Bad tempered dark elf who is based more on the Celtic idea of fairies than Tolkien's elves .Anna found him in her ktichen. It's a long story. Has had a spell cast on him that doesn't allow him to use magic. He's a bit sarcastic in the same was that logs are made of wood and appears to deal with specieism by hating the world with the possible exception of Anna. Other than that, he's basically a normal person with  issues that he mostly deals with by burying them in a mental black hole. Can see in the dark and has better senses that nearly all humans. Is colour blind (there's a fascinating fact, and one that not many  designers who give their characters cat-eyes seem to have picked up on) Doesn't play by the rules, however you define them

Production notes: Maulen was the first Blackthorn character and appears to be the fan favourite at the moment, (though that seems to have dried up a bit when I made him act like a jerk and Simon, Anna and Aro all seem to have a bit of a following)  He's also a bit of a repository for all of my smart remarks and quotes that I pick up from strange places.

 Long suffering witch and Maulen's travelling companion by default. Has agreed to help him regain his magic in order to help him get back to his homeland which is currently protected by a magical barrier. She is independent, practical , doesn't suffer fools gladly and close to her older brother Simon . Anna has weak healing magic and very strong defensive magic (so strong that the term "blast radius" applies) which she has way less scruples about using than most witches. A tip: bad things happen when her eyes go blue. Anyone who shoots arrows at a five foot girl with pigtails probably deserves whatever they get anyway.

Production notes: Anna's costume was originally taken from an Alma-Tadema picture. She started out as a bit of a sidekick but had to acquire a personality so she wouldn't wilt under Maulen's constant barrage of smart remarks., despite still being a bit of a sucker for hopeless cases.

Supporting Cast:
Although some of these have fairly major parts to play as the story develops, Maulen and Anna (and I don't think this is going to spoil anything for anyone) are the only characters who are followed through the entire story arc.It's like I'm stalking them or something.

Simon

Anna's older brother and always ready to lend a hand to someone who really needs it. Owns the second largest library in the comic and the largest collection of girlie posters. Simon is  very powerful and lives in a deeply strange house.Is currently working in a slapdash way for the war effort, though it's doubtful if his superiors know that he's working to stop the war and not just win it and what you'd pay him is beyond me. I also don't know if he actually needs those glasses. He doesn't look through them that often.

Character notes: I originally made Simon a widower, but decided that this was a bad idea about half way through the second chapter, so he isn't now. Looked like Harry Potter when he was a kid, but without the scar.



Katherine

A soldier sent to track down Maulen by her superiors who believe that he knows information which will help them win the current interspecies war between elves and humans. She owns a crystal ball that enables her to track his movements , a number of weapons of choice and a couple of standard issue henchmen. Enjoys the equal opportunities available to a women who can fight as well as she can and also enjoys reminding people who may have forgotten about the equal opportunities, usually by scaring the living crap out of them. Is better at giving orders than having a conversation

Production notes: Katherine just happened .I guess she sprung fully formed from my forehead or something, which was surprisingly painless. I like her because she's so uncomplicated to write: black and white characters are always simpler than people with issues.

Aro

Anna's ex-boyfriend and a guard under Katherine's command. Probably one of those guards who are designed to stand in a little box for hours at a time saying things like "Who goes there?" and opening doors for important people. Has a rather romantic view of things like honour and chivalry which probably stems form being read too many fairytales as a kid. He's pretty much Maulen's polar opposite: big, blond, stupid and nice.

Production notes: Aro is effectively written out of the comic at the moment. I don't know whether he'll be appearing much outside of flashbacks from now on, though it's possible that he might.



Tabbi

Whape shifting cat demon given to Anna by Simon to get rid of her. Stuck on the mortal plane by a spell that went wrong, she spends most of her time in cat form, because I like drawing cats. When human ,she has the personality of a sleepy four year old.

Production notes: Tabbi is the token catgirl for this comic. She doesn't actually have much of a plot function at the moment.



Kahiere

 A supercilious dragon spirit lent by Simon to Anna as a quick and stylish mode of transport, he has three forms: dragon, spirit and human .Is fond of Tabbi and adores human food .Works for Simon (or as he would prefer to call it, does favours) in return for existence (or semi-existence) on the mortal plane: presumably this is more interesting than drifting around the celestial void. Smokes constantly when in "human" form, or acts like he does. It's hard to tell. Note to kids: smoking is only cool if you happen to have asbestos lungs and I don't think that you do. Dragons, on the other hand...

Production notes: Kahiere is the character who appeared in the comic the least like I imagined him to be. I originally thought  he'd be much more of a drama queen, but you just can't make a thirty foot dragon have histrionics, so he turned out to be much more of a snob when I drew him.

Bit Players:
These are characters who appear fairly infrequently ,who I haven't made up my mind about yet, or who are just not that important in the scheme of things .Sorry guys.Could be worse: you could be in the next category down.

..

Sten and Gennady

Also known as Katherine's soldiers or the Goons (no Milligan connections intended) Sten is the blond one with the obviously broken nose. He's hired muscle , but he's good at it. Gennady is the dark one with the changeable beard and more than half a brain. They have all the personalities of standard-issue henchmen, and although they would probably not die for Katherine, would definately main (someone else, obviously) for her.

Production notes: They don't have any. They're just henchmen. They breed 'em in vats, ya know.

Me

Yes, I appear in the early part of the comic, and it's completely lame, I know. But I also appear when stuff needs explaining, usually something grovelling about html coding.

Production notes: go read the author information page. My bark is worse than my bite, honestly.

Baba Yaga

Refuses to lift Maulen's jinx because she believes that he is a demon. Lives in a house with chicken legs and is easily annoyed. What do fairytales say about annoying little old ladies? Especially little old ladies who keep skulls with flaming eye sockets in their houses.

Production notes: in case you were deprived of any entertainment as a child, the general idea is "don't"

Very Bit Players:
These are characters who appear only once, who haven't yet appeared in the comic, or who , in the case of Simon's house, are actually places rather than people. They don't even get pictures.Aaah.

Simon's House:

Simon's house is an entity in itself .It changes shape, changes size, changes rooms, and is apparently dangerous to travel round in at night. Is home to possible an inter -dimensional portal and several Python sketches as well as Simon, and seems to change to reflect his moods. It normally has a tardis-like quality ( Hovel outside, Gothic Castle inside) and should have signs telling you to beware of falling film references. You may notice that a lot of the more powerful magic users in my comic live in houses that are not quite what they seem. After all, if you've got powers like that, where are you going to live? a nice semi-detached in Wigan?

Production notes: I use the checked floors in Simon's house to help me with perspective. After I'd moaned about it on my site, someone emailed me and suggested that if Simon's entire house changes, surely I could get away with  changing the floor tiles to another pattern .Paisley is tempting me at the moment

Murev

Katharine's boss, the resident (war) lord and the mastermind behind the idea of breaking the Wyr Barrier.He's getting on a bit and wants to make his mark before it's too late.Whether he goes down in history as the leader of a glorious victory or a glorious defeat is something that history hasn't decided yet.

Production notes: nothing really

Dark

A character of DarkPhoton's , who taught me html and thus made this website in it's various incarnations possible. He appears in crowd scenes and as a bad omen, a bit like a scarier version of "Where's Wally?"

Production notes: his sunglasses are out of place even for Blackthorn's fake-medievalish theme. Maybe Simon got given them free with his Harry Potter T-shirt.

Geoffrey

A travelling minstrel who has yet to appear in the story, but a fairly major character when he does finally get his ass into gear and into the comic. Said ass usually spends a lot of time hurtling out of bedroom windows followed by angry husbands. Preferring to be called a "wordsmith" and usually making most of his money selling tall stories to broardsheets, Geoffrey sings only when he's really hard up for money and to get girls. Talents include thinking on his feets and knowing many, many rhymes for "breasts"

Production notes: coming soon. The character, not the notes.