The Icebound Land characters

Appears from the start

A Ranger's apprentice from Redmont, taken prisoner when he and Evanlyn burned the bridge Morgarath's slaves had built. He is aboard a Skandian wolfship heading north as a captive, without weapons, horse or any prospect of rescue, and knows that captured foreigners in Skandia are put to work as slaves. He is resourceful and observant, and he is very young to be as far from home as he now is.

Also known as Cassandra, Princess Cassandra

Appears from the start

Will's fellow captive, who has kept up the story that she is a servant of Princess Cassandra. She is in fact Cassandra herself, King Duncan's daughter and the heir to Araluen, which she cannot afford anyone in Skandia to discover. She is practical, stubborn and better at reading people than Will is, and she carries the whole weight of the deception.

Appears from the start

The Skandian jarl who captured Will and Evanlyn and captains the wolfship carrying them north. He is huge, blunt and profane, a professional raider who regards prisoners as goods rather than enemies, and who is a good deal more decent than his trade suggests. He respects competence, including in people he has taken.

First appears in chapter 2

Erak's second in command aboard the wolfship, cheerfully loyal to his jarl and untroubled by the ethics of raiding.

First appears in chapter 3

The King's Ranger for Redmont Fief, who has just helped win Araluen's war and now wants only one thing: to go after his apprentice. He is not a man who accepts a refusal, and the more politely he is told no, the more dangerous his intentions become.

First appears in chapter 3

A Battleschool apprentice who killed Morgarath in single combat and is now treated across Araluen as a hero, which embarrasses him. He is loyal to Will and to Halt, literal-minded, and formidable with a sword well beyond his years and rank.

First appears in chapter 3

The King of Araluen, grateful to Halt and to Will but facing a kingdom to rebuild after the war and a missing daughter whose situation he cannot make public. He needs his Rangers where they are, and he cannot be seen to bend the law for one of them.

First appears in chapter 12

The Oberjarl of Skandia, ruler of the northern raiders from his great hall at Hallasholm. He is violent, quick-tempered and absolute among his own people, and he has sworn a blood oath, the Vallasvow, against the royal family of Araluen, which binds him to kill any of them he finds.

First appears in chapter 13

The Oberjarl's hilfmann, the administrator who runs Hallasholm's accounts, stores and slaves while the warriors raid. He is thin, harassed and entirely unsentimental, and decides which slaves work in the hall and which are sent to the yard.

First appears in chapter 20

A warlord in Gallica, the lawless country between Araluen and Skandia, who has carved out a private domain around his black castle, Chateau Montsombre. He is elegant, cultured and cruel, keeps the bodies of those who displease him on display, and collects skilled fighting men. He treats unwanted visitors as guests who may not leave.