Matthias Helvar

Matthias was wrongfully imprisoned in Hellgate after Nina testified that he was a slave-trader. He had attempted to hand her over to his drüskelle superiors as a captured Grisha; Nina's accusation stemmed from a desperate need for self-preservation. This charge stripped him of his rank, freedom, and status as an elite Fjerdan witch-hunter, forcing him to survive Hellgate's pit fights and starvation rations through sheer will.

Nina Zenik is simultaneously Matthias's greatest source of hatred and the person who ultimately breaks through his indoctrination. Her testimony led to his imprisonment in Hellgate, but their shared history of surviving a shipwreck by relying on each other's strength haunts him throughout the heist. Each instinctive act of protection, from shielding her during the prison-wagon ambush to fighting beside her in the Ice Court's wolf-pen, gradually transforms hatred into love, though guilt and grief linger unresolved by the novel's conclusion.

Kaz recruits Matthias because he is the only living person familiar with the Ice Court's layout from the inside. Kaz engineers Matthias's release from Hellgate solely for this strategic reason, viewing him as a resource rather than a partner. Although Matthias distrusts Kaz's amorality, he begrudgingly respects his tactical brilliance; Kaz values Matthias because his rigid code of honor makes him predictable and reliable in a crisis.

The flashbacks to the Fjerdan coast, where Matthias and Nina preserved each other's lives through shared body heat and mutual dependence, serve as an emotional counter-narrative beneath the heist plot. They consistently undermine his present hatred by reminding him of a Nina who was human and brave. Bardugo employs these flashbacks to convey that Matthias's journey is more about remembering what he already knew than acquiring new insights.

Matthias's decision to protect Kuwei — a Grisha and the mission's true objective — signifies a quiet yet significant ideological shift. His drüskelle training taught him to view Grisha as enemies to be hunted, so rescuing Kuwei from the Ice Court directly contradicts his upbringing. This marks a clear indication that his loyalty to the crew is beginning to overshadow the dogma that once defined him.

Matthias and Inej share a cautious, mutual respect founded on their personal codes of honor, which feel out of place within the heist's moral compromises; Inej's faith occasionally resonates with Matthias's own spiritual beliefs, creating a silent common ground. In contrast, his relationship with Kaz is characterized by strategic tension — Matthias distrusts Kaz's amorality and schemes while unable to dismiss his tactical brilliance, resulting in a dynamic characterized by slow, grudging recognition instead of true kinship.

No — Matthias concludes the novel transformed but not redeemed, and Bardugo deliberately differentiates between the two. His drüskelle conditioning has shattered rather than disappeared, and his guilt about the past remains unresolved. What has changed is his decision to prioritize loyalty to Nina over allegiance to his doctrine — a difficult shift that forms the foundation of his character arc. This incompleteness underscores the gradual, painful process of unlearning deeply ingrained prejudice.

The wolf-pen fight inside the Ice Court represents a pivotal moment in Matthias's transformation because it occurs in an environment that symbolically embodies his drüskelle identity — wolves, cold, and darkness — where he defends a Grisha at great personal risk. Battling alongside Nina in this setting signifies a direct, physical reversal of everything his training dictated, rendering his choice concrete rather than abstract.