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A character page for the Nancy Drew video games.

Spoilers below.


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    Main and Recurring Characters 

Nancy Drew

The eponymous viewpoint character. Nancy is, of course, a young, self-declared "amateur" detective, who travels the world running headlong into danger and intrigue. At first, it seemed she was simply prone to stumble into strange occurrences during her everyday life, but as the games progress, her name starts to get around and she is called upon specially to tackle strange and convoluted cases.

Voiced by: Lani Minella (Secrets Can Kill through Sea of Darkness), Brittany Cox (Midnight in Salem), Claire Boynton (young, The Silent Spy)

  • The Ace: Smart, pretty, independent, successful, etc; Nancy has this down pat.
  • Action Girl: Of course. She sometimes performs her daring feats in heels and a skirt, no less.
  • Alone with the Psycho: Anytime she uncovers the culprit, especially if they are dangerous and want to kill Nancy.
  • Anti-Hero: In her darkest moments, she treads into this territory, such as blackmailing Henry into giving her an important object for a puzzle.
  • Awesomeness by Analysis: She gets surprisingly little of this, actually, but when it does happen it's awesome.
  • Badass in Distress:
    • Becomes this fairly often. Usually, she manages to get herself out of it, though.
    • She's this as a plot point in Alibi in Ashes where she is framed for arson in her hometown. Most of the game focuses on her friends and boyfriend gathering evidence to prove her innocence.
  • Bad Liar: Thank God her suspects seem even worse at spotting lies.
    Lou: What are you doing with my snowshoes?!
    Nancy: (in the middle of stealing them) I'm just... cleaning them.
    Lou: Sweet.
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: She's the redhead to George's brunette and Bess' blonde.
  • Born Detective: All of Nancy's abilities seem to be inherent; she's just an amateur sleuth, after all.
  • Bound and Gagged: Happens quite often to Nancy during the course of an investigation when a villain gets the drop on her, but Nancy's skills are so vast she's able to untie herself and get back to sleuthing.
  • Brutal Honesty: More like Brutal Straightforwardness, but some of her dialogue is downright painful.
  • Clear My Name: In Alibi in Ashes, she's framed for arson and spends most of the game in the police department. Chief McGinnis gives her a chance to prove her innocence by figuring out who set Town Hall on fire.
  • Comic-Book Time: Nancy seems incapable of growing past her teenage years, no matter how long the series continues.
  • Constantly Curious: A big part of why she does what she does.
  • Daddy's Girl: She may not always listen to him when he tries to tell her to not run toward something she should run away from, but there's no denying she loves her father—The Silent Spy really analyzes this. It could be justified in that Nancy's mother died when she was very young (age 10 in the original, but after the series—and the franchise itself—is revised, it's changed to age 3), so Carson ultimately had to raise his daughter as a single parent—with their housekeeper/cook, Hannah Gruen, acting as a motherly figure to Nancy.
  • Damsel in Distress: Although Nancy can handle herself in nearly any situation, there have been times where she will need the help of her friends to rescue her from a challenge too big.
  • Damsel out of Distress: Nancy may be trapped and captured in many stories, but she always knows how to use her wits in almost every situation to escape her predicament.
  • The Determinator: Will do anything to solve a case. And nothing can scare her off a case, as many culprits have found out — the hard way.
  • Doom Magnet: Downplayed. She frequently gets into dangerous situations, often unwittingly, but is always smart enough to escape them (and solve the problems of various bystanders, to boot).
  • Dude Magnet: She's able to attract quite a few guys, despite already having a boyfriend back home. Guys like Collin Baxter, Daryl Gray, and Dave Gregory are disappointed to hear she’s already taken, and Frank Hardy himself is also heavily implied to have a crush on her. This is also true in the original books, where she gets a lot of attention from guys (again including Frank).
  • Dull Surprise: In Message In A Hunted Mansion, Nancy reacts to a room burning down by saying "Fire" in the most bored tone possible.
  • The Faceless: Nancy is only ever seen in silhouette on the game cases, and never anywhere else as a result of the game being from her perspective.
  • Famed In-Story: Increasingly so.
  • Four-Philosophy Ensemble: Nancy's the down-to-earth, reasonable Realist in her group of friends, balancing out the team. She keeps a healthy skepticism of others, but is quick to agree to help people who need it.
  • Good Is Not Nice: In the games, she's a lovely person with the personality of sandpaper.
  • Guile Hero: To be expected.
  • Heroes Love Dogs:
    • She has a dog named Togo, which is at her house. The Secret of the Scarlet Hand has a picture of her dog on her laptop.
    • In Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake, Nancy will fawn over the dogs when she interacts with them in the culprit's lair.
  • Identical Stranger: Nancy herself says she looks a lot like Gunnar’s (deceased) daughter on seeing a picture of her.
  • Improv Fu: She does not fight, but her ability to think fast and use the environment against her attackers is second to none. More than one criminal has tried to silence her and found themselves on the receiving end of blunt force trauma.
  • It's Personal: Twice; once in Alibi in Ashes, which took place in her hometown and involved clearing her name, and again in The Silent Spy, which was about her mom.
  • Janitor Impersonation Infiltration: One of Nancy's common tactics is to sneak into places as one of the help. In White Wolf of Icicle Creek her disguise is as the new maid. And the cook, at her employer’s request.
  • Kleptomaniac Hero: Constantly. If it's possible to pick it up/eat it/hide it, Nancy will do it. And get away with it.
  • Lack of Empathy: She can be incredibly blunt and insensitive in conversation, much to the fandom's amusement. This trait is often Played for Laughs.
  • Large Ham: Her voice actress obviously has a lot of fun.
  • Lethal Chef: Nancy becomes this fairly often via Video Game Cruelty Potential.
  • Nerves of Steel: For one thing, her voice is positively gleeful when she beats a jewel smuggler at scopa. For another, she personally chases down that smuggler's boss- the same woman who almost killed her minutes ago- and accuses her without any backup or witnesses.
  • No Indoor Voice: Even when she's supposed to be sneaking around, Nancy loves to announce her thoughts loudly and enthusiastically to nobody. Just try checking something off your checklist during a quiet part of the game:
    Nancy: CAN'T CHECK THAT OFF 'TILL IT'S DONE!!
  • Player and Protagonist Integration: 'Controller' type. In most entries, especially the earliest ones, Nancy's perspective drives how the story is told, not the events happening in it. Acting 'out-of-character' for Nancy usually leads to a game over but is fully possible.
    Nancy: (upon unlocking a culprit's prison) Why did I do that?!
  • Red Is Heroic: Since she's a detective who solves cases out of goodwill, she falls into the hair color category more than the outfit one. Some series depict her as either a redhead or a strawberry blonde. Danger By Design describes her as being "Titian-haired" when she's arrested for being in the sewers.
  • Save the Villain: On a few occasions, Nancy has saved culprits from certain death like Jane nearly suffocating in a metal box and Scott nearly getting swept away by a twister.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: What are these "rules" of which you speak? Nancy has never heard of them.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: In The Silent Spy, Nancy implies that she looks like her mother Kate Drew who is seen in the flashbacks.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Deirdre in The Deadly Device, Tino Balducci in White Wolf of Icicle Creek, and a few other characters in various games.
  • Verbal Backspace: She makes a little mistake in the climax of Secrets Can Kill Remastered. She accidentally reveals that she knows that the journal "Detective Beech" is looking for belongs to him, not Jake Rogers.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Some instant game overs are a result of Nancy being careless. For example, undoing the knot on the chandelier before the climax, pulling the fire alarm, and other things.

Ned Nickerson

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Nancy's boyfriend and frequent phone contact. Ned is never present in the games (that is, until Alibi in Ashes, where he became a playable character), but offers the player "hints" on how to clear stages and progress in the game. Later in the series, he passes this utility on to Bess and George or Frank and Joe, leaving Ned free for romantic subplots and comic relief more than anything else.

Voiced by: Scott Carty

  • Adaptation Personality Change: For some reason in the movie, he's paranoid that Nancy will find another guy to date. Not once in the games did he express any jealousy or fear that Nancy would break up with him.
  • The All-American Boy: A downplayed example.
  • Brainy Brunette: He's canonically a brunet (as shown in his profile picture) and is quite intelligent. In Treasure in the Royal Tower, he pretends to not know about Marie Antoinette when he studied the French Revolution in high school.
  • Clueless Chick-Magnet: Seems to be confused/bothered when finding out Deirdre has a crush on him, although it could be because he's already taken.
  • Four-Philosophy Ensemble: Ned is the more-frequently-absent Non-Action Guy Apathetic who best fits the "support party member", though he's more of a Nice Guy than some examples. Shifts over into Conflicted in the games and books where he and Nancy have strain on their relationship, where his insecurities and lack of confidence about their romance receive more focus.
  • The Confidant: For Nancy, of course.
  • Nice Guy: Pretty much the entirety of his character.
  • Non-Action Guy: In the games and the more recent book series, ninety-nine percent of the time, he's this to Nancy's Action Girl.
  • Promoted to Playable: So far, only in Alibi in Ashes, where he is regularly playable along with Bess and George.
  • Understanding Boyfriend: Until Castle Malloy. He doesn't approve of Nancy's risk-taking, but nonetheless provides help and a caring ear.

Bess Marvin

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Nancy's friend and George's cousin. Bess rarely (but occasionally) appears in-game, but is nearly always an available phone contact to offer Nancy hints on the game's progression, usually in tandem with George. She's the shallower and less adventurous of Nancy's two best girlfriends, but can be counted upon to dispense unexpected nuggets of humble wisdom when Nancy calls for it.

Voiced by: Alisa Murray, Jennifer Pratt

George Fayne

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Nancy's other friend and Bess's cousin. George is bold and capable, and like her cousin, is usually contactable for help even when she doesn't appear in the game. Though she doesn't possess Bess's understanding of personalities and social subtleties, she's a reliable source of advice on taking action, and Nancy's preferred companion when it comes to embarking on an adventure.

Voiced by: Mureen Nelson, Sofia Rybin

  • Action Girl: Like Nancy, but sportier and less worldly.
  • Ascended Extra: After usually just acting as a supporting character who isn't seen in person in most of the series, she's finally seen in person and becomes a playable character in Ransom of the Seven Ships. She's playable again in Alibi in Ashes (alongside Bess and Ned) when trying to prove Nancy's innocence. She also has a large non-playable role in The Shattered Medallion.
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: She's the brunette to Bess' blonde and Nancy's redhead.
  • Boyish Short Hair: Her hair is cut just above her chin. She's also a bit of a tomboy, which adds to the trope.
  • Cynic–Idealist Duo: George is far more pessimistic and quick to start spouting snark than her more upbeat cousin Bess.
  • Deadpan Snarker: It gets played up especially when interacting with Bess.
  • Four-Philosophy Ensemble: George is the snarky, sarcastic Cynic who's more suspicious of and slower to trust others, though she's far from mean or unkind and very loyal to those who have earned her trust.
  • Lame Pun Reaction: She has a lot of these toward Bess.
  • Promoted to Playable: Is playable through quite a bit of Ransom of the Seven Ships, and regularly in Alibi in Ashes along with Bess and Ned.
  • Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Though Nancy and her friends all do not like Deirdre Shannon, she and George are particularly venomous towards each other. Deirdre will frequently call George by her full name of "Georgia" just to annoy her, and in turn, George calls Deirdre by her hated nickname of "Dee-Dee".
  • Tall, Dark, and Snarky: The tallest of her three friends, has dark brown hair, and is very snarky.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy to her cousin Bess's Girly Girl.
  • Tomboyish Name: As revealed in the second-to-last book of the original series, George's real name is actually "Georgia," but she prefers going by "George."

Frank and Joe Hardy

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Frank (left) and Joe (right)

Two more of Nancy's good friends and fellow "amateur sleuths", the Hardy boys are as quick-witted and curious as Nancy herself; she often asks them to lend new perspectives on her cases, and occasionally teams up with them. They also appear to be close friends of Ned and are prone to both long-winded bickering and describing bizarre at-home Noodle Incidents during their phone calls with Nancy.

Voiced by: Joshua Silwa, Wayne Rawley, Jonah Von Spreecken (Frank) and Rob Jones (Joe)

  • Action Duo: In contrast to Nancy, who operates solo.
  • A Friend in Need: Quick to give Nancy a hand whenever she needs it.
  • Annoying Younger Sibling: Joe seems to be this for Frank. He's lucky his brother loves him.
    Frank: I get your drift, Joe. I have lived with your drift for years. I am saddled with your drift.
  • Big Brother Instinct: When Joe gets attacked in Creature of Kapu Cave, Frank makes it his mission to find the person who gave his little brother a concussion.
  • Hero of Another Story: Quite literally, as they have their own smaller game series, and of course their own books as well.
  • Inconsistent Coloring: Frank’s hair is black in Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon. From Creature of Kapu Cave and onward, his hair is brown.
  • Interrupted Declaration of Love: During the credits for The Deadly Device, a series of voicemails for Nancy are played. One of them is from the Hardy boys who are calling her to warn her about Victor. At the end of the message, Frank is about to confess his feelings for Nancy only for it to be cut off because the message was too long.
  • Lame Pun Reaction: Between the two of them, this happens a lot.
  • Lethal Chef: It's implied that Joe is this. This is evident when Frank agrees to be a temporary short-order cook in Last Train to Blue Moon instead of Joe.
  • Non-Player Companion: Joe acts as this for the segments where Frank becomes the player character in Midnight in Salem.
  • Noodle Incident: The player gets to hear about a lot of these from them.
  • Open Mouth, Insert Foot: They do this a lot.
  • Promoted to Playable:
    • So far, Frank has had this in more games than any other supporting character in the series. His playable role in Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon is fairly small, where you just play one minigame as him. In The Creature of Kapu Cave, however, you can switch to him regularly, and in Midnight in Salem, you get two rather lengthy segments of controlling him instead of Nancy.
    • Joe, on the other hand, is only playable in Kapu Cave, and only near the beginning of the game, at which point he gets jumped and knocked out by a thug working with the bad guys; after this, Frank takes over as the playable Hardy character.
  • Ship Tease: There's a good amount of this between Frank and Nancy.
  • Sibling Team: They're a pair of brothers who work on cases together.
  • The Voice: For most of the games, you can call them for help as you can with Bess, George, and Ned. They subvert this by physically appearing first in Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon, then later in The Creature of Kapu Cave and Midnight in Salem.

Carson Drew

Nancy's father, a lawyer. Carson rarely appears in the game at all, as a phone contact or NPC, but is referenced often as the recipient of Nancy's Info Dump letters. He worries about Nancy's recklessness and frets for her well-being, but ultimately he supports her ambitions and is proud of her independence and success. In The Silent Spy, however, he's revealed to be hiding a few things from his daughter.

Voiced by: Dennis Regan, Ken Boyton

  • Adaptation Personality Change: In the 2007 movie, like Ned, he gets a personality makeover. He's portrayed in the books as a competent lawyer and a responsible widower who does his best to take care of his teenage daughter. However, the movie paints him as a Bumbling Dad who disapproves of his daughter's amateur detective work and manages to be clueless that she's investigating a case for most of the movie.
  • Anger Born of Worry: In some of the later games, Carson is clearly frustrated by Nancy's love of life-threatening situations.
  • Authority in Name Only: In most of the games, he has no control over Nancy whatsoever. Since most recent depictions of the character have her at being eighteen (and therefore legally an adult), he really doesn't, though she's enough of a Daddy's Girl she'll at least try to humor him.
  • The Conscience: For Nancy, not that she needs it.
  • The Faceless: Like his daughter, his face is never shown.
  • Good Parents: Especially in the books, where Nancy has explicitly noted before that Carson took the role of both father and mother to her after his wife's death (with some help from their Kindly Housekeeper and Nancy's Parental Substitute, Hannah), and done a splendid job of it. It's no wonder why she's a Daddy's Girl. Though he has more Parents as People moments in the games and films, he's still this to her there, too.
  • Happily Married: To Kate, despite the fights they had.
  • Helicopter Parents: Carson virtually has a breakdown when he finds out Nancy is investigating her mother's death, though he eventually relents after convincing from Nancy and Ned.
  • Parents as People: Most of the time depicted like this, especially in The Silent Spy.
  • Parents in Distress: Nancy has saved him many times in the various book series from crooks who've abducted him, held him hostage, and/or tried to murder him (sometimes because of his connection to her, and other times due to his own work as a lawyer).
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Usually, in both the games and all the different book series. Nancy seems quite close to him because of it.

Hannah Gruen

The Drews' kindly live-in housekeeper who's been staying with them since Mrs. Drew died when Nancy was either 10 (in the games, movies, and earliest books of the series) or 3 (in all subsequent books). Unlike the other major supporting characters from the books, Hannah is never a phone contact to whom you can directly speak in the games, and you only hear her voice on the Drews' answering machine.


  • The Ghost: Like with both of the Drews, she's never seen onscreen in the games, and Nancy never actually has a direct phone conversation with her either. Her voice is on the Drew home's answering machine and Nancy has left messages for her a few times, and she's referenced quite a bit (like how she sent Nancy snacks at the police station to cheer her up in Alibi in Ashes), but doesn't appear directly at all.
  • Kindly Housekeeper: A live-in one who's taken care of Carson and Nancy since Mrs. Drew passed away. Both of them fully consider her family.
  • Parental Substitute: Has served as a surrogate mother for Nancy who helped Carson raise her after his wife died. This is especially true in the books, where Nancy was only 3 when her mother died, so Hannah has been in her life for almost as long as she can remember.
  • Parents in Distress: Like Carson, has been Bound and Gagged or kidnapped and held hostage in a few different books, requiring Nancy (who's always just as frantic about Hannah being in danger as she is about her dad) to rescue her.
  • Supreme Chef: Nancy and Carson love her cooking more than anyone else's, and friends of the Drew family are likewise always happy to receive something Hannah has cooked or baked.

Sonny Joon

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A series Easter Egg that became an ongoing Mythology Gag, Sonny Joon is a mysterious and eccentric Conspiracy Theorist who's been taking internships at various oddball destinations of Nancy's since The Secret of the Scarlet Hand - and getting fired from all of them just before she arrives, leaving his candy wrappers and journals scattered everywhere in what's usually a Desk Full of Crazy. Sonny made his first in-game appearance in the series' latest installment The Shattered Medallion, revealing very clearly just why he lost all of those jobs.

Voiced by: Jamal Fahim

  • Ascended Extra: As of The Shattered Medallion.
  • Berserk Button: Apparently, it's constellations. He has a pamphlet about it.
    "It's one of the angrier pamphlets about constellations..."
  • Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Completely and totally. It's apparent from his journals alone, but when we finally meet him in-person...
    Sonny: "Sleuth". That's a weird word.
    Nancy: What?
  • The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: He has his moments. The end of The Shattered Medallion was one of them.
  • Conspiracy Theorist: He seems to believe pretty much everything is the result of aliens.
  • Dada Comic: He leaves these scattered through the games, usually crudely drawn and starring himself as an intergalactic Occult Detective.
  • Easter Egg: In many of the games, his journals, comics, or graffiti denoting that "Sonny Joon was here!"
  • The Faceless: Until The Shattered Medallion, that is; our only idea of what he might look like were his doodles of himself.
  • Homemade Inventions: Seems fond of these, if his ridiculous left-behind plans are anything to go by.
    Sonny's Note: Idea: Sheep. (slightly below this) [It has been brought to my attention that this is, in fact, a concept and not an idea.]
  • Insane Troll Logic: His forte, much to Nancy's frustration when she has to work with him.
    Sonny: Are you saying that or are we just competing to see who can say it better?
    Nancy: (angrily) Can you please focus?
    Sonny: No. You're just afraid I'll win.
  • Master of the Mixed Message: Once Nancy finally meets him.
    Nancy: You're sending me mixed messages.
    Sonny: No I am.
  • Mythology Gag: He's pretty much the personification of the concept.
  • Reluctant Psycho: Has some shades of this in The Shattered Medallion, where he calls his friend in a panicked frenzy over something he has to do where "people will get hurt" - to protect the Earth from aliens, of course.
  • Talkative Loon: When he finally appears in The Shattered Medallion, he turns out to be this.
  • The Unseen: From Secret of the Scarlet Hand onward, you're always one step behind him, a little too late to meet... that is, until The Shattered Medallion.

Beatrice Hotchkiss

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An eccentric professor that Nancy meets in Treasure in the Royal Tower, a spunky redheaded woman who's a fan of Marie Antoinette. While she doesn’t make any more in-person appearances past that point, she returns as both phone contact and author of a key book in Legend of the Crystal Skull and Tomb of the Lost Queen.

Voiced by: Keri Healey

  • Accidental Misnaming: Gets Nancy’s name wrong almost every single time she has a conversation with her. Save for once in Treasure in the Royal Tower. Nancy’s not the only one she misnames, either.
  • Bizarre Taste in Food: Occasionally when talking to Nancy she mentions some obscure dish that she’s fond of and wanting to eat at the moment.
  • Closed Door Rapport: For the first few conversations, she talks to Nancy either through a closed door or a crack in the door. Once Nancy earns her trust, she leaves her room and talks to Nancy in person.
  • Cool Old Lady: Hasn’t once let her old age stop her from exploring mysteries in far-off places or looking into the histories that she loves. She’s almost like an older Nancy.
  • Fiery Redhead: Outspoken, determined, and vibrant. Appropriate for the bright red pile of curls on her head.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: She remarks how (from her perspective) Nancy is her favorite recurring character.

Tino Balducci

An allegedly "famous" police detective from Chicago who is very self-centered and unhelpful to Nancy. He appears first in Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon before showing up again in The White Wolf of Icicle Creek.

Voiced by: Jeff Minnerly

  • Birds of a Feather: He and his ex-girlfriend Lori are both attention-seekers who are willing to do unethical tactics to get people to notice them.
  • I Work Alone: Tino refuses to work with anyone in Blue Moon Canyon.
  • Jerkass: Tino is self-absorbed, rude, and pulls off some illegal stunts in Blue Moon Canyon. He appears to have turned over a new leaf by his next appearance, although he's not much more helpful.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He may be self-absorbed and exaggerates his accomplishments, but he does care about Lori who is his ex-girlfriend. Subverted at the end of the game as he pretends to know Lori was the culprit the whole time and only let Nancy and the Hardy boys solve the case for a little “fame”. He can be helpful to Nancy at times.
  • Narcissist: Tino is constantly bragging about his fame story from many years ago and will divert all attention to him. It stands out because of his overall lack of competence.
  • The One That Got Away: Lori and Tino previously dated, but broke up. They later rekindled their relationship.

Deirdre Shannon

A self-centered schoolmate of Nancy's who is openly jealous of her, but does seem to care about her (at least somewhat). A long-running character in other Nancy Drew canon, she appears in the games Alibi in Ashes, The Deadly Device, and Midnight in Salem.

Voiced by: Meaghan Halverson

  • Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed, but over the course of the games she appears in, she starts developing a slightly more friendly relationship with Nancy, morphing a bit into a Lovable Alpha Bitch with shades of being Vitriolic Best Buds with her and genuinely helping her out on her cases. She also acknowledges that she would never really try to steal Ned from Nancy. While there are certain Girl Detective books where Deirdre's a little less bad Depending on the Writer, she's ultimately a Jerk with a Heart of Jerk who never stops being an Alpha Bitch, has no problem with trying to break Ned and Nancy up so she can have him for herself, and by the end of the book series, hasn't become any friendlier with Nancy than she ever was.
  • Alpha Bitch: She's rich, pretty, popular, and absolutely rotten to Nancy and her friends (save for Ned).
  • Composite Character: In the games, she's combined with the book version of Brenda Carlton from the Files series (of whom Deirdre from Girl Detective is an Expy to begin with), especially since game-Brenda received an Age Lift and Adaptational Villainy. It helps that both girls have similar appearances and a one-sided, mostly vitriolic rivalry with Nancy in their respective book series.
    • She keeps the original Deirdre's traits of being a Rich Alpha Bitch, she and her father both being Always Second Best to the respective members of the Drew family, having a huge unrequited crush on Ned, and having an especially snippy relationship with George where they call each other by names they hate.
    • In the later games, she carries the original Brenda's role of also fancying herself an investigator who's far less competent than Nancy—whereas Deirdre of the books was just a rich debutante and not much more—but also has some entries where they work together and she shows concern for Nancy being in trouble, which happened a few times with book-Brenda but never really with book-Deirdre.
  • Embarrassing Nickname: She hates being called "DeeDee", which Nancy, Bess, and especially George are prone to using for her if she's being particularly annoying, or if Deirdre uses George's hated full name of "Georgia."
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Not really evil, just a major Jerkass, but still.
    • When Nancy confronts her about how flirtatious she is with Ned in Alibi, she admits that she knows Ned would never actually cheat on Nancy and that she isn't the kind to try and steal a man if he's already in a relationship.
    • She's a thoroughly awful person to Nancy, but she doesn’t hate her enough to set fire to Town Hall.
  • Friendship Denial: Any time she and Nancy seem to be getting along better she makes sure to mock her or insist that they aren't friends because of it.
  • Hidden Depths: She's actually studying to enter the field of criminology. She's also paying other students to do her homework, but she proves surprisingly knowledgeable when pressed, proving she does have the skill she needs to graduate.
  • Lovable Alpha Bitch: Deirdre shows shades of this in the later games, such as The Deadly Device and Midnight in Salem where she actually helps her, showing that she really does care for Nancy despite hating her.
  • Non-Player Companion: She acts as this for Nancy on the first and third days of Midnight in Salem. (On the second day, she's off doing her own thing, and Nancy's alone.)
  • Rich Bitch: Self-centered, rich, and even when not being outright cruel the minimum treatment she gives out is standoffish.
  • Spanner in the Works: Her presence in the The Deadly Device, aka her slanderous review of Nancy as an incompetent detective, is what gets Nancy hired by the true killer.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Deirdre is seriously in love with Ned, and isn't bothered that he doesn't reciprocate and is currently dating Nancy.
  • Tsundere:
    • Develops into this by Midnight in Salem. She cautions Nancy more than once to be careful, and loans the sleuth her car so she won't have to walk far at night.
    • She admits in Alibi in Ashes that she does hate Nancy, but certainly not enough so to frame her for a crime she didn’t commit. When Nancy thanks her for being nice, Deirdre initially says that her positivity is why she hates her before saying “you’re welcome”.
  • Why Are You Not My Son?: Her parents (especially her father) often compare her to Nancy and try encouraging Deirdre to be more like her—this, understandably, infuriates Deirdre.

Savannah Woodham

An ex-ghost hunter that Nancy speaks to on the phone during several games, beginning in ‘’Shadow at the Water’s Edge’’. She has a deep belief in the supernatural and has occasionally turned Nancy on to some of the cases she could never put to rest.

Voiced by: Adrienne MacIan

  • Occult Detective: What she used to be, going to haunted locations and trying to contact the spirits that were there to find out why they remained. She wrote books on them.
  • That One Case: She says that the haunting of the Ryokan Hiei and the monster of Castle Finster were the two cases that caused her to give up ghosthunting.

Charleena Purcell

A famous novelist who specializes in historical romance. In particular, her meticulous research on the Old West often makes her helpful to Nancy's investigations.

She appears in Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon and The Secret of Shadow Ranch.


  • Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear just how much she plagiarized from Lori. On the one hand, Charleena explicitly says it's plagiarism and feels the need to conceal it at first. On the other, it was a minor note  "plotline", which are notoriously easy to adapt into stories other than their original, and Lori can't prove anything legally.
  • Famed In-Story: Both Fatima and Lori gush over Charleena's writing prowess. The former must even be bribed with a signature from her.
  • Have We Met?: While Nancy remembers her interactions with Charleena from Shadow Ranch, Charleena has completely forgotten Nancy by the time she appears in Last Train. There is a moment where Charleena seems to remember Nancy, only to bluntly reveal that she truly doesn't remember her at all.
  • Mr. Exposition: On everything from star-crossed lovers to chip cans.
  • Only Sane Man: Compared to Lori Girard, John Grey, and Tino Balducci, Charleena is easily the most level-headed character in Last Train aside from Nancy and Frank Hardy.
  • Refusal of the Call: In Last Train, Charleena is not only unconcerned by Lori's disappearance but refuses to help search for her. She claims that Lori staged her own disappearance to get attention and is exactly right.
    Charleena: (to Nancy) You can afford to look foolish, dear. I can't.

     Secrets Can Kill 

Jake Rogers

The murder victim of the game, found dead at the foot of the stairs. His character is expanded on over the course of the game as Nancy digs into why someone would have killed him. He was very unpopular.

Voiced by: Alex Yopp

  • Asshole Victim: He was a bully who blackmailed several of his classmates into doing his bidding. There is absolutely no one in either game who misses him.
  • Caught on Tape: He kept video evidence for all of his blackmail schemes. Watching the tapes is one of the ways Nancy tracks down his killer.
  • Manipulative Bastard: He discovered that four of his classmates had a dirty secret and he threatened to expose them unless they did what he wanted.
  • Posthumous Character: Everything that expands on who he is during the game occurs after his death in Nancy’s investigation.

Daryl Gray

Daryl is the one who found the victim's body. He works part-time as a short-order cook at Maxine's Diner, and he is the school's student council president (taking after his father who was a Florida state senator). He is known as a rich, popular, pretty boy who drives a Porsche. He tends to be a bit of a flirt, but is he as wholesome as he seems?


  • Adaptation Personality Change: He's more easily offended by Nancy's questions since he's not her contact in the remastered version. Also, while it's unclear what he gave Mitch in the original game (although it’s implied that Daryl was a drug runner for Mitch), he was willing to make up for it by helping Nancy stop him. However, the remastered version has him blow up after Nancy tries to figure out what he gave Jake. He's never mentioned or seen again until the epilogue where he admits to selling government secrets to help his father's company.
  • Berserk Button: In the remastered version, he doesn't like it when his father's company is mentioned.
  • Big Man on Campus: He's regarded as the most popular guy in school.
  • The Casanova: He openly flirts with Nancy when he first meets her. Even when she has the option to shoot him down by saying she's dating someone else, he continues to hit on her.
  • Demoted to Extra: He played a big part in the original game, but the remastered edition made him one of the suspects.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Nancy asks him about the envelop he gave to Jake in the remastered version, he gets upset with Nancy and leaves the diner in a huff.

Connie Watson

Connie is a strong girl with an attitude and a dark secret. You can always find her in the Student Lounge. She seems like a nice normal, if not tough, teenage girl...or is she?
  • Action Girl: It turns out that she can fight pretty well. It turns out that she disguised herself in order to enter the men's judo tournament. This is the reason why Jake blackmailed her.
  • The Aloner: If you read her notebook when she leaves the table, she'll admit in a letter to someone, possibly Daryl, that she doesn't have any friends.
  • Berserk Button: If you set off the soda machines in front of her, she will get upset with Nancy and the game will present a Game Over screen.
  • Big Damn Heroes: At first, she refuses to help Nancy and Daryl in stopping Mitch in the climax. However, she changes her mind later and shows up just in time to save Daryl. Because she kicks Mitch, she's able to disarm him and gives Nancy a chance to grab his gun before Mitch recovers.
  • Dark Secret: She disguised herself to enter a judo tournament for men.
  • Everyone Has Standards: She may have hated Jake for blackmailing her and three of their classmates, but she would have never resorted to murder.
  • Selective Obliviousness: When Nancy points out that the kanji on her medallion means "crane", which is the name of a Judo School, Connie tries pretending that it's an odd coincidence.
  • Single Girl Seeks Most Popular Guy: She has a crush on Daryl, the rich and popular student body president. In the original game, it's implied that she gets together with him after saving him from Mitch.

Hal Tanaka

A foreign-exchange student from Japan who is always studying in the school's study dome.
  • Beware the Quiet Ones: Hal is a very quiet guy, but he once got angry in gym class according to Hulk.
  • Education Mama: His whole family wants him to do well in school. If he doesn't, then they'll move back to Japan.
  • My Greatest Failure: He plagiarized an essay from a book on essays. He admits his shame for doing it, but he was desperate to find a way to stay in the U.S.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Hal isn't his real name. He chose Hal because his real name is difficult for people to pronounce. That and he hopes to stay in the U.S. and thinks that having an American name will help him fit in.
  • Stepford Smiler: He's implied to be a Type A. He seems calm and collected on the surface, but he's stressed from all of the pressure his family has been putting on him to excel in his studies. He's also hiding the stress from Jake blackmailing him.

Hector "Hulk" Sanchez

The star football player for the Fighting Manatees.
  • The Atoner: During the epilogue sequence, he pays the company back for his theft.
  • Berserk Button: He doesn't like it when Nancy starts asking a lot of personal questions.
  • Career-Ending Injury: Subverted. While his injury has affected how he plays, he chose to take drugs to improve his game.
  • Dark Secret: He was injured during a football game, which resulted in four broken ribs and two fractured ribs, and he stole steroids from the pharmacy in order to keep playing football.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He provides a sarcastic comment towards Nancy when she sets off the soda machine alarm.
    "Great job, Nancy. Better go tell Connie to fix it."
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He refers to himself by name when he flirts with Nancy in the remastered version, boasting about his popularity with the girls at the school.

Mitch Dillon

An unknown person connected to Jake's blackmail schemes.
  • The Dragon: In the original game, he worked alone. In the remastered, he's actually "Beech's" partner.
  • The Ghost: While he attempts to kill Nancy in both games, he never appears in the remastered version. The closest thing to an appearance he gets is talking to Nancy over the phone.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In the remastered version, he calls Nancy's phone and threatens her. Rather than use a disposable cell or call from a blocked number, he uses the phone number for his air conditioning company.
  • Would Hit a Girl: In the original game, he attempts to kill Nancy via the boiler room trap, he attacks Connie in the climax and he can attack Nancy if she doesn't point the gun at him.

Detective Beech

Nancy's contact in the remastered Edition for the case. He's found in a booth in Maxine's Diner.


  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He pretended to be an undercover police officer and "hired" Nancy to help him solve Jake's murder and to find his journal, which he claimed was Jake's.
  • Canon Foreigner: He never appeared in the original game.
  • I Never Said It Was Poison: He notices that when Nancy learns that he's the main culprit, she says that she found "his" journal instead of "Jake's" journal or "the" journal. This leads to him dropping the façade and pulling out a gun.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: When he's revealed to be the culprit, he mocks Nancy for being easily fooled by his undercover detective story and fanning her own ego by taking up the case.
  • The Unreveal: Since his name is a pseudonym, his name is never revealed in-game.
  • Walking Spoiler: Most of his tropes hide his involvement in the remastered game.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: He gets upset with Nancy if she tells Daryl that she's working on the case for Jake's murder.
  • Would Hit a Girl: In the climax, he will attack Nancy if she doesn't trick him into setting off Aunt Eloise's security system.

     Stay Tuned for Danger 

Rick Arlen

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0805bf7223308a46fc50b70058705334.jpg

Mattie’s co-star on Light of Our Love, and the target of several threats and so-called "accidents" around the set. Something of a skirt-chaser— part of why he has so many people mad at him.

Voiced by: Ryan Drummond

  • The Casanova: His love of flirting with almost every pretty woman he sees is one of the reasons why he’s so hated.
  • Evil Twin: In-universe, Rick plays a good and evil twin on Light of Our Love. It’s become a running joke around the station.
  • Informed Ability: A good enough actor that he could have a career in film if he could only break his contract. …Or so the game would have you believe from his deadened "I don’t want to see you, Serena."
  • Ladykiller in Love: He's a flirt who has dated several women in the past, but the only woman he seems to genuinely love is Mattie, his ex-girlfriend, and costar on Light of Our Love. The reason why he and Mattie split up was because he wasn't sure if his feelings for her were real or if he was mixing up his character's feelings for her character. It's unknown if they get back together after the game.
  • Social Climber: One reason why some of the suspects hate him is because they believe he uses people to advance his career.

Dwayne Powers

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dee8a3d67d522230a473594a7f7b963f.jpg

Mattie’s agent. He becomes Nancy's agent during the game so she can sneak around on the set.

Voiced by: Bob Heath

  • Ax-Crazy: Infamously, he’s one of the few villains who is so deranged he makes an attempt to kill Nancy with his bare hands.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: At least, he thinks that he’s a nice guy and it’s pretty obvious that he cares a great deal about Mattie, even though she doesn't see it. His unrequited feelings for her along with his burning hatred of Rick led to him threatening and attempting to kill Rick.
  • Driven by Envy: His hatred of Rick partially stems from failing as an actor and watching him become a success.
  • Karma Houdini: Not in his first game, where he’s caught and sent to jail, but in Ransom of the Seven Ships he’s never found.
  • Large Ham: Not too much of one during the game, but when he’s outed as a homicidal maniac he really gets into it.
    • Some of the threats written by his alter ego as the stalker.
    • All The Kidnapper's notes in Ransom of the Seven Ships.
  • Multilayer Façade:
    • In ‘'Ransom of the Seven Ships’’, he goes through two disguises before finally revealing himself as Dwayne Powers.
    • In Stay Tuned for Danger, he is not only disguised as a stalker but also as a stagehand named Owen W. Spayder.
  • Murder the Hypotenuse: Just the thought that Rick and Mattie might get back together drives him into a homicidal rage.
  • Nice Guy: Delightfully caring. You can even talk to him on the phone about anything and he'll tell you everything he knows about it. Subverted, as it's just a cover and he's really evil.
  • Significant Anagram: "Owen W. Spayder" is an anagram for "Dwayne Powers.
  • Unknown Rival: To Rick, who was unaware of his jealousy and hatred for him for becoming a successful actor and dating Mattie. In addition to this, while it’s not uncommon for villains to swear revenge on Nancy, he’s the only one who actually succeeded in acting on his revenge in a later game—by that point Nancy had forgotten his name.
  • Walking Spoiler: Much of the most noted aspects of his characterization happen after a reveal during the story.
  • Yandere: One of his reasons for trying to kill Rick is because he thinks (perhaps correctly) that Mattie still has feelings for Rick.

Lillian Weiss

A director at World Wide Broadcasting.

Voiced by: Jeral Fontaine

  • Damsel in Distress: In the finale, she doesn't (can't?) do anything but run and hide from the culprit. Nancy is entirely responsible for saving both of them.
  • Genre Blind: Yes, arrange to meet with someone at night, alone, with no weapons or backup, in the exact same place where a murder attempt took place merely days ago. What could possibly go wrong with that?
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Likely the reason that she pegs Mattie as the murderer is because she's jealous of Mattie and Rick's previous relationship, even though there is little proof.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: She gets angry very easily with people. When Nancy interacts with her after the klieg light incident, she cuts Nancy's dialogue off and takes away her visitor's pass. When you investigate her office at night, you'll see she has written on her calendar and daily planner appointments for anger management.
  • Jerkass: Nearly every sentence that comes out of her mouth is derogatory. (Though Lillian is outwardly unapologetic for this, she has a book on anger management in her office.)
  • Pet the Dog: Despite her unpleasant attitude, she is concerned about Rick’s brushes with death. It turns out she conducted her own investigation and received a death threat due to her getting close to the truth. When she gets the letter, she turns to Nancy for help.
  • The Summation: Subverted. Lillian meets with Nancy, describes the course of her (own) investigation, and concludes by stating the murderer's identity...which she is completely wrong about. She's interrupted halfway through by the actual culprit.
  • Woman Scorned: Let's just say that her breakup with Rick... didn't end well. It turns out that she is responsible for the tainted chocolates and the note that came with it, but she's not the one trying to kill him.

Mattie Jenson

The actress you're staying with, who brings Nancy in on the case. She's renting out Nancy's aunt's apartment.

Voiced by: Moriah Seebold Angeline

  • Amicable Exes: She and Rick ended things on a fairly good note and they still maintain contact with one another. If you look around her apartment, she still has the pictures of her and Rick. It is implied that she still harbors feelings for Rick.
  • Informed Ability: Supposedly a phenomenal actress, with awards in her room to show for it. Not that you could guess that from seeing her act during the game.
  • Nice Girl: Incredibly sweet to Nancy. Her wonderful personality has won her a couple of hearts, unfortunately including Dwayne, who is psychotically obsessed with her.
  • Stage Mom: Has one. A letter from her involves a lot of ranting about how Mattie isn’t involving her enough in the show’s events, Rick has too much screentime over her, and that she owes her for paying for all of her acting lessons.

Millie Strathorn

The elderly propmaster and owner of World Wide Broadcasting.


  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite the odd tests she puts coworkers through and her blurring of fiction with reality, she's a capable propmaster (a job that requires a college degree and excellent memory, among other things) and the author who conceptualized Light of Our Love in the first place. If coworker emails are to be believed, age has not dulled her skills as the latter.
  • Mr. Imagination: She refers to Rick and Mattie as the characters they play, a mild delusion which in no way impacts her intelligence or ability to hold down a job.
  • Secretly Wealthy: A dowdy old lady who takes work very seriously...and has an oil painting commemorating her on the walls of the studio.

     Message in a Haunted Mansion 

Rose Green

A friend of Hannah’s who is renovating a Victorian mansion into a bed-and-breakfast. She’s experiencing a string of strange accidents, which are affecting the mansion’s renovation.


  • Determinator: Despite all of the setbacks caused by the accidents, she intends to open her bed-and-breakfast and ultimately decides not to listen to Louis' suggestion to sell the house.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: She will call Nancy out if Nancy is reported for either being in Abby’s or Nancy admitting she saw the phrase “gum bo fu” in a book. She will refuse to hear Nancy’s reasoning and send her away.

Charlie Murphy

A college student helping Rose and Abby when renovating the mansion. He’s always the last person seen before every accident at the mansion. He’s always found in the basement.


  • Handy Man: His main job is to help Rose and Abby with buying the necessary supplies and repairing the mansion.
  • The Reveal: He’s living in a secret room in the mansion.
  • The Scapegoat: He’s constantly blamed for the accidents. He claims that he isn’t at fault for anything that’s happened.

Louis Chandler

An antique dealer invited to the mansion by Rose. He hangs out in the library to help with research on the mansion’s history.


  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Like many Nancy Drew culprits, Louis acts like a nice guy helping Rose and Abby with their renovation. However, he’s behind all the accidents and was after Diego Valdez’s gold.
  • Properly Paranoid: If Nancy tells him that she came across the term "gum bo fu" in a book, he immediately assumes that she broke into his briefcase and read the library book that he hid inside it. This despite the fact that Nancy could have just as easily read the book before he hid it or found the term in a different book. However, he is correct.
  • Would Hit a Girl: He attacks Nancy once she uncovers the gold.

Abby Sideris

Rose’s business partner who believes the mansion is haunted. She’s quick to accuse Charlie of being responsible for the accidents. She’s always in her room but will leave every now and then.


  • Get Out!: If she catches you in her room, she’ll tell you to get out while also yelling for Rose.
  • Gratuitous Latin: She will occasionally say Latin phrases for her end conversation dialogue.
  • Large Ham: She gave an over-the-top performance as the ghost of Diego Valdez in her seance.
  • Spooky Séance: She hosts a seance on Nancy’s first night where a ghost supposedly appears and claims to be looking for his wife. It turns out Abby faked it in order to convince Rose to have a supernatural theme for their bed-and-breakfast.

     Treasure in the Royal Tower 

Lisa Ostrum

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3ad6d1b636735254c4813f2b1a338711.jpg

A photojournalist at the castle writing about old Midwestern mansions, with a penchant for gossiping.

Voiced by: Tara V Smith

  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Lisa is nice to Nancy at first, but she is the culprit and swears revenge on Nancy.
  • Bond Villain Stupidity: After she blinds Nancy with pepper spray, she mentions that by the time Nancy gets her sight back, she’ll be long gone. How does Nancy stop her? By getting her to gloat and use up all of her time.
  • Boyish Short Hair: The one thing she keeps during her series of disguises.
  • Evil Redhead: The culprit, who tries to kill Nancy for the treasure.
  • Intrepid Reporter: A reporter who comes out to old mansions and castles to research her pieces.
  • Stalker without a Crush: It's implied that she spent the whole game following Nancy around the hotel, using her to find the treasure.

Jacques Brunais

The local French ski instructor of Wickford Castle.
  • Gratuitous French: He uses quite a bit of French phrases when talking to Nancy.
  • My Greatest Failure: His failure in the Olympics leads to his desperate attempts to redeem himself.
  • Skewed Priorities: He doesn't really care that Nancy could have been killed when she goes to retrieve his medallion from his locker. Rather, he's upset that the medallion is gone and he blames Nancy for its disappearance.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: After his medallion is stolen, he acts like a complete jerk to Nancy and refuses to talk to her afterward.

Dexter Egan

The current caretaker of the castle.


  • Creepy Good: He looks and sounds a little creepy. However, he's actually a Nice Guy.
  • Delinquents: As a teenager, he used to cause all sorts of trouble, ranging from stealing from Ezra's wallet to various criminal acts.
  • Grumpy Old Man: He comes across as this. Considering the type of past he had along with his strained relationship with Ezra, it's not surprising.
  • Parental Substitute: Ezra Wickford became this to him, taking him in and raising him as his son.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: When he was a kid, he was apparently very good, with Ezra taking great pride in him. Unfortunately, when he became a teenager, he began getting into trouble.

     The Final Scene 

Maya Nguyen

Nancy's friend and a reporter. When she goes into Brady's room to interview him for his next movie, she's abducted by an unknown person.


  • Accidental Kidnapping: Joseph originally meant to kidnap Brady. When Maya walked into the dressing room instead of Brady, he panicked and took her instead.
  • Alone with the Psycho: She doesn't really have a choice since she's being held hostage by them.
  • Canon Foreigner: Was created for the video game adaptation of The Final Scene due to Bess being a deliberately unseen character.
  • Damsel in Distress: She spends the whole game as one.
  • It Was Here, I Swear!: On the second day, Nancy will briefly see Maya in a secret room under the stage. Unfortunately, when Nancy gets to the room, Maya has been moved somewhere else. And there's an electrified gate preventing her from leaving. Also, when the police go to investigate the room, they find no evidence of her stay in the room.
  • Race Against the Clock: The goal of the game is to find her within three days. If you don't, then she could be killed in the demolition.
  • Remember the New Guy?: According to Nancy's opening letter, Maya attended the same high school as Nancy and her friends. However, she is never mentioned or talked about before this game.
  • School Newspaper News Hound: According to Nancy and her friends, she's always been this trope and takes her job as a student reporter very seriously. Indeed, it's revealed on Day 3 that she somehow uncovered the secret of Brady's real identity as J.J. Thompson's descendant and planned to question him about it during their interview.

Simone Mueller

A publicity agent who is not afraid to go to extremes to protect her client's reputation and career.

Voiced by: Keri Healey

  • Control Freak: As Brady puts it, she's the CEO of his life, managing his e-mail and interviews.
  • Hate Sink: She's one of the most unlikable characters in the series. All the characters see her as a controlling, self-absorbed agent and are annoyed by her presence. Nancy's "end conversation" dialogue shows her disdain.
    "I think your phone's about to ring."
  • Jerkass: She uses a person being kidnapped and put in danger of being killed when the building’s demolished as good publicity for a movie.
  • Jerk Ass Has A Point: Even though she bought the wreath for publicity, she points out that she could have Nancy arrested for going through her belongings.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: She gets punished for buying the wreath and making it look like it was from the kidnapper.
  • Pet the Dog: If you read through her PDA, you'll find an e-mail to someone regarding her pet. She threatens the person who's supposedly not taking care of her cat.
  • Right for the Wrong Reasons: She tells Nancy that she believed that Joseph was behind the kidnapping. She’s right, but the motive she ascribes to him — that Joseph was bored silly — is hilariously wrong.
  • Skewed Priorities: A young woman has been kidnapped and will die in three days if the kidnapper's demands are not met. Simone's biggest concern in all of this? How to turn it into good publicity for her client, Brady. And when Nancy calls her out for sending a funeral wreath, she gripes that it was "a very tasteful arrangement." It’s easy to see why Nancy’s so frustrated with her, especially since Nancy is desperately trying to find and save Maya.
  • Slave to PR: Is willing to do anything to make Maya's kidnapping a huge national news story, including buying an ominous funeral wreath.

Brady Armstrong

The star of Vanishing Destiny.

Voiced by: David S. Hogan

  • The Casanova: He seems to have this attitude. The moment he meets Nancy, he tells her that it's okay to faint and that he would catch her.
  • It's All About Me: He seems more focused on his career and good looks than anything else. He also refuses to postpone the demolition to assist Nancy in her search for Maya.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: He used to be one, but then Simone made him cut off his ponytail. A little note in his self-help book implies that he secretly wants to grow his hair out again.
  • Manchild: His agent responds to the emails he receives for him. Subverted as he doesn't like Simone being in control of his career and is reading a self-help book so he can break free from her.
  • Narcissist: When asked about his whereabouts, he comments about his hairline receding. It's unsure if he's worried about his reputation or his career.
  • The Reveal: He's J.J. Thompson's great-nephew, Brady Thompson. Since he's a relative of one of the co-owners, he has the power to call off the demolition.
  • Spanner in the Works: He tells Nancy that he wasn't in his dressing room during Maya's kidnapping because of a hair appointment. As it turns out, he was the kidnapper's original target, the plan being that his agent could use her connections in Hollywood to save the Royal Palladium. But he really was late coming from his hairdresser because he was so upset about his hairline receding, so when Maya entered the dressing room first, the kidnapper panicked and took her instead of Brady.

Nicholas Falcone

The leader of the protest group H.A.D. I.T., which is trying to stop the theatre's demolition.
  • Anti-Hero: He's been a part of other protests for other historical buildings. As a result, he has done questionable things to keep the buildings from being demolished.
  • Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: He's unconcerned about Maya's safety at first because, as passionate as he is about saving the Royal Palladium, he doesn't believe that anybody would go so far as to kill a hostage to save a theater. He tries to reassure Nancy that whoever took Maya is just making a statement and won't let her die. Nancy doesn't buy it. Unfortunately, she's right.
  • It's Personal: Part of his motivation for protesting against the Royal Palladium's demolition is because of its connection to his grandmother, Louisa Falcone.
  • Nice Guy: While he has performed some questionable deeds to keep historical buildings from being demolished, Nick is easily the most helpful character that Nancy encounters in her search for Maya. He constantly aids Nancy with ideas and information, and in the final hour of the game, he volunteers to stall the demolition as long as possible just so Nancy has time to find Maya.
  • Troll: If you listen to the entire press conference on Day 2, you'll hear him snarking at Simone and Brady: interrupting Simone's tearful speech to point out that she mispronounced Maya's last name, addressing questions to Brady as "Mr. Charmstrong," and finally luring the press away from the conference to learn about H.A.D.I.T's mission.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Part of the territory. He's a part of a protest group, which protects the rights for historical buildings that are about to be demolished, but has used some unethical tactics to save buildings.

Joseph Hughes

The kind caretaker and film projectionist.


  • Alas, Poor Villain: Unlike other culprit arrests, Nancy feels bad for Joseph and seems hopeful for Joseph that the Royal Palladium is saved from destruction.
  • Anti-Villain: Unlike most Nancy Drew villains, he had no malicious intentions against Nancy or Maya. He was just desperate to save a building that meant so much to him. Thankfully for him, the theatre is saved.
  • Cool Old Guy: He knows a great deal about the theatre, which he shares with Nancy.
  • Dramatic Irony: It is not his grandiose plot that saves the theatre, but his repair of a small, old keymaker attraction. He didn't even know that it was important to Nancy- he just wanted to make her time at the theatre more fun.
  • Everyone Has Standards: He doesn't like seeing the funeral wreath on Day 2. It may be because he just wanted the demolition stopped without anyone getting hurt.
  • Evil Old Folks: Zig-zagged. He's a kind man who's been driven to extreme measures to keep the theatre from being destroyed. According to Maya, he took care of her during her days of captivity and she was willing to testify for him because of it. However, he does electrify the basement gate on the second day (possibly to stall, not kill, Nancy) and is willing to let himself, Nancy, and Maya all perish in the theatre's demolition.
  • Pet the Dog: While holding Maya hostage, he made sure to treat her well.
  • Stepford Smiler: Type A. He seems cheerful and energetic on the outside, but he's really sad and lonely inside. He's actually sad about the theatre's demolition. This led to him kidnapping Maya, originally meant to be Brady, to stop or delay the demolition.
  • Taking You with Me: In the climax, he blocks Nancy from reaching the marquee lights and says that all of them (him, Nancy, and Maya) are "going down in a blaze of glory", implying that he intends on being killed in the demolition and taking Nancy and Maya with him.

Sargent Mac Ramsay

The chief of the Missing Person Unit of the St. Louis police department.
  • By-the-Book Cop: He follows standards procedure when it comes to abductions. Unfortunately, this makes things difficult for Nancy since he doesn't offer much support for the first day.
  • Mr. Exposition: When Nancy mentions Nicholas in one of the calls, he gives her information on a previous protest that Nicholas was a part of.
  • Police Are Useless: Zig-zagged.
    • He promises to help find Maya but says it's standard procedure that she be missing for 24 hours unless Nancy provides evidence that she was kidnapped.
    • When Nancy finds a room where Maya is being held, he brings his unit to the theatre to investigate. However, the culprit cleans up the scene before the police arrive. This leads to the police giving up on the search.
    • In the climax, he will force Nancy out of the building unless she hides in the locker, hindering her chances of saving Maya in time.

Eustacia Andropov

An old woman who's Harry Houdini's cousin (by marriage).
  • Call-Back: She returns in Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake literally through a phone call.
  • The Eeyore: She sounds very depressed and talks a lot about death. In Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake, she sounds a little more chipper than she did in The Final Scene.
  • The Voice: She never physically appears in any of the games.

     Secret of the Scarlet Hand 

Joanna Riggs

Curator of the Beech Hill Museum.


  • Clear My Name: Inverted. After the Pacal theft, she gets in trouble with Franklin Rose and is prohibited from re-entering the museum. Nancy has to find the Pacal carving in order for Joanna to return.
  • Embarrassing Old Photo: She seems to be embarrassed by her prom pictures.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: She's passionate about her work and believes that artifacts should be made available to as many people as possible. To that end, it's implied that she's spent money the museum doesn't have and at least some of the acquired artifacts have shady origins. Alejandro tells Nancy that he's asked Joanna multiple times to view the provenance documents for the Pacal carving, only for her to refuse. It turns out that the provenance documents were forged by Taylor, not Joanna. She still bears some responsibility for not verifying the documents herself, and Nancy claims that Joanna has learned her lesson about certain deals being Too Good to Be True.

Henrik van der Hune

An epigrapher employed at Beech Hill who specializes in translating Mayan glyphs.


  • Amnesia Danger: He's an expert on Mayan culture who genuinely wants to be helpful to Nancy, so obviously he had to be sidelined to keep her from resolving the plot too quickly. Nancy has to help him regain his memories so that she can figure out what happened to him.
  • The Reveal: He stole the Pacal and hid it in the museum.

Alejandro del Rio

A Mexican ambassador who is unhappy about the exhibit at Beech Hill.


  • Corrupt Bureaucrat: He uses his authority to get Joanna in trouble, which takes away her title as museum curator. He also convinces Nancy to break into Joanna’s office to acquire documents on the monolith so that he can tell her the Nahuatl word for “snake”.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He may be antagonistic towards Joanna and think she’s unethical with her acquisition of Mayan artifacts for the museum. However, he is concerned about Henrik when he gets hurt.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: He has every right to feel angry about the rampant theft of Mayan artifacts from dig sites and other countries profiting off of his culture. And while he did get Joanna in trouble for a crime she hadn't committed, the information that he heard from Nancy was fairly incriminating, and he had a point that Nancy should have gone to the police herself about it.
  • Omniglot: He’s fluent in multiple languages like English, Spanish, Portuguese, and other indigenous languages including Nahuatl.
  • Right for the Wrong Reasons: He believes that the documents on the monolith were faked. However, it was because of Taylor Sinclair, not Joanna.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: He bribes museum employees and hinders Nancy's investigation into a theft so he can get his hands on confidential documents that **might** justify his persecution complex.

Taylor Sinclair

An art dealer who's procured many historical artifacts.


  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Like other culprits, Sinclair acts friendly to Nancy and pretends to be concerned about the theft of the Mayan artifacts. However, he uses Nancy to open the monolith so he could steal the scribe’s book and sell it.
  • Greed: His goal is to steal the Whisperer’s book on Pacal and sell it on the black market.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He attempts to kill Nancy by trapping her in the monolith once he obtains what he believes is the scribe’s writings on Pacal.

Cihuapilli Amoxcalli

A long-deceased Mayan woman, who served as a royal scribe in the court of King Pacal.


  • Cruel and Unusual Death: Jammed into a stone monolith to suffocate to death, with a rock shoved into her mouth. And in the wrong ending, Nancy can join her.
  • Earn Your Title: Some characters call her "The Whisperer", present tense because her testimony is so important to living historians that it's like she herself is still alive.
  • Folk Hero: Pacal had Amoxcalli's existence censored from 'official' court histories, but the common people loved her enough that they passed down her story orally, for hundreds of years, right up to the present day. It depicts her as a sympathetic ghost who will haunt the hills of Palenque until her dignity is restored.
  • Shoot the Messenger: Apparently, this was why Pacal not only killed her but censored her existence and tried to hide her writing in the monolith with her. He believed himself to be the first true king of the Maya, but Amoxcalli revealed that he became king because his mother had herself established as a deity to justify the new royal lineage. Pacal clearly didn’t like the news, to put it mildly.

     Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake 

Sally McDonald

A friend of Nancy’s dad who calls Nancy to investigate a series of stance events at her house at Moon Lake.


  • The Ghost: Due to the dog attacks, Sally is not physically present in the game. She can be reached via her cell phone for any clues Nancy might need. Even in the epilogue, she’s never shown onscreen.
  • Remember the New Guy?: She took some pictures for Carson, which he has in his office. We never see the photos in question and she has never been mentioned until Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: She intended to wait for Nancy to arrive at her house. However, she was so scared that she left and went to her aunt’s in Philadelphia.

Emily Griffen

A shopkeeper who sells supplies to Moon Lake's inhabitants.


  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She acts all friendly and helpful to Nancy, but she's a greedy woman who is willing to scare Sally out of her house and to kill Nancy in order to obtain Malone's gold.
  • Call-Back: If you look through Minette's emails in Danger By Design, you'll find an email sent by Emily.
  • Greed: She illegally trawls the lake bed because many of the artifacts she finds there are valuable. This is also why she briefly scares Sally away from the Malone house, as she somehow learned that Mickey Malone stole and hid gold and was trying to find it before someone else did.
  • Nice Girl: She comforted Sally after the latter's house was attacked, and readily accepts work instead of money from Nancy. She also brings Nancy tea to calm her down after the culprit knocks her out and leaves her in a burning shed. Subverted in that she's the culprit and she reveals herself to be a False Friend.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: When she has Nancy cornered in Malone’s stash, she’ll yell, “Don’t you shut that door on me, Nancy Drew!” This is a clue for players to close the door on Emily so they can safely escape through the sewers and avoid getting attacked by her.
  • Pet the Dog: If there's anything redeeming about Emily, it's that she seems to care about her rottweilers (if her diary is anything to go on) and makes sure they are being fed and treated.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: As owner of Em's Emporium, she's willing to give Nancy stuff she needs despite Nancy not having cash, provided that Nancy does stuff for her (like collecting bugs or rearranging cola cans).

Jeff Akers

The current park ranger for Moon Lake.
  • 0% Approval Rating: From the way Emily, Red, and Sally talk about Akers, he isn't very popular with the Moon Lake Community because of his strict enforcement of the rules and issuing of petty fines.
  • Pet the Dog: He owns a Big Friendly Dog named Yogi who lays on a bed next to his desk. He makes sure to keep him under watch even when he's in another room.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He considers himself one, always trying to follow the rules and take care of Moon Lake as best as possible. He also helps Nancy with certain things, like giving her a water-testing kit or mailing a photo to someone on her behalf.
  • The Reveal: He's the grandson of William Akers, one of Malone's gang members. Initially, he denied that he was related to William because of the shame his grandfather's crimes brought to his family.
  • Skewed Priorities: After Nancy narrowly escapes the tool shed fire, he gives Nancy a ticket for "burning refuse that would endanger park property". This might be due to overcompensating on trying to enforce the rules due to his grandfather being Mickey Malone’s right-hand man and not wanting to be like his grandfather.

Mickey Malone

A deceased gangster who lived in Sally's house during the 1920s.


  • Animal Motifs: The furniture and ornaments in his house (and speakeasy) are heavily dog-themed.
  • Arch-Enemy: Of the government agent Waldo Mathias. Waldo pursued him for about seven years, knowing that Malone was a criminal, but unable to prove it.
  • Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!: His luxurious lifestyle and wild parties are described in great detail.
  • Dramatic Irony: He managed to evade Waldo Mathias for years. What was he finally arrested for? Tax evasion.
  • Leitmotif: His titular theme, which is elegant, suspenseful, and distinctly old-fashioned. It plays while Nancy is exploring his speakeasy.
  • Morality Pet: Literal pets in this case; he owned four rottweilers and loved them deeply, going so far as to commission a line of special food for them. Their reaction to his imprisonment is considered tragic even in-universe.
    Sally: (laughs) That Malone! Bad as he was, he sure loved those dogs.

Red Knott

An elderly birdwatcher that hates tourists and loud noises. He spends most of his time watching for birds from his lookout at night, and sleeping during the day.


  • Grumpy Old Man: He dislikes talking to Nancy because he fears she will scare the birds away. This is the same reason he hates tourists so much.
  • Skewed Priorities: After Nancy's brush with death in the burning shed, Red concerns himself far more with the condition of his camera rather than Nancy's safety.

     The Haunted Carousel 

Paula Santos

The owner of Captain's Cove.
  • Benevolent Boss: It turns out that she knows about Harlan's criminal past, but she still hired him. She's more than willing to give him a chance to redeem himself from his past theft.
  • Skewed Priorities: If Nancy gets injured in any of the game over sequences, she won't be worried about Nancy getting hurt. Instead, she'll get upset and remove her from the case.
  • The Voice: Nancy can call her anytime during the day on her cell.

Elliot Chen

The park's art director.
  • Ax-Crazy: He's more than eager to try and kill Nancy in the climax.
  • Get Out!: He tells Nancy to get out when she accidentally knocks a can of paint over in their first encounter. He tells her to leave again when she asks him what he’s doing with all the wood he ordered.
  • Ridiculous Procrastinator: He's more than a month behind on his work. His theft and forgeries of the carousel horse didn't really help him.
  • Slasher Smile: He sports a terrifying one in two of the final game over sequences.

Joy Trent

The park's bookkeeper.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: She's very cold and distant towards Nancy and Paula. As she talks to Nancy more, she starts to open up.
  • Good Parents: Both of her parents loved her greatly. Her mother was willing to buy her favorite carousel horse, but she died in a car accident, presumably because she was picking up the horse.
  • Mommy Issues: It turns out she has unresolved issues with her deceased mother. She repressed all her memories related to her mother.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: When she gets memories of her childhood back, she remembers that she destroyed pictures of her mother out of anger. She's also responsible for the roller coaster incident, which led to the park's shutdown. She decides to make amends and tell Paula what she did.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Before her mother passed away, she was this.
  • When She Smiles: In the epilogue, she’s sporting a big smile after receiving her father's letter and the last remaining photo of her mother.

Ingrid Corey

The park's chief engineer.
  • Get Out!: After Nancy comes forward with her accusations against Ingrid, Ingrid calmly tells Nancy to leave her office claiming that she has work to do.
  • The Mole: It turns out that she shared some of the roller coaster's blueprints with a friend of hers who wanted to create a roller coaster and needed to study some blueprints.

Harlan Bishop

The park's security guard.


  • The Atoner: After getting imprisoned for burglary, he resolved to turn his life around and become a contributing member of society.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Harlan gets pretty tetchy with Nancy after she implies that his checkered past makes him more of a suspect.
  • Easily Forgiven: Initially, he's upset and won't talk to Nancy when he hears about her conversation with Paula. But he gets over it and apologizes for his previous behavior, saying that he would have done the same thing that she did if their roles had been reversed.
  • Nice Guy: Gives Nancy a pass that allows her to play all of the games and ride the rides at Captain's Cove, not because he thought she would need it for her investigation, but rather because he figured there would be times when she would want to take a break and have some fun
  • Undying Loyalty: To his boss, Paula Santos, as she hired him despite his criminal record. This is why he stays on at Captain's Cove even after getting famous for apprehending its saboteur.

     Danger on Deception Island 

Katie Firestone

George's friend whom Nancy is staying with during her vacation at Deception Island.


  • Damsel in Distress: She gets captured when she finds the orca being fed by Andy Jason’s men.
  • Dark Secret: Downplayed. Turns out she's been illegally feeding the orca despite arguing that all other boats should stay away from it.
  • Hypocrite: She claims to support the new policy to stay away from the orca, but it's later revealed that she's been secretly feeding them despite it being illegal.
  • Idiot Ball: When Nancy finds her tied up, she loudly screams at her to hide despite the fact that she can hear someone coming. She also doesn't think to tell Nancy to put the gag back on her. When Andy (the culprit) comes into the room, he immediately notices this and realizes Nancy is hiding somewhere.
  • Informed Attribute: Katie is described by most of the residents of Snake Horse Harbor as being condescending and thinking she's better than everyone else, but from the interactions Nancy has with her, she just comes off as abrasive. This may be because she's secretly feeding the Orca despite having argued at the town meeting that all other boats should stay away from it or risk paying a fine.

Jenna Deblin

Owner of the Hot Kettle Cafe.


  • Dark Secret: Jenna's ancestors kidnapped some of their customers and forced them into crewing ships.
  • Gossipy Hens: Has a tendency to eavesdrop, which she attributes to having grown up in the cafe business.
  • Hot-Blooded: Within minutes of first talking to Jenna, she's ranting about how wrong Katie's views on the whale are and casually accusing her of illegal activity.
  • Nice Girl: Her dislike of Katie notwithstanding, she's genuinely pleasant to talk to and she even serves Nancy with free clam chowder and muffins when she comes in.
  • Properly Paranoid: Her belief that Katie is feeding the orca is baseless and correct.

Andy Jason

Owner of Whale World.


  • Nice Guy: He's very friendly towards Nancy, is willing to answer any questions she has, and takes her out on a whale-watching tour when she wins it. Subverted at the end of the game when it's revealed he's the culprit and tries to murder Nancy.
  • Stepford Smiler: Type C. He seems like a friendly guy who cares about marine wildlife. However, he’s a cunning criminal who’s using a trained orca to retrieve smuggled furs. He’s also not afraid to kidnap and kill so that he can get away with his crimes.

Holt Scotto

Mariner who’s running for harbormaster.


  • Big Damn Heroes: He shows up at the end with the coast guard after Nancy and the orca knock out Andy Jason.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He's willing to lend Nancy a GPS after she's completed a quiz showing that she knows about costal life.
  • Shameless Self-Promoter: One of the questions on his quiz is a political ad written in Morse code.

     The Secret of Shadow Ranch 

Shorty Thurmond

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8fc4cf8731627c9f6ba8143dc883a268.jpg

The ranch cook. Incredibly talkative and gossipy, he loves cooking even though he’s awful at it. He dislikes people from the city and is always looking for a way to get rich.

Voiced by: Jonah von Spreecken

  • Bald of Evil: A greedy, murderous, and bald cook.
  • Berserk Button: Really doesn't like unripe vegetables.
  • Stalker without a CrushHe spent most of the game following Nancy around once he realized she was looking for Dirk Valentine’s treasure. Most likely he was there watching Nancy from the shadows when she was in the ghost town.
  • Stepford Smiler: A type C. He’s friendly to Nancy, cheerful, and pretends to love his job, but he's really a criminal who won’t hesitate to kill if he thinks he can get at some treasure.
  • Villains Want Mercy: Downplayed. He’s tricked into falling in a hole by Nancy and he asks her to help him despite him running off her horse and intending to kill her.

Dave Gregory

A young farmhand. He’s very friendly and helpful when Nancy starts witnessing the strange events surrounding the “phantom horse”.


  • Dogged Nice Guy: It becomes clear later that he likes Nancy. However, he backs down once he learns that Nancy has a boyfriend.
  • Nice Guy: He’s the most helpful character in the game and he has no malicious intentions towards Nancy or the Rawlys.

     The Curse of Blackmoor Manor 

Linda Penvellyn

The main subject of the game, a resident of the US who recently moved to England after her marriage. She’s convinced that she’s cursed, and refuses to let anyone see her face.

Voiced by: Jenn Ruzumna

  • Damsel in Distress: Nancy is asked to investigate her descent into paranoia, initiating the main plot.
  • Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: The photo accompanying Nancy's opening letter shows Linda to be one. She's seen in silhouette otherwise, but the trope still fits her character.
  • Get Out!: When she starts acting more like a werewolf, she demands that Nancy leave her room. Most likely because she's worried that she will hurt Nancy.
  • Horror Hunger: The idea of this trope is used as Nightmare Fuel. As her paranoia increases, she takes to eating raw meat. What else would a werewolf eat?
    Nancy: Can I get you anything?
    Linda: A glass of water would be good. I get so thirsty sometimes. And I get so hungry...
  • Second Love: Hugh married Linda after divorcing another woman. Jane deeply resents her for this.
  • The Voice: She hides in a curtained bed, refusing to leave her room at all. Nancy only interacts with her in a handful of conversations.
  • Wicked Stepmother: Subverted. She seems like she's mean to Jane based on her first interaction. However, it's not out of malice towards Jane and more because of her paranoia and mood swings. She is trying her best to be a good stepmother for Jane and is merely perturbed by Jane's unusual interests. It's implied that Linda and Jane patch things up in the end.
  • Your Mind Makes It Real: She acts feral because she believes she is transforming into a werewolf. Jane's manipulations, combined with the manor's threatening atmosphere, created a very strong placebo effect.

Jane Penvellyn

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f5aa287d4118f426c017296a718d1c47.jpg

A young girl who's the daughter of Hugh and his first wife. Is very knowledgeable about the manor's secrets, and loves to play games whenever she gets the chance.

Voiced by: Conni Ellern

  • Creepy Child: The result of her intelligence and eagerness to learn about her family history mixed with the troubling, creepy air of the manor itself and the secrets the Penvellyn line holds. She's also the culprit.
  • Don't Touch It, You Idiot!: She tries to remove the treasure from its hiding place, ignoring Nancy's protests. This triggers a weight-activated switch, trapping her.
  • Dramatic Irony: In Blackmoor Manor she remarks that computer games are boring. In Danger By Design, several games later, she has created a website devoted to them.
  • Dramatically Missing the Point: She assumes that the Penvellyn treasure must be a literal treasure, and is promptly punished for her greed. Her age justifies this somewhat- not many preteens can understand that It's the Journey That Counts.
  • It Runs in the Family: Like all of her ancestors, she's an intelligent person who's fixated on a specific hobby (in her case, games), and values her family above everything else.
  • Ms. Exposition: She has a family tree in her room, and will happily detail specific members of it.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: She tries to deflect questions about the family by acting childish- for example, changing the subject to Brady Armstrong when Nancy asks about the Mutus Liber. Because she's talking to Nancy, however, her attempts fall flat.
  • Older Than They Look: She is actually 12.
  • Save the Villain: The final challenge of the game is for Nancy to save Jane from the metal box before she suffocates.
  • Too Clever by Half: Jane's quite bright for a 12-year-old, but lacks common sense. This gets her into more trouble than she would have otherwise. For example, she's so cunning that her plot to hurt Linda isn't discovered until it's had serious consequences.
    Nancy: I saw your kitchen. What happened to it?
    Jane: I guess you could say I happened to it. But it was Ethel's fault. She inspired me to study the oxidation rates of different kinds of cookie doughs.
  • Wounded Gazelle Gambit: She pretends to be targeted by the culprit by creating a threatening note with an ominous rune drawn on the back.

Mrs. Drake (Leticia)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a24bc5e654e80f5764bdd01a51533455.png

Hugh's elderly aunt. She can be found in the conservatory.

Voiced by: Amy Broomhall

  • Fun-Hating Confiscating Adult: She's not mean, unlike most examples of the trope, but her Establishing Character Moment involves warning Nancy not to cause a ruckus.
    "I know how much you teenagers like your televisions and loud stereos..."
  • Grande Dame: Stern, wealthy, obnoxiously British. She fits the trope.
  • Memento MacGuffin: The conservatory fountain, which reminds Leticia of her brother. She's very happy when it starts flowing again.
  • Prim and Proper Bun: Her hairstyle is as straight-laced as she is.
  • Refused by the Call: She has no idea that the Penvellyn treasure is real, much less that Jane is being taught to protect it. This is because Penvellyn superstition forbids telling certain generations about their secret.
  • Talking to Plants: Being an avid gardener, she has Flavor Text along these lines.
    Mrs. Drake: Who's hungry? Who's ready for some nummies?
    Nancy: Did you say something, Mrs. Drake?
    Leticia: Not to you, dear.

Nigel Mookerjee

A scholar who's writing a book about the Penvellyns.

Voiced by: Stephen Hando

  • Captain Obvious: His memoirs begin: "I was very very small when I was born..."
  • Mr. Exposition: Nigel mostly exists to provide information on the Penvellyn family. At times, his place in the narrative is literally replaced by a laptop.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When the Mercury statue in the library starts moving, seemingly of its own accord (due to Nancy's tinkering in a passageway) he screams and runs away. It's hard to blame him.

Ethel Bosinny

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dd10f9396cb247ee0e6200599a2eb2bb.jpg

Jane's tutor, who is only seen in cutscenes. She is well-versed in Penvellyn history and protective of the clan.

Voiced by: Sarah Papineau

  • The Mentor: Teaches Jane various subjects, such as the family rituals and history. Its full history, not the watered-down version outsiders are told.
  • Shame If Something Happened: Her response if the player chooses to be honest about their investigation.
    "Well, we wouldn't want you to end up like the proverbial cat, would we- Nancy."
  • Stealth Hi/Bye: Both of Ethel's conversations with Nancy start with her appearing out of nowhere. note  Nancy even lampshades this.

Loulou

A chatty parrot who's lived in the manor for decades. She provides hints to the player.

Voiced by: Lani Minella

Elinor Penvellyn

A deceased Penvellyn rumored to have been a witch.


  • Burn the Witch!: How she died.
  • Doorstop Baby: The manor's doorstep, to be precise. Because of this, many people believed she was of faerie origin.
  • Rags to Riches: A penniless orphan who was adopted by the resident lord.

     The Secret of the Old Clock 

Emily Crandall

A young woman who's the proprietor of the Lilac Inn. After her mother passes away, she calls Nancy out to the Inn, asking for a favor.

Voiced by: Walayn Sharples

  • Damsel in Distress: Emily's financial woes (and deteriorating mental stability) have left her largely unwilling to investigate Crowley's will, even though it's the only thing that could possibly improve her situation. Her role is mostly limited to giving Nancy exposition.
    Emily: No. That's wishful thinking. And I refuse to get my hopes up again because they'll probably just get dashed again.
  • Sanity Slippage: She and Jane believe that her grief over Gloria's death has led her to hallucinate voices. After experiencing what she thinks is a mental blackout, Emily panics and orders Nancy to leave the Inn. Fortunately, Nancy soon finds proof that Jane has been gaslighting Emily.
  • Trauma Conga Line: Nancy arrives in the middle of Emily's. First, her mother dies. Then Emily starts hearing voices. Then her kitchen catches fire, destroying her livelihood. Then her mother's jewelry is stolen. And all of the above occurs during the Great Depression.
    Jane: (about Emily) It's just too much, that's all. Who wouldn't go a little off their nut?
  • Troubled Fetal Position: Spends 90% of the game sitting like this in her bedroom alcove, for reasons detailed in the Trauma Conga Line entry.
  • Wise Beyond Their Years: Though only 17, she accepts the responsibility of running the Lilac Inn, and has kept it afloat for months before the game starts. Jane claims that the stress of doing so is making Emily crack, but turns out to be wrong- there really is someone talking to Emily and moving stuff around in her room.

Jane Willoughby aka Marion Aborn

Emily's legal guardian and a friend of her mother.

Voiced by: Sarah Papineau

  • Evil Redhead: Has bright red hair and is the true villain of the game.
  • Identity Impersonator: Marion intercepts Emily's letter to the real Jane Willoughby asking Jane to come and be her guardian. Marion comes to gaslight Emily and steal from her but is ultimately exposed.
  • Jive Turkey: Uses a lot of 30s slang in her speech, such as "butterfly's boots" and "dumb Dora".
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Jane is largely clueless when it comes to dealing with Emily, but not for lack of trying. The finale reveals her to be a subversion. She's using that act as a cover to gaslight Emily and steal from her.
  • Terms of Endangerment: Upon being exposed as a fraud, she growls "It's been swell knowing ya, sister." and drives away.

Richard Topham

The inheritor of Josiah Crowley's estate and a supposed psychic.

Voiced by: Tim Moore

  • Phony Psychic: Everyone else thinks he's just a con man who swindles his students. Of course, with the implication that he forged Josiah's will, he more than likely is just a greedy swindler.
  • Smug Snake: His default tone as he talks down to Nancy and anyone else he deems "intellectually below" him.

     Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon 

Lori Girard

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3f03317ed38da314feffed50f9b3c707.jpg

The rich, beautiful girl that sets up a party on the haunted train with a set of ghost hunters and detectives. She disappears shortly after the game begins.

Voiced by: Sarah Papineau

  • Accidental Misnaming: Like Beatrice Hotchkiss, she keeps calling Nancy various names, some of which don't even sound like "Nancy".
  • Attention Whore: Lori has done crazy publicity stunts, including faking her disappearance on the train.
  • Birds of a Feather: With her ex-boyfriend, Tino- a man who's as shallow and selfish as she is.
  • Dumb Blonde: A bubblehead blonde party girl who can't seem to remember Nancy's name. Subverted. She’s intelligent enough to fake a kidnapping and use Nancy to find the treasure. It’s implied she relies on this image as an act to throw suspicion away from herself.
  • Hero Worship: She gushes over the novelist Charleena Purcell, and her Idle Animation shows her reading one of Purcell's books.
  • Hidden Depths: While she doesn't look it, she enjoys reading Charleena Purcell's novels and regularly pitched story ideas to her. This is supposed to be an early indicator that she's not as stupid as she seems.
  • It's All About Me: When she's revealed to be the culprit, she makes the discovery of Abraham Lincoln's letter to Jake Hurley an opportunity to be famous and respected by people. However, to ensure that she gets all the fame, she tries to trap Nancy in the caves and plans to tell an elaborate story about how Nancy perished and she was the only one to survive.
  • Light Is Not Good: She has blonde hair, wears a lot of white, and is one of the smartest culprits of the franchise. Instead of killing Nancy directly like some of the other characters have tried, she leaves Nancy trapped in the mines.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: She’s based on Paris Hilton. Well, everything up to her being a backstabbing thief and murderer.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: She is more creative than people think, but nearly all of her attempts to show it betray the cruel nature beneath. For example, she never once stops to think that the guests she faked a kidnapping in front of might be angry or upset to learn it was all a hoax.

     Danger by Design 

Minette

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/255a29788099e8eaaecc6468e5d14f0c.jpg

An incredibly talented, but temperamental, fashion designer. She’s been acting very strange lately, wearing a mask, firing assistants, and throwing fits almost at random.

Voiced by: Shawnmarie Yates

  • Bad Boss: She’s impossible to predict, fires assistants for the slightest infractions, and is an actual criminal. Very few people want to deal with her.
  • Eccentric Fashion Designer: Minette constantly wears a white mask and has extreme mood swings, including getting violent with her employees. And she's the bad guy.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She may be the villain of the game. However, she seems to genuinely love Dieter and doesn’t want to talk about why she broke up with him. She also seems hurt if Nancy tells her that Heather wrote one of the threatening letters she’s received.
  • Evil Redhead: Aside from having a nasty personality, she’s the villain of the game, and actually attacks Nancy at the end.
  • The Faceless: She always wears a white mask so no one can see her face. It’s knocked off at the very end of the game, however.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: It’s very, very easy to get her angry. Everyone has to walk on eggshells around her or risk her wrath.
  • Mood Whiplash: According to Heather, Minette's doctor recommends that she go through a process to manage her anger and frustration. First, she screams for ten seconds, then she cries for six seconds, and finally laughs for four seconds.
  • White Mask of Doom: She’s always wearing a stark white mask on her face— it’s a recent addition, and no one has any idea why she started wearing it. In the end, it’s revealed that it had nothing to do with any of her crimes. She was hiding a lame tattoo.

Heather McKay

Minette's senior assistant and a budding fashion designer.


  • All Love Is Unrequited: She likes Dieter, who likes Minette (who broke up with Dieter but actually likes him back). Nobody is happy.
  • Famed In-Story: A TV program in Trail of the Twister reveals that she's become a famous designer.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: The player has the option of invoking this on Heather. After learning that she sent a threatening letter to Minette, Nancy may reveal this and get Heather fired.
  • Nice Girl: She's a patient, levelheaded person who advises Nancy on how to deal with Minette. Of course, her unethical methods of blowing off steam may subvert the trope.

Dieter Von Schwesterkrank

A German photographer that lives in Paris. He works with Minette and is also her ex-boyfriend.
  • Becoming the Mask: He initially dated Minette so he could find the missing artwork in her moulin. Instead, he fell in love with her and abandoned his original goal.
  • Chick Magnet: He’s quite popular with the ladies, which also includes Heather and Minette.
  • In the Blood: A less sinister example. He and his great-uncle are both German men who have tragic romances with French women.
  • The Reveal: He is the great-nephew of Hans Von Schwesterkrank, the ex-boyfriend of Noisette Tornade.

     The Creature of Kapu Cave 

Big Island Mike Mapu

The owner of Big Island Mike’s Immersion Excursion. Unlike other resort owners, Big Island Mike insists on making his customers do certain tasks in order to give them an authentic Hawaiian experience.


  • Anti-Villain: He means no harm to Nancy or the Hardy Boys. His motive for the game is to pay back some loan sharks and get rid of his debt. But if the final challenge is failed, he and Pua have no qualms about leaving Nancy and Frank behind, even mocking the former.
    "You should have stuck to catching bugs."
  • Big Fun: He’s a large man all about trying to give people unique experiences like fishing and making necklaces out of shells.
  • Stepford Smiler: Type A. On the outside, he’s a jolly man with a strong desire to meet his customers’ needs. On the inside, he’s a man who is dealing with loan sharks and has resorted to drastic measures to pay back the money he owes them.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: He loves to eat snow-cones. One task involves you having to find out his favorite flavor so that you can open a trunk locked by a password.

Pua Mapu

Big Island Mike’s teenage daughter and surfer instructor. The Hardys are investigating whether she’s involved with the incidents at the Hilihili Research Facility.


  • Missing Mom: One conversation you have reveals that her mother passed away when she was young.
  • The Reveal: She and her father are the ones behind the growth of the fritilated flag beetle population.

Dr. Quigley Kim

An entomologist Nancy is working for. Nancy’s original goal is to locate her when she finds her camp ransacked and Kim is nowhere in sight.


  • Bad Boss: She orders Nancy to break into the Hilihili and take a sample of a plant to test for her research. She doesn’t seem to care if Nancy gets punished for infiltrating a private facility.
  • Derailed Train of Thought: A bad habit of hers is digressing heavily. Once she remembers it, she tells Nancy that she has to keep Kim on track if she ever digresses from the original subject.
  • Do I Really Sound Like That?: In one of her recordings, she comments that she doesn’t like how nasal the machine makes her sound. She isn't aware that she sounds nasal already.
  • The Reveal: She stole a pass from the Hilihili and broke into the facility.

Dr. Malachi Craven

A brilliant scientist at the Hilihili Research Facility. He and Dr. Kim do not get along with each other due to past encounters.


  • Get Out!: Once Nancy learns about what he’s doing at the Hilihili, he will demand that Nancy leave anytime she interacts with him.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: He has poor anger management skills, which he is seeing a counselor for.
  • Jerkass: He immediately accuses Nancy of breaching security when they first meet.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he was hard on Nancy at first and has an explosive temper, he softens up around her once she reveals that she knows about his work. He also compliments Nancy for being similar to his niece (who he hasn’t seen in years, due to his estranged relationship with his brother).

     The White Wolf of Icicle Creek 

Bill Kessler

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/6b9cc741fd9df7f67e4e55040b27a003.jpg

A middle-aged fisherman who can be found at the Lodge's Fox-and-Geese table.

Voiced by: Jonah von Spreecken

  • Distinguishing Mark: A tear-shaped birthmark on his cheek. It allows Nancy to identify him in the stolen photos.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: With Lou, a college student. It involves a lot of bickering and playing Fox-and-Geese.
  • Odd Friendship: In addition to their age gaps, their bonding is odd considering that Bill is a Canadian ice fisher and Lou an art student from California. They even have polar opposite opinions of the wolf.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Believes that the Lodge's accidents are this due to his mistaken conviction that Chantal Moique's father cheated Bill's grandmother, the original owner of Icicle Creek Lodge.
    "The Moiques are just getting what's coming to them."

Guadalupe Comillo

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a3c7a81d789cc5abc28c933a04df4ec5.jpg

A birdwatcher staying at the Lodge.

Voiced by: Kate Wisniewski

  • I Did What I Had to Do: Does not regret sabotaging Ollie and Bill's hunting tools.
    Guadalupe: I've done worse while working on behalf of Run And Grow Free, believe me.
  • Meaningful Name: Her nickname Lupe means wolf. One early implication that she’s really there to protect the wolf instead of seeing birds.
  • Men Can't Keep House: Remarks that her room will be the easiest to clean, as "the other guests are all men. Single men."
  • Ms. Exposition: Nancy has the option of asking her multiple questions about wolves.
  • Only Sane Woman: Out of the five people at the lodge, she seems to have the most wisdom and is also the smartest one at the lodge.
  • Soapbox Sadie: She's quite outspoken about environmentalism, even before her cover is blown. In actuality, she's a left-wing activist who's trying to protect and rehome Isis.
  • Spotting the Thread: An observant player will notice that none of the birds Guadalupe claims to have seen in Icicle Creek fit the season. This is an early hint that she's hiding something.

Isis

The eponymous wolf, who is considered a bad omen. Despite being a wild animal, she is not afraid of humans.


  • Amplified Animal Aptitude: Displays a great deal of intelligence, obedience, and perception regarding humans for a wild wolf. Even considering her time living with McQuade, she took to her training remarkably well.
    Michael Gray: It's a note from the wolf!
  • Big Damn Heroes: She digs Nancy out of an avalanche at Chicken Ridge.
  • Bittersweet Ending: The game ends with Isis being removed from her home. But she's being taken to a wolf sanctuary where she can be with her own kind, and protected from hunters.
  • Chekhov's Skill: Julius trained her to, among other things, identify the scent an object carried. This skill is what reveals the saboteur.
  • Heartwarming Orphan: Her parents were killed by hunters, and most of McQuade's journal is about his growing friendship with her.
  • Meaningful Name: One she shares with the Egyptian goddess of wisdom.
  • Noble Wolf: She saves Nancy's life twice over the course of the game. Guadalupe points out how odd this is.
  • Only Friend: She was Julius McQuade's only companion, and shared his shack.

Freddie

Ollie's small daughter. She's built an elaborate snow fort and demands that all passersby have snowball fights with her.

Voiced by: Lani Minella

  • I Just Want to Have Friends: There aren't any kids at the Lodge and not much for her to do, so she badgers adults and teenagers into playing with her.
  • Insistent Terminology: Declares that she is "the Snow Princess" when Nancy calls her Freddie.
  • Writing Lines: "I will not throw ice balls at windows, I will not throw ice balls at windows..."

     The Legend of the Crystal Skull 

Henry Bolet Jr.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5214edc4d539a331e7403b4ff94a8bed.jpg

Bruno’s great-nephew, who was left a sizable portion of his estate after he died and is still sorting through all of it. A rather dour young man who has several secrets under his belt.

Voiced by: Brian Neel

  • Fashionable Asymmetry: He wears a fingerless glove on one hand.
  • Gold Digger: It turns out that he's dating one who wants to exploit his wealth and generosity. This turns out to be the reason why he sold his great-uncle's belongings.
  • Goth: Wears black makeup, has black fingernails, and carries a generally apathetic disposition. On the surface, anyway.
  • I Just Want to Be Loved: Nancy discovers that he’s been stealing from Bruno’s property and selling it to make his girlfriend happy. When pressed about it, he admits that he knows she’s just interested in getting money and presents out of him, but he really wants someone to love him.
  • Odd Friendship: With Nancy's boyfriend, Ned. Subverted as Ned only befriended him out of pity.

Renée Amande

The housekeeper of the Bolet estate. She’s often seen working outside on her plants and is known for some unusual drink creations.


  • Accidental Murder: She convinced Dr. Bolet to have the titular crystal skull authenticated and then forged a letter saying that the skull was a fake, but she did so hoping that Dr. Bolet would hand the skull over to her. Unfortunately, the combination of devastation and Dr. Bolet’s advanced age led to a fatal heart attack, so she inadvertently killed Dr. Bolet!
  • Bond Villain Stupidity: Rather than make her getaway once obtaining the crystal skull, Renée monologues about it, giving the player enough time to trick Bernie into jumping out of the water and make her drop the skull.
  • Greed: Her motive in the game was to obtain the titular crystal skull so that she could use it to obtain all the other crystal skulls out there. When she gets her hands on it, she talks about “protecting” it for that reason.
  • Sweet Tooth: Renée has a ton of Koko Kringle chocolate bars in her room.

     Phantom of Venice 

Helena Berg

A journalist staying at the Ca' Nascosta. Nancy's roommate.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: When she first meets Nancy she is extremely polite, helpful, and genuinely passionate about Venice. In reality, she is the cold and calculated ring leader of a circle of art thieves and dealers. She even tries to drown Nancy at the end of the game.
  • Code Name: Il Dottore.
  • Gratuitous German: Given she hails from Germany, she will occasionally insert some German expressions into her dialogue.
  • Intrepid Reporter: She is a journalist who specializes in the coverage of crime stories.

Enrico Tazza

A criminal who enlists Nancy to steal the Sadal Malik sapphire.

    The Haunting of Castle Malloy 

Kyler

An old friend of Nancy’s who is getting married.
  • Miss Exposition: She explains in the beginning of the game that she stayed with Nancy and her father while she lived in the U.S.
  • Love Triangle: She’s caught in one between her fiancé Matt and her ex-boyfriend Kit who is still pining for her even when she’s getting married to another guy. Fortunately, the love triangle ends during the wedding.

Donal

The castle groundskeeper.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He does refuse to let Nancy into the castle or even tell Kyler she's arrived, but he is helpful enough to tell Nancy some Irish folklore and does realize Fiona needs help and calmly brings her to a retirement home.
  • Shipper on Deck: He ships Kyler with Kit because he doesn't want her to marry a foreigner.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: The drink Crow's Nest, one of which Nancy must make for him before he'll talk to her.

     Warnings at Waverly Academy 

Corine Myers

Nancy's temporary roommate and Danielle's former roommate.
  • Academic Alpha Bitch: BIG TIME. Her blackmailing Rachel and Kim into leaving the Black Cat notes, and near-sociopathic treatment of her classmates just reeks of this trope.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She seems like a sweet, socially awkward girl who really wants some friends, but she's actually manipulative and plays on her classmates' weaknesses (food allergies, fears, etc.) to drive them away from Waverly. She even forces Rachel and her twin sister Kim to write the Black Cat notes under the threat of being expelled.
  • No Social Skills: This is probably the reason why she has no friends except possibly Mel. Leela implies that Corine tries too hard to be likable and thus drives many of the other students away. Extends to a near Lack of Empathy.

Mel Corbalis

Corrine's neighbor and Megan's former roommate.
  • Big Damn Heroes: While she doesn't exactly save Nancy from the Black Cat, she does help her by preventing Corrine from leaving with the Edgar Allen Poe manuscript when she escaped through a hidden passage leading into her room.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Despite her dark, gothic look, Mel is easily the nicest, most honest student that Nancy meets at Waverly Academy.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Even though Edgar Allan Poe is known as a famous Gothic author, Mel considers his work to be a little over the top for her.
  • Hidden Depths: She secretly likes milk and cookies, but she asks Nancy/"Becca" to get them for her because she doesn't want to risk her reputation.
  • Perky Goth: She wears black clothes, has black hair, and has her room stylized with various gothic decorations, but she's quite friendly.
  • We Used to Be Friends: She and Leela used to be close, but Leela started pursuing sports after elementary school and became super competitive. Even though she doesn't interact with Leela as much anymore, Mel still thinks that she's intelligent and considers her descent into jockdom even sadder because of it.

Izzy Romero

The student body president of Waverly Academy. Leela's roommate.
  • Alpha Bitch: She talks bad about her fellow classmates and she thinks she deserves to be valedictorian more than anyone else.
  • Let Us Never Speak of This Again: After talking to her about being the leader of the Blackwood Society, she insists that the conversation never be brought up again.
  • Never My Fault: She doesn't acknowledge that it's wrong to date someone else's boyfriend.

Leela Yadev

Star athlete at Waverly Academy and Izzy's roommate.
  • Academic Athlete: Leela may be a jock, but she's also intelligent enough to be one of the few students in the running for valedictorian.
  • Competition Freak: Though she's friendly, Leela is extremely competitive and strives to be the best, in both sports and schoolwork.
  • We Used to Be Friends: Leela and Mel used to be pretty close, until the former started getting more involved in competition and sports. They don't hang out anymore and generally don't interact with each other at all.

Paige Griffin

The resident advisor for Ramsey Hall. She is in charge of issuing credits and demerits to the students.
  • The Faceless: Paige is never fully seen throughout the game. If you try knocking on her door, she'll just yell at you from within to go away. If she catches you out of bed past curfew, she shines a bright flashlight in your face so all you can see is her silhouette.

Rachel and Kim Hubbard

Student who would've gotten valedictorian status if she haven't failed a test some time before. This was actually because they're twins. The twins take different classes and one twin had to substitute another during one class due to the other getting sick. And that day, the teacher of that class decided to have a surprise quiz...
  • Always Identical Twins: Midway through the game, Nancy discovers that Rachel is hiding her twin sister in the school. The only difference between them is that Kim keeps one strand of hair stuck behind her ear.
  • Big Sister Instinct: Although we aren’t told that Rachel is the older twin, she is quite caring and protective of Kim. She helped her sister (prior to the epilogue) get into Waverly and attend classes, brings her food at night, and tries to hide Kim from Nancy once their secret is discovered.
  • The Scapegoat: They were being blackmailed by the culprit to write the threatening letters so they would take the fall if anything went wrong.
  • Walking Spoiler: Due to the reveal.

     Trail of the Twister 

Scott Varnell

The head of the storm chasing team.


Debbie Kircum

Scott's right hand and the one giving you all tasks for each day.


  • I Did What I Had to Do: Her speech towards in the end has her justify her actions towards Scott because she knew he was deliberately trying to get his team hurt.
  • Smurfette Principle: She’s the only female member on Scott’s team.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: She and Frosty have been doing things to try getting Scott off the team. However, it’s only because he’s been doing things like getting team members hurt and nearly killed.

Tobias "Frosty" Harlow

The media expert. He earned his nickname for taking pictures of a dangerous storm which involved golf ball sized hail.


Chase Releford

The mechanic for the team.


  • Ironic Name: Nancy thought “Chase” might have been a nickname since he works with a team of storm chasers. It turns out his name really is Chase.

     Shadow at the Water’s Edge 

Shimizu Miwako

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/66325c9f4db415ac59b6d1115243d234.jpg

The receptionist at the Ryokan Hiei. Kasumi’s youngest daughter. Very dedicated to her family and traditional Japanese values.

Voiced by: Mikano Fukaya

  • Berserk Button: Bringing up her dead mother is a surefire way to get you kicked out of the ryokan.
  • Bespectacled Cutie: Cute, shy, and bespectacled.
  • The Dutiful Daughter: Unlike Yumi, she abides her familial obligations, choosing to stay at the inn despite it losing customers and making her unhappy.
  • Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The responsible to Yumi’s (seemingly) foolish, although her duties leave her high-strung and unwilling to help Nancy solve the ryokan’s problems.
  • Shrinking Violet: She’s very shy and polite, rarely standing up for herself (unless you’ve made her angry).

Aihara Rentaro

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ae5d0b1dff9292adfd4bcae3ccba71d7.jpg

A friend of the Shimizu family, Miwako’s boyfriend, and the ryokan’s resident handyman. A bit goofy and odd, but friendly. He’s very into robotics and puzzles.

Voiced by: Marc Biagi

  • Asian and Nerdy: Although all the other characters in the game are Japanese as well, he’s the one who fits the stereotype, with his fixation on robotics and awful social skills.
  • Dramatically Missing the Point: If he really cared about Miwako, he'd know that she loves her family and job. It's having her work taken for granted that she resents. But instead he justifies his own crimes by claiming their end result will make Miwako happy. Nancy is not convinced.
    • This might be the result of Rentaro's lack of social understanding. His social ineptitude may have prevented him from recognizing that Miwako wanted to stay because she loved her job and her family, especially if he had Asperger's Syndrome or high-functioning autism.
  • Freudian Slip: While talking to Nancy, he accidentally mentions the Ryokan Hiei's spooky reputation- something Takae has forbidden employees to talk about. Given The Reveal, it may instead be a Fauxdian Slip.
  • Love Makes You Evil: He’s the one behind the hauntings. Not out of any malice, but because he wants Miwako to move away from the ryokan and live in the city with him, and feels she won’t do it because she’s too afraid of disobeying her family.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: If you decide to tell Miwako that Rentaro is behind the hauntings, he will disappear without anyone knowing where he went.

Shimizu Yumi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/35d0c9c94c196f993aa954c5f95e5591.jpg

Kasumi’s oldest daughter, a bento stand owner who lives in the inner city. As the eldest she is the one to inherit the Ryokan— but she wants no part of it. She’s estranged from her family for her rebellious attitude.

Voiced by: Kira Lauren

  • Elegant Gothic Lolita: She’s seen dressed up in this style, although she’s more of a Sweet Lolita from her favoring of the color pink.
  • Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: From her family’s perspective, Yumi is the foolish to Miwako’s responsible, since Yumi rebels against her family tradition by refusing to run the ryokan. But rebellious or not, she owns her own business, pays for her own place out in the city, and is legitimately trying to help Nancy’s investigation.
  • Motor Mouth: Speaks in a swift, high-pitched manner, partly to sell her cute persona and partly to trick Nancy into doing errands for her.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: The cutesy selfies she periodically sends Nancy when placed side by side, reveal a safe combination. She never openly admits to having this knowledge, and politely deflects all of Nancy's attempts to thank her.
  • Pink Means Feminine: She wears pink and decks out her whole room in pink, playing up the cute image she puts on for her design work and bento stand.

Nagai Takae

Yumi and Miwako’s grandmother, who grew up in the ryokan. She’s heavily invested in tradition.

Voiced by: Waylayn Sharples

  • It's All My Fault: Blames herself for Kasumi’s death. On the night she drowned, Kasumi was supposed to go see her American pen pal. Takae disapproved, so she pretended she was too sick to clean the bath so Kasumi would have to stay and work. Unfortunately, Kasumi lost her footing and apparently hit her head when she fell into the water, something the more experienced Takae would not have done.
  • Kimono Is Traditional: The most set in her ways of the whole cast, and also the only one wearing a kimono.
  • My Beloved Smother: She was this to her daughter. On the night her daughter drowned, Takae pretended to be sick so that Kasumi wouldn't visit her American pen-pal.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: Kasumi died prior to the game, leaving Takae to watch over the ryokan and her two granddaughters.
  • Senior Sleep-Cycle: She will occasionally fall asleep while Nancy is in the room with her.
  • Technologically Blind Elders: Enforced. She’s very set in the importance of tradition, both as a personal preference and to maintain the atmosphere of the ryokan. She’s never seen handling the computer sign in and should Rentaro stay to modernize the ryokan it’ll only be in “small, Takae approved ways”.

Shimizu Kasumi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8e8097eee31b5ea5d78003b82e17c8b7.jpg

Allegedly the ghost that haunts the ryokan. She was the daughter of Takae and the mother of sisters Yumi and Miwako.


  • Action Mom: Part of the inheritance she leaves her daughters is a katana.
  • Dying Alone: One of the reasons why the family is so ashamed for her death. They were all at the ryokan but no one was with her when she drowned.
  • Posthumous Character: She’s already dead by the time the game starts. Nancy learns about her from letters she left with her family and whatever they’re willing to tell about her.
  • Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: What her ghost manifests as. Or rather, what we’re led to believe is her ghost. Appropriate, considering how she died.

     The Captive Curse 

Karl Weschler

The Burgermeister of Castle Finster. He is in charge of the castle and its activities. He frequently deals with Lukas and his constant pranks. He is also creating a new game, which he hopes will be an international success.


  • Everyone Has Standards: He may not like Lukas, but even he gets worried when the mischievous little boy suddenly disappears near the end.
  • Identical Stranger: Karl believes he encountered his doppelgänger as a kid and has had bad luck ever since then.
  • Sitcom Archnemesis: He’s always struggling to deal with Lukas who delights in causing him problems.

Markus Boehm

Castle Finster’s owner. He hires Nancy to look into the monster sightings, which are hurting his business. He can only be contacted through phone conversations.


  • Amicable Exes: His ex-girlfriend Anja serves as the castle’s castellan. Subverted as Anja is still bitter about their breakup.
  • The Ghost: Markus never physically shows up in the game and there are no photos of him anywhere in the castle.

Anja Mittlemeier

Castle Finster’s castellan. She has a friendly, yet organized air about her.


  • Bond Villain Stupidity: She stands on the closed trapdoor as she is monologuing her plans to Nancy, giving Nancy enough time to activate the trapdoor and stop Anja.
  • Evil Aunt: In the climax of the game, she abducts her own nephew and used him as bait to lure Nancy into the dungeons.
  • Pet the Dog: When Nancy tells her about her boyfriend problems, Anja empathizes with her and helps her fix things with Ned. It’s possible that Anja is reminded of her own boyfriend troubles and may have resented Nancy for having a better relationship than her.
  • Stepford Smiler: Type C. She seems friendly and cheerful on the outside. However, she’s a cunning criminal and vengeful woman who wants revenge against her ex for breaking up with her. During her confrontation, she happily tells Nancy that she plans to make a horrible “accident” happen so that her ex-boyfriend will be ruined.
  • We Will Meet Again: The last thing she tells Nancy after she’s been apprehended is that they will meet again. Unfortunately for her, Nancy wasn’t fazed by her threatening farewell.
  • Woman Scorned: Her motive is revenge for Markus breaking up with her. She is responsible for the “monster” sightings and plans to ruin his business opportunities with a team of investors arriving at the castle.

Lukas Mittlemeier

Anja’s nephew and the security guard’s son. He’s infamous for playing practical jokes on people in the castle, most notably on Karl. He mentions to Nancy plans to pull the ultimate prank on everyone in the castle.


  • Clear My Name: Inverted. Karl initially believes that Lukas was the monster after Nancy tells him that she caught him in his costume. She must take a picture of the real monster to prove Lukas’s innocence.
  • Harmful to Minors: He gets kidnapped by the monster in the climax and must be saved by Nancy.

     Alibi in Ashes 

Chief McGinnis

Chief of police in River Heights. In the past, he has received help from Nancy on cases. He’s forced to arrest Nancy after the old Town Hall burns down, but he allows her a chance to collect evidence to prove her innocence.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He’s gruff and makes sarcastic comments when Nancy tries to talk to him. However, he doesn’t believe she’s responsible for the fire and lets her prove her innocence.
  • Only One Name: His first name is never stated in the game.
  • Police Are Useless: Zigzagged. He isn’t actively investigating the arson case and only arrests Nancy on account on her being seen escaping the burning building. However, he is willing to listen to Nancy if she has enough evidence to allow her to leave the station. He also arrests the real culprit by the end when Nancy presents more evidence.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He allows Nancy and her friends to gather the evidence they need to in order to prove her innocence.

Brenda Carlton

The crime reporter for the River Heights Nine News Team. A sensationalist who often exaggerates details to sell papers, regardless of who she hurts with the story.

Voiced by: Megan Jones

  • Green-Eyed Monster: Her motive for framing Nancy. She's hated Nancy ever since her story on the Antiquities store (and maybe even before then), and has held a grudge against her.
  • Hoist by Her Own Petard: She spends more than a little time bragging about how her news story will destroy Nancy's reputation for good. She gets to experience that same drop in support upon being arrested on her own broadcast.
  • Immoral Journalist: She's first shown accusing Nancy of committing arson by burning down the Old Town Hall. We soon see that she tends to not only twist things that people say or trip them into making incriminating statements, but also that she has illegal, invasive and unethical means for getting information. Worse, we find out that she was the one who burned down the Town Hall after luring Nancy to it, hoping to use the fire to frame Nancy for it, to kill her, or both!
  • Intrepid Reporter: Can cover some serious ground when hunting for details on a story. It’s actually a plot point—she gets places quickly by using a secret underground tunnel network.
  • Parental Neglect: An offhand remark she makes in one of her dialogues suggests that her father wasn’t very attentive or sympathetic to her emotional needs. She brushes over it very quickly, but considering how she turned out it’s not surprising.
  • Strawman News Media: Engages in unethical, invasive, and illegal methods for gaining information, only to turn it into fluff pieces or outright lies. Deconstructed, however—she can’t get a job anywhere else because her lax standards make her a terrible reporter.

Alexei Markovic

The reclusive and eccentric owner of the antiques store in River Heights, and a former kid detective himself.

Voiced by: Gene Thorkildsen

  • Berserk Button: Breaking any of his merchandise, even by accident, is enough to make him instantly resent the person and demand that they leave his shop posthaste. He also doesn’t like to be accused of something he didn’t do.
  • Deadpan Snarker: When he’s not angry he likes to make snarky comments in discussion with Nancy’s friends.
  • Everyone Has Standards: He becomes angry with Ned if he suggests that Alexei is the one who set Nancy up for arson out of envy. He may be cynical and short-tempered, but he would never dream of inflicting the pain he endured onto another detective.
  • Fallen Hero: What he’s played up to be the more you learn about him, a former kid detective who was convicted for theft and seeks revenge on the town that spurned him. He’s not nearly as evil as all that, but he is fairly bitter about the whole ordeal.
  • Foil: He represents what Nancy could have been had she not cleared her name and stopped the culprit.
  • Get Out!: After Bess accidentally breaks a vase, Alexei refuses to talk to her and demands that she leave. He does the same thing to Ned if he accuses Alexei of setting the town hall on fire.
  • Jade-Colored Glasses: Used to believe in helping everyone, regardless of how little they could pay him or how mundane it was. Then he tried to fight the corruption in city hall and was struck so hard with cynicism that he claims in a diary entry that he hates everything about River Heights and wants to watch it burn. He also makes the claim that ALL politicians are always lying.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He’s short tempered, bitter, and rude, but at the end of the day he’s thrilled Nancy was able to clear her name because he doesn’t want to see another promising young detective fall the way he did. Also, despite his treatment of Bess, he claims to not really hate her and only acts like he does because he wants to keep the destructive people out of his antique shop.
  • Meaningful Name: The name “Alexei” means “defender/helper of men”. Before he turned bitter, he used to be a detective like Nancy and was willing to help people.

Antonia “Toni” Scallari

A congresswoman for River Heights and owner of the ice cream shop Scoop.


  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She acts friendly to Nancy and her friends. However, she apparently has been upset with Nancy and her friends solving so many cases that it’s impacted the approval rate for River Heights. When offered a chance to help stop the culprit, Toni declines and tells Nancy what she’s really thinks of her. When Nancy expresses horror at this, Toni tells her “you'll get used to the idea” while smiling.
  • Condescending Compassion: Her interactions with Bess border on this. She acts sympathetic while also insisting Nancy set fire to the town hall.
  • Corrupt Politician: When Nancy goes to her for help on catching Brenda, she declines, preferring that Nancy be dragged down by a false accusation since her sleuthing has apparently been negatively affecting the public rating of River Heights.
  • Hate Sink: One of the few non-culprits in the series to qualify as this trope, alongside Simone Mueller. Despite her polite front, Toni is nothing but an immoral, dishonest, and two-faced Corrupt Politician who’s willing to push for Nancy Drew’s arrest and refuse to help her catch the real arsonist, perfectly willing to let take the fall. Despite her claims of doing whats best for the city, she’s perfectly willing to harm innocent civilians, and it’s clear everything she does is just to improve her own agenda and self-image.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: She puts on a friendly facade and claims to be running for election to help improve the town. In reality, she's a Corrupt Politician who's only interested in pushing her own agenda. When Nancy comes to her for help in taking down the real culprit, she makes it very clear that she doesn't care for Nancy's plight and is perfectly okay leaving her out to dry.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: After word gets out that she pushed for Nancy’s arrest, her public approval tanks and she quietly resigns from the election.
  • Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Pushes the police to arrest Nancy, claiming it’s for the common good of the city. In reality, she doesn’t care that Nancy is innocent and just hates that she’s negativity affecting River Height’s approval ratings, making Toni look bad.
  • Smug Snake: She has this expression when Nancy comes to her for help in stopping the culprit and she refuses because she wants Nancy's reputation to be ruined.

     The Ghost of Thornton Hall 

Colton Birchfield

Jessalyn’s fiancée, strangely calm about Jessalyn’s disappearance. He’s friendly and charming, but has a few issues he’s not talking about.

Voiced by: Dave Rivas

  • Better as Friends: He and Jessalyn. Getting engaged to her was his parents’ and Clara’s idea. Jessalyn’s not too choked up to hear he has a girlfriend he wants to get back together with.
  • Childhood Friend Romance: He and Jessalyn have known each other since they were little. Subverted, however, as they were never really in love with each other and were just friends.

Clara Thornton

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5b91668fc8de3fe4e5ee8031c189e7e3.jpg

The Thornton Family matriarch, CEO of the family business, and Jessalyn’s mother. Cold, standoffish, and strict. Even distraught about Jessalyn’s disappearance, she remains distant from Nancy and unhelpful.

Voiced by: Sharon Yamada-Heidner

  • Ambiguous Situation: We never get the full details about what happened the night Clara set fire to Charlotte's room. Was it actually an accident like Clara claims? Or did she intend to kill Charolette in a fit of anger and only later felt remorse when the full reality of what she did hit her?
  • Beneath the Mask: A stern and cold, manipulative mother on the outside, but when her crimes are revealed she breaks down and shows that she’s been lonely her entire life and living in guilt ever since she started the fire, putting up a façade to keep people from finding out.
  • Berserk Button: Bringing up her absent father is a good way to tick her off. Also anything to do with the night Charlotte died. The latter is likely a result of her guilt.
  • Driven by Envy: She set the fire because she was jealous of Charlotte’s place in the family, having been ostracized her whole life.
  • Prim and Proper Bun: Has a hairstyle as tightly wound as her personality.
  • The Unfavorite: While she was only cousins with Charlotte, due to the closeness of the family the trope still applies. Her feelings of resentment for being in her shadow is part of what caused her to set the fire on Charlotte's birthday.

Harper Thornton

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e0adeaac5cfb3f9a0808df1c509bb84b.jpg

The estranged black sheep of the family, said to be crazy and violent. Charlotte’s sister. Eccentric behavior aside, she believes Charlotte was murdered, and is clearly hiding a secret or two.

Voiced by: Keri Healey

  • Big Sister Worship: She admits that she loved her sister a great deal. She also wanted to be like Charlotte when she was younger. Her love for her sister is the reason why she's so determined to make Clara confess to killing Charlotte.
  • Cassandra Truth: She kept telling people Clara started the fire that killed Charlotte, but no one believed her.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Her sister, Charlotte, died in a fire that she saw Clara light. She's been through years of estrangement and pain in the fallout of that.
  • Gaslighting: She’s not behind all of the hauntings, but she is at least partially to blame for the aspects of it that affect Clara, wanting to break her into confessing by reminding her of Charlotte’s death. Naturally, she's also the victim of this from Clara, trying to convince her she's crazy.
  • Obfuscating Insanity: Fakes her insanity at least in part, if not completely. It’s a cover for her plot to drive Clara insane with guilt so she’ll confess to killing Charlotte, as well as uncover what it was that Charlotte was hiding.
  • Quirky Curls: The wackiest of the cast, with wild, springy hair forming almost an afro on her head.

Charlotte Thornton

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c8316aefb6dd43dd464d5cc8ed24a43f.jpg

The much beloved Charlotte, and the bloodthirsty ghost that haunts the manor. She perished the night of a terrible fire on her birthday, and Nancy must investigate both her death and her haunting.


  • Accidental Murder: The fire was never supposed to kill Charlotte, just scare her. But it got out of control.
  • Complexity Addiction: While she had reasons to be suspicious, crafting a significant chunk of the puzzles in the game to hide her will might have been a bit extreme.
  • Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: When her skin isn’t outright blue, it’s a ghostly white to contrast with her red dress and dark, dark hair.
  • Leitmotif: Charlotte's ghost will sometimes sing the nursery rhyme "Ladybug, Ladybug" when she appears to Nancy. What makes this creepier is the fact that "Ladybug, Ladybug" is, fittingly, a song that contains the lyric "your house is on fire..."
  • Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: While Charlotte’s hauntings and visions of her inside the mansion can be somewhat explained by the carbon monoxide poisoning, the visions in the graveyard and the ruins where there is no carbon monoxide are not so easy to wave away.
  • Posthumous Character: Everything you learn about her comes from things she left behind and the things her loved ones say about her.
  • Too Good for This Sinful Earth: It is generally agreed that Charlotte was a wonderful person, beloved by all, who died much too young. The epitaph carved on her tombstone reflects this.
    "Dear sweet Charlotte, please come back."
  • Unfinished Business: At first everyone believes that Charlotte’s haunting the place because Thornton Hall is just evil, and she’s upset about the fire. But the more Nancy looks into her death, the more it becomes apparent that she was upset about something before it happened.

Jessalyn Thornton

Clara's daughter and Colton's fiancée, whom is next in line to take over the family business. Her sudden disappearance before her wedding prompts Savannah to call Nancy to come in and investigate.


  • Beware the Nice Ones: If you find Jessalyn and threaten to tell everyone where she is, she will sic Charolette's ghost on you and it's Game Over.
  • Childhood Friend Romance: Her fiancé is someone she used to play with in their youth. However, this is subverted in the good ending where they end their engagement and decide they’re better off as friends.
  • Damsel in Distress: She goes missing at the start of the game and Nancy is called in to help find her. She’s revealed to be with her cousin Harper and isn’t in danger.

    The Silent Spy 

Kate Drew

Voiced by: Lani Minella

Nancy's deceased mother and Carson's late wife.


  • Action Mom: She used to be a spy before focusing on raising Nancy. She returns to Glasgow for her final mission, leaving behind her ten-year-old daughter behind.
  • Affectionate Nickname: She called Nancy "kiddo" quite a bit.
  • Dreadful Musician: In the epilogue, Nancy and Carson talk about what an awful singer Kate was and how Nancy's singing is far worse. Kate admitted to a young Nancy that she initially couldn't play the piano either, but, unlike her singing, she got progressively better at it.
  • Good Parents: While not much is seen of her interacting with Nancy, it's implied that she was a good mother. She had pictures of her daughter with her when she was in Glasgow and she made sure to spend time with Nancy before she left, knowing that she may not return to her family. When Nancy discovers Revenant's secret lair, Nancy finds a letter that Kate wrote for her.
  • Happily Married: Even though she had a nasty fight with her husband before she left, she did love Carson. One way she showed it was including him (and their daughter) in a piece of music.
  • Leitmotif: "Kate's Theme" is a soft piano song that plays mostly during Nancy's flashbacks.
  • Missing Mom: She left for Glasgow when Nancy was ten. Nancy was led to believe that she died in a car accident when she was really killed by Revenant.
  • Posthumous Character: Everything in the game is set around her involvement with stopping Revenant and what led up to her death.

Moira Chisholm

Voiced by: Sofia Rybin

A member of Cathedral and coworker of Kate Drew.


  • It's All My Fault: She blames herself for pushing Kate into returning to Glasgow. Not only did she feel like she betrayed Kate's trust, but she also feels like she took Kate away from her family.

Alec Fell

Voiced by: Jeff Allen Pierce

A Scottish skip tracer who Nancy encounters at the train station.


  • Big Brother Instinct: Revenant has kidnapped his sister and promises to let her go if he helps them hinder Nancy's progress. When Nancy bugs his bag, she hears him demand that he speak to his sister.

Ewan Mac Leod

Voiced by: Chris Jaech

Nancy’s main contact at Cathedral, the organization that Kate Drew worked for.


  • I Just Want to Be Badass: Implied to be the reason why Ewan contacted Revenant and began working for them. He felt like he was small potatoes at Cathedral since he was a civilian liaison and he wanted to be one of the people who was running the rails of society. The people in charge of Revenant saw his desperate need to feel powerful and took advantage of it.
  • The Mole: He works for the terrorist organization Revenant. Although when you ask Ned what he learned about Revenant, he notes that Revanant is more like a secret society, so calling it a terrorist organization might be an exaggeration.
  • Walking Spoiler: His tropes are marked as spoilers because he betrayed Cathedral by working for Revenant.

Bridget Shaw/Zoe Wolfe

Voiced by: Julia Stockton

A Scottish girl who instantly befriends Nancy upon her arrival in Glasgow.


  • Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Her real hair color (maybe) is dark brown, which she dyes or covers up with wigs for missions. She's pretty emotionally distant as well in contrast to her Bridget alias who was bubbly and chatty. This might be because she’s all too aware that Revenant will use people’s weaknesses against them, especially emotional ones, and is trying to avoid revealing her weaknesses to anyone.
  • Call-Back: Once Nancy learns that Zoe used the alias "Samantha Quick", Zoe will call her out on stealing it.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: She wears black clothes and has dark brown hair, but is on Nancy's side.
  • Genki Girl: She's energetic and quite talkative in her Bridget alias.
  • Good Is Not Nice: She’s working to stop Revenant from creating a biological weapon. However, she’s snarky and acts incredibly standoffish to Nancy. She also sends Nancy some mocking texts letting her know that Zoe is aware of Nancy’s antics such as bugging and zip-lining across to Zoe’s room. Also, while she acts antagonistic towards Nancy, Zoe is trying to keep Nancy safe since she’s a civilian brought into the case simply because she’s the daughter of Kate Drew and Revenant believes she possesses valuable information on the Colony formula.
  • I Have Many Names: Because she's a spy, she has used several names and changed her appearance multiple times. One of the names she's used is "Samantha Quick".
  • The Reveal: She's a spy who is currently working to stop Revenant. During a mission in Italy, she took on the alias "Samantha Quick", which Nancy used in The Phantom of Venice.
  • Stalker without a Crush: She starts paying very close attention to Nancy upon her arrival in Glasgow. She even goes as far as asking the front desk for Nancy's phone number so that she can text her.
  • Walking Spoiler: Most of her tropes are marked as spoilers because she's actually a spy.

    Labyrinth of Lies 

Xenia Doukas

The director of “Persephone in Winter” as well as the title character of the play.


  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Like other past culprits, she acts nice to Nancy and offers information where she can. However, she’s the leader of a criminal organization and is eager at the prospect of getting rid of Nancy from her plans.
  • Directed by Cast Member: In-universe example. She’s the director of the play, but she also plays Persephone.
  • Evil Costume Switch: When she reveals her true nature to Nancy, she’s traded her white robes for Persephone’s dark Queen of the Underworld dress.
  • Foreshadowing: If you look at her other credits, you’ll see some notable roles, which will give away her character. Lady Macbeth from Macbeth and Abigail Williams from “The Trials” just to name the more significant roles.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Presumably due to the game taking place on the play’s opening night, she gets upset when Nancy messes with the fly system and starts yelling.

Thanos Ganas

The man playing Hades.

Voiced by: Beau Prichard

  • Bad Liar: He's absolutely terrible at acting like someone who isn't part of the Greek mafia, and makes threats even during casual conversation.
  • Dark Is Evil: He plays as Hades and wears dark attire for his costume. He also turns out to be one of the main villains of the game.
  • The Dragon: What Xenia secretly considers Thanos- a strong right hand who keeps her other subordinates in line. He's valuable, but not an equal. She lies to him about the latter.
  • The Quiet One: He outright ignores Nancy's questions most of the time, and doesn't care that this makes her suspicious of him.

    Sea of Darkness 

Dagny Silva

A foreign treasure hunter who, along with Magnus, is funding the Heerlijkheid's restoration. When Magnus disappears, she enlists Nancy to find him.
Voiced by: Katherine Grant-Suttie


  • Mr. Vice Guy: She is unashamedly greedy, especially where the treasure is concerned- but she never actually harms anyone in pursuit of it, and is generally a polite person.
  • Straight Gay: She alludes to being divorced, but it's only a brief email exchange that reveals her ex's name: Alicia.
  • Walking the Earth: She enjoys her travel-intensive job, and deals with breakups by moving between continents.

    Midnight in Salem 

Mei Parry

The prime suspect of the Hathorne House fire, and one of Deirdre's cousins. She is a young woman who's distrusted by the townsfolk and initially refuses to help Nancy prove she's innocent.

Voiced by: Reba Buhr

  • Achey Scars: When her scars throb, it means something bad is about to happen. Nancy attributes this to Mei having stronger intuition than most people.
  • Aloof Ally: She is this to a T throughout most of the game until she reveals the full reasoning behind her scars and the reason her sister, Lauren, and Olivia aren't friends anymore. She is back to this by the end of the game, preferring to sit on her chair in the living room rather than joining in on the party.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: In the climax of the game, a wound on Mei's leg is drenched in ergot-tainted water. Combined with the stress of the past few days, this makes her dangerously paranoid and unable to distinguish hallucinations from reality.
  • Continuity Nod: She is yet another student of Waverly Academy.
  • Every Scar Has a Story: Burn marks on one side of her face (which she usually covers with hair), as well as on her arms (which she covers up with long sleeves). They're from a fire she was in as a child.

Teegan Parry

Mei Parry’s older sister.

  • Big Sister Instinct: She cares about her younger sister and she’s the one who causes Deirdre to call Nancy in to help prove that Mei wasn’t behind the fire at Hathorne House. What she doesn’t reveal until much later is that Teegan herself was responsible, although she insists that the fire was an accident.
  • We Used to Be Friends: She was friends with Olivia and Lauren when they were younger. Something happened caused them to drift apart and none of them tell Nancy what it was though Mei later revealed that the fire that Mei wound up in was the reason. Teegan still keeps an old photo of the three of them and Olivia has one similar to it.

Alicia Cole

Lauren Holt's attorney.

Voiced by: Krizia Bajos

  • Amoral Attorney: Is the mastermind behind the thefts in Austria and the courthouse's evidence room, blackmailing Jason Danforth into doing them for her. Also, poisoning Lauren Holt's water supply with ergot so she'd behave erratically and be forced to sell her home to the State so Alicia could build housing owned by herself is a good sign of her amorality.
  • Beneath the Mask: When you first meet her at the beginning of the game, she acts very nice. However, once the end of the game starts to roll around, her true colors begin to slowly but surely show, especially once she realizes that she can't hide the fact that she's behind the theft anymore.
  • Motive Rant: When she is outed for her crimes, she rants about how she is so sick of people dwelling on the witch trials. She rants about she is only trying to improve the town and wanted to give the community something modern. Of course, she is trying to justify doing things like flooding the underground tunnels and putting ergot in Lauren’s water supply, which could have killed her.

Lauren Holt

The owner of Luminous Infusions, an apothecary and tea store. She creates herbal remedies for various ailments.

Voiced by: RaVal Davis

  • Happily Adopted: She was taken in by Frances Tuttle, the recently deceased owner of the Hathorne house, and loved being her daughter.
  • The Reveal: She is a descendant of Tituba, the first accused witch in the Salem Witch Trials.

Judge Danforth

A respectable judge in Salem who is acquainted with Nancy’s father. He is the one who has Nancy travel to Austria in the first place.

  • Forgetful Jones: He has a bad case of this. When Nancy first goes to his office, he somehow locked himself in his own office! Later on, he also misplaced the code to the evidence room.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He hears Nancy out when she tells him about Alicia’s crimes and he chooses to detain her when she admits that Nancy is right about everything she accuses Alicia of.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Nancy really calls him out for assuming that Mei was the one who set the fire at Hathorne House without getting any real proof — the same error that the judges during the Salem Witch Trials made!

Jason Danforth

A carefree young man whose irresponsibility and flirting is a source of great shame to his father.

Voiced by: Denny Gendron

  • Casanova Wannabe: He flirts with Nancy during their first encounter and she is not impressed with his attempts to win her over.
  • Dumb Blonde: Even his own father says he's an idiot.
  • Guilt-Ridden Accomplice: He was never comfortable with stealing stuff for Alicia, and only did it because she was blackmailing him. His testimony is the main reason the culprit can be brought to justice.

Olivia Ravencroft

A self-proclaimed witch who gives tours of various spots in Salem.

Voiced by: Kiki Penoyer

  • Dark Is Not Evil: She loves doing witch tours and sells things like robot black cats in her gift shop. However, she is actually kind of nice and still cares about Teegan despite their rift.
  • Red Herring: From the moment Nancy steps into Salem, the game sets it up so that everyone who's a detective (the player included) is led to believe that Olivia is the culprit of both the Hathorne House fire and the theft of the Book of Apologies. The game even goes as far as to point most of the evidence towards her, like her jacket and business card being found at the Hawthorne House, a piece of flyer advertising her witch tours being found on a scarecrow near the House, the thief of the Book Apologies using a homemade blue smoke bomb (which she uses in her witch tour shows), and the fact that she can't produce proof that she was in Marblehead during the time Nancy was in Austria. In fact, it isn't until she becomes poisoned with ergot like our detectives that the evidence finally stops pointing to her.

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