Summer Knight characters

Appears from the start

Chicago's professional wizard, at his lowest point yet. Months after the disaster at Bianca's ball, Harry has poured himself obsessively into finding a cure for Susan's half-vampire condition, letting his business, his home, and his own health collapse. The war he ignited between the White Council and the Red Court has followed him home, and the Council itself now weighs whether handing him to the vampires might buy peace. Guilt-ridden and exhausted, he is nonetheless dragged back to his feet when the queen of the Winter faeries buys his debt and sets him an impossible task.

Also known as Queen of Air and Darkness

First appears in chapter 2

The Queen of the Winter Court of Faerie, the Queen of Air and Darkness: ancient, beautiful, and terrifying beyond any creature Harry has met. Mab has purchased Harry's debt from his faerie godmother, and she offers him a bargain - she will release her claim on him if he performs three tasks of her choosing, the first being to clear her name. She has been accused of murdering the Summer Knight, a mortal champion of the rival Court, and the theft of his power threatens the balance between Summer and Winter. Mab never lies, never forgets, and never lets go of what is hers.

First appears in chapter 3

Head of the police's Special Investigations unit and Harry's closest mortal ally. Worn down by Harry's months of guilt-driven isolation and evasion, Murphy finally forces the whole truth out of him - the White Council, the vampire war, all the secrets he had kept to protect her - and steps knowingly into his world. From this case on she fights beside him with open eyes, bringing a cop's discipline and stubborn courage to battles far outside any jurisdiction.

First appears in chapter 5

A wizard of the White Council's Senior Council and, it emerges, an old and steadfast friend of Harry's family - the mentor who once took Harry in. Bluff, plainspoken, and dressed like the Missouri farmer he resembles, Ebenezar taught Harry much of his craft and his ethics after the darkest period of Harry's youth. At the Council's war meeting he stands up for Harry when others would trade him to the Red Court to end the war.

First appears in chapter 9

An old flame from Harry's youth: the two were apprentices together under the same abusive master, and Elaine was thought dead in the fire that ended that chapter of Harry's life. She reappears very much alive, working as an emissary for the Summer Court in the crisis over the murdered Summer Knight. Graceful and quick-witted, with a style of magic that mirrors and complements Harry's, she carries old guilt and old secrets, and her loyalties in the Courts' conflict are not simple.

Also known as The Elder Gruff

First appears in chapter 9

The Summer Queen Titania's counterpart to Mab's champion in the crisis: the Summer Court fields its own emissary, and among its agents are the gruffs, goat-legged faerie soldiers of escalating rank and power. Summer's forces shadow and test Harry throughout his investigation, treating Winter's hired wizard as a likely enemy.

Also known as The Winter Lady

First appears in chapter 14

The youngest of Winter's three queens - Mab's daughter and heir, the Winter Lady. Maeve holds court amid decadent revels, a capricious, cruel figure of ice and appetite who toys with mortals for amusement. Harry must question her in his hunt for the Summer Knight's killer, and finds her charming, repellent, and impossible to trust in equal measure.

Also known as The Summer Lady

First appears in chapter 16

The Summer Lady, youngest queen of the Summer Court: warm, radiant, and gentle where her Winter counterpart Maeve is cold and cruel. Aurora tends the balance of life and growth, and receives Harry with kindness rare among the Sidhe when his investigation brings him before her. Beneath the serenity, though, she carries her own convictions about the endless war between the Courts, and her role in the crisis runs far deeper than it first appears.

First appears in chapter 12

A mortal changeling - half faerie, half human - caught with her small band of friends in the Courts' gathering storm. Tough and street-smart, Meryl and her companions Fix and Ace, along with the missing changeling Lily, were bound to the murdered Summer Knight's circle, and they turn to Harry for help when the powers of Faerie start treating changelings as pawns and prey. Her loyalty to her friends is the plainest, most human motive in a case full of inhuman schemes.

Appears from the start

Leader of the Alphas, the pack of college students who shapeshift into wolves. Steadier and more capable than ever, Billy refuses to let Harry rot in his guilt-fueled isolation, drags him back into the world at the book's start, and puts the pack at his side for the final battle. His unforced loyalty is one of the few uncomplicated goods in Harry's life.

Also known as The Gatekeeper

First appears in chapter 5

A member of the White Council's Senior Council, cowled and enigmatic, who guards mysteries the rest of the Council rarely glimpses. At the war meeting he moves with quiet purpose around the question of Harry's fate, and his cryptic interventions suggest he sees further into the crisis - and into Harry - than anyone else present.