Characters

The people, spirits and creatures of 1001, grouped by tale. Each has a full profile with background, appearance, personality and episodes.

Aladdin

• Aladdin · A street boy from the souks who owned nothing until a sorcerer came looking for his name — and left him a lamp.
• Aladdin's Mother · The widow who raised Aladdin alone — and who carries a bowl of cave-jewels into a Sultan's throne room to ask for a princess's hand.
• The Maghrebi · A geomancer who read Aladdin's name in the stars and has wanted the lamp ever since. He can wear any face.
• Rohaan · The unbound jinn Aladdin wakes from the brass lamp — ancient, powerful, and bound by no rule of three.
• Princess Bodour · The full moon of the kingdom — courted for her rank, and determined to be chosen for something truer.
• Aya · Bodour's bright, fast-talking little sister — dazzled by anything that shines, which is exactly how the lamp is lost.
• The Sultan · A vain, indulgent ruler, easily dazzled by spectacle and bad at saying no.
• The Grand Vizier · Wants the princess for his own son, and blocks the upstart with insinuation and a forced rival wedding.
• The Vizier's Son · The preening rival forced on Bodour — and the jinn's favourite victim, found somewhere worse each dawn.
• Ghazal · Aya's gazelle — and the one creature who can tell a monster from a man.
• Samaa · The jinn of the ring — exasperated, unimpressed, and once, long ago, in love with the spirit of the lamp.

Ali Baba

• Ali Baba · A small boy who goes mushroom-picking in the wrong woods on the wrong morning.
• Marjana · Ali Baba's sister — the only one he tells about the cave. The walls of their small house are thinner than he remembers.
• Waleed · The boy next door. He overhears Ali Baba telling his sister and decides he wants to see the cave for himself.
• Thieves Leader · The man at the head of the band. He notices everything, and he never raises his voice.
• Thief 1 · One of the leader's riders. Quiet, watchful, hands always near his blade.
• Thief 2 · Another of the leader's men. Heavier, slower-spoken, always at the back of the line.
• Thief 3 · The youngest of the riders. Restless, ambitious, eager to prove himself to the leader.

Sinbad

• Sinbad · A young sea captain who has already survived more voyages than any man twice his age — at the cost of every crew he has sailed with.
• Samia · Sinbad's most trusted crewmate — the only one he will let walk a strange shore beside him.
• Khalil · The crew's engineer — the one who keeps the ship together when the sea is trying to take it apart.
• Marwan · The skeptic. The one who first says aloud that this is not an island.
• Yusuf · The youngest aboard. Holds the shore against the giant when the others would have run.
• Ship Captain · The seasoned captain at the helm — older than Sinbad, slower-spoken, the one whose hand is on the wheel when the storm hits.
• The Giant · The towering figure that guards the beach of the impossible island — the first thing the crew sees when they wake on its shore.
• The Roc · A bird the size of a ship, circling overhead as Sinbad and Samia push inland.
• The Lead Pirate · The jealous ringleader of the mutiny — whose sabre becomes Sinbad's blade in a dying act of redemption.

Standalone tales

• Nabil · A merchant who almost sold the most valuable corner of his land — until the parrot he bought yesterday accidentally stopped him.
• Reem · Nabil's wife. She felt something off about the visitors before the parrot did.
• Mazen · The smoother of the two men in Nabil's courtyard. He does the talking. He is careful never to look at the cage on the wall.
• Hazem · The other man at the table. Heavier, hungrier, and the one who whispered the word the parrot was waiting to learn.
• Parrot · Bought yesterday at the market. Repeats the word it has heard most often that day — and by accident, saves a fortune.
• Amira · A girl who lives at the edge of the village with her father. Something about her is older than her years.
• Amira's Father · The man who raised Amira and carries a secret about her he will not share.
• The Gate Keeper · Watches everyone who enters the village and everyone who leaves. Has watched longer than anyone alive remembers.
• Imad · A man who sells everything he owns to chase a treasure he saw three nights in a row in a dream.
• Hakeem · The trader who carries Imad across the desert without asking what he is going for.
• Cairo Resident · Lives in the house Imad has dreamed of — and has been dreaming of Imad's, in turn.
• Maya · The camel who carries Imad to Cairo and home again — caparisoned in maroon and gold, unbothered by either dream.
• Amani · A girl sweeping a storeroom who finds a jar she should have left alone.
• Amin · Mock placeholder bio. Amin's role in the episode can be filled in once you describe him to me.
• The Jinn · Released into the storeroom as smoke and embers. Has had a thousand years to plan the first thing it says.