Characters / Withering Hope

Warning! All spoilers below are unmarked.

It's virtually impossible to list tropes for these characters without spoiling everything or creating Self Fulfilling Spoilers because of the large amount of surprising reveals and murderer/victim exclusive tropes this story contains.

Monowither's Prisoners

In General

• Birds of a Feather: Mitch and Jerome, and to a lesser extent Ryan, which is probably a big reason why they're all such close friends. Also Steven, Bart, and Dave.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Seto and Jade form an early example of this in the story.
• Cast of Snowflakes: Nobody looks even remotely similar.
• Clear Their Name: Happens for most of the cast during class trials. Basically, if you're still alive by Part 04, you have been a suspect at some point.
• Color-Coded Characters: A minor example, but this is generally how it is :
  • Seto - Violet
  • Sky - Gold
  • Jerome - Brown
  • Mitch - Crimson
  • Bonks - Neon Green
  • Bodil - Orange
  • Steven - Cyan
  • Husky - Dark Blue
  • Seth - Light Red
  • Tyler - Maroon
  • Jordan - Black
  • Ryan - Grey
  • Jason - Blue
  • Ashley - Red
  • Annie - Navy Blue
  • Jade - Green
• Dwindling Party: Sixteen prisoners in an abandoned warehouse where the only means of escape is murder. It really doesn't take long for the cast to start dying off.
• Fire-Forged Friends: While they were still on good terms before the story, Seto and Tyler begin to bond quite a bit after Sky's execution, to the point of the two being part of a Ship Tease.
  • Also applies to Steven, Bart, and Dave. It was revealed that Bart and Dave were initially humans and the three of them ran away from home. Unfortunately, they were captured by the Order of the Ender Dragon. Despite this, the three managed to escape and stayed together, even in death.
• Genre Blindness: Most of the prisoners try to remain hopeful that there won't be any murders - or any more murders - in a murder mystery story. Of course, they're trying to avoid falling into despair like Monowither wants.
• A House Divided: The nature of the game has this effect after the first murder. Monowither directly invokes this during Part 04, after revealing the existence of spies AND adding the danger of Forbidden Actions to the equation.
• Limited Wardrobe: Or at least it's IMPLIED this is in effect.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Seto and Jade have an early dynamic of this. Too bad it doesn't last long.
• True Companions: By the end of Part 04, the last group of 6 survivors is very close.
  • Explained that prior to the game, that ALL of the cast, excluding Jade, were close friends.

Seto

Super Duper Minecrafter Level Sorcerer

The main protagonist of the story. Prior to the game, he was possibly the most anti-social of the group, and seems to suffer from some social issues in a way. He is later revealed to be a former member of the Order of the Ender Dragon, and suffers from a lot of trauma due to this. He is currently one of the few survivors remaining.

• All Love Is Unrequited: Had a crush on Sky, but he never returned his feelings.
• The Atoner: Given his past role as a member of the Order of the Ender Dragon and the existence of Slotty, who has killed and harmed countless people, Seto blames himself for this and tries to make up for his past.
• Badass Bookworm: Loves to read books and is badass for knowing many spells.
• Born Detective: Seto reveals that his mother was a detective when she was alive, and he seems to have inherited her intuition. It serves him well during the trials.
• Break the Cutie: Seto's Dark and Troubled Past was very traumatic for the poor innocent child.
• Character Tics: When Seto is embarrassed, he lowers his hood further over his head.
• Classical Anti-Hero: Seto lacks confidence and self-esteem and is always afraid that he will accidentally hurt others.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Doubles as Trauma Conga Line. Seto's father kills himself, Seto is adopted by a couple who turn out to be members of the Order of the Ender Dragon, his own uncle changes half of his soul into a killer, he is told for many years that he was never meant to exist, and after he escapes he is so traumatized that he lives by himself in the woods for a year.
• Heroic BSoD: After Monowither threatens to reveal Seto's secret to his friends and tells him that he cannot trust anyone, Seto suffers from this and almost kills Bonks. However, he recovers and spares her.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: In Part 03 and Part 04, Seto is widely believed to be one of Monowither's spies and is distrusted by most of the participants as a result.
• The Hermit: After escaping the Order, Seto finds a cottage in the woods and lives by himself for a year until he meets Sky. Even after he is introduced to the others, he still keeps to himself, although he improves gradually.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Seto suffers this after he almost kills Bonks.
• No Social Skills: Especially seen when Seto first meets Sky. Seto is confused when Sky reaches his hand out for a handshake and does not really understand what a friend is.
• The Perfectionist: Lampshaded by Tyler after Seto complains about minor errors in the Invisibility Potion that he brewed.
  Tyler: Somehow I get the feeling that you're just being a perfectionist.
  Seto: I'm not a perfectionist, I just like it when the things I make have no flaws!
  Tyler: ...That makes you a perfectionist.
• Purple Is Powerful: Seto's magic is purple, the fringes of his cloak are purple, and his magic is said to smell like lilacs or lavenders.
• Significant Birth Date: Seto's birthday is January 1st, the first day of the year.
• The Stoic: He improves after meeting new friends, but when the killings start he reverts back to this.
• Strong Family Resemblance: When the Rogue sees Seto, he mistakes him for his uncle, Master Hennessy.
• Squee: When Seto sees that the third floor has a brewing room, he lets out an excited squeal.
• Trauma Conga Line: See Dark and Troubled Past.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Before Seto's father committed suicide, Seto was a cheerful child.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Although he never condoned his uncle's orders, Seto still felt bad for not being able to please him.
• Youthful Freckles: Has a lot of them on his cheeks.

Sky

Super Duper Minecrafter Level Squid Slayer

Seto's closest friend prior to the events of the game, Sky was hailed as a hero by many due to slaying many dangerous squids. He had recently gotten married, and had a young child that he had named Tyler. He is the culprit of Chapter 1, killing Jade due to not wanting to hurt anybody he had known prior to the events of the story. It is later revealed that he committed the murder in the hope that he could save Alesa and his son. Despite his objections to it though, Sky is executed by Monowither, having him torn apart by giant squids, the very thing he once killed.

• Death of a Thousand Cuts: His execution involves him being stabbed repeatedly by squids.
• Face Death with Dignity: Ultimately averted. He tries to face the squids with dignity, but ends up screaming in terror and struggling unsuccessfully to escape when he is pulled down into the water.
• Oh, Crap!: When Sky realizes that he accidentally revealed his knowledge of the thread's color.
• Sympathetic Murderer: Although he killed an innocent girl, he was worried about the safety of his wife and child. Emphasized by the fact that Jade was the only participant that Sky had no prior friendship with.
• Undignified Death: See Face Death with Dignity.
• Villainous Breakdown: Although not exactly villainous, Sky breaks down into an angry screaming fit of desperation after Seto repeatedly accuses him of being Jade's killer.

Jerome

Super Duper Minecrafter Level Axe Wielder

Mitch's best friend prior to the events of the story, and possibly the nicest person of the main cast. Known for being as kind-hearted as he is strong, Jerome was always willing to bring up morale during their time in the warehouse, and often tried to avoid drama. Possibly the most despairing part of being trapped in the killing game for him was the fact that he now may never get to see his girlfriend, Louise, who he wanted to propose to, ever again. He is the victim of Part 2, being stabbed in the heart by Mitch after an emotional outburst, soon dying in his friend's arms as he bled out.

• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Mitch, the two most likely being the closest pair in the group; it is briefly mentioned at the end of Part 2 that he and Mitch were in a queer-platonic relationship.

Mitch

Super Duper Minecrafter Level Hunger Games Champion

Jerome's best friend prior to the events of the story, Mitch is known for being the greatest Hunger Games tribute to ever live, almost always winning every match he participated in. However, it is later revealed that he had been taking performance enhancing drugs in order to win, which is a secret that if it ever got out, would not only ruin his career, but would put all of his family in danger, and cause his friends to abandon him. He is the culprit of Chapter 2, killing Jerome after an emotional outburst. He is deeply affected by the death, to a point of practically trauma. He is executed by Monowither for this, ultimately being finished off by a familiar looking bacca in a Hunger Games match.

• Accidental Murder: He didn't intend to kill Jerome, he just lost control of himself due to an emotional outburst, and deeply regretted his actions afterward.
• Conflicting Loyalty: Between his close friendships with the cast(especially Jerome and Ryan), and his goal of trying to keep his secret hidden.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: And possibly the most emotionally draining one of the entire cast, taking an arrow to the chest to try and save who he thinks is Jerome, who he had previously murdered, before said fake version finishes him off with a stab from an axe. So basically, Mitch just got killed by his best friend, who he had killed himself earlier and was simply trying to save in an attempt to redeem himself of his action.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Jerome, the two most likely being the closest pair in the group; it is briefly mentioned at the end of Part 2 that he and Jerome were in a queer-platonic relationship.

Bonks

Super Duper Minecrafter Level Artist

Bodil

Super Duper Minecrafter Level Traceur

• Comical Overreacting: Bodil is a very anxious person...

Steven

Super Duper Minecrafter Level Mob Observer

• Gory Discretion Shot: His execution cuts away just as he is killed by the Ender Dragon.

Husky

Super Duper Minecrafter Level TNT Tester

Seth

Super Duper Minecrafter Level Redstone Mechanic

Tyler

Super Duper Minecrafter Level Actor

Jordan

Super Duper Minecrafter Level Songwriter

Ryan

Super Duper Minecrafter Level Warden

Jason

Super Duper Minecrafter Level Electronic Musician

Ashley

Super Duper Minecrafter Level Survivalist

Annie

Super Duper Minecrafter Level Archer

Jade

Super Duper Minecrafter Level Lucky Fan

Antagonists

Monowither

The Puppetmaster of Despair

The one behind the cast's imprisonment inside the warehouse, and the main antagonist of the story. They're very eager to see society's biggest hopefuls start killing each other, so they heap psychological torture on the students at every turn. They constantly engage in forced black comedy during the situation, and give a disturbing amount of attention to Seto, who they almost act as if they're in love with at times. There's actually more than one Monowither: they're a series of highly-advanced robots and can be instantly replaced if destroyed. They state that they're actually bound by the rules like everyone else, but they're willing to bend them for their own benefit to try to get rid of Steven, who was their biggest adversary due to being a spy for hope.

• Big Bad: The main antagonist of the story who is responsible for capturing the main cast of characters.
• Big Brother Is Watching: Has surveillance systems everywhere, and is capable of practically teleporting anywhere in the warehouse. Have fun!
• Black Comedy: Dishes this out constantly. Averted in the fact that they're the only one who thinks it's actually funny.
• Covert Pervert: Often implies much more "lewd" things about the cast, including believing Seto has a crush on the underage Jade, saying Bodil wasn't allowed to think about Ashley in "that way" while in bed, and more.
• Dissonant Serenity: They normally sound rather lighthearted about all the despair they want the prisoners to suffer.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: If they think something is funny, you don't want to know, and if they have a joke in store for you, then you're basically doomed.
• Evil Laugh
• Exact Words: Loves using this, claiming that they never ever lie. In Part 04 though, they start Twisting the Words regularly to take advantage of this.
• Expy: An obvious one of Monokuma from the Danganronpa series.
• Faux Affably Evil: They speak in a very easygoing manner (but still refer to the prisoners very rudely), make a lot of puns, and generally act like an obnoxiously saccharine principal. It just underscores how incredibly screwed-up their entire personality is.
• Giggling Villain

The Puppetmaster

The TRUE Big Bad of the story, who is the presumed controller of Monowither. Has yet to make an official appearance, or even had their existence confirmed.

• Ax-Crazy: The prologue has the Puppetmaster brutally kill a group of people with a giant saw blade.
• The Man Behind the Man: The presumed controller of the evil Monowither, meaning they are the ones who are truly responsible for the actions taking place in the warehouse.

The Order of the Ender Dragon

An evil drug cartel that Seto used to be a member of. Acts as the Villain of Another Story for both Mitch, Ashley, Steven, Bart, and Dave, and is responsible for a deep level of trauma inflicted on Seto's psyche.

• Offstage Villainy: We only see a few scenes of what terrible things they have done via flashback, but they are talked about to a large extent by the people they have harmed about the horrible things the group has done to people.
• Posthumous Character: They have already dissolved by the time of the plot, as revealed by Monowither in Part 04.
• Villain of Another Story: They're the ones responsible for leading to Mitch cheating throughout his Hunger Games career, and are also responsible for giving Ashley her breast cancer. Also responsible for some of Seto's personal trauma.

Slotty

it's ya boi

• Ax-Crazy: Deconstructed. Slotty kills and tortures people without question for the sake of pleasing his master, not necessarily because he derives pleasure from sadism.
• Cute and Psycho
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Desperately wants to please his master.

Other

Bart

One of Steven's "exotic pets" and close friends, who are trapped inside the warehouse with him.

• Gory Discretion Shot: His execution cuts away just as he is killed by the Ender Dragon.
• Those Two Guys: With Dave.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Despite being a mob, Steven treats him and refers to him as a very close friend.

Dave

One of Steven's "exotic pets" and close friends, who are trapped inside the warehouse with him.

• Gory Discretion Shot: His execution cuts away just as he is killed by the Ender Dragon.
• Those Two Guys: With Bart.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Despite being a mob, Steven treats him and refers to him as a very close friend.