Jemisin's character study names her as impulsive and irrational (she obsesses over her mother's murder even when she has other things to worry about), and not above hurting herself to get what she needs.
When Itempas murdered Enefa, he led his children in revolt against him, and was forced into a mortal body as a punishment.
The god of law, order, light, and rules, Bright Itempas came after Nahadoth and though at first they fought, they later became lovers.
He kills Enefa and imprisons Nahadoth and his children, but offers the Nightlord a chance to be free and serve him every time a new Arameri ruler is chosen.
When she is murdered, Itempas keeps a part of her soul, trapped in the Stone, and the rest is gathered and placed into Yeine by the Enefadeh.
Sieh has chosen the path of a child, and therefore despite his age he can't stop loving and longing for a mother.
In Sky, the Arameri palace, he possesses a room full of multi-colored orbs that are actually a sun and planets stolen from various other solar systems.
She is described as very beautiful, with gold and silver wings, though she takes the form of a plump, old librarian when she first appears to Yeine.
Like Kurue and Sieh, she is another of Nahadoth's children, and the one to mark Yeine so that she'll be free from Arameri control.
The ruler of the Arameri and Yeine's grandfather, he offered his wife to transfer the Stone to him, which killed her and alienated his daughter, Kinneth.
One of the potential heirs and a cousin once-removed from Yeine, Scimina is a cruel, half-mad woman with no conscience whatsoever.
She sets Nahadoth on Yeine the first time she meets her and threatens to destroy Darre if she isn't named as heir.
She sits at Dekarta's right hand at the Council, and is described as “a reedy Amn beauty of sable hair, patrician features, and regal grace.” Scimina's younger twin brother and the other potential heir, Relad surrounds himself with his vices.
Darre publicly rescinded their faith in Nahadoth and the Enefadeh when they were conquered by the Arameri, but still worship them in secret.
The men in Darre are trophies, and used basically to sire children, though many couples, such as Kinneth and Yeine's father, are deeply in love.
The Darre have a brutal coming-of-age ceremony, in which the young woman has to survive in the forest for a month, and then return home to fight publicly with a man her sponsor has chosen.
Yeine fights as best she can, fulfills the ceremony, and then kills her rapist with a rock afterwards, effectively claiming her right to rule.
In the words of the author, "the closest racial analogue for the Darre, if they were in our world, would be South American Indian, specifically Inka.
In Sky (the city), there is the Salon, a white-walled building where the Consortium (world council) meets to pretend that they aren't all just obeying the Arameri.
Includes, servants, suppliers, and crafters, and the mansions they serve (which encircle the Tree's trunk) by means of a network of steam-driven escalators.
For several centuries afterward the area where the Maroland had been was prone to underwater earthquakes/tsunami that made sea travel treacherous.
Yeine perceives it during her lovemaking with Nahadoth in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms as “a sound: a titanic, awful roar.” The gods describe it as a churning storm, not just of energy or matter but of concepts as well.
Gods are equally at home as corporeal or incorporeal beings, are able to travel virtually anywhere in creation, and have complete power over all material and metaphysical objects and concepts.
In The Kingdom of Gods, Sieh defines the demons as a fourth ranking, but notes that they are all (to his knowledge) dead.
Below are the relevant subgroups of humankind: Demons, in the world of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, are the offspring of a mating between gods and humans.
In March 2021, Searchlight Television and Westbrook Studios announced the development of a live-action series based on the book.