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Main Characters
Sam Herbert
A sysadmin and the first character introduced. Hates to be around others and wants to get out as soon as possible. He has number 0 and Paranoid Personality Disorder. Has a Charahub profile
(spoilers) and an 8tracks mix.
- Abusive Parents: Subverted. He initially doesn't seem keen on his dad...but then we have a flashback and both he and the readers realize he one of the most accepting and positive figures in his life, if a little neglectful. It's also mentioned that Sam's mother could be "scary" sometimes, but that she couldn't seem to help it.
- Conspiracy Theorist: He's beginning to get some ideas about the hospital and the people he meets there.
- Golf Clubbing: Though he hasn't played in a long time.
- Heroic BSoD: After gaining the realization that the hospital he and the rest of characters are trapped in is indeed a virtual one, he slowly makes his way to his bed and curls up in a confused mess.
- Jerkass / Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Somewhere between the two. He honestly hates dealing with other people, but he's not malevolent, just suspicious and wants to avoid being taken advantage of.
- The Napoleon: He's the shortest male in the cast, with a temper to boot.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Eventually realizes that wiping the computer to cover his tracks and swiping the information from it without mentioning it to anyone has caused serious problems and delays for Grey.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Was going to be this in Vera and the Dragon.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Investigating the basement early and alone caused the situation to escalate severely.
- Would Hit a Girl: Quin learns first-hand that chasing and cornering Sam is not a good idea. It immediately lampshaded on the next page."What kind of twisted freak would hit a girl?!"
Percy O'Neil
"Surely we could compare notes! Aren't you as confused as I?"
A nonfiction-novelist-slash-newspaper-columnist. Never seen without his notebook and is trying hard to figure out the hospital's mysteries. He has number 4 and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder. Has a Charahub profile (spoilers) and an 8tracks mix.
- Abusive Parents: Percy's folks worked him to the bone, resulting in the overanxious perfectionist he is as an adult. His own shadow is a personification of a critical, domineering parental voice.
- Creature of Habit: Follows a pattern in that he always asks questions of every new person he meets and takes notes on every odd thing he finds.
- Denied Food as Punishment: Shadow Percy mentions his parents refused him food until he'd done his work.
- Eye Glasses: It's an ongoing joke by the author that the glasses may as well be his eyes.
- Henpecked Husband: If his flashbacks are to be believed. Turns out he was the one being an asshole to his wife, being stubborn against her suggestions. Accepting this is what saves him from his shadow.
- Neat Freak: He feels obligated to make his bed after he wakes up and closes doors in the hallway.
- Stealth Pun: Percy's shadow is a literal "inner critic".
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Has an irrational fear of monsters.
Ava von Hall
"This place is spooky! I thought I was soooooo alone here!"
A college dropout and waitress. Appears to care more about flirting and socialization than her new situation. She has number 50 and Histrionic Personality Disorder. Has a Charahub profile (spoilers) and an 8tracks mix.
- Disappeared Dad: Was a one-night stand with her mother.
- Driven to Suicide: Thinks her birth due to her mother's one-night stand broke up her family, which eventually led her down the "if I didn't exist..." line of reasoning.. Subverted as she didn't go through with it.
- Half-Human Hybrid: What she was going to be in Vera and the Dragon. Afterall, she's a...
- Heroic BSoD: Undergoes a major one where she goes dangerously close to the Despair Event Horizon and get possessed by her shadow.
- Male Gaze: Seems to be going for this with her unbuttoned shirt.
- Tsundere: Gets huffy when her charms fail on others.
- The Unfavorite: Especially as she's an illegitimate child.
Cherry Trau
"Uh... never... nevermind... "
A college biology student. Ridiculously shy and has a stuttering problem, but tries to be helpful. She has number 82 and Avoidant Personality Disorder. Has a Charahub profile (spoilers) and an 8tracks mix.
- Non-Indicative Name: Is not the red person, nor does she like cherries.
- Opposites Attract: She and Rick. Grey even lampshades it in his thoughts.
- Speech Impediment: Has a fairly severe stutter, though this may be due to anxiety rather than a genuine speech impediment.
- Stutter Stop: She seems to speak more clearly when she gets upset enough that she briefly stops being nervous.
- Took a Level in Badass: She manages to gather the courage to push Louis off a cliff when he starts torturing Ava.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: She regrets her own name. And Rick eventually brings it up.
Rick L. Worth
"You must not have run into many good people, but never fear. You've ran into the best possible option."
A football coach and PE teacher. Radical and laid-back, Rick towers over the rest of the cast and readily talks about himself. Despite this, he's graceful and fun. He has number 81 and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Has a Charahub profile (spoilers) and an 8tracks mix.
- The Ace: He slathers this persona all over his intro.
- Attention Whore: Butts into conversations so he can be the focus.
- Berserk Button: Having his graduation invitation ripped to pieces is enough to send him into a blind rage.
- Kick the Morality Pet: Subverted. He rears back like he's going to hit Cherry after being sent into a Heroic BSoD after encountering his shadow's Black Bug Room...then notices she's cowering and backs off, apologizing for scaring her.
- Voodoo Shark: Played for Laughs; His catch-all explanation of the strange occurrences as supernatural only raises more questions.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: His parents didn't attend his graduation.
Red Diamond/Louis Stone
"I don't take kindly to being shoved around."
A stockbroker who introduces himself with an alias. Skeptical and calm, until others get on his nerves. He has number 7 and Antisocial Personality Disorder. Has a Charahub profile (spoilers) and an 8tracks mix.
- Ambiguously Evil: Is he really that much of a dick or is the hospital just getting to him?
- Casting a Shadow: His associated element.
- Consummate Liar: Being The Sociopath, this only comes as a natural. On the former ask blog, he got the question if it was true he crashed the stock market.Louis: "Invest in dot.coms", I said. "They'll be around forever", I said...
- Disabled Snarker: Apparently has hearing problems.
- Disney Villain Death: At the hands of Cherry. Time will tell if he actually dies. His shadow, at least, has resurfaced as a continuing threat.
- Dissonant Laughter: Laughs as Rick punches him out.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": He does not like being called Russell, which is also his middle name.
- A Glass of Chianti:
Word of God says Louis is very fond of (and knowledgeable about) wine. - Good Is Boring: Seems to follow this line of thinking, purposefully inducing a fight just to get some excitement.
- I Have Many Names: We only know one, but according to him he has many aliases.
- Jerkass: Even moreso than Sam. He's fairly unpredictable: one moment he retreats to his room because he's bored, in the other he can be causing chaos wherever he goes - which seems to be his favorite thing to do. Though not necessarily evil (or so we think), he's difficult to keep track of, as one never knows what's going on in his mind, always sheming for the next thing.
- Kick the Dog: So much. One such moment was when he took Rick's graduation invitation and slowly ripped it in half right in front of him.
- Serial Killer: His father(?), who killed his own co-workers and boss before the events of the story.
- Unkempt Beauty: His shadow is basically a scruffier, unkempt version of himself.
Juliet Ross
"I've been expecting you!"
A telephone psychic who has been obsessively painting pictures across the hospital. She has number 22 and Schizotypal Personality Disorder. Has a Charahub profile (spoilers) and an 8tracks mix.
- Background Halo: In her introduction page.
- Big Good: Early on, she's the one leaving messages and guiding the others. This doesn't last, as the messages are destroyed by the hospital's Chaos Architecture and the others write her off as a crackpot after meeting her in person.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Besides her fingerpainting, she doesn't seem the least bit concerned about her predicament.
- Despair Event Horizon: Ends up hitting this despite Grey's attempts to reach out to her.
- Fourth-Wall Observer: Addresses the reader directly. As if they're a voice in her head.
- Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Turns into this. Her glitches show her making odd and jerky movements, a la Antisepticeye.
- Pstandard Psychic Pstance: Seen here.
- Phony Psychic: According to Vivian, her shadow.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Pulls one when Sam and Quin leave her big meeting.It's the result of Vivian taking over.
- Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Appears like this here.
- Split-Personality Takeover: Is unable to face and win against Vivian, and ends up losing control of her virtual body. In the end, they're both destroyed by this.
Quin Orwell
A photographer who was found on the roof. Gets irritated easily. She has number 83 and Borderline Personality Disorder. Has a Charahub profile (spoilers) and an 8tracks mix.
- Disappeared Dad: He died saving her from drowning in a frozen lake. Needless to say it's left her pretty messed up.
- Fingore: Quin's missing part of her pinky finger on her left hand. She lost it to hypothermia when she fell into frozen water as a kid.
- Gender-Blender Name: Though her first name is Deirdre, she goes by her more androgynous middle name.
- Mood-Swinger: A result of her Borderline Personality Disorder.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She has a phobia towards lakes because of a childhood accident that killed her father.
Helen Bixby
"We have to stick together, okay?"
A well-to-do homemaker who is afraid of being alone. After her number was called by Juliet through the intercom, she woke up on a bed in the middle of a forest within Room 2310. She has number 6 and Dependent Personality Disorder. Has a Charahub profile (spoilers) and an 8tracks mix.
- Extreme Doormat: Has a really hard time making decisions by herself.
- Happily Married: At the very least, she considers her husband wonderful. He's not.
- Lost Wedding Ring: She notices after waking up that her wedding ring has disappeared.
- Team Mom: Doesn't want there to be any fighting.
Darrel Grey
"..."
A doctor who was woken up by Helen. He is currently "checking a few things", as per his words. He has number 20 and Schizoid Personality Disorder. Has a Charahub profile (spoilers) and an 8tracks mix.
- Expy: Looks very much like one Dr. Freeman.
- Hates Small Talk: It surely seems so. Later on, Sam is trying to get some information about the switch and the basement, and his answers aren't very elaborate, agitating Sam.Sam: Am I talking to a wall?
- The Quiet One: Doesn't disclose much, even to the audience.
- Walking Spoiler: Word of God confirms Grey will eventually become this.
Spoiler Characters
The Shadows
Full lineup here.◊
A group of monsters who patrol the hospital, seeming to be the embodied self-destructive impulses of the characters. They have the ability to take the form of a mass of black tentacles or a colored outline of the character they're pursuing at the time. They also seem to have some control over the hospital itself, being able to create doors to surreal Black Bug Rooms which may or may not be the shadows themselves.
◊All of Them
- All There in the Manual: Some of them are described in the author's tag, and the Charahub profiles for the cast mention nicknames for all of them and their rooms.
- Alternate Company Equivalent: They resemble the shadow selves in the mobile story 'The Crown and the Flame' in looks (both are almost entirely black versions of the cast with glowing eyes) and in behavior (being a twisted and a warped version of them and talking in a creepy fashion).
- A Chat with Satan: Their purpose. Some of them are even quite personable to people other than "themselves".
- Demonic Possession: Seem to be able to hitch a ride with their respective characters when they choose to embrace their negative qualities. They don't seem to be able to influence actions beyond needling their counterparts, but they can make hosts look
really creepy. - Eldritch Abomination: All of them are horrific, reality-bending monsters that twist local virtual reality into a bizarre representation of their own mind.
- Hearing Voices: Seem to be able to invoke this.
- Ironic Hell: Their personality, traits and room often combine to form a sick subversion of their counterpart's personality and traits. For example, Shadow Rick has to view a burning city never able to help.
- Meaningful Name: They're just about everything in this article, the repressed personality traits of the characters.
- Mental World: The room they appear in very much reflects the psyche of their counterparts.
- Nothing Is Scarier: They have a tendency to stalk the characters in "black squiggle" form. They don't notice it, but the audience does.
- Psychological Torment Zone: They all hide in these, and it usually has something to do with their counterparts (for example, Shadow Quin's place is all icy and snow because of Quin's accident). When they are 'defeated', the place breaks down along with them.
- Secret Test of Character: Their goal is to make their normal versions accept the personality traits they represent. This is not a bad thing.
- Voice of the Legion: Possibly. They speak with their respective character's color (if a bit brighter) with a black highlight, in all lower case, with minimal punctuation.
Shadow Sam
- All There in the Manual: According to Sam's Charahub profile, his shadow's nickname is Samuel, and his room is called the Lake House.
- Dark Is Not Evil: He turns out to be fairly nice when dealing with people not Sam and even explains to Ava and Quin where Sam is.
- He Cleans Up Nicely: Looks like a well-kempt version of Sam without the teeth gap.
Shadow Percy
- All There in the Manual: According to Percy's Charahub profile, his shadow's nickname is Percival, and his room is called the Editor's Hideout.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: He got into Percy's notes, which are also a representation of the out of character scene list and profiles. He proceeded to vandalize those with nightmarish graffiti until Percy got the notes back.
Shadow Ava
- All There in the Manual: According to Ava's Charahub profile, her shadow's nickname is Little Ava, and her room is called Luna Park.
- Dark Is Not Evil: She's pretty similar to Shadow Sam, though she turns more malevolent when faced with Ava and is incredibly clingy.
Shadow Cherry
- All There in the Manual: According to Cherry's Charahub profile, her shadow's nickname is Vera (much like her in-universe original character), and her room is called the Sea of Tears.
Shadow Rick
- All There in the Manual: According to Rick's Charahub profile, his shadow's nickname is Ricky, and his room is called the Burning City.
- Mood Whiplash: Shadow Rick is pretty elated to see Cherry. Rick himself...not so much.
Shadow Louis
- All There in the Manual: According to Louis' Charahub profile, his shadow's nickname is Russell, similarly to how he refers to Louis himself all the time.
- Wall of Blather: In this doodle, crossing over with Broken Record.hehe hey hey hey you two lets have fun lets go do something huh huh huh doesnt that sound grand man youre a bunch of crybabies ha ha man you look like you have seen ghosts cmon cheer up hehe live a little lets go punch sam i think hell find that funny cmon cmon ill pay you
Shadow Juliet
- All There in the Manual: Juliet's shadow Vivian is the only shadow nickname we really see in-story, but her Charahub also informs us her room's name is the Art Exhibit.
Shadow Quin
- All There in the Manual: According to Quin's Charahub profile, her shadow's nickname is Deirdre, and her room is called the Frozen Wastes.
Shadow Helen
- All There in the Manual: According to Helen's Charahub profile, her shadow's nickname is Miss Lansing, and her room is called the Overgrowth.
