"I wonder what it was I said that made Death reject me."
Voiced by: Michael T. Weiss
The protagonist of the story, the Nameless One is the player character and central figure, who has lived for an incredibly long time (how long is never really discovered, though it is at least several thousand years). While effectively immortal and capable of regeneration from even the most grievous of wounds, his memory is fragile, and has up until now been erased with each death he suffers. As he interacts with the game world, his memories, his powers, and the tangled web he has left in his wake become slowly apparent.
Amnesiac Dissonance: No matter which alignment you choose, you'll find that at least one of your incarnations was your complete opposite. For an even bigger kick in the balls, you can find out that your first incarnation did something so overwhelmingly horrible and evil that he sought immortality as a way to have enough time to atone for it. It didn't take: he may have wanted to spend thousands of lifetimes doing good, but then he lost his memory. Repeatedly. And went insane.
Even Evil Has Standards: That Heroic BSOD down there? He has it regardless of alignment, meaning that even an evil aligned Nameless One is disgusted and horrified by the Practical Incarnation.
Eye Scream: You can rip out your own eye and shove a preserved one in its socket to recover some of your memories. Ignus will rip out one of your eyes and broil it to teach you a spell. And Ravel can, if you chose the right dialogue, stab out an eye with one of her claws, stuff a wickedly barbed seed in it, and then cram it back in your socket to boost your stats.
Fighter, Mage, Thief: The three classes you can be, and while you can't be all three at once, you can freely switch between them in defiance of the typical AD&D ruleset.
Fin Gore: In the Ragpicker Square is a mentally deficient cannibal with a finger that has a ring on it. You can offer to let him chew on your fingers instead to get it. And however you get it, to get the ring itself, you have to bite your own finger off and graft the rotting finger to your stump.
Gameplay Guided Amnesia: The story centers around the Nameless One's amnesia. Indeed, at the time (and arguably still) it was an effort to deconstruct the recurrence of player characters beginning the game knowing nothing for no logical reason. Here, it's the reason for the entire game. You are not saving the world; you are discovering yourself.
Manipulative Bastard: At least one of the earlier incarnations. Other incarnations are different kinds of bastard.
Mark of the Beast: The Symbol of Torment The Nameless One carries on him. Unlike all his tattoos, no-one seems to have added that one to him and it can never be removed. It's the mark that torment has left upon you, the metaphysical scar and sign that draws suffering towards you and leaves it in your wake. By learning your true name, you're able to reach closure and remove the symbol.
Meaningful Name: The Nameless One's lack of a name is indicative of his lack of an identity.
Physical Scars, Psychological Scars: His scarred body symbolises the massive and repeated trauma upon his mind from being killed and brought back to life an unknown number of times that he still 'recovers' from in his way.
Time Abyss: Would be, if not for his amnesia. If the Transcendent One can be trusted, his age is tallied in millennia.
Token Good Team Mate: Aside from Morte, a good aligned Nameless One is the only good aligned party member in the game. Everyone else is varying degrees of neutral.
True Neutral: In-universe, you start this way, but you can become any alignment.
Videogame Cruelty Potential: And not just in a Stupid Evil or Heroic Comedic Sociopath way either; the game presents The Nameless One with options horrific enough to place him among the most repulsive, manipulative villains in RPG history, if you so choose. It is a testament to power of the game's script, however, that it will make you feel like a complete bastard for going down that path.
If you still desire cartoonish EEEVIL, there's an option to kick the Lim-Lim. It accomplishes nothing.
The Nameless One's quintessential sidekick, who joins him from the outset and acts as an expository figure, explaining essential facts, history, and background information to the player as he gets his bearings. A floating skull with an unbridled libido, Morte is nonetheless a masterful fighter, and has a talent for infuriating people - even when he doesn't mean to.
The Atoner: Morte believes he's the one responsible for The Nameless One's plight by telling him that Ravel could help him when he was alive. The problem is, in Planescape, dying means losing your memories: Morte isn't sure, but the sheer uncertainty of it all keeps tormenting him and binds him to The Nameless One.
Consummate Liar: For someone who's trying to atone for saying too many lies in life, he's awfully deceitful. He has some good reasons for it, though — he started off trying to tell the Nameless One everything, but that didn'tgo over well.
Deadpan Snarker: This is Morte's special ability; snarking at enemies until they focus their attacks on him.
Faking the Dead: He's the only party member not killed by the Transcendent One, but pretends to be dead until the battle's over.
Handicapped Badass: For a cowardly disembodied skull, he's quite a competent fighter. He bites.
And then rip him out again. He returns mentally changed from that one.
Improbable Weapon User: Morte is one of the few RPG characters who goes into battle and bites things to death.
His official weapon proficiency is "Fist (don't ask)"
The Lancer: Your first party member, and one of two that must join you as a part of the story. Morte has the most interjections of all the party members, plays the foil to The Nameless One a lot, and will stick by you pretty much no matter what you do.
Lampshade Hanging on him being a floating head. Try to give him a weapon and he'll say this:
Morte Oh yeah, sure. I'll just swing it with my arms.
Non-Human Sidekick: Morte is a mimir; a sentient construct designed to basically be a floating, talking lexicon. This turns out to be a lie; he's a "living" human skull rescued from the Pillar of Skulls in Avernus.
Shout Out: To RPG urban legend, the Head of Vecna.
Token Good Teammate: He's the only good-aligned party member; all the others are varying shades of neutral.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Nordom. And potentially, you, if you choose dialogue options to that effect and don't mind your alignment going a little chaotic.
Dak'kon
"Your path is mine."
Voiced by: Mitch Pileggi
Dak'kon is an exiled and aged zerth, a githzerai warrior-priest (the githzerai are a race of monks that live on the primordial plane of chaos). Dak'kon wields the last karach blade and is proficient in its use in addition to the Art.
Badass Boast: "Though I may fall in battle, I will never be defeated."
The Big Guy: Until/unless you get Vhailor, Dak'kon fulfils this role by being mainly melee-focused and having generally little to say unless you're a mage and study the Path of Zerthimon.
Cool Sword: He has the coolest sword in the game. For most of it, he also has the only sword in the game.
Empathic Weapon: The karach blade is bound to the owner's mental state. The Practical Incarnation states that, given enough inner harmony and concentration, Dak'kon could use the sword to cut holes in reality...which is why he bothered to rescue him. "Such a tool, when used properly, could slay the multiverse itself..."
Gameplay and Story Integration: A karach blade becomes stronger and sharper with the will of the wielder. If you help Dak'kon clear his mind of self-doubt and increase his morale, his blade will change into a straighter form that offers more spells and better protection, because he wants to protect you. Likewise, if you torture him by lording his plight over him, the blade will become twisted, jagged, and very, very good at killing - because he really desperately wants you dead.
I Owe You My Life: Dak'kon is bound to serve The Nameless One for as long as The Nameless One lives due to a life-debt to The Practical Incarnation, who 'saved' Dak'kon by giving him the Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon. Finding out The Nameless One was immortal was...unpleasant, for him. For githzerai, slavery is much worse then death.
Video Game Caring Potential: You can tell him that he doesn't have to serve you any more, and that you'll try to find a way to annul the contract... though this only adds to his torment by causing him to worry that you have enslaved yourself with promises, just as he did.
Katanas Are Just Better: Technically it can look however he wants...but the in-game model...
Lawful Neutral: Something that marks him as an anomaly among his people; as you can imagine for creatures who have chosen to dwell in the plane of chaos, most githerzerai are Chaotic Neutral. invoked
Or at least, they were. Dak'kon has been so influential that modern depictions of the githzerai resemble him much more.
Magic Knight: Stabs and slings spells with equal and intense dedication.
Not So Stoic: Becomes unusually loud during his crisis of faith in his personal quest.
Verbal Tic: *Know* that it is the *will* of the Githzerai to place emphasis on certain words. *Know* that Dak'kon, as a Githzerai *zerth*, is no exception.
"No deaders today 'cept walkin' ones, looks like."
Voiced by: Sheena Easton
A rogue, burglar and pickpocket, Annah is a native of the dilapidated Hive Ward of Sigil, with all the jaded, world-weary cynicism that comes with it. She is also a tiefling, or humanoid with just a touch of fiend's blood somewhere in the family tree, as evidenced by her long rat-like tail. She's rough around the edges and keeps many things to herself, but she has a lot in common with the Nameless One.
Badass Normal: For Planescape, anyway. Her only abnormal traits are a high body temperature and a tail.
Can Not Spit It Out: She's got the hots for the Nameless One. You can kiss her after finding Ravel.
Chaotic Neutral: She's not actually malicious, just jaded and spiky. invoked
Cute Monster Girl: Probably not a good idea to call her "cute" within earshot, though. She's a tiefling, meaning somewhere in her lineage is a fiend (a demon, devil or daemon), and thusly she has some inhuman traits. In the game itself, her only really visible nonhuman trait is that she has a vaguely rat-like tail.
In the novelisation, which is apparently based on an early and eventually unused script, she's more obviously monstrous. Her skin is beige, she has slits instead of ears, six fingers to a hand, and her teeth are a chaotic jumble of pointy fangs and blunt squared-off incisors.
"Shut Up" Kiss: If the Nameless One talks to Annah after kissing Ravel and specifically starts a conversation by mentioning that, Annah gets upset saying that he couldn't say anything that would make her feel better. So he doesn't say anything.
Lampshaded by the tailor in the Clerk's Ward. If you visit him before you've recruited Fall-from-Grace, he will ruthlessly critique her outfit on the grounds of practicality. She will shrug it off, saying she's never felt extremes of heat or cold because of her part-fiend heritage. Or, if Morte is in your party, she'll seriously consider letting the tailor create some more practical armor before Morte interjects, saying that it's a terrible idea.
Hand Waved as her tiefling blood raising her body temperature, requiring her to wear clothing that ventilates heat better.
Fall-from-Grace is an exercise in contradictions, a Chaotic Evil demon turned orderly and gentle, and the madame of a chaste brothel. She is a member of the Society of Sensation, who believe that truth and understanding can only come from personal experience and seeking out the unknown and unusual.
Aborted Arc: There's foreshadowing that she was going to betray you but apparently that was cut from the game. However, considering the source of that foreshadowing, it could've been a red herring or simple jealousy. Confirmed to have been cut was a bit of Ship Tease between Grace and Nameless that would've concluded in her refusing to risk it even if he was immortal.
Bare Fisted Monk: She won't (or, more accurately, can't) wield a weapon that is made of cold iron. In game terms, that translates into pretty much every weapon, including the non-metal ones.
If you choose to believe Vrischika, she's simply being seductive intellectually rather than physically. Vrischika visibly dislikes her and likely says that out of spite, but... let's say that Grace doesn't have to do anything to be a tease.
Lawful Neutral: Her in-universe alignment, but she skirts with Neutral Good. Particularly when she delivers an angry speech to Vhailor about how mercy has its place in the multiverse.
Her AI also seems to be purposefully designed to place priority on healing other characters over herself.
Natural Weapon: She fights with her fists, though even the touch of a succubus is harmful to most creatures. She also has her Kiss of Death in a pinch.
Shock and Awe: Since she uses traditional D&D cleric spells, her strongest offensive spell is Call Lightning.
The Smart Guy: Fall-From-Grace is a primary magic user, unlocks several dialogue options with other party members by asking for her analysis on them, and is also remarkably knowledgeable on a series of other topics.
Stripperiffic: Ironically, she's most likely the only female character in the entire game who isn't, though the game notes that she still makes it look good. Becomes less ironic once you realize she's a Celibate Hero, however.
You Are Worth Hell: In the best ending, she promises to search for the Nameless One in the Lower Planes after he loses his immortality. Although, being a tanar'ri, she's actually no stranger to the hellish planes.
Ignus is a burning man and perhaps one of the most powerful mages in existence, particularly in the realm of fire. Due to attempting to burn down the entirety of the Hive, he was "punished" by having his body transformed into a gateway to the Elemental Plane of Fire.
Attention Defici... Oooh, Flammable!: Can barely hold a conversation for more than a minute without falling back on 'burn things' mode. With sufficient Wisdom The Nameless One will realize this and make him hold onto a conversation longer by claiming he wants to talk about fire and burning.
Ax Crazy: More like Fireball Crazy, but close enough. His in-game Wisdom score is 3. In practical terms, it means he's barely aware of his own surroundings, which generally fits Ignus very well indeed. If it's not on fire or about to be on fire, he's not paying attention to it.
Kill It with Fire: There isn't a problem in the world that Ignus won't try to solve with arson. All of his spells and attacks are fire-based. At the same time, he completely subverts the trope, because his enemies tried to kill him by turning him into a gate to the elemental plane of fire. As a result, he was lit permanently on fire, became more powerful than ever and, of course, more deranged. He also thought it was great.
The Load: If the Nameless One is a mage, then Ignus is the least useful character, mechanically speaking, with redundant spells and very few hit points (though his dialogues are very useful for the Nameless One as a mage). If TNO is not a mage, then Ignus is your best spellcaster. He can be played for power, but he's also so Ax Crazy that many players are simply too creeped out by him to do so.
Obliviously Evil: Ignus wants to burn the planes down and sleep amongst the ashes once there's nothing left to burn. He also lacks the mental capacity to know this is in any way wrong, or that being set on fire is something to which other people may object.
Psychopathic Manchild: That little kid who liked playing with matches and burning ants with magnifying glasses, taken to its (il)logical conclusion. He latches on to The Nameless One like an overenthusiastic Tagalong Kid, which is entirely true in his mind since he still considers The Nameless One to be his master and himself as the young student.
The Punishment: It doesn't get much worse than having your body turned into a gate to the elemental plane of fire. And he loves it.
Sixth Ranger: You get him to join your party by tossing a Decanter of Endless Water at him. He's also a Sixth Ranger Traitor if you're playing a non-evil Nameless One.
Snaketalk: Except rather than a reptilian motif, Ignussss' speech recallsss the sssssizzle of burning meat.
Modrons are ultra-lawful hive-minded machines, but under rare circumstances some can go rogue, gaining individuality and losing group identity. Nordom is one such rogue, a "backwards modron" with new-found curiosity and a need for purpose.
The Archer: He's not the only character with a ranged weapon, though he is only one with an actual bow. Two, in fact.
Badass Adorable: Fall-from-Grace thinks so, at least. Nordom prefers being called a fearsome cubed warrior! ...Which just reinforces her point, really.
Become a Real Boy: Wishes to be a truly new being, rather than simply a rogue modron.
Improbable Weapon User: His crossbows are actually "gear spirits", creatures native to Mechanus that oversee the clockwork of the plane. Many of them travel with a particular modron, and in this case they take the form of dual repeating crossbows.
Robo Speak/Spock Speak: Described in the design document as "like a Speak 'n' Spell on crack", Nordom's speech is an odd variation and combination of both tropes. He announces what he's doing as he's doing it, avoids contractions and speaks precisely, but he has inflection (though it's somewhat limited) and uses slang. Silly slang.
Secret Character: He is in so obscure a locale that you may not even know he exists until another fan tells you. And finding him can be a real Guide Dang It quest.
Strange Syntax Speaker: Sometimes announces inflection and intent before a sentence, calculates aloud, talks in numerals and non-speech sounds, and frequently glitches out or mutilates his words. The impression overall is of a Text-to-Speech program with a few screws loose, and in a fairly literal sense, that's exactly what his speech is.
The Spock: Actually he's trying very hard to subvert the trope, but he was once a being of pure order and logic, and even a "chaotic" modron can't just abandon that sort of thinking.
Video Game Caring Potential: It requires a mod to see, but if you dismiss him from your party in the Crust prison, you don't have to leave him alone in a strange world — you can send him back to the Modron Maze if you give him the cube.
Vhailor is from a group of crazy Knight Templars, but even they think he's a little crazy. The Mercykillers believe mercy weakens the heart and spirit, thereby corrupting justice, and so want to destroy all of it. Vhailor is an object lesson to other Mercykillers that even they should have their limits.He also died, but because of the unique circumstances surrounding his death, his spirit soaked into his armor and by now he's a moving pile of armor that still thinks he's alive. (His race/species is officially "restless spirit".)
An Axe to Grind: A big honkin' one. The description of it when you meet him for the first time even says that it would take immense strength just to wield it at all — and Vhailor can wield it one-handed!
Badass Abnormal: Even in his lifetime, he was touched by the power of justice. Now he's pretty much its avatar.
The Big Guy: He has the highest base strength stat in the game.
The Determinator: The only reason he's still alive is because he believes he should be.
Knight Templar: Though, it must be said, he is Lawful Neutral, not Lawful Evil. What matters is that the law is enforced and the punishment is meted out, not the suffering caused in doing so.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: Vhailor was the Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist to the Practical Incarnation until the latter trapped him in Curst, and you can recover the memories of him with sufficient WIS. By the time you find him, he's forgotten practically everything except his name and his purpose, including you. Reminding him is not a good idea.
Pay Evil unto Evil: He belongs to a faction called the 'mercykillers'. 'Forgiveness' and 'redemption' are not on his list of treatments for criminal behaviour. As Trias — and you — will discover if you try to redeem the fallen angel.
Right Makes Might: Literally, his power grows in proportion to the task he has to accomplish. With careful wording, you can give him a massive power boost by telling him of the "injustice" of your plight.
Sixth Ranger: He joins you late in the game, in the prisons of Curst. He can be a Sixth Ranger Traitor as well, if you're playing an evil Nameless One, or if he overhears the truth about you from the Pillar of Skulls.
Spikes of Villainy: Subverted. More like Spikes of Cruelty, seeing as how he is a mercy-killer.
The Fettered: To the nth degree. He believes so strongly in his ideals it keeps him alive, even though his body has long since turned to dust, and gives him actual stat boosts against particularly deserving enemies.
He can also teach his methods to a fighter The Nameless One, which makes you stronger the more Lawful (and therefore the more subservient to an ideal) you are.
Worthy Opponent: In the best ending, before you go to Hell, Vhailor informs you that the punishment you are about to undergo is for your own good, as it will cleanse your sins and allow you to reach perfection, eventually. He also warns you that if you ever try to escape before your time, he will find you.
Non-Playable Characters
Deionarra
"I shall wait for you in Death's halls, my love..."
Love Redeems: Several players have taken The Reveal of how she died to do this, from even the most vicious Nameless One.
The Power of Love: Brutally deconstructed and then reconstructed. The Practical Incarnation never returned her love but knew that this would force her spirit to remain in the Fortress of Regret. However, it ultimately allows the Nameless One to meet the Transcendent One and achieve his goal of death.
Stripperiffic: Not to the extent of most of the female models in the game, but in her journal model, her spectral gown is torn across the chest for no reason at all, except Author Appeal, of course...
Ravel is one of the night hags, a creature of myth and legend who knows a great deal about the Nameless One. A large chunk of the plot involves finding her and getting answers out of her.
The Cameo/Mythology Gag: Incarnations of Ravel make appearances in the Icewind Dale series; she's the Seer in Heart of Winter and the cat lady in Targos in IWD2. She also influenced the development of Kreia in Knights of the Old Republic 2. Chris Avellone gave some hints about identifying who her incarnations are, as they have bad eyesight, are female, and are usually elderly.
Evil Mentor: Throughout the first half of the game, she appears and manifests in various guises and shapes to help you out in strange and often squicky ways.
Love Makes You Crazy: As a night hag, she was pretty crazy to begin with, but her affection for the Nameless One made her crazy even by other hags' standards.
Love Makes You Evil: She wants the Nameless One, and is willing to murder him and his entire party to keep him around. Also, torture.
Tailor-Made Prison: For attempting to free the Lady of Pain, Ravel was imprisoned in her own private maze, which she's then tweaked to her own particular tastes. She's pretty comfy in there and can apparently come and go as she pleases.
The Hecate Sisters/The Three Faces of Eve - Together with Annah and Fall-From-Grace. She forms the crone, and also plays the role of seductress. You may begin screaming now.
An angel chained and imprisoned underneath the city of Curst. The Nameless One is pointed to him after the reveal that he might know something of his past.
Good Wings, Evil Wings: A subversion, as he's still an angel despite his charred and skeletal wings. Double subverted, given that his wings were burnt off during his fall.
Meaningful Name: His full title, 'Trias the Betrayer'. His regular name alludes to it.
Morality Chain: For Fhjull Forked-Tongue, literally — Fhjull only has to do good because of a contract he made with Trias.
Necessarily Evil: Trias believes that the forces of Good must take more direct action in the Blood War. He was cast down and imprisoned for trying to gather an army of fiends to storm the Heavens, in order to make the forces of Good 'wake up' and do so.
Red Right Hand: Although as immaculate-looking as any deva, Trias' wings have been turned into skeletal husks that give him a somewhat sinister appearance.
Walking Shirtless Scene: He wears nothing but a loincloth. This actually means he exposes more skin them most of the female models, which is pretty hard to do.
A Cornugon (a mid-level baatezu/devil) bound to do acts of selfless goodwill by Trias. He is not pleased by this. Trias sends you to him to find out more of your past.
Comedic Sociopathy: Turns the player into this. Fhjull is incapable of doing evil, much to his chagrin, and his every word is dripping with venom over how much he hates it. If you're clever, you can ask for all sorts of insane favours and he will have to carry them out, seething all the while. His suffering is hilarious to behold. It also makes you more evil, since you're essentially exploiting his kindness but, hey, funny!
Fantastic Racism: To the surprise of absolutely no-one, Fhjull loathes Tanar'ri and will openly insult Fall-From-Grace.
Good Is Not Nice: He makes it very clear that despite what he's being forced into, he would love to kill you.
Lawful Evil: His in-universe alignment, as per all devils. While he's forced to do only good, that does not make him good.
Restraining Bolt: The agreement he was tricked into prevents him from doing anything but good. Killing Trias removes the bolt, though.
Retired Monster: He still speaks proudly of his good (well, evil) old days, even if he's incapable of acting like that again.
Video Game Cruelty Potential: Despite the fact that he does nothing but help you, and even gives you equipment and spells for free, you can sell him out to the Pillar of Skulls.
You Can't Go Home Again: Once his condition became known, he was forced to flee the Nine Hells lest the other devils kill him. He now hides out in the most God-forsaken wilderness he knows of, hiding from the sight of gods and devils and men alike. For double kick-in-the-gut points, you can sell his location to the Pillar of Skulls, which makes the Nine Hells track him down and kill him.
Crazy Survivalist: There are hints that he might have been as brilliant as Practical - maybe even more so - but his mind was too broken to fully take advantage of his talents. He is an astounding trap builder, even improving on the tomb that Practical made, and boasts of easily solving the Lady of Pain's mazes and being able to improve on them.
Note to Self: Wrote a few, and spent most of his life destroying other such notes.
Not so Different: To you - since he is you - but you can convince him to trust you and learn a little about why he is as he is. His extreme, violent fear was once absolutely justified. With a little less luck, you could have been just like him, and he, just like you, wants to escape the burden of torment you carry. In the end, he's relieved when he merges with you because at last he can be free and at rest.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His paranoia led him to set up traps for his later incarnations and destroy a journal that contained a ton of important information.
Practical Incarnation
Another of the Nameless One's previous incarnations, whose plans and machinations endure even after his death.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: The main reason he failed, as the Good Incarnation throws into his face, is that he never was interested in learning the motivations of his companions.
Genius Bruiser: Both Morte and the memories the Nameless One gets of him suggests he was a fighter. He was also very definitely a ruthlessly brilliant tactician and manipulator.
Kick the Dog: He is one cold bastard. Almost every single one of his appearances sees him do something repulsive and vile to an undeserving victim for his own benefit. What's perhaps most terrifying is that he didn't care that they suffered, it wasn't even for his enjoyment. From his point of view, it simply had to be done. His virtual laundry list of atrocities included mental torture (Dak'kon), physical torture (Morte) and general bastardry, but leading Deionarra into a Heroic Sacrifice is widely considered to be his worst. He never loved her.
To make it clear, he intentionally manipulated Deionarra into falling in love with him, just so his betrayal of her would curse her to be a ghost and more useful to him.
Manipulative Bastard: Reliving his memories gives you a front-row seat of him effortlessly twisting people round his finger. He was a brilliant individual; he just had no regard for anyone other than himself.
My Death Is Just the Beginning: His monstrosity aside, he's probably half the reason the Nameless One manages to get as far as he does.
The Unfettered: There was no deed too vile if it brought him closer to his goal. Other people were simply tools, and sometimes they needed to be shaped. Pain, death, betrayal, and manipulation were all legitimate means to achieve the desired functionality.
Shoot the Dog: Those horrific deeds above? They turn out to be completely necessary in order to win the game. There's a reason why he's the Practical Incarnation, not the Evil Incarnation.
Good Incarnation
A calm, sane and kindly individual, and yet another of the Nameless One's previous incarnations. The first, in fact.
The Atoner: "Good" Incarnation might be a bit of a misnomer. It's never revealed what he did to earn him his place in the Lower Planes, but it certainly wasn't pleasant. He attempted to become good afterwards, but Ravel killed him to test the immortality ritual and only ended up making things worse.
Moral Event Horizon: What this man did was so unspeakably awful that a thousand lifetimes of good behavior wouldn't even begin to make up for it. Or so he says. Maybe they would have, but before getting even one lifetime of good behavior, he died, lost his memory, and went insane (more or less in that order).invoked
Nice Guy: Given his company, it's not difficult for him to come across as the sane and sensible one by comparison.
A mysterious creature with a vested interest in rendering the Nameless One permanently dead. Or so it would appear.
All Your Powers Combined: An interesting version. He has the combined memories, skills, and powers of every single one of the Nameless One's incarnations. Too bad that doesn't stop him from being an...
Badass Boast: I HAVE FORGED PLANES WITH MY POWER. I CAN UNMAKE YOU.
Big Bad: Albeit without a typical villainous motivation; he just wants to be left alone.
Enemy Without: To be specific, he's the Nameless One's estranged mortality given physical form.
Hidden Villain: He doesn't even show up until the second half of the game, and we don't learn who he actually is until the very end.
Kick the Dog: He kills off all your party members, one by one, and there is not a single thing you can do to prevent it. Then he'll throw their deaths in your face; it was you who brought them to his Fortress, after all.
Large Ham: Played by Tony Jay at his glorious, hammy best, to the point that when his dialogue is shown in text, it's always IN ALL CAPS. Here's a good example, though with a spoiler (and pork overdose) alert.
Last Chance To Quit: He offers each of your party members the chance to leave before he kills them, and all of them refuse.
Orcus on His Throne: If he had more directly exercised his considerable power, the Nameless One never would have stood a chance. In a twist, this actually turns out to be a major plot point. He's not lazy, just scared of meeting the Nameless One face-to-face, and not actually as powerful as he claims he is.
True Neutral: In the end, his only desire is to be left alone. The only reason he's an antagonist is because he believes that he'll never achieve this so long as the Nameless One keeps trying to learn about his past, and he's willing to do anything to prevent this. (His belief is perfectly justified, as it happens.) invoked
