Katsa

"If there's anyone I wish to stun at dinner I'll hit him in the face."

Lady Katsa is the protagonist of Graceling. She is Graced with skills in survival. However, her ability to kill is so instinctual and precise that it was thought to be her Grace for ten years.

Childhood
Katsa’s mother and father both died when she was a baby, before her eyes had even settled. Her mother caught ill with a fever, and her father was killed while defending a village from a raid. She was raised in the court of her uncle, King Randa of the Middluns, and found companionship in her cousin Raffin, whose mother had been taken by the same illness as hers.

When she was eight, a distant cousin came to court. Katsa disliked him, for he was the type of man to leer at servant girls and touch them inappropriately when he thought no one could see. While inquiring about her Grace, his hand moved to her thigh, and she instinctively punched him in the nose—hard enough to shatter bones and push them up into his brain, killing him instantly.

In most cases, someone with such a dangerous Grace would be banished, or possibly even executed, but Randa saw potential in his niece’s unique ability. His punishment was a mere three weeks confined to her chambers. Rumors spread about the girl with the killing Grace, and soon there were very only a handful of castle residents unafraid of Katsa. At this time, Helda, a woman who worked in the royal Graceling nurseries, offered to look after her, as she herself had a Graced son and sympathised with the young lady.

Raffin suggested that Katsa ask Oll, Randa’s captain and spymaster, to teach her how to control her Grace. He agreed, and began making her practice her skills on dummies and prisoners sentenced to execution. Soon she had near-perfected her skills: she knew how to use swords, daggers, and bows, could fight hand-to-hand combat, and could determine which exact move would suit her purposes. She could take on eight or ten fully-armored soldiers without weapons. People would come to watch the spectacle that was her practice sessions – though they would always avert their eyes and pass on if they thought Katsa had looked at them.

When Randa was satisfied with her progress, he set her to work. At age ten, Katsa was sent to kill a treasonous lord in his town square. She was supposed to make an example of him: give him a bloody death so others would know never to cross the king. She preferred to be quick and merciful, snapping the man’s neck instead. When Randa heard of this, he was outraged. He made a point of giving clear and specific orders from then on, leaving Katsa no way to avoid the commands without directly disobeying her uncle. Randa also began verbally abusing Katsa, trying to make her feel like the stupid, savage dog he wanted her to be.

By the time Katsa was sixteen, she was tired of seeing people suffer at the hands of greedy and unjust kings. There was no way to avoid having to carry out Randa’s orders, but she could try to offset the damage. With Raffin, Oll, and Helda, she formed the Council: A group that would work in secret to protect and help the weak and defenceless wherever they could. In just two years they had gained allies across the five main kingdoms and become champions of the common people.

Graceling
News from spies told the Council that Tealiff, the father of the king of Lienid, who had been recently kidnapped, was in the dungeons of King Murgon of Sunder. Using one of Randa’s commands as a cover, Katsa, Oll, and Giddon (a new council ally) rode to Sunder to save him. In the dark of night, they snuck into Murgon’s castle. Katsa knocked out the guards and gave them each a sleeping pill Raffin had prepared, while Giddon and Oll escaped with the old king.

As Katsa had finished taking care of Murgon’s guards, she encountered something she didn’t expect – a graced fighter. He wanted to know what she was stealing, but made no move to harm her. Confused about his motivations and who he worked for, Katsa knocked him out and left.

They took Tealiff back to Randa City in the dead of night and delivered him to Raffin, then headed to Estill to complete Randa’s assignment. When they arrived back at court, Raffin informed them that a Lienid prince had come, claiming to be in search of his missing grandfather. Katsa recognized him instantly as the Graceling from Murgon’s castle, and he in turn recognized her.

Physical Appearance
Katsa's most striking feature is her Graceling eyes: one green and the other blue. She is known for them across all seven kingdoms, so she always takes care to hide them while on a Council mission, either with an eyepatch or simply keeping the hood of her cloak up and not allowing light to shine on her face. It's unknown what color her eyes were before they settled, as anyone who might have cared to remember is now dead.

She has dark hair, which she prefers to keep very short for convience, and fair skin.

Abilities
Katsa's Grace is survival. It encompasses a variety of benefits, such as having a strong immune system, rarely tiring, being able to control how long she sleeps for, and having a higher tolerance for pain and injuries. Most notably, it gives her excellent fighting skills. She's able to fend off eight to ten men, all in full armour, with only her bare hands. When taking Bitterblue through the dangerous Grella's pass, she sucessfully fought and killed an attacking moutain lion.

Her primary weapon is a dagger, but she's trained in the use of swords and bows as well.