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William Winsbury
A classmate of Annie and Kat's.
In Year 7, he was loud-mouthed, and enjoyed drawing attention to himself by bullying or belittling others, targeting new students and those without anyone to defend them. Annie judo-flipped him once to defend Kat; he left them alone afterwards.
In Year 8, he has cooled down, and gets along with his classmates without incident. Except for Janet (see below), who he makes a big show of disagreeing with — to hide the fact that they're dating.
In Year 9, he really has mellowed out.
He does recognize (and praise) awesome moments when he sees them. He's evidently quite skilled at archery; in a competition, he and Janet were the two finalists, though she seems to have a slight edge on him.
His name is a reference to the Scottish folk song "Willie O'Winsbury".
Associated tropes:
- Anime Hair: He was also acknowledged (albeit jokingly) as "Vegeta" by Tom.
- Character Development: His introduction in the comic shows him as an obnoxious little jerk. Posterior chapters shows him as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. By the time Chapter 34 rolls in, he becomes a Nice Guy.
- A good comparison is his bullying of Kat and Annie in year 7 to looking decidedly pissed at Anthony Carver and his treatment of Annie in his first day of class.
- Official Couple: With Janet Llanwellyn.
- Operation: Jealousy: Accidentally, in "Get It Together", after people take Janet's teasing him about being interested in Antimony seriously: rather than admit that he and Janet are dating, he goes along with a scheme to ask Annie out, to his and Janet's considerable dismay.
- Sarcastic Confession: He and Janet admit to their relationship at one point, but then they portray it so nonsensically that everyone just assumes the pair were screwing with them.
- Secret Relationship: With Janet, for no known reason other than "It's a secret!" Though Bud suggests that Janet's father, the Headmaster, would have fits if he were to learn.
- Zero Percent Gambit: Discussed - once he and Janet confirm that Annie will be their Secret-Keeper, he suggests that Annie tell the others that he was a Jerkass to her as to why she turned him down. Annie decides instead to tell the others that she's just not interested in a relationship at this time.
Janet Llanwellyn
A girl who lapses into a strong Celtic accent when she gets angry, which seems to be her default reaction to distractions. She's the Headmaster's daughter, so it's possible she's had prior exposure to supernatural weirdness (which would explain her non-reaction to Mort). She is very good with bow and arrow, to the point of intercepting one of Winsbury's arrows in flight.
For extra Hidden Depths points, she quotes
William Shakespeare, and not one of the best-known works, but Timon of Athens.
As mentioned above, she's dating Winsbury; they kept it a secret from the other students, but eventually came clean, just to find out that nobody believed them.
Her first name, and relationship with Winsbury, are also a reference to the song "Willie O'Winsbury". Her last name is a reference to the Welsh folk song "The Maid of Llanwellyn".
Associated tropes:
- Fiery Redhead: While often serious and mature, Janet has a temper (as demonstrated when Mort tried to scare her) and is something of a "romantic dork"; this is part of the reason for keeping her relationship with Winsbury under wraps.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: She once shot her boyfriend's arrow out of the air and when the gang went bowling she somehow got two strikes with one ball.
- Official Couple: With William Winsbury.
- Secret Relationship: Her relationship with Winsbury. In Chapter 34: Faraway Morning (And Three Short Tales), they reveal it to their friends, but in a ridiculous joking manner so that no one believes them. Bud remarked that Janet's father would go crazy if he thought it was true.
Paz Cadena-Blanco
A girl from Galicia, Spain. She loves animals, and can even talk to them. She works at a veterinary lab in the Court which, in addition to treating animals, performs animal research. Her explanation for this seeming disparity is that she works to make lives of the lab animals as comfortable as possible, and to ensure that all the ethical guidelines for animal testing are followed.
Paz was the first student that Mort was able to scare (following Annie's advice). She doesn't like clowns (though, as Annie noted, nobody does.)
Astute Spanish-speaking readers may notice that Paz's Spanish grammar is occasionally off; Tom Siddell has said this is intentional, as Paz is supposed to be “a Galician hick.”
Associated tropes:
- Ascended Extra: She started out as a minor character who is scared by Mort, then became a Recurring Extra. Later, she ascended into Kat's primary love interest.
- All Love Is Unrequited: She and Matt, or so it seems.
- The Chew Toy: First, she was chosen as Mort's scare test subject, later she was so happy to see those cows, then she's been abducted by dark hands, and her love towards Matt ends up being one-sided.
- Closet Key: Mutually with Kat.
- Coordinated Clothes: Wears a nautical-themed dress to match with Kat's naval dress outfit (minus jacket) to the "Ocean-style Dance" in Chapter 49.
- A Day in the Limelight: With the release of "The Traveller," Paz is the currently the only character, besides Annie, who's had her own side comic.
- Friend to All Living Things: She can outright speak to animals as well.
- Go Through Me: Just before the speech cited in Hidden Depths and Internal Reformist, she had this:Kat: Self-regulated?! That just means they can do what they want!
Paz: No! You see, to do that, they would have to get through me first. - Green-Eyed Epiphany: How she discovered she had a crush on Kat.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Her only etheric power is to communicate with animals, so the sapient cruise liner considers her to be no threat. However, said power includes the ability to explain the situation to Lindsey, a building-sized crustacean Eldritch Abomination...Paz: ¿Que no soy una amenaza? note
- Hidden Depths: Paz's level-headed little speech about working within the system to make the Court better took a lot of readers — who had previously thought of Paz simply as a Chew Toy — by surprise.
- If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: She does not trust forest!Antimony, and threatens her against ever making Kat upset.
- Internal Reformist: She is very strongly against the animal experiments that are going on, but realizes working within the system and making sure the Court follows ethical standards is more effective.Paz: The Court isn't a big monster that does as it pleases. Es a collection of people. Working to do what they think is right. And, over time, other people see what is wrong, what mistakes were made, and work hard to fix them. I cry too, when I find this place. But I ask to help. To change things and make them better.
- Memento MacGuffin: In "Traveller", as Paz is on the plane home, she remembers finding what she thought was a cool stone at the beach, but her sisters made fun of her because it was just a piece of glass. When she looks for the glass, it's not where she had hid it. At the end of the story, her next oldest sister returns it to her; she found it while they were moving and made it into a pendant.
- Playing Cyrano: She has Bobby the robot write a love letter to Kat, who at first thinks he wrote it on his own accord. No trouble ensues as Paz sets her straight soon.
- Put on a Bus: When Kat hooks up her brain into her system, Paz realizes that they have become too different for them to continue. She breaks up with Kat and goes to live with her family.
- Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!: Chapter 29 has Paz, of all people, setting straight Kat (who is at that moment quite disenchanted with the Court after stumbling upon some of its old secrets).
- Smitten Teenage Girl: She gets a rather ferocious (unreciprocated) crush on Matt at the start of year 3. And then another one on Kat.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Hinted around a bit, and eventually confirmed in Chapter 49. It appears that being able to talk to animals doesn't necessarily mean that they have too much to say. In "Traveller", she talks with the family dog and her pups, who have a lot more to say than the mouse.
- Twofer Token Minority: Hispanic and currently in a romantic relationship with Katerina.
Zimmy and Gamma
Two strange girls.
Zimmy is human "for all intents and purposes", but her mind is in tune with the Ether. This is not a good fit. The resulting stress causes a number of physical and psychological effects: She never sleeps, and has some kind of black gunk perpetually covering her red eyes. At the best of times, she feels like there's static in her head; at worse times she sees terrifying hallucinations that, if left untreated, become real; and really bad flareups will mentally transport her and those around her to some other place resembling a nightmare city. If there is any way to control these powers, she is unaware of it. She has difficulty distinguishing memories from ongoing events, or real people from the faceless "Nobodies" of her nightmares; on occasion she'll forget who she is, and spontaneously assume the personality of someone else. In short, she is a walking, talking embodiment of Psychological Horror and Mind Screw.
Understandably, these hardships have left Zimmy paranoid and perpetually on-edge. Underneath her outward hostility, she loves Gamma very much (and she lies to Gamma to make sure she doesn't leave). It's doubtful that Zimmy cares about anyone in the world besides Gamma, but she is capable of kindness and empathy, at least towards those who help her or Gamma.
Her real first name is Zeta. Reynardine calls her a demon, and is afraid to go near her.
Gamma Czarnecki is a slightly older Polish girl who is Zimmy's best (and only, apparently) friend. She's shy and weary due to sleep deprivation, but kind and friendly. Good thing, too, because she's the only thing keeping Zimmy alive and (relatively) sane: Her presence relieves the etheric stress on Zimmy's mind, nullifying Zimmy's powers and giving Zimmy a slightly better grasp of reality. But Gamma's stabilizing power doesn't work as well when she's asleep, so she wears herself thin trying to stay up with Zimmy. Lack of sleep is also the most likely explanation for those dark circles around her eyes.
Zimmy and Gamma are telepathically linked; in fact, this is the only way they can communicate, as Gamma doesn't know English and Zimmy doesn't know Polish, meaning that Gamma also relies on Zimmy to translate for her at Gunnerkrigg.
The girls are in Chester House, which is apparently stigmatized by many other Court students.
Tropes associated with both of them:
- Foil: The two of them to Annie and Kat. Zimmy in particular, as she and Annie are both attuned to the ether, and Zimmy's association with the dark and grimy city contrasts Annie's nature associations.
- Meaningful Name: According to Jones, they're not students but case studies.
- Out of Focus: Haven't recieved as much focus in Year 3 after their greater involvement in Year 1 and 2.
- Psychic Link: They don't share a language, but their telepathy lets them communicate fine regardless.
- Ship Tease: Mentioned in-universe:Antimony: I- I'm fairly certain [Zimmy] and Gamma are...an item.
Jack: Haha! Oh wow! That doesn't even begin to describe those two! - Shadow Archetype: A shadow pair to Annie and Kat.
- Theme Naming: Zeta ("Zimmy") and Gamma.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Hardass Zimmy and demure Gamma.
- Translation with an Agenda: Zimmy tends to translate what other people say as insults, in order to keep Gamma from making new friends (and thus spending less time with her).
Tropes associated with Zimmy:
- Black Eyes of Evil: She's significantly happier when all the gunk is washed away by the rain, though it's the rain, not the lack of gunk, that makes her happy.
- Blessed with Suck:
- Zimmy's reality altering powers would be really cool if she could control them. And if she didn't suffer terrifying hallucinations that eventually become solid.
- Jones says her powers are similar to those of gods. Too bad she's only mortal, and doesn't have the natural filters they do.
- Contagious Powers: For some, as of yet unexplained reason, Zimmy and Annie's etheric selves get mixed up when they're close enough to one another, with Annie thinking she's Zimmy and Zimmy's hair turning red and gaining Annie's etheric wound.
- Dark Is Not Evil: It's just that she dislikes the etheric powers she's got.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul"/Only Known by Their Nickname: Zimmy doesn't like her real name.
- Face Framed in Shadow: Weird lighting in the last panel of strip #1029 makes her look very angry at something.
- Hades Shaded: Zimmy's skin is an ashy greyish-brown colour. It's hard to tell if it's meant to be within the range of what's normal for the Gunnerverse.
- Happy Rain / Redemption in the Rain: Rather literally so, in that being in the rain stabilizes both her powers and her mood as long as it persists. Jones theorizes that it has something to do with the inherent etheric properties of natural weather.
- Hates Everyone Equally: Except Gamma, and she tolerates Annie.
- Hidden Eyes: Her eyes aren't actually black, just hidden by gunk.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: Much (though not necessarily all) of her mean behavior is an act intended to scare off anybody who could potentially become her friend, so she can avoid accidentally hurting them with her powers.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Zimmy is an obnoxious jerk—though partly out of jealous devotion to Gamma, and knowing that her condition is a danger for anyone whom she won't scare off in time. She truly cares about Gamma. She is even willing to go on a boat because Gamma wanted to, even though Zimmy suffers from a bad case of sea sickness. And she also warms up to Annie, going so far as to deliver a pointed message for her to her father.
- Liminal Being: There are human characters, and inhuman characters, but only Zimmy seems only partly human and partly — something else.
- Love Makes You Crazy: She would kill everyone in the world and then herself if Gamma wished for it.
- Messy Hair: Zimmy's hair is tangled and scraggly.
- Never Grew Up: It's quite possible that Zimmy doesn't age physically: In year 7, Gamma is only a few inches taller than her; in year 10, she is more than a head taller and has developed a healthy pubescent figure whereas Zimmy still looks like the thin, small 11-year-old as which she was introduced.
- No Social Skills: The fact that she often can't tell real people apart from illusions, and sees... things instead of their real faces and expressions, is probably a large part of the problem.
- The Pigpen: Zimmy "looks like a pretty cruddy girl", in the words of Tom. She has tangled hair, grubby and rumpled clothing, and attracts bugs.
- Power Incontinence: She can turn her powers on, more or less. She can simply never turn them off or have any control over what they do either.
- Power Nullifier: Natural rain cancels out a lot of her craziness because of the trace amounts of Ether in it; artificial rain, like showers and the rain from the Ether station do not. Within a few hours however, she's back to normal.
- Gamma acts as a lower grade one, that helps prevent Zimmy's powers from going completely haywire. Annie can do the same, though she's apparently even less effective than Gamma and is thus never used for this purpose unless Gamma is otherwise incapacitated or missing.
- Reality Warper: The strongest one shown in the Court yet, albeit with massive Power Incontinence.
- Reality Warping Is Not a Toy: And how. Without Gamma, it would quickly kill Zimmy and those around her in gruesome ways.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Subverted, the only time you see her red eyes are when she's happy and emotionally stable, when the rain washes away the black gunk.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: She is notably more foul-mouthed compared to other students her age.
- Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Her unkempt appearance and creepy, reality-altering powers invoke the trope, especially early on before her character gets more rounded out, though she's (probably) not actually dead.
- The Sleepless: Zimmy is incapable of sleep.
- Talking in Your Dreams: She goes into Antimony's after Antimony passed out.
- Telepathy: Though like everything else it works in a rather strange manner.
- Unkempt Beauty: Normally a mess and not at all conventionally attractive, but when caught in the rain and smiling, she's actually rather pretty.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Zimmy is basically the most powerful student currently shown attending Gunnerkrigg, Coyote himself likens her to having the powers of a God like him. But her mind and body are that of a human so she has absolutely no control and at best can just find ways to lessen the effects.
- Your Days Are Numbered: It is her destiny to die by Kat's hands, shortly after Annie kills Loup. Deep down, she has known this all along, hence the real reason she is so terrified of Kat.
Tropes associated with Gamma:
- Heh Heh, You Said "X":Zimmy: Nunna yer business, nose! I gotta talk to Carver.
Kat: "Nose!?" Great, this again. You're such a butt!
Gamma: Ahahehe! Butt! - The Insomniac: She spends as much time awake as she can in order to combat Zimmy's reality-warping.
- Living Emotional Crutch: One of the ways Gamma supports Zimmy.
- Love Martyr: Zimmy's love for her is reciprocate. She isn't bothered by staying awake to help Zimmy to control her Reality Warper powers.
- Morality Chain: She's the only one who can get Zimmy to apologize for her behavior, or to stand up to her responsibility to help someone.
- Morality Pet: She's also the only person Zimmy will always treat kindly.
- Power Nullifier: Her presence helps keep Zimmy's powers in check, but only while she's awake.
- Satellite Character: And will continue to be so as long as Zimmy's around.
Red and Ayilu
Two Regional Fairies who become humans. Prior to entering the Court, they didn't even have names. Red was the first to get her name when Annie accidentally gave it to her. The other was called "Blue" (by the fans and the characters) just for convenience and thematic sake, but was later named Ayilu.
Annie first meets them on the Forest side of the Annan Waters; almost immediately they ask her to squish them with a rock. Dying is the last test they have to pass to gain human bodies and enroll at the Court, and they're not allowed to kill themselves. Annie dubs them Suicide Fairies (on the Cast Page) as a result.
Annie meets them again, after their Metamorphosis, several months later. Red is distraught because her hair doesn't stand up anymore, and consequently, Ayilu will no longer be her friend. A visit to the barber sets things straight.
As The Fair Folk, both girls are largely lacking in tact and empathy. Red has a mercurial personality, bordering on psychotic, while Ayilu's personality is more subdued, but no less capricious.
Red and Ayilu are in Foley House, which is apparently reserved for Suicide Fairies and other Gillitie emigrants; according to Jones, this is to keep the emigrants from being "named" by accident by ordinary people, as emigrants are only supposed to receive a name once they graduate.
Tropes associated with both of them:
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Jones somewhat implies that names are of special importance and granted later in life in their culture, prompting them to use insults when referring to others, especially close friends. When looked at through this lens, many past experiences with these two nutjobs take on a new depth. Compare and contrast to the first few pages of Red's initial appearance as a human.
- Book Ends: Assuming they really never cross paths with Annie again: Red enters Annie's life as a nameless fairy happily asking Annie to kill herself and her friend and exits upset that she almost got the newly-named Ayilu killed.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Mostly Red, but Ayilu has her moments too, such as the whole "Red's hair" incident and going mad with power once she received her name.
- The Fair Folk: Even after being turned into humans Red and Ayilu can be alien enough to leave Kat and even Annie round-eyed and slack-jawed. Love for mischief is one of more endearing and understandable traits of ex-fairies.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: Why they need Annie's help to die. Ysengrin kills them shortly after, with the implication that they'd seen too much.
- Metamorphosis: From fairy to human, catalyzed by their own deaths.
- Mood-Swinger:
- Red.Red: No you go away! Come back! Rraarrghh! I hate her so much! I wish she was my friend!
- Ayilu might be even more extreme, when she got her name she looked incredibly pissed while saying she loves it with a background full of hearts, then (after consulting Annie on how it could be spelled) wrote it on a paper airplane and tossed it away, wrote it on a vase then smashed it, wrote it on another piece of paper and burned it, and wrote it in big red letters all over the room they're in. Annie wonders if this is a traditional celebration but Red has no idea what Ayilu's doing. She also cheerfully says "Bye!" and hugs Red's arm after Red ends their friendship with Annie.
- Red.
- No Social Skills: Especially Red.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In "Red's Friend Gets A Name Too I Suppose" Ayilu, who normally gives off an elegant (if spoiled) feeling goes berserk when she gets her name while Red, who's usually the louder and more emotional of the two, gives Annie a harsh dressing-down in such a calm, collected manner that many readers thought it might be All Just a Dream.
- Our Souls Are Different: They're "hollow fairies", born with their souls outside their bodies (which are basically empty shells). Coyote implies that they're always meant to become human and go to the Court; this may be true of all ex-fairies.
- Put on a Bus: After they help Annie return Jeanne to the Ether, Red bluntly tells Annie never to talk to them again.
Word of God is that this is their exit from the comic. - Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red is definitely the more fiery of the two while Ayilu is more pouty and vindictive.
- Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: Hard to tell. They're considered best friends and are also Cuddle Bugs. While they were fairies, they literally were hanging all over each other. Now that they're human, it's different — but they get moments of devoted adoration, though interlaced with taunting and fighting.
- In "Red's Friend Gets A Name Too I Suppose" Red declares that after seeing Ayilu almost get killed by Jeanne she loves her and wants to spend the rest of her life with her (but not to Ayilu, that's none of her business).
- Secondary Character Title: In both their "named" chapters each takes a backseat to the other: Ayilu distracts Annie from Red's attention in "Red Gets A Name" while in "Red's Friend Gets A Name Too I Suppose" Red spends most of the time talking to Annie.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: When they are shown wearing something other than the school uniform, Red is in a suit while Ayilu is in a dress.
- Tsundere: In different ways, both are rude, yet caring about each other and occasionally enthusiastic or helpful to others.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Other fairies see their taunts and fighting as signs of attachment.Cyan-haired, This Girl: (wiping a tear) Such... such good friends...
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The very first page of "Red's Friend Gets A Name Too I Suppose" is Red confidently saying she's going to name her friend Blue. That does not happen.
Tropes associated with Red:
- Anguished Declaration of Love: How Ayilu got her name: Red let it slip after a long string of lame insults that she loves her friend and when she (Red's friend) demanded to know what that last thing was she said was, she got (paraphrased) "Aaaaaiiiyyyyy...lllllloo... Ayilu! It's your name!"
- Buffy Speak: Red describes rooms and chairs as "big boxes" and "sitty-downy things", respectively.
- Call-Back: Red confiding to Annie about what happened when she named Ayilu in Chapter 61 is an echo of Anthony's behavior in Chapter 51: She was freaking out about someone she loved and said something outrageous but she isn't going to tell her that because "it's none of her stupid business!", but she's willing to tell someone else she trusts.
- A few pages later Red, with Ayilu at her side, is calling Annie out for putting everyone in danger trying to free Jeanne (and her boyfriend) and seeming ready to leave Andrew to die. In the previous chapter they seem to agree with Muut that Annie "put others in danger" when freeing Jeanne was apparently supposed to be Annie's "mission" alone.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Red wears an old-fashioned gray military uniform during "Red's Friend Gets A Name Too I Suppose". The stinger page reveals she's wearing it (in spite of it "not being recommended" by the Court) because she just likes the color because the duller it is in the real world the more colorfully she can "decorate" it in the ether.
- Emergent Human: Red shows signs of this; namely, when she learns that you can cut your hair, and then assumes that you can cut anything of "these bodies" and attempts to cut off her finger
- Important Haircut: Red's trip to the barber-bot.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Red might be coming from a place of "fear and anger" and trauma over Ayilu's safety, possibly glossed over or didn't notice why Annie hesitated to get Smitty to safety (she didn't want to pay the Guides' cost), completely ignored the others' motivations and level of intel on the dangers Jeanne posed and that she had "nothing to add and nothing to lose" when she inserted herself into Annie's plan and might even be blaming Annie for something that was her own fault (as far as we know she was only there because Ayilu was there, she seemed to get complacent when the plan was working and distracted Ayilu when they was supposed to be keeping an eye on Jeanne and Parley) (from Something Awful's thread) but that doesn't mean her basic points aren't wrong.
- Love Epiphany: Red realizes she truly loves Ayilu when she thinks she's killed by Jeanne. Unfortunately for Annie she hates the circumstances.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech / What the Hell, Hero?: Red echoes Muut's observation that by involving so many people in freeing Jeanne (and her boyfriend) — Ayilu in particular by offering "nothing" (a name) for something (Ayilu's illusions) — that Annie put other people at risk in place of herself. Red also pointed out how messed up it was that Annie delayed teleporting Smitty to a hospital to save his life (as many people noted in the comments); Annie, who doesn't have a good track record of defending herself (see "Faraway Morning" and "Get It Together"), says she did that because she didn't want to get in trouble. Red also points out that Annie didn't exactly give Kat a choice to help with the plan by basically telling her "You're the only one who can do this". On the other hand even she knows that facing Jeanne alone was out of the question and even says "I Did What I Had to Do" for her! Red is so disgusted with Annie that she finally tells her to never speak to her and Ayilu ever again.
- Stepford Smiler: In "Red's Friend Gets A Name Too I Suppose" Red reveals she hasn't been doing too well after seeing Jeanne "kill" Ayilu: She can't sleep, she keeps having visions of Ayilu's "death", and even checks to make sure her friend's still breathing when she's asleep — but that's none of Ayilu's business. After she starts talking about how it was Annie who put Ayilu in Jeanne's path in the first place she doesn't smile again until she ends her and Ayilu's friendship with Annie.
Tropes associated with Ayilu:
- Ambiguously Brown: She's not human, of course, but her human form looks like someone of Indian ethnicity.
- Hidden Depths: During the 2013 spring break, Ayilu proves she actually has a talent that doesn't serve her self-centered caprices: painting◊ in a rather lovely, abstract style.
- In-Series Nickname: Before getting named, Ayilu was called "Blue" by Annie and Kat, according to The Rant here.
- Line-of-Sight Name: Ayilu, in a sense. Red gave it to her to hide that she'd just told Ayilu she loved her.
- Master of Illusion: Within the ether, Ayilu can create elaborate illusions backed up by temporary Fake Memories and Emotion Control. It seems to go away once people realize what's going on, and the Foley kids are used to it, but when she really exerts herself the effects can border on a Lotus-Eater Machine.
Alistair Kershaw
Kat's first boyfriend. When he arrives at the Court it's announced that he'll only be there a week. In spite of knowing in the backs of their minds that the relationship can't last, he and Kat spend the week talking and holding hands. Kat even tries makeup for the first time so she can look nice for him.
When the end of the week rolls around, he mutes to go away to Gillitie Wood with his parents. "And she never saw him again."
Associated tropes:
- Didn't Think This Through: The reason for his Metamorphosis.Alistair's Mum: Hey, Aly. You want to be a bird?
Alistair: (paying more attention to the gamepad) 'Kay. - Metamorphosis: Him and his parents.
- New Transfer Student: For a week.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: With Kat.
- Tragic Keepsake: Kat keeps some of his stuff, and wears the shirt he's shown wearing above in the arc after his debut and departure.
Jack Hyland
A student from Queslett South who is easily Annie and Kat's equal in curiosity. He's made a hobby of hacking the security system's motion detectors and exploring the Court after curfew. He also has an impish streak, and a Cheshire Cat Grin and very expressive eyebrows to match.
He's the son of a student who was on very bad terms with Surma, Anja, and their friends, which he is either unaware of or dishonest about to Annie.
Associated tropes:
- Animal Motifs: Jack's astral body has a spider image on his face after the events in Chapter 19. And during Chapter 27 and Chapter 34, the bangs near his forehead look like spider fangs.
- Animal Theme Naming: Possibly accidental and hopefully not going into Animal Stereotypes: male asses are called jacks and females are called jennies (or jennets).
- All Love Is Unrequited: Zimmy, at first, though he seems to know he doesn't stand a chance. Annie, after the incidents of Chapters 27 & 28: Spring Heeled. He claims not to have feelings for Annie, though.
- Badass Longcoat: Quite a bit of his appearances show him wearing a trenchoat, to the point of being iconic for the fandom.
- Breaking Speech: He pulls one of these on Kat and Annie in this state.
- Creepy Child: Even before we know the reason, it is clear there is something wrong with him.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: About the Court tracking people through their food.
- Demonic Possession: By an ethereal spider in Chapters 27 & 28: Spring Heeled.
- Fighting from the Inside: Until a calmed Zimmy destroys the spider.Zimmy: But he put up a fight.
- Foil: To both Kat and Annie.
- Gadgeteer Genius/Teen Genius: Not quite as good as Kat, though. Interest in and ability to make more arcane gadgets were a side effect of the possession.
- Generation Xerox: It seems like this has occurred when it is revealed he is just as bigoted against magical users as his father was. This is mitigated by the fact that he was possessed by a demon when he gave Annie a hard time and he later grew a crush on both Annie and Zimmy partially because of their talents.
- Gotta Catch 'Em All: To secure its control over Jack, the spider had to control all the pieces of his mind/soul/whatever. It failed.
- I Got Bigger: Jack had a growth spurt and grew some facial hair in the months between "Faraway Morning" and "The Torn Sea", making him look more like a college freshman than a high schooler.
- The Insomniac: He went days without sleep while possessed by the Whitelegs. He regained his ability to sleep after he was freed, though he now needs much less of it than most people do.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: As long as Zimmy is safe, he is happy and he won't pursue her since she has enough problems without being hassled for a date.
- Kick the Dog: Mitigated by this fact. In Chapter 27, he destroys a Guard Robot, who only seemed to want to do his job and
learn to whistle, and used his home-made machines to immobilize Reynardine just so he could make a getaway. Granted, he expected Annie to thank him for the deed, so he at least thought he was doing her a favor. - Looks Like Cesare: To increasing degrees since his possession.
- Luminescent Blush: He has one after talking with Annie in this strip. Whether or not she noticed it isn't clear.
- Mad Scientist: After hacking into the Court's network, he discovered the existence of Donlans' magitek server and reproduced its functions adapted to his own hardware quickly enough. But still fails to see why in the given circumstances it wasn't a bright idea to use this toy at all.
- Meaningful Name: Chapter 27 was the first chapter where Jack was the main focus of attention. It's titled "Spring Heeled."
- Messy Hair: His hair's been getting steadily messier since Zimmingham, although it doesn't look unusually messy except by comparison to his old self.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Possibly, considering he has a crush on Zimmy.
- No Sense of Personal Space: In the last few pages of Chapter 23, agitated by his experience with Zimmy, Jack invades Antimony's personal space until he's bearing down on her and she's pinned against the wall. Reynardine reacts poorly.
- Oblivious to Love: Not to her overt romantic advances, but he apparently fails to recognize Annie's Playing Hard to Get moment for what it is and mostly accepts her at her word that she doesn't like him. It probably doesn't help that this gives him an excuse to pursue Zimmy instead.
- Pet the Dog: Jack initially displayed good empathy and rapport with robots; he helped fix the joint of one of the Laser Cows and taught them a trick. That made his later Kick the Dog moment while possessed several chapters later far more shocking in contrast.
- Powers via Possession: With whitelegs riding him, Jack grew powers faster than Annie, who trained and has an Amplifier Artifact. Began to see into the etherium all the time. And understand etheric sciences. And fly. And be able to work and run without sleep and food (this part was harmful).
- Properly Paranoid:
- Jack goes for long periods without eating or drinking, because he thinks there are tracking devices in the food and water. Annie points out that makes more sense if they're in their clothes, since the Court provides these. According to Jones, they are actually in the food.
- He starts freaking out when Zimmy stows away on the cruise at the end of Year 9 and has to be dragged away from her. Turns out he was exactly right to worry. Interestingly he seems perfectly fine once he's actually in Zimmy's world.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives Annie one in chapter 34, although it ended amicably enough.
- Replacement Goldfish: Goth/punk Jenny, who seems saner and less dangerous than Zimmy, more emotionally open than Annie, and is has magic/etheric powers as an "apprentice witch".
- Sanity Slippage: His brief odyssey through Zimmy's mental hellscape seemed to have had serious effects on his mind. His appearance became progressively more ragged, and his behavior increasingly unnerving. The bulk of this was due to the spider's presence. The first two of his images above serve as the page image for Sanity Slippage of six total, all of him... that should tell you something.
- She's All Grown Up: A male version; he fills out a lot more in his later teenage years
- Shadow Archetype: In Zimmingham, in Chapter 28.
- Slasher Smile: He starts grinning creepily a lot after his appearance in Power Station.
- Spring-Heeled Jack: Referenced in the chapter "Spring Heeled", which focuses on him. He turns out to be able to fly, and flies up to a window in a manner that looks like leaping.
- Tears of Blood: Just like Zimmy, only it hadn't become Hidden Eyes.
- Theme Naming: Jack and Jenny; Annie, Zimmy.
- Touched by Vorlons: Gamma thinks Jack may retain at least some degree of his abilities. A few chapters later, Jack thinks that the incident has made him smarter than he was before. And even then, he remembered being in Zimmingham, which probably means he had some sort of etheric ability back then — Zimmy, Gamma and Annie were the only other ones aware. Jack recovered by Faraway Morning enough to express interest, get an answer from Annie and try her Blinker stone (after Annie judged him to be unaware of the implications).
- What Does He See in Her?: What Annie (and presumably other people if they find out) thinks of his crush on Zimmy.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Jack was willing to play along with Annie's allegedly fake romantic advances (though the extent to which he perceived them as fake is not entirely clear) to a point, but he lambasts her for purposely trying to get him interested in her only to bluntly shut him down. He even similarly brushes off her excuse of anger issues as another lie as well.
Lily Cooke and January Hong
Parley's companions at Thornhill. They make an appearance in Chapter 35: Parley And Smitty Are In This One.
Associated tropes:
- All There in the Script: January's last name was revealed in a July 2020 favourite character poll.
- Deadpan Snarker: January has no problem dropping snarks if the situation calls for it.
- Genki Girl: Lily, it's no wonder she is so inspired by the Fairy kids.
- In-Series Nickname: Lily goes by "Cookie Monster" as a riff on her surname.
- Perky Goth: Lily. Her style is also evidently "a little inspired by" the ex-fairies.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: They seem to fit this mold, based on how they act and dress.
Jenny
A girl who appears in chapter 49 as Jack's girlfriend. Initially mistaken (both in-universe and out) for Zimmy, it's later revealed that she is an apprentice witch. She uses Westcountry slang, such as referring to Annie as "my love."
Associated tropes:
- Cute Witch: Though when asked she insists she is just an apprentice.
- Former Teen Rebel: During Antimony's second meeting with her, quite some time after the first, she has completely dropped the goth look, describing it as getting over herself.
- Goth Girls Know Magic: A Perky Goth and apprentice witch.
- Hermetic Magic: She uses a spelling circle to help guide Jack's robot, carrying Annie's blinker stone, to Renard.
- Nice Girl: The second she showed up, the fandom went wild, theorizing all sorts of dark motivations for her, from the crazier ones like her being an insane and evil Chessmaster to relatively mundane ones like simply being used by Jack as an alternative to Zimmy. It quickly becomes apparent that none of this is true; she's friendly and helpful, and even knows about and is accepting of her boyfriend's obsession with Zimmy.
- Nightmare Fetishist: She finds the dark twisted world of Zimmy's alternate reality to be "Wonderful" and "Beautiful"
- Perky Goth: She dresses in black and finds being trapped in a horrific Dark World exciting, but she's a bright and cheerful girl..
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: She looks a lot like Zimmy, but their personalities could not be more different.
- To the point where she's able to lure the robots into a trap, fooling them into thinking she's Zimmy.
- Verbal Tic: She uses "My Love" a lot when addressing Annie. While it is normal mannerism in Westcountry, it's normally used by people much older then Jenny.
Jackalope Student
A Jackalope from Gillitie Wood who comes to Gunnerkrigg Court, becoming a human student.
Associated tropes:
- Dissonant Serenity: After Ysengrin destroys Annie's blinker stone, returning her fire and rage, he takes no notice of the resulting inferno, simply acting happy to see her after failing to recognize her before.
- Crying Critters: As a jackalope, she sheds a tear during an emotional moment with her fairy friend.
- Gender Bender: He was originally a female jackalope, but was turned into a male human on transferring to the Court.
- Good with Numbers: Like <Snuffle>, he is good with patterns. He is able to solve a Rubik's cube in twenty turns.
- Humanity Ensues: A change he made in the hopes of becoming more than he is, and being acknowledged for his intelligence.
- Morphic Resonance: In addition to his cat smile, his hair color remained the same two shades of brown, his nose and mouth shape remained rabbit-like, and he has two locks of hair sticking out resembling horns. He also has prominent front teeth.
- No Name Given: As a later addition to the student body from the forest, he may not have one yet.
- Rubik's Cube: International Genius Symbol: One such cube is his favorite toy.
