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Bizarre Bazaar
Valeriana
"Could it be, Leander? Could she be the one we've been searching for?"
Voiced by: Susanne Blakeslee
A salamander who runs a stand in the Bizarre Bazaar called "Valeriana's Mysterious Goods."
- All There in the Manual: In the show, Valeriana is simply a mysterious mentor who appears when she's needed and disappears afterward with little explanation. Reading Marcy's Journal and deciphering a note Marcy picked up in the Newtopian library reveals her true nature.
- An Arm and a Leg: She's missing her right arm, which she uses her tail as a replacement for.
- The Atoner: She created the Calamity Box as an instrument of Amphibia's progress and peace. But when their own people abused it for their own greed and power hunger, her grief made her unable to pass on even after her death, so she spent her ghost life waiting for the arrival of the Chosen Ones, that could bring Amphibia into salvation.
- Berserk Button: Anne learns the hard way what happens when you insult the ancient order Valeriana has dedicated her entire life to. Do that, and you're going to be caught up in a battle of honor, and she's actually a very competent fighter. (However, this is at least partly for the sake of her Secret Test of Character of Anne.)
- The Bus Came Back:
- Valeriana returns to guide Anne to the second temple.
- Following a long absence since her helping Anne with the second temple, she returns for the series finale, "The Hardest Thing", in order to aid Anne and her friends against the threat of the Core's final stand.
- Didn't Think This Through: She tries to bluff to Anne that she'd never get back to the Plantars without her help, but Anne has pretty much figured out how to do that without Valeriana's help. Valeriana apparently didn't count on Anne being smart enough to remember that. (However, not giving Anne a legitimately selfish reason to rescue her might have been part of Valeriana's Secret Test of Character for Anne.)
- Founder of the Kingdom: Marcy's Journal strongly implies that Valeriana is the creator of the music box and founder of Newtopia's empire.
- Good Costume Switch: Though she was always on the side of good, her cloak takes on a white and gold color scheme after Anne passes her test.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Her pet, Leander, seems to be a hybrid of a housefly and a parrot.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: As revealed by Matt's interview through a coded message, she's the creator of the Calamity Box. She built it as a way to unite the three races (frogs, newts and toads) in one kingdom, hoping that it would bring an new era of peace and prosperity. However, what she didn't take into account is that the price of Amphibia's Golden Age is the suffering of the entire multiverse at the hands of Amphibia's greed, arrogance and corruption in the form of the Core. She regretted her actions so much, that not even death is enough to put her out of misery, turning herself into a ghost unable to pass on.
- The Omniscient: While delivering her "The Reason You Suck" Speech, Valeriana lists various selfish decisions Anne made since coming to Amphibia... ones which she wasn't around to witness, leaving Anne confused and creeped out. And then she reveals she knows Anne stole the music box, which happened on Earth — a completely different dimension to Amphibia. How she knows these things isn't explained in the show.
- Once a Season: She appears in every season, but only once. Each time, she always plays a crucial role.
- Prehensile Tail: Valeriana's tail isn't just prehensile, it's covered with a glove that she can manipulate as if it were a real hand.
- Really 700 Years Old: If she is the creator of the music box as Marcy's Journal implies, Valeriana is in fact the oldest person in Amphibia, barring the Calamity Guardian, having existed even before the Core.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: During the whole trip to the second temple, Valeriana mercilessly and ruthlessly criticizes Anne and her impulsive decisions. The one below is especially scathing, and probably would have broken anyone with a weaker spirit. (It's likely that Valeriana was testing to see if Anne would get angry or try to lie and cover up her past, trying to prod a negative reaction out of her, because of her running a Secret Test of Character.)Valeriana: Oh, that won't be happening. I've learned all I need to know about you lot: disobedient, foolish, impulsive! None of these qualities are worthy of the sacred stones! You don't deserve my help! Good luck finding that temple... On. Your. Own.
- Right-Hand Cat: Her pet bird Leander is always by her side. In "The Second Temple", Anne reasons that Valeriana is evil just because she owns a parrot. She's half-right; Valeriana has ulterior motives, but she is ultimately on the side of good.
- Secret Test of Character: Her actual role at the second temple is to gauge Anne's worthiness by testing her compassion and sense of responsibility.
- Threshold Guardians: She tests Anne to see if she's worthy to enter the second temple.
- Trickster Mentor: She guides the Plantars under the pretense of leading them to the second temple, but the journey there is in fact part of the temple's trials, which she covertly sets up throughout the trip to test Anne's worthiness.
- Vampire Vords: She's not a vampire (as far as we know), but when Anne and Sprig come to her stand, she greets them with a very Slavic "Velcome!"
- Witch Classic: She is an elderly woman with an affinity for magic, dressed in a black, hooded cloak, accompanied by a bird-like creature that is essentially her familiar, and her staff can do magic. Subverted with the revelation that Valeriana is the ghost (presumably) of Newtopia's founder.
Marnie
"Once something is on the prize wall, the only way to get it back is to win it. Sorry, hun, Bizarre Bazaar rules."
Voiced by: Bill Kopp
A crafty frog who steals other people's valuables at the Bizarre Bazaar, forcing them to play a round of Cockroach Racing in order to win it back.
- All There in the Script: His name isn't said aloud in his debut episode, but is revealed in the credits
◊. - Black Bead Eyes: Unlike most frogs in the show, his eyes are tiny black dots.
- Karma Houdini: As long as he gets behind his stand with his stolen goods, the people who run the Bazaar will let him get away with theft. Justified, as anything's fair game in the Bizarre Bazaar, as Sprig and Anne later learn for themselves during their race with the Wrecker (AKA Hop Pop).
- Sticky Fingers: He's a pickpocket who also steals Anne's backpack.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His theft of Anne's backpack with the Calamity Box inside leads to Hop Pop lying to Anne and burying the box from her sight.
Proteus
In General
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The olms are absolutely gigantic, outsizing even the various giant predators appearing in the show, and yet, they are dwarfed by Mother Olm.
- Bioluminescence Is Cool: They have glowing external gills.
- Eyeless Face: They have vestigial eyes, which is a well-known trait of their species in real life.
- Hidden Elf Village: The olms keep to themselves in their underground city, and consider the war on the surface to be "outsider business". They're forced to change their tune when they discover Andrias is trying to dig his way into Proteus with an enormous drill.
- I Reject Your Reality: The olms are frustratingly good at this. For example they claim that the earthquakes caused by the drill are natural, then accuse Sasha and her team of creating a False Flag Operation when the entire (inactive) drill is dropped into their home.
- Neutral No Longer: They generally prefer to avoid interacting with surface dwellers, but after Andrias attacks their village and they learn of his plan to invade Earth, several of them ally with the resistance, and even take part in the battle.
- Small Taxonomy Pools: Probably the first olms in a work of fiction.
- Tunnel King: As a subterranean people, they are able to burrow through the ground at great speeds. Two olms are able to use this to ambush one of Andrias' larger robots and drag it underground.
- Weakened by the Light: They are vulnerable to sunlight, as they are subterranean creatures. Andrias's mining puts them in danger because of this.
Parasia
Voiced by: Rachel House
The current leader of the olms.
- Head-in-the-Sand Management: She rejects the very concept of a giant drill or war machines, claims the repeated tremors they've been suffering are just the cause common earthquakes, and thinks the destruction of all Amphibia is just a surface dweller squabble that has nothing to do with the olms. Even when she is presented irrefutable proof that Andrias is coming for Proteus, she accuses Lysil and Angwin of faking their injuries and faking the evidence.
- Jerkass: She is repulsive to outsiders and treats them with disdain, and ignores the danger Andrias poses. Sasha calls her out on it.
- Really 700 Years Old: She states she is thousands of years old.
Lysil and Angwin
Voiced by: Laila Berzins (Lysil), Chris Wylde (Angwin)
A conjoined pair of olms that Sprig and Polly encounter at Quarreler's Pass
- The Bus Came Back: They return in season 3 when their home is under attack by King Andrias' forces.
- Captain Ersatz: They bear a strong, striking resemblance to the Giant Worm, a one-off villain from Samurai Jack, right down to tricking travelers with a fake test of character in order to eat them and the same high-pitched, gravely voices.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The existence of olms within the show's setting becomes much more important when Anne and the Plantars find an ancient text that instructs them to "find the mother of olms."
- Conjoined Twins: They are one huge snake-like body with one head on each end.
- Eats Babies: They have no qualms about eating Polly.
- Faux Affably Evil: They apologize to Polly for scaring her before immediately announcing their intention to eat her.
- Four-Fingered Hands: They have three-fingered hands, in contrast to the other amphibians. This is Truth in Television for olms.
- Heel–Face Turn: They're introduced as a pair of antagonistic monsters who try to eat Sprig and Polly. In their return in "Olm Town Road", they become the Plantars' allies, leading them to the city of Proteus in their quest to find the Mother of Olms.
- Monster of the Week: Of "Quarreler's Pass".
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Inverted. Lysil (the female half) is primarily bluish purple, while Angwin (the male half) is pink.
- Sapient Eat Sapient: They are notably the first giant predators in the show to be amphibians and thus are fully sapient. "Olm Town Road" implies that this is due to desperation after being exiled, as none of the other olms give any indication that they eat other amphibians despite their xenophobia.
- Sssssnake Talk: They speak in sibilants, fitting their snake-like appearance.
- Uncertain Doom: In their debut episode, they are last seen fighting each other in a collapsing cave, and it is unknown whether they survived or not. "Olm Town Road" reveals that they did.
- Undying Loyalty: They are extremely loyal to their home city of Proteus, despite having been banished from it, and are even willing to perform a Heroic Sacrifice to save it.
The Mother of Olms
"We are here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark."
Voiced by: Whoopi Goldberg
The oldest and wisest Olm, who gives out prophesies.
- Big Good: She's one of the biggest good guys on the show, both figuratively and literally.
- Birds of a Feather: She instantly bonds with Hop Pop over their shared grievances about being old mixed with having vast knowledge and wisdom to share with others.
- Eyeless Face: Notable subversion. Unlike every other olm in the show, she has visible and functioning eyes. It's possible that this is because she's from a time before olms were blind.
- Gentle Giant: She's an extremely large olm who could swallow worlds if she wanted to, but she has a kind heart and is quite friendly to the heroes.
- Kaiju: She is enormous, even bigger than King Andrias.
- Large and in Charge: She's the spiritual leader of the olms, and is so large that the heroes can simply walk into her ears.
- Non-Standard Character Design: She has a much bigger build than the rest of her species, including a flatter face without a snout like the other olms, as well as visible eyes and a large fin on her head and back.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: She normally stays isolated in her lair at Proteus, and is typically content to let others come to her for information but when the olms learn that Andrias intends to invade Earth immediately, she goes to the resistance headquarters to alert them personally.
- Power Glows: Her fins, eyes, and emblem glow bright blue when she speaks her truths to others.
- Really 700 Years Old: She isn't regarded as the oldest olm in Amphibia for nothing, and based on the implication of her instructing Leif to hide the music box on Earth, she must be more than a thousand years old.
- Scatterbrained Senior: Age has not been kind to her memory. The heroes have to jog her memory — first with the cream, and second by reminding her that she wrote it down in case her memory were to fail her at a critical moment — to get her to remember the prophecy.
- Seers: She functions as this, giving out prophecies to those who seek them.
Out-of-Towners
Talent Show Judges
"I'm thinking, launch him." "Yeah, way ahead of you."
Voiced by: Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir
Two celebrities selected to judge the talent show.
- Fantastic Racism: They assume Anne is a nonsapient beast, despite her being able to talk and wear clothes.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: They're catapulted away on the same platform that they use to throw the contestants off the stage.
- No Name Given: Despite being celebrities, their names are never made known.
Townie Bugball Team
From left to right: Lydia, Frog Jordan, Toadstool, Olaf, and Toadie.
The team of bugball players that the Mayor assembles to play for the Townies in The Big Bugball Game. For tropes relating to Mayor Toadstool or Toadie, click here.
- Named After Someone Famous: Frog Jordan's name is a reference to Michael Jordan.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Frog Jordan was bribed by Toadstool to join his team.
- The Quiet One: Lydia and Olaf don't say anything beyond grunts and growls.
- Savage Piercings: Olaf has a bull-like nose ring to emphasize his toughness.
Outside the Valley
Bailey
Voiced by: Julian Edwards
A young frog child who lives in the (literally) small town of Bittyburg, which is terrorized by the notorious Hassleback Gang.
- Adorably Precocious Child: He seems this way, until he starts attacking the Hassleback Gang.
- Beware the Cute Ones: He may look cute, but when someone like Mama Hassleback messes with Hop Pop, he instantly goes into a frenzy and attack.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: When one of the Hassleback Gang breaks his whistle by using it as a toothpick, Bailey replies that he's not too upset, because he has become numb at this point.
Francis
"We don't use our real names here, for we must become our characters."
Voiced by: Max Mittelman
A young frog method actor who is part of Renee Frodgers' acting caravan.
- French Jerk: He speaks with an exaggerated French accent, and is a major jerk to Sprig in particular.
- Locked Out of the Loop: He doesn't seem to be aware that Renee is actually using the theater caravan as a distraction to rob banks, despite traveling with her.
- Pretentious Pronunciation: Renee pronounces his name as Francis, but he pronounces it as Francois, with a French accent, as he is deep into his character.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He disappears after he finally welcomes Sprig into the theater troupe, and isn't present when Renee and her goons are arrested.
Wigbert Ribbiton
Voiced by: Hugh Bonneville
Wally's father, who resides in Ribbitvale, the fanciest town in Amphibia.
- The Bus Came Back: He returns in season 3 as a financier for the rebellion.
- Eye Scream: During Beast Polo, he pulls the ball for the game out of his eye socket. Even Crumpet is disturbed by this.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: He's initially against his son wanting to waste his life being a vagabonding bum, but he comes to accept his son's wish after they reconcile.
- High-Class Glass: He wears a monocle over his right eye, which covers the ball for Beast Polo.
- Non-Idle Rich: While we don't see him fight himself, he bankrolls the rebellion in season 3, making it clear that he actively resists Andrias' regime.
- Not So Above It All: Just like how Wally enjoys playing the accordion, he enjoys playing the jug. He even has a hidden stash of jugs, just like how Wally has a hidden stash of accordions.
Crumpet the Frog
Voiced by: Kermit the Frog (Matt Vogel)
The announcer for the Beast Polo games in Ribbitvale.
- Captain Ersatz: He's a pastiche of Kermit the Frog, given his various mannerisms and interests, but with a different name.
- Character as Himself: Well, not as himself, exactly, but promotional material refers to him as being voiced by Kermit, not Vogel.
- Ink-Suit Actor: He bears an almost identical resemblance to his voice actor's most famous character, but with a different color.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Unlike the other amphibians, Crumpet has the appearance of a puppet, in that his lips don't move and he barely even blinks.
- Regal Ruff: He wears a small ruff aping Kermit's collar.
Frog Soos
“Say, Mr. Ponds, do you ever get the feeling that we exist simultaneously in multiple parallel universes, completely unaware of the others' very existence?”
Voiced by: Alex Hirsch
An employee at the Curiosity Hut.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Just like the original Soos. He finds himself musing about existing simultaneously in multiple parallel universes, but the Curator dismisses it as the effect of Frog Soos licking himself.
- Expy: He is basically a frog version of Soos Ramirez from Gravity Falls, something his name is not very subtle about, and he looks almost exactly the same as the human Soos except for being blue and having yellow eyes.
- Simpleton Voice: Alex Hirsch gives him a comically nasal voice identical to the original Soos.
- Toad Licking: The Curator was quick to accuse him of licking himself, which he does. It's even implied he does so on the regular.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: It is unclear what happens to him after the Curator is killed by his own exhibits, as he's absent from the events of the episode following his appearance in a single scene.
Word of God says he inherits the Hut.
Zechariah Nettles
"..."
A creepy hitchhiker who stalks the Plantar family on their trip home.- The Cassandra: He points Sprig and Polly towards the safest route home, but they don't believe him due to his creepy appearance.
- Catch a Falling Star: He catches Polly by the bow with his hook just before she falls off the wagon.
- Creepy Good: Despite his creepy appearance, he has no malicious intent of harming Sprig or Polly, and even helps them out.
- Dead All Along: It turns out the real Zechariah died years ago, so the one Sprig and Polly saw was his ghost.
- Good All Along: He helps people stay safe, even in death.
- Nice Guy: Don't let his creepy appearance fool you, he's a kind spirit who spent his life guiding people away from certain doom.
- Offscreen Teleportation: No matter how many times Sprig and Polly drive past him, he always shows up at the next crossroads.
- The Voiceless: He never says a single word throughout the entirety of "Night Drivers".
Andrias' Former Friends (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Leif and Barrel
The Original Power Trio, with Andrias at the center (from left to right: Leif and Barrel)
A frog and a toad that used to be Andrias' closest friends before betraying him and stealing the Calamity Box from him. Leif was a gardener inside the Newtopian capital and Barrel was part of the royal Newtopian guard.
After Leif received horrifying visions of destruction befalling Amphibia from coming into contact with the Calamity Box, she stole the key to it from Andrias and fled the capital with it, days later activating the box to send it to Earth beyond his reach. Andrias blamed both her and Barrel, who hesitated over using lethal force to stop his friend at a crucial moment, for the eventual decline of his people's civilisation, and banished Barrel to the northern reaches as punishment.
Barrel ultimately died protecting a village from a terrifying beast, leaving his warhammer on the Narwhal Worm —implied to be said beast — for Sasha Waybright to discover a millennium later. Leif, knowing her actions were treasonous and that she would likely be executed if she ever returned to Newtopia, changed her name, exiled herself to what would become Wartwood Swamp, and eventually started a family there — specifically, the Plantar family.
Both
- Ambiguously Evil: Whether they betrayed Andrias for noble or selfish reasons is unclear for a long while, but Andrias' opinions on them have soured his perception of their actions. "The Core & The King" reveals Leif had noble intentions for doing so, having received a vague vision of Amphibia being destroyed if they continued to abuse the music mox, and stole the key to it from Andrias during a moment when her friend was apologizing for his increasingly-brusque behavior towards the duo from the mounting pressure his father and his royal duties were putting him under. She's clearly heartbroken over destroying their friendship to do it, but is too fearful of the vague prophecy she's glimpsed to avoid doing anything less. Barrel, meanwhile, ultimately doesn't take sides in the conflict, pursuing Leif alongside Andrias to stop her theft of the box but hesitating at a crucial moment over his indecisiveness over which of his friends to trust, enabling Leif's escape. This is sufficient for Andrias to accept that his father was right about his friends being nothing but a distraction to him and to cut ties with Barrel himself.
- Early-Bird Cameo: They make their first appearance in the destroyed painting of themselves with Andrias all the way back in "The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers", though their appearances are obscured by the painting's damage. We get a clearer look at them in the season 2 finale as well in flashbacks (without any voice and only for a few seconds) before they properly debut in "The Core & The King".
- History Repeats: This is implied in regards to the modern-day trio of Anne, Sasha, and Marcy. They are a group of three friends who were torn apart by two of their members betraying the other one, and their colors even match with the respective girls and their roles, with the blue Anne/Andrias being betrayed by pink Leif/Sasha and green Barrel/Marcy (in different ways each in regards to the girls, however).
- Interclass Friendship: They are a gardener and guard who were best friends with the prince of Newtopia for years. It didn't end well, thanks to Aldrich's manipulations.
- Irony:
- Color-wise, each of them matches one of the gems on the Calamity Box, but they each seem to demonstrate opposing traits to their matching gem's purpose. Leif is physically the weakest amongst the trio, contrasting the pink strength gem. Barrel is not as bright as the others, given toads are often considered to be stereotypical Dumb Muscle in Amphibia, and he gets hypnotized by Leif's new dance alongside the Mossmen and fails to understand his friend's more intellectual pursuits, such as secret messages, contrasting with the green wit gem. Andrias' bitterness toward the other two's 'betrayal' of him has left him a selfish and heartless monster who shows zero empathy for anybody else and gleefully torments Anne and her friends in ways designed to break or mock their friendship out of bitterness, contrasting the blue heart gem.
- Just like in the present, a rift forms between the blue and pink-colored characters over how best to use the Calamity Box, and the pink one puts her more 'selfish' agenda over the other's concerns, with the green-colored character caught between them and unable to mediate between the two. In the present, it's Sasha's decision to stay in Amphibia and rule rather than return home, whereas in the past it was Leif betraying Andrias' trust out of concern for the wider-reaching consequences of continuing to abuse the music box, even at the cost of dooming their advanced civilization and all its people to gradual decay.
- As the original Power Trio, they resemble the dynamic between Anne, Sasha, and Marcy in the future, but whereas Sasha (and to a lesser extent, Marcy) were negative influences on Anne's desire to do her parents proud and regularly got her into trouble due to them convincing her to have 'fun' at the expense of going against her family wishes, it's shown that Leif and Barrel's friendship with Andrias was the opposite. They convinced him to have fun, and were explicitly, if accidentally, running counter to the role his father and the Core intended for him, leading Aldrich to poison his son's thoughts against them in order to make him more subservient to the Core.
- Leif destroys her friendship with Andrias and dooms their advanced civilization to gradual decay by stealing the music box in a sincere belief that what she's doing is ultimately the right thing, and that their continued misuse of the box will eventually somehow cause the red moon of Amphibia to crash down on the planet. She hides the box on Earth to follow the olm prophecy, eventually resulting in Anne, Marcy, and Sasha finding it and becoming the champions of the Gems, thwarting Andrias and the Core's attempted invasion of Earth by the end. In response to this, the Core makes it up to the red moon, revealed to be a massive creation of Andrias' ancestors, and induces it to smash into Amphibia to deny the heroes their victory over it. Leif's vision was actually a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy all along, and the actions she took to prevent her home's destruction only caused it in the end, meaning she technically destroyed her friendships with Andrias and Barrel for nothing.
- Posthumous Character: Andrias refers to them in the past tense and describes them as having been friends with him in his youth, and since he's lived for at least a thousand years, neither is still alive when he reveals this. Despite his wrath issues with the both of them over Leif's theft of the Calamity Box and Barrel's failure to stop her, it's demonstrated that the younger Andrias didn't have it in him to kill his old friend personally, merely banishing Barrel instead. Ultimately, Barrel died fighting the monster that guarded his hammer in the present day, while Leif died of old age after founding Wartwood and making a new life for herself under a new name.
- Power Trio: They used to be part of one with Andrias before Leif stole the Box and Barrel hesitated to take a side, causing Andrias to lose his respect for them and breaking their friendship... not unlike Anne, Sasha, and Marcy.
Leif
"Barrel, please trust me! What I do, I do for all of us!"
Click here to see her in her old age
- All for Nothing: Played With. "The Hardest Thing" reveals that Leif's vision was actually a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, as the red moon falls to Amphibia because of the Core pulling a massive Rage Quit after the heroes thwart its attempted invasion in the present, which they were implicitly able to do thanks to Leif sending the box to Earth to eventually find the stones' champions and giving both Earth and Amphibia enough time to grow and develop without the Core's Planet Looters methods interfering with both worlds. However, while that's a good thing overall, it does mean that Leif sacrificed her friendships with Andrias and Barrel to prevent an outcome that she was only causing in the first place.
- Ambiguously Related: Leif looks an awfully lot like a female version of Sprig, implying that she's an ancestor of the Plantars. This might be why the Plantars are farmers, Leif having been one of the royal family's gardeners; and why Hop Pop possessed a book about the Calamity Box warning of danger should it ever appear again, given that she was responsible for its disappearance and transportation to Earth. "The Core & The King" all but outright states as much, as Leif is shown to be the one that developed the Plantar family hunting dance, which gives further dimensions to Andrias' attempted murder of Sprig after he's reminded of his own broken friendship with Leif. "All In" removes all ambiguity and even reveals that Leif founded Wartwood to boot.
- Anti-Hero: Downplayed. Leif stole the Calamity Box after seeing that continuous abuse of it will cause Amphibia's destruction, but before that, she saw nothing wrong with their ways of invading other worlds. But if her dance to Moss Men and words about "the balance of multiverse's ecosystem" is anything to go by, she wasn't at least a full-blown sociopathic racist like Aldrich or the Core.
- Atrocious Alias: Leif's fake last name after moving to Wartwood is simply a part of her occupation. As a gardener she planted things, so she took the name Plantar.
- Big Good: Although she doesn't have too much screen time, Leif is still the one who has been protecting the Calamity Box and is the main reason why it took so long for The Core to get its hands on it.
- Black-and-Grey Morality: She previously supported the Amphibia’s ways of planet-looting, until a vision of Amphibia’s destruction convinced her that what they do is wrong. Regardless, stealing the box when no one refused to take her warnings seriously still has the side effect of dooming the civilization to the decay, and we’re not even talking about what it did to Andrias.
- Break the Cutie: Leif received a traumatizing vision that Amphibia would be destroyed if the misuse of the Calamity Box continued, and thanks to the same fascistic indoctrination that prevented her from realizing it was a bad thing sooner and the Core's influence over the king — all kings of Amphibia — no-one would believe her. Thus, she was forced to destroy her friendship with Andrias and Barrel to save Amphibia from itself and ensure the Three Stars would be born and eventually make their way to Amphibia. Ultimately, despite starting a new life, Leif never forgot about Andrias or Barrel and spent her last years with them always on her mind, even writing a letter to Andrias in hopes of making him open his heart again despite their falling out.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Leif's decision to stop the Box from being used leads to her being branded a traitor, her friend group breaking apart, and her being forced to go on the run until she changed her name and started a new life far away from Newtopia, while always missing her lost friendships and never once forgetting them, even in her elder years.
- I Did What I Had to Do: "Fight at the Museum" shows an old jar depicting a mural of Leif appearing out of a portal and gifting the Calamity Box to a group of nearby Vikings, apparently to keep it out of Andrias' hands and prevent his plans of becoming a Multiversal Conqueror. This confirms that it was indeed Andrias' friends who stole the box and caused Newtopia's gradual decline into a shadow of its former self, but the fact that they were friends with Andrias and the desperation evident in hiding the Calamity Box on Earth with no way to recover it implies that they only did so because they had no other choice, and wanted to stop their old friend for his own good. "The Core & The King" reveals that Leif received a vision of Amphibia's destruction from coming into contact with the Calamity Box, and wasn't able to convince anybody else of the folly of using it thanks to the people of Amphibia being so set in their current way of life and the unseen commands of the Core dictated through Aldrich. Left with no alternative due to the short timeframe of Andrias' planned invasion of Earth the next morning, she stole the box that very night and fled with it to protect their world as a whole, even at the cost of breaking her friendship with Andrias. Barrel ended up being blamed alongside her for his inability to perform this trope and stop her at all costs, unwilling to strike down his friend and uncertain of which one to trust.
- In the Hood: She wears a light brown hood with a leaf pin in the middle of her shirt.
- Meaningful Name: "Leif" (pronounced "lay-f") is a Scandinavian name that means "descendant" or "heir", tying into her being the ancestor of the Plantars. It is also the name of Leif Erikson, the legendary Norse explorer who first set foot on American soil, tying into how she takes the Calamity Box to Earth.
- The Mourning After: Implied. When she is shown in her old age, there's a picture of her elderly husband on the mantelpiece. The tragedy of Leif's life would not be complete without her outliving her husband.
- The Right of a Superior Species: Played With. She saw nothing wrong with Andrias' family's conquering ways, since they were indoctrinated like the rest of Amphibia into believing it was right; it's only after seeing what will happen to their own world if the box kept on being used she turned against Andrias.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Leif's vague vision of incoming calamity received from the stones is revealed to be this, as the red moon falls down on Amphibia because it's actually a massive machine built by Andrias' ancestors which the Core is inducing to smash into Amphibia in response to the heroes thwarting its attempted invasion of Earth in the present day, which only happens because Leif stole the music box and sent it to Earth so it could eventually find its chosen champions as per the olm prophecy. This means that Leif's worries about their misuse of the box were ultimately for naught, as she caused the current situation by stealing the music box in the first place, well-intentioned though she was.
- Starting a New Life: After betraying Andrias and stealing the music box, Leif could not return to Newtopia. She instead settled in (and possibly founded) a small community in Frog Valley, changing her name to Lily and becoming a farmer. She eventually found love and started a family, one that still inhabits the town a thousand years later. The town was Wartwood, and the family she mothered were the Plantars.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Leif looks exactly like a female version of Sprig, her descendant through a thousand years.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
- Leif's betrayal of Andrias helped shape him up into the cruel, friendship-hating monster he is nowadays, and left him vulnerable to the Core's manipulations, despite Andrias' hesitation to do evil. In fairness to her, she only had a short time window to steal the box, wasn't able to convince anybody else to help her, and couldn't explain her harrowing vision of the future well enough to justify her decision to steal the box to either of her old friends well enough to convince them to help her, though Barrel at least showed hesitation over going too far in stopping her. However, the fact that she didn't try to reaffirm her friendship with Andrias and never gave him her last letter, choosing to keep it hidden, makes things worse, as doing either of those could've redeemed him sooner.
- "The Hardest Thing" reveals that the vision Leif received was a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, as the reason the red moon is falling down on Amphibia is that it's actually a massive machine created by Andrias' ancestors that the Core inhabits after its failed invasion of Earth to destroy the heroes and take everyone with it in an epic Rage Quit. By sending the box to Earth, Leif unintentionally kick-started the very chain of events that would lead to Amphibia's imminent destruction in the present day under the belief she was actually preventing it.
- You Remind Me of X:
- Though it's not outright stated, it's implied that Andrias is being reminded of his past friendship with Leif through two different characters, which of course is a result of Leif being an ancestor of Sprig. with Andrias none the wiser to the truth.
- Leif had an inventive and curious personality, fond of discovering new ways to interact with nature as a gardener, and also had a habit of developing secret messages that Andrias had to puzzle out to solve and guess her intentions. This informs much of his apparently sincere fondness for Marcy, who shares the same love of intellectual pursuits, as shown in "Scavenger Hunt", and has a similar In the Hood wardrobe choice. On a darker note, it's also possible he's reminded of Leif's betrayal when Marcy activates the portal to Earth, explaining his attitude when he stabs Marcy. Later on, when learning of Leif's letter, Andrias flashes to his first meeting with Marcy as Leif's letter tells him to open his heart, making this all the more explicit.
- Sprig shares a Strong Family Resemblance to his distant ancestor, which is apparently subconsciously part of his motivation for sadistically trying to murder him even after his demands are met once Anne brings up their sincere friendship with each other, the entire situation reminding Andrias too much of his own failed friendship with him still holding considerable wrath towards Leif for her betrayal of his trust. It's implied he hasn't even realized why the two look so similar.
Barrel
- Accomplice by Inaction: Andrias considers Barrel's failure to stop Leif fleeing with the box due to his friendship with her as grave a betrayal of his trust as Leif stealing the box, and banishes him to the northern reaches accordingly.
- Dumb Muscle: Barrel showcases the stereotypical traits of a toad warrior in full force, strong enough to break out of a headlock he's put in by the younger Andrias, but also falling for the prototype 'Plantar Family dance' that Leif develops. This plays a role in Andrias severing his friendship with him, as he understandably hesitated over attacking Leif even with the dire stakes of her stealing the music box that powered their civilization, causing Andrias to view his former friend as unfit to continue serving him and being too easily led astray, effectively banishing him to the northern regions.
- Exotic Eye Designs: Has horizontal stripes across his eyes and flattened red pupils in the middle.
- Famed In-Story: By the modern day, Barrel has become some kind of legendary hero to the toads after being banished by Andrias, with his hammer in particular becoming something of a Legendary Weapon for them.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: The first time Marcy meets Andrias, she suggests calling him "Drias" for short, to which he responds only one person (Leif) ever called him that, despite Barrel also calling him by this nickname. Thankfully subverted by the end, where Andrias is shown carrying his legendary warhammer as a keepsake.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He gave his life defending a helpless village from the same monster worm that Sasha and her toad allies would face in the future.
- Neutrality Backlash: Torn between his two friends, Barrel is reluctant to use lethal force against Leif to stop her from taking the Calamity Box, leading to her escaping with it. As a result of this, Andrias considers him a traitor as well and sends him out to the northern regions.
- Nonstandard Character Design: He and another background toad in "The Core and the King" have long, horn-like protrusions on their heads. Toads in the present day strangely have much smaller horns, if any at all.
- Out of Focus: Compared to Leif, who is the founder of the Plantar family and stole the Calamity Box before getting it lost on Earth, kicking off the plot of the series and being the primary focus of Andrias' wrath, hurt, and scorn towards the idea of friendship, and Andrias, who is the seemingly-main antagonist to Anne and the others in the present and is eventually revealed to be the Core's primary servant, Barrel doesn't get as much focus in the narrative. He's a legendary toad hero who left his warhammer behind defending villages from Amphibia's monsters, but he wasn't involved in the Calamity Box's theft — in fact, his inability to make a decision on the spot is precisely what alienated him from both his friends during the incident — and outside the hammer he hasn't had any impact on present-day events.
- Undying Loyalty: Barrel has this to both Andrias and Leif, which makes him unable to side with one or the other for a moment when Leif tries to steal the music box. He ultimately sides with Andrias, but accidentally lets Leif escape anyway.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He was a kindhearted friend to both Andrias and Leif before the latter's betrayal, but considering how the toads in modern Amphibia treat frogs, it's implied that he became embittered after his banishment.
- Young Future Famous People: When he finally appears in the flesh as a young toad in "The Core & The King", the audience is already familiar with him through his legendary warhammer and various toad expressions.
The Calamity Guardian (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
"I created the Stones to see how mortals would handle unlimited power. Turns out, not that well! Would you believe that after about 10,000 years, you're the only individual who used that power for good?"
Voiced by: Charlyne Yi
The Guardian of the cosmos. They are a multidimensional entity who created the Calamity Gems and implanted them in Amphibia quite some time ago, and has a job offer for Anne after her big Heroic Sacrifice in "The Hardest Thing".
- Abdicate the Throne: Or rather, retire. They've been guarding the multiverse for aeons, and they're quite frankly exhausted. They want to offer the job to Anne, because she's proven throughout all her actions in the series to have the moral strength and integrity to take their place.
- Adorable Abomination: Despite being an Eldritch Abomination beyond human comprehension, their chosen form for talking to Anne is her cute cat Domino.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: At first, they appear as a outdated computer model, because they think that's how Anne's peers communicate. When Anne points out they're a few decades behind, they change shape to Domino’s. According to them, their true form will drive anyone mad, as demonstrated by poor Anne.
- Benevolent Abomination: Despite being an otherworldly aberration, they truly are a benevolent being. But they do have a habit of being Brutally Honest and Innocently Insensitive, as well as not foreseeing how some inhabitants of Amphibia would abuse the Calamity Stones they have given them (and haven't really done much to stop them).
- Body Backup Drive: They tell Anne that they 'backed her up' before her Heroic Sacrifice. The language used leaves it ambiguous as to whether they merely mean they 'backed up her physical body' and transferred Anne's consciousness to it, that the original Anne really DID get Killed Off for Real and the Anne they created is a copy down to her memories, or some other Ambiguous Situation. They assure Anne, though, that whatever the truth, she is still in essence her original self.
- Brown Note Being: They takes the form of a computer, and later Domino, because their true form will drive humans crazy. Anne assures it that after everything she's experienced, she can deal with it, only to be proven wrong when a mere glimpse of their true Energy Being form causes her to have a brief Freak Out.
- Brutal Honesty: It bluntly tells Anne that she did die, even though it was able to resurrect her through a Body Backup Drive as described above. Anne notes that she'll probably have an existential crisis about that later.
- The Chooser of the One: They implicitly are the one who chose the Calamity trio to use the powers of the Gems to defeat the Core, and tries to offer Anne their God Job for passing their Secret Test of Character.
- Cosmic Entity: They reside in what appears to be a higher plane of reality, and are in charge of maintaining the structure of spacetime continuums, so they fit the bill.
- Eldritch Abomination: Their (apparent) true form is seemingly a... mass of incandescent transdimensional energy in the same colours as the Calamity Gems with weird patterns in the center, constantly radiating power and emitting strange incomprehensible noises which cause the very realm they and Anne are in to tremble in its very presence. It's scarier than it looks, since when she gets a glimpse of it, Anne — who was confident she could handle just about anything after all the weird stuff she's seen in Amphibia — instantly has a Freak Out.
- Energy Beings: Their true form is seemingly a mass of incandescent transdimensional energy, the mere presence of which shakes entire planes of existence and drive people mad. Anne has a Freak Out merely catching a glimpse of it.
- Foreshadowing:
- As the heroes found out in "The Beginning of the End", not even the Core, the collection of Amphibia's greatest minds and the true ruler of the dynasty that used the Calamity Gems to conquer countless worlds for millennia, knew what their true nature was. This is a subtle indicator that the Gems were created by something outside Amphibia.
- The miniature house floating on tiny islands suspended in a starry void is depicted in both season 3 posters and as an in-universe artwork in Anne's room in her home on Earth.
- In a case of either this trope or as a Brick Joke, when Anne returns from the dentist while still delirious from anaesthetics, she rambled about how Domino isn't just a cat, but an interdimensional being beyond time and space who is the 'Alpha and Omega'. Come "The Hardest Thing", the Guardian — an interdimensional being beyond time and space — appeared to Anne in the form of her cat Domino, and is the 'Alpha and Omega' in the sense that they set the events of the entire series in motion ten thousand years ago by sending the Calamity Gems to Amphibia, and become the last character of importance to make themself known in the entire show.
- For what it's worth, Marcys Journal A Guide To Amphibia confirms Anne really did see the Guardian while she was delirious, in the same form they would later take when resurrecting Anne. They told her she's fun to watch.
- Gem Tissue: When they send Anne back to the world of the living, they take on a new cat-shaped form that's larger than Domino, with three eyes made of the same crystal as the Calamity Gems.
- God Is Flawed: The Guardian is benevolent, but has No Social Skills. They unknowingly disturbe Anne a number of times and went to world-altering length just to see mortals would have a tendency to abuse power.
- God Job: Their role as a multiversal protector is apparently a transferable position, and they really want to retire after many thousands of years. They offer Anne the chance to replace them, but she turns them down because she feels that she'd screw it up because she's just a kid, even after all her Character Development. They ultimately decide to send her back to life after hearing her talk about growth and change, hoping that she'll be up to the role after her natural death at age 91.
- Greater-Scope Paragon: The Guardian serves as this for the whole series, as they are the one who created the Calamity Gems to be used for good.
- Guardian of the Multiverse: What they proclaim to be, having watched over all worlds of the multiverse for countless aeons (and wanting to retire and have Anne take their place).
- Humans Are Flawed: The Guardian's assessment of mortals (human and amphibia) is ambivalent, particularly distrusting them with power. They sent the Calamity Gems to Amphibia as an experiment to see how mortals could handle ultimate power, and was quite disappointed to see that only ONE being in quite literally ten thousand years decided not to abuse it, that person being Anne. However, they are impressed that Anne did choose to use the power for good, and decide to offer her their job for this reason.
- In Mysterious Ways: After it became clear that the Newtopian royals would just continue abusing the power of the Calamity Gems, for some reason it didn't interfere directly, instead (presumably) merely sending Leif the vision that would cause her to hide the Box on Earth, and choosing Anne, Marcy, and Sasha as the future bearers of the Gems' powers.
- Innocently Insensitive: They don't understand mortals might be disturbed to know they're a copy of a dead person or the exact time when they'll die.
- Last Episode, New Character: They only appear in "The Hardest Thing", the series finale, with virtually no hints as to their existence until then.
- The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: When the Guardian takes on Domino's form, it acts a bit cat-like, going so far as to lick itself.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Guardian is ultimately benevolent, but, by giving the Calamity Stones to Amphibia, led to the creation of a genocidal imperialist empire that enslaved and exterminated countless worlds.
- Not So Omniscient After All: The Guardian appears to have a great physical knowledge of the universe (past, present, and future), but doesn't know the thoughts of sapient beings, or even understand them as people much at all. They seemingly couldn't recall the Stones after they ended up on Earth, and didn't see Anne turning down their God Job coming. They do know they would need to resurrected Anne from her Heroic Sacrifice, and knows that she will die a natural death in 78 years once Anne convinces them that she isn't ready for their God Job offer.
- The Omnipotent: Never openly confirmed to be one on screen, although with their power, nature and responsibilities they more or less qualifies as one. Their godhood is all but confirmed by the fact they use the username '3_Stones_Deity' in their computer form.
- Otherworldly and Sexually Ambiguous: The form they take isn't human at all (though the cat it's based on is female), but they speak to Anne in an androgynous, high-pitched childlike voice.
- Our Sphinxes Are Different: At one point it appears as a sphinx-like version of Domino, with giant wings and gems for eyes.
- Panthera Awesome: They take the form of Domino, a housecat, during their conversation with Anne, but when they prepare to send her back, they become significantly more majestic, growing larger, gaining wings, Glowing Eyes made from gems, and a third gem on their forehead, and sporting tufts of white fur to make them seem more wise.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Besides implicitly being the one who gave Anne the full power of the Gems to stop the Core when she simply asks for it politely, they don't force her to accept their job (even saying that they're not a jerk when she asks if she has a choice), and when she turns them down, they decide to wait and see if she'll change her mind after living a full natural life. They even provide the girls with shards of the stones so they can return home.
- Secret Test of Character: The Guardian created the stones to see how mortals would handle ultimate power, and found that they didn't handle it well. Anne, particularly her asking the stones for the power to save Amphibia even if it costs her her life, is apparently the only being who has ever used the stones for good instead of abusing their power, which is a big part of why they think that she can replace them.
- Time Abyss: It states that, "to keep a near-infinite story short", it's been guarding the multiverse "for a VERY long time". The creation of the Calamity Gems, which was 10,000 years ago, was only after they had grown tired of their duty, which puts their age as far beyond that time.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Zig-Zagged. They've been a Guardian for at least ten thousand years, and as such really wants to retire and pass on their God Job on to Anne, though it's unclear if retirement equals death or not. That said, when Anne turns them down because she's Just a Kid and would likely screw things up, her talk about growth and change makes them decide to wait until her natural death at age 91, believing that if she's come so far in such a short time through her journeys, she'd be even better at the role after living a full life.
- Wowing Cthulhu: They are very impressed by Anne Boonchuy's moral integrity and strength, from using the power of the Calamity Gems only for good to pulling a Heroic Sacrifice to save everyone in Amphibia with them. This leads to their decision to offer her the job as their successor as the Guardian of the Multiverse.
- You Cannot Grasp the True Form: Their true form is a flaming mass of interdimensional energy that makes Anne have a Freak Out after a mere glimpse of it.
Creatures
Moss Man
A legendary creature that is believed to be a myth until it is discovered by Anne.
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: Its stocky humanoid build may bring to mind such cryptids.
- Chekhov's Gunman: This one is initially introduced as just a random cryptid, but season 2 shows that at least one is chained up in the basement of Newtopia's palace, and the mural of King Andrias ruling as a tyrant shows several silhouettes of them. "The Core & The King" reveals that this specific Moss Man also used to be chained up in the royal palace with the rest of its brethren until Leif stole the music box and used it as a mount to escape the capital swiftly, explaining why it currently lives in the outskirts of Wartwood, since Leif is implicitly a distant ancestor of the Plantars.
- Friend to All Living Things: The Moss Men seem to be very gentle creatures by nature, and "Olivia & Yunan" even shows one of the imprisoned individuals giving Yunan a flower despite the fact that it was her people who plundered their home and enslaved them.
- Green Thumb: In "Olivia & Yunan", the Moss Man race is shown to be able to grow flowers and plants from their bodies in seconds. They can also use it offensively, as the female Moss Man is able to destroy one of Andrias' robots by growing vines inside it until it splits apart.
- Healing Factor: According to King Andrias, Moss Men have the ability to heal themselves. Andrias' ancestors enslaved the Moss Man race to study and utilize their healing abilities to advance their medicine and extend their lives, which ends up being crucial to healing Marcy's injuries.
- Last of His Kind: This is heavily implied, given that the rest of its race were seemingly captured and brutally experimented on by Andrias' ancestors in their selfish attempts to prolong their lives. However, it's later shown that some still live inside the depths of the castle.
- Mysterious Mist: The Moss Men seem to be able to invoke obscuring mist to hide when they fear discovery. They can also use it to get the drop on opponents.
- Nature Spirit: Their Plant Person biology and connection to nature and healing point to them being something similar to an extension of Amphibia's natural world. Or at least their original world.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Compared to the other non-amphibian creatures in the show, the Moss Man looks more like something out of Gravity Falls. It is indeed a creature not native to Amphibia.
- Plant Person: It's humanoid in shape and is comprised entirely of moss. In "Olivia & Yunan", the Moss Man near Wartwood, as well as the one in Newtopia, is revealed to have originated from a race of Plant Aliens that Andrias' ancestors enslaved eons ago.
- Samus Is a Girl: "The Core & The King" has Leif reveal that the Wartwood Moss Man, or rather Woman, is apparently female after she uses her as a mount to flee the capital swiftly with the Calamity Box.
- The Voiceless: The only sounds the Wartwood Moss Man or rather Woman ever makes are deep, guttural sounds that similar to distorted whale noises.
Shadowfish
Ghostly creatures known for their luminescent appearances who reside in the catacombs of the Newtopian castle.
- Ambiguously Evil: Their first appearance has them go after the Plantar children and Marcy for invading their territory, though there's no indication of them having the genuine intention of harming the heroes. Adding on the fact that they're prisoners from Newtopia's colonialist era, they may not be as evil as one would think they are.
- Bioluminescence Is Cool: While they are very terrifying, one has to admit that the way they glow is both beautiful and foreboding. It's fitting, since they are very reminiscent of ghosts.
- Energy Beings: They don't have physical forms, and can phase through solid objects or deteriorate anything of their choosing.
- Monster of the Week: They serve as this for "The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers" in season 2.
- Weaksauce Weakness: They can be harmed if they make contact with a mirror or reflective surface. This will force them to become corporeal.
