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* [[Kid with the Leash]]: Towards Reynardine, to the extent of [http://gunnerkrigg.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=gotopost&board=general&thread=361&post=11336 leaving instructions to not mess up when she's absent]. If Annie dies, [http://gunnerkrigg.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=gotopost&board=general&thread=361&post=11892 the ownership passes on to someone else she decides.] Kat and Jones {{spoiler|the latter during Annie's time in Gillitie Wood}} also took care of him for her at times.
** The ownership gets nullified [http://gunnerkrigg.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=gotopost&board=general&thread=361&post=11349 if Annie orders him to take a new body which isn't controlled by her] or [http://gunnerkrigg.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=gotopost&board=general&thread=361&post=11361 if Annie steals a body for him to take, which isn't of her own property].
* [[Locked Out of the Loop]]: Concerning just about '''[[Paranoia Fuel|EVERYTHING]]'''. Including her very nature and the issues of life-and-death importance to her. After all, it would be ''awkward''.
* [[Loose Lips]]: She never thinks about consequences when angry. Since the relations between the Court and the Wood is one big old minefield, this endangers not just herself. Trickster gods generally don't hold back much, so Annie was given a lesson of silence [[Explosive Leash|the hard way]].
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* [[The Messiah]]: To the robots, or at least [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=900 Robot.]
* [[Mistaken for Gay]]: [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=925 By Paz.] Unlike most other examples of this trope being used for comedy, this serves the purpose of setting up a sub-plot of Kat becoming unconfident with her sexuality, later attempting to present herself as more girly by wearing a [[Tertiary Sexual Characteristics|generic flower hairpin]] and Annie's clothes. According to Zimmy, rumors about her are circulating among the "rats", and other characters have commented as if she really ''was'' gay and it was just something that has always been.
** After Chapter 42 and especially [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1274 45], {{spoiler|it's not a mistake anymore. And '''with''' Paz}}.
** [[Ambiguously Gay]]: She's clearly more comfortable [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=970 with being herself] when nobody is around in her own environment, without trying to present herself as girly.
* [[Muggle Best Friend]]: Well, as mugglish as a gadgeteer genius can be. And it's inverted when it comes to robotics, where Antimony has ''no'' clue what's going on.
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* [[Otaku Surrogate]]: She often becomes excessively enthusiastic about wide variety of things.
* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: Originally, in the middle. After her [[Character Development]], more of Blue Oni, though still a [[Genki Girl]]
* [[Shipper on Deck]]: For Parley/Andrew. And even more hilariously so, {{spoiler|Juliette/Arthur}}
* [[Star-Crossed Lovers]]: With Alistair. This seems to have made her something of a bird enthusiast... or possible [[fetish]]ist.
* [[Teen Genius]]:
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* [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]]
* [[Wrench Wench]]: The outfit she's most comfortable in seems to be a mechanic's boilersuit. Sometimes holds a literal wrench.
== Annie's Inner Circle ==
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* [[Metaphoric Metamorphosis]]: [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=158 Uh... Oh geez... <tombstone>]
* [[Monster Clown]]: How he was able to scare Paz in Chapter 4.
* [[Mysterious Past]]: Until Chapter 47, all that was known about his death was that he apparently died for his country. That turned out to be an exaggeration: he died {{spoiler|as a young boy while trying to warn Jones she was in danger. She wasn't, actually}}. He ''was'' killed by a German bomb in one of the World Wars.
* [[Shape Shifter]]
** [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]
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* [[Dude Magnet]]: Three different guys fell for her, one of them not even human.
* [[Heroes Want Redheads]]: And yet, the most traditionally heroic of her three suitors doesn't marry her.
* [[Hidden Heart of Gold]]: Surma is ready to go out of her way to help her friends... [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1866 uh... if it's important an' all].
* {{spoiler|[[Honey Trap]]: She lured Renard into the court by
* [[Lovable Alpha Bitch]]: She was beautiful and was quite popular at some point - "[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=489 All people in the Forest]" loved her and people in the Court remember her with admiration and/or awe. She actively used her charisma, at least {{spoiler|in the [[Honey Trap]] gambit with Renard}},
* [[The Matchmaker]]: Pushed together Anja and Donald who liked each others, but were shy about it. "Those two ended up married, you know."
* [[Meaningful Name]]: The name Surma Stibnite is probably the single most symbolically-dense name in the whole comic. Stibnite (from Latin "stibium" for antimony) is an ore containing the element antimony, used as a component in cosmetics at least from [[Ancient Egypt]]. Surma's meaning depends on the language: in Russian and several other slavic tongues, it's another name for antimony; in Punjabi, it's another name for kohl,
* [[Mysterious Parent]]: Surma's powers are more mysteries to the readers than to Annie, but Annie had no idea of her mum's career at the Court, or of her true nature.
* [[Posthumous Character]]: She died just before Annie was sent off to the Court (so right before the story begins).
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What is known about Tony: He attended the Court, and was in Queslett House, the same year as Surma. He and Surma married and left the Court, and did not maintain contact with their friends/acquaintances who remained. He worked as a surgeon at Good Hope hospital, the same hospital where his daughter was born and his wife was bedridden. For twelve years, he searched in vain for a way to save Surma from impending death. Shortly after his daughter's enrollment at the Court, he quit his job at Good Hope and completely dropped off the map.
What others have said about him has not been positive: Donald Donlan says that his disappearance has precedent—that he had a habit of taking off on his own for months at a time without telling anyone. James Eglamore (who admittedly [[Love Triangle|may not be completely impartial]]) claims that he had always been selfish. Jones (another possibly unreliable source, as she admitted to [[I Shall Taunt You|deliberately trying to provoke Annie
Prior to Chapter 37, he only appeared in-comic twice, both in [[Flash Back|flashbacks]]. In the first, he was present for a group photo alongside Surma, Anja, Brinnie, Donald, and James. He declined to join James and Donald for lunch immediately afterwards, claiming he had “[[Spock Speak|matters to attend to]].” In the second, he was crying at his wife's bedside; he composed himself and silently left the room upon realizing that his daughter was watching. The chapter proper has Donald, apparently his closest friend, reveal the personality hidden beneath his usual stoic mask.
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* [[The Atoner]]: For agreeing to {{spoiler|have a child with Surma, which he knew inevitably caused her death}}. Even moreso if he knew this prior to doing so. {{spoiler|1=On the other hand, [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=815 he may blame Annie as well.]}}
* [[Disappeared Dad]]: {{spoiler|1=After one thousand pages and two in-story years, [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=1002 he finally contacts Annie] [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=1011 ...to pass a message to Donnie] [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=1016 ...and to hear his daughter's voice again.]}}
* [[Hubris]]: Not the blustering type at all, but from what we have seen, his main blind spot is consistent failure to consider other possibilities if one explanation supports his own importance. Evidently he doesn't suspect the reason for a long, important yet not time-constrained mission far away from the Court may be simply that [[Reassigned to Antarctica|someone wanted him to go away and stay away]] (despite most people disliking him), and until and unless hard facts not just stare in his face, but knock him off his feet, seems to be never have doubted that:
*# saving his wife somehow was entirely in his reach;
*# the Court officials told him pure truth to let him ride in and save the situation (rather than plan to use him as a pawn and throw to the dogs if things go Coyote-shaped);
*# they bother to spy on him once he returned;
*# his countermeasures for the above are entirely adequate despite him being out of the loop for more than a decade and the Court being more or less a [[Mad Scientist]] institute;
*# weird creatures he met must be who he wanted to meet and they want to help him - rather than, say, some [[Fair Folk]] messing with him.
* [[Jerkass]]:
** He comes off as cold and arrogant to most people, though his closest friend swears he has [[Jerkass With a Heart of Gold|a Heart of Gold]] and just isn't good with people.
** In the recent present, he abandoned his daughter soon after his wife's death {{spoiler|and only briefly spoke to her after two years}}. We don't yet know why, but he's not going to win any awards for great parenting from Kat for how much this has hurt Annie.
** Most people quickly start to dislike him, and don't stop. It's very consistent. When {{spoiler|Kat, with her [[Otaku Surrogate|fangirlish]] impulsiveness}} suddenly acts friendly with him, Annie is shocked and perplexed, and is more ready to believe that he dabbles in mind control than that previous deep loathing reverted naturally.
*** This led into a [[Whole-Episode Flashback]], Chapter 64, which reveals that when {{Spoiler|he's with '''only one person''' at a time, he typically becomes open, cheerful, and charming}}. The exception is Antimony, because of My Greatest Failure below.
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Carver. He's a surgeon.
* [[My Greatest Failure]]: Surma's death; he'd believed he could prevent it. '''This''' is why he's been avoiding Annie, and since he came back so cold to her: "How could she live with the man that killed her mother?" Those are '''''his''''' words....
* [[Mysterious Parent]]
* [[Not So Stoic]]: Apparently, he did have a sensitive side, but Surma and Donny may very well have been the only people who ever saw it.
* [[Omnidisciplinary Scientist]]:
* [[Present Absence]]: As of Chapter 51, he's back.
* [[Spock Speak]]: If [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=540 his first line in-comic] is an accurate representation... "who talks like that?"
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[[File:s Anja and Donald Donlan 8621.jpg|frame]]
Kat's parents. Both of them are [[Magic Versus Science|science teachers and magicians]] (Donald isn't a magic user as such, but see below).
When they were younger, both attended school at the Court. Like Surma, Anja spent her first year in Chester and was subsequently transferred to Queslett. She was close friends with Surma, [[Generation Xerox|a friendship that mirrored the one her daughter would eventually have with Surma's daughter.]] Donald was a Queslett student from the start, and a friend of James and Anthony. Upon becoming classmates, Anja and Donald hit off almost immediately, dated steadily through school, eventually wed, and have remained [[Happily Married]] since.
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* [[Team Mom]]
* {{spoiler|[[Time Abyss]]: [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1113 "You ... were there at the formation of the Earth?"]}}
* [[The Un-Reveal]]: Ysengrin explained to Annie what Jones was over the summer break she stayed in the Woods. Reynardine comments that she's "interesting company."
* [[The Un-Smile]]: "I can mimic the facial movements for a smile, but I tend to avoid it, as it often leaves the onlooker somewhat unnerved." Annie asked to see it anyway, and was still "somewhat unnerved" hours later.
* [[Walk, Don't Swim]]: She prefers to walk across the lake bottom rather than trust her weight to a rickety pier. She can't swim because her body is too dense.
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=== Juliette ===
[[Meganekko|A fine lady in glasses]] working in the Court with the Shadow Men (security, operating "ether stations"). Accompanied by a humanoid robot friend. When idle, they amuse themselves by playing amateur theater without viewers.
* [[Meganekko]]
* [[Robosexual]] for Arthur, [http://gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1845 complete with flower border].
=== Bob and Marcia ===
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== Other Students ==
=== William Winsbury ===
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* [[Smitten Teenage Girl]]: She gets a rather ferocious (unreciprocated) crush on Matt at the start of year 3.
* [[Speaks Fluent Animal]]
* [[What Beautiful Eyes!]]: When Antimony gave Mort tips on scaring people, Paz was his first victim. The [[Monster Clown]] he produced brandished a rusty saw and said, in Spanish Annie taught him, "What lovely eyes you have, Paz. [[Eye Scream|Will you give them to me?]]"
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* [[Creepy Child]]
* [[Dark Is Not Evil]]
* [[Do Not Call Me "Paul"]]/[[Only Known by Their Nickname]]: Zimmy doesn't like her real name.
* [[Eye Tropes]]: Applicable to Zimmy, we have:
** [[Hidden Eyes]]
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* [[Animal Motifs]]: Jack's {{spoiler|astral body has a spider image on his face after the events in Chapter 19.}} And during Chapter 27 and Chapter 34, the bangs near his forehead {{spoiler|look like spider fangs.}}
* [[All Love Is Unrequited]]: Zimmy, at first. Annie, after the incidents of ''Chapters 27 & 28: Spring Heeled''.
** {{spoiler|Turns out it's still Zimmy.}}
** In Chapter 49, he shows up with a girlfriend, Jenny—who several people at first mistake for Zimmy.
* [[Badass Longcoat]]: Quite a bit of his appearances show him wearing a trenchoat, to the point of being iconic for the fandom.
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** [[Fighting From the Inside]]: Until {{spoiler|a calmed Zimmy destroys the spider}}.
{{quote|'''Zimmy:''' {{spoiler|But he put up a fight}}.}}
** [[Go Mad
** [[Gotta Catch Em All]]: To secure its control over Jack, {{spoiler|the spider}} had to control all the pieces of his mind/soul/whatever. {{spoiler|It failed.}}
** [[Hannibal Lecture]]: He pulls one of these on Kat and Annie in this state.
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* [[In-Series Nickname]]: Lily goes by "Cookie Monster" as a riff on her surname.
* [[Multicolored Hair]]: Lily rocks blue streaks in her purple hair.
* [[Perky Goth]]: Lily. Her style is also evidently "[https://web.archive.org/web/20111217182744/http://www.formspring.me/gunnerkrigg/q/253845298210683534 a little inspired by]" the ex-[[The Fair Folk|fairies]].
* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]
* [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]]: They seem to fit this mold, based on how they act and dress.
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* [[Kill the Ones You Love]]: {{spoiler|Jeanne}}.
* [[Punny Name]]: Possible. While it may not be a [[Meaningful Name]] since "Steadman" means a farmhouse occupant, which doesn't fit the character, it may be a pun on the fact that he's a man who's a very steady shot.
* [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]]: [http://www.formspring.me/gunnerkrigg/q/293654759934533599 Went out]{{Dead link}} with Jeanne "when they were younger."
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Characters]]
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