The Book of the Dun Cow/Characters

Chauntecleer
A rooster who is the main character and the leader of the Coop.
 * The Atoner: For both his Dark and Troubled Past and.
 * Badass: He can fight very well for a chicken.
 * Dark and Troubled Past:
 * The Determinator: During his fight with Cockatrice.
 * Good Is Not Nice: Although well-meaning, Chauntecleer is haughty, quick to insult others, and occasionally quite selfish.
 * Green-Eyed Monster: Is envious of Mundo Cani's connection with the Dun Cow
 * The Hero
 * Heroic BSOD: Quite prone to these, and when they hit, they hit hard.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his short temper and arrogance, Chauntecleer cares for his animals and his wife and especially, once he gets used to him, Mundo Cani.
 * Loud of War: The Crows Potens, a useful weapon against the Basilisks.
 * Named Weapons: Gaff and the Slasher, his battle spurs.
 * Pet the Dog: Despite his temperamental nature and verbal abuse of Mundo Cani, Chauntecleer tries very hard to save the Wee Widow Mouse and is a devoted husband to Pertelote.
 * Rage Against the Heavens: After.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Type I with Mundo Cani, who he constantly abuses verbally (but who he secretly cares deeply for).

Mundo Cani
Chauntecleer's Number Two, a dog who came to the Coop and was allowed in by Chauntecleer. He is very depressed and is often seen crying, but his loyalty is proven when he.
 * Apologises a Lot: Berates himself for failing to save a Wild Turkey, when he successfully rescued the others.
 * Badass: Surprisingly so. He.
 * Catch Phrase: "MAROOOONED!"
 * The Eeyore: Mundo Cani is only seen happy once in the whole book.
 * Gag Nose: Mundo Cani is constantly complaning about his nose, but it gives him an excellent sense of smell.
 * Heroic Self-Deprecation: See Apologises a Lot. Mundo Cani constantly insults himself and does not even mind being used as a doormat by Chauntecleer. Given that he is easily the most heroic character in the book, his low self-esteem is likely to cause a few Tear Jerker moments.
 * I Shall Taunt You: Uses this to great effect
 * The Lancer: His self-deprecation contrasts with Chauntecleer's arrogance.
 * Meaningful Name: "Mundo Cani" is Latin for "a dog's world".
 * Number Two
 * Super Speed: Can cross territory extremely quickly, which comes in useful several times.
 * Took a Level In Badass
 * Undying Loyalty: Mundo Cani will  protect the Coop and Chauntecleer with his life.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Type I with Chauntecleer.
 * Undying Loyalty: Mundo Cani will  protect the Coop and Chauntecleer with his life.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Type I with Chauntecleer.

Pertelote
Chauntecleer's favorite hen and. She is capable and intelligent, and cares deeply for him.
 * Broken Bird: A literal example. Pertelote  alongside all of her fellow hens,   For a while she is worried about Chauntecleer, who looks almost exactly like her tormentor. She goes berserk when she first sees him, which is understandable given what she went through.
 * The Chick
 * Dark and Troubled Past:
 * The Heart: Pertelote helps to bring out Chauntecleer's good side.
 * Music for Courage: Pertelote sings to calm down the animals who are terrified of Cockatrice and the basilisks.
 * Plucky Girl: After  She can also hold her own in a fight, too, although Chauntecleer wasn't trying to harm her.

John Wesley Weasel
A weasel and former thief who befriends the Wee Widow Mouse. He becomes one of Chauntecleer's best warriors, and has a special advantage against Basilisks.
 * The Atoner: Apparently, some time in the past, Chauntecleer kicked his ass but good, triggering a Heel Face Turn.
 * Badass: One of the most badass characters in the book.
 * The Determinator: John Wesley Weasel continues to fight even after he suffers heavy wounds and loses an ear in the fight with the Basilisks.
 * The Berserker: Very much so, especially
 * Heroic BSOD: Has a relatively minor one.
 * Odd Friendship: With the Wee Widow Mouse.
 * Parental Substitute: For the Wee Widow Mouse's children, whose father died fighting against Toad.
 * Reformed Criminal: Implied to be one, although he has had a Heel Face Turn since then.
 * Third Person Person: Sometimes calls himself "John Double-u of the Double-us."
 * Unstoppable Rage: After, John Wesley Weasel becomes an unquestioned Badass, killing a slew of Basilisks on his own. Despite injuries. With one ear missing.
 * Wicked Weasel: Averted with him. Despite his ambiguous nature early in the book, John Wesley Weasel proves to be one of the good guys.

The Wee Widow Mouse (and family)
Another refugee of Cockatrice's kingdom, whose husband was killed by the basilisks. She moves into Ebenezer Rat's hole with her children and befriends John Wesley Weasel.
 * Badass Adorable: The Widow's husband, who died attacking The Quisling and was the most vocal opponent of Chauntecleer's rule.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"
 * Nice Mice
 * Morality Chain: John Wesley Weasel's.
 * Odd Friendship: With John Wesley Weasel.
 * Odd Friendship: With John Wesley Weasel.

The Wild Turkeys
A group of turkeys who are the stupidest animals in the Coop. They are well-meaning but pouty and very dim-witted,.
 * Big Eater: Ocellata eats a stripe of Mundo Cani's hair and some pebbles.
 * The Ditz: The turkeys as a group are this. For example, they throw a pout en masse in protest of Mundo Cani saving their lives. Their stupidity is to the extent that they aren't aware if one of their own dies.
 * The Load: Ocellata and the other turkeys pout during war preparations, and do not help at all.
 * Shoo Out the Clowns:
 * Stupid Good: The turkeys are friendly enough, but are too stupid to be aware of danger.
 * Too Dumb to Live: All of them, but special mention goes to Thuringer, who died while giving a Basilisk a friendly greeting.
 * Ungrateful Bastard: A mild example in Ocelatta, who is too stupid to realize that Mundo Cani saved him from certain death.

The Pins
Chauntecleer and Pertelote's three sons.
 * Children Are Innocent: The Pins are friendly, mildly mischevious, and love games.
 * Infant Immortality:
 * Rule of Three
 * You Are Number Six: The Pins are named One Pin, Five Pin, and Ten Pin.
 * You Are Number Six: The Pins are named One Pin, Five Pin, and Ten Pin.

Beryl
The Pins' nurse and caretaker. She is very superstitious and uses her words very carefully.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Beryl can seem dithery at times, as in a scene where she alerts Chauntecleer that her eggs have been eaten.
 * Cassandra Truth: No one believes Beryl when she thinks that
 * The Cuckoolander Was Right
 * Properly Paranoid
 * Words Can Break My Bones: Beryl believes this, scolding Tick-Tock and the ants for singing about the Pins' deaths.

Peck and Scrape
Two members of the Mad House of Otter.
 * Dirty Coward: Both of them, but more so Scrape.
 * Heel Face Turn: They do participate in the battle with Cockatrice, if unwillingly.
 * Playful Otter: Averted. Scrape and Peck, along with the rest of the Mad House of Otter, are careless and something of Dirty Cowards.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Scrape and Peck try this on Chauntecleer. He has none of it, and delivers some well-deserved karma.

Tick-Tock the Black Ant
A hardworking ant who is friendly to Chauntecleer and the Pins.
 * A Father to His Men: Tick-Tock is stern but fair to his ant workers.
 * Benevolent Boss
 * Tempting Fate: He and the ants sing a cheerful song about the Pins dying.

Nimbus
A deer who is a member of Chauntecleer's army. Despite his wary nature, he takes part in the fight against the basilisks.
 * Odd Friendship: He gets along well with a hare named Pika.

Lord Russel
A fox who is a good friend of Chauntecleer. He is extremely chatty, making him seem cleverer than he really is. He helps look after the Pins,
 * Carnivore Confusion: Despite the fact that Lord Russel is a fox, Chauntecleer is willing to leave his children alone with him.
 * Chekhov's Gun: Lord Russel discovers that rue means protection from basilisks before the other characters do.
 * Cunning Like a Fox: Played with. While he isn't stupid, Lord Russel isn't as clever as he or the Pins thinks he is.
 * Meaningful Name: Russel is named after the fox who appears in The Canterbury Tales.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: Lord Russel is genuinely remorseful for his (unintentional) role in, and is eventually forgiven by Chauntecleer.
 * Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Lord Russel specializes in making lengthy, impressive-sounding speeches that are redundant or mean nothing at all.

Ebenezer Rat
A rat who lived in Chauntecleer's Coop and ate the hens' eggs. Chauntecleer drives him away with the help of Tick-Tock.
 * He Who Must Not Be Seen: He has this reputation. However, Chauntecleer ruins it by bringing him out and planting feathers on his back.
 * The Voiceless: The only animal character in the novel who doesn't talk, and it is unclear whether or not this is by choice.
 * You Dirty Rat: Very much so. However, Ebenezer Rat, it is noted, is a Keeper of Wyrm and is nowhere near as bad as the later villains.
 * The Voiceless: The only animal character in the novel who doesn't talk, and it is unclear whether or not this is by choice.
 * You Dirty Rat: Very much so. However, Ebenezer Rat, it is noted, is a Keeper of Wyrm and is nowhere near as bad as the later villains.
 * You Dirty Rat: Very much so. However, Ebenezer Rat, it is noted, is a Keeper of Wyrm and is nowhere near as bad as the later villains.

Wyrm
A gigantic serpent, so large that he can coil around the world. Although he was sealed into the Earth by God, he can communicate through dreams.


 * Altum Videtur: Wyrm speaks in Latin, the "language of the powers".
 * Big Bad: Emphasis on the "big" part.
 * The Chessmaster: Very good at manipulating others into doing what he wants.
 * Dream Weaver: A very, very nasty one. He uses this ability to manipulate Senex and tempt him, and later to harass Chauntecleer.
 * Eldritch Abomination
 * The Man Behind the Man: To Cockatrice, his "son".
 * Mind Screw: His specialty.
 * Omnicidal Maniac: Wyrm hates the universe and plots to destroy it. It is mentioned that he is able to kill angels if he wants to.
 * Our Dragons Are Different
 * Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Wyrm, a Satan Expy, takes the shape of an enormous snake.
 * Sealed Evil in a Can: Wyrm was sealed inside the Earth by God to prevent him from destroying everything. He is held in by the natural goodness of the animals.

Cockatrice
The Dragon and Wyrm's agent on Earth. Cockatrice was born when Wyrm tricked an old rooster named Senex into fathering its son. He  before forcing the hens to produce an army of basilisks for him.
 * The Antichrist: Implied to be a being like this.
 * Bad Boss: To Toad, who he allows to be killed by his own Mooks.
 * Creepy Child: As a chick, Cockatrice never eats or speaks, only staring creepily and twisting his tail.
 * The Determinator: After being
 * The Dragon
 * Enemy to All Living Things: Cockatrice only views animals as things to be used and discarded, or to be destroyed outright.
 * Disc One Final Boss: Cockatrice is Wyrm's agent on earth, and the overt villain for a large part of the book, but is far less powerful than his creator.
 * Eldritch Abomination
 * Kick the Dog: He doesn't hesitate to do this. Raping Senex's hens and  are only a few of these moments.
 * Evil Counterpart: To Chauntecleer.
 * The Heavy: While he is subordinate to Wyrm, Cockatrice is a force in his own right, and he is the one who has a more personal conflict with Chauntecleer.
 * Papa Wolf: A malevolent variation. The only things he shows any feeling towards are his children, the basilisks.
 * Precision F-Strike:
 * The Quiet One: Most of the time, but when he talks he screams.
 * Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Cockatrice repeatedly rapes Senex's hens to produce his basilisk army, including Pertelote.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: Unlike a real rooster, Cockatrice has red eyes and a scaly body.
 * Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Cockatrice is part snake and part rooster.
 * 0% Approval Rating: During his short reign as ruler of Senex's land. Justified in that he is outright undermining the land and the animals are too despairing to challenge him.
 * Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Cockatrice is part snake and part rooster.
 * 0% Approval Rating: During his short reign as ruler of Senex's land. Justified in that he is outright undermining the land and the animals are too despairing to challenge him.

Senex
An old rooster who Wyrm fools into fathering Cockatrice through dreams. He
 * Apologises a Lot: Senex's main problem, which makes it difficult for his animals to take him seriously as a ruler.
 * Evil Is Not a Toy:
 * Horrible Judge of Character
 * How the Mighty Have Fallen: During his Glory Days, Senex wasn't a bad ruler to his animals. Now that he is very old, he is balding and very miserable-looking. Even his hens make fun of him behind his back.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: Attempts this, as Wyrm uses his desire to relive his glory years to trick him.
 * Unwitting Pawn: Wyrm takes advantage of Senex's despair and desire to preserve his name to trick him. Senex, for his part, is not really evil, more desperate and pathetic than anything else, and is unaware of Wyrm's true nature.
 * Unwitting Pawn: Wyrm takes advantage of Senex's despair and desire to preserve his name to trick him. Senex, for his part, is not really evil, more desperate and pathetic than anything else, and is unaware of Wyrm's true nature.

Toad
A toad who Senex forces to nurse Cockatrice's egg. Later he acts as Cockatrice's voice and enforcer,
 * Frogs and Toads: A mostly unsympathetic example.
 * Kick the Dog: While sympathetic to the hens at first, Toad exposes Pertelote as breaking her eggs, and physically attacks her.
 * Punch Clock Villain: Toad is this at first, and his introduction to Cockatrice (as an egg) by Senex was involuntary.
 * The Quisling: The only animal in the book who willingly serves Cockatrice.
 * The Quisling: The only animal in the book who willingly serves Cockatrice.

Basilisks
Cockatrice's army of slimy, vicious black serpents. They are the children of Cockatrice and Senex's hens, who he raped repeatedly to produce them.
 * Achilles' Heel: Basilisks hate loud noise, which is why Chauntecleer's Crows Potens have such an effect on them. Rue offers some protection, too. Both weaknesses are exploited by the animals.
 * Exclusively Evil
 * Chekhov's Gunman:
 * Dark Is Evil
 * Enemy to All Living Things: The basilisks wilt plants simply by touching them, and their bite is fatal almost instantly.
 * Mooks
 * Mook Chivalry: Averted. During battle, the basilisks fight ruthlessly and brutally, and many times killing one ends in the death of the attacker.
 * Neck Snap:The basilisks' method for attacking larger animals is to fasten themselves around the victim's neck and squeeze.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: All of the basilisks have red eyes.
 * Reptiles Are Abhorrent