Characters / The Sun Eater Hadrian And The Red Company

Main Character Index | Hadrian and the Red Company | The Sollan Empire | Extrasolarians |Other Human Powers| The Cielcin | Others (Major Spoilers)

Due to size, the page has been split. Warning: All spoilers prior to Kingdoms of Death are unmarked.

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Main Characters

Hadrian

Hadrian Marlowe

"Always forward, always down, and neither left nor right."

The Sun Eater, the Halfmortal. Renowned across the Sollan Empire as the man who wiped out the entire Cielcin race along with over four billion human lives, including the emperor himself, Hadrian Marlowe is the narrator and main character of the series.

Hadrian appears on the cover of Empire of Silence.

• Alternate Self: Through his visions, Hadrian sees several versions of who he might have been or might one day be, including ruling the galaxy as Emperor or rotting away in Doryaica's dungeons.
• An Arm and a Leg: Aranata cuts off his arm in their battle. His right arm. The Quite rewrite this so he loses his left arm instead.
• Ambiguously Human: There are subtle hints that something has happened to Hadrian by the time he pens the story of his life that has altered his physiology. He states that he already lived longer than "any man who has lived and died a man", and will grow older still.
• Artificial Limbs: Kharn Sagara gifts him a replacement limb for the one lost to Aranata as a reward for saving their life. The flesh and skin is cloned from Hadrian's own cells but the bones are made out of adamant.
• Berserk Button: Even as he gets over his Fantastic Racism towards homunculi in general, Hadrian does not like being told that, as a palatine, he's just as artificial as they are.
  • Insulting Valka is almost guaranteed to cause Hadrian to fly off the handle.
• Blue Blood: As a palatine, even during the time when Hadrian isn't a member of a noble house he still has the genetic markers of the Empire's ruling class.
• Broken Ace: Hadrian had become one of the greatest heroes of the Sollan Empire and some even think he's the God-Emperor reborn. But his seven year-long torment and captivity in Kingdoms of Death had broken him and in his memoir he notes he was never fully recovered mentally after that.
• Byronic Hero: Hadrian is deeply introspective and holds his principles tantamount, yet over and again finds himself forced into situations where he has to violate those principles. Not to mention his frequently-lampshaded tendency towards the melodramatic.
• Character Catchphrase: Tends to repeat the instructions of Daedalus to Ariadne and Theseus: Always forward, always down, and neither left nor right.
• The Chosen One: Chosen by the Quiet, who across the series interfere with Hadrian's destiny to ensure that he destroys the Cielcin.
• Cold Ham: Virtually everyone who gets to know Hadrian can't help but comment on his tendency towards melodrama.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Hadrian's official artwork for the Dimond-Edition Hardback of Empire of Silence bears a strong resemblance to Ben Barnes.
• Cool Sword: Wields a Jaddian highmatter sword, a gift from Ser Olorin.
• Cosmic Plaything: As one of the central pieces in a cosmic contest between two factions of godlike beings, Hadrian grows to accept that in many ways he is by no means the master of his own destiny.
• Covered with Scars: After centuries of survival, warfare, and torture, Hadrian's body is a mishmash of scars and medically regrown tissue.
• Cultured Warrior: Practically Hadrian's defining trait; nearly every conversation or internal monologue of his contains some reference to a classical work.
• Dark Messiah: Hadrian is The Chosen One and the man who will save humanity and the greater universe from the Cielcin and Watchers. But he'll do so by destroying an entire star system and killing billions of innocent people, committing xenocide on an entire species, and murdering his own Emperor
• Dented Iron: After his imprisonment and escape, Hadrian is almost crippled from his injuries. Even after reconstructive surgery on his shoulder, he takes some time to get back into fighting shape and is still much slower than he used to be.
• Does Not Like Spam: Hadrian is not a fan of coffee or tea, and is often disappointed when a social situation calls for one of them instead of wine.
• Drama Queen: His melodrama is frequently commented on; on more than one occaisaion, he's asked if he's always this dramatic, to which he answers to just ask anyone who knows him.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: The Quiet sometimes sent Hadrian dreams of things before they happen or might happen.
• Embarrassing Middle Name: His middle name is "Anaxander", which more than a couple of characters find weird.
• Exact Words: Hadrian is often asked whether he truly died and came back to life. He invariably responds with words to the effect that you shouldn't believe everything you hear, without actually denying the story.
• Expy: A messianic hero with strange powers including prophecy, who also writes a purple-prose history of his life and was given a Cool Sword. He's clearly based on Paul Atreides and Severian the Lame.
• Fantastic Racism: Hadrian was initially contemptuous of inti and homonculi, something he is ashamed of by the second novel.
• Fatal Flaw: Hadrian has many flaws, but the one that seems to get him into the most trouble is his temper.
• Four-Star Badass: As Lord Commandant of the Red Company.
• Frontline General: Hadrian is rarely content to stay on the ship when ordering the Red Company into danger.
• Future Me Scares Me: Hadrian is horrified by the vision of his future self destroying Goddodin.
• A God I Am Not: After his resurrection, and even moreso his survival on Berenike, a cult of personality arises, believing that Hadrian is the God-Emperor reborn, much to his dismay.
• Healing Factor: Hadrian can use his powers to exchange himself with a potential Hadrian who is uninjured. He heals himself from a concussion this way, although not without first exchanging his head wound for a different injury.
• Heartbroken Badass: Hadrian has ever-increasing shades of this, particularly after Eue, but Valka's death is what truly drives him over the edge.
• Heavyworlder: While he doesn't start off as one, his decades spent on Emesh allowed his Super Breeding Program body to adapt quickly to the gravity, which augments his already impressive palatine strength.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: While a few of the other fighters in the Red Company wields (ceramic) swords along with their knives, disruptors, or energy lances, Hadrian uses his blade almost exclusively. Not to mention that he's the only one with a highmatter sword.
• I Am Not My Father: Hadrian tries to not lead with the same cruelty as Alistair, although he often uses many of his father's mannerisms when he needs to exert his authority.
• In-Series Nickname: Goes by "Had" in the colosso, and most of the myrmidons keep calling him that long after the Red Company is formed.
• It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: As a tool of divine beings and favored champion of humanity, the normal and quite life Hadrian longs for seems all but impossible.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Hadrian's belief in humanity and the righteousness of the Empire's war against the Cielcin ironically increase as his general disposition towards life and the world gets more cynical.
• Long-Lived: Like all palatines, Hadrian's life expectancy is measured in the centuries, and the opening narration of the first book implies he may have lived even longer than the Imperial College could design for by the time he is penning this story.
• Loving a Shadow: Hadrian's relationship with Valka doesn't really begin until he stops seeing her as ideal and exotic and starts seeing her for who she is. Even before this, his attractions towards Kyra, Cat, and Jinan all seem more grounded in each being *unlike* the palatines he grew up with than anything about each woman in particular.
  • This is also inverted with his rejection of Anaïs and Selene; in both cases, Hadrian is more put off by what they represent as highborn palatines than anything about either woman.
• Machiavelli Was Wrong: Hadrian tries, with various degrees of success, to lead by example and duty instead of fear and force, and to teach the same to Alexander.
• Master Swordsman: Thanks to his childhood training, time in the colosso, and adventures as a mercenary and knight, Hadrian has become a master swordsman though he often meets his match with more heavily enhanced opponents.
• Military Maverick: Hadrian never meant to become a soldier, and even as he's forced into that role he often acts more out of his own sense of right and wrong than the orders of his superiors.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: He can "evade" attacks by altering reality and then superimposing the altered timeline on his current one so that he doesn't take any damage.
• Noble Fugitive: During his time on Emesh, Hadrian lives with the constant fear that he'll be discovered and hauled back to his father. Turns out he needn't have bothered, Alistair simply disowns him once he learns where Hadrian is.
• Number of the Beast: By killing Aranta, Hadrian has technically become the Aeta of the Eighteenth branching, or as Syriani puts it, "twice six and six". Hadrian can't help but laugh at how fitting that is, but judges that trying to explain to the Cielcin the irony of three sixes with his houses' imagery of the devil would be too complicated.
• Official Couple: Starts Howling Dark in a relationship with Jinan. By the end of the book, is this with Valka.
• Omniglot: Hadrian is particularly skilled with languages; besides Galastani, he is fluent in Classical English, Cilecin, Tavrosi, Jaddian, Lothrian, Latin, and more.
• Old Soldier: By the time of Ashes of Man, Hadrian has lived over three hundred years fighting the Cielcin and is feeling his age.
• Once per Episode: Something painful and scaring is going to happen to Hadrian's left hand; cryoburnt by his ring in Empire of Silence, cut off by Aranata in Howling Dark, cut several times by a highmatter sword in Demon In White.
  • It's cryburnt again in Kingdoms of Death, although far worse is Syriani biting off two of the fingers on his right hand.
• Prematurely Grey-Haired: After his years of torture in Dharan-Tun, Hadrian's hair has grown streaks of white. Following his escape and return to Imperial space, multiple character remark in surprise that he looks older than they expected.
• Pro-Human Transhuman: Hadrian has always had a sympathetic outlook towards the rest of humanity, although it takes some time for that to include inti and certain homunculi. In Kingdoms of Death, he's realizes that, for all its faults, Hadrian actually loves the Sollan Empire because unlike other human powers, like the Extrasolarians and the Lothrian Commonwealth, baseline humanity has value in the Empire.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: A family trait of the Marlowes.
• Reality Warper: He can superimpose alternate universe states onto the real world, changing the outcome of certain events. This power is limited by his ability to concentrate and how recently the outcome that he is trying to change happened.
• Red Baron: After coming Back from the Dead, he becomes known as the Halfmortal. Following his triumph after defeating Iubalu, he is called the Demon in White. And by the end of the series, he will be known as the Palekiller.
• Touched by Vorlons: His powers were given to him by the Quiet.
• Satanic Archetype: An interesting example; House Marlowe and Hadrian in particular are strongly associated with the imagery of the devil; and while he might not embody many aspects of this trope during the series, knowing how the story ends, it's easy to see how Hadrian might become this, particularly to the Cielcin.
• A Scar to Remember: Doriayana clawed him in the face, even though Hadriana had the option of removing this scar, he elected to keep it.
• Scars Are Forever: The heavy scaring on his arm never fades. Even the alternate Hadrian, centuries older, has the same scars.
• Shrouded in Myth: As his legend grows throughout the galaxy, many embellishments and variations are added to the myth of the Halfmortal.
• Stop Worshipping Me: Hadrian is not happy about the Halfmortal mystery religion that has sprung up about him. He can't even object very strenuously to the worship, as that would acknowledge the cult and bring down the ire of the Chantry.
• Super-Reflexes: As a palatine, Hadrian has optic nerves that bypass his brain and connect directly to his spinal column, allowing him to react faster than he can think.
  • Severine theorizes that his powers come from an ability to see the waveform of time before it collapses.
• The Unfavorite: How Hadrian sees himself compared to Crispin.
• We Used to Be Friends: Had takes Switch's betrayal during Howling Dark pretty hard, and their friendship never recovers.
• Wine Is Classy: Wine is Hadrian's drink of choice, a sign of his upper-class sensibilities.
• Would Hurt a Child: A Cielcin child, at least; Hadrian kills Nobuta when it becomes clear that even holding its child hostage will not cause Aranata to give in to any sort of demand.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: At the beginning of the series, Hadrian wants to explore the galaxy and seek out new life. He believes that the Cielcin are just misunderstood and that peace can be made between them and humanity. Basically, Hadrian wants to be a Star Trek character in a universe that does not share his idealism.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Is not pleased when a Chantry Inquisitor tells him he'd make a good priest.

Valka

Valka Onderra

Valka Onderra Vhad Edda was a Tavrosi xenologist who Hadrian met on Emesh, where she was studying alien ruins at Calagah. She introduced Hadrian to the concept of the Quiet and over time became one of his closest companions.

Valka appears on the cover of Ashes of Man.

• Character Catchphrase: "Anaryoch", Panthai for "barbarians". Usually used to show her disgust at how backwards Sollan culture is.
• Cyborg: Her neural lace acts as a Brain/Computer Interface and allows her to exert precise control over her brain; falling asleep at will, not dreaming, and storing her memories photographically.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Hadrian comments in his narration on another Tavrosi character's tattoos being similar to Valka's early in the first book, several chapter before she is introduced.
• Electronic Eyes: Valka's eyes are implants, connecting directly to her neural lace and allowing her to see in the dark.
• Establishing Character Moment: In her first scene, she sharply rebukes the handler of some Umandh for trying to beat them into obedience as they try to repair some lights, demonstrating both her understanding and empathy towards alien life, as well as her lack of patience towards those who don't know what they're doing.
• Good Parents: Valka's father was a kind man who inspired her love of xenology; his execution by the Sollan Inquisition is one of the primary reasons she has such a dim view of the Empire.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: She had begun to form the word "I" just as the tranmission to her ship cuts out, indicating that it had been destroyed.
• Long-Lived: The Tavrosi gene modifications give her a lifespan somewhere between the Imperial palatines' and patricians'; her expected lifespan will be in the centuries, but not quite as long as Hadrian's.
• Human Hard Drive: Her neural lace allows her to store anything she experiences like files on a computer. Gibson notes, however, that while she has vast amounts of data at her disposal, she hasn't actually read and therefore thought through most of it.
• My Greatest Failure: As a pilot in the Tavrosi military, Valka was involved in a standoff with terrorists who had taken thousands of captives aboard a hijacked ship and were threatening to blow up an orbital mirror. The Eddan public overwhelmingly voted to let them destroy the mirror and negotiate, Command ordered her to take the shot. She obeyed the order.
• Official Couple: With Hadrian by the end of Howling Dark.
• Organic Technology: Other than the shunt, her neural lace is made up of her own brain cells.
• Technopath: Her neural lace allows her to interface with and override technology, from Imperial surveillance systems to swarms of nahute to Exalted cyborgs (although doing so opens her to counterattacks from particularly powerful foes including said Exalted).
• Skeptic No Longer: Eventually realizes that Hadrian's visions are very real and that the Quiet is something far beyond a mere extinct alien race.
• The "I Love You" Stigma: Has a habit of responding to Hadrian's "I love you" with "well, you're not wrong''.
• Verbal Tic: Uses the contraction "'tis" in about every other sentence.
• Would Hurt a Child: Kills two of Kharn's incubating clone children in order to distract Calvert from killing Hadrian.

Spoiler Character

Cassandra Marlowe

Cassandra is the daughter of Hadrian and Valka, created during Hadrian's exile in Jadd.

Cassandra appears on the cover of Disquiet Gods.

• Dual Wielding: Her preferred fighting style.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Hadrian first sees Cassandra in his vision from Brethren, several in-universe centuries and multiple books before she is born.
• Someone to Remember Him By: Gender inverted; Cassandra was gestated several years after her mother's death and is all Hadrian has left of the woman he loved.

The Mediua Red Company

Initially created as a front for Hadrian's quest for Vorgossos, the Mediua Red Company posed as mercenaries for several decades. Their most notable victory during this time was against the dictator Marius Whent, whose defeat resulted in the company acquiring several Norman recruits.

After Hadrian's adventures on Vorgossos and subsequent knighthood, the Red Company was formally folded into the Imperial military as an auxiliary unit.

The Red Company

As a Whole

• Band of Brothers: As the series progresses, they grow into this.
• Dwindling Party: During the escape from Eue, most of the remaining Red Company main characters are killed one by one.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Whenever the core group ends up in combat, it tends to be Hadrian, Pallino, and Crim up in melee while Valka and Ilex rely on their pistols.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: As far as Imperial military units go, the Red Company is quite the eclectic mix of palatines, patricians, homunculi, Normans, and xenobytes.
• Total Party Kill: The battle of Eue in Kingdoms of Death sees the slaughter of everyone in the Red Company except for Hadrian, Valka and possibly Lorien.
• True Companions: Hadrian's core group, starting with his friends from the colosso and over the series expanding to include others such as Valka, are much closer to him than his family ever was.

Core Members and Leaders

Switch

Switch

William of Danu, "Switch" to his friends, was one of the myrmidons Hadrian befriended in the Boresevo Colloso. A former catamite, with Hadrian's help Switch grew into a skilled fighter.

• Big Damn Heroes: Intervenes in Hadrian's fight with Bassander just in time to save his friend's life.
• Dirty Coward: According to Hadrian, this is the reason Switch sold the location of Vorgossos to Bassander Lin. However, in later books there are hints that Hadrian has come to understand his former friend a little better.
• The Lancer: To Hadrian until the end of Howling Dark.
• Sex Slave: Before being forced into being a gladiator, he was a pleasure slave to a merchant.
• Token Religious Teammate: Of all the Red Company, Switch takes the dogma of the Chantry the most seriously. It becomes a problem as he gets more and more disturbed by the cybernetic libertarianism of the Extrasolarians across the events of Howling Dark.
• Took a Level in Badass: Initially the weakest link among the colosso myrmidons, by the start of the second book Switch is one of the most skilled fighters in the Red Company.

Pallino

Palino

Pallino of Trieste was a soldier in the Imperial Legion before entering the colosso pits in Borosevo as a myrmidon. After the Red Company's journey to Vorgossos he is elevated to the patrician class and takes Switch's place as Hadrian's lictor.

• Colonel Badass: His rank of chiliarch could be considered a rough equivalent.
• Cultured Warrior: As rough around the edges as he is, Pallino is a skilled cook and surprisingly knowledgeable about art.
  Pallino: Love this mural.
  Hadrian: It's a fresco. ^note Which is a type of mural.
  Pallino: I know it's a fucking fresco, lad. I wasn't born in no barn.
• Eye Patch Of Power: Before his elevation.
• Fountain of Youth: His elevation to the patrician class included gene therapies that give him a centuries-long lifespan and the body of a much younger man.
• The Lancer: To Hadrian from Demon In White onward.
• Made of Iron: Despite being brutally beaten by Aulumn, Pallino is able to stand and finish the chimera off before succumbing to his wounds.
• Obi-Wan Moment: As he lies dying from Aulumn's beating, he smiles as Hadrian assures him that there is something after death.
• Old Soldier: Fought against the Cielcin for several years before the start of the series.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Just listen to one of his old war stories.
• Team Chef: The others are often surprised by how well Pallino can cook; according to him, his grandmother insisted on teaching him.
• Undying Loyalty: No matter what, Pallino will stick by Hadrian's side and make sure the rest of the company will too.

Elara

Elara

Elara of Emesh was a colosso myrmidon who later joined the Red Company as the Quartermaster of the Balmung and later the Tamerlane. She was long-time paramour of Pallino.

• Official Couple: With Pallino. They were never married, but may as well have been.
• Team Mom: Often expresses concern for Hadrian and the toll the war is taking on him and the rest.

Siran

Siran

Siran of Emesh was a convict myrmidon who joined the Red Company.

• Ancient Order of Protectors: Her descendants become one as they secretly hide Gibson, who is in stasis, until Hadrian returns.
• I Choose to Stay: Falls in love with a fisherman on Colchis and leaves the Red Company.
• Vague Age: Hadrian notes that she might be part patrician, as she seemed to age less than the others in the years the Company spent hunting for Vorgossos.

Ghen

Ghen

A criminal myrmidon in the Boresevo Colosso who joined Hadrian in the Red Company.

• Affectionate Nickname: Still refers to Hadrian as "Radiance" even after they become friends.
• The Big Guy: One of the largest, in both actual size and personality, of Hadrian's colosso friends.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ghen is abrasive bully until Hadrian wins him over. After that he's one of Had's most loyal allies.
  "Ghen was a good man. Hard to learn to like but easy to keep liking."
• Sacrificial Lion: Killed early on in Howling Dark to demonstrate how deadly the Extrasolarians can be.

Corvo

Otavia Corvo

Otavia Corvo was a Norman mercenary. After her commander Emil Bordelon betrayed the Red Company, Hadrian purchased her loyalty and she betrayed Bordelon in turn. She would be appointed captain of the Mistral and later the Tamerlane.

• A Father to His Men: Gender swapped variation; Corvo cares deeply for the Norman mercenaries under her command. It was for this reason that she turned on Bordelon.
• Affectionate Nickname: Valka calls her "Tavi".
• Amazonian Beauty: Almost seven feet tall and muscular.
• Ambiguously Human: Given her massive size, strength, and durability, Hadrian's pretty sure Corvo is a homunculus, but has been too polite/intimidated to ask.
  • In Kingdoms of Death, it's confirmed that she is at least part homunculus, given her Super-Strength and Super-Toughness.
• The Captain: Commands whichever ship currently serves as Hadrian's flagship.
• Hates Wearing Dresses: As a foreigner, Corvo is required to wear a gown instead of her uniform to formal occasions, much to her discomfort.
• Iron Lady: Whether its facing down fleets of Cielcin or hidden Exalted ships, Corvo virtually never loses her cool.
• Square Race, Round Class: Corvo is probably the strongest and toughest member of the Red Company, but primarily serves as a starship and fleet commander.
• Super-Strength: During the battle at the Imperial embassy, Corvo demonstrates that she can crack body armor with her bare hands and send men flying multiple yards through the air.
• Super-Toughness: Is hit with multiple stunner shots while unshielded and shrugs them off.

Bastien

Bastien Durand

Bastien Durand was Corvo's second office aboard the Mistral and Tamerlane.

• Black and Nerdy: Bastien is more scholarly and much less assertive than his captain.
• Face Death with Dignity: When brought forward at The Red Company's execution, he keeps his composure, although he does reserve some bitter words for Hadrian.
• Nerd Glasses: Wears a pair of spectacles. Given the setting's advanced medical technology, Hadrian was never sure why.
• Number Two: To Corvo.
• Off with His Head!: As the ranking officer captured by Doryaica, he is publicly beheaded after positively identifying Haddrian.
• The Stoic: He keeps his cool remarkably well when facing execution on Akterumu, only shedding a single tear on Corvo's behalf.
• Understatement: His assessment of Eue is that it is a "hideous place to die".

Crim

Karim Garone (Crim)

Karim "Crim" Garone was a Norman mercenary of Jaddian heritage who joined the Red Company along with Corvo during the Pharos affair. After Hadrian's Knighthood, he was appointed security chief of the Tamerlane.

• Berserk Button: Insinuating that Ilex is something less than human.
• The Big Guy: Crim is one of the most skilled fighters and assassins in the Red Company, matched only by Hadrian and possibly Pallino.
• Defiant to the End: As he is being crushed in Aulamn's grip, Crim stabs the chimera in the eye, flashes the Devil's Horns at it's face, and plants three explosive charges on its body without it noticing.
• Devious Daggers: His arsenal includes several knives, which he can throw with enough skill to disarm a Cielcin prince.
• Gallows Humor: As he pilots the shuttle away from the massacre of the Red Company, Crim quips that Hadrian had better not try to jump out of ''this'' vehicle.
• Good Is Not Soft: Crim is easy-going and friendly, and also perfectly capable of arranging the murder of a high-ranking noble in his own shuttle at Hadrian's request.
• Off with His Head!: Aulamn crushes Crim's neck with enough force to remove his head.
• Official Couple: With Ilex.
• Real Men Wear Pink. Karim Garone: Master assassin, soldier, security chief, crafter of homemade candy.
• Walking Arsenal: Bristles with an arrangements of guns, knives, and swords.

Ilex

Ilex

The Red Company's chief engineer, Ilex was a dryad homunculus and paramour of Crim.

• Eye Scream: Aulumn throws one of Crim's knives into her eye, killing her instantly.
• Official Couple: With Crim.
• Plant Hair: Her hair is described as wood-like.
• Plant Person: The product of genetically mixes humans and plants, dryads have green skin and survive via photosynthesis.
• Space People: Dryads were created to crew stations and long-haul ships while requiring less food; Ilex was raised on such vessels.

Lorien

Lorien Aristedes

Lorien Aristedes was the illegitimate intus son of a grand duke and a knight. Pawned off to the Legion by his father, Hadrian brings him into after the events of Howling Dark.

• Combat Pragmatist: Lorien is ruthless and resourceful enough to turn the Honor Before Reason mindset of the Empire to his side's advantage, such as when he proposes using the evacuation of civilians from Perfugium as cover to get the Emperor himself out.
• Dramatic Dislocation: One of Lorien's disabilities results in even ordinary movements dislocating his own joints, requiring him to pop them back in place.
• Gallows Humor: Frequently makes wisecracks about his own status as an intus.
• Genius Cripple: Lorien's intus birth defects have left him with one leg lame and recurring episodes of localized paralysis. His intelligence more than makes up for this as an asset to the Red Company.
• The Smart Guy: Rounds out Varro's general expertise by being one of the best strategic minds in the Empire.
• Sole Survivor: Syriani allows Hadrian to choose him as the one member of the Red Company to take back news of their defeat.
• Uncertain Doom: After his escape from Akterumu, Hadrian has no way of knowing if Doryaica will honor his agreement to let Lorien go or just kill him.
  • While he survives and is recovered by the Empire, at the end of Ashes of Man his fate is uncertain once more, as he faces possible execution for aiding Hadrian's escape.
• Undying Loyalty: Despite everything that happened on Eue, he reaffirms his loyalty to Hadrian and sticks with him, even helping him escape the Empire into exile when Lorien knows that he will be punished for it.

Varro

Tor Varro

A scholiast of the Chalcenterite order. Initially brought assigned as translator during the negotiations with Aranata Otiolo, Varro was appointed as the scholiast advisor to the Red Company after their incorporation into the Imperial military.

• Good with Numbers: As a scholiast, Varro can perform arithmetic equations in his head in seconds.
• Killed Offscreen: Varro is last seen with the rest of disarmed the Red Company before Syriani unleashes the Cielcion horde upon them. He's not with the officers who fight their way to the escape shuttle, and Hadrian never spots his body in the carnage.
• Mysterious Past: Varro's uniform is of a more militaristic cut than the robes worn by most scholiasts, and Hadrian notes that while all scholiasts must perform some degree of physical labor, Varro is built more like a warrior than a farmer.
• The Smart Guy: A role he shares with Lorian. Varro's scholiast training gives him extensive knowledge on virtually every field of study, as well as the ability to recall and apply that knowledge.
• The Stoic: This is expected of all scholiasts, but Varro embodies the ideals to the greatest degree of all the characters in the series, even if dealing with the strangeness Hadrian pulls his friends into strains that stoicism.

Jinan

Jinan Azhar

Jinan Azhar was a Jaddian officer assigned to the Red Company as captain of the Balmung. She became Hadrian's lover in between the events of Empire of Silence and Howling Dark.

• The Captain: Commands the Balmung."My Captain" is also Hadrian's Affectionate Nickname for her.
• Official Couple: With Hadrian at the start of Howling Dark.
• One Head Taller: Thanks to her superior Jaddian gene modification and the Marlowe line's relatively short stature for palatines she has a head on Hadrian.
• Woman Scorned: Does not take Hadrian's decision to mutiny against Lin and break away with his portion of the Red Company well.