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Richard Tyler
Richard Tyler
Played by: Macaulay Culkin
A young boy who has a severe phobia of everything and lives a life based on the statistics of accident occurrences. Sent out to the hardware store by his concerned father, Richard gets caught in a storm and takes shelter in a library. Knocking himself out by slipping on a wet floor, he becomes an animated character and ventures on a journey through the library's fiction section to find the exit.
- Badass Bookworm: Becomes this over the course of the film.
- Bookworm: But only of fact-based books, at first.
- Calling Card: His library card.
- Cowardly Lion: Easily frightened and cautious about everything, who overcomes his fears to become a better person.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: He believes everything is trying to hurt him in some shape or form. Ironically, this becomes quite real in the animated world. Of course, when lightning itself is chasing him, you realize it's a Cassandra Truth as some kind of entity is after him.
- False Crucible: It turns out everything that Richard went through was just a test by the Pagemaster. Needless to say, Richard does not take it very well.
- Genre Blindness: Downplayed. He clearly has read little-to-no literature in his life, though he is familiar with characters like John Silver and Mother Goose.
- Hypocritical Humor: When his father falls from the treehouse after Richard drops a bucket of nails on his head, Richard tells his father he cannot argue with statistics. Now who was it who dropped the bucket in the first place?
- Kid Hero: A contemporary take on the standard fantasy hero.
- Knight in Shining Armor: To battle the dragon.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Richard's short fight with the dragon goes from bravery to recklessness when it's not a battle he can hope to win. Instead of falling back to lure the beast away from the books, he keeps on attacking and gets swallowed alive.
- Logical Fallacies: Richard follows his life based on the statistics of how many accidents can occur in just about every scenario. As the main page points out, "8% of all household accidents involve ladders. Another 3% involve trees. We're looking at 11% probability here." First, Richard is ignoring some overlap between the 8% and the 3%. Secondly, he's assuming that an accident will happen, in which case the probability that it involves ladders is 8%, but that doesn't tell us anything about the chances that this specific ladder-climbing event will lead to an accident. What he needs is a statistic in the form of "X% of the time somebody climbs a ladder, they have an accident" rather than "X% of all accidents involve ladders."
- Lovable Nerd: A very nervous but charming nerdy kid through and through.
- Ludicrous Precision: See Logical Fallacies above. In this case, of course, his precision is far more ludicrous than is average for this trope.
- Nerd Glasses: Round, brown spectacles.
- Primal Fear: Once he gets over his Logical Fallacies, his is dragons and heights. Enormous unkillable dragons, even more so. Richard through Character Development goes from a cowardly introvert to a brave boy who will face his crippling fears to defend his friends, even though he hates every second of it.
- Trapped in Another World: After he slips, falls and gets knocked out.
- Took a Level in Badass: Over the course of his journey, Richard gains enough bravery and confidence to eventually go up against a 100 foot-tall dragon to protect his new friends.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: His flaw is that he's afraid of pretty much everything. He gets better.
The Pagemaster
The Pagemaster
Voiced by: Christopher Lloyd
The title character and guardian of literature and reading. He sends Richard on his journey to find the exit, hoping he will overcome his fears. Possibly related to, or is, Mr. Dewey.
- Badass Bookworm: His clothes, his staff and even his beard all seem to be made out of pages.
- Deus ex Machina:
- He saves Richard from the dragon that terrorises his dreams, and tried to absorb him, after falling unconscious in the library. Brought to the world of fiction, he implores the boy to face his fears.
- Defied with his Secret Test of Character. At the end he admits that he could have ended the story immediately, but then Richard wouldn't have learned a thing.
- Guile Hero: It's revealed that he deliberately sent Richard on his dangerous journey so he could conquer his phobias.
- Large Ham: Considering who voices him this is hardly surprising.
- Magic Staff: Shaped in the form of a scroll.
- Pet the Dog: Sends Richard back to his own world after Richard successfully overcomes his fears.
- Physical God: He's implied to be something like this in his world, judging by how the three books react to him.
- Robe and Wizard Hat: Stylised to resemble wrapped up paper.
- Secret Test of Character: His method to help Richard overcome his fears.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Richard gives him a grand chewing-out after realizing his entire ordeal was just the Pagemaster's test.
- Wizard Classic: He ticks all the boxes: old, bearded wizard with a big hat and staff and wiser than anyone.
Mr. Dewey
Mr. Dewey
Played by: Christopher Lloyd
A friendly but mysterious librarian who gives Richard his library card. It appears he does not get many visitors to the library and is quite enthusiastic at getting people to check out the books.
- Ambiguous Situation: The final scenes, along with Christopher Lloyd playing both characters, strongly imply he and the Pagemaster are one and the same, but it is not explicitly said or shown.
- Bookworm: This is clear based on his enthusiasm to give Richard a book.
- Friend to All Children: Judging by his little act on Richard, he puts a lot of work in getting children interested in reading.
- Informed Ability: "I have a talent at guessing what people need." He is wrong... at least the first time.
- Magical Library: In his eyes, the library is a magical place. It may or may not actually be magical, even though it seems Richard's adventures were All Just a Dream.
- Large Ham: What else would you expect from Christopher Lloyd?
- Loony Librarian: The "loony" part of his character is provided by Large Ham Christopher Lloyd, who ultimately reappears as a benevolent wizard in the animated universe into which Richard is whisked.
- Meaningful Name: He's named after the Dewey Decimal System which is used to organize books in libraries.
- Scary Librarian: Subverted. He can look a bit off his rocker, but he only wants people to check out books.
- Secret-Keeper: Seems to know what happened to Richard, and might actually be the Pagemaster. It's possible that he knows of the events that happen, thus why he allows Richard to take Horror, Adventure and Fantasy.
- Spooky Silent Library: No one seems to come to the library anymore.
Adventure
Adventure
Voiced by: Patrick Stewart (English), Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu (European French)
A talking book who is an adventurous, daring pirate. He meets Richard after he crashes a book cart into his shelf, Adventure spotting his library card and accompanies Richard to find the exit so he can be checked out.
- Affectionate Nickname: Calls Richard "Matey."
- Animate Inanimate Object: He's a talking book with arms and legs.
- Badass Boast: "I wrote the book on sailing. In fact, I am the book on sailing!"
- Boisterous Weakling: He claims to be a great fighters and swordsman, but he never has the chance to back his words, and considering he is not more than a book with proportional limbs, he gets mistreated a lot during the movie.
- Butt-Monkey: Let's see—he is smashed by a book cart, falls off the top of a book shelf to the floor, drenched by a wave, looted by fellow pirates, tossed into a treasure chest during his only chance at a swordfight, enchanted to wear a dress and wig, and fried by a dragon.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Follows Richard in the hopes of being checked out as a library book.
- Eyepatch of Power: Wears an eyepatch, although he still has both eyes intact. He wears it because it makes him look good.
- Forceful Kiss: Pulls this on Fantasy in a romantic moment and gets smacked for it (after some appreciation, though).
- Genre Savvy: In the adventure section and horror section. Not so much in the fantasy section.
- Handicapped Badass: Has a hook and a peg leg, but is still pretty awesome.
- Hook Hand: He is a pirate after all.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he often argues with Fantasy and mocks Horror, he is a good man at heart and ultimately feels guilty for mistreating the latter.
- Large Ham: Well, he is a pirate and voiced by Patrick Stewart after all, though it can be a surprise to those used to him as the staid Captain Picard.
- Master Swordsman: Claims to be, but doesn't get much chance to show off his skills since he is the Butt-Monkey of the film.
- Ow, My Body Part!: "Oooh! Me binding!"
- Pirate: A very traditional role. Aside from being a talking book.
- Portal Book: Contains a number of pirate-related weaponry within his pages.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Adventure is the Manly Man to Horror's Sensitive Guy.
- Ship Tease: With Fantasy. They spend a good deal of the film bantering before he pulls a surprise kiss on her near the end. She initially seems to like it, but ultimately doesn't take too kindly to that.
- Talk Like a Pirate: You'd better believe it, mateys.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Being the prideful braggard that he is, he certainly shows no gratitude when Horror and Fantasy help him and Richard fend off the pirates, especially since he spent the entire fight trapped in a chest right when he saw a good opportunity to have a good battle.Adventure: I coulda taken the lot of 'em with one hand tied behind me back! (storms off)Richard: It's just his way of saying thanks.Horror: (grabs a sword and puts on a bandana) You're welcome!
- Unusual Euphemism: To Fantasy: "How'd you like to curl up with a good book?"
Fantasy
Fantasy
Voiced by: Whoopi Goldberg
A sassy book from the fantasy section. Mis-shelved, Fantasy meets Richard by chance and agrees to guide him through the library in exchange for checking her out.
- Animate Inanimate Object: A talking book with a fairy motif.
- Deadpan Snarker: Has her moments.Fantasy: (regarding Adventure) You know that short story?Richard: Yeah, he's Adventure.Fantasy: Honey, that's what they all say.Adventure: I heard that! I'll have you know I'm a classic!Fantasy: Mmm-hmmm... a classic misprint!
- Fairy Companion: Accompanies Richard on his journey.
- Fairy Godmother: Acts as one to Richard and claims to grant wishes.
- Fish out of Water: She was mis-shelved and is clueless to the horror genre.
- Magic Carpet: Has Horror rip out one of her pages (fittingly, one about the Arabian Nights) and transforms it into a flying carpet.
- Magic Wand: She seems to have a bit of a faulty one but gets stronger when in the fantasy section.
- Portal Book: Able to pull fantasy-related objects from her pages like a flying carpet.
- Sassy Black Woman: She is technically lavender, but is voiced by Whoopi Goldberg.
- Ship Tease: With Adventure, though she doesn't seem to want it.
- The Smurfette Principle: The only woman in Richard's group.
- Verbal Tic: "Mmm-hmmm."
Horror
Horror
Voiced by: Frank Welker
The third of Richard's book companions. Horror is a misshaped book who Richard meets in the horror section, and they quickly bond due to their timid nature, but both learn to become braver over time.
- All There in the Manual:
Word of God states that Horror was created with a misshapen spine, and his parents were an encyclopedia and a paperback book. As a result, Horror feels he has been mis-shelved in life and wants to gain a happy ending. - Animate Inanimate Object: A talking book.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Horror discovers he can float after the group is separated by Moby Dick.
- Composite Character: His character design evokes both the Frankenstein's monster and Igor, with a bit of Quasimodo thrown in.
- Cowardly Lion / Lovable Coward: Similar to Richard, he is easily frightened despite coming from the horror section of the library, but becomes braver over time.
- Cute Monster: In the eyes of Fantasy.
- Dynamic Entry: Swings into battle like Tarzan and knocks out several pirates upon landing.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: All he wants is to be checked out and be happy.
- Falling into His Arms: A subverted version. Horror is knocked out of a bell tower and lands in Richard's arms.
- Friend to All Living Things: Horror is the most gentle of characters compared to the hot-headed Adventure and Fantasy, and wouldn't hurt a fly.
- The Grotesque: Horror is described as a "hunchbook" and is based on Quasimodo. He has a misshapen spine and torn features. Also has elements of Igor, referring to Richard as his "master".
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Too friendly and kind for the horror section, Horror just wants to have friends and a better existence.
- The Klutz: A bit clumsy and accident prone at times. He accidentally knocks Fantasy's wand out of her hand and it is eaten by the dragon, causing it to gain extra firepower and fry the flying carpet they are on.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The relationship between Horror and Adventure. Adventure is mostly mean and insulting towards Horror, and angrily chews out Horror when he comments that he could be like him (but mostly because his pride was damaged because Fantasy and Horror rescued Richard from the pirates). The two get along better after Adventure mistakes Horror for being dead.
- Technically a Smile: Gives a lopsided smile upon meeting Richard.Fantasy: Look, he's smiling.(Horror gives a weird smile)Richard: That's a smile?
Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde
Voiced by: Leonard Nimoy
The first literary character met in the film. A gentlemanly Mad Scientist, Dr. Jekyll creates a potion to split apart his dark side, only to transform into the Ax-Crazy Mr. Hyde.
- Adaptational Villainy: While he's nice enough in the movie, if a bit stuffy, the PC game's version of Dr. Jekyll has him collaborating with Hyde to rule the world.
- Ambition Is Evil: Wants to help mankind, but ends up becoming a full-on psychopath.
- Ax-Crazy: Mr. Hyde immediately starts laughing like a lunatic and attacks Richard and his friends with a cane.
- Big Bad: While not in the film, Hyde becomes the Big Bad in the PC game.
- Body Horror: Like in the book he was from, Jekyll completely changes when he becomes Hyde. We get a brief glimpse of this when he grabs Richard and his hand begins to get hairier.
- Cane Fu: After transforming, Mr. Hyde uses Dr. Jekyll's cane to attack Richard and the others.
- Disney Villain Death: Overlaps with
He's Just Hiding. We never find out Hyde's ultimate fate after falling through the hole in his floor, but he appears at the film's end, revealed to be part of the Pagemaster's Secret Test of Character. - Evil Laugh: Mr. Hyde does these a lot.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Mr. Hyde's voice is more deep and guttural than Jekyll's.
- Falling Chandelier of Doom: Horror drops a chandelier on Mr. Hyde. It misses but causes Hyde to fall through a hole in the floor and dangle from a chain. Fantasy breaks the chain like a blowtorch, and we hear Mr. Hyde fall to his apparent doom. He survives and transforms back into Dr. Jekyll at the end of the film.
- Gargle Blaster: The Hyde potion, once spilt, eats through the wooden floor like acid in a second.
- Harbinger of Impending Doom: Dr. Jekyll informs Richard that he is in grave danger for entering his house. He seems to be cryptic here on purpose, since the danger he is referring to is himself.Dr. Jekyll: My boy, I derive no pleasure in telling you, that you are in extreme danger.Richard: Danger!Dr. Jekyll: Even as we speak. In this very room waiting to strike are the forces of evil. Every man is possessed of both good and evil. But enough of that, anyone care for a drink?
- Jekyll & Hyde: The Doctor is gentlemanly and helpful to Richard, but Hyde is a violent monster who tries to kill him.
- Large Ham: Mr. Hyde unlike the more calm and affable Jekyll.Mr. Hyde: My name is...Mr. HYYYYYYYDE !!
- Mad Scientist: As in the novel, Dr. Jekyll is an ambitious scientist hoping to help mankind and rid himself of his own darkness. However, he makes a formula which instead backfires and turns him into Mr. Hyde.
- Nightmare Face: Mr. Hyde's is one to remember.
- Painful Transformation: The transformation is brief but pretty terrifying. Dr. Jekyll screams in agony as his body reacts to his potion, then he undergoes some body horror before becoming Mr. Hyde.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning
- Slasher Smile: Again, Hyde.
- Starter Villain: His Hyde persona serves as the first obstacle faced in the film by Richard and his book companions and is taken out easily by Fantasy.
- Superpowered Evil Side: He just needs to drink the potion in order to become this.
- They Call Me Mr Tibbs: For Jekyll's introduction.Fantasy: Excuse me, Mr., uh...Jekyll: Doctor. Dr. Jekyll.
Captain Ahab
Captain Ahab
Voiced by: George Hearn
The second literary character in the film. Ahab, like in the book he was from, is dead-set on killing Moby Dick.
- Ax-Crazy: One reason why Adventure likes him.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: More like Dropped a Whale on Him. Tries to kill Moby Dick with a spear, only to have the whale leap out of the water and sink his boat.
- Father Neptune: Shown to be a veteran sailor and hunter.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Subverted. His speech before attacking Moby is taken from the book.
- Incoming Ham: "Thar she blows!"
- Large Ham: Taken from the source material.
- Revenge Before Reason: Wants to kill Moby as an act of revenge.
- Spear Carrier: Little more than a One-Scene Wonder, Captain Ahab sails into the ocean and tries to slay Moby Dick. It doesn't work.
Long John Silver
Long John Silver
Voiced by: Jim Cummings
The third literary character met in the film. Like in the book, Long John has rallied a band of pirates to find Flint's trove on Treasure Island.
- Affably Evil: Quite polite towards Richard, wishing to employ him as a cabin boy, and departs from the island when Richard threatens him with a sword.
- Cool Sword: Has one as a pirate should.
- The Dreaded: Adventure describes him as this.
- Handicapped Badass: Needs to use a crutch in order to walk, but is very ruthless and determined.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Like in the book, while he is a villain nonetheless, he is actually quite nice to Richard, reflecting how he treated Jim Hawkins in the original story. In the climax, he congratulates Richard on facing his fears.
- Large Ham: "There she be, mateys! Treasure Island!"
- The Mutiny: His crew try to pull this on him when they cannot find any treasure, only for Fantasy and Horror to arrive to rescue their friends.
- Pirate Parrot: Accompanied by a scrawny parrot.
- Surrounded by Idiots: He's the only pirate with a functioning brain, which would explain why he's the Captain. The rest of his crew can't even read a map or recognize an obvious clue pointing to the treasure.
- Talk Like a Pirate: But of course.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Gives Richard his congratulations.Long John: Ah, you had pirate stuff, me lad! An' don't no one speak any different.
The Dragon
The Dragon
Vocal effects by: Frank Welker
The first and final obstacle between Richard and the exit. An enormous enigmatic fire-breathing dragon who attacks Richard and his friends after they wake him up.
- And Your Little Dog, Too!: The dragon deliberately goes after Richard's only friends - the books, first. This forces him to try and stand up to his fears.
- The Assimilator: The dragon shape-shifts into a monstrous painting abomination that absorbs Richard into the worlds of Horror, Adventure and Fantasy. Changing him into an illustration, just so it can terrorize and devour him later.
- Attack Its Weak Point: In a Deleted Scene, Richard tries to apply knowledge he picked up from the books into practice by attacking the dragon's soft underbelly - only to find this beast has no weaknesses; his sword just bounces off the armor-like scales. Dodging its head and legs forces him to the rear where the monster's tail snatches him up. In the film's junior novel, Richard aimed his sword toward the dragon's soft spot, under the lower part of its neck. But before he could strike, the dragon whipped its tail around and snared the boy.
- Big Bad: He is more or less this for the film; He was the thing that first brought Richard into the magic world. He is also the last and most dangerous obstacle that Richard and his friends have to face.
- Breath Weapon: Can breathe fire. Gets a huge power boost after eating Fantasy's wand.
- Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: It does not like being mocked. Adventure calling it a "dragonfly" earned him a blast of its fiery breath. Richard rebuking it as frightening, made it prove him instantly wrong, swallowing him whole.
- Dragons Are Demonic: The dragon takes on whatever form it wants to scare and pursue Richard. The Pagemaster's intervention merely enabled it to assume physical form, and in the realm of Fantasy where good endings prevail, this fiery beast unphased by that fact gets even more powerful and dangerous!
- Enemy Within: The dragon is supposed to be Richard's fears incarnate and manifested into physical form. Hence why it's pursuing him constantly.
- Final Boss: The final obstacle in the film faced by Richard and his friends.
- Giant Flyer: Flies on giant bat wings and able to keep pace with a Magic Carpet.
- Just Eat Him: Annoyed Richard repeatedly tries to stand up to it, the dragon opts to swallow the boy whole and unharmed when Richard's bravery starts becoming reckless.
- Kill It Through Its Stomach: Averted. After Richard is eaten by this beast, he makes a beanstalk appear by opening a book entitled Jack and the Beanstalk that was also inside the dragon's stomach, and uses it to escape. The implacable fiery beast does not die however.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Zigzagged. By going after the Books, it made Richard finally stand up to his fears. But the fiery monster is not something that can be overcome with brute force, and may have done so to flush Richard out from hiding.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: It is an invincible Mighty Glacier behemoth where sword attacks just bounce off it and technically wasn't even defeated by Richard. Being temporarily inconvenienced by the giant beanstalk speaks volumes of how virtually untouchable it is. Shown to be as active as ever in the ending, and angry the boy escaped. Which serves as Fridge Brilliance. The fact that the dragon wasn't killed is a symbolism of Richard's general fear (mainly of risk and heights). He'll never truly be rid of his fears, but as the Pagemaster pointed out he overcame them.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Your standard fire-breathing dragon...that also materializes in a melted rotunda artwork to chase Richard.
- Prehensile Tail: It is frighteningly dexterous with its long tail, using it to capture, disarm, study and then throw Richard into its open maw.
- Shapeshifting: From storyboards, the enigmatic dragon was supposed to shape-shift after Richard and the books again, upon leaving the realm of Adventure. It forcibly takes over a mere frog's body to transform into a rampaging monster. However, Fantasy now at full power in her native realm, easily defeats it by turning it to stone. Adventure loses his sword in process. Unfortunately this causes a Plot Hole when he recovers his sword from the real dragon's mouth, who has decided to get serious this time.
- Stomach of Holding: Richard ends up here and its belly is Bigger on the Inside, with stomach acid bubbles producing flames, and even containing a library of children's books.
- That's No Moon: Mistaken for a cave until Adventure chops one of its fangs off, awakening the dragon.
- When Trees Attack: Gets temporarily paralyzed when a beanstalk grows out of its mouth, allowing Richard to escape its clutches.
- Would Hurt a Child: More than eager to frighten and attack Richard, but curiously when the boy is at its mercy the monster doesn't want to turn him into mincemeat in its teeth, tail or claws, and gulps him down alive.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: It's a malevolent presence of unknown origin (possibly demonic) that undeniably hounds after Richard through his dreams, the real world, and into the worlds of Horror, Adventure and Fantasy. This monster is so bad that the Pagemaster has to pull a Deus ex Machina in order to get the boy it pursues to stand up to it.
Alan and Claire Tyler
Alan and Claire Tyler
Played by: Ed Begley Jr. and Mel Harris
Richard's loving, yet concerned parents.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Realizing they sent their son out as a major storm blew in from out of nowhere, Richard's parents frantically search all over town for him, only to their relief find he's already home.
- So Proud of You: When they find their son sleeping in the newly-built treehouse they worried he'd never have the courage to climb up into.
