Characters / A Court of Thorns and Roses

Characters from A Court of Thorns and Roses. Spoilers from the first book will be unmarked. Work in progress.

Main Characters

Feyre Archeron

Feyre Archeron

Feyre. Fanart by Charlie Bowater

A young woman and adept hunter and provider for a family of four that is struggling with extreme poverty. She becomes Fae at the end of the first book and is gifted with each of the High Lords' powers through her resurrection.

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• Action Girl: She starts off with shades of this, being a huntress unafraid to stand up to Fae. Character Development eventually causes her to develop into one proper, capable of wielding great power against armies.
• Badass Normal: Feyre is a regular human that can hold her own against Fae and their clever tricks. People still talk about her feats in the second book.
• Betty and Veronica: She's the Archie to Tamlin and Rhysand. Tamlin is the First Love golden, kind boy (at first) while Rhysand is the handsome, snarky wild card.
• Broken Bird: She is a resilient young woman who struggles with many emotional issues.
• Came Back Strong: Did she ever.
• Chickification: Feyre starts the series as a badass hunter who treks through the forest in winter to keep her family alive, sets up snares in her room every night, can handle herself against monsters like the naga and confronts Amarantha herself to save her boyfriend and his court. And this is before she gets magic powers. By the later books, though, she does little but hang around at home painting, shopping or being barefoot and pregnant, letting everyone else do important stuff and barely even trying to get involved in politics despite being High Lady of the Night Court. Although her pregnancy in A Court of Silver Flames is high-risk and would prevent her from being too physically active, it doesn't mean she can't do other useful things, but the story doesn't seem too concerned with this.
• Child of Two Worlds: As a human Made Fae, she has a foot in both worlds; she'll never be welcomed back into human lands, but she still cares about humankind.
• Claustrophobia: After her time Under the Mountain, she's developed an intense fear of being trapped, especially in small, underground spaces.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: To the Fae as a whole, but especially towards Rhysand and the Night Court.
• Despair Event Horizon: She goes through it a few times, most notably when she's Under the Mountain and locked in Tamlin's mansion for her "protection"
• Destructive Romance: Her relationship with Tamlin turns out this way, as he becomes very possessive and controlling, which gradually erodes her feelings for him.
• Didn't Think This Through: Feyre happily accepted Tamlin's marriage proposal and it only starts to occur to her two months later that being married to a High Lord involves sometimes having to put aside what you want for the good of the Court, having all your actions scrutinised, being expected to follow certain rules and traditions etc. Lucien lampshades this when Feyre says she just wants to marry Tamlin specifically rather than a High Lord, with Lucien stating they're "one and the same".
• Elemental Powers: She can control wind, fire, ice, and darkness after her resurrection as a Fae.
• Emotionless Girl: She's this for much of the second book, due to struggling with her guilt and PTSD. She gets better.
• Fairytale Wedding Dress: Her wedding dress in A Court of Mist and Fury is described as such; however, she's not overly impressed with the look and Rhysand openly mocks it:
  Feyre: "It was a monstrosity of tulle and chiffon and gossamer, so unlike the loose gowns I usually wore: the bodice fitted, the neckline curved to plump my breasts, and the skirts...The skirts were a sparkling tent, practically floating in the balmy spring air. I might have dealt with it all if it weren't for the puffy capped sleeves, so big I could almost see them glinting from the periphery of my vision."
• Fallen Princess: She's the daughter of an impoverished merchant. Unlike the rest of her family (especially her sisters) who spend their days moping or whining about their lost wealth, Feyre is accepting of the situation and focuses on trying to keep them all alive.
• Fantastic Racism: She starts out hating Fae, like most humans, and the plot starts because she murders one (unknowingly, but at the time Feyre admits it wouldn't have made a difference). She grows out of this.
• Fish out of Water: In Prythian - she's a human girl surrounded by Fae.
• Giant Poofy Sleeves: The sleeves of her wedding dress are so huge she can just about see them in her peripheral vision.
• Girl of My Dreams: Rhys reveals in A Court of Mist and Fury that he started having dreams about her three years before he met her.
• Go-Go Enslavement: When she's held prisoner Under the Mountain, Rhysand forces her to wear outfits that would almost make Leia's metal bikini look modest. She states one dress looks more like a "handkerchief" than a dress and they're so revealing she may as well be naked.
• Hidden Depths: One of the first things you learn about this cold, practical girl is that she's an artist at heart. She doesn't get to paint often because of her family's financial situation, but she secretly longs to more than anything. When she eventually gets the chance, she also shows herself to be skilled at it.
• Hypocrite: Claims Tamlin was a monster for locking her away in his manor while she was obviously severely depressed but has no issue sending her equally depressed and traumatized sister to a war camp with a man whom she barely knows.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Her eyes are blue-gray, and she's a quite haughty person. Even after she defrosts, Mother help you if you piss her off.
• Impoverished Patrician: Her father used to be the Prince of Merchants, but lost it all after a deal gone wrong. Now they live in a tiny, rundown hut struggling to survive.
• Inhumanly Beautiful Race: After she becomes Fae.
• Interspecies Romance: With Tamlin, before she becomes Fae.
• Jack of All Trades: Since she if gifted with all the powers of each Court, though she isn't proficient with all of them yet.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In all the books. In the first, she's racist and suspicious of the Fae, but gradually shows a more compassionate side to them. In the second and third, her compassion is often hidden by coldness and anger, but it's still very present for her friends, both her races and her people.
• Karma Houdini: Feyre never suffers the repercussions for having destroyed the Spring Court, facilitating the advance of Hybern's forces through Tamlin's territory and eliminating a potential ally for their efforts after she succeeded in her revenge plan. It is implied that the civil war she sparked may have caused the deaths of thousands of innocents and yet she receives no comeuppance for this. Worse still is that as of A Court of Frost and Starlight she lives a privileged and happy life, unfazed by any sense of guilt or remorse for her actions.
• Lady of War: Becomes one into the second book.
• Mayfly–December Romance:
  • With Tamlin, who is around 500 while she's 19 when they first meet.
  • Also with Rhysand, who is 535 when they become romantically involved, while she is 20.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Both her first and last names serve as foreshadowing. Her first name sounds like "fairy" and by the end of book one, she's become one of the High Fae. "Acheron" was one of the five rivers of the underworld in Greek mythology and by the end of book two, she is the High Lady of the Night Court, which bears similarities to the Greek Underworld; A Court of Mist and Fury is also a Whole-Plot Reference to the myth of Hades and Persephone.
  • In-universe, her first name is said to mean "beauty" in an old faerie dialect (referencing the fact she's loosely based upon the heroine of Beauty and the Beast).
• Mindlink Mates: She's bonded to Rhys.
• Modest Royalty: She is the High Lady of the Night Court, but she enjoys interacting with people and prefers to dress to work, over-dressing extravagantly.
• Neck Snap: Amarantha kills her by snapping her neck with her bare hands; luckily she gets better again.
• Never a Self-Made Woman: While Feyre indeed becomes a High Lady, it is because Rhysand handed the position to her. It's worth noting, though, that Prythian is remarkably sexist, and she wouldn't have gotten it any other way. All her magic powers were also gained via the High Lords when they resurrected her. Her hunting and wilderness survival skills are self-taught, though she's increasingly less reliant on these.
• Nothing but Skin and Bones: Before coming to live in Prythian she's underweight due to frequently lacking food. She also loses a lot of weight throughout the beginning of the second book, although in this case it's not because of poverty but due to trauma and depression.
• Rags to Royalty: Cinderella-style. She starts out living in poverty and struggling to feed herself and her family, then becomes the wife-to-be of Tamlin, High Lord of the Spring Court. She ends up being with Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court, and does one better by being named High Lady, putting her on equal footing with Rhys.
• Revenge Before Reason: What destroying Tamlin's Spring Court ultimately was. Feyre admits she didn't think about the consequences of leaving it in ruins for Hybern to sweep through, didn't think whether they'd need the army or political support because she was so focused on getting back at them for allowing Tamlin's abuse.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something:
  • After becoming High Lady of the Night Court. She won't let her new position stop her from risking her life to protect her friends or her people, including personally defending the city of Velaris from Hybern's forces.
  • It's downplayed following the third book, where she rarely gets involved in political work and spends most of her time at home, painting, shopping and hanging out with friends. It's mentioned she does do paperwork (she complains about the workload and considers getting a secretary), but little beyond that is mentioned.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Her experiences Under the Mountain have left her wrestling with guilt, self-loathing, and nightmares during the second book. She's healed some in the third but notes that the wounds are still there.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • Initially comes off as one for Mor/Azriel until the former came out to her.
  • She also comments on Azriel/Elain seeming like a good match.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She falls in love with Tamlin because he's one of the first people in years who cares about her wellbeing, protects her, encourages her to put her happiness first for once, and likes her for herself rather than what she can do for them. She falls in love with Rhysand for similar reasons, especially as he helps her deal with her PTSD and she realizes he's not as wicked and tyrannical as he pretends to be.
• Starving Artist: Although she's not starving because she's an artist, she's starving because her family fell from grace. Still, Feyre loves painting and art, and secretly dreams of living a peaceful life where she can paint all she wants. Eventually she loses the "starving" part.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She can be exceptionally kind and warm to her friends, but tends to be aloof to others.
• Telepath: Becomes one thanks to the power from Rhys.
• Trauma Button: Being underground or locked up reminds her of her three months Under the Mountain, triggering panic attacks. She's also not keen on the color red for a while, as it reminds her too much of what happened Under the Mountain (Amarantha's hair, blood etc).
• Vapor Wear: The skimpy clothes she's made to wear Under the Mountain make it painfully obvious she's not wearing underwear; she also notes the material is so thin you can basically see everything that is covered anyway.
• When She Smiles: Her smile is noted to be beautiful, though it takes a lot of work to get her to smile at all.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Once she is brought into Prythian, she is forbidden from returning to her homeland or her family.

Tamlin

Tamlin, High Lord of the Spring Court

Tamlin is the High Lord of the Spring Court, and later Feyre's lover. Throughout the first book, his court is cursed with being unable to remove their masks, and the only way to break this curse is to make a human girl who passionately hates the Fae love him.

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• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He's usually quite proud, but in the first book he's willing to beg when it comes to Feyre's safety. He pleads with Rhysand not to tell Amarantha about her and prostrates himself before him at his request. And when Amarantha is beating Feyre to death, Tamlin desperately begs for her to be spared.
• Anti-Villain: Tamlin becomes a Woobie-type, with a sprinkling of Well-Intentioned, in the second book. His treatment of Feyre is awful and only worsens her mental state, and his decision to ally with the King of Hybern was an all-round terrible idea, yet it's made clear Tamlin is likely suffering from severe trauma, and lacks healthy coping mechanisms and a strong support system. He has no love for Hybern and was secretly planning to betray him all along, only allying with him out of desperation to get Feyre back (from his perspective he was rescuing her). Considering his trauma and the fact he was helpless to stop the woman he loved from being tortured and killed in front of him, his obsession with keeping her safe at any cost is understandable even though his methods are not justifiable.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He's a competent warrior and is a High Lord.
• Betty and Veronica: Appears to be the Betty with Feyre as the Archie and Rhysand as the Veronica.
• Broken Bird: His experience Under the Mountain broke something deep in him, turning protectiveness into possessiveness.
• Control Freak: He turns into one in the second book, especially where Feyre is concerned. He's incredibly protective of Feyre, to the point of locking her in his house and forbidding her from leaving, which leads to her having a breakdown. It's somewhat justified in that being Under the Mountain messed him up, but it doesn't help Feyre's own trauma and leads to the demise of their relationship.
• Cool Mask: Part of the curse on him makes him and his entire court unable to remove the masks they wore at a masquerade fifty years before. His is gold with emeralds embedded into it.
• Cruel to Be Kind: During Feyre's trials Under the Mountain, he appears to be ignoring her and barely reacting to what happens, to the point she thinks Amarantha has him under a spell. Lucien later explains that Tamlin is trying to stay neutral so that Amarantha can't detect what hurts Feyre the most and use it to torture them both more. Feyre notices he does react to some things, though he tries to keep it hidden.
• Derailing Love Interests: In book two he takes a massive level in jerkass, becoming very controlling and dismissive towards Feyre, so that she can get with Rhysand. While this is partly justified by him being traumatized by his experiences Under the Mountain, some readers felt the author went a bit too far in vilifying Tamlin to 'justify' Feyre leaving him for Rhysand and to make Rhysand look better, and thought it seemed odd he never really tried to resolve their issues. Other readers think what happened Under the Mountain simply brought out the worst in Tamlin, whereas previously Feyre had only seen his better qualities.
• Destructive Romance: His relationship with Feyre proves to be one of these. He loves her, but his trauma and fear of losing her causes him to be extremely overprotective while dismissing what Feyre wants.
• Despair Event Horizon: In A Court of Frost and Starlight as a result of Feyre's plan to ruin him. It seems to have worked too well.
• Distressed Dude: The entire end third of A Court of Thorns and Roses has Tamlin needing Feyre to save him.
• Endearingly Dorky: Lucien notes he's terrible at flirting with women, and it certainly shows with his early attempts at wooing Feyre. It is downplayed at first considering that Feyre doesn't find it sweet at all, but Played Straight later after Feyre opens up to him about her passion for painting.
• False Soulmate: He's revealed to be this to Feyre. Much of the first book is dedicated to developing their romance and by the next book they're getting married, but it soon becomes clear this isn't going to have a fairytale ending. Both of them are traumatized by their experiences Under the Mountain, with Tamlin acting like nothing happened but becoming protective of Feyre to the point of possessiveness, leaving her feeling suffocated and emotionally unsupported. The fact that as his wife she'd clearly do little but give him heirs and stand around looking pretty also gives her serious doubts about marrying Tamlin, right up to the moment she walks down the aisle. Then there's the part where Tamlin locks Feyre in their house even though he knows it's a Trauma Button for her, causing her to have a severe panic attack. It's eventually revealed that Feyre's true love is Rhysand, whom she has a mating bond with and who comparatively treats her better. When Tamlin finds out, he doesn't take it well. At. All.
• First Love: To Feyre. She had been with Isaac prior to meeting Tamlin, but their relationship was purely about sex rather than love and Tamlin is the first man she fell in love with. Unfortunately, it doesn't last.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: He's blond and generally kind and well-meaning. At least, until he Took a Level in Jerkass in the second book
• Hyper-Awareness: Tamlin is unbelievably perceptive of his surroundings in A Court of Thorns and Roses much to Feyre's dismay, given that most of her attempts at deceiving the High Fae of the Spring Court are botched before they even start.
• Inhumanly Beautiful Race: Being Fae does that.
• Interspecies Romance: With the human Feyre, at first.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: It takes him a while, but by the end of the third book he accepts that he and Feyre are over, and brings Rhysand back to life partly for her sake, sincerely telling her to "be happy".
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: Since he's wearing a mask for much of the first book, Feyre makes mention of how masculine his jawline is.
• Light Is Not Good: He's from one of the most beautiful courts that represents spring and light - but he himself is willing to stoop to extremely low levels to maintain his possession of Feyre.
• Love Makes You Evil: His love for Feyre leads him to collaborate with the King of Hybern when she leaves him in order to live in the Night Court.
• Meaningful Name: Tamlin shares the name of the eponymous Tam Lin of Scottish folk tales, one of The Fair Folk who falls in love with a human and fears retribution from a fae queen.
• Mood-Swinger: Loses his temper regularly. It gets worse in the second book, on account of his traumatic experiences.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: His desire to get Feyre, despite what she herself wants, back leads him to support the King of Hybern, who wants to enslave all of humanity again.
• Please, I Will Do Anything!: When Amarantha makes it clear she intends to kill Feyre, he desperately begs for Feyre's life to be spared, saying he will do anything she wants. This is a big deal, considering he had been defiant of Amarantha for fifty years until this point.
• Really 700 Years Old: He's old enough to have been an adult during the human/Fae war, which occurred four hundred years ago.
• Reluctant Ruler: He never expected or wanted to become High Lord (he had two older brothers), and admits to Feyre he's not always sure what he's doing and is a bit crap at diplomacy.
• Romantic False Lead: To Feyre. An unusual example where the entire first instalment is dedicated to their relationship, only for subsequent books to make it clear that Feyre and Rhysand are the true Official Couple.
• Romantic Runner-Up: To Rhysand for Feyre.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: He frequently goes out patrolling to protect the borders of his court from enemies. He also personally tends and buries a dying faerie Amarantha had tortured and dumped on his lands.
• Shapeshifting: His court power is the ability to shift forms.
• Tempting Fate: He told Amarantha that he'd rather sleep with a human rather than her - leading to the aforementioned curse.
• Warrior Prince: He far preferred studying war and training with swords to learning to rule a court, so he struggles a lot with the position forced on him.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Rhysand.
• Would Hit a Girl: When it comes to Amarantha, he doesn't just hit her so much as he eviscerates her. She had it coming.
• Yandere: Becomes more apparent after his time Under the Mountain. He becomes incredibly protective of Feyre, to the point of controlling her actions. It culminates in him locking her in their house, which doesn't go well for her. When she runs away to the Night Court, he becomes hell-bent on "winning" her back, to the point he ignores the note she sent expressing that she was safe and happy. He also tends to become easily jealous of the time she spends with other men, to the point of telling her platonic friend, Lucien, to back off.

Rhysand

Rhysand "Rhys" of the Night Court

Rhysand. Fanart by Charlie Bowater

The High Lord of the Night Court, known for being cold, callous and hedonistic. He's Amarantha's dragon, though there may be more to him than meets the eye.

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• Ambiguously Brown: He’s described by Feyre as golden-skinned on more than one occasion, and most fan art depicts him with light brown skin. On the other hand, in the first book, he's described as pale, due to being underground for nearly fifty years straight. His natural tan likely came back soon after getting out.
• Baritone of Strength: Feyre notes that his voice is very deep and smooth - and he's extremely capable and strong, both physically and magically.
• Betty and Veronica: He, with his dark good looks and snarky nature, appears to be the Veronica to Tamlin's light-haired and straightforward Betty for Feyre's Archie. However, Tamlin, later on, begins to reveal an increasing possessiveness and locks Feyre in his mansion.
• Big Brother Instinct: He had a younger sister he adored. She and her mother were brutally murdered and had their wings clipped off and kept as trophies by Tamlin's family.
• Broken Ace: He's incredibly skilled but also very, very broken. Beyond the trauma of being a Sex Slave, he's got a shockingly low sense of self-worth, feeling that he's never given enough for his people, and puts on so many masks because he's afraid no one will love what they see underneath.
• Casting a Shadow: His powers are based on darkness.
• The Charmer: To further contrast Tamlin, Rhys is very smooth-talking.
• Dark Is Not Evil: He's got darkness-based powers, wears all black, is secretive and cruel, but it's all for the sake of protecting his home. And in fact, Beneath the Mask he's a progressive person who doesn't enjoy being cruel.
• Deadpan Snarker: He's always got a quip up his sleeve.
• The Dragon: To Amarantha. Except he had been plotting for decades to find a way to kill her.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: He has jet black hair and is noted to be unusually pale from his time Under the Mountain - with his shadows based party, this just makes him more intimidating. In the second book on, though, this is averted as he's regained some color from being in the sun again.
• Elemental Hair Colors: His hair is midnight black, and his powers are based on shadows.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Secrecy. Rhys has a very bad habit of keeping his plans and thoughts from even his allies, which has done nothing to quell the rumors about his maliciousness. His actions also inevitably end up hurting the people he cares about when they come to light this way than if he'd just been honest outright.
  • Also self-sacrifice. Rhys would give anything for his people, to downright unnecessarily suicidal lengths. Because of this, he ended up a Sex Slave for fifty years and made himself the most hated man in Prythian.
• The Good King: The Court of Dreams love him for this reason. Rhys devotes his life to making sure they're comfortable and happy, and he also tries to help the girls in the savage Illyrian camps have better standings.
• Half-Fae Hybrid: He is the product of a High Fae father and an Illyrian, aka a "lesser Fae", mother.
• Inhumanly Beautiful Race: Even for a Fae - Feyre calls him the most attractive man she has ever seen.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Rhys knew that Feyre was his mate, but wasn't going to debate her marrying Tamlin because she was happy, and deserved to be happy - though this changed when she called for help over their bond.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Rhys's secretive nature and plotting make him mysterious at best and outright cruel at worst; no one knows what he's thinking, and he'll do anything to get the results he wants, including mock, drug, or torture. The cruelty is just an aloof act, however. His secrecy is genuine and does cause him to make mistakes or hurt others, but Rhys is actually quite kind, giving positions to those the rest of Pyrithian considers undeserving, pushing for social reform to help the oppressed women and lesser Fae, and helping Feyre through her abuse and trauma in the second book.

• Martyr Without a Cause: Rhys will give anything and everything of himself at the first opportunity, even if it's unnecessary or if he'd be better off letting his loved ones help him.

• Purple Is Powerful: He's got blue/violet eyes that are noted for being beautiful and very unique. It reflects his status as the strongest High Lord in history and the first who is not of pure High Fae blood.
• Pretty Boy: He's described as beautiful in contrast to Tamlin's manly handsomeness.
• Rape as Drama: Amarantha used him as a Sex Slave, raping him for fifty years.
• Really 700 Years Old: He's around the same age as Tamlin, but looks like he's in his mid-20s.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: He is incredibly devoted to his people.

• Second Love: He's this to Feyre.
• Sex Slave: He was this to Amarantha.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: He uses his magic to always appear this way.
• So Beautiful, It's a Curse: All that beauty did was put him in the crossfires of being a Sex Slave for fifty years.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Incredibly sarcastic.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Also incredibly handsome.
• Telepath: He's a "daemati", which is an exceedingly rare trait among the Fae.
• Terms of Endangerment: He calls Feyre "Feyre darling".
• Warrior Prince: He was trained in war by his mother's Illyrian people, and actually fought in the Great War over 500 years ago.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Everything he's done, he's done for the sake of protecting his people. Rhys straight-out admits he'll do anything to protect his people, including going to very self-sacrificing lengths.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Tamlin.

Night Court

Cassian

Cassian

A member of the Inner Circle and one of Rhysand's best friends.

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• A Father to His Men: He's Rhys's general and cares for all his men deeply. Rhys explains that when casualties are tallied, Cassian writes the letters to the family personally, and sometimes even delivers them by hand.
• Amazon Chaser: More mentally and emotionally than physically, but he definitely seems to like Nesta because of her spirit.
• Bash Brothers: With Rhysand.

• Hidden Depths: He's as rough as you'd expect from the leader of Rhys's armies, but Cassian is noted to be surprisingly perspective. He can pick up on when Feyre's in a bad mood and adjust their training as necessary to best account for that. Feyre herself notes that she shouldn't be surprised by this; after all, as a general, he probably needs to be able to read his men's moods before going into battle.
• Four-Star Badass: He is the main General Commander to the Night Court's armies.
• Mama's Boy: He's very fond of his mother. Her horrible treatment at the hands of his village motivated him to burn it down to avenge her and push for progressiveness to save other Illyrian girls from the same fate.
• Nice Guy: Beneath the roughness, Cassian is probably one of the genuinely nicest people in the series.
• No Social Skills: He's a war general, not a courtier. His "ability" to compliment women is something his friends rib him over.
• Power Limiter: Uses Siphons to filter his power.
• The Promise: He makes one to Nesta that he'll keep her and Elain safe, no matter what. He fails it at the end of the second book, although he can't be blamed as he was half-dead at the time. He still blames himself anyway.
• Really 700 Years Old: Roughly the same age as Rhys.
• Ship Tease: With Nesta.
• Where I Was Born and Razed: A Court of Frost and Starlight reveals that he burned down the Illyrian village he grew up to avenge his mother.
• Winged Humanoid: He's Illyrian, a fae race with large bat-like wings.

Azriel

Azriel

A member of the Inner Circle, Rhysand's spymaster, and close friend.

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• Abusive Parents: His father and step-mother locked him up for eleven years, letting him out for one hour a day and giving him one hour a week with his real mother.
• All Love Is Unrequited: He has carried a torch for Mor for five hundred years. Unfortunately for him, they're an Incompatible Orientation.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: He usually sits quietly at the edges of any social gathering, but Mother help you if you insult one of his friends or worse Mor. Azriel will come over there in the blink of an eye and physically attack you.
• Black Humor: He can be snarky at times, but because of his stoicism and profession he tends to lean on the dark side of thing.
  Azriel: (being asked about Byraxis) [I haven't heard] a word. Or a scream, for that matter.
• Casting a Shadow: He's a shadowsinger, which means he's unusual among the Illyrians in being able to control and listen through shadows.
• I Call It "Vera": His favorite dagger is called Truth-Teller, after the fact he uses it to torture information out of people.
• Not So Stoic: Anger him enough and he'll snap.
• Power Limiter: Uses Siphons to filter his power.
• Really 700 Years Old: Roughly the same age as Rhys.
• Ship Tease: Besides his huge crush on Mor, he gets a bit of tease with Elain.
• The Stoic: He's quiet, reserved, and doesn't often show emotion. Unless you push him.
• Torture Technician: Part of his job as spymaster is also extracting information from people. Azriel isn't overly fond of this part of the job but accepts it as a grim necessity.
• Winged Humanoid: He's Illyrian, a fae race with large bat-like wings.

Mor

Mor

A member of the Inner Circle, in charge of running Velaris and the Court of Nightmares. Rhysand's cousin.

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• Abusive Parents: Her father sold her into marriage and later on left her for the dead after she had lost her virginity to Cassian.

• Beware the Silly Ones: She's flighty and chipper, but also a terrifying war general.
• But Not Too Bi: She claims to prefer women, but her dalliances mentioned on-page are with Cassian and Helion, both of which are men.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: She loves dressing up and looking pretty as much as she does alcohol.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: She's noted to be a frequenter of the bars in Velaris, and she enjoys dragging Cassian and Azriel to drinks with her.
• Hypocrite: She's disdainful of Nesta using alcohol and casual sex to cope with her trauma, though Mor herself has been doing the same thing for centuries.
• Informed Ability: She's stated to be extremely powerful and to have the "gift of truth", but thus far the series has been vague about what exactly this entails, and she's otherwise not depicted as having abilities or power levels much different from other Fae (namely winnowing and healing).
• Interspecies Romance / Mayfly–December Romance: In the past, she had been in a relationship with Andromache, a mortal queen.
• Lady of War: She is The Morrigan, harbinger of death on the battlefield, graceful and deadly.
• Meaningful Name: Morrigan, noted to have fought with humanity and have powers of truth, shares the name of Irish Mythology figures associated with battle, fate and truth.
• Nice Girl: She's one of the other kindest characters in the series, immediately welcoming Feyre to the Night Court and telling her that if she needs anything at all, she can come to her. She doesn't even care that she doesn't know Feyre or that Feyre is rather rude and distant at the time.
• Oblivious to Love: Comes off as this, with how she seems to fail to notice Az's obvious feelings for her. It turns out she's been very aware of them and has no idea what to do since she doesn't feel the same way, so she just pretends not to know.

Amren

Amren

A member of the Inner Circle, and Rhysand's Second.

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• Humanoid Abomination. She's an incredibly old being from another dimension who is somehow magically constrained, keeping her powers tamped down. Even with her powers tamped down, she's terrifying. She also drinks blood. She later gets turned into a standard High Fae and complains about having to eat solid food and use the toilet now.

Allies

Nesta Archeron

Nesta Archeron

Nesta Archeron. Fanart by Charlie Bowater

The eldest of the Archeron sisters.

• Badass Normal: She was still human when she managed to unnerve the previously unflappable king of Hybern.
• Big Sister Instinct: Towards Elain. Eventually towards Feyre as well.
• Brutal Honesty: She'll say what's on her mind, socially acceptable politeness be damned.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Of the verbal kind. She basically owns everyone in a verbal argument, including Rhysand.
• Death Glare: Very adept at these.
• Defiant to the End: She will not go down without kicking, screaming, and cursing all the way. The king of Hybern's guards are noted to struggle to force her into the Cauldron, and her last action before being dumped into it is to snarl and point at the king in a way that promises death.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: She is very adamant when it comes refusing Feyre's and the Inner Circle's help in A Court of Frost and Starlight. Mainly because she knows that it's their fault for dragging her into this in the first place.
• Dude Magnet: Is often described as a devastating beauty and has caught the eye of many notable characters.
• Good Is Not Nice: Is not the monster that Feyre and Rhysand make her out to be, as she does care for her family, her people and the War, but she still doesnt feel the need to be polite to them or the Inner Circle. Somewhat justified, since she is traumatized and its mostly their fault.
• Handicapped Badass: Mentally rather than physically. As of A Court of Frost and Starlight, Nesta is going through clinical depression and is subsequently trying to cope with it in very destructive ways, i.e drinking, gambling and sleeping with as many Fae males as possible. Feyre's and Cassian's attempts to help her make her feel worse than she already is.
• Hates Baths: She hates bathing and has to force herself to climb into a tub. This isn't because she dislikes being clean in general but because it reminds her of when she was forced into the Cauldron, an event that traumatized her.
• Heroic Willpower: Nesta is the only one of her family that withstands the effects of Tamlin's glamour due to her strong willpower. She admits that it was hard for her to see their father and Elain being so content with the glamour.
• Impoverished Patrician: Like her sisters.
• Lawful Neutral: An interesting case of it, really, as she is the only one in her family.
• Living Lie Detector: She is very apt at sensing people are trying to hide something from her, particularly Feyre and Rhysand.
• Silk Hiding Steel: A perfectly well-bred and poised lady, except she can talk back to people hundreds of years older than her, is fiercely protective of her family and extremely cunning.
• Ship Tease: With Cassian.

• Trauma Button: She quietly admits to Feyre that she can't take baths after being forced into the Cauldron.

Elain Archeron

Elain Archeron

Elain Archeron. Fanart by Charlie Bowater

The middle one of the Archeron sisters.

• Beware the Nice Ones: She stabs the king of Hybern in the neck when he corners and almost kills Nesta. "Don't touch my sister!" indeed!
• Break the Cutie: The poor thing is forcefully dumped into the Cauldron, turned Fae against her will, granted visions of things she doesn't understand and fears, and is told by her fiance that he hates her now. Someone give her a hug!
• Green Thumb: She loves gardening and tends to it herself.
• Impoverished Patrician: Like her sisters.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: She's basically so sweet and pure that the Cauldron is in awe of it and wants to give her a gift in honor, unlike Nesta who steals from it.
• Morality Pet: For Nesta and Azriel. Nesta would do anything for Elain, and Azriel becomes gently protective of her, to the point he loans her Truth-Teller, which Rhys notes has never happened before.
• My Nayme Is: Her name is "Elain" rather than the usual Elaine.
• Nice Girl: By far the sweetest character in the entire series. Feyre mentions that Elain once used all her money buying gifts for her sisters once, not for herself, and while she's spooked by the Fae, she treats them with nothing but polite kindness.
• The Ophelia: Becomes this in A Court of Wings and Ruin, becoming only semi-lucid, rambling in strange ways, locking herself up, and generally wasting away.
• Screw Destiny: Thus far has this mindset towards her mating bond with Lucien, who she is not very fond of.
• Seers: The Cauldron gifted her with these abilities after she was dumped in it.
• Ship Tease: A little with Azriel.

Spring Court

Lucien

Lucien

The red-haired emissary of the Spring Court and Elain's mate.

• Animal Motifs: He has a fox motif, he wore a fox mask while cursed and other characters often compare his appereance and cunning with that of a fox.
• Conflicting Loyalty: He is torn between his loyalty to Tamlin and his friendship with Feyra, after their Destructive Romance starts to worsen in A Court of Mist and Fury, and later between the Night Court and Tamlin after he awakens his mate's bond with Elain.
• Glass Eye: His left eye was replaced by an artificial mechanical eye made of gold after it was ripped by Amarantha.
• Heroic Bastard: He is secretly the son of Helion, High Lord of the Day Court, although he believes he is the son of Beron, High Lord of the Autumn Court.
• I Owe You My Life: The reason why he has an Undying Loyalty to Tamlin, when he escaped his own family in the Autumn Court he was given a place to live in the Spring Court, and soon became best friends with the High Lord of Spring.
• The Lost Lenore: His first love, a lesser fae called Jesminda, was killed in front of him by his own family.

Alis

Alis

A lesser fae maid from the spring court.

• Dying Race: She mentions that her race is this, needing 75 years to mature and pregnancies being extremely rare.
• Plant Person: She is an Urisk, a type of fae with bark-like skin.
• Servile Snarker: She constantly banters with Ferya during A Court of Thorns and Roses.

Other High Lords

Beron

Beron

The High Lord of the Autumn Court.

• Ambition Is Evil: He is obsessed with growing his power base, plotting to expand his lands at the expense of the other courts.
• Playing with Fire: He has the power of controling and creating fire.

Thesan

Beron

The High Lord of the Dawn Court.

• Healing Hands: As the High Lord of Dawn he has the power of healing others, probably using his blood, like Feyra does.
• Straight Gay: The only confirmed lgbt High Lord, his orientation is only mentioned when talking about his lover, the captain of his armies.

Tarquin

Tarquin

The High Lord of the Summer Court.

• Making a Splash: He has the power of controling and creating water.
• Only Sane Man: He apparently is the only person in the series capable of grasping that destabilizing the Spring Court in the middle of a war is not a very good idea.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: He hopes to someday abolish the gap between High Fae and lesser fae, making them equals.

Hybern

King of Hybern

King of Hybern

• Big Bad: He's the main antagonist of the whole series.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He is only ever referred to as the King of Hybern, despite being the primary antagonist of the series.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Of A Court of Thorns and Roses. He's not directly involved in the conflict and Amarantha is the primary antagonist, but it's because of him that Amarantha has power in the first place.
• Sorcerous Overlord: He knows a lot of powerful magic, rules over Hybern with an iron fist and tried to Take Over the World in the past. He spends the series plotting to do so again, biding his time and gathering allies.

Amarantha

Amarantha

One of the King of Hybern's generals. She took power in Prythian before the start of A Court of Thorns and Roses.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: Towards Tamlin and Rhysand. She's not physically ugly, but she's absolutely rotten on the inside. Tamlin said he'd rather be with a human than her (considered a grave insult) and Rhysand only became her lover to protect the Night Court from her wrath.
• Animal Motif: Feyre often describes her smile as being serpentine.
• Big Bad: She's the main antagonist of A Court of Thorns and Roses.
• Black Eyes of Evil: Amarantha has black eyes and is evil to the core.
• Dark Action Girl: In centuries past she was one of the King of Hybern's top generals and fought in the war against the humans. These days she's more of an Orcus on His Throne-type and conquered Prythian through guile rather than force, though she's plotting to invade the human realms soon.
• Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Averted, big time. Her trying to force or coerce men to be her lovers is depicted as immoral and disturbing; Rhysand, admits he still has nightmares about the time he was her 'companion'.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The one person she genuinely loves is her late sister Clythia; she couldn't even bring herself to turn against her when Clythia fell in love with a human general named Jurian. After Clythia was murdered by Jurian, Amarantha took a terrible revenge on him.
• Evil Redhead: One of her most noted features is her red-gold hair and she's a ruthless, sadistic tyrant.
• Faux Affably Evil: Amarantha can be quite charming when she wants to be, with even Feyre noting that if she hadn't known better she'd be taken in by her, and she often comes off as politely-spoken and genial when interacting with Feyre. It's made obvious that she's just toying with her and she feels nothing but malice towards her.
• Freudian Excuse: She has always looked down on humans, but she truly began to despise them after her sister was betrayed and brutally murdered by her human lover. It's also the reason she believes all humans to be faithless and disloyal, thinking that Tamlin would never be able to fulfil the specifications of the curse because of this.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: Amarantha does not shy away from brutally torturing and murdering people that resist her.
• The High King: Gender-flipped; she's the self-proclaimed High Queen of Prythian and the High Lords lack the strength to oppose her.
• Knight Templar Big Sister: After her young sister was tortured and killed, Amarantha was obsessed with getting revenge on the murderer, fighting an entire army to get to Jurian. She even refused her king's summons to focus on Jurian and after capturing him, she spent weeks torturing him to death, then used magic to link his consciousness to his eye and fingerbone, which she made into jewellery and wears constantly.
• Loophole Abuse: Feyre successfully completes the tasks Amarantha gave her in exchange for the Spring Court's freedom, but Amarantha then points out that in this scenario she merely promised she'd let the Spring Court go eventually.
• Manipulative Bitch: She successfully tricked the High Lords of Prythian into trusting her, learned their weaknesses and stole most their powers.
• Meaningful Name: Her name comes from the flower "amaranth" and means "unfading" in Greek; the flower often symbolizes immortality.
• Not Good with Rejection: She cursed Tamlin and his entire court because he rejected her advances...nearly fifty years ago.
• Relative Button: One of the reasons she cursed the Spring Court was Tamlin unthinkingly pushing this as he lashed out at her, stating that her own sister preferred a human's company to her's. Considering that said human murdered her sister, it's not too surprising Amarantha went ballistic.
• Revenge Before Reason: She was so fixated on getting revenge on Jurian for what he did to Clythia, she ignored the King of Hybern's summons to aid him and actually cost him the war.
• Sadist: She's positively gleeful about physically and psychologically torturing people who oppose her.
• Sorcerous Overlord: She's a vicious ruler and wields powerful magic.
• Sore Loser: When Feyre succeeds in passing Amarantha's trials, Amarantha refuses to honor her end of the bargain (or at least not right away, which as she points out she didn't specify), then begins beating Feyre to death with her bare hands, screaming for Feyre to confess she doesn't really love Tamlin.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Once Feyre breaks the curse and Tamlin's powers are fully restored, he pins her to the ground, stabs her through the head with a sword and rips her throat out.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Upon meeting Amarantha, Feyre states that while she's attractive she's not some devastatingly beautiful goddess of death, which actually makes Feyre more afraid of her, seeing as this seemingly ordinary woman has laid waste to armies, enslaved High Lords and is the most powerful being in Prythian.

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