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Main Characters
Robin, Kid Red
Tickles in my belly... ...Cuddles in the wind.
Robin, also known as Kid Red, is 9 years old and the youngest of the sisters. She's a very lively child who loves fun, though she's never wandered off the path, even with the sound of the swings and the howls of wolves. Robin loves wolves; they're her favorite animals!- Admiring the Abomination: Robin is a self described lover of wolves and shows no fear upon meeting one, even when the encounter turns grim....
- Alliterative Name: Robin Red.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: This to all her older sisters, but especially Ginger who has been known to abandon her on the path to go and play in the forest.
- Big Brother Worship: This to all her older sisters, but especially Ginger, whom she describes as her "favoritest" sister.
- Blind Obedience: Unlike her sisters, Robin is the only sibling to have not gone into the forest, simply because her mother said so.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: When she gets to the ruined theatre she says: "Ladies and gentlemen! Children and pets! Come and see the wonderful circus of Robin the Great!", Robin the Great being a reference to Ginger's livejournal, where she names herself Ginger the Great.
- Break the Cutie: Even if the Werewolf's attack on Robin isn't fatal, it's clear that her worldview has been permanently tainted because of it.
- Character Blog: Her livejournal, Kidred13.
- Cheerful Child: Robin is overly optimistic in every line she has, even when talking about dark subjects, and even when in the face of absolute danger.
- Death Is a Sad Thing: Robin explains multiple times that she doesn't really grasp the concept of death, seeing it as simply people going into the ground, like flowers. After her attack from her wolf, Robin is forced to try and make sense of death with her limited worldview.
- Dramatic Irony: Robin's favorite animal is a wolf. It's quite fitting then that her wolf is the only one that truly is a wolf.
- Fearless Fool: Sort of excused because she's so young, but Robin is immune to any sort of fear, even when it makes sense for anyone to be scared.
- Fertile Feet: Played with. In the cemetery, Robin can interact with the fresh graves by kneeling in front of them and praying. As she does show, flowers begin growing in the grave's dirt.
- Foil: To Scarlet. She's the youngest to Scarlet's eldest; she's immature and loves being a kid, Scarlet has to be mature and was forced to grow up quickly; she's outwardly positive and happy, while Scarlet is sullen.
- Genki Girl: An extremely positive and bubbly character for such a sad game. She can even be seen in her livejournal trying to cheer up her sisters.
- Idle Animation: When waiting to be selected in the apartment, Robin is shown sitting on the floor playing with a toy car.
- Innocent Inaccurate: Minor example. Ruby speaks about a dream she has, where she could hear the engine of a car purring. Robin, seemingly not understanding this, asks if she can pet the big kitty in her dream.
- Ironic Echo: Present throughout the game, but most obviously with Robin. One of her generic quotes is "Wolves are just dogs. But werewolves are like people." Her wolf is literally a Werewolf, but it acts more like a dangerous animal.
- Kiddie Kid: Robin is stated to be 9 years old, but frequently uses incorrect tense in words, doesn't fully understand what sentences mean, has very little knowledge about the world (such as wondering if the balloon she finds in the forest is the same balloon she lost on her birthday), and stating herself to be a "little kid." It's even more obvious when compared to Rose, who is overly mature for her age.
- Life/Death Juxtaposition: Robin's version of Grandmother's house features an overturned cot, with a dead baby bird inside.
- Little Dead Riding Hood: Applies to every sister, but most obvious with Robin who is the most "stereotypical" Red Riding Hood, down to the red hood.
- Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Robin talks about her new best friend she met on the path in her livejournal; naturally, her older sisters think she's imaginary and tease her about it, but it's revealed in the game that that imaginary friend is The Girl in White, who is very real, and all of the sisters know about her.
- Punny Name: Robin's interaction with the dead bird has her say "Young dead bird. Not me!" Not only is "Robin" a shade of red, but it's also, of course, the name of a type of bird.
- Skip of Innocence: When Robin goes to interact with items, she skips to them.
- Too Dumb to Live: Robin sees a clearly dangerous large wolf in a graveyard, and immediately jumps onto it and rides it around as it gets more and more irritated. It's... no surprise what happens next.
- A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: The only reason Robin got hurt was that she was so excited to see a wolf, and she didn't think twice about jumping onto and riding it.
Rose, Innocent Red
Deep inside everybody is a dream.
Rose, also known as Innocent Red, is 11 years old, not even a teenager. She's mature for her age, but has a certain air of innocence to her, believing the world to be beautiful.- Adorably Precocious Child: Rose is full of big ideas of the world, believing all to be wonderful and good. She is also really mindful of her older sisters, who she feels sympathy for. Her musings are quite basic, but they are admittedly cute.
- Alice Allusion: In the Russian language version of the game her name is Алиса, a name which means Alice in English. Rose owns a little white rabbit, and her version of grandmother's house involves surreal imagery including a long corridor of doors and a room filling with water you float through, as seen in Alice in Wonderland.
- Alliterative Name: Rose Red.
- Animal Lover: Rose thinks everything in nature is beautiful, and expresses the wish to protect animals from harm.
- Big Brother Worship: Rose adores her older sister Scarlet, who she sees to be extremely responsible. She has admitted wanting to go to music school with her.
- Big Little Brother: A minor example. Rose is noticeably taller than her older sister Ginger, much to the latter's chagrin.
- Black-and-White Morality: Rose sees the world as all good and pure, or all evil and bad. She thinks all bad things done by bad people, and all good things are done by perfect people.
- Caged Bird Metaphor: Rose is heavily associated with birds, and cages. This can be read as her wish to fly, or it represents herself being stuck in her own ill body.
- Call of the Wild Blue Yonder: Rose mentions multiple times her biggest wish in life is to fly.
- Character Blog: Her livejournal, Innocentred.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Rose has an extremely personal world view that's a mix between scientific fact and spirituality, making her dialogue sometimes hard to understand.
- Crisis of Faith: A common interpretation of her story.
- Foil: To Ruby. She's the idealist to Ruby's cynic, she wants to fix the hurt in the world while Ruby relishes in it, and Rose thinks life is beautiful, while Ruby thinks it's corrupt and ugly.
- Friend to All Living Things: She has a pet rabbit, dresses up as endangered species for Halloween, and entering the campsite has her despair that some of the trees have been "marked for death."
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Mentioned in her reaction to the teddy bear: "People love animals so much that they make fake ones just to cuddle."
- Idle Animation: When waiting to be selected in the apartment, Rose is shown sitting in a chair petting a bunny.
- Innocent Means Naïve: The main theme of her story.
- Innocent Prodigy: Rose is able to play flute and piano, is overly aware of climate change and animal extinction, and knows a lot about the scientific way the world works. But despite that, Rose isn't very aware of the personal dangers life can give her.
- Mature Younger Sibling: Rose is a lot more mature than her older sister Ginger, and occasionally shows more maturity than her seventeen-year-old sister Carmen.
- Multiple Reference Pun: Her name is a shade of red like her sisters, but it's also a reference to the tale of Snow White and Rose Red, as well as being a pun on "Rose Colored Glasses."
- Nature Is Not Nice The cruel fact Rose is forced to learn after she falls into the lake.
- The Ophelia: A minor example, but fits the trope all the same.
- Profanity Police: Her first livejournal opens with her asking no one to swear or use any "nasty or angry words."
- Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: The lesson she is forced to learn.
- Symbolic Serene Submersion: Seen in her final flashes. She floats peacefully underwater after death, having said earlier in the game that floating is probably the closest thing to flying.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: A common interpretation of Rose's route is her either battling with a terminal illness and being close to death, or attempting to save someone from drowning only to fall in herself.
- The Tragic Rose: Rose's story is definitely played more for sadness than horror, at least compared to her sisters. Her story of being a young sick girl nearly drowning while trying to save something weaker than her, and learning nature isn't as lovely as she thought it was, is extremely tragic.
- Water Is Womanly: Rose is heavily associated with water, especially with things relating to her wolf, and is by far the girliest sister.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Rose views the world as inherently beautiful and pure, that anything that hurts is bad and evil, and what isn't is always good and right. The Cloud Wolf's uncaring attitude toward her falling in the lake really destroys that for her.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Rose, despite being eleven, is always described as being mature and wise. Ginger describes her as "seeming so old sometimes."
Ginger, Tomboy Red
Small things move fast. Now you see me. Now you don't.
Ginger, also known as Tomboy Red, is 13 years old, on the line between childhood and being a teenager. She's a loner usually found playing in the woods, never one for sticking to the path.- Affection-Hating Kid: Ginger admits to hating anything affection related, saying that she hates kissing, and is noticeably distant from everyone else. Well, everyone but her wolf, who she can be seen hugging and affectionately playing with.
- Age Insecurity: Ginger hates the fact she's growing up, trying to stay young for as long as possible.
- Ambiguously Gay: Ohhh boy. Ginger is completely uninterested in guys, going as far to say she hates affection... But, her and her wolf are extremely affectionate together, playing games, chasing each other, hugging, giggling, and pulling each other down and rolling in the flower field together. They are extremely close in a way none of the other sisters are with their wolves, or even with the Girl in White. As it's a coming of age story, it's not a stretch to say that Ginger has a crush on her wolf.
- Big Brother Bully: A minor example; Ginger has abandoned her sister Robin on the path to go and play in the forest.
- Birds of a Feather: This with her wolf. Both adventurous thirteen-year-old girls who don't want to grow up, and like playing rough games. Whether or not these interactions are romantic is up to interpretation.
- Birthday Hater: Ginger hates birthdays so much, she took to making everyone forget her birthday, which worked.
- Body Motifs: Eyes. A lot of Ginger's comments regarding various places and items are about her desire to be small and fast enough that nobody can see her, while also being aware of everything around her. Ginger's version of Grandma's house features wallpaper that looks like eyes and doors made of chain link fence that provide no privacy.
- Boyish Short Hair: Ginger has a short bob, reminiscent of Natalie Portman's in The Professional.
- Character Blog: Her livejournal, Tomboyred
- Childish Older Sibling: Thirteen-year-old Ginger is extremely immature and doesn't want to grow up, compared to eleven-year-old Rose who muses poetic about the way the world works.
- Earthy Barefoot Character: Ginger roams the forest freely without shoes, spending most of her time there. When she finds the boot, her first thought isn't to wear it, but to put her pebbles in it.
- First Period Panic: Ginger interprets her first period as her literally dying.
- Free-Range Children: Ginger is quite independent, usually never staying at home, and sometimes doesn't go to her grandmother's when she's supposed to. This is especially apparent in her livejournals, where she doesn't even post most of the time because she's out playing in the forest.
- Foil: To Carmen. Ginger hates affection and love while Carmen longs for it; Ginger doesn't want to grow up while Carmen can't wait to be an adult; Ginger is very stereotypically tomboyish while Carmen is more feminine.
- Forgotten Birthday: A weird case. Ginger purposefully made people forget her birthday, and it worked!
- Gamer Chick: Ginger's livejournal profile picture is from ICO, and she mentions that she didn't care about the shady party thrown in their house, because she was given videogames.
- Idle Animation: When waiting to be selected in the apartment, Ginger is shown sitting on the floor pushing a white stone back and forth with a stick.
- Informed Loner: Ginger's described as a loner who dislikes affection; despite this, she appears very comfortable with the Girl in White and the Girl in Red Wolf, including them in her games.
- Kiddie Kid: Ginger, despite being thirteen, loves playing imaginary games and climbing trees.
- Middle Child Syndrome: Ginger's usually forgotten about by the rest of her family, leading her to spend most of her time in the forest. This even goes to the point that all of her family members forgot her birthday (though she was fine with this).
- Nature Lover: Ginger adores climbing trees, collecting rocks, and hitting stuff with sticks.
- Outdoorsy Gal: Spends more time out in the forest than she does at home.
- Puppy Love: A possible interpretation of Ginger's relationship with her wolf.
- Signature Headgear: Her two blue feathers.
- Splash of Color: Ginger's blue feathers against the normal black and red color palette.
- 13th Birthday Milestone: Subverted; Ginger was so terrified of turning thirteen and officially being "grown up" that she made everyone forget about it while she hid in the forest.
- Unkempt Beauty:
Word of God describes Ginger as someone who is naturally very pretty, but doesn't realize it. - Tender Tomboyishness, Foul Femininity: This with her wolf. Ginger's a tomboy who loves collecting pebbles, playing imaginary games, and makes a teddy bear her sidekick. Conversely, the Girl In Red Wolf appears overly feminine (wearing a red dress and pigtails) and is found in a field of golden flowers, but she enjoys scaring and pulling pranks on the sisters, and has a fixation on playing with barbed wire.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: This with all her sisters, most noticeable with Carmen and Rose.
- Too Many Belts: Ginger wears two belts stacked on top of each other, neither attached to anything.
Ruby, Goth Red
Sitting on wheels. Paralysed Soul. Nowhere to go. Fast.
Ruby, also known as Goth Red, is 15 years old, now a young lady. Ruby is rarely an open book, though no one dares to look past her leg brace and goth facade.- Adult Hater: Ruby has a 'perverse desire' in the decay of adult life, despite the fact she's close to adulthood herself.
- Against My Religion: Lampshaded. She tells Scarlet that it's a sin to work on Sunday, to which Scarlet asks when she became a Christian. Ruby replies with "On Sundays."
- Alliterative Name: Ruby Red.
- The Anti-Grinch: Despite her exterior, Ruby is a big lover of Christmas, shown in her livejournal posts.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: This with Carmen. Ruby mentions hating when people take off their shirt in Summer, with Carmen saying she enjoys it. Ruby says that it's ok when Carmen does it because she's pretty, and Carmen remarks that it's the nicest thing she's ever said to her.
- Bad Mood Retreat: The playground.
- Born in the Wrong Century: Mentions this a few times, both with wishing she was born nearer to when the leader of Bau Haus was born, and as well as wishing she was born back when people still fought with swords and spears.
- Broken Bird: Ruby's snark and pessimistic nature comes from her history of bullying, mental illness, disability, and drug use.
- Career-Ending Injury: Ruby is implied to have played a sport like basketball or volleyball before the injury that caused her to need her leg brace.
- Character Blog: Her livejournal, Gothred.
- Chuunibyou: Subcultural type. Really into Gothic fashion, muses edgy poetics and makes a lot of references to death, self harm and drugs.
- Creepy Loner Girl: She plays into this trope to scare others and to keep them at arms length.
- Deadpan Snarker: Ruby throws out a lot of sarcastic comments both in item comments and on her live journal. One example is when she finds the flower field: "A scarecrow. And no birds. Efficient! Wish I had one like that to keep the idiots away."
- Death Seeker: Subverted. Ruby doesn't actually want to die; she simply enjoys watching it happen.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Over the course of her live journals and through her lines of dialogue, you slowly learn that Ruby is more than just an angsty teen, but a genuinely funny and goofy teenager using dark quotes and macabre ideas to protect herself.
- Disabled Snarker: Her quote when finding the boot: "One shoe. Nobody ever loses one shoe. Unless they also lose a leg. Or die." Keep in mind, Ruby wears a leg brace.
- Emo Teen: Self explanatory.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: Her left leg has her leg brace and a small shoe, while her right has long patterned tights and a knee-high boot.
- Foil: To Rose. She's the cynic to Rose's idealist: Ruby relishes in the hurt in the world, while Rose wants to fix it; and Ruby thinks life is corrupt and ugly, while Rose thinks it's beautiful.
- Goths Have It Hard: Bullied, abused drugs, struggled with self harm, became disabled in a car accident...yeah, Ruby's had it hard.
- Idle Animation: When waiting to be selected in the apartment, Ruby is shown sitting at the table reading a magazine.
- Informed Attractiveness: According to Carmen, Ruby's really pretty, but doesn't have a boyfriend because she's boring. Carmen also says that if she was a guy and not related to her, she'd like to date Ruby.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Every sister falls into this, but Ruby's is the most extreme.
- Irony: Ruby is the fastest runner of the sisters, despite having a leg brace.
- Nightmare Fetishist: She's obsessed with the dark and morbid, loves death and blood, and has a described "perverse pleasure in observing the extreme decay of adult society."
- Odd Friendship: With Robin. Robin can be friends with just about anyone, but you wouldn't expect this with her goth older sister.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Exaggerated. Ruby paints her face white, and her hair is dyed so dark that it took her an entire afternoon to clean up her bathroom after doing so.
- Sarcastic Devotee: No matter how many sarcastic comments she makes at their expense, Ruby loves her sisters more than life itself.
- Sour Outside, Sad Inside: It's extremely clear that for all of Ruby's goth makeup and witty insults, she's really just a sad, disabled teenage girl who fell in with the wrong crowd.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Most clear in her livejournal posts. She's an emo teenager who enjoys talking about how horrible the world and adulthood is, but also loves playing with her nine-year-old sister and celebrating Christmas.
- Troubled Teen: Ruby can be seen graffitiing in the forest, wondering why she's never tried cigarettes, implies she has experimented with drugs, and muses about death a lot. Most of this seems to stem from her untreated mental illness and bad influences.
- With Friends Like These...: Ruby mentions a lot her distaste of friends, comparing them to engines you can turn on and off. This starts making a lot more sense when you find out she was pulled into drugs by her "friends," eventually resulting in her getting into a car accident and badly injuring her leg.
Carmen, Sexy Red
The man who would save us is the destroyer, but the tenderness of defeat can beat any power.
Carmen, also known as Sexy Red, is 17 years old, and cannot wait to be an adult. Carmen is aware of her beauty, and isn't afraid to use it. Though she's never gone as far as she'd like. In the end, all she wants is love, and maybe a bit of attention!- Be a Whore to Get Your Man: This was Carmen's flawed mindset that led to her being vulnerable to her wolf.
- Has a Type: And she's quite clear about it. She states she wants a warm and handsome man, someone to keep her safe and hold her tight. Unfortunately, the man she encounters in the forest doesn't fall into any of those requirements...
- Casanova Wannabe: Carmen talks a big game about romance and being a Femme Fatale, but in reality she has never been in anything close to a relationship.
- Character Blog: Her livejournal, Sexyred13.
- Crowd Pleaser: Carmen changes herself to be what others would like, to the point that she needs people to tell her what to be and to pay attention to her so she can feel loved.
- Desperately Craves Affection: Carmen wants to be loved more than anything else, even offering to change or give up her self just for it.
- Distracted by My Own Sexy: In the playground tower, there's a mirror where she says to herself, “Look at this gorgeous woman! How can you resist?” She does the same thing in the game's opening screen, admiring herself in the window while trying on a hat.
- Fille Fatale: Subverted. Carmen thinks she's one, or thinks she's trying, but instead, that mindset makes her feel at fault for her own rape.
- Flames of Love: Zigzagged. Carmen makes a lot of references in her lines about wanting love by a fire, to curl up with and to be warm with. When Carmen finally gets the attention of the Woodsman Wolf, they sit next to the campfire and share a beer...but instead of love, it's heavily implied that the Woodsman Wolf takes advantage of a drunk, underage girl. In Carmen's Wolf version of Grandma's house, the hallway leading to Grandma's room is lined with fire, and the last flash we see of Carmen is her crawling towards the flame looking extremely drunk and splattered by some unknown white substance on her face.
- Foil: To Ginger. Carmen longs for love and affection while Ginger hates it, Carmen can't wait to be an adult while Ginger doesn't want to grow up, and Carmen's quite feminine while Ginger's a tomboy.
- Gamer Chick: Makes references to Portal in her livejournals.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: With Ruby. They fight back and forth on their livejournals due to the fact Ruby thinks Carmen's a bit stupid, and Carmen thinks Ruby is weird. Regardless, they do genuinely love each other at the end of the day, with a lot of their arguments devolving into complimenting each other. Despite this, it seems Carmen does envy Ruby because she's "prettier," and therefore popular with boys.
- Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Carmen's signature color is purple like her hair, and it goes with her more elegant and beautiful persona.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Carmen's described as a party girl who breaks curfew a lot. As soon as she enters the campsite, she notes that the beer present appears fresh.
- Idle Animation: When waiting to be selected in the apartment, Carmen is shown standing to the right and trying on a hat.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: Carmen's outwardly very confident about her appearance and personality, saying she loves the attention she gets. A lot of that is a mask for the fact she feels like no one is able to love her for who she is. She mentions in her final livejournal about feeling jealous of Ruby and Rose, because people like them better (she mentions even boys her age like Rose better, despite the fact that Rose is eleven.) It's also implied that she's willing to let people hurt her if it means they'll pay attention to her. She finishes her final live journal post with: "I like boys. I'm not afraid."
- Interplay of Sex and Violence: As you walk through Carmen's version of Grandmother's house after meeting the Woodsman Wolf, you hear sexual moans, as the sound of a chainsaw overtakes them.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: Carmen's biggest wish in life.
- Love Freak: Carmen is obsessed with love, and the idea of being in love. Half of the things she say are references to being in a relationship.
- Proud Beauty: Very aware of her own beauty and is ready to use it.
- Punny Name: Carmen, as in "carmine" (a shade of red), going along with the Family Theme Naming of the sisters.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: With Ginger. Carmen can't wait to grow up and fall in love, while Ginger never wants to grow up and hates the idea of love. It's incredibly fitting that their wolves are seemingly related.
- Splash of Color: Her hair is partially purple, to go with her black and red color palette.
- Valley Girl: Carmen's persona.
Scarlet, Stern Red
The panic that consumes you is the fear of order.
Scarlet, also known as Stern Red, is 19, the eldest of the six. She left the last of her youth behind to take care of her siblings in a family with an invisible mother.- Aimlessly Seeking Happiness: Scarlet is stuck in a repetitive life of caring for her younger sisters, and is resigned to her fate, though she once dreamed of making it as a musician. This is the temptation her wolf eventually lured her in with.
- Aloof Big Brother: To all her sisters. Rose, in particular, looks up to her.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Mostly aloof because she feels that she has no one who truly understands her, but still fits.
- Because You Can Cope: Implied to be the reason that their mother left Scarlet to be the main caretaker, despite the fact Scarlet was still a child herself. What's worse, Scarlet could have been abandoned "because she could cope" at as young as ten years old.
- Cathartic Chores: Uses cleaning as an outlet for her bottled up emotions, and isn't able to stand mess as a consequence.
- Character Blog: Her livejournal, Sternred.
- Creature of Habit: Scarlet is heavily focused on order and stability. She's extremely neat and needs a schedule to follow; unfortunately, this doesn't allow her a lot of personal pleasures.
- Cool Big Sis: This to all her sisters, but mostly Rose and Robin, who idolize her for looking after them.
- Does Not Like Men: Scarlet mentions on multiple instances her hatred of men, calling them monsters without sophistication. However, she also expresses pleasure towards someone playing a serenade for her in the woods. Unfortunately for her, this turns out to be the Fey Wolf.
- The Dutiful Son: Takes the role of looking after her sisters and grandmother, for her mother who is never around. She secretly resents this fate, wishing she had been able to pursue her passion of music.
- Foil: To Robin. She's the eldest to Robin's youngest; she's mature and was forced to grow up quickly while Robin's immature and loves being a kid; and she's sullen and down while Robin's always positive.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: This to all her siblings, but especially Ginger, whom she worries will get in serious trouble soon.
- Hanging Around: How she possibly died.
- I Coulda Been a Contender!: Extremely present in Scarlet's secret rooms in her version of Grandmother's house, but is shown throughout item descriptions and livejournal posts that Scarlet was a musical prodigy who was forced to give it all up to take care of her younger siblings.
- Idle Animation: When waiting to be selected in the apartment, Scarlet is shown standing in the back talking on the phone.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: She's secretly this, but unlike Carmen, Scarlet is willing to take this secret to the grave.
- Jade-Colored Glasses: Scarlet is extremely down to earth and realistic about things, having to be to look after her family.
- Nature Is Boring: She's the only sibling that doesn't like the forest, instead thinking it's dirty.
- Neat Freak: Scarlet has a disgust of any sort of mess, especially the forest.
- Not So Above It All: Though she protests, Scarlet ends up picking flowers, saying she feels silly but they'll brighten the place up.
- People Puppets: In the final flashes shown in Scarlet's version of Grandmother's house, she's shown with string/rope tied around her arms (presumably by the Fey Wolf), turning her into a human-sized marionette.
- Promotion to Parent: With their mother basically never present, and their grandmother ill, Scarlet was forced to take over as the maternal presence in the family.
- Resentful Guardian: Downplayed, but Scarlet wishes she had alone time, and that she's scared she'll be stuck always looking after her sisters.
- Stepford Smiler: Scarlet puts on a brave face, but it's clear that the constant stress of acting as her sisters' primary caretaker, leaving no time for herself, is taking its toll. This extends to her version of Grandmother's house after meeting the Fey Wolf, as all the furniture is either covered in sheets or just plain gone.
- When I Was Your Age...: On her first livejournal post, Scarlet gets annoyed her sisters are always on the computer, not going outside to play in the forest like she did as a child. It's a bit ironic seeing that she's barely any older than Carmen and Ruby.
- Workaholic: Scarlet is always working looking after her sisters, and when she isn't, she's constantly thinking about it.
The Girl in White
- Airplane Arms: The Girl in White can be seen running around the forest with her arms out behind her.
- Ambiguously Related: Two examples of this, The Girl in Red Wolf, a "corrupted" version of herself, presenting as an Evil Twin, and the Woodsman Wolf, a man sharing the same skin tone, hair color, eye color, boots, and the same living space.
- The Anti-Nihilist: She's overly aware that the world is cruel and meaningless, but she find joy in the little things and encourages the sisters to do the same.
- Bystander Syndrome: In every single wolf encounter, she simply sits at the sidelines and watches, making no attempt to help, sometimes she's too far away to help, but with some (The Woodsman) she actively watches it all.
- Creepy Ballet: Can be seen in the forest dancing ballet to herself in the forest if you avoid her for long enough.
- Dissonant Serenity: Very calm in the forest, she isn't startled by the sisters in the forest, even when they cry, and is always ready to lead them back to the path. Especially shown when she watches the wolf encounters. She simply stands there and watches them happen, including when they're clearly dangerous. She isn't bothered by Grandmother's house either, walking through it with no sign of bother unlike every other sister.
- Ethereal White Dress: The Girl in White is the only character in the game depicted in white, and considering the fact her job is to rescue the sisters from their "deaths" it isn't a big leap to reach what the color white represents for her.
- Expy: The Girl in White is quite literally an older version of The Deaf-Mute Girl in a Pretty White Dress from Tale of Tales earlier game 8.
- Friend to All Children: Assists and plays with all the sisters, including the nearly adult Carmen and Scarlet.
- Friend to Psychos: Though she helps the sisters, she's still on good terms with the other wolves, not trying to stop the sisters from interacting with them, and even lives with the Woodsman.
- Good Wears White: Self explanatory.
- Heroic Mime: She never speaks a single word or lets you hear her thought process.
- Leitmotif: The Safe Song.
- Mysterious Protector: Not much is known about her other than she looks after the sisters in the forest.
- Mystical Waif: Her final job of the game is to save all of the sister's from their deaths, returning them to the way they were.
- Platonic Kissing: Kisses all the sisters on the cheek when she returns them to the path.
- Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: She can be a bit creepy at times, stalking the sisters throughout the forest and leading them to their wolves, but she's just looking out for the siblings, wanting the best for them.
- The Speechless: The Girl in White never speaks in game, and while it isn't specified, seeing as she's an Expy of Tale of Tale's preivous character The Deaf-Mute Girl, she most likely is also deaf and mute.
- White and Red and Eerie All Over: Her final apperance in the game is her standing silently in the sister's apartment, their grandmother's blood staining her dress.
- White Sheep: An extremely literal version, as she is the only "wolf" who is not down right evil, even down to the fact she is the only one coded in white
- Would Harm a Senior: The game ends with her walking into grandmother's house and kneeling next to her, waking her up. When it fades out, the Girl in White is back in the apartment and covered in blood. Knowing what happens to Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother in the original tale, it's not a stretch to imagine what she just did.
The Wolves
Due to their existance as Walking Spoilers all spoilers for the Wolves are unmarked! The Werewolf
"I heard something howling in the forest today. I was just walking on the path, going to my favourite grandmother and then I heard this strange sound like singing. A singing wolf! I <3 wolfies! I wish I could just run into the forest and go and hug hug him. He's prolly fluffy and warm. And so much fun to play with!!!" - Robin's Live Journal
The Werewolf, Robin's wolf, is a towering beast that takes up home in the graveyard.- Angry Guard Dog: The Werewolf is calm and minds his own business most of the time, but don't dare walk into his graveyard, or worse, his own personal space. Poor Robin learned that the hard way.
- Animalistic Abomination: He posseses a monsterous face with big teeth and giant ears, on a fat human torse with nipples, and incredibly long fingers, Robin still finds him adorable however.
- The Big Bad Wolf: Well, the Big Bad Werewolf.
- Canis Major: The Werewolf is FAR larger than any normal wolf in reality, though it may have a helping hand, considering Robin says "Werewolves are just people."
- Child Eater: Shown in Robin's final flashes.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: Implied to be how he hurts Robin, as he attempted to get her off him.
- Killer Rabbit: Robin certainly thinks he's cute, but whether or not he is is up for debate.
- Unusual Ears: His ears don't appear to be a normal wolves or human's ears, instead being long and fluffy.
- Werewolves Are Dogs: Lampshaded by Robin saying "Wolves are just dogs. But werewolves are like people."
- Wolves Always Howl at the Moon: Seen at the end of Robin's encounter.
- Would Hurt a Child: Poor Robin.
The Cloud Wolf
"Through the trees, I noticed an area where the mist was particularly thick. And as I went closer, I saw a moving shape in the midst of the mist. The shape of a person!... I think... Then the mist got so thick that I couldn't see anything anymore. I was scared so I ran away." -Rose's Live Journal
The Cloud Wolf, Rose's wolf, is a majestic creature, found floating alone on the Misty Lake.- Above Good and Evil: He is the least malicious wolf, down to the fact he's completely unaware of his surroundings or of Rose.
- Fog of Doom: His fog covers most of him and is eventually the thing that leads to Rose's death in grandmother's house.
- Humanoid Abomination: But like... What even is he?
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Unclear if he is a truly spiritual being, or a hallucination Rose had.
- Mysterious Mist: Most of his form is obscured by the mist that accompanies him.
- Non-Malicious Monster: Mainly because he is completely unaware of everything around him.
- Nothing Is Scarier: He is practically nothing, not interacting with Rose, perhaps not even being there.
- The Spook: The creators even admit they don't fully understand him.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Rose has seen him a few times, but was totally unfazed by him.
- Will-o'-the-Wisp: Seemingly what he is.
The Girl in Red Wolf
"I hate that stupid stuff with kissing and happy smiles and dressing up pretty." -Ginger's Live Journal
The Girl in Red Wolf, Ginger's wolf, is a lively 13 year old girl that can be found playing in the flower field.- Ambiguously Gay: Seems to return Ginger's affections, seemingly being the one to initiate it. Her final flashes with Ginger look quite posessive, one image apperaing to be her leaning in to kiss Ginger.
- Ambiguously Related: The Girl in Red is very literally just a red version of The Girl in White. Though they're not seen together, The Girl in Red and the Woodsman wolf can be connected as being related through the Girl in White, if they are indeed related.
- A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: An extreme version of this. She's a wolf who takes the form of the harmless Girl in White to lure in Ginger.
- Black Eyes of Evil: If you needed any more proof she isn't to be trusted, the fact her eyes are completely blacked out is a sure sign.
- Butterfly of Transformation: The Girl in Red is always accompanied by butterflies, usually after teleporting. Cute right? Well, those butterflies are there to represent Ginger's transformation from childhood to adulthood through puberty.
- Creepy Child: She looks a bit cute on the surface, but after a while you notice she twitches rapidly, can teleport and has a fascination with rough play, specifically that involving barbed wire.
- Creepy Crows: Crows surround the flower field when she's there, the crow on the path is called out by the creators to also be linked to her.
- Cute Is Evil: A little girl in a red dress with Girlish Pigtails, surrounded by butterflies and flowers. This facade covers the fact she's a sadistic child who enjoys hurting her playmates.
- Daddy's Little Villain: This to the Woodsman Wolf, though she is a lot less cruel to her victim.
- Devilish Hair Horns: Her pigtails are pointed up to represent devil horns.
- Evil Twin: This to the Girl in White.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: A girl, dressed in red, that's a wolf. Can't get more cut and dry with naming than this!
- Friendly Enemy: This with Ginger. They play together often, hugging and spinning around, but is all too ready to trap Ginger in barbed wire and leave her to suffer.
- Giggling Villain: Giggles while she plays with Ginger. Justified as she's a 13 year old girl.
- Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: Very traditionally feminie with a red dress, pigtails and a love of playing in flowers. However she really enjoys playing rough and scared every sister other than Ginger to the point they chase her crows away.
- Growing Up Sucks: Just like Ginger, she doesn't want to grow up, and is ready to take fatal measures to make sure Ginger also doesn't grow up.
- Nothing Nice About Sugar and Spice: Very traditionally feminine looking but is quite cruel.
- Preferable Impersonator: Ginger prefers her to the Girl in White.
- Puppy Love: Can easily be seen as this with Ginger, though it ended fatally.
- The Smurfette Principle: To the other wolves, being the only girl with five other males.
The Charming Wolf
"The deeper I got, the closer to the dark emptiness at the end, the cozier it became. I heard the sound of an engine getting louder and louder, like the purring of a giant cat." -Ruby's Live Journal
The Charming Wolf, Ruby's wolf, is a young man who can be seen smoking in the Abandoned Playground.- Asshole Victim: Got Ruby into drugs and a car crash that may have left her disabled, but seemingly died in that same car crash.
- Beauty Is Bad: Quite literally an extremely charming and handsome man, hiding a rotten core.
- Carpet-Rolled Corpse: The first look you get of The Charming Wolf is him dragging a suspiciously shaped carpet into the playground before dumping it. Considering the appearance of this carpet in the dangerous Woodsman Wolf's shed, and the dug up grave next to the Werewolf, you don't need to stretch your imagination to guess what's inside. What's worse, is that it very well could be Ruby he's dragging after their car accident.
- Death Seeker: Unlike Ruby, he seemingly does want to die, taking part in dangerous and shady behaviours, and eventually does seemingly die in a car accident with Ruby.
- Evil Wears Black: Adorned in a black shirt and black jeans.
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: An incredibly Charming and handsome man, but is ok with getting a 15 year old girl into drugs, smoking and a car accident that left her disabled.
- Fade Around the Eyes: In Ruby's final flashes, he's shown with most of his face faded out and covered in cells, with the only thing in focus being his eyes.
- Smoking Is Not Cool: His final images include him with cancerous cells overlayed onto him, and the metaphor for Eve and
The Woodsman Wolf
"Time for huddling together. For warmth. For comfort. Visible breath. Light up the camp fire. Keep me warm. Perhaps the fire will get hot enough to lose some of our layers." -Carmen's Live Journal
The Woodsman Wolf, Carmen's wolf, is a woodcutter entirely focused on cutting down the same tree in the Campsite.- Adaptational Villainy: In the original fairy tale, the woodsman is a hero who rescues Little Red Riding Hood from the wolf. Here he has become the wolf.
- Ambiguously Related: The Girl in White has a little tent next to his in his area, and with their similar appearances and shared boots, it's not hard to guess that she's his daughter or other relative. If the Girl in White and Girl in Red are indeed twins, The Woodsman would also be related to her.
- Bald of Evil: When you take his hat off, it's clear he wears it just to obscure his lack of hair.
- Broken Record: It isn't clear unless you watch for a long time, but the Woodsman cutting down tree's isn't an animation loop. He will attempt to cut down the same tree for ever unless you distract him.
- Corrupted Character Copy: The Woodsman in the original tale was the hero that saved Little Red and her Grandmother from the wolf. In the Path he's the wolf.
- Dirty Old Man: Has no qualms with taking advantage of a drunk 17 year old girl in the forest.
- Eyeless Face: In Carmen's final flashes, you see him head on and he lacks any eyes at all.
- Eye-Obscuring Hat: When you first get into the Campsite, his baseball cap is obscuring his eyes, though when you remove it you can see them clearly. What's really unnerving is that in the final flashes at the end of Carmen's route, you can see him head on with the cap not covering his eyes, but his eyes are completely gone.
- The Hermit: Lives alone in the forest in a tent.
- Mighty Lumberjack: A lumberjack focused on cutting down the same tree over and over.
- Mundanger: The scariest part of the Woodsman is how normal he is compared to every other wolf, and how real he seems.
- Not Distracted by the Sexy: Doesn't pay any attention to Carmen trying to flirt with him.
- Opportunistic Bastard: Pays no attention to Carmen until he realises she's intoxicated and alone. Then he's ready to load her up on more drinks and assault her.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: While every other wolf appears somewhat frightening, The Woodsman seems to just be a middle aged man doing his job... Until you get to Grandmothers house, that is.
- A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Some players may be relieved to see that the Woodsman is in the forest, as he was the hero of the original story, even more so when they realise that The Girl in White trusts him. But that all goes down the drain when you realise that he's all too willing to take advantage of a drunk, underage Carmen in front of his (potential) daughter.
The Fey Wolf
"Ever since the beginning of the year, I've had this strange feeling of uneasiness. On the one hand it feels like nothing is changing anymore, like the entire world is frozen. And on the other it feels like something big is going to happen. Something spectacular. My ears are ringing with the sound of an orchestra tuning the instruments in preparation for a symphony. It's maddening!" -Scarlet's Live Journal
The Fey Wolf, Scarlet's wolf, presenting as a lone musician walking around the Ruined Theatre.- Absurdly Sharp Claws: Though not seen in the wolf encounter, Scarlet's final flashes show him with extremely large claws with string emerging, using it to puppeteer Scarlet's body.
- Ambiguous Gender: With it's long hair and gender neutral clothing, it's extremely hard to tell if The Fey Wolf is a man of ethereal beauty, or an old woman. Though Word of God says that there is only one female wolf, The Girl in Red, so it can be seen as either male, or a genderless creature.
- The Fair Folk: It would be hard to tell without the name, but the Fey Wolf seems to be a member of the Fairy Court.
- Grayscale of Evil: A complete black and white colour scheme besides his green armband, and in Scarlet's finally flashes he's in complete black and white.
- Living Doll Collector: Seemingly what he did to Scarlet, turning her into a marionette.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: His hairs so long it's not a suprise if you mistake him for being a woman.
- Mental Monster: The true identity of all of the wolves, but the most extreme with the Fey Wolf who's a mix of the musician dream Scarlet never got to have, a manipulating puppeter that turns people into living dolls like her mother did with her, and most dramatically, posesing rope that Scarlet used to hang herself.
- Mystical White Hair: A fae with long white hair.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Has long white hair and is especially cruel to Scarlet, transforming her into a living marionette for him to puppet.
The Red Family
The Family as a Whole
The Red Sisters. Robin Rose Ginger Ruby Carmen Scarlet. Not pictured: Grandmother Red and Mother Red.
Tropes that apply to most or all of the Red Family.- Alliterative Family: Robin, Rose and Ruby Red. In the Russian translations they become Алина/Alina, Алиса/Alice, Ада/Ada, Агния/Agnia, Алла/Alla and Аврора/Aurora.
- All There in the Manual: The sister's ages are never mentioned in game, but found on the accompanying website.
- Dysfunctional Family: The Grandmother's a disabled shell of a women, too ill to get out of bed or move, and potentially an alcoholic as each sister brings her a new bottle of wine. Their Mother is almost never home, leaving a barely adult Scarlet to take care of herself and five sisters. Scarlet's overworked and isolated from her peers, giving up her life too look after her sisters, she's on the brink of a mental break and attempting suicide, wanting nothing more than to escape her family to become a musician. Carmen's a self obsessed teenager with an inferority complex who wants nothing more than to be in a relationship and is willing to change or do anything to have someone love her, whether its violent sex or becoming a completely different person for her lover. Ruby's a disabled, mentally ill teenager willing to do drugs, harm herself and commit crimes if it makes her friends like her. Ginger's a loner rebel always preparing to run away from getting hurt, rejecting femininity and growing up as much as she can despite her oncoming puberty, and is a heavily closted lesbian/trans person. Rose is nearly always in her own world, so disconnected that she invented her own worldview where everything is either good or bad, and expects that her life will turn out just like Scarlet's. Robin is extremely sheltered, unaware of any sort of danger but incredibly aware of her family's financial situation, and doesn't understand how close her grandmother is to death.
- Family Theme Naming: They're all named after different shades of red. Scarlet, Carmen (Carmine), Ruby, Ginger (An orangey red), Rose, and Robin (Red Breast).
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: All the siblings were born on Friday the 13th.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Six siblings aged 19 to 9 years old.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Robin, Ginger and Carmen are the Red Oni's to Rose, Ruby and Scarlet's Blue Oni's. Robin, Ginger and Carmen are all wild, enthusiastic and adventurous characters who run straight into interaction with their wolves, while Rose Ruby and Scarlet are all introverted, reserved and calm, all needing to be lured into danger by their wolves. Their item interactions also show this, with Robin jumping into a shopping cart, Ginger breaking into a shed, Ginger and Carmen climbing the playground tower and climbing under fences, and Carmen drinking a can of beer found on the ground, while Rose buries a skull, Ruby sits in a wheelchair and Scarlet dusts a line of clothes. Their colour palettes also reflect this, Robin, Ginger and Carmen have warm secondary colours (Red, Yellow and Purple), while Rose, Ruby and Scarlet have cooler colours (White, Blue, Green).
- Social Services Does Not Exist: Their family is struggling financially, leading to the mother having to work constantly to support them all, leading to the neglect of her mother and her children, causing a barely adult Scarlet to care for them all.
Grandmother Red
- Character Blog: Had a now deactivated Live Journal, but can still be seen in the sisters comments.
- Country Cousin: Lives far away from the city at the end of a little path in the middle of the forest.
- Doting Grandparent: This to all of her grandchildren, but specifically Robin who she made a red coat for her 9th birthday.
- Flat Character: Only exists to be the reason the siblings go down the path.
- Grandparental Obliviousness: Seems completely unaware of what lies in the forest next to her house or why her granddaughters never show up.
- Grandparent Favoritism: In the game, it's which ever sister arrives at her house without meeting their wolf, as their photo sits lone on her wall. In the live journals- it's Robin, who she dotes on making a red coat for her birthday.
- Granny Classic: If her livejournals are anything to go by, she's a very traditional doting grandmother.
- Intergenerational Friendship: The elderly grandmother is friends with the 13 year old Girl in White.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: If the sisters didn't have to go visit their grandmother, they wouldn't have met their wolves.
Mother Red
The invisible mother of the sisters, never seen on screen but she sends the instruction for each sister to visit their grandmother.
- Adults Are Useless: Isn't present in her children's lives, leaving her eldest to do her job.
- Ambiguously Absent Parent: She's never seen on screen, but she's mentioned to exist by almost all the sisters. It's unknown to what extent she's involved in the sister's lives, but considering Scarlet is their primary caregiver and gave up her dreams of being a musician for it, she isn't around a lot.
- Anger Born of Worry: Their mother is extremely insistent that they never go off the path,threatening that they'll get into trouble. But when you read the sister's live journals, it turns out she's only angry because she had a bad experience in the forest herself, and doesn't want the same to happen to her kids.
- Because I Said So: The Mother tells the sisters over and over to never wander off the path, but never gives a reason why. Some of the sisters theorise she had a bad experience in the forest, but that's the height of it.
- The Cassandra: Her only rule for the sisters was to stay on the path to stay safe.
- Noodle Incident: The sisters refer to some incident in the forest that made their mother make them all avoid the forest, but it's never elaborated on.
- Present Absence: Doesn't appear in the game, but her impact on the sisters is felt throughout their personalities.
- Single Sex Offspring: Mother Red had six children over 10 years, and all six are female Though Ginger can be easily interpreted as transgender.
- Stay on the Path: Her only rule for the sisters.
- Struggling Single Mother: Implied to be why she's absent, working constantly to support a family of 8.
- The Voice: Though never seen onscreen, the soundtrack has multiple stories narrated by Jarboe, each one being stories the mother reads to her children.
