Bayaz, the First of the Magi
– a bald wizard supposedly hundreds of years old and an influential representative of the Closed Council, the king’s closest advisors.

Yoru Sulfur
– his butler, bodyguard and chief bookkeeper.

Denka
and
Saurizin
– two old Adepti of the University of Adua, academics conducting an experiment for Bayaz.

Jalenhorm’s Division

General Jalenhorm
– an old friend of the king, fantastically young for his position, described as brave yet prone to blunders.

Retter
– his thirteen-year-old bugler.

Colonel Vallimir
– ambitious commanding officer of the King’s Own First Regiment.

First Sergeant Forest
– chief non-commissioned officer with the staff of the First.

Corporal Tunny
– long-serving profiteer, and standard-bearer of the First.

Troopers Yolk, Klige, Worth,
and
Lederlingen
– clueless recruits attached to Tunny as messengers.

Colonel Wetterlant
– punctilious commanding officer of the Sixth Regiment.

Major Culfer
– his panicky second in command.

Sergeant Gaunt, Private Rose
– soldiers with the Sixth.

Major Popol
– commanding the first battalion of the Rostod Regiment.

Captain Lasmark
– a poor captain with the Rostod Regiment.

Colonel Vinkler
– courageous commanding officer of the Thirteenth Regiment.

Mitterick’s Division

General Mitterick
– a professional soldier with much chin and little loyalty, described as sharp but reckless.

Colonel Opker
– his chief of staff.

Lieutenant Dimbik
– an unconfident young officer on Mitterick’s staff.

Meed’s Division

Lord Governor Meed
– an amateur soldier with a neck like a turtle, in peacetime the governor of Angland, described as hating Northmen like a pig hates butchers.

Colonel Harod dan Brock
– an honest and hard-working member of Meed’s staff, the son of a notorious traitor.

Finree dan Brock
– Colonel Brock’s venomously ambitious wife, the daughter of Lord Marshal Kroy.

Colonel Brint
– senior on Meed’s staff, an old friend of the king.

Aliz dan Brint
– Colonel Brint’s naive young wife.

Captain Hardrick
– an officer on Meed’s staff, affecting tight trousers.

The Dogman’s Loyalists

The Dogman
– Chief of those Northmen fighting with the Union. An old companion of the Bloody-Nine, once a close friend of Black Dow, now his bitter enemy.

Red-Hat
– the Dogman’s Second, who wears a red hood.

Hardbread
– a Named Man of long experience, leading a dozen for the Dogman.

Redcrow
– one of Hardbread’s Carls.

THE NORTH

In and Around Skarling’s Chair

Black Dow
– the Protector of the North, or stealer of it, depending on who you ask.

Splitfoot
– his Second, meaning chief bodyguard and arse-licker.

Ishri
– his advisor, a sorceress from the desert South, and sworn enemy of Bayaz.

Caul Shivers
– a scarred Named Man with a metal eye, who some call Black Dow’s dog.

Curnden Craw
– a Named Man thought of as a straight edge, once Second to Rudd Threetrees, then close to Bethod, now leading a dozen for Black Dow.

Wonderful
– his long-suffering Second.

Whirrun of Bligh
– a famous hero from the utmost North, who wields the Father of Swords. Also called Cracknut, on account of his nut being cracked.

Jolly Yon Cumber, Brack-i-Dayn, Scorry Tiptoe, Agrick, Athroc
and
Drofd
– other members of Craw’s dozen.

Scale’s Men

Scale
– Bethod’s eldest son, now the least powerful of Dow’s five War Chiefs, strong as a bull, brave as a bull, and with a bull’s brain too.

Pale-as-Snow
– once one of Bethod’s War Chiefs, now Scale’s Second.

White-Eye Hansul
– a Named Man with a blind eye, once Bethod’s herald.

‘Prince’ Calder
– Bethod’s younger son, an infamous coward and schemer, temporarily exiled for suggesting peace.

Seff
– his pregnant wife, the daughter of Caul Reachey.

Deep
and
Shallow
– a pair of killers, watching over Calder in the hope of riches.

Caul Reachey’s Men

Caul Reachey
– one of Dow’s five War Chiefs, an elderly warrior, famously honourable, father to Seff, father-in-law to Calder.

Brydian Flood
– a Named Man formerly a member of Craw’s dozen.

Beck
– a young farmer craving glory on the battlefield, the son of Shama Heartless.

Reft, Colving, Stodder
and
Brait
– other young lads pressed into service with Beck.

Glama Golden’s Men

Glama Golden
– one of Dow’s five War Chiefs, intolerably vain, locked in a feud with Cairm Ironhead.

Sutt Brittle
– a famously greedy Named Man.
Lightsleep
– a Carl in Golden’s employ.

Cairm Ironhead’s Men

Cairm Ironhead
– one of Dow’s five War Chiefs, notoriously stubborn, locked in a feud with Glama Golden.

Curly
– a stout-hearted scout.

Irig
– an ill-tempered axeman.

Temper
– a foul-mouthed bowman.

Others

Brodd Tenways
– the most loyal of Dow’s five War Chiefs, ugly as incest.
Stranger-Come-Knocking
– a giant savage obsessed with civilisation, Chief of all the lands east of the Crinna.

Back to the Mud (dead, thought dead, or long dead)

Bethod
– the first King of the Northmen, father to Scale and Calder.

Skarling Hoodless
– a legendary hero who once united the North against the Union.

The Bloody-Nine
– once Bethod’s champion, the most feared man in the North, and briefly King of the Northmen before being killed by Black Dow (supposedly).