History Characters / BabelOrTheNecessityOfViolence

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* {{Affectionate Nickname}}: After knowing him for no more than a day, Ramy begins calling Robin “birdie”. [[spoiler: Letty later does this when trying to manipulate him,]] and Victoire uses it when comforting him.
* {{Ambiguously Bi}}: There is no explicit romance between the main characters, but Robin’s narration implies attraction to both Ramy and Victoire.

* StrongFamilyResemblance: Robin is a spitting image of his father,
* {{Took A Level In Cynic}}: [[spoiler: When Robin and his group return to Britain after murdering Professor Lovell, Robin accepts that violence is a necessary part of revolution.]]
* {{Tragic Bromance}}: [[spoiler: Ramy, his first real friend dies just before they were able to take control of the tower.]]

* {{Et Tu Brute}}: [[spoiler: Letty was the one to kill him.]]
* {{Large Ham}}: Downplayed. He’s described as being a passionate speaker, often gesticulating wildly to get his point across.
* {{Motive Rant}}: While confronting Robin about [[spoiler: keeping Hermes a secret for three years,]] he vents that he hated England and the fact that he was betraying his home country by working for Babel. [[spoiler: This was why he joined Hermes.]]

* {{Beware The Nice Ones}}: Despite playing the role of {{The Heart}}, Victoire is more than willing to resort to violent revolution.
* {{Broken Bird}}: [[spoiler: Victoire was raised in an abusive white household where she was forbidden from speaking Haitian Creole and treated as an exotic pet by her guardian’s daughters. She faced racism and misogyny at Babel, and partook in a violent revolution which involved covering up a murder. Finally, two out of three of her friends died, and the other is now a mortal enemy.]]

* {{French Cuisine Is Haughty}}: The narration notes that after spending he summer in France, she “returned with insufferable opinions about food and fine dining.”
* {{The Heart}}: Victoire is arguably the most rational out of the group, and acts as Robin’s rock during the [[spoiler: occupation of the tower.]]
* {{Hiding Behind The Language Barrier}}: When Robin and Ramy make bad first impressions due to their [[InnocentlyInsensitive comments about them being women,]] Victoire and Letty insult them in French.
* {{Lady Of War}}: Victoire is noted to be an excellent fencer along with Letty, and she is the one who [[spoiler: shoots Professor Playfair during the occupation of the tower.]]
* {{Missing Mom}}: Shortly after arriving in France, Victoire’s mother (and most of the household) succumbed to disease.
* {{Nice Girl}}: While she does have her limits, Victoire is generally sweet and non-confrontational.
* {{Red Oni Blue Oni}}: The patient, level-headed Blue oni to Letty’s fiery, argumentative, Red oni, although she can be an equally passionate debater.
* {{Silk Hiding Steel}}: She’s gentle, composed, and level headed, but she is not afraid of rebellion.
* {{Sole Survivor}}: Downplayed. [[spoiler: With Robin and Ramy dead and Letty turning against them, Victoire is the only cohort member who stays till the very end.]]

* {{Abusive Parents}} When a young Robin forgets to attend one of his classes, Professor Lovell [[DisproportionateRetribution violently beats him with a fire poker]]. Throughout the book, Robin notes that his guardian rarely showed him any affection. It all boils over in [[spoiler: Book II, when Robin realizes he was nothing but an asset, resulting in him killing Lovell]].

* {{Asian And Nerdy}}: Hails from Canton, and has a talent and passion for languages.
* {{Blinded By Rage}}: Two times, one after an argument with Lovell, and the next after Letty [[spoiler: murders Ramy in cold blood]].
* {{But Not Too Foreign}}: Robin was born in China and lived there until he was 10, but can pass as white under certain lighting, doesn’t use his original name, and only speaks Chinese in an academic context or when activating a silver bar.
* {{Broken Pedestal}}: During his first few days at Oxford, Robin is enamored by the life of a Babbler, the idea of becoming a translator and being accepted as an English citizen, but after talking to Griffin, he learns how fundamentally flawed the British empire is.
* {{Calling The Old Man Out}}: Two notable times.

* {{Despair Event Horizon}}: After all the trauma he endures, Robin finally crosses it after [[spoiler: Ramy’s death.]]
* {{Heroic Bastard}}: [[spoiler: Professor Lovell was his father.]]
* {{Meaningful Rename}}: Downplayed, changes his name to “Robin Swift” to better fit into British society when Professor Lovell tells him he has to pick an English name, and we never do find out his original, Chinese name.
* {{Missing Mom}} Robin’s mother died from cholera when he was 10.
* {{My God What Have I Done}}: Consumed by rage after a heated argument and his realization that he was nothing but an asset, [[spoiler: Robin uses a silver bar designed to blow a hole in the chest of it’s victim on his father.]] He immediately regrets it and begs him to wake up.

* {{The Reason You Suck Speech}}: His argument with Lovell at the end of Book III.

* {{The Ace}}: Sir Horace Wilson noticed Ramy’s strength when it came to learning and absorbing languages early on, and was the one who proposed sending him to England.
* {{Affectionate Nickname}}: Is the one who nicknames Robin “Birdie”, after knowing him for less than a day.
* {{Alliterative Name}} '''R'''amiz '''R'''afi Mirza.
* {{Attack On The Heart}}: [[spoiler: This is how he goes out.]]
* {{Deadpan Snarker}}: Especially towards Letty.

* {{Playing Up The Stereotype}}: Ramy changes his behavior, accent, and mannerisms depending on the person’s perception of him.
* {{What The Hell Hero}}: To Robin [[spoiler: regarding him not telling him and Victoire about Hermes.]]

* {{Dont You Dare Pity Me}}: When Robin tries to offer Griffin money to buy a thicker coat during winter, he refuses. Robin notes that he’s too proud to accept help.

* {{Good Is Not Nice}}

* {{Jerk With A Heart Of Gold}}: He’s brash, condescending, and snarky, but he damn if he won’t give risk his life for Hermes.

* AbusiveParents: At best, he's emotionally distant to Robin. At worst, he's physically abusive.

* {{Attention Whore}}: Lampshaded by Ramy and eventually Robin

* {{Hates Their Parent}}: Griffin despises Lovell, and it’s not hard to see why.

* {{PetTheDog}}: Typically closed off to Robin but gifts him Oliver Twist since he likes Dickens.
* {{The Unfavorite}}: When it turns out that Griffin didn’t remember enough Chinese to be useful to the empire, Lovell (who held the opinion that silver-working was the only course at Babel that mattered) tossed him aside. Lovell explicitly tells Robin that he’s “everything Griffin isn’t.

* {{Attention Whore}}: Lampshaded by Ramy

* NeverMyFault: When her relationship with Victoire is fractured due to her racist comments about Vodou, Letty claims Victoire brought it on herself.

-> She’s just being Letty,’ said Ramy when pressed about it. ‘She wants attention, and she thinks throwing a tantrum is the way to get it.

* {{QuitYourWhining}}: It’s I mplied that she constantly brings up the topic of Anthony disappearing on an expedition to get a reaction from Victoire. She ends up on the receiving end of this from Victoire, who brushes her off.

* {{Clingy Jealous Girl}}: She’s pissed with Ramy after he declines her invitation to dance, and spends most of the night weeping into Robin’s shoulder. Later on, when she [[spoiler: takes his life, Robin theorizes that it was because he rejected her and she couldn’t bear the humiliation.]]

* {{Heroic Sacrifice}}

* {{Patricide}}

* {{Stereotypical South Asian English}}: See above.

* {{Black and Nerdy}}

* {{Badass Longcoat}}

* {{The Unfettered}}: See above.