Characters / Have a Nice Death (2022)

Death Incorporated

Death

Death

”Get back to work.”

Co-Founder and CEO of Death Incorporated, and the Main Character of the game. Having founded the company in order to lighten his workload, lately Death has found himself under the throes of an unending pile of paperwork, burnout, and insubordinate underlings. He's headed out to combat all of these issues with his trusty scythe, a vast array of magical weapons and spells, and the advantage one can only have from being Death itself.

Tropes:

• Bad Boss: He's not winning any World's Best Boss mugs any time soon. The main reason the Sorrows have grown arrogant and dissident can be attributed to him leaving them largely unsupervised for years, and only starts to address the issues in his company once they finally take their toll on him. That said, he has his good points.
• Badass Adorable: Death is not the first being you'd think this trope would apply to, but years of office work have shrunk him down from the tall and imposing being most associate with the Grim Reaper to chibi proportions. They have not, however, taken away his skills, and he's fully capable of reminding his subordinates why he's the boss.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: He summoned the Sorrows because he was tired of spending so much time out in the field reaping souls, hoping for a cushy office job stamping paperwork. He gets what he wanted, but he really lowballed the amount of paperwork.
• Benevolent Boss: Downplayed, but he has his moments here and there of actually caring about his employees. His interactions with them tend to be pretty genial at times, and many of the issues he brings up when confronting the Sorrows include how they're overworking and abusing their workers. He also never talks back to O'Shah, even as the man insults him to his face, implying he's at least aware he deserves the comments.
• The Blacksmith: Some weapons, like the Kaze Kunai, were created by Death before he entered his partnership with Jacob.
• Casting a Shadow: Unsurprisingly, he's a master of Necromancy, and several of his spells are very explicitly black magic.
• Create Your Own Villain: Once upon a time, Death was the undisputed head honcho of Death, Inc. Now, all of his Sorrows regard him with nothing but contempt due to his abject failure to reign them in, and even repeatedly being thrashed by him isn't enough to rope them back into line - at least not in Early Access.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Death is Death. It's only natural he would be exempt from the very concept he oversees, which helps greatly with the Roguelike nature of the game. All defeats simply send him back to his office, only an elevator trip away from starting another run.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Some of his available spells involve Stuff Blowing Up or Shock and Awe, and the Brutunhammer can inflict ice damage, although none of his spells do yet.
  • With the introduction of the Frostoxic spell, the trio is complete. There are now spells that involve Playing with Fire, spells that involve Shock and Awe, and now (thanks to Frostoxic) at least one spell that involves An Ice Person.
• Fragile Speedster: He can move around pretty fast, and while his health pool can grow quite large depending on your luck, being able to heal that damage is far more unreliable, landing him in this trope.
• Glass Cannon: While just how much of a glass cannon he is depends on the player's build, his DPS will pretty regularly stay well ahead of his survivability. It doesn't help that healing items are quite rare.
• The Grim Reaper: What tipped you off? He is the Reaper, and a particularly proactive one at that. Rather than simply reaping souls when their time comes, the game strongly implies Death, Inc. takes a highly active role in causing deaths, rather than merely cleaning up after them.
• Hidden Depths:
  • He first bonded with Jacob over their shared love of a table-top roleplaying game, suggesting that he does have interests and hobbies outside of his role as the Grim Reaper.
  • Death seems to be a very serious coffee aficionado.
  • The Employee Handbook entry for the Sisword states that Death is a history buff, though he apparently prefers to not talk about it.
  • The entry for the Twinsie suggests that Death has at least one favorite movie, despite him also saying he doesn't have time to watch any movies. The second and third paragraph heavily imply that said movie is one of the Star Wars movies, with details from the second paragraph suggesting it's The Phantom Menace.
  • The Slaygore entry also implies that Death is genuinely ashamed of his failings as a Bad Boss to the company, and his venture that makes up the game is his way of trying to make up for them.
• Jerkass: When telling someone else not to be deceived by Time's grandfatherly appearance and that he's really quite unpleasant, he goes on to say that all timeless entities are pretty unpleasant, listing off Time, himself, and he starts to say Life, but cuts himself off mid-sentence and ends the conversation. How accurate his claim is, is up to interpretation, but the fact he's willing to list himself like that is telling.
• In the Hood: In classical fashion, he wears a hood at all times, even when the rest of his outfit is covered by a snazzy suit. When he hits his Rage Breaking Point, he incinerates the suit and calls his iconic hood, cowl and scythe over before finally leaving his office.
• Limit Break: When Death's Rage Meter is full, he can unleash a super attack with whatever weapon or spell he's currently using. It's most often a scythe attack that covers the better part of the room and can tear apart anything in its way.
• Nay-Theist: Despite being one such being of folklore himself, Death has very little interest in the folklore that humans come up with.
• Pet the Dog: various events give him these moments to help the player root for him more (considering how much of a Bad Boss he can be, it is needed), such as finding Patrick's knife to help him keep some form of credibility. Pump Quinn, and Jocelyn tend to bring out his least formal side in particular.
• Sinister Scythe: It just wouldn't be Death without one. Crafted by him with his own two hands, it's his default weapon for all runs, and can be upgraded into more powerful forms with some Prismium.
• Spell Book: His Pitbook, which he uses to cast all his spells. Shooting fire arrows, causing explosions, summoning a rain of meteors, it can do it all, provided you find those spells during a run.
• Time Abyss: He's been around since The Beginning, and he'll exist until The End. Characters sometimes make cracks about his age.

Pump Quinn

Pump Quinn

An intern working her dream job as Death's secretary, Pump Quinn goes about everything with a smile on her face, even as the company falls apart around her.

Tropes

• Ambiguously Human: She has a human body, ignoring the pumpkin head, but whether she used to be human before arriving at Death Inc. is hard to tell. Evidence points to her not being human, though Death himself seems confused as to what she is. When more of her history is found, it more or less confirms she was very young when she passed away, having suffocated to death in a trash bag while playing hide and go seek.
• The Baby of the Bunch: She's the newest employee of the company, and she has a fairly youthful personality to show for it.
• Bedsheet Ghost: During the Halloween event, she dons a bedsheet and tries to scare the other employees. The results are...mixed, to say the least, though Death and O'shah find it humorously ironic.
• Big Eater: The trailer for the Fast Food expansion has her scarfing down a heap of stuff with Jabba Table Manners while Death is having frustrations just trying to get something from a vending machine. In the game proper she's noted to have a reputation for eating things off the floor, which directly lead to her turning into her Omega form.
• Butt-Monkey: She's nothing but chipper and helpful to Death, but most of the screentime they share in promotional material has poor Pump being punted around, be it by a tidal wave of paperwork or by her coworkers.
  • The Fast Food expansion trailer has her be killed when she bites into a living burger
• Cannot Spit It Out: She has a rather-obvious crush on her boss, but either can't express it, or doesn't understand her own feelings.
• The Cutie: Pump Quinn is Death's adorable, cheerful little secretary.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: After you beat Maxxx for the first time, she expresses (understandable) fear at his increasingly-erratic behavior before asking if she can sleep in Death's bed - or at least in his office.
• Game-Over Man: She's typically the NPC you encounter after respawning, and may make a comment on whatever most recently killed you, or talk about work.
• Genki Girl: She's always cheery and ready to work hard, regardless of the nature of the company she works for.. or the fact that it's falling apart at the seams.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: Her head gets destroyed often, but she casually grows it back every single time.
• Morality Pet: She's only an intern, but she's so dedicated to working as Death's right hand and making his miserable days just a little better that he can't help but feel a bit of attachment for the girl (the extent of which is a little unclear, but undeniable). It shows in several in-game events and Items:
  • One unlockable item to be found in the fridge in the break room is a bento box she made for him. It's possibly one of the best and its description referring to her mentions her being cute.
  • The event of April Ghouls in Death Inc. gives Brad unique dialog where he contemplates going after her with a prank. Death notably nosedives into a full on FURY, and winning the fight has him full-stop telling Brad to stay the hell away from his intern.
  • The Halloween events have Pump at first dress up as a ghost, which Death likes and finds amusing, considering their workspace. When Pump is picked to be a "sacrifice" for a Halloween ritual, which is really a kind of hazing ritual, with her being beheaded as a setpiece for the break room's Halloween Party. Death is VERY unamused when he confronts Patrick about it, and returns her head after grabbing it off the table, reviving her(she seemingly has memory problems as a result, as she can't remember wearing her ghost costume).
  • Her transformation into Pump Quinn Omega has him being very concerned for her after she's revived post-victory.
• Naïve Newcomer: She's the newest member of Death Inc. being an intern and all. The other employees can usually be found explaining facts about the company to her in the break rooms.
• Pumpkin Person: It's in the name.

Harriet

Harriet

Great-great-great-to-the-power-of-n distant second cousin of Death, and the company business coach, Harriet ensures that everyone in the company, including her employer, stays in tip top shape through exercise and the occasional tutorial.

Tropes

• Catchphrase: Burpees!
• Female Monster Surprise: You wouldn't be able to tell she's female at first glance, on account of the fact she has no skin to speak of.
• Flaying Alive: Has no skin to speak of. Doesn't seem to put a damper on her mood, though.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Very nearly everyone treats her as a nuisance because of her hyperfixation on working out, and just how in-your-face she can be about it. Death, who is related to her, sets the stage by being particularly crabby about the Tutorial despite justifiably needing it.
• Genki Girl: Befitting a fitness coach, she's always pumped up and ready to work out and stay in shape, and hype up others to do the same.
• Justified Tutorial: She's the one providing the tutorial at the start of the game, making sure Death is still in shape to be able to tackle the chaos of the company.
• Training from Hell: None of the other employees seem all that enthusiastic about her workout seminars.

Patrick

Patrick Thuggins

The company receptionist, and the first friendly face you'll always meet when arriving at the Hall of Eternity.

Tropes

• Accidental Murder: How he died. His "friends" stole his glasseswhile he was alive resulting in Patrick heating up his lunch in the company's nuclear reactor instead of the microwave.
• Blind Without 'Em: He couldn't see a thing without his glasses when he was alive. Not much has changed now he's dead.
• Mr. Exposition: He's often giving guided tours of the areas Death arrives in to give details, and listening to him also fills in their respective lore entries.
• Mistaken for Badass: He reveals in a special event that the other employees don't tend to mess with him because they think he got his knife from a knife fight, and he goes into hising until it is found so they don't lose that perception.
• The Prankster: He's a bit of a comic, despite what people think. On April Ghouls, he successfully pranks every one of his coworkers, leaving them all non the wiser. He even pranks himself to cover his tracks, but is still found out by Death.
• Serious Business: Breakroom chatter shows he wants Hector Krank to play the role of Sebastian in the companies The Little Mermaid (1989) play. He's willing to resort to kidnapping him to achieve this goal.
• Mr. Vice Guy: He's a dedicated worker and a decent enough guy, but he can tend to be thoughtless to his coworkers, be a little deceptive and has an undeniable mean streak in certain situations, such as during Halloween.

Joe

Joe

The company Office Manager; he has an addiction to Koffee that would be worrying if he wasn't already dead. He acts as the games unlock system, allowing you to unlock new weapons to appear in later runs with the ingots you've earned.

Tropes

• Ate His Gun: Probably. The back of his head looks like it has exploded in a manner you'd get from this trope, but unlike most of his coworkers, his cause of death is never addressed.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: His eternal caffeine high makes him incredibly unfocused, to the point of mistaking an expired stock cube for sugar cubes.
• Ditzy Genius: In a sense, he's incredibly competent at money management and statistics, but he has a hard time focusing on pretty much anything else aside from Koffee.
• Friendly Rivalry: Seems to have one with Jerry, at least when it comes to Koffee drinking contests.
• Must Have Caffeine: Take three guesses at what his beverage of choice is.
• Punny Name: "A cup of joe" is a slang word for coffee.

Jocelyn

Jocelyn

A sentient flux creature that runs the elevators in Death Inc. In gameplay, she offers various contracts that can help your run, with the occasional drawback.

Tropes

• Deal with the Devil: Downplayed, but some of the contracts can come across as this, such as sacrificing health and mana in exchange for Prismium and Anima.
• Face of a Thug: She's very frightening looking, essentially being an ethereal flame monster. But she's unfailingly chipper, helpful, and losing to Thanagers in particular has her talking to Death about them in order to help him feel better.
• Nice Girl: Jocelyn arguably exceeds Quinn a little in this department. They both have a sense of humor and are optimistic, but Jocelyn is more savvy at the goings on, and since she's able to travel all over Death Inc. she makes casual but informed conversation with Death and tries to help alleviate losses by making digs at some of the ornery employees (in particular, thanagers) If Death takes a particularly punishing deal, she'll occasionally ask if he's alright.

Mr. O'Shah

Mr. Tony O'Shah

Health and Safety Inspector Tony O'Shah is known for two things: His dry and cynical sense of humor, and doling out bonuses and curses to employees. With the nature of Death's quest, he's more than happy to do his job, empowering his employer - and his enemies - to keep the balance of power in check.

Tropes

• Backhanded Compliment: He may say that it's almost like Death is "back to his old self" while giving out a Curse powerup.
• The Comically Serious: His Employee Handbook entry suggests that he prides himself on almost never smiling, although he does smirk after giving Death a Curse.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Despite his corpse look and snark, he's a Reasonable Authority Figure who tries to balance Death being a jerk and The Sorrows often being worse. At one point Jerry confronts him as the Union Representative, and before he even gets to his point, O'Shah stops him and states he just wants to go over Grimes' files and qualifications as department head, much to Jerry's relief.
  • It's implied all his passive aggressive insults towards his boss stem from the fact that he's well-aware Death's asleep-at-the-wheel managerial style is almost entirely to blame for the present state of affairs. Once death starts to take back control of the company, O’Shah gets a bit friendlier with some of his comments.
• Evil Laugh: He lets out a short, sinister chuckle when he shows up, in case the cloud of green smog and huge coffin didn't tip you off.
• Face Framed in Shadow: Only his face, hands, and the general outline of his body are visible.
• Punny Name: His last name sounds like OSHA, the organisation that oversees workplace health and safety in the United States.
• Servile Snarker: He's Death's employee, but you wouldn't know it to look at some of his dialogue. O'shah is the only person in Death, Inc who can disrespect Death to his skull and get away without an ass-beating. He does cloak most of his jabs in dry sarcasm, but both the player and Death get the message. It is implied Death lets him off lightly because Death realizes he's right about why the company's gone to the dogs.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Death decides to make his business into an actual business, and the story of the game happens, driving him to venture through the departments and beat some sense into the department heads. The various employees and bosses deal with creating casualties and reaping (with many being forced to do so without consent in the first place), so if they are not mindless monsters that are violent to everyone, they are violent, resentful, loyal or disgruntled enough to attack the reason they're there in the first place: Death. Thus, Mr. O'Shah exists and is able to give advantages and disadvantages to both parties, because while they're both violent to the other, both are justified in why they'd be hostile.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Height-wise, he gives Death at his peak a run for his Soulary. Most of his body is shrouded in the shadows of his coffin, but what little of it is visible suggests he's either an actual skeleton, or in dire need of a sandwich.

Jerry

Jerry

The Union Representative of Death Inc, and one of its friendlier faces. He's usually seen loafing around in the break room, though that doesn't mean he doesn't care about his job.

Tropes

• Ambiguously Human: He's a skeleton, but his skull does not look human, featuring a pair of elongated, sharpened mandibles. It's not clear what he was when he was alive.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's typically seen in the breakroom with a cup of Koffee and shooting the breeze with people, rather than being in an office and going through complaints or the like. Since Death Inc. is starting to fall apart and is volatile enough with Sorrows and employees all being violent enough to attack the CEO, it does make sense that he'd wait till Death himself has had a hand in taking them down a peg in a fight before filing formal complaints and grievances with HR. Best exemplified after the player defeats Grimes and has a chance to head to said breakroom, where Jerry can be seen talking to O'Shah about going over the abuse the Sorrow puts his employees through with his methods.
• Friendly Rivalry: Seems to have one with Joe, at least when it comes to Koffee drinking contests, though Joe seems to always win.
• Nice Guy: Befitting a Union Representative, he's one of the nicest people in the company, caring about the wellbeing of his coworkers, enough to have fought for the break room to be instated in the company so that they could take breaks. He cares about them so much that he spends most of his time talking to them instead of getting any work done.
• Pet the Dog: Just about the only character who's shown being nice to Pump Quinn on-camera, even if his definition of "nice" is a touch corporate.
• Repetitive Name: A conversation with Death reveals his first and last name are both Jerry.
• The Slacker: He seems to mostly ride on his position as union representative, rather than getting any work done. A lot of characters, himself included, note how he often procrastinates on his work. The only places you ever see him are either outside of Death's office, or the break room. Tony O'Shah comments unfavorably on his productivity.
• What, Exactly, Is His Job?: He's the Union Representative, but it's not clear if this is his official job, or if it's his title with the Union, in addition to his actual position. It doesn't help that he's never seen actually doing either job on-screen.

Jacob

Jacob

A massive stone furnace, and the oldest employee of Death Inc. He's been a friend of Death since before the company started, and has remained loyal to him in spite of the Sorrows insurrection, providing Death with upgrades to his weapons.

Tropes

• The Blacksmith: The company first started out because he needed a place to house his massive forge. He's been making weapons for Death ever since.
• Face of a Thug: He's a gigantic loud furnace who jumps out of the background with an Evil Laugh coming out of his fanged mouth. He's also a boisterous sounding Big Fun who enjoys card games, brought his nephew to work to watch and help, and upgrades your equipment completely out of loyalty to his best friend.
• Hidden Depths: He bonded with Death when he found out he was also a fan of his favorite card game.
• Jump Scare: Always leaps out to greet you with a loud laugh when Death goes to visit, the fact his face takes up most of that background helps.
• Undying Loyalty: Declares his loyalty to Death on his first arrival at any Control Room.

Orville

Orville

The significantly less imposing nephew of Jacob, who's apprenticing under him as part of his job.

Tropes

• The Baby of the Bunch: He's a teenager, at least by the standards of whatever species he belongs too.
• Equipment Upgrade: He provides upgrades for Death's scythe, altering it into more powerful forms in exchange for prismium.
• Eyeless Face: He's slapped on sticky notes with eyes on them on and around his body to give the impression he has them.
• Teen Genius: A teenager (by cauldron standards) and intelligent enough to invent weapons for Death himself.
• The Smart Guy: He's part of R&D, so it's a given. He's usually mentioned calculating things for the company, like the size of the Modern Warfare Department, or the rate at which Seaglues appear in Industrial Pollution.

Mark

Mark

A food truck driver, both in life and death, who runs the company store with a warm smile and an approachable personality.

Tropes

• Dub Name Change: From Marcel in the original French to Mark in the English version.
• Extreme Omnisexual: Dialogue from him has revealed that he’s had a few male and female partners in the past, and has mentioned that he finds Hector Krank attractive.
• Jacob Marley Apparel: He's probably the worst case among the employees. His head has been ripped off his body to the point it hangs sideways in midair, and he's missing one of his arms. It definitely explains why he doesn't show up in breakrooms, though it never seems to bother him.
• Losing Your Head: His head is completely separated from his body.
• Lost in Translation: His name and bio in the original version are references to C'est pas sorcier, specifically to Marcel the truck driver. As the series isn't known outside of France, his English version loses all references to the original.
• Love Letter Lunacy: Receives one in text form from someone signed "B."
• Nice Guy: He was well known in life for his pleasant personality, running a food truck for a science show, which he's transferred over to his new job in the afterlife.
• Official Couple: With Brad after you defeat Life.

Departments

Hall of Eternity

The Hall of Eternity

The first area of the game, where souls come to be processed and hauled off into the afterlife. It's workforce is largely formed of mortal souls recruited to sort all of the paperwork, which the floor is quite literally flooded with. Suffice to say, one can understand why the employees are in such a bad mood.

General and Enemy Tropes

• Animate Inanimate Object: If documents aren't consulted enough, they transform into Flying Books, in a process Patrick has labeled the "Atrocious Curse of Bitter Documentation", that attack anyone they come across out of revenge for their neglect.
• Celestial Bureaucracy: As the starting area not based on any kind of death in particular, The Hall of Eternity embodies this the most out of all the depts in the game. It's right behind the front desk, with piles of paperwork, thousands of cubicles and windowed offices with employees working at their desks, and the most business-centric enemy designs(such as flying books and white collared ghosts milling about).
  • When the gardens can be traversed, it mixes this with a little greenhouse-based Jungle Japes
• Cute Monster Girl: Pyroghosts are shapely floating office ladies with fires for heads.
• Giant Mook: The Spooksmen are the larger, more powerful ghosts, and work as superiors to the smaller Ghosts and Pyroghosts.
• Playing with Fire: The ghost enemies main element, brought on from their burning frustration with doing menial tasks for all of eternity. Pyroghosts in particular toss fireballs as projectiles, while the regular ones simply blow their fire at close range. They drop this once you reach their variants in the Addictions Department.
• Smash Mook: Spooksmen, who simply swing their fists at you instead of using their fires like the other ghosts do.
• Underground Monkey: Stronger variants of the ghosts appear in the Department of Addictions going forward, their heads now a mess of red energy.
• Was Once a Man: Ghosts, Pyroghosts and Spooksmen are all former human souls conscripted into working for Death Inc.

Industrial Pollution Department

The Industrial Pollution Department

The department in charge of polluting the earths atmosphere, churning out all matter of nasty pollutants to fill in their quotas. Employees ranging from tar monsters, radioactive waste barrels and toxic clouds perform their duties here.

General and Enemy Tropes

• Blob Monster: Most of the department workers are gross blobs of tar.
• Feathered Fiend: The Seaglues are this in spirit, being sea birds that die in oil spills and reincarnate in the department. They may no longer be feathered, but they're definitely fiends that can fly all the same, attacking Death with spread shots of tar.
• Long-Range Fighter: Petrolls fight like this, keeping their distance from death while attacking with an extending punch attack. They even come with a dodge for when Death gets too close for comfort.
• Mook Maker: Blobbies can become this with certain curses, popping out a smaller version of themselves every time they attack.
• Scenery Gorn: While the Hall of Eternity is vast and unkempt, it is at least active with employees in the background and generally just workspaces. The Industrial Pollution department actively contrasts the first area and sets up what's to come by having unfathomable mounds of garbage, dumpsites, and runoff to look at and nothing else aside from the native Blob Monsters that fight you die or is buried under it (such as the employee at the very start that points you in the right direction.)
• Trash of the Titans: The moment you arrive, garbage is raining down in the background and runoff from whatever factory imaginable congeals together to fight back.

Physical Illness Department

The Physical Illness Department

Illnesses, diseases and medical malpractice are the bread and butter of the Department of Physical Illness. Nursurions, Ulcermongers and Heartbreakers infect and kill as part of their jobs, and they aren't picky of whether their targets are alive or dead.

General and Enemy Tropes

• Action Bomb: Heartbreakers explode after being delt a killing blow.
• Death from Above: Certain varieties of Demisym's attack by dropping explosive bombs.
• Elite Mook: Nursurions, they have a substantial amount of health, teleport, and hit hard with needles they use as swords. One of the harder enemy ambushes in the Illness Dept. is just a team of 4 to 5 of them and a single platform in a wide open room.
• Mook Maker: Ulcermongers literally sneeze more of each other out.
• Was Once a Man: Nursurions are what the company does with all medical practitioners that die, transforming them into disembodied lab coats and glasses, all in order to clean up after the other employees in their department.

Addictions Department

The Addictions Department

The most insidious and disturbing department of Death Inc, in charge of encouraging addiction related deaths in the world.

General and Enemy Tropes

• Allegorical Character: Impostors are jack in the box like enemies that lie in wait for Death to come near in order to surprise him with an attack. An unusual choice for a department based on addictions, until you realize that they represent the inherent nature of addictions themselves: promising a fun time before delivering the surprise of their more insidious aspects.
• Fighting Clown: What the department comes across as compared to the others, the whole place simulates a drug trip in its strangeness, and Addictions can be as harmless looking as sugary sweet. It kills people all the same however.
• Life of the Party: The trailer depicts them as this, with Candice dancing with two other employees as lights flash, as if theyre on a dance floor. Justified, since addictions come from feeling good doing something.
• Support Party Member: Sullied are incapable of attacking, but are still a dangerous threat that negate all non-DOT damage for their allies. Killing them first is a must.

Modern Warfare Department

The Modern Warfare Department

The department of Death Inc. in charge of starting conflicts and bloodshed all over the world. The place is riddled with weaponry, fires and exploding backdrops, along with employees recruited directly from the trenches of war.

General and Enemy Tropes

• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Wandering the war torn battlefields of the Department of Modern Warfare are former veterans, bomber pilots, fire breathing monsters... and little girls. The latter are considered to be the most terrifying members of the department.
• Corpse Land: The floor is positively covered in skeletons.
• Death from Above: Bombarons specialize in this, dropping a payload of bombs from their personal bomber planes.
• Eye Scream: Caderacts have entire missiles lodged into their eyes.
• Killer Rabbit: Bombara's are cute little girls... that hold their decapitated heads in one hand and toss out land mines with the other. The company considers them to be the most destructive and terrifying of its workforce.
• Punny Name: Caderacts is a combination of cataract and cadet, which fits the visually impaired by missile payload enemy well.
• Smash Mook: Veterans attack by slamming the ground with the massive steel drums they carry.
• Recruited from the Gutter: Warren recruits most of his personnel from wars, with Veterans being actual soldiers who died in the trenches of World War I.

Toxic Food-Processing Department

The Toxic Food-Processing Department

The department in charge of all deaths related to unhealthy foods and eating habits, all represented by the worldwide fast food franchise, Waldo Burger! The franchise trademark meals are so delicious, they're to die for. And they'll make sure that part is 100% guaranteed.

General and Enemy Tropes

• Burger Fool: The whole department is modeled and represented by a fast food chain called Waldo Burger. Its mascot is even the sorrow of the department itself.
• Hailfire Peaks: The department is essentially a mixture of a 50's style diner and an industrial slaughterhouse, with slabs of meat hanging above tables and counters of a diner.
• Let's Meet the Meat: The floor is staffed with sentient food stuffs.

Natural Disasters Department

The Natural Disasters Department

The department responsible for all deaths related to natural catastrophes, from tornadoes to wildfires. The untamed elements rule this department, shown even by the Stormies, Drowned, Flambushes, and Rocksters populating it.

General and Enemy Tropes

• Blow You Away: The Tempestilents are a rather indirect example, as they don’t manipulate air themselves, but are blown around by it for their attacks.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Rocksters have boulders for heads, and launch out stones when they slam it into the ground.
• Evil Living Flames: The Sparkies are small living flames spawned by Flambushes, and are pretty vicious.
• Gaia's Vengeance: What this department is in a nutshell, as it’s dedicated to ravaging the mortal world with natural catastrophes.
• Playing with Fire: The Flambushes are burning trees with faces that can spit fire and spawn living flames called Sparkies. The Magmaboy-X8s can also spontaneously combust into a stronger form.
• Making a Splash: The Drowned can manipulate the water on their heads to heal other enemies.
• Mook Maker: Flambushes can spawn hordes of Sparkies.
• Shock and Awe: The Stormies fire out bolts of electricity in an x-shape.
• Shout-Out: The Magmaboy-X8s are named after one of the moderators in the Have a Nice Death Discord.
• Support Party Member: Much like the Sullied, Drowned are mostly supporters in fights, using water to heal other enemies, but unlike Sullied, they can use their water to attack.
• Use Your Head: The Rocksters use headbutts the launch stones on impact to attack.

Time Department

The Inevitable Time Department.

The department responsible for managing the driving force of all of Death zinc’s business, Time. The ultimate equalizer, and oldest department by a landslide.

• Temporal Paradox: It's stated in the lore that it exists in one of these where it has not been built yet, it has been built, and it will be built.
• Time Stands Still: Various enemies are able to inflict this on Death, Which Locks him in place and prevents him from taking any actions, including healing from Animas.
• Where It All Began: The very first department created at Death Inc.

Sorrows and Thanagers

In General

In General

• Allegorical Character: Each of the bosses, minus Brad, embody a particular aspect related to their department.
• All There in the Manual: Subverted, unlike the Sorrows, Thanagers don't get too much characterization or dialog in gameplay, where they are treated as a major encounter before Death gets to the monster in charge of the department. However dialog between the Sorrows, character bios and NPCs flesh them out after you reach them, just like their bosses.
• Ambiguous Situation: The intro and trailers state that Death created the Sorrows. However, the employee handbook entries describe it as more of a managerial position that others can audition for, putting into question whether the current Sorrows were also created by Death. Hector and General Plishkan further muddy the waters: O'Shah says that Hector was "granted" Sorrow by Death, while Plishkan was unambiguously once a regular mortal.
• Bad Boss: They're not the kindest to their subordinates, overworking them to achieve their goals, and abusing them largely for kicks.
• The Dragon: Thanagers are this to Sorrows. They often don't speak and act as a midpoint in between the start of the level and the Sorrow in charge, but are mentioned often in relation to them at least.
• Optional Boss: The Thanagers can sometimes be avoided altogether depending on the choice of floors given to you.

Will Hung

Will Hung

Some might think the person being choked by the rope is Will Hung. This annoys him to no end because Will Hung is the rope, and will take out his frustrations on any unlucky employees who cross his path.

Tropes

• Animate Inanimate Object: He's a sentient hangman's noose. Strangely, it appears he was this even before death, having been used by dockers in the world of the living.
• Bad Boss: He's a Thanager with a noted tendency to choke his subordinates whenever he pleases.
• Dub Name Change: From Arnaud Coulant (making it a Punny Name since it sounds similar to "noeud coulant" aka the hangman's knot) in French to Will Hung in English.
• Everyone Has Standards: Has a bad reputation in the Hall of Eternity for choking employees as he sees fit. It's bad to the point that he does it during his fight with death, and it seems to have no bearing on his fighting style, apart from possibly giving him and anchoring point. It disgusts Death, and it's a wonder how he hasn't been fired after his first encounter.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: He fights with himself, typically by using the knot that's his head as an improvised fist. Strangely, he doesn't do anything with the person he's currently choking. He just flails around helplessly while Will does all the work and tightens for some attacks.
• Those Two Guys: Implied with Brad. Brad's not actually his boss (as Death points out) he just seems to be his friend and listens to him as they develop the "dudebro" selfie culture together.

Léon Clean

L. Clean

The Hall of Eternity's janitor, and a surprisingly effective one at that. Death has done nothing to reduce his vigorous cleaning abilities, and if he's not careful, he will quite literally wipe the floor spotless with him.

Tropes

• Almighty Janitor: He's one of the bosses for a reason.
• Dem Bones: Oddly, he seems to be one of the only proper skeletons employed at Death Inc.
• Improbable Weapon User: He fights using a vacuum cleaner and the trash around him, either trying to attack with the vacuum itself, or using it to either suck or shoot wads of trash at Death.
• Shout-Out: His abbreviated name is Mr. Clean, and he's mentioned to have had something in the way of a film career during his life.

Pump Quinn Omega

Pump Quinn Omega

Sometimes Pump Quinn gets into things that she isn't supposed to, and bad things happen as a result...

Tropes

• Alternate Self: Essentially what P.Q. Omega is. She's a version of Pump Quinn who had more ambition and climbed up in the ranks of Death Inc. in a different timeline, and become akin to a Thanager. The normal Pump eating a Pineapple in the company gardens that's been essentially infected by time paradoxes allows Omega to possess her into a frenzy
• Beat the Curse Out of Her: How Death ultimately has to turn Pump Quinn back to her regular cheery self. No explanation is given as to how she turns back if she beats you.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: After you trigger Orville's investigations, he will eventually appear in the gardens of the Halls of Eternity and explain that a Pineapple is the focal point for a time anomaly, bemoaning the poor soul who may make the mistake of eating it, cut to about a minute later where Quinn stuffs the stupid thing in her mouth and mutates into P.Q. Omega.
• Mutagenic Food: Turns into a giant pumpkin monster with Glowing Eyes of Doom upon eating a pineapple with a time-distortion centered around it off the ground of the Hall of Eternity.
• Pumpkin Person: Turns into a monstrous version of her normally adorable pumpkin-headed persona.

Brad Proudfoot

Barnaby “Brad” Proudfoot

"What's it to you? Who are you, anyway, with your mummified Boomah face?"

The security manager for the Hall of Eternity. This guardian gargoyle's job is to filter the souls coming into the afterlife, ushering in approved souls and kicking out those whose time has yet to come. To Death's chagrin, he's not doing either of those things, letting in all of the souls in order to focus on what matters most to him: paddle ball and selfies.

Tropes

• Bait-and-Switch: His post boss animation makes it seem like he's ready to initiate a second phase to his fight, bursting out of his statue with a roar!.. Only to actually get back to work. Though you do fight this form once you beat him enough times.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: When he's actually doing his job, he wears a very snazzy black suit that is said to rival Death's.
• Dumb Muscle: His intelligence is frequently poked fun at by other employees.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Summons boulders as one of his attacks, apparently all adult gargoyles can do it.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While "Evil" is stretching it, he seems to be on good terms with his parents. He’s also dating Mark, who doesn’t seem to have any problems with him.
• Frat Bro: He has definite shades of the trope, right down to having formed a workplace "bro culture" with Will Hung. Death is not amused.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: As he isn't responsible for any particular forms of death, he technically isn't a Sorrow, but as he's the boss of world one, he is a Sorrow from a gameplay perspective.
• Harmless Villain: Compared to the other Sorrows, Brad limits his mischief to merely refusing to do his job; he isn't responsible for environmental catastrophes, pandemics or wars. The only "catastrophe" he's causing is unnecessary paperwork for Death.
• Lazy Bum: Death would love to run into him while he's working. Brad would much rather focus on his selfie game, however, necessitating a butt kicking from Death to get him back to his duties.
• Muscles Are Meaningful: Very physically strong and very muscular.
• No Last Name Given: Subverted. Dialogue from Jacob reveals his last name to be Proudfoot.
• No Shirt, Jacket: Wears only a jacket and shorts when you encounter him.
• Official Couple: With Mark after you beat Life.
• Our Gargoyles Rock: He's buff, flies around, has several stone-based attacks, and turns into a statue when beaten.
• Proportional Aging: Brad is 454, but he seems to be in his early twenties mentally.
• Selfie Fiend: He loves his selfies, and even takes one before executing some attacks.
• Social Media Before Reason: Far more concerned with his Deathtube views and posting on Facetomb than doing his job.
• Taken for Granite: He can turn himself into stone for an elbow drop, and is turned to stone when beaten.
• Top-Heavy Guy: His legs are tiny compared to his muscular upper body. Justified due to the fact he flies around, and doesn't need to actually walk around.
• Upgraded Boss: A rare non-RPG example. After beating him enough times, he fights you in his Badass in a Nice Suit form seen upon beating him normally. In this form, he gains laser eye attacks and more powerful versions of his normal attacks. Alongside this, he also adds metal detectors to his Boss Corridor. Though they don't do anything.
• Warmup Boss: He's no pushover, but he is noticeably easy compared to his successors. Averted when you beat him enough times. Then he stops going easy on you and gains new, hard to dodge attacks. That said, he goes back to normal after you either defeat this form or die to him.

Slyma

Slyma

A mutant barrel of radioactive waste that Gordon thought was cute and decided to keep. Encounters with it prove once and for all why it's a bad idea to have pets in the workplace.

Tropes

• Animalistic Abomination: It's some kind of single-eyed, spider-like creature living inside a nuclear waste barrel, and behaves in a very animalistic way.
• Caligula's Horse: It's Gordon's pet, and also the Thanager of Industrial Pollution. You thought a horse was bad? Try a mutated cross between a giant spider and a barrel of nuclear waste.
• Dub Name Change: From Zozo (when someone read its date of burial of 2020 as Leet Lingo) in French to Slyma in English.
• Giant Spider: It behaves a bit like a spider, crawling around on the fence and weaving blobs of radioactive waste from its backside.
• Leet Lingo: How it got its name. Its serial number was 5LYM4, and some wise guy corrected the first and last letters.
• Wall Crawl: It will occasionally propel itself up to the chainlink fence in the background to crawl around.

X4-H

X4-H

The disorganized nature of the Industrial Pollution Department means that a lot of dangerous substances are left just lying around for anyone to stumble upon. Solution X4 is one of those things, and unfortunately for Death, one of the Blobbies has gotten to it.

Tropes

• Bouncing Battler: It uses its massive rotundity to bounce and roll across the arena to get at Death.
• Mook Promotion: It's a heavily Blobby that has ingested a toxic chemical solution, engorged on garbage.
• Spike Balls of Doom: Can spit out a few and even become one. Death can unlock the former as a spell.

Richard J. Barron

Richard J. Barron

A former business tycoon, now Actuary Thanager in the Industrial Pollution Department. The "Top Toupee" is famous for his flamboyant style, and infamous for his rages. Unfortunately for Death, he meets him in the latter.

Tropes

• Bishōnen Line: One of the more human looking entities in Death Inc, though only half of him is this way. The rest of his body is just a massive oil tentacle attached to a pipe.
• Combat Tentacles: He's essentially a giant oil tentacle with a human body at the end. He'll wave his body around like a flail at times, and will sometimes summon other arms to attack from different parts of the screen.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Was a former oil tycoon in life, and made a living selling "bottled clean air" to the masses.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: He sometimes will slam his body on the ground to attack you.
• Manipulative Bastard: The employee handbook describes him this way, being a fast talker who manipulated the cynical populace to fall for his bottled air ploy.
• Trumplica: He's basically an unsubtle caricature of Donald Trump, Con Artist antics and all.

Mr. Gordon Grimes

Mr. Gordon Grimes

"..You just ruined my meeting. Guys like you make me puke."

Sorrow of Industrial Pollution, a giant mass of tar who runs his department with an iron fist, rampantly polluting the planet into an uninhabitable wasteland in the process.

Tropes

• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: A humanoid mass of oil with a sleazy personality.
• Bad Boss: He's pretty uncaring towards his employees.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: Averted. While the term "animal" is a bit of a stretch, he seems to genuinely care for Slyma.
• Blob Monster: He wasn't always this way, but jumping into a vat of polluted substances transformed him into a massive monster made of a tar like substance.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Doesn't get more corrupt than trying to usurp your boss's position.
• A Father to His Men: Haha, no. He tries to invoke this trope, to Death's clear disgust, and he has no qualms with literally recycling his employees if they annoy him.
• Foil: With Hector Krank. Both are irritable Corrupt Corporate Executives who have clear machinations to replace Death's position as CEO. What sets them apart is that Gordon is The Bully to his subordinates with a clear Might Makes Right philosophy, while Hector is a cantankerous Mad Scientist who wants to improve the company's productivity.
• Hidden Depths: Despite treating his employees like trash, he does have a soft spot for Slyma, evident by his dialogue if Slyma is defeated before facing him.
• Jumped at the Call: His call was the industrial revolution, which encouraged him to dive into work to take advantage of it… along with a vat of toxic waste to turn himself into something more appropriate for the department.
• Might Makes Right: He believes in this philosophy, especially in regards to employee hierarchies. To him, what matters is that he's in charge and everyone works for him.
• The Starscream: Attempting to usurp Death as the CEO of Death Inc.
• Stationary Boss: Downplayed. He teleports around, more often once his second phase is hit, but he doesn't do a lot of moving otherwise. He compensates for this with far-reaching attacks that discourages Death from staying close to him for long and forces him to move around.
• The Rival: With Hector Krank. Rumor has it they have a habit of stealing each other's ideas.
• Turns Red: Once he reaches half health, his attacks become much faster and cover more of the field.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: While Gordon has a low number of attacks, they have a lot of reach and very low windup time, which can catch many new players off-guard.

Denzel 'King' Dengue

Denzel 'King' Dengue

An oversized mosquito hanging around the Physical Illness Department. He's an actor, a rapper and an influencer, and also no slouch in a confrontation with Death.

Tropes:

• Acrofatic: He's gorged himself on blood, but he can still zip around the room with incredible speed.
• Fragile Speedster: He zips around the arena for some of his attacks, but he's remarkably frail for a boss midway through the game. He makes up for it with the ability to regain lost health.
• Insect Gender-Bender: Denzel is a male mosquito. In real life, only female mosquitoes drink blood.
• Meaningful Name: Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne illness.
• Mook Maker: He can spawn mosquitoes from his abdomen, despite being a male mosquito.
• Mook Promotion: Discussed by Hector, who wants to promote him to Sorrow of Viral Diseases. Death is having none of it.
• Mosquito Miscreants: He's the Thanager of the Physical Illness Department and, judging from a social media post that can be seen in the game's announcement trailer, he's very effective at his job.
• Stage Name: Denzel is actually his rapper name. His real name is Davey Dawson.

Mr. Hector Krank

Mr. Hector Krank

"First the piece-of-junk equipment starts malfunctioning, and now here's the so-called "boss." Just great."

Sorrow of Physical Illness. A giant crustacean with a heavily mutated giant claw in charge of creating the diseases that plague humanity. Unfortunately, he's been getting a bit too creative with their lethality, requiring Death to shut down his projects before they grow out of control.

Tropes

• Ambidextrous Sprite: His sprites always have his giant claw facing away from the screen.
• Animalistic Abomination: While he resembles a massive crab, he very clearly isn’t one. Half of his body is covered in tumors that he can use to transform his claw and summon minions, and he dissolves into a mass of tumors upon defeat.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Invented Cancer, and rather fittingly, resembles a massive crab.
• Foil: To Gordon Grimes. Both are irritable Corrupt Corporate Executives who have clear machinations to replace Death's position as CEO. What sets them apart is that Gordon is The Bully to his subordinates with a clear Might Makes Right philosophy, while Hector is a cantankerous Mad Scientist who wants to improve the company's productivity.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: While not as blatantly obvious as with Grimes, Hector has plans on taking over the company as well.
• Flunky Boss: Sometimes summons a pair of small crab-like minions from the tumors covering his body.
• Giant Enemy Crab: He's a giant crab with a heavily mutated claw, and who's as ugly as he is cantankerous.
• Mad Scientist: He doesn't look the part, but his job entails him creating diseases, requiring a certain inclination towards the trope. Death mentions him trying to create diseases out of extra-terrestrial stem cells, for one. And that's without mentioning his grand achievement that earned him the position of Sorrow in the first place: inventing cancer.
• Mook Maker: He spawns two little crab mutants on occasion.
• Percussive Maintenance: Shown hitting his computer at the beginning of his fight.
• Plaguemaster: Responsible for inventing new and deadly diseases.
• Red Right Hand: One of his sides is covered in a tumorous mass that has transformed his claw into truly gigantic proportions, which he makes use of to great effect.
• The Rival: With Gordon Grimes. Rumor has it they're stealing each other's ideas.
• The Starscream: Like Gordon, he has plans on usurping Death as CEO.
• Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism: While largely resembling a stylized crab, certain shots show that he has a six-pack.
• Turns Red: Once he hits half health, Hector will make a greater effort to chain his attacks together.

Dr. Lambert Heisenberg

Dr. Lambert Heisenberg

The genius chemist of the Addictions Department, despite what his behavior implies.

Tropes

• Animal Motifs: Chickens. He spends much of the battle making chicken noises, and acts like one before it.
• Clandestine Chemist: He's a chemist working in the Addictions Department, so it's a given.
• Consummate Liar: According to his entry in the Handbook, there’s not many things he “hasn’t” lied about, and being a doctor is just one of them.
• Extremity Extremist: He uses his legs to fight, on account of being bound by a straitjacket.
• Institutional Apparel: He wears a straitjacket, which limits his main form of combat to his legs. He's fully capable of taking it off, though, implying he wears it on purpose.
• Mad Scientist: He's the company chemist and is absolutely deranged.
• Playing with Syringes: Can launch a barrage of homing syringes from his jacket.
• My Brain Is Big: It's huge, and rather grotesque to look at.
• Phony Degree: Despite his title, he was never a doctor in life or in death.
• Shout-Out: He's named after Walter White's alter ego.
• Status Buff: Heisenberg can buff himself during battle, either increasing his damage, or his speed. Both can stack, but wear off eventually.
• Your Head Asplode: His head pops open when he’s defeated.

Maxxx

Maxxx

"H e l l o_ it's time_t o b e_h a p p y"

The Sorrow of Addiction, Maxxx stands out, even from his fellow department heads. It's not clear if he was always this strange or if his position took a toll on him, but the guy can barely get together a coherent thought before pumping the huge syringe lodged in his chest. He's still got plenty of smaller ones to share with his boss, though.

Tropes

• Bullet Hell: Maxxx summons large quantities of lightning-shaped projectiles in various patterns to attack. It gets worse when he Turns Red.
• Expressive Mask: His usually smiling mask changes to a frown upon defeat.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: Let's just say you'll be glad he usually keeps that mask on by the time you finish his fight.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: He usually hovers at the top of the screen, comfortably beyond the reach of most spells and weapons. After each attack pattern, he teleports to the middle of the arena so Death can beat on him for a bit.
• Giant Medical Syringe: He has one stuck in his chest, and pumps it frequently throughout his boss fight.
• Humanoid Abomination: Below the neck, he's relatively human, but given his abilities, he's arguably the most inhuman Sorrow of them all.
• Malevolent Masked Men: Maxxx usually wears a mask, and he runs one of the most insidious, destructive departments in the company.
• Nightmare Face: During the fight, he pulls his mask off when using certain attacks, unveiling a constantly-morphing but generally-horrifying amalgamation of eyes and screaming mouths.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Several of his attacks involve summoning large amounts of grasping red hands.
• Mysterious Past: Nobody in the company knows where he came from or what he is, which is a frequent topic of discussion in office gossip. The only one who could possibly know, Death, isn't inclined to reveal anything either.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After you beat him for the first time, Pump Quinn runs into him, and he speaks to her calmly and reassuringly, in a totally normal way. She finds this substantially more unsettling than his usual behavior.
• Playing with Syringes: Most of his attacks are syringe-based, representing drugs like heroin.
• Psycho Electro: Has a penchant for slinging electrical projectiles and isn’t all… there.
• Shapeshifter Swan Song: His body is in a constant state of this when idle, rapidly flickering through various bodies.
• Shock and Awe: While hard to notice, a majority of his projectiles are shaped like lightning bolts.
• Turns Red: At half health, Maxxx will feed himself some Happy Pills, and his attacks will have even more projectiles to them, along with unlocking two new attacks.

Camille Flage

Camille Flage

Don't let her appearance fool you. She may simply look like a lady who hasn't gotten a haircut in centuries, but she's a feral monstrosity in battle. She'll gladly slash Death to pieces, and possibly feast on his bones.

Tropes

• Ballistic Bone: She can spew out a massive blast of bones.
• The Berserker: Her attacks are wild, vicious, and blindingly fast.
• Corpse Land: Her arena is filled to the brim with bones. One of her attacks in fact involves spitting out a wave of them at dead, implying these are corpses of other employees she's eaten.
• Cute Monster Girl: She has a Creepy Cute design going for her, with the large eyes and long hair. Then she goes feral...
• Deadly Lunge: Her main attack is to try and pounce after Death. She is distressingly fast, and can sometimes fake out Death in mid-air.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: She was a World War I mechanic while she was alive, but after death, she became one of the Modern Warfare Department's most vicious fighters.
• Horror Hunger: She starved to death in World War I one winter, and she spent her early death wandering around the entrance of Death Inc. eating whatever, or whomever, she found before Warren recruited her.
• Ironic Name: Despite her name being a pun on "camouflage," she's anything but subtle.
• Lightning Bruiser: She can move incredibly quickly and her attacks pack a serious punch.
• Punny Name: Pun on the word "camouflage". Fitting since she died during World War I, one of the first wars to extensively use camouflaged soldiers.
• Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Her appearance invokes one.
• Wrench Wench: She was a gifted mechanic when she was alive during World War I.

Major Warren Pliskhan

Major Warren Pliskhan

"FIRE AT WILL! Take no prisoners!"

The Sorrow of Modern Warfare, a short army man with an equally short temper, a massive arsenal of weapons, and a complete disregard for company protocol that irks Death to no end.

Tropes

• Ax-Crazy: He's dedicated to his job, alright. Much of his dialogue involves him shouting battle cries, boasting about his kill counts, and expressing dissatisfaction with the deaths he causes.
• Badass Normal: He isn't a buff Gargoyle, Blob Monster, murderous animatronic with a Mini-Mecha, mutant crab monster, or addiction powered maniac. He's merely a short army man with access to a vast array of weaponry, and an itchy trigger finger. And he's the fourth boss, making him more dangerous than the previous Sorrows in a fight.
• Bishōnen Line: The currently penultimate, second-most dangerous Sorrow, and by far the most human-looking after Maxxx.
• Evil Is Bigger: Inverted; he's the only enemy who's actually smaller than Death.
• A Father to His Men: Unlike Gordon, he seems to genuinely care about his subordinates; in particular he breaks company policy by referring to the Veterans with their actual names as opposed to their serial numbers.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: In life, he was merely a four foot tall military nut who managed to get himself killed trying to ride a missile. In death, he's in charge of all things war, and has wreaked havoc on the planet with unending nuclear wars and has wiped out countries.
• General Ripper: Oh yeah. He's dressed the part and makes even Jack D. Ripper look like a pacifist.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: In his death animation, he hits a Big Red Button… and then realizes all the missiles he's calling are pointed at him. He has enough time to wince before he gets exploded.
• Jetpack: Uses this for a few attacks, but upon closer inspection, it appears to be a pair of missiles he's using to lift himself into the air.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Utilizes rockets and missiles in a majority of his attacks.
• More Dakka: The essence of his fight. Missile strikes, rocket launcher barrages, hog riding nuclear warheads. And it only becomes more of a Bullet Hell once he Turns Red.
• The Napoleon: A berserk Blood Knight who is even shorter than Death.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Despite his size, he is the Sorrow of the Modern Warfare Department for a reason, and can give Death one hell of a fight.
• Shout-Out: He died trying to ride a missile, and does it again during his fight.

Pierce Görske

Pierce Görske

Thanager of Toxic Food-Processing and personal development trainer. Görske uses his martial arts expertise and arsenal of deadly toothpicks to slice and dice his way through any opposition.

Tropes

• Acrofatic: Well, he's a giant burger, for one, and was a competitive eater in life. He's also a highly trained martial artist who can Flash Step around like it's nothing.
• Improbable Weapon User: Uses a pair of massive toothpicks as weapons, and can hurl volleys of smaller ones.
• Lightning Bruiser: As expected for a ninja, he can move fast and hit hard.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: He's an undead ninja burger personal trainer.

Candice

Candice

A cutesy looking cupcake in the Department of Toxic Food-Processing, with a decidedly uncute personality ready to smack down Death before he has a chance to blink.

Tropes

• Fighting Clown: She's trained in the art of clowning, specifically in acrobatics gags, which translates remarkably well in a combat situation.
• Flash Step: She moves so fast she appears to do this every time she moves from one place to another.
• Genki Girl: She's the embodiment of a sugar rush, with a smile plastered on her face.
• Improbable Weapon User: She wields a giant lollipop in battle, and uses it with deadly effectiveness.
• Lightning Bruiser: She is fast, flash stepping around the arena and using fast strikes to attack Death.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: Her eyes are very round and unblinking, with just a hint of Twitchy Eye. Just your first clue she's not all there.

Waldo

Waldo

"11 million deaths a year, that's what we call a career! Palapa-papaaa..."

The beloved franchise mascot of Waldo Burger, Waldo, is more than just a made up character designed for the purpose of marketing; he's also the Sorrow of the Toxic Food-Processing Department. He's happy to promote his products, and even more so to see the deaths he ends up causing in the process.

Tropes

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Played With. He's a mascot animatronic intent on causing as much death as possible. The thing is, that's his job. He's still incredibly disobedient, and fully willing to attack Death and do what he pleases to achieve his goals.
• Ceiling Cling: His mech will sometimes cling to the ceiling to shoot soda at you.
• Chainsaw Good: He wields a chainsaw for his second phase with murderous glee.
• Edible Ammunition: In the second stage of his boss battle, Waldo rides around on a bottle of soda that he also uses to spray Death.
• Faux Affably Evil: He projects a cheery and friendly persona expected of a fast food mascot. He's also the sorrow in charge of deaths related to his food, and takes great pleasure in causing all of it.
• Haunted Technology: Implied to be possessed by the spirit of a Waldo Burger employee who died in a walk-in freezer.
• Hostile Animatronics: He's a robot, though clearly fully sapient. And capable of bleeding, apparently.
• Mini-Mecha: He jumps into battle riding one, his head being the only part of himself sticking out of it. Once he hits his second phase, he bursts out of it to attack you himself.
• Ode to Food: Ninety percent of his dialogue is this.
• Perpetual Smiler: Downplayed. He has a smile plastered on his face at the start of the fight, but once the second phase hits, he drops the cheery facade all together.
• Sequential Boss: While all bosses do have a second phase, Waldo is the first to have his be drastically different from his first. His first phase has him attacking you in his spider mech, crawling around the room and ceiling to attack you from all angles. Come the second phase, he bursts out with a chainsaw and settles with attacking you up close.
• Was Once a Man: While not stated directly, the employee handbook entry for Waldo does mention Death encountering a young employee who died after getting locked in a Waldo Burger freezer, and who may or may not have taken up Waldo's identity as his new job. It also notes that said employee was not especially astonished or put off by arriving at Death Inc.

Horace Sinistrocirrus

Horace Sinistrocirrus

In life, William Horace Steroshall was a talented opera singer until his death at the hands of a massive lightning strike. In death, he’s a living storm cloud and Death Inc.’s Energy Market Analyst, but if Death crosses his path, he’s more than willing to show off his singing talent once more.

Tropes:

• Beam Spam: Can call down bolts of lightning in very rapid succession.
• Beautiful Singing Voice: Was a very talented and well-known opera singer in life.
• Can't Take Criticism: In life, he had a particular loathing for journalists who wrote scathing reviews of his performances.
• Cumulonemesis: A vicious living storm cloud whose singing is enough to call down lightning.
• Hot-Blooded: Described as hot-headed in his handbook entry.
• Irony: Died during an argument while portraying Wotan, the Germanic god of war in Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold. Lampshaded by the game.
• Meaningful Rename: From William Horace Steroshall in life to Horace Sinistrocirrus in death.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: A living storm cloud opera singer Energy Market Analyst.
• Punny Name: A cirrus is a kind of cloud, which is what Horace is.
• Shock and Awe: Uses lightning for various attacks.

Ms. Catherine Imamura

Ms. Catherine Imamura

"Hmm. Well, well, well… What ill wine brings you to my office Sir?"

The elegant Sorrow of Natural Disasters and the first Sorrow hired by the company. Catherine was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs, giving Death Inc. its first big break. While she and Death seemed to have been on good terms, his efforts to fix the company have put the two of them at odds.

Tropes:

• Beam Spam: Can fire several beams of water very quickly in various patterns.
• Been There, Shaped History: Responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs.
• Elemental Embodiment: Is made of water.
• Elemental Powers: It’s implied she can manipulate all the elements; she only uses water during her boss fight, though.
• Face–Heel Turn: While she and Death seemed to have been on good terms before, she’s causing far too much damage, much like the other Sorrows.
• Geisha: Given her Japanese surname, style of dress, and hair, she seems to be based on one.
• Humanoid Abomination: She’s very human looking, but she’s made out of water, can cause mass extinction-scale disasters with almost no effort, and is at least 66 million years old.
• Making a Splash: As she’s made of water, she uses it in all of her attacks.
• Me's a Crowd: Summons water clones when she Turns Red.
• Murder Water: Is completely made of water and can manipulate it to a terrifying degree.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only female Sorrow so far.
• Speech Impediment: Tends to mess up similar-sounding words.
• Water Is Womanly: Can’t be much more womanly than being made out of it.

The Final Boss

Time

What is a game about Death without the luckiest and most inevitable way to die, old age?

Time is the Sorrow of the Inevitable Time Department. Obsessed with riddles and an avid Whatevermancy/radiesthetic (pendulum diviner), Time organized the entire conspiracy in Death's ranks.

Tropes:

• Early-Bird Cameo: He's the shadowy figure from past updates that summoned the Fantastic Nuke to end runs. You finally get the chance to fight him as a Sorrow in the Inevitable Time Department.
• Pendulum of Death: Time's pendulum. It can open portals, act as a rope dart, and likely directs his Flash Step, as right before his battle, the pendulum is what tips him off to Death's presence.
• Rapid Aging: His defeat animation. After going through "short" and "wizened," Time fades into a bearded skeleton before turning to dust.
• The Dragon: Death implies he is this to Life.
• Turns Red: After about a third of his health, Time goes from about Death's size wielding his crescent-moon staff... to a hunched and wizened man three times Death's size (fully upright) who mainly uses his pendulum.

The True Final Boss (SPOILERS!)

Life

So you’ve defeated Time. You’ve started a new run, but this time opening the mysterious Quantum Rift Lockers. Crack ‘em all open, and you gather three pieces of a medallion. After beating Time again, Death is ready to relax at last until the medallion summons the one being in all existence who truly rivals him both in powers and business strategy, Life!

Life is the true mastermind behind the conspiracy, all with the intent of taking over the company for herself.

Tropes:

• Animal Motifs: Butterflies. When she’s beat, she turns into a flock of them.
• Bad Boss: It's implied that her scheme with Time is not only overloading Death Inc. but is doing the same to her own company as well, who are compensating.
• Big Bad: As stated above, Life is the true mastermind behind the massive workload that Death Inc. has been having to deal with, and the reason that Death ultimately needs a vacation, all because she wants to take over Death Inc. herself.
• Foil: She’s a little squirt just like Death and evidently also runs a business. Instead of a skeletal being of darkness, she’s a being of light and looks like a living child. This also reflects in her boss battle, where she fights using a moveset not unlike what Death can use.
  • Even her arena seems opposite of Death’s domain. Whereas the realm within Death Inc is almost colorless and dreary, Life’s garden is so beautiful and full of color.
• Light Is Not Good: It may not be the first time in fiction, but shockingly, it’s Death who’s more heroic and Life who’s the corrupt one.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Her fuse is seriously short. She may go from having a sour look on her face to screaming her head off at the drop of a hat.
• Irony: The entity in charge of the concept of life manipulated the majority of Death Inc. into causing way too much death, all in order to be in charge of it and her own company.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Zig-zagged. She and Death are a constant force in the world and need to be balanced. In the cutscene introducing her, she shows Death that during his trek through his company, that balance is screwed up and birthrates are exceeded, which is why she seems infuriated when encountered. Her calling out Death for wanting a vacation on top of that seems justified until you realize she's instigating an indirect mass murder of the human population and, essentially, causing both life and death as concepts to work overtime to compensate (of course life on earth would skyrocket, if an over-abundance of death was halted). Death knows her better than most and constantly points out how she twists situations to make him look like the bad guy. He says this in spite of the fact that his Sorrows and majority of employees are disloyal and took to her manipulations because of his lazy and abusive managing and business models.
• Workaholic: She considers anyone who tries to take a break, much less a vacation to be unprofessional and she enforces this not just on herself, but also on her workers, and tries to do the same Death, seeing him as a selfish idiot for wanting to have a vacation. The game as a whole in-fact, deconstructs this mindset, as her manipulations and forcing everyone to work and maximize production all the time are running everyone ragged, not just Death. And it's implied in the lore that this was also what broke the friendship she and Death once had.

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