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Ninth Pass Weyrleaders
F'lar
Rider of bronze Mnementh, and eventually Weyrleader of Benden Weyr. He prepares Pern for the coming of Thread at the beginning of the Ninth Pass, and all through the series is almost obsessed with the idea of permanently defeating Thread. He is well-known as a fair and respected leader.- Action Dad: Flies in the bronze wing as Weyrleader; he is the father of F'lessan.
- Aliens Made Them Do It: Caught up in the mating of their dragons, F'lar has extremely rough sex with Lessa, causing her to freeze up whenever he touches her afterwards. Worse, F'lar notes that while he's much gentler afterwards, their sex "might as well be rape" unless their dragons are involved...bringing up the implication that he's still having sex with her outside of their dragons even when he's aware that she's unwilling. This is later smoothed over and it appears they become consensual lovers.
- Anger Born of Worry: Has this when Lessa times it to the Eighth Pass to bring forward the Oldtimers. He is terrified and grief-stricken, believing that Lessa has surely perished, and when she finally returns he seriously shakes her by the shoulders for scaring him so badly.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: He's intrigued by Lessa's beauty and determination, but initially can't trust her after seeing how manipulative she is. Eventually they thaw toward one another and become devoted friends and lovers.
- Battle Couple: Fights Thread alongside Lessa on their dragons.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Lessa and F'lar, after they band together to help defend Pern against Thread at the start of the Ninth Pass.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Lessa to F'lar, a lot. He also gets it from F'nor.
- Guile Hero: A master manipulator in his own right, he employs his skills to organize the Holders and get them on board with the Weyr's plans when emergency arises.
- Happily Married: While never formally wed to Lessa, the two live as a married couple and share a very warm relationship.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: F'lar is huge compared to Lessa.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Has shades of this in Dragonflight. He gets better in later books, though.
- Pride: His main fault.
- Properly Paranoid: He is the only bronze dragonrider in his Weyr to seriously believe in the old tales about Thread returning and prepares his wing to fight Thread once more.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He is the Weyrleader of Benden after Mnementh flies Ramoth. His dragonriders (and all of Pern) look up to him as a wise leader and trust him to do what is right for the planet.
T'bor
Rider of bronze Orth, and one of the few active bronze riders at Benden Weyr at the start of Dragonflight. After Orth flies Prideth, T'bor becomes the first Weyrleader of Southern Weyr. He later changes to Weyrleader of High Reaches after the Oldtimers' banishment to the Southern Continent.- Awful Wedded Life: Not married per se, but as Weyrleader to Kylara the relationship is similar in many ways. It is not a happy experience for either of them.
- Hot-Blooded: Tends to speak and act rashly, which F'lar finds unhelpful when they're trying to reason with the Oldtimers.
N'ton
Weyrleader of Fort after the Oldtimers' banishment to the Southern Continent.T'gellan
Weyrmate of Mirrim, and eventual Weyrleader of Monaco/Eastern Weyr.- Happily Married: To Mirrim.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Is the Weyrleader of Monaco in later books, and much-liked and respected.
K'van
Rider of bronze Heth, first introduced as Keevan in the short story The Smallest Dragonboy. Eventually becomes Weyrleader of Southern Weyr, once the exiled Oldtimers have either died out or grown to old to cause problems. Ninth Pass Weyrwomen
Lessa
The youngest daughter of Lord Kale and Lady Adessa of Ruatha Hold, and the last surviving member of that bloodline. She accepts a challenge from bronze rider F'lar to become Weyrwoman of Benden Weyr, and impresses gold Ramoth.- Action Girl: And how. Despite living in a time when it is considered traditional for women to keep house and raise families rather than do what men can do, Lessa proves that she can run Benden Weyr and fly her dragon in a queens' wing against Thread.
- Action Mom: After giving birth to Felessan, Lessa becomes this, as she continues to fly in the queens' wing and fight Thread even though she is now a mother.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: With F'lar.
- Battle Couple: Fights Thread alongside F'lar on their dragons.
- Been There, Shaped History: She travels back in time on Ramoth to the end of the Eighth Pass, where she convinces the dragonriders of Fort, Ista, Igen, Telgar, and High Reaches to go forward in time with her to help fight Thread in the Ninth Pass.
- Best Served Cold: Lessa carefully plots her revenge on Fax for ten years, starting from when she's only a child.
- Big Damn Heroes: Goes back in time to the end of the Eighth Pass to bring forward the Oldtimers.
- Brainy Brunette: Lessa is quite attractive once she washes away the grime and cleans herself up properly, and is also very intelligent.
- Broken Bird: After witnessing the murder of her family, being forced into hiding as a servant for her entire childhood, and subjected to constant abuse, Lessa is initially manipulative and mistrustful. Gradually she overcomes her traumatic past as she grows more confident.
- Charm Person: It's hard to tell if Lessa's really just that good at manipulating others or if her latent psychic abilities plays a part in her success.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Her family was murdered by Fax ten years before the events of the first book, leaving Lessa alone and disguised as a servant in Ruatha Hold, waiting for the right time to reclaim her birthright.
- Determinator/Plucky Girl: Lessa never gives up on her quest to reclaim her birthright. It's amazing the lengths to which she goes to get what she wants.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Lessa and F'lar, after they band together to help defend Pern against Thread at the start of the Ninth Pass.
- Florence Nightingale Effect: Lessa notices F'lar's manliness when she is treating his wounds in Benden Weyr, just after their return from Ruatha in Dragonflight.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Lessa to F'lar.
- Guile Hero: Lessa often uses her wits and her intelligence to fool her enemies.
- Happily Married: While not officially wed, F'lar and Lessa do live as if they fit into this trope.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: She's already short, but compared to F'lar, Lessa is tiny due to childhood malnourishment.
- I Thought Everyone Could Do That: When F'lar discovers her ability to hear any dragon, this is her response to him complaining that she hadn't told him about that ability.
- Manipulative Bitch: Lessa could be said to be this, before she impresses Ramoth.
- The Napoleon: In almost every scene we're told how short Lessa is. But bossy. Very very bossy.
- Near-Death Experience: Lessa almost dies of asphyxiation and hypothermia when she goes between times to the end of the Eighth Pass.
- Years later she almost dies giving birth to F'lessan, which leads to her and F'lar taking measures to make sure she does not become pregnant again.
- Never the Selves Shall Meet: Lessa witnesses her ten-year-old self hiding in the watchwyer's den on the night her family was murdered but can't interfere or help her.
- Parental Abandonment: Lessa's entire family were murdered by Fax and his men ten years before the beginning of Dragonflight.
- Pride: This is Lessa's major fault. In The White Dragon she almost allows dragons to fight dragons because she and Ramoth feel insulted at the stealing of a queen egg from Benden's hatching grounds.
- Psychic Powers: Lessa can hear all dragons, and can also psychically influence or control the minds of those around her.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Lessa is respected as a fair Weyrwoman of Benden Weyr, despite her temper.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: F'lar first suspects Lessa of being more than she seems when he notices that under her ragged clothes and filthy hair, she's kept herself clean and is far too pretty for a mere kitchen drudge. When she finally gets a bath, her true beauty becomes clear.
- Starting a New Life: In Dragonflight, when she accepts F'lar's offer for her to become Weyrwoman of Benden.
- Vengeance Feels Empty: After finally getting her hard-won revenge and reclaiming her birthright, Lessa realizes that she never really planned for anything beyond revenge and that she has no idea how to run a Hold.
Kylara
A spoilt and haughty girl, found in the same Search that discovered Lessa. Is rider of gold Prideth, and Weyrwoman of Southern Weyr and later High Reaches.- Alpha Bitch: In part because she's self-absorbed and uncontrollable, F'lar and Lessa send her to be Weyrwoman of the recently reestablished Southern Weyr, where she becomes even more impossible once she has authority.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She is very attractive, but also spoilt, selfish and mean. The others in her Weyr can barely stand her.
- Bond Creatures: Her gold dragon Prideth, and later an unnamed gold fire lizard.
- Empty Shell: In Dragonquest, when her dragon Prideth rises to mate at the same time as Wirenth, the two Queens end up fighting one another with Wirenth ultimately seizing Prideth and taking her Between, killing them both. Kylara, due to her connection with Prideth, has her mind broken by her partner's sudden demise.
- Fate Worse than Death: The other dragonriders consider her final fate, left effectively broken and trapped within her own mind by the death of her dragon, to be this.
- Jerkass: Seems to have no other ambition than beating Lessa for the role of Alpha Bitch.
- Significant Name: Her gold dragon's name is Prideth, a reflection of Kylara's arrogance.
Brekke
Rider of gold Wirenth, and junior Weyrwoman under Kylara. She is Weyrmate to F'nor, and foster-mother to Mirrim.- Bond Creatures: She Impresses bronze fire lizard Berd in Dragonquest.
- Happily Married: To F'nor.
- Heroic BSoD: Has one after her dragon is killed. It takes Berd (her fire-lizard) to snap her out of it.
- Nice Girl: She doesn't have a mean bone in her body.
- Psychic Powers: She can hear all dragons; this helps her survive after her dragon Wirenth is killed during a mating flight gone wrong.
- You Are Not Alone: After the death of her dragon and the near-loss of her lover F'nor, Brekke is drawn back from the verge of despair by her fire-lizard, whose mental bond reminds her of this.
Ninth Pass Other Dragonriders
F'nor
Rider of brown Canth, and half-brother to F'lar. Is Wingleader after F'lar becomes Benden's Weyrleader. In Dragonquest he meets gold rider Brekke and falls in love with her, eventually becoming her weyrmate.- Body Horror: Gets almost all of his skin horrifically burned after attempting a trip to the Red Star.
- Bond Creatures: Aside from his dragon Canth, he Impresses gold fire lizard Grall in Dragonquest.
- Happily Married: To Brekke.
- Nice Guy: He is much nicer than his half-brother, and is not afraid to show it.
Mirrim
Brekke's foster-daughter and, much later, rider of green Path and mate to bronze rider T'gellan. She has a very bossy, prickly personality and is hard to like.- Action Girl: After impressing Path, she becomes the first female green rider in a very long time.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She is prickly and bad-tempered most of the time, but also has a nice side (though she seldom shows it). She cares deeply about her mate T'gellan and Monaco Weyr, and always has Pern's best interests at heart.
- Parental Substitute: Brekke is this to her.
- Surprise Pregnancy: She is very shocked when the dolphins tell her that she is pregnant, because she believed she would never be able to have a baby after all of her and T'gellan's failed attempts.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Notoriously prickly in other books, she is extremely pleasant and gentle with Menolly in the Harper Hall Trilogy and the two grow to like one another. She's also significantly less grumpy after impressing Path.
F'lessan
Son of F'lar and Lessa, and rider of bronze Golanth. He eventually becomes mate to green rider Tai.- Body Horror: Is brutally scarred after being mauled by wildcats in The Skies of Pern.
- Near-Death Experience: Is almost mauled to death by wildcats on the Southern Continent in Skies of Pern.
Tai
Rider of green Zaranth and mate to F'lessan.- Rape as Drama: She had some very bad experiences during her dragon's mating flights.
Ninth Pass Weyrfolk
Manora
The Headwoman of Benden Weyr. Ninth Pass Holders
Jaxom
Son of the hated conqueror Fax and Lady Gemma of Crom, and rider of white Ruth. He is Lord of Ruatha Hold.- A Boy and His X: As a sickly, frail child himself, Jaxom finds himself drawn to an undersized, unhatched "dud" dragon egg, breaks it open, and Impresses the white dragon Ruth. As two runty underdogs, the two bond and flourish with one another.
- Abuse Mistake: Corana didn't struggle when Jaxom grabbed her note , but she didn't explicitly consent either. After the fact, it's clarified that she matched his "violent lust", but that doesn't make him feel much better.Ruth: She enjoyed it very much
- A Man Is Always Eager: He feels insecure because his dragon is asexual, even though practically everyone tells him it doesn't matter. Fortunately (?), he soon has bigger problems to think about.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Jaxom's mother died giving birth to him; his father was Fax, the 'Lord of Seven Holds' who was killed by F'lar of Benden in a duel on the same day of Jaxom's birth.
- Florence Nightingale Effect: Jaxom meets his future wife Sharra when she's sent to Cove Hold to help nurse him through a near-fatal attack of fire-head fever.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: As a Lord Holder and a dragonrider, Jaxom won't ever be normal, and he knows it. But his unique circumstances — heir to Ruatha Hold and rider to the white dragon Ruth — leave him badly isolated from others his own age, and at times he'd much rather have friends than be a Lord-in-training.
- Leeroy Jenkins: He's so desperate to prove himself that he fights Thread at the first opportunity he's given, even though he has a debilitating cold at the time. And then he teleports through between, worsening the cold, which is actually a vicious disease that almost kills him. Oops.
- Never the Selves Shall Meet: While he's at Benden Weyr in response to the theft of a queen egg, he sees something in the shadows of the Hatching Cavern — a future version of himself, returning the rescued queen egg after traveling between times. He starts to run that way, then practically passes out from a sudden, unexplained wave of weakness. This is typical of dragonriders who get too close to time-traveling versions of themselves.
Sharra
Jaxom's wife and Toric's sister. A talented healer who likes to assist Master Oldive in his work.- Florence Nightingale Effect: Sharra falls in love with Jaxom while treating him for sun-head fever on the Southern Continent.
- The Medic: Sharra is skilled in healing, and often helps Master Oldive in the Healer Hall in that regard.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Toric tries this on Sharra when it is revealed that she and Jaxom plan to be married. Luckily, Jaxom makes it clear in a very satisfying and dramatic fashion that he and Sharra will not be parted, and that as a dragonrider he will come for her anywhere on Pern.
Toric
A Lord Holder who leads a holding on the Southern Continent. He is very ambitious and ruthless, and will do anything to further his land and influence. He is brother to Sharra.- Jerkass: Especially in later books, where he'll go out of his way to belittle and/or inconvenience the protagonists out of spite.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Toric tries this on Sharra when it is revealed that she and Jaxom plan to be married. Luckily, Jaxom makes it clear in a very satisfying and dramatic fashion that he and Sharra will not be parted, and that as a dragonrider he will come for her anywhere on Pern.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In Dragondrums (chronogically his first appearance of note), Toric is portrayed as a friendly and helpful ally. By The White Dragon, however, he's become an entitled, obstructionist Jerkass. He stays this way to various degrees in the next couple of books... and then in The Skies of Pern he becomes almost cartoonishly antagonistic. He punches F'nor in the face for having the temerity to warn him about an imminent tsunami, and goes so far as to meet with the Abominator terrorists and even helps smuggle their leader into Landing, for no clear motiviation besides pure dickishness.
- Wild Card: Seems to go back and forth between grudging ally and scheming antagonist. For the most part he's an over-ambitious control freak who, for various reasons, dislikes most of the series' protagonists and enjoys inconveniencing them, but doesn't really cross the line into actual villainy; he can even be occasionally helpful. In the later books, however, he becomes more and more obsessive and secretive, and his agenda more overtly sinister.
Jayge
- Happily Married: To Aramina.
Aramina
A girl who can hear all dragons. She is targeted by renegades and flees Benden Weyr to avoid the voices of the dragons which are driving her mad as she can't shut them out. She eventually falls in love with Jayge and settles on the Southern Continent with him.- Happily Married: To Jayge.
- Power Incontinence: She can't shut out the dragons' voices.
- Psychic Powers: She can hear all dragons, but can't shut out their voices at all.
- Refusal of the Call: She refuses to become a dragonrider because of the aforementioned psychic power weakness.
Ninth Pass Harper Hall Characters
Robinton
The Masterharper of Pern during the Ninth Pass.- Abusive Parents: Though his mother Merelan is kind and motherly and clearly a good parent, his father is anything but. Petiron seems to resent Robinton's gifts and while he is growing up tries to teach and discipline him in ways which hinder his talents and make him unhappy.
- Bond Creatures: He Impresses bronze fire lizard Zair in Dragonsinger. Zair dies with his master when Robinton passes away from old age and failing health near the end of All the Weyrs of Pern.
- Childhood Friends: With F'lon, F'lar and F'nor's father.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Robinton becomes an alcoholic of a sort after Kasia's death, drinking wine a lot to off-set the pain and grief which comes at remembering her loss.
- Eccentric Mentor: He is mentor to Sebell, Menolly and in a way Piemur, and is known for his many eccentricities.
- First Girl Wins: Kasia is the first girl Robinton meets and falls in love with. It is stated outright that he will always love her. It is the reason Silvina doesn't accept Robinton's offer of marriage after he discovers that she is pregnant with his child.
- Good Is Not Soft: Robinton is a good man, one filled with kindness and love for outcasts and his own people. Do not mistake that for weakness. While not raising a hand to personally harm an evil man, Robinton was more than willing to allow the pain of his cancer torture the man until Lord Meron finally names a successor. And then tricks Meron into naming the one decent and good person of his potential heirs by making him seem the most disliked of the options by forgetting him once or twice when listing them.
- Guile Hero: As a man with nothing but skill in music, Robinton typically uses his wit in crafting plots and spy maneuvers in gathering information on enemies to himself and F'lar. See Good Is Not Soft for his handling of that situation.
- Happily Married: Briefly, to Kasia, before she died of fever.
- Missed the Call: In The Masterharper of Pern Robinton is noted to have the ability to speak to (and hear) dragons, leading to his mother actually hoping that he would be Searched by a Weyr in order to get him out of their troubled home. Unfortunately no queens were laying when Robinton was of the optimal age to Impress a dragon. Years later, he gets something of a second chance when he Impresses the fire lizard Zair.
- Never Gets Drunk: According to some of the supplementary material, has the fourth highest capacity for alcohol on the planet (After Mastersmith Fandarel, and the Mastervinters of the Tillek and Benden wineries).
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Is the Masterharper of Pern, and well-liked and respected as a fair leader.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He gives a blistering one in the first book to the holders who have refused to believe the Thread has returned.
- The Spymaster: Has a network of spies set up all over Pern which he controls as the Masterharper.
Menolly
A self-effacing sea-holder's daughter who happens to be a musical prodigy. Discovered by Petiron, Menolly eventually makes her way to the Harper Hall where she is trained by Masterharper Robinton to be a Master Harper.- Abusive Parents: Her parents treat her horribly.
- Agony of the Feet: Caught outside during Threadfall while Holdless, Menolly tries to beat the leading edge of the Thread back to her cave and ends up running first the soles off her boots then the skin off the soles of her feet before she is rescued in the nick of time. She can barely walk for the entirety of the next book, and years later she comments that her feet are still sensitive.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Menolly is the Hall's only female apprentice. Unwilling to put her in the apprentice dorm, the Harpers instead have her room with the snobby female students, who are there for general music education, not to become official Harpers. The other apprentices reject Menolly because she's a girl and the other girls reject her because she's not one of them. (Eventually she makes inroads with the apprentices, but the girls never really warm to her.)
- And the Rest: Menolly's fire-lizards. We mostly see her queen Beauty and the two bronzes, Rocky and Diver; the others get very short shrift: her third brown fire-lizard has so few distinguishing characteristics that she just names him "Brownie", and her two greens are so similar that she names them "Auntie One" and "Auntie Two."
- Bond Creatures: She Impressed nine fire lizards (gold Beauty, bronzes Rocky and Diver, browns Lazybones, Mimic and Brownie, blue Uncle, and greens Auntie One and Auntie Two) by sheer chance in Dragonsong, and a tenth (Poll, her third bronze) by the time of The White Dragon.
- Broken Bird: Menolly's parents have driven into her mind that she's inferior because she's a girl and behave as if they're ashamed of her. Gradually she's come to believe that there must be something "wrong" with her.
- Child Prodigy: She's a teen rather than a child, but she's incredibly talented when it comes to composing and performing music; for example, she's able to near-perfectly play one of Domick's torturously complicated compositions after one brief read-through of the score.
- Chilly Reception: When she first joins the Harpers, the girls she intially stays with (except one) and their matron treat her coldly.
- Chore Character Exploration: We learn a lot about Menolly in Dragonsong by observing her day-to-day life in different circumstances.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Raised in one of the most strict and repressive Holds on Pern, neglected and shamed by her family, forbidden to practice the music she loves, beaten by her father for playing music or singing, and—perhaps most horribly—betrayed by her mother who deliberately allows a hand injury to heal incorrectly in hopes of crippling Menolly to the point where she can no longer play an instrument.
- Ear Worm: Incredibly, this is a plot point. While Harper Hall has plenty of musicians who can compose in the classical style, Menolly's gift is her ability to craft memorable, catchy tunes. Essentially, she's Pern's first pop musician. Robinton recognizes the value of simple songs that can be sung by everyone and is determined to find her, and eventually he's able to identify her by tricking her into playing one of her distinctive songs.
- Ensign Newbie: Graduates from being an apprentice to being a journeyman in a single week. Somewhat justified, as Menolly was unwittingly doing apprentice work under her old master Petiron for several years, so that by the time she reaches Harper Hall, the Masters quickly realize that while her talents still can use some refinement, she's got all the basics down pat. (Plus at around fifteen, Menolly's much older than the typical new apprentice, who started at age ten.)
- Experienced Protagonist: In most areas except social. By the beginning of Dragonsong Menolly already possesses the joyrneyman level harpering skills, is a competent sea holder, can handle massive culinary projects (at least if they involve fish), has well-developed holdless survival skills, and can handle herself in a fight surprisingly well, all of which is justified by fifteen years of rather harsh and demanding sea-holder life combined with strict Petiron's mentorship. Her only problem is a complete lack of any faith in herself.
- Happily Married: To Sebell.
- Huge Schoolgirl: Menolly is a noticeably tall and lanky teen who later develops a Tiny Guy, Huge Girl friendship with the shorter-than-average Piemur.
- Hot for Teacher: Menolly later develops feelings for Robinton; though the two of them acknowledge their attraction, they choose not to pursue a relationship, as Menolly is already with Sebell and Robinton doesn't want to come between them.
- Informed Ability: Sort of unavoidable, since a reader has to take the word of the other characters in regards to how catchy her tunes actually are.
- Insists on Paying: We don't know whether she changed this attitude since her apprentice times or not.
- Like a Duck Takes to Water: Adapts to Harper Hall life in a sevenday. Would probably do equally well in Benden Weyr.
- Mama Bear: Even before she's an actual mom, Menolly tends to come in with fists flying to protect anyone smaller or weaker than she is.
- Not Like Other Girls: As the only female Harper apprentice, often gets compared to non-apprentice female students.
- Oneofthe Boys: After arriving to the Harper Hall, gets respected and accepted by boy apprentices almost instantly (in less than three days).
- Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Benis experiences the weight of Menolly's punch not because she defends herself, but because he kicks Piemur
- Samus Is a Girl: Subverted. We know Menolly's a girl from the start, but part of the reason Harper Hall never connects the Sea Holder's missing daughter with Petiron's disappeared apprentice is because Petiron neglected to mention that his apprentice was female, leading the Harpers to search for a missing male musician. (There's even some overlap with Lady Looks Like a Dude: Menolly is tall and lanky, trims her hair short, and wears trousers, which causes the new Half-Circle Harper to mistake her for a boy and suspect she might be the missing musician...only to dismiss his suspicions when he learns she's really a girl.)
- She Cleans Up Nicely: After getting new set of clothing and haircut in Benden, becomes barely recogniseable and rather good-looking.
- Shrinking Violet: When she finally arrives at Harper Hall, Menolly has spent so many years being scolded for being herself that she apologizes for everything and continues to downplay her talents until the Masterharper himself tells her to cut it out, pointing out that he wouldn't have worked so hard to find her if she wasn't a big deal and that whenever she undervalues herself, she's also undervaluing his ability to recognize great talent.
Piemur
A cheeky boy who Menolly befriends in the Harper Hall.- Bond Creatures: Piemur envies Menolly's nine fire-lizards in Dragonsinger, and finally manages to Impress his own gold fire-lizard Farli in Dragondrums.
- Chilly Reception: After his voice changes, he's sent to the Drum Heights temporarily to learn another trade while his voice settles. The other established apprentices there don't appreciate him.
- Growing Up Sucks: His voice changing at puberty abruptly yanked him out of his comfortable place as a boy soprano.
- Guile Hero: Being much smaller than the other boys, Piemur's learned to use his wits to get and stay ahead, a talent that serves him well in the Masterharper's secret spywork.
- Happily Married: He eventually hooks up with Mastersmith Fandarel's granddaughter Jancis, and they're very happy together.
- I Got Bigger: Is surprised to see Menolly is no longer towering over him in Dragondrums. Gets at least partially retconned later.
- Inopportune Voice Cracking: Piemur has a beautiful boy soprano voice and is the star of the choir until puberty hits.
- Mouthy Kid: Piemur makes up for his small stature by being a big talker who can convince people of anything.
Master Domick
The MasterComposer in the Harper Hall.- Complexity Addiction: His compositions are the musical equivalents of Rube Goldberg machines.
- Deadpan Snarker: Always snarking, all the time.
- Hates Everyone Equally: Including himself, as Sebell notes to Menolly at one point.
Master Shonagar
The MasterSinger in the Harper Hall.- Brilliant, but Lazy: Physically, at least; he never leaves his classroom and spends most of his time sleeping.
- Fascinating Eyebrow: Useful when experimenting with fire lizards!
- Large Ham: Extremely expressive and loud.
- Heavy Sleeper: When tired, instantly falls asleep. Can be roused only by food or flat singing.
- Trrrilling Rrrs: Incorrrporrates those.
Master Morshal
A Master Harper / Craftmaster in Musical Theory and Composition in the Harper Hall.- Berserk Button: Try disagreeing with Marshal while being an apprentice. A new apprentice. A new apprentice who's also a girl.
- He-Man Woman Hater: Feels it's a waste of time to teach girls because it wouldn't do them any good. Robinton mentions that his dislike of females is a running joke in the Harper Hall and tells Menolly not to take it personally.
Silvina
The Headwoman in the Harper Hall.- The Heart: Silvina is generally warm and kind to everyone, even the lowest members of the Weyr.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Robinton acknowledges Silvina as the only person who really knows what's she's doing around here.
Camo
Robinton's son by Silvina.- Does Not Know His Own Strength: Camo is completely unaware that he's a huge, muscled hulk of a man. When he's upset, he comes in flailing at both friend and foe.
- Friend to All Living Things: Menolly's fire lizards, who are reluctant to befriend anyone except Menolly, flock to Camo without hesitation. Or at least when he's carrying a large bowl of meat scraps for them to eat.
- Gentle Giant: Camo is huge, but mostly harmless.
- Hulk Speak: "Camo feed pretties?"
- Kindhearted Simpleton: Camo is slow-witted (having suffered brain damage from a lack of oxygen at birth), but overall a gentle, helpful soul.
Sebell
Robinton's assistant Harper, and Robinton's eventual successor as Masterharper of Pern.- Bond Creatures: He Impresses gold fire lizard Kimi in Dragonsinger.
- Guile Hero: Though not as much as Robinton, Sebell often uses his wits to outsmart or trick his enemies.
- Happily Married: To Menolly.
- The Spymaster: As Masterharper of Pern he has control of a vast network of spies.
Dunca
Elderly obese cotholder at Fort Hold, who provides living to paying female students attached to Harper Hall.- Insufferable Imbecile: Makes a fool of herself on several occasions. It's often commented that she's also fat.
- Hypocrite: Preaches her cot to be a place of friendliness and a place where ranks do not matter. Meanwhile, she also intentionally tries to damage a child's reputation and creates a snake nest of rank-obsessed girls.
- The Resenter: Hates Menolly from day one because of her fire lizards and overall "otherness", and probably because Menolly was Petiron's apprentice, when he reportedly ran away to end out his career and life at Half-Circle to get away from Dunca's attentions.
Ninth Pass Healers
Master Oldive
The Masterhealer of Pern.- Good Is Not Soft: He is a man who will treat patients without much comment on their actions or politics. That said, in Dragondrums when Robinton planned to use Meron's cancer's pains to torture the man into naming a successor, Oldive steps out of the room to "treat others," ignoring Meron's cries of pain until he named someone. The moment a name is called, he returns back in the room.
- The Medic: Is renowned as a dedicated healer. He is always searching for ways to improve his craft.
