Characters / The Diviners (2012)

The Diviners:

As a group:

• Family of Choice: A reoccurring theme throughout the books is while many of the Diviners do not have blood family members who genuinely care for them, they have created a chosen family with one another.

Evangeline "Evie" Fitzgerald O'Neill

• Afraid of Blood: Subverted. Evie tags along with her uncle to the first crime scene out of a sense of excitement, and is immediately horrified, supposedly by blood. But what upends her stomach isn't the blood or the gore — it's reading the memories off of the victim's shoe buckle of her final moments.
• The Alcoholic: By the second book, Evie has thrown herself into a life of parties and drinks heavily. It's implied it is to cope with John Hobbes and the death of her brother.
• Another Man's Terror: The point of Evie's power, in a sense. She unintentionally experiences the first victim's final moments, then later uses her same power to explore the mind of the killer.
• Attention Whore
• Anti-Hero
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Sam, who, especially at first, she is constantly sniping with
• Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Mabel's Betty for Jericho. Additionally, Evie can be considered to be Archie with Jericho being her Betty and Sam her Veronica.
• Big Brother Worship: Evie has this for her dead brother James, to the point where she's even able to use the coin he sent her overseas to defeat John Hobbes. Hobbes dismisses her, saying it won't work because it's not a holy relic as the ritual requires, and Evie retorts that for her, the coin is.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: More like a bratty teenage niece towards Unc Will.
• Deadpan Snarker: Especially to Sam.
• Drives Like Crazy: Characters note this throughout the series whenever Evie gets behind a wheel, though her speed does manage to help them escape some sticky situations, like when she, Will, and Jericho are discovered digging up John Hobbes' grave by the cult of the Breathren.
• Dumb Blonde: Inverted. It's thanks to Evie that the museum has seen more people than in the last couple of years.
• Fatal Flaw: See It's All About Me and Motor Mouth.
• The Flapper: An independent spirited woman who lives in The Roaring '20s.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: A Sanguine — with Sam (Choleric), Jericho (Melancholic) and Mabel (Phlegmatic).
• Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex: The scene in the 3rd book where Sam and Evie sleep together can definitely be read as having aspects of this.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: By the second book she's leaned fully into this
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Mabel.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Her and Jericho.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Evie can be selfish and mean, but her instinct when she sees her first dead body is to fix the dead woman's shoe buckle...it was the final indignity.
• Not Right in the Bed: She kisses Sam passionately and starts to undress him before he realises she's been possessed by The Forgotten.
• Parental Abandonment: After causing a scandal in Zenith, Ohio, Evie's parents ship her off to New York to live with Uncle Will.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to Jericho's, Will's and Mabel's Blue.
• Relationship Upgrade: Over the course of a scene in the third book, where Sam finally gets around to confessing his love to her and they consummate their relationship. Without any ghosts involved.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Evie and Jericho, respectively.
• Sleeps with Everyone but You: Well, "pets" at least. Implied to be a source of her animosity with Sam, at least until their Relationship Upgrade.
• Tsundere: For Sam, at least
• The Un-Favourite: Evie's parents loved her brother James more than her and she knows it— one of the first times she was able to use her abilities as a child she touched her mother's necklace and accidentally accessed her mom's feelings about them, that she wished it was James who lived instead of Evie
• You Are the New Trend: After she publicly revealed herself to be a Diviner, New York grew to be obsessed with people of her kind.

Sam Lloyd

• All Jews Are Cheapskates: Completely Justified, as the child of hard-working immigrants and then as a teenager who's had to survive entirely by his own wits in Manhattan.
• Ambiguously Bi: Though nothing explicitly confirms that he is attracted to men, some of his comments, especially about Jericho, don't read as entirely heterosexual, and he also remarks when when Evie rescues him, disguised as a man, that he's a little more into her kissing him in the get up than he ought to be.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Evie
• Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Jericho's Betty for Evie.
• Bilingual Bonus: If you have a smattering of Yiddish, you'll be able to pick out his Anguished Declaration of Love for Evie a few hundred pages before the book gives a translation.
• Chick Magnet: Uses his good looks to distract people long enough to pick their pockets.
• Deadpan Snarker: Definitely has his moments, especially with Evie
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: A Choleric — with Evie(Sanguine), Jericho (Melancholic) and Mabel (Phlegmatic).
• Guile Hero
• Has a Type: From what we've seen, blondes. (Although this might just be due to his long-time crush on Evie.) Overlaps with Shiksa Goddess.
• Immigrant Parents: Child of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine.
• Jewish and Nerdy: Plays with this. On the one hand, he's a scrappy, street smart thief who swears he's not book-smart. On the other, he can quote Kierkegaard, argued with Jericho about Nietzsche, studied Torah with his father, and while losing his Russian can still carry on a (stumbling) conversation in it.
• Jewish Complaining: Kvetches. A lot.
• Jews Love to Argue: Has a snappy retort to pretty much everything.
• The Nicknamer: To everyone, from Freddy to the Future Mrs. Lloyd.
• Missing Mom: Sam's mother was taken away and he hasn't seen her since.
• Momma's Boy: His main motivation is to find his mother.
• Naturalized Name: His dad changed it from Sergei Lubovitch to Sam Lloyd. After Uncle Sam.
• Phantom Thief: There's a reason he's so good at stealing things.
• Romantic False Lead: His relationship with Evie is foreshadowed in the book's beginning, however later on the narrative implies that Evie is more fond of Jericho than of Sam. Subverted by the second book where it is clear Evie is developing feelings for him.
• Sad Clown: Cracks a lot of jokes to cover up his pain and fear
• Stepford Snarker: See above
• Sticky Fingers: Evie's twenty dollars, the knife from the museum, Jericho's wallet, the necklace, Jake Marlowe's ashtray, countless sets of keys ...
• Think Unsexy Thoughts: While in bed with Evie, who's understandably overwhelmed, particularly given some of her earlier experiences. Giving us this gem:
  Evie: What are you doing?
  Sam: Thinking of the least sexual thing I can imagine. Ghost bubbies. They're making ghost borscht and talking about their bowel troubles. Jeepers. I may never make love again. This is traumatic.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Evie.
• Will They or Won't They?: Also with Evie.
• Yiddish as a Second Language: Fully Justified, as the child of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants raised in early 20-th century Jewish culture.

Theta Knight

• Abusive Parents: Not true of Theta's biological parents, but her adopted mother fits this to a tee. A horrible stage mother, she forces Theta into Vaudeville as soon as she can toddle, makes her work tirelessly, and tells her constantly When Theta tries to return to her and escape her physically abusive husband Roy, who she eloped with in an attempt to escape her adopted mother, her mother tells her she made her bed and now she has to lie in it
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She doesn't even know all the secrets of her own past, and while becoming close to Henry, Memphis, and Evie leaves quite a bit hidden.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Before moving to New York.
• Deadpan Snarker: Has a wonderfully dry sense of humour.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": Changes her name after moving from Kansas — not just because Theta is a more fabulous name, but because she's hiding. Anytime she is referred to as "Betty Sue" it is by her abusive ex-husband.
• The Flapper
• Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Subverted. Theta has had an abortion and is not ashamed for it.
• Like Brother and Sister: Her and Henry.
• One-Woman Army: Her powers are quite a bit more physically imposing than the others'.
• Playing with Fire: Starts fires when she's in danger or distressed. As of the end of the second book, she cannot control this ability.
• Teenage Pregnancy: Became pregnant by her abusive husband, ran away to New York, and had an abortion.

Henry Du Bois IV

• Abusive Parents: Henry's father is a real piece of work who doesn't care for his son one bit beyond whether he can serve the Dubois legacy. He even goes so far as to have men kill Henry's boyfriend, Louis, after discovering their relationship
• All Gays Love Theatre: Justified, given the historical context.
• Like Brother and Sister: Henry and Theta describe each other as the only family they have.
• Southern Gentleman: From New Orleans and embodies pretty much all the positive aspects of this trope: he's almost always polite, chivalrous, hospitable, and generous.

Memphis Campbell

• Big Brother Instinct
• Black and Nerdy: Has a favorite librarian and compliments his friends on their alliteration.
• Cultured Badass: Numbers runner and up-and-coming poet.
• Healing Hands: Memphis's Diviner power, though he hasn't been able to use it since his mother died. He regains it bringing his brother Isaiah out of a coma at the end of the book.
• Odd Friendship: Growing one with Ling, partially united by being the only people of colour on the team.
• Parental Abandonment: His mother died.
• Promotion to Parent: Has essentially been raising Isaiah.
• Nice Guy
• Warrior Poet: Writes poetry whilst working as a numbers runner for a Harlem gang, and though we haven't really seen it his job require him to work as The Enforcer or anything outwardly violent, he is very helpful in the teams efforts to deal with ghosts.
• Where da White Women At?: His interracial relationship with Theta earns them both a lot of hassle. Mostly subverted, though, because whilst mostly white-passing, Theta is a mixed Cherokee woman.

Isaiah Campbell

• The Baby of the Bunch
• Big Brother Worship: Well, when your big bro is as awesome as Memphis is...

Jericho Jones

• Alliterative Name: Jericho Jones
• Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Sam's Veronica for Evie. Additionally, he can be considered to be Archie with Mabel being his Betty and Evie being his Veronica.
• Book Worm
• The Cynic: Fan of Nihilism.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: A Melancholic — with Evie(Sanguine), Sam (Choleric) and Mabel (Phlegmatic).
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Him and Evie.
• Mercy Kill: In his backstory.
• Parental Abandonment: His parents signed him over to the state when he was hospitalized.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Him and Evie, respectively.
• The Stoic

Mabel Rose

• Always Someone Better: She feels incredibly boring compared to her best friend who gets more guys, is incredibly beautiful, and the life of the party.
• Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Evie's Veronica for Jericho.
• Can't Hold Her Liquor: Swears to never drink again after going out with Evie.
• Childhood Friends: With Evie.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: A Phlegmatic — with Evie(Sanguine), Sam (Choleric) and Jericho (Melancholic).
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Evie.
• Nice Girl
• Plain Jane: Feels this way about herself.

Ling Chan

• All of the Other Reindeer: Her somewhat combative personality is partly the result of the difficulties of living as a handicapped Chinese-Irish girl.
• Asian and Nerdy: She's genuinely excited and interested in atoms and matter.
• Awesome by Analysis: provides some interesting commentary on the properties of the dream world and the Diviners' powers.
• Brutal Honesty
• Defrosting Ice Queen
• Fighting Irish: Of the verbal variety. Fully justified — being a disabled, Irish-Chinese girl in 1927 is not an easy position.
• Genius Cripple: Unable to walk without crutches and braces by polio.
• Handicapped Badass: And how!
• Hates Being Touched
• Science Hero

Villains:

The King of Crows

• Ambition Is Evil: His driving motivation is gain more and more power for himself.
• Big Bad: Of the series as a whole, being the greatest threat the diviners face, threatening the whole world.
• Humanoid Abomination: A centuries being with an inhuman appearance.
• Manipulative Bastard: He's fond of using Exact Words to trick people into making deals with him or doing what he wants.
• Sadist: He enjoys purposely corrupting people's deals for no reason other than cruelty.

John Hobbes "Naughty John"

• The Antichrist: His goal is to become this and bring about the apocalypse.
• Big Bad: Of the first novel, as he's the one responsible for the Pentacle killings.
• Creepy Child: In Evie's flashbacks, and at the Brooklyn orphanage, where he would bully other children or steal their belongings.
• Ghastly Ghost: John comes back after being executed for his murders he comes back as a ghost and continues his killings to complete the ritual.
• Human Sacrifice: Naughty John must complete eleven of these in order to metamorphose into the Beast from Revelations.
• I'm a Humanitarian: He eats the body parts he takes from the people he kills in order to fuel the ritual.
• Parental Abandonment: His mother died in childbirth, while his father, pastor Algoode, burnt himself along with the rest of the village of Brethren, causing John to end up in the Brooklyn orphanage.
• Resurrected Murderer: In the first novel, John Hobbes murdered over 10 people for a ritual to become "The Beast" and end the world but was executed before he could kill enough people for the ritual, and finally returning decades as a ghost to complete the ritual and becomes known as the "Pentacle Killer".
• Serial Killer: He's the Pentacle killer and he kills a number of people across New York for the ritual.
• Would Hurt a Child: One of his victims is a twelve-year-old boy.

Project Buffalo:

William "Will" Fitzgerald

• Cool Uncle: Gives Evie a far wider degree of freedom than her parents did.
• Parental Substitute: Acts as one for Evie and Jericho.

Doctor Margaret "Sister" Walker

• Big Good
• Black and Nerdy: Well, she is an absolutely brilliant scientist.
• Motherly Scientist
• Reasonable Authority Figure

James Xavier O'Neill

• Big Brother Instinct: Heavily implied.
• Parental Favoritism: Lampshaded.
• Posthumous Character: James died in 1918, in the First World War, while the book takes place in 1927, when he's already dead.

Miriam Lubovitch

• Jewish Mother
• Missing Mom

Jake Marlowe

• Big Bad Wannabe: He believes that the King of Crows can be made to work for him, when in reality he's only a pawn to him.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's a brutal industrialist that barely pays his employees and forces them to work in unsafe conditions.
• Evil Former Friend: Used to be Will's best friend but now he hates him and is willing to have him killed.
• Knight Templar: Does everything he does in a fervent belief that he's acting in America's best interests.
• Patriotic Fervor: Stokes this in people and uses it as an excuse for the many horrors he commits. Seems to believe it.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Is a firm believer in eugenics and holds disdain for all those he considers not "real" Americans.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Is a widely loved and adored industrialist while actually being a Corrupt Corporate Executive and part of a government conspiracy. After Project Buffalo is revealed to the public he becomes much more controversial.

Rotke Wasserman

• The Lost Lenore

Other Characters:

Alma La Voy

Blind Bill

• Evil Cripple: He's blind, selfish and not above Trying to kill Isiah so Bill can "see" numbers to help him win the lottery. He also intentionally sows strife between Memphis and aunt.

David Coen

Sarah Snow

• The Fundamentalist: She is a fanatic Christian and believes everything should be done according to the Bible.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: She's blown apart while she's singing Star Spangled Banner.

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