The Rise of Nine characters

Also known as Number Four

Appears from the start

The fourth of the nine, now travelling with Number Nine after freeing him from the Mogadorian base in West Virginia. He has lost his guardian Henri, been separated from Six, and left Sam Goode in enemy hands, and getting Sam back is the thing he will not be argued out of. His Legacies are strengthening but his judgement is still driven by the people he refuses to abandon, which Nine treats as a weakness and Six treats as a liability.

Appears from the start

The ninth of the nine, recently freed after a long imprisonment and impatient to hit back. He is the strongest of the Garde met so far, fast, and able to run along walls and ceilings as though gravity does not apply to him. He was raised in Chicago by a Cepan who trained him in a purpose-built penthouse, and he returns there with John. Confident to the point of recklessness, he treats caution as cowardice and wants to attack the Mogadorians directly rather than keep hiding.

First appears in chapter 2

The sixth of the nine, and the most capable fighter among them. Having pulled Marina and Ella out of Spain, she now leads their half of the group, planning routes, forging papers, and deciding what risks are worth taking. She can turn invisible and call down storms, and she is the one pushing hardest to gather every surviving Garde before the Mogadorians can isolate them again.

Also known as Number Seven

First appears in chapter 2

The seventh of the nine, out of the Spanish convent where she spent most of her life and grieving the guardian and the friend who died getting her out. Her Legacies are healing, breathing underwater, and seeing in the dark, and she is only now learning to fight. She travels with Six, Ella, and Crayton, out of her depth but determined not to be the one who has to be protected.

Also known as Number Ten

First appears in chapter 2

The tenth Garde, a child who came to Earth on a second Loric ship that arrived after the first, raised by her Cepan Crayton. She spent years hidden as an orphan in a Spanish convent and is now travelling openly with the others. Her Legacies are still emerging and unusual: she can shift her apparent age and reach other minds, including in sleep. She is the youngest of the group and the one everyone else tries to keep out of the fighting.

First appears in chapter 2

Ella's Cepan, who came on the second Loric ship and carries the history of Lorien's fall that the nine were never told, including how the second ship came to be launched at all. Calm and methodical, he takes charge of moving Six, Marina, and Ella across the world and follows the reports that lead them toward India.

First appears in chapter 13

The eighth of the nine, found in the mountains of India, where villagers have spent years telling stories about a boy in a cave who can do impossible things and have come to treat him as a god. He can teleport himself and others and can change his shape at will, which makes him the hardest of the Garde to pin down and, at first meeting, the hardest to trust. He has been alone for a long time and has been guarding something in the mountain that concerns all of them.

Appears from the start

John's human friend from Paradise, captured by the Mogadorians during the escape from their West Virginia base and held since. He has no Legacies and no protection, and the fact that he was taken because he insisted on helping is what drives John's plans through most of the book.

First appears in chapter 4

Number Nine's Cepan, who raised and trained him in Chicago and built the fortified penthouse and training hall the two of them used. He did not survive the attack in which Nine was captured. He is present in the book only through Nine's memories and through the equipment, resources, and defences he left behind.

Appears from the start

The Chimaera who has guarded John since Lorien, usually in the shape of a beagle. He travels with John and Nine, changes into whatever the fight requires, and can communicate with John directly.

First appears in chapter 6

The girl John left in Paradise, Ohio. He has not been able to establish whether she had anything to do with the agents who were waiting for him there, and the question sits between him and any attempt to contact her.

First appears in chapter 18

The leader of the Mogadorians, the figure behind the destruction of Lorien and the hunt for the nine. Until now he has been a name in Loric history and an authority the soldiers invoke rather than anyone the Garde have seen. What the Garde learn about him in this book is that he is on Earth, that he is directing the search personally, and that he is far beyond an ordinary Mogadorian officer.