The list of characters from the web novel Tails of the Space Gladiators.
Some spoilers are unmarked.
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Main Characters
David Errgash
A young man who was falsely accused of attempting to start a mass shooting in his college campus.
- Action Survivor: He has absolutely no weapons training and isn't shown to be much of a fighter. However, David is a very fast learner and is capable of wiggling himself out of tight situations when need be.
- Ambiguously Brown: It's unknown if David is African-American, mixed, Dominican, or some other ethnicity. This wasn't even hinted at until chapter 5 when Marty called him a "nigger."
- Catchphrase: "Goddamn it."
- Deadpan Snarker: Has a habit of replying to other characters' question in a witty or dry way.
- Fish out of Water: He's never been to prison before, let alone the Gladiator Detention Facility. The first handful of chapters are about him adjusting to his new prison life as he gradually becomes a gladiator.
- Laser Blade: His weapon after Jonny recommended it to him.
- Running Gag: Poor David seems to be a magnet that attracts people who have awful breath and like to get in his personal space. This hasn't gone unnoticed.David: " Is it really that hard for you anthros and aliens to use toothbrushes?"Sojen: "Fuck's a toothbrush?"David: Should've known.
- Twofer Token Minority: He's presumably black (or mixed) and is a human being, both of which are rare in the Tails Series, given that most of the characters tend to be aliens or Beast Men.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: He spends most of his time acting like a tough guy and talking to some of the inmates with a snarky attitude—something Jamie advises him not to do, because many inmates can tell when someone's faking. This is proven right at the end of chapter 5 when Marty almost chokes him to death after David pushed his buttons too much.
Lizvin "Liz" Concard
A veteran gladiator who was guilty of raping his wife.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Liz is a lizard.
- Decoy Protagonist: Non-fatal example. The first two chapters focus solely on him and introducing some major players, along with his personal dilemma. As soon as chapter 3 starts, the narration switches over to David, while Lizvin is Out of Focus.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: His main dilemma. Liz has been in the GDF for so long that he doesn't know what to do once he's released. He spends all of chapter 2 wandering around asking various characters what they plan on doing once they're free just to see if it'll help him come up with an answer.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Downplayed. It's confirmed that he did in fact rape his wife, but she was the only person he raped. Besides that, Liz is generally a pleasant and friendly person to be around.
Reeve Teller
One of the "New Meat" Gladiators who passed the Qualification Tournament.
- Jerkass: Reeve is a stubborn, hot-headed anthro who always tries to pick fights with people just because he can.
- Lack of Empathy: Despite witnessing eight gladiators getting mauled to death during the Qualification Tournament, Reeve doesn't care at all, and is just relieved that he survived.
- Large Ham: He's prone to shouting and speaking noisily, and he always needs to make sure everyone acknowledges him whenever he's in a crowd.
- Lightning Lash: His weapons are a pair of whips that emit electricity and are powerful enough to slice at and tear through flesh and armor.
- Manly Gay: Reeve's a very burly, very masculine Rottweiler who isn't shy about letting others know that he's into males.
- You Need a Breath Mint: Reeve gets up in Lizvin's face in chapter 7 during an argument, and the lizard states in his mind that his breath stinks. David, out loud, tells Reeve to back up because "not everyone wants to smell his dog breath."
Ralousha Gorgonozz
One of the "New Meat" Gladiators who passed the Qualification Tournament.
- Affably Evil: He's very polite, easy to get along with, and tries his best to make allies in prison and avoid confrontations. He also got arrested for dealing in organized crime.
- The Cynic: He believes that the universe is "ass-backwards," and that people outside of prison just pretend to be good to hide their truer, malicious intentions.
- Eyeless Face: Ralousha is a klakroshan, an alien race well-known for not having any eyes.
Gladiator Detention Facility Personnel
Cray Crawlox
The leader of the eponymous facility.
- Alliterative Name: Cray Crawlox. Bonus points for being a crayfish.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Cray is a crayfish.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Cray puts all of the gladiators through hell during the tournaments and couldn't care less who ends up dying during the competitions. That being said, everyone he transfers into the facility is some kind of criminal.
- The Sociopath: Cray's indifferent over who gets admitted to his facility or why, and he doesn't care if any of the gladiators are maimed or gruesomely killed while they're in the tournaments. He even tells David straight-up that he doesn't care if he's innocent or guilty; he just wants another gladiator fighting for him.
- The Stoic: Rarely ever shows emotions around others and frequently speaks in a low, dull tone.
Kaeinard
A scaly alien guard working in the facility.
- Evil Is Petty: Attempts to set off Bossly and Lizvin's explosive collars for standing and assuming that both of them are plotting to escape, even though they weren't.
- Fat and Skinny: He's the "skinny," while Lups if the "fat."
- Smug Snake: Treats all the gladiators condescendingly and tries to find the slightest reason to kill them.
Lups
A walrus guard working in the facility.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He's willingly working for Cray Crawlox, but he doesn't abuse or torment the gladiators, and he threatens to have Kaeinard turned into a gladiator after Kaeinard nearly kills Liz and Bossly for no reason.
- Fat and Skinny: He's the "fat," while Kaeinard if the "skinny."
- Punch-Clock Villain: Unlike Kaeinard, Lups is just doing his job, and he doesn't hassle the gladiators unless provoked.
Sheila
One of the human guards who usually inspects the newcomer prisoners.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: She murders one of the dozen "New Meat" convicts just to scare the other eleven. That being said, the convict she killed was a serial killer who murdered fifteen innocents.
Dr. Pynncar
A doctor who regularly treats the gladiators after their tournaments.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Used to be a massage therapist. Became obsessed with the anatomy of various species' bodies and turned into a very disturbing serial killer.
- Mistaken for Gay: David assumes Dr. Pynncar is homosexual when he gets far too touchy-feely during his checkup. Immediately afterwards, he tells David that he doesn't "swing any way."
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: He's an arachnoid alien with six arms, and was imprisoned for multiple murders.
- Serial Killer: He was imprisoned for killing eight people by paralyzing them and then breaking all of their bones until they died of shock.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: He has a deep, comforting voice that is "something you'd hear in an ASMR video," but he also takes much pleasure in groping people and breaking their bones.
Primary Gladiators
Chisa Mokaane
One of Lizvin's friends.
- Action Girl: She's introduced covered in several bruises and with a massive laceration around her gut, seconds before she off-handedly mentions that she killed the two gladiators who gave her said bruises.
- The Anti-Nihilist: Like Lizvin, she has no idea what she's gonna do once she's released. But she doesn't care. All she plans on doing is "heading forward" and living life simply, regardless of what good or bad trials she ends up facing.
- Cats Are Mean: Downplayed. She's a white tiger who seems to be kinda snarky, but other than that, she's a nice anthro.
- Deadpan Snarker: Seems to be one. When Liz, figuratively speaking, says a space serpent "bit my ass," she dryly asks if he can still shit properly, before smiling cheekily.
Bossly Bosmogan
Another one of Lizvin's friends who shares the same cell block as him.
- Alliterative Name: Bossly Bosmogan. Bonus points for being a bird.
- Nice Guy: Definitely one of the nicer gladiators in the GDF.
Duunley Shuvv
A menacing rapist who longs to be released from the GDF.
- Card-Carrying Villain: He's very proud of all the rapes he's committed, and enjoys bragging about his crimes to others. He even tells Lizvin he's gonna go back to raping people the moment he's released.
- Serial Rapist: Duunley's raped at least thirty-two women.
- Shark Man: He's an anthropomorphic hammerhead shark.
- Sleeves Are for Wimps: He wears an open brown vest with no shirt underneath.
- You Need a Breath Mint: Nobody can stand Duunley's breath, which apparently smells like "rotten sushi plucked out of a dog’s asshole," according to David. Duunley's fully aware of this and gets in people's faces just to gross them out.
Unklok Koknarf
An emperor of a foreign planet driven by the notion of valuing what he needs over what he wants.
- The Anti-Nihilist: Unklok believes that everyone's lives are meaningless in the grand scheme of things. He doesn't bother contemplating his existence short of living his life as simply as possible and doing whatever he needs to do.Lizvin: "Life is not simple."Unklok: "Yes, it is, Liz. You wake up. You eat. You fight. You shit. You fuck. You sleep. Then you repeat it again until you die."Lizvin: "You don't think there's more to life than that?"Unklok: "There isn't. There never was! There never will be. How can one believe there's more to life when their own life is essentially meaningless?"
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Implied. Unklok has a family back on his home planet that "misses him dearly," although it's possible Unklok was merely talking about his ogorso clan.
- Fat Bastard: Arguably the fattest gladiator in the GDF, and certainly one of the more malicious ones.
- Jabba Table Manners: He's a very messy eater who talks with his mouth full. David is visibly disgusted when he sees Unklok munching on nachos and spilling grease and cheese all over his belly.
- The Unfettered: Unklok doesn't care what he has to do or who he has to harm/kill in order to achieve his goals. If he needs to do something, he'll get it done, no matter the circumstances.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Justified. Unklok is so fat that he physically can't wear a shirt, so he just walks around wearing nothing but trousers.
- You Need a Breath Mint: It's mentioned multiple times that his breath is rotten. In chapter 4, David tells him that he needs to eat more breath mints after Unklok invades his personal space.
Other Gladiators
Dumoscos
A rock-like alien creature known as a daemunus who enjoys slaying other gladiators.
- Back for the Dead: His debut is in chapter 2, where he has a brief confrontation with Lizvin. He doesn't show up again until chapter 6, conveniently so he can get killed off.
- The Dreaded: To the "new meat" gladiators. The second they realize they have to fight a daemunus, a creature with skin that's almost impossible to scratch, they start panicking.
- Evil Is Hammy: He talks in an exaggerated tone and enjoys bragging about who he is and how great he is.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: He's sliced in half by David's laser blade after he, Reeve, and Ralousha manage to corrode his seemingly impenetrable armor.
- Horns of Villainy: He's got a pair of curved horns and is described as looking demonic. He's also the first major villain of the story.
- Mighty Glacier: He's a massive, burly alien with a rock-like body who wears impenetrable armor. That being said, he's slow, and an easy target.
- Narcissist: When the crowd starts cheering his name during the Qualification Tournament, he sets down his weapon and takes in everyone's cheers as if it's a pleasing fragrance.Dumoscos: "That's right, that's right everybody! I know you all love me!"
- Smug Snake: Dumoscos is always overconfident because he's such a strong gladiator who's killed many foes in combat and he relies on his seemingly impenetrable body and armor. Yet he isn't smart enough to believe that his foes can think outside the box—something Dumoscos never does.
- Starter Villain: He's the first named antagonist that David and his allies have to fight.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: David and the other gladiators "win" the Qualification Tournament and only suffer a few casualties. Then Dumoscos shows up and kills most of them while injuring David, Reeve, and Ralousha, proving that any gladiator is a force to be recokened with, and that any tournament can be modified if Crawlox wants it to be.
- You Need a Breath Mint: Dumoscos, while holding Lizvin near his mouth, reminds Lizvin about how his previous victim pleaded and cried for mercy as he's threatening him. Lizvin recoils from his breath and tells Dumoscos that the victim was probably crying for someone to wash Dumoscos' mouth out.
Sojen
A spear-nosed bat gladiator scheming to break out of the GDF.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Sojen is...odd. He approaches David completely at random, informs him that he's going to break out of the GDF and needs his help. Immediately afterwards, he tells David they're gonna be close friends from now on.
- Excrement Statement: Sojen's crime that got him admitted into the GDF? Defecating into a car just to piss off the owner.
- You Need a Breath Mint: When Sojen wraps David within his wings and speaks close to his face, David immediately plugs his nose and asks Sojen if it's "really that hard for anthros and aliens to use toothbrushes."
Chenllik
A four-armed gladiator who also works as a chef serving other gladiators.
- Ambiguously Evil: It's yet to be revealed what Chenllik was imprisoned for, and whether or not he enjoys slaughtering other gladiators during the tournaments.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: He's an assertive four-armed alien who subtly threatens David not to dig into other people's business, or else he might end up hurt or dead.
- Supreme Chef: He knows how to whip up tasty, foreign meals in a short amount of time that even humans like David thoroughly enjoy.
- You Need a Breath Mint: After David pries into his personal business, Chenllik intimidates David by getting in his personal space and breathing heavily against his nape. When Chenllik asks what David learned, he flatly tells him that he should just wear nose plugs all the time because Chenllik (and everyone else David runs into) has bad breath.
"New Meat" Gladiators
In General
The twelve prisoners who were recently transferred into the Gladiator Detention Facility.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: All of the prisoners vary in terms of their crimes. One committed grand theft auto, one was a drug dealer, one was convicted of public masturbation, etc. Out of the twelve prisoners, only one of them was a shameless Serial Killer who bragged about killing fifteen human beings.
- Dwindling Party: By the end of chapter 6, there's only three of them still standing.
- Red Shirt Army: It's expected for the new meat to get killed as early as a Qualification Tournament—to the point where everyone in the GDF ignores them or bullies them because they know the new meat won't last long. Chapter 6 more or less confirms this.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Out of the twelve gladiators, only six of them have their full names revealed. And as of chapter 6, all but three of them are dead, and hardly any of them had their backstory revealed.
Donald Tengam
One of the few new human convicts.
- Back for the Dead: After he's introduced in chapter 3, he disappears from the story. He doesn't show up again until chapter 6, and is immediately killed off.
- Deadpan Snarker: When ARB asks him what species he is to input in the GDF's records, he sarcastically tells him he's a meat popsicle. ARB actually types that into the records.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: He dies at some point in chapter 6, but it's not specified when it happens. None of the characters seem to care much after he perishes.
- Red Shirt: He's shown to be a bit snarky, but that's it. Then he dies at some point in chapter 6.
Jamie Garvon
An anthro convicted of three counts of rape and murder, and David's first friend in the GDF.
- Affably Evil: For someone who raped and killed three people, Jamie's a surprisingly reasonable and kind person to talk to.
- Ambiguously Gay: It's never specified if the people he raped were male or female, even when David asks him. He off-handedly tells David if he was gonna rape him, "it would've happened by now."
- Cats Are Mean. Zig-zagged. Jamie kidnapped, raped, and murdered three people all because he was angry over his job and was frustrated over his sex life. In the GDF, however, he acts very nice around David. Ralousha points out that this is only because he's in prison; outside of prison, Jamie would view David as no one important or prey for him to attack.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: His head is crushed very slowly by Dumoscos' hand.
- Mauve Shirt: He has a lot more character compared to any of the other new meat gladiators, has much more screentime, and even teaches David a few tips about how to survive in prison. Nevertheless, he's still a minor character, and he's dead by chapter 6.
- Sacrificial Lamb: His death in chapter 6 hammers in that Anyone Can Die in any tournament, regardless of how important said character appears to be, and regardless of how challenging a tournament may be.
Marty Gonlit
A meek anthro convicted of possessing child pornography.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He tries to act nice around others, but only so he'll have people to protect him. It's made clear in chapter 5 that he doesn't like David at all when he tries to choke him to death after he insulted him a couple times.
- Bring My Brown Pants: He pisses his pants after seeing one of the convicts' explosive collars getting set off in front of him.
- Butt-Monkey: He's basically everyone's punching bag, and exists only for everyone to tease him or insult him for "playing with little boys."
- Cruel and Unusual Death: He has acidic venom squirted in his eyes, and then has more venom sprayed all over his head. His head slowly dissolves in full detail, complete with him vomiting up blood, his teeth falling out, followed by his jaw.
- Eye Scream: Just before he dies, he has acid squirted into his eyes after the visor on his helmet is broken.
- Hated by All: Nobody likes Marty. Everyone either teases him for wetting his pants when he first got admitted into the GDF, or they bully and abuse him for being a pedophile.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While he's choking David, Marty points out that nobody in the GDF is better than he is and shouldn't behave that way, because everyone has committed some kind of crime. Technically, he's not wrong.
- Mauve Shirt: Between him and Jamie, he's one of the few new meat gladiators who has plenty of character and more screentime than the other new convicts. Despite this, he isn't integral to the plot, and he dies in chapter 6.
- Would Hurt a Child: Implied. Marty never physically hurt or raped a child; he only had videos and photos of such imagery. David calls him out on it and tells him the only reason why he didn't do it was because he's too much of a coward, so he just "beat off to other people doing it."
