Main Cast: Kids, Pre-Scratch; Kids, Post-Scratch; Trolls (Lowbloods, Midbloods, Highbloods, Pre-Scratch); Cherubs Supporting Cast: Guardians & Ancestors; Sprites; Exiles & the Midnight Crew; Agents & Monarchs; The Felt (Leaders); Others Expanded Universe: Post-Canon; Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff; Hiveswap (Troll Call)
Each prospective Sburb player has at least one guardian in their life, a parental or pseudo-parental figure who provides them with guidance and protection over their lives. These are often also the players' ancestors, and the ones who will substituted form them in case of a Scratch.
open/close all folders
Shared Tropes
- Ancient Conspiracy: All of the human Guardians, save Dad (who is Locked Out of the Loop), are tied into massive unknown conspiracies. Post-Scratch Bro Strider and Mom Lalonde were La Résistance, while Pre-Scratch Mom Lalonde and Bro Strider are suggested to have outright created Sburb.
- Benevolent Conspiracy: Poppop Harley and Mom Lalonde work for Skaia Net, a company that is old, powerful, and clearly well-intentioned. They produce Sburb, but it seems they do so knowing its creation is inevitable.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Almost all of them are killed offscreen, except for Bec and Grandpa Harley, who die onscreen.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: What does it say that every the parental/mentor figure of every single person who plays Sburb has died or has at least appeared to have died? Since the characters theorize that Sburb goes out of its way to force its players to mature, it stands to reason that it may go out of its way to get rid of any authority figures the players would rely on in order to accelerate their coming-of-age.
- Nominal Importance: The Guardians, lusii, and ancestors don't actually have names (aside from Bec and some of the lusii). Additionally, aside from some stuff early on in their kids' games and backstories, they also don't really do a whole bunch before dying. By contrast, the Alternate Universe counterparts of the Guardians and Ancestors get names, and act as major characters in the story.
- No Name Given: Played with. The Kids' human Guardians aren't named, neither are the Trolls' lusii and ancestors. Additionally, while most the lusii are never named, names are given to Alternate Universe counterparts of (most) the Guardians and the Ancestors with the implication the originals also shared that name. Even with this assumption, John's Dad is still never, ever hinted to have a name besides "pipefan413" or Dad.
- Opening a Can of Clones: While the human Guardians die in Act 5, by the time the audience realizes this, the narrative has shifted focus to the post-Scratch universe, where all the Guardians are alive and well as younger versions of themselves, sans Dad, whose counterpart is identical to the original. At the same time that that happens, all the Troll ancestors have the ghosts of their counterpart introduced as recurring characters from the afterlife.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: It looks like initially the pre-Scratch guardians are off working on some mysterious plan to stop Noir. This is never resolved as they get killed off midway through it.
Pre-Scratch Kids' Guardians
Dad
John's father. Well, adoptive father; he's Nanna Egbert's son, and thus biologically John's half-brother. He is very supportive of John, even going so far as to pretend to be a street performer to try to connect with him. He is obsessed with pipes and hats and baked goods.
Another near-identical version of him appears in the post-scratch Universe as Jane's presumably adoptive guardian, and the post-scratch iteration of Dad. He is John Crocker's son.
USES ALL CAPS. SAVE FOR SHORT SENTENCES DUE TO SERIOUS BUSINESS, HAS NORMAL GRAMMAR.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: John thinks of his habits and proclivities, especially his excessive amounts of baking and seeming obsession with harlequins, as very embarrassing.
- Badass Normal: Even though he's just a suburban businessman, he kicks a ridiculous amount of ass. He managed to get the AU version of Hearts Boxcars in a headlock. You know, the guy who cracks safes by just ripping the doors off with his bare hands. And then his post-Scratch counterpart punches out the wall of his prison and then proceeds to lay a beatdown on Cans that impresses ARquiusprite.
- Bag of Holding: His WALLET MODUS contains such useful items as a literal ton of shaving cream and a spare car. John later uses it to hold The Tumor, a moon-sized bomb in the core of the Battlefield.
- The Blank: Like the rest of the Guardians, only one of his facial features are visible. It's his nose.
- Boring, but Practical: The WALLET MODUS. Infinite storage without any sorting gimmicks. It can even hold The Tumor, which is the size of a moon.
- The Constant: Multiversal variant. Dad seems pretty much the same post-scratch as he was pre-scratch.
- Crazy-Prepared:
- He keeps one whole ton of shaving cream
and many other things in his wallet modus, along with a card for John should he find it. - His habit for leaving notes which can only be seen if his kid achieves some milestone is another example.
- He keeps one whole ton of shaving cream
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Repeated attempts to imprison him all end in failure. Jack finally gets sick of his escapes and lets him go.
- Eyeless Face: All the adults are featureless except for one part of their face. Mr. Egbert's one feature is his nose.
- "Friends" Rent Control: Downplayed. Being able to buy a largish two-bedroom suburban house on a single salary isn't impossible, but it's also not especially easy or common.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: He smokes a distinguished Pipe of Patriarchal Authority.
- Hidden Depths: For the first thirteen years of his life, John thought that his dad was a perpetually joking, walking farce of a man. He turns out to be a regular businessman trying to bond with his son.
- Improbable Weapon User: He uses cakes, shaving cream as his primary means of combat, and is very effective at doing so. This forms a comic contrast when he pairs up with Rose's Mom and brandishes a pie and can of shaving cream with just as much drama as she does her laser rifle.
- Kitsch Collection: He has a fanatical obsession with harlequins and joker figures, though this was faked out of a sense of desiring to appeal to John. Whether or not he likes harlequins, he certainly likes pipes, shaving, and anything else "fatherly". And comedians.
- Mundane Utility: He uses his powerful Wallet Modus just to move the car around the back to wash it.
- Stacy's Mom: He's implied to be ridiculously handsome, and Roxy (Mom's A2 form) has a Precocious Crush on him.
- Standard '50s Father: He's both a parody and subversion of one. He dotes on his son and is obsessed with stereotypically manly/fatherly things like pipes, shaving, and businesslike clothing, but he's also an obsessive baker and a single dad, neither of which are typical for the trope.
- Super-Strength: Dad is just as strong as a kid thinks his father is. He is powered by pure MANGRIT. While on Derse, he punches a Shale Imp right through a stone wall. Add this to the fact that he also expects his son to be able to lift a huge floor safe, and it's pretty likely he has this.
- The Prankster: Much less so than his mother or son, but John observes quite early on that Dad usually enjoys the prankster's gambit on their exchanges, so he has the skills, if nothing else. Jane isn't any better at beating him.
Pre-Scratch Dad (Mr. Egbert)
- Battle Couple: Once in the Medium, he forms a battle due with Rose's Mom.
- Determinator: He attempted to escape from imprisonment on Derse multiple times, refusing to give up no matter how many times he was thrown back in his cell.
- Doting Parent: As required to by his Coddlebrand, which causes John to whine considerably for the first act.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: He gets killed offscreen by Jack.
- James Bondage: The Shale Imps capture him repeatedly after John's house is transported into the Incipisphere. He manages to break out just as frequently, however.
- Megaton Punch: He delivers one to a Shale Imp during his escape from Derse.
- Noodle Incident: He has a restraining order from Cirque du Soleil, although the reason why has never been fully explained. It was very embarrassing to John, whatever it was.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: It's heavily suggested he knows more about the overarching plot than previously thought.
- Official Couple: He becomes romantically involved with Ms. Lalonde after meeting her in the Medium.
- Promotion to Parent: Biologically, he's John's half-brother. It's unclear whether he knew this or just thought John was a random baby that dropped out of the sky and killed Nana.
- So Proud of You: A note left in the safe, claiming that since John was strong enough to lift it, he's now a real man. Subverted however, since John is definitely unable to lift the safe; it only opened when it broke after Rose dropped it on an Imp.
- And once again in a card left on his wallet.
- He seems to do this all the time, perhaps because of John's wall scribbles, on which he calls himself a "fool" and a "lame kid".
Post-Scratch Dad (Mr. Crocker)
- Action Survivor: In Act 7, he makes it into the new universe alive after taking part in the final battle, and is the only non-Sburb player to do so.
- Disappointed in You: Played for laughs. From his prison cell, he stares at Jane, Roxy, and Jake engaging in Trickster shenanigans with a look of STERN FATHERLY DISAPPROVAL.
- Disney Death: After Jane's computer exploded, the fanbase was worried that Dad would die the same way Karkat's lusus did. Shortly afterwards, he's seen crushed by the debris of the explosion... but he gets up one panel later, a little worse for wear but still fine.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Invoked. He was NOT happy with Jane's Prankster's Gambit in regard to the letterbox bombing.
- Fake Kill Scare: Caliborn told Jane that Mr. Crocker was the victim of Cold-Blooded Torture, and died accordingly, which he believed since he couldn't see him in Derse's prison any more. Soon after, he's revealed to be fine when Draconian Dignitary shows up to his VIP cell the day before Jane's birthday. DD has proclaimed that none of prison personnel are allowed to harm Mr. Crocker.
- Friendly Enemy: Despite being the Guardian of one of the Nobles, he is popular with the majority of Derse to the point of their copying his clothing style.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In-universe, his fashion sense has made him a celebrity among the Dersites during his imprisonment. DD may or may not be his biggest fan.
- In Spite of a Nail: He seems more or less identical to his old self, despite everything that's changed. His relationship with Jane is different in some specifics, but functionally the same as his relationship with John.
- Luxury Prison Suite: Basically what the VIP cells on Derse amount to. He can't leave, but DD likes him enough to make sure he's comfortable.
- Made of Iron: Dirk assures Jane that it'll take a lot more than just falling debris to kill that dude.
- Outliving One's Offspring: He watched his daughter get blown up.
- Private Detective: He had a short-lived stint as a private eye. It was short-lived because, as it turns out, the police are rarely thrilled about private citizens going around and beating up crooks of their own accord.
- Properly Paranoid: As the end of Act 6 Part 1 shows, he really did have a point putting a refrigerator in front of the door to keep Jane inside.
- Sole Survivor: He's the only Guardian left alive in the end.
- So Proud of You: He looks down upon the upcoming battle against the Condescension with a look of PROUD FATHERLY ADMIRATION.
Mom Lalonde
Rose's mother (adoptive AND ectobiological). An alcoholic rich woman, she and Rose have constant passive-aggressive battles with her playing the role of the affectionate, doting, stay-at-home mother.
Her Post-Scratch Universe incarnation is Roxy Lalonde.
- Action Mom: While she doesn't seem to care that much about her daughter, she's still a mom who knows kung fu.
- Alcoholic Parent: Her alcoholism plays a part in Rose's resentment towards her, though Rose comes to think her mother may have just been trying to cope with the coming apocalypse Sburb would cause.
- Alternate Character Interpretation: She constantly showers her daughter with affection in ridiculously over-the-top, elaborate ways. Rose interprets this as her being cruelly sarcastic, but whether the displays of affection are actually malicious or genuine has yet to be determined. Later, In-Universe, Rose questions whether she had just misunderstood her all along, and Roxy's loneliness and desire for friends and family provide another counterpoint in favor of that interpretation. Also, it's implied that she may have a few screws loose; what Jane has said about her post-scratch universe counterpart seems to support this theory. Plus, some of her and Rose's shenanigans imply willing participation in their mind-games, though not necessarily the motive.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She's a mad, alcoholic paranoid, who also happens to have made Sburb, a video game that can warp reality, give people superpowers, and create universes.
- The Chessmaster: It isn't explored often, but it's implied that she may have had something to do with Sburb's creation in the B1 universe.
- Crazy-Prepared: She had a secret escape passage made in the family cat's tomb. This comes in handy once the fire gets dangerously close to the house.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: She's killed offscreen by Jack.
- Dramatic Irony: Rose thinks that her obsession with wizards is an attempt to mock her interests and belittle her. As Roxy has shown us, Mom actually loves wizards, and had attempted to share this love with her child. This leads to a rather comical situation in the Post-Scratch Universe, where Roxy lavishes her mother's cheesy Purple Prose seven volume wizard fanfiction, thus starting her interest in wizards, and presumably vice-versa in the Pre-Scratch Universe.
- Drunken Master: BLOTTO-PARRY!
- Hidden Depths: Rose thinks that she's just an alcoholic idiot with too much money, who mocks her interests and lavishes her with irritating gifts for the hell of it. She turns out to be a hardworking scientist whose presumably passive-aggressive attempts at bonding with her introverted child were genuine, but Rose was in too much denial over it to realize that were mother wasn't completely crazy.
- Kitsch Collection: Like Mr. Egbert, only her house is filled with artwork of wizards rather than harlequins. It turns out to be her expressing interests in her daughter's, as well as her own, though Rose interprets it as a passive-aggressive jab at her creative writing.
- Lady Drunk: Is always shown with a gin martini in one hand, and it's implied she's an alcoholic.
- She left her ever present drink behind when she left Rose in the Land of Light and Rain, presumably to take on the huge monster that we see her killing in >Jack: ASCEND.
- This is what happens when Rose discovers that what she previously believed to be her mother's room is, in fact, a bar.
- Hive Swap reveals that she was this even as a teenager, storing rotgut whiskey in the Harley mansion's kitchen and nipping into Grandpa Harley's basement booze stash.
- She left her ever present drink behind when she left Rose in the Land of Light and Rain, presumably to take on the huge monster that we see her killing in >Jack: ASCEND.
- Mad Scientist: The passage underneath Jaspers' mausoleum leads to a gigantic underground laboratory that houses cloning machines, among other weird devices. There is another passage that leads up to Mom's bedroom (or what Rose thought was Mom's bedroom), so she's clearly in on it.
- Meaningful Name: Rose calls her Mom. She's... Rose's mom. This doesn't sound particularly meaningful, but it's the only title out of all the Guardians' that is actually correct.
- Not an Act: Mom Lalonde is so ridiculously over-the-top in the way that she expresses her love for her daughter Rose that Rose assumes that she's just pretending to care as a means of Passive-Aggressive Kombat. It takes some Character Development for Rose to realize that her mother is being completely sincere and is just a naturally excessive person.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Dave thinks that she's very nice, drunk, and rich, and that there's not much else to her character. She turns out to be much more involved with Sburb than both he and Rose initially thought, even if her Cloudcuckoolander facade was real.
- Passive-Aggressive Kombat: She has a lot of fights with her daughter, Rose, which get rather intense. And they are almost never physical.
- Power of the Void: As the pre-scratch version of Roxy Lalonde she is also a Rogue of Void.
- Resentful Guardian: Rose and her mother hold up a passive-aggressive oneupmanship contest with each other. Rose sees her mother as being resentful in nature, and her somewhat quirky personality as hateful. May or may not be a huge misunderstanding on Rose's part.
- Scarf Of Ass Kicking: Had it when she's nearly blown up by the meteor carrying baby John; gets it back from Dad when they're reunited in Skaia.
- Sci-Fi Bob Haircut: The way her hair and outfit is drawn looks like a 1960s sci-fi look [1]◊ [2]◊
- Silent Snarker: Her daughter thinks she's this, although her elaborate, unintentionally cruel ways of showing her affection are actually her trying to bond with her daughter.
- Sink or Swim Mentor: Seems to be this towards Rose. While she loves her daughter, she never makes any effort to find her, like Dad had tried to do with John. The first thing she does when she gets on the Land of Light and Rain is use the only boat near her house to leave Rose stranded there to keep her from danger, but she never actively protects her daughter.
- Super-Strength: Seems to have this by punching down a giant, and is implied to be a Fistkind user.
- Surprise Incest: Dave says that it's okay for him to imagine Rose's mother in underwear and to drool over her "choice ass" because she's not his mom. This gets brought up in a dream bubble with him and Rose, where she says that he alone is enough to save all of Freud's theories from discreditation. This is even funnier when it's brought up when he finally meets his Mom's Post-Scratch self, Roxy, and talks about it with Rose while she watches amusedly.
- Uncle Pennybags: She showers her daughter with ironic, expensive gifts such as ponies, pink things, and massive statues, and it doesn't seem to put a dent in her finances. Then we learn that she weaponizes this.
Bro Strider
Dave's adoptive brother and ectobiological father. Like Dave, he is obsessed with being cool and ironic. He's an expert swordsman and has a bizarre puppet fetish.
His Post-Scratch Universe incarnation is Dirk Strider.
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: When Bro cuts Dave's incredibly shitty sword in half, he doesn't just cut the sword in half — he also changes Dave's strife specibus to ½BLADEKIND and cuts the record logo on his shirt in half. And this carries over to all other uses of Dave's record sigil thereafter. He also manages to cut a fucking meteor in half.
- Abusive Parents: It takes Dave three years to realize and understand it, but he comes to view Bro as a sociopath who hated him and ruined his childhood.
- The Ace: In a World of Badass, Bro Strider comes out on top. He's even more badass than Dave, at least at first. Bro's squared off against Jack who had not long ago slaughtered an entire army in mere moments and destroyed a moon (and it took Jack becoming just shy of a god to kill Bro), cut a meteor in half while riding it, and is fast enough to fight via puppet proxy.
- Ambiguously Gay: Dirk at least is openly gay, while Bro is merely a lifelong bachelor making a living off incredibly phallic puppets.
- Bash Brothers: He can invoke this by himself, utilizing incredible Flash Step prowess to move Cal as if he was a living being in a battle, while still keeping himself able to fight. Later, this trope comes into play when Davesprite teams up with him to take on Jack.
- Broken Pedestal: After spending a few years with people who actually liked and cared about him, Dave comes to believe that Bro, rather than training him and being ironic, was simply an abusive sociopath who never really cared about him.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He plunges his sword into the Beat Mesa after his first duel with Jack. It's later revealed that he was initiating The Scratch.
- Cool Shades: Kamina shades, to be precise. John's calls them "dumb anime shades" as a nod to this.
- Crazy-Prepared: He carried around a baby-sized copy of his own Cool Shades for the day when Dave would come hurtling out of the sky in a meteor and destroy his favorite record shop.
- Evil Puppeteer: While at first Bro's manipulation of puppets via Flash Step and use of them to gaslight and torment Dave is played for comedy, it gradually becomes clear that his raising of Dave crossed the line into severely damaging physical and psychological abuse. Dave (after a long period of denial that anything was wrong or strange about his childhood) eventually acknowledges this.
- Family Relationship Switcheroo: Via an inverted Promotion to Parent (a Demotion to Sibling, if you will). At the beginning of the story, Dave believes Bro to be his older brother. He is later revealed to be Dave's (and Rose's) genetic father, via cloning and genetic engineering.
- Fetish: Soft. Puppet. Ass. His Complete Bullshit web browser even has a bookmark for "Puppet Porn" and another one for "Plush Rump" which provides "the plumpest plushiest bare rumps this side of Jim Henson's most sordid fantasies."
- Flash Step: The undisputed master. He uses it mainly to make Lil' Cal even creepier. And in battle, he uses it to basically use Lil' Cal to fight by proxy. And watch out when he actually steps into the ring using this. And by "fighting by proxy", we mean live-action stop-motion.
- Freudian Excuse: Possibly, possibly not. Dave at one point wonders if Lil' Cal affected Bro in any way (being a juju containing some of the most messed up characters' souls in it), but it's merely a theory and he makes clear that the abuse he suffered was abuse, regardless. It also seems to be wishful thinking on Dave's part, as he trails off with the daydream of him and Bro having a more-or-less normal life together.
- Gaslighting: As stated above, he likes using his Flash Step skills to make Dave think Cal is moving around on his own, apparently just to mess with his head.
- Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: He's fond of dramatically pointing at his opponents before duels this before duels.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite Dave admitting that he's grown to see Bro as a sociopath who hated him and tried to make his life miserable (and, indeed, he was a truly terrible parent), a few updates imply that he genuinely cared about Dave to some level; for example, him destroying a meteor to prevent it from hitting him and later holding off Jack Noir. It has been suggested by some that his crueler tendencies were amplified by Lil' Cal, and even Dave admits that this is a definite possibility (although he doesn't want to think about it any further).
- Kitsch Collection: He collects disturbing "radical puppets" for work and pleasure.
- Leitmotif: "Beatdown"
- Marionette Master: He doesn't use Lil' Cal in the traditional way, but that just makes him all the more awesome.
- McNinja: He fits all common aspects of the sword-wielding, flash-stepping, mysterious ninja archetype except for being Texan.
- Master Swordsman: He's an extraordinarily skilled duelist, so much that Jack Noir considers him a Worthy Opponent and cannot overcome him before gaining a major power boost when transforming into Bec Noir.
- Older Than They Look: Despite being referred to as Bro, he's as old as Mom Lalonde, placing him anywhere from his early thirties to his forties by the time of the comic. Dave states that Bro was somewhere in his thirties by the time of his death.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Dave only ever calls him "Bro"; his given name is never stated.
- Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Part of his "ironic roof rapping ninja" schtick. Several of his puppets, including Cal are dressed up in urban style. note
- Sacrificial Lion: He's the first Guardian to die on-screen, in order to show how powerful Jack Noir has become after Bec is prototyped.
- Sensei for Scoundrels: He trains Dave to be a badass survivor capable of tackling the rigors of Sburb through a life of constant combat drills, mind games, and ambushes. This is deconstructed, as a childhood spent dodging pointy objects and receiving no explicit affection left Dave very messed up mentally.
- Sibling Rivalry: Dave says they're both very competitive, and he only undertakes certain activities (like getting the Sburb Beta) to try and outdo his Bro. Despite this, Dave really does admire him and aspires to be exactly like him.
- Soul Power: As the pre-scratch version of Dirk Strider he is also a Prince of Heart.
- Worthy Opponent: To Jack Noir, the destroyer of Prospit. Jack even picks up and returns Bro's sword so they can have a proper duel, although this doesn't stop Jack from leaving mercy at the door.
Becquerel/Becsprite
Becsprite:
Jade's guardian, and the First Guardian of Earth who takes the form of a dog. He was prototyped with Jade's Kernelsprite (this is not a good thing) and thus became Becsprite. Some time after, he was tier-2 prototyped with the corpse of Jade's dreamself; he thus became Jadesprite, and the "Becquerel" persona effectively ceased to exist.
- Animalistic Abomination: A rare benevolent example. He's an ancient, godlike beast that often appears to be a living, pulsing mass of radiation in a canine shape, but he's also a friendly, loving dog that Jade shares a very close bond with.
- Animal Jingoism: If God Tier Jade is any indicator, Bec had an instinctual dislike of cats that's carried over in spite of Jade's best efforts to control herself. Related to this trope, it's unclear if he blew up PM's terminal to "protect" Jade from being influenced by an exile or due to a similar stereotype of dogs v. mailmen. It could've been both, though.
- Arc Symbol: His face.
- Atomic Superpower: As a First Guardian, he is capable of causing small radioactive explosions as a means to attack.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: After Jack absorbs his personality, he becomes prone to distracting thoughts of wanting to eat dogfood and chase mailmen. This suggests that Bec himself was prone to such things (which makes sense, 'cause he's a dog)
- Big Friendly Dog: To Jade at least. As an unfortunate Imp and PM found later, he is extremely aggressive to anyone else, even if they are not in any way harmful or even apear dangerous, like PM
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Peregrine Mendicant tries to say hi to Jade. Bec does not approve.
- Cloudcuckoolander: If Jack's thoughts after absorbing his personality are to be believed, Bec's mind is not nearly as impressive as the rest of him. Justified because Physical God status non-withstanding, he's still a dog.
- Death of Personality: After being double-tier prototyped with Jade's dreamself. A tiny remnant of his personality seems to have survived within Jade post God-Tier, but she's still the dominant consciousness of her own body, making it highly unlikely that he'll ever come back.
- Fourth-Wall Observer: As Becsprite, he notices the text boxes housing the commands issued by Peregrine Mendicant to Jade.
- Goo-Goo-Godlike: As a puppy he managed to almost completely destroy a terminal. No wonder AR was so terrified of him!
- Immune to Bullets: Instead, he plays fetch with them. They only melt if they hit him anyways and he can warp space to make them disappear on any case.
- Killed Off for Real: After being prototyped (which made him quasi-dead anyways), Jade's prototyping of her dead dream self apparently overwrote any of Bec's original personality, leaving her with only a Verbal Tic. Him being a non fully sapient entity probably made his personaly simple to overwrite by more advanced one
- Meaningful Name: Becquerel is the SI derived unit of radioactivity, named for the French scientist Henri Becquerel, the first to discover radioactivity in 1896.
- Nearly Normal Animal: While he does a few things that hint at the possibility of greater intelligence, like keeping Jade away from meteors and from the ruins, deliberately merging with the kernelsprite, and killing the ultimate frog (thus allowing its paradox ghost slime to be used), Bec clearly runs mostly on dog instincts, putting him at the lowest end of the Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Bec, in order to save Jade's life, prototypes her sprite with himself. This...could have gone better. In the long run, it results in the destruction of the very universe he was assigned to look after.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: A giant radioactive dog/wolf/devilbeast-thing/Guardian of Earth with reality-warping abilities. Coolest. Pet. Ever.
- Now That's Using Your Teeth!: Catching a bullet in his teeth.
- Only Mostly Dead: Much of his personality and instincts are transferred to Jack and Peregrine Mendicant post-prototyping too. Jade's growling and barking at Jaspersprite after merging with Jadesprite post-God Tier and the fact that Her Imperial Condescension had to use both Vriska and Tavros' mind control powers on Jade in order to control her also suggest that some of Bec's personality was transferred to her too. That being said, however, with Jade, Jack and PM's personalities are all firmly dominant.
- Papa Wolf:
- A Becquerel-prototyped imp hassles Jade. Becsprite dispatches it with a localized nuclear explosion.
- And then there's the literal aspect.
- Phrase Catcher: "Good dog. Best friend." Leads later to Jack catching, "Bad dog. Worst enemy."
- Physical God: As a First Guardian, Becquerel is ridiculously powerful. To put it in perspective, when Jack obtains his powers via through the final prototyping he is able to destroy a universe with the Red Miles, when the ability normally only devastates a planet's surface.
- Posthumous Character: Most of what is known about Bec is learned after his death via Jack and Jade.
- Power of Love: Bec adores Jade. Enough so to prototype himself to save her life. And hard enough that it's transferred via prototyping to Jack. Oddly, it didn't transfer to Jadesprite, neither in the form of a desire to please Jade nor in any sort of weird devotion to herself possibly because of dream Jade overwriting Bec's personality. On the other hand, it transferred directly into Jack Noir and Peregrine Mendicant, making them extremely protective of her.
- Promotion to Parent: In the absence of any other parental figure, Bec serves the role of looking after Jade and keeping her out of trouble.
- Reality Warper: The First Guardian of pre-scratch Earth, he's displayed the usual abilities such as teleportation and green, crackling distortion.
- Series Mascot: Subverted; he was shaping up to be both of these, due to his silhouette being an Arc Symbol. Before he has the chance to join Jade on her adventures, however, his personality is wiped from existence.
- Stock Animal Diet: "You dial up a thick T-BONE STEAK, which you are sure Becquerel is in the mood for because he is in the mood for steak every day and is never in the mood for anything else." More specifically, steak that has been lightly irradiated. (He does like his steak rare, after all.)
- Team Pet: The only non-human among the Guardians and perhaps the least complex, due to his one-dimensional devotion to Jade's protection.
- Teleportation: He can warp himself and others to different locations at will.
- Time Abyss: He appears to have come from a meteorite impact during the Devonian period, which puts his age at around 413 million years old, minus about 400 years.
- Token Heroic Orc: He's the only First Guardian without any Faux Affably Evil Troll tendencies.
- Undying Loyalty: Being both a Big Friendly Dog and a Papa Wolf at the same time, it's not surprising that he has this towards Jade. As mentioned up at Power of Love, Bec's loyalty is strong enough that it transferred to Jack and both renders him incapable of killing Jade and sends him into a flying rage when Jade dies.
- The Unintelligible: When Jade tried to talk to Becsprite after prototyping, she quickly found out that doing so was a Brown Note and resolved not to try it again.
- You Can't Fight Fate:
Word of God says that it doesn't matter if John had managed to prototype the doll; Bec would still try to prototype himself. Whether or not he'd be successful is a different matter.
Grandpa Harley
Jade's grandfather and ectobiological father. Although he died when she was young, he had a large impact on Jade's life, teaching her all about guns and making sure she never left the house without one.
His Post-Scratch Universe incarnation is Jake English. For tropes pertaining to his appearance in Hiveswap, see here.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Grandpa abandoned Nana to explore the world and boy did he. He has at least four floors of trophies from his adventures and managed to discover the code for Sburb inside the Frog Temple.
- BFG: His gun appears to be a pistol handle with a blunderbuss for a barrel. Leaves craters large enough for a few people to lie down in, and the gun itself is too large for Jade to lift it.
- Big Damn Heroes: He rescues John from the Underlings in the Land of Wind and Shade.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He does not appear to be all there, but he's a total genius.
- Captain Ersatz: Is suspiciously a lot like Theodore Roosevelt.
- Chekhov's Boomerang: It's initially unclear how he entered the Medium, but it later turns out that he found a portal to Derse hidden under the massive lift/platform in the Frog Temple.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: As the pre-scratch version of Jake English he is also a Page of Hope.
- Dead All Along: Until it was Jade's turn to do battle with her guardian, the readers were led to believe he was alive. In reality, she's pretending to fight his corpse, which has been stuffed and preserved via taxidermy like his hunting trophies. He later turns out to be alive in the Medium, having not traveled back in time to live out the rest of his life just yet.
- Death by Irony: When he was a baby, he accidentally killed Colonel Sassacre while playing with flintlock pistols. The circumstances of his death are complicated, but the key points are that he let Jade play with flintlock pistols, and he was killed by the same bullet she accidentally fired at herself.
- Dirty Old Man: He collects old, sun-bleached beauty parlour photos. And has parties with a life-sized blue-haired doll. Don't ask.
- Doomed by Canon: He's alive in the Incipisphere through time travel, but he's destined to return to Earth and get shot. He doesn't seem all that bothered by it, though.
- Fetish: Blue. Blue women, blue things, and maybe even blue men. As long as it's blue. He doesn't really discriminate.
- Gadgeteer Genius: He made Jade's dreambot.
- Gentleman Adventurer: He's an exaggeration of the pseudo-British, mustachioed, pith-helmeted adventurer who goes on improbable missions across the world and hauls back piles of trophies to fill him home with.
- Kitsch Collection: Hunting trophies, one of which is blocking a transportalizer on the lowest level of the house; also valiant knights, decrepit mummies, sun-bleached photographs from the windows of beauty parlors, and globes.
- Like Brother and Sister: Betty Crocker tells Nana that she and Grandpa were supposed to get married but it's not clear if they ever felt like anything other than siblings.
- Mummies at the Dinner Table: He's still hanging around in the foyer of the Harley residence. This is apparently a Harley family tradition (at least the taxidermy part). He kept the taxidermied remains of Halley and Dream Jade in his lab.
- Parental Neglect: He loved Jade very much, but he was very careless when it came to raising her. Someone should have told him that giving your young granddaughter/daughter a pair of loaded flintlock pistols to play with while you go off to have a tea party with a giant doll is probably not considered good parenting.
- The Patriarch: By the time of John's birthday, it's been nearly a century since his birth, but that doesn't stop him from tearing through monsters that threaten his (biological) son. He also directs his siblings, Mom and Dad, to the location of their children.
- Raised by Wolves: Sort of. He was nominally raised by Betty Crocker, but the end of Act 4 recap names Halley the dog (whose name he mispronounced as Harley due to his speech impediment) as his primary guardian, "with presumably some parental influence from the wicked Crocker". He ran away from home at the age of thirteen with the dog (who the narration refers to as his "guardian", a term also used to refer to the kids' parents and the trolls' lusus naturae), and eventually took Harley as his surname.
- The Runaway: Ran away from home with his dog Halley at the age of thirteen.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Using his BFG to shoot a butterfly from point blank range.
- Time Travel: How he appears in the Medium after his death.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: For the longest time, it was unclear just how Grandpa was able to enter the Medium. About two years after his appearance in the Land of Wind and Shade, it's revealed there are transportalizers to Derse and Prospit in the Frog Temple. It's still unknown when and how he left the Medium, though it could have been through the same way.
Nanna Egbert
John's deceased grandmother, who is later revived as his sprite. Her tropes are folded under her sprite iteration, as seen here. Post-Scratch Kids' Guardians
Tropes common to the Post-Scratch Guardians
- Dead to Begin With: It turns out that they're all long dead, with the exception of Dad.
- Famous Ancestor: All of them are pretty famous, although Grandma English ended up disgraced.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite them all undergoing vastly different lives, they seem to have similar personalities. Poppop and Grandma even have the same first names as their counterparts. Some of them sorta have the same titles, Mom is described as a seer, Bro has apparently been knighted, and Jake's grandmother was a "witch" with manipulating space. Poppop is only loosely associated with his role as an Heir though, being referred to as the Heir of Crockercorp all of once by Dirk.
- Time Capsule: Mom and Bro stashed tons of stuff for Roxy and Dirk to find in the future, like food and supplies.
Poppop Crocker / John Crocker
Jane's late grandfather, John's post-scratch iteration and the counterpart of Nanna Egbert. He was legendary for his vaudevillian antics on stage, following in the footsteps of his adoptive father Colonel Sassacre, unlike his adoptive sister, who fled the Batterwitch's influence. He died at age 86 on the same day Jane was "born", a fate involving a tall bookshelf, a ladder, and a mysterious young woman in a suspicious looking hat.
He also played the role of Judge Stone in the post-scratch universe's version of Night Court.
- All-Loving Hero: Despite being raised by the Condesce, he turned out to be an incredibly nice person. Dirk doesn't even begin to speculate on the tortures he must've undergone.
- Blow You Away: As the post-scratch version of John Egbert he is also a Heir of Breath.
- Call-Back:
- His waving, slightly head-tilted pose in this photo is a reference back to this famous panel depicting John.
- His status as a friend and rival of Harry Anderson, and his taking the Night Court role really played by Anderson, references John's fondness of Anderson.
- His waving, slightly head-tilted pose in this photo
- The Danza: In the real Night Court, Harry Anderson's character was named Harold Stone. In the post-scratch universe, where Poppop played that role instead of Anderson, the character is instead named Johnny Stone.
- Good Parents: Implied; when Dad Crocker sees John for the very first time, he remembers Poppop and immediately hugs him, implying that Poppop was a good enough father to him that he'd remember him fondly.
- In Spite of a Nail: A book by the title of Harry Anderson's "Wise Guy" still exists, and Jane owns it just as John did, but in the post-scratch universe it's instead a memoir of his days as a private eye after retiring from comedy when he couldn't beat his rival John.
- Mummies at the Dinner Table: His body has been stuffed and mounted in front of the fireplace (as stipulated in his will), meaning that he's five feet away from anyone trying to watch television and eat dinner on the couch.
- Point of Divergence: Since John didn't land with dual-wielded flintlock pistols like Grandpa Harley did on pre-scratch Earth, Colonel Sassacre lived to raise him.
- The Pollyanna: Despite growing up under the heel of the Condesce, he went on to become a famous comedian. This suggests to Dirk that Crocker "must have been seriously immune to witnessing fucked up shit".
- Red Herring: He's hinted to be what will be prototyped as Jane's sprite, but he's thrown into the depths of space by GCat before she can prototype him.
- Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: Inverted with respect to Harry Anderson by taking his role as Judge Stone in Night Court. Played straight by Harry Anderson who becomes a private detective as a result.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Much as Jake looks near-identical to John, Poppop looks almost indistinguishable from Grandpa as far as we can see.
- Vaudeville: Possibly where he performed as a comedian in his younger days, if references to his vaudevillian antics are to be taken literally.
Grandma English / Jade English
Jake's late grandmother, Jade's post-scratch iteration, and the counterpart of Grandpa Harley. Unlike her adoptive brother, she set out away from the Batterwitch at an early age. She was an eccentric and brilliant woman, who explored the world, created Skaianet to rival Crockercorp (but lost), and raised Jake, before being murdered by the Condesce when Jake was very young.- Ambiguously Evil: She created Skaianet, heavily themed with Lord English motifs... in order to combat the Condesce using the one thing she feared.
- Cool Old Lady: Jake considers her to have been both eccentric and rad.
- Crazy-Prepared: Which she passed down to Jake. Especially when it comes to access to mobile computing devices.
- Defector from Decadence: She created her own corporation to compete with Crocker Corp, rather than inherit it from the "cruel baroness." Unfortunately, it was crushed.
- Determinator: Vowed to do everything to stop Betty Crocker after she murdered B2 Halley.
- The Exile: After losing to BCCorp, she was forced to seek shelter on a small, remote island.
- Heroes Love Dogs: Betty Crocker's murder of B2 Halley began a lifelong vendetta that Grandma never gave up.
- Meaningful Rename: She changed her last name to English to insult the Batterwitch. This is similar to how Jack Noir changed his name to Spades Slick (after Bilious Slick). Interestingly, she seemed to know about the actual Lord English and what he looked like.
- Never Mess with Granny: Jake inherited his "absurd arsenal" from his grandma. Considering what we know of Jade Harley, there's not much doubt she could use it, if Jake considers her "rad."
- Posthumous Character
- Renaissance Man: A globe-trotting adventuress, former owner of a large corporation, inventor of advanced computer and other technology, etc.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Her life basically amounts to this, given that she died alone in exile with her adoptive grandson. It's perhaps not as shaggy as it seems, given that the Condesce killed her personally. The full truth of what Grandma English managed to do is unknown.
- Space Master: As the post-scratch version of Jade Harley she is also a Witch of Space.
- Take That!: The apparent reason she changed her name to English, since Lord English is said to be the only thing that the Condesce fears.
- Viking Funeral: Jake had to build a makeshift funeral pyre, rather than risk the island's wildlife getting at her remains.
Mom Lalonde
- Action Girl: She kills Guy Fieri and rides his corpse down a waterfall.
- Combat Pragmatist: When she confronts Fieri, she blinds him with a pair of needles before he has a chance to attack and rides him down a waterfall.
- Darker and Edgier: Compared to Rose, she's more morality-ambiguous.
- Improbable Weapon User: Knitting needles and yarn. While it's left ambiguous whether she uses them as magic wands or daggers, like Rose does, they don't seem to hinder her.
- Foreshadowing: Her writing includes, amongst other things, a chess match where the opponent played on despite losing their King and an Anti-Hero antagonist of ambiguous gender standing under a caduceus, which is UU's symbol. According to Word of God, Rose's original wizard fiction was about the trolls. The full, published version involves Calmasis hunting down and killing each wizard one-by-one, with suitably ironic deaths. Each Troll thus far has had an ironic death.
- Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Like her Pre-Scratch child self, she has a penchant for fancy dresses, even during combat.
- Light 'em Up: As the post-scratch version of Rose Lalonde she is also a Seer of Light.
- Never Mess with Granny: She was well into her fifties by the time she confronted Fieri.
- Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Roxy accuses her of this for caching cabinets full of booze she probably never drinks for Roxy to find in the future. Roxy just takes the booze though. According to Dirk, Complacency of The Learned was basically a massive Take That! against the Condesce, making Black Comedy of her race's downfall and near-exctinction. She used her powers as a Seers to learn of the trolls' death, and wrote the book specifically so that it would catch the Condesce's attention and remind her of her dead race."TT: It's the kind of thing you wouldn't pick up on unless you were someone who understood what happened, like the Condesce, which was kind of the point. I think it was her way of letting the witch know, "I'm on to you.""
- Reclusive Artist: In-Universe. Lived in the middle of nowhere and had a reputation for not tolerating Paparazzi.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Subverted, it's not the money so much as how she got it that left her above the law. She made way more money than should've been possible even if her books weren't dark and inaccessible. Suspected involvement of wytchkkrafts discouraged criminal investigations and even kept the Batterwitch at bay.
- Seers: Well she is the same genetically as Rose Lalonde, and she somehow possess VISION OMNIFOLD and knows intricate details about the Condesce, UU and uu, and the Post-Scratch Human Session.
- Uncle Pennybags: Used her vast riches to combat the Condesce.
Bro Strider
Dirk's Ancestor, Dave's post-scratch iteration, and the counterpart of Bro Strider. He became a very successful filmmaker, among other things, with an actual Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff movie being one of his latest productions as of the day on which Act 6 starts. He served as a integral member of the Resistance note , giving him "a reputation staked on some order of MARTIAL NOBILITY."
- Cool Shades: Like his pre-scratch counterpart, he is in possession of Ben Stiller's Starsky & Hutch shades, the difference being that this time they were given to him by Stiller himself.
- For Want Of A Nail: Because he never got into the strife that turned his Bladekind into 1/2bladekind, he still uses ordinary, intact swords.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite not being friends with John, he's still collects movie paraphernalia from Con Air, Ben Stiller's sunglasses, and other kitsch elements from
bad pop culture, which he defended "like Fort Knox. Ironically of course." - Irony: As with his pre-Scratch incarnation, his primary motivation in life.
- It Runs on Nonsensoleum: He somehow invented a way to make JPEG artifacts in real life, which led to making a fortune on items no one wanted to buy because they had negative cost to make.
- Take That!: His later Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff movies became subtle protest art against the growing reach of Crockercorp. Unfortunately, this is implied to have led to the death of him and Ben Stiller, and stated to be the reason Donald Glover was assassinated for playing Geromy.
- Time Master: As the post-scratch version of Dave Strider he is also a Knight of Time.
God Cat / GCat
Vriska later tricked Tavros into accidentally prototyping God Cat into himself after the retcons, creating GCATavrosprite. However, Tavros' persona was not overwritten, effectively killing off God Cat and leaving him as the new B2 First Guardian.
- Alice Allusion: A mysterious, teleporting cat that has a connection with an innocent girl who always wears blue, likes to make mischief, and is associated with a tyrannical, Axe-Crazy queen. All he's missing is the famous grin...
- Ambiguous Gender: Unlike Bec or Doc Scratch, its gender is never established. Doc Scratch states that First Guardians are sexless, but he views himself as male and everyone else views Bec as male. No one in the Alpha Session seems to have settled on a gender for GCAT.
- Ambiguously Related: While Bec was cloned from Colonel Sassacre's dog and Doc Scratch was a fusion clone of an omniscient cue ball and Lil' Cal, GCAT's origins are unclear. It's speculated by some that he was cloned from Jaspers, but this was never confirmed.
- Animalistic Abomination: Like Becquerel, he's less a superpowered animal as he is a seething mass of energy bound in a godlike animal form. Unlike Bec, however, he is not a benevolent example.
- The Blank: Except for his muzzle and green tongue, he has no facial features.
- Cats Are Magic: He's a godlike Reality Warper in the shape of a cat.
- Cats Are Mean: Jade was very fond of Bec, calling him her best friend. Jane is... much more ambivalent about GCat. He also indirectly killed Jaspers/Frigglish, left Roxy stranded in the Furthest Ring by cutting off her escape plan from the hungry Dersites, blocked Jane from pre-entry prototyping with Poppop Crocker by ejecting his stuffed corpse into space, also permanently preventing him from being used in post-entry prototyping, and transports Roxy to Derse to be found by the Condesce.
- Cool Cat: Everything he does is very nonchalant.Just look at that aloof little bastard. He doesn't give a shit about anything, does he?
- Death of Personality: Just like Bec up there. Even worse for GCAT, in fact, as there's no indication that his personality is still around in GCATavsprite.
- Killed Off for Real: He's prototyped into Jane's sprite after Tavros was, a la Becquerel and Jade's sprite. Unlike last time, the second being's prototyping does not override the former's persona, leaving a First Guardian-ified Tavros as the sprite's personality.
- Meaningful Name: Since the post-Scratch kids can't agree on a good name for him, they call him God Cat — or GCat for short, which is made up of the first letters of the four bases of DNA, Guanine, Cytosine, Adenine, and Thymine.
- Mind Control: GCat in the future is under the Condesce's control. It's implied that she's been controlling the cat's actions during Roxy and Dirk's time, and it's possible she's also doing it in Jane and Jake's.
- The Mole: 5 months into the game, he's still hanging out with Jane and Roxy, which makes it easy to kidnap the latter a few minutes later.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Jane has commented on how nobody can come up with a good name for him, so the group just refer to him as either God Cat or GCat.
- Reality Warper: Like all the other First Guardians, he's capable of teleporting himself and others across planetary distances and warp the dimensions of objects, seemingly at will.
- Right-Hand Cat: The Condesce can be seen petting GCat (while under her control) in [S] DD: Ascend more casually.
- Stealth Pun: Like Doc Scratch he is thematically related to the verb scratch, in this case a more common meaning of the word.
- Teleportation: This is all we've seen of his powers so far.
- Troll: He once teleported Jane across town to a paddock in the middle of heavy rain, for absolutely no (known) reason at all. However, in the future he's under the control of the Condesce, meaning his "Trolling" might well be part of her plans.
Frightening Fauna
Jake's island is populated by large numbers of frightening fauna... which happen to be the species of lusus seen in-comic on Alternia. The Condesce brought them with her on her ship as part of a plan to recreate Alternian society, but this ended in failure due to her own lusus killing off trolls and due to a lack of symbiosis between humans and Alternian life.- Ascended Extra: The skywhale lusus reappears, despite not belonging to any of the trolls in the comic.
- Ascended Meme: The giant counterpart of Karkat's lusus is called a "gigantic Earth crabdad" after a common fandom name for it.
- Chekhov's Boomerang: Jake's attack on the "gigantic Earth crabdad" confirms that it has candy red blood like Karkat.
- Giant Mook: The size of the lusii is pretty variable; the centaurs especially range from being their original size when seen with Equius to being the size of skyscrapers, probably intended as a continuation of Aurthour's Shout-Out to Humanimals. The "gigantic Earth crabdad" was also several times the size of Karkat's lusus.
- Kaiju: Some of them are comfortably larger than buildings.
- Lost World: Jake's island has taken on this flavor because of the unexplained presence of populations of alien monsters.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: The sweet fairy bulls. Jake reacts badly when he accidentally murders one.
- Single Specimen Species: At least a few lusii seem to be solitary monsters and not an entire population.
A2 Troll Lusus
The trolls have a different kind of guardian, their Lusus Naturae, a kind of monster that takes the place of a parental figure as any adult would kill them without a second thought. They all die in various accidents and become each troll's sprite with the exception of Aradia, who is her own sprite.
In the post-Scratch universe, Jake English's island is populated by FRIGHTENING FAUNA which are pretty much identical to the lusus.
For tropes pertaining to the similar beasts found on Jake's island, see the folder above. For tropes pertaining to lusii other than the main trolls', see Homestuck: Other Characters.
In the post-Scratch universe, Jake English's island is populated by FRIGHTENING FAUNA which are pretty much identical to the lusus.
For tropes pertaining to the similar beasts found on Jake's island, see the folder above. For tropes pertaining to lusii other than the main trolls', see Homestuck: Other Characters.
- Bilingual Bonus: Lusus Naturae is Latin for "Freak of nature".
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Because their deaths were spoiled beforehand, some of the lusus get very unceremonious deaths. We don't even know how Eridan's lusus died.
- Flat Character: With a few minor exceptions, the lusii receive very little characterization of any sort before dying.
- Inconsistent Spelling: There's been some consternation over the correct plural of "lusus". On one hand, their death theme is "Death of the Lusii", with two Is. On the other hand, that's not the correct latin plural, so people tend to go with "lusi" with a single I. Radiation has said that he made a mistake with the pluralisation in titling that song, and pretty much sees it as an impetus to redo the song one day. "Lusi" is also wrong, based on a mistaken assumption that anything ending in -us is a noun in second declension. "Lusus" is fourth declension, so its correct Latin plural is "lusūs".
- Killed Off for Real: The lusus die a second time after they were revived as sprites.
- Leitmotif: The lusus get a collective death theme.
- Played for Drama: You know they're going to die. Some of the deaths — especially in the cases of Gamzee's guardian, Tinkerbull, and Aurthour — were set up to be particularly heartwrenching.
- The Unreveal: Several of their deaths are never shown but mentioned heavily, like Feferi's. As another example, Gamzee's lusus died from a harpoon wound, a direct murder unlike the accidents of the others. At the time many suspected Eridan did this, but it has never been referenced since.
- Uncatty Resemblance: This is the case for many of the trolls and their lusii. Also, all lusus seem to choose a troll with their same blood color.
Ram lusus
Aradia's lusus, a ram creature who was dead (along with Aradia herself) before the trolls' session began. It is the only lusus that was not prototyped as a sprite.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: It resembles a kangaroo with a ram's head.
- Posthumous Character: It dies well before the comic's events begin.
- Uncatty Resemblance: It has the same curled horns as Aradia.
Tinkerbull
Tavros's lusus, a tiny fairy bull with whom he often plays Fiduspawn, a troll analog of Pokémon.
- Punny Name: Its name is a portmanteau of "Tinkerbell", matching its fairy-like appearance, and "bull", describing its species.
- Uncatty Resemblance: Tavros and Tinkerbull share the same horns. Tinkerbull is also feeble and delicate, as Tavros is crippled, but has fairy wings, much like the Summoner and Rufioh, who in the latter's case had the same kind of lusus.
Bicyclops lusus
Sollux's lusus, a large bicyclops creature with two one-eyed heads, one with a red eye, one with a blue eye, and with a horn on each head.
- Classical Cyclops: It's a two-headed cyclops, with each head having a single eye — one solid red and the other solid blue — and a single horn, which is referred to as a "biclops".
- Technicolor Eyes: Like its charge, it has one solid red and one solid blue eye.
- Uncatty Resemblance: It has the same red and blue eyes as Sollux does and one horn on each head that resemble his four.
Crabdad
Karkat's lusus, a large, bipedal crab monster who is supposedly very crabby, much like Karkat himself.
- Giant Enemy Crab: It's a giant bipedal crustacean several times Karkat's height.
- Early-Bird Cameo: It first appears briefly in sprite form at the very end of the first Intermission when Spades Slick uses a viewscreen to look in on Karkat, a full act before Hivebent and its proper debut.
- Informed Attribute: It's described as very cranky and crabby, but its minimal role in the comic means that this is never really showcased.
- Uncatty Resemblance: Its supposed crabbiness would match Karkat's own short temper.
Pounce de Leon
Nepeta's lusus, a two-mouthed cat creature.
- Punny Name: It's named after Ponce de Leon, a historical figure whose last name means "Lion", with the first name modified to "Pounce".
- Too Many Mouths: Downplayed. It has two mouths, one above the other.
- Uncatty Resemblance: She shares Nepeta's cat-like mouth (though doubled) and her ears are in the same place as Nepeta's horns.
Mother Grub lusus
Kanaya's lusus, a very large moth-like creature with horns like Kanaya's and large wings. Mother grubs are supposedly significant in troll society for being the creatures to whom buckets of troll genetic material are given, for troll reproduction.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: It's a giant grublike insect several times taller than Kanaya.
- Giant Flyer: In its first appearance, Kanaya is seen riding her lusus near her hive.
- Uncatty Resemblance: It has Kanaya's horns and lips.
Dragon lusus
Terezi's lusus, a large blind dragon. Unlike the other trolls, Terezi was not raised by her lusus, and instead the lusus was inside an egg, until it hatched, and was shortly afterwards killed (and then revived as a sprite). However, it communed with Terezi after the latter being blinded, teaching Terezi how to get around by smelling.
- The Hyena: After becoming Terezi's sprite, it's constantly giggling.
- Our Dragons Are Different: It's a blind dragon that communicates telepathically, "sees" through smell and taste (which it taught Terezi how to do), spends it childhood in a giant egg, and hatches from it fully grown.
- Parental Abandonment: Terezi wasn't raised by her lusus at all — it remained unhatched for most of her life, and died as soon as it emerged from its egg.
- Pattern-Coded Eggs: Implied. Lusii are consistently depicted as having the same blood colors as their charges. Terezi's lusus hatches from an egg the same teal shade as Terezi's blood.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: It spends most of its time in its egg, and dies one page after hatching.
Spidermom
Vriska's lusus. It's a Giant Spider who is the second largest of the trolls' lusii, behind Feferi's lusus Gl'bgolyb. She feeds entirely on trolls, meaning that Vriska has to kill trolls to feed her lusus — though this is quite normal in troll society.
- Abusive Alien Parents: Vriska's status as a Serial Killer is largely due to her lusus. Either she feeds other trolls to it (and, remember, all other trolls on Alternia are children) or it eats her instead.
- Giant Spider: She resembles a monstrous spider around the same size as Vriska's hive. As a result, she cannot share Vriska's home in the manner of other lusii and instead lairs in the canyon beneath it.
- Horror Hunger: She eats troll children.
- High-Pressure Blood: When Vriska beheads her, she sprays her with a tide of her blood.
- Mercy Kill: After she's left crushed under a landslide, Vriska puts her dying, trapped spider lusus out of its misery by beheading it.
- Uncatty Resemblance: It has a fang bent like one of Vriska's horns and has eight eyes, although arrayed differently.
Aurthour
Equius's lusus. He's a centaur with a humanoid head and a sort of cow-horse body, with a mustache and an udder. Equius was assigned this lusus because only Aurthour could handle his incredible strength.
- Battle Butler: Played with. Despite serving as Equius's butler/guardian, he can't take a punch ... or a gentle pat on the shoulder even. However, it turns out on the next page that Aurthour is a member one of the strongest lusus species on the planet. It's just that Equius is really strong.
- Butlerspace: He's initially absent during Equius' introduction, but just as his charge starts to wonder the heck is he appears from offpanel with a fresh glass of milk in hand.Oh, there he is. He was just preparing an ice cold glass of nutritious LUSUS MILK for you, with a thick foamy head on it, just the way you like it.
You cannot hope to beat Aurthour in a butler-off. He is simply the best there is. - The Jeeves: He serves as a magnificently mustached live-in manservant for his charge, always ready to dart in at Equius' side with a fresh towel or glass of milk. Equius' commentary notes that he's simply the best there is at being a butler.
- Lactating Male: He's described as a male and has masculine traits such as a long mustache and a sculpted, distinctly not female chest, but also has prominent cow udders. This is a Mythology Gag to Andrew's series at Team Special Olympics called Humanimals.
- Mythology Gag: Aurthour is in his entirety a reference to one of Andrew Hussie's old works a comic called Humanimals.
- Our Centaurs Are Different: It looks like how centaurs are normally depicted, with the exception of having cow udders. Notably, in its sprite form, its Fog Feet entirely replace its centauroid torso.
Goatdad
Gamzee's lusus. It's a giant sea goat who is always out in the ocean, often not raising Gamzee like a lusus is supposed to. However Gamzee appears to trust his lusus regardless.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: It's a giant goat with the back end of a fish, mermaid-style.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Gamzee's lusus is widly assumed by the Trolls and Gamzee himself to be kind of a lazy idiot. However, his neglect and letting Gamzee eat his slime pies led to Gamzee living a more normal and happier life as opposed to subjuggulating everyone.
- Parental Abandonment: He was entirely absent for the majority of Gamzee's life. Yet, he still goes outside every night to keep an eye out for him. This actually turned out to be a good thing, for Gamzee at least.
- Peaceful in Death: In contrast to its' species normally violent nature, it dies peacefully after returning home to Gamzee.
- Uncatty Resemblance: It has horns that resemble Gamzee's, and if the monster on Jake's island is any indication, shares his terrible temper and capacity for violence.
Seahorse Dad
Eridan's lusus, a large flying seahorse who Eridan rides through the sky.
- Killed Offscreen: Its death is never shown or described, although it is known to have happened due to all the lusii dying.
- Flying Seafood Special: Despite resembling a regular fish in all aspects but its size, it can fly freely through the air.
- Seahorse Steed: It's large enough for Eridan to ride it like a horse.
- Stealth Pun: Eridan's trolltag is caligulasAquarium, and his lusus is a seahorse. The Roman emperor Caligula was notorious for — among other things — wanting to make his favorite horse, Incitatus, a full consul.
Gl'bgolyb
Feferi's lusus, and the only lusus available to fuchsia-bloods, the highest blood caste in troll society. As such, it is shared by the Condesce, who is the troll empress. It is a humongous Eldritch Abomination, stated by Karkat to be the size of a city, and its name is a pun on "glub glub".
- Brown Note: It kills trolls if its voice is ever raised above a whisper. If it ever got really upset, it would release a psychic shockwave that would kill all trolls in the galaxy. Fortunately, this will not happen so long as it is fed and happy. Eventually it does happen, and Sollux dies.
- Eldritch Abomination: It's an island-sized mass of tentacles, capable of emitting psychic screams that will kill every troll everywhere, and is described as an emissary from the Horrorrterrors of the Furthest Ring, the setting's equivalent of Lovecraftian Outer Gods.
- Horror Hunger: It must always be well-fed. Or else it will raise its voice, which will kill every troll in the galaxy. Its meal of choice is other lusus.
- I Have Many Names: Trolls refer to her using a variety of pseudonyms and titles, such as the Rift's Carbuncle, the Emissary to the Horrorterrors, and the Speaker of the Vast Glub.
- Killed Offscreen: She dies off-panel in some unspecified manner, which is known to have happened mainly because the Vast Glub that she released as she died killed Sollux.
- Kraken and Leviathan: It's a sea-dwelling, beaked mass of tentacles the size of a small island.
- Mama Bear: It's stated to have died saving Feferi's life.
- Olympus Mons: It's not really clear if she's an actual Horrorterror or just one of their representatives capable of releasing a psychic shockwave capable of wiping out every troll in the universe (except for the Condesce and Feferi, who share her blood colour and have a natural Psychic Block Defense against it).
- Outliving One's Offspring: She was previously the lusus of every other fuchsia-blooded heiress born before Feferi, all of whom were eventually killed by the Condesce.
- Uncatty Resemblance: The Condesce's mane of hair, when viewed from the side, is a dead ringer for Gl'bgoylb. Feferi's hair isn't quite long enough to get the same effect but still resembles a few tentacles.
A2 Ancestors
Ancestors
From left to right: The Handmaid, the Summoner, the Ψiioniic / the Helmsman, the Signless / the Sufferer, the Disciple, the Dolorosa, Neophyte Redglare, Marquise Spinneret Mindfang, E%ecutor Darkleer / the Expatri8, the Grand Highblood, Orphaner Dualscar, Her Imperious Condescension / the Condesce / the Baroness
The Ancestors are Trolls who lived centuries ago and share a sign with the ones alive now. They are said to act as benevolent guardians if their descendant troll finds out who they are. Trolls with low-ranking blood colors tend to think of this as a fairy tale, but highbloods usually believe in the concept deeply. Not only is this belief true, but Karkat actually created the twelve troll ancestors at the same time he created himself and the other trolls we already know. The Ancestors all lived and died in the past with two exceptions — one who came from the far future, and one who lived to reach that point in the future and went somewhere else.
Doc Scratch revealed that they had Alternate Universe counterparts that had played Sburb/Sgrub but were unable to succeed. See their own page for details, as they have begun to appear on their own.
The Ancestors are:
- The Handmaid / the Demoness: Aradia's Ancestor
- The Summoner: Tavros's Ancestor
- The Ψiioniic / The Helmsman: Sollux's Ancestor (pronounced Psionic)
- The Sufferer / the Signless: Karkat's Ancestor
- The Disciple: Nepeta's Ancestor
- The Dolorosa: Kanaya's Ancestor
- Neophyte Redglare: Terezi's Ancestor
- Marquise Spinneret Mindfang: Vriska's Ancestor
- E%ecutor Darkleer / the Expatri8: Equius's Ancestor
- The Grand Highblood: Gamzee's Ancestor
- Orphaner Dualscar: Eridan's Ancestor
- Her Imperious Condescension / the Condesce / Betty Crocker: Feferi's Ancestor
The General Tropes
- Anime Hair: Spinneret and the Disciple. The Grand Highblood takes it to the logical extreme. Her Imperious Condescension takes it to the illogical extreme.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The pre-Scratch trolls got screwed.
- Call-Back:
- Numerous details about them, from Gamzee being an elite bloodthirsty killer clown to the dangerous magic cue ball to Karkat being a leader, foreshadow future developments in the story.
- In the other direction, Karkat's facetious commentary on the meaning of the Cancer symbol hints at his Ancestor's own fate 100 pages or so prior to the Sufferer's first physical appearance:CG: [...] AND MY SIGN IS A PICTOGRAPHIC SYMBOL THAT LOOSELY TRANSLATES AS "PLEASE HIKE THESE PANTS UP TO THIS GUY'S ARMPITS, CHAIN HIM TO A FLOGGING JUT, AND MAKE A FUCKING EXAMPLE OUT OF THIS SORRY SACK OF SHIT."
- Chekhov's Gunman: Dualscar and Mindfang were introduced early on as Eridan and Vriska's FLARP characters, and Her Imperious Condescension was mentioned very shortly after Feferi was introduced. The concept of Trolls having a special conection to their ancestors wasn't brought up until much later when Eridan explains to Jade how he got his gun, Ahab's Crosshairs.
- Cruel and Unusual Death:
- Neophyte Redglare, who either didn't know about or severely underestimated Spinneret Mindfang's powers. Mindfang mind-controlled an entire stadium of lowbloods into lynching her, hence why she never got past "neophyte."
- The Sufferer was tortured, flogged, shackled with red-hot irons and shot with arrows before he died.
- The Ψiioniic was forced to Cast from Hit Points to get the Battleship Condescension back to Alternia as quickly as possible. The incredible strain would have killed him if the Vast Glub didn't get to him first.
- The Dolorosa was forced to sexually please Mindfang, and was then killed by Dualscar either out of outrage or jealousy.
- Dramatic Irony: What we know about "our" trolls vs. their paradox clones/famous ancestors.
- Face Framed in Shadow: Most of them are only ever seen in profile. Only the Disciple, Sufferer, Mindfang, and the Condesce have had their pupils shown but continue to appear in shadowy profiles. This applies even though the Condesce has become the Big Bad of Act 6. Several others never have their entire appearance revealed either. Orphaner Dualscar in particular never has his head distinctly shown, and his horns in his two appearances are just off panel.
- Mindfang's face is very faintly shown unshadowed on this page (bottom right).
- Played for Laughs in Hiveswap Friendsim, where The Grand Highblood is revealed to do this deliberately, getting a bit snippy about it when it's mentioned to him that his followers can't see his face.
- Mindfang's face is very faintly shown unshadowed on this
- Famous Ancestor: All of the ancestors held some kind of significance in troll history, be it a part of a great rebellion (the Summoner, the Sufferer, the Dolorosa, the Disciple, the Ψiioniic), holding some significant office or position (Mindfang, Dualscar, the Grand Highblood, Redglare, the Expatri8), or, in the most extreme cases, playing a key role in the entire history of the race (the Condesce and the Handmaid).
- Fan Fiction: Word of God is that the sequences involving the Ancestors are meant as a Take That! against Homestuck fanfic writers. Pretty much all of the ancestors have some Mary Sue traits. It's even referred to as fanfiction on this page's banner Alt Text. It's somewhat hilarious that when we finally meet the pre-Scratch Trolls, several of them are based on how the post-Scratch troll players are written in fanfiction.
- Fauxshadow:
- Mindfang's journalog hints at two big fights. The Grand Highblood/Gamzee will kill Orphaner/Eridan, and Mindfang/Vriska will kill Redglare/Terezi. Both are subverted by Kanaya, whose ancestor was Mindfang's nameless sex slave and killed by Orphaner, comes out of nowhere and KO's Gamzee and Vriska and kills Eridan, while Vriska and Terezi do end up in a "battle" of sorts but Terezi kills Vriska rather than vice versa.
- It also sort of back-fauxshadows everything we know about the trolls (see below), especially the Summoner, who was the one who ended up slaying Mindfang, and was possibly the greatest hero trollkind has ever known. It's obvious now that Vriska was honestly trying to get Tavros to kill her, and a large part of her disappointment was that he simply wasn't up to the task yet.
- Foreshadow:
- The kids cause a scratch which will reset their universe at the cost of their memories, which is what the troll ancestors did. However, the ancestors were the players in a peaceful version of Alternia and "our" trolls were their ancestors. The problems for "our" trolls started when Karkat's ancestor the Sufferer started remembering what happened.
- The Ψiioniic died trying to get the Condesce's battleship to Alternia and Sollux dies (again) trying to get the asteroid to the Green Sun.
- Generation Xerox: Played with across the board. One wonders how different "our" trolls would've turned out if they were a bit older and the Summoner's rebellion hadn't caused the Condesce to decentralize the empire and leave all the younguns on Alternia. One can also only imagine the brutal ancestors playing SGRUB on the peaceful pre-scratch Alternia.
- Terezi & Redglare and Eridan & Dualscar are incredibly similar in both their ambitions and relationships.
- Vriska's similarity to Mindfang is a case of the trope being enforced; the latter sent the former her diary so that she would gain the necessary tools to deal with the harshness of troll youth. Her character arc is mostly about her attempts and failures to live up her Byronic Hero ancestor's example and to force those around her into that mold, finishing with her growing awareness that maybe that isn't what she really wants or needs.
- The case of the Grand Highblood and Gamzee is a bit different; Gamzee doesn't really seem to know (or care) about his Ancestor per se, but rather takes up the office of the Subjugglators once he isn't stoned on sopor slime.
- Darkleer differs only slightly from his descendant: he openly defied the highbloods for the lowblooded woman he pitied (the Disciple) and spent the rest of his life lamenting his defiance of the social order. Equius finds defying the hemospectrum a depraved, shameful, and secretly enjoyable kink. His mechanical ability is the same, though, as is his STRENGTH and building a mechanical arm for Mindfang.
- The Summoner and Tavros are as different as night and day. Tavros falls incredibly short of the kind of behavior you'd expect from the descendant of the naturally gifted leader of a huge rebellion against the Highbloods. Then again Vriska's interference certainly didn't help him either.
- Likewise Karkat and the Sufferer, who was such a great rebel leader of trolls that he was wiped from history while Karkat became leader because the others didn't want to listen to his whining.
- Feferi and the Condesce are the most extreme pair, even beyond Tavros and the Summoner: the former is the most compassionate person in the empire and the latter is the most vicious. They're also the only two who could've possibly met at some point. Feferi, the nicest and most peaceful troll on Alternia, was the peaceful pre-scratch universe's Empress. Meenah, who immediately showed her Jerkass and was joyfully catatonic after hearing the exploits of the Batterwitch/Condesce, is the Batterwitch/Condesce.
- Aradia is the Maid of Time, and her ancestor was/is the Handmaid of Lord English and a wielder of "clockwork majyyks". Both of them are pawns to cosmic forces—or at least, they're more acutely aware of their status as pawns than any of their peers are—and are 0kay with this, whether simply resigned to their fate or emotionless in general, except during their occasional fits of violent rage.
- Hero of Another Story: Scratch reveals here that they were the heroes of the pre-Scratch troll session.
- May–December Romance: Mindfang and the Summoner. He hasn't been born yet, and she knows about him thanks to her prized magic cueball. Although she doesn't know it, this also occurs between Mindfang and the Dolorosa, the latter having been alive for hundreds of sweeps — although it's implied Mindfang was around when the Sufferer was executed.
- Meaningful Name: As it turns out, though, the fancy names aren't just for show; the names are, in fact, perfectly descriptive of each individual Ancestor. Mindfang really can tear into lesser minds at will, and Orphaner very likely did leave a mess of orphans in his wake. It even crosses over into "our" trolls' Sgrub titles:
- The Maid of Time: Granted immortality and the ability to travel to key-points throughout Alternian history, shaping it into the over-the-top Crapsack World it was. She's also subservient to English, making her Maid-ness apparent.
- The Witch of Time: Instead of manipulating time the way Jade manipulates space/size she wound up getting manipulated by time.
- The Page of Breath: He could fly and was probably erased from the pages of history.
- The Rogue of Breath: Horuss mentions Rufioh's talent for "stealing the breath from people", meaning inducing them to talk until they're out of breath.
- The Mage of Doom: Psychically powered the Empress' starship, bringing doom to any alien life they found.
- The Heir of Doom: Despite doing his best to warn everyone about the doom they were shortly to possess, they refused to listen, forcing him to nearly kill himself saving them.
- The Knight of Blood: Tortured bloody until he renounced love for rage at the end of his life.
- The Seer of Blood: Kankri is obsessed with respecting other people's triggers, though he's not very good at it; the Sufferer's crusade, which finally gave Kankri a real cause to rebel against, was triggered by visions of his previous life on Beforus.
- The Rogue of Heart: Deeply in love with the Sufferer ("Their love surpassed the four quadrants — whatever that means") and lived in seclusion with his teachings.
- The Mage of Heart: Obsessed with relationships, and has talked about working her magic to get Meenah and Karkat together.
- The Sylph of Space: A sylph is a female spirit said to be filled with melancholy. Dolorosa means "Lady of Sorrows".
- The Maid of Space: Porrim was basically a handmaiden to the Mother Grub, a position she, as a feminist, didn't like.
- The Seer of Mind: As a legislacerator (bounty hunter/prosecutor/executioner) she should be able to outwit her prey; unfortunately she was herself outwitted.
- The Knight of Mind: Latula wants to be a Totally Radical cool kid like fellow Knight player Dave, but unironically. Porrim implies that this is an act and she's hiding her intelligence.
- The Thief of Light: She plundered many riches and stole the heart of the Summoner, one of the most heroic trolls in history.
- The Sylph of Light: After billions of years in the dreambubbles Aranea has the best insight into how things work and offered to heal Terezi's eyes. Reborn as Mindfang she saw that she would die at the hand of her lover centuries in the future.
- The Heir of Void: His ancestor was a "psychic void" that made him undetectable even to Doc Scratch.
- The Page of Void: He couldn't master his status as a blank page and went insane.
- The Bard of Rage: His only demand is to be entertained; those who don't get added to his bloody frescoes.
- The Prince of Rage: A servant of the raging Lord English, using said rage to destroy.
- The Prince of Hope: He hoped the Subjugglators would take care of his kismesis but it appears they took care of him instead.
- The Bard of Hope: He let hope be destroyed for thousands by leaving a sea of orphans in his wake.
- The Witch of Life: The Condesce could extend a life but not resurrect it.
- The Thief of Life: Meenah stole all her friends' lives to trade for the scratch; reborn as the Condesce she's stolen billions of lives.
- The Maid of Time: Granted immortality and the ability to travel to key-points throughout Alternian history, shaping it into the over-the-top Crapsack World it was. She's also subservient to English, making her Maid-ness apparent.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Special mention to the Handmaid with her alternate title, the Demoness.
- No Name Given: We know from Doc Scratch's narration that they do have names, with possible exception to the Handmaid, but they're never referred to by them in-universe outside of the implication that they share their pre-Scratch selves' names.
- Posthumous Character: Almost all of them are dead by the time they're introduced.
- Really 700 Years Old: The higher blood castes fall into this. Mindfang states at the time of writing her journal that she doesn't think the Summoner has been born yet, and was most likely in her hundreds when she had a relationship with him. The Grand Highblood is implied to be alive at the time that Hiveswap Friendsim takes place, and the Condesce is probably the oldest troll out of all of them, being the highest blood caste and taking over a thousand earth years to return to Alternia after the Vast Glub. The Helmsman and the Handmaid were also hundreds of years old thanks to having their lives extended by the Condesce and Lord English respectively.
- Reincarnation Romance: Okay, not the technical definition of the trope, but a lot of pairings of the Ancestors recur in the modern trolls. Some play out the same way, like Eridan's unrequited crush on Feferi or cooling of ♣Auspistices with Vriska, or Darkleer's inability to kill the Disciple resurfacing as ♦Moirallegiance between Nepeta and Equius. But some are subverted like the Sufferer / the Disciple transcending all the quadrants, but Nepeta's crush on Karkat is unrequited. Whether this is due to age differences, the fact that the Ancestors were dropped in different times from one another (Redglare wasn't even around when the Sufferer died, for instance), or simple differences in character is unclear and will probably never be resolved.
- Rule of Symbolism: The Sufferer is essentially Troll Jesus, with the Dolorosa as the Virgin Mary. The Disciple is a conglomerate of the Apostles (particularly Saint Peter) and Mary Magdelene. However, the Ψiioniic doesn't really correspond to any figure in the New Testament.
- Sinister Silhouettes: The only facial features we've ever been able to see on them are eyes, mouths, face paint, and glasses.
- Spell My Name with a "The": Two thirds of them of them — the Grand Highblood, the Summoner, the Condesce, the Sufferer/Signless, the Dolorosa, the Ψiioniic/Helmsman, the Disciple, and the Handmaid/Demoness — preface their titles with "the". The remaining ones actually have names and aren't referred to by titles, though Darkleer is referred to as the E%ecutioner as well.
- Theme Naming: Most of the ancestors have eight-letter names except for the Grand Highblood/Subjugglator. This is often enforced in the comic by using special characters in place of letters, such as the Expatri8 and the Ψiioniic.
- Tron Lines: All of the Ancestors are shown only as black silhouettes with colored details, invoking this with their clothes especially... But also Darkleer, who had actual Tron Lines apparently drawn into his flesh.
- Unreliable Narrator: Maybe. While Word of God states that anything a troll says about their history and biology is true unless otherwise noted, we're getting this information from Vriska's ancestor/clone; then again, Mindfang is less "dramaaaaaaaatic" than Vriska. Later on further information is revealed by Doc Scratch, who is unreliable in his own way.
- Hussie (or his stand-in) further complicates matters a little by calling all this information Doc Scratch's "troll fanfiction" in the banner altext. On the other hand Scratch is the author of post-scratch Alternia, and Hussie pretty much hates the guy for taking over his story.
- Hussie did say that Mindfang was "the real deal," and her story is simultaneously a retelling of real historical events (from her perspective) and a parody of ridiculous, trashy pirate romance fiction.
- Hussie (or his stand-in) further complicates matters a little by calling all this information Doc Scratch's "troll fanfiction"
- Victory-Guided Amnesia: Originally, the Ancestors were the twelve players of the first troll session, who had to perform a Scratch due to being unable to complete the game themselves. As this effectively reset their timelines and history, their post-Scratch selves have no memory of their previous lives outside of the Signless' vague dreams.
The Handmaid/The Demoness
Aradia's ancestor and Damara's post-Scratch self. The Handmaid was taken early in life in the service of Doc Scratch, who trained her to serve as Lord English's servant. In this role, the Handmaid moved through Alternia's history, intensifying the world's harsh conditions and sowing discord and bigotry to promote the growth of a savage and aggressive society, and so earned the appellation of the Demoness in troll society.
- Anti Anti Christ: The Handmaid does not seem happy about her role in shaping history.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Pre-Scratch, Damara wanted desperately to serve Lord English and even sabotaged her own session to further his plans. Post-Scratch, the Handmaid got to do just that and found nothing but misery in it.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: This line about the Handmaid's future from Doc Scratch: "My lessons would emphasize obedience, mastery of the clockwork majyyks, and being locked in a room."
- The Corrupter: The Handmaid takes/took over for Doc Scratch, manipulating Alternia into a violent dystopia:Doc Scratch: She stirred up class warfare and intensified bigotry in whatever era she haunted. She made sure the descendents would enter a world which prepared them well for the game, and took measures to see that they would play as they did.
- The Dragon: She serves as Lord English' main agent in the world, and eventually became more well-known and feared than her master due to her higher activity.
- Dragon Lady: She described both as an Asian schoolgirl and death's "super foxy handmaid."
- Death Seeker: Due to the abuse she received from Doc Scratch and Lord English, she wants nothing more than a release from life.
- Driven to Suicide: She eventually dies willingly, though it remains unknown how long she lived before her encounter with the Condesce.
- Fate Worse than Death: The Handmaid has attempted suicide to escape from her eternal slavery, to no effect.
- Foreshadowing: Her hairstyle is similar to Meenah's (the Condesce's pre-scratch self), who her pre-scratch self Damara hated enough to join Lord English.
- Immortality Begins at Twenty: She doesn't look like she's aged much since she reached adulthood around nine sweeps.
- Immortality Hurts: So much, she'd rather die — or kill — than allow it to continue.
- Leitmotif: The Lost Child
- Not Quite Saved Enough: She has a few panels of blissful freedom thanks to Andrew Hussie, only to run into Lord English almost immediately.
- Time Master: As the B2 version of Damara Megido she is also a Witch of Time.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: She used to be such an adorable little grub.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: It isn't hard to feel bad for her, considering what she went through and in spite of what she's destined to do.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: She really, really doesn't.
The Summoner
Tavros' ancestor and Rufioh's post-Scratch self. He possessed the rare ability to commune with beasts, which led him to become a high-ranking cavalreaper, and eventually became the leader of a major sectarian uprising. His revolt ultimately failed, although it proved enough of a threat to drive the Condesce to ban all adult trolls from Alternia.
- The Beastmaster: His Communion powers give him the ability to control animals, including powerful Lusii like Pyralsprite.
- Blow You Away: As the B2 version of Rufioh Nitram he is also a Rogue of Breath.
- Rebel Leader: The Summoner led a revolution that, while ultimately crushed, prompted a huge upheaval of the Troll society.
- May–December Romance: He became romantically involved with Mindfang, who was hundreds of sweeps older than him and knew of his eventual birth long before he came into the world.
- Winged Humanoid: He was distinguished by a pair of great butterfly-like wings, which were strong enough to allow him to fly.
The Ψiioniic/The Helmsman
Sollux's Ancestor and Mituna's post-Scratch self. The Ψiioniic was a major figure in the Signless' rebellion, and after its defeat he was permanently wired into the Condesce's spaceship to serve as its Helmsman.
- And I Must Scream: He winds up being used as a battery for the Condesce's personal ship, with a lifespan to match her own. It takes the Vast Glub to put the poor man out of his misery.
- Comically Missing the Point: In Suffering Through (And For) the People, the Ψiionic threatens people for ignoring the Sufferer's words of tolerance and compassion.
- Fate Worse than Death: After the Sufferer's defeat, he becomes the battery for the Condesce's ship and is given an extended lifespan to match the Condesce's (he lived right up until the Vast Glub) — and this is someone she liked.
- Generation Xerox: A rather dark example. The Condesce grew very fond of him, enough so as to make a point of extending his life to match her own longevity, in a dark mirror to the genuine affection that would form between their descendants.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: The Ψiioniic is the battery that runs/navigates the Condesce's starship.
- Spell My Name With An S: His title is spelled using the Greek letter Ψ to replace the "psi" in "Psiioniic" and keep the eight-letter pattern.
- You Can't Fight Fate: As the B2 version of Mituna Captor he is also a Heir of Doom.
The Signless/The Sufferer
Karkat's Ancestor and Kankri's post-Scratch self. The Signless was a mutant, a candy red-blooded troll who lacked either a sign or a Lusus of his own. While Imperial law would have had him culled at birth, he was secretly smuggled away by one of the jade-blooded attendants of the Mother Grub, who afterwards raised him herself. On reaching adulthood, he began to preach a gospel of freedom and equality, which the tyrannical empire received about as well as might be expected. His rebellion ultimately failed and he was tortured to death, but his surviving followers managed to preserve the Sufferer's message and his final prophecy, that one day another one like him would come and herald the end of the world.
- Ascended Meme:
- Jegus and Gog, both in-jokes between Terezi and Dave ballooned massively into a huge fandom meme. The Sufferer turning out to be almost literally Troll Jesus has revitalized that and Andrew mentioned it was partially a nod to the meme.
- Pantskat, a meme revolving around a particular Off-Model drawing of Karkat, was given a nod with the Sufferer's "Righteous Leggings."
- Atomic F-Bomb: The Vast Expletive uttered by the dying Sufferer, the culmination of his idealism turning to rage under the highbloods' torture, and it's said that it caused his descendent to inherit his undying rage. The Homestuck Epilogues outright say that the Vast Expletive was "fuck", making it a literal example.
- Crystal Dragon Jesus: The Sufferer's cult is a big send-up to early Christinaity, with the Dolorosa as the Virgin Mary and the Disciple sharing a lot of traits of the Apostles mixed with Mary Magdalene, while his prophecy that another Signless would arrive one day to herald the end of the world mirrors the belief in the Second Coming of Christ. Unlike many other examples of this trope, the Sufferer's cult never did become a major religion.
- Cult: Following the Sufferer's execution, his followers — including Redglare — were reduced to being little more than a secret cult carrying on his beliefs and teachings on the down-low. Eventually even that faded away into little more than superstition, but they managed to make sure Karkat would have a lusus and a sign so he wasn't killed at birth.
- Messianic Archetype: He was basically the Troll version of Jesus, and preached that trolls of all blood colors should live in peace with one another. Indeed, his descendant, Karkat, is literally referred to as "the Second Coming of the Signless".
- The Mole: The Sufferer had at least one secret ally during Mindfang's time.
- Momma's Boy: A positive variant; it's pretty obvious that his relationship with the Dolorosa was very close, considering the fact that she remained a key member of his inner circle even after he grew to adulthood.
- Profane Last Words: The Sufferer's last word, uttered during his execution, is known as the Vast Expletive, filled with his extreme anger and rage at his unjust oppression. It also ties into the Sufferer's descendent, Karkat, who loves the less mythological expletive of "fuck".
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: The Signless alone among the Ancestors exhibited low levels of this, being able to remember some of pre-Scratch Alternia, but only brief glimpses. It's implied that this is due to the fact that his previous incarnation was a seer.
- Rebel Leader: The Sufferer led one a long time before that was so great, even mentioning it in your private journal was forbidden.
- The Power of Blood: As the B2 version of Kankri Vantas he is also a Seer of Blood.
- The Power of Hate: What the Sufferer discovered between getting the idealism tortured out of him and dying.
- The Power of Love: The Signless not only experienced a "love beyond the quadrants," but also called for acceptance for all regardless of blood.
- Straw Hypocrite: Implied; despite preaching for love and tolerance, the Signless's final sermon is one of pure rage. The characterization of his Pre-Scratch counterpart gives some leeway to this idea.
- Unperson: The Condesce made sure to completely obfuscate the Sufferer's existence after crushing his revolution. This is probably a good thing for his descendant Karkat, who unknowingly wears the Sufferer's "sym69l" on top of having mutant-red blood. Referenced later, when Meenah calls him "what his shit."
The Disciple
Nepeta's Ancestor and Meulin's post-Scratch self. The Disciple was one of the Signless' most fervent and devoted supporters, and the only one to escape the rebellion's defeat with both her life and freedom. She lived the rest of her days in hiding, preserving the Signless' memory to ensure that it would be passed on to future generations.
- The Power of Love: The Disciple loved the Sufferer and he in turn loved her so much that it superseded the need for the four quadrants. Doc dismisses this as being ridiculous, however.
- Rule of Symbolism: Her theme song, "Requited", contains both a high strings part (representing her) and a low strings part (representing the Signless), playing in harmony. At the very end of the song, there is only the high strings part left.
- Soul Power: As the B2 version of Meulin Leijon she is also a Mage of Heart.
- Tragic Keepsake: After the rebellion's defeat, she kept the Sufferer's Righteous Leggings as the only remainder of her deceased love.
- You Will Be Spared: She was supposed to be executed along with the Sufferer, but the E%ecutor took pity on her and allowed her to escape.
The Dolorosa
Kanaya's Ancestor and Porrim's post-Scratch self. The Dolorosa was a member of the reclusive jade-blooded caste, and as such was expected to spend her life underground, tending to the mother grub. However, when she discovered the larval Signless, she took him with her and fled above ground to look after him. She was one of the few to survive the rebellion's defeat, but was captured and enslaved as a punishment for her role in it.
- Made a Slave: After the rebellion's defeat, she was enslaved and sentenced to spend the rest of her life as property of the vicious seadwellers.
- Mama Bear:
- After becoming unstuck in canon, John accidentally zaps to a scene of her cradling an infantile Sufferer. She doesn't outright attack him, but her reaction to his sudden appearance says it all.
- In "Mother & Grub", she brutally kills a number of dangerous animals and a pair of troll bandits when these threaten the larval Signless.
- After becoming unstuck in canon, John accidentally zaps to a scene of her cradling an infantile Sufferer. She doesn't outright attack him, but her reaction to his sudden appearance
- Our Vampires Are Different: It's implied that, like her descendant, she's also a rainbow drinker, with it being part of her blood caste, and her Mama Bear moment highlighting elongated fangs. John calls her a vampire when relating the story to Roxy, and in the Paradox Space comic "Mother & Grub" she's shown to glow as well.
- Outliving One's Offspring: She lived on as a slave for an unspecified amount of time after the failure of the rebellion and her adoptive son's execution by the highbloods.
- Space Master: As the B2 version of Porrim Maryam she is also a Maid of Space.
- Team Mom: She was the Sufferer's adopted lusus.
Neophyte Redglare
Terezi's Ancestor and Latula's post-Scratch self. Redglare was a neophyte legislacerator and, in secret, an adherent of the Signless' cult. Her career came to an early end when she was sent to arrest Mindfang, who used her powers to mind-control a large crowd of lowbloods into lynching Redglare
- Beast of Battle: Her dragon lusus, Pyralspite.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Redglare is last seen in the middle of an angry mob of mind-controlled lowbloods, who then proceeded to hang her.
- Death by Irony: She was executed by the very same lowbloods she was trying to protect.
- Dragon Rider: She rode her dragon lusus Pyralspite during battle.
- The Mole: She supported the Signless's cult from within the Condesce's empire.
- Naïve Newcomer: One of her first missions as a Legislacerator was to take Mindfang in, leading to her death via Mindfang's will.
- Psychic Powers: As the B2 version of Latula Pyrope she is also a Knight of Mind.
- Sinister Shades: Her love of red sunglasses led Terezi to adopt a pair as one of her defining accessories.
Marquise Spinneret Mindfang
Vriska's Ancestor and Aranea's post-Scratch self. Mindfang was a notorious pirate with a bitter rivalry with Orphaner Dualscar. Her career as a pirate was brought to an end when she was captured by Neophyte Redglare, who took her arm and eye and destroyed her fleet in the process, but she managed to escape and live on for hundreds of sweeps more. She eventually joined the Summoner's rebellion, and formed a tumultuous matespritship with him that ended with her death at his own hands.
- Animal Nemesis: She wishes to control Pyralsprite after it destroys her fleet of pirates.
- An Arm and a Leg: She lost her dominant left arm when Redglare severed it during the capture of Mindfang's fleet.
- Depraved Bisexual: Mindfang mind-controls a captive slave girl into making out with her while carrying on a casual conversation with Orphaner Dualscar, at least partially as blackrom flirting.
- Light 'em Up: As the B2 version of Aranea Serket she is also a Sylph of Light.
- Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places:
- Mindfang was completely nondiscriminatory, soliciting her ship's slaves while it was too dark to tell their blood color. And yes, she was hoping to find a matesprit among the slaves she seduced (read: mind controlled into loving her). Her final matesprit is the Summoner (Tavros' ancestor), who was fated to love her and eventually kill her.
- She also failed in looking for hate with Dualscar, whose implied, mismatched redrom feelings for her turned their blackrom from rivalry to enmity and led to the loss of a potential love, an arm, an eye, her lusus, and her fleet.
- Manipulative Bitch: Able to hide an item from Doc Scratch for centuries, while still having finding time to pillage and kill.
- May–December Romance: She became romantically involved with the Summoner, who came into the world hundreds of sweeps after he.
- Mind Control: Mindfang can use her powers to psychically control people, and she's a lot more subtle about it than Vriska.
- Mr. Exposition: Her journals are one of two Info Dumps regarding the Ancestors and how they parallel the contemporary Trolls.
- Nothing Can Stop Us Now!: She possesses a magic cue-ball that can answer any question she has about the future. When she hears that Redglare has been sent to capture her, she specifically says in her journal that she was so confident that they would never even meet that she didn't bother asking the cue ball.
- A Sinister Clue: Mindfang, the feared pirate and implied rapist of the Dolorosa, is left-handed. The first thing she writes in her journal after losing her left arm is how she will "have to get used to writing with this hand now."
- Stylistic Suck: Her journal is loaded with overwrought Purple Prose. Word of God said it's intentionally in "The Bad Fanfiction Zone". Doc Scratch's story introducing the rest of the Ancestors probably falls under this too, given that Hussie in-story calls it "troll fanfiction".
E%ecutor Darkleer/The Expatri8
Equius' Ancestor and Horuss' post-Scratch self. At the end of the Signless' Rebellion, Darkleer was tasked with executing his remaining followers, but a sudden moment of pity caused him to stay his hand long enough for the Disciple to flee. This lapse cost him his status and title, and he was forced to spend the rest of his days as an exile. He later came to know Mindfang, and fashioned a robotic arm for her after she lost the original to Redglare.
- The Atoner: After he is exiled, he spends the rest of his life beating himself up about the situation surrounding his exile.
- The Exile: He was exiled after failing to kill the Disciple.
- Gadgeteer Genius: He constructed Mindfang's robotic arm.
- Power of the Void: He retained a connection to the aspect of Void, which allowed him to hide Mindfang's cue ball from Doc Scratch's omniscience by masking it with the aura of obfuscation that this generated around him.
The Grand Highblood
Gamzee's Ancestor and Kurloz's post-Scratch self. Little is known about the Grand Highblood, beyond the fact that he was very powerful, very mercurial and very dangerous, and was responsible for both Dualscar's execution and for sending Redglare after Mindfang.
- Anime Hair: He possesses a mane of spiky hair radiating out like a halo from his head.
- Bloody Horror: The Grand Highblood's throne room is painted with blood from all across the Hemospectrum, missing only his own caste's indigo, the Condesce's tyrian, and the Sufferer's mutant red.
- Disproportionate Retribution: If someone fails to tell a good joke for him, they will be executed.
- Humans Are Special: His appearance in Chahut's route seems to result in him developing an amused variant of the Humanity Is Insane version after speaking with the MSPA Reader. Understandable, given that we're talking about a lone human being surviving on an extreme example of a Death World for the sole purpose of making friends.
- Human Sacrifice: He killed Dualscar as a sacrifice in anticipation of the Vast Honk, and is implied to have done so to countless trolls.
- Meaningful Name: On the one hand, his blood is the highest of any land-dwelling Trolls. On the other hand, the Grand Highblood is friggin' huge.
- Monster Clown: He's the leader of the Subjuggulators, Alteria's cult of murderous clowns.
- Not Quite Dead: He is strongly implied to still be alive at the time that Hiveswap Friendsim takes place, but off-planet like all the other adult trolls. (Chahut's route eventually confirms this.) Since he is a Highblood, he probably didn't die until some time before the events of Homestuck, or maybe not even until the Vast Glub.
- Odd Name Out: He's the only one of the Ancestors who has a nine-letter name instead of an eight-letter name.
- Orcus on His Throne: He definitely has the visual down, and seems to be content to sit around and wait for chumps to come to him instead of looking for dudes to slaughter.
- The Power of Hate: As the B2 version of Kurloz Makara he is also a Prince of Rage.
- Religion of Evil: He's a follower of the Mirthful Messiahs, a religion generally centered around murderous mayhem.
Orphaner Dualscar
Eridan's Ancestor and Cronus' post-Scratch self. Dualscar was a seagoing marauder and a rival and black lover of the pirate Mindfang. Their rivalry eventually soured into true enmity, and he sold her out to the Highbloods — at the cost of his own life.
- Bling of War: He was decked the hell out back in the day, straight down to a Badass Cape easily ten feet long, and it's clear that Eridan tries to emulate this with varying levels of success.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: As the B2 version of Cronus Ampora he is also a Bard of Hope.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Mindfang describes Dualscar as disgusted after she mindcontrolled a fearful slave (possibly the Dolorosa) into making out with her before calling off their kismesistude, although his primary issue was with Mindfang dallying with a low-caste slave.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Orphaner Dualscar was apparently either insecure or possessive enough to get jealous of what his kismesis did in entirely different quadrants (in human terms: your rival is jealous of your lover, best friend, and union representative). Spinneret seems both amused and annoyed by this. Then again, it is very strongly implied that Dualscar may have had some Red Rom feelings for Spinneret. So, in human terms: your rival is secretly in love with you, and is jealous of your lover for that reason. Much more logical. Didn't make Dualscar any less of a Green-Eyed Monster though. However, we only know about his actions through Mindfang's journal, and she's a very biased source, so his listed motivations may be entirely false.
- Yandere: He has some shades of this, especially considering the fact that he had the slave girl Mindfang was flushed for killed.
Her Imperious Condescension
Located in the Felt folder.
Cherub Parents/Guardians
Two Cherubs, one good, one bad, that ended up laying the egg that hatched into Calliope and Caliborn. And Gamzee, who raised them. For tropes about him, see Characters.Homestuck Trolls Three. For tropes about the cherub species as a whole, see Homestuck: Cherubs.
- Marathon Boss: Their mating apparently lasted for sweeps.
- Mister Seahorse: The male is the one who ends up laying the egg, since he lost their mating fight.
- One-Winged Angel: They transform into colossal serpents mid-coitus.
- Scaled Up: Their One-Winged Angel mating forms are snakes one astronomical unit in length.
- Small Role, Big Impact: They are only seen for a few pages, but their offspring go to become the Big Bad and the Big Good of the story.
> Go Back
> Return to main page
