Saga
For a time, Saga was one of the most famous and celebrated mercenary bands in all of Grandual. Then one thing led to another, and as the threat of monsters and villains diminished, they broke up. Twenty years later, they're lives in retirement are varying degrees of washed-up. Then one day, their leader Gabe goads them into one last job...
- Beard Of Awesome: All of them minus Ganelon have one, though in Gabe's case it's more a Beard of Sorrow.
- Feeling Their Age: Part of the reason the band isn't together initially is that they simply got old (with the exception of Ganelon). Sure enough, they're nowhere as spry as they used to be for this new adventure.
- Five-Man Band: Not only do they fit this trope in the conventional sense for the most part, but they also have roles analogous to a rock band -
- Golden Gabe - The Leader (and The Face / lead singer)
- Matrick Skulldrummer - The Lancer (and the drummer)
- Arcandius Moog - The Smart Guy (and presumably like a keyboardist)
- Ganelon - The Big Guy (and the lead guitarist)
- Clay Cooper - The Heart (though Gabe believes he should be The Leader instead) (and the bassist)
- Kit - Sixth Ranger
- Glory Days: Their time as Saga gave them no shortage of excitement and acclaim. Now, not so much.
- Jumped at the Call: Surprisingly, everyone except Clay instantly accepts Gabe's request to get the band together. This is mostly because it's preferable to their current lives and/or they've gotten over most of their grievances with each other already.
- One Last Job: Their quest to rescue Rose from the Heartwyld Horde.
- Putting the Band Back Together: The crux of the book's first half.
- Retired Badass: All of them, though with varying degrees of a lack of enjoyment.
- True Companions: Despite how different they are and what life's given them, they are as tight-knit as can be. And their bonds only get stronger as the story goes on.
During the glory days of Saga, Clay "Slowhand" Cooper was Gabe's most loyal companion. Due to wanting to keep a lid on his capacity for violence thanks to a tragically blood-soaked backstory, his primary style is utilizing not a weapon (not that he can't wield one, but still), but a shield made from the bark of a treant known as Blackheart. Out of all the retired mercenaries, Clay's managed to eke out a pretty okay life with a loving wife and adoring daughter. But then Gabe comes knocking on his door, and he finds himself thrust into the life he sought to leave behind.
- An Arm and a Leg: Gets his hand chopped off by Larkspur at the Cold Road. It gets regrown thanks to Tiamax.
- Berserk Button: Do not compare him to his father, and do NOT threaten the lives of his wife and daughter.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: In spite of his huge capacity for violence, people like his band and Ginny helped him to realize that he fights best when he has the need to protect someone.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Gabe manages to convince Clay to come with him to rescue Rose after saying that he's a good person. That, combined with Tally wondering what would happen if she were in Rose's place, causes the man to go against his better judgement, and leave his home to help his friend.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Clay lived with his abusive alcoholic father Leif before killing him in self-defense with an axe after the latter beat his mother once too often. From there, it seemed like he could only kill until he met Ginny.
- Gentle Giant: The tallest out of Saga, and a good person all around.
- Good Parents: In stark contrast with his own old man, he's nothing but patient and caring to his daughter Tally.
- Happily Married: To Ginny.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Clay loathes helmets, seeing them as cumbersome, impractical hunks of metal that block your view and muffle your hearing. Every helmet he's received as a guard has been chucked into the exact same area.
- The Heart: Despite his gruff exterior, Clay is an incredibly empathetic person, and more times than often chooses to do the right thing over anything else, even at the cost of his own safety. For this reason and more, Gabe insists that he should be The Leader instead.
- I Am a Monster: Often struggles with the idea that he might be a bloodthirsty monster at heart instead of a good person. Thankfully, he doesn't need much convincing to choose the latter.
- I Hate Past Me: Clay doesn't think too fondly of how violent he was back during Saga's glory days, much less how callous he could be outside of the battlefield.
- Lead Bassist: Eames compares Clay to the bassist in a band that isn't remembered, but the music feels empty without him.
- The Leader: Gabe makes it very clear that everyone sees him as this instead of the former, as it is Clay who more times than not tries to find the most rational path to victory, as well as the most moral. It takes some time for Clay to accept this, as he always saw Gabe as the leader instead.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Clay doesn't really fight with a sword, but rather a huge and incredibly durable shield named Blackheart after the monstrous treant it was carved from.
- Papa Wolf: Part of the reason he finally accepts Gabe's request is when his daughter Tally asks him if he would go to the Heartwyld if it were her who was in danger instead of Rose. The answer can be summed up as "tear the whole world down just to ensure her safety".
- The Power of Love: It was through his love for Ginny and his daughter Tally that Clay was able to leave his bloody past behind.
The Gabe before is certainly NOT the Gabe of now. Once THE leader of Saga, the undefeated symbol of unbridled charisma and bravery, "Golden Gabriel" ended up making one bad decision after another that ultimately made him a shell of his former glory. Of all his mistakes, two stand out: selling the legendary Druin sword Vellichor to settle a laundry's list worth of debts, and encouraging his daughter Rose to forge a legacy of her own that ultimately put her in the crosshairs of the biggest horde the world has ever seen. Now Gabe is desperate to get the band back in order to save her.
- Cool Sword: Vellichor, a Druin greatsword given to him by the fallen Druin Archon Vespian. Not only is it a formidable weapon, but it may very well be a portal of sorts into the Druin ream, as imagery can be seen/smelled from the steel. Unfortunately, Gabe sold it for debt money, but he does manage to get it back.
- The Face: Being the most charismatic and daring of Saga's men, Gabe is seen as this. On the subject of being The Leader, he actually thinks Clay fits this more.
- He's Back!: Once Gabe gets back Vellichor, some of his old courageous and powerful self starts to return. Come his speech at the War Fair, and it's safe to assume that he's back for real.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Gabe went from being the most famous warrior in Grandual to a meager divorced shell unable to wrap his head around the prospect of his daughter having run off in his name.
- Papa Wolf: Say what you will about him, but there's something to be said about a man willing to brave the deadliest location and the deadliest army ever just to make sure his daughter is okay.
- Rousing Speech: Delivers a long and very successful speech to everyone at the War Fair so that they may fight against the Heartwyld horde, telling them that they'll either live to tell the tale or die as legends and live on forever via their legacies.
Arcandius Moog may have never been the greatest wizard around, but he was still more than a good fit for Saga as the sole wielder of magic. It helps that, in spite of his eccentricities and almost child-like fascination with the unknown, he's incredibly knowledgeable about the world, and is more than capable of pulling off an impressive trick or two. Sadly, his time in Saga ended when his husband Fredrick lost his life to the Rot, causing Moog to seclude himself in his tower to fruitlessly find a cure. And it's both the promise of finding that cure and the simple joy of being with his old friends that pulls him out of retirement.
- CloudCuckoolander: Even by the standards of a man who practices the magical arts, Moog is out there. But...
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: He's got an amazing knowledge of the world at his disposal. Also, he was right on the money in regards to the existence of Owlbears.
- Demolitions Expert: A lot of his more potent alchemy weapons include things that function like grenades.
- Ditzy Genius: In spite of his clownish mishaps with magic and child-like disposition, he's got a near-encyclopedic understanding of history, and isn't afraid to show it.
- Find the Cure!: His life's work ever since losing his beloved Fred to the rot was finding a cure for what many consider the incurable. He finds it within the Wyld itself, and all but eradicates the plague with his new business in the end.
- The Lost Lenore: Fredrick, his husband.
- Odd Friendship: Aside from his long-standing bond with Matrick, he's known Kit for a long time.
- Manchild: For starters, his so-called wizard robes at the beginning are just pajamas. To say nothing of his child-like fascination with things like Owlbears.
- Squishy Wizard: As befitting the typical trope, he's the least physically equipped of the band, but also their only magician.
In the glory days of Saga, Matrick was the most feared person to ever wield a pair of knives. He was also already making bad decisions by being a major womanizer and and even worse drunkard. Eventually, his life spiraled in a rather unexpected direction. He became the king of Angria, and a pretty decent one at that. The bad news is that his queen would much rather sire children with literally everyone else and try to assassinate him for power. So when Saga comes knocking, he throws himself into his old band to get away from his gilded cage.
- The Alcoholic: No one has a greater thirst for beer than this man, no one.
- Blade Enthusiast: His twin daggers, Grace and Roxy, named after the first prostitutes he ever had. With them, he's still got it.
- Cuckold: Outright called the Cuckold King by his introductory chapter. All of his heirs? They aren't his. He loves them all the same, though.
- Faking the Dead: In order to get out of his kingdom and slip away with his band mates, he pretends to expire and just barely survives having his body sent over a waterfall in an exceptionally botched funeral.
- The Good King: Surprisingly, he's a solid ruler despite the circumstances. Problem is, his wife hates him for his humbleness.
- Good Parents: Despite his children being all born from different men, he loves them equally. So much so that all of them choose to live with him once he and Lilith separate.
- Spanner in the Works: Apparently Lilith expected him to let her do all the ruling, only for him to rise to the task and become The Good King.
Of all the warriors, berserkers, and all manner of fighters out there, none can quite compare to Ganelon. Seemingly born entirely to annihilate swathes of enemies, Ganelon is the strongest warrior around, equipped with his nearly inhuman strength, and a double-bladed axe only he can wield named Syrinx. Not only that, but he managed to escape aging terribly on account of being turned to stone because of a really nasty altercation and Saga all but abandoning him. Not that he cares that much. He'd much rather be lopping off people's limbs and grinding his foes into dust before his emotions get in the way.
- And I Must Scream: He spent all of those years as a statue while fully awake. While it did enable him to sort out his emotions regarding his perceived betrayal by Saga, the others are horrified to realize it.
- The Berserker: Once he starts a fight, few survive.
- The Big Guy: While Clay has him beat in terms of height, he's in a league of his own when it comes to sheer muscle and bloodlust.
- Blood Knight: While he's nowhere near as crazy as he once was, he still revels in starting and ending fights.
- Dark and Troubled Past: His mother killed his father on account of him raping her. Then, one way or another, he was orphaned at eleven years before becoming a mercenary no more than three years later.
- But Now I Must Go: At the end, he seals himself back in the Quarry until the world needs him. He's unaware that he sired a child with Larkspur.
- In Love with Your Carnage: The biggest reason he and Larkspur become an item is because he's especially fond of her ferocity in battle.
- Living Weapon: Syrinx is heavily implied to be this, as Ganelon can constantly hear it whisper to him in a foreign language to continue killing.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Ganelon was thrown in the Quarry for the crime of killing a Narmeeri prince. However, said prince tried to rape a woman Ganelon liked, and then killed said woman when the warrior defended her. Granted, Ganelon massacred his entire garrison beforehand, but it was still extreme to blame the victim.
- Older Than They Look: He's only so young-looking because he was frozen both in place and time by the gorgon's curse.
- Pair the Spares: Hooks up with Larkspur.
- Sealed Badass in a Can: Was this during his time in the Quarry. He goes back until he's needed again.
- Taken for Granite: He spent twenty years encased in stone by a gorgon in the Quarry. While fully aware of it. Thankfully, it prevented him from lashing out the moment he was freed by Saga.
- Tranquil Fury: His default emotion when he isn't crunching heads. All of his legitimate anger died in that prison.
An undead ghoul residing in a coffin in Kallorek's possession, Kit is unintentionally freed by Saga after they raid the place. With his love for music, cheery disposition, and surprising knowledge of the world he's been exploring well beyond his last mortal day, he becomes the new and hopefully permanent bard of Saga.
- The Bard: He's the official bard of Saga. And this time, he has no chance at dying.
- I Have Many Names: Kitagra the Bold, Kitagra the Reckless, Kitagra the Willfully Suicidal, and of course, Kit the Unkillable.
- Living Forever Is Awesome: Kit concedes that the best parts of being immortal are spitting in death's face, and traveling the world. That being said, he misses having conventionally good looks.
- Mr. Exposition: Like Moog, he tends to talk a lot about the lore that surrounds the locations the bands ends up at.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: And rightfully so. He's a revenant, not a zombie. Those eat people, he eats anything but.
- Odd Friendship: With Moog, who sold him a VERY effective phylactery potion back then.
- Revenant Zombie: He insists he's not the second half of that.
- Running Gagged: His existence marks the end of the long trend of Saga's bards biting it, mainly because he can't get any deader.
- Time Abyss: He lost count of his years at six hundred and sixteen.
- Walking the Earth: Spent centuries watching history unfold across many different locations.
Other Notable Mercenary Bands
A band of band...its, led by the opportunistic yet honor-bound Lady Jain. Every encounter with Saga ends with our band getting robbed, but at the same time left with no incentive to stay mad at such free-spirited and polite thieves.
- Affably Evil: Yes, Jain and company are criminals, but they have a good code of honor, and are so cordial and reverent to other heroes that Clay isn't too perturbed when they're left penniless. In fact, calling Jain evil feels like an exaggeration.
- Amazon Brigade: The all-female Silk Arrows are masterful archers, and there isn't a single encounter that doesn't end in her favor.
- Friendly Enemy: To the point where Saga's willing to have breakfast with them before getting robbed again.
- Heel–Face Turn: Jain and her Silk Arrows become a legitimate mercenary band after spending enough time with Saga.
A popular mercenary band still in business that was on par with Saga, and still respects them to this day. It is led by Barret Snowjack, and includes a drider named Tiamax, an assassin named Ashe, their bard Edwick, and a young fighter named Piglet (the son of former member Hog).
- Abhorant Admirer: Tiamax is quite upfront with wanted to have his way with Ashe, but the woman denies it on account of him being a monstrous man-spider. Still, it's implied they're okay with this dynamic.
- The Big Guy: Their leader, Barret.
- Big Eater: Piglet.
- Friendly Rivalry: Outright stated to have had one with Saga during the latter's heyday. Now, the rival part is gone, and they lend a hand whenever they can.
- Mad Scientist: Tiamax has these sort of tendencies. They pay off when Clay's in need of a new arm.
- Meaningful Name: Piglet is as gluttonous as a pig can get, and has the body type to match.
- Ship Tease: Between Tiamax and Ashe.
- Spider People: Tiamax is a human/spider hybrid known as a drider.
A band led by an old rival of Saga, Raff Lackey.
- Humiliation Conga: After their signature victory over a firebolg, Viscera had not a single dignified moment to speak of. From Raff's brother getting chased off a cliff to their wizard being eaten by ogres to Raff himself being tortured and humiliated by goblins, it's safe to say that Saga's fall from grace looks tame in comparison.
- Last Words: From Raff - "I'll be waiting for ya, Cooper, along with all the rest."
- Small Role, Big Impact: They only show up for one scene, but Raff's last words to Clay stick with him for the rest of the journey.
- This Means Warpaint: They've got a lot of it, though in practice, it makes them look more like literal clowns.
- Trauma Button: The mention of goblins causes Raff to instinctively twitch, as Viscera's rock-bottom moment was him being paraded around by them as a parody of tour parades.
A mercenary band comprised of scantily-clad women.
- Abusive Parents: Heavily implied to be the case with Jain's father, if her quote about Kallorek reminding her of him is to be taken at face value.
- Amazon Brigade: They certainly evoke this image, even if Saga doesn't buy it. Turns out, they indeed earn the reputation.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Their revealing "armor" certainly looks appealing, but a seasoned adventurer would tell you that you wouldn't stand a chance in a fight with it. Sure enough, they're dressed a lot better for an actual fight.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: At first, they seems like a group purely for sex appeal and nothing else. Come the battle of the bands, and they're more than equipped to fight the Heartwyld Horde.
- Faux Action Girl: What they seem to be, in contrast with Jain's Silk Arrows. Subverted hard during the final battle.
- Recurring Extra: One of the few bands to get extra attention.
A more recent band that's been gaining notoriety.
Antagonists
Long ago, there was the Druin, a race of elf-like beings with rabbit ears who came from their own dimension to ours to conquer and enslave the primitive world. Unfortunately, their stunted breeding and a series of tragedies resulted in their numbers dwindling into the single digits. And among the remaining Druin is the self-proclaimed Duke of Endland, Lastleaf. Seeking vengeance on humanity for both surpassing the Druin and their treatment of monsters, as well as acting out from a major family-related chip on his shoulder, Lastleaf will stop at nothing until he and his Heartwyld Horde have snuffed out every last human around.
- Antagonistic Offspring: Hated his father for repeatedly resurrecting his mother against her will, and killing his sister to do it once. It got to the point where he openly rebelled against him.
- Big Bad: As the leader of the horde, he's this for the first story.
- Combat Clairvoyance: The Prescience allows him to see seconds into the future during a fight.
- Cool Sword: He's got not one, but THREE magical longswords, all of them named. Scorn can turn the ground into a volcanic battlefield, Madrigal is an Absurdly Sharp Blade that can cut the air in twain, and Tamarat is a sword literally made from nothingness that was once his father's, and used to resurrect his mother many times with every Druin it slayed.
- Dark Messiah: Fancies himself as the justice all non-human creatures need and want.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: He's got one across his left brow from where Vellichor slashed him. Gabriel's honor.
- Immortality Immorality: As with any Druin, he is very long-lived, and views humans as simple-minded cattle who repeat the same mistakes again and again in their pathetically short lives.
- Kick the Dog: Calls Matrick a nobody on account of having fled his kingdom.
- Meaningful Name: Many would say that autumn is when the last leaf falls. And it turns out he's the Autumn son.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: You'd be forgiven for finding his quest against monster injustice honorable, to say nothing of his tragic backstory, but then you remember he's plotting the annihilation of all mankind.
- The Reveal: He's Vail, the Autumn son and the Heathen of Grandual's mythology.
- Tragic Villain: He's ultimately lashing out at the world for having a father who wanted to kill him so that his wife could be brought back against her will once more, as well as the unfair treatment of non-humans.
- Undignified Death: Gets tricked into being run over by an enraged minotaur that sends him into a lava pit he summoned. If he somehow escaped dying to that, he was finished off by getting trampled by his own horde.
- Villain Has a Point: Characters concede that, in spite of his genocidal attitude, he's not wrong when he points out the cruelty humans have dealt anything that isn't them. This is most prominent in Fivecourt, where he goes at length about how the human settlers of Castia drove out and/or hunted the native monsters to near-to-complete extinction while forcing some to fight in a primitive arena known as the Crucible.
- Vissionary Villain: Sees the destruction of Castia as the beginning of a bright new future for any being that isn't a human.
There are mercenaries, and then there are bounty hunters. Out of all the latter, few are as notorious or feared as Larkspur. She is an especially rare breed of winged humanoid known as a daeva, and like a bird of prey, she never gives up the chase. Her past wasn't pretty, but she sure is thanks to her uncanny ability to weaken the wills of all men around her. When Lilith hires her and her small army of red-robed monks to get back Matrick, Saga is put in more trouble than they could ever bargain for.
- All the Other Reindeer: As a child, she was presumably mocked for being a daeva. Her tormentors died at her talons for this.
- Ambiguous Situation: Was she or was she not faking her amnesia? It's honestly hard to tell, though most believe that she was.
- Is Sabbatha her true name, or just one she came up with while faking her amnesia?
- Big Damn Heroes: Comes in with her skyship to assist the mercs in the Battle of the Bands.
- Cool Airship: Has a skyship known as the Dark Star.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Apparently had a very abusive father, on top of being mocked by her peers as a child. She proceeded to kill them all and turn the whole school into her base of operations.
- Faking Amnesia: Her stint as Sabbatha is implied to be this, as she betrays Saga during the final leg of their journey after being with and getting to know them.
- Heel–Face Turn: Double subverted She seems to become much nicer and helpful to Saga after falling into the Heartwyld with them, but then she turns on them right before they reach their destination. She comes back during the final battle completely on their side, presumably after giving her time with them some thought.
- Hidden Depths: Implied when her resolve wavers for the briefest moment during her fight with Saga on The Carnal Court when Gabe tells her that he's trying to rescue his daughter.
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Kit explicitly states that Larkspur grew bored of hunting just monsters, so she turned her attention to hunting people.
- Inhumanly Beautiful Race: She has a special "compulsion" that makes all men attracted to her, and much easier targets as a result. Even Clay has to remind himself that he's a married man while around her.
- Jekyll & Hyde: Larkspur the cold and ferocious bounty hunter vs. Sabbatha the demure and good-hearted daeva. Then again, it depends on whether the latter is truly just an act.
- Pair the Spares: With Ganelon.
- Cool Scythe: Obtains Umbra after Shadow is killed.
- Winged Humanoid: A harpy-like being known as a daeva.
A rather unsightly man named for his serious underbite, Kallorek was once Saga's official booker. But once the band broke up, he turned to booking other bands, along with some more...unsavory lines of work. That being hording priceless artifacts for himself, and taking away Gabe's wife. As it stands, he is now a major enemy of Saga's once-great leader.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: No one is too perturbed by Clay killing him so suddenly. As far as Saga is concerned, it eliminated at least half of their problems. Even Clay himself gets over it quickly despite hating his moments of violence.
- And Your Little Dog, Too!: Threatens to ruin everyone by going after the things they care about when he's Saga's prisoner on his own skyship. It costs him his life when he makes the mistake of threatening Clay's hometown and family.
- Arc Villain: The most personal antagonist to Saga during the first half of the book.
- Collector of the Strange: His home is a trove of magical artifacts, which include the coffin of Kit the Unkillable and Velichor itself.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: A rare medieval example. He takes at least half of every band's earnings. And worse, he's got a monopoly on booking them.
- Disney Villain Death: Gets sent hurdling off of his own skyship after he makes the mistake of threatening Clay's family.
- Faux Affably Evil: Acts all jovial and reasonable at first. But it isn't long before he shows how unpleasant he is, be it his short temper or his sleazy dealings.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Went from being a street thug to one of the more successful bookers out there.
- Gonk: He's named for having an underbite that would make an actual orc blush.
- Kick the Dog: Tells Moog that he burned his tower down and killed the animals within, explicitly stating that he ate the little elephant there. Truth or no truth, that's sick.
- Smug Snake: Acts like he's at the top at all times (and he has been too). But when Saga comes back, fully reformed and ready to take back Velichor, there's next to nothing he can do but become their prisoner. He's left cursing and threatening everyone they love until Clay shuts him up permanently.
Matrick's wife and queen of Agria. It's abundantly clear that she has all the power in this relationship, and she isn't afraid to exploit that power at every opportunity. Maybe there might have been a spark once, but nowadays, she prefers to sire children with any handsome man that isn't her own husband. And worse, she's a-okay with Matrick dying if it means ascending in power.
- Abusive Parents: Treats her children with apathy and disgust.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: In stark contrast to her fair-hearted husband, Lilith gladly abuses both him and everyone else, and is implied to have so much worse in mind should she become sole ruler of their kingdom.
- Red Baron: The Ice Queen of Agria.
- Your Cheating Heart: While it's pretty much an open secret now, it's clear that Matrick's hurt by her brazen love of being impregnated by other men.
A high-class gorgon residing in Fivecourt who's on some very good terms with Lastleaf. She also runs the Quarry, a prison where almost everyone is turned to stone.
- Gorgeous Gorgon: She's quite an eye-catching one, even for something as dangerous as a gorgon.
- Karmic Death: After spending a long time profiting off of the death caused in the Maxithon (albeit reluctantly), she's crushed by the chimera during its fight with Saga alon with the Maxithon's destruction.
- Opportunistic Bastard: Joins Lastleaf in the hopes of becoming an Exarch of the New Dominion.
- Taken for Granite: Subverted. Gorgons turning people to stone is a myth in this world. She has her basilisks do that.
- Wicked Cultured: As with most gorgons in this world, Dinantra has a love for artwork, and decorates her living space with paintings and statues (not people-turned-statues, that's for the Quarry).
A wyvern matriarch that acts as Lastleaf's mount.
- Androcles' Lion: Lastleaf found her in the Castian Crucible during his three-year imprisonment, trapped in a tiny room and forced to create babies for the arena. She shows nothing but respect for him on account of him freeing her and every last monster, leading to the Red Sands massacre.
- Beast of Battle: Lastleaf's personal mount, and a terrifying opponent in her own right.
- Monster Progenitor: All of Lastleaf's wyvern forces are Ashatan's young.
- Our Wyverns Are Different: Not really in this case, though it is explicitly stated that not only are there the typical biological differences from dragons, but they're also nowhere near as intelligent. Ashatan is basically a feral animal tamed by Lastleaf, whereas a dragon is a thinking being.
A lone Druin that Saga encounters during the final leg of their mission. A scavenger looking for items in the ruins to sell in the human settlements, he is not entirely disloyal to Lastleaf's cause.
- Collector of the Strange: He's a claw-broker, or a scavenger looking for things to sell.
- Due to the Dead: Saga buries him under a proper grave with Rose's rocks.
- Fantastic Racism: He turns on Saga on the principle that Vellichor does not belong in the hands of a mortal.
- Master of Illusion: Can summon ghostly apparitions that resemble his opponents. Only a weapon like Vellichor can dispel them.
- Mr. Exposition: It is him who explains the Portal Network that is the Thresholds, as well as the truth of the legend regarding the Summer King, the Winter Queen, and The Autumn Son. [[Spoiler: Namely, that they're all Druin, and the latter is Lastleaf seeking vengeance against his father.]]
- Sinister Scythe: Umbra.
A huge dragon that Saga fought once. He survived to horde the keystone required to open the Threshold in Teragoth.
- Came Back Strong: When Saga fought him, they left him barely clinging on to life with his guts nearly on the outside. Now, he's fully healed, and no less angry about it.
- Dragon Horde: Has a particularly huge one, befitting the classic tradition.
- The Dreaded: As indicated by his name, no one's in any hurry to fight him.
- Spikes of Villainy: Has enough spines and spikes on him that the narration claims you could hang all the hats in the world on them.
- Uncertain Doom: Saga makes it so that Akatung ends up going into a portal leading to the underwater Threshold of Antica. Everyone thinks he drowned, but it's never confirmed.
A monstrous demon that plays a major role in Lastleaf's Heartwyld Horde.
- An Ice Person: All of its powers are based on freezing people with its breath and its whip.
- Dragon Their Feet: Despite Lastleaf being brought to near-death, it's the last foe Saga needs to kill to send the Heartwyld Horde packing.
- Expy: Of the Balrog, albeit it trades fire for ice.
- Final Boss: Of the entire story.
- Foreshadowing: Early on, it's established that no one knows what an Infernal looks like, aside from being big and scary. Sure enough, it's just that.
- Whip of Dominance: Has a huge whip that can freeze solid anything it strikes. Larkspur learns this the hard way.
Other Characters
Clay's wife, and pretty much the only thing back then that stood between him and giving in to becoming less than a man.
- Happily Married: With Clay.
- Love Redeems: It's safe to say that Clay would have probably given in to the life of bloodshed had she not entered the picture.
- Morality Chain: Without her, Clay would not be the good person he is now. And he knows it.
- Only Sane Man: One of the saner characters in the cast. She also happens to make much more than Clay does as a watchman.
Gabe's wife. She's...not entirely pleased with the direction his life went, especially where their daughter is concerned. Unfortunately, she ended up with Kallorek as a result, who encouraged her addiction to the heroin-like drug known as scratch.
- Actual Pacifist: Valery abhors violence of all kinds, and was especially livid when Rose started taking after dad.
- Foil: To Ginny. Both married a member of Saga, and they both don't want their daughters to grow up and be warriors. But while Ginny handles it in a stern yet even-tempered way that speaks to the trust he has in Clay to do right by her, Valery responded near-instantly by lashing out and leaving Gabe the moment Rose started getting into fights.
- Parents as People: For all her faults, she does care about her daughter, and she's not against Gabe risking it all to save her. Knowing that he's going to do so even helps her put away a bad drug addiction.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: How her and Gabe's relationship got started. After she tried to set Saga's argosy on fire during and before their first argument.
- Yoko Oh No: In keeping with the "mercenary bands as music bands motif", she's based off of the infamous accusation that a woman broke up a famous band. But as Clay notes, while she didn't help matters, she was far from the only reason Saga broke up.
The old Archon of the Druin empire. Back during Saga's time, he entrusted Vellichor to Gabe right before he was felled by his own son.
- Archnemesis Dad: Lastleaf despised him for killing Druin and then attempting to kill him just to keep his mother alive whether she wanted it or not.
- The Good King: Gabe held him in high regard, especially since he gave him his sword. It makes the reveal all the more heartbreaking for him.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Him trying to kill Lastleaf in order to resurrect his unwilling wife ensured that she turned into the feared Winter Queen, and made a misanthrope out of his son.
- Im Dying Please Take My Macguffin: Gave Vellichor to Gabe as he neared death, asking him to kill him with it too.
- Love Makes You Crazy: He loved his queen so much, he couldn't bear to be without her, and he made a sword that would only bring her back if he killed his fellow Druin with it. And she didn't even want to be resurrected so many times.
- Offing the Offspring: In his mad quest to keep his queen alive for as long as possible, he used Tamarat to kill his daughter and then attempt to do the same to his son.
- The Reveal: Vespian is the Summer King, and it was him who put his son Lastleaf on the path of villainy after madly using a sword to kill Druin in order to repeatedly resurrect his queen.
A kobold living in Coinbarrow, and a friend of Gabe.
- Comedic Sociopathy: Fender outright states that he was hoping Gabe would fall in a hole and die before he came back for the sack of gold he gave him. Gabe treats it like it's no big deal.
- Our Kobolds Are Different: Here, they are diminutive rat-like beings that obsess over shiny things.
- Sticky Fingers: Loves to get his hands on shiny things, as all kobolds covet them.
A troll witch doctor that Saga encounters in the Heartwyld.
- Healing Factor: As with all trolls here, he can regenerate entire lost limbs in as little as an hour.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Doesn't seem to mind Ganelon hacking off his arm on instinct.
- Small Role, Big Impact: His introduction of mudweed to Saga gives Moog the key to curing the rot once and for all.
- The Stoner: Has a special kind of magical mudweed that causes everyone to get high and start tripping.
- Witch Doctor: His main profession, and probably one of the reasons the Heartwyld hasn't already claimed his life.
A tribe of cannibals (or Ferals, as they are known) residing in the Heartwyld. While they can be hostile, they ultimately prove to be decent allies to Saga.
- Aerith and Bob: They have remarkably mundane names, such as ambassator Jeremy and his father Teresa. This is because they adopt the names of the first people they kill.
- Cannibal Tribe: Somewhat. Yes, they eat their fellow man, but it's only ever the losers of fights between rival tribes. Most of the time, they're content to feast on the meat of animals.
- Evil Is Bigger: The nastiest of the Ferals, Dook, is positively huge.
- Gender Bender Name: Jeremy's father's name is Teresa.
- Honor Before Reason: Ferals have a habit of fighting the strongest prey before going for the weaker ones. This proves to be several Ferals' undoing when they converge on Ganelon.
- Insane Troll Logic: They view plucking food off of trees as an act of cowardice. Fittingly, almost all of them have scurvy.
- No Party Like a Donner Party: Subverted. Saga thinks that's what's in store for them, but not only does this tribe show a degree of restraint in eating random people, but Moog gifts them the food-summoning hat, solving the whole starvation problem.
A huge two-headed giant known as an Ettin that Saga meets in the Boneface Tribe's camp. They tag along for the remainder of the journey.
- The Blind Leading the Blind: Gregor spends a lot of time describing things to his blind other head, usually in over-exaggerated ways.
- Body Horror: Dane's head is particularly malformed, with a smashed nose, jagged teeth, a skinless scalp, and no eyes.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Gregor might be one of the nicer creatures Saga encounters, but he's still a giant more than capable of holding his own.
- Creepy Good: In spite of being a two-headed giant (and having a horrific second head in Dane), they're the most polite characters here.
- Face Death with Dignity: After falling alongside Clay off of the Cold Road, Dane treats it all like a dream before passing on like his brother has.
- Gentle Giant: It's established early on that Ettins, unlike most giantkin, are not all that violent. This one's hardly an exception.
- Sixth Ranger: Essentially this in Kit's absense to Saga.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Despite being so unfailingly gentle and nice, they ultimately perish at the Emperor's Mantle.
