Tower of Dawn characters

Appears from the start

Hand to King Dorian of Adarlan and formerly Captain of the Royal Guard, arrived in the southern continent in a wheeled chair with no feeling below the waist. He has two tasks: persuade the khagan of the vast southern empire to send armies north into a war that is not his, and find out whether the healers of Antica can undo what a blast of raw magic did to his spine. He carries an enormous amount of guilt, about Dorian, about Aelin, about the oaths he broke and the ones he kept, and he has not yet worked out how much of it is his to carry.

First appears in chapter 3

A healer at the Torre Cesme, the finest healing academy in the world, and its most gifted student. She came out of Fenharrow as a refugee after Adarlan's soldiers burned her town and killed her mother, worked her way across a continent, and has built a life in Antica. She is assigned to the Adarlanian lord in the wheeled chair and wants nothing to do with him, and the fact that her oath will not let her refuse makes it worse.

Appears from the start

Formerly a city guard of Rifthold, now Captain of Adarlan's Royal Guard and Chaol's companion on the mission. Her family emigrated from the southern continent and she still has relatives in Antica, which gives her a foothold at court that Chaol does not have. She is a superb archer and increasingly restless in a role that keeps her standing beside a negotiating table.

First appears in chapter 2

Ruler of the khaganate, an empire of thirty-odd conquered kingdoms governed from Antica, and one of the most powerful men alive. He has six children and has never named an heir, on the principle that they should earn it. He is grieving his youngest daughter and is in no hurry to commit soldiers to a northern war.

First appears in chapter 2

The khagan's second son and prince of the rukhin, the horse-lords turned sky-riders who live in the Tavan Mountains and fly enormous birds called ruks. He is thoughtful, watchful, and unusually willing to listen to two foreigners with an implausible story about demons.

First appears in chapter 2

The khagan's eldest son, master of the empire's spy networks and its most accomplished politician. He controls what information reaches his father, is contemptuous of Adarlan, and treats Chaol's request as a bargaining position rather than an emergency.

First appears in chapter 2

The khagan's second daughter, sharp-tongued and politically ruthless, who commands a fleet and enjoys watching her siblings compete. She befriends Nesryn on her own terms.

First appears in chapter 2

The khagan's third son, a cavalry commander, straightforward and good-natured, who has been in love with Yrene Towers for some time and has not been discouraged as firmly as he might have been.

First appears in chapter 2

The khagan's third daughter, gentle and newly married, expecting her first child. She has been quiet since her youngest sister's death.

First appears in chapter 2

The khagan's youngest daughter, who died some months before the book opens by walking off a tower in the middle of the night. The family has no explanation for it and the household does not discuss it.

First appears in chapter 3

The Healer on High, who runs the Torre Cesme, elderly, kind, and entirely unfooled by anybody. She assigns Yrene to Chaol's case deliberately, for reasons that have as much to do with Yrene as with the patient.

First appears in chapter 20

Head librarian of the khagan's great library, guardian of texts in languages nobody living reads, who takes requests seriously and questions even more so.

First appears in chapter 24

Sartaq's ruk, a great golden bird of prey large enough to carry two riders, fiercely protective of him and unimpressed by strangers.

First appears in chapter 32

A young rukhin rider of the Eridun clan, blunt, funny, and one of the best fliers in the aerie, with an ongoing feud with a rider from a neighbouring clan that everyone but the two of them understands perfectly.

First appears in chapter 32

Sartaq's hearth-mother and the elder of the Eridun aerie, keeper of the rukhin's oldest stories, including the ones about what lives in the marshes to the south and why the clans stopped going there.

First appears in chapter 40

A travelling merchant encountered in the mountains, older than he looks and more capable than a merchant should be, searching the southern continent for a relative he has never met.

First appears in chapter 38

A rukhin rider of the Berlad clan, a good flier and a worse diplomat, whose long-running quarrel with Borte is the aerie's chief entertainment.