|
|
Mia Corvere is the main protagonist of The Nevernight Chronicle. She was born in Godsgrave to a wealthy marrowborn familia that enjoyed much power and influence until her father tried, and failed, to overthrow the Itreyan Senate and reinstitute the monarchy. His actions caused the complete destruction of the Corvere familia. In pursuit of vengeance against the men responsible, Mia sought out the Red Church in the hopes of becoming an assassin skilled enough to enact her revenge.
Though she failed the Church's trials, she was inducted as a Blade all the same after rescuing the Church's Ministry during an assault by Luminatii legionaries by the Lord of Blades, Cassius, shortly before he succumbed to his wounds.
Mia is of mixed Itreyan-Liisian blood. She is also Darkin - one who controls the darkness itself. She has little understanding of her powers, and out of the two other Darkin she has met, one died before divulging any hidden knowledge he might have withheld on the subject, and the other knew even less than her. In Darkdawn, she discovers the truth about being Darkin.
History
Appearance
Prior to her Weaving in the Quiet Mountain, according to the narrator, Mia was not a "pretty thing". Her skin was pale, her cheeks hollow, lending her a hungry, wasted look. She had crow-black hair that reached her ribs and self-inflicted crooked fringe. Her bow-shaped lips and flesh beneath her eyes seemed perpetually bruised, and her nose had been broken at least once.
She was short and stick-thin, barely enough flesh to fill her clothes. She was, as the narrator puts it, "not a beauty lovers would die for."
After the events of Godsgrave, she gains a double circled slave mark on her right check and a sickle shaped scar on her left check.
Personality
Mia is fearless (literally) because of her shadow daemons, Mister Kindly and Eclipse, who drink her fears. This has proved to be both an asset and a hindrance to Mia - her fearlessness can sometimes lead to recklessness and brashness. At the beginning, she was dangerously dependent on her shadow passengers, often crippled and consumed by her fear in their absence and unable to process it on her own. Over the course of the novels, this becomes less true. As Mia faces her inner demons and begins to build self-confidence, she finds it far easier to overpower her fear without her daemon companions. In Godsgrave, she does not balk at all at the notion of sending them away, on errands or whatnot.
While she is outwardly vicious and cold to even those closest to her, she has proven to be, one of the most sympathetic and kind characters in the Nevernight pantheon. During her training at the Red Church, she is told multiple times that she does not belong and that she is better than the rest of them. She goes on to prove this, when she sacrifices her future in the Red Church to spare an innocent life. She demonstrates her innate goodness further after being rejected and shunned by the Red Church for her failure as she rushes to their aid in their most desperate hour, saving the Ministry from the devious machinations of the Järnheims.
And in the same vein, although she outwardly seems to be utterly consumed by her desire for vengeance, she has not lost herself in it. Her pursuit of vengeance may drive and motivate her, but it has not defined, consumed, or corrupted her, as she has a very strong sense of justice and will always do what needs to be done. She proves this in Godsgrave, when she risks herself and jeopardizes her carefully constructed schemes to save the lives of not only her fellow gladiatii, but their domina, Leona, whom Mia warns of her own treachery - again, jeopardizing herself and all she had worked for - so that Leona might survive Mia's vengeance and evade punishment for her champion's actions.
Mia has proven time and time again that while she desires little more than vengeance for her familia, there are lines she is unwilling to cross. She will not take an innocent life and will not abandon or betray her companions in their times of need.
Mia is exceedingly clever, as well as well-versed in court and political intrigue, thanks to her mother's teachings. While she prefers clean and honest killing, she is capable of great deception and manipulation.
She does not shy away from self-sacrifice of any kind, perfectly willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve her goals. She considers her body to be a tool, sex a weapon - one she has grown to wield shamelessly and with ease.
Mia is an exceptionally strong-willed individual, as she never gives up no matter what obstacle is in her way and is highly endurable. She proves this by resisting torture at the hands of the Confessors, willingly letting Marielle flog her, and standing up straight when the Administraii hammer her slave mark into her check.
Abilities and Skills
Darkin abilities
Mia is Darkin, one with the ability to control and shape shadows. She keeps two shadow daemons, Mister Kindly and Eclipse, the former since childhood, and the latter since the death of Lord Cassius. Her primary darkin abilities are as follows.
- Trapping someone or constricting them within their own shadow, rendering them immobile and defenseless against her attacks. Mia frequently uses this ability during combat.
- Concealing herself amongst the shadows, making herself near invisible. However, like all gifts in the Nevernight universe, it comes at a price - when she is concealed from the sight of others, she has little to no sight at all.
- Traveling through the shadows. This is a more difficult task for Mia, especially in the absence of darkness, say, in broad daylight. It usually causes sickness, such as splitting headaches and nausea. But in the absence of light, say underground, or during truedark, Mia wields this ability with relative ease.
- Controlling the shadows and forcing them to do her bidding, e.g., destroy objects. This is an extremely difficult feat. It is utterly impossible under the suns, in full light. Not counting her two daemon passengers, who are formed out of shadows but are actually sentient beings, the only time Mia managed to actually control the dark was at the height of her power, during the last truedark.
- Less distinct powers include the ability to sense other darkin. Also, the ability to merge consciousnesses with other darkin, as she displays with Furian during the Venatus Magni. The two darkin warriors were a seamless, flawless, fighting pair, distinctly aware of one another, and, at times, even possessing and controlling one another.
Assassin skills
Mia can fight well with a variety of weapons, like all acolytes from the Red Church, but she prefers blades, particularly, her gravebone stiletto. This is a familia heirloom that once belonged to her mother. However, she is also talented with gladii, as she demonstrates both in her Church trials in Nevernight and during her time as gladiatii in Godsgrave. She prefers the Carravaggio style, named after a famous Itreyan duelist who preferred twin blades. She trained under a master of the art during her time in the Quiet Mountain, the Hand of Our Lady of Blessed Murder Naev, and, while her skill with a blade left much to be desired upon her initiation into the Church of Our Lady of Blessed Murder, by the end of her trials, she became a true master.
Initially, she relied on her darkin abilities heavily during combat to best her opponents. But without her powers to fall back on, as we see in her training in the Hall of Songs during Nevernight and in the Remus Collegium during Godsgrave, she strikes as a far less formidable opponent. However, Mia has come a long way in terms of independence from her darkin gifts. In Nevernight, she was forced to train under Solis’s watchful eye and abstain from her powers. In Godsgrave, it was much the same, with Furian. As a result, she was forced to fight as the giftless do - without shadowy tricks and dark ruses. Because of this, even without darkin abilities , she has become a force to be reckoned with.
Skill in combat aside, Mia is also a highly talent venom-crafter. As a child, she deeply enjoyed the book Arkemical Truths, written entirely about natural and chemical poisons. Even prior to her initiation at the Red Church, her knowledge of venom and toxins was extensive, so much so that she greatly impressed the Shahiid of Truths, Spiderkiller, during her first lesson in the Hall of Truths. She went on to place Top of the Hall, and earn the favor and endorsement of Spiderkiller herself. Although Spiderkiller later retracted her favour upon Mia's failing of the final trial, Mia was still leagues ahead of any of her fellow acolytes when it came to venom-craft, her superiority uncontested.
Her extensive knowledge went on to serve her well during her time as gladiatii, allowing her to manipulate the collegium with ease and gain the favor of Dona Leona. It also saved her life, and the lives of the majority of her fellow Falcons, when the collegium was poisoned by the devious Magistrae. Mia was able to recognize the toxin and rapidly synthesize an antidote before the death toll rose too high.
Due to the training she received from her Shahiid Mercurio, Mia is extremely resourceful. The old man was highly fond of trials and tests. Although the varied in difficulty and danger to life and limb, they almost always began with Mia awakening with a mild slumberweed headache in unfamiliar surroundings. Once, after a lesson in the principles of magnetism, she'd awoken in the pitch-black of Godsgrave's sewers with nothing but an iron hairpin and piece of chalk to help her find her way out. After six months of lessons in the tongue of Old Ashkah, she'd awoken five miles into the Godsgrave necropolis with half a skin of water and directions to the exit written in Ashkahi script.
Although Mercurio dubbed these trials "treasure hunts", it seems the only "treasure" to be found at the end of these exercises was "continued existence". Still, they did make for singularly dedicated student.
Relationships
Mister Kindly and Eclipse
Mister Kindly and Eclipse are Mia's passengers. Mister Kindly has been with Mia since her father's death, originally taking the shadow form of him, but then taking the form of a cat, reasoning it would be easier for Mia to deal with, after the death of her beloved childhood cat. Mister Kindly is very sarcastic and cruel, disputing many of Mia's ideas and pointing out all and all things that could go wrong. Mia can often become very annoyed with him but does enjoy his company. She used to tell him everything but started to create a void in their relationship when she started sleeping with Ashlinn.
Eclipse was formally Cassius' passenger, but after his death, joined Mister Kindly as Mia's. She takes the form of a wolf, as it was the form she reasoned Cassius would prefer. She is said to be kind, reasonable and agrees with Mia's ideas and thoughts, rather than disputing them.
During Godsgrave, Mia and Ashlinn ponder the idea that a Darkins passenger takes on the personality of the person they first imprint on, explaining why Mister Kindly and Eclipse are so different.
During the first novel in the series, Mia is very uncomfortable sending away Mister Kindly, but during Godsgrave, she can easily send both Mister Kindly and Eclipse away on menial tasks, learning to survive with her fear.
Ashlinn Järnheim
Tric
Mercurio
Alinne Corvere
Darius Corvere
Jonnen Corvere
Julius Scaeva
Lord Cassius
Aalea
Mouser
Solis
Drusilla
Leona Remus
Furian
Sidonius
Jessamine Gratianus
Hush
Carlotta
List of victims
- The Truedark Massacre
- Augustus Scipio
- Unnamed thug
- Maxinus
- Diamo
- Marcus Remus
- +/- 300 Luminataii legionnares
- Swordbreaker
- 3 kills for the Red Church
- Gaius Neraus Aurelius
- A dozen bandits
- 5 slaves
- Numerous gladiatii
- Ishkah the Exile
- Furian the Unfallen
- Francesco Duomo
- A whole ship of Luminataii
- Tenhands
- Arturo
- Violetta
- Remillo
- Einar "the Tanner" Valdyr
- Ulfr Sigursson
- Mouser
- Solis
- Alea
- Drusillia
- Cleo
- The entire Seventeenth Legion
- Whisper
- Julius Scaeva
Memorable Quotes
Trivia
- Mia has several similarities to Arya Stark from Game of Thrones
- Both are left-handed.
- Both are the daughters of disgraced noble houses.
- Both watched their fathers executed for treason at 10 and swore to avenge them.
- Both have a list of people they intend to kill.
- Both join a cult of assassins to reach their goals and hone their skills but are mostly at odds with them.
- Both have an unique ability, Mia is a darkin and Arya is a skinchanger.
- Both have an affinity for cats and wolves.
- Mia betraying and overthrowing the Red Church in Darkdawn is similar to Wesley overthrowing the Fraternity in the 2008 film Wanted.
- Mia possesses a gravebone dagger that once belonged to her mother. It is her favored weapon - long and wicked-sharp, its hilt crafted to resemble a crow in flight. She later reclaims a gravebone longsword that belonged to her stepfather.
- Though, Mia is a master of the Carravaggio style, she is never shown performing it with both her gravebone dagger and gravebone sword.
- Mia is exceedingly fond of clove cigarillos.
- Mia is fluent in Liisian, her mother's native tongue, and Old Ashkah. She was taught by Mercurio. She also speaks some Dweymeri, but not fluently.
- From her time as a Gladiatii, Mia has a slave mark on her cheek, marking her as the property of the Remus Collegium.
- The familia Corvere had the Liisian saying Neh diis lus’a, lus diis’a, which translates to When all is blood, blood is all.
- The Truedark Mia turned fourteen, she destroyed a massive statue of Aa.
- Mia does not eat pork because the Godsgrave pokery was a chapel for the Red Church using the pigs to dispose of bodies.
Gallery
