Rise of the Living Forge characters

Also known as the Hero of Lian

Appears from the start

The former Hero of Lian, summoned from Earth as a child to fight a fifteen-year war against the demon horde. He strikes down the Demon Queen, only for a black gemstone hidden in his own armor to detonate; the kingdom is told he died of his wounds. Instead he survives, cast into the remote city of Milten and reborn with a unique crafting class, the Living Forge, and a curse called the Hungering Maw that forces him to consume magical items to live. Presumed dead and certain he was betrayed, he means to rebuild his strength in secret.

First appears in chapter 6

A tall, awkward woman who runs a decrepit tavern on the same abandoned, supposedly haunted street where Arwin settles in Milten. Her skin has a faint purple cast and a scar runs down one eye. Painfully shy and anxious about her cooking, hopeless with prices, she seems desperate to turn her failing tavern into a real business. An inexplicable unease hangs about the place, an air of something unspoken beneath her nervous, ordinary manner.

First appears in chapter 2

A sharp young street thief in Milten's slums, blonde with a scarred face, quick and resourceful but no match for a real fighter. Hunted by old enemies and skilled at slipping through the city unseen, she gathers information as easily as she lifts purses. After Arwin steps in against the gang harassing her, she falls in with him as an informal partner.

First appears in chapter 21

A good-natured warrior in heavy plate, brown-haired and easygoing, who travels the roads near Milten alongside the healer Anna. Describing himself as new to adventuring, he carries himself with quiet competence, and after crossing paths with Arwin in the forest he and Anna welcome the stranger into their small party.

First appears in chapter 21

A kind, forthright healer in white robes who travels the roads near Milten with the warrior Rodrick. Her healing is limited by her own energy and cannot mend every wound. Grateful and open-hearted after Arwin helps them, she is the first to suggest he join their party.

First appears in chapter 53

A cheerful street teenager and nimble lockpicker, the son of a late blacksmith, who once used Arwin's abandoned smithy as a hideout. Displaced by the Thieves' Guild's expansion, he is hired by the masked smith Ifrit as a paid assistant to haul materials and help with repairs. Handy with tools and eager to learn, he becomes a fixture of the household around the tavern.

First appears in chapter 25

A middle-aged warrior with black hair and a well-worn sword who buys a pair of Arwin's scale greaves at an adventurers' inn as a novelty. She carries herself like a seasoned fighter and takes a keen, persistent interest in the reclusive smith who made them, angling for a way to meet him.

First appears in chapter 52

The imposing, dark-bearded leader of an ambitious, up-and-coming adventuring guild, clad in heavy black spiked armor and carrying a greatsword that hums with barely hidden power. His guild needs a crafter of its own, and he is hunting the reclusive smith known as Ifrit, willing even to pay the Thieves' Guild for the man's location. He hints at an unexplained side project still a month or two from completion.

First appears in chapter 61

The second-in-command of the Iron Hounds, chosen by their leader Jessen. Bald, sweating, and deeply paranoid, he is a poor tactician but a dangerously strong mage. When the reclusive smith refuses to serve his guild, Erik gives the order to destroy the man and everything he has made, no matter who is caught in the doing of it.

First appears in chapter 77

An Iron Hounds mage who wields explosive fire. He is named as the one who threw the magical blaze that destroyed the smith's workshop and killed the assistant working there, marking him as one of the Iron Hounds behind the attack that killed the smith's young helper.

First appears in chapter 18

The leader of the local Thieves' Guild, a journeyman-tier operator with a salt-and-pepper goatee, greedy and calculating and quick to violence. He hunts the thief Reya over a stolen dungeon key, but backs down when Arwin confronts him, ceding the key, the girl, and the haunted street in exchange for being left alone.

First appears in chapter 8

A capable, calculating enforcer of the Thieves' Guild with a personal grudge against the thief Reya. He confronts Arwin and Reya at the smithy over a stolen key, then withdraws rather than fight the imposing stranger, promising to return with greater numbers.

First appears in chapter 8

A gruff but honest blacksmith who sells his wares at Milten's market. He deals Arwin metal rods and scrap at a markup while bluntly advising him to buy elsewhere in future, and becomes a familiar fixture of the city's trade.

First appears in chapter 5

A cheerful early companion of Arwin's from his years at war, recalled only in memory. Warm and good-humored, he was among the first of Arwin's friends to die in the long fight against the horde, a loss that still weighs on Arwin.