Characters for Sword Princess Amaltea:
Protagonists:
Princess Amaltea
Princess Amaltea
Princess Amaltea is the daughter of Queen Galatea of the Green Highlands. She's a spoiled brat with too much self esteem, but also big shoes to fill and an obvious inferiority complex towards her older sister Dorotea.- All Periods Are PMS: She really believes this.
That would go a long way to explaining a great deal. - Always Someone Better: Dorotea easily overpowers and defeats Amaltea. According with Ama's memories and Doro's own account, it has been like this since they were children.
- Berserk Button: Never say she's unable to do something.
- A subtle more recent one: don't threaten Ossian. Their relationship might be a little rocky but she's come to care for him. Amaltea is outright ready to fight her sister for Ossian's sake.
- Big Damn Heroes: As Ossian is fleeing from wolves bearing down on him, Amaltea shows up out of nowhere to come to his aid. It helps that Ossian's mother used an astral projection to lead him to her.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Dorotea insisting that Ossian sleep in her tent as opposed to Amaltea's has driven the latter into such a rage that Amaltea not only explicitly calls Ossian "hers" but officially challenges Dorotea to a duel. Dorotea's psychotic smirk in the last panel indicates that this might have been intentional on Dorotea's part. Turns out Amaltea had good reason to be concerned.
- Daddy's Girl: Amaltea gets along better with her father thanks to King Theodor appreciating her talents.
- Dark and Troubled Past: We finally see the reason she's so violent in Chapter VIII. She used to be a rather shy, and sweet girl, then Queen Galatea thought she "lacked discipline" in sword practice because she had difficulty against her bigger sister's longer and heavier blade.
- Galatea:"It's discipline she needs, not training. She gives up too easily."
- Her mother also outright destroyed her daughters' friendship, outright stating that Amaltea is Dorotea's rival for the throne and nothing more.
- Does Not Like Men: She consider princes obnoxious, believing that they only worry about looking pretty and never need to work for anything. And other men in general are just weaklings.
- Fiery Redhead: Fits this trope to a T.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: To the surprise of everyone on both sides of the fourth wall, she's the responsible sibling.
- Freudian Excuse: Her mother, Galatea was, and still is, a rather nasty piece of work. She literally beat a "never give up, even when it makes sense" complex into her as a small child as well as destroying Amaltea's friendship with her older sister because she doesn't believe siblings can be friends instead of rivals.
- Gender Bender: Transforms into a man at the end of Princess or Prince?, and spends the whole The Enchanted Prince chapter as a male. Thankfully, the magic ran off overnight.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Grows significantly grumpier when Ossian starts to spend more time with Dorotea, and the fact that Doro was highlighting Amaltea's worse traits and telling embarrassing stories of her past didn't help. She mostly let it be until Doro suggested sharing her tent with Ossian.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Amaltea is quick to get angry and her solution to any problems is to take out her sword.
- Heroic BSoD: She's shown curled up in a fetal position in her tent after losing to Dorotea and helplessly watching Ossian enter the latter's tent, until she's given a pep-talk from an unexpected direction, Dorotea's guards.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: A sword is her primary weapon, though she's not too shabby as an Improbable Weapon User.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: She harbors a deep-seated inferiority complex to her older sister, so she's out to prove herself superior to everyone else. As of page 257, we find out her mother Galatea did this to her deliberately.
- It's All My Fault: After a massive burst of Character Development, she happily admits that she's responsible for most, if not all, of Ossian's woes, and yes, she does care about him a great deal, promising to do everything in her power to get him safely to his mother.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Turns out she was more than right to be suspicious of Dorotea's motives regarding sharing her tent with Ossian.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She wants to do right to Ossian, she just doesn't know how, and comes across as very abrasive in her efforts. But at least she's trying to put a ring on it first.
- Mood-Swinger: Can and has gone from "perky" to "abusive" to "murderous" at the drop of a hat.
- No Badass to His Valet: When Ossian told to Dorotea that Amaltea killed a dragon to "save" him, Dorotea couldn't believe it.
- Property of Love: She insists on calling Ossian "hers" but does genuinely care for his well being, even if she's not good at showing it.
- Quirky Curls: While her hair is styled in Regal Ringlets, her brash personality ruins the sophisticated air of her hairstyle.
- Rebellious Spirit: Having grown tired of being in her older sister's shadow, and dreading the thought of an Arranged Marriage, she sets out to find a prince for herself, in the gender-reversed form of the fairy tales her father used to tell her. Unfortunately, she succeeds.
- Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: At the start. Now, she's poor in dollars and in sense.
- Royal Brat: Oh so very much. Amazingly, she outgrows it.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: When Amaltea and Ossian find a nice river and, since they have no money to pay an inn, Amaltea strips right there to take a dip. Thanks to women being "males" in this story, Amaltea's behavior is like of any teenage boy, and when Ossian freaks out, she just tells him to turn around if he's that prude.
- Skilled, but Naive: She's no slouch in martial arts, swordsmanship, languages, or any of the "high arts," but she has little to no understanding of how the world really works and has had her valuables stolen or taken by force on several occasions.
- Spoiled Brat: Lampshaded in her character description.
- Took a Level in Kindness: In spades. The Amaltea at the start of the story would have yelled at Ossian for running off, unarmed, in the middle of the night. The Amaltea of chapter VIII, pages 323-324, stops, kindly looks Ossian in the eyes, makes certain he is emotionally and physically unharmed, condemns Dorotea and Dorotea's actions, and is clearly on the verge of tears as she admits that she didn't know where Ossian was.
- Tranquil Fury: Surprisingly, she is capable of this. After a full night of being utterly humiliated by her big sister, with her levels of anger continuously rising, she does quite well in restraining herself to just sulk in a corner, but when Dorotea offers to share her tent with Ossian, she very calmly and pointedly states that that is not going to happen.
- Amaltea: "No, you're not sleeping in her tent."
- Ungrateful Bitch: After being rescued by Dorotea, she proceeds to call out her big sister in a rage. Granted, Dorotea was smugly talking down to her at the time, combined with Amaltea's own inferiority complex, so it's a bit warranted.
- Used to Be a Sweet Child: In her flashback as she's being choked by Herodun, it's played completely straight. She didn't become the violent girl with a Hair-Trigger Temper we all know until after her mother, Galatea, decided that the best way to teach her self-defense, is to force her to spar with real swords, threatening her life in the process, and then insulting her when she stumbles purely because she "lacks discipline" in facing off against her taller and stronger sister who is wielding a longer and heavier blade. Her mother destroying her friendship with Dorotea by forcing the girls to be rivals didn't help matters at all.
- You Are Worth Hell: What she believes about Ossian.
- You Monster!: To her sister Dorotea after the latter outright bragged, in a bored tone, how she tried to rape Ossian causing him to flee in the middle of the night, and then being completely unconcerned with his fate.
Prince Ossian
Prince Ossian
Prince Ossian is the son of Queen Ylvasin of the Grey Mountains. In this "women's world", Ossian is not content with his lot in life; to be rescued by a princess and marry her. He doesn't want to be someone's possession!- Ambiguously Brown: Whatever his ethnicity, his people are very dark-skinned as seen when his mother is introduced.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: After getting kidnapped by thieves, Ossian's clothes were all dirty and he even lost his shoes. This doesn't take away his natural beauty, as many slave dealers have pointed out.
- Boyish Short Hair: Unlike all the long haired princes, Ossian has short hair. This seems to be unusual enough for Amaltea to wonder about it. Considering Ossian being this world's equivalent of a feminist, his short hair is a sign of rebellion.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Surprisingly. When asked about his Important Haircut, a flashback eerily reminiscent of a gang-rape appears.
- Damsel out of Distress: Gender-flipped. Surprisingly, he fights back Dorotea's attempts to have her way with him and manages to run away on his own.
- Didn't Think This Through: Subverted, he thought on Amaltea before running away from the camp, but he was so scared and sick of all that happened that he left, without thinking that he has no money nor way to defend himself.
- Distressed Dude: Frequently. Doesn't help that he's spent much of his life locked in a tower, guarded by a fire-breathing dragon, waiting to be "rescued" by a princess that he's "destined" to marry.
- Page 289 sees him having Dorotea forcing herself on him, to his clear horror.
- Exit, Pursued by a Bear: He finds himself fleeing from wolves as a result of running off into the forest, at night, with no weapon, magic, skills, or any idea where he's going.
- Gender Bender: Just like Amaltea. The magic ran off overnight, though.
- Guile Hero: While he can't defeat opponents with martial skills or magic, he can, and does outsmart them.
- House Husband: Was raised to become this.
- Idiot Ball: Completely misses the implications of There Is Only One Bed until Dorotea has him pinned to said bed.
- Important Haircut: He used to have long, beautiful hair. No longer.
- Living MacGuffin: The gender-reversed fairy-tale mindset of the world setting has made him this. Amaltea isn't the only princess that had her eyes set on "rescuing" him, and he was actually promised to someone else without his knowledge.
- Meal Ticket: Amaltea only sees him as the final piece in order to end her quest and Lokis kidnapped him with the idea of getting herself married to him to be able to join royalty. Even his own mother sees him as no more than a tool to secure her power.
- Morality Chain: Ossian is the one person in the world who can get Amaltea to mellow out and at least try to be a decent person and is ultimately responsible for her monumental kindness growth.
- Morton's Fork: After escaping from the events of page 289, he's got three unpleasant options. 1.) Try to stay hidden in the camp, but that just makes it a matter of time before Dorotea goes after him again. 2.) Go to Amaltea for help, but Amaltea is not likely to be very receptive, and even then, it's already been shown that she's unable, though not unwilling, to protect Ossian. 3.) Run off into the woods, and try to hide there, despite being unskilled, unarmed, and alone, knowing full well that Lokis and her gang are after him. Although he briefly considers option 2, he ultimately takes option 3.
- Non-Action Guy: He is absolutely useless in battle. Justified by the fact that he has no martial or magical training, and has spent most of his life locked up in a tower.
- Only Sane Man: Often plays this role to Amaltea.
- Switches with her in the lead up to the Wham Shot that is Page 289, not seeing anything suspicious about Dorotea's behavior until she's forcing herself on him.
- Princess Classic: A gender-flipped version who knows he is, and hates it.
- Protectorate: Ultimately becomes one for Amaltea. Given her Character Development, this kickstarts a crush on her rather than annoyance as it would have prior.
- Rape as Backstory: Heavily implied with various flashbacks and his thoughts of "No. Not again. Please not again." when Lokis, Sanada and Are discuss having "fun" with him.
- Restored My Faith in Humanity: Combined with Rescue Romance, for real this time. Amaltea coming to rescue him from a pack of wolves, and caring for his well being, first and foremost, not to mention condemning Dorotea and her actions, has him falling for Amaltea, and hard.
- Ossian:"You came for me ... I didn't think you cared about me..."
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Many have tried to take Ossian from Amaltea and have remarked on Ossian's lovely features. It hasn't been stated outright yet but it's heavily implied that his good looks got him raped or at the very least sexually assaulted. In Chapter VIII, his good looks turned him into Dorotea's Lust Object.
- Tears of Fear: He is clearly crying as he flees the camp in the middle of the night.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He really doesn't like working with Amaltea but he has to in order to return home. This fades as the pair become closer.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Much as he would like to.
Other characters
King Theodor
King Theodor:
King Theodor is the father of Amaltea and Dorotea, a caring and sweet man.- Doting Parent: He really loves his daughters, and it shows.
- Small Role, Big Impact: His reading of fairy tales to Amaltea and praise when she did well in her studies led to her striking out on her own to find "her prince."
Princess Dorotea
Princess Dorotea
Princess Dorotea is Amaltea's sister and daughter to Queen Galatea, and heir to the throne. She's strong willed and bossy, but also focused to help her sister in her quest. But her true intentions are maybe not what Amaltea think they are...- Aloof Big Sister: She may look distant but actually cares for her sister Amaltea. Though recent chapters point out that she looks after Amaltea for selfish reasons.
- Braids of Action: Her ponytail is braided.
- Big Damn Heroes: Suddenly appears
in front of Lokis' gang
just when Amaltea is running out of strength to defend herself. According to Word of God, it's a Contrived Coincidence since Tibus somehow knew exactly where Lokis' gang was. - Big Sister Bully: Hoo boy. It's so bad, she calls Amaltea "stupid" for thinking that raping Ossian is a grievous offense.
- Cool Big Sis: To many a fan's shock, she used to be this. Then her mother put a stop to that...
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Combined with Entitled to Have You. She pins Ossian down and outright ignores his objections purely so she can "have him" before Amaltea.
- For Your Own Good: Combined with Insane Troll Logic. She tries to claim raping Ossian would be doing Amaltea a favor. Amaltea rightly calls "bullshit" on that.
- Hannibal Lecture: Possibly combined with Jerkass Has a Point. When Amaltea is able to channel her well-justified rage into a weapon that allows her to fight evenly with her, possibly for the first time in her life, Dorotea tries to distract Amaltea by insulting her concern for Ossian's well being. To her credit, Amaltea doesn't seem to be distracted by it in the slightest.
- Dorotea: "Keep lying to yourself that you're fighting for him. If you truly cared about him, you would not be here."
- Innocently Insensitive: When Ossian asks about Amaltea, she's quick to remark that she's, indeed, an aggressive spoiled brat and spends the night entertaining the prince with old, embarrassing stories about Amaltea's past. She doesn't seem to see how much it bothers Amaltea. Dorotea also was willing to share her tent with Ossian (but of course he'll use a different side) but Amaltea put her foot down on that one. Of course, there's the possibility she actually is demeaning Amaltea on purpose.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Oh, Tibus, poor Tibus. You really should have let Dorotea pay for your meal instead of trying to act wealthier than you are.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Though marginally a hero on her introduction, the moment she's reunited with Amaltea and sees Ossian, she becomes utterly abhorrent in a hurry.
- Lack of Empathy: After Ossian miraculously fights her off and flees into the woods, she goes right back to drinking her wine, eating her luxurious foods and doing so with a smirk like she doesn't have a care in the world.
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: Clearly inherited at least some of Mommy Dearest's Lack of Empathy considering how brutally she defeats her sister and what she plans to do with Ossian, despite his protests.
- Narcissist: She's in love with herself and her own sense of superiority. Everything and everyone else is just a toy to her, at best. This borders on The Fighting Narcissist considering how much she loves to brutally demonstrate how superior her swordsmanship is to Amaltea's.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Her utterly abhorrent behavior not only allowed Amaltea to take a level in kindness, but served to cement Ossian's feelings for Amaltea and make the two inseparable.
- No Sense of Personal Space: While she fulfilled her word of letting a side of her tent to Ossian, she went in there in the middle of the night, and Ossian's clearly uncomfortable about it.
- Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: She's even worse at it than Amaltea. Had she simply paid Amaltea's insignificant bill, instead of throwing her weight around, she would have gained the support of the tavern owner victimized by Tibus and gotten a much stronger lead on her missing sister.
- Later, does this again with alliance potential. Her rape attempt on Ossian has likely destroyed any hope she has of allying with his mother since there's no way in hell Ossian is working with his would be rapist.
- Royal Brat: She makes Amaltea look reasonable by comparison. Her tent has furniture and luxuries that would not be out of place in a modern high-class hotel, namely a bridal suite. The logistics of how this was set up is never explained. To say nothing of her entitlement towards Ossian and how little she cares about his opinion on the matter, only caring about how hot she finds him and how having her way with him will spite her sister.
- Sibling Rivalry: While they don't seem to have any kind of rivalry or bad blood between each other, Amaltea feels quite bad over living under Dorotea's shadow all her life. Later we discover that Amaltea can fight Dorotea's claim for their mother's throne, so Dorotea is looking after Amaltea in order to see if she marries into another family to stop her worries.
- Smug Snake: Combined with Aristocrats Are Evil. She looks down on everyone especially princess Amalatea. She then tries to pretend that she doesn't understand why Amaltea is enraged by it.
- Strong Family Resemblance: She doesn't just look like her mother, Galatea, she acts like her too. This is decidedly not a good thing.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Surprisingly; she used to be her sister's best friend and stood up for Amaltea when their mother belittled her; then her mother changed all that.
- Villain Ball: To the point of Stupid Evil. Had she respected Amaltea's and Ossian's boundaries and escorted them to Ossian's kingdom, where Amaltea and Ossian would likely have been married, her throne in Galatea's kingdom would be secure, and she might have even secured a powerful ally in the form of Ossian's mother. Instead, she humiliates and beats down Amaltea, tries to rape Ossian, just to spite her, and endangers not only her throne, but risks starting all-out war should Ossian's mother learn of it. Not to mention giving Amaltea the righteous rage she needs to not only fight her evenly, possibly for the first time in her life, but possibly actually give back the humiliating taste of defeat.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: She tries to get Ossian's sympathy by playing the "caring but misunderstood big sister" card, saying that she didn't wanted to hurt Amaltea and that it seems her sister hates her. The reader knows well that Dorotea always has her own interests before her sister's well-being. By Page 289, Ossian is starting to see through the mask but considering that said realization is coming as she's pinning him to the bed, fully intending to have her way with him regardless of his wishes, it's a little late.
Tibus
Tibus
Tibus is a bar servant, but with high ambitions.- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He really suffers from this. He has betrayed everyone he's ever met. Princess Amaltea, Prince Ossian, the three bandits of Lokis' gang, his employer at the tavern, all of them have been cheated and betrayed by him. He's even scheming to betray Dorotea, but, as part of the act of being richer than he actually is, he's paying for their meal by using Amaltea's purse.
- Femme Fatale: When Ossian was kidnapped by a gang of bandits, he distracted them enough to allow Amaltea to rescue him.
- Golddigger: His biggest goal is getting a handsome, rich lady to marry and live in luxury.
- Gory Discretion Shot: The camera pans away just before Dorotea goes to town on him.
- Graceful Ladies Like Purple: He gets to wear a nice, shape-flattering purple dress.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Showing off Amaltea's stolen purse ends very, very badly for him.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Thanks to Amaltea's money, he gets to doll himself up and looks a lot better than when he was introduced.
- Smarter Than You Look: He looks and acts like a preppy ditz but everything he does is well thought to allow him some benefit.
- Sticky Fingers: He stole Amaltea's pocket bag, leaving her and Ossian poor. Dorotea recognizes the bag.
Palifax
Palifax:
Palifax is Amaltea's involuntary (but loyal) animal companion on her quest.- Big Damn Heroes: Palifax saved Amaltea and Ossian in their first encounter with Lokis' gang.
- Comedic Sociopathy: Is on the receiving end of this as Amaltea's horse.
- Funny Animal: Palifax is Amaltea's long-suffering horse.
- Silent Snarker: Being a horse, he can't talk, but his thought bubbles and expressions clearly show what he thinks of Amaltea.
- Team Pet: Serves this role as part of the party with Amaltea and Ossian.
Antagonists:
Queen Galatea
Queen Galatea:
Queen Galatea is the mother of Amaltea and Dorotea. Her Queendom in the north is rich and famous. Her most precious possessions are her two fierce daughters, and Galatea has plans for both of them.- Abusive Mom: Showing an extreme Lack of Empathy, she forces Dorotea and Amaltea to spar each other with real swords before they've even mastered using practice swords because Amaltea "obviously wasn't taking it seriously" due to not doing well against Dorotea's longer and heavier sword. She also destroyed her daughters' close relationship because she insisted they had to be rivals not friends.
- Archnemesis Dad: Is effectively the gender reversed version of this for Amaltea.
- Despotism Justifies the Means: There are very few activities she would overlook in order to maintain her power as the queen. She is shown treating her daughters and her husband as nothing more than tools for her ambitions.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: She can give Quain'tana of Drowtales a run for her money in this. Chapter 8 shows that, as small children, she made her two daughters "take self defense seriously" by forcing them to spar with real swords, when the captain of the guard, who's the expert in sword training, said they were not ready because they were both pre-teen children. All because Amaltea was doing poorly against Dorotea with both using practice swords.
- Insane Troll Logic: Amaltea is not doing well in sword practice against her sister who has a longer and heavier blade, therefore, she must not be taking it seriously, so we'll make them spar with real swords! Worse, when Amaltea's sword is beaten out of her hands, it's not because she's lacking training, it's because she's lacking discipline and "gives up too easily."
- Only one daughter can inherit the throne. Dorotea and Amaltea are best friends and Dorotea refuses to learn magic if Amaltea is excluded. Solution? Destroy their friendship and make them into bitter rivals instead of training both girls and having a powerful Spare to the Throne to offer to other kingdoms as a bargaining chip.
- Parental Favoritism: She really wants Dorotea to inherit the throne and has actively sabotaged Amaltea's entire life to that end and subtly sabotaged Dorotea as well to make her what she wants.
Queen Ylvasin
Queen Ylvasin:
Queen Ylvasin is the mother of Ossian and rule the Grey Mountains. She's every bit as powerful, and unpleasant as Queen Galatea.- Ambiguously Brown: Just like her son. Whatever ethnicity they may be, the people of the Grey Mountains have very dark skin.
- Archnemesis Dad: Gender reversed, but is effectively this for Prince Ossian.
- Astral Projection: She seemingly has this ability, and it's not Ossian's hallucination because the wolves that attacked Ossian saw it too.
- Black Widow: Ylvasin's husband and Ossian's father died, and she never remarried.
- Despotism Justifies the Means: She will do anything to hold on to power. She has even sold off her son to a dragon riding princess of another queendom. Neither Ossian nor Amaltea knew about this, however.
- Hidden Depths: In Ossian's flashback, Ylvasin seems to be concerned about Ossian and she's conscious of how the world is a tough place for men in general. Either she was manipulating Ossian or she does really care for him, but her queendom's future is priority.
- Shipper on Deck: Amazingly. She uses an astral projection to lead Ossian into Amaltea's arms when he was in danger.
- Slipping a Mickey: She gives Ossian a drink, while refusing to identify it, only saying Ossian "will one day understand."
- Spikes of Villainy: Her tiara is significantly more slender and pointy than Galatea's crown. Though whether this trope is played straight or not is still up in the air at the moment.
Lokis
Lokis:
Lokis is the leader of a small gang of bandits that roam the paths between cities and rob travelers of their money and goods.- Brainy Brunette: Lokis is the only one with enough brains to get work done, and it's thanks to Sanada and Are that most of her plans fail.
- Bullying a Dragon: When she manages to get the drop on Amaltea, stealing her sword and siccing a new, fourth member of her gang, who is effectively a walking mountain, rather than simply secure Ossian and get away, she stops and taunts Amaltea, deliberately pushing the latter's Berserk Button.
- I Surrender, Suckers: Was quick to surrender when Amaltea proved to be far more effective in combat than the entire gang during their first encounter. Since Amaltea is Skilled, but Naive, Lokis was more than able to use the opportunity to rally, turn the tables, and capture Amaltea, robbing her blind in the process.
- The Leader: Of the three "man" gang of thieves. Four man with the addition of Herodun.
- Revenge Before Reason: Is fixated on hunting down, beating, and killing Amaltea and Ossian because the two of them keep escaping from her and her band of thieves.
- Scars Are Forever: She has two scars right over her left eye.
Sanada and Are
Sanada and Are:
Sanada and Are are the two members of Lokis' gang. They have lots of muscle but much less in brains.- Dirty Old Woman: Sanada has the habit of hitting on every pretty guy.
- Dumb Muscle: Lampshaded in their character description.
- Those Two Guys: Three with Lokis. The three of them are never seen apart.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Are doesn't like horses.
Herodun
Herodun
Herodun is Lokis' new addition to her bandit gang; a huge, muscular but mute woman.- The Brute: Lokis took her into her group because of her height and strength.
- Perpetual Frowner: Frowning is the only expression we've seen so far. It may have something to do with that scar on her lips.
- Scars Are Forever: She has an X-shaped scar over her lips.
- The Voiceless: She's mute.
