The Spine Sael The first herald. Deathless. Keeps the account, and buries everyone.
The Spine Neris Young herald. Reads liars, walks unseen. Book One's lead.
The Spine The Hollow King The oldest enemy, wearing the face of a great man of the age.
The Spine Loki The blamed god. Helps in secret, and takes the blame for every ending.
The Spine Athis A mild, well-fed priest with six fingers and a milk-blind eye. Not a man.
The Spine The Wearer A demon that steals the faces of the dead and wears them home.
Part One Doran A knight burning himself to gold ash to hold one more gate.
Part One Lira Priestess of Coranthe. Gives until the giving costs her everything.
Part One Orin Seven feet of gentle giant. Holds a gate alone and does not fall.
Part One Cal Neris's brother. A farm boy who blocks the doorway anyway.
Part One The Gorgon The last of her kind. Grief with a hundred small blind snakes.
Part One The First Voice A beloved leader, and a hollow, frightened old man behind the smile.
Part One Meret The blind old seer who makes heralds out of the overlooked.
Part One Serit A cold accountant with gold on every finger and worse debts.
Part One The Concord Captain Patient, pitiless, and for hire to the highest bidder.
Part One Ennam A lame scribe of the first cities who invents writing to save the world.
Part One Kisha The Giver. Feeds the hungry until there is nothing left of her.
Part One Bur The Guard. A quarryman with a maul and a doorway to hold.
Part One The Grey Visitors Tall, gentle, and terrible. They come to the festivals.
Part One Pol A gap-toothed tavern boy who hears absolutely everything.
Part One Sella Marr Fights on the wall with her baby strapped to her chest.
Part One The Grey Rider The courier who carries a herald's summons through the rain.
Troy Cassandra The princess who sees first and is believed last.
Troy Kessa Drives the corpse cart. Breaks demon knees with a gate-pin.
Troy Lycon A Trojan captain, two fingers short, and unbowed.
Troy Odysseus Shorter than the legend. All cunning, no shine.
Troy Priam The old king who gave the order to bring the horse inside.
Troy Hecuba The queen who does not break, not even on a burning roof.
Troy Agamemnon The high king in the lion skin. Takes whatever he wants.
Troy Neoptolemus A boy of seventeen drowning in his dead father's armor.
Troy Paris Vain, gold-laden, and gone at the first sign of trouble.
Troy Diomedes A Greek who quietly chooses which streets to spare.
Troy Andromache Hector's widow, shielding her son all the way to the last boat.
Troy Astyanax A small boy with the whole war coming for him.
Troy Meno The gatewright who opened the gate, and paid for it in full.
Troy Laocoön The priest who threw the spear and tried to warn them all.
Carthage Tana A temple-servant with a stolen knife and a rescued child.
Carthage Ashtara Seventy years old, shackled, and never once bowed.
Carthage Saphon The wind-seller. A thing that waits in a flooded well.
Carthage Abdmelqart A soft, smiling priest with a six-fingered hand.
Carthage Bomilcar A rich merchant caught between his gold and his guilt.
Carthage Hanno Nine years old and far too grim. Swings a jar like a club.
Carthage Yara A fish-seller who will not give up the baby, for anyone.
Carthage Saphia A mother who fights the temple guards bare-handed.
Carthage Mara The rescued infant, and the woman she grows up to become.