the divine amidst the dust // 神在无间
characters who embody the benevolence and grace of the divine, even in a world muddied with mortal follies.
— “the figure of the divine in the unrelenting abyss of hell.”
created by ruiconteur
last updated April, 2026
![不见上仙三百年 [Unseen Immortal of Three Hundred Years]](https://cdn.pagebound.co/books/49212bd4-9306-4f75-8e2e-6f3745128f84/large.webp)
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Comments
the chinese title of this list is a play on xie lian’s famous line: 身在无间，心在桃源 / the body is in the unrelenting abyss of hell, the heart in the idyll of peach blossom springs; 神 and 身 are homophones. recommendations are very welcome, even if they're not chinese novels! i would love to read an english novel with a character like this.
the minute I saw the title of this list, Xie Lian, Shen Qiao from Qianqiu and Xiao Xingchen immediately came to mind!! I enjoy characters like these who are based on Taoist/Buddhist ideals and values , and I wish it were more common in western novels too :/ (my theory is that western culture values rugged individualism and being tough over kindness/compassion... 🥲)
oh actually, I haven't finished reading the Goddess of the River by Vaishnavi Patel (one of the current Readalong books) but so far the main character is a river goddess, who is by nature compassionate and nurturing. but the book is about how she gets cursed to become a mortal and go through mortal suffering, so I'm not sure if or how she might change later on in the story. but with the lotus on the cover, I have hope that she'll retain her benevolence
i hope she does too!! i was kinda holding off on patel's books bc i saw some reviews from hindu readers saying that the characterisation in kaikeyi was super weird and westernised lol so i wanted to do more research
yesyesyes those three characters immediately came to mind too!! and yeah that's my theory too, i might end up having to remove clockwork boys depending on how caliban's nobility is portrayed ripp
T. Kingfisher's paladins come to mind for this although I'm not entirely sure if they fit what you're looking for. The paladins in the Saint of Steel books follow a berserker deity so probably not quite suited to this list. But Caliban in Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine is described as being frustratingly noble and having a grace about him, and being very knight-in-shining-armor-like, as his deity chooses people with his qualities to become his paladins.
ooh i'll have a look, ty for the recs!!
Oooo this is such a cool topic! I’ll have to think on it a bit for suggestions
I will say, I don’t know what George has planned for the rest of the series (and may never know atp 🤡) but Daenerys from a song of ice and fire seems to be positioned this way thus far
oooh interesting ty!! i know nothing about daenerys so i'll have to look into her hehe
She’s very much written to be this heroic and noble figure among ppl who are more ruthless and selfish but I don’t know if this will change given that the series is incomplete!! Entirely possible that the author decides to pull an uno reverse lmao
true!! it's kind of funny how long he's delaying the release of the final book lol
Yeah it’s a whole Thing in the fandom LMAO. Nothing we can do but I do feel like I have to add that disclaimer when recommending anything related to the series 💀😅
fair enough 😂😂 i saw ppl joking that he was planning to release it after he passes so he can avoid the fandom uproar skdjjfk
Honestly I’d laugh my ass off if that happened like atp it’s been a decade since I read the last book that’s out, I’d have to reread the entire damn series whenever the next books come out anyway 💀💀💀
LOLL yeah like at this point he might as well commit right
