Dragon Heart - Book 2: Iron Will characters

Appears from the start

A former prince of Lidus who now serves as a senior officer. He and Nero put a handpicked force through severe training as they prepare for the northern war.

Appears from the start

Hadjar's closest friend, fellow officer, and partner in sword combat. He serves as the practical drill instructor for their new elite unit.

Appears from the start

A learned caster who supports the new unit and continues her research alongside its healer.

Also known as Lord of the Heavens

First appears in chapter 2

Hadjar uses Traves's scroll while developing the five fragments of his cultivation seed, but cannot yet return to Traves's inner palace.

Also known as General Larvie

First appears in chapter 4

A hostile former general whose castle becomes the target of Hadjar, Nero, and Serra. Their covert plan links him to the Ax Clan attacks on Hadjar.

Also known as General Leen

First appears in chapter 5

Hadjar's senior commander and protector. Although exhausted by war and missing her left arm, she recognizes Larvie's part in the assassination attempts and quietly gives Hadjar an alibi for acting against him.

First appears in chapter 6

Hadjar's small white tiger companion, still kitten-sized and kept safely at camp while he undertakes the operation against Larvie.

First appears in chapter 8

An overwhelmingly powerful being who interrupts the fight with Larvie, reclaims the scarlet stone as his demon heart, kills Larvie, and deliberately spares Hadjar.

First appears in chapter 2

An Ax Clan fighter who enters Hadjar's camp under a paid contract. She respects his campaign against the nomads but remains bound by her clan's code to complete the attack.

First appears in chapter 10

A demoted former intelligence chief serving among the royal investigators who question Hadjar, Nero, and Serra about Larvie's death.

First appears in chapter 12

A female royal investigator who has five of Hadjar's soldiers tied up and whipped. She insists that their alleged insult warrants punishment under military law.

First appears in chapter 14

A former leader of the Palace Guard Corps who recognizes Hadjar as the surviving prince. He says that threats against his family forced his participation in Primus's coup.

Also known as Dragontooth

First appears in chapter 16

The opposing Third Army's general, a heavy-sword fighter who once trained beside Leen and was her lover. He arrives under truce to seek her surrender at the border gorge.

First appears in chapter 21

A scarred officer who leads 200,000 soldiers away from their former army. He asks Hadjar to accept them because they oppose slavery and their kingdom's service to Black Gates.

First appears in chapter 22

A trusted archer commander who publicly supports Hadjar's right to lead when headquarters tries to replace him with a privileged appointee.

First appears in chapter 30

A Black Gates practitioner who approaches Hadjar's camp alone while riding a mutilated human captive.

First appears in chapter 31

A former circus worker who once showed kindness to Hadjar during his enslavement. Black Gates presents her as a mutilated and unresponsive human mount during its confrontation with Hadjar.

First appears in chapter 32

A capable merchant and purchasing officer whose skill lies in organization rather than combat. He solves an artillery staffing shortage by proposing that suitable ordinary recruits serve as gunners.

First appears in chapter 35

A powerful master of the sixth Black Gates pavilion who gravely wounds Nero with a black halberd during the Moon Army's assault. Hadjar turns from the wider advance to confront him.

First appears in chapter 39

An unnamed engineering officer whom Hadjar authorizes to act for him while he searches for a cure for Nero.

First appears in chapter 40

A Heaven Soldier librarian from Darnassus who identifies the Black Gates technique afflicting Nero. He directs Hadjar toward an ancient tomb where the only known cure can be found.

First appears in chapter 45

The residual spirit guarding an ancient immortal's tomb and inheritance. He tests Hadjar's will and offers lesser treasure before allowing him to continue his urgent search for Nero's cure.

First appears in chapter 51

A former royal caretaker held and tortured by Primus because she will not disclose where the founder's sword is hidden.

First appears in chapter 52

An unnamed healer who prepares the black stone flower as treatment for Nero and extracts a venomous parasitic creature from his chest wound.

First appears in chapter 60

Chief of a defended mountain village. He warns Hadjar about an approaching beast invasion and a lethal black-fog disease associated with Black Gates, then asks him to consult the village seer.

First appears in chapter 62

An island-born seer living among the mountain villagers. She communicates with wolves and detects unusual scents on both Hadjar and Azrea when he comes seeking evidence of the approaching invasion.

First appears in chapter 67

A Black Gates and Ax Clan fighter who attacks Hadjar to avenge a brother killed during the sixth-pavilion battle. The stronger practitioner catches Hadjar alone near the mountain village.

First appears in chapter 56

The commander of Hadjar's cavalry who accompanies Hadjar and Leon on a visit to the mountain villages.

First appears in chapter 92

The second-ranking leader of Black Gates, subordinate only to its patriarch. He meets Hadjar at Black Gorge with the sect's army and demands that the Moon Army withdraw from the mountains.

First appears in chapter 40

The leader of Black Gates, whose technique causes Nero's spreading injury. An imperial librarian identifies the patriarch's attack and sends Hadjar to seek its only known cure.

First appears in chapter 104

An unexpected visitor waiting beside the Black Gates patriarch when Hadjar reaches the sect's inner chamber. The visitor appears to have reached at least the Knight of Spirit level.

First appears in chapter 110

A general staff messenger who delivers an order summoning Hadjar to the capital and retiring him through a baronial title.

First appears in chapter 111

The general staff messenger who volunteers to accompany Hadjar on the journey to the capital.

Also known as King Primus

Appears from the start

The ruler of Lidus and Hadjar's usurping uncle. He took the throne in the coup against Hadjar's father, Haver, and remains the central danger tied to Hadjar's hidden royal identity.

Also known as Princess Elaine

Appears from the start

A young princess of Lidus connected to Hadjar's lost royal family.

Also known as King Haver

Appears from the start

Hadjar's father and the deposed king of Lidus. Primus overthrew him, leaving Hadjar's family broken and the truth of the old royal conflict unresolved.