Dragonquest characters

Appears from the start

Weyrleader of Benden Weyr, bronze rider of Mnementh, and the man who forced Pern to prepare for Thread when nobody believed it was coming. Seven Turns into the Pass he spends as much effort holding Pern's seven Weyrs together as he does fighting Thread: the riders brought forward from four hundred Turns in the past expect an obedience the modern holds and crafts will not give. Impatient with tradition for its own sake, he encourages the crafts to invent and argues that Thread should be stopped at its source rather than burned out of the air twice a week for fifty Turns.

Appears from the start

Weyrwoman of Benden and rider of the queen Ramoth, the senior queen of Pern. Born the heir of Ruatha Hold and raised in hiding as a drudge, she is the one who found the five lost Weyrs and brought them forward through time, and she is not allowed to forget either fact. Quick-tempered, possessive of her Weyr and of F'lar, and better than anyone at reading the Records, she is also uneasy about what her rescue of the past has cost the present.

Appears from the start

Brown rider of Canth, F'lar's half-brother and wingsecond, and the Weyr's most reliable pair of hands away from Benden. Recovering from a bad Threadscore, he is grounded from fighting for a while, which leaves him time to notice things the busier riders do not.

Appears from the start

The Masterharper of Pern, whose craft's teaching songs reach every hold and whose informal network of harpers makes him the best-informed man alive. He supports Benden openly, works to keep the Lord Holders from splitting with the Weyrs, and is one of the few people who can say uncomfortable things to F'lar and be listened to.

Appears from the start

The Mastersmith of Pern, an enormous, deliberate man with an obsession with efficiency. His hall has already improved the flamethrowers the ground crews use against Thread, and he is pushing for better ways to send messages across a continent and for instruments the old Records only hint at. His willingness to build new things is exactly what the transplanted riders find offensive.

First appears in chapter 7

A smith of Fandarel's craft, short-sighted, unassertive and gifted with numbers and lenses. Given an ancient instrument nobody has understood for centuries, he sets about working out what it does and what it can be pointed at.

First appears in chapter 2

Weyrleader of Fort Weyr and the senior of the riders Lessa brought forward from four hundred Turns in Pern's past. In his own time the Weyrs were served without question by holds and crafts alike, and he sees the modern arrangement as a decline that Benden encourages. Proud, capable in the air and increasingly unwilling to take direction from a younger Weyrleader.

First appears in chapter 2

Weyrwoman of Fort Weyr and T'ron's partner, brought forward with him from the past. She expects the deference her rank commanded in her own time and is openly scornful of Benden's Weyrwoman and of the modern crafts.

First appears in chapter 4

A young queen rider at Southern Weyr, rider of Wirenth. Raised in a herding hold and trained as a healer of dragons and people, she is conscientious, self-effacing and does most of the Weyr's real work while its senior Weyrwoman is elsewhere. She has fostered several orphaned children of the Weyr and dislikes the arrangements custom makes for queen riders.

First appears in chapter 4

Senior Weyrwoman of Southern Weyr, rider of the queen Prideth. Handsome, self-absorbed and interested in her rank chiefly for what it can get her, she spends much of her time away from the Weyr in the company of Lord Holders and leaves the running of Southern to others. Her neglect extends to her own dragon.

First appears in chapter 4

A quick, sharp-tongued girl fostered by Brekke at Southern Weyr, orphaned young and anxious to be useful. She is competent well beyond her years at the Weyr's practical work and blunt about what she thinks of the people around her.

First appears in chapter 5

The boy Lord Holder of Ruatha, orphaned at birth and holding the title since infancy, though his warder governs in his name until he comes of age. Curious, chafing at supervision and fascinated by the Weyrs.

First appears in chapter 5

Lord Warder of Ruatha, governing the hold on Jaxom's behalf and raising the boy. A former dragonrider whose dragon died, he carries that loss permanently and holds himself apart because of it; he is scrupulous about Jaxom's inheritance and severe about his education.

First appears in chapter 6

Lord Holder of Nabol, who took the hold after the conqueror Fax's death. Ambitious, spiteful and resentful of Benden, he cultivates whatever raises his standing and obstructs whatever does not. He is one of the Lord Holders most willing to deal with the transplanted riders against Benden's interests.

First appears in chapter 13

A young bronze rider trained at Benden, one of the riders F'lar has been quietly bringing on. He is comfortable with craftsmen and holders, interested in what the smiths are building, and trusted with errands that need discretion rather than rank.

First appears in chapter 15

A dragon hatched from an undersized egg on Benden's sands: tiny, white, and unlike anything in the Records. He should not have survived the shell and is not expected to grow, fly properly or ever mate, but he is alert, affectionate and entirely certain of the boy who opened his egg.