Battle Ground characters

Appears from the start

The Winter Knight, warden of Demonreach, and Chicago's wizard - on the night that phrase stops being a job description and becomes a battle station. With a Titan marching on his city and every power of the Accords forced to choose between flight and war, Harry fights the longest night of his life for the town and the people he loves, spending every alliance, weapon, and debt he has ever accumulated.

Also known as The Last Titan

Appears from the start

The last of the Titans, bearer of the Eye of Balor, come to destroy Chicago as a demonstration to humanity and to the powers she despises. Ethniu is a being from the world's oldest stratum of nightmare - stronger than gods grown soft under the Accords, armored in bronze and hatred, and carrying a weapon that can level city blocks with a glance. Nothing assembled against her is confident it can even slow her down.

First appears in chapter 2

King of the Fomor, lord of the drowned courts that have spent a decade raiding humanity's shores and stealing its talented children. Corb brings his kingdom's armies out of Lake Michigan behind Ethniu's banner - kraken, giants, huntsmen, and warrior-priests - to break Chicago and inherit the ruins. Ancient, cruel, and long-humiliated, he has waited ages for this tide.

Appears from the start

Formerly of Chicago PD - the bravest person Harry knows, half-rebuilt after Nicodemus shattered her knee and arm, and together with Harry at last. Ordered by every sensible standard to sit this one out, Murphy straps her weapons over her braces and takes the field anyway, because Chicago is her city and standing between it and monsters has never required anyone's permission.

First appears in chapter 4

The Queen of Air and Darkness, commanding Winter's legions in open war for the first time in mortal memory. Mab on a battlefield is the answer to a question Harry never wanted asked: what all that cruelty and discipline were for. She spends soldiers, cities, and her Knight's heart with the same cold arithmetic, and the defense of Chicago runs on her will.

First appears in chapter 5

Ruler-in-fact of the White Court, fighting for Chicago at the head of her house's soldiers. Lara is deadly in the field and indispensable in the command tent, and the night's events keep binding her fortunes more tightly to Harry's - a process Mab watches with unmistakable intent. What Winter's queen plans for the two of them outlasts the battle.

First appears in chapter 5

The gangster who made himself Baron of Chicago under the Accords - the city's other monster, mobilizing his troops, his fortress, and his Valkyrie-run organization in its defense. Marcone has spent years preparing for a night exactly like this one with a thoroughness no one fully appreciated, and before it ends he shows the battlefield capabilities nobody knew he had.

First appears in chapter 6

Medical examiner turned Knight of the Cross, bearer of the reborn Fidelacchius - a blade of pure light in the hands of the least imposing warrior on the field. Butters fights his war the way he does everything: methodically, fearfully, and without ever once quitting. The Sword of Faith has rarely had a truer wielder, and this night tests every inch of that truth.

First appears in chapter 10

Knight of the Cross, bearer of Esperacchius, arriving where the despair is thickest with a Kalashnikov, a holy sword, and unshakable good cheer. Sanya has crossed half the world to stand with Chicago's defenders, and the night's horrors meet in him something they cannot dent: a man who has already been offered every excuse to despair and declined them all.

Also known as The Blackstaff

First appears in chapter 8

Senior Council member, the Council's living weapon, and Harry's grandfather - taking the field for Chicago even as the wounds of the peace talks stay raw between him and Harry. Ebenezar at war is one of the most dangerous forces on the continent; Ebenezar as family remains a harder, sadder problem, with the truth about Thomas still standing between them like a drawn blade.

First appears in chapter 18

A Chicago police detective of long, undistinguished acquaintance with Harry's cases - a vain, frightened careerist who has spent years refusing to see what the city's night contains. On this of all nights, Rudolph is out in the war zone with a badge, a gun, and a panic he cannot control, insisting on procedure while the sky burns. Frightened men with guns are dangerous in ways monsters are not.