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The Heroes

Jane Doe

The teenage weredeer herself, Jane Doe begins the story as an average teenage girl simply trying to get out of Bright Falls. Dragged into the Victoria O'Henry murder case by her best friend Emma, Jane soon finds herself tangling with gods, demons, and monsters alike.

A-Cup Angst: Jane is not particularly happy with the size of her chest, especially compared to her sister. When she appears in The Tournament of Supervillainy, she notes with some amusement that she's been given an "upgrade" in the process.
Amateur Sleuth: Jane has no formal detective training, yet works with people like Alex and Lucien to dig up the truth of what's happening in Bright Falls. For someone with no training, she's surprisingly competent, especially when it comes to making accurate deductions based on a small amount of information; she not only deduces that Marcus arranged Victoria's death just by analyzing his behavior, but that Andy Taylor killed Dr. Jones just from narrowing down the likely suspects.
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Jane gets distracted rather easily and her narrative can often go on long tangents. In American Weredeer in Michigan, as she's in the middle of an important magical ritual, she has an entire paragraph detailing why she feels sympathy for deer when she hears the phrase "deer in the headlights".
Badass Boast: In An American Weredeer in Michigan, Jane is confronted by Alice O'Henry, the most powerful shapeshifter in the country at that point, and makes it clear that she's not afraid of her.
"I’m not afraid of you. My family has been here every bit as long as you and I’ve seen gods, demons, and worse. It will take more than money and threats to scare me. I’m not a deer afraid of wolves."
Break the Cutie: Poor Jane is put through the absolute wringer across the books, between her mother turning out to have worked for Marcus O'Henry, confronting the Red Wolf, her friends and family almost being killed several times, and eventually having to fight her own cousin to the death.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Most of the time, Jane is a young and quirky girl who focuses more on her dating woes and making pop culture references than on the world-ending events around her. By the end of the first book, she's killed a literal god and goes on to put another through Heel–Face Brainwashing.
Deadpan Snarker: Jane reacts to pretty much everything with a sarcastic quip or a movie reference.
Didn't Think This Through: Jane puts herself in a pickle when she promises Robyn that she'll kill her mother without knowing who said mother is. It turns out that said mother is the Dryad, the avatar of the Earthmother whose death would kill tens of thousands of people, and she spends the book trying to convince Robyn to break off the deal so she can neither break the promise nor kill the Dryad.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: By the end of the first book, Jane has managed to kill the Red Wolf, the avatar of the sky and the child of the Earthmother herself. By the end of the second, she's rewritten the moral code of the sentient force of the Earth itself.
Freudian Excuse: Jane is so eager to jump straight into the investigations because when she was younger, she encouraged her cousin to swim with her in the Darkwater Lake. She eventually drowned, and Jane is unsure to this day if it was a freak accident or if something killed her.
Good Is Not Soft: Jane's first solution to a problem is usually to kill anyone in her way, even if they happen to be an innocent caught in the crossfire. To her credit, if it's possible to save the civilians then she'll do it, but if there isn't, she won't hesitate to get the job done.
Hidden Depths:
- Underneath her snarky and pop-culture-obsessed exterior lies a deeply intelligent woman who is willing to face any kind of lethal threat head-on, as well as a surprisingly ruthless shaman willing to make sacrifices for the greater good.
- For as carefree as she seems, she cares deeply about her personal beliefs, and she usually comes out on top of the philosophical debates she finds herself in. Her belief in the Earthmother is also one of her strongest cornerstones, and seeing just how careless the Dryad was with her children shakes her to the core.
Humans Are the Real Monsters: While she doesn't let it color her feelings towards all humans, Jane believes that while monsters may roam the Earth, it's humanity that is often the worst monster of them all - as she puts it, monsters may commit atrocities, but there's no atrocity that could be committed that mankind hasn't already done. It's why she doesn't want any kind of power falling into a human's hands; as a species, humanity has already proven that if they're given any kind of power, their first instinct is to justify killing anyone who doesn't have it.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By killing Marcus O'Henry, Jane knowingly sends human and shapeshifter relations straight back to square one.
No Social Skills: Jane is utterly clueless when it comes to interacting with just about anyone who isn't Emma. She even manages to outright date Lucien for about a month without even realizing it, something which genuinely manages to confuse Raguel.
Phrase Catcher: A lot of people, including Dr. Jones and Robyn, respond to her name by asking her if her parents hated her.
Pragmatic Hero: Jane means well for everyone and will not hesitate to put her life in danger for the sake of others, but she's also willing to leave innocents in the crossfire if it'll even the odds for her. She's completely willing to kill the Wolf without exercising him from his victim first, as she knows she's not powerful enough for that yet can't risk him running loose.
Series Mascot: Jane is chosen to represent the United States of Monsters when characters from different C.T. Phipps worlds are sent to The Tournament of Supervillainy.
Unfortunate Names: Jane hates her name because of how punny it is, and several characters comment that her parents must have hated her to choose it.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Jane proves how far she's willing to go for the sake of her family when she kills Marcus O'Henry. While he definitely had it coming, in doing so she screws over her entire race and people, a fact which she knows about and dismisses due to just how dangerous he is.
What the Hell, Hero?: Jane calls out Kim Su for not warning her that her chakras were misaligned, specifically pointing out that were it not for that, she could've protected her family against Phillip Tzu and stopped him long before anyone had died.

Agent Alex Timmons

An FBI agent assigned to the Victoria O'Henry case, Alex is far more than meets the eye. He's not only a former trainee for the House, but he has a long and dark past coming back to haunt him.

The Atoner: Alex deeply regrets his days as a supernatural hunter, as he realizes that he killed people regardless of if they necessarily deserved to die or not (even if none of his victims were "innocent" in the purest sense of the word). By serving the FBI and fighting for supernatural rights, he gets to not only fight evil, but ensure that no more innocent supernaturals are killed by people like him.
Beneath the Mask: Alex does genuinely mean well, but what hides under his friendly disposition is a deeply bitter man enraged by the continued existence of evil who will stop at nothing until it's wiped out completely.
Cain and Abel: Of the two of them, Alex is the heroic brother and Lucien is the evil brother, but it's ultimately downplayed; the times they genuinely come into conflict are few and far between, and Lucien himself turns out to not be as bad as he appeared on first glance.
The Cameo: Alex appears alongside Arthur Morgan and his brother Lucien in "The Fall of the House", helping Derek track down his mother Song and then coming to help the heroes against Balor in the climax.
Dark and Troubled Past: Alex grew up with an abusive father, but when he gained his powers and willed his father to die, his sister Samantha was killed as well. This combined with his disorder led to him being committed to a mental institution for a year, and upon his release, he stole the Merlin Gun and became a wandering hunter who killed supernaturals regardless of if they deserved it or not.
Everyone Has Standards: Alex is absolutely ruthless, but crimes against children especially piss him off and inspire him to go even further on the warpath than he already is. It's also noted that while some of the supernaturals he killed in his hunter days probably could have been redeemed in the right circumstances, none of them were ever outright innocent.
Foil: To his own brother, Lucien. Alex presents himself as a heroic FBI agent on a crusade against evil in all forms, while Lucien embraces his darker side and willingly becomes Bright Falls' biggest crime lord just because he's pretty good at it. However, on the inside, they both are complete mirrors of who they claim to be; Alex is truly motivated by his rage at the existence of evil and is largely dedicated to wiping out the guilty, while Lucien truly loves humans and supernaturals and is motivated by protective instincts towards the people he cares about.
Good Is Not Soft: Even disregarding his past, Alex may be a nice and quirky individual but he's also a ruthless opponent to go up against. If he needs to, he won't hesitate to burn you alive.
I Know Mortal Kombat: Alex learned combat from watching Bruce Lee movies, as well as from an avatar of the Third Doctor.
Mundane Solution: If Alex can find a simple solution to his problems rather than a magical one, he'll do it.
- In the first book, when tracking down Clara (who's in a location that can move itself), rather than use magic to track her, he just pings her cellphone and tracks that.
- In the third book, it's revealed that while he and Lucien tracked down and destroyed the Red Sky, one of the most damaging moves he made against them was simply having their accounts frozen, meaning they couldn't access their funds to flee.
Pragmatic Hero: Alex's defining characteristic is his pragmatism. If it means accomplishing good things in the long run, he'll do things like encourage Derek to kill his former lover Ashley, kill people who could've been redeemed, burn an enemy Mook alive, and recruit his ex-girlfriend's cousin for his mission without telling her.

Lucien Drake/Lyons

Bright Falls' premier crime lord and drug peddler, Lucien may seem like a one-note slime ball only to be far more than meets the eye. In truth, he's the last remaining dragon in Bright Falls, seeking revenge against Marcus O'Henry for his murder of his family - and he's also Alex's brother.

Benevolent Boss: On the one hand, if you screw up Lucien's operations or try to betray him, you will literally have hell to pay. On the other, as long as you're loyal, Lucien treats you like a member of his family and will stop at nothing to protect you (and in the worst case scenario, avenge you)
Best Served Cold: Lucien spent years focusing on getting revenge on Marcus O'Henry, building up his criminal empire in the hopes that it would one day get powerful enough for him to wipe out the old wolf for good.
Cain and Abel: Of the two of them, Lucien is the "evil" brother and Alex is the heroic one, but it's ultimately downplayed; the times they genuinely come into conflict are few and far between, and Lucien himself turns out to not be as bad as he appeared on first glance.
The Cameo: Lucien briefly appears alongside Alex and Arthur in "The Fall of the House", helping Derek locate his mother in order to find Ashley Morgan, Sr.
Dissonant Serenity: Lucien is downright giddy to take part in the fight against Balor, describing it as being like a live-action video game.
Et Tu, Brute?: Lucien's trust in Alex takes a severe hit when he finds out that Jane is Judy Doe's daughter, as Judy was one of the people who killed his family.
Even Evil Has Standards:
- Lucien may be a remorseless crime lord and a bit of a pervert, but he clearly has a distaste for anything sexual involving an underage participant or lack of consent. Even the charm in his office designed to turn any recordings into sex tapes specifically keeps it PG if the recorder is underage, and the Merlin Gun clears him of being involved in rape while pointing out that he punishes those in his crew who do so.
- As much as he's willing to play around with Hell energies or even use them to power up his club, even he refuses to use the Book of Midnight, finding it too dangerous for anyone to tamper with.
Foil: To his own brother, Alex. Alex presents himself as a heroic FBI agent on a crusade against evil in all forms, while Lucien embraces his darker side and willingly becomes Bright Falls' biggest crime lord just because he's pretty good at it. However, on the inside, they both are complete mirrors of who they claim to be; Alex is truly motivated by his rage at the existence of evil and is largely dedicated to wiping out the guilty, while Lucien truly loves humans and supernaturals and is motivated by protective instincts towards the people he cares about.
I Take Offense to That Last One: Whenever anyone lists off his many crimes, he always only takes offense to being called a "pimp" - drug kingpin, murderer, and thief are all apparently fair game, though. Jane points out that he is definitely a pimp even if he's a good boss to his girls, but he still takes offense to the title.
Nay-Theist: Lucien does believe in a God, but when he's suffered as much as he has in spite of that belief, it only reinforces the notion that His creations are designed to hurt rather than love. He may believe in the higher power, but he certainly doesn't respect or like it.
Noble Demon: Lucien is an unashamed crime lord, but at his core, he's not a bad person. He's a very fair boss who cares for his underlings, helps Jane and Alex fight off the threats to the city without any promise of personal gain, and stays a thousand feet away from the kinds of heinous crimes Marcus and Alice partake in.
Refuge in Audacity: Lucien lives and breathes this strategy whenever he can use it.
- He has a charm set up in his office where anyone who tries to record a conversation with him has it converted into a sex tape (though not if the person is underage). It's utterly ridiculous, but Jane admits that if she had been recording him, it would've thrown her credibility straight out the window.
- By the second book, Lucien uses the remaining energy from his club's brief transformation into Hell as a charm for the building, essentially using the powers of the realm of eternal damnation to create a den of consequence-free sin. It makes his club one of the most popular places in America.
- In the third book, Lucien's method of repaying the Vampire Nation after Alice bankrupts the town is to write a movie script and give the species a chunk of the profit. Said attempt at a "horror movie script" is a transparent Cliché Storm with literally nothing going for it except for the actors being actual shapeshifters. It becomes a gigantic success (in part because it releases during the COVID quarantine), with several more movies being ordered on the way.

Arthur Morgan

Ashley Morgan, Sr.'s nephew, Arthur was once a recruit for the House, but after the Reveal, he willingly became a vampire. His connections with the various other heroes of the United States of Monsters bring him from merely another potential recruit to one of Heaven's champions against evil.

Face–Heel Turn: At some point after the Reveal, he willingly let himself be turned into a vampire.
Non-Protagonist Resolver: Bloody Mary has Arthur kill Stephen Hawthorne as a gift to Derek. Derek, being Genre Savvy, notes how weird it is that he wasn't the one to kill his own brother despite this effectively being his story, but he takes the gift as it's meant.
You All Share My Story: Arthur isn't the central character of any story, but he frequently plays major roles in the stories of other people, such as Jane Doe, Derek Hawthorne, his cousin Ashley, and Peter Stone.

Ashley Morgan (junior)

Peter Stone

Once a soldier who served in Iraq, Peter is now a vampire at the lowest spot in his life. Working in a convenience store with David, the closest thing he has to a friend, Peter's life is shaken up when a woman mysteriously appears in the store bathroom undergoing the change.

Dark and Troubled Past: Peter had it rough, both as a vampire and a human. He grew up in Detroit dealing with street gangs in his neighborhood, eventually serving in Iraq to escape it. When he came back, his brother was killed in gang violence, and he was immediately recruited by Thoth for revenge. As a vampire, he accidentally pissed off an Old One and was forced to eat a child in retaliation, on top of being exiled from New Detroit; he's served as a lowly convenience store employee ever since.
Empowered Badass Normal: Peter was already a badass soldier before he gained the powers of a vampire. His regular combat skill lets him close the gap between himself and much more powerful enemies.

Derek Hawthorne

Derek is the main protagonist of the Red Room trilogy, serving as one of the top agents of the titular agency. In the beginning, Derek is well known for his destructive antics and for being a terrible spy, but the threat of the Wazir and being framed for a draugr attack soon forces Derek to step up his game.

Batman Gambit: When planning his ascent to the Committee, Derek predicts which of the current members will be most likely to raise a fuss about it so that he can call attention to their past crimes and kill them for the sake of his point. He predicts this member correctly, giving him the Committee's full attention once the deed is done.
Broken Ace: Derek is one of the best field agents the Red Room has to offer, capable of going head to head with the Wazir, taming the Bloodsword, killing the immortal Dracula, and eventually ensuring Balor is put back to sleep. He's also a mental wreck who hates himself for everything he's done, is so desperate for love from anyone that he's willing to risk leaving Balor unchecked, and has the general maturity of a twelve-year-old.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Derek is an absolute dork at heart, to the point that even his own soul gets tired of his constant pop culture references, but he's also a very competent spy with years of experience under his belt. His enemies are often more focused on getting him to shut up than they are on actually killing him, which he uses to his advantage.
Cain and Abel: Derek and his brother Stephen have a legendarily hateful relationship. As Derek despises kinslayers, he hates Stephen so much that he's the only person to believe that he was evil pre-possession.
Cynicism Catalyst: Derek was once an idealistic agent, albeit one who was ready to get his hands dirty from the get-go. Having to fake Ashley's death because of his father's kill order on her woke him up to the Red Room's shady dealings, and from then on he cared for very little beyond just following orders. He's even questioned multiple times why he never tried to leave if he was so jaded, and the only answer he ever has in his own head is that he simply had no other skill to fall back on.
This was my moment, the event that turned mid-level agent Derek Hawthorne into someone who didn’t care whether he lived or died.
Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the Pop-Cultured Badass. Originally, Derek constantly peppering in references to comics and movies is just a quirky trait, showing that despite being a badass action spy, he's still a friendly person at heart. As time goes on, it becomes clear that this is largely a coping mechanism for his absolutely abysmal childhood, as his mother leaving and his father being distant meant that he basically raised himself on cartoons and books, and he uses the quips to hide just how much baggage he's carrying. In particular, his obsession with The Lord of the Rings comes from how much he loves its use of Black-and-White Morality in comparison to the Greying Morality he faces across his career.
Defiant to the End: He uses the last bit of life he has to flip Balor off.
Determinator: Derek's refuses to ever stop to rest for as long as his enemies are making moves, no matter how dangerous it is for him to keep going. It eventually gets him killed when his battle against Roland forces him to use so much magic that only Mary can keep him alive, and using the last bit of it to kill Ashley and Christopher takes literally every bit of energy out of him.
Didn't Think This Through:
- To ensure the Wazir's defeat, Derek kills his way onto the Committee to gain enough power to handle the matter himself. It becomes clear in the second book that he didn't realize the many long-term issues with this plan, and he spends the entirety of Eldritch Ops trying to keep things under control while others blame him for the Committee's mistakes.
- Derek's first thought when he learns he's holding the Bloodsword is to cut his finger and bleed on it. Before Lucy can even finish explaining why that was a bad idea, the weapon's mystical energy explodes and sends everyone flying, knocking Derek into a dream state where Christopher can communicate with him in secret, and he discovers after that the Bloodsword answers to him now, which is one of the factors that gets him Dracula's personal attention.
Doom Magnet: All three of Derek's partners, Ashley, Christopher, and Solomon, died on missions with him, giving him the nickname "The Angel of Death". It's why he was a solo agent for several years before Shannon was assigned to him. Ironically enough, Ashley and Christopher are actually both still alive, but he ends up killing them himself to stop Balor.
Empowered Badass Normal: Derek spent most of his career without any magic powers himself, maintaining one of the highest success rates of the Red Room's agents along the way and even managing to take down the Wazir. Being empowered by Bloody Mary turns him into an absolutely unstoppable entity more akin to a force of nature than a human being.
Establishing Character Moment: Derek is introduced narrating his own life to make it sound way more exciting and spy-like than it actually is, only to actually snap into focus and successfully stop a terrorist attack a few minutes later. In one scene, we know that Derek is a nerdy goofball and a terrible spy, but a competent field agent who knows when to get the job done.
Everyone Has Standards:
- Even at his most jaded, he's horrified by the Red Room's utter failure to protect the town of Wheatfield.
- The attack on the White Room's researchers that leads to several of them being turned into draugr revolts and horrifies him. He then starts feeling sick when he has to double tap the researchers the draugr were eating so they couldn't come back.
- Played for Laughs; the one time he doesn't appreciate a joke is when Shannon makes a Nazi joke, saying that Nazi jokes are never funny outside of The Producers and she should never do that again.
- Even before the sheer extent of their corruption becomes clear, Derek considers everyone on the Committee to be psychopaths.
- He's utterly horrified when he realizes that he essentially raped Cassandra for the entirety of their marriage, even if he had no way of knowing that she had been brainwashed into loving him. He hopes after everything's concluded that she's able to find some measure of peace in the afterlife and states repeatedly that absolutely no one deserves go have gone through what she did.
- Even a renowned anti-vampire agent like Derek shut down the Committee's attempt to wipe them out completely through a vaccine.
- Derek views kinslaying as the absolute worst crime someone can commit, but even he kills Rebecca after she massacres all of her prisoners during Dracula's attack. As much as he believes he'll be damned for it, by that point Rebecca had clearly gone too far off the deep end to ever be saved.
- Derek can see the pros of mesmerizing vampires, but he draws the line at doing it to humans no matter what they may have done.
Failure Hero: Credit where it's due, Derek is a very capable spy and always ends up defeating the villains of the day, but not before they've killed hundreds of people and made great strides towards their end goals. Both of the latter two books open with epilogues that admit that he ultimately failed in his goals.
Fantastic Racism: Derek wants peace with supernaturals, but after what vampires did to his partner Christopher, he hates them with a passion; he has the highest vampire kill count out of everyone in the Red Room. Of course, Eldritch Ops flips this on its head by revealing that not only is Christopher alive, but Dracula is responsible for vampires all being mindless monsters; once he's killed, many vampires are benevolent.
Freudian Excuse: Derek's mother walked out very early on and his father raised him from birth to be the perfect Red Room agent and nothing else. He essentially raised himself on cartoons and comics because he had nothing else.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: Despite his joking demeanor, Derek has very little self-confidence and firmly believes that he's just the Closest Thing We Got instead of the hero. His low self-esteem has also given him a self-sacrificing point of view that means he's willing to throw away his life for relatively small victories.
Hidden Depths:
- Derek focuses more on pop culture and spy work than his personal life, but he's still a deeply religious man who holds his beliefs tightly, even in a world where most of the gods that are worshipped are genuinely real somehow. He fully accepts his fate will be damnation for killing Rebecca, as no matter how vile she was, kinslaying is an unforgivable sin.
- His pop culture references don't just relate to stereotypically nerdy things, as he quotes the musical Chess at one point.
Hypocrite: Derek originally chastises Christopher for killing humans, only to take a second and remember that he's currently standing over four corpses he just created.
Hypocritical Humor: Derek notes that Lucy creating a wristwatch gadget is incredibly cliche before snatching it away to figure out what it does.
Indy Ploy: Despite generally being the leader of his team, even if it's only de facto, Derek tends to take things one step at a time rather than execute a long-term plan. This bites him in the ass more than once, especially when his targets realize he has no long-term plan and adjust accordingly.
Derek: Haven’t you realized I’m making this shit up as I go along?
It's All My Fault:
- Derek clearly carries the weight of his partners' deaths on his shoulders, even though he was cleared of any culpability in all three cases.
- Derek spends the entire series blaming himself for Cassandra's rampage, even though he had no way of knowing just what she was enduring during their marriage.
Kinslaying Is a Special Kind of Evil: Derek despises kinslayers with a passion, even compared to other vile people he faces; it's why he hates Stephen so much. He fully believes that he's going to Hell when he inevitably dies for killing Rebecca, even if he really had no choice.
Manchild: Derek peppers everything he has to say with references to comic books and cartoons even in the most serious situations, to the point that multiple people beg him to stop.
My God, What Have I Done?:
- Derek is horrified to discover just how many innocent people the House has killed just to cover their own asses, especially when he realizes that some of them died at his own hands. It finalizes his choice to join the Committee to see if he can mitigate their damage any further.
- He has several paragraphs talking about how awful he feels when he learns that the Committee, acting on information Derek provided them, bombed John Ruthford's estate, killing his entire inner circle but also around a hundred regular humans who happened to be there.
My Greatest Failure: In the first book, Derek decides to trust his ex-wife Cassandra because he's still slightly in love with her; the result is the deaths of hundreds of innocent people. Derek spends the rest of the series kicking himself for falling for her act and blaming himself for everything she was able to do just because he couldn't bring himself to trust the evidence and kill her when he had the chance.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In his first scene, he defaults to assuming that the Wazir is actually present in the mall rather than one of his homunculi, and the decisions he makes from that assumption end with the deaths of a dozen innocent people.
Oh, Crap!: Derek gets noticeably scared when he realizes that a routine mission investigating some low-level Emerald Eye members has been crashed by the Wazir himself.
The Peter Principle: Derek may be a fantastic agent with a great record, but he's an absolutely terrible Committee member. It's made abundantly clear that being able to fight magicians and shoot monsters does not translate to political or military acumen in the slightest, and he's often left trailing behind the other Committee members or straight up Locked Out of the Loop on things they don't want him to know. They're almost able to scapegoat him for Protocol Zero because of this, but Nathan ends up pulling him out of that fire.
Red Baron: Derek has killed so many vampires that the Vampire Nation refers to him as "The Cleaver".
Refuge in Audacity:
- Derek's strategy for sussing out the traitor at Pantheon Corp is to walk into a bustling lab, fire his gun in the air, and tell the traitor they know who he is and he should come out with his hands up. One of the scientists ends up bolting for the door, giving himself away. Shannon even points out that the trick is so obvious that she was told to never use it; Derek counters that he figured the scientist was a civilian and more easily scared.
- His plan to break a geas spell is to literally kill the man under the spell and then bring him back with epinephrine and a defibrillator.
- After his confrontation with the Wazir, he starts spinning a BS story to Shannon about how the Committee was letting the Wazir's attacks happen so that they could step in after the fact and clean it up to make themselves look better. About halfway through his conspiracy theory, he genuinely starts to believe it, and part of the reason he goes along with Karl's plan for him to join the Committee is because it ends up being right.
Religious Bruiser: Derek is both a deeply religious man and also a badass agent capable of going hand to hand with Dracula.
Shipper on Deck: Derek believes that Lucy is really good for Penny and supports their relationship even more than Penny does at first.
Sympathy for the Devil: Even after her many heinous crimes, Derek still feels sorry for everything that Cassandra endured while she was married to him, saying that even if it doesn't excuse her crimes, she at least understands why she went so insane. He continues blaming himself in part for her rampage for the rest of the series.
Unwitting Pawn: Derek spends most of Esoterrorism playing right into the Wazir's hands, especially when he buys Cassandra's story and lets her leave her office unaccosted. He spends the entire book kicking himself for falling for it.

Willaim England

The House

The House is a secret organization that has existed for millennia with one sacred mission: uphold the Masquerade on the supernatural, no matter the cost. Along the way, as the organization shifted from ancient Babylon to modern day magitech, it steadily became no better than the supernaturals it sought to suppress, focusing on little more than lining the pockets of its leaders and protecting their own secrets above all else.

By the time Derek encountered the Wazir, the organization's determination to protect ancient traditions that no longer make sense combined with advances in mundane technology means the House is on the verge of collapsing through infighting, dooming the world to the secrets coming out. Such an event finally occurred in 2008 when the House was destroyed, leading to the vampires (and thus the other supernaturals) entering the public eye.

In general

Asshole Victim: The Committee, except for the Chairman, are all slaughtered by Stephen Hawthorne to kickstart the destruction of the House, but given that they were all greedy bastards willing to do anything for further profit, the world is better off without them.
Fallen Hero: As the Wazir reveals, the House was once a genuinely benevolent organization that focused on protecting the world as much as it could, but the power eventually went to their heads and they started forcing the supernatural underground instead. Now, all they care about is lining their own pockets and wiping out all supernaturals no matter the method.
Foregone Conclusion: Given that the Red Room trilogy is a prequel to the rest of the franchise, it's inevitable that the House will collapse.
The Illuminati: They control the entire world and keep the supernatural under wraps in any way they can. They're even the basis of the Illuminati "myth" In-Universe.
Jurisdiction Friction: While the House has held firm through countless divisions in the world, the various Divisions of the House are at each other's throats constantly. Derek notes that it's not uncommon for agents of different Divisions to kill each other with minimal provocation. Later on, the other Divisions essentially leave Division One out to die when Cassandra and the Wazir start going on the warpath, refusing to give them vital information even as their agents die in droves.
Necessarily Evil: Subverted; The House presents themselves as being necessary in order to keep the peace despite how flagrantly corrupt and hypocritical they are, which means even agents with reservations about their methods are willing to work with their goal. In reality, the House is easily even worse than the worst supernaturals out there; they even have an entire branch called the Yellow Room designed to make themselves look more heroic than they actually are and cow any agents with reservations. Their destruction unambiguously makes the world a better and safer place for everyone.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: The House is ostensibly protecting the world by keeping supernaturals from becoming public knowledge, but the truth is that they only care about enriching the Committee and keeping the world under their control. They kill anyone who tries to expose their corruption, even their own agents, and are even willing to throw each other under the bus should it be convenient. Notably, the world becomes a far more open and safe place for everyone, mundane and supernatural, once they're gone.
Right Hand Versus Left Hand: No branch or Division of the House works together under any circumstance. Derek and Shannon are usually trying to actually save the world, the Committee just want to line their pockets, and the other Divisions are more focused on protecting their own interests than they are on solving a problem. In particular, the Committee members often assassinate their own agents if it means that another member loses a valuable asset. Derek has to kill his way on to the Committee because literally nothing else will ever make the Divisions cooperate. This is a key part of the reason why Nathan is able to destroy them; once the Committee is killed, the entire organization descends into pure chaos from the top down, and everyone focuses more on saving themselves than on trying to salvage the situation.
Derek: We need to speak in private.
The Professor: Why do I always get the impression you’re plotting against our organization whenever you say things like that?
Derek: Because intra-office politics kills half as many agents as the supernatural?
The Professor: Touché.
Stupid Evil: The House's archaic policies and downright cartoonish greed only ensure that the House is nowhere near as powerful as they think they are. In particular, Derek notes that their policy regarding the mental health of their people is so ass backwards that it only produces sociopaths and danger junkies. Cassandra is able to turn the United States government against them just by exposing their lies, ensuring that the supposedly all-powerful ancient conspiracy is too weak even storm a beach. For all their power and reach, Nathan is able to effectively singlehandedly tear the entire organization to the ground in a single day.
With Friends Like These...: No one is more eager to sell out the House than the House itself. In particular, the Committee will sell each other out or screw themselves over at any opportunity, even when the life of one of their members is being threatened right in front of them.
If you wanted to know anything about the Committee’s morality, you had to look no further than what any of them did when one of their own was threatened.
Not a damn thing.

The Committee

Nathan Hawthorne

Derek's father, a legendary Red Room agent and one of the most dangerous men alive. Despite his loyalty to the Red Room, it soon becomes clear that Nathan's true side is his own, which is complicated when Derek doesn't quite know what he wants.

Abusive Parent: From the beginning, Nathan raised Derek to be an ideal Red Room agent and nothing else. Most of Derek's resulting mental issues and immaturity come from Nathan's horrible parenting.
Actually a Doombot: Derek kills Nathan halfway through the final book, only to reveal in the epilogue that it was actually just a homunculus. In reality, Nathan was in hiding during the entire event, only to come out afterwards to repair the world and eventually get elected President.
Archnemesis Dad: Nathan is directly responsible for a lot of the problems Derek has endured in his life, eventually even causing his death.
The Bad Guy Wins: Nathan gets absolutely everything he wants once his plan gets rolling. The Truth comes out, the House collapses, Roland and Stephen are ultimately stopped, and Nathan himself is easily the most powerful man in the world, which he uses to advocate for supernatural equality.
Batman Gambit: Nathan is a master of predicting Derek's responses to his actions.
- In the past, Nathan gave Derek the order to kill his partner Ashley knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to do it, saying that it really didn't matter if Ashley died as long as she was gone. Shannon even guesses that Nathan sent Penny to him, giving him the ability to fake her death.
- In Eldritch Ops, Nathan basically hijacks Derek's plan to infiltrate Protocol Zero to use it to his own ends, intending to wipe out both his target and Dracula's army at once while blaming it on the vampires. Thanks to Derek killing Rebecca just as Nathan predicted he would, the plan goes off perfectly.
- While Nathan's plan to destroy the House allows Roland and Stephen to attempt to raise Balor, Nathan goes ahead anyway because he knows Derek will be able to defeat him one way or the other. Though he dies along the way, Derek ultimately is able to put Balor back to sleep, ensuring Nathan's plan goes off perfectly.
Broken Pedestal: In Derek's own words, he once worshipped the ground Nathan walked on and took all of Nathan's teachings with pleasure. Then Nathan ordered Derek to kill his partner and lover Ashley, which killed any affection Derek had for him. By the present day, Derek wants nothing to do with him, and he even tries to kill Nathan during the latter's crusade against the House; the only reason it fails is that he was using a homunculus.
The Chessmaster: Nathan spends the entire Red Room trilogy moving his pieces where he wants them, especially Derek, without anyone noticing anything is wrong. By the end, he's manipulating the entire world to his tune.
Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Nathan is repeatedly said to resemble Robert Redford in his prime, with Derek even thinking that he used his magic to make himself look that way.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Nathan is a horrible father and is even willing to manipulate his son into killing his daughter, but he does still love his children even at his worst.
- The entire reason he has to manipulate Derek into killing Rebecca is because, even though he views Rebecca as an irredeemable monster, he can't bring himself to kill her.
- The week before his plan to destroy the House goes into effect, Nathan guards Derek's comatose body for a full week to ensure no one would try to harm him.
- Nathan was all but singlehandedly responsible for Stephen not being executed by the House after the rampage he went on.
- Nathan spent decades mourning the death of his first family at the hands of the House and ends up destroying the entire organization to ensure no one has the kind of power they once did ever again.
- Even though he was the one who drove Ashley into hiding in the first place, he still used his power to make sure no one ever went after her and funded her division of the Network because she was the mother of his grandchild.
Even Evil Has Standards:
- Nathan approves of Derek choosing to kill Yuri out of all the Committee members because "no one likes a child killer".
- One of the few morals he keeps to the end is his strong distaste for mind control, especially the kind that Protocol Zero dishes out. As he says, even using it on monsters is already disgusting enough without the fact that it opens the door to using it on humans.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Derek notes that Nathan is the son of a grocer who managed to grow into a member of the Committee and the man who destroyed the entire House, an organization that has existed since ancient Babylon.
The Man Behind the Man: Nathan uses his finances to ensure Roland's rise to power and Stephen's escape from prison, putting them in place for an eventual scapegoating.
Manipulative Bastard: His skill in manipulation is second to none, which is how he consistently gets Derek to do what he wants without him even realizing it.
Noble Demon: As one of the few House officials with a conscience, Nathan knows he's committed many heinous acts and never denies it, always trying to make the best out of the situation he's in. His ultimate endgame causes countless death, but he tries to mitigate the damage and it's all for a genuinely good cause.
Older Than He Looks: Nathan is approaching being 100 years old but looks like Robert Redford in his prime.
Secret Secret-Keeper: Nathan not only reveals to Derek early on that he knows Ashley is still alive, but that he knew from the very beginning Derek wouldn't be able to go through with killing her and was okay with that as long as she was gone.
So Proud of You: Derek's plan to ascend to the Committee going off without a hitch makes Nathan smile at his son with pride.
Unwitting Pawn: Cassandra is the only person that manages to get one over on Nathan by pretending to be going along with the Committee's deal only to flee as soon as Derek and Shannon left her alone. He's utterly unrepentant of that fact when Derek confronts him over it, but he does play a crucial part in getting Derek to the Committee to stop her, so he still comes out on top.
Villain with Good Publicity: The man directly responsible for millions of deaths becomes so popular that he wins the Nobel Peace Prize and is later elected President of the United States.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: His plan to destroy the House causes millions of deaths in collateral damage, but it's all in the name of creating a better world for humanity and supernaturals and Nathan is fully willing to die for his cause and choices.

The Chairman

The leader of the Committee and thus the man in charge of the entire House.

Actually Pretty Funny: The Chairman spends the entire scene where Derek kills one of his colleagues with a small smile on his face showing his amusement at Derek's acts.
Asshole Victim: Stephen finds him dead long after the Reveal, but given that he's responsible for centuries of human conflict and death, no one's mourning him.
Disproportionate Retribution:
- For the crime of not showing him proper respect, the Chairman and the Committee blow up Derek's left eye.
- Back when he was still just an agent, Nathan disagreed with the Chairman's methods and tried to get him to intervene in the Sino-Japanese War. The Chariman's response was to murder Nathan's family.
Exact Words: The Chairman insists that the House doesn't control the world, they just control the people who control the world.
Lack of Empathy: The Chairman cares for nothing but himself and the power he wields. Even one of his colleagues being threatened right in front of him just makes him point out that he should've done a better job protecting himself.

Yuri

Yuri is a Russian member of the Committee. He and his ruthless desire to live as long as possible are crucial steps in Derek's path to the Committee.

Death by Irony: Yuri killed his own daughter because a prophecy said the daughter would cause his death, but Derek kills him specifically because he killed his own daughter, fulfilling the prophecy anyway.
Didn't Think This Through: Yuri contains his life force within a mystical egg, but gives the egg itself no mystical protection. When Derek gets his hands on it, there's literally nothing Yuri can do to stop him from smashing it.
The Friend Nobody Likes: The Committee couldn't care less about each other anyway, but it's made clear that Yuri is a pariah even by that standard. Nathan commends Derek for choosing Yuri specifically to kill because "no one likes a child killer", and the Chairman outright laughs at Derek's plan while lecturing Yuri for not protecting his life force better.
Offing the Offspring: Yuri killed his own daughter because a prophecy stated that his daughter would cause his death. Of course, Yuri having killed his own daughter is why Derek chooses to kill him specifically when he needs to join the Committee, meaning his daughter still causes his death anyway.
Small Role, Big Impact: Derek killing him to ascend to the Committee leaves him stuck on the Committee for the rest of the series, which is a crucial step in Nathan's plan to destroy the House.

Pantheon Corp

Cassandra Cassidy

The current CEO of Pantheon Corp. and one of the most powerful backers of the House, Cassandra used to be a very sweet person until she suddenly seemed to snap out of nowhere. Now, she's the House's prime suspect in the creation of Matheson-22.

Alas, Poor Villain: After Derek learns just why Cass was so determined to destroy the House, he can't help but sympathize with her and hope that wherever she ended up after her death, it's somewhere she can finally have the peace she was denied in life.
And I Must Scream: During her marriage to Derek, Cassandra was still self-aware enough to realize that she hated her husband and her life yet was completely powerless to do anything about it. Even after she was first rescued, her primary concern was knowing that Derek would feel bad about it, even though she hated his guts.
Best Served Cold: Her revenge took years to plan, but that only makes it all the more vicious and brutal, as she's now allied with the Wazir and comes close to taking the House down entirely.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Even before she completely lost it, Cassandra's business model was based in illegality, including making corrupt deals with the House to benefit her position and even committing murder.
Derek: Cassandra gives genetically engineered seeds to starving Third World Nations that can only be fertilized with bought Pantheon Corp fertilizer, deals in arms to virtually every nation in the world, destroys successful companies so she can buy up their ruins, and was one of those billionaires who benefited from doing as little as possible rebuilding Iraq after the invasion. You don’t get to be head of a multinational like Pantheon Corp by inheriting it even from a family as rich as the Cassidys. You must be ruthless as hell.
Evil Is Petty: Hating Derek because she was forced into marrying him against her will makes perfect sense. Magically sterilizing him and placing a curse on him to ensure his loved ones die around him is just a mark of her sadism.
Freudian Excuse: Her father used magic to force her into her marriage with Derek just for the sake of getting some more power for himself. The entire time she was married to him, she was conscious enough to hate her life but not enough to fight it, leaving her a prisoner in her own body. The Wazir eventually found her and did the magical equivalent of putting her mind back together with duct tape, leaving her with nothing but hatred and the desire for revenge. When Derek learns about this, he even hopes that she found rest in the afterlife.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Zig-zagged. After learning why she was so desperate for revenge, Shannon and Derek end up disagreeing on her; Shannon insists that it doesn't justify her many heinous crimes, but Derek can't help but sympathize with her and even hopes that she found peace in the afterlife.
Hidden Depths: A glance into her mind reveals that she knows going along with the Wazir won't fill the void she feels inside and that the world he wants has no place for her, but she sees no other option to sate her rage and the groveling masses being under her control would at least give her a sense of validation.
It's Personal with the Dragon: While the Wazir has more plans for Derek than Cassandra does, Derek has a much stronger conflict with her than the Wazir. As Cass was his ex-wife and part of him is still in love with her, her betrayal hits him harder than anything the Wazir could do.
Manipulative Bitch: Despite Derek and Shannon having every reason to suspect that she's the traitor, Cassandra manages to convince them she's innocent for long enough to escape and begin her crusade, even tricking the Red Room into accepting a deal to ensure her escape. Derek spends the rest of the book kicking himself for falling for it and blaming himself for every death she causes.
Mind Rape: Cassandra's father used magic to break her mind and force her into her marriage with Derek, with Cass knowing she didn't like it but powerless to stop it. By the time the Wazir snapped her out of it, her sanity was destroyed beyond repair.
Mood-Swinger: Derek notes that during their marriage, Cassandra could go from happy and loving to literally trying to murder him within minutes. Derek realizes in the end that she spent their entire marriage desperately trying to escape the curse her father used to force her into the marriage.
Non-Action Big Bad: Cass is more than capable of getting people killed by her own forces or by the Red Room, but she's not a physical threat herself. The issue is getting anywhere near her before she can flee and sic an army on the attacker. Once she's back in the same room with Derek and Shannon, she goes down with one punch.
Obviously Evil: As Tablot points out, it probably should've been obvious to the Committee that the woman masterminding the creation of a zombie virus was the one responsible for it getting released and in the Wazir's hands. It only gets even more obvious in hindsight when it's revealed that she was brainwashed into marrying Derek, meaning they should've known she had a huge grudge against the House.
Patricide: Once her status as a traitor becomes clear to the House, Cassandra begins her crusade by killing her father. We later learn that she had more than enough good reasons to do so.
Pet the Dog: In the past, Cassandra helped Derek cover up Ashley's faked death. Though she does out Ashley's survival to Shannon, she never makes a move on Ashley herself, unlike her cousin Roland. Notably, Ashley's disappearance happened after she was released from her compulsion to love Derek, meaning she had no ulterior motive.
Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: The House lets Cassandra get away with a lot of her unethical acts because she's one of the richest people on Earth, meaning she can make them just as rich if they give her some leeway. She ends up using this to her advantage, taking advantage of the Committee's greed to trick them into accepting a deal to let her escape before she begins her assault on the House's substations all around the world.
Unwitting Pawn: She clearly thinks she's an equal in her partnership with the Wazir, but in reality, the Wazir has far grander plans than her and she's nothing more than his blunt tool. He kills her himself once he has no use for her.
Villain Has a Point: Cassandra is a sadistic nutcase, but she has several good points regarding everyone in the House - everyone from Nathan Hawthorne to genuinely heroic leaders like the Professor have incredibly bad qualities to them and most of them got their wealth through violence and corruption. As the book goes on, Derek slowly comes to realize just how right she is, even if the ways she's going about proving that point are inexcusable.
Villainous Legacy: Cassandra's presence is not diminished following her death, as Derek never forgives himself for what he accidentally did to her and how close she came to helping destroy the House on his watch. Her death also inspires her cousin Roland to begin his crusade, helping kick off the plot of the third book.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: When she has to explain her experiments with the Matheson virus, she frames them as ultimately well-intentioned, pointing out that if her work succeeds the way she hopes, she can be curing degenerative diseases in five years. Of course, that part is a front, but even at her worst, her main target is the House, which Derek learns in the book is a horrifically corrupt organization that the world is better off without.
Xanatos Speed Chess: After her rampage kicks off, Penny reveals that if Derek hadn't interfered, the plan would have gone off two weeks later anyway and destroyed the House completely. As it is, Cass has to settle for throwing everything at the wall to get him out of the building and then beginning her crusade early. It doesn't quite destroy the House like she wants, but she and the Emerald Eye destroy its relationship with the United States government and almost force it underground.
Yandere: Even while she's trying to kill Derek, she can't help but love him. She even plays their wedding song over top the heinous massacre occurring at her lair. It's a result of the brainwashing she still hasn't recovered from.

Roland Cassidy

Both Cassandra's cousin and successor at Pantheon Corps, Roland very quickly proves himself to be just as vile as she was. Ostensibly an ally of Nathan Hawthorne, Roland actually has far grander ambitions.

Abusive Parents: Roland treats his daughter, the Gunmage, like absolute garbage, and he gives precisely zero shits when she's killed by Derek.
Avenging the Villain: Besides the chance to gain more power, Roland is primarily motivated by avenging Cass's death at Derek and Shannon's hands.
Big Bad Wannabe: Roland is a major threat, but compared to Nathan, he simply can't compare in power and he makes several stupid decisions that ultimately lead to his death and his plan failing. Derek is ultimately less concerned about killing Roland than he is about saving Ashley.
Bond Villain Stupidity: Rather than just killing Derek on the spot in their confrontations, Roland insists on sadistic theatrics that continually ensure his failure. Rather than simply executing Derek in his office, he has the Gunmage put him in the Dream Chair, and when Bloody Mary gives him the power to escape, he singlehandedly wipes out all of Pantheon Corp's resistance.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He clearly loved Cass and hates her father for what he did to her, as well as hating Derek and Shannon for killing her.
Faux Affably Evil: Roland can joke around and keep up with Derek quip for quip, but it all just barely conceals his monstrous sadism.
Hypocrite: He hates his uncle for what he did to Cassandra, but he views his own daughter as a disposable pawn.
I Have Your Wife: He has Ashley kidnapped in order to simultaneously taunt Derek as well as siphon her power to awaken Balor.
Murder Is the Best Solution: His plan to ensure the Reveal is to resurrect Balor to kill as many people as physically possible.
Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Roland himself implies that he's raped some of the elves that he's genetically created.
Smug Snake: Roland always believes himself the smartest and most powerful man in the room, when in reality he's absolutely nothing compared to the likes of Derek, Nathan, and Stephen. He only lasts so long because of his intense security force, and once Derek slaughters them, he goes down pitifully easily.
Unwitting Pawn: Rather than being the unstoppable badass he thinks he is, Roland is simply nothing more than a piece/scapegoat in Nathan's game. Interestingly, Roland is aware of this, but his attempts to subvert this and regain control only lead him into further downfalls and an eventual death.

The Red Room

Shannon O'Reily

Shannon is a member of Division Two of the House, hailing from the United Kingdom with a specialization in undercover work and serving as a double agent. Following Derek's first encounter with the Wazir, she's assigned as his partner, both because the House doesn't believe Derek is able to be objective and so she can use her abilities as a succubus to their advantage.

Audience Surrogate: Because she comes from another Division of the House, Shannon is unaware of many of the unique things in Division One, which gives Derek a chance to explain them to her and thus to the readers.
Blade Enthusiast: Shannon always picks a bladed weapon if she has a choice. She introduces herself by managing to threaten Derek with one of his own kitchen knives and later takes Lucy's quantum knife to use for the rest of the series.
Broken Pedestal: Shannon does not take it well when it turns out that the House, the organization she was compelled to join on the word of God Himself, is perhaps the most corrupt organization on the planet.
Brutal Honesty: Shannon doesn't hesitate to show her true feelings on subjects regardless of the feelings of the person she's talking to. Case in point, she brings up Derek being suspected of being the mole and his failed marriage to Cassandra within a day of knowing him, despite knowing from his files that it's a touchy subject.
Dark and Troubled Past: Shannon is another victim of her monstrous father, Titus. Titus had her with a human woman against her will, then took her in as a child, groomed her as a loyal servant, and took her on a worldwide raping spree that even Shannon herself was not safe from. She ended up trying to kill Titus by locking him in a building and setting it on fire; she never was able to confirm the kill, but she joined the House shortly after. Soon after that, she was impregnated by one of her captains, who was only befriending her on orders from a Division head, and then miscarried the baby after being shot.
Everyone Has Standards:
- Even Shannon, as ruthless and hardened as she is, has to close her eyes when she and Derek kill several Division One members who had been turned into draugr because the sight is so horrifying.
- Shannon briefly looks ill when she realizes she and Derek are about to pretend a man's son is still alive when he's probably already dead just to make the guy talk.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: Shannon's past crimes mean that she simply can't believe she deserves to have anything good in her life. This combined with their failure to stop Nathan means that she ends up breaking up with Derek.
Hidden Depths:
- She's not just well-versed in the usage of knives, but she's intimately familiar with how knives, mundane and magic, interact with monsters of all shapes and sizes, meaning she's done actual research into the topic rather than just stabbed everything she's fought.
- For all that she generally doesn't get Derek's pop culture references, she does recognize when he quotes the musical Chess.
- She has a hobby studying occult history, meaning she can fact check a lot of Ben Talbot's more outrageous claims.
Honey Trap: Shannon is sent to be Derek's partner when he's suspected of being a mole in order to seduce him and get his secrets. Derek ends up being stronger than she expected and holds off long enough for the two of them to genuinely fall in love.
Hypocrite:
- Shannon does not take the reveal of the House's true nature well and, in her rage, she makes some pretty self-serving statements. First she complains that she never had to watch her back around fellow agents in Division Two, only for Penny to point out that the only reason she joined the mission with Derek was to seduce and then potentially kill him. Then she says she's going to tell the truth to the Committee to fully throw Derek under the bus for Cassandra's escape, only for him to return that not only did she agreed to let Cassandra go, but she let Dr. Strickland pass right by her in the White Room only for him to turn traitor and kill several of their agents, so she's just as culpable as he is.
- When Derek reveals that his own soul was manifesting and telling him that storming Cassandra's island was the right thing to do, Shannon dismisses it as a hallucination. Derek counters that the entire reason she joined the Red Room was because she believed her God told her to, so it's odd that his religion manifesting is dismissed as a hallucination. Shannon concedes the point.
It's Personal: As much as killing Cassandra is generally a good thing for the world, Shannon's main reason for hunting her is that Cass tried to kill her and she'd like to get even.
Ms. Fanservice: Shannon is not just ordinarily beautiful, but as a half-lilin, she has a supernatural aura that makes people fall in love and lust just by being around them, which she and the House take full advantage of when they can.
My Greatest Failure: Shannon blames herself for Cassandra's rampage against the House because she trusted Derek's judgement and agreed to let her go free, which let her escape and begin her crusade. She almost outright turns against him later on over this, believing that if she had just trusted her own judgement, no one would've died.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: During Derek's conversation with the Wazir, Shannon jumps the gun and kills Karl's homunculus mid-conversation. Derek reveals that he was forming plans for how to deal with the situation, and all of them would have gotten them more information to work with if she had just stayed down.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Dracula once tried to make Shannon join his harem and she decapitated him in response. Of course, the bastard didn't stay dead, but very few people survive meeting him, much less killing him.
Refuge in Audacity: Shannon's method to get inside Pantheon Corp is first to fake a relationship with Derek with a hilariously bad accent that Derek compares to Dolly Parton, then to drop the act without hesitation and threaten the lead security guard to let them pass. Derek uses it to pull a Double Blind and thus they get in.
Succubus in Love: Though she's originally sent to seduce Derek as part of a mission, she genuinely falls in love with him and they have a serious relationship. It comes crashing down when her self-doubt gets the better of her and she breaks up with him.

The Professor

The leader of Red Room Division One and thus Derek's superior in the House, the Professor is an enigmatic yet reliable man who seems to be the only person who actually cares about doing his job.

Batman Gambit: The Professor clearly knew that Derek's peace talk with the vampires would go south, so he positioned a cleanup crew much closer to the site than usual to begin the cleanup faster than normal.
Demoted to Extra: By The Fall of the House, the Professor only appears in a single scene in which Derek manipulates him into ignoring Christopher's presence.
Establishing Character Moment: The Professor is introduced when he gets Derek out of prison following the Wazir's attack on a mall. He berates Derek for his failures and points out that his "best" clearly needs to be better, but he then compliments Derek's successes all the same and agrees that the idea that Derek could have been the Red Room leak is ridiculous. While he clearly dislikes Derek personally, he's a leader in the House for a reason, and he doesn't let his personal feelings cloud his judgement.
Hypocrite: After the attack on the White Room, the Professor tries to stop Derek from investigating to potentially clear Cassandra's name because he's obviously emotionally compromised. Derek fires back that the Professor is just as emotionally compromised due to Strickland's death. To his credit, he immediately accepts that Derek is right and gives Derek the clearance he wanted anyway, though he does say that if he fails Derek and Shannon will be given a kill order.
Noodle Incident: When Derek tries to troll him by suggesting the vial he's holding was just up Derek's ass, the Professor says he's had worse hiding places, mentioning an incident in Afghanistan that somehow involved a goat, a hot Bowie knife, and a member of the Mujahideen.
Not So Above It All: Just to get under Derek's skin, the Professor sidetracks a conversation about Protocol Zero by joking that the House partially faked the moon landing. Derek seriously responds that he would never joke about the moon landing. Immediately afterwards, he makes a genuine reference to Blade and only responds that "Wesley Snipes is a god" when Derek gives him a look.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The Professor tells Derek of a time when he covered up one of the Wazir's attacks from the public successfully. Said attack was the complete annihilation of a small town in Kansas with 2000 casualties.
Only Known by Their Nickname: The Professor goes to great lengths to hide his real name and is greatly chagrined when Derek learns it as a member of the Committee. Derek gets to call him Reggie once before the Professor threatens him to never do it again.
Only Sane Man: The Professor is basically the only higher up in the entire House who is actually dedicated to its mission statement instead of personal greed or widespread destruction.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The Matheson virus and the potential for it to have been spread to an entire city is so disgusting that the Professor's stoic mask cracks while he's talking about it.
Politically Incorrect Hero: In his first scene, the Professor compares Derek to a bull in a china shop, then remarks that that comparison makes sense with his Chinese heritage.
Reasonable Authority Figure: When he's not letting his hatred of Derek get in the way, the Professor is one of the few Red Room agents shown to actually care about others instead of themselves. He's even able to admit when his emotions are compromised and fall to others' leadership when necessary, and despite his hatred of Derek, he still holds his abilities in high regard and commends him for his successes along the way.
Right for the Wrong Reasons: The Professor turns out to be correct that Cassandra is the mole who's aligning Pantheon Corp with the Wazir, but he believes it's for further profits; in reality, it's because the House broke her mind and she's desperate for revenge.
Secret Test of Character: The Professor gives Derek even more shit than usual during their first encounter after Derek ascends to the Committee, but the end of the conversation reveals that it was to ensure Derek fully understands the responsibilities and risks and he's willing to follow Derek's lead if that's how it's going to be.
Self-Made Man: It's noted that the Professor is one of the only people in the entire House who earned his high rank through pure merit rather than familial connections or money.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Derek and the Professor don't like each other on the best of days, but their circumstances frequently force them to put their emotions aside and work together.
The One Thing I Don't Hate About You: For all that the Professor genuinely hates Derek and the way he operates, he does note that he respects how quickly Derek is willing to risk his life to protect innocents. It's why he never suspects Derek could be the traitor; the Blue Room accurately profiles the potential traitor as a narcissist, and Derek's way too selfless for that.
Token Good Teammate: The Professor is the only higher-up in the House shown to be focused on doing his job instead of lining his own pockets. It's why Derek is willing to trust him even if he doesn't like him.
What the Hell, Hero?: The Professor's first scene has him reading Derek the riot act for the mistakes he made during his failed attempt to capture the Wazir, though he does follow it up by commending his successes along the way.

Penny Hawthorne

Derek's twin sister and a witch, Penny was once a member of the Black Room, the House's training division. After several of her agents were killed in the field, she requested a transfer to the field, becoming Derek's partner for his first fateful encounter with the Wazir.

Character Development: In the beginning, Penny isn't ready to consider something as permanent as settling down because she believes she's too young for that. By the end of the book, she's come to appreciate how important it is to savor her life while she still can, and by the beginning of the second she and Lucy are married. By the end of the trilogy, she's even raising Victory, the exact scenario she previously scoffed at, and is very happy with her life.
Daddy's Girl: Penny treats Nathan less like she's his daughter and more like he's a God and she's a priestess. The borderline-inappropriately strong relationship they have is one of the reasons why Derek hates Nathan so much.
The Dead Have Names: Penny knows several of the agents who were killed on the Red Room's orders and takes offense when Derek tries to prioritize anything else over avenging their deaths.
Everyone Has Standards: When told by Nathan that Ashley was going to be killed by the House, Penny immediately went to Derek so that they could fake her death together. It's indicated that Nathan was counting on her doing that when he told her.
Goth: Despite being in her early 30s, Penny still dresses like a stereotypical teen goth, complete with a nose stud and purple hair.
Hypocritical Humor: Penny gets offended when Derek assumes she has a compact mirror because she's a woman before grumbling and pulling it out.
Innocently Insensitive: In her first scene, Penny complains that Lucy is getting clingy and that she's too young to be thinking of settling down. It's only when she's done talking that she realizes she's talking to Derek, who settled down young and whose marriage ended horribly.
Nice to the Waiter: Penny knows the names of all the agents she's trained and all the staff that work at her father's house.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Penny gives Derek more shit than anyone, but it's made clear that they both still love each other no matter what. She takes his death very hard.

Christopher Hang

Derek's former partner, now a vampire. Having previously been thought dead, he was truthfully only captured and turned, and now he's married to Annabelle Jones, known by most as one of Dracula's daughters. His reappearance in Derek's life is the beginning of the end of the House.

Ambiguously Evil: Christopher's intentions are a running mystery throughout Eldritch Ops, as his vampire status and the personal stake in destroying Protocol Zero leave his ultimate goals an open question. In the end, though he was used as a tool to start a war between the House and the Vampire Nation, he proves fully heroic once he's cured of his mesmerism.
Ambiguous Situation: It's unknown which afterlife Christopher and Ashley went to after their deaths. Derek asks Mary, but she doesn't know, and he figures it's better not to dwell on the possibilities.
Brainwashed and Crazy: As a vampire, Christopher was mesmerized by Dracula the moment he was sired and has been used as a pawn ever since. He becomes the first vampire to be freed when Derek saves him before killing Dracula.
Driven to Suicide: Knowing that he's about to witness Ashley's death makes him decide to die with her, so he asks Derek to kill him alongside her. Ashley tries to protest it, but Derek can't waste time debating it and goes through with it.
Fallen Hero: Once one of the Red Room's most notable agents, Christopher now serves Dracula since his conversion to a vampire. The image is clarified once it's discovered that Dracula mesmerizes every vampire that's sired, meaning he never had a choice in his villainy; once he's freed, he immediately goes back to being heroic.
Knight of Cerebus: The first book wasn't exactly a comedy, but Christopher's appearance marks the moment when everything gets deadly serious. His return marks Dracula's arrival, Derek's gradual moral descent, and the reveal of Protocol Zero's existence, all of which are far more heinous and dangerous than the Wazir ever was.
Pet the Dog:
- In his first appearance, Christopher assures Derek that his capture and vampirism wasn't his fault and that he knows Derek did everything he could to prevent it.
- In the past, Christopher was the one who helped Derek get Ashley away from the House, and even after he is converted to a vampire, he doesn't go after her at any point. This is actually a plot point regarding his ambiguous intentions; when Shannon questions if Christopher just wants to betray Derek, Derek responds that if he really wanted to hurt him then he would've just gone after Ashley, and the fact that he hasn't is a point towards trusting him.
Unwitting Pawn: As a result of being mesmerized, none of Christopher's actions throughout Eldritch Ops are done of his own accord. He's essentially a prisoner in his own body being used to start a deadly war, particularly when Annabelle forces him to steal the Bloodsword and bring it to Derek to sic Dracula on him.

Ashley Morgan (senior)

One of Derek's previous partners in the Red Room, Ashley is also one of the most powerful psychics in the world. Before the story began, Derek was ordered to get rid of her, but he instead managed to discretely smuggle her out without killing her. Her location is unknown, but her influence over Derek remains.

Ambiguous Situation: It's unknown which afterlife Christopher and Ashley went to after their deaths. Derek asks Mary, but she doesn't know, and he figures it's better not to dwell on the possibilities.
Break the Cutie: Ashley began her career as a hopeful recruit trying to do some good in the world. Eventually, it became her prison, and soon enough, she tried to contact reporters and her death was ordered by the Chairman. She wanted to flee with Derek, but he knew he could never truly hide from the House, and she has been fleeing the House all by herself ever since. Her capture by Roland leaves her a husk of her former self who can do nothing but beg Derek to kill her to ensure Balor doesn't go free.
Everyone Has Standards: She notes that while she's the first person to say that monsters are people too, even she considers zombies to be freaks of nature.
Heroic Sacrifice: She lets Derek kill her in order to take Balor down with her, as keeping her alive only allowed him to get stronger.
I Cannot Self-Terminate: Since a non-mage killing her would only allow Balor to run free, Ashley has to ask Derek to kill her.
One True Love: Even though Derek has several other love interests like Cassandra, Shannon, and Bloody Mary, it's made clear repeatedly that Ashley is his soulmate. He considers the night she fled the House to be the worst night of his life, even citing it as the moment that he stopped caring if he lived or died, and he's willing to trust Christopher with his life even after his conversion into a vampire purely because he never went after Ashley. Even the Dream Chair ends up targeting his memory of proposing to her because it's his favorite memory.
Police Psychic: An exaggerated version, but Ashley was forced to use her psychic powers to aid the Red Room until she finally had enough and tried to expose them, forcing her to go on the run.
Pop-Cultured Badass: Much like Derek, Ashley was also incredibly nerdy. She and Derek once went as the X-Men for Halloween despite both being fully grown adults.

Ben Talbot

Derek's uncle, a fellow House agent, as well as the inspiration for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein's monster. Despite his terrifying appearance, Talbot is ultimately a rare heroic figure among the House, leading him to be one of Derek's most trusted allies.

Crazy-Prepared: Talbot is paranoid enough that he even hides gun caches inside the Red Room's hospital just in case it ever comes under attack. It's a good thing too, because Roland specifically attacks Derek while he's recovering, and Talbot's stash is the only thing that lets them escape.
Frankenstein's Monster: Talbot is repeatedly cited as the inspiration behind Mary Shelley's iconic creature.
Hero of Another Story: Talbot's experience with the House gets brought up often, especially the fact that he apparently killed Adolf Hitler (the second time).
Not So Above It All: Despite his generally serious personality, Ben isn't above trying to lie about stealing his magic carpet from Aladdin when he most likely just took it from a Red Room armory.
Parental Substitute: After the fallout with Nathan, Derek ultimately considers Talbot to have been his true father and the only reason why he didn't become a sociopath like Roland. When he realizes he's going to die, he calls Talbot "dad".
Refuge in Audacity: His plan to discretely enter the Wazir's hideout is to just fly straight there with a magic carpet, sneak under their radar, and plant a Rubik's cube that contains a fire elemental inside it. It works in part because a civil war has already broken out on the base, so they can just walk in while everyone's distracted.
Token Good Teammate: Talbot is basically the only agent in the entire House who is motivated by nothing more than genuine heroics and has no known vices.
Undying Loyalty: Ben knows better than most just how corrupt the Committee is, but he still sincerely believes that the House is the only thing that stands between order and chaos and will die to serve their mission.
What the Hell, Hero?: Ben isn't exactly happy that the first time Derek stops by in twelve years is because Derek needs his help to kill someone. He points out that it's the same maneuver Nathan pulled on him countless times.

Tommy Moretti

Derek's self-proclaimed rival in Division One. Though he was once a respected agent, a nervous breakdown from his wife cheating on him has left him a stir-crazy alcoholic wreck no one can stand being around.

The Alcoholic: Tommy's breath smells like alcohol and Derek speculates that he probably keeps a bottle of scotch in his desk.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Tommy is an alcoholic mess of a human, but he's one of the most powerful magicians on the staff; Derek even thinks he's stronger than Penny. Notably, he's able to cast an illusion inside the Division One headquarters that manages to fool Derek even though the spells on the building should have made casting an illusion impossible. It's why his transfer from fieldwork is so mind-boggling, because it can only mean he really screwed up.
Establishing Character Moment: Tommy ambushes Derek with an illusion of a gun pointed straight at his head, reveals he's one of the suspects for being the mole in Division One, and then mentions that he sent the Blue Room after Derek just to spite him. In short, Tommy is a giant asshole.
Fallen Hero: Derek notes that Tommy was once a bright and incredible field agent capable of great things, and now he's an untrustworthy unhygienic asshole who's one step away from getting executed by the Red Room for his antics. Derek feels bad since he clearly went through the kind of breakdown plenty of agents do after a traumatic experience. That said, all sympathy for him goes out the window when it turns out he's with Cassandra.
Jerkass: Tommy is incredibly unpleasant to deal with, given he's a giant dick who throws Derek under the bus out of a one-sided rivalry.
The Mole: Contrary to his claims in his first appearance, Tommy does indeed work for Cassandra. This is especially ironic since, considering how untrustworthy he is, Derek notes there's no way he was given any useful information.
Unknown Rival: Tommy thinks that Derek is his Arch-Enemy and even tries to have him go down for being the mole in the Red Room. In reality, Derek couldn't care less about his existence, and if anything he actually feels bad for just how hard Tommy fell.

The White Room

Lucy Danvers

One of Division One's lead scientists, Derek knows Lucy because she's dating his twin sister Penny. A genius in her own right, Lucy's inventions are some of Derek's strongest assets in his missions no matter who he's up against.

Child Prodigy: Derek notes that Lucy has been so intelligent all of her life that the House had to snatch her as early as they could before the NSA could take her instead. She made her first piece of magitech when she was only fifteen.
Dark and Troubled Past: Lucy was abused by her parents, who didn't know what to do with a child as intelligent as her, and she was eventually snatched up by the Red Room so that they could, as Derek puts it, lock her in the basement until she became loyal to them and them alone. The result is a genius with absolutely no ability to interact with the outside world.
Easily Forgiven: Played for Laughs; Lucy doesn't hold grudges, even when she thinks someone has been rude and their apology is clearly fake. Lucy goes from chastising Derek for his behavior and saying she shouldn't give him any gadgets to handing everything over the moment he gives a clearly fake apology.
Endearingly Dorky: On top of being a genius, Lucy is also an adorable nerd who managed to trade eight months worth of a high-focused quantum-accelerator being used for some Pokémon cards and who uses the bonuses she gets from Division One standardizing her weapons to buy Hello Kitty plate sets.
Establishing Character Moment: She's introduced arguing with her boss, Dr. Strickland, about his insistence on testing Matheson-22 on humans, declaring that she will refuse to do so and eventually managing to make him back off. Already, we know she's far more good-hearted than anyone in Division One, and her strong morals do not waver under pressure.
Exact Words: Lucy doesn't make "weapons", she makes "gadgets". According to her, the difference is that gadgets don't kill people, except there are gadgets that do kill people, which just makes it more confusing.
Motor Mouth: When Lucy gets going on a topic she knows a lot about, it's hard to get her to stop. In her very first scene, Lucy segues from talking about the Matheson viruses to similar viruses the House had created that have no relation to the story at hand, and Shannon has to whistle to get her attention when Derek trying to interrupt her doesn't work.
Token Good Teammate: Lucy is the only person ever seen in the entire House with no moral compunctions whatsoever. Derek repeatedly remarks that she's the only genuinely good person he's ever met in the job.

Doctor Edward Strickland

The head of the White Room, making him Lucy's boss. Strickland used to be one of the House's most useful assets, but a series of tragedies have rendered him far less powerful than before.

Alas, Poor Villain: Strickland's fanatic desire to save his own life drives him to horrible ends, but the way he throws away his soul and condemns himself to an eternity of Hell is so pathetic that Derek finds it hard to truly hate him. In the end, the way the Wazir casually murders him just to appease Derek and the fact that part of his desperation came from his grief for his murdered wife and daughter ultimately showcases just how insignificant he was in the long run.
Derek: Ten thousand years from now, if you're somehow still alive, you'll still be a walking corpse. If you’d died of cancer, you’d have been remembered as a hero. Now, people will curse your name like Oswald or Booth.
Big Bad Wannabe: Strickland clearly believes that he has more power than he actually does; in reality, he's nothing but a pawn to the Wazir, who kills him without a second thought when Derek asks him to.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Ned not only betrays the Red Room for the Wazir's plan, but he also betrays and kills the mercenaries that are sent to get him out to make sure there are no loose ends.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: His motivation for revenge comes from the fact that the House murdered his daughter to cover their own asses and that his wife died on a mission where the Red Room was trying to weaponize a monster.
Evil Genius: Strickland's villainy is just as strong as his intelligence. Notably, when he's introduced arguing with Lucy, Derek, who generally considers Lucy the smartest person he knows, knows that Strickland is smart enough that he can't take her side without context, and his assault on the Red Room is as brilliant as it is ruthless.
Evil Sounds Deep: After his betrayal is made clear, Strickland's voice drops an octave.
Faking the Dead: Ned uses the attack on the White Room to slip away and pretend that he became one of the draugr, meaning there's no way to verify his death.
Fallen Hero: Strickland is noted to have once been a Marine, but now he's a selfish mole for the Wazir willing to let the world die if it keeps him alive a little longer.
Hypocrite: Strickland's entire motivation for revenge against the House is that they killed his daughter, but his method of getting revenge involves killing a lot of people's families to make them follow him.
I Have Your Wife: His method of getting Pantheon Corps scientists to cooperate is to kidnap and kill their families while using magic to pretend they're still alive.
It's All About Me: Ned will go to any lengths to prevent his upcoming death from cancer, even sacrifice his soul, and he's willing to take the entire House with him when he goes.
Kinslaying Is a Special Kind of Evil: Derek notes that with how incestuous the House is, Strickland definitely killed some of his own relatives during the assault on the White Room, which means no matter which of the hundreds of afterlives he goes to after his death, he'll be damned no matter what.
Mad Scientist: Strickland created the Matheson-22 virus, a virus that turns humans into flesh-eating draugr that, unlike regular draugr, can actually spread the infection through bites like zombies. Even during the process of creating it, the scientists he recruits are infected by the virus or killed by Strickland himself along the way.
The Mole: While pretending to be a loyal agent of the House, Ned is actually an agent of the Wazir and led the assault on the Red Room.
Pet the Dog: Back in the day, Derek and Strickland teamed up, with Derek delivering him a child molester so that Strickland could suck out his life force and create an antidote for a little girl dying from a curse. Last Derek heard, she was studying to become a doctor herself.
Small Role, Big Impact: He's killed at the end of the second chapter he appears in, but his creation of the Matheson-22 virus is what kicks off the plot.
Villain Has a Point: Strickland's a monstrous hypocrite, but Derek later learns that his claims that the House (and Derek) have killed many innocents just to protect themselves, one of which was Strickland's own daughter, are 100% accurate.
Walking Spoiler: It's hard to discuss anything about Strickland without mentioning that he's The Mole in the Red Room.
We Used to Be Friends: Derek and Strickland are technically cousins and Derek considers them at least decent friends, making his betrayal all the harsher. Even when Derek is about to confront him, presumably to the death, he can't help but remember how Ned gave him a signed Wrath of Khan poster on his 12th birthday.
His betrayal wasn’t as deep as Cassandra's, but it I was surprised at how painful it was.

Protocol Zero

Rebecca Hawthorne

Derek's sister and a loyal member of the House, she avoids the fieldwork that her brothers and father prefer and instead sticks to science. She's not just dangerously intelligent, she's dangerously ambitious, both of which combine to produce something even Derek is terrified of.

Ambition Is Evil: Rebecca's most villainous quality is that her ambition is greater than any other villain Derek faces. Through nothing but intelligence and pure determination, she becomes the supervisor of the most dangerous project the House has ever created and begins making genuine steps to wipe out all supernaturals before enslaving humankind to their will.
Beyond Redemption: Derek believes that she crosses the point of no return when she unhesitatingly kills all of her prisoners just so they can't be broken out. Derek outright calls her a monster for it and executes her on the spot.
Big Bad Duumvirate: She shares the Big Bad status of Eldritch Ops with Dracula.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She still loves her brother and father and is ecstatic when she believes that Derek is joining her mission.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Once upon a time, Rebecca was just one of the many Hawthorne siblings who felt outshined by her father and siblings. By the present day, she's close to exterminating supernaturals entirely.
Humans Are the Real Monsters: As much as Dracula, her enemy, is a heinous foe, Rebecca proves to Derek that humans can be just as monstrous as the actual monsters they fight.
Hypocrite: She views supernatural beings as sub-human just for being what they are, yet doesn't hold her own family's hybrid status against them and clearly still loves them.
Obliviously Evil: Rebecca's feelings on supernaturals are so low that she doesn't even realize that she's doing anything wrong; she basically views herself as an animal trainer, ignoring that the beings she's tormenting are sapient, and is genuinely confused why Derek is so shocked when she kills them all en masse.
Posthumous Character: Though she's killed in Eldritch Ops, her influence extends over The Fall of the House, as Derek never forgives himself for killing her even if she had it coming and it gradually breaks him down over the course of the novel.
Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Rebecca intends to use Protocol Zero in order to gradually destroy supernaturals before mesmerizing everyone that remains, including humans, to keep them controlled by the House. Even Nathan, who would go on to cause millions of deaths, is utterly disgusted by her actions, and Derek eventually kills her for it.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: As utterly monstrous as Rebecca is, the most disturbing part about her is that she still genuinely believes that she's doing the right thing.

Bright Falls, Michigan

Emma O'Henry

Jane Doe's best friend, it was Emma that brought her into the investigation into Victoria's murder to begin with. From that point onward, Emma is her most loyal partner and confidant, though she struggles with her own personal demons and love life along the way.

Be Careful What You Wish For: Emma goes to Jane when Victoria is murdered, hoping for help in investigating the case themselves. They do solve the murder, but along the way, the crimes of both their families come to light, leading to Jane becoming Shaman and Emma becoming a key figure in two more traumatizing adventures.
Break the Cutie: Getting dragged into Jane's adventures does a number on her throughout the trilogy. It gets especially bad in the third book when she actually has to kill a creature with the Merlin Gun, ultimately resulting in her leaving Jane's side for good.
Comically Missing the Point: Whether it's responding to Jane's constant references or not seeming to realize her life is in genuine danger, Emma doesn't ever quite seem to understand the situation she's in. This trait gradually disappears after she has to kill someone herself, as she starts to take the situation more seriously and even calls Jane out for how she treats her.
Endearingly Dorky: Emma is both an absolute sweetheart as well as a budding nerd.
Hopeless Suitor: Emma is hopelessly in love with Jane, but Jane can't bring herself to return her feelings in spite of how good friends they are.
Secret Secret-Keeper: Emma reveals to Jane that she knew all along that Jane killed her grandfather Marcus.

Marcus O'Henry

The most powerful shapeshifter in the world, Marcus is a werewolf and the leader of the Clan. He doubles as the richest and most powerful person in Bright Falls, ruling it as its de facto dictator.

Abusive Parent: The very first thing we learn about him is that his walking cane is the same cane he beats his son with. He's abused every single member of his family, even hospitalizing Clara at one point, and his actions have even led to several of their deaths.
Asshole Victim: Marcus is guilty of hundreds of crimes against humanity and his own kind, making it incredibly cathartic when Jane brutally kills him in his cell.
Big Bad: Marcus is the most dangerous enemy in the entire Bright Falls Mysteries trilogy. He's directly responsible for the Red Wolf's rampage in the first book, helps Dr. Jones from behind the scenes in the second book, allied with the Red Sky at some point before his death to force his people back underground, and even after his death, the shadow of his influence continues affecting the entire town.
Dirty Coward: The Red Wolf's flashback reveals that Marcus was perfectly confident leading an angry mob to the Wolf's home, but when the family was killed and the Wolf unleashed his power, he turned tail and fled without a second thought, leaving everyone there to die.
Droit du Seigneur: Before the Reveal, Marcus took advantage of his status as Ulfric to rape any shifter that he wanted for himself. Preacher is the result of one of these "unions".
Fantastic Racism: Marcus despises any race that isn't a shapeshifter, whether it be humans or vampires.
Hypocrite: Marcus despises vampires with a passion, yet had The Red Wolf bring him vampire blood as part of their deal to slow down his aging process.
Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: Prison isn't enough to cripple Marcus's resources, and he's able to make several attempts on the lives of Jane and her family from behind bars.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Marcus pretends that he sold out his people to the Red Sky in order to protect them, when it's blatantly obvious that the only thing he cared about was his own power.

Gerald Pasteur

Bright Falls' resident vampire as well as its coroner, Gerald is ultimately a friendly man who joins Jane and company on their various adventures.

Creepy Mortician: Subverted. Jane originally assumes that he's creepy given that he's a vampire who spends his days sleeping in one of his drawers, but Gerald turns out to be one of the nicest guys in Bright Falls.
Dark and Troubled Past: Gerald is haunted by his past, having been kicked out of the Vampire Nation and making it clear that, as much as he's changed now, he does have blood on his hands.
Earn Your Happy Ending: He comes out on the other side of the books having gotten back together with his ex-girlfriend and recovering from the trauma Victoria/The Red Wolf put him through.
Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Despite his appearance and species, Gerald is a genuinely heroic individual who jumps into the various investigations with gusto.
Nice Guy: Gerald is ultimately a helpful man who just wants to prevent any pain and death that he can, and even when he's a suspect in Victoria's murder he immediately agrees to help the investigation.

Kim Su/Song Hawthorne

A mysterious immortal whom Jane originally consults upon being given the Merlin Gun, Kim Su's mystical powers are second to none, making her one of the most powerful people on the planet. Unfortunately, she's also rather cowardly and disinterested in the affairs of humanity, instead preferring to sit in her strip mall and watch TV. She's also a dragon, on top of being the mother of Derek Hawthorne and grandmother of Alex Timmons.

All-Powerful Bystander: Kim is powerful enough that she could end most of the conflicts she faces within a moment if she wanted to, but since she's long since given up on caring, she instead prefers to sit out and watch TV.
Dirty Coward: Kim is one of the most powerful beings on the planet and she and her allies should be enough to handle anyone who would want to take her on. Unfortunately, she instead prefers to just hide from her enemies for as long as she possibly can, and very few things are able to motivate her into acting instead of just sitting around.
Missing Mom: Song Hawthorne walked out on her family a long time ago, leaving Derek in particular with a lot of unresolved mental issues as a result.
Small Role, Big Impact: In The Fall of the House, she only appears in two chapters, but in those two chapters, she gives Derek vital information that allows him to track down Ashley, and in the second, she stalls Balor for long enough for Ashley to sacrifice herself to stop him before he can wreak havoc.

Alice O'Henry

Robyn Taylor

A mysterious Dryad and a member of Jones' cult, Robyn is actually in Bright Falls for a personal reason - she wants to kill her parents.

Blessed with Suck: Being a fertility spirit makes her supernaturally beautiful and leads to a very active love life. It also means that she can get pregnant incredibly easily and has to be very careful to prevent that.
Comically Missing the Point: Robyn spent Beauty and the Beast wondering why Belle didn't just get with Gaston due to his incredible muscles, walking away from the movie thinking that she chose the Beast because he was rich.
Happily Adopted: Robyn holds no regret towards her being adopted and loves her parents as if they were her own.
Noodle Incident: When the group endures the Dryad's second test and are forced to face their greatest fear, Jane asks if she's traumatized; Robyn only says that she'll share her tale if Jane does, and they put the matter to rest.

Preacher

A former Darkwater mercenary, Preacher's real name is Anne O'Henry, one of Marcus's many daughters. Preacher was one of the soldiers who killed Lucien's family, and now she's back in Bright Falls to finish the job.

The Atoner: Lucien's rampage against her friends deeply traumatized her and caused her to seek repentance for her actions, though she still believes that Lucien himself is fair game to murder. By the third book, this is completely undone, as she now seeks nothing but power for herself.
Big Bad Wannabe: For all that she wants revenge against Lucien and power for herself, Preacher gets nowhere near achieving any of that. Her attempt to mystically roofie him completely fails because he's too in love with Jane to even notice what she's doing, and as soon as she's outed for her attempt to sacrifice the film crew, Emma puts her down pretty easily.
Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Preacher is repeatedly stated to resemble Scarlet Johansson.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Preacher deeply cared about her comrades in Darkwater and wants revenge on Lucien for killing them.
Small Role, Big Impact: She appears in one scene in each of the latter two books, but both appearances have large ramifications:
- In the second book, her attempt to assassinate Lucien puts tens of thousands of lives at risk, and even when it fails, the fact that she targeted him makes Lucien personally invested in getting rid of Jones and drags him into the plot.
- In the third book, her alliance with Alice puts the film crew in danger, ensures Jesse can't be made Shaman of the town, leaves Emma in charge of the O'Henry clan, and draws the heroes to end Phillip's threat as soon as possible.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: As shown in Jane's vision, if Preacher had succeeded in killing Lucien, it would've sparked a series of Disaster Dominoes that culminated in the destruction of Bright Falls and tens of thousands of deaths.
Villain Team-Up: In the third book, she works with Alice O'Henry in an attempt to sacrifice the film crew and resurrect Phillip.

New Detroit, Michigan

Thoth

One of the most powerful vampires in New Detroit, Thoth has it all: money, power, and a reputation for danger that few dare to challenge. Most notably, Thoth is the vampire who sired Peter, and the two of them allying causes massive shakeups in the city.

Anti-Villain: He may be an utter bastard, but his goal of human and vampire unification is a moral one and he's very reasonable as long as you don't interfere with his business or drag civilians into the crossfire.
Been There, Shaped History: According to Peter, Thoth has been present for or manipulated most major American historical events over the past century; the one Peter lists offhand is convincing Richard Nixon to open the borders to China on behalf of the Vampire Nation, and Thoth later says that he forced Heinrich Himmler to kill himself.
Best Served Cold: Thoth holds the belief that revenge is the sweetest when it's combined with patience and that it can never be executed unless you know how to play the game right. He puts this belief in action against all the politicians who voted to exterminate supernaturals; ever since the vote, he's spent well over a decade killing or ruining the lives of as many as he can, having already done so to about half of them when we meet him.
"A vampire's vengeance is like a fine wine. It's measured in decades before it comes to maturity."
Cruel to Be Kind: Thoth banished Peter when he needed a friend more than ever, but it was for Peter's own good more than anything else; his attempt on Eaton's life had gotten him a target on his head, and exiling him from New Detroit was the only way to get that price off his head.
Dark and Troubled Past: Thoth began his life as a slave, and shortly after he became a vampire, his creator held him hostage for close to a decade, then forced him to kill his now-adult family just because he stayed in contact with them.
Even Evil Has Standards: As vicious as Thoth is, even he has several moral standards.
- Thoth does not deny his own evil, but he is disgusted by Renaud and Eaton's actions, even admitting that Eaton deserves to die for them. In Renaud's case, he's disgusted by the fact that for all of his evil actions, he insists that he's doing them for good reasons - unlike Thoth, who may be a bastard but is completely upfront about it.
- Thoth does not like it when children are harmed. The fact that he once hurt a child just for being born wealthy is what made him change his name and make a new life for himself, and he tells Peter that if Rebecca Plum wants to kill children, it's the only situation in which he can kill her.
- Like most vampires, Thoth is disgusted by Bleeders and especially by Rebecca Plum. Peter describes it as the kind of loathing that only someone who has been forced to kill can have against someone who does it on purpose and notes that any time Thoth intentionally kills someone, they always have it coming.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Thoth has been alive for so long that positive feelings and emotions left him long ago. Peter notes that when he was wallowing in guilt for killing Sarah, Thoth looked like he was trying to be sympathetic but had literally no idea how.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Thoth began his life as a slave before he was turned into a vampire. By the time he meets Peter, he's clawed his way up over centuries, and now he's one of the most powerful vampires in the city.
Necromancer: Thoth is a skilled necromancer and is capable of raising the dead, just like he does with David.
No Sympathy: Thoth is literally incapable of sympathy; even disregarding how long he's been alive (and thus how many positive emotions have simply left him), Thoth grew up a slave and had to fight and claw his way to the top, so he's experienced just about every kind of suffering there is.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Thoth was once killed by the Nazis, but with the assistance of his wife Lucinda, he managed to fight his way back out of Hell.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Played for Laughs; Rebecca is such an annoying bitch that even Thoth can't keep himself professional around her.
Parental Substitute: Thoth is one of the few father figures left in Peter's life, a feeling which Thoth tends to reciprocate until Peter starts acting up.

David Treme

Though David is only a normal human, he is Peter's best friend and thus gets caught up in his adventures. Being far more relaxed than Peter, David serves as a surprising voice of reason, keeping Peter down to earth while they fight foes much stronger than them.

Back from the Dead: He's killed by Renaud near the end of the first book, but Thoth resurrects him as a zombie. He then resurrects as a ghost, then finally settles on becoming a vampire himself.
Hidden Depths: It originally seems like he handles being a zombie as well as he handles everything else that happens, but as the second book goes on, it becomes clear that it's seriously weighing on his conscience that he'll have to kill to survive just like Peter does. By the end of the book, he asks Peter to let him die so that he doesn't have to think about it anymore.
Unfazed Everyman: Though he's only a regular human, David takes everything that happens in complete stride. Even becoming a zombie barely changes him, at least not until the larger implications of the change start hitting him.

Melissa Morris

Ashura

The voivode of New Detroit, Ashura has her hands in the same amount of pots as Thoth but is far more ruthless in enforcing her code.

Anti-Villain: She's horrifically ruthless and protective of her interests, especially Eaton, but her ultimate goal is to create a space where humans and vampires can live in peace and she's reasonable as long as you don't jeopardize her goals.
Berserk Button: Peter questioning Ashura's self-respect when she's willing to help Rebecca Plum makes her so mad that she picks him up by the throat.
Even Evil Has Standards: Even Ashura is disgusted by Bleeders like Rebecca Plum.
I Just Want to Be Loved: For all of her ruthlessness, at her core, Ashura just wants someone to unconditionally love her. A big part of why she kept Eaton around despite his crimes is because he once was a decent person who loved her dearly and she couldn't bear to get rid of that.
A Lighter Shade of Black: Ashura may be a ruthless bitch, but she's far nicer to be around than Renaud and actually has good intentions. Even compared to other voivodes, she's practically a saint.

Theodore Eaton

Eaton is one of Ashura's creations and certainly her most dangerous. Eaton is New Detroit's premier thug and pimps himself out to whoever needs him at the time, but he has a very personal enmity with Peter.

Ax-Crazy: Eaton is a violently unstable maniac who takes great pleasure in the horrific cruelties he unleashes.
Disproportionate Retribution: Peter attacked a child molester to protect an eight-year-old girl. Eaton, having been hired by the Old One to get revenge, proceeded to lock Peter in an abandoned building until he went completely mad with the Need, then fed the girl to him.
Even Evil Has Standards: He's a total psychopath who has no loyalty to his own kind, but even he realizes that Renaud's plan could outright destroy the Vampire Nation and tries to get onboard with stopping it once he knows about it.
Psycho for Hire: Eaton doesn't care who he's hired to kill or torture as long as he's paid for it.
Small Role, Big Impact: Eaton only appears in two chapters and is killed at the end of the second, but his role in Peter's backstory stays with him forever and is a major source of Peter's trauma.
Would Hurt a Child: Eaton forced Peter to eat an eight-year-old girl.

Renaud de Bures

Once a member of the Knights Templar, Renaud is a vampire who is feared by vampires everywhere. Believing himself to be fighting a holy war against vampires despite being one himself, Renaud intends to tear down the Vampire Nation no matter how many innocents must die.

The Dreaded: Even Thoth is afraid of him, not just because of his bloodthirsty history but because of his sheer raw power.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: As much as Renaud did suffer in his backstory, every vampire goes through the kind of suffering he endured over the course of their lives, and yet he's the only one who was transformed into a genocidal monster. Peter outright tells him that suffering or no, the only reason he turned out this way is because there was always something wrong with him.
Hypocrite: All over the damn place.
- His entire crusade is based around wiping out the dark scourge of vampires even though he himself is a vampire.
- Renaud styles himself as a religious crusader bringing biblical justice to the world, even though the crux of his crusade relies on using weapons from a demon God and thus breaks the First Commandment. There's even an offhand line suggesting that in spite of swearing up and down that he's serving God, Renaud's crusade is so unholy that even God Himself has given up on him.
Knight Templar: Renaud was once an actual Knight Templar and continues his "holy crusade" against vampires in the modern day.
Moral Myopia: To Renaud, every vampire (except for himself) deserves to die, even if they've committed no crimes. He is free to use any methods he wants no matter how brutal, and if humans disagree with him, he'll kill them too.
Narcissist: Renaud believes himself to be a holy figure whose suffering is second only to Jesus Christ himself. Anyone who calls out this trait of his meets a swift death.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Renaud talks like he's fighting to protect humanity from the scourge of vampires and that he intends to save the world. In reality, he intends to rule it for himself, he cares nothing for the innocents caught in the crossfire, and he intends to set his forces on humanity once he's done killing the vampires. Notably, an offhand line suggests that even God himself has given up on Renaud.
Sadist: He takes great pleasure in slitting David's throat and forcing Melissa to drink his blood, all while Peter is forced to helplessly watch.
Serial Rapist: On top of killing anyone he deems a sinner, Renaud also spent centuries moving through Europe raping any woman who struck his fancy.

Enil

Enil is the Second Eldest vampire on the Council of Ancients, being somewhere around 8,000 years old. Despite his age and prejudices, Enil is actually an ally to Peter following Renaud's attack - making it so shocking when he suddenly goes on a killing spree.

Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Enil cares deeply for his son Alexander and is said to have a wife. His son's soul being held hostage is why he's willing to work with Gog and kill Peter despite their friendship.
Even Evil Has Standards: It's mentioned that Emil was one of the beings who drew up the Contract of Babylon, which states that vampires must never work with the forces of Hell.
I Owe You My Life: Enil does not forget the fact that Peter saved him from Renaud's rampage and remains good friends with him. It's not until Peter kills Alexander without realizing that he turns against him.

Rebecca Plum

A vampire novelist who actually is a vampire, Rebecca is one of the most hated vampires in the world - not because of her bad novels, but because she's a Bleeder who kills all of her victims.

Establishing Character Moment: Rebecca arrives in New Detroit on an incredibly expensive plane, walking off wearing designer clothes with human brain still behind her ear and calling Ashura by her human name of Andrea. Meanwhile, one of the most powerful vampires Peter's ever seen is acting as her valet. All of this establishes this her as an arrogant brat with too much power behind her who's downright sloppy with how often she kills people.
Serial Killer: Rebecca is one of the few vampiric serial killers, having racked up a body count of around two hundred since being turned.
Small Role, Big Impact: She's killed by the end of her third chapter, but Peter being framed for her death kicks off the events of the second book.

Lucinda

Mystical Beings

Heaven and Hell

God

The Big Man Himself. Though almost every God worshipped in the world is real in some capacity, God Himself is the King of Heaven and the creator of the Angels. Though He does not get directly involved in anything that happens, He's prone to subtle and mysterious acts that change the world forever.

Big Good: The various heroes of the United States of Monsters are indirectly working for Him in one way or another, whether or not they realize it. In particular, Raguel and Shannon are only involved in their stories because of God's intervention.
Everyone Has Standards: Renaud des Bures is able to speak God's name without pain, implying that his mission is so horrifying and sinful that even the all-forgiving God has given up on him.
In Mysterious Ways: As a given, God doesn't tend to get directly involved in events or communicate his intents, but He makes subtle moves to aid His champions along the right path, such as sending Raguel to possess the Merlin Gun and having His Angels rescue Shannon from her suicide attempt.

Raguel

Raguel is the spirit possessing the Merlin Gun, an Angel loyal to Heaven above all else. He is ultimately on the side of good, but his Biblical view of justice leads to conflicts with his allies.

The Corruptor: Raguel used Alex to exact his justice on evil supernatural creatures, knowing full well he was taking advantage of a mentally troubled man to turn him into what is essentially a serial killer. He takes well to Jane in part because she's already willing to cross the lethal line before they meet, so he doesn't have to put in as much work as he did before.
Good Is Not Nice: Raguel manipulated Alex into going on a violent crusade against bad supernaturals, something he is utterly unrepentant of in the present day, but at the end of the day he is still a heroic figure who fights for justice and protecting life.
Unwitting Pawn: Raguel leaves Bright Falls to fight on the side of Heaven's forces in a great battle instigated by Bloody Mary. As she reveals at the end, she purposefully engineered the conflict so that he would return to Bright Falls right when he was needed to permanently kill Phillip, letting her absorb his power and put her in the running to take over Hell entirely.

Bloody Mary

Bloody Mary is the nickname of one of the most powerful spirits of Hell, having been created when Cain killed Abel. She doubles as one of the Horsemen as the spirit of War, and where conflict goes, chances are that she's right in the thick of it.

The Atoner: By The Fall of the House, Mary has become a genuinely heroic entity who wants to make up for the centuries of crimes that she helped commit. This continues in A Nightmare on Elk Street, where she indicates that she intends to keep Phillip Tzu in Hell for as long as she can.
Beware the Silly Ones: Mary puts on a rather ditzy air and there's lots of humor in her disconnect to human morality, which makes it so disconcerting when she casually ensures dozens of deaths by possessing Derek's body and is revealed to have escaped Hell by fighting her way out.
The Chessmaster: Mary's gambit to absorb Phillip's power is very multifaceted, having her lead an assault on Heaven's forces strong enough to draw Raguel away but weak enough to be put down after she's entered the fray, crippling Jane's forces enough that Phillip would escape but that Raguel would return at a crucial moment so that he, Jane, Alex, and Lucien could put him down for good. It's a bit of a Pyrrhic victory, but it goes off without a hitch.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Though one of the oldest demons alive, she began as a weak Horseman only to spend centuries killing and eating fellow demons with their true names to gain enough power to escape Hell, become Dracula’s weapon, and rain hell on earth for centuries. Soon enough, she’s gained enough power to fight for the title of Hell’s ruler.
Greater-Scope Villain: It turns out that Mary let the events of A Nightmare on Elk Street happen the way they did because she could take advantage of it, letting Phillip Tzu escape so that he would be killed for good and she could absorb his powers.
In Love with Your Carnage: Mary originally falls in love with Derek because he has one of the highest kill counts she's ever seen in a mortal and wishes to get him to kill even more beings in her name. In particular, what attracts her strongly enough to leave Dracula is that while Dracula prays on the weak and helpless, Derek's kill count consists of genuinely strong entities, which makes him far more of a warrior.
It Can Think: Both Dracula and Derek originally assumed that the spirit of the Bloodsword was blindingly loyal to Dracula, even when Derek's taken it. As it turns out, Mary can not only think, she can manipulate and control people as easily as breathing.
Bloody Mary: He is not my master, merely a wielder. I choose who controls me.
One-Man Army: The Bloodsword's magical power combined with Derek's raw strength create a virtually unstoppable entity. In the time that Derek is unconscious and Bloody Mary puppets his body, she goes on a rampage against vampires so thorough that half the population of Nassau flees entirely.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Her real name was originally Discord, but she prefers to go by Bloody Mary instead. After her true name changes, Derek christens her Mary Sanguine instead, but she still primarily goes by Bloody Mary.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When her true name changes in The Fall of the House, that's when Derek realizes that her desire to change is actually genuine. A true name changing isn't something that happens on a whim, it marks a substantial change in the being's character.
Villain of Another Story: Though she's a central character in the latter two Red Room books, her gradual rise to power from a lowly demon to ruler of Hell largely takes place in the background. She also leads an assault on Heaven's forces completely off-page during A Nightmare on Elk Street.

Tiamat-Abaddon

The Mother of All Monsters, Tiamat-Abaddon is the hell lord who created most of the supernatural races thousands of years ago. At some point, she overthrew her father Lucifer and became the new Queen of Hell.

Greater-Scope Villain: Her alliance with Dracula makes her directly responsible for the creation of the Vampire Nation and the direct threat Dracula poses in Eldritch Ops.

Gods

The Red Wolf/The Big Bad Wolf

An ancient being who resides in the Lodge of Bright Falls, the Red Wolf was formerly a benevolent spirit corrupted by the loss of his family. Re-awakening in the modern-day, he will do anything to get his family back.

Ambiguous Gender: As a nature God, the Wolf doesn't exactly conform to human gender norms and possesses men and women equally, but it takes the form of a male when creating one from scratch and is generally (though not always) referred to as one.
Ambiguously Brown: Again, as a nature God, the Wolf doesn't conform to traditional humanity and thus can't be said to be any particular race, but it's noted that the Wolf resembled a Native American in his human form, which was part of the basis for the mob that would then kill his family.
Became Their Own Antithesis: What was once a benevolent nature spirit who loved his family has now become a selfish monster willing to do any kind of heinous act, even damn his own family, just to have them back forever.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The Wolf once had a wife and four children who were killed by an angry mob. His rampage in the present day is based around resurrecting them.
Fallen Hero: The Wolf was once a benevolent spirit who possessed leaders to move them to greatness and protect people who couldn't protect themselves. In the modern-day, he's a psychotic rapist and killer who is willing to damn his family to Hell to keep them with him for all eternity.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: The point is made that as horrific as the fate of the Wolf's family was and how much Jane does feel sorry for him, the people who killed them are already dead (by the Wolf's hands, no less) - the Wolf can't avenge himself any further, and now he's just taking out his endless rage on the survivors' children.
Jane: You were the one broken by your family’s death! You were the weak one who couldn’t move on! Almost everyone involved is dead and you’re cowardly going after their children and grandchildren!
A God Am I: Downplayed; the Red Wolf actually is a nature God, but he remains as confident as a God even though his powers are nowhere near as strong as they used to be. Trying to control time and nature in the way he used to sheds his strength as well as his control over Victoria rapidly, and it makes him weak enough for Jane to kill him.
Greater-Scope Villain: The Wolf is either directly or indirectly responsible for all of the troubles Bright Falls faces, both in terms of economics and its crime, and his influence lasts across the series even long after he's killed.
It's All About Me: His motives may have once been pure, but in the present day, the Wolf may talk about how much he loves his family but it's only about what they represent to him rather than out of love for them. He's willing to undergo any heinous act to bring them back no matter how much they wouldn't have approved, and is even planning to forcibly convert them into vampires and damn them to Hell just to keep them forever.
Love Makes You Evil: His love for his family, while once pure, has long since corrupted him. Now, he's so desperate to have his family back that he'll forcibly convert them into vampires, an act that'll damn their souls to Hell, so he can keep them as they were forever.
The Man in Front of the Man: The Wolf, despite his power and danger, is in truth working in tandem with Marcus O'Henry and serving his whims.
Manipulative Bastard: The Wolf took advantage of Lucien's desire for revenge and manipulated him using his powers, postponing his revenge against Marcus O'Henry and enabling him to get the materials he would eventually need to resurrect his family.
Moral Myopia: The Wolf says that he'll punish Gerald for "defiling" Victoria when his wife is put into her body, even though the Wolf himself used a love potion on him to rape him. He also blames his victims for his crusade, even though they did nothing to him and he already killed the ones who actually killed his family.
One-Man Army: It's perhaps no surprise that a nature God is capable of wiping out the fifty or so humans/shapeshifters that killed his family without even flinching.
Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: While possessing Victoria, the Wolf uses a love potion on Gerald, an act which is explicitly referred to as rape.
Revenge by Proxy: Even having wiped out the people who killed his family, the Wolf continues his crusade in the modern-day against the survivor's children, justifying himself via Sins of the Father.
Sins of the Father: With the people who killed his family already dead, the Red Wolf keeps going after the children and grandchildren of the few members of the mob that survived, justifying himself by blaming them for their ancestors' actions.
Starter Villain: The Wolf is the first of the many villains Jane would come to face over her life. Appropriately, as dangerous as he is, he's the smallest threat she ever faces, even compared to his own partner Marcus.
Tragic Villain: As inexcusable as his actions are, the Wolf is motivated by nothing more than his love for his family having long since corrupted it into a vengeful monster. His first interaction with Jane isn't based around threats or pain, it's simply showing her a vision of his past and trying to explain himself.
Villainous Legacy: The Red Wolf's actions and how they relate both to Judy Doe and Marcus O'Henry carry a shadow across the entire trilogy, even though he's killed by the end of the first book.
Villain Team-Up: The Wolf is willing to team up with Marcus O'Henry, the man who killed his family in the first place, if it means getting his family back.

The Dryad

A mystical force within Bright Falls, the Dryad is actually an avatar of the Earthmother, the sentient force of the planet itself. The Dryad has mothered many children over the centuries, intending for them to be raised by her cult of loyal followers; it seems she is unaware that her cult was destroyed centuries ago, and no one is retrieving the children.

Above Good and Evil: The Dryad doesn't act out of malice, it simply has no understanding of morality whatsoever. Whether or not her children live or die is simply so inconsequential to her that she doesn't understand why Robyn gets so upset about it.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: As an ancient being, the Dryad's moral code makes no sense to humankind, only to herself.
Lack of Empathy: Discussed; it's not that the Dryad doesn't care about the pain she causes, it's that she genuinely doesn't even realize she's doing anything in the first place. The death of one of her loyal servants means nothing to her because she can just find another, and she chews out Robyn thinking herself important when life means nothing to the universe.
Robyn: We're nothing, aren’t we? Just the result of you screwing a bunch of guys to amuse yourself.
Dryad: I am bored of this conversation.
My God, What Have I Done?: Jane forcibly injecting human memories and emotions into her being completely rewrites her moral code, forcing her to realize just how much pain she's caused by leaving her children to die.

Lamia

A mysterious historical demon, Lamia may or may not be the first vampire. The results of her actions are felt in the present day by many of the heroes.

The Ghost: Though she's responsible for a lot of the chaos of the world, she's never encountered directly. It's never even confirmed whether she's still alive or how long ago she died if she's dead.
Greater-Scope Villain: Though Lamia is never encountered herself, she's directly responsible for at least one villain faced by every hero in the United States of Monsters - Dracula and Renaud des Bures through her creation of vampires, and Phillip Tzu through her writing of the Book of Midnight.

The Vampire Nation

Vlad Dracula

The most famous and most dangerous vampire to ever live. After forming a pact with Tiamat-Abaddon for immortality, Dracula began a crusade against humanity that he continues to this very day.

Abusive Parents: Dracula has no care or love for his children, treating them as disposable pawns at best and killing anyone they find themselves happy with to ensure they don't stray from his path.
Bad Liar: During their first meeting, Dracula tries to lie to Derek and claim that Nathan was responsible for drafting Protocol Zero. The issue there is that the timing makes no sense - Dracula himself stated that the Protocol was drafted in the 40s, while Nathan didn't rise above the level of an agent until the 70s - and Derek doesn't fall for it for a second.
Big Bad Duumvirate: Dracula shares the Big Bad spot of Eldritch Ops with Rebecca Hawthorne.
Brainwashed and Crazy: Dracula mesmerizes every vampire that gets created, turning them all into his loyal soldiers ready to fight and die at his command. Christopher confirms that if vampires weren't enslaved in this manner, many of them would probably be benevolent.
Disproportionate Retribution: At some point in the past, Annabelle became disillusioned with Dracula and left him, forming her own family away from him. He responded by tracking her down, killing her family, killing everyone she knew, and then locking her in a coffin for ten years to restore her loyalty.
The Dreaded: Due to his power, reputation, and ability to command an army, Dracula is a terrifying foe to go up against to both humans and supernaturals.
Evil Is Petty: Dracula reveals that if Derek hadn't resisted his attempt to mesmerize him, then he would've made Derek go to his home and rape his siblings. The reaction of the vampires around him makes Derek wonder if any of them suffered such a fate.
Faux Affably Evil: Dracula talks like a sophisticated nobleman but the monstrous savage he truly is is transparently obvious from the beginning.
Greater-Scope Villain: Dracula was the vampire that united his people into the Vampire Nation, making him directly responsible for many of the evils faced by the various heroes of the United States of Monsters.
Historical Rap Sheet: Dracula shows Derek that he was responsible for a wide variety of atrocities throughout history, most notably the murder of thousands of Turks.
Logical Weakness: Dracula's immortality comes from his deal with Tiamat-Abaddon and thus from his soul, meaning that if something can theoretically get rid of his soul, he could be killed for good. Derek's black magic and the Bloodsword do the trick.
Mood-Swinger: Dracula can go from his polite and formal facade to threatening to murder everyone around him in literal seconds. It makes Derek wonder whether it's all an act or if he's genuinely insane.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Derek realizes that Dracula let Christopher steal the Bloodsword, either in an attempt to get a member of the Committee under his control or to use Derek to destroy Protocol Zero. Whatever his intention was, the only result is Derek gaining his biggest ally in the form of Bloody Mary, who saves Derek's life and goes on to help him finally kill Dracula.
Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Dracula keeps a harem of brainwashed women with him, using them for his own pleasure. He once tried to indoctrinate Shannon into this harem, and she decapitated him in response.
We Can Rule Together: After seeing Derek wield the power of the Bloodsword, Dracula tries to offer him power and wealth in exchange for Derek serving as his proxy to take down Protocol Zero. Some of it is genuinely tempting, but when the vision includes Shannon and other women serving as Derek's Sex Slaves, Derek immediately rejects it.

Annabelle Jones

One of Dracula's daughters, her kidnapping by Protocol Zero before the events of Eldritch Ops is what prompts Christopher to seek Derek's aid. However, the situation soon proves to be far more complicated than that.

Agent Provocateur: Annabelle uses Christopher as a pawn to instigate a war between Dracula and Protocol Zero, hoping that both of them will wipe each other out.
Badass in Distress: Annabelle was once a fearsome pirate queen even before she became a vampire, and now Protocol Zero has her kidnapped for their own ends. It's subverted when it's revealed that she was never in danger at all.
The Chessmaster: Annabelle used Christopher as a tool to start a war between the House and the vampires, manipulating Derek, Dracula, the Committee, and Protocol Zero along the way in order to get them to wipe each other out. It actually works too, but she doesn't live to see it.
Dark Action Girl: Even before becoming a vampire, Annabelle was a fearsome pirate famous for constantly evading capture.
The Man Behind the Man: Annabelle is responsible for the war between Dracula and the Red Room breaking out, having manipulated both sides along the way.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: After the horrific treatment Dracula gave her just for leaving him, Annabelle went on a rampage across Europe and completely wiped out the vampire population on the entire continent. It took several decades for Dracula to regain his power after that.
Uncertain Doom: Derek's magic attack makes her body disappear, with neither him nor Bloody Mary knowing if she's still alive somehow or if she's gone for good.
Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about Annabelle in any capacity without revealing that she's not only not in danger, but she's also actively manipulating the war.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: With the world being the way it is, Annabelle believes the only way to enact any kind of positive change is to instigate a war between the House and the Vampire Nation, hoping to wipe them both out at once.

Elizabeth Cambridge

Another of Dracula's daughters, Elizabeth is also known as Black Beth. Even before she became a vampire, she was one of the most feared pirate queens in the world alongside Annabelle, but now she's merely one of her father's expendable stooges.

Actually Pretty Funny: Derek's comment about Dracula needing to shave his mustache makes Elizabeth briefly crack a smile before she schools her expression.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Elizabeth cares about her fellow members of the Blackguard and is furious when Derek kills them during the ambush against him. She even briefly tries to talk back to Dracula when he dismisses them as irrelevant. She also expresses clear concern when she learns Annabelle has been kidnapped.

Monsters

The kelpie

A mysterious demonic entity that lives in the Darkwater Lake. It may or may not have killed Jane's cousin.

Alas, Poor Villain: By the time Jane gets through with it, the kelpie is so traumatized and in so much pain that it outright begs her to kill it and just end its suffering already. Jane does so and gets no satisfaction from it.
Ambiguous Situation: The kelpie claims that Jane led her cousin to drown on purpose, but Jane doesn't remember it happening that way at all and can't tell if her memories are being tampered with. Jacob tries to claim that it was lying, but Jane retorts that spirits can lie (including Jacob himself).
Laser-Guided Karma: Jane fights it off by psychically forcing it to feel the pain that all of its various victims felt as it drowned them.
Small Role, Big Impact: The kelpie is killed by the end of the chapter it appears in, but its role in Jane's past is a big part of why she jumps into the Red Wolf case so fast, as she's doing so for a form of atonement for her role in her cousin's death. Assuming it's telling the truth, it's also why the Red Wolf was able to awaken to begin with.
Would Hurt a Child: The kelpie brags about how much it loves drowning children, having potentially done the same to Jenny in the past. The Wolf promises it many more children to drown should it get free.

The Seven

A group of seven supernaturals who work together as paid assassins, designed to track the hardest targets out there. They consist of:

The Visigoth, an ancient vampire who Looks Like Orlok.
Aoki and Aya, who appear to be a pair of identical twins but who are actually a single demon possessing two bodies made up of spiders.
Samson, a stone golem who was once a heroic spirit like Raguel before being corrupted by the Visigoth.
Kate Madison, a fire elemental and serial arsonist.
Karl Chang, a distant cousin of Lucien's who views him as a race traitor.
Steve Caldwell, a werewolf who killed many of his kind to absorb their power.

They're hired by John Winston Jones to kill Jane's group. It doesn't go well for them.

Alas, Poor Villain: Samson is a heroic spirit being forced to do villainous things and has no control over his actions, so his death is treated somberly as he thanks the heroes for finally killing him.
Been There, Shaped History: The Visigoth is implied to have been the historical King Alaric, who led the first sacking of Rome.
Hunter of His Own Kind: Steve killed other werewolves in order to make himself as powerful as possible.
Kill It with Fire: Kate's specialty is to use her fire elemental abilities in order to burn her opponents alive. In the end, this ends up being Steve's fate as well.
Looks Like Orlok: The Visigoth is explicitly compared to Count Orlok in its appearance.
Mercy Kill: Samson is actually glad to die and thanks the heroes for killing him, as it finally gets him out of his life of forced villainy.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Kate flees the battle once the Visigoth is killed and thus is the only one of the Seven to escape alive.
Underestimating Badassery: The Visigoth assumes that Jane and Alex will be easy kills, as he manages to beat Alex in a fight and Jane tries to shoot him with a gun that he's supposed to be invulnerable to. He obviously doesn't realize she's using the Merlin Gun, and although it takes all of her power out of her, she kills him with one shot.

Titus

A legendary incubus and one of the most reprehensible monsters on the Red Room's watchlist, Titus is also Shannon's father and is responsible for many of her issues.

Abusive Parents: Titus would deliberately produce children with humans, take the children when their hormones began to hit, and manipulate them into helping him commit all kinds of vicious crimes across the globe. Shannon also reveals that he raped her at some point.
Ambiguous Situation: Shannon believes that she killed him by burning a church down with him inside, but given how powerful he was and that she didn't stay behind to check for a corpse, she admits that for all she knows, he could still be out there.
The Ghost: Never appears in person, as Shannon believes that she killed him when she realized the monster he was.
Posthumous Character: Assuming that he actually is dead, his influence over Shannon's life is still immense, as she blames herself for what he manipulated her into helping him do.
Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Titus would use his powers and his children to lead a vicious rape spree across the globe, a spree that even his own children weren't safe from.

Enhanced Humans

The Wazir/Karl Bjornson

The ancient and mysterious leader of the Emerald Eye, the Wazir is an immortal warlock who seeks nothing less than the complete destruction of the House, no matter how far he must go to achieve it.

Actually a Doombot: Karl has a habit of using a homunculus whenever he needs to go out in public, meaning that various agents have killed him dozens if not hundreds of times over the years and it's never actually stuck. Derek only goes all-in in the final battle when the Wazir's glass eye pops out, as it means that this is the real him and they can finally put him down.
A God Am I: After his glass eye is kicked out, Karl proclaims that he believes himself to genuinely be a reincarnation of Woden, the Nordic God of War.
Appropriated Appellation: Subverted; Karl does not like the name "Wazir", the name the Red Room gave him, because he's not Arabic and it just means "wise man" anyway.
Big Bad: His actions drive the plot of Esoterrorism.
The Chessmaster: Unknown to Derek, Karl is in control of the entire situation from the moment they meet in Ohio and he retrieves the vial of the Matheson virus. The vial contains magic that hits Derek with a compulsion that ensures Cassandra gets away to cause the chaos the Wazir wants, as well as ensuring Derek cooperates when they meet face to face again.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Karl betrays everyone who works with him, killing Ned without hesitation and later attacking Cass's forces with his own.
Establishing Character Moment: The Wazir casually walks into a mall and stops to give a little girl candy, but when Derek approaches, he calls Derek by name, justifies having killed many children in the past, and calls Derek a slur before revealing he has insider information on him and his organization. In one scene, we see that despite his jolly demeanor, he's both a vicious monster and an incredibly dangerous threat who is not to be underestimated.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In his first scene, Karl mentions that he had multiple children during his first century of life, and while they did not live long, he did treasure the memories he made with them.
Even Evil Has Standards: Despite working with her, the Wazir considers Cassandra's murder of her father and attempted murder of Derek to be unforgivable crimes that have no place in the world he intends to create. Granted, Derek immediately throws back that it's wild for him to say that when he's a mass-murderer of children.
Fallen Hero: Karl reveals that he was once a member of the House back when "The Court" actually protected the world instead of try to wipe supernatural creatures out of existence for profit. Then he found an artifact, Odin's eye, that convinced him to break away from the group and form the Emerald Eye, and he's been the House's #1 enemy ever since.
Fantastic Racism: The Wazir, and thus the Emerald Eye, does not view "mundanes" as worthy of life, which is part of the motivation for his countless attacks on cities and individuals around the world. At least one of the Emerald Eye's members gloats about "reducing the herd" in interrogation. He also calls Derek "dragonspawn" when they meet, which Derek identifies as a slur.
Faux Affably Evil: Karl talks very politely and gives candy to small children, but he's also a vicious monster with a complete indifference to the lives of anyone in his way. The facade finally comes down during the final battle, where all of Karl's insane rage and spite come to the forefront.
It's All About Me: His vision of a world where humanity and monsters walk side by side is a noble one, but a key part of it is that it features Karl leading the charge. Any other outcome is unacceptable.
Manipulative Bastard: He may be an evil bastard, but he's also incredibly charming and smart, both of which endear him to his followers and gives him a mind for strategy like no other. He's able to pick up and lose followers at the drop of a hat based on whatever he needs most at the moment, and he comes close to turning Derek and Shannon against each other in a single conversation.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Once Karl's glass eye is knocked out, his personality and goals change dramatically. Instead of his original goal of supernaturals and humans living in harmony, he starts talking about how he'll lead an army of monsters against humankind and bring the world back to the Stone Age so that he can rule over anything that survives.
Plaguemaster: The Wazir's ultimate endgame is to modify the Matheson virus so that it can spread through bites like zombies and then release the virus publicly, causing worldwide chaos to release the Truth. Notably, it's made clear the government would be able to put it down, but the virus would blow the Masquerade wide open.
Politically Incorrect Villain: The Wazir clearly has little respect for women, especially Shannon, dismissing her as a "whore" even though she's a Red Room agent.
Posthumous Villain Victory: It takes some time after his death for the Truth to come out, but the Wazir's plans kickstart the long chain of events that eventually lead to the Reveal.
Thanatos Gambit: Karl gives Derek a flash drive with information on the various members of the Committee and makes it clear that whatever Derek does with that, Karl benefits. If Derek doesn't do anything, then the Committee can't stop him. If he uses it to get on the Committee, then they and Cassandra's forces will attack each other until one side comes out on top, and then Karl can swoop in and wipe them out while they're recovering.
Unwitting Pawn: At the end, the Wazir is revealed to have been a victim of Odin. Centuries ago, some random Viking accidentally found Odin's eye and put it in, completely unaware of the power it would hold and unable to fight its corrupting influence. As Derek puts it, the man Karl once was was destroyed the instant he put the eye in his socket.
Villain Has a Point: The Wazir has long since run out of any potential good intentions, but it doesn't make his claims about the House any less valid. The House is a horrifically corrupt organization that no longer cares about humanity and instead only focuses on lining certain people's pockets, and the world can only move forward once it's gone.
Villainous Legacy: While the Wazir is killed at the end of Esoterrorism, the consequences of his actions last for the rest of the series. Derek having to ascend to the Committee in order to gain the power to stop him puts him in conflict with Dracula and is later revealed to be a crucial part of Nathan's plan to destroy the House, leading to the Truth coming out.
Villain Respect: Even while he's throwing slurs at him, Karl clearly respects Derek's abilities as an agent and compliments how he handled their encounter in Ohio when they meet again. He also comments that Penny showed great bravery as well.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Karl seeks a world where supernaturals are able to live openly among humans without either side having to worry about the other trying to wipe them out. Part of the reason his plan to do such is to cause a worldwide draugr outbreak is because he knows that humanity will be able to put it down while still forcing the Truth into the open.
Would Hurt a Child: One of the Wazir's previous attacks was turning a group of schoolchildren into draugr, forcing them to cannibalize their parents.

Stephen Hawthorne

One of Derek's brothers and the bad seed of the family. Long ago, Stephen was a loyal agent of the House, but a chance encounter with a fallen angel put him down a bad path.

Alas, Poor Villain: Following the Reveal, Stephen's brand of villainy has become so commonplace that he becomes completely directionless and unsure of himself, so desperate to cause any kind of evil chaos he can that he's ultimately a pitiable wreck. He goes from being perhaps the single most dangerous person in the world to being unceremoniously stabbed in the back as a gift for the brother he hates so much, and even Derek ultimately can't celebrate his death.
Ambiguously Evil: Pre-possession, at least. Most sources believe that Stephen got possessed by Furfur on accident and had his personality consumed by the angel's power, but Derek insists that he was always evil and knew what he was getting himself into.
Ambiguous Situation: It's never confirmed whether or not Stephen got himself possessed on purpose. Derek believes to the end that he did and was always evil, but everyone else involved in the case disagrees, and Stephen himself takes the answer to the grave.
Big Bad Wannabe: Stephen relishes in his power and loves his capacity for wanton slaughter, but in the end, the evil he's capable of is nothing more than a drop in the bucket. His villainy becomes so commonplace following the Reveal that he actually loses his purpose in life, and is reduced from a dangerous fallen angel to a depressed maniac who gets unceremoniously stabbed in the back, ultimately becoming little more than a footnote in history.
The Brute: Stephen's role in Nathan's plan is to kill the Committee and then just cause as much carnage as he can while it can't be covered up.
Cain and Abel: Derek and Stephen hate each other with nothing short of burning passion, to the point that Derek is the only person to believe that Stephen was already evil pre-possession.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: The idea of being willing to die for someone instead of just mindlessly killing people is genuinely foreign to Stephen. Derek ultimately pities him for it, since he seems literally incapable of any kind of emotional connection.
Fusion Dance: The reason why Stephen is incarcerated instead of killed is that by the time he was recovered, he had been possessed by Furfur for long enough that their personalities had blended and there was no way to tell where Stephen ended and the angel began. Of course, that's the official theory; Derek believes that Stephen was always evil anyway and simply played a part to keep himself alive.
Kinslaying Is a Special Kind of Evil: Some of the agents he killed in his rampage were his own siblings.
Sadist: His capacity for cruelty is unlike anything Derek has seen before, even from Dracula. The moment he escapes, he massacres dozens of people in horrific fashions just because he feels like it.
Small Role, Big Impact: Stephen only appears in three chapters, but it's revealed that he was the one who told Roland about Balor, kickstarting the main plot of The Fall of the House.

John Winston Jones

The leader of the Church of Ultraology who preaches love and acceptance for all, Dr. Jones is in truth a selfish psychopath who uses the church for his own twisted ends.

Asshole Victim: His death is horrific, but it's a well-deserved one and the world is better off without him.
Eco-Terrorist: Jones claims to be fighting to protect the environment from the encroachment of supernatural species. Whether or not that claim is genuine is left up in the air.
Hypocrite: Dr. Jones wants to kill all supernaturals, but he purposefully leaves mages off of that list because he is a mage.
Laser-Guided Karma: Jones is obsessed with utilizing the power of the Grove and intends to harvest the Dryad for his own ends. The Dryad kills him and buries him alive in the Grove, so he's never leaving it.

Phillip Tzu

One of Kim Su's sons, Phillip is Alex's father, having abused his son and daughter for his entire life until Alex got fed up and killed him. However, even posthumously, Phillip's influence remains through the Red Sky, an organization dedicated to forcing supernaturals underground for their own protection. He's the final villain Jane Doe faces and proves to be the most dangerous one yet.

Abusive Parents: In a world full of abusive parents, Phillip is easily the worst ever seen. He viciously abused both Alex and Samantha by forcing them through Training from Hell, emotionally abusing them by convincing Alex he was a monster and deserved punishment, and forcing them to get stronger or suffer for it. It got to the point that Alex straight up killed him for it, and Samantha's goal is to resurrect him so she can kill him for good. However, what makes this even worse is that, unlike Marcus O'Henry, Phillip genuinely thinks he's helping them by doing this.
Affably Evil: For all that he's a ruthless monster, Phillip is surprisingly personable in conversation, holding a genuinely respectful talk with Jane in the dreamscape even while plotting the murders of her family members. He even offers Jane a place in his organization out of genuine respect for her abilities.
Card-Carrying Villain: Phillip outright calls himself a monster and says that he doesn't regret any of his crimes because they were for the greater good. He even dresses himself as the Grim Reaper in the dreamscape when Jane compares him to Voldemort, saying that if he's going to be the villain in her narrative, then he might as well dress the part.
The Chessmaster: The biggest threat Phillip poses isn't through his raw power, it's through his tactical brilliance. Even his own death isn't able to stop him from scheming from his hell dimension and sending the Boogeyman after Jane's loved ones. In the end, he manipulates his son and daughter into becoming pawns for him, successfully causing his own resurrection in the process.
Even Evil Can Be Loved: As monstrous as he becomes, his mother Kim Su believes he can be redeemed and loves him all the way to his permanent grave.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Kim mentions that several times throughout his life, Phillip attempted to settle down and start families, only to continually lose his loved ones and go back on the warpath. In the present day, while he is willing to do just about any heinous crimes against his two children, he says he genuinely believes that he was making them stronger and better able to protect themselves, and he resurrected Samantha when she was killed with him.
"Not So Different" Remark: The first time they meet, Phillip points out all the similarities between himself and Jane, saying that they've both killed other people for the sake of their own missions out of their beliefs in their own righteousness. Unlike many other examples of this trope, it's neither a condemnation nor an attempt to butter her up (though he does do so later), it's just a simple observation on his part, and it makes Jane deeply reflect on whether or not she really wants to be the Shaman.
Pop-Cultured Badass: Phillip picks up on Jane's use of a Harry Potter reference and takes offense to being Voldemort in the analogy.
Pragmatic Villain: Phillip realizes how much Jane hates his guts, but considering how powerful she is and could be, he still extends an olive branch to let her join him, even appealing to her pragmatism by pointing out she could use it as an opportunity to get close to him and kill him later.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Sometime before the third book begins, Alex manages to imprison Phillip in the Darkwater Lake in a state of limbo. His goal throughout the book is to escape so he can continue his plans.
Unwitting Pawn: Ultimately, Phillip was just a pawn for Bloody Mary, who allowed his resurrection to go forward so that he could permanently be killed and thus sent to her Hell dimension from which she could absorb his power and gain further control of Hell.
Villain Respect: Phillip comes to respect Jane's determination and refusal to budge from her goal, even offering her a place in his organization. When she declines, he holds no ill will towards her decision, and he even continues to give her help by revealing that Kim Su was purposefully sabotaging her training.
We Can Rule Together: Before his final rampage, Phillip gives Jane an olive branch, offering her a place in his organization while revealing that the reason why she's struggling with magic is because her chakras are misaligned and Kim never told her. He even tries to sweeten the deal by pointing out that this doesn't mean she has to believe in him and that she could even take the opportunity to try to kill him again later. Jane obviously declines.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: As monstrous as Phillip is, he genuinely believes that he's doing the right thing for supernaturals, and his abuse of his family was an attempt to make them strong enough to survive.

Sandbox / United States Of Monsters Characters

The Heroes

The House

The Committee

Pantheon Corp

The Red Room

The White Room

Protocol Zero

Bright Falls, Michigan

New Detroit, Michigan

Mystical Beings

Heaven and Hell

Gods

The Vampire Nation

Monsters

Enhanced Humans

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Index

Next

Sandbox / United States Of Monsters Characters

Edit Locked

The Heroes

The House

The Committee

Pantheon Corp

The Red Room

The White Room

Protocol Zero

Bright Falls, Michigan

New Detroit, Michigan

Mystical Beings

Heaven and Hell

Gods

The Vampire Nation

Monsters

Enhanced Humans

Previous

Index

Next