The Cornelius Chronicles/Characters

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Jerry Cornelius

Our main character, though sometimes he takes a background role in his own stories.

• Agent Peacock: Bordering on Costume Porn.
• Anti-Hero
• Anything That Moves: Though in a cheery Jack Harkness kind of way.
• Brother-Sister Incest: Jerry loves his sister Catherine (his brother Frank is the other leg in a Sibling Triangle).
  • Parental Incest: He describes himself as "the last of the truly innocent mother-fuckers" in "The Swastika Set-Up". And means it.
• Crossdresser: Sometimes by choice, sometimes not. Attractive Bent Gender in either case.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: From time to time.
• I Let My Sister Die
• Musical Assassin: Usually he favors guns of some sort, but Norman Spinrad's "The Last Hurrah of the Golden Horde" arms Jerry with an electric violin with built-in amps which make the high notes ultrasonic, the low notes infrasonic, and the audible frequencies suppressed. When Jerry pops in his earplugs and plays various songs (ranging from "Wipeout" to "God Save the Queen") weird things happen to the minds of his audience.

Seven hundred chanting kindergarten children achieved satori and began to eat a huge American flag drenched in soy sauce.

• Significant Monogram
  • Significant Anagram: Other characters in Moorcock's Multiverse have "Jerry Cornelius" (or the alternate first name "Jeremiah") as the basis of their names, such as J'osui C'reln Reyr in The Sailor on the Seas of Fate and Corum Jhaelen Irsei.
• Trickster Archetype: Jerry starts out as Harlequin, but over the course of the first four novels finds that he may be The Fool and finally settles into the role of Pierrot.

Catherine Cornelius

Jerry's beloved sister, and something of a tragic figure.

• Closer to Earth: Catherine functions as Columbine. It's more obvious in the "real-world" portions of The Condition of Muzak.
• Dead Little Sister: Several times, even
• Hair of Gold, though initially she's dark-haired Jerry's Half Identical Twin.

Frank Cornelius

Jerry's brother, out for what he can get.

• Ambition Is Evil and Frank is Power Hungry
• Cain and Abel: Frank is definitely Cain to Jerry's Abel, though he's more likely to die than kill.
• Honest John: An exceptionally sleazy example.
• The Resenter
• Smug Snake

Honoria Cornelius

The domineering mother of the Cornelius clan. Survives just about everything life throws at her.

• Apron Matron
• Big Eater
• Dirty Old Woman
• Funetik Aksent: Mrs. C is Cockney an' just fine wiv that, luv.
• Gold Digger: Well, she might just luck into it.
• Kavorka Woman: One of the very few. Despite the fact that she is never described as less than hugely fat and slatternly, she does all right for herself.

"I've never gone short o' beaux," she said. "Whatever else 'as 'appened ter me."

• My Beloved Smother: One of the few people Jerry is genuinely scared of-- and not without reason (image NSFW for female nudity in two panels).
• Still Gets Around

Una Persson

First appearing in A Cure For Cancer, she is a heroic revolutionary and supporter of Jerry.

• Action Girl
• The Chanteuse
• Distaff Counterpart: To Jerry. They both share Catherine as a lover, and she eventually becomes Harlequin when he becomes Pierrot.

Miss Brunner

Jerry's opposite number, big on order and authoritarianism (especially in the later stories).

• Evil Redhead
• Foe Yay
• Manipulative Bitch
• Vampiric Draining: She's capable of bodily absorbing her sex partners in The Final Programme.

Bishop Beesley

Another of Jerry's enemies, though more greedy and less formidable.

• Fat Bastard
• Sinister Minister
• Sweet Tooth: He'll even snort sugar like it was cocaine.
• Villainous Glutton

Other Persons of Interest

Most of these characters show up in works after The Final Programme. They're listed in alphabetical order rather than order of appearance.

Sebastian Auchinek

A theatrical agent/music producer and sometimes antagonist to Jerry.

• You Have to Have Jews
• Jive Turkey: Comes off this way in the "real-world" parts of The Condition of Muzak.

Mitzi Beesley

Bishop Beesley's amazingly unpleasant daughter.

• Blondes Are Evil
• Daddy's Little Villain

"Shaky" Mo(ses) Collier

A drinking (snorting, shooting, smoking) buddy of Jerry's. Also a demolitions expert and sometimes roadie.

• Bomb Throwing Anarchist
• Canon Immigrant: Mo was actually a creation of author M. John Harrison.
• War for Fun and Profit

"Flash" Gordon Gavin

• Mysterious Informant
• Significant Nickname: Gordon's got a bit of a exposure habit. (And shows up as Lady Godiva (!!) at a Christmas costume ball.)

Professor Hythloday Hira

• Bollywood Nerd: An Unbuilt Trope version, so he has some mystic elements too.

Spiro Koutrouboussis

• Upper Class Twit / Rich Idiot With No Day Job

Doctor Karen von Krupp

• Depraved Dentist
• Heel Face Revolving Door

Prinz Lobkowitz

• Aristocrats Are Evil, or at least unreliable.

Major Nye

• Old Soldier

Colonel Pyat

• Ascended Extra: Eventually got his own tetralogy (The Pyat Quartet).
• Renegade Russian
• Unreliable Narrator: In the quartet.