History Characters / BlackLagoonHotelMoscow

* AffablyEvil: Balalaika is generally calm, collected, funny, will occasionally spare people's lives on the grounds that they amuse her, is usually willing to negotiate before resorting to violence, and has only lost her temper once in the entire series. However, if negotiations don't go her way, she won't even blink before [[DissonantSerenity casually gunning down everyone in the room.]]

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: The name "Sofiya Irininskaya Pavlovna" is a typical case of ''klukva''[[note]] (nonsense that foreigners commonly think is accurate about Russia)[[/note]]. The order of names is totally wrong (it should be "Sofiya Pavlovna Irininskaya"), and the last name sounds really fake to real Russians.

* PetTheDog: Like Balalaika, he too has a bit of a soft spot for Rock and values his assistance in high regard.

* BigGood: To the [[VillainProtagonist main characters]] and anyone she looks after and/or gives jobs to. She treats them well and usually comes to lend a hand dealing with competing evils. Of course, this is only provided there's something in it for her and they don't get on her bad side; her true loyalty only lies with her war comrades. Case in point; though she's amused by Rock's {{Adorkable}} nature and takes a liking to him, the one time he pushes her too far with accusations and demands, she doesn't hesitate to flip him on the roof of a car and put a gun to his head.

A Corporal and ember of the [[BadassArmy Vysotniki]]

%%According to the timeline, Balalaika can't be older than mid-thirties; please stop including the GrandmaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave trope here

* YoungerThanTheyLook: It says a lot about what life's done to her that people keep trying to add the "GrandmaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave" trope to a character canonically in her late thirties.

[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/balalaika.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:225:''"When things get stirred up, they're stirred up like a typhoon."'']]

* BigBeautifulMan: Inverted, as he is very muscular with wide set shoulders.

* MenOfSherwood: With their military training and experience several characters not that they're the deadliest faction in Roanapur in terms of number and skill. Though Hansel and Gretel could pick off individuals and pairs, when the whole group organized against them the duo were forced into a retreat; Hansel even complained that they were too quick and heavily armed for him to kill any.

* ConsumateProfessional: Boris always remains formal, civil, and businessman like. His interactions with the Lagoon company are always polite and while Balalaika can sometimes indulge in the dramatic, Boris remains quiet and professional. During the Yakuza arc he hides his bloodlust much better than Balalaika does but still casually opines that he wishes they could just kill them all and be done with it. When things get heated with Rock, Boris doesn't hesitate to pull a gun on Revy business relations or no.

* WouldHitAChild: Though it's something he's not happy about, he and Balalaika did kill children during the Afghan war. [[spoiler:Later he orders Hansel shot]].

* NotSoStoic: [[spoiler: Hansel's slow death rattled him to his core]].

%%* MauveShirt

* HumanPincushion: Remember that mention of horrifying? The other reason he was introduced was part of being a demonstration on how [[CreepyTwins insane Hansel and Gretel]] are.

Member of the [[BadassArmy Vysotniki]]

* AdaptationalLateAppearance: He only shows up to die in the manga but the anime debuts him in episode 9 during Roberta's arc. He reports in on the destruction of Bao's bar as well as revealing to the audience that Bao survived.

He is a corporal and member of the [[BadassArmy Vysotniki]].

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: The name "Sofiya Irininskaya Pavlovna" is a typical case of ''klukva''[[note]] (nonsense that foreigners commonly think is accurate about Russia)[[/note]]. The [[NameOrderConfusion order of names is totally wrong]] (it should be "Sofiya Pavlovna Irininskaya"), and the last name sounds really fake to real Russians.

[[/folder]]

--> ''"Hotel Moscow will show no mercy to anything in its way. We will reject it and annihilate it. Family, friends, even the pet dog if necessary."''

* {{Bishounen}}: According [[http://manga.animea.net/black-lagoon-chapter-55-page-24.html to one of the omakes]], he used to be a scrawny and incredibly androgynous-looking boy in his teenage years (the ShoutOut to ''Manga/RoseOfVersailles'' was very obvious), so to fix this, he joined the Army and [[TookALevelInBadass took 20 levels in badass]]. Even more hilarious is that everyone, even Balalaika, told him he was an idiot for doing such a thing.

* PowerHair: Averted. She is powerful, feared and a strategist but she has the long, flowing, slightly wavy tresses usually worn by weak and fragile [[DamselInDistress damsels in distress]].

* {{Asexuality}}: Even though she can get flirtatious with guys like Rock or Mr. Chang, she finds sex boring and uninteresting, and has no real sex life to speak of. There's also her completely bored-to-death look when she edits porn videos[[note]]Although anyone who edits videos for a living can tell you that after the first 30 minutes even porn gets boring when you're editing them[[/note]].

* TheBaroness: She's a blend of both types with her statuesque build and her massively scarred body and face. She is described by the main characters as one of the scariest women on Earth...and they aren't exaggerating. Head of the Roanapur chapter of Hotel Moscow, ex-Soviet Afghanistan veteran, and Olympic-level marksman (if the Soviet Union hadn't boycotted the Olympics that she was planning to participate in). Only two people in the entire series has crossed her/gotten on her bad side and walked away with everything still intact.

* GoodScarsEvilScars:
** Balalaika has a large part of one side of her face scarred as a result of the war. She's sometimes called "Fry Face" because of it. She still manages to look attractive regardless.
** The first time you see her arms in Chapter 64.
** The swimsuit special by the author/artist shows that it's actually most of her torso. (Assuming the doujin is canon).

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:Killing Chen by tying him up in his own apartment and blowing him up for attempting to kill the Lagoon company.]]

* {{Lzherusskie}}: The name "Sofiya Irininskaya Pavlovna" is a typical case of ''klukva''[[note]] (nonsense that foreigners commonly think is accurate about Russia)[[/note]]. The [[NameOrderConfusion order of names is totally wrong]] (it should be "Sofiya Pavlovna Irininskaya"), and the last name sounds really fake to real Russians.

* [[MeaningfulName Meaningful Nickname]]: Russian soldiers sometimes called their Dragunovs (or less commonly Mosin Nagants) "balalaikas"[[note]]A famous Russian stringed instrument[[/note]] due to the distinctive sound they make when they fire. In the Afghan War, she was regarded as the ace sniper in her unit - if not one of the best in the USSR - and thus the nickname for her rifle stuck to her.

* BigGood: To the [[VillainProtagonist main protagonists]] and anyone she looks after and/or gives jobs to. She treats them well and usually comes to lend a hand dealing with competing evils. Of course, this is only provided there's something in it for her and they don't get on her bad side; her true loyalty only lies with her war comrades. Case in point; though she's amused by Rock's {{Adorkable}} nature and takes a liking to him, the one time he pushes her too far with accusations and demands, she doesn't hesitate to flip him on the roof of a car and put a gun to his head.

* AMotherToHerMen: Balalaika's concern for her subordinates are her a large source of her PetTheDog moments. If you attack ''any'' of her men, [[MamaBear you will be DEAD]]. Note this extends to her part-time employees as well, most notably the Lagoon Company. She might be utterly ruthless, but her recurring trait is her unswerving loyalty to her comrades, regardless of duration.

* UsedToBeASweetKid: Heavy emphasis on the ''used to be'' part.

* BerserkButton: One of the surest ways to get on Balalaika's bad side is to torture or kill any of her men.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: A balalaika is a type of stringed instrument, but it's also Russian military slang for a Dragunov sniper rifle (which Balalaika used during the Soviet-Afghan War).