Tanis Half-Elven
Reluctant leader
A man who looks neither fully human nor fully elven: tawny or reddish-brown hair (often a beard in later chronicles; we use a short beard), pointed ears modest enough to hide, and a face of tired handsomeness. Hazel eyes, sun-browned skin. Medium-tall, ranger’s build, leather and a mixed kit rather than shining plate. He looks like the person everyone stands behind when the map fails. A quality of not belonging in the set of the mouth.
Torn, decent, a leader who would rather not be. Loves Laurana and has a past that complicates it; trusts Sturm; fears and needs Raistlin; Tasslehoff is the friend who will not let him be grim alone.
Raistlin Majere
Mage of the red robes
A thin, golden-skinned man with hourglass pupils in his eyes, white hair (young, prematurely aged), and a face that is beautiful in a feverish way. He wears red robes, a staff with a crystal (not copied as a trademark silhouette—generic wooden staff, amber crystal). Coughs; hunches. Hands are long, stained with components. He looks like ambition wearing a dying body. Gold skin should read as curse, not makeup.
Bitter, brilliant, capable of small kindnesses he resents. The Companions’ necessary poison; Tanis’s burden; Sturm’s opposite; Tasslehoff he almost finds funny; Laurana is a type of light he does not trust.
Sturm Brightblade
Knight of Solamnia
A tall, stern man with a long mustache, dark hair, weathered fair skin, and the posture of a code. He wears Solamnic-inspired plate that is dented and true, a mustache that is a vow. Blue or gray eyes. He looks older than Tanis in the soul. Jaw like a battlement. No smirk.
Honorable to the edge of tragedy, loyal, unfashionable on purpose. Tanis’s conscience; distrusts Raistlin; fond exasperation for Tasslehoff; sees in Laurana a kind of courage he recognizes.
Tasslehoff Burrfoot
Kender
A small, child-height adult with a pointed, merry face, topknot of brown hair, large pointed ears, and bright curious eyes. Kender, not a hobbit copy: lean, quick, wearing pouches everywhere, colorful mismatched clothes. Barefoot or soft shoes. He looks like trouble that loves you. Adult proportions in miniature, not a toddler. A hoopak or simple staff, original design.
Fearless from a missing sense of fear, sticky-fingered, loyal, the story’s air. Disarms Tanis; infuriates Sturm; fascinates Raistlin against his will; Laurana he treats as a fellow adventurer, not a lady on a shelf.
Laurana Kanan
Elven princess · commander
A young elven woman of startling gold hair, gold-flecked eyes, and a face that begins as courtly and becomes martial. Tall, slender, fair-gold skin. Early: fine Qualinesti dress. We portray her as the Golden General: practical armor over grace, hair bound for war, still unmistakably elven. She should look capable of command, not a trophy at Tanis’s side.
Grows from sheltered to steel; pride and love in conflict. Loves Tanis; earns Sturm’s respect; Raistlin’s gaze is a cold audit; Tasslehoff is a friend she did not expect to need.