The Warrior's Apprentice characters

Appears from the start

A gifted Barrayaran officer candidate and Vorkosigan heir whose prenatal injuries left him undersized, with fragile bones and one shortened leg. He is fiercely determined to qualify on merit, but a dangerous choice during the physical examination breaks both legs and threatens his planned military career.

Appears from the start

Miles's liveried bodyguard and training supporter, as well as Elena's protective father. He understands the danger Miles faces during the candidacy test and is quietly saving money for Elena's dowry.

Appears from the start

The officer candidate paired with Miles during the physical examination. Kostolitz distrusts aristocratic advantage and interprets the accommodations surrounding Miles's disability as evidence that privilege may be influencing a test that is supposed to judge every candidate fairly.

First appears in chapter 2

Miles's grandfather and the aging patriarch of the Vorkosigan family. A former soldier shaped by an older Barrayar, he once resisted granting the damaged infant Miles the family heir's name, but has had years to reconsider that judgment as Miles grew up.

First appears in chapter 2

Bothari's adult daughter and a close companion of Miles. She wants choices that Barrayaran custom denies women, including access to military service, and is uneasy about her father's plans for an arranged marriage.

First appears in chapter 2

Miles's father, Barrayar's Prime Minister, and a former Lord Regent. He is committed to serving Gregor Vorbarra and is conscious that Miles's position as his heir can acquire political meaning. After the failed candidacy, he tries to direct his son toward legal, governmental, and district service.

First appears in chapter 3

A captain connected to the Vorkosigan household and military systems. He has contributed informally to Miles's tactical education, making him part of the experienced military circle around the family before the current crisis begins.

First appears in chapter 4

Miles's Betan-born mother and a perceptive member of Barrayar's ruling household. She recognizes political manipulation around the young emperor and regards Vordrozda's cultivation of Gregor Vorbarra as a danger both to Gregor and to the wider government.

First appears in chapter 2

The young emperor of Barrayar, to whom Aral Vorkosigan has sworn service. Aral rejects the suggestion that family concerns displaced him from the Imperium, making clear that his public duty is grounded in loyalty to Gregor.

First appears in chapter 4

An ambitious political operator working to gain influence over Gregor Vorbarra. Cordelia and Aral Vorkosigan distrust his flattering approach to the young emperor and his alignment with a military admiral, regarding his activity as a threat to responsible government.

First appears in chapter 4

Miles's cousin and a successful officer candidate who is preparing to begin military training. His uncomplicated progress into the career Miles wanted provides a close family contrast to Miles's broken legs and uncertain prospects after the physical examination.

First appears in chapter 5

A Betan jump pilot whose obsolete neural coupler can no longer be replaced, leaving him without a viable livelihood. After Miles talks him out of a desperate armed standoff and buys his aging freighter, Mayhew swears service to him and becomes both his pilot and his responsibility.

First appears in chapter 6

A former Barrayaran Imperial Service lieutenant hiding outside official systems on Beta Colony. Baz deserted during combat and carries the effects of that experience, but his training as an engineer's assistant includes valuable work on jump-ship engines. Miles offers him a concealed berth rather than turn him in.

First appears in chapter 6

Miles's grandmother on Beta Colony. Her home receives Miles, Bothari, Elena, and Arde Mayhew after their jump voyage.

First appears in chapter 7

A Felician military operative posing as a cargo agent while arranging a covert weapons shipment through the blockade of Tau Verde IV. He accepts Miles's invented presentation as an independent mercenary commander and hires the newly named Dendarii to carry the concealed cargo.

Also known as Miles Vorkosigan

First appears in chapter 7

The identity Miles Vorkosigan adopts when he presents himself to Carl Daum as an independent mercenary commander. Under this name, he invents the Dendarii Mercenaries and accepts a covert weapons shipment through the Tau Verde IV blockade.

First appears in chapter 8

An Oseran captain commanding the boarding party that searches Miles's freighter at Tau Verde IV. His personnel steal from the ship during the inspection, and he attempts to remove Elena in place of the required jump-pilot hostage, provoking Miles and Bothari to resist.

First appears in chapter 8

Commander of the Oseran Free Mercenary Fleet, which enforces the Pelian government's blockade at Tau Verde IV. His organization controls access to the war zone and detains incoming jump pilots as hostages until their ships depart.

First appears in chapter 11

A trainee officer in Miles's improvised force who is entrusted with a first independent command test during the refinery operation. The officer proposes and directs a successful counter-ambush, demonstrating that the hastily organized Dendarii can function beyond Miles's immediate supervision.

First appears in chapter 12

The Oseran warship commander captured during the struggle for the refinery. His ship is disabled when the RG-132 rams it during the battle.

Also known as Miles Vorkosigan, Mr. Naismith

First appears in chapter 13

Miles Vorkosigan's expanded mercenary identity as leader of the Dendarii. By this point the title gives his improvised authority weight with Felician officers while he manages the captured refinery and accepts a contract to break the Oseran blockade.

First appears in chapter 13

A representative of Felician high command who arrives after the refinery battle. He recognizes Miles's assumed mercenary authority and offers the Dendarii a written contract payable in hard currency to break the Oseran blockade.

First appears in chapter 14

A Felician lieutenant who claims temporary seniority after Carl Daum's death. His effort to assert authority over the situation is brief, since General Halify arrives with clearer standing and recognizes Miles as the Dendarii commander.

First appears in chapter 15

An Escobaran former military ensign and technician among the new recruits. She confronts Bothari with a grave accusation about his conduct during the Escobaran war and shoots him when they meet. Miles sees reasons to wonder whether she may be Elena Bothari's mother, but the connection is not confirmed.

First appears in chapter 18

An Imperial officer whom Miles suspects of involvement in the disappearance of the courier sent to find him. Based on Ivan's account and the admiral's political association with Vordrozda, Miles infers a link between the apparent sabotage and the treason charge awaiting him on Barrayar.

First appears in chapter 12

A Dendarii trainee who survives the refinery fighting with severe facial injuries. The damage will require later reconstructive treatment, adding a lasting medical obligation to the deaths, prisoners, damaged ships, and payroll problems that Miles acquires with the captured station.

First appears in chapter 21

A count and longstanding political opponent of Aral Vorkosigan within Barrayar's governing aristocracy. His established hostility makes his judgment significant whenever the Vorkosigan family's conduct comes before the Council of Counts.

First appears in chapter 21

A returning Imperial Security officer within Gregor Vorbarra's government. His position connects him to the institutions responsible for protecting the emperor and investigating dangers to Barrayar's political order.