The One characters

Appears from the start

A Five from Carolina and one of the last girls left in the Selection. She has finally committed to Maxon and intends to fight for him, which means fighting his father, who wants her gone. She also intends to use whatever influence she gains to end the caste system, now that she knows the country's founding history was invented to justify it. Her one remaining liability is Aspen, whose past with her would be treated as treason if the palace ever proved it.

Appears from the start

The crown prince of Illéa, running out of time to choose a wife while his father tightens control over the process. He loves America and has said so in his own guarded way, but he has been hurt by her indecision and he cannot simply overrule the King. He is also managing a long war on the western border and rebel attacks that are getting closer to killing someone.

Appears from the start

America's first love, now an officer in the palace guard. He has accepted that she has chosen Maxon and has begun to build something of his own with Lucy, one of America's maids, though the fact of what he and America once were remains dangerous to them both.

Appears from the start

A Three and one of the last girls left, gracious, devout, and popular with the court in a way America is not. She takes the prospect of ruling seriously and is the candidate King Clarkson finds acceptable, which makes her America's most dangerous rival.

Appears from the start

A Two and a model, still the most openly combative of the remaining girls. She has spent the competition playing to cameras and undercutting rivals, and she has never let anyone at the palace see her without a performance in place.

Appears from the start

One of the remaining girls, quiet and diplomatic, whose family connections in New Asia give her a value to the palace that has nothing to do with romance while the war on that border drags on.

Appears from the start

One of the remaining girls, ordinarily cheerful, though the killing of her younger sister by rebels has left her badly shaken and much quieter than the competition remembers her.

Appears from the start

The king of Illéa, who is determined that America will not be princess and now has both the will and the means to arrange it. He controls what his son is told, what the girls may say publicly, and how the household treats them, and he is violent behind closed doors.

Appears from the start

The queen of Illéa, gentle and frail, who came to the palace as a Four and has always been kind to America. Her health is not good, and she has never openly opposed her husband, though her sympathies are plain enough to the girls.

Appears from the start

America's oldest friend from the Selection, publicly caned and stripped of her caste for loving a guard, now living inside the palace as a servant with Carter under Maxon's quiet protection. She is happier than the punishment left anyone expecting.

Appears from the start

One of America's maids, devoted to her and increasingly attached to Aspen. She is easily frightened by the raids on the palace, with reason.

Appears from the start

America's father, a Five artist in Carolina who taught her to ask questions about the country she was told to be grateful for, and who quietly encouraged her to think past her caste. He writes to her at the palace.

First appears in chapter 18

A descendant of Gregory Illéa and a leader of the Northern rebels. Unlike the Southerners, his people are not trying to destroy the royal family: they want the castes abolished and the truth about Illéa's founding made public, and they have been raiding the palace for the records that prove it. He is calm, direct, and willing to deal with the crown if the crown will deal with him.

First appears in chapter 18

August's partner and a leader among the Northern rebels, practical and blunt about what her people have lost and what they expect in return for their support.