1. Zélie is the main character of the novel. Zélie's mother was a maji, and Zélie is said to look a great deal like her. When Zélie was a child, magic existed in her world, and many maji had many different powers and abilities. However, after a raid conducted by King Saran wiped out all of the existing maji, magic disappeared from her world. Zélie is a divîner. A divîner is someone who has latent magic powers, but who has not yet been able to tap into them. Early in the novel Zélie touches a magic artifact and it activates her own special power. She discovers that she is the one who is fated to bring magic back to the entire kingdom by completing a special ritual for the magic gods.

2. Baba is Zélie's father. He is a good man and he has no magic powers himself. He is crushed by the death of his wife, who was murdered in King Saran's raid. Baba is a simple fisherman who is trying desperately to make a living for his family. However, he is often cheated and abused by the royal guards because of his association with maji.

3. Tzain is Zélie's older brother. He has no magical ability of his own, and he is often reprimanding Zélie for being impulsive and irresponsible. However, he is entirely motivated by his love and loyalty to his family and just wants to keep them safe. He agrees to help Zélie on her quest, and over the course of the journey he falls in love with the princess Amari.

4. Amari is a princess and the daughter of King Saran. When the novel starts she has almost no experience of the outside world and is unaware of the atrocities her father has committed. Early in the novel Amari sees her father kill her best friend, Binta. Binta was a divîner who worked for the palace. King Saran had her touch a magic artifact, which activated her power, turned her into a maji, and then killed her while Amari secretly watched. Amari steals the artifact from her father and brings it to Zélie, beginning the quest to bring back magic.

5. Inan is a prince. He is the son of King Saran and is Amari's brother. Inan is desperate to prove himself and gain his father's love. Early in the novel, Inan has his latent magic powers activated and becomes a maji. However, he is ashamed and afraid of these powers because his father is so strongly against all divîners. He spends the majority of the novel trying to track down Zélie and destroy the magic artifact she carries.

6. King Saran has no magic blood. He is afraid of the maji because they attacked his family and killed his first wife and their children. Saran is responsible for the genocide against all of the maji, and he harshly enforces several unfair laws and policies against all of the divîners in the kingdom.