History Characters / HyperLightDrifter

* ArcherArchetype: The Archer uses a massive EnergyBow to fire arrows and bombs.

* MementoMori: Their importance to one of the game's themes. On one hand, they pose no threat to the Drifter. On the other, they seem to weigh heavily on his thoughts: the Titans' decaying corpses loom over both the Drifter's nightmares and the waking world he walks. The Drifter is already acutely aware of his own mortality, and the colossal wrecks of the Titans are an overwhelming reminder that even the most powerful can die.

* PlaguedByNightmares: Starting from the NightmareIntroduction, the dreams and visions only get worse.

* DyingWalk: [[spoiler:When the Drifter falls off the defeated Immortal Cell, he leaves his LaserBlade impaled in it. He can walk out of the BossRoom but cannot heal, dash, or attack. He leaves a TrailOfBlood where he walks, and clearly will not make it out of the collapsing ruin.]]

* ArtificialHuman:[[spoiler: A plausible interpretation.

** [[spoiler: ArtificialHuman]]: A plausible interpretation.

* [[spoiler:TheHeroDies: Implied by the regular ending. All but confirmed by the special image you can view after beating the game on NG+: the Drifter's corpse is near the bonfire, except there is no fire now, his clothes are ragged, and his body appears covered with cobwebs.]]
** [[spoiler: DyingWalk: When the Drifter falls off the defeated Immortal Cell, he leaves his LaserBlade impaled in it. He can walk out of the BossRoom but cannot heal, dash, or attack. He leaves a TrailOfBlood where he walks, and clearly will not make it out of the collapsing ruin.]]
** [[spoiler: DyingDream: Implied as the Drifter sits down to rest under a familiar statue. The game ends with a vision of the Jackal leaving through the same door seen in the intro. The Drifter gets a beautiful view of the surface world, a wound seems to open in his abdomen, and he slumps to one knee.]]

The main PlayerCharacter, the Drifter suffers from a mysterious, terminal illness and is on a quest to FindTheCure by looking for something known as the Immortal Cell. It will not be easy and, as it becomes apparent later on, they are not the first to search for the Cell.

* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Has very distinctive cyan skin, and their eyes are black.

* BloodFromTheMouth: A symptom of their illness is coughing up blood.

* TheDrifter: As the title suggests, this character seems to be an unattached wanderer. Near the starting campsite is a storm-battered boat in which they presumably came to the land.
* FragileSpeedster: Compared to tough enemies, the Drifter cannot take many hits. They can only win with speed and judicious use of HealingPotion.

* [[spoiler:TheHeroDies: Implied by the regular ending. All but confirmed by the special image you can view after beating the game on NG+: the Drifter's corpse is near the bonfire, except there is no fire now, and their clothes are ragged, and their body seems covered with cobwebs.]]
** [[spoiler: DyingWalk: When the Drifter falls off the defeated Immortal Cell, they leave their LaserBlade impaled in it. They can walk out of the BossRoom but cannot heal, dash, or attack. They leave a TrailOfBlood where they walk, and clearly will not make it out of the collapsing ruin.]]
** [[spoiler: DyingDream: Implied as the Drifter sits down to rest under a familiar statue. The game ends with a vision of the Jackal leaving through the same door seen in the intro. The Drifter gets a beautiful view of the surface world, a wound seems to open in their abdomen, and they slump to one knee.]]

* RobotBuddy: The Drifter is accompanied by a small companion drone, which is capable of interfacing with machines to activate switches, doors and other devices. Alternative drone designs are part of the beneficial outfits you can collect, allowing the drone to serve as a perk slot.

* TheMusketeer: Though primarily a user of blades, the Drifter is no stranger to the use of sidearms and long-arms. They may use a sword and carry two ranged weapons, fluidly switching between all three as the situation demands. Only a basic pistol is available initially, but the Drifter can find five other weapons.

An ally who saves the Drifter after they briefly pass out from their illness. Implied to be a capable warrior and guide, they help the Drifter by pointing out the locations of the Modules in each region. They too seem to be guided by the Jackal and are aware of the threat of Judgement.

* BaitAndSwitch: Appears just after the Jackal in the first three areas, and shares a pink color scheme, which can lead players to assume that the Guardian is the Jackal in human form. [[spoiler: But they die in the South Zone, while the Jackal is unrelated. Attentive players can also see the Jackal with the Guardian after they rescue the Drifter at the beginning of the game, though it's partially hidden by foliage and easy to miss.]]
* CrusadingWidower: As they reveal in the South zone, the loss of their spouse and child to the sickness led them to start following the Jackal.

* NiceGuy: All but stated: they move the drifter to their house after he passes out from his sickness, some NPC dialogue shows that they saved several citizens of the Central City from certain death, and whenever they are first talked to in a new zone, they give the Drifter the map location of all modules within it.

* RescueIntroduction: The Drifter has a coughing fit and passes out. The Guardian picks them up and brings them to their house to recover.

* FallenHero: {{Implied}}. He wields a [[TheMusketeer sword and gun]] like the Drifter, and when [[spoiler: he dies he emits a shadowy aura like other corpses.]] This suggests he was one of TheChosenMany like the protagonist.
* FlunkyBoss: Will occasionally attempt to free minions from the crystals in the arena. Alternatively, you can [[spoiler:trick him into smashing them.]]

Boss of the North Zone. A titanic robed avian that does not attack directly, instead using many area-based attacks and summoning weaker minions to distract the Drifter.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Absolutely the case here: He's the leader of the north cultists and a powerful foe.

* LargeAndInCharge: Bosses aregenerally large in this game, but the Hierophant is ''big''; easily twice the height of the Drifter- and he's also the leader of the evil bird cultists.

* TotemPoleTrench: [[spoiler:As his death animation shows, he's actually a very tiny bird-man standing on the shoulders of a much larger creature.]]

* BigEater: Upon introduction, it eats a mouse-person before the fight.

* BigBad: The Drifter's greatest enemy and the source of their struggles.

* ColorMotifs: A [[PurpleIsPowerful garish magenta]] is the color of all its attacks. This is also the color of Drifter's blood in cutscenes, as well as mysterious pylons and containers that crackle in a way that's evocative of a Geiger counter. [[spoiler: And it is also the color of the Modules themselves, hinting at some unclear connection between them]].

* CoupDeGraceCutscene: Unlike most other bosses, Judgement does not does not immediately "die" when it is defeated. It sits there, breathing heavily, unable to move, attack, or defend itself. [[spoiler: The Drifter must deliberately finish it off -- with a non-standard flourish of strikes culminating in a leap and a SwordPlant, driving their LaserBlade deep into Judgement's body. Then, in an OminousVisualGlitch, Judgement vanishes and it appears that the Drifter instead fatally stabbed the Immortal Cell. Torrents of AlienBlood [[HighPressureBlood gush out of the Cell]] as it dies.]]

* TheJuggernaut: Absolutely huge and, until the FinalBattle, absolutely unstoppable. It constantly follows the Drifter as they take the Modules and will effortlessly destroy them in their visions.
* LightningBruiser: It not only boasts the power of a godlike entity, its speed is just as insane. It ''will'' knock the Drifter over if they are in the way of its DashAttack.

* NightmareSequence: It dominates the terrifying visions of the main character. It removes any doubt of its malevolence when it brutally ''kills'' the Drifter multiple times in these dreams. The Drifter never faces it "in person" until the very end, but it is obvious they fear Judgement as early as the DreamIntro.

* GreaterScopeVillain: Judgement might be the Drifter's main threat, but the Titans are what nearly destroyed the world in the first place and their influence is still felt to this day.
* MementoMori: Their importance to one of the game's themes. On one hand, they pose no threat to the Drifter. On the other, they seem to weigh heavily on their thoughts: the Titans' decaying corpses loom over both the Drifter's nightmares and the waking world they walk. The Drifter is already acutely aware of their own mortality, and the colossal wrecks of the Titans are an overwhelming reminder that even the most powerful can die.
* OutsideContextProblem: They're long dead by the time of the game, but there seems to be no explanation to what they were or why they existed. Doesn't help that their first act was to destroy ''everything''.

* AnimalisticAbomination: It's not clear what the Jackal is, but for sure it's no ordinary hound.
* GodsHandsAreTied: [[spoiler:Due to Judgement apparently stealing its powers, the Jackal is unable to defeat it and must call for outside help from the drifters. Outside of appearing in visions to guide the drifters, it can't offer any more assistance.]]

* TheMagicGoesAway: Suggested by the BittersweetEnding. [[spoiler: The shimmering light hanging above the land rises and dissipates, impling the Jackal is leaving. It gives a calm look through a closing door, as if bidding goodbye. However, this seems to be because it is finally free now that the Immortal Cell is destroyed.]]
* MysteriousWatcher: Appears to be watching the Drifter and the Guardian, as well as their progress, for some unknown reason. [[spoiler:It seems to be doing so to determine their skill and worthiness, to see if they're fit to defeat Judgement.]]

This character may only be seen in a faint holographic image each time the Drifter activates a monolith. Like the inscriptions themselves, the character's appearance is hidden and easy to miss. Like the Drifter, they wear a cloak and interface with the monolith through a drone.