Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Characters / Alex Verus

Go To

For characters from Alex Verus.

    open/close all folders 

Alex Verus allies

    As a whole 
  • Fire-Forged Friend: Variam notably, is skeptical of Alex's motives at first, which almost led Alex to abandon Anne and him on the spot. However, Alex's efforts to help and save both of them, along with 2 or 3 fights together) turned him around, and Variam has shown nothing but loyalty afterward.
  • It Only Works Once: Alex notes that whenever the group gets blindsided once, they do their best to protect themselves against whatever security flaw was exploited when they rebuild their defenses.
  • Take a Third Option: They are usually stuck between two (or more) great players doing some political manoeuvering to come out on top. As all of those are usually ennemies (to varying degrees depending on the moment), Alex's group spend quite a bit of time trying to find a third option to survive the current crisis while avoiding giving too much power to one of the party. Sometimes they even succeed.
Verus:If I hurt one side, I’d be helping the other. Whatever I did, someone I hated was going to profit from this. Was there a third option, some way I could make both of them lose?
  • True Companions
  • Weak, but Skilled: Their group is mostly a pebble compared to the other parties (like Levistus or Morden). They make up for this by relying on their wits and skills.
    Alex Verus 

Alex Verus

Alex Verus: My name is Alex Verus. I'm a mage, a diviner. In mage terms I'm unaligned, which means I'm not affiliated with the Council but don't count myself as a Dark mage either.
Magic type: Divination/Probability magic.
Alignment: Dark/Independant Mage.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Towards Anne
  • Combat Clairvoyance
  • Combat Pragmatist: As a diviner, Alex is almost always disadvantaged in a straight fight. As a result, most of his moves are either about making the fight as unfair as possible in his favor and stacking the deck, or facilitating an escape. He mentions several times that his instinct in a conflict is to run away.
  • Comes Great Responsibility: When pushed, Alex admits that he's been helping the adepts or mages new to magic out of a sense of responsibility. If no one helps them then they'll die, and no one appeared to be willing to do it, so he had to.
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Divide and Conquer: Alex is often a small fry compared to some (most) of his enemies. He often survives by exploiting the fact that those foes of his are also mortal enemies with each others.
    • It is deconstructed however, as it often means Alex consequently ends up strengthening the position of someone he hates as the winner benefits from the outcome, worsening his own position in the long-term. Additionally, in Forged, Morden warns him that his successfully pulling off that tactic to get rid of many of those enemies means that there might now be a shortage of powerful players to pit against each other, even though the ones left are still dangerous.
  • Everyone Can See It: Towards Anne
  • Good is Not Nice: While he is uncomfortable about it, it is repeatedly pointed to him that Alex killed more people in a few years than the average dark mage does in all his life. He can also be ruthless against those who threaten him and/or his friends.
  • I Did What I Had to Do
  • Morton's Fork: Has a knack for finding himself in such situations. And unfortunately, it is not always possible to Take a Third Option.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Alex is constantly plagued by guilt over his choice to follow Richard in his youth and what he did. He often askw himself or Arachne whether or not he can be considered a good man, especially when he has so much blood on his hands.
  • My Greatest Failure His leading Tobruk and the other apprentices to Catherine is still a big sore point for him, and to the present day, he still considers that one of his worst decision ever. The fact that he had a hand in the murder of her brother as well (when the kid came after him to get revenge) did not help.
  • No Sympathy: Most people refuses to believe that he could be anything else but Richard's apprentice or tool, regardless of what he does. Even after he risks his life to try to impede Richard or save life, most mages (light or dark) refuse to revise their judgements, and are a bit too eager to turn on him.
  • Properly Paranoid: Alex is all too aware of his weakness, leading him to prepare extensively and think ahead just in case. Of course, we only know about these preparations because Alex does end up needing them:
    • He has trained himself to scan for danger in the future almost unconsciously, making him almost invincible to surprise ambushes.
    • He has a habit of always looking at escape routes whenever he gets into a place.
    • He hardly leaves his home unarmed.
    • He has several hidden caches of weapons, clothes, and money in case he cannot reach his apartment.
    • He has a safehouse in the countryside, with weapons, clothes, food and money.
    • He mentions that he always categorizes people in two categories: those he can trust, and those he cannot, and take care to never let his guard completely drop around people belonging in the second category which among others allows him to limit Meredith's interference.
    • He does his best to hide anything that can represent an edge (Starbreeze, his mist cloak, the dreamstone,...) around people he does not fully trust, regardless of how nice they appear to be which among others allows him to escape from Haken and Cerulean, Caldera, etc.
    • He stockpiles gate stones, in order to be able to escape quickly if necessary, regularly shuffling them around or acquiring new ones to be less predictable those come in handy when Alex and Anne are pursued by Levistus' men across the world.
    • He does his best to stay in shape. While he'd be hard-pressed to box with an elemental mage anytime soon, being able to run faster and longer than most people is a big factor in his being alive.
    • He makes sure that everyone has a gate stone to eveyone's appartments, and takes care to refill some vial of blood, in case someone is kidnapped and he has to find them using a seeker focus which lets him find Anne in time when she is abducted by Zilean and Lightbringer.
    • He insists everyone leaves their phones on at all times. Amusingly this one ends up being a subversion. Alex tried to call Luna and Vari when under attack, only to find later that they both turned off their phones because they were on a date. He can only sigh in amazement at how lame it would have been to die because of such a reason. He does not push the point however as he can see that they are already ashamed and bitter enough at their screwup.
  • Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids! / Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!: An interesting case. Alex appears to sit at the middle. On one hand, Alex is certainly not blind to the grey parts of the world, and he knows that there are some things he cannot do, forcing him to make harsh choices, contrasting with mages like Sonder or Caldera who believe in the system. On the other hand, Alex still believes in decency, empathy, friendship, and that the strong should help the weak, something that put him at odds with cynics like Hekalion, Richard or Levistus.
  • Small Steps Hero: Unlike the great players, Alex has no grand plan or vision. However, he helped countless newcomers knocking at the door of his shop learn and understand better the ways and dangers of the magical world, when they had nowhere and no one else to turn to, probably saving their lives. While he readily admits that this may not seem like much to powerful men like Morden or Levistus, he nonetheless feels great pride at having been able to do that much.
Alex: But maybe at the end of the day, the most important things I’d done with my life wouldn’t end up being the battles, or the escapes, or the times I’ve survived against the odds. It’d end up being little things like the meeting with that girl. She’d never told me her name, and there was a good chance I’d never see her again, but the couple of hours I’d just spent had made a difference.
Maybe that wasn’t such a terrible legacy to leave behind.

    Luna Mancuso Vesta 

Luna Mancuso

Magic type: Chance magic.
Alignment: Independant adept -> Light apprentice -> Light mage.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Vari
  • Blessed with Suck / Cursed with Awesome: Almost litterally. Luna inherited a curse which takes the good luck around her to turn it into her own. Unfortunately, this means that the closer people get to her, the more prone to (quickly fatal) accidents they become, leading her to become extremely isolated and miserable; all the more ironic as this spell was initially conceived as a protection spell. However, after being properly introduced to the magical world, Luna learns how to control her curse, making her powerful in battle as her curse acts both as a shield and a sword (well, whip).
    • Later, she also learns to restrain her curse, allowing her to finally touch other people (and even pursue romantic relationships).
  • Little Miss Snarker: Develops into this after learning to control her curse.
  • Official Couple: With Variam
  • Odd Name Out: Luna chosing 'Vesta' as her mage name, prompting Alex to muse that most mages picking their names from mythology would rather go for the grand and powerful rather than the unassuming virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family.
  • Passing the Torch: She ends up buying, rebuilding and running the Arcana Emporium after it becomes clear that Alex's precarious position in both light and dark mages society will probably never allow him to run his shop again in the foreseeable future, if at all, even though every day, there are adepts or new mages in need of assistance.
  • Rank Up: Is officially recognized as a light mage after passing her trials.
  • Rules Lawyer: Luna is normally a sensitive. However, she can make use of the curse she was born with, making her technically an adept (someone who can only use one spell). After she enters the magical world, she uses the fact that her spell has two seemingly distinct effects (draining the luck around her and boosting her own) to pass convincingly as a mage to everyone who might care, allowing her to get into the apprentice program without too much issue.
    • After looking at the rules governing the journeyman tests, she points out that anybody in the apprentices program can pass their journeyman tests and become a recognized light mage and all it entails, regardless of them being a mage or an adept.
  • Winds of Destiny, Change!: How her curse works.

    Arachne 

Arachne

Magic type: Unknown.
Alignment: Non-Human
  • Giant Spider: She's a magical talking spider larger than humans.
  • Gentle Giant: Immense size, and one of the kindest characters.
  • Put on a Bus: In Fallen, the council realizes (Dark-)Anne has been helping Drakh, and they decide to come down on Alex and his allies hard. Arachne is whisked off by a dragon, and the letter she left Alex hints that they might not be able to see each other anymore. Alex theorized that the dragon sent her forward into the future to protect her, meaning unless he manages to live a long life, they are unlikely to meet again.

    Starbreeze 

Starbreeze

Magic type: Wind magic.
Alignment: Non-Human (Wind Elemental)
  • Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Starbreeze has a terrible attention span, and the maturity of a 5-year-old child.
  • Blow You Away: As an air elemental, she has powers over wind.
  • Elemental Embodiment: An air elemental
  • Innocently Insensitive: Sometimes reminds Alex that he is going to die 'soon'. Considering how long-lived she is, this could mean in 10 seconds or in 40 years. Alex understandably finds this awkward.
  • Put on a Bus: In order to protect her from Levistus, Alex is forced to destroy the focus he had been using to call her.

    Anne Walker 

Anne Walker

Magic type: Life magic + Wish magic (Jinn).
Alignment: Light apprentice -> Independent.
  • Biomanipulation: The full extent of her power falls into this. If she can touch you, you're in big trouble.
  • Evil Is Not a Toy: Dark Anne underestimates the threat the Jinn poses to her sanity and free will. She unwisely keeps using its powers, and it eventually usurps her to become a threat big enough to force the Light Council and Drakh to form an alliance.
  • Good Thing You Can Heal: She can use her life magic to heal herself from horrible injuries (though they still hurt) at a fast rate. Luna humorously likes to call it the "healer shield", though Anne is rather unamused.
  • Healing Hands: A particularly gifted Life magic practitioner.
  • Implacable Man: How she fights, when she truly has to. She'll use her Healing Factor to shrug off attacks, and will inexorably aim to close the distance until she can touch her opponent. Once/if she does, it's usually game over.
  • Living MacGuffin: Anne's abilities and personality makes her the target of numerous Dark mages. Crystal, Sagash and Drakh spent quite a bit of time trying to control her. Drakh finally succeeds in making her bind a powerful Jinn and fall under his mental control.
  • Nice Girl: Empathetic, quiet, fairly passive and nurturing, Anne is the nicest person in the series. Despite her massive Life magic abilities, she mostly focuses on their healing applications.
    • Deconstructed however as she actively represses the aggressive and selfish parts of her personality and purposefully keeps away from the harmful applications of her magic. Her all-loving personality is essentially an overcompensation, and she sometimes shows signs of being tired of everyone expecting her to behave in such a way. This has led many mages to get very wary of her as they can sense it's (at least partially) fake (as a rule, you don't get close to untrustworthy life mages if you value your life).
  • Split Personality: As a way to cope with the darker aspects of her personality and powers, Anne developped a Dark alter-ego that she keeps locked up behind many mental walls. It does not end well.
  • Touch of Death: Anne's magic requires physical contact at first. However, once she does touch someone, she can get complete control of all their bodily functions. This means she can rip the life out of people in seconds, make their pain receptors go crazy, immobilise them completely, etc.
  • White Mage: Anne serves mostly as a back-up during fights, focusing on spotting targets with her lifesight and healing wounded allies. She can be more active by directly paralyzing (or killing) opponents, however her abilities are only essentially short-ranged (she needs to touch her target) and she dislikes using her abilities to directly hurt people, thus limiting her usefulness as a battle mage.

    Variam Sinkh 

Variam Sinkh

Magic type: Fire magic.
Alignment: Light apprentice -> Light mage, keeper.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Luna
  • Friend on the Force: After becoming a keeper and apprenticing with Landis, he often uses his new position to inform the group about Keepers' announcements, reports and overall mood.
  • Hot-Blooded: Variam is hardly patient, and can be prone to letting his emotions run wild. Something that is said to be shared by most fire mages.
  • Official Couple: With Luna
  • To Be Lawful or Good: When he becomes a keeper, he is normally legally bound to follow the council's orders, even if that means turning on Alex&co. Not a spoiler: he chooses good without any hesitation.
  • Undying Loyalty: Vari is fiercely loyal to his friends. Like Luna, he takes it in strides when Alex opens up about what he did when he was Richard's apprentice. Unlike Luna, this was almost certainly completely news to him, as unlike her, he had not worked it out beforehand by himself to prepare.

Light mages

Light Council

The ruling body of the light side of the magic world. Composed of 7 voting members (who form the Senior Council), and 6 non-voting members (the Junior Council), it is the highest authority of the light side of the magic world. It has jurisdiction over all aspects of the light magic world, its official decisions are laws, and it is accountable to no one. While they like to present a veneer of legitimacy, this effectively means that the council can virtually pass and enforce any arbitrary decision at any time, provided enough of its members manage to agree on it.

In Veiled, Morden's proposal finally goes through: not only do dark mages become eligible to a seat, they have one seat reserved for them. This position has been filled at several point by Morden (De Jure), and then Alex (De Facto).

Its members are thus considered among the most powerful men in Britain.

    Light Council as a whole 
  • Corrupt Politician: Most, if not all, of them appear to only be in it for themselves and will sink to the lowest tricks to get ahead, a fact gleefully exploited by Morden to get his council seat. Interestingly, it becomes a little bit more nuanced as the story advances:
    • Alex realizes, to his amazement, that Levistus truly wants to make the world a better place. It is just that he believes that putting himself in power is the best way to achieve that. He also believes that everyone (including himself) is expendable and as such has zero hesitations to kill.
    • Bahamus shows himself to be reasonable and the closest on the council to the forces of good the council supposedly is. somehwhat fitting, as he is Talisid's boss
    • Lyle, while still being an ambitious coward, reveals that his seeking out Alex in 'Fated' was not due to old grudges but was rather meant as a (mostly free) favor to a (somewhat) long-time friend.
    • Sal Sarque is quite ready to sacrifice himself to kill Drakh and his allies in 'Fallen'.
    • In other words, while assuming that the light council members are self-serving is a practical way of doing things, it is not technically completely true. Unfortunately, the councilmen's egos and tendency to go overboards ultimately make them hardly better than the threats they claim to defend the world against.
    Morden: The key to understanding the Council is to realise that the majority of its mages don’t believe in anything greater than themselves 

  • Decadent Court: As Alex finds out, everyone at the top is playing some kind of political games, every action and every word uttered a play. It is regularly pointed out that there is no loyalty whatsoever, and few qualms about killing or torturing people if it helps achieving one's goals.
  • Emergency Authority: At the end of Marked, the council officially gives itself 'emergency powers' for the duration of the war, in order to legally pass a death sentence to Morden without having to wait for trial
  • Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering: The council often has trouble agreeing on a course of actions, because most of its members follow their own agenda. A fact Richard and Morden like to exploit Consequently, it is not unheard for official council orders to be self-contradictory (like telling Alex to be both close enough to help an op while simultaneously ordering him to stay far away, enough not to be able to come to the op if required)
  • Vast Bureaucracy
  • We ARE Struggling Together: Alex remarks several times that if they could get their shit together, they could have quickly and effectively shut down Richard and Morden, and even make the overall situation way better. However, between all the backstabbing, the egos, the thirst for power, they have trouble mounting an effective opposition to the dark mages.

Council members

    Vaal Levistus 
Magic type: Ice/Mind hybrid
Alignment: Light mage.
One of the most influential member of the council. Alex earned his enmity early on, and in Veiled their relationship worsened after his refusal to let the slave ring White Rose alone and he has been one of the more dangerous of Alex's (numerous) ennemies.
  • Awakening the Sleeping Giant: What he claims Alex has done. While he was nothing more than an 'minor inconvenience' to the councilman at first(and as such warranted only 'half-hearted' assassinations attempts), his being instrumental in taking down White Rose (and consequently increasing Morden's influence and power) turned him into an ennemy in Levistus' eyes, who quickly put Alex' removal closer to the top of his priorities.
  • Badass Boast: Makes a chilling one to Alex. While the contents of the threats are worrisome enough, Alex is extremely disturbed at how matter-of-factly Levistus describes how he is going to thoroughly destroy his life.
    • He makes good on this promise in Burned, where he gets the council to pass a death sentence on Alex and his friends, the aftereffects of which takes 2 whole books to entangle, and they only survived because Alex and Anne still had a part in Richard's plans
Levistus:You claim that I have been your enemy. This is false. You are, at most, an inconvenience. Should you« continue to work against me, that will change. For the first time, I will devote significant resources to your removal.You will be placed under siege. Your allies will be driven away or killed. Your bases of operation will be attacked. The process will not necessarily be swift. It is possible you will survive for months or even years. However, given enough time, the end is inevitable. You will be destroyed. And when you fall, there will be no one left to mourn your passing. 
  • Corrupt Politician: One of the biggest example. Levistus has agents everywhere, and often uses his connections to launch assassinations attempts on his opponents, while he himself remains safe, far from the action.
  • Nothing Personal: Claims that his assassination attempts on Alex's life were done out of worry that he might be used by Richard as a weapon against the light council rather than out of personal grudges. YMMV.
  • I Am Not Left-Handed: During their confrontation, Levistus reveals that on top of his ice magic, he is also able to use Mind magic. It doesn't make any difference.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Truly believes that his being in power makes the world a better place. He is a bit too willing to kill even children or to keep a slave ring in place for the reader to emphatize with this sentiment though.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Levistus considers everyone expendable, and as such does not hesitate to kill and potentially torture children.

    Sal Sarque 
Magic type: Fire Magic.
Alignment: Light mage.
Affiliated to the crusaders.
  • Black-and-White Insanity: To Sarque, dark mages are evil, and cannot change, light mages like himself are good. Therefore the only good dark mage is a dead dark mage.
  • Hot-Blooded: Contrasting with Levistus' cold and calculating
  • It's Personal: Alex strongly suspects that he is the one who ordered Zilean and Lightbringer to kidnapp and torture Anne. Understandably, Alex is pissed.
    • In the climax of Fallen, as he deactivates the explosives (taking away Sarque's leverage against Anne and Richard), he takes the time to explicitly tells him that yes, it is personal to him.
  • Killed For Real: Anne kills him in the climax of Fallen
  • Knight Templar: Perfectly willing to gun down a bunch of innocent mages and adepts if it'll allow him to kill dark mages.
  • Shocking Defeat Legacy: He is the first member of the Senior Council killed by a dark mage since the old wars that happened centuries ago.
  • Villainous Valour: When finally cornered in his fortress at the climax of Fallen, Sarque shows his mettle:
    • He hardly shows any fear and considers that sacrificing himself to kill Drakh is worth it.
    • Alex realizes that there is no future in which he can get Sarque to drop his guard reliably enough to beat him to the draw, the old man is too wise and experimented to fall for it.
    • When Alex looks into the future, he realizes that Sarque is strong. The only reason he goes down so fast against a Jinn-powered Anne is because he showed a very slight opening when he realized Alex used the Fatewaver to deactivate his explosives.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist

    Undaaris 
Undaaris was white-haired and slim. From my research I knew that he was over sixty, but he didn’t look it: he was straight-backed and handsome, and but for his hair could have passed for forty at the most. Life magic treatments; probably the only reason he hadn’t had his hair recoloured too had been to make an impression. He was a water mage, though like most Council politicians, there were rumours that he had some mind abilities as well.
Magic type: Water Magic.
Alignment: Light mage.
Affiliated to the centrists. One of the wing votes of the Senior Council.
  • Corrupt Politician: Though in a different way from Sal Sarque or Levistus, Undaaris is more of an undecisive, cowardly self-serving bastard.
  • Fairweather Friend: Undaaris has no conviction, no loyalty (like most top light mages), his word is dodgy at best (unlike most mages) and he always follows whatever current is the strongest.
  • No-Respect Guy: While Levistus and Alex hate each other, they both agree that they respect each other much more than they respect Undaaris. Alex outright speculates that he only got his seat by being the least bad choice at a time when options were limited.
  • Sleazy Politician: Has made use of White Rose's services in the past. After listening to some audio recordings from Levistus' stack of blackmail material, Alex felt a desperate need to throw up.

    Bahamus 
Magic type: Unknown.
Alignment: Light mage.
Affiliated to the guardians.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Is the least headstrong of the Senior Council and will actually consider the best course of action before proceeding.

    Spire 
Magic type: Unknown.
Alignment: Light mage.
Unaffiliated, though he is said to represent the independents.

    Alma 
Magic type: Unknown.
Alignment: Light mage.
Affiliated to the directors. An ally of Levistus.

    Druss the Red 
Magic type: Unknown.
Alignment: Light mage.
Affiliated to the isolationists. An outspoken political opponent of Levistus.
  • Brutal Honesty: Is an expert at tearing down the veiled language that the other Councilors use and stating things as they are.
  • Commander Contrarian: Often votes against Levistus just for the sake of contradicting him.

Council aides

    Barrayar 
Barrayar's slender, a fraction under medium height, dresses in expensive suits and has a polite, pleasant manner that gives away nothing at all of what he’s actually thinking. Underneath, I knew him to be calculating and dangerous. He’d been Levistus’s aide for something near to ten years, and he hadn’t kept his job by being incompetent.

Magic type: Force Magic.
Alignment: Light mage.
Levistus' aide, a position he has occupied for more than 10 years, which hints at his competence.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Barrayar always speaks and behaves in a calm and courteous way, though with the occasional snark mixed in his words. However, he will also acts pleasant and courteous when planning and going through taking people hostages, killing opponents, and overall appears to show a disturbing lack of empathy.
  • Number Two: To Levistus
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: Always seen in a business suit.
  • Tactical Withdrawal: at the end of Burned, he leaves Alex alone once he gets the news that Alex is now Morden's aide (meaning his death sentence becomes effectively suspended)
    • at the end of Marked, faced with dozens of jinns, a Jinn-powered Anne who took out Caldera in one move, and Morden, Barrayar reluctantly let them pass, admitting that they 'won this round'.
  • Villainous Valor: Even when cornered by dozens of Jinns in San Vittore prison as Anne is breaking Morden out, Barrayar never loses his cool. He fights alongside Caldera (while Solace cowers behind them), calmly analyzes the Jinns, coldly banters with Verus, and then holds on against the horde until a relief force can rescue them (it is also implied he did it by himself, as Caldera got knocked out by Anne early on and Solace was not exactly helpful)

    Jarnaff 
Magic type: Force Magic.
Alignment: Light mage.

    Solace 
Magic type: Water Magic.
Alignment: Light mage.
Sal Sarque's new aide after Jarnaff is killed by Drakh during the Vault assault.
  • Dirty Coward: Her showing in battle is not exactly impressive.
  • Sketchy Successor: Even politically, she is way less impressive than the other top councilmen Alex had to deal with (espeecially compared to the likes of Barrayar). Alex even briefly wonders why Sal Sarque would choose someone like her as his aide.
  • Vain Sorceress: Alex notices that she had some life magic treatments, to get an athletic and fit look without having to work for it. Unfortunately for her, it appears the artificial nature of the treatment is noticeable when one knows what to look for.

    Lyle 
Magic type: Charm Magic.
Alignment: Light mage.
  • Ambition Is Evil: Lyle refused to help Alex when the latter escaped from Richard's mansion because he feared helping him would jeopardize his chances of joining the council.
  • Dirty Coward: Whenever he is not in control, Lyle completely crumples in fear.
  • Pet the Dog: Lyle reveals that he sought out Alex in Fated because he genuinely wanted to help him. Considering that the gesture ended up royally screwing up his life, Alex is left simultaneously astonished and somewhat amused (in a dark way) at this revelation.
    • Aware that his previous attempt to help Alex backfired, Lyle attempts to get his boss to help Alex reverse his death sentence. Unfortunately Undaaris double-crosses them and make a deal of his own with Levistius. Alex, who is once again left hanging and betrayed by the light mages is absolutely not amused this time and vents all his frustrations at Lyle.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Lyle gets manipulated by Crystal, leading the light apprentices right to a death trap.

Affiliated

    Talisid 
Magic type: Unknown.
Alignment: Light mage.

    David Sonder 
Magic type: Time magic.
Alignment: Light mage.
  • Corrupt the Cutie: Sonder starts as a plucky new mage full of idealism. It's even the reason he grew distant with Alex as he struggled to accept his old friend's greyer actions. However, as the short story focused on him shows, Sonder has definitely been adopting the light Mages's corrupt way of thinking more and more. It seems to be mostly subsconscious, and he doesn't even seem to be fully aware of how far he fell, but eventually, he becomes the sort of person who thinks nothing of emotionally manipulating (with a not-so-subtle threat weaved in even) a friend to do him a favour (reasoning that he helped her earlier and as such is fully within his right to get something in return), use his powers to spy on people (when he used to avoid doing it out of decency), illegally conceal information in exchange for favours, and more generally, comes off as much more conceited, self-serving and entitled than he used to. He's of course far from being as bad as some of the monsters seen in the series, but it's clear that associating so much with a corrupt organisation has stained him considerably.
  • Fatal Flaw: While he can acknowledge that some Light mages are evil Sonder appears to be unable to conceive the Light Council as a whole might be fundamentally in the wrong. Like many light mages, he views the Light Council as the good to dark mages' Always Chaotic Evil, despite ample evidence that the world is not so clear-cut. Even though he is generally a Nice Guy, this simplistic black & White worldview means he can't accept some of Alex's actions, nor can he turn his back on the council. He is often more reticent than Alex to accuse the light council (or light-affiliated mage) of any wrong doings, he tends to propose working within the system as a first resort (even when it's painfully clear such a course of actions has 0 chances of succeeding due to the corrupted nature of the council), and lately adopts some of the least savory traits of light council mages essentially because 'everyone is doing it, so it has to be normal to do so'.
  • Killed Off for Real: During the climatic battle of Risen, Alex tells him to leave his position or because he'll die if he doesn't. He doesn't listen.
  • Naïve Newcomer: While his academic knowledge is one of the best of the group, and he is admittedly smart, Sonder has only been a mage for a few months when he is introduced. Coupled with his rather angst-free background (especially compared to Alex and Anne) and relative youth, it makes him less sawy and capable than he'd like to be in life-or-death situations. Being raised in the light world without having much contact with other philosophies also means that Sonder has troubles understanding the more alien ways of the dark mages, especially those who commit to the "true path". It also makes it harder for him to empathize and accept their grayer actions. He appears to be changing slowly however (though it is not clear if Sonder notices it himself or not). In Fallen, Sonder is shown to be reluctant to reveal to Anne and Variam what really happened to their relatives who died, instead reasonning that it would upset them greatly for nothing. Alex muses that the old Sonder would have instantly advised to tell the truth.
  • Rank Up: Alex mentions several time that Sonder is becoming a rising star among the light world, as his time magic abilities makes for a highly valuable asset in the war.
  • Time Master: Sonder is a time mage. While he can use spells that affect the passing of time (slowing down or outright freezing opponents with some efforts), he specializes in looking at past events. His great range (he is able to peek at things that happened more than 9 years ago in good conditions) and most notably his abilities to 'pierce time shrouds' (magic protections supposed to prevent time mages from doing just that) contributed greatly to his rise in the council.
  • To Be Lawful or Good: His main dilemna. Sonder has a lot of trouble navigating the various shades of grey of the magical world, and the more time he spends with Alex, the more he grows uncomfortable with what the latter has to do. While he is mostly a nice, good man, he struggles with some of Alex's morally gray actions leading to a falling out after the nightstalkers incident, though he never completely become an antagonist (unlike Caldera) and it is obvious that he still care about them (especially Luna and Anne). He even expresses nostalgia and longing when he gets to work with Alex once again after their falling out, remarking somewhat sadly that they do make a "good team". But ultimately, he remains unwilling to side fully with them against the light council (or the other way), and goes to great lengths to avoid choosing between the two.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: Sonder is firmly against killing, something that definitely puts him at odds with Alex and leads to their estrangement
  • Weak, but Skilled: While not completely helpless in battle, Sonder is far from being a heavy hitter. He lacks the raw power of battle mages, or Alex's ruthlessness and combat experience. His time magic abilities are top-notch however, which makes him incredibly valuable for investigations (notably, he can pierce some time shrouds),and his ability to slow down/freeze opponents sometimes allows him to turn the tides, especially against people underestimating him. His taste for research and history complement those abilities making him very effective as an investigator.

    Griff 
Magic type: Earth magic.
Alignment: Light mage.
    Belthas 
Magic type: Ice magic.
Alignment: Light mage.

    Maradok 
"Maradok is a mage with straw-coloured hair and a long, mournful-looking face. He could be an English civil servant, if you don’t look too closely at his eyes."
Magic type: Unknown.
Alignment: Light mage.
  • Nothing Personal: Flatly tells Alex that if it were up to him, he'd be glad to see Alex live a long and happy life, and admits that he does believe Alex when he claims that he split completely from Drakh and is now trying to turn a new leaf (a rarity among the light mages Alex interacts with). However, he's perfectly fine trying to assassinate Alex because unfortunately, divinations foretold that the best way to impede Richard is by killing him. Surprisingly, Alex is not so impressed.
  • We ARE Struggling Together: Technically in the same team as Talisid and consequently Verus. However, his being persuaded that Alex is/will be a tool for Richard makes things difficult for Alex.

Keepers

The policing body of the light side of the magic world
    Keepers as a whole 
  • Bigot with a Badge: Many of the keepers are from the Guardians or Crusaders faction of the Light Council (i.e. the ones who despise Dark mages the most). Though Alex muses that most of them probably have a very good reason to dislike Dark mages, a lot of them think along the lines of 'a good Dark mage is a dead Dark mage', and many aren't against the idea using unnecessary violence on Dark mages to say the least.
  • Police Are Useless / No "Police" Option: Many, if not the majority, of Keepers do try to make a difference, and they are not really incompetent. But between the ObstructiveBureaucrats, the lack of manpower, the politicians above their heads trying to subvert them for their own purposes, and the fact that their jurisdiction is overall rather limited (as a general rule, most magical laws only apply when the victim is a mage), their effectiveness can be limited.

Keepers: Order of the Star

The largest and most well known order. The Order of the Star police magical society; if a crime is committed that breaks the peace of the Concord or the national laws of the Council, they’re the ones who are supposed to deal with it.
    Ilmarin 
Magic type: Air magic.
Alignment: Light mage.

    Caldera 
Magic type: Earth magic.
Alignment: Light mage.
  • By-the-Book Cop: To Alex's frustration. She'll even refuse to arrest an obviously guilty dark mage simply because she lacks a warrant at the moment.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Like all Earth mages.
  • Friend on the Force: at first...
  • Inspector Javert
  • Made of Iron: Can easily shrug off most physical attacks thanks to her Earth magic.
  • Passed-Over Promotion: She's stayed a Journeyman keeper (the lowest rank) for god knows how long despite being exceptional at the investigative part of the job because she's been unwilling to play the game
  • The Reliable One: Has a reputation for being an honest, diligent and effective keeper. Notably, even corrupted keepers and top councilmen shows themselves unwilling to attack her if they can avoid it, as they know she means well and does the job as good as she possibly can amidst all the political shenanigans.
    • She proves how good she is as an investigator in Fallen, when she is the one who figured out that the shadowed mage who broke out Morden and killed 18 men in San Vittore had been Anne and not Vihaela. Tellingly, it was always her investigative abilities that Alex feared on this, even over top councilmen like Barrayar (who are far from being idiots).
  • The Resenter: While she usually does not talk about it, she *does* feel resentful about not being promoted. When Verus ends up promoted way over her head after escaping and making her look like a fool, she openly carries a grudge.
  • To Be Lawful or Good: Though the possibility is vaguely entertained, Verus has no illusion that she'll choose Lawful.
    • And then she does, and the results are not pretty...
  • We Used to Be Friends: In the later books, Alex is saddened and bitter to find that Caldera has become quite openly resentful and hostile to him. As for her, she makes it clear that 'she is done bating for him', and that as far as she is concerned, Verus is just an ungrateful, egotistic man all too willing to prove himself much clever than the others. Gone are the days where they would take a bullet for each other...

    Slate 
He’s an arsehole, but at least he’s not bent.
Magic type: Death magic.
Alignment: Light mage.

    Haken 
Magic type: Fire magic.
Alignment: Light mage.

  • Noble Top Enforcer: Haken is trying his best to do his job amidst all the byzantine politics of the light council. The grey nature of his superiors unfortunately forces him to make compromises.
    • When he has to choose between trying to subdue Alex non-lethally or kill him, he picks the former. This act of mercy confirms to Verus that Haken is actually a decent person overall and leads him to save his life later.
    • After he is exposed as a secret agent working for Levistius, Haken takes the time to warn Alex that his boss will unfortunately not forget this slight.
  • Book Dumb: Though by no means stupid, Haken is not really an adept politician nor does he particularly shine as a chessmaster. Vihaela even condescendingly tells him he is too slow to understand how/when the situation has changed. Nonetheless, he still has a very good grasp of how Divination works, and Alex finds to his frustration that Haken is smart enough to effectively evade his attempts at eavesdropping.

    Nimbus 
Magic type: Air magic.
Alignment: Light mage.
  • Badass on Paper: Very high-ranking Keeper but the first fight we see him in he gets laid out within seconds and in the second he completely botches the planning.
    Rain 
Magic type: Unknown.
Alignment: Light mage.

Keepers: Order of the Shield

Once the biggest of the orders, their name’s a hint at their original function: they were battle-mages, meant to protect the population from magical predators. But as magical creatures declined, so did they, and nowadays they’re the Council’s military reserve, called in when a situation is violent or expected to get that way. Ninety-nine percent of their time is spent sitting around doing nothing or guarding against threats that never show up. The last one percent involves getting sent into the most horrendously dangerous situations imaginable.
    As a whole 
  • Creature-Hunter Organization: What they used to be. But over the years, human mages have managed to wipe out pretty much every other magical creatures, so they're not really doing a lot of that anymore.
  • Elite Army: They only recruit battle mages, and are essentially the Council's Special Forces, tasked with handling the most dangerous situations the LC might encounter. They are the ones called in when mages like Caldera are considered too weak to deal with the issue.
  • Mildly Military: Have a reputation for being weird (Alex muses this is probably because no one sane would ever volunteer to join the Order of the Shield in the first place) and members are mentioned to get much more leeway from the council compared to other keepers

    Landis 
Magic type: Fire magic.
Alignment: Light mage.
  • Absent-Minded Professor: Can give off this vibe. On one memorable occasion, he is seen carelessly tossing around a bomb that he was studying to his audience, seemingly unaware of the danger.
  • A Father to His Men: Orders the security men with him to withdraw when they are facing Vihaela, knowing that they have no hope of even scrathing her. Compare that to how the Council explicitely considers them as cannon fodder.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Can often come accross as scatterbrained. He is far from stupid though, and is far more lucid and perceptive than most.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: A wacky mad scientist type at first glance, but also one of the most powerful battle mages in Britain, if not the whole world.
  • Officer and a Gentleman: A high ranking Keeper. And though eccentric, sometimes prone to endless ramblings, Landis is always a gentleman. Even when he is about to start a duel with freaking Vihaela, he is courteous enough to let her strike first.

Keepers: Order of the Cloak

The ones responsible for preserving the secrecy of the magical world. They work with (and on) the mundane authorities, dealing with normals and sensitives, and they’re much less high-profile.

Keepers Auxiliaries

Contractors, hired to assist them in their tasks. They are not officially keepers, but they are still officially affiliated (though not necessarily part of) with the Light Council, and they enjoy some of the perks of keepers.
    Zilean 
Magic type: Lightning magic.
Alignment: Light mage.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: What he excels at.
  • Dirty Coward: Runs away whenever things stop going his way. His magic happens to be really good at it, too, as it lets him turn into lightning and move just as fast. He also begs for his life just moments after taunting Alex with what he did to Anne.
  • Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: What he pretends to be good at.

    Lightbringer 
Magic type: Light/Force magic.
Alignment: Light mage.

Council security

The Cannon Fodder of the light side of the magic world. Mostly made up of normals or sensitives.
    Council security as a whole 
  • Badass Normal: The ones who survive their first few skirmishes tend to become this.
  • Red Shirt Army: As normals, they have no hope of even slowing down meaningfully a dark mage. Usually, the council uses them as expendable pawns, to test defenses, or as a nasty sort of alarm system (i.e. their dying is the alarm bell). Alex muses that they are paid very well, but that the casualty rate is through the roof, especially now that Drakh and the council are in a state of open warfare.
     Sergeant Little 
Magic type: None.
Alignment: Light Normal.

Independant mages

    Meredith 

Meredith

Magic type: Charm magic.
Alignment: Independant mage.
  • Charm Person: Uses Charm magic to control the emotions of the people around her.
  • Dirty Coward: Meredith is completely spineless. While she can be dangerous if cornered, she'll always avoid conflicts if she can.
  • Femme Fatale: Meredith is a very beautiful woman even without her magic. With it, she gets even more irresistible.
  • Gold Digger: Before meeting Alex, she was often with powerful and influential men (and they were always men).
  • The Charmer

    Chamois 

Chamois

Jean-Jacques Duval, thirty-four years old, mage name Chamois. Born in Lyon, travels all around Europe as a freelance battle-mage—he works for Dark or Light, anyone who’ll pay the bills. Suspected assassin but he’s never quite made it onto the wanted list. He uses France as a base and does all his dirty work out of the country, then stays on just good enough terms with the French Council to get away with it. Pretty tough reputation. 
Magic type: Air magic.
Alignment: Independant mage.

    Helikaon 

Helikaon

Helikaon: Anything you take into your life, you have to be able to walk away from ten seconds flat, never see it again. Anything else, anything else, it’s dragging you down. You’re asking if I’ve got anything I’d stand and fight for? No, Alex, you fucking idiot, I don’t. That’s why I’m eighty-three and still alive.

Magic type: Divination/probability magic.
Alignment: Independant mage.
  • Grumpy Old Man
  • Old Master: Alex notes that Helikaon has probably forgotten more about divination than he has learned in his entire life.
  • Not in This for Your Revolution: Helikaon is only ever in this for himself. He takes great pain to avoid danger, and makes clear to Alex that to him, absolutely nothing is worth dying for.
  • Pet the Dog: While it is clear that he'll never help Alex if it were to lead him even close to danger, he still taught Alex and took the time to (try to) get him to turn his back on his friends to save his life.
  • The Cynic : Probably one of the most cynic and uncaring man in the books. Helikaon is apathetic to the war between the dark and light mages, reasoning instead that whoever comes out on top is still going to need diviners, and that the best way not to lose is by not playing. Several times, he urged Alex to remove himself from the political dealings and leave all his friends, family and possessions behind to save his skin.

Dark mages

    Richard Drakh 

Richard Drakh

As far as looks go, Richard Drakh is average in almost every way. [...] In the stories, the greatest Dark mages are always terrifying to look at, tall or striking or monstrous or all three at once. Richard was none of those things. Yet Richard struck more fear into me than [Vihaela] ever could. 
Magic type: Divination/probability magic + Wish magic (Jinn Contract).
Alignment: Dark mage.
Alex's first master, the one who introduced him to the magic world, and dark mage society in particular. He vanished about 10 years before 'Fated', but he was one of the top dark mages of Britain when he was active. His whereabouts and/or reasons for his disappearance are unknown at the start of the series. To the present day, Alex is still heavily traumatized and marked by the time he spent apprenticing under him. At the end of Chosen, he finally makes his return, and then quickly proceed to take back his old position as the top dog among dark mages. Gathering power, he now stands in direct opposition with the Light Council.
  • Always Someone Better: One of the big reasons that Alex is so terrified of Richard is that he knows that while he survived by outsmarting people, Richard rountinely outsmarted him throughout all his life while he had never managed to do the opposite.
    • In Fallen Alex finally figures out Richard's magic type, and he almost despairs at the implications i.e. as a master diviner himself, Richard can do everything Alex can do, counter everything, and even if that is not enough somehow, he can rely on a Jinn's power
  • Fights Like a Normal: Richard conceals his magic type, usually relying mostly on basic spells, focuses and weapons to fight (in fact, upon seeing him fight, Alex is slightly disturbed by how similar it is to his own fighting style).
    • In Bound, Richard reveals he can call upon some weird and unindentified magic if needed. So far, it let him create gates from and to anywhere (casually bypassing usual interdiction fields), create shields, and create black lances which can pierce common elemental shields)
    • In Fallen it is revealed that most of those unusual abilites come from his having contracted a jinn.
  • Might Makes Right: Believes quite strongly in the 'True Path', where only power (regardless of how it is obtained; intelligence, strength, influence, luck, etc) matters, and right and wrong are only decided by a person's ability to enforce his values on others.
  • Older Than They Look: While he looks like a man in his mid-thirties, he is probably older. With her lifesight, Annie estimates his age as closer to fifty.
  • Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: He gives a pretty thorough Breaking Speech to Alex about how 'being nice' is not a viable way to live.
  • They Look Like Everyone Else: Richard Drakh doesn't look impressive or imposing, and appears rather ordinary. His mage name doesn't distinguish his magic type either, or is in any way outspoken. That does not mean he should be underestimated - he is the top dog among Dark mages for a reason.
  • Villains Never Lie: According to Alex, this is exactly what makes Richard Drakh so dangerous. He never lies, but it's what he doesn't say that ends up hurting the people he manipulates.

    Morden 

Morden

Magic type: Death magic.
Alignment: Dark mage.
One of the top dark mage of Britain. Not only is Morden incredibly powerful in battle, he also boasts a huge amount of influence and political power. In the first books, Morden's main goal is to get the council to give the dark mages (i.e. him) a seat on the Council. In Veiled, he finally gets his seat and it becomes quickly apparent that Richard and he are working together, with Morden acting as a public front for the dark alliance.
  • Affably Evil / Faux Affably Evil: It is not really clear what is Morden's true personality. Chillingly, Morden can chat pleasantly enough with you one moment, and then be utterly ruthless at the first trace of insubordination. However, as long as you obediently follow him, you'll find him to be a pleasant enough man.
  • Benevolent Boss: Morden insists that while he can (and does) force people to work for him on occasions, he prefers willing servants. Alex is surprised to find that Morden is never petty, always pragmatic, willing to listen and explain things to his underlings, and more generally, is a pleasant man to talk to. As long as you make it clear that you understand that he is your boss, working for him can almost be enjoyable.
    • Even more surprisingly, their somewhat 'healthy' relationship stays like that even after Morden is incarcerated and Alex takes his place on the council. Far from harboring a grudge, Morden seemingly takes it in stride and even gives him some advice on how to manage as a council member.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: Is in a partnership with Drakh, though the details and reasons are unclear. He's the one dealing with the light council on the political scene, whereas Drakh is the ones leading the dark cabal in the shadows. it comes to an end in Fallen though, as Morden's losing his seat and being forced to leave the political scene made it more difficult for them to work together. It was easy enough for them to collaborate when they were operating in different spheres, but they always had different goals in mind so the new situation meant they apparently were slowly but surely heading towards an eventual confrontation. Rather than take on Richard though, Morden instead decides to retire safely, especially since a powerful Jinn unexpectedly on the loose is threatening to destroy UK at the moment.
  • Know When to Fold 'Em: He decides to make himself scarce and take some vacations somewhere else when the Jinn possessing Anne subverts her will and starts to act on its own agenda. The fact that this probably means Morden will get to walk away scot-free is rather distressing to Alex, especially since he was used as an unwitting pawn to ensure the light council wouldn't try too hard to hunt the dark mage.
  • Man of Wealth and Taste
  • Nerves of Steel: Morden is always composed. Alex notes that he can't use divination to detect his lies as he usually does during conversations because Morden has too much self-control. He also has yet to show any hint of fear. He calmly faced down 3 powerful dark mages (granted he then one-shotted them), and his elegant composure never falters even within touching distance of Annie (who as a life mage is able to drain someone's life in seconds; even considering Morden's own skills might be enough to counter this, Alex can't help but be impressed).
  • Pragmatic Villainy: Morden is unfettered and willing to cross any lines to get what he wants (hence why he qualifies as a dark mage in the first place), but he is always pragmatic.
  • Rules Lawyer: In Burned, he uses the fact that councilmen get to nominate liaisons and aides, effectively making them recognized light mages, halting Alex and Anne's death sentences and binding them to him. Alex remarks that it worked only because nobody got around specifying that this could only apply to light or independant mages, as no one expected a dark mage to ever sit on the council.
  • Villain Respect: Morden is quite outspoken in his respect for Verus' resourcefulness and skills, and he offered the diviner a job several times. He finally gets his way at the end of Burned, when he coerces Verus into becoming his aide.
    • So much actually, that it made Onyx The Resenter, as the latter is furious at how Morden appears to favor a 'simple' diviner over him (who as his chosen, should be his Number Two).

    Vihaela 

Vihaela

Magic type: Life magic + Death magic.
Alignment: Dark mage.
  • For the Evulz: Vihaela's job description often involves torturing people. But most of the people she tortured appear to be mainly because she enjoys it
Vihaela:I decide how I live. Not the Council, not any other mages. Just me. I can do whatever I like, and this is what I like. 
  • Lady of War / Lady of Black Magic: Vihaela is tall, beautiful, highly competent, dresses in sharp clothes and uses one of the most deadly magic seen.
  • Psycho for Hire
  • The Dreaded: One of the most feared person in the series. Not only is she a certified badass and highly effective agent, she's also a Torture Technician who relishes any opportunities to explore new ways to inflict as much as pain as possible on a human.
  • Torture Technician: Was the one tasked with breaking new White Rose slaves when they were acquired, and occasionally had to make an example out of some to make sure the others fall in line. She also appears to treat torturing people as a hobby. She's generally linked with the most horrible and despicable acts of torture in the series, and the few characters we see who were unfortunate enough to go through it are utterly and thoroughly broken.

     Rachel Deleo 

Rachel Deleo

Magic type: Water magic.
Alignment: Dark mage.
Richard's Chosen. She was one of the 4 apprentices of Richard, along Alex.
  • Ax-Crazy: Rachel is...unstable.
  • Domino Mask: Has taken to wear a domino mask. As Alex comes to realize, her personality changes slightly when she wears it, being closer to the fearsome Dark mage Deleo with it than the teen girl he met 10 years ago.
  • I've Come Too Far: Was clearly tempted once to leave Richard when Shireen asked her to leave after Alex escaped. However, she felt that she had gone too far already. She chose to stay and go all-in on the sociopathic dark mage path
  • The Resenter: Rachel is quite bitter over the fact that Alex seemingly gets everything (turning his back on Richard, having friends, becoming aide to Morden, getting a Junior Council seat) without expecting to pay any price while she feels she had to give up so much.
    • We find out that Rachel has felt she'd been in Shireen's shadow since they first met in high school. Richard uses that to persuade her to harvest her best friend in order to gain enough power to become Richard's chosen.
    • Later, she gets something of a demotion, as Richard chooses Morden and Vihaela for his inner circle over her. Even though she is his chosen, Deleo finds herself ordered by the latter more often than not, leaving her terribly embittered as she feels her 10 years of waiting for her master are not valued enough.
    • Her resentment against Alex reaches its apex in Fallen though, when it is revealed that she what she fears above all is that Alex himself might come back to Richard, and be promoted over her, which she feels would render everything she has done all for naught.
  • The Chosen One: Downplayed Trope. A dragon foretells that Rachel is instrumental to defeating Richard, and that unless she turns on him, Richard's victory is certain.
    • This is revealed to be because while she is Richard's chosen (which means she is one of the few people against whom Richard 'might' let down his guard), her *ahem* volatile personality makes her actions impossile to predict even to a diviner like Richard.
  • Unwitting Pawn: After futilely trying to redeem her for years, Alex finally manages to turn her against Richard through manipulations by playing up her feelings of insecurity, leading her to destroy the dreamstone he used to restrain Jinn-Anne.
  • Too Dumb to Fool: A variation. Alex often has trouble predicting her actions, because her Ax-Crazy tendencies means that she can quickly change her mind (seriously affecting his abilities to predict the future), and often irrationally acts as soon as she takes a decision, leaving little time for an early warning, even with divination magic.
  • Moment of Weakness: She incapacited and harvested her best friend in a moment of emotional vulnerability, which Richard was all too glad to use.

    Cinder 

Cinder

Magic type: Fire magic.
Alignment: Dark mage.
  • Affably Evil: While he is a ruthless man, and a brutal fighter, he is also all too happy to go to a McDonald's restaurant with you if you are not ennemies at the moment.
  • Undying Loyalty: Towards Deleo. Even after she refuses to go with him or help him when he had to desperately fight his way out of Richard's domain (getting quite cut up in the process), he makes it clear to Alex that he won't give up on her.

    Onyx 

Onyx

Magic type: Force magic.
Alignment: Dark mage.
Morden's Chosen. While he lacks both Morden's social grace and intellect, Onyx relies on his powerful force magic to be one of the deadliest fighter in the books.
  • The Brute: Onyx is a thug who only knows strength. All strength and no finesse.
  • Chaotic Stupid: He's a terrific fighter who perfectly internalized the Dark mages' mantra of 'might makes right' but he's too big an idiot to ever be dangerous in a political sense.
  • The Resenter: Onyx is a powerful battle mage, and as such is unable to comprehend the value of anything but raw power. Verus, a physically weak mage, defeating him and making him run for the first time since he'd become Morden's chosen was a solid blow to his pride. Morden continuously speaking of Verus, in a futile attempt to make Onyx see the value of more intellectual skills, added to his irritation. The final straw was Morden choosing Verus as his aide over him. This convinced Onyx that Morden had replaced him and he became obssessed with proving that he was better than Verus.
  • When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Onyx is exceptionally deadly in a fight. As a result, he has never bothered to try or learn anything else. Unfortunately for him, that makes him too limited to get into the big leagues like Morden, Richard or Vihaela. Unfortunately for Alex and the other mages who get to face him in open battle, that is often enough.

    Pyre 

Pyre

Magic type: Fire magic.
Alignment: Dark mage.

     Sagash 

Sagash

Magic type: Death magic.
Alignment: Dark mage.

    Chalice 

Chalice

Magic type: Chance magic.
Alignment: Dark mage.
  • Token Good Teammate: Chalice stands out among dark mages. She's not part of any known cabale and while self-serving, she's more than happy to exchange information with Alex Verus and teach Luna chance magic. She further explains to Verus that she is a Dark mage because she believes that the Light Council needs a counter power to prevent it from exercising a full autoritarian control of the magical population.

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top