Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective/Characters

Characters from the mind-screw of a game that is Ghost Trick. Note that the very existence of certain characters is itself a spoiler, so tread lightly.

Sissel
The character you play as. Basically, you wake up dead and have to figure out who you are before sunrise, because as Ray says, once dawn comes you will cease to exist.


 * Anime Hair
 * The Call Knows Where You Live: Being dead is an ignominious way to start an adventure.
 * : Unbeknownst to Sissel, he the first time around. This occurred in an alternate timeline.
 * : He starts out only interested in figuring out his identity, and . The second time around,  which led to the game's Sissel developing a genuine interest in saving the people he meets -- and in doing so, he has fun  using his ghost tricks!
 * Cool Shades: He even keeps them when and reverting to a Ghost Light appearance in Chapter 17.
 * : Unbeknown to him.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Dead to Begin With: Duh. He's a frickin' ghost.
 * The Determinator: Shows more and more shades of this as the game goes on.
 * Expy: Has an uncanny resemblance to Rocketbilly Redcadillac of Gungrave.
 * Gender Blender Name: Sissel is always a female name in real life -- although it's uncommon enough that some people might not realize it is a real name, let alone a gendered one.
 * Ghost Amnesia: He can't even remember simple concepts like 'science' or 'kidnapping'. Also, he can't read.
 * Ghostly Goals: Type A, and only because it's foisted upon him.
 * Guile Hero: When you can't move more than a few pounds, you kind of have to be one.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: His personality is similar to a : aloof and uncaring/unconcerned but also affectionate and friendly once a bond is made.
 * Law of Chromatic Superiority: His hair and suit.
 * : His eventual fate.
 * Meaningful Name: "Shiseru" means "dead" in Japanese. "Sissel" is a variation of the name "Cecil", which means "without sight". Now take a look at those shades...
 * It may also reference his desire to be "looked at" and noticed in his backstory, where effectively everyone is "without sight" regarding him. On top of that, "Sissel" is similar to . It's also a gender neutral version of "Cecil"... or "Cecille", as Sissel is also the name of
 * : At the end of the game, now that he has the, as Kamila points out to Lynne.
 * Occult Detective: Of a sort.
 * Replacement Goldfish: A mild case.
 * and : He is one,.
 * Samaritan Syndrome: Even though Sissel repeatedly claims that he's only helping to find out who he is, he's usually all too willing to jump in and save people regardless.
 * Sharp-Dressed Man
 * Spanner in The Works: His very existence,.
 * Sunglasses At Night
 * Supporting Protagonist:
 * Tomato in The Mirror: He's not . In reality he after  shot his body. The only true thing Sissel really knew was
 * Weak but Skilled: Sissel is much weaker than a living person and can only move by jumping between objects no more than two or three feet away, but he uses what he can do to great effect.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Sissel's reaction to his own actions in and everyone died. Likely also the player's reaction.
 * Who Dunnit to Me?: His original goal.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Sissel's reaction to his own actions in and everyone died. Likely also the player's reaction.
 * Who Dunnit to Me?: His original goal.

Lynne
A detective, and the first person you save. Apparently she's the key to figuring out who you really are...

"Sissel: Look at her just... attacking that thing..."
 * Anime Hair
 * Big Eater: Lynne manages to eat a whole chicken by herself.


 * Born Unlucky: Geez, how many times does this kid die?
 * Clear My Name: Framed for shooting, of all people.
 * Curiosity Killed the Cast: What she gets for snooping around junkyard Superintendents' offices. She should count herself lucky that this isn't Ace Attorney.
 * Distress Ball: Lynne. She fails to escape the near-sighted assassin 3 times in the Tutorial chapter alone. The game constantly makes fun of this.
 * Distressed Damsel
 * Dude Magnet: Lynne seems to have quite the number of fans.
 * Fair Cop: in the eyes of some of her colleagues.
 * Fiery Redhead: She usually isn't so quick to anger, but when it comes to  there is no stopping her.
 * Freeze Sneeze: And it's pretty cute.
 * Hartman Hips: Not so much in official art, very much so ingame.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Twice, in fact.
 * Improbable Age: In the flashback to ten years ago she's young enough to call someone 'mister'. Now she's a detective. Exactly how young do they let people on the police force?
 * Meaningful Name: Lynne's name is spelled in katakana as Rinne, a word that can refer to the Buddhist cycle of death and rebirth—fairly appropriate for a girl who keeps dying and coming back to life.
 * Mini-Dress of Power
 * Plucky Girl: "Haha! I died again!"
 * They Killed Kenny: "It's Lynne! And she's not dead, for once."
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Roast chicken, apparently

Ray
A possessed desk lamp who teaches Sissel the ropes of the spirit world. He seems to know more than he's letting on, though.


 * Exactly What It Says On the Tin, though.
 * Exposition Fairy: On how ghost tricks work.
 * : Essentially this to.
 * Guile Hero
 * Yes he really IS when you look at the complete picture.
 * I Lied:
 * Justified Tutorial
 * Spirit Advisor: To another spirit.
 * Justified Tutorial
 * Spirit Advisor: To another spirit.

Missile
Lynne's loyal but excitable Pomeranian.

"WELCOME!"
 * Badass Adorable
 * Badass Boast: "I'm a top Pomeranian, you know!"
 * Cute but Cacophonic: He's prone to speaking in VERY LARGE TEXT!!! and drives the woman next door nuts with his barking.
 * The Determinator: Seriously, you will never cross a small dog again. In fact, you will befriend and attempt to win the undying loyalty of every single one you meet. You want them on your side.
 * Good Is Dumb: Missile declares he will "make [his] own path". Cue Missile attempting to escape the apartment he's in by repeatedly smashing into the door. As incredibly dumb as it seems,.
 * Heroic Dog
 * Hidden Depths: He may act profoundly dumb at times, but you have to admire the fact that unlike Sissel
 * Hot-Blooded
 * Loyal Animal Companion
 * Mister Muffykins: The most Badass one you will ever meet.
 * Name's the Same: Has the same name as another police dog from the Ace Attorney series.
 * No Indoor Voice: My name is Missile!
 * No Indoor Voice: My name is Missile!

"The only thing I'm good at is BARKING! There really isn't much more in life!"
 * Justified, of course -- what else would you expect from a "talking" Pomeranian?
 * The Pollyanna: to an absurdly humorous degree.
 * Ridiculously Cute Critter
 * Serious Business: What being a dog is, according to Missile.
 * Serious Business: What being a dog is, according to Missile.


 * Talking Animal: Though other people can only understand him in spirit form.
 * Tribute to Fido: The game's creator also has a Pomeranian named Missile.
 * Undying Loyalty: Okay, so he does die. He just doesn't let it stop him. He declares his intention to save Lynne and Kamila even beyond the grave.
 * Unskilled but Strong:
 * Unskilled but Strong:

Kamila
A young girl who lives with Lynne.


 * Break the Cutie: Life was very harsh to her.
 * Creepy Child: Even though the sprites are so small, it's hard not to imagine her as a character right out of Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni.
 * Hair Decorations: A bright yellow bow.
 * Meaningful Name: Kamila's Japanese name, Kanon, is another name for Guanyin, the bodhisattva associated with compassion.
 * Punny Name / Theme Naming: Kanon and Missile, eh?
 * Self-Made Orphan: Between the birthday contraption and her father's impending execution for the murder of his wife, set her up to accidentally become one.
 * Small Girl, Big Gun: !Kamila is packing heat: a Thompson machine gun.
 * And one-handed no less!
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair

Inspector Cabanela
A flamboyant detective who dances wherever he goes. He's an ambitious ladder-climber and wears a white coat to illustrate his spotless record.

"Sissel: What incredible determination...!
 * The Ace: The swag! The stride! The moves! Watch out, crime.
 * Agent Mulder: See "Determinator."
 * Ambition Is Evil: Subverted. He initially appears to be a greasy pole climber, willing to sacrifice his friends for the sake of his reputation - at one point it even briefly looks as though he's actually turned evil - but this is all part of a plan to get access to the information required to
 * Badass Longcoat
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: Even though Inspector Cabanela speaks strangely, picks favorites, and dances constantly to the point where he tap dances through crime scenes, he's kept his job because he has a "natural genius for investigating." His colleagues are spotted practicing his Fred Astaire dance on a staircase, hoping to somehow absorb his power.
 * Create Your Own Villain:.
 * The Dandy
 * The Determinator: He is stated in-game to be this. He spends five years doing whatever it took to gain power as the head of the Special Investigation Unit, and therefore to be able to direct all aspects of investigations as he sees fit. His record means more to him than his own life, and he's worked hard to keep it absolutely spotless. He's hell-bent on keeping his position and his spotless reputation no matter what. Why? Because he absolutely refused to believe that, even though it was proven that there was no possible way (so far as a realist would be concerned) that anyone else could have done it. Most people would probably have reluctantly resigned themselves to the belief that maybe they hadn't known their friend as well as they thought they had. Cabanela accepted it as fact that there was no possible way that anyone else could have done it by conventional means... so he started looking for instead. Most people would think that was insane. Cabanela, on the other hand, hunted relentlessly until he found out about , had a Eureka Moment, and kept on trucking.

[New dialogue option: "[Cabanela's determination"]"


 * Fat and Skinny: Detective Jowd and himself.
 * Friendly Enemy: To Detective Jowd.
 * Genre Savvy: After losing twice (first, by, and then, ,) what is the first thing Cabanela does when . And Cabanela knew he'd meet  again, because he'd already seen him in the junkyard's security tape.
 * The Gunslinger: Characteristically, he puts a lot more showmanship into drawing his weapon than other people.
 * Hammerspace: His appearance in the ending cutscene. Where did that bouquet come from?
 * Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Subverted; He later turns out to have been.
 * Lean and Mean: In his prosecutory zeal, he sometimes comes across at this.
 * Made of Iron:
 * Man in White: Except his red scarf.
 * My Greatest Failure: Letting  escape with his gun.
 * Scarf of Asskicking
 * Shout-Out: Some of his dances are based on Michael Jackson's.
 * Silly Walk
 * Skunk Stripe
 * Verbal Tic: Tends to draw out his voooowels, baby.
 * We Used to Be Friends: Jowd laments that Cabanela has chosen "the path of the white coat," and now cares about his career above all else. Cabanela is aware of this and accepts Jowd and Lynne's disappointment in him,.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Pretty much everything Cabanela does. Even eating.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Pretty much everything Cabanela does. Even eating.

Pigeon-Headed Man
The junkyard superintendent. Has a pigeon which sits constantly on his head.


 * Almighty Janitor: Formerly a and now studies radiation from space rocks in his spare time. That's pretty smart.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Head Pet
 * No Name Given
 * The Professor

Jowd
A bearded prisoner at the Special Prison who paints faces to remember them. Despite his circumstances he's relatively jovial and accommodating.


 * Acrofatic: Can navigate an air duct better than Harry Houdini.
 * Badass Beard, doubling as a Beard of Sorrow
 * Badass Longcoat: After regaining it.
 * Big Fun
 * Clear My Name
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Death Seeker: When you first meet him. He's more than willing to be executed, feeling guilty over the deaths of Alma and, and not wanting . But then Sissel saves him from execution, and he suddenly has a newfound reason to live.
 * Distressed Dude
 * Guilt Complex
 * Institutional Apparel: Under a pink artist's smock.
 * My Greatest Failure: Even though he never shot, he would have if , and he still blames himself for that death.
 * My Significance Sense Is Tingling: His trusty "Detective sense."
 * Older Sidekick
 * Real Men Wear Pink
 * Taking the Heat: For the death of his wife,.

Near-Sighted Jeego and One-Step-Ahead Tengo
A pair of blue-skinned assassins sent to kill Lynne. Jeego's perfect shot range grows shorter every year, while Tengo is always one step ahead of both his target and his boss.


 * Amazing Technicolor Population
 * Assassin Outclassin': Sissel has little problem handling them.
 * Badass in A Nice Suit: "Nearsighted" Jeego and "One Step Ahead" Tengo.
 * Career Killers
 * Cool Gun: The Blue Assassin's (Jeego's) shotgun is golden, and a different blue assassin (Tengo) has a silver rifle.
 * Meaningful Name: Jeego's name comes from 'jigoku', and Tengo's name from 'tengoku', Japanese words meaning 'hell' and 'heaven', respectively.
 * Minion Shipping: They never meet in the game (Jeego's dead before we even see Tengo), but they seem to get a lot of slash.
 * Opaque Lenses: Tengo.
 * Red Baron
 * Short-Range Shotgun: which suits Jeego's nearsightedness anyways
 * Sniper Rifle: Tengo uses one. He also uses its barrel to chuck a donut to his mouth.
 * Starter Villains

Commander Sith
A short but apparently wealthy blue gentleman. His motivations are unknown but he seems to have ill intent towards Lynne and a deep interest in Sissel.


 * Amazing Technicolor Population
 * Bald of Evil
 * Big Ol' Eyebrows: His title in Sissel's info screen is "Eyebrowed Villain".
 * Bling of War
 * Catch Phrase: "Are you trying to give me a case of the vapors?"
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy:
 * Evil Old Folks
 * Grapes of Luxury: With a robot arm peeling them. How...practical?
 * Karma Houdini: Sith's victory is undone, but he's never punished for his actions. On the other hand, it's not clear whether or not in the Final Chapter.
 * It's reasonable to infer that Sith still has at least two hitmen working for him in the ending. It appears that he is still trying to pull some kind of "deal."
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: It ends in "th"!
 * And he shares it with a certain evil faction from a certain science-fiction series!
 * The Napoleon: When sitting, his feet don't even reach the ground.
 * Nebulous Evil Organisation: It's never really explained who (if anyone) Sith works for, beyond the ambiguous 'overseas foreign government'. But they're jerks.
 * : His manservant.
 * Schizo-Tech: While everyone else is stuck in the pre-cell-phone era, he has giant robotic arms to feed him grapes.  His country's use of technology is just plain off.
 * Sinister Schnoz
 * Verbal Tic: "Hmm, yes..."
 * Wicked Cultured
 * Wicked Cultured

AKA "The Manipulator"
The mysterious Big Bad of the game.


 * Acquitted Too Late:
 * : After his
 * Best Served Cold
 * Blessed With Suck: Can possess objects just as easily as Sissel can, and even manipulate living people....
 * Blond Guys Are Evil
 * The Chessmaster: He's not called a 'manipulator' for nothing.
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He went off the deep end when
 * Evil Counterpart: To Sissel.
 * : Inverted..
 * : Even if, in the end,.
 * Feel No Pain: Makes a point to Cabanela by slamming his fist on a sizzling hot stove.
 * From Nobody to Nightmare:
 * Go Mad From the Isolation: And how!
 * Hidden in Plain Sight: Appears in the very first chapter, under the guise of.
 * Hidden Villain
 * Impaled With Extreme Prejudice: Subverted -.
 * Kindhearted Cat Lover: The man's not above.
 * Laser-Guided Karma: His ultimate fate:.
 * Lean and Mean
 * Love Makes You Evil
 * Made of Iron: Even after
 * Meaningful Name:
 * It's also the name of a minor Fallen Angel.
 * Monster Sob Story
 * Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: is able to resist his control to a degree, and fires a wayward shot at  -- setting the game's events in motion.
 * Being killed in proximity
 * Hitting the Superintendent's stove with his fist also counts. It scared the bejeezus out of Cabanela, true, but it also, allowing Sissel to blaze upward from the basement.
 * People Puppets: His ability.
 * Phlebotinum Battery: The.
 * : He doesn't just want revenge, he wants
 * Slasher Smile
 * Start of Darkness: Was driven to . Upon finding that , with no way to rewind time and prevent it, he was left with a burning desire to make everyone involved suffer precisely as he did.
 * Thanatos Gambit: Possessing and making her  in plain view of cameras.
 * The Villain Makes the Plot
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: In spades.
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: In spades.
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: In spades.
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: In spades.

Beauty and Dandy
A black-hearted blue-skinned pair, most likely from the same county as Commander Sith and the assassins. Beauty is a standoffish Ice Queen, while Dandy is a gentleman and only slightly kinder than his cohort. Dandy has a major crush on Beauty, despite her constant verbal abuse.

"Beauty: What's with the fun book and juice?
 * Affably Evil: Dandy sure is a chivalrous guy, even when kidnapping someone.

Dandy: Like I said, "Always keep a smile on a lady's face.""


 * All There in the Manual: Dandy's name is never actually said in-game.
 * Amazing Technicolor Population
 * Anime Hair: Beauty has a pretty impressive case of it.
 * The Baroness: Beauty. She even carries a red riding crop wherever she goes.
 * Blondes Are Evil / Blond Guys Are Evil
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Dandy may have kidnapped a little girl and stuffed her into a large suitcase, but he's not going to be cruel to her. He even gave her some juice and a book to read.
 * Once Dandy realizes that Beauty's plan was to hide out in, he calls Beauty out on it. It's the only time he acts remotely assertive.
 * Explosive Stupidity: Last seen breaking into a safe above Chicken Kitchen with gunpowder. Dandy reads the instructions for twenty kilograms of gunpowder instead of twenty grams.
 * Hot Chick in A Badass Suit: Beauty.
 * I Have Your Wife: Kidnapping the Justice Minister's daughter to blackmail him into signing.
 * Ice Queen: Beauty, again.
 * Love Martyr: Dandy. He may actually enjoy it when she insults him.
 * Minion Shipping
 * Nominal Importance: The blond blue man is named only in the soundtrack.
 * Sissy Villain: Dandy.
 * Something About a Rose: Dandy's pocket flower.
 * Statuesque Stunner: Beauty has considerably long legs, and utterly towers over her shrimp cohort.
 * Theme Naming
 * Tiny Guy, Huge Girl
 * Whip It Good: Beauty carries a riding crop, though she never uses it.
 * Whip It Good: Beauty carries a riding crop, though she never uses it.

Justice Minister
An old, neurotic wreck of a man.


 * British Royal Guards: Has these as his assistants and secretaries, further muddling exactly what country this is all occurring in.
 * Evil Hand: Has this experience when The Manipulator forces him to.
 * Hanging Judge:
 * Henpecked Husband
 * No Name Given
 * Obstructive Bureaucrat: Though not by choice.
 * Obstructive Bureaucrat: Though not by choice.

Emma
A large, passionate woman who lives next door to Lynne and Kamila. She writes torrid romance novels.


 * Acrofatic: Even with a glass in hand, she can dodge chandeliers like Jet Li.
 * Anime Hair
 * Beauty Mark
 * Berserk Button: Whatever you do, do not, I repeat, DO NOT insult her romance novels!
 * Catch Phrase: Here's to my darling angel! ]
 * Expressive Hair: It blooms when she gets angry.
 * Grande Dame
 * Hidden Depths: Amelie thinks her parents' fight is about her mother's romance novels, but.
 * Hot Mom
 * Lady Drunk: She is never seen without a wine glass.
 * Pretty in Mink
 * Rose Haired Woman: Quite literally; it's not only the right color, it's shaped like a bud and, as mentioned, blooms when she's angry.
 * Thinks Like a Romance Novel
 * Tsundere
 * Wingding Eyes: When she's upset.

Amelie
Emma's daughter, who is bedridden with a fever. She hates her mother because Emma refuses to let her talk to her father.


 * Daddy's Girl
 * Hair of Gold
 * Ill Girl: This little Tsundere spends the entire game in bed with a high fever.
 * Mega Twintails
 * Mouthy Kid: Not an easy literary critic to have so closely at hand.

Blue-Suited Prison Guards
A pair of bored prison guards at the Special Prison. One is named Bailey and is mildly neurotic. When trouble hits he does 'The Panic Dance', which was apparently handed down in his family for generations. The other is never given a name and generally plays the straight man to his partner's shenanigans. He likes to build card towers.


 * Meaningful Name: Bailey means 'bailiff'.
 * No Name Given
 * Those Two Guys

Rockin' Jailbird
A rock star inmate at the special prison, who sung national secrets during a worldwide broadcast.


 * Dreadful Musician
 * No Name Given
 * Spiky Hair

Sausage Head
An oval-headed inmate at the special prison who took the police commissioner hostage, with his only request being for curry. Does not seem very bright.


 * Big Eater
 * No Name Given: Though Jowd refers to him as the above.
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Curry.
 * Tunnel King: He's dug a rather extensive tunnel with just his spoon.

Guardian of the Park
A round-haired man who has made it his mission to defend Temsik Park and the 'rock of the gods' from housing developers. This involves mostly dancing around barefoot and distributing leaflets.


 * Anime Hair: It's larger than his head.
 * Cloudcuckoolander
 * New Age Retro Hippie
 * No Name Given

Alma
Jowd's wife and


 * Hot Mom
 * The Lost Lenore
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair

Chicken Kitchen Chef
A orange-nosed chef who works at (and possibly manages) the Chicken Kitchen. He enjoys singing.


 * Cloudcuckoolander: He stops at the park to play on the swings when he's supposed to be delivering food.
 * No Name Given

Memry
An "odd girl" who works at the Chicken Kitchen. She's not very attentive to her job.


 * Fan Service With a Smile
 * Nice Hat: It's a roast chicken.
 * Retirony: It's her last day as a waitress and she's nearly killed by a van.
 * She would have been killed by the van, if you hadn't saved Lynne earlier (since Lynne pushed her out of the way).
 * But wasn't the van moving only because Lynne was spotted in the restaurant?
 * Rollerblade Good
 * Service Sector Stereotypes: She wears roller blades as if she's working at a retro drive-in, and yet the Chicken Kitchen is posh enough to have its own bar and elevator.
 * You Gotta Have Green Hair


 * : Ten years of  and she's still there when he gets out.
 * The Ghost: The trope, not an actual ghost.
 * The Lost Lenore
 * The Lost Lenore