Characters in A Fire Upon the Deep

Ravna Bergsndot

The only human employed at the Relay information hub, from the human world of Sjandra Kei; she traces the distress signal and mounts the rescue mission to Tines World.

Pham Nuwen

A human reconstituted by the Transcendent Power called Old One to act as its agent against the Blight, unsure whether his memories of a lost trading civilisation are his own.

Also in A Deepness in the Sky

Johanna Olsndot

One of two Olsndot children who survive the crash on Tines World; rescued from the Flenserists and taken to Woodcarver's domain.

Jefri Olsndot

Johanna's younger brother, held by the Flenserists and led to believe that Woodcarver is his enemy.

Flenser

The Tines architect of the Flenserist regime, who built a society of ruthless mental discipline by surgically recomposing packs.

Steel (Zones of Thought)

Flenser's protege and leader of the Flenserists, who holds Jefri and exploits the crashed ship's knowledge to build cannon and radio.

The Blight (Zones of Thought)

The superintelligence accidentally woken from an archive in the Low Transcend, which spreads through the Beyond seizing civilisations.

Woodcarver

Long-lived Tines queen of a progressive city-state, whose domain shelters Johanna and allies with the humans against the Flenserists.

Tyrathect

A Tines pack among the Flenserist leadership, of divided and unstable composition.

Peregrine Wickwrackrum

A wandering Tines pack known as Pilgrim, who helps rescue the wounded Johanna and carry her to Woodcarver's domain.

Blueshell

A Skroderider, one of the two plant-intelligence traders who own the merchant ship Out of Band II and carry Ravna and Pham to Tines World.

Greenstalk

Blueshell's fellow Skroderider and co-owner of the Out of Band II.

Old One (Zones of Thought)

A Transcendent Power that contacts Relay seeking information about the Blight, and reconstitutes Pham Nuwen as its agent.