Mira Osk
Nineteen-year-old pickpocket from Port Hallow who stole the brass compass.
Mira Osk is a nineteen-year-old pickpocket from Port Hallow on the Lantern Coast. Her theft of a strange brass compass from a Grey Warden captain sets the story in motion and forces her to flee the city.
Appearance
Mira is short, small enough to vanish behind a fishwife's basket. Her right palm carries a shiny burn scar from the fire that killed her mother; Varr Dane recognised her as "the girl with the burned hand".
Personality
Mira is bold to the point of recklessness, preferring to rob a Warden because "Wardens have the best pockets". She loves Port Hallow "the way you love a dog that bites" and treats danger with dry humour. She assumes that everything costs something. Fiercely attached to Tobin Reed, she scolds and hugs him in the same breath, and she is defiant about the compass, holding it bare after dark despite the warning. When she decides to act she does not wait to be told.
Abilities
A skilled pickpocket who works crowds at dusk, Mira is quick in her left hand and practised at bumping a mark, apologising and disappearing. She is also a capable swimmer, able to dive down to the drowned bell tower of Ilith and back.
Background
Mira grew up in The Weir alongside Tobin Reed, under the same leaking roof. Her mother, Ada Osk, died when her stall caught fire; Mira's right palm was burned that night.
History
Episode 1 The Brass Thief
Working the Fishmarket Stair at dusk, Mira ignored Tobin Reed's warning and picked the pocket of Captain Varr Dane, stealing the oilcloth-wrapped Brass compass. A hooded stranger warned her about the compass, gave her an unsigned letter about Ilith and told her to flee on the salt barge. As the harbour bell rang early, Mira felt the compass needle turn toward the Weir landing.
Episode 2 The Salt Barge
Mira paid her last three silver for passage on the Patience and met Seren of Esk properly. When Varr Dane intercepted the barge, he called her Ada Osk's daughter and claimed to have known her mother, shaking her badly. After Seren drained the harbour and the barge escaped, Mira found that Tobin Reed had gone overboard and climbed back aboard, and hugged him. She alone saw the silver Warden hook pinned inside Pell's collar. At the end of the episode she held the Brass compass in her bare hand in the dark as it pointed toward Ilith.
Episode 3 What the Water Keeps
Mira looked down through the shallow sea at the roofs of Ilith and showed Seren of Esk the unsigned letter, learning that Seren could not remember writing it. After dreaming of Varr Dane's words about her mother, she woke to find the Brass compass pointing straight down. In the morning she dove into the drowned bell tower and brought up a second compass, having found it beside a pole bearing the Grey Wardens' silver hook, and argued that the Wardens had been in Ilith long ago. When both compasses pointed back toward Port Hallow, she began taking in the anchor rope.
Relationships
| Who / what | Relation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ada Osk | Mother | Died in a fire at her stall. |
| Tobin Reed | Childhood friend | Grew up together in the Weir; fled Port Hallow with her on the Patience. |
| Seren of Esk | Ally | Seren guided her onto the Patience and got them out of the harbour. |
| Varr Dane | Pursuer | Robbed by her; claims to have known her mother. |
| Pell | Shipmate | Mira is the only one who saw the silver hook hidden in his collar. |
Quotes
“Wardens have the best pockets.”
to Tobin, before robbing Varr Dane · Episode 1
“It's a fortune.”
on the compass · Episode 1
“What did that cost?”
to Seren, after the tidecalling · Episode 2
“You're an idiot.”
to Tobin, before hugging him · Episode 2
“So a whole city forgot how to stop.”
on the Esk telling of Ilith · Episode 3
“The Wardens were here. Before. Back then. The hook is theirs.”
after diving to Ilith · Episode 3
Appearances
Trivia
- Mira is the point-of-view character of Episode 1.
- Mira is the point-of-view character of Episodes 1 and 2.