A Gathering of Shadows characters

Also known as Kell Maresh

Appears from the start

One of the last Antari, the Red London crown's messenger, and the adopted brother of its heir. Months after the trouble with the black stone he is watched, restricted and blamed: his travelling has been curtailed, the king no longer trusts him with much, and the bond he made to save Rhy means every risk he takes is also someone else's. Restless and increasingly reckless about it, he looks for somewhere to put the part of himself that is not allowed out any more.

Also known as Lila

Appears from the start

The Grey London thief who talked her way into a world with magic and then onto a ship. She now sails with a privateer crew, learning the trade and the sea, and hiding how fast her own magic is growing and what her missing eye conceals. She is a quick study, an enthusiastic fighter, and entirely uninterested in going back to being anyone's passenger.

Appears from the start

Captain of the Night Spire, a privateer sailing under the Arnesian crown's licence to rob its enemies. Born into a Red London noble house and no longer welcome in it, he is charming, vain, generous with his crew and very good at his work. He sees magic as colored threads around a person, which is how he notices what Lila is trying to keep to herself.

Appears from the start

The heir to Red London's throne, who survived what happened to him only because Kell tied their lives together. He cannot die while Kell lives, and he feels everything Kell feels. He has thrown himself into staging a great international magicians' tournament in his city, partly out of genuine ambition and partly to outrun what was done to him.

First appears in chapter 2

The White London Antari, who was pushed through a sealed door into a dead world with a fragment of its magic bound inside him, and who did not die there. Broken, starving and alone in the ruins of Black London, he is found by something that offers to make him whole and to give him back his own ruined city, in exchange for a great deal more than he is being told.

First appears in chapter 3

The living magic of Black London: a will with no body, ancient and enormously powerful, that speaks in offers and bargains. It is patient, persuasive, and keeps its promises only in the letter. What it wants is what it has always wanted, a world to remake and a body strong enough to carry it into one.

First appears in chapter 3

A White London fighter with yellow eyes, raised up out of the city's gutters into something far stronger than she was born as, and loyal to the man who did it. She is sent out of her world to do work that cannot be done openly.

First appears in chapter 2

The head priest of the London Sanctuary, who reads the balance of a person's magic at a glance and has known Kell since he was a child. He is one of the few people in the city who treats both Kell and Rhy as people rather than as instruments of the crown.

First appears in chapter 2

The king of Red London, who now regards Kell less as a second son than as a danger to be managed, and who has drawn the leash in accordingly.

First appears in chapter 2

The queen of Red London and Rhy's mother, whose fondness for Kell has cooled into something closer to fear since her son nearly died.

First appears in chapter 3

A young royal guard assigned to the prince, good-natured and devout, who takes Rhy's safety a good deal more personally than the posting requires.

First appears in chapter 5

The elder of the two Veskan royals sent to Red London for the tournament: large, physical, openly competitive, and pleased to be somewhere he can prove it.

First appears in chapter 5

The younger Veskan royal, small, cheerful and considerably sharper than the people around her assume. She is very interested in the Arnesian prince, and asks him a great many friendly questions.

First appears in chapter 6

One of the celebrated Arnesian competitors in the tournament and a favorite of the crowds, with a considerable following in the city before the first match is fought.

First appears in chapter 6

A Veskan competitor in the tournament, a wind magician with a light, showy style that makes him popular with spectators.