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Lucy Carlyle
The protagonist of the series, who is the newest member of Lockwood & Co.
- Action Girl: She is a trained agent with a lot of experience in fighting ghosts.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Lucy seems to have somewhat more angst in the television series than in the books. While in the books her mother is described as being somewhat remote, in the TV series she's depicted as downright awful, basically just using Lucy for her Talent to get money and not showing an ounce of love. Lucy also at one point nearly quits Lockwood & early on because of Lockwood's attitude.
- Book Dumb: Lucy isn't a huge fan of reading and sometimes has trouble with "big" words. Given that she is of working class background and has been working as a full-time agent since she was eight, she didn't have much time for formal schooling.
- Desperately Craves Affection: One of her deepest insecurities. This gets her in trouble with La Belle Dame Sans Merci, a theatre ghost that preys on the lovesick, anxious and vulnerable.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Lucy has a habit of ogling Lockwood, devoting whole paragraphs to describing his good looks. Notable examples include her staring while he practices fencing (to the point where George asks her to tear herself away so they can have breakfast) and watching him lounge half-dressed on the couch. She doesn’t seem to realize or put much thought to why she does this.
- The Empath: Lucy can often feel the emotions of ghosts.
- Heroic BSoD: Happens to her in The Hollow Boy when faced with a ghost posing as Lockwood. Thinking he’s dead, she falls to her knees and wails with grief, leaving herself vulnerable to the ghost—until the real Lockwood shows up and destroys it.
- Magical Seventh Son: She mentions offhandedly that she has six older sisters, which goes well with her unusually strong Psychic Powers.
- Parental Abandonment: Lucy's mother signs her up to train as a ghost inspector at the earliest possible date. Implied to be pretty standard, as child labor is ubiquitous in this world. While Lucy actually does live with her until she runs off to London, you get the distinct impression that she didn't bother to do much to raise or parent Lucy - her only concern about Lucy is as a source of income (she gets Lucy's wages).
- Territorial Smurfette: Lucy does not take kindly to the beautiful Holly Munro joining the company. She eventually eases up a bit on her jealousy and distaste for other women.
Anthony Lockwood
The leader of Lockwood & Co.
- Byronic Hero: Lockwood is a mild version. Tall, Dark, and Handsome, very charismatic and with a Dark and Troubled Past, he is very ambitious and independent, but also prone to wallowing a bit in his own angst. However, he is extremely loyal and protective to his friends, which is less typical for this kind of character. Lucy, being after all a teenage girl, finds it all very attractive.
- The Charmer: Lockwood is very charming, which is why George and Lucy somehow find themselves still sticking with him, even if they give their boss a lot of flak.
- Death Seeker: Lockwood shows symptoms of this by the fourth book, The Creeping Shadow. While always a bit rash, he seems to have become extremely reckless about his own safety after Lucy's departure. In the final book, The Empty Grave, Lucy herself begins to suspect as much, but is nevertheless annoyed when the skull in the jar outright confirms it in his usual snide fashion, stating that the signs are and have been obvious for anyone that cares to see them.
- The Face: He is the face of Lockwood & Co. who handles the interviews and is most often seen on pictures.
- The Leader: The charismatic leader of Lockwood & Co. who makes the plans and tells the others what to do.
- Hates Being Nicknamed: He doesn't strictly mind being called by his first name, Anthony, but forget about calling him Tony. Naturally, Kipps calls him this to annoy him.
- Last-Name Basis: Almost everyone calls him Lockwood.The only person who does call him by his first name—as "Tony"—is Kipps. Later, Penelope Fittes also starts addressing him as "Anthony".
- My Greatest Failure: Lockwood's is the death-by-ghost of his sister Jessica, which he feels he could have prevented if he'd been nearer when the incident happened. This is a major drive in both his hatred for ghosts and his extreme protectiveness towards his team.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: He used to be like this due to his traumatic past. Masking his feelings, keeping secrets, and not responding well to emotions, he would keep his team at an arm’s length to remain detached. Even when showing his warm and loving side, he'd withdraw and turn aloof just as quickly, often with a "Let's get on with it!" attitude. This frustrates Lucy to no end. He opens up considerably throughout the series.
George Cubbins
An agent of Lockwood & Co. with a talent for research.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: George is described in the books as being a geeky fat slob. For the TV series he clearly is still intended to be geeky, but at the very least is definitely not fat and has a certain degree of cuteness.
- Adaptational Name Change: In the television series he is George Karim, likely to reflect the ethnicity of the actor playing him.
- Blind Without 'Em: George is extremely short-sighted. This saves his life when presented with the Artifact of Doom in the second book.
- Crazy-Prepared: George keeps a complete set of ghost-hunting supplies in his bedroom and generally insists more on extremely thorough preparation than the rest of the team.
- Fat Slob / Genius Slob: Not as bad as some examples, but George tends to leave a mess wherever he goes: dirty dishes, dropped clothes, etc.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: George isn't nearly as charming as Lockwood, and he has his own set of bad habits, but he does care for both Lockwood and Lucy.
- Obsessed with Food: He talks about food a lot, which goes with being a Big Eater.
- The Smart Guy: The smartest member of the team, who does the research for their cases.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: He is the smartest member of the team and the only one who wears glasses.
The Skull in the Jar
Exactly What It Says on the Tin. George nicked him from the Fittes Agency as self-determined severance pay, and it becomes an unofficial company mascot. George has wondered for a long time whether the Skull is one of the near-mythical Type Three ghosts, and is proven possibly right when Lucy (but only Lucy) discovers she can hear him.
- Big Damn Heroes: In the last book his actual ghost is instrumental in Lucy and Lockwood escaping The Other Side, possibly sacrificing his remaining existence to do so.
- Deadpan Snarker: possibly the greatest of all the Lockwood & Co team, given it's, y'know, dead. And manages to snark at people through facial expressions alone.
- Name Amnesia: He claims to Lucy that he's been dead for so long that he cannot recall what his name was in life.
- Team Pet: possibly one of the strangest ever. However, according to the definition of this trope on it's page... the Skull qualifies as this!
- Troll: Massive troll. His favorite victims are Lucy (the only one who can actually hear him speak) and Holly (because she hasn't been around long enough to get used to his hideous expressions).
Holly Munro
A new member of Lockwood & Co. who got hired in the third book. She mainly handles the administration and keeps the house clean, but she will also help with cases if needed.
- Ambiguously Gay: In The Empty Grave, she says Lucy needn't have worried – Lockwood is not her type and there are "other options" in the world. She is later revealed to be living with a girl from DEPRAC...
- Ambiguously Brown: Holly is described as having coffee-colored skin. Her ethnicity is never mentioned.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Lucy and Holly's rivalry cools off a lot at the end of the Chelsea affair, but they really bond after Holly helps rescue her and Lockwood a book later.
- Lipstick Lesbian: She is very feminine and it's heavily implied that she's lesbian in the final book.
- The Medic: The only one of the team who knows how to administer first aid properly.
- Took a Level in Badass: Holly is stated to be much more confident as a field agent by the fourth book, and when Lockwood and Lucy return from the Other Side to find their teammates battling the Rotwell scientists she's a force to be reckoned with. Beware the Nice Ones, indeed.
Quill Kipps
A Fittes agent who has a rivalry with Lockwood.
- Dirty Coward: Subverted and discussed. Lucy thinks so after he bolts and abandons his team in the middle of a particularly nasty haunting; later, and after she witnesses him risk his life for a fellow agent, Kipps explains his actions in a way that makes them at least understandable (his Psychic Powers faded when he reached maturity. Walking into haunted zones over and over again without being able to really see the ghosts or protect himself causes him to reach breaking point from time to time). Once he can see ghosts again, he immediately becomes borderline-Blood Knight.
- Face Death with Dignity: Upon realising he is probably not going to survive exiting the Other Side. Subverted when he does make it after all, albeit in need of urgent medical care.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He acts like a jerk towards Lockwood and George, but turns out to have many more noble qualities than initially given credit for. He helps Lockwood and Co. of his own accord in book three and leaves his position as supervisor at the Fittes Agency in book four because he can't bear sending others to fight for him.
- Kicked Upstairs: After working with Lockwood and Co. on the Chelsea outbreak case in The Hollow Boy, Quill Kipps is promoted to division head within the Fittes Agency in The Creeping Shadow. Lockwood and Co. assume this is the first step in his moving on to greater things, but it turns out that afterwards he's being given a lot of bad assignments and is generally on the outs. It turns out that they thought he showed a bit too much independence for their liking during the Chelsea affair, so they kicked him upstairs. He finally has enough and ends up quitting.
- The Rival: He is the rival to Lockwood. He knows both him George and isn't on very good terms with both of them. Officially put to rest in the fourth book. Kipps resigns from Fittes and by the end of the book it's heavily implied he will be joining Lockwood and Co. at least semi-permanently.
