Skysworn characters

Also known as Wei Shi Lindon

Appears from the start

A rapidly rising young sacred artist wielding both his own cultivated arts and the forbidden Blackflame, still driven to grow strong enough to face the dangers Suriel once warned him of. Pragmatic and relentless, he has come far from the scorned Unsouled of Sacred Valley, though he remains outmatched by the greatest powers around him. Faced with a threat beyond anything he has met, he pushes his strength and ingenuity to their limits.

Appears from the start

Lindon's sword-artist companion, a fierce and capable fighter whose dangerous blood-madra inheritance takes on new and frightening significance as a far greater blood-related power draws near. Loyal and direct, she faces mounting personal peril even as she fights alongside Lindon against the crisis threatening the empire.

Appears from the start

The eccentric, immensely powerful head of the Arelius family and patron of Lindon and Yerin, who takes an active role as catastrophe approaches. Still concealing the full measure of his strength, he proves a crucial and unpredictable force in the defense of the empire, guiding his charges through a disaster far larger than their personal struggles.

Appears from the start

The great black tortoise bound to Lindon through the shared Blackflame arts, a powerful if short-tempered ally. Steadier for his bond with Lindon, he lends his considerable strength to the fight as the empire faces a monstrous threat.

First appears in chapter 4

The emperor of the Blackflame Empire and head of the ruling Naru family, a genuinely powerful sacred artist rather than a mere figurehead. Facing a catastrophe bearing down on his realm, he takes a direct hand in its defense and in the fate of the outsiders whose forbidden power has drawn official attention. He embodies the empire's authority at the moment it is tested most severely.

First appears in chapter 6

A member of the ruling Naru family and a proud, formidable sacred artist who serves the empire in its hour of need. Powerful in her own right, she is among the forces marshaled against the disaster threatening the realm.

First appears in chapter 5

A dreadgod, one of the titanic, near-unstoppable monsters whose awakenings periodically devastate the world and draw hordes of lesser dreadbeasts in their wake. The Bleeding Phoenix, associated with blood and endless regeneration, turns toward the Blackflame Empire, and its approach is the central catastrophe of the book. Its blood-related power carries a specific and personal danger for Yerin, whose own inheritance resonates with it. Against a force of this scale, even the empire's greatest artists can hope only to survive and endure rather than to defeat it outright.