The Longest Journey/Characters

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Following is a list of characters in The Longest Journey. For characters first introduced in the sequel, see Dreamfall: The Longest Journey/Characters.

April Ryan

Rebel. Emissary. Chosen.

The main character of the original game, April was an Ordinary College Student living in Stark when she found herself thrust in an adventure in which she was destined to save both her world and Arcadia, the world of magic, from the machinations of Jacob McAllen and his followers, the Vanguard, using her powers as a Shifter, which allowed her to travel between the worlds. Her journey came to an unexpected end and ten years later, during the events of Dreamfall, she has become a jaded and bitter woman fighting a guerrilla war against the occupying Azadi Empire in Arcadia.

  • Action Girl: In Dreamfall only.
  • Action Survivor: In the first game, oh so much.
  • Broken Bird: She's clearly depressed in Dreamfall.
  • Brought Down to Normal: She loses her Shifting powers between The Longest Journey and Dreamfall, though the White Kin explains that this is probably because of her fear of returning to Stark.
  • Casual Danger Dialog: She in particular takes a lot of her perils with a side of wisecracking.
  • Cerebus Retcon: When Zoë is shown a photo of April and her friends in Dreamfall, April looks considerably more "dark" then in The Longest Journey. Understandable though, since using a picture more resembling the original "colorful" atmosphere wouldn't fit the new graphic rendering.
  • The Chosen One: Subverted: she assumes that she has been chosen to be the next Guardian of the Balance, but in fact, she is only supposed to find the Guardian and shepherd him to his destiny. Still, there are hints in the promotional material of Dreamfall that she is yet to receive her fair chunk of destiny.
    • She still gets more than her fair share of being Chosen though. She accumulates prophecies like dust as the original game goes on: she's the Kan-ang-la, April bandu-embata, the Windbringer, the Waterstiller... it goes on. At one point, she asks a guard something like "Don't you have a prophecy that I can fulfill? Because that's how this thing usually goes."
      • And, just for the record: the encounter when she says that results in her being named "the Wave" in addition to the messianic titles she gain before...
        • A Wave, technically. It means she'll end up being very important to the future of Arcadia.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Very much so.
  • Death Seeker: She becomes one in Dreamfall.
  • Dropped a Bridge On Her: She dies highly anti-climatically in Dreamfall... by being stabbed by a random Azadi grunt. Good thing she reincarnates almost immediately.
  • Genre Savvy: In the original game... and how.
    • Though she displays occasional Genre Blindness, like in the encounter with the Gribbler. But lampshades it a lot later.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: The Draic-Kin female hinted that April might in fact be one. Since her mother turns out to be a dragon...
  • I Have Many Names: Accumulates a new title with every culture she aids.
  • Kleptomaniac Hero: As per standard for an Adventure Game protagonist.
  • Ordinary High School Student: Actually, she applies for university.
  • Simple Staff: Her weapon in Dreamfall.
  • Trapped in Another World: In Dreamfall, April has lost her ability to shift, so she's stranded in Arcadia.
  • True Companionship: April and her two best friends Charlie and Emma, although they can't follow her on her journey and as of the beginning of Dreamfall, they haven't heard from her for 10 years. They are still searching for her though, at least, Emma does. Charlie has given up on ever finding her (along with his dream of being a dancer). He does, however, go out of his way to help Zoe find her.

Cortez a.k.a. Mannie Chavez a.k.a. the Red Kin

A mysterious old man that tended to hang outside April's boarding house, Cortez at first seemed akin to a crazy hobo. But as the story unfolds, Cortez is shown to be much more than that and winds up being April's mentor in her quest to restore the Balance.

Father Raul

A friend of Cortez, Father Raul looks out for his congregation at the Hope Street Cathedral in the slums of Newport.

White Mother

The original White Draic'Kin, one of the four that created the two worlds ages ago. She first appears in a dream of April's early on the game, her importance is not fully realized until much later.

Charlie

One of April's best friends.

Emma

April's best female friend and a student at the Venice Academy Of Arts like her.

  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: But several characters in the game are of the opinion that although she's a terrible flirt, she's clever and can take care of herself.
  • Plucky Girl
  • Shipper on Deck: Regarding her two best friends.
  • Undying Loyalty: She hasn't heard from her best friend in ten years, and still spends a lot of the money from her career as an artist on searching for her.

Zack Lee

April's rude neighbor that lives across from her in the Border House.

  • Jerkass: His introduction scene already has him being extremely obnoxious, then his second appearance is him essentially blackmailing April into going on a date with him. Finally, he gets extremely vindictive when April either does not show up for their date and makes "look stupid in front of his friends", or knees him in the groin during their date for groping her.

Brian Westhouse

Like April, Brian is a denizen of Stark that has journeyed to Arcadia, but unlike April, he is not a Shifter so he can't return home. In the original game, he lived in his seaside home in Marcuria where he languished his days away with drink. After aiding April on her quest, Brian decided to turn his life around and leave Marcuria to explore the rest of Arcadia.

  • Chekhov's Gunman: His role in Dreamfall would seem to indicate that he's much more important than it initially seemed.

Crow

April's plucky avian sidekick whom she saved from a greedy con-man. He tends to be rather scatterbrained, but he considers April a true friend and proves to be instrumental in her quest.

  • Cloudcuckoolander: As a bird, he gets distracted rather easily.
  • Non-Human Sidekick
  • Non-Indicative Name: He's not actually a Crow (and gets more than a little upset when April tells him what "Crows" are known for in her world). He was named by April after her favourite childhood cartoon: "Crowboy".
  • Plucky Comic Relief: In both games. He doesn't appear until near the end of the game in Dreamfall though, so his levity is rather overdue after a game full of being harassed, arrested and attacked. He's also somewhat less "plucky" than most examples because it's quite easy to hurt his feelings; probably because his only friend in the world (viz. April) tends to treat him like a tool, and a somewhat dim one at that. Zoë goes a long way towards endearing herself to him by treating him with considerably more respect: an optional conversation with him in Dreamfall is just a conversation for the sake of conversation.

Frank Minelli

A hapless detective whose life April tended to inadvertently ruin on her quest to save the Balance.

  • The Chew Toy: April encounters him early on in Chapter 2. She ends up poisoning him with toxic waste, then stealing his identity, which later results in his being tortured for information he doesn't actually have. There's no indication that he deserves any of this.

Burns Flipper

An obnoxious, but intelligent and experienced hacker and tech specialist. Flipper aided April in trying to get inside Jacob McAllen's headquarters.

Flipper: And the world keeps going 'round and 'round cause the Flipper's on board!

Gordon Halloway a.k.a. the Thirteenth Guardian

Jacob McAllen's right-hand man, Gordon is an emotionless and cruel man that the Vanguard sought to make the new Guardian.

  • The Atoner: After his rational and magical selves were joined by April, and he decides to be the Thirteenth Guardian to atone for his crimes.
  • Creepy Monotone: Speaks in one due to having his soul separated from him, manifesting as the Chaos Vortex in Arcadia.
  • The Dragon: To McAllen.

Jacob McAllen a.k.a. the Green Kin

  • Big Bad: Of the first game, who, ironically enough, is a dragon.
  • The Chessmaster
  • Dark Messiah: He saw himself as one, being a charismatic religious leader that sought to bring back the powers of both worlds to humanity.
  • Large Ham: Gets this way near the end of the first game.

Cortez: "Listen to yourself. 'Blood of my blood, kin to my kin.' Doesn't it ever bother you that you sound like a badly written play?"