Ser Samuel Royce is a very mysterious character, an exiled knight who comes back to Cephri after a few years is now changed. He isn't the same man that he was years ago during The Youth Rebellion.
Samuel doesn't seem to have anyone personal in his life, we hear that people like Lord Kaleb Willow are his friends but we hardly see anyone together with Samuel. In his early chapter Samuel has an affliction towards a character named Selyse, he tries to live a normal life and to him, being with Selyse would be the normal thing to do. She doesn't seem to acknowledge him though. He goes to see her later in the war but discovers that she went riding off with some knights, to apparently join Nestor Nik. He agrees to find a mage for Taena so that he can get more information about Selyse. It's quite interesting how we never see Samuel and Selyse in the same page together in the same room, they never speak or acknowledge each other which makes you think. Samuel even remarks that he forgot about Selyse during his journey with Sugar - 'To be honest he had actually forgotten about her while on the road, his life still went on without her'.
In contrast to Selyse, Sugar and Samuel appear together for the rest of the book after their first meeting. The two of them build a friendship and Samuel forgets about Selyse, he forgets why he's even going after the mage - instead it feels more like an adventure with Sugar.
Samuel is very distracted though, he continually thinks back to his time in Eilleas and he doesn't seem to care much about the capital of Cephri. His time at Cephri was colourful, going to places like View and travelling around in the Dragon Company, his eyes marvel when he goes to Neropos and sees "dragons". The sight of "dragons" make his mind curious and he then travels to the Mythical Forest bordering Neropos. The Mythical Forest changes Samuel, he says 'He realised his destiny in Centros. He saw. He remembered'. After the forest he comes back to Cephri almost immediately, knowing that a letter from Aeyron would be waiting for him - Samuel seems almost omniscient now. He also thinks back to a mission, which remains in the back of his mind - 'his mission was still in the back of his mind.'
He hates staying in one area at once, probably stemming from his adventures in Eilleas. Samuel struggles to live in the capital and he looks for something that can spark adventure or excitement or anything other than the boring emotions he feels. Perhaps he goes and attacks Ulthor and Nestor because he needs to find some sort of emotion and by attacking them he'll get some enjoyment and excitement again. Samuel takes up Taena's quest to find a mage very quickly as well, on that quest he's extremely grateful to be on the move again - 'The past few days had been an awakening for him, it had reminded him of the joys of Eilleas where he was always on the move.'
Samuel appears different from everyone else, he's a specimen. He exhibits feats of super-strength and such which are almost impossible. He rips Ulthor's door straight off its hinges and lifts him up by his hair with his weaker hand, Sam. even remarks that one of the blows from Nestor '[would've killed him if he were normal]'. He also shows unbelievable strength when he dislodges a minotaur horn from the walls of a cave, and when he decapitates Nestor with one swing despite Nestor wearing armour. Samuel also lifts a carcass of a horse to get Lord Wendel Cross to safety. When he fights The Ghost of Blackfyre, Samuel defeats creatures such as goblins, skeletons, ghouls, harpies, Gog Magogs. a minotaur with relative ease. He also takes a decoction called the Antelope Decoction that he had learnt from Eilleas, it's a potion that none would know. He also appears to be a skinwalker, during the Battle of the Bloodwater Samuel in his words 'skinchanges' into a horse to save Aeyron and the King'sguard. There's something very special to Samuel that he is hiding from us on purpose, Samuel seems destined to be a sort of fantasy hero by the looks of these attributes.