Uprooted characters

Appears from the start

A seventeen-year-old from Dvernik, untidy, impulsive, and accustomed to being compared unfavorably with her graceful friend Kasia. When the Dragon unexpectedly chooses her from the valley's eligible girls, she discovers that her stubborn instincts conceal an unusual gift for magic.

Appears from the start

Agnieszka's closest friend, beautiful, capable, and trained since childhood in the expectation that the Dragon will choose her. She faces the selection with composure, though both girls understand that living in his tower would separate her from her home for ten years.

Appears from the start

The powerful wizard who guards the valley from the corrupted Wood. Known locally only by his title, he lives in an isolated tower and chooses one village girl every ten years to serve him. He is exacting, impatient, and bewildered by Agnieszka's disorderly kind of magic.

First appears in chapter 11

The elder son of the king and a celebrated soldier. His mother vanished into the Wood years earlier, and he arrives determined to recover her despite the Dragon's insistence that a rescue attempt could release something dangerous.

Also known as Solya

First appears in chapter 11

A court wizard who accompanies Prince Marek and shares his determination to challenge the Wood. Elegant and politically adept, he favors disciplined spellcraft and regards Agnieszka's unorthodox abilities with wary curiosity.

First appears in chapter 15

The king's long-missing wife and Marek's mother, found preserved within the Wood without having visibly aged. Her recovery is treated as a national miracle, though years of captivity have left the court uncertain about her condition.

First appears in chapter 18

An elderly swordsmith and one of the kingdom's most formidable wizards. Direct, observant, and difficult to impress, she tests Agnieszka at court and becomes an important ally when polished officials dismiss the younger woman's warnings.

First appears in chapter 18

The head of the royal university and an authority on formal magic. He examines the rescued queen and participates in judging Agnieszka's abilities, approaching both problems through established scholarship and court procedure.

First appears in chapter 18

The ruler of Polnya, aged by war and the loss of his wife. He must weigh Marek's demands, the court wizards' competing advice, and the danger that the queen's return may renew conflict with neighboring Rosya.

First appears in chapter 18

The king's younger son and heir, a married prince with small children. His place in the succession creates tension with Marek, whose years of campaigning have won him military loyalty but not the crown.

First appears in chapter 31

The ancient will at the center of the Wood's corruption. Once the last survivor of a people driven from the valley, she has prolonged her vengeance by binding human minds into trees and using fear, possession, and grief to draw the surrounding country into her forest.