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The cast of Turtle Head. Beware of spoilers.

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Main Trio

    Harriet Lily 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3_harriet_concept_4.png

The heroine of the game and its remake. She is a shy schoolgirl who doesn't like to talk much, unlike her outgoing friend Emma. When Emma drags her to Smithlane High late at night to find a ghost, she finds herself targeted by it.
In Emma's Story, she is captured by the Turtle Head killer early on, and Emma must rescue her.


  • A Birthday, Not a Break: The vanishing of her beloved cousin Marina happened on her birthday, just as Marina was planning on giving her a big present.
  • Bound and Gagged: Emma finds her in this condition in the school auditorium, having been put like that by Turtle Head.
  • Brutal Honesty: Despite her quiet demeanor, she does call out Blair for acting like a jerk towards Marina.
  • Damsel in Distress: She spends most of Emma's Story abducted by Turtle Head.
  • Death Glare: In the epilogue to Emma's Story, Emma suggests some ghost hunting afterwards to celebrate. Harriet gives her a look that screams "We Are Not Going Through That Again". Emma quickly gets the hint.
  • Despair Event Horizon: The disappearance of Marina really affected her. A note describes how she would skip classes, neglect work, and disassociate during lectures, with her grades suffering as a result. It ended with her trying to drown herself before she was rescued. Thankfully, she starts getting therapy and anti-depressants afterwards, and can regain happiness in her life in the best endings.
  • Driven to Suicide: In the past, after having been bullied by Blair, Stood Up by Emma, and her beloved cousin Marina vanishing, she decided she could not take it anymore and tried to drown herself. Thankfully, she was saved and began receiving therapy afterwards. However, in Unmasked Ending 2: Paranoia, it is implied that after losing Emma and Mason, she goes home and does it again, succeeding this time.
  • Heroic Mime: She mostly never speaks, though she has her thoughts and one line near the end of Unmasked. She also has a few rare lines in Emma's Story. It's justified in-story as extreme shyness.
  • The Paranoiac: She becomes paranoid that the killer will target her in Ending 2, Paranoia, to the point she commits suicide by drowning.
  • The Quiet One: Her Heroic Mime status is justified in-story as her being really shy. She mainly communicates through gestures and body language, only occasionally speaking out loud. Though she does seem to be more comfortable speaking to her cousin Marina, as evidenced by a voicemail she left for her.
  • Relationship Upgrade: The true ending to Emma's Story implies Harriet and Emma become a couple.
  • Revenge by Proxy: The reason she's targetted by Turtle Head is because of her association with Marina.
  • Shrinking Violet: She almost never speaks due to her shyness, and is very reserved. It got really bad after she was Stood Up by Emma on the school dance, and her Cool Big Sis cousin subsequently vanished.
  • Suddenly Speaking: She is mostly a silent Shrinking Violet, but she does have a few lines here and there.
  • Tragic Keepsake: Starts using Emma's ribbon after she's killed in Unmasked Ending 1: Harriet All Alone.

    Emma Hawkins 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1_emma_concept.png
"We're looking for the rumored ghost! THE ghost! We're ghost hunting!"

The outgoing best friend of Harriet. She is fascinated with ghosts, aliens, conspiracies, occultism, and all things weird. Upon hearing rumors of a ghost haunting Smithlane High at night, she decides to drag Harriet and Mason into breaking in at night, hoping to find the ghost. But she soon finds herself far closer to a world of nightmares than she ever really wanted.
She is also the protagonist of Emma's Story, which casts her in the role of the heroine who must save Harriet from the Turtle Head killer.


  • A Day in the Limelight: Unmasked has a post-story centered on Emma.
  • Agent Mulder: She is a huge believer in things like the occult, The Illuminati, and ghosts, and goes to the school at night specifically to catch what she thinks is a ghost. In the original game, she is proven right when Turtle Head turns out to be a ghost, but in Unmasked, it is Mason who is seemingly proven correct as Turtle Head is a normal human in a mask.
  • Captain Oblivious: In addition to not noticing Harriet's feelings for her, Emma's Story shows she's oblivious to almost everything, as she recalls the callous way Blair treated Harriet and is appalled her old friend would act like she did.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Emma slides mentions of Areas 1 through 50 and Mothman in between moments talking about the dire situation.
  • Character Development: A big part of Emma’s character is pretending everything’s okay when it’s obviously not. Emma's Story reveals that this includes her slowly deteriorating mental health and the self deprecating voices in her head. Throughout her route, she begins growing out of this behaviour, acknowledging what she did wrong and ignoring the hurtful things the voices say, ultimately admitting that she needs help and deciding to get therapy in the true ending.
  • Conspiracy Theorist: She offhandedly mentions watching videos about The Illuminati.
  • The Heart: Emma is this to the trio composed of her, Harriet, and Mason, being the cheerful and friendly one that brought all of them together.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: In her story, she is shown to insult and critique herself via an inner voice, calling herself a coward and a bad friend for abandoning Harriet at the school dance.
  • Love Confession: Emma admits to Harriet that she loves her in the true ending to her story.
  • Oblivious to Love: Is unaware of Harriet's feelings for her. This is Played for Drama, as it resulted in her stooding up Harriet at the dance.
  • Promoted to Playable: Unmasked makes her the heroine of Emma's Story.
  • Relationship Upgrade: The true ending to Emma's Story implies Harriet and Emma become a couple.
  • Sad Clown: Emma is shown to hide some heavy insecurities behind her cheerful personality in her story of Unmasked.
  • Skewed Priorities: She keeps the Shiny Key she finds in her story not because it's useful, but because... it's shiny.
  • Stepford Smiler: Revealed to be one in her story. Her peppy cheeriness is a cover for deep self-loathing she feels as a result of having Stood Up Harriet at the Spring dance. Throughout the story, she is tormented by an inner voice that takes every opportunity to insult her, calling her a selfish coward among other things.
  • Survivor Guilt: She gets hit with this in all but the true ending of her story, but especially in her second.
  • You Should Have Died Instead: She feels this towards herself in her story, feeling that, after having cruelly Stood Up Harriet at the school dance, it should have been her who got kidnapped and murdered by Turtle Head.
    Should've been you.

    Mason Camdenburg (unmarked spoilers) 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2_mason_concept.png
"Say, you don't actually believe in any of Emma's nonsense, do you? I know that people have seen some strange things around here recently, but I still think it's silly to say that there's a ghost around."

A skeptical student and friend of Emma and Harriet. He does not believe in ghosts or any of the crazy things Emma does, but reluctantly goes with her and Harriet to Smithlane High at night anyway.
He is actually an undercover police detective chasing the Turtle Head killer.


  • Adaptational Badass: While in the original he’s unconscious for the entire game, in Unmasked he eventually wakes up and has a playable segment where he rescues Kay and escapes.
  • Agent Scully: He expresses disbelief in Emma's ramblings about ghosts and the occult. In the original game, she is proven right when Turtle Head turns out to be a ghost, but in Unmasked, it is Mason who is seemingly proven correct as Turtle Head is a normal human in a mask.
  • Becoming the Mask: Only befriended Harriet (and Emma by extension) to get more information on the case, but grew to care about them for real.
  • Big Good: He is the police detective on the Turtle Head case, chasing the titular Serial Killer and watching over Harriet and Emma to ensure they make it out okay. He is especially this in Emma's Story, as he is Emma's main source of info and her personal Hint System, directing her actions so she can save Harriet.
  • Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Tries to be this to Emma.
  • Cool Big Bro: Harriet and Emma see him as a big brother figure, as he's reliable and mature and quick to call out the latter on her antics. It helps that he is the only adult of the trio.
  • First Person Snarker: In his short stint as a playable character in Unmasked.
  • Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: In the post-game epilogue as he's interrogating Simon, he points out that other people don't turn into psychotic murders just because a girl didn't like them.
  • Kindhearted Cat Lover: Mason is a friendly guy despite his cold demeanor who is revealed in Emma's Story to own five cats — Vampy, Lorelai, Myna, Kuda, and Minerd.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Played for laughs, but it's stated he often calls out Emma on her ridiculous antics. In Emma's Story, after she finds he's an undercover cop, she takes no time in taking verbal shots at him.
  • Nice Guy:
    • While Mason seems snarky and disinterested at first, that’s just an act; his true personality shows when he’s rescuing Kay where he's calm, kind, and tries to make her feel safe, during the epilogue where she gives her testimony to him, Mason offers to let Kay take a break when he notices that she’s getting very upset over Blair's death. And in Emma's Story, he gives Emma his therapist fiancée's number so she can recover from the trauma she went through.
    • He also refuses to read Harriet’s suicide note when he finds it, not wanting to invade her private dark thoughts.
  • Official Couple: With an unnamed therapist that is only seen in the Ending 5 credits.
  • Older Than They Look: He turns out to be a 27-year old detective, but fits right in with a handful of teenagers. Emma puts it best:
    Grown man? You look like puberty gave you some height and left it at that.
  • Police Are Useless: Averted. While he does get attacked in both routes, he’s able to rescue Kay and Escape in Harriet’s story and is implied to put up a pretty good fight against Simon in Emma’s route despite being shot.
  • Promoted to Playable: You briefly control him in Unmasked.
  • Rage Breaking Point: He is disgusted and enraged when he finds out that Simon has Harriet’s suicide note.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He's a detective who tries his best to help Harriet, Emma, and Kay escape the clutches of Turtle Head, and is the one to arrest him in Emma's Story.

Others

    Kay Brown 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kay_u1.png
"Ms. Lily can be strict at times, yeah... And she is softer when it comes to Harriet, but I dunno. She's the teacher. You have to respect her."
Click here to see her appearance after being kidnapped.

A brown, pink-haired schoolgirl and friend of Blair and Emma. Unlike the belligerent Blair, she is more mild-mannered and respectful of authority, often serving as the voice of reason and trying to calm down Blair whenever she gets into trouble. She and Blair ended up being captured by Turtle Head and tortured for over a year.


  • Agent Scully: While Blair is like Emma and believes in things like Bigfoot, Kay thinks their rituals are nonsense.
  • Ascended Extra: She and Blair were backstory characters in the original game who never appeared in the game proper. Unmasked makes both of them major characters and friends of Emma who play a big role in the plot.
  • Bespectacled Cutie: Kay Brown, though she's lost them when she's found for the first time, and she's only shown with them in flashbacks.
  • Brains and Brawn: With Blair, since Kay is the vice-president of the robotics club and very intelligent, to the point of keeping a 100 average on AP Chemistry, while Blair was a disruptive delinquent who struggled to keep her average above a D and shined on the track team.
  • Damsel in Distress: In Unmasked, after she and Blair were kidnapped and imprisoned by Turtle Head, it turns out she is still alive, and Mason infiltrates the Old School Building to rescue her.
  • Meaningful Name: Her surname is Brown and she indeed has brown skin.
  • Promoted to Playable: Unmasked has you briefly control her in Emma's Story.
  • Rescue Introduction: Unmasked mentions her in documents, but she is first seen in person when Detective Mason Camdenburg breaks into the room in the Old School Building where she has been left tied up by the titular Serial Killer and busts her out, showing her to the emergency exit.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: A note by Blair in the original game implies that she was the one killed by Turtle Head, while in Unmasked it's flipped and the note is written by Kay describing her finding the garbage bag with Blair's body.

    Blair Gardener 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blair_e1.png
"He ain't hurting anybody, got me? I hadda' nuff of being his little play thing. An' I ain't letting you starve to death! I've made my decision."

A delinquent student and friend of Kay and Emma. She tended to get on the nerves of her art teacher Marina, and the two got into frequent arguments, especially over her perceived antagonism of Harriet and Kay. She wound up captured and eventually killed by Turtle Head.


  • Agent Mulder: She tried to perform a ritual to summon Bloody Mary at one point, and thought it failed because they got the wrong number of candles.
  • Ascended Extra: She and Kay were backstory characters in the original game who never appeared in the game proper. Unmasked makes both of them major characters and friends of Emma who play a big role in the plot.
  • Better to Die than Be Killed: In Unmasked, she decides she'd rather go down swinging and confronts Turtle Head in a fight to try and save her and Kay. She failed.
  • Brains and Brawn: Kay and Blair, respectively, since Kay is the vice-president of the robotics club and very intelligent, to the point of keeping a 100 average on AP Chemistry, while Blair was a disruptive delinquent who struggled to keep her average above a D and shined on the track team.
  • Death by Adaptation: The original game leaves her ultimate fate ambiguous, while Unmasked confirms she was killed by Turtle Head instead of Kay like in the original.
  • Fatal Flaw: Blair acts friendly to Emma and Kay, but is rude and dismissive to everyone else. This gets her in trouble when she starts causing trouble in Marina's class... in deadly ways, as Simon kills her believing that Marina will love him for offing such a nuisance.
  • Freudian Excuse: While never confirmed, it is suggested in her student profile that her delinquency and bad behavior stems from abuse at the hands of her single father.
    Blair is certainly an interesting case. She's definitely a delinquent type, constantly disrupting class and struggling to keep her average above a D. I'm assuming it's due to her growing up without a second parent, and from the few phone calls home I had to make to her father, I can say with complete certainly he's a piece of work.
  • Friend to All Living Things: Despite being a delinquent, she volunteered at the local animal shelter in her spare time.
  • Hidden Depths: Blair, who is mostly seen as a delinquent and slacker, is not only one of the best students on the track team, but also takes care of animals in her free time.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Blair consistently cheats on her schoolwork, and shows absolutely no signs of a conscience or caring for anyone but Kay and Emma, but she is fiercely protective of her loved ones and takes care of animals in a shelter, and while she and Kay were captured by Simon, she also, while terrified for her life, decided that Kay's safety was more important than thinking about herself.
  • Named by the Adaptation: In the original, she is never referred to by any name unlike her friend Kay, while Unmasked names her Blair Gardener.
  • Posthumous Character: She was already killed by Turtle Head when Emma finds her.
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot: Though it's not so obvious with her limited screen time.
  • Teacher's Unfavorite Student: In the backstory, she became a major headache for Marina Lily for being a troublemaking delinquent who preferred to bully Marina's cousin Harriet over bothering to stove above a D average. Marina would frequently complain to her friend Simon Dale about her, eventually leading to Simon deciding to do Marina his twisted idea of a favor by imprisoning and killing her.
  • Uncertain Doom: In the original game, while Kay is implied to have been murdered by Turtle Head, the fate of Blair is left ambiguous as there is no word on it.

    Marina Lily 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marina_e1.png
"I hate to be that guy, but I really need you to show up to class on time. I can't excuse you forever, and it would be awkward as hell if I had to write you up."

Harriet's art teacher and cousin. The two lived together in the same household, and she was fiercely protective of her like a big sister. She was eventually captured and murdered by Turtle Head, who lusted over her, in retaliation for rejecting him.


  • Adaptation Expansion: While the entire game benefited from this, Marina is one particular example, as in the original game, she only had one sprite, which was her corpse slumped against a wall.
  • Cool Big Sis: She's Harriet's cousin but acts more like a big sister, always protecting her from Blair's bullying.
  • Friendly Ghost: Assuming her appearance in the main game really is her spirit and not Harriet hallucinating, she is just as much of a Cool Big Sis to Harriet as she was in life, helping her escape the clutches of Turtle Head and comforting her.
  • It Was a Gift: The creepy turtle head seen around the school? It was a stuffed turtle doll she was planning to give Harriet.
  • Posthumous Character: She was already killed by Turtle Head when Harriet finds her.
  • Too Good for This Sinful Earth: She was a fantastic sister figure for Harriet and a great influence for her… it’s no surprise that Harriet was devastated by her death.

    Tian Henderson 
"These kids mean a lot to me, and I want them to lead good lives, yknow? Go pursue their passions, become what they want to be, whether it’s becoming an astronaut or becoming a janitor, or any manner of things."

The custodian of Smithlane High School and the viewpoint character of the bonus story “You come across a dictaphone”. He is a chipper man who graduated from Smithlane High and thus loves the school and the students. He becomes acquainted with the main cast, listening to their problems, and becomes entangled in the Turtle Head incidents.


  • Ascended Extra: In the original game, he is a nameless custodian who only shows up in a single note in the basement. The remake gives him a name and has a side-story where he is the viewpoint character.
  • He Knows Too Much: Is killed by Simon once he discovers what's in the basement.
  • The Faceless: Since he's the viewpoint character throughout the story, his face is never shown.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He tries to help out the students in whatever way he can, doing things like giving Harriet a cake slice to comfort her after being Stood Up by Emma.
  • Posthumous Character: Was killed by Simon months before the events of the game.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: He winds up having to go against Principal Dale in investigating the Turtle Head incidents, reasoning that the safety of the students is more important than the principal’s reputation.
    These kids deserve better, Dale, and I am going to get them the resources that they need - that they deserve - even if it means going against you to do it. I will do everything in my power to get to the bottom of all of this, with or without the support of the faculty or the police
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: Wants to discover the truth about the old school building and the Turtle Head incidents. Needless to say, since this happens months before the game, he's destined to fail.

    Angelina Brooks (unmarked spoilers) 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/angie_e1.png

A police officer who works with Mason. She's implied to be the one who answer's Mason's phone call.


  • All There in the Script: Her name is only shown in the post-game bonus room.
  • Bit Character: Outside of potentially being the one who answer's Mason's phone call, she only makes an appearance in the epilogue of Harriet's story, and during the interrogation of Simon.
  • Queer Establishing Moment: During Simon's Motive Rant, she mentions her wife, presumably to say she wouldn't have murdered her wife in a fit of jelousy. Simon cuts her off before she can finish her sentence.
    Oi, not to interupt but I wouldn't have murdered my wife if-

    Principal Kurtis Dale (unmarked spoilers) 
The principal of Smithlane High School. A seemingly reasonable man, he tried to protect his students from the Turtle Head killer and see to it that they are safe. In truth, he was far more interested in protecting the killer, who is his son.
  • Adaptational Heroism: In the original, he is at least partially responsible for the incidents, having helped cover up his son's crimes, and even murdered his son so he wouldn't report him if he were caught. In Unmasked, he earnestly tried to stop his son but failed, and does express care for the Lily family who have been badly affected by the murder of Marina.
  • The Dragon: He basically acted as an accomplice to his son Simon, lending out the old school building to Simon so he can use it to commit his murders and actively obstructing any investigation into the matter. In the true endings, he is even arrested as an accomplice.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Mason. Both are reasonable adults who want to help a shy and socially awkward minor. But while Kurtis cared more about the school's reputation, to the point of enabling Simon's murders; Mason genuinely cared about Harriet (and Emma) for real, despite seeing them as witnesses to the case at first.
  • Evil Principal: Downplayed in that he isn't actively malicious, but he does use his authority as principal to cover up his Serial Killer son's connection to his murders just to preserve his own reputation, which he values more than the safety of his students. He goes out of his way to obstruct anyone from investigating the incident, most notably janitor Tian Henderson, by doing things like preventing anyone from entering the old school building where his son is holding Kay Brown and the corpses of his victims. He even kills his son in the original game solely because his son's murders were drawing too much bad attention to him. In the end of both the original game and Emma's Story, he is ultimately arrested as an accomplice to his son's crimes.
  • The Ghost: He never makes a physical appearance in either game. The only image of him seen is from a document listing the school employees in Unmasked.
  • Offing the Offspring: In the original game, he killed his son months prior to the events of the game. Unlike most cases, said son is an Asshole Victim who was himself a Serial Killer, and his activities were drawing flak to Smithlane High, so he killed him to cover up his involvement.
  • Papa Wolf: To his son, even helping him to cover up his murders.
  • Pet the Dog: Expresses concern for Harriet after her suicide attempt at the pool, showing disappointment at his own son for driving her that far.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: In the original game, he is seen in one note urging his son to stop murdering people, even threatening to kill him to make him stop (a threat he ultimately followed up on). But his choice of words make it clear he's more concerned about the negative attention he could receive than actual innocent lives.
  • Precision F-Strike: In the original, he drops a use of "fucking" in a final letter to his kid telling him to quit with the murdering before the cops catch on.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He tries to be this, helping the students calm down when faced with a Serial Killer prowling the town while pleading with the killer (his son) to stop. But he really cares more abut his reputation and ultimately looks the other way, only murdering his son in the original game to stop his rampage and salvage his reputation.

    Turtle Head (unmarked spoilers) 

Simon Dale

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4_turtle_head_prev.png
"Come to the school tonight, I'll show you my favorite flower."
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/simon_dale_face.PNG
"I truly loved her, you know. The ungrateful bitch acted all disgusted when I told her. That all of a sudden I was the bad guy because I solved her problem. I squashed the bee, I helped her sew a plush, I gave her compliments, I gave her all the best of me. And she still rejected me."

The titular serial killer haunting Smithlane High and the surrounding town. He is the son of Principal Dale who used his father's position to get away with his crimes. He first began by kidnapping and butchering pets around the neighborhood. He then fell for Marina Lily and befriended her, hoping that she would come to return his affection. Eventually, upon learning of Blair giving her grief in her class, he decided to "help" Marina by kidnapping Blair and Kay, torturing them in the old school building where he killed the pets, murdering Blair and then Marina when she reacted with horror. Now, he wants to make the main trio his next victims.


  • Antagonist Title: He is the titular Serial Killer haunting Smithlane High School.
  • Asshole Victim: In the original game, he was murdered by his father, Principal Dale, because his Serial Killer activities were becoming public and threatened to sink the school's reputation.
  • Ax-Crazy: A sadistic Serial Killer who laughs manically while slaughtering others.
  • Bad People Abuse Animals: As seen by various animal corpses and a police report, he has been a Serial Killer of cats, dogs, and other animals he abducted for years, primarily pets from over 24 families, before moving on to humans.
  • Big Bad: He is the Serial Killer haunting Smithlane High and out to make Harriet, Emma, and Mason his next victims.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: His social media chats with Marina show that he is capable of appearing as a normal, supportive friend. Underneath that is a bitter, entitled lunatic willing to murder the woman he "loves" for rejecting him.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Blair, a student of his crush Marina, has been giving her grief by acting out in her class and bullying one of her other students. In response to this, he decides to do Marina a "favor" and kidnaps Blair, as well as her best friend Kay, locks them in the old schoolhouse, and tortures them for an entire year, doing things like starving them and tormenting them with their fear of rats and bugs, then murdering Blair when she tries to get her and Kay out.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: He befriended Marina and helped her with her issues in the hopes of her returning his affection. When this failed, he resorted to torturing and killing a disruptive student of hers, deluded this would make her fall for him. When she predictably rejects him for being nuts, he takes it badly.
  • The Dreaded: The titular character quickly becomes this for Emma and, implicitly, Harriet, as well as everyone in town; his string of pet murders, and later kidnapping and human murders, utterly terrify the town, and notes from Principal Dale note how his students are afraid of him striking again.
  • Entitled to Have You: He felt this way towards Marina, thinking that because he is her "friend", he is obligated to get the girl. He even went to far as to torture and kill one of her students because said student was being disruptive in her class. Simon tries to justify his actions by saying it was because he was lonely and single- Mason responds by saying that he knows "plenty of single men who can contain themselves like an adult."
    Simon: Well, a pesky bee was causing my darling flower some trouble. So I took care of it.
    Mason: "Took care"?
    Simon: You know what I did. Do you know what it's like, officer? To do everything for someone you love, and be treated as a criminal?
    Mason: But you are a criminal.
    Simon: Mmm, not quite.
    Mason: ...? You think you did nothing wrong?
    Simon: Not think. I truly loved her, you know. The ungrateful bitch acted all disgusted when I told her. That all of a sudden I was the bad guy because I solved her problem. I squashed the bee, I helped her sew a plush, I gave her compliments, I gave her all the best of me. And she still rejected me.
    Mason: I came here for an interview, not to hear you whine about how you were rejected. And no, I don't get it. I wouldn't have harmed my fiancée if she told me-
    Simon: Fiancée!? Ah! But of course! A man like you could never understand my anguish. You won. You got your woman. How does that make you feel, hmmm? Happy you didn't have to go down the same road as me?
    Mason: I know plenty of single men who can contain themselves like an adult.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Harriet. Both Harriet and Simon are mostly silent, socially awkward characters (the Heroic Mime and Silent Antagonist, respectively) who, in the past, pined for a close friend (Emma/Marina) only to be rejected by them and be deeply hurt as a result, fracturing their friendship. But while Harriet still tries to be cordial to Emma, does her best to protect her anyway, and is willing to forgive Emma when she gives her a sincere apology, Simon let his anger dominate him and murdered Marina, then sought to destroy everyone and everything she loved as revenge, now filled with nothing but hatred for his once beloved.
  • Evil Redhead: Simon Dale, the killer, is a redhead under his mask.
  • Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Underneath his terrifying turtle mask is a baby face akin to Mason's.
    Mason: You know... Before we start, I just have to say that it's crazy. For a man who kidnapped and murdered several women in cold blood, you oddly don't look the type, under the mask... I’d guess that's how you slipped past our radar for so long.
  • Hate Sink: Simon in Unmasked is a sadistic murderer that not only tortured Blair and killed her but also his motivation was that he was rejected by the girl he liked and uses that as a justification.
  • He-Man Woman Hater: It's hinted Simon becomes this after being rejected by Marina, as he's more violent in his pursuit of Harriet and Emma. He's also hostile to Angelina during his interrogation in the epilogue.
    Be quiet, female. Your input here is irrelevant.
  • If I Can't Have You…: Turns out that Marina did not appreciate him murdering Blair just because she was disruptive and rejected his twisted attempt to earn her love. So he killed her in response. And then he decided to target her cousin too, just to twist the knife in.
    Ah... Marina... If you refuse to be mine. ... That cousin of yours won't have a choice.
  • It's All About Me:
    • The principal accuses his son Simon of having this, for kidnapping Blair and Kay and murdering Marina, despite their longtime friendship. He claims he couldn't care less about how his murder of her resulted in her family troubled, problems with the police and Harriet on the verge of suicide, just that "Marina's rejection" hurt him.
    • Also during his interrogation in the epilogue, Simon tries to make Mason understand that he was "forced" to kill Marina due to her rejection of him. When Mason tells him he has a fiancée, Simon is jealous and claims that he "doesn't understand true rejection".
  • Just Toying with Them: Much of Turtle Head's actions are driven by his desire to prolong the suffering of his victims. Kay and Blair get tortured for a full year just so he can get his kicks. He also makes it clear that he could have whacked Harriet at any time during her story, but only kept her alive as long as she was entertaining to him. In contrast, Emma's time as the lead sees her having to put more effort into baring or hiding from him, suggesting he saw her as a potential Spanner in the Works. His patience does have limits, and after a whole night of being impeded, injured and evaded by a schoolgirl, the final chase will see him run non-stop and fall for nothing until the very end. Marina's ghost even warns Harriet that he's done playing around at that point.
  • Karma Houdini: In the non-true endings, he kills at least one of the trio and runs away from the school.
  • Karma Houdini Warranty: In the original game and the main mode of Unmasked, he is able to flee the police and get away with his crimes- even in the true endings, where Detective Mason has set up police everywhere, we never find out if he is ever captured. Not so much in the true end of Emma's Story, where thanks to Emma, Mason is finally able to nab him.
  • Kick the Dog: Breaks the stuffed turtle Marina wanted to give Harriet, leaving it's head around the school (and used as a savepoint) in order to mess with Harriet further.
  • Malevolent Masked Men: The titular Turtle Head is a Serial Killer who wears a really creepy turtle mask.
  • Moral Myopia: He apparently didn't see anything wrong with killing a 15-year old for being a minor inconvenience to his crush, then killing the woman he did it for when she didn't like it- he's proud of what he did when interrogated about it. But his crush rejecting him is an unforgivable act she deserves to die for.
  • Named by the Adaptation: In the original game, he is only called Principal Dale's son. Unmasked gives him the name Simon Dale.
  • Not Good with Rejection: His response to Marina rejecting his love- after he tried to earn it by torturing and killing a student of hers just for being disrespectful to her- is to murder her as well. He then calls her an "ungrateful bitch" in the interrogation scene.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: His behavior when interrogated at the police station, including talking about both Marina and Mason's fiancée as if they were objects to "get" and barking sexist orders at Mason's assistant, doesn't paint a very flattering picture.
  • Sadist: Is overly delighted by just the thought of tormenting Harriet as Revenge by Proxy to Marina. He's notably excited-looking when he describes his crimes to the police and it's implied that he crafted such a complicated gambit (leaving puzzles and Marina's turtle for Harriet to see) to make things more fun for himself. It seems restricted to only Harriet, however; as he tries to kill Mason without a second thought, and only shows anger and hatred for Emma.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: He was able to get away with his crimes for so long because his father is the principal of Smithlane High and helped cover for him, allowing him to use the old school building and looking the other way.
  • Serial Killer: Initially, he limited himself to pets, of which the trio find plenty of corpses in the old school building. However, he eventually graduated to humans with Blair, Marina, and Tian, and depending on the ending can succeed in killing the main trio as well.
  • Silent Antagonist: He doesn't speak at all in the original game and throughout most of Unmasked, his only communication being a creepy Evil Laugh. However, in the interrogation epilogue, he is all too happy to confess his motives for his murders to the police.
  • Slasher Smile: The titular killer's mask features a big one.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: In the original version, he was killed by his father months ago, with the implication that he returned as a Vengeful Ghost to continue his work. In Unmasked, he's very much alive and the best ending has him arrested instead of killed.
  • Stranger Behind the Mask: In the original game, the identity of Turtle Head is the principal's son, a character who is never mentioned until the true ending when the reveal happens. The remake downplays this in that he is mentioned twice in Marina's diary before being revealed as the killer, but he is still someone unknown to Harriet and Emma.
  • Villains Out Shopping: If his profile pic is anything to go by, this maniacal Yandere and Serial Killer of humans and animals alike is a fan of a Magical Girl Warrior in-universe Show Within a Show.
  • Yandere: He fell for art teacher Marina Lily and sought to gain her love by comforting her in times of need, helping her prepare a gift for her cousin Harriet, and abducting a disruptive, delinquent student of hers and her best friend in order to torture and kill them. Then when she rejected him for being crazy, he killed her too.

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