A disgraced royal duelist reassigned to the humiliating role of royal observer at the battle in The Heroes, which means he watches the fighting rather than participating in it. Gorst is the finest swordsman in the Union - possibly in the world - and is entirely aware that his skills are wasted in his current role. His interior monologue, bitter and self-lacerating, is one of Abercrombie's funniest and most uncomfortable achievements: a man consumed by violent fantasies who applies to them the same sardonic intelligence he applies to everything else. In combat he becomes something else entirely.

A war veteran haunted by the violence he committed in Styria, Broad wears eye-lenses and bears Ladderman tattoos. He moves to Valbeck with his wife Liddy and daughter May, seeking honest work, but is drawn into the Breakers' rebellion when the city's injustices prove impossible to ignore.

A celebrated war hero and the son of a powerful noble house, Leo is brave, charismatic, and not particularly thoughtful - exactly the kind of person that institutions and ambitious people find useful. His arc across the Age of Madness trilogy is about the distance between the hero he believes himself to be and the uses to which that belief gets put. He is not stupid, but he is surrounded by people who are better at thinking than he is and who know it, and his unwillingness to acknowledge this is what drives him toward the series' central catastrophe.

The son of Jezal dan Luthar, Crown Prince of the Union, and a man who has inherited his father's charm and none of his ambition - which in Orso's case means a cheerful, self-deprecating dissolution rather than Jezal's vain striving. Orso knows he is not cut out for what is being asked of him and is the only person in his vicinity honest about it. His arc across the Age of Madness trilogy involves the discovery that decency, in a world moving toward revolution, is not enough and may not be the point. He is one of Abercrombie's most sympathetic creations and one of his most brutally treated.

The daughter of the Dogman, chieftain of the North, with the Long Eye - the ability to see the future in fits that leave her incapacitated and uncertain what is vision and what is fear. Rikke is the most unconventional of the Age of Madness protagonists: funny, self-aware, and navigating a world of Northern politics that has no obvious place for a woman whose father is dying and whose gift is as much a curse as an asset. Her arc involves learning to use what she has - the Long Eye, her father's name, her own judgment - in a world that prefers its leaders to be straightforward and male.

A crippled Inquisitor who was once the most celebrated swordsman in the Union - winner of the Contest at eighteen, celebrated throughout Adua, the kind of young man who expects the world to keep giving him things. Then he was captured by the Gurkish, spent two years in their prisons, and came back unable to walk properly, unable to eat solid food, in constant pain, and in possession of a very clear understanding of what people will say under sufficient duress. He applies the same methods to his work for the Inquisition with a mixture of professional efficiency and caustic self-awareness that makes him one of the most compelling POV characters in fantasy. Glokta knows exactly what he is. He just can't see a way to be anything else.

The daughter of Sand dan Glokta, now the most successful investor in the Union - a woman who has built a financial empire through intelligence, ruthlessness, and a clear understanding of how power actually works. Savine is her father's daughter in ways she both recognises and prefers not to examine. She enters the Age of Madness trilogy at the top of the social and financial hierarchy and spends three books watching that hierarchy collapse, discovering in the process what she is actually capable of. She is one of Abercrombie's most complex characters in the later work - someone whose competence is genuine and whose blind spots are equally genuine.

The First of the Magi, one of the most powerful practitioners of the Art in the world, who arrives in Adua claiming to be the legendary founder of the Union and demanding access to the royal library. He is old, irritable, occasionally charming, and completely accustomed to getting what he wants. Bayaz announces himself as a figure out of legend, but a thousand-year absence has left even those closest to the crown uncertain how much of the wizard's history is true and how much has accreted around the name.

Son of Black Calder and self-styled Great Wolf of the North. A devastatingly fast swordsman with a vicious streak who aspires to be the greatest warrior since the Bloody-Nine, and who measures greatness by the fear he inspires.

One of Leo's friends. A flashy, quick-witted womaniser with a lock of dark hair perpetually across his forehead.

Collem West's sharp-tongued, unconventional sister who drinks too much and reads too widely for polite society. Her caustic intelligence and refusal to perform the role expected of a woman in Adua make her both magnetic and self-destructive.

Bethod's younger son, with none of his father's reputation for violence and all of his father's appetite for power. Calder survives by scheming where other Northmen survive by fighting - he is contemptuous of the heroic ideal and considerably more effective for it. His arc across The Heroes and into the Age of Madness is one of the series' more satisfying long games.

A Northman who tries to go south and be a better man - to leave the violence of the North behind and become something else. He fails, but the manner of his failure and what it costs him make him one of the most interesting characters in the series. Shivers appears first in Best Served Cold as Monza's hired muscle and grows into a recurring presence across the standalones and Age of Madness, each appearance showing him further from who he wanted to be. His arc is the purest expression of the series' central theme: people do not change, and the things that happen to them tend to make them more themselves rather than less.

An experienced, earthy career soldier who rose through the ranks on merit. He serves as Crown Prince Orso's second-in-command with a cool head and honest manner.

A grizzled old soldier and Crown Prince Orso's disreputable drinking companion. Cynical, shameless, and expert at avoiding responsibility while appearing indispensable.

The daughter of Marshal Kroy and wife of Hal dan Brock, Finree is the Union's political POV in The Heroes - a woman of considerable intelligence navigating a military culture that has no place for her. Her arc is about the distance between the Union's self-image and what it actually does, and about what it costs to be competent in a system that will not acknowledge your competence. Leo dan Brock's mother.

One of Leo dan Brock's inner circle. A huge, good-humoured warrior who leads cheers for the Young Lion.

Crown Prince Orso's resourceful young valet. Small but sharp-tongued, she manages his debts and errands with long-suffering competence and genuine loyalty.

Daughter of the Nail and a tattooed hillwoman who serves as Rikke's fierce, irreverent guide and protector. Skilled in the ways of the moon and wilderness survival, she speaks in proverbs and profanity in roughly equal measure.

A wry, ageing Named Man formerly known as Steepfield who teaches swordsmanship in Black Calder's court. Lazy by preference and pragmatic by nature, he privately doubts the wisdom of Stour Nightfall's cruelty.