History Characters / ThePrioryOfTheOrangeTree

* BadDreams: She suffers from a recurring nightmare where she is bleeding heavily in childbirth and giving birth into a dragon's maw, attempting to close her legs and force her child back into her womb to keep it from being devoured. [[spoiler:The nightmare is sent by Kalyba as a sort of warning for what is to come.]]

* BadassBoast: An epic one to [[TheDragon Fyredel]]:

* HonorBeforeReason: Walks out to meet [[TheDragon Fyredel]] without stopping to consider what her death would mean for her country. Almost a TooDumbToLive moment had it not been for [[spoiler:Ead's warding]].

* SuddenlySuitableSuitor: Sabran raises Margret’s crush Thairan Lintley to the title of Viscount, making him of sufficient rank marry her.

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: She is able to change her guise, first appearing to Ead as a little boy in the Bower of Eternity before changing to a beautiful woman. [[spoiler:She is also the White Wyrm who attacked the palace and ended Sabran's pregnancy.]] However, she notes that she didn't always have the ability to do this.

%%* TheChosenOne:

* TheStoic: Even her dragon thinks she should lighten up.
%%** She responds to Turosa’s petty insults with polite indifference.
%%** She spends the night before her final trials practicing instead of going into town with the rest of her cohort.

* ActionSurvivor: He gets many wry remarks (including his own self-deprecating ones) about how useless courtiers are, and his only ''real'' practical skill is horseback riding.[[note]]Even his hunting skill doesn't count because royal sport hunting is not the same as hunting for survival.[[/note]] He still plunges into many physically challenging situations nonetheless to help his friends and his country.

* KnightTemplar: Rosarian's adultury and Sabran's lost pregnancy convinces her that the Berethnets are no longer favored by the Saint, so Igrain moves to depose them in favor of her own family.

* ParentalAbuse: His father often took his belt to Niclays and his mother until he died of the drink. Niclays inherited the alcoholism, but not the physical cruelty. His relationship with his mother was also strained because she didn't approve of his profession.

* AdultFear: She is terrified of pregnancy and childbirth for a few reasons. One is that it is ''dangerous''; she has nightmares about dying in childbed as some previous queens have. Another is the fear that she will become irrelevant and unloved once her all-important heir is born.

* TheAlcoholic: One of the first things we find out about him is that he's an alcoholic. Orisima's governor tries to restrict his access.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Sees his exile as this. Sabran later admits it was excessive.

* ParentalAbuse: His father often took his belt to Niclays and his mother until he died of the drink. Niclays inherited the alcoholism, but not the physical cruelty.

* TraumaCongaLine: He's a broken old man exiled after his lover's death caused him to fail a queen and keeps finding, to his surprise, that he still has something to lose. His safety in exile is threatened when he's forced to shelter Sulyard. Then he makes a friend whose life is threatened when they're captured by a brutal pirate empress. When he decides to try doing good for someone, [[spoiler:he's soon told she is already dead]]. And finally, he gets his hand cut off. Of course, most of things that happen to him are a result of his own actions, but he is still pitiable when they crash down on his head.

* MissingMom: Her mother was poisoned with [[CruelAndUnusualDeath basilisk venom]] when she was 14.

* AnArmAndALeg: A long life as a pirate has left her with a wooden arm.

[[folder:Fyredel]]
* TheDragon: Literally and figuratively. Fyredel is second only to the Nameless One in power and authority and is often called "the right wing of the Nameless One."

Loth's best friend, a poet who was sent to exile alongside him.
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* AintToProudToBeg: He begs Harlowe for a place on the crew once the ship sights Yscalin, although he does it in part to get ''Loth'' to consider it.

[[folder:The Cupbearer (spoilers)]]
Igrain Crest, the Duchess of Justice. She is the "Cupbearer" referred to as a conspirator against the Berethnets.
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* DefiantToTheEnd: Even when she's at the block she insists that it was her duty to commit all of her treasons.
* HiddenInPlainSight: Ead and Loth are confused by references to the "Cupbearer" because the position of royal cupbearer has long been vacant. The title is in reference to Igrain being the heir to the Knight of Justice, whose symbol is a pair of goblets--or cups--in which good and evil are weighed.
* HolierThanThou: She clearly thinks she's the most virtuous person in Virtudom. After Roslain's affair, Igrain emotionally abused her and then conspired in her assassination. She also favors a seventy-year-old king over the younger and more open-minded Aubrecht because Aubrecht's country trades with the East.
* KnightTemplar: Rosarian's adultury and Sabran's lost pregnancy convinces her that the Berethnets are no longer favored by the Saint, so Igrain moves to depose them in favor of her own family.
* MyBelovedSmother: Her fostering of Sabran took this form; Sabran describes herself as feeling like glass to be molded by Igrain. When Sabran shows her independence of thought, Igrain turns against her.
* OffWithHisHead: After having multiple people killed, Igrain ends by having her own head cut off.
* ParentalSubstitute: She raised Sabran after Rosarian's death.
* TheUsurper: After she's stopped from murdering Sabran outright, Igrain imprisons her in the dark so that she'll sign a document turning over rule to the Crests. Sabran holds out until Ead returns.
* WeCanRuleTogether: She tries to get Roslain to join her by promising that Roslain will one day be queen. Roslain has none of it.
[[/folder]]

The Witch of the Woods, a figure of legend dating from the time before Inys was a unified country--but still very much alive and well.
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* InsistentTerminology: Prefers ''enchantress'' to sorceress.

A seventeen-year-old Mentish noblewoman who serves as one of Sabran's chambermaids.
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High Prince of the Free State of Mentendon and one of Sabran's suitors.
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"Flesh King" of Yscalin. He despises the Berethnets and delivered his country to the Nameless One's servants.
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%%*FreudianExcuse:

%%* PleaseWakeUp: To Ead after she is poisoned
%%--> '''Sabran:''' "Don't leave me here alone."
* PostVictoryCollapse: After surviving her encounter with Fyredel, she promptly faints.

%%* RedShirt: Secondary character accompanies main character into enemy territory. [[note]]guess who doesn’t come back.[[/note]]

* ParentalBetrayal: [[spoiler:She does ''not'' agree with Igrain's plan to make Sabran abdicate and name the Crests as her heirs. When she mistakes Ead's approach for grandmother's, Roslain threatens to draw steel.]]

* FemmeFatale: Kalyba appears as a beautiful woman and is not above acting seductive to get what she wants.

* BlueBlood: As the second child, it is expected that she will stay at court while her bother rules the province and estate.
* SatelliteCharacter: She mostly exists to be Ead's best friend and Loth's sister.

* ImmortalityImmorality: When she tells of how she [[spoiler:raised Galian as a mother and fell in love with him, everyone is disgusted. Kalyba dismisses this by saying that "love is complicated."]]

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: She believes, not without reason, that being the daughter of an important Mentish house will shield her because executing her would have major diplomatic consequences. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, Igrain Crest decides that it's worth the risk.]]
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Genuinely believes that, in order to defeat the Nameless One, Virtudom must ally itself with the East. But to bring it about, she sends her lover on a secret mission to a country whose borders are sealed on pain of death. Then she tries to engineer a FalseFlagOperation to make Sabran more amenable to taking her advice. [[spoiler:Sulyard ends up executed for illegal entry, and her "fake" assassination plot is co-opted by Crest, resulting in the prince consort's death and Truyde's own eventual execution.]]

* {{Mordor}}: It becomes this after it's taken over by Frydel and the Draconic Army, complete with lava flows.

* TheDragon: Literally and figuratively. Fyredel is second only to the Nameless One in power and authority.

!The Dragonic Army

* AllForNothing: Decides eventually that he'll dedicate his life to helping Truyde. [[spoiler:He is devastated when he's told that she was executed.]]

* AbdicateTheThrone: It's mentioned that previous Berethnets have abdicated to their daughters in their lifetimes. [[spoiler:Crest tries to force Sabran to do this through imprisonment and psychological torture, but she resists until Ead leads the charge to free her. After the Nameless One's defeat, Sabran decides that she'll restructure the Inysh government into a republic and abdicate once it's stable.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Downplayed. Although he doesn’t escape unscathed, his fate is relatively benign compared to how much trouble he causes everyone else.

* AmbiguouslyGay: He has very close friendships with two women that are explicitly non-romantic, but he really comes off as ambiguously ''asexual'' and aromantic as well. There's no hint he may be attracted to men (nor any reason for him to be in denial) and more than once he considers that he's still waiting to feel the glow of romantic love for another.

* TraumaCongaLine: He's a broken old man exiled after his lover's death caused him to fail a queen and keeps finding, to his surprise, that he still has something to lose. That extends to his security in exile (forced to commit a capital crime by sheltering Sulyard), gets conscripted into serving a brutal pirate empress, makes a friend whose life is then threatened, [[spoiler:finds out the person he was trying to do something good for is dead]], and gets his hand cut off. Of course, most of things that happen to him are a result of his own actions, but he is still pitiable when they crash down on his head.
* VillainProtagonist: He isn't ''evil'', but he is bitter, angry, and his festering hatred of Sabran means that he's all too eager to do things that are going to make her life more difficult (even if it means hampering people's efforts to stop the Nameless One).

* SealedEvilInACan: He was banished to the bottom of the ocean for a thousand years.

* ExactWords: She promises Sabran she will stay with her "as long as she is able".

* DescentIntoAddiction: After Jannart's death, Niclays loses himself to gambling and alcohol.

* TheLostLenore: Jannart, Niclays dead lover, who was betrothed at birth to a noblewoman. They carried on a secret affair but Jannart died before they could steal away together.

* AcheyScars: The pain in her side gets progressively worse as the earthquakes increase.

* TraumaCongaLine: He's a broken old man exiled from his home after his lover's death caused him to fail a queen. Then he's forced to commit a capital crime, gets conscripted into serving a brutal pirate empress, is forced to attempt to complete a task that may not be possible on pain of death, [[spoiler:his adopted granddaughter dies]], and he loses his hand. Of course, most of things that happen to him are due to his own attempts to blackmail, deceive, and otherwise commit unethical acts out of his long-held resentment, but it's still a lot.

* AdultFear: She is terrified of pregnancy and childbirth for a few reasons. One is that it is ''dangerous''; she has nightmars about dying in childbed as some previous queens have. Another is the fear that she will become irrelevant and unloved once her all-important heir is born.

* BrokenAce: Harbors a lot of insecurity despite being incredibly skilled in almost everything she does.

* PlatonicLifePartners: It's [[AmbiguouslyGay unclear]] if Tane's feelings for Susa ever went beyond deep childhood friendship.

* TraumaCongaLine: Mostly self-inflicted but no less traumatic.

%%*TheChainsOfCommanding:
%%* DefrostingIceQueen: Toward Ead.

* HiddenDepths: She appears to be an arrogant, sheltered, and perhaps dangerously capricious ruler. Then Fyerdel appears outside her palace, and she walks out to challenge him without hesitation--because that is her job as queen.

* IdenticalGranddaughter: Each generation of Berethnets looks nearly identical to the others.

* TraumaCongaLine: Dead mother, disappeared father, pressured into marriage, [[spoiler: TragicStillbirth]], the list goes on.

%%* SacrificialLamb: For Loth.

* OffingTheOffspring: She tries to kill her descendant.

* CassandraTruth: Studying her grandfather's writings showed her that the Nameless One was going to return, Berethnets or no Berethnets. She sends her lover to try and convince the East, and tries to arrange matters in Inys to ''show'' Sabran the necessity. It doesn't work out well for anyone.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Genuinely believes that, in order to defeat the Nameless One, Virtudom must ally itself with the East but is too naive to realize how dangerous her methods are.

%%* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Tane's attempt to keep the Water Trials from being canceled sets several

* PlatonicLifePartners: With Sabran. Their closeness is what gets him sent to Yscalin despite the fact that there is nothing romantic between them--even though they would never get married, Combe still thinks having an unattached man the Queen clearly likes hanging around all the time is putting suitors off.

%%* TookALevelInBadass: After eating from the Orange Tree.

* InformedAttribute: Margret claims Ead is "humble" when she is anything but that - she constantly refers to other people (especially if they are Inysh) as "fools", talks back to the Queen of Inys and generally acts superior to everyone around her who isn't from the Priory, Magret or Loth.

* OnlySaneMan: How Ead feels in the Inys court, since she is incredibly bigoted towards Inys people.

%%* ButtMonkey: To [[{{Pirates}} privateers]] aboard the ''Pursuit''. And the palanquin carriers. And the soldiers in Orisima.%%Yes, but how is this an example?

* ForScience: Wants to create an elixir of immortality. Not so he can drink it, but to prove that he can make it.

* AssassinationAttempt: The target of ''several''.

* HeroicBastard: Unconfirmed. Her mother is rumored to have had an affair with [[{{Privateer}} Gian Harlowe]] but it is unclear if Sabran is his child or not.

* UnwantedSpouse: Doesn’t want a political marriage despite knowing she will eventually have to in order to fulfill her [[MandatoryMotherhood Mandatory Motherhood]].

%%* CassandraTruth:

* BreakTheHaughty: Averted - ''nothing'' so much as dents Ead's enormous ego, even when she learns that the Priory isn't the MarySuetopia she thought it was and that their hatred of Galian wasn't justified either. Even being banished from both Inys and her home doesn't make her rethink her proud attitude.

* MagicKnight: Equally skilled in swords and sorcery.

* NiceToTheWaiter: Loth befriends Ead, a chambermaid.
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Sabran. Their closeness is what gets him sent to Yscalin despite the fact that there is nothing romantic between them.

* AssassinOutclassin: Her magic makes it easier to thwart assassins sent for Sabran.
* AwesomeMcCoolName: Eadaz du Zãla uq-Nãra.

* MissingMom: Ead's mother was killed when she was a child.

* OnlySaneMan: How Ead feels in the Inys court.

* HeirClubForMen: A [[GenderInvertedTrope rare female example]], as she's expected to birth a daughter for the queendom.

* LipstickLesbian: It's unclear how much of this is Sabran’s personal style or simply conforming to societal standards of what a monarch should look like, but it seems probable that if she wanted to dress differently, she could.

--> “I was too fortunate. All my life, the great Kwiriki was too good to me. Every day, I have waited for his favor to disappear. When the outsider came, I knew it was time.’’

* BrokenAce: Harbors a lot of insecurity despite being incredibly skilled in almost everything she does.

* BadAssNormal: Has no innate supernatural powers.[[note]]At first.[[/note]]

* [[{{Determinator}} Determinator]]: Will keep fighting regardless of odds or injury.
** Willingly takes a painful blow to lure her opponent in during a fight.

** Defends herself against a wyvern attack when she is interrupted ''mid-surgery'' and still under partial anesthesia, then sews herself back up.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: She’s willing to break her [[ThouShaltNotKill Thou Shalt Not Kill]] policy in order to rescue Nayimathun.

%%*NiceJobBreakingItHero: Tane’s attempt to keep the Water Trials from being canceled sets several
* PlatonicLifePartners: It’s [[AmbiguouslyGay unclear]] if Tane’s feelings for Susa ever went beyond deep childhood friendship.

%%** Responds to Turosa’s petty insults with polite indifference.

%%* HonorBeforeReason:
%%*The Chosen One:
%%*BrokenAce:
%%*TookALevelInBadass: After eating from the Orange Tree.
%%* TheFettered:

Mage from a secret society posing as one of Queen Sabran’s chambermaids in order to protect her.

* AmazonianBeauty: Ead is 5’10” (177.8 cm), strong, and attractive.

* BodyguardCrush: Develops feelings for Sabran, who she was sent by the Priory to protect.
* DeadpanSnarker: Especially with Sabran.
* ExactWords: Promises Sabran she will stay with her "as long as she is able".

* LadyAndKnight: The knight to Sabran’s Lady.

* MissingMom: Ead’s mother was killed when she was a child.
* ObliviousToLove: Doesn't understand why Sabran has taken a sudden interest in her. [[note]]To be fair, it’s unclear whether Sabran herself is aware.[[/note]]

* ParentalFavoritism: Discouraged at the Priory, but also a clue that [[spoiler:Chassar]] is Ead’s father.

-->“Oh, and Sabran, I will not be wearing court fashions any longer. I’ve had more than enough of trying to protect you in a petticoat.”
%%*BigDamnHeroes: Is the one to finally vanquish the Nameless One.

Son of Lord Clarent and Lady Annes Beck of Leas and older brother of Meg. Loth is Sabran’s closet friend.

* BigBrotherInstinct: For Sabran and, more literally, for his sister, Meg.

* [[NiceToTheWaiter Nice To The Help]]: Loth befriends Ead, a chambermaid.

* AssholeVictim: Niclays doesn’t always deserve his fates but it can be hard to feel sorry for him considering how his selfish actions have made life harder for everyone else.
* ButtMonkey: To [[{{PIRATES}} privateers]] aboard the ''Pursuit''.
** and the palanquin carriers.
** and the soldiers in Orisima.
* DescentIntoAddiction: After Jannart’s death, Niclays loses himself to gambling and alcohol.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: England

->’’For the first time, [Ead] saw Sabran Berethnet for who she was beneath the mask: a young and fragile woman who carried a thousand-year legacy on her shoulders. A queen whose power was absolute only so long as she could produce a daughter.’’

-->”Leave this city and harm no soul, or I swear by the Saint whose blood I carry, you will face defeat beyond any the House of Berethnet has ever extracted on your kind. Before I leave this world, I will see your kind thrown down, sealed forever in the chasm of the mountain.”

* BreakTheHaughty: Sabran starts out a self-righteous religious zealot and slowly has every piece of her world view and identity called into question.
-->[[spoiler: “Everything I am is a lie.”]]
* DefrostingIceQueen: Toward Ead.

* HeirClubForMen: A [[GenderInvertedTrope rare female example]], she’s expected to birth a daughter for the queendom.

* HonorBeforeReason: Walks out to meet [[TheDragon Fyredel]] without stopping to consider what her death would mean for her country. Almost a [[TooDumbToLive Too Dumb To Live]] moment had it not been for [[spoiler:Ead’s warding]].
* IdenticalGranddaughter / StrongFamilyResemblance: Each generation of Berethnet looks nearly identical.

* KingBobTheNth: Out of the 36 queens of Inys, there are only six names among them.[[note]]Glorian, Sabran, Jillian, Rosarian, Carnelian, and Marian[[/note]] This leads to high regnal numbers, such as Sabran IX.
* LipstickLesbian: It’s unclear how much of this is Sabran’s personal style or simply conforming to societal standards of what a monarch should look like, but it seems probable that if she wanted to dress differently, she could.

%%*PleaseWakeUp: To Ead after she is poisoned. --> '''Sabran:''' “Don’t leave me here alone.”

* StatuesqueStunner: Word of God states Sabran is 6’1”(185.42cm) [[https://sshannonauthor.tumblr.com/post/187145177203/how-much-taller-is-sabran-than-eadaz]].

%%*TheChainsOfCommanding:
%%*FreudianExcuse:

* SuddenlySuitableSuitor: Sabran raises Margret’s crush Thairan Lintley to the title of Viscount, making him of sufficient rank marry her.

%%*SacrificialLamb: Kit, for Loth.

* OffingTheOffspring: Tries to kill her descendant.

* ShapeshifterDefaultForm: Kalyba’s true form is identical to [[spoiler: Sabran IX]].

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Genuinely believes that, in order to defeat the Nameless One, Virtudom must ally itself with the East but is too naive to realize how dangerous her methods are.

%%*CassandraTruth:
%%*TogetherInDeath: With Sulyard.

* {{Mordor}}: Becomes this after it’s taken over by Frydel and the Draconic Army. Complete with lava flows.

* BodyHorror: Apparently being Flesh King also emaciates the body, turns one’s eyes grey, red lines appear on the hands, and it feels like burning.
* IfICantHaveYou: Conspired with The Cupbearer to kill [[spoiler:Rosarian IV]] because she rebuffed his marriage proposal.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Japan

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: China

Called "wyrms" in the West. The Namesless One's army is comprised of Western Dragons and their hybrids such as wyverns and cockatrices.

* WeakenedByTheLight: Wyverns are repelled by Sterren magic.

* TheDreaded: He’s been gone for a thousand years and is still feared by reputation alone.
* SealedEvilInACan: Banished to the bottom of the ocean for a thousand years.
[[/folder]]

* TheLostLenore: Jannart, Niclays dead lover, and Truyde’s grandfather, who was betrothed at birth to a noblewoman. They carried on a secret affair but Jannart died before they could steal away together.