History Characters / PillarsOfEternity

* Characters/PillarsOfEternityRecurringPartyMembers

* [[Characters/PillarsOfEternityPartyMembers The Watcher, Party Members, and Sidekicks]]

* Characters/PillarsOfEternityNations

* [[Characters/PillarsOfEternityNations Nations and Cultures of Eora]]

%%* [[Characters/PillarsOfEternityNations Nations of Eora]]

%%* [[Characters/PillarsOfEternityNations Nations of Eora]]

* [[Characters/PillarsOfEternityRaces The different Kith and other races of Eora]]

* [[Characters/PillarsOEternityNPCs Significant Non-Player Characters and Factions]]

%%
%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
%%

[[foldercontrol]]

!! The Watcher

[[folder:The Watcher]]
!!The Watcher

->''"No sleep for the Watcher."''

The main protagonist of the story. [[CharacterCustomization Starting with a race and background tailored to the choosing of the player,]] the Watcher is a newcomer to the area, travelling with a caravan to Gilded Vale on a promise of cheap land and a place to settle. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the caravan is forced to stop for the night, however, it’s in a dangerous part of the woods, home to hostile natives who don't take kindly to interlopers.

The caravan is soon destroyed and the PC, along with other survivors, manage to evade the tribesmen and enter the ruins of Cilanth Lis. Thereafter, they get involved in a supernatural event that will thrust them to the forefront of the main conflict, awakening their powers as a Watcher, a person who can see past lives, perceive souls and manipulate them as they see fit.
----
* AnAdventurerIsYou:
** The implementation in-game is especially interesting - while you can be [[FeaturelessProtagonist nearly anyone]] at character creation, your choice of home culture and place in that culture gives you some identity out of the gate, and then during the intro sequence, you're given the opportunity to define just what has brought you to Dyrwood and flesh out your character's backstory a bit, which is updated in your quest journal, to boot, as it keeps a rolling biography on you. The only options a player ''doesn't'' have is to be from Dyrwood or its neighbors like Glanfath, Readceras or the Vailian Republics - the set-up of the story requires your character to be a foreigner new to the region. [[spoiler:And the general arc of the story would be particularly difficult for a Glanfathan or Readceran protagonist, anyway.]]
** [[spoiler:It goes even further in that you're allowed to define who you were in your ''previous'' life, and why that person joined the Leaden Key.]]
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: The very crux of the matter, the question that caused the Watcher's soul to Awaken after witnessing the Leaden Key ritual in the ruins of Cilant Lis. [[spoiler:''Are there no gods?'']] Subverted, in that it's [[spoiler:the Watcher's past self asking the question, and their own metaphysical armor which is pierced by the asking of it; you can put the question to Thaos, but he's already made up his mind on the subject and is entirely unshakable. The Watcher's past self, meanwhile, had so much of their personal identity wrapped up in the gods that the truth rent their soul apart. That truth? See the Antagonist folder for details.]]
* TheAntiNihilist: It's possible to be one through dialogue choices.
* BadassBeard: A fine assortment of beard styles await the male Watcher. Some are just downright wild.
* BadassBookworm: By default if you choose the Wizard class, as they get their magic through intense study. Also, if from an intellectually inclined background, such as a Scholar, Scientist, or Philosopher.
* BadassGay: Can be played this way, since any background that lets you mention having a husband/wife or boyfriend/girlfriend in the past doesn't limit the gender of your partner(s), and you can have a [[OptionalSexualEncounter optional same-sex encounters]] at [[DoubleEntendre The Salty Mast]].
* BadassPreacher: If a Priest, and/or if you have the Clergyman background.
* BadassTeacher: If you have the Philosopher background and tell Calisca that you were a teacher.
* BarbarianHero: If you picked that as a class, anyway.
* BareFistedMonk: As a, well, monk.
* TheBeastmaster: If a Ranger, you have your very own animal companion.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: If you consistently click Clever dialogue options.
* BoldExplorer: With the Explorer background.
* BloodKnight: The aggressive dialogue choices paint the picture of a Watcher who enjoys violence.
* BlessedWithSuck: Being a Watcher carries the risk of being driven to insanity, as past lives are recalled without the ability to separate one from the other. And in the Dyrwood in particular, Watchers are regarded with suspicion by the populace. However, the Watcher can potentially see it as CursedWithAwesome instead for the other things that go with it.
* BroughtDownToBadass: The Watcher is brought down to level 1 in the start of the sequel, what with Eothas sucking his or her soul and everything.
* BrutalHonesty:
** You can tell [[spoiler:Iovara]] outright that [[spoiler: the reason that you're seeing her again is that you were assigned to spy on her.]]
** In fact, one can gain an Honest reputation by being brutally honest in various encounters.
* ConflictingLoyalty: [[spoiler: Your dilemma in your past life. It's particularly important, given that the people you betrayed were [[BigGood Iovara,]] as well as [[BigBad Thaos]]. The exact nature of the betrayal of each person is up to you.]]
* CursedWithAwesome: Being a Watcher carries all sorts of perks. They can communicate with the dead, peer into people's souls, and learn a host of unique abilities that can come in handy in a fight. The player is free to decide whether the protagonist's status as a Watcher is a curse or a blessing.
* TheDreaded: If the Watcher has a high enough Cruel reputation, many of the enemies, who in a non-Cruel playthrough would itching for a fight and reject or laugh off attempts to find a peaceful solution, will actually start to seriously consider that going up against a person who is known to be highly dangerous and having a reputation of brutally and viciously killing people at the slightest provocation, in addition to occasionally maim and torture others just for the fun of it, might be a really, ''really'' terrible idea. Of course, being Cruel, the Watcher often simply won't allow them to act on these doubts.
* DeadpanSnarker: Picking the Clever dialogue options generally involves giving witty retorts.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[ArcWords No sleep for the watcher]]. [[IAmWho That's you.]]
** The release itself foreshadowed plenty of sleepless nights amongst the fans of the genre.
** Also, in the start of the game the Watcher sees a vision of Thaos, stating that you have a question which he has to know the answer to...
* FriendToAllChildren / ChildHater: And anywhere in between, depending on how you respond to kids you encounter and/or hear about. Careful being the latter around Grieving Mother, though.
* GameplayAndStoryIntegration:
** As befitting a choose your own adventure CRPG, your characters stats can open the door towards certain outcomes, or lock you out entirely.
** You can perform a dungeon bypass during "Never Far From The Queen" if you have a resolve score of 18.
** One of the biggest examples involves the ExpansionPack. [[spoiler: If the Watcher stays behind to strike Ionni Brathr, it's possible for them to survive with a constitution score of 19. [[GuideDangIt Or a piece of equipment from an obscure side quest.]] ]]
* GameplayAndStorySegregation:
** The game opens with your caravan stopping because you've taken suddenly ill, yet your stats are just fine. You're also told you need water or you'll be dead in a day, yet after witnessing the ritual that turns you into a Watcher your illness is never mentioned again, despite not drinking water. This was rectified in the 3.0 patch, where the Watcher starts off with a status effect that reflects their illness.
** Godlike and Orlans are subject to FantasticRacism, and Pale Elves are considered a rare and exotic sight outside their homeland, yet no one ever bats an eye at you (even as they blink at [=NPC=]'s and companions of those races standing right next to you).
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:One of the possible reasons your past self turned on Thaos: they saw exactly what he had become and tried to stop him.]]
* HeroicAlbino: If playing as a Pale Elf, a race of semi-albino arctic elves.
* HeroicWillpower: Resolve, which determines your drive, determination, and emotional intensity. It works in combat, as well as dialogue with NPC's. (See RefugeInAudacity below.)
* IAmWho: You are a Watcher, someone who somehow has the ability to perceive souls and interact with them. [[spoiler:Far more important, however, is who you ''used'' to be...]]
* ImTakingHerHomeWithMe:
** In the "Bloodlines" quest, you have the option of [[spoiler:taking baby Vela and keeping her]]. When confronted, you can even respond with [[spoiler:"I'm keeping this baby."]] The guy confronting you is not amused. If Grieving Mother is in your party, she will also not be amused. The ending even changes a bit if you do this.
** A considerable number of pets are these, actually. Notably, the Black Cat, the White Wurm, etc.
* {{Jerkass}}: Cruel dialogue options generally have you doling out unnecessary pain or just being a dick.
* TheLadette: Can be played this way if female, if you choose snarkier and/or uncouth dialogue options.
* LadyOfWar: Potentially if female, if you choose more classy dialogue and/or are from the nobility background.
* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Can become this for quite a few companions, [[spoiler:especially Aloth]].
* MadeASlave: With the aptly named Slave background, this happened to the Watcher in the past.
* NatureHero: If you play a Druid or Ranger.
* NiceGuy: If frequently choosing the Benevolent dialogue options, The Watcher is this.
* NumberTwo: [[spoiler: To Thaos, in the Watcher's past life.]]
* ThePaladin: Another class option.
* PullTheThread: High Intelligence and/or Perception allows you to do this with less-than-honest [=NPC=]'s.
* RefugeInAudacity: A high resolve score allows the Watcher to pull off feats like "borrowing" a cultist's hood, or making someone drink poison.
* SecondHourSuperpower: Fairly early into the game the player character will witness a ritual that will change them forever. Surviving the ritual at the ruins of Cilanth Lis awakens their capabilities as a Watcher, with more powers triggered as the plot advances.
* SelfMadeOrphan: A Watcher with the drifter background can self-describe as this when explaining their backstory to Calisca. The Watcher says their parents had it coming; whether this is true or not is left to the player's imagination.
* SoleSurvivor: Of an incident on the way to Gilded Vale.
* SpannerInTheWorks: Being a Watcher allows you to uncover details of other people's best-laid plans that they usually wish you didn't find. Most often by communing with the souls of people they secretly killed.
* TheSpock: A Watcher that chooses the Rational and Intellect dialogue options.
* TheStoic: Picking the Stoic and Rational options consistently during dialogue.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: If a Druid, during combat you can "spirit-shift" into a giant, bipedal animal.
* WorthyOpponent: If you're Aggressive enough and if you greet him by declaring that you're accepting his challenge, [[spoiler:the revived Raedric]] will respond that he knew you would, since you are no coward.
* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: After putting down Maerwald, you become the new lord of Caed Nua. The 3.0 patch added a new questline where your claim is contested by a lord with a more legitimate claim. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, the authorities uphold the claim. But hilariously, however, add that because you did all of the actual work in reclaiming and rebuilding Caed Nua, the lord has to ''pay you'' for it. The UpperClassTwit leaves the proceedings in a huff vowing revenge, and the bemused chancellor who announced the decision says that since the other guy refused to pay compensation, Caed Nua is still yours. The other lord doesn't give up, and his efforts escalate from assassination, to framing you for overtaxing and attacking innocent villagers, and finally to outright warfare. It only ends after you finally slay him on the battlefield.]]
* YourCheatingHeart: A few background options let you say you cheated with a married person, or cheated on your husband/wife.

[[/folder]]

!!Party Members
!!!Recurring Party Members

[[folder:Aloth]]
!!Aloth Corfiser
[[quoteright:210:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2ddc99116bc7a50de778326922bd3c4c.jpg]]
-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/MatthewMercer

->''"It's hard to be comfortable in your own skin when you're sharing it with someone else."''

An elven wizard first encountered outside the Black Hound Inn in Gilded Vale. Being a foreign noble, [[FantasticRacism and an elf to boot]], he's had difficulty acclimating to the locals, who now want to kick his teeth in. The Watcher gets involved and Aloth, grateful for the assistance, invites himself to the party. He returns as a companion in ''Deadfire''.
----
* AbusiveParents: Suffered quite a bit of physical abuse from his father as a child. [[spoiler: In fact, it was during a beating that he Awakened and Iselmyr manifested, [[LaserGuidedKarma breaking his father's arm in the process]].]]
* AmbiguouslyBi: [[spoiler:Aloth's LiteralSplitPersonality, Iselmyr, openly flirts with at least Kana Rua (who is male) and Pallegina (who is female) in party banter.]]
* BerserkButton: Really doesn't like animancy. While the arguments he gives against the practice have some valid points [[spoiler:his animosity may also be due to his past as a member of the Leaden Key.]]
* BlatantLies: When you first meet him, he'll claim he got into that tussle with the villagers over some simple "misunderstandings and mistranslations," badly hiding the fact that he has a split personality that did it. [[spoiler:That story about being a settler? Also a lie; he was waiting to hear from his contact in the Leaden Key.]]
* CharacterDevelopment: If the Watcher doesn't reject him outright at a critical moment, Aloth eventually goes from a quiet, submissive, and indecisive young man to [[spoiler:a much more assertive and independent young man who takes his fate into his own hands rather than being led around by others, and either takes charge of or takes down the Leaden Key.]]
* TheComicallySerious: His decidedly uptight personality is part of what makes [[spoiler: Iselmyr's occasional outburst even funnier]].
* CommonalityConnection: When [[spoiler:the sanitarium consultant suggests that Aloth's Awakened personality appears as a result of his liver producing excess black bile]], the Watcher can't tell which personality is looking out his eyes when he responds "That's utter horseshit." The two get along a little better after that.
* CosmicPlaything: If anything bad is going to happen to anyone in your party, it's going to be Aloth. The party: Scales a cliff and someone falls the rest of the way down? It's Aloth. Jumps across chasm and someone breaks their ankle? Aloth. Wades through a curtain of sentient vines only for someone to get whacked? Guess who. To say nothing of his backstory. [[spoiler:Drunken abusive father, Awakened personality, fell in with the Leaden Key, got abandoned by his contact after arriving in Gilded Vale...]]
* TheDitherer:
** During Act 1 Aloth often acts like he wants to tell you something but always fidgets instead, until [[spoiler:one outburst too many from Iselmyr]] forces him to fess up. [[spoiler:He also has an Awakened soul and would like help looking into it.]]
** This turns out to be a huge part of his characterization, as Aloth never knew what he wanted in life, so he just went along with what other people told him. [[spoiler:As a kid he trained to be a magic knight like his drunken abusive father wanted. When Iselmyr Awakened he went with his mother's plan to hide her. He "fell in" with the Leaden Key and left his homeland as instructed, then he met and decided to [[LivingEmotionalCrutch follow you]].]] Part of his CharacterDevelopment is learning to grow out of this.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: If you turn him away after he reveals himself to be a member of the Leaden Key, he'll sacrifice himself to one of the Engwithian engines.]]
* {{Elfeminate}}: Just look at him! He also has the mannerisms to match, which [[DirtyOldMan Durance]] frequently mocks in party banter. [[spoiler:Ironically, he happens to have a second personality who ''is'' a woman. Double ironically, [[TheLadette she's manlier than him]].]]
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Actually, the guys like Durance and Edér don't necessarily want ''him''. [[spoiler:They're more interested in Iselmyr. Ironically, she's more interested in women [[AmbiguouslyBi and]] [[BiggerIsBetterInBed Kana]].]]
* FreudianExcuse: Aloth's uptight and tight-lipped personality makes a lot of sense when it's revealed that [[spoiler:he grew up hiding the abuse he received from his father, and then later his split personality Iselmyr. And that's not even getting into his involvement with the Leaden Key--a cult centered around secrets.]]
* FriendlessBackground: [[spoiler:Due to hiding Iselmyr most of his life.]]
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: While other party members don't dislike him, [[spoiler: they far prefer Iselmyr's company to his]].
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Melancholic. Even stated in-universe. [[spoiler:Iselmyr is Choleric.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Turns out to be a former member of the Leaden Key.]]
** HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: [[spoiler: One of his possible endings suggests that he will become the new, [[ALighterShadeOfGrey less brutal]] High Inquisitor after Thaos' death.]]
* {{Irony}}: Hid his LiteralSplitPersonality his whole life to avoid being rejected or lynched, only for [[spoiler:the new friends he makes to decide they like her better than him.]] ''Ouch''.
* TheLadette: Not Aloth himself, obviously. [[spoiler:But Iselmyr is loud, incredibly crude, and mostly interested in violence, cursing, and occasional flirtation with pretty women.]]
* LiteralSplitPersonality: [[spoiler:His soul was awakened and is currently housing a previous life he'd lived, Iselmyr.]]
* LivingEmotionalCrutch: The Watcher may just be one for Aloth, even if he doesn't openly admit it, and most players probably won't be cruel enough to find out. Being rejected at a crucial point leads to the worst ending for him.
-->[[spoiler:"After the Watcher sent him away, Aloth found himself cut off from every authority and ally he had ever known – his family, his homeland, the Leaden Key, and, finally, the Watcher." He wanders away and effectively commits suicide a few days later.]]
* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy:
** With [[spoiler:Iselmyr]]. Aloth is a prim, proper, diplomatic scholar while [[spoiler:Iselmyr]] is HotBlooded, [[SirSwearsALot foul-mouthed]], [[HairTriggerTemper quick-tempered]], and [[TheLadette loves drinking and brawling in cheap taverns.]]
** He also shares this dynamic with Sagani and Maneha in party banter, since he's very delicate, effeminate, and appreciates the finer things in life (fancy drinks, literature, etc.), while they're very weather-worn, rough-around-the-edges ladies who've spent a good deal of their lives surviving in the wilderness, and have tastes and interests to match.
* TheMole: [[{{PlayingWithATrope}} In an interesting take on the trope]] he reveals that [[spoiler: he is in fact a member of the Leaden Key, but was not actually tasked to spy on the player per se. In fact, he was about to abandon the organization altogether until he saw you in Gilded Vale.]]
* NobleMaleRoguishMale: [[spoiler: He seems to have a split-personality that's rough around the edges, which is against his normally prim and proper persona. Interestingly enough, Iselmyr's female.]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: He's at least 65, since he mentions [[spoiler:Iselmyr had Awakened]] when he was fifteen, and he's been living with her for at least 50 years. {{Justified}} in that he's an elf[[note]]Eora elves can potentially live to be about 300-350 years old, provided they don't get sick, get killed, etc. before then.[[/note]]
* OtherMeAnnoysMe: [[spoiler: He doesn't like Iselmyr's HairTriggerTemper]].
* OurElvesAreBetter: {{Averted}} - while Aloth plays the haughty "better than you" elf, [[spoiler: his father was an abusive drunk]].
* PermanentlyMissableContent: His side quest can be missed if not completed before the end of Act 2.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: If you encourage him to be more independent, he'll take it upon himself to take down [[spoiler: the Leaden Key]].
* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler:His uncouth, sweary alter-ego? She's a girl.]]
* SarcasticDevotee: Aloth tends to snarkily criticize and second-guess the Watcher more than any other companion, but he's also one of the most steadfastly loyal. [[spoiler:Makes sense, given his involvement with the Leaden Key...]]
* SinkOrSwimMentor: The Watcher can suggest that [[spoiler:Iselmyr forcing a fight whenever Aloth is in trouble could be her way of trying to make him more assertive and confront his problems]]. He doesn't seem too convinced, but promises to think on it.
* SplitPersonality: Appears to have one Scottish sounding one, with a runny mouth that gets him in trouble.
* SugarAndIcePersonality: Normally very cold and aloof, he can show a much warmer and more trusting side to a Watcher who gains his trust and friendship [[spoiler:and doesn't outright reject him when he reveals his involvement with the Leaden Key]].
* TakingUpTheMantle: One of his possible endings suggests he takes up [[spoiler: ''[[BigBad Thaos]]''' mantle of High Inquisitor, of all things, if he's convinced that keeping the secret of the gods is worth doing and Thaos [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope just went too far]]]].
* ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself: Both of his endings lead to this. The "authority" ending has him [[spoiler: replacing Thaos as leader of the Leaden Key and working to reforming the group]], whereas the "independence" ending has him [[spoiler: using his knowledge of the Leaden Key in order to ultimately destroy them.]]
* UnwantedAssistance: [[invoked]] It's revealed that [[spoiler:his {{literal split personality}} tends to come out when he's under pressure or distress]]. Since her methods tend to get him into even more trouble, he wishes she didn't.
* ViolentGlaswegian: [[spoiler:Iselmyr.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: Aloth is very tight-lipped about himself, which makes every revelation, [[spoiler:including the facts about his split personality and connections with the Leaden Key]], a spoiler.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Edér]]
!! Edér Teylecg
[[quoteright:210:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3a5fa703848c33a45eaeae20581fedd1.jpg]]
-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/MatthewMercer

->''"Funny thing about Dyrwoodans. With all that fire and light, they just treated him like another authority figure."''

A human fighter and veteran of the Saint's War. Edér's not welcome in his hometown Gilded Vale, [[DarkAndTroubledPast for various reasons,]] chief among them being a worshiper of Eothas. Seeing that his prospects in his hometown are dim, he decides to tag along with the Watcher. He returns as a companion in ''Deadfire''.
----
* {{Adorkable}}: Edér may be a big, strong guy, but he has quite a few quirks. He has moments of having his head in the clouds, some of the things he says ''make no damn sense'', and he has this unhealthy obsession with petting things. He also likes Iselmyr, and is none too subtle about showing it, [[spoiler:to the point where he doesn't even seem to think that her sharing a body with Aloth is an issue]].
* BadassBeard: As shown in his portrait, he has a pretty nice one.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: In ''Deadfire'', Eothas finally returns. Unfortunately, Eothas's first act after returning nearly kills Edér's friend the Watcher:
--> ''I used to dream that when my god came back, he would forgive us. That's the trouble with dreams: we all have to wake up.''
* BigBrotherWorship: Edér idolized his brother and thought the world of him. It's why he takes the rumor that his brother defected to the other side during the Saint's War so hard. [[spoiler:Especially when the rumor turns out to be true and Edér is left doubting whether he fought for the right side.]]
* BrokenPedestal: He heard rumors that his brother actually fought for the other side during the Saint's War, but refuses to believe it. [[spoiler: Doing his quest lets you discover that he did join the opposing force, but not the reasons why his brother did it.]]
* ChekhovsGunman: He can be seen and spoken to as soon as you enter Gilded Vale, but he won't join you until a certain event happens in the town.
* CloudCuckooLander: Some of the things he says is...''out there''. He also has the bright idea of petting Itumaak, and the even more brilliant idea of petting a staelgaer (Fantasy Sabre-Tooth Tiger). Hiravias actually wonder how Dyrwoodans survive with whims like that.
* CrisisOfFaith:
** One which is central to his character: his god was allegedly nuked when possessing Waidwen, and followers of Eothas were killed on sight during purges. He didn't fight for Eothas during the Saint's war, believing Waidwen to be an impostor and ultimately fought against Raedceras (probably the only reason for which he is still alive). Years later, he still wonders if he fought for the right side, and if he didn't in fact betray his god. [[spoiler:Then he discovers that his brother actually fought for Waidwen during the war, that Waidwen may really have been Eothas himself, and that his god is really dead because his god was ''artificial''. Like all of them. Needless to say, he is quite shaken as a result]].
** However, depending on your conversations with him, [[spoiler:he will have his faith renewed even though he knows the Gods are man-made and his own god is probably dead. He will join a secret society of Eothasians and quickly become an important member.]] Alternatively, [[spoiler:he will let go of his faith and move to Dyrwood where he becomes a fixture of the community and eventually mayor.]]
* CutenessProximity: If it's cute and fluffy, chances are Edér will want to pet it. He does it to Sagani's fox, Ituumak, despite warnings that he bites, and even asks Hiravias if he can pet him at one point.
* DeadpanSnarker: Edér has a very laid-back wit which he shows off at every available opportunity.
-->'''Edér:''' Say what you want about Dyrwoodians... but they haven't met a problem yet that they couldn't solve by killing some scapegoats.\\
'''Edér:''' Just like a militia, the Dozens. Except for the training. And the discipline. And the code of honor.
* DidIJustSayThatOutLoud: If Edér is with you while talking to Osrya in Raedric's keep, after she asks you to kill Nedmar Edér may say the following line:
-->'''Edér:''' Hey, let's take the deal and then double-cross her! Sorry, I said that louder than I meant to. Got excited.
* DumbMuscle: Downplayed. He might seem a bit slow, but he's actually quite observant, which is [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration reflected in his above-averge Intellect and Resolve stats]]. He's still a big buff tank, though.
-->'''Hiravias:''' The circumference of his neck exceeds the circumference of my torso at its thickest point... They sure do breed them big and dumb in the Dyrwood, don't they?
* FarmBoy: Used to be. Even tried to go back to being one after the war. It didn't stick.
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Phlegmatic (reserved and easy-going).
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Hiravias points out that Edér is very kind to animals, a sign of his HiddenHeartOfGold buried under the barbs and largeness. He also ''loves'' petting soft animals, to his detriment.
* GallowsHumor: He regularly makes light about his status as a pariah and the fact that a lot of people in Dyrwood would like to see him dead. One of the first things you'll even see him doing is joking that he'll likely be the 19th person to be hanged in Gilded Vale.
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Without a doubt one of the kindest companion you can recruit, and the only one who still worships Eothas (a god known for his kindness and benevolence), despite his being allegedly dead. He also has a soft spot for animals.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: Edér was a veteran of the Saint's War, which ended the reign of an usurper pretending to be the incarnation of a god. [[spoiler: Or so he thought.]]
* HeroesLoveDogs: Edér [[CutenessProximity loves pets]] in general. He pets Ituumak, and notably has a number of random banters commenting on the various animals the Watcher can put in their pet slot, particularly dogs.
-->'''Edér:''' Hey, you think we could get another dog? Keep this one company? Just a thought.
* IllegalReligion: He's a victim of this, as the town is against him for being a follower of Eothas.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: The Dyrwoodan tendency of FantasticRacism for orlans show in his banter with Hiravias. He immediately apologizes, meekly stating that he didn't know he was saying something bad.
* MellowFellow: Edér is notably casual and laidback in his manners, most speaks in a calm tone of voice, and is hard to anger or even make upset.
* NeverAcceptedInHisHometown: Despite fighting for Dyrwood, he's not accepted in his town for his faith.
* NiceGuy: Beneath the dry humor, the intimidating stature (at least according to Hiravias), he's a pretty friendly guy. He never raises his voice to the Watcher except during his personal quest, and that was out of desperation, not hate.
* SadClown: Most of his jokes are a reaction to the insanity that surrounds him, and duly barbed.
* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: Edér never does find out why his brother joined Waidwen's army.]]
* ShipTease: Offers to buy [[spoiler:Iselmyr]] a drink. Could just be a friendly gesture, but given his open admiration of her and frequent gushing about how funny she is and how awesome she is to be around...
* SiblingRivalry: Affectionate oneupsmanship, as Edér remembers it now.
-->'''Edér:''' We got along how brothers do. He used to throw water on me to wake me up in the morning. I used to fill his boots with stinging ants.
* SmokingIsCool: The player first meets him as he's casually smoking a pipe while observing a bunch of corpses hanging down a tree. He is also frequently seen calmly smoking his pipe in much of the promotional material.
* TheSnarkKnight: Has a quip for almost every occasion.
* TheStoner: Conversations with Hiravias and Zahua suggest he's [[DownplayedTrope a casual user]] of the Dyrwood's milder drugs.
* TheUnFavorite: Ultimately averted, since Edér's parents never thought any less of Edér or tried to change him, but they all thought of his big brother Woden as TheAce.
* YouAreACreditToYourRace: He, at one point, compliments Hiravias like this, pointing out how he might be a hairy (i.e. Wild) orlan but in his eyes he is as good as one of the hairless ones (i.e. the Hearth orlans, who are viewed as more "civilised"). Hiravias is understandably quite incensed about this compliment, and Edér quickly backtracks, stating that he didn't mean to offend him. Hiravias does end up forgiving him.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Pallegina]]
!!Pallegina mes Rèi
[[quoteright:210:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b35f933c55e6809b7deea64ba9113be2.jpg]]
-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/MelaLee

->''"The safety of the Republics is being decided here. If I do what needs to be done, there'll be time enough to beg forgiveness when the dust settles."''

A Vailian paladin, she's first encountered when the Watcher wanders into Ondra's Gift, the docks of Defiance Bay, offering to join after the manager at the Vailian import/export warehouse is tended to first. She joins the Watcher in the hopes of serving the larger interests of the Vailian Republics, rather than the relatively short-sighted goals of the Council of Ducs. She returns as a companion in ''Deadfire''.
----
* AbusiveParents: Pallegina's father hated her both because she was born godlike, meaning she was sterile, and because her birth caused her mother injuries so severe that she was incapable of baring anymore children, effectively ending his line. Perhaps the nicest thing that could be said about him is that he didn't throttle her at birth like other parents of godlike children.
* AfroAsskicker: Sports a magnificent mane of hair (and plumage).
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Pallegina sympathizes with outcasts, since her unusual appearance as a godlike has forever marked her as different from other people, who tend to shun her as a result.
-->'''Pallegina:''' We all have to protect ourselves, no matter where we are. Being different means always looking over your shoulder, no matter what company you keep.
* AmbiguouslyGay: She becomes flustered when Maneha flirts with her by complimenting her accent, and implies that men paying her similar compliments in the past had not caused the same reaction. Her sexuality is not relevant to her story, however, so there is no proper confirmation.
* AntiNihilist: Out of all companions, she probably takes TheReveal that [[spoiler: the gods aren't real the best, claiming that finding a cause that has meaning and defending the people you love are reason enough to live for. It helps that she already has a longstanding bone to pick with Hylea.]]
* BadassGay: She is a paladin who is highly trained in combat and AmbiguouslyGay.
* BetterTheDevilYouKnow: While she's not necessarily fond of [[TheMafia House Doemenel]], she favors them over The Dozens since she considers the former [[PragmaticVillainy smart enough]] to at least keep order in Defiance Bay.
* ByTheBookCop: Somewhat clouded, probably deliberately. She's introduced alongside the Doemenel crime family, who are also the faction whose influence on Defiance Bay she most supports. However, this is because the Doemenels are businessmen at heart, and the only rules Pallegina is interested in following are those set down by her ducs.
* CallingTheOldManOut: [[spoiler:It's not her biological parents, she's already come to terms with them. No... her beef is with ''Hylea herself'', as the source of her Avian godlike features. She can give Hylea [[RageAgainstTheHeavens a piece of her mind]] if and when the Watcher meets up with the goddess.]]
* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: She attracts the attention of Maneha and Iselmyr, [[spoiler:the latter being a female soul cohabiting in Aloth's male body notwithstanding]].
* TheExile: [[spoiler:If the Dyrwood isn't strengthened by the souls and Pallegina makes up a new trade agreement instead of the one she was ordered to offer, she ends up banished from the Republics. If she makes up a new deal and the Dyrwood is strengthened by souls, however, the Republics benefit from her trade deal and her exile is only temporary.]]
* {{Expy}}: Of [[Videogame/NeverwinterNights2 Kaelyn the Dove]], a divinely powered warrior with avian features and a celestial heritage, who starts to have doubts over the rightness of her cause, and the wisdom of her elders. [[spoiler: Right down to one possible ending for Pallegina, where she's exiled from the Republics and pledges her sword to a more altruistic order of paladins.]] If you play your cards right, however, [[spoiler: her exile may only be temporary.]]
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Choleric (strong-willed and task-oriented).
* GratuitousForeignLanguage: Gratuitous fantasy Italian. She drops enough Vailian into her dialogue to count as PoirotSpeak at times.
* KnightInSourArmor: She'll do what the ducs ask. She might ''complain'' at some length, but she'll do it. [[spoiler: It takes convincing from the Watcher to make her do otherwise.]]
* LadyOfWar: Starts equipped with a great sword and knowing the Soldier weapon mastery, and despite her sharp tongue she's a poised and courteous mediator between her native Vailia and the merchants of the Dyrwood.
* LongGame: She's frustrated that her ducs are only focused on short-term gains to secure footholds of power, rather than long term stability which would ensure Vallia's future.
* LoopholeAbuse: How she gained access to the Brotherhood - only [[StayInTheKitchen women that can bear children are considered "women"]] in Vailia, so her being infertile (due to her godlike status) was enough for the recruiter to happily agree to take her.
* TheMusketeer: She starts off with a Great Sword and a Pistol as her weapons.
* MyCountryRightOrWrong: The crux of her conflict. She feels that the mission she's currently doing for the ducs isn't what's best for the Republic overall. [[spoiler:Whether she obeys or disobeys orders, and whether she's rewarded or punished for doing so, depends on the player's actions.]]
* NayTheist: She resents the gods -- particularly Hylea -- for creating godlike like herself and then abandoning them into the world.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler:Making up a new trade deal so as not to take advantage of the Dyrwood's weakened state for the Republics short-term gain can end disastrously for her if the Watcher doesn't end up strengthening the Dyrwood with their stolen souls. With the Dyrwood not in a position to challenge the Republics for trade, Pallegina ends up exiled from her beloved homeland.]]
* OffModel: Her character portrait appears to be a bit off, due to the position of her left eye. About a week after the game came out, [[http://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity/mods/24 someone released a mod that raised it up some]]. That said, since she's an ''Avian'' godlike, it's possible that her eyes are wide-set like a bird's, more specifically birds of prey.
* ThePaladin: Paladins in this setting serve ideals, and don't necessarily directly commune with the gods. Pallegina is a Paladin of the Brotherhood of the Five Suns, an order loyal to the Vailian legislature.
* ProperlyParanoid: She's worried that the Republics usurping the Dyrwood's trade deals during the latter's weakened state could cause a long-term conflict with the Dyrwood if they recover. [[spoiler:If the Watcher empowers Dyrwood with thousands of stolen souls, this proves exactly the case as the Dyrwood fights back against the Republics. If Pallegina had amended the trade agreement to something more fair then in this scenario, she ends up temporarily exiled for her insubordination but eventually pardoned for her foresight.]]
* {{Realpolitik}}: All the actions that Pallegina is favorable to are those that she feels will benefit her nation the most. To this end, she sees maintaining the stability of the Dyrwood as vital to the Vailian Republics, as it serves as both a buffer between them and Aedyr, and is a reliable trading partner for Animancy research.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: If she decides not to make a sweetheart deal with Eir Glanfath to take advantage of the Dyrwood's weakness in the wake of the Saint's War and Hollowborn Crisis. [[spoiler:[[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished This can come back to bite her]].]]
* ShipTease: With Maneha, who openly crushes on her.
* ShoutOut: To [[Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart Mozart's]] ''Theatre/TheMagicFlute''. Unlike her counterpart Papagena in the opera, a woman dressed in a feathered costume, Pallegina is an Avian godlike who ''has'' feathers. Furthermore, rather than finding her perfect mate, Pallegina has resigned herself to a life of celibacy without children -- not without bitterness.
* SupernaturalGoldEyes: Yellow eyes are yet another birdlike feature given to her by her Avian godlike status.
* ToBeLawfulOrGood: To [[MyCountryRightOrWrong obey orders]], or [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight to do what she believes is right]], not just for the Dyrwood but the Republics as well.
* TouchedByVorlons: As one of the godlike, she's the result of prenatal tampering by one of the gods.
* TheUnfavorite: She's quite open about the fact that her father sold her to the Brotherhood, [[spoiler:despising her for effectively ending the bloodline by being born godlike, and thus sterile]].
[[/folder]]

!!!''Pillars of Eternity'' Party Members

[[folder:Durance]]
!!Durance
[[quoteright:210:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b0b8ff753ae5babdf6390523dd28e418.jpg]]

->''"Have you seen a man branded by flame? He remembers it always -- in every waking moment. It is a lesson writ in the only ink and vellum that matters -- blood and flesh."''

A human priest of Magran, Durance preaches the word of Magran to any who pass by Magran's Fork, complete with a flaming statue. Upon meeting the Watcher, he takes a particular interest in them, and more or less dragoons himself into your party to follow you around and "test" you and your worthiness. Beneath his very embittered, gruff exterior, however, it seems he might have somewhat deeper reasons for following you...
----
* AbhorrentAdmirer: Implied to be one for [[spoiler:Aloth's female LiteralSplitPersonality, Iselmyr]]. Aloth warns him that he cannot be held responsible for what she does if [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero Durance]] calls her a "whore."
* ActivistFundamentalistAntics: As evidenced by his actions during the purges. He is very quick to judge people, and wish to pass judgement upon them.
* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:It's obvious, even early on, that being involved in the development of Eora's first ever weapon of mass destruction ''and'' said weapon's apparent killing of a god has not been especially kind to Durance's psyche. Especially since Magran seemed to stop speaking to him afterwards, despite the Godhammer seemingly being her will.]]
* CarryABigStick: Joins with a staff with good reach that deals fire damage. Said staff is also full of runes hiding a special meaning...
* ComicBookFantasyCasting: ''[[AndStarring And]] [[UsefulNotes/RasputinTheMadMonk Grigoriy Rasputin]] as Durance.''
* CombatMedic: He is perfectly able to hold his ground on the frontlines once correctly equipped. As a Magran priest, his unique talent (if picked) gives him a major boost in accuracy when using swords or arquebuses, making him perfectly suited for both close and ranged combat, and his numerous healing and buffing spells make him an invaluable asset.
* CrisisOfFaith: Other characters in your party have an internal struggle with their faith, but Durance's story takes the cake by far. Events prior to your meeting led him to have a rather strained relationship with his goddess (who doesn't speak to him anymore). He's trying desperately -- fanatically -- to reconnect with her, but his opinion of her has fallen so far that he habitually calls her a whore. [[spoiler:He can eventually discover that he was being used by his goddess, and that she intended him to die along the rest of the Dozen after killing Eothas in order to hide her hand in his death. The only reason he's still alive is because she no longer recognizes his soul, which was damaged following the explosion of the Godhammer. This revelation leads him to abandon his faith in Magran, and he intends to find and kill her personally at the end of the story]].
* DeadpanSnarker: Love him or hate him, you have to admit Durance can turn a phrase.
-->'''Durance:''' If doubts and curiosity plague you, you're skinning your knuckles on the wrong door.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:He was one of the architects of the Godhammer Bomb, and was instrumental in its development, deployment and use against Waidwen.]]
* DirtyOldMan: Makes quite a few lewd comments towards female party members, especially at the Salty Mast.
* DoesntTrustThoseGuys: He thinks most -- if not all -- Eothas worshippers and people from Aedyr are secretly plotting the downfall of Dyrwood.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: If you don't convince Durance that he was just a pawn of Magran, he'll still be discontent and decide to burn himself alive.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:As mentioned in DownerEnding, if you don't convince Durance he was used and cast aside by Magran, his continued discontentment will result in him committing suicide by self-immolation.]]
* FantasticRacism: A tremendous bigot. He's openly racist against all nonhumans, but has a particular disdain of orlans. Naturally, an orlan Watcher can call him out on this. He's also dismissive of worshipers of gods other than Magran, with a special hatred for those who worshiped Eothas -- he proudly admits to having taken part in the Purges, even if Eothas is in the party, although oddly he doesn't have anything in particular to say to an Eothasian Watcher, or vice-versa. He's contemptuous of foreigners in general, especially Aedyrans. And for good measure, he implies that he's taken part in violence against animancers in the past, too.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Durance tags along with the Watcher to see if the latter's a "field to be put to flame." [[spoiler: It's as much a reference to the Watcher as his own fate in his DownerEnding.]]
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Choleric (hot-tempered and mission-focused).
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Pretty much every other party member, [[NotSoAboveItAll even Grieving Mother]], sees fit to make jokes and quips at his expense. Edér doesn't appreciate his virulent hatred of Eothasians, Hiravias isn't exactly happy with his racism against orlans, [[{{Elfeminate}} Aloth]] doesn't appreciate Durance shaming him for not being "manly" enough [[spoiler:nor does Iselmyr appreciate his AbhorrentAdmirer tendencies]], none of the women are keen on his misogyny and lechery... The Devil of Caroc, who's a serial-murdering robot, has an easier time getting along with the rest of the group, and even Kana, who otherwise has a good word for everybody -- he tries to get Devil to sing folk songs for him -- washes his hands of Durance.
* TheFundamentalist: Thoroughly obsessed with the rightness of his faith... and the wrongness of others', even fellow believers of Magran.
* GameBreakingBug: His quest was rather hard to trigger. Patches made it easier to unlock it.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation:
** Somewhat oddly given the usual robustness of the dialogue system, he never comments on it if the PC is a [[BerserkButton priest of Eothas]]. Being a Watcher may override that.
** While he is a priest of Magran, his goddess no longer communicates with him, which makes one wonder how he is still able to use his priest powers. The Watcher can actually lampshade this during one of his conversation with Durance, who replies the following:
--->'''Durance''': Eothas burned, yet his worshippers still suck power from his smoldering cock... [...] If I give my goddess offense, then I serve her according to her aspects.
* HealerSignsOnEarly: Can be found on the road in Magran's Fork, directly south of Gilded Vale, and is the third (permanent) party member you're likely to happen across after Aloth and Edér.
* HeroicBSOD: The ''Watcher themselves'' can induce one in Durance [[BreakingSpeech if they know exactly what to say]]. In addition, [[spoiler:after losing the connection to Magran that once drove him, Durance, presumably a high-ranking priest at the time, walked out of Ashfall Citadel with his burnt robes and staff and never looked back, effectively turning the last ''fifteen years'' of his life into this.]]
* HolierThanThou: Very much so, as highlighted by his opinion of the Magran's priest of Defiance Bay. He seems to think that he alone has the right to test others and judge them as failures by his own standards. He even judges the goddess to whom he's devoted.
* HowlOfSorrow: [[spoiler:If the Watcher manages to convince him that Magran had conspired with Woedica and planned for him to die among the other creators of the Godhammer, he lets out one in response at the realization that the Watcher is right and that his god has essentially cast him aside.]]
* {{Hypocrite}}: What he despises above all else. [[spoiler:It's part of why he's so vocal and ''loud'' -- he needs to convince himself of his own convictions, to keep his nagging doubts from eating away at them.]] Which is why [[spoiler:Magran abandoning him for doing what he thought she wanted affected him when completely shattered his sense of self]] and why [[spoiler:when it turns out Magran killed the other eleven builders of the Godhammer after having convinced them it was right to begin with, it broke him all over again.]]
-->'''Durance:''' Do I value [Magran]? Why, I hold value in all whores — for a whore, their motivations are honest. And if one such as I who truly seeks to embody trials and purification, one such as I who basks in war... why, if I do not even dare to take that fight to the principles of a goddess and her chosen fires... I would bleed to death on my own hypocrisy.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Durance comes off as rather pompous and full of himself quite frequently, acting as a holier-than-thou character who despises everything and everyone who doesn't share his point of view, and he goes to great lengths to rationalize his most abject words.
* {{Jerkass}}: Durance is an unpleasant person to just about everyone, and he doesn't care what other people think of him.
* KnightTemplar: He's firmly of the belief that all Eothasians must be purged, [[spoiler:and has a history of putting many to the stake after the Saints War.]]
* KillItWithFire: He is a priest of Magran, the goddess of war and fire, and he can be a little enthusiastic about punishing people by fire (not to mention he burned himself quite a few Eothasians at the stake during the purges). His unique talent also unlocks a fire-based spell.
* LargeHam: A hellfire and brimstone preacher who speaks in a dramatically overwrought, didactic manner.
* MadEye: One of his eyes is visibly wider and offset compared to the other.
* MadOracle: Everything about his initial appearance, from his cryptic manner of speech to his disheveled appearance to the flames that light up the monument to his goddess points to Durance being this. [[spoiler:Only for it to turn out that Durance is, if anything, even more lost and cut off from the gods than anyone.]]
* AManIsNotAVirgin: Being a bigoted, misogynistic DirtyOldMan, Durance firmly believes this. At one point in party banter he rather rudely asks Aloth if he ever chased skirts, or just hides behind one.
* ManOnFire: In addition to his preference for killing others with fire, [[spoiler:a possible ending for him has him committing suicide via self-immolation out of his growing discontent.]]
* MeaningfulName: Durance is both an archaic form of "endurance" as well as a term meaning restraint or imprisonment, such as in the phrase ''durance vile'', meaning a very long prison sentence. Durance as a character both physically and especially mentally enduring (with his base 18 in Resolve), and [[spoiler:has also been in something of a self-inflicted prison for the last fifteen years, living as a wandering fanatic in a desperate attempt to regain the attentions of his goddess.]] Made even more meaningful [[spoiler:when it turns out that all his trials were never going to regain Magran's attentions in the first place.]]
* MightMakesRight: Firmly believes this, being a dedicated priest of Magran, the Goddess of War. He'll even tell an Orlan Watcher to their face that their people ''deserved'' to get conquered and enslaved because they were too ''weak'' to fight off their attackers. He also criticizes Kana Rua's attempt to bring peace to his people, since Durance thinks their conquering, warmongering ways are [[FantasticRacism the only worthwhile thing about their entire culture.]]
* MotorMouth: He doesn't speak quickly, but once he gets going, you can expect a nonstop torrent of adages and homilies [[spoiler:all to simply cover up for the fact that he's trying just as hard to convince himself of what he's saying as he is everyone else.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Upon realizing that he was played by [[spoiler: Magran and Woedica,]] he considers that [[spoiler: Eothas]] might have actually been doing the right thing.
* MythologyGag:
** [[VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment Durance wishes to speak of flames and burning...]]
** "Many marks may I make upon your flesh, but flame leaves marks that cannot heal." Or, as the Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon would have it, "Steel marks flesh, but flesh cannot mark steel." [[spoiler:Right down to the very foundation of Durance's beliefs turning out to be based on a lie.]]
* NayTheist: Due to [[spoiler:the aftermath of the Godhammer and Magran seeming to abandon him,]] he has started referring to Magran as "whore". He still follows her religion, and is able to draw power from his belief. [[spoiler:If you manage to complete his personal quest, he forgoes Magran completely after the ending. He makes it clear that he is continuing to use his priest powers only because you need them for beating Thaos, and that he intends to suck his whore dry while he still can]].
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: In his creation of the Godhammer, he's basically the Eoran equivalent of [[UsefulNotes/RobertOppenheimer Oppenheimer]], except rather than becoming like unto a god by killing countless mortals, he and the other twelve became the first mortals to kill a god -- gods in this setting being made up of the soul energy of countless mortals.
* NotSoStoic: As you learn more about his past, [[spoiler:it turns out most of his sermonizing is just that: practiced speeches delivered for effect, and as much for his own benefit as yours. Everything he's done, the Eothasian Purges, attacks against animancers, it's all just to try and find a way to recapture the sense of purpose he had when he was creating the Godhammer in the name of Magran, to try and recapture her attention. When he says that in spite of all that, the world he created seemed worse for his actions, not better, it's rather plaintive, and the Watcher's response leaves him, for the first time, at a loss for words.]]
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Durance is more of a self-applied title than a name. His real name is [[spoiler:never given.]]
* ThePigPen: He's worn the same burned robes for fifteen years, and has obvious pox-scars. Combine that with his general disdain for personal hygiene and most of the party can't bear to be around him.
* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: He hates every country that isn't the Dyrwood, scorns the worshippers for most of the gods, thinks Eothasians deserve to be put to the flame, is racist against Orlans, has misogynistic attitudes...there are very few people he's not bigoted towards.
* PrinciplesZealot: Durance is a fairly horrible person, but he at least tries to stick to his principles rather than be a hypocrite. To the point where he wants to put others of similar faith -- even his goddess herself -- to the test, to see if they live up to what they preach.
* RageAgainstTheHeavens: [[spoiler:If you complete his sidequest, he will go after his former goddess in order to make her face his judgement. Considering that he actually successfully killed a god before, Magran has serious reason to worry]].
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: In one of his endings, [[spoiler:after learning he was used by Magran in a plot orchestrated by Woedica, he forgoes being a priest of Magran and begun to think on how best to put Woedica to judgement]].
* TheScream: [[spoiler:Lets out one full of anguish when he finally realizes that his goddess basically betrayed him, and that he was a fool all along]].
* ShutUpHannibal: If the Watcher has completed Durance's personal quest and made him understand why Magran no longer speaks to him, then Thaos is left with no way to shock him.
* ShaggyDogStory: He built a god-killing bomb because he believed it was the will of Magran, only for her to turn away from him when it was finished. He then spent the last fifteen years trying to regain his goddess's favor [[spoiler:only for it to turn out the only thing stopping her from killing him [[ShootTheBuilder to cover her tracks]] was a disfigurement of the soul caused by the very same weapon he once created in her name.]]
* SinisterMinister: Wild-eyed and disheveled in a ragged, singed robe, preaching fire and brimstone and [[SaltTheEarth scorched earth]].
* SoleSurvivor: [[spoiler:Of the twelve priests of Magran who created the Godhammer, [[ShootTheBuilder only he survived]] the aftermath.]]
* TokenEvilTeammate: While he's not evil ''per se'', he's the party member who prefers to dispense violence immediately and even let people suffer while they're at it. He did happily join in the Purges against the Eothasians following the Saint's War, and suggests he also took part in Dyrwood's various witchhunts against animancers. As is often the case with such characters, unlike your other party members, it's possible to dismiss Durance from your party permanently even after recruiting him.
* UngratefulBastard: Not him. [[spoiler: Magran.]] The only reason he's still alive was because [[spoiler: his soul was different from it was before.]]
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:Magran helped him and the rest of the Dozen construct the Godhammer to kill Waidwen, believing he would die in the process. If you convince him his goddess was just using him, Durance is righteously pissed off and plans on getting his revenge.]]
* YouKnowImBlackRight: He does know. He does it on purpose.
** During one of his MightMakesRight HolierThanThou rants, he'll mention that the Orlans ''deserved'' to get enslaved for being ''too weak'' to fight off their attackers. An Orlan Watcher can, naturally, point out that they're an Orlan. He's very aware of what you are, and is not at all concerned with how offended you might be, and even takes the time to rub salt in your people's wounds.
** He's also quite aware Edér is a practicing Eothasian, even as he proudly goes on about taking part in the Purges.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Grieving Mother]]
!!Grieving Mother
[[quoteright:210:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ce44d809d4edbcdca4ff7945cd32fd01.jpg]]

-> ''"Your mind comes bearing questions, Watcher."''

A female human cipher. Formerly a midwife at the Birthing Bell, she's devoted her life and cipher powers to ending the Hollowborn curse by any means necessary.
----
* BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood: She's a proponent of using her cipher powers for this, arguing it well, accepting it as DirtyBusiness and, if permitted, can use it to TakeAThirdOption in a tricky situation. The Watcher can agree with her philosophy or push her away from it. [[spoiler:She even asks the Watcher to do it to her; to remove her traumatic memories so she can have peace.]]
* CreepyGood: She never reveals her name, uses her PsychicPowers questionably, eerily pale, has a DarkAndTroubledPast, and never drops the PerceptionFilter she hides behind. She also takes very strong (if sometimes [[WellIntentionedExtremist messy]]) moral stances, and near the endgame, will outright leave the party in disgust if the Watcher [[spoiler:offers an infant as a sacrifice]].
* DarkAndTroubledPast: It's bad enough being a midwife during the Hollowborn epidemic, where the vast majority of children are born [[EmptyShell without souls]]. [[spoiler:Using her cipher powers to convince the villagers their children were born healthy, though, is darker still.]]
* DarkIsNotEvil: Her clothing colors are dark grey and black, she's an EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette, and her past is full of tragedies and regrets. But she's one of the most reliably good and compassionate party members you'll find.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: If you do as she asks and wipe her memories at the end of her personal quest, then she returns to the Birthing Bell as its sole resident, awaiting expectant mothers who would never come.]]
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Almost as pale as the nigh-albino pale elves, and an enigmatic, tragic figure.
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Melancholic (introverted and task-oriented).
* FriendToAllChildren: She loves children dearly, and if she is in your party when you interact with them or pregnant mothers, she will always advocate the kindest solution (and [[WhatTheHellHero call you out on the spot if you act aggressive or cruel towards them]]). She can downright [[spoiler:leave your party if you decide to sacrifice a baby during a quest in Twin Elms]].
* MistakenForBadass: Because of her cipher powers being able to read people's minds and sense their emotions, she was actually mistaken for a full-blown Watcher and was respected more then she actually deserved. She even embraced the title as it meant it would give comfort for people to have more hope in receiving her help. Needless to say, when she meets the main character and finds out they really are a Watcher, she's both incredibly intimidated and feels guilty.
* MyGreatestFailure: [[spoiler:She's tortured by the memories of psychically tricking the villagers into thinking their Hollowborn children were healthy, which resulted in the death of a mother who put the welfare of her soulless child over her own health.]]
* {{Namedar}}: Played with; initially, her lack of explicit name and unassuming appearance might make an inattentive player assume she's a generic village NPC until talking to her. ([[InterfaceSpoiler Except that she's clearly marked on the map with text, as only potential party members are]].) Later, an option comes up in early conversations with her to ask her why she's known as Grieving Mother. She'll point out she never actually called herself that (or anything), but accepts it as an apt title.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: An unconventional and subtle example, but ominous nonetheless.
* NoNameGiven: As above, she is only ever known as "Grieving Mother".
* NotSoStoic: Her companion quest has her break down, almost in tears, showing the grief in her title.
* NotSoAboveItAll: She has very few moments, her quiet nature and perception filter keeping her out of even TheComicallySerious, but there's still some:
** Even ''she'' isn't above mocking [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Durance]].
---> Grieving Mother (if Durance dies): ''A voice falls silent, at last.''
** During Zahua's quest, her response to Zahua cheerfully offering the party the ingredients to a MushroomSamba is a wry "one must seek insight where one can". It's the tone that does it; she sounds like a put-upon babysitter reluctantly joining a child's game.
* PerceptionFilter: She appears to all who see her, save the Watcher and certain other powerful individuals, to be nothing more than a forgettable peasant woman. [[spoiler: Even Thaos outright ''ignores'' her when all your other companions get a HannibalLecture from him, and it would be hard to imagine he'd ''choose'' not to give her one too if he knew who she was. Iovara is the only one who seems to actually 'see' her.]] This extends to the rest of your party members as well, none of whom ever realize who she is. Hiravias, for instance, has no idea why "that strange peasant lady" keeps following you. It [[GameplayAndStorySegregation doesn't carry over to combat]], however, and she will draw aggro at about the same rate as other party members of comparable power.
* PragmaticHero: She wants to cure the Hollowborn plague, and protect the future of as many children as possible, but she can be a tad extreme in her methods.
* PsychicPowers: Like all ciphers, though she's especially aggressive in their use.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler:If you try to sacrifice a baby during a quest, she will be pissed enough to leave]].
* TheStoic: Her PerceptionFilter typically keeps her out of the other party members' banter, and in a WorldOfSnark, she stands out as making jokes [[NotSoAboveItAll very rarely]] and very dryly.
* TragicKeepsake: The chimes on her arms.
* UnskilledButStrong: Her cipher abilities are quite powerful even though she never received formal training. Until the Watcher met her, she didn't even know what a cipher ''was''.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler: Her suggestions to the mother of Hollowborn children resulted in a few Wicht-induced fatalities.]]
* VagueAge: Even more so than your other companions. While her portrait shows her as relatively young (maybe in her 30s), she's already got gray hairs and the events of her backstory have broke her to the point that even the description of her when you meet her says "she simply feels old, like a crumbling watchtower".
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Her backstory. [[spoiler: Upon experiencing the first Hollowborn in her village, she psychically forced the mother to believe it was a healthy baby and care for it as such. And she did that for all births since. It went well until one day her psychic suggestion was too powerful, and the mother died because she prioritized caring for the child over eating, sleeping, or even drinking.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hiravias]]
!!Hiravias
[[quoteright:210:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cc66689c1c0ff5340861f87ff5ca5bd9.jpg]]

->''"If you really want an angry orlan screaming and defecating in the middle of the night, you could just ask me."''

An Orlan druid following Wael, he joins up with the Watcher in Stormwall Gorge so he has a group to travel with to visit the druids in Twin Elms.
----
* TheBeastmaster: Thanks to his "''Charm Beast''" spell.
* BladeOnAStick: He comes equipped with a spear and the "Peasant" weapon training.
* BlowYouAway: Can conjures powerful winds to either push back enemies or heal his allies (with the "''Cleansing Wind''" spell doing both).
* CovertPervert: When asking about his eyepatch, he remarks that he figures perhaps Wael (the All-Seeing and Never-Seen God) will make use of it.
-->''So if you catch my gaze wandering to a chest or rump, it's Wael's doing. [[BlatantLies I swear]]!''
* CrisisOfFaith: Part of his sidequest involves his faith towards Galawain and Wael, and especially his waning trust in the former. You can help him reconcile with his view of Galawain, or make him embrace Wael's philosophy. [[spoiler:The last arc's revelations hit him quite hard as a result]].
* DeadpanSnarker: A much more filthy one than Edér.
* ElementalPowers: As a Druid, it comes with the territory, allowing him to cast Fire, Water, Ice, Wind and Lightning spells, among others nature-related.
* EyepatchOfPower: Wears one on his right eye after being mauled by an autumn stelgaer.
* EyeScream: On the receiving end of that trope after a fight with an autumn stelgaer.
* FieryRedhead: A HotBlooded LovableSexManiac with [[SignificantGreenEyedRedhead green eyes]] and a head of bright red curls.
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Sanguine (friendly, cheerful, talkative, and people-oriented).
* GreenThumb: As a Druid, he [[{{Pun}} naturally]] has access to a lot of spells granting power over plants.
* HandicappedBadass: He's missing an eye and ear, but he's still a capable fighter.
* {{Hobbits}}: Orlans take on something of this role in Eora, as short, slight humanoids, but they're also [[FantasticRacism discriminated against as (supposedly) being thieving, savage, and animalistic]].
* HyperAwareness: He is actually the only character who is capable of independently noticing Grieving Mother being in the party.
* AnIcePerson: Has access to some very hard-hitting Freeze spells, such as "''Winter Wind''" and "''Hail Storm''".
* InsufferableGenius: He loudly voices his good opinion of himself, loves to talk, and having wandered extensively across the length and breadth of Eir Glanfath, provides a lot of commentary and advice about the eastern half of the world map if you bring him along.
* JustLikeMakingLove:
-->'''Hiravias:''' Maybe eating souls is like fucking -- I just meet the right person, instinct will take over, and I'll feel ashamed yet smug the following morning.
* LargeHam: Has a dramatic way of speaking, to put it mildly.
* LovableSexManiac:
** Easily the dirtiest of the group, even daring to ask if Pallegina has feathers "everywhere" (and receiving a threat of evisceration for his trouble).
** During one conversation with the player character, he also wonders if she has a cloaca.
** If he's present when player earns a discount at [[MeaningfulName The Salty Mast]], Hiravias ''immediately'' starts rummaging through his pockets for loose coin, and offers to let anyone in the group watch if they want.
** In one party banter, he tells Sagani about a time he got pinned by a female stelgar in head while he was spirit-shifted into a male stelgar, and happily satisfied the female's lust.
* MakingASplash: Can use water spells to either knockback his targets or heal his allies.
* MotorMouth: Has a lot to say and frequently says things in a highly roundabout manner.
* TheNapoleon: Short, loud, high opinion of himself, chip on his shoulder... Checks all the boxes.
* NeverAcceptedInHisHometown: His first spiritform, an orange-furred [[PantheraAwesome Autumn Stelgaer]], is believed to devour souls by his home druid circle. Even though he can take other forms, and never actually di anything of the sort, they cast him out, never to return. [[spoiler:In his Galawain ending, he returns home and humiliates all his tribal elders in combat, forcing them to recognize him as a member of the tribe... and then leaves on his wanderings all over again, having proven his point.]]
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Played with. He's not as dumb as he acts, but the act itself is being played so hard that it's obviously a big joke.
* PantheraAwesome: As a druid, his spiritshift allows him to turn into a humanoid {{Werecat}} with AbsurdlySharpClaws.
* PestController: Has some nasty spells allowing him to use insects against his enemies (such as "''Insect Swarm''" and "''Plague of Insects''").
* ThePigPen: A justified example. He's spent years deliberately making sure that he smells of the surrounding nature as not to scare off potential downwind game.
* PlayingWithFire: Can directly channel the power of the sun ("''Sunbeam''" and "''Sunlance''") and cast other fire spells.
* PluckyComicRelief:
** Virtually nothing, not even facing down [[spoiler:the chosen agent of an ancient and powerful god]], can stop Hiravias from making quips and jokes. Often very dirty ones.
* RuggedScar: Missing an eye and most of an ear after a run-in with a stelgaer the first time he shapeshifted.
* SadClown: Underneath the nonstop barrage of quips and his insistent perkiness, he's an outcast from his tribe and harbors some serious nagging doubts about his own worth.
* ShockAndAwe: Able to call lightning with "''Returning Storm''" and "''Relentless Storm''", or channel it directly with "''Dancing Bolts''". Those spells have the advantage to only target foes.
* SophisticatedAsHell: Peppers his vulgarisms with three- and five-dollar words-- they're used correctly but fit a little [[DelusionsOfEloquence strangely]] into his speech patterns, which is probably intentional. Doesn't quite achieve total SesquipedalianLoquaciousness but brushes up against it at times.
* TheStoner: Banter with Zahua and Eder mentions that he's a [[DownplayedTrope casual user]] of whiteleaf, with occasional forays into mushrooms.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Can transform into a giant autumn stelgaer. However, the very nature of his preferred form of shapeshifting is actually a plot point in his sidequest, since many believe that autumn stelgaers eat and destroy souls, and shun him as a result. [[spoiler:The truth behind this belief is a tad more complicated]].
* WalkingTheEarth: [[spoiler:Both of his endings involve him becoming a wanderer once again.]]
* YouAreACreditToYourRace: "Hearth" or meadow orlans like Hiravias have less fur and are considered less "wild" than their forest cousins. Edér makes the mistake of thinking that this is a ''[[FantasticRacism compliment]]'', though Hiravias does eventually [[InnocentlyInsensitive forgive him for it]].
* YourMom: Your mom jokes are a part of his repertoire of snark, though if the Watcher tries to do the same to Hiravias in a conversation, he will protest that only he is allowed to insult his own mother (but he gives the Watcher a pass, seeing as how the line was ActuallyPrettyFunny). He goes so far as to even pull one out against [[spoiler:[[BigBad Thaos]]]]:
-->'''Hiravias:''' Ostracism? Is that the name for the groin rash your mother gave me?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kana Rua]]
!!Kana Rua
[[quoteright:210:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kana_rua_portrait_updated.jpg]]
-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/PatrickSeitz

->''"There is a wealth of knowledge just within the walls of the college. And beyond it, more than I could learn in ten lifetimes. But I can try, all the same."''

A chanter hailing from Rautai, Kana Rua can first be encountered among the ruins of Caed Nua. Far away from home, he has embarked on a quest to recover a most sacred book revered among chanters, the Tanvii ora Toha. Seeing as the Watcher is going to explore the ruins as well, he happily tags along.
----
* {{Adorkable}}: Despite his intimidating appearance, he's incredibly endearing because of his affable demeanor, constant curiosity about the world around him, and boundless enthusiasm in the face of darkness and hardship.
* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:One possible ending for him has Kana briefly returning home to report his findings on the Tanvii ora Toha before setting sail on another expedition to find the answers to new questions.]]
* BadassBaritone: His voice is pretty deep, though his jovial personality keeps it from sounding too menacing. And as a chanter, he's a fabulous singer.
* BadPowersGoodPeople: Being a Chanter, he can debuff opponents and potentially summon all kinds of undead, but he's a really sweet guy.
* TheBard: As a chanter, he sings magical songs and is familiar with a great deal of the lore and history of Eora.
* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: [[spoiler:In one possible ending. Kana initially is an optimist who wants to discover knowledge abroad to dissuade the isolationist factions in Rautai and convince them of the value of cooperating with other nations. If the Watcher dissuades him of this mentality, Kana ends up becoming solemn and jaded, preaches that searching for answers abroad will only sow discord among Rautai, and joins the isolationists as one of their most respected proponents.]]
* TheBigGuy: Subverted, as despite his size (about twice the size of any non-aumaua in the party), he's a cheerful scholar who tries to be TheHeart of the group. He's [[TheSmartGuy quite intelligent]] as well, but his naivete places him closer to being TheChick.
* BlackSheep: His family build weapons and walls for Rauatai, and are all proud of its militaristic, isolationist traditions. Kana, on the other hand, wants to open their borders and learn what they can from other nations through diplomacy, trade, and academic exchange.
* CasualDangerDialogue: Brings up the fact that he's being hunted by Leaden Key assassins without any fear during conversations.
* CombatMedic: He starts out knowing the Field Triage ability (assuming you recruit him at level 4), which allows him to restore a character's health. He also knows Ancient Memory, which provides some small Stamina regeneration to all his allies in battle.
* ConstantlyCurious: Often annoys the rest of the party with endless questions about themselves and their nations/cultures. He also wants to stop to take notes and/or ask the locals questions roughly every two steps of your journey.
* CynicismCatalyst: [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential You]] can turn [[spoiler:the end of his personal quest]] into this.
* CrisisOfFaith: Sensing a pattern, here? Kana's quest centers around his faith that finding an ancient tablet filled with philanthropic teachings by a scholar still revered by his people will unite his warring people and bring about a GoldenAge of education, philosophy, commerce, etc. [[spoiler:Discovering the tablet long destroyed and the scholar hardly the role model Kana thought he'd be shakes his faith in said teachings, and his ability to unite his people. [[LivingEmotionalCrutch The Watcher]] may encourage him to see the teachings as worth sharing anyway even if the scholar was not, encourage him to find some other way to unite his people, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential or mock him for his naivete and send him home a broken man]].]]
* {{Dissimile}}: When entering Stealth/Scouting mode, he states "I shall be as quiet as a calm sea! Which is... not very quiet."
* DownerEnding: If you don't complete his quest, or are extremely dismissive about it the whole way through, [[spoiler:Kana may return home completely crushed, or wander back into the depths of the Endless Paths alone despite knowing how dangerous they are, effectively committing suicide.]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:If the Watcher helps Kana by doing things like supporting his idealism, building up his confidence, and encouraging his search for knowledge from foreign cultures, when Kana returns to Rauatai, it's possible for him to encourage a new age of cultural growth for his homeland.]]
* FishPerson: A very mild example, but while the aumaua arenèt actually aquatic and don't have gills or fins, they do have sharklike teeth and skin tones resembling those of tropical fish.
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Sanguine (friendly, cheerful, talkative, and people-oriented).
* GeniusBruiser: Comes with the territory of being an aumaua scholar. This is even reflected in his stats; his Might is 16 and his Intelligence is 17.
* GentleGiant: As an aumaua, meaning he's quite large, and his shark-like teeth give him an intimidating appearance. However, he's really just a jolly fellow who gets along well with everyone.
* TheHeart: He'd like to be this, and he does try to keep everyone in good spirits, but frequently finds it's not that easy given the DarkAndTroublePast of every teammate other than himself.
* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler:He's devastated once he finally discovers the shattered remains of the Tanvii ora Toha, and that the esteemed scholar who wrote it was a madman who turned himself into an undead sorcerer.]]
* IncompatibleOrientation: He quickly forms a crush on Maneha, who tells him outright that she prefers girls. He tries to be her wingman instead.
* {{Irony}}: Despite being the tallest, largest, and deepest voiced of the group, he's also the youngest and most optimistic. He also ''looks'' the scariest (being a giant aumaua with tribal face paint and shark teeth), but he's arguably the friendliest and most good-natured of the companions.
* ItsTheJourneyThatCounts: At the end of his quest, you have the option of reminding him that even though [[spoiler:his quest for the Tanvii ora Toha was all for naught]], it did give him quite an adventure that allowed him to learn plenty of new things along the way. That's enough to give Kana some peace of mind.
* JackOfAllStats: As often the case with bards. Not his actual stats -- his Consitution, Dexterity, and Resolve are only average, but his high Might, Perception, and Intelligence mean he can fight well in melee or at range, his chants can deal damage, buff, debuff, summon and don't really suffer much from wearing heavy armor, and his bonuses to Lore means he can cast spells from scrolls. He [[MasterOfNone won't be the best at any of those things]], but he supplements them all well.
* LikesOlderWomen: He initially crushes on Maneha, who's decades older than him.
* MagicMusic: Sings songs which cause [[RiseFromYourGrave skeletons to erupt from the ground]], among other things.
* MakeMeWannaShout: Some of his invocations allow him to shout at his enemies, damaging or inflicting status debuffs on them.
* MassiveNumberedSiblings: He has five elder siblings. According to him, his house never knew a moment's peace.
* MultipleEndings: Quite a few. [[spoiler:If you finish his quest, he can become a highly visible proponent in favor of foreign influence, [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis become a prominent voice against it]], encourage Rauatai to look inward toward its own progress, or set sail in search of further answers to replace the ones he felt the Tanvii ora Toha could no longer give. If you don't finish his quest, he can descend back into the Endless Paths, only to disappear, never to be seen again, or return home in defeat to become a minor lore keeper, teaching students in obscurity, [[JokingMode never to be seen again]].]] All this depends on whether you encourage his quest or knowledge, as well as whether or not you agree with his views.
* TheMusketeer: He starts off with an Arquebus and an Estoc as his weapons.
* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: Downplayed. He's a self-described patriot, but he doesn't approve of Rauatai's expansionism and reputation as conquerors.
* NaiveNewcomer: Out of everyone he's the youngest, and is the most optimistic of your party.
* NiceGuy: Despite his large stature, he's very amiable, due in no small part to his friendliness. Only Edér is anywhere near him in niceness.
* NiceHat: Wears a turban that improves his Intelligence.
* OurOrcsAreDifferent: Still musclebound and sharp of tooth, but favoring a more civilized brand of warmongering, with multicolored skin patterns like those of a tropical fish. Contrary to being the token ProudWarriorRaceGuy, Kana is easily the nicest and most innocent party member you can recruit.
* QuirkyBard: Downplayed. He's the BlackSheep of his family, and he's quite chipper and naive, but still relatively down to earth.
* RousseauWasRight: One possible quest outcome. [[spoiler:The Watcher can encourage Kana to return home and spread the teachings of the tablet and scholar he was searching for anyway, even though the tablet was destroyed and the scholar hardly a role model after all, arguing that teachings themselves are still worthwhile and his people will be able to see the merit in them. It works, and brings about the closest thing to a GoldenAge his [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy warmongering people]] can muster.]]
* ScaryTeeth: Well, he is Aumaua. While Aumaua aren't exactly [[FishPeople shark people]], they do have their teeth. Kana is no exception.
* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: The tablet he's been looking for was destroyed a LONG time ago, and the scholar is now a skeletal vessel who spent his final years among the living torturing countless test subjects for research, hardly a role model for peace and tolerance that Kana hoped he would be.]]
* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: A few party members have this reaction to Kana's persistent optimism, particularly [[{{Jerkass}} Durance]] and (potentially) a {{Jerkass}} Watcher. Kana does an impressive job of fending them off and standing up for himself [[spoiler:at least until [[CynicismCatalyst the end of his personal quest]].]]
* SoMuchForStealth: He's huge, brightly colored, and when combat breaks out he breaks out in song -- naturally he's not great at this. In addition to the lampshaded example listed under {{Dissimile}}, there's this alternate quote for entering stealth:
-->'''Kana:''' ''[loudly]'' Hello? ''[even louder]'' ...Hello??
* SummonMagic: Can summon monsters to aid him during fights thanks to his invocations, such as skeletons, ogres or a drake.
* SympathyForTheDevil: Out of the party, he's the only one who expresses pity over [[spoiler:Thaos']] death at the endgame, remarking that [[spoiler:anyone else would've changed their opinion 500 years into doing this gambit]].
%%* TribalFacepaint: No word on what it actually means. %%Commenting out. It's his natural skin colour, aumaua being somewhat like orcs by way of sharks and tropical fish.
* WideEyedIdealist: Of all the party he is easily the most idealistic, which is why he takes it especially hard when [[spoiler:you find out the tablet he hoped would unite his people has been destroyed, and the scholar who wrote it wasn't as philanthropic as he'd thought]]. A few party members find this annoying (especially Durance), and even the Watcher can frequently mock him for his naïveté.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sagani]]
!!Sagani
[[quoteright:210:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1ad5a73f1d016e70e5ee8df18983501f.png]]
-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/CindyRobinson

-> ''"Short version? I'm looking for a very, very old friend. I'm not sure what skin he's wearing now, but I'll know him when I see him."''

A boreal dwarf ranger, the Watcher encounters her, along with her companion Itumaak, on the crossroads into Defiance Bay. She is searching for the reincarnation of her Village Elder, Persoq, to tell his soul how the tribe is coming along. The journey has taken her five years, and she has grown despondent over time. When she the Watcher's abilities though, she finds herself tagging along so that she can finally finish her quest.
----
* AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder: {{Defied}} and played for laughs. Sagani is very much in love with her husband, and flatly rejects the idea that he might cheat on her with the remark that, aside from the strength of their relationship, she's the best shot in the village.
* AmazonianBeauty: Height notwithstanding, she is powerfully muscled and the concept art highlights it, and she does definitely have a certain charm.
* ArcherArchetype: She fits this well, seeing as Rangers are better at ranged attacks and work in tandem with their animal companions.
* BareYourMidriff: Her default garb. One would think this would leave her ExposedToTheElements in her native land but it's possible she just altered her outfit for the warmer climes of the Eastern Reach.
* TheBeastmaster: As a ranger, she is accompanied by an animal which helps in her fights. Hers is a snow fox, Itumaak.
* BewareTheCuteOnes: Sagani then warns Edér that if he tries, he's going to lose a hand. [[spoiler:Edér tries anyway. He doesn't ''lose'' his hand, but he gets a painful gash for his trouble.]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:A number of her endings turn out to be this, with Sagani finding parts of her quest or life unsatisfactory (like leaving her children for so long for a tradition that turned out to be pointless) but learning to find meaning and joy in others, such as her family or community.]]
* CrisisOfFaith: Sagani is from a small arctic village where family and tradition are revered above all else. However, their tradition of sending one non-childless woman every generation to seek out the reincarnation of their previous elder, ''[[MissingMom no matter how long it takes]]'', has shaken her once iron-hard faith in her village's traditions. [[spoiler:If the Watcher is a dick about it, or refuses to help her, her faith is shattered for good, and she returns home suicidally depressed. If the Watcher helps her and encourages her, she may return home to find her faith in her village's traditions reaffirmed, or find joy in raising her family despite her long departure.]]
* TheDeterminator: Sagani will finish her quest, no matter how long it takes. She's already been searching for five years by the time the Watcher meets her, [[spoiler:and if you never finish her quest, she eventually finds Persoq's reincarnation on her own. Twenty years later.]]
* DownerEnding: If you are consistently dismissive of her quest and make her feel like it's all a waste of time, [[spoiler:when she returns home she finds that nothing brings her joy anymore. Being around her children depresses her since she had to spend so long away from them for what she now sees as a pointless tradition, and maintaining her village's traditions depresses her because they took her away from her children, and do so to at least one mother every generation. The only thing that gives her anything resembling satisfaction is hunting, and she goes on longer and longer hunts, until one day she pushes on into a deadly blizzard, effectively committing suicide.]]
* DrawingStraws: Literally, how her village determines which of the non-childless women gets to go look for the reincarnation of the previous elder. Sagani drew the short straw.
* DualWielding: Her secondary weapon set is a dagger and a hatchet.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Two of her quest's endings result in Sagani having a long and happy life. If you encourage her to tell Persoq about his impact on Massuk, she'll return home confident in her village's traditions and become a respected village elder. If you encourage her to tell Persoq about his family, she'll return home with a new appreciation for her own family, and she eventually passes away surrounded by five generations of people who love her.]]
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Phlegmatic (reserved and easy-going).
* GuideDangIt: Her sidequest isn't the only thing that affects her ending. [[spoiler:It isn't even the most important, since it only ends [[ShaggyDogStory one way]]. What actually determines most of her endings is your conversations with her, whether you tell her that returning home to her family is the most important thing, or tribal tradition -- or that the whole journey is a pointless waste of time.]] You won't know this, of course, until finishing the game.
* HonorBeforeReason: Technically nothing is stopping her from going home and making up a story except her own sense of duty to her culture and her village. She will see this quest through no matter how long it takes, or how much her kids grow up and grow apart from her in her absence. [[spoiler:Thus, her meeting with her elder just deflates her.]]
* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: She's the masculine girl to her husband, Kallu's, feminine boy. At least, she's an ActionGirl who spends most of her time tracking and hunting while Kallu is a stay-at-home dad.
* MissingMom: She's one to her children, as her quest has taken her away from home for 5 years. She pointedly dislikes this and misses her husband and three surviving children[[note]]She's had five, but two died of starvation over bad winters.[[/note]] intensely (commenting that her youngest probably won't even know her when she gets back). She and the other non-childless women of the tribe had to draw straws to decide who would be sent on the quest, and she drew the short straw.
* MultipleEndings: And you might not realize which one you're getting until you're already locked in. [[spoiler:She can return home and become a respected elder like Persoq, come home and rededicate herself to being a mother (and eventually, a beloved grandmother), return home [[DownerEnding disheartened and depressed]] to [[ShaggyDogStory eventually go missing in a blizzard]], or, if you didn't finish her quest at all, Persoq's trail goes cold and her search continues for another twenty years.]]
* NonHumanSidekick: Itumaak, her snow fox animal companion.
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Obsidian seems to be working overtime to avert dwarf stereotypes. Boreal dwarves ("Enutanik" in their own language) are an ethnic subtype that are [[FantasyCounterpartCulture equivalent to the Inuit]], living on the tundra and snowy forests of the southern island of Naasitaq. She is also a ranger, a class not normally associated with dwarves, and carries a bow, possibly the least stereotypically dwarven weapon imaginable in a fantasy setting.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: By the time the game starts, two of Sagani's five children have died because of the harsh, lean winters. [[spoiler:If you never finish her quest, by the time she finishes it on her own, twenty years have passed and another of her children died before she returns.]]
* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: She states that her mate was chosen for her by their parents when she was young, but she and Kallu eventually grew to see each other as friends and later as lovers.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Itumaak is so white and fluffy Edér can't help but wanna pet it.
* StepfordSnarker[=/=]SadClown: Her sardonic demeanor is almost certainly a coping mechanism to hide how much she misses her family, and how much she just wants to end this quest and go home already.
* StrangerInAFamiliarLand: [[spoiler:Several of her personal quest endings result in this. If the Watcher encourages her disillusionment in her people's traditions, returning to said village where everyone still reveres their traditions results in her feeling emotionally isolated from everyone.]]
* ShaggyDogStory: Sensing a pattern? [[spoiler:The elder she's trying to find was reborn as a stag, which is why he's been wandering all over the damn place but never showing up in any of the actual settlements she's been through, and she gets there just in time for him to die of his wounds after being attacked by a wolf. You can convince her to tell him what he meant to Massuk regardless of whether or not he'll understand.]]
* TribalFacepaint: Seen in all concept artworks of her released to date, along with paint or tattoos on her midriff in the one image where it is visible.
[[/folder]]

!!!''The White March'' Party Members

[[folder:The Devil of Caroc]]
!!The Devil of Caroc
[[quoteright:210:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8e2d14fa7ed4260f9350b0497a8e3b30.png]]

->''"Murder, tracking, and the best materials for kindling – those are more my area of expertise."''

A construct Rogue, the Devil of Caroc was once a villager in Cold Morn who sought revenge for her fellow villagers who were murdered during the Eothasian Purges. She was eventually caught and executed, but her soul was powerful enough not to pass on and now resides in a bronze golem.
----
* AffablyEvil: Mildly so. She's clearly dangerous and some of the things she says are unnerving, but if you stay out of her way and don't go getting all judgmental on her, she doesn't go out of her way to pick fights. As opposed to, say, [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Durance]].
* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:She may be a crazy SerialKiller but it's hard not to pity her given how nightmarish her current state is. She's unable to feel anything, unable to die, and without even vengeance to look forward to there's nothing to distract her from how horrifying her condition really is. If you trick her into letting the man who killed her family go free, she keeps up the hunt as her body fails, and she's eventually ripped apart by a mob of villagers, screaming as she's destroyed yet unable to feel any of it.]]
* AndIMustScream: See SenseLossSadness. Thirteen years spent living in the middle of nowhere with [[MadScientist Galvino]] can't have helped. In one of her endings, [[spoiler:if you let her kill Harmke, with her mechanical body beginning to fail, she walks into the ocean and sinks to the bottom, unable to move -- [[SubvertedTrope and finally content]].]]
* AntiHero: The Devil is ruthless, relentless, and a convicted murderer but she is willing to fight at the Watcher's side.
* AssholeVictim: Most the people she killed took part in the Purges, which started with her hometown of Cold Morn. [[spoiler:If you let her kill just the one more during her personal quest, it actually does bring her the closure she's looking for.]] Before you start getting too sympathetic, however, a few of the people she burned alive [[WouldHurtAChild were children]].
* BittersweetEnding: If you [[spoiler:let her take her revenge on Harmke]], her desire for revenge will be replaced with a desire to feel anything new in her unfeeling body. She [[WalkingTheEarth keeps traveling]] and her body continues to fail her, until [[spoiler:she sees something a farmgirl like her had never seen before -- the ocean. She walks into it and sinks to the bottom, [[AndIMustScream now completely unable to move]] but finally [[SubvertedTrope at rest]].]]
* BladeOnAStick: She starts with a spear, rather than any sort of firearm like she was shown using in preview footage.
* CycleOfRevenge: The Purges killed her family, so she hunted them down and killed them. Then they gave her to Galvino and he turned her into a living construct. You have the option of trying to break the cycle, convincing her to spare Harmke [[spoiler:but [[DownerEnding it doesn't go]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero the way]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge you might expect]].]]
* DoomedHometown: She's from Cold Morn, known as the first town the Readceran army marched through -- and Cold Morn let them, and was burnt to the ground during the Purges in retaliation. [[spoiler:Given that the entire Readceran army was on top of them at the time, it wasn't like they had much choice about surrendering.]]
* DownerEnding: If you [[spoiler:convince her to let Harmke go]], she [[NiceJobBreakingItHero continues her]] RoaringRampageOfRevenge [[spoiler:knowing full well how futile it is, until an angry mob catches up with her in Maiden Falls and tears her metal body apart piece by piece.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: During her EstablishingCharacterMoment, every other line out of her mouth is simply laden with sarcasm.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Even all these years later she still morns her parents and siblings. She also admits she's glad they never saw what she became.
* EvilLaugh: In combat, often after killing an enemy.
* {{Expy}}: Of Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'s monster. Inverted in that if anything she's probably calmed down a lot since before the experiment, but she still stirs up her share of angry mobs.
* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: Galvino's workmanship is exquisite, and the Devil's filigreed bronze body bears none of the scars she picked up in life. She doesn't consider that any kind of favor, though, since those scars were just another part of her past she's lost.
* FarmGirl: Her mother was a trapper and her father was a tinker, but she's essentially a dark spin on this, right down to the DoomedHometown. This also creeps into the way she speaks -- she's at least as folksy as Edér, if not even more so.
* {{Golem}}: Her soul now inhabits a construct made from bronze.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: She was badly burned when the Purges came to Cold Morn. It's implied that her appearance is part of what earned her her name.
* TheGunslinger: All footage of her in combat shows her wielding either a pistol or an arquebus. In the game proper, she starts out with a spear.
* HighlyVisibleNinja: Despite being bound to a construct body made of highly polished bronze, old habits die hard. She starts out with BackStab, [[{{Invisibility}} Shadowing Beyond]], and a number of ranks in Stealth, which made sense in her old life as a trapper.
* HunterTrapper: Her in-game background is listed as Trapper, which is how her mother earned her living. Devil of Caroc would put those same skills to use hunting down the men and women who put Cold Morn to the torch.
* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: As a SerialKiller with a background as a HunterTrapper.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: [[spoiler:After killing the man who burned down her home]], she no longer has anything else to distract her from thinking about how much it sucks to be an unfeeling golem. One of the reasons she is still traveling with you is because she hopes that the White Forge in Durgan's Battery has something that would allow her to be human again. You can point out that even if there was, her original body has likely rotted away long ago and the best-case scenario would be her turning into a fampyr (and being an undead is ''worse'' than becoming a golem).
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Her murders boil down to this: Her hometown was burned down for not trying to stop an army at least an order of magnitude bigger than the town. Everyone she went after was directly involved in the murder... although prompting can make her admit that while everyone she went ''after'' was directly involved in the murder, she didn't really have a problem with causing collateral damage while doing so.
* MythologyGag: A riff on [[VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment Vhailor]], with her burnished metal body, [[DoubleMeaning hollow interior]], and need to exact her own brand of "justice".
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The '''Devil''' of Caroc.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In her ending, [[spoiler:if you convince her to spare Harmke in the hopes of letting go of her quest for revenge, she's unable to find peace and picks up the hunt all over again, killing a lot more people before she's finally surrrounded and torn to pieces, [[NotSoStoic screaming all the while]]. PlayedWith in that the IntendedAudienceReaction is probably to assume that, in a game like this, sparing Harmke is the default correct/"good" choice. Harmke was [[AssholeVictim a murderer who'd escaped justice for his crimes]] in his own right, however, and in killing him, Devil actually ''does'' find [[BittersweetEnding a kind of peace]].]]
* OneLastJob: [[spoiler:Killing Harmke. If you let her go through with it, it really does turn out to be the last murder she commits in her ending.]]
-->'''Kana:''' He wasn't my monster... Did it help?\\
'''Devil of Caroc:''' No. But it needed doing.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: "The Devil of Caroc", which she picked up after burning over a dozen people to death in their homes in Caroc.
* PyroManiac: She killed a dozen people in Caroc by burning their houses down with them inside, as poetic justice for burning down Cold Morn in the Purges.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Her killing spree was one against the people who razed her home of Cold Morn, though she didn't care if there was collateral damage.
* SenseLossSadness: [[spoiler:Once her vengeance is complete]], she no longer has anything to distract her from her new body's inability to feel anything. If you point out that a golem body has its advantages, she retorts that she'd give them all up just to be able to feel the cold snow again.
* SerialKiller: Hunting and killing the men and women who burnt down her hometown and killed her family. She burned over a dozen people alive in Caroc -- burned like her family burned.
* StealthExpert: She was a trapper in life. Despite now being [[HighlyVisibleNinja a metal golem]] whose body counts as (unremovable) heavy armor, she's a rogue whose initial abilities are geared toward backstabbing and stealth.
* TheStoic: She was a cold-blooded murderer in life. She's even colder now. It's part of what made her such an effective killer. She [[VillainousFriendship gets along especially well]] with a Watcher with the Cruel and Rational reputations.
* TokenEvilTeammate: Her general lack of remorse, especially regarding the collateral damage she's caused, makes her this.
* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: Feels no satisfaction after [[spoiler:tracking down the person who burned down her home.]] She thinks it's because of her golem body and its lack of feeling. Without the desire for revenge motivating her, she is no longer distracted from the full horror of her condition. [[spoiler:Subverted, however, in that in killing him and realizing exactly how empty it feels, it allows her to finally let go. If you don't let her kill Harmke, she continues seeking her revenge, no matter how futile it might seem.]]
* {{Vigilante}}: The people she killed were the people who burned down her village, Cold Morn.
* WouldHurtAChild: She burned down her victims' houses in Caroc, along with their families. They did the same to hers. [[CycleOfRevenge Tit for tat.]]
* YouKilledMyFather: She's out for revenge against the people who razed Cold Morn and murdered her family and friends. [[spoiler:It's possible to help her track down and kill the one who personally burned down her home, but it doesn't make her feel any better.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Zahua]]
!!Zahua
[[quoteright:210:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ec0b8edc1582ff1889938cd91e6ad2bd.png]]

->''"A scar is a wound that heals. A living reminder of our power over suffering. They cause no pain, only the echo of pain which cannot hurt you. Show me a scarred man and I will show you a man who can overcome."''

A human Monk, Zahua is the greatest of the Nalpazca, the warrior-monks that serve as the army of the Tacan people. The Nalpazca seek to distinguish between the physical and imaginary world. Zahua seeks to pursue to ideals of the Nalpazca in the hopes that it will make him become an unstoppable combatant.
----
* BadassGrandpa: He may be an old man, but he's a powerful monk and the greatest of the Nalpazca.
* BaldOfAwesome: Male pattern baldness and fists of fury.
* BareFistedMonk: Monks are most powerful when they fight with their fists. And he is never depicted with any weapon in official artwork. In game, he uses a hatchet and saber as secondary weapons.
* CombatSadomasochist: He reveres pain to the point of masochism. Subverted in that it's not out of pleasure or titillation.
-->'''Zahua:''' If I did not suffer, I would not aspire to free myself from it. I would wander from one unfulfilling goal to the next -- more wealth, a better station. My soul would wither. But to search for a place beyond suffering's reach is to nurture the soul. To harden it against the elements.
* TheComicallySerious: He's the source of a good deal of ComicRelief, while remaining almost entirely straight-faced.
* CommonalityConnection: Not that they're friends, but [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Durance]] of all people is surprisingly sympathetic to Zahua on his spiritual journey... [[{{Jerkass}} in his own way]], of course. He's snide as always, but understands enough not to interfere.
-->'''Zahua:''' Keep to your own trial, Durance, and I will keep to mine.\\
'''Durance:''' Oh, I wouldn't dream of interfering. I await the sounds of broken bonds or a broken back. There is a music to both, if you listen for it.
* CoveredWithScars: Zahua believes that suffering is the path to enlightenment and so he has wounded himself many times, leaving his body covered in nasty scars.
* TheChosenOne: The Tacan high priestess forced the Nalpazca warriors to accept him because she had a vision--after tripping on malcacho and other drugs--that Zahua would be a chieftain who would lead them to victory over a rival tribe. Doing so would require becoming the anitlei, a perfect warrior free of worldly snares. [[spoiler:This rival tribe instead ended up conquering his people and completely breaking them. Though Zahua's initial goal is to free them, he comes to accept that his tribe is truly gone.]]
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: As the anitlei he became invincible so long as he believed he was invincible. [[spoiler:The second doubt entered his mind when facing off against a rival chieftain, he lost this ability and was defeated.]]
* EnlightenmentSuperpowers: Like all Eoran monks, he has unique magical powers derived from his own pain.
* EruditeStoner: He's a thoughtful man with a deep understanding of life and suffering. It's just that part of that understanding was attained on a variety of powerful hallucinogenics.
* FantasticDrug: Takes a great deal of them.
* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: The warrior will become the ''Anitlei'', invincible in battle, after they free themselves from all worldly snares. [[spoiler:Becoming the Anitlei is itself a worldly snare, and when Zahua accepts that the knowledge is truly lost, he gains a bonus talent which grants him a 10% bonus to attack speed. That talent's name? Anitlei, implying that whatever the original knowledge entailed, it is only a word, and the Aanitlei will be whatever the Tacan need them to be -- even if the Tacan are only Zahua himself.]]
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: His banter indicates he's constantly taking more drugs, but they're not in his inventory and you still need to have him take them for him to gain the effects. Probably easier than the alternative of [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality him taking whatever drugs he wanted without the player's input]].
* GuideDangIt: Fittingly, given [[MushroomSamba the source of his wisdom]], figuring out how to deal with Zahua can be a little obtuse.
** You recruit him by finding him inside a seemingly innocuous barrel of fish on the Stalwart docks. There's a cutscene where a villager runs away from said barrel screaming, but still.
** His sidequest is easy to trigger by accident and hard to trigger on purpose. Doing so involves exhausting his dialogue options and changing areas/reloading the game, but not [[spoiler:in Whitestone Hollow]].
** Also, like Kana and Sagani, Zahua has [[MultipleEndings many different ending states]], influenced not only by his personal quest, but by what the Watcher says to him while traveling with him. [[spoiler:Zahua has different endings depending on whether or not you finish his quest and two values, Legacy and Persistence. The former corresponds to telling him to value the Tacan's memory and teachings, the latter on himself and his own actions. The two aren't dependent on each other, and it's possible for both to be positive or negative. Softened in that the only truly bad ending he gets is if both are negative and you don't complete his quest.]]
* HermitGuru: WalkingTheEarth variant.
* HigherUnderstandingThroughDrugs: The Nalpazca believes that drug induced hallucinations convey wisdom, and Zahua is no exception. His sidequest has the entire party get high so they can share in his vision quest.
* ItWasWithYouAllAlong: His sidequest ends with Zahua realizing that the secret of the Anitlei is lost forever, but [[spoiler:this is subverted with the realization that all he needed to do to become stronger was to accept the past and move on from it. The secrets of the Anitlei may be lost, but lifting the psychological burden made him stronger anyway -- and he gains [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration a bonus talent]] saying as much.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Zahua's belief that all suffering is good makes him come off as callous, but he is a compassionate man.
* MasterApprenticeChain: The Anitlei. The fact that Zahua's predecessor died without ever teaching him the Anitlei's secrets is actually the crux of Zahua's conflict.
* MultipleEndings: Depending on whether or not you finish his [[GuideDangIt difficult-to-trigger]] personal quest and what you tell him about his life's goal of becoming the [[TheChosenOne Anitlei]] and freeing his people. [[spoiler:He can take over an abandoned monastery in the White March and found a new order (there are two ways this can happen, depending on whether or not you finished his quest) or rebuild the Nalpazca, return to Ixamitl and unite several small tribes under the beliefs of the Tacan, or head to Defiance Bay and either take an apprentice or tell all his secrets to a scrivener in the Hand Occult.]]
* MushroomSamba: He's tripping on mushrooms (the ''malcachoa'', known as whitecap in the Dyrwood) when you first meet him, is constantly taking other drugs while he's in the party, and on his personal quest he takes the rest of the party along for the trip.
* MyGreatestFailure: [[spoiler:Zahua holds himself responsible for the destruction of his tribe. As the anitlei he was meant to be the perfect warrior and free of world snares. He achieved it briefly, but eventually felt doubt when facing a rival chieftain, which led to the rival tribe to completely absorb and destroy his own. While he spent years planning on returning and liberating his people, he ultimately realizes it's impossible.]]
* OldMaster: Zahua is an old man, but is also a powerful monk.
* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler:Yep, another one. His vision quest reveals nothing except what he already knew all along: that the Tacan people and its culture are gone and there's nothing he can do about it. The vision is simply telling him that he needs to let go of the past.]]
* TheStoner: He abuses hallucinogenics as part of his training.
* SuperToughness: As a monk, he's preternaturally durable thanks to his EnlightenmentSuperpowers.
* ThirdPersonPerson: He frequently refers to himself with his own name.
* ToBeAMaster: Zahua believes pursuing the ideals of the Nalpazca will make him an unstoppable monk. While this initially seems to be the goal in itself, with ''The White March Part II'' installed it turns out Zahua mostly just wants to [[spoiler: free the Tacan people from their subjugation to a rival tribe, and redeem himself for failing to lead them to victory as their chieftain]] -- he just believes the only way that is possible is to become the archetypical unstoppable Nalpazca master.
* WackyGuy: His antics make him sound sound like this, but in terms of personality he's TheComicallySerious.
* WalkingShirtlessScene: His artwork and default clothing/armor has him just going around in pants and Shoalin-style leg wraps. Even during the time he was Forton. All the better to show off his scars.
* WalkingTheEarth: What he's doing when you meet him, searching for knowledge within and without. He's just been to the abandoned monastery of the order of the Thousand Dreams in nearby Coldflow Lake, but found it empty.
* WarriorMonk: A given. His ambition is to become the anitlei, the perfect warrior freed from all worldly snares who becomes invincible in the process.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Maneha]]
!!Maheha
[[quoteright:210:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maneha_lg.png]]

->''"I've done my share of fighting these forty-odd years, but I've never drawn my blade just to watch someone bleed. And I've never drawn it on someone who didn't have his own in hand."''

A female aumaua barbarian who, like Kana, originally hails from Rautai. Unlike Kana, however, Maneha is quite the experienced traveler who has seen much of the world and been through a lot. A member of the Giftbearer order, she is currently searching for the mysterious Abbey of the Fallen Moon; a hunt that causes her to cross paths with the Watcher in Stalwart Village.
----
* AmazonianBeauty: Pretty much a given as an aumaua, a race who tends towards being tall and muscular.
* AnAxeToGrind: One of her starting weapons.
* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:If you erase her Awakened memories, Maneha continues her life of thrill-seeking and adventure.]]
* ArousedByTheirVoice: Part of her flirting with Pallegina involves complimenting her accent and asking her to speak in it.
* BadassGay: She's a skilled barbarian warrior who happens to prefer women.
* CarryABigStick: Her secondary weapon is a morning star.
* DualWielding: She starts with a battle axe and a sword.
* EveryoneHasStandards: She's a mercenary and a pirate, but she's not a bad person. She's never killed someone for the sake of killing and she doesn't start a fight with someone unprepared for one.
* HiredGuns: Her past as a mercenary involved fighting for and against pirates.
* IHatePastMe: The reason she is searching for the Abbey. [[spoiler:She Awakened past memories of one of her previous incarnations, one who committed terrible crimes. She has heard that the Abbey has a method of erasing memories and wants to use it. Whether or not she actually goes through with it is up to you.]]
* TheLadette: Maneha enjoys nothing more than fighting, drinking and sleeping around with pretty women.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: [[spoiler:Her true goal in seeking the Abbey of the Fallen Moon is to use its power to rid her of her painful memories of a past life. It depends on the Watcher whether she goes through with it or not.]]
* LuminescentBlush: She "turns a deeper shade of blue" if the Watcher asks point-blank what's her thing with Pallegina.
* NiceGirl: She's perky and friendly to just about everyone, even [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Durance.]] Though she's also clearly trolling him at certain points.
* ProudWarriorRaceGal: An aversion. Her class is barbarian, but she came from a peaceful village in Rauatai, and while she was a mercenary and raider for some forty years, she was in it for the adventure, not the bloodshed.
* RetiredBadass: [[spoiler:If you help her come to terms with her memory instead of erasing it, Maneha settles back down in Rauatai and starts building a life there.]]
* SadClown: She's friendly and makes a lot of jokes, but she tries to hide just how much pain her Awakened memories are causing her.
* ShipTease: Party banter and a direct question from the Watcher implies she has a crush on Pallegina. Pallegina implies that she might be receptive.
* SorryImGay: Her reaction to Kana's attempts to flirt with her. [[IncompatibleOrientation After he finds out]], he tries to be her wingman instead.
* WarriorMonk: She is a Giftbearer of Ondra, and a barbarian/mercenary/pirate raider.
[[/folder]]

!!!''Deadfire'' Party Members

[[folder:Maia Rua]]
!!Maia Rua
-> '''Voiced by:''' Marisha Rey

->''"Captain, I just wanted to say I enjoy these little moments where we negotiate with things that can eat us."''

Maia Rua is an island aumaua ranger whose animal companion, Ishiza, is a bird of prey that can scout outdoor environments both in and out of combat. Like Kana, her brother, she's a loyal Rauataian of Huana ancestry. Her boldness and dedication have earned her an enviable position as a ship captain, which in turn has brought her to Deadfire as part of her country's mission to "civilize" the wild archipelago.
----
* EarlyBirdCameo: Kana mentions his siblings in one of his dialogue trees and recalls Maia fondly.
* NonHumanSidekick: Ishiza, a bird of prey that looks to be ''orlan-sized'' in the concept art.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Serafen]]
!!Serafen
-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/LiamOBrien

->''"Unrefined? Begging your pardon, captain, but I be the high fucking model of the gentleman of fortune!"''

Serafen is an orlan cipher/barbarian and a member of the Príncipi sen Patrena, the dominant pirate organization in the region. He was born into slavery and put to work as a rigger and powder monkey since his small size made him ideal for scurrying around ships. During those years, he discovered his talents as a cipher and used them to lure his masters' ship into the path of the Príncipi. Impressed, the pirates offered him a position as one of their infamous "ship hunters", and he in turn found acceptance and freedom among his new comrades. He worries, however, that the growing schism in the Príncipi will destroy the community he has come to love.
----
* BornIntoSlavery: Though he was eventually freed by the Príncipi, earning them his loyalty.
* HandCannon: Rather than using a standard pistol, Serafen comes equipped with a hand mortar; a unique pistol-sized grenade launcher capable of dispatching multiple foes.
* SophisticatedAsHell: He'll have you know that he's the high fucking model of the gentleman of fortune.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Xoti]]
!!Xoti
-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/LauraBailey

->''"Sometimes I hear them like a whisper in the back of my mind. All those souls wandering the darkness."''

When Xoti was a young girl, she was one of thousands of Readcerans who came to Deadfire fleeing the devastation that followed the vorlas blight and the Saint's War. Her family, like many others, established themselves as farmers, and she fell in love with the lush jungles and bright beaches of her adopted homeland. She is intrigued by the rumors of Eothas' manifestation, but she fears what that will mean for her fellow expatriates, many of whom followed his previous incarnation into war and defeat.
----
* SinisterScythe: As a follower of Gaun, the aspect of Eothas associated with harvests, she wields a sickle and a lantern.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tekēhu]]
!!Tekēhu
-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/TravisWillingham

->''"If it untangles me from the guild's apron strings, then you can mount me as the figurehead of your fair ship. Our quarters may smell of fish before long, but your crew will be more beautiful by association, I say."''

Tekēhu is the 7th and final companion, a aumaua marine godlike chanter/druid. He is one of the Huana, the native people of Deadfire and is a master of manipulating water for art.
----
* VoluntaryShapeshifter: He can transform into a wereshark.
[[/folder]]

!!!''Deadfire'' Sidekicks

%%[[folder:In General]]
%%!! In General
%%
%%''Deadfire'' adds Sidekicks, optional party members met as {{Non Player Character}}s in various questlines throughout the game. They operate similarly to the companions from Pillars of Eternity 1, lacking the character development, relationship mechanics and story involvement of Deadfire's Companions.
%%----
%%
%%[[/folder]]
%%This strikes me as information that's better suited for the main entry than the character listing, no?

[[folder:Konstanten]]
A mountain dwarf chanter.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ydwin]]
!!Ydwin
-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/AshleyJohnson

->''"I'd not experiment upon myself without relative certainty it would be a success."''

Ydwin, is a pale elf mindstalker (rogue/cipher) with extensive training as an animancer. She was born in a remote, lawless settlement in the White that Wends, where she witnessed the cruelest extremes of kith and nature. Her observations fueled a fascination with animancy, and she eventually made her way to the Vailian Republics to study. She's since become an accomplished master in the field, and advances with luminous adra in the Deadfire have drawn her to the archipelago. Originally a potential 8th companion, Ydwin is one of the potential Sidekicks you can recruit in the ''Deadfire''.
----
* ForScience: She's dedicated to pursuing her studies in animancy--the science of the soul in-universe.
* ProfessorGuineaPig: As her quote shows, she's not above experimenting on herself if she considers the risks acceptable enough.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Rekke]]
!!Rekke
-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/SamRiegel

->''"Lap pile kiku? Lakaris? Ke zilas tahun?"''

A storm folk fighter. He does not speak any language known in the Archipelago.
----
* ThePrankster: He amuses himself by playing pranks on other members of the party.
* TheUnintelligible: No one in the party has any idea what language he's speaking, but that doesn't stop Rekke from speaking his mind regardless.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fessina]]
!!Fessina
An ocean folk wizard.
[[/folder]]

!!!Cut Party Members

[[folder:Cadegund]]
!! Cadegund

[[quoteright:225:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Cadegund_4692.png]]
A priestess of Magran, goddess of war. Wields an arquebus and hammer, and wears Magran's emblem, a bomb, on her breastplate.
----
* ChainmailBikini: Averted. She wears full plate armor that is pretty but functional. An early design emphasized her buxom significantly, however.
* ChurchMilitant: She carries an arquebus and a warhammer and her deity's holy symbol is a ''bomb''...if she doesn't live up to this trope, it will probably still be worth mentioning as an aversion. Remains to be seen...
* DropTheHammer: Switches to a warhammer when forced into melee.
* DummiedOut: In the original Kickstarter pitch, she was planned as a recruitable companion. She seems to have been replaced with Durance in the release version.
%%* LadyOfWar
* TheMusketeer: Arquebus and warhammer.
%%* ReligionIsMagic
%%* WarriorMonk: Western version.
[[/folder]]

!!Notable Allies

[[folder:Lady Webb]]
!!Lady Eydis Webb
->''"Oh, don't look so surprised, it isn't an attractive expression. I wouldn't be where I am if I let details like that escape me."''

The so-called Hermit of Hadret House, enigmatic founder and leader of the spies and detectives of Dunryd Row.
----
* AnimalMotifs: She's the spider at the center of Hadret House's swirling web of secrets. Welcome to her parlor.
* BattleCouple: [[spoiler:With Thaos, until her HeelFaceTurn]]. Her younger self enjoyed the thrill and intrigue of it all until [[spoiler:she realized the greater scope of Thaos' plans.]]
* BigGood: Assumes this role from the moment her first dialogue box opens, and remains there right up until [[spoiler:she and all of Dunryd Row bar Inspector Kurren are [[SacrificialLion killed by the Leaden Key]] under the cover of the riots following Duc Aevar's assassination. Thaos also kills Lady Webb personally, seemingly affirming that he did feel something for her.]]
* BlasphemousBoast: When you first come to Dunryd Row's attention, the messenger sent to request your presence delivers one on her behalf:
-->'''Messenger:'''You do wrong in this country, before you go asking the gods for forgiveness, best you ask Lady Webb first.
* TheChessmaster: How she operates as the game's resident BigGood: gathering information, striking in secret, plans within plans. [[spoiler:Much like Thaos himself -- fitting, since she was once one of his disciples. Sadly, even armed with all she knows, it's still not enough to [[SacrificialLion save her]] in the end.]]
* CoolOldLady: Basically founded Psychic UsefulNotes/ScotlandYard. Think [[Creator/JudiDench Dame Judi Dench]] in her role as [[Film/JamesBond M]] with a little bit of SherlockHolmes thrown in, based in a fantasy version of post-Revolutionary America.
* DaChief: Mostly to the Watcher, but Dunryd Row are the more modern police detectives to the Crucible Knights' medieval CityGuards. That modernization is another thing Defiance Bay can thank Lady Webb for. She rarely raises her voice, but has quite an acid wit and suffers no fools.
* DeadpanSnarker: Has a certain wry wit even at her most serious. AskAStupidQuestion, in particular, and you'll get a rather sharp retort.
-->'''Lady Webb:''' So the messenger conveyed my summons. A miracle that would make the reincarnation of Eothas look like a child's cantrip, surely.
* DefectorFromDecadence: [[spoiler:Was formerly a member of the Leaden Key.]] A lifetime spent looking over her shoulder waiting for the inevitable reprisal led her to found the organization that later became Dunryd Row.
* TheDreaded: People tend to be nervous about attracting her attention, with good reason. [[spoiler:It makes even more sense in Aloth's case, since he's a member of the Leaden Key.]]
-->'''Aloth:''' They say she's an ancient spider, spinning her nets through the city. If she wishes to see you, that either bodes very well or very ill.
* {{Expy}}: A mild case, but knowing Obsidian, unlikely to be a coincidence: an old woman, a seer of sorts, who remains constantly in the background and serves to educate the main character on the true nature of their circumstances, not unlike Ravel Puzzlewell, Kreia, the Founder, etc. She also recalls another common theme in Black Isle/Obsidian games: that it is far worse to have taught others wrongly than to be wrong yourself.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Like everything else, she maintains her poise even in the face of certain death. [[spoiler:She faces down Thaos when he comes to kill her with no trace of fear whatsoever, only calm defiance. She even manages to use her powers to pry out a clue to his plans from his thoughts, knowing that she will be able to pass it on to the Watcher posthumously.]]
* HappilyMarried: A widow now, but she has fond memories of her late husband.
* IronLady: SilkHidingSteel variant. Her tone is rather pleasant, but there's an edge underneath it, and she founded Hadret House and has presided over it for decades.
* KnowledgeBroker: As a means to an end when it comes to protecting the Dyrwood and rooting out the Leaden Key.
-->'''Lady Webb:''' Exhaustive research, spying, bribery. Perhaps some less savory measures. Whatever the knowledge demands, I pay in full. There is nothing of greater value.
* MeaningfulName: She never leaves Hadret House; rather, her prey stumbles onto her, blundering into the intricate web she's woven across the land. Through her network of spies, she seems to know everything that goes on in the Dyrwood... except as regards the activities of the Leaden Key.
* MindReading: One of her abilities as a cipher, and she doesn't ask permission beforehand, either.
-->'''Lady Webb:''' Because you have seen his face, and that makes it a simple matter for me to see it...
* [[MsExposition Mrs Exposition:]] After she summons you, great big blocks of the main plot start dropping into place. Given the highly secretive nature of [[TheConspiracy the enemy]] in this game, this kind of character is pretty much [[JustifiedTrope a necessity]].
* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: She's trying to tame the Dyrwood, to save them from themselves as much as from outside threats. [[spoiler:She goes to her grave believing she's failed, when the Leaden Key kills her and the rest of Dunryd Row during the riots at the end of Act II.]]
-->'''Lady Webb:''' Dyrwood is a rebel country. Conflict is in its blood. If you think a few guards posted in our cities keep chaos at bay, you are very new to town indeed.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Ducks the question when you ask her her age, but is not ashamed to having used unspecified means to extend her life.
* PlotArmor: Downplayed. While it is possible for the player to kill her, doing so automatically gets them a NonstandardGameOver since they just killed the best/only lead and thus have doomed the Watcher to succumb to the same fate as Maerwald.
* PsychicPowers: A cypher herself, Webb organized the Dyrwood's many cyphers into some of the world's most formidable detectives... and spies.
* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: In her youth, Webb was [[spoiler:a member of the Leaden Key and a contemporary (later protege) to Thaos until a HeelRealization caused her to [[InvertedTrope turn her back on both the man and the organization he controlled]].]]
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: She's the only person who can help you and presumably aware of it, but rather than force the issue, she makes a very polite standing offer ([[spoiler:whatever you learn about the Leaden Key for what Dunryd Row already knows]]) and waits for you to come around. It helps that she exudes competence and provides you with nothing but solid leads and exposition which has been in short supply up to the point when you meet her.
* SacrificialLion: As the greatest threat to the Leaden Key, this was inevitable. [[spoiler:She gets a decent amount of characterization, is heavily involved in the plot events of Act 2, and then gets KilledOffForReal by Thaos to show how high the stakes have become. Not in vain, however -- she manages to steal a key piece of knowledge from him, piercing his mental barriers even as she's within moments of death. The Watcher's ability to read the souls of the recently dead allows her to pass this secret on to you before she passes on for good.]]
* ShroudedInMyth: Courtesy of Dunryd Row's messenger boy again:
-->'''Messenger:''' She's supposed to be old. Older than anybody. And she never leaves her room. Some say she's wasted away and she's just a pile of bones kept animated by dark magics.
* TheShutIn: What makes her the Hermit of Hadret House: she hasn't been seen outside her chambers in years.
* SilkHidingSteel: A genteel older woman with a will of solid iron, who's saved the fledgling Dyrwood from destruction who knows how many times over.
* SpyFiction: Not especially glamorous ''or'' gritty, but surprisingly cozy instead. Call it Hot Cup Of Tea Flavored.
* TheSpymaster: ''The'' spymaster of the setting. At the start of the game, Dunryd Row are really the only people doing anything about the Leaden Key, and that's largely down to Lady Webb's influence.
* TeamMom: AMotherToHerMen, and takes on this role for the party as well. [[spoiler:However briefly.]]
-->'''Edér:''' This is exactly what I would picture Aloth's mother to be like.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Vela]]
!!Vela

An orlan baby originally from the Fisher Crane Tribe who has become the foster child of Simoc, the anamfath of the Three-Tusk Stelgaer. Despite her lack of blood ties to the tribe, who are wood elves, her powerful soul makes her a likely candidate for their next anamfath. She can return as a crew member in ''Deadfire''.
----
* AscendedExtra: She goes from essentially a living plot item in the first game to a possible crew mate in ''Deadfire''.
* BadassAndBaby: The ending narration even lampshades how strange it was the Watcher brought a baby with them to Sun and Shadow. Especially egregious since the Watcher doesn't just stumble upon her in the middle of a conflict, he has to make the conscious choice to abduct her.
* HumanSacrifice: Simoc wants the Watcher to kidnap Vela and sacrifice her in Blood Sands so a potion can be made from her spirit to make himself stronger and allow him to produce a worthy heir.
* ImTakingHerHomeWithMe: Instead of sacrificing her or eliminating the man who wants her dead, another option is for the Watcher to essentially kidnap her to raise her personally, although doing so requires killing the man who asked the Watcher save her in the first place. Not only will this choice be reflected in the Watcher’s ending, but Vela herself returns as a toddler in ''Deadfire''.
* InfantImmortality: Averted. Even though she's only a baby, the Watcher can sacrifice her for their own gain.
* LivingMacGuffin: During the "Sacrificial Bloodlines" sidequest in Twin Elms when she first appears, her foster father wants to sacrifice her to make a potion that will "empower his seed" so that he can have a child of his own blood, but with Vela's strong soul. Her foster brother, understandably outraged, asks you to murder his father -- and tries to kill you if you snatch the child from her cradle, regardless of any explanation/excuse you might come up with. Baby Vela then shows up as a plot item in your inventory... and the game does nothing to stop you from wandering off and leaving the quest unfinished, meaning she can still be in your pack through the entire endgame. The ending reel even comments on it:
-->'''Narrator:''' But at that moment, there was little to be done, and the matter would have to wait. A long journey loomed ahead, made no easier by your decision to bring an infant to [[spoiler:[[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Sun in Shadow]].]]
* TagAlongKid: In ''Deadfire'' she's five-years-old, but because orlans grow and mature slightly quicker than humans, she is still a possible crew member on the Watcher's ship.
* UnexpectedSuccessor: Simoc's own children are considered unworthy to succeed him as anamfath of the Three-Tusk Stelgaer. However, his orlan foster-daughter from the Fisher Crane has a soul strong enough that everyone expects the riow of the tribe to select her instead.
* WhatTheHellHero: It's a messy situation, and nobody comes out of this quest looking good.
** Vela is awfully cute, but given the way in which she joins the Watcher's crew is deeply questionable. Whatever your intentions were when you took Vela out of her cradle -- you might be trying to get her away from Simoc without, as Lliras suggests, simply murdering the man, but you're still kidnapping her.
** Lliras in a nutshell. He's disgusted by his father's intentions for Vela, but his suggestion for how to deal with him -- and the only way of resolving the quest without a fight -- is to trick Simoc into drinking poison instead of the potion he's asked you to have made.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spoiler Character]]
!!Iovara ix Ensios
[[quoteright:210:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5e8267fb84e5d2ef03d13f012a740b08.png]]
->''"I never thought of it as faith, but I think you are right to call it that. Let the world see. Let them decide what to do. That was my faith."''

A mysterious, ghostly figure who knew the Watcher once in a past life, thousands of years in the past, whose memory now haunts them. Iovara was a member of the same ancient faith as the Watcher and Thaos, before becoming the leader and eventual martyr of a heretical splinter movement.
----
* TheAntiNihilist: She believes kith will be better off knowing the truth -- there is no greater meaning to the universe, and the gods are mere constructs -- than they will being manipulated into a convenient lie. Thaos, Aloth and even the Watcher themselves are all free to point out possible holes in that assumption, though.
* BiTheWay: Regardless of the Watcher's own gender (which is shared with the past life), one possible reason for the past life turning against the Inquisition and joining Iovara is [[ThePowerOfLove love]].
* BigGood: Essentially takes over this role after Lady Webb exits the story, revealing that the Watcher is even ''more'' closely connected to present events than was already apparent.
* DefectorFromDecadence: She was one of the Engwithans' early converts and the one who initiated the Watcher's past self into the faith, before becoming a heretic herself.
* DefiantToTheEnd:
** She was brought before the Grand Inquisitor (Thaos) and brutally tortured for questioning the existence of the gods, and even then, she was not willing to confess. Quite the contrary, she was perfectly willing to hear a confession from Thaos, the man whose calling was covering up the fact.
** And despite your prodding, she refuses to leave the soul prison, spending about a hundred years (or more) in confinement [[DoomedMoralVictor just to prove her point to these so-called gods.]]
* DeaderThanDead: One option will have you suggest that you could disintegrate her soul, causing CessationOfExistence. If she asks why she would allow such a thing, you could convince her that she stays because she seeks affirmation (Perception), that staying is her valuing the life the gods gave her (Rational), or that [[DoomedMoralVictor the ultimate victory against the gods is removal from the prison of their construction (Intellect)]].
* {{Expy}}: Of [[VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment Deionarra]], a ghost standing in deathly halls for all eternity for a punishment that they do not deserve. Bonus points if [[MultipleChoicePast she was the Watcher's former lover.]]
* FateWorseThanDeath:
** [[{{PlayingWithATrope}} A self-inflicted one.]] The Watcher can point out that she can choose to reincarnate again if she states a belief in any god, but she will have none of it. She'd rather stand alone for all eternity.
** Played straight if you choose to reincarnate her to the Wheel with none of her memories regarding the nature of the gods. It phases her so deeply that she literally begs the Watcher not to do it.
* JeanneDArchetype: ZigZagged. On the one hand, she was a charismatic leader who rose from humble origins to lead LaResistance against the encroaching Engwithian missionaries and, later, against the Inquisition, but was betrayed by one of her trusted allies, had defied a KangarooCourt, and was executed for heresy and apostasy in a particularly gruesome manner. On the other hand, where Saint Joan claimed to have been guided by God and was VindicatedByHistory, Iovara defied the gods (in a setting where their existence is undisputed) and was [[UnPerson posthumously erased from all history books]] by her enemies.
* KangarooCourt: With [[HangingJudge Thaos]] presiding over her Inquisition trial, it couldn't have had a different outcome.
* MultipleChoicePast: Depending on the player's choices during flashbacks. Most pivotal, the player gets to define what kind of relationship she had with the Watcher in their past life (though with the restriction that Iovara was someone they both had a close personal relationship to and trusted greatly); namely, she could have been the past Watcher's mentor, friend, LoveInterest (there is even an option to decide whether she reciprocated these feelings or not), or sister.
* MoreHeroThanThou: If the player expresses guilt or remorse for their role in her fate she will flatly refuse the assertion, insisting that she made her own choices and the PC is not to blame.
* MsExposition: She fills in the blanks that Lady Webb failed to filled in before she was StuffedIntoTheFridge; namely who Thaos truly is, and why he acts. [[UnderStatement It can affect your views of the gods quite a bit.]]
* {{Naytheist}}: Iovara's argument is that the gods are artificial, not that they're nonexistent. A religious Watcher may point out that her imprisonment proves the power of the Engwithan deities and thus that her basic argument is fundamentally wrong; to which she retorts that she does not deny the gods' power, but that power alone does not make the gods worthy of worship, nor does it give them any greater claim on truth or the right to dictate how mortals should live their lives.
* PowerOfTrust[=/=]PowerOfLove: Despite you having betrayed her and caused her death at the Inquisition's hand, she has faith in you, even as her soul lingers in Sun in Shadow. Finally, you have the chance to prove her right.
* TheReveal: Gets [[TheEndingChangesEverything the biggest one in the game]], naturally. Knowing the truth alters the context for many decisions you've made throughout the game-- particularly since you arrive at this point having spoken with and perhaps made promises to one or more gods. Even better, this can call into question much of what you've been told in ''The White March''. [[spoiler:Specifically, if the Engwithans made the gods rather than the other way around, then wiping out the Eastern Reach isn't just the gods being petty and superior, but rather it's mortals who brought down the gods' "wrath" upon themselves to wipe out any trace of their own power and knowledge-- to engineer a form of protracted MedievalStasis so that even those with the knowledge to question the gods would be powerless to bring about change, and those in a position to change things could be manipulated through their faith.]]
* RousseauWasRight: Contrary to Thaos's beliefs and undermining the entire purpose of the Inquisition, Iovara came to believe that people must know the truth about the Engwithan gods, so that they could choose for themselves, believing that people would use the freedom of knowing there were no true gods to make the world better.
* SealedGoodInACan: [[spoiler:Her soul has been trapped in her adra prison for thousands of years.]] She can't exactly be released from her can and only a Watcher could even speak to her soul, but she hasn't disappeared into the wheel or been condemned to wander the Burial Isle the way her followers have.
* ScarsAreForever: Her face remains burned even in spirit form, following her torture during her 'trial' at the hands of the Inquisition.
* WalkingSpoiler: Her existence and the revelations she shares with you will turn around many things you may have believed in.
* WrongGenreSavvy: If the player flat-out tells her [[spoiler: they came to her encampment at Thaos's direct command in order to spy on her]], she still accepts them into her confidence, believing she could win them over if given a fair chance to convince them of the merits of her argument. [[spoiler: She pays dearly for it... or does she?]]
[[/folder]]

!!Caed Nua and the Endless Paths

[[folder:The Steward of Caed Nua]]
!!The Steward of Caed Nua
->''"In restoring the keep... my great design... you have restored my purpose. Your name, your soul, is writ upon the very stone. I know Caed Nua will not fall again."''

The caretaker of Caed Nua is an old woman who originally designed the castle. Her final request was for her soul to remain to look after her beloved keep.
----
* CoolChair: Technically, she is one. It must make things awkward when the Watcher sits on her while making official decrees.
* GeniusLoci: She's bound to the keep and can actually feel it and all that's bound to it.
* LastRequest: She was a dying old woman whose final request was that her soul be allowed to stay behind and look after the keep she'd designed to be her final mark upon the world.
* LivingForeverIsAwesome: Her soul is forever bound to Caed Nua, but while the keep has fallen into disrepair, she hasn't given up hope that her keep will one day be the glorious place she envisioned it as. The Watcher can help her achieve her dream. [[spoiler:Unfortunately no matter what the Watcher does, the keep ends up destroyed by the resurrected Eothas.]]
* NumberTwo: She manages the Watcher's keep and obeys their instructions while the Watcher's out adventuring.
* OldRetainer: She intends to serve as this to all of Caed Nua's masters. She handles the upkeep of Caed Nua, hires on protection, and keeps the Watcher updated on important events.
* PsychicLink: She forms one with the Watcher after they become the new master of Caed Nua.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: She's a few centuries old by the time the Watcher meets her.
* SoulJar: Her soul is contained in the marble throne of Caed Nua. Even after Caed Nua's destruction at the beginning of II, she survives via the remains of the throne.
* TragicDream: Her dream was to ensure that Caed Nua, the beloved castle she designed as her last legacy upon the world, was always preserved and brought to its full glory. [[spoiler:Even if the Watcher achieves this and slays the Master Below that endangers it, Eothas ends up reviving himself, destroying the keep and stealing the souls of everyone within.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Old Watcher]]
!!Maerwald
->''"Come to speak to Maerwald...? Maerwald whose touch is poison? Maerwald who knows not his effect?"''

An old Watcher who presides over Caed Nua. He appears to have become a recluse in recent years.
----
* AbandonedWarChild: One of Maerwald's past lives, the Soldier, was fathered by a Glanfathan marauder, the Raider, who raped an Aedyr settler woman. The father was killed by militia afterwards, and the Soldier's mother told him his father was [[MetaphoricallyTrue a soldier who had died before he was born]], not knowing that he was his own father's {{reincarnation}}.
* AndIMustScream: You can deny Maerwald's soul the possibility to pass on after his death by binding him to Caed Nua as a ward against enemies.
* ChildByRape: The Soldier's mother was raped by the Raider, who was then killed and reincarnated ''as'' the Soldier.
* CrypticConversation: An ''Obsidian'' classic. Jittery fragmented sentences, poetic descriptions of abstract concepts, halting repetitions, digressions, and in general, unfiltered stream-of-consciousness dialogue.
* DramaticIrony: One of his past lives [[spoiler:grew up believing that his father was murdered by Glanfathan raiders, due to some deliberate AmbiguousSyntax from his mother. It's also strongly implied that his Glanfathan rapist father's soul passed directly [[ChildByRape into his body]] [[OutWithABang right after conceiving him and dying]]. The son then dedicated his life to avenging his father on the Glanfathan tribe, not knowing they were the tribe of both his biological father and his soul's previous life.]]
* EnemyWithin: The Raider and Soldier, who [[spoiler:drive him mad with guilt and shame over the atrocities they committed in their lives, and the malice they still carry now.]]
* {{Foil}}: For the player character, as you're both Watchers whose souls have Awakened. [[spoiler:His creeping insanity and incipient despair are implied to await you as well if you can't find a cure for your condition.]] [[ArcWords No sleep for the Watcher]] indeed...
* GoneMadFromTheRevelation: An interesting example in that his Watcher abilities didn't start out this way, but over time he became unable to control his sight, to the point where he wasn't just seeing the past, but calling back visions of it everywhere he looked.
-->'''Maerwald:''' A window. Window to the ether, where spirits dwell. Peer and reach into it, speak and listen through it... A Watcher sees souls.
* IHatePastMe[=/=]FutureMeScaresMe: He's haunted by his past lives and unable to be certain of where they begin and he ends. As a Glanfathan marauder, he brutally attacked and murdered Dyrwoodan settlers and [[spoiler:participated in the rape of settler women]]. He was then reborn as a boy who would grow up to become a soldier of the Dyrwood, going on to [[spoiler:burn the villages of his past self's tribe]], and is implied to be [[spoiler:the child of his mother's rape by the same Glanfathan raiders who killed his mother's husband/the man he believes to be his father, possibly even the same rape that his past self was part of]]. It's no wonder the two hate each other so much, and that the guilt has utterly destroyed Maerwald's sense of self.
-->'''Edér:''' That'll stain your soul right down to the bone.
* MadeOfEvil: The Watcher can accuse Maerwald's soul of being this, considering [[spoiler:the Dyrwoodan Soldier committed atrocities on a Glanfathan tribe after his biological father and soul's previous life, the Glanfathan Raider, committed atrocities and raped Dyrwoodan settlers. Note that Maerwald himself seems very kindly and torn with anguish over the evil memories, so it's likely not the case.]]
* MercyKill: The Watcher can say they view killing Maerwald as this, especially if they set his soul free.
* SplitPersonality: Maerwald has lost the ability to sort the memories of his previous lives and his own. He constantly shifts between taking on the personas of either the Raider, the Soldier or himself as you speak to him.
* TalkativeLoon: What being a Watcher and Awakened has reduced him to, and what the Watcher will become if they don't figure out a way to get rid of or learn to control their abilities.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Along with his Watcher powers, Maerwald's soul was also Awakened. Though he could control it at first, he started slipping over the years as he gradually lost the ability to separate his current life from his past ones.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lord Gathbin]]
!!Lord Arledr Gathbin

An aristocrat and a distant relative of the former master of Caed Nua. He challenges the Watcher's legal claim to the keep and is willing to resort to violence when things don't go his way.
----
* ArcVillain: He's the main antagonist of several quests associated with keeping legal control of Caed Nua.
* AristocratsAreEvil: He may be a member of a fallen house, but he's still considered a lord to his old bloodline, and he's willing to stoop to murder and all-out war to get what he wants rather than just pay for it legally.
* CavalryBetrayal: [[spoiler:If you're doing well in the battle against him, and you earlier spared Captain Emery, Gathbin's right-hand woman, or swayed her to your cause, she'll lead her reinforcements ''against Gathbin'' and side with the Watcher instead.]]
* EntitledBastard: Despite all the hardwork and money the Watcher has spent in restoring Caed Nua, Gathbin believes he's entitled to it by birthright. Even when the Duc votes in his favor on the condition that he reimburses the Watcher, Gathbin refuses and tries to take Caed Nua by force instead.
* {{Expy}}: Of the similarly irredeemable Lord Isaea Roenall from the Nalia De'Arnise/Fighter Stronghold quest chains in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'', of which Caed Nua as a whole is a SpiritualSuccessor.
* FalseFlagOperation: He sends soldiers out to rob and kill the Watcher's subjects and frames the Watcher for his deeds to turn their people against them. The Watcher can clear up the misunderstanding for a prestige bonus.
* {{Jerkass}}: He's a sneering asshole who treats everyone with contempt from the word go.
* SmugSnake: He believes he's a much more cunning and dangerous individual than he actually is. With the proper preparations and decisions during the battle against him, you can effectively curb stomp his forces.
* UpperClassTwit: He's arrogant, entitled and openly flaunts completely reasonable laws issued by his lawful superiors because he thinks he's above them.
* TheWarSequence: The in-game Battle of Yenwood Field, which pits Gathbin's mercenary army against the Watcher's assembled forces. Depending on your choices, you can weed out most of his toughest enforcers before cutting him down personally.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Od Nua]]
!!Od Nua
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/RichardEpcar

->''"None of us took such grand titles. The only master of this would be Od Nua. Our King. Our poor, grief-maddened king."''

The mad Engwithan king who constructed the Endless Paths in the region's distant past.
----
* AlasPoorVillain: In spite of all his atrocities, Od Nua is a broken man driven insane with grief who only wants to be reunited with [[spoiler:his beloved son. Convincing him to let go of his past finally brings him some measure of peace, instead of continuing in the hellish limbo between life and death he consigned himself to for centuries.]]
* ArcVillain: Most of the Endless Paths is spent trying to reach the Master Below. [[spoiler:Except it turns out [[SubvertedTrope not to be Od Nua]].]]
* TheCaligula: After [[spoiler:his son's death in battle]], he killed thousands of his own people in rather horrific animancy experiments in his search for some way to [[spoiler:bring Maros back from the dead]]. Eventually his subjects rebelled in a bid to put a stop to his madness.
* DueToTheDead: The gigantic statue of living adra that exists in the Endless Paths is [[spoiler:a monument carved in the likeness of Od Nua's dead son. It was also meant to be the vessel used to house Maros' soul upon his resurrection.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Subverted, dovetailing neatly into LoveMakesYouEvil, as Od Nua was formerly TheGoodKing. [[spoiler:His beloved son Maros died on a battlefield, trying to make his father proud by proving himself a warrior.]] The effects of the loss on Od Nua were rather ugly, to say the least.
* {{Golem}}: It's not a huge leap to assume that that giant adra statue was meant to serve as an enormous animantic vessel. [[spoiler:What might come as a surprise is that Od Nua never intended to use it himself, but rather to contain the soul of his son upon his resurrection.]]
* TheGoodKing: What he was to begin with, being seen by his subjects as a both gentle and wise leader. The loss of [[spoiler:his son]] drove him mad with grief, causing him to turn into TheCaligula.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: He massacred thousands of his subjects in a mad attempt to find a way to recover [[spoiler:the soul of Maros.]]
* MistakenIdentity: You might think that enormous statue is meant to be Od Nua, but it isn't. [[spoiler:It's his son, Maros, whose sad story you learn as you delve deeper and deeper into the Endless Paths, The much bigger [[TheReveal reveal]], however, is that Od Nua is not (and never was) the Master Below.]]
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The reign of Od Nua is long forgotten beyond the castle that still bears his name, and you won't find mention of his full name until you venture further into the Endless Paths. Od Nua, however, does not claim the title of "the Master Below" for himself. [[spoiler:And he never did, and when others use that title, [[SubvertedTrope it's not him they're referring to]]. When you finally reach Od Nua, it turns out "the Master Below" ''always'' referred to someone else, but the lore of the Endless Paths is pieced out to the player in such a way that most players would automatically assume that Od Nua and the Master Below were [[TheLawOfConservationOfDetail one and the same]].]]
* {{Necromantic}}: Following the death of [[spoiler:his son]], Od Nua went mad with grief and sacrificed countless innocents to try to find a way to bring [[spoiler:Maros]] back from the dead.
-->'''Od Nua:''' I would have slaughtered the world, to have [[spoiler:him]] returned to me. They ought to have been honored, to sacrifice their lives for [[spoiler:his]] resurrection.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Od Nua had a son who died in battle. [[spoiler:Who is, in fact, the entire reason Od Nua constructed the Endless Paths, to bring him back.]]
* RedHerring: For most of the Endless Paths, it seems like [[spoiler:Od Nua is the infamous Master Below]], only for the penultimate level of the dungeon to reveal [[spoiler:they're two separate characters.]]
* TheReveal: When you finally reach him on the [[spoiler:next to]] last level of the Endless Paths, it turns out that [[spoiler:he is ''not'' the Master Below. The real Master Below turns out to be [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere an adra dragon]] -- a dragon covered in living adra crystals which has been leeching off the souls trapped in the giant statue that spans the entire height of the Endless Paths.]]
* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: The Watcher can convince [[spoiler:Od Nua's restless spirit to accept what happened and return to the Wheel in peace.]]
* ToppledStatue: The huge adra statue Od Nua spent much of his life constructing is actually pretty much whole in its entirety, but it's also buried in the ground up to the bottoms of its upstretched fingers.
* WalkingSpoiler: The history of Caed Nua turns out to be a rather tragic one. Most of the Endless Paths is spent gradually piecing together a vague idea of exactly who the Master Below is, and what this vast complex is doing here. [[spoiler:The two turn out to be largely unrelated, except by happenstance. The Master Below finds the Endless Paths' reservoir of soul energy useful, but has no connection to the downfall of Od Nua, having only come upon the dungeon thousands of years later.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spoiler Character]]
!!The Master Below

The mysterious entity directing the monster attacks from the depths of the Endless Paths of Caed Nua.
----
* ArcVillain: Most of the Endless Paths is spent trying to reach the Master Below. She turns out to be the driving force behind the monster attacks rising up from the depths of the BonusDungeon, but she and the monsters who serve her ultimately turn out to largely unrelated to the dungeon which they've moved into in the long ages since its builders died off.
* BlessedWithSuck: The Master Below gained functional immortality and power, but at a high cost. Feeding on the adra titan's stored souls has extended her life, but it's also causing adra crystals to grow on her since dragons take on traits from their environment. The adra weighs her down so much that she can't fly anymore. She's trapped at the bottom of Caed Nua nibbling on a statue's toes to keep herself alive. And the statue's reservoir of souls is almost empty.
* BonusBoss: Easily the toughest enemy in the game, found at the bottom of the optional bonus dungeon.
* DealWithTheDevil: Instead of fighting the Master Below, you can facilitate her {{Body Surf}}ing out of the dungeon in return for a promise to stop the attacks on Caed Nua. That said, if you let her possess Falanroed, she does keep her promise to stop the attacks and even tells you where Thaos is. This particular ending even goes as far to show that she peacefully leaves the country.
* FlunkyBoss: If you fight the Master Below, you'll simultaneously have to fend off several of the dungeon's favorite DemonicSpiders.
* GeniusBruiser: Has developed two distinct means of degeneration-free immortality, and has long-range mind control and mental intrusion based scrying abilities. This makes her the most knowledgeable animancer this side of Thaos. She just also happens to be an exceedingly powerful dragon.
* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: She's a huge dragon plated in exotic-looking crystalline spikes of adra, who serves to cap off the Endless Paths with an impressive physical confrontation after the dungeon's emotional arc has been dispensed with.
* GrandTheftMe: If you don't kill her, you can help her successfully steal the body of a dragon hunter named Falanroed so she can finally leave the Endless Paths.
* KarmaHoudini: Despite her constant attacks on Caed Nua and feeding on a steady diet of souls, you can help her possess a person who's done you no wrong and let her travel the world facing zero repercussions for her actions.
* LesserOfTwoEvils: You essentially have two options for dealing with her: take the amulet she gives you and find a strong person for her to possess, or kill her, either as a mercy or if you earn her ire by revealing her plan to Falanroed.
* SamusIsAGirl: The Master Below is a female adra dragon.
* ShaggyDogStory: Par for the course in this game. Od Nua never managed to revive his son, meaning his subjects all died for nothing, and he's not actually the Master Below but has instead been lingering on the spot of his tragic fall from grace for thousands of years -- and then, for bonus anticlimax points, you can let the Master Below go on her merry way without even fighting her. Mission complete, BonusDungeon over.
* SheIsTheKing: She's the ''Master'' Below.
* StrangerBehindTheMask: If you follow the hints scattered across the Endless Paths, you may be forgiven for thinking that the Master Below is Od Nua himself -- an ancient Engwithan animancer king who originally built the Endless Paths as part of a grand experiment to cheat death. However, you actually meet Od Nua's spirit at the second to last level, and the Master Below, a giant Adra Dragon only tangentially connected to the dungeon's origin, resides on the very lowest one.
* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: You don't have to fight the Master Below if you're willing to help her commandeer the body of the dragon hunter Falanroed. Falanroed will still put up a fight herself, but not quite on the same level as the adra dragon.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Her massive size means any reasonably high-level wizard can [[spoiler:utterly cripple her by bisecting her with the otherwise unremarkable Wall of Force spell.]]
[[/folder]]

!!The White March

[[folder:Renengild]]
!!Renengild
->''"Stalwart isn't much more than a grease stain on a map. What roads we've got in the White March are basically tracks in the snow, and for every trader or adventurer that comes through, three of our own leave for good."''

The mayor of Stalwart. Word of the retaking of Caed Nua having reached as far north as the White March, she sends a missive to the keep, asking for the Watcher's aid.
----
* {{Cincinnatus}}: She steps down pretty much as soon as she can after Durgan's Battery is reopened, as trade starts flowing back to the town.
* DyingTown: Her hometown of Stalwart is a shadow of what it once was, and Durgan's Battery is quite literally haunted. Renengild is old enough to remember better days, however, and is seeking to reopen the way to the Battery and its storied riches in order to keep the place alive.
-->'''Uldric:''' Mother's convinced that a magic forge will turn this frozen crack into a hub of civilization. She can't accept this place is dying.
* HomeSweetHome: Her career as a builder took her all over Eir Glanfath, but somehow she always returned home to Stalwart.
* MyBelovedSmother: Uldric contradicts his mother at very turn, but she can still shut him up with a single look. Not all of his ideas are actually bad, though, even if he does want to pull up stakes and leave Stalwart to its fate.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The reasonableness came before the authority, the latter of which she never sought in the first place. The reason she took the job was because she saw the town was in trouble, and there was no one better to take the seat. The only reason she's still in charge at the point when the Watcher arrives on the scene is to finish what she started, and see the town saved if she can.
* ReluctantRuler: She never intended to become the mayor of Stalwart, but pretty much inherited the position because no one else wanted it after the town nearly lynched the old mayor, Cyneheod. Renengild was the one who stepped in to stop them. By the time of ''Part II'', she has retired from the position, having handed the reigns over to Tarfos, the former foreman of the local mine. The town turns out to be completely right about no one else being a sufficient replacement for Renengild, but by that point there isn't anything Tarfos can do to screw things up too badly.
* ShamingTheMob: Doing this was how she took over the old mayor's job. Said old mayor was on the verge of being lynched, after having allowed the animancer Galvino to go through with the experiment that gave life to the construct (and potential party member) the Devil of Caroc. Renengild brought the people back to their senses, and made them think she'd make a pretty good mayor, much to her chagrin.
* YeGoodeOldeDays:
-->'''Renengild:''' There was a time when kinds and queens sent their firstborn to these mountains. When the White March was the envy of empires.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Galvino]]
!!Galvino
->''"She's a fine specimen, her... personality notwithstanding."''

An eccentric Vailian animancer, and the creator of the Devil of Caroc.
----
* ForScience: Like most animancers, he believes the potential benefits of his research outweigh the often horrific missteps along the way.
* ForeignCussWord: He sure calls the citizens of Stalwart "postenagos" a lot.
* GadgeteerGenius: A brilliant engineer, the Devil of Caroc's elaborate chassis is all his work, not to mention having actually succeed in transfering of a still-living soul into an artificial, animate body, with none of the loss of memory or sanity that usually followed such attempts, a feat which no other [[spoiler:modern]] animancer has managed... including Galvino himself, after decades of his previous research were destroyed by the angry mob that chased him out of Stalwart.
* GoodHairEvilHair: Superficially looks like the part of a stereotypical MadScientist, but in spite of his workshop-rumpled appearance and living alone underground in the remote wilderness of the frozen north, he still finds the time to trim his beard and wax his mustache. He turns out to be quite friendly to the player, but his lab is full of flesh golems run amok, and his creation turns out to be the party's TokenEvilTeammate, so the ambiguity is fitting.
* GratuitousForeignLanguage: Like Pallegina, he peppers his speech with [[PoirotSpeak his native Vailian]], particularly for [[ForeignCussWord expletives]].
* TheHermit: Not entirely by choice, but his only company for over ten years has been the Devil of Caroc, who was a convicted murderer even before he turned her into a mechanical abomination. He can't help taking pride in his work, but they're not exactly on friendly terms.
* HighClassGlass: Wears a monocle and is a cultured Vailian scholar.
* MadScientist: Although he seems relatively even-tempered for someone who's spent decades trying to transfer the consciousness of living convicts and madmen into artificial bodies.
* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: All his original research was destroyed when he was forced to flee a lynch mob in Stalwart.
* TheyCalledMeMad: Like most animancers, there's probably a reason why he crossed the sea and sought out a relatively remote area for his work. Subverted somewhat in that he had a cushy, prestigious position lined up if he ever managed to succeed in his life's work, although even then, his fellow animancers didn't really believe he was as close to unlocking the secret of a successful soul transfer as he was, and he sought out a secluded location to work on the cheap. This backfired heavily, when the people of Stalwart took exception to his creation of the Devil of Caroc and ran him out of town, destroying his lab and setting his work back decades.
* TorchesAndPitchforks: Run out of Stalwart by a lynch mob after they discovered he was using animancy to transfer a living soul into a mechanical construct.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Adaryc]]
!!Adaryc Cendamyr

The commander of the Readceran army known as the Iron Flail, and a Watcher himself.
----
* AFatherToHisMen: He is deeply dedicated to the well-being of his soldiers and they in turn hold him in high regard for it. This also means that should the player manage to rank up too high a body count on their way through his camp, rather than trying a more stealthy approach, he will be less inclined to be susceptible to or even outright reject peaceful negotiation during the confrontation with him.
* BerserkButton: Insult Eothas or call him mad -- it doesn't take much from someone fighting on the side of the hated Dyrwoodans. Or you could start talking about omens and monsters out of legend in front of him and his army of superstitious Readcerans [[spoiler:which is what the Ondrite mole in Stalwart's original party of representatives did, in order to deliberately botch the negotiations.]]
* TheFundamentalist: As a Readceran, he's a devout, even fanatical worshipper of Eothas.
* GondorCallsForAid: Potentially in two instances. Should the Watcher be manage to resolve the "The Iron Flail" quest peacefully, he becomes an ally of the Watcher, offering artillery support during the Watcher's approach to the Lair of the Eyeless, and lending out a detachment of some of his best archers to help out the Watcher's side in the Battle of Yenwood Field.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: He rather dislikes his Watcher powers, considering them more of a curse than a blessing.
* MadOracle: He has the same powers as you do, having received the same vision of an invading army, and he's... decidedly intense. Just [[BerserkButton don't say as much to his face]].
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Like the Watcher, he only wishes to stop the army he saw in his vision from wrecking destruction on Readceras. Once he realizes that you and him are working towards a similar goal and are both Watchers, he can be convinced with logical arguments that the Dyrwood cannot possibly be the people behind the army in his vision, making him willing to cease the hostilities with Stalwart and work with you.
* ThereIsAnother: It turns out that he's also a Watcher.
* YoungAndInCharge: He is noted for being quite young for an army commander.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Durgan's Battery]]
!!Durgan's Battery
->''"The Pargrun dwarves guarded it like a mother bear. It's a wonder we know as much as we do."''

Centuries ago, Durgan steel was once renowned throughout the world, before a series of setbacks and wars with a neighboring ogre tribe drove the last remaining dwarves out of the region. Their greatest stronghold, Durgan's battery, has remained sealed and empty for over a hundred years.
----
* AbandonedMine: They're all long dead, and the mine is a haunted ruin.
* ApocalypticLog: The ghostly miners (and soldiers and clerks) give a rendition of this, speaking of their final days with the Watcher, or acting out the last moments of their lives without being aware of your presence. [[spoiler:They were overrun in a matter of days by the Eyeless, who in turn had come to safeguard the secret of the White Forge by [[LeaveNoWitnesses killing every living soul in Durgan's Battery]].]]
* DugTooDeep: Their mining operation in the Battery ultimately got them all killed. [[spoiler:Rather than releasing a demon from within the mine itself, however, their discovery of the tunnels' greatest treasure, the White Forge, awakened the Eyeless, who attacked the mine from the ''outside''. Which is why the mine is sealed, and all the damage to their defenses actually points inward.]]
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: {{Parodied}}. While the whole Durgan's Battery interlude is a clear ShoutOut to [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings the Mines of Moria]], Eora's Pargrun dwarves are surfacers, known for their wanderlust. It's specifically called out as unusual for them to have settled down in an underground mine.
* TheSiege: One which did not go well for the dwarves of the Battery. You can find their bodies still lying where they fell when they made their doomed LastStand.
* UltimateBlacksmith: Their steel was the finest the world has ever seen, and even using the exact same techniques, March steel, while still very fine, simply cannot compare. [[spoiler:It certainly helps that they had access to Abydon's own tools, in the form of the divinely crafted foundry of the White Forge, its smelting vat flowing with both steel and adra.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spoiler Character]]
!!The Eyeless
->''"Some things that are forgotten must never be remembered."''

Grotesque giants said to serve Ondra, stalking the dark places of the world, removing those things and kith the goddess would see "forgotten."
----
* ArcVillain: Ultimately revealed to be this for ''The White March'', at the end of ''Part I''.
* {{Bogeyman}}: Used as this by Eoran parents with children who won't do their chores, but the Eyeless turn out to be all too real.
* DeathOfPersonality: One of Ondra's favored punishments, which she tends to argue is [[BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood a blessing]] in its own right. [[spoiler:The Eyeless turn out to have souls and minds of their own, despite her attempts to use wield as a blunt instrument in the wake of their original creator's passing.]]
* EliteMooks: Despite being the main threat in ''The White March'', they're mostly unthinking constructs who act as Ondra's strong arm on the rare occasions she needs one. [[spoiler:They were originally the servants of Abydon, and Ondra's control over them is uncertain at best.]]
* {{Golem}}: Appear to be a crude version of this, as giant, rough-hewn humanoid figures, with limbs shaped into crude tools or weapons. [[spoiler:They're actually extremely powerful, sophisticated constructs created to do the bidding of Abydon before the death of his corporeal form.]]
* LeaveNoWitnesses: Their MO is to kill every living soul who remembers the thing Ondra wants forgotten... even should the goddess herself change her mind.
* MultipleEndings: Only to be expected, since ''The White March'' gets its own additions to the ending reel. [[spoiler:If you leave ''Part II'' undone, they spread out across Readceras and the Dyrwood, killing everyone who's ever heard of the White Forge. Which, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero thanks to your actions]] in ''Part I'', can end up being most of the population of both countries.]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: No way you could have known at the time, but reopening Durgan's Battery ends up calling the Eyeless down on the whole of the Dyrwood and beyond.
* TheReveal: The existence of the Eyeless themselves is a major one for ''The White March, Part I''. After that, the situation becomes considerably more complicated. [[spoiler:It then turns out that they're servants of Abydon, whose earthly avatar was killed, like Eothas and Woedica before him, by another god's plot -- in this case, all the gods uniting to destroy ancient Engwith and all [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow the secrets the gods had once shared with them]]. Ondra herself led the charge, and the myths about her being in love with the moon are a romantic [[SadlyMythtaken but inaccurate]] retelling of her feud with Abydon -- who was her [[StarcrossedLovers her lover]], and the only god who stood against the others to attempt to protect the Engwithans. He made his last stand above the White Forge, his greatest gift to mortals, where he manifested his [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever a truly colossal avatar]] and [[TakingTheBullet took the bullet]] for the White Forge when Ondra dropped Eora's long-lost third moon on him, sinking the whole Eastern Reach and killing Abydon's corporeal body. The Eyeless are now a painful reminder of the whole messy affair for Ondra.]] In the finale, you're faced with a choice: [[spoiler:allowing the Eyeless to reforge the original Abydon, with all his memories intact, preventing them altogether, or, [[GuideDangIt having made certain choices beforehand]], counseling them to remake a "tempered" version of Abydon, with only a portion of his old memories and personality restored, to keep the same conflict from playing out all over again.]] This reveal, like most others in the game, is also affected by what you learn from [[spoiler:Iovara]] during the endgame.
* SorcerersApprenticePlot: Once set upon a task, they cannot be called off. [[spoiler:This is because they were originally the servants of Abydon, not Ondra. Ondra gave them the order to kill anyone who discovered the existence of the White Forge, only to discover that she could not actually override their previous orders to ''protect'' the White Forge. This ultimately spirals out of control when the villagers of Stalwart reopen the Forge, and announce the trade of Durgan Steel from its foundry. If the Watcher can't stop them, the Eyeless spread out from the White March, across the Dyrwood and Readceras and possibly beyond, killing everyone they find to ensure the White Forge is forgotten again. The quest to stop them is actually given to you by Ondra herself.]]
* SealedArmyInACan: There are actually [[spoiler:''thousands'']] of them, sleeping underground at [[spoiler:Cayron's Scar.]]
* SealedEvilInACan: When not called to serve, they remain dormant underground [[spoiler:at the site of the impact crater from the largest piece of [[ColonyDrop Eora's long-lost third moon]]. Ondra actually gave them their marching orders years ago, without understanding that they would go on following that order forever -- they would erase the knowledge she desired, but ironically, the goddess of forgetfulness could not make her own servants forget. Given that they were originally created by Abydon, the god of preservation, this conflict is decidedly fitting.]] In ''Part II'', it's further revealed that [[spoiler:Abydon's pre-golem self is this, at least in the view of the other gods, since he was the only god who stood against the others when they brought about the ruin of ancient Engwith. He did so, however, to preserve the arcane technologies he and the other gods had worked with the Engwithans to create.]]
* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: When Ondra sends forth the Eyeless, it's to keep forbidden knowledge out of the hands of kith. It's the awareness of such knowledge, along with the mad cultists, meteor craters, and eerie appearance of the Eyeless themselves that gives ''The White March, Part II'' its Lovecraftian edge [[spoiler:before it's revealed that the Eyeless are creations of Abydon, and it was the gods who destroyed the Engwithans, to wipe out knowledge that the gods themselves had shared with Engwith, believing that TheWorldIsNotReady.]]
* VaguenessIsComing: The Watcher and Adaryc both receive ominous visions of a coming threat, drawing them both to the White March. This threat turns out to be the Eyeless, the visions seemingly sent by [[spoiler:the dormant souls of the Eyeless themselves.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: Their mere presence is a major spoiler, as it dramatically changes the tone of the expansion from a fairly straight ''Icewind Dale'' homage to something considerably more eldritch. [[spoiler:The Eyeless themselves end up being relatively secondary as well, as it turns out that their continuing existence is a painful reminder to Ondra of the distant past when the gods were forced to kill Abydon when he stood in the way of their destruction of the Engwithans, restoring him in golem form with much of his old self wiped away. It's this ancient conflict between the two gods which ends up forming the heart of ''Part II'', with the Eyeless are mostly just a convenient target for you to punch.]]
[[/folder]]

!!Other Characters

[[folder:Lord Raedric]]
!!Lord Raedric VII
-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/RichardEpcar

->''"A just sentence."''

The Thayn of Gilded Vale. The Watcher came to the Dyrwood after Raedric made an offer of free land to anyone willing to settle in the village. Unfortunately, Raedric turns out to be a tyrant who hangs anyone he deems a threat to Gilded Vale.
----
* ArcVillain: He's the major antagonist for the Gilded Vale portion of the game.
* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler:What exactly caused his resurrection as a Death Guard. Raedric himself believes that it was his devotion to Berath that triggered it.]]
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: He's very strong and he's the Thayn of Gilded Vale.
* BlackKnight: He takes on this look after [[spoiler: resurrecting as a Death Guard, an undead knight, and Berath's champion.]]
* BonusBoss: Dealing with him isn't actually necessary to complete the game. Good thing too, since [[spoiler:both times you can fight him]] he's quite difficult.
* CainAndAbel: Raedric, dedicated to his principles to the point of fanaticism and scapegoating Eothas and his worshipers [[spoiler:only for it to turn out that he actually had almost the right idea, but the wrong god]]; and his cousin Kolsc, a [[{{Realpolitik}} political realist]] [[AtLeastIAdmitIt who openly admits to]] being in it for [[AmbitionIsEvil his own ambitions]]. [[spoiler:Turns out not to matter very much, since even if you kill Raedric and put Kolsc on the throne, Raedric returns from the dead [[ShaggyDogStory and kills everyone in Raedric's Hold]].]]
* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler:Any humanity he had to begin with was stripped away after his resurrection. If not dealt with, he ends up razing Gilded Vale and massacring everyone within.]]
* TheChampion: For [[spoiler:Berath, who goes so far as to supposedly resurrect him despite the god's hatred of the undead.]]
* DoubleStandard: He blames and punishes mothers for the "crime" of giving birth to hollowborn children, but not the fathers for contributing to the children's creation. [[spoiler:Hence why he kills his own bride for giving him a hollowborn son, but doesn't so much as blame himself.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Raedric loves his wife. [[spoiler:But it's not enough to stop him from killing her once he finds out she worships Eothas after she gave birth to a Hollowborn. When the Watcher encounters him afterwards, Raedric is visibly shaken by what he's done.]]
* FakeUltimateHero: If you kill Kolsc for him, [[spoiler:Gilded Vale's ending reveals that his harsh measures are credited for ending of the Legacy.]]
* FlunkyBoss: Raedric's backup [[spoiler:in both fights]] is what makes him extremely challenging. [[spoiler:The second fight is particularly bad since he's supported by a group of fampyrs who spam Charm.]] Though he's not exactly a pushover by himself either.
* ForGreatJustice: A twisted, KnightTemplar take on this. He speaks constantly of justice and duty, and even wields a greatsword sword named Justice. He also believes Waidwen's Legacy is Berath's justice against the followers of Eothas.
* TheFundamentalist: He's a devout worshiper of Berath. [[spoiler:He's so devout that Berath allegedly resurrects Raedric, despite Berath's hatred for the undead. However, Raedric was also known to be patron to animancers, who can create undead, sometimes without the target knowing it until they wake up after their "death".]]
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:If you kill Kolsc, then when Waidwen's Legacy ends, Raedric ends his harsh treatment of Gilded Vale and the village finally starts to prosper under his rule.]]
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: His stance on his incredibly harsh measures to end the Hollowborn Legacy [[spoiler:and his murder of his own bride]]. Whether the Watcher agrees with him or not is up for the player to decide.
* InfantImmortality: Averted, since he doesn't see the Hollowborn as truly alive. [[spoiler:That goes for his own Hollowborn newborn son when you assault Raedric Hold.]]
* IronicName: His greatsword named "Justice" was wielded by a mad paladin who used it to murder countless people in a fit of paranoia and zealotry. It only lived up to its name after the paladin's own men impaled him with it to end the killing. Its new owner is also committing his own slaughter of innocents.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: [[spoiler:If neither Raedric nor Kolsc are killed, Raedric winds up hanging the entirety of Gilded Vale in a fit of paranoia. If Raedric is killed, he returns as an undead and wipes out the village that he claimed to be protecting unless the Watcher puts him down again.]]
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Despite his horrible acts, you can leave him in charge of Gilded Vale and even murder his cousin, Kolsc, who happened to be the biggest threat to his rule. Once Waiden's Legacy ends, he's even revered as a hero by his people. Should the Watcher kill him once then not slay him after his resurrection, Raedric will end up slaughtering everyone in Gilded Vale then return to his fortress to keep eternal watch over his barren domain.]]
* KillTheOnesYouLove: [[spoiler:Even though he loved his wife, he still killed her for giving birth to Hollowborn child and being a secret worshipper of Eothas.]]
* KnightTemplar: Raedric has devoted himself to ending Waidwen's Legacy. He tries to do this by exiling any woman who gives birth to a Hollowborn child, hanging all Eothas worshippers, hanging anyone working with Kolsc, hanging anyone who ''might'' be working with Kolsc, and so on.
* NoWomansLand: What Dyrwood essentially becomes under his rule. Since Raedric blames mothers for the birth of hollowborn children, any woman found to have given birth to a hollowborn child is executed or exiled (which is as good as a death sentence given the number of bandits, monsters, and wichts on the road...). Naturally, this leaves most prospective mothers so racked with stress they turn to desperate measures to avoid this fate, the already dwindling population is on the verge of collapse (hence the call for settlers), and panic-induced crimes are all but common.
* ThePaladin: In gameplay terms, his class is a Paladin, which explains his combat prowess -- but also his stubbornness in following the path he has once set upon, no matter the cost.
* ShaggyDogStory: Once again.
** Waidwen's Legacy is [[spoiler:the result of a plot by the Leaden Key, relying on the use of the ancient Engwithan machines that dot the Dyrwood.]] Raedric's efforts to "cure" the Legacy by purging worshippers of Eothas end up being completely pointless. [[spoiler:Regardless of your decisions, however, he never realizes this. If you side with him, neither do his (surviving) subjects, who end up believing that he was right all along.]]
** If, on the other hand, you [[spoiler:kill Raedric and allow his cousin Kolsc to take over, Raedric comes BackFromTheDead as a deathguard in the service (or so he believes) of Berath, killing everyone in the keep, including Kolsc. If you don't kill him a second time, he becomes a worse scourge on Gilded Vale than he ever was in life; if you kill him, the town becomes a rough-and-tumble haven of lawlessness, in keeping with the game's tendency to shrug aside easy happy endings.]]
* StarterVillain: He's the first notable antagonist the Watcher can potentially deal with in the game.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: He's honestly trying to end Waidwen's Legacy, but his methods are downright tyrannical and are only making things worse for Gilded Vale. [[spoiler:If the player sides with him against Kolsc, then when Waidwen's Legacy ends, he calms down and becomes a capable, benevolent ruler]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Duc Aevar]]
!!Duc Aevar Wolf-Grin

The ruler of Defiance Bay. Formerly a trapper, he's a well-liked man of the people.
----
* JustTheFirstCitizen: Inverted. Despite the noble title, Defiance Bay's ducs are elected to the position.
* MinorMajorCharacter: He's the ruler of Defiance Bay and he's in-charge of the hearings regarding animancy in the region. Despite his importance to the setting and how often he's mentioned, he only gets one scene [[spoiler:before being assassinated by Thaos.]]
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Downplayed. Said by Lady Webb to portray himself as something of a bumpkin, but she also recognizes him as a skilled politician who's proven exceptionally adept at making friends and choosing his allies.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Needs to be, as he's sitting square in the middle of the Dozens, the Crucible Knights, and House Doemenel. Nowhere is this more apparent than during the animancy hearings, where he spends all of Act II listening to testimony behind closed doors at the Ducal Palace, [[spoiler:only to be instantly [[WeHardlyKnewYe assassinated]] by an Thaos-possessed animancer just after you deliver your own findings regarding the Leaden Key.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Concelhaut]]
!!Concelhaut

->''"Spells are fueled by ambient essence in the ether. A miserly trickle of energy that leaks from the Wheel. But imagine what could be done with a more powerful source of essence. A Watcher's soul, for instance."''

One of the great archmages of Eora, the enigmatic Concelhaut rules over the castle Crägholdt.
----
* TheArchmage: Well, one amongst quite a handful of obscenely powerful magical scholars who lays claim to the title. Needless to say, he holds all of the others in contempt and view them as rivals, and it is evident that they are not too fond of him either. In a bit of a twist for the genre, Concelhaut is one of the wizards who lends his name to a number of the spells wizards can inscribe into their grimoires, which helps add to the sense that magic is an advancing, modern science in Eora.
* BonusBoss: One of the most powerful archmages in Eora and the game's only lich, with sinister designs on the Watcher's soul. Completely optional.
* DarkIsEvil: He's a lich, and looks suitably skeletal. Among the spells he's invented: Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon, Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Concelhaut's Crushing Doom]]...
* FlunkyBoss: Surrounds himself with minions based on his apprentices' research.
* FlyingFace: His minions and sentries, called Void Seers, are flaming, floating skulls. After you defeat him, all that's left is his phylactery, his own floating skull, inlaid with ruins and a peg of adra, which the Watcher can put in their [[PetMonstrosity pet slot]]. Unlike most pets, Concelhaut's Skull actually does something, summoning the spirit of Concelhaut to attack the Watcher's enemies for 20 seconds, at the cost of 40 Raw damage to the Watcher.
* ImmortalitySeeker: He has a keen interest in the subject of warding off mortality.
* {{Lich}}: He's among the few people in Eora to have ever cracked the code of becoming one.
* LifeDrain: Many of the spells he pioneered do this, much as you'd expect from a lich. He also seeks to drain the Watcher's essence, believing it will give him power over time itself.
* ManipulativeBastard: Based on his notes, it seems he deliberately pits his apprentices against each other, and it's implied by the long list of crossed-out names in his sanctum that he's planning to steal their research and kill them.
* NotQuiteDead: If the Watcher slays him, it is implied that, true to his interest in immortality and undeath, he might have found a way to hold off dying completely. In any circumstance, should his apprentice Uariki still be alive, she will express clear doubt that he is actually most sincerely dead and nervously state out loud that she definitely had nothing to do with his death, and there is the fact that, though mute, his skull is still animated, is able to float by its own power, and can summon his ghost to fight for you... at a cost of 40 hit points gradually drained from the Watcher over its duration.
* TimeMaster: What he aspires to be. He believes killing the Watcher and taking their soul could him help achieve this.
[[/folder]]

!!The Leaden Key

[[folder: Thaos]]
!!Thaos ix Arkannon
[[quoteright:210:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4387fd31891a510effa4041b210aabfc.png]]
-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/ToddHaberkorn

-->''"There is no greater calling than the one we have chosen. Neither words, nor wealth, nor battle will end this suffering. Only the gods. Will you give them that chance?"''

A mysterious man seen performing a ritual in Cilant Lîs, causing the Watcher to Awaken. Little is known of him, except that he and the Watcher are connected somehow. He turns out to be the grandmaster of the Leaden Key, and the high priest of Woedica. Holds a great secret, carried to the present day by a lesser secret of Thaos himself.
----
* AffablyEvil: Hardly ever raises his voice and is nothing but polite, in a condescending cult leader kind of way. In the flashbacks to the Watcher's past during his time as Thaos' Inquisitor, Thaos acts like a grandfatherly mentor towards the Watcher even as he orders him to carry out atrocities. [[spoiler:He even let the Watcher live in that past life, despite the Watcher expressing doubts about the gods' existence.]]
* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:After his death]], the Watcher experiences the exact moment of [[spoiler:the gods' creation from Thaos' point of view]], and how thousands of Thaos' people willingly sacrificed their lives to make it happen, leaving Thaos with the burden of making sure their sacrifice wasn't in vain, and their secret was never uncovered. The Watcher can express sympathy for him, or take advantage of [[spoiler:his weakened soul]] to make him suffer.
* AncientConspiracy: Leads the Leaden Key, a secret cult that is largely regarded as a small group of thugs.[[spoiler: In actuality, it is a secret society dedicated to worshipping Woedica and collecting and jealously guarding secrets. Only Thaos knows that it's real purpose is to guard the secret that the gods are artificial.]]
** [[spoiler: He has also been using his GrandTheftMe powers to discredit and vilify animancy in order to keep that secret.]]
* AndIMustScream: The fate he once pronounced on his enemies. [[spoiler:The Watcher can [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard permanently banish his soul to Breith Eaman]] as punishment for his crimes.]]
* BadassBeard: The Watcher can comment on the glory of his magnificent beard.
* BigBad: He is the most [[TheHeavy direct and visible threat]] to the Watcher and the FinalBoss of the game.
* BigBadDuumvirate: Thaos and [[spoiler:Woedica]] are working together to [[spoiler:bring about Waidwen's Legacy]], but each for their own ends. [[spoiler:Woedica helps him because the souls he's harvesting, he plans on using to empower her so she can resume her position as Queen of the Gods. Thaos is helping her because her dedication to upholding oaths and lack of scruples make her a perfect benefactor for his goal of eternally preserving the secret of the gods' existence.]]
* BornAgainImmortality: A major part of his overarching scheme. [[spoiler:Which already long since succeeded in attaining. He's always reborn as a human, always has the same appearance across incarnations, and he receives a complete memory of his past lives every time he reaches adolescence. It's [[WhoWantsToLiveForever more of a burden]] than a blessing.]]
* BodySurf: His knowledge of animancy allows him to readily jump from body to body, wreaking havoc with the minds of those he possesses and deliberately inciting chaos in his wake -- [[{{Foreshadowing}} in a manner not dissimilar to how Iselmyr picks a fight on Aloth's behalf in Gilded Vale early in the game.]]
* BreakThemByTalking: Very, very good at this, something he shares in common with [[spoiler:Iovara]]... and possibly you, the Watcher. Notably you cannot [[spoiler:[[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath talk him out of his chosen course of action]] during the endgame, but he can and will take your companions ''apart'' verbally. Depending on how you've treated them over the course of the game, they may or may not be able to defend or counter his assessment of their characters.]]
* TheChessmaster: Much like Lady Webb, Thaos has been playing an exceptionally long game. [[spoiler:And he's got a head start on her of more than a thousand years.]]
* ColdBloodedTorture: The [[spoiler:Engwithan Inquisition]] put its enemies to the rack and mutilated them until they confessed.
* DeaderThanDead: Lady Webb notes that the greatest problem in dealing with Thaos is his remarkable ability to avoid death's clutches. [[spoiler:One way of dealing with him in the endgame involves destroying his soul. The Watcher can either view it as a MercyKill that relieves him of the burdens of his past, or just punishment for a lifetime of causing pain.]]
* DragonWithAnAgenda: He's this to Woedica. [[spoiler:Or so it seems. Technically, as a goddess, Woedica is more powerful than him and he seeks to empower her with all the souls he's stolen, but he's working for her because she's the best way he has to guard his ancient secret, and as a creation of his people, she owes him at least as much as he does her.]]
* EnemyEatsYourLunch: Averted. Thaos does not [[spoiler:take the bottle of brandy Lady Webb was planning to share with you. He doesn't break the bottle out of spite, either, or even take so much as a sniff, carefully replacing it when Lady Webb mentions this.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Implied with [[spoiler:Lady Webb, with whom he was once in a relationship]]. Not only did he let her live [[spoiler:for decades, despite her constant investigation into the Leaden Key's activities, but when the time came for her to die he came to do the deed himself, seemingly as a sign of respect.]]
* EvilLuddite: Of a sort. He's working to undermine the study of animancy in the Dyrwood, even though he's [[{{Hypocrite}} an animancer himself]]. [[spoiler:His plan to frame the animancers for the Duc's assassination is meant to discredit the whole animancy movement that is driving Eora's technological progress in order to maintain the Engwithans' secret. Incidentally, some of the gods, Galawain, Magran, and Abydon in particular, don't seem to mind the study of animancy at all and don't see it as a threat to their faiths. For Thaos to be anti-antimancy is seemingly ironic, since he's not only a master animancer, but a member of the very civilization which pioneered its study in ancient times. However, since most of his schemes rely on animancy, he's determined to prevent kith from gaining the knowledge to expose him. If that means keeping them in a permanent state of MedievalStasis, so be it.]]
* EvilMentor: He used to be one to [[spoiler:Lady Webb before her HeelRealization led her to found Dunryd Row in a bid, at least in part, to build an organization capable of challenging the Leaden Key,]] as well as to [[spoiler:the Watcher, who was once his right-hand Inquisitor in a previous life.]]
* EvilOldFolks: He's the BigBad, and he's in his later years. [[spoiler:And his soul [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld is thousands of years older still.]]]]
* TheEvilsOfFreeWill: A major part of why he does what he does [[spoiler:and why the Engwithans created their gods and spread the faiths of said gods in the first place -- to make certain that there was, in fact, a higher power who could hold kith accountable for their actions.]]
* FlatEarthAtheist: Thaos has the following retort to one of these. [[spoiler:That is to say [[PlayerCharacter the Watcher]]. Also inverted, since Eora is a world whose gods are demonstrably artificial, but Thaos's claim is that this doesn't make them any less gods.]]
-->'''Thaos:''' What IS a god? Hm? A higher power? A rewarder of good deeds and punisher of the wicked? Something men can turn to in their darkest moments, when their days seem only like bridges from one tragedy to the next? Our gods are all these things.
* GrandTheftMe: His knowledge of animancy allows for this. [[spoiler:He is able to transfer his soul into others at will, easily dominating those with "weak" souls, such as golems, mentally ill patients, and Hollowborn. It's also stated that upon his death he Awakens with his full memories intact around adolescence in his next body. [[FridgeHorror One has to wonder what that's like for the child who becomes Thaos.]]]]
* TheHeavy: He's conspiring with [[spoiler:Woedica]], but he's the one driving the plot along and has the greatest personal connection with the Watcher. [[spoiler:Woedica, meanwhile, only shows up once, briefly, at the end of the game, and uses Skaen as her mouthpiece to make the Watcher an offer.]]
* HobbesWasRight: As [[spoiler:Iovara's]] opposite in number, Thaos firmly believes in this: that kith must be ruled by a strong central authority [[spoiler:in the form of the gods]], [[TheConspiracy without their knowledge if necessary]], or they will inevitably fall into savagery. [[spoiler: And given that he's lived for thousands of years, he's seen, and committed, plenty of evidence to support it. It's for this reason that he believes the secret of the gods' artificiality must be protected. If people found out that the gods were fake, they would descend into bloodshed and chaos.]]
* HumanSacrifice: The last of his people -- all the others were sacrificed to the Engwithan devices you see scattered across the Dyrwood. [[spoiler:All the other Engwithans in Sun in Shadow, including [[PoweredByAForsakenChild children]], were used to power an Engwithian engine so that he can reincarnate with his soul and identity intact, ensuring that he keep the secret.]]
* {{Hypocrite}}: In the name of preventing atrocities, he's willing to commit plenty of his own. [[spoiler:He's actively trying to suppress the progress of animancy research and has no qualms exploiting the fear of it to recruit people like Aloth -- but he's only opposed to animancy because it could reveal the secret of the gods' true nature. Thaos is himself a master of animancy whose latest scheme relies on animantic {{Magitek}} of the ancient Engwithans, and regularly transfers his own soul into others to control them (a particularly ghastly application of extremely high-level animancy which typically leaves those affected permanently insane, if they aren't immediately killed in the wake of Thaos's spirit forcibly overtaking their own).]]
* TheInquisitorGeneral: Before he was the grandmaster of the Leaden Key, he was this for his people. [[spoiler:Specifically, thousands of years ago, he was the High Inquisitor for the Engwithans' invented religion, in charge of spreading the Engwithan manufactured faith, converting or executing heretics along the way.]]
* KickTheDog: Conspicuous by its [[AvertedTrope absence]]. Everything Thaos does plays into his larger scheme, and while there's no one he wouldn't hurt if it served his purposes, he doesn't hurt anyone he doesn't believe he has to. [[spoiler:He doesn't even kill Lady Webb until he's certain she and the Watcher are a direct threat to his plans.]]
* KnightTemplar: He will stop at nothing to keep the Leaden Key's secrets, and he is absolutely certain that all his actions, no matter how horrific, all serve a greater good and a higher order.
* LackOfEmpathy: Thaos seems to have zero empathy for the people he hurts to accomplish his goals, at one point casually rattling off a list of crimes he committed like he's reciting a grocery list. PlayedWith, however, in that [[spoiler:his actions, no matter how much suffering they cause, are intended to stave off greater suffering. He's lost the ability to empathize on an individual level, but in some twisted way, he acts entirely out of compassion, the need to justify his past actions and to make the sacrifices of his people worthwhile.]]
-->'''Thaos:''' Their histories are droplets of water falling into an endless sea. They are significant unto themselves for a moment, and then they are gone.
* LastOfHisKind: He's human, which are common in the world of Eora, but he's also the last living person from his country. [[spoiler:He is the last Engwithan left, thanks to his souls' reincarnating without degrading and with his memories fully intact.]]
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Capable of doing this [[spoiler:to the souls of the dead -- considerably less precise when affecting the living, however. One possible fate for him has the Watcher completely erasing his memories, finally returning his soul to the Wheel so it can reincarnate as a new individual.]]
* LaserGuidedKarma: Gets a heavy dose of this in most endings. [[spoiler:You can choose to [[DeaderThanDead tear his his soul apart]], reincarnate it with or [[DeathOfPersonality without his lifetimes' worth of memories]]...or cast in down [[AndIMustScream into the same crystal prison]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard that houses Iovara]].]]
* MalevolentMaskedMen: His decidedly sinister horned headdress covers his face down to the nose.
* MisanthropeSupreme: Thaos has a very low opinion of kith on the whole, thinking them little better than beasts who give into their instincts without a proper hand guiding them. [[spoiler:He can't be talked down because he's had millennia of personal experience witnessing people at their worst, and firmly believes what he does is the best option.]] Played with in the following exchange, however, where [[SubvertedTrope Thaos]] attempts to talk [[spoiler:the Watcher's past self]] down from this point of view -- despite having an extremely bleak view of kith, he is determined to save them from themselves.
-->'''[[spoiler:The Watcher]]:''' Surely the gods would do better to destroy us all and start anew.\\
'''Thaos:''' Perhaps they would. It may come to that one day. This is why we must not fail.
* MoralEventHorizon: Invoked... by Thaos himself, no less. Openly admits to have crossed it, he even says that [[spoiler: causing the Hollowborn epidemic, stealing souls from newborns in the process]] is one of the ''lesser'' atrocities that he's committed over the years.
* NecessarilyEvil: He believes that everything he has done--no matter how monstrous--is justified because it beats the alternative of [[spoiler:people knowing the truth that there are no gods and the resulting chaos that would cause, since he's been around so long, he remembers what is was like before the Engwithans created their "real" gods.]]
* NoNonsenseNemesis: Thaos does not stop to monologue, drop tantalizing hints about his goals, or plot convoluted death traps for the Watcher. He just sends assassins after them or tries to kill them himself if he runs into them personally and has the time.
* OffscreenVillainy: He alludes to having committed many atrocities when [[spoiler:admitting he caused the Hollowborn epidemic.]]
-->'''Thaos:''' I plunged the peaceful kingdom of Tolosus into civil war. I slew the monarch of Desontio, whose people never knew hardship under his rule, and replaced him with a cruel despot who brought them to ruin. When plague arrived at the great city of Arborensis, I saw to it that the cure did not. They piled their dead outside the city in heaps that rose above their walls.
* PetTheDog:
** He allowed [[spoiler:Lady Webb]] to abandon the Leaden Key with her life and [[spoiler:ignored her attempts to investigate him until she started to threaten his plans. When he finally does kill her, he does it himself, in person, and appears to be somewhat remorseful.]]
** In the Watcher's past life as [[spoiler:his Inquisitor, when they began doubting the gods were real and confronted Thaos for answers in Sun and Shadow, instead of killing them outright to preserve the secret, Thaos told them to go home, get some rest and think on things. The death threat is implied, but it's still notable that, even after committing so many atrocities to keep his secret, he gave the Watcher a chance to come back around to his side.]]
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: He looks fairly elderly as it is, but [[spoiler:while his current body is no older than it appears, upon death, he's reborn with his soul fully Awakened, meaning he's effectively lived dozens of lives in succession.]]
* SinisterMinister: He's the grandmaster of the decidedly cult-like Leaden Key, and high priest of the fallen faith of Woedica. [[spoiler:Back when the Leaden Key was the Inquisition, he was the High Inquisitor and tortured and murdered countless heretics in the name of Woedica.]]
* StrawNihilist: It's implied the discovery that [[spoiler:there are no gods, or, at least, the gods are long gone,]] broke him [[spoiler:and his fellow Engwithans. This is why he's so convinced that the gods the Engwithans created are real enough, and more than that, they are ''necessary''.]] Thaos is above all else determined to give purpose and order to a world that would otherwise have none.
-->'''Thaos:''' All mysteries forever unanswered. All purposes constructed from meaninglessness. No endings to bring closure. Only a Wheel, turning without mercy, grinding our spirits to dust.
* TimeAbyss: After Lady Webb reveals that [[spoiler:he's been around for millennia, to the point where he's older than the gods themselves, since he was there at their creation.]]
* TheUnfettered: Thaos will do anything to keep his secrets and see his plans realized. [[spoiler:He's been around for so long--millennia even--and done so much evil already that there's no point in him holding back.]]
* VillainHasAPoint: The Watcher is free to explicitly agree with him during your final conversation, which is the ''only'' thing in the game that seems to catch him off-guard. [[spoiler:It doesn't stave off his last effort to kill you, however. His point being, in brief, that the gods, despite being artificial entities engineered by the Engwithans, are still incredibly powerful supernatural beings able to intercede on the behalf of mortals, and thus god enough to hold up to scrutiny by human standards. Thaos argues that without gods and the concrete consequence they represent, there would be nothing to rein in [[HobbesWasRight kith's worst nature]]. He further argues that the 'truth' Iovara would have you propagate would actually do more harm than good, removing a sense of deeper meaning and purpose from people's lives. Your companions' reactions to this vary, based heavily on the Watcher's interactions with the rest of the party -- not just based on whether or not you resolved their personal quest, but 'how'', as well as being shaped by your reputations and dialogue choices throughout the game. Most party members can either shake off Thaos's words... or [[BreakThemByTalking be utterly broken by them,]] tying into the ending you get for each character.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: How? By being the main antagonist of course!
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Despite all the horrors for which he is directly responsible, Thaos believes with absolute certainty that [[spoiler:the secret of the Engwithans is the only thing holding society together, and preserving it justifies all of his actions. Hypocrite though he may be, it cannot be said he has acted out of selfishness, either, spending hundreds of years in unwavering service of the gods.]]
* WorthyOpponent: Averted [[spoiler:for Iovara and the Watcher. Whatever your relative merits, even as he admits that he believes Iovara is genuinely as goodhearted as she appears, in his mind the knowledge you both have could only bring harm, and nothing can make up for that. PlayedStraight with Lady Webb, however -- he could have killed her long ago, and he didn't have to come for her in person.]]
* WouldHurtAChild: No one is off-limits if they happen to fall victim to his larger machinations. [[spoiler:He's behind the Hollowborn epidemic that has left an entire generation of infants born without souls, and he can't bring himself to care -- they aren't the first or last people to suffer in the service of his greater goals.]]
[[/folder]]

!!The Gods

[[folder:Gods]]
!!The Gods
!!!In General

The Eoran pantheon. The same eleven gods are worshipped all over Eora, sometimes under different names, but transcending national borders and crossing cultural lines.
----
* ArchetypalCharacter: The gods are representative of eleven [[spoiler:Engwithan]] ideals.
* {{Avatar}}: Any god can have an avatar, a physical embodiment of itself, such as Waidwen, (who claimed to be) the avatar of Eothas.
* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: Downplayed. The gods' powers don't immediately lose power if their followers start to doubt them or change their faith, but [[spoiler:the souls of a given god's worshipers are earmarked for that god, and the gods's powers are in some way dependent on the number of souls at their command, or rather the amount of soul energy they can bring to bear, as [[OurSoulsAreDifferent not all souls are equally potent]]]].
* JerkassGods: They consider the ideals they represent more important than individual human lives. A particularly noteworthy example comes in ''The White March Part II'', when it turns out that [[spoiler:Ondra [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters destroyed the Engwithans]] by dropping what used to be Eora's smaller third moon [[ColonyDrop on top of them]], despite Abydon's attempts to stop her. He only managed to save the White Forge and got his avatar killed in the process.]] Subverted [[spoiler:and then played straight]] when it's revealed that [[spoiler:the Engwithans created them with this in mind, including sacrificing nearly every Engwithan man, woman, and child in an animantic ritual which used their souls to empower the gods they created.]].
* TouchedByVorlons: Gods are known to create "godlikes", a type of kith who are born with the attributes of a certain god. Depending on the type, they may be considered good luck or a blessing of the gods, or they may drive some parents to infanticide out of terror, while the gods themselves are [[InMysteriousWays strangely silent]] on the subject of the purpose of the godlike, or what causes them to appear. The godlike may be born to [[HalfHumanHybrid any couple]], and while they do occasionally run in family lines, all godlike are sterile.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Abydon]]
!! Abydon

->''"All things can be reforged."''

Abydon is the god of crafting and the forge, and the patron of the Knights of the Crucible. He appears as a large golem.
----
* AndManGrewProud: [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. The destruction that rained down on the Eastern Reach was meant to prevent anyone from rediscovering the {{Magitek}} that Abydon himself helped the ancient Engwithans build and invent; Abydon created giant animantic golems, the Eyeless, to help construct much of the ancient world. In fact, in ''The White March'' we learn that the Abydon's death was brought about when his earthly avatar [[TakingTheBullet took the bullet]] for the White Forge, his greatest gift to mortals, which the other gods considered to [[TheWorldIsNotReady elevate mortals]] [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow above their station]].]]
* TheBlacksmith: Part of the reason he and Magran are seen as allies. It's also why he's the [[PatronSaint patron god]] of the [[CityGuards Crucible Knights]], who were blacksmiths before the Dyrwood's revolution.
* BroughtDownToNormal: In a sense. It's generally acknowledged that he's not as forceful or independent in his current form as he was before his death. [[spoiler:And how. [[{{Determinator}} He was so dedicated to his previous role]] that he [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever manifested a colossal avatar on Eora]] to defend the White Forge, and it took being [[ColonyDrop struck by fragments of the Eora's long-lost third moon]] to finally bring him down.]]
* DropTheHammer: His hammer was primarily a tool, but there is plenty of evidence towards the fact that he would also use it as a weapon in a pinch. The Watcher can even create a miniature version of it... which is still a massive two-handed soulbound warhammer [[spoiler:especially well-suited to destroying Abydon's wayward creations, the Eyeless.]]
* TheFettered: Interestingly, both before and after his death. [[spoiler:Slightly more literal after his reinvention as the Golem, as he is said to largely act as a subordinate to the other gods, Magran in particular, since as the goddess of fire and creation she helped rebuild him. However, before his death, he was willing to [[HonorBeforeReason fight the will of all the other gods]] to carry out his mandate of preserving knowledge, even if, as Ondra believed, he actually agreed with them about the necessity of what they were doing, even if he couldn't bring himself to go along with it.]]
* ForScience: As the god of industry. [[spoiler:Even more so before his original death, when he was willing to stand against all the other gods to protect all that he and the kith had built and learned.]] In ''The White March Part 2'', Ondra acknowledges that he was also originally the god of preservation [[spoiler:but when he was brought back to life, they [[LaserGuidedAmnesia left this]] [[DeathOfPersonality part out]] owing to all the aforementioned problems it caused]].
* {{Golem}}: After being killed once, he rebuilt himself in this form. Fitting as the god of craftsmen. [[spoiler:Also his ancient, forgotten creations the Eyeless.]]
* GuideDangIt: [[spoiler:The GoldenEnding for both Abydon's story and Stalwart is incredibly difficult to get, since the Eyeless take into account everything the Watcher has done and uses the player's actions to judge whether or not progress and forgetting your past are good ideas. If you can't convince the Eyeless to temper their memories to give Abydon more context for his sacrifice, then their return marks Abydon's renewed devotion to preservation and leads to conflict with Readceras and instability in the region for generations. If you destroy the Eyeless instead, Ondra will become convinced about the righteousness of her actions and use floods and earthquakes to ravage coastal towns and keep the gods' secrets buried.]]
* PhysicalGod: Not ''now'', but he took physical form on Eora once, and just like with Eothas it led to his death (and while Abydon ''did'' come back, he was diminished in more than just being a golem now). [[spoiler: And while it's just implication and theory in Eothas' case, Abydon definitely did it to stop the kith-unfriendly plans of another god.]]
* StarcrossedLovers: Before his death. [[spoiler: With Ondra, [[OddCouple oddly]] [[OppositesAttract enough]].]]
* SoulJar: [[spoiler:He imbued each of the Eyeless, his construct army of helpers, with a piece of his soul. If the Eyeless are reunited with Abydon, they give him back his memories of how and why he died.]]
* TakingTheBullet: [[spoiler:Abydon's original death was caused when he went against the gods' plan to destroy Engwithan civilization by dropping a moon on it. Abydon managed to shatter a lot of it, sending the pieces into the ocean, but the biggest fragment remained on course, forcing Abydon to use his own body to shield them.]]
* UltimateBlacksmith: He's the god of crafting and the forge patron of the Knights of the Crucible. [[spoiler:He was able to create both the Eyeless, an army of constructs to act as his helpers, and a special hammer capable of shattering a moon.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Berath]]
!! Berath

->''"There is life in death, and death in life."''

Berath is the god of cycles, doors and death. They take many forms, but the most common are The Usher and the Pallid Knight.
----
* ButThouMust: To gain their favour, [[spoiler: both High Ovate Erona and Archdruid Rehstin of the Ethik Nol]] must die. The quest cannot be completed any other way. [[spoiler:Erona can be persuaded to simply will her [[Really700YearsOld extremely long life]] to end if you can pass the attribute checks-- even though she actually [[KickTheDog seems rather nice]]. Rehstin [[AssholeVictim practices ritual sacrifice]], but on the other hand when we first meet him the game makes a point of showing that the man being killed is a willing volunteer. There's also no way of persuading Rehstin to go quietly. To finish the quest, you have to attack him in front of a crowd of his followers, and doing so will turn all but one NPC in Blood Sands hostile toward you for good.]]
** At the very beginning of II, [[spoiler:the Pallid Knight offers you two choices: Serve her or have your soul be reincarnated into a cat]].
* DontFearTheReaper: Despite being a god of death, Berath is seen as a benign force, simply concerned with keeping the cycle of reincarnation going. The Usher embodies this trait, being a silent, but quite friendly-looking elderly dwarf.
* DualityMotif: Is also the god of this.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: The Pallid Knight is described as appearing this way, to inhuman levels.
* GenderBender: While the Usher is assumed to be male despite appearing as a skeletal figure, the Pallid Knight is female. Both are considered to be aspects of Berath.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Eothas]]
!! Eothas
-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/TaliesinJaffe

->''"You do not need to follow me, for their sake or your own. Something beautiful is coming, something that will save us all."''

Eothas is the god of light, renewal and redemption. Often depicted as a young man in a silver crown holding a candle. Fifteen years ago, a farmer named Waidwen claimed to have been chosen as a avatar for Eothas; Waidwen is the eponymous Saint of the Saint's War, in which he rallied an army in Readceras and marched on the Dyrwood, where he was taken for a conqueror. Because Eothas has been silent ever since Waidwen died, most take it as a sign that Waidwen was in fact telling the truth about being the god, and that he died along with Waidwen.

Except, come [[VideoGame/PillarsOfEternityIIDeadfire the sequel]], he has come back to life, possessing the golem beneath Caed Nua. In the process he destroyed Caed Nua and nearly killed the Watcher, who now must follow him to learn what he has planned next.
----
* AllLovingHero: When Waidwen first came to prominence in Readceras, it was by feeding the starving poor, rousing them against the corrupt incumbent government. Edér quips that if anyone would forgive you for blowing him up, it'd be Eothas, though events in ''Deadfire'' put that theory to the test.
* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: In the sequel he possesses the several-hundred-foot adra statue beneath Caed Nua.
* BackFromTheDead: His resurrection -- and the circumstances surrounding it -- will be what kicks off ''Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire''.
* BigBad: Despite [[HeroAntagonist all the other tropes listed]], he's the de facto villain of ''Deadfire'' so far, simply because in his resurrection, he destroys Caed Nua and eats most of the Watcher's soul, binding their fates together.
* CrystalDragonJesus: One of the more direct Christianity analogues among the setting's gods, right down to his second coming.
* DefectorFromDecadence: [[spoiler: By choosing Waidwen as his avatar, he put himself directly in harm's way in an attempt to foil Woedica's plans, while the other gods chose not to intervene.]]
* GodInHumanForm: What Waidwen claimed to be, and what the Readcerans believed he was.
* GodIsDead:
** Or more accurately, this particular god is, physically, dead. Waidwen's, and by extension Eothas', death by the [[FantasticNuke Godhammer]] is what ended the Saint's War. To say that the death of a god has shaken people is putting it lightly.
** [[spoiler: Subverted by the sequel. It is revealed that Eothas survived being struck by the Godhammer. His return is what kicks off the plot.]]
* ItIsPronouncedTroPay: ''EY-o-thas'', not ''ee-O-thas''.
* LightIsGood: Waiden's head was notably bathed in light. Eothas's portfolio boils down to light, life, and forgiveness. On the other hand...
* LightIsNotGood:
** After the Saint's War, Dyrwoodans certainly hold this view of him. Though it's left rather ambiguous if Waidwen's invasion of Dyrwood was actually Eothas' will or not. Some lore (and Durance grudgingly) suggests that Eothas actually rebelled [[spoiler: to stop Woedica's ploy directly.]]
** His resurrection in ''Deadfire'' does leave a trail of dead, dying, and cursed, though his reasons, and even whether or not it was intentional, remains to be seen.
* MessianicArchetype: Being the earthly embodiment of a god particularly known for his forgiveness who walked among the poor and fed the starving? Yeah, probably not a coincidence.
* PhysicalGod: After possessing Waidwen. However, as seen above, that backfired on him.
* PosthumousCharacter: See the example under GodIsDead.
* TokenGoodTeammate: As the god of light, renewal, and redemption, he is by far the most forgiving of the gods, if those seeking forgiveness are truly sincere. [[spoiler: And he's the only god who tried to intervene directly when Woedica threatened to tip the balance, assuming that the in-game speculation is true.]] He is also the only selectable patron deity whose tenets celebrates priests acting honestly and benevolently (by [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration choosing dialogue options]] marked with the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Honest and Benevolent reputations]]).
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Galawain]]
!! Galawain

->''"Survival begins with strength from within."''

Galawain is the god of hunt and strength through struggle. A changeling, he appears as a wild beast, or a fearsome hunter.
----
* AnAxeToGrind: Wields a hatchet, along with a [[BladeOnAStick spear]] and [[KnifeNut hunting knife]].
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority[=/=]AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Has a fairly nuanced view of this.
* BadassBeard[=/=]BeardOfBarbarism
* BarbarianHero: Closest thing the Engwithan pantheon has to one.
* BloodKnight: There is nothing more thrilling to him than the thrill of pursuit, and the confrontation that follows.
* ButThouMust: Averted. Galawain asks you to go to his temple in Twin Elms and force a decision between his two would-be champions, reigning champ Sul and the upstart Oernos. [[spoiler:Thing is? Sul is a stealthy but aging lioness and Oernos is a huge bear, and each of them is being backed by a segment of the Fangs, a whole faction of [[TheBeastmaster beastmasters]]. In the end, you can choose either of the two and Galawain will accept your reasoning-- being very much a 'journey is its own reward' type of guy, and figuring that the winner is there because they deserve to be.]]
* GeniusBruiser:
** He views the hunt for knowledge as just as worthy as a more conventional hunt. He simply demands that one put in the same effort. To him, victory is deserved regardless of whether it's achieved through raw strength, or through wits and cunning, as long as you invest yourself into the hunt and carve your own paths instead of passively waiting for opportunity to knock.
** Incidentally, as a result of this he's not at all against the study of animancy and the possible threat of people realizing the gods [[spoiler:are artificial]].
* MightMakesRight: The predator should rule the prey, but the predator also has to watch out that they don't become the prey in turn.
* WarGod: Fits the conventional archetype more closely than Magran does, as he's primarily concerned with straight up battle through his domain over hunting.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Hylea]]
!! Hylea

->''"Live every note of life's song."''

Hylea is the goddess of birds, the sky, artistic pursuits, and motherhood.
----
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Renege on your agreement with her [[spoiler:to restore the lost souls of the Hollowborn children]] and Hylea will [[spoiler:[[FeatheredFiend send flocks]] of [[ShoutOut angry]] [[Film/TheBirds birds]] to [[DeathByWomanScorned wreak her vengeance]] on the Dyrwood, [[AttackOfTheKillerWhatever descending en masse]] on those unfortunate enough to be out in the open and ripping them to shreds, wiping out whole ''villages'' in the process.]]
* ButThouMust: [[AvertedTrope Averted.]] [[spoiler:During the quest to gain her favour, Hylea is pleased whether you kill the dragon which has invaded her temple or leave it alone, as said dragon is both a creature of the air and [[MonsterIsAMommy an expectant mother]].]]
* CallingTheOldManOut: She'll wait until you've finished your business with the goddess, but [[spoiler:Pallegina will deliver an ''epic'' verbal takedown of the goddess in whose image she was formed, as Hylea's blessing has, among other things, alienated her from her biological family, causes her to be looked upon with suspicion wherever she goes, and prevents her from ever having children or a family of her own, something you'd think would be utterly against Hylea's portfolio.]]
* FeatherMotif: As one would expect, this shows up in her symbols and the Godlikes connected to her (such as Pallegina).
* InfantImmortality: Of a sort: [[spoiler:Hylea would have you restore the souls Thaos has stolen for Woedica to the Hollowborn, thus making them into whole, ordinary children. Averted (sort of) even if you don't take her up on her bargain or lie go back on your word-- if you renege on your bargain, then the children don't die, but they're not really alive, either-- but even if you do restore the Hollowborn's souls, many children were killed or abandoned by their parents who had [[DespairEventHorizon lost all hope]]. And there's [[DownerEnding no such thing as resurrection magic]] in this setting.]]
* WomanScorned: Seriously, ''BewareTheNiceOnes''. [[spoiler:Breaking your promise to return the Hollowborn souls to the children they were meant for results in her killing a lot of people in vengeance.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Magran]]
!!Magran

->''"Struggle is our fundamental nature."''

Magran is the goddess of fire, trials, and war. She appears as a woman in dark yet flaming plate armor.
----
* ActionGirl: The resident and only deity of war, she is this implicitly and has a fair number in her service.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Said word for word if the Watcher considers that [[spoiler: Woedica deserves her victory if she's willing and able to seize it.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Generally seen as one of the few relatively good gods in the setting, embodying concepts of progress and self-improvement. However [[spoiler: her involvement in the creation of the Godhammer and subsequent treatment of Durance and the Dozen shows she can be incredibly manipulative and ruthless when she wants to be; fully willing to kill a fellow god to maintain the status-quo and discard her own followers when they become inconvenient.]]
* BloodKnight: Though one shouldn't go around causing fights or confrontations, her followers are encouraged to seek them out, as the struggle will make them stronger.
* KillItWithFire: She is the god of all flames, and adores fire-based weapons: bombs, firearms, anything enchanted with fire-- including spells. Part of why she likes guns is that they let any ordinary peasant hurl fire around the battlefield the way mages have always done.
* MoreDakka:
** As mentioned, she likes guns. Her cathedral at Ashfall is built on top of/into a massive munitions factory, and her priests' unique talent gives them an accuracy bonus with swords and arquebuses.
** Her priesthood also developed the [[FantasticNuke Godhammer]] bomb used to kill St. Waidwen. [[spoiler:Then she [[UngratefulBastard killed all]] but [[SoleSurvivor one]] of the twelve priests involved, both to cover her involvement as well as to [[ShootTheBuilder prevent such a weapon from being used again]]. Incidentally, the priest who was spared? Durance. And it wasn't for lack of trying, but because the bomb somehow damaged his living soul, rendering him [[PerceptionFilter invisible]] to the goddess [[BlessedWithSuck whose attention he so desperately craves]].]]
* SocialDarwinist: She believes that struggle serves to make the victors stronger and that if they can achieve their victory, they deserve it. [[spoiler:The Watcher can throw this in her face when she asks for their help against Woedica.]]
* WarGod: A relatively measured one, though, who also has aspects relating to creativity, art, creation, and transformation.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Ondra]]
!! Ondra

->''"I sing of the ocean's sorrow so that I may forget my own."''

Ondra is the goddess of the oceans, the moon, the forgotten and loss.
----
* AndManGrewProud: In part 2 of the ''The White March'', it is revealed that Ondra [[spoiler:commanded [[SealedArmyInACan the Eyeless]] to keep the secret of the White Forge and Abydon's death by destroying anyone who knew about it. This resulted in the massacre of the dwarves in Durgan's Battery, and after [[NiceJobBreakingItHero you reopen the Forge to the villagers of Stalwart]], indirectly leads to the Eyeless coming after the villagers, the invading Readcerans, then you, your party, and if you don't stop your visions from coming to pass, eventually everyone in the Dyrwood, possibly beyond. And because of the nature of their creation by another god, [[SorcerersApprenticePlot not even Ondra herself can call them off.]]]]
* DemotedToExtra: Other from having Defiance Bay's harbor district, Ondra's Gift, named after her, Ondra is one of the lesser-seen gods in the main game. Apart from the example mentioned under TokenGoodTeammate, there is a minor sidequest involving her temple when you first arrive in Stalwart Village. [[spoiler:This changes drastically in ''The White March Part 2'', bordering on AscendedExtra, EarlyBirdCameo, and ChekhovsGunman.]]
* DueToTheDead: [[spoiler:She honored Abydon's memory by building the Abbey of the Fallen Moon around the remains of his gigantic corpse, to protect him in his eternal slumber.]]
* EldritchAbomination: Has many of the trappings of this, with her air of mystery and foreboding. One of her chosen manifestations is the Hair of Ondra, colossal watery tentacles occasionally seen at sea, and her servants include cultists driven mad [[spoiler:by the gradual loss of their memories and sense of self]], tentacles beasts such as the kraken(s), and the disfigured giants known as the Eyeless [[spoiler:who turn out to be construction golems originally crafted by Abydon.]]
* MercyKill: [[spoiler:She believes completely destroying the stolen Hollowborn souls to be an act of mercy.]]
* TheMourningAfter: According to legend, Ondra is in love with the moon but is never able to reach it, contributing to her being the goddess of loss and mourning. [[spoiler:In reality, ''The White March'' reveals she loves Abydon, who sacrificed himself to save kith civilization from her. He eventually rebuilt himself, but his memories were gone, and despite still having feelings for him, she doesn't approach him out of fear of what he'll do should those memories return. The fact that she built the Abbey of the Fallen Moon as a monument to protect his body speaks volumes.]]
* SanitySlippage: Not Ondra herself but it's revealed [[spoiler:her Giftbearers that inhabit the Halls of Silence beneath her Abbey slowly go insane as their memories are gradually erased before being they're killed in a mass drowning.]]
* ShootTheDog: As the goddess of forgetting [[spoiler:she viewed the destruction of Engwithan civilization as this, since, in the gods' eyes, their refinement of animancy was a threat to them. In the last direct intervention of the gods in kith affairs, she tried to drop a moon on Engwith centers in the Eastern Reach and Deadfire Archipelago, only failing because Abydon took the bullet for civilization.]]
* StarcrossedLovers:
** She is said to be in love with the moon; the tides are the result of Ondra attempting to reach it. She's also the goddess of this.
** A sufficiently high-attribute Watcher in ''The White March'' can piece together that she used to have something going on with Abydon before he died (the first time). Abydon forgot about it as a result of dying, Ondra doesn't approach Abydon again because she fears [[spoiler: doing so would make Abydon's memories come back... including the part where Abydon's death was a result of him trying to [[TakingTheBullet protect Eora's civilizations]] from Ondra's (approved by other gods) plan to smash a small moon into the planet to wipe out every trace of the Engwithans-- specifically the titular White March, the Eastern Reach where most of the game place, and the nearby Deadfire Archipelago.]]
* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: The goddess of this, ensuring that such things remain forgotten.
* TokenGoodTeammate: Very relatively speaking. [[spoiler:She allies with [[ThePowerOfHate Skaen]] and [[EvilIsDeathlyCold Rymrgand]] to propose that the Watcher cast the souls taken by Woedica into entropy. But whereas the first two simply see it as the best way to spite Woedica and a mere hastening of the inevitable, respectively, Ondra regards oblivion as an act of kindness.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Rymrgand]]
!! Rymrgand

->''"All life ends in stillness."''

Rymrgand is the god of cold, death and entropy. He appears as The Beast of Winter.
----
* ButThouMust: To gain his favour, [[spoiler:you must not use the crystal he gives you to allow his pale elf followers in Noonfrost to pass on to the oblivion they desire. According to a Watcher the elves have consulted, their souls have been reborn whole for hundreds of years, which seems to fly in the face of Rymrgand's portfolio. Rymrgand never provides them or you with any explanation for this, whether or not you succeed or fail the quest.]]
* CruelMercy[=/=]CruelToBeKind: Hard to say if he's either, both, or neither, but [[spoiler:his treatment of the pale elves, who have worshiped him for thousands of years, would seem like this if it isn't just simple indifference on his part.]]
* DontFearTheReaper: Played with. Unlike Berath, who acts as a caretaker of souls to be returned to the cycle of reincarnation, with Rymrgand, your soul's only fate is to be eroded and ground down until it ceases to exist. However, some of his worshipers see this fate as an escape from the endless cycle of death and rebirth, into a better state of eternal peace, and as such seek it out.
* EvilIsDeathlyCold: Though not truly evil, he is every bit as uncaring as the cold entropy he embodies.
* InMysteriousWays: Rymrgand seldom communicates with his worshippers [[spoiler:although he does act as the spokesgod for himself, Skaen, and Ondra to you when you commune with the gods in Teir Evron.]]
* TheNothingAfterDeath: His followers hope for this, and [[spoiler:this is the fate that Rymrgand, Skaen, and Ondra propose you grant to the souls which Thaos has trapped.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Skaen]]
!! Skaen

->''"Tomorrow, my master chokes on his own whip.''"

Skaen is the god of silent hate, resentment and rebellion. He usually appears as a small, shackled, emaciated man, his skin covered in scars from lashes.
----
* ArchEnemy: Abydon is his. Skaen hates the passive surrender to authority that Abydon represents.
* BloodMagic: Dark magic, blood in vast quantities. As in a whole [[spoiler:''swimming pool'']] of the stuff.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Something of a tenet of his religion, as he is the god of servants rising up against their masters in secret. Even his own followers will be abandoned if they manage to get into a position of power.
* CreepyDoll: His followers make this but with shards, flints, or other black stones for eyes.
* DarkIsEvil: Darkness, blood, bondage, pain, hate... Rattles off a lot of the buzzwords.
* TheDreaded: Seems keener for his followers to be this than himself, but more as an anonymous hidden force rather than as individuals, in keeping with the idea of appearing harmless and striking from the shadows.
* EvilOldFolks: Appears as a mutilated and shackled old man. And, while it can be argued that his evil can be of the [[NecessaryEvil necessary type]], he is still one of the darker and bloodier gods.
* GodOfEvil: Blatant about it.
* HumanSacrifice: His rites often involve this.
* IFightForTheStrongestSide: Inverted: As the god of rebellion, he always favors the underdog in any conflict. He will abandon followers who achieve their ambitions or otherwise grow too strong. This may also be the reason he works with Woedica, for now; she is the weakest of the gods after being cast down.
* ImplacableMan: When Skaen manifests as an Effigy. After a cruel ritual which leaves the chosen worshiper unrecognizable, eyes gouged out, ears cut off, with no distinguishable symbols of gender, they are given "privileged blood". If accepted, which isn't certain, Skaen manifests in the Effigy and it becomes an unstoppable vessel of the god's power. Only after the targeted oppressors are slain will the Effigy fall dead.
* TheMole: Skaen first appears to be [[spoiler:working with Rymrgand and Ondra against Woedica, but in the ending, he can reveal himself to actually be Woedica's [[TheDragon Dragon]]. Of course, given his nature as the god of rebellion, one has to wonder what his stake in all this is, and what he gets out of working with her]].
* MonsterClown: Has elements of this, in that he is something of a [[TheJester court jester]] to the gods. During his appearances, he capers about, freely speaks his mind and provides running commentary on the other gods.
* MouthOfSauron: [[spoiler:Speaks with the Watcher on Woedica's behalf.]]
* NightmareFace: Described as an old man with his nose and lips cut off, with jet black stones where his eyes should be.
* ObviouslyEvil: Revels in it.
* ThePowerOfHate: He is basically the god of this, teaching his followers to draw power from their hatred, and inspiring them to keep it close to them, seething in it until the time is right to strike.
* ReligionOfEvil: Banned in certain nations because of it. His portfolio is defiance, secret hatred, covert plots, resentment, envy, and violent rebellion. In Dyrwood, his followers often double as torturers and executioners, and are tolerated as long as they do their jobs.
* TheResenter: A few of his alias are "The Quiet Slave", and "The Queen's Slave", and "The Schemer"
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: His followers [[spoiler:in Dyrford do not merely want justice against Lord Harond, they want him and his whole line to ''suffer''. Specifically, they want his [[strike:niece]]''daughter'' Aelys, whom Harond [[ParentalIncest has impregnated]] to [[{{Squick}} fulfill his requirement of an heir]], and whom the Skaenites have brainwashed and corrupted with dark magic, to return home and murder her entire family, staining the whole lineage forever, permanently destroying a noble house and serving as a warning to others]]. Skaenite doctrine calls for this kind of bloody rebellion to go on in secret, to maximize terror and suffering.
* SatanicArchetype: Not so much the look, but as a dark god and rebel set among the heavens, a tempter and betrayer ''par excellence''? Very much so.
* SoftSpokenSadist: Skaen rewards deception and cruelty, but actively punishes those who are too brash or aggressive in his service. As a result, his followers, and Skaen himself, tend to be this.
* TheStarscream: Is the god of them. Fittingly, [[spoiler:he seems perpetually ready and willing to betray everyone he works with, and encourages you to do the same by taking Thaos's place and committing all the souls the Leaden Key have collected to re-empowering Woedica. May verge upon IFightForTheStrongestSide.]] For Woedica, possibly. While some think he follows Woedica because she lost her seat of power and plots the downfall of the gods. Some believe that Woedica stole the portfolio of revenge from him, and he follows her until he can take it back.
* TokenEvilTeammate:
** For the gods as a whole: the other gods have their dark sides, and Skaen is a champion for the oppressed and enslaved, but he cultivates his dark and fearful reputation, acting as sort of an in-universe HateSink for humanity's worst impulses.
** As for his alliance with [[spoiler:Rymrgand and Ondra at Teir Evron]], Skaen is the only one who seems to genuine relish the thought of [[spoiler:destroying the souls Thaos has stolen. Ondra believes it will avoid further pain; Rymrgand is simply indifferent, and destroying souls [[PunchClockVillain is his job]]]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Wael]]
!! Wael

->''"What is an answer without a question?''"

Wael is the god of dreams, secrets and the unknown. Even Wael's form is unknowable. They might not even show up unless you complete a certain sidequest in a very specific way.
----
* AmbiguousGender: Where all the other gods has manifestations that allows mortal to have some idea about whether they are male or female (or both), it is completely impossible to tell with Wael.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: This applies to every god, but Wael takes the cake. The other gods have basically understandable goals, just taken to extremes. Wael, though... [[spoiler:in the endgame, they ask you to scatter the souls Woedica has stolen recently... explicitly ''because'' doing so would be pointless.]] In fact, they don't really care what you do [[spoiler:with the souls]] at all, seeing as the prospect of him not knowing what the Watcher will do up until the last moment excites them.
* ButThouMust:
** Gleefully averted. The only way to complete Wael's quests and win their favor is by deliberately failing a quest set by someone else.
** In the aforementioned sidequest, Wael tells you to bury the sacred text that their own high priestess asked you to recover from thieves -- implying at the same time that Wael sent the thieves as well, for their own inexplicable reasons. To complete the quest, you must then go back to the temple and tell Wael's priestess that [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer you buried Wael's sacred text in a field and you can't tell her where it is because Wael told you not to]]. This is because while Wael treasures knowledge, they value the ''seeking'' of said knowledge even more. If you have the Honest reputation, the priestess will actually ''believe'' you.
* ChekhovsGunman: Wael is (likely) the first god who can speak to you if you complete a sidequest for the priestess of his temple. Doing so is the only way to unlock [[spoiler:Wael's appearance in [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Sun In Shadow]], as the second-to-''last'' god to offer you [[TakeAThirdOption yet another alternative]] for what to do with the souls the Leaden Key has amassed.]]
* CloudCuckoolander: Does it on purpose, to be as cryptic and unpredictable as possible.
* DarkHorseVictory: They/she/it(?) appears in the tail-end of the journey, trying to convince the Watcher to [[spoiler:forego any previous oaths made to the other gods and simply cast the souls to parts unknown]].
* EccentricMentor: Although whether they want to teach their followers anything other than how to be eccentric is debatable. Doubles down on this with TricksterMentor.
* GuideDangIt: Wael only appears if you take the scroll stolen from his priesthood and bury it in a field. There's no reward for doing this and the god's own high priestess won't believe you (unless you have Honest 2 or Lore 6 or higher), but it's by the god's own request making this something of an in-universe example as well. [[spoiler:Doing this is the only way to have Wael appear to you in Sun In Shadow where he offers you one final choice of how to dispense with the Hollowborn souls stolen by the Leaden Key, namely scattering them to points unknown. This, similarly, appears to serve no purpose and carries no actual reward other than the [[DoubleMeaning experience]] of having done so.]]
* ItAmusedMe: Seemingly their reason for being, with a particular emphasis on doing the unexpected.
* MesACrowd: Appears as a blurry cloud of shifting humanoid figures, taking on an ever-shifting array of different features, changing sex and species from moment to moment.
* ShapeshifterIdentityCrisis: Without the crisis. Whether it's voluntary or simply a part of Wael's incomprehensible nature is, of course, [[RunningJoke unknown]].
* TricksterGod: Was that unclear? Not only does he go out of his way to make mysteries harder for his followers to solve, he's also an advocate of [[ItAmusedMe doing irrational things just to see what will happen.]]
* TricksterMentor: Insofar as his tricks have any meaning at all. They do at least teach his followers how to spot and solve puzzles and riddles, and encourage them to learn all they can, and perhaps knowledge for its own sake is enough for Wael.
* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: Seen as a caretaker of dangerous information and secrets. However, Wael also believes those secrets should be released so that they can be found and hidden again.
* VoiceOfTheLegion: Goes hand in hand with MesACrowd.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Woedica]]
!! Woedica

->''"When Woedica takes back her throne, all wrongs shall be righted.''"

Woedica, the Queen That Was (...And Still Is, as her followers readily add), is the goddess of law, order, vengeance and rightful rule. She appears as a haggard old woman with a shattered crown.
----
* AllCrimesAreEqual: All people who wrong her in any way will be punished, no matter how small the slight.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Before the other gods rebelled against her and [[BroughtDownToNormal brought her back down to normal.]] It's implied she did not go quietly, and when she appears in visions [[spoiler: at the very end of the game in [[PlaceOfPower Sun In Shadow]],]] her godly image still bears noticeable scars.
* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:One possible ending has the Watcher empowering her with all the souls that Thaos had been hoarding for her. Though her exact status afterwards is unknown, the ending reveals the broken crown on her head has been restored, implying she's ready to rise again.]]
* BestServedCold: The queen of this. She's known for holding grudges for a very long time indeed. In particular, the other gods betrayed her when she was removed from her throne sometime in the last hundred years or so, and it's said that she's unlikely to let this slide.
* BigBadDuumvirate: Though like all the gods her influence is largely indirect, [[spoiler:Thaos communes with and seemingly takes his orders from her.]] Given what we learn in the late game, [[spoiler:their partnership may be more equal than that, insofar as Thaos's people are the ones who created all the gods in the first place, presumably including Woedica herself.]]
* BroughtDownToNormal: Was formerly the most powerful of the gods, but her tyrannical rule caused them to turn against her, severely curtailing her power, authority, and access to worshipers on Eora.
* DisproportionateRetribution: The queen of this, too. RevengeTropes in general, natch.
* EvilOldFolks: She is usually depicted as an old woman.
* {{Foil}}: To Eothas. She's old, he's young, [[CaptainObvious she's female, he's male]]. Both wear crowns. Their portfolios aren't diametrically opposed, but he's the god of forgiveness, while Woedica never forgives any slight. Both were opposed by their fellow gods, but while everyone united to topple Woedica, only [[spoiler:Magran]] moved against Eothas, and even that was done in secret. Of course, while Woedica managed to survive everything the rest of the pantheon could do to her, Eothas died, and it's still unclear whether or not he'll return. Most of all, Eothas [[spoiler:is heavily intimated to have taken the form of Waidwen and led the Readcerans' invasion of the Dyrwood ''specifically'' to intervene in Woedica's plot, via the Leaden Key, to absorb the Hollowborn souls and reclaim her throne as queen of the gods]].
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: There's a reason the other gods dethroned her when she became too powerful before.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Is called out multiple times for not actually caring about obeying the law herself as much as making sure everyone does as she tells them. Very much of the [[HypocrisyNod 'Do as I say, not as I do']] school of leadership.
* ItIsPronouncedTROPay: ''WOOD-i-ca''.
* ItsAllAboutMe: As mentioned under {{Hypocrite}}, Woedica only cares about laws and oaths so long as they benefit her.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Despite causing Waidwen's Legacy, the Watcher has the option of giving her all the Hollowborn souls Thaos had been stealing to empower her with, effectively giving her everything she wanted.]]
* KnightTemplar: Notoriously harsh and autocratic in enforcing the laws which bind all kith, as well as the more esoteric laws applying to her fellow gods.
* LoopholeAbuse: The gods are forbidden from directly interfering with the kith. Nothing says they can't use a mortal agent, though. [[spoiler: Enter Thaos.]]
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:She's the one empowering Thaos.]]
* PoweredByAForsakenChild: [[spoiler:If her game-spanning overarching plan is allowed to come to fruition. Thaos stole the souls of the Hollowborn to empower her so she could resume her place as Queen of the Gods.]]
* {{Revenge}}: The goddess thereof. [[spoiler:It's no secret she wants payback on the rest of the pantheon for overthrowing her, and they have every reason to worry if she gets her hands on all the Hollowborn souls.]]
* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem:
** Has a particularly nasty reputation for caring more about enforcing the law than obeying it herself.
** Naturally also falls under ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers, as one of the gods. Her long-term plan involves [[spoiler:the Leaden Key, led by Thaos, siphoning souls from the Hollowborn children of the Dyrwood and using them to re-empower Woedica, allowing her to assume her old role as queen of the gods once again.]] This kind of imbalance between gods is notably exactly the kind of things all the gods have come together in the past to stop.
* TheVoiceless: Never utters a word in the game, although she presumably has spoken in the past to the other gods and her followers [[spoiler:like Thaos]].
* WeCanRuleTogether: Extends this offer to [[spoiler:''you'', the player character, after you kill Thaos. Or rather, her proxy Skaen makes the offer in a divine vision, while Woedica glowers at you in the background]].
[[/folder]]

!!Factions

[[folder:The Crucible Knights]]
!! The Crucible Knights

A combination of standing army and town watch, the Knights of the Crucible were founded by blacksmiths who fought for the Dyrwood during the Liberation, the colony's war for independence from the Aedyran Empire over a century ago.
----
* TheBlacksmith: Started out as blacksmiths who joined the revolution against Aedyr, allowing the rebels to make their own weapons. Though in the present day, their shrine to the god Abydon, god of blacksmiths, is gathering dust in First Fires' Crucible Keep and they only have one actual blacksmith in the castle's ranks.
* CityGuards: Their Justiciar arm keeps the peace in Defiance Bay.
* FantasticRacism: Against Orlans, to the point that they'll refuse entry to anyone who was an orlan ''in a past life''. [[GameplayAndStorySegregation They let an Orlan Watcher join, however.]]
* {{Golem}}: The forge knight automatons which Commander Clyver and his superiors want built. [[spoiler:After [[PoweredByAForsakenChild transferring the souls]] of [[BoxedCrook condemned criminals]] into the forge knights to bring them to life, the constructs [[NiceJobBreakingItHero unsurprisingly go crazy and turn violent]]. This does, however, [[{{Foreshadowing}} foreshadow]] the animancer Galvino and his masterpiece the Devil of Caroc in the DLC.]]
* HolierThanThou: Of the three factions they have this attitude most, due to their knightly reputation and code of honor.
* KnightTemplar: The High Justice, leader of the order nationwide, and by extension the faction as a whole, at least in one of their endings. [[spoiler:If you convince Clyver to continue the faction's research into forge knights despite their disastrous initial test run, they're eventually perfected to the degree that the High Justice uses them to clamp down on animancy, eventually [[MilitaryCoup placing Defiance Bay under martial law]].]]
* RagsToRiches: A movement in the faction is pushing for the common-born Knights to be recognized as gentry in the Dyrwood.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Dozens]]
!! The Dozens

A relatively new faction of working-class rowdies, demagogues, mercenaries and adventurers formed in the wake of the Saint's War. They're named in honor of the seven men and five women who stood on the bridge and held back St. Waidwen's advance while the [[FantasticNuke Godhammer]] was brought to bear.
----
* AdventureGuild: Their headquarters in Copperlane, the Expedition Hall, hires out adventurers, mostly to plunder the Engwithan ruins in the surrounding countryside.
* BrainsEvilBrawnGood: The closest thing they have to a philosophy, as they see the educated aristocracy and animancers as the cause of the hollowborn crisis, while tough and uneducated common folk are all good.
* FantasticRacism: Against animancers, ciphers, and others who influence souls. While some of their concerns are not completely ill-founded, [[RabbleRouser how they go about expressing it]] certainly is.
* FullCircleRevolution: Represent the lingering mistrust of authority baked into the Dyrwood from its founding as a rebel colony of Aedyr. They reserve a special dislike for the Crucible Knights, viewing them as [[CategoryTraitor class traitors]].
* MartyrWithoutACause: They're mostly motivated by a knee-jerk reaction against any form of authority or perceived tyranny (including the intellectual elitism of, for example, animancers), but most of them seem to have no specific plans to replace it with anything or any thought of changing the system from within.
* {{Rabble Rouser}}s: Riling up angry mobs is their stock in trade. Comes to a head when [[spoiler:Duc Aevar is assassinated and the Dozens throw a city-wide riot, burning down Brackenbury Sanitarium and [[BrokenBridge blocking off player access to the city]] for days.]]
* ScienceIsBad: Or rather, Animancy Is Bad. (Since animancy is a legitimate scientific field in this world.) They feel that any study or influence of souls is automatically unethical and against nature. While they have a point about [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate how some animancers operate]], as usual, [[BothSidesHaveAPoint the truth]] is [[GreyAndGrayMorality more complicated than that]].
* WeAREStrugglingTogether: They're generally angry and want change, but their actions often hurt the very people they want to protect, such as their attacks on the patrons of [[TheOldestProfession the Salty Mast]] being [[StepThreeProfit a bizarre attempt]] to get the inn's madam to lower her prices, purportedly to better serve the working class people who live in the surrounding docks.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: As Eadric Morley's impassioned arguments at the animancy hearings show, their intentions ''are'' good, and while they may favor violent, destructive acts of protest, it's because they feel that broad, sweeping action is the only way they can make their voices heard as commoners.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:House Doemenel]]
!!House Doemenel

A wealthy noble house who fought on the wrong side during the war with Aedyr. In the time since the war, the Doemenels have had to reinvent themselves, becoming a sophisticated but utterly ruthless crime syndicate.
----
* AffablyEvil: Do what they want and stay in their good graces, and the Doemenels will be a very reliable ally for you.
* TheDon: Gedmar Doemenel, the current patriarch of the family.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes:
** Killing Danna, one of the few Doemenels who can be encountered outside of their manor in Brackenbury, is also one of a handful of actions in the entire game which will earn you an Extraordinary Negative [[AllianceMeter reputation hit]] with ''any'' faction.
** Her fiance Cendric will later challenge you to a duel in her memory, although if you didn't interact much with the Doemenels, you may well have [[ButForMeItWasTuesday forgotten her]].
* FantasticDrug: Deal in this, naturally. Most notably, in a dark but realistic example of the trope, they've cornered the market on bitter squash seeds, a contraband item which can be used to terminate unwanted pregnancies. Bitter seeds are a popular item in Defiance Bay owing to the prevalence of Hollowborn children.
* TheMafia: How they operate, and in essence what they are well on their way to becoming for Eora, including their once-noble roots. In particular, their methods for dealing with people who have failed or crossed them are similar. In truth they have more in common with this trope than a more fantastical ThievesGuild.
* NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters: Despite their many crimes, it's noted by more than one person that the Doemenels do as much to keep the peace in Defiance Bay as the [[CityGuards Crucible Knights]].
* PragmaticVillainy: They're a ruthless criminal organization you do not want to cross, but if they want to continue making a profit, they need order in Defiance Bay.
* ShameIfSomethingHappened: Their favorite way to make threats.
* ThievesGuild: Serve as a more legitimate, perhaps [[JustifiedTrope more realistic]] version of this for a fantasy setting.
[[/folder]]

* {{Hobbits}}: Hobbits take on something of this role in Eora, as short, slight humanoids, but they're also [[FantasticRacism discriminated against as (supposedly) being thieving, savage, and animalistic]].

* {{Hobbits}}: Hobbits take on something of this role in Eora, as short, slight humanoids, but they're also [[FantasticRacism discriminated against as thieving, savage, and animalistic]].

* YourMom: Your mom jokes are a part of his repertoire of snark, though if the Watcher tries to does the same to Hiravias in a conversation, he will protest that only he is allowed to insult his own mother (but he gives the Watcher a pass, seeing as how the line was ActuallyPrettyFunny). He goes so far as to even pull one out against [[spoiler:[[BigBad Thaos]]]]:

* IncompatibleOrientation: He quickly forms a crush on Maneha, who tells him out-right that she prefers girls. He tries to be her wingman instead.

* ScaryTeeth: Well, he is Aumaua. While Aumaua aren't exactly shark humans, they do have their teeth, and Kana is no exception.

* NonHumanSidekick: Itumaak, her snow fox.

* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: Sensing a pattern? The elder is a stag, and she gets there just in time for him to die.]]

* SorryImGay: Her reaction to Kana's attempts to flirt with her. After he finds out he tries to be her wing-man instead.
* WarriorMonk: She is a Giftbearer, and a barbarian.

* SpyFiction: Not especially glamorous, but surprisingly cozy, and not especially gritty. Call it Hot Cup Of Tea Flavored.

!!Commander Adaryc Cendamyr

Adaryc Cendamyr is the commander of the Readceran army known as the Iron Flail.

* ThereIsAnother: It turns out that he is also a Watcher.

* CainAndAbel: Raedric, dedicated to his principles to the point of fanaticism and scapegoating Eothas and his worshipers [[spoiler:only for it to turn out that he actually had almost the right idea, but the wrong god]]; and his cousin Kolsch, a political realist [[AtLeastIAdmitIt who openly admits to]] being in it for [[AmbitionIsEvil his own ambitions]]. [[spoiler:Turns out not to matter very much, since even if you kill Raedric and put Kolsc on the throne, Raedric returns from the dead [[ShaggyDogStory and kills everyone in Raedric's Hold]].]]

* FakeUltimateHero: [[spoiler:If you kill Kolsc for him, Gilded Vale's ending reveals that his harsh measures are credited for ending of the Legacy.]]

* ThePaladin: In gameplay terms, his class is a Paladin, which explains his combat prowess--but also his stubbornness in following the path he has once set upon, no matter the costs.

** If, on the other hand, you [[spoiler:kill Raedric and allow his cousin Kolsc to take over, Raedric comes back from the dead as a death guard in the service (or so he believes) of Berath, killing everyone in the keep, including Kolsc. If you don't kill him a second time, he becomes a worse scourge on Gilded Vale than he ever was in life; if you kill him, the town becomes a rough-and-tumble haven of lawlessness, in keeping with the game's tendency to shrug aside easy happy endings.]]

* BlackSheep: His family build weapons and walls for Rauatai, and are all proud of its militaristic, isolationist traditions. Kana, on the other hand, wants to open their borders and learn what they can from other nations through diplomcy, trade, and academic exchange.

* MultipleEndings: Quite a few. [[spoiler:If you finish his quest, he can become a highly visible proponent in favor of foreign influence, [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis become a prominent voice against it]], encourage Rauatai to look inward toward its own progress, set sail in search of further answers to replace the ones he felt the ''Tanvii ora Toha'' could no longer give. If you finish his quest, he can descend back into the Endless Paths and disappear, or return home in defeat to become a minor lore keeper.]] All this depends on whether you encourage his quest or knowledge, as well as whether or not you agree with his views.

* QuirkyBard: Downplayed. He's the BlackSheep of his family, and he's quite chipper and naive, but still relatively down to Earth.

* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: The tablet he's been looking for was destroyed a LONG time ago, and the scholar is an undead and is hardly a role-model that Kana thought him to be.]]
* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: A few party members have this reaction to Kana's persistent optimism, particularly [[{{Jerkass}} Durance]] and (potentially) a {{Jerkass}} Watcher.

* StealthExpert: She was a trapper in life. Despite mpw being [[HighlyVisibleNinja a metal golem]] whose body counts as (unremovable) heavy armor, she's a rogue whose initial abilities are geared toward backstabbing and stealth.

->--"Some things that are forgotten must never be remembered."''

* NotQuiteDead: If the Watcher slays him, it is implied that, true to his interest in immortality and undeath, he might have found a way to hold off dying completely. In any circumstance, should his apprentice Uariki still be alive, she will express clear doubt that he is actually most sincerely dead and nervously state out loud that she definitely had nothing to do with his death, and there is the fact that, though mute, his skull is still animated, is able to float by its own power, and can summon his ghost to fight for you... at a cost of 40 hit points gradually drained from the Watcher over its duration.

* NayTheist: She resents the gods--particularly Hylea--for creating godlike like herself and then abandoning them in the world.

* ThePaladin: She's a Paladin of the Brotherhood of the Five Suns, an order loyal to the Vailian legislature.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Pretty much every other party member, [[NotSoAboveItAll even Grieving Mother]], sees fit to make jokes and quips at his expense. Edér doesn't appreciate his virulent hatred of Eothasians, Hiravias isn't exactly happy with his racism against orlans, [[{{Elfeminate}} Aloth]] doesn't appreciate Durance shaming him for not being "manly" enough [[spoiler:nor does Iselmyr appreciate his AbhorrentAdmirer tendencies]], none of the women are keen on his misogyny and lechery...

* TheNapoleon: Checks all the boxes.

** SadClown: Underneath the nonstop barrage of quips and his insistent perkiness, he's an outcast from his tribe and harbours some serious nagging doubts about his own worth.

* YourMom: Your mom jokes are a part of his repertoire of snark. He goes so far as to even pull one out against [[spoiler:[[BigBad Thaos]]]].
-->'''Hiravias:''' Ostracism? Is that the name for the groin rash your mother gave me?
** Notably, if the Watcher tries to does the same to Hiravias in a conversation, he will protest that only he is allowed to insult his own mother; but he is willing to grant the Watcher a pass, seeing how the quip was ActuallyPrettyFunny.

* TribalFacepaint: No word on what it actually means.

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:She may be a crazy SerialKiller but it's hard not to pity her given how nightmarish her current state is. She's unable to feel anything, unable to die, and without even vengeance to look forward to there's nothing to distract her from how horrifying her condition really is. If you trick her into letting the man who killed her family go free, she keeps up the hunt as her body fails, and she's eventually ripped apart by a mob of villagers, screaming as she's destroyed yet unable to feel any of it.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:If you let her take revenge on Harmke, her desire for revenge will be replaced with a desire to feel anything new in her unfeeling body. She keeps traveling and her body continues to fail her, until she reaches the ocean, where she lets herself be pulled under the waves. Feeling peace as she's left to drift in the currents is the closest thing she gets to a happy ending.]]

* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: Feels no satisfaction after [[spoiler:tracking down the person who burned down her home.]] She thinks it's because of her golem body and its lack of feeling. Without the desire for revenge motivating her, she is no longer distracted from the full horror of her condition.

* BareFistedMonk: Monks are most powerful when they fight with their fists. And he is never depicted with any weapon in official artwork. In game, he uses a hatchet and sabre as secondary weapons.
* CombatSadomasochist: He reveres pain to the point of masochism.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Zahua's personal sidequest ends with [[spoiler:him realizing that the secret of the anitlei is lost forever. Despite this, Zahua coming to terms with his past leads him to becoming the anitlei again.]]

* ItWasWithYouAllAlong: [[spoiler:Ultimately, all he needed to do to become stronger was to accept the past and move on from it. The secrets of the anitlei may be lost, but lifting the psychological burden made him stronger anyway.]]

* MultipleEndings: Only to be expected, since ''The White March'' gets its own ending reel. How you deal with them affects the ending you get in the main game. [[spoiler:If you leave ''Part II'' undone, they spread out across Readceras and the Dyrwood, killing everyone who's ever heard of the White Forge. Which, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero thanks to your actions]] in ''Part I'', can end up being most of the population of both countries.]]

* FlyingFace: After you defeat him, all that's left is a floating skull which the Watcher can put in their [[PetMonstrosity pet]] slot. Unlike most pets, Concelhaut's Skull actually does something, summoning the spirit of Concelhaut to attack the Watcher's enemies for 20 seconds, at the cost of 40 Raw damage to the Watcher.

* DontFearTheReaper: Despite being a god of death, Berath is seen as a benign force, simply concerned with keeping the cycle of reincarnation going.

* SoulJar: Her soul is contained in the marble throne of Caed Nua.

* FantasticRacism: Is fairly openly racist against Orlans. Naturally, an orlan Watcher can call him out on this.

* MightMakesRight: Firmly believes this, being a dedicated priest of Magran, the Goddess of War. He'll even tell an Orlan Watcher to their face that their people ''deserved'' to get conquered and enslaved because they were too ''weak'' to fight off their attackers. He also criticizes Kana Rua's attempt to bring peace to his people, since Durance thinks their conquering, war-mongering ways are [[FantasticRacism the only worthwhile thing about their entire culture.]]

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: In his creation of the Godhammer, he's basically the Eoran equivalent of [[UsefulNotes/RobertOppenheimer Oppenheimer]] -- except rather than becoming like unto a god by killing countless, he and the other twelve became the first mortals to kill a god.

* ShaggyDogStory: He built a god-killing bomb because he believed it was her will, only for her to turn away from him when it was finished. He spent the last fifteen years trying to regain her favor [[spoiler:only for it to turn out the only thing stopping her from killing him [[ShootTheBuilder to cover her tracks]] was a disfigurement of the soul caused by the very same weapon he once created in her name.]]

* SoleSurvivor: [[spoiler:Of the 12 that created the Godhammer, only he survived the aftermath.]]

* YouKnowImBlackRight: During one of his MightMakesRight HolierThanThou rants, he'll mention that the Orlans ''deserved'' to get enslaved for being ''too weak'' to fight off their attackers. An Orlan Watcher can, naturally, point out that they're an Orlan. He's very aware of what you are, and is not at all concerned with how offended you might be, and even takes the time to rub salt in your people's wounds.

-->'''Durance:''' Do I value [Magran]? Why, I hold value in all whores — for a whore, their motivations are honest. And if one such as I who truly seeks to embody trials and purification, one such as I who basks in war... why, if I do not even dare to take that fight to the principles of a goddess and her chosen fires... I would bleed to death on my own hypocrisy."

->''"...A just sentence."''

->''"Do I value [Magran]? Why, I hold value in all whores -- for a whore, their motivations are honest. And if one such as I who truly seeks to embody trials and purification, one such as I who basks in war... why, if I do not even dare to take that fight to the principles of a goddess and her chosen fires... I would bleed to death on my own hypocrisy."''

* HeroicBSOD: The ''Watcher themselves'' can induce one in Durance [[BreakingSpeech if they know exactly what to say]].

* LargeHam: He always talks in a dramatic and overwrought tone, as though he's preaching a sermon wrought with hellfire and brimstone.

* MeaningfulName: Durance is not his name. It is a title, it stems from "Endurance." [[spoiler: While Durance insists that he's following you to put you to the test, he still endures doubts about his faith, and how his goddess has fallen silent despite doing her will.]]

* PrinciplesZealot: Durance is a fairly horrible person, but he at least tries to stick to his principles rather than be a hypocrite. To the point where he wants to put others of similar faith--even his goddess herself--to test to see if they live up to what they preach.

* TokenEvilTeammate: While he's not evil ''per se'', he's the party member who prefers to dispense violence immediately and even let people suffer while they're at it. However, he happily went along with the purges against the Eothasians following the Saint's War.

* HomeSweetHome: Her career as a builder took her all over Eir Glanfath, but always returned home to Stalwart.

[[quoteright:210:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9fd6161065399566976b5999fe3acb81.jpg]]