Skulduggery Pleasant characters

Also known as Valkyrie Cain

Appears from the start

A twelve-year-old girl from the coastal town of Haggard, north of Dublin, living an ordinary life with her parents and bored by most of it. She was closer to her uncle Gordon than to anyone else in the family, read his horror novels against her mother's wishes, and treated his big house outside town as the most interesting place she knew. She is stubborn, sharp-tongued, hard to frighten and almost impossible to send home once she has decided to stay. Gordon's sudden death draws her to the reading of his will and into the company of a stranger nobody else seems willing to talk about.

First appears in chapter 4

A detective who turns up at Gordon Edgley's funeral wrapped in a long coat, scarf, hat and sunglasses, and leaves without explaining himself. Under the disguise there is no face at all: he is a walking, talking skeleton, a sorcerer who died a very long time ago and came back anyway. He is an Elemental, commanding fire, air, water and earth, wears a well-cut suit, drives an old Bentley, and talks almost constantly, usually to irritate whoever he is fighting. He was a friend of Gordon's, and his interest in Gordon's death goes far beyond courtesy.

Appears from the start

Stephanie's uncle, a wealthy and widely read writer of horror novels, whose sudden death opens the book. He was the one relative who spoke to Stephanie as an equal, and he left behind a house full of books, oddities and research notes. His work turns out to have strayed into subjects that got him killed.

Appears from the start

Stephanie's father and Gordon's brother: amiable, easily distracted, fond of bad jokes and entirely unaware of the world his daughter is stepping into. He and Stephanie's mother, Melissa, are the ordinary life she has to keep lying to.

First appears in chapter 10

A sorcerer who served the dark mage Mevolent through the war and changed sides only when defeat was certain, buying a truce he has never honoured in spirit. Unhurried and courteous in a way that is worse than shouting, he is known for his red right hand, a skinless thing that kills with a gesture and a great deal of pain. He is searching for something Gordon Edgley had learned, and Skulduggery has old and personal reasons to want him stopped.

First appears in chapter 10

The dark sorcerer who fought a long war to tear open the way for the Faceless Ones and rule beside them. He was defeated a lifetime ago and is spoken of as dead, but his lieutenants outlived him and his cause has never entirely gone away.

First appears in chapter 10

A tailor whose suits and coats are stitched through with protective magic, and a retired fighter whose face has been crossed with scars since birth because of a curse laid on his mother. He is calm, loyal and slow to anger, keeps well clear of Sanctuary politics, and has never yet refused Skulduggery anything. He can turn his skin to stone.

First appears in chapter 15

A young English sorcerer who arrives in Ireland on Sanctuary business: cheerful, blunt, and formidably good with the sword she carries strapped to her back. Her particular talent lets her walk up walls and across ceilings as easily as a floor. She takes to Stephanie at once and treats her as a colleague rather than a child in the way.

First appears in chapter 17

The keeper of an enormous private library in Dublin and a dealer in information, artefacts and favours. Her magic makes everyone who looks at her love her, an advantage she uses without the slightest embarrassment. She has a long and complicated history with Skulduggery, and she keeps her loyalties flexible enough to survive whichever side wins.

First appears in chapter 24

The Grand Mage of the Irish Sanctuary, an elderly and courteous man who helped lead the war against Mevolent and now presides over a peace he does not entirely trust. He is one of three Elders who govern magic in Ireland.

First appears in chapter 24

One of the three Elders of the Irish Sanctuary, composed and severe, and inclined to keep the magical world's business well away from ordinary people.

First appears in chapter 24

The third Elder of the Irish Sanctuary, an anxious, irritable man who would rather the past stayed buried and who has little patience for Skulduggery's methods.

First appears in chapter 24

A very large, bald, softly spoken sorcerer of enormous physical strength, and China Sorrows's brother. He belongs to no faction, states his intentions rarely, and is treated with caution by everyone on every side.

First appears in chapter 31

A Sanctuary soldier killed in the line of duty and brought back to serve Serpine, dressed in white instead of the Cleavers' grey. He never speaks, never tires and never stops, and he fights with a scythe.