So I know I just made two posts about my upcoming attempt at writing a retelling for Snow-White and Rose-Red. However, me being me, I’m planning to attempt a few contest entries for Wattpad this month. And, me being me, I’ve got a selection of character names… and gotten myself stuck with the final one.
There’s seven main ‘good guy’ characters – this is because I like making my life complicated, probably – and I’ve named six. In roughly the same order I named them:
(emojis after names represent a colour that’s been assigned to each character already, and sometimes have a link to the character themselves – Lyra is purple and the unnamed is red)
Cato Averell 
– 16/17, the middle child of five, has very dark brown hair – sometimes mistaken for black – and hazel eyes, needs glasses but rarely remembers to actually wear them and has a habit of breaking them by mistake – he’s ‘obnoxiously clumsy’ (description courtesy of himself). Quiet, nervous and rather forgettable – until something ends up broken, usually – he has an odd knack for playing peacemaker, and nobody can agree on why that might be. Can either be far too cautious or nowhere near cautious enough, which tends to follow a loop of one becoming the other becoming the other again, and can be viewed as a burden on the group when the cycle reaches one extreme or the other. Aurelian often claims he is almost entirely dependent on the others, though whether this is necessarily the case isn’t generally questioned. Cato has healing magic that works sporadically, though he prefers working with the much more stable nature of potions.
Previous Awareness of Other Characters
Knew Jessamy, albeit vaguely, and Elspeth, possibly even more vaguely, before the action kicked off.
Jessamy ‘Jess’ Keeler 
– 17, older fraternal twin of Elspeth, has blonde hair and greyish blue eyes. Given her position as the eldest Keeler family member in her generation, she grew rather obsessed with ensuring that she was a good role model to everyone – whether Elsie actually paid attention or not – and as such is overly careful about acting ‘out’ in any way possible. This leads to the bottling-up of almost all negative feelings and opinions, which she’s stubborn about the ‘benefits’ of, and eventually that leads to what is essentially an explosion of everything all at once. Ignoring that, because that’s what she’s desperately trying to do, she generally appears to be friendly, if in a quieter way than her twin – more the approachable one than the one who approaches – and despite the fact that Elsie is most certainly biased, she rarely bothers to deny any suggestion towards her being particularly capable or intelligent. Jess is a witch, with a particular affinity for plants.
Elspeth ‘Elsie’ Keeler 
– 17, younger fraternal twin of Jessamy, has blonde hair and amber eyes, and there are several scars on her face. Easily the more confident-seeming twin, bold and impatient and careless and basically everything else that a good role model is most certainly not, she’s pretty much entirely fearless, with a similar stubborn streak to that of Jess. The recklessness often makes people see her as someone who’s more easily fooled than she actually is, which makes it rather debatable as to how accurate the trait really is. Like Jess, Elsie is also a witch, though since the attack that left her with her scars her particular affinity has shifted from storms to water.
Previous Awareness of Other Characters
Obviously Jess and Elsie knew each other – they are twins. Elsie pretty much knew that Cato existed, and that was as far as that went. Jess was a little closer with him, but still not by much. Elsie also had a somewhat decent relationship with Aurelian.
Soren Darknoll-Graves 
– 16, says he’s a triplet but nobody actually knows whether this is true, has black hair with a streak of white (think poliosis, most appropriately ‘white forelock’) and silvery eyes. Past isolation makes him awkward around other people, since he’s not used to strangers and how they act. He is shy to begin with, but develops more confidence as he grows used to the rest of the group. Determined, meticulous and dedicated, he is almost dangerously hardworking in order to try and please the others, but backs down easily when someone – usually Jessamy – reprimands him for it. Has a strangely brash sort of confidence in his own magical abilities despite the awkward shyness from the start, and is unwilling to listen to any suggestion that he may not be as competent as he insists he is… mostly because he is generally extremely competent with his own magic, funnily enough. Easily manipulated into believing things, particularly by Aurelian. Soren’s abilities are mostly psychic, with the addition of necromancy – not that he’s particularly proficient with raising the dead… or even willing to do it.
Previous Awareness of Other Characters
Absolutely none whatsoever.
Lyra Flint 
– 15, currently an only child, hair colour practically depends on the day of the week and her eyes are usually a bright green. A wildcard at the best of times, downright dangerous at worst, she’s blunt and quick-tempered and usually half the reason Cato has to play peacemaker, sly and violent seemingly as a rule. Beneath this exterior, though, she tends to be almost surprisingly tolerable – rational to a fault, mature when she actually wants to be, has a knack for inventiveness when it’s needed most, and fiercely loyal. And just fierce, to be honest. Sometimes it’s almost terrifying. Lyra’s a shapeshifter, pretty much mischievous by nature, and possesses a near-invulnerability (which is most of the reason she tries to be first to act in a bad situation).
Previous Awareness of Other Characters
Has met Aurelian and ??? before, though since Aurelian barely even bothered to learn her name she makes a point to pretend she doesn’t know he exists. She is far more tolerant of ???, and even refers to him as a friend… sometimes.
Aurelian Crowe 
– 17, oldest of four siblings, has reddish hair and brown eyes, wears taped-together glasses. Has a skill for manipulation he prefers to turn on others within the group, particularly Cato and Soren because he views them as entertaining targets, and doesn’t really seem to care about how it messes with others. Which is because he’s a psychopath, and thus doesn’t actually have the same automatic ability to respond appropriately to how others are feeling, whether he knows how they’re feeling or not. Appearing to be a good person to the group isn’t something he particularly struggles with, showing people a boy who’s trustworthy, kind and quite charming. In the end, though, he does genuinely possess some decent traits – he’s vigilant and focused and is at least mildly concerned about the fate their world’s meant to face if the group don’t manage to save it in time. He does actually enjoy living, for one. Aurelian can read minds if he actually bothers to make an effort to, and he can rarely be bothered because why the heck would he care about what other people are thinking, but he considers his ability to mimic other people’s magic far more fun… because it actually is. Starting a fire with your bare hands is far more entertaining than mind-reading.
Previous Awareness of Other Characters
Knew Elsie, though mostly just tolerated her. Given the tangled mess of their inter-family relationships, has had several encounters with Lyra and ???, but rarely paid enough attention to the former’s existence to remember her properly.
??? 
– 15/16, only child, has light-ish brown hair and wears near-black contacts to cover up his heterochromia because it’s got a particular reputation in their world. A perfectionist, he can be extremely critical of others and despite claiming to be a realist is more accurately a pessimist. Doesn’t appear to have much of a sense of humour, though Lyra’s mischief manages to grate on him less than it does with other people. Although he is the second-youngest of the group, he has a tendency to act like the leader despite there not officially being one, and this isn’t usually a problem because he at least manages to listen to other suggestions before trying to ‘fix them’… until Aurelian and Lyra get involved, which almost always derails everything. ??? is adept at screwing with people’s minds in a far more magical way than Aurelian, and also the least susceptible to his own kind of magic — a trait not always shared with other ‘mind twisters’ (not the official term).
Previous Awareness of Other Characters
Somewhat close with Lyra previously, has a vague, ongoing sort of dispute with Aurelian which is rather hopelessly one-sided.
On top of these seven there’s some minor characters which I’ll work on after I’ve managed to name the seventh person (any siblings, for one, particularly Cato’s)
Anyway, I realise wasn’t really looking for any particular style of name? Toyed with the idea of something gender-neutral, but struggled with a decision because I was originally pretty firm on it starting with a vowel. Don’t care about that too much now, though.
As long as it doesn’t start with A, C, E, J, L or S, and preferably doesn’t end with N because that would start seeming weird to me… because I’m me, but that second point is less of a dealbreaker.
(@Johannaa and @VTW — your suggestions are great! Wasn’t expecting any responses while this wasn’t entirely finished… whatever doesn’t fit the ‘requirements’ above will probably also end up considered for the siblings and other minor characters, so they’re all welcome!)