History Characters / PersonOfInterestNorthernLights

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: How the Machine gets her to back down, telling Control the address of the only thing she's loved, and telling her that the Machine protects both it and her. [[spoiler: Turns out she has a daughter named Julia, whom she loves dearly].

* GenreSavvy: He knows it's a bad idea to try and fight against Decima.

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:By Decima operatives while trying to prevent a non-existent terrorist attack on the Supreme Court.

* EliteMook: They fulfill this role in the Person Of Interest universe. Only Reese, Shaw and Root have been able to take them on in combat effectively and at times have been bested by them due to superior numbers.
** Once again proven in Season 4 with Mr Grice being a handful for John during "Control-Alt-Delete".

* TheMenInBlack: They don't officially exist and are dedicated in keeping it that way.

* ProfessionalKiller: Their true strength. They have a small army of them to conduct counter-terrorist operations worldwide. They're also at Reese's calibre (like the ISA hit-squad in "No Good Deed" and Sameen Shaw). And if they find anyone who shouldn't know about the machine has learnt of its existence, they will be re-tasked in making sure that person does not live to tell anyone else.

* ThePurge: Decima Technologies [[spoiler: ends up wiping out a good chunk of their powerbase in the "correction"]].
* UnwittingPawn: For Decima after the program was reactivated with the Samaritan feeds. Decima uses Northern Lights' assets to hunt down anyone they deem a threat under the guise of them being a threat to U.S. national security.
* VillainDecay: Started out as the central antagonists to Team Machine, but by Season 4 they are no where near as threatening as they once were. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] because of Northern Lights officially being shutdown after the program was exposed to the public by Vigilance. They are now reliant on outside help to stop terrorist attacks, which allows Decima to slowly take over their role as primary opposition to Team Machine.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Their stated mission is to hunt down threats to America's national security and terminate them with extreme prejudice in order to prevent massive loss of life. However, they're paranoid about the American public finding out the existence of the machine and are all too happy to re-task their multiple hit squads to kill anyone, including innocent civilians, in order to keep it's existence secure.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Does this to any employees who wish to leave the program and performed this to many of the personnel who built the machine.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: Everything she does, she does for her country. Even Collier admits that.

** Returns to do some field work in Season 4 - and, [[spoiler: apart from getting abducted by Reese and Root]], performs as well as expected.

** Even ''Grice'' - an ISA hitman himself - admits this.

* BerserkButton: Don't you ''dare'' get between her and stopping a terrorist attack. She will stop at nothing to end you. [[spoiler: Even if you are Samaritan.]]

* BlackAndGrayMorality: A ''very'' dark shade of grey.
** And yet, despite all of her actions, [[spoiler: you are wholeheartedly rooting for her when she turns against [[EvilerThanThou Greer and Samaritan]].]]

* ControlFreak: Implied in the closing stages of Season 3, when her partners in running the Northern Lights organization suggest her reluctance in letting the Samaritan system in is because of this. But in Season 4, it's on full display during "Control-Alt-Delete", [[spoiler: where she has clashes with a Decima/Samaritan asset who has the on and off switch to the access of Samaritan]].

* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler: She ends her life black-bagged herself and tossed in a hole, the same fate she caused to so many]].

** Averted in Season 4. [[spoiler: She's left dumbstruck in horror as Greer reveals that the terrorist attack on the Supreme Court was actually a masquerade to test her loyalty and she's failed. She dragged off to parts unknown without a word.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: She's disgusted that her partners running the Northern Lights organization are willing to deal with the clearly untrustworthy John Greer from Decima Technologies, due to the fact he is ripping them off with his own offer for an alternate surveillance system.
** Also even if her work requires her to kill people, she is one to make 100% sure that the targets are genuine threats to the United States of America and insists on doing her own legwork or ordering her agents on doing so (which they actually liked to do). Understandably she clashes big-time with Decima, who want her to just be an assassin (and leader of assassins) and not ask any questions.

* FateWorseThanDeath: What Samaritan deals her. [[spoiler: She's to spend her remaining days in a dark, forgotten hole in the ground wasting away from hunger and starvation until she finally dies]].

** Control may be a zealot but she's diligent at her job, prefers to verify that the relevant numbers she gets are clear and present dangers to America's national security and encourages this to some degree among her subordinates. Greer in contrast now follows [[[spoiler: orders from a megalomaniac A.I without question]].
** Control initially suffers from a case of WrongGenreSavvy, believing she's in a Post 9/11 SpyFiction drama like "24", seeing The Machine and Samaritan more as mere tools to aid in combating international terrorism. Greer however is under no such limits and sees them as "Gods" which have the potential to change the way of life for humanity in a drastic fashion.

* TheGhost: Until "Lethe".

* GoodIsNotNice: And ''how''. She only wants to protect her country from the threat of international terrorism, but she is willing to manipulate and kill anyone who gets in her way. [[NightmareFuel Whether they're innocent or not.]]

** [[spoiler: HeelFaceDoorSlam]]: [[spoiler: Greer and Samaritan thoroughly [[OutGambitted out-gambit]] her as a result.]]

** Finch calls her out too.
-->'''Harold:''' You foolish woman. You don't understand. You're not in control of anything. You're just a clean-up crew. You're the janitor.

* IronicEcho: She tells Greer she'll black-bag him and toss him in a dark pit, and the last thing he'll hear before being forgotten there is her voice saying he belongs there. [[spoiler: She ends up on the receiving end of this exact same sequence of events moments afterwards]].

* JerkassWithAHeartOfGold: She's abrasive as hell and a borderline zealot when she goes to work, but she's genuinely motivated at protecting her country from security threats, and tries to do her job to the best of her ability.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Despite seemingly being an over-zealous, ruthless bureaucrat, Control believes her policy of killing any possible leaks will preserve the security of Northern Lights. She's proven right, when she's prevented from eliminating Peter Collier - who proceeds to reveal the existence of her organisation.
* {{Large And In Charge}}: A tall, heavyset woman who is in charge of northern lights.
* LesserOfTwoEvils: [[spoiler: In "YHWH", she realises that getting information from the Machine - as slippery and cryptic as it was - is ''infinitely'' better than [[AiIsACrapshoot Samaritan]] is.]]

* MasterActor: She made a very convincing Diane Claypool. Her sob story was so well acted that neither Shaw nor Harold (who actually attended Diane's ''wedding'', going from the Machine's records) picked up on it.
* MoralityPet: Her [[spoiler: daughter Julia]].

* NervesOfSteel: Demonstrates these during the Season 3 finale. In the face of a shotgun wielding Peter Collier, she refuses to be cowered by the terrorist - unlike her colleagues, who panic and throw her to the wolves,
* NoNameGiven: Control's real name is unknown.
* NobleDemon: Despite being rather over-zealous in her efforts at counter-terrorism, the Season 3 finale "Deus Ex Machina" reveals that she's not motivated by a desire for power but genuinely loves her country, stands true to her beliefs in the face of a crazed Peter Collier trying to intimidate her with a shotgun]], shows far more backbone than her partners in the Northern Lights organization who either panic or try save themselves, and does her best to protect Finch during Collier's trial.
* NotSoDifferent: In "Deus ex Machina", it is shown that she sees Finch as less of an enemy of the state, and more as a kindred spirit and potential ally - someone who has also sacrificed everything to prevent terrorism.
** To Greer. Like him, she doesn't mind killing civilians in her work. But her justifications are different. The first is initially to prevent knowledge of Research from leaking out. The second is if she deems it in the national interest such as in the case of [[spoiler: the Irrelevant framed as a terrorist in Control-Alt-Delete]].

* PreMortemOneLiner / ShutUpHannibal:
--> [[spoiler: '''[[TheMole Shelly]]''']]: [[spoiler: Samaritan will build a new world... a better world.]]
--> '''Control''': Too bad you won't live to see it.
* ProperlyParanoid: Constantly has her subordinates eliminate any possible leaks and with good reason.
** She is on high alert in Season 4 after arguing with a [[spoiler: Samaritan operative Travers]], and picks out their attempt at listening in on her satellite phone conversation with [[spoiler: Grice]].

* TheManBehindTheMan: To Pennsylvania Two. She is the overall commander of Northern Lights, responsible both for sending people to deal with the Numbers provided by The Machine and for protecting the secret of the Machine's existence.
* TortureTechnician: In "Aletheia" and "Asylum", she is shown torturing people who know about the two artificial super-intelligences.

--> '''Control:''' You want to shoot me, because I had to tap a few phone calls, read a few emails, then you go right ahead. But you better turn that gun on yourself next, Mr. Collier, because you have broken just as many laws. And the only difference is, I didn't wrap myself up in the American flag, and try to convince people that I was a hero.
** In Season 4, this trope is fully in play. [[spoiler: She has to murder an innocent man to prevent the Samaritan A.I from thinking she has caught on to the fact it has been framing irrelevants as threats to US national security.]]
* UnwittingPawn: Unknown to her, all her [[spoiler: actions to take down Decima were planned by Greer and ultimately doomed her organization]].

* WeCanRuleTogether: Greer offers her a position in Samaritan's new world. She tells him to Hell. [[spoiler: This culminates in Samaritan eliminating her]].
* WellIntentionedExtremist: She genuinely wants to protect the USA from terrorist threats, but is perfectly willing to engage in indiscriminate killing if the existence of her organization is threatened with exposure. It's even more apparent when we find out her back story. During 9/11, she was in the Pentagon when one of the planes demolished a significant portion of the building. In the aftermath of the attack, she was actively involved in the first response efforts. After that, she pledged herself to prevent such an attack from happening ever again.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Despite being in the know about the true nature of Research, she behaves like she lives in a post 9/11 espionage drama rather than a PostCyberPunk ScienceFiction show. However, over time, she begins to catch on.
** She doesn't catch on fast enough however. In the Season 4 finale, Greer takes full advantage and misdirects by planting the idea [[spoiler: that his organization is planning an act of terror]] targeting the [[spoiler: US Supreme Court]]. It's all a lie [[spoiler: to buy time for the assets under his and Samaritan's command to decapitate what is left of her power and take her down.]]

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Upon realizing that Hersh has been ordered to kill him, Special Counsel takes the news with grace and understanding.

* MoleInCharge: Has his day job in an agency that protects whistleblowers. As Henry Peck found out, he's not going to do his job if you try to expose the Machine.
* MissionControl: Fulfils this role for the project in the event the existence of the machine is compromised.

* NoNameGiven: His name has yet to be spoken on screen. He was credited as "Pennsylvania Two" in the press release for "No Good Deed," but the press releases for all episodes since have credited him as "Special Counsel".

[[folder:Garrison]]

* BaldOfEvil: He's a self-serving chrome-dome.

--> '''Garrison''': I had nothing to do with the development of Northern Lights. Damn thing was up and running when I was read in! I just got stuck cleaning up the mess.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Greer thinks he's no longer needed, and wants to kill him, but Samaritan has further plans that include Garrison remaining alive.

The Special Counsel's enforcer, a former member of the ISA.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: In "Lethe" - during the standoff at the end, the henchmen have red and white boxes (indicating imminent violence). Control has a red box (because she is pointing a gun at Finch). Hersh, meanwhile, has neither. He also eventually dies performing a HeroicSacrifice.
* AssassinOutClassin: Gets subjected to this by Reese when the latter runs him through non lethally with a carving knife. Later suffers a more severe experience when going up against Root.

* TheDragon: To Pennsylvania Two, and Control who both run him at different times.
* DragonAscendant: [[BiggerBad Control]] orders him to kill Pennsylvania Two, and he does so. He doesn't count as TheStarscream because he was JustFollowingOrders.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: He expires fighting half a dozen Decima goons (while already wounded) and trying to defuse a bomb. He fails, but it's still quite impressive how he almost managed it.

* EvilCounterpart: Reese describes him as "a lot like me." Hersh {{lampshades}} in "Booked Solid" that he and Reese [[NotSoDifferent aren't so different]].
* EvilMentor: For Shaw. As a result, she's just as good as John during combat situations. However, he may have taught her everything he knows but is perfectly willing to poison her when she resigns from the ISA. On the other hand in Season 3 during 4C, he has a surprisingly amicable conversation with her while drugged and even asks in a concerned tone if Team Machine is treating her well.
* TheFixer: If there is a problem in Northern Lights that the other "official" hit-squads need not know about, he will be the one to clean it up. It also seems to extend to eliminating those that decide to leave the program including his protégée Shaw.

* ImplacableMan: Like the Terminator, even if he's grievously wounded, it will barely slow them down. For one, he is shot in the back, strangles the Decima agent who did so, and then he takes out another hit squad. He only dies because he's in the same room as Decima's building-busting bomb when it goes off.
* KillEmAll: His general orders to anyone who might know about the Machine.

[[folder:Corwin]]

* HeelFaceTurn: At some point, she turned against Nothern Lights and its methods and wanted to find a way to shut down The Machine.

[[folder:Weeks]]

* AmbiguouslyEvil: Not a fan of the new arrangement regarding [[spoiler: the introduction of Samaritan]] and he even lets [[spoiler: Shaw run free when they run into each other. Afterwards, he tries to destroy as much evidence of the meeting as possible]].

* BadAss: Like his comrades, he's a well trained counter-terrorist operative who can give the formidable John Reese a hard time in a fist-fight.
* BadAssBeard: A somewhat modest one.

* KilledOffForReal: Killed by Decima operatives while trying to prevent a non-existent terrorist attack on the Supreme Court.

* BadAss: Just like her partner, Brooks is a well trained counter-terrorist operative who is also a dab hand with a sniper rifle.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Brooks and her partner reflect the relationship between John and Sameen.

The codename used to refer to the head of the ISA's operation regarding the Machine

* BiggerBad: The one who is giving orders to Special Counsel, Hersh and their people.

* DidntSeeThatComing: [[spoiler:The Season 4 final. She's determined to stop Samaritan from carrying out a terrorist attack and finds evidence that Samaritan is planning to attack the Supreme Court. It was all a SecretTestOfCharacter. Samaritan's agents kill Grice and Shiffman. She gets captured.]]

** Returns to do some field work in Season 4 and [[spoiler: apart from getting abducted by John and Root]], performs as well as expected.

* GoodIsNotNice: And How! She only wants to protect her country from the threat of international terrorism but she is willing to manipulate and kill anyone who gets in her way whether they're innocent or not.

* NervesOfSteel: Demonstrates these during the Season 3 finale where in the face of a shotgun wielding Peter Collier, unlike her colleagues who panic and throw her to the wolves, she refuses to be cowered by the terrorist.

* GenreSavvy: He knows it's a bad idea to try and fight against Decima.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: Not a fan of the new arrangement regarding [[spoiler: the introduction of Samaritan]] and he even lets [[spoiler: Shaw run free when they run into each other and afterwards, tries to destroy as much evidence of the meeting as possible]]

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: He and Brooks parallel the relationship between John and Sameen.

** However, as the Season 4 finale shows, she doesn't adapt fast enough and it leads to her undoing.

** She is on high alert in Season 4 after arguing with a [[spoiler: Decima Samaritan asset]] and picks out their attempt at listening in on her Satellite phone conversation with [[spoiler: ISA Operator Grice]]

* ShoutOut: To the works on JohnLeCarre, where a man known as "Control" kept his identity secret while serving as the head of an intelligence organization.

* BerserkButton: Don't you ''dare'' get between her and stopping a terrorist attack.

** Control may be a zealot but she's diligent at her job, prefers to verify that the relevant numbers she gets are clear and present dangers to America's national security and encourages this to some degree among her subordinates. Greer in contrast now follows [[[spoiler: orders from a megalomaniac A.I without question]]

--> '''Control:''' Honestly? ''[looks at Finch]'' I don't know.

* JerkAssWithAHeartOfGold: She's abrasive as hell and a borderline zealot when she goes to work, but she's genuinely motivated at protecting her country from security threats, and tries to do her job to the best of her ability.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Despite seemingly being an over-zealous, ruthless bureaucrat, Control believes her policy of killing any possible leaks will preserve the security of Northern Lights. She's proven right, when she's prevented from eliminating Peter Collier, after which he releases confidential documents which prove the existence of her organization.

* NobleDemon: Despite being rather over-zealous in her efforts at counter-terrorism, the Season 3 finale "Deus Ex Machina" reveals that she's not motivated by a desire for power but genuinely loves her country, stands true to her beliefs in the face of a crazed Peter Collier trying to intimidate her with a shotgun]], shows far more backbone than her partners in the Northern Lights organization who either panic or try save themselves, does her best to protect Finch during Collier's trial.

* NotSoStoic: When torturing [[spoiler: Samaritan ISA mole Shelley]], she finds out about Samaritan's imminent [[BerserkButton terrorist attack]]. She proceeds to brutally pistol-whip the mole, screaming while doing so.

* BadassBureaucrat: Perfectly willing to get her hands dirty alongside her subordinates.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: How the Machine gets her to back down, telling Control the address of the only thing she's loved, and telling her that the Machine protects both it and her. [[spoiler: Turns out she has a daughter named Julia whom she loves dearly]]

* {{Foil}}: Of all people, she's this to Greer and is basically what Greer could have become [[spoiler: had he not flipped out in 1973, shot his treasonous superior and left MI6]]
** Control is a fanatical arch-patriot who loves her country dearly and is willing to get blood on her hands in keeping it safe from threats foreign and domestic. Greer loathes nation states with a passion and has dedicated the rest of his life to destroying them by [[spoiler: creating a global government under the Samaritan A.I]]

* JerkAssWithAHeartOfGold: She's abrasive as hell and a borderline zealot when she goes to work but she's genuinely motivated at protecting her country from national security threats to it and tries to do her job to the best of her ability.

* MasterActor: She made a very convincing Diane Claypool. Her sob story was so well acted that neither Shaw nor Harold (who actually attended Diane's ''wedding'' going from the Machine's records) picked up on it.
* MoralityPet: Her [[spoiler: daughter Julia]]

** To Greer. Like him, she doesn't mind killing civilians in her work. But her justifications are different. The first is initially to prevent knowledge of Research from leaking out. The second is if she deems it in the national interest such as in the case of [[spoiler: the Irrelevant framed as a terrorist in Control-Alt-Delete]]

* PetTheDog: During the Season 3 finale, she refuses to point out that Harold has anything to do with the Machine.

* ImplacableMan: Like the Terminator, even if he's grievously wounded, it will barely slow them down. For one, he is shot in the back, strangles the Decima agent who did so, and then he takes out another hit squad. He only dies when a bomb goes off at point-blank range.

* NotSoDifferent: In "Deus ex Machina", it is shown that she sees Finch as less of an enemy of the state, and more as a kindred spirit and potential ally - someone who has also sacrificed everything to prevent terrorism.

** Control epitomizes GoodIsNotNice but ultimately means well. Greer in contrast is AffablyEvil and barely bats an eyelid when engaging in murder, betrayal and screwing over the opposition.

* IronLady: She's tough, in charge and has NervesOfSteel.

* {{Large And In Charge}}: A tall, heavyset woman who is in charge of northern lights.

* ProperlyParanoid: Constantly has her subordinates eliminate any possible leaks and with good reason.

** Control is a fanatical arch-patriot who loves her country dearly and is willing to get blood on her hands in keeping it safe from threats foreign and domestic. Greer loathes nation states with a passion and has dedicated the rest of his life to destroying them by creating a global government under the Samaritan A.I

** Both of them are professional spymasters, who are competent at their jobs and ruthless to anyone who gets in the way of completing their missions. Control however mostly focuses on counter-terrorism while Greer initially does his job in the pursuit of gathering useful intel, money and later facilitating the activities of Samaritan.
** Both of them are TheChessmaster in their respective organizations. Greer however is a whole lot more ruthless and cerebral than she is.

* {{Foil}}: Of all people, she's this to Greer.

** Control initially suffers from a case of WrongGenreSavvy, believing she's in a Post 9/11 SpyFiction drama like "24", seeing The Machine and Samaritan more as mere tools to aid in combating international terrorism. Greer however is under no such limits and sees them as "Gods" which have the potential to change the way of life for humanity in drastic fashion.