In Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor, the young emperor is Maia. Maia is the youngest and least-favored son of the Emperor of the Elflands, born to an Elven father and Goblin mother. Because he has been raised in exile and treated harshly by a cousin, he is almost entirely unprepared for court life.
His unexpected accession begins when his father and three older half-brothers die in an airship crash. Maia becomes emperor despite having little political influence, and much of the novel follows his efforts to navigate court etiquette, racial prejudice, aristocratic conspiracies, and the responsibilities of rule.
The other names in the choices belong to people or titles connected with Maia’s world, but none is the emperor himself. Csethiro is a noblewoman Maia agrees to marry, while Edrehasivar is part of Maia’s formal imperial title. Maia’s character is central to the novel’s unusual tone: instead of becoming a conquering hero, he tries to govern through empathy, patience, and reform. His bridge project and his efforts to connect divided communities earn him the epithet “the bridgebuilder.”