Tropes describing characters from the podcast series Malevolent. Note that only spoilers from the season 1 finale (Part 12) onwards are hidden – all spoilers from Parts 1-11 of season 1 are unmarked.
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Main Characters
In General
- Alliance with an Abomination: Begrudgingly at first, but as the series progresses they gain a genuine appreciation for each other.
- Like an Old Married Couple: As the series progresses, they start to develop a deep appreciation for each other and become quite close. However, they still bicker. A noteworthy example is the first episode of season 4, where the two get into an argument over seeing a movie, with John having been pestering Arthur to go to one, and Arthur refusing likely because of his blindness.
- Sharing a Body: They share Arthur's body. Which of them will ultimately gain control of it is unclear.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: They aren't shy about cursing, especially at each other.
- Symbiotic Possession: Moreso as the series progresses, to the point that Arthur makes a deal with Kayne to bring John back.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Fairly frequently, they will be forced to work together out of a mutual desire for self-preservation, even when they're mad at each other at that moment.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: They fight and argue frequently throughout the series, but eventually gain respect and appreciation for each other. Doesn't stop them from bickering, however.
- We ARE Struggling Together: Sometimes, even the desire to survive/accomplish a goal isn't enough for them to work together. At the end of episode 8 and the start of episode 9, for example, John refuses to help guide Arthur, forcing him to try and navigate on his own – which results in them being apprehended by the police.
Arthur Lester
Arthur Lester
Voiced by: Harlan Guthrie
A private detective from Arkham, Massachusetts, who is sent a mysterious book that causes him to lose his eyesight and be bound to a mysterious entity.- Accidental Child-Killer Backstory: Has a reoccurring nightmare reliving the night he accidentally let his daughter drown in the bathtub.
- Badass Bookworm: Cultured, well-educated, and someone not to fuck with.
- Badass Normal: He might just be a normal human, but he's managed to go toe to toe with monstrous creatures far larger and stronger than himself.
- Berserk Button:
- People who hurt their children. This inspires his personal vendetta against Larson in Season 3.
- Cults. While this is understandable after everything the Cult of the King in Yellow put him through, it seems his issues with religious extremists of all kinds started long before he opened John's book...
- Blind Musician: The story starts with him having lost his eyesight, and he's a talented piano player and composer.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: As the series progresses, he seems less terrified of many of the entities he comes across and situations he finds himself in, and starts focusing simply on survival.
- Cosmic Plaything: From the start he finds himself serving as the host to an entity that robbed him of his eyesight, and it all just gets worse from there.
- Cultured Badass: Arthur is a lover of poetry, a classically trained musician, well educated, and someone not to fuck with.
- Defective Detective: Is, or at least was, a Private Investigator. While he seems to be in an emotionally and mentally healthy place when the story starts, he first became a P.I. after having lost his daughter to his own negligence, and had apparently spent several years drinking heavily every night. Of course, as the series progresses he is deeply impacted by the horrors he has faced, and it shows.
- The Determinator: Arthur declares himself one.Arthur: You want me to give up. You want me to throw in the towel and call it quits so you can fight over the scraps of me like fucking dogs. Well, I have news for you, for both of you – I don’t give up. I didn’t fucking give up when the woman I loved died, and I didn’t punch my ticket when I held my… when I held my only daughter’s lifeless body in my arms. And I am sure as shit strong enough to push through everything you throw at me. So bring it on, you spineless fucks. I am going to go down swinging, every fucking time.
- Evil Stole My Faith: Stopped believing in God (at least, the Abrahamic God) after Bella and Faroe's deaths.
- Gentleman and a Scholar: Recites poetry several times throughout the story, is a classically trained musician, and demonstrates wide knowledge of the arts and history. It's implied that he may have had a wealthy upbringing, and that he is well-educated. Of course, as the series progresses, the stress he's put through and the horrors he encounters make him come off far less gentlemanly.
- Good Is Not Nice: Generally a kind enough guy, and typically wants to avoid hurting innocent people and even takes it upon himself to help certain individuals. That doesn't mean he'll put up with being threatened, or that he won't get angry and lash out.
- Greying Morality: At first he actively avoids killing or hurting others. By the end of Season 1, he's become much more comfortable with violence.
- Episode 31 implies that he might have always been a bit more morally grey than we were initially lead to believe, as it's revealed that while Bella was giving birth to Faroe, he was drinking in a bar and considering abandoning them.
- Handicapped Badass: Is blind, but still manages to accomplish feats most people couldn't. Notably, in Coda he's able to drag himself, blind and broken, through a blizzard into a cabin and start a fire without John's help. Kayne even remarks on how impressive this is.
- I'm a Humanitarian: While trapped in the prison pits in the Dreamlands, Arthur is starved and eventually forced to eat another prisoner named Faust.
- Interdisciplinary Sleuth: Was a composer by trade before becoming a detective. In episode 26, we learn that he got his start as a PI when Parker reached out to him to consult on a case related to his music expertise.
- Nay-Theist: Starts out as a run-of-the-mill atheist, but after everything he's been through including interacting with actual, literal gods, he's now aware that gods exist, but rejects them.Arthur: I’ve seen these Gods, and they’re nothing.
- Past Experience Nightmare: Has a reoccurring nightmare of his daughter's death.
- Pragmatic Hero: Especially as the series progresses, at one point he opts to kill a woman who is after him despite John's protests, and even earlier considered killing the wraith outright.
- Private Detective: His job before he opened John's cursed book. His detective skills have come in handy on more than a few occasions.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Alongside John, though he might curse slightly less.
- Weirdness Magnet: Strange entities seem almost magnetically attracted to Arthur.
The Entity / John Doe
The Entity / John Doe
Voiced by: Harlan Guthrie
An entity who becomes bound to Arthur and functions as his eyes. It is later revealed that he is a fragment of the King in Yellow that became separated from him and now wishes to be his own person.- A God I Am Not: Season 1 ends with John learning he is a fractured piece of the King in Yellow. However, after seeing the value of humanity and a mortal life, he chooses to seek to become human instead.
- Amnesiac God: John, who is a severed piece of a god of madness called the King in Yellow, spends the first season unaware of who he is.
- The Atoner: Argues to spare the Wraith because he feels the need to offer redemption, and later expresses a desire to become a better person, though he does hurt plenty of people along the way.
- Dark Is Not Evil: He may be an eldritch entity, but that doesn't mean he can't be a good person. Sometimes.
- Eldritch Abomination: Well, technically a small part of one.
- Emergent Human: Part of John's personal journey and character arc is in gaining his humanity separate from the King in Yellow.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As the series progresses, evolves into this.
- A Lighter Shade of Grey: He might be responsible for a few deaths, and he might curse out and threaten Arthur, but compared to most of Malevolent's antagonists, he's not so bad.
- Pieces of God: He's a fractured shard of the King in Yellow, though he rejects that in favor of humanity.
- Reformed, but Not Tamed: While he's generally trying to grow and be a better person, he's still not above cursing and yelling at Arthur.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: John was sealed in a book for ten years, before being freed when said book found its way to Arthur. It's later revealed that Arthur wasn't the first person to accidentally free John...
- Seeing Through Another's Eyes: Serves as Arthur's eyes, telling him what he sees. This becomes a big part of his desire to become human, as seeing through Arthur's eyes causes him to see the value in humanity.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: "Fuck, Arthur!" might as well be his catchphrase.
- Took a Level in Kindness: When Arthur is in a coma for a month, John is still awake within his body but unable to interact with the world. This gives him time to think, and he starts to appreciate the regular visits from a nurse named Lily, who talks to Arthur/John. As a result, he starts to gain a greater appreciation for humanity.
Humans
Parker Yang
Peter "Parker" Yang
Arthur's late partner.- The Defroster: Implied; in episode 26, Arthur reminisces about Parker and how they first met, and it's implied he was this, having approached a cripplingly depressed Arthur at a local bar and slowly wearing him down in an effort to help him.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Episode 1 opens with Parker's death at Arthur's (technically John's) hands.
- Sudden Name Change: He's initially referred to by John (who read his name on Arthur's office door) as Peter, but Arthur then calls him Parker. Parker serves as his name for the rest of the series with no in-universe explanation for the change. (The episode's initial release explained that he went by his legal name, Peter, at work, and by his father's name, Parker, among friends. This was cut when the first few episodes of Season 1 were remastered.)
Amanda Cummings
Amanda Cummings
The daughter of Roland Cummings and one of the members of The Cult of the Black Goat.- Middle Name Basis: Goes by her middle name, Sarah.
Kellin Holeman
Kellin Holeman
Voiced by: Harlan Guthrie
A man who wears a gas mask, and also claims to hear voices.- Alas, Poor Villain: He may be a violent madman who killed his own sister and aims to kill Arthur, but it's still hard not to feel bad for him in his final moments.
- And Call Him "George": Implied. He mentions his cat coughing and wheezing whenever he touched it as a child. At first this seems like another reference to his poor lungs, but then he mentions that he was holding it very tightly whenever it started wheezing...
- Ax-Crazy: He hears voices, and for most of episode 4 he seems to be constantly on the verge of a violent outburst. By the halfway point, he has brought Arthur to a basement with a cot and a chain, and it's implied this was not the first time he kept someone there. Later it's revealed he killed his own sister and is keeping her severed head chained and submerged in a lake. When his "sister" says she wants to go with Arthur, he snaps and decides to kill him, though he ultimately fails.Kellin: Fine. You want to do it this way. You tried to shoot me. I think instead of just letting you bleed out… I’m going to cut your fucking head off and put it in the water right next to her so you can be together. Just. Like. She. Wants.
- Hearing Voices: Due to the nature of the story, it's hard to tell if all of the voices he's hearing are otherworldly entities, or if only his sister's voice is "real" and the rest are auditory hallucinations.
- Menacing Mask: The first hint we, the audience, are given that this man might be a threat is the fact that he wears a gasmask.
Faroe Lester
Faroe Lester
Arthur's daughter.- Deadly Bath: Died by drowning in a bathtub as a young girl, in part due to Arthur's negligence.
Faust
Faust
A prisoner of the King in Yellow in the Dreamlands, as well as a cannibal, and later victim of cannibalism himself.- Human Resources: Arthur eats him and uses his femur to escape the prison pits.
- I'm a Humanitarian: When in the prison pits he is at one point tossed into the same pit as Arthur. Soon they stop feeding either of them, in an effort to try and push one of the two to kill and eat the other. Arthur fights the urge until he accidentally brushes against a cord he seems to carry with him. Arthur and John then discover this wasn't the first time he was tossed into a prison pit with someone else and starved, and that the cord is in fact a braid from a woman he killed and ate.
Wallace Larson
Wallace Larson
Voiced by: Harlan Guthrie
Founder of the mining town of Addison and cultist who sacrificed his child for power.- Affably Evil: When we first meet him, he had just brought Arthur into his home, and spoke to him kindly, claiming to want to save the town from an evil accidentally unleashed and offering to help Arthur get back to Arkham. This is, of course, a lie, but even after he reveals his true nature he still largely presents himself as friendly.
- Cultured Badass: From what little we've seen, he's clearly a man of refinement and one of the larger threats we've come across.
- Mirror Character: To Arthur. Both hail from a privileged upbringing but lost close family members at a young age, both enjoy quoting poetry, both are responsible for the death of their child, and as of Episode 28, both have a fragment of the King in Yellow inhabiting their mind.
- Offing the Offspring: It is revealed that in order to prove his loyalty to the outer gods, he sacrificed his daughter and last living child, Addison.
- Older Than He Looks: Likely due to a deal with some outer god, Larson looks to be about Arthur's age despite being over 100 years old. In order to keep up the charade, he usually goes by (and initially introduces himself as) Andrew Larson, the grandson of Wallace Larson.
- Southern Gentleman: Speaks with a Southern US accent, and is very wealthy, cultured, and usually quite polite.
- Wicked Cultured: The final scene of season 3 shows him finding Uncle/Jack Larson dead and bleeding, having been killed by Arthur. He recites a poem about revenge.
Collins/The Butcher
Collins
Voiced by: Harlan Guthrie
A murderer for hire, employed by Wallace Larson to kill Arthur.- Blood Knight: Appears to enjoy the challenge that Arthur brings, complimenting him on his cleverness and determination.
- The Butcher: His nickname, and the name he is employed under and known by.
- Cultured Badass: Appears well read and learned, but is also a cold blooded and successful hitman.
- Professional Killer: A professional hitman, to be specific.
- Psycho for Hire: Seems to genuinely enjoy his job as a hitman. The prelude has him describe his work in very vivid detail.
- Wicked Cultured: He not only recognizes the pseudonym Arthur chooses for himself, William Henley, and seems familiar with his work, when asked about his motives he answers Memento mori note .
Daniel
Daniel
Voiced by: Harlan Guthrie
Arthur's father-in-law, Faroe's grandfather, and Freemason.- Condescending Compassion: In The Madness, we witness a memory of Arthur after Faroe died, where Daniel visits Arthur and seems to be attempting to console him. However, his attempts to support Arthur involves suggesting he should reach out to God, and he suggests that if he doesn't he won't see Faroe and Bella in heaven.
- Holier Than Thou: Appears to have shades of this.
Marie
Marie
Voiced by: Harlan Guthrie
A widow who Arthur rents a room from. Her home houses some manner of demon within the body of a woman, hidden in a room on the upper floor.Gods and Otherworldly Creatures
The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow / Hastur
Voiced by: Harlan Guthrie
An eldritch god that is fractured in two and seeks to become whole again.- Eldritch Abomination: An Outer God who causes madness among humans, and wishes to drive the world mad.
- Imperfect Ritual: Was brought into our world when the Cult of the Black Goat performed a faulty ritual to summon a different entity, Shub-Niggurath. Shub-Niggurath never materialized, and the King in Yellow snuck in through the portal instead.
- Mad God: A god of madness who has influence over those whose minds have already been twisted in some way, and can drive an entire world to insanity when at full power.
- Not Quite the Almighty: Is all-powerful... within the Dreamlands. In our physical plane of reality, all he can do is slowly drive people mad and attempt to lure prey to his home dimension.
- Pieces of God: The portal that brought him to our world shut before all of him could enter, splitting him in two – one piece resides in the Dreamlands, while the other was bound to the book Arthur opened.
The Tradesman
The Tradesman
Voiced by: Harlan Guthrie
A strange, tree-like creature that Arthur and John meet in the Dreamlands. His only purpose is to trade.- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Is only interested in trading. In his second appearance, he's gained possession of Arthur's things by trading for them, and sees that as perfectly acceptable and fair as "prisoners have no items".
- Buy or Get Lost: When Arthur tries to ask for his help, he responds that he is 'not a Cana'. He only trades. He does not offer; you offer, he trades.
- Literal-Minded: Implied. He is a trader. He does not offer, only trade. He does not help, only trade.
- Plant Person: John describes his skin as 'like the bark of trees'. Since he first appears in the Living Forest, he likely is some sort of tree person.
Kayne
Kayne
Voiced by: Harlan Guthrie
A mysterious, capricious entity that has taken an interest in Arthur and John's quest.- Divine Intervention: Though he refuses to help when Arthur first asks, Kayne eventually gives Arthur a dagger that Arthur uses on himself to stop the King in Yellow from retaking John – and later agrees to give John back to Arthur, albeit with his memories wiped.
- Intrigued by Humanity: Why he's so obsessed with Arthur, to the point of reliving Arthur's entire life to find out what makes him so special – it intrigues Kayne that an ordinary human survived being bound to an eldritch god, and that he's lived this long fighting against the King in Yellow.
- Large Ham: Spends his few short appearances chewing the scenery with manic glee.
- Mad God: While we don't know who (or what) he truly is, Kayne is a being even more powerful than The King who seems to do what he does simply for his own amusement.
- The Nicknamer: Has a tendency to refer to Arthur and John via a variety of different nicknames, most notably in episode 28 where he starts to list off a bunch of different nicknames for John, and as he's leaving he suddenly thinks of "Canary! In a coal mine!".
- Pass the Popcorn: Brings his own chair and obnoxiously loud snack to watch Arthur's "death" and John's resulting breakdown in episode 28 in person.
- The Trickster: He's driven by a love for causing chaos.
Yellow
Yellow
Voiced by: Harlan Guthrie
A fragment of the King in Yellow who has all of John's memories prior to the start of Season 1. After John is reassimilated into the King in Yellow, Yellow takes John's place in Arthur's head.- A God Am I: To try and jog Yellow's memory, Arthur he outright tells Yellow that he's a piece of a God. Instead of making him remember his experiences as John, this causes Yellow to see Arthur as his captor who ripped him away from his rightful place.
- Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: Played with. Arthur treats Yellow like John at first, but becomes frustrated when he doesn't immediately develop John's empathy and moral compass. By the time John returns, Arthur views Yellow as a monster and compliments John on being nothing like him. John disagrees, arguing that save for John's awareness of the way humans think, he and Yellow are exactly alike.
- Foil: To John; both are pieces of the King in Yellow, both have taken control of Arthur's eyes, both have shown an interest in humanity and poetry. However, where John started his journey with no idea of who he is or where he came from, Yellow was told outright that he is a part of an outer god. Where John met Arthur when he was fairly emotionally stable, Yellow met him at possibly his worst. Where John and Arthur started off sharing similar goals, Yellow and Arthur start off at odds with each other. As a result, Yellow ends up having no desire to be human, and later seeks revenge against Arthur for ripping him away from his rightful place.
- Pieces of God: A piece of the King in Yellow, though if he's simply John without his memories or a separate piece altogether isn't entirely clear.
- Put on a Bus: When Arthur plays Faroe's Song at the end of Episode 23, John returns and Yellow vanishes.
- The Bus Came Back: Until Episode 28, when it's revealed that Yellow remained in Larson's head and is plotting with Larson to exact revenge on Arthur.
Uncle/Jack Larson
Uncle/Jack Larson
A large and imposing ram-like humanoid creature, and apparent attempt by Wallace to recreate one of his lost children.- Animal Eyes: Has orange eyes with slitted pupils.
- Beast Man: Appears somewhat human but with animalistic traits, such as Animal Eyes and large bumps on either side of his head.
- The Big Guy: He's a huge, towering man-like creature.
- The Brute: He's strong, large, and imposing, of limited intelligence, and prone to violent behavior.
- Dumb Muscle: Almost childlike, with limited intelligence and an inability to speak, but makes up for it by being strong enough to rip a woman's jaw clean off.
- Manchild: Heavily implied. At the start of the season, Yellow remarks how illegible and childlike the letters they find from him are. Later, he's found sitting in a corner playing with Arthur's music box like a curious child.
- Mental Handicap, Moral Deficiency: He appears to have the intelligence of a child, and apparently regularly "plays" with humans in painful and deadly ways.
Though it is hard to say whether this is a case of simply not understanding right from wrong, a result of Wallace's influence, a result of him not being entirely human, or a mixture thereof. - Psychopathic Manchild: Presented as being somewhat childlike, which doesn't make his actions any less horrific.
Scratch
Scratch
Voiced by: Harlan Guthrie
A nightmare demon residing in Marie's home and initially trapped inside the body of a woman inside the home.- Nightmare Weaver: Scratch is able to influence people's dreams, and in Arthur's case uses this ability to get Arthur to sleepwalk, and untie the woman Scratch is trapped inside of.
- Weaker in the Real World: As a nightmare demon, they have vast power over an individual's dreams. However, in the real world they are bound to a chair inside a human body, unable to effect anyone outside of Marie's home.
