diff --git a/packages/marshal/index.js b/packages/marshal/index.js
index 3e9b3afc87..f8bc9ca22e 100644
--- a/packages/marshal/index.js
+++ b/packages/marshal/index.js
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ export {
 
 export {
   trivialComparator,
+  compareByCodePoints,
   assertRankSorted,
   compareRank,
   isRankSorted,
diff --git a/packages/marshal/src/rankOrder.js b/packages/marshal/src/rankOrder.js
index e11c9200f4..b3439f7fd7 100644
--- a/packages/marshal/src/rankOrder.js
+++ b/packages/marshal/src/rankOrder.js
@@ -46,9 +46,46 @@ const { entries, fromEntries, setPrototypeOf, is } = Object;
  */
 const sameValueZero = (x, y) => x === y || is(x, y);
 
+/**
+ * @param {any} left
+ * @param {any} right
+ * @returns {RankComparison}
+ */
 export const trivialComparator = (left, right) =>
   // eslint-disable-next-line no-nested-ternary, @endo/restrict-comparison-operands
   left < right ? -1 : left === right ? 0 : 1;
+harden(trivialComparator);
+
+// Apparently eslint confused about whether the function can ever exit
+// without an explicit return.
+// eslint-disable-next-line jsdoc/require-returns-check
+/**
+ * @param {string} left
+ * @param {string} right
+ * @returns {RankComparison}
+ */
+export const compareByCodePoints = (left, right) => {
+  const leftIter = left[Symbol.iterator]();
+  const rightIter = right[Symbol.iterator]();
+  for (;;) {
+    const { value: leftChar } = leftIter.next();
+    const { value: rightChar } = rightIter.next();
+    if (leftChar === undefined && rightChar === undefined) {
+      return 0;
+    } else if (leftChar === undefined) {
+      // left is a prefix of right.
+      return -1;
+    } else if (rightChar === undefined) {
+      // right is a prefix of left.
+      return 1;
+    }
+    const leftCodepoint = /** @type {number} */ (leftChar.codePointAt(0));
+    const rightCodepoint = /** @type {number} */ (rightChar.codePointAt(0));
+    if (leftCodepoint < rightCodepoint) return -1;
+    if (leftCodepoint > rightCodepoint) return 1;
+  }
+};
+harden(compareByCodePoints);
 
 /**
  * @typedef {Record<PassStyle, { index: number, cover: RankCover }>} PassStyleRanksRecord
@@ -140,8 +177,7 @@ export const makeComparatorKit = (compareRemotables = (_x, _y) => 0) => {
         return 0;
       }
       case 'boolean':
-      case 'bigint':
-      case 'string': {
+      case 'bigint': {
         // Within each of these passStyles, the rank ordering agrees with
         // JavaScript's relational operators `<` and `>`.
         if (left < right) {
@@ -151,6 +187,9 @@ export const makeComparatorKit = (compareRemotables = (_x, _y) => 0) => {
           return 1;
         }
       }
+      case 'string': {
+        return compareByCodePoints(left, right);
+      }
       case 'symbol': {
         return comparator(
           nameForPassableSymbol(left),
diff --git a/packages/marshal/test/test-string-rank-order.js b/packages/marshal/test/test-string-rank-order.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5cbee4599e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/marshal/test/test-string-rank-order.js
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import { test } from './prepare-test-env-ava.js';
+
+import { compareRank } from '../src/rankOrder.js';
+
+test('unicode code point order', t => {
+  // Test case from
+  // https://icu-project.org/docs/papers/utf16_code_point_order.html
+  const str0 = '\u{ff61}';
+  const str3 = '\u{d800}\u{dc02}';
+
+  // str1 and str2 become impossible examples once we prohibit
+  // non - well - formed strings.
+  // See https://github.com/endojs/endo/pull/2002
+  const str1 = '\u{d800}X';
+  const str2 = '\u{d800}\u{ff61}';
+
+  // harden to ensure it is not sorted in place, just for sanity
+  const strs = harden([str0, str1, str2, str3]);
+
+  /**
+   * @param {string} left
+   * @param {string} right
+   * @returns {import('../src/types.js').RankComparison}
+   */
+  const nativeComp = (left, right) =>
+    // eslint-disable-next-line no-nested-ternary
+    left < right ? -1 : left > right ? 1 : 0;
+
+  const nativeSorted = strs.toSorted(nativeComp);
+
+  t.deepEqual(nativeSorted, [str1, str3, str2, str0]);
+
+  const rankSorted = strs.toSorted(compareRank);
+
+  t.deepEqual(rankSorted, [str1, str2, str0, str3]);
+});
diff --git a/packages/patterns/test/test-string-key-order.js b/packages/patterns/test/test-string-key-order.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..55c546711f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/patterns/test/test-string-key-order.js
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+// modeled on test-string-rank-order.js
+
+import { test } from './prepare-test-env-ava.js';
+
+import { compareKeys } from '../src/keys/compareKeys.js';
+
+test('unicode code point order', t => {
+  // Test case from
+  // https://icu-project.org/docs/papers/utf16_code_point_order.html
+  const str0 = '\u{ff61}';
+  const str3 = '\u{d800}\u{dc02}';
+
+  // str1 and str2 become impossible examples once we prohibit
+  // non - well - formed strings.
+  // See https://github.com/endojs/endo/pull/2002
+  const str1 = '\u{d800}X';
+  const str2 = '\u{d800}\u{ff61}';
+
+  // harden to ensure it is not sorted in place, just for sanity
+  const strs = harden([str0, str1, str2, str3]);
+
+  /**
+   * @param {string} left
+   * @param {string} right
+   * @returns {import('../src/types.js').KeyComparison}
+   */
+  const nativeComp = (left, right) =>
+    // eslint-disable-next-line no-nested-ternary
+    left < right ? -1 : left > right ? 1 : 0;
+
+  const nativeSorted = strs.toSorted(nativeComp);
+
+  t.deepEqual(nativeSorted, [str1, str3, str2, str0]);
+
+  const keySorted = strs.toSorted(compareKeys);
+
+  t.deepEqual(keySorted, [str1, str2, str0, str3]);
+});