Character from Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas
The lord of the Bone Quarter who feeds on the secondlight of Lunathion's dead — a creature of ancient hunger wearing the mask of solemn duty.
The Under-King presents himself as the sacred keeper of the dead — the entity who ensures Vanir souls rest peacefully in the Bone Quarter after the Drop. In reality, he is a parasitic being who feeds on secondlight (the energy of the dead) just as the Asteri feed on firstlight from the living. He is a junior partner in the Asteri's system, granted dominion over the dead in exchange for keeping the dead quiet and the living ignorant. He is ancient, patient, and views the living as a temporary inconvenience between the life that matters (theirs) and the resource that matters (their energy after death). He is dangerous not because he's powerful — though he is — but because he controls access to the dead, which means he controls grief, closure, and memory itself.
A towering figure in dark robes with a face that shifts between a skull and something almost human, never quite settling. His hands are skeletal and cold. The air around him smells of grave earth and the faint ozone of spent power. He does not walk so much as glide, trailing shadows that move independently of any light source.
Also known as: The Under-King, Lord of the Bone Quarter