History Characters / ThiefTheDarkProject

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Reveals his true form to Garrett and leaves him for dead once Garrett brings him the artefact he was supposed to retrieve for him, as part of their contract. However, he displays a bit of BondVillainStupidity in underestimating Garrett's abilities (and good luck) with getting out of even such a life-threatening situation and surviving.

[[folder:Artemus]]
[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/artie_keeper.jpg]]

->'''Voiced by:''' Nate Wells

--> ''The Age of Darkness will be the child of two fathers... and their names are Ignorance and Fear.''
-->-- '''from the journal of Keeper Artemus'''

One of the Keeper Elders. Along with Garrett, the main recurring character of the series. Fittingly, he's also the second one to be introduced, mere seconds after the introduction of Garrett. Artemus brought Garrett into the Keeper order as a young boy and oversaw his education and stealth training until Garrett rebelled and left the order sometime after reaching adulthood. Despite their somewhat strained relationship, Artemus remains one of the few Keepers that Garrett is willing to trust and talk to even after having left the order.

* BigGood: As close as it gets to this trope, in terms of the setting's multitudes of flawed heroic characters. Even in a major crisis, he still tries to stay as calm and collected as possible, all the while helping or advising Garrett.
* CoolOldGuy: Though in his 50s or 60s and slowly greying, he remains an experienced scholar and one of the few people whose stealth abilities are on par with Garrett's (even among the ranks of the Keepers). During the first cutscene in ''The Dark Project'', he's at least two decades younger than in all later scenes, since the cutscene takes place during Garrett's childhood when him and Artemus meet for the first time.
* GentlemanSnarker: You never hear him laugh, but he does scoff with mild amusement in a few scenes throughout the series.
* GentlemanAndAScholar: One of his most distinctive personal traits, making him stand out even among other Keepers, where this trope is fairly commonplace.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: Despite their occasional familial bickering, Artemus is one of the few Keepers that Garrett fully respects as a friend and associate.
* MrExposition: One of his primary roles in the series, if he makes an appearance between missions (whether physically or in cutscenes). Taken to a logical extreme in ''The Dark Project'''s tutorial mission, which he narrates, gradually explaining the various stealth skills and equipment to Garrett, [[JustifiedTutorial then a young Keeper apprentice]].
* NoNameGiven: Played straight in the first two games. His name was eventually revealed in ''Deadly Shadows'', in which [[AscendedExtra he also plays a far more substantial role]] than in the two preceding installments.
* NonActionGuy: Almost ridiculously adept at StealthHiBye, but he's no warrior and genuinely avoids committing violence.
* OldMaster: To Garrett, being his mentor and teacher of Keeper knowledge and skills.
* ParentalSubstitute: The Alfred Pennyworth to Garrett's {{Franchise/Batman}}. The first game establishes the early years of their {{intergenerational friendship}}.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Wise, professional, self-sacrificing and well-meaning. During the epilogue cutscene of ''The Dark Project'', he tries to convince Garrett in a friendly manner that he needs the help of the Keepers just as much as they need and ''will need'' his.
* StealthHiBye: Most of his meetings with Garrett begin and end this way. It gets hilariously lampshaded several times in ''Deadly Shadows''.
* TheStoic: Even among the ranks of the Keepers, he is one of the best examples of this trope. While he has his moments of voicing concern or slight amusement, his style of speech sounds almost always matter-of-fact, delivered with deadpan seriousness.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Viktoria]]
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/250px-tg_cs06_08_8049.jpg]]

->'''Voiced by:''' Terri Brosius

A mysterious young woman with connections to a certain faction. Is eventually revealed to be part of the faction's highest leadership.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: She is highly polite and to-the-point in serious discussions, but whenever she shows her anger or powers, be afraid. She is legitimately terrifying and seriously powerful.
* BitCharacter: Until she became an AscendedExtra in ''The Metal Age''
* BrainyBrunette: While she shows signs of being [[HairTriggerTemper rather hot-headed in her decision making]], she's very intelligent and cunning, leading a certain organisation's agents in the City.
* DarkActionGirl: Represents an antagonistic version in ''The Dark Project'' and a more morally grey and borderline heroic version in ''The Metal Age''.
* DarkMistress: Maybe. It's never made clear.
* TheDragon: [[spoiler:To Constantine.]]
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Her guise while working undercover in The City during ''The Dark Project''.
* {{Expy}}: Think of her as [[Franchise/SherlockHolmes Irene Adler]], if Adler had nature-based superpowers. Some of her demeanour is also [[ShoutOut reminiscent of]] Rachael from ''Film/BladeRunner''.
* FemmeFatale: Somewhat present (but downplayed) in her characterization in ''The Dark Project''. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], because she's acting as an undercover agent of her faction and its leader.
* FullFrontalAssault: She removes her clothes right before [[spoiler: ripping out Garrett's eye.]]
* LateArrivalSpoiler: She's working for the main bad guy in ''The Dark Project''.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Accompanied with a rather soothing ([[{{Foreshadowing}} but slightly odd]]) [[https://youtu.be/bjDkRpDMuwk?t=1512 repeating riff]] when Garrett mentions her for the first time.
* MysteriousWoman: Counts overall, but especially while she is using her fake identity during ''The Dark Project''.
* OnlyOneName: Like all the [[spoiler:Pagan faction]] characters in the series.
* TheReveal: Both metaphorically and ''[[FetishRetardant literally]]'' when she and her boss reveal their true identities [[spoiler:to Garrett]] in ''The Dark Project''.
* SinisterSilhouettes: The way she's portrayed in cutscenes that show her whole body, especially during moments when she's using her powers.
* SlasherSmile: For a brief moment in ''The Dark Project'', shortly before the reveal of her true identity, [[NightmareFuel a close-up of her otherwise pretty face shows the most disturbing smile you can think of]].
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Occasionally spelt by some characters with a "c". Most of her appearances have her name spelt with a "k".
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: She disappears from the narrative of ''The Dark Project'' after the reveal of her true identity and only comes back as a major character in ''The Metal Age''.
[[/folder]]

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Reveals his true form to Garrett and leaves him for dead once Garrett brings him the artefact he was supposed to retrieve for him, as part of their contract. However, he displays a bit of BondVillainStupidity in underestimating Garrett's abilities (and good luck) with getting out of even such a life-threatening situation and surviving.

!!The Eye
[[quoteright:187:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_eye_thief_series_artefact_3271.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:187:''Comes a man to rescue me? Poor man...'']]

->'''Voiced by:''' Dan Thron

-> ''Welcome, thief. Now that you have obtained your prize, can you escape with your skin?''

* AffablyEvil: Its mannerisms, as seen in its chatter towards Garrett (and pretty much any other human that stumbles upon it).
* ArtifactOfDoom: At least in ''The Dark Project'', being SealedEvilInACan and responsible for the ruin behind the Wall. It eventually helps Garrett fulfill a more benevolent role in ''Deadly Shadows''.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Eye itself isn't really a typical ForTheEvulz character, and doesn't even seem to be willing to serve the various villains that would want to get ahold of it and misuse its power (Constantine, for instance, reacts to the false Eye screwing up his ritual with "It betrays me!" as though that had always been a possible outcome). If anything, The Eye primarily follows its own pragmatic interests, including self-preservation and messing with peoples' minds, and even muses that it thought humankind would take longer to abuse power than it did in ''Deadly Shadows''.
* TheBusCameBack: Makes a return appearance late in ''Deadly Shadows'', [[spoiler:when Garrett steals it again, this time from the Wieldstrom Museum.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Probably the only character in the series that manages to outsnark Garrett at times, usually by way of taunts directed at him. Amusingly subverted by the fact that Garrett doesn't give into The Eye's taunts and jabs, deliberately ignoring them.
* PutOnABus: Not seen or referenced in ''The Metal Age''.
* {{Troll}}: As we learn from an overheard conversation in ''Deadly Shadows'', it likes to speak up to unsuspecting guards [[spoiler:at the Wieldstrom Museum]], just to have fun by startling them. A piece of parchment in ''The Dark Project'' also makes reference to the Eye repeatedly teleporting itself over the Cathedral's altar whenever the Hammerites weren't looking, something which disturbed them greatly. Garrett isn't spared of The Eye's practical jokes either [[TemptingFate when he agrees to a contract to go find it and retrieve it]] in ''The Dark Project''.
* WalkingSpoiler
* YouCantThwartStageOne: A savvy player may have the idea to exit out the front door of the cathedral after swiping the Eye, which would bypass 90% of the level. If attempted, the Eye basically says "HaHaHaNo." and seals the front door, purely to make Garrett's (and the player's) life harder.
[[/folder]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Had he just kept his word and paid Garrett the agreed-upon sum for retrieving the Eye, [[NearVillainVictory he would have won]]. Instead, just to be a dick, he betrays Garrett and rips out his eye, leading directly to Garrett sabotaging his plans at the last possible second.

* PosthumousCharacter: Entirely, though he does speak once from beyond the grave.

* TheStoic: Even among the ranks of he Keepers, he is one of the best examples of this trope. While he has his moments of voicing concern or slight amusement, his style of speech sounds almost always matter-of-fact, delivered with deadpan seriousness.

** Several things in the very first conversation Constantine has with Garrett hint at things to come, such as the strange green ichor that seems to seep from the drink he offers Garrett, his probing question about (and undisguised antipathy towards) The Hammerites and Garret's possible loyalty to them, and his casual observation that Garrett may be needing his new sword later. This is disregarding the blatant AlienGeometries of Constantine's manor.

* YouCantThwartStageOne: A savvy player may have the idea to exit out the front door of the cathedral after swiping the Eye, which would bypass 90% of the level. If attempted, the Eye basically says "HaHaHaNo." and seals the front door, purely to make Garret's (and the player's) life harder.

* CoolOldGuy: Though in his 50s or 60s and slowly greying, he remains an experienced scholar and one of the few people who's stealth abilities are on par with Garrett's (even among the ranks of the Keepers). During the first cutscene in ''The Dark Project'', he's at least two decades younger than in all later scenes, since the cutscene takes place during Garrett's childhood when him and Artemus meet for the first time.

* PosthumousCharacter: You find his body in the [[spoiler:Bonehoard]], along with his diary Amusingly enough, he died not too far from the entrance area of the ancient tombs. Becomes a minor case of {{fridge horror}} as you press on forward through the mission with Garrett, realising how far Felix and his associates were from the [[{{Macguffin}} Horn of Quintus]] that they were looking for.

* WickedCultured: His behaviour and general cover while he is posing as [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob the wealthy]] and [[CollectorOfTheStrange eccentric art and artefact collector]] Constantine. During his first meeting with Garrett, [[InvokedTrope he even refers to himself almost verbatim]] as a ManOfWealthAndTaste.

* DeathByIrony: A trickster-god who is destroyed through the cunning trickery of the last man he played a cruel and lethal trick on. More specifically, [[spoiler: he's killed when his last victim swaps out the AtrifactOfDoom he spent half the game hunting down for him with a fake so that the ritual he'd been waiting decades to do literally blows up in his face]].

* DeathByIrony: A trickster-god who is destroyed through the cunning trickery of the last man he played a cruel and lethal trick on.

* BadBoss: Towards Garrett. Lets his true colors show after the master thief painstakingly retrieves The Eye. Considering he's paid many of the city's contractors and builders ''very handsome sums'' in raw gold ore to construct his mansion, showing his wealth is in its abundance, he never even paid Garrett a penny, has one of his eyes ''ripped out'' [[KickTheDog and worse, left him for dead]]. It is implied he did this to Garrett for being able to accomplish a feat that [[EvilIsPetty he could not]]. It's also subtly implied through character design that he transformed the hapless guards of his mansion into the army of psychotic ape-men he uses to terrorize the city.

* GrumpyBear

* GrumpyBear

* ShoutOut: She's another one of several references to ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', specifically Christine Daaé's adopted mother who [[AdaptedOut rarely appears in adaptations]].

* BadBoss: Towards [[spoiler: Garrett. Lets his true colors show after the master thief painstakingly retrieves The Eye. Considering he's paid many of the city's contractors and builders ''very handsome sums'' in raw gold ore to construct his mansion, showing his wealth is in its abundance, he never even paid Garrett a penny, has one of his eyes ''ripped out'' [[KickTheDog and worse, left him for dead]]. It is implied he did this to Garrett for being able to accomplish a feat that [[EvilIsPetty he could not]].]]

* TheCorrupter: He can use his magic to reshape buildings and terrain at will.
* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler: A [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Trickster]] god who is destroyed through the cunning trickery of the last man he played a lethal "trick" on, using a duplicate [[EnemyMine provided by]] the followers of a rival deity, of the very artifact that he stabbed the man in the back over.]]
* DrunkWithPower: He wants himself [[spoiler:and the Pagan faction]] to rule the world and hardly cares for those who'd stand in his way.

* EvilLuddite: [[spoiler: Linked directly to his EvilPlan]].
* EvilPlan: [[spoiler:To wipe out all urban and technological civilization and replace it with a return to the primordial, untamed chaoticness of wild nature.]]

** [[spoiler:A stylized and [[SinisterSilhouettes extremely creepy silhouette]] of The Trickster briefly appears in a lot of the cutscenes of the first game, prior to Constantine's [[TheReveal reveal of his true identity]]. This includes even bits of the game's intro cutscene, particularly its infamous DerangedAnimation finale.]]
** Several things in the very first conversation Constantine has with Garrett hint at things to come, such as [[spoiler: the strange green ichor that seems to seep from the drink he offers Garrett, his probing question about (and undisguised antipathy towards) The Hammerites and Garret's possible loyalty to them, and his casual observation that Garrett may be needing his new sword later. This is disregarding all the symbolic hints of Constantine's true identity throughout his newly constructed mansion, some of which is utterly ''impossible'' for even a bored noble to commission, such as the abyss room on the second floor, or parts where water stays in the ceiling and doesn't fall down.]]

* HumanoidAbomination: [[spoiler:''[[ShrugOfGod If it is his true form]]'', he looks like a rather monstrous version of a satyr. [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot A satyr that can wield all kinds of insanely powerful magic]].]]
* IHaveManyNames: [[spoiler:The Pagans call him by a wide range of various epithets and honorifics. The Woodsie Lord, the Honeymaker, and the Jacksberry are the most common among them.]]
* KarmicDeath: The all powerful and dreaded [[SatanicArchetype Trickster]] himself is outplayed and killed, his plans of unleashing a mighty chaotic army of nature beasts on the world ended when the ritual is turned against him, through the cunning trickery of the very lowly mortal thief he tried to betray and murder, with the help of the Hammerite followers of the Master Builder deity he despised as a rival.
* KickTheDog: [[spoiler: He allows Viktoria to pluck out Garrett's eye, leaves him for dead, and doesn't pay Garrett a cent of what he owes him. This is after the game makes it very explicitly clear that The Trickster most certainly ''does'' have the money to just pay Garrett off.]]

* OutsideContextProblem: Part of the reason why it is so believable Garrett never suspects his true nature (in addition to Garrett's naturally skeptical nature, his desire for the [[{{Greed}} tidy sum]] Constantine promises him, and maybe the slightest bit of [[{{Pride}} arrogance]] on Garrett's part) is that, well, would ''you'' really ever come to suspect your mysterious employer is really [[spoiler: ''Satan?'']] In a way [[GenreBlindness Garrett seemed to believe]] himself in a FilmNoir, when he was really in a horror story.

* SatanicArchetype: [[spoiler:The Hammerites, being a CrystalDragonJesus medieval church that opposes the Pagans, consider the Trickster to be the embodiment of evil, chaos and corruption, making him the Thiefverse's equivalent of Satan. Furthermore, many of the nature spirits in the Thiefverse take inspiration from Myth/ClassicalMythology, with the creepiness ramped up -- in this case, the Trickster's physical form is that of [[FaunsAndSatyrs a satyr]], which happened to be a source of inspiration for depictions of the Devil during the Late Middle Ages.]]

* ShroudedInMyth: It's left rather ambiguous whether he really ''is'' [[spoiler:the god worshipped by the Pagans]] or whether he's just [[spoiler:a very powerful and cunning sorcerer who invented the whole myth of the Trickster as a GodGuise to manipulate the Pagans to his own ends]]. There are certain hints that he might have had something to do with the destruction of Karath Din, the Lost City. In the third game, the newly encountered Kurshok are revealed to be victims of his revenge, which cost them the collapse of their once advanced civilization. Given the similarities with the fate of the Lost City, there might be a connection between the two events. However, it remains an unsolved question, leaving [[spoiler:the Trickster]] the most mysterious of all the series' villains.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: In the last level of the game, once he spots you -- which renders the mission unwinnable anyway -- he will use a variety of powerful attacks against you, including launching fireballs, insect swarms, webs, summoning monsters[[note]]with the [=NewDark=] fan patch only[[/note]]... ''and'' just in case that weren't enough, your health will begin unavoidably dropping at an increasingly faster rate. All to rub it in that you'd have ''no'' chance whatsoever against him, if it weren't for your uncanny stealth abilities.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: He is annoyed by the rise of technological civilization, considering it an affront to the sense of wonder and proximity to nature that humanity once supposedly had, prior to learning how to tame nature.

!! Armed thieves and thieves' guild guards

->'''Voiced by:''' Michael Romatelli, Mike Chrzanowski

* PatrollingMook

* PatrollingMook

!!Other Characters

[[folder:The Keepers]]

!! Artemus

!!Keeper instructors

[[folder:Hammerites (The Order of the Hammer)]]
!!Brother Murus

* ThePollyanna: He is very cheerful and polite throughout his conversations with Garrett, despite his soul having to suffer alone in spiritual limbo for so many years.

!!Brother Renault

!!Brother Martello

[[folder:Other Characters]]

!! Viktoria