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     Round 1 Characters 

Anna of Arendelle

The Princess

"I wish I could have protected you."

Made it to the survivor pool.

  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Subverted. Sure, she's dating a self-confessed supervillain, but only because she knew him first as just a shy, sweet dork.
  • Amnesiac Lover: Starts out looking like she's this to Hans, since while she doesn't remember being engaged to him, neither of them remembers that relationship ending. Later, Anna remembers having at least mutual interest with Kristoff, if not an official relationship, a few weeks after getting together with Billy Harris. She resolves to stay with the latter.
  • Break the Cutie: Her secret resentment being shoved in her face, Hans's own secret, and all the most innocent and pure people being murdered around her have started to make her hold grudges, snap at people, and accuse her friends.
  • Fiery Redhead: Gets dumped and punches the guy in the face before tossing her drink at him.
  • Girlish Pigtails: Highlighting her innocent, happy personality.
  • The Heart: Seymour identifies her as this, keeping the group together and grounded.
  • Her Boyfriend's Jacket: Billy Harris puts his hoodie around her to comfort her after she's shell-shocked by finding Javert's corpse. She wears it to the trial, and has worn it pretty much every day since unless she's baking or messing around with paint.
  • Naïve Everygirl: Especially the awkward and sheltered parts, due to growing up isolated from the world and alienated from her own family.
  • Princess Classic: It's her title, after all, and she's the truest to it of the three princesses.
  • Trademark Favourite Food: Simple sandwiches, even if she's a princess.
  • Violently Protective Girlfriend: When she goes to rescue Billy from the crew.
  • Woman Scorned: Ever since getting dumped, not to mention learning of all the other stuff he pulled, Anna has set out to ruin Hans's reputation.

Billy Flynn

The Silver-Tongued Prince of the Courtroom

"Unlike everyone else here, I'm not terrible with contracts."

Made it to the survivor pool.

  • Amoral Attorney: Not only is he this, but he says that's how any lawyer is supposed to be.
  • invoked Bile Fascination: The reason he starts reading trashy romance novels.
  • The Cynic: Billy makes it clear very early on that he doesn't think highly of people as a whole.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Said almost verbatim relating to his stance on the "dramatic license" taken to portray Gabe as a Laughing Mad schemer in "The Ballad of the Dead."
  • Good Is Not Nice: He believes that being unrelenting and, frankly, inconsiderate in trials is the only way to survive. He may be right.
  • Hyper-Awareness: A learned behaviour of his, and one he's proud of.
    "It's all about reading people, my friend — something I've made sure to be good at. My career depends on it."
  • Malicious Misnaming: Engages in a lighter version of this; he simply doesn't seem to care that it's "D-ne" and not "Donna."
  • Only in It for the Money: His job. He even notes that he feels strange not being paid for the trials, and he takes a regain (money addressed to him) as payment.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: A practical man, described as "objectively terrible" in the pamphlet and not exactly disputing it, who puts away feelings to the extent that his worst reaction to a body so far has been "well, this day is annoying me."
  • Rules Lawyer: He's a literal lawyer. What did you expect? In the second case, he concludes that "intent follows the bullet," he reminds everyone that any theories about interference — whether incorrect like Case 2 or correct like Case 3 — still mean that they're executing the culprit, and in Case 5, he does the contradiction-finding filibuster.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: Billy only ever wears nice suits. He didn't even dress up for Halloween.
  • Smart People Play Chess: He was very happy to find the games room.

Billy Harris

The Doctor

"I made the choice to use my evil genius skills to help us, but I'm never going to be the person I was before."

Made it to the survivor pool.

  • Bad Liar: Natalie calls him the worst she's ever met, and that says something.
  • Cannot Talk to Women: At first. Being in a situation where he has to gives him the positive Character Development he needs. Unlike in canon, where he treated his crush like an unapproachable trophy and it led to Jumping Off the Slippery Slope, here Billy is pushed to actually approach the girl he likes and ends up treating her like a normal person, leading to his redemption.
  • The Danza: Called "Billy Harris" after his actor for lack of a canon surname and to differentiate him from Billy Flynn.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: And the third culprit crossed almost all of them.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Regularly cobbles inventions together from workshop supplies.
  • Grew a Spine: Has gained immense amounts of confidence over the course of the game, stating multiple times (in both inner narration and aloud) that it's because he's met people who actually believe in him.
  • Insecure Love Interest: To Anna.
  • It's All My Fault:
    • Blames himself for being part of Hook's incentive to kill, even knowing that it was stupid and not his fault. He later does the same for being the Management's incentive to kill Natalie — though that was a lie — and later, having said lie not work out and the Balladeer die anyway.
    • He also blames himself for Penny's death back home, though when he finally confesses the truth, that back in LA he was a disillusioned supervillain whose blind ambition caused the death of one of his only friends, his new companions give him perspective that the press didn't back home, and tell him that it was an accident.
  • Love Redeems: Gave up his Dr. Horrible persona in Week 6 because he wants to move on and become somebody Anna can be proud of.
  • Made of Iron: He describes this as his superpower.
  • Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: A "villain" who isn't really all that evil, just surrounded by terrible heroes.
  • Nothing but Skin and Bones: At least according to Anna, who says he should eat a sandwich.
  • Not That Kind of Doctor: He has to explain this about his title.
  • Science Hero: Uses his knowledge of chemistry and physics to investigate the setting and solve cases.
  • Self-Serving Memory: Because of the order in which he regained his memories, he spent several weeks thinking he killed his nemesis back home, Captain Hammer. When he remembered the truth about what happened, he didn't take it well.
  • Stutter Stop: Not completely, but as he's gained confidence over the course of his time in the Opera House most of his nervous tics have faded. Compare week one's Shrinking Violet with the Heroic Resolve he shows in week seven.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: Billy tackles a member of the stage crew and puts them in an arm bar, having learned it from bullies who used it on him in the past.
  • You Remind Me of X: Hates Hook in large part because he reminds him of his Arch-Enemy from home. As a former Child Prodigy, Billy sees himself in Natalie, too. It's also hinted and then outright stated by Billy himself in the final log that Hans' reaction to the Balladeer's death reminded him uncomfortably of his own reaction to Penny's death, back home.

Captain Hook

The Sleaziest Sleaze of the Seven Seas

"Hook can't be forced into promises! That would be bad form!"

The culprit of Week 4 (Case 3).

  • Amnesiacs are Innocent: Post-rapid aging, he's childlike and pitiable, with Valjean acting as his caretaker of sorts in deadland.
  • Child Hater: The man has something against children.
  • Cloud Cuckoo Lander: After his execution and rapid aging, he becomes a Harmless Villain with several wacky ideas about how to get the living cast's attention, including pushing the Opera House somewhere else.
  • Composite Character: He has traits from several incarnations of Captain Hook, including the Disney version, the original play, and Hook as well as various versions of the stage musical.
  • Didn't Think This Through: Um, Hook, you know that killing and getting away with it means killing everyone, right? Even when you're trying to get the money just to pay off one of your fellow cast members?
  • Dirty Coward: Accused of this by the Balladeer, who points out that Hook's Arch-Enemy is a child rather than someone his own size.
  • Dressed to Plunder: Hook hits almost every item on the list.
  • Exact Words: "Hook didn't harm a single hair on their heads!"... Said before he pulls the single strands of Darla and Eliza's hair he plucked before killing them from his pocket.
  • Fantastic Racism: Also has something against fairies.
  • Genius Ditz: Well-educated (to Seymour's horror) but dumb enough to insist for weeks on end that Billy Harris and the Balladeer are the same person, despite having seen them in the same room many times.
  • Hated by All: No one likes him because he's terrible to everyone. To the point where The Balladeer — who is known to generally dislike culprits, but be perfectly likeable to everyone else — takes an especially acerbic stance with Hook even before his being the culprit is revealed during the third trial, where he's usually an impartial party.
    Hook: I am awaiting my rum, Billy.
    Balladeer: You'll be waiting a while.
  • Hook Hand: You think?
  • Jerkass: He's never been nice to anyone.
  • Pet the Dog: Even he compliments Hime's cake and calls her baking skills exemplary...albeit after eating said cake after she died.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: Wears blue eyeliner because "Hook has to look his best."
  • Scatterbrained Senior: When his execution starts Rapid Aging him, he becomes confused and forgetful before fading into dust. This references Christopher Walken in Peter Pan Live!, a miscast Hook who would ramble, pause too often, and forget his lines.
  • Third-Person Person: Occasionally calls himself "Hook" instead of using "I."
  • The Unapologetic: He refuses to believe that there's anything particularly wrong with being a huge jerk to everyone he meets.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: The Balladeer taunts him with "Tick-tock..." when Hook gets on his nerves.

D-ne

The Lonely

"I can never be a desirable girl."

The culprit of Week 2 (Case 1).

Darla Dimple

The Starlet

"I figure that if I can make whoever has to clean up after us wash all of 'em, it's worth havin' to get more clothes all the time, even if I don't like how it looks."

One of the victims of Week 4 (Case 3).

  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Darla's public image is overly sweet, but as we learned in canon, she can and will stain her hands to get what she wants.
  • Cute Is Evil: Because she uses cuteness to obscure being evil.
  • Deliberately Cute Child: She plays off her public persona until she has to admit her secret at the second trial.
  • Enfant Terrible: Her true self.
  • Fantastic Racism: Her secret in the second motive, since it clashes with her image.
  • Kids Are Cruel: If she even is one.
  • Older Than They Look: It's subtly implied in canon that Darla's smoking is meant to stunt her growth and she's actually not as young as she looks. The OOC intro log mentions this as how she got in despite appearing far under 16 (Hime, at 14 or 15 at the oldest, got a garden-variety trauma exemption).
  • Regal Ringlets: Darla's default hairstyle.
  • Sweet Tooth: Darla will gorge herself on candy at any opportunity, especially when she doesn't have to make it herself. Hook noticed this, too...

Eliza Hamilton

The Helpless

"Sometimes it's better to ask forgiveness than permission."

One of the victims of Week 4 (Case 3).

Gabriel Goodman

The Superboy

"Guess we just have to go with the flow, yeah?"

A victim and the culprit of Week 3 (Case 2).

  • The Ace: His very ironic title.
  • Bond Villain Stupidity: He probably wouldn't have been killed by the trap he set up to murder Hime if he hadn't stopped to gloat to himself over it.
  • Clap Your Hands If You Believe: His theory about how he exists, given that he's a hallucination that came to life.
  • Rebellious Spirit: In the intro log, he presents himself as a tame teenage rebel, but he starts to act out more with his newfound realness. The biggest reason he had for killing Hime was "just because he could get away with it".
  • Tulpa: Gabe was just a hallucination of his mother's in canon, and he believes that her conviction is what brought him to life in the Opera House.

Hans of the Southern Isles

The Mirror

"I didn't believe in love anyway, so what was the point?"

Made it to the survivor pool.

  • The Alcoholic: Hans goes to drink away his problems at the bar a lot, and he even chooses to be on the fourth floor during the locked-away motive, despite knowing for sure that it's coming, because he'd rather drink than eat and sleep. Most likely out of guilt for being The Mole. The others start to notice and worry.
  • Blood-Splattered Innocents: Hans wears the blood of his crush the Balladeer very well at the fifth afterparty. Made more ironic by the now-common double-casting of the Balladeer that rose in popularity starting with Neil Patrick Harris' performance in the 2004 revival.
  • Brutal Honesty: After he has to stop pretending, he does this a lot.
  • Dirty Coward: Even as everyone's refusing to vote in Case 5 and he says he refuses as well, he "accidentally" votes for Natalie anyway out of self-preservation.
  • Evil Redhead: Practically It Was His Sled by now with how this applies to canon, and it's treated as such by the narration. He does become The Mole, but starts to redeem himself, and he becomes more of an example of Good Is Not Nice instead by the time he makes survivor pool.
  • Freudian Excuse: As per the Expanded Universe, Hans's family isn't just impeding his desire for power, they're emotionally abusive to the point that he fears failure mostly because of the ridicule that will follow.
  • Gayngst: A bracket text conversation between Raoul and Anna posits that this may be part of Hans's issues, as he does come from a repressive culture, had an emotionally abusive family, and the only times he's ever hit on women were to gain political power. When he finally admits he's in love with the Balladeer, he completes his Heel–Face Turn, so there may be something to that.
  • High-Class Gloves: He wears them constantly (and hoards them). They help with his image.
  • His Boyfriend's Jacket: Received the Balladeer's jacket out of the merchandise booth the week after Bal's Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Ladykiller in Love: As much as he hates to admit it, while he's only ever tried to marry for money and power before, this time he's actually falling for the Balladeer.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Gave the Balladeer the idea to hand out incentives. He claims that it was unintentional, but whether or not he's telling the truth has yet to be seen.
  • Prince Charmless: Still self-serving and ruthless behind his kind acts, but The Reveal happens much sooner than in canon. He then starts presenting himself as The Atoner. Anna doesn't buy it.
  • Princess in Rags: Once his reputation shatters and he starts to remember his failure in canon, Hans still does his best to preserve his image, even if it's a lost cause.
  • The Social Expert: The true meaning of his title is that he's a social chameleon who studies people and does whatever he can to get close to them.
  • Stalker with a Crush: He initially looks like this, since Anna doesn't remember being engaged to him.
  • Token Evil Teammate: For the Cast and survivor pool.
  • Wouldn't Hurt a Child: While most everyone else is fair game, Hans is horrified when Hime is found dead because she was young.

Heather McNamara

The Best Friend

"I still have a lot to learn about being a better person, but that's, like, totally okay."

Made it to the survivor pool.

Hime Shirayuki

The Shrinking Violet

"I'm no good at this. Not like Megumi. I wanna go home."

One of the victims of Week 3 (Case 2).

  • Action Fashionista: Princess, fashion plate, nervous wreck, and oh yeah, Magical Girl Warrior.
  • Brought Down to Normal: Her PreCards and PreChanMirror missing, Hime is no better than a normal girl.
  • Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Her most prized possession from the Merchandise Booth, aside from her dead friends' regains? A stuffed chicken from home that's bigger than she is. She has it back less than a day before she dies.
  • Nervous Wreck: Afraid of approaching people and keeps worrying about screwing up and getting lectured.
  • Overly Long Name: Her real name is "Himelda Window Cure Queen of the Blue Sky." She goes by "Shirayuki Hime" because it's shorter and she liked the fairy tale.
  • Pals with Jesus: The God of Earth was her legal guardian for a year.
  • Shipper on Deck: Hime gets really excited about the prospect of people being in love, but definitely not love triangles, which she says are more trouble than they're worth.
  • Shrinking Violet: She might have improved, but she's still shaky and nervous enough to warrant the title.
  • Shy Blue-Haired Girl: Though she opens up a lot when she gets used to you.
  • True Blue Femininity: Associated with light blue.

Inspector Javert

The Law

"It is a precaution and justice must be served."

The victim of Week 5 (Case 4).

Jean Valjean

The Breadwinner

"No one will ever change for the better if they're not given a chance."

The victim of Week 2 (Case 1).

  • Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: After Hook dies and is still senile in the afterlife, Valjean becomes something of a caretaker for him, distracting him when he interferes and giving him company.
  • Cool Old Guy: Shocks his castmates whenever he demonstrates his incredible strength.
  • Good All Along: While Javert initially warns everyone that he's dangerous, Valjean is harmless and cares for everyone.
  • Messianic Archetype: Is one in canon, and is specifically referred to this way by several other characters in-game.
  • Repetitive Name: Jean Valjean.
  • Stronger Than They Look: He's old and easily underestimated, but can move heavy furniture without a problem. Hans is completely shocked.
  • Suicidal Pacifism: While not intentional, Valjean's refusal to fight D-ne after her initial attack is what gave her the opportunity to actually kill him.
  • Technologically Blind Elders: Subverted; despite being both an old man and a Fish out of Temporal Water, he ends up learning the ropes of the microwave easily enough.
  • Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Valjean is strongly against hurting anybody, but this in particular comes back to bite him.

Jezebel Mephistopheles

The Hell Princess

"I just... want a version where there's a happy ending, and evil loses."

Made it to the survivor pool.

Natalie Goodman

The Invisible Girl

"I have to find something to be happy about here. Nothing personal."

The victim of Week 6 (Case 5).

  • Brainy Brunette: Takes university-level classes in high school.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Natalie's got a comment and eye-roll for everything.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Complete with recognizing that she's starting to thaw and trying her best to resist it. When she embraces it and thaws all the way, she ends up dying.
  • Genre Savvy: Not overly, but she does say she's "stuck in a weird murder soap opera musical," her cynical nature tells her that death and lots of it is a Foregone Conclusion, and she notices the pattern of Motive Tuesday and Murder Friday.
  • Guilty Pleasures: Admits reluctantly that she enjoyed High School Musical.
  • Hypocrite: She tells Anna that she doesn't have to hide her emotions when things go wrong, but refuses to ever admit that she's not okay herself.
  • Jade-Colored Glasses: Lacking in the hope department and knowing there's death to come, Natalie thinks of the worst and is suspicious even when she does make friends despite herself.
  • Knight in Sour Armour: She's cynical and unhappy with life, but still takes charge to foil the second motive and set up patrols.
  • Medium Awareness: Only sort of. She seems to know she's in a musical, but gives no indication of knowing that she's in a Journal Roleplay.
  • Meta Guy: Natalie is prone to questioning the game and pointing out murdergame conventions.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: She drops her sarcasm when she finally decides that Gabe might not be a hallucination, only for him to turn up dead.
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot: In comparison to the mostly polite remainder of the cast, barring her brother and Heather.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Natalie's bitter exterior is crafted to try and stave off affection, pain, and disappointment.
  • The Un-Favourite: The true meaning of her title.

Raoul de Chagny

The Charming Rival

"All of us have the capacity to look at where we've been and better ourselves — not remain tied down to who we might have been."

Made it to the survivor pool.

  • Big Brother Instinct: Sees the younger girls like sisters.
  • Childhood Friend Romance: With Christine, though he's slowly realizing it through memory regains.
  • Cordon Bleugh Chef: When Raoul does start learning how to cook more than burned disasters, it's with mid-century concoctions like savoury jelly salads and cream cheese egg salad loaves.
  • Fearless Fool: Thought of as this by more genre-savvy characters.
  • First-Name Basis: Starts to refer to his friends by their first names as the first few weeks go on. Even the Princess Club all gets "Miss (first name)."
  • Hopeless with Tech: Well, he is a Fish out of Temporal Water...
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Considers himself this to the ladies in the opera house, and does his best to comfort those who are in distress.
  • Lethal Chef: Never having cooked for himself before, he's this to start out with; his first attempts at cooking are all ugly and burned.
  • Literal-Minded: Assumes that the "Angel of Music" is a literal one and starts reading up on angelology... and every other unrelated book with "angel" in the title.
  • Properly Paranoid: He may be going overboard with hiding even the prop weapons, but with the weird ways people have come up to kill someone, it may be justified.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: Takes his appearance very seriously, and is not thrilled with the costume clothing options offered, but finds a way to make it work.
  • Sheltered Aristocrat: Somewhat subverted, as he starts off wanting to know where the servants are for him and the other characters, but slowly realizes that he's relatively helpless on his own and decides to suck it up and do his own chores. He even learned how to make Hot Pockets from Valjean!

Seymour Krelborn

The Meek

"I'm sure no matter what happens, we can make it work."

Made it to the survivor pool.

  • Apologizes a Lot: Due to his low self-esteem. Natalie tells him to stop and he apologizes for that, too.
  • Bizarre Taste in Food: Willingly eats Raoul's monstrosities, since he's from The '60s himself.
  • Close to Home: He has a crisis when he encounters an unsympathetic and cruel killer in the third case, then wakes up remembering himself killing someone who was just as bad.
  • Corrupt the Cutie: His character arc in canon. He starts going through something similar in-game, though tempered by the knowledge of how it ended up for him the first time and the fact that a lot more people in the Opera House are nice to him.
  • Grew a Spine: His character arc in-game, instead. Even the mastermind comments on it.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: Seymour's self-esteem is in the sub-sub-basement. He does a Spit Take when Natalie so much as calls him smart.
  • Nerd Glasses: Huge sixties ones.
  • Oblivious to Love: Seymour has no idea how Winslow feels about him. It takes Winslow actually spelling out his feelings towards Seymour for him to figure out he's in love with him.
  • Tragic Dropout: He wanted to graduate and go on to become a botanist, but didn't have the money.
  • Wife-Basher Basher: Remembers letting his girlfriend's abusive previous boyfriend die mid-way through the game, and between that and the murder that's just occurred, he starts to wonder if some people do deserve to die.

Shiva Shingetsu Astarte / Dark Cain

The Vessel

"...We're not just a pack of murderers, though."

The culprit of Week 5 (Case 4).

  • Ambiguously Human: She looks human but empathizes much more with monsters, which she calls Undead. Early in the game, she admits to not being human. Of course, being a sailor soldier, she's not going to be.
  • Biblical Motifs: Astarte has a lot of them going on with her. Doubles as Foreshadowing, and includes:
    • "Stabby's" reaction to Jezebel in the very first week.
    • Cain singing Hebrew during certain motives.
    • Having Cain outright quote The Bible (Quoting Job 1:20 during the Week 4 motive, for example)
      • Even Astarte's secret motive was just a Bible verse aimed at Cain!
    • One of the clues in Case 4 was a partly drunk bottle of red wine. How does this tie in? While its not revealed in the investigation itself, Astarte's player has specifically cited said wine as being a kosher wine made in Israel.
  • Biblical Bad Guy: Her Superpowered Evil Side is Cain possessing her.
  • Bizarre Taste in Food: Becomes a Running Gag. Whenever she eats something new, not good, or Raoul's quiche:
    "*crunch* Mm."
  • Cain and Abel: Her secret motive talked about having killed her brother, which confused her as she doesn't have a brother. Turns out she's possessed by the actual Cain.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Due to her upbringing in her more formative years. She dresses like she's never seen clothes before, thought the plastic Halloween decorations were alive, and often has no idea how to deal with social situations. She also believed turkeys didn't exist.
  • Conditioned to Accept Horror: Only her Superpowered Evil Side is, though.
  • Dreadful Musician: She tried and failed at every instrument.
  • Evil Laugh: Her Superpowered Evil Side has one.
  • Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Even compared to others from outlandish worlds, the part of her canon she comes from is very convoluted and sounds downright insane to everyone else when she tries to explain it as a result.
  • Friend to Bugs: Plastic ones, like "Pete the Spider", but she mistakes them for living bug monsters, so...
  • Heroic Resolve: Astarte finds hers when she's had some time to get used to remembering her Heel–Face Turn and the other resident Magical Girl Warrior dies.
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters: Seems to be her way of thinking, at least at first. Her you're punished speech to Hook highlights her character development in the game on this point.
  • In-Series Nickname: Astarte's evil personality has a few: Heather uses "Mega Bitch," which continues even after we realize that "she" is a "he," and D-ne refers to this personality exclusively as "Impostor-san" before she's executed.
  • Inspector Lestrade: While she does get the hang of investigating eventually, and her efforts do help with nailing the culprits of Cases 2 and 3, she still tends to conclude incorrectly on certain aspects of the case during trials, such as with the motive and the actual method of murder.
  • Loves the Sound of Screaming: Will often greet a murder or motive with singing about how many people will scream and cry and how much misfortune will follow. Astarte herself is not like this, though she's been raised to be.
  • Missing Mom: She admitted to Natalie during the Week 3 motive that her real mother is not the woman she calls Mother nowadays...and subsequent internal monologue reveals her mother is very likely Killed Off for Real.
  • Missing Time: The usual personality doesn't remember what the evil one does. This becomes vital in solving Case 4.
  • Our Angels Are Different: At least according to her, and applies to nearly every monster type. While there is apparently a grain of truth to the stories she's told people about her world, it's implied that there's more to it than even she is aware of.
  • The Power of Trust: An important part of her character growth, not in the least of which because it's what seems to weaken the other personality's hold in her as time goes by. Partly subverted when it's learned that the memory restored in Week 5 ended up affecting Cain much more than it did Astarte.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Described as having red eyes. Her internal monologue reveals that she was raised to be a goddess of evil.
  • Superpowered Evil Side: Has a Split Personality of this sort. Which also doubles as Demonic Possession.
  • Terrible Artist: She can't draw, sew, carve a pumpkin, or frost a cake to save her life.
  • Tomato in the Mirror: You know what's not fun? Going into a trial to find the culprit who killed a good man and slowly realizing the culprit was your other half.
  • Transformation Trinket: Astarte's is one of her regains. Its power seems to be blocked for obvious reasons, though.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Her frame of reference for trying to figure things out is her understanding of her world, but while she's at least figured out that time travel is involved, it's not likely a sailor soldier matter.

The Pirate King

The Pirate King

"When there isn't a third option available, that's when you make one!"

Made it to the survivor pool.

Winslow Leach

The Sellout

"Just keep making your own music."

Made it to the survivor pool.

  • Animal Motif: Birds, like his Plague Doctor mask. His name also comes from his enemy leeching off his work, so that's another animal.
  • Berserk Button: He does not take any form of deception well.
  • Close to Home: Seeing so many things reminding him of his home situation starts to make him paranoid.
  • Deal with the Devil: Writes music about the concept and thinks about it a lot... only to realize that he made one himself.
  • Disabled Love Interest: To Seymour, eventually.
  • Dumb Struck: In backstory, and continuing for most of the game until he gets his voice box from the Merchandise Booth later on.
  • Handicapped Badass: Winslow is half blind and needs an electronic voice box that he spends most of the game without, and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants and protect the people he cares about. He also becomes the first disabled character, aside from the PTSD developed by the average murdergame character, to survive a round, and he's not magically cured at the end, either!
  • Horrible Judge of Character: Hans isn't the first to string him along.
  • It's All About Me: Natalie calls him out on believing that everyone else's death and suffering was just to torture him when he tells her his Swan theory.
  • It's Popular, Now It Sucks!: invoked He hates mainstream music to the point of being called a hipster despite being from The '70s. To Winslow, popular appeal is immediately specifically targeting the Lowest Common Denominator and no one else.
  • The Paranoiac: Winslow sees Swan everywhere to an obsessive degree.
  • Plague Doctor: What his mask looks like.
  • Red Right Hand: A horribly mangled face (which he covers with either a mask or facial putty and makeup) and only one eye.
  • Revenge: His intense, obsessive motivation for almost everything he ever does.
  • Scary Teeth: Metal teeth, part of the mutilation he underwent at his Arch-Enemy's hands.
  • Silent Snarker: He can't speak, but communicates his disgust with eye-rolling and writing.
  • Theatre Phantom: Winslow became one in his revenge plot, hence his Plague Doctor mask and clothes.

     Round 1 NPCs 

The Balladeer

The Showrunner

"My life is surrounded by death."

  • All-Knowing Singing Narrator: Literally - he knows details about the casts' lives that he really shouldn't have access to.
  • Big Good: Becomes this in the end when he inherits the Leading Player's position and powers.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: He has this ability, including commenting on murdergame conventions like Bold Inflation that no one else would get because he seems to know they're in a text-based medium.
  • Conflicting Loyalty: Begins to struggle with this as he befriends the show's cast.
  • Distinguishing Mark: The scar on his shoulder in the final trial proves that he's the original Balladeer with memories wiped and not a clone.
  • Forced into Evil: He really gives off coach vibes.
  • Friendly Enemy: The Balladeer even attends Cast parties!
  • Help Face Turn: Slowly starts to do this, rebelling in little ways against the Management because the Cast is nice to him and the Management just started using him. When he finally tries to save everyone, though, he's executed. However, he completes a full turn, again of the "Help" variety, when he's revived and the Cast shows him proof that the Leading Player was using him from the beginning.
  • Identical Stranger: Due to them both being portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris, he's this to Billy Harris.
  • In-Series Nickname: "Billydeer" and "B." Hans starts calling him "Bal," as well.
  • Invoked Trope: Does this multiple times, but particularly calling on True Love's Kiss and the Ruleof Three to restore his own memory during the final trial.
  • I Owe You My Life: Claims he feels indebted to Management for taking him out of his previous show, even as the new one begins to wear on him.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: After the Balladeer is killed, Management brings him back with memories of the round wiped, and he goes into the final trial believing he's his own understudy.
  • Lemony Narrator: Especially during executions.
  • Mr. Exposition: Will expand on details about what happened during murders, as long as the cast catches the killer first.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: He's made it clear from the start that he's only doing his job.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: His origin here is apparently that he was rescued by the Management before however you interpret his fate in the revival productions. Or was he?
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: Full of this during Week Six, including the Mobile Box Office, which no one is allowed to sleep in, and the food he brought for himself that definitely no one else is allowed to eat.
  • Token Good Teammate: For the Management.
  • Turn the Other Cheek: Has a complicated relationship with the Mastermind, but ultimately surprises both her and himself by speaking kindly to her at the final trial and reflexively offering her his coat when the ghosts toss a bucket of water over her.

Round 0 Cast

A group of people not unlike the current Cast... The Balladeer says he doesn't remember a previous show, though, so who could they be? The roster includes The Nightman, Belle, Aaron Burr, Oliver Twist, Cinderella's Prince, Shrek, Dr. Frank N Furter, The Witch, Jafar, Blind Mag, The Dayman, Mark Cohen, The Music Meister, and Emily. Also included are Mrs. Lovett, The Once-ler, Max Bialystock, Draco Malfoy, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, and Judas Iscariot, who have their own entries under Stage Crew, bringing the cast to a full twenty.

  • Card-Carrying Villain: While he's not really this, Burr's role was "The Villain."
  • Dogged Nice Guy: The Music Meister was this to Blind Mag. It creeps Anna out when she notices.
  • The Ghost: For the vast majority of the game, we only see these people referred to and not in person, if they're even still alive. Though it turns out that a few of them have been there all along, part of the shadowy, disguised stage crew.
  • Grand Vizier Jafar: Oh, which one do you think this applies to.
  • Heartwarming Orphan: Oliver's role is "The Orphan."
  • Iconic Item: Many have only been identified by theirs. It seems that some of their regains carried over and became generic Merchandise Booth items, as well, like the Doctor's Costume or the Meat Pies, immediately identifiable as theirs from an OOC standpoint.
  • Mama Bear: The Witch was apparently very protective of Oliver.
  • The Music Meister: Okay, this is a musical to begin with, but one of them still has this ability. As with Jafar and Javert, it's the Trope Namer.
  • Never Learned to Read: Oliver, until Belle and the Witch taught him how. This explains his issues with spelling.
  • Phrase Catcher: Burr, apparently, as he has "sir" appended onto his dressing room star.
  • Posthumous Character: Some of them are dead before the story begins. Anna finds a few victim photos — Dayman is identified specifically — and the Showrunner's notes imply more of them.
  • Rouge Angles of Satin: One of them can barely spell three-letter words.
  • Spell My Name with a "The": A lot of them, which Billy Flynn comments on.
  • Sweet Tooth: The Nightman has a candy stash in his old room.
  • Walking Spoiler: Every single one of 'em.

The Stage Crew

The Management

"Just because you're the weak bitch who isn't down for murder doesn't mean we all are."

Employees of the Showrunner. In fitting with their roles, they're at first indistinct... but they start stepping out of that role, becoming more distinguishable, when the Cast starts to depart from their own roles. Fromme, Draco, Lovett, Bialy, and Once-ler began as part of the Round Zero cast, and the remaining four are named Charlemagne, Fastrada, Lewis, and Berthe.

  • The Atoner: Once-ler starts to settle into this role in the end.
  • Boisterous Weakling: Max when Billy H. and Winslow catch him. This disgusts his crewmates.
  • Canon Character All Along: Five of them were part of the established Round Zero cast. The rest are characters who came along with The Leading Player from her original play.
  • Creepy Crossdresser: The smallest one, Draco, is a boy, but presumably played the parts of Hime and Darla when the shadow plays included them.
  • Face–Heel Turn: Some of the former cast members were lured to become part of the crew of the next show.
  • Heel–Face Turn: All the Round Zero ones but Fromme, in the end.
  • Mad Love: Max admits that he's this towards Lovett and that it pushed him to join the crew.
  • Minion Shipping: Two of them, specifically Fastrada and Charlemagne, are married.
  • Spell My Name with a "The": The Once-ler is this.
  • Spoiled Brat: Draco apparently threatens the others with telling his father about everything. It doesn't generally work.

J.I. (Judas Iscariot)

The Traitor

"Remember me? I'm still here."

The Cast discovers evidence of a mysterious figure they've never gotten their hands on a picture or full name for. All they know for sure is that he died before they arrived in the Opera House... but as they learn, that doesn't mean he's out of the story.

  • The Atoner: He tries to atone for his ordained role by helping the currest cast.
  • Biblical Bad Guy: Combines this with The Atoner.
  • Dead Man Writing: He sends a message to the living along with the ghosts of the current round.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: Is always openly pessimistic about the future, but still works to support the current cast whenever possible.
  • Never Heard That One Before: When he finally gives his full name to someone, he looks prepared for someone to comment. Apparently, people always do. Partly defied with certain characters who don't have or read his canon text in their canon.
  • No Name Given: Anything aside from his initials seems to have been wiped from the record.
  • Posthumous Character: He haunts the Opera House with the ghosts of the current dead.
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot: He's very bitter and this is part of how it shows.

The Leading Player

The Showrunner

"I perform, I direct, I cast, I narrate— it's why I'm here. I see things how they really are."

It becomes clear early on that the Balladeer isn't the true Showrunner, just a public face... which means the mastermind is someone else.

  • Affably Evil: More so to the players, who know everything she's saying is true...
  • Bad Boss: Seemed to be a Benevolent Boss, but the Balladeer and some of the crew end up slowly discovering otherwise.
  • Brought Down to Normal: Round 3 has her stripped of her narrative-controlling powers and sent to the world of the dead as the deadland tour guide, and while she's still aware of genre conventions she can't act on them.
  • Closet Key: Anna finds her uncomfortably attractive.
  • Enemy Mine: In Round 3, she joins with the dead cast members, past and present, to stop the Wizard's plan.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: She understands that characters and their players will fight long and hard for happy endings, but doesn't seem to understand why, thinking that a Golden Ending is passé and a Bittersweet Ending or Downer Ending will make the fanbase rave. Despite, y'know, being a character and seeing the Cast as actual people she's putting through the murder grinder.
  • Evil Former Friend: Is this towards the Balladeer, though she was secretly evil the entire time.
  • Faux Affably Evil: She's more this to the characters, caring more about the show than anything.
  • Fourth-Wall Observer: One of these, much like the Balladeer.
  • Ignored Epiphany: Seems to have one at the end of the final trial, when she's visibly taken aback by the Balladeer and Jezebel's continued kindness towards her. She does leave the scene without any further attempts at violence, but there's zero sign that she's actually taken their words to heart.
  • It Amused Me: The main reason she runs the murdergames is for the sake of entertainment, for herself and others.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: A recurring motive across the series, including her show, was to make everyone sick. In Round 3's deadland, she feels sick and with a killer headache, lampshading the idea of karmic justice.
  • Lonely at the Top: The Balladeer at least suspects that this is why she became the way she is.
  • The Man Behind the Man: Did you really think the friendly, anti-murder Balladeer was the Mastermind?
  • Manipulative Bastard: With more than just the motives. This mastermind moves the show along by playing on others' ambitions, insecurities, and overall emotions.
  • Medium Awareness: Not only does she know she's in a musical, she knows she's in a Dreamwidth RP and even has control over the mod account. This mastermind takes Genre Savvy and weaponizes it.
    • When the players realize that she can do this, they cut off her Direct Line to the Author by making a private chat room to plot in, where the mod in charge of playing her can't see what they're planning. This doesn't make her happy.
    • She further escalates this after the final trial, when she takes down the game comm's custom layout and CSS on her way out of the show. The comm remained in the default Dreamwidth layout until the Balladeer took control of the mod accounts and restored them.
  • Rule of Romantic: Apparently, she's willing to bend some rules for the sake of a cute ship the audience loves.
  • Shoot the Dangerous Minion: Very literally.
  • Spell My Name with a "The": Much like many of the characters she's trapped, employed, or both.
  • Sugary Malice: Polite and practiced in Passive-Aggressive Kombat with a smile. The letters to The Mole are constantly snapping between praising and insulting the recipient, all phrased sweetly.
  • Tragic Keepsake: This may be why she ended the game by stealing the Balladeer's coat.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Leading Player certainly describes herself as this... and describes the players this way too, for putting their characters through torture just in hopes of a happy ending.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: For all her going on about how a Golden Ending is trite and overdone, she ignores that that's what the audience would want, and that her own attempt at subverting the trope didn't go as well as she pretended.

     Round 2 Characters 

Angus McFife XIII

The Astral Fireman

One of the culprits for Week 4 (Case 3).

Anne of Cleaves

The Catfish

Made it to the survivor pool.

"Ariel"

The Beloved

Made it to the survivor pool.
  • Fish out of Temporal Water
  • Heel–Face Turn: After Sigyn's execution "Ariel" decides to cast off his duties and deals with gods and tyrants, not only revealing his true identity, but casting off his original aspirations for concealing himself in the first place.
  • Homoerotic Subtext: With Browning, and plenty of Ho Yay to go around with a strong 'friendship' beginning in the very first week. Considering they both have canon lovers, it's uncertain if things will go further than that - especially once the memories start returning.
  • Mirror Self: Ariel undergoes quite the transformation after revealing himself to have been Mephisto the entire time
  • Team Dad: Begrudgingly.

Christine Canigula

The Love Interest

Made it to the survivor pool.

  • The Pollyanna: Everyone loves her! It would sure suck if she died.
  • Morality Pet: For most of the cast.
  • Genre Savvy: One of the few people who knows anything about musicals and can therefore interpret metaplot clues.

Claudine Saijo

The Second Fiddle

One of the victims of Week 4 (Case 3).

Jeremy Heere

The Loser/Geek/Whatever

The culprit of Week 5 (Case 4).

Jonny D'Ville

The First Mate

The victim of Week 2 (Case 1).

  • Asshole Victim: His goading of Sigyn is what prompted her to stab him.

Little Red Riding Hood

The Wolf's Dessert

The culprit of Week 3 (Case 2).

Nana Daiba

The Encore

Made it to the survivor pool.

King Richard

The Tagalong

The victim of Week 3 (Case 2).

  • The Dandy: When the adults have their own meeting in week 2, he demands to know who is going to braid his hair.
  • The Ditz
  • Fish out of Temporal Water: Spends part of the first week just learning about what electricity and plumbing is.
  • Lord Error-Prone: Sometimes, you just kinda suck.
  • Manchild: The man can't even cook.
  • One of the Kids: Several of his closest relationships are with teen characters, though unlike the other adult characters he tends to approach them on their own maturity level more often than not.

Riley Williams

The Wallflower

One of the culprits for Week 4 (Case 3).

  • Cute and Psycho: When it comes out that Riley not only had a body count at home, but here too!
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Riley's determination and genuine caring for everyone put her squarely into this category. ...Or not. As it turns out, she's more highly disturbed and will kill for her goals.
  • Like Brother and Sister: With Jeremy.
  • Nervous Wreck: Despite trying very hard not to be, she's very this. So much so that Jeremy just describes her as stress.
  • Stepford Smiler: How she tries to hide the whole Nervous Wreck thing. How much of her pep is genuine? Unclear. Turns out, not much!

Santana Lopez

The Cheerio

Made it to the survivor pool.

Shilo Wallace

The Infected

The victim of Week 5 (Case 4).

Sigyn

The Ascended Extra

The culprit of Week 2 (Case 1).

  • Team Mom: All the teenagers love her. Which was unfortunate, given that she was the first culprit.

Spinel

The Other Friend

One of the victims of Week 4 (Case 3).

Dr. Stephen Browning

The Willing Pawn

The culprit of Week 6 (Case 5).
  • Death of a Child: His infant daughter, Maddie, was born with a heart defect and didn't make it out of the hospital. The results broke his marriage, which then very nearly broke him as well.
  • Foot-Dragging Divorcee: Something's always seemed to come up to prevent him from signing the papers. At least being kidnapped in to a murdergame is a good excuse?
  • Homoerotic Subtext: With Ariel, and plenty of Ho Yay to go around with a strong 'friendship' beginning in the very first week. Considering they both have canon lovers, it's uncertain if things will go further than that - especially once the memories start returning.
  • Lampshade Hanging: Stephen finds it abnormal that everyone - himself included - will suddenly burst out in to song. Considering his specific source material is a novel written to supplement a band's lore, it's not surprising he's not used to people singing their feelings.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: Separate from the 'standard' memory loss; he woke up missing six weeks, spent a day or two trying to find answers, then woke up at the Opera House. He still has no idea what went on during that time.
  • Straight Man: He's a normal guy from a normal place abruptly thrust in to some abnormal circumstances - both in canon, and in the Opera House.
  • The Smart Guy: To a degree. He's regarded among many of the cast for his intelligence, but it's fairly niche; he's an astronomer by background (complete with Technobabble), and is self-admittedly a beginner with things like engineering and, say, computers.

Steven Quartz Cutie Pie DeMayo Diamond Universe

The B-Sided

The victim of Week 6 (Case 5).

     Round 2 NPCs 

The Phantom

The House Manager

Alive...for now. The showrunner of Round 2.

Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice

Dead? Ghost? Hard to say. The guide to deadland for Round 2.

     Round 3 Characters 

Angus McFife XIII

Title Dropper

Made it to survivor pool.

Antonio Salieri

Best Example of a Narrative Foil

The victim of Week 5 (Case 4)

The Balladeer

Most Likely to Murder Innocence and Hope

Killed during Week 4.

Benjamin Barker

Most Changed

Made it to survivor pool.

Cassandra

Best Underachieving Overachiever

Made it to survivor pool.

Connor Murphy

Most Likely to Befriend Evan Hansen

The victim of Week 3 (Case 2).

Discord

Best at Being the Worst

The culprit of Week 5 (Case 4)

Elle Woods

Best Dressed

One of the victimes of Week 6 (Case 5)

Elsa of Arendelle

Most Expressive Costume Changes

Made it to survivor pool.

Empress Elisabeth of Austria

Most Beautifully Misguided

The culprit of Week 2 (Case 1).

  • Accidental Murder: Sissi genuinely didn't intend to kill Mumble. She didn't even know he was in danger until it was almost too late to save him, and her attempt to keep him alive killed him anyways.
  • Fish out of Temporal Water: Of everyone, she's from the second earliest point of time (at least going by technology standards).
  • Royally Screwed Up: Which results in the motive photo she receives.

Eurydice

The One that Got Away

One of the victimes of Week 6 (Case 5).

  • Commonality Connection: She forms a bond with Peregrine over their shared survival skills and looking out for themselves.
  • Fish out of Temporal Water: Being from a 1930s-inspired setting, she's not used to modern conveniences like color photographs, and treats refrigerators as a luxury item.

Farrah

Best Chance of Turning Her Life Around

Made it to survivor pool.

Janis Sarkisian

Least Likely to Compromise

Made it to survivor pool.

Lumpy Space Princess

Most Likely to Become a Rich Widow Under Mysterious Circumstances

Made it to survivor pool.

Maya Tendo

Most Likely to Take a Swan Dive

Culprit of Week 6 (Case 5) and made it to the survivor pool.

Mumble Happy-Feet

Most Likely to Bust a Move

The victim of Week 2 (Case 1).

  • Death by Irony: A penguin dies from improper recovery from hypothermia.

Orpheus

Fastest Meeting-to-Proposal Turnaround

One of the victimes of Week 6 (Case 5)

  • Coins for the Dead: Orpheus gives nearly everyone who dies or is to be executed coins.
  • Commonality Connection: He bonds with Spongebob over their shared optimism, and with Antonio over their shared love of music.
  • Fish out of Temporal Water: Being from a 1930s-inspired setting, he's not used to modern conveniences like smoke alarms, and treats refrigerators as a luxury item.
  • Heroic BSoD: Seeing a photograph of Eurydice's future sends him into a freakout, especially when she assumes it's not as bad as it is.
  • Properly Paranoid: Burns a fake Death Note in the kitchen on the off-chance it's real.

Peregrine Wells

Fastest Most Likely to Get Her Friends Lost in the Woods

Alive...for now.

  • Commonality Connection: She forms a bond with Eurydice over their shared survival skills and looking out for themselves.
  • Heroic BSoD: Mumbles died in the same way her brother Jacob did, leading to flashbacks, trauma, and tuning out of the world.

Rina Tennoji

Best Poker Face

The victim of Week 4 (Case 3).

Spongebob Squarepants

Most Likely to Get a Drivers' License by Age 30

Made it to survivor pool.

  • Break the Cutie: Poor Spongebob was the first one to discover the first victim, and it took a major toll on his psyche and overall happiness level.
  • The Pollyanna: He's optimistic to a fault and cheerfully oblivious to more serious matters, at least at first.
  • Supreme Chef: He cooks breakfast for everyone in the cast, and even without Krabby Patty ingredients, they love his pancakes and eggs.

The SQUIP

Most Likely to Make a Comeback

The culprit of Week 3 (Case 2).

  • Electrified Bathtub: Its execution involves it getting dunked in a tank of Mountain Dew Code Red.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Following its tenure as a villain in Round 2, it has reformed and is part of the cast in Round 3.
  • Meaningful Rename: "Please, call me Eszmet." The player has stated this name was chosen on at least three levels; one, the SQUIP had grown close to Elizabeth, and had mentioned liking her name. Two, it draws inspiration from the German letter 'Eszett'; literally 'es' (s) + 'zett' (z) - s[z] is for SQUIP! Three, Elizabeth and the SQUIP had also discussed the myth of the Golem, who had been brought to life via the Hebrew word 'emet'; truth. All of these, combined with the fact that realizing that its siblings had unique identifiers of their own, led the SQUIP in to creating a name as opposed to taking a standard human's.
  • Remember That You Trust Me: Discord, of all people, gives the SQUIP a motivational speech. A couple times, actually.
  • Rewriting Reality: The whole point of its Augmented Story Structure theory. AKA, ASS.
  • You Are Not Alone: Thanks to Elizabeth. During the 'dress rehersal', the other SQUIPs remind it of this as well.

Varian

Not a Wizard, He Swears

The culprit of Week 4 (Case 3).

     Round 3 NPCs 

The Wizard

The Showrunner of Round 3 and the final mastermind to outmaneuver. His real identity is Will Schuester of Glee.

  • Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: The Leading Player did things for the sake of entertainment, while the SQUIP wanted everyone to be their "best" selves with nothing holding them back. The Wizard wants everything to go back to the way it "should" be for the sake of the multiverse, which would end up making the entire series of games for nothing.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: He was one of the participants in a previous murdergame and became stuck in a time loop. His knowledge of narratives and ensuing trauma empowered him to take control of the narrative, usurp previous masterminds, and attempt to reset all of reality.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: Remained in the background for Round 2 as the force behind the Phantom and SQUIP, before taking direct action as the Round 3 villain.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: His goal is to end the murdergames and save the fabric of reality by sending everyone back in time to before they happened, undoing everyone's character development and forged bonds in the process.

Hester Weidman

The Wizard's main assistant, who interacts with the cast in the same way the Balladeer did.

  • Become a Real Boy: She eventually becomes a real girl through the power of love and storytelling.
  • Original Generation: Unlike everyone else, she's not from a musical. This is because she's the Wizard's Canon Foreigner 'daughter', who doesn't exist in real canons.
  • Robot Girl: She was created as the Wizard's surrogate daughter, with the minds of 12 girls stuffed into a sentient mannequin.

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