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Luther Strode
The eponymous protagonist of the series.
- Bad Powers, Good People: A nice, friendly guy whose powers revolve around tearing people limb from limb bare-handed.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Luther picked the Hercules Method in the hope of getting in better shape so that he could stand up to Paul and impress Petra. It worked so well he basically became a killing machine.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Luther is an exceptionally nice guy who also happens to be an industrial grade killing machine that walks like a man. As the Hercules Method is shown to be very corruptive, Luther holding on to his morality is nothing short of miraculous.
- Exemplified in the contrast between Paul and Luther's indulgent fantasy segues. Paul just imagines punching Luther to the ground and stomping on his head; Luther imagines crushing Paul's hand into a bloody stump and then sending his head spiralling off with a swipe of his hand.
- Beast and Beauty: With Petra by the time of Legend, although downplayed in that he still looks mostly human.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: His weakness throughout Strange Talent. He damn-near kills Paul while holding back, and ends up killing his mother through his lack of control and The Librarian's Deadly Dodging.
- Heroes Fight Barehanded: Though he's willing to fight with anything he can get his hands on, but Luther starts and ends most of his fights with his bare hands.
- Martial Pacifist: Throughout Legacy, he tries constantly to reason with his opponents and bring a peaceful end to conflict. It doesn't work out often.
- Morality Pet: Serves as one for his girlfriend, Petra.
- One-Man Army: Luther has taken on and killed hundreds of criminals, some in batches of tens and twenties, and has proven more than capable of killing other students of The Method. Keep in mind that some of those students are historical figures that have themselves killed hundreds of people with a few of them killing hundreds in a single battle.
- Suicide by Cop: At the end of Strange Tale, Luther, having just lost everyone he cared about save for Petra, and realizing he cannot do anything but harm people around him, lets the cops shoot him. Predictably, he doesn't manage to get killed.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Compared to the other students of the Hercules Method: all of them compliment him on how well he's developed, but point out he's uncontrolled and that his methods are unrefined in comparison to theirs.The Binder: See what I'm talking about? That's predictable Luther. And predictable- *hurls Luther across the room* -gets your ass kicked nice and good.Luther: *Kick Catch* Slow.The Binder: But not predictable. *kicking with the uncaught leg* See?
- Took a Level in Badass: Luther starts out as a scrawny geek with barely any muscle at the beginning of Strange Tales. The use of the Hercules Method gradually causes him to grow into a montain of muscles capable of shrugging off pretty much any form of injury and killing people with his bare hands.
- Top-Heavy Guy: By the time of Legend, he's developed from a scrawny geek, to a scrawny geek with super strength, to a ripped, but plausibly-muscled Hunk to this trope.
Petra Dobrev
Luther's love interest.
- Abusive Parents: Her father would beat her.
- Badass Normal: Petra's able to fend off Method Users despite having no powers of her own.
- Blood Knight: She REALLY enjoys combat.
- Fiery Redhead: With a personality to match her hair color.
- Gun Nut: She affectionately refers to her arsenal as her "babies".
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: This is why she falls in love with Luther even before he becomes a killing machine. She had enough of assholes after growing up under her abusive father.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Almost all of her dialogue is riddled with profanities.
- Undying Loyalty: Petra will never abandon Luther, no matter how difficult being with him may be.
Pete
Luther's best friend.
- Pinned to the Wall: He is nailed to the wall with knives by The Librarian.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Pete. Until his death at the hands of the Librarian.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: This is arguably the purpose of Pete's death. Though he does show up as a zombie in the ashcan to explain Luther's powers.
Ms. Strode
Luther's mother.
- Domestic Abuse: Luther's father used to beat her.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: Luther accidentally punches through her neck while fighting the librarian, killing her.
Paul
Luther's bully.
- The Bully: Is one for Luther.
- Indulgent Fantasy Segue: Paul imagines punching Luther to the ground and stomping on his head.
The Librarian
A practitioner of the Hercules Method responsible for distributing the book.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Like may of the students, he's only known by his moniker.
- Evil Counterpart: The Librarian was also a social outcast and frail man who discovered the Hercules Method, a fact that he enjoys harping upon.
- Faux Affably Evil: The Librarian.
- Genius Bruiser: Is as intelligent as he is strong, which makes him very bad news to all concerned.
- Obviously Evil: He slaughers Paul's parents and wears his mom's apron, presumably, just so he can intimidate Paul into telling him about Luther.
- Oh, Crap!: Lets one out, right before Luther sneaks up on him and rips his head off along with his spine.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The Librarian.
- Starter Villain: The first major antagonist, this makes him no less brutal than the others of the series.
- Straw Nihilist: The Librarian. Luther Strode even calls him on cribbing Nietzsche after hearing his Motive Rant.
- Wicked Cultured: Show of hands. How many people know the meaning of the word "soupçon?" Well, the Librarian does and can use said word in casual conversation. He's quite the educated bastard.
The Binder
A practitioner of the Hercules Method responsible for hunting down and capturing rogue students.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Like may of the students, he's only known by his moniker.
- Hunter of Their Own Kind: He's responsible for hunting down and capturing rogue students of the Hercules Method.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The Binder.
- Stout Strength: The Binder is fat, yet is as strong as every other student of the Hercules method.
- Weak, but Skilled: While not as strong as some of the other students, he makes up for it by relying on skill and weapons to take down the out of control students.
Jack the Ripper
The Jack the Ripper and a practitioner of the Hercules Method who was captured by the Binder.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Jack the Ripper was a practitioner of the Hercules Method which allowed him to accomplish the feats that made him famous (or infamous).
- Boxed Crook: He was captured by the Binder for causing to much mayhem and bringing too much attention to practitioners of the Hercules Method, only occasionally being released to recapture other students. However, the second The Binder is too injured to stop him, Jack the Ripper kills him and runs off to commit an atrocity.
- Jack the Ripper: Jack The Ripper was a devotee of the Hercules Method. "Was" not because he died, but was ritually bound and trapped in a very small box. He get lets out.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: In a more literal sense, as he is kept in a box about the size of a mini-fridge. He's six and a half feet tall.
- Super-Speed: It's Jack the Ripper's defining talent, to the point he can carve intricate details into Luther's skin before the latter has time to react.
Cain
The biblical Cain and the series overarching antagonist.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: One of the key tenets of the philosophy espoused by the murder cult that the Librarian represents. It is not surprising considering that its founder is Cain from The Bible.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Cain himself was the first practitioner and invented the Hercules Method
- Cain: The story is about the eponymous character gaining superpowers thanks to the Hercules Method based on a Religion of Evil, made by none other than Cain himself who's alive and is the Big Bad of the story.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Cain utterly decimates of Musashi simply by breaking out of his own chains.
- Death by Irony: Cain ends up killed by Luther, a follower of the Hercules Method that Cain had originally invented, using the same method Cain used to kill his brother Abel to become the First Murderer, a large stone to smash his head to a pulp.
- The Dreaded: Cain.
- Jedi Mind Trick: Cain when in play is able to reverse an element of it & pretty much take Delilah out of the fight with the vision of something.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Cain
- Person of Mass Destruction: As the Librarian states when he comes to get Luther "It's not as if Cain could come to get you. There would hardly be a city left".
- Social Darwinist: He believes in the strong killing and dominating over the weak.
- You Cannot Kill An Idea: Cain invokes this trope as his master plan to become a belief and no longer be like any mortal man in history by becoming an idea of murder in the hearts and minds of mankind.
The Twins
Two practitioners of the Hercules Method.
- Blue Oni, Red Oni: The female twin is the blue, to the male's red.
- Boom, Headshot!: How Petra deals with the male twin.
- Broken Bird: The female twin is a war survivor, and is implied to have been pretty traumatized by the whole experience by the time she is adopted.
- Flirty Stepsiblings: They're adoptive siblings, but also shown to be in a romantic relationship in a flashback.
- Good Parents: They had loving parents and happy childhoods, they just go around killing people because they enjoy it.
- Not Blood Siblings: They're adoptive siblings and have been doing the nasty since their high school days.
- Older Than They Look: They were kids during the early 20th century, they look barely out of their mid 20s. Explained by the fact that the Hercules Method slows down if not even stops physical aging.
- Those Two Guys: They've been inseparable ever since the female twin was adopted by the male's family.
The Gardener
A practitioner of the Hercules Method.
- Blood for Mortar: The path to his cave is made out of the skulls of the people he's killed.
- Cult Defector: He was against Cain's ideology, so he isolated himself in the mountains of Russia, killing anyone who came near.
- Husky Russkie: He lives in a cave in Russia and is a student of the Hercules Method.
- Language Barrier: He only speaks Russian.
- Nemean Skinning: He wears the pelts of animals he's killed, with the skull of one on his head,
- Only One Name: His real name is Nikolai.
The Shooter
A practitioner of the Hercules Method.
- Born into Slavery: The Shooter was originally a nameless African slave in the past before discovering the Hercules Method.
- Even Evil Has Standards: The Shooter doesn't like it when someone treats other people like they were things, tools, or pieces of meat to be bought and sold.
- Hero of Another Story: The Shooter is implied to be one, seemingly the most rational of the students Luther encounters and appears to be a vigilante that hunts down human traffickers.
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: The Shooter, a nameless black gunslinger and former slave who goes around killing those who'd prey on and enslave the innocent in a poncho has nothing to do with the film that was released a year prior featuring Jamie Foxx as a black slave turned gunslinger. or a famous series of films featuring a nameless poncho wearing cowboy.
Musashi
A practitioner of the Hercules Method and a member of the bound.
- Boxed Crook: He was captured and imprisoned by the Binder for an unknown reason, only occasionally being released to recapture other students.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Musashi refused to make Luther watch Petra and Delilah die due to his honor and decide to give him the clean and good death he earned.
- Noble Demon: Despite being one of the Bound, he has a strict code of honor which prevents him from engaging in mindless violence like the others and quickly agreed to help Luther and his crew defeat Cain.
- Redemption Equals Death: Musashi is convinced to join Luther. Cain pulls his head off almost immediately.
Delilah
The biblical Delilah and a practitioner of the Hercules Method.
- Been There, Shaped History: Delilah has been around for about 3000 years and has been attempting to spread Cain's philosophy to individuals who accepted Cain's Hercules Method. Those who didn't fulfill her expectations, she had killed or ruined in some way or another. Those individuals include Jeanne d'Arc, Samson, and Hercules.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Delilah, The Biblical Samson's consort, is a practitioner of the Hercules Method which allowed her to accomplish the feats that made her famous (or infamous).
- Jedi Mind Trick: Delilah's special ability allows her to subtly influence the minds of others. However, there are limits considering she could not influence an aggressive member of the Bound.
