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| “ | My mind, it's... it's who I am. I think I'd rather suffer any other injury in the world than have my mind tampered with. | ” |
—Sydney Sage[[ in The Golden Lily|src]] | ||
Sydney Katherine Ivashkov, born Sage is a former Alchemist, a human charged with keeping the vampire world a secret from humans.
She first appears in Blood Promise where she helps Rose Hathaway find her way through Russia although it clashes with the beliefs she's been taught her entire life. In Last Sacrifice she gets in deep trouble with the Alchemists for helping Rose escaping prison. She later becomes the narrator of the spin-off series Bloodlines. In Bloodlines, she is assigned to protect Jill Dragomir from a group of radical Moroi who are against the Queen Lissa Dragomir's politics. She later meets Eddie Castile during her assignment who become one of her closest friends and Adrian Ivashkov whom she develops a very close friendship with throughout Bloodlines. Throughout the next couple of books Sydney begins to question her upbringing and The Alchemists more and more due to her relationship with Adrian and her exposure to witchcraft and in The Indigo Spell she agrees to let Marcus Finch remove the compulsion from her Golden Lily Tattoo. At the end of The Indigo Spell she admits to herself that she loves Adrian and they start dating. In The Fiery Heart her sister Zoe finds out that her and Adrian are together and she gets sent to a re-education center. After escaping re-education in Silver Shadows, her and Adrian get married. In The Ruby Circle they adopt Declan and move to Maine to have a safe life together. Sydney finally ends up going to college like she's always wanted to.
Biography
Early life
Sydney is a 19-year-old former Alchemist. Sydney is the middle child of three. She has an older sister, Carly Sage, and a younger sister, Zoe Sage. She was raised to think that all vampires are evil creatures of the night, even Dhampirs and Moroi, who are peaceful by nature.
Blood Promise
In Blood Promise, she first met Rose Hathaway in Russia when was on a mission to search for Dimitri Belikov (who had been turned into a Strigoi in the end of Shadow Kiss) and kill him. When a male Strigoi appeared and attacked Rose, Syndey saved her when she came up from behind and hit him on the back, giving Rose a chance to pierce her silver stake into the Strigoi's heart. After watching Rose kill the Strigoi, she took out a small vial from her purse and sprinkled the contents over the body, turning it into a pile of dust. She starts to warm up to vampires when she spends a significant amount of time with Rose Hathaway.
Last Sacrifice
Sydney helped Rose escape from jail in Last Sacrifice to repay Abe for staging a fake Strigoi attack after her sister, Carly, told Sydney that she was raped by Keith Darnell. She later helped find Sonya Karp and Jill Mastrano Dragomir. She was also with Rose and Dimitri when they went to see the Keepers, and met Angeline Dawes.
Bloodlines
During Bloodlines, it is revealed she has a strained relationship with her rigid father, Jared Sage and younger sister, Zoe, mainly because of her apparent 'betrayal' of the Alchemists in Last Sacrifice. Sydney's rift between her and her Alchemist family grows as she begins to question Alchemist beliefs about magic and vampires.
Sydney is chosen to be sent on a mission to go undercover in Palm Springs at a private school called Amberwood, and protect Jill Mastrano Dragomir. She was picked because the Alchemists, swayed by her "ambition", believed she was trying to clear Rose's name in an attempt at a promotion, and because she is shown to be calm around Moroi and Dhampirs. Her sister Zoe was originally picked to go on the mission, but because she had only the most basic training, she was turned down.
In Palm Springs, Sydney discovers that Keith Darnell was negotiating with vampires to use vampire blood and Alchemist materials to create magical tattoos that can enhance or give people special abilities, and has him sent to a re-education center. She is later bitten by a Strigoi, and her blood is spat back out because the Strigoi found it disgusting. When Sonya Karp sends in Sydney's blood for testing later, it is shown that there is magic in her blood, though Sydney waves it off as coming from her Alchemist Tattoo. The true reason she has magic in her blood is because she is a witch with human magic she had been tricked into using by her history teacher, Jaclyn Terwilliger. Sydney at first balks against using magic but comes to embrace it, joining the Stelle Witch Coven in The Indigo Spell.
Physical Appearance
Alchemist Tattoo
Sydney has layered dark golden-blond hair that reaches just past her shoulders (although it grows longer and longer throughout the series) and brown eyes that turn gold in the light. According to Adrian, her eyes are molten gold when she stands in the light. Sydney is about 5'7" in height. She wears expensive make up, applied to give her a natural look. As an Alchemist, her cheek adorns a golden lily tattoo, however in Silver Shadows it is seen to have bits of silver in it.
Sydney has imagery issues with her body. This becomes evident early on in the Bloodlines Series. It is rumored that these issues may have come to be from her verbally abusive father. He told her once that "if those monsters (Moroi women) could do it, so could she." Working as an Alchemist in the field, she has come to idealize Moroi women's body shape as something she should strive to replicate herself. This is problematic since Sydney has a very different body shape than Moroi. As the series progresses, she becomes better about her eating habits with the help of Adrian Ivashkov. The moral support and many compliments she receives from him seem to help her gain some confidence about herself. After reeducation in Silver Shadows she is a lot skinnier, being malnourished and being able to count her ribs.
Sydney usually wears very formal neutral color clothes and, like the other Alchemists, very rarely wears bright colors. Also she wears a golden cross necklace, until it was lost, after that she wears a wooden one that Adrian painted blue morning glories on.
Personality
Sydney is intelligent and responsible. She completes her assignments the detached Alchemist way, but at times she lets her personal feelings into the mix. Such can be seen when she takes independent action to try to get Rose Hathaway to safety, get Adrian Ivashkov into Carlton College, or takes Jill Mastrano on dates. Sydney is also quite uptight and conservative. She loves to be organized and always dresses tidily. Rose commented that she is "always looking ready for a business meeting."
Sydney is socially awkward. Growing up in the Alchemist world and being home schooled, she was deprived of any social interactions with "normal" adolescents and does not know much in the way of socializing and romance. She doesn't see right away if a boy is flirting with her or asking her out, and passes obvious signs of romance off as casual things, or finds logical conclusions to romantic actions inflicted upon her. However, she is very polite and reserved. Sydney enjoys wearing neutral colors and despises disorder and/or mess. Sydney deals with things the same way she might deal with her room: She keeps everything neat, clean, and in its place. When something strange or peculiar happens, it is uncomfortable for her, and whenever she's scared she ticks off random facts about things, such as Latin, car engines, or plate boundaries, in her head. Logic and facts, solid things like that, calm her down. She is very selfless and responsible.
At the beginning of Bloodlines, Sydney is very shy and strongly believes all vampires (Moroi and Strigoi and Dhampirs alike) are evil. She absolutely hates watching or witnessing vampires using elemental magic or compulsion, believing that it is wrong and unnatural. The magic mostly unnerves her because it is not logical or scientifically possible, and Sydney is very logical. She is very religious as well, wearing a golden cross around her neck everywhere. As she spends more time in Palm springs with the Moroi and Dhampirs (Jill, Adrian, Eddie, etc.) she becomes more comfortable around vampires, and even starts to ask more questions. She mostly likes to follow orders and keep everything organized, but from time to time she is known to take actions on her own mind and standing up to what she believes in. Also, as her character interacts more with vampires in Bloodlines, Sydney even begins to like and think of them as friends. She becomes much spunkier by the end of the book, even noting that she is now very comfortable at shaking hands with Moroi and Dhampirs, when at the beginning it was a difficult task.
In The Golden Lily, Sydney is much more her own person. She is still logical and orderly, dressing the same way and believing strongly in her duty, as well as being responsible and socially inept. However, after witnessing a few vampire hunters attacking her and Sonya Karp downtown one day, she begins to wonder about her Alchemists beliefs, noting that humans can be just as cruel and dangerous, if not more, as Moroi. As she spends more time with the Moroi and Dhampirs, Sydney becomes more and more convinced that they are a lot more moral than many humans and even Alchemists. Sydney experiments more with magic and, despite her strong believes that it is wrong and unnatural, even ends up doing quite a few spells to help rescue Sonya Karp when she disappears and is kidnapped by hunters. Sydney also goes out of her way to make sure everyone is happy and safe, especially Adrian Ivashkov. In the book, Sydney wears the color red at a Halloween dance, the very first colored clothing we see her wear. She begins to take self-defense class and, at one point, even begins to question whether she wants to leave the Alchemists or not, whether they are such a great choice. She, knowing the Alchemists would not approve, gives her blood to Sonya Karp so Sonya, Adrian, Dimitri and Eddie can experiment more about Spirit. She does this despite her fear of vampires having any sort of contact with her blood, and is always supportive of the Moroi and Dhampirs' ideas. She becomes comfortable with hugs, even, throwing her arms around Adrian once in self-defense. In this book, it is easy to see how much Sydney has grown. She is on the verge of treason of the Alchemist, by her own standards. When Adrian asks whether she'd choose to go into a tunnel full of "crazy, armed humans" (meaning the vampire hunters) or a room full of safe Moroi like him and Jill, Sydney replies she would choose the vampires. This is a milestone as it is basically admitting that the Alchemists are wrong, not everything vampire is evil and unholy. Despite her firm beliefs, you can see Sydney battling with the years of Alchemist training and the things she is seeing with her own eyes, that Moroi can be better than humans. Sydney notes that Keith Darnell's father does not mind that Sydney calls Keith a corrupt and immoral person, but rather is glad that Sydney denied Keith being attached to vampires. This shows how messed up the Alchemist belief system is. However, Sydney has a long way to go before being able to let go of her beliefs.
It is also noted that Sydney Sage has eating issues, noticed by most everyone but addressed directly only by Adrian Ivashkov. This is a result of Sydney suffering through her father, Jared Sage, yelling at her that, "If those monsters (the Moroi) can do it, why can't you?", referring to her body and weight. This is very unfair, seeing as how Moroi are biologically born with the perfect, slim, model-like bodies, and no matter how hard Sydney tries or how much weight she loses, she will never be able to be like them. It is stated by Adrian that you can see Sydney's ribs, and she eats less than expected and has an obsession with caffeine. Sydney loves architecture and cars, telling Adrian that if she had not been born an Alchemist, she would be studying Architecture in college and school. Sydney is very smart and can speak many languages, including Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and Russian.
Intelligence
Sydney is very intelligent. She can speak six languages and she has many tricks and techniques in getting rid of Strigoi bodies, such as a special potion that can turn a dead Strigoi corpse into dust so it is unrecognizable. She has lots of contacts due to the fact that Alchemists must do "damage control" to keep the Vampire world hidden. Sydney knows a lot about cars and architecture, and she has outstanding grades and quite a vocabulary. She is very educated in history, culture, mathematics, and almost every subject known to man. However, her intelligence is sometimes intimidating, and Sydney often "dumbs down" things when speaking to people about them, because she gets the feeling they don't really care. She confesses this to Adrian in The Golden Lily.
Sydney can also play volleyball fairly well. She showed quick thinking when two Strigoi, Jacqueline and Dawn, drank from Adrain Ivashkov by using her fire amulet to incinerate them in Bloodlines. However, she doesn't get all of Adrian's artistic skills and often thinks she is simply not artistic or abstract enough to understand his art.
Sydney does not like magic, but is forced to learn it by her history teacher, who tricked her into an independent study for an elective. Despite everything, Sydney is said to have a natural talent (or "knack") for magic. She is later seen learning magic, even becoming a witch, which comes very naturally to her.
Most of her intelligence comes from the rigorous home-schooling with her father, Jared. It is uncovered that while some children were learning their alphabet, her father was already teaching her the basics of chemistry.
Description
Sydney is shown to be a complete contrast to other characters as she is so tightly restrained and in control of her self. She had been taught all her life to fear vampires, and combined with Jared's stern teachings and lack of childhood, Sydney is dry and very serious. Throughout out the series Sydney gradually loosens up and starts thinking that there may be a grey area with vampires, that maybe the relationship between Alchemists and vampires didn't have to be so black and white; either being 'with' the vampires or being 'against' them. It is also noted Strigoi say her blood is inedible.
Appearances in the Vampire Academy Series
Blood Promise
Sydney first appeared in Blood Promise when she is forced to follow Rose and clean up the trail of Strigoi bodies she is leaving behind. Sydney is highly religious and at first is very critical of Rose and her "kind". She classes Moroi and Dhampir as being almost as bad as Strigoi and tries her best to keep her distance. However, as time passes, the girls become closer and Sydney becomes a comfort to Rose, who's missing Lissa. Sydney also helps Rose find Dimitri Belikov's old town, as Rose is out seeking for Dimitri (by then a Strigoi), and even manages to get help when they are attacked by Strigoi. This happens in Russia, and it becomes very obvious there (when Abe Mazur appears to help them) that Sydney and Abe have some type of unpleasant history.
Spirit Bound
Sydney talks with Rose via webcam, saying that files on Eric Dragomir were stolen from the Alchemists' records. Sydney says the files are purely financial. She also comments that Adrian is "cute" for a Moroi. This generally brings readers who have read the Bloodlines series to fangirl like crazy.
Last Sacrifice
Sydney appears when she aids in Rose's escape from the Moroi prison because she ows Abe a favor. Dimitri, Rose, and Sydney continue traveling until reaching West Virginia. Rose convinces Dimitri and Sydney to look for Lissa’s half-sibling. For safety, Sydney takes them to a hotel, then to the Keepers, a strange group of Moroi, dhampirs, and humans that believe in keeping the old ways, hence the name "Keepers".
When they found out that there was a relative who knew the child of Eric Dragomir (Sonya Karp, Strigoi at that point), they headed to a place of Donovan's, told by a Strigoi that Dimitri once knew on the phone while he was faking Strigoi. Rose and Dimitri made it seem like Sydney was a human servant for Strigoi so they could ambush them to get the information they needed.
Sydney succeeded in luring the Strigoi out, and after the battle, Rose called Sydney brave even though Sydney didn't agree. The three travel to Sonya Karp's house, and Victor Dashkov and his half-brother, Robert Doru arrive. After Sonya was changed back from a Strigoi by Robert, Sydney went for groceries and messed with Victor Dashkov's car.
Later, at Jill Mastrano's house (who turned out to be the illegitimate child), when the Guardians came, Rose and Dimitri fled, leaving Sydney to be taken by the Guardians to be questioned. Then, when Rose comes to find out information about the murder of Tatiana Ivashkov, she has Sydney flirt with an Alchemist to get him to speak. Afterwords, Adrian points out the consequences of Rose's sneaking with the possibility that Sydney might be in deep trouble with the Alchemists.
Appearances in the Bloodlines Series
Bloodlines
In Bloodlines Sydney is chosen instead of her sister Zoe to pose as Jill's sister (and roommate) at their private school in Palm Springs. She is the protagonist in this series, and shares very strained relationships with her father, Jared Sage, and sister, Zoe.
Sydney goes to Palm Springs in place of her sister, her intentions clear on protecting her sister from Keith, her father's 'golden boy' who raped her older sister, Carly Sage. She begins to develop feelings towards Adrian Ivashkov throughout the book, despite the Alchemist teachings that were drilled into her head. She, Eddie, and Jill all attend a posh private school named Amberwood Prep, where she meets Trey Juarez, an intelligent (though he tries hard to hide it) football playing human whom Sydney befriends right away. She helps stop the bullying that Jill receives by replacing Laurel's shampoo with something else she made, therefore calling a truce between the two parties . After finding Adrian in a miserable state, she helps him find financial aid for art classes at Carlton College, once again blurring the line between necessary Alchemist business and unnecessary personal actions.
Sydney and Adrian team up to find out the supplier of the illegal ingredients for the tattoo parlor Nevermore, and her findings redeem her image within the Alchemist society. It is also revealed that she has "foul" blood and has some kind of magic in her. Adrian becomes infatuated with her eyes and tells her that she is beautiful. Sydney becomes confused and is saved by the door opening, where Sonya Karp and Dimitri Belikov enter. They bring with them Angeline, one of the Keepers who will help keep an eye on Jill.
The Golden Lily
Sydney is at an underground rehabilitation center to testify whether Keith Darnell has served enough time for his criminal acts in Bloodlines. Sydney speaks the truth, stating that He...well, to be blunt, is just a bad person and the Alchemists shorten Keith's sentence, as, apparently, being a jerk is not as offensive as tolerating vampires as acquaintances. Back in Palm Springs, Dimitri Belikov, Sonya Karp, Eddie Castile, and Jill Mastrano (and of course, Adrian Ivashkov) are studying spirit and why Strigoi turned back to their original forms by Spirit can not turn to Strigoi again. Tension is in the air between Dimitri and Adrian, but thankfully, there are enough distractions to keep a brawl from occurring. Back in Amberwood Prep, Trey Juarez, Sydney Sage's human friend, is trying to sell Sydney on going out with his co-worker, Brayden, who may just be as smart as Sydney. There are no results with the visual or spirit magic tests worked on Dimitri and Eddie, and they decide to send in blood tests. They ask Sydney for a blood sample (Sonya and Dimitri) as well, but with she declines, Alchemist fears coming back. That same day, Adrian asks her to drive him to San Diego to have a talk with his father. When in San Diego, Sydney witnesses Adrian's father blaming Adrian for his mother being in jail and tearing apart Adrian's accomplishments, life, and personality. Knowing Adrian is miserable and drinking, she gets Sonya and Dimitri to talk to Lissa, and Lissa then tells Adrian's dad how amazing and wonderful Adrian is, and impressing Adrian's father to the point that he praises his son and gives him money which Adrian buys a car with.
Sydney goes out with Brayden, who is her intellectual match, and the two spend a nice time discussing Shakespeare and Academics. They plan for another date, and at the same time, Jill has began a relationship with a human boy named Micah. One night, while getting dinner, Sonya Karp and Sydney are both attacked by humans who still believe that Sonya Karp is Strigoi, and are trying to kill her. They are saved by Dimitri Belikov, but find a sword left behind. The sword has many old Alchemist symbols imprinted on it ones that are no longer used in modern day alchemy.
Sydney decides to look up self-defense spells and signs up for a self-defense class with Adrian, which she thoroughly enjoys, though Adrian seems to have a hard time with it (later this is revealed to be because of Adrian's romantic feelings for her, it is hard for him to deal with all the close physical contact, meaning everything to him, and 'nothing' to her). Later it is found out that the humans who attacked Sonya and Sydney are indeed vampire hunters, or, 'Warriors of the Light'. Sydney agrees to give Sonya a sample of her blood, and the results say that Moroi found bits of all four elements in her blood, though why that is, is still unknown. The vampire hunters then kidnap Sonya, causing Sydney to leave her date with Brayden early. She reluctantly uses a magic spell to find Sonya, and finds out that Trey Juarez is, indeed, a vampire hunter. She makes a plan to save Sonya by talking the hunters out of it, when this fails, the guardians (as well as Angeline) invade the hunters' compound and escape with Sonya, whilst Adrian found and got out with Sydney after she was forced to leave in a separate direction than Eddie and Sonya. This causes the hunters to exile Trey and his family, but this causes no strain on Trey and Sydney's friendship.
The romance between Sydney and Brayden is put to an abrupt end after Brayden calls her irresponsible and says the relationship will not work, which causes Sydney to start laughing. Then Sydney drives over to Adrian's and explains what happens. This ends with Adrian confronting Sydney about her anorexic-like eating habits, and how she doesn't have to starve herself and such. When Sydney corners him about lying about not being able to drive manual transmission when he could, Adrian confesses he lied about it to spend more time with Sydney, and that he quit self-defense because the touching was too much. They share a passionate kiss, but the moment is broken when Sydney realizes that it will never work, and her Alchemist beliefs come flooding back. Though she admits her heart is breaking, she walks away from Adrian with one last look.
The Indigo Spell
Sydney is awoken in the middle of the night by Jaclyn who needs Sydney help because she is a virgin. Sydney and Jackie go out into the middle of desert where Jaclyn makes Sydney do a spell to locate where her sister is currently staying, with a locating spell with a mirror and herbs. Sydney found that Jaclyn's sister was in the Los Angeles area in a old Victorian house. The next day, Jaclyn gives Sydney an old spell book of offensive spells as Sydney was going to Sonya and Mikhail's wedding in Philadephia, at the airport she finds that her seat has been taken by a group of orphan children inside she has been sent to another plane where she is in first class. Once in the plane, she finds that she is sitting next to Adrian who had been moody with her since their kiss and her rejecting him. On the plane trip Sydney tells Adrian that Jaclyn wants her to learn offensive spells to which Adrian agrees to keep Sydney safe.
At the wedding, Sydney spots Rose who is a bridesmaid at the wedding. Sitting with two other Alchemist Donna Stanton and Ian Jansen, as Sydney is uncomfortable with the last member that is sitting at their table, Abe Mazur. During the wedding Adrian invites Sydney to dance with him to which she agrees too, they begin to talk about she can find Marcus Finch in this Adrian goes out and buys several herbs that she needs for the spell. An hour later, Sydney does the spell and finding that Marcus is living a run down apartment building to which Adrian finds as Santa Barbara even showing Sydney a picture of it. Running low on sugar levels, Adrian makes her drink a mouth full of Kaluha which he claimed with coffee flavored. Throughout this time, they are confronted by Sonya who can sense something between the two to which Sydney thinks is romantic to which Adrian believes she is obsessed with him and in love with him.
Back in Palm Springs, Jaclyn gives Sydney the task of finding the other young witches that are refusing help from a older mentor, because she tells Sydney that Veronica takes young witches beauty and powers to make herself look younger. On that afternoon, Sydney goes out to find Marcus to which she does after fighting with him in his apartment she then confronts Sabrina who was Warrior of the Light when Sonya was kidnapped but actually she a spy for Marcus. As he offers Sydney the chance to escape the Alchemist's forever and join of ex-Alchemists. Because of the injuries that Sydney caused Marcus she offers to take him to Adrian's because he can heal Marcus. At Adrian's apartment he is pleased that she found Marcus but then seeing that he had harmed Sydney, Adrian attacks Marcus out of pure rage. Sydney is amazed at Adrian begin so protective over her, to this she takes him into his bedroom and tells him about helping her find the other young witches and also that Jackie's sister is after her; Adrian agrees to help but angered that Sydney didn't tell him earlier.
Sydney and Adrian begin finding the young witches and Jackie's sister at a Old Victorian Motel where they met Alicia. At college party, Adrian makes Sydney a fiery heart t-shirt this leads to them passionately kissing on the floor of the college party, but only to find out that the witch that they were suppose to warn had been attacked become comatose. Jackie's begins to take Sydney out to a national park where they practice fire spells. She meets up with Marcus telling that the Alchemists are liars and that they are in talks with the Warriors, to this Marcus gets to do a challenge so that she break her Golden Lily which controls her in nearly every way. She agrees to this, with the help from Adrian who helps her seduce Ian Jansen in getting her in the headquarters where she steals video footage of one of the head Alchemists in talks with the head of the Warriors, confirming that the Alchemist had lied to her. Marcus then breaks her Golden Lily officially breaking her away from the Alchemists but to finally be free she needs too go to Mexcio to break it officially and completely.
One day out with Adrian at the national park, Sydney makes a Callistana, a dragon which sees both Sydney and Adrian as its parents. Veronica begins visiting Sydney in her dreams, causing Adrian to create Spirit Dreams to protect Sydney from her. Once again they both visit the old hotel, where they find that Veronica had left very quickly. Sydney makes her mind up that she is going with Marcus and the others to Mexico, deeply hurting Adrian to the point where he got drunk. Several nights later, Jaclyn does not answer her mobile causing Sydney to panic, she gets Adrian to drive her to Jaclyn's house where they find that Alicia was the one that harmed Veronica and the other witches and wanted to comatose Jaclyn. Sydney fights Alicia and to the point where she defeats Alicia but she is happy that she didn't kill her. They both find Jaclyn in the grass just near her house.
Sydney is packing to go with Marcus, before she leaves Jill gives her a letter that Adrian gave her but also tells her that Adrian doesn't see as a conqeust and truly does love her. With the advice from Wolfe she decides not to go with Marcus but stay with Adrian and the others, telling Marcus that she is in love. With Adrian's letter she works out that they are a location in a Greek and Roman museum. At this Sydney and Adrian spend their first day as a couple in the museum and have a fondue dinner. Driving back to Amberwood, Sydney feels disappointed that she has to leave Adrian. But once inside the dorms she finds her younger sister, Zoe, as a junior Alchemist and along with a new dhampir guardian Neil Raymond.
The Fiery Heart
Sydney is seen sitting on Adrian's bed reading a baby-name book in only her pants and bra. She tells Adrian that she needs to find a magical name for her initiation into the Stelle Coven. It is seen that they been secretly dating for a month. Sydney takes Hopper from Adrian for a week, missing Hopper being around her. Sydney tells Adrian that she loves him deeply and doesn't want to leave him. That night she goes to the initiation into the witch coven. That night Sydney is made a member of the Stelle Coven, by the leader Maude, where she names herself in the Coven as Iolanthe. Throughout the night, Sydney can't stop thinking about Adrian and how she is worried about his sanity with Spirit Darkness. She also learns of a old witch named, Inez, believed to be extremely powerful but very secretive. Also that same night, Sydney's mother rings her telling her of the divorce, to which Sydney's isn't surprised about but is supportive of her mother rather then her father.
Silver Shadows
She finally gets out of her isolation in re-education by confessing she fell in love with a vampire, although she only confesses in hopes of being able to be free of the sleeping drug and have Adrian talk to her in her dreams. During one of her re-education classes, she speaks out about Moroi defense against the Strigoi, and is sent to a purging session meant to negatively condition Moroi with illness.
One of her fellow inmates in re-education, Duncan, befriends her and warns her about several things in re-education. Eventually, Sydney finds a way to work magic to prevent the Alchemist group loyalty compulsion from taking hold and charms some salt ink for that purpose.
Eventually, Adrian is able to talk to her in their dreams and she suggests that he talk to Carly and find out where Keith is, in hopes of finding where her re-education center is.
She manages to steal an Alchemist's ID card and disables the gas on her floor, but is caught by Sheridan, who tries to torture answers out of her. When Sydney refuses to talk, Emma's brought in and tortured and Sydney confesses that she used magic to sneak around. As a result, Sheridan has Sydney moved to the "persuasion" floor where she continues to suffer more torture.
During the rescue mission, Adrian and Eddie break into the fourth floor and free her. The fire spread more quickly than expected, so Sydney uses her magic so they can make it through the fire and escape. She takes back her cross necklace from Sheridan before everyone flees the re-education facility.
Sydney convinces Adrian to not take them to the safe house because she feels that she'll endanger Marcus and the other freed prisoners. They end up going to Nevada and when Alchemists show up pretending to be housekeeping, she casts a spell as a distraction and flees with Adrian to the Witching Hour in Las Vegas. She comes up with a distraction so that the Alchemists will be forced off the hotel premises for a bit.
Adrian proposes to her, on the basis that if they're married, the Moroi will protect both of them. She accepts and they get married in a Tuscan chapel, with Adrian giving her an engagement ring with rubies from his aunt's cufflinks. They have to flee from the Alchemists after their wedding and the Alchemists catch up with them as they're about to take a helicopter, with Sheridan holding Adrian as hostage with a gun. Sydney uses magic to form a wall of fire to entrap Sheridan's colleagues to force Sheridan to release Adrian and they continue to Court by helicopter.
They're met by Rose, Dimitri, Christian, Lissa and several Alchemists. The Alchemists demand that Sydney be handed over to them. Sydney's father tries to take Sydney away but Dimitri blocks him. Lissa declares that she'll grant both Sydney and Adrian sanctuary as long as they're at Court, and Adrian's father insults Sydney by calling her a "feeder." Daniella stands up to Nathan and chooses to go with Sydney and Adrian instead of staying with him.
Sydney and Adrian spend their wedding night at a guest suite. The next morning, Rose and Dimitri inform them that Jill has gone missing and that with her missing, Lissa could lose her throne.
Relationships
Family
Sydney has a loving and caring relationship with her family. But despite this Sydney has grown to have hatred and large dislike for her father, Jared, who forced her into becoming an Alchemist from an early age. She notes that he treats his children like tools and apparently wishes he had a son instead of daughters. Jared is emotionally abusive towards Sydney, commenting that she is gaining weight and he may have been partially the cause of her eating disorder. By the end of Ruby Circle, Jared and Sydney's relationship turns extremely bitter and becomes a relationship of hatred because of Jared being one of the rogue Alchemists and Sydney's freedom from the charges against her at re-education and acceptance of her marriage by the Alchemists. Their relationship turns to the point where Jared threatens her that he'll do everything in his power to make her go back to the re-education while Sydney blackmails him and tells him that if he tried to do so or did not let Zoe meet her mother, she'll tell the Alchemists about Jared's fraud of selling Moroi blood.
Sydney loves and deeply respects her mother, who clearly loves her. Sydney admits that she misses her mother while she is in Palm Springs. In addition, she is supportive of her mother's decision to get divorced, and decides to advocate for her mother in the custody trial.
Currently Sydney has two different types of relationship with her sisters, Carly and Zoe. Sydney is seen to respect and love her older sister, Carly, to the point where when Carly was raped by Keith she asked Abe Mazur to remove his eye as punishment for hurting her sister. Her relationship with her younger sister, Zoe, has seen to change since childhood as Sydney loves and wants to protect her sister from being a Alchemist when unfortunately Zoe has changed and deeply believes in the Alchemist rhetoric, even to the point where Zoe betrayed her sister by sending her to Re-Education when she found out that Sydney was dating Adrian and friends with the gang at Palm Springs. After this incident their relationship has changed to the point that Sydney resents Zoe for what she did. In Ruby Circle, Zoe begs for forgiveness from Sydney and she accepts it. Their relationship improves but Zoe's relationship becomes strained with her father when she realises that Jared was also one of the rogue Alchemists but Sydney didn't told them. Sydney promises Zoe that she'll meet their mother soon and if Jared stops her she can tell Sydney.
Friends
Jillian Mastrano Dragomir
Sydney and Jill meet briefly in the Last Sacrifice, Sydney is present and contributes to the conversation when Rose is explaining Jill's heritage to the Mastranos. Apparently Sydney made a good impression with Jill, because in Bloodlines; when they meet again, Jill seems to be ready to run and hug Sydney. Over the course of Bloodlines and the Golden Lily, Sydney develops a strong soft spot for Jill and is often reminded of her little sister Zoe back home. In the Golden Lily, Jill keeps getting a far off look and complimenting Sydney, it can be assumed that Adrian's strong romantic feelings for Sydney are sometimes leaking through the Spirit bond. Jill is privy to a lot of Sydney's secrets via Adrian/Spirit bond, but she remains close-lipped about them, for which Sydney is very grateful. Sydney finds Jill's rambling and cheery nature endearing and is protective of Jill. Their relationship dynamic and attitude towards each other very closely resembles sisters. Sydney became more protective of Jill during The Fiery Heart, and was happy that Jill kissed Eddie, but Jill was devastated when she learned that Sydney had been taken to Re-Education.
Eddie Castile
Sydney and Eddie have very similar responsible, dedicated attitudes, which makes their relationship very easy and friendly. Due to their close resemblance and age, Eddie and her are able to pass off as twins at Amberwood. Sydney is the only one who has noticed Eddie's romantic feelings for Jill and has since become a confidant for Eddie on the matter. Eddie is the only one Sydney will let drive her car, something which shows a lot trust on Sydney's part. Eddie is implied to be very worried about Sydney when he has to leave her behind with the hunters at the end of the Golden Lily; and he is so grateful when he sees that she's safe that he surprises her with a hug. He also comments in The Indigo Spell that he sees her as a sister. In The Fiery Heart, they friendship grew stronger as Eddie joined with Neil and Sydney to take down a Strigoi in Los Angeles and then Eddie protected her when The Alchemists came after her, he felt so devastated when he learned that Sydney had tricked him to run away and leave her to them, he was so broken that Adrian admitted that if Eddie was the drinking type Eddie would have joined him at the bar.
Trey Juarez
When they first meet in Bloodlines, Trey doesn't trust her because of her Alchemist tattoo, which he assumes is a tattoo she got from Nevermore. However, he quickly warms up to her and they become friends. Sydney also changed her mind about attending a football game in order to give Trey some moral support, and Trey was only student who suspected that she was responsible for shutting Nevermore down. Trey, in return, gives Sydney free coffees and sets her up with Brayden, who is one of his co-workers. However, Trey also is secretly a member of the Warriors of Light, and participated in the attack on Sonya and Sydney. Sydney quickly realizes that she and Trey are both caught between obeying the groups they belong, and what their consciences are telling them. Trey sets up the meeting between Sydney and the other Warriors, showing that he trusts Sydney to keep her word. After he gets kicked out of the Warriors, he comments that he does not blame Sydney for what happened, and they continue to be friends. In The Fiery Heart, it is seen that Trey trusts Sydney to tattoo him with indigo ink that she created to prevent be mind controlled, but she also returned to the favor by keeping Angeline single. Trey saved Sydney's life in Los Angeles against the Strigoi. Sydney was happy that Trey had turned against the Warriors and started a romantic relationship with Angeline.
Julia Cavendish
Julia and Sydney first met on orientation day at Amberwood. The two of them quickly became friends over the next two days. Julia also provided Sydney with information about Nevermore. When Sydney was preparing for her first date with Brayden, she convinced her to change her planned clothes to wear on the date, as well as giving her dating advice in general.
Kristin Sawyer
Kristin met Sydney at orientation day, and the pair quickly became friends. Sydney saved Kristin's life when she was dying from the tattoo she got from Nevermore. In return, she helped Sydney get revenge on Laurel. During Sydney's first date with Brayden, she isn't as forceful as Julia about what Sydney plans to wear on the date.
Romantic
Brayden Cartwright
Brayden and Sydney first meet at Spencer's and quickly hit it off discussing Latin and Shakespeare. The two of them go on several dates, and enjoy each other's company, as Sydney is the first girl to tell Brayden he's wrong about something, and Sydney enjoys that she doesn't have to dumb herself down for him. However, Sydney has to cancel several dates due to family emergencies which annoys Brayden. Eventually, he breaks up with her, because he believes that she is "irresponsible", which causes Sydney to burst out laughing, and thank him. He is now dating someone else and he and Sydney appear to remain on good terms with each other.
Adrian Ivashkov
Sydney first sees Adrian via footage at a casino in Las Vegas. She comments to Rose that he is "cute" for an evil creature of the night. The two of them briefly meet when she is brought to the Moroi Court by several guardians. She also is one of the people that Adrian labels as a "victim" of Rose's happy ending. Sydney properly meets Adrian at Clarence's house in Bloodlines, and she is surprised that he remembers her name. At first the two of them argue a lot, and Adrian accuses of her of "letting people walk all over her". However, the two of them become friends, as Adrian helps Sydney expose Keith's illegal operations to the Alchemists, and Sydney helps Adrian get signed up for college classes and move out of Clarence's house. During her dating Brayden, Adrian is the only one to ask her if Brayden makes her happy. In return, Sydney buys him a slush to cheer him up after a disastrous meeting with his father, and gets one for herself, in spite of her "no sugar" diet. Adrian is also the only one that Sydney trusts to know about her magic abilities, and he accompanies her to Ms. Terwilliger's house to perform the scrying spell. The two of them share a kiss at the end of The Golden Lily, only for Sydney to reject Adrian since vampires and humans can't be together.
In The Indigo Spell, Sydney denies that she is attracted to Adrian, as they grow increasingly closer to each other through Sydney asking him to come with her to magic practice with Jackie. While at a college party, when going to protect young witch Lynne, they have a passionate kiss at the party, leaving Sydney with a hickey the next day. Angered Sydney tells Adrian not to ever kiss her again. When creating a Callistana, a mini dragon, they become the parents of it because the dragon sees them as it's parents. When posing as a couple, Adrian calls her affectionate names. While visiting Veronica's suite they lay on the bed as Adrian reads her aura to her, telling her about how when he touches her it deepens in color. They nearly share a kiss but Alicia interrupts them. In an act to protect Sydney from Veronica's dreams in finding Sydney, they share Spirit Dreams together playing board games, where she loses in Monopoly to Adrian. One night, just after breaking out of St Louis with the video footage for Marcus Finch, Adrian asks her to change her clothes to the dress she wore to seduce Ian. This leads to the two passionately making out on a table in the Spirit Dream, breaking many pieces of china. Adrian changes the table to a bed where they continue their passionate kisses, but Adrian doesn't take her virginity in the dream, even though Sydney wanted to have sex with Adrian. After learning that Jill had witnessed everything that her and Adrian had done in the dream, Sydney breaks it off with Adrian causing an argument between the two. Despite this, the two go to Jackie to tell her that it's not Veronica, it's Alicia who has gotten rid of Veronica a long time ago. Together they make it out, and Sydney kills Alicia with her magic. Under exhaustion Adrian carries her out of the burning home of Jackie, where they find her in the grass at a park. Later, Sydney agrees to go to Mexico with Marcus, which highly upsets Adrian. He doesn't try and stop her and leaves her a note instead. She decides not to go with Marcus because she realizes that she is in love with Adrian. She opens the note to find numbers which turn out to be a location where she finds Adrian. She admits that she loves him and thus results in them finally become a couple. Sydney is extremely happy and is noted that she is "walking on air" after being with Adrian.
In The Fiery Heart, Adrian and Sydney are a couple and are keeping their relationship a secret from everyone but Jill who is bonded to Adrian and can see everything in his mind. With the arrival of her sister, Sydney begins to sneak off during her last period study class to be with Adrian. Adrian and Sydney go to Moroi Court to research the turning of a Strigoi. On their way back home , a snow storm hits, so Sydney, Adrian and Neil are forced to rent out a hotel to spend the night. In the hotel Adrian goes to Sydney's room and they both end up having sex after Adrian finds Sydney naked. They have to stay at the hotel for three days and they spend most their time with each other, leaving Neil to himself. Later on, back in Palm Springs, by finding Adrian's "love phone" in Sydney's car, Zoe (Sydney's sister), uncovers their relationship and notifies the Alchemists. This results in Sydney's kidnapping and her being taken to a re-education center.
In Silver Shadows, Adrian, after breaking Sydney out of re-education, asks her to marry him. This way, they take the next step of their relationship and Sydney receives sanctuary from Queen Lissa in the Moroi Court from the Alchemists who want to take Sydney away and annul the marriage.
In Ruby Circle, Adrian and Sydney's relationship deepens and together, along with Rose and Dimitri, find out the truth about Olive's weird pregnancy. When Olive is killed by a Strigoi, Adrian feels sad and guilty that he wasn't able to save her. But Sydney comforts him. Later in the book, Sydney helps Adrian snap out of the extreme spirit and prevent him from burst of spirit where his mind would stop to function permanently, like it happened to Avery and Nina. Sydney realises that Adrian loves her very deeply as it's very difficult to snap out from spirit, but he does by listening to Sydney and he let his anger dissolve. The Alchemists accept Sydney's deal where she gives them the names of rogue Alchemists in return for acceptance of her and Adrian's marriage and to let them live freely without interference from the Alchemists. At the end of the book, Adrian and Sydney adopt Olive and Neil's son, Declan and they turn out to be great parents. They move to live in Maine along with Eddie and Adrian's mother. Sydney joins a college to study architecture, while Adrian becomes an art teacher for kindergarten students. They share a passionate moment at the end of the book.
Etymology
- Sydney is a female name coming from England in the 11th Century, and means "wide meadow". It is also the name of a city in Australia.
- Katherine is a female name coming from Greek, and means "pure".
- Sage is a Old English and German surname. It means "wise" as the Sage family that descended from the Normans were seen as being "wise and well learned"; but it can also mean "healthy". It can also be a old name for a witch, and is the name of an herb. In addition, it connects to Latin Origins.
Trivia
- Sydney got married to Adrian in Silver Shadows
- In the book cover, Sydney is portrayed by Madeleine Zimmerman.
- In the Bloodlines book trailers, Sydney is portrayed by Daisy Masterman
- Adrian Ivashkov noted that Sydney can change tires while speaking in Greek in ten minutes. She corrected him by saying that she can do it in "five minutes."
- It could be said that Sydney is similar to dhampir Rose Hathaway, as they are both friends with Dragomir Princesses, fallen in love with forbidden loves (Dimitri and Adrian), they were both virgins when meeting their loves, and they were both imprisoned by their respective organizations in the fifth book of their series'. Although, Sydney's imprisonment was much longer and more brutal than Rose's was.
- Both Sydney's middle name and last name connect with having magical abilities and herbs used during spells or potions.
- Sydney is also the name of a city in Australia; at Amberwood Prep she is known as Sydney Melrose. On her first day there her teacher Jaclyn Terwilliger, mistook her name as Melbourne. Melbourne is also another city in Australia.
- Sydney's birth-flower is also a connection to her witch name as her flower is a violet, a form of purple. In the Victorian Era it meant "I'll always be true"; as it means faithfulness, wisdom and hope.
- Being the middle child of three, from oldest to youngest the Sage sister's names are in alphabetical order (Carly, Sydney, Zoe).