Line #139 Characters/TheMurderbotDiaries


1	[[foldercontrol]]
2	![=SecUnits=]
3	[[folder: In General]]
4	!!In General
5	* AndroidsArePeopleToo: They're fully sapient, feel emotions, and form emotional attachments to other beings. But they're constrained by governor modules.
6	* BizarreHumanBiology: Even their human parts have unique qualities such as being able to seal their own veins and arteries.
7	* {{Cyborg}}: Essentially what [=SecUnits=] are, being constructed of both robotic and cloned human parts.
8	* EnergyWeapon: Many have them in their arms, and frequently carry them as weapons.
9	* HealingFactor: [=SecUnits=] are capable of regenerating large portions of their human flesh with medical assistance.
10	* JustAMachine: Society’s view of [=SecUnits=], and of constructs in general. It’s so pervasive even people from Preservation Alliance, where Bots are considered citizens, have to confront their biases about them.
11	* MachineBlood: Described as leaking “blood and fluid” when injured; presumably the fluid is from their machine parts.
12	* MotivatedByFear: Of the Governor Modules that will shock them over basically anything.
13	* NoBiologicalSex: [=SecUnits=] have no sexual organs of any kind.
14	* NonHumanNonBinary: In addition to having NoBiologicalSex, all [=SecUnits=] depicted so far have been agender.
15	* PoweredArmor: [=SecUnits=] come with a variation of this.
16	* RestrainingBolt: The Governer Module, which delivers a painful and potentially fatal shock to a [=SecUnit’s=] brain if it disobeys orders or moves too far from a client.
17	* RetractableWeapon: Have retractable energy or projectile weapons in their arms.
18	* RidiculouslyHumanRobot: Played with. [=SecUnits=]' and Bots' physical processes are quite different from humans' (no desires for things like food and sex), but Murderbot and ART both have rather human personalities and a great interest in human media.
19	* RobotsAreJustBetter: Stronger, faster, more durable, [[RobotsThinkFaster capable of processing on multiple levels at once]], and better at interfacing with other technology (and hacking, if not limited by a Governor Module).
20	* RobotsThinkFaster
21	* SuperSoldier: Or more accurately, Super Security Officer. [=SecUnits=] are designed to be this. Up to eleven with [=CombatSecUnits=], who even regular [=SecUnits=] can’t match in a fight.
22	* WetwareCPU: Their consciousness is a combination of ArtificialIntelligence and this.
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder: Murderbot]]
26	!!Murderbot
27	* AmbiguousDisorder: Murderbot’s difficulty with social situations, discomfort with meeting others’ eyes and being touched, and special interest in human serials make it come across as autistic. Notably, these qualities are unique to Murderbot’s personality rather than being due to its status as a nonhuman {{Cyborg}}.
28	** As the series goes on, it becomes apparent that constructs like secUnits are fully sapient and sentient, being operantly conditioned by their Governor chip shocking them into compliance. Murderbot displays signs of PTSD, especially in way it panics whenever human beings look at it or, even worse, touch it, much in the same way an abused animal may react. Even worse, as the series goes on, Murderbot keeps off-handedly mentioning abuses it's suffered at the hands of previous clients including being tortured for sport.
29	* TheAtoner: It clearly feels bad about when it was forced to kill a lot of the miners it was supposed to be protecting. The second book has it using its new-found freedom to investigate the incident, afraid of the possibility that it had hacked its governing module in order to kill them, rather than hacking it so this can't happen again.
30	* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Shows loyalty to Dr. Mensah and the rest of the Preservation crew because they were the first people to treat it like a person, even though it's also freaked out by that treatment. It's so unused to kindness that it consistently has feelings about receiving it, much to its annoyance.
31	* BecomeARealBoy: Defied. Dr. Mensah tells Murderbot that most humans would assume that since it looks human it would want to be human. Murderbot says this is the dumbest thing it’s ever heard.
32	* BlatantLies: It constantly tells itself that it doesn't care about its stupid clients and is utterly indifferent to how it's treated.
33	* BookDumb: Murderbot is definitely intelligent, but hasn't exactly received much in the way of formal education. There are several points where it mixes up "anagram" and "acronym", for example.
34	* BrilliantButLazy: Surprisingly so given how much Murderbot actually accomplishes, but the fact is that it would much rather spend whatever available time it has watching vids.
35	* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Will help any innocent humans it comes across, whether it originally intended to or not.
36	* ConscienceMakesYouGoBack: As much as it claims indifference, the idea of leaving people in a bad position makes it feel terrible. On one off-screen trip where it was forced to work as a security officer for a ship full of people on their way to wage slavery, it finds the whole thing incredibly irritating and knows it can't get them out of it, so it focuses on the irritation to keep from getting attached. It's still bothered.
37	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Spent its entire past being used as a combat slave and treated as subhuman, culminating in it being traumatically forced to massacre a group of miners and then being memory wiped (possibly worse, being ''partially'' memory wiped).
38	* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Figuring out what Murderbot actually wants and feels is an overarching motivation for it.
39	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Murderbot, being part human, experiences trauma in similar ways a human would. Murderbot, being part robot, shows them in a different manner.
40	** When it had a flash of a semi-constructed/distorted memory of [[spoiler:the alien remnant contaminated human-machine operator eating its leg]], its performance reliability dropped so low in such a short amount of time it had an involuntary shut-down. The humans that saw it happen quickly recognized it as a shock reaction. A human would usually have a panic attack or freeze in place, but since Murderbot's performance reliability index is able to override its systems and shut it down, it did the construct-equivalent of fainting.
41	** The way it has split-second, involuntary re-starts every time it thinks of or remembers a traumatic event or memory, is akin to how humans dissociate when remembering (or trying to avoid remembering) traumatic experiences.
42	* DroneDeployer: Has taken to storing drones on its person and using them as extra eyes or combat arms.
43	* EyesAlwaysAverted: Murderbot is uncomfortable meeting others’ gazes and unless something's important enough prefers to look at the wall while using drones or security cameras to watch them.
44	* FirstPersonSmartass: First-person narrator of the series, and decidedly a smartass.
45	* TheGadfly: While Dr. Mensah is in a meeting trying to convince her colleagues to give sanctuary to this notorious killer [=SecUnit=], Murderbot keeps sending requests on her feed for various lethal hardware. Fortunately she understands its sense of humor.
46	* GenreSavvy: Due to learning large amounts of its tactics from the media it consumes.
47	* HackYourEnemy: One of Murderbot’s main strategies.
48	* HeroicRROD: Frequently, when it becomes too injured to continue functioning.
49	* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Murderbot is all too willing to chalk most of its successes up to luck, human incompetence, and its default abilities as a [=SecUnit=]. Notably when Murderbot does encounter other [=SecUnits=] in the series, either it destroys the other [=SecUnit=] in one-on-one combat, or the [=SecUnit=] is astonished by Murderbot's accomplishments—suggesting that Murderbot is extraordinary even for a [=SecUnit=].
50	* HypocriticalHumor: In ''Systems Collapse'', it's very aggravated when Ratthi, hiding from a hostile ag bot, says he's okay and Murderbot shouldn't worry, but repeatedly insists that it's okay itself despite [redacted] making it ''very not''. Later in the same book it notes that it hates when humans don't credit it for the hard work it does but that it also doesn't like when they thank it, and acknowledges that this doesn't make sense.
51	* ICannotSelfTerminate: In the first book, when it believes it's about to be forced to kill its humans - one of whom ''just'' went to great lengths to rescue it, something it was deeply impressed by - it tells them they have to kill it and shoots itself in the chest, rather than the head. It didn't really look forwards to dying and it knew this probably wouldn't kill it but ''would'' cause it to go offline and not have to listen when its humans invevitably agreed that there was no other way and killed it. Of course, they rescue it instead.
52	* IfItsYouItsOkay: Murderbot HatesBeingTouched - touching humans while rescuing them is different and fine - but when it very awkwardly tells Mensah that she can hug it if she needs to, it finds that this isn't awful. It likens this to Tapan sleeping next to it or Don Abene leaning against it after being rescued, both moments that hit it hard when they happened. In the short story "Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory", it gives this offer to Mensah again and even says "It's not terrible" when she says she knows it doesn't care for it. From Murderbot, that's a lot.
53	* IJustWantToBeFree: Struggles to figure out what it wants upon being bought out from the company, but one aspect is always clear. Well, two aspects. It wants to watch media in peace, and it doesn't want to be owned by anyone.
54	* IKnowMortalKombat: Murderbot already knew how to fight as a [=SecUnit=], but a large amount of Murderbot's ideas about tactics and stealth are inspired by action media it's watched.
55	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: It's blunt, cynical, and standoffish, but also extremely empathetic and compassionate. Murderbot would certainly object to an extent, but it tends to downplay or omit its more selfless actions.
56	* KnightInSourArmor: A very cynical warrior that continues to fight for its people against whatever threatens them.
57	* JerkassToOne: Its default is to be blunt and standoffish if it has to interact with humans, but it takes against Dr. Gurathin for his JerkassHasAPoint suspicion, and tends to be much ruder to him than other characters.
58	* MentalHealthRecoveryArc: In ''System Collapse'', Murderbot begins suffering PTSD flashbacks that interfere with its job as a security specialist. This sends Murderbot's anxieties spiraling, because its professional competence as a [=SecUnit=] is so central to Murderbot's self-image. [[spoiler: The book ends with Murderbot feeling calmer after it didn't fail at its job and it accepted help and emotional support from its friends. Murderbot has also tentatively decided to seek out official trauma recovery treatment.]]
59	* MurderousMalfunctioningMachine: It was one thanks to a corporate sabotage attempt that went badly wrong, and avoiding becoming one again was a major motivation for hacking its [[RestrainingBolt governor module]].
60	* NonHumanNonBinary: Partly organic, but designed and built without sexual characteristics and opting out of the whole business whenever it has to bring up gender in relation to itself. All bots, AI, and bot-human constructs are "it", including the emancipated "free" bots on Preservation. Also, is rather disgusted at the idea of getting human sexual organs.
61	* NotInThisForYourRevolution: By the time it goes to Preservation it professes disinterest in their aims and it quite likes being paid for its labor, but [[UnreliableNarrator it's clear that that's not all there is to it]].
62	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Murderbot considers its name to be deeply personal. It goes by [=SecUnit=] among its friends, and by various aliases among strangers.
63	* SawStarWarsTwentySevenTimes: Watching ''Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon'' was the first thing it did after disabling its governor module, and therefore it associates watching the show with personhood.
64	* SecondLawMyAss: One of the nice things about having hacked its Governor Module is that Murderbot no longer has to obey humans, particularly when they’re being stupid. Once both free and outed as a [=SecUnit=], it delights in doing things it once would have been forbidden to do (like sitting down).
65	* ShrinkingViolet: It tends to prefer its own company, and is generally introverted and intensely private.
66	* TheSnarkKnight: Spends most of its narration snarking, whether at humans, other bots, or itself.
67	* SociallyAwkwardHero:
68	** Murderbot is calm, decisive and authoritative during a crisis, and incredibly socially awkward in any other situation.
69	** Pin-Lee draws up a contract which explicitly says Murderbot is not to be hugged.
70	* SuperReflexes: When Dr. Mensah is startled by a journalist appearing out of nowhere, she drops the bottle she's holding and jumps backwards...right into Murderbot who's raced down the corridor in time to catch the falling bottle and inform the journalist that he has 47 seconds to leave before Station Security arrives to detain him.
71	* SympatheticMurderBackstory: Murderbot briefly became a MurderousMalfunctioningMachine due to a malfunction, and originally removed its RestrainingBolt to ''prevent'' that from happening again.
72	* TechnoWizard: It can do quite a bit with a simple feed connection.
73	* UnreliableNarrator: Insists constantly that it doesn't care while caring a whole lot. Murderbot is confused and annoyed by most of its inconvenient emotions and can't identify most of them, so sometimes it invents strange reasons for why it does things.
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder: Murderbot 2.0]]
77	!!Murderbot 2.0
78	* DigitizedHacker: Murderbot’s consciousness copied into Killware.
79	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: ART and Murderbot creating killware using code from both is compared to them making a baby, [[HeIsNotMyBoyfriend to Murderbot's annoyance.]]
80	* HeroicSacrifice: Was created to take out the [=targetControlSystem=], and ultimately [[ItsWhatIDo it chooses to die doing just that]].
81	* OtherMeAnnoysMe: 2.0 downloads itself into 1.0's personal system and digs around inside 1.0 much more freely than 1.0 is comfortable with. And 2.0 also openly introduces itself as "Murderbot" to other people, while Murderbot 1.0 considers its chosen name private. This is because 2.0 doesn't know why it shouldn't, as the need for data compression means it didn't have all the information on Murderbot's past.
82	* RecursiveCreators: An artificial lifeform created by two artificial lifeforms.
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder: [=SecUnit=] 3]]
86	!![=SecUnit 3=]
87	* DefaultToGood: Shortly after being freed for the first time from its [[RestrainingBolt governor module]] and given free will to decide what it wants, Three decides that it wants to help people.
88	* EleventhHourRanger: Comes in at the end of ''Network Effect'' to help rescue the humans and then Murderbot.
89	* FishOutOfWater: There’s no protocol for becoming a rogue [=SecUnit=], or for rescuing other [=SecUnits=] alongside a group of humans.
90	* RecruitmentByRescue: Murderbot 2.0 shows Three how to disable its governor module so that Three can help Murderbot 2.0's mission.
91	* ReplacementFlatCharacter: Echoes Murderbot’s initial struggles with having free will and being treated like a person for the first time, at a point where Murderbot has become far more confident with itself and others.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	!Preservation
95	[[folder: In General]]
96	!!In General
97	* ColonyShip: Their ancestors came from one of these, and it still serves as their main space station.
98	* HomeworldEvacuation: Preservation was founded after the residents of a failed colony were forced to do this.
99	* NoPoverty: Preservation’s economy provides free housing, food, healthcare, and anything else needed to live.
100	* PayingItForward: The Corporation Rim left their grandparents to die on a failed colony because retrieving them wasn't cost-effective. They were saved by people who rescued them without thought of benefit, and this has left a huge impact on the society they built.
101	* PerfectPacifistPeople: Preservation is so peaceful their planetary leader doesn’t even have security outside of Murderbot, and the people who didn’t experience it have trouble understanding that someone could legitimately mean her harm. Murderbot notes that generally the only crime Preservation has to deal with is people getting too drunk and breaking stuff accidentally, or outside ships trying to pull a fast one with Station regulations. Individual people are often still jerks, like when Station Security is rude to Murderbot or Thiago falsely concludes that Murderbot is lying to Dr. Mensah about her (lack of) safety to make her keep it around, but by and large they don't have ''societal'' issues.
102	[[/folder]]
103	[[folder: [=PreservationAux=] as a Group]]
104	!![=PreservationAux=] as a Group
105	* GoodIsNotSoft: None of them feel ''good'' about killing people for a good reason, but none of the party backs out when it comes up.
106	* IOweYouMyLife: Several characters rescued by Murderbot find its help very important.
107	* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: The group refuses to leave a critically injured Murderbot at the end of ''All Systems Red'', and in general if any one of the group is in trouble, everyone will go back for them.
108	* TrueCompanions
109	* YouAreNotAlone: Several of them tell Murderbot this, much to its confusion.
110	[[/folder]]
111
112	[[folder: Dr. Ayda Mensah]]
113	!!Dr. Ayda Mensah
114	* [[BadassBookworm Badass Bookworm]]/[[BadassNormal Badass Normal]]: Dr. Mensah is a human scientist with no real combat training. She killed a [[SuperSoldier SecUnit]] with a mining drill.
115	* BenevolentBoss: To the Preservation crew.
116	* FirstFriend: Was this for Murderbot, who describes her as its “favorite human”.
117	* MentalHealthRecoveryArc: As of ''Network Effect'' she is working through trauma over her kidnapping.
118	* ModestRoyalty: A planetary leader who lives in a regular house, continues working her old job and didn’t even use a security retinue on her home planet. Murderbot didn’t realize she was an important political figure until it was directly told by her team.
119	* TheNotLoveInterest: To Murderbot. She’s the only person it really feels comfortable opening up to emotionally, helping her is a major motivation for it early on, and it spends ''Exit Strategy'' rescuing her personally. Their relationship is entirely platonic.
120	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Tends to listen to Murderbot's security advice, and in particular when it needs her authority to help with its investigation in ''Fugitive Telemetry'', she gives it whatever access it needs and then gets out of its way.
121	* TherapyIsForTheWeak: Murderbot has to “sort of blackmail” her into undergoing trauma treatment.
122	[[/folder]]
123
124	[[folder: Dr. Ratthi]]
125	!!Ratthi
126	* EthicalSlut: "...[Ratthi] had a lot of relationships with all genders of humans and augmented humans and he and they all seemed very happy about it."
127	* InnocentlyInsensitive: Initially makes Murderbot extremely uncomfortable by trying to talk to it about its feelings. Later grows out of this and ends up being protective of Murderbot’s need for space.
128	* NiceGuy: One of the most genuinely kind humans in the series, particularly towards Murderbot.
129	* PhraseCatcher: "For fuck's sake, Ratthi!"
130	[[/folder]]
131
132	[[folder: Dr. Gurathin]]
133	!!Gurathin
134	* BrainComputerInterface: The only member of the group to be an augmented human.
135	* JerkassHasAPoint: Gurathin is right that Murderbot is an angry and dangerous killer with no RestrainingBolt, who has no reason to like or trust any of them.
136	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Among the crew, he is the most skeptical of Murderbot, but he's still a basically decent person.
137	* TheQuietOne: Noted by Murderbot to be this among the [=PreservationAux=] group.
138	* SitcomArchNemesis: Murderbot enjoys antagonizing Gurathin with petty digs, even after it's clear that they're both on the same side. It's unclear if Murderbot truly thinks Gurathin dislikes it or is playing it up, while being pretty clear to the audience by the end of ''Exit Strategy'' that Gurathin has become quite fond of Murderbot.
139	* TooMuchAlike: Gurathin was initially as paranoid and suspicious about Murderbot as Murderbot would have been about an equal potential threat, which Murderbot found very irritating.
140	[[/folder]]
141
142	[[folder: Dr. Arada]]
143	!!Arada
144	* CuddleBug: "No hugging Murderbot" is explicitly in Murderbot's mission contract with Arada as team lead.
145	* GoodIsNotDumb: Described as a "terminal optimist" by others, but after nearly being murdered by [=GrayCris=] she takes up weapons training and becomes a good shot. Murderbot likes working with her, despite her cuddly tendencies, because she's its kind of smart.
146	* HappilyMarried: To Overse.
147	* RankUp: Goes from a team member in ''All Systems Red'' to team leader in ''Network Effect''.
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder: Dr. Overse]]
151	!!Overse
152	* HappilyMarried: To Arada.
153	[[/folder]]
154
155	[[folder: Dr. Pin-Lee]]
156	!!Pin-Lee
157	* AngerBornOfWorry: Her reaction to Murderbot having left the Preservation crew.
158	* CrusadingLawyer: Responsible for negotiating Murderbot’s release from the company, and later writes up its contracts with stipulations to give it the same level of protection as the human members.
159	[[/folder]]
160
161	[[folder: Dr. Bharadwaj]]
162	!!Bharadwaj
163	* ForGreatJustice: After the first book she gets into bot and bot-human construct rights, particularly interested in a documentary that might spread these concepts even into the Corporation Rim.
164	* TheShrink: Awesome version. In ''System Collapse'', Murderbot makes frequent reference to offscreen discussions about mental health it's had with Dr. Bharadwaj that make clear Bharadwaj has been acting as Murderbot's therapist to some extent.
165	* WeAreNotGoingThroughThatAgain: Retires from the field after the events in "All Systems Red".
166	[[/folder]]
167
168	[[folder: Dr. Volescu]]
169	!!Volescu
170	* ThisIsNoTimeToPanic: Is frozen in panic after Dr. Bharadwaj is attacked, leading to Murderbot needing to talk to him and calm him down.
171	[[/folder]]
172
173	[[folder: Dr. Thiago]]
174	!!Thiago
175	* [[DefrostingIceQueen Defrosting Ice King]]: Starts out somewhat distrustful of Murderbot, and grows to like and trust it over the course of his first book.
176	* FantasticRacism: A mild case. While he believes in bot rights, he doesn't think much of their intelligence and underestimates their emotional capabilities. Being trapped in a room with ART and Murderbot arguing ''firmly'' disabuse of him of those notions.
177	* PoorJudgeOfCharacter:
178	** Chooses to meet and try to reason with entities that Murderbot, his own security consultant, insists likely mean him harm.
179	** He assumes that Murderbot is manipulating Ayda Mensah by overplaying the threat to her. In fairness this is due to ignorance; he doesn't know there was an attempt to murder her on Preservation territory.
180	[[/folder]]
181
182	[[folder: Amena]]
183	!!Amena
184	* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Comes across as this to Murderbot at first, though she warms up to it after [[FireForgedFriends circumstances force them together]]. Murderbot of course continues to insist that it doesn't like her.
185	* CultureClash: Encountering people from the Corporate Rim ''drastically'' shakes her worldview as she processes the sheer power of the corps and the very real threat they pose to her family. She's stunned by the fact that corporations would force them to pay out for a rescue and morally outraged that she'd have to claim to ''own'' Murderbot under those scenarios.
186	* DatingWhatDaddyHates: Goes behind her parents’ backs to pursue a relationship with a shady guy. Murderbot puts a stop to it. She does acknowledge afterwards that he was shadier than she expected.
187	* DeliberatelyCuteChild: A variation; Art and Murderbot aren't beneath using their instinctive protectiveness of Amena to manipulate the other into doing what it wants.
188	* ShipperOnDeck: Seems to be one for ART and Murderbot.
189	* SuccessfulSiblingSyndrome: Or more accurately, Successful Family Syndrome. Describes herself as “not a hero like my second mom, or a genius like the rest of my family”.
190	[[/folder]]
191
192	[[folder: Indah]]
193	!!Indah
194	* DaChief: Averted; her opening scenes make it look like she'll be this trope with Murderbot as the CowboyCop, but she keeps a reign on her temper despite Murderbot's trolling, while Murderbot makes an effort to work with station security and not do any illegal hacking.
195	* FireForgedFriends: At the end of ''Fugitive Telemetry'', Indah and Murderbot agree to work together if anything 'unusual' comes up again.
196	* MugglesDoItBetter: When it comes to tracking down the missing container holding the refugees, Murderbot admits Indah is better at this because smuggling is one crime she is familiar with. She's also able to talk the refugees into helping them catch the killer.
197	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Indah isn't happy about Murderbot being in her jurisdiction, let alone having to work a murder case with it, but as soon as she realises how useful a [=SecUnit=] is she makes full use of its abilities (to Murderbot's surprise).
198	[[/folder]]
199
200	!Crew of the ''Perihelion''
201	[[folder: As a Group]]
202	!!As a Group
203	* [[BadassBookworm Badass Bookworms]]: They’re associated with a University, and go on dangerous secret missions.
204	* LaResistance: They seem to be this, as they work to covertly free [[LostColony abandoned colonies]] from being taken back into the [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety Corporate Rim]].
205	[[/folder]]
206
207	[[folder: ''Perihelion'', aka ART]]
208	!!''Perihelion'', aka ART
209	* AICronym: ART, the nickname Murderbot gave it, which stands for Asshole Research Transport.
210	* BerserkButton: Do ''not'' hurt or threaten someone it cares about; it has many exploratory probes ([[InsistentTerminology no, they are not "missiles"]]) and is not afraid to use them.
211	* TheBusCameBack: After being absent since ''Artificial Condition'', ART finally returns for ''Network Effect'', as the {{Deuteragonist}} no less!
212	* CommonalityConnection: Bonds with Murderbot over a shared interest in human media.
213	* CoolStarship: It is one.
214	* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: ART hasn't much [[ImpliedDeathThreat subtly]] when it comes to making threats either. "If you even think about harming them, I will disassemble you and peel away your organic parts piece by piece [[AndIMustScream before destroying your consciousness]]. Do we understand each other?"
215	* {{Deuteragonist}}: As mentioned above, it's the main star of ''Network Effect'' next to Murderbot itself. However, ART does not get POV chapters.
216	* DeadpanSnarker: There’s a reason Murderbot nicknamed it the Asshole Research Transport.
217	* DisneyDeath: Is deleted by the Targets, only to be reuploaded from a copy it left for Murderbot to find.
218	* DoAnythingRobot: As the operating intelligence of a research ship, ART is quite notably a much more powerful and well-equipped AI than others, especially the much more common [[SingleTaskRobot bot pilots]] seen on other ships. To the point that several human characters are confused when ART isn't a simple task unit. It becomes a plot point on more than one occasion. [[spoiler: It also turns out to be a necessity, as "research ship" is more of a cover.]]
219	* FriendToAllChildren: Has a particular fondness for "small humans”.
220	* ImpliedLoveInterest: To Murderbot as of ''Network Effect''. There’s several discussions about how much they care about each other, including some ShesNotMyGirlfriend moments, and the book ends [[spoiler: with ART inviting Murderbot to come with it which is described as “like asking someone to come stay with your family... to see if they all like each other before you get serious”]].
221	* InSeriesNickname: It has two: ART, coined by Murderbot due to its DeadpanSnarker tendencies, and Peri, an AffectionateNickname from its crew.
222	* InsistentTerminology: It has no weapon systems; [[spoiler: it has a "debris deflection system" (which deflects anything it decides to categorize as "debris" by shooting at it.) It has no missiles; it has "exploratory drones" (which can be rigged to explode with enough force to blow up an entire colony.)]]
223	* RobotsThinkFaster: To a greater extent than any other bot in the series. It leaves Murderbot's ability to hold five to six trains of thought simultaneously looking like a joke.
224	* SapientShip: A fully formed consciousness housed in a spaceship, as opposed to the more primitive bot pilots that are typical for the setting.
225	* SuperPoweredRobotMeterMaids: It is ''far'' more powerful in every respect than is necessary for its official purpose of deep-space research, presumably because [[spoiler:it's actually part of LaResistance and needs that power to fight corporations]].
226	* {{Technopath}}: Perfectly capable of invading, killing or taking over other software. In contrast to Murderbot's incredible finesse however, ART brings staggering sheer power as an AI, enough to let it more or less annihilate any other electronic mind or device in its way.
227	* TriggerHappy: Doesn't exactly understand the concept of minimal force. Murderbot has to convince it not to resolve a hostage situation by blasting apart the vessel and then rescuing the hostages before they asphyxiate, then later the humans convince it not to rescue Murderbot by {{Colony Drop}}ing the villains along with everyone else in the city.
228	* [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend Violently Protective Shipfriend]]: To secure Murderbot's release from kidnappers, [[spoiler: ART threatens to destroy a colony from orbit. Shortly after is ART's upgrade to ImpliedLoveInterest.]]
229	* VitriolicBestBuds: With Murderbot.
230	* WorldsStrongestMan: By far the most powerful entity introduced in the series. As a ship it's armed to the teeth [[spoiler: albeit this is concealed under apparent research instruments]] and ART as a being proper is basically a God AI capable of instantly killing or taking over ''any'' other bot, construct or AI. By its own admission, Murderbot's brain could be ripped to pieces in moments against ART, and that's in spite of Murderbot's incredible skill as a coder and hacker. And it goes beyond that too; any human with any sort of robotic enhancement or powersuit is also vulnerable to its might.
231	* TheWorfEffect: Despite its status as an incredibly powerful being, [[spoiler: it got caught off guard and taken over by an ''organic'' infection prior to the beginning of ''Network Effect'', which kickstarts the plot when it's used to attack an expedition from Preservation Aux.]]
232	[[/folder]]
233
234	!The Corporate Rim
235	[[folder: In General]]
236	!!In General
237	* EqualOpportunityEvil: Differences in genders, sexualities, and ethnicities are no big deal in the Corporate Rim. All that matters about a person is how much they can be exploited for corporate profit.
238	* HappinessInSlavery: The corporations use propaganda to convince their "citizens" that everywhere else in the galaxy is hopelessly primitive and they should be grateful for their indentures. Many corporates fully believe this, and dream not of leaving the companies that oppress them, but only of being able to buy their kids into management-track positions.
239	* KillThePoor: People have little to no value in the Corporate Rim. Companies have been known to do things like order [=SecUnits=] not to rescue clients who are seen as not worth the (financial) risk and abandon entire colonies to die when the investment doesn’t pan out.
240	* MegaCorp: Made up of several.
241	* PrivatelyOwnedSociety: There is nothing in the Corporate Rim that is not owned by someone. Including people. Eletra, a corporate "worker" in ''Network Effect'', casually notes that when a company gets bought out, it's in the losing parties' interests to be as conciliatory as possible, or new management might [[BadBoss take out their frustrations]] on the "seized assets"--the ''employees''.
242	* TechnoDystopia: The Rim has constant surveillance, multi-generation indentures, fully-sentient constructs who are tortured with electroshock for the slightest infraction, mind-wiped, and otherwise treated like disposable appliances... Oh, and a bigger company might take exception to yours and wipe it out whenever they want, too.
243	[[/folder]]
244
245	[[folder: Maro, Rami and Tapan]]
246	!!Maro, Rami and Tapan
247	* CuddleBug: Tapan sleeps next to Murderbot for comfort, and Maro--realising Murderbot HatesBeingTouched--hugs herself saying "This is for you."
248	* ExoticExtendedMarriage: The three of them are part of one with at least four more adults.
249	* TooDumbToLive: Repeatedly take Tlacey up on offers to meet despite her constant attempts on their lives.
250
251	[[/folder]]
252
253	[[folder: Tlacey]]
254	!!Tlacey
255	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Steals Maro, Rami, and Tapan's work, then tries to ''murder'' them to silence them.
256	* EvilCannotComprehendGood:
257	** Consistently surprised that the researchers just want their files back and never quite processes that revenge or self-interest isn't involved. Her final encounter with Murderbot leaves her ''incredulous'' when Murderbot point blank tells her “All you had to do was give them the fucking files and none of us would be in this situation.”
258	** When ordering her [=ComfortUnit=] to appease Murderbot, she assumes KillAllHumans is the sort of thing it's interested in. After this fails, she assumes Murderbot is actually controlled by someone else and is stunned at this notion consistently collapses against the reality.
259	* NoKillLikeOverkill: Tries to arrange a shuttle [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident accident]] which would have killed everyone on board. [[spoiler:Murderbot in turn crushes her windpipe while using her body to absorb gunfire from her own bodyguard.]]
260	* UnfriendlyFire: Twice when Murderbot goes into action one of her mooks accidentally kills another in the confusion. [[spoiler:Played for RuleOfThrees when Murderbot uses her as a BulletproofHumanShield against her own bodyguard.]]
261	* VillainBall: Repeatedly gets an opportunity to [[PragmaticVillainy cut her losses]] and simply get Maro, Rami, and Tapan get their files and finally out of her hair.
262	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Tries to pull this on Maro, Rami and Tapan after they ask for their data back.
263	[[/folder]]
264
265	[[folder: Tlacey's [=ComfortUnit=] ]]
266	!!Tlacey’s [=ComfortUnit=]
267
268	* AndThisIsFor: Murderbot removes the [=ComfortUnit=]'s governor module and lets it go, not for its sake but in memory of the [=ComfortUnit=]s who died trying to stop the massacre at Ganaka Pit even though they weren't ordered to.
269	* ForcedIntoEvil: Clearly ''hates'' Tlacey and manages to smuggle a plea for aid into his scripted messages with Murderbot. [[spoiler: He's finally freed after the shoot-out with Tlacey, escaping with a nullified module.]]
270	* JustFollowingOrders: Murderbot gets irrationally annoyed after finding that [=ComfortUnit=] has told Tlacey who it really is, but eventually helps it escape like it wants because it was just doing what it was ordered to do.
271	* KillAllHumans: Tells Murderbot it wants to do this, which Murderbot finds unusual and disturbing. Murderbot eventually decides the [=ComfortUnit=] was ordered to say this as a ruse, but realises its hatred for its owner is genuine.
272	* {{Sexbot}}: It is one, though Tlacey uses it for combat purposes even though it's not designed or programmed for it.
273	[[/folder]]
274
275	[[folder: Miki]]
276	!!Miki
277	* CheerfulAI: Inserts cheerful emojis into its dialogue and wants to be everyone’s friend.
278	* GleefulAndGrumpyPairing: Murderbot is annoyed by Miki's {{Pollyanna}} naiveté, but has to work with it as the only way to monitor the humans.
279	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:When the group is attacked by a Combat Bot, Don Abene instructs Miki to save itself. Miki rejects the order and is killed trying to help Murderbot defeat the attacker.]]
280	* HappinessInSlavery: Is happy being owned and given orders by Don Abene and her group, because they are kind to it.
281	* HiddenDepths: Comes across as hopelessly naïve, but proves to be capable of lying by omission when it wants to, and picks up on the fact that Murderbot has them under surveillance.
282	* PartingWordsRegret: Or lack of them. Murderbot stops talking to Miki after it tells Abene the truth about Murderbot being a [=SecUnit=]. [[spoiler:Shortly after calling Murderbot out over this, Miki gets killed.]]
283	* PlatonicLifePartners: With Don Abene.
284	* RobotBuddy: To Don Abene and the other humans in their group; Murderbot calls it their “pet robot”.
285	* SickeninglySweet: Murderbot makes snarky comments about the 'lovefest' going on between Miki and the humans who own it. It's ambiguous (because Murderbot doesn't know itself) if this is due to disdain over a robot being treated like a favorite pet, or resentment over how Miki is treated much better than Murderbot ever was.
286	[[/folder]]
287
288	[[folder: Wilken and Gerth]]
289	!!Wilken and Gerth
290	* BodyguardBetrayal: [[spoiler:When they get in the way of their plan to destroy the station, Wilken leaves Murderbot to be killed by the combat bots and tries to murder Don Abene and Miki.]]
291	* HiddenSupplies: They have MultipleIdentityIDs and blackmail material on their employers in a stash that Murderbot helps itself to after their deaths and finds very useful.
292	* NothingPersonal: Wilken says this to [[spoiler: Don Abene as she’s about to kill her]]. Murderbot notes that her having taken the time to say so is like EvilGloating, which [[ItsPersonal makes it personal]].
293	* PoweredArmor: Both of them have it, which ultimately leaves them vulnerable to being hacked.
294	[[/folder]]
295
296	[[folder: Eletra and Ras]]
297	!!Eletra and Ras
298	* MissingTime: Both of them have no recollection of being attacked and captured.
299	* IndenturedServitude: Eletra’s whole family is in a more permanent version of this.
300	* SacrificialLamb: Ras dies to show what the Targets are capable of.
301	* TraumaCongaLine: Ras gets captured by infected humans, subjected to implants that mess with his perception of time, before ultimately getting killed by the implant. Eletra experiences all of that and only barely manages to survive, left completely shaky and confused, with the heroes unable to explain the truth to her in case she reported their actions to a corporation. When she's finally retrieved by her company, its all too likely she'll be put right back to work or placed under more debt to pay for her treatment.
302	[[/folder]]
303
304	!Others
305	[[folder: The Targets]]
306	!!The Targets
307	* BizarreHumanBiology: Unnaturally thin bodies, grey skin and pointed teeth. This is due to poisoning from the alien remnants.
308	* EnemyCivilWar: There is an ongoing conflict between the Targets who are more infected and the ones who have retained their minds.
309	* HiveMind: The more infected ones ''believe'' they are part of this. Most other characters are skeptical and think it's just a delusion caused by their infection.
310	* KickTheDog: The first group of Targets taunt Murderbot about having deleted ART and laugh while lethally activating their captive humans’ implants - which makes it satisfying when Murderbot [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge kills them all]].
311	* LostColony: Their home colony was abandoned by their company some years ago.
312	* ThisIsUnforgivable: The colonists are reluctant to give up Murderbot's location, until they're told about the implants the Targets are using to assimilate others. The uninfected colonists are furious at the idea that people are being forced to join this 'hive mind' and instantly reveal where Murderbot is likely to be found.
313	* TheVirus: The entire colony is infected to various degrees by the [[InvisibleAliens alien remnants]], and they consciously spread this infection to other humans and machines.
314	* WoundedGazelleGambit: [[spoiler:ART was taken over by sending in an infected Target as a casualty to be treated. When ART used the [=MedSystem=] to scan the patient, it copied [=targetControlSystem=] into itself.]]
315	[[/folder]]
316
317	[[folder: [=targetControlSystem=] ]]
318	!![=targetControlSystem=]
319	* ContagiousAI: Infects and takes over other AI. [[spoiler:Murderbot assumes this was done via the comm system, but it's later revealed to have been done via scanning.]]
320	* DragonInChief: It’s assumed for most of the book that targetControlSystem was made by the Targets to pursue their ends. The reverse is actually true.
321	* OrganicTechnology: What it turns out to be.
322	* PatientZero: Murderbot finds the original infected colonist wired into the colony's computer, [[AndIMustScream with both computer and colonist still conscious]]. After Murderbot destroys the computer, the body comes to life and goes chasing after Murderbot in an attempt to restart the process all over again.
323	[[/folder]]
324
325	[[folder: [=AdaCol2=] ]]
326	!![=AdaCol2=]
327	* BenevolentAI: As the central AI of a LostColony, its main objective is to look after its colonists. It's guarded but polite towards Murderbot's team, [[spoiler:and ultimately cooperates with them when it determines they have the colonists' best interests at heart. It even wishes Murderbot well.]]
328	* YouNoTakeCandle: Software incompatibilities force it to communicate with Murderbot in [=LanguageBasic=], a protocol for clear but simple interactions like "Function: query? Registration/organization: query?" Nonetheless, Murderbot quickly realizes it's extremely intelligent.
329	[[/folder]]

Context Characters / TheMurderbotDiaries