# Hia — Kai Lung’s Golden Hours character guide

> Hia in Kai Lung’s Golden Hours by Ernest Bramah.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0008-ii-the-part-played-by-the-slave-girl-hia

## Snapshot

A slave girl whose part in the events of the book places her among the household figures whose fates brush against Kai Lung's fortunes.

## Who they are

Hia belongs to the serving class that moves silently through the halls and inner courts where mandarins hold their music and their justice. Her position leaves her little room for open desire, yet the tale's world is one in which even the lowly may tilt the balance of a plot. She matters because the book's early and middle movements depend on such quiet presences, whose small acts and overheard words shape what the powerful believe they control.

## Relationships

### [Ning](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/characters/ning)

_friendship_

Hia and Ning are close friends, often seen together in leisure or trouble.

## In the story

### [The Story of Ning, the Captive God, and the Dreams That Mark His Race](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/chapters/the-story-of-ning-the-captive-god-and-the-dreams-that-mark-his-race)

The mother of Tian, formerly a slave, who reveals the location of Ning's sacred nail-sheaths.

### [The Part Played by the Slave-Girl, Hia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/chapters/ii-the-part-played-by-the-slave-girl-hia)

The slave-girl who cunningly tricks the deity Ning into removing his magical nail-sheaths, thereby stripping him of his power.

### [The Incoming of the Youth, Tian](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/chapters/iii-the-incoming-of-the-youth-tian)

Mother of Tian; former slave who enticed Ning; now guides Tian toward retrieving the nail-sheaths.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/characters/hia
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/characters