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Cimorene
Princess Cimorene of Linderwall and Queen of the Enchanted Forest
The youngest of seven sisters in a typical fairy tale kingdom, Cimorene is bored with trying to be a proper princess and runs away to become a dragon's princess (which is basically a mashup of maid/chef/librarian). She's clever, hard-working, and stubborn (or pig-headed, if you're annoyed with her), and stood out to the other characters for having more common sense than the average princess.- Arranged Marriage: The straw that broke the camel's back for Cimorene's decision to run away.
- Feminine Women Can Cook: Zigzagged. Cimorene has both traditionally feminine skills, like cooking, and traditionally masculine skills, like fighting. Both come in handy. While she hated learning protocol skills even she was forced to acknowledge that it had been somewhat useful and made a silent apology to her teacher.
- Rebellious Princess: She tried learning embroidery, dancing, and everything a princess was supposed to learn but found it all dull so she secretly took lessons in magic, cooking, economics, and juggling (none of which lasted when her parents found out). When she became betrothed to a boy she found dull and dim-witted, she ran away.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Runs away because she dislikes learning the traditional princess skills she finds useless, instead opting for more practical hobbies such as cooking and cataloging. She DID however make a silent apology to her protocol teacher for his insistence that she learn about seating arrangements as it turned out to be unexpectedly useful when Cimorene was serving guests at Kazul’s dinner party (she had hated her protocol lessons the most). She also sets up a system of delegated authority for the dragons, so she presumably did the same when she marries Mendanbar and helps rule the Forest.
- Tall, Dark, and Snarky: She's noted to be "unusual" for a princess due being quite tall and raven-haired (as opposed to the stereotypical short blondes most other princesses are), and has a marked tendency for snark - when a murderous genie asks her how she wishes to be killed, her answer is a deadpan "Old age.".
- Youngest Child Wins: Averted. Her sisters are all happily married. Cimorene's life is exactly how she wants it to be, just different from her sisters'.
Kazul
Kazul
The dragon Cimorene works for.- Big Eater: She's an enormous dragon, so it's to be expected. It's mentioned that a dragon-size serving of mousse is a little more than a bucketful.
- Cool Crown: When, after her first day as King, Kazul exhaustedly hurls it against the wall, Cimorene chides that she shouldn't treat the crown that way. Kazul responds, "Of course I should. It's expected. That's why we made it out of iron and not something soft and pliable like gold."
- Cool Old Lady: Not a youngster by dragon standards (it's mentioned in Searching that she has grandchildren), but it never slows her down.
- Never Mess with Granny: A literal grandmother, and getting on her bad side is not advised - she's the one who offed Zemenar, who'd been the Big Bad of the series for the first three books.
- Nice to the Waiter: Cimorene and Kazul become very good friends, and Kazul never once suspects Cimorene of running away even when rumors suggest otherwise and trusts her around her treasure and rare scroll collection. This is notable considering that pretty much all the other dragons ignore their princesses and don't expect much out of them (Kazul even says that princesses are generally only kept as a "minor" mark of social status) while the princesses don't actually do any work and run off with whatever prince comes to rescue them.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She becomes this for Cimorene in Dealing With Dragons when she becomes the King and is happy to listen to what Cimorene has come to warn her about.
- She Is the King: She ends becoming the King of the Dragons at the end of the first book—as Kazul explains to Cimorene, even if a female becomes the King of the Dragons or a male dragon becomes the Queen of the Dragons, "King" and "Queen" are just the job titles. Both positions have vastly different duties and perks (with those of the Queen being a lot less desirable and much more boring), and Kazul claims that there hasn't been a Queen of the Dragons ever since the last "Queen" (a male dragon) had to leave the job due to some kind of medical emergency.
Mendanbar
King Mendanbar of the Enchanted Forest
King of the Enchanted Forest and one of the major heroes of the series.- Arranged Marriage: He finds himself eternally arguing with his steward, who pressures him to get married to ensure an heir.
- Loyal Phlebotinum: His sword will only allow itself to be held by the King of the Enchanted Forest or a member of his family. It is innately linked to the forest's magic and in choosing its next bearer when the old one dies, it also selects the next king (who, due to that link, promptly inherits an enormous amount of magical power on top of the title — wouldn't do to have a spell-less leader of an innately magical country, after all).
- Fisher King: He has a sort of symbiotic relationship with the Enchanted Forest and is deeply rattled when he encounters magic drained and damaged portions of it. This is also why everyone knows that he’s only been imprisoned and not killed by the wizards near the end of the 3rd book: the Enchanted Forest itself would make sure EVERYONE knew about it (as when the previous king, Mendanbar‘s father, died everyone who lived there suffered a month’s worth of insomnia).
- Modest Royalty: Not only does he dress very casually, he hates formal occasions and cancels as many as he can get away with, much to his steward's dismay. At one point, another character chides him for it, saying he should at least wear the crown or else no one would know who he was.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: King Mendanbar can and does perform pretty much every significant task in his territory himself, to the point that he runs himself pretty ragged. His "court" is a handful of palace staff that takes care of daily operations. The new King of the Dragons, crowned at the end of the first book, also operates firmly under this trope.
- Translator Buddy: He often explains Telemain's Magibabble to others.
Morwen
Morwen
An old friend of Kazul's and a witch who lives in the Enchanted Forest.- All Witches Have Cats: Part of being a witch, including having a broomstick and a propensity for gardening. On the other hand, Morwen's multiple cats (none of them a "proper witchy black") give her a significant boost in power.
- A Day in the Limelight: She is the POV character for Calling, which comes in handy as it allows the reader to understand her cats.
- Hot Librarian: Young, attractive and with a magical library.
- Kill It with Water: Averted, despite witches having the stereotypical weakness to melting in water in this universe. It's noted that the water in-question was soapy, and since Morwen keeps her house so clean, it wouldn't make sense for her to be harmed by soapy water.
- Witch Classic: Arguably of the Hot Witch type. Although she's noted by Mendanbar to not exactly meet the stereotype of witches, given that she's short and young with clear skin and ginger hair.
Alianora
Princess Alianora of Duchy-on-Marsh
A supporting character in Dealing With Dragons, captive of the dragon Woraug. She becomes fast friends with Cimorene after they meet.- Damsel in Distress: Subverted. Alianora tells Cimorene about how her Aunt Ermentrude constantly tried to make a proper princess out of her by putting her in classic princess situations, like getting carried off by a giant. She somehow manages to not do the "correct" thing every time. She also does meet and end up with a prince, but her dragon captor was defeated before he could rescue her.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She's both blonde and very sweet.
- Proper Lady: Even if she bungles every situation she's supposed to be a good princess in, she fits being a ladylike princess in every other aspect.
- Shrinking Violet: She's very shy and easily bullied into submission by two of her fellow princesses but is more than capable of holding her own when the situation requires it.
Zemenar
Zemenar, Head Wizard of the Society of Wizards
- Big Bad: Of the first three books, though he's off-screen for pretty much all of the third.
