NetHack/Characters

'''Important Note: Spoilers are easily accessible via the wiki and IRC, but there is always the difference between knowing of something and experiencing it for the first time; even so, in the spirit of being as new player friendly as possible, spoiler tags are used on this page. The NetHack community defines "spoilers" as not just including plotline spoilers, but gameplay-related ones as well. The plot itself usually has far less direct impact on the game than its various mechanics, so if you wish to experience as much of the challenge as possible, read with caution and mind the spoiler tags and links.'''

As a long-running roguelike, NetHack has a very loose Excuse Plot to accommodate the high levels of randomization. That said, there are at least a few characters that will always appear in every game, all listed below.

You
"It is written in the book of (god X):

After the creation, the cruel god Moloch rebelled against the authority of Marduk the Creator. Moloch stole from Marduk the most powerful of all the artifacts of the gods, the Amulet of Yendor, and he hid it in the dark cavities of Gehennom, the Under World, where he now lurks, and bides his time.

Your god (god X) seeks to possess the Amulet, and with it to gain deserved ascendance over the other gods.

You, a newly trained (title X), have been heralded from birth as the instrument of (god X). You are destined to recover the Amulet for your deity, or die in the attempt. Your hour of destiny has come. For the sake of us all:

Go bravely with (god X)!"

- The introductory text shown after creating your NetHack character.

...Yes, you. Now 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 a look at the actual roles races and alignments, along with any consistent tropes they exhibit, see the setting page.


 * Big Eater: Unless you're doing specific diet-based conducts, you'll likely be going through a lot of corpses by the time you're even close to a third of the way done.
 * Bottomless Bladder: You never have to sleep, and can recover HP and magical energy without explicitly resting, provided you're not carrying too much.
 * Wizard Needs Food Badly: You still need to eat, all that said.
 * The Chew Toy: You may become this if your luck (not your Luck, mind) goes badly enough.
 * 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... unless you're in wizard/explore mode or.
 * Glory Seeker: One of your primary motivations for entering the Dungeons of Doom, according to the introduction in the Guide.
 * Guile Hero(ine): Even at your most lawful, you'll still be pulling quite a few tricks out of your hat in order to achieve your objective.
 * Mission From God: Your primary motivation as stated by the text at the start of a game.
 * Regenerating Health: Occurs passively and depending on your nutrition and encumberment levels.
 * 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 mercenaries, and has a chance to be found waiting in Fort Ludios.


 * Badass Normal: Croesus is effectively a normal human... a human who has solid base 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 any of his guards finds you in one of his vaults, you can get them out of your hair by being unable to speak when one of them arrives. You can also fool them simply by
 * On the other hand, if you try the above after, they'll immediately try to kill you.
 * King Mook: Of a sort - he's generated on a throne like most other examples in the game, and commands legions of soldiers.
 * 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 along with everyone else.
 * 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.
 * Every floor with a vault tends to have a hidden door with the phrase "ad aerarium" (Latin "to the treasure") in front of it; this door hides a closet with a vault-connected teleporter inside... or on deeper levels, a level teleporter that sends you upward. Similar closets marked with "Vlad was here" have trap doors behind them instead.
 * His guards will attempt to kill you if
 * Rich Bastard: Those vaults you find in the dungeon? All his. He also has truckloads of gold along with hidden caches of gems in his castle.

Medusa
A boss that needs very little introduction.


 * Back from the Dead: One possible interpretation, given that her domain has a statue of Perseus around. See the Classical Mythology entry below for more details.
 * Classical Mythology: Draws primarily from her usual myth - she has a statue of Perseus in her domain, and one of the possible four levels has several snakes, nagas, and even a yellow dragon - these likely represent Amphisbaena and the Sahara vipers that were created from the blood spilling out of her decapitated head.
 * Public Domain Character
 * Taken for Granite: Inflicted by her gaze, of course. Her dwelling has many statues, implied to be created from miscellaneous victims.
 * Weaksauce Weakness: If you know the myth, you know exactly what can make short work of her.

Vlad the Impaler
A boss that also needs very little introduction.


 * Anticlimax Boss: Pre-3.6.1, Vlad was considered an absolute joke. Was.
 * Adaptational Badass: Subjected to this in most if not all variants, as many of them came out prior to 3.6.1 - which is also the vanilla version where Vlad got this proper, reversing his Badass Decay and turning him into one of the fastest and most fearsome bosses in the game.
 * Evil Tower of Ominousness: Lives in a three-tier one.
 * Interface Spoiler: Vlad's presence in the game is hinted at early by closets with the phrase "Vlad was here" written in dust in front of them. Then again, it's Vlad - there's not that much to spoil.
 * King Mook: Rules over vampires, and is found with several vampires and vampire lords at the top floor of his tower.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Hits hard and often? Check. Hits real fast? Check. Drains health and even levels? Boy oh boy, check.
 * Optional Boss: Was this until version 3.1.0.
 * Public Domain Character
 * Teleport Spam: His speed allows him to constantly warp back and forth between the stairs and your position, usually tagging you at least couple of times and potentially draining levels in the process.

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 for unknown ends.


 * Big Bad Triumvirate: Forms one 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.
 * Doppelganger Attack:
 * Enemy Summoner: Can summon nasties like many other high-level spellcasters, and
 * Evil Tower of Ominousness: Has several towers in Gehennom, only one of which actually has him inside.
 * Final Boss: Served as the final obstacle of the original Hack from version 1.02 until NetHack 3.1.0; in versions after that, he is effectively the last boss you're guaranteed to fight.
 * Interface Spoiler: Certain messages generated by fortune cookies, crystal balls, etc. will indicate that the Wizard is watching you.
 * Resurrective Immortality:
 * 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 encyclopedia 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.

The Gods
There are 3 gods in the pantheons corresponding to each of the 13 roles (minus the Priest, who can serve any of the pantheons at random). The "main" set of 36 gods are all roughly interchangeable with one another in terms of gameplay, though each alignment's god has different standards for their servants. In addition, there are other gods mentioned alongside them, usually as part of the game's backstory.


 * Bolt of Divine Retribution: Standard for any sufficiently displeased god.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill:
 * Crossover Cosmology: Multiple pantheons, real-world and otherwise, all occurring in the same world.
 * Aztec Mythology: Quetzalcoatl, Camaxtli and Huhetotl.
 * Babylonian Mythology: Ishtar, Anhur and Anshar
 * Celtic Mythology: Lugh, Brigid and Manannan Mac Lir.
 * Chinese Mythology: Shan Lai Ching, Chih Sung-tzu and Huan Ti.
 * Classical Mythology: Athena, Hermes and Poseidon.
 * Conan the Barbarian/Hindu Mythology/Zoroastrianism: Mitra (based on Mithra), Set, and Crom.
 * Discworld: Blind Io, The Lady and Offler.
 * Egyptian Mythology: Ptah, Thoth, and Anhur.
 * Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser: Issek, Mog and Kos.
 * Japanese Mythology: Amaterasu Omikami, Raijin and Susanowo.
 * Norse Mythology: Tyr, Odin and Loki.
 * Roman Mythology: Mercury, Venus and Mars.
 * Curse: Will throw these at you if angered enough.
 * Divine Assistance: Their role (and their main purpose from a mechanical standpoint) is to help the player character that serves them in return for them adhering to certain standards that vary based on alignment and/or role. "Well-behaved" players are rewarded with blessings for their weapons (and sometimes other items), stat restoration, full HP if at low health, curing fatal status problems, and more - all the way up to and including rare artifact weapons.
 * Everyone Has Standards: Do not try to kill your pets or sacrifice them to the gods, and do not offer a unicorn that matches your alignment or that of the altar's god.
 * Gods Need Prayer Badly: Seemingly averted and also inverted - while prayer is your main form of interaction with deities, they do not require them to live necessarily, and you'll piss your god off if you pray to them too often.
 * Human Sacrifice: Unless you're chaotic or else not human, they do not approve of this at all. More specifically, any sacrifice that isn't of your species (again, unless you're chaotic) OR your pet is fine with them.
 * Kick the Dog: Directly killing your pets is a quick way to get on their bad side.
 * Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Also a part of their purpose in the game.
 * Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Also a part of their purpose in the game.

Marduk
The creator god mentioned in the introductory text at the start of each game... which is about the extent of their involvement in the plot.


 * Babylonian Mythology: Named for the creator figure.

Moloch
The only unambiguously evil deity of the bunch, and one of the few unaligned gods. He is responsible for stealing the Amulet of Yendor from the chief creator god, Marduk, and spiriting it away to Gehennom. His high priest keeps the Amulet of Yendor in his temple.


 * Bigger Bad: Ultimately responsible for the events of the game.
 * Blue and Orange Morality: He is the enemy of all three alignments' gods, and doesn't seem to care much for anyone except his priests and minions - and in some cases, not even then.
 * 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 god molded after the Luciferian/Satanic archetype and named for the ancient Ammonite god.
 * God of Evil
 * Nonstandard Game Over:
 * Orcus on His Throne: Is explicitly said to be biding his time in Gehennom at the start of the game.
 * Religion of Evil: Implied to be the focus of one due to having a dedicated priesthood.
 * The Unfought: You can never confront Moloch, directly or otherwise - only thwart his plans for the Amulet. It's his high priest that holds the main MacGuffin you seek; before version 3.1.0, that honor went to Rodney himself.