I'm sorry that their learning process resulted in the destruction of your database. If they're stilling willing to learn (and you're still willing to let them, hehe) I'd recommend creating a new username for them under Windows, and restricting their db access to their own work, keeping yours safe.
On to the matter at hand. How exactly did you backup your database? mysqldump or one of those gui programs? mysqldump is the most secure way to go, and will dump all data, including the nasty BLOB stuff. A full dump is easily done at a traditional command prompt using:
mysqldump -u username -p --extended-insert dbname > dbname.sql
That'll dump the whole database to your current dir. The username/password is optional and may not be required, but i do recommend the extended-insert, as it makes the sourcing process much faster.
As for getting your data back. Are the blobs in character_backup intact? If so, you're in luck. If not, then I'm afraid your toons are lost for good, unless you have another backup lying around.
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