The Apothecary Diaries Characters

A young apothecary from the capital's pleasure district, raised by her adoptive father Luomen and the courtesans of the Verdigris House. Kidnapped and sold to the rear palace as a laundry maid, she gives herself away by warning two consorts about a poisoned face powder, and Jinshi makes her Consort Gyokuyou's lady-in-waiting and food taster. She paints freckles on her face to look plain, tests poisons on her own arm and would much rather study a rare ingredient than get drawn into palace politics, though she rarely manages to stay out of them. Her biological father turns out to be the strategist Lakan.

The strikingly beautiful young official who runs the rear palace, known to the court as a eunuch. He spots Maomao's talent in the first episode and keeps bringing her mysteries, often tempting her with rare medicines, and grows far more attached to her than he lets show. In public he is polished and charming; in private he is more childish and less sure of himself. Season 2 reveals that he is not a eunuch at all but the Imperial Brother, whose real name is Ka Zuigetsu, and he leads the Forbidden Army against the Shi clan.

Jinshi's loyal attendant, calm, capable and endlessly patient with both his master and Maomao, whom he often escorts on her investigations. He has looked after Jinshi since Jinshi was a child, and he is the father of Basen, another of Jinshi's attendants. Like Jinshi, he works in the rear palace under the cover story of being a eunuch. Behind the stern face he is very fond of cats.

The Precious Consort, mistress of the Jade Pavilion, the emperor's favourite and the mother of Princess Lingli. Her daughter recovers from the face-powder sickness thanks to Maomao's warning, and Gyokuyou takes Maomao on as her lady-in-waiting and food taster in thanks. She is warm, witty and politically shrewd, and her family governs the Western Capital. In season 2 she faces a difficult pregnancy, and after the birth of her son she is named empress.

A cheerful maid in the rear palace and Maomao's first friend there. Sold into service by her farming family, she loves sweets and gossip, and the rumours she passes on often give Maomao her first clue. In season 2 she learns to read and write and, as her term nears its end, works hard to find a job outside the palace.

The Wise Consort of the Crystal Pavilion. She loses her baby son to the poisoned face powder early in the story and is gravely ill herself until the emperor sends Maomao to nurse her; after two months of Maomao's care she recovers and becomes one of her firmest supporters. Proud and imposing in public, she is fair to those who serve her well, and in season 2 she dismisses her scheming cousin Shin from her household.

The Virtuous Consort of the Diamond Pavilion and the youngest of the four high consorts. Shy and easily led, she is quietly bullied by her own ladies-in-waiting, who treat her serious food allergy as fussiness. Maomao realises that the poisoned soup at the garden party was meant for her. Lishu is devoted to Ah-Duo, who has looked after her like a mother.

The Pure Consort of the Garnet Pavilion and the eldest of the high consorts, a boyish woman who looks strikingly like Jinshi. She grew up alongside the emperor as his milk sibling and was for years his only consort. Midway through season 1 she is retired from the rear palace and leaves for a palace in the south, but she stays close to the emperor and to Lishu, whom she treats like a daughter.

Ah-Duo's replacement as the Pure Consort and the daughter of Shishou, an influential politician of the Shi clan. In public she is aloof, wears heavy make-up that changes constantly, and keeps the largest household in the rear palace. Season 2 reveals that she has been slipping out in disguise as Shisui, the insect-loving maid who became Maomao's friend, and her family's rebellion, and her own plans for its children, drive the end of the season.

The emperor's chief military strategist and head of the La clan, a scruffy, monocled man who cannot recognise faces and sees most people as Go stones or chess pieces. He is feared at court for his scheming and spends much of season 1 provoking Jinshi over Maomao. He is Maomao's biological father: years before, he loved Fengxian, the Verdigris House courtesan who was her mother. Maomao beats him at xiangqi, and he uses the forfeit to buy Fengxian out of the brothel.

Maomao's adoptive father and teacher, a gentle, unworldly doctor who runs an apothecary's shop in the pleasure district and often undercharges his patients or does not charge them at all. He studied medicine abroad and was once a court physician, until he was banished from the rear palace after a difficult royal birth for which he was blamed. He is Lakan's uncle, which makes him Maomao's great-uncle. In season 2 Maomao has him brought back to the palace to help deliver Consort Gyokuyou's baby.

A tall, reserved court lady in the outer court with a deep knowledge of medicinal plants. She is behind a chain of seemingly unrelated incidents in season 1, from a salted drink to a warehouse explosion, that end in an attempt on Jinshi's life, and she escapes by taking a drug that makes her appear dead. She returns in season 2 disguised as a eunuch and takes Maomao and Shisui out of the rear palace. She is Loulan's half-sister.