History Characters / MageWindsAndMageStorms

[[center:[-[[Characters/HeraldsOfValdemar Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/DeitiesAndGeneralCharacterTropes Deities and General Character Tropes]] | [[Characters/MageWarsTrilogy Mage Wars Trilogy]] | [[Characters/LastHeraldMageTrilogy Last Herald Mage Trilogy]] | [[Characters/CollegiumChronicles Collegium Chronicles]] | [[Characters/BrightlyBurning Brightly Burning]] | [[Characters/VowsAndHonor Vows and Honor]] | [[Characters/ExileDuology Exile Duology]] | [[Characters/ArrowsTrilogyAndRelatedBooks Arrows Trilogy and Related Books]] | [[Characters/MageWindsAndMageStorms Mage Winds and Mage Storms]] | [[Characters/DariansTale Darian'sTale]]-]]]

This subsection of the Characters/HeraldsOfValdemar CharacterSheet covers the ''Mage Winds'' and ''Mage Storms'' trilogies.

!Princess Elspeth and Companion Gwena
The heir to the throne of Valdemar under Queen Selenay. In ''Arrow's Flight'', Elspeth is Chosen by Gwena, a Grove-Born Companion.

* AbdicateTheThrone: In ''Winds of Fury'', she steps out of the line of succession because her responsibilities as Heir would irreconcilably conflict with her role as the first Herald-Mage since Vanyel -- among other things, the Heir is explicitly forbidden to go InHarmsWay. This has the added benefit of completely confounding Valdemar's enemies [[EvilCannotComprehendGood who are so power-hungry they can't conceive of anyone doing this willingly]].
* ActionGirl: Those who are expecting Elspeth to be a pampered royal brat are surprised to find her quite capable with knives, and later with magic as she leads an assassination squad into Hardorn to unseat Ancar.
* AltarDiplomacy: A plot point in the ''Arrows'' trilogy involves a possible alliance marriage between Elspeth and then-Prince Ancar of Hardorn. Queen Selenay has misgivings about the idea, but there is enough political pressure that they have to at least ''consider'' it.
* FamilyEyeResemblance: A song printed in the ''Arrows'' Trilogy is dedicated to the fact that she has her [[TheEvilPrince father's]] eyes.
* FatalFlaw: not actually fatal, but her extreme reaction to any sort of manipulation, not matter how benign, borders on IdiotBall (see the ScrewDestiny entry). This may be out of PTSD from Hulda and [[spoiler:Orthallen]]. See WMG for more.
* GenerationXerox: She inherited her father Thanel's eyes and good looks and due to Hulda's influence, acted like a RoyalBrat. Her resemblance to Thanel brings back bad memories for Selenay which makes it even harder for Selenay to connect to her, contributing to a vicious cycle.
* InTheBlood: Invoked when Elspeth announces her decision to step down from her position as Heir, claiming that her reign would be tainted by her status as the daughter of a traitor.
* ItsPersonal: Gwena is the one to finish off Ancar, and she does it with such fury (and screaming AndThisIsFor all the while), that she comes across as the Companions' revenge for what he did to Talia, Kris, and others.
* KnifeNut: In the ''Arrows'' trilogy, Skif teaches Elspeth how to throw knives for self-defense. She demonstrates on [[spoiler: Lord Orthallen]] in ''Arrow's Fall'', and continues to carry hidden knives on her person in subsequent books, to the point that Kerowyn tells her (at the beginning of ''Winds of Fate'') that she shouldn't rely on them too much because everyone knows she has them.
* MagicKnight: She combines her knife skills with Adept-level magic to great effect in ''Winds of Fury'', [[spoiler:killing both Hulda and the Imperial envoy with them]].
* MasterSwordsman: she's been trained by Alberich since age seven; what did you expect?
* PhraseCatcher: In ''Winds of Fury'', she is repeatedly greeted with, "We thought you were dead," to the point that her traveling companions start calling it "the standard greeting".
* RoyalBrat: Her nurse, Hulda, deliberately raises her as a spoiled, self-centered brat until Talia intervenes. It takes her a very long time to shake this reputation.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: She leads a two-Herald mission to find a mage who would be willing to train new Herald-Mages. Not long thereafter, she returns as a Herald-Mage in her own right, with representatives of the Tayledras and Kaled'a'in as Valdemar's new allies.
* SecretLegacy: She's a descendant of [[spoiler:Vanyel by way of King Randale's lifebonded Shavri; their daughter Jisa married Randal's successor Treven]], which is not revealed until ''Winds of Fury'' and explains her mage gifts.
* ScrewDestiny: Partway into ''Winds of Fate'', Elspeth discovers that she's being railroaded by her Companion into a "Grand Destiny" -- Gwena intends her to be tutored by a White Winds mage of Kethry's descent. Thanks in part to Kerowyn's training, she immediately rebels against this plan and seeks out the Hawkbrothers instead, to the ultimate benefit of all concerned.
** Later lampshaded by Altra to Elspeth's chagrin. He somewhat bluntly tells her, in front of the other characters, that the main reason he is being so candid about why they need to handle the Mage Storms a certain way is because he knows that she will ''deliberately'' mess things up if she even ''thinks'' that "destiny" or a grand plan is involved.
* SpareToTheThrone: Once her twin siblings are born. She prefers this, since it frees her to devote herself full time to her career as a Herald-Mage.
* TykeBomb: Hulda was clearly grooming her for something like this, either politically as a challenger to her mother or magically as a corrupted Adept. When Hulda was discovered, she fled to Hardorn and was more successful with then-Prince Ancar.
* TheUnfavorite: Selenay has difficulty relating to her because she resembles her (traitorous) father. They get along better when Elspeth is an adult and they can meet as fellow Heralds.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Gwena is a Grove-born Companion, meaning that, unlike other Companions, she is not the {{Reincarnation}} of someone and thus has no experience. This leads her to make mistakes out of overconfidence, such as trying to railroad Elspeth into her "Grand Destiny".

!Darkwind k'Sheyna and bondbird Vree.
A Tayledras Scout for k'Sheyna Vale, which he calls his home. He is bitter and cynical, mostly because of his father.

* ByronicHero: Can be summed up as more Byronic than Byron.
* DisneyDeath: In ''Winds of Fury'', Darkwind is severely injured and apparently killed by Hulda's attack.
* TheFashionista: In happier days, Songwind made a hobby of designing and creating clothes as wearable art. Then the Heartstone blew, his mother died, and atop a great deal else his father [[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim openly dumped the outfits given to him on the scrap heap]]. Darkwind shoved much of his remaining collection into storage to be forgotten like the rest of his prior life, and him breaking open those trunks to give Elspeth a makover in ''Winds of Change'' is a sign of how much he has healed.
* IncompatibleOrientation: Firesong admits that he was attracted to Darkwind when they first met, but the latter is quite heterosexual.
* LoveInterest: His teeth-clenched teamwork with Elspeth becomes genuine friendship after they initially defeat Falconsbane in ''Winds of Fate'', and eventually blossoms into love in ''Winds of Change''. Elspeth's abdication of the throne in ''Winds of Fury'' is as much for his benefit as for hers, since her position as the Heir meant they had to keep their relationship secret for political reasons.
* MagicKnight: Darkwind gave up magic after the accident with the Heartstone that claimed his mother's life and became quite proficient with bow and hook-staff. Once he takes up magic again, he rapidly regains his former strength.
* MeaningfulRename: His name was originally Songwind, but he changed it along with giving up magic after the Heartstone accident.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: Even considering that he temporarily gave up magic, he remains the strongest adept in his clan at a relatively young age. When Firesong shows up, Darkwind is abruptly relegated to a distant second place, and has to spend some time sorting out his uncomfortable feelings about it. Elspeth's apparent awe of Firesong's abilities just as she and Darkwind are beginning their romance doesn't help matters, either.

!Firesong k'Treva and bondbird Aya
A proud and arrogant young Tayledras Healing-Adept, initially called in from k'Treva Vale to k'Sheyna to assist with the Heartstone there. He becomes involved in Elspeth's training as a mage, and with the fate of Valdemar.

* TheAce: At first, his skill at magic, his handsome appearance, and his utter unflappability make him at turns fawned over and envied by everyone at k'Sheyna Vale. He later reveals some of the price he's paid for this.
* TheArchmage: Falconsbane and the Eastern Empire aside, he is the strongest Adept-level mage in the known world.
* TheBeard: He offers an inversion of the standard use to Darkwind and Elspeth in ''Winds of Fury'', capitalizing on Valdemaran assumptions about the Tayledras by pretending to be the Darkwind's lover so people would think that Elspeth could be in no way involved with him.
* {{Bishounen}}: He is described as incredibly attractive, almost animesque, with flamboyant and ever changing hair and clothing styles, the pale skin and hair associated with Adept mages, and an intensely sexual presence.
* CampGay: He is blatantly ''shaych'', and proud of it.
* CoolMask: Firesong starts wearing masks, each one more elaborate than the last, when he gets his scars at the end of ''Storm Breaking''.
* CoolPet: Aya is a ''Firebird''. Exposure to magic has bleached him pure white, so he's even cooler than the norm.
* CrazyJealousGuy: For An'desha when the mage storms start messing with his head. He considers killing Karal, An'desha's HeterosexualLifePartner, because he thinks they are having an affair behind his back, even when there is ample evidence that Karal likes Natoli and neither he nor An'desha like each other that way.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Firesong thoroughly enjoys the attention he gets from both males and females, and even enjoys the conflicts he causes when their jealousies erupt over him.
* TheFashionista: He ''loves'' fashion, and always has to make a statement.
* FisherKingdom: As a Healing-Adept, the state of the environment can affect his emotions. When the mage storms start tearing up the land, they cause his mental state to deteriorate in turn.
* HappilyMarried: Eventually; practically married to Silverfox, and very content with his life.
* InTouchWithHisFeminineSide: Firesong becomes Need's bearer in ''The Mage Storms'', even though she's a female-only weapon. She claims he's balanced between masculine and feminine traits -- but then the entire group was male, so he was probably the ClosestThingWeGot.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: When he was young he could be a bit of an arrogant prick, but he always had good intentions and as he got older, he got better.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Came ''very'' close to turning into another Ma'ar, but stopped before he took the final plunge. [[spoiler: Again, the slope was extra-greasy because of the Mage Storms.]]
* LethalChef: A RunningGag in ''Storm Breaking'' was for someone in the Tower to be horrified at the thought that it was Firesong's turn to cook.
* OlderAndWiser: In ''Darian's Tale'' and even in ''Storm Breaking''. Silverfox had a lot to do with the change, as did the mage storms.
* PowerLevels: He's an Adept. A Healing-Adept to be specific.
* ScarsAreForever: [[spoiler: The burns on his face and arms from saving the world in the last Mage-Storm wave. Justified, even with his immense Healing abilities, because they came from molten metal when Need exploded.]]
* SnakeOilSalesman: He disguises himself as one when he joins the infiltration team going into Hardorn. Subverted as well, because his "Magic Cure-All" is brandy laced with medicinal herbs, and really ''does'' work on upset stomachs - the main thing it's purchased for, since it's being marketed to people who've been eating greasy fair foods of dubious quality.
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: [[spoiler:Remember these twins Vanyel sired in k'Treva? Firesong is descended from one of them.]]
* YaoiGuys: With An'desha for a time, and later with Silverfox. Darkwind and him sometimes joke about [[HoYay something being between them.]]

!Treyvan And Hydona [[spoiler: kena Leshya'nay/K'Leshya]]
Two gryphons who live outside of k'Sheyna vale. They are surrogate parents to Darkwind k'Sheyna.
* {{Ambadassador}}: Both are excellent fighters, being both gryphons [[spoiler: and scouts from the Silver Gryphons]], and serve as ambassadors of [[spoiler: the Kaled'a'in]] to K'Sheyna and Valdemar.
* GoodParents: To Jervan ad Lytha, their two little gryphlets. Indeed, Hydona's maternal instinct is seen as one of her defining characteristics by other characters, and Treyvan is just as loving a father as she is a mother.
* HappilyMarried: Treyvan and Hydona love each other deeply even after two gryphlets and trekking all over the continent.
* MamaBear and PapaWolf: Although Hydona is a bit more protective of her offspring than Treyvan, they are still willing to do anything for the sake of their gryphlets.
* ParentalSubstitute: For Darkwing. They [[StealthPun take him under their wing]] after he loses his mother and his father starts to push him away. They refer to him as their "featherless son", and he loves them a great deal.
* SnakeTalk: Because of the gryphon vocal anatomy.
* SternTeacher: Both are somewhat this, first to Elspeth and Darkwind, and then to the various mages brought to Haven for training to fight against Ancar.
* TrrrillingRrrs: Because of the gryphon vocal anatomy.

!Starblade k'Sheyna
Darkwind k'Sheyna's father, an extremely distant man who alienates his sons [[spoiler:in order to protect them from Mornelithe Falconsbane's influence over him.]]
* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: [[spoiler:Being well aware of how much his new master wanted a father[=/=]son set of enslaved adepts, he devotes what freedom of action he can muster to deepening his estrangement from Darkwind and souring him on taking up magic again.]]
* BondCreatures: Originally a falcon, then when tragedy struck a crow replaced them. Finally ends up with Hyllar, a crested hawk-eagle of bondbird breeding.
* DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou: He pushes Darkwind ad Wintermoon away to protect them.
* ManchurianAgent: [[spoiler: {{Brainwashed}} by Falconsbane.]]
* MindRape: [[spoiler: How Falconsbane [[{{Brainwashed}} brainwashed]] him.]]

!Herald Skif and Companion Cymry
See entry on the Characters/ArrowsTrilogyAndRelatedBooks page.

!Need, aka [[spoiler: Sister Lashan]]
A magical sword that has been around since before [[spoiler: the Mage Wars]], dedicated to helping and protecting women in need. The sword previously appeared in the ''Vows and Honor'' books and in ''By the Sword'', where she began to evidence more personality, but only in ''Mage Winds'' does she regain full sentience, revealing that she was originally a priestess who sacrificed herself to bind her own spirit to an enchanted sword.
* AntiMagic: In the hands of a non-mage, Need provides a considerable degree of protection against magic. As shown in ''The Oathbound'', this effect is potent enough to undo the magic of a demon on the threshold of godhood. In ''By the Sword,'' Quentin magically "convinces" Need to extend some of her protection against magic not just to Kerowyn but to the rest of the Skybolts as well. A waking Need is able to absorb as much magic as [[BigBad Mornelithe Falconsbane]] can throw at her and transmute it into power she can use.
* BackForTheFinale: After being PutOnABus for most of the Mage Storms trilogy, Need [[TheBusCameBack returns]] late in the third book for [[spoiler: the preparations for the Final Cataclysm.]]
* BadassTeacher: When a totally untested Kerowyn takes Need to track and rescue Deorna, the sleeping sword starts nonverbally teaching Kero to track, move silently, and anticipate the enemy, always stepping in and possessing her when Kero got in over her head. Later, she spends months with Nyara teaching her survival skills and independence.
* TheBlacksmith: She was a fighter in her youth, but in her old age she was a Mage-Gifted swordsmith.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: ''Woman's Need calls me, as Woman's Need made me. Her Need I will answer as my maker bade me.'' As a magic weapon specifically made to protect women, Need physically and psychically compels her bearer to come to the aid of any woman in trouble, forcing this trope upon them and usually causing them quite a bit of trouble in the process.
** Averted when awake, at which point she's well able to choose her battles.
* ClingyMacGuffin: Once Need chooses a bearer, she's magically bonded to them until it's time to pass on to the next wielder. She can be left in another room without trouble, and it seems the restriction was eased for an elderly Kethry who kept her on a wall for years without issue, but when Kerowyn kept her on a pack horse that was then swept away in a river crossing, the sudden distance caused a great deal of pain.
* CoolOldLady: She was at least middle-aged before she sealed herself into a sword, and has been in sword form a ''very'' long time.
* CoolSword: Unbreakable, never rusts or loses her edge, and can bestow incredible defenses to her bearers - and this is just while she's asleep. As a living human, she thought it was absurd that the swords she made got decorated with precious metals and gems and resold for much higher prices - when she made them, including the one she sealed herself into, they were plain. [[CoversAlwaysLie Even if all of the official art]] of Need gives her an elaborate hilt.
* CursedItem: Need is a powerful ancient ClingyMacGuffin with nasty side-effects that may hinder the bearer to the point of almost getting them killed. She leans on the helpful side - a Tayledras explains her to Kethry as enacting a heavy price but being worth that price - but Tarma and Kero are inclined to consider her a curse. When she appears in ''Storm Breaking'', Firesong is glad to see her and benefit from her expertise but rather dismayed to find out he's her bearer.
* DeadpanSnarker: She's noted to have a ''very'' dry wit, and will use it with impunity including on herself, much to the detriment of everyone around her.
* DetectEvil: Need has mind magic and can tell when a man has abused women, and woe betide a bearer who'd prefer to get out of this peacefully. She has more nuance about it when awake and gets to use this insight and her own suspicious nature to make split second judgements about people.
* EmpathicWeapon: Even prior to fully reawakening, Need has a will of her own, choosing her own wielders and magically compelling them to help women in distress. When Kerowyn takes her up in ''By the Sword,'' she spends quite a bit of time struggling with Need over just how much influence she's going to allow the sword to have over her, given that the sword's compulsion to save women in trouble lacks ''any'' sense of proportion or context.
** On a whole different level, an awakened Need cares deeply for people who've suffered, for all that she's gruff and cynical with no tolerance for self-pity. She puts a high priority on the happiness of Nyara, a badly abused young woman who she bonds with and tries to help.
* EnergyDonation: On her own she only has so much power and there are some wounds she can't heal, but if someone is willing to feed her energy Need can do much more.
* EquippableAlly: While awake, she's very vocal and sarcastic about being treated like just an inanimate object.
* GenderRestrictedGear: Only women can use Need. It comes as quite a surprise to everyone when Firesong is able to make use of her power, explained as Firesong being [[InTouchWithHisFeminineSide "balanced" between masculine and feminine]]. Kethry, surprised when Need protects a different androgynous Hawkbrother, speculates that sometimes the sword can't tell and decides to play it safe, but Need herself while awake admits she's had a few male bearers, usually gay ones.
* GodGuise: [[spoiler: Repeatedly meets An'desha on the Moonpaths while in the company of the Star-Eyed Goddess's Avatars and gives him the same kinds of advice and regard he would expect from the Star-Eyed, leading An'desha to suspect she is his goddess in her Crone aspect. At a climactic moment she asks him "Do you trust your Goddess?" in order to spur him to a greater effort. After she manages to save him, he realizes she's not the Star-Eyed and wails that she tricked him. Need rather smugly says she never claimed anything untrue.]]
* HealingHands: No hands, but Need's specifically noted as being gifted with "contact healing".
* HealingShiv: Need has a healing effect as long as she's in contact with or close proximity to her bearer or any other injured woman. After she's awakened, she'll also heal pretty much anyone else.
** At the end of the Winds trilogy Need [[spoiler: manages to send Mornelithe to be defeated and spare his host An'desha by giving him a would-be fatal stab wound that convinces the spirit to abandon An'desha's body, then healing the latter bit by bit as she's slowly removed.]]
* HeroicSacrifice: In the first place, she killed herself so that she could guide and lend her abilities to her student and help her to rescue the abducted women of their order. [[spoiler: At the end of the Mage Storms trilogy, she basically burns herself up to help the heroes prevent the Second Cataclysm.]]
* IAmSong / IAmGreatSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_TwJuIT6uw Need]], a FilkSong the author wrote about and for her.
--> A thousand woman slayers by my point and edge have died!
* IncrediblyLamePun: Is both the giver and receiver of these at times, usually about swordplay or relating to "need" as a verb.
* InstantExpert: In the hands of a non-warrior, Need lends strength and speed and makes her wielder a master swordsman, allowing SquishyWizard Kethry to fight like a MagicKnight. Her guidance also lets untrained mage Elspeth draw on a node and fling levin-bolts with zero prior practice.
* ItWasAGift: When she's asleep, she eventually indicates to her current bearer who she wants to be passed down to, and is given when the new bearer is about to set out into the dangerous unknown.
* JerkassFacade: When she meets Darkwind she's grousing about being handed over and told to heal him, but within two seconds she's realized that he's been suffering a lot of heartache and speaks kindly to him. Again when she meets An'desha, who she's more reluctant to warm to but who also ''instantly'' clocks that despite her talk of not pitying him she is sympathetic to his plight.
* NamedWeapons: Mercedes Lackey usually averts this trope as most swords are just weapons and tools and a good warrior never gets attached to their weapons. Need is the sole exception as she's a heavily magical LegendaryWeapon and she's sentient so it would be rude not to give her a name.
* NervesOfSteel: A sleeping Need is quite impulsive, but when she's awake Need's age, nigh invulnerability, and tendency to think things over in detail add up to make her calm and centered in a sudden bad situation.
* MindOverManners: Need spies on other characters' thoughts as willingly as Companions do, without their tendency to pretend they're not doing it (but also without making snide remarks like they do with Quentin). That said, she respects stated boundaries like Elspeth's unwillingness to be possessed, and she wants her bearers to become stronger people and not dependent on her.
* MentorInSourArmor: The armor is pretty thin and it's not hard to tell that Need cares. She's still snarky, demanding, and underhanded.
* MusclesAreMeaningful: When Need was alive she was a swordsmith, and despite her age had impressive biceps and a sturdy build.
* MusclesAreMeaningless: While possessing bearers she can magically buff their physical abilities so they can fight despite lack of muscle or training. While she's awake she insists that her bearers ''get'' some of that training, though.
* OldMaster: Knows things about magic and swordplay that the modern world has forgotten.
* PsychicRadar: Can detect people, but also their intentions.
* PutOnABus: She's in the same palace complex as the main characters in the first book of the Mage Storms trilogy, but despite having worked closely with two of them and being able to telepathically communicate at a distance she is completely absent. In the second book there's a mention that Skif, Nyara, and her went away to be envoys at some point offscreen.
* RunningGag: Kerowyn and Elspeth both threaten to drop her down a well if Need won't relinquish some of her control.
* SeeingThroughAnothersEyes: Mandatory; Need's mage powers let her perceive the world a little, through distinct effort, on her own, but she otherwise relies entirely on the senses of living people.
* ShipperOnDeck: She is markedly less enthusiastic about people pairing off than some of the other characters. When Elspeth is having to deal with an unwanted BodyguardCrush from Skif, Need's the only one sympathetic to her frustration. But she also wants her bearers to be happy, and if that means getting together with someone they like who is good than she's very much in favor.
* SituationalSword: Even before she 'woke,' she could provide her bearer with magical defenses or physical combat skills, whichever was needed. The downside was that she asserted a certain amount of control over her wielder, especially where women were involved.
* SoProudOfYou: Nyara comes a long way with her help, and Need's not shy in praising her.
* SoulJar: It's repeatedly stated that she's "inside" of or "imprisoned" in the sword she made. The 'jar' is always on hand as it doesn't appear she can operate outside of it, though she can possess people bearing her and use her telepathy to monitor things happen miles away. Of course, she's also so close to indestructible that having the thing her soul is inside of carried around doesn't seem like a major downside.
* SupportPartyMember: If her bearer is a fighter, Need's role in battle is really just to protect her from magic and heal her injuries. She can possess a non-fighting bearer to take a physical role, but in general, and especially when awake, her role is to protect the party from magic, heal them, help coordinate, and give advice and intelligence. As you might expect from a sword that can't move on her own.
* TalkingWeapon: After she fully awakens in ''The Mage Winds''.
* {{Telepathy}}: Need is constantly reading the minds of the people around her, and sometimes interjecting to comment on what they're thinking. In her part of the climax of ''Winds of Fury'' she's using this to coordinate and cue four people at once while also taking on her own tasks.
* TimeAbyss: Need is probably the oldest character in the setting, having outlived her order, her gods, and any recognizable features on a map. Even she doesn't know how old she is, experiencing total sensory deprivation when between bearers and therefore falling "asleep" for centuries. Elspeth, who's recently spent a good deal of time searching fairly complete archives before she hears about Need's human life, has never heard of anything from it. Until Need stumbles across it in a memory she's showing Nyara, she's lost the memory of her own name and is mildly embarrassed about it.
** When meeting the ghosts of Herald Vanyel and Bard Stephen, who've been around for a good few centuries, Need pointedly calls them children.
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: When possessing teenaged Kero to fight a shielded mage, Need throws the girl's dagger, which doesn't make it through the shield. So Need throws herself and hits home.
* TricksterMentor: Need has shades of this, being willing to go quiet for a prolonged period to test Nyara's ability to fend for herself, or insulting Nyara's lover to test the girl's willingness to defend him against her.
* UltimateBlacksmith: Need would claim she was merely very good and there was no great secret to the swords she made - a mage-smith only needed to be very patient and willing to spend more time and energy on each blade. That said, by the time of any of the books those techniques have been lost, and the blade she imprisoned herself inside of has lasted for thousands of years.
* WeaponOfXSlaying: She may or may not be a demon-slaying blade. Tarma and Kethry aren't sure - she's certainly able to ''hurt'' Thalkarsh, but he's not killed in their encounter. Waking Need, when she swears, usually says things like "Demonsbane!"
* WeaponWieldsYou: Under extreme circumstances - such as being carried into battle against an EvilSorcerer by a bearer with no training in magic or combat - Need can and will hijack her bearer's body completely, as Kero discovers in the early chapters of ''By the Sword'', though she takes and relaxes this control repeatedly, showing Kero what to do and stepping in when the girl was over her head. She'll also do this if her bearer is incapacitated or if she's affected by an ill-luck charm, trying to escalate in circumstances where Kero and Kethry really don't want to actually kill someone.
* WouldntHitAGirl: Before coming to full sentience, Need would ''not'' allow her bearer to harm another woman. This nearly gets Kerowyn killed at least once. She also did this to Kethry and Tarma, as well as [[PerpetualPoverty costing them quite a few paying jobs]] because Need would yank them off for 'her' jobs instead - in the short story 'A Woman's Weapon', it's ''both'' (although the woman they saved did pay them afterward). After several years, Kethry was so strongly bonded to a very much asleep Need that if she'd put the sword down and killed a woman with other means, Need would have killed her in return.

!Nyara
* AnimalEyes: Retains them after most of the magical modding is undone.
* AnimalMotifs: Cats, specifically domesticated ones, as a contrast to her father.
* TheDogBitesBack: Morenelithe Falconsbane ''did not see it coming''. ''Both'' times he even saw her - first he didn't think it possible Nyara would lift a hand against him. The second time, he didn't even see that she was there. The third time he assumed that she would try to run away as far as possible from him.
* CatGirl: Magically altered, though the exact details vary from book to book.
* ChildOfRape: Nothing is said about her mother, but ''An'desha'' certainly had no say in her conception and refuses to regard her as his daughter or relative at all, which is part of why they generally have little to do with each other even after Falconsbane is gone.
* HatesTheirParent: Falconsbane did a number on her emotional state, fostering mingled twisted love and hatred in equal measures in her. Time away from him and with Need slowly helping her grow away from being his slave takes the "love" part out of the equation.
* HeroicWillpower: Her father ordered her to seduce Darkwind so Falconsbane could get his hooks into him. She resisted despite his compulsions.
* InterspeciesRomance: With Skif, in a way; she was born human, but her body was extensively modified via magic.
* MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter
* ParentalIncest: In her backstory
* {{Patricide}}: Nyara attempts it in each book.
* RapeAsBackstory: She was her father's sex toy, among other things.
* SoWhatDoWeDoNow: Nyara didn't like that she was made into a CatGirl but refused any suggestion that [[IJustWantToBeNormal she should want to be normal]]. Need made many tiny alterations to her body that Nyara welcomed, giving her more control and less pain, and which led to the girl looking and acting somewhat more human - but Need can't work against resistance, and Nyara doesn't seem to mind having claws, slit-pupiled eyes, and sharp ears nearly as much as she minds the attention they bring her. [[spoiler: When the Avatars make her more fully human, Nyara bursts into tears and is afraid that Skif won't love her anymore.]]
* WillingChanneler: In contrast to Elspeth, Nyara is happy to let Need take over from time to time and is generally happier about being shown old memories - it doesn't hurt that they displace her nightmares.

!Mornelithe Falconsbane, aka [[spoiler: Ma'ar]]
* AnimalMotifs: Cats. Unlike Nyara, he explicitly modeled himself after a lynx.
* ArchnemesisDad: He never gives Nyara the same amount of thought that she's forced to devote to him. All three Mage Wind books involve her attacking him in the climax - once to keep him from killing Skif, once an assassination attempt, once [[spoiler: stabbing him so he'd believe himself dying and leave An'desha's body]].
* BadBoss: He will kill his underlings for their magical power, to relieve his temper, because ''they're there''... It's noted that he used to be better about this. Once, he worked to inspire love and devotion in his people, with fear as only a background goad. However, he decayed slowly through all those incarnations.
* BerserkButton: ''Gryphons''. He views them as jumped-up constructs who should be no better than livestock (exactly how he treated his counterparts, the ''makaar''), and their continued existence and prosperity rankles to the point that seeing a shadow of one eventually makes him enter a BerserkerRage. [[spoiler: It's actually {{Foreshadowing}} of his original identity, since [[FridgeBrilliance Gryphons were so closely associated]] with Urtho.]]
* BigBad: Of most of the stories up to ''Mage Winds''.
* BloodMagic: "A frequent practitioner" is an understatement; he tends to default to using it simply because killing other people and using their deaths to generate power leaves his personal reserves untapped in case of emergency. And to make examples. And because he ''enjoys'' mauling people to death with his bare hands...
* CameBackWrong: Subtly! With life after life he lost what limited humanity he had, becoming increasingly twisted and losing old skills. An'desha, looking through his memories, finds [[spoiler: memories of Ma'ar]] to be the most disturbing, as in them he did have to justify his actions to himself and actually cared about his people, if only as extensions of himself.
* ControlFreak: He thinks he plans for everything, and when something disrupts his schemes he takes it ''very'' poorly. This trait even extended into the anti-gryphon monsters he created, the ''makaar''. While gryphons can mate at will (even if it doesn't result in conception), ''makaar'' have no interest in sex until their controller triggers spells to force them into heat.
* DepravedBisexual: To him, his body is just another weapon to use on his foes; it was carefully crafted to [[EvilIsSexy exude raw sex appeal regardless of the viewer]], and he's willing to use it on men and women alike.
* TheDreaded: Whenever he shows up, priority one for the heroes is disabling him and his schemes.
* EmperorScientist: In his original incarnation he had the power and knowledge to create creatures like the ''makaar''. He's often noted to be unable to create anything original so much as warping and copying others' work, so it's possible makaar are descended from gryphons. Regardless, the world changed at the end of the Mage Wars, and he never regained the old heights of his power.
* EnfantTerrible: One of his incarnations was a Shin'a'in child who destroyed the clan the body was born in to. For kicks.
* EvilChancellor: Once Ancar has [[spoiler:captured and placed coercions on him.]] Unsurprisingly, Falconsbane's immediate plans are to turn the tables.
* EvilerThanThou: To Ancar and Hulda; they died before he could demonstrate it to them, but several of his plans involved mental and physical torture simply to show them where they stood in relation to himself. Then he would kill them, of course.
* EvilSorceror: It's the core of his power - he has the pure magical might to make sure he is obeyed.
* FamilialBodySnatcher: His ability to body-surf is tied to his physical bloodline. Naturally, he makes sure to leave as many 'candidates' behind him as he can.
* FantasticRacism: Humans, to him, are worth more than any mage-crafted race, which ought to exist only to serve. In his oldest incarnation he also displayed "normal" racism, cherishing only his countrymen and enacting [[ANaziByAnyOtherName purges of 'foreigners']] when he came into power.
* FullFrontalAssault: As Falconsbane he goes nude unless weather prevents it.
* TheHeavy: No matter where he appears in the story, his presence is what drives the heroes to take drastic action.
* ImAHumanitarian: Not above eating his blood magic sacrifices. He makes mental note of the "pain-spiced flesh" at one point.
* LastNameBasis: Few, if any, call him "Mornelithe". Typically when named he goes by Falconsbane, likely because in the three books he's most prominent in, the main characters are in Hawkbrother lands, and "Falconsbane" is a greater and more understood epithet than the Kaled'a'in "Mornelithe".
* MadScientist: This universe's equivalent.
* MeaningfulRename: Every one of his incarnations takes a new name, typically in Kaled'a'in as an insult to the race. "Leareth" translates to "Darkness", "Mornelithe" as "Hatred-that-returns", and Falconsbane... because he killed a Tayledras bondbird falcon, as well as a more general declaration of enmity towards the Tayledras and their bondbirds.
* AMillionIsAStatistic: A very long time ago he was a petty clerk and learned to see people he'd never meet in person as numbers not worth caring about and which could climb very high indeed without meaning anything to him. LackOfEmpathy towards people he ''did'' meet, and then towards closer contacts, followed from there in time.
* MindRape: One of his favorite pastimes, usually including physical rape in parallel. He's gotten very good at it, and particularly likes combining pleasure and pain. This is noted to be both incredibly effective and incredibly difficult to break simply because doing nearly ''anything'' will feed into the mental programming he inflicted.
* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning: Again and again he uses the death of his body to fling his soul into a pocket dimension, where it waits to inflict GrandTheftMe on one of his descendants.
* ANaziByAnyOtherName: [[spoiler: As Ma'ar. His rise to power, focus on racial purity, and hatred of the Kaled'a'in mirror Adolf Hitler]]
* OffingTheOffspring: There's a single brief mention that Nyara had had siblings, until they displeased him.
* OutsideContextProblem: ''None'' of his bodyjacked descendants knew what was coming. Valdemar also had no countermeasures for his type of military strategy.
* ParentalAbuse: Falconsbane used Nyara as a prototype for his own physiological alterations (a process that was excruciatingly painful), implanted compulsions so that she would be obedient to him, and twisted her mind so that she loved and loathed him in equal measure for everything he'd done to her.
** ParentalIncest: He also used her for sex. Apparently simply because he ''could''.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: How destructive? After Ma'ar died Urtho's superweapon went off and all the magical power his nearby creations and mages had was released in one catastrophic burst, leaving a giant crater that eventually became Lake Evendim. Urtho's tower made a much larger crater despite Urtho managing to clear all his people, mages included, out of the way, but Urtho had lived for much longer in his tower than Ma'ar had occupied the High Palace.
* RedBaron: His first incarnation was known as the "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Mage of Black Fire]]", and his subsequent ones have kept up the trend.
* SavedToEnslave: After his evident defeat at the end of ''Winds of Change'', Ancar accidentally plucks him out of the Void in ''Winds of Fury'' and reacts quickly enough to slap controlling spells on him. Even while plotting a way out of captivity, he muses whether to kill Ancar outright or spare him so he can give him the same treatment.
* ShootTheMessenger: At ''whim''. He finds it amusing to watch them tremble in fear unsure if they'll be leaving his chambers alive or not.
* SmugSuper: He's quite powerful, if not ''as'' powerful as he used to be, and thinks of himself as a MagnificentBastard. While he is genuinely clever and cunning, overall he's more of a SmugSnake.
* SorcerousOverlord: In every incarnation, he sets up his own private domain to rule over. Each one tends to be smaller than the last, which irks him to no end. The final one is essentially just a small fortress.
* SoulJar: He's managed to arrange a place for his spirit to hide in and wait for a new body to become available, though unlike most uses of the trope he ''leaves'' that shelter to possess someone new and is vulnerable if he can't reach it. Notably, his hiding place remains intact after his final death.
* SpannerInTheWorks: Valdemar knew how Ancar fought wars, and could prepare accordingly. Then Ancar got his hands on Falconsbane, and the resulting change in tactics and strategy nearly overran them.
* StupidEvil: He wavers around between villainous pragmatism and his own sadism and temper, which are his undoing at various points. An'desha, who benefitted from Falconsbane being at odds with Ancar, had to intervene to keep him from deciding to pragmatically cooperate with his captor for longer.
** [[spoiler: As Ma'ar, the moment he realizes that Skandranon has brought a kind of bomb to lay at his feet]] he shouts MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning and kills himself - if he had made a Gate and got out of there instead, the setting would be very different and far worse.
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: To the gods. Turns out that the PowersThatBe allowed Ma'ar to live for thousands of years in order to carefully preserve the knowledge he held so that it could be used to help stop the Mage Storms]]
* VillainDecay: In-universe example. The method he uses to cheat death causes his mind to deteriorate, making him slowly but increasingly [[CameBackWrong less competent and more overtly evil]] from one incarnation to the next, and then Falconsbane received a case of brain damage on top of that. He himself is not unaware of this, and somewhat dourly notes that he does not equal his previous incarnations, especially Ma'ar and Leareth, but he does drastically underestimate just ''how much'' he's deteriorated in his last appearance. In fact, the Star-Eyed Goddess all but says outright that it is only the VillainDecay that has finally weakened him to the point that he can be permanently destroyed.
* WeHaveReserves: A favorite tactic of his, but he also notes that it's a bad idea to spend lives when you ''don't have them to spend''. But if you do, he will happily walk over a mountain of corpses made of his own troops to claim his goals.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: '''Yes'''. And he has a very nasty tendency to change the definition of "useful" without warning... or decide that your death (and subsequent magical power generated) is of more use now than any use you could be in the future.

!King Ancar
* BigBadWannabe: Make no mistake, he IS a legitimate threat. However, he's "only" a Master-rank mage who craves Adept power and status, unaware that he is literally incapable of attaining that rank. Hulda is behind a good bit of a threat Ancar represents in his early appearances as the series BigBad, and when Falconsbane makes the scene in the ''Mage Winds'' trilogy it's clear that Ancar comes in at a distant third place in the overall sorting algorithm of villainy and can never rise higher than he already has.
* BloodMagic: He takes a positive delight in it.
* TheEvilPrince: Who eventually takes the throne by force.
* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Trampled to death by Gwena, who for whatever reason does not give him a CoupDeGrace.
* KnightOfCerebus: ''Arrows of the Queen'' and ''Arrow's Flight'' focus on Talia's experiences coming of age at the Heraldic Collegium and growing into her powers and role as Queen's Own Herald; while she faces some serious challenges, the stakes are for the most part on a personal level. Ancar kicks off his rise to major antagonist in ''Arrow's Fall'' by murdering Kris and putting Talia through the most horrific tortures he can come up with; his presence changes the level of threat from personal to national via his war against Valdemar, which remains a primary source of conflict in the series through the conclusion of ''Winds of Fury''.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Ancar declares war on Karse once the hears that Solaris is Son of the Sun. The attacks both allow Solaris to consolidate power and forces Karse into an alliance with their ancient enemy Valdemar. The two countries combined are able to fend off Hardorn's forces.
* TheOathBreaker: Barely an aversion, if only because he made sure to crown himself without ''having'' to make any oaths. It's exactly this that causes the people of Hardorn to ensure their next king ''does'' take them.
* PyrrhicVictory: Tremane notes that had Ancar won, his victory would have fallen under this trope as he both bled his country dry and destroyed the ecosystem through his use of unshielded blood magic.
* RageAgainstTheMentor: Against Hulda, who he blames for his inability to reach Adept status.
* RoyalBrat: Never really grew out of the "I'm the prince, everyone else is a peasant" phase.
* SelfMadeOrphan: Led a coup and assassinated his father. It's later revealed that he killed everyone in his extended family in order to prevent any rivals.
* StrawMisogynist: Believes that women are inherently inferior, which is why his army of conscripts consists only of men. It's also another lever Falconsbane uses to manipulate him, pointing out how a "lesser woman" like Hulda is still a more powerful and skilled mage than Ancar.
** Falconsbane even assumes he declared war on Karse and Valdemar because they were ruled by women, though in this instance he's mistaken: Ancar needs to capture more territory to make Hardorn look too strong for the Eastern Empire to invade.
* TooDumbToLive: Very nearly literally. He collected scraps of books and writings on magic and ''assumed'' that the [[{{Teleportation}} Gate Spell]] would allow him to use nodes and "make" him an Adept, unaware and unknowing that a proper Gate requires more magical power than a Master can provide without dying. The ''only'' reasons it doesn't kill him are because his notes are incomplete so he can't make a "proper" Gate, and what he does create doesn't last long enough for him to suffer LifeDrain.
* TortureTechnician: He takes real joy in causing suffering and has a lot of toys at his disposal for just that. When he tortures Herald Talia, he makes sure to [[ToThePain tell her exactly what he'll do to her]] first, just for his own amusement.
* TykeBomb: Hulda actually manages to achieve this unlike with Elspeth.
* UnwittingPawn: Ultimately of the [[spoiler: Eastern Empire.]] Ancar's war and rule was meant to weaken Hardorn enough to be easily conquered.
* WeHaveReserves: Magically binds men into his army, then uses those coercions to force them to fight, though his strategy differs heavily from Falconsbane. Unlike Falconsbane, whose strategy is to [[ZergRush strike hard, fast, and continually advance further into enemy territory]], Ancar builds up his forces, makes several feints, finally attacks, fortifies whatever he managed to take, and repeats. The slow preparations gives Valdemar plenty of time to prepare.

!Hulda
* BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible: Knows Ancar is incapable of becoming an Adept, but claims otherwise and that she will "eventually" teach him how to become one, as a means to keep him under her thumb. This backfires eventually.
* BloodMagic: Also a practitioner, and in fact introduced Ancar to it.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: The only reason she stops is because she's killed.
* TheCorrupter: Successfully serves as this to Ancar and is driven off before she achieves this with Elspeth.
* DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent: ''Hoo boy''. First she's [[spoiler: working for Orthallen to subvert or discredit Elspeth. When that fails she flees and successfully subverts Ancar to protect her own skin and gain some power for her own. Except even then she's ACTUALLY working for the Eastern Empire... and the Emperor suspects that she has other masters than himself as well...]]
* LogicalWeakness: Hulda figures out the major weakness in Valdemar's AntiMagic. Namely that it doesn't trigger if the mage ''doesn't use magic'' which is how she managed to operate in Valdemar despite being an Adept.
* MeaningfulName: "Hulda" means "mole" in Hebrew.
* TheMole: If she's working for you, she is ''not'' on your side.
* OlderThanSheLooks: Seems to be around Ancar's age, but is at least old enough to be his grandmother.

!An'desha shena Jor'ethan
The half Shin'a'in, half outblood descendant of Ma'ar. The body that Ma'ar possessed in order to become Mornelithe Falconsbane belongs to him, and thanks to the events of the ''Mage Winds'' trilogy he eventually reclaims it and his life.
* AnimalEyes: As with Nyara, he still has these after being restored to his original form.
* BadassPreacher: Eventually finds his vocation as a Shaman who (along with the Swordsworn) are the Shin'a'in equivalent of priests
* BadPowersGoodPeople: He has access to all of Ma'ar's magic and knowledge. He uses this knowledge to fight the Final Storm and prevent a second Cataclysm.
* CharacterDevelopment: Probably undergoes the most character development of anyone in all the books save maybe Elspeth. He goes from being a complete coward, whiny and pathetic who is co-dependent upon Firesong and becomes confident in himself and a powerful mage who will backtalk Firesong to his face, and that takes balls.
* ChildOfRape: Not him, but his mother, not that she knew it.
* DemonicPossession: His body is taken over by Ma'ar, which Karal equates with DemonicPossession.
* FightingFromTheInside: An'desha in ''Winds of Fury'' as he helps destroy Falconsbane while trapped in his own mind.
* GreenThumb: Shows a particular affinity and liking for growing plants.
* HellishPupils: Even after the Star-Eyed returns his body to how it was (mostly) before Falconsbane transformed it, he still has vertical pupils like a cat's.
* HeroicBSOD: In ''Storm Warning'', after returning to his previous form and being freed from Falconsbane, he is constantly afraid he will turn back into him somehow, basically wallowing in his own fear and depression.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Karal; they are best friends with no sexual attraction between them.
* IfItsYouItsOkay: He's [[EvenTheGuysWantHim smitten with Firesong]] at first sight, but when there's more focus on him in the Storms trilogy his narration reveals that he's otherwise always been interested in girls.
* PalsWithJesus: He is basically best friends with his Goddess's Avatars.
* PowerLevels: He's an Adept. A Sorcerer-Adept like Urtho and Ma'ar, which he claims means he can create life, though this never ends up happening.
* ShrinkingViolet: Before meeting Karal and his character development sets in.
* TwoGuysAndAGirl: With Karal and Natoli.

!Avatars Dawnfire K'Sheyna And Tre'valen shena Tale'sedrin
Two victims of Falconsbane who the Star-Eyed allowed to live on as her Avatars, able to appear on the Moonpaths and to take the shape of fiery vorcel-hawks. Dawnfire used to be a Tayledras scout who was trapped in the body of her bondbird and Tre'valen was a shaman of the Shin'a'in who fell in love with Dawnfire after she became an Avatar.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: Becoming Avatars.
* TheConfidant: To An'desha. They consider him to be their personal friend.
* DivineDelegation: They do what Kal'enel tells them to, but they still have personalities of their own.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Dawnfire was a {{downplayed}} version of this before she became an avatar; she was a relatively sweet and gentle scout with the best track record in working with K'Sheyna's non-human allies. She also had a tight bond with her bondbird, Kyrr, which ultimately lead to her transformation into Kal'enel's vorcel hawk avatar.
* HeroicSacrifice: Tre'valen sacrifices himself to help Dawnfire and is immediately reborn as an Avatar. Downplayed in the Storms trilogy. They burn out their physical link to the world in the Final Storm, but they continue to exist on the Goddess' plane, where An'desha or any other shaman can come visit them.
* MauveShirt: They were both introduced as their human selves. Dawnfire was Darkwind's lover and Tre'valen the PointOfView character for the Shin'a'in-centered portion of ''Winds of Fate''.
* OutOfFocus: Tre'valen moves in to the Vale at the same time as Elspeth in the start of ''WindsOfChange'' and it seems like he'll be a major character, but after a few strong initial scenes he only appears once before his death and rebirth as an Avatar.
* RedStringOfFate: they are a life-bonded pair.
* SpiritAdvisor: To An'desha, starting from when he begins to rouse within [[spoiler: Falconsbane]] in ''Winds of Fury''.

!Son Of The Sun Solaris
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Moments after Vkandis took out the corrupt Son of the Sun with a BoltOfDivineRetribution, he (or rather, the statue he was animating) removed the crown from his own head and placed it on hers.
* TheChosenOne: Chosen of Vkandis.
* {{Foil}}: To Selenay. Both are strong-willed rulers of their respective countries and had to face prejudice and opposition to come into their position. Talia says that the two of them are similar -- Solaris wryly suggests that she may have meant they were ''too'' similar.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: Solaris' political struggle against and reform of the corrupt priesthood of Karse would be worthy of its own series.
* MeaningfulName: "Solaris" is Latin for "of the sun"
* ModestRoyalty: Is this in private, would be this in public if not for the episcopal pomp required by her position. Even in public, she eats modestly to make a point -- [[TheHighQueen she won't feast while her people starve]].
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Unlike most of her predecessors, Solaris is not prone to finding heresy everywhere she looks. She is also sympathetic to people as individuals, such as specifically granting Karal leave to go visit his family before sending him off with Ulrich on the diplomatic assignment to Valdemar. Additionally, she gets along very well with Queen Selenay and this makes it possible for Karse and Valdemar to not only make peace, but also become actual allies.
* SheIsTheKing: She is the High '''Priest''' and '''Son''' of the Sun.
* WillingChanneler: As a Priest of Vkandis, she can serve as his voice when he wants to speak directly (though Karal notes that the Voice of Flame is less respected than it used to be since it's fairly easy to counterfeit). She also gives a [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan fairly pointed rebuke]] to Tremane when he hesitates to use his Earth-sense, with the implication that the earth itself is speaking through her.

!Karal Austreben
The hero of the Mage Storm series, Karal is a young Karsite priest who was assigned to be the assistant and secretary of to the Karsite Ambassador, his mentor Sun-Priest Ulrich. He is a Channel, meaning he can act as a conduit for magical power but can't use magic himself.
* BadassBookworm: Very much so.
** BadassPreacher: He's a priest, he saved the world. Tell me that doesn't make him a Badass Priest.
* BondCreature: With Altra, his Firecat. Firecats don't bond to a single person like Companions do, but they are more or less assigned to each other by Vkandis himself.
* CombatPragmatist: To the extent that he's a fighter. Kerowyn trains him to defend himself with whatever he can reach, and he acquires the mental habit of looking at things as potential weapons.
* TheConfidant: To An'desha
* GoodShepherd: He is a very good, kind priest who walks-the-walk, talks-the-talk and actually helps people, unlike most Valdemarans' views of Sun Priests.
* HeroicSacrifice: At the end of the second and third book, he knows that serving as a Channel will probably get him killed. He does it anyway. The first time he nearly dies -- he is very weak for a long time afterward -- and the second time he goes blind.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With An'desha, who becomes his best friend, and Altra as well.
* ImprobableAge: By the start of ''Storm Rising'' he is the top Karsite diplomat in Valdemar, involved in high-level conferences among a sizable alliance. He is seventeen at best. He looks even younger than he is. This is not a good thing ''and he knows it''.
* JurisdictionFriction: As the representative of Vkandis in Valdemar and later the Dhorisha Plains (both of which fall more under the Goddess's purview), he sometimes has to get special permission before he can act or ask Altra to ask in his name. This comes up particularly in ''Storm Breaking''. This is also why Florian does not Choose him, despite being his Companion in all but name.
* NiceGuy: He is ridiculously nice, partly because he's a priest, partly because it's just how he is.
* NobleBigot: Karal was raised in Karsite propaganda and because of this suffers from major prejudices against non-Karsite peoples (especially Heralds and Companions), religions and magic. Most of his CharacterDevelopment has him confront and overcome those prejudices.
* NonActionGuy: He's in the thick of everything, but don't expect him to whip out a sword and start swinging. While he does get self-defense training, it's all of the 'Keep yourself alive until you get an opportunity to run away' nature. Even his mage talent is entirely passive, letting him funnel massive amounts of energy but not letting him ''use'' any of it.
* PuppyDogEyes: Referred to in story as "Karal's Lost Puppy Eyes", and used on Florian at least once.
* TheTeamNormal: In the third book, he's the least exceptional member of the group -- and he knows it. Silverfox praises him for how well he's coping with a situation so far over his head and calls him an example to them all.
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: "Channels" had never been mentioned in magecraft before his appearance (possibly justified since magic in Valdemar had just been rediscovered), but his ability is critical at the climax of all three books.
* TwoGuysAndAGirl: With Natoli and An'desha.

!Altra
A Firecat and hence the Karsite equivalent of a Companion, Altra was a Son of the Sun during his life and, at the order of Vkandis, was assigned to protect and guide Karal.
* BondCreature: With Karal. After Karal becomes blind, he uses his mindlink with Altra to see.
* CatsAreMagic: Is a Master level mage, so is one step beneath Adept in power.
* CatsAreSuperior: Though in this case, since Altra was previously a Son of the Sun, he does technically outrank Karal by quite a margin.
* ILetGwenStacyDie: When Tremaine triggers his assassin, Altra is not ''quite'' fast enough to save everyone, and has to focus on protecting Karal because he has divine knowledge that Karal's abilities will be needed. As a result, he blames himself for Ulrich's death.
* IntellectualAnimal: Justified in that, like the Companions, he is a reincarnated former human.
* NoodleIncident: Upon learning Altra's name, Karal thinks "Wasn't that the name of the Son of the Sun who--?" It is never revealed what Son of the Sun Altra did that was so significant.
* PlayingWithFire: Unsurprisingly for a divine servant of a sun god, Altra can create and control fire. Especially in defense of his charge, Karal. Getting into a fight with a Firecat is even more dangerous than doing so with a Companion.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: He helps Karal go behind Solaris' back to ally with someone who they know is good but who she personally hates.
* {{Telepathy}}: Unlike the Companions, Altra is quite open about being able to mindspeak with whoever he wants to. He can also enable Karal to see through his eyes.
* {{Teleportation}}: Altra can teleport himself as well as passengers, although he does have range and load limitations.

!Companion Florian
* CoolHorse: Like all Companions (don't say the 'horse' part too loudly, though).
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Even before the [[spoiler:revelation that the Companions (except for the Grove-Born) are reincarnated Heralds]], Florian hints the legendary wisdom of the Companions 'depends on how many times you've been around'.
* GenkiGuy: Florian is always friendly, upbeat and curious as a foil to the more solemn Karal and An'desha.
* HeroicSacrifice: Burns himself out protecting Karal from the same fate in the last book.
* IntellectualAnimal
* NiceGuy: Is one of the more sweet tempered and friendly Companions in the series.
* SpiritAdvisor: Florian is notable among Companions in that he is the only one in the series whose advice is not tendered to his [[BondCreature Chosen]] Herald, but instead a non-Herald he is "assigned" to. InUniverse this is justified by the unique situation Karal is in; basically, the Companions decided that Karal was in dire need of an advisor who could tell him all the fine details of the political situation in Valdemar, not to mention keep him from accidentally starting any trouble due to cultural details no one had time to tell him about yet [[note]]things like 'don't mention sheep to Lord So-and-So; his greatest 'rival' made a fortune with them, partly because of that ridiculous rumour', or even 'Selenay's first husband tried to assassinate her, don't make any comments about troubled Royal marriages!' [[/note]]. The only being who could do this, and be ''trusted'' to do this (both to keep them from being accused of treachery, and from actually committing that) was a Companion. Florian was partly selected, partly volunteered from among the non-bonded Companions.

!Ulrich
The first Karsite ambassador and a (formerly) black-robed Sun-Priest, and the mentor to Karal.
* {{Ambadassador}}: Ulrich is a very self-confident and unflappable individual, not least due to the fact that he is a powerful mage whose former job involved summoning and commanding demons. It is notable that he is assassinated through the use of magical weapons concealed in his quarters, rather than by an assassin that braved confronting him face-to-face.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Ulrich is a high ranked Black Robed Sun-Priest meaning that he used to summon demons and execute "witches" though he likely tried to avoid doing so as much as he could. Ulrich occasionally makes oblique references to things he did in the past.
* LaserGuidedKarma: The man who ordered Ulrich's assassination is like a younger version of Ulrich himself; a fundamentally good man driven to doing terrible things because he sees no other option (and because the society he was born into conditioned him to see threats where there were none).
* MentorArchetype: Ulrich is this to Karal. Although he is an ambassador and Karal is just his scribe and assistant, much of Ulrich's relationship with Karal is that of a wise elder teaching a student.
* MentorOccupationalHazard: He is killed in a magical assassination. Altra is very upset because he could not protect both Karal and Ulrich.

!Natoli
* GenkiGirl: Despite her youth, Natoli is a sort of stand-on-a-table-and-rally-the-troops figure among the artificers. She is extremely enthusiastic about not only her own work but about invention in general.
* MuggleBornOfMages: Her father is a Herald, but she herself does not have any Gifts. This does get noted by other characters. It is a point of pride for her that she still does important work, even if she is not a Herald.
* ScienceHero: When Karal realizes that there's a pattern to the change-circles, he brings it to Natoli and the rest of the artificers, whose mathematical models end up saving the day in the first two books of the trilogy. Natoli herself is responsible for calculations regarding the magical breakwaters in the second.
* TwoGuysAndAGirl: With Karal and An'desha.
* WrenchWench: Natoli is committed to the goal of inventing steam-powered engines.

!Grand Duke Tremaine
* HundredPercentAdorationRating:
** As one general jealously notes, Tremaine is one of the most popular commanders in the Empire to the point that even agents in the employ of his enemies all defect over to him. This eventually extends to Shonar and all of Hardorn who unofficially adopt him as a liege lord and willingly offer the crown.
** This is revealed to be true of the Imperial Court as well where only a handful of people disliked him. His popularity was such that he still had supporters even after he lost the favor of the Emperor and was made an UnPerson.
* AFatherToHisMen: Cares deeply about the troops under his command. He risks execution for ''treason'' to make sure they have supplies.
* AntiVillain: Skeptical and ruthlessly pragmatic, but he's no worse than NobleDemon in many respects.
* BadassBureaucrat: Tremaine's military skill in huge part due to his [[BoringButPractical bureaucratic and logistical skills]]. Most of his chapters deal with feeding, paying and keeping up the morale of his soldiers and later Shonar and Hardorn.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Multiple times Tremaine offhandedly wishes that mages powers would work - in particular the ability to scry enemies as well as his own land. This gives Elspeth and Darkwind an opening to suggest activating his latent Earth-sense.
* BornLucky: Subverted. Tremaine's allies and rivals jealously note that Tremaine has an ability to pull victory out of defeat that is unnaturally lucky. Tremaine is bemused and the story shows that has less to do with luck and more to do with Tremaine being detail oriented, [[CrazyPrepared over prepared]] and a little bit lucky (with the good sense to fully capitalize on any small luck).
* CannotTellALie: Inflicted by Solaris. Had he not already burned his bridges at that point, this would have stripped him of any ability to function as a noble in the Eastern Empire.
* CrazyPrepared: The upside of his paranoia. For example, he has all the materials on hand to forge imperial documents; he never expected to need them, but since he had an opportunity to take them and a safe place to hide them...
* CulturedBadass: He finds calligraphy very soothing.
* FisherKing: In order to take Hardorn's crown. Hilariously, he underestimates exactly what he's agreeing to until it's happened.
* FlatEarthAtheist: Tremaine pays lip service to the Eastern state religion (the Hundred Little Gods) but relies mostly on [[SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic logical scientific magic]] of the Empire. He refuses to acknowledge the existence of other powers outside of that system. This bites him hard when his Earth-sense is awakened: he had figured the binding ritual would just be for show and is ''not'' prepared for his new Gift.
* FriendToAllChildren: Personally leads search parties, in the middle of blizzards, to rescue Hardorn children. Tremaine will consider the plight of children when making his decisions.
* {{Foil}}:
** His situation reminds other characters of how Duke Valdemar founded his eponymous kingdom, long ago.
** Tremaine's approach to magic is a foil to Firesong. Firesong views magic solely as an intuitive art and resists any attempts to convince him otherwise which bites him hard when he encounters an unprecedented magical phenomenon (the Mage Storms) that he's never seen and can't intuit. Tremaine views magic solely as a logical science and resists any attempts to convince him otherwise which bites him hard when he encounters a new magical phenomenon (his earth-sense) that can't be logically analyzed. Lampshaded by Darkwind and Elspeth.
* TheGoodKing: Especially compared to Ancar.
* ImproperlyParanoid: Tremaine's FatalFlaw is that he's TheParanoiac. He considers all possible motives for his friends and enemies actions and acts on the worst and most negative interpretation of their behavior. This makes it hard for him to trust people and leads to him preemptively burning bridges. His assassination of Ulrich almost deprived him of necessary and useful allies in the Alliance.
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: Tremaine defects from the Empire once it becomes clear that the Emperor has abandoned him and his troops.
* NobleDemon: At first. He arrives to complete the invasion of Hardorn, but he doesn't abuse his position. When he's cut off from the Empire, the town that he and his men hold accepts him as the local government because protects them and enforces fair laws.
* OfferedTheCrown: Of Hardorn.
* PersonalityPowers: He has very strong latent Earth-sense, a Gift which assesses the wielder's surroundings and connects them with the people living there. He's pretty much been doing a non-magical version of that ever since he was introduced.
* ShadowArchetype: Baron Melles, his rival for the Imperial throne and who is a more ruthless version of Tremaine. Melles represents who Tremaine could have become had he remained in the Eastern Empire
* ShootTheDog: He orders the assassinations of several key members of the new alliance in Valdemar, thinking they are sending the Mage Storms as an act of terrorism. He's dismayed and regretful when he realizes his mistake.
* TheStoic: As befits a courtier of the Empire, he shows little emotion or vulnerability. The army is a machine, and it's his job to keep the machine running well.
* StrategyVersusTactics: Tremaine represents a near perfect blend of short term tactics, long term military strategy, civilian governance and (implied) court politics. He can fight short term battles and leads his army effectively enough that his troops adore him. He's also heavily focused in mundane logistics and how to most effectively use the supplies and troops under him command. Finally, he both knows how to establish himself as a leader and later King. Tremaine could have taken Hardorn easily had he not been placed in an unwinnable situation. There's a reason why he was the favorite to be Heir to the Empire.
* {{Unperson}}: Charliss strikes him from the Empire's records and removes his name once news of his defection reaches the Empire.
* TheWomenAreSafeWithUs: He approves of his Empire's anti-rape laws and copies them in his new kingdom. More innocuously, he cares about preventing intercultural misunderstandings between his soldiers and civilian women.
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: Karal is astonished to note that the leader of the Imperial Forces and the man who ordered Ulrich's assassination looks like an unassuming bureaucrat.
* TookALevelInKindness: Temaine is notably friendlier and more open after being crowned. It's implied that he's become less paranoid and cynical, allowing his natural good nature to take over.
* VetinariJobSecurity: He isn't executed for Ulrich's murder because he doesn't have a clear successor that could keep the Empire's army and the town of Shonar united. If he goes, so does the hierarchy keeping Shonar from collapsing into poverty (again). Even the leaders of Shonar come to recognize this.

!Silverfox kena Leshya'nay/K'Leshya
* RapunzelHair: Has long black hair that reaches to his knees
* CampGay: Not as blatant as Firesong, but he does not hide it.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: He is very pretty...
* HappilyMarried: Basically this with Firesong by the time the Owl Trilogy occurs
* TheHeart: His job description. He does a lot of little things to keep the group at Urtho's tower calm and focused, plus he is the one who brings Firesong down from near-insanity when the Mage Storms weaken his psyche.
* HighClassCallGirl: Sort of. He's a kestra'chern, a traditional Kaled'a'in profession that combines Healer, counselor, mediator, and entertainer. He can and will bed someone if it will help restore harmony in the group, but he is ''not'' regarded as a prostitute.
* ThereAreNoTherapists: As a kestra'chern he's just about the closest the setting has to being one. Silverfox is instrumental in talking Firesong down from his jealous frenzy in ''Storm Rising'' and realizing its cause, and helps keep him more balanced and centered afterwards.

!Baron Melles
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Doesn't understand how soldiers and generals have qualms about killing kids when they're paid to kill men.
* HobbesWasRight: Rules through a combination of iron-fisted fear and manipulation. Surprisingly, it works and Melles establishes order in a rapidly deteriorating empire
* TheKingslayer: Kills Charliss, mostly because by that point he'd become too much of a liability.
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Melles is this to the Charliss. Melles might be a ruthless but he's still pragmatic and reasonable. The mage storms have eroded the Charliss' sanity to the point that he's no longer rational and is motivated only by rage, fear and vengeance.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Melles killing Charliss stops him from casting a spell that would have augmented the Mage Storms and destroyed Valdemar, Hardorn and the Empire.
* ProfessionalKiller: Was the emperor's personal assassin and Melles still occasionally uses this skillset
* PragmaticVillainy: Melles is a sociopath restrained by his practicality and pragmatism. He might be evil but he's not stupid and it's how he's still alive.
* RevengeBeforeReason: Averted. Melles gives up sending an assassin after Tremaine, reasoning that it is a waste of valuable resources
* TheRival: To Tremaine. They hated each other since their youth when Tremaine cost Melles a career in the army.
** UnknownRival: Tremaine doesn't think about Melles once in two books while Charliss and Melles assume they're hated rivals.
* SanityHasAdvantages: Eventually, everyone silently agrees that Melles is a more effective ruler than the insane Charliss.
* ShadowArchetype: Baron Melles is this for Tremaine. Tremaine is a Grand Duke with a substantial duchy, a career military officer and a master level mage. Baron Melles is a landless noble, an assassin and an Adept level mage. Both are AntiVillain but different flavors of the type. Tremaine is fundamentally a good man driven to doing terrible things in the name of practicality and pragmatism. Baron Melles is a sociopath ''restrained'' by his practicality and pragmatism. Both are also effective leaders, guiding respectively Hardorn and The Empire through the storms. In short, Melles is who Tremaine could have become if he stayed in the Empire.

* ClingyMacGuffin: Once Need chooses a bearer, she's magically bonded to them until it's time to pass on to the next wielder. She can be left in another room without trouble, and it seems the restriction was eased for an elderly Kethry who kept her on a wall for years without issue, but when Kerowyn kept her on a pack horse that was then swept away by a landslide, the sudden distance caused a great deal of pain.

* CursedItem: Need is a powerful ancient ClingyMacGuffin with nasty side-effects that hinder the bearer to the point of almost getting them killed. She leans on the helpful side but may average out to this trope. When she appears in ''Storm Breaking'', Firesong is glad to see her and benefit from her expertise but rather dismayed to find out he's her bearer.

* JerkassFacade: When she meets Darkwind she's grousing about being handed over and told to heal him, but within two seconds she's realized that he's been suffering a lot of heartache and speaking kindly to him. Again when she meets An'desha, who she's more reluctant to warm to but who also ''instantly'' clocks that despite her talk of not pitying him she is sympathetic to his plight.

* ShipperOnDeck: She is markedly less enthusiastic about people pairing off than some of the other characters. When Elspeth is having to deal with an unwanted BodyguardCrush from Skif, Need's the only sympathetic party. But she also wants her bearers to be happy, and if that means getting together with someone they like who is good than she's very much in favor.

* {{Asexuality}}: Her religion requires her to be chaste but she's very much this. It's unclear whether she's naturally asexual or whether Vkandis rendered her asexual like Kal'enel does with her Swordsworn.

* MixedAncestry: Half Shin'a'in, half outblood.

* UltimateBlacksmith: Need would claim she was merely very good and there was no great secret to the swords she made - one only needed to be very patient and willing to spend more time and energy on each blade. That said, by the time of any of the books those techniques have been lost, and the blade she imprisoned herself inside of has lasted for thousands of years.

* HighClassCallGirl: Sort of. He's a kestra'chern, a traditional Kaled'a'in profession that combines Healer, counselor, mediator, and entertainer. He can and will bed someone if it will help restore harmony in the group, but he is ''not'' a prostitute.

* TheDogBitesBack: Morenelithe Falconsbane ''did not see it coming''. ''Both'' times - first he didn't think it possible Nyara would lift a hand against him. The second time he assumed that she would try to run away as far as possible from him.

* BadBoss: He will kill his underlings for their magical power, to relieve his temper, because ''they're there''...

* EmperorScientist: In his original incarnation he had the power and knowledge to create creatures like the ''makaar''. He's often noted to be unable to create anything original so much as warping and copying others' work, so it's possible makaar are descended from gryphons. Regardless, the world changed at the end of the Mage Wars, and Ma'ar never regained the old heights of his power.

* FantasticRacism: Humans, to him, are worth more than any mage-crafted race, which ought to exist only to serve.
* FullFrontalAssault: Goes nude unless weather prevents it.

* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning: He uses the death of his body to fling his soul into a pocket dimension, where it waits to inflict GrandTheftMe on one of his descendants.

* OutsideContextProblem: ''None'' of his bodyjacked descendants knew what was coming. Valdemar had no countermeasures for his type of military strategy.

* StupidEvil: He wavers around between villainous pragmatism and his own sadism and temper, which are his undoing at various points. An'desha, who benefitted from Falconsbane being at odds with Ancar, had to intervene to keep him from deciding to cooperate with his captor for longer.
** As Ma'ar, the moment he realizes that Skandranon has brought a kind of bomb to lay at his feet he shouts MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning and kills himself - if he had made a Gate and got out of there instead, the setting would be very different and far worse.

* VillainDecay: In-universe example. The method he uses to [[spoiler:cheat death]] causes his mind to deteriorate, making him slowly but increasingly less competent from one incarnation to the next, and then Falconsbane received a case of brain damage on top of that. He himself is not unaware of this, and somewhat dourly notes that he does not equal his previous incarnations, especially Ma'ar and Leareth, but he does drastically underestimate just ''how much'' he's deteriorated in his last appearance. In fact, the Star-Eyed Goddess all but says outright that it is only the VillainDecay that has finally weakened him to the point that he can be permanently destroyed.

* PowerLevels: He's an Adept. A Sorcerer-Adept like Urtho and Ma'ar, which presumably means he can create life or something.

Two victims of Falconsbane who the Star-Eyed allowed to live on as her Avatars, able to appear on the Moonpaths and to take the shape of fiery vorcel-hawks. Dawnfire used to be a Tayledras scout and Tre'valen was a shaman of the Shin'a'in who fell in love with Dawnfire after she was trapped within the body of her bondbird.

* HeroicSacrifice: Downplayed. They burn out their physical link to the world in the Final Storm, but they continue to exist on the Goddess' plane, where An'desha or any other shaman can come visit them.

* CoolSword: Unbreakable, never rusts or loses her edge, and can bestow incredible defenses to her bearers - and this is just while she's asleep. As a living human, she thought it was absurd that the swords she made got decorated with precious metals and gems and resold for much higher prices - when she made them, including the one she sealed herself into, they were plain. [[CoversAlwasyLie Even if all of the official art]] of Need gives her an elaborate hilt.

* AntiMagic: In the hands of a non-mage, Need provides a considerable degree of protection against magic. As shown in ''The Oathbound'', this effect is potent enough to undo the magic of a demon on the threshold of godhood. In ''By the Sword,'' Quentin magically "convinces" Need to extend some of her protection against magic not just to Kerowyn but to the rest of the Skybolts as well.

* CoolSword: Unbreakable, never rusts or loses her edge, and can bestow incredible defenses to her bearers - and this is just while she's asleep.

* DeadpanSnarker: She's noted to have a ''very'' dry wit, and will use it with impunity including on her self, much to the detriment of everyone around her.

* IAmSong / IAmGreatSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_TwJuIT6uw Need]], a filk the author wrote about and for her.

A magical sword that has been around since before [[spoiler: the Mage Wars]], dedicated to helping and protecting women in need. The sword previously appeared in the ''Vows and Honor'' books and in ''By the Sword'', where she began to evidence more personality, but only in ''Mage Winds'' does she [[spoiler:regain full sentience, revealing that she was originally a priestess who sacrificed herself to bind her own spirit to an enchanted sword]].

* CoolOldLady: [[spoiler:She was at least middle-aged before she sealed herself into a sword, and has been in sword form a ''very'' long time.]]

* CursedItem: Need is a powerful ancient ClingyMacGuffin with nasty side-effects that hinder the bearer to the point of almost getting them killed. She leans on the helpful side but may average out to this trope
* DeadpanSnarker: [[spoiler:She's noted to have a ''very'' dry wit, and will use it with impunity including on her self, much to the detriment of everyone around her.]]

* EmpathicWeapon: [[spoiler:Even prior to fully reawakening]], Need has a will of her own, choosing her own wielders and magically compelling them to help women in distress. When Kerowyn takes her up in ''By the Sword,'' she spends quite a bit of time struggling with Need over just how much influence she's going to allow the sword to have over her, given that the sword's compulsion to save women in trouble lacks ''any'' sense of proportion or context.

* GenderRestrictedGear: Only women can use Need. It comes as quite a surprise to everyone when Firesong is able to make use of her power in ''The Mage Storms'', explained as Firesong being [[InTouchWithHisFeminineSide "balanced" between masculine and feminine]]. Kethry, surprised when Need protects a different androgynous Hawkbrother, speculates that sometimes the sword can't tell and decides to play it safe.
* GodGuise: [[spoiler: Repeatedly meets An'desha on the Moonpaths while in the company of the Star-Eyed Goddess's Avatars and gives him the same kinds of advice and regard the Star-Eyed likely would, leading An'desha to suspect she is his goddess in her Crone aspect. At a climactic moment she asks him "Do you trust your Goddess?" in order to spur him to a greater effort. After she manages to save him, he realizes she's not the Star-Eyed and wails that she tricked him. Need rather smugly says she never claimed anything untrue.]]

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:In the first place, she killed herself so that she could guide and lend her abilities to her student and help her to rescue the abducted women of their order. At the end of the Mage Storms trilogy, she basically burns herself up to help the heroes prevent the Second Cataclysm.]]

* InstantExpert: In the hands of a non-warrior, Need lends strength and speed and makes her wielder a master swordsman, allowing SquishyWizard Kethry to fight like a MagicKnight.

* SoProudOfYou: Nyara comes a long way with her help.
* TalkingWeapon: [[spoiler:After she fully awakens in ''The Mage Winds''.]]
* TimeAbyss: Need is probably the oldest character in the setting, having outlived her order, her gods, and any recognizable features on a map. Even she doesn't know how old she is, experiencing total sensory deprivation when between bearers and therefore falling "asleep" for centuries. Elspeth, who's just spent some time searching fairly complete archives when she hears about Need's human life, has never heard of anything from it. Until Need stumbles across it in a memory she's showing Nyara, she's lost the memory of her own name and is mildly embarrassed about it.

* TricksterMentor: Awakened Need has shades of this, being willing to go quiet for a prolonged period to test Nyara's ability to fend for herself, or insulting Nyara's lover to test the girl's willingness to defend him against her.
* WeaponOfXSlaying: She may or may not be a demon-slaying blade. Tarma and Kethry aren't sure - she's certainly able to ''hurt'' Thalkarsh, but he's not killed by this.
* WeaponWieldsYou: Under extreme circumstances - such as being carried into battle against an EvilSorcerer by a bearer with no training in magic or combat - Need can and will hijack her bearer's body completely, as Kero discovers in the early chapters of ''By the Sword'', though she takes and relaxes this control repeatedly, showing Kero what to do and stepping in when the girl was over her head. She'll also do this if her bearer is incapacitated or if she's affected by an ill-luck charm, trying to escalate to killing in circumstances where Kero and Kethry really don't want to actually kill someone.

* DepravedBisexual: To him, his body is just another weapon to use on his foes; it was carefully crafted to [[EvilIsSexy exude raw sex appeal regardless of the viewer.]]

* EmperorScientist: Though he retains the knowledge, he currently lacks the power to create creatures like the ''makaar''.

* MeaningfulRename: Every one of his incarnations takes a new name, typically in Kaled'a'in as an insult to the race. "Leareth" translates to "Darkness", "Mornelithe" as "Hatred-that-returns", and Falconsbane... because he killed a Tayledras bondbird falcon that was trying to harm him, as well as a more general declaration of enmity towards the Tayledras and their bondbirds.
* MindRape: One of his favorite pastimes. He's gotten very good at it, and particularly likes combining pleasure and pain. This is noted to be both incredibly effective and incredibly difficult to break simply because doing nearly ''anything'' will feed into the mental programming he inflicted.

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: [[spoiler: As Ma'ar. His rise to power and hatred of the Kaled'a'in mirror Adolf Hitler]]

* PersonOfMassDestruction: How destructive? When Ma'ar died (explosively), all the magical power he and his nearby creations had were released in one catastrophic burst, leaving a giant crater that eventually became Lake Evendim. On the flipside, when the same thing happened to Urtho, ''his'' crater became the significantly larger Dhorisha Plains, showing which of the two ''really'' had more power...

* SorcerousOverlord: In every incarnation, he sets up his own private domain to rule over. Each one tends to be smaller than the last, which irks him to no end.

* ClingyMacGuffin: Once Need chooses a bearer, she's magically bonded to them until it's time to pass on to the next wielder.

* IncrediblyLamePun: Is both the giver and receiver of these at times, usually swordplay related or relating to "need" as a verb.

* TalkingWeapon: [[spoiler:After she fully awakens in ''The Mage Winds''.]]

A magical sword that has been around since before [[spoiler: the Mage Wars]], dedicated to helping and protecting women in need. The sword previously appeared in the ''Vows and Honor'' books and in ''By the Sword'', but only in ''Mage Winds'' does she [[spoiler:regain full sentience, revealing that she was originally a priestess who sacrificed herself to bind her own spirit to an enchanted sword]].

* CoolSword: Unbreakable, never loses her edge, and can bestow incredible defenses to her bearers - and this is just while she's asleep.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:She basically burns herself up to help the heroes prevent the Second Cataclysm.]]

* InstantExpert: In the hands of a non-warrior, Need makes her wielder a master swordsman, allowing SquishyWizard Kethry to fight like a MagicKnight.

* TimeAbyss: Need is probably the oldest character in the setting, having outlived her order and her gods. Even she doesn't know how old she is, tending to fall "asleep" for centuries and experiencing sensory deprivation when between bearers. Elspeth, who's just spent some time searching fairly complete archives, has no idea what either of them even are. Until she stumbles across it in a memory she's showing Nyara, she's lost the memory of her own name and is mildly embarassed about it.

* WeaponWieldsYou: Under extreme circumstances - such as being carried into battle against an EvilSorcerer by a bearer with no training in magic or combat - Need can and will hijack her bearer's body completely, as Kero discovers in the early chapters of ''By the Sword''. She'll also do this if her bearer is incapacitated or if she's affected by an ill-luck charm, trying to escalate to killing in circumstances where Kero and Kethry really don't want to actually kill someone.
* WouldntHitAGirl: Before coming to full sentience, Need would ''not'' allow her bearer to harm another woman. This nearly gets Kerowyn killed at least once. She also did this to Kethry and Tara, as well as [[PerpetualPoverty costing them quite a few paying jobs]] because Need would yank them off for 'her' jobs instead - in the short story 'A Woman's Weapon', it's ''both'' (although the woman they saved did pay them afterward).

* DeadpanSnarker: [[spoiler:She's noted to have a ''very'' dry wit, and will use it with impunity, much to the detriment of everyone around her.]]

* TimeAbyss: Need is probably the oldest character in the setting, having outlived her order and her gods. Even she doesn't know how old she is, tending to fall "asleep" for centuries and experiencing sensory deprivation when between bearers. Elspeth, who's just spent some time searching fairly complete archives, has no idea what either of them even are.

* WeaponWieldsYou: Under extreme circumstances - such as being carried into battle against an EvilSorcerer by a bearer with no training in magic or combat - Need can and will hijack her bearer's body completely, as Kero discovers in the early chapters of ''By the Sword''.

* CursedItem: Need is a powerful ancient ClingyMacGuffin with nasty side-effects that hinder the bearer to the point of almost getting them killed. She leans on the helpful side but still averages out to this trope

* GenderRestrictedGear: Only women can use Need. It comes as quite a surprise to everyone when Firesong is able to make use of her power in ''The Mage Storms'', explained as Firesong being [[InTouchWithHisFeminineSide "balanced" between masculine and feminine]].
* HealingShiv: Need has a healing effect as long as she's in contact with or close proximity to her bearer or any other injured woman.

* FriendToAllChildren: Personally leads search parties, in the middle of blizzards, to rescue Hardorn children. Occasionally, he will consider the plight of children when making his decisions.

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Melles is this to the Charliss. Melles might be a sociopath but he's still pragmatic and reasonable. The mage storms have eroded the Charliss' sanity to the point that he's no longer rational and is motivated only by rage, fear and vengeance.