Characters in The Assassin's Blade

Celaena Sardothien

Across all five novellas, Celaena is portrayed as brilliant, vain, and deeply principled in ways she would never admit; the arc traces her from a ruthless young assassin to someone capable of love — and then to someone who has lost it.

Also in The Assassin and the Pirate Lord, The Assassin and the Healer, The Assassin and the Desert, The Assassin and the Underworld, The Assassin and the Empire, Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows, Empire of Storms

Arobynn Ahamar

The King of Assassins, Celaena's guardian and captor; his manipulation and eventual betrayal of both Celaena and Sam are the collection's central act of villainy.

Also in The Assassin and the Underworld, The Assassin and the Empire

Rolfe

The Pirate Lord of Skull's Bay; the antagonist of the first novella, who reappears in the main series with expanded significance.

Also in The Assassin and the Pirate Lord

Sam Cortland

Celaena's fellow assassin, rival, and eventual love; his death in the final novella is the emotional anchor of the entire collection and the key to understanding Celaena's state of mind at the start of Throne of Glass.

Also in The Assassin and the Pirate Lord, The Assassin and the Underworld

Ansel of Briarcliff

A fellow trainee at the Silent Assassins whose friendship with Celaena is complicated by her secret agenda; her reappearance in the main series rewards readers who know her origin.

Also in The Assassin and the Desert

Yrene Towers

A healer Celaena helps in a brief but pivotal encounter; her subsequent journey to the Torre Cesme, funded by Celaena's gift, shapes the arc of Tower of Dawn.

Also in The Assassin and the Healer, Tower of Dawn

Arobynn Hamel

Lysandra

Also in Queen of Shadows, Empire of Storms