* EnsembleDarkHorse: Wolfenstein, oh so very much. Originally he's just a NPC made for a single quest and Gaige's superior. Later on, he becomes a player character Vault Hunter, even becoming a main character in the second DLC.
* FauxSymbolism: Mockingbirds represent innocence, playfulness, and vitality. Mockingbird in the actual story is a [[TheHedonist hedonistic]] AxCrazy [[TheSociopath sociopath]] who toys with the Vault Hunters ForTheEvulz. Now he could represent corruption of innocence for {{Irony}}, but WordOfGod confirmed this was unintentional. The conversation basically goes like this:
-->'''[Reviewer]:''' '''"There is so much symbolism here if you read between the lines. Mockingbird could be the ironic innocence that a mockingbird is supposed to represent, but he becomes one of the most corrupt beings in the story!"
-->'''[Scotty "Roundhouse" Dale]''': "Uh..."
-->'''[Richard [=McGuiness=]]''': "We didn’t have any symbolism for Mockingbird technically. He’s… uh… just a ruthless man-child who loves to fuck around with people because he finds it amusing."
* TearJerker: Has a couple, despite the overall high-action style of the story.
** [[spoiler:Brick dying]]. While he did have a DyingMomentOfAwesome by [[spoiler:killing Dane before going]], it was still hard to read.
** Pretty much all of the character's backstories posted at the end of each story arc. They range from Suture's (disturbing and mildly sad) to Saprus's (absolutely heartrending).
*** Wolfenstein's is definitely one of the top ones though, as it's one of his few NotSoStoic moments that isn't NightmareFuel incarnate.
** [[spoiler:Suture's]] confession of guilt to [[spoiler:Aurai]]. He's clearly struggling for what he did to her, and he even admits that he has no reason to live any longer, offering the chance for [[spoiler:Aurai to torture him just like he did to her, as well as handing her a gun to kill him. She forgives him, sending this into happy tearjerker territory]].
* WordOfGod: The characters Richard McGuinness and Scotty Roundhouse Dale function as such, typically providing commentary to the story and relaying answers from the author.
** In Chapter 40 of the 2nd DLC, [[AuthorCameo Samuel Keller]] himself appears in one of their interviews to answer fan questions.