NetHack/Characters

'''Important Note: The NetHack community defines "spoilers" as not just including plotline spoilers, but gameplay-related ones as well. Though the plot itself usually has far less direct impact on the game than its various mechanics, the following section deals with recurring characters and bosses that you are guaranteed to encounter; as such, some spoilers may be untagged, so if you wish to experience as much of the challenge as possible, read on with caution.'''

You
Yes, you. Quit gawking at the screen and pay attention!

In the context of NetHack, you can either mean "you, the adventurer/player character/hero/etc." or "you, the physical player"; the former is generally preferred for the in-game character and will be used as such for this section.

You can be any one of 13 character roles from one of five races (human, elf, dwarf, gnome, or orc) and three alignments (lawful, neutral or chaotic). The available race-and-alignment combinations are dependent on the role you pick.

Tropes listed here apply to the player character across all "incarnations"; for tropes describing the actual roles and any consistent tropes they exhibit, see NetHack/Analysis.


 * Bottomless Bladder: You never have to sleep, and can recover HP and magical energy without explicitly resting, provided you're not carrying too much.
 * Critical Existence Failure: Unless you're heavily encumbered, you're still just as capable at 1 HP as you are at maximum, but the second you hit 0... DYWYPI?
 * Featureless Protagonist: Played with. You can pick your role, race, gender, and alignment - each role also has distinct starting armor and the like - but between NetHack being an ASCII game and a not-very-plot-heavy one, what you actually look like (and any other characterization not given by the game itself) is entirely left to your imagination. Using tiles can also guide your impression of your appearance, depending on the set you choose.
 * Final Death: Any death you suffer in-game will be this.
 * Mission From God: Your primary motivation.
 * Tomato in the Mirror: Specific interactions on the final level of the game reveal that
 * "Who do you think you are, ?"

Croesus
The owner of all the vaults scattered across the Dungeons of Doom, and the employer of its guards. He also commands a pretty sizable army of his own, and has a chance to be found waiting in Fort Ludios.

"Back from the dead, are you? I'll remedy that!"
 * Badass Normal: Croesus is effectively a normal human... a human who has solid AC and is damn skilled with a zweihander.
 * Blade of Fearsome Size: Croesus is always generated with a two-handed sword.
 * The Guards Must Be Crazy: If a guard finds you in one of his vaults, you can fool them simply by saying you're Croesus. How do they not recognize their own boss!?
 * On the other hand, if you try this after killing the real Croesus, they'll immediately try to kill you.


 * Properly Paranoid: Croesus has several enclaves of monsters you'll have to fight through to get to him, and a set of alarms will trigger the second you step through the portal - which is entirely sensible for someone who owns as much as he does. His guards will also attempt to kill you if you claim to be Croesus after killing him.
 * Optional Boss: Not only can you skip Fort Ludios completely, but the portal to the branch may not even appear.
 * Orcus on His Throne: Subverted - he starts asleep and occupying the throne square in his throne room, but the moment you enter the branch, the alarms will sound and he'll immediately spring into action.
 * Rich Bastard: Those vaults you find in the dungeon? All his. He also has truckloads of gold in his castle, along with hidden caches of gems.

Vlad the Impaler
A boss that needs very little introduction. He guards the Candelabrum of Invocation.


 * Anticlimax Boss: Pre-3.6.1, Vlad was considered an absolute joke. Was.
 * Adaptational Badass: Subjected to this in most variants, and eventually got this in the vanilla game as of 3.6.1, reversing his Badass Decay and turning him into one of the fastest and most fearsome bosses in the game.

The Wizard of Yendor
The primary Big Bad of the game, and the one who seeks to make use of the Amulet of Yendor's power. The Wizard holds the Book of the Dead.


 * Big Bad
 * Big Bad Triumvirate: With the High Priest of Moloch and Vlad the Impaler. Also technically forms a Big Bad Quartet with your quest nemesis: they guard the three items required to obtain the Amulet of Yendor, held by the High Priest.
 * Enemy Summoner: Can summon nasties like many other high-level spellcasters, and
 * Sdrawkcab Name: The Wizard of Yendor is referred to as Rodney for this reason.
 * Sorcerous Overlord: A powerful wizard with a massive army, which the in-game lookup indicates he had a hand in training and possibly brainwashing.
 * Super-Persistent Predator/You Will Not Evade Me: The Wizard of Yendor can and will follow you to the ends of the earth.
 * Touch of Death: One of the many spells in Rodney's arsenal.
 * Weaksauce Weakness: Rodney is easily dispatched by a wand of death.
 * Touch of Death: One of the many spells in Rodney's arsenal.
 * Weaksauce Weakness: Rodney is easily dispatched by a wand of death.

Moloch
The only unaligned god, and fittingly the only unambiguously evil deity of the bunch. He is responsible for stealing the Amulet of Yendor from the chief creator god, Marduk, and spiriting it away to Gehennom.


 * Bigger Bad/Greater Scope Villain: Ultimately responsible for the events of the game, and his high priest holds the main MacGuffin you seek.
 * Bolt of Divine Retribution: Gehennom is his domain, and if you attract his attention by praying or else trying to convert one of his altars while in there...
 * Expy: A loose analogue of Lucifer/Satan.
 * Nonstandard Game Over: