History Characters / TheCave

'''Note:''' This character sheet is for the 2013 videogame ''The Cave,'' and has no relation to the 2005 horror movie of the same name.

* VillainProtagonist: [[spoiler:All of them except for, arguably, the Knight and the Hillbilly are doing cruel things for selfish reasons.]]

* DoesNotLikeShoes: His character model has huge bare feet.

* RealityEnsues: [[spoiler:His bad ending shows him trying to pull off the usual trend of kids or young men slaying dragons with confidence while ignoring the logic that they aren't trained properly. This ends the way reality would portray; the kid fails horribly and ended up with himself and his country destroyed. The good ending shows that it would take experienced, well-trained, and strong men to defeat strong dragons.]]

* RealityEnsues: [[spoiler:She thinks killing her rival's ancestor from the stone age can remove his existence. She really doesn't know that a caveman can be an ancestor to, let's say, great and important people who made her future possible, and her rival isn't the caveman's only descendant.]]

* EldritchLocation: Besides being a sapient, talking ''geological formation'' the place can contain multiple separate biomes with locations from hundreds of years apart underground, going down it all the way somehow [[spoiler:sends you back to the top]], and [[spoiler:if you keep what you came for, the ladder to the surface is implied to be endless.]]

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He has a rather cruel sense of humor and oftentimes makes jokes that are in bad taste, but he seems to have the players interest at heart. He encourages them to look past the failures and see what lessons there are to be learned, and maintains faith that when the player makes their own journey into The Cave, they'll be ready to make the right decisions.

* LemonyNarrator: As a narrator he's prone to snarky jabs.
* NoFourthWall: As shown at several points, the cave addresses us the players as fluently as the characters. Maybe more so.

* UnreliableNarrator: Its SarcasmMode in full effect may make it seem to be this, but in the end it's totally accurate to each character's choices.

* CharacterDevelopment: Either the character development happened ''during'' the journey, or the journey merely reviews character development that already occurred. [[spoiler: The bad endings depict them having succumbed to inner demons in the past, and either dealing with or choosing to ignore the fallout of their decisions. The Good Endings show what is either them biting down on their inherent flaws at the last minute, or their expressing sorrow over not doing so (it's ambiguous which actually happened). Either way, they leave The Cave with an appreciation of moral consequences.]]
* DoubleMeaning: [[spoiler: All of The Cave's introductions for the characters become a lot more sinister once you see what they are entering The Cave for.]]

* VillainProtagonist: [[spoiler: All of them except for, arguably, the Knight and the Hillbilly are doing cruel things for selfish reasons.]]

* EpicFail: [[spoiler: In his bad ending, as a result of trying to take down the dragon, the entire kingdom goes up in flames.]]
* ExcaliburInTheStone: His object of desire. [[spoiler: He can't pull it from the stone until his partners use some dynamite to loosen it.]]

* RealityEnsues: [[spoiler:His bad ending shows him trying to pull out the usual trend of kids or young men slaying dragons with confidence while ignoring the logic that they aren't trained properly. This ends the way reality would portray, the kid fails horribly and ended up with himself and his country destroyed. The good ending shows that it would take experienced, well-trained, and strong men to defeat strong dragons.]]
* StandardHeroReward: He seeks the hand of the princess. [[spoiler: He never actually gets her, but he does get a little kiss for his honesty in the good ending.]]
* SweetAndSourGrapes: [[spoiler: In his good ending. Despite admitting to his lie of being a knight, the peasant does get a little peck on the cheek from the princess for his honesty.]]

* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler:His heartbreak on being rejected leads to him ''burning a bunch of people alive'']]

* PyroManiac: [[spoiler:In his bad ending he burns down the carnival, and then goes on a spree, burning down county fairs and carnivals across the country.]]
* SecondLove: [[spoiler: In his good ending. After being rejected by the glamorous circus performer, he meets up with a simple country girl, finds happiness, and raises many little Billhillies.]]

* ForWantOfANail: [[spoiler: While killing her fellow employee was certainly nothing small, it ends up causing a BadFuture in her bad ending.]]

* {{Greed}}: [[spoiler: For no stated reason other than cold hard cash, she assisted in the launch of a nuclear missile which killed over a hundred million people.]]

* KickTheDog: [[spoiler: The guidance system for the missile? A little monkey which she coaxed into his place with a bunch of bananas.]]

* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: [[spoiler: Her good ending shows her rejecting the military's money and using her nuclear science for the benefit of society.]]

* ItsAllAboutMe: Her selfishness is not only a part of her story arc, it's part of the gameplay, where her companions--the other player characters--are almost impaled on spikes because of how she progresses through her area, and the cave wonders if she'd even care if she realized.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:In their bad ending they poison their parent's food, but are forced to eat the same meal and die as well.]]

* TearsOfRemorse: [[spoiler:In their good ending they warn their parents not to eat the soup and tearfully hug their parents at the end.]]

* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler:Why the are in the cave. They wish to poison their parents so they won't be held to any rules.]]

* [[spoiler: MultipleEndings: Based on whether she takes the Greatest Employee trophy out of the cave. She either returns to congratulate her coworker, or she accidentally causes a bad future.]]

* GeniusLoci

* LemonyNarrator

-->''"Because of the amount of people that he’s seen coming down here and their descendants, nothing surprises him anymore. Everybody’s been down here at some point or another."''

* [[spoiler: DoubleMeaning: All of The Cave's introductions for the characters become a lot more sinister once you see what they are entering The Cave for.]]

* [[spoiler: VillainProtagonist: Yes. ALL of them.]]
** AntiVillain:[[spoiler: In the Good Endings, if you interpret it as the characters having made the bad decisions in the past and regretted them after the journey into The Cave.]]
** AntiHero: [[spoiler: Also in the Good Endings, if you instead interpret it as the characters having refused to make the evil decisions in the past, despite all the villainous build-up, backstory, and inner demons, and the journey into The Cave was just a review of that history.]]

* BarrierWarrior[=/=]NighInvulnerability: With his ability.
* [[spoiler: EpicFail: In his bad ending, as a result of trying to take down the dragon, the entire kingdom goes up in flames.]]

* [[spoiler: MultipleEndings: If the knight chooses to take the sword from the cave, his ending is to burn to death along with the king and the country when the dragon attacks. If he leaves what he desires most behind, then he reveals who he really is to the king, who subsequently prepares his soldiers for battle instead of depending on an irresponsible boy to save him.]]
* [[spoiler: RealityEnsues: His bad ending shows him trying to pull out the usual trend of kids or young men slaying dragons with confidence while ignoring the logic that they aren't trained properly. This ends the way reality would portray, the kid fails horribly and ended up with himself and his country destroyed. The good ending shows that it would take experienced, well-trained, and strong men to defeat strong dragons.]]
* StandardHeroReward: He seeks this. [[spoiler: Doesn't quite go his way.]]
* [[spoiler: SweetAndSourGrapes: In his good ending. Despite admitting to his lie of being a knight, the peasant does get a little peck on the cheek from the princess for his honesty.]]

* DoesNotLikeShoes

* LoveMakesYouEvil
* [[spoiler: MultipleEndings: Based on whether he takes the big Pink Bear out of the cave.]]
** [[spoiler:PyroManiac: In his bad ending he burns down the carnival, and then goes on a spree, burning down county fairs and carnivals across the country.]]
** [[spoiler:SecondLove: In his good ending. After being rejected by the glamorous circus performer, he meets up with [[BettyAndVeronica a simple country girl]], finds happiness, and raises many little Billhillies.]]

* SuperNotDrowningSkills

* DrivenByEnvy

* [[spoiler: MultipleEndings: Based on whether she takes the Greatest Employee trophy out of the cave.]]
** [[spoiler:GracefulLoser: In her good ending, she returns to the future without changing the past and gives the Greatest Employee heartfelt congratulations.]]
** [[spoiler: ForWantOfANail: While killing her fellow employee was certainly nothing small, it ends up causing a BadFuture in her bad ending.]]

* [[spoiler: RealityEnsues: She thinks killing her rival's ancestor from the stone age can remove his existence. She really doesn't know that a caveman can be an ancestor to, let's say, great and important people who made her future possible, and her rival isn't the caveman's only descendant.]]

* HollywoodHacking: Her special ability.

* [[spoiler: MultipleEndings: Based on whether or not she takes the briefcase of cash from the cave.]]
** [[spoiler: ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: Her good ending shows her rejecting the military's money and using her nuclear science for the benefit of society.]]
** [[spoiler: EveryManHasHisPrice: Her bad ending shows her taking the money, and living a life of luxury while nuclear war erupts behind her.]]

* ActionGirl
* AdventurerArchaeologist
* ItsAllAboutMe: Oh yes...
* [[spoiler: MultipleEndings: If the Adventurer leaves the cave with the gold coffin, Bad Ending. Otherwise, Good Ending.]]
** [[spoiler: KarmaHoudini: In her bad ending, she kills her 'friends' with a dynamite explosion, and claims all the money and glory for herself. No retribution here.]]
** [[spoiler: ThePowerOfFriendship: In her good ending, she warns her friends about the traps, makes up, and learns to share the rewards.]]

* CreepyChild: Most definitely.
* CreepyTwins: Goes without saying.
* [[spoiler: ForTheEvulz: The Cave suggests this might have been their motivation.]]
* HalfIdenticalTwins
* [[spoiler: SelfMadeOrphan: Why the are in the cave.]]
* IJustWantToBeFree: With the darkest possible tone. [[spoiler: When they felt too oppressed by their proper, upstanding (but very loving and reasonable) parents, they simply killed them with rat poison.]]

* [[spoiler: MultipleEndings: Based on whether or not they take the rat poison from the cave.]]
** [[spoiler:HoistByHisOwnPetard: In their bad ending they poison their parent's food, but are forced to eat the same meal and die as well.]]
** [[spoiler:TearsOfRemorse: In their good ending they warn their parents not to eat the soup and hug their parents at the end.]]

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter
* [[spoiler:DeceptiveDisciple]]
* [[spoiler: EpicFail: This guy failed to have any of the traits of a true monk. No wonder he was passed over by his master.]]
* [[spoiler: KlingonPromotion: His ultimate goal.]]
* MindOverMatter
* [[spoiler: MultipleEndings: Depending on whether he takes the Meditation Statue out of the cave.]]
** [[spoiler:TameHisAnger: In his good ending, the monk continues struggling to gain enlightenment, and eventually learns inner peace.]]
** [[spoiler: KlingonPromotion: In his bad ending, the monk shortcuts the process of learning by killing the old sifu, and becomes The Dark Master.]]

* [[spoiler: Reality Ensues: She thinks killing her rival's ancestor from the stone age can remove his existence. She really doesn't know that a caveman can be an ancestor to, let's say, great and important people, and her rival isn't the caveman's only descendant.]]

* [[spoiler: RealityEnsues: She thinks that killing a caveman who is the ancestor of her fellow employee will remove him from her life. She really don't know that the caveman can also be the ancestor of, let's say, ''countries worth of people,'' with some might contribute great things to mankind.]]

* [[spoiler: RealityEnsues: She thinks that killing a caveman who is the ancestor of her fellow employee will remove him from her life. She really don't know that the caveman can also be the ancestor of, let's say, ''a country's worth of people,'' with some might contribute great things to mankind.]]

* HeyItsThatVoice: You might recognize him as [[VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}} a certain chain-smoking, stoic German PSI-agent]].