Calliope is the immortal Muse of epic poetry. Frustrated with male bards who endlessly retell the same stories of battlefield glory, she demands an old poet surrender a valuable gold brooch before she will help him. She insists on shifting the focus of the epic to the women whose lives are irrevocably altered by the Trojan War. She strives to teach the poet that the casualties of war are not only those who die.

Hecabe is the former queen of Troy, now a captive of the conquering Greek army. She carries the immense weight of seeing her city destroyed, her husband killed, and her surviving family facing enslavement. Stripped of her royal status, she harbors a deep, simmering rage toward those she holds responsible for the war and fiercely guards the remaining women of her court.

Andromache is the widow of Hector, Troy's greatest warrior. Having lost her husband to the Greek champion Achilles, she now faces the terrifying prospect of enslavement while trying to protect her infant son. She embodies the quiet endurance of women whose lives are shattered by the battlefield glories of men, forced to manage survival under the rule of her enemies.

Penelope is the queen of Ithaca, left behind to manage the kingdom and raise her son when her husband Odysseus is drafted into the Trojan War. Through a series of letters, she expresses her mounting frustration regarding his prolonged absence and the dangerous, self-serving adventures he undertakes instead of returning home. She guards her household against opportunistic suitors with sharp wit and complex schemes.

Odysseus is the clever king of Ithaca and a prominent leader of the Greek expedition. Known for his tactical mind and trickery, he is tasked with solving disputes among the Greeks and managing the captives after the fall of Troy. According to the songs reaching his wife, his journey home is marked by reckless encounters with monsters and immortals that repeatedly put his crew in danger.

Agamemnon is the supreme commander of the Greek forces and the king of Mycenae. Driven by ambition and a desire for dominance, he frequently alienates his best warriors and makes ruthless decisions to secure military success. He sacrifices his own daughter for favorable winds and refuses to relinquish his war prizes, sparking devastating conflicts within his own camp.

Clytemnestra is the imperious queen of Mycenae, married to the Greek expedition leader Agamemnon. When she learns the true, horrific reason her husband summoned their daughter to the military camp, she begins a quiet, decade-long descent into absolute vengeance. While he fights at Troy, she methodically lays the groundwork to destroy him upon his return.

Helen is the Spartan queen whose departure with the Trojan prince Paris provides the pretext for the Trojan War. Described by many characters as possessing dangerous, god-like beauty, she deflects blame for the conflict onto the gods, specifically Aphrodite. She is deeply resented by the Trojan women for the massive destruction brought to their shores in her name.

Creusa is a Trojan woman, the wife of the hero Aeneas and the mother of Euryleon. As the city of Troy falls to the Greeks, she desperately attempts to flee through the burning streets to reunite with her family at the city gates. She reflects on the previous day's celebrations and the fatal decision to bring the wooden horse into the city, experiencing the sudden and chaotic nature of the disaster.

Cassandra is a Trojan princess and former priestess of Apollo. She carries a divine curse: she possesses the absolute gift of prophecy but is doomed never to be believed. Her accurate visions of death and destruction often appear as fits of madness to her family, isolating her within her own community even as she foresees the precise nature of their doom.

Polyxena is a young Trojan princess, daughter of Hecabe and Priam. Caught in the aftermath of her city's destruction, she attempts to process the immense losses surrounding her. She demonstrates a thoughtful perspective on the war's tragedies, even debating the nature of Achilles's actions, and views her impending fate with a grim, pragmatic dignity.

Penthesilea is a fierce Amazon warrior who leads a contingent of women into the Trojan War. Driven by a desire for death in battle following a tragic accident involving her sister, she hopes to find a worthy opponent in Achilles. She is utterly fearless, marching into combat without hesitation, and finds herself disappointed by the perceived weakness of the male warriors on both sides.

Chryseis is the adventurous and neglected daughter of a Trojan priest of Apollo. Raised with little parental supervision, her fearlessness leads to her capture by Greek scouts. Finding herself a prisoner of war claimed by Agamemnon, she must survive the brutal reality of the Greek camp while relying on unexpected alliances with other captive women to endure her horrific circumstances.

Briseis is a young woman who was captured during a Greek raid led by Achilles, which resulted in the slaughter of her entire family. Despite her profound losses, she is fiercely determined not to give her captors the satisfaction of seeing her grieve. She offers solidarity and life-saving advice to fellow captives while enduring life in Achilles's tent.

Thetis is a sea nymph and the mother of the Greek champion Achilles. Coerced into a mortal marriage by Zeus to prevent a prophecy that her son would overpower the king of the gods, she is fiercely protective of her child. She goes to great lengths to shield Achilles from war, though she wrestles with his desire for eternal fame over a peaceful life.

Laodamia is a Greek woman whose husband, Protesilaus, becomes the first casualty of the Trojan War. Left behind in relative physical safety, she is consumed by an overwhelming grief that isolates her from her family. Her extreme devotion leads her to commission a bronze replica of her lost husband, descending into a despair that even the gods notice.

Iphigenia is the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, the king and queen of Mycenae. Summoned to the Greek military camp under the guise of a prestigious wedding, she is highly concerned with projecting the image of a perfect bride. She is entirely unaware that the Greek forces require her for a brutal sacrifice to appease the gods.

Menelaus is the king of Sparta and the husband of Helen. Described by Penelope as a "red-faced bore," he rallies the Greek forces to attack Troy and recover his wife after she leaves with Paris. He lacks the cunning of Odysseus or the commanding presence of his brother Agamemnon, often relying on others to fight his battles.

Paris is a prince of Troy who was abandoned as an infant due to a prophecy that he would bring ruin to his city. Raised by herdsmen, he is chosen by Zeus to judge a divine beauty contest. He abandons his first wife, Oenone, when Aphrodite promises him the most beautiful woman in the world, setting the catastrophic events of the Trojan War into motion.

Aphrodite is the Olympian goddess of sex and love. Vain and competitive, she eagerly participates in a beauty contest against Athene and Hera to claim a golden apple addressed "to the most beautiful." She freely offers a mortal man another man's wife as a bribe to win the contest, completely indifferent to the devastating mortal conflict this will cause.

Hera is the wife of Zeus and the goddess of marriage. She views the inscribed golden apple as her rightful property and engages in a fierce dispute over it. Like the other Olympian goddesses, she views mortals largely as pawns and tools to stroke her own ego, promising Paris power and kingdoms in exchange for his validation.

Athene is the daughter of Zeus and the goddess of strategic warfare. Despite her domain over tactical intellect and wisdom, she engages in a petty squabble over a golden apple, proving to be just as vain as her peers. She offers Paris military prowess as a bribe, and later becomes the recipient of prayers from frustrated mortals like Penelope.

Oenone is a mountain nymph who marries Paris before he learns of his royal lineage and departs for his fateful judgment of the goddesses. Gifted with prophecy, she understands the true nature of his departure. Abandoned to raise their son alone, she harbors a deep sense of betrayal and views the ensuing war with clear-eyed bitterness, refusing to be a convenient savior.

Themis is the goddess of divine order and the former wife of Zeus. She acts as a strategic advisor to the king of the gods, helping him engineer the Trojan War as a means to cull the mortal population. Despite her serious role in maintaining cosmic order, she is highly concerned with her appearance and flatters herself when her counsel is sought.

Zeus is the king of the Olympian gods. Seeking a way to reduce the overwhelming population of mortals on the earth, he casually decides that a massive war is the most effective solution. He engineers the conflict by forcing the marriage of Thetis to a mortal and appointing Paris to judge the goddesses' beauty contest, setting the stage for total destruction.

Theano is the wife of Antenor, an advisor to King Priam. Having already lost four sons to the war, she is fiercely determined to protect her sole surviving child. She uses her keen intuition and pragmatism to engineer a desperate survival plan for her family, convincing her husband to betray the doomed city to ensure they are spared.

Eris is the goddess of discord, whose very presence makes those around her annoyed and belligerent. Disliked and frequently isolated by the other gods, she retaliates against being excluded from the wedding of Thetis and Peleus by tossing the inscribed golden apple among the guests. She fully intends to set off a chain of chaotic events.

Neoptolemus is the unpredictable and brutal son of the great Greek warrior Achilles. Burdened by the knowledge that he can never surpass his father's legendary fame, he frequently acts out with cruelty to assert his authority. He oversees the sacrifice of Trojan royalty and claims captives for his own household following the war.

Priam is the aged king of Troy. Throughout the conflict, he attempts to guide his city through impossible circumstances, relying on his advisors and his own grief-stricken courage. He humbles himself entirely to beg for the return of his son's body, representing the devastating collapse of Trojan royalty.