Line #86 Characters/TheMedium


1	Character page for ''VideoGame/TheMedium''. '''Spoilers ahead.'''
2
3
4	[[foldercontrol]]
5
6	! Main Characters
7	[[folder:Marianne]]
8	!!Marianne
9	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marianne_portrait.jpg]]
10	--->'''Played by:''' Kelly Burke (English VO), Weronika Rosati (Motion Capture)
11
12	The main protagonist. She's a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin medium]], a person who can commune with the dead and the Spirit World they reside in. On the day of her foster father's funeral, she receives a phone call from someone named "Thomas" who claims that he can help her with finding out the true nature of her power. Interested, she arrives at the Niwa, where she is now forced to survive and unravel the mystery behind its abandonment.
13	----
14
15	* ActionSurvivor: While she has some psychic powers, when faced with the Maw, she runs and hides.
16	* BarrierWarrior: Can summon a psychic forcefield to protect herself from the moths.
17	* ConditionedToAcceptHorror: Having seen the Spirit World since she was a child, Marianne has a very relaxed attitude about its horrific scenery and the copious amounts of BodyHorror.
18	* CoolBike: Owns a motorcycle.
19	* CreepyChild: As a young girl, she would give her classmates messages from their deceased loved ones, which the school authorities found extremely unsettling and out of the line, to the point where Jack was summoned to the school to discuss the matter of her continued attendance.
20	* DubNameChange: Marianna in Polish.
21	* ExperiencedProtagonist: Subverted. By the start of the story, Marianne has already helped many souls move onto the afterlife (saying she could help "a thousand" as if she had done so in her opening scene) and overall has great control over her abilities. It's not until she arrives at the Niwa that she finds out that she can also shield herself from moth attacks in the Spirit World.
22	* FirstPersonSnarker: Her narration and speaking to herself often has her snarking, mostly at her own expense.
23	* FosterKid: She apparently bounced between several foster homes before landing with Jack.
24	* FriendToAllChildren: If the player chooses to explore her old bedroom in the beginning of the game, Marianne will mention that she frequently volunteers at the orphanage that housed her before being adopted and loves to spend time with the kids. This trope is also apparent with Marianne's interactions with Sadness, coming off as nurturing while also respecting the latter's privacy.
25	* TheGadfly: Mentioned as being such when she was younger; for example, she'd show people her ICU ticket about her second-degree burns and say, "isn't that sick?" just for the fun of it. It's less outwardly pronounced in the game proper, as she's still processing Jack's death.
26	* HandBlast: She can collect spiritual energy of positive memories in her left hand, and blast it to power various devices.
27	* HappilyAdopted: She has only fond memories of her foster father Jack, and he in turn deeply cares for her, and worries whether she'll be able to manage on her own.
28	* ISeeDeadPeople: Comes with being a medium.
29	* LightIsGood: Uses positive emotions, in the form of white light, and is unambiguously a good person.
30	* LiminalBeing: She considers herself to be one of those; partly of the material world, partly of the Spirit World, not wholly in either.
31	** [[spoiler: One of Thomas's notes in the old bunker, near the end of the game, suggests that Marianne's trauma as a young girl prevented her from going through the same process that he and Lilianne went through. Thus, while both Lilianne and Thomas have full-fledged alternate egos in the spirit world, Marianne exists simultaneously both there and in the real world.]]
32	* MedicateTheMedium: Implied; when Marianne sees Ursula's prescription, she grimly notes that she recognizes the drugs there.
33	* MoralityPet: One of two for [[spoiler:Spirit Thomas]], as despite the person's jerk tendencies, he genuinely cares about her and is nothing but kind when speaking with her.
34	* MundaneUtility: Her powers as a medium helped her allow many people to pass on to the afterlife through her work at Jack's funeral home.
35	* MysticalWhiteHair: Her Spirit World form has a full head of white hair.
36	* ParentalAbandonment: Marianne has no recollection of her birth parents, with her self-proclaimed "family heirloom" being an ICU admission card she got at three years old. And at the beginning of the game, her foster father, Jack, had already died.
37	* PsychicPowers: As a medium.
38	* {{Psychopomp}}: She can send souls that are for some reason stuck in the Spirit World onwards to the afterlife.
39	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Defied. After meeting the Maw for the first time, she acknowledges that the smart choice would be to get out of Niwa, but chooses to stay and figure out what's going on instead.
40	* TraumaInducedAmnesia: It turns out she [[spoiler:forgot her life before the fire, including everything that happened in Niwa. There's a blink-and-you'd-miss-it flashback in the ruins of the Red House, near the end of the game, that indicates Marianne was injured badly enough during the fire that she spent some time in a coma.]]
41	* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler: The story leaves it ambiguous on whether Marianne shoots Lily, the Maw, or herself.]]
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	! Ghosts
45	[[folder:Sadness]]
46	!!Sadness
47	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sadness_portrait.jpg]]
48	--->'''Voiced by:''' Angeli Wall (English)
49
50	A little girl who has been haunting Niwa for an undetermined amount of time. She serves as Marianne's first ally.
51	----
52
53	* BodyHorror: Sadness is missing the entirety of her right arm and her other limbs appear to have holes in them.
54	* CheerfulChild: Sadness is very lively, especially when Marianne shows up, as all of her friends disappeared before she arrived.
55	* CreepyChild: She has an expressionless mask, has all the aforementioned BodyHorror going, and introduces herself to Marianne with creepy giggling. Nonetheless, she turns out to be friendly.
56	* HauntedTechnology: At one point, she speaks to Marianne by adjusting a radio to different frequencies to convey a message.
57	* NiceGuy: She is very nice, barring being a little irritable at times, but even that is more due to her age than anything.
58	* NonIndicativeName: As pointed out by Marianne, Sadness isn't really... well, sad. Sadness clarifies that she call herself this because it's "what [she] remembers" and that she doesn't know her real name. [[spoiler:Her real name is Lily Rekowicz.]]
59	* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:She is what remains of Lily Rekowicz, Marianne's older sister and the one who unleashed the Maw and caused the Niwa massacre.]]
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Jack Orkan]]
63	!!Jack/Jacek Orkan
64	--->'''Voiced by:''' Kerry Shale (English)
65
66	Marianne's foster father, a funeral home owner who died a few days before the start of the game.
67	----
68	* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:He returns in the ruined fort, blaming Marianne for sending him somewhere horrid... [[SubvertedTrope except it turns out to be the Maw pretending to be him]].]]
69	* CreepyMortician: Inverted; while he ran a funeral home, Marianne's memories paint him as a kind, gentle man.
70	* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: Jack was a loving and supportive foster father to Marianne. He's not only dead by the beginning of the story, but Marianne has trouble talking about him without almost crying.
71	* DubNameChange: Jacek in Polish.
72	* GoodParents: Even as a ghost, his biggest concern is whether Marianne will be fine without him; when leaving, he outright says that he's loved her ever since he first met her.
73	* LaResistance: As a younger man, he was a member of the Solidarity (a real-life anti-communist movement). There are numerous memorabilia of that time in his room.
74	* MuggleFosterParents: He raised the medium Marianne while having no supernatural abilities himself.
75	* PosthumousCharacter: Marianne mentions him fairly often in the opening section of the game, but he himself only appears as a ghost or his corpse.
76	* SecretKeeper: He knew that Marianne was a medium, and encouraged her to develop her abilities.
77	* SoapOperaDisease: His day planner makes it clear that he was suffering from some chronic disease, though it's never explicitely named.
78
79	[[/folder]]
80
81	[[folder:'''Spoiler character''']]
82	!!"Spirit Thomas"
83	Thomas' Spirit World equivalent. Unlike Marianne's Spirit World form, which is perfectly in sync with her, Spirit Thomas is a separate creature - one that Thomas has tried to shut out of his life.
84	----
85
86	* AffectionateNickname: Calls Marianne "butterfly" as he gets ready for his HeroicSacrifice.
87	* AndIMustScream: When he lost to the Hound, he spent the entire time from then until the Hound's exorcism trapped in "Henry's fucked up world," which seems to be roughly 29 years.
88	* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: He briefly becomes the player character during segments when he enters another person's "inner world".
89	* BadPowersBadPeople: His HandBlast is powered by negative emotions, and he's an asshole. Played with, as he ''is'' a jerk, but he is ultimately trying to help Thomas and his family.
90	* BarrierWarrior: He can use psychic shields to protect himself; unlike Marianne, he doesn't need to charge up before doing so.
91	* BodyHorror: The skin around his neck is crumbled like porcelain, revealing bones beneath.
92	* TheCorrupter: Going along with his nature as Thomas' dark side, he eggs Thomas on to kill Richard after finding out what the other man's done.
93	* DeadpanSnarker: He dryly mocks Thomas and often points out that Thomas shutting him out is precisely the reason he's so unhelpful, in the most sarcastic manner he can.
94	* {{Foil}}: To Marianne. While she's caring, friendly and compassionate, and uses energy generated by positive emotions to power up her abilities, he's an asshole with a snarky comment for everything, and wields energy of negative emotions.
95	* HandBlast: Like Marianne, he can fire blasts of energy from his hands to destroy obstacles, though he uses energy of negative emotions and memories.
96	* HeroicSacrifice: Stays behind to hold off the Maw and give Marianne time to find Lily.
97	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While's he's generally a jerk to Thomas, and seems almost deliberately unhelpful at times, he does seem to care about him; when Thomas breaks down over what he's done inviting Richard into his daughter's vicinity, he tries to comfort him by saying that Thomas couldn't have known. When he's sent into Henry's mind, Spirit Thomas is also just as concerned about Lily and Marianne as Thomas, if not as frantic about it. He is also relatively nice to Marianne when they meet in the flesh.
98	* TheManInTheMirrorTalksBack: He speaks to Thomas through mirrors and windows.
99	* MindOverMatter: Seems to have some form of telekinesis in the minds he invades, as he uses when in Henry's mind.
100	* MindRape: He can destroy souls in the Spirit World, rendering their material forms catatonic.
101	* MrExposition: Tells Marianne what happened to Lily and Thomas after they locked themselves in the bunker.
102	* NarratorAllAlong: Played with. He isn't the narrator himself, but he is the person to whom Marianne is explaining the vast majority of the story in the framing story.
103	* NoSympathy: He has ''zero'' sympathy to Richard's DarkAndTroubledPast; understandable, considering Richard's actions in the present time.
104	* PsychicPowers: He's a personification of Thomas'.
105	* SealedGoodInACan: The Hound had him trapped in Henry's inner world for over a decade, until Marianne sent the beast away and unknowingly set him free.
106	* SirSwearsALot: Curses a ''lot'', much like his host.
107	* SplitPersonality: He's Thomas' dark impulses and supernatural abilities manifesting as a separate person. Judging from how he comes out of the Hound's world after nearly thirty years and doesn't know where Material Thomas is, he seems to be more than just a personality, and rather an entity in and of himself.
108	* SuperPoweredEvilSide: Less "evil" than "jerkass", but still, he's Thomas' worst impulses made manifest.
109	* TookALevelInKindness: It is unclear if it is from his time in the Hound's world or from talking to [[MoralityPet Marianne]], but he is much more calm and kind in the present day than he is in flashback sequences.
110	* WouldHurtAChild: He has no qualms against destroying Richard's child self, which manifests as a young boy begging for his help.
111
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	! Monsters
115	[[folder:The Maw]]
116	!!The Maw
117	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_maw.png]]
118	--->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/TroyBaker (English)
119
120	A malevolent being that searches endlessly for a "friend" to burrow inside and wear their skin.
121	----
122
123	* AmbiguousGender: Marianne calls it an "it", the Maw itself has a male voice, and it has visible breasts.
124	* AnthropomorphicPersonification [[spoiler: It's the sentient personification of Lilianne's trauma from whatever Richard did to her.]]
125	* BigBad: The Maw is considered the "main" monster [[spoiler:and its existence is ultimately why Marianne was called to Niwa.]]
126	* TheCorrupter: It twists people's emotions to get them to do violent things. [[spoiler:It did it to Ursula so that she'd hurt catatonic Richard, and tried to get Lily to hurt her family. It fails to talk her into leaving Marianne inside to burn, though.]]
127	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: It kills people by wearing their skin, and sheds them when they grow too "small" for it. The victims are left looking like they've rotted from the inside.
128	* IShallTauntYou: If it can't reach or find Marianne, it will mock and taunt her.
129	* HellIsThatNoise: If it's not talking, it's making something like screechy animal noises that sound like said animals are being tortured.
130	* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: As the BigBad, its very presence alone is a constant source of NightmareFuel.
131	* NotSoImaginaryFriend: To [[spoiler:Lilianne]].
132	* OneToMillionToOne: It can transform into a swarm of moths.
133	* PsychopathicManchild: The way it cries about its loneliness reminds one of a sad child. However, it ultimately just wants to wears your skin, something its not at all shy about.
134	* SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan: [[spoiler:It was originally trapped in Lily's mind; she released it so that it'd save her and Marianne from the HouseFire.]]
135	* ShapeshifterGuiltTrip: [[spoiler:In the old fort, it pretends to be Jack to lure Marianne to it.]]
136	* StalkerWithoutACrush: Keeps following behind Marianne because it wants to wear her skin [[spoiler: (i.e., possess her and use her as a host)]].
137	* SuperPersistentPredator: After meeting Marianne for the first time, it begins to follow her around Niwa, even entering the living world after her.
138	* TorturedMonster: Comes together with the Maw being spawned from the psyche Lilith, a rape victim. It explicitly needs a host to survive and doesn't ''enjoy'' its existence.
139	--> "No more hunger. No more cold. No more shame. Never again. Let them look. Let them know. Let them see. Let them feel... '''[[SuddenlyShouting OUR PAIN]]'''!"
140	* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler: The game leaves it up the air whether the Maw is shot by Marianne or she shoots herself or Lily.]]
141	* WalkingTechbane: Downplayed, but its arrival is usually heralded by the lights starting to flicker.
142	* WingedHumanoid: It has torn bug-like wings, but isn't seen using them.
143	[[/folder]]
144
145	[[folder:Childeater]]
146	!!Childeater
147	--->'''Voiced by:''' William Roberts (English)
148
149	A gargantuan monster [[spoiler:and the physical manifestation of Richard's "inner demons"]].
150	----
151
152	* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of [[spoiler:Richard's obsession with Lily.]]
153	* CombatTentacles: Uses these to trap and attack others.
154	* CutsceneBoss: [[spoiler:By the time Marianne meets him, he wants to die, so she just sends him away like she would any other spirit.]]
155	* FatBastard: A monstrously obese creature.
156	* EvilSoundsDeep: It has a ''very'' deep voice.
157	* ICannotSelfTerminate: Demands that [[spoiler:Marianne]] destroy it. [[spoiler:She obliges.]]
158	-->'''Childeater:''' To not exist. That's all I want.
159	* ALighterShadeOfBlack: It is definitely a monster that has been tormenting Sadness for much of her stay in Niwa's Spirit Realm, but it was born of tragic circumstances (Thomas evicerating Richard's soul, a person who himself was very troubled) and all it wanted was to be put to rest. Much more sympathetic than the Maw and the Hound, both monsters that want nothing more than to kill Marianne and feed off of her.
160	* MultiArmedAndDangerous: It has at least four sets of arms and [[spoiler:frequently attacks Thomas with its tentacles.]]
161	* MercyKill: [[spoiler:Provided by Marianne.]]
162	* MotiveRant: He gives one to Marianne, outlining his hatred of [[spoiler:Thomas]].
163	* NeverMyFault: [[spoiler:He angrily claims that Lily "came to him" when he's called out on hurting her.]]
164	* TheSoulless: [[spoiler:After "Spirit Thomas" destroys Richard's child self, all that is left is his sins as a monstrous creature called "Childeater" that has no soul and wants nothing more than to die for real.]]
165	* TragicMonster: [[spoiler:This abomination is the manifestation of Richard's lifelong heartbreak turned into something evil and perverse. The pain of losing Rose and guilt over what Richard did to Lily is all it knows.]]
166	* WhamLine: [[spoiler:Clues Marianne in that she has some personal connection to Niwa.]]
167	-->'''Childeater:''' [[spoiler:You smell like [Lily]. (...) Goodbye, girl from the Red House.]]
168	* WouldHurtAChild: It's called "Childeater" for a reason.
169	[[/folder]]
170
171	[[folder:The Hound]]
172	--->'''Voiced by:''' Vincent Lai (English)
173
174	A monster coming from [[spoiler:Henry Wilk]].
175
176	----
177	* AnimalisticAbomination: Looks like a ferocious, desiccated {{hellhound}}.
178	* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of [[spoiler:Henry's PatrioticFervor, even at the cost of his family; he's a loyal hound of the state.]]
179	* BaitAndSwitch: It lures [[spoiler:Spirit Thomas into a cage with an image of a small child, banking on him assuming that this is the "real" Henry that he can destroy to MindRape him. Works like a charm.]]
180	-->'''The Hound:''' What exactly were you hoping to find here? A guilty conscience? The vulnerable child behind the monster? [[spoiler:There is no child! There is only me.]]
181	* CanisMajor: It's enormous; the ground shakes when it walks around.
182	* HellIsThatNoise: Announces its presence with deep, loud growls and howls.
183	* IShallTauntYou: Much like its progenitor, it's fond of taunting its prey, [[spoiler:mocking Spirit Thomas for thinking killing Henry would be as easy as taking out Richard, then mocking Marianne for her TraumaInducedAmnesia and taunting her about Lily's death. At one point, it even speculates out-loud that Thomas was the one who killed Lily, just to pour salt on the wound.]]
184	* NotMeThisTime: When [[spoiler:Marianne accuses it of killing Lily]], it freely admits that it didn't do it, as [[spoiler:Henry was already dead by then]], and has no idea who did.
185	* OffscreenTeleportation: It hops around a lot when unseen, mostly to unnerve its prey.
186	* SavageWolves: Its got canine features and is highly aggressive.
187	* SkullForAHead: While its body is canine, it has a giant human skull instead of a dog head.
188	* VillainousBreakdown: Panics when [[spoiler:Marianne exorcises it]].
189	-->'''Hound:''' No! Stop! What are you doing?!
190	* VoiceOfTheLegion: Its voice is always accompanied by hound-like wolves and howls, [[spoiler:and when it taunts Spirit Thomas, it speaks with both its own two voices and with the voice of a small boy.]]
191	* ZeroEffortBoss: [[spoiler:"Spirit Thomas" crushes him with a giant cupboard, and that is it... [[SubvertedTrope until a few minutes later, when it turns out to have only been hiding, and kicks Thomas out of Henry's brain]].]]
192	[[/folder]]
193
194	!Niwa Residents
195	[[folder:Thomas Rekowicz]]
196	!!Thomas/Tomasz Rekowicz
197	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thomas_portrait.jpg]]
198	--->'''Played by:''' Graham Vick (English VO), Marcin Dorociński (Motion Capture)
199
200	The architect and manager of Niwa, who seems to have the same abilities as Marianne. He calls her at the start of the game, urging her to come to Niwa "before it's too late", but after Marianne arrives, he's nowhere to be found.
201	----
202
203	* ArmorPiercingResponse: When Marianne tries to hang up on him, he convinces her that he's genuine by saying "it all starts with a dead girl", calling back to her RecurringDreams. This stops her immediately.
204	* DarkAndTroubledPast: His parents died in the Warsaw Uprising, and by the time Richard finds him, he's jumpy and terrified. He slowly works through it, first through sessions with Richard, then with his beloved. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that the Nazis initially wanted to use his inborn powers as a weapon, but was taken by the Red Army who wanted to do the same. He eventually escaped and went on the run for most of his life, but seemed to settle at the Niwa. When he uses his powers to avenge his daughter, Lily, he shows up on the Polish government's radar.]]
205	* {{Deuteragonist}}: [[spoiler:He's the main character of the flashback sequences, and his Spirit World self is a second playable character.]]
206	* DistressCall: He calls Marianne to beg her to come to Niwa and help stop something terrible from happening.
207	* DubNameChange: Tomasz in Polish.
208	* EnfantTerrible: Notes strewn about [[spoiler:Henry's inner world]] suggest that as a kid, Thomas [[spoiler:racked up quite a bodycount of the Soviet scientists that experimented on him.]]
209	* EscapedFromTheLab: [[spoiler:When he was eighteen, he fled a Soviet lab he was being experimented upon in. Apparently, he caused a carnage on his way out.]]
210	* GoodParents: He had a couple children who he loved dearly.
211	* HappilyMarried: One of Richard's notes mentions that Thomas met and married some lovely woman who helped him get over the last of his trauma. Unfortunately, she died shortly before Richard moved in to Niwa.
212	* InkSuitActor: His appearance is almost identical to his mo-cap actor, Marcin Dorociński.
213	* ISeeDeadPeople: [[spoiler: He apparently shares Marianne's ability to see the Spirit World, though his perception seems to manifest as a separate being with which he talks while still looking around as if it were the non-spiritual one. He can also jump inside of another person's head and interact with their inner demons. The latter is used to "kill off" their souls and leave them in a catatonic state, which he does to Richard after the latter abuses Thomas' daughter Lily.]]
214	* {{Herald}}: He's the one who asks Marianne to come to Niwa.
215	* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:He's Marianne's father.]]
216	* MindRape: [[spoiler:Does this to Richard after finding out that the older man abused Lily.]]
217	* PapaWolf: When he finds out what [[spoiler:Richard has done to his daughter]], he tells [[spoiler:his Spirit World self]] that either he deals with the problem, or Thomas will kill the guy.
218	* PsychicPowers: Much like Marianne, he's a medium.
219	* TheyWouldCutYouUp: [[spoiler:He was experimented on as a child, first by Nazis, then by Soviets. He managed to escape and lay low at eighteen.]]
220	* TouchTelepathy: His powers require physical skin-to-skin contact with his target [[spoiler:as Henry finds out when he grabs him by the neck with his bare hand.]]
221	* SirSwearsALot: Curses a ton, though given the circumstances we see him in, that's understandable.
222	* StalkerWithoutACrush: Early on, a view in his room shows that he has a ''lot'' of pictures of Marianne, explaining how he knows about her.
223	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: He was the one who invited Richard to Niwa, unknowingly dooming the other man - and himself.
224	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler:Thomas is nowhere to be seen in the game's present day. Not even his spirit self knows where he is or if he's even alive.]]
225
226	[[/folder]]
227
228	[[folder:Richard Tarkowski]]
229	!!Richard/Ryszard Tarkowski
230	--->'''Voiced by:''' William Roberts (English, Adult), Mack Keith-Roach (English, Child)
231
232	A painter who took younger Thomas under his wing and used his tales of the Spirit World as inspiration for his paintings. Years later, he comes to Niwa at Thomas' urging, which turns out badly for him.
233	----
234
235	* AmbiguousSituation: What exactly he did [[spoiler:to Lily, Thomas' daughter. There are heavy implications that he molested and/or hit her, but the only descriptions we're given are that he "hurt" and "preyed" on her.]]
236	* ApocalypticLog: He leaves behind many notes talking about the state of the motel and his interactions with people in it, mainly Thomas and Lily. He's no longer around by the time Marianne shows up.
237	* CreepyUncle: Lily calls him "uncle", and he, in turn, keeps comparing her to his youthful love. The way he says it, and the emotions that accompany his words, are... suspect, to say the least.
238	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Richard didn't have the best childhood. [[spoiler:His father died presumably during World War II. His mother remarried, but the man was abusive to both Richard and his mother. Eventually, his mother exploits the fact that she was helping house a Jewish family to get her husband framed and executed as a "collaborator". As a result, however, Richard's Jewish sweetheart Rose and her family were exposed and executed as well.]]
239	* EducationMama: Downplayed. He really pushed Thomas to become an artist, and was deeply disappointed when the other man decided to pursue architecture instead. He eventually makes peace with it.
240	* EmptyShell: The nurse does ''something'' to him that leaves him catatonic and wheelchair-bound. Sadness describes his state as being hollow like a puppet. [[spoiler:It's then revealed that it was actually Thomas who made him catatonic by entering his mind and shattering his soul.]]
241	* LockedOutOfTheLoop: He's unaware of the existence of the Spirit World, and thinks Thomas' tales of it are a combination of overactive imagination and trauma.
242	* ParentalSubstitute: Thomas sees him as a surrogate father. This... backfires, to say the least.
243	* TheSvengali: Discussed. In one of his notes, he wonders whether using Thomas' stories as basis of his paintings isn't exploitative, before eventually concluding that not to paint what Thomas is describing would be a crime.
244	* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:He hurt Lily somehow, despite knowing that she's Thomas' daughter. He claims something took control of him and he never wanted to do that, but Thomas doesn’t believe him.]]
245
246	[[/folder]]
247
248	[[folder:Ursula Rostkowski]]
249	!!Ursula/Urszula Rostkowski
250	A nurse working at Niwa's doctor's office. She's infatuated with Richard, which Niwa's supernatural forces twist into something... bad.
251	----
252
253	* AllLoveIsUnrequited: A note from her found early in the game has her bemoan the fact that none of the people she falls for ever reciprocate her feelings.
254	* DemonicPossession: It's heavily implied that she's influenced by the Maw to kill. [[spoiler: In one of its rants in the late game, the Maw confirms that Ursula was the first person he possessed at Niwa.]]
255	* DubNameChange: Urszula in Polish.
256	* MedicateTheMedium: Or rather, Medicate the Possessed; Marianne finds a prescription showing that doctors, unaware of the supernatural, diagnosed her with malnutrition, depression, insomnia and hysteria, and prescribed her a number of drugs, as well as electroshock therapy.
257	* RedHerring: We're initially lead to believe that it was her that made Richard catatonic. [[spoiler:It was actually Thomas.]]
258	* SmallRoleBigImpact: Ursula's only significant part in the story [[spoiler:is being possessed by the Maw and committing the Niwa Massacre.]]
259	* {{Yandere}}: After Richard rejects her, she's initially heartbroken, but accepting of the fact, but over time, this morphs into obsession, and she ends up doing ''something'' to him that renders him catatonic [[spoiler:(or rather, that was assumed to be the reason)]]. She later murders many of Niwa's other residents.
260
261	[[/folder]]
262
263	[[folder:Lily Rekowicz]]
264	!!Lilianne/Lilianna Rekowicz
265	--->'''Voiced by:''' Rebecca Blackstone (English)
266
267	Thomas' daughter.
268	----
269
270	* BigSisterInstinct: [[spoiler:Initially averted. She used to blame Marianne for the death of their mother, but the fire that destroyed their home made her turn a new leaf. Come the end of the game, any hostility she had of Marianne is completely gone, even going as far as to hug her.]]
271	* DarkAndTroubledPast: [[spoiler:First her mother dies giving birth to Marianne. Then, Richard does... something horrible to her that forces her father to take vengeance on her behalf. Then, shortly after, government agent Henry Wilk shows up and sets the Rekowicz house on fire, forcing Lily to release the Maw to save Marianne. Then, after being separated from Marianne, the Niwa Massacre occurs because of the Maw. And finally, Thomas imprisons both Lily and himself in an underground bunker to contain their powers for the next twenty to thirty years.]]
272	* DubNameChange: Lilianna or Lilia in Polish.
273	* ICannotSelfTerminate: [[spoiler:She tried killing herself in the past to prevent the Maw from getting loose, but the Maw wouldn't let her die. She tries to get Marianne to kill her instead, [[AmbiguousEnding with ambiguous results]].]]
274	* LittleBigSister: [[spoiler:Despite being several years older than Marianne, when the two meet as adults, she's both shorter and more waifish; likely the result of spending her teenage years in a bunker while Marianne had a more-or-less normal childhood.]]
275	* LittleDeadRidingHood: She wears a red sweater.
276	* MoralityPet: One of two for [[spoiler:Spirit Thomas]], as despite the person's jerk tendencies, he genuinely cares about her.
277	* PsychicPowers: [[spoiler:Like Marianne and Thomas, she's also a medium.]]
278	* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler:Richard treats her as such for Rose. Unfortunately for Lily, Richard's broken psyche did not make this a good thing.]]
279	* TheReveal: [[spoiler:She's not only Sadness' true identity, but she's a powerful medium and Marianne's long lost older sister.]]
280	* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler: Her fate at the end of the story, like Marianne’s and the Maw’s, is left unknown and up to interpretation.]]
281	* WalkingSpoiler: The amount of spoiler tags should indicate that it's difficult to talk about her as a character without spoiling the game's plot.
282	[[/folder]]
283
284	[[folder:F.]]
285	!!F[[spoiler:rancis]]/F[[spoiler:ranciszek]]
286
287	Niwa's groundskeeper. Marianne can find postcards he wrote to his wife around the resort.
288	----
289
290	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:His life was sucked out of him; his corpse is rotten from inside out.]]
291	* DeliveryNotDesired: He never sent any of the postcards he wrote; he was too scared of speaking to his wife.
292	* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler:The Maw claims that he "served" it for a while, suggesting that it "wore" him.]]
293	* DubNameChange: [[spoiler:Franciszek]] in Polish.
294	* TheFaceless: [[spoiler:When Marianne finds his corpse, the head is covered by a plastic bag.]]
295	* OnlyKnownByInitials: He signs all his postcards as "F.". [[spoiler:A missable collectible echo and later, a photograph near his corpse name him as Francis.]]
296
297	[[/folder]]
298
299	!Others
300	[[folder:Henry Wilk]]
301	!!Henry/Henryk Wilk
302	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wilk_photo.png]]
303	--->'''Voiced by:''' Vincent Lai (English, Adult), Artemus Cragg (English, Child)
304
305	An agent working for the Polish government, who was sent to hunt down Thomas Rekowicz in the past.
306	----
307
308	* ApocalypticLog: His phone calls back to base have left spiritual echoes on Niwa's public phones, leaving a trail serving as this.
309	* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:He ''oozes'' this trope during Thomas' investigation scene]]
310	* CopCriminalFamily: In his youth, he was a police officer, [[spoiler:while his father was keeping high-quality meat away from people.]] Given the times, neither was really a "good guy", though.
311	* DarkAndTroubledPast: [[spoiler:It's implied that he may have been abused by his father.]]
312	* DubNameChange: Henryk in Polish.
313	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: [[spoiler: For all of Henry's ruthlessness he does have a son he genuinely loves.]]
314	* EvilAllAlong: Played with. [[spoiler:Unlike Richard, his JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind does not concentrate on his positive qualities aside from loving his son. Instead, it almost all hammers in how devoted he is to his job, which the Hound even outright notes by claiming there is no troubled child at the end of it all.]]
315	* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: Averted; his employers, the Security Service, were a real cold-war era counter-intelligence and internal security organization.
316	* MeaningfulName: His surname means "wolf". [[spoiler:The monster that comes from him is called "The Hound".]]
317	* ParentsAsPeople: [[spoiler:Henry loves his son, but is a bit distant from him due to his work.]]
318	* PatrioticFervor: Henry is so dedicated to his country, that he repeatedly calls his countrymen "comrade" and [[spoiler:turned in his father to the authorities for deliberately keeping high quality meat away from the people.]]
319	* SavageWolves: Befitting his surname, he's one dangerous man.
320	* SecretPolice: He's an agent of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Public_Security_(Poland) Security Service]], which was this under communist rule.
321	* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler:He turned his father in for stealing meat, which at the time was punishable for death.]] The incident is what caused Security Service to recruit him.
322	* TapOnTheHead: Averted; [[spoiler:he dies when Thomas bashes him over the head with a wrench.]]
323	* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: [[spoiler:Unlike Richard's inner demon, the Hound is stronger than Thomas' Spirit self and stops the MindRape before it can happen. Unfortunately for him, Thomas uses his confusion in the aftermath to free himself and fatally wounds him with a wrench.]]
324	* TortureTechnician: His flashback begins with him [[spoiler:tortuing Thomas for information]], and he mentions that he "knows how to make men hurt", implying this isn't his first rodeo.
325	* WalkingSpoiler: Given how important his actions are to the plot, he's full of this.
326	* TheWorkaholic: [[spoiler:His "realm" is littered with file cabinets and papers, implying this.]]
327	* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:He burns down the Reckowicz house, endangering Thomas' daughters, in order to get Thomas to cooperate.]]
328
329	[[/folder]]
330
331	[[folder:Rose]]
332	!!Rose/Róża
333	Richard's childhood friend and crush.
334	----
335
336	* AmbiguouslyJewish: [[spoiler:The gameplay leading up to Richard finding Rose's body leaves clues that Rose may have actually been Jewish, such as the Star of David randomly sitting on a bench.]]
337	* DubNameChange: Róża in Polish.
338	* FlowerMotif: [[spoiler:The gardens in which she's introduced]] are full of rose bushes.
339	* TheGadfly: She seems to enjoy ribbing Richard.
340	* LivingEmotionalCrutch: In a childhood full of misery, her companionship was Richard's only relief.
341	* LostLenore: [[spoiler:She was killed by Nazis during World War Two. Richard never really got over it, leading to his later obsession with Lily.]]
342	* PuppyLove: As a boy, Richard was head over heels for her.
343	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:Her death causes Richard's later obsession with Lily, which causes Thomas to MindRape him, which brings him to the attention of Polish government, leading to everything that happens afterwards.]]
344	[[/folder]]
345

Context Characters / TheMedium