History Characters / DeadCells

The protagonist and playable character of the game. The Beheaded is a sentient, mobile clump of cells capable of possessing bodies. His main goal is to discover the secrets of the island and kill the King in hopes to end the continuous cycle.

* AllThereInTheManual: A minor example. His species is never specified in game, but ''The Heart of Dead Cells'' book refers to him as a homunculus.

* ButtMonkey: The trailers treat him as kind of a chump. While he is shown to get to get progressively more badass with each trailer, he inevitably dies at the end in an pathetic way, culminating in him accidentally impaling himself on a rock while attempting to kill a mushroom child.
* CompleteImmortality: While his bodies can (and will) die, the mass of cells that make up his consciousness can't. He can't even take damage in this form. His core is immune to damage from spikes and traps and if it falls in lava, it simply teleports back to his body with no damage.

* FlamingHair / FlamingSkulls: When the clump of cells fully takes over a body, they disappear and the Beheaded has a flaming...thing...where the body's head ought to be.
* GenderBender: Physically in any case. Wearing one of the Time Keeper's, Mama Tick's, Servants' and Queen's outfits results in a noticeably more feminine looking body for the Beheaded to possess.

* HeroicMime: Played with. He never speaks when interacting with others, emoting through gestures. When examining objects and background elements, however, his thoughts are visible to the player. This implies [[spoiler:and is eventually confirmed by the Collector]] that he can't actually speak. Probably because he has no mouth. [[spoiler:It's averted when the Beheaded reclaims his body, as there's not only dialogue, but a sound effect implying that he's talking.]]

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: The Beheaded isn't really a nice person. He's [[AxCrazy absurdly violent]] and seems indifferent to the suffering of others, only acting according to his own desires. Despite this, he doesn't approve of the King's actions (executing his own soldiers and imprisoning innocents under the suspicion that they were infected) and does want to end the Malaise for good.

** [[LampshadedTrope Lampshaded]] by [[spoiler:the Collector prior to his boss fight. Notably, he doesn't even care that he's doomed the island by killing the only person that could create the cure to the Malaise]].

* TronLines: Some of the skins give him glowing lights, who change colours depending on if the player is using a weapon and which one.
* UndeadBarefooter: Outside of certain outfits and some weapons, doesn't bother to put shoes on the corpses he possesses. His bare feet are hard to see in-game, so it's mostly visible in artwork and [[spoiler:the final ending, where he stomps the Collector to death]].
* VictoryIsBoring: [[spoiler:During the final ending, he's gotten everything he wanted. He's brought an end to the cycle of death and rebirth that plagued him for the entire game, his mind and body are joined together again, and the Panacea has made him immune to the Malaise. However, his kingdom is lost, very few (if any) are left alive and sane, and he admits that it was more fun running through the sewers.]]

* KilledOffscreen: We don't get to see how the Tutorial Knight dies, though it ends up with her losing an arm and being run through, among other things.
* WeHardlyKnewYe: She's killed off rather abruptly after only a few runs through the game. Her corpse remains at the entrance to the Promenade of the Condemned for each run afterwards.

A scientist whom was working for the King in searching a cure for the Malaise. His notes can be found in nearly every biome, telling of his attempts and/or his thoughts on the area.

* ApocalypticLog: Throughout the game, you can find grimoires that document his attempts to cure the Malaise.

* BulletHell: On her final phase, one of her attacks is this, where she'll make all platforms disappear, fly to the ceiling, and shoot bullets all over the place.

* TheDragon: Of Dracula, of course. If you take the normal route to Dracula's Castle, he'll make sure you never set foot in the Master's Keep.

* OneHitKill: If he hits you directly with his scythe, he gets an orb that rotates around him. This does no damage, but if he gets six of them, he binds you with chains and delivers a one hit kill to you. You can survive it with Disengagement or Ygdar Orus Li Ox, however.
* SinisterScythe: He has a wicked looking dual scythe unique to this game. You can get it for yourself if you beat him.
* WakeUpCallBoss: He's a tier ''one'' boss, on the same level as the Concierge and Conjonctivius. He's ''much'' more challenging than any other boss on that tier, however.

The boss fought in the Clock Room. The Time Keeper is a TimeMaster in the service of the King. She requested that the King build the Clock Tower, and attempts to stave the effects of the Malaise by trapping the entire island in a GroundhogDayLoop.

* DualWielding:She appears to carry two blades of varying lengths and uses them quite well.
* GroundhogDayLoop: She enforces this. A letter you can find in a room in the Clock Tower reveals she's been repeating the same day over and over again. It is also implied that her task makes her increasingly exhausted, as the number of executions decreases each day.

* KilledOffscreen: We don't get to see how the Tutorial Knight dies.

* TheReveal: [[spoiler:The Beheaded is actually the King's mind.]]

* BigBad: He's built up to be this at first. [[spoiler:The truth is ''far'' more complicated, however.]]

* LackOfEmpathy: [[LampshadedTrope Lampshaded]] by [[spoiler:the Collector prior to his boss fight. Notably, he doesn't even care that he's doomed the island by killing the only person that could create the cure to the Malaise]].

* {{BFG}}: Euterpe uses a huge bow called the Gilded Yumi. It's worth noting that when the Beheaded uses it, he can barely pull the bow, yet Euterpe fires off arrows in rapid succession.

[[/folder]]

* DevelopersForesight: If you fight Dracula using one of the Castlevania exclusive costumes, he'll deliver dialogue appropriate to that character. In the case of Richter and Alucard, the dialogue is ripped directly from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight''.

* OrcusOnHisThrone: Exceptionally [[AvertedTrope averted]] to an extent. If you enter his castle after clearing the Clock Tower, instead of sipping his human juice while waiting for you, Dracula will appears sporadically in the biome to hinder you[[note]]He will appear, do one action, and then disappear. This ranges from poisoning nearby food items, siccing bats on you, inverting the screen for a few seconds, turning a monster into an Elite, or just shooting a fireball at you[[/note]]. He is, however, untargetable, and you won't be able to actually fight him until you reach his throne room.

* BareYourMidriff: Her outfit includes a generous portion of this.

* ContractualBossImmunity: His second form is the only enemy in the entire game completely immune to all forms of crowd control such as freezing, rooting, and even slowdown.

* DevelopersForesight: If you fight Dracula using one of the Castlevania exclusive costumes, he'll deliver dialogue appropriate to that character. In the case of Richter and Alucard, the dialogue is ripped directly from ''VideoGame/SymphonyOfTheNight''.

[[folder:The Time Keeper]]
!!The Time Keeper
The boss fought in the Clock Room. The Time Keeper is a TimeMaster in the service of the King. She requested that the King build the Clock Tower, and attempts to stave the effects of the Malaise by trapping the entire island in a GroundhogDayLoop.

The very same Dracula from the VideoGame/{{Castlevania}} franchise, introduced in the aptly-named ''Return to Castlevania'' DLC.

* OrcusOnHisThrone: Exceptionally [[AvertedTrope averted]] to an extent. If you enter his castle after clearing the Clock Tower, instead of sipping his human juice while waiting for you, Dracula will appears sporadically in the biome to attack you. He is, however, untargetable, and you won't be able to actually fight him until you reach his throne room.

The very same [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/CastlevaniaDracula Dracula]] from the VideoGame/Castlevania franchise, introduced in the aptly-named ''Return to Castlevania'' DLC.

* TurnsRed: If you parry her too much, crowd control her too much, kick her off the stage too many times, or don't do much damage to her, she goes into an enraged state and gets a ''lot'' more aggressive.

* FacelessEye: Frequently depicted as this in animated trailers and certain more light-hearted post-launch artwork with a cartoonishly expressionate eyeball at the center of the flame-like mass where his head should be. It's more ambiguous in-game and in more somber artwork in which he instead has more of an odd glowing yellow core that possibly functions as an eyeball.