The characters of Sea of Solitude.
open/close all folders
Kay, Glowy and the Three Pieces of Her
Kay
Voiced by: Miriam Jud (Kay), Birte Widmann (Teen Kay)
The main character of the game, Kay is a young woman who's been transformed into a black-furred and red-eyed humanoid monster somehow. Waking up to find herself on a motorboat in the middle of a flooded city, she makes her way through the city on a quest to get back home and return herself to normal, with the help of a few light-based beings (the Girl, Glowy, and the Children) she encounters along the way.
Throughout her journey, she encounters other black-furred/feathered and red-eyed monsters like herself, and has to find a way to restore them back to normal as well, while avoiding two monsters in particular: a woman in a shell and a ravenous fish.
- Aloof Big Sister: Albeit unintentionally. Before her depression really hit her hard, Kay was a cheerful young woman who enjoyed her happy social life and love life so much that she ignored her timid, "uncool" and "girly" younger brother Sunny, who had to deal with relentless bullying at his school.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: It's fairly clear that the entire story is allegorical. Kay is a normal girl in a bad family situation, and it's blazingly clear from the start of the introduction that the game is a representation of her depression, hence the Sunken City setting (i.e. someone "drowning in one's depression").
- Break the Cutie: To say that Kay goes through emotional hell would be putting it lightly. In order for her to understand exactly what caused herself and the people in her life to turn into monsters, she has listen to events in their past (via her interactions with "Glowy"), both the good and the bad.
- Character Development: Originally, Kay was so caught up with her love life that she ultimately didn't pay attention to her little brother Sunny, who was being bullied relentlessly at school. This helps her realize how horrible she's been and does her best to fix her broken relationship, which also leads her to try and help the other monsters she runs into along the way (her mother Vivienne, her father Adam and her boyfriend Jack).
- Convenient Escape Boat: Downplayed. The motorboat that Kay travels across the waters of the sunken city with is simply her main means of transportation. That being said, it does provide a convenient escape from being eaten alive by the monster fish whenever she has to sail past her.
- Cool Big Sis: Played With. Much to her devastation and shame, Kay realizes that she was anything but this to Sunny during the time he was being bullied. However, once she comes to this realization, she's willing to move heaven and earth to help him and mend her relationship with him. To be fair, it's implied based on a few audio memories that Glowy plays back to Kay that she was a loving big sister to Sunny at some point in time before things got bad within her family. In one audio memory, where a 12 year-old Kay is having a fun day with her then pregnant mother Vivienne, she seems genuinely excited about being a big sister. In another audio memory, when Sunny is grossed out by Kay talking about kissing her boyfriend Jack for being so thoughtful and romantic, she playfully asks him if he wants a kiss too, rather than snipe at him.
- Cute Monster Girl: She looks quite adorable even as a demonic-looking monkey of some kind.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Despite her black-furred and red-eyed appearance, she's the hero of the story and a well-meaning young woman who desperately wants to make things right with the people she loves.
- Despair Event Horizon:
- Kay almost crosses this when she realizes what caused her parents to become so angry towards each other. Her mother Vivienne wanted to have kids to bring joy to her husband, but Adam wasn't ready despite having said on their first date that Vivienne was the woman he could imagine having children with, which makes Kay believe that her birth is the reason why their relationship fell apart. Thankfully, her parents do eventually manage to make up when she sees them back in their human form and with Sunny, now clearly happy.
- Unlike the last time, Kay crosses it when Jack pushes her away. She's desperate to try and help Jack, but he refuses her help because he honestly believes she can't help him with his Ambiguous Disorder and instead thinks it would be better for the two of them to stay away from each other. Unfortunately for him, Kay Hates Being Alone and hasn't been able to join her family on the boat, and him pushing her away, which was understandable, finally broke her and led to all of the pent-up negative emotions she had been collecting in her backpack to explode and weigh her down. It's only thanks to the woman in the shell and the Girl that she manages to pull herself out from the horizon.
- Eaten Alive: Any time she's unlucky enough to get caught by the monster fish, this is her fate.
- Find the Cure!: Kay's major goal is to find a way to return herself to normal. Along the way, after having helped Sunny, she goes on to return other monsters she meets return back to normal also. With the exception of Jack, she succeeds in restoring her family to normal.
- Group Hug: At the very end of the game, Kay engages in one with the girl in the raincoat and shockingly cute and childlike versions of both the giant woman in the shell and the monster fish. This act symbolizes Kay making peace with herself and learning how to go on in life.
- Hates Being Alone: Her worst fear, and the reason why she became a monster. She ended up pushing both her boyfriend and family away from her because of her own insensitivity. Part of her motivation to restore everyone back to their human form is to try to fix her broken relationships and bring them back together, though she becomes distressed when after returning her family back to normal, she can't hear their voices anymore and can't get near the boat without being in severe pain.
- Innocently Insensitive: To her horror and shame, Kay realizes that this was the root cause of what turned her into a monster, as she's acted this way to at least a couple of people in her life.
- It's All About Me: The giant woman in the shell very pointedly accuses Kay of having this kind of attitude about her. Unfortunately, to Kay's shock and dismay, she finds that over the course of the game that the giant woman was right.
- Light 'em Up: Thanks to the girl in the raincoat lending Kay her flare at the beginning of the game, Kay can use the flare to keep track of whatever her next objective is and bring light to darkened areas within the city.
- My God, What Have I Done?: She has this big-time regarding her relationship with Sunny. Kay quickly realizes just how much of a horrible person she was when she discovers that her brother was being bullied by his so-called "friends" and tried to tell her, only for realize that she didn't actually listen to him and was more focused on texting with her boyfriend. Needless to say, she was horrified.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: When Jack asks Kay to leave him alone so he can try and work out his own problems, Kay refuses and begs him not to leave her, desperately trying to find a way to help him. He resorts to pushing her away, which ultimately leaves her at her lowest point and finally breaks down.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Averted. With her red eyes, she only looks like a monster on the outside. With the game taking place in her mind, her appearance seems to be nothing more a metaphorical way of showing that she hasn't always been as kind and considerate of others as she thought she was.
- Split-Personality Merge: In the last island/chapter, after the giant woman in the shell (who represents Kay's self-loathing) sacrifices herself to the monster fish (who represents Kay's depression and loneliness), Kay encounters the shelled woman not only alive and well, but as an innocent and childlike version of herself, followed by the girl (who represents her happy side) approaching her while carrying an equally innocent and childlike version of the monster fish. Kay merges with all three manifestations of herself by engaging them in a Group Hug, and becomes human again afterwards.
The Girl
Voiced by: Saskia Wolf
A mysterious girl in a raincoat that Kay encounters and befriends right at the start of the game.
- Body Horror: Angry at Kay for attempting to help Jack, when Kay "should've let her do the talking", the girl undergoes this. Her face loses its eyes and her mouth grows so wide she develops More Teeth than the Osmond Family and her raincoat and boots turns purple. Thankfully, she gets better.
- Eaten Alive: At one point, when Kay asks the giant, shelled woman if she did something to the girl, the woman claims that she ate the girl because she's "as fake as" Kay is.
- Flashy Teleportation: When initiating a game of hide-and-seek with Kay, the girl teleports while leaving light particles behind.
- Flight: Her most overt power is her ability to fly.
- Genki Girl: The girl is very cheerful and lively, treating her first interaction with Kay like a game of hide-and-seek. Unfortunately, by the time Kay encounters Jack, the girl's personality does a complete 180, to the point where she's just as much against Kay as the giant woman in the shell and the monster fish are.
- In the Hood: She's easily identifiable by the yellow raincoat she wears.
- Invisibility: During the brief game of hide-and-seek that she initiates with Kay, she becomes invisible, leading Kay to have to find her location by using the flare.
- Jerkass Realization: When Kay reunites her with in Chapter 11 ("Isolation"), the girl feels bad for the way she wigged out on Kay in Chapter 9 ("Nobody Gets Me but You").
- Light 'em Up: By touching the lantern hanging off the bow of Kay's motorboat, the girl causes the lantern to light up, which then causes the initially dark surroundings to become clear and sunny.
- Light Is Good: She's a lighthearted young girl with light powers and a yellow raincoat who becomes fast friends with Kay.
- Literal Split Personality: She's the embodiment of Kay's formerly vibrant and happy-go-lucky self.
- Love Makes You Evil: Zigzagged. The Girl (actually Kay's positive feelings) is also trying to help Jack, who she clearly cares deeply for. When Kay accidentally pushes him away in her attempt to try and figure out what caused him to become a monster, the Girl becomes angry and undergoes the Body Horror that's mentioned above.
- Making a Splash: After lighting up both the lantern on Kay's boat and changing the scenery from nighttime to daytime, the girl then causes the water levels of the submerged city to drop drastically.
- Mind over Matter: When she senses the giant woman in the shell approaching, she forces the doors of a gate open in a seemingly telekinetic fashion.
- No Name Given: The girl has no name, which makes sense seeing as she's an embodiment of Kay.
- Pillar of Light: Kay's first encounter with her at the start of the game is due to her generating this from a far of distance.
- Super-Empowering: She shares her flare ability with Kei, enabling the latter to both keep track of her next objective with it and bring light to darkened areas within the Sunken City.
"Glowy"
Voiced by: N/A
- A Dog Named "Dog": Kay calls it "Glowy" simply because it's a glowing ball of light.
- Making a Splash: Like the girl, Glowy demonstrates the ability to lower the water levels of the city to help Kei get around. Unlike the girl, however, Glowy does it in a slightly more impressive manner, not only by lowering the water levels to where Kay can actually walk around through the remnants of the city, but also through accomplishing that feat by parting them.
The Woman in the Shell
Voiced by: Sarah Ulmer
A giant woman in a shell who impedes Kay's journey at certain points in the game just to denigrate her.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Played with. For the majority of the game, the woman is the size of a building. Towards the end, when she actually becomes an ally towards Kay, she's still much larger than Kay, but also significantly smaller than when Kay first meets her.
- Implacable Woman: Though not to the same extent as the monster fish, the giant, shelled woman is pretty persistent in her own pursuit of Kay, managing to block the latter's path quite a few times throughout her journey.
- Literal Split Personality: She's the embodiment of Kay's self-hatred.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Her main purpose in the game seems to be delivering these to Kay. For example, when Kay says she hasn't done anything (as in anything wrong to deserve the giant woman's vitriol), the giant, shelled woman twists the statement to her advantage by saying that Kay is "right" in that she never does anything. As established above in Kay's folder, she's unfortunately right (given Kay's failure to help Sunny's bullying situation or be respectful of Jack's boundaries as he was going through his own problems).
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Downplayed. She's definitely antagonistic towards Kay for a good portion of the game, but towards the end, she softens up towards Kay, and it's revealed that the reason she's so hard on Kay in the first place is to help save the latter from herself.
The Monster Fish
Voiced by: Sarah Ulmer
A giant, monster fish that doggedly follows Kay everywhere she goes, for the purpose of eating her.
- Big Bad: The monster fish is the closest thing the game has to a main villain, though this becomes subverted towards the end of the game, when both she and the giant woman in the shell are revealed to be embodiments of Kay's personality.
- Fangs Are Evil: For most of the game, very much so. However, once it's made clear that the fish is a manifestation of Kay's personal struggles, this ultimately becomes subverted toward the end of the game.
- Faux Affably Evil: Unlike the giant, shelled woman, who berates Kay relentlessly, the fish on the other hand talks to Kay in a calm, friendly and inviting manner. One of the 39 Messages in a Bottle that Kay collects sums this aspect of the fish's nature perfectly.Message in a Bottle: Whoever finds this... whoever you are, be careful of the water. That thing may chuckle but it isn't here to tell you jokes.
- Female Monster Surprise: One wouldn't think the fish was female until hearing it/her speak. Justified, seeing as she embodies a part of Kay.
- Fiendish Fish: And how?
- Implacable Fish: No matter where Kay goes or how far along in the game's story she is, the fish will always catch up with her.
- Literal Split Personality: She's the embodiment of Kay's depression and loneliness.
The Other "Monsters"
All
- Dark Is Not Evil: They may be black-furred/feathered monsters, but considering the fact that they're all Kay's loved ones, they're not bad people at all. Especially not her younger brother Sunny, for example, who was viciously bullied.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Played with. To varying degrees, they're all large, intimidating, and in some cases, even aggressive, but they're ultimately just troubled rather than legitimately antagonistic.
- Single Tear: As a subtle way of conveying how deep each monster's emotional turmoil really is, they all shed a single orange tear that has the ability to raise the water level of the flooded city during Kay's individual encounters with them.
The Bird Monster (Sunny)
Voiced by: Max Pohl
A giant bird monster that flies overhead of Kay in Chapter 2 (Mixed Emotions) before becoming the focal point of Chapters 3 (The Sound of Silence) and 4 (Don't Give Up On Me). As Kay pursues and interacts with the bird, she realizes that it's actually her younger brother Sunny.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Averted. He's not bratty or annoying at all, but Kay inadvertently made him feel like one prior to the events of the game. When he tried to get her to help him with his bullying situation, and found her so engrossed in her relationship with Jack that she hardly listened to him, he sadly took the hint and suffered in silence.
- Big Little Brother: Downplayed. Only in their black-furred/feathered and red-eyed forms is Sunny this to Kay. Otherwise, because he's still a child in real life, this clearly doesn't apply.
- Bully Magnet: Sunny's story sadly revolves around him being this.
- Driven to Suicide: Thankfully averted, but the continuous bullying that Sunny endured from his "friends" brought him dangerously close to feeling like suicide was the only out.
- Feathered Fiend: Averted. Granted, the bird is gigantic and makes a pretty scary first impression by flying above Kay while letting out a pretty demonic-sounding roar, and Kay does worry about potentially being eaten by the bird if she succeeds in making contact with it, but that's as fearsome as it gets, especially once she finds out that the bird is really her younger brother Sunny.
- Gentle Giant: Despite being a giant bird in Kay's mental world, he's not dangerous or aggressive at all. The most antagonistic thing he does toward Kay is reject her attempts to reach out to him and help him, and even then, those actions are for a tragically good reason.
- "Get Back Here!" Boss: Downplayed in that Sunny isn't a boss in the traditional sense, but nonetheless, Kay has to chase him around the flooded city quite a bit before she's finally able able to help him with his problems and change him back to normal.
- Giant Flyer: And how?
- Ironic Name: Despite his happy-sounding name, his life is anything but that due to the nonstop bullying he receives from his classmates, which is compounded by the neglect he feels from Kay when his attempts to tell her about the bullying fall on deaf ears.
- Meaningful Appearance: According to creator Cornelia Geppert, Sunny appearing as a giant bird in Kay's mental world stems from all the times he would look outside his classroom, see birds flying freely and wish he had the ability to fly as well to escape all the bullying he endured.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Averted. Of the "monsters" that Kay comes across, Sunny is the least harmful and aggressive.
- Redheads Are Uncool: He's a redhead boy in real life, and is picked on by other boys at his school for a multitude of ridiculous reasons, from his name, his clothes, simply wanting to hum or sing out loud to himself, etc.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: His name is just one of the many malicious reasons why he got bullied at school.
The Octopus Monster (Vivienne)
Voiced by: Cornelia Baumann
A vaguely human-faced octopus monster whom Kay encounters at the beginning of Chapter 5 (One) before later becoming the focus of that chapter as well Chapters 6 (Hurt), 7 (Burning Down the House) and 8 (Fine and Mellow), where she has a prolonged and heated exchange with a fiery-breathing chameleon hiding away atop a skyscraper. As Kay interacts with her, she realizes that she's actually her mother Vivienne.
- Awful Wedded Life: With Adam. Because of him working and never being home, and possibly cheating on her as well, she essentially had to parent Kay and Sunny by herself with no help.
- Behemoth Battle: Her intense argument with Adam is an emotional version of this.
- Fire/Water Juxtaposition: In Kay's mental world, she's the sea monster to Adam's fire-breathing monster.
- Giant Squid: As mentioned above, she's re-imagined in Kay's mental world as a human-faced octopus monster.
- Meaningful Appearance: According to creator Cornelia Geppert, Vivienne appearing as an octopus-like monster in Kay's mental world is meant to embody her desire to keep her family together.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Downplayed. In their monster forms, she's the huge girl to Adam's tiny guy. Otherwise, she's naturally shorter than him when they're seen in their human forms.
The Chameleon Monster (Adam)
Voiced by: William Ludwig
A giant, fire-breathing chameleon monster whom Kay encounters at the beginning of Chapter 5 (One) before later becoming the focus of that chapter as well Chapters 6 (Hurt), 7 (Burning Down the House) and 8 (Fine and Mellow), where he has a prolonged and heated exchange with the octopus monster that Kay encounters first along the surface of the flooded city. As Kay interacts with him, she realizes that he's actually her father Adam.
- Awful Wedded Life: With Vivienne.
- Behemoth Battle: His intense argument with Vivienne is an emotional version of this.
- Breath Weapon: He expresses his anger and frustration with his life by occasionally breathing fire.
- Fire/Water Juxtaposition: In Kay's mental world, he's the fire-breathing monster to Vivienne's sea monster.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Downplayed. In their monster forms, he's the tiny guy to Vivienne's huge girl. Otherwise, he's naturally taller than her when they're seen in their human forms.
The Wolf Monster (Jack)
Voiced by: Alexander Tol
How he looks on the outside
The last of the monsters that Kay has to confront between Chapters 9 (Nobody Gets Me But You) and 10 (Paint It Black). In reality, the wolf is Jack, Kay's boyfriend, who's been pushing her away due to his own mental health struggles.
- Break Her Heart to Save Her: Because Jack has his own mental and emotional health problems, he's been pushing Kay away for some time, as he saw that his struggles were impacting their relationship. To Kay's devastation, he continues to do this in her mental world, and as a result, he's the only one of the black-furred and red-eyed monsters that she doesn't return back to normal, leading to her Despair Event Horizon.
- Canis Major: He appears in Kay's mental world as a giant wolf.
- "Get Back Here!" Boss: Like Sunny, he's not a boss in the traditional sense, but nonetheless, he runs away from Kay quite a bit as she attempts to save him and return him back to normal.
- Leave Me Alone!: Because of his mental health problems, he tries to get Kay to do this in the worst way.
- Noble Wolf: Downplayed. While he's gigantic, very intimidating to look at, and pushes Kay away in a pretty aggressive manner, Jack isn't a bad person. He simply has his own mental health problems that he needs to work through on his own.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Downplayed. He's as fierce as one would imagine a wolf to be, but he's ultimately a good guy.
- White Wolves Are Special: Subverted. Despite the fact that he initially appears to Kay as a white-furred, blue-eyed wolf, he's actually black-furred and red-eyed like her and the other monsters. His initial appearance is possibly meant to symbolize how perfect Kay views both him and their relationship, when in reality, he's a flawed individual with his own struggles in life like everybody else.
- A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Played With. Jack is more like an evil-looking wolf in a noble wolf's clothing. Despite that, he's a genuinely nice person. The problem is that he's suffering from an Ambiguous Disorder and realizes it's hurting his relationship with Kay, so he purposely distances himself from her.
Other Characters
The Children
Voiced by: N/A
A group of children that Kay encounters while trying to help mend the relationship between her parents.
School Bullies
Voiced by: Billy Rilot, Christopher Dixon
- Kids Are Cruel: The kids at Sunny's school are needlessly cruel, as they took practically every opportunity to torment him while pretending to be his "friends."
