Grim Fandango/Characters

Manuel "Manny" Calavera

The hero of the game, a salesman in the Department of Death. He'd point out that he's technically a travel agent, selling travel packages to the dead depending on how good they were in life, but the job is functionally identical to being The Grim Reaper. Manny has to work off his moral debt to advance further into the afterlife, but he can only do that by selling good packages to good souls, and for some reason, all his latest customers don't qualify. Suspecting that he'll be stuck in his crappy job forever, Manny grows increasingly miserable and desperate, finally stealing one of Domino Hurley's files... and stumbling upon a conspiracy.

The Atoner: Besides the deal with the DoD, explained in detail above. Part of Manny's motivation for finding Meche comes from the fact that he unintentionally got her condemned to a fate she did not deserve.
Character Development: At the start of the game, Manny's main motivation is getting himself out of this part of afterlife and into the next by working off the moral debt he racked up when alive, and he doesn't give much of a damn whether he or anyone else deserves it. By the fourth year, he can literally stand on the brink of getting that wish - but he'll refuse to move on, unwilling to leave the people he loves and those he promised to save behind.
Chick Magnet: Three separate ladies express current or past romantic feelings for him in Chapter 2, but he only has eyes for Meche. Uh, because she'll get him his job back. Suuuuure.
Deadpan Snarker:

Manny: This deck of cards is a little frayed around the edges. Then again, so am I, and I've got fewer suits.

Determinator: Manny's ultra-competitive, and even lampshades it in Year One, and he's chasing after a woman he only met once and can't forget (Olivia calls him a "chump" for it).
Don't Fear the Reaper: It's just his job. Manny doesn't fit traditional expectations of The Grim Reaper much - them being along the lines of forbidding, laconic and tall. Instead, Manny's charming, sarcastic, happy to talk his way into or out of trouble, and... short. Really really short. He wears lifts on his shoes under the cloak. The Reveal of this in the intro is probably one of the funnier sight gags in adventure gaming history.
Gratuitous Spanish: Apparently thrown in by his voice actor and kept just because it sounded neat.
Guile Hero: While he can deliver an excellent right hook (just ask Nick Virago), he's often equalled or outmatched in fights, requiring unorthodox solutions.
Iconic Item: His Sinister Scythe. It comes in handy for solving a lot of puzzles. Not really a Weapon of Choice, however, since he's not very good at fighting with it.

Manny: My scythe. I like to keep it close to where my heart used to be.

Lovable Rogue: Manny's one smooth-talking, deadpan-snarking, morally-flexible dead guy - particularly during Chapter 1 and 2. Like any good LucasArts adventure protagonist, he cons, steals from and screws over various people in various ways, and it's worth noting that we never do find out what exactly landed him in the Department of Death, which is for people who don't even deserve walking sticks on their way to the true afterlife.
Self-Made Man: In less then a year, he elevates from a janitor in a run-down club to the owner of said club, which he turns into the second most successful joint in the town, and then from a galley worker on a shaggy old tub to a captain of a sterling liner.
She Is Not My Girlfriend: He spends the two first chapters of the game in this mindset.

Mercedes "Meche" Colomar

Manny's Love Interest and the catalyst of the game's events; her file was the one Manny stole. Meche is obviously a good, gentle person deserving a first-class travel package... which is why Manny is baffled when she seemingly qualifies for nothing better than a long walk.

Beware the Nice Ones: Chapter 3 and 4.
Break the Cutie: She starts out as a kind, sweet soul who gracefully accepts what she assumes to be a just punishment... except that it's not, and things get worse for her from there. By Chapter 3, she's suffered horribly and become profoundly bitter, especially towards Manny.
Deadpan Snarker: She has her moments.

Meche: Would you like to see my birthmark?
Manny: Sure. Where is it?
Meche: It's wherever you guys put my skin!

Friend to All Children: Read stories to sick children in life, and forms an instant rapport with two angelitos in Chapter 3 - child souls with angel wings. This is in contrast with Manny, whom the angelitos hate on sight.
Friend to All Living Things: In life, she once accidentally 'shoplifted' when a puppy followed her out of the pet store. Awww.
The Messiah
Nice Gal: It's a plot point.

Glottis

Manny's friend and main ally. A demon (or as he says, "spirit of the land") with one purpose, desire and reason for living: driving, preferably really really fast. Also maintaining vehicles (when no driving jobs are available). He lives and works alone in the DoD's basement, unable to fully exercise his gifts, leaving him open to persuasion in matters of technically-prohibited upgrades...

The Alcoholic: One taste of alcohol, and he leaps back off the wagon... and into the casino with all of Manny's money.
Bear Hug: Inevitable when he's twice as tall and twice as wide as anyone else - particularly Manny. But he'll hug 'em all the same.
The Big Guy: Huge.
Butt Monkey: The poor guy is often the victim of Manny's Comedic Sociopathy, although it helps that he's damn near indestructible.
Gentle Giant: Capable of lifting a struggling person off the ground with one hand effortlessly, yet easily scared and automatically kind.
Hidden Depths: A good piano-player. He's also a big fan of the kitty races, which can cause problems.
Nigh Invulnerable: He survives removing his heart, being deprived of oxygen for hours, being flung dozens of feet, and being dropped over the edge of the world. The only thing that even comes close to killing him is speed withdrawal.

Salvador Limones

Leader of a rebel movement against the villains, one of Manny's main allies. Salvador was once a Reaper and a salesman like Manny, and like Manny, discovered that even his most deserving clients rarely qualified for anything. Unlike Manny, Salvador quit his job in order to create an underground movement and overthrow the Department of Death's corrupt leadership. In the end, Salvador is revealed to have qualified for a Number Nine ticket rather than Reaperdom - like Meche, he was a saintly soul given an unjust punishment.

Cyanide Pill: One that shoots Sproutella.
Heroic Sacrifice: He uses his Sproutella Cyanide Pill to kill Olivia and save Manuel; activating it naturally requires he be exposed to it to.
La Résistance: Oh, yeah. Viva la Revolucion!
Major Injury Underreaction: "Hola, Manuel." This is what he says after being decapitated and smashed to pieces.
Nice Hat: A sweet dark green beret that he keeps even as a disembodied skull.
Rebel Leader: Salvador is intensely charismatic, inspiring downright suicidal loyalty once he gets his revolution up and running. It's implied his inherent nobility attracts his followers. He was, after all, a Number Nine ticket holder. And in the end, he proves as willing as his followers to die for the cause.

Domino Hurley

One of the two villains. Manny's rival in the DoD, the boss's pet on the fast-track to promotion, the hottest salesman with the best clients and all-round smug shade-wearing jackass. He uses Manny's old, much larger and more luxurious office, and seems to find all the good souls that Manny doesn't - in the first chapter landing a nun with a golden ticket when Manny gets an angry old man to send 'freight' (i.e. stuff into a coffin full of packing foam). This is because he's in on the DoD conspiracy.

The Dragon: He's Hector's most reliable and competent underling.
Evil Counterpart: To Manny. He's a salesman in the DoD, even working in Manny's old office, and one can only speculate what would have happened had their situations been reversed.
It's All About Me
Jerkass: Manny's not alone in wanting to punch him in the mouth.
Karmic Death: Ground to pieces in a moment of inattention.
Kick the Dog: Dropping Glottis over the edge of the world just because he didn't think he'd be useful. Glottis survived, but any player sympathy for Domino sure didn't.
Klingon Promotion: After Don Copal gets sprouted in Chapter 1, Domino has a new position when he's encountered again in Chapter 3.
Post-Mortem Comeback: Domino has been dead for over a year, but the good guys still have to contend with a deadly booby-trap he's laid for them when they finally get back to Rubacava to find the hiding place of their car. Dom's laid out an elaborate set of.... well, dominos all around the car that will trigger a bomb if they disturb it.
The Rival: To Manny.
Smug Snake: Emphasis on the "smug".

Hector LeMans

The other villain, the head of the DoD. He has been stealing tickets from the deserving and selling them to richer, less saintly souls. Or so he'd have them believe, but the tickets he sells are fake. He keeps the real ones for himself, determined to hoard enough to balance out his numerous and horrific misdeeds in life.

Big Bad: Pretty much behind every bad happening, directly or indirectly.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Apparently while alive, he was a "very bad boy", and he didn't get any nicer when he died, since he keeps a huge garden of flowers, including a greenhouse, grown from the remains of those he subjected to a Fate Worse Than Death in his rise to power. That the place is beautiful and well-tended somehow makes it more horrifying.
Evil Laugh: A spine-chilling, chuckling snort that seems to punctuate just about everything he says.
Fat Bastard: Yes, with bones, somehow.
Hoist by His Own Petard: That creepy flower garden? Including a greenhouse with a connecting water tank? Do you wonder what would happen if one, say, filled that tank with Sproutella while Hector was inside the greenhouse? We get a screaming Hectorposy is what happens.
Nice Hat: A fez. It's hardly visible most of the time, but he has one.
Wicked Cultured: He loves flowers, and can be seen tending to them with a dinky watering can and hedge-clippers during the end-run. Subverted, however: in the Eighth Underworld, flowers are a symbol of death. It's less genuine love on his part and more polishing trophies taken from his victims.