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* HundredPercentAdorationRating: Even ''Candless'' is nice to him.
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Bald Of Awesome has been disambig'd and is no longer a trope
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* BaldOfAwesome: Due to growing up on a DeathWorld where there is very little water, Bury’s people modified their skin in order to survive, but as a result, he cannot grow any hair.
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* HeroicRROD: You think after two centuries of continued war and senseless killing, [[spoiler:losing the only woman he ever loved]], and everything he goes through in the series that the man’s mind won’t start to fall apart? Think again.
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* RealityEnsues: You think after two centuries of continued war and senseless killing, [[spoiler:losing the only woman he ever loved]], and everything he goes through in the series that the man’s mind won’t start to fall apart? Think again.
** After everything he did and costing/scarring the lives of dozens of people in the name of revenge, there was no way [[spoiler: [[UndyingLoyalty Candless or Ehta]]]] would ever want to have anything to do with Aleister Lanoe again.
** After everything he did and costing/scarring the lives of dozens of people in the name of revenge, there was no way [[spoiler: [[UndyingLoyalty Candless or Ehta]]]] would ever want to have anything to do with Aleister Lanoe again.
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* UndyingLoyalty: Averted. After everything he did and costing/scarring the lives of dozens of people in the name of revenge, there was no way [[spoiler: Candless or Ehta]] would ever want to have anything to do with Aleister Lanoe again.
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* [[AdorkAble Adorkable]]
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* LongLived / Really700YearsOld
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* Really700YearsOld
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removal of badass gay per badass cleanup thread
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* BadassGay: He's the go-to for any science/math problem on the ship outside of Valk and when they need something built, he'll get it done.
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Irrelevant.
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* [[FoIl Foil]]: To Zhang. Both women are former [[AcePilot Ace Pilots]] in a SpaceNavy, old friends of TheProtagonist, serve as TheLancer, and are probably the only ones that are able to talk to him as equals. However, Zhang has had an intimate and loving relationship with Lanoe, chides him with a cheekier tone, and often questions him openly. Candless has always had a professional relationship with Lanoe, chides him as one officer to another, and rarely questions his decisions (only when it becomes absolutely necessary and usually behind closed doors).
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* [[FoIl Foil]]: {{Foil}}: To Zhang. Both women are former [[AcePilot Ace Pilots]] in a SpaceNavy, old friends of TheProtagonist, the protagonist, serve as TheLancer, and are probably the only ones that are able to talk to him as equals. However, Zhang has had an intimate and loving relationship with Lanoe, chides him with a cheekier tone, and often questions him openly. Candless has always had a professional relationship with Lanoe, chides him as one officer to another, and rarely questions his decisions (only when it becomes absolutely necessary and usually behind closed doors).
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* AmbiguouslyGay: It’s heavily implied with his eccentricities, mannerisms, and Ship Tease with Hollander (another male engineer), but it’s never outright said that Paniet is gay.
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* AmbiguouslyGay: It’s heavily implied with his eccentricities, mannerisms, and Ship Tease ShipTease with Hollander (another male ''male'' engineer), but it’s never outright said that Paniet is gay.
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* [[spoiler: Ginger's IChooseToStay decision. Archie seemed to have a hard time separating his own thoughts and making decisions when there was just a few hundred choristers and even Ginger seemed to have a hard time with this at first. After being separated from The Choir for a while only to come back to millions of them, the reader can only imagine from her complete change in demeanor what's going on in her head, even as she describes it. For this, her decision to stay can come off a little less like she chose it and a little more like the choice was made for her]].
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* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler: Ginger's IChooseToStay decision. Archie seemed to have a hard time separating his own thoughts and making decisions when there was just a few hundred choristers and even Ginger seemed to have a hard time with this at first. After being separated from The Choir for a while only to come back to millions of them, the reader can only imagine from her complete change in demeanor what's going on in her head, even as she describes it. For this, her decision to stay can come off a little less like she chose it and a little more like the choice was made for her]].
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** In ''Forbidden Suns'', when Bullam is in need of medical attention, he comes to warn Lanoe of an impending mutiny if Lanoe’ll get him and Bullam out of the Blue-Blue-White’s home system. [[However, knowing Maggs, this could be him using Bullam's medical issue for sympathy.]]
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** In ''Forbidden Suns'', when Bullam is in need of medical attention, he comes to warn Lanoe of an impending mutiny if Lanoe’ll get him and Bullam out of the Blue-Blue-White’s home system. [[However, [[spoiler: However, knowing Maggs, this could be him using Bullam's medical issue for sympathy.]]
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** In ''Forbidden Suns'', when Bullam is in need of medical attention, he comes to warn Lanoe of an impending mutiny if Lanoe’ll get him and Bullam out of the Blue-Blue-White’s home system. [[However, knowing Maggs, this could be him using Bullam's medical issue for sympathy.]]
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** In ''Forbidden Suns'', when Bullam is in need of medical attention, he comes to warn Lanoe of an impending mutiny if Lanoe’ll get him and Bullam out of the Blue-Blue-White’s home system.
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* [[spoiler: [[TurnCoat Turncoat]]: Most notably in "Forgotten Worlds''. He finally has enough of Lanoe's abuse of him and switches sides to Centrocor. Up until that point, he has still been loyal to the Navy, if somewhat flexible with his loyalty, but this marks his complete transition]].
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* [[spoiler: [[TurnCoat Turncoat]]: Most notably in "Forgotten ''Forgotten Worlds''. He finally has enough of Lanoe's abuse of him and switches sides to Centrocor. Up until that point, he has still been loyal to the Navy, if somewhat flexible with his loyalty, but this marks his complete transition]].
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* EvenEvilHasStandards: Maggs thinks that the Lanoe’s HeWhoFightsMonsters tendencies, Shulkin’s Blood Knight tendencies, and everyone’s Undying Loyalty to a mission and a man that are clearly insane are too much.
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* EvenEvilHasStandards: Maggs thinks that the Lanoe’s HeWhoFightsMonsters tendencies, Shulkin’s Blood Knight BloodKnight tendencies, and everyone’s Undying Loyalty UndyingLoyalty to a mission and a man that are clearly insane are too much.
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* EvenEvilHasStandards: Maggs thinks that the Lanoe’s He Who Fights Monsters tendencies, Shulkin’s Blood Knight tendencies, and everyone’s Undying Loyalty to a mission and a man that are clearly insane are too much.
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* EvenEvilHasStandards: Maggs thinks that the Lanoe’s He Who Fights Monsters HeWhoFightsMonsters tendencies, Shulkin’s Blood Knight tendencies, and everyone’s Undying Loyalty to a mission and a man that are clearly insane are too much.
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* AmbiguousSituation – It can’t really be said whether it’s part of an Ambiguous Disorder or something else, but Maggs’ father’s voice is strangely conversational and self-aware for a voice in someone's head.
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* AmbiguousSituation – It can’t really be said whether it’s part of an Ambiguous Disorder AmbiguousDisorder or something else, but Maggs’ father’s voice is strangely conversational and self-aware for a voice in someone's head.
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[[foldercontrol]]
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** In Forgotten Worlds, when he decides to switch sides, he gives Bury several chances to change his mind.
** In Forbidden Suns, when Bullam is in need of medical attention, he comes to warn Lanoe of an impending mutiny if Lanoe’ll get him and Bullam out of the Blue-Blue-White’s home system.
** In Forbidden Suns, when Bullam is in need of medical attention, he comes to warn Lanoe of an impending mutiny if Lanoe’ll get him and Bullam out of the Blue-Blue-White’s home system.
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** In Forgotten Worlds, ''Forgotten Worlds'', when he decides to switch sides, he gives Bury several chances to change his mind.
** InForbidden Suns, ''Forbidden Suns'', when Bullam is in need of medical attention, he comes to warn Lanoe of an impending mutiny if Lanoe’ll get him and Bullam out of the Blue-Blue-White’s home system.
** In
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* BorrowedCatchphrase: He borrows Centrocor's "We're all in this together" [[spoiler: after he switches sides]].
* CoolStarship: His Z.XIX cataphract.
* DidntSeeThatComing: Considering his evolving ButtMonkey status over the course of the series, he's got a few moments of these, which lead to quite a few OhCrap moments as well:
** In ''Forgotten Worlds'', Lanoe [[spoiler: throwing him in the brig is one]].
** In ''Forbidden Suns'', [[spoiler: when Ehta reveals she knew he was planning a mutiny and then again when Lanoe reveals he ''really did'' come here without the intention of returning home]].
** In ''Forgotten Worlds'', Lanoe [[spoiler: throwing him in the brig is one]].
** In ''Forbidden Suns'', [[spoiler: when Ehta reveals she knew he was planning a mutiny and then again when Lanoe reveals he ''really did'' come here without the intention of returning home]].
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* Fatal Flaw
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* Fatal FlawFatalFlaw: His vanity, more than anything.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Let's see, where to start? [[spoiler: He tries conning Elder Mc Rae and Roan out of the little money their colony has to offer, then reluctantly joins Lanoe's forces to stop an invading force, only to flee for his life when Lanoe finds out he's conning the people of Niraya again, only to come back to with the help of an admiral's fleet. And that's just in the first book]].
** In ''Forgotten Worlds'', he [[spoiler:he saves Lanoe at the behest of Admiral Varma, only to be kidnapped and thrown in the brig by Lanoe, where he's perfectly ripe to betray Lanoe and the Hopilite crew, but instead warns them that an attack is imminent by the enemy, spends the rest of the time reluctantly help the crew, only to have had enough abuse from Lanoe that he becomes a [[TurnCoat Turncoat]] and joins the enemy side]].
** In ''Forbidden Suns'', [[spoiler:he plans a mutiny behind Captain Shulkin's back, only at the last second to help him surrender to Lanoe's BoardingParty, then fully joins Lanoe's crew again, only to plan a second mutiny (this time against Lanoe), only for that to fail spectacularly]].
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Let's see, where to start? [[spoiler: He tries conning Elder Mc Rae and Roan out of the little money their colony has to offer, then reluctantly joins Lanoe's forces to stop an invading force, only to flee for his life when Lanoe finds out he's conning the people of Niraya again, only to come back to with the help of an admiral's fleet. And that's just in the first book]].
** In ''Forgotten Worlds'', he [[spoiler:he saves Lanoe at the behest of Admiral Varma, only to be kidnapped and thrown in the brig by Lanoe, where he's perfectly ripe to betray Lanoe and the Hopilite crew, but instead warns them that an attack is imminent by the enemy, spends the rest of the time reluctantly help the crew, only to have had enough abuse from Lanoe that he becomes a [[TurnCoat Turncoat]] and joins the enemy side]].
** In ''Forbidden Suns'', [[spoiler:he plans a mutiny behind Captain Shulkin's back, only at the last second to help him surrender to Lanoe's BoardingParty, then fully joins Lanoe's crew again, only to plan a second mutiny (this time against Lanoe), only for that to fail spectacularly]].
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* PlayingBothSides
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* [[spoiler: [[TurnCoat Turncoat]]: Most notably in "Forgotten Worlds''. He finally has enough of Lanoe's abuse of him and switches sides to Centrocor. Up until that point, he has still been loyal to the Navy, if somewhat flexible with his loyalty, but this marks his complete transition]].
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* DesperatelyLookingForAPurpose: After finding he was RaisedAsAHost, Thom displays all the tell-tale signs of someone who doesn't know what to do with their life.
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* DesperatelyLookingForAPurpose: DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: After finding he was RaisedAsAHost, Thom displays all the tell-tale signs of someone who doesn't know what to do with their life.
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** Her decision to [[spoiler: stay behind and help with the Choir is reminiscent of Thom's decision to stay behind and help the people of Niraya]].
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* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife
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* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife[[spoiler: Ginger's IChooseToStay decision. Archie seemed to have a hard time separating his own thoughts and making decisions when there was just a few hundred choristers and even Ginger seemed to have a hard time with this at first. After being separated from The Choir for a while only to come back to millions of them, the reader can only imagine from her complete change in demeanor what's going on in her head, even as she describes it. For this, her decision to stay can come off a little less like she chose it and a little more like the choice was made for her]].
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: When we first meet Ginger, we're told she's going to be washing out of the Navy's pilot program and probably'll end up becoming a [[DeskJockey staff officer]]. She later tells Bury that she was relieved at this fact because she never wanted to be a pilot in the first place and that's just what was expected of her. But as she's constantly thrown into situations where a pilot is needed, she's forced to consider what she even wants.
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: When we first meet Ginger, we're told she's going to be washing out of the Navy's pilot program and probably'll end up becoming a [[DeskJockey staff officer]]. She later tells Bury that she was relieved at this fact because she never wanted to be a pilot in the first place and that's just what was expected of her. But as she's constantly thrown into situations where a pilot is needed, she's forced to consider what she even wants.
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* [[spoiler: IChooseToStay: Ginger chooses to stay on the Choir Homeworld in order to facilitate peaceful communicaitons between The Choir and humanity]].
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* MilitaryBrat
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* [[spoiler: TheseHandsHaveKilled: Ginger kills one of Centrocor's pilots in the wormhole skirmish and she does not take it well]].
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* InnocentProdigy
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* InnocentProdigy
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* Expy: She's naive, puts the [[TheNeedsOfTheMany needs of others before her own]], and is constantly [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife trying to figure out what she really wants]] in life. Sounds like another young woman from ''Forsaken Skies''.
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* Expy: [[ExPy Expy]]: She's naive, puts the [[TheNeedsOfTheMany needs of others before her own]], and is constantly [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife trying to figure out what she really wants]] in life. Sounds like another young woman from ''Forsaken Skies''.
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* DesperatelyLookingForAPurpose
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* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeDesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife
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* AgentPeacock: His devotion to his appearance (he asks Bury for toiletries so he clean up his face, his willowy body (Lanoe is described as having a HeroicBuild and Valk is TheBigGuy), his vanity (which he doesn't even try to hide), and his [[ConsummateLiar defining skill]] [[TheTrickster being deception]] when he's surrounded by a noble warrior culture like the Navy do tend to paint him in this way. Maggs is also a ManipulativeBastard and desires to play the role of TheChessmaster who outsmarts almost everyone around him, the exception being people who are exceptionally LongLived, ProperlyParanoid, AxCrazy, or are a ManipulativeBastard themselves. However, he seems to find himself surrounded by these characters a lot, so he's never illustrated as the CardCarryingVillain he probably could be.
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* AgentPeacock: His devotion to his appearance (he asks Bury for toiletries so he clean up his face, (it's literally the first thing you find out about him), his willowy body (Lanoe is described as having a HeroicBuild and Valk is TheBigGuy), his vanity (which he doesn't even try to hide), and his [[ConsummateLiar defining skill]] [[TheTrickster being deception]] when he's surrounded by a noble warrior culture like the Navy do tend to paint him in this way. Maggs is also a ManipulativeBastard and desires to play the role of TheChessmaster who outsmarts almost everyone around him, the exception being people who are exceptionally LongLived, ProperlyParanoid, AxCrazy, or are a ManipulativeBastard themselves. However, he seems to find himself surrounded by these characters a lot, so he's never illustrated as the CardCarryingVillain he probably could be.
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* ShellShockedVeteran: Is very much written like one. This is less the case in the following sequels.
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* CountryMouse: Roan can't help but marvel at everything Vairside on The Hexus [[spoiler:and be completely surprised that Maggs would con the people of Niraya out of what little money they have]].
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* Expy: She's naive, puts the [[TheNeedsOfTheMany needs of others before her own]], and is constantly [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife trying to figure out what she really wants]] in life. Sounds like another young woman from ''Forsaken Skies''.
** [[FoIl Foil]]: That being said, Roan was a CountryMouse and Ginger is a MilitaryBrat.
** [[FoIl Foil]]: That being said, Roan was a CountryMouse and Ginger is a MilitaryBrat.
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** Despite the fact that he's obviously doing it for person reasons, he's right in the fact that [[spoiler: even the if it was a case of AccidentalMurder on a cosmic scale, the Blue-Blue-White are still responsible for the destruction of countless civilizations and need to be held accountable]].
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** Despite the fact that he's obviously doing it for person personal reasons, he's right in the fact that [[spoiler: even the if it was a case of AccidentalMurder on a cosmic scale, the Blue-Blue-White are still responsible for the destruction of countless civilizations and need to be held accountable]].
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* AcePilot: In the Establishment Crisis, he also received a Blue Star medal (meaning five confirmed kills as a pilot), even if the Navy ended up taking it away once his side lost.
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* AcePilot: In the Establishment Crisis, he also received a Blue Star medal (meaning five confirmed kills as a pilot), even if the Navy ended up taking it away once his side lost. Plus, he can claim something only a literal handful in the galaxy can claim: he survived Aleister Lanoe. Though he claims it was pure luck: he had more fuel than Lanoe did.
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* NomDeGuerre: The Blue Devil.
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* WorthyOpponent: Lanoe shares a bit of camaraderie with the pilot based on the memory of trying to kill him and failing.
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!Introduced in ''Forsaken Skies''.
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!Introduced in ''Forsaken Skies''.
Skies''
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!Introduced in ''Forgotten Worlds''.
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!Introduced in ''Forgotten Worlds''.
Worlds''
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Introduced in ''Forsaken Skies''.
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Introduced in ''Forgotten Worlds''.
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[[Characters/TheSilenceTrilogy The Silence Trilogy Character Index]] > Main Characters
Introduced in ''Forsaken Skies''.
[[folder:Commander Aleister Lanoe]]
A [[LongLived 300-year-old]] SpaceFighter AcePilot who galactically renowned for his career and is the protagonist of the series.
* AcePilot: The best in the series, as described by other characters.
-->'''Valk:''' An ace of aces.
* AntiHero
* BlatantLies: No one believes him when he tells them that his mission to [[spoiler: to "bring justice" to the Blue-Blue-White on behalf of all the species that their drones accidentally annihilated because everyone knows it's about getting vengeance for Zhang's death]].
* [[spoiler:BloodKnight]]: Definitely starts reaching this territory in ''Forbidden Suns''.
* BringThemAround: Lanoe tries, succeeds, and fails at this multiple times with his crew throughout ''Forgotten Worlds'' and ''Forbidden Suns''.
* CatchPhrase: "Hellfire". He definitely says it way more than anyone else in the series.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: Oh, do they weigh heavily on Lanoe, more and more with each book.
* CharacterDevelopment: [[spoiler: And not the good kind. Over the course of the series, Lanoe goes from being someone who takes a lost kid under his wing and defends an isolated, forgotten colony from space invaders to sacrificing the lives and sanity of his crew and the continuity of the ''whole fucking universe'' so that he can succeed in his RoaringRampageOfRevenge]].
* CrazyPrepared
* TheDeterminator: No matter what, no one but Lanoe himself will stop him in his mission.
* EasilyForgiven: [[spoiler: ''Defied''. After everything he did in ''Forgotten Worlds'' and ''Forbidden Suns'', some of his most trusted allies want nothing to do with him by the end of the trilogy]].
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The first chapter does a pretty good job of setting up every facet of Lanoe’s characer for the rest of the series:
** He manages to outrun a clearly better designed ship driven by a desperate hot-shot racer using cunning and every tool at his disposal, despite it skirting standard safety practice.
** Later in the chapter he’s told that the pilot’s dangerous driving threatens the life of people on a cargo freighter. Within seconds of realizing that meant more than one person’s life was being threatened and admitting to himself the pilot was a murderer, he strengthens his resolve to make the more nominal decision.
* FatalFlaw: Lanoe's long life-span filled with war and military training has left him unable to properly process his own emotions and show empathy towards fellow human beings when needed (as with most military characters in fiction and RealLife). This leads him to make some catastrophic mistakes that create even worse situations for him and his crew.
* [[spoiler: GeneralRipper: He definitely has shades of this long before he comes real close to becoming one]].
* GuileHero
* [[spoiler:HeWhoFightsMonsters]]
* HeroesPreferRedheads: Zigzagged. Zhang didn’t originally have red hair, but it’s the most notable thing about her when Lanoe sees her again after so long.
* InsistentTerminology: He keeps telling people he wants "justice" when everyone believes he means "vengeance".
* JerkassHasAPoint: This seems to be him most of the time.
** Despite the fact that he's obviously doing it for person reasons, he's right in the fact that [[spoiler: even the if it was a case of AccidentalMurder on a cosmic scale, the Blue-Blue-White are still responsible for the destruction of countless civilizations and need to be held accountable]].
* LongLived / Really700YearsOld: Thanks to improvements in the field of medicine, human beings live much longer than their average lifespan. Lanoe is 300 years old, though it is implied there aren’t many who live this long in general.
* [[spoiler:MoralDecay]]
* NervesOfSteel
* [[spoiler: OmnicidalManiac: while that isn't his intention, Paniet hypothesizes that if he succeeds in re-writing history, he could cause a RealityBreakingParadox that would result in a universal CessationOfExistence]].
* RealityEnsues: You think after two centuries of continued war and senseless killing, [[spoiler:losing the only woman he ever loved]], and everything he goes through in the series that the man’s mind won’t start to fall apart? Think again.
** After everything he did and costing/scarring the lives of dozens of people in the name of revenge, there was no way [[spoiler: [[UndyingLoyalty Candless or Ehta]]]] would ever want to have anything to do with Aleister Lanoe again.
* [[spoiler: RoaringRampageOfRevenge: One that sacrifices the three CoolStarships, dozens of space fighters, many of his crew, the sanity of several of them, and almost causes a RealityBreakingParadox / TimeCrash scenario. And ''damn'' does he come close to succeeding, too]].
* [[spoiler:SanitySlippage: In ''Forgotten Worlds'', he starts having dreams of Zhang trying to tell him something. He begins to hallucinate and see her while conscious halfway through the book]].
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: His general demeanor when backed into a corner. Though, sometimes...
** ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: He veers into this territory in ''Forbidden Suns''.
* TheStoic: Even in his worst moments, Lanoe knows how to put on a face of stone.
* TimeAbyss: Lanoe's age of 300 years is constantly thrown around (it's in the summary of ''Forsaken Skies'', after all) and he's lived most of that life fighting. It can be easy for the reader to forget that the equivalent would be a human being whose fought in every war since the mid-1700s and there's no way to comprehend what living that long could honestly do to a person, let alone fighting wars in all that time.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: He can certainly come off this way with some of his plans.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tannis Valk]]
The Blue Devil. A veteran SpaceFighter pilot of the Establishment Crisis who survived an extremely bad outburst of fire in his canopy and has to wear a suit to deal with constant pain.
* AIIsACrapshoot
* [[spoiler: AmbiguousSituation: It's not really known whether or not Valk let Zhang die in the new timeline on accident because he had no real control over his other counterpart OR that he did in on purpose to finally drive Lanoe to deliver his promise of killing him.]]
* AcePilot: In the Establishment Crisis, he also received a Blue Star medal (meaning five confirmed kills as a pilot), even if the Navy ended up taking it away once his side lost.
* TheBigGuy: He easily towers over everyone.
* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: [[spoiler: The reason that Lanoe won't activate the data bomb that will kill Valk is because he's the only one who can effectively communicate with the Blue-Blue-White.]]
** [[spoiler: However, some crew members, like Paniet, believe it to be more than that. Either because Valk is the only one Lanoe knows he can completely rely on or it's because Valk would do whatever it takes to serve Lanoe and Lanoe knows it.]]
* DidTheyOrDidntThey: Sort of. With [[spoiler:Sergeant Ehta]] in ''Forsaken Skies''.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: After TheReveal, Valk's [[spoiler: behavior from asking (and sometimes begging) to be permanently turned off to constantly having existential crises to actively looking to prove that he's useful to those around him is a realistic interpretation of those who suffer from major depression and suicidal ideation]].
* FantasticRacism: [[spoiler:Comes with being an A.I. in a galaxy that grew up fearing them.]]
* [[spoiler:ItIsDehumanizing: After TheReveal, several characters refer to him as "a machine" or "it".]]
* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal: An angry and distraught Lanoe finally activates the data bomb, effectively killing the Valk A.I. for good.]]
* NiceGuy: Despite the fact that he has every right to be extremely sour about things, Valk is one of the more amicable characters and generally nice and patient with everyone, including those who just view him as an abomination.
* [[spoiler:TheReveal: The real Tannis Valk died when his cockpit was lit up by enemy fire. The Valk the audience has gotten to know is an A.I. based on him.]]
* [[spoiler:RidiculouslyHumanRobot: It probably helps that he believed he was human for years before finding out the awful truth.]]
* ShipTease: With [[spoiler:Sergeant Ehta]] in ''Forsaken Skies'', leading to a version of DidTheyOrDidntThey. In ''Forgotten Worlds'', they both agree without speaking that they're BetterAsFriends.
* [[spoiler:WasOnceAMan: He's an A.I. based on Tannis Valk and spent 17 years pretending being him. After TheReveal, he slowly stops referring to himself as Tannis Valk and eventually altogether stops thinking of himself as human, much to concern of those around him]].
* WorthyOpponent: Lanoe shares a bit of comradery with Valk based on trying to kill him and failing.
-->'''Valk:''' How about I buy you a drink?
-->'''Lanoe:''' It’s the least you can do after you refused to let me shoot you down.
* WellDoneSonGuy: A non-familial example. It's not as much as it would appear with Bury or maybe Ehta, but as the story goes on, it's implied and outright stated by other characters that everything Valk does is just so he can prove himself useful to Lanoe.
* [[spoiler:YoungerThanTheyLook: After TheReveal, you can narrow down that Valk was created at the end of the Establishment Crisis, making him only 17 years old. Thom, Roan, Bury, and Ginger are all older than him.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Auster Maggs]]
The son of Navy royalty and a scoundrel if ever there was one. Also a SpaceFighter pilot.
* AceCustom: In ''Forgotten Worlds'', Maggs receives a Z.XIX cataphract. However, Maggs notes that, despite the sleek design, you "can't tell from the outside that it's anything special". What makes it special is the Philoctetes Targeting Package that allows him to shoot down enemies as twice the range.
* AcePilot: Say what you will about him, but he is, in fact, a damn good pilot.
* AgentPeacock: His devotion to his appearance (he asks Bury for toiletries so he clean up his face, his willowy body (Lanoe is described as having a HeroicBuild and Valk is TheBigGuy), his vanity (which he doesn't even try to hide), and his [[ConsummateLiar defining skill]] [[TheTrickster being deception]] when he's surrounded by a noble warrior culture like the Navy do tend to paint him in this way. Maggs is also a ManipulativeBastard and desires to play the role of TheChessmaster who outsmarts almost everyone around him, the exception being people who are exceptionally LongLived, ProperlyParanoid, AxCrazy, or are a ManipulativeBastard themselves. However, he seems to find himself surrounded by these characters a lot, so he's never illustrated as the CardCarryingVillain he probably could be.
* AmbiguousSituation – It can’t really be said whether it’s part of an Ambiguous Disorder or something else, but Maggs’ father’s voice is strangely conversational and self-aware for a voice in someone's head.
* AmbitionIsEvil
* AntiVillain: While Auster Maggs can be called a terrible, inconsiderate person, he does try to limit truly horrible things from happening in his schemes. Though, it's unknown whether or not this is a case of him truly desiring that or just not wanting to deal with the hassle.
* TheBeautifulElite
* BeneathTheMask: Whenever Maggs is the narrator, we get to hear his thoughts behind the facade he throws up to everyone else. Maggs being a ConsummateLiar, this might be a case of UnreliableNarrator.
** We do get to see a more believable version of this trope towards the end of ''Forgotten Worlds'' when Mags meets his mother and we get to see that for all his cleverness and ambition, he still feels he is burdened by family values, social expectations, and ideals that were probably beaten into him as a child.
* BlingOfWar: His [[CoolStarship Z.XIX cataphract]] is a very sleek-designed ship.
* BreakThemByTalking: A favorite method of the series' resident [[TheTrickster trickster]].
* BullyingADragon: He often plays dangerous gambits with people who already want to ''and can'' kill him.
* ButtMonkey
* TheCharmer: He rather thinks of himself this way, but he usually only thinks of it as a method to get what he wants and there's a couple instances in the story where it does work.
* TheChessmaster
* ChewingTheScenery: He knows how to put on a show. Just wind him up and hear him go.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: To the point that he calls it an art form and respects those that can do it well.
* ConsummateLiar: It's practically an agreed-upon point to everyone who learns who Maggs really to never believe a word he says.
* TheCorrupter: Acts like one. Though he does manage [[spoiler: to help Bullam start a mutiny and Ehta comments that he's been making moves around the ships the reader never sees]].
* CulturedWarrior
* DeadpanSnarker: Probably the snarkiest in the entire series.
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: There’s a touch here and there, but this is definitely shown in the interaction between him and his mother in ''Forsaken Skies''.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: While it can be argued he does bring it on himself a lot, Auster Maggs is an AcePilot, a cunning strategist when he wants to be, and an expert at reading people. These skills, however, do not outweigh people's loathing of his habit of screwing people over.
* DumbStruck: Usually when his schemes are revealed by the person he was attempting to con.
* TheDutifulSon: To his giant-party-throwing mother.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: When we get to meet Maggs’ mother and oooh boy, do we get to see behind the veil of Auster Maggs. Despite her extravagant socialite lifestyle and emotional manipulation of her own son, Maggs still refuses to leave his mother high and dry.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Maggs thinks that the Lanoe’s He Who Fights Monsters tendencies, Shulkin’s Blood Knight tendencies, and everyone’s Undying Loyalty to a mission and a man that are clearly insane are too much.
* FantasticRacism: It’s not as blatant as Candless, but Maggs is remarkably disgusted to find out Valk is an A.I. and treats him as nothing more than a machine. Though he paints more as
* Fatal Flaw
* ItsAllAboutMe
* ManipulativeBastard: To the ''n''th degree.
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: He certainly likes to come off this way.
* PetTheDog: He has a few moments.
* OnlySaneMan: Shares this role with Ehta, most of the time.
** He’s just as discriminative towards Valk for being an A.I. as Candless, but he’s far more cordial towards him.
** In Forgotten Worlds, when he decides to switch sides, he gives Bury several chances to change his mind.
** In Forbidden Suns, when Bullam is in need of medical attention, he comes to warn Lanoe of an impending mutiny if Lanoe’ll get him and Bullam out of the Blue-Blue-White’s home system.
* PrettyBoy
* RealMenWearPink
* TheTrickster
* UnderestimatingBadassery – Unfortunately, he does this to Ehta in ''Forbidden Suns'' [[spoiler: when he thinks that she’s so bad at her job as chief of security that she wouldn’t possibly notice his actions towards staging a mutiny]].
* YouCanAlwaysTellALiar
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Sergeant Caroline Ehta]]
A former SpaceFighter wingmate of Lanoe's from the 94th Squadron, who for unknown reasons became a SpaceMarine.
* AcePilot: Despite the fact that she is no longer a pilot, it would be key to remember that she earned a “blue star”, which is only given to pilots who have 5 confirmed kills of enemy pilots (not an easy accomplishment).
* ActionGirl
* BrokenBird: A realistic example. One too many traumas behind the "pilot's wheel" have left her in a state where it is impossible for her to get into a ship without feeling nauseous or having a panic attack.
* CareerEndingInjury: Two of them:
** After too many traumatic events during missions, she developed panic attacks that caused her to be inable to fly ever again.
** In ''Forgotten Worlds'', she’s attacked by an “earworm” which has potential effects that the military deems too risky for her to continue service. Oddly enough, though, it doesn't seem to slow her down at all for the rest of the series.
* DeadpanSnarker
* MadeOfIron: She proves it throughout the series. For example, she's attacked by an "earworm", an audio-based brain-scrambling weapon that is described as normally a fatal ForegoneConclusion for anyone unfortunate enough to hear it. What does she do when she wakes up from it? ''Beg'' to return to the frontlines.
* OnlySaneMan: Shares this role with Maggs.
* SemperFi
* SpaceMarine
* [[TomBoy Tomboy]]
* UndyingLoyalty: To Lanoe. [[spoiler: Until ''Forbidden Suns'']].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Thom]]
A hot-shot space racer who is looking to escape his life and his family.
* AcePilot: Described as having a reputation for being a hot-shot racer and helps Lanoe take on the invasion force.
* DesignerBabies: He was designed to be a replacement body for his father.
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurpose: After finding he was RaisedAsAHost, Thom displays all the tell-tale signs of someone who doesn't know what to do with their life.
* [[PatriCide Patricide]]: Thom killed his father when he found out that he was designed to be a body replacement for his father.
* RaisedAsAHost
* ShipTease: With Roan.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Roan]]
A citizen of Niraya who sought after help when an invading force showed up on the edge of her system.
* [[AdorkAble Adorkable]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Bettina Zhang]]
Another SpaceFighter pilot and a former wingmate [[spoiler: [[LoveInterest and lover]]]] of Lanoe's.
* AcePilot
* TheLancer
* LongLived / Really700YearsOld
* OlderThanTheyLook: Thanks to body-swapping technology.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: When a wing of drones heads towards Aruna to attack the artillery station (which includes Ehta, Derrow, and several of the Nirayans), she tells Lanoe he can order her to whatever he wants, but she's going to go the people on Aruna.
* FieryRedhead: Though not a redhead on purpose and far more fiesty than fiery, Zhang's demeanor and current body give her a shade of this trope.
[[/folder]]
Introduced in ''Forgotten Worlds''.
[[folder:Marjoram Candless]]
An instructor at Rishi, a Naval flight school, and a former wingmate of Lanoe's.
* AcePilot
* BrutalHonesty
* CommanderContrarian
* TheDreaded: In more of a social sense. Her students and former wingmates know all too well how sharp her tongue can be. She's also the only one in the series who can chastise Lanoe and break his TheStoic face to look like a "chastened first year student".
* [[FoIl Foil]]: To Zhang. Both women are former [[AcePilot Ace Pilots]] in a SpaceNavy, old friends of TheProtagonist, serve as TheLancer, and are probably the only ones that are able to talk to him as equals. However, Zhang has had an intimate and loving relationship with Lanoe, chides him with a cheekier tone, and often questions him openly. Candless has always had a professional relationship with Lanoe, chides him as one officer to another, and rarely questions his decisions (only when it becomes absolutely necessary and usually behind closed doors).
** Though, the differences in their characterization probably also has to do with Zhang being Lanoe's second-in-command during a RagtagBunchOfMisfits situation and Candless being Lanoe's second-in-command during a two-book-long "Navy operation".
* JerkAss: Quite honestly, the biggest one of "the good guys" in the entire series. She is effectively rude and dismissive to everyone (usually for not following chain of command and protocol) and when she's narrating, the reader is privileged to how little she thinks of others at times.
** JerkAssWithAHeartOfGold: That being said, she does genuinely care for her students.
* JerkJustifications: Despite what's listed above, it is easy for the reader to forget that Candless was led to believe by someone she trusted that the mission was Navy-sponsored and the ship was going to be run like a Navy vessel, so her actions and mannerisms can be justified whenever she chews someone out for not following protocol. That being said, it does take her the longest out of all the main characters to stop treating it like it's a normal mission and protocol doesn't always apply.
* JustFollowingOrders
* TheLancer: Replacing Zhang.
* LongLived: Her age is never mentioned, but she was involved in The Century War where a young Lanoe first started earning his AcePilot status.
* [[FatherToHisMen Mother To Her Men]]: Despite her SergeantRock personality, she cares very deeply for her students, even ones who disobey orders or potentially try to murder her.
* PetTheDog: She has a few moments, but in general, her inner monologues reveal how she truly feels towards Bury and Ginger.
** She compliments Bury's potential and still thinks of him as her student, right after he tries to kill her in a duel.
** After being wisked away forcibly by the military, one of the first things she asks about anything pertaining to Cadet Marris, despite the fact that the cadet tried to kill Lanoe and could've killed her accidentally.
** Her giving Bury [[spoiler: his Blue Star medal posthumously]].
* SergeantRock: In ''spades''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Bury]]
A Navy pilot-in-training from the planet Hel and one of Candless' students.
* AcePilot: He spends two books trying to become one. He finally becomes one in ''Forbidden Suns''. [[spoiler: His celebration is short-lived as he dies shortly after]].
* BaldOfAwesome: Due to growing up on a DeathWorld where there is very little water, Bury’s people modified their skin in order to survive, but as a result, he cannot grow any hair.
* BerserkButton: Easily one of the most easily incensed characters in the series. Though, when it’s his turn to narrate, the reader is shown he is aware of it and does actively try to fight it. In Forgotten Worlds, Valk implies this is applies to all the people from Bury’s homeworld.
-->'''Valk:''' Never met a Hellion that didn’t have a chip on his shoulder.
* CatchPhrase: [[spoiler: After getting four kills in ''Forgotten Worlds'', he keeps repeating "Four" over and over again as way to focus himself and [[MadnessMantra possibly to remain sane]] in ''Forbidden Suns'']]
* DeathWorld: Bury grew up on one.
* TheDeterminator: He's absolutely set on getting his Blue Star no matter what.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Bury faces discrimination because of where he comes from and how he looks is very similar which is '''very''' similar to the discrimination faced by immigrants and ethnic minorities.
* [[spoiler: DueToTheDead: He receives his Blue Star Medal posthumously and Ginger and Candless have a private ceremony for him.]]
* [[FoIl Foil]]: To Thom. Both of them are young men who are capable pilots that end up dragged into helping out Aleister Lanoe. However, Thom is shy and unsure of himself as a person where Bury picks a path and sticks with it, more often than not speaking before he thinks.
* FantasticRacism: Bury is a Helion, who modify their skin with bio-inert plastic in order to survive on their DeathWorld of a home and as Lanoe puts it: “They face a certain stigma for this when they leave their homeworld.”
* FreudianExcuse: The FantasticRacism he faces leads him to want to prove that he’s just as good as everyone else.
* HotBlooded: His defining trait.
* JerkassHasAPoint: He may be a hot-blooded, rowdy kid, but he does make several points about the sketchiness of their clandestine mission and Lanoe’s increasing moral decay.
* [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal: At some point in the battle against the Blue-Blue-White’s dreadnaught, his ships systems gave out against their magnetized ammunition and his canopy and helmet collapsed, exposing him to the vacuum of space]].
* ShipTease: Between him and Ginger. [[spoiler: It doesn’t work out]].
* SpaceCadet: Starts off as one, until he gets a FieldPromotion.
* WellDoneSonGuy: It's less paternal than most examples, but Bury does seem to light up when he thinks he's proven himself in combat and whether he stays lit up or is severely let down is dependent on what Lanoe or Candless, his superior officers, say or do in response to his actions.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tara "Ginger" Holz]]
A red-headed shy student of Candless who may or may not be cut out to be a fighter pilot.
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurpose
* [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Everyone Calls Her "Ginger"]]: '''Everyone'''. In fact, the only say her real name ''once'' in the entire series. She’s even referred to as Ensign Ginger.
* HiddenDepths: She’s described several times having and eventually shows expert piloting skills, but that doesn’t save her from washing out of the Navy’s fighter pilot program.
* ShipTease: Between her and Bury.
* SpaceCadet: Starts off as one, until he gets a FieldPromotion.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Engineer Hassan Paniet]]
An engineer from Sergeant Ehta's group on Tuonela.
* HundredPercentAdorationRating: Even ''Candless'' is nice to him.
* AmbiguouslyGay: It’s heavily implied with his eccentricities, mannerisms, and Ship Tease with Hollander (another male engineer), but it’s never outright said that Paniet is gay.
* BadassGay: He's the go-to for any science/math problem on the ship outside of Valk and when they need something built, he'll get it done.
* BreakTheCutie: He's devastated when he finds out that [[spoiler: Hollander was killed in the mutiny]].
* CloudCuckoolander / GeniusDitz: How most of the battle-hardened military personnel view him, such as Lanoe and Candless.
* ConstantlyCurious: A trait, he claims, all engineers have.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: He comes from a deeply conservative planet and he's AmbiguouslyGay. Do the math.
* TheEngineer: While not the only one for the crew of the Hopilite, he earns the title of ''the'' engineer over the course of the series.
* HoYay: Plenty of it between him and Hollander. And there have been a few [[FanFiction fanfics]] about him and Valk.
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Not of himself (though he's a good candidate for it in this series), but he believes this of Navy engineers. [[spoiler: He's shatteringly proven wrong by Hollander]].
* OnlySaneMan: He definitely can come off as this when he does question his superiors. However, he does it with more genuine concern and tact than anyone else.
* TheSmartGuy
[[/folder]]
Introduced in ''Forsaken Skies''.
[[folder:Commander Aleister Lanoe]]
A [[LongLived 300-year-old]] SpaceFighter AcePilot who galactically renowned for his career and is the protagonist of the series.
* AcePilot: The best in the series, as described by other characters.
-->'''Valk:''' An ace of aces.
* AntiHero
* BlatantLies: No one believes him when he tells them that his mission to [[spoiler: to "bring justice" to the Blue-Blue-White on behalf of all the species that their drones accidentally annihilated because everyone knows it's about getting vengeance for Zhang's death]].
* [[spoiler:BloodKnight]]: Definitely starts reaching this territory in ''Forbidden Suns''.
* BringThemAround: Lanoe tries, succeeds, and fails at this multiple times with his crew throughout ''Forgotten Worlds'' and ''Forbidden Suns''.
* CatchPhrase: "Hellfire". He definitely says it way more than anyone else in the series.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: Oh, do they weigh heavily on Lanoe, more and more with each book.
* CharacterDevelopment: [[spoiler: And not the good kind. Over the course of the series, Lanoe goes from being someone who takes a lost kid under his wing and defends an isolated, forgotten colony from space invaders to sacrificing the lives and sanity of his crew and the continuity of the ''whole fucking universe'' so that he can succeed in his RoaringRampageOfRevenge]].
* CrazyPrepared
* TheDeterminator: No matter what, no one but Lanoe himself will stop him in his mission.
* EasilyForgiven: [[spoiler: ''Defied''. After everything he did in ''Forgotten Worlds'' and ''Forbidden Suns'', some of his most trusted allies want nothing to do with him by the end of the trilogy]].
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The first chapter does a pretty good job of setting up every facet of Lanoe’s characer for the rest of the series:
** He manages to outrun a clearly better designed ship driven by a desperate hot-shot racer using cunning and every tool at his disposal, despite it skirting standard safety practice.
** Later in the chapter he’s told that the pilot’s dangerous driving threatens the life of people on a cargo freighter. Within seconds of realizing that meant more than one person’s life was being threatened and admitting to himself the pilot was a murderer, he strengthens his resolve to make the more nominal decision.
* FatalFlaw: Lanoe's long life-span filled with war and military training has left him unable to properly process his own emotions and show empathy towards fellow human beings when needed (as with most military characters in fiction and RealLife). This leads him to make some catastrophic mistakes that create even worse situations for him and his crew.
* [[spoiler: GeneralRipper: He definitely has shades of this long before he comes real close to becoming one]].
* GuileHero
* [[spoiler:HeWhoFightsMonsters]]
* HeroesPreferRedheads: Zigzagged. Zhang didn’t originally have red hair, but it’s the most notable thing about her when Lanoe sees her again after so long.
* InsistentTerminology: He keeps telling people he wants "justice" when everyone believes he means "vengeance".
* JerkassHasAPoint: This seems to be him most of the time.
** Despite the fact that he's obviously doing it for person reasons, he's right in the fact that [[spoiler: even the if it was a case of AccidentalMurder on a cosmic scale, the Blue-Blue-White are still responsible for the destruction of countless civilizations and need to be held accountable]].
* LongLived / Really700YearsOld: Thanks to improvements in the field of medicine, human beings live much longer than their average lifespan. Lanoe is 300 years old, though it is implied there aren’t many who live this long in general.
* [[spoiler:MoralDecay]]
* NervesOfSteel
* [[spoiler: OmnicidalManiac: while that isn't his intention, Paniet hypothesizes that if he succeeds in re-writing history, he could cause a RealityBreakingParadox that would result in a universal CessationOfExistence]].
* RealityEnsues: You think after two centuries of continued war and senseless killing, [[spoiler:losing the only woman he ever loved]], and everything he goes through in the series that the man’s mind won’t start to fall apart? Think again.
** After everything he did and costing/scarring the lives of dozens of people in the name of revenge, there was no way [[spoiler: [[UndyingLoyalty Candless or Ehta]]]] would ever want to have anything to do with Aleister Lanoe again.
* [[spoiler: RoaringRampageOfRevenge: One that sacrifices the three CoolStarships, dozens of space fighters, many of his crew, the sanity of several of them, and almost causes a RealityBreakingParadox / TimeCrash scenario. And ''damn'' does he come close to succeeding, too]].
* [[spoiler:SanitySlippage: In ''Forgotten Worlds'', he starts having dreams of Zhang trying to tell him something. He begins to hallucinate and see her while conscious halfway through the book]].
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: His general demeanor when backed into a corner. Though, sometimes...
** ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: He veers into this territory in ''Forbidden Suns''.
* TheStoic: Even in his worst moments, Lanoe knows how to put on a face of stone.
* TimeAbyss: Lanoe's age of 300 years is constantly thrown around (it's in the summary of ''Forsaken Skies'', after all) and he's lived most of that life fighting. It can be easy for the reader to forget that the equivalent would be a human being whose fought in every war since the mid-1700s and there's no way to comprehend what living that long could honestly do to a person, let alone fighting wars in all that time.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: He can certainly come off this way with some of his plans.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tannis Valk]]
The Blue Devil. A veteran SpaceFighter pilot of the Establishment Crisis who survived an extremely bad outburst of fire in his canopy and has to wear a suit to deal with constant pain.
* AIIsACrapshoot
* [[spoiler: AmbiguousSituation: It's not really known whether or not Valk let Zhang die in the new timeline on accident because he had no real control over his other counterpart OR that he did in on purpose to finally drive Lanoe to deliver his promise of killing him.]]
* AcePilot: In the Establishment Crisis, he also received a Blue Star medal (meaning five confirmed kills as a pilot), even if the Navy ended up taking it away once his side lost.
* TheBigGuy: He easily towers over everyone.
* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: [[spoiler: The reason that Lanoe won't activate the data bomb that will kill Valk is because he's the only one who can effectively communicate with the Blue-Blue-White.]]
** [[spoiler: However, some crew members, like Paniet, believe it to be more than that. Either because Valk is the only one Lanoe knows he can completely rely on or it's because Valk would do whatever it takes to serve Lanoe and Lanoe knows it.]]
* DidTheyOrDidntThey: Sort of. With [[spoiler:Sergeant Ehta]] in ''Forsaken Skies''.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: After TheReveal, Valk's [[spoiler: behavior from asking (and sometimes begging) to be permanently turned off to constantly having existential crises to actively looking to prove that he's useful to those around him is a realistic interpretation of those who suffer from major depression and suicidal ideation]].
* FantasticRacism: [[spoiler:Comes with being an A.I. in a galaxy that grew up fearing them.]]
* [[spoiler:ItIsDehumanizing: After TheReveal, several characters refer to him as "a machine" or "it".]]
* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal: An angry and distraught Lanoe finally activates the data bomb, effectively killing the Valk A.I. for good.]]
* NiceGuy: Despite the fact that he has every right to be extremely sour about things, Valk is one of the more amicable characters and generally nice and patient with everyone, including those who just view him as an abomination.
* [[spoiler:TheReveal: The real Tannis Valk died when his cockpit was lit up by enemy fire. The Valk the audience has gotten to know is an A.I. based on him.]]
* [[spoiler:RidiculouslyHumanRobot: It probably helps that he believed he was human for years before finding out the awful truth.]]
* ShipTease: With [[spoiler:Sergeant Ehta]] in ''Forsaken Skies'', leading to a version of DidTheyOrDidntThey. In ''Forgotten Worlds'', they both agree without speaking that they're BetterAsFriends.
* [[spoiler:WasOnceAMan: He's an A.I. based on Tannis Valk and spent 17 years pretending being him. After TheReveal, he slowly stops referring to himself as Tannis Valk and eventually altogether stops thinking of himself as human, much to concern of those around him]].
* WorthyOpponent: Lanoe shares a bit of comradery with Valk based on trying to kill him and failing.
-->'''Valk:''' How about I buy you a drink?
-->'''Lanoe:''' It’s the least you can do after you refused to let me shoot you down.
* WellDoneSonGuy: A non-familial example. It's not as much as it would appear with Bury or maybe Ehta, but as the story goes on, it's implied and outright stated by other characters that everything Valk does is just so he can prove himself useful to Lanoe.
* [[spoiler:YoungerThanTheyLook: After TheReveal, you can narrow down that Valk was created at the end of the Establishment Crisis, making him only 17 years old. Thom, Roan, Bury, and Ginger are all older than him.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Auster Maggs]]
The son of Navy royalty and a scoundrel if ever there was one. Also a SpaceFighter pilot.
* AceCustom: In ''Forgotten Worlds'', Maggs receives a Z.XIX cataphract. However, Maggs notes that, despite the sleek design, you "can't tell from the outside that it's anything special". What makes it special is the Philoctetes Targeting Package that allows him to shoot down enemies as twice the range.
* AcePilot: Say what you will about him, but he is, in fact, a damn good pilot.
* AgentPeacock: His devotion to his appearance (he asks Bury for toiletries so he clean up his face, his willowy body (Lanoe is described as having a HeroicBuild and Valk is TheBigGuy), his vanity (which he doesn't even try to hide), and his [[ConsummateLiar defining skill]] [[TheTrickster being deception]] when he's surrounded by a noble warrior culture like the Navy do tend to paint him in this way. Maggs is also a ManipulativeBastard and desires to play the role of TheChessmaster who outsmarts almost everyone around him, the exception being people who are exceptionally LongLived, ProperlyParanoid, AxCrazy, or are a ManipulativeBastard themselves. However, he seems to find himself surrounded by these characters a lot, so he's never illustrated as the CardCarryingVillain he probably could be.
* AmbiguousSituation – It can’t really be said whether it’s part of an Ambiguous Disorder or something else, but Maggs’ father’s voice is strangely conversational and self-aware for a voice in someone's head.
* AmbitionIsEvil
* AntiVillain: While Auster Maggs can be called a terrible, inconsiderate person, he does try to limit truly horrible things from happening in his schemes. Though, it's unknown whether or not this is a case of him truly desiring that or just not wanting to deal with the hassle.
* TheBeautifulElite
* BeneathTheMask: Whenever Maggs is the narrator, we get to hear his thoughts behind the facade he throws up to everyone else. Maggs being a ConsummateLiar, this might be a case of UnreliableNarrator.
** We do get to see a more believable version of this trope towards the end of ''Forgotten Worlds'' when Mags meets his mother and we get to see that for all his cleverness and ambition, he still feels he is burdened by family values, social expectations, and ideals that were probably beaten into him as a child.
* BlingOfWar: His [[CoolStarship Z.XIX cataphract]] is a very sleek-designed ship.
* BreakThemByTalking: A favorite method of the series' resident [[TheTrickster trickster]].
* BullyingADragon: He often plays dangerous gambits with people who already want to ''and can'' kill him.
* ButtMonkey
* TheCharmer: He rather thinks of himself this way, but he usually only thinks of it as a method to get what he wants and there's a couple instances in the story where it does work.
* TheChessmaster
* ChewingTheScenery: He knows how to put on a show. Just wind him up and hear him go.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: To the point that he calls it an art form and respects those that can do it well.
* ConsummateLiar: It's practically an agreed-upon point to everyone who learns who Maggs really to never believe a word he says.
* TheCorrupter: Acts like one. Though he does manage [[spoiler: to help Bullam start a mutiny and Ehta comments that he's been making moves around the ships the reader never sees]].
* CulturedWarrior
* DeadpanSnarker: Probably the snarkiest in the entire series.
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: There’s a touch here and there, but this is definitely shown in the interaction between him and his mother in ''Forsaken Skies''.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: While it can be argued he does bring it on himself a lot, Auster Maggs is an AcePilot, a cunning strategist when he wants to be, and an expert at reading people. These skills, however, do not outweigh people's loathing of his habit of screwing people over.
* DumbStruck: Usually when his schemes are revealed by the person he was attempting to con.
* TheDutifulSon: To his giant-party-throwing mother.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: When we get to meet Maggs’ mother and oooh boy, do we get to see behind the veil of Auster Maggs. Despite her extravagant socialite lifestyle and emotional manipulation of her own son, Maggs still refuses to leave his mother high and dry.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Maggs thinks that the Lanoe’s He Who Fights Monsters tendencies, Shulkin’s Blood Knight tendencies, and everyone’s Undying Loyalty to a mission and a man that are clearly insane are too much.
* FantasticRacism: It’s not as blatant as Candless, but Maggs is remarkably disgusted to find out Valk is an A.I. and treats him as nothing more than a machine. Though he paints more as
* Fatal Flaw
* ItsAllAboutMe
* ManipulativeBastard: To the ''n''th degree.
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: He certainly likes to come off this way.
* PetTheDog: He has a few moments.
* OnlySaneMan: Shares this role with Ehta, most of the time.
** He’s just as discriminative towards Valk for being an A.I. as Candless, but he’s far more cordial towards him.
** In Forgotten Worlds, when he decides to switch sides, he gives Bury several chances to change his mind.
** In Forbidden Suns, when Bullam is in need of medical attention, he comes to warn Lanoe of an impending mutiny if Lanoe’ll get him and Bullam out of the Blue-Blue-White’s home system.
* PrettyBoy
* RealMenWearPink
* TheTrickster
* UnderestimatingBadassery – Unfortunately, he does this to Ehta in ''Forbidden Suns'' [[spoiler: when he thinks that she’s so bad at her job as chief of security that she wouldn’t possibly notice his actions towards staging a mutiny]].
* YouCanAlwaysTellALiar
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Sergeant Caroline Ehta]]
A former SpaceFighter wingmate of Lanoe's from the 94th Squadron, who for unknown reasons became a SpaceMarine.
* AcePilot: Despite the fact that she is no longer a pilot, it would be key to remember that she earned a “blue star”, which is only given to pilots who have 5 confirmed kills of enemy pilots (not an easy accomplishment).
* ActionGirl
* BrokenBird: A realistic example. One too many traumas behind the "pilot's wheel" have left her in a state where it is impossible for her to get into a ship without feeling nauseous or having a panic attack.
* CareerEndingInjury: Two of them:
** After too many traumatic events during missions, she developed panic attacks that caused her to be inable to fly ever again.
** In ''Forgotten Worlds'', she’s attacked by an “earworm” which has potential effects that the military deems too risky for her to continue service. Oddly enough, though, it doesn't seem to slow her down at all for the rest of the series.
* DeadpanSnarker
* MadeOfIron: She proves it throughout the series. For example, she's attacked by an "earworm", an audio-based brain-scrambling weapon that is described as normally a fatal ForegoneConclusion for anyone unfortunate enough to hear it. What does she do when she wakes up from it? ''Beg'' to return to the frontlines.
* OnlySaneMan: Shares this role with Maggs.
* SemperFi
* SpaceMarine
* [[TomBoy Tomboy]]
* UndyingLoyalty: To Lanoe. [[spoiler: Until ''Forbidden Suns'']].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Thom]]
A hot-shot space racer who is looking to escape his life and his family.
* AcePilot: Described as having a reputation for being a hot-shot racer and helps Lanoe take on the invasion force.
* DesignerBabies: He was designed to be a replacement body for his father.
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurpose: After finding he was RaisedAsAHost, Thom displays all the tell-tale signs of someone who doesn't know what to do with their life.
* [[PatriCide Patricide]]: Thom killed his father when he found out that he was designed to be a body replacement for his father.
* RaisedAsAHost
* ShipTease: With Roan.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Roan]]
A citizen of Niraya who sought after help when an invading force showed up on the edge of her system.
* [[AdorkAble Adorkable]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Bettina Zhang]]
Another SpaceFighter pilot and a former wingmate [[spoiler: [[LoveInterest and lover]]]] of Lanoe's.
* AcePilot
* TheLancer
* LongLived / Really700YearsOld
* OlderThanTheyLook: Thanks to body-swapping technology.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: When a wing of drones heads towards Aruna to attack the artillery station (which includes Ehta, Derrow, and several of the Nirayans), she tells Lanoe he can order her to whatever he wants, but she's going to go the people on Aruna.
* FieryRedhead: Though not a redhead on purpose and far more fiesty than fiery, Zhang's demeanor and current body give her a shade of this trope.
[[/folder]]
Introduced in ''Forgotten Worlds''.
[[folder:Marjoram Candless]]
An instructor at Rishi, a Naval flight school, and a former wingmate of Lanoe's.
* AcePilot
* BrutalHonesty
* CommanderContrarian
* TheDreaded: In more of a social sense. Her students and former wingmates know all too well how sharp her tongue can be. She's also the only one in the series who can chastise Lanoe and break his TheStoic face to look like a "chastened first year student".
* [[FoIl Foil]]: To Zhang. Both women are former [[AcePilot Ace Pilots]] in a SpaceNavy, old friends of TheProtagonist, serve as TheLancer, and are probably the only ones that are able to talk to him as equals. However, Zhang has had an intimate and loving relationship with Lanoe, chides him with a cheekier tone, and often questions him openly. Candless has always had a professional relationship with Lanoe, chides him as one officer to another, and rarely questions his decisions (only when it becomes absolutely necessary and usually behind closed doors).
** Though, the differences in their characterization probably also has to do with Zhang being Lanoe's second-in-command during a RagtagBunchOfMisfits situation and Candless being Lanoe's second-in-command during a two-book-long "Navy operation".
* JerkAss: Quite honestly, the biggest one of "the good guys" in the entire series. She is effectively rude and dismissive to everyone (usually for not following chain of command and protocol) and when she's narrating, the reader is privileged to how little she thinks of others at times.
** JerkAssWithAHeartOfGold: That being said, she does genuinely care for her students.
* JerkJustifications: Despite what's listed above, it is easy for the reader to forget that Candless was led to believe by someone she trusted that the mission was Navy-sponsored and the ship was going to be run like a Navy vessel, so her actions and mannerisms can be justified whenever she chews someone out for not following protocol. That being said, it does take her the longest out of all the main characters to stop treating it like it's a normal mission and protocol doesn't always apply.
* JustFollowingOrders
* TheLancer: Replacing Zhang.
* LongLived: Her age is never mentioned, but she was involved in The Century War where a young Lanoe first started earning his AcePilot status.
* [[FatherToHisMen Mother To Her Men]]: Despite her SergeantRock personality, she cares very deeply for her students, even ones who disobey orders or potentially try to murder her.
* PetTheDog: She has a few moments, but in general, her inner monologues reveal how she truly feels towards Bury and Ginger.
** She compliments Bury's potential and still thinks of him as her student, right after he tries to kill her in a duel.
** After being wisked away forcibly by the military, one of the first things she asks about anything pertaining to Cadet Marris, despite the fact that the cadet tried to kill Lanoe and could've killed her accidentally.
** Her giving Bury [[spoiler: his Blue Star medal posthumously]].
* SergeantRock: In ''spades''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Bury]]
A Navy pilot-in-training from the planet Hel and one of Candless' students.
* AcePilot: He spends two books trying to become one. He finally becomes one in ''Forbidden Suns''. [[spoiler: His celebration is short-lived as he dies shortly after]].
* BaldOfAwesome: Due to growing up on a DeathWorld where there is very little water, Bury’s people modified their skin in order to survive, but as a result, he cannot grow any hair.
* BerserkButton: Easily one of the most easily incensed characters in the series. Though, when it’s his turn to narrate, the reader is shown he is aware of it and does actively try to fight it. In Forgotten Worlds, Valk implies this is applies to all the people from Bury’s homeworld.
-->'''Valk:''' Never met a Hellion that didn’t have a chip on his shoulder.
* CatchPhrase: [[spoiler: After getting four kills in ''Forgotten Worlds'', he keeps repeating "Four" over and over again as way to focus himself and [[MadnessMantra possibly to remain sane]] in ''Forbidden Suns'']]
* DeathWorld: Bury grew up on one.
* TheDeterminator: He's absolutely set on getting his Blue Star no matter what.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Bury faces discrimination because of where he comes from and how he looks is very similar which is '''very''' similar to the discrimination faced by immigrants and ethnic minorities.
* [[spoiler: DueToTheDead: He receives his Blue Star Medal posthumously and Ginger and Candless have a private ceremony for him.]]
* [[FoIl Foil]]: To Thom. Both of them are young men who are capable pilots that end up dragged into helping out Aleister Lanoe. However, Thom is shy and unsure of himself as a person where Bury picks a path and sticks with it, more often than not speaking before he thinks.
* FantasticRacism: Bury is a Helion, who modify their skin with bio-inert plastic in order to survive on their DeathWorld of a home and as Lanoe puts it: “They face a certain stigma for this when they leave their homeworld.”
* FreudianExcuse: The FantasticRacism he faces leads him to want to prove that he’s just as good as everyone else.
* HotBlooded: His defining trait.
* JerkassHasAPoint: He may be a hot-blooded, rowdy kid, but he does make several points about the sketchiness of their clandestine mission and Lanoe’s increasing moral decay.
* [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal: At some point in the battle against the Blue-Blue-White’s dreadnaught, his ships systems gave out against their magnetized ammunition and his canopy and helmet collapsed, exposing him to the vacuum of space]].
* ShipTease: Between him and Ginger. [[spoiler: It doesn’t work out]].
* SpaceCadet: Starts off as one, until he gets a FieldPromotion.
* WellDoneSonGuy: It's less paternal than most examples, but Bury does seem to light up when he thinks he's proven himself in combat and whether he stays lit up or is severely let down is dependent on what Lanoe or Candless, his superior officers, say or do in response to his actions.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tara "Ginger" Holz]]
A red-headed shy student of Candless who may or may not be cut out to be a fighter pilot.
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurpose
* [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Everyone Calls Her "Ginger"]]: '''Everyone'''. In fact, the only say her real name ''once'' in the entire series. She’s even referred to as Ensign Ginger.
* HiddenDepths: She’s described several times having and eventually shows expert piloting skills, but that doesn’t save her from washing out of the Navy’s fighter pilot program.
* ShipTease: Between her and Bury.
* SpaceCadet: Starts off as one, until he gets a FieldPromotion.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Engineer Hassan Paniet]]
An engineer from Sergeant Ehta's group on Tuonela.
* HundredPercentAdorationRating: Even ''Candless'' is nice to him.
* AmbiguouslyGay: It’s heavily implied with his eccentricities, mannerisms, and Ship Tease with Hollander (another male engineer), but it’s never outright said that Paniet is gay.
* BadassGay: He's the go-to for any science/math problem on the ship outside of Valk and when they need something built, he'll get it done.
* BreakTheCutie: He's devastated when he finds out that [[spoiler: Hollander was killed in the mutiny]].
* CloudCuckoolander / GeniusDitz: How most of the battle-hardened military personnel view him, such as Lanoe and Candless.
* ConstantlyCurious: A trait, he claims, all engineers have.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: He comes from a deeply conservative planet and he's AmbiguouslyGay. Do the math.
* TheEngineer: While not the only one for the crew of the Hopilite, he earns the title of ''the'' engineer over the course of the series.
* HoYay: Plenty of it between him and Hollander. And there have been a few [[FanFiction fanfics]] about him and Valk.
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Not of himself (though he's a good candidate for it in this series), but he believes this of Navy engineers. [[spoiler: He's shatteringly proven wrong by Hollander]].
* OnlySaneMan: He definitely can come off as this when he does question his superiors. However, he does it with more genuine concern and tact than anyone else.
* TheSmartGuy
[[/folder]]
