History Sandbox / UnitedStatesOfMonstersCharacters

* KickTheSonOfABitch: By his own admission, Thoth killed hundreds of slavers over the course of his life, but it wasn't out of the goodness of his heart - he just wanted to kill people, and slavers were a good target. Crossing the line by murdering an innocent child in the process made Thoth reimagine himself into the sly businessman we meet.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Alex confirms that he's neuroatypical, but just ''what'' it is he has is anyone's guess.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Alex grew up with an abusive father, but when he gained his powers and willed his father to die, his sister Samantha was killed as well. This combined with his AmbiguousDisorder led to him being committed to a mental institution for a year, and upon his release, he stole the Merlin Gun and became a wandering hunter who killed supernaturals regardless of if they deserved it or not.

* AmbiguousDisorder: There's something wrong with Rebecca, but what exactly it is isn't spelled out. On the one hand, she views supernatural beings as little more than animals [[spoiler:and can kill a thousand of them without flinching]], but she loves her siblings even though some of them are supernaturals.

* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:During her marriage to Derek, Cassandra was still self-aware enough to realize that she hated her husband and her life yet was completely powerless to do anything about it]].

* HeroesWantRedheads: Derek's wife Cassandra was a redhead, and Shannon later reveals that she was ordered to dye her hair red to match it in the hopes it would help her seduce him. Derek admits that it helps, but he only falls for her after getting to know her better.

* DisproportionateRetribution: For the crime of not showing him proper respect, the Chairman and the Committee blow up Derek's left eye.

* TokenGoodTeammate: The Professor is the only higher up in the House shown to be focused on doing his job instead of lining his own pockets. It's why Derek is willing to trust him even if he doesn't like him.

* CharacterDevelopment: In the beginning, Penny isn't ready to consider something as permanent as settling down because she believes she's too young for that. By the end of the book, she's come to appreciate how important it is to savor her life while she still can, and by the beginning of the second she and Lucy are married. [[spoiler:By the end of the trilogy, she's even raising Mercy, the exact scenario she previously scoffed at, and is very happy with her life]].

* FallenHero: Derek notes that Tommy was once a bright and incredible field agent capable of great things, and now he's an untrustworthy unhygienic asshole who's one step away from getting executed by the Red Room for his antics. Derek feels bad since he clearly went through the kind of breakdown plenty of agents do after a traumatic experience. That said, all sympathy for him goes out the window when it turns out he's with the Wazir.

* TheMole: Contrary to his claims in his first appearance, Tommy does indeed work for the Wazir. This is especially ironic since, considering how untrustworthy he is, Derek notes there's no way he was given any useful information.

* PetTheDog: In the past, Cassandra helped Derek cover up Ashley's faked death. Though she does out Ashley's survival to Shannon, she never makes a move on Ashley herself, [[spoiler:unlike her cousin Roland]].

* AssholeVictim: The Committee are all slaughtered by [[spoiler:Stephen Hawthorne]] to kickstart the destruction of the House, but given that they were all greedy bastards willing to do anything for further profit, the world is better off without them.

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Stephen kills him alongside the rest of the Committee, but given that he's responsible for centuries of human conflict and death, no one's mourning him]].

* DeathByIrony: Yuri killed his own son because a prophecy said the son would cause his death, but Derek kills him specifically because he killed his own son, fulfilling the prophecy anyway.

* OffingTheOffspring: Yuri killed his own son because a prophecy stated that his son would cause his death. Of course, Yuri having killed his own son is why Derek chooses to kill him specifically when he needs to join the Committee, meaning his son still causes his death anyway.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Derek is an absolute dork at heart, but he's also a very competent spy with years of experience under his belt. His enemies are often more focused on getting him to shut up than they are on actually killing him, which he uses to his advantage.

Bloody Mary is the nickname of one of the most powerful demons of Hell, having been created when Cain killed Abel. She doubles as one of the Horsemen as the spirit of War, and where conflict goes, chances are that she's right in the thick of it.

* InLoveWithYourCarnage: Mary originally falls in love with Derek because he has one of the highest kill counts she's ever seen in a mortal and wishes to get him to kill even more beings in her name.

!!Vampires

** In the past, Christopher was one of the people who helped Derek get Ashley away from the House, and even after he is converted to a vampire, he doesn't go after her at any point. This is actually a plot point regarding his ambiguous intentions; when Shannon questions if Christopher just wants to betray Derek, Derek responds that if he really wanted to hurt him then he would've just gone after Ashley, and the fact that he hasn't is a point towards trusting him.

* InLoveWithYourCarnage: Mary originally falls in love with Derek because he has one of the highest kill counts she's ever seen and wishes to get him to kill even more beings in her name.

** In the past, Nathan gave Derek the order to kill his partner Ashley knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to do it, saying that it really didn't matter if Ashley died as long as she was gone. Shannon even guesses that Nathan sent Penny to him, giving him the idea to fake her death.

* BreakTheCutie: Ashley began her career as a hopeful recruit trying to do some good in the world. Eventually, it became her prison, and soon enough, her death was ordered by the Committee. She wanted to flee with Derek, but he knew he could never truly hide from the House, and she has been fleeing the House all by herself ever since. [[spoiler:Her capture by Roland leaves her a husk of her former self who can do nothing but beg Derek to kill her to ensure Balor doesn't go free]].

* EvilIsPetty: Dracula reveals that if Derek hadn't resisted his attempt to mesmerize him, then he would've made Derek go to his home and rape his sister just because he would've found it funny.

!!Monsters

[[folder:The kelpie]]
A mysterious demonic entity that lives in the Darkwater Lake. It may or may not have killed Jane's cousin.

* AlasPoorVillain: By the time Jane gets through with it, the kelpie is so traumatized and in so much pain that it outright begs her to kill it and just end its suffering already. Jane does so and gets no satisfaction from it.
* AmbiguousSituation: The kelpie claims that Jane led her cousin to drown on purpose, but Jane doesn't remember it happening that way at all and can't tell if her memories are being tampered with. Jacob tries to claim that it was lying, but Jane retorts that spirits can lie (including Jacob himself).
* LaserGuidedKarma: Jane fights it off by psychically forcing it to feel the pain that all of its various victims felt as it drowned them.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: The kelpie is killed by the end of the chapter it appears in, but its role in Jane's past is a big part of why she jumps into the Red Wolf case so fast, as she's doing so for a form of atonement for her role in her cousin's death. Assuming it's telling the truth, it's also why the Red Wolf was able to awaken to begin with.
* WouldHurtAChild: The kelpie brags about how much it loves drowning children, having potentially done the same to Jenny in the past. The Wolf promises it many more children to drown should it get free.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: To ensure the Wazir's defeat, Derek kills his way onto the Committee to gain enough power to handle the matter himself. It becomes clear in the second book that he didn't realize the many long-term issues with this plan, and he spends the entirety of ''Eldritch Ops'' trying to keep things under control while others blame him for the Committee's mistakes.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Derek is horrified to discover just how many innocent people the House has killed just to cover their own asses, especially when he realizes that some of them died at his own hands. It finalizes his choice to join the Committee to see if he can mitigate their damage any further.

* PetTheDog: In his first appearance, Christopher assures Derek that his capture and vampirism wasn't his fault and that he knows Derek did everything he could to prevent it.
* UnwittingPawn: As a result of being mesmerized, none of Christopher's actions throughout ''Eldritch Ops'' are done of his own accord. He's essentially a prisoner in his own body being used to start a deadly war.

* CharacterDevelopment: In the beginning, Penny isn't ready to consider something as permanent as settling down because she believes she's too young for that. [[spoiler:By the end of the trilogy, she's married to Lucy and raising Mercy, the exact scenario she previously scoffed at, and is very happy with her life]].

* AlasPoorVillain: Strickland's fanatic desire to save his own life drives him to horrible ends, but the way he throws away his soul and condemns himself to an eternity of Hell is so pathetic that Derek finds it hard to truly hate him. In the end, the way the Wazir casually murders him just to appease Derek and the fact that part of his desperation came from his grief for his murdered daughter ultimately showcases just how insignificant he was in the long run.

!!Vampires

[[folder:Vlad Dracula]]
The most famous and most dangerous vampire to ever live. After forming a pact with Tiamat-Abaddon for immortality, {{Dracula}} began a crusade against humanity that he continues to this very day.

* MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Derek believes that she crosses the point of no return when she unhesitatingly kills all of her prisoners just so they can't be broken out. Derek outright calls her a monster for it and executes her on the spot]].

** In spite of Cassandra's many crimes, [[spoiler:when he learns what her father did to her, he can't help but hope that she finally found the rest she was seeking in the afterlife]].

** His pop culture references don't just relate to nerdy things, as he quotes the musical ''Theatre/{{Chess}}'' at one point.

* {{Yandere}}: Even while she's trying to kill Derek, she can't help but love him. [[spoiler:It's a result of the brainwashing she still hasn't recovered from]].

* NonActionBigBad: Cass is more than capable of getting people killed by her own forces or by the Red Room, but she's not a physical threat herself. The issue is getting anywhere near her before she can flee and sic an army on the attacker.

* UnwittingPawn: She clearly thinks she's an equal in her partnership with the Wazir, but in reality, the Wazir has far grander plans than her and she's nothing more than his blunt tool. [[spoiler:He is completely unconcerned when she's killed at the end]].

* RefugeInAudacity: His plan to discretely enter the Wazir's hideout is to just fly straight there with a magic carpet. It works in part because a civil war has already broken out on the base, so they can just walk in while everyone's distracted.

!!Pantheon Corp
[[folder:Cassandra Cassidy]]
The current CEO of Pantheon Corp. and one of the most powerful backers of the House, Cassandra used to be a very sweet person until she suddenly seemed to snap out of nowhere. Now, she's the House's prime suspect in the creation of Matheson-22.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Shannon does not take the reveal of the House's true nature well and, in her rage, she makes some pretty self-serving statements. First she complains that she never had to watch her back around fellow agents in Division Two, only for Penny to point out that the only reason she joined the mission with Derek was to seduce and then potentially kill him. Then she says she's going to tell the truth to the Committee to fully throw Derek under the bus for Cassandra's escape, only for him to return that not only did she agreed to let Cassandra go, but she let Dr. Strickland pass right by her in the White Room only for him to turn traitor and kill several of their agents, so she's just as culpable as he is.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: Talbot's experience with the House gets brought up often, especially the fact that he apparently killed Adolf Hitler.

* RightHandVersusLeftHand: No branch or Division of the House works together under any circumstance. Derek and Shannon are usually trying to actually save the world, the Committee just want to line their pockets, and the other Divisions are more focused on protecting their own interests than they are on solving a problem. In particular, the Committee members often assassinate their own agents if it means that another member loses a valuable asset. [[spoiler:This is a key part of the reason why Nathan is able to destroy them; once the Committee is killed, the entire organization descends into pure chaos from the top down, and everyone focuses more on saving themselves than on trying to salvage the situation]].
* StupidEvil: The House's archaic policies and downright cartoonish greed only ensure that the House is nowhere near as powerful as they think they are. In particular, Derek notes that their policy regarding the mental health of their people is so ass backwards that it only produces sociopaths and danger junkies. [[spoiler:For all their power and reach, Nathan is able to effectively singlehandedly tear the entire organization to the ground in a single day]].

* BrokenPedestal: In Derek's own words, he once worshipped the ground Nathan walked on and took all of Nathan's teachings with pleasure. Then Nathan ordered Derek to kill his partner and lover Ashley, which killed any affected Derek had for him. By the present day, Derek wants nothing to do with him, [[spoiler:and he even tries to kill Nathan during the latter's crusade against the House; the only reason it fails is that he was using a homunculus]].

* EvenEvilHasStandards: One of the few morals he keeps to the end is his strong distaste for mind control, especially the kind that [[spoiler:Protocol Zero]] dishes out. As he says, even using it on monsters is already disgusting enough without the fact that it opens the door to using it on humans.

[[folder:Cassandra Cassidy]]
The current CEO of Pantheon Corp. and one of the most powerful backers of the House, Cassandra used to be a very sweet person until she suddenly seemed to snap out of nowhere. Now, she's the House's prime suspect in the creation of Matheson-22.

* RightHandVersusLeftHand: No branch or Division of the House works together under any circumstance. Derek and Shannon are usually trying to actually save the world, the Committee just want to line their pockets, and the other Divisions are more focused on protecting their own interests than they are on solving a problem. [[spoiler:This is a key part of the reason why Nathan is able to destroy them; once the Committee is killed, the entire organization descends into pure chaos from the top down, and everyone focuses more on saving themselves than on trying to salvage the situation]].