Simon the Coldheart

Simon the Coldheart

Simon arrives at Montlice's gate with nothing but nerve, demanding employment from a lord notorious for his temper, and earns a place through sheer audacity. He rises by strategy rather than charm: his men follow him because he wins, and his enemies fear the flat green-blue gaze that appraises them like a problem to be solved. At Belrémy he plans to open the gates from within, dividing his lands and wealth by sealed will before a fight he refuses to call doomed — and the woman who rules that castle will prove the one siege his cold logic cannot simply starve out.

Lady Margaret of Belrémy

Margaret holds Belrémy against the English and treats with Simon only on her own terms — alone, under truce, inside her castle where she believes he is helpless. She is defiant, sharp-tongued, and unused to being outmaneuvered, which makes her a genuine adversary rather than a prize waiting to be won. Their parley is the hinge of the campaign: whatever passes between them in that stronghold reshapes both the siege and Simon's famously frozen heart.

Geoffrey of Malvallet

Geoffrey fights beside Simon through every campaign and is the one who notices when Simon starts speaking like a man settling his affairs before a battle — and says so, anxiously, to his face. His loyalty is absolute and his temper hot, but he is also the friend who takes command if Simon falls and who will care for Simon's wards for his sake. He grounds the story's cold hero in human warmth, and his dread before Belrémy tells the reader exactly how dangerous the coming fight is.

Fulk of Montlice

Fulk is a giant of a lord, hot-tempered and loud, who tests the boy Simon at his own table and finds himself out-faced by a stripling who refuses to be called a vagrant. Wounded at Shrewsbury, he rages at being carried from the field while Simon finishes the rout, and their gruff, sparing exchanges reveal a bond built on mutual respect rather than affection. As Simon's first master and patron, Fulk launches the rise that the rest of the book measures — and his bafflement at Simon's choices keeps the older generation's voice in play.

Jeanne de Faucourt

Jeanne rides with Margaret out of beleaguered Belrémy and banters with Geoffrey about being carried to the altar by force, all mock-severity and dimples. Under the flirtation she is startlingly clear-sighted: she insists Simon must love Margaret, because why else would he have killed Raoul, and Geoffrey calls her wits wandering. Her certainty plants the question the reader will spend the middle of the book wanting answered, and her lightness leavens the siege's grimness.

Alan of Montlice

Alan is the young Montlice, courteous and quick to laugh, who overrides his father's men and brings the ragged Simon before Lord Fulk out of sheer instinctive liking. He becomes Simon's devoted friend and Master of his Horse, a harp-playing, lovesick counterweight to Simon's iron, forever volunteering for the dangerous task and forever being told to be content with doing his bidding. His open-hearted loyalty makes Simon's coldness legible — we see the warmth Simon inspires precisely because Alan feels it so plainly.