List of Characters in The Orphan's Tales

Note: This is still a draft. Do feel free to wikify the names. For comments or suggestions please use the discussion page... --Liz Henry 10:14, 30 December 2007 (PST)

Aerie

The goose girl. Knife’s daughter and first child. Born in the Palace prison. Changed to a wild goose by Grandmother Bent-Bow. Fostered by the Firebird. She is the last in the line of women descended from the woman who helped the Manikarnika. She rescues her mother from the fire with her flock. She goes on a Quest to find the threads of her mother’s tale. A black mare leads her to the Cave where she meets Laakea. In the Underworld, she is midwife to Zmeya’s child. Steppes Storm

Agarfena

The Violinist of Ajanabh. She is 1/4 Djinn. "Scald"

Almond-tree

Born from Aukon’s severed testicles; he rapes Oubilette’s mother. Storm

Amilcar

The fisherman on the Vareni. He made the woman made of music, and attracted the Lamia Vachya. He became the first Duke of Ajanabh. "Scald"

The Anchorite.

See Giota.

Arioso

The jackal-headed tenor of the Ajanabh Opera. "Scald"

Ash-Queen

One of the three queens of the Djinn. Kohinoor. "Scald"

Aukon, the Bull-Star

Oubilette’s father. Storm

Aukai, the Heifer-Star

Aukon’s sister. Storm

Bagdemus

The red-gold dog-headed monk, or Cynocephaloi, from Al-a-Nur. Sea

Bags

See Bagdemus. Sea

Balthazar.

The black-and-brown dog-headed monk, or Cynocephaloi, from Al-a-Nur. Sea

Barnabas.

The black dog-headed monk, or Cynocephaloi, from Al-a-Nur. Killed by Ragnhild and his brothers. Sea

The Baron of Baqarah

Ismail’s father and Magadin’s, and Iolanthe’s husband. Steppes

Bartholomew

The white dog-headed monk, or Cynocephaloi, from Al-a-Nur. Sea

The Basilisk

His tongue was stolen by three snake handmaidens of the Snake-Star. He wears an iron mitre. In the Tale of Two Duchesses he befriends Orfea. He is from a serpent’s egg hatched by a hen. Steppes "Scald"

The Bee-Star

He named the Wolf-Star Liulfr. Steppes

Bent-Bow

Grandmother of Knife. She had red hair before it was grey. She was sent to a neighboring village to be taught by their witch-woman, Thurayya. She gives her starlight blood to Aerie. Steppes

The Black Papess

Apostate or false Papess installed by the Caliphate in Shadukiam. Ragnhild. Sea

The Boy

The girl in the garden tells him stories in the first three books, and in the fourth he reads from her eyelids. He has blond hair. He's the heir to the Sultan's throne and is Dinarzad's younger brother. Steppes

The Bridle-Star

Mentioned by Knife. Steppes

Bryony

The Poisoner. A boy raised on poison. Twigs sprout from his skin, from all the poisons he has eaten. He watches the poisoning of Hind and Hadil, the princesses of Amberabad. He cuts off the Unicorn Nevinost’s horn to make his poisoner’s cup. His parents live in a house on stilts. Storm

Caliphs

I have not yet untangled the bits of history about the Caliphates.

The First Caliph

His hoofprint is referred to. (Maybe a centaur?) Declared the autonomy of Al-a-Nur. Sea

The Second Caliph

During their reign, Al-a-Nur was founded. I think it’s this Caliph who sent Ragnhild to be the False Papess and who was at war with the Southern Kingdoms. Sea

The Fourth Caliph

Current when Sigrid of the Ways (or Ulla) was young. Sea

The Cinnamon-Star

Mentioned in The Book of the Scald. "Scald"

Chayim

A Monopod from Shadukiam. His wife Tova was killed by a Yi necromancer. Chayim and Jin the Griffin go searching for Quri. "Sea"

Ciriaco, the Hedgehog

He is turned to a golden ball by Widow, the Soldier. Storm

The Commander of the Varaahasind

He beheaded Zmeya. Steppes

Cook

The Cook of the Sultan’s Palace, where the boy is sent to work by Dinarzad.

The Cynocephaloi

Dog-heads. Three of them come to Sigrid’s home in the north when she is a girl. White (Balthazar), Black and brown(Bartholomew), and red-gold (Bagdemus, or Bags)

Cveti

Presbyter of the Tower of Hermaphrodites who becomes the Papess. She takes the name Ghyfran II.

Dapple

A Centaur, who raced with Sorrell for the rule of the Eight Kingdoms. Steppes

Diamond

One of the Manikarna, the Stone-Stars. She meets Zmeya in the Underworld. Storm

Dinarzad

Oldest daughter of the Sultan, and the boy’s sister. She is beaten if the children of the harem escape from the nursery. She is going to be married to a prince who brings her clockwork peacocks. (Her other suitor brought golden clockwork roosters (see Folio). She gives a red fur cloak and a clockwork peacock to the girl. Steppes Sea

The Duke’s Son of the Eastern Duchies

Who tried to kill the Leucrotta. Sent by his father, who wants the Leucrotta skin for assassinating. He was also sent to rescue a maiden in a tower imprisoned by the Wizard Omir. He was rumored to have killed a monarch in some other part of the world. (This is probably someone from Ajanabh.) Steppes

The Ember-Queen

One of the three queens of the Djinn. Scald becomes the Ember-Queen. "Scald"

Ethelred, the Mathematician-King

Ancestor of the Other Prince. Steppes

Eyvind

Bartender and polar bear. He is bartender of the Arm and Trout, a tavern in Muireann. The Marsh King changes him into a man until the Virgin is devoured, the sea turns to gold, and the saints migrate west on the wings of henless eggs. Steppes

Fahad

A moth from Varaahasind. He comes to Zmeya and tells her of the Birds’ Tears. Storm

The Firebird

Named Lantern. He is a Zhar-Ptitza. He adopts Aerie for two years when she is a gosling. He met Zhajiva in her garden. Steppes

Flint and Steel, King of the

One of the three Kings of the Djinn. "Scald"

Folio

An inventor and surgeon. She is a brown-skinned, very old woman with hundreds of tiny braids. She is the Rooster-Maker’s daughter, from Muireann. Folio’s mother is a poet. "Scald"

The Fox-Star

He is in the cave when Grandmother Bent-Bow sees the Mare and the Wolf-Star. He appears laughing when she later is killed by the Wizard Omir. Steppes

Galien

The Navigator with the compass in her belly, installed by Folio, who meets the Sirens. "Scald"

Giota

The Anchorite. The Sorella. Pangiota,

The Girl

She lives in the Palace Garden. See Sorrow. Steppes

The golden ball

Ciriaco, the Hedgehog.

The glass princess

See Ostraya.

Glaucia

Agarfena’s human grandmother. She had red hair and green eyes. "Scald"

Golod

A monster made of teeth and the lord Maciej’s hunger. He eats Shadukiam. Storm

The Gosling

See Aerie. Steppes

The governor of Shadukiam

He orders Idyll killed. Storm

Grandmother

See Bent-Bow. Steppes

Grass-Stars

The Grass-Star who fell from the sky and was called Li and was imprisoned in a box in Ajanabh. "Scald"

Grotteschi the Red

Born from an Upas tree in the desert. The Sun is her father. A Manticore captured and put into the zoo of Hadil, princess of Amerabad. Hind rescues her and eventually sets her free. They travel together with Taglio. Storm

Gunde

Fiercest of the polar bears of the Bear Congress. Steppes

Ghyfran

A Papess of Al-a-Nur. Sea

Ghyfran II

Papess of Al-a-Nur who was Cveti of the Hermaphrodite Tower. 17th Papess. She sent the tongue and breasts of Ragnhild to the Caliphate in a silver box. Sea

Hadil

The modest and devout princess of Amberabad, who eats plain bread and prays all day and keeps a zoo. Hind’s sister. She is poisoned so that frogs fall from her lips when she speaks. Storm

Handmaidens of the Snake-Star

Three of them met Laakea in the Tinderbox desert. One of them kicks over the pile of Ixora pits, which go up in flames. Steppes

The Harpoon-Star. Laakea

Smells of scorched bread and copper filings. He went looking for a Firebird as a present for the Snake-Star, so was haresting the fruits of the Ixora or Torch-Trees of the desrt. He gathers them, scatters them, then gathers them again and uses them to feed the Handmaidens, piling up the pits. Then he goes to the court of King Indrajit, bearing away the body of his sister Zmeya. Steppes

Hearth-King

One of the three Kings of the Djinn. Khaamil. "Scald" ====Helia. Alter ego of Knife. The Wizard Omir metamorphoses Knife into a beautiful princess with milk-white skin and yellow hair. The belt of gold and jasper fits her. Steppes

The Heron-Star

The Marsh-King. He makes Eyvind into a man. Steppes

Hind

The wicked princess of Amberabad, who eats cakes and reads naughty books and likes to be serenaded. She is poisoned, and pearls fall from her lips when she speaks. She befriends the Manticore and later leaves to travel with Taglio. She leaves to go back to Amberabad, but promises to meet Grotteschi again in Ajanabh. She appears in Xide’s workshop in The Dressmaker’s Tale. Storm "Scald"

Hour

The clockwork girl built by Folio. "Scald"

Idyll

The winged Ferryman of the underworld. He is a Hsieh, or Yi, peeled from (or dressed in) the Moon. He travelled to the land of the Kappas. He built the Rose Dome of Shadukiam, and was impaled on a diamond turret by the governor of Shadukiam. He cursed the city as he died. Storm

Immacolata

The girl made of tea. Tea-maker and shoemaker. She was an odalisque of King Indrajit’s harem, serving Zmeya. She befriends Taglio in the harem. Her mother was Safiyya the shoemaker. Her father was Elpidios the tea-maker. She mourns terribly at the news of Zmeya’s death and is determined to give back the leaf soaked in starlight. Storm

Iolanthe

Magadin’s stepmother. Mother of Isaura and Imogen, older than Magadin. She is a widow with vast lands and married Magadin’s father the Baron. Mother of Ismail. The belt of gold and jasper is hers. Steppes

Ismail

King in Steppes

Itto

The Twinned Star who plants the broken red plank. He dies on the mountaintop with Tomomo’s help. In the Underworld he has a child with Zmeya. "Sea" Storm

Khaigal

(A Djinn? the Djinn priests). "Scald"

The King

(Usually means King Ismail) Steppes

King Indrajit

Also the Raja Indrajit. He has the 144 boar-warriors, the Vahaarasind. He abducted/married Zmeya the Snake-Star. His throne is the Throne of Teeth and he wears a Tusk-Crown. His hall is the Hall of Voices. Steppes

Kashkash

The first Djinn. He was in Shadukiam in its early days and ruled over the Djinn Quarter, a terrible ghetto. "Scald"

Kindling-King

One of the three Kings of the Djinn. "Scald"

King Ismail

Leander’s father. Son of the Baron. King of the Eight Kingdoms and Steward of the Eastlands, Autokrator of the Unified Tribes, Lord of the Thousand Caves. Steppes

The Kappa

Turtles with water on the tops of their heads. Gardeners and plant breeders. They invented the Upas, the Ixora, and the roses used for the Rose Dome of Shadukiam.

Knife

Also known as the Witch, and Helia. She is from the steppes. Her face is tattooed and scarred. Her sisters were Quiver and Sheath. She was dark, with dark hair before it went grey. Steppes

Kostya

Kostya of Vareni-side, from Ajanabh. He buys the Firebird’s feather from the Wizard Omir. "Scald"

Lantern

See the Firebird. Steppes "Scald"

Laakea

The Harpoon-Star Steppes

Leander

The Prince. He is named after the wild lions of the steppes. Son of Ismail and Helia. Leander of the Eight Kingdoms. He becomes the Maimed King. In later years he goes to Al-a-Nur to live int he Tower of Patricides. Steppes

The Leucrotta

The Heron or Marsh-King calls him Beast. He was once rescued by the Witch of the Glen, Knife. He brings Magadin to the village of Muireann. Steppes

Liulfr

The Wolf-Star. She is in the Wolf-Cave of the steppes next to the cave of the seven sleepers, the golden wolf of 3 wolves, the others white and black. Steppes

Lo Shen

The river goddess of Al-a-Nur. The game is named after her. Sea

Lock

The goldfish river-pilot. She leaps over the dam and turns into a maiden, then sheds her skin to become a green dragon. She leaves her child with a man of Ajanabh. (A Duke?) "Scald"

Maciej

The Hungry Lord, married to Malgorzata. Eaten by Golod. Storm

Magadin

The Beast-girl. She has been metamorphosed by the Wizard Omir to have claws, hooves, webs, fur, fins, and tails. Steppes

Malgorzata

Wife of the Hungry Lord. She sacrifices her body parts until she is entirely made of wood and wicker. Her many and distant relatives lay their own lands waste to send food for Maciej. Storm

The Man Dressed in the Moon

A Yi, or Hsieh. He bought the boy who became the Necromancer Marsili. He might be Idyll (or Idyll might be the other Yi killed by Jin the Griffin. Or these might be the heretic Hsieh which Idyll refers to.) Sea

The Manikarnika

Seven sisters, Stone-Stars. The Pleiades. They changed to women. Jade, Granite, Opal, Garnet, Shale, Iron, and Diamond. They tried to live in the world of men. No one would take them in until the tents of the steppes when a girl with a new baby took them in. The King’s soldiers killed them in the night, with their light pouring into the girl and her baby. Steppes

The Mare

The Mare is the night. The Stars were born from the light that’s her blood that seeped through holes she chewed in herself. She gave birth to the world, and people and things and animals and more Stars were her afterbirth. Steppes

Marsili

Formerly son of a Sultan, his body was taken by the Man Dressed in the Moon and then by the boy who became the Necromancer. Lover of the Man Dressed in the Moon. Sea

Mesinyane

The pig-tamer, a golden-eyed pygmy, who meets Taglio and Immacolata in Vstreycha. Her pig is her father, Femi. She was born in Varaahasind. As a girl, she sees the Harpoon-Star walking away from the city bearing his dead sister, the Snake-Star or Zmeya. She follows the stars. Storm

The Midwife

See Aerie. Storm

The Moon

She was battered by the wind created when the Stars left for Earth. Her children peeled from her are the Hsien. Storm

The Moth

See Fahad. Storm

The Mourner

See Wept. Storm

Nevinost

The unicorn. Her horn is taken by the poisoner boy, Bryony. She eats Oubilette’s hair. Storm

Omir

See The Wizard Omir. Steppes

Orange as the Sun

A Hoopoe, mother to many chicks, killed by the Mourner. The Mourner is at the cave composing a lament for the corpse of Tomomo.

Orfea

Twin in looks to the Duchess Ulissa of Ajanabh. Daughter to a seamstress. She switches places with Ulisea, wears a dress made of weasel skins, and befriends the Basilisk. "Scald"

Ostraya

The Princess of Glass, from the Kingdom of Glass. The Ghost-Librarian and breeder of lizards, practicer of lizard-calculus. Storm

The Other Prince

He was sent to kill the Leucrotta (and to rescue his sister, 50 years before Leander). Steppes

Oubilette

The huldra of “The Tale of the Twelve Coins” and “The Tale of the Crossing”. Her parents give her a golden ball. She is imprisoned in a house made of sod & tied by her hair, by the Hedgehog Ciriaco. Her hair is shorn by the unicorn Nevinost, who frees her. She takes the silver leaf that is the soul of the girl made of tea to Zmeya in the underworld. She finds the underworld by threatening the almond tree that is her grandfather. Storm

The Papess

Leader of Al-a-Nur, always a woman. Sea

The Pra-Ita

Hideous monsters with long bony necks and swollen heads and bellies which are enormous jewels. They are the citizens of Shadukiam, eaten and transformed by the monster Golod. Storm

The Poisoner

See Bryony. Storm

The Prince

See Leander. Steppes

Quiver

Knife’s oldest sister. Steppes

Quri

A griffin, Jin’s sister. "Sea"

Rend

A talking leopard, companion of Ruin, travelling to Urim through the Waste. "Scald"

Ragnhild

The Black Papess, or False Papess. In her first incarnation she was a lover of a Caliph who sent her to become Papess. She was killed by Cveti and her army, her tongue and breasts cut away, and manacled to the ground with golden chains. She was reincarnated by a Yi or Hsieh who she then killed. In her second incarnation she wore golden chains dangling from her wrists. Sea

Ravhi

The new gardener, seed of Ravhija. Steppes

Ravhija

The gardener and pumpkin-tree girl who meets the Firebird, Lantern, steals a feather from him, and who is threatened and then destroyed by the Wizard Omir after he was rid of his iron collar. Steppes

The Rooster-Maker

An inventor from Muireann. Folio’s father. "Scald"

Ruin

A woman accompanied by the leopard Rend. She is from Ajanabh and has a skin wasting disease. "Scald"

The Satyr

A girl of the woods - who marries a Selkie.

Scald

A Djinn. She was one of the three Queens of Kash, the Ember-Queen. She was born from the smoke of Zmeya’s fire touching Sorrow’s eyelids. "Scald"

The Selkie

He marries the Satyr. (story told in Taglio’s tale..) He also rescues Galien in the Book of the Scald. "Scald"

Seven

The farmer’s boy, seventh son of a seventh son, who ended up in Marrow and who, in the main frame story of Storm, “The Tale of the Crossing”, travels to the underworld to find his friend Oubilette. He has one arm. Storm

The Seven Sleepers

The Seven Sisters. See the Manikarnika. Steppes

Sheath

Knife’s older sister. Steppes

Simeon

The Giant who stayed in Ajanabh; the gate-giant. "Scald"

The Snake-Star

Zmeya. Concubine of King Indrajit. Steppes

Snow

Orphan from Ajanabh. Her family emigrates to Muireann. Her hair turns grey when they die. She is befriended by Sigrid the Net-weaver. She also appears as a small child in The Tale of the Giant Who Stayed. Sea "Scald"

Sigrid the Netweaver

St. Sigrid of the Ways. She befriends Snow. She was formerly the polar bear Ulla, who loved and was loved by Eyvind.

St. Sigrid of the Nest

The original St. Sigrid. Sea

Sigrid (the doorkeeper)

The doorkeeper at the tower in Al-a-Nur, who tells stories to Sigrid the Netweaver. Sea

The Sirens

Three bird-women in the highest tower of Ajanabh. Their names are Chadir, Ashni, and Nyd. "Scald"

Sleeve

The recluse or Bell Spider, who works for Kostya and lives in the Bell Tower of Ajanabh. Her 8 legs are partly severed and replaced with needles. She was captured as an infant by the poisoner Bryony. "Scald"

The Sorella

Pangiota, (look up the other names) Steppes

Sorrell

Centaur King of the Eight Kingdoms. He ruled the Palace between the white and black rivers, served by the Wizard Omir, before Ismail killed him. Steppes

Solace

Raised by the Firebird, Lantern, as his daughter in the ruined Bell Tower of Ajanabh. She is told by Aerie that she’s Zmeya’s daughter. "Scald"

Sorrow

Zmeya’s daughter born in the underworld. She is the girl in the garden. Aerie watches over her and gave her her knife. Hat tip to Tess of the D’Urbervilles. -Storm- "Scald"

The Stars

There are stars who are the holes full of light in the Mare’s side, who scorch wherever they walk; and other stars who don’t and who were born from the Mare as actual children. Steppes

Suhail

A Djinn from Kash. Agarfena’s grandfather. Married Glaucia. "Scald"

The Sultan

Dinarzad and the boy’s father. Sea

Another Sultan

The one marrying Dinarzad. Storm

Taglio

A Gaselli, with gazelle-hooves. He dresses in green. The Gaselli lure humans to their doom and drink their blood and perhaps eat them. Taglio castrated himself out of devotion to the Heifer-Star. He travels pulling a caravan with Grotteschi. He worked as a eunuch in the harem of King Indrajit and meets Zmeya and the woman made of tea, there. Oubilette and Seven travel with him. He’s looking for the entrance to the Underworld so he can bring Immacolata’s leaf to Zmeya. Storm

Thurayya

Teacher of Grandmother Bent-Bow. (Thurayya = Pleiades in Arabic) Steppes

Tinder-Queen

One of the three queens of the Djinn. "Scald"

Ulissa

The Duchess of Ajanabh, daughter of the Duke. She trades places with Orfea and becomes an actress. She has blond hair and blue eyes. "Scald"

The Unicorn

See Nevinost. Storm

Vachya

The Lamia. She is three-breasted and blue, sings beautifully, and her grandmother is a sea-serpent lamia who discovers that drinking human blood gets her pregnant. Vachya eats the woman made of music and coughs up golden coins. "Scald"

The Varaahasind

The Teeth of the Boar. The 144 warriors of King Indrajit. They feast on the corpse of Zmeya and are destroyed by her. Their bodies vanish each into a single tooth (Boar’s teeth) Steppes

Vhummin

Vhummin of Marrow, third daughter of Orris, formerly of Shadukiam. She worked in the Asaad, the Great Market. She was eaten by the monster Golod and became one of the Pra-Ita, and a foreman of the Mint after the ruin of Shadukiam, telling her tale to Seven and Oubilette. Storm

Weasel

Enemy of the serpent and Basilisk. "Scald"

Wept

A harpy. She guards the cave entrance to the Underworld and exacts a price from Oubilette and Seven. She wears a hoopoe’s beak. Storm

Widow

The Soldier. A farmer girl. Her two older brothers go off to become mercenaries in war, and later she follows them. Her lungs and skin are destroyed by chemical weapons. She is stationed in the Kingdom of the Hedgehogs, and turns the hedgehogs into metal balls. Storm

The Witch

Steppes

The Witch of the Glen

Steppes

The Wizard

See the Wizard Omir Steppes

The Wizard Omir

The conjuror. Omir Doulios. Son of carrot farmers. The boy who found Death. A tall man with grey dreadlocks and an iron collar, and blue and brown robes. After he is rid of his collar at the death of King Indrajit he visits Ravhija and steals a Firebird feather; then his neck is pale, he wears red clothing, and controls a blue flame in his palm. Seeing the Harpoon-Star and the Snake-Star together obsessed him, as did metamorphosis. He kept the Firebird in an ivory cage, but sold him and his feather to a man in Ajanabh. He wore long red robes and had no collar when he came to the race of the Centaurs of the Eight Kingdom and bargained with Sorrel, becoming his doulios or slave and collared again. Steppes

The other Wizard

King Indrajit’s wizard before Omir, a short man who calls himself Death to the young Omir. (Or am I confusing something?) Steppes

The Wolf-Star

Liulfr. Steppes

Xide

The Weaver in Ajanabh who teaches Sleeve. "Scald"

Yashna

Papess of Al-a-Nur when Ragnhild returned, in Sigrid’s youth.

Yaya

The Nursemaid of Prince Leander. Steppes

Yazo-who-was-born-at-the-bottom-of-winter

A Kappa who was a great engineer of plants and who proved that tipping out the water of kappa skulls was a bad idea. Yoi’s friend.

Yoi-who-was-born-in-the-evening

A Kappa who bargained with Idyll, trading cucumbers for nearly-immortal roses. Yazo’s friend.

Zmeya

The Snake-Star. She is captured and married to King Indrajit, and has 14 sons and daughters, infant stars who die just before she dies. In the Underworld she gives birth to another child, child of Itto and of Immacolata’s leaf. Steppes Storm