The Runaway King

Imogen is Jaron’s implied love interest. Although their relationship is mostly friendly in The Runaway King, their eventual romance is foreshadowed for the next installment in the series, The Shadow Throne. Following the events of The False Prince, Imogen has been working at the castle and befriending Amarinda, Jaron’s betrothed. However, when Jaron realizes that Imogen is in danger because of their closeness, he sends her away by pretending he does not care about her. Imogen, as a strong and clever young woman, immediately understands what he is doing and anticipates that Jaron will go to the pirates. In league with Amarinda, she decides to find a job at Tarblade Bay and plants hidden weapons throughout the camp for Jaron. Once he arrives, Imogen also supplies him with a pin to help him unlock his chains. In conversations that reveal even more clearly her strong emotional connection to Jaron, Imogen tries to convince him to abandon his reckless plan.

Throughout the story, Imogen is characterized as smart and brave. Her selflessness is depicted through her constant support of Jaron despite disagreeing with his plan. Jaron only realizes the true depth of Imogen’s help at the end of the book, when he discovers that she has been secretly burying weapons for him throughout the pirates’ camp. At the end of the story, Imogen decides to stay in Libeth rather than return to Drylliad. She realizes that her feelings for Jaron have changed, although she does not name them explicitly, and worries that these emotions will complicate Jaron’s relationship with Amarinda, to whom she feels a sincere loyalty and friendship. To give Jaron a better chance to connect with Amarinda, his betrothed, she decides to leave him for good. Jaron, however, states, “Wherever our lives lead us, one thing is certain. You and I will always be connected” (316-17), alluding to their developing romance.

Mott is one of Jaron’s closest and most loyal friends, along with Tobias. The two are juxtaposed in physical appearance and manner. Mott is taller than Tobias, bald, muscular, and shows his displeasure with often-worn “disapproving frowns.”

While Tobias is more gentle and less confrontational, Mott is very vocal about disagreeing with Jaron’s most reckless decisions. He supports his king unconditionally but will put himself in danger in order to protect him. As a result, Jaron initially keeps Mott in the dark about his plan to find the pirates. He then tricks him into letting him go on his own, despite Mott’s insistence on coming along. Mott spends most of the narrative trying to find Jaron and convince him to come back to safety. He often reveals his unconditional loyalty, however; for example, he plays along with Jaron’s thief disguise at Harlowe’s house. He then waits for Jaron’s orders in Dichell and helps Imogen after her escape.

Mott is characterized as brave, reasonable, and forgiving. At the end, Jaron apologizes to him, but Mott in turn asks for Jaron’s forgiveness, apologizing for the potential difficulties that come from his strong opinions and fierce loyalty, saying, “It will never be easy to serve with me. […] I am certain of that. But I will serve you anyway” (312).

When Roden first appears in The Runaway King, Roden is framed as one of the novel’s antagonists. In fact, he appears on the scene intending to murder Jaron, who describes him as follows: “Once my friend. Then my enemy. Now my assassin” (4). By the end of the story, however, Jaron offers him redemption and Roden becomes a strong ally, leading the young king to state: “[Roden is] a dangerous enemy but a fierce friend” (311).

Following the events of The False Prince, Roden believes that Jaron is also an impostor and should not have been crowned. Roden thinks that he was better suited for the role and harbors resentment toward Jaron’s newfound popularity and privilege. Jaron eventually convinces Roden, though, to relinquish his anger since ruling was never his fate, telling him, “I became who I was meant to be and you should do the same. You can be so much more than this” (292).

Jaron’s belief in Roden leads him to offer the newly crowned pirate king the position of his captain of the guard. Roden, who had never truly wanted to kill Jaron, accepts the offer. In the end, his true nature is revealed, emphasizing his moral principles and leadership skills.

Fink is a young Avenian boy running errands for the thieves, who are led by Erick Loman. Initially tasked to keep an eye on Jaron, Fink is soon befriended by the young king, who feels protective of him. Although smart and quick-witted, Fink is also characterized by his naïveté and impulsivity, thus often acting as comic relief. Fink’s station in life is suggested by his physical appearance; his spare look indicates there are few easy comforts in his day-to-day existence as he is “little more than skin and bones […] He looked to be ten or eleven, and wore clothes that hung crookedly on his thin frame” (98). Jaron notes Fink’s smile and dark blond hair that reminds him of his own appearance as Sage.

At first, Fink is eager to join the pirates because of his thirst for adventure. He soon realizes that the pirates are cruel and violent, so he happily goes along with Jaron’s plan to escape. At the end of the story, Jaron brings him back to Drylliad under the promise that he will get a “proper education” (298) under Tobias’s tutelage.

Devlin is one of the novel’s antagonists. He is the pirate king and the man who had Jaron’s parents and brother murdered. He has been working in league with King Vargan, Bevin Conner, and Gregor Breslan to bring the royal family down and start a war with Carthya. Devlin therefore has a longstanding feud with Jaron, who escaped his attempted assassination four years earlier, leading to a climactic confrontation at the end of The Runaway King.

Devlin’s physical description suggests he is thickly built “like a boulder” with scars and an imposing presence; Jaron’s attention goes to Devlin’s cold eyes: “They were slits of blackness that made him appear completely devoid of any soul” (180).

Devlin is characterized as ruthless and cruel. He enjoys torturing his enemies and uses brute force to assert his dominance over the pirates. Additionally, Jaron draws a parallel between Devlin’s uncontrollable rage and his own anger. This leads the young protagonist to decide not to murder Devlin in order to avoid becoming like him. At the end of the story, Devlin is killed by Roden during a dispute about Jaron’s fate, leading to Roden taking his place as pirate king.