< Tortall Universe

Tortall Universe/Characters


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Watch out for spoilers.


First appearing in Song of the Lioness

Alanna of Trebond (and Olau)

  • Absurdly Sharp Blade - Lightning
  • Abusive Parents - Her father neglected her and Thom after his wife had died giving birth to the twins.
  • Action Girl - Later upgraded to Action Mom.
  • Animal Talk - With Faithful
  • Asskicking Equals Authority - As the wife of a baron and a regular knight she's relatively low in the noble hierarchy (although the Trebond family is very old and noble.) As the King's Champion of Tortall, she speaks with the authority of the crown when neither the king nor queen is near.
  • Better as Friends - With Jonathan. They both marry other people.
  • Bling of War - She has gold-washed mail picked out with amethysts for fancy occasions, but she can fight in it if she has to.
  • Bully Hunter - Alanna is small and weak but she learns the skill to make Ralon leave her alone for good.
  • The Champion -"King's Champion" is the position given to the best knight in the realm. Post-Lioness Rampant, Alanna has held this position as Tortall's first female Champion.
  • Combat Medic - In In The Hand Of The Goddess
  • Cool Horse - Moonlight, then later Darkmoon.
  • Cosmic Plaything - For the Mother Goddess. She doesn't mind as the missions are for Tortall's good.
  • Custom Heraldry - A lioness rampant on a red field.
  • Fiery Redhead - She has flaming red hair, a wicked temper and, strangely, Purple Eyes.
  • God Was My Co-Pilot
  • Happily Adopted - Myles adopted her in the third book.
  • Happily Married - With George and their daughter sees them as Sickeningly Sweethearts
  • Heroes Want Redheads - Alanna, being a hero herself, was romantically pursued by the three greatest heroes in the story, namely, her Warrior Prince (Jonathan), The King of Thieves (George) and The Shang Dragon (Liam).
  • Hot Mom
  • I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship - She even says this to George.
  • Knight in Shining Armor - Seen best when Alana and her apprentices have to defend the Bloody Hawk tribe from being attacked.
  • Knight Errant - Alanna starts in The Woman Who Rides Like a Man to escape court and find adventure.
  • Lady of War
  • Magic Knight - Though she fears her magical abilitys in the beginning.
  • The Magnificent - Lioness
  • Mighty Whitey - She becomes a respected shaman to the Bloody Hawk Tribe in The Woman Who Rides Like a Man.
  • Never Mess with Granny - As of the end of Daughter of the Lioness.
  • One of the Boys - Considering that she spent the better part of a decade posing as a boy this was perhaps inevitable, and even once the cat's out of the bag she still has many masculine and aggressive mannerisms. It could also be that these traits actually helped her maintain the illusion for as long as she did.
  • Parental Abandonment - Her mother died giving birth to her and her father went into a deep depression as a result, neglecting his children until he sent them away when they were ten.
  • Parental Substitute - Myles looked after her during her training years and they become close friends. He would eventually adopt Alanna.
  • Redheaded Heroine
  • Self-Proclaimed Knight - In the first half she pretends to be a boy so that she can train for knighthood.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely - In Lioness Rampant. Jon doesn't recognize her in a dress.
  • Snarky Non-Human Sidekick - Faithful.
  • Sweet Polly Oliver - As a ten-year old she starts dressing as a boy in order to train for knighthood.
  • Throwing Down the Gauntlet - Alanna was actually forbidden by Jon to challenge men to duels on personal grounds, simply because if she kept doing so every time she was insulted, Tortall's population would drop. Rapidly.
  • You Kill It, You Bought It - Killed a bazhir shaman and so has to replace him.
  • You Say Girl Like a Bad Thing - The Shang Dragon found it distasteful when he saw The Lioness in a dress.
  • The Paragon - In The Woman Who Rides Like a Man according to Bazhir law she must be the tribe's shaman until she trains a new one to replace her or someone kills her and takes her place so Alanna selects three Gifted children of the tribe, Ishak, Kara, and Kourrem, and begins to train them in magic.

Thom of Trebond

George Cooper[1]

Jonathan of Conté

Gareth of Naxen

Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak

Miles of Olau

Duke Roger of Conté

As for later, I don’t think of him as evil so much as I think of him as apocalyptically crazy. 8 months buried alive would do that to a person, I think. He had no guarantee that he’d be resurrected, and even when he was, he felt his people could have made it happen sooner. He decided to punish everyone involved in his trial and death and if the world was destroyed with them, he really didn’t care. Like I said, nuts. He was always self-centered. This just took it to the extreme. He’d have to acknowledge his wants and desires were evil, and he never did.

Liam Ironarm, the Shang Dragon

Thayet jian Wilima[2]

Buriram Tourakom later of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak)


First appearing in The Immortals

Veralidaine "Daine" Sarrasri [3]

  • Animal Talk - Played with: Daine can talk to all animals because of her magic, and all the animals could talk to each other with relative ease, but it is implied that each species has its own distinct dialect.
  • Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence - An unusual subversion example: The gods offer a choice between this and remaining human, but Daine chooses the latter.
  • The Archer - One skills that kept her alive before she learned how to master her magic.
  • The Beast Master - One aspect of her wild magic involves this ability, but Daine is something of an aversion in that it's the power she least likes to call on, and more often than not only does so to keep animals out of the fighting.
  • Berserk Button - Whatever you do, just... don't try to kill Numair. It's for your own health, really. UNDEAD ZOMBIE DINOSAURS get involved if you do. No, seriously.
  • Beware the Nice Ones - And how! Besides this being part of her back story when she was literally Raised by Wolves, just look what she does if she 'loses her temper.'
  • Big No - When Rikash dies.
  • Carnivore Confusion - Because of her Voluntary Shapeshifting, Daine knows what it's like for game animals to be hunted and killed, which turns her off from eating them as a human. Before she started to learn about her magic, she grew up eating meat like anybody else, and continued to hunt and eat meat for a long time after discovering it — she says at one point that she doesn't see why this would surprise anybody, since animals kill and eat each other all the time, and it's not as if she kills for sport or uses her magic to lure prey towards her. This changes, however, after a bad experience or two when she herself is pursued in animal form by hunters — game meat becomes Nausea Fuel for her, and she can't stand to eat it anymore, having felt what the animal went through. She doesn't object to it in principle or try to stop other people; she just literally can't stomach it herself. It's mentioned that she gets by okay with domesticated meat by never bonding mentally with any farm animals, and how she feels about fish or insects isn't mentioned.
  • Cosmic Plaything - In Emperor Mage only, thanks to a Carthaki goddess named the Graveyard Hag claiming her as her 'vessel.' Otherwise, Daine is entirely her own woman.
  • Friend to All Living Things - Justified: Daine's magic allows her to communicate with animals, i.e. explain to them that she isn't a cold-blooded killer, heal them, and animals gravitate to her because of this.
  • Full-Frontal Assault - how she kills Ozorne, armed with only her badger claw
  • Heroic Bastard - Of a god, no less.
    • According to Word of God, it's also what finally convinces her to marry Numair while heavily pregnant, since she didn't want her child to go through what she went through.
  • Hot for Teacher - Guess who.
  • Human Mom, Nonhuman Dad
  • Improbable Aiming Skills - Lands a fatal hit on a fast-moving spidren in the dark—even Alanna is impressed. Later explicitly named as part of her magical ability, inherited from her father, the Hunt God.
  • Just Friends - See Numair's entry below.
  • The Magnificent - The Wildmage.
  • Merlin and Nimue - The magic, age difference, and sexual tension are present, but not the betrayal.
  • Nature Heroine
  • The Nicknamer
  • Not Good with People - Type 1.
  • Odd Friendship - With Rikash
  • Raised by Wolves - Literally, but only for a little while after her mother died.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge - At the end of Emperor Mage, when she thought a certain friend of hers had been executed. Sadly, the person her revenge was supposed to be directed at - the executor - turned into a Stormwing, and his innocent nephew had to pay the damages.
  • Semi-Divine - She's the daughter of a minor god (of the hunt) and a mortal woman (who becomes a minor goddess when she dies).
  • She Cleans Up Nicely
  • Student and Master Team
  • Understatement - Emperor Mage, chapter nine: "Daine Loses Her Temper." She wrecks a palace complex with zombie dinosaurs!
  • Unstoppable Rage - The aforementioned explosion.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting - She can take on the form of pretty much any vertebrate.
  • Wild Child - For a little while.


Numair Salmalin [4]

  • The Ace
  • Ace Lightning Syndrome
  • The Archmage
  • Awesome McCoolname - Which he picked out himself since Arram Draper is too plain. Of course, it also had to do with being on the run from his former friend, who was trying to kill him. Word Of God cites the reason for his choice as being because "geeky old Arram Draper would want a majorly cool mage name to announce to the world he was a mighty black robe, no longer the geek who fell off his horse and forgot to take spells down before he left the room."
  • Badass Bookworm
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer - The most powerful mage in Tortal is almost the most vain mage in Tortal, and kinda lazy.
  • Cloudcuckoolander - When Tkaa and Numair first met, Tkaa described him as 'unusual,' putting it mildly.
  • Court Mage
  • Does Not Know His Own Strength - Numair recalls lighting his shirt on fire when he tried to dry it with his magic, and Duke Baird mentions to Neal that Numair has to get up to blow out candles; if he uses he Gift, the candle explodes. Also, while he was on hand at Haven in Lady Knight, Numair calls a massive pile of boulders from ten miles away, instead of carrying a few over a couple of miles, as Baird or Neal would have done.
  • Fan Nickname - Numy
  • Genius Ditz
  • Honorary Uncle - To Alanna and George's kids.
  • Hot for Student
  • Just Friends - Numair's situation is a sort of mash-up of the different subtypes: Over the course of time, he falls in love with Daine, but didn't realize ir for a long time, claiming that "she [was his] student, and "laughing it off" (Daine's words) if anyone suggested he was interested in her sexually. At the same time, he began warning anyone who might take an interest in her not to interfere with her, and is very protective of her; as to Daine, she gets jealous of Numair's ex. When Numair finally realizes he's in love with her, he decides not to tell Daine for fear of the reciprocation that would arise over various things.
  • Magic Music - In Lady Knight, to the chagrin of many normal people in the fort.
  • A Man Is Not a Virgin
  • Meaningful Rename
  • Merlin and Nimue
  • Obfuscating Stupidity - In Wolf-speaker
  • Older Sidekick
  • Relationship Ceiling - Inverted, but shown more on Numair's part than Daine's. After nearly ten years of being lovers, Numair seems to be more in love with Daine, not less. Then they get married.
  • Student and Master Team
  • Tall, Dark and Handsome
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting - Hawk shape only, although not a true shapeshift, as the hawk shape he takes is too large and black to be a real hawk. He won't try other shapes since the first one already gives him migraines; he needs incredible amounts of power and the ability to control and hang onto it.

Onua Chamtong of the K'miri Raadeh


Skysong (Kitten)


Rikash Moonsword


Tristan Staghorn


Ozorne Muhassin Tasikhe


Kaddar Ghazanoi Iliniat


Varice Kingsford

First appearing in Protector of the Small

Keladry of Mindelan

  • Action Girl
  • Badass Normal - The whole point of her character according to Word of God and the final book. She has no powers at all' but still kicks ass and leads others.
  • Blade on a Stick - Her preferred weapon.
  • Bully Hunter
  • Buxom Is Better - Inverted, Kel was not happy in the least bit when she started growing breasts.
  • The Chains of Commanding
  • Cosmic Plaything - For the Chamber of the Ordeal. He's the one who named her "Protector of the Small."
  • Cool Horse - Peachblossom
  • Determinator
  • Even Evil Has Standards - Inverted into Even Goodness Has Limits. Kel is just about the only Tortallan who will burn dead enemy soldiers and pray for them instead of leaving them for Stormwings, immortal semihuman scavengers who defile battlefield corpses. But she leaves Blayce the Gallan and the soldiers who guarded him for them.
  • Girls Need Role Models - A justified in-universe example, as Kel is the first girl to openly try for her shield after Alanna. Her success inspires a number of girls who might otherwise not have tried.
  • Good Parents - She has them - in fact, Kel's mother and father are easily the best biological parents Pierce has written to date (and possibly the best parents, full stop). They are exteremly supportive of her dream and are there to help her with others issues like periods.
  • Honor Before Reason - Though, considering that if she hadn't done this an enemy mage would have gone on to make two hundred children into monstrous killing devices, abandoning her post to save them wasn't entirely unreasonable.
  • Huge Schoolgirl - A running gag.
  • Knight in Shining Armor - Her dream is to be this.
  • Lady of War
  • Like Brother and Sister - Kel and Neal.
  • Mama Bear - Despite not actually being a mom she is this for Haven.
  • Maybe Ever After - Hinted that she ends up with Dom at the end of Lady Knight but we never get any actual confirmation of this.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely - Done deliberately to remind everyone she's a girl.
  • The Stoic - She has a "Yamani face"
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy - Out of everyone, Kel wants Wyldon's approval. She gets it, eventually.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? - With heights.
  • You Say Girl Like a Bad Thing

Lord Wyldon of Cavall

  • Badass Normal
  • Four-Star Badass: A general who much prefers fighting at the border and protecting people than living at the capital training kids. Kel realizes this in Lady Knight.
  • Nice to the Waiter
  • Old Soldier
  • Pet the Dog - One of the first clues that Wyldon isn't that bad a guy is his kindness toward Kel's technically disallowed terrier mix Jump. Later on it's revealed that he actually breeds hunting dogs, and that Cavall produces some of the finest in Tortall.
  • Real Men Get Shot - Wyldon is a firm believer that suffering makes you a real man. Unless it's absolutely necessary to survive or stay in the field, he won't accept a magic healing.
  • Happily Married - To Lady Vivenne, via Word of God.
  • In-Series Nickname: Neal refers to him as 'The Stump' because he's stocky and stubborn.
  • Stay in the Kitchen - His attitude at first, though it gradually changes as Kel proves herself more worthy than most men.
  • Stern Teacher: To pages. He's famous among them for his rule that if a page is late to the year-end ceremony, even if its just a minute, they have to repeat the entire four years of page trainning. His reason is "Tardiness in knights causes fatalities."
  • What Could Have Been - Originally he was slated to be an outright villain.

Nealan "Neal" of Queenscove

Joren of Stone Mountain

Lalasa

  • Does Not Like Men - And with good reason.
  • Scullery Maid - Started this way before becoming Kel's personal maid.
  • Shrinking Violet - Starts out as one
  • Word of Gay - Though with plenty of subtext.
  • Took a Level in Badass - Not a major level, but as she served under Kel she became more confident, and on one occasion held off a squire - a "strong, brawny fighter". In Squire, Kel is told that she teaches the self-defense Kel taught her to other girls in the city.

Domitan of Masbolle

First appearing in Daughter of the Lioness

Alianne "Aly" of Pirate's Swoop[5]

Kyprioth

  • Physical God
  • Obfuscating Stupidity - Krypioth has two sides: silly prankster and extremely bitter exiled king. Aly finds the latter unnerving.
  • What Measure is a NonGod - It's pointed out several times in the series that he sees humans, Aly included, as pets at best and pawns at worst.
  • Trickster Archetype - Proudly calls himself the trickster, ahead of all the others in the Tortallverse.
  • Big Good - At least to the raka.


Nawat

  • Dogged Nice Guy: He was after Aly early in book 1. She didn't reciporcate until book 2.
  • The Face: The Crows are a Cast Herd. They communicate with Aly primarily through him because, unlike them, he likes humans. He becomes their official spokesman in book 2.
  • Interspecies Romance
  • Raised By Crows: Justified because he is one and gets along pretty well with humans.
  • Single-Target Sexuality - Alysexual
  • To Be Lawful or Good - Has to choose between culling one of his triplets according to crow law, or letting her live, but being cast out from his flock forever.


Sarai Balitang

  • Lady of War
  • Rebellious Princess - Well, rebellious duke's daughter, anyway.
  • Silk Hiding Steel - the most popular belle in the Copper Isles. One time she talked down a poorly planned noble revolt while making it seem like she was only interested in a date for the Summer Send ball. Also she's no slouch with a sword.


Dovasary Balitang

The Rittevons

First appearing in Provost's Dog

Rebakah "Beka" Cooper

Tansy Lofts

Erskin Westover

Clara "Clary" Goodwin

  • The Atoner: Was a "loose dog" at one point but came to her senses.
  • Character Tics: Paces around when thinking.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: It takes her a bit to warm up to Beka. Pounce helps.
  • Happily Married: Though it's noted that she and her husband Tom "had difficulties" at one point and she spent some time in Port Caynn, though she never actually cheated on him and just used the image that she was as part of her cover.

Matthias "Mattes" Tunstall

Rosto the Piper


Aniki Forfrysning

  • Bar Brawl: First meets Beka when she jumps into one.
  • Lady of War: As a rusher it's almost a prerequisite.

Koramin Ingensra

Farmer Cape/Cooper

Deirdry Noll

Nestor Haryse

  • Dating Catwoman: Not a straight example, as Okha is emphatically a good guy. However, Okha does have some ties to the underworld of Port Caynn, which causes tension.
  • Happily Married: It's unknown if gay marriage is legal in Tortall, but he and Okha are included in Beka's annoyance with older couples showing affection like teenagers.
  • Hero of Another Story: Both Okha and Nestor are hinted at having deeper connections to Pearl Skinner than explored in the novel.
  • Nice Guy

Okha Soyan (Amber Orchid)

  • Guile Hero: While not the protagonist, Okha serves as this in the context of Bloodhound. She helps Beka primarily by gossiping and spying, and keeps several secrets from Nestor in order to protect him (at least until the time is right), in contrast to Nestor, Beka, and even Goodwin, who are much more direct.
  • Happily Married: To Nestor.
  • Magical Queer
  • Transsexualism: Sex-reassignment surgery doesn't exist in-universe, so she could also count as a Drag Queen. Beka refers to her as "him", since it may have been confusing for the reader had Pierce switched mid-novel from calling Okha 'he' to 'she'. Alternatively, Beka may not have had a full understanding that just because Okha is physically male, she should not actually be referred to as male.
  • Wholesome Crossdresser

Pearl Skinner

First appearing in Short Stories

Kyalaia al Jmaa

  • Kick Chick: She doesn't just use kicks, but the first fighting technique she developed was based on ostriches' kicks.
  • No Guy Wants an Amazon - Her father says that "Even less than a bride possessed by a demon will a young man like a wife who can kick his ribs in".

Qiom

Fadal

  1. ↑ (later of Pirate's Swoop)
  2. ↑ (later Thayet of Conté)
  3. ↑ later Sarrasri Salmalin
  4. ↑ formerly Arram Draper
  5. ↑ Aly originally appears in The Immortals Quartet, but she is the main character of Daughter of the Lioness, so she's listed here.
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