List of minor Circle of Magic characters


This is a list of minor characters who appear in the Circle of Magic quartet by Tamora Pierce: Sandry's Book, Tris's Book, Daja's Book and Briar's Book. Other characters in the Emelan universe do not appear in these books, but appear in The Circle Opens quartet or in The Will of the Empress.

Dedicates and Novices of Winding Circle

Dedicate Crane is the First Dedicate of the Air temple. He is described as "the kind of man who draped himself on air". He created a greenhouse, in an effort to grow plants all year round. Since he is so good with plants, he is considered Dedicate Rosethorn's rival. They were once lovers. He worked together with Rosethorn in Briar's Book to find the cure for Blue Pox. His given name is Isas, and though abdicated the ties by becoming Innitiated, was a noble in the country of Olart.
Dedicate Gorse runs the Winding Circle kitchens. His temple affiliation is not known, as his robes are so stained and scorched their color is unrecognizable. Gorse takes good food and nutrition as his personal mission, frequently giving Briar food between meals and taking great care to feed drained mages well. In a post by Tim Liebe on he suggests that Gorse and Niko met while they were both imprisoned in Yanjing.
Dedicate Henna is a healer who works with Rosethorn and Briar in Urda's House during the Blue Pox plague in Briar's Book. She eventually dies of the plague, the first death among temple dedicates.
Kirel is Dedicate Frostpine's first apprentice, the second apprentice being Daja Kisubo. He is a novice of the Fire temple, a non-mage and a blacksmithing apprentice. He is sometimes a little jealous of Daja. When Tris passes out on the beach after trying to stop the tide, Kirel is the one Niko calls to carry her back to the temple.
Dedicate Lark lives with Dedicate Rosethorn in Discipline Cottage, a place where kids who need extra help come to stay. Her magic is with thread, and she is very kind to everyone, unlike Rosethorn, who threatens to hang the children in the well if they "so much as breathe on a plant". She is Sandry's main teacher in thread magic. She and Rosethorn are lovers.
Dedicate Superior Moonstream is the head of Winding Circle temple. A healer dedicated to the Water temple, Moonstream is called to treat Dedicate Rosethorn towards the end of the Blue Pox plague, in Briar's Book.
Dedicate Osprey is an Air temple Dedicate, and Dedicate Crane's primary helper in his glass-house.
Dedicate Rosethorn is an Earth temple dedicate with Ambient plant magic. Along with Dedicate Lark, she runs Discipline Cottage. Her tongue is very sharp and she only abides Briar and Lark, but she does like the girls, even though she doesn't show it. She nearly dies from the bluepox in Briar's Book, then pneumonia brought on by immune deficiency, but it is actually a seizure that kills her before Briar, aided by Tris, Daja and Sandry, retrieve her soul from Death. She was born in Anderran, the country directly west of Emelan, with the given name of Niva. During the time the books take place, or at least the time of Daja's Book, she is thirty-three years old. She and Lark are lovers.
Dedicate Skyfire is the First Dedicate of the Fire temple in Winding Circle temple. He is a former general who dedicated himself to the service of the fire gods upon the death of his wife, and in charge of the Temple Guard. He and the Temple Guard appear in Tris's Book, when Winding Circle is under attack by pirates, and has a passing mention in Cold Fire as having taught Daja how to meditate with a staff.

Mages

Aymery Glassfire is Tris's cousin, a Lightsbridge-educated academic mage who is indebted to pirate captains and siblings Enahar and Pauha.
Eilisa Pearldrop is a poor mage living in Summersea's worst quarter. Her failed attempt to earn a living by creating a marketable weight loss potion contaminates Summersea's drinking water, leading to the Blue Pox plague in Briar's Book.
Enahar is a pirate and a mage, who bought Aymery Chandler's allegiance by trapping him in debt, and then used his inside help to launch an attack on Winding Circle Temple with his sister Pauha. Their attack is thwarted by the temple mages, and both drown. He appears only in Tris's Book.
Yarrun Firetamer is an academic mage working, like his father before him, for Lady Inoulia of Gold Ridge Valley, who disdains Rosethorn's advice that the mountain forests need regular forest fires to preserve their life cycles. His constant attempts to stop any fire from burning in the valley are at first successful, but eventually lead to his death in Daja's Book.

Traders

Gilav Chandrisa Idaram, the gilav, or leader, of Tenth Caravan Idaram, which is trapped in Gold Ridge Valley during the forest fires in Daja's Book. Polyam's mother.
Pirisi, a Trader who was, for unknown reasons, working as Sandry's nurse, and taught her Tradertalk. Sandry's only constant friend in her first ten years, due to her parents traveling around the world.
Polyam Idaram, a wirok for Tenth Caravan Idaram, the one who buys all the caravan's needs and disrespected in Trader culture for spending, rather than earning money. Polyam lost an eye and a leg in a mudslide, and had been heavily scarred and unable to ride until meeting Daja Kisubo, who crafted for her a magical/mechanical leg out of the melted brass that fused to her hand in a forest fire. The leg enabled Polyam to ride again, and resume her previous role for the caravan, as a trainer and seller of horses. A post by Tamora Pierce at has suggested that since Daja's Book, Polyam received from Daja a magical/mechanical eye, similarly constructed from living metal.

Emelanese Nobility

Lady Amiliane fa Landreg is Sandry's mother, Namornese noblewoman who married into the Emelanese ruling family, although not into the direct ruling line. Sandry describes her parents as a cheerful but flighty young couple, disdaining the duties of their nobility to travel the world. Their travels ended in Hatar, when they both succumbed to the plague, leaving their ten-year-old daughter orphaned.
Lady Inoulia fa Juzon is Duke Vedris's daughter-in-law and the lady of Gold Ridge Valley, the area of Emelan plighted by drought and forest fires in Daja's Book.
Lady Liesa fa Nadlen, a young noblegirl being schooled in Winding Circle, clashes with Sandry in the dining hall over Sandry's request that Daja Kisubo, a commoner and a Trader, dine with her at the nobility's table.
Lord Mattin fer Toren is Sandry's father and Duke Vedris's favorite nephew. Sandry describes her parents as a cheerful but flighty young couple, disdaining the duties of their nobility to travel the world. Their travels ended in Hatar, when they both succumbed to the plague, leaving their ten-year-old daughter orphaned.
Duke Vedris IV, Sandry's great-uncle and the ruler of Emelan, offers to take her in after her parents die of plague in the island of Hatar. However, Vedris is a widower and a workaholic, and his Citadel strikes Sandry as a grim place to grow up; she embraces his offer to be educated in the nearby temple of Winding Circle. Aside from his appearances in all four Circle of Magic books, Duke Vedris appears extensively in Magic Steps, and briefly in The Will of the Empress.

Animal Companions

Little Bear is Discipline's family dog, rescued by Sandry in the Summersea market from boys who were abusing him. The dog is quickly adopted by Tris, Daja and Briar after they stand by Sandry's side in the fight that her rescue triggers. In later books Little Bear is a fixture in Discipline Cottage, and he travels with Tris in Shatterglass and receives a cursory mention in The Will of the Empress, as well.
Shriek is a nestling that Tris finds while investigating the explosion on a Bit Island with Niko. Despite Niko's protests, Tris brings the abandoned nestling back to Discipline Cottage, where Rosethorn helps her nurse him back to health.

Others

Darra and Valden Chandler are merchants in the city of Ninver, and Trisana Chandler's parents, who give her away to various relatives and then to Stone Circle temple, because her ambient magic with the weather went unrecognized, and they thought she was possessed or an elemental.
Dedicate Superior Huath is the dedicate in charge of Wave Circle Temple in Ragat. His theories on magical conversion lead him to try and trap the energy of an earthquake in Sandry's Book. The attempt goes wrong and the earthquake spreads and multiplies, reaching Summersea city despite having been projected not to affect Emelan.
Pauha is a pirate queen who, with the help of her brother Enahar, launched an attack on Winding Circle Temple in Tris's Book. Their attack is thwarted by the temple mages, and both drown.
The Thief Lord, an unnamed man who recruited street-rats in Hajra to be part of his gang. He recruited Briar when he was orphaned at the age of four, and named him Roach.