History Characters / LifeIsStrangeBlackwellFaculty

* AmbiguousDisorder: Is definitely strange enough, and has abnormal enough manners of speech and behavior, to consider he might have some. Autism has been suggested, as have various degrees of schizophrenia (or schizotypal personality disorder), although it's hard to imagine a schizophrenic in a bad enough situation to be regularly talking to animals and believing that they receive visions from the dead would be allowed to work around teenagers. Seems to be implied by the game, as Episode 1 shows someone wrote "'tard!" (slang for "retard") on his parking space, hinting at whatever disorder he might have being known about (or at least rumored) by the students.

* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: Though not a particularly useful one.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Is definitely strange enough, and has abnormal enough manners of speech and behavior, to consider he might have some. Autism has been suggested, as have various degrees of schizophrenia (or schizotypal personality disorder), although it's hard to imagine a schizophrenic in a bad enough situation to be regularly talking to animals and believing that they receive visions from the dead would be let to work around children. Seems to be implied by the game, as Episode 1 shows someone wrote "'tard!" (slang for "retard") on his parking space, hinting at whatever disorder he might have being known about (or at least rumored) by the students.

** In ''Before The Storm,'' he's shown to not be supportive of Chloe, and seems keen on the idea of expelling her due to her juvenile behaviour. However, if she shows up to school with a black eye, he shows genuine concern (seemingly believing the bruise is the result of a domestic issue) and suggests she speak to the school counselor. This shows that despite their ''very'' rocky relationship, he cares about her safety just as much as he does about any other student's.

[[center: [-[[Characters/LifeIsStrange Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeTheProtagonists The Protagonists]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeMainCharacters The Main Characters]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeOtherBlackwellStudents Other Blackwell Students]] | '''Blackwell Faculty''' | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeArcadiaBayResidents Arcadia Bay Residents]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrange2 Season 2 Characters]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeHavenSpringsResidents Haven Springs Residents]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeComicSupportingCharacters Comic Supporting Characters]]]]-]

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/216ec8bde744f8eb453cabc5243146ec.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:Always take the shot.]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Derek Phillips (English), Masahiro Yamanaka (Japanese)

A highly reputable and somewhat famous photography teacher at Blackwell, admired by many of his students.
* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler: As a ParentalSubstitute to Nathan, he is verbally and emotionally abusive, and even kills him once he has [[YouHaveOutLivedYourUsefulness no further use for him]].]]
* AccidentalHero: [[spoiler:If Arcadia Bay was sacrificed to the storm, in the sequel, Victoria bitterly notes in a letter to David how he effectively saved her life by throwing her in his underground Dark Room]].
* AmbiguousDisorder: [[spoiler: Not only does he shows some OCD traits during his "photoshoot sessions", it is also very likely that he has some form of personality disorder thanks to his LackOfEmpathy.]]
* ArchEnemy: [[spoiler: He cements himself as Max's after kidnapping her and killing Chloe in front of her. On the flipside, Max is responsible for his downfall in every timeline where they meet.]]
* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Jefferson is a remorseless murderer. If David kills him, Max is only upset because of [[HeroicBSOD David's mental state]] rather than the fact that Jefferson is dead.]]
* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:Once his true colors are revealed, Jefferson shows himself to be a batshit insane psychopath who kidnaps and drugs teenage girls to take photographs of them in a vulnerable state. He can also show violent outbursts if Max messes up his shots, and kills Nathan, Victoria, Chloe and David in cold blood (and the last two is ''on-screen'')]].
* BadassBookworm: He's surprisingly skilled at fighting for a photographer. [[spoiler:David will require a lot of help from Max to defeat him.]]
* BadassInANiceSuit: [[spoiler: He wears a nice suit while fighting David.]]
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: His potential death at the hands of David is undone once Max goes back in time to prevent Chloe from going to the Vortex Club party.]]
* BadBoss: [[spoiler: He killed Nathan shortly before Episode 5 because the boy was an "amateur", as Jefferson himself put it, and that's not counting how coldly he treats Nathan as seen in his texts and notes to him.]]
* BeardOfEvil: Sports a goatee [[spoiler: and is the one behind a good deal of Blackwell's troubles.]]
-->'''David's Laptop Note''': [[spoiler:Never trust a grown man with a goatee.]]
* BerserkButton: [[spoiler: He positively ''explodes'' when Max ruins his shots while he's trying to take photos of her.]]
* BigBad: [[spoiler:Episode 5 reveals that he kidnapped and drugged Kate, and at least planned to do the same to Rachel. He murders Chloe and drugs Max at the end of Episode 4, possibly murders Victoria in the beginning of Episode 5 (if she was successfully warned by Max) and murders Nathan before the Vortex Party]].
* BitchInSheepsClothing: At first glance, he's a pretty cool guy, often being friendly and kind to his students and generally being a swell guy to be around. Then he resorts to victim blaming on the whole Kate situation in Episode 2. [[spoiler: He's also going around drugging girls and taking disturbing photographs of them, and he has been doing so for God knows how long. He also drugs Max, shoots Chloe in the head at the end of Episode 4, murders Nathan and possibly Victoria]].
* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord: [[spoiler: If Max says he used Nathan, he says he prefers the term "manipulated".]]
* BoomHeadshot:
** [[spoiler:He kills Chloe by shooting her in the head at the end of Episode 4]].
** If Max [[spoiler:tells David the truth that Jefferson murdered Chloe, David will snap and execute Jefferson with a headshot]].
* BoundAndGagged: [[spoiler: How he likes his "subjects." Once he's caught, he finds himself on the receiving end of this.]]
* BreakTheCutie: [[spoiler: Jefferson's motive. He enjoys kidnapping naive, innocent, idealistic girls and taking photos of them while they're in shock, fear, and misery losing their innocence. By the end of Episode 4, it's revealed he's taken it up a notch to KillTheCutie and kidnap TheCutie later.]]
* BrokenPedestal: Jefferson was the "biggest reason" Max came to Blackwell, and she viewed him with the utmost admiration and respect. [[spoiler:That is, until the end of episode 4 came.]]
* TheCameo: He is in talks to teach at Blackwell in a radio interview during Episode 2 of ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm'' [[spoiler:and is quite possibly the one taking pictures of Rachel in the Dark Room during TheStinger of Episode 3]]. A photography book by him can also be found in ''VideoGame/TheAwesomeAdventuresOfCaptainSpirit'', [[spoiler:and he is name-dropped by Victoria in a letter to David in ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2'' if Sacrifice Arcadia Bay was chosen]].
* ControlFreak: [[spoiler: Why he forces his victims to pose for him. If they move even slightly, he flips out and swears.]]
* CoolTeacher: Friendly, good sense of humor, and genuinely wants to help his students. Max thinks he can be a bit pretentious, but still thinks he means well. This suffers a bit in Episode 2, as he engages in a bit of UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming with Kate, even though it does sound like he's trying to help. Certainly, his tact in that situation could have been better, [[spoiler:and Max can actually call him on it during the meeting with the principal later, though his punishment is light compared to what can befall Nathan and David. Then comes Episode 4, which turns it on its head]].
* CountryMatters: [[spoiler:Jefferson says a C-word when he's dealing with Max's defiance.]]
* CreepySouvenir: [[spoiler:Keeps Chloe's necklace and Victoria's bracelet after he kills them in Episode 5]].
* DeadpanSnarker: He makes snide comments regarding students that annoy him.
* DevilInPlainSight: [[spoiler:Max's seemingly CoolTeacher is the real villain.]]
* DidntSeeThatComing: [[spoiler: He's genuinely shocked that Max knew David was coming to rescue her, which of course she did because of her rewind powers.]]
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: [[spoiler: There's no real reason to think he's anything but a kindly hipster photography teacher until shortly before TheReveal.]]
* {{Ephebophile}}: It's possible. There's rumors that he and Rachel slept together at some point ([[spoiler:which he doesn't deny, claiming that she was in love with him]]) and [[spoiler: all his known victims are (barely) 18 years old and even though there's no evidence he did anything sexual to them, his obsession with the innocence of teenage girls hints towards this.]]
* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler:He first came off as a CoolTeacher, though he later turned out to be an utterly unhinged MadArtist, kidnapper, and murderer.]]
* EvilCannotComprehendGood:
** [[spoiler:Jefferson mentions that he knows Max will be missed once he kills her... because she's such a talented photographer. He doubts anyone would mourn Chloe, on the other hand, because she's one of the "faux punk sluts" he despises.]]
** [[spoiler: Max can call him out for not actually caring about Nathan. Jefferson argues against this, as he thought he was genuinely talented. He fails to realize that Max was referring to caring about Nathan as a person, not an artist.]]
* EvilGloating: [[spoiler: Once he holds Max hostage, he begins bragging about his evil plan. As Max observes, given how easy it is to goad him into this and how much said gloating resembles his classroom technique, it's not hard to see [[{{Narcissist}} why he became a teacher.]]]]
* EvilMentor: Jefferson encourages Max's confidence and tries to nurture her photography. And then [[spoiler: he kidnaps and assaults her and comes close to murdering her.]]
* EvilSoundsDeep: [[spoiler:After Jefferson reveals his true colors in the Dark Room, he starts speaking in a low, menacing voice.]]
* EvilTeacher: Photography lecturer by day, [[spoiler: creepy MadArtist and eventual murderer by night]].
* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: He's considered the most attractive guy at school. [[spoiler: He's also a kidnapper, a sadist, and a mass murderer.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: [[spoiler:Despite the charming, 'hip' persona he puts on, Episode 4 shows his true personality and intentions are much, much darker and psychotic than was ever thought.]]
* ForTheEvulz: [[spoiler: His only true motive is pure [[{{Sadist}} sadism]].]]
* {{Foil}}: [[spoiler: To his [[TheDragon Dragon]], Nathan. While Nathan is an angry {{Jerkass}} who Max and Chloe almost immediately suspect, Jefferson is a seemingly NiceGuy who almost no one suspects. Nathan kills Chloe by accident, while Jefferson kills her quite deliberately. Finally, while Nathan eventually regrets his actions and apologizes to Max, Jefferson never once feels any remorse for his crimes.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:Has this in spades throughout the game. In Episode 1, where you control Max for the first time in his classroom, he already gives out a notable one. He lampshades it in Episode 5, when he jokes that Max would have figured out his true nature if she had just paid attention in class.]]
-->'''Mr. Jefferson''': [[spoiler:Seriously, though, I could frame any one of you in a dark corner and capture you in a moment of desperation. And any one of you could do that to me. Isn't that too easy? Too obvious? What if Arbus chose to capture people at the height of their beauty or innocence?]]
* FourEyesZeroSoul: He wears glasses and [[spoiler: is a sadistic murderer.]]
* TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin: Interestingly enough, even though we see multiple different possible timelines in Episode 5, with multiple different possible fates shown for most of the characters, Mark Jefferson's story always ends with him [[spoiler: either in prison or dead on the floor of the Dark Room]]. It seems that from the moment he came in conflict with Max, there was actually never any way for him to win.
* HasAType: "Open and honest" young girls, in contrast to the "cynical" models he remembers working with.
* HateSink: [[spoiler: He turns out to be the most despicable character in the game by a wide margin, responsible for drugging and kidnapping countless innocent teenage girls, manipulates the mentally ill Nathan to do his dirty work, and murders Chloe right in front of Max. Needless to say, it's an incredibly satisfying moment if David kills him.]]
* TheHeavy: [[spoiler:He and Nathan kidnapped and murdered Rachel, whose disappearance is the focal point of the first season. Many other girls suffered similar fates to Kate.]]
* HeroKiller: [[spoiler: He shoots Chloe in the head with a handgun at the very end of Episode 4.]]
* {{Hipster}}: He calls himself this in Episode 4. He definitely has the look down.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Max defeats him by using photographs in his Dark Room to travel back in time.]]
* HopeCrusher: [[spoiler: His hobby involves breaking innocent girls, photographing the exact moment when they lose hope.]]
* HotTeacher: Is considered this by many female students.
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** In his first appearance, he calls the Creator/DianeArbus method of photography "bullshit", stating that he could easily capture any member of his class in a moment of desperation. If you choose to look at his pictures set up outside in the school courtyard, his black-and-white pictures are (mostly) of women in dark, dirty environments, looking miserable.[[labelnote:Explanation]] Diane Arbus was known for her black-&-white photos of regular people that showed strong emotions, like desperation, and those photos occasionally tended toward the grotesque. In other words, Jefferson's work apes Arbus's method pretty much exactly.[[/labelnote]]
** He lectures the class about the moral implications of them spreading around and laughing at Kate's video, even though minutes earlier, he's seen lecturing Kate for that same video and blatantly tells Max that he [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming thinks the video is Kate's fault]]. While Max's conversation with him might have convinced him to be a little more sensitive, it's a rather charitable interpretation. [[spoiler:In hindsight, he may having been trying to drive her to suicide before she could remember that he took bondage photos of her.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: His true nature - he's genial at first, but once [[spoiler: his role as the kidnapper is revealed, he drops the act and reveals himself to be an incredibly narcissistic sociopath.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He belittles and victim blames Kate, but later expresses remorse and admits that he didn't fully understand her situation. [[spoiler: Then it's revealed he kidnapped and drugged Kate, along with a handful of other innocent teenage girls.]]
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: If Max tells David the truth about Jefferson killing Chloe in Episode 5, David will shoot Jefferson in the head, just like Jefferson shot Chloe in the head at the end of Episode 4.]]
* KickTheDog: He insinuates that Kate willingly participated in the viral video which is ruining her life because [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming she wanted attention.]] [[spoiler: However, he only says this just to make sure Kate commits suicide and won't remember him and the Dark Room later on]].
-->'''Mr. Jefferson''': But maybe she doth protest too much.
* LackOfEmpathy: [[spoiler:He sees his victims as "works of art" more than people.]]
* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:He mocks Max's selfies before tossing them in front of her in the Dark Room. She ''immediately'' uses them to go back in time and arrange his arrest.]]
** [[spoiler: After he's finally caught, he's left taped up and unconscious, just like his victims.]]
* LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler: Wears a white shirt in the Dark Room, in contrast to his black heart.]]
* {{Lust}}: Appears to have this for [[spoiler:young girls. At the very least, he gets off on seeing them in a state of helplessness and fear.]]
* MadArtist: [[spoiler:He keeps a large collection of photographs of the girls he's kidnapped, all of them taken with an artsy style and deliberate intent at aesthetics. Since his award-winning photos have consisted of women in grimy, miserable settings appearing in pain, it's possible he had been doing this long before he arrived at Blackwell.]]
* MadonnaWhoreComplex: [[spoiler: His obsession over "innocence" and "purity" is a deciding factor in his targets. This may also be why he actively avoids Victoria's advances so much, Victoria's AlphaBitch personality lessening his interest in her.]]
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:To Nathan Prescott, who was placed as a more apparent villain since Nathan was so openly rude and malicious.]]
* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler:Not only did he exploit Nathan's daddy issues to effectively turn him into a puppet, he uses his charisma to prevent Blackwell staff and students from even suspecting his ulterior motives. Later, in episode 5, he intends to put the entire blame for drugging Kate and the death of Rachel and Max on Nathan. Searching through the Dark Room after reveals how meticulous his plans were. One could also interpret his victim blaming towards Kate earlier as a subtle means of eliminating a loose thread where none would ever suspect him.]]
* MaskOfSanity: To the public Mr. Jefferson looks nothing else except a celebrity photographer, an old hipster and a cool teacher with the ocassional cocky tendencies, but in reality [[spoiler: he's a very obsessive and unstable Mad Artist.]]
* MoodSwinger: [[spoiler: During one of his photoshoots with Max, he goes from lustfully admiring her beauty to angrily admonishing her for ruining his shots.]]
* MotiveRant: [[spoiler:Jefferson's disturbing dialogue with Max in the dark room. He grew tired of the "faux punk sluts" of LA and wanted to capture youth and the corruption thereof instead. This artistic obsession with purity leads him to kidnap and photograph girls he sees as suitable subjects.]]
* {{Narcissist}}: [[spoiler:Jefferson thinks so highly of his art that he's convinced that his victims ''want'' to be kidnapped and made into his models. To say nothing of the fact that he thinks so highly of what are, essentially, bland black and white bondage photos.]]
* NiceGuy: At first. Despite sometimes being stern towards Max, or victim blaming Kate when her video is spread around, Mr. Jefferson seems to be a genuinely nice guy at heart. [[spoiler: Well, until Episode Four comes around and it's revealed he's actually the BigBad]].
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler: While bragging about how he'll get away with murdering Max, he throws her photo journal at her, which allows Max to use her powers to alter the timeline to prevent him from winning--she'd been previously unable to do this thanks to being tied to the chair.]]
* NightmareFetishist: [[spoiler: He loves drugging young girls, taping them up, and photographing their vacant faces as they lie sprawled out on the floor.]]
* NotSoDifferent: He tries to tell Max that they're one and the same, but she disagrees.
* OhCrap: [[spoiler: He didn't see David coming in to stop him and his criminal misdeeds.]]
* PetTheDog: A very minor case, but he'll grant Max's request for some water [[spoiler:before he tries to kill her. Unfortunately for Jefferson, this was a ploy so Max could help David stop him.]]
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: [[spoiler: He makes a few misogynistic remarks in episode 5, referring to Max as a "stupid bitch" and/or a "dumb cunt", and Chloe a "faux punk slut".]]
* {{Sadist}}: [[spoiler: Jefferson's sole motivation for all his crimes in the story is, in his own words, his obsession "with the idea of capturing that moment innocence evolves into corruption". By that, he means he's obsessed with watching innocent girls suffering. Models are too "cynical" for him, he wants to hurt pure, optimistic girls.]]
* SadistTeacher: [[spoiler: His UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming conversation with Kate becomes horrifyingly despicable once you know what he did to her]]. He's essentially [[spoiler: ''goading'' her into [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]]]].
* ScaryFlashlightFace: Makes a really frightening one [[spoiler:when Max points her cellphone's flashlight at him, the man who just drugged her and gunned down Chloe]].
* ShadowArchetype: [[spoiler: This guy here is what Max and Victoria will turn into if they take their obsession with photographic greatness too far; it's particularly disturbing considering that the player may have done similar to him already--making people like Victoria or Trevor suffer to take optional photographs, and rewinding so that the unfortunate subject doesn't remember it]]
* SharpDressedMan: Always dressed in a nice suit.
* TheSociopath: [[spoiler: He hides in plain sight under the guise of being a famous photographer while subtly influencing or manipulating those around him. By episode 5, he's nearly driven Kate to suicide (and will have succeeded if the player couldn't talk her down), has full access over the Prescott fortune by exploiting Nathan and puts together a ruse to pin everything he has done up until that point on him. This, despite no one at Blackwell suspecting a thing. It's further implied he may have done similar things for years considering he went on a "teaching tour" through several States prior to arriving at Arcadia Bay and has a cupboard full of binders of other women.]]
* SoftSpokenSadist: Speaks in a low, whispering voice [[spoiler: while talking down to his victims.]]
* StrawMisogynist: [[spoiler: His sadistic tendencies are targeted exclusively towards women, drugging and capturing innocent ("innocence" being a big deciding factor in his targets) high school girls where he photographs them in such states of vulnerability without their consent. When Max stirs from her drugged-out state using her time-travel abilities, [[MoodSwinger he throws massive tantrums]] and yells at her to stay still. He also manipulated Kate - who was clearly in an emotionally fragile state - into her suicide/attempt by implying that her unfortunate circumstances were 100% a result of her own actions while he himself was complicit in what happened to her.]]
* TeacherStudentRomance: Victoria is heavily implied to want one, though he shoots her down immediately when she makes that desire apparent in Episode 3. Several other female students indicate they would sleep with him given the chance. He's rumored to have actually slept with Rachel.
** In Episode 2, the player can find a note in the Junkyard from Rachel to Chloe that states she met a wonderful person and they hooked up. During their 2015 Charity Live Stream, Dontnod confirmed the person in the letter was him.
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: [[spoiler: He's really a sadist who's been abducting young girls from his class and photographing them in states of distress, but odds are you'd never guess that just by looking at him.]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: [[spoiler: He's a famous and renowned photographer. No one expected him to be the mastermind of the Dark Room.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: [[spoiler:The last ten seconds of Episode 4, which shows not Nathan, but ''him'' shooting Chloe and drugging Max to take her to the Dark Room, throw his whole characterization for a loop.]]
* WeakButSkilled: [[spoiler: For some reason, despite having no actual combat training, he's more than capable of overpowering and killing an armed ex-military veteran. In fairness, Jefferson does have the upper hand-- first catching David completely by surprise -- and striking him with a metal tripod or later running to grab his own gun after knocking away David's. Not even rewinding and changing things can effectively stop this outcome without multiple interventions, as Max learned the hard way.]]
* WhamShot: Seeing him [[spoiler: standing over Max in the junkyard, indicating ''he's'' the one that killed Chloe and drugged Max, and was the one behind the Kate and Rachel case the whole time]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler:It's unknown what became of Jefferson after Sacrifice Arcadia Bay. ''Life Is Strange 2'' reveals that David saved Victoria when he investigated the Dark Room, so it's possible that David somehow managed to subdue him and turn him over to the police, or even kill him, but it's never made clear.]]
* WouldHitAGirl: [[spoiler: His hobby involves a lot of young girls being violated for his own amusement.]]

* {{Ephebophile}}: It's possible. There's rumors that he and Rachel slept together at some point ([[spoiler:which he doesn't deny, claiming that she was in love with him]]) and [[spoiler: all his known victims are (barely) 18 years old and even there's no evidence he did anything sexual to them, he's obsession with the innocence of teenage girls hints towards this.]]

* {{Ephebophile}}: It's possible. There's rumors that he and Rachel slept together at some point ([[spoiler:which he doesn't deny, claiming that she was in love with him]]) and even though [[spoiler: all his known victims are (barely) 18 years old and there's no evidence he did anything sexual to them, he's obsession with the innocence of teenage girls hints towards this.]]

[[center: [-[[Characters/LifeIsStrange Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeTheProtagonists The Protagonists]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeMainCharacters The Main Characters]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeOtherBlackwellStudents Other Blackwell Students]] | '''Blackwell Faculty''' | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeArcadiaBayResidents Arcadia Bay Residents]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrange2 Season 2 Characters]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeComicSupportingCharacters Comic Supporting Characters]]]]-]

[[center: [-[[Characters/LifeIsStrange Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeTheProtagonists The Protagonists]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeMainCharacters The Main Characters]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeOtherBlackwellStudents Other Blackwell Students]] | '''Blackwell Faculty''' | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeArcadiaBayResidents Arcadia Bay Residents]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrange2 Life Is Strange 2 Characters]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeComicSupportingCharacters Comic Supporting Characters]]]]-]

[[center: [-[[Characters/LifeIsStrange Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeTheProtagonists The Protagonists]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeMainCharacters The Main Characters]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeOtherBlackwellStudents Other Blackwell Students]] | '''Blackwell Faculty''' | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeArcadiaBayResidents Arcadia Bay Residents]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrange2 Life Is Strange 2]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeComicSupportingCharacters Comic Supporting Characters]]]]-]

[[center: [-[[Characters/LifeIsStrange Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeTheProtagonists The Protagonists]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeMainCharacters The Main Characters]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeOtherBlackwellStudents Other Blackwell Students]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeBlackwellFaculty Blackwell Faculty]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeArcadiaBayResidents Arcadia Bay Residents]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrange2SupportingCharacters Season 2 Supporting Characters]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeComicSupportingCharacters Comic Supporting Characters]]]]-]

[[center: [-[[Characters/LifeIsStrange Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeTheProtagonists The Protagonists]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeMainCharacters The Main Characters]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeOtherBlackwellStudents Other Blackwell Students]] | '''Blackwell Faculty''' | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeArcadiaBayResidents Arcadia Bay Residents]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrange2SupportingCharacters Season 2 Supporting Characters]]]]-]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: In the finale, there are radio interviews revealing that Skip's band took off and he started achieving his well-deserved fame.

* DumbassHasAPoint: [[spoiler: After Kate's attempted (potentially successful) suicide, he correctly calls out Nathan, David, and Mr. Jefferson on how they all played a part in her down-spiral. He tells off [[NeverMyFault Nathan]] for not keeping control over the Vortex Club parties, which allowed the creation of Kate's embarrassing video, leading to her public humiliation. He tells off [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy David]] for his lack of security since she was able to go up on the roof of the girl's dormitory since he had no secure locks to prevent her from jumping. And he calls out [[WhatTheHellHero Jefferson]] for failing to notice her obvious suicidal tendencies and UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming her.]]

* HiddenDepths: [[spoiler:Without the Prescotts interfering with Blackwell, he has been shown to have a sense of humor and is a lot more easy going. Max's diary even states that he's a lot cooler without the Prescotts bullying him.]]
** Badmouth him to Ms. Grant and she'll tell you how he saved the school from financial ruin, and advise Max to not make judgements on people she doesn't really know.

[[folder:Principal Ray Wells]]

[[folder:Mark Jefferson]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/216ec8bde744f8eb453cabc5243146ec.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:Always take the shot.]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Derek Phillips (English), Masahiro Yamanaka (Japanese)

A highly reputable and somewhat famous photography teacher at Blackwell, admired by many of his students.

* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler: As a ParentalSubstitute to Nathan, he is verbally and emotionally abusive, and even kills him once he has [[YouHaveOutLivedYourUsefulness no further use for him]].]]
* AccidentalHero: [[spoiler:If Arcadia Bay was sacrificed to the storm, in the sequel, Victoria bitterly notes in a letter to David how he effectively saved her life by throwing her in his underground Dark Room]].
* AmbiguousDisorder: [[spoiler: Not only does he shows some OCD traits during his "photoshoot sessions", it is also very likely that he has some form of personality disorder thanks to his LackOfEmpathy.]]
* ArchEnemy: [[spoiler: He cements himself as Max's after kidnapping her and killing Chloe in front of her. On the flipside, Max is responsible for his downfall in every timeline where they meet.]]
* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Jefferson is a remorseless murderer. If David kills him, Max is only upset because of [[HeroicBSOD David's mental state]] rather than the fact that Jefferson is dead.]]
* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:Once his true colors are revealed, Jefferson shows himself to be a batshit insane psychopath who kidnaps and drugs teenage girls to take photographs of them in a vulnerable state. He can also show violent outbursts if Max messes up his shots, and kills Nathan, Victoria, Chloe and David in cold blood (and the last two is ''on-screen'')]].
* BadassBookworm: He's surprisingly skilled at fighting for a photographer. [[spoiler:David will require a lot of help from Max to defeat him.]]
* BadassInANiceSuit: [[spoiler: He wears a nice suit while fighting David.]]
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: His potential death at the hands of David is undone once Max goes back in time to prevent Chloe from going to the Vortex Club party.]]
* BadBoss: [[spoiler: He killed Nathan shortly before Episode 5 because the boy was an "amateur", as Jefferson himself put it, and that's not counting how coldly he treats Nathan as seen in his texts and notes to him.]]
* BeardOfEvil: Sports a goatee [[spoiler: and is the one behind a good deal of Blackwell's troubles.]]
-->'''David's Laptop Note''': [[spoiler:Never trust a grown man with a goatee.]]
* BerserkButton: [[spoiler: He positively ''explodes'' when Max ruins his shots while he's trying to take photos of her.]]
* BigBad: [[spoiler:Episode 5 reveals that he kidnapped and drugged Kate, and at least planned to do the same to Rachel. He murders Chloe and drugs Max at the end of Episode 4, possibly murders Victoria in the beginning of Episode 5 (if she was successfully warned by Max) and murders Nathan before the Vortex Party]].
* BitchInSheepsClothing: At first glance, he's a pretty cool guy, often being friendly and kind to his students and generally being a swell guy to be around. Then he resorts to victim blaming on the whole Kate situation in Episode 2. [[spoiler: He's also going around drugging girls and taking disturbing photographs of them, and he has been doing so for God knows how long. He also drugs Max, shoots Chloe in the head at the end of Episode 4, murders Nathan and possibly Victoria]].
* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord: [[spoiler: If Max says he used Nathan, he says he prefers the term "manipulated".]]
* BoomHeadshot:
** [[spoiler:He kills Chloe by shooting her in the head at the end of Episode 4]].
** If Max [[spoiler:tells David the truth that Jefferson murdered Chloe, David will snap and execute Jefferson with a headshot]].
* BoundAndGagged: [[spoiler: How he likes his "subjects." Once he's caught, he finds himself on the receiving end of this.]]
* BreakTheCutie: [[spoiler: Jefferson's motive. He enjoys kidnapping naive, innocent, idealistic girls and taking photos of them while they're in shock, fear, and misery losing their innocence. By the end of Episode 4, it's revealed he's taken it up a notch to KillTheCutie and kidnap TheCutie later.]]
* BrokenPedestal: Jefferson was the "biggest reason" Max came to Blackwell, and she viewed him with the utmost admiration and respect. [[spoiler:That is, until the end of episode 4 came.]]
* TheCameo: He is in talks to teach at Blackwell in a radio interview during Episode 2 of ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm'' [[spoiler:and is quite possibly the one taking pictures of Rachel in the Dark Room during TheStinger of Episode 3]]. A photography book by him can also be found in ''VideoGame/TheAwesomeAdventuresOfCaptainSpirit'', [[spoiler:and he is name-dropped by Victoria in a letter to David in ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2'' if Sacrifice Arcadia Bay was chosen]].
* ControlFreak: [[spoiler: Why he forces his victims to pose for him. If they move even slightly, he flips out and swears.]]
* CoolTeacher: Friendly, good sense of humor, and genuinely wants to help his students. Max thinks he can be a bit pretentious, but still thinks he means well. This suffers a bit in Episode 2, as he engages in a bit of UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming with Kate, even though it does sound like he's trying to help. Certainly, his tact in that situation could have been better, [[spoiler:and Max can actually call him on it during the meeting with the principal later, though his punishment is light compared to what can befall Nathan and David. Then comes Episode 4, which turns it on its head]].
* CountryMatters: [[spoiler:Jefferson says a C-word when he's dealing with Max's defiance.]]
* CreepySouvenir: [[spoiler:Keeps Chloe's necklace and Victoria's bracelet after he kills them in Episode 5]].
* DeadpanSnarker: He makes snide comments regarding students that annoy him.
* DevilInPlainSight: [[spoiler:Max's seemingly CoolTeacher is the real villain.]]
* DidntSeeThatComing: [[spoiler: He's genuinely shocked that Max knew David was coming to rescue her, which of course she did because of her rewind powers.]]
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: [[spoiler: There's no real reason to think he's anything but a kindly hipster photography teacher until shortly before TheReveal.]]
* {{Ephebophile}}: It's possible. There's rumors that he and Rachel slept together at some point ([[spoiler:which he doesn't deny, claiming that she was in love with him]]) and even though [[spoiler: all his known victims are (barely) 18 years old and there's no evidence he did anything sexual to them, he's obsession with the innocence of teenage girls hints towards this.]]
* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler:He first came off as a CoolTeacher, though he later turned out to be an utterly unhinged MadArtist, kidnapper, and murderer.]]
* EvilCannotComprehendGood:
** [[spoiler:Jefferson mentions that he knows Max will be missed once he kills her... because she's such a talented photographer. He doubts anyone would mourn Chloe, on the other hand, because she's one of the "faux punk sluts" he despises.]]
** [[spoiler: Max can call him out for not actually caring about Nathan. Jefferson argues against this, as he thought he was genuinely talented. He fails to realize that Max was referring to caring about Nathan as a person, not an artist.]]
* EvilGloating: [[spoiler: Once he holds Max hostage, he begins bragging about his evil plan. As Max observes, given how easy it is to goad him into this and how much said gloating resembles his classroom technique, it's not hard to see [[{{Narcissist}} why he became a teacher.]]]]
* EvilMentor: Jefferson encourages Max's confidence and tries to nurture her photography. And then [[spoiler: he kidnaps and assaults her and comes close to murdering her.]]
* EvilSoundsDeep: [[spoiler:After Jefferson reveals his true colors in the Dark Room, he starts speaking in a low, menacing voice.]]
* EvilTeacher: Photography lecturer by day, [[spoiler: creepy MadArtist and eventual murderer by night]].
* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: He's considered the most attractive guy at school. [[spoiler: He's also a kidnapper, a sadist, and a mass murderer.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: [[spoiler:Despite the charming, 'hip' persona he puts on, Episode 4 shows his true personality and intentions are much, much darker and psychotic than was ever thought.]]
* ForTheEvulz: [[spoiler: His only true motive is pure [[{{Sadist}} sadism]].]]
* {{Foil}}: [[spoiler: To his [[TheDragon Dragon]], Nathan. While Nathan is an angry {{Jerkass}} who Max and Chloe almost immediately suspect, Jefferson is a seemingly NiceGuy who almost no one suspects. Nathan kills Chloe by accident, while Jefferson kills her quite deliberately. Finally, while Nathan eventually regrets his actions and apologizes to Max, Jefferson never once feels any remorse for his crimes.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:Has this in spades throughout the game. In Episode 1, where you control Max for the first time in his classroom, he already gives out a notable one. He lampshades it in Episode 5, when he jokes that Max would have figured out his true nature if she had just paid attention in class.]]
-->'''Mr. Jefferson''': [[spoiler:Seriously, though, I could frame any one of you in a dark corner and capture you in a moment of desperation. And any one of you could do that to me. Isn't that too easy? Too obvious? What if Arbus chose to capture people at the height of their beauty or innocence?]]
* FourEyesZeroSoul: He wears glasses and [[spoiler: is a sadistic murderer.]]
* TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin: Interestingly enough, even though we see multiple different possible timelines in Episode 5, with multiple different possible fates shown for most of the characters, Mark Jefferson's story always ends with him [[spoiler: either in prison or dead on the floor of the Dark Room]]. It seems that from the moment he came in conflict with Max, there was actually never any way for him to win.
* HasAType: "Open and honest" young girls, in contrast to the "cynical" models he remembers working with.
* HateSink: [[spoiler: He turns out to be the most despicable character in the game by a wide margin, responsible for drugging and kidnapping countless innocent teenage girls, manipulates the mentally ill Nathan to do his dirty work, and murders Chloe right in front of Max. Needless to say, it's an incredibly satisfying moment if David kills him.]]
* TheHeavy: [[spoiler:He and Nathan kidnapped and murdered Rachel, whose disappearance is the focal point of the first season. Many other girls suffered similar fates to Kate.]]
* HeroKiller: [[spoiler: He shoots Chloe in the head with a handgun at the very end of Episode 4.]]
* {{Hipster}}: He calls himself this in Episode 4. He definitely has the look down.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Max defeats him by using photographs in his Dark Room to travel back in time.]]
* HopeCrusher: [[spoiler: His hobby involves breaking innocent girls, photographing the exact moment when they lose hope.]]
* HotTeacher: Is considered this by many female students.
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** In his first appearance, he calls the Creator/DianeArbus method of photography "bullshit", stating that he could easily capture any member of his class in a moment of desperation. If you choose to look at his pictures set up outside in the school courtyard, his black-and-white pictures are (mostly) of women in dark, dirty environments, looking miserable.[[labelnote:Explanation]] Diane Arbus was known for her black-&-white photos of regular people that showed strong emotions, like desperation, and those photos occasionally tended toward the grotesque. In other words, Jefferson's work apes Arbus's method pretty much exactly.[[/labelnote]]
** He lectures the class about the moral implications of them spreading around and laughing at Kate's video, even though minutes earlier, he's seen lecturing Kate for that same video and blatantly tells Max that he [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming thinks the video is Kate's fault]]. While Max's conversation with him might have convinced him to be a little more sensitive, it's a rather charitable interpretation. [[spoiler:In hindsight, he may having been trying to drive her to suicide before she could remember that he took bondage photos of her.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: His true nature - he's genial at first, but once [[spoiler: his role as the kidnapper is revealed, he drops the act and reveals himself to be an incredibly narcissistic sociopath.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He belittles and victim blames Kate, but later expresses remorse and admits that he didn't fully understand her situation. [[spoiler: Then it's revealed he kidnapped and drugged Kate, along with a handful of other innocent teenage girls.]]
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: If Max tells David the truth about Jefferson killing Chloe in Episode 5, David will shoot Jefferson in the head, just like Jefferson shot Chloe in the head at the end of Episode 4.]]
* KickTheDog: He insinuates that Kate willingly participated in the viral video which is ruining her life because [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming she wanted attention.]] [[spoiler: However, he only says this just to make sure Kate commits suicide and won't remember him and the Dark Room later on]].
-->'''Mr. Jefferson''': But maybe she doth protest too much.
* LackOfEmpathy: [[spoiler:He sees his victims as "works of art" more than people.]]
* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:He mocks Max's selfies before tossing them in front of her in the Dark Room. She ''immediately'' uses them to go back in time and arrange his arrest.]]
** [[spoiler: After he's finally caught, he's left taped up and unconscious, just like his victims.]]
* LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler: Wears a white shirt in the Dark Room, in contrast to his black heart.]]
* {{Lust}}: Appears to have this for [[spoiler:young girls. At the very least, he gets off on seeing them in a state of helplessness and fear.]]
* MadArtist: [[spoiler:He keeps a large collection of photographs of the girls he's kidnapped, all of them taken with an artsy style and deliberate intent at aesthetics. Since his award-winning photos have consisted of women in grimy, miserable settings appearing in pain, it's possible he had been doing this long before he arrived at Blackwell.]]
* MadonnaWhoreComplex: [[spoiler: His obsession over "innocence" and "purity" is a deciding factor in his targets. This may also be why he actively avoids Victoria's advances so much, Victoria's AlphaBitch personality lessening his interest in her.]]
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:To Nathan Prescott, who was placed as a more apparent villain since Nathan was so openly rude and malicious.]]
* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler:Not only did he exploit Nathan's daddy issues to effectively turn him into a puppet, he uses his charisma to prevent Blackwell staff and students from even suspecting his ulterior motives. Later, in episode 5, he intends to put the entire blame for drugging Kate and the death of Rachel and Max on Nathan. Searching through the Dark Room after reveals how meticulous his plans were. One could also interpret his victim blaming towards Kate earlier as a subtle means of eliminating a loose thread where none would ever suspect him.]]
* MaskOfSanity: To the public Mr. Jefferson looks nothing else except a celebrity photographer, an old hipster and a cool teacher with the ocassional cocky tendencies, but in reality [[spoiler: he's a very obsessive and unstable Mad Artist.]]
* MoodSwinger: [[spoiler: During one of his photoshoots with Max, he goes from lustfully admiring her beauty to angrily admonishing her for ruining his shots.]]
* MotiveRant: [[spoiler:Jefferson's disturbing dialogue with Max in the dark room. He grew tired of the "faux punk sluts" of LA and wanted to capture youth and the corruption thereof instead. This artistic obsession with purity leads him to kidnap and photograph girls he sees as suitable subjects.]]
* {{Narcissist}}: [[spoiler:Jefferson thinks so highly of his art that he's convinced that his victims ''want'' to be kidnapped and made into his models. To say nothing of the fact that he thinks so highly of what are, essentially, bland black and white bondage photos.]]
* NiceGuy: At first. Despite sometimes being stern towards Max, or victim blaming Kate when her video is spread around, Mr. Jefferson seems to be a genuinely nice guy at heart. [[spoiler: Well, until Episode Four comes around and it's revealed he's actually the BigBad]].
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler: While bragging about how he'll get away with murdering Max, he throws her photo journal at her, which allows Max to use her powers to alter the timeline to prevent him from winning--she'd been previously unable to do this thanks to being tied to the chair.]]
* NightmareFetishist: [[spoiler: He loves drugging young girls, taping them up, and photographing their vacant faces as they lie sprawled out on the floor.]]
* NotSoDifferent: He tries to tell Max that they're one and the same, but she disagrees.
* OhCrap: [[spoiler: He didn't see David coming in to stop him and his criminal misdeeds.]]
* PetTheDog: A very minor case, but he'll grant Max's request for some water [[spoiler:before he tries to kill her. Unfortunately for Jefferson, this was a ploy so Max could help David stop him.]]
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: [[spoiler: He makes a few misogynistic remarks in episode 5, referring to Max as a "stupid bitch" and/or a "dumb cunt", and Chloe a "faux punk slut".]]
* {{Sadist}}: [[spoiler: Jefferson's sole motivation for all his crimes in the story is, in his own words, his obsession "with the idea of capturing that moment innocence evolves into corruption". By that, he means he's obsessed with watching innocent girls suffering. Models are too "cynical" for him, he wants to hurt pure, optimistic girls.]]
* SadistTeacher: [[spoiler: His UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming conversation with Kate becomes horrifyingly despicable once you know what he did to her]]. He's essentially [[spoiler: ''goading'' her into [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]]]].
* ScaryFlashlightFace: Makes a really frightening one [[spoiler:when Max points her cellphone's flashlight at him, the man who just drugged her and gunned down Chloe]].
* ShadowArchetype: [[spoiler: This guy here is what Max and Victoria will turn into if they take their obsession with photographic greatness too far; it's particularly disturbing considering that the player may have done similar to him already--making people like Victoria or Trevor suffer to take optional photographs, and rewinding so that the unfortunate subject doesn't remember it]]
* SharpDressedMan: Always dressed in a nice suit.
* TheSociopath: [[spoiler: He hides in plain sight under the guise of being a famous photographer while subtly influencing or manipulating those around him. By episode 5, he's nearly driven Kate to suicide (and will have succeeded if the player couldn't talk her down), has full access over the Prescott fortune by exploiting Nathan and puts together a ruse to pin everything he has done up until that point on him. This, despite no one at Blackwell suspecting a thing. It's further implied he may have done similar things for years considering he went on a "teaching tour" through several States prior to arriving at Arcadia Bay and has a cupboard full of binders of other women.]]
* SoftSpokenSadist: Speaks in a low, whispering voice [[spoiler: while talking down to his victims.]]
* StrawMisogynist: [[spoiler: His sadistic tendencies are targeted exclusively towards women, drugging and capturing innocent ("innocence" being a big deciding factor in his targets) high school girls where he photographs them in such states of vulnerability without their consent. When Max stirs from her drugged-out state using her time-travel abilities, [[MoodSwinger he throws massive tantrums]] and yells at her to stay still. He also manipulated Kate - who was clearly in an emotionally fragile state - into her suicide/attempt by implying that her unfortunate circumstances were 100% a result of her own actions while he himself was complicit in what happened to her.]]
* TeacherStudentRomance: Victoria is heavily implied to want one, though he shoots her down immediately when she makes that desire apparent in Episode 3. Several other female students indicate they would sleep with him given the chance. He's rumored to have actually slept with Rachel.
** In Episode 2, the player can find a note in the Junkyard from Rachel to Chloe that states she met a wonderful person and they hooked up. During their 2015 Charity Live Stream, Dontnod confirmed the person in the letter was him.
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: [[spoiler: He's really a sadist who's been abducting young girls from his class and photographing them in states of distress, but odds are you'd never guess that just by looking at him.]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: [[spoiler: He's a famous and renowned photographer. No one expected him to be the mastermind of the Dark Room.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: [[spoiler:The last ten seconds of Episode 4, which shows not Nathan, but ''him'' shooting Chloe and drugging Max to take her to the Dark Room, throw his whole characterization for a loop.]]
* WeakButSkilled: [[spoiler: For some reason, despite having no actual combat training, he's more than capable of overpowering and killing an armed ex-military veteran. In fairness, Jefferson does have the upper hand-- first catching David completely by surprise -- and striking him with a metal tripod or later running to grab his own gun after knocking away David's. Not even rewinding and changing things can effectively stop this outcome without multiple interventions, as Max learned the hard way.]]
* WhamShot: Seeing him [[spoiler: standing over Max in the junkyard, indicating ''he's'' the one that killed Chloe and drugged Max, and was the one behind the Kate and Rachel case the whole time]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler:It's unknown what became of Jefferson after Sacrifice Arcadia Bay. ''Life Is Strange 2'' reveals that David saved Victoria when he investigated the Dark Room, so it's possible that David somehow managed to subdue him and turn him over to the police, or even kill him, but it's never made clear.]]
* WouldHitAGirl: [[spoiler: His hobby involves a lot of young girls being violated for his own amusement.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ms. Grant]]
[[quoteright:218:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ms_grant.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by:''' [=PaSean=] Wilson (Season One), Gina Dobson (''Before the Storm'')

A science teacher at Blackwell.
----

[[folder:David Madsen]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/03b3c3ef6a5bf922ae373371fc4913b5.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Don [=McManus=] (English, Season One), Naoya Nosaka (Japanese), D.W. [=McCann=] (English, ''Before the Storm'')

The chief of security at Blackwell, obsessed with keeping order. He is Chloe's step-father. He used to be a soldier; Max mentions a rumor that he was dishonorably discharged.

During the events of ''Before the Storm'', David is unemployed and only recently started dating Joyce.

* AbusiveParents: His attitude at home and work have almost no difference, and it isn't particularly pleasant. Chloe has a somewhat strained relationship with him, who can't seem to leave the military life behind. [[spoiler:He will slap Chloe for having drugs in her room if Max doesn't take credit for Chloe's blunt.]] He does seem to want to be a good father, but it's obvious his issues conflict with that. In fairness, he does admit that even though she antagonized him he was still wrong [[spoiler:to hit her]], apologizes, and says he will make it up to her somehow. [[spoiler:He does that by going to family therapy to help out with his PTSD.]]
* AesopAmnesia: In the finale of ''Before the Storm'' he and Chloe can potentially mend their ways and learn to respect the other for who they are. Yet, given the events in the original game the player knows that their mutual respect didn't last very long.
* BadassMoustache: He has a moustache and is a former veteran.
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:He breaks into the Dark Room to save Max from Jefferson. Max has to give him some tips so Jefferson doesn't kill him, but points for trying.]]
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Part of his attitude seems to stem from the fact that David genuinely wants to help and protect people, just to an obsessive extreme. He quietly takes issue with Max being called a hero for [[spoiler:talking down Kate]], and only took the job as head of security because the actual police think he's a loose cannon.
* ChildHater: One of his biggest shortcomings is that he's ''incapable'' of interacting with the Blackwell students without hanging his seniority and authority over their head. Trying to parent anyone, especially a rebellious young woman like Chloe, is his worst nightmare.
* ControlFreak: Variations of the words "I order you" seem to creep up in his dialogue a lot.
* CrazySurvivalist: David is stocking up on canned food and water, has a full gun rack available at his beck and call, has a book on surviving the apocalypse on his bedside table, and has a general attitude of paranoia and suspicion. He's not full-on tinfoil hat crazy, but he's getting there, [[spoiler:as his investigative files of the students show]].
* EntitledBastard: ''Before the Storm'' makes it more than clear that part of the reason he and Chloe never got along is because he acted like he had a right to her respect while doing ''nothing'' to earn it, with his sexist comments and outright saying the time since William's death has been [[WhatAnIdiot 'a vacation from a father figure']].
* {{Expy}}: He bears a slight resemblance to [[Film/TopGun Mike "Viper" Metcalf]].
* TheExtremistWasRight: [[spoiler: David]] knew there was something sinister going on, and was the only one who was actually investigating [[spoiler:the disappearance of Rachel Amber and the Dark Room]], while everyone else just though he was paranoid.
* FormerTeenRebel: He mentions in passing he used to do wilder things than Chloe when he was her age.
* GoodVersusGood: He's always against Max and Chloe in their investigation, but they both seek the same goal.
* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: For all his paranoia and claims that he sees everything going on at Blackwell, he's actually pretty bad at his job. Case in point: In just the first episode, a student brings a gun to school, his own stepdaughter (who has been expelled and has no reason to be on campus) is able to walk through a crowded hallway and into the girls bathroom, and a sketchy drug dealer has his RV parked in the parking lot (and Frank is obviously not a student, which means he can only be there to deal). All of this happens on David's watch, yet completely escapes his notice.
* HeelRealization: In episode 5, he realizes what a JerkAss he was all along and makes amends with Max.
* HeroWithAnFInGood: He seems to genuinely be trying to protect Chloe and the Blackwell students, but his paranoia makes him go too far. This is also why the police rejected him.
* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: He does not take it well upon hearing of Chloe's demise.]]
* HeroicWannabe: He thinks that he's the hero of the story, but he's not as good as his stepdaughter and Max.
* HiddenDepths:
** In Episode 2, he mentions to Max that he used to do worse things than Chloe when he was her age. He also apologizes for his outbursts in the previous episode and says that he doesn't find marijuana itself to be a big deal -– he's only angered by Chloe in particular being around drugs. [[spoiler:Though if Max argues that David was partly to blame for Kate's situation and she'd taken credit for the joint in Episode 1, he will call her a liar and say she's a drug dealer, so how honest he was actually being is rather up in the air.]]
** Episode 3 gives us a bit more insight into David. [[spoiler:His files you can find in Episode 1 are shown to be detailed, but harmless -- nothing a good private investigator wouldn't have -- and Max can choose to defend him when arguing with Chloe. In addition, after going back in time and saving William Price's life]], you can see a montage of photographs where David and Joyce are genuinely happy together. Maybe he ''is'' an overzealous and vengefully paranoid man, but it's only here that we see the man Joyce sees in her husband.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Episode 3 shows he thinks Kate is doing/selling drugs, yet he trusts Nathan, a delinquent who actually is doing and selling drugs. [[spoiler:Episode 5 shows that he admits that he was wrong with that theory.]]
* {{Hypocrite}}: If Max takes the blame for Chloe's weed, David will later on tell Max that he won't bust her for it, as even he's not that much of an asshole. However, depending on who Max blames for [[spoiler: Kate's (attempted) suicide]] in Principal Wells' office, he will proceed to do exactly that, potentially getting her suspended in the process.
* ImproperlyParanoid: While he's ProperlyParanoid in some respects ([[spoiler: he even pulls a BigDamnHeroes in the timelines where Max and Chloe confide in him or he finds their notes]]), he goes about it in a very heavy handed manner, suspecting and accusing completely innocent parties [[spoiler: which is one of the factors that leads to Kate's -- potentially successful -- suicide attempt at the end of episode 2]].
* {{Jerkass}}: He believes Max is up to no good when she comes out of the bathroom after the fire alarm is hit (she ''did'' hit it, but he can't prove that), and he harasses Kate because he believes she's using or selling drugs.
* JerkassHasAPoint:
** On the other hand, [[spoiler:Chloe did steal his gun and was doing drugs in his wifes house.]]
** The reason he cornered Kate in episode 1? [[spoiler: He was gathering evidence against the Vortex club. He believed they were involved with drugs. And since Kate was seen partying with them in that video he was trying to pump her for information. If he wasn't so abrasive he might've got some, too.]]
** He constantly obstructs Max and Chloe's investigation, ordering them to stay out of danger and let ''him'' gather evidence instead. [[spoiler:Their refusal to tread carefully directly leads to Chloe's murder and Max's kidnapping]].
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He seems to ease up in Episode 2, to an extent, and Joyce insists there's a good side to him.
** There's a message on the answering machine in his house warning Chloe against hanging out with some unsavory characters. He even makes an effort to step out of the overbearing military persona he usually puts forth in an attempt to sound more reasonable about it. It's a rare moment of actual concern from someone who spends the rest of his time (including face to face with Chloe) being a jerk.
** [[spoiler:During Kate's suicide attempt, he can be seen sprinting toward the dorms in an attempt to stop her, and seems genuinely distraught later that he couldn't personally resolve the situation]].
** In Episode 3, when you search his garage, you can find a birthday card wishing Chloe a happy birthday and saying that he is glad he can be a part of her life, showing that he was at least trying to be a father to Chloe. Episode 5 shows that he's well aware of his flaws and actually doesn't like using his status as a war veteran to justify his behavior.
** In Episode 3, Max can erase a voicemail from a cop alerting David that the police (correctly) suspect that Chloe broke into the Blackwell swimming pool. If Max deletes the message before David and Joyce can hear it, the police decide to question Chloe. Allowing David to hear the message causes him to lie to the police and give Chloe a fake alibi.
* KnightTemplarParent: He wants to protect Chloe and Joyce, but his paranoia makes him an overbearing and authoritarian parent.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** After slapping Chloe, he immediately regrets his action.
** Poor guy ''breaks down'' after learning [[spoiler:he failed to protect Chloe and let Jefferson kill her, and shoots him in the head in a moment of rage, yet to immediately regret it afterwards and sit with his head in his hands in despair]].
* NeverMyFault: In Episode 4, he sarcastically thanks Max for [[spoiler:Joyce kicking him out]] because Max told about all the things he did [[spoiler:if you sided with Chloe instead of him in Episode 3]].
* NoSocialSkills: Even aside from his anger issues and other hangups, he seems to genuinely not know how to interact with people without coming across as obnoxious.
* TheParanoiac: The dude actively wants to install security cameras in his school and home for god's sake! He's called out for being overly paranoid on quite a few occasions, including by Max. [[spoiler: Turns out to be ProperlyParanoid when you consider that the school had a ''murderer'' for a teacher, one kid sold drugs and brought a gun inside, and in one ending there is even a murder with gun in a bathroom! For all his abrasive approach, he's in the right about how messed up the school is, especially when you consider how spineless the principal happens to be.]]
* PapaWolf: Despite being cranky and overly paranoid, David ''does'' care about Chloe. [[spoiler:When he learns Jefferson killed Chloe, he murders him in revenge out of guilt for not protecting her]].
* ParentsAsPeople: David by isn't the best step-parent in the world by any measure, but it's not for a lack of trying. He tries to love Chloe and wants to protect her like his own daughter, but his smothering paranoia and his inability to express his more sensitive side honestly make him come off as an authoritarian KnightTemplarParent. Neither these nor Chloe's deliberate efforts to press his buttons excuse his own abusive behavior, of course.
* PetTheDog:
** If you didn't delete the message in Episode 3, [[spoiler:he will actually cover up Chloe for sneaking into Blackwell at night by claiming that she was with him]]. It is also implied from his conversations with him in Episode 4 [[spoiler:if you defended him in Episode 3 that he uses his connections from the police regularly to prevent Chloe from going to jail for her mischief.]]
** [[spoiler:In all of the alternate timelines in Episode 5, he will always believe in Max's testimony of Nathan and Jefferson, leading to their arrest.]]
* PoorCommunicationKills: A lot of David's problems stem from the fact that it's very difficult to get a straight conversation out of him. He plays the authority figure far too much for his own good, and keeps secrets even when doing so is of no benefit. [[spoiler:If you confront him about his files in Episode 3, David will try to deflect rather than admit his reasons -- which are well-intentioned, if a bit misguided -- further alienating Joyce. He acknowledges this in a crumpled up letter you can find in Episode 4, saying he wanted to gather more proof, yet this further factors into it because he never gives the letter to Joyce.]]
* ProperlyParanoid: As it turns out, his excessive surveillance of Blackwell's students and campus might well have led him to [[spoiler: uncover Mr. Jefferson's secret identity]], if the rest of the school hadn't simply dismissed him as an unhinged war vet. [[spoiler:He's also ultimately correct to suspect that everyone he's keeping tabs on is somehow linked to Rachel Amber's disappearance, even if his own preconceived notions kept him from seeing how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together at first]].
* RedHerring: Looked highly suspicious of Rachel's disappearance during the earlier episodes. He was harassing students, mainly Kate. He was stalking and following some of the other students while taking pictures, including Max. And Max discovered that he had surveillance equipment all over Chloe's house in the garage. [[spoiler: However, Episodes 3, 4 and 5 reveal that he was actually a WellIntentionedExtremist who was trying to protect the children at Blackwell, especially the girls. But his extreme way of going about it made the girls fearful and eventually ruined his relationship with Joyce. He does make up for this by saving Max from Jefferson, and helping her arrest Jefferson.]]
* RelativeButton: His relationship with Chloe is... [[AbusiveParents rocky]] to say the least, but his overprotective streak extends to him going ''nuts'' if Chloe gets killed. If Max tells him about [[spoiler: Chloe's murder by Jefferson]] then his immediate response is [[spoiler: to murder Jefferson]]. If Max [[spoiler: sacrifices Chloe to save the town by letting Nathan Prescott kill her back in the past]], the player briefly sees a photograph of David [[spoiler: tackling Nathan to the ground, maybe a little more harshly than was strictly needed]].
* SarcasmBlind: Inverted. If Chloe thanks him for dropping her off to Blackwell, he mistakes it for sarcasm and scolds her.
* ShellShockedVeteran: It's clear that he's traumatized by his experiences as a combat veteran and struggles to assimilate back to normal life. In ''Before the Storm'', he confides to Chloe that he witnessed his best friend get killed by an IED and is still trying to cope with his death.
* ToughLove: [[spoiler: David deep down cares about Chloe and wanted her to see him as family, he just doesn't know how to show fraternal love without being rude.]]
* TroubledAbuser: His behavior towards Chloe is largely due to his own paranoia and experiences as a soldier.
* WickedStepfather: Is shown this way at first, being a gruff, paranoid individual that's harsh towards Chloe (who doesn't help herself by being bratty and rebellious) and goes as far as hit her when he learns she smoked a join in her room. But it's subverted over the course of the game that despite his harsh exterior, he does care deep down about Chloe and wants him, her and Joyce to be a family. He's said to have accepted to go to counselling to help with his PTSD from his soldier days and help him be a better step-father. [[spoiler: [[PapaWolf He even kills Jefferson in one of the alternate realities when he learns from Max he killed Chloe]]]].
* WellIntentionedExtremist: His actions may be objectionable, but he actually does care about the children of Blackwell (and his own stepdaughter). The more the story progresses towards the ending, the more obvious it becomes. By Episode 5, it also becomes clear that [[TheExtremistWasRight his paranoia was not without ground]].
* WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou: To [[spoiler:Chloe]] if he hits her.
* WouldHitAGirl: Gives Chloe a quick but vicious bitch slap in her room if Max doesn't jump out of Chloe's closet to intervene on her behalf. He deeply regrets it and admits as much in a later episode, but it remains a painful scene to watch regardless.
* WrongGenreSavvy: He actually thinks that ''Kate'' is the BigBad.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Samuel Taylor]]
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/samuel_taylor.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Derek Phillips (uncredited, Season One), Kelly [=McCraken=] (''Before the Storm'')

Blackwell's groundskeeper. He is a little... out there.
----

* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:Once his true colors are revealed, Jefferson shows himself to be a batshit insane psychopath who kidnaps and drugs teenage girls to take photographs of them in a vulnerable state. He can also show violent outbursts if Max messes up his shots, and kills Nathan, Victoria and David in cold blood (and the latter is ''on-screen'')]].

* {{Ephebophile}}: It's possible. There's rumors that he and Rachel slept together at some point ([[spoiler: which he doesn't deny, claiming that she was in love with him]]) and even though [[spoiler: all his known victims are (barely) 18 years old and there's no evidence he did anything sexual to them, he's obsession with the innocence of teenage girls hints towards this.]]

* Ephebophile: It's possible. There's rumors that he and Rachel slept together at some point ([[spoiler: which he doesn't deny, claiming that she was in love with him]]) and even though [[spoiler: all his known victims are (barely) 18 years old and there's no evidence he did anything sexual to them, he's obsession with the innocence of teenage girls hints towards this.]]