Elspeth - His adoring and possibly unfaithful wife.
Prince William of Celle.
Count Pencherjevsky - A Cossack Hetman who is now the feudal Russian lord of a large estate.
Scud East - Character from Tom Brown's Schooldays , now a junior officer in the British army.
Valla - The daughter of Count Pencherjevsky and Flashman's lover.
Aunt Sara - Aunt of Valla, who teaches Flashman how to properly enjoy a Russian steam bath.
Ko Dali's daughter - (Perhaps historical) A Chinese woman and Yakub Beg's lover. She seduces Flashman and doses him with hashish in order to make him effective in the coming battle.
Historical characters
Prince Albert
Lord Raglan - Commander of the British troops in the Crimea and the man held by Flashman to be responsible for the Charge of the Light Brigade. Flashman says, "He should have been a parson, or an Oxford don, or a waiter, for he was the kindliest, soft-voiced old stick who ever spared a fellow-creature's feelings - and that was what was wrong with him..."
Lord Cardigan - The man in command of the Light Cavalry Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava, whom Flashman catches in the bedroom with Elspeth.
Lord Palmerston
Lord Paget, Flashman's relative who gets him a job at the Board of Ordnance.
Fanny Duberly, Society woman and diarist, who accompanied the soldiers to the Crimea.
George Brown - The man in command of the Light Division in Crimea. Flashman calls him an "old Scotch war horse...and nobody's fool".
Jacques Leroy de Saint Arnaud
François Certain Canrobert
William Howard Russell - War correspondent for The Times . Flashman says, "He was a good fellow, Billy, and we got on well, but he always had an eye cocked towards his readers, and the worse he could make out a case, the better they liked it."
Louis Edward Nolan - Staff galloper to Airey and one of the links in the chain of events leading to the Charge of the Light Brigade and his own death. Flashman calls him a "cavalry maniac who held everyone in contempt".
Richard Airey - Quartermaster-general to Raglan
Lord Lucan
George de Lacy Evans
Sir Colin Campbell - Commander of The Thin Red Line at the Battle of Balaclava.
James Yorke Scarlett - Commander of the Heavy Cavalry Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava.
Nicholas Pavlovich Ignatiev - Russian diplomat who takes Flashman in chains across half of Asia and introduces him to knouting. Flashman says, "He looked tough, and immensely self-assured; it was in his glance, in the abrupt way he moved...He was the kind who knew exactly what was what, where everything was, and precisely who was who - especially himself. He was probably a devil with women, admired by his superiors, hated by his rivals, and abjectly feared by his subordinates. One word summed him up: bastard."
Tsar Nicholas I - Flashman overhears him discussing The Great Game with Ignatiev.
Yakub Beg - A Tajik military leader who fought against the Russians. He later ruled over the city of Kashgar. Flashman describes him as "a tough customer, by the look of him; one of those genial mountain scoundrels who'll tell you merry stories while he stabs you in the guts just for the fun of hearing his knifehilt bells jingle."
Izzet Kutebar, brigand and friend of Yakub Beg.
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