Cassia Reyes
One of Reached’s three narrators and main protagonists, and the one with whom the reader will be most familiar from the previous two books, Cassia is a skilled data sorter with a passionate heart and a desire to be better than her previous self. She is a member of the Rising who loves creating poetry and has a fascination with dancing and singing. She is in love with Ky, with whom she accidentally Matched back in the trilogy’s first book.
Ky Markham
Perhaps best summarized by his quote, “I’ll keep going until I drop” (p. 283), Ky is a former aberration (second-class citizen) of the Society whose parents were rebels from the Outer Provinces. Ky spent his adolescence as the adopted son of his aunt and uncle in Oria Province, where he fell in love with Cassia. Ky is resilient, hardened, and very selective about his allegiances. He has experienced much loss and hardship in his life, and in this way acts as something of a foil character to Cassia.
Xander Carrow
The story’s third main protagonist, and a narrator for the first time in the series’ final book, Xander is an intelligent, handsome physic who was once Matched to Cassia as a life partner. After she fell in love with Ky and chose him over Xander, Xander remained loyal to Cassia, helping her as much as he could while secretly operating as a Rising member within the Society. Over the course of the book, Xander becomes less and less tied to his love for Cassia and the Provinces that caused him so much pain, until he is ultimately able to let go of both in favor of a happier future.
Indie Holt
An important friend and counterpart for Ky, Indie was introduced in Crossed as a fiery, hardened aberration with a desire for a better life. She once carved a boat from a tree to sail away from the Society, but was found and punished before she even lost sight of the shore. Like Ky, Indie lives by the philosophy of going until she can’t anymore; it’s been her best strategy for survival. In Crossed, Indie seemed to be in love with Xander, though she’d never met him, but this love transfers to Ky in Reached, and she explores her feelings for him unapologetically despite his loyalty to Cassia.
Nea Lei
An Official of the Society, Lei is an important friend to Xander when Ky and Cassia are away. It isn’t revealed until the very end of the book that she is, in fact, Laney, the former partner of Vick, Ky and Eli’s friend who perished in Crossed.
Caleb
A runner for Indie and Ky’s missions, Caleb grew up on an army base with the Pilot, which helped foster a great loyalty for the latter. He goes still near the middle of the story and his fate is never revealed.
The Head Archivist
Calculating, manipulative, and profession-obsessed, the Head Archivist runs the archives through which Cassia and many others make illegal trades. She steals Cassia’s poems from their safety box in the lake in Central and tries to get Cassia to reveal information about the tissue preservation samples. She ultimately arranges for Cassia’s passage to Camas to reunite her with Xander and Ky.
Connor
An obnoxious Rising pilot who teases Indie and pushes Ky into the river in Camas.
Dalton Fuller
A young girl in Central who gives Cassia the idea of where to create the Gallery.
The Pilot
A natural leader, the Pilot is an unnamed man who heads the Rising. He serves as a symbol of hope and optimism for his followers, though he is revealed to be every bit as vulnerable to desperation and fear as the book progresses.
Oker
Ancient and driven, Oker was once a scientist within the Society who escaped just before his Final Banquet. He dedicates the last days of his life to trying to find a cure for the mutation, feeling partially responsible for the Plague’s existence in the first place and partially set on exacting revenge on the Society.
Leyna
A former Anomaly and prominent leader in Endstone in charge of overseeing the search for the cure.
Anna
The former leader of her village out in the Carving, Anna reminds Cassia of her own mother. She is older, but young in spirit and full of passion. She is chosen as one of the three potential candidates to lead the Provinces at the end of the book.
Colin
A leader in Endstone who oversees the trials of Hunter and Xander.
Sylvie
The supervisor in the Endstone infirmary.
Hunter
A farmer from the Carving, Hunter lost his daughter Sarah to illness in Crossed. Tortured by her loss, he attempts to sabotage the care of many still patients in Endstone as a means of leveling the playing field for all those fighting to stay alive.
Eli
A young boy from Central and former decoy in the camps in the Outer Provinces. Eli lost his parents to the Plague before his introduction into the story in Crossed.
Noah
An assistant to Oker in his mid-30s.
Tess
An assistant to Oker with Noah, described as having a kind smile.
Bram
Cassia’s younger brother. While once an immature child, Bram’s reintroduction near the end of the story shows how much he’s grown and how many horrors he’s had to see.
Molly Reyes
Cassia's mother and a former arboretum worker who loves plants. Molly is kind, and is revealed to have known more about the Rising and Cassia’s potential place within it than initially thought.
Cassia's grandfather
Present only in flashbacks, Cassia’s grandfather was the son of a former Rising Pilot and a Rising member himself. He planted the seed of rebellion within Cassia when he gave her two illegal poems that helped her think about the Society differently than she once did.
