Glass Sword

Cal is Mare’s main love interest. His Silver blood makes him disliked by many of the newbloods, though they warm up to him as the book progresses. In Red Queen, Cal was strong and confident, bolstered by his birthright, status, and power. Watching him give in to being imprisoned by the Colonel in Chapter 5, Mare thinks that once, he would have done anything to save his own skin, but “now he believes that skin worthless” (55). Maven’s betrayal cuts Cal deeply; for much of the book, he is motivated by revenge. Cal always saw himself as a protector to Maven, so learning he wasn’t and, even more, that Maven didn’t care about him has left Cal feeling like his life has been made up of lies. Mare is the only person who doesn’t dislike Cal from the start of the book, and he clings to her as a piece of his old life and a symbol of how he might rebuild himself.

Kilorn is Mare’s best friend from childhood. After what Mare went through in Red Queen, Kilorn now feels like “a ghost of a time before all this” (3), with “this” meaning everything that’s happened since Mare’s powers emerged. Kilorn was a love interest in the previous book, but he now realizes that Mare will never love him as he hoped she would. For much of the book, Kilorn deals with this truth by ignoring her, especially when Mare and Cal start sharing a bed. In later chapters, Kilorn overcomes his emotions and sees Mare for what she’s become—a reluctant leader who struggles to make the right choices and help as many people as she can. Kilorn and Mare end the book as friends, the romantic tension between them seemingly gone. This clears the path for Mare to continue her romantic subplot with Cal for the rest of the series.

Shade Barrow is Mare’s brother and another newblood. His ability lets him teleport, or “jump,” as he calls it, and Mare refers to him as “the fastest thing I’ve ever seen” (3). Shade’s power is not combative but gives the newbloods the advantage of instant movement over great distances. Shade is typically the one who gets the others out of danger, often zipping between bullets and explosions to do so. He brags that nothing can touch him, which makes his death ironic. By the time people aim or loose an attack at him, he’s moved, which is why he is killed by an attack that wasn’t meant for him. If he’d been the target, he would have seen the attack and planned for it, but he ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time, the only benefit being that Mare survived.

Maven is the main antagonist of Glass Sword. Though he isn’t officially king yet, he wears his father’s crown, which often slips off his head as if “even the metal knows it does not belong to him” (21). Maven’s betrayal left Mare and Cal with emotional scars, and though Maven appears only sparingly in Glass Sword, his presence is strongly felt throughout the book. He represents how characters don’t need much page time to be important. The few times Maven appears, he is easily thwarted, almost as if he intentionally fails. The exception to this is the final chapters, and even then, Maven does not use his power to its fullest extent. Rather, he accepts Mare’s offer, suggesting that having Mare close is more important than stopping the rebels.

Diana Farley appeared in the first book, but her first name is not revealed until Glass Sword. She is a long-time member and captain of the Scarlet Guard and wears “her scars and wounds like jewels” (42). Farley is one of the few non-newblood Reds on Mare’s team, and she represents how powers are not the only thing that makes someone strong. Farley is deadly dangerous without abilities, and this, combined with her independent streak, helps Mare break free to start finding newbloods. Farley and Shade are a couple for most of the book, perhaps even earlier in the story timeline, and Shade’s death breaks Farley’s spirit. It’s hinted that she is pregnant with Shade’s child at the end of the story, which is confirmed in the sequel.

Cameron Cole is a newblood from one of the Red slum factory towns, and she’s tattooed with a serial number that’s “big and blocky, two inches high, wrapping halfway around her throat” (311). The number represents how much less freedom the factory-town Reds have and how they are marked so they can never cast off their worker identity. Cameron is a few years younger than Mare and reminds Mare of a younger version of herself. Cameron holds the same righteous anger that Mare once had—hating Silvers simply for existing and willing to do anything to destroy them. She and Mare both have abrasive personalities, which causes friction when they are together. Like Mare, Cameron’s toughness mainly hides her fear, especially of her power, until she understands what it is and how to control it.

Jon is the newblood with the ability to see the future. He only appears twice in Glass Sword—once while Mare’s group is on a rescue mission and in the epilogue, where Mare assumes he is working for Maven and didn’t warn her about Maven’s trap. Jon is the catalyst for the final chapters and the prison break. His ability represents the complexity of time. He claims he sees all possible futures and that they are constantly shifting as people make decisions. He tells Mare that her destiny is to rise alone, which may foreshadow that Mare will end up alone. It may also be information he gives Mare so she can alter her path.