Characters from the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker series.
Asher of Restharven
A young Olken fisherman from the village of Restharven and the focus of the first book. Tired of getting pushed around by his six older brothers, Asher vows that he will get rich, buy a larger boat and live a peaceful life fishing with his father. To that end, he plans to work in the capital city of Dorana for a year. However, he finds little luck in finding a job once in Dorana, until a chance encounter with Prince Gar nets him a job at the palace stables. Little does Asher know that his coming to Dorana is watched by the Circle, a clandestine group of Olken mages. Turns out that Asher is the 'Innocent Mage', who is prophesised to save Lur from the End of Days. Asher works with Matt, the stable master, and gradually adjusts to city life. He is eventually elevated to the position of Assistant Olken Administrator by Gar.
- Book Dumb: Asher can read perfectly well, but sees little point in doing so.
- Brutal Honesty: One of the reasons Gar hires Asher as his assistant is because of this. Asher doesn't tend to mince his words, particularly about things (or people) that he doesn't like. That doesn't mean that he completely lacks tact, though.
- Honest Advisor: see above.
- I Gave My Word: Keeping his promises is very important to Asher and no matter his personal feelings, he always follows through with something if he gave his word he would do so.
- Poor Communication Kills: If Asher had just told his father where he was going, his father wouldn't have died pining for his son.
- Rags to Riches: Goes from a poor fisherman to the Assistant Olken Administrator. His appointment comes with an increased salary, fancy new clothes and a room in the Prince's Tower.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's the Manly Man to Gar's Sensitive Guy.
- The Chosen One: He is the 'Innocent Mage'
- Trauma Congaline: In The Awakened Mage, Asher is arrested for Treason, thrown into a cell, tortured by Morg (posing as Conroyd Jerralt), kept in a cage for the public to gawk at and throw trash at and beaten by the guards before he is rescued. Then he finds out that Dathne has been lying to and manipulating him the entire time and that the Circle has been keeping tabs on him hi entire life.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Asher is disowned from his brothers and banned from fishing in any of the eight fishing communities.
- Youngest Child Wins: He's the youngest of seven brothers and is both the protagonist of our story and the prophecised Innocent Mage.
The Royal Family of Lur
Prince Gar:
The first-born child of the Doranen royal family. He was born without magic, meaning that he could not take over his father's Weather Working duties and thus could not be the heir to the throne. He was set aside in favour of his sister Fane and given administrative duties to perform as the Olken Administrator. A scholarly and compassionate young man, he seeks to better understand the Olken and improve Doranen-Olken relations. To that end, he hires Asher as his assistant. He is temporarily granted magic through a spell cast by Morg, who intends to use him as a pawn.
- Bookworm: Gar is a noted scholar and historian. He is overcome by excitement after the royal family and Durm discover Barl's long-lost library.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Gar the Magicless.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He gives his life at the end of The Awakened Mage so Asher can kill Morg without sacrificing his own life.
- I Just Want to Be Special: Gar expresses jealousy at his sister's capabilities and wishes dearly that he could help his father with his Weather Working duties. He gets his wish after Morg artificially induces magic in Gar
- I Owe You My Life: To Asher after he saves Gar from drowning. Gar swears to do whatever he can for Asher in return.
- Muggle Born of Mages: Pretty much the defining feature of Gar's life is that he was born magicless.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Gar is the Sensitive Guy to Asher's Manly Man.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Not that Borne is ever dismissive or cruel to Gar, but Gar idolises his father and desperately tries to live up to his image.
King Borne:
The king and the Weather Worker of Lur. As the Weather Worker, he controls the weather in many parts of Lur (places further away from Dorana, like Restharven, are unaffected by WeatherWorking) and is responsible for maintaining Barl's Wall. The constant strain of WeatherWorking is taking its toll on Borne, however. He is in ill health for much of The Awakened Mage.
- The Good King: Has nothing but the welfare of Lur in mind, even at a personal cost.
- Good Parents: Borne treats both of his children kindly and fairly, although he is ocassionally harsh with Fane. He doesn't treat Gar as a cripple despite the latter's lack of magic. Instead, he reassures Gar that he loves him and encourages Gar's natural inclination towards scholarly pursuits.
Fane:
The second-born child of the Doranen royal family and the WeatherWorker-in-waiting. She was conceived after it was discovered that Gar had no magic (which was unusual, since the royal family is usually only permitted one child). She is considered a prodigy, having enough raw power to supposedly rival Barl herself. Since she is the Weather Worker-in-waiting, she spends much of her time studying and practicing magic.
- Freudian Excuse: Her treatment of her brother largely stems from being both resentful and upset that she only exists because Gar is a cripple and cannot be a WeatherWorker. Gar is very understanding of Fane because of this - Asher is less forgiving.
- It's All About Me: Doesn't try to empathize with her brother at all. Instead, she constantly rubs his nose in the fact that Gar has no magic and goes out of her way to taunt him. When Gar suddenly gets magic, she throws a hissy-fit and accuses Gar of trying to usurp her position. She then tries to kill him.
- Royal Brat: She's the princess of Luhr, beautiful and magically talented, yet she is scornful and dismissive towards Olken commoners and refers to her own brother as a cripple.
Queen Dana:
The queen of Lur and mother of Fane and Gar. An elegant and humorous woman, she is usually the voice of reason in her family.
- Neutral Female: As royals go, Dana is a fairly useless character as she has no impact on the plot compared to her son, husband or daughter and her overall role is to sit and fret over her family's wellbeing. Even her magic is dedicated to "womanly arts" and nothing else.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Durm scolds Fane for her arrogance towards Olken and tells her she needs to grow up and start acting more like the Weather Worker she's destined to be, Dana immediately lambasts Durm for upsetting her daughter, instead of disciplining Fane herself.
Darran:
- Create Your Own Villain: After everything goes to hell, Darran confesses to Gar that he bears culpability for Willer's actions and betrayal. Darran encouraged Willer to hate Asher as much as he did, hoping to see the Olken fisherman brought down. Instead, he and Asher ultimately forged an uneasy accord after the latter saved Gar from drowning. This rough truce (and Asher's further elevation) enraged Willer and, combined with a Passed-Over Promotion, leads to his working for Conroyd Jarralt (and the catastrophe that unleashes).
- Honorary Uncle: Effectively becomes one to Asher's children in the decade after Morg's first defeat.
- Old Retainer: To the royal family.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Asher when it comes to taking car of Gar, though he does warm up to Asher over the course of the novels.
Willer:
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: After Morg successfully tears down Barl's Wall and begins killing people left and right, he makes a special point of revealing his true face to Willer and explicitly spelling out that his resentment and scheming is what made it possible for him to kill Asher, the one person who could stop him, before killing him.
- Smug Snake: All his being is unpleasant and unsignificant, yet he's convinced that his place is one of a important person in the palace; resents Asher's succes, and starts being insolent to his former boss Darran the very minute he's secured himself a better place.
Matt (Matthias):
The head of the palace stables and a member of the Circle. Matt befriends Asher after the latter is hired on as a stablehand.
- Aerith and Bob: Sporting a real-world name in a fantasy world.
- A Father to His Men: The stableboys under his direction are shown to respect him, while Matt clearly cares for them in return. For example, he mourns Bellybone after the stablehand dies in the storm caused by Borne's illness.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Dies protecting Dathne from a demon during the final confrontation with Morg.
- What the Hell, Hero?: He calls Dathne out for her callous behaviour, not that she listens to him most of the time.
Dathne:
- Break the Haughty: Dathne gets a long-overdue scolding from Veira in The Awakened Mage for her behaviour, with Veira explicitly spelling out that just because she is Jervale's Heir, it doesn't mean she knows everything and she needs to shut up and let other people speak, as well as knocking down her overinflated ego several pegs. She's also called out epically by Asher for lying to him for pretty much the entirety of their relationship.
- Manipulative Bitch: As Jervale's Heir, Dathne receives visions of an apocalypse that can only be averted by The Innocent Mage, and thus she manipulates events for Asher to meet Gar and end up as his confidant. She then uses Asher's feelings for her to keep him close by, as he desperately wants to return home to Rastharven. Though she believes it's for The Greater Good, Dathne manipulates everyone around her into thinking she's merely a harmless bookseller and shows callous disregard for their feelings.
Pellen Orrick:
- Reasonable Authority Figure: As captain of the guards.
Durm:
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: If Durm hadn't hidden Barl's diary from Bane and used a spell inside it, Morg would have never been able to take over his body and kickstart the plot for The Awakened Mage.
Conroyd Jarralt:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: He desperately wants to be King of Luhr. He gets what he wants, but as a Puppet King for the Big Bad.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Haughty and bigoted he may be, but Conroyd often voices opinions that other people skirt around, like pointing out how suspicious it is that Gar suddenly starts exhibiting magic after twenty years of being a Muggle.
- Romantic Runner-Up: He outright confirms he loved Queen Dana and part of his resentment towards Borne, Gar and Fane is over her.
Jervale:
Timon:
Veira:
- Never Mess with Granny: Veira takes no prisoners and much of her screentime involves bossing people around and giving Dathne a much-needed "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
Pother Nix:
Rafel:
Deenie:
Goose:
Rodyn Garrick:
Arlin Garrick:
Sarle Baden:
Unranked Mages
Barl Linden:
- The Atoner
- A God Am I: Revered like one, at least.
- Break the Haughty: It took her unintentionally causing the death of an entire country to make her smarten up. And even then, she's still fairly arrogant to the end.
- Hero of Another Story: In respect to the first four books.
- Heel Realization
- It's All About Me
- Jerkass
- Psychic Nosebleed: When she starts going into some serious magic.
- Redemption Equals Death: Maybe not right away, but soon after.
- Small Name, Big Ego
-
Vindicated by History: Really, she's made to be much more of a saint than she really was. No one even remembers her part in Morgan's creations by the end.
Remmie Linden:
- Sacrificial Lion
- Un-person: Barl did this to him in a moment of anger. She regrets it later. As all mentions of Remmie are magically excised from her diary, this also explains in-story why he's never mentioned in the lore surrounding Barl.
