Page for characters that are specific to or introduced in Ghostbusters: The Video Game.
For the characters who first appeared in the 1980s films, see Ghostbusters (Film Series).
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Heroes
The Rookie
- Model: Ryan French
Appeared as the player character in the 2009 video game, serving as the team's prototype weapons tester (i.e. field-testing the weapons and upgrades that could explode at any moment and emit an alarmingly high amount of radiation and exotic particles regardless). In the IDW continuity he goes off to form the Chicago branch of the Ghostbusters after the events of the game.
- The Bus Came Back: In the IDW comics series, he makes several appearances after setting up a franchise team in Chicago. It's also revealed that his real name is Bryan Welsh.
- Butt-Monkey: He is made to do quite a few dangerous tasks—touching an inter-dimensional portal that could lead anywhere, dangling off a skyscraper by a mere cable with an angry Stay-Puft, go it alone in the huge cemetery that wasn't there yesterday, getting trapped alone in a waterlogged hotel floor with malevolent candelabras... this dude puts up with a lot.
- Canon Name: Given in the IDW comics, may only be canon to said comics (so far).
- Realistic: Bryan Welsh
- Stylized: Chad Fuller (Male)/Maddie Collins (Female)
- Collector of the Strange: Since the player can collect some special items, you can turn the Rookie into this. One of the items he can collect is a possessed toilet.
- Cowardly Lion: Realistic!Rookie can be pretty skittish at times, and is obviously taking quite a bit of time to adjust to being a Ghostbuster. He frequently has a concerned expression on while the rest of the crew are practically unmoved by paranormal happenings, has a look of pure awe and horror when seeing Stay-Puft for the first time in person, and has a very distinctly panicked scream if the player starts sprinting while a large opponent is on their tail, typically a golem while it’s winding up a speedy rampage. That said, he still braves his missions like the rest and accomplishes several impressively dangerous feats by himself.
- Creator Cameo: In a manner of speaking. In the PS3 version of the game, associate producer Ryan French served as the base for the Rookie.
- Funny Background Event: When he accidentally blasted a tree with his proton pack, and when he was left hanging with a high five. Also he goes plummeting down a trapdoor.
- Good Luck Charm: In the IDW comics series, he's kept his uniform with the "Rookie" nametag, even after setting up his own Ghostbusters franchise in Chicago. It comes in handy when dealing with irate customers, since they'll usually end up trying to go over his head to his (nonexistent) supervisor.
- Heroic Mime: Never says a word aside the occasional scream or gasp.
- Mauve Shirt: His name tag just says "Rookie", since it's more convenient. Peter doesn't want to remember his name so they don't get attached, since he's testing out prototype equipment...
- Punny Name: His name in the IDW version is a punny reference to Ryan French, who he was based on. The first name is a close soundalike (Bryan) and his last name is a different nationality (Welsh instead of French). The uncommon spelling of his first name with a Y seem to point out that it's intentional.
- Put on a Bus: After the events of the game, he leaves New York in order to expand the franchise.
- Naïve Newcomer: His name is very accurate.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His attempt to recapture Slimer at the beginning of the game leads to the containment vault accidentally being damaged and several ghosts being unleashed.
- No Name Given: Enforced; the other Busters don't want to feel too attached to him due to the High Turnover Rate of the team's other rookies.note
- Sixth Ranger: Joining a previously established team.
- Suddenly Voiced: Though we never get to hear it. He goes from quiet as a mouse in the game, to speaking freely in the comics.
- Super Prototype: As the teams new Experimental Equipment Technician, he gets first dibs on new weaponry and upgrades Egon comes up with and gets to take them into the field to see if they’re safe to use. Once the Rookie proves that his prototype equipment is safe to use without blowing up either himself or all of Manhattan, the rest of the team will follow his lead and equip the upgrades themselves.
- The Voiceless: See Heroic Mime, the Rookie is mute aside from gasping or screaming once or twice. Given a speaking role in the comics after he's sent to Chicago.
Ilyssa Selwyn (Alyssa Milano)
A curator at the Museum of Natural History and an expert of Sumerian culture. She was to be the curator at an exhibit on Gozerian artifacts, but naturally said exhibit causes a whole bunch of supernatural trouble.
- All There in the Manual: Most of her life before the game.
- Conveniently an Orphan: Her parents died in a cave-in when she was 15.
- Damsel in Distress: She gets kidnapped twice in the game, and both times has to be saved by the Ghostbusters.
- Demonic Possession: In the start of the game, she is possessed and brought to the Sedgewick Hotel 12th floor. Later, she is possessed momentarily while she's at the museum.
- Happily Adopted: Her adoptive parents used to bring her with them everywhere...till, you know, they died.
- Identical Great-Granddaughter: Ilyssa looks just like her great-grandmother, Ivo Shandor's mother.
- Informed Attribute: Her fact sheets says Ilyssa enjoys traveling, modern painting, French New Wave cinema, is fluent in six languages (two of which haven't been spoken in over 4000 years), plays violin proficiently and is learning the cello. Well, she's quite well-rounded, ain't she?
- In the Blood: Sorta. Ilyssa doesn't realize she's the granddaughter of Ivo Shandor for most of the game, but she has a strange fascination with Gozerian mythology. Shandor was a big believer in Gozer back in his living days.
- Irony: She hates abrasive or pushy personalities. Guess who she falls in love with?
- Like Father, Like Daughter: She ended up getting into anthropology just like her parents.
- Love Interest: Replaces Dana Barrett as this in the game.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Ilyssa finds out she is a direct descendant of Ivo Shandor. How is this revealed to her? He tries to sacrifice her, of course.
- Parental Abandonment: Twice! Both her biological and her adopted parents died when she was young.
She doesn't seem broken up about this. - Tsundere: Type B, she seems to be nice normally, unless she's around Venkman. Can you really blame her, though?
Villains
Ivo Shandor
A genocidal, sociopathic, New York architect and doctor as well as the founder of the Cult of Gozer in the 1920s. Shandor built the 55 Central Park West apartment building a.k.a. "Spook Central" as a conduit to help bring Gozer to our dimension, since he believed humanity deserved to be destroyed. He reappears as a major antagonist in the 2009 video game.
- Badass Bookworm: A Doctor who started an Apocalypse Cult and bent an Eldritch Abomination to his will.
- Big Bad: Of the video game.
- Body Surf: For most of the game, unknown to the Ghostbusters, Ivo has been possessing the mayor of New York since before the game even started.
- Deadly Doctor: He performed quite a few unnecessary surgeries in his time.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: He kept a painting of his mother in his church to Gozer. Despite most everything else in the church being run-down, his mother's painting is the only thing that is oddly still pristine. Even after being underwater for who knows how long.
- Evil Old Folks: He is a cult leader who was involved with quite a few bloody sacrifices to Gozer as well as making buildings that would bring about the end of the world. Apparently he thinks mankind is too sick to survive.
- Evil Plan: To wipe out the bastard humans, of course. Building Dana's apartment, storing energy and everything else works toward this goal.
- My Death Is Just the Beginning: He and his cult made sure this would happen even after their deaths. Also they had an alternate plan in case Gozer had issues the first time, and already had it in play.
- Ghostly Goals: Definitely Type B.
- Godhood Seeker: Ivo was upset that Gozer was beaten not once, but twice. So he decided he would take the energy he was originally going to give to Gozer and empower himself with it. He goes into it with the big speeches and everything.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The game reveals that it was Shandor who already set into motion the events of the first two films decades prior and is ultimately responsible for any supernatural activity that ever occurred in New York City.
- Humans Are Bastards: Apparently this was his reason for trying to bring about the end of the world. After WW1, he felt mankind was far too sick to survive. Kind of ironic considering what he had done to his fellow human beings even before he started to bring about the end to life.
- Mad Scientist: An evil one to combat the Ghostbusters two good ones.
- Malevolent Architecture: Dana's apartment building which Ivo designed specifically for Gozer to access and cause horrors to come upon the world. Ivo also worked on the Sedgwick Hotel, Library, the Natural History Museum and his own personal island.
- Misanthrope Supreme: He deeply hates all human beings, considering them vermin and "too sick to survive."
- One-Winged Angel: Shandor obtains his own destructor form for the climatic battle. Namely, he transforms into a gigantic, demonic monstrosity resembling a satanic mockery of Jesus Christ.
- Posthumous Character: Long dead by the time his work pays off in the first movie, and it wasn't until the video game that we see him.
Spider Witch
Another member of the cult of Gozer, this woman would lure men up to her room in the Sedgewick Hotel and murder them.
- All Webbed Up: Kind of goes without saying. Her entire realm is covered in spider webs and hanging human bodies, and the boss arena in the 360 and PS3 versions of the game is all of this.
- Animal Motifs: Spiders. Even in life, her spider obsession seemed to be a major characteristic of herself.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Possibly. We are not too sure if she was human or not. If she was human then, after her death, she became a demigod-level spirit being.
- Ax-Crazy: She didn't need to be paid to kill someone, as she liked it so much she did it anyway.
- Blood Lust: Her suite, after she disappeared, was found to be painted in blood. Her victims hung on the ceiling drained of said blood, after she dragged them around to smear it on the floor.
- The Collector: She collects men's dead bodies and their souls, making them her eternal slaves.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: As if being a spider-obsessed Black Widow wasn't enough for her, she had to be this too.
- Everyone Calls Her Spider Witch: She was a professional Black Widow who brutally murdered her victims not for money but for a twisted hidden reason. She became known as the Spider Witch.
- Fate Worse than Death: Her minions, not herself. It is heavily implied the spider minions are the souls of the men she murdered. Now dead, they are forced to serve her as spiders for all time.
- Foreshadowing: Her presence in the Sedgewick Hotel was hinted at early in the game. On one of the doors in the first level, you can see a ghost spider with the PKE meter. This door leads to the Spider Witch's old suite.
- Giant Spider: After her death, if she was ever even alive, she was turned into a giant spider woman.
- Healing Factor: While the Busters battle her, she can feed off...something to heal herself from damage. Depending on whether you can find her or not will define whether your battle with her will be fast or long.
- Humanoid Abomination: Besides her spider humanoid form, she was this in life. She fashioned her suite to her bizarre tastes. Furniture was all heaped in a corner chewed up, and she painted blood everywhere in the room. Let's not forget her hanging men collection.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: In her ghost form, she became part woman and part spider.
- No Name Given: Despite the crimes she committed, the authorities never discovered her name, not even a false one. However, Insight Editions'
defictionalization of Tobin's Spirit Guide names her Evelyn Lewis. - Psycho Knife Nut: She has some major Blood Lust and enjoys carrying a knife when taking her "husbands" to her suite. You put the picture together.
- Professional Killer: She worked for Shandor and is implied to have killed many men for Shandor's cult. Not really paid to do this, she just really likes to kill.
- Psycho for Hire: Worked as a killer for Shandor for free, because she liked killing.
- Spiders Are Scary: That's basically her level's entire theme.
- Spider People
- Urban Legend: She is this to the Sedgewick Hotel staff. They were terrified enough to keep her room locked...till it was opened for remodeling.
- The Vamp: She would seduce unknowing men so she could paint her room with their blood and possibly make them her eternal minions.
Azetlor (AKA Edmund Hoover)
Another member of the cult of Gozer, Edmund Hoover was a serial killer and rare book collector. When he was captured and executed Hoover merged with the Sumerian god Azeltor.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Before being executed, he told everyone that he was going to be reborn as Azetlor. He was.
- Badass Bookworm: He loves books a lot. To the point he will kill for them. Though we don't know what he looked like in life, Ray suggested that he was a sniveling little bookworm.
- Taken more literally in some of his other appearances in the series, being a literal spectral worm that devours sources of knowledge.
- The Dog Bites Back: He really shouldn't have killed Eleanor Twitty.
- Co-Dragons: He shares this with the Chairman.
- The Collector: He collects the dead bodies of his victims, much like the Spider Witch. He also collects books.
- Eldritch Abomination: He became a mass of Black Slime and broken furniture with a helmet after his death.
- I Have Many Names: Edmund Hoover, Edmund Hoover the Collector, The Library Serial Killer, Azetlor, Keeper of Knowledge, Azetlor the Finder, Azetlor the Collector, Azetlor the Returner, Azetlor the Lost, Azetlor the Destroyer, and Azetlor the Bookworm. Basically the opposite of the Spider Witch.
- Kick the Dog: When he seduced Eleanor Twitty to get at her library's rare book collection. When she figured out what he was doing, he murdered her and damned her to an eternity in her beloved library.
- Meaningful Rename: He changed his name from Edmund Hoover to Azetlor. Azetlor was a Sumerian demigod that ruled over the lost. Originally he collected all that was lost, but grew greedy and began to collect what he shouldn't. Much like what Hoover did with the librarians he killed and his books.
- My Death Is Just the Beginning: After his death, he became a mandala guardian of the Library to continue serving his master Shandor.
- Serial Killer: He was known as the "Library Serial Killer."
- Would Hit a Girl: Murdered his girlfriend Eleanor Twitty, and many other women after her.
- Would Hurt a Child: The children's section of the library implies he killed kids as well.
The Chairman (AKA Cornelius Wellesly)
Another high ranking member of Shandor's cult, Cornelius Wellesly was Chairman of the Board of Trustees and head of International Steel in life while secretly devoting his resources to helping Shandor's agenda. In death, he was rewarded with a high ranking position in Shandor's ghostly inner circle.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Abusing his position as the head of International Steel to help end the world puts him squarely in this category.
- Fat Bastard: The guy is large and thoroughly unpleasant.
Others
Mayor Jock Mulligan (Brian Doyle-Murray)
The Mayor of New York City in 1991 after Lenny Clotch.
- Corrupt Politician: It appears he is this but it's ultimately subverted, he was actually under Demonic Possession. Once he's freed, he turns out to be a Reasonable Authority Figure.
- Demonic Possession: Is the victim of this.
- Ink-Suit Actor: The mayor in the stylized version
◊ looks like a younger version of his voice actor. - Reasonable Authority Figure: Once he's back to normal.
- The Reveal: He's been under Demonic Possession by the ghost of Ivo Shandor the whole time right up until the Ghostbusters save him in the Final Battle.
- Unwitting Pawn: Is this to Ivo Shandor via Demonic Posession.
