Firebird: Major Antagonists

This page is filled with SPOILERS for the Firebird universe. Do not read further if you do not want major plot or character developments revealed! Characters are listed in alphabetical order by their last name.


Princess Phoena Angelo – Middle daughter of the Angelo royal family, Phoena is a ruthless beauty who stops at nothing to maintain her own power and prestige. She considers her oldest sister Carradee incompetent to rule Netaia, especially after Federate forces occupy and govern it. Phoena also has a vindictive dislike of her younger sister, Firebird, who chooses against traditional Netaian values.

Phoena pursues her personal advantage in any situation and oftentimes makes alliances that will elevate her status. This eventually leads to her betrayal in FUSION FIRE, when she trusts the renegade Shuhr to secure her position on the Netaian throne. Rather than placing her on the throne, the Shuhr psychically abuse her and permanently disfigure her before placing her in suspended animation as a resource for their genetic technology.


Tamím Bar’Baror – A primary antagonist in WIND AND SHADOW. Considered a mystical holy man on Mikuhr, Tamím is reported to have uncovered new knowledge from the Sentinels’ holy books regarding the prophesied Boh-Dabar (“Word to Come”). He has been a special counsel to Jahana, leader of the hidden Qe’leb settlement.

After he is possessed by a demonic shadow, Tamím initiates the book’s central conflict by abducting Kiel. During the course of the book, Tamím pressures Kiel to accept the mantle of the Boh-Dabar. He and Kiel also argue existential questions about the nature of physicality in the created world. Though possessed and abused by the shadow inhabiting him, the human Tamím remains skeptical of Kiel’s attempts to remain on his faith-based path.


Chancellor Piper Gambrel – Primary antagonist in DAYSTAR (with a brief cameo in WIND AND SHADOW). Head of the Collegium for Human Learning on Tallis, Chancellor Gambrel has an aggressive agenda of increasing his power within the Federacy by ingratiating himself with the higher powers at Regional HQ on Tallis. First on the list is an attempt to permanently solve the “problem” of the Sentinel race. Due to his forays into spiritual and mental development, Gambrel is seduced by a supernatural shadow, which enhances his awareness and knowledge of events.


Jahana – A primary antagonist in WIND AND SHADOW. Head of Qe’leb settlement, Jahana has recovered some of the off-site gene banks developed by her predecessors, the Golden City Shuhr.

Experimenting with the Caldwell and Angelo genetic lines, she has created several human clones with a perverted pair bond connection, as well as disposable cloned brain organs whose Angelo genetic derivation gives them the capacity for reverse polarity fusion. Using these as her secret weapons, Jahana plans revenge on the Whorl for the desolation of Mikuhr in CROWN OF FIRE.


Dru Polar – An antagonist in FUSION FIRE. As the Testing Director in the Golden City, Dru is driven by a desire to expand and develop Shuhr telepathic abilities. In the attempts to assassinate Firebird and Brennen during FUSION FIRE, the Shuhr discover a latent genetic mutation in Firebird’s telepathic abilities, which gives her epsilon carrier wave a polarity that is reversed from the normal telepath’s. When a reversed-polarity carrier wave is joined in “fusion” with a normal epsilon wave, the resulting explosion of energy proves lethal to almost any telepath in close proximity. Polar extracts the Angelo genetic material from the traitor Princess Phoena Angelo and the kidnapped Princesses Iarlet and Kessaree. Polar meets his end when trying to stop Firebird and Brennen from escaping the Golden City.


Eshdeth Shirak – An antagonist in FUSION FIRE. Leader of the Golden City Shuhr, Shirak is a political overseer. Driven by a desire to subjugate the Federacy under Shuhr rule, Shirak aggressively pirates Federate worlds with the goal of eventual conquest and enslavement. Shirak also bears a generational enmity toward the Caldwell line. He and his relatives have a history of assassinating Caldwell heirs, intending to destroy the Sentinels’ hope of the Boh-Dabar (“Word to Come”).

In FUSION FIRE, Shirak seeks to assassinate Firebird and Brennen and their twin boys, thus also ending a prophetic threat that the Golden City might be exterminated at the hands of a Caldwell descendant. He ultimately meets his end when Firebird and Brennen manage to complete a successful telepathic fusion while trying to escape the Golden City.


Cassia Talumah – An antagonist in FUSION FIRE. Sister to Ard Talumah, who is a Shuhr spy on Netaia, Cassia has a malicious attitude toward the Caldwell line and all Sentinels. Under the guise of a “servant,” Cassia is one of many Shuhr who psychically manipulate Princess Phoena Angelo during her stay at the Golden City, and she is especially vindictive toward Brennen during his captivity. When trying to stop Firebird and Brennen from escaping the Golden City, Cassia meets her end when the two manage a successful “fusion” of normal and reversed polarity carriers.


Muirnen Rogonin, Duke of Claighbro (later “Regent until the Majority of Her Majesty Queen Iarlet”) – A primary antagonist throughout the first three FIREBIRD novels (FIREBIRD, FUSION FIRE, CROWN OF FIRE). As a Netaian duke, a leader among the ruling Electors, Rogonin is a classic Netaian aristocrat. Powerful and entitled, he embodies the indulgence, luxury, and entitlement that define the worst characteristics of the Netaian upper class. Like Princess Phoena, Rogonin is driven primarily by self-interest, making traitorous decisions based on self-interested desires. By the end of CROWN OF FIRE, Rogonin has allied himself with the villainous Shuhr. He ultimately chooses ritual suicide rather than stand trial for his actions.