An orphan raised in Keramzin who discovers she is a Sun Summoner, the only Grisha capable of creating light. Her power makes her the most important person in Ravka and a target for everyone who wants to control what she represents. Over three books she moves from terrified conscript to reluctant symbol to something she chooses for herself.

The Dregs' spy and infiltration specialist, known as the Wraith for her ability to move without being seen or heard. A former acrobat trafficked to Ketterdam's pleasure houses before Kaz bought her indenture. Her knives are named for Suli saints and she kills with a precision that has never stopped troubling her.

The seventeen-year-old underboss of the Dregs, Ketterdam's most feared gang. He plans the Ice Court heist with the precision of a man who has never let sentiment interfere with strategy, while concealing the fact that sentiment is exactly what drives him. His inability to be touched without triggering trauma is both a vulnerability and a weapon.

The immortal commander of Ravka's Second Army and the most powerful Grisha alive. He has spent centuries manipulating Ravkan history from the shadows, always towards the same goal: a world where Grisha are no longer hunted. His methods have long since swallowed whatever idealism he started with.

A Tailor, the rarest type of Corporalki Grisha, able to alter the appearance of living tissue. She serves at the Ravkan court as the queen's personal attendant, a position that gives her access to everyone and trust from no one. Her loyalty to Alina costs her everything.

The Dregs' sharpshooter, a Zemeni with an addiction to gambling and a talent for gunplay that borders on supernatural. His easy charm and perpetual motion conceal a Grisha ability he has spent years refusing to acknowledge.

Alina's childhood best friend and the finest tracker in the First Army. Fiercely loyal and deeply uncomfortable with the world of Grisha politics that Alina is pulled into. His relationship with Alina is the emotional anchor of the Shadow and Bone trilogy.

A Fjerdan Drüskelle trained from childhood to hunt and destroy Grisha. Imprisoned in Hellgate after being betrayed by Nina, he is released to join the Ice Court heist. His arc is about the slow dismantling of a worldview built entirely on fear and religious certainty.

The second son of the Ravkan king who operates as the privateer Sturmhond before his identity is revealed. Brilliant, charming, and strategically ruthless beneath the performance of carelessness. Becomes King of Ravka after the events of the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the central figure of the King of Scars duology.

A Heartrender from the Second Army who ended up in Ketterdam after a shipwreck and an unlikely alliance with a Fjerdan soldier. Warm, politically passionate, and capable of stopping a man's heart with a gesture. Her arc across both duologies deals with grief, addiction, and what it means to keep fighting for something after the cost becomes clear.

The son of a wealthy Kerch merchant, recruited for his knowledge of demolitions and chemistry. Cannot read, which his father considered a shameful defect and which turns out to be entirely beside the point. Becomes central to the Ice Court plan in ways nobody anticipated.

The most powerful Squaller in the Second Army and later Nikolai's general and closest advisor. Cold, proud, and formidably competent, she has survived everything Ravka has thrown at her by refusing to need anyone. The King of Scars duology slowly unpicks that refusal.