Bolli Bollason: Icelander, son-in-law of Snorri-godi
Gorm Rolfsson: Swede, brother of Glum the berserker
Halldor Snorrason: Icelander, son of Snorri-godi
Harald Sigurdsson: half-brother to Saint Olaf, later king of Norway
Sveinn Gudleifsson: Commandant of the Varangian Guard
Ulf Ospaksson: a Varangian from Iceland
Constantine IX Monomachus: Emperor (1042 – 1055), Zoe’s third husband
Constantine Paphlagon: a eunuch, Commander in Chief of the army; John’s brother
George Paphlagon: a eunuch in charge of the Imperial wardrobe; John’s brother
John Paphlagon: a eunuch, Guardian of Orphans
Maria Paphlagon: sister of John, Constantine, and Michael IV; mother of Michael V
Michael IV Paphlagon: Emperor (1034-1041), Zoe’s second husband
Michael V Calaphates: Emperor, (1041-1042), son of Maria and Stephen
Romanus III Argyrus: Emperor (1028-1034), Zoe’s first husband
Sclerena: mistress of Constantine IX
Stephen: “The Caulker”, husband of Maria, father of Michael V
Theodora: former nun, then Empress reigning jointly with Zoe
Zoe Porphyrogenita: Empress (1028-1050), daughter of Constantine VIII
Alexius: Patriarch of Constantinople
Alypius: a wealthy citizen of Constantinople
Constantine (Michael) Psellus: bureaucrat, historian, orator and teacher
Eustathius: Logothete (minister of the post and foreign affairs)
George Maniakes: general
Loucas: an orphan, one of John’s spies
Melampus: an alchemist, father of Selene
Olympia: Psellus’s wife
Selene: Odd’s wife
Ingigerd: wife of Grand Prince Yaroslav of Kievan Rus
Stavko Ulanovich: a Rus slave trader
Vladimir Yaroslavich: son of Yaroslav and Ingigerd
Yaroslav Vladimirovich: Grand Prince of Kievan Rus
Yelisaveta Yaroslavna: daughter of Yaroslav and Ingigerd, later wife of Harald
Arduin: a leader of the Italian Lombards
Gizur Isleifsson: priest, older brother of Teit Isleifsson
Moses the Hawk: Khazar captain of Maniakes’s bodyguard
Snorri-godi: powerful Christian Icelandic chieftain, enemy of Odd’s father
Stig No One’s Son: vagabond, viking, Odd’s mentor
Teit Isleifsson: a young deacon, the recorder of Odd’s saga
William de Hauteville: a Norman freebooter