Ruin and Rising characters

Appears from the start

The Sun Summoner, once an overlooked orphan and now a saint to Ravka's people and the great hope against the Darkling. She carries two amplifiers, the stag's antlers and the sea whip's scales, but her power has faltered and her strength is spent. Having survived the fall of the capital, she begins this book weakened and trapped, still bound to the enemy who created the Shadow Fold, and still searching for the third amplifier that might finally let her destroy him.

Also known as Mal

Appears from the start

Alina's oldest friend and the finest tracker in Ravka, who has followed her from their shared childhood through war and exile. Loyal beyond question, he has repeatedly given up everything for her, and his tracking gift is central to the search for the last amplifier. The strain of loving a living saint whose destiny keeps pulling her away from him weighs heavily on them both.

Appears from the start

The ageless master of shadow who created the Shadow Fold and has sought for centuries to bend Ravka and the Sun Summoner to his will. Now commanding an army of shadow monsters and holding the capital, he is at the height of his power and closer than ever to total control of the country. His long obsession with Alina, part hatred and part terrible kinship of purpose, drives the final struggle.

Also known as Sturmhond

Appears from the start

A prince of Ravka who once sailed as the daring privateer Sturmhond, brilliant, charming, and relentlessly resourceful. He returned Alina to the capital and schemed to save the failing kingdom and secure its throne. A gifted leader and inventor, he has staked everything on Ravka's survival, and in the collapse the Darkling brought down on the capital his fate was left in dreadful doubt.

Appears from the start

The harsh, secretive old woman who first taught Alina to master her light. She has known the Darkling and the deep history of Grisha power far longer than anyone else alive, and she guards knowledge of the amplifiers and their maker that proves crucial. Blind and unsparing, she remains a hard but essential guide as the final confrontation nears.

Appears from the start

A Grisha Tailor able to reshape appearance and flesh, once the Darkling's agent at court and now firmly among Alina's companions, marked by what the Darkling did to her. Brave and loyal to those who took her in, she stands with the remnants of the Second Army against her former master.

Appears from the start

A proud, beautiful, and powerful Grisha Squaller who commands wind and storm. Once contemptuous of Alina, she has become one of her most capable fighters and a sharp, pragmatic voice among the scattered Grisha who have rallied to the Sun Summoner's cause.

Appears from the start

A quiet, brilliant Grisha Fabrikator far more at ease with invention than with people. His knowledge of Grisha craft and of the science behind their power makes him valuable to Alina's cause, and he applies his steady, literal mind to problems others cannot solve.

Appears from the start

A towering young warrior and Grisha, one of a pair of twins who served the privateer Sturmhond and followed him into Alina's service. Immensely strong yet gentle and fond of poetry, he is a steadfast protector among the Sun Summoner's small band.

Appears from the start

Tolya's twin sister, a fierce warrior and Grisha who fights with paired axes. Loyal and observant, she came into Alina's cause alongside her brother and the prince they served, and she is a formidable presence in the fight against the Darkling.

Appears from the start

The strange priest who built a fervent religious following around Alina as a living saint. Cunning and self-serving, he commands a devoted movement of the faithful, and his interests align with Alina's cause only so far as it suits his own designs for power and belief.