Characters / The Magicians Brakebills Faculty And Students

The Brakebills Faculty

Dean Fogg

Henry Fogg

The current Dean of Brakebills.

• Benevolent Boss: He's surprisingly accepting of the notion of Quentin as a junior professor, giving him a place at Brakebills in spite of Quentin's shitty behaviour during their last meeting. That said, Fogg will not stand for any nonsense: as soon as he finds that a professor has endangered the students by letting a Niffin run rampant, he's fired.
• Brutal Honesty: One of his specialties. In fact, almost immediately after Quentin awakes from passing the entrance exam, Fogg barely gives him a minute to rub the sleep out of his eyes before dropping bombshells on him. Then, after Quentin and Penny have just recovered from beating the crap out of each other, he shows up to provide a lecture on what would happen if they'd been stupid enough to use combat magic thoughtlessly.
• Chekhov's Classroom: He introduces the concept of Niffins, which comes in handy later in the book.
• Chekhov's Gift: The Cacodemons he gives to graduating students as a defense mechanism.
• Cynical Mentor: While nowhere near as bitter or nihilistic as Mayakovsky, Fogg takes a somewhat gloomy view of his students, the school and even magic itself.
• Dean Bitterman: Downplayed; he's not necessarily mean per se, but he's definitely blunt, obstinate, and somewhat condescending.
• Fat Bastard: Quite rotund and more than a bit of a jackass - though he can be reasoned with, thankfully.
• Gentleman Wizard: In keeping with Brakebills' anglophile stylings, Fogg likes to look the part of a gentleman with his suits and fine cigars.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Stonewalls Quentin's investigation in the second book - but then again, Quentin was asking for confidential information and acting like an entitled prick.
  • In the third book, he fires Quentin for failing to banish a Niffin that's been haunting the school; though Quentin had a good reason for refusing to do so - namely that said Niffin was Alice - Fogg was more than justified for being pissed off with him, given that Niffins are remorseless killers with near-infinite magical power and this one posed a direct threat to literally everyone in the school including the students. Perhaps recognizing this, Quentin doesn't protest the Dean's ruling at all.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: To Quentin in the second book, denying him vital information.
• Parental Substitute: One of three prominent figures that Quentin regards as a replacement for his disappointing father during the third book, to the point that Fogg even gives him the prodigal son treatment when Quentin comes crawling back after insulting him.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Lets Quentin become a professor at Fillory, even after all the insults Quentin dumped in his lap on his last visit.
  • In the comic series, he opens up Fillory to hedge-witch students and even enters into a surprisingly genial relationship with the hedge-witch mentor.
• Underestimating Badassery: Fogg is considered a bit of a joke by the students, who don't get to see him perform much magic over the course of an average day; as such, they're rather startled when he leads the attempt to save the students frozen in time by the Beast, organising the teachers with great efficiency. The ceremony in which he summons a bevvy of Cacodemons into the graduating students just about seals the deal.

Professor Van der Weghe

Melanie Van der Weghe

Professor March

Professor March

• Break the Haughty: What Quentin tries to do to him by sabotaging one of his spells. Instead, the spell gets the Beast's attention, resulting in the entire class being frozen in time, and one of the students being eaten alive. Smooth move, Quentin.
• Fat Bastard: Quentin expects he might be a Big Fun type, but after enduring a few of his classes, comes to realize that March is actually kind of a hardass.
• Fiery Red Head
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The Beast's attack on his class shook him up so badly that he eventually resigned and fled Brakebills altogether.
• Stern Teacher

Professor Sunderland

Pearl Sunderland

• Extra-ore-dinary: Apparently, her magical discipline is concerned with metallurgy.
• Hot Teacher: Quentin ends up harboring a crush on her throughout his early years at Brakebills.
• Hot Witch
• Intangible Woman: When the Faculty was attempting to break the Beast's hold on Professor March's classroom, Sunderland apparently tried to phase herself through the wall to reach the students. It didn't work, which was probably for the best, considering that none of the Faculty would have been able to do much against the Beast had they managed to get into the building.

Professor Bigby

Professor Bigby

• Cover-Blowing Superpower: Both his wings and his arcane Pixie magic.
• The Exile: Implies that he is a political refugee, ousted from power by a conspiracy in his home country.
• Our Fairies Are Different: Short, generally human in appearance, capable of powerful magic, and with a large set of concealable wings.
• Pintsized Powerhouse
• Winged Humanoid: Though when not in use, Bigby's four dragonfly wings stay invisible.

Professor Mayakovsky

Professor Mayakovsky

The sole teacher at Brakebills South, Mayakovsky presides over the students sent there in their fourth year, teaching them how to internalize the spellcasting mechanics that they have studied in previous semesters. Unfortunately, his teaching style is not known for being especially gentle or compassionate, and his lessons walk a fine line between education and torture...

• The Aloner: Unable to leave Brakebills South due to an incorporate bond, he spends his time between semesters completely alone, either experimenting or getting completely shitfaced.
• The Archmage: One of the most powerful magicians in the entire story.
• Bad Santa: Quentin briefly wonders if he's some kind of Anti-Santa living at the South Pole, having his elves make lumps of coal for Anti-Christmas.
• Cynical Mentor: An unimaginably bitter, foul-tempered and pessimistic individual nonetheless determined to show his students the path to full magical mastery, likely because they're his only company throughout the year. For good measure, he's quite apathetic about their chances of actually getting anything right.
• Dare to Be Badass: Spurs his students on with monologues that neatly mix insults and inspiration.
• Dragon Rider: In the third book, Quentin remembers Mayakovsky telling him that he rode on the back of a dragon when they stormed the Neitherlands. But Quentin can't remember if he actually said this or if it was a drunken hallucination.
• The Exile: His reassignment is treated more like exile given that he's essentially banished to a remote outpost, alone except for the fourth-year students that are sent to learn from him, and unable to leave — or at the very least, unable to return to Brakebills' main campus except to make sure that the portal returning the fourth-year students has worked properly. The Magician's Land confirms that Mayakovsky can't leave the area due to an incorporate bond.
• Famous Ancestor: The son of a past Dean of Brakebills, Quentin and Eliot immediately connect Mayakovsky's name to his legendary father.
• Gargle Blaster: Has been making his own Antarctic moonshine; upon noticing the radiator fluid-like smell, Quentin speculates that it was brewed from lichens, if only because the alternatives are unthinkable. Drinking it results in a very confusing night out.
• Genius Slob: When not attending to the annual class of fourth-years, Mayakovsky spends a good deal of his time tinkering with highly-theoretical forms of magic, usually while hungover and wearing clothes he hasn't bothered to wash.
• The Hermit: Despite having worked out a method of cancelling out the Inchoate Bond keeping him trapped in Brakebills South, he chooses to remain there out of disgust for humanity and - more prominently - a fear of risking connections with other people again.
• Hero of Another Story: During Book 3, he drunkenly hints that he took part in the Order's battle against the Old Gods back in the previous novel; Quentin can't tell if he's being serious or not.
• Hollywood Acid: Invented a universal solvent that eats through any container you put it in so it has to be kept magically floating in mid-air.
• Insufferable Genius: Mayakovsky is among the most brilliant characters in the entire series, capable of creating things that most magicians can only dream of and performing feats that can only be eclipsed by Gods and Niffins... but unfortunately, he is also an arrogant jackass who is not afraid to flaunt his superiority in front of demoralized students and graduates.
• Jaded Washout: The Magician's Land reveals him to be this; having lost all interest in doing anything meaningful with his life since his humiliating reassignment, he's content to experiment, get pissed, and provide his own sadistic brand of education to fourth-year students. It's not even his exile that's upsetting him anymore: by now, he's stored up the magical power to escape Brakebills South anytime he likes, not to mention enough inventions to change the world in any way he likes - he just doesn't give a shit anymore.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Though undoubtedly an asshole, Mayakovsky still maintains a few redeeming traits in spite of himself; among other things, he expresses admiration for students who excel and genuinely push boundaries; he provides food and breaks to his class, despite his vocal contempt for them; most surprisingly of all, he regards Quentin and Alice with almost paternal pride.
• Mad Scientist Laboratory: Book three reveals that he's maintaining a laboratory at Brakebills South; here, he keeps his most impressive creations, most of which would revolutionize the magical world if he only shared them.
• Mirror Character: When the two of them meet again in The Magician's Land, Quentin realizes that Mayakovsky is essentially stuck in the same reclusive, self-indulgent state he was in at the end of the first book; they both lost someone close to them ( Alice for Quentin, Emily for Mayakovsky), they both retreated from the world to a refuge of their own choosing, and they vowed never to risk anything ever again. However, where Quentin was eventually rescued from his own delusions by his friends and learned to move on with his life and take risks again, Mayakovsky hasn't left his shell; for the last few years, he's been perfectly comfortable tinkering with concepts and never risking anything by sharing his genius with the rest of the world.
• Mother Russia Makes You Strong: Son of a magician recruited from a remote Siberian village, and easily one of the toughest and most brutal teachers on the entire faculty - not to mention the craziest.
• Parental Substitute: In The Magician's Land, Quentin realizes that he's been subconsciously treating a number of authority figures as substitutes for his disappointing father, Mayakovsky being one of the more prominent of them - perhaps exacerbated by the pride Mayakovsky demonstrated when Quentin passed the Ultimate Final Exam.
• Perpetual Motion Machine: Has built one and keeps it in the laboratory of Brakebills South.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Allows Quentin to sleep in before beginning the first lesson at Brakebills South, even allowing him to have breakfast.
  • A very odd sort; during a particularly grueling stage of Quentin's exercises, Mayakovsky appears with a tray of food and drink and allows him time to recover. Then, just before Quentin digs in, he slaps him across the face and says, "That was for doubting yourself."
  • Another, more straightforward variety appears at the end of Quentin's final exam, when Mayakovsky actually hugs him.
• Polar Madness: Not only inflicts this on students during their time trapped with him Antarctica, it's heavily implied that he's been personally suffering from this trope. Stories and flashbacks in the novels and comics alike indicate that he used to be much more relaxed prior to his reassignment. Now his only company is the band of Fourth-Year students sent to him every year, leaving him alone in the mind-numbing polar hellscape for long periods, and he's not allowed to leave except to check that the portal back to the main campus is working. With this in mind, it's perhaps no surprise that he's degenerated into the perfection-obsessed maniac he is today.
• Power Floats: Emphasizes his first scene in Alice's Story, by very casually levitating above his newest students and floating out the door.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: Literally, in this case. Despite being the most powerful magician on the entire faculty, Professor Myakovsky gets reassigned to "Brakebills South" in Antarctica after the debacle with Emily Greenstreet.
• Reed Richards Is Useless: Simply doesn't care about using his inventions to help the world.
• Resigned in Disgrace: Following his disastrous affair with Emily Greenstreet, Mayakovsky was given a choice between resigning with his reputation in tattered, or being reassigned. Either out of pride or simply because he knew how purposeless his life would be without work, he opted to spend the rest of his career exiled to Antarctica.
• Sadist Teacher: Having the entire attending class muted so as to stop them from being distracted was just one of his ways of tormenting students; throughout the year, he keeps them isolated, humiliates them through shapeshifting exercises, and even slaps Quentin in the chops for doubting himself. True, he does have sympathetic moments, but still...
• Seven League Boots: Seven thousand league boots are among his inventions.
• Shock and Awe: Told Quentin that he used lightning magic to shatter the bell jar over the Neitherlands. Quentin isn't sure if this happened, like the dragon riding mentioned above but it would explain why the Neitherlands suddenly has weather at the end of the second book.
• So Proud of You: Expresses such sentiments to Quentin and Alice at the end of the final exam.
• Teacher/Student Romance: With Emily Greenstreet, portrayed in a non-romantic fashion born out of childish infatuation on Emily's part and a mid-life crisis on the part of Mayakovsky. According to Janet, it's not known just how far they took this little affair, though flashbacks in Alice's Story features them kissing while in various stages of undress, so it's likely they really did take it all the way into sex... up until Mayakovsky got cold feet and ended their affair. However, The Magician's Land suggests that he might not be quite done with his attraction with Emily, given that the magical coins that he gives to Qunetin have Emily's face on the head side.
• Thinking Up Portals: How he gets students back to Brakebills.
• Training from Hell: The official provider of said training, kicking off by muting his students and putting them to work in isolated cells, and providing respite only to humiliate them in shapeshifting classes.
• Vodka Drunkenski: Notably steals half of Quentin's glass of vodka during the mid-lesson break before letting him have a drink. The Magician's Land confirms that he's an alcoholic, though vodka isn't always available to him, so he makes do by creating moonshine from lichens.
• Wax On, Wax Off: The first training exercises that Mayakovsky gives his students involve repeating a spell to hammer a nail into a piece of wood, eventually moving on to the next permutation of the spell once the first has been well and truly memorised. Quentin even references the Trope by name.

Student Magicians

Penny

"Penny"

A young magician enrolled at the same time as Quentin; brilliant, brusque and anti-social, he clashes with Quentin in his early years at Brakebills. Following graduation, he is the first to propose the expedition to Fillory.

• Ancient Tradition: Has joined the Order, the group that built and maintains the Neitherlands, when Quentin meets him in Book 2.
• An Arm and a Leg: During the climax, Martin Chatwin bites Penny's hands off.
• Arrow Catch: Casts a spell to speed up his reflexes and catch an arrow when the gang are shot at shortly after they get to Fillory.
• Artificial Limbs: Has been fitted with a very fancy set of prosthetic arms by the events of The Magician's Land.
• Black Mage: The first of the team to consider using highly-illegal battle magic in order to combat the dangers in Fillory, having prepared several rudimentary attack spells prepared in advance. Alongside Alice, he's the most skilled of the Brakebills graduates - and unlike Alice, he has no overwhelming aversion towards violence. It's for this reason that the Beast chews off his arms, leaving the group's first line of offence crippled.
• Break the Haughty: His attempt to fight the Beast goes very badly, resulting in Penny's hands being brutally chewed off, leaving him bleeding out on the floor right next to Quentin. Deprived of magic and seemingly broken-spirited, his last scene in the first book features him unceremoniously drifting into the Neitherlands and vanishing.
• Brought Down to Normal: Without his hands, Penny loses the capacity for spellcasting. The Order teaches him how to cast spells using the muscles of his body instead.
• Can't Take Anything with You: His discipline lets him take a few things he can carry to the Neitherlands but not other people.
• Crippling the Competition: Martin Chatwin chews Penny's hands off in order to deprive the group of their primary battle magician.
• Dimensional Traveller: His unique discipline lets him do this, but he can only get to the Neitherlands and back again rather than explore other worlds in their entirety.
• First-Name Basis: Refers to his teachers by their first name, as a sign that he considers himself their equal.
• Gender-Blender Name: Of course, it's not his real name.
• Given Name Reveal: During the final battle, the Beast offhandedly reveals that Penny's real name is actually William.
• Grade Skipper: Alongside Quentin and Alice, he was considered brilliant enough to skip the first year - though he ultimately failed to qualify. Alice's Story reveals that this was actually due to Penny being distracted by the collapse of his relationship with Alice.
• Guardian of the Multiverse: Basically what The Order does.
• Hero of Another Story: While Quentin and Poppy return to Fillory to search for the remaining Keys, Penny and the Order stay in the Neitherlands to hold off the Gods with an army of dragons.
• Ineffectual Loner: All in all, Penny's attempts at keeping himself to himself for the majority of his post-graduate life went somewhat awry once he realized that his profoundly important magical studies had left him deeply lonely and discontented.
• Innocently Insensitive: Upon bumping into him during the second book, Quentin has to admit that Penny's monumental arrogance is tempered by his innocence; as astonishing as it might sound, he doesn't mean to offend people most of the time.
• Insufferable Genius: The only other first-year student who's remotely on the same level as Quentin and Alice, and he isn't shy about showing it off. Following graduation, he's quick to show off his discoveries concerning the Neitherlands, and during his discussion of his powers, actually reveals that he refers to his teachers on a first-name basis - which is not only presumptuous but more than a little rude.
• Jerkass: Blunt, arrogant, and more than a little clueless around people, Penny shares Quentin's habit of making poorly-thought-out assumptions of his fellow students - but crosses the line into assholishness a lot earlier by physically assaulting Quentin. He seems to have grown up a bit following his graduation, but he's not above putting his foot in it from time to time.
• Magic Librarian: After the first book, he is employed by the Order to care for a Magical Library in the Neitherlands.
• No Social Skills: Probably even more clueless in social settings than Quentin, given that he often completely misinterprets the meaning of certain actions whereas Quentin will more often fail to notice them. However, where Quentin stumbles and backtracks in the face of failure, Penny charges headlong in with the subtlety of a brick through a window.
• No Sense of Humor: Attempts at comedy bounce off Penny without even leaving a dent.
• Not So Above It All: As aloof as he may be, he occasionally reveals that he's not above enjoying the company of others, along with other things he normally considers beneath him. In the second book, upon unexpectedly getting kissed, Penny actually cracks a smile.
• Odd Friendship: Was actually a good friend of Alice for a little while; given Alice's quiet nature and Penny's boisterousness, you'd be hard-pressed to imagine a more diametrically-opposed pair. Tragically, the relationship fell to bits after Penny became convinced that Alice was in love with him, resulting in accidental offence on both sides.
• Power Floats: He tends to levitate rather than walk after joining The Order.
• Put on a Bus: On the way back through the Neitherlands, he leaves the party for another world. In the second book, The Bus Came Back
• The Quincy Punk: Right down to the Mohawk and the nasty attitude, though it's more out of an attempt to annoy people than a genuine lifestyle choice. For good measure, Lev Grossman reveals that he actually grew up in a Southern California gated community, making him a prime example of the "crusty trusty" punk.
• Too Much Alike: Lev Grossman indicates that he and Quentin are a lot more alike than they're prepared to admit, including the same oblivious near-childish nature, one of the many reasons why they can't get along. Among other things, the fact that Quentin and Penny both end up gung-ho to explore Fillory really annoys Quentin, to the point that he actually tells him not to agree with him.

Amanda

Amanda Orloff

• Defiant to the End: Amanda is the only member of her class who was able to escape the Beast's influence and try to retaliate, continuing her spell-casting even while the Beast turned his powers against her.
• Eaten Alive: Devoured by the Beast while still conscious, leaving a bloody mess in her wake.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Because Quentin wasn't looking at her when time froze in the classroom, he's not able to see what the Beast does to her, only hear it. Judging by the amount of blood left on the floor in Alice's Story, it was a very messy process.
• Sacrificial Lamb: After a few scenes (at the most) with Quentin, ends up getting brutally murdered by the Beast.

Gretchen

Surrendra

Surrendra

• Bollywood Nerd: Of Indian descent - and is just as much of a Teen Genius as the other Brakebills students.
• Named Weapons: Played for laughs; when given the traditional marble to practice his magic upon, Surrendra names his "Rakshasa," after the demons of Hindu folklore.

Anaïs

Anaïs

• Adapted Out: Doesn't appear in Alice's Story.
• Blood Knight: After the first fight, she starts to enjoy killing things with magic a little too much.
• Hot Witch: Noted for being quite attractive and drawing attention from both sexes.
• Everyone Looks Sexier if French: A visitor from one of the European schools, she's first introduced as the captain of another team during the Welters tournament. Her accent is described as Pan-European, and all of the boys of the welters teams and some of the girls are immediately smitten with her.
• Shock and Awe: Makes use of lightning-based magic in the final battle.

Richard

Richard

A former member of the Physical Kids, a regular guest of the post-graduate parties, and another member of the expedition to Fillory.

• Adapted Out: Makes no appearance in Alice's Story.
• Changed My Mind, Kid: During the journey to Fillory, Richard decides that the place is too dangerous for them and resolves to stay behind at the inn while the others journeyed to Ember's Tomb. Though Quentin is unconscious at the time, he eventually learns that Richard had a change of heart not long after and rescued them from the maze of tunnels after the final battle, essentially saving the day.
• The Comically Serious: A rather blunt, humorless type, he ends up setting the stage for one of the funnier parts of the first book by getting completely shitfaced and proposing the idea that magic is divine in origin.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Joyless stick in the mud though he may be, Richard is right in pointing out that the journey through Fillory is a really stupid idea that's probably going to get somebody hurt or killed. By the end of the journey, Quentin has been chewed on, Penny is missing his hands, and Alice is a Niffin and thus effectively dead.
• No Such Thing as Wizard Jesus: Subverted — Richard believes that magic is "The Tools of God." True to the trope, though, nobody takes this very seriously, partly because Christianity isn't very popular among most magicians, but mostly because of the logical problems of the argument. He's actually more or less right though, it's just that there are more gods than he counted on.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After it becomes clear that the group is seeking an extremely dangerous quest instead of exploration, Richard parks his ass in the tavern and refuses to join them. As it turns out, he had the right idea all along, though he changes his mind just long enough to save Quentin and the others from Ember's Tomb.
• Straight Man: Appropriately enough, he acts as this to Eliot during one notable argument.
• The Stoic: During arguments, anyway.