Characters / Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail: Cage of Flauros

Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail Main Character Page
Red Lotus Trio (Chloe Cerise) | Infinity Train (Passengers [The Apex, Grace Monroe], Cage of Flauros, The Unsub's Crew) | Pokémon World (Vermillion City [Goh Fujihachi, Parker Cerise]), The Ketchum Family, Pokémon Trainers)

Cage of Flauros

As part of the plan to rid the Apex off of the Infinity Train, three denizens in the Fog Car have created a plan: gather beings that represent seven different concepts and use them to create a cage to trap the Apex. The only way for the Apex to leave is if all members realize their mistakes and learn that the Train was to help them heal and move on, and that numbers are not important.

Sounds simple...right?

Note: Due to the highly spoilerific nature of this page, there will be unmarked spoilers for Blossoming Trail Arc 2 and 3 and characters will be notified by their ritual designations unless noted. Read at your own risk.

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The Components

In General

• Alphabetical Theme Naming: All of them have names starting with D: Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair and Delight/Delirium.
• Ambiguous Situation: When Amelia reads how the Cage of Flauros is supposed to work, it says that once the components are done with their jobs, they'll "cease to be". While this is a Deadly Euphemism, whether this means they'll die and be reincarnated as Denizens, like it usually goes on the Train, or they'll outright cease to exist is unclear.
• And Then What?: While there's plenty of talk about what they'll do before, during, and shortly after the ritual, nary a word is said about what they'll do once their main purpose, get rid of the Apex, is fulfilled. Eventually, we find out why: once the Apex have been dealt with, the components will cease to be.
• Arc Villain: Easily the biggest threat the Red Lotus Quarto face in Act 3, though Death (Henry and Walter) have the most prominent role.
• The Bad Guy Wins: In a very roundabout way. The reason the Cage was created was to destroy the Apex once and for all, so they couldn't hurt the Train anymore. While the ritual gets ruined thanks to Chloe dismantling Delight/Delirium, Desire and Despair, Dream being awoken and Destruction eventually drowning in the lake after he murders Chloe, the trauma of the events prompts Grace to reveal the truth to the kids following her, which causes the Apex to dissolve as they now want nothing to do with her. So Walter and Henry got what they wanted, just not in the way they expected.
• Commonality Connection: Four components have had their lives affected by Ash Ketchum both for good and bad: Despair and Dream encountered and fought Ash, while Destiny and Delight's self-esteem issues became worse when he entered the picture (directly for Destiny, indirectly for Delight).
• The Chosen Many: Each of the components were chosen to be a different embodiment...not all of them willing, though.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap:
  • Considering who Dream and Despair are, they could easily tear through the Fog Car and get the hell out of there. So they have to be tortured by the guilt of their actions in order to ensure that things are bad.
  • Desire's form is of the Bogeyman / Pyramid Head and is a goddamn juggernaut that can't be stopped. Thankfully he's mostly in his human form and would rather pacify Delight...unless he has no choice but to go all out. Given how Knight of the Orange Lily reveals that Desire gets enraged at passengers who hurt denizens, this is most likely made so he doesn't slaughter the Apex the minute he lays eyes on them.
• Dwindling Party: As The Fog Car saga keeps going, the components slowly dwindle away: Destiny has no desire to fulfill her role, Delight/Delirium finally sees reason and they and Desire decide to help the heroes, Despair is broken out of their brainwashing, and Dream eventually wakes up. By the end of Part 5, the only components still active are Death and Destruction, and the latter is an omnicidal Wild Card who quickly leaves to prove he's superior to everyone, and kicks the bucket in Part 7, leaving Death as the Sole Survivor.
• Evil Only Has to Win Once: If the ritual is completed, then it's game over. No continues, no retries, nothing.
• Evil Plan: Henry and Walter intend on bringing together seven beings that embody specific traits (Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delight) and use them in a ritual called "The Cage of Flauros" to enact vengeance on the Apex. They're Death, they've got Dream (The Patient/Alain), Delight (Hop), Desire (Alex), and Despair (The Prisoner/Paul). All they're missing is Destruction (Simon) and Destiny...aka Chloe. According to them, the Cage of Flauros will keep the Apex in the Fog Car and will only let them out when all of them realize the errors of their ways (in other words, let their numbers drop and realize it's a good thing). Should even one person refuse this, then they will continue to trap them for good. Of course, if that is the real plan...
• Expy: Aside from Death and Desire, the other components host similarities to the protagonists of the Silent Hill games up to Silent Hill: Downpour:
  • Destiny: Heather Mason, being the youngest member and only female, who dyed their hair and is prophesized to help bring paradise via filling them with enough anger and hatred. They also initially wear white (Heather's vest and Chloe's beach dress before she swaps it out). Bonus points, Destiny is already being praised as some holy figure (Saint Alessa for Heather and Lady Destiny for Destiny herself).
  • Dream: Harry Mason, or more specifically the Bad Ending when it's revealed that Harry's adventures in Silent Hill is nothing more than a dream. He also is associated with ice and cold, just like the motif of Shattered Memories.
  • Destruction: James Sunderland, a blond man who ventures into Silent Hill in search of someone while also holding a very destructive streak in him despite his calm appearance. Bonus points, he butts heads with a young girl with blond hair and his fate is with him drowning in Toluca Lake, which reflects the "In Water" ending James could potentially have if Driven to Suicide.
  • Despair: Murphy Pendleton who is sent to prison, is connected with the death of a child, and his Silent Hill experience was associated with water and electricity (via Electric Torture).
  • Delirium: Travis Grady, who was just a normal passerby who ends up in Silent Hill but gets involved with the girl associated with a ritual (Alessa for Travis, Destiny for Delirium) and may/may not have an insane side to him. Bonus points, an older Travis appears in the beginning of Homecoming, giving Alex a ride to Shepherd's Glen.
• Face–Monster Turn: What will happen to them once the ritual comes to pass. Destruction is the only one who willingly transforms.
• Forced Transformation: Once the ritual goes through, the components will transform into predatory monsters that'll hunt down the Apex until there's nothing left. We only see what happens to Destruction and Delight/Delirium.
• Loss of Identity: Dream and Despair are usually stated by their ritual component identities to signify that their original selves are gone.
• Meaningful Name: Aside from it referencing an artifact from the first Silent Hill game, Flauros is one of the demons in the Ars Goetia. Specifically he's a demon of fire and vengeance.
• Morton's Fork: They either let the Apex go and continue their ransacking of the cars and murdering of denizens, which is bad, or they go through a ritual that will destroy their sentience and turn them into predators who will hunt the Apex down until they redeem themselves or die, which is even worse.
• Nice Mean And In Between:
  • For the trio of Dream, Despair and Delight and their original personalities (for Arc 2): Delight is Nice, Despair was Mean and Dream is In-between.
  • For the trio of Destiny, Destruction and Delight (the most recent three): Delight again is Nice, Destruction is Mean and Destiny is In-between.
  • For the original three: Henry is Nice, Walter is Mean and Alex is In-Between.
• Revenge: The reason for brainwashing Hop, capturing and torturing Paul, crucifying Alain, and planning a ritual requiring the passengers they have in their car and Chloe? It's for Henry and Walter to get revenge on Grace, Simon, and the rest of the Apex for all of the suffering they placed on other cars. They even intend to use Simon as one of the components due to his destructive behavior.
• Rule of Seven:
  • While there are technically eight members, Henry and Walter are identified as a single unit, bringing the total number to seven. And in this instance, it's not lucky.
  • It's a coincidence but this also relates to the number of main console Silent Hill games that were released at the time the story was written.
• Rule of Symbolism: Each ritual component starts with D, the fourth letter of the alphabet. The representatives of Death, the ones pulling the strings, are from Silent Hill 4.
• The Smurfette Principle: Out of the seven components, Destiny is female, with her nickname being "Lady Destiny".
• Super-Persistent Predator: If the ritual goes off like planned, the components will transform into this, hunting down every member of the Apex until none are left.
• Your Days Are Numbered: The deadline for the ritual comes closer and closer, and if it goes off without a hitch, there's no turning back.

Destiny

Chloe Cerise / Lady Destiny

See her page here.

Death

Henry Townsend (The Receiver) and Walter Sullivan (Salvation)

A couple who run the Grand Guignol Apartments in The Fog Car that Alex Shepherd is currently staying in. Something about their names are familiar...

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• Adaptational Abomination: Henry and Walter were both humans in the original Silent Hill 4. In this story, not only are they denizens, but their true forms are so horrible that Chloe, lover of demons and monsters, is horrified upon seeing them.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Henry was more of a Flat Character who usually reacted to the shit going around him with Dull Surprise. Here, he's much more cheerful and playful but also hides a sinister streak.
• Adaptational Heroism: Downplayed for Walter who was the Big Bad in Silent Hill 4 but was more of a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds. Here, he's shown to have an utter dislike for the Apex, has disgust for his prisoner letting a child drown in the lake and not saving them and he does show genuine affection for Hop...if he hadn't done some mental torture on the boy anyhow...
• Adaptation Name Change: A slight example. Henry's last name in his game was Townshend. Here, he uses the messenger name "Townsend".
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Enemies in the game, husbands in the story.
• Adaptational Sexuality: The original Henry and Walter did not have feelings for one another — barring Walter stalking Henry, but moreso for his Ten Sacraments ritual — and Henry may or may not have had feelings for Eileen. But in this story they're married and hopelessly in love with one another.
• Adaptation Species Change: They were both humans in their home series, but they're Denizens here. Oh and they're also monsters.
• Adaptational Villainy: Henry was the protagonist and hero of Silent Hill 4. Here, he's sacrificing people with his husband Walter.
• Affably Evil: For a pair of homicidal cult leaders whose ultimate goal is to wipe out a bunch of children, and the lengths they go for it, they're surprisingly nice people, playful, charming, and capable of compliments. It's especially notable with Walter, given how much of an asshole he was in his original game.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: Not only are they Denizens, but they're ones whose true forms are so terrifying that they need to take a human form to talk with people. Just to give you an idea of how horrifying their true forms are, Chloe freaks the everloving heck out upon seeing them.
• Ambiguously Evil:
  • They show excitement over having Hop over in their apartment and keeping him there, and Alex "chuckled darkly" when Hop asked to know their names. Then we see Walter torturing someone...
  • Notably Hop's Wooloo and Atticus are tense around the two so they can sense that both of them aren't that altruistic. As Arc 2 and Arc 3 continue, they have every right to not trust them.
• Ambiguously Human: They look human but there's no way a human could take control of a car that houses Silent Hill. Walter eventually confirms that they and Alex are denizens. Their video call with Chloe has Henry and Walter reveal a hint of their real selves, but they're so horrifying that the likes of Chloe and Amelia are panicking.
• Anti-Villain: Their methods are utterly abhorrent and unforgivable in the end, but they just want to try to put an end to The Apex's torment of the Train once and for all. They later drop the "Anti" as Arc 3 continues.
• Arc Villain: While Grace, Simon, and the Apex are the overall villains for the Infinity Train side of the story, these two have the biggest influence on Arcs 2 and 3 as they want to torture the Apex for all that they did even after the Apex decides to split up and stop being jerks.
• Brains and Brawn: Henry's the brains with knowledge of literature while Walter's the brawn who is fine with using his strength to torture his prisoner.
• Bookworm: Henry was reading American Gods before Walter shows up in the Prelude. It's later revealed that both are actually well read with classics.
• Brainwashing for the Greater Good: If they're not breaking their guests' minds, they're manipulating and reshaping them in order to act like the traits they need to exhibit for the ritual.
• Breaking Speech: Walter gives this to Paul about how worthless his 'strength' is when his soul is so dark as to leave a child to drown. Both he and Henry do this a lot, which makes it very satisfying to see Alex and Grace shut them up for good in the end.
• Camera Fiend: Implied; Alex mentions that Henry was going to take photos of the Lakeview Amusement Park (it's worth noting that the original Henry was also a photographer).
• The Chooser of the One: And this is not a good thing. They're the ones with the final say over who becomes part of their ritual, and when they do, you better hope they break your mind first.
• Composite Character: Both of them hold Vincent Smith's smugness and use his quotes from the famous Library scene.
• The Corrupter: Their plans need the pieces to act a certain way that's completely against their true selves, so the two of them work hard to reshape the Passengers in order to make the ritual work.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Walter torments his prisoner with waterboarding when he gets displeased. There's also the brutal beatdowns, electric torture, blindfolding them in darkness...
• Creepy Doll: Walter has one that he names Eileen.
• Dark and Troubled Past: What little is known of them is that they and 19 others were tortured and experimented on, and then the facility that they were experimented on were burned to the ground, leaving them the only survivors.
• Deadly Euphemism: Henry likes to call the ritual a "party".
• Death by Irony: Both of them.
  • Henry: Is killed by Alex (who he constantly put down) by having Alex stab him into a spear and hugging him before drowning into Toluca Lake.
  • Walter: His abomination form is destroyed by Chloe (Lady Destiny) and he is killed by Grace (whom he dismissed as being as insignificant compared to Simon.)
• Did Not See That Coming: Walter is shocked to learn that Paul didn't kill Sean; it was an act of self-defense and he'd been protecting the real killer (Electivire) the entire time.
• Dissonant Serenity: Walter can gleefully talk to Alex about how he tortured someone as if he just went grocery shopping. And Henry doesn't mind how he carries his patient around in a cabinet like he was a doll.
• The Dividual: Both Walter and Henry embody Death in Walter's Evil Plan.
• Even Evil Has Standards: For how twisted they may be, Walter dislikes his prisoner for allowing an Apex child to drown and doing nothing to save him. And both he and Henry have low esteem for the Apex in general.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Walter spent weeks on end putting the prisoner through Cold-Blooded Torture, claiming that it was in retribution for him being so evil as to let a child die without lifting a finger to help. But since Walter was an even worse monster, he never took a closer look at the motives behind the crime; to him, it simply followed that a teenager could let someone die just because they were an apathetic Jerkass, and he brushed off any of Paul's protests that he didn’t mean to as obvious lies. In reality, Paul’s Electrivire had knocked Sean into the lake in self-defense, and his death was completely accidental. Paul had hidden the truth because he wanted to protect Electrivire; when Walter shows Paul’s memories to the Red Lotus Quarto to justify his actions, it only puts the nail in the coffin to the idea that Paul could have “deserved it.”
• Evil Duo: Both of them are playing a huge part in Arc 2 and 3's storyline for the Infinity Train, planning to get Chloe and her allies into the Fog Car alongside Grace, Simon, Hazel, and Tuba in order to obtain the last two pieces for their ritual: Destiny (Chloe) and Destruction (Simon).
• Eviler than Thou: Walter is even colder than his prisoner, since at least his prisoner never abused or violently attacked humans. Then again, this is more like a form of gaslighting to break said prisoner into Despair.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Walter decides to calm Paul down with something soothing...and pulls out a bell. Those who remember that specific arc of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl would know what that's supposed to represent. He also made fishcakes for Paul's breakfast as a reminder of the boy who is "currently sleeping with the fishes".
• Evil Is Petty: Walter over-peppers the food he feeds his prisoner.
• Evil Counterpart: To Chloe (for Henry) and Lexi (for Walter).
  • Chloe: Henry is also a lover of books and seemingly nice and kind, but the kindness hides darker reasoning for his patient while Chloe's kindness is genuine and for their benefit, not hers.
  • Lexi: Walter also wants to enact vengeance on those who have done wrong — from the Apex to his prisoner — but Lexi's plans for vengeance won't go that far. And while Lexi has a bond with Chloe, it's not to the extent that Walter has for Henry.
• Evil Versus Evil: They're explicitly against The Apex, who have been ravaging and ransacking the Infinity Train for years but their methods of stopping them aren't any better.
• Faux Affably Evil: They're charming, kind, and willing to let people stay in their car... but they also have tortured many of their guests and are planning to do something that will trap the Apex within The Fog Car.
• Ferris Wheel Date Moment: It's mentioned that their first date was going on a Ferris Wheel to look at the stars.
• Foil:
  • As opposed to other denizens, who regardless of whether they support passengers or not, usually want passengers to move on or go away. In contrast, they want Hop to stay with them...forever. However, this is due to them needing him and four other specific passengers (Chloe, Alain, Paul, and Simon) for their ritual, so it's unknown if it applies to all the passengers.
  • Their plan is also much more encompassing and elaborate than the other denizens.
• Freudian Slip: Their goals are made clear with this line;
  Henry: He'll (Hop) find out that he will never leave...er, sorry want to leave."
• Hair-Contrast Duo: Brunette affable and affectionate Henry and blonde brutish and sadistic Walter.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: They have a plan to trap the Apex within the Fog Car but doing so required torturing three Pokémon Trainers and readers can sense that there's something else they're hiding from everyone.
• Hidden Depths: Walter is also as well-read as his husband, as he comments on Chloe's "Mister Sir Henry Mother-of-Furfur" insult as a reference to a lesser Lewis Carroll work instead of what she's really referring to.
• Hypno Pendulum: Walter uses a bell on Paul to calm him down mostly as a dark joke about a certain Chimchar...
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Henry is stabbed by Alex's spear before he throws them into Toluca Lake to drown and Walter is stabbed in the head by Grace's knife.
• I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: A malevolent example as they make a big deal over how adorable they find Hop and their intentions of never allowing him to leave.
• Inn of No Return: Their stated goal is for Hop to never leave...or any of the other components of their ritual.
• Insistent Terminology: At the picnic, Henry tells Alex that he's not carrying his patient in a wardrobe, but a cabinet. It Makes Sense in Context.
• Irony:
  • Walter was part of a cult in his game. In this story, he's trying to destroy one.
  • Both of them are Denizens, who typically do everything they can to help passengers, but in order to do just that, they torture and corrupt fellow passengers in order to stop The Apex once and for all.
  • Both dismiss Grace Monroe, the leader and sole reason the Apex and the Cage of Flauros even exists, as anything worth their time. She ends up unleashing the killing blow on Walter and severely injures Henry.
• Kick the Dog: Walter tells his prisoner that he "doesn't fit anybody, not even his own brother". Considering who the prisoner later turns out to be...
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Both of them go out this way.
  Henry: Wha-? (gets impaled by a spear from Alex before they drown in Toluca Lake)
  Walter: Time for you to die, Chloe of the Ver—(gets stabbed in the brain by Grace's celestial bronze knife)
• Knight of Cerebus: Any time the story shifts to them, preferably Walter, it's a good sign that things are getting dark real fast. Then again, they are from Silent Hill...
• Last of His Kind: The two are the last of 21 beings from the Fog Car.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: For two denizens who reside in Silent Hill, they consider themselves nicer than those of the Apex. Even if it means brainwashing one boy, torturing another, a third passenger crucified and turned into an empty shell and Chloe's role in the story, being used for a ritual to stop them. They later become just as bad, if not worse then the Apex (barring Simon).
• Mysterious Past: What is known about them is minimal except that they were once part of an experiment with 19 other beings in the Fog Car and that they've essentially grown up together since they were young. Considering this is Silent Hill, maybe it's best we don't know everything...
• No Sense of Personal Space: Henry loves giving affection to his patient with head pats, kisses, and gentle strokes against the cheek. Walter later does this with his prisoner. The main difference is that Henry tames his patient with kindness, Walter is doing his as a sign of cruelty. Alex points out that Henry initiates "skin-to-skin contact" with Dream via cuddling although it's also heavily implied that Walter and Henry might've done other things to Dream while he was in his trance...
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Despite their claims that they only want to stop the Apex from hurting anyone else, it quickly becomes clear that they'll only accept the death of the entire Apex instead of a Scare 'Em Straight tactic. At the end of the car, the Apex have been utterly disbanded and their most dangerous member has been killed, but that's not enough for them. Alex even remarks that they almost want the Apex to continue causing pain just so they can feel like killing them is a noble accomplishment.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Chloe talks to Hop on her phone, something breaks in Hop's mind that causes Walter to start acting nervous and requests Chloe to not make the boy snap. The same reaction is on Henry's face when he sees Despair smiling.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Considering what they did to their prisoner, using basic hypnosis to disconnect Alain from what he's done, to the extent that his number doesn't rise at all because he's no longer the same person, is downright kind of them.
  • One story in Poppies for Flauros has Walter gave Delight an old doll of his to play with and didn't curse it.
• Post Humous Villain Victory: The main reason they did the Cage of Flauros in the first place was to get rid of The Apex once and for all. While they end up kicking the bucket, the effects of the Fog Car saga causes Grace to finally tell the truth to the Apex kids, causing them to decide to split off from her and try to get home on their own, effectively disbanding The Apex for good.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: A darker version since most of their time together is them cuddling and kissing one another, much to the horror of the Red Lotus Trio and Amelia during their group chat.
• Smug Snake: Walter can slip into this at times, disregarding any warning signs that his plan might go poorly due to anything outside of his consideration.
• Terms of Endangerment: They call Hop a "little lamb" and definitely don't have good intentions for him.
• Troll: The only reason Walter is letting his prisoner be Grace and Simon's guide is to just show it directly to their faces that Paul is the reason why Sean drowned in the lake.
• Underestimating Badassery: Neither of them saw Grace, the founder of the Apex and the reason the Cage of Flauros even exists, as anything important to their plans and paid more attention to Simon. Grace's knife was capable of wounding Henry and she ends up murdering Walter after being weakened by Chloe's last summon.
• Unholy Matrimony: They're just as vile as Grace and Simon and are hopelessly in love with each other, married, give each other affectionate nicknames and love to kiss and cuddle one another.
• Villain Has a Point: Their methods are extreme, they've traumatized three trainers and are about to murder the Apex with a horrific ritual. But they make a very very valid point that something has to be done to them because One-One and the Train just giving them giant numbers for the denizens they massacre isn't getting into their heads that they are assholes nor are they given any sort of punishment for the damage they inflicted. Then again, their methods of slaughtering the Apex aren't any better.
• Villainous Breakdown: As things start derailing more and more throughout The Fog Car due to Chloe breaking Despair and Delirium out of their roles, Dream being untouchable and Destruction wreaking havoc, Walter starts losing it.
• Would Hit a Girl: Again, they're against all of The Apex, female members included, and they're more than willing to attack Chloe as long as she fulfills her role as Lady Destiny. They also don't mind hurting Grace for all her atrocities.
• Would Hurt a Child: They have Hop under some spell, are torturing Paul, there's an Apex kid that's drowned in the lake and Chloe will eventually become "Lady Destiny" although Walter claims that the last one should not be harmed. And that's not counting what's going to happen to Paul, Hop and Chloe if the Cage of Flauros is successful, let alone the Apex themselves....
• You Are Number 6: They both have numbers on their chests, Walter being 11121 and Henry 21121, referencing their roles in the 21 Sacraments (the middle '1' is actually a slash).

Dream (Unmarked Spoilers)

Alain Sativus / The Patient

"Everything...is going to be...okay..."

A former assistant to Professor Sycamore in the Kalos region who was researching the Mega Evolution phenomenon. Unfortunately, he fell under Lysandre's manipulation to revive Mairin's Chespin from a coma and nearly lead the Team Flare leader to destroy the Kalos Region along with having Ash nearly sacrificed as a Dark Messiah for Lysandre. After that was over, and thanks to Ash's influence, he decided to find his own path by getting his own Mega Stone.
And yet no one has seen or heard from him in a while...

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• Angst Dissonance: In-Universe. Part of the reason he has so much trouble opening up about his struggles in Voyage of Wisteria is that his travelling companions have suffered worse than he has, so he feels incredibly self-conscious about expressing his problems.
• The Atoner: After everything he did at the end of the Kalos League and for siding with Lysandre, he became this. But given that he ended up on the Infinity Train, and then Walter and Henry's clutches...
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Just like Hop, but this is to forget his failures and guilt to leave him a perpetually empty shell, completely forgetting his old life as Alain and accepting that he is the embodiment of "Dream".
• Broken Ace: The winner of the Kalos League but also is guilt-ridden for the actions he committed under Team Flare's name.
• The Cameo: Makes one in Knight of the Orange Lily to signify how long he's been on the Train.
• Chekhov's Gunman: He is mentioned once by Ash and referred to by Serena before it is revealed that he was once a passenger. Then it turns out that he never left Silent hill...
• Composite Character: He combines the aspects of Harry and Cheryl Mason due to being related to ice, cold and heavy denial, who is okay living in an ideal dream world and worships someone (in this case, Ash) like a superhero or savior and the key to stopping them is to wake up and realize that this idolization isn't healthy.
• Crucified Hero Shot: He's first seen tied to a crucifix in a tiny cell in the Price Hospital, lost in empty dreams of serene darkness. His dreams feature a crucified boy looking down on him, assuring him that his sins will be forgiven...
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Were it not said that it was Henry hypnotizing Alain, the fact that he's in fog, blissed out and Amelia asking Chloe if there's a detox facility in Silent Hill, could make it a reference to that the poor guy is stoned out of his mind.
• Empty Shell: Just as bad as Despair as he barely even recognizes the world around him.
• Flower Motif: Crocus flowers.
  • The nameplate on the door to the room he stays in is decorated with them. Crocus flowers are symbols of hope, which is was what Ash gave him to fight back Lysandre but in a dark twist, he provides Henry and Walter the chance they need to stop the Apex.
  • Combine the crocus with his last name makes crocus sativus the plant known for producing saffron. Saffron in Hinduism is used for "sacrifice and quest for life and salvation". Alain is being sacrificed for Henry and Walter's schemes and the idea of being "saved" is through a mind-wipe.
• Guilt Complex: His Fatal Flaw; if bad things happen, he believes it's his fault and also pushes others away so that they won't get hurt in the struggle but only strengthens his guilt even more. Henry and Walter weaponize this to turn him into the 'Dream' component of their ritual by making him forget he was ever Alain in the first place. Unfortunately he still hasn't gotten out of this as he keeps hiding his traumas to Hop and Paul in Voyage of Wisteria, though he slowly starts opening up.
• Happiness in Mind Control: Finds the hypnosis put on him a blessing as it helps him sleep at night and frees him from the guilt he had for his actions. And in a sense, it also prevents his number from actually changing since he's no longer Alain. In fact, he was so fine with it that the minute Hop tried to wake him up, he's immedaitely going into a Freak Out and begs to be back in the trance.
• He Who Must Not Be Named: He's referenced but never stated by name in Chapter 14 until the very end.
• Hero of Another Story: Implied by Word of God and then later confirmed, he was also a passenger on the Train and visited Silent Hill. Sadly, he's been captured by Henry and Walter and is being brainwashed into their 'Dream'.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Trusted Lysandre (leader of Team Flare) over Professor Sycamore (his former mentor) when it came to saving poor Chespie. It ended badly on his part. And now he thinks Walter and Henry are helping him by erasing the guilt and sense of self in his heart, turning him into a mindless puppet.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: The fact that he won the Kalos League (well, until Lysandre reared his ugly head), the fact that he was working with Team Flare (albeit unknowingly), and that he decided to atone for his crimes.
• Loss of Identity: Has lost his sense of self thanks to Henry's hypnosis techniques, to the point that Henry doesn't even call him by his real name as it's no longer needed.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: Whatever happened to him that made him empty and free of worry. It's powerful enough that he fights waking up tooth and nail when Hop gives him back his Honor of Kalos medal.
• Meaningful Name: Sativus is based on the Latin word meaning "Cultivate" as he was gathering Mega-Evolution energy under the misguided idea that it would save Chespie and now his dreams are being cultivated for Henry and Walter's scheme.
• My Greatest Failure: Teaming up with Lysandre in an attempt to save Mairin's Chespin and having Ash harmed in Team Flare's assault over Lumiose City weighs on his mind, which presumably is why he got sent onto the Infinity Train. Walter and Henry corrupt him with brainwashing methods to make him forget that particular failure and presumably his sense of self too.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: As Dream, Alain is mostly stuck in his own world, smiling and looking stoned. If he's not and starts shivering in fear, then something is wrong.
• Out of Focus: Had less development time between him, Delirium and Despair because of how he was always asleep or with Henry and Walter. Changes in Voyage of Wisteria as it's implied that he's just as traumatized as the other trainers were and has more time to air out his problems.
• Perpetual Smiler: Is always smiling due to his mind stuck in a blissful reverie caused by hypnosis.
• Reality Warper: Not as strong as Delight, but still present. His memories/dreams become the monsters that roam Silent Hill. And if he senses something wrong, he can start making ice form in the area. Alex points out that someone has to make sure Alain is kept okay since dreams can fluctuate easily.
• The Reliable One: In Voyage of Wisteria, he feels like he has to be the grownup after he wakes up and travels with Hop and Paul, since he has the least baggage.
• Room Full of Crazy: His room in the Price Hospital has the word "Ash" scrawled all over the walls and later transforms into a mural praising a holy version of Ash.
• Rule of Symbolism:
  • His number, 131, is the XY episode that had him win the Kalos League which was a shocking revelation to the viewers. Likewise, the chapter he makes his first full appearance in is a sign that things will get worse for Chloe when she reaches the Fog Car.
  • He's eventually found crucified, similar to the fate that Ash had when Lysandre copied him. In a way, he's sacrificing himself for the sins he committed.
  • The fact that his room has the word "Ash" on it can represent that's all he saw: the entire world turning to ash (as in destruction) or Ash Ketchum (who helped stop Lysandre and a trainer he respected). It later morphs into a mural of a shining angelic figure pushing fire away and Alain worshipping it.
  • The key to waking him up is to give him his Honor of Kalos Medal, a reminder of how he was able to make the right choice even after the revelation that he (unwittingly) helped Lysandre out.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Near the end of the Fog Car, he points out how Chloe only wanted catharsis during her big rants at people which was preventing her from actually growing as a person. This helps her realize her last Fatal Flaw and gets her ready to leave the Train for good.
• Soul Jar: The Honor of Kalos Medal Alex was wearing actually contained Alain's soul, which is key to waking him up.
• The Stoner: Downplayed as there were no drugs involved, but it's repeatedly noted that Alain looks completely stoned out of his mind.
• Walking Spoiler: Evidently.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He has an adverse fear of fire, referencing Team Flare and Lysandre's attack on Lumiose City. To the point that his nightmares and memories become fiery monsters that roam across Silent Hill.
• Worthy Opponent: He is considered this to both Ash and Leon.

Destruction

Simon Laurent / The True Apex

See his tropes here.

Desire

Alex Shepherd / The Bogeyman / Pyramid Head / The Dark Shepherd

"No plan survives contact with the enemy."

"I'm the bogeyman and I'm COMING TO GET YOU!"

A passenger (maybe) who Hop encounters in a fog-filled car right after arriving on the Train who takes the boy into his apartment...in Silent Hill. Though something seems quite off about him...
He's encountered in Knight of the Orange Lily by the White Gestalt who leads them into Silent Hill and has a side-story Chrysanthemum Shepherd that explains more of his origins.

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• Adaptational Abomination: Is capable of transforming into the Bogeyman whereas he was "gifted" this in one of the bad endings of his game.
• Adaptational Skill: He's really good at cooking which Chloe and Aaron Hotchner take note of.
• Adaptational Wimp: Zigzagged; he actually has the most combat experience out of the Silent Hill protagonists outside Murphy Pendleton from intensive training put on by his military father but he never uses them and is cowed by Walter and Henry's strength. This is because his designation as Desire means he can't fight them if someone else's desire — theirs — overwhelms his own. Once he has focus, he's just as strong as they are.
• Adaptation Species Change: Human in his home game, denizen here. Chrysanthem Shepherd reveals he was initially a human, until One forced him into a denizen form to stop the Apex.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Despite everything he hates him for, Hop still mourns his death, clutching onto Alex's flashlight and waves him and Josh goodbye. This continues in the sequel as he can't help but just remember the good times they had.
• Ambiguously Human: When Hop questions why Alex doesn't go to other cars, Alex tries to retort...but then clams up and states that he's okay with staying in the fog-covered car. Moreover, he never shows if he has a number at all. Walter confirms that Alex is actually a denizen.
• Arc Villain: Of The Fog Car in Knight of the Orange Lily as he's specifically gunning for Specter on the accounts of him abusing (Dark) Easter and throwing them out a window.
• Ascended Extra: He has a bigger role in Knight of the Orange Lily as the main villain as the author felt like she gave him the short end of the stick along with his own side-story.
• Author Appeal: Green Phantom Queen considers him to be her favorite Silent Hill protagonist with Heather Mason as a runner-up, so she puts him as the focus Silent Hill character in Knight of the Orange Lily with his own origin story too.
• Berserk Button:
  • Hurt his little brother and you will suffer.
  • He hates anyone who inflicts denizen abuse, not just the Apex. In Knight of the Orange Lily, he pursues Specter after he threw Easter — a living lightning bolt — out of a window without pity and decides to Pay Evil unto Evil.
• Big Brother Instinct: He's not Hop's older brother by blood, but he will protect Hop if need be. Simon learns this the hard way. This ends up cementing his Heel–Face Turn as a way to atone for his sins.
• Blessed with Suck: Being stuck with the designation with Desire means that he has sheer focus and commitment...to other's desires. His own desires to be in peace are subsumed by Henry and Walter wanting revenge on the Apex and even his own desires causes him to go mad (like wanting to protect Hop from devolving into Delirium).
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: In Knight of the Orange Lily, he does attack Specter for kicking Easter out a window, but this is also disregarding that Easter has forcibly taken over Specter's body multiple times and is outright demanding Specter to open his mouth up for once. He only sensed Dark Easter's pain from being attacked, not the reasoning why Specter would be pissed off at the lightning bolt.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: Hop, the single most powerful component of the Cage of Flauros, is his designated Protectorate. Though granted, that's mostly because somebody needs to keep Hop happy...
• The Chosen One: Chrysanthemum Shepherd reveals he is the legendary Dark Shepherd, the Bogeyman whom One brings onto the Train to stop the Apex.
• The Comically Serious: When he (as Pyramid Head) frees the Apex from the safehouse, the group decides to hit him by kicking him in the shins. The narration then points out that Pyramid Head would just "roll his eyes" if he had any.
• Composite Character: He has traces of the Pyramid Head from Silent Hill: Revelation 3D (who was combined with Vatiel) when he comes to the aid of Destiny — who is based on Heather Mason and in said film, it's implied Alessa summoned him to fight the Missionary — against another more monstrous adversary.
• Cool Big Bro: He was one of this to Joshua in the past, and Delight is seeing him as one too...albeit not by his own free will.
• Dissonant Serenity: He can calmly talk about making tea and brownies while watching someone go through Electric Torture.
• Does Not Like Spam: Doesn't like chestnuts as it gives him headaches. This probably is hinted to Alain because of him being the reason Mairin's Chespin was sent into a coma; later revealed that he's been carrying Alain's Honor of Kalos that hosted his soul.
• The Dreaded: Is this to many denizens in Knight of the Orange Lily. Even the likes of Ryugen and Gaim of the 400 Rabbits Car assumed he's only a nursery rhyme. London himself is freaked out upon having to see him face to face and in Blossoming Trail, Chloe can do nothing but try to protect herself than actually fight him head on.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: He has fond things to say about his mother (like she made the best brownies and he has taken to drink chrysanthemum tea like she does) all of this while allowing Easter to torture his partner.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • He agrees to the plan to trap the Apex, but feels somewhat uncomfortable that Henry and Walter don't even call their prisoner or patient by their names.
  • He's disgusted at Specter's treatment of Easter, so disgusted that he plans on torturing Specter in retaliation. He then clarifies he wants to punish, not kill, Specter so he learns his lesson to stop being an asshole to his partner. But then again, this also means he's willing to murder London...
• Flower Motifs: Associated with chrysanthemums in his one-shot. Chrysanthemums in most countries of Europe symbolize mourning and death, highlighting the punishment for those who fail Silent Hill's trials and his origin story reveals he died before being turned into a denizen. There's also a breed of chrysanthemum called "Shepherd" and chrysanthemums are good to ward off pests, again tying how he's reformed to stop the Apex.
• Friend to All Children: In Blossoming Trail he coddles Hop and in Knight of the Orange Lily Jack Hotchner finds him cool. This is presumably due to his closeness with Josh. However, he does not show this gentleness or friendliness to Chloe or the apex.
• Genre Savvy: As Blossoming Trail Arc 2 ends, he warns Henry and Walter how "no plan survives contact with the enemy" and that they need to double down if the Flauros will have any chance of success.
• Go Out with a Smile: Smiles at Hop one more time before he takes himself and Henry into Toluca Lake to drown.
• Heel–Face Turn: After Hop breaks out of being Despair/Delirium, he decides to no longer go with the Cage of Flauros and dispenses important info about the ritual.
• Hero Killer: Nearly kills Paul London in Knight of the Orange Lily after skewering him with a spear. The only reason this doesn't stick is because part of Easter fused with the wrestler.
• I Have Many Names: The Bogeyman, Pyramid Head, and Dark Shepherd are titles he carries.
• Informed Attribute: Discussed. At the start of the theme park visit, Chloe questions why he's considered Desire since he doesn't actively try to transform into whatever people desire nor is involved in the more..."adult" form of this. Alex points out that desire can just mean wanting something so badly even though you can't get it, reflecting how he desires to have Hop as his brother forever. It's later revealed that he becomes a servant to someone else's desires. Moreover, the initial symbolism of the Bogeyman / Pyramid Head represented James Sunderland's frustrations of not being able to have sex with his wife Mary and the desire to be executed for his sins.
• Ironic Name:
  • Like Lexi, his first name is derived from "Alexander" or "Defender of Man". He's certainly not protecting Hop but rather leading him into the hands of Henry and Walter. Although in a way, he's part of a ritual to protect the other denizens from that of the Apex...and compared to those two, he treats Hop with care, to the point that he finds it uncomfortable that neither Henry nor Walter call their prisoner/patient by their real names. He later lives up to the name when he fights off Henry and Walter to let Hop leave Silent Hill.
  • Again he's supposed to be the "defender of man" but Knight of the Orange Lily reveals he specifically hates passengers who hurt their denizen partners, so he unleashes his rage on Specter.
• Irony:
  • Is part of a ritual that sacrifices others. In his home game, he was oblivious for the most part that he was supposed to be the sacrifice and not his little brother Joshua.
  • In comparison to Walter and Henry, he actually has more combat experience than they and yet he acts like a doormat to them.
  • He's Desire, but he can't act on his own desires but Walter and Henry's instead.
  • His backstory in his canon game had him kill Josh (albeit accidentally) via drowning. He intentionally drowns himself and Henry.
• Loophole Abuse: If a passenger dies when on the train, they get reincarnated. One forces him onto the Train and kills him before he even gets shipped off, thus killing two birds with one stone.
• Madness Mantra: Hop writes that he mutters "ash" over and over again whenever he sees one of the abandoned/burnt buildings of Silent Hill. It's presumably related to Alain since Alain's hospital room is covered with the word "Ash".
• Meaningful Name: Shepherds are people who tend, herd, feed, or guard herds of sheep. Hop is associated with sheep (as his starter mon is Wooloo) and immediately attaches himself to him as the first person he met once he entered the train. Shepherds are supposed to keep their flock intact, lead them from pasture to pasture and protect them from predators. Alex shelters Hop leads him directly into Silent Hill and directs Hop to Walter and Henry...
• Mysterious Past:
  • Hop can't figure out a lot about him, outside his dislike of chestnuts, some PTSD over burnt buildings, and the fact that he has a medal that looks like a Poké ball. It's later revealed that Alex is actually a denizen and that medal belongs to Alain, as it contains his soul, and most of his background is just like in his home game with some changes.
  • The side-story Infinity Train: Chrysanthemum Shepherd explains it in more detail: he was actually a pure human sucked in by One-One (back when he was One) then killed before being reprocessed as a denizen. What's left of the real Shepherd is considered dead.
• Mythology Gag: Alex's love of brownies comes from a flavor text in his game, stating that his mother used to bake them and the smell would cover the entire house.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Dark Shepherd and the Bogeyman are already frightening names, but it's Pyramid Head that should warn you on how dangerous he is.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: As the Bogeyman, almost nothing can phase him. Not fire, not guns, not demon summons, and not a bunch of Apex brats kicking him. The only thing that has damaged him is Delirium slamming him on the ground via his tentacles or Easter striking his Great Knife down like a lightning rod. And the only thing that can kill him is drowning.
• Only Sane Man: He's the one who has his head in the game in regards to the Flauros and making sure all components are in order.
• Origins Episode: Chrysanthemum Shepherd goes into detail as to how he became the Bogeyman.
• Out of Focus: In Blossoming Trail, he easily has the least amount of character focus out of all the components; while most of them get focus or at least do things, Alex spends most of his time tethered to Delight. He starts getting more focus when Chloe finally reaches Silent Hill and becomes the most difficult obstacle she has to face prior to the final battle against Walter and Henry themselves. According to Green Phantom Queen, she is giving him the most focus in Knight of the Orange Lily and has his own origin story Chrysanthemum Shepherd to compensate for this.
• Painful Transformation: Transforming into the Bogeyman is a painful experience, with it initially starting with him stabbing himself in the chest. So was his transformation into his denizen self too.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: In Knight of the Orange Lily, he decides to help Easter get revenge on Specter this way as he detests denizen abuse.
• Real Men Can Cook: He is the one who cooks up the feast for Grace's group and the Quarto. Chloe even lampshades that she had no idea that he was this skilled. He also is willing to make brownies for himself on the side. Knight of the Orange Lily has Aaron Hotchner mentally remark that he wasn't expecting a soldier to be so skilled in culinary arts and that he made a good tiramisu (which has a bit of reputation for being difficult to make).
• Replacement Goldfish: Is using Hop as a replacement younger brother, being very doting and treating Hop younger than he is.
• Sinister Sweet Tooth: Knight of the Orange Lily and his origin story shows he has a thing for brownies and recalls that his mother made the best ones ever. Oh and he's also Pyramid Head and he is making brownies so he has something to eat while watching Specter be tortured for his sins.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: When he wishes to inflict torment on those who hurt their denizen partners, he never raises his voice. Best showcased when he looks down at Specter and doesn't give a damn about the Knight of Hanoi's pleas except that the ghost better apologize and promise to never do anything like that again. Or else
• The Stoic: Compared to the playful, flirty and insane Walter and Henry, he's usually calm and composed like a soldier. The only times he's not can be counted on one hand.
• Taking You with Me: How he kills Henry, impaling him with a spear and then enveloping him in a Bear Hug before dragging them both into Toluca Lake.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Has a bit of friction working with Walter and Henry.
• Token Good Teammate: Amongst him, Walter and Henry, he's the nicest of the three, taking care of Hop like he was his little brother and disliking the idea of calling Alain and Paul by their Ritual designations. He also feels horrible on letting Hop become part of the Cage of Flauros and knows that Hop will never forgive him for the deceit. But then again in Knight of the Orange Lily, he is willing to torture Specter for his crimes on denizen abuse...
• Willfully Weak: Has an abomination form like Henry and Walter, but chooses not to use it for fear of letting it go out of control (or presumably because he doesn't want to make Delight snap from seeing their true self). He transforms into the Bogeyman when he sees Hop snap into Delirium and goes into his full strength to save Hop and everyone from Walter and Henry's final attack.
• Would Hit a Girl: Has no qualms trying to cleave Chloe's head in half with his Great Knife or going to attack Amelia after she tried shooting at him. In Knight of the Orange Lily, he was ready to go toe to toe with Lampetia as well.
• Whould Hurt A Child: He tried to slice Chloe's head in half with his Great Knife. Subverted with the Apex; even while they're kicking him, Pyramid Head just takes everything without flinching.

Despair (Unmarked Spoilers)

Paul Drangea / The Prisoner

"I am Despair. I follow Death."

Ash's former rival from Sinnoh. A standoffish jerk who only cares about his own strength, looking down on the weak and pushing Pokémon under his care to the limit and not caring about their feelings, which is likely why the train picked him up. He's not in a good spot when we first meet him.

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• Accidental Murder: Claims the death of an Apex member as one of these. But considering how Walter points out that he left the kid to die means that it's just Paul's way of saving face. It's later revealed that Electivire attacked the kid, Sean, in self-defense and Paul couldn't save him since he had no Water-types (particularly his Gastrodon) at the time (and he assumed Sean was pulling off a Wounded Gazelle Gambit).
• Accomplice by Inaction: Is blamed for Sean's death because he could give a Raticate's ass about the kid. It's later revealed that while he initially walked away (with a justified reason), the second Sean screamed for his mother, Paul actually went back to save him, but by then it was too late.
• Accidental Child-Killer Backstory: The main thing that Walter uses to break Paul into Despair involves this: apparently, back when he was still new to the Train, Paul caused an Apex child named Sean to fall into the water, and since he couldn't swim, he drowned, with Paul acting indifferent to what happened. Except, as the Fog Car saga reveals, that's not what happened: while Paul and Sean were involved, the latter struck first by trying to kill the former's Pokemon, thinking they were Denizens, and Paul's Electivire struck back, sending him straight to the water. As for Paul, he wanted to help, but he could neither swim nor did he have a Pokemon capable of swimming with him, leaving him helpless as the kid drowned.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Long story short, he's Despair.
• Adaptational Badass: Gains powers over the rain that his canonical self never had.
• Armor-Piercing Question: When Chloe tries to defend her Descent into Addiction regarding her vicious speeches by claiming it's fine when the person it's directed to deserves it, Paul shuts her up by asking if he really deserved being told that everything he was going through was karma, and that he didn't deserve to go back home.
• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Or rather, "Being Tortured Turns You Into Despair". The torture Walter puts him through is so horrific that, when everything is said and done, Paul, the last person of the four Pokémon trainers that are part of this ritual, cracks and becomes Despair.
• Beyond Redemption: Walter and Henry state that he's this after he let a child drown. He himself begins to believe this and requests that Hop finds a way to deliver his Pokémon to Ash or Reggie, knowing that he doesn't deserve them. He even admits that he belongs on the Train when he reveals his number (42007) but Chloe convinces him otherwise. Indeed, by the epilogue of Voyage of Wisteria, he ends up with his number to 0 and a door that leads him home.
• Bookends: Paul's road to development begins and ends with the Apex kid, Sean. It started when he knocks the kid into Toluca Lake and could't save him from drowning, and ends when they reunite and Sean has been reincaranted.
• Bound and Gagged: He was kept in a straitjacket and blindfolded by Walter during his imprisonment.
• Break the Badass: For all his flaws, Paul was an exceptionally skilled Trainer. By the time his torture is over, he's turned into a nervous stuttering wreck who believes he deserves to be punished.
• Break the Haughty: Becoming a prisoner in Silent Hill has not done wonders for his ego or sanity and he's almost completely gone by the time Chloe arrives at the Fog Car.
• Broke the Rating Scale: His number grew exponentially big when he murdered Sean. It's later revealed that it's now at 42007. To compare at the time that this was revealed, Hop's current number was 1090, and Chloe was just one revelation away from leaving the Train forever.
• Callousness Towards Emergency: An Apex member, who was a child, was drowning in front of Paul. Despite Paul being fully capable of saving the kid, he didn't care and watched the kid drown to death. It later turns out he couldn't; he wasn't carrying his Gastrodon at the time and was shocked to act because he assumed that the boy was crying wolf (due to attacking Electivire and Paul commanded Electivire to Thunder Punch the kid into the lake).
• Character Development: When encountering Mad Ben in Voyage of Wisteria, he's disgusted at how Mad Ben applauds how Paul killed an Apex kid, realizing that he was a cruel person who would hurt anyone just for power.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Suffers this at Walter's hands as the maniac works to turn him into Despair, isolated in some sort of dungeon all alone, blindfolded, attacked, and then hit with Chinese Water Torture. It does its effect, as Paul is almost gone by the time Chloe arrives.
• Composite Character: While he is based on Murphy Pendleton, he also carried James Sunderland's subconscious desires to be punished for his crimes and the original Alex Shepherd's backstory of accidentally drowning a child in Toluca Lake.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: Walter did this to him in order to not only make him snap into Despair, but ensure that he wouldn't try to betray them. Needless to say, it worked. For the most part.
• Cooldown Hug: Is given one of these by his Pokémon once reunited, to the point that he's driven to tears.
• Creepy Monotone: How he speaks once Walter made him into Despair. The author makes the analogy of Nurse Joy from the first Pokémon movie.
• Crime of Self-Defense: It turns out that the reason behind Sean's death was that Paul's Electivire defended him when the kid tried to attack him. But of course, nobody listens considering this is Paul we're talking about. When the memories are played out to everyone by Walter, everyone can conclude that it was really self-defense.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: Deconstructed. His and Reggie's parents are dead and thus it's Reggie's role to act like a parent figure to keep an eye on Paul. Paul despises this and this lead to the fateful argument that got him on the Train and into Walter's hands.
• Despair Event Horizon: Hey, he's not denominated "Despair" for nothing. Walter's goal with him to transform him into the ritual component he needs was to make him cross this. He's very much on the verge of crossing it. By Chapter 18, he's already broken. And later chapters have him stuttering when he tries to talk — and whenever he talks it sounds empty — avoid eye contact with others and looking more like a kicked Rockruff.
• Dramatic Stutter: After he becomes tortured, he's known to have a stutter which highlights how broken he's become.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: His eyes have a distant and empty look to them once he becomes Despair.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After enduring so much throughout Blossoming Trail, the second half of the epilogue for Voyage of Wisteria has him finally forgive himself for Sean's death and he goes back to Reggie as a changed man.
• Electric Torture: On the receiving end from Simon when the Apex member gets tired of not getting answers.
• Empty Shell: Has become one by the time Chloe arrives, fitting for someone embodying Despair. The narration even calls him a shell of a human being.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • The only person Paul actually cares about is his brother, Reggie. But Walter notes that, deep down, Paul doesn't belong or fit with anyone, especially not the older brother who truly loves him. Reggie tells Ash and Trip that the last time they fought, it was over how Paul hated Reggie "breathing down his neck" with Reggie replying that someone had to since their parents passed on. Chloe looking into Paul's soul shows a younger Paul crying and clinging to his brother during their parents' funeral.
  • His Pokémon are also genuinely loyal to him and are furious at how helpless they are to help their trainer. It turns out the Apex child ended up dying because they were trying to protect him from the maniac who wanted to kill his 'Nulls'.
  • He returns the favor when he gets a brief spot of clarity, refusing to finger them as Sean's real killers and enacting a desperate plan to ensure their safety. This plan involves getting them delivered to either Ash or Reggie via Hop, both of whom he trusts to treat them right.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • He tries to state that he didn't mean to let the Apex member drown in the lake and he's shown to have some sort of moral code in the anime. That said, Walter doesn't believe it for a second and gaslights him to make it so that it was all his fault for the deed when it was all an accident from Electivire knocking Sean into the water in self-defense and him lacking Gastrodon.
  • Even he is disgusted with Mad Ben's apathy when they meet in the Hazbin Car as he sees a reflection of his past self.
• Fairy Tale Motifs: He compares himself to Hansel of Hansel and Gretel lured by the Witch only to be forced in a cold cellar and fattened up.
• Failure-to-Save Murder: Paul couldn't help Sean from drowning because he didn't have any Water Pokemon on him and he wasn't the best swimmer (not to mention that he initially assumed Sean was bluffing about not swimming). Walter cruelly twists this in his torture of Paul by making him think he left the boy to die, until he falls into Despair and become another component for the Cage of Flauros.
• Fatal Flaw: Pride and Apathy. Paul doesn't care for other people and he only cares for himself. He refused to help a child from drowning despite being capable of and refuses to apologize no matter what. Later it turns out it was all an accident and he wanted to save the boy.
• Fell Asleep Crying: Pretty much the only way he could go to sleep while imprisoned by Walter.
• Flower Motifs: Hydrangeas; his last name is a shortened version of it and the negative connotations of them can be translated into "boastfulness, vanity, and frigidity". He prides himself on being strong and Walter states that he has an absolutely frigid heart.
• For Want Of A Nail: If Paul had his Gastrodon on him or didn't tell Electivire to Thunder Punch Sean, there'd be one less child murder in the Fog Car and one less broken Paul.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: Paul is slowly losing his mind from the captivity Walter has trapped him in. He cries himself to sleep, going stir crazy from the stillness, and is constantly kept in darkness.
• Grey Rain of Depression: Can cast a storm as "Despair".
• Helpless Good Side: While Paul is technically still around even after becoming Despair, he only takes control during rare moments of lucidity, and it doesn't take much for Despair to regain control.
• His Own Worst Enemy: Paul is a powerful Trainer, but as a human being his apathy and pride prevent him from getting anywhere, let alone being able to connect with others. This has him trapped in a cold and lonely place just as cold as he is, and he is utterly without help or hope, broken to a shell of his former self by someone even viler than him. And by the time he gets out, he'll have the longest time to drop his number to 0.
• Horrifying the Horror: Him calming down as the ritual approaches actually manages to scare Henry.
• I Didn't Mean to Kill Him: States this about accidentally leaving Sean to drown in Toluca Lake due a combination of not believing the Apex kid who wanted to kill Electvire was actually in trouble and not having a Gastrodon for the kid to grab onto.
• I Hate Past Me: Seeing Mad Ben picking on Todd and Lucy makes him recoil in disgust.
• Insistent Terminology: Inverted; after his torture, he can't utter the word "Pokémon" at all, and instead says terms like "friends", "pets" or "surprise balls".
• Ironic Hell: The kid prides himself in working alone, depending on his own strength, and didn't show concern for his own family. Now Paul is forced into isolation in Silent Hill with no one coming to help him, his Pokémon unable to shield him, and his brother, the only person he actually cares about, completely unaware of where he is because his Xtransceiver is shattered. He also becomes broken just like how he broke Ash during their bitter rivalry.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: Discussed and Averted; the fact that Paul is broken down by Walter (who is a worse monster than Paul could ever become) is what Chloe considers "overdue karma" due to how he's been known to be an abusive Pokémon Trainer and a bonfide asshole overall, never getting any sort of karma for his actions (his treatment of Chimchar the biggest one). Saint Ash tells Chloe that despite everything Paul was before, he does not deserve any of the torture given to him or the idea of him never returning to Reggie, the only person who ever loved him, nor to be told this straight to the face by the person who's supposed to help him. The discussion continues towards the climax of The Fog Car saga, as Chloe's Descent into Addiction reveals that, whether she meant what she said or not, she was trying to get her fix more than anything.
• Killing in Self-Defense: Deconstructed. Electivire attacked Sean since the boy was trying to attack Paul's "Nulls" and sent him into the water. The problem is that Sean couldn't swim and was paralyzed from his fear of drowning and Paul was unable to save him in time. And even if it was self-defense, Paul just inadvertedly let a child die, his body dropped at the location the Train picked him up with his parents never figuring out what happened and now his soul is to be reincarnated into a denizen for a long time.
• Lack of Empathy: Paul doesn't care for others — barring his older brother and even that is strained — and because of this, he was unable to help an Apex child when he was knocked into the lake. Now he's shown to be a prisoner of someone with less empathy than him. It's later revealed that he was horrified with what was happened and now is afraid of leaving the Train and having his brother learn of this.
• Laser-Guided Karma: While his torture is Disproportionate Retribution, Paul is left completely helpless as he deliberately left a child completely helpless despite his own capability to help them (although it's later made clear he couldn't help him even if he wanted to), and tortured by someone who also suffers from a severe Lack of Empathy before breaking down entirely.
• Loss of Identity: Kind of. By the time Chloe shows up, he just mutters "I am Despair", now accepting himself as part of the twisted ritual, but a piece of his old self is still around. The story switches out between calling him Paul/Despair depending on what side of him is in control at the moment.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Show signs of this when he let an Apex child drown in the lake, initially believing that their "Can't swim" tactic was a trap because of how said kid attacked Electvire first before realizing that it was not a trick and was too late to rescue him, stating that he didn't mean to kill them and that he's not a murderer.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Is it ever.
  • Paul is usually stoic, calm, and a jerk. This entire time he has been in the Fog Car, he's stammering, panicky and tear-stricken at what he's caused.
  • In Voyage of Wisteria, Reggie is shocked to hear that Paul is apologizing as he rarely apologizes.
• Pet the Dog: He cares for his Pokémon to the point that he takes the blame for letting Sean drown in the lake, turning him into Despair so that they (particularly Electvire, the one who punched Sean into the water) don't die. He even tries to formulate a plan to have Hop deliver them to someone from their world so that they can be with Ash or Reggie.
• Primal Fear: The only light Paul has in his cell is the light of his number and Walter has him blindfolded when he comes in to give Paul meals.
• Refuse to Rescue the Disliked: According to Paul, he had been attacked by a member of the Apex. He refused to help the kid when the kid started to drown and watched him die. In actuality, Paul couldn't save the kid because of his lack of his Gastrodon and it's implied that Sean was unable to move because of Electivire's Thunder Punch paralyzing him along with his own fears.
• Rule of Symbolism:
  • He's eventually stuck in a straitjacket, showing how his constricting views about strength ended up trapping him in a Hell he can't escape from and that he is not strong at all, but absolutely weak to the core. He alsoh as a blindfold; he couldn't see how much he was hurting people.
  • His most recent number is 42007, based on the premiere of the Diamond and Pearl anime in the US (April 2, 2007)
• Shock and Awe: His Electivire is Thunder-type.
• Signature Mon: His Electivire is his most powerful Pokémon and the same one who accidentally murdered a child.
• Silent Scapegoat: While it probably wouldn't have worked, Paul could've easily pinned the blame on his Pokémon, as they're the ones who defended him from Sean. But instead, he keeps quiet, and we all know what came after that.
• The Social Darwinist: Was all about how the strong survive and the weak suffer. And now the shoe is on the other foot for him.
• Split Personality: What has become of him after his torture: his mind snaps in two, one resembling Paul, the other resembling Despair.
• Split-Personality Takeover: By the time the Red Lotus Trio arrive at the Fog Car, Despair has completely taken over Paul. Even when he briefly resurfaces, all it takes is the sounds of bells for Despair to return.
• Split-Personality Switch Trigger: All it takes is the sounds of a bell for Despair to take control of Paul once again.
• The Strategist: Is this no matter what he is or what's become of him. In a brief moment of clarity, he manages to trick Walter, Henry, and Hop in a rapidly shifting plan to protect his Pokémon.
• Stealth Pun: He's blindfolded when Walter feeds him, resembling how he turned a blind eye towards the Apex kid who was drowning.
• They Died Because of You: Basically what Walter does to him; alongside torturing him to his breaking point, he constantly gaslits him into thinking that he completely failed to save Sean from drowning, and that this reason is why he deserves all of the pain he's suffering. Once the truth comes out, however, Walter's forced to eat his words.
• The Unapologetic: His Fatal Flaw, refusing to acknowledge his mistakes out of pride or stubbornness...even when that mistake was leaving another child to drown. Walter himself is disgusted with how Paul refuses to admit his mistakes. It turns out that it's more because Paul doesn't want to put the blame on his Pokémon for causing it. When he's reunited with his mons, the first thing he does is apologize for being mean to them. In fact, him apologizing is a cause for alarm when his brother calls him in Voyage of Wisteria because Paul never apologizes.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Twofold.
  • First, having Electivire attack Sean, a member of the Apex, knocked the boy into the lake...which is where he starts drowning because he can't swim. Not only does this cause Sean to drown (since Paul doesn't have Gastrodon on him), but Walter uses Paul as another ritual component.
  • Paul asking Hop to deliver his Poké balls to someone so they can be given to Ash makes Hop slowly break, slowly changing from Despair into Delirium and threatening to throw the Cage of Flauros severely out of whack.
• Walking Spoiler: No one was expecting Paul of all Pokémon characters to be on the Train or that his role was going to be a tortured prisoner; at least with Alain being on the Train he was implied by Word of God!
• Water Torture: In a final act to break him, Walter enacts Chinese Water torture on Paul.
• What You Are in the Dark: Paul could've let the boy drown and no one would know. But the first thing he does when he hears Sean cry for his mother is to go back in a futile attempt to save him, showing that he's not as heartless as people think he is.
• Would Hurt a Child: Zigzagged; he let Electivire attack Sean with Thunder Punch, as the Apex child was trying to attack them, but he wasn't expecting Sean to actually be scared about being in the water (he assumed it was a Wounded Gazell Gambit) before shouting for his mother, prompting Paul to go back to save him.

Delight/Delirium (Unmarked Spoilers)

Hop Hyacin / Hop Shepherd / Hoppy

"This. Is gonna be. DELIGHTFUL."

A trainer in the Galar region and younger brother of the Pokémon World Champion Leon who wishes to climb the ranks and one day fight against his older brother. The author revealed that he will play a prominent role in Arc 2 of Blossoming Trail as he had been taken by the Train before Chloe did and ended up in The Fog Car (aka Silent Hill), but forgot to omit that it's for a ritual component...

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• Achievements in Ignorance: After becoming Delirium, his emotions get so strong that the Silent Hill car molds to his wishes, a fact that he's completely oblivious towards.
• Accidental Truth: When he shouts "You don't know what I'm capable of!" at Chloe, he meant what he can do to make her happy. However, given how feared and powerful Delirium actually is, he's completely right.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: He's a lot more angsty about his brother being the Galarian Champion than in the original game; enough to end up on the Train, even.
• Adaptational Abomination: As Delight, he gains the power to control the Fog Car, and wears a perpetual smile that makes him come across as... off. As Delirium, he trades "Humanoid" for "Eldritch".
• Adaptational Badass: Hop's just an ordinary Pokémon Trainer in his original game. In here, not only does he become Delight, and then Delirium, but his emotions get so strong he can control The Fog Car.
• A Day in the Limelight: Arc 2's Prelude focuses on what brought him to the Train, having arrived a few days before Chloe set foot (as it takes place sometime during Episode 27 and Chloe entered it before Episode 29).
• Affably Evil: Even after becoming Delight, Hop doesn't have a single mean bone on his body, acting as friendly as he does in the games. Then he becomes Delirium...
• Alliterative Name: Hop Hyacin.
• Almighty Idiot: Downplayed. On the one hand, Hop is perfectly sentient and aware of his surroundings, it's just that he's currently suffering a case of Loss of Identity. He also unknowingly possesses emotions so strong that Silent Hill molds to his whims, making him potentially the strongest damn thing in the Car, possibly stronger than even Henry and Walter.
• Always Second Best: Fears that he'll never be able to match Leon...and that worse yet, he might actually be dragging him down by association.
• Ambiguous Innocence: Starts acting like a child during his stay in The Fog Car, but there is something off about this innocent act, almost as if Hop was either drugged or brainwashed. Then he starts to crack after Paul brings up Ash.
• Animal Metaphor: The sheep, and for very good reason: not only does he go astray to encounter a "Shepherd", but after becoming Delight he, much like a sheep, just does whatever he's told and nothing else.
• Animal Motif:
  • After hearing his name, Shepherd immediately compares him to a rabbit. Alex also tells Hop a bedtime story about a man named Paul who became part of something called the Rabbit Tribe.
  • There's also his strong bond with Wooloo, and how his desire to grow stronger led him to consider benching the sheep in favor of putting together a more powerful team... a move which ironically could be construed as attempting to follow the herd/what's expected of Trainers rather than following his heart. Walter even calls him a "little lamb". In a very dark example, he was lead by Alex Shepherd to be a mindless sheep following Henry and Walter's commands.
• Balloonacy: Should Hop shows signs of anger, the fog around him turns into smiley-face balloons. Yes, he can make smiley face balloons seem terrifying.
• Berserk Button:
  • Don't mention Ash Ketchum to him. Paul learns this the very hard way when something inside the boy's mind snaps.
  • Call him a spoiled child at your own peril else he'll transform into Delirium in a heartbeat.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • While it's heavily tainted, Hop is still the same sweetheart he once was before entering the Train. But his emotions are so much stronger than before he entered that he can actually manipulate the Fog Car.
  • Hop does not forgive Alex for letting the soldier be brainwashed for a ritual and tries to choke him with the strings of balloons and then bash him onto the ground with his tentacles.
• Beyond the Impossible: Most passengers don't have the ability to manipulate the Train, and those who do have used technology to do it. Hop's emotions are so strong that he turns the Fog Car into an Empathic Environment. Not even the likes of Henry and Walter boast that ability!
• Big Brother Worship: He idolizes his older brother and hopes to be just as good as a Trainer as he was. Then, he starts shifting his sights on gushing over Alex...
• Black-and-White Insanity: Blue and Orange, actually, but it's the same thing: anything that brings people happiness is good, anything that doesn't is evil.
• Black Eyes of Crazy / Black Eyes of Evil: Sports these as Delirium, which is yet another sign that you have to run.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: After becoming Delight, Hop doesn't see good or evil, nor right or wrong. All he sees is positivity and... not-positivity.
• Body Horror: When he becomes Delirium, not only does he get a Glasgow Grin that reaches his ears, but his Combat Tentacles are sprouting out of his body.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Henry and Walter are transforming him into Delight for the ritual, brainwashing him into regarding Alex as his big brother and acting more like a little boy than he should. We later learn that he's been reduced to a six-year-old because that was the last age he had nothing but unreserved love for his older brother via a special herbal mixture that he inhales. By the time Chloe talks to him, Hop has essentially forgotten his life prior to entering the Train and always assumed he lived in Silent Hill.
• Break the Cutie: Once he realizes what's happened to him, and seeing that his number has now risen to 1090, he breaks down in tears, blaming himself for not telling Leon about his problems sooner because now it would take at most a full year before he returns home.
• The Cameo: Shows up in Goh's "nightmare therapy", where he and Chloe are good friends.
• Cheerful Child: Enforced; as his ritual designation is Delight, he has to be both smiling and have a mindset of a child. This is not a good combination as time goes on and he doesn't know how to express his anger and frustrations except bottling it up with even more smiles.
• Color Motif: Black. His eyes turn black when he becomes Delirium, he gains black tentacles for attacking and his Corvisquire evolves into Corviknight, a large black raven.
• Composite Character: The story takes place in the anime world, so it has Hop going out for the World Coronation Series, but he also encountered Bede like in the game and his Wooloo has a Friendship Bracelet like in Pokémon: Twilight Wings.
  • In a Played for Drama version, he starts confusing Bede and Ash together. He describes his opponent with a purple coat and red hat, z-like marks and a hat-thing that uses Thunderbolt.
• Combat Tentacles: The balloons he creates gain these tendrils when he gets pissed off enough, and once he becomes Delirium, the tentacles sprout all over his body.
• Corrupt the Cutie: He was a Nice Guy with some self-esteem issues before the Train, and by extension Henry and Walter, reached him. As Delight/Delirium, his cuteness is nothing more than a mask.
• Creepy Child: Perpetually happy, thinks and acts younger than he actually is, unable to process negativity, shapes the world around him with his emotions alone... yeah, he qualifies.
• Dramatic Irony: Hop's role in Henry and Walter's Evil Plan in the ritual against the Apex is "Delight." Considering the seven roles are based on The Sandman (1989) and Delight is more known as Delirium...it doesn't speak good things for Hop. Especially when Paul accidentally presses his Berserk Button early and causes him to start devolving...
• The Dreaded: Easily the most feared of all the components, with even Henry and Walter being wary of making him mad, and him staying happy is the most important thing before the ritual can begin.
• Easily Impressed: Whether it's an elaborate Haunted House, or Chloe singing a verse from a song, Delight isn't particularly hard to please. Not that anybody's complaining.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Implied when Shepherd asks Hop if he was called "Hoppy" in the past and Hop blushes at it. It's confirmed when Leon notes that Hop signed an email with that name...and he hasn't been called that in years.
• Emotion Suppression: If it doesn't bring joy or happiness, Delight will seal the emotion deep within himself, no matter how unhealthy it is. And once it gets out, then everyone within the vicinity is screwed.
• Evil Counterpart: A Nice Guy with supernatural powers who's kinda oblivious to his surroundings, who acts like an All-Loving Hero, has a name with only three letters, and is pretty much the World's Strongest Man? Are we talking about Hop, or Ash?
• Evil Detecting Mon: His Wooloo can sense that something is wrong with the Train, not that Hop can understand the Sheep Pokémon. He can also sense something off about Alex Shepherd and is unnerved by Walter and Henry's attention on Hop.
• Fatal Flaw: Similar to Chloe, he suffers through insecurities about being inferior and hides his pain from others under the belief that they either wouldn't understand them or make it worse. But unlike Chloe, he doesn't have anyone to help him figure this out. And because of where he landed, he has no way of working through his emotions and faults, instead bottling them up with more layers of happiness.
  • As Delight, he cannot process or even understand negative emotions. He can't even get a hint or idea as to how they're supposed to work and function: when Chloe tries to ask him how he feels about "the jerk" he first focuses on what could make Despair happy, and then panics when that fails to be the end of the conversation.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Hop was staying in Room 302 at the Motostoke Pokémon Center before the Train got to him. The Car he got to has an apartment run by a couple named Henry and Walter, with Henry's original apartment number (and where Walter's "mother" was residing) being Room 302.
• Flower Motif: Hyacinths. They are usually seen as symbols of power, pride, and competition, reflecting Hop's goal of being a top trainer like his older brother. Ironically Delight dislikes competition but yet has the most power out of all the components.
• For Happiness: Befitting the one designated as Delight, Hop wants everybody to be happy and joyful all the time, just like him. Trying to ruin this ideal is practically suicide.
• Freudian Slip: Exposes that he's not over Alex when he mixes his name up with Alain while asking for help in the Dark Parables Car.
• Genre Savvy: Zig-Zagged; he assumes the Train came because of the pain in his heart (which is correct) but also thinks that he'll only be there for a day or two on the Train but come back to find that only ten minutes have passed (which is incorrect; he's been stuck there for about two months by the time Chloe enters the Fog Car).
• Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul: A victim of this, as it was required in order to turn him into Delight.
• Glasgow Grin: The first thing that sets Delirium apart from Hop? His grin stretching until it reaches his ears.
• Good Counterpart: By the start of the Fog Car he could be considered one to Parker of all people. Both of them are younger brothers who hold a degree of admiration towards their older siblings, and after a particular incident, both struggle with a very volatile emotion. But while Parker's emotion is anger that's barely kept under a lid, Hop's emotion is happiness, and if that gets challenged in any way, Hop cracks lighting fast. Both of them also hold an insane Reality Warper power to them, but while Parker was granted the power to control the Unown and was not only aware of it, but could control it, Hop only has his emotions at his disposal, which are so strong that the Car molds to his desires, and he's completely unaware of this.
• Goal in Life: To be a skilled Pokémon Trainer just like his older brother.
• Goroawase Number: His starting number, 189, comes from his jersey number, and riffs off the word 'hiyaku' ("leaping").
• Godzilla Threshold: Him becoming Delirium is easily this, as not only is he the strongest thing in the Fog Car, but him becoming Delirium would mean shedding the niceness he had as Delight, meaning he wouldn't have anything deterring him from sending everything to hell. When he does become Delirium, it's a sign that things have gone to shit.
• Happiness Is Mandatory: After becoming Delight, Hop can't stand negative thoughts and would rather everybody be happy all the time. Not complying with this desire is both the worst and the last mistake you could make. Chloe learns this the hard way after calling him a spoiled child.
• The Heavy: While Henry and Walter are the ringleaders of the Cage of Flauros, Hop, as Delight and Delirium, is the most important chess piece, not only being easily the strongest of all the components, but Amelia notes that, given his unique circumstances, he's one of the few components who'd be difficult to replicate if he was removed from the circle.
• The Hedonist: The only thing he desires, as Delight anyway, is to experience all sorts of joy and spread said happiness to everybody around him.
• High Hopes, Zero Talent: Really wants to be a great trainer, but he lacks the skill that his older brother has. This, coupled with his insecurities, is what got him on the Train.
• Homefield Advantage: Inverted after becoming Delight. Back in Postwick, he wouldn't be any stronger than the average Pokémon Trainer. On the Fog Car, however, he's practically a god, being able to change everything to his liking with a mere thought.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Puts his complete trust in Henry and Walter, the latter being a Serial Killer. Unless those two did something to the boy...and it's increasingly clear that they did. It should be better to say that it was a bad choice to trust Alex and not run away immediately the minute he realized he was in Silent Hill.
• Humanoid Abomination: As Delight, he's a perpetually smiling child whose emotions are so strong they shape the world around him. As Delirium, the "Humanoid" part is thrown out the window.
• Innocently Insensitive: Hop doesn't understand negative emotions, let alone how to deal with them, after becoming Delight. His first thought when he sees Chloe being upset at the haunted house is to turn the offending object into a corgi-shaped piñata... then telling her to beat it.
• In-Series Nickname: Hoppy, which was an Affectionate Nickname when he was younger and is the name he's "currently" using in Silent Hill. The fact that he signs an email to his older brother with this is the first sign that something is wrong with him.
• Insistent Terminology: In Act 3, Hop starts calling Wooloo a "sheep" instead of a Pokémon, one of the biggest hints that Hop of Postwick is gone.
• I Reject Your Reality: A reality where people aren't happy all the time is a reality Hop wants nothing to do with. Unfortunately, Chloe has other plans...
• Irony:
  • His ritual designation is the youngest member of the original Endless, yet Hop is the most powerful one out of them all. Moreover, he always felt overshadowed by Leon, the world's best trainer whereas in the Fog Car, he has no equal.
  • Felt like a nobody compared to his older brother; in the ritual he's actually the keystone that holds it together.
  • For someone with a cheery designation, the color that fits him is black.
• Jerkass to One: If there's one person that Hop as Delight cannot stand, it's "the jerk" (his fusion of Ash and Bede: Bash), to the point that the negative feelings he has towards him traps him in a Logic Bomb.
• Jump Scare: When Chloe calls him for the first time, she mentions a list of people in Galar who would miss him. But during it, her phone suddenly shows a red smiley face with white-blood tears before it reverts back to Hop's smiling face. He does another one when Chloe arrives in The Fog Car and she asks too many questions, to which he turns back at her and the fog turns into more smiley balloons.
• Kiddie Kid: Since arriving in Silent Hill, Hop has regressed mentally. Despite going on a trainer journey and being self-reliant, he relies on the adults to care for him. Hop becomes very affectionate, passive, and childlike as Alex takes him through Silent Hill to the point of asking for a bedtime story and having snacks like chocolate milk and butter cake. He even addresses himself as "Hoppy" in an email to his brother...which Leon notes that Hop hasn't been called that in years. It's later revealed that he was brainwashed by Walter to revert into a six-year-old mindset.
• Lack of Empathy: Delight has very little interest in those who don't bring happiness to people, and himself: when Chloe points out how her family would miss her if she stayed on the Train, he disregards her concerns.
• Logic Bomb: How he becomes Delirium: Chloe asks him about Despair ( Paul) and the task he gave him to deliver his Pokémon to "the jerk" (Ash, but Hop starts to see him as a mix between himself and Bede). When she asks about how he feels about "the jerk" Hop simply focuses on making Despair happy. The more and more Chloe asks Hop about his feelings towards "the jerk" the more and more anxious he becomes, to the point that, had Chloe not called him a spoiled brat, the sheer paradox of the moment would've summoned his alternate self.
• Logical Weakness: Being Purity Personified, Delight cannot process negative emotions, and when he's asked about them, he either dodges the question or focuses on something about happiness. A failure to process this turns him into Delirium.
• Meaningful Rename: While initially known as "Delight," as the ritual comes closer and closer to fruition and Hop loses more of his identity, he's given the moniker of "Delirium".
• Minor Insult Meltdown: What causes Hop to hit the Rage Breaking Point so hard he snaps into Delirium? Chloe calling him a "spoiled brat". This, and not the Logic Bomb he was put through just seconds ago.
• Motif: Smiley faces for him. As Delight, he's always showing a grin on his face and whenever he starts snapping, Chloe can see the fog turning into smiley face balloons.
• Note to Self: After Paul requests Hop to deliver his Pokémon to another passenger from their world so they are safe with either Ash or Reggie, Hop scribbles one of these to himself to deliver the present to AK. Alex intercepts it but Walter dismisses it for the time being.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Him deciding to box his starter and buddy Wooloo is a sign that something snapped. So badly that this is what signals the Train to take him away.
  • While Hop's entire email to Leon disturbed him, the fact that Hop signs it off as "Hoppy" really sets Leon off.
  • He's acting more and more like a child than the teenager he should be due to whatever drugs Walter gave him.
  • Hop loses his smile when Paul brings up Ash Ketchum and it's a sign that he's going to lose it. In fact after this incident, any time he's about to lose that smile is a huge cause for alarm.
  • And finally upon learning how he was tricked, betrayed and has a number that's more than a thousand, he just breaks down after pulverizing Alex (as the Bogeyman).
• One-Winged Angel: When Chloe prods him one too many times, culminating in calling him a spoiled brat, he turns into the unpleasant sight that is Delirium.
• Perpetual Smiler: Befitting someone named "Delight," he always has a wide smile on his face. If he's not smiling, that's the cue to run.
• Pure Is Not Good: As Delight, he's supposed to be seen as an innocent child...but as time grows on, his positivity is nothing more than a thin veneer to hide his unpleasant emotions.
• Purity Personified: His role as Delight is to practically be this, as a living embodiment of positive emotions. Delirium, on the other hand...
• Rage Breaking Point: A mix of Chloe putting him through a crazy Logic Bomb and her calling him a spoiled brat is what tips him over the edge, unleashing Delirium into the world (well, the Fog Car).
• Reality Warper: Starting in Arc 3, if anything starts causing Hop to lose it, the fog somehow starts changing into smiley-face balloons. Chloe assumes that it's because he has such extreme emotions that Silent Hill starts to react around that. Not even Henry and Walter have that ability.
• Repeat What You Just Said: During his Minor Insult Meltdown, he asked Chloe what she called him just then. When she gladly obliges, calling him a spoiled child, Delirium is unleashed.
• Replacement Goldfish: Alex calls himself Hoppy's big brother so he's blatantly replacing his own dead younger brother, Joshua, with Hop.
• Rule of Symbolism:
  • His name starts with "H" and has three letters in it. Chloe, who will encounter him once she makes it to the Fog Car, just broke ties with her previous friend Goh.
  • The boy whose best friend is a sheep Pokémon immediately encounters A. Shepherd upon losing his way.
  • His number after he regains his sanity, 1090, is the episode when Wooloo first appear in the anime (Journeys episode 5).
• Sanity Slippage: The more and more he feels bad emotions, the more his sanity depletes until he breaks and becomes Delirium.
• Save This Person, Save the World: For the Cage of Flauros, he's the single most important person in the entire ritual: if he is somehow taken out before the ritual starts, then everything goes up in smoke.
• Shadow Archetype: To Chloe. Hop is always smiling and doesn't like thinking about horrible feelings or working his way through them, rather he wishes to stay in Silent Hill forever (albeit this is due to him being brainwashed). In contrast by the time Act 3 takes place Chloe is already close to leaving and realizes that she can't focus on her happiness if it means hurting others.
• Slasher Smile: When he snaps and becomes Delirium, this is never a good sign.
• Stepford Smiler: Tries to hide his concerns to Leon, afraid that his big brother won't understand what it means to be constantly losing all the time. Then this is taken into creepier levels if we take his email to Leon into account. According to Walter, Hop is to be the embodiment of "Delight", giving even darker connotations. Then the smile starts showing off how mentally unstable he is when Paul accidentally brings up Ash. And it gets to the point that Walter is starting to become terrified of him...
• Stockholm Syndrome: Fears being perceived as this, since he can't completely let go of his happier memories of Alex despite knowing the truth about him and what he was doing.
• Stop Saying That!: He's practically begging Chloe to stop mentioning "the jerk" (Bede/Ash) to him as, being Delight, he cannot understand negative emotions.
• Suddenly Shouting: "ENOUGH QUESTIONS!"
• Sweet Sheep: His Wooloo is an adorable fluffy mon covered in wool. When it evolves into Dubwool it's still a sheep but not as adorable.
• Sweet Tooth: Ever since arriving in Silent Hill, he snacks on chocolate milk and butter cake. During his brainwashing session at Midwich Elementary, he asks for a grape lollipop.
• Took a Level in Badass: Both his Wooloo and Corvisquire evolve to Dubwool and Corviknight in an attempt to save Hop.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: Before entering the Train, Hop was heavily insecure and feeling trapped in his brother's shadow. After the Train, he's all smiles... because he's been transformed into one of the components for a ritual to destroy a cult.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: Kinda inevitable when you're mentally regressed into a six year old; Hop acts a lot more simplistic and naively than he did before the Train, depending on the adults to do most things for him.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Since he was regressed into a child-like mental state, he became just as self-centered as an actual kid. When Chloe points out that staying on the Train would mean never seeing her family again, Hop outright says to forget about them and focus on the happiness she can get here, on the Train.
• Token Good Teammate: Out of all the components, he's the only one who's not a jerk, a buzzkill, or both, and among the passengers, he's the only one who came into the Train with clean hands (Alain unwittingly helped Lysandre, Chloe had a violent streak, and Paul... is Paul).
• Tragic Keepsake: He carries Alex's flashlight on him when he leaves the Fog Car.
• Villainy-Free Villain: As Delight, the most antagonistic thing he does is get angry when his Berserk Button is pushed, and even then, he remains cordial and jovial through it all. Delirium, on the other hand...
• The Unfavorite: While his older brother is talked about and has so many awards, Hop is always stuck in Leon's shadow and there are no awards or trophies for any of his achievements. This is part of the reason he enters the Train.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Has the most raw power out of the seven components, capable of changing the environment of the Fog Car. However, since this is tied to his mental state, it only appears in brief flashes...and it should stay that way for everyone's sanity.
• Walking Spoiler: Due to the fact that he was the last person out of Dreams, Desire and Delirium to get on the Train and how important he is to the Cage of Flauros, it becomes harder and harder to speak about him outside his debut.
• World's Strongest Man: He basically has no equal when it comes to how much power he has in the Fog Car, and that's only when he's Delight.
• You Remind Me of X: The rabbit comparison to Hop reminds Shepherd of someone he knew, presumably his little brother Joshua (who had a Robbie the Rabbit plushie).
• You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: While he won't pull a Hulk anytime soon, having the ability to manipulate the Fog Car more than makes up for it. And given that he's supposed to be Delight/Delirium, it's imperative that he remains happy. Then he shows off how dangerous he can be when Chloe sets him off.

SPOILER CHARACTER

"Saint" Ash Ketchum

An alternate version of Ash Ketchum that's the physical embodiment of Alain's perception of him as a messiah-like figure. He's apparently a backup plan in case Chloe's unable to fulfill her role as "Lady Destiny".

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• Affably Evil: Assuming he's even evil. Not only does he drive away Henry and Walter when they got Chloe and Paul cornered, and also tells them to come to him so he can save them. Turns out he's nothing but kind and friendly.
• Ambiguously Evil: He's said to hold an expression of "infinite kindness", but he also happens to be a backup plan in case "Lady Destiny" can't fulfill her role in the Cage of Flauros. Or not...
• Anthropomorphic Personification: Of Alain's view of Ash as a messiah figure who can save the world.
• Artificial Human: It's all but stated that he was artificially created by Dreams.
• As Long as There Is Evil: As long as Dream keeps dreaming of Ash as some sort of messiah figure, Saint Ash will exist. So naturally, when he wakes up and sees Ash as a human with flaws, Saint Ash is the first thing to go.
• Bright Is Not Good: He's surrounded by a bright aura, but he's one of the bad guys. Maybe.
• Cessation of Existence: He only exists for as long as Dream... well, dreams. Once he wakes up, Saint Ash stops existing.
• Closest Thing We Got: With Chloe unable (and unwilling) to fulfill her role as Lady Destiny, this guy pops up to serve as a replacement.
• Creepy Good: He's a messanic version of Ash in white robes and a holy backlight who always smiles and hopes to purify and save others, never showing any signs of concern or sadness. Oh and he's a construct made in Silent Hill, personifying Alain seeing Ash Ketchum as a holy man that is coming to save him. However, he truly is an altruistic being who helps Chloe free Despair from his guilt and has no regrets when he fades away and classifies himself as obsolete.
• Didn't See That Coming: He honestly didn't expect Chloe to reject his sincere offer to save her and Paul. And on the flip side, no one saw him coming in the slightest.
• Dissonant Serenity: The calm, smiling saintly version of Ash who forgives Chloe for everything she's done even as he shows off bleeding palms.
• Foil: To UnChloe. They're both artificial entities that are personifications of a shallow simplification of the people they represent. However, UnChloe was a Satanic Archetype associated with darkness, while Saint Ash is a Messianic Archetype associated with light. UnChloe was a Card-Carrying Villain who enjoyed torturing people for her own amusement, while Saint Ash is a Nice Guy (or at least acts like one) and is more interested in saving people. Finally, while UnChloe ultimately did so much damage that any goodwill left in Vermillion City evaporated, Saint Ash is nothing but helpful to Chloe, helping her get through Despair in order to turn him back into Paul.
• Good All Along: Despite his creepy aura and smile, he truly is like the Ash Ketchum he's based off of and helps Chloe to free Despair from the pain he's going through.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: He's said to have "lighting-shaped scars" on his face.
• Good Wears White: Wears a holy priest robe in white and he's on the side of good.
• Go Out with a Smile: Even as he fades away, he keeps his smile.
• Incoming Ham: Introduces himself like a Gandalf beckoning the monsters to flee.
• Light Is Not Good: He casts light into the church to drive away Henry and Walter, and he's surrounded by a bright glow and white clothing. However, he's also an artificial backup Destiny in case Chloe can't fulfill the role and his mere presence nearly makes Chloe transform into Destiny because she didn't want him to take her redemption away.
• Messianic Archetype: He looks the part, and acts the part, but his role in the Cage of Flauros makes him more like a Satanic Archetype.
• Nice Guy: He not only drives away Henry and Walter without a second thought, but he also offers to "save" Paul and Chloe from their current predicament. Not that Chloe agrees with the idea...
• Perpetual Smiler: He's always smiling.
• Replacement Goldfish: He's the backup Destiny should Chloe refuse her role.
• Shadow Archetype: He's pretty much the most shallow parody of Ash imaginable, being reimagined as a saint-like figure who wants to save everyone. This is actually a good thing, since it means he's more than happy to help Chloe undo another Component.
• Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: Chloe, understandably, thinks he's a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who'll double cross her the first chance he gets. However, he quickly proves himself to be as nice as he seems, helping her deal with Despair.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: As he begins to break away from the 'saint' archetype, he goes from white robes to increasingly dirty apparel to finally looking like his canon self to reflect that he's just a normal boy.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Appears in only one chapter, but his presence is what helps Chloe let go of her anger over Despair and when he vanishes, it means that Dreams is waking up. Thus Henry and Walter have just lost two more components.
• Spanner in the Works: He completely derails Henry and Walter's plan, choosing to help Chloe undo Despair's brainwashing in order to take away another component. Even when he stops existing, it turns out to unravel the Cage of Flauros even more, as it means Dream has woken up.
• Token Good Teammate: Even moreso than Hop, since Saint Ash has no negative feelings to speak of, and he only wants to help those he wants to save.
• Too Important to Walk: He's introduced floating into the church after driving away Henry and Walter, further selling the idea he's supposed to be some kind of messiah.
• The Unfought: He's never actually fought by anybody, instead deciding to help Chloe undo Despair's brainwashing, taking away another Component before ceasing to exist.
• Walking Spoiler: Just mentioning his name not only reveals the extent of Dreams' powers, but that the Cage of Flauros isn't as done for without Chloe as Lady Destiny. And to further add to this trope, he ultimately helps undo more of the cage.
• Warts and All: He is depowered when Paul and Hop discuss Ash's more embarrassing failures and shortcomings, knocking him off the pedestal Alain placed him on, represented by his holy white robes turning dirty and then replaced by his canon outfit and trademark hat. But when all is said and done, he still shows himself to be a kind and friendly person who wants nothing more to help.