Roommates (2007 webcomic)/Characters
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Roommates has Lots and Lots of Characters and cameos... this list is far from complete. And can be quite spoilerific.
Tropes for Everybody
- Dysfunctional Family: Every character (presumably) has one except those stated otherwise (Like Erik is Conveniently an Orphan, and Jareth is... well beyond this trope).
- Fantastically Indifferent: After the characters go native.
- Like Erik not flinching at all when the Zombies knocked on the window... ok, in his case sleep deprivation was also a factor.
- Also common fan theory is that the "Bigger on the Inside" joke about the TARDIS wasn't used because for James this just meant "it's like Jareth's wardrobe".
- The Four Loves: The primary motivation of most characters (not Jadis' but she is the exception not the rule). Best seen in the case of Jareth because he sucks in showing it but still tries exceptionally hard.
- Meta Guy: Everybody seems to be around this level of Medium Awareness. (Except stated otherwise)
- Vague Age: Age is a bit of a vague concept in this 'verse. As a general rule characters are the same age as they where in the canonical story but then Actor Allusion (like Erik's Merlin Sickness), the Theory of Narrative Causality (Sarah and Toby are 5 or so years older because plot says so) and the like hits. Not to mention the Mind Screw that the Medium Awareness of the series brings. So question: If your story "came out" in 1986 (you didn't exist before that), you were Really Seven Hundred Years Old in it and were played by a 39 years old actor then how old are you in 2012? Really Seven Hundred Years Old? 39? 26? 65? All of these?
- With Friends Like These...: Almost anybody to almost everybody.
- With Great Power Comes Great Perks: All powerful characters, most of the time. This is an out of canon world and most characters are determined to enjoy it. The fact helps that the place has the Girls Next Door named Fail-Field.
The Building #42
The Main Cast
Apartment "A" 3B:
Goblin King Jareth (See also: The Many Faces of Jareth folder) His court is that of "The Unwanted" and not aligned with any season.
- Adorable Evil Minions: He is still the King Of The Goblins!
- Berserk Button: Don't you dare threaten his friends. Not to mention using his dark side to kill one of them.
- Can't Argue with Elves: Technically he isn't an elf but you can't argue with him anyway, or to be precise you can, it's just futile.
- David Bowie: For the sake of Actor Allusion jokes.
- Determinator: You probably couldn't really tell from how he normally acts but this guy is trying to change his fate since a really long time.
- Everything's Better with Sparkles: He thinks so... Erik, not so much.
- Expressive Ears: It's not clear yet if this is a family trait or not.
- The Fair Folk: Thanks to the magic family tree he is even related to all of them (and the whole Witch Species).
- A Friend in Need / Jareth. Please. Please! PLEASE!!! Stop Helping Us!: He is. He genuinely cares for his friends (random mortals probably not so much), would risk all... but given how bad he is in doing good he is the personification of the With Friends Like These... principle.
- Hero with an F In Good / Villain Ball Magnet: He is almost perfectly in the middle of these tropes. He has great intentions but is either misguided or misunderstood. Because of the Theory of Narrative Causality his wish to be the good guy is maybe a Tragic Dream.
- Hidden Badass: On several levels. He is an incredibly powerful greater fae who can kick ass or warp time and space, manipulate memories and dreams and more. Has a Super-Powered Evil Side. But normally is Friend to All Children. And also:
- Agent Peacock: Even more than canonically, he is proud and vain and known to suffer breakdowns when he notices that others are taller[1] or thinner than him.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Let's see he seems like a Keet, blond, prankster with questionable level of self-preservation instinct who only wants to have fun.
- Took a Level in Badass: He accepted his darker nature after the Dark!Jareth arc, which resulted in much stronger magic. It also manifests in a lot of different side effects like a Battle Aura (here), more frequent Glowing Eyes of Doom, his Crystal Ball changing form, flashier Instant Runes sometimes even a partial or full Transformation Sequence (here)
- Human Mom, Nonhuman Dad: As much as Highly Powerful Last of Her Kind Witch Species mom and Close To Pure Blooded Fair Folk dad counts.
- Idea Bulb: Idea crystal!
- Impossibly Tacky Clothes / Villainous Fashion Sense: There is a reason WHY the others don't approve his instant clothing spell.
- The Jailbait Wait: Ended, but he did probably the weirdest one in fiction. His own Precocious Crush and given word bound him to wait for Sarah to be born and grow up to be in legal age for his Mayfly-December Romance attepts. And he even played the Trickster Mentor (like in their movie) to ensure that the right future happens an the whole thing doesn't end in Temporal Paradox. See Precocious Crush in Kid!Jareth's tropes.
- Kaleidoscope Eyes: Normally he has Mismatched Eyes but technically not real heterochromia as both of his eyes are Blue Eyes just his different sized pupils create a similar effect. But in times of high magic (so when his fae heritage is close to the surface) his eyes can turn Monochromatic Eyes or Midnight Blue Eyes where they shouldn't be. He can also get Glowing Eyes of Doom. All of these are Uh-Oh Eyes but when it gets Monochromatic Eyes and Midnight Blue Eyes. Ummm... Hello Mr. Dark!Jareth!
- Keet: Most of the time. With some subtle shades of Sad Clown mostly after applied Fridge Logic.
- Manipulative Bastard: Thank goodness for his goodwill and terminal laziness.
- Mr. Fanservice: Add the usual Medium Awareness of the series and you'll get the idea. He knows he is Mr. Fanservice and likes to invoke every Shirtless Scene opportunity possible and then lampshade it with something like a Goofy Print Underwear If you can read this, thank FANSERVICE".
- The Nicknamer: He is a moderate example or (contrary to popular belief) HAS a self-preservation instinct, but still one of the selected few who dares to call James (Norrington) Jamie.
- Slouch of Villainy: Because here Power Floats now sometimes even on thin air!
- Stalker with a Crush: It's his canon, but here, most of the time, he's less guilty than suspected.
- Strong Family Resemblance: He and his father. They look alike, dress alike (Painted-On Pants / Villainous Fashion Sense), have similar modus operandi and even share a Catch Phrase or two... but for some reason, no Hereditary Hairstyle in sight (Jareth has Eighties Hair while his dad is a Long-Haired Pretty Boy). So for his mothers great dismay the guy did Turn Out Like His Father a whole lot.
- Thicker Than Water: Averted HARD. He feels no love, compassion or obligation for his family in general and parents in particular (they can still blackmail him into things though). For his friends on the other hand...
- Token Non-Human: Of the main cast. Can be argued that he is the Monster Roommate of Erik.
- Upper Class Wit: He fits this almost perfectly, even if his friends and Sarah tend to think of him as Upper Class Twit. Only he is part of the Supernatural Elite, and has a Single-Target Sexuality (this doesn't mean that he doesn't appear Ambiguously Gay or as a Chivalrous Pervert though).
Tropes about his magic:
- Animorphism: As in Canon he can shapeshift into a barn owl (like this) but here this can also happen to him involuntarily for example if he uses up too much magic. Also results in a lot of Feather Motifs.
- Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: His Signature Move. It's still unclear if this is an addition to or a creative application of his highly versatile magic. He is also prone to bestow Instant Cosplay Surprise on the others.
- Crystal Ball / Power Crystal: For Sinister Surveillance, using magic, or just playing. These things (or at least most of them) are, as the physical manifestation of Jareth's spells until activation or expiration, Made of Magic.
- Geas: Outside of the vows taken in his magically binding voice, he also has some other magical bindings like what he can or can't tell people about his magic. Example: He can't tell you the Right Words even if he wanted to.
- Instant Runes: See the pretty circle? His time magic tends to get these (kinda resemble stylized clocks).
- Magical Gesture: His primary way of spell-casting, he even uses Badass Finger Snaps sometimes. Seems like the range of movement he requires is inversely proportional with the needed fine control and directly proportional to the power level of the spell so sometimes (like in battles) this turns into full blown Full-Contact Magic.
- PG Explosives: His original attack spell.
- Power Floats: Gravity is a suggestion, not a law, for him. In his own admission in his Magical Land he would be Gravity Master or even outright Reality Warper.
- Power Makes Your Voice Deep / Power Echoes: We don't know which obviously (it's a comic) but his font changes to double-lined letters and it's acknowledged that this indicates a "that funny tone of voice that means that he has to follow up". It's not known if this is a side effect of him channeling "the magic of truth" (for the lack of better word) or is this tone itself magic. We saw two uses of this:
- The Promise / Geas: He can't break his word given this way. This magic has a safeguard though namely he is literally unable to promise things he can't keep, even if he doesn't know why it would be a problem, and he can still say try.
- Words Can Break My Bones: What he declares or commands in this tone becomes reality (Telling a soul to "Go home" sends it back to it's owner. Declaring "We'll meet again" will make it happen. etc.).
- Storm of Blades: His upgraded attack spell rains deadly crystal shards and spears on his enemies.
- Time Master / Space Master: In the broadest sense (even personal time-space).
- Words Can Break My Bones: Knowing the Right Words can grant you access to his power and force him to do what you want. Sometimes even things he can't do under normal circumstances.
Erik Deshler The Phantom of the Opera (See also: The Many Faces of the Cast folder)
- Animal Motifs: Cat.
- Berserk Button: Glitter. Speaking ill of operas, the French or the Europeans. More or less in this order.
- Cannot Talk to Women: Poor guy. According to the Wizard, this is why he played the Mailer Daemon.
- Catching Some Zs: His Z's are special (musical rest signs).
- Conveniently an Orphan: He is quite glad that his family can't show up to make his life miserable.
- Expressive Mask
- Fish Out of Temporal Water: Most characters are out of place in the Present Day setting of the comic but he suffers the worst effect.
- Friendless Background: No friends no family and he was never to enthusiastic about this whole friendship thing, but for his misfortune he met Jareth in a bar... and they drowned their sorrows together. What did you think?
- Gadgeteer Genius: He is as good with machines and modern technology, as he is Fish Out of Temporal Water normally.
- Gerard Butler / Ramin Karimloo / Michael Crawford: Actor Allusion but which?
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Mostly to Jareth. The guy has a gift to piss him off.
- Idea Bulb: He has an idea candle.
- Improbable Weapon User: Punjab lasso which also functions as Variable-Length Chain.
- The Insomniac: Related to being The Workaholic, so he is mostly type B or C.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: The kindhearted part is debatable but he is a cat lover.
- Love At First Note: He has the tendency of falling in love with singing voices. Here with Mag's.
- Mad Artist: He still works on his opera that nobody can perform.
- Merlin Sickness: Contracted with the first re-imagining of his original story. He ages backwards (slowly). As fictional character he doesn't really age much... but fan expectations change (at least the executives say so) and because of this almost every new Phantom remake (re-imagining) has a younger and younger Erik and this affects the one in the 'verse of the comic.
- Motif: Outside of his Animal Motifs he is also Music Themed as already stated in his Unusual Euphemism and Catching Some Zs entry but this goes farther than those: You can always expect to find a random treble clef, musical note or something like that on his things etc..
- Murder Is the Best Solution: He firmly believes in this. For his misfortune his roommate is hard to kill.
- Nosebleed: He is kind of sensitive to the lack of female attire.
- Please Put Some Clothes On: Rare male on male example as he rooms with Mr. Fanservice and he isn't approving all the Shirtless Scenes at all.
- Properly Paranoid: If you room with a Fair Folk it's a must.
- Scenery Porn: His room is ridiculously detailed and posh.
- Stalker with a Crush: It's his canon, but here, most of the time, he's less guilty than suspected.
- Tall, Dark and Snarky: Because he is mostly based on the musical as opposed to his literary incarnation.
- Teleportation Sickness: Kind of a Noodle Incident because it's frequently referred to but never quite shown.
- Trap Master: You can believe that his room and by extension the building is full of traps and even more with secret passages. This actually got handy when the zombies appeared.
- Unusual Euphemism: He swears almost entirely in musical terms. When he switches to Symbol Swearing or Censor Box you know he is pissed.
- Wicked Cultured: Dresses well. Check. Uses polysyllabic words. Not always but: Check. Likes classical music. Check. Likes fine wines. Check. Has a body count. Just in canon but: Check. Yep. He is a fine example.
- The Workaholic
Apartment "B":
Commodore James Norrington (See also: The Many Faces of the Cast folder)
- Acquired Poison Immunity: Being a practicing alcoholic for a long time made him extremely resistant to most substances that could knock him out (including Jareth's magic peaches). He isn't perfectly immune but will get over such effects a lot faster than most people.
- Affectionate Nickname: He is Jamie for Jareth and from his reaction probably also for someone else but this isn't perfectly sure yet.
- The Alcoholic: He is recovering but falls Off the Wagon sometimes.
- Animal Motifs: Eagle (or dog).
- Attractive Bent Gender: He looks good as male, female, in a drag etc. with or without magical assistance. He is just special.
- Badass Longcoat
- Being Good Sucks: As he himself put it: "Stupid heroic streak..."
- Chronic Hero Syndrome
- Dating Catwoman: He is in a relationship with a girl of lesser standing and dubious "job" who is also French.
- Deadpan Snarker: He can out snark House.
- Drop-In Character: He and Javert almost live at Jareth's and Erik's place.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: He is even the closest thing to a hero.
- Honor Before Reason: He is recovering, but his mother still lectures him about it.
- The Lancer / The Rival: He bemoans his canonical standing as these.
- Jack Davenport: Yeah. Actor Allusion.
- Momma's Boy: With great luck because his mother is a Cool Old Lady.
- Morality Pet: Also to Jareth, whose dark side isn't above to Kick the Morality Pet, but at least is nice enough to ask if he wants to be a hero and fight the villain.
- Muggle Best Friend: The Badass Normal variety to Jareth. They are so close that it's bromance.
- Nice Guy
- Officer and a Gentleman: He doesn't dread his family's reaction to his girlfriend for nothing.
- Only Sane Man: Depressingly often for his own taste.
- Token Good Teammate: Of the main cast. Sure, the others are trying to better themselves but are still Jareth, Javert and Erik.
- Unknown Rival: Of Dr. Jones. He is the poor history teacher whose classes are empty because everyone goes to the archeology lecture.
- Weirdness Censor: At the beginning at least he tried really hard not to acknowledge that this place is weirder than his own movie. (For example when he first met Jareth what he first noticed was that the guy is shirtless not that he is clearly supernatural.) He reached the Fantastically Indifferent stage since.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Implied to have this kind of relationship with his father. Who is Deader Than Dead in this comic where Nobody Can Die because we fans hate the guy.
- The Woobie: Ashe even calls him this, so join the OH NO! James! club.
Inspector Javert (See also: The Many Faces of the Cast folder)
- Animal Motifs: Wolf.
- Anti-Magic: One of his supernatural abilities, if it's supernatural all and not just a side-effect of his stubborn nature, that he is extremely resistant to magic. Managed to shrug off Jareth's Laser-Guided Amnesia spell and was the first to fight off the Character Rerailment one.
- Badass Longcoat
- By-The-Book Cop: He will lecture a demon (Crowley) about not smoking in the library.
- The Comically Serious
- Determinator
- Drop-In Character: He and James almost live at Jareth's and Erik's place.
- Friendless Background: He doesn't have friends canonically and isn't so keen about making new ones either. He wouldn't even meet his neighbors if James didn't insist and brings the Fruit Basket.
- Former Teen Rebel
- Inspector Javert
- Human Mom, Nonhuman Dad: Inverted. He has Witch Species mom and a probably purely human father (not established here but the Spin-Off about him and Valjean named Clopin Trouillefou).
- One Head Taller: Javert and Valjean. It directly contradicts their established statures in the book to highlight the dynamic of their UST Nobody's necessarily complaining, however. This height difference comes from the Dream Cast version of the musical... and because of this he is taller than anybody.
- I'm not sure about this contradicting the Brick - Javert is always described as very tall, whereas average height for male Europeans at the time was around 5'3". So Valjean may be burly and muscular, but he's unlikely to have been as tall as Javert (and I don't remember his height being specifically mentioned, either).
- Philip Quast: Actor Allusion and the reason why he is One Head Taller.
- Punch Clock Hero: He is just doing his job as security guard. He even contemplates pulling a Villain Exit Stage Left stunt when he realizes that the university doesn't pay him enough for all the troubles... but he is to stubborn to give up. He also has some other "heroics" to do for some yet unexplored reason like one (1) honest-to-goodness good deed per year... naturally he tries to get rid off it as early as possible.
- Tall, Dark and Snarky
- True Sight: The one clearly supernatural ability he has here. (This addition to his canon traits was justified by his gypsy (later outright supernatural) ancestry. It would be a useless ability in his original story anyway... here, on the other hand...)
- What Is This Thing You Call Love?: He normally is quite oblivious to such matters (he doesn't recognize other people's love problems either). Since the Omake he got partially over it, but can still be quite oblivious.
- Weapon of Choice: Truncheon.
Others in the building
Apartment "C":
Crowley and Aziraphale
- Balance Between Good and Evil: Or Heaven and Hell. They act as the keepers of this. This fact is one of the reasons why The Fair Folk (that is by definition isn't allied with either side) is creepier and more dangerous than the resident demon.
- Heaven and Hell: Or at least the agents of them.
- Heterosexual Life Partners / Ho Yay / Foe Yay: Who knows...
- Friendly Enemy
- Fourth Wall Observer: Everyone has some level of Medium Awareness here... But they know the author, his/her phone number and according to Ashe, Crowley steals his/her beer.
- Schizo-Tech: For agents of Heaven and Hell they have an oddly high-tech equipment...
- Weapon of Choice: Tire-iron for Crowley / Flaming Sword for Azira.
Apartment "D":
- Apologises a Lot: Even to zombies.
- Captain Obvious: Less than in Girls Next Door but still has his moments.
- Combat Pragmatist
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: See?
- Orlando Bloom: Actor Allusion for his and James' great missfortune.
- Our Elves Are Better: He must be... he rooms with Sweeney.
- Ax Crazy
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: He has baby pictures of Johanna.
- Disappeared Dad: To Johanna, as is canon.
- Failed a Spot Check: Or a lot. He is bad at recognizing people a Paper-Thin Disguise is enough to fool him. Not to mention a Gender Bender caused by magic.
- Johnny Depp: For Actor Allusion jokes.
- Knife Nut: His Weapon of Choice is Razor.
- Locked Into Strangeness: Because his look is based on the movie.
Apartment "E" 4B:
- Affectionate Nickname: She is Chris for her friends (mostly Sarah).
- Badass Damsel / Damsel in Distress: Sorta. She managed to talk herself out of a Damsel in Distress situation.
- Betty and Veronica: Betty, in the triangle where Erik is Archie and Mag Veronica.
- Green-Eyed Monster: She is quite the jealous type...
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: ...but can let go for her loved one's sake.
- Lethal Chef: Or at least she couldn't bake an edible cookie even if her life depended on it.
- Plucky Girl
- Sarah Brightman: Actor Allusion rules.
- Sympathy for the Devil: She still has it.
- Action Girl: One has to wonder where and how exactly did she got that "Witch king's sword" on this page.
- Anchored Ship: The one she has with Jareth. She is in denial and doesn't trust the guy at all (who blames her?).
- Armor-Piercing Slap: She is prone to communicate her displeasure this way mostly to Jareth because you "Can't Argue with Elves" anyway.
- Badass Abnormal: She is Touched By[2] The Fair Folk since she bested the Labyrinth and defeated its King. (see also: Words Can Break My Bones)
- Badass Damsel: Much more straight example than Christine.
- Brainy Brunette: She is good in solving problems and general magical mess.
- Cool Big Sis: For Toby.
- Deadpan Snarker: She has her moments.
- Functional Genre Savvy
- Jennifer Connelly: OK. There were no jokes about this Actor Allusion, yet.
- Just in Time: She has an A in dramatic timing.
- Morality Chain: It's implied that she is this for Jareth and that his Dark Side would take over without her.
- The Nicknamer: The best example. She named Mrs. Norrington Mrs. N. after their first meeting, has some colorfull "nicknames" for Jareth (like Glittertwit) calls James Jamie, Christine Chris etc. not that bad considering that she isn't even member of the main cast.
- Tsundere: For Jareth. Even if she tries really hard to hide any dere side. Not that she successeds:
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- Words Can Break My Bones: She is one of the few who know the right words to tap into Jareth's power (and fairly won the right to do so).
Apartment "F":
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: He has baby pictures of Shilo.
- Anthony Head: Who knows when the Actor Allusion will hit.
- Deadly Doctor / Psycho for Hire: His canonical work.
- Knife Nut: His Weapon of Choice is the scalpel.
- Opaque Lenses: You can't see his eyes when he wears his glasses... when he takes those off he is probably ready to Get Dangerous.
- Overprotective Dad: Canonically. There are some clues that he isn't that extreme anymore.
- Alexa Vega: Actor Allusion... sooner or later.
- Girl Next Door
- Rebellious Spirit: Seems to be.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Deary. You're not Tempting Fate in this comic without consequences... even if the place seems like a harmless Slice of Life webcomic! "Still, it's not like we're going to find any psycho killers or wicked manipulators in this place..."
- Zettai Ryouiki: Her trademark clothing style.
Apartment "G":
- Fish Out of Water: This place is just too illogical for poor guy.
- Great Detective
- Robert Downey, Jr.: Actor Allusion and because Ashe doesn't like to draw hats.
- Sherlock Scan: He deduces half of Sweeney's background from a "Hmpf".
- Deadpan Snarker
- Jude Law: Actor Allusion hits sooner or later.
- The Watson
Apartment "H":
- Gentleman Thief: Dream thief that is. He learned the hard way that this is trespassing around here and the local Dream Weaver won't go easy on you... maybe he even fixes your movie!
- Leonardo DiCaprio: Just to be on the safe side for Actor Allusion jokes.
- Sharp-Dressed Man
Dominic Cobb's children (Philippa and James)
- All Lowercase Letters: Philippa talks like this.
- Cheerful Child: Both of them.
Apartment "I":
- Deadpan Snarker
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Canonically and according to Dresden.
- Spirit In A Skull
Apartment "J":
- Damsel in Distress: Let's just say that her movie didn't make her ready for this.
- High-Class Call Girl / Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Canonically.
- Nicole Kidman: Who knows when this will be important.
- Of Corsets Sexy: Not just because the art style.
- Dude in Distress Let's just say that his movie didn't make him ready for this.
- Ewan McGregor: Just to play safe on Actor Allusion.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist
- Writers Suck: This situation is even more over his head than his movie was.
The building staff
Because even #42 doesn't keep itself you know.
M. Andre and M. Firmin (Ex-Superintendents)
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: They manage to be this despite NOT being on the building staff anymore. They left a mess that Valjean still couldn't entirely sort out.
Jean Valjean (Superintendent)
- Good Is Not Dumb
- Turn the Other Cheek: Oh Boy. He is still the master of this.
- Understanding Boyfriend: If you take the omake as canon, then yes. Seriously, Javert attacks him and the first thing he worries about is that Javert is in trouble.
Mr. Saito (Landlord) (See also: The Many Faces of the Cast folder)
- Japanese Tourist: In Sarah's dreams no less. Jareth didn't appreciate it too much.
- Ken Watanabe: For Actor Allusion jokes (OK. there wasn't any yet).
- Undisclosed Funds: He bought the building because "It seemed... neater."
Ariadne (Architect of the new wing)
- Brainy Brunette
- Elliot Page: OK. They only appeared on one page yet,[when?] but here Actor Allusion can hit anytime.
Other Recurring Characters and Cameos
The Saint Jude University
The Extranormal Institute where most of the cast works and studies. Jamie teaches history, Erik teaches music, Javert is on security staff, etc. (Trivia: Saint Jude is the patron saint of lost causes and desperate situations, amongst others.)
Gandalf (Science staff)
- Deadpan Snarker: Just check this.
- Elemental Powers: He could always depend on fireworks.
- Wizard Classic
Dr. "Indiana" Jones (Archeology staff)
- Absent-Minded Professor: This can be the only reason why he is so oblivious to his Unknown Rival.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: As in canon.
- Harrison Ford: Actor Allusion. One of the reasons his classes are more popular than other teachers.
- Hot Teacher: The female students readily skip other lectures because of him.
Dr. Gregory House (Medical staff)
- Dr. Jerk: Still. He will humiliate patients just For the Lulz.
- Fake American: As canonical and Ashe firmly places him as Brit for feuding purposes.
- Hugh Laurie: Actor Allusion as the TARDIS knows.
- Tall, Dark and Snarky
Tenth Doctor (???)
- Admiring the Abomination: Wow. Zombies!
- Blah Blah Blah: Science-Fiction Science-Fiction (Techno Babble in the middle of a fight scene isn't as appreciated as it used to be.)
- Cloudcuckoolander
- Iconic Item: He has both the Sonic Screwdriver and the TARDIS.
- Mr. Exposition: He is the proud owner of the biggest Wall of Text of exposition in the whole series.
- No Sense of Personal Space: He has his moments.
- Sufficiently Advanced Alien
- Talking Your Way Out: Or at least asking for a bit more time.
Audrey 2 (Runaway experiment)
Pippin (Poor Sophomore on the menu)
Tracy Turnblad (Random music student)
- Big Fun: Yeah. Big and lovable.
- Genki Girl: She is really enthusiastic.
- The Nicknamer: She was only seen talking to Christine, who she called Chrissy. Nobody. Else. Ever. Did. This.
The Local Criminals
Partners in crime
- The Artful Dodger
- Nice Hat: Beret
Jack Dawkins - The Artful Dodger
- The Artful Dodger: Gee, ya think?
- Nice Hat: Top hat
Pets, Friends & Family
Captain Elizabeth Swann Turner (Friend of Sarah and Christine, University student)
Mrs. Lovett (Mr. Todd's misguided pseudo-girlfriend)
- Fashion Dissonance: She has a distinctly dated fashion sense.
- Helena Bonham Carter: Because we can't live without Actor Allusion.
- Lethal Chef: Canonically and for an extent.
- Mad Love
- Yandere
Éponine Thénardier (James' girlfriend)
- Affectionate Nickname: She is 'Pony for her boyfriend.
- Cool Hat: She has her trademark beret.
- Everything Sounds Sexier in Latin: She thinks that James using words of Latin origin (like: curriculum and charisma) sounds hot. What can we say she is French.
- The Glomp: She tends to do this to James a lot.
- Manipulative Bitch: Her canon and there are people here who remember.
Prince Lír (Jareth babysat him)
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: His romance with Amalthea is a touchy subject.
Blind Mag (Friend of the Wallace family and Erik's girlfriend... sorta)
- Betty and Veronica: Veronica, in the triangle where Erik is Archie and Christine Betty. Seems like she more or less won.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: She is blind.
- Ill Girl
- Of Corsets Sexy: Not just because of the art style.
- Sarah Brightman: Do we see a pattern here? Actor Allusion
Grave-Robber (Friend of Shilo)
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: He is a grave-robber.
- Terrance Zdunich: Better safe than sorry on the Actor Allusion here.
Toby (Tobias Williams) (Sarah's little brother)
- Fae Magnet: His Changeling Tale was subverted, because he got "saved". But is there any other child in fiction who almost got taken by The Fair Folk two times?
The Green Fairy ("Pet" of Satine and Christian)
- Anthropomorphic Personification
- Fairy Sexy
- Kylie Minogue: Not that you can see, but with all the Actor Allusion it's worth to note.
Hedwig (Brings Jareth's mail.)
- Stalker with a Crush: Ascended Fanon that it has a crush on Jareth's Owl form.
Mrs. Norrington (James' mother)
- Affectionate Nickname: She is Mrs. N. for the courageous.
- Arranged Marriage: Her first marriage was this kind.
- Cool Old Lady: Flirts with Fair Folk, gives candle talks, knows all and dares all! And still can appear as the proper Irish lady.
- The Gadfly: She has a lot of fun messing with people. (Ashe outright calls her a Troll)
- Interspecies Romance: Bordering on Did You Just Romance Cthulhu? if we think about where her love interest (The Erlkönig) is featured.
- Functional Genre Savvy: She deduced Mr. King's nationality just through Genre Savvyness. (OK. Being Irish and knowing a bit about Celtic Mythology probably also helped).
- OC Stand-In: The other characters react with shock and pity when they find out.
- Open-Minded Parent: Much more so than her son expected. She watched his movies, amongst other things.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Has green eyes and red hair and even if not part of the main cast but she is in the first circle of supporting characters (also the Love Interest of one of the most powerful beings around).
Groves and Gilette (James' old friends)
The Magical Community
All the characters who can be considered The Middle Folk (so magic but not Heaven and Hell, or Anthropomorphic Personifications. Basically The Fair Folk & The Witch Species). Presumably all related to eachother and Jareth somehow. Also their assorted magical creatures and minions will added here too.
Mr. Mistoffelees (Pet of Erik and Jareth)
- Affectionate Nickname: He is Misto for Jareth.
- Cats Are Magic: He isn't called the Magical Mystical Mr. Mistoffelees for nothing.
- Cats Are Mean: He likes to torture Jareth.
- Catboy: His other "form".
- Cute Kitten: Only the characters with True Sight (to be more precise fae sight, so this is the only time when the GO guys don't count) seem to be able to resist him and see his Catboy form. So Jareth and Javert.
- Expressive Ears: He IS an anthropomorphic cat.
- Right-Hand-Cat: Of Erik. Occasionally. When he feels like.
Schmendrick (Part of Jareth's extended family)
- Functional Genre Savvy / Medium Awareness: He even warns Jareth that he is trying to defy the story.
Jadis The White Witch (Jareth's mother) Her court is Winter. No specialties are known yet but probably quite literally (in the snow, ice, merciless cold and blinding whiteness kinda way).
- Affectionate Nickname: Can you believe that she has one?! Because the Erlkönig calls her my Snowflake!
- An Ice Person: Her son knows.
- Berserk Button: Mentioning the fact that she was defeated by children is not wise.
- Big Bad: In Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Why is this love thing so important for her son anyway?
- Evil Matriarch: No wonder her son would do a whole lot to keep her away.
- Knight of Cerebus: Not strictly a villain (even if she is the evilest character here) because the series is quite blurry on the concept but her (and her ex's) arrival marked the beginning of a lot darker stories.
- Might Makes Right: She believes this with all her heart... if she has one.
- Winter Royal Lady: As literally as it gets.
Morgan /Morgause/Etc. Le Fay/The Healer/Etc. (Mother of Javert and aunt of Jareth)
- Composite Character: Technically she would be Morgan The Healer but so many storytellers messed with her, her personality got mixed with so many others...
- Lethal Chef: Word of Ashe and this page say that she is one of these... either that or she uses some interesting ingredients.
- Mood Swinger: Almost to the point of Split Personality. The visible effect of her inconsistent characterization.
The Erlkönig (Jareth's father) His court specialites are deep forets and Things That Go Bump in the Night, he is also Summer.
- Ambiguous Syntax: "My son and the girl he has chosen are both in residence" (in the building... he doesn't say in the same apartment, or that they are together...). And the "gift of mortality???"
- Badass Cape: See this is his trademark clothing.
- Badass Long Hair: See?
- The Beast Master: All of his minions seen to date were magical / shadow / animal / spirit things. He can definitely use them as Animal Eye Spys and he even lent their power to the cast in Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On.
- Big Bad / Trickster Mentor: He was one of these in Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On... Not perfectly clear which but Trickster Mentor is a bit more likely.
- Creepy Awesome: He is on both the Nightmare Fuel (even his son calls him this in-universe) and the Heartwarming subpages, and also inspires a fair amount of Squee every time he appears.
- Cool Crown: He wears an (impossibly Awesome but Impractical looking) antler crown. Or he could be a Horned Humanoid but from the poem crown is much more likely.
- Cryptic Conversation: Likes to do this, just add his Ambiguous Syntax, love of the Rule of Symbolism and being a Fourth Wall Observer and you will get the idea. Weirdly he is quite sincere and straightforward just cracking the code he is speaking isn't that easy.
- Disappeared Dad: For Jareth and in his defense, he was banished by Jadis with THE monologue.
- Dream Weaver: We didn't see much of his magic yet, but he can do this with high proficiency. On perfect Your Mind Makes It Real level, if you die in one of his Dream Lands he can even claim your soul.
- Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Not outright evil just morally challenged, but he certainly tried to give his son more normal dreams and ambitions. But sadly his wife's idea of the perfect child was Overlord, Jr. (and she won custody). He still has a lot to do with the fact that for a member of The Fair Folk Jareth is positivelly cudly. See also Pinocchio Syndrome and try not to think too hard about it.
- The Fair Folk: Well, we are talking about an old-school fae from the time before Disneyfication that's for sure, but the same time he seems to have some interesting ideas concerning the importance of some human values (he freely admits that he doesn't really know what love is but he can identify Power when he sees it).
- Femme Fatalons: In his fae form at least.
- Fourth Wall Observer: He seems to be almost as aware as the GO guys and is also Dangerously Genre Savvy. He won't underestimate The Power of Love but build on it!
- Invisible to Normals / Invisible to Adults: The only adult characters who can see him if he doesn't want to be seen are the ones with True Sight.
- Knight of Cerebus: Not strictly a villain because he doesn't have the outright malice for it and also the series is quite blurry on the concept but his (and his ex's) arrival marked the beginning of a lot darker stories.
- Large Ham: He is really over-dramatic and over-poetic but also kinda brooding and angsty at times (when he isn't being Tall, Blond And Snarky). Also Chewing the Scenery is one of his favorite pastimes.
- Limited Wardrobe: Something he and his son doesn't have in common. He was seen in grand total of two (2) different outfits (his fae armor and a "suit" that was probably fashionable around the 17th or 18th century).
- Magnificent Bastard: Finally awarded for his outstanding performance of Xanatos Speed Chess in Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On.
- Monochromatic Midnight Blue Eyes: At least according to the one existing color illustration of him.
- Pinocchio Syndrome: He seem to have a mildcase from the Take a Third Option variety. As Fourth Wall Observer he sees pretty well what kind of fate (they lose) his kind is doomed to because of their oldschool mentality so he tries to find a way to change this (like getting access to the Power of Love and Friendship)... being extremely long lived, patient and alien this means no good for anybody in his way. See also Evil Parents Want Good Kids and shudder.
- Power Crystal: And even natural looking.
- Purple Is Powerful / Supernatural Is Purple: Purple is his second favorite color after (light) blue.
- Romancing the Widow: He does. James' mother.
- Strong Family Resemblance: He and his son Jareth (even more so in his Dark form). They look alike, dress alike (Painted-On Pants / Villainous Fashion Sense), have similar modus operandi and even share a Catch Phrase or two... but no Hereditary Hairstyle (Jareth has Eighties Hair).
- Sue Donym: Example bordering on Louis Cypher with a dash of Mr. Smith. He uses the name Lord Errol King or Mr. King for short in his human disguise.
- Wingdinglish: He speaks in runes if he doesn't bother with being understandable for Non-Magic people... because this represents the language of the magical beings. (When he does use his Translator Spell,[3] or everyone who hears him is magical, in a runic looking Latin font.)
The Erlkönig's daughter (Jareth's sister)
- Anime Hair: Maybe even Elemental Hair given that she looks kinda mist themed, but it's not yet established.
- The Fair Folk
- Graceful Ladies Like Purple / True-Blue Femininity: She prefers the misty colors of her eyes and hair and is a graceful fae lady. Maybe even a case of Supernatural Is Purple.
- Monochromatic Purple Eyes
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: It's purplish blue, actually.
- Curtains Match the Window: Her hair matches her eyes and so do her clothes.
Sir Didymus (Jareth's minion, Sarah's Non-Human Sidekick)
Socks (Random goblin. Jareth's (and Sarah's but she wouldn't admit) minion)
- The Nicknamer: He never use anybody's real name. He isn't too creative though, so he calls most people a Something Person.
- Original Character
- Stylistic Suck / Wanton Cruelty to the Common Comma: His speech pattern. See for yourself!
- Ugly Cute: He kinda looks like a House Elf.
- Power Floats: She quite literally floated down in the comic, not even 5 out of 10 as dramatic entrances go.
"Odile" (Jadis' minion. Probably not that Odile but the alias fits.)
- The Fair Folk: Quite probably. Has all the physical characteristics to qualify as a pure blooded fae in the series (namely: Pointy Ears and Monochromatic Eyes) and called Jareth "one of us".
- Femme Fatale
- Masculine Lines Feminine Curves: A weird subversion. Ashe's style to draw women tends to be highly (many times impossibly) curvy and this didn't change but "Odile" also has a lot of sharp lines (more than most if not all male characters) which gives her a "living crystal" look.
- Mistaken Declaration of Love / Magic Kiss: Seems like accepting "Odile"'s hand / answer when you're calling out for your true love magically binds you to her.
- Power Floats: She was seen to defy gravity at will.
- Waif Fu: She is comparatively small and looks fragile but has uncanny (maybe magic enhanced) reflexes and fights barehanded... can fight three armed Badass Normal characters simultaneously without problem. Later revealed that they just stalled her, but it's still impressive.
The Shadow Beasts (Minions of the Erlkönig)
- Bond Creatures: They can act like this. The Erlkönig lent them to the cast in Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On. They cause Animal Motifs and Mythical Motifs and can turn their host into an Animal-Themed Superbeing.
- Dark Is Not Evil: They appear in animal form so probably pretty neutral morally.
- Living Shadow: Can appear as these when they need to disguise themselfes (mostly when they're bound to someone so this overlaps with The Shadow Knows)
- Monochromatic Eyes Also can happen to their partners if they channel their knowledge or power.
"Killed for canon" support group
Tropaholics Anonymous group where the living-impaired can go. Javert, James, and Nathan visit it regularly... Erik too, when they can make him.
- Ambiguous Gender: He manages to confuse poor Erik a whole lot.
- Wholesome Crossdresser
Death (Group moderator)
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For the rest of the group please click this link. |
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Copies
Erik:
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Because this mini arc is just 2(+1) pages long and is unlikely for any of the copies to appear again no picture for them. But here are the originals a Pre-Halloween joke, Page 1, Page 2. |
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The Invasions and Outings
One ? To Rule Them All
The Lord of the Rings meets the 'verse.
Ringwraiths (The invaders)
Frodo
- Cuteness Proximity: He is illegally cute.
Off to See the Wizard (or the Oz arc)
Going on a vacation can be hazardous... they ended up in Oz.
The Munchkins (The locals)
The Gatekeeper of the Emerald city (Who wants a new job)
- Threshold Guardians: Not an effective one but still. Poor guy. He wasn't prepared for such visitors.
The Wizard (Who really wishes they would be somewhere else)
- It Was with You All Along: He is the one, who tells the cast that the way home is: Asking Jareth! To make matters clearer, someone needs to wish them back using the Right Words... that Jareth can't tell, but the Wizard knows.
- Magic Feather: Subverted. He tries to give the cast the customary "gifts" but they are quite unimpressed.
- The Man Behind the Curtain: Still the humbug hoplessly outclassed by the whole main cast.
Blind Date
The misguided matchmaking attempts of 3/4 of the main cast (and mostly Jareth).
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- Fantastic Racism: She is green.
- Older Than They Look: She still looks like a little girl which gets Jareth in trouble.
Zombie Apocalypse
Because this is what this verse needed!
Professional zombie hunters:
- Friend to All Children: See Heartwarming subpage.
- Heartbroken Badass: The series' biggest Tear Jerker when we find this out (or you could just watch Zombieland).
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold
- Weapon of Choice: Lever action rifle.
- Artificial Limbs: Still has the Chainsaw.
- Badass Normal
- Deadpan Snarker: (Not that you will notice that much, this is a World of Snark)
Uncategorized
Mystery (sidestory)
A Halloween costume party which gets derailed by a Murder Mystery.
Avenue Q performer + Kate Monster
- Big Bad: Of the arc.
- Green-Eyed Monster
- Motive Rant: She attacked Jareth and Sir Didymus because she was jealous of Labyrinth's Cult Classic status.
The Many Faces of Jareth
There were several versions of Jareth appearing in the comic justified by his powers (Time Master) and heritage (The Fair Folk). I made them a separate section because all of them are more or less spoilery.
Kid!Jareth (Appeared in the Kid!Jareth or Little Time Traveler arc and he is Exactly What It Says on the Tin really. He is a small kid Jareth from the past.)
- Cloudcuckoolander: He is a small child from a Magical Land of course he acts weird in the modern world.
- Divorce Assets Conflict: His parents are in the middle of it and yes they both count him as asset. Ends with Solomon Divorce more or less, Jareth ends up with his mother, daddy dearest takes his sister (but it's implied that she wasn't from this marriage anyway).
- Lonely Rich Kid: Lonely Magical Royal Kid. With parents like his who wouldn't be?
- Precocious Crush: And he even gave his word and those tend to be magically binging. Technically he promised to not be like his parents, always love the girl and to make all her wishes come true. The girl was Sarah. An older one. In the future. Their whole movie happened because of this Forgotten First Meeting that wasn't really forgotten just didn't happen yet... Mind Screw anyone? Also 2 out of 3 isn't so bad. See also: The Jailbait Wait in his regular tropes.
Dark!Jareth (Appeared in the Dark!Jareth arc and also in Such Stuff As Dreams are Made On. He is basically Jareth's Super-Powered Evil Side and read Evil as Fair.)
- Blue and Orange Morality: He thinks in Trope and measures moral questions in the terms of the Theory of Narrative Causality. He would kill if that was the story, maybe feel remorse about the life lost but would think and feel that that was the right thing to do. To clarify he seems to have some idea about what humans call "good" or "bad" but he thinks of them as storytelling devices not morality and as such doesn't value them over any other Trope.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: His second appearance was pretty much magically manipulated by his mother.
- The Fatalist: As Sarah put it he is "Mr.-I-have-to-obey-the-story".
- Fourth Wall Observer: He is aware of the story his role in it his ultimate fate and his only way out... if only the heroine would notice.
- Large Ham: What can we say? The guy planned a Rooftop Confrontation just for the effect!
- Love Confession: He and his other side here.
- Monochromatic Midnight Blue Eyes: A lot like his fathers... and a lot darker than his normal eye color. The most telling mark that you're dealing with him.
- No Sense of Personal Space: He has his moments. Not that he is friendly. He knows perfectly well how awkward intrusion in their personal space can be for others.
- Super-Powered Evil Side: Technically he would be Jareth's original fae personality... but his love and gratitude for the girl he chose, the camaraderie he feels for his friends and his own desire to change makes him suppress it.
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To quote Pika-la-Cynique's comment about it: "... is an indestructible, irrepressible, easily-amused and frequently bored prankster on his *good* days, and an amoral, ruthless, Story-powered villainous Fae lord with time-fluxing abilities on the bad." |
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- Strong Family Resemblance: He, even more so than normally, and his father.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: After his last attempt to make the heroine see his side of the story in the Dark!Jareth arc. To be fair talking in Blue and Orange Morality didn't help his cause (like suggesting that Sarah's wish to be the heroine makes it her fault that a villain is needed), not to mention that (realistically written fictional) humans normally can't just choose to "love" someone.
- Villainous Fashion Sense: ... not that his "Good" side doesn't normally dress like that, mind you. But that at least doesn't force it on the others. Most of the time.
Mortal!Jareth (Appeared in Such Stuff Dreams Are Made On after receiving a rather ambiguous gift from his father. He broke the spell around halfway through the arc.)
- Adorkable: Ditzy, wide-eyed, confused and insanely cute.
- Bad Dreams: The Dreaming the Truth / Talking in Your Dreams variety.
- Brought Down to Normal: Not a permanent De-Power but his only strange ability (according to Shadow!Javert) in this form is to always know where Sarah is.
- Cell Phone: He has one and has his dad on speed-dial.
- Fake Memories: Seem to have them and he is locked in a full-blown Lotus Eater Machine. Daddy thinks of everything.
The Many Faces of the Cast
Sometimes we see other versions of the others... you can guess this has to do with all The Tricksters around.
The Kid versions
(Appeared in the Kids arc):
Kid!Erik
- Static Character: He was only shorter as a kid.
Kid!James
- Puppy Dog Eyes / Sparkling Stream of Tears: Yep. He cries a lot... and looks ADORABLE in the process.
Kid!Javert
- Evil Is Petty: He isn't above taking candy from a baby... or at least cookie from Kid!James.
- Rebellious Spirit
The Female versions
(Gender Bender brought to us by Jareth's cold. They stayed in this form the longest, made some fans question their sexuality and Sarah lampshaded the Attractive Bent Gender principle.):
Female!Erik
- The Ladette: What did you expect?
- Static Character: Still the murderous psycho we all love.
Female!James
- Different for Girls: (S)he really shouldn't stand like that with his new... body parts.
- Spirited Young Lady
- Team Mom: (S)he is the closest to this.
Female!Javert
Female!Legolas (We don't see enough form her for any tropes.)
The "Shadow" cast
of Such Stuff Dreams are Made On. At the surface they look like Muggle versions Brought Down to Normal like Jareth, but it becomes apparent quite quickly that they are a lot more. Mr. King lent them the power of his minions. See also: The Shadow Beasts in the Magical Community folder.
Tropes for all
- Animal-Themed Superbeing: In Dream Sequences and after Jareth breaks the Lotus Eater Machine.
- Cryptic Conversation: They do this... a lot... almost like they enjoy knowing more about the situation than Jareth does.
- Monochromatic Blue Eyes: At least when they are testing the safeguards of the Lotus Eater Machine.
- The Shadow Knows: Their Animal Motifs and Mythical Motifs appear this way in the "normal world".
Shadow!Javert
- Animal Motifs: He is still the Wolf.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: The "Fae Animal Superhero" outfit makes him this.
Shadow!James
- Animal Motifs: Eagle.
- Sacrificial Lion: He admits being this in his own story and plays the trope intentionally here.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: The "Fae Animal Superhero" outfit makes him this.
Shadow!Erik
- Animal Motifs: Panther, or at least some kind of a big cat.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: The "Fae Animal Superhero" outfit makes him this.
Shadow!Saito
- Badass Long Robe: The Kimono variety.
- Mythical Motifs: He got Eastern Dragon! How Mr. King got this Shadow Beast is a mystery.
Shadow!Sarah
- Animal Motifs: Swan.
- Battle Ballgown: Her Swan Girl costume. She looks really Goblin Queen like in it.
- Bare Your Midriff: Her Swan Girl costume.
- Frying Pan of Doom
Others
Ashe Rhyder (Yeah. The creator is a character too.)
- Ambiguous Gender: His/her Creator Cameo. The Artist goes so far to ignore the guesses... the fans stand mostly on the "who cares?" side.
- Creator Cameo
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: According to Ashe, Crowley steals his/her beer.
- Genre Savvy: Averted Rage Against the Author by running before the characters realized who (s)he is.
- One of Us: Ashe is a troper, who occasionally even references the site in the artist comments.
- Third Person Person: Occasionally switches to this in The Artist comments.
Cheryl (Waitress)
- Back to Roommates (2007 webcomic)
- ↑ (He is the only one NOT ridiculously tall from the main cast, but he can float!)
- ↑ (not that kind of touching for the great annoyance of Jareth)
- ↑ (Word of Ashe that he never bothered learning any other language.)