Follow TV Tropes

Following

Characters / Tell Me Why

Go To


    open/close all folders 

The Ronans

    Tropes for both of the Twins 


  • Arc Words: "We look out for each other."
  • Break the Cutie: Both were only eleven years old the day their mother tried to kill Tyler with a shotgun and Alyson was forced to stab her to protect her brother. They were then separated for ten years.
  • Brother–Sister Team: They're Half-Identical Twins and the main playable characters.
  • Cheerful Child: When they were kids, Alyson and Tyler were energetic and playful kids, who were inseparable.
  • Children Forced to Kill: Tyler had no other choice but to kill his mother in self-defense when she threatened his life with a shotgun when he was eleven years old. It's revealed at the end of Episode 1 that it was actually Alyson who stabbed Mary-Ann, not Tyler, who had no other choice in the moment to save her brother's life. Both twins are visibly (and understandably) under the shock after it happens.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: They're both still struggling to cope with their less than stellar upbringing under Mary-Ann and her death by Alyson's hands.
  • Disappeared Dad: Mary-Ann was a single mother, and the twins never knew their father.
  • Half-Identical Twins: Justified; they're genetically identical, but Tyler is transgender.
  • Intimate Haircut: When they were eleven, Tyler asked Alyson to cut his hair short in order to help him identify as a boy. It showed how close they were and how much they trusted eachother.
    Alyson: Brother, sister: we look out for eachother.
  • Malicious Misnaming:
    • In the past, the twins once called Sam "Stinky-pants Sam" after he was sprayed by a skunk that was stuck in their shed. Due to them being children, it was more mischievious than outright malicious and they changed their tune once they learned how and why he'd been sprayed.
    • Deliberately avoided with Tyler. Even when characters are acting rude to him, no one uses his deadname.
  • Matricide: Tyler killed their mother in self-defense when they were ten. The end of episode 1 reveals it was actually Alyson who killed her, but Tyler chose to take the blame.
  • Mommy Issues: Boy, where to start... even in death, she still has an impact on her children. Mostly on Tyler, whose transidentity caused friction with his mother.
  • Mr. and Ms. Imagination: When they were kids, Alyson and Tyler were constantly playing adventures as part of their mother's Book of Goblins.
  • Pensieve Flashback: An interesting case. Instead of being sent back to the past like most examples of this trope, the twins have the ability to witness memories as observers on the exact place where it happened.
  • Self-Serving Memory: A common problem the twins share once they recall memories. Look at Unreliable Narrator below.
  • Trickster Twins: As kids, they got in trouble more than once for thinking up schemes that most of the time resulted in something being broken or furniture being spilled on.
  • Twin Telepathy: Shared when they were children, but disappeared for the duration of their decade-long separation. Once they reunite, their power reappears, this time with the ability to see memories on the place they happened.
  • Unreliable Narrator: A frequent theme with their power to recall memories. Each twin's thoughts and feelings on the events and the people appearing in them slightly changes how the memory plays out. And it's often left ambiguous which of them remembers it right or at least more accurate or if both of them misremember due to personal bias. The closest the game gives to telling who is 'right' is that the connection between the twins seems to weaken whenever you don't choose Tyler's version of events.

    Tyler Ronan 

Tyler Ronan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyler_ronan.jpeg
Voiced by: August Aiden Black (English)
Alyson's twin brother. After allegedly killing his mother in self-defense as a child, he was send to live in a residential center.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Alyson calls him "Ty". He was also nicknamed "Big Bro" by some of his mentees at Fireweed.
  • Ambiguously Bi: Tyler is attracted to men, as he can have a potential romance with Michael. However, when speaking to the latter, he mentions "not finding the right person", possibly including attraction to women in the lot.
  • Bad "Bad Acting": He calls himself "a terrible actor". Sure enough, he's a Bad Liar.
    • Except for when it comes to lying to take the fall for his mother’s death, just to protect Alyson: a lie that holds for at least ten years, or potentially forever if Alyson doesn’t choose to tell Eddy the truth.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Tyler is and was very protective of Alyson, to the point where he decided to lie about killing their mother without hesitation to prevent Alyson from being punished.
  • Big Brother Mentor: Through his stay at Fireweed, Tyler became one as part of the residential center's mentorship program. Tyler was beloved by his mentees, as goodbye messages from them can be seen on his walls of his room at Fireweed.
  • Brutal Honesty: Tyler is very spontaneous in his words, not holding back despite some of the things he say might sound harsher than he intends.
  • Coming-Out Story: Tyler is a transgender man, and started his transition during his ten-year stay at the Fireweed Youth Center.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Tyler is prone to biting sarcasm when he's angry about something.
  • Decoy Protagonist: Downplayed, but the story begins to focus significantly more on Alyson after Chapter 1. It's Alyson's trauma and left-over guilt from that night that becomes the main focus of Chapter 2 and 3 while Tyler more or less fades into the background. The only meaningful relationship he's allowed to form apart from Alyson is with Michael, who himself is kind of a Satellite Love Interest.
  • Friend to All Living Things: Due to being a huge environmentalist, Tyler likes basically all animals. Even spiders, much to Alyson's chagrin.
  • Important Haircut: A plot point. As a child, Tyler asked Alyson to cut his hair short, as long hair contributed to him feeling stuck in the wrong body and Mary-Ann always refused to cut them shorter. When he wanted to show the result to his mother, it ended with her chasing him with a shotgun and Alyson having no other choice but to stab her to protect him, resulting to her death and the twins' eventual ten-year separation.
  • Innocently Insensitive: One example of this is when he questions why anyone would eat canned ham, after seeing it in the Vecchi's shop. Alyson can gently point out to him that if you're poor and need food you don't really have a choice and ask if he's forgotten that since being at Fireweed, which causes Tyler to apologise.
  • It's All About Me: Most of the choices in the game that can weaken the bond between the twins are caused by Alyson disagreeing with Tyler, giving the appearance that Tyler is in the right for the recollections and choices to be made.
  • Manchild: Downplayed. He has trouble adjusting to adult life after getting out of Fireweed, because all his basic needs were taken care of while he was there and he never had to learn to provide for himself.
  • Taking the Heat: After their mother's death by Alyson's hands, Tyler took the blame for it so Alyson wouldn't live the repercussions.
  • Trans Tribulations: Downplayed. Tyler realized he was trans from a very young age, but his mother seemingly didn't support it. He started transitioning for real after he was send to Fireweed's and it went very smoothly for the most part.

    Alyson Ronan 

Alyson Ronan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alyson__it_doesn_t_matter.jpeg
Voiced by: Erica Lindbeck (English)
Tyler's twin sister. After their mother's death, she was adopted by the local chief of police.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Eddy calls Alyson "little moose".
  • Apologises a Lot: Lampshaded; when Tyler calls her out on her many of always apologizing on the boat, she apologizes for that, too.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Before Mary-Ann can do anything to fatally harm Tyler, Alyson stops her by stabbing her in the back with a pair of scissors and causes her to fall in the lake.
  • Big Sister Instinct: Ever since they were children, Alyson always looked out for Tyler's well-being and was his first supporter in him being trans. She also stabbed her mother with a pair of scissors to stop her from attempting to kill her brother.
  • Bleed 'Em and Weep: She breaks down crying after indirectly killing Mary-Ann.
  • Cool Big Sis: While it's unknown if Alyson is the oldest twin (both claim they are), she's always been a supportive sister to Tyler since their youngest age.
  • Daddy's Girl: She's very close of Eddy, who took her in after her mother's death and Tyler being sent to the Fireweed center. Deconstructed as her gratefulness and love to him blinds her on his mistakes, and can potentially affect her relationship with Tyler.
  • Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: It's clear she feels left behind, with her best friend and brother both having clear ideas of what they want to do with their lives while she's stuck with a half finished qualification in something she doesn't even enjoy. Coupled with a dose of guilt because she feels like she not only stole Tyler's childhood from him by agreeing to let him take the fall for her, but also wasted it by not achieving anything notable with it.
  • Happily Adopted: By Eddy Brown, the Delos Crossing chief of police.
  • In the Back: It was actually her that stabbed Mary-Ann, not Tyler.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: She collapses in tears when she realizes she killed her mother.
  • Nice Girl: She is incredibly nice and obliging, almost to the point of being a doormat.
  • Secret-Keeper: When the police brought them in, Tyler took the blame for their mother's death. It's implied Alyson still feels guilty about going along with it.
  • Shear Menace: Alyson used the same pair of scissors that she used to cut Tyler's hair to stab her mother before she could shoot her brother with a shotgun.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Alyson giving Tyler a haircut directly precedes their mother attempting to shoot Tyler and her subsequent death. In light of evidence that Mary-Ann was trying to learn how to support Tyler's transition, it's unclear if the actual haircut played a role at all.

    Mary-Ann Ronan 

Mary-Ann Ronan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mary_ann_wait.jpeg
Voiced by: Emily O'Brien
The twins' deceased mother.
  • Abusive Mom: She was extremely neglectful towards the twins and her steady refusal to accept help from anyone often resulted in her and her children being put in a bad spot. She was also incredibly jealous of the twins' close relationship, feeling like they were excluding her and did things like stealing a young Tyler's diary. She also tried to kill him with a shotgun the night of her death, presumably because he'd let Alyson cut his hair after she refused to do it. Though the ending of Chapter 1 implies that might not exactly have been what happened after all. Chapter 3 also raises the possibility, that she wasn't going to kill him either. Rather herself, then for a misunderstanding to occur when Tyler walked in.
    • Ironically, it seems Mary-Ann's parents were just as bad at raising a child as she was. Her mother is implied to have been very controlling, even going so far as to kill Mary-Ann's pet bird and drive away her boyfriend. Her father sent her a letter after her mother's death in which he indirectly blames her for her mother's passing, guilt-trips her about not showing up to the funeral and gaslights her about the abuse she was put through.
  • Ambiguous Situation: The night of her death, she chased Tyler down with a shotgun after he got his hair cut, which led to Alyson killing her to defend her brother. The twins assume it was her being extremely transphobic, but later in the chapter it's revealed she was furious at Tessa for trying to convince her to send Tyler to a conversion camp and that she owned a self-help book on how to best deal with a transgender child, implying she was attempting to do better. She also seems deeply hurt by Alyson stabbing her in the back and in her last living moments she seems to realize... something, before fainting from blood loss and tumbling into the lake.
  • Artists Are Attractive: Sam and Tom certainly thought so.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Chapter 3 reveals that she grew up in a rich, conservative family and had an extremely controlling mother. Said mother didn't approve of her dropping out of college to pursue a career in the arts and it's heavily implied she intentionally drove Brent, Mary-Ann's first boyfriend and father of her deceased first child Leo, away. It's also implied that she killed Mary-Ann's pet bird when she was still a child.
  • Driven to Suicide: The game implies that Mary-Ann was planning to kill herself the night she died, and Tyler stumbling in on her shook her resolve. Whether she was planning on taking the twins with her is up to the player to decide.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: If you take a close look at her autopsy report, you will notice one little but significant detail: traces of alcohol were found in Mary-Ann's blood. Considering that she knew social services were closing in, she hit the bottle the night she grabbed her rifle, and therefore her judgment may have been altered by alcohol. Her ruined make-up also shows that she cried that night, cementing her depressed state at the time.
  • Foreshadowing: The citizens of Delos Crossing all admit to having been surprised to hear she was so against Tyler being a boy that she'd actually go so far as to try and kill him. The fact that she has a guidebook on raising a transgender child in her room and got angry with Tessa for proposing a conversion camp heavily imply that she wasn't actually against it.
  • Lonely Rich Kid: Chapter 3 implies her family was very well off, but also extremely abusive. Both twins snark about how it would have been nice if they could have profited from that wealth.
  • The Lost Lenore: It's an open secret that Sam was in love with her. And that he's still unable to move on.
  • Mama Bear: Part of a Pet the Dog moment: when she discussed Tyler being transgender to Tessa, and she proposed a conversion therapy camp, Mary-Ann angrily yelled at Tessa and was ready to tear her a new one for even thining of the idea. Upon learning this, Tyler is understandbly troubled.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: Her first child, Leo.
  • Parents as People: She was very smothering, especially to Tyler, and highly unstable, which culminated in her attempted infantcide. However, we learn some of her complexities as a person throughout the game. For all her transphobia, it's hinted she actually did have an interest in being a good mother to her son. The "attack" is also revealed to have possibly been a terrible misunderstanding.
  • Posthumous Character: She's been dead for ten years by the story's present, but still has a great impact on her kids' lives and has a major role in the story.
  • The Runaway: She ran away from her controlling, abusive family to start a new life in Delos Crossing.
  • Starving Artist: Played straight. She had immense artistic talent, but was always short on money during her lifetime.
  • Struggling Single Mother: Definitely. She had to raise two kids on her own, and always struggled financially. During the storm of 2005, which had the whole town struggling, Mary-Ann's case was worst than most. The stress she felt of trying to provide for the twins had a huge damage on her mental health.
  • Troubled Abuser: She had her own deep-seated issues to deal with and it's made obvious that despite her claims to the contrary, raising two children on a budget was too much for her. Some of her stories in the Book of Goblins imply she ran away from an abusive home.
  • Your Makeup Is Running: Pictured above: her mascara is seen bleeding out when she undergoes a Sanity Slippage that results in her eventual death.

Delos Crossing

    Sam Kansky 
An old friend of Mary-Ann's who has been looking after her house in the twins' absence.
  • The Alcoholic: He's wasted when the twins meet him in Mary-Ann's house. According to Tyler, that's nothing new.
    • Telling Sam to “Let go of Mary-Ann” results in an unpleasant argument between Alyson and Sam in Chapter 3, however the letter from Sam in the epilogue shows that it became the trigger for Sam to seek help for his addiction and grief. He’s attending AA meetings, has moved out of Delos Crossing For a fresh start and sounds as though he’s in a much better place.
  • All Love Is Unrequited: He was deeply in love with Mary-Ann, but she didn't see him as more than just a good friend. If "The Bear and The Princess" story is anyting to go by, he kept asking Mary-Ann to marry him, but she always refused and kept telling him they would be nothing more than friends.
  • Animal Motif: Bears. He's gruff, burly and his counterpart in The Book of Goblins is the Old Bear.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: Deconstructed. His constant pining over Mary-Ann in the past is heavily implied to be the reason his actual wife Laura divorced him. He also can't bring himself to let go of her after her death, leading to him being driven into alcoholism and spending his days alone, mourning over what could have been.
  • Innocently Insensitive: He expresses amazement how modern medicine can "make a woman look like a man" when he sees Tyler. He quickly backpedals when Tyler calls him out on it, but then puts his foot in his mouth again by telling Tyler that it's just hard for old guys like him to "understand".
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: If Tyler refuses to cut him any slack during the conversation detailed under Innocently Insensitive, he'll genuinely grow to respect Tyler as a person and make sincere attempts to understand his gender identity. When he reappears later in the story he gifts Tyler a pocket knife, figuring that no-one ever thought to give him one (not that he would have been allowed one in a youth offenders' centre anyway...), but insisting that it's an essential gift for any young man to receive from a father figure in his life.
  • Red Herring: The story heavily implies that he's the twins' father, what with him and Mary-Ann being very close and Mary-Ann having a reputation for sleeping with married men. It turns out he isn't their dad and Mary-Ann never saw him as more than a friend.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Downplayed, as it's implied he was aware that hounding Mary-Ann for affection wasn't going to work. He still never got tired of coincidentally showing up at her house to fix this and that and sending her letters.

    Eddy Brown 

Anthony Edward "Eddie" Brown

The local chief of police. Raised Alyson after Mary-Ann's death.
  • Animal Motif: Moose. His counterpart in The Book of Goblins is the Stalwart Moose. In episode 2 he calls Alyson "little moose".
  • By-the-Book Cop: He's very set on following procedure. This is also part of the reason he separated the twins. The court recommended it and he felt they were the experts on this matter.
  • Da Chief: Of the DCPD.
  • Honorary Uncle: Alyson refers to him as "uncle", because he practically raised her after Mary-Ann's death.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: If Alyson confesses to him that it was her who killed Mary-Ann in Chapter 3, he's horrified, since that means he separated her from Tyler and sent an innocent child to prison for no reason.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He broke protocol to let Mary-Ann know in person that a social services case had been raised against her. Knowing she was going to lose her children to the care system, despite doing everything she could to keep their home afloat, is what pushed Mary-Ann over the edge.

    Tessa Vecchi 
A very religious woman who owns the local café.
  • Animal Motif: Pelicans. Her Book of Goblins-counterpart is the Pelican and the store she runs with her husband sells large amounts of fishing gear. You can also find a pelican-figurine in her cabinet.
  • Egocentrically Religious: Implied. Alyson snarks that her helping Mary-Ann might have been because she wanted to demonstrate to herself what a good Christian she was and that her keeping track of what she's owed by other people is something to show St. Paul at the gates of heaven.
  • Heteronormative Crusader: Implied. In the past she tried to convince Mary-Ann to send Tyler to conversion therapy. Going through her e-mails reveals she's still in contact with the group who runs the camp, although she says that she has retracted her support for conversion therapy upon learning more about the process. She also told Michael to not be openly gay in her store, as she views it as immoral, although since she allows a pride flyer to be posted in the makeshift break room, she may be speaking only of when he is around customers and herself.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: The twin's memories show her breaking down in the police station parking lot upon realising that Mary-Ann was dead, the twins were involved and she likely played a big part in what occurred, even if it was indirectly.
    • Tyler's ending reveals in a letter that she blames herself for Maryann's death because she was the one who called CPS on Maryann out of anger upon learning of the affair and the twins' parentage. She never hated Maryann or the twins, and was legitimately concerned about Maryann's mental health and the wellbeing of the twins, but feels that Maryann's death, Tyler's incarceration, and the separation of the twins are all her fault because she acted in anger.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She genuinely loves the twins, even after finding out they were a product of an affair between her best friend and her husband. Her concern for them is what led to her making a report of child neglect to Eddy, and social services starting a case against Mary-Ann, which is ultimately what pushed Mary-Ann over the edge.

    Tom Vecchi 
The owner of Delos Cross' grocery store.
  • Accomplice by Inaction: He was present the night Mary-Ann died. While he didn't actively do anything to cause Mary-Ann's death, he was an adult and in a position to help get her medical attention after she was stabbed, but chose to run away and leave her to die and the twins to deal with the fall-out.
  • Big Bad: It was his attempts to cover up his affair with Mary Anne that caused the twins some trouble. Notably it was his refusal to help a wounded Mary and leaving her to die that left the twins to deal with the aftermath.
  • Blackmail: Pulled this on Mary-Ann in one of the twin's deeply hidden memories, pointing out that if Mary-Ann goes public about their affair, he'd challenge her for custody of the twins and, given Mary-Ann's mental state, would probably win.
    • Ten years later he does the same thing with his own children, when they threaten to publicly reveal his affair.
  • Corrupt Politician: Downplayed. He's running for mayor and Chapter 3 reveals that he's the twins' biological father. He threatens both Mary-Ann and Alyson and Tyler with exposure of dark secrets to keep this under wraps.
  • Dirty Coward: Twice over. He ran away the night Mary-Ann was murdered, and kept quiet about what happened. When the twins confront him about their relation to him, and his actions that night, he threatens to let everyone know the truth behind how Mary-Ann died so that the twins won't threaten his mayoral election prospects.
  • Happily Married: He's married to Tessa and they seem pretty happy with each other.
    • Averted. He believes he is this, and is oblivious that his wife knew about his affair with Mary-Ann until the twins tell him. In the epilogue it’s revealed Tessa has very publicly left him.
  • Karma Houdini: Played With, and sort of Averted. The twins aren't able to publicly expose his infidelity and the fact he's their father, due to him threatening to reveal that Alyson killed Mary-Ann to the town... but he still loses his mayoral campaign and his wife leaves him a short while after their confrontation.
  • Karmic Shunning: Teresa choses to leave him after he confronted the twins.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: The twins are the product of an affair with Mary-Ann. The only people who knew were him and Mary-Ann... and eventually Tessa.
  • Walking Spoiler: It's quite odd that he's the only character on the sheet whose tropes are all covered in spoilers...

    Michael Abila 
Alyson's co-worker and best friend.
  • Gay Best Friend: He's Alyson's best friend and openly gay.
  • Heroes Gone Fishing: With Tyler.
  • Love Interest: He quickly develops a crush on Tyler; the player can choose whether or not the latter reciprocates.
  • Nice Guy: He's kind, sensitive, caring and just overall fun to be around.
  • Noodle Incident: Of the Dark and Troubled Past variety. When encouraging Alyson to seek therapy, Michael refers to something that happened to him in 2011 (four years before the game is set) and that he "probably wouldn't still be here" if he hadn't sought professional psychiatric help. Since it's obviously a painful memory for him and Alyson is presumably familiar with what happened, he never elaborates.
  • Satellite Love Interest: Downplayed, but he doesn't have much of a role in the story apart from being Alyson's Gay Best Friend and, potentially, Tyler's boyfriend.
  • Straight Gay: He's initially introduced with hobbies and interests that are either masculine-coded (e.g. fishing, though that's probably got more to do with living in rural Alaska) or neutral (e.g. going to concerts). Zigzagged in that he quickly starts flirting with Tyler, and mentions his interest in musical theatre and his crush on Idris Elba in the same breath.
  • Supreme Chef: Mentions he's studying to become a chef, though it never really becomes a plot point beyond being another reason he plans to move to Juneau.
  • Twofer Token Minority: A gay man who's part of the Tlingit tribe.

The Book of Goblins

    In General 
  • Author Avatar: The Goblins and the Princess represent the twins and Mary-Ann respectively.
  • Macguffin: Many of the stories carry the solutions to puzzles in them. Reading all of them can also give the player more insight into the characters and make some parts of the story clearer.
  • Talking Animal: Aside from the Frog, who only gets the gift of speech later on, all of the animals in the forest can talk to the Princess and she understands them just fine.

    The Crafty Goblins 
Two little Goblins who live under the Wise Princess's house.
  • Big Eater: They're nearly always hungry and on the hunt for food.
  • Guile Hero: They're not afraid to use trickery and pranks to get what they want.
  • Lack of Empathy: Most of the time they don't seem to understand that they're hurting people with their pranks. The Ice King has to grab them and show them the various aftermaths of their mischief for them to get that they did something wrong.
  • Our Goblins Are Different: They're a pair of Goblin siblings who love causing trouble, but they're not actually evil, just mischievous.
  • Trickster Twins: They look almost identical to one another and spend most of their time playing pranks on the forest-animals.

    The Wise Princess 
A princess from a far away land who now lives in the forest with her animal friends. Her figurine can be found in Mary-Ann's room.
  • Damsel in Distress: Being a Princess Classic she doesn't have much in the way of combat and often has to rely on her animal friends or the Goblins to save her.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: It's mentioned in several stories that she doesn't like to talk about her home and that even thinking about it makes her cry.
  • Parental Substitute: To the Goblins. She provides them foot and shelter after they reveal themselves to her.
  • Princess Classic: Is a beautiful, young woman who wears pretty dresses and can talk to animals.

    The Old Bear 
An old, slightly clumsy, but kind-hearted bear. His figurine can be found in Sam’s desk drawer.
  • Beary Friendly: He's always ready to lend the princess a paw for repairs.
  • Butt-Monkey: He's usually the preferred target for the Goblins' pranks and the princess doesn't like him the way he likes her.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: He falls in love with the princess after rescuing her from the wolves and gives her many beautiful gifts to convince her to marry him. She has to reject him multiple times until he gets the hint.

     The Pious Pelican 
A generous pelican with a magical beak full of food that never runs out. Her figurine can be found in Tessa's cabinet.
  • Nice Girl: Always ready to share her food with others. The Pelican Helps Her Friends even has her put her migration on hold to save the Princess and the Goblins from freezing to death.
  • Pelican Package Pouch: Her beak is always full of fish and it never empties.

     The Big Frog 
A gigantic, chatty frog. Her figurine can be found under the coffee table in the Ronan house.
  • Big Damn Heroes: She helps the Princess escape from the Mad Hunter in her first appearance. The Ice King rewards her by giving her the ability to speak.
  • Go Mad from the Revelation: Downplayed. As punishment for her gossiping about her friends, the Ice King tells her a secret so horrifying she can't bear to tell it.
  • The Resenter: In The Big Frog Is Punished, it's revealed she secretly bore a grudge against the other animals for a while, as none of them ever came to help her when the Mad Hunter was on her trail.
  • The Stool Pigeon: When she's granted the ability to speak, she misuses it to tattle on all of her friends.

     The Stalwart Moose 
A righteous moose who disapproves of the Goblins' tricks, but still has a soft spot for them. His figurine can be found in Eddy's desk.
  • Give a Man a Fish...: Played straight. When he catches the Goblins stealing the other animals' food, he teaches them how to fish, so they'll be able to provide for themselves.
  • Lawful Good: In-universe. Alyson outright calls him the lawful good character in episode 2. The only story that features him has him admonishing the Goblins for stealing food and then teaching them how to fish so they won't have to steal anymore.

     The Mangy Muskrat 
A vain, selfish muskrat who lost his once beautiful coat to the Goblins' trickery. His figurine can be found in the general store's storage room.
  • Asshole Victim: The Goblins tricked him into getting stung by hornets and jumping into icy water without his coat. Seeing as he previously made them go through the same thing, there's not much sympathy to be had here.
  • Jerkass: Even before his coat was ruined he wasn't exactly a nice person.
  • Would Hurt a Child: He intentionally sicks hornets on the Goblins, just because they were playing in a spot he wanted to sleep in.

     The Ice King 
A powerful wizard who lives in a mountain and rules over the forest. His figurine can be found at the police station.
  • An Ice Person: He lives in a snowy mountain and is called the Ice King.
  • Big Good: He often acts as judge and jury for the forest's inhabitants and keeps watch over them in general.
  • The Good King: He rules over the forest and always takes care to be fair in his judgement.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He's strict, but not cruel. He was willing to let the Big Frog keep her gift of speech after she abused it by spreading slander about her friends, but also told her a secret so horrible that she would lose the gift if she ever spoke of it. When the Goblins go too far with their pranks in one story, instead of simply chasing them away or hitting them, he makes them see the consequences of their actions and promises to let them off the hook if they make amends with everyone they wronged.

     The Secret Keeper 
A mysterious woman who accepts the bad memories of others in exchange for valuable items and releases them into the clouds. Her figurine can be found in a coin box in Eddy’s room.
  • Ambiguously Human: She looks like a normal human woman, but she has the power to take secrets others offer her and store them in the clouds. She also seems to have telepathic powers, as she takes secrets by way of directly looking into a person's head with her "Voice" ability.
  • Beware the Quiet Ones: She' a quiet, withdrawn, unassuming individual, but she was cunning enough to trick the Crafty Goblins and get away with it in the only story really featuring her.
  • Telepathy: She can see and extract other people's bad memories with the help of her "Voice" ability.

     The Moon Hag 
An evil witch who lives at the bottom of the lake in the form of a seal. Her figurine can be found in the Ronan's barn after the fire is put out.
  • Evil Is Not a Toy: She tries to make the Mad Hunter her servant when he dives into her lake. He easily outsmarts her and leaves her to face the Ice King's wrath alone.
  • Never My Fault: She lambasts the Ice King for trapping her under the lake and taking away her mirror that let her transform into a beautiful young woman. She used said mirror to lure countless innocent people to their deaths, but of course she doesn't mention that in her rant.
  • Wicked Witch: She's described as an ugly, mean old woman in several stories and the lake's bottom is littered with the corpses of her victims.

     The Mad Hunter 
A merciless huntsman who pursues the Princess. His figurine can be found under the Ronan's house.
  • Ambiguous Situation: Unlike the other characters, he doesn't seem to have a real-life counterpart in Delos Cross. The twins mention he was Mary-Ann's creation, implying she might have based him on someone in her past life. Tyler briefly sees him in the woods while running away from Mary-Ann, grinning maniacally, but it's unclear if he was actually there or just a stress-induced hallucination.
    • Chapter 3 reveals definitively that he was a figment of their imagination. Or, in the case of the night Mary-Ann died, the twins mistaking someone else hiding in the woods for him. The implication given in the game is that The Mad Hunter was representative of Mary-Ann's struggle with mental illness.
  • Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The twins once imagined him hunting them down in their childhood - only for him to appear in the house for real. It's ambiguous if he was really there, or if the twins' imagination just ran a little wild that day.
  • The Dragon: In The Goblins Trick the Mad Hunter it's revealed he works for another character called the Gold Lady. And she's powerful enough to take his hand away with him not being able to do anything about it.
  • The Dreaded: Every animal in the forest knows and fears him. And with good reason.
  • Knight of Cerebus: He's by far the creepiest character in the Book of Goblins. Unlike the other villain characters, he's always portrayed as a deadly serious threat. Given that he represents mental illness and/or depression rather than an actual person... it's not an inaccurate portrayal.
  • Slasher Smile: In the few drawings he appears in, he's always presented with a huge, evil grin.

Top