Minor Fictional Characters in Darkness

This article lists the various minor fictional characters who appear in the Darkness series.

=Posthumous Characters= These characters died significantly before the series takes place.

Gedimainas of Kaunia
Gedimainas was a Kaunian Emperor. His defeat of the Belsiti, an Algarvic tribe, was commemorated by an arch in Skrunda, Jelgava. This arch was one of many such monuments demolished by Algarvian occupiers during the Derlavaian War.

Guntram of Unkerlant
Guntram was the King of Unkerlant during and after the Six Years' War. He was the father of the twins Swemmel and Kyot. Upon his death a few years after the Six Years' War, neither Swemmel nor Kyot would admit to being the younger twin, sparking a civil war known as the Twinkings War.

Kyot of Unkerlant
Kyot was the twin brother of Swemmel of Unkerlant. After their father King Guntram died, Swemmel and Kyot each declared themselves to be the older twin, and each claimed the throne. The result was the Twinkings War, which devastated Unkerlant.

Although Kyot's faction held the capital, Cottbus, and Kyot granted Zuwayza its independence in an effort to free up more troops to fight Swemmel, his armies were eventually beaten. Kyot himself was captured and publicly executed by Swemmel; the 'usurper' was boiled alive in a cauldron of oil.

A generation later, Marshal Rathar reflected that, despite his horrific end, Kyot had been no different from Swemmel, and doubted that Unkerlant would have been any better off had Kyot won instead.

Literary comment
Kyot is broadly based on Leon Trotsky.

Lothar
Lothar was an Unkerlanter General during the Six Years' War. As he was of half-Algarvian ethnicity, stories sprang up about his depravity.

Plegmund of Forthweg
King Plegmund the Great ruled Forthweg, four centuries before the Derlavaian War. He was widely considered the greatest king in Forthwegian history. Under his kingship Forthwegian forces defeated both Algarvian and Unkerlanter armies and expanded into both kingdoms' territories, a reversal of the usual historical pattern in which Forthweg's borders are infringed upon by its larger neighbors. An equestrian statue of Plegmund, twice the size of life, stood in an Eoforwic park.

During the Derlavaian War, Algarvian authorities hoped to invoke Forthwegian antipathy toward Unkerlant by raising a Forthwegian military unit under the Algarvian chain of command. It was named Plegmund's Brigade. Plegmund would have sat up in his grave to know that his name was put to this use.

Literary comment
Plegmund shares a name with a 10th-century Archbishop of Canterbury.

Velho
Velho was a Lagoan admiral during the final phase of the Lagoas-Sibiu Wars. During the Derlavaian War, Sibian freedom fighters received their orders for the liberation of their homeland in the Velho Room of the Admiralty in Setubal. Commander Cornelu felt that assigning such a meeting to a room of that name was less than tactful.

=Contemporary Characters= The following characters were alive when the series began, or died just before it. They play, at best, a peripheral role in the series. While they were usually given a name, some weren't. Most were simply mentioned or had a very brief, unimportant speaking role that did not impact the plot, and never appeared again.

Adomu
(Into the Darkness)

Marquis Adomu, a Colonel in the Jelgavan army at the start of the Derlavaian War, took over the late Dzirnavu's command. The soldiers' relief at having a competent commander for a change was dashed when Adomu was felled by a blaze from an Algarvian stick.

Alpri
(Darkness Descending)

Alpri was the father of Istvan. When Istvan came home to Kunhegyes, on leave from the Derlavaian War, Istvan was surprised to notice how much of a backwoods accent Alpri had.

Arnulf
(ItD)

Arnulf was the firstman of a Forthwegian village occupied by Unkerlanters at the start of the Derlavaian War. While he appeared to grudgingly agree to quarter soldiers including Leudast in his village, he and his wife were caught using voodoo dolls to poison the occupiers, and were blazed on the spot.

Ascovind
(Rulers of the Darkness)

Ascovind was a Grelzer villager who informed on the Unkerlanter irregulars to the Algarvian occupiers. When the village was liberated by Garivald's irregulars, Ascovind was executed vigilante-style by three of his neighbors, probably by bludgeoning.

Batthayany
(DD)

Batthayany was the brother of Alpri's father. He asked his great-nephew Sergeant Istvan if the stars still remembered Istvan in distant lands, and Istvan told him yes.

Benczur
(Through the Darkness)

Benczur was a Gyongyosian soldier under Istvan's command. He partook in the defeat and killing of a squad of Unkerlanters and the capture of their food, and the subsequent shame of realizing that the meat he had eaten was goat.

Carietto
(RotD)

Carietto was an Algarvian brigadier during the Derlavaian War. At a royal reception in Trapani, Carietto told a dirty joke about women, which was appreciated by both Colonel Spinello and King Mezentio himself. However, the discussion soon turned to the war effort against Unkerlant, and Carietto said to the king's face, "We should have been reader when we struck them, then." Mezentio replied "Thank you for your confidence in us, Carietto." Spinello interpreted the king's face to mean that Carietto would never see another promotion, and Carietto's face to mean that he might get the idea to deliberately get killed in the next battle.

Casmiro
(TtD)

Count Casmiro, a native of Trapani, made his reputation as a big game hunter in Siaulia. During the Derlavaian War, he joined Algarve's army and reached the rank of colonel. During the Battle of Sulingen, he was one of the army's best master snipers. He got into a feud with his Unkerlanter opposite number Colonel Chariulf, which Casmiro ultimately lost.

Chariulf
(TtD)

Chariulf was colonel in the Unkerlanter army. A master sniper, he faced off during the Battle of Sulingen with the his Algarvian opposite number Colonel the Count Casmiro, which he ultimately won. His victory was short-lived, as he was killed by a random Algarvian egg soon after.

Literary comment
This anecdote appears to based on the apocryphal "sniper's duel" between Red Army sniper Vasily Zaytsev and Wehrmacht sniper Erwin König during the Battle of Stalingrad.

Csokonai
(DD)

Csokonai was Istvan's cousin, and a sentry at the gates of Kunhegyes. Istvan and Csokonai often ribbed each other.

Dustbunny
(DD)

Dustbunny was Talsu's family's cat. She was good at catching rats.

Dzirnavu
(ItD)

Count Dzirnavu was a Colonel in the Jelgavan army at the start of the Derlavaian War. Vartu was his valet. Smilsu and Talsu were among the soldiers in his command. A beautiful young Algarvian woman was brought to Dzirnavu as a prisoner, and the Colonel announced his intention to "interrogate" her as a spy, which he did by raping her. That night (as investigators determined from piecing together the clues), Dzirnavu fell asleep, after which the woman managed to get a hand free, found a convenient tool, stabbed the Colonel to death, and either evaded the sentries or bought their silence with her body. Smilsu said that this would ultimately work against the Algarvians, as Dzirnavu's successor would surely be a better commander.

Eanfled
(DD)

Eanfled was a Gromheort woman who paid a mage to help her lose weight. When this did not work, she appealed to Constables Bembo and Oraste to help her get redress. The corrupt Algarvian enforcers threatened to haul both Eanfled and the mage before the military governor. When Eanfled was obviously nervous, Bembo became suspicious that she might have Kaunian blood. In the end, both Eanfled and the mage paid off the constables rather than be taken into custody.

Elfsig
(DD)

Elfsig was the father of Felgilde. When Leofsig sought to break his engagement to Felgilde, to protect his Kaunian-loving family from undue attention, his father Hestan assured him they would come up with an excuse to deflect suspicion.

Enkuru
(ItD)

Enkuru was the Count of a Valmieran region which included Pavilosta. He ruled brutally, charging outrageous tax rates, and collaborated with the Algarvians who overtook Valmiera early in the Derlavaian War. He was blazed by a stick in a raid by a partisan band which was led by Gedominu and included Skarnu.

Ercole
(RotD)

Lieutenant Ercole took over the late Captain Zerbino's section of Plegmund's Brigade during the Battle of the Durrwangen Bulge. Although he looked only 18 years old, he seemed to know what he was doing. This did not save him from being burned to death by Unkerlanter special magic.

Gippias
(TtD)

Gippias was a jewel thief in Gromheort. While fleeing the scene of his crime, he was fatally blazed with a stick by Constable Oraste. In death, his magical disguise disappeared, changing his appearance from Forthwegian to Kaunian. As the jewels were evidence of a serious crime, Oraste and Bembo could have officially confiscated them for the evidence room, but unofficially for their own pockets. A timely bribe from the jeweler avoided this inconvenience.

Giurgiu
(DD)

Giurgiu was a Sibian woodcutter and foreman.

Gizella
(DD)

Gizella was the wife of Alpri and the mother of Istvan and several daughters. She prepared supper for the clan during Istvan's leave from the Derlavaian War.

Goscinnio
(TtD)

Goscinnio was an Algarvian portraitist who fled his native land for at the end of the Six Years' War, and settled in the newly founded Kingdom of Zuwayza. He was still living there during the Derlavaian War. Foreign Minister Hajjaj used this example, and that of Uderzo the florist, to show that Zuwayza had traditionally welcomed refugees. This weakened Algarvian Minister Balastro's position in rebating Zuwayza for harboring Kaunians fleeing the murder camps in occupied territory.

Gundioc
(RotD)

Gundioc was a Captain in the army of Unkerlant. During the Battle of the Durrwangen Bulge, Gundioc had his first and last taste of battle, falling to an Algarvian stick. Sergeant Leudast lamented the death of this officer who had shown genuine promise, in stark contrast to the headstrong fools who endangered their own troops and were likely to be fragged.

Jeush
(TtD)

Jeush was a shaman of the Ice People. He warned the Algarvian dragonflier Sabrino that the murderous magecraft was an offense to the land and its gods, and that it would cause disaster. When Sabrino said that he had no control over the matter and that Brigadier Zerbino was in charge, Jeush replied that Zerbino refused to hear it. Soon after, an Algarvian army destroyed itself through a backfiring spell, and Sabrino, looking down from his dragon, imagined Jeush saying I-told-you-so.

Juhani
(TtD)

Juhani was a Kuusaman physician who tended to Fernao and removed the cast from his leg. She refused full payment, as he had given so much in service against Algarve. Her own husband was off in the war himself.

Korosi
(DD)

Korosi was from Kunhegyes, Gyongyos. Ten years older than Istvan, he was something of a bully. But after Istvan came home on leave from the Derlavaian War, Korosi stepped out of Istvan's way, demonstrating his new-found respect for Istvan.

Louhikko
(DD)

Louhikko was a mage employed by the Kuusaman customs office at the Lagoan border. He inspected Fernao's baggage, which the Lagoan found annoying, as this level of security between the two neighbors had not existed before the Derlavaian War.

Maironiu
(TtD)

Maironiu was a Valmieran farmer and partisan who transported Skarnu from Pavilosta to another part of the kingdom, after Skarnu's presence had been made known to Algarvian occupiers.

Malindo
(RotD)

Malindo was an Algarvian scholar who had been too old to be a soldier in the Six Years' War, but was still alive during the Derlavaian War. Malindo was aghast at the ritual slaughters of modern Kaunians, which had benefitted Algarve's war effort. On a chance encounter with Viscount Spinello at the Royal Cultural Museum, the old man confronted the army officer about this matter, and made Spinello too ashamed to continue visiting the museum.

Melot
(TtD)

Major Melot commanded Unkerlanter forces during the Battle of Sulingen. When he reported his lack of resources to Marshal Rathar, General Vatran found his wording insubordinate, but Rathar said that Melot had only spoken truth. Within days, Melot was dead, killed in combat against the Algarvians.

Oslac
(DD)

Oslac was a Forthwegian road-builder in Gromheort. Like many of his kind, he blamed the Kaunians for the Derlavaian War and Forthweg's fall. He almost came to blows with his teammate Leofsig, but all present were too tired to get into a brawl..

Peitavas
(DD)

Peitavas was a Kaunian road-builder in Gromheort. He warned his Forthwegian teammate Leofsig that it might not be best to treat Peitavas like a human being, as that would make Leofsig a target of suspicion for the Algarvian occupiers.

Rambaldo
(Jaws of Darkness)

Major Rambaldo was an Algarvian regimental commander during the assault on Pewsum. He carried a small egg-shaped windup clock. Both Rambaldo and his clock were crushed by a closing chasm which had been opened up by Unkerlanter sacrifical magic.

Shelomith
(ItD)

Shelomith was the named used by the Lagoan spy who recruited Fernao to rescue King Penda of Forthweg from Yaninan captivity. Shelomith was presumably not his real name, as it was a name from the Land of the Ice People rather than Lagoas.

Simanu
(DD)

Sunbeam
(DD)

Sunbeam was the camel of Colonel Muhassin of Zuwayza. Muhassin was quite fond of the beast despite its disagreeability, and the disdain of Hajjaj.

Thumper
(TtD)

Thumper was Elimaki's dog. Elimaki's nephew Uto played a cruel prank on Thumper by animating his doggy dish so that it chased the poor canine all over the house, spilling dog food everywhere. For this mischief, Uto's mother Pekka made him sleep that night without his favorite toy leviathan.

Uderzo
(TtD)

Uderzo was an Algarvian florist who fled his native land for at the end of the Six Years' War, and settled in the newly restored Kingdom of Zuwayza. He was still living there during the Derlavaian War. Foreign Minister Hajjaj used this example, and that of Goscinnio the portraitist, to show that Zuwayza had traditionally welcomed refugees. This weakened Algarvian Minister Balastro's position when he attempted to criticize Zuwayza for harboring Kaunians fleeing the murder camps in occupied territory.

Urgan
(ItD)

Urgan was a captain in the Unkerlanter army on the Gyongyosian front at the start of the Derlavaian War. Magnulf and Leudast were among the soldiers under his command. He was burned to death by dragon fire.

Vlaicu
(DD)

Vlaicu was a Sibian woodcutter in Giurgiu's team. Hearing that the Algarvians had put a price on the head of his teammate Cornelu, Vlaicu tackled Cornelu. He could have easily killed his quarry, but saw him as more valuable alive. This turned out to be a mistake, as Cornelu fatally crushed Vlaicu's skull in self-defense, and had to flee the forest for the city of Tirgoviste.

Captain Zerbino
(RotD)

Captain Zerbino was an Algarvian officer overseeing the Forthwegian volunteers of Plegmund's Brigade during the Battle of the Durrwangen Bulge. When an insubordinate foot-soldier (probably Ceorl) accused the redheads of sending the Forthwegians first as stick-fodder, Zerbino courageously replied that he was charging in first, and they were following. He kept his word, and was killed by an egg during this assault. =References=