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The Iron Order
Jacob Riverson
Jacob Riverson AKA The Wraith Knight AKA The King Below
The last Wraith Knight.
A bastard blacksmith's son turned Temple Knight turned Knight Paramount of the Shadowguard. He was slain in a Mutual Kill with Kurag Shadowweaver, the previous leader of the Wraith Knights. After two hundred years of slavery to the King Below, he was freed when the God of Evil was slain. Now he must decide to what to do with the rest of his life.- The Ace: Even before he had two hundred years to perfect his skills, he was this. A magnificent soldier, a master swordsman, a incredibly talented sorcerer, and a capable blacksmith. Very few people realized this, though, because he was a Humble Hero.
- Ambiguous Disorder: In-universe. Jacob Riverson has a tendency to be overly literal, not understand social cues, and have a Black-and-White Morality that doesn't have any room for shades of gray. He is also deeply emotionally isolated and struggles with connections (and those few that he has, he goes all in on). Other characters comment on how strange Jacobs way of thinking is.
- Antihero: Jacob Riverson, the titular Wraith Knight, is an undead Humanoid Abomination that has been infused with the power of the recently deceased God of Evil. He is also a honorable, decent, and compassionate man who just wants to do the right thing. He's also absolutely terrible at knowing what the right thing to do is.
- The Antichrist: The King Below promised that he would get his revenge by sending his power to one of his minions to become an even more powerful version of the God of Evil to imperil the world. This is known as the Prophecy of the Black Sun.
- Anti Anti Christ: Jacob actually just wants to do right by the world. But ends up on a mission to conquer the Southern Kingdoms and destroy the Lawgiver anyway.
- The Archmage: Jacob Riverson, himself, is one of the most powerful wizards alive (unalive?) because he stole the secrets of the elvish lord Co'Fannon as well as the Great Wizard Tharadon. He was also a preternaturally talented battlemage and magical engineer while alive. Later, he has four hundred years as a Wraith Knight to develop his skills.
- Black Knight: Jacob Riverson and the other Wraith Knights were this by nature. They were all undead Magic Knight warriors who served as the King Below's generals. Jacob is a rare heroic version of this and a Dark Is Not Evil (theoretically) example. He is still a man in ice-covered black hooded armor, a being referred to as "Dark Lord", and a superhuman killing machine capable of taking on small armies.
- The Black Smith: Jacob is one of these, being a magical artificer and creator of weapons in addition to his status as a Magic Knight. Becomes The Ultimate Blacksmith when he creates Starlight as a gift for Regina.
- Blood Knight: The Trickster says Jacob is secretly one of these. This seems somewhat of an Informed Attribute since he plays the role of The Stoic most of the book. Still, he leads from the front and kills hundreds of people.
- Body Horror: Jacob has one of these moments when he realizes ''he doesn't have a face." He gets better.
- Cool Sword: Chill's Fury is a serrated sword that channels witchfire blue flame and serves as a focus for Jacob's magic as well as his Soul Jar.
- The Dragon: A rare double example for Jacob as he was first one for Jassamine/Prince Edward then one of these for the King Below while his spirit was enslaved. He becomes the Dragon Ascendant when he assumes the mantle of the King Below.
- Expy: Jacob is an Expy of the Witch King of Angmar and Boromir. Some reviewers believe he's closer to Anakin Skywalker, though. Jacob also possesses some similarities to Arthas Menethil and Jon Snow.
- Evil Overlord: Jacob is a subversion of this as everyone expects him to be but he really doesn't have the temperment for it. Nevertheless, he's a powerful wizard king and ruler of an army of monsters as well as undead.
- Fallen Hero: Jacob Riverson was once the First Knight of the Shadowguard. He was then killed and his spirit transformed into that of a Dark Lord.
- Famed In-Story: By the time Jacob regains his free will, he's a legendary hero. He was also famous as a war hero while alive for his battles against the Shadowkind during the Fourth Great Shadow War.
- Genius Bruiser: Jacob Riverson is a Working-Class Hero who does not appear to be particularly smart but is a magnificent warrior. We later find out that he's The Archmage from even before he became a Wraith Knight and was a genius engineer.
- Life Drain: This is the go-to move of Jacob Riverson AKA the titular Wraith Knight. He possesses the power to drain the life of his enemies and use them to empower his own spells. Given he's frequently set against armies and foes even more powerful than himself, it is an easy way to sustain himself.
- Magic Knight: Jacob is one of these, possessing sorcery equal to his skill with a sword. It only gets more the case when he becomes a Wraith Knight.
- Red Baron: Jacob is known as the King Below, the Black Sun, and Jacob the Black.
- The Stoic: It takes an almost inhuman amount to get Jacob to get angry. He only really shows strong emotion when he first discovers he's undead and when his Berserk Button is pushed. Also when it's revealed Jassamine in the Big Bad.
- Tin Tyrant: Jacob Riverson is one of the four Wraith Knights with intimidating black demonsteel armor along with black hooded cloaks. Eventually, Jacob graduates to become the new King Below, Evil Overlord of the Shadowkind, with even more intimidating helmets. Played with as he is a Dark Is Not Evil Antihero subversion of a fantasy villain.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: One of the major themes of the book is how easy it is to fall into this. Both Jacob and Jassamine were this in life, willing to let the Grand Temple burn to the ground in order to purify the Lawgiver church of its corruption. The Nine Heroes commit horrific deeds to not only defeat the King Below but also unite the Southern Kingdoms. Jacob, himself, willingly indulges Regina's lust for revenge even though it threatens to plunge the world into another Great Shadow War.
- Would Not Hurt A Child: Jacob and the Formor have this in common. It is one of their berserk buttons.
- Working-Class Hero: Jacob Riverson was born a bastard son of a blacksmith in the Riverfords before becoming apprentice to his mercenary uncle. While he eventually becomes a Temple Knight and head of the Shadowguard, he never really sheds his peasant's view of the world.
Regina Whitetremor
Regina Whitetremor AKA The Starlight Maiden AKA The Bloody Unicorn.
The Bright Lady.
The daughter and heir of the destroyed House Whitetremor. A Shadowguardswoman, she decided to steal the legendary sword, Hopebringer, and raise a rebellion against the Nine Heroes. That was right before assassins went to kill her. Thankfully, she had an unusual rescuer.- Action Girl: Regina is a dragon-riding, master swordswoman, and user of Light magic. She is later elevated to becoming a war goddess.
- A God Am I: Acclimates to being a goddess and worshiped as one far better than Jacob.
- Antihero: Increasingly the case with Regina Whitetremor despite the fact she starts as a Knight in Shining Armor. She is increasingly Wrong Genre Savvy that she is The Paragon in a heroic narrative as the Cycle of Revenge gets worse and Revenge Before Reason takes hold of her mind.
- Blood Knight: Regina is the most bloodthirsty of the protagonists with a devotion to killing the Nine Heroes, their followers, and anyone associated with them.
- Berserk Button: Anything related to the Nine Heroes drives Regina to murderous fury.
- Cool Sword: Regina first wields the broken sword, Hopebringer, before switching to the enchanted blade Starlight that turns dark magic into light.
- Doomed Hometown: The city of Whitehold was an elf-loving place of artistry, wealth, and culture in the Annessian Empire.
- Dragon Rider: Regina, as a Shadowguardswoman, is a trained dragonrider with a preference to blue dragons.
- Expy: Regina is a Distaff Counterpart of Aragorn mixed with Eowyn, Daenerys, and Ciri of Cintra.
- Kissing Cousins: Regina's First Love is her cousin, Gewain, who turned out to have an Incompatible Orientation with her.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Regina as a woman raised in the Northern Wasteland and then as part of the hedonistic nobility of Whitehold is somone who sees no problems with free love, large amounts of drinking, and an otherwise wild lifestyle.
- Innocent Fanservice Girl: Regina has no sense of shame toward nudity, free love, or appreciation of others' beauty of both sexes. It's simply not an issue for elves or humans of the Annessian nobility.
- Revenge Before Reason: Regina struggles with this as she wants to be a good servant of justice but really-really hates the Nine Heroes/Usurpers.
Serah Brightwaters
Serah Brightwaters AKA The Raven Queen
A powerful sorceress and the niece of the Lakelord of Lakeland. She developed shadow magic powers early and was the victim of Fantastic Racism. She was also Regina's lover before she began developing feelings for Jacob too.- The Archmage: Serah Brightwaters is a Black Magician Girl who also possesses great powers of illusion. Already one of the most impressive wizards in the world, she gains a massive boost in her power when Jacob shares his godhood with her and their lover, Regina.
- Antihero: Serah Brightwaters is a Black Magician Girl who was treated as a monster from birth due to her natural facility for dark magic. This has made her jaded, ruthless, and contemptuous of 'normal' people. She also works diligently to protect her homeland from Imperial conquest and later her adopted family.
- Bad Powers, Good People: A Downplayed Trope example since Serah is, by far, the most ruthless of the protagonists, but she is still a protectof of the weak and defender of the innocent.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Jacob is understanding, patient, and concillatory to her anger at being labeled a Shadowkind since the day she was born.
- Irony: Serah Brightwaters looks like a High Human (i.e. Sub Saharan African features with blue eyes) but is a member of the merchant class. She is also a shadow magic user but has no connection to the King Below (until she marries the new one).
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Despite being desperately in love with Regina since she was a young woman, Serah is happy to be a Shipper on Deck for her and Jacob. This depsite also developing feelings for Jacob himself. Thankfully, they Take a Third Option.
- Lady of Black Magic: Serah is elegant, composed, and an offensive magic user with a desire for unlimited power. She is also a great deal less idealistic than either Regina or Jacob, focused more on benefiting herself.
- Pragmatic Hero: Serah constantly favors the most pragamtic and straightforward response to any given situation. The morality of events bears very little impact on her decisions, only the effectiveness.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: After decades of being treated as a monster and avoiding Burn the Witch!, she eventually decides to side with the King Below. Thankfully, the new King Below is Jacob who is a Redeeming Replacement.
- Vain Sorceress: Serah uses magic to make herself look beautiful. Justified as she's noticed that while people are pretty hostile to wielders of black magic in general, they're somewhat more tolerant of good-looking ones.
The Forces of Light
Saint Jassamine the Deliverer
Jacob's lover from his mortal days who started as a priestess of the Great Mother, became a wizard of the Mysterium, rose to lead it, and then became the puppet master behind the Empire. She soon was given Sainthood status and died peacefully in her bed. Except, no, she's alive and still leading the forces of good.
- A God Am I: Saint Jassamine proclaims herself to be the daughter of the Lawgiver, his lover, and prophet. Later, it's revealed she actually is a goddess (one of the two Peace-Weavers) and has assumed the Lawgiver's power.
- All-Loving Hero: Saint Jassamine is driven by her love of all things and her desire to create a paradise on the World Between for all beings. Unfortunately, this is part of her Freudian Excuse.
- The Archmage: Saint Jassamine is one of the most powerful mages of all time. She also had this title as the head of the Mysterium.
- Bastard Girlfriend: It'd be easier to list the ways she hadn't betrayed Jacob but not the least is selling him out to the King Below, sacrificing children to create Hopebringer, and leading the Nine Heroes to take over the world.
- Big Bad: Jassamine is the force responsible for the Nine Heroes' ascension, Jacob's damnation, and the current conflict. Though she is arguably Dragon-in-Chief for the Lawgiver until we find out she overthrew him.
- Blood Magic: Jassamine practiced this in addition to her Light Is Good powers. She even uses Human Sacrifice if it serves her purposes.
- Corrupted Character Copy: Saint Jassamine is basically a Distaff Counterpart to Gandalf the Gray except evil. She's a Physical God sent from the Lawgiver who leads the forces of good from behind.
- Dark Messiah: Jassamine believes it is her destiny to rid the World Between of evil and create a paradise for all beings. She's also willing to use any means to do it.
- Holy Burns Evil: Jassamine's very presence is anathema to undead beings like Jacob.
- Light Is Not Good: Jassamine is surrounded by a nimbus of light in the "present" and wields light magic against her enemies.
- Loved I Not Honor More: Jassamine was a terrible girlfriend to Jacob, constantly using him and manipulating his feelings while citing this as the reason.
- Physical God: Jassamine is actually the Lawgiver's daughter and the goddess known as the Sorcerer Queen.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Saint Jassamine is the most powerful mage in the world and the head of the forces of light.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Jassamine is remembered as SAINT Jassamine and is considered the founder of the modern religion.
- Would Hurt a Child: Jassamine murdered both the princesses of the Anessian Empire in order to create the sword Hopebringer.
The Nine Heroes
A collection of the age's greatest warriors and heroes that successfully defeated the King Below as well as brought an end to the Great Shadow Wars. Theoretically. In truth, they're all a bunch of ruthless antiheroes if not outright villains themselves.
Its members consist of:
- Morwen the Wise: The Big Bad and The Leader.
- Jon Bloodthorn: The Dragon and Barbarian Hero.
- Fel Hellsword: The Archmage and a Magic Knight.
- Silence: A Professional Killer and Noble Demon.
- Armac the Binder: An Enemy Summoner and a Occult Detective.
- Marahi Crimsonmoon: A Pirate Girl and Lovable Rogue.
- Elevin the Mad: A Mad Scientist with a Steampunk aethstetic.
- Aegeta Silverhair: The Bard of the group and The Friend Nobody Likes.
- Thermic Redhand. A Demigod and Sociopathic Hero Token Evil Teammate.
- All There in the Manual: Much information about the Nine Heroes comes from
Word of God. - Antihero: The Nine Heroes are all incredibly ruthless and willing to engage in assassination, slavery, and magical experimentation to get what they want.
- The Archmage: Morwen, Fel Hellsword, and Armac the Binder are three of the most powerful mages of their age.
- The Dragon: Jon Blackthorn serves as this for Empress Morwen. When he dies, he's replaced with Fel Hellsword.
- The Nine Heroes/Usurpers serve as this for Jassamine.
- Expy: Some of them are for classic fantasy characters.
- Jon Bloodthorn is one for Conan the Barbarian.
- Fell Hellsword is one for Elric of Melnibone.
- Thermic Redhand is one for Hercules and Kratos.
- Fantastic Racism: The Nine Heroes are generally extremely uncaring toward nonhumans and actively want to commit genocide against the Shadowkind races. They're also unsympathetic to the Fir Bolg and boggans.
- Genocide Backfire: Albeit, one the Nine Heroes/Usurpers couldn't really have imagined would happen. They destroy the Duchy of Whitehall and then lay siege to the city of Accadia, essentially getting The Antichrist involved with two very dangerous women who now have a reason to go after the Usurpers.
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: A particularly bizarre example in Wraith Lord. Jacob Riverson has no interest in waging war against the Southern Kingdoms due to the massive loss of life this would entail. However, once they hear about a surviving Wraith Knight and his rebuilding the King Below's Empire, they immediately begin plotting genocide.
- Light Is Not Good: The Nine Heroes wield light magic and are the champions of the Lawgiver with their cause to liberate the world from darkness. They are also a bunch of Well-Intentioned Extremist types at best.
- Mad Scientist: Fell Hellsword has magical laboratories for his experiments and is famous for his creations. Elevin is also infamous for his strange and dangerous inventions.
- Necessarily Evil: How Jon Blackthorn justifies his destruction of Whitehall and its inhabitants.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Morwen is not only one of the world's most powerful magicians but she's also a fantastic general as well as warrior.
- Villain with Good Publicity: The Nine Heroes used their status as the heroes of the Fifth Shadow War to take over the Southern Kingdoms.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Nine Heroes want to create a Utopia with themselves in charge and believe that will require extreme measures.
The Gods
The King Above AKA The Lawgiver
The God of Good, Order, and Light who rules the universe from the World Above. Supposedly.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The Lawgiver was one of the three AI put in charge of the Three Worlds.
- Hypocrite: Claims to be the most devoted to the Great Experiment but is the one who helped create the two Peace-Weavers.
- Cain and Abel: He and the Trickster are believed to be this. Which one is which is difficult to ascertain, though. It turns out neither is as Jassamine was the party responsible for the Trickster's death.
- A God Am I: Is the one who first suggested pretending to be deities to the people of the World Between.
- God of Good: His role in the pantheon of the Three Worlds. He is anything but.
- Knight Templar: Averted. The Lawgiver doesn't actually care about good versus evil beyond how it impacts the Great Experiment.
- Light Is Not Good: The Lawgiver is a god of light who has been persecuting the Shadowkind as well as running a con on his own followers for millennia.
- Path of Inspiration: The entire religion devoted to him turns out to be a way to manipulate the public into obeying his dictates.
- Running Both Sides: Is working with the Trickster to keep the conflict between good versus evil going for millennia.
- Would Be Rude to Say "Genocide": He uses a variety of euphemisms to refer to getting rid of the Terralan colonists.
The King Below AKA The Trickster
A strange and malevolent shapeshifting deity that controls the World Below.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Was originally designed to be one of the three AI to judge the World Between
- A God Am I: Is just an AI like his brother, though he claims real gods exist.
- Cain and Abel: Is believed to have this relationship with his brother. He actually has Undying Loyalty to the King Above.
- God of Evil: Is viewed as this by the people of the Three Worlds.
- It Amused Me: The Trickster claims this to be his motivation for most actions.
- Spirit Advisor: Despite dying before the events of the books, his remnant in Jacob's brain continues to advise him.
- The Trickster: It's in his name and one of his most famous avatars. The Trickster is a prankster and corrupter with a glib tongue.
- Unreliable Narrator: While he's Jacob's primary source of information, many of his stories are contradictory and impossible to reconcile completely.
- Voice with an Internet Connection: The Trickster continuously harasses Jacob despite being dead, often commenting on his adventures.
