History Characters / TheExpanseLiterature

* ShootTheDog: In ''The Sins of Our Fathers'', [[spoiler:Filip realizes that Jandro is going to become another egomanical dictator like Marco and kills him.]]

* BackForTheFinale: After being absent since ''Babylon's Ashes'', Filip finally returns at the protagonsit of the final Expanse novella, ''The Sins of Our Fathers''.

* StoppedReadingTooSoon: Marco calls Fred Johnson his "white whale". The prompts Rosenfeld Guoliang to quip, "Didn't finish that one, did you?"

* BaldOfAwesome: His baldness is frequently remarked upon by people who aren't members of the crew. If he has not had the opportunity to shave for a few days, members of the crew will sometimes notice his stubble. His hair [[PrematurelyBald started thinning early]], so he shaves what remains.

* FatalFlaw: His pride and his ambition. [[spoiler:He tries to use a game theory-based strategy to communicate with the dark gods, which angers them enough that they start trying to wipe out humanity.]]

* IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure: [[spoiler:He threatens to shoot Muskrat for Teresa's disobedience]].
* {{Jerkass}}: After Duarte slips into catatonia, he starts treating Teresa ''horribly''.

* EnergyBeings / StarfishAliens: They evolved from sea creatures that used bioluminescence to send signals. Each creature ended up acting like a neuron in a brain, with their collective communication being a greater intelligence than any single one of them, described as a "light that thinks". Over time, the light patterns grew complex enough and their technology advanced enough that they no longer needed organic bodies to propagate it. The propagated light patterns behaved like the neurons in a giant brain-like organism that spanned the galaxy. This made them easy prey for the consciousness-killing weapons.

* MeatMoss: When Miller returns to Eros, he finds it covered in the remains of the victims.

* HoistByTheirOwnPetard: Recreating Miller's consciousness really didn't work in its favor.

[[folder:Aliens '''(UNMARKED SPOILERS)''']]

* RealityWarper: Their technology can alter the fundamental laws of physics, chemistry, and biology.

* DeathSeeker: Thanks to his SanitySlippage.
** Even before that, he was clearly clinically depressed (which gets much worse after his partner makes clear to him that she was partnered with him as a ''punishment'' because his colleagues really think he's a washed-up laughing stock, and he finds out that he got the Julie Mao case because his superiours ''didn't'' want her found) as well as desperately lonlely (he starts the book constantly thinking "what would my ex-wife say now" and then transfers that to an imagined Julie). When Holden offers him a permanent place on the ''Rocinante'', Miller actually starts weeping in relief / gratitude. And then Holden kicks him out again, for being to brutal in his methods. This reader got the impression that Holden would have forgiven him, if he'd only apologized or explained his actions - but that Miller thought so little of himself at that point that he didn't even think to ask for a second chance or to properly explain his reasons for [[spoiler: point-blank shooting a dangerous psychopath, who would most likely have been allowed to continue his work, because the people in power are not nearly as nice and ethical as Holden thinks]]. Shortly after that, Miller decides to join the mission to Eros with no intention of coming back alive.

* FireForgedFriends: Averted. If anything, Miller and Holden like each other ''less'' by the end of ''Leviathan Wakes''. [[spoiler: Though after Miller's final HeroicSacrifice in ''Cibola Burn'', Holden regrets not having made an effort to mend the gap between them, and in ''Leviathan Falls'', he and Holden are joking around like old friends.]]

* HiveMind: Not only were they a hive mind, their tech can turn other organic races into hive minds as well.

* TheAssimilator: When it infects a human, it assimilates their consciousness. Most are stuck in a horrifying AndIMustScream scenario. It recreated Miller's consciousness as the Investigator in an attempt to discover what happened to the Gate Builders.

* ManipulativeBastard: It tries to talk Holden into following through with Duarte's AssimilationPlot. Unfortunately, it does so through Miller, who is just as willing to help Holden destroy the ring network for good.

In ''Leviathan Wakes'', it's revealed that Saturn's moon, Phoebe, isn't a moon at all - it's a giant chunk of frozen alien sludge. Initially appearing to be TheVirus, it turns out to be something much more powerful.