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The Holistic Detective Agency

Dirk Gently

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dirk_7.png

"I always end up exactly where I need to be, despite the fact it's rarely where I intended to go."

A "holistic detective," a term that reflects his belief in the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. However, his abilities have condemned him to a lonely life devoid of human connection.

Adaptational Heroism: In the books, Dirk was about 80% con-man, with "holistic detection" being largely "an excuse to exploit gullible old ladies" (it's also true, but that's not the point). A lot of this side of his character seems to have gone into Todd. Instead he's hyper and very little of what he says makes any sense, but he's so gosh-darn friendly and genuinely altruistic in this version.
Amateur Sleuth: His response to his life of perpetual weirdness.
Bat Deduction: Since Dirk is a Clueless Detective who's entire m.o. is "lets do a thing and see where it takes us", Dirk's train of thought takes him into weird directions while trying to solve a case. Being a literal Coincidence Magnet however, half the time his weird theories are proven correct, or at least proves Occam's Razor dead wrong. The best example is when he manages to deduce the entire The Men of The Machine/Patrick Spring Conspiracy using surface level information, only to be amazed when Patrick Spring himself confirms his story as completely accurate.
Became Their Own Antithesis: Spends the first season as a heedlessly optimistic Cloud Cuckoolander who keeps insisting to more skeptical characters like Todd that everything is connected and will all make sense in the end. The start of the second season sees him have a personal crisis that makes him lose all faith in himself and his methods, forcing Todd to constantly spout his own previous rhetoric at him to keep him from quitting entirely.
Blessed with Suck: He's a psychic, but it never helps him.
Born Lucky: If anything he just bumbles into things.
Buffy Speak: Tends to refer to important items as 'things'. Also sometimes describes people as '(Something) Man', for example saving Gordon Rimmer on his phone as 'Bad Guy Man'.
Cassandra Truth: Apparently he has psychic abilities, but not even he believes it.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: He has an interesting logic on how the world works. He's also right.
Clueless Detective: His schtick.
Coincidence Magnet: His primary method of investigation is do whatever occurs to him until something significant happens. Anyone else he drags into his life becomes this as well.
"Going where I'm going without knowing how I'm knowing is sort of my whole thing."
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: In a sense. A Q&A with the costume designer revealed that Dirk's yellow jacket was intended to make him stand out, before transitioning to green and later blue to blend in as we become more accustomed to him and his bizarre world.
Dark and Troubled Past: Was one of the child subjects of CIA Blackwing project. He has also spent his life surrounded by bizarre traumatic circumstances, like Bart to a lesser extent, and it's done a number on him.
Determinator: He won't back down until the case is solved because he knows that once the universe has gotten him involved, if he doesn't solve it, then it will never be solved.
Do Not Call Me "Paul": Dislikes his birth name of Svlad Cjelli to the point of visibly upset when characters use it.
Drives Like Crazy: Pays no attention to speed limits, gets distracted easily, and multitasks by eating pizza behind the wheel.
Fat Slob: Described as being overweight in the novels, and his living quarters are an unholy mess even without taking his refrigerator into account.
Friendless Background: Due to being raised in Blackwing, and to his psychic abilities (maybe), he has no friends; and if he meets someone they rarely stay.
Genki Guy: He's very excitable and energetic.
Heart Is an Awesome Power: Compared to the powers of the other Subjects presented in the series, like having Plot Armor, feeding on emotions, and making your dreams real, being a Coincidence Magnet isn't nearly as impressive. Looking at it through a much bigger picture, his abilities tend to also make him a Weirdness Magnet, with a lot of unusual variables he encounters canceling each other out (Bart helping stop The Men of The Machine, introducing Amanda to the Rowdy Three and returning Moloch to Wendimoor). Moloch even claims that his purpose is to bring the right people together to create greater change in the world, making Dirk the holistic equivalent of The Chessmaster.
Hell-Bent for Leather: Wears distinctive yellow, green, and blue leather jackets in Season 1. By the end of Season 2, he's added both red and black to his repertoire.
Heroic BSoD: After Suzie Boreton kills Arnold Cardenas, Dirk concludes that he has failed to complete the task given to him, and becomes near-catatonic compared to his usual demeanor.
I Just Knew: His standard explanation for whenever he is guessing something right is "I had a hunch". While he indeed has psychic powers, we later find out in season 1 that he also had some foreknowledge of events by meeting his future self. Todd calls him out for lying about his "intuitions".
I Just Want to Be Normal: In season 2, he begins to blame himself for the deaths and other bad things that have happened during his cases, and attempts to turn off the "holistic" and just be a detective. It doesn't work.
I Just Want to Have Friends: Having been alone most of his life, he's desperate to have a genuine friendship. He's over the moon when Todd forgives him for lying—or as he puts it, strategic no-truthing—and agrees to form a detective agency with him, as it is the first time someone has ever chosen to stick around.
It's All About Me: Downplayed. He wants the detective agency to be named after him and didn't want the name to get "muddled up by Todds and Farahs."
Meaningful Name: His Blackwing name is "Project Icarus", named after the figure of Classical Mythology who flew close to the sun with wax wings and fell to his death. Perfect for a guy who throws himself into bizarre situations with little sense of consequence.
Motor Mouth: One of his most noticeable traits is that he doesn't seem to be able to keep his mouth shut, much to Todd's (and nearly everyone else's) annoyance. Dirk enjoys Sheriff Hobbs's interrogation, because he never interrupts.
Mathematician's Answer: Dirk tends to give literal responses to questions without even realizing.
Farah: How did you do that?
Dirk: With my hand.
Non-Action Guy: Finds violence distressing and usually reacts to it by running, hiding, or cowering.
No Social Skills: He doesn't understand why Todd was angry at him for breaking into his apartment.
Psychic Powers: Downplayed, but definitely there. Word of God calls it “psychic intuition“. It tends to exasperate him because while he gets clear impressions of what's going to happen, it's often without any meaningful context that allows him to determine the best course of action. When people ask him if he's psychic or declare him to be so, he denies it.
Stepford Smiler: Downplayed. He's genuinely energetic and perky but it's obvious that he's also masking his trauma.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Todd, who supplies most of the vitriol.

Todd Brotzman

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/todd_8.png

Played By: Elijah Wood

An out of work bellhop who stumbles into a bizarre murder scene, and everything in his life drastically changes. A random encounter with the eccentric detective, Dirk Gently, draws him into a web against his will.

Anti-Hero: Todd has a background of lying and stealing and has a overall defeatist attitude towards life, but he has it in him to be a genuinely good man.
The Atoner: Mostly towards Amanda for lying about having the disease she wound up contracting for real and to a lesser extent, Farah, who wound up captured by the Men of the Machine due to his not letting her into his apartment.
Big Brother Instinct: Todd is constantly worried about Amanda and tries everything to keep her out of harms way.
Brief Accent Imitation: Attempts this with Dirk when recalling advice that Dirk once gave to him. It doesn't go well.
The Call Knows Where You Live: Ends up being part of the investigation whether he likes it or not.
Dye Hard: He dyes his hair black while on the run from the FBI to disguise himself — but notes that it was a terrible disguise.
Laser-Guided Karma: After faking pararibulitis to his family in order to get their money, and lying for years to his sister about being cured of it, he really contracts the disease. He seems to have accepted this as punishment for his lies by the second season.
Living Emotional Crutch: To Dirk.
My God, What Have I Done?: Todd is remorseful for his landlord's death, feeling that his actions ultimately led to it. He also faked having pararibulitis when he was in college so his parents would give him money without him needing to work. And after he bled his parents dry (without realizing), Amanda started presenting real symptoms.
Puppy-Dog Eyes: He has a pair of big, blue soulful eyes that seem to be perpetually brimming with misery.
Redemption Quest: Todd's whole motivation in season 2 is finding Amanda and trying to make things right between them.
Throw the Dog a Bone: After losing his job, becoming a murder suspect and have his apartment trashed, Todd sees that the lottery ticket he found is the winning one (not the jackpot, but enough to repair the apartment and his car).
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Dirk, who he tries his best to avoid being friends with in the first place.
The Watson: He grows into this role over the course of the first season though he furiously denies it at first when Dirk is trying to get him to assist him in solving Patrick Spring's murder:
Todd: I AM NOT YOUR WATSON, ASSHOLE! I'm not available for sidekicking on something I am not involved with! I am my OWN messed-up person, with my OWN messed-up problems!
Web Of Lies: He faked having pararibulitis in college so his parents would give him money, and flunked out of college due to spending all of his time with his band. Later he sold his band's instruments to pay off his apartment, told his bandmates that they were stolen, and pitted his family against his band so neither would Spot the Thread. When Amanda really contracted the disease, Todd faked being "cured" to stop the payments, but his parents had already gone broke without him realizing. He continued to claim he was cured of it to give Amanda hope for her own condition. It is soon after he confessed that he starts exhibiting symptoms for real.
What the Hell Is That Accent?: In season 2 Todd tries repeating some of Dirk's advice back to him, comically butchering an English accent as he does so.
Wrong Genre Savvy: Once he comes to terms with the existence of psychics, Todd believes he himself may have had a vision of the future back in the first episode. Stable Time Loop is completely ignored as a possibility, and even after using the time machine, he still insists that he's one step ahead of Dirk because he had a vision.
You Monster!: To Dirk upon finding out the latter has lied to him about meeting with Future-Dirk beforehand and told him "3 Questions, One Answer" and to seek out Todd, and that Dirk was hiding the truth about knowing time travel was involved.

Farah Black

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/farah.png

Played By: Jade Eshete

A neurotic, bad-ass security officer. A tactical prodigy and exceptionally good hand-to-hand fighter, Farah has brooding, nervous energy that’s triggered at the slightest provocation.

Action Girl: She is the only member of Dirk's ragtag band with firearms training and tactical prowess, was the head of security for her previous employer, and everyone has complete confidence in her abilities (even when she does not) with good reason. She is able to take down Bart, a self-described Living Weapon, with relative ease. When The Boy informs the group that The Mage is dead, Todd asks who could've possibly defeated an all-powerful magic user. Dirk and Amanda instantly reply "Farah", to which Todd responds, "Farah. I knew it before you said it."
Badass in Distress: In her first appearance, she's handcuffed to a bed and is about to have her face cut off.
Badass Normal: As much as she beats herself up about failing to protect the Springs, she is remarkably good at her job. She even manages to take down Bart.
Butt-Monkey: Her first scene in the show consists of her almost getting her face cut off by a Drone and her misfortunes spiral out from there. Overall, her luck is worse than Ken's, but better than Todd's.
Crazy-Prepared: She keeps lockpicks in her bra and has a massive stash of assault weapons hidden in beer barrels at the Spring estate.
Defiant Captive: She spends the whole first episode trying to escape her captor's apartment.
Determinator: Her entire motivation in season 1 is to rescue Lydia Spring.
Faux Action Girl: Probably an intentional example, given the series' habit of subverting expectations. She is genuinely very good in a fight, but she still keeps getting defeated and overpowered - sometimes because her mental instability undermines her physical excellence, sometimes because there's just a lot of situations where even a highly competent fighter can't reasonably win.
Improbable Aiming Skills: Every bullet she has ever deliberately fired at another person has been a Boom, Headshot!. Yes, even the Mage, despite him blocking it.
Loophole Abuse: Apparently there are certain gray areas in laws regarding militias that allow her to keep all those above-mentioned assault weapons.
Ms Fan Service: Has great curves which she is able to show off several times.
My Greatest Failure: Sees Patrick Spring's death as this, since she was kidnapped while looking for Lydia before he was murdered.
Spotting the Thread: Effortlessly dresses down a fake FBI agent who had been pestering Amanda by noting he has completely failed to follow proper procedure. Unfortunately, he then makes her doubt herself by bringing up the failed psych evals that prevented her from entering the armed forces, basically calling her crazy.
Tears of Joy: Her response to Hobbs suddenly, unexpectedly and formally deputizing her. Makes sense, since working in law enforcement has been a lifelong dream that she has been continuously denied at every opportunity. It's not the FBI or the Army Rangers, it's a small town deputy position, but the Sheriff believes she deserves it, and it clearly means a lot to her.
The Worf Effect: Farah is consistently shown to be the most physically capable and badass character in the whole show, only being over-powered by overwhelming numbers or surprise attacks, but in a straight one-on-one fight, Farah will always triumph... Until Priest casually knocks her out in seconds without breaking stride.
You Shall Not Pass!: Puts herself between her friends and Priest at the Cardenas house. Priest knocks her out and marches right through her without breaking a sweat.

The Rowdy Three

As a Group

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/r3_2.jpg

Played By: Michael Eklund (Martin), Osric Chau (Vogel), Viv Leacock (Gripps) and Zak Santiago (Cross)

A group of four Ax-Crazy delinquents who feed on human emotions, particularly fear, by wreaking havoc to freak out their victims..

Achilles' Heel: Extreme cold is the only thing that can weaken them.

Ax-Crazy: They beat the crap out of anyone in their way (including police) while screaming the most insane non-sequiturs. Vogel and Cross are particularly extreme examples.
Batter Up!: Martin's weapon of choice.
Big Damn Heroes: Despite ostensibly being antagonistic, between their Spider-Sense for danger and affection for Amanda, they do this a lot, most notably in season 1 when they take out an entire SWAT team that the cult summoned to go after Dirk, Todd, and Farah. In the last episode, Amanda tells Todd they say they're not going to do it again. Still, in season 2 they do it twice: once when Amanda breaks them out of Blackwing to save a village in Wendimoor and again when they, along with Dirk and the Beast, arrive just in time to save Todd and Amanda from being executed.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: They do appear to have a moral code; it's just incomprehensible to anyone not them. For instance, while they harm plenty of property and scare people, they don't actually hurt anyone in the course of feeding.
Broken-Window Warning: After Amanda gets fed up with them taunting her from their van outside her house, she throws a brick at them. Later, they return the brick to her, chucking it through her window with a note reading "Hi!" tied to it.
Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: While Vogel, Gripps and Cross are spastic weirdos, their leader Martin remains calm and collected, knowing how to direct their (and by extension his own) lust for mayhem.
Crowbar Combatant: Cross is one.
Dark and Troubled Past: Were some of the child subjects of CIA Blackwing project. There aren't a lot of details about what happened, except that Martin angrily tells Riggins that "his boys aren't going back to no cages".
Emotion Eater: They cause terror in humans by smashing up their property and generally acting threatening, then feed on their resulting panic. This has the side effect of stopping Amanda's hallucinations.
Five-Token Band: The Rowdy Three have one white member, one black member, one Asian member, and one Latino member. They later end up getting two female members: Amanda and The Beast.
Jerks with Hearts of Gold: The Rowdy Three might be ultraviolent anarchists, but they genuinely care about Amanda's well-being and will unload a van load of pain on anyone who tries to harm her.
Meaningful Name: Designated "Project Incubus" by Blackwing; Incubi were spirits and/or demons that were believed to suck the energy out of people during sex, much as how the Rowdy 3 act as energy vampires.
Non-Indicative Name: They're called the Rowdy Three, but there are four of them, and as of the end of season 2 they've added two more members: Amanda and The Beast (the cavewoman from Wendimoor). According to Priest, there were supposed to be three; the fourth was an accident, making this an Artifact Title as well.
Dirk: The Rowdy 3!
Todd: There are four of them.
Dirk: I'm wildly aware!
One Extra Member: The Rowdy Three have four members, then five, then six.
One-Man Army: Each one of the original four is said to have the combat expertise of ten highly-trained soldiers. A SWAT team finds this out the hard way.
Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: A dark example towards Dick Gently. They often follow him around for the sole purpose of attacking him while he's unaware so they can suck up his fear, which they have a particular fondness for. The fear, that is. They don't like Dirk all that much and scoff at the idea that anyone would ever want to be his friend.
Sixth Ranger: The original trio was eventually joined by Vogel (hence the inaccurate name) who became a full-fledged member. As of the end of the first season, they are joined by Amanda; at the end of the second, the Beast joins them too.
Spider-Sense: They can tell when something bad is going down nearby, probably as a way to find places to eat.
Strapped to an Operating Table: At the beginning of season 2, 3/4 of the Rowdy Three are being held prisoner in this way by Project Blackwing.

Amanda Brotzman

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/amanda_26.png

Played By: Hannah Marks

Todd's younger sister. She suffers from Pararibulitis, the same illness that Todd had.

Action Survivor: Not a fighter, but she's quick on her feet and uses her environment to advantage (for example, throwing a brick at Priest so that Vogle can feed off his pain).
Affectionate Nickname: The Rowdy Three call her "Drummer"; Vogel also calls her "Boss."
And the Adventure Continues: The series ends with her and the Rowdy Three off on a new quest to find the others who can fix the universe, to prepare for the war for reality, and to master her magic along the way.
Damsel in Distress: When the CIA agents track down the Rowdy Three in Season 1, Hugo holds a gun to her head to force them to back off. In season 2, she is taken prisoner twice in Wendimoor and nearly executed.
Delinquent Hair: As befitting an honorary member of the Rowdy 3, in season 2 she has a punky undercut.
Disability Superpower: Thanks to the weirdness of Wendimoor, her Pararibulitis becomes a straight up magic power. To wit: Picturing lightning on her hands means she can shoot actual lightning.
I Have No Son!: After Todd confesses to his Web Of Lies, Amanda angrily leaves his apartment and joins the Rowdy Three, insisting that Todd is exactly the asshole everyone says he is and not her brother anymore. She later calms down over this to a certain extent, but she continues to stay with the Rowdy Three.
Jumped at the Call: She desperately wants to help Dirk with his investigation.
Todd: I don't want to drag you into it.
Amanda: Drag me! I want to get dragged!
Hikikomori: When we first meet her, she has resolved to just stay in her house because she doesn't want to suffer an attack in public.
Magnetic Hero: She has become this by the end, beginning with the Rowdy Three and the Beast and off on a quest to find more.
Morality Pet: Todd would do anything for her.
- She's also one for the Rowdy Three, who go out of their way to protect her. When the Project Blackwing agents come for them, Martin's first priority is getting her to safety.
Psychic Dreams for Everyone: After meeting the Rowdy Three, her hallucinations start to include visions of the future.
Punny Name: On the Mandelbrot set, the fractal symbol that appears in many of her visions, on the back of her leather jacket in Season 2, and in her eyes (as well as those of Todd and Friedkin) while in the backstage of reality.
Shipper on Deck: For Todd and Farah. She asks Todd to bring his "cool guy jacket" to impress her.
The Stoner: Is seen a few times smoking weed — it is heavily implied to be used for alleviating the symptoms of her disease.
Took a Level in Badass: By season 2, she's gone from never leaving her house to a fugitive up against the CIA, and eventually a powerful wielder of magic in Wendimoor with the magic wand.
Voluntary Vampire Victim: After discovering that the Rowdy Three's feedings can stop her Pararibulitis attacks she goes with them.
Your Mind Makes It Real:
- Minor example. Most of her hallucinations cause her no physical harm. However, full-body hallucinations can cause strong psychosomatic reactions—when she hallucinates she's drowning, she starts choking on air, which puts so much stress on her lungs she nearly suffocates.
- Perhaps due to Wendimoor being implied to be a product of a child's imagination, her hallucinations actually are real there. This comes in handy when she uses the hallucination of being electrocuted to attack a bunch of the Mage’s goons.

Bart and Ken

Bartine "Bart" Curlish

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bart_13.png

Played By: Fiona Dourif

A holistic assassin who wanders the country killing people.

Affably Evil: She is nice enough to Ken and eventually to Dirk and company, despite being a serial killer who brutally murders most people she encounters.
Anti-Villain: She only kills bad people, but she is completely remorseless about doing so.
Arrow Catch: Part of her Plot Armor. And since the drones use electrified crossbows she can make them break too.
Ax-Crazy: Seems to be ax crazy, thinking of herself as a "holistic assassin" and kills people because the universe wants her to. Ken tells her that it sounds an awful lot like a psychopathic murder spree. As the first season plays out, however, it shows increasing proof that she is being guided by some higher power to kill those who need killing.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: She believes that she should literally kill whoever she wants to, because whoever she wants to kill is who the universe needs gone. Amazingly enough she's right. Almost everyone she kills is obviously a terrible person, like murderous robbers. And if it isn't obvious they are shown to have been after the fact, like the businessman who, after his death, winds up on the news for having abducted women trapped in his house. The only person she tries to kill who isn't terrible is Dirk, and she doesn't succeed at killing him because she wasn't meant to. And her refusal to kill Suzie leads to disaster.
Bullet Dodges You: Describes her inability to be killed as bullets dodging her.
Bunker Woman: At the end of the series, she ends up becoming this in Blackwing.
Catchphrase: In Season 2, she asks everyone that she meets "Do you know Ken?"
Cloudcuckoolander: A particularly dark example, although it does seem that a large number of her seemingly strange beliefs about the universe are in fact completely justified. Even with that in mind, she still qualifies.
Coincidence Magnet: Being Dirk's Shadow Archetype, she is also a case.
Crippling Overspecialization: As long as she is 'on the job' she's literally unstoppable and unbeatable. Circumstances always conspire to give her transportation and food. But since so much of what she does is automatic and based on the universe bending in her favor, as soon as that stops for any reason she's completely incapable. She can barely aim a gun and becomes instantly exhausted because she's in such bad shape.
Dark Action Girl: She's a holistic assassin for a reason. As long as the universe wants someone dead she's literally unstoppable. Bullets miss, doors open, circumstances conspire in her favor, and she doesn't have to worry about trivialities like aiming to get perfect headshots. Numbers of enemies are irrelevant. She singlehandedly massacres the Mage's entire army. All eleven thousand of them.
Gender-Blender Name: Bart is apparently short for "Bartine".
Heroic BSoD: Undergoes this after she fails to kill Dirk Gently and is injured by Farah in the process, something that was previously established as being impossible.
Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Has killed a lot of people along the way, yet acts as a Plucky Comic Relief in the story.
Ignored Epiphany:
- During her Villainous Breakdown, she doesn't take the hint that the universe prevented her from killing Dirk and shows interest in continuing. Mistaking that her urge to find Dirk means she is meant to kill him, despite not feeling the normal urge to kill him. Ken shows doubts, however, and later points out that she was probably supposed to protect Dirk.
- Likewise, her refusal to kill Suzie Boreton at the start of season 2, despite a very strong intuition that she should, caused a huge problem throughout the season, and despite acknowledging this fact, she refuses to kill Ken at the end of the season despite a similarly strong intuition.
I Let Gwen Stacy Die: In Season 2 after Panto and Silas are killed in front of her, she blames herself for their deaths and every other innocents and causes her to want to go back to Blackwing.
Immortal Assassin: No matter what situation she finds herself in, she manages to get out without a scratch and continue the hunt. As long as she's supposed to hunt, anyway. Her attempt to kill a target she's meant to protect makes her vulnerable.
Improbable Aiming Skills: Whether it's with a gun or a knife, she never misses; the universe guarantees that her targets will die, even if she didn't aim at them. In one instance, as Ken reminds her, she killed a man by waving at him^*. This gets thrown completely into reverse when she finally catches up to Dirk, who manages to Dodge the Bullet several times in a row; her gun even jams at point-blank. It's later stated that Bart was (probably) supposed to protect Dirk.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite being a ruthless assassin, she still cares for people close to her, especially Ken and Panto.
Joker Immunity: The universe basically prevents her from being harmed. That is, until she tries to kill someone she isn't meant to kill.
Meaningful Name: Her Blackwing designation, Project Marzanna, refers to a Slavic goddess associated with death and rebirth; Bart definitely has the "death" part down, but the jury's out on the rebirth angle.
Minor Injury Overreaction: Because of her ability, nothing ever hurts her. So when someone (Farah) does by stabbing her, the feeling of pain totally overwhelms her.
No Social Skills: Because of her background, she doesn't understand basic human interactions or motivations, or even commonplace concepts like hotels.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: In season 2 she's disillusioned with what she believes is her role as the universe's weapon so she withholds killing people she gets the vibe she's supposed to. Unfortunately this enables people who aren't threats to rise to power as villains like Suzie, and Ken.
Not So Invincible After All: Farah manages to stab her after the latter moves in to kill Dirk.
Pay Evil unto Evil: How she chooses her targets — she has psychic abilities that lead her to people who harm others. In her actress's words, she is "the Delete key of the universe". The one time she decides not to kill someone she was supposed to kill, that person turns out to not only be horrible but The Dragon.
Play-Along Prisoner: As an extension of her Plot Armor, the universe won't allow her to be held anywhere against her will. Prison doors are always unlocked as far as she's concerned.
Plot Armor: The universe won't allow her to be harmed, so for instance if she puts a gun to her head and pulls the trigger the gun will jam, then work perfectly well when she needs to use it to shoot somebody. One of her targets throws a knife at her at point-blank, but it hits pommel-first and bounces off, allowing a Catch and Return. She suffers a Villainous Breakdown when Farah gives her a long-coming Beat Down, but even then, Ken notes that they still hadn't been caught all the way back to their hotel room, so the armor was still in effect.
Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: All of her killing prowess comes with a certain level of isolation and childlike obliviousness. She doesn't understand how to do virtually anything because the universe caters to her every need before she needs to do anything.
The Scourge of God: Possibly literally.
Shadow Archetype: Shares Dirk's "everything is connected" philosophy. They each realize this about the other when she finally catches up to him, which leaves her bewildered.
Winds of Destiny, Change!: Her "power" manifests as a Plot Armor that protects and provides for her at every opportunity. No matter her killing spree, Obviously Evil appearance or lack of subtly, she is never caught or obstructed. She picks people almost at random to murder, but they all in some way have it coming and any attempts at killing her right back fail spectacularly. Whenever a metaphorical door closes, a metaphorical window opens (like when her car dies, her next target shows up to fix it for her).

Ken Adams

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ken_86.png

Played By: Mpho Koaho

At first a nerdy, friendly tech trapped in difficult and bloody circumstances, Ken’s side job as a hacker lands him face-to-face with some odious characters, including Bart. Later captured by Blackwing, he gradually becomes hardbitten and driven by the need for control.

Above Good and Evil: He explains to Mr. Priest that in his world as the new head of Blackwing, there are no "good guys".
Action Survivor: Slowly turns into one thanks to Bart's violent antics.
Anti-Hero: Admits to helping criminals for money, but sees himself as a decent guy; later, as head of Blackwing, he justifies his moral compromises as being for the greater good.
Alone with the Psycho: Bart is definitely a psycho, even when she and Ken start traveling together.
Black and Nerdy: He's black and a tech expert.
Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Once he gets on board with Bart, he's in charge of helping her navigate through civilization (he has to tell her shampoo isn't for drinking) and making sure they don't get arrested. During season 2, he kind of ends up being Friedkin's minder, at least until he gains security clearance equal to his.
Distressed Dude: Before he befriends Bart, and becomes one again when captured by the Blackwing.
The Dog Bites Back: Ken is a Butt-Monkey in the grand scheme of things starting with his first scene, which is why he relishes his later role as head of Blackwing.
Face–Heel Turn: By the end of season 2, he is the new director of Blackwing and has made it his personal mission to apprehend the Blackwing subjects. To drive the point home, even Bart is starting to think he's supposed to die.
Girly Run: Seen when running away from Bart.
Guile Hero: As of season 2, he's grown into one, using his smarts and Hugo's stupidity and desperation to get out of the taxi and try to find Bart.
Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Becomes this to Hugo in season two, originally to get himself out of confinement. Later on to get his hands on sensitive and fascinating intelligence. In less than a week he ends up basically running operations at Project Blackwing.
Jumped at the Call: Once he gets over the shock of being kidnapped by Bart and discovering the universe doesn't work the way he thought it does, he's over the moon at the fact he has a destiny.
Know-Nothing Know-It-All: By the end of season 2, Ken has become this. He seems to think that only he understands the entirety of the situation with Dirk and others like him when the exact opposite is true. He calls Dirk a freak, goes on a rant about how "he doesn't understand his abilities" and basically acts like the entire situation that they're in is under his control when it just isn't. At all.
Odd Friendship: Has developed friendships with both Bart and Hugo, two skilled and remorseless killers both of whom have kidnapped him against his will only later to need his help and guidence.
Only Sane Man: To be fair, anyone would look sane next to Bart. Later, in Project Blackwing, Agent Friedkin calls him the only smart person in the entire building; he might not be entirely wrong.
Sanity Slippage: Witnessing the righteousness of Bart's various murders slowly edges Ken into believing her rhetoric about destiny and when he figures out his part in the larger scheme of the climax, he looks as happy as he does unhinged. Surprisingly averted in season two where he has spent over two months locked up in a Taxi cab because Hugo sincerely believes it's related to his super power. Which he does not have.
The Smart Guy: An intelligent engineer and hacker. He also has a clear head and adapts well to situations. In Season Two, despite having no qualifications and not actually working there, ends up running field operations at Project Blackwing, despite being their prisoner barely a week ago.
The Starscream: Hugo ends up on the receiving end of this from Ken during season 2.
Techno Babble: Is able to have entire conversations in Blackwing technical talk, which he then has to explain to Hugo.
The Watson: Ken is Bart's Watson (as Todd's counterpart to Dirk).
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Slips into this over season 2. As he learns about Blackwing's secrets and subjects he comes to believe in their mission to the point where he's willing to shoot Dirk in the legs just to keep him in the facility.

Project Blackwing

In General

Artifact Collection Agency: Blackwing's entire M.O. is to find the unexplainable and contain them. This mostly applies to the Subjects, people with unexplainable abilities that could prove to be a threat to humanity (or at least to normalcy).
Dark Is Evil: While more "amoral" than "evil", they dress predominantly in black, tend to mistreat the Subjects they keep and are ran by either psychotic (Priest) or dangerously incompetent (Hugo) individuals.
Incompetence, Inc.: A public-sector equivalent. While the supernatural does in-fact exist, Blackwing's inability to properly prove any of it really exist has resulted in a widespread containment breach of the Subjects and too little a budget to do anything other than observe those they haven't completely lost from a distance. According to Dirk, this is because they are trying to "contain the uncontainable", and thus they are essentially fighting a losing battle against the universe itself.

Operators

Col. Scott Riggins

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/riggins.png

Played by: Miguel Sandoval

The senior of the two CIA agents watching the Project Blackwing subjects at the start of the series, a level-headed and fatherly man.

Cool Old Guy: Despite his age he'll go toe-to-toe with The Rowdy Three and is able to deck the much younger and bigger Hugo Friedkin with a single headbutt.
Parental Substitute: He seems to consider himself this to the Project Blackwing subjects, especially Dirk, although the feeling doesn't appear to be mutual.
Put on a Bus: At the end of season 1; does not appear in season 2.
Those Two Guys: Initially this with Hugo.
Token Good Teammate: To the CIA. He views the Blackwing subjects as people, not experiments, and wants to convince them to return of their own free will instead of kidnapping them. He is also horrified when Hugo holds a gun to Amanda's head to threaten the Rowdy Three and tries to stop him. Unfortunately, his scary new boss ends up sidelining him for this attitude.

Sgt. Hugo Friedkin

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/friedkin.png

Played by: Dustin Milligan

At first Col. Riggins's junior officer; a trigger-happy meathead who eventually gets promoted to be the head of Blackwing for, well, exactly those qualities.

Affably Evil: Is a professional killer who has no problem gunning down targets on the job and submits his prisoners to electric shocks in order to test their abilities. He is also insecure, friendly and almost endearingly child like.
Apologetic Attacker: He apologizes to Estevez after shooting him. And then proceeds to shoot him again.
Armor-Piercing Question: Mona asks him one to trigger his Heel–Face Turn.
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: After being impaled and shoved into an interdimensional portal, he arrives, unharmed, in the "backstage of reality".
Hugo: Oh, now I get it!
Authority in Name Only: Takes over as supervisor of Blackwing and instantly finds himself over his head, failing to understand not only how to do his job but what his job even entails. This leads to him panicking that his bosses will terminate him when they find out. It gets so bad that Ken, his former prisoner, ends up running operations due to his abilities and intelligence. Eventually even loose cannons like Mr Priest prefer to work without Hugo, as they are looking for someone competent to give orders.
Ax-Crazy: His first response to anything is to aim his weapon at it. Initially, this is Played for Laughs, and in the first episode it saves Farah when his stray bullet kills the drone about to murder her, but as the series goes on it gets less and less funny. In season 2, he's dealing with Mr Priest, who is just as trigger-happy but not as stupid. In episode 3 he finds himself telling Priest not to take the shot, which even he seems to realise is ironic.
Brainless Beauty: Looks like a male model, but is thick as oatmeal.
Dumb Muscle: A highly-trained CIA agent with the face of a Calvin Klein model, the biceps of Thor, and the approximate brains of a kumquat. Doesn't read and can't understand the mission briefings and files he is handed, has little to no attention span or patience, and just wants to shoot all of the subjects.
- Deconstructed in Season 2 as he's aware of it and frustrated about it, becoming distressed and conflicted as his desperate attempts to think and understand are thwarted by his utter lack of impulse control.
Hugo: It was a thought in my head so I have to do it!
Even Evil Has Standards: While more than happy in season 1 to gun down acceptable targets while on the job, even collateral damage like poor Detective Estevez, by season 2 he eventually balks at unnecessary civilian casualties and refuses to feed people to the Rowdy Three due to the horror of experiencing their power first hand.
Foil: To Dirk, interestingly. Both observe that they rarely understand what's going on around them. However, while Dirk usually finds this engaging, Hugo invariably finds it frustrating and distressing. Similarly, Dirk's manic impulsiveness is directed by his intelligence and kindness, and it usually ends up working out; Hugo, on the other hand, is nearly always a hair's breadth away from violence, and his impatience and stupidity hinder him severely when he's actually trying to think things through.
General Failure: He wasn't very intelligent to begin with, and being placed in charge of Blackwing has done nothing but expose more of his incompetence. At the least, he's self-aware enough to recognize that he'd get the axe if his superiors found out he screwed up.
Heel–Face Turn: While trying to keep Mona and Dirk from leaving Blackwing with Project Moloch, they manage to convince him to help them move through the facility under the assault of the Kellack Knights.
Heel Realization: Openly questions whether he's the villain and whether he was just too stupid to realize it, when he realizes that all of the chaos of season 2 is happening because he caused Moloch’s stroke by moving him to Blackwing, thus weakening the barrier between Earth and Wendimoor.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Lord Badevil stabs him through the chest from behind with a scissorsword. Not instantly fatal, but doubtful he would've survived if Ken hadn't pushed him through the portal into the backstage of reality.
Insufferable Imbecile: His brain can barely keep two thoughts in it at a time and often times it's a serious detriment. When instructed by Riggins that they are only meant to observe Dirk, he has a sniper pinned on him ready shoot. When Riggins tries to have a chat with Dirk, Hugo tackles him to the ground, thinking he was trying to "escape". When Riggins manages to deescalate the Rowdy 3, Hugo escalates it right back by putting a gun to Amanda's head.
I've Come Too Far: In the second season finale, his moral choice waffles between a Heel Realization and I've Come Too Far. He's realized he might be the bad guy, but he's put so much work into what he's done that he's not willing to throw it away.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: Shows shades of this when he threatens Amanda's life, and comes into it fully when he manages to replace Riggins as the head of the Black Wing project, at which point he kills Estevez and sends the army after the Rowdy Three and Bart.
Not Quite Dead: Maybe. While being stabbed by Lord Badevil at the end of season 2 should have killed him, Hugo manages to wake up in the Void of Reality seemingly unharmed.
Obliviously Evil: Ignorant enough to not realize he and Blackwing are the bad guys. He genuinely wants to do the right thing. And he's stupid enough to not realize that "killing innocent people" very rarely is the right thing.
Odd Friendship: With Ken apparently, as Ken is the only one who seems willing to help him. Ken also seems to be the only one trying to explain to poor Hugo what is going on. Then again, forming emotional bonds with his kidnappers seems to be a thing with Ken.
Older Than They Look: Possibly. In Season 1, we see him in dress uniform, and his ribbons include both the Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabian Kuwait Liberation Medals from the Gulf War. The Saudi medal in particular was only awarded to US servicemen who participated in Operation Desert Storm, from January to February 1991. Since Season 1 takes place in 2016, that would make him at least 42 years old, if he was the minimum enlistment age of 17 at the time. Dustin Milligan, the actor portraying him, is only 33. Though this could be another example of Artistic License – Military.
Redemption Equals Death: After being impaled, he draws on Ken who is trying to keep Dirk from completing his case. Then Ken kicks his lifeless body through the portal, which gets stuck in the in-between space.
The Starscream: At the end of season 1, he usurps Colonel Riggins' command and has all Black Wing subjects arrested.
Surrounded by Idiots: Yeah, really. Claims he's this in Episode 6 of Season 2, when he finds out that the man he believed to be his assistant is actually just a lieutenant and his name is Assistent, with an 'e'. Hugo declares that this is stupid and that everyone in the building is stupid, with the only exception being Ken.
Theory Tunnelvision: He often misinterprets basic facts and then runs with it to its logical conclusion, incapable of listening until he meets that conclusion.
Those Two Guys: Starts as off as this with Riggins.
Took a Level in Kindness: Between the first and second season. And downplayed. So very downplayed... In the first season, Hugo disobeyed a direct order to not take a shot at Todd, tackled Dirk despite Riggins trying to keep the situation calm, was prepared to shoot a fleeing Amanda in the head for biting his hand to get away from him, and ruthlessly gunned down Estevez. In the second season, as the still-very-much-a-bad-guy head of Blackwing, he shows a modicum of restraint in his methods and a commitment to bringing in subjects alive while minimising civilian casualties, rather than murdering everyone outright.
Trigger-Happy: Always wants to pull the trigger on whoever he and Riggins target.
Villainous Breakdown: In the finale of season 2, during the invasion of Blackwing, when he realizes that everything that's happened is his fault for moving Moloch to the facility, which resulted in Moloch having a stroke and the doorways to Wendimoor opening up. Comes with a side of Heel Realization that he was just too stupid to realize he was the villain of the story.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Genuinely wants to be doing the right thing, but by his own admission, was too stupid to realize he's the bad guy until it was too late.

Mr. Priest

Osmund Priest

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/priest_5.png

Played by: Alan Tudyk

An unhinged Blackwing operative.

Affably Evil: When he's not trying to bring in dangerous subjects, he can be downright civil. Mind you, he likes to let his guns do the talking for him.
Ax-Crazy: He is highly annoyed when sent on a mission that doesn't allow him to kill people. And it doesn't take much to provoke him into murderous behaviour, as Friedkin, Amanda and Vogle quickly figure out.
The Dreaded: Immediately recognized by both Vogel and Dirk; both shit themselves. Presumably he has this reputation with other Blackwing subjects also. Though even he's wary of Bart.
Even Evil Has Standards: Crossing over with At Least I Admit It, at the end of season 2, Priest seems to look down on Ken for thinking he is acting in the greater good even though he's absolutely gone through a Face–Heel Turn.
Eviler than Thou: Makes Friedkin look reserved and calm, which is impressive considering how Ax-Crazy he was.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Panto gives him a parting slash right down the middle of his face, leaving a jagged scar from his forehead to his chin.
Jumped at the Call: Once Blackwing was reactivated.
Nightmare Fetishist: He gets positively giddy whenever things get weird.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: His personal capture of over 2/3rds of the original black wing subjects prior to the events of the series sounds like this.
Psycho for Hire: He is responsible for rounding up supernatural people for Project Blackwing and takes a perverse joy in attacking his targets. His manic expressions and mannerisms even during normal conversations reveal that he's pretty unhinged.
Trigger-Happy: Priest has a VERY itchy trigger finger.

Wilson

Jessica Wilson

Played by: Fiona Vroom

The well-dressed young woman whom Blackwing answers to.

Bad Boss: Demanding, impatient and cold-hearted.
The Corruptor: Briefly play some this role to Hugo.
Greater-Scope Villain: Of the series as a whole. Dismissed Riggins, put Hugo in charge of the program, and eventually a post Face–Heel Turn Ken. And the main cast has never even met her.
Horrible Judge of Character: Whether or not it was pragmatic to fire Riggins, promoting Hugo (who barely even understands what the Blackwing subjects are) to take over from him comes across as so idiotic that some fans wonder if she was deliberately trying to sabotage the operation.
Improbable Age: The actress was only about 33 during season one, awfully young for a government official given oversight over something as important as Blackwing.
Jerkass Has a Point: Hugo's (admittedly incomplete and confused) description of Riggins activities don't inspire confidence and makes it easier to understand why she fired him.
Murder Is the Best Solution: Threatens to start killing Blackwing subjects if Riggins can't get them to come in voluntarily, although this may have been a bluff since she later authorizes Hugo to capture them.
Small Role, Big Impact: Has less than ten minutes of screentine across three episodes but her actions and orders shape most of season two.
The Spook: Has a lot of pull in the intelligence community but her exact job, background and motives remain unclear.

Lt. Assistent

Lieutenant Assistent

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/assistent.png

Played by: Amitai Marmorstein

Friedkin's second-in-command at the Blackwing facility.

Extreme Doormat: Lets himself be bullied by Friedkin, shoved aside by Ken, and finally ordered around by Dirk.
His Name Really Is "Barkeep": His name is, sadly, exactly what he is.
Not What I Signed Up For: He thought "top secret" would mean getting to meet aliens or something, not running for his life from box-headed knights with giant pairs of scissors and assault rifles.

Subjects

In General

The Chosen Many: According to Project Moloch, they were created by the Universe as agents to help fix it. Dirk and Bart are the most direct illustrations of this; he leads people to where they're supposed to be while she takes out people whose actions corrupt the world.
Cloudcuckoolander: All of the ones seen onscreen have poor social skills and bizarre world-views.
Dark and Troubled Past: Pretty much all of them due to the nature of their powers and how they've been experimented on for good parts of their lives.
Deleted Role: Projects Banshee, Valkyres, Cheron, Orthrus, Bel and Herodias were originally intended to be in season 2 based on statements by the show runners and a poster, but were cut for time.
Differently Powered Individuals: What the subjects are is left up in the air, but there is no denying that what makes them special are their unexplained abilities. It's implied that all of their abilities are "hollistic" in nature; abilities that are beneficial to humanity and the universe, always finding themselves in situations that call for their aid.
Distaff Counterpart: It's hinted that one or more may be this to the Rowdy Three given the appearance of Project Succubus (a female counterpart to the Incubus) on the subject list.
The Ghost: Dozens of them across the country are briefly alluded to but haven't been recaptured by season 2.
Golem: Probably not a literal one, but there is a Project Golem visible on the computer screen in one episode.
Half-Human Hybrid: Presumably Project Satyr.
Hero of Another Story: Most of them have apparently been on the run and eluding Blackwing during the Time Skip between seasons.
Invisibility: Friedkin mentions that one (possibly Project Wraith or Project Banshee) had this power (which of course made it impossible to capture him after Blackwing was reactivated.
Meaningful Name: The code names the military uses for the Project Black Wing subjects seem to be quite literal. The Rowdy 3 are energy vampires who are designated Project Incubus. Dirk Gently is Project Icarus, and his special ability seems to be getting in over his head, because he charges into situations completely unprepared.
Names To R Un Away From Really Fast: Several of them, such as Project Abaddon (place of destruction) and Project Slaugh (sinners rejected by heaven, hell and Earth).
One-Man Army: Many of them.
The Phoenix: A Project Phoenix is another name in the computer screen (although it’s probably symbolic).
Why Am I Ticking??: Friedkin comments that one is a human bomb.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Implied by Project Python.

Project Icarus

See: Dirk Gently

Project Marzanna

See: Bart Curlish

Project Incubus

See: Rowdy Three

Project Moloch

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3grfs.jpg

Played by: Robert Corness

An elderly man in a coma named Francis Cardenas. He was found as a baby by the Cardenas family on a boat that mysteriously fell out of the sky onto a field in Montana.

Chekhov's Gunman: Introduced in the Season 2 premiere as Blackwing’s most powerful subject, then promptly forgotten until late in the season, when he turns out to be the creator of Wendimoor and the cause of nearly everything that’s been going on.
Cool Old Guy: Was this for Dirk as a child.
Foreshadowing: Moloch's Blackwing symbol is shown before the arrival of the Bergsberg field boat, the Infant Male Pollock Francis, setting up his connection to the events of Season 2.
Meaningful Name: His Blacking designation, Project Moloch, refers to the god/demon Moloch, who was heavily associated with child sacrifices, but the word itself comes from the Hebrew word for "king". It could be argued that Wendimoor's existence is Powered by a Forsaken Child (Moloch himself), and he eventually becomes Wendimoor's king upon his return there in the Season 2 finale.
Power Incontinence: His dreams become real. All his dreams. Whether he's trying to or not. Sometimes this is fun stuff, like the air gun; sometimes it's a flying purple people eater. And sometimes it's an entire autonomous world based on his and his brother's childhood fantasy stories. Gets even worse after he has a stroke while in a coma, breaking down the walls that separate the real world from Wendimoor, allowing the Mage to pass through and setting off all the bad stuff from Season 2.
Reality Warper: He is able to create virtually anything from his dreams. When he was younger, this often manifested in the form of nightmarish monsters, like the Giant Purple People Eater. When Blackwing tried to contain him, he ended up creating an entire world with its own laws of reality — the magical realm of Wendimoor — and has God-like control when he is there.
Younger Than They Look: On the outside, he's an old man, but on the inside, he's still the young age he was when he fell into a coma. When he returns to Wendimoor, he takes the form of his young self.
Your Mind Makes It Real: He is "the boy" Dirk is meant to find, and has the power to bring forth things from his imagination into reality, which is why he's the "most powerful subject" Blackwing ever found.

Project Lamia

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mona_85.png

Played by: Alexia Fast

A woman named Mona Wilder with the ability to shapeshift into seemingly anything. She is a self-proclaimed holistic actress.

Ambiguously Human: According to Ken, Mona's "real" form might in fact be just a few molecules that can assemble other matter around them to give the impression of shapeshifting.
Beware the Silly Ones: Soft-spoken, endearingly ditzy, often confused, very much a Cloud Cuckoo Lander... and capable of turning into a fully-functional cannon and killing a room full of heavily armed men in one shot.
Child-Like Voice: Mona has a distinctively high and breathy vocal tone, and a tendency to speak in childlike phrases.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Spending most of her time as various inanimate objects has made her a little... weird. She can be anything, but she doesn't know what she's supposed to be, and she apparently doesn't consider turning into a chain and choking someone to be attempted murder. Since she can apparently do much more drastic things, though, that one kind of makes sense.
Early-Bird Cameo: Was present all throughout Season 1 as the stress toy in Dirk's possession and later Martin's, and ultimately Hugo's.
Equippable Ally: Helps Dirk get through a besieged Blackwing by turning into a cannon, motorcycle, and jacket.
If I Wanted You Dead...: She tells Friedkin that if she wanted to kill him, she wouldn't bother turning into a "silly little bear". Instead she'd turn into an aircraft carrier and crush the entire facility.
Meaningful Name: Mona's designation of "Project Lamia" is a reference to the poem of the same name by John Keats, wherein the titular Lamia is a shapeshifter who gets trapped in the form of a serpent.
Shadow Archetype: Whereas Dirk is a holistic detective and Bart is a holistic assassin, Mona considers herself a holistic actress.
Shapeshifter Mode Lock: A self-inflicted version. If she spends too long shapeshifted, she'll forget she was ever anything else. Apparently, when Blackwing first brought her in she'd been a chair for six years.
Sixth Ranger: Becomes this to the Agency in the finale.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: She can turn into anything or anyone, which allows her to easily infiltrate and move around Blackwing undetected. Her limits are implied to be very high, since Ken clarifies that calling her a shapeshifter is too simple. The forms she takes in the series include a stress toy, mouse, piece of paper, rubber ball, soldier, soap bubble, toy car, moth, pistol, chain, cannon, motorcycle, machine gun, leather jacket, and of course a young woman.

Residents of Seattle

The Spring Family

Patrick Spring (Spoiler Character)

Patrick Spring / Edgar Spring / Zachariah Webb

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/webb_2.jpg

Played By: Julian McMahon

An enigmatic recluse, murdered at the start of the series under mysterious circumstances.

Gadgeteer Genius: He built a time machine that doubles as an unlimited electrical supply and a soul transference device using 1880s technology.
Guns Akimbo: He dual-wields a pair of revolvers tricked out with extended drum magazines.
He Who Fights Monsters: His life is dedicated to fighting the body-swapping cult and ultimately meets the end of his life because of it.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His multilayered execution of this trope is examined in full during the penultimate episode.
Papa Wolf: Lydia being kidnapped draws out some of this in him.
Posthumous Character: Subverted. His younger self is very much alive. Kinda.
Steampunk Gadgeteers: His armor resembles nothing so much as a Steampunk Iron Man suit.
Two Aliases, One Character: Three. Zachariah Webb, Edgar Spring and Patrick Spring are the same person.
When You Coming Home, Dad?: Seems to have had this relationship with Lydia due to his obsession. After traveling in time and seeing how his mission would end, he did try to fix this, but it apparently didn't work out so well in the time he had left.

Lydia Spring

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2018_03_05_at_232157.png

Played By: Alison Thornton

Patrick Spring's daughter, who was kidnapped by the Men of the Machine.

Body Swap: Her soul was swapped with Gordon Rimmer's Corgi.
Damsel in Distress: She's kidnapped by the Men of the Machine as part of their war with her father.
Intergenerational Friendship: Has a mild one with Farrah.
Trauma Conga Line: Poor Lydia... she gets kidnapped, turned into a dog, watches her father get killed, lives on the streets for weeks, gets thrown off a bridge, and the list goes on. She seems none the worse for wear in the end, however — although she is pissed.

Seattle Police Department

Detective Estevez

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/estevez.png

Played by: Neil Brown Jr.

A police detective hellbent on rescuing Lydia Spring.

Agent Mulder: Zigzagged. There’s a lot of stuff he doesn’t seem to believe but he does figure out something is important about the dog Rapunzel and later is willing to believe that Lydia Spring is in her body.
Big Damn Heroes: Provides some aid in the final episodes of Season 1.
Character Death: Friedkin kills him at the end of Season 1 in order to cover up the whole Men of the Machine incident.
Cowboy Cop: Both he and Zimmerfield disobey direct orders from their superior when trying to find Lydia Spring.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Becomes more angry and unhinged after Zimmerfield's death. This is most clearly demonstrated when he breaks into Todd's apartment and hits him whenever Todd says something he doesn't like.
Heroic BSoD: Undergoes one after Zimmerfield's death.
Left for Dead: He was yet to die from his wounds when Friedkin left him, although given his lack of presence in the next season and Friedkin's skill with a gun, his survival is unlikely.
Old Cop, Young Cop: The young counterpart to Zimmerfield. He still seems somewhat inexperienced and gets corrected by Zimmerfield a couple of times.
Sanity Slippage: He rapidly begins coming apart at the seams as the case becomes more and more bizarre.

Detective Zimmerfield

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zimmerfield.png

Played by: Richard Schiff

Estevez's partner.

Cynical Mentor: He seems suspicious and a little world-weary, and imparts some of this attitude upon his younger partner.
Character Death: He's killed by the Men of the Machine.
Deadpan Snarker: Such as when he says Todd is a person of interest but not an interesting person.
Dead Partner: Becomes a motivator for Estevez after being killed by the baddies.
Inspector Javert: He and Estevez believe Dirk and Todd have something to do with Lydia's disappearance and search for any lead they can.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Really does care about his job and finding Lydia Spring and his last words are telling Estevez to save her.
Old Cop, Young Cop: The old counterpart to Estevez. Acts as a mentor for the latter.
Sacrificial Lion: Zimmerfield is killed in the fifth episode, demonstrating just how dangerous the Men of the Machine are.

The Men of The Machine

As a Group

The Men of The Machine

Originally a group of hippies who discovered a machine that they could use to swap bodies with animals or people. They used this to take over the lives of rich or influential people.

Ancient Conspiracy: They've been operating for fifty years, worming their way into powerful positions in the government.
Bald of Evil: Most of the Drones, lower-ranking members used for Grunt work who spend a lot of time in animal bodies..
Body Surf: They use the machine to switch souls into new bodies, allowing them to infiltrate powerful governments and ideally live forever.
Cargo Cult: They ascribe divine powers to the machine.
Clone Degeneration: Gordon Rimmer points out that some sort of this happened with the drones. They technically aren't clones, but decades of body-swapping with animals for long periods of time seems to have seriously messed up their minds.
Enemy Civil War: There is a big internal conflict between a rebellious branch of the cult led by Gordon Rimmer—who disregards worshipping the Soul Exchanger in favor of a more scientific approach—and the pseudo-religious members still loyal to Jake Rainey.
From Nobody to Nightmare: See New-Age Retro Hippie below.
Horror Hippies: The group started out as a psychedelic hippie commune that was squatting in Zachariah Webb's house. It has since become a sinister cult of brainwashed nutjobs.
Laughably Evil: Some of the drones. Emphasis on some. And even the silliest don’t quite reach Harmless Villain territory.
Mook Lieutenant: Ed, to Rimmer's Drones.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: By the last couple episodes, with members dropping like flies and their actions getting more openly bloody, it's mentioned that a lot of members have Refused the Call when Rimmer asks for reinforcements Whether or not this saves any of them from The Purge at the hands of Project Blackwing is unclear.
Theme Naming: Their drones (or at least the ones in Rimmer's group) have names ending in -Ed: Ed, Zed, Red, Ned, Fred etc.
You ALL Look Familiar: All of Gordon's drones share the same bald-headed, bug-eyed appearance and disjointed speech pattern unless their soul's inhabiting another's body, in which case the latter becomes an identifying Verbal Tic.

Pollux / Gordon Rimmer / Lux Du Jour

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Played by: Aaron Douglas (Rimmer), Mackenzie Gray (Lux)

An ambitious member of the Men of the Machine who attempts to take over from the former leader, but his plans are disrupted by the intervention of Dirk and Todd.

Big Bad: He's the guy behind the group's activities in Season 1.
Beware the Silly Ones: He looks and sounds like Mr Plinkett, dresses like a loser, and is just as clueless about what's going on as the rest of the characters. However, none of this makes him any less dangerous.
Dragon Ascendant: He was originally not the leader of the Men of the Machine, but seized control after Jake Rainey was killed.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite being a ruthless kidnapper and murderer, Rimmer does love his pet dog. He also seems to have had a soft spot for one of his groupies as Lux Dujour.
Even Evil Has Standards: The reasons for the rebellion are less about a pursuit of personal power, and more a genuine backlash against Rainey's Bad Boss tendencies.
Fat Bastard: At least his body is one.
Kill the Ones You Love: Combined with Kick the Dog, when he kills the aging groupie he loved back when he was Lux to prove his commitment to his men.
Not-So-Harmless Villain
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Usually has a nasal, sibilant manner of speaking, but when he's really getting dangerous, he adopts a deeper and more confident voice more akin to his Lux Du Jour persona. Sometimes this is subverted when he suddenly breaks down again into a nasally whine.
The Starscream: Plans to take over Rainey's position as the Supreme Soul.
White-Dwarf Starlet: He was forced into the body of Gordon Rimmer when he was just getting into his groove as mega rock star Lux Du Jour and hasn't been able to let go until towards the end of Season 1.

Jake Rainey

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rainey.png

Played by: Matthew Bissett (Original), Shane Nicely (Eighties), Jessica Lowndes (Current)

The original leader of the Men of the Machine.

Beard of Evil: In his original body.
Dirty Old Man: Comes across as this in his original body, during the brief flashback he appears in, as a slightly older hippie surrounded by younger women.
Gender Bender: He was originally a man, but by the time of the events of the series, he's in a woman's body.
Greater-Scope Villain: The founder of the Men of the Machine, Rainey has spent 50 years leading his cult to take bodies for his own power and pleasure with even Gordon Rimmer just being a subordinate. Despite this, he has little direct impact on the plot, technically having been killed by Patrick Spring a week before the series starts while Rimmer is the opponent for Dirk and Todd to face.
Hypocrite: Established himself as "the Supreme Soul" while refusing the others independence or status, forcing Rimmer to change from a rock star's body to a zookeeper's in a moment of pettiness.
Kick the Dog: In the Hypocrite moment above.
Killed Off for Real: He's killed by Patrick Spring.
Predecessor Villain: Of a sort. Rainey was killed by Patrick Spring a week before the series began but his influence lingers as Rimmer's leadership and competence are questioned by the remaining Men of the Machine and thanks to the time travel in the work, also appears for a few scenes himself.
Smug Snake: Oozes this.
Would Hit a Girl: Killed Spring's wife and threatened his daughter.

Residents of Bergsberg

Sheriff's Department

Sherlock Hobbs

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hobbs.png

Played by: Tyler Labine

The Sheriff of Bergsberg.

Bunny-Ears Lawyer: At first he seems to be a Clueless Sheriff, but he knows exactly what "holistic" means and his detective skills impress Farah.
Foil: For Estevez. Both are cops who end up assisting with Dirk's investigation, but where Estevez is abrasive and so by-the-book (until he isn't) that he's unable to see the forest through the trees, Hobbs takes all the weirdness in stride far more readily.
Ironic Name: Is a pretty poor detective, though he is great at taking notes. Although this is somewhat subverted when it turns out he's more competent than he seems.
Minnesota Nice: Montana, not Minnesota, but the same idea. He's a small town sheriff who is ridiculously polite and courteous befitting his small town roots.
Named After Somebody Famous: He was named after Sherlock Holmes.
Nice Guy: His Establishing Character Moment shows him appear to tell Todd he has to move his car and goes out of his way not to give him a ticket or anything, making it clear that even though he should be towed, he can just move it. And he only gets nicer from there.

Tina Tevetino

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tina_0.png

Played by: Izzie Steele

The offbeat Deputy Sheriff of Bergsberg.

Clueless Deputy: She's commonly stoned on duty, and seems pretty clueless in general.
Genki Girl: She's enthusiastic and upbeat and lets out a big cheer after Farah beats Panto.
Police Are Useless: Doesn't care that much about her job, mostly because there's little to no policing to do in Bergsberg. In fact, she only signed up because Sherlock's her best friend and she wanted a reason to hang out with him all day.
Precision F-Strike: Loudly announces that she wants to "F[beep] everybody here" at the Sound of Nothing while under the influence of Suzie's spell.
Stoners Are Funny: She's comically high and drunk right from the moment we meet her, although she comes down in later episodes.

The Boreton Family

Suzie Boreton

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/suzie.png

Played by: Amanda Walsh

A middle-aged woman living in Bergsberg with her husband and rebellious son.

And I Must Scream: She's locked in the train that flies around Wendimoor for the rest of time as her pre-wand self. Her realization of this triggers a Rapid-Fire "No!" followed by a final Big "NO!".
Asshole Victim: While at first it seems that she was given the short end of the stick in every aspect of her life, in reality she was a borderline sociopath Alpha Bitch to start with before she broke her hip in a car accident.
Ax-Crazy: Once she gets the magic wand, she takes a flying leap off the deep end and starts killing people left and right, all while insisting that she's the victim.
Big Bad Duumvirate: Recruited to be The Dragon to the Mage, the two end up in a partnership as he leaves Wendimoor for good out of fear and the two merely assist one another in their evil. Suzie also winds up the final villain of the series when the Mage is killed in the penultimate epsiode.
Call-Back: The shirt Suzie wears to Sound of Nothing is of Lux Du Jour.
The Dragon: Initially to the Mage as his apprentice. Soon however, Suzie and he begin working as equals when he elects to stop trying to conquer Wendimoor and instead focus on the real world while she continues with his initial plans.
Dragon Ascendant: Becomes a much more plot-relevant threat than her mentor when he gives up on Wendimoor. While the Mage himself remains a threatening villain Suzie takes over his armies and confronts the heroes far more frequently. She also outlives him in their Big Bad Duumvirate to become the final antagonist.
Drunk with Power: She is a woman going mad with power as she gets back at her abusers. As it turns out, she isn't getting back at abusers but an Alpha Bitch laid low gaining back enough power to fall back into old habits in new and horrible ways.
Evil All Along: She's introduced as a sweet, if slow woman who is friendly and put upon by people around her. Turns out she's only been this way since she had her accident and the first chance she gets she goes back to her old ways but even worse.
Evil Makeover: While her clothes do get fancier after finding out how the wand works, it's not until she gets to Wendimoor that the full evil makeover kicks in, including a pointy, iron crown and red eyeshadow that looks like blood seeping from her eyes.
Foil: For Todd. Both have disabling conditions (Suzie's broken hip, Todd's pararibulitis) and both have done horrible things to people they knew in the past. But where Todd sees his pararibulitis as a much-deserved penance for his terrible behaviour and is driven by a desire to make things right, Suzie is utterly delusional about why everyone hates her. When she and Todd meet face-to-face in Wendimoor, he tells her that taking control of your life is about fixing yourself, not everything else, proving that he has genuinely learned from his mistakes, while Suzie still hasn't grasped her failure as a human being.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Suzie believes she's a downtrodden victim, but in fact her life's wreckage is entirely her own fault. Her loneliness comes from her long history of bullying, and her injury is because of a car crash she caused while driving under the influence.
From Nobody to Nightmare: From a disabled and lonely housewife who peaked in high school, to the prophesized apprentice to a dark wizard who threatens an entire dimension.
Hate Sink: She seems to be made to be as unlikable as possible when she gets ahold of the wand.
God Save Us from the Queen!: Aspires to be this; it intensifies even more once she arrives in Wendimoor and gives herself another magic makeover, complete with scary goth crown.
Lord Badevil: Hail to the Mage!
Suzie: No, hail to me.
It's All About Me: She broke her hip in a car accident that she caused while high when it was her turn to drive carpool. She neglects to remember or even apologize for maiming or killing the son of one of the women she claimed "abandoned" her after it.
Laser-Guided Karma: She is punished for her misdeeds, ending up trapped on the flying train in Wendimoor forever.
Laughing Mad: Once she really descends into villainy, she starts cackling maniacally pretty much the entire time. Doubles as Hell Is That Noise since her crazy chortling comes to herald her arrival.
Mark of the Beast: Her dark ascension in Wendimore is marked by her wand hand turning black with geometric shapes.
Meaningful Name: Before gaining the magic wand, Suzie Boreton has a pretty dull life.
Minion with an F in Evil: She proves quite incapable of performing the only task given to her by the Mage. The only spell she manages to cast does nothing but give the team a moment of glee and camaraderie, after which she loses the wand. She manages to level up in her evil soon after, however.
Morality Pet: Her son. She's overtly horrible to everyone else, but for him she returns to the scene of a massacre to retrieve his phone. It's only after she turns him into a toad that she fully commits to her role as the villain.
Never My Fault: Her entire motto through life. The Cold Open of Episode 10 really highlights this, as she claims the accident was in no way her fault.
No-Sell: While on a full-on magic rampage, she shrugs off a direct hit from Farah, and a volley from Priest, before being expelled from the building.
Only Sane Woman: She is considered one for the entire cast in Season 2, having a family and a dead-end job. Her beginning even mirrors that of Todd's in Season 1. Subverted hard when it turns out she's not what she appears and is probably the least sane person in the cast.
Shadow Archetype: She's clearly what Todd could have ended up had he never learned from his mistakes and Took a Level in Jerkass.
Summon to Hand: Was able to summon her wand back with difficulty after Todd knocked it out of her hand. Prior to this she'd actually taped it to her hand.
Took a Level in Jerkass: From selfish, narcissistic washed-up Alpha Bitch to murderer attempting world domination.
Vain Sorceress: Subtle, but most of the spells she masters easily are ones that do her makeup or give her nicer clothes.
Wrong Genre Savvy: She is adamant that she's the heroine in a Changeling Fantasy who through the intervention of a magical world gets to escape her dreary life where no one appreciates her into one where she finally gets everything she deserves. Absolutely everyone else notices that she's actually an entitled Jerkass who gets her hand on some power and goes on a self-indulgent rampage with it. Lampshaded in the Season 2 finale when she interrupts the opening narration to give her own slanted account of things.
Suzie: And then she lived Happily Ever After - or else!

Bob Boreton

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bob_0.png

Played by: John Stewart

Suzie's husband.

And I Must Scream: It becomes clear in episode 8 that he is still mentally present even after Suzie cast a charm on him, but is almost completely unable to interact with the world, save for a perfunctory "hunh" sound. Even while the Mage is jamming thumbtacks into his face for giggles.
Fighting from the Inside: Limited to "hunh" in his communication with Tina and Farah, he is able to dig deep and get out the word "quarry" when Tina desperately begs him to tell her where Hobbs is. It clearly takes a lot of effort for him.
Once for Yes, Twice for No: Tina figures out that the "hunh" sound Bob makes when asked questions is the only communication he is capable of, and she and Farah are able to use this to get simple binary answers out of him, by having him "hunh" for "yes" and stay silent for "no."

Scott Boreton

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2018_03_14_at_092801.png

Played by: Jared Ager-Foster

Suzie and Bob's rebellious teenage son.

Bratty Teenage Son: For the first half of the season, we generally only see him yelling at his mother or complaining about how unfair his life is.
Forced Transformation: He gets turned into a frog after the concert by his mother. He turns back after Moloch undoes everything.
Freudian Excuse: He's always felt like his mother never wanted him, which is why he's such a jerkass to everyone.
Heel–Face Door-Slam: After realizing his Freudian Excuse he resolves to be a better son to Suzie. She turns him into a frog, though he gets better by the end of the season.

Denizens of Wendimoor

The Trost Family

Panto Trost

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/panto.png

Played by: Christopher Russell

Member of the Trost family in Wendimoor, and lover of Silas Dengdamor. Blamed for the disappearance of Silas's brother, Farson. On a quest to fulfill a prophecy by finding Dirk Gently.

Agent Peacock: He's flamboyantly dressed (by Earth standards, not Wendimoor's), pink-haired and in a star-crossed relationship with Silas but he's also one of the best swordsmen in Wendimoor.
Ambiguously Bi: He's in a loving relationship with Silas, but also tells Bart she is "a beautiful woman".
Back from the Dead: Killed by the Mage's men, then brought back by Francis.
Improbable Weapon User: Uses a sword shaped like scissors (which are apparently the norm in Wendimoor).
Master Swordsman: Frija Dengdamor explicitly describes him as the greatest swordsman in Wendimoor, and later so does he.
Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Savvy Guy to Bart's Energetic Girl.
Star-Crossed Lovers: He and Silas are basically Romeo and Juliet.

Litzibitz Trost

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/litzibitz.png

Played by: Anja Savcic

Panto's sister, trying desperately to keep outright war from breaking out between the Trosts and the Dengdamors.

Boyish Short Hair: Has a pink pixie cut.
Only Sane Man: With Panto gone, she's the sole remaining Trost who thinks jumping headlong into war with the Dengdamor family over misunderstandings, especially with a much bigger threat on the horizon, is a bad idea. Also the only one who opposes buying guns from the Mage. aside form a couple of her friends.

Jeppum Trost

Played By: David Allan Pearson

The Trost leader.

Back from the Dead: Killed by the Mages knights, but then resurrected.
Heel–Face Door-Slam: He is shot by Kellum Knights right as his son starts to convince him about what's going on.
Mirror Character: Like Queen Frija he's a stubborn jerk who ignores his more sensible kids.
Revenge Before Reason: Chafes against the Dengdamor, blames them for Panto's dissapearence and wants to fight them regardless of the risks of guns from the Mage.

The Dengdamor Family

Silas Dengdamor

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/silas_0.png

Played by: Lee Majdoub

Lover of Panto Trost, son of the Dengdamor matriarch. Like Litzibitz, he's trying to prevent the feud from escalating. Unfortunately, also like Litzibitz, his family isn't listening to him.

Bad Liar: He has to explain to his mother where Panto went. Since he isn't about to spill the beans about either their relationship or Panto trying to fulfill the prophecy, he goes with...
Silas: Uh, I dueled him on a cliff. He stumbled on a rock and... fell five hundred feet and... landed on a rock, and his head... exploded.
Back from the Dead: Killed by the Mage's men, then brought back by Francis.
The Idealist: Truly believes that peace between the two families is possible and that Panto will be able to find the boy and fulfill the prophecy.
Inadequate Inheritor: His mother takes every chance to make it very clear he's a disappointment, especially because he's not as good a swordsman as Panto.
Only Sane Man: In counterpart to Litzibitz, the only Dengdamor who seems aware of the fact that the feud between the two families is built mostly on groundless suspicion and that the threat of the Mage is a far greater problem. The comparison is further enforced when he offers to team up with her.
You Should Have Died Instead: His mother says this after Farson is seemingly killed by the Trosts.

Farson Dengdamor

Played by: Ajay Friese

The missing younger Dengdamor son, whose name is being used as a rallying cry for war.

Distressed Dude: The Kellum Knights kidnapped him to make the Dengdamors think the Trosts killed him.
Nice Guy: Quickly established as this once we actually meet him.
The Runaway: He fled because he was so sick of the feud. Unfortunately, this led to him getting kidnapped, which made the feud worse. Poor kid.

Wygar Oak

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wygar.png

Played by: Aleks Paunovic

Silas's loyal bodyguard.

Back from the Dead: At the end, after being one of the many casualties of the war.
The Big Guy: To the Dengdamor's, being capable of fighting all of the Rowdy Three at once.
Confess to a Lesser Crime: After Silas's mother doesn't believe his Blatant Lies about having defeated Panto and knocking him off a cliff, Wygar steps up and "confesses" that they did fight Panto but he escaped due to Silas's poor swordsmanship and Wygar's advancing age.
Older Sidekick: More middle-aged, but has fifteen to twenty years on Silas.
Old Soldier: A skilled swordsman, but one who is getting older, which he takes advantage of to use as an excuse for how Panto "escaped" from him.
Secret-Keeper: He knows about Silas and Panto's relationship, and that Silas let Panto go.
Took a Level in Jerkass: As war draws closer he becomes a little less trusting, and eventually is willing to fight Dirk and the others (albeit while misguided).
Undying Loyalty: Towards Silas, although he does draw the line towards his charge telling Panto's sister about the Dengdamor war plans in an effort to prevent the feud, feeling that may be going too far due to the risk that they can't prevent war.

Queen Frija

Played By: Karin Konoval

The Queen of the Dengdamor's.

Back from the Dead: At the end of the show, along with the other Wendimoor residents.
God Save Us from the Queen!: An elitist, warmongering Evil Matriarch who treats her sons like crap, won't listen to reason and would risk the lives of everyone just to settle her feud.
Heel–Face Door-Slam: Just as she's starting to finally show signs of accepting her son's wisdom, she is shot by the Mage's Knights.

The Santi Santiga

Wakti Wopnassi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2018_03_14_at_094316.png

Played by: Agam Darshi

A forest witch.

Back from the Dead: After Francis returns to Wendimoor, she's restored to life.
Dare to Be Badass: She gives a pointed one to Amanda when teaching her. "I thought you were punk."
Defiant to the End: She calmly tells Suzie Boreton that she's not afraid of her right before she's killed.
Mentor Occupational Hazard: She's a mentor to Amanda and is killed by the bad guy.
Seers: She was the one who foretold Dirk's arrival in Wendimoor.

The Kellum Army

The Mage

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2018_03_05_at_232059.png

Played by: John Hannah

A mysterious man who threatens both Bergsberg and the magical land of Wendimoor.

Big Bad Duumvirate: He recruits Suzie as his apprentice but his fear of being defeated leads to him abandoning his quest for Wendimoor and the two begin mutually aiding one-another while she gives him humans to torment in the real world and he provides her with the resources to conquer the imaginary land.
Evil Brit: Well, he is played by John Hannah.
Evil Sorcerer: He's one of two magicians in Wendimoor (before Suzie comes along, anyway), but while Wakti is a wise-old woman who keeps to herself, the Mage is nothing short of a monster.
Evil Is Petty: He decides he was never meant to be a conqueror. Why would you send in the armies when it's so much more fun to hurt people in person?
Generic Doomsday Villain: Reconstructed. We know nothing of the Mage and his history other than the fact that he's evil, leads a guild of evil knights and aspires to take over the world. That's because he was specially created by The Boy to be the antagonist meant to be defeated by him. While suffering a Villainous B So D at this revelation, it doesn't take much before he comes around and decides to set his ambitions on the Real World.
Kick the Dog: One scene has him driving thumbtacks into Bob Boreton's face for no reason other than deranged giggles. Since Bob can feel the pain but can't even respond, that's basically pulling-the-wings-off-flies-level behavior. Not to mention that he finds it hugely amusing to force Farah, Hobbes, and Tina to shoot each other. Tina and Hobbes are best friends.
Let's You and Him Fight: Deliberately escalating the Trost-Dengdamor feud in order to make Inglenook easier to conquer. For example, he's selling deadly weapons to the Trosts and ordered his knights to kidnap Farson, the missing Dengdamor son, to blame it on the Trosts.
Mage in Manhattan: At some point, the Mage found his way into Bergsberg, Montana. While at first only interested in killing The Boy and using our world's weapons to cause havoc in Wendimoor, he instead decides to set his sights on our world after discovering that his own world is just a fantasy created by a child, deciding to leave Wendimoor to his apprentice.
Magic Wand: One with an odd, bent shape that allows him to hold and aim it like a rifle.
No Man of Woman Born: Of a sort. While there was no explicit prophecy with those words, his final proclamation sounds an awful lot like one.
The Mage: No one in Wendimoor can stop me!
Farrah: You're not in Wendimoor any more.
Only One Name: Referred to as 'the Mage Kellum'. In the boys' stories he was just 'the Mage', but the name of the Kellum Corporation that was trying to buy their farm got mixed in after Francis went into the coma.
Outside-Context Villain: After his breakdown, he decides he's done with Wendimoor, and he wants to conquer this world. As shown by Suzie, Earth weapons mean absolutely nothing to someone with Wendimoor's magic—and he's more experienced and wields a better wand.
Villainous BSoD: Falls into one after learning he is destined to be defeated according to the drawing in the Cardenas' house. He snaps out of it after a villainous Rousing Speech from Suzie and decides to let her have Wendimoor while he wreaks havoc on our world instead.

Lord Triangle Badevil

Played by: Christian Sloan

The Mage's second-in-command and leader of the Kellum army.

Boom, Headshot!: How he's killed by Ken.
The Dragon: First to the Mage; then to Suzie.
Mark of the Beast: Much like Susie, he has a black splotch full of geometric shapes. His is on his face, and it presumably marks him as the Mage's chief servant.
Meaningful Name: He is both bad and evil.
White Hair, Black Heart: Has very pale hair and absolutely no compunctions about, say, shooting children.
Would Hurt a Child: He shot Farson in order to provoke the Trosts and Dengdamors into a fight.

The Kellum Knights

The Mage's terrifying foot-soldiers.

Faceless Mooks: They all wear square-shaped helmets, though we do see them out of costume a few times.
Immune to Bullets: In Wendimoor, a land of magic swords and mighty warriors, they are fairly mooky. On Earth, it turns out that armor made for enchanted swords works on bullets just fine, and they slaughter their way through the Blackwing Facility with minimal difficulty.
Meaningful Name: They have the same name as the Kellum Corporation, the big company that wanted to buy the Cardenas farm. This is because Project Moloch created Wendimoor after he saw his mother kill his father during an argument about selling the farm.
What the Hell Is That Accent?: The Kellum knights almost all speak in comically bad lower-class English accents.

Other

The Beast

Played by: Emily Tennant

A rainbow-haired humanoid (the Kellum knights call her a "boogle") who quickly grows attached to Dirk.

Ambiguously Human: Everyone treats her more like an animal than a person, speaks in an unintelligible and gravely voice and has a prominent brow. While her eyes and hair are rainbow-colored, this proves nothing, considering the Trosts all have platinum-pink hair.
But Now I Must Go: She leaves with the Rowdy 3 after giving Dirk a traffic cone (to eat?) and declaring that she will love him forever.
Big Damn Heroes: Provides crucial distractions to protect the heroes several times.
Captive Date: She declares Dirk her boyfriend and keeps him tied up.
New-Age Retro Hippie: Her disguise on Earth. It fits her hair, and the requisite bandanna covers her brow ridges.
No Name Given: If she has a proper name, it's never stated.
Primal Stance: She doesn't seem to have mastered walking upright.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She wants a boyfriend to live with her forever.
The Nicknamer: Dirk's name is now Bibbit.
Technicolor Eyes: Her eyes, like her hair, are rainbow-hued.
The Unintelligible: Speaks in garbled English, with maybe every 3rd word intelligible.

Characters / Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

The Holistic Detective Agency

Dirk Gently

Todd Brotzman

Farah Black

The Rowdy Three

Amanda Brotzman

Bart and Ken

Bartine "Bart" Curlish

Ken Adams

Project Blackwing

Operators

Col. Scott Riggins

Sgt. Hugo Friedkin

Osmund Priest

Jessica Wilson

Lieutenant Assistent

Subjects

Residents of Seattle

The Spring Family

Patrick Spring / Edgar Spring / Zachariah Webb

Seattle Police Department

Detective Estevez

The Men of The Machine

The Men of The Machine

Residents of Bergsberg

Sheriff's Department

The Boreton Family

Denizens of Wendimoor

The Trost Family

The Dengdamor Family

The Santi Santiga

The Kellum Army

Other

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Index

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Characters / Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

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The Holistic Detective Agency

Dirk Gently

Todd Brotzman

Farah Black

The Rowdy Three

Amanda Brotzman

Bart and Ken

Bartine "Bart" Curlish

Ken Adams

Project Blackwing

Operators

Col. Scott Riggins

Sgt. Hugo Friedkin

Osmund Priest

Jessica Wilson

Lieutenant Assistent

Subjects

Residents of Seattle

The Spring Family

Patrick Spring / Edgar Spring / Zachariah Webb

Seattle Police Department

Detective Estevez

The Men of The Machine

The Men of The Machine

Residents of Bergsberg

Sheriff's Department

The Boreton Family

Denizens of Wendimoor

The Trost Family

The Dengdamor Family

The Santi Santiga

The Kellum Army

Other

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Index

Next