingly becoming his host again.
- Fighting from the Inside: Is Set's unwilling host in part of The Red Pyramid, and tries to warn Carter and Sadie by using chaos magic.
- Heroic BSoD: Being forced to host Set does a number on him and he takes months to recover.
- Mentor Archetype: He's the first teacher the siblings have and later teaches the students while they go on quests.
- Mr. Exposition: Fills Carter and Sadie in on vital information in The Red Pyramid.
- Obviously Evil: While possessed by Set, he acts very suspiciously, makes bizarrely self-destructive strategies and uses chaos magic. Set reveals this was Amos' way of Fighting from the Inside by giving out as many warning signs as possible. Sadie and Carter are sadly too in denial to heed this.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: He always wears nice suits, a fedora, and cool glasses.
- Token Evil Teammate: In the first book, thanks to Set (not that the god of evil gave his host a choice).
Julius Kane
The husband of Ruby Kane and the father of Carter and Sadie. He is the current host of Osiris.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: He dies while hosting Osiris, so they share the same body in the Duat.
- Distressed Dude/Parents in Distress: His capture and sealing inside a coffin by Set is what kicks off the plot, motivating Carter and Sadie to rescue him. Subverted when it turns out that had been his plan all along, in order to host Osiris.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He knew he was going to die but believed it necessary to restore the Gods.
- Killed Off for Real: It doesn't stop him from seeing his children again, though.
- Identical Stranger: With Osiris.
- Together in Death: With Ruby.
- Team Dad: So very much.
Ruby Kane
The wife of Julius Kane and the mother of Carter and Sadie. She died prior to the start of the story when she and her husband tried to free Bast from Cleopatra's Needle. She was once a host of Isis.
- Damsel in Distress/Parents in Distress: In The Serpent's Shadow, her soul gets sucked into the Duat and she's held prisoner until Carter and Sadie defeat Apophis.
- Heroic Sacrifice: When her and her husband's attempt to free Bast almost unleashed Apophis, she gave her life to keep the serpent imprisoned in Cleopatra's Needle.
- Identical Stranger: With Isis.
- Missing Mom: Courtesy of dying before the series could start. Even after turning into a ghost, she has to stay in the Underworld and cannot see her children as much as they would like.
- Together in Death: With Julius.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: By the third book her looks are described as pretty much identical to Sadie's.
Gods
Tropes Applying to All Gods
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Subverted, only a couple of them appear in actually modern human forms or dress. Most of them appear in forms that would be relevant to their status as gods. This is probably because unlike the Olympians and Aesir, they've been sealed away for the last few thousand years.
- Thoth and Bes are some of the few who play the trope straight, with the former being an eccentric college professor, and the latter being a speedo-wearing, limo driving dwarf. Note that neither of them were ever sealed.
- Jerkass Gods: Not nearly as bad as the Greek pantheon could be, but many of them are very self-serving, and they aren't interested in working together unless actively forced.
- Its implied that part of what causes them to act like this when they lack a strong leader, and once Horus (and later Ra) take the throne, they (for the most part) fall back into line.
- Really 700 Years Old/Time Abyss: As with the other pantheons they're all extremely old, with Ra and Apophis arguably being the oldest beings in the entire franchise, having been around since creation began (Apophis possibly even predates that). Of course, due to what we now know about the nature of the gods, even this is dubious.
Horus
- The All-Solving Hammer: According to his own admission, his understanding of magic boils down to hitting the enemy with a sword until they're dead and repeating as necessary if they rise again.
- Blood Knight: Horus loves a good fight and his first reponse to a problem is generally to demand Carter give him control so he can stab the problem away.
- Book Dumb: He openly confesses to Carter his strategy boils down to Attack! Attack! Attack! and his ignorance about the topic of shadows.
- The Determinator: When Carter asks how long it took him to beat Set before with his aforementioned strategy he answered seven years.
- The Hero: Expected to save the world from chaos.
- In Love with Your Carnage: Gets a bit starry-eyed described what a perfect killer Sekhmet is, even as he is one of her targets.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His arrogance, tough demeanor, and demands of duties can be off putting, but he is a courageous warrior who fights for what is right and will stand by a friend.
- Lunacy: One of his eyes is supposed to be the moon damaged by Set.
- The Power of the Sun: A sun god with one of his eyes being the sun.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: A blunt fan of brute force paired with the cerebral Carter.
- We Can Rule Together: A non-villainous variation. Throughout The Throne of Fire and even at the beginning of The Serpent's Shadow, he often offers that Carter become his host again so that they can rule the gods and take on Apophis instead of Ra.
- You Killed My Father: Set killed his father.
Isis
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Poisoned Ra and forces him to abdicate the throne, leading to the current mess. She can be caring, but has a very deceptive and manipulative side.
- Brother–Sister Incest: With her brother Osiris, though this is explained as their different hosts - brother and sister, then husband and wife.
- Everything's Better with Rainbows: She's described to have prismatic wings.
- Hot Witch: A goddess of magic.
- Mama Bear: To Horus, against Set.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The calm, calculating blue oni to Sadie's more hot-tempered red.
Bast
The goddess of felines. She acts as the guardian of Carter and Sadie.
- Action Girl: She's repeatedly shown to be more than a competent fighter—she did battle Apophis for thousands of years inside his prison, after all.
- Back from the Dead: Brought back from the depths of Duat as a reward for Set's imprisoning. She can actually climb back out herself (since no god can truly die), but it takes a thousand lifetimes.
- Cat Girl: She's the goddess of cats; what did you expect?
- Disney Death: Expended her powers to fight Sobek, which causes both gods to fall into the depths of Duat. But she is given a quick passageway in return for the Kanes imprisoning Set.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Banished Sobek and herself to the Duat to keep him away from Carter and Sadie.
- Love Triangle: Tawaret > Bes > Bast.
- Mama Bear: She considers Carter and Sadie her "kittens" and is fiercely protective of them.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: She held down Apophis for millennia. It's brought back in passing and is rarely mentioned again.
- Super Mode: She has her own combat avatar.
- Team Mom: She even refers to Carter and Sadie as her "kittens".
- Unexplained Recovery: It's never explained how the other gods restored her, though it most likely involved finding where in the Duat she'd been banished too and hauling her back.
Bes
The god of dwarves.
- All Love Is Unrequited: In love with Bast, but she just plays with his feelings. Meanwhile, he is oblivious to Tawaret's feelings for him at least until the end of the third book.
- Big Damn Heroes: Alongside the Sunny Acres retirees, Bes assists the Kanes in fighting the army of Chaos. It's the first time that the trio meet after his ren was robbed away.
- Empty Shell: After getting his ren taken by Khonsu in the second book, he's left as this. Luckily, he gets better in the third.
- Gonk: His description is not flattering even when he doesn't activate his superpower. Then again, don't judge a book by its cover.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In the second book, he sacrifices his ren to Khonsu in a game of senet to buy the Kane siblings more time to get to Ra and revive him, thus ending up as an empty husk devoid of his identity. He gets better later on, though.
- Lovecraftian Superpower: Can make himself REALLY ugly. It does a lot of damage.
- Love Triangle: Tawaret > Bes > Bast.
- Nightmare Face: He's ugly enough on his own, but his trademark attack is to scare the living daylights out of his opponent by distorting his face hideously, thus making himself even uglier, and screaming "BOO!"
- Official Couple: With Tawaret, at the end of the third book.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Takes Bast's role as the god who looks after the Kanes in Throne of Fire. He even sacrifices himself for the two later on, too, like Bast did in the previous book. Only the gods won't help the siblings to bring him back; they have to be the more proactive force this time.
Anubis
The god of death and funerals. He often shows up to provide plot-relevant advice, and has feelings for Sadie.
- Berserk Button: Don't hurt Sadie. Sarah Jacobi truly learns her lesson the painful way. Or maybe she can't, since she's now beneath the earth somewhere.
- Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Walt's Betty for Sadie.
- Disappeared Dad: His dad is Set after all. Thankfully, he gets Osiris as a substitute.
- Don't Fear the Reaper: He's a pretty nice guy for someone who's in charge of funerals.
- Fusion Dance: He fuses with Walt near the end of Serpent's Shadow.
- Hot God: His attractiveness is frequently noted by Sadie and he manages to stun daughters of Aphrodite into stammering school-girls.
- Love Triangle: He and Walt both like Sadie. Who does Sadie pick? Both of them, technically, once Walt becomes Anubis's host.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Normally composed and calm, even easygoing at times. He flips the shit out when Jacobi knocks Sadie off the room so hard she hits the protective wall, which makes her disoriented. He proceeds to split open the earth beneath Jacobi, which swallows her alive.
- He drops his playful facade when his father is around, too. Immediately following the scene above, Set praises him as being truly his son; he gets a cold "Shut up, father" for his trouble.
- Mad God's Handsome Son: He's the son of Set, the god of chaos and the Big Bad of The Red Pyramid.
- Mayfly–December Romance: With Sadie. Although he looks like a teenage guy, it's more than hard to ignore that he's a god and Sadie is a mortal human. This is finally solved in The Serpent's Shadow, where Walt hosts Anubis to survive his family curse and both of them are able to be with Sadie.
- Mr. Exposition: At times.
- Mr. Fanservice: Sadie repeatedly describes him as "annoyingly gorgeous".
- Nice Guy: Seems to inherit this particular trait from his mother.
- Noble Wolf: Do remember that his true form is that of a humanoid jackal. He's also pretty cool and nice guy through-and-through (especially compared to his bad dad).
- Official Couple: With Sadie.
- Symbiotic Possession: with Walt.
- Troubled, but Cute: Even if he didn't have Set for a dad, he's the God of Death and funerals, A little trouble is to be expected.
Apophis
- Archnemesis: Ma'at, who is the symbol of order. In practice, though, he is mostly known as Ra's bitterest enemy (since it's unknown whether Ma'at is a goddess or a mere concept in this universe).
- Big Bad: Of the entire series.
- Chaos Is Evil: Yes. Literally the embodiment of this trope, and that's Not Hyperbole.
- Demonic Possession: Posesses Vlad in The Throne of Fire
- Cessation of Existence: His ultimate fate. All components of his existence are destroyed by the end.
- Eldritch Abomination: Even being near him in a dream would have driven Carter insane were it not for Horus' protection. One magician describes his voice "as though darkness could speak." The physical form he uses is that of a massive red snake with the ability to split the Duat into multiple layers and maintain a physical presence on each one and enough raw power to fight all the gods at once.
- God of Evil: Even the other chaos gods hate him.
- Good Hurts Evil: As the embodiment of Chaos, he is literally pained by creation.
- Healing Serpent: Apophis, who's portrayed as a giant snake, surprisingly is this, though in a Deal with the Devil sort of way, by offering to cure Walt Stone of his curse.
- Apophis healed Vladimir Menshikov's damaged throat, implied to be a side affect of becoming Apophis's host.
- After doing a Fusion Dance, Apophis and Vladimir Menshikov offer to cure Walt Stone of his curse if the Kanes give him/them the scarab that's Khepri.
- Kaiju: He's the size of the Great Pyramid when he breaks free near Cairo, and continues growing until he's the size of Cairo, which would make him about 25 miles long, if not bigger. Him simply moving around in the general vicinity of the city is seen as an earthquake by the Weirdness Censor.
- Knight of Cerebus: Unlike the other villains, Apophis is never once played for laughs. Whenever he shows up, the situation instantly becomes dead serious.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Though in somewhat of a twist, he's given a legitimate reason instead of just wanting to do it for the hell of it. Creation literally pains him, things like the laws of physics are described as restricting him exactly like a human being nailed to the floor by the feet. He seeks to destroy creation so he can return the world to the primordial abyss he originated from.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: He is a snake after all...
- Sssssnaketalk: He isssss given thisssss attribute in the graphic novelsssss.
- Sympathy for the Devil: When Carter is collecting his shadow, he briefly sees things from Apohpis' point of view, and how the serpent views creation as a painful restriction on his freedom, and briefly feels sorry for him.
Geb
The god/personification of the earth and father of Isis, Osiris, the first incarnation of Horus, Nephthys and Set.
- Dishing Out Dirt: As a god of the earth, he can manipulate it in all its forms.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: With Nut, forced apart by Shu.
Nephthys
The goddess of rivers, nature, lamentation, sleep, and night. She was born on the Fifth Demon Day and is the mother of Anubis. She took Zia Rashid as a host.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: She married the God of Evil — you can't do badder.
- Fire/Water Juxtaposition: With Zia. The main reason why Zia, a magician who specialised in fire magic, had to be kept in a coma because their polarizing elements took a toll on her body,
- Nice Girl: The only unambiguously good god of the main five.
- Only Sane Man: The only one who wants to stay away from the divine family in-fighting. She doesn't have bad relations with anyone, as she's allied with the heroic gods while simultaneously being married to Set.
- Opposites Attract: From what can be inferred on her sparse appearances, she's a very sweet and kind lady who willingly protects someone as per Iskandar's wish. How can she be attracted to the, erm, bad Set is anyone's guess.
- Required Secondary Powers: Running water weakens the gods, allowing things like rivers to weaken their powers, for good or for ill. Not the river goddess, though.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The girly girl to Isis' tomboy. Isis practices, among other things, battle magic, and is the hot-tempered of the two. Nephthys, meanwhile, is very much a proper lady.
- Water Is Womanly: The goddess of rivers and a Proper Lady through and through.
Nut
The goddess/personification of the sky.
- Celestial Body: Well she is the sky so...
- Never Heard That One Before: Is more than aware of the jokes concerning her name, but it turns out she takes it all in stride.
- The Determinator: Gambled with Khonsu so she can have additional days to give birth to her children. As in, she added 5 more days to the 360-day calendar, because Ra forbade her from going into labor on any and only any of the 360 days or nights.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: With Geb, forced apart by Shu.
- Unfortunate Names: Sadie can't quite believe that the mother of gods is called Nut. Fortunately, she takes it in good humor: she's heard all of the jokes by now.
Osiris
The god of the dead and ruler of the afterlife. He is the husband of Isis and father of the current incarnation of Horus. His current host is Julius Kane.
- Brother–Sister Incest: With Isis, though this is explained as their different hosts - brother and sister, then husband and wife.
- Cain and Abel: The Abel to Set's Cain.
- Extreme Doormat: After taking Julis as his host, Osiris is content to let the magician rule the Underworld and judge the deads in his stead.
- Parental Substitute: Substitutes Set's role as a father figure to Anubis.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: In some ways, more so then his wife and son.
- Too Dumb to Live: Sadie questions his intelligence when viewing a record of him falling for Set's trap.
- Top God: Succeeded Ra as this until Set usurped him.
Ra
The god of creation, rebirth, and the sun.
- Archnemesis: To Apophis.
- Big Good: Once Zia hosts him.
- Born-Again Immortality: Ra is pretty unique amongst Egyptian gods, since he grows older but a young and healthy host rejuvenates him.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Thanks to his long exile and incomplete resurrection. He gets better with Zia's help, once she hosts him.
- Cool Old Guy: Once Zia becomes his host, Ra turns warm, confident and powerful enough to kick a lot of ass while looking like a bronze statue of a gramps.
- The Power of the Sun: Obviously.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Willingly works with those who wronged him in the past and mortals without complaint and steps aside at the end to let Horus become king. FAR more reasonable than Zeus in Riodan's other series Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
- Scatterbrained Senior: When the Kanes manage to find him, he's very much not the picture of mental health, constantly babbling nonsense and drooling. He gets better once he takes Zia for his host.
- Super-Empowering: Apparently did this for humanity as a whole by giving them the power of Egyptian magic.
- You Can't Fight Fate: His attempts to prevent his overthrow at the hands of Nut's children.
Set
The god of chaos, deserts, and storms. Famous for being Ra's chief defender against Apophis and the strongest warrior god.
- Affably Evil: Very much. He even makes jokes. Good jokes.
- Archnemesis Dad: Seems to have this going on with Anubis for quite a while. When he gleefully greets him after the latter plunges Sarah Jacobi into the underworld, Anubis replies with the extremely warm "Shut up, father".
- Arc Villain: The main villain of the first book, as an Unwitting Pawn to Apophis.
- Cain and Abel: With Osiris.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Or as he sarcastically puts it: "You figure that out all by yourself? The god of evil is evil?"
- Cartoon Creature: The Set Animal.
- Enemy Mine: Later becomes a semi-reluctant ally to Sadie and Carter because Apophis is rising.
- Evil Uncle: To Horus.
- Freudian Excuse: A fairly justified one: he wanted revenge against Isis for overthrowing Ra, whom he was very loyal to.
- Evil Versus Oblivion: Just because he's evil doesn't mean he wants Apophis to destroy the universe. Could also be seen as Even Evil Has Standards.
- Insult Backfire: He responds to Sadie/Isis calling him evil, faithless, ruthless and vile with "You make me blush, sister."
- Kick the Dog: When he doesn't help the Kanes kill a tjesu heru, a serpent monster, which later poisons Carter.
- Red Is Violent: Chaos magic glows red, and Set delights in violence.
- Savage Wolves: His true form is a sort of a canine (not a jackal, which is his son's appearance. Set's canine doesn't correspond to any canine as we know today).
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Very much so.
- Undying Loyalty: Played surprisingly straight. Despite everything, it's made clear that he was fiercely loyal to Ra, and much of his hatred to his siblings stems from Isis' ousting of Ra. Turns out this is the entire reason he killed Osiris: he simply couldn't stand the idea of Isis's succeeding in making Osiris king after she overthrew Ra.
- Villainous Valour: For all his cruelty, Set is no coward. He fought Apophis every night when he still was Ra's main protector, and when he's about to be sealed at the end of the first book, Carter perceives him as a proud, fierce warrior.
Thoth
The god of wisdom, magic and writing. He's also know as Djehuti. He's the founder of the House of Life.
- Absent-Minded Professor
- Badass Bookworm: An unrepentant nerd researching anything catching his fancy, and managed to hold Apophis at bay for several days.
- The Smart Guy: Of the entire pantheon, naturally.
- Technicolor Eyes: They're constantly shifting colours.
Other Magicians
Zia Rashid
A magician and scribe of the House of Life and a member of the First Nome.
- Ambiguously Brown: Has copper skin. Since she has an Arabic name, it's safe to say she's meant to be an Egyptian.
- Badass Boast: "I am a magician of the House of Life. We are trained to fight gods."
- Defrosting Ice Queen
- Doomed Hometown: Her father opened an evil statue that killed everyone in the village but Zia.
- Lady of Black Magic: An exceptionally intelligent and powerful young magician of fire magic, and described as both beautiful and dangerous.
- Official Couple: With Carter at the end of Book 3.
- The Power of the Sun: Specializes in this once she becomes Ra's host.
- Parental Abandonment: Lost her parents and her entire village due to a statue's curse.
- Playing with Fire: Master of fire. When it's revealed at the end of the first book that Zia is hosting Nephthys (a water goddess), it becomes jarring. It's deliberate.
- Talking in Your Dreams
Walt Stone
One of Carter and Sadie's trainees and a charm maker. He's one of Sadie's love interests. A descendent of King Tut.
- Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Anubis's Veronica for Sadie.
- Cast From Life Span: As Walt casts magic, his death resulting from his family's curse will come quicker; this is why he prefers making charms.
- Disappeared Dad: His father died at the age of 18.
- Fusion Dance: Fuses with Anubis near the end of The Serpent's Shadow.
- Gentle Giant: He's a tall Nice Guy.
- Hereditary Curse: The priests of the other gods cursed Akhenaten's bloodline for the king's monotheism.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Carter.
- Jumped at the Call: Is the first person to respond to Sadie and Carter's message.
- Official Couple: With Sadie.
- Marked to Die: Because he's from Akhenaton's bloodline, he's cursed to die young.
- Symbiotic Possession: with Anubis.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's a tall, handsome, African-American boy.
Jasmine "Jaz" Anderson
One of Carter and Sadie's trainees and a healer. Her real name is Jasmine.
- Berserk Button: Don't refer to her as Jasmine.
- Beware the Nice Ones: While she hasn't shown much in the way of hostile tendencies, it bears mentioning that the patron goddess of her field is Sekhmet.
- Convenient Coma: Is reduced to this at the end of the prologue, which takes her out of the game before it even starts.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Follows the path of Sekhmet, goddess of plagues, Unstoppable Rage, and massive collateral damage. However, she's a healer: She walks Sekhmet's path because it gives her the ability to stop plague spirits in their tracks.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Casts a powerful magic to repel attackers that causes her to fall into a coma. She doesn't wake up until near the end of the second book.
- In-Series Nickname/Only Known by Their Nickname: She's only ever called "Jaz", not "Jasmine".
- The Medic: She mainly specializes in healing magic.
- Romantic False Lead: For Walt. Also counts as a Ship Tease since they do hold hands at one point.
Felix Philip
One of Carter and Sadie's trainees, the youngest one there during The Throne of Fire.
- An Ice Person: Is this despite there being no known Egyptian god of ice and snow (since y'know, snow doesn't fall in such a hot place like that).
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Sort of in terms of insisting on summoning penguins. Carter does note that it is annoying to have to transport said penguins back to Antarctica.
- Baby Of The Bunch: In The Throne of Fire he's the youngest of the trainees at nine years old. No longer the case as of The Serpent's Shadow as Brooklyn House has taken in a lot more kids including literal kindergarteners who take on this role.
- Badass Adorable: Proves himself to be this, his penguins and ice magic turning out to be very effective in battle.
- Childish Tooth Gap: Sports this in the graphic novel version of The Serpent's Shadow, though not in The Throne of Fire.
- Hidden Depths: When in the Duat, Sadie notices Felix has an especially strong aura.
- Running Gag: Felix believes that the solution to every problem involves penguins.
Cleo
One of Carter and Sadie's trainees, who acts as Brooklyn House's librarian and follows the path of Thoth.
- Action Survivor: She's a fairly impressive fighter when she has to be.
- Badass Bookworm: In spite of not having a stomach for fighting according to Sadie, she has proved to be fairly good at improvising with the spells she does know.
- Berserk Button: Don't threaten harm to any books.
- Informed Flaw: We're told that she's not much of a fighter, but the two times she does go into battle, she is very impressive. It's more a case of being Overshadowed by Awesome.
- Ms. Exposition: Is basically the person they go to when even Carter is stumped.
- Omniglot: Is fluent in multiple languages including Portuguese, Ancient Egyptian, and English.
Iskandar
The Chief Lector of the House of Life.
- Cool Old Guy
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: Played more or less straight, although it is due to old age rather than being offed by the villain. It still comes as a shock to Zia when she finds out.
- Really 700 Years Old
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Seemed willing to humor the Kanes, even believe them, but he died before he could really help them. He did realize Zia's significance and arranged for her protection.
Michel Desjardins
A magician of French descent. He succeeds Iskandar as the Chief Lector.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Even after everything he has done, his death is sad.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: He consumed his entire life-force to execrate Apophis. An execration is basically a nuclear missile you drop on your victim.
- Face–Heel Revolving Door: He wants the best for the House of Life, but his pride and temper sometimes get in the way of him realizing what that is. Settles on face after sacrificing his life for the Kanes.
- Red Herring: The reader is led to believe that he's the host of Set, when it's actually Amos.
- Really Two Hundred Years Old: Magicians live long lives.
- Redemption Equals Death
- Walking Spoiler: Particularly after he makes his Heroic Sacrifice in The Throne of Fire.
Vladimir Menshikov
AKA "Vlad the Inhaler." More evil then he sounds.
- Bad Boss: He isn't above sacrificing his own loyal servants to further his plans.
- Bright Is Not Good: He dresses in all white.
- Despair Event Horizon: After his failed attempt to revive Ra, he decided to work with Apophis to cause the world's destruction that he believes is inevitable.
- Facial Horror: His face is covered in burn scars. He got them when he tried to revive Ra.
- Healing Serpent: Has a bit of a snake theme going on from his Serpent Staff, snake pendant, control of snakes and secretly been a follower of Apophis, offers the Kanes the secret to curing Walt Stone of his curse if they kill Michel Desjardins and join Apophis.
- The Heavy: Apophis' enforcer in the second book, but gets possessed by him for the climax.
- Jerkass: He tries to blackmail Sadie into working for him by promising to cure Walt's curse.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Vlad the Inhaler is only a few syllables away from Vlad the Impaler, who was notoriously cruel (one example being his perchant for impaling enemies on spikes and leaving them to die), and is widely believed to be the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Sarah Jacobi
One of the rebel magicians' leaders.
- Buried Alive: Anubis was really displeased when she assaulted Sadie.
- Dragged Off to Hell: Anubis kills her by summoning a horde of ghosts who mummify her and pull her into the underworld.
- Dragon Ascendant: Replaces Menshikov as the leader of Apophis' mortal followers.
- Dark Action Girl: A violent sadist.
- The Smurfette Principle: Is the only evil female magician to get both a name and characterization.
Setne
Prince Khaemwaset, son of Ramses the Great. A magician from ancient times who's spirit has managed to survive to modern times.
- Big Bad: For Demigods & Magicians.
- The Chessmaster: Brought himself to the attention of the Kanes and agreed to help them all to arrange a chance to escape and make off with the Book of Thoth.
- The Dreaded: One of the most powerful magicians of all time, his spirit has reportedly been on Earth for centuries, causing such delightful incidents as The French Revolution and World War I. When he is finally captured, no effort is spared to keep him from moving of speaking, he's considered that dangerous.
- The Evil Prince: He was the son of a Pharoah and highly resentful of his more famous father.
- Faux Affably Evil: He acts friendly and constantly refers to Carter as "pal" while plotting to kill him and escape.
- Historical Domain Character: Khaemweset was an actual son
of Ramses. Though, the real Setne wasn't an evil magician and spent most of his life working to help Egypt, causing many to deem him "the first Egyptologist" for his efforts to restore monuments. - Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Has a taste for frills, bell-bottoms and purple coats.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Understandable as Setne is a lot easier for modern folks to pronounce than Khaemwaset.
- Reality Warper: After he gets ahold of the Crown of Ptolemy, he starts shredding the fabric of the Duat itself.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: As of the end of Demigods & Magicians. In this case, the can is a snowglobe, which Carter intends to use as a paperweight.
- Smug Snake: Insufferably so! Most of Setne's scenes in Demigods and Magicians and Brookyln House Magician's Manual have him smugly brag about his rise to power and coming immortality.
Others
Khufu
Amos Kane's pet baboon.
- Picky Eater: Will only eat food that ends in -o. Though he does later expand his diet to include anything encased in Jell-O.
Philip of Macedonia
A shabti that belongs to Amos Kane.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: Inverted. He's a decidedly friendly crocodile.
Liz and Emma
Sadie's two friends from school in England.
- Bit Characters: They only get mentions in The Red Pyramid, and show up for one chapter in Throne of Fire, and Liz gets mentioned briefly in Serpent's Shadow.
- Distracted by the Sexy: They're both left stunned at seeing Anubis for the first time, much to Sadie's irritation.
- Informed Judaism: Sadie mentions in Book 3 that Liz is Jewish and brought her to synagogue once. A Justified Trope since, after all, she only has one scene.
- Muggle Best Friends: For Sadie.
- Noodle Incident: They got locked in the boy's locker room once. It's a Long Story, apparently.
- Satellite Characters: The most that's known about them is that they're Sadie's friends, and that Liz is Jewish.
- Those Two Guys: Girls. Their one appearance is together, and they're usually mentioned together.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: It isn't elaborated on what happened to them after they stayed behind with Sadie's grandparents once the final confrontation with Babi and Nekhbet is over.
