Characters from Heralds of Rhimn. This page will cover events from the entire series, so beware of unmarked spoilers!
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The Main Trio
Navaeli of Nowhere
“Even my own goddess is not a blessing, but a duty.”
A scruffy teen raised from the grave and into lifelong servitude by Silamir, a goddess of death and rebirth long thought to have been dead herself. The knights of the Irongardhe empire hunt her down on the orders of their Regent, Herald to the sun god who killed Silamir in the first place. As if that weren’t bad enough, Silamir would rather take matters into her own hands.- Accent Interest: According to Crislie, anyway.
- Adoptive Peer Parent: To Meparik.Crislie: Navaeli! There’s something wrong with your weird fey son.
- Ambiguously Gay: Her sexuality isn’t outright stated, but she is in love with Crislie.
- Back from the Dead: Died as a child and was resurrected as Silamir’s Herald.
- Bad with the Bone: Carries an athame made out of bone for Silamir. Its name is Talon.
- Big Eater: And will not be ashamed of it. Becomes more tragic when you remember that she died in a famine.
- Black Eyes of Evil: Gains these whenever Silamir “borrows” her body.
- Blessed with Suck: Being Herald grants you both a direct connection to the god you are bound to, and powers based on that god’s domain. The problem is that Navaeli never had a choice about her Heraldry in the first place, is constantly hunted down by the Irongardhe, and isn’t able to use her powers without her goddess’s blessing — which is rare, given that Silamir resents her.
- Broken Bird: No pun intended.
- Casting a Shadow: One kind of magic that Silamir can bestow her with.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Played straight with Navaeli herself, who is polite and quick to offer help to other people but becomes more questionable regarding Silamir, the goddess that Navaeli serves.
- Dark Messiah: In expectation and reputation.
- Deadpan Snarker: Has her moments.
- Dissonant Serenity: Prone to this — mostly because she made her peace with the idea that she was doomed a long, long time ago.
- The Dog Bites Back: Forces Silamir to give up her body at the end of Shadow Herald.
- Homeless Hero: Justified as a result of Navaeli needing to keep on the move to avoid the Irongardhe, and because Silamir moves her around to accomplish her own goals.
- Locked into Strangeness: Her hair is made of feathers, marking her as Silamir’s Herald.
- Love Is a Weakness: Romantic love, anyway — or so she tells Inkantik. Initially views her crush on Crislie as an Inconvenient Attraction that might get both of them killed.
- The Most Wanted: Her first encounter with Regent Ilaina results in her having Wanted Posters galore in Gadhi.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue oni to Crislie’s red oni.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Once resorts to this in order to stall for time. It only makes the guard lose patience with her.
- The So-Called Coward: Considers herself a coward and is called as such by other characters as well, but will do her damndest to save Crislie and Meparik when things get down to the wire.
- Technicolor Eyes: Has purple eyes, which is pretty normal on Rhimn.
- Troubled, but Cute: A rare gender-flipped variation, and part of why Crislie is so intrigued by her in the first place. Ironically, Navaeli views her the same way.
Crislie Rowena Crimsworth
“I swear, I will have to invent a way to punch gods.”
Spoilers for Winter Herald.note
An upbeat hooligan girl unhappy with her limited options in the tiny village she calls home. When she rescues Navaeli from bleeding out at the riverside, she sees a chance to do a little travelling and find her place in the world. But no matter where she goes, Crislie’s recklessness follows with — there are injustices in the world of Rhimn that can’t be ignored, and her new friends Navaeli and Meparik continually show her that the gods and the Irongardhe knights have much to answer for.
- Action Girlfriend: By the time Winter Herald takes place, Crislie and Navaeli have officially gotten together; while Crislie tries to reel it in for Navaeli’s sake, she’s more than willing to come out swinging on her girlfriend’s behalf.Navaeli: You have that look in your eyes again, my love.Crislie: What look?Navaeli: The one that says, ‘I could punch this man, were there no laws of courtesy to stand in my way.’
- Ambiguously Bi: Subtly subverted. It’s brought up in passing when Crislie ponders her childhood crushes.
- Audience Surrogate: Serves as this some of the time, as her isolated upbringing in Gadlin didn’t give her much of a chance to learn about things like Heraldry, or feyrie culture.
- Badass Normal: Since she’s both the only non-Herald between Navaeli and Meparik and the most combat-capable person in the group.
- Becomes Empowered Badass Normal as a wyfwolf.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Her default method of problem-solving is running fist-first into the problem, but when she’s not doing that, she’s very chummy.
- Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: In the middle of Shadow Herald, Crislie manages to steal a double-headed war ax from Knight Jeidhe, and the weapon shifts her fighting style from that of a wild-swinging fistfighter to something more ruthless and deadly.
- Combat Medic: She’s used to patching herself up after fights, and she’s perfectly happy to do the same for her companions.
- Nasal Trauma: Has a snubbed nose from the fights she picked as a kid, and gets a fresh instance of this when she tries to teach Navaeli how to spar.
- Nay-Theist: Ma Crimsworth didn’t raise her religiously, so Crislie doesn’t have any particular devotion to the gods.
- One Head Taller: Than Navaeli, specifically.
- Pals with Jesus: Considering that she befriends Navaeli and also Meparik, who are both Heralds...
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The hot-blooded red oni to Navaeli’s calculated blue oni.
- Screaming Warrior: Pretty vocal during combat.
- Troubled, but Cute: A rare gender-flipped variation, and part of why Navaeli is so intrigued by her in the first place. Ironically, Crislie views her the same way.
- Unfazed Everyman: True regarding her unblinking attitude toward blood and violence, but this is subverted near the end of Shadow Herald, since Crislie reveals she’s actually pretty disturbed by the constant danger that Navaeli and Meparik live in.
- Vibrant Orange: Her signature color. While the traditional cheery connotations of the color suit her role as the most extroverted of the trio, the color’s meaning is also interestingly inverted in-setting, as “sunset orange” is a color that the Irongardhe ruling class associate with death and mourning.
Meparik of the Frostbitten Court
“You haven’t done anything besides feel bad, starting just now, and I don’t trust that. Ask me again when you do something worth forgiveness.”
Spoilers for Shadow Herald.note
A young feyrie thief with an independent streak, Meparik has always counted on stringent self-reliance, and a quick end on the point of a knight’s sword if he failed in that. What he never counted on was meeting the elusive Shadow Herald, and evermore entangling himself in a rising conflict between the gods.
- Affection-Hating Kid: Considers himself above affectionate gestures at first, and expresses distaste for romantic displays — even scrawling a note to himself to skip a romance-centered chapter in his favorite book.“Skip, boring.”
- Eventually, he makes a platonic exception for Navaeli.
- The Artful Dodger: Thinks of himself this way, but reality is not so romantic.
- The Baby of the Bunch: According to Navaeli. He reminds her of how she was at his age.
- Bookworm: His house is filled with books, and when he can’t get by with Gesture, he switches to writing.
- Child Mage: He becomes An Ice Person when the Romne take him on as their Herald. But has trouble controlling his frost, and gets a little lost in his power the first time Fraihz lets him spellcast.
- Embarrassing Nickname: “Mep-tiny,” used mostly by his sibling Gildhe in order to get a rise out of him.
- Five-Finger Discount: He frequently steals wallets in order to pay for his food and the rent his Courtfather imposed on him for moving out.
- Hairpin Lockpick: Has a couple of these hidden in his curls. They’re especially helpful whenever Stonehold or handcuffs become relevant to the plot.
- I Work Alone: At the beginning of the series, Meparik takes pride in his solitary nature. He pushes away the other fey in the Reaches, even when they’re being friendly to him, and attempts (with less success) to distance himself from Navaeli and Crislie at first.
- Locked into Strangeness: Gains Mystical White Hair and pale eyes after Fraihz bestows him with their Heraldry.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: The Frostbitten Court shelters a lot of children, most of whom are considered Meparik’s “siblings-by-court.” Meparik doesn’t usually get along with them.Courtfather Snow: Look, I got like seventeen tykes I’m trying to keep away from death’s door right now.
- Minor Living Alone: Decided to leave Courtfather Snow and live on his own.
- Mouthy Kid: Albeit with his hands instead of his mouth.
- The Pigpen: Doesn’t bathe very often, which helps him look “lowly” and stay unnoticed when out picking pockets in Gadhian society.
- Prone to Tears: Meparik bursts into tears at least once in every book, usually when his anger or guilt get the better of him. He’s not very happy about it.
- The Speechless: Aside from the rare squeak or hiss, Meparik is mute, which can make communication a pain between him and people who don’t speak Gesture
. - Sticky Fingers: Frequently steals wallets, usually out of necessity. But he also admits to having a hoarding problem, and is willing to steal an acorn bracelet from Navaeli just because he liked it. It bites him in the ass later.
- You're Not My Father: A sentiment Meparik voices openly around Courtfather Snow.Meparik: Told you, you’re not my parent. I don’t have parents. You don’t decide what I do.
The Deuteragonists
Gildhe of the Frostbitten Court
- Big Sibling Bully: To Meparik, specifically. The other Frostbiter kids regard Gildhe well.
- Boyish Short Hair: From a metatextual perspective; when paired with Gildhe’s flamboyant skirts, it helps ease readers into their in-between gender identity. In-universe, short hair is considered “ungendered” in Gadhi.
- Children Do the Housework: Because Courtfather Snow has a lot on his plate, Gildhe and the older Frostbiter kids did a majority of the chores around the Frostbitten Manor.
- Devious Daggers: Gildhe fights with twin blades, Bark & Bite, characterizing them as a Loveable Rogue in contrast to Crislie’s battle-ax brutality. At one point they point out that at least they’re honest about the fact that their daggers are stolen, whereas she keeps insisting that she won Ember as “a prize of battle.”
- The Dutiful Child: Is one of the oldest fey in Courtfather Snow’s care by the time the main series starts, and they spend most of their time helping him take care of the court. Because of his poor social skills and his tendency to run away from home, they view Meparik as the foolish sibling between the two of them.
- Malicious Misnaming: Calls Meparik “Mep-tiny” to get a rise out of him. Meparik observes it’s not even clever, just mean, and that’s why it bugs him so much.
- My Nayme Is: “Gildhe” is pronounced the same as “Gilda.” Justified in-universe; Gadhian names like “Jeidhe” and “Gardhe” are also pronounced with an “-a” sound.
- Non-Human Non-Binary: Played with. Gildhe is a fey, which lends them more gender flexibility than humans get — but that’s more due to cultural factors than biological ones.
- Not Their Blood: After Regent Ilaina attacks the Reaches, Crislie becomes concerned when she notices that Gildhe’s skirts are covered in blood, assuming that they were injured during the fighting. Gildhe grimly tells her that the blood actually belongs to one of their siblings, who didn’t make it.
- Parental Favoritism: Gildhe is the clear golden child of the Frostbitten Court. Courtfather Snow assumes the best when they’ve done something wrong, remarks that they might set a good example for Mep, is easily manipulated into turning his fury against Fealah when Gildhe plays up the injury she gave them, and apparently turned a blind eye to Gildhe’s past conflicts with Mep. At one point, Gildhe got away with pinning the blame for a broken vase on him.
- Sickly Child Grew Up Strong: Their younger sister Merlie reveals in Winter Herald that Gildhe's loyalty to Snow stems from how he nursed them back to health when they were younger.
Civility Commander Jain Rigol Atevia
A higher-up among the Irongardhe knights who prefers to solve her problems with as little violence and fuss as possible. When her orders put her in a moral predicament she can’t sidestep, she has to reevaluate her lifelong loyalties and career.
- Cruel Mercy: Silamir spares her after she fails to carry out Regent Ilaina’s orders. Atevia doesn’t look forward to explaining herself to her superior.
Silamir: Serve your Regent by relaying my message, and perhaps Ilaina herself will grant you... mercy.
- Just Following Orders: Up to a point.
- Rags to Riches: Implied to be a relatively mild version of the trope in the glossary; her last name means “attic dweller”, referring to someone who lives in a rented attic.
- Rejected Apology: Meparik gives her an earful when she asks him to forgive her of her actions as an Irongardhe knight.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Knight Jeidhe.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Is unable to bring herself to kill Meparik.
- Leads to a Villainous BSoD.
The Gods
Silamir, Goddess of Reincarnation
“All you have to do is not struggle. How simple is that?”
A powerful goddess long thought to have been killed by Gardhe in the Immortal Reckoning. Her domain encompasses the broad categories of shadow, void, death, and rebirth, and in the past she was known as the Ashen Phoenix. Her Herald is Navaeli the Shadow Herald.- Back from the Dead: Gardhe killed her in the Immortal Reckoning. She got better.
- Black Eyes of Evil: A natural trait of hers, as a goddess of the void. More akin to Black Eyes of Jerkass in her particular case.
- Collapsing Lair: Invokes this with her temple when Jeidhe taunts her more than is wise — both to spite him, and to spite Gardhe by preventing him from destroying it himself.
- God in Human Form: When she “borrows” Navaeli’s body.
- God Is Displeased: Frequently.
- God of the Dead: As the goddess of death and rebirth, this allowed her to eventually claw her way back to relevancy after being killed by Gardhe in the Immortal Reckoning, and resurrect Navaeli as her Herald.
- It's All About Me: Frequently twists conversations to be about her needs and desires. Sometimes accuses Navaeli of doing this instead.
- Large Ham: When she’s able to steal Navaeli’s body, she makes sure to let everyone know just who is gracing their presence.
- Laughing Mad: Switches between this and rage very easily.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: The reason why she’s helping the Romne and the fey fight against the Irongardhe is because it provides her an opportunity to take revenge on Gardhe.
- Paying Evil Unto Evil: Her reasoning for trying to kill Gardhe.
- “I want the fall of he who slew the rest of our heavenly host. I want his temples shattered, their stones ground to dust. I want his knights to scatter, terrified, before me. I want the head of his Herald piked upon the wall of his precious Talimour!”
- The Phoenix: There’s a reason why she’s known as the Ashen Phoenix. She rises again after Gardhe killed her the first time, and “borrows” Navaeli’s body in order to summon her pet phoenix, Ailith.
- Reincarnation: One of her godly aspects.
- Winged Humanoid: Bears a pair of broken black wings.
The Romne, Gods of the Earth
Fraihz and Thah are twin gods of winter and summer respectively, who survived the Immortal Reckoning through cunning. Their domain aspects also include prophecy, the earth, crows, and acorns. While they’re aware of Silamir’s more sadistic tendencies, they’ve taken her side in the conflict between her and Gardhe in order to prevent more injustices from being done to the fey. Their Heralds are Ainzel the Summer Herald and Meparik the Winter Herald.
- Blind Seer: Played With. Both Fraihz and Thah’s domains include prophecy, and Thah’s blindness has nothing to do with their predictive powers — instead being a result of a failed assassination attempt on Ainzel.
- Disabled Deities: The Irongardhe blinded Thah through Ainzel and killed Fraihz’s previous Herald, inflicting the latter with an eternally-bleeding wound which will eventually kill them too.
- Nature Spirit: The Romne embody the seasons and the earth.
- Polar Opposite Twins: With their seasonal domains. Thah represents summer, while Fraihz represents winter.
- The Speechless: Fraihz. After the Irongardhe slit their previous Herald’s throat with an enchanted knife, they lost the ability to speak, getting by instead with Gesture and mental images.
Gardhe, God of the Sun
A god of forging and sunlight. In a bid to become the sole god of Rhimn, he killed most of the other gods in his pantheon in an event known as the Immortal Reckoning. Instead of all of Rhimn, the noble faction of his followers — known as the Irongardhe — govern the northernmost country of Rhimn, Gadhi. His Herald is Herald-Regent Elaina Lilisie Ayowen, the Sunlit Herald.
- Cold Iron: Gardhe’s irritation with the fey’s existence causes them to be burned by his sacred element, iron.
- A God Am I: A god with a god complex. It isn’t enough for Gardhe to be part of a pantheon; he’d rather be the sole god of Rhimn.
- Gold and White Are Divine: His color scheme falls under this, along with metal tones.
- Light Is Not Good: Gardhe and his knights have little qualms about committing murder when it suits their needs.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Killed most of the other gods — including Silamir, though she got better.
- Power of the Sun: He is the sun god, god of the sun.
- Ultimate Blacksmith: One of his domains is forging. It’s said that he was the one who created Brightfate, his Herald’s heirloom sword, as well as a form of enchantment known as bloodforging which is commonly abused by the Irongardhe regime.
Alluari, Goddess of the Stars
A goddess of starlight and rain who rules Ullua, the desert country to the south. It is said that she survived Gardhe by equaling him in combat. Her Herald is the Starlit Herald, the Matrius of Ullua.
- Celestial Body: Implied through her fountain statues, which are hewn of black quartz with bright flecks in them like stars.
- Elemental Hair Composition: Has water for hair, also implied through teaser.
- Matriarchy: Considering that her Herald’s title is “Matrius”...
- Weather Manipulation: Helps bring rain to Ullua during the dry season.
The Irongardhe Knights
Herald-Regent Ilaina Lilisie Ayowen
Herald to Gardhe, ruler of Gadhi, and leader of the Irongardhe knights.
- Bad Boss: If Atevia’s fear of returning a failure says anything.
- Big Bad: Though technically Gardhe is the Bigger Bad working through her, Regent Ilaina serves as a physical Big Bad for Navaeli to run away from.
- The Dreaded: Even her own knights are a little afraid of her.
- Impossibly Cool Weapon: Her sword, Brightfate. Even the name is badass. It glows, burns, absorbs the souls of anyone it kills — oh yeah, and if you kill a Herald with it, it will also kill the god they’re bound to.
- Knight Templar: For Gardhe’s glory.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Is an accomplished hunter who doesn’t limit her quarry to animals and monsters. Navaeli is currently her most elusive — and prized — target.
Knight Jeidhe
One of the younger Irongardhe knights. He doesn’t let his lack of experience get in the way of his ego, nor will he let anything get in the way of him pleasing Regent Elaina.
- Asshole Victim: Jeidhe probably deserved to be crushed by Silamir’s temple collapsing on him.
- Blind Obedience: To Regent Ilaina.
- Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: Knight Jeidhe starts off wielding an ax in his first appearance, where he shows himself to be a brutal fighter ruthlessly dedicated to his cause. Then Crislie takes his ax — and notices later on that he’s still trying to fight like an ax wielder even when he’s been handed a sword as a replacement.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Atevia regards him as this.
- Knight Templar: And very proud of it.
- Old Money: Implied in the glossary. His surname comes from the Jeidhe clan of nobility, with deep roots in Old Gadhin. It means “just.”
- Pretty Boy: Atevia insists that this is the only reason Regent Ilaina humors him.
- Sheltered Aristocrat: Becomes obvious around the more-mature Commander Atevia.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Subverted. He would kick a child.
The Fey
Ainzel the Summer Herald
Herald to Thah of the Romne. An elderly fey living alone in the wilderness outside of Gadlin Town.
- Blind Seer: Played With. The predictions she receives through her dreams are a result of her Heraldry to the Romne, whose domains include prophecy, but her blindness is a result of a failed attempt by the Irongardhe to assassinate her.
- Every Scar Has a Story: The gash across her eyes is from that assassination attempt.
- Multiple-Choice Future: Remarks that prophecy is “as capricious as the gods themselves”, and that not every vision she sees comes to pass.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: A rare prophecy that is fulfilled because someone wants it to happen. By giving Fraihz’s bracelet to Navaeli, it winds up getting stolen by Meparik, who unbeknowingly becomes Fraihz’s Herald by wearing it.
- “They will make the delivery effortless, if you ever do meet.”
Charlan the Shopkeep
A smuggler from the Upper Reaches who Meparik regularly buys books from.
- Cat Man: Has a cat’s tail, sometimes purrs, and is often described as “feline”.
- The Charmer: Frequently convinces the other fey in the Reaches to buy things they don’t need, but he’s enjoyable enough to be around that they don’t mind.
- I Work Alone: He keeps himself a “solitary fey” without court affiliation.
- Mundane Luxury: Sells these at the Luxury Shoppe.
Courtfather Snow of the Frostbitten Court
The parental figure leading one of Talimour’s three feyrie Courts.
- The Fagin: Out of necessity. There’s not many options for fey to get by in Talimour besides theft, and Snow has an entire court of children to support, some of whom are sick.
- Free-Range Children: Seems to be a part of his style of parenting. May not be a good thing, given that Gildhe goes to Charlan for alcohol while he’s busy, and the fact that Meparik was allowed to move out by himself...
- Parental Favoritism: To Gildhe, to Meparik’s irritation.
- Parental Substitute: Fey are born from the elements, leaving them inherently parentless; Courtfather Snow fills that role for some of the young fey that pop into existence in Talimour.
