The characters of Mlandersen 0.
Michael Andersen / Patrick
Michael Lukas Andersen / Patrick
"What your brother did... What I did... None of it should have happened..."
A troubled young man from Denver, Colorado who was just released after a 16-year stint in a mental hospital. The videos involve his seeing Slender Man, hearing strange sounds, and having strange dreams involving a grandfather clock. He has a Split Personality that goes by the name "Patrick".
- Addled Addict: Michael upped his intake of prescription sleeping pills, hoping that they would stop him from sleepwalking (and possibly from seeing the Slender Man). It doesn't work, and begins destroying his liver, but he continues to take them as a form of slow suicide. It is for this reason that Patrick takes over their body.
- Awesome Anachronistic Apparel: Patrick wears a 1940s-style ensemble inspired by the look of the Eleventh Doctor, with grey wool slacks, a button-down pinstriped shirt, and red suspenders. In a later episode, he adds a grey tweed coat, a black fedora, and fingerless gloves.
- Axe-Crazy: Literally: an axe is Patrick's personal weapon. Oddly, he never actually kills anyone with it, preferring to use it for intimidation (and to give people a Tap on the Head).
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Michael seems to be this, at first.
- Distressed Dude: In the penultimate episode, it's implied that Michael was kidnapped by HABIT: he wakes up in a strange house, and begins reciting the monologue from his first ever video journal, as if none of the previous episodes had happened...while heavy metal music plays somewhere close by. To his credit, he snaps out of it rather quickly, realizing that something is very wrong and calling out for his brother. What happens to Michael (and Patrick) after this is anyone's guess.
- The Dragon: He may be one for the Slender Man. At some point, however, things...changed.
- Emo: Michael's character type (according to Patrick). He's mopey, emotional, abuses prescription drugs, and self-harms.
- Humanoid Abomination: Possibly. HABIT claims that he isn't human (though it isn't certain whether he meant this literally, or in a figurative sense), and that he's been around far longer than Michael.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: Michael attempts to commit a slower form of Heroic Suicide by overdosing on prescription medication. He believes that this will appease Slender Man, and that the monster will leave Shaun alone. However, Patrick won't let him.
- Jekyll & Hyde: Michael is meek, mopey, and emotionally unstable, while Patrick is aggressive, take-charge, and not above threatening violence — or deliberately using Michael's friends and loved ones as human shields against the Slender Man.Patrick: Your brother's a bit of a...weak-minded, uh...drug addict Emo kid, y'know? I, on the other hand, like to see myself as a bit more of a leader.
- Mind Rape: Aside from enduring this from the Slender Man, they apparently undergo this from HABIT, in an attempt to awaken his memories of the location of the clock hands.
- Nervous Wreck: Michael is almost always on the verge of, or in the middle of, a nervous breakdown. Patrick gets close to this later in the series, as he realizes that he, Shaun, and Stormy are doomed.
- Reluctant Psycho: Michael apparently hates having to deal with all his mental crap, and wishes his life could have been different; he frequently apologizes to Shaun for being such a burden, and for apparently being the reason Slendy is after them.
- Ripple-Proof Memory: Patrick is the part of Michael that retains the memories and knowledge of each and every iteration they have experienced. He hates it, and says he actually envies Vinnie and his friends for not having to remember everything they have lived through.
- Self-Harm: After coming home from the hospital, Michael secretly begins cutting himself and overdosing on his medication. It's one reason why Patrick decides to take control of their body.
- The Sociopath: HABIT claims that Patrick would qualify as one if he were human, based on the fact that he regularly surrounds himself with human friends and family so that he can use them as human shields to protect himself from the Slender Man. However, his dialogue on Tape 3 suggests that Patrick doesn't enjoy doing so (and may even feel some guilt and sorrow regarding his actions), throwing this into question.
- Split-Personality Takeover: Patrick starts regularly taking control of their body after Michael gets out of the hospital. He claims he's putting a stop to Michael's self-destructive behavior (including Self-Harm and destroying their liver with medication) and keeping them alive.
- The Trickster: Patrick qualifies as a darker version. He's snarky and enigmatic, with undefined powers, largely Blue-and-Orange Morality, and a healthy dose of malice.
- Unreliable Narrator: Michael generally seems willing to hide the truth and manipulate what the viewers see. Particularly when it comes to his alter-ego and which of them happens to be in control at any given moment.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Patrick is clearly tired of the reiteration cycle and watching the people around him die, and desperate for it to end.
- Yandere: Michael plays somewhat of a platonic yandere to his brother, Shaun.
Shaun Andersen
Shaun Andersen
"Michael, I love you, and you know that, but I can't... Deal with you anymore."
The older brother of Michael, and the deuteragonist of the series.
- Big Brother Instinct: Subverted: while he initially displays some of this, allowing Michael to live with him and looking out for his wellbeing, it stops as soon as it becomes clear that his brother is a real danger to others; from then on, he puts himself first — even when Michael is clearly in danger and suffering.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: According to Patrick, he was cut into pieces with a chainsaw by HABIT.
- Distressed Dude: He's drugged, interrogated, and beaten by Patrick. Understandably, this causes him to leave town.
- After agreeing to meet with Vincent, he's drugged over tea and wakes up bound and gagged in the attic where HABIT tortures his victims. HABIT tries to use him as bait to lure in Patrick — by murdering him with a chainsaw.
- Jerkass Victim: Yeah, he could be self-centered and a terrible brother to Michael at times, but he didn't deserve to be cut into pieces by HABIT's chainsaw.
- Relationship Upgrade: With Stormy. After becoming friends, they start dating, and then begin living together.
- Useless Boyfriend: To Stormy, as he's completely unable to protect her — before or after her death.
Eric
Eric
"I don't think you need a camera that nice for videos about nothing."
Shaun's roommate and close friend. He is a very crabby guy who seems to not trust Michael at all.
- Deadpan Snarker: Eric thinks Michael is faking his supernatural problems — and isn't afraid to say what he thinks about it.
- Distressed Dude: He's attacked and incapacitated more than any other character in the series — first by the Slender Man (twice), then by Patrick (who not only knocks him unconscious with an axe, but douses him in gasoline as a warning). The forces at work do not want him involved.
- The Everyman: He's just an ordinary guy who is drawn into the seemingly insane issues of the Andersen brothers.
- Only Sane Man: He sees himself as such. He's wrong.
- Put on a Bus: He disappears from the series after being attacked and threatened by Patrick.
- The Scully: Having seen nothing in Michael's videos to convince him of the supernatural, Eric is the most doubtful of anything that's supposedly happening to Michael. He denies the Slender Man and Patrick's existence — until the point where Slender Man attacks him in an alley and Patrick takes him hostage, respectively.
Stormy
Stormy
A young woman who is a friend of Michael (and fellow patient) from the mental hospital where Michael was treated.
- Boyish Short Hair: Her blonde hair is kept at ear length.
- Break the Cutie: An innocent former mental patient, she's blackmailed, beaten, and threatened by Patrick, and then attacked by the Slender Man. All because she befriended a lonely, troubled boy.
- Killed Off for Real: Michael/Patrick uses her as a Human Shield against the Slender Man, resulting in her death.
- Relationship Upgrade: With Shaun. After meeting several times regarding Michael (and Patrick), they become friends; eventually, they start dating, then move in together (in the hopes that she will be safe).
- The Smurfette Principle: The only female character in the ensemble.
- Stuffed into the Fridge: She is killed by the Slender Man after Patrick uses her as a Human Shield. To add insult to injury, her body is stolen and used to torment the brothers — first being found in a crawlspace of the Andersen home, then turning up in the trunk of Shaun's car (courtesy of HABIT).
Slender Man
Slender Man
An entity that stalks and interferes with Michael in strange ways. He is somehow associated with a grandfather clock which was broken by Michael in his childhood.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Sports his signature black "business suit" — which, in this incarnation, has a red necktie.
- Big Bad: He holds this role for most of the series until the final act, when he's replaced by HABIT.
- The Blank: Obviously.
- Humanoid Abomination: He may be called a "man", but he certainly isn't one.
- The Voiceless: He doesn't make a sound (unless you count the telltale static that accompanies his appearances).
HABIT
For tropes related to him, see here.
