Iron Flame characters

Appears from the start

A second-year rider at Basgiath War College, bonded to two dragons and wielding lightning, returning to a school whose leadership she now knows is lying about the war. She is stronger and better trained than she was a year ago and still physically fragile, and she is carrying secrets that would get her and everyone she loves executed: that the venin are real, that the rebel city of Aretia is rebuilding, and that her brother Brennan is alive. Grieving Liam Mairi and increasingly unwilling to take anyone's word for anything, she spends the year deciding how much of the truth she is prepared to force into the open.

Appears from the start

The son of Tyrrendor's executed rebel duke, now a graduated rider posted away from the college, and in practice the leader of the revolution operating out of Aretia. He wields shadows, keeps his own counsel by habit and by training, and treats withholding information from Violet as protection rather than betrayal, which is the central argument between them. Because his dragon Sgaeyl is mated to Violet's Tairn, the two of them cannot stay apart for long even when their duties, and their tempers, would separate them.

Appears from the start

Violet's black morningstartail, one of the most powerful dragons in the Vale and the reason she survived her first year. Blunt, impatient and entirely unsentimental about human politics, he speaks into her mind and expects her to keep up. His mating bond with Sgaeyl dictates a great deal of where Violet is allowed to be.

Appears from the start

Violet's golden feathertail, a hatchling who bonded far younger than any dragon should and spent herself protecting her rider at Resson. Affectionate, talkative and unlike any other dragon in the Vale, she is now facing changes in herself that neither she nor the older dragons will explain to Violet.

Appears from the start

Xaden's blue daggertail, fast, sharp-tongued and mated to Tairn. The mating bond is what keeps her rider and Violet in each other's orbit regardless of postings, and she is not sentimental about that either.

Appears from the start

Violet's older brother, publicly dead for six years and privately one of the revolution's leaders in Aretia, where he works as a mender, a rider able to heal wounds that should be fatal. Protective, controlling and convinced that the rebellion has to move at its own pace, he is the family Violet has left and also an obstacle whenever she wants to move faster than he does.

Appears from the start

Violet's mother, the general commanding Basgiath War College, and one of the architects of the official version of the war Violet now knows to be false. Rigid, formidable and unreachable, she remains the person best placed to protect Violet and the person least willing to explain anything to her.

Appears from the start

Violet's older sister, a serving rider on the border, who has spent her career on the front line of a war whose real enemy she has never been told about. Practical, loyal to the uniform and forced during this year to decide what her loyalty is actually to.

Appears from the start

Violet's closest friend and the steadiest member of her year, now a second-year rider with growing responsibility for a squad of her own. She was not at Resson, so she starts the year outside the circle of people who know what Violet knows, which puts strain on the one friendship Violet most relies on.

Appears from the start

A second-year rider in Violet's squad who deals with a lethal year by refusing to stop joking about it. Underneath the routine he is reliable, protective of the squad, and considerably more observant than he lets on.

Appears from the start

A second-year rider in Violet's squad, older than the rest, methodical and good with detail. He came out of the previous year's fighting injured and spends this one proving that it has not taken him out of the war.

Appears from the start

Violet's oldest friend, now a rider on the college's staff track and the son of a senior officer. He can read a person's recent memories by touch, which makes him a danger to everyone keeping a secret, and his loyalty to the chain of command has never yet been tested against evidence that the chain of command is lying.

Appears from the start

A marked rider from Tyrrendor, silver-haired, abrasive and entirely committed to the revolution. Her hostility toward Violet has cooled into a working alliance now that they are on the same side of the same secret.

Appears from the start

A graduated rider, Xaden's closest friend and one of the revolution's most capable fighters, moving between Basgiath, the border and Aretia as the rebellion's needs dictate.

First appears in chapter 5

Liam Mairi's younger sister, arriving at the Riders Quadrant as a first-year with a rebellion relic on her arm and a brother who died at Resson. She blames Violet for his death and refuses her help, and Violet takes responsibility for keeping her alive anyway.

First appears in chapter 5

The college's new vice-commandant, installed to tighten discipline after the previous year's losses. He is enthusiastic about interrogation, keeps a close watch on the marked riders and on Violet in particular, and treats cruelty toward cadets as an instrument of policy rather than a loss of control.

Also known as Cat

First appears in chapter 40

A gryphon flier from Poromiel, from a prominent family among the drifts, who arrives at Basgiath as part of the alliance between the two powers. Proud, combative and openly resentful of being made a guest in an enemy's school, she also has history with Xaden that predates Violet, which she does not trouble to hide.