History Characters / PennyDreadful

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: Every time Lucifer has reached out to Vanessa, it has been in the form of [[ParanoiaFuel someone she trusts dearly]] -- he has variously masqueraded as Sir Malcolm, Ethan, and the orderly.

* AnythingThatMoves: Reeve Carney describes his character as being 'omnisexual' and open to everyone and everything.

* ImmortalityBisexuality: It fits into his AnythingThatMoves view of sexuality.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: For being a lady in Victorian London, she's shown to be barefoot a lot.

->'''Played By:''' Reeve Carney

* BadassBaritone: This ''is'' Timothy Dalton we are talking about. Combining his natural baritone with a GutturalGrowler style of voice makes Sir Malcolm all the more frightening.

%%* CainAndAbel: The Cain to Joan's Abel.%%How?

-> '''Played By:''' Shazad Latif

* GoodIsNotNice: Especially not in Malcolm's case.

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: From both the source material and the rest of the show. Unlike his literary counterpart, Dracula here is lacking an ancient, withered form and the reptilian look Stoker describes him with. He also has a shadow and a reflection. In-universe, as befitting his status as the earliest and purest vampire, he possesses a perfectly normal appearance, unlike the [[LooksLikeOrlok lesser vampires]] or the anemic familiars. In "Ebb Tide," [[BadassBookworm Catriona Hartdegen]] brings up the fact that the most supernatural elements are mere superstition, and make no logical sense.

* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: Whilst his minions stand out in a crowd for their UndeathlyPallor and dead eyes, Dracula himself -- the greatest of all the vampires, a creature of unspeakable horror and power -- looks and behaves like a charming, respectable member of the London academia.

* BrokenBird: Although usually emotionally stoic, Vanessa's endless troubles, her battle with Lucifer, and Ethan's abandonment in season 2 all push her into this trope in season 3. She begins to get better with Lyle and Dr. Seward's help, only for [[DespairEventHorizon Dracula to fully break her again]].

* PrettyBoy: Dorian is a beautiful man.

* CainAndAbel: The Cain to Joan's Abel.

* YouHaveFailedMe: Dracula [[spoiler: indifferently [[MonstrousCannibalism commands his offspring to eat]]]] a minion who [[spoiler: traumatizeed Vanessa without his permission, an act which inadvertently brings Dracula's burgeoning relationship with Vanessa to an end]].

* KnifeNut: Hoo boy, is he. He wields a very sharp throwing knife which he also uses to scalp people. With one strike, he manages to slit an enemy's throat and chop a striking rattlesnake's head off.

* IllBoy: He was frail and sickly his whole life. This likely led to Malcolm's disappointment in him, given Malcolm's belief in ultra-manly ideals.

** Taken UpToEleven in "A Blade of Grass," in which ''even Lucifer'' flinches away from Dracula's arrival.

* ArtEvolution: Of an in-universe sort; his first creation, the Creature, is a hideous mess of craggy scars and pale skin. His second effort, Proteus, is a more normal-looking fellow. His third, Lily, is entirely normal in appearance with the exception of scars on her chest.
* BadassBookworm: What he grows into after taking [[TookALevelInBadass several levels in badass]]. An intellectual by nature, Frankenstein is a reasonably thin and unimposing man, who has the soul of a poet. However he proves to be a fast learner and not a bad shot (being a surgeon he naturally has great dexterity and steady hands), growing to the point he joins the group in facing down the vampires in "Grand Guignol."
* ByronicHero: Victor is a man of great intelligence, with endless passion for science, progress and discovery. He is also a man haunted by great tragedy in life, making him somewhat anti-social and very isolated. He is also a classic narcissist whose mistakes have resulted in a vengeful resurrected corpse with about five hundred issues walking the streets of London.
* CannotSpitItOut: His life would be so much easier if he only ''told'' someone about his creation.
* DeadpanSnarker: Very sharp-witted, even in the more serious moments.
* {{Determinator}}: He is determined to realize his scientific goals and gives an impassioned speech to Sir Malcolm about it. (Of course, later developments make it likely he was simply [[FunctionalAddict high]].)

* FunctionalAddict: Due to medicine he was administered as a child, he is addicted to morphine and other narcotics. By the end of Season 2, however, he barely qualifies as functional as his addiction has more or less consumed him.
* InsufferableGenius: Is thoroughly obnoxious to the group when they first try to recruit them, claiming they couldn't possibly appreciate his work, and only brought on-board when Vanessa shows him the vampire corpse. He also considers his own abilities to be superior to those of Dr. Jekyll, and doesn't recognize that Jekyll's race has been an obstacle for him achieving his goals.

* NatureAbhorsAVirgin: In "Possession" the Demon - through Vanessa - mockingly reveals Victor's virginity. The doctor is soon relieved of it in "Above the Vaulted Sky", by Lily.

* ParentalSubstitute: Seems to view Sir Malcolm as his; exacerbated by his reminding Malcolm of his dead son, Peter.
* SecretKeeper: Is made one in Season 2, when Sir Malcolm's bewitchment and the growing threat of the Nightcomers drives Vanessa and Ethan to the moors. Victor is the only one told their destination.
* SingleTargetSexuality: He admits in "Glorious Horrors" that Lily is the only person he has ever been attracted to, which may be due to her unique state.

* TenderTears: Well, he is a Romantic. And his creation gives him a lot of reasons to cry besides.
* TookALevelInBadass: Slight example, as he still isn't particularly impressive (at least by comparison to his teammates); however in ''Possession'' he asks Ethan to teach him how to shoot, and in "Grand Guignol", he joins the others in fighting the vampire brides, managing to hold himself fine with just a little help from Ethan and Sembene.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Was a lively, artistic child until his mother's death made him obsessed with overcoming mortality.

Sembene is an African man with ritual face scarring who serves as Sir Malcolm's sentry and confidant. He has an air of mystery about him and his heroic efforts prove invaluable to Sir Malcolm in his adventures.

* BattleButler: For Sir Malcolm - not that the man needs to someone to fight his battles for him. Sembene also takes care of the more trivial tasks around Grandage Place, like the house-cleaning and cooking.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-Zagged]] in Sembene's case. He isn't the first main character who died, but is the first to die permanently.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: He implies that his own past before meeting Sir Malcolm wasn't very pleasant. When asked about it by Ethan, he admits he was part Hunter and part something else he considers private. [[spoiler:Later on, he confesses to having been a slave trader, "hated and feared," a fact that he evidently regrets.]] He's also shown quite a bit of knowledge about the supernatural independent from the group.

* ForgottenFallenFriend: [[spoiler:Despite being a main cast member who's been involved in the lives of Malcolm and Vanessa for a very long time, following his death Sir Malcolm has him buried in a small ceremony and he's never really mentioned again by anyone. Especially jarring with Ethan's lack of reaction considering Sembene allowed Ethan's wolf form to kill him rather than let Ethan die.]]

* HonestAdvisor: Sembene often seems to be the wisest member of the group. When he speaks, it's usually to give his advice or opinion on matters, and so far he's always been spot on. He takes this role especially towards Sir Malcolm, and Ethan, but is willing to share it with the whole group.

* IOweYouMyLife: Sembene's service to Sir Malcolm is implied to be a Life Debt. Or, it could [[InvertedTrope go the other way]].

* NervesOfSteel: Faces down all manner of supernatural creatures - including Ethan in his werewolf form - and barely ''blinks''.

* TheQuietOne: It takes until Episode 6 of the first season before he actually has more than one or two lines. Normally when he speaks, it's only to say something very important. (Or to announce he's making a buttercream torte.)
* SecretKeeper: Following "Glorious Horrors," he knows Ethan is a werewolf.
* TheStoic: Goes without saying. The moments where he loses his cool are few and far between.

Dorian Gray is an immensely wealthy young socialite who is almost unnerving in his beauty. His skin seems to radiate a golden glow of intoxicating youth and promise. A recklessly abandoned sensualist, he has a devil-may-care attitude that borders on dangerous. Nothing seems to faze him, nor are any risks too great. In fact, he is unnaturally drawn to them.

* AdaptationalBadass: Not only is he considerably older than his book counterpart, this version of Dorian is seemingly indestructible to the point where he doesn't even react to being shot in the chest (he still bleeds but it doesn't impair him in the slightest). While in the book he was simply immune to age and the effects his lifestyle would have on his appearance. He's also a very talented fighter, killing armed men without trouble.
** Well, in the books we don't actually find out how indestructible he is.
* TheAgeless: Considerably older than his book counterpart, having apparently lived long enough to see "civilisations fall." And describes himself as "ancient."

* BirdsOfAFeather: He finds a match in Lily, a psychotic - and possibly also soulless - immortal.

* ChivalrousPervert: Being a hedonist, Dorian is always on the look out for new pleasures; he has no problems with seducing and sleeping with multiple people, and will always take advantage when the opportunity presents itself. However, when in a relationship with someone he is always a perfect gentleman, and seems to genuinely care for Vanessa and Angelique. Likewise even with people he simply sleeps with he is always polite and respectful, and always make sure he has consent before pursuing anything further than flirting.
* DeathlessAndDebauched: Dorian Gray is ageless and [[AdaptationalBadass virtually indestructible]]. As with the original novel, he is also a hedonist and constantly on the lookout for new experiences; plus, being almost unnaturally beautiful, he has no problems with seducing both [[ImmortalityBisexuality women and men]]. [[spoiler: Ultimately, his decadence is a sign of his buried depression: Dorian is trapped a hollow, empty life that gives him no joy regardless of what he experiences, hence why his apparent KarmaHoudini is no victory at all.]]
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Even Ethan isn't immune to his charms, and the two have a one night stand.

* {{The Gunslinger}}: [[spoiler: Dorian is a surprisingly talented gunfighter, able to kill, with perfect headshots, multiple men in a matter of seconds]].
* HealingFactor: Appears to be able to heal from his wounds when in the presence of his infamous painting.

* ImmortalityBisexuality: It fits into his 'AnythingThatMoves' view of sexuality.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Subverted. Though he isn't killed or imprisoned for his crimes, Lily realizes that immortality is his curse. He lives a hollow, empty life that gives him no joy no matter what hedonism he undertakes. She leaves him alive, knowing he'll be truly alone forever.]]
* KickTheMoralityPet: Ends up murdering Angelique when she discovers his secret, even after she promised to still love him.
* LackOfEmpathy: Dorian rarely gets attached to people, and is easily able to discard them if they inconvenience them, even if he acts like he cared for them before. [[spoiler:In the finale he explains that empathy atrophies like a muscle when it's not used often, and he's stopped forming connections with others because he knows he'll outlive anyone he grows to love.]]
* MrFanservice: Dorian's an attractive man, who gets a lot of sex scenes (going with his hedonism).

* NiceGuy: Hedonism aside, Dorian is legitimately a quite friendly and cheerful man. He's even able to cheer Vanessa up. [[BitchInSheepsClothing This is completely an act]]. Dorian is revealed as a selfish and heartless being, who disposes of those close to him when they inconvenience him without even batting an eyelid.

* SecretKeeper: For Lily, or rather Brona - he seems to believe she's pulling off an elaborate con, but doesn't divulge his observations to anyone.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: While he sure does love his immortality, he seem to become somewhat bored of it as he confided in Vanessa, stating that he had learned a lot of things and yet he wants to learn more. [[spoiler:In the series finale, he goes into further detail about it with Lily. Friends, lovers, children, all die while an immortal lives. You don't want their losses to hurt you, so you avoid connections with others and your empathy fades. You become, "A perfect, unchanging portrait of yourself."]]

Brona is a poor Irish immigrant, coming to Victorian London in order to try and escape a dark and sordid past. The Gaelic meaning of her name is "sadness," yet she remains lovely, spirited, and erotically alive. She forms a bond with Ethan Chandler, who will do anything for her.

* AintTooProudToBeg: In one of the most heartrending scenes in all of ''Penny Dreadful'', Lily reveals her past to Victor, who believes he'll do her a favor by stealing her memories and making her into his obedient lover. [[spoiler: Lily, sobbing, reveals the death of her daughter and pleads with Victor not to take the memory of her beloved child from her. Moved to tears and realizing what he was about to do, Victor shows her mercy and releases her.]]

* CameBackWrong: Brona was probably the most 'heroic'/good member of the cast in Season One. 'Lily', on the other hand, has plans for world domination.
* ClarkKenting: Played with as it doesn't seem to be deliberate on her part (at least initially): As Lily, her hair color, makeup, hairstyle and accent are so different, Vanessa fails to recognize her. Dorian, however, does.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Pretty standard on this show, but she fled an abusive relationship and became a prostitute to survive. Then her baby daughter froze to death after an angry john beat her rather than pay her.

* DomesticAbuse: Admittedly they weren't yet married, but the man she was engaged to back in Ireland liked rough sex, didn't want to wait until the wedding, and Brona wasn't exactly a willing participant. She doesn't go into details, only that one night 'there was blood.' She fled back home, but her mother told her she still had to marry the man; as a result she ran away and came to England.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: After everything they've been through, [[spoiler:the comic series ends with Ethan and Lily moving to New York to raise the twin girls Ethan fathered with Vanessa's Lucifer-possessed dead body. Sometimes a happy family is a werewolf, a revenant and their half-demon daughters]].
* FaceHeelTurn: While Brona was doubtlessly a good person, Lily is an accomplished liar, manipulator and murderer.

* ItsNotYouItsMe: Played straight, and the reason she doesn't seek out Ethan after her resurrection. She claims that while she did really love Ethan, and that he was different than all other men, she believes herself to be too different now from the woman he loved for a relationship to work. Combined with TheOneThatGotAway. In the comic that continues the story after Season 3, however, she finally does make herself known to him.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Inverted. Victor tells her that she's his cousin Lily, who had a horrific accident and lost all her memories. He also introduces the Creature as her betrothed, but clarifies that it's up to her if she has feelings for him. "Memento Mori" later shows that she does, in fact, remember her past life and is aware Victor's been lying to her from day one, but has been going along with it.
* MercyKill: Brona receives one from Dr. Frankenstein, so she would die without going through the pain of succumbing to consumption. However, the trope is somewhat twisted, in that he also kills her to be able to turn her into the companion Caliban wished for.
* MeaningfulName: Brona means "sadness" in Gaelic.

* MoralityPet: In Season 3, Justine becomes this for her in a unique way. Despite becoming her and Dorian's murderous accomplice, she reawakens Lily's human instincts, reminding Lily of her younger self [[spoiler:and more tragically, of her deceased daughter]].
* NightmareFetishist: She's really into erotic asphyxiation and ripping off body parts, but somewhat frustrated with the fragility of human partners. Dorian proves to be a better partner for her, due to his immortality.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: She truly does know what both she and the Creature are. As well as remembering who she was before.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: [[spoiler:She reveals in season 3 that she had a daughter who died of the cold]].

* TheVamp: Lily plays to Victor's and Caliban's needs, appearing to each as the perfect woman, with varying degrees of innocence, while appearing more mysterious and seductive in Dorian's presence. When she picks up a man in a pub, she initially seems to go for a simple hook up, but then strangles him while in the act.

Dr. Frankenstein's original creation, The Creature is a hideous, humanoid monster who nevertheless has a deep and anguished soul. His horrible appearance and unusual "birth" have left him a lonely, misunderstood outcast, and he is furious at his creator over his unfortunate fate.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the original book, the creature's appearance is monstrous, causing panic and terror to all who look at him and preventing him from even showing himself to the pubic. Caliban, however, is perfectly able to go about town and get employment, passing himself off as a rather unfortunate-looking man. Although, ironically, his appearance is very close to Shelly's description, with scars, corpse-white skin, long black hair, black lips, and yellow eyes. He thinks it's much worse than it actually is, though.
* AdaptationalVillainy: Compared to the original novel. The Creature has considerably more KickTheDog Moments in the show towards Frankenstein than Shelley's monster did. In the original novel the monster starts deliberately going after Frankenstein's loved ones after Frankenstein goes back on his promise to make him a bride; in the show, he kills Van Helsing to motivate Frankenstein even though Frankenstein had already agreed.
* AdaptationalWimp: The Creature in the book is a lot more self-assured, a capable manipulator and even able to control fire.

* BadassLongcoat: Wears a high-collared black greatcoat whenever he goes out in public, mostly in an attempt to hide his deformities.

* ButtMonkey: Gets put through the wringer perhaps more than anyone in the story, except Vanessa. He's perceived as a hideous monster by practically everyone who sees him, he's rejected by his creator, nearly everyone who befriends him turns against him eventually or even turns out to have just been using him and his love of poetry is scorned by other people almost as much as his looks.
* CharacterDevelopment: In Season 1, he is shy and withdrawn with everyone but Victor, whom he treats with angry disdain. He also spectacularly fails at communicating with women. In Season 2, while still shy, he manages to hold complete conversations and is less prone to hide his facial scars. He is also shown as more capable around women, as his interactions with his new employer's daughter Lavinia, [[spoiler:newly resurrected Lily, and Vanessa]] show. In Season 3, the Creature starts to remember pieces of his original life, like Proteus did before he died. The reawakening of his humanity spurs the Creature out of his apathy and home to England, Victor, and the hope of answers. He then assumes his old identity as a father and husband, and reaches a new level of self-awareness and understanding.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Originally an orderly at a upper class BedlamHouse, and in charge hated every minute of the torture he witnessed there. Later, after death, he was rejected at (re-)birth, then shunned by society for looking like a walking corpse.
* DoggedNiceGuy: Perhaps more sympathetic than most examples, given his frightful appearance. He misinterprets an actress's kindness towards him as attraction, and is angry when she turns down his advances.
* EmotionalBruiser: Being [[SuperStrength Super Strong]], and wearing his emotions on his sleeve qualify him.

* FlawedPrototype: He is far more visibly deformed, scarred and corpse-like than either of Frankenstein's subsequent creations, likely due in part to his donor parts being longer dead. For a while, he also lacks the memories of his previous life as the orderly. He's also physically weaker, although still super strong, than Victor's final version.

* GoodScarsEvilScars: Has prominent jagged scars down the side of his face, which along with his deathly pallor are the primary source of peoples' fear and revulsion.
* IAmWho: Inverted; after always believing himself unique and devoid of humanity, a flashback in the Season 3 premier sets him to investigating the ''normal'' human life he'd led before his death and reanimation.
* IHaveManyNames: Is variously known as the Creature, Caliban, and John Clare - the latter taken from the name of a classic poet. Interestingly, his nature as Caliban is considerably monstrous and cruel, whereas his softer qualities shine through when he's Mr Clare. Finally, he had a final name when he was alive, but it is never spoken, even when meeting his wife.
* HeelFaceTurn: Subtle, but present. He spends most of the first two seasons as a selfish WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, who never really cares about anything other than his own pain. Come season 3, he has formed an honest friendship with Vanessa, and rekindled a familial relationship with his wife and son from his previous life. Even his decision to not revive his son after he dies comes from a place of love, and he does so knowing full well that his wife will leave him if he doesn't.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Shows signs of this as at times he will outright boast his supremacy above all, while still holding misery and insecurity about being unable to fit in and be normal. Really, Caliban isn't even that hideous. It's his serious problems with people that lead to them isolating him.
* InformedDeformity: He really isn't as hideous as he seems to think, with his oddities basically being confined to his pale skin, yellow irises, and moderate facial scars. Justified due to his psychological problems and consequent behaviour affecting the way people respond to him - in the final season, in which he's got over some of his self-loathing and is more generally stable, he interacts with ordinary people much more frequently, without causing exaggerated reactions.
* KickTheDog: His rather brutal murder of Van Helsing, which pretty much happened because Caliban was rejected and saw someone be nice to Victor. His introductory scene also counts.
* MeaningfulRename: The Creature is given the name "Caliban" by the theater owner. Like Proteus, this name comes from Shakespeare: In Theatre/TheTempest, Caliban is the grotesquely deformed son of a sorceress that despises his master, Prospero.

* MercyKill: And pragmatic about it. It's how he viewed killing Proteus, to an extent, although hurting Victor was his primary motivation. Later, he euthanizes a dying boy in the arctic to keep him from dying in agony and the sailors from murdering him to eat him. Also, in a way, refusing to allow his son to be resurrected.
* NeverGivenAName: Victor abandoned him immediately after restoring him to life and so never named him. (Victor does name Caliban and Lily when they're created later on.) The Creature does pick several names for himself in the course of the series, but all of them are treated as placeholders. He eventually learns the name from his former life as a human, but the audience never does, and he doesn't start using it.
* NiceGuy: In his past life as The Orderly, he's a genuinely kind man who forges a bond with Vanessa and tries to be as nice to her as possible.
* RiddleForTheAges: His true name in his first life, even when he finally remembers it.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: He sure does like to talk. A habit he no doubt picked up from the [[LargeHam theater director]] who took him in, and the poetry volumes he used to teach himself to read. [[spoiler: A marked contrast to his previous life as the Orderly, who spoke simply and admitted to being BookDumb.]]
* StalkerWithACrush: In Season 1, he acts like this to actress Maud Gunnerson, mistaking her friendliness for love.

* SuperStrength: It wouldn't be a Frankenstein yarn without this being a main factor. He rarely uses this but when he does, expect a bloodbath to come. Oscar Putney learnt the hard way when the Creature broke out of his cell confinement with super strength ease and used said strength to NeckSnap his overconfident captor.
* SocialDarwinist: He outright confirms to follow a version of this belief, comparing himself to the rise of industry. In practice, though, it mostly serves to mask his insecurities and loneliness.
* TorturedMonster: After [[spoiler: his misguided attempt to force a love connection with his crush Maude gets him fired from the theatre]] he realizes that his outer ugliness mirrors his soul and he urges Frankenstein to shoot him as a MercyKill. Moved to tears, Victor naturally doesn't.

* WickedCultured: While not always wicked, he never the less shares his creator's great love for poetry and claims to especially love Wordsworth, having learned much he knows form Victor's books. He later quotes Blake while talking to Vanessa on his opinion of religion.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Is very set on making Victor pay for leaving him alone, even if that means killing innocent bystanders.

Sir Malcolm's daughter, the hunt for her after she has been apparently abducted by something not of this world drives the series.

* AbusiveParents: According to Vanessa in "Demimonde", Sir Malcolm paid her little attention (making the zeal of his hunt for her possible atonement).
* AdaptationalUgliness: Compared with other depictions of the character, this version of Mina is rather plain.

* TranshumanTreachery: In the fourth episode, Vanessa and Sir Malcolm begin to suspect that Mina is acting to serve the interests of the thing that abducted her - specifically, to lure Vanessa into a trap. Further confirmed by the season finale that Mina was long gone, and had used her past with her father and Vanessa to exploit them.
* VillainsWantMercy: After revealing her true colors, capturing Vanessa and gloating about how she's going to deliver her once dearest friend to her 'Master', she's shocked when Malcolm shoots her in the shoulder and begs for mercy, saying 'I'm your daughter!' Malcolm is not impressed and promptly dispatches her.

* AmbiguouslyGay: Is rather freaked out when Vanessa tries to kiss him, and doesn't seem to be overly interested in sexual contact with women. Abroad in Africa, Sir Malcolm tries some pretty horrid things to "cure" Peter, according to the Demon.
* {{Foil}}: To Victor. Malcolm remarks on their similarities, but Peter is clearly softer, friendlier and less high-strung than Victor. Not to mention he's also [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth dead]].
* IllBoy: Was frail and sickly his whole life. Likely led to Malcolm's disappointment in him, given Malcolm's belief in ultra-manly ideals.
* JockDadNerdSon: Rather bookish and frail compared to the adventurous Sir Malcolm. [[PlayingWithATrope Not a totally straight example]], as Malcolm himself is a highly intelligent scholar who values book learning, but his standard is that of a GentlemanAdventurer with [[BadassBookworm brains]] ''and'' [[GeniusBruiser brawn]], and Peter could only be said to have the former.
* LastRequest: When dying, he begged his father to find and name a mountain after him. Malcolm found the mountain and named it after himself.

* ParentalNeglect: He is largely ignored by Malcolm, who wished for a stronger, more daring son.

* WellDoneSonGuy: He is desperate to prove himself to his emotionally distant father.

Malcolm's estranged wife and mother of Mina and Peter.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Is bewitched by Evelyn, causing her continuous agonizing pain in her head for several days, and then to hallucinate her children rising from their graves and coming to her, after which she is DrivenToSuicide.
* DrivenToSuicide: To escape Evelyn's spell.
* GrandeDame: Very much the Victorian mother, and as we see in "Fresh Hell", has enough of a spine to finally stand up to Malcolm.
* SilkHidingSteel: Seemed mousy and dull in Vanessa's flashback, but turns out to have quite the spine when she returns at the start of Season Two to scathingly give Malcolm a piece of her mind.
* WhatTheHellHero: Gives Malcolm one of these when he tries to reconcile at Mina's grave. It is clear that she blames him for the misfortune that has befallen her family - and certainly she's not completely wrong.

Angelique is a glamorous and upbeat young lady who is intrigued by Dorian Gray - and intrigues him in return. She works in an upscale brothel and seems to have exclusive clients with "special" interests. It’s ultimately revealed that Angelique was actually born male.

* BeneathTheMask: After episodes of put-on joie de vivre, Angelique breaks after being spit on in the fifth episode of Season 2 and reveals insecurity and self-loathing at her circumstances.
* BirdsOfAFeather: She and Dorian seem made for each other from the start - both glamorous and hedonistic and relishing in the discomfort of others.
* {{Gayngst}}: Unsurprisingly, as a trans woman in Victorian London, Angelique has had an incredibly difficult life and a lot of turmoil.
* HighClassCallGirl: The fifth episode of the second season revealed that her price for an engagement is usually forty pounds, which was a killing in Victorian times.
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Being charming is doubtlessly part of her job, but still Angelique seems genuinely friendly and open, and is obviously interested in Dorian beyond his purse.
* MoralityPet: Dorian may be an immortal NightmareFetishist, but she expresses true affection and compassion for Angelique and their relationship is quite loving. [[MoodWhiplash At least until he kills her]] for discovering his secret, despite her assurances that she'll love him even knowing what he is.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Seems flighty and camp, but Lyle definitely knows what he's talking about when it comes to Ancient Egypt. Even if his decor is tacky.
* CampGay: The ''campiest'' and ''gayest'', who flirts incessantly with Malcolm, and later Ethan. Despite this, [[TheBeard he is married to a woman]]. Evelyn Poole later blackmails him with photographs which supposedly show him in a compromising situation with another man.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Seemingly a weak, fretful little man...who in fact, knows more of the threat of the Nightcomers than the other cast and assists the heroes in taking them down, even killing one of the witches himself.

* DarkSecret: Lyle has one, but it's not his homosexuality, as one might expect - it's his Judaism.
* TheHeart: Seems to be everyone in the group's confidante, dispensing advice to Ethan and Victor, a supportive ear for Malcolm, and someone who cares very deeply about Vanessa.
** In Season 3, Lyle is the only one of the group in London to keep in contact with Vanessa. He writes her letters, and sends her cards, and when she does not respond for a number of months he doggedly visits her and single-handedly begins to pull her out of her depression.
* HeelFaceTurn: As soon as he realizes the heroes have a chance of stopping Evelyn and her coven, Lyle gladly does all he can to inform Vanessa and co, and undermine the witches' efforts. He honestly barely needed to turn, but come "And Hell Itself My Only Foe" he comes clean to the heroes about working for Evelyn and sides with them completely.
* NonActionGuy: While a brilliant scholar and intellectual, Lyle lacks any physical skills and is useless in a fight for the most part - the season two finale gives him a badass [[PreMortemOneLiner moment]] when he unexpectedly kills one of Evelyn's minions with a well-placed gun shot.
* PunchClockVillain: In Season 2, Lyle is cahoots with Evelyn Poole and her coven. According to Evelyn, though, Lyle fell into the world of occultism and devilry through sheer curiosity, and so he lacks any real malice or hunger for power; he is resigned to Evelyn's machinations only through the threat of his personal indiscretions coming to light.
* PutOnABus: Lyle leaves London midway through Season 3, being assigned to an archeological survey of the temple of [[Film/TheMummy1932 Imhotep]] somewhere in Egypt.
* SixthRanger: After a season of the odd consultation or two, and several moments of casual treachery under duress at the hands of Evelyn Poole, Lyle finally joins the heroes proper in their final assault upon the witches' coven at the end of Season 2.

Dr. Seward is a practitioner of the relatively new science of psychology (or "alienism", as it was called), to whom Vanessa is sent by Ferdinand Lyle to help her break out of her ennui and depression.

* AdaptationalHeroism: The original Dr. John Seward was the head of an insane asylum, but in ''Series/PennyDreadful'' she has the more modern and palatable profession of being a psychiatrist (then called an alienist).
* BrooklynRage: In the series finale right before they face against [[spoiler: Dracula's forces]], Sir Malcolm tells Dr. Seward that they may not be able to protect her. Her reply is to pull out a pistol and say she's from New York.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Using her powers, Vanessa learns that Dr. Seward once [[spoiler: killed a man in self-defense]]. In "No Beast So Fierce", it seems that man was [[spoiler: her husband]].
* GenderFlip: The character of Dr. Seward was originally a man in Bram Stoker's ''Dracula''.

* IdenticalGranddaughter: She's the Cut-Wife's descendant; her family did come from that area of England and she's the near spitting image of Joan.

* OldSoldier: Shows herself more than capable of fighting off a superpowered [[spoiler:Renfield]], carrying and using a pistol (and being quite put out that Malcolm questions her shooting prowess), and telling [[spoiler: Dracula himself]] to fuck off. She ultimately survives the final battle as well.

* BedlamHouse: Jekyll works at [[TropeNamer Bethlehem Royal Hospital]], using its lunatics as test subjects for his experimental serum.
* BestServedCold: According to Victor, Henry kept a list of all the people who had been cruel to him at school, for the purposes of killing them someday. One wonders if he's actually begun scratching people off yet.
* TheCorrupter: He convinces Victor that [[spoiler:neurologically altering Lily's brain to return to what she once was would be ''far'' more rewarding than destroying her, playing on Victor's still present infatuation/desire for her.]]

* MadScientist: Less physically and more mentally invasive than Victor's approach; his speciality is neurology, serums [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and injecting unwilling test subjects with suspicious substances.]] He ''also'' has a lab, though rather bigger than Victor's.

* NightmareFetishist: Any other person, were they let in on Victor's little hobby, would be varying levels of shocked, appalled and terrified. Jekyll's reaction is basically 'So it ''worked?'' '''Sweet.''' '

* RaceLift: Jekyll in the original novella was white, while this version of the character is half English and half Indian.

An Apache Indian from New Mexico. He tracks Malcolm down in Zanzibar to ask for his help in retrieving [[spoiler: Ethan Chandler from the clutches of his father]].

* BadassNative: Chiricahua Apache, with some serious skills in knife-throwing and fighting. If his name and origin is any clue, he may be even more badass than he appears - (the historical Kaetenay was one of the warriors who rode with Geronimo).
* BashBrothers: Looks to be heading this way with Sir Malcolm.
* BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins: Subverted, Kaetenay wears a Western-style suit and has his hair cropped short.
* ConvenientReplacementCharacter: Serves as one for Sembene, being a knife-wielding warrior with a dark past from a foreign land who aids Sir Malcolm in his journeys.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Kaetenay has a dark history with Ethan, [[spoiler: where the young man was responsible for the murder of his family]]. When Kaetenay reaches out to Ethan in his dreams, Ethan is considerably displeased to see the old warrior, with good reason: [[spoiler: Kaetenay lead a group of Apache in raiding the Talbot ranch, massacring everyone inside save for Jared Talbot, killing Ethan's mother, older brother, and baby sister.]] Oh, and if that's not enough? [[spoiler: Kaetenay is a werewolf and the one who turned Ethan to begin with.]]
* FlayingAlive: Kindly waits until ''after'' he and Sir Malcolm have killed all of the gang to scalp one of them, then makes a quip about [[LampshadeHanging old habits dying hard]].
* LampshadeHanging: Asked by Malcolm if all of his people speak enigmatically - a standard trait for the NobleSavage or MagicalNativeAmerican - Kaetenay [[SubvertedTrope straightforwardly]] [[LogicBomb replies "yes"]].

* KnifeNut: Hoo boy. Wields a very sharp throwing knife he also uses to scalp people.
* MagicalNativeAmerican: While he dresses in modern clothing he displays certain magical powers such as receiving visions or projecting visions of himself across vast distances whether in dreams or person.
* NativeGuide: Proposes he and Sir Malcolm travel to New Mexico, where he will lead them in [[spoiler: rescuing Ethan]].
* NobleSavage: Subverted; in the ''Penny Dreadful'' world, both the Apaches and the white Americans are just as capable of brutality and bloodshed as each other, and Kaetenay is certainly no saint.

* ActionGirl: Seems to be one, based on what we've seen of her so far.
* BraveScot: She mentions she's from an old Scottish clan and she's definitely fearless.
* ConvenientReplacementCharacter: As a somewhat-offbeat thanatologist and historian, she is the one who informs Vanessa about the true nature of Dracula and his vampires - filling the spot Van Helsing would occupy, if the Creature hadn't murdered him in Season One.
* EleventhHourRanger: She's introduced ''very'' late in the game; only three episodes before the show's GrandFinale.
* FieryRedhead: Catriona fits the bill; she's vivacious, outspoken, assertive and passionate about the things she loves.
* MrExposition: Serves as one for the ongoing battle against the forces of darkness, in the absence of Mr Lyle.
* MythologyGag: Catriona shares her surname with the Time Traveller from John Logan's [[Film/TheTimeMachine2002 version of]] ''[[TheTimeMachine2002 The Time Machine]]''.
* NightmareFetishist: As a student of death, and all its associated trappings, Catriona comes off as this trope.

* SwordFight: Is introduced in the middle of one - a fencing competition, against a male competitor.
* WantedASonInstead: Invoked: she mentions her skill with swords comes from her father training her to be the son he'd wanted.

* DoesNotLikeMen: Her traumatic upbringing sure left its traces. And unlike Lily, who still has a soft spot for men like Dorian and Victor, Justine shows nothing but contempt for anything male. However, she is still perfectly willing to use them as objects, and is happy enough to have a threesome with Dorian and Lily.

* IDieFree: [[spoiler: When Dorian turns all the women out of his home and tells Justine that Lily has been "tamed" by Frankenstein and will never return, Justine knows that she'll be helpless on the streets of London, and will have to return to the degrading prostitution that we first met her in. She informs Dorian she'd "rather die on my feet than live on my knees", and he grants her request.]]
* NeckSnap: [[spoiler: How Dorian dispatches her - at her own request.]]
* PublicDomainCharacter: Heavily inspired by the titular character of the Marquis de Sade's infamous novel ''Justine'', who was also subjected to an onslaught of sexual abuse after she left home at the age of 12.
* RaisedByOrcs: She has no apparent supernatural affliction herself and now lives in the foster care of two murderous immortals.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: She's shaping up into this. After the rescue from her terrible previous life, she quickly adjusted into her foster parents' murderous life style a little too well, to the extend that even ''Dorian'' is visibly disturbed.

An Inspector from Scotland Yard, sent to apprehend the man responsible for the Mariner's Inn Massacre. His path crosses with Ethan's often, eventually becoming the American's hunter and nemesis.

* ArtificialLimbs: His right arm is a wooden prosthetic, as he lost the real limb in battle in the Transvaal. Notably, this is not revealed until "Above the Vaulted Sky" but close attention to his previous appearances is rewarded with plenty of hints.

* CigaretteOfAnxiety: In his office interview with Ethan Chandler, his prime suspect, he intensely smokes a cigarette in spite of the difficulty of doing so with his left hand and blows the smoke everywhere. This might actually be to ''induce'' anxiety in the suspect, though.

* TheDeterminator: He took over the investigations from another detective and is hellbent to figure out and stop the killings for the sake of law and ''order''. When the survivor of the Mariner's Inn massacre is unwilling to share what he knows in "Evil Spirits in Heavenly Places", Rusk -- while remaining soft-spoken -- declares "You will help me, or by God ''I will grind you to bone''." He turns out to be capable of doing this, in a psychological sense, to Ethan Chandler. Also, in "Glorious Horrors" he reveals that when he lost his arm, as soon as he was able he took the time to hunt through a pile of lost limbs for it...and once he found it, he tossed it back. Knowing what became of the limb was closure for that loss, which goes back to his need for order.
** Seen again in Season 3; when Ethan is [[spoiler: freed from Rusk's captivity by his father's men]], and Rusk is left empty-handed in the barren desert... his only response is a hardened, resolute glare.

* GenreSavvy: When the Putney Waxworks' model of the Mariner's Inn Massacre is opened to the public, Rusk suspects Ethan Chandler will be there in a variation on ReturningToTheScene, a trope he apparently knows well (to the point that ''he uses the word "trope"''). He's correct and uses their next meeting to further tighten the screws on the culprit, psychologically.
** Continues it with his interrogation of Malcolm in "Memento Mori". It's very suspicious that Malcolm consulted Scotland Yard right when the murders began, refused to file a death report on Mina and buried her privately, keeps a house in London with no servants, guns on display, and a steel door that would look at home in a fortress, not a London townhouse. Rusk has so many of the pieces, but will he be able to put together the puzzle? He wants to, ''very badly.'' In the following episode he has the place surrounded by policemen. In 2x10 he reveals he had the extradition notice for Ethan for weeks, but couldn't just arrest him because that wouldn't have given him the closure he wanted.

* GentlemanSnarker: His interrogations of suspects, witnesses, and otherwise -- all of whom do their best to be unhelpful -- ''drip'' with sarcasm on his side, as he knows ''all'' of them have something to hide. The notable exception is the majority of his interrogation of Malcolm, as he ''is'' speaking to a peer of the realm, someone quite out of his own social circles, but once Malcolm proves extremely confrontational and secretive, Rusk drops the politesse and starts snarking again. He's even snarkier once he makes it to the United States, as the American authorities constantly underestimate his intelligence and tenacity.
* GoodIsNotSoft: He is an affable, gentle person, mild-mannered and soft-spoken, firmly on the side of justice and working only within the confines of the law. He will remind his quarry, however, that he will not rest until he's stopped their atrocities by any means within his moral code. But once [[spoiler: most of his fellow trackers are murdered]], he decides to become TheUnfettered.

* HeroAntagonist: Rusk is just trying to catch the people responsible for the murders and put a stop to the killing. Going into Season 3, the closest thing he's done to an outright evil deed is not immediately extraditing Ethan, simply because he needed the closure of a confession, and as it turns out, this allowed Ethan to finish off Evelyn Poole, though Sembene's life was also lost in the process.

* MercyKill: While it would be left to his fellow lawmen to proclaim and carry a sentence out, he seems to see himself as offering this to the serial killer if they will give themselves up. As he reminds them, a quick execution will be less painful than a life of ever-mounting guilt.

* SmugSnake: This GentlemanSnarker {{Determinator}} is ''extremely'' confident that he will find the proof he needs to close in on and capture his prime suspect, though he's not an outright villain as is usually standard for the trope. He's GoodIsNotSoft, and in a show where the bulk of the regulars are [[AntiHero antiheroes]] '''at best''', it would be awfully hard to keep the audience on the regulars' side if he didn't have a flaw like this. Ultimately, Ethan is extradited, but he holds back on this information and Ethan confesses his crimes to him.
* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: To Ethan Chandler, the culprit in ''most'' of the killings he's investigating. (the exception is the London Underground murders, which are the work of Hecate Poole). Even when he decides to become TheUnfettered, he still has this trope going for him because although the situation has become '''that''' bad, it can only get worse, and he doesn't realize that Ethan ''must'' stay alive to serve as the Wolf of God. And even then, [[spoiler: Ethan's ready to play for Lucifer's team anyway]].
* ToBeLawfulOrGood: Holds to the Lawful side most of the time until [[spoiler: the massacre of the trackers]], whereupon he decides he'll be Good and ''stop this madness''...no matter what it takes.
* TheUnfettered: Decides to become this in the wake of [[spoiler: the massacre of the trackers]], hence his BatmanGrabsAGun moment.

* AffablyEvil: He's had Apaches massacred to claim their land, and had his men murder a train car's worth of people to reclaim his son, however, when he's finally shown onscreen, he comes across as very charming and human. He talks amicably with Malcolm and gives him his sincere sympathies when he finds out Malcolm's daughter died. Then it turns out the reason he went to so much trouble to reclaim Ethan is because [[spoiler:Ethan's Apache allies butchered their family, and Jared wants to imprison Ethan on his land to force him to atone for their deaths. Jared sadly says he knows he's already going to Hell, but he wants to spare Ethan from that fate.]]
* ArchnemesisDad: Ethan despises his father, mainly because Jared pushed Ethan into joining the army where Ethan was made to massacre Apache people. Ethan eventually ended up ridden with guilt from the experience, murdered his commanding officer for his happiness over what they did, and defected to the Apaches. Jared eventually sent bounty hunters after Ethan throughout the first two seasons to bring his son back home, [[spoiler:though it turns out his motives for doing so aren't completely sinister.]]
* ArcVillain: Jared is the major antagonist in Ethan's character arc, and the single biggest threat to Ethan, Malcolm, Kaetenay and Rusk in Season 3's New Mexico storyline.
* BeardOfEvil: A corrupt, murderous ranch owner with a thick beard.

* TheDeterminator: Before ever the audience meets him, Jared is very much this trope. Even when his family is decimated and his last remaining son flees across the Atlantic, Jared stops at nothing to have Ethan returned to him; he pays off officials, sends bounty hunters to England, and even kills US Marshals to get his son back. Jared also invokes this trope in his final moments, threatening to send endless scores of hunters after Ethan when the man attempts to flee a second time. Jared even goes so far as to promise Ethan that he will haunt him well into the afterlife.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Jared's all-consuming thirst for vengeance is motivated by his love for his murdered wife, son and daughter. He loves Ethan, his last surviving son as well, even if [[spoiler:he can't forgive Ethan for inadvertently causing the deaths of their family. It turns out the entire reason he had bounty hunters try to bring him home is so that he could force Ethan to repent for his sins.]]
* EvilCounterpart: To Malcolm. Ethan says in the first season how much Malcolm, the "vainglorious, high-handed son of a bitch" reminds him of his father. When the two come face-to-face in season three, both Malcolm and Jared remark how much it's like "looking in a mirror", particularly when Jared muses how he "has mountains named after him" and Malcolm, whom we have watched through three seasons change from that kind of man, responds "at what cost?"

* TheFundamentalist: Very, very Christian, and quotes the parable of the prodigal son in response to Ethan's homecoming.
* TheGhost: He's never seen in the first two seasons despite the fact that Ethan's arcs involve dealing with his father's influence and the bounty hunters he sends after him. He finally appears in Season Three.

* {{Hypocrite}}: He is very big on religion and tries to force Ethan to atone. Yet despite his HeelRealization he refuses to change his views on anything or attempt to atone himself.
* KilledMidSentence: While Talbot is going on a tirade about how he would kill Ethan, [[spoiler:Sir Malcolm [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim just shoots him]] midway through.]]
* PapaWolf: He'll do anything to reclaim his son, Ehtan, [[spoiler:and save his soul from hell]], and he'll kill anyone who gets in his way.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He's very racist towards Apaches, and stole land from them for his ranch. His racism has only gotten worse, [[spoiler:after Apaches murdered his family in revenge and forced him to watch.]]
* StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred: Jared angrily tries to invoke this in Ethan during their showdown, after Ethan makes it clear he won't be redeeming himself anytime soon. Fortunately, [[spoiler: Sir Malcolm]] takes a third option.

The owner of a waxworks museum that hires the Creature, Putney is a man who's a lot darker than he first appears, and possessing ambitions greater than simple grotesqueries rendered in wax.

* AssholeVictim: Becomes one when John Clare frees himself from his cage, brutally killing Putney and his wife with very little difficulty or hesitation.
%%* BaldOfEvil
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Sure he'll put on the guise of a cheerful friendly showman, but underneath it lies a greedy amoral man.
* GenreBlind: Putney thinks it's a good idea to not only lock up John, but taunt him also. It ultimately comes as a surprise to him when the hulking man with the ghoulish looks and the SupernaturalGoldEyes also possesses the SuperStrength to effortlessly rip through his cage and the temper to kill Putney and his wife on the spot. Even if the Creature had been of normal strength, the cage door was far too lightly built to trap an adult man; if you watch closely the Creature didn't so much break his cell door, he simply took it apart. It's implied Putney used animal cages and didn't bother to learn the difference.

* NeckSnap: [[SuperStrength And it sure]] [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown wasn't ''pretty''.]]
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Putney is fond of rather large, unnecessarily flowery language, as befitting his role as a showman. The way he flaunts his ludicrous vocabulary also likely his way of compensating for his lowly station and near-impoverished means.
* SmugSnake: Putney really overestimates himself, his security and his success. His gloating is what leads to his death.

Lavinia is the daughter of Oscar Putney, the man who hires "John Clare" as a custodian. Despite her blindness, Lavinia is a skillful artisan, crafting wax faces after the likeness of famous people, such as Prime Minister William Gladstone. In contrast to her devious parents, she is friendly and caring, and strikes up a tender friendship with "John"... until her true colours are revealed.

* BlindAndTheBeast: Played with. Lavinia cannot visually perceive the Creature's destroyed face, but she felt it and wasn't shocked, and even when he describes his eyes as yellow, she just remarks that that's rare and that she hopes it's not lemon yellow.
* CruelMercy: The Creature brutally kills her parents for their treachery, but Lavinia -- for her part in the deception -- is left alive, blind and doomed to suffer without familial support or financial prospects. The Creature also leaves her to find the mangled bodies of her parents down in the basement, as a way of repaying her for her manipulations.
* DisabledMeansHelpless: Played with, but ultimately averted. At first, Lavinia seems withdrawn and completely under the thumb of her parents, but it quickly turns out that she's a capable craftswoman and a very intelligent and observant person, who draws people in by sheer force of her charming personality. This takes a darker turn when it turns out she uses her charms to gain the Creature's trust, only to trap him for one of her father's schemes.

Warren Roper is a PinkertonDetective hired by Jared Talbot, to bring Ethan back to America. Barely surviving an encounter with Ethan's wolf form, Roper doggedly continues his mission with a thirst for revenge.

* FacialHorror: Ethan's attack on Roper leaves half of his torn to shreds, with [[EyeScream one of his eyes clawed out]]. The reconstruction effort isn't particularly skilled either, giving Roper a face that makes the Creature's scars look relatively normal.

* GenreBlind: He chooses to confront Ethan - a dangerous man he knows is capable of great savagery - on a night when Ethan is having spasms in the light of a full moon. He learns from this, though, leading to--

* GratuitousRape: He threatens, completely out of nowhere, to rape and kill Vanessa at the Cut-wife's cottage, seemingly just to make the audience feel better about Vanessa and Ethan killing him.
* RasputinianDeath: He gets bludgeoned, slashed, [[ManBitesMan bitten]], kicked in the face repeatedly and stabbed multiple times before he finally breathes his last. And the whole time he's giving almost as good as he's getting.

* ScarilyCompetentTracker: Always manages to find Ethan even when he goes with Vanessa into hiding on the Devon moors.
* SoftSpokenSadist: Almost always speaks in a soft and calm tone, which coupled with his strong southern accent, makes nearly everything he says sounds unsettling, even when he's not threatening.
* TwoFaced: Following his encounter with Ethan's wolf form, the left side of his face is badly scared and clawed out. He covers his gruesome injuries with a leather mask for much of his time onscreen.

* AdaptationalBadass: Dracula in the book is impressive enough in his own right; he's implied to be the reincarnation of Vlad the Impaler, to have turned himself into a vampire using black magic learned in Scholomance School of Necromancy and to have powers from the Devil Himself; here he's a fallen angel who is the elder and more powerful brother of the Devil!

* AnimalMotif: The bat, naturally. [[spoiler: When he and Lucifer confront each other, both in the form of the orderly, their shadows are represented by a bat and an adder, respectively.]]

* BadBoss: Regularly abuses his familiars, including feeding disobedient familiars to the others. [[spoiler: However, he is quite affable in his human guise of Dr. Sweet.]]

* BewareTheNiceOnes: [[spoiler:Dr. Sweet]] has been nothing but kind to Vanessa, albeit forgetful. He's actually Dracula.
* BigBad: Is very much this for Season 3, as befitting his position as TheDreaded.

* CainAndAbel: Both Dracula and Lucifer are fallen angels, banished from Heaven in ancient times: one who would dwell on Earth and feast upon the blood of men, the other who would live in Hell and consume their souls. Both, however, are competing against the other to claim Vanessa for their own dark purposes. Their hatred for each other is made clear in "A Blade of Grass," when Dracula wastes no time in mocking Lucifer for his diminished state when they meet.

* CanonCharacterAllAlong: The undead threat in Season 1 is carried out by a series of EliteMook vampires, all of whom the heroes hunt and kill, culminating in Mina herself being the Master's representative in London. When Mina is killed by her father Sir Malcolm, the threat dies down... only for Dracula himself to take charge of the situation in Season 3.

* ChekhovsGunman: ''Many'' viewers suspected that Dracula was someone they'd already been introduced to in the Season Three premiere episode. [[spoiler: They were right.]]

* ComboPlatterPowers: Just like in the novel. He has already displayed his SuperStrength, but he may also have some form of MindManipulation. Catriona Hartdegen confirms that Dracula can [[{{Shapeshifting}} shapeshift]], altering his appearance and identity every century in order to blend in. [[spoiler: During his confrontation with Vanessa and Lucifer, he is able to [[MindOverMatter move objects telekinetically]], though this ability is not yet confirmed as this happened entirely in Vanessa's mind]]. Later, it's shown that he's [[SuperSpeed fast enough to dodge bullets]].

* TheCorrupter: According to Catriona, Ancient Ottoman records paint Dracula as this: a powerful seducer, able to lead lesser men astray.
** He has even [[spoiler: seduced Vanessa to the darkness, thus causing the (temporary) apocalypse]].

* DarkIsEvil: Always wearing dark grays and blacks. He also has dark brown hair and a dark brown beard.

** [[spoiler: Dr. Sweet's dead wife]] might be a partial lie, but if Dracula's confession in "Ebb Tide" (and WordOfSaintPaul) is to be believed, [[spoiler: he actually fell in love with Vanessa during his pursuit of her]].

* EvilLaugh: Gives a particularly bone-chilling one in "A Blade of Grass" while he's off screen.
* EvilOverlord: Has hundreds of familiars and vampires at his beck and call.

* TheFaceless: In the Season 3 premiere, the audience only hears his deep, dissonant voice.

* [[MotherOfAThousandYoung Father of a Thousand Young]]: The Father to Vanessa's Mother of Evil. He's the progenitor and master of all vampires, deemed by Lucifer the "Father of Beasts."

* GenreSavvy: Probably the most savvy character on the series. Just to name a few instances:
** He doesn't even approach Vanessa until all of her friends have left the country, and does it in such a roundabout way that she is completely convinced he's an academic looking to lecture.

** He throws Ethan around like a rag doll, then immediately flees when it's clear Ethan is about to transform, as he is fully aware that the Wolf is an actual physical threat to him.

* GreaterScopeVillain: Takes this position in Season 1, using Mina and the lesser vampires to entrap Vanessa whilst he stays hidden.
* HeartbrokenBadass: In the comic continuation; he has withdrawn from the world after Vanessa's death and isn't interested in enacting an EvilPlan anymore. He blames both himself and Ethan for tearing Vanessa apart between them.
* HiddenVillain: There are only hints that the vampire master who seduced Mina is Dracula in Season, and then he is outright absent from Season 2, only for him to return to do his own dirty work in Season 3. The audience ''finally'' receives full confirmation of his name and appearance at the end of "Predators Far and Near."

* IronicName: Dracula means "son of the dragon/devil," but he's the rival of the actual Devil [[spoiler:and seems to be the more powerful of the two]]. Additionally, the fake name that he picked for himself [[spoiler:(Sweet) is [[ChekhovsGun the exact opposite of his real personality]].]]

* ManOfWealthAndTaste: Initially described as a nobleman who seduced Mina Murray. [[spoiler: Dr. Sweet's clothes, attitude, and position in society indicate this wealth.]]

* StalkerWithACrush: Toward Vanessa, like no other character in the show.

* VillainousBreakdown: Has an understated but memorable one when [[spoiler: Vanessa breaks up their brief relationship out of concern for his safety]]. He silently watches her leave... and then effortlessly crushes the teacup in his grip.

** This is later played straight in "A Blade of Glass," when Vanessa rebuffs both Dracula and Lucifer -- with Dracula threatening to assault her with every horror he can muster.

-->'''Dracula:''' She's not yours; she's MINE!
* VillainousCrush: Goes without saying, given the account of the fallen angels and their endless pursuit of the Mother of Evil, but Dracula in the present is quite singularly obsessed with Vanessa, at one point stating that he strongly lacks sympathy for any creature that would do her harm.

* WeCanRuleTogether: At least part of his final seduction of Vanessa, the other being his offer to love her forever and never let her feel alone and unloved again.

* YouHaveFailedMe: Dracula [[spoiler: indifferently [[MonstrousCannibalism commands his offspring to eat]]]] a minion who [[spoiler: traumatized Vanessa without his permission, an act which inadvertently brought Dracula's burgeoning relationship with Vanessa to an end]].

A shadowy presence that has plagued Vanessa for years. Eventually revealed to be the original fallen angel; Lucifer, aka Satan. No matter which name he goes by, the Demon desires to join with Vanessa and bring about the End of Days.

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: Every time Lucifer has reached out to Vanessa, it has been in the form of [[ParanoiaFuel someone she trusts dearly]] - he has variously masqueraded as Sir Malcolm, Ethan and the Orderly.
* BlackEyesOfEvil: This trope is invariably how he reveals his true self when masquerading in human-form.
* CainAndAbel: Both the Demon and the Master are fallen angels, banished from Heaven in antiquity. One who would dwell on Earth and feast upon the blood of men, the other who would live in Hell and consume their souls. Both, however, are competing against the other to claim Vanessa for their own dark purposes. When they finally share a scene together, Lucifer flat out despises his brother, whom he calls the "father of beasts."
* DemonicPossession: Lucifer performs this several times on Vanessa throughout her life, before finally being driven off by Ethan's exorcism at the end of Season 1.

* GreaterScopeVillain: The Demon is responsible for Vanessa's demonic possession in Season 1 and the Nightcomers in Season 2.
* FallenAngel: Banished from Heaven by God after his failed rebellion.
* KarmaHoudini: While the Nightcomers are defeated, Lucifer is only temporarily driven off. He's still in Hell, plotting. [[spoiler: Of course, it's revealed that as belief in the supernatural dwindles, Lucifer diminishes without human belief to sustain him. He's only a shadow of his former majesty and will continue to fade as long as humans stop fearing him.]]
* OmnicidalManiac: As opposed to Dracula, who wants he and his progeny to thrive on Earth by overthrowing humanity, Lucifer would like to destroy all life on Earth until he and Vanessa are the only two left.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Delivered to Satan by none other than his brother Dracula.
-->'''Dracula''': I am made strong and potent by the spoils of my domain- while you, anemic, feed on dust & superstition. The abject supplication of the weak and the ignorant- if they cease to believe in you, do you even exist? But they won't believe forever, brother. We live in a mighty age of science and faithlessness... You fade into insignificance even as I look at you now.
* {{Satan}}: The Demon is confirmed in Season 2 to be the fallen angel Lucifer, who was cast into Hell by God to feed on the souls of the damned.
* WickedCultured: While seducing Vanessa into letting him into her body, he outright quotes the poetry of Keats to her.

A mysterious widow-turned-spiritualist who first appears in Season One and becomes the BigBad of Season Two, leading a coven of witches known as the Nightcomers.

* AbusiveParents: According to Hecate, when she was just five-years-old, Evelyn handed her over to Lucifer and condemned her to a life as his slave. From the way Hecate phrases it, it's implied Evelyn allowed Lucifer to rape her.
* TheAgeless: She's over two hundred years old, having gotten eternal youth as part of her deal with Lucifer.
* BadBoss: Casually murders a loyal follower for failing her and asking another chance, then orders the rest of her followers to drag "that bitch out of here."
* BecomingTheMask: Originally set out to seduce Sir Malcolm as part of a plan to get Vanessa. She eventually falls for him, and even offers to let him share her immortality and be together forever. It doesn't cause her to become a better person though.
** If you believe her speech to Malcolm, that is. It's possible she's partly or completely lying about her feelings for him. It's implied she ''is'' exhausted with her life.
* BigBad: Of Season Two, tasked by [[{{Satan}} the Master]] to bring Vanessa into their infernal fold.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Evelyn gets a lot of things done by fooling others into thinking she's a loving, interesting and friendly woman.
* {{Blackmail}}: Her weapon of choice, to ensure Lyle's loyalty.
* BloodBath: "Fresh Hell" reveals her in one, which may have Elizabeth Bathory-related implications.

* CompellingVoice: She certainly has some powers to influence others' actions as shown by her almost entrancing [[spoiler: her sister]] Joan back, however due to it ending up failing and her common use of manipulation, it's safe to say it has its limitations. Perhaps that may be the reason for her supplementing her manipulation of Malcolm with BlackMagic.
* DealWithTheDevil: Where Evelyn got her powers - and her looks - from. The deal seems to have its perks; the Cut-Wife claims Evelyn hasn't aged since the mid-1600s.
* DepravedBisexual: Has had relationships with men and women, to both she's equally abusive.
* {{Dominatrix}}: Wields a riding crop on Sir Geoffrey in "The Nightcomers" and is very clearly in charge.

* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Subverted. Evelyn appears to have functional relationships with Malcolm and Hecate. However, Evelyn is viciously abusive to Hecate and turned her into the monster she became by giving her to Lucifer at age five in a process that is implied to involve allowing Hecate's rape at Lucifer's hands. Under their current relationship, Evelyn's only care for her is as a lackey and extension of herself. While she claims to love Malcolm, it is revealed she only cares about the idea of a lover to share her immortality with and has no care whatsoever for Malcolm as a person. When he rejects her, she inflicts a horrible MindRape on him and leaves him to be tortured by the ghosts of his past without a care.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Happily creates the facade of coming across as a friendly, good-humoured woman and great company. In reality she is callous, cruel and uncaring.
* FemmeFatale: Gets her claws into Malcolm with relative ease.
* FountainOfExpies: Madam Satan in Series/ChillingAdventuresOfSabrina and Countess Marburg in Series/Salem are both very similar to her.
* HateSink: For all of her intelligence, charm and power, she's an ancient sexual pervert who abuses her daughter and was willing to offer her up as a sacrifice to the Devil himself just to preserve her own youth.
* TheHeavy: Of Season Two. Though Lucifer is her master, Evelyn's the one actually moving the plot forward.
* HiddenDepths: Underneath it all, Evelyn's actually quite lonely, and ends up offering Sir Malcolm a chance to share the immortality promised by the devil, so she'll have someone to be with for the rest of her eternal, or at least, very long life.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: She is a very good shot, easily besting Malcolm, and has enough skill to master his heavy, vampire-killing Mauser at first try.
* LadyOfBlackMagic: A sophisticated woman with charisma, and powerful witch of dark magic.
* LivingDollCollector: Keeps a room of her victims, represented by dolls with the hearts of babies/children stitched into them.
* ManipulativeBitch: Evelyn knows how to play people, and is very good at using charm, seduction and emotional manipulation to get them to do what she wants.
* OffWithHerHead: Ethan - in his wolf form - effortlessly slashes apart a sizeable chunk of Evelyn's throat. Gravity - and this trope - soon follows.
* OlderThanTheyLook: She looks along the lines of a gracefully aged woman in her forties; however, she's actually around two hundred and fifty years old, eternal youth being part of her pact with Lucifer.
* OutGambitted: A contributor to her downfall; Evelyn throughout Season 2 is aware that her daughter Hecate is positioning herself for leadership within the Nightcomer coven, by force if necessary. Evelyn knows she is the favorite of their master Lucifer, and is backed by his powerful black magic. Hecate on the other hand, has no loyalties, and a willingness to use the heroes for her own ambitions. Evelyn doesn't quite appreciate her daughter's ruthlessness, and ends up being overthrown by Hecate in the final skirmish of Season 2.

* SquishyWizard: Evelyn is a long-serving minion of Lucifer, a powerful practitioner of black magic and the leader of a well-hidden coven of witches in the very middle of London. Even without the supernatural connections, Evelyn is a gifted manipulator, a ruthless schemer and a social chameleon. However, her strength is in her spells and her incantations, and both are tied to the generosity of her master, Lucifer. When he withdraws said powers from Evelyn at the finale of Season 2, along with her immortality, she is very quickly dispatched by Ethan.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: She did not fully expect for Vanessa to send Lucifer away through the sheer force of her own BlackMagic, thus undoing Evelyn's agelessness, which in turn gives Ethan the perfect window to kill her.
* VainSorceress: Leads a coven of them, but she's the queen bee, and her penchant for [[BloodBath Blood Baths]] seems to play into this.
* VillainessesWantHeroes: Seduces Malcolm to get to Vanessa, but seems to actually fall for him to some degree.
* VillainousIncest: Seems very intimate with Hecate, and was the same with her sister Joan.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Evelyn admits to Malcolm in "Memento Mori", that she's become exhausted with immortality and desperately wants someone to share it with.
* WickedCultured: Is classically educated, has a fondness for ancient history, carries a constant air of sophistication, and has a taste for the finer things in life.
* WillingChanneler: It remains to be seen if she ever uses her abilities for her day job or is simply playing the role.
* WouldHurtAChild: Hecate may be the one who killed it, but Evelyn is perfectly willing to cut the heart out of a dead baby in order to use in a sinister effigy.

* AxCrazy: Downplayed, she's normally in control and calm, but she really does take a lot of pleasure out of killing.
* TheCorrupter: Serves as this for Ethan; their first proper meeting is her encouraging him to give into his more primal desires and follow her away from his divine destiny as the Wolf of God.

* DragonWithAnAgenda: Makes no secret to Lyle of plotting to overthrow her mother.
* DrivenToVillainy: She reveals to Ethan in Season Three that she was only five when her mother gave her to Lucifer, possibly allowing him to rape her in the process. She was basically condemned to a lifetime of servitude for Lucifer before she had any real choice in the matter. Lucifer and her mother doomed her since childhood.
* FakeAmerican: In-universe, she poses as this in "Evil Spirits in Heavenly Places" to get closer to Ethan. Surprisingly - to her, at least - it doesn't work.
* FanDisservice: Hecate is a lithe, supple, beautiful young lady, and her Nightcomer form - like all her brethren - is completely naked and hairless. That alone would not be so terrifying, if the Nightcomer look wasn't complete with heavy ritualistic scarring, demonic eyes and noticeable fangs.
* FemmeFatale: Is assigned to seduce Ethan for Evelyn's plans. However, her act fails miserably.
* FreudianExcuse: Claims that she was never given a choice in serving Lucifer; her mother gave her to the Master when she was five years old.

* ParentChildIncest: Kisses her mother on the mouth in ecstasy and seems generally very aroused when Evelyn talks about Lucifer.
* PerkyFemaleMinion: Evelyn's right-hand amongst the Nightcomers, and disturbingly cheerful and peppy in her work.
* PetTheDog: Ethan's surprised to learn she has a genuine affinity for animals. She's a bitter, sadistic misanthrope but she likes animals because she views them as innocent.

* TheStarscream: Has implied several times that she's not as happy playing second fiddle to her mother as she sometimes appears. In "Glorious Horrors", she tells Mr Lyle that she has plans of her own, ones which don't run alongside her mother's, and seems to instigate a psychic attack against Vanessa without her mother's knowledge. In "Memento Mori", she outright calls Evelyn "old", comparing her to a dinosaur, which in turn instigates Evelyn into throwing her across a room.
** In "All Hell Itself My Only Foe" she outright offers to betray her mother and pledge her allegiance to Ethan, as he has the potential to stand beside Lucifer upon him succeeding, if he allies with evil.

* VillainousCrush: Has a rather one-sided crush on Ethan. [[spoiler:Not so one-sided in Season Three where Ethan's forced to cooperate with her and ends up forming a connection with her.]]

* WoundedGazelleGambit: Tries one to ensnare Ethan, by setting up a scenario where he saves her from a runaway coach. The first part of the plan works, but the second half fails miserably as Ethan easily sees through her deception after talking to her for only a few minutes.

The young secretary of Dr. Seward, he seems an unassuming man but he quickly finds himself under the sway of a far darker power in need of his services.

* CovertPervert: He seems respectable on the surface, but Dracula had him snatched up while Renfield was looking for prostitutes.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: He's a dark-haired man whose skin and eyes only grow paler after becoming Dracula's familiar. The creepy change in his appearance coincides with his growing lack of sanity.
* FriendlessBackground: [[spoiler:During Seward's questioning, Renfield laments that he was never friends with her, saying he never had friends, never had anyone who cared about him or loved him, and that maybe if he did have someone, he wouldn't have ended up as a monster.]]

* TheRenfield: Goes without saying since he's based on the original TropeNamer. Dracula makes him a familiar, a person gifted with a small portion of a vampire's power, addicted to their blood and enslaved to their master's will.

He is the creature created by Dr. Frankenstein at the end of episode one.

* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: How Caliban kills him. First Caliban's hands are shoved through his chest from behind and then he's ripped open.

* MythologyGag: While deciding on a name for him, Frankenstein suggests "Adam." In the ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' novel, the Creature refers to himself as "The Adam of your labours." Several adaptations have gone on to use Adam as a proper name for the creature.
* NiceGuy: In sharp contrast to Frankenstein's first creation.
* NonIndicativeName: His name literally means "the First", but he's Victor Frankenstein's ''second'' creation... [[MyGreatestFailure Not that he'd admit it.]]

* WeHardlyKnewYe: In episode two, we find out that he was a sailor and had a wife. However, he is brutally killed by his older "brother", as we learn he was in fact the ''second'' creature created by the doctor.

The Impressario of the ''Grand Guignol'' Theatre, he takes pity on a homeless Caliban and offers him a job as a stagehand.

* TheAlcoholic: Never seen without a flask or bottle.
* LargeHam: Both on stage and in real life.
* NiceGuy: A genuinely good person who brings Caliban to the theater and gives him a job. He even admits [[spoiler: he'd rather fire the actress who complained about Caliban than Caliban himself, but the public demands the actress stay.]]
* ParentalSubstitute: To Caliban. He's one of the few people who look beyond Caliban's scary exterior and see a timid and lonely soul.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Has never met a dramatic declaration he didn't like.

A young actress at the ''Grand Guignol'', who is the secret object of Caliban's affection.

* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: She's a friendly blonde, who tries to befriend Caliban because he reminds her of her disfigured brother. He, of course, misinterprets her intentions. Maude only stops being friendly when Caliban assaults her after coming on too strong and being rejected.

* ScreamingWoman: A large part of her job.

* ActorAllusion: This isn't the [[Film/MyBestFriendIsAVampire first time David Warner played a vampire hunter]].
* DarkAndTroubledPast: His wife's death was by his own hand, after she had been turned into a vampire.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: His vampire-hunting days are long over by the time Frankenstein meets him. His exploits, like those in ''Dracula'', are hinted at but never in great detail.

* HumbleHero: When Frankenstein meets him in Season 1, Van Helsing is an old, kindly man who has seen, done and survived great horrors in his personal pursuit and defeat of vampirism. He suggests through his conversations with Frankenstein that he was much like the good doctor in his younger days, but through age and loss has abandoned his ego and ambition. His humility extends to him even gently calling himself out for naming Hannah's Wink 'immodestly' after his own wife.

* MentorOccupationalHazard: Is murdered by Caliban.

* WeHardlyKnewYe: A brilliant scientist with a wealth of vampiric knowledge was - in his younger days - a devoted husband and a veteran vampire hunter... and he's killed off only a few scenes after his first appearance.

* BurnTheWitch: Evelyn Poole manipulates the people of Devon to ensure the Cut-Wife's demise via this trope. Unlike most examples, they don't burn Vanessa's mentor at the stake, but suspend her from chains and drench her in tar before setting her alight.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Was previously a member of Evelyn Poole's coven, long ago, before it turned to darkness. They branded her a traitor and she has been estranged ever since.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Coarse and morbid, and feared by the local villagers, the Cut-Wife is nevertheless well-intentioned and benevolent... if not a bit [[GoodIsNotNice gruff and cynical]].
* DoesNotLikeMen: Due to bad experiences in the past, she's somewhat wary of men. Not that she's particularly fond of women either, frequently chastising them for running off with men and frequently acts unpleasant towards them.
* TheMentor: To Vanessa, whom she teaches arcane lore, including Tarot reading and the Verbis Diablo.
* MeaningfulName: Her title and her real name- called the Cut-Wife because she administers abortions, called Joan in a possible reference to Joan of Arc, another woman who is put to death by immolation.
* MentorOccupationalHazard: Burned alive by Sir Geoffrey and the local peasants.
* OlderThanTheyLook: She appears to be fifty or sixty. In reality, she was already an adult in 1644, when she shelters Oliver Cromwell and is granted a perpetual lease to her land for it.
* RedBaron: Primarily known as the Cut-Wife. She only tells Vanessa her full and proper name as she's headed to her death at the hands of Sir Geoffrey. Every scene before this has her known only as the Cut-Wife of Ballantree Moor.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Dies in her first appearance, but her teachings greatly inform the woman Vanessa becomes.
%%* WeHardlyKnewYe

* AnimalMotifs: Scorpions. She's wearing them in her character poster, and when she was training with the Cut-Wife the older woman referred to Vanessa as "little scorpion". It seems to be a case of DarkIsNotEvil here, as the scorpion seemingly reminds Vanessa of her earlier magical power rather than the more recent demonic influences in her life.

* ApocalypseMaiden: Multiple incidents and conversations - especially the Verbis Diablo passage - suggest that as the reincarnation as Amunet she's this trope in the making, as Lucifer and Dracula are fallen angels competing to make her their "Mother of Evil".

* BeneathTheMask: Underneath her confidence and seeming casualness, Vanessa is a very damaged woman, tormented by a life of toil and torture, plagued by guilt and shame.
* BrokenBird: Although usually emotionally stoic, Vanessa's endless troubles, her battle with Lucifer and Ethan's abandonment in Season 2 all push her into this trope in Season 3. She begins to get better, only for [[DespairEventHorizon Dracula to fully break her again]].

* CantHaveSexEver: Not that she ''can't,'' exactly; more like she's scared of doing so, since every time she feels a strong connection with a man makes her weak to the demon and allows him to possess her.
* CoolBigSis: Even though they aren't blood related, she develops into this for Victor in Season 2, helping him shop for clothes for Lily, and teasing him about being in love. He's also the only one she entrusts with her hiding place when she and Ethan leave London, and he trusts her with watching over him whilst he shoots up on morphine.
* DeathGlare: She seems to pack a nice arsenal of intimidating stares capable of stopping monsters in their tracks. However it's later revealed this has more to do with her being possessed by a demon.
* DemonicPossession: Has suffered from this her whole life, and more or less accepted it when she seduced Mina's fiancé. The possession comes and goes, but is linked to sexual encounters. It was apparently exorcised by Ethan in "Possession" but it's not completely gone.

* EntertaininglyWrong: Invokes this trope when she shares her compiled research on Dracula with Catriona. Catriona points out that a lot of what is "known" of Dracula is little more than peasant superstition and myth.

* {{Expy}}: Interestingly enough, for both Mina Murray-Harker and Lucy Westenra. She replaces Lucy as Mina's best gal pal, but replaces Mina as the true object of Dracula's desire and his reincarnated lost-love. Lucy however appears in the prequel comic.

* FatalAttractor: Besides Lucifer wanting her as his bride, her love interrests are Dorian Gray, Ethan Chandler ([[spoiler:a werewolf]]) and Dr. Sweet [[spoiler:aka Dracula himself]].

** Goes through one at the beginning of Season Two, due to her encounter with the witches. Such an experience brings to her mind her time with the Cut-Wife of Ballantree Moor, the evil of the Nightcomers, the Cut-Wife's execution and Vanessa's own branding at the hands of the witches' minions.
** Undergoes another one at the beginning of Season Three, due to being abandoned by Victor, Malcolm, and Ethan. This one is significantly more serious a depressive episode, to the point where Vanessa has neglected the house, her appearance, and is frightened of light itself.

* NiceGirl: In spite of her traumatic past and stoic appearance, Vanessa is overal kind and compassionate.
* NotSoStoic: She does show a noticeably more cheerful mood, when she's around Dorian Gray and when she re-encounters Mina. John Clare also finds a way into Vanessa's warmer moods, due to their [[spoiler: shared history together at the asylum]].
* OddFriendship: Due to her unique nature and turbulent life story, really any friendship she has is like this. Standouts include her endearing closeness with the eccentric Ferdinand Lyle, her snarky relationship with Dr Seward and her growing fascination with the mysteriously independent Catriona Hartdegen.
* PsychicPowers: She can repel [[EliteMooks lesser vampires]] and can partially tell the future with and without Tarot Cards. She divines a dark secret from Dr. Seward's past by grasping the psychiatrist's wrist.

* SexySoakedShirt: Subverted because it's an [[FanDisservice un-sexy]] version of this trope. She is [[CrucifiedHeroShot chained to a wall]] in a BedlamHouse and sprayed down with a fire hose.
* SherlockScan: She pulls one on Ethan when she first meets him.
* ShipperOnDeck: In Season 2, she encourages Viktor's relationship with Lily who, as far as she knows, is [[KissingCousins his cousin]].

* TheStoic: Vanessa frequently stays composed and calm, keeping the same mildly cold expression regardless of the circumstances. Her facade begins to break as the battle with the Nightcomers moves into increasingly personal and private areas of her life.

* UnresolvedSexualTension: Between Vanessa and Ethan, and Vanessa and Dorian, and Vanessa and Lucifer, and Vanessa and Dracula. It's easier to probably list the male characters she doesn't have it with.
* WhenSheSmiles: Normally straight faced and stoic, and often sombre. However on the rare occasions Vanessa gets to smile, it's really very heartwarming.
* WillingChanneler: She could have rid herself of the demonic force that possesses her if she wanted to, but the allure of power proved too strong and she allowed it to take hold of her.

* AntiHero: Sir Malcolm's motives are sympathetic, but he's ''utterly'' ruthless in his methods. He's more self-aware of this in Season 2, telling Vanessa in "Verbis Diablo" that he cannot judge anyone's goodness, and Victor in "Memento Mori" that he knows something is wrong because he no longer feels the guilt of his past.

* BadassBaritone: This is Timothy Dalton we are talking about. Combining his natural depth with a GutturalGrowler style of voice makes Sir Malcolm all the more frightening.

* BadassInDistress: Spends much of Season Two under Evelyn's power, and upon managing to break out, gets imprisoned by her. The final two episodes of the season are devoted to Vanessa, Ethan, Sembene, Victor, and Lyle running to his rescue.
* BadassNormal: Of the main cast he is probably the one furthest removed from anything supernatural, but he is still very much capable of facing inhuman monstrosities in battle and winning.
* {{Brainwashed}}: He falls under the spell of Evelyn Poole, not knowing of her true intentions. However he ends up being broken out of it in "Memento Mori" by a combination of Sembene's help and his memories of his family.
* BoldExplorer: His profession, of sorts, before the events of the series. He's traveled far and wide, climbed mountains and crossed rivers. This is somewhat explored by the series, and deconstructed: Malcolm is ''the'' quintessential British adventure hero for Victorian times. He is also a horrible person who raped his way across Africa, abandoned his son, and treats people appallingly.

* CoolOldGuy: In his late-fifties/early-sixties at least (the character, Timothy Dalton is a shocking ''71''), and extremely cool.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: In his quest to eliminate the vampire threat and rescue his daughter, Malcolm's allowed the most ruthless and vicious aspects of his personality to surface. This trope is eventually deconstructed; the crusade against the forces of darkness takes its toll, however, and losing his family and Sembene in fact only leaves him morose and directionless in Africa.

* HesBack: Following several episodes under Evelyn's control causing him to change and act very differently, he's finally broken out of it in "Memento Mori." Once he is, he returns to his old self.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Malcolm was incredibly self-centered for a very long time. We're talking about a man who abandoned his dying son to traipse over Africa. When Malcolm found a mountain his dying son had begged him to name after him, Malcolm in his grief ''named it after himself''. In the present he regrets some of his selfish actions in the past, but has long since stopped believing he can make up for them, or change the way he is.
* TheLeader: In Between Type 1 and Type 3. Of the group, Sir Malcolm normally leads the exploits, employs Ethan and Victor, and formulates most of the decisions. However, he defers to Vanessa on certain occasions, when he knows her supernatural abilities are needed.

** Malcolm tells Victor he cares about him because Victor reminds him of Peter, his son. Unfortunately, this extends to ignoring Victor when he isn't useful to him - [[ParentalNeglect just like he once did with Peter]].
** In a less heart-warming fashion, he tells Vanessa that she is the daughter he would have deserved (implying that Mina is far better than both of them). His declaration to the vampiric Mina in "Grand Guignol" - "I have a daughter', can be taken as either metaphorically or literally true, given that he was conducting an affair of unknown starting point with Vanessa's mother.
* ManipulativeBastard: Is not at all above using emotional connections, guilt and insecurities to get even people he cares about to do what he wants. At least Ethan and Vanessa prove somewhat resistant, though.

* NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction: Is pretty depressed in season three after taking Sembene's body back to Africa, and realizing the thrilling land he knew has completely changed.

** Plays it straight when it comes to Vanessa, though.

* SadisticChoice: Makes one in "Grand Guignol", choosing to save Vanessa over the vampiric Mina.
* SlasherSmile: Sports a rather intimidating smile on occasion.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: He has a lot in common with the literary van Helsing, after Season 1. He shares deceased offspring and a wife he could not divorce because of various reasons.

* TeamDad: Interesting example, as he's closer to an abusive dad. Still, Vanessa, Victor and finally even Ethan all acknowledge him as a father figure. His relationship with Vanessa is a dark and sometimes abusive one for much the series, but he acknowledges her as a daughter of sorts until embracing it in the first season finale.

** A more natural version of this occurs between Seasons 2 and 3. Sembene's death, the ghostly torment of his children's ghosts and a meeting with Jared Talbot all help Sir Malcolm recognise what a terrible human being he is, and how he can do better to protect the family he has left.
* VampireHunter: Becomes this in the quest to save his daughter, although it takes him most of the season to fully understand what he is up against.

A charming American who finds himself trapped in the darkest corners of Victorian London, Ethan's charm and brash ways are catnip to the ladies. But behind Ethan's bright eyes lurk dark secrets. He is running from something, and his troubling past threatens to overtake him at every turn.

* BigBrotherInstinct: For Victor and (to some extent, in addition to more romantic feelings he may be harbouring) to Vanessa.
* ByronicHero: Seemingly straight-forward at first glance, he soon reveals a tragic and dark past with possibly violent secrets and estrangement from his domineering father. He's also a mass-murdering werewolf.

* TheChosenOne: Appears to be this in keeping with a similar situation to Vanessa as an ApocalypseMaiden. As he seems to be the [[WolfMan "Lupus Dei", a.k.a. the "Wolf of God"]], a divine protector that even Satan himself appears to be afraid of. Unfortunately, ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne, as Sembene, his new friend, opts to FaceDeathWithDignity rather than give him a MercyKill due to Eth being too important to die.
* ConMan: When he's introduced, Ethan is pretending to be the only survivor of General Custer's last stand as part of his performance in a Western Show. As Vanessa points out, he would've been a child when that happened...and there famously ''were'' no survivors. Not truly a con artist though; his shooting skills, which is what the audience really came to see, are genuine, and he happily admits the story is not true and is simply to embellish his performance.
* CruelMercy: Was subjected to this in the backstory. Ethan is [[spoiler: responsible for the deaths of Kaetanay's family, and when the two crossed paths, the old warrior left him alive to suffer with his guilt and self-loathing instead of killing him outright]].
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Hoo boy. Ethan during his time with the Army butchered numerous Apaches, including Kaetenay's family. Racked with guilt, Ethan gave his life to Kaetenay, who instead spared him and made him a spiritual Apache. Together they raided settler homes in retribution for the Army's brutality - an attack that culminated in their murdering of Ethan's family.
* DashinglyDapperDerby: Despite his American cowboy origins, Ethan only wears a cowboy hat as part of his Wild West show costume, electing to don a more locally fashionable bowler at all other times. (He might even have brought it with him from America; the derby was the headgear of choice, particularly in the West, while the cowboy hat we know today didn't really exist.)

* EarnYourHappyEnding: After everything they've been through, [[spoiler:the comic series ends with Ethan and Lily moving to New York to raise the twin girls Ethan fathered with Vanessa's Lucifer-possessed dead body. Sometimes a happy family is a werewolf, a revenant and their half-demon daughters]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: His blackouts will tip off any Horror genre fan.

* ImportantHaircut: At the end of Season 2 after being arrested by Rusk. His long hair is no more and now has a buzz cut.

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Hilariously so in the first season. It's nearly a running gag that nobody tells Ethan ''anything'' of what he might need to know. Logical questions like "what are these horrible blood-drinking demons we are now fighting?" tend to go unanswered.
** Ethan is also guilty of this as well, keeping his werewolf problems a secret from everyone else except Sembene.
* MeaningfulName: His real name, Ethan Lawrence Talbot, is a shout-out to Universal Studio's very first [[Film/TheWolfMan1941 Wolf Man]], Lawrence Stewart "Larry" Talbot.
* MightyWhitey: Subverted with his backstory. He's accepted into the ranks of the Apache and, according to Kaetenay, took to their fight against the US Cavalry with much gusto. Ultimately, his involvement doesn't make a blind bit of difference to the cause.
* NiceGuy: Undoubtedly the most moral member of the group. A genuinely caring, compassionate and friendly man, who likewise is always there to call the others out when they go too far.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Bears several similarities to Quincy Morris, an American who courted Lucy Westenra in ''Dracula''.

* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Vanessa.

[[folder: The Creature / Caliban / John Clare]]

[[folder: Mr. Ferdinand Lyle]]

[[folder: Oscar Putney]]

[[folder: The Demon / Lucifer / Satan / Set]]

[[folder: Hecate Poole]]

* SpotOfTea: In the middle of the New Mexico Territory, on a dry and dusty train with a captive prisoner, Rusk's major concern is getting to the dining car and ordering a cup of tea.

* BadassBeard: The fact that it's graying makes it [[OldMaster all the more badass]].
** In "Glorious Horrors" he shaves it off, a sign he's falling under Evelyn's control.
** It's back in Season Three, along with his badassery.

* BadassBeard: Attempts to grow one prior to heading to Africa, in order to impress his father. It doesn't work.

* YouHaveToHaveJews: It's not remarked upon much, but he wears a ''tallit'', the Jewish prayer shawl, and prays in Hebrew in both "Glorious Horrors" and "And Hell Itself My Only Foe", but seems to be ashamed of his background, asking Victor to keep it secret. TruthInTelevision, since being openly Jewish in Victorian London could still attract a ''lot'' of anti-Semitism.

* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship: With Mina, but it's also shown to have its dark side.

* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship: With Vanessa, from the time they were children. It goes very badly after Vanessa seduces Mina's fiance out of jealousy.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: To remind the audience that Dorian isn't so sweet as he seems. Angelique discovers Dorian's portrait and, upon Dorian's discovery of her in the painting room, swears she loves him still. Dorian smiles, gives her a glass of wine, and watches her die of the poison he's put into the glass. His smile doesn't change.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: [[spoiler: Dr. Sweet]] has been nothing but kind to Vanessa, albeit forgetful. He's actually Dracula.

* HiddenVillain: There are only hints that Dracula is the vampire master who seduced Mina in Season 1, and then he is outright absent from Season 2, only for him to return to do his own dirty work in Season 3. The audience ''finally'' receives full confirmation of his name and appearance at the end of "Predators Far and Near."

* IronicName: Dracula means "son of the dragon/devil," but he's the rival of the actual Devil [[spoiler: and seems to be the more powerful of the two]]. Additionally, the fake name that he picked for himself [[spoiler: (Sweet) is [[ChekhovsGun the exact opposite of his real personality]].]]

* KissOfTheVampire: [[spoiler: At the end of "Ebb Tide," Vanessa allows Dracula to turn her into a vampire.]]

** The scene between Dracula and Vanessa [[spoiler: at the cinema]] emulates a similar scene from ''[[Film/BramStokersDracula Bram Stoker's Dracula]]''.