A Darker Shade of Magic characters

Also known as Kell Maresh

Appears from the start

One of the last Antari, blood magicians able to step between parallel Londons. Raised inside the Red London palace beside the prince, he serves the Maresh crown as its official messenger, carrying letters between the rulers of the worlds still open to travel. One of his eyes is solid black, the mark of what he is. Reserved, stubborn and quietly resentful of being treated as both a prince and a possession, he keeps a habit that is forbidden in every world: smuggling small objects across for collectors who cannot travel themselves. His coat can be turned inside out into a different coat for each city he walks in.

Also known as Lila

First appears in chapter 2

A thief and cutpurse in Grey London, the world that has forgotten magic. She dresses as a boy, carries a good knife and a stolen pistol, and rents a room above a tavern when she can pay for it. She grew up on the street, trusts no one, and wants one thing above all: a ship of her own and the freedom to sail it. Reckless to the point of enjoying danger, she is drawn to anything that suggests the world is larger than the one she was born into.

First appears in chapter 3

The heir to the throne of Red London, raised alongside Kell and treated by him as a brother. Charming, indulgent and openly fond of pleasure, he covers a shortage of magical talent with wit and good manners. He is genuinely devoted to Kell and just as genuinely careless with him.

First appears in chapter 3

The ruler of Red London and Rhy's father, who took Kell into the palace as a small child and raised him as a second son. He values Kell's rare ability as an asset of the crown at least as much as he values Kell himself.

First appears in chapter 3

Rhy's mother and the queen of Red London. She is fond of Kell in a careful, distant way, and uneasy with the power he carries in her household.

First appears in chapter 4

The only other living Antari, and the messenger of White London, the starving world where magic must be forced rather than asked. Worn thin and joyless, he is bound by a spell cut into his skin to obey whoever holds his city's throne, and he carries out its rulers' orders without hope of anything better. He tells Kell without malice that the only real difference between them is where each of them happened to be born.

First appears in chapter 4

One of the twin rulers of White London, who took the throne by killing the pair who held it before. He controls people through binding spells carved into their skin, and appears to enjoy the control itself more than anything it wins him.

First appears in chapter 4

Athos's twin and the other half of White London's rule, colder and more patient than her brother, and more interested in what might still be taken from a world whose magic is nearly spent.

First appears in chapter 3

The keeper of a Grey London tavern who rents Lila a room and puts up with her comings and goings. He is one of the very few people who has ever shown her steady kindness without asking for anything back.

First appears in chapter 2

A wealthy young Grey Londoner convinced that magic is real, who pays Kell for small enchanted objects smuggled out of the other worlds. He is enthusiastic, harmless and entirely out of his depth.

First appears in chapter 5

The head priest of the London Sanctuary in Red London, an old man who can read the balance of a person's magic at a glance. He is one of the few people Kell will actually listen to, and what he counsels is restraint.

First appears in chapter 2

The ailing king of Grey London, whom Kell visits to deliver the monthly letters from the other crowns. He is the one person in his world who knows Kell is real, and nobody around him believes a word of it.