Characters / Swordspoint

Alec Campion

David Alexander Tielman Campion, Duke Tremontaine

• Anguished Declaration of Love: Gives one to Richard in The Privilege of the Sword.
• The Anti-Nihilist: Is angry enough at the world that he attempts to make it better.
• Badass Bookworm: A University trained scholar, he mathematically proved heliocentrism prior to Swordspoint, was shown working on Coverley's Last Theorem, an alternate world-version of Fermat's Last Theorem in The Privilege of the Sword, and used an ancient law found in a book in the Tremontaine library to save Richard from execution in Swordspoint.
• Big Good: During The Privilege of the Sword. Riverside is a much better place than it was in Swordspoint thanks to him. He founds orphanages, endows a Chair for women and astronomy at the University, and prevents corrupt nobles from passing laws detrimental to the country as a whole.
• Broken Bird: Due to his family and a series of events in his early adulthood. Shares this trait with his sister, Janine, Katherine's mother, and what he endeavors to keep from happening to Katherine.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He is unstable, drunk or high most of the time, presents as a libertine and is so eccentric he appears half-mad, but he runs rings around the Council of Nobles, essentially rules Riverside and maintains an excellent spy network, all of which Katherine discovers in The Privilege of the Sword.
• Byronic Hero: Mad, bad and dangerous to know.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Ferris underestimates him in Swordspoint and again in The Privilege of the Sword. Part of Katherine's journey in The Privilege of the Sword is learning how appearances, particularly her uncle's, can be deceiving.
• Dark and Troubled Past: We catch glimpses of what happened to him throughout the books: Abusive Parents, a Manipulative Bitch grandmother, a brilliant mathematical theory buried by the University and which caused his friends to be expelled, and being raped by Lord Horn in Swordspoint, for a start. It's the main reason why he's routinely sarcastic, dark and bitter, as well as a Death Seeker in Swordspoint and The Hedonist in The Privilege of the Sword.
• Declaration of Protection: Katherine and Marcus. No one is allowed to hurt them and he eventually kills Ferris to keep Katherine safe.
• Eccentric Mentor: To Katherine and Marcus.
• The Gadfly: For altruistic reasons, but also because he likes to shock and annoy people who refuse to think.
• Good Parents: To Katherine, who had an absent father and whose childlike mother was The Ophelia.
• The Hedonist: In The Privilege of the Sword. A sign of his approaching Despair Event Horizon and implied to have begun after Richard left him.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Knight in Sour Armor: He is surprisingly chivalrous for a libertine.
• Mad Mathematician: Known as the Mad Duke, he was also a brilliant mathematician and astronomer.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: A male, platonic version to his niece, Katherine.
• Meaningful Echo: Some of Alec's speech inflections, like his aristocratic drawl and habit of saying "Re-eally," as well as some of the things he used to say - including in a truly adorable moment in The Fall of the Kings - are echoed by Katherine and Marcus throughout The Privilege of the Sword and The Fall of the Kings, illustrating how important he was to them.
  • Katherine echoes him throughout The Privilege of the Sword. She demands respect in their first meeting, and gives him her full name, echoing the young Alec demanding respect from Rafe Fenton in Tremontaine. Towards the end of the book, she tells Alec that she knows all his names now, answering Alec's question to her at their first meeting, but also his crisis of faith about how it should matter to call things by their true name.
• Morality Pet: Katherine is his.
• Official Couple: With Richard in Swordspoint.
• One True Love: Richard St. Vier
• Papa Wolf: When he thought first Katherine and then Marcus had been raped in The Privilege of the Sword, Katherine noted how fiercely protective he became.
• Parental Substitute: To Marcus who was orphaned and subsequently sold into child prostitution in Riverside and, unwillingly at first on both their parts, Katherine.
• Princely Young Man: Numerous characters comment on this. A Riverside girl calls him "O my prince," in Swordspoint, the Black Rose thought he was a prince when she was young, Katherine calls him an "enchanted prince" in The Privilege of the Sword, and he appears to innately engender loyalty once he becomes Duke Tremontaine, as shown in The Duke of Riverside.
• Renaissance Man: Mathematics, astronomy, politics, business, poetry, history, fashion, etc.
• Second Love: Sophia
• The One That Got Away: Richard in The Privilege of the Sword.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Towards the end of Swordspoint.

Anthony Deverin, Lord Ferris

• Smug Snake: Attempts to outsmart Tremontaine through Swordspoint and The Privilege of the Sword. Diane, Alec and Katherine all take him down a peg, and Alec eventually kills him when he threatens Katherine.

Arlen

• The Good Chancellor: Seems to be the case for the Lord Arlen around during Swordspoint. His successor in The Fall of the Kings, seems to be either an Evil Chancellor or at the least a Well-Intentioned Extremist, given that he approved the killing of Basil St. Cloud and Theron Campion when he thought they were attempting to bring back a king to rule the Land.
• Secret Police: The current Lord Arlen always runs this, since the fall of the kings.

Basil St. Cloud

• Badass Bookworm: Discovers a two hundred year old attempt to cover up magic, and essentially teaches himself to become a Wizard from books and papers he found at the University in The Fall of the Kings.
• Court Mage: What he attempts to become in The Fall of the Kings.
• The Professor: A Doctor of Ancient History and teacher at the University.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: The more he studies the Wizards and acquires magical learning in The Fall of the Kings, the less stable he becomes, until he tries to enact a dangerous magical ceremony during a scholarly debate at the University, where he attempts to crown and then magically control Theron as his Little King, and is killed for it.

Diane de Tremontaine

Diane Roehaven Tielman, Duchess Tremontaine, a.k.a. "Louisa"

• The Baroness
• Beauty Equals Goodness: A subversion. Everyone thinks her delicate beauty is angelic but she is actually a ruthless, sociopathic manipulator.
• Berserk Button: Not being in control. Also, having to display her power overtly.
• Big Bad: Of Tremontaine. She discreetly takes over the duchy and then the entire City; destroys the lives of those who stand in her way, be they good or other selfish individuals; and keeps the City in a backwater status by covering up advances in astronomical research—spearheaded by her husband, Will, and his lover, the scholar Rafe Fenton—in order to have a complete monopoly on trade. Her descendants, almost without exception, exhibit her brilliance and political savvy, but have her husband, Will's, moral compass.
• Dark Secret: The fact that she is not the real Diane Roehaven, but rather her servant girl, Louisa, who killed the real Diane and took her place years before the events in Tremontaine, is something the duchess will do anything including resorting to murder and poisoning her own husband to cover up.
• Even Evil Has Standards: In Tremontaine she may be willing to poison her husband into insanity, but she eventually draws the line at killing him. Instead she disposes of him by sending him over the sea to Kaab's people.
• It's All About Me: Is incredibly selfish, likely sociopathic, and won't hesitate to sacrifice anyone who stands in the way of her goals. Her husband, Will, and the real 'Diane,' in Tremontaine, her daughter, Honora, who she essentially ignores her entire life, and Alec in Swordspoint. She views all her relatives based on if they could be useful to her and entirely writes off her Nice Girl granddaughter, Janine, while she's still a child.
• Magnificent Bastard: The way she takes over the duchy and re-establishes the Tremontaine fortune in Tremontaine shows the unscrupulous side of this trope, whereas how she brings about Ferris' fall, with Alec's help in Swordspoint shows the magnificent side.
• Manipulative Bitch
• Moral Event Horizon: What she does to Will in Tremontaine. Also, how she treats her grandson, Alec at the end of Swordspoint.
• Pet the Dog: Her relationship with Octavian Perry, whom she has genuine feelings for.
• Royal Blood: In Tremontaine, it's implied she's descended from the ancient Northern kings, despite not being the real Diane.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Potentially in Swordspoint. It's unclear, especially as Alec remains resentful and traumatized by her fifteen years later, during the events of The Privilege of the Sword.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: Much is made of her beauty, even when she's a grandmother.

Flavia

• Good with Numbers: a mathematician at the University
• Odd Friendship: With Alec Campion. She's ugly, serious, uninterested in fashion or drugs, and implied to be from the lower classes. He's elegant, attractive, hedonistic, a noble with Royal Blood and a powerful duke. They bond over mathematics.
• The Professor

Honora Tielman Campion

Daughter of Will and Diane. Mother of Janine and Alec. Wife of Lord Raymond Campion.

• Abusive Parents: Treated her children appallingly. Was alternately ignored and treated as a political pawn by her own mother.
• The Fundamentalist: Said to be a devout member of the Reform Church, which was apparently not common and which taught radical beliefs.
• Rebellious Princess: Much closer to her father than her mother. Implied to have recognized Diane's Manipulative Bitch tendencies and to have married the first minor lord she found, to be free of her mother's machinations.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Sometime between Tremontaine and Swordspoint.

Ixkaab "Kaab" Balam

• Action Girl
• Heel Realization: Has a bit of one in Tremontaine after she helps Diane poison Will, irrevocably damaging his mind. She tells Rafe where and when the Duke's ship is departing, so he can say good-bye to his One True Love for the last time.
• Master Swordsman: Learns to be this in Riverside.
• Merchant Prince: Is the heir to a wealthy and powerful trading family from across the sea, roughly analogous to the Aztec Empire, which seeks to maintain its dominance in Tremontaine.
• Odd Friendship: With Rafe Fenton. Their families are rivals, and she seeks to protect the astronomical hegemony of her people while Rafe is a mathematician and astronomer who's on the verge of a world-changing breakthrough. After she helps Diane bury Rafe's work and destroy his lover, Will's, sanity she has a Heel Realization due to hurting him.
• Power is Sexy: Has an affair with Diane despite knowing the other woman is a ruthless Manipulative Bitch and poisoning her own husband into insanity, specifically because of this trope.

Janine Campion Talbert

• Angelic Beauty: Beautiful, aristocratic and delicate. Shares this trait with her brother, Alec. Katherine, her daughter, who is short and stocky, notes this about them both.
• Cool Big Sis: Alec saw her as this before she married Charles Talbert.
• Broken Bird: Due to her Abusive Parents, Manipulative Bitch grandmother, and being married off to a much older man at the age of fourteen.
• Nice Girl: Kind and gentle
• The Ophelia: Shows shades of being delicate and mentally unstable due to events in her childhood.
• The Storyteller: To her little brother, Alec, when they were both growing up. He later told her that her stories saved his life.

Jessica Campion

• Action Girl: a merchant and sea captain who's no slouch in a fight.
• Guile Hero: Moves between this and Magnificent Bastard in The Fall of the Kings.
• Heroic Bastard: Alec's illegitimate daughter by his actress mistress, the Black Rose. She's styled "Lady" Jessica by Society for the sake of politeness, but it doesn't matter to either her or her family that she's illegitimate. She's brought up by Katherine after Alec flees into exile at the end of The Privilege of the Sword, is implied to have been raised as Katherine's heir, and is even offered the duchy by her half-brother, Theron, in The Fall of the Kings.
• In the Blood: The Fall of the Kings shows she's just as good an actress as her birth-mother, the Black Rose.
• Merchant Prince: Considered by the City to be a mix of this and a Pirate Girl, due to her status as a rebellious Tremontaine.
• Rebellious Princess: Wants nothing to do with the responsibilities of Tremontaine.
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Inherits Alec's striking green eyes and has hennaed-red hair.
• Undying Loyalty: Ends up having this for Tremontaine, i.e., her family, and specifically Katherine in The Fall of the Kings.

Katherine Talbert

Katherine Samantha Campion Talbert, Duchess Tremontaine

• Action Girl
• The Apprentice: To Richard St. Vier and Alec Campion.
• Better as Friends: Eventually her and Marcus decide this.
• Big Good: During The Fall of the Kings. Jessica mockingly, though truthfully, calls her 'the queen.'
• The Champion: The personal swordsman to her uncle, Duke Tremontaine, in The Privilege of the Sword. Later, she becomes Artemisia's champion after Ferris rapes her.
• Coming of Age Story: The Privilege of the Sword is hers.
• Cool Sword: Richard gifts her one after she finishes her training with him in The Privilege of the Sword.
• Declaration of Protection: Tremontaine. In particular, her uncle, her mother, Marcus, Jessica, Sophia and Theron.
• First Kiss: Gets her first one from Alec's mistress and the famous actress, the Black Rose, in The Privilege of the Sword.
• Guile Hero: Grows into this under Alec's tutelage during The Privilege of the Sword.
• Honor Before Reason: Society's rules be damned, Katherine is going to bring Ferris down for what he did to Artemisia.
• Iron Lady: Formidable, forthright and commanding as the Duchess Tremontaine.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Comes from being a Nice Girl and a Master Swordsman.
• Lady of War: In The Fall of the Kings.
• Master Swordsman: Trained by Richard St. Vier.
• Meaningful Echo: Has a tendency to echo her uncle's mannerisms, words and aristocratic drawl when she is startled or overwhelmed. At one point in The Privilege of the Sword, when she has to respond to a shocking statement, she mentally says she has to call on the Duke for backup. During The Fall of the Kings, Marcus diffuse's her temper by recalling something Alec used to say and when Theron presents her with the shocking announcement that he's getting married, she sits back and echoes Alec's favorite sarcastic line: "Re-eally."
• Parental Substitute: Jessica still thinks of Katherine as her mother, despite the tension between them, in The Fall of the Kings. Alec ends up being hers during The Privilege of the Sword.
• Pintsized Powerhouse
• Princely Young Man: In The Privilege of the Sword. It's commented on by multiple characters that she will be the next Duchess Tremontaine; her swordsmaster, Venturus, calls her "duke boy," due to her high rank and Sweet Polly Oliver appearance; and she inspires in others the same loyalty her uncle does. In Katherine's case, it specifically has to do with how good, noble and loyal she is.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: When she was a girl.
• Throwing Down the Gauntlet: Does this to Lord Ferris in The Privilege of the Sword after he rapes Artemisia.
• Took a Level in Badass: Starts The Privilege of the Sword as a girl from the country and ends as a respected swordswoman and the new Duchess Tremontaine.
• Undying Loyalty: To Tremontaine and to her uncle.

Marcus Ffoliot

• Almighty Janitor: Knows everything about the running of Tremontaine.
• Better as Friends: Eventually he and Katherine decide this.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Alec saved him from child prostitution prior to the events of The Privilege of the Sword. Surprisingly grows up to be the most well-adjusted member of the Tremontaine family.
• Like a Son to Me: To Alec
• The Confidant: To Katherine. He's the only one to call her Katie.
• Happily Married: To Susan in The Fall of the Kings.
• Nice Guy

Micah Heslop

• Ambiguous Disorder: Amazing with numbers, not good with human interaction. She may be on the autistic spectrum somewhere.
• Good with Numbers: a mathematical genius.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Rafe Fenton.

Michael Godwin

• The Apprentice: to Richard St. Vier in Swordspoint.
• The Good Chancellor: Diane trained him to be this in Swordspoint, and he is shown as this in The Privilege of the Sword.

Rafe Fenton

• Good with Numbers
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: A male version of this trope while at University and until he meets Will.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Micah Heslop. They become fast friends despite their differences, he doesn't notice or care at all that she's a girl disguised as a boy at the University, and they write On the Causes of Nature, as well as found a school, together.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Described as extremely attractive, much younger than Will, and with the long hair of a University student.
• Merchant Prince: Comes from an influential, middle-class merchant family. His attempts to break away from them lead him to the University.
• Odd Friendship: With Kaab. They should be rivals, but they end up liking each other and Kaab has a Heel Realization due to hurting him.
• One Degree of Separation: Meets a young Alec Campion, Will's grandson, in Tremontaine. He recognizes Will's spirit in the boy and sets Alec on the course to become a mathematician and astronomer.
• One True Love: In Tremontaine, Will Tielman, Duke Tremontaine, is shown to be his, despite everything that happens to them both because of it.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Is a Doctor of Philosophy, specifically, Natural Philosophy. Later, he writes the famous and banned natural philosophical book, On the Causes of Nature with Micah Heslop. The book makes a reappearance as a gift from Richard to Alec in Swordspoint.
• Really Gets Around: Before he falls in love with Will.
• Second Love: Reza
• Took a Level in Kindness: In Tremontaine, thanks to Micah and Will.

Richard St. Vier

• Blind Weaponsmaster: In The Privilege of the Sword.
• Blood Knight: In Swordspoint.
• Byronic Hero: In Swordpoint, he's definitely 'mad, bad and dangerous to know.' In fact, the only person who's safe from being killed by him is his lover, Alec, despite the latter being a Death Seeker.
• Challenge Seeker: Constantly seeks a Worthy Opponent in Swordspoint.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Accidentally kills his lover, Jessamyn during a fight that turned physical, prior to Swordspoint.
• Love Makes You Crazy: With Jessamyn.
• Master Swordsman: The best who ever lived.
• The Mentor: To Katherine. She warms up to him much quicker than she does to Alec.
• Official Couple: With Alec in Swordspoint.
• Old Master: In The Privilege of the Sword.
• One True Love: Alec Campion
• The Quiet One: Doesn't talk much
• Took a Level in Kindness: Between Swordspoint and The Privilege of the Sword.
• What Beautiful Eyes!: Has unusual hyacinth-colored eyes.

Sophia Campion

• Foreign Fanservice: Is from the island of Kyros, roughly analogous to Greece in this setting. Many characters comment on her exotic beauty, including her dark hair and eyes, and olive skin.
• The Medic
• Lady And A Scholar: A notable surgeon, teacher at the University and the dowager duchess of Tremontaine.
• Second Love: To Alec Campion. She nursed him back to health after Richard died between The Privilege of the Sword and The Fall of the Kings, and she's the mother of his son, Theron.
• Someone to Remember Him By: Her son, Theron, is born after Alec's death.

Theron Campion

Alexander Theron Tielman Campion

• Blue Blood: The fact that he's a direct descendant of the last king's sister drives much of the plot in The Fall of the Kings.
• Declaration of Protection: In The Fall of the Kings, his mother, Sophia Campion, his half-sister, Jessica Campion, and his cousin, Katherine Talbert, Duchess Tremontaine, all seek to protect and save him, despite the fact that he refuses to tell them what is really going on.
• Divine Right of Kings: Is meant to be sacrificed to the Land in The Fall of the Kings because of this.
• The Hedonist: Like his father, Alec. He seeks only his own pleasure in The Fall of the Kings. Numerous characters call him out on this.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Falls victim to this in The Fall of the Kings. His former lover, Ysaud, the artist, and current lover, Basil St. Cloud, Professor of Ancient History, are both brilliant and ambitious, and Theron fails to see that they use him only for their own purposes, i.e., painting him nude, marking his body like the kings of old, and then abandoning him and seeking to socially humiliate him, in Ysaud's case, and sacrificing him to the Land and / or keeping him as an enthralled puppet - it's unclear - in Basil's case, despite being genuinely attracted to him.
• Kingmaker Scenario: Unwittingly involved in one in The Fall of the Kings.
• Princely Young Man: Inherits this trait from his father, Alec Campion. However; in a subversion of this trope, the Serpent Chancellor, the King's Companions and Wizard-in-training Basil St. Cloud all seek to use him for their own purposes.
• Sheltered Aristocrat
• Ship Tease: With Francesca, the young noble girl who wants to be a writer. She's as adventurous and unconventional as he is.
• Trauma Conga Line: What happens to him in The Fall of the Kings.

Will Tielman

William Alexander Tielman, Duke Tremontaine

• Angelic Beauty: Described by Rafe to be "as beautiful as heartbreak," he's tow-headed, with blue-green eyes.
• Break the Cutie: Done to him by his own wife in Tremontaine.
• Bittersweet Ending: His story in Tremontaine. His One True Love Rafe is eventually able to convince Diane to stop drugging the Duke with hallucinogens, but they irreparably damaged his mind. Diane sends him overseas into Exile and he is separated from Rafe forever.
• Big Good: A subversion. His attempts to become this in Tremontaine lead to his eventual insanity and exile.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Fails to see Diane's Manipulative Bitch nature; cares only for books and scholarship; is utterly clueless about running his estates and the political machinations going on around him; and is, in fact, the only character in the entire book who does things because they are genuinely the right thing to do. This makes him the Only Sane Man and The Cuckoolander Was Right but also brings about his downfall, as it's incredibly easy for Diane to destroy his life.
• Gentleman and a Scholar
• Good Parents: To Honora, in contrast to Diane. She even names her son after him.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Has a noble heart, which not even Diane is able to embitter. This trait is passed down to his granddaughter, Janine, and great-granddaughter, Katherine.
• Nice Guy
• One True Love: In Tremontaine, Rafe Fenton is shown to be his.
• The Ophelia: Starts to become this in Tremontaine after Diane poisons him with dangerous hallucinogens in order to take over the duchy.
• Princely Young Man
• Trauma Conga Line: What Diane puts him through in Tremontaine.