Circle of Magic/Characters

As always, the full summary is back this way.

Here be unmarked spoilers.

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The Circle

Sandrilene (Sandry) fa Toren

A young noblewoman, and the great-niece of Duke Vedris. Sandry's lineage makes her nearly royalty, but she prefers not to show off her noble status unless necessary. She is a "stitch-witch", having ambient magic with thread. After her parents died in a plague, her nurse hid her underground in a cellar, until she was discovered by Niko and brought to Winding Circle.

• Bad Dreams
• Badass Boast: "I am Sandrilene fa Toren, daughter of Count Mattin fer Toren and his countess Amiliane fa Landreg. I am the great-niece of his grace, Duke Vedris of this realm of Emelan, and cousin of her Imperial Highness, Empress Berenene of the Namorn Empire. You are Esmelle ei Pragin, daughter of Baron Witten en Pragin and his lady Colledia of House Weelwright- a merchant house. If I tell you my friend is a lady, then you"-carefully she poured milk into Esmelle's plate- "you had best start lapping, kitty."
• Badass Teacher: "I tore three people to pieces to save the life of my student."
• Blue Eyes
• Don't Call Me "Sir"!: Insists upon people calling her just "Sandry" instead of "Lady Sandrilene fa Toren" or even "Lady Sandrilene" unless there's a specific reason for being formal.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Threads. How lame... wait a minute. What's made of thread? Clothes... upholstery... blankets...bandages... saddles and boots are held together by thread... and she can control all of this... and make it all come undone if she wants... or move... or unweave itself and reweave itself in whatever shape she wants... including trussing you up like a turkey... And it can extend to treating magic as thread... Okay, not lame! Not lame!
• I Am X, Son of Y: 'My name is Lady Sandrilene fa Toren, daughter of Count Mattin fer Toren and his Countess Amiliane fa Landreg. I am great-niece to His Grace Duke Vedris IV of Emelan, and cousin to Her Imperial Highness Empress Berenene of Namorn...'
• Lonely Rich Kid: Before she came to Winding Circle.
• Nobles Who Actually Do Something: She had a front row seat and was a key participator battling various perils that befell Summersea including the earthquake, pirate attack, forest fire, and epidemic.
• Paranoia Fuel: Goes hand in hand with Heart Is an Awesome Power above. Mess with her and she could murder you with the clothes on your back.
  • Also, her backstory. She survived the smallpox epidemic because her nurse locked her in a small room alone, in the dark after she ran out of candles. She manages to discover her latent magical powers, but by the time she gets out of the room, everyone in the house is dead.
• Parental Abandonment: Via smallpox epidemic.
• Real Women Never Wear Dresses: Probably Pierce's most "girly" heroine, and thus gets a lot of this from the fandom despite being every bit as badass as the other three.
• Shipper on Deck: Encourages a romance between Duke Vedris and Yazmín Hebet in Magic Steps.
• Spirited Young Lady
• Spoiled Sweet.
• Stay in the Kitchen: Sandry get this fairly often from people in universe through a combination of being a noble, a girl, and having thread magic. She has very little patience for that attitude and isn't shy about telling people to get bent when they try to tell her so. If they try to push it, it doesn't end well. A fair amount of those who tried end up cocooned in their own clothes.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Afraid of the dark thanks to the aftermath of said smallpox epidemic.

Trisana (Tris) Chandler

The daughter of a merchant family. She is known for her temper. Tris' powers caused the weather to change around her, but when she was tested for magic, none was detected. Believing her to be possessed, she was shifted around from family member to family member until Niko met her and brought her to Winding Circle. Tris' ambient power is with weather, particularly lightning.

• Author Avatar: Pierce isn't afraid to admit this herself. May possibly be why she's so hard on poor Tris...
• Badass Bookworm
• Bad Dreams: After becoming aware that she drowned an entire ship full of innocent slaves, she dreamt about the incident repeatedly, in graphic detail.
• Blessed with Suck: Being quite possibly one of the most powerful mages in the world has its downsides, to say the least.
• Deadpan Snarker: Heavy on the deadpan, also on the snarking. You could even consider her at The Snark Knight status.
• Fiery Redhead
• Friend to All Living Things: Why she saves Little Bear. She also adopts a starling named Shriek and immediately lays claim to Chime. Better with animals than people, though.
• Gray Eyes
• I Just Want to Be Normal: At the beginning of Empress, Tris wants to study at Lightbridge and be a normal mage and do normal mage things.
• Minored in Asskicking
• Parental Abandonment: Gave her up because they were afraid of her.
• Power Incontinence: Oh, so very much.
• Quirky Curls
• Shock and Awe: She can control lightning.
• Superpower Lottery

Daja Kisubo

A young Trader. Daja's family ship sank, leaving her the only survivor. As a result, she was declared unlucky by all other Traders, and became an outcast. Niko took her to Winding Circle Temple, where she quickly became friends with Sandry. Daja is an ambient smith-mage, which also grants her immunity to fire.

• Butch Lesbian
• BBW: A reasonable inference after adolescence, more due to being built than body fat.
• The Blacksmith, as her power is with metal.
• Carry a Big Stick: she carries her trader staff wherever she goes.
• Green Rocks: Her living metal.
• Mistaken For Deity: Sort of. In Cold Fire, Ben Ladradun's POV of her initially has him thinking she's some sort of goddess.
• Parental Abandonment: Died in a shipwreck.
• Required Secondary Powers: Fire resistance, some resistance to smoke in the air, though too much still makes her sick.
• Unperson: Declared such by her entire race.

Briar Moss

Beginning his life as a street-rat named Roach, this young man was caught stealing three times, which meant he was sentenced to a hard life working on the docks. Niko found him being sentenced, and seeing the ambient magic in him, decided to take him to Winding Circle; because he needed a new name, and liked plants, he chose the name Briar Moss. Briar's power, naturally, is with plants.

• Animated Tattoo: To hide the two X tattoos that means he's been arrested twice, he decided to tattoo vines over them with vegetable dyes. His magic over plants plus the fact that he used the needles from Sandry's sewing basket, which also doubles as her mage kit, turned the vines into living ones that move around his hands.
• The Artful Dodger
• Badass
• Bad Dreams: From Empress onwards.
• Criminals: How Niko found him.
• Curb Stomp Battle: Against Lady Zenadia's mute assassin.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Debt Detester: The first book mentions him as being one.
• Embarrassing Tattoo: His double X's meant he got caught twice. Trying to hide them up gave him a new kind of embarrassing tattoo: living vines.
• Friend to All Living Things: With plants instead of animals.
• Green Eyes
• Green Thumb
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Knife Nut
• Loveable Rogue
• Meaningful Rename: His original name is unknown; his name as a street thief was Roach. Briar Moss is the name he chose for himself when he came to Winding Circle.
• The Medic: Not quite a healer, but good with herbal medicines.
• Never Learned to Read: Until he 'fesses up to Tris. And years later, he pays it forward by teaching Evvy to read.
• The One Guy
• Parental Abandonment: His mom was killed when he was little. His dad isn't really mentioned.
• Perfectly Cromulent Word: He does this.

"Girls," Briar said with disgust. "Aggrimentatious, argufying..."
"Is it that you learned too many languages, and so you must mangle the ones you have?" Sandry asked, curious.

• Really Gets Around: As of Will of the Empress.
• Satisfied Street Rat: But the girls soften him up and Rosethorn is enough to stop him from getting into too much trouble.
• Sex for Solace: Again, Empress. In this case, it's not necessarily about the sex so much as avoiding sleeping alone.
• Snooping Little Kid: Notably around Dedicate Crane's plants in the first book and in Aymery's belongings in the second book.
• Street Urchin: Until Niko found him.
• Survivor Guilt: By Will of the Empress.

In Summersea And Winding Circle

Rosethorn

A dedicate at Winding Circle, and an ambient plant mage; she acts as a "mother" to Discipline Cottage. She is known for her sharp temper. Briar becomes her student, and later on she takes on the teaching of Evvy, Briar's student.

• Back from the Dead
• Badass Teacher
• Bi the Way
• Cynical Mentor: Mostly to Briar.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Full Name Ultimatum: Evvy is used to being called "Evumeimei" by Luvo, but when Rosethorn uses both Evvy's full first name and last name, Evvy knows she's in trouble.
• Green Thumb
• Good Is Not Nice
• Hates Being Touched: At least as a means of waking her up, since after the war she reacts violently.
• If It Tastes Bad, It Must Be Good for You: Big fan of this trope.
• Incurable Cough of Death
  • Justified, as she was specifically stated to have pneumonia.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Meaningful Rename: Her childhood name was Niva. She chose "Rosethorn" on taking her vows, reflecting both her Green Thumb powers and her personality.
• The Medic: As with Briar above, plant mages tend to be good with herbal medicines.
• Misery Builds Character: Enjoys inflicting this on Briar (and Evvy).
• Mundane Afterlife: Tending to an overgrown garden for the rest of eternity isn't a bad way to spend your afterlife, especially when you enjoy plants and challenging work.
• Not Good with People
• Opposites Attract: Formerly Rich Bitch to Lark's saintly personality. Even Crane makes more sense than Lark, initially.
• Parental Substitute: Mostly to Briar. It especially shows in Briar's Book.
• Rape, Pillage and Burn: What happened to her hometown.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Mentioned to intentionally keep from tanning, and possesses dark chestnut hair.
• Riches to Rags: Her parents were incredibly wealthy farmers thanks to her gift, but then her hometown got razed and her family killed.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: While she doesn't seem to be as bad as Briar, she still will attack anyone who wakes her up suddenly.
• Significant Birth Date: Born in the dead of winter, but celebrates her birthday during the midsummer solstice.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The tomboy half on a personality level, with Lark serving as the girly girl.
• Tsundere: With a side of Sugar and Ice Personality.

Lark

An ambient thread mage. She is a dedicate at Winding Circle and serves as the other "mother" to Discipline Cottage. She is known for being kindhearted. She becomes Sandry's teacher.

• Ambiguously Brown
• Cool Big Sis / Cool Teacher (primarily to Sandry)
• Lipstick Lesbian
• Opposites Attract: Formerly dirt-poor, yet saintly. Likely comes off as No Accounting for Taste to people who haven't seen Rosethorn's very subtle nice side.
• Parental Substitute: Mostly to Sandry.
• Rags to Riches: A milder, Zig Zagging example. She started out as a dancer and was likely middle-class to fairly comfortable, then contracted asthma and had to live in the slums, then eventually settled down in Winding Circle Temple, which was definitely better but not Riches.
• Team Mom: To the kids, when they're ten or so.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly girl, with Rosethorn serving as the tomboy half.

Niklaren (Niko) Goldeye

A famous mage; Niko has seeing powers. He discovers the power of the main characters, and serves as Tris' teacher.

• Awesome McCoolname: Probably a large part of why he chose it.
• Cool Teacher: Mainly to Tris, but he teaches all of the kids.
• The Dandy: Likes to wear nice and stylish clothes, and takes great care of them.
• Deadpan Snarker: He is one.

"I can't think of the last time I held dragon vomit in my hand," Niko remarked, his voice dry. "Why, never, in fact. There are no such things as dragons. Need I also point out there are no such things as living glass dragons?"

• • He's noted as snarking "dryly" sometimes, but you know he's being especially snarky when it notes his voice as being "very dry".
• Meaningful Rename: Like most secular mages, he chose his last name himself, describing his powers as a Seer.
• Seer: While avoiding all associated tropes, though a character or two have suggested that they think he has shades of Mad Oracle.
• Sugar and Ice Personality: While not as irritable as Rosethorn, Niko is quite aloof and unapproachable at first, and only really opens up to close friends.

Frostpine

A well-known ambient smith-mage and dedicate of Winding Circle. He becomes Daja's teacher.

• Berserk Button: Giving one's magical powers to someone else. It's because his parents allowed the village shaman to use his powers (without his consent) from when he was born until he was a teenager.
• The Blacksmith: Quite possibly the greatest smith-mage in the world.
• Cool Teacher again, this time for Daja.
• Gentle Giant: He raises his voice about twice in the first series.
• Meaningful Rename: Subverted. Like all dedicates, he took a new name when he took his vows, but he chose it because he thought frostpines were pretty trees. Later in life, he discovered that he hated the climate that went with them.
• Naked People Are Funny: There's a scene in Cold Fire where he's caught meditating in a fire, having removed his clothes so they wouldn't burn. Hilarity Ensues.
• Required Secondary Powers: Fire resistance. (This isn't universal for smith-mages, but it is very useful.)
• Scary Black Man: Subverted, since he's one of the nicest characters in the series.

Dedicate Crane

A dedicate at Winding Circle Temple. He is a plant-mage. He is known for being stubborn and having a temper, but he is an expert in healing and discovering cures for diseases, and is willing to give respect where it is due.

• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Meaningful Rename: His childhood name was Isas; he chose the name Crane upon becoming a dedicate.
• The Rival: To Rosethorn.
• Rich Bastard
• Tall, Dark and Snarky

Dedicate Gorse

The chef of Winding Circle Temple.

• Chef of Iron: Makes delicious food and knows how to (physically) discourage his help from harassing his guests.
• Supreme Chef

Duke Vedris IV

Sandry's great-uncle, and the ruler of Emelan.

• Cool Old Guy
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: The Duchy of Emelan is a sovereign nation, even if its ruler doesn't call himself a King, and Vedris takes his job very seriously.
• Second Love: With Yazmín.

Students

Pasco Acalon

Pasco Acalon is a twelve-year-old from Summersea. He has ambient dance magic, though his family wishes him to become a police officer ("harrier"). Sandry discovers his magic and becomes his teacher.

• Meddling Parents
• Dance Magic
• Perception Filter: He invents a spell that causes others to ignore him.

Evumeimei (Evvy) Dingzai

A ten-year-old from Yanjing. Her parents sold her into slavery; eventually she escaped and became a street-rat in Chammur. Briar discovered that Evvy is an ambient stone mage, and he became her first teacher. At Winding Circle, she was able to be trained by stone mages. After Briar went to Namorn with Sandry, Daja and Tris, Rosethorn took Evvy with her to the Battle Islands to investigate the dying plant life.

• Crazy Cat Lady: When you're not part of a gang, cats are the best sources for companionship.
• Crocodile Tears: Can force herself to cry on cue... by remembering her mother's face as she told the slavemasters to sell Evvy for as much as possible.
• Dishing Out Dirt: A stone mage.
• Fantasy Counterpart Anime Chinese Girl
• Hates Being Touched: Especially after her experiences in war; if someone grabs her unexpectedly, she'll attack them.
• Never Learned to Read: But Briar teaches her.
• Not Good with People: She even gets a filibuster about it in 'Melting Stones'.
• Parental Abandonment: They sold her into slavery.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Rosethorn has to point out to Myrrhtide that when she told him not to touch her to wake her, he respected her wishes, but he has to remember that Evvy was in the same war as Rosethorn, and she's only a child.

Niamara (Nia) and Jorality (Jory) Banacor

A pair of twins from a well-to-do family. Daja discovers that they both have ambient magic: Nia has woodworking magic, while Jory has cooking magic. Nia is soft-spoken and shy, while Jory is outgoing and constantly moving. Daja is able to find suitable teachers for both of them, but still must teach the two meditation.

• Bad Dreams: Nia has bad dreams about fire. Daja explains that it'll get better with more training once Nia stops thinking like she's wood.
• Polar Opposite Twins: Nia is the quieter twin, while Jory is more outgoing.
• Real Women Never Wear Dresses: There's got to be some kind of subversion in the fact that the outspoken, brash, and just plain more physical Jory has cooking magic, while Nia the shy has woodworking magic, which should be "manlier."
• Sibling Yin-Yang
• Twin Telepathy: They always know where the other one is, and if the other one is in danger of some sort. It isn't connected to their magic, since other twins they know can do the same.

Kethlun (Keth) Warder

A twenty-year-old glassmaker. Keth was skilled at his craft until he was struck by lightning, making many physical actions difficult for him for a while, and imbuing him with lightning magic in addition to his ambient glass magic. Tris discovers his magic after he accidentally creates Chime, a glass dragon, and serves as his teacher. He eventually becomes the Imperial Glassmaker in Namorn.

• Combo-Platter Powers: Glass magic and lightning magic.
• Lightning Can Do Anything
• Not Good with People
• Speech Impediment: Speaks very slowly, occasionally with a stutter, since the lightning strike.

Other Circle Opens Characters

Chime

A glass dragon accidentally created by Kethlun Warder; cared for by Tris.

• Big Eater: Constantly tastes new substances.
• Our Dragons Are Different: This one's made from glass.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter
• Solid Gold Poop: Or rather, colored glass poop, influenced by the things she eats.

Lady Zenadia

A rich woman in Chammur; she controls child street-rat gangs just for the fun of it and for some extra profit.

• Christmas Cake / Foxy Grandma: It's mentioned every time she is described that she is around fifty, and very attractive.
• Better to Die Than Be Killed / Driven to Suicide: She poisons herself rather than be captured by the authorities.
• Human Resources: As fertilizer.
• Rich Bitch
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money / Screw the Rules, I Have Connections: A major plot point of the book is that she's above legal investigation because of her connections to the ruling family, even though law enforcement suspects something is up and are trying to spy on her.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness

Bennat (Ben) Ladradun

A firefighter in Kugisko. After his wife and children are killed in a fire, he goes to live with his witch of a mother, and organizes fire brigades to fight the city's fires, despite not having any magic.

• Badass Normal: Daja quite openly admires him for this.
• Freudian Excuse: His wife and children died in a fire.
• Karmic Death: Because he was an arsonist, the manner of his death sentence was that he would be burned alive at the site of one of his worst crimes.
• Manly Tears: When he sees victims of a fire. They're tears of joy.
• Mercy Kill: All the fire-capable mages present at his execution decide to make his death quick, rather than letting him suffer as the fire slowly, painfully consumed him.
• Mommy Issues
• Pyromaniac
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Started as one, and frequently justifies his arsony to himself this way.

Olennika Potcracker

An ambient cooking mage - one of the best. She cooked for the Empress before working for a hospital in Kusigo.

• Badass Teacher / Retired Badass
• Cool Teacher / Cool Old Lady
• Famed in Story: She cooked for the Empress until she got said Empress and some of her nobles to fund a hospital/food kitchen in the slums of Kugisko. Someone made a play about why and how this happened.
• Good Is Not Nice
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Never Mess with Granny: She retired from making poison-detecting food for the Empress only to take over a hospital kitchen. When the hospital is attacked by an arsonist, she stays in there to control the blaze as long as possible.
• Required Secondary Powers: Fire resistance.
• Secret Test of Character: She publicly refuses to take students, so the rare students she does train are the ones who can put up with a heavy work schedule and refuse to take "no" for an answer. In addition, nothing in her personal storeroom is labeled, so cooking magic is required to fetch supplies from it.
• Wax On, Wax Off: If you're in her kitchen, you're there to cook, dammit!

In Will Of The Empress

Berenene dor Ocmore

The Empress of Namorn, and one of Sandry's cousins.

• Christmas Cake: Has pretty much an entire court in love with her and she's old enough to be the mother of many of them.
• Even the Girls Want Her: According to Fin, though at least some of this was just a dig at Rizu.
• Real Women Never Wear Dresses: Exhibits this attitude in-universe. Get kidnapped and forced into marriage? Why, you must have deserved it for not trying to escape.
  • Deconstructed further when it's noted that she was probably given the chances to escape when she was kidnapped, which most such brides are not. Sandry certainly wasn't.

Zhegorz

A man who initially appeared unnamed in the mental health ward at Yogiry Hospital in Kugisko when it was on fire. He sees and hears things on the winds, and these uncontrolled visions, in addition to the healers' "helpful" potions, have convinced everyone, including himself, that he is crazy.

• Blessed with Suck: He was born with power that roughly only one person per generation is able to learn. Too bad he can't control it.
• Cassandra Truth: He kept telling his travling companions that there were Imperial soldiers after them...
• Fainting Seer
• Mad Oracle
• Adult Child

In Melting Stones

Luvo

A living heart of a mountain. Luvo met Rosethorn, Evvy, and Briar on their travels through Yanjing. He is thousands of years old, wise, and patient. He is shaped like a bear and is made out of crystals.

• Animate Inanimate Object: He's basically a sentient rock. You could make a drinking game out of the number of times characters call him a "talking rock".
• Insistent Terminology: He prefers to call everyone by their full first name rather than their nickname.
• Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Thousands of years old, though he never came out from underground until Evvy was nearby.
• The Unpronounceable: His full name. "Luvo" is the only part Evvy can pronounce.

Dedicate Myrrhtide

A dedicate of Winding Circle, he goes with Rosethorn and Evvy to the Battle Islands to discover why plants are dying.

• Commander Contrarian
• Jerkass: Just because he doesn't believe Evvy is powerful and doesn't understand her powers - not to mention the fact that she doesn't like him fussing at her constantly - he is rude to her every chance he gets, and is pretty snappy at everyone else too.