Inheritance Trilogy/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Unmarked spoilers ahead.

The Three

Yeine Arameri

"I am not as I once was. They have done this to me, broken me open and torn out my heart. I do not know who I am anymore. I must try to remember."

An Action Girl from a Barbarian Tribe called to participate in a clan succession ceremony, who ends up embroiled in the affairs of gods.

Nahadoth

"Here, fueled by the residue of ancient devotion, he showed me all he had once been: first among gods, sweet dream and nightmare incarnate, all things beautiful and terrible."

Our Hero… Heroine… Err… the oldest of a Power Trio of deities, enslaved by his brother and forced to serve a human family. Nahadoth is a god (most of the time) of darkness, change, and chaos.

"Face like the moon, pale and somehow wavering. I could get the gist of his features, but none of it stuck in my mind beyond an impression of astonishing beauty. His long, long hair wafted around him like black smoke, its tendrils curling and moving of their own volition."

"When heavy, thick warmth pushed into me, I had no idea whether this was a penis or some entirely different phallus that only gods possessed. I suspect the latter, since no mere penis can fill a woman’s body the way he filled mine. Size had nothing to do with it."

"And then the face shifted again into something that in no way resembled human, something tentacled and toothed and hideous, and I screamed. Then there was only darkness where his face should have been, and that was most frightening of all."


Itempas (Shiny)

“I am all knowledge and purpose defined. I strengthen what exists and cull that which should not.”

Our Whackjob, one of the three creator deities, who killed his sister to have sex with his brother forever, and spends the second book facing the consequences. Itempas is a god of light, order, and stability.

"You will serve, not a single family, but all the world. You will wander among mortals as one of them, unknown, commanding only what wealth and respect you can earn with your deeds and words. You may call upon your power only in great need, and only to aid these mortals for whom you hold such contempt. You will right all the wrongs inflicted in your name."


Enefa

“She killed things all the time, Yeine. She was death as well as life, the twilight along with the dawn. Everyone forgets that.”

Our Dead Girl, the dead third creation deity. Enefa was the goddess of twilight, life and death, and balance.


Godlings

General Godling Tropes

I had not met many godlings at that point, but anyone who dwelled for long in Shadow learned this much: they drew their strength from a particular thing—a concept, a state of being, an emotion. The priests and scriveners called it affinity, though I had never heard any godling use the term. When they encountered their affinity, it drew them like a beacon, and some of them could not quite help responding to it.

Our Divine Supporting Cast.


Sieh

Madding sighed. “Mortal languages don’t have words for this. He… lives true. He is what he is. You’ve heard that saying, haven’t you? It’s more than just words for us.” I had no idea what he was talking about. He saw that in my face and tried again. “Imagine you’re older than this planet, yet you have to act like a child. Could you do it?”
Impossible to even imagine. “I… don’t know. I don’t think so.”
Madding nodded. “Sieh does it. He does it every day, all day; he never stops. That makes him strong.”

Our Trickster, a lesser deity imprisoned alongside Nahadoth. Sieh is the god of childhood.

Sieh chuckled. “Of course I’m sorry, Lil. Do I look like the kind of person who would hold a grudge? That would be petty of me.”
“Petty,” agreed the blonde woman, “and childish and cruel. Does his suffering please you?”
“Oh, yes, Lil. It pleases me very much.” Not even the pretense of friendliness this time. There was nothing in that boyish voice but sadistic relish.


Hado/Ahad/Beloved

“Once upon a time, there was a god imprisoned here. He was a terrible, beautiful, angry god, and by night when he roamed these white halls, everyone feared him. But by day, the god slept. And the body, the living mortal flesh that was his ball and chain, got to have a life of its own. It wasn’t much of a life, mind you. All the people who feared the god did not fear the man. They quickly learned they could do things to the man that the god would not tolerate. So the man lived his life in increments, born with every dawn, dying with every sunset. Hating every moment of it. For two. Thousand. Years. Until suddenly, one day, the man became free.”

Our Sort-Of-Clone, a human body with its own personality that comes to life by day and keeps Nahadoth’s godly power imprisoned. Spends book two confusing the hell out of Oree, and book three taking not a little pleasure in both tormenting Sieh and sending him on errands.


Kahl

I will not be a slave to fate. I will embrace it, control it. I will be what I wish to be.

Our Long-Lost Relative and Big Bad all in one; spends book three gearing up to take his revenge on the parents who abandoned him. And since he's a Godling of Vengeance, that's a very big revenge indeed.

Miscellaneous Godling Tropes

Arameri

General Arameri Tropes

“Like our ancestress Shahar, we Arameri are first and foremost the servants of Itempas Skyfather. It is in His name that we have imposed the age of the Bright upon the world. Peace, order, enlightenment. Itempas’s servants do not use, or need, weapons. Tools, though…”

Our Ruling Clan, which unofficially controls the world from the city of Sky.


T’vril Arameri

“Not only has my cousin forgotten that Bright Itempas no longer rules the gods, but she has also forgotten that we Arameri now answer to several masters rather than one. The world changes; we must change with it or die.

Our Recurring Side Character, a high-ranking Arameri servant in book one who is running the world by book two.


Viraine Arameri

“But at least I still have a soul. What did you trade yours for?”
To my surprise, Viraine’s glee seemed to fade. He looked down into the pit, the gray light making his eyes seem colorless and older than Dekarta’s. “Not enough,” he said, and walked away.

Our Court Mage who facilitates a certain web of lies, and is keeping someone secret.


Kinneth Arameri

Once upon a time there was a little girl whose father murdered her mother. Then she set all her mind and heart and formidable will on vengeance… because that is what a daughter does when her mother has been murdered.

Our Heroine's Dead Mom, who actually kicks off the plot.


High Priestess Shahar Arameri

The child was mad, of course. Later events proved this. But it makes sense to me that this madness, not mere religious devotion, would appeal most to the Bright Lord. Her love was unconditional, her purpose undiluted by such paltry considerations as conscience or doubt. It seems like Him, I think, to value that kind of purity of purpose—even though, like warmth and light, too much love is never a good thing.

Our Crazy Priestess, a fanatical follower of Itempas who is at least partially responsible for everything bad in the series, and imposed the Itempan Church on the world two-thousand years before The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.


Lady Shahar Arameri

I am Shahar Arameri, and I am alone.

First of Our Messianic Twins, who manage to form a friendship with Sieh despite the fact that they're the heirs of the family who tortured him for two thousand years. They both also love him passionately - yes, like that - which both creates a OT3 and causes a whole lot of joy and grief.


Dekarta Arameri

"But I will not be nothing to you, Sieh. And if I must change the universe to have you, then so be it." He smiled again, tight, vicious, beautiful. Terrifying.

Second of Our Messianic Twins, who manage to form a friendship with Sieh despite the fact that they're the heirs of the family who tortured him for two thousand years. They both also love him passionately - yes, like that - which both creates a OT3 and causes a whole lot of joy and grief.


Miscellaneous Arameri

Others

Oree Shoth

"I am, you see, a woman plagued by gods."

Our Redemption Love Interest, a blind painter with a unique magical talent who finds an undead man in her dumpster.

Glee Shoth

For just an instant, her eyes seemed to flare red-gold like a struck match. "I have spent nearly the past century trying to keep this world from falling apart," she snapped. "I'm not a god. I have no choice but to live in this realm, unlike you. I will do whatever I must to save it -- including working with godlings like you who claim to despise Itempas, though in reality you're just as selfish and arrogant as him at his worst!"

Our Daddy's Girl, the daughter of Oree and Itempas. The mediator between her father and her lover Ahad (who don't really like each other, for some reason) and one of the leading figures in the attempts to find out just who is causing unrest in the kingdoms.

Dateh

“We demons are the gods’ children, too, are we not? Yet they have hunted us nearly to extinction. How is that right? I say that if they fear us so, we should give them something to fear: their despised, persecuted children, coming to take their place.”

Our Villain, or one of the closest things we’ll have to a straight-up unsympathetic villainous character, who spends book two trying to off stupid sexy Nahadoth.

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