Characters / Chronicles of the Kencyrath - Perimal Darkling

This is listing of characters in the Perimal Darkling in the series Chronicles of the Kencyrath.

For the main character index, go here.

the Perimal Darkling

Perimal Darkling

• Big Bad
• Eldritch Abomination
• The Stars Are Going Out: This will be the sign that the primal chaos of Perimal Darkling has broken the barriers holding it back from yet another world.
  Jame: It's still the dark of the moon. When Tori and I were children, we used to stay awake whole nights sometimes watching for the crescent to reappear. Our old tutor Anar told us that if ever it didn't, that would mean Perimal Darkling had swallowed the moon and all the stars would follow one by one.

Haunted Lands

• Weird World, Weird Food: The vegetables grown there are semi-animate.

Master's House

• Eldritch Location
  Old songs claimed that the Master's House stretched back down the Chain of Creation from threshold world to world.
• Supervillain Lair
• Year Outside, Hour Inside: Time passes more slowly in the Master's House, which is why Jame is now ten years younger than her twin brother.
  Keral: There are rooms in the Master's House where time barely crawls.

Changers

• The Corruption: What becoming a Changer involves.
• Fire Purifies/Kill It with Fire: Fire is one of the few reliable ways to kill corrupted beings like Haunts and Changers, and usually the most practical.
  Tirandys: Fire will kill me, if it kindles my blood. We changers scorned death, and now each one of us is his own pyre, waiting for the first spark.
• Our Vampires Are Different: The changers are never described as vampires but follow a lot of vampire tropes. They are created (it seems) by sex by coupling with vile, corrupted creatures of Perimal Darkling: the crawling, infectious chaos. The Darkling influence in them gives them long life, and the ability to shape-shift, both to mimic other humans and to take on a bat-like flying form. They become dependent on blood for energy, and have superhuman speed and toughness. They shun sunlight to a degree but can endure it, but fire is fatal to them, since their corrupted blood is intensely flammable.

  Immalai: The Mistress reaped souls to keep Gerridon of Knorth young; but you have gained your "immortality" by coupling with the foulest shadows that creep in the farthest rooms of the Master's House, across the thresholds of a hundred fallen worlds. Now you crawl back to them whenever lust or severe injury drives you and find renewal in their arms.

• Rubber Man/Voluntary Shapeshifting: Stretching oneself appears to be the first thing a Changer finds that they can do. The Changers can shift their forms at will, and can take on the appearance of a specific human, especially if they drink their blood or otherwise ingest the substance of the target.
• The Starscream: Several of the Changers make it clear they don't like Gerridon at all, for a variety of reasons. Most that are like this have the very logical fear he'll try to consume them to prolong his immortality after his supply of mortal souls runs out, and try to overthrow him traditionally. Tirandys is a somewhat more complex one, as he isn't openly treacherous and is acting from his sense of honor. Ironically, it's this same sense of honor that makes Gerridon trust him more than any of the others—the Master seems to know that his underling has no love for him, but also knows he'll never go against a direct order.

Haunts

• Fire Purifies/Kill It with Fire: Fire is one of the few reliable ways to kill corrupted beings like Haunts and Changers, and usually the most practical.
• Our Zombies Are Different: The Haunts, dead reanimated by Perimal Darkling, are pretty standard zombies: dying unburned in the Haunted Lands turns you into one, as does being bitten if the infection kills you. Singer Ashe, however, becomes a haunt through an infected bite and carries on as if nothing happened, although with insight into the world of the dead. And then we get a zombie salmon…

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the Master's Generation

Master's Generation

• Sibling Team (Exaggerated): They're a group of full and half-siblings. When Gerridon fell, he enlisted his twin sister Jamethiel—though she didn't know what she was getting into. Their half-brother Tirandys elected to follow Gerridon, out of a combination of brotherly loyalty and being in love with Jamethiel. Keral, Tirandys's half-brother on the other side—who wasn't directly related to Gerridon and Jamethiel—followed Tirandys's example.

the Twins

the Twins

• Chiaroscuro: Jamethiel wears a white dress, in contrast with Gerridon, who wears black. This symbolizes her innocence and his guilt.
  Under their eyes, two figures revolved around each other, the one in black only visible when it eclipsed the one clad in white. They appeared to be… dancing.
• The Dreaded: They are the most infamous people in the entire history of the Kencyrath.
• Missed the Call: Sort of. They could've been the Tyr-ridan, if they had had a third. Without a third, they were incredibly unbalanced, and the Fall ensued.
• Really 700 Years Old: The two of them got much nicer immortality than the changers. They're 3,000 years old, but Jamethiel looks like a fairly young woman. We haven't seen Gerridon's face yet, but he presumably still looks young too, as Immalai explained.
  Immalai: The Mistress reaped souls to keep Gerridon of Knorth young; but you have gained your "immortality" by coupling with the foulest shadows that creep in the farthest rooms of the Master's House,
• Twincest: Twins and consorts. And thought we don't know exactly how their parents were related, we know they were born of a pairing between blood-kin, arranged by matriarchs trying to breed the Tyr-ridan.
  • Villainous Incest (Subverted): When you first hear about Gerridon and Jamethiel, it sounds like pretty standard Villainous Incest—they're the most infamous people in the entire history of the Kencyrath, after all. But as the story goes on, you find out twincest was culturally sanctioned in their time, and very traditional, and—while it's fallen out of popularity somewhat—incest still isn't shocking or unheard of. And by the time the heroes are starting to get twincestuous too, it's definitely been subverted.
• Unholy Matrimony: They are remembered as such in Kencyr history, at least. Whether they really were is rather less clear, and leans to the side of "probably not".

Gerridon

Gerridon of Knorth

The Master

Gerridon, the Master of Knorth, who had betrayed all for this meager, immortal life. So many death banners, rank on rank… he had devoured the souls of all his followers, one by one, to come to this. His hall, Perimal Darkling itself, surrounded him like the belly of a beast that has swallowed everything, even itself, and still hungers for more.

Jamethiel's twin; Tirandys and Terribend's maternal half-brother; Glendar's paternal half-brother. Gerridon betrayed his people to the Perimal Darkling.

• Authority Equals Asskicking: Hasn't been seen in action yet, but in Dark of the Moon Jame really didn't want to have to fight him, which says a lot about his abilities.
• Bad Boss: He was Highlord of the Kencyrath. That didn't stop him from selling all his people to the Perimal Darkling.
• Creepy Uncle: He was planning to make his niece his consort. To be fair, he was doing this because he wanted a conduit for his immortality, not really because he was attracted to her, but still.
• Dark Is Evil
• Deal with the Devil:
  But he feared death. "Dread lord," he said to the Shadow that Crawls, even to Perimal Darkling, ancient of enemies, "my god regards me not. If I serve thee, whilt thou preserve me, even to the end of time?"
• The Dragon: He's not the ultimate evil, but Perimal Darkling itself is more of a primal force of chaos than a character. Gerridon's the human-scale bad guy, with many aspects of the Big Bad.
  • Dragon with an Agenda: He serves Perimal Darkling's goals, but rather than having any real desire to turn the universe into a chaotic, shadow-infested wasteland, he does so only because of the Deal with the Devil he made to secure his immortality. Arguably, this makes him worse than Perimal Darkling, as it's to all appearances an Eldritch Abomination that's just following its nature, while he chose to be evil.
• Evil Wears Black: Jamethiel wears a white dress, in contrast with Gerridon, who wears black. This symbolizes her innocence and his guilt.
• The Faceless: He conceals his face behind a mask of shadows during his rare on-page appearances
• Immortality Immorality: Gerridon selling his people out to Perimal Darkling, the Big Bad, for immortal life is a pretty classic version of this trope. He wipes out two-thirds of his people, mostly so their souls can be harvested to keep him alive…
• Red Right Hand: Gerridon's right hand is artificial and made of silver; this is because Jame cut it off with a knife during Attempted Rape of the "forced marriage" variety.
• Wife Husbandry (Exaggerated): Not only did he take Jame in at age seven, bringing her up and training her so he could make her his replacement consort and immortality conduit, but he actually arranged her conception and birth in the first place.

Jamethiel

Jamethiel Dream-Weaver of Knorth

The Mistress

Jamethiel danced on, a slim, graceful figure with flowing black hair, untouched by shadow or age. Drawn to that luminous, sensual innocence, wraiths danced with her, tattered souls shivering in the threads of their death banners, torn loose from Gothregor's keep and swept into this haunt of darkness. One by one, they surrendered to her kiss, and what remained tumbled in unstrung coils to the cold, dark floor.

Gerridon's twin; Tirandys and Terribend's maternal half-sister; Glendar's paternal half-sister. Gerridon convinced Jamethiel to help him betray his people to the Perimal Darkling, though she didn't really understand what he was asking of her.

• Alas, Poor Villain/Redemption Equals Death: When she faces Jame in the mountains, she is faced with a choice: keep dancing the Senetha and maintain her balance over the chasm, but also reap Jame's soul, or stop dancing and fall to her death, but let Jame go safely. She chooses to end the dance rather than destroy her daughter.
• Elective Mute (Implied): It's not totally clear, but Jame says that her mother never spoke, but at night she would sing her and Tori the ancient songs of the Kencyrath. This is part of her status as The Ophelia.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Or, "Jame, I am your Mother," as the case may be
• Missing Mom: To Jame and Torisen. Jame says she never really missed her mother since she's never really known her, but that Tori seemed to feel her absence more.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: Gerridon was her brother, her consort, and her lord. She obeyed him, and fell for it.
  It had never occurred to her before that the Dream-Weaver had fallen through obedience to her lord.
  But a lady's honor was obedience.
• Obliviously Evil
  Immalai: Jamethiel Dream-Weaver didn't understand the evil that Gerridon asked her to commit until it was too late. She never really consented to it. Nonetheless, her abuse of power opened the deepest reaches of her soul to the void beyond the Chain of Creation where Perimal Darkling itself was spawned. […] The Dream-Weaver acted in ignorance and so bears only partial responsibility for her actions.
• The Ophelia (Downplayed): Not crazy, per say, but by the time we meet her, Jamethiel isn't all there in the head, but she is ethereal, beautiful, and dangerous. And—like many cases of this trope—she's a dancer, and wears white.
• Person of Mass Destruction: When she raped the souls of two thirds of the Kencyrath.
  Then went my lord Gerridon to his sister and consort, the priestess Jamethiel Dream-Weaver, and said, "Dance out the souls of the faithful that darkness may enter in." And she danced. Two-thirds of the People fell that night, Highborn and Kendar."
• Power Incontinence: Once she started reaping souls, she literally couldn't stop.
• Virgin in a White Dress: Jamethiel wears a white dress, in contrast with Gerridon, who wears black. This symbolizes her innocence and his guilt.

Changers

Tirandys

Tirandys

"If the worst happens, child, if you do survive, at least I've taught you the Senethar by my example and honor by my mistakes."

—Tirandys

Terribend's twin; Gerridon and Jamethiel's maternal half-brother; Keral's paternal half-brother. Tirandys followed Gerridon into the darkness because he was his brother—and because he loved his sister Jamethiel.

• Brother–Sister Incest (Downplayed): He followed Gerridon partly for love of his half-sister Jamethiel. But it seems it was never requited and nothing came of it.
• Long-Dead Badass: Tirandys was isn't actually a case, because he appears (and dies) in fairly early in the series. In-universe, though, he is considered one: Master of the Senthar, 3,000 years gone.
• Love Makes You Evil: It's said that his love for his half-sister Jamethiel was part of the reason he followed Gerridon.
• Mentor Archetype/Parental Substitute: Mostly in backstory, but as Jame's mentor, sensei and surrogate parent he fits this trope to a T, including dying tragically in an Obi-Wan Moment at the end of Dark of the Moon.
• Merlin and Nimue (Implied and ultimately Subverted): He and Jame have shades of this. They've mentor and student in the Senethar (semi-magic) and have a serious age gap. They're not romantically involved, though when Jame returns to the Master's House, he kisses her on the lips. The betrayal part never quite comes either, hence the subversion, but there are several moments when it seems like it might: In Dark of the Moon, Tirandys tries to poison Jame, and then later to kill her brother. But both times, he does it because he believes it's the best thing he can do at that point, and it isn't truly a betrayal to Jame.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: Tirandys decided to do his duty and follow his brother Gerridon into damnation despite the evil Gerridon did, because his reading of the Kencyr code of honor said it was the only choice. He regrets this later, and works from within to bring his master down within the letter of obedience. Within Kencyr culture he became famous for this: The epitome of being trapped and broken by Honor's Paradox.
  Tirandys: Honor. I used to be as sure as you that I knew what it was. One kept one's word. One obeyed one's lord. But then my lord ordered me to do what was dishonorable. I decided the shame was his alone and did as he commanded. I was wrong. But that was my choice, and I must stand by it. That is my honor now, for as long as I live. May I die soon.
• Noble Demon: With emphasis on the "noble". His honor compels him to serve Gerridon, but he tries to do the right thing as much as possible with his master's Exact Words.
• Theme Twin Naming: Tirandys and Terribend have alliterating names.

Keral

Keral

Tirandys and Terribend's paternal half-brother. Keral followed Tirandys's example, and fell with Gerridon too.

• Ax-Crazy/The Brute: He's Gerridon mad dog.
• Bed Trick: He slept with Rawneth by pretending to be Greshan, who he'd tricked Rawneth into believing she had raised from the dead. Partway through, he morphed again, revealing himself as… well, we don't know for sure, but it's implied he took the form of Gerridon. Regardless, he "revealing" himself as someone else he also' wasn't really.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Apparently a hobby of his—the Dark Judge is an example of his handiwork, and Jame would have been if Tirandys hadn't protected her.
• The Dragon: To Gerridon (who himself is the Perimal Darkling's Dragon). Jame calls him "the Master's favorite pet", and Ganth calls him Gerridon's "faithful dog".
  Ganth: No, not Gerridon. Keral, his faithful dog. Where is your master?
• Mix-and-Match Critter: As a result of too much exposure to Perimal Darkling's power, he can't hold a single shape for long and generally looks like this.
  Immalai: But [the shadows] warp you, Keral, body and soul, more and more each time. Even now you can no longer hold any true shape. Soon you will crawl on your belly like some pallid slug until your very bones liquefy. What price immortality then?

Bender

Terribend

Tirandys's twin; Gerridon and Jamethiel's maternal half-brother; Keral's paternal half-brother.

• Enigmatic Empowering Entity: It was he who gave Jame the Ivory Knife on the night she went to the red ribboned bed,
• Theme Twin Naming: Tirandys and Terribend have alliterating names.