The Rossum Corporation
open/close all folders
Founders
Note that the other Rossum co-founder is on a different page for spoilery reasons. Clyde Randolph
Clyde Randolph
Played By: Adam Godley
The inventor of the imprinting process and co-founder of Rossum. Original Recipe Clyde was betrayed by his business partner and became the attic's first occupant-victim. An imprint of him, modified to be unambitious and obedient, now runs things at Rossum.
- Awesome McCoolname: "Arcane." Lampshaded: "I thought it sounded badass."
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: He's killed off-screen in the Attic.
- Fate Worse than Death: What he considers the Attic to be, and let's face it, he's right.
- Knight Templar: In the Attic, original Clyde is killing people (a) to put them out of their misery, and (b) to help take down the computer mainframe their brains comprise.
- My God, What Have I Done?: His realization after being placed in the Attic.
Leadership
Clive Ambrose
Clive Ambrose
Played By: Philip Casnoff, Enver Gjokaj & Nate Dushku
"You won't give up this body. That's fine, I won't resist. Right now I'm having this same conversation in ten other bodies in ten other Dollhouses around the country."
Face of the Rossum Corporation.
- Body Surf: As of "Epitaph One," he's in at least eleven separate human bodies. Later he joins Harding in constantly jumping from body to body to maintain his power over the ruined world of "Epitaph Two: Return."
- Even Evil Has Standards: In a way. He disapproves of Harding destroying his 'bodysuits' through excess.
- Trademark Favorite Food: His original body was allergic to shellfish, so after that's no longer a concern, he develops a real sweet tooth for them.
Matthew Harding
Matthew Harding
"Everyone likes to take a little something home from the office once in a while."
Played By: Keith Carradine & Noah Harpster
Adelle's direct superior in the Dollhouse.
- Big Bad: Even though Clyde and Boyd are the true heads of the corporation, Harding is always the more immediate and driving threat throughout the series.
- Body Surf: As of "Epitaph Two: The Return", he and Clive Ambrose have apparently been switching bodies repeatedly.
- Cigar Chomper: See the picture.
- Fat Bastard: In the future.
- The Hedonist: After the apocalypse, he throws himself into this role. He stuffs his face and quickly 'ruins' bodies. Aside from that, he's also even more of a chain smoker than usual, and the attractive woman he's accompanied by suggests that he's also engaging in Hookers and Blow.
- Jabba Table Manners In the dystopian future, Harding completely lets his appetites run amok once he gains the ability to shed old bodies and inject his mind into new ones. He even jokes about "blowing up" his latest "suit" (to the tune of 300 pounds or so) in "Epitaph Two: Return."
- Villainous Glutton: In the future, since he can get away with overeating when he has another body-suit waiting for him.
Nolan Kinnard
Nolan Kinnard
Played By: Vincent Ventresca
Highly skilled neuro-chemist working for the Rossum Corporation. Knew Priya before she became a doll; when she refused his advances, he drugged her to make her appear psychotic and manipulated the Dollhouse into taking her on as a "humanitarian" case.
- Defiant to the End: Refuses to apologize or back down, even when his death is imminent.
- Evil Genius: A brilliant doctor and chemist, but totally amoral, willing to ruin a woman's life just because she bruised his ego.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: He must not have been paying attention to that "First, do no harm" part of the Hippocratic Oath.
- Not Good with Rejection: Rejected by a girl you like? Better destroy her entire life, drug her to the point of appearing insane, erase her entire personality and use her as a sex toy to rape and brutalize.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Adelle and Topher are both horrified by his actions. Adelle goes so far as to look the other way when Topher temporarily uploads Priya and Anthony into their own bodies so they can kill Kinnard and dispose of his body.
- Smug Snake: When Priya asks why he had her drugged and sent to the Dollhouse, he replies "You said no to me. No one says no to me."
- Stalker with a Crush: Engineered Priya's torment in the Dollhouse simply because she refused his sexual advances.
- Tempting Fate: Taunts Priya that she won't kill him. Turns out he's wrong.
- Yandere: For Sierra.
Dollhouse Staff
Laurence Dominic
Laurence Dominic
Played By: Reed Diamond
"It's easy to be attached to your assigned active. In fact it's necessary, but don't think of them as children; think of them as pets. When your child starts talking for the first time, you feel proud. When your dog does, you freak the hell out."
The Dollhouse's original head of security and DeWitt's number two. He takes his job very seriously but is contemptuous of the dolls themselves. Saves a special dislike for Echo, whose autonomy he considers a security risk. Revealed to be The Mole for the NSA, wiped and put in The Attic.
- Deadpan Snarker: 90 percent of his dialogue post Spy In The House of Love counts as this.
- Hero Antagonist: Dang that pesky lack of Sympathetic P.O.V..
- Heel–Face Turn: His motivations don't really change between the first season and the second, but the torture and wet works aspects of his personality are downplayed and he stops trying to kill Echo, making him more of a straight-up heroic character.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Shoots eight rounds at his target from point-blank range and doesn't hit her once.
- Jerkass: An utterly unpleasant man, even after his Heel–Face Turn.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Absolutely loathes Adelle and would literally be anywhere else in the world than work with her. Even after the world goes to shit, he makes his distaste for her known.
- Took a Level in Badass: Conquers his nightmares to become self-aware within the attic, sets himself to hunt down the attic's resident serial killer, remains behind when the others escape to free the minds of the attic's prisoners, manages to kill and revive himself to escape the attic.
Dr. Claire Saunders
Dr. Claire Saunders
"My entire existence was constructed by a sociopath in a sweater vest; what do you suggest I do?"
Played By: Amy Acker
Chief medical officer at the Dollhouse, she was attacked by Alpha during his composite event and left with bad facial scarring. She is the Dollhouse employee with the most concern for the emotional well-being of the actives. Revealed to be Whiskey, a doll, implanted with a personality based partially off the previous (male) Dr. Saunders, who was killed by Alpha.
- Broken Bird: As of her discovery that she's a former doll.
- Deadpan Snarker: Half of her dialogue is snark aimed at Topher's expense.
- Foreshadowing: In 1x08, Caroline demands the release of all the dolls. Guess who's quite casually at the front of the crowd.
- In another episode, Mr Dominic seems to ask for a strong drink while panicking. Nope, he's just calling "Saunders" under the name he associated her with most.
- Hospital Hottie: Despite the facial scarring.
- Jerkass: She hides it under a veil of care and kindness, but she deeply resents nearly everything about her life and passive-aggressively takes it out on those around here, especially Topher. It culminates with her actively psychologically abusing him in Season 2.
- The Mole: For Boyd.
- Moment Killer: Literally. Poor Bennett...
- Scars Are Forever: Averted in "Epitaph One." Her face has been healed.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: She despises Topher. She believes this is a result of Topher's programming, but he reveals she very much hates him of her own free will.
- Troll: And not at all played for laughs. She continually plays one prank after another on Topher, each one more cruel than the last in an effort to torture him.
Ivy
Ivy
Played By: Liza Lapira
"My talents go beyond asking if he wants chocolate chip or oatmeal."
Topher's assistant in the imprint room. She thinks she's here to use her knowledge and technical skills to work the cutting-edge imprinting technology. Topher thinks she is here to bring him snacks.
- Me's a Crowd: In the comic series, as shown by this cover
. - The Igor: Played with in that even though she's Topher's assistant, she's very attractive and far from subservient.
- Only Sane Man: Easily the most stable programmer we meet.
- Punch-Clock Villain: To the point where you forget she's moaning about not being allowed to Strip people of different identities and create Sex Slaves.
- Ship Tease: Between her and Topher.
Dr. Saunders
Dr. Saunders
Played By: Joe Howard
Blevins
Blevins
Played By: Marco Sanchez
- Horrible Judge of Character: He thought Whiskey was a bad influence on Alpha.
Sophie Alvarez
Sophie Alvarez
Played By: Angel Desai
- The Handler: She was in charge of the Active known as Whiskey before she was imprinted with the Dr. Saunders personality.
Joe Hearn
Joe Hearn
Played By: Kevin Kilner
Selena Ramirez
Selena Ramirez
Played By: Valerie Cruz
Stewart Lipman
Stewart Lipman
Played By: Ray Wise
- Groin Attack: Courtesy of Adelle.
- Jerkass: He's dismissive and condescending to Adelle.
- Slimeball: He shifts fully into this mode when Adelle briefly flirts with him.
Bennett Halverson
Bennett Halverson
"Now's not the time for 'why.' I like this void. This evil, simple world. Just pain. Over and over again. No reason, no end, no in-between. You can't even pass out. We shut down everything that stands between you and blinding, searing pain."
Played By: Summer Glau
Topher's counterpart at the Dollhouse located in Washington, D.C. A former friend of Caroline, who was left to die by her in the pastnote , which has made her bitter - understandable since Caroline's abandonment left Bennett with a paralyzed left arm. Extremely shy and awkward, and has a huge geek-crush on Topher.
- Ax-Crazy: Just a bit.
- Boom, Headshot!: How she's killed by Saunders.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She has her ... quirks, but it's obvious everyone puts up with her because of her genius.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Subjects Echo to this, as revenge for leaving her to die.
- Fake Memories: Well, kind of. The memory of the night Caroline left her behind in the Rossum lab isn't entirely fake, but it is distorted by Bennet's unstable mind. Caroline did leave her behind, but she pinned her Rossum Corp badge on her and told her to tell security that she was working late when Caroline broke in, sparing her from being outed as an accomplice. When Caroline told Bennett that only one of them had to get caught, she was referring to herself.
- Hot Librarian: Lampshaded by Topher.
- Pet the Dog: Advising her assistant not to question Rossum's motives, and attempts to comfort Madeline Costly.
- Pretty Little Headshots: Oh so averted. When Dr. Saunders kills her, the exit wound splatters both Topher (who was standing behind her) and a computer screen across the room.
- Red Right Hand: Or, in this case, Black Left Hand.
- Revenge: On Caroline.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: With Topher, though kind of delayed. He punched her, she returned the favor with a hell of a right hook, and cue the kissing.
