Characters / The Magicians Fillory

Denizens of Fillory

Introduced and featured in The Magicians:

Ember

Ember

One of the two great rams that oversee Fillory.

• Crystal Dragon Jesus: One of the gods of Fillory and treated with much the same reverence as the Judeo-Christian God - to the point that Helen Chatwin's experiences with him led to her becoming an Evangelical Christian.
• Dirty Coward: In contrast to his brother, Ember chickens out of sacrificing himself to save Fillory, forcing Quentin to kill him.
• Expy: A pretty obvious stand-in for Aslan, especially given the premium he places on human innocence, his increasingly limited involvement in the series except at pivotal moments, and his talk of "deep/deeper magic."
• God's Hands Are Tied: Often proves to be unable to do certain things due to the "Deeper Magic," an element that Quentin is extremely skeptical of.
• Jerkass Gods: Generally gives the impression of being a sanctimonious, condescending, self-important killjoy who casually boots the Chatwin children back to the real world on the grounds of ill-defined rules and never bothers to explain himself. Plus, when the time comes to sacrifice his life to save Fillory, he chickens out and has to be killed in order to end the apocalypse.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Arrogant tosser though he may be, he's exactly right when he points out that Quentin is a reckless, self-destructive idiot.
• Kill the God: After Ember's refusal to sacrifice himself nearly dooms Fillory, Quentin is empowered by Alice and Mayakovsky's coin to slay the Ram-god once and for all.
• The Worf Effect: Virtually omnipotent and omniscient across Fillory; the fact that the Beast is able to sucker-punch him unconscious is a good indication of just how powerful the monster really is.

The Watcherwoman

The Watcherwoman AKA "the paramedic", AKA Jane Chatwin.

• Adaptational Villainy: In-universe: With the Chatwins oblivious to what the Watcherwoman really wanted, Plover came up with her villainous motivations. Jane is not amused.
• Big Bad: Of the original Fillory novel, but during the time of the Beast, she appears to have gone into decline.
• Calling Card: The Clock Trees. She's even raising a farm of them in the final book.
• Call to Agriculture: Once her gambit is complete, she retires to a small farm and raises Clock Trees.
• The Chessmaster: Has been orchestrating a spectacular plan to stop the Beast, prodding the Physical Kids into the roles needed to accomplish the scheme years in advance.
• Evil Sorcerer: Technically, she's a hedge-witch, and not exactly evil, anyway.
• The Faceless: Always wears a veil.
• For Want Of A Nail: Turns out to have been manipulating history most commonly by ensuring that her chosen champions end up in exactly the right place at the right time; the comic reveals that the only reason why Alice stuck around long enough to get involved in the mission to Fillory, become a Niffin and kill the Beast was because Jane was there to make sure she didn't make it to the airport.
• Harmless Villain: Adult readers of the Fillory books see her as a bit of a joke, with no real villainous actions to her name apart from her goal of freezing time in Fillory. In fact, the only reason why she's seen as a villain in the first place is because her experiments in time travel were ultimately misinterpreted by the Chatwin children.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: Well, if you can call her a villain at all; her real goal is actually to stop the Beast through a complicated time-travelling scheme.
• Hot Witch: Is actually quite attractive under her veil, though only Quentin discovers this when she introduces herself to him in the finale of the first book, during which it turns out that she was secretly that cute paramedic he met early in the book.
• Never Mess with Granny: Despite being biologically an old woman by the events of The Magician's Land, she wades into the fray to hold back the hordes unleashed by the end of Fillory - and survives.
• The Night That Never Ends: Her goal is supposedly to trap the world permanently at sunset on a rainy day. Turns out that Plover just made this up, the Chatwin having no idea what her real goals were. Now that she knows what was going on, Jane doesn't regard the artistic license charitably.
• No Ontological Inertia: After she destroys her watch, she reverts to her true age almost overnight; she's surprisingly sanguine about the whole thing.
• Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: She's not actually a villain; indeed, she arguably qualifies as more of a Big Good than Ember and Umber, having been trying to set Fillory right through a decades-long quest across time and space.
• Retired Badass: By the events of the third book, Jane has settled down to enjoy her old age and is living out the rest of her days on a clock tree farm somewhere in the wilds of Fillory. However, she's still willing to join the carnage if the situation to requires it.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Her initial goal, which failed when it came to saving Martin from becoming the Beast.
• Solitary Sorceress: Has spent most of her adult life isolated from everyone by her mission, and after having retired from the role of Watcherwoman, she lives on an isolated farm deep in the wilderness of Fillory.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Asks Quentin not to judge Martin too harshly, knowing what Plover did to her brother and the lengths he went to find happiness.
• Time Master: Possesses a watch with the power to travel through time and warp the space-time continuum. At the end of the story, she smashes it before Quentin can try to use it.
• Tragic Time Traveler: She eventually turns out to be an alternate version of Jane Chatwin, who decided to learn time magic in order to help her older brother Martin, who's also the Beast, only to fail repeatedly and be forced to pull some strings to create a timeline where the main characters can kill him once and for all.
• Walking Spoiler: Suffice it to say her true identity and nature are kept secret until the end.]]
• The Watchmaker: Her obsession with clocks and watches mirrors her mastery of time and the plan she's orchestrated across the story.

Dint

Fen

• Kung-Fu Wizard

The Beast

The Beast, AKA Martin Chatwin

• A Beast in Name and Nature: Named "the Beast" by the Brakebills faculty for want of a better title - as absolutely nothing is known about him when he first appears; the title itself is a reference to the fact that he's believed to be an extension of a full-blown Eldritch Abomination hidden in another world... but also to the fact that he eats Amanda Orloff alive in his first appearance.
• Big Bad: The true villain of the first book, around which the story secretly revolves.
• The Caligula: Having declared himself the unofficial ruler of Fillory, he's this from beginning to end.
• Cessation of Existence: His ultimate fate in The Magician's Land when Quentin destroys the poorly-thought-out afterlife of Fillory and finally allows the imprisoned dead to rest.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Very dark example, needless to say; he spends most of his first appearance acting on every single random impulse that crosses his mind, paring his fingernails with a knife, testing magic spells, pausing to devour Amanda Orloff alive and leaving whilst singing a nursery rhyme.
• Country Matters: Refers to the Watcherwoman as one.
• The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: All Martin Chatwin wanted was to stay in Fillory forever so he could be happy and never have to face the trauma that ruined his life... but after selling his humanity to Umber, he no longer felt any affinity for the Fillory he fell in love with and ultimately set out to seize control of it. In the present, he is motivated entirely by his own twisted hunger for stimulation and carnage.
• Deal with the Devil: The Magician's Land reveals that his monstrous aspect is actually due to him making a deal with Umber, exchanging his humanity for a permanent stay in Fillory.
• Deathly Unmasking: In the final confrontation at Ember's Tomb, he finally does away with the leafy branch covering his face, revealing himself to be none other than Martin Chatwin. Soon after, the branch ends up getting burned away along with the rest of his clothes during the climactic Wizard Duel between him and Alice, and after finally making use of a Deadly Upgrade, his opponent is able to rip his head off.
• Dying as Yourself: Not exactly. He's seen in the afterlife in the second book. He's turned back into a normal human schoolboy.
• Eldritch Abomination: It's believed that the Beast is just a protrusion of something much worse inspecting our world. This is eventually proven wrong, but to be honest, the reality isn't much better.
• Evil Brit: Speaks in Received Pronounciation and faintly posh English mannerisms. This isn't just an affectation, by the way; he is English.
• The Faceless: The Beast always appears with a leafy branch hovering just in front of his face, and only removes it during the final battle.
• Faux Affably Evil: Demonstrates a chatty, boyish attitude around his victims, acting as if the whole grisly sham has been nothing more than a parlour game he's just beaten them at... though the speech is peppered with obscenities, gloating proclamations of triumph, and sudden brutality. He even cheekily refers to Penny as "dear boy" right before he bites the guy's hands off.
• Freudian Excuse: Close to the end of the novel, Jane Chatwin reveals that that Martin Chatwin was molested as a child — by the future author of the Fillory series — and sought a permanent escape from both the abuse and his own trauma in the land of Fillory.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Started off as an ordinary kid with a little experience with Fillory, before his unaddressed traumas drove him to flee into Fillory and never return.
• Full-Frontal Assault: Though his body itself isn't so easily destroyed, his clothes are burned away during the magical barrage of the final battle, leaving the Beast to continue his attack stark naked.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Eats Amanda Orloff alive; later, bites off Penny's hands and swallows them whole. Not long after, he admits to have developed quite a taste for sapient meat, and then starts taking bites out of Quentin.
• Humanoid Abomination: Appears largely human except for the additional fingers and his eerily fluid movements, prompting Dean Fogg to believe that he might actually be a humanoid proxy of some Lovecraftian deity. In reality, he's what happens when someone sells their humanity for happiness.
• Knight of Cerebus: Each of his appearances leads to the story taking a far darker turn, with consequential character deaths.
• Man Bites Man: What he does to Penny's hands and Quentin's collarbone.
• Mood-Swinger: Goes from playing around with spells to punching a clock, from eating Amanda Orloff alive to exiting with a song. Plus, in his second appearance, his mood turns on another dime and he begins screaming in rage, even dropping a C-bomb. As it happens, Martin Chatwin was known to suffer from mood swings and fits of depression when he was still human, likely stemming from his abuse at the hands of Christopher Plover.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: The Beast is just about unstoppable in combat; the Physical Kids might be able to knock him about and burn his suit away, but even Alice's library of spells can't kill him. Hence why she has to resort to becoming a Niffin.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Notable for his exceptionally childlike behaviour, even leaving the scene of his first appearance while singing a lullaby; fitting, considering that Martin Chatwin was — at the most — an adolescent when he ran away from home.
• Red Right Hand: The Beast appears completely human except for three or four extra fingers on each hand.
• Sizeshifter: Magically increases his size to keep up with Alice's transformations, turning the whole thing into a Shapeshifter Showdown.
• The Sociopath: Lacks empathy, demonstrates glib speech, is easily bored and often acts on spur-of-the-moment thoughts, is incapable of feeling emotional attachment, and thinks only of himself. That's what happens when you sell your humanity.
• Sorcerous Overlord: One of the most powerful hedge-wizards in the entire series, ruling over Fillory as its king in all but name; once Quentin summons him into Ember's Tomb, he's able to claim the crown and make it official.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Under the branch, he looks more like an accountant than anything else.
• Time Stands Still: Makes his entrance by stopping time for everyone in a lecture hall of Brakebills.
• Tuneless Song of Madness: The earliest hint that he has a human intellect with a very tenuous grasp of sanity is when he begins idly singing "Bye, Baby Bunting" not long after killing Amanda Orloff.
• Was Once a Man

Introduced and featured in The Magician King:

Bingles

Bingles

• Barehanded Blade Block: Distinguishes himself in the tournament by catching his opponent’s sword between the palms of his hands.
• Cool Sword: Gains a magic sword during his adventures at sea.
• Drama Queen: Prone to making melodramatic statements.
• Master Swordsman: A brilliant swordfighter and the last man standing in the tournament Quentin arranges. He’s so skilled that he’s capable of keeping pace with Julia.

Benedict

Benedict

• Emo Teen: An angsty teenager who reminds Quentin a lot of himself when he was younger. Grows out of it while searching for Quentin on the Muntjac, and seems much happier when he meets up with Quentin again a year later.
• Mood-Swinger: Stranded in the afterlife, he swings wildly from nihilistic despair to bitter hatred of Quentin and everything he stands for, from pitiable begging to selfless efforts to save the day.
• Undignified Death: Shot in the throat before he can even join his first battle. Even Benedict's shade thinks this was a pretty humiliating way to die.

Abigail the Sloth

Elaine

Eleanore

Introduced in The Magician's Land

Vile Father

The champion of the Lorian army invading Fillory at the start of the third book.

• Acrofatic: Surprisingly fast and agile despite his paunch.
• Fat Bastard: Obese and complicit in the murder of civilians and the theft of their property.
• Lightning Bruiser: On top of being strong and resilient, he’s also incredibly fast on his feet – to the point that even Eliot is briefly caught off-guard.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Lorians are a Viking-like race of conquerers, and Vile Father is no exception, gladly duelling Eliot to a standstill for the right to invade Fillory.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Spends the entirety of his scenes stripped to the waist.

The Prince of the Mud

A giant turtle dwelling in the swamplands of Fillory, sought after for knowledge of the apocalypse by Eliot and Janet.

Umber

Ember’s brother and the other Ram-God of Fillory. Thought to be dead at the hands of the Beast, though the effects of his actions linger long after his apparent demise…