History Characters / TheBurningKingdoms

* SuccessionCrisis: Crown Prince Aditya kicked off one of these when he abdicated. Sure, Chandra as the next closest male heir makes sense...but he's also [[TheCaligula insane]]. Malini may be better suited for the role...but she's [[WomenAreDelicate a woman.]]

* ManipulativeBastard: Malini is skilled at convincing people to do what she wants, whether through appealing to what she knows they desire or deceiving people by acting significantly more demure and weak than she is. This is one of the reasons Priya finds it hard to trust her once she realizes Malini was manipulating her, as well, and Pramila, Malini's appointed guardian/prison warden, accuses her of being manipulative and dangerous, warning Priya to take caution.

* PrincessProtagonist: Along with Priya, Malini is one of the core characters and POV protagonists. She's a princess, the sister of Emperor Chandra.

* LadyInWaiting: Priya becomes this for Malina, after being just another maidservant in the Hirana, serving her meals, bathing her and fixing her hair. Malina previously also had many more ladies in waiting-they were [[OrderedToDie ordered to]] [[HumanSacrifice sacrifice themselves by her brother]], Emperor Chandra. Malina is the only one who refused, and is scarred by their deaths.
* LipstickLesbian: She's attracted to other women, with a feminine style; usually she wears a sari, and has long hair.

* UptownGirl: Priya is the maidservant of Princess Malini initially. They fall for each other slowly.

* TheFundamentalist: Chandra is a religious zealot who orders people put to death gruesomely often in keeping with his spiritual principles.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Ashok's desire to get his home province of Ahiranya out of the control of Parijadtvipa is understandable, but his methods are...less so.

* {{Sadist}}: General Vikram recalls how Emperor Chandra made him recount all the details about the priests and the temple children from Hirana burning alive with obvious pleasure, which disturted him greatly to do.

* TheWrongfulHeirToTheThrone: By the laws of succession, Chandra may be the rightful one for the throne after Aditya's abdication...but just as Malini warned ahead of time, he proves to be violent, unstable, and religiously zealous. This makes it reasonably easy for Malini to start turning his own nobles against him.

* ActionGirl: Priya has been trained from childhood to fight with a knife or her bare hands, and she's quite skillful. Later she also learns to use magic in combat too.

[[folder: Aditya]]

* AbdicateTheThrone: Abdicates to become a priest of the Nameless God. This choice is what sets Chandra on the throne.
* ChildhoodFriends: With Rao.
* HeirClubForMen: Malini gets stuck trying to drag Aditya out of the priesthood to retake his birthright, since as a woman, she is not considered a viable candidate for the throne.
* [[spoiler: HeroicSacrifice: Goes out sacrificing himself to ensure victory over one of the few remaining strongholds of Chandra's.]]
* ReluctantRuler: Aditya's heart and conscience call him to the priesthood. But when Malini insists he's the only one who can stop Chandra, by reclaiming his own birthright, he reluctantly agrees to join her rebellion.
* [[spoiler: SenselessSacrifice: Aditya's HeroicSacrifice to win a battle for Malini turns out to be useless--at the time he died, Chandra had already surrendered to Malini. Rao is ''devastated'' to learn his friend died for nothing.]]
* SuccessionCrisis: Crown Prince Aditya kicked off one of these when he abdicated. Sure, Chandra as the next closest male heir makes sense...but he's also [[TheCaligula insane]]. Malini may be better suited for the role...but she's [[WomenAreDelicate a woman.]]

[[folder: Ashok]]

* AppealToTradition: Part of Ashok's goal is a return to the Ahiranya of the past, their "glory days."
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Ashok's desire to get his home province of Ahiranya out of the control of Parijadtvipa is understandable, but his methods are...less so.
* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: Naturally Ashok and Chandra disagree on the nature of Ashok's little militia. In Ashok's view, they are freedom fighters for Ahiranya, trying to restore the lost glory of their culture, which has been driven into the dirt by Parajatdvipa.

[[folder: Malini]]

* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: [[spoiler:The moment where Rao drops to his knee and proclaims Malini the true and rightful ruler of Parajatdvipa after she routed Chandra's forces is pretty badass.]]
* DamselInDistress: At the start of the series, Malini is in a pretty desperate position. Chandra keeps her locked in the Hirana away from anyone who might help her, aside from a single handler who keeps Malini drugged and malleable. Chandra is waiting for Malini to become so broken by this treatment she will willingly agree to burn to death. Malini seizes on Priya as a chance for escape.
* EtTuBrute: Malini's reaction to [[spoiler: Priya's]] betrayal at [[spoiler: the end of ''The Oleander Sword.'']]
* FallenPrincess: Malini's position at the start of the series. From a popular, savvy princess she's become a chattel prisoner of her despotic brother, kept drugged to keep her obedient and almost entirely lacking in any resources or connections of her own anymore.
* GirlInTheTower: Malini is kept imprisoned inside a tall, very hazardous yaksa temple.
* {{Hallucinations}}: Malini has them of her dead handmaids when she's suffering withdrawals, which are very vivid and appear real to her.
* LipstickLesbian: She's attracted to other women, with a feminine style; usually she wears a sari, and has long hair.
* ManipulativeBastard: Malini is skilled at convincing people to do what she wants, whether through appealing to what she knows they desire or deceiving people by acting significantly more demure and weak than she is. This is one of the reasons Priya finds it hard to trust her once she realizes Malini was manipulating her, as well, and Pramila, Malini's appointed guardian/prison warden, accuses her of being manipulative and dangerous, warning Priya to take caution.
* MuggleMageRomance: With Priya, once the latter has tapped back into her yaksa-acolyte powers.
* OfficialCouple: With Priya. They're the central couple of the trilogy.
* OpposeWhatYouSuffered: Thanks to Chandra's treatment of her in their childhood, Malini is very aware of his tendency to cruelty and zealotry. She knew from the start he would make a violent emperor and she opposes him now on the grounds he isn't fit to rule for that reason.
* PoliticallyActivePrincess: Malini to a T. She organized the entire insurrection effort against Chandra to begin with, and the first thing she does when [[spoiler: she escapes the Hirana]] is pick up where she left off.
* PreClimaxClimax: Malini and Priya roll in the sheets partway through ''The Oleander Sword,'' a while before the major showdown of the book.
* PrincessProtagonist: Along with Priya, Malini is one of the core characters and POV protagonists. She's a princess, the sister of Emperor Chandra.
* AProtagonistShallLeadThem: [[spoiler:Despite the fact that Malini was originally considered unfit for the throne as a woman, she ends up being the one to unite Parajatdvipa against Chandra and at the end of ''The Oleander Sword'' is made empress.]]
* QueerRomance: She gets involved with Priya, another woman.
* RebelliousPrincess: A very serious example. Malini sees the harm that her fanatic brother Chandra is causing as emperor and begins to foment an insurrection against him.
* SecretRelationship: Malini wants to keep her romance with Priya under wraps, so that no one thinks she's unduly favoring Ahiranya. Also, same-sex romances are frowned on in most of Parajatdvipa.
* SemiDivine: Some of the Parijati priests consider her to be a scion of Divyanski, a goddess who they worship, as her appearance is very similar.
* SilkHidingSteel: Malini is excellent at playing to the [[WomenAreDelicate expectations]] of the men around her, often shielding how knowledgeable or ambitious she really is from them. However, a reader will have little doubt it's Malini who has pushed the rebellion against Chandra the whole way.
* SuicidalSadisticChoice: [[spoiler: What Malini offers Chandra after winning the civil war--die immediately or allow her to slowly poison him into incompetence over several months, as he did to her.]]
* TakeAThirdOption: [[spoiler: Chandra is maniacal and Aditya is incompetent, but everyone in Parajatdvipa is convinced one of them has to rule, until Rao opens up Malini as an option.]]
* UptownGirl: Malini is a princess, and falls in mutual love with Priya, who's her maidservant at first.

[[folder: Priya]]
* ActionGirl: Priya has been trained from childhood to fight with a knife or her bare hands, and she's quite skillful. Later she also learns to use magic in combat too.
* EarthyBarefootCharacter: Her powers come from the yaksa, nature spirits, and Priya often goes barefoot.
* GreenThumb: After getting back in touch with her temple training, Priya can access a variety of nature-based magical powers.
* IAmWhatIAm: It takes Priya some time to accept her identity as a priestess of the yaksa and the associated benefits and conditions, but she does get there.
* IGaveMyWord: At the end of ''The Jasmine Throne'' Priya promises to come when Malini calls for her, no matter what. In ''The Oleander Sword,'' [[spoiler: Malini asks for Priya's help fighting Chandra's army.]] Priya comes.
* LadyInWaiting: Priya becomes this for Malina, after being just another maidservant in the Hirana, serving her meals, bathing her and fixing her hair. Malina previously also had many more ladies in waiting-they were [[OrderedToDie ordered to]] [[HumanSacrifice sacrifice themselves by her brother]], Emperor Chandra. Malina is the only one who refused, and is scarred by their deaths.
* LipstickLesbian: She's attracted to other women, with a feminine style; usually she wears a sari, and has long hair.
* MuggleMageRomance: With Malini. She is the mage of the pair.
* QueerRomance: She becomes lovers with Malini, another woman.
* OfficialCouple: With Malini. There's elements of RescueRomance after [[spoiler: Priya helps break Malini out of the Hirana.]] They're the central couple of the trilogy.
* PreClimaxClimax: Malini and Priya roll in the sheets partway through ''The Oleander Sword,'' a while before the major showdown of the book.
* SecretRelationship: Priya wants to keep her romance with Malini under wraps so that no one thinks she's unwittingly playing the pawn of Parajatdvipa.
* UptownGirl: Priya is the maidservant of Princess Malini initially. They fall for each other slowly.
[[/folder]]

* EvilPrince: Prior to his crowning as emperor, Chandra was this.