Characters / All Your Ruins

Main Characters

James Cortland

"I can die, that's fine, but not before that big ugly bastard dies first."

A man in his late thirties who's been tracking Zarius for some time. He is but a shell of his former self, personally destroyed by the Ruin and the loss of his love. He also happens to harbor a special gift that gives him an edge above most other survivors.

• The Anti-Nihilist: Despite his own misgivings about his predicament, he values the lives of others like him, and will often try to help them. However, this is only really apparent after he meets Allison and Jenna.
• Beard of Sorrow: Sports a moderate one.
• Big Damn Heroes: Attacks Zarius just in time for everyone to escape. He ends up shooting Allison due to Zarius tripping him up sadly.
• David Versus Goliath: A human man against a mountain-sized monster. The allusion is even referenced in the book. Either way, both die, but David wins.
• Death Seeker: James lost the will to live years ago. There's nothing else left after Zarius' demise.
• The Determinator: No matter what the cost or the obstacle, he WILL kill Zarius.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Of a sort. He dies horribly and slowly, but he does so happily, as his actions destroyed Zarius and avenged Hannah once and for all.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Eventually finds that his self-centered quest to kill Zarius has made him blind to the suffering and pain around him. He's almost as emotionless and laser-focused as the monsters he fights now.
• Hidden Depths: Occasionally, James will make references to various old pop culture stuff in his mind, like Jurassic Park and Castle Greyskull, implying that he was something of a pre-2000s nerd back then.
• The Immune: Due to being the only one to receive a unique vaccine, the Kaiju Blight doesn't affect him at all. This becomes a critical plot point later on.
• The Lost Lenore: His primary motivation for killing Zarius is due to it murdering his fiance, Hannah, by total accident.
• Unknown Rival: To Zarius.

Allison and Jenna Davies

A young woman and her even younger sister, who wander the Ruin while looking for sanctuary. Unlike Allison, Jenna only has a vague memory of life before the kaiju, and has to be watched by her sister at almost all times. So far, their destination is Haven.

• Annoying Younger Sibling: Occasionally, Jenna will complain about the voyage in one way or another.
• Children Are Innocent: Jenna acts much like any other pre-teen girl.
• Cool Big Sis: Allison isn't cool in the traditional sense, but she's the reason Jenna is still alive.
• May–December Romance: Due to the total lack of social interaction in the wake of the Ruin, Allison ends up falling for James, a man more than ten years her senior. Even she recognizes the error in this.
• Promotion to Parent: After their parents were killed, Allison had to look after Jenna by herself.
• Sole Survivor: Out of all of the main characters, Jenna is the only one to still live, even after she merges with the strange fungus.

Ronald Hicks

A former animal control man, Ron was sure to amount to nothing much else. But then the Ruin came, and suddenly, he was a major figure in Haven. The Kaiju Blight starts to infect him, and as it does, he slowly finds himself committing one heinous act after another in the name of getting himself better.

• Abusive Parents: His father constantly reminded him of how much of a failure he was.
• Big Bad: Becomes this on the human side of things.

• Blessed with Suck: The Blight has made him super-strong, yes, but he's also Secretly Dying, and starting to hear voices. It's heavily implied that it overtakes him in the end, and turns him into an entirely different being.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Went from a lowly moocher that nobody loved to a super-powered ruler of one of the few human compounds around.
• Karma Houdini: Either played straight or subverted. He runs off from the destruction of Haven to leave almost everyone to die, and after drinking James' immune blood. But the mutated fungus-like being found attached to a cave wall by Jenna is stated to look almost just like him, albeit with an entirely different personality. It's possibly that he was overtaken by the Blight and gave rise to a new creature.
• Secretly Dying: Keeps his infection with the Blight to himself.
• Sour Supporter: Really does not like working for Sherriff Fyfe, and wastes no time orchestrating his death.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: Becomes official sheriff of Haven after violently disposing of Fyfe.

Other Characters

Miranda Stidham

One of Haven's enforcers, a minion of Ronald, and a violence-seeking sadist if there ever was one.

• Abusive Parents: Her father was a drunk jackass who did nothing to quell her bubbling hatred of everything. In fact, she let a giant bird kill him for being such an ass.
• A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 28 is dedicated entirely to her backstory.
• Devoured by the Horde: Gets ripped limb from limb by the giant insect horde.
• The Dragon: To Ron.
• Eye Scream: Got her left eye taken out by a giant bird.
• Eyepatch of Power: Wears one over where a giant bird sliced her left eye.
• {{Sadist:}} Actively revels in causing as much suffering as possible, and is often disappointed when less violent options are chosen.
• The Starscream: Although she's very loyal to Ron, it's only because of his own capacity for violence, and she feels that things would be better if she was running Haven.

Dr. Flanders

The resident doctor of Haven and a former veterinarian. Also one of Ron's confidants.

• Ignored Expert: It's clear that Flanders has no idea how to reverse Ron's condition, but he's demanded to nonetheless.
• Rasputinian Death: First gets tossed into the air by Zarius and the Goblin's tussle, his legs are shattered, and Ron leaves him to die as Zarius' child violently eats him.
• Sour Supporter: It's made clear as time goes on that Flanders only serves Ron because he'll be killed otherwise.

Gary Fyfe

A former cop and the local sheriff of Haven. Ron and his followers answer explicitly to him...for a time.

• 0%Adoration Rating: No one, at least not the people that Ron knows, really likes him, especially not Ron.
• Eaten Alive: Ripped up by the baby kaiju.
• Lesser of Two Evils: Yes, he lied about the Blight, but then again, he didn't keep everyone in line with a baby kaiju and kill any dissenters.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Kept the threat of the Blight a secret in order to not cause a panic. It ended up being the last straw in instigating a coup against him.

Bull

The muscle of Haven, and a rather misshapen fellow. Does as he's told, though not quite with as much enthusiasm.

• Big Damn Heroes: Saves Allison from a giant insect during the fall of Haven.
• Gonk: His face is rather...off, with his eyes drooping down to an unnatural degree. Ron guesses that it's the result of incest and drug abuse on his mother's part.
• Meaningful Name: Has the same general obedience, size, and strength of a bull.
• The Quiet One: A person of very few words.
• Token Good Teammate: The only person in Ronald's personal circle with any semblance of morals aside from maybe Flanders.

Kaiju

In General

• Alien Blood: Their blood, the Kaiju Blight, can mutate all animals except mammals, which just self-destruct as a result.
• Animalistic Abomination: Almost all kaiju are some animal (barring mammals) heavily mutated by the Kaiju Blight.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The City Breakers, or the Magnificent Seven are they were once known, were among the largest of the monsters. They came after the sea creature-like Pazero (the very first monster). They included Masacuran from India, Zarius from Japan, Pwezyama from Africa, Granvolar from Mexico, Kepaniao from Hong Kong, Skyquake from the USA, and a giant frog from the Wadden Sea.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Several monsters are arthropods bigger than they have any right to be. These include building-sized beetles, bipedal fly monsters the size of dogs, and a horde of insectoid swarmers.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: They pretty much defy all known scientific fact with their mere existence. No creature should be able to move or act with sizes like that, according to Square-Cube Law. They are also walking reactors, able to convert any form of energy into power. And that's not even getting into their Healing Factor or their mutagenic blood.
• Feathered Fiend: The bird monsters seen are often very stork-like, and can cut people down in seconds.
• The Ghost: Every City Breaker except Zarius is never seen in the story. Some like Kepaniao and Skyquake get illustrations, but they're mentioned in passing. Whether they're all dead or not is anyone's guess.
• Healing Factor: They can repair damaged cells in seconds, though this is quite painful for them as well. The smaller kaiju don't have as strong of an ability.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Due to their unnatural biology, they perceive every living thing around them as a threat, and kill it as soon as possible, only occasionally eating it.
• Patient Zero: The very first monster that came out of Australia. Fittingly, its name was a portmanteau of the trope. Hence, Pazero.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Many kaiju are reptilian beasts, like Zarius and Skyquake.
• Riddle for the Ages: Where exactly did the monsters come from? The closest thing to an origin is humanity having Dug Too Deep, but that's it.

Zarius

The most powerful of the City Breakers, as well as the most active. It is also the target of James.

• Achilles' Heel: There are small openings on Zarius that form whenever he uses up a lot of energy. Perfect for a lethal injection.
• Behemoth Battle: Fights and kills the Goblin near the end.
• Big Red Devil: See Satanic Archetype below.
• Body Horror: It looks like it walked out of a nuclear explosion for one thing, and when it uses its Breath Weapon, it builds up copious amounts of flesh and tissue through a boost to its metabolism just to burn it away.
• Breath Weapon: Unloads white-hot burning goo-like substances out of his mouth like a beam near the end.
• Creepy Crosses: His back is full of spikes that look just like them for some reason.
• Faux Symbolism: Zarius' spikes are shaped in the form of crosses.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Heavily implied to have once been a regular horned lizard before the Kaiju Blight got to it.
• Kryptonite Factor: The only thing that could possibly stand a chance against him is Chemical Compound KO 1989 GVB, which is described as being able to destroy mitochondria and inhibit cell reproduction, something that would instantly negate its Healing Factor. Not only does it work, but it also seems to apply Square-Cube Law to it by causing it to collapse under its own weight messily.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: NOTHING can scratch this beast. Even the Goblin's attacks are an annoyance at best for it.
• Not So Stoic: Seeing its offspring for the first time causes it to feel emotions it didn't even know it had. Seeing it die causes it to fly into a rage motivated by what can only be described as vengeful grief.
• Not Zilla: Of course. The City Breakers in general are even said to have grown to Godzilla-like proportions in the text. However, Zarius is less like the regular 'zilla and more like Shin Godzilla, with all of the horror that implies.
• "Pop!" Goes the Human: Actually, pop goes the kaiju. The chemical injected into it by James causes it to explode violently and collapse into itself.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Unleashes Hell upon the survivors of Haven after its baby is killed.
• Satanic Archetype: Between the destruction it leaves in its wake and the horns it has, no wonder people compare it to the Devil.
• The Stoic: Shows little if any feeling at all, until he meets and sees the death of his son.
• Truly Single Parent: Spawned an egg without even knowing it.

The Goblin

A large reptilian monster that skirts the line between regular kaiju and City Breaker.

• Behemoth Battle: Engages with Zarius.
• Body Horror: Aside from the teeth situation mentioned below, it also has several useless limbs growing out of its back, and it's eyes are all over its head in no focused pattern.
• Expy: Its burrowing nature and fighting style call to mind Baragon.
• Fearless Fool: Attacks Zarius head-on and gets into an extended tussle that ultimately costs it its life.
• Flower Mouth: One full of plenty of teeth, too.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Has rows upon rows upon rows upon rows of teeth in its mouth. It's hinted that they may go well into its stomach as well.
• Rasputinian Death: First it gets throttled by Zarius, then the kaiju crushes its head with its foot. The corpse is then eaten away by the giant insect horde.

The Giant Insects

A huge colony of equally huge toothy insects that menace the characters on ground-level.

• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Described as being horse-sized with bodies resembling stained glass, and razor-sharp talons and teeth.
• Expy: Of the warrior-class Arachnids from Starship Troopers. They even have tiger stripes like those ones.
• The Heavy: Zarius is the main monster baddie, but these creatures do more damage by virtue of killing most of the named characters personally.
• Hell Is That Noise: Almost always heralded by a strange chattering sound.
• It Can Think: Heavily implied to have used the dilapidated house they lived under as a trap for unsuspecting humans.
• The Swarm: Attack en masse everywhere they go.
• Tunnel King: They have formed a complex highway of tunnels beneath the ground, not unlike ants. One leads up to Haven...
• Zerg Rush: They have little in the way of attack strategy aside from coming all at once.

The Newborn Kaiju Unmarked spoilers ahead

A newly hatched kaiju that Ronald and his gang find, and promptly use as a tool of disposal. Turns out to be Zarius' offspring.

• Expy: A particularly twisted take on Minya.
• Fed to the Beast: What Ron plans on using it for. He does so with Fyfe.
• Gigantic Adults, Tiny Babies: Comparatively, that is. This kid is about as big as a truck, but that's nothing when compared to its monolithic parent.
• Off with His Head!: Gets its head blown off by a rocket launcher.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Its existence gets Zarius' attention, and it all goes to Hell from there for Haven.
• Walking Spoiler: Its existence proves a very real fear about the kaiju; They can have kids.