Line #14 Characters/DollhouseMainCharacters


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3	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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6	[[foldercontrol]]
7
8	!Main Characters
9
10	[[folder:Echo]]
11	!!Echo (Caroline Farrell)
12	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/echo_6376.jpg]]
13	[[caption-width-right:350:''"I have 38 brains, and not one of them thinks you can sign a contract to be a slave."'']]
14	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/ElizaDushku
15
16	One of the Los Angeles Dollhouse's most popular dolls. Echo has begun to develop self-awareness independent of her original personality.
17	----
18	* ActionGirl: A frequent imprint, and a defining trait of her integrated personality.
19	* ActionSurvivor: When not imprinted with combat skills she's still dangerous.
20	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Caroline wanted to do 'everything'. Well, it happened for her.
21	* BigSisterInstinct: To Sierra.
22	* BlessedWithSuck (or CursedWithAwesome, depending on the point of view): The emotional isolation of Echo's ability to retain imprints and to be anyone imposed on her, especially how it prevents her from opening her heart fully to [[spoiler:Paul Ballard until after he dies in battle. Near the end of his life, Paul tells her, "A hundred personalities, and you're the loneliest person I know."]]
23	%%* ChronicHeroSyndrome
24	* CoolBigSis: Acts like one to Sierra, and used to be one for Bennett.
25	* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: At some points in the series.
26	* GranolaGirl: Her original personality as Caroline.
27	* HeartbrokenBadass: After [[spoiler:Paul is killed.]]
28	* HoneyTrap: In "Vows", while helping Ballard catch a weapons trafficer.
29	* HeroicSacrifice: The one Caroline made for Bennett Halverson led to her becoming a Doll.
30	* MagneticHero: [[DiscussedTrope Specifically cited]] by Bennett for her ability to get people to obsess over her or do what she wants even after her mind-wiping.
31	* ManySpiritsInsideOfOne: After Alpha dumps all of her previous imprints into her head.
32	* MeaningfulName: She's one of the few Dolls who remembers fragments of her previous personality- perhaps we could call them [[{{Pun}} echoes?]]
33	* MsFanservice: Her other most common imprint.
34	* ObfuscatingStupidity: Once she becomes self-aware.
35	* SpoiledBrat: Even Creator/ElizaDushku agrees Caroline is this.
36	%%* TookALevelInBadass
37	%%* WaifFu
38	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Her original personality. She really just wanted to stop Rossum, even before she knew they were doing worse than animal testing. Even leaving an injured Bennett was because Caroline thought Bennett would be viewed as merely a victim and not a traitor if she did.
39	* WideEyedIdealist: Her original personality.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Sierra]]
43	!!Sierra (Priya Tsetsang)
44	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sierra_3906.jpg]]
45	[[caption-width-right:350:''"I love him so much more than I hate you."'']]
46	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/DichenLachman
47
48	One of the newest additions to the Dollhouse. Formerly an Australian artist named Priya. The Dollhouse believes they helped her; five years of service in return for curing her severe paranoid schizophrenia. [[spoiler:In reality, a high ranking Rossum employee drugged her into psychosis after she rejected his advances, sent her to the House, and rented out her services regularly. She eventually gets her payback.]]
49	----
50	* ActionGirl: As with Echo, this is a frequent imprint.
51	* ActionSurvivor: As Priya.
52	* AmnesiacLover: No matter what she is imprinted with, she loves Victor.
53	* BreakTheCutie: Broken before the Dollhouse, and then ''again'' as a Doll when [[spoiler:she is repeatedly raped by her original handler]].
54	%%* {{Determinator}}
55	* MsFanservice: In her unimprinted state.
56	* LoveAtFirstSight: When she first meets Victor/Anthony and he is imprinted as an Italian art dealer, she is drawn to him, and almost leaves with him before Nolan intercepts her.
57	* OfficialCouple: [[spoiler:With Victor.]]
58	* ShipTease: Between her and Victor.
59	%%* TookALevelInBadass
60	* TraumaCongaLine: Because rich, spurned, would-be lover Nolan won't take no for an answer, he [[spoiler: committs her to a mental institution, that he runs, where she is drugged into insanity and her truthful claims that she wasn't crazy before going in are ignored, probably because everyone says that.]] Then, he presumably contacts the Dollhouse (or has a employee do it). [[spoiler: Priya is made into Active Sierra without her consent.]] Then she is [[spoiler: raped by her handler while in Doll state]]. It...goes on like that.
61	%%* WaifFu
62	* WrongfullyCommitted: She was in a psychiatric ward being treated for paranoid schizophrenia when the Dollhouse recruited her, the imprinting process being intended as a way of curing her. [[spoiler:It's eventually discovered that she was never schizophrenic at all. Nolan Kinnard had her committed under false pretenses and then arranged for her being brought to the Dollhouse.]]
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Victor]]
66	!!Victor (Anthony Ceccoli)
67	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/victor1_7593.jpg]]
68	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/EnverGjokaj
69
70	One of the most popular male dolls of the Dollhouse. His love for Sierra survives even in his unimprinted state. [[spoiler: Formerly Tony, an Iraq war veteran who was recruited after The Dollhouse promised to cure his PTSD.]]
71	----
72	* AmnesiacLover: Is still attracted to Sierra even when in the blank slate mode between engagements when dolls have no sense of self.
73	%%* DeadpanSnarker
74	* HiveMind: Operation Mindwhisper.
75	%%* MrFanservice
76	* LoveAtFirstSight: Before Priya/Sierra (Prierra, perhaps?) is a Doll, wealthy Dollhouse customer, Nolan, hires Victor imprinted as an Italian art dealer to lend credibility to an art showing of a piece he commissioned from Priya. His plan backfires, however, when Victor and Priya hit it off.
77	* OfficialCouple: [[spoiler:With Sierra.]]
78	* OohMeAccentsSlipping: A notable aversion. Victor is frequently imprinted with personalities of various foreign nationalities just for the sake of giving Enver Gjokaj the chance to show off how good he is at doing different accents.
79	* ScarsAreForever: Averted. They're [[LampshadeHanging notably]] gone by "Vows" (2x01).
80	* ShellShockedVeteran: He originally entered the Dollhouse to be cured of his post-traumatic stress disorder.
81	* ShipTease: Between him and Sierra. [[spoiler:Eventually promoted to OfficialCouple.]]
82	%%* ShirtlessScene
83	* SuperSoldier: Rossum has a mind-linked band of these as their independent contractors. Tony is recruited to be one.
84	[[/folder]]
85
86	[[folder:Adelle DeWitt]]
87	!!Adelle [=DeWitt=]
88	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dewitt_adelle_4453.jpg]]
89	[[caption-width-right:350:''"Illusions aren't worthless. They're at the heart of most relationships."'']]
90	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/OliviaWilliams
91
92	The Dollhouse's 'madam,' in charge of the Los Angeles branch. Outwardly cool, stoic and very British, in her private moments she has revealed a melancholy and loneliness she would die rather than show to her employees.
93	----
94	* TheAlcoholic: Lost total control of her drinking during season 2.
95	* AntiVillain: She is entirely alright with wiping people's minds and sending ''misbehaving'' Dolls or employees to the infamous attic, she also believes she is helping both the Active (a damaged, depressed, down on their luck, etc. person give up five years for care and wealth in the end. Their original personality doesn't even realise any time has passed!) and the client (the often lonely individual gets to fulfill their bizarrest, most secret fantasy). She also truly seems to care for the Actives in her house.
96	* BatmanGambit: Pretty much her whole role in "The Attic."
97	* BrokenBird: Adelle has nobody in her life that she can truly confess her feelings to, instead using a doll as the closest thing she has to 'company'.
98	* TheChessmaster: Easily the biggest one in the show. "I played a bad hand well", indeed.
99	* DrowningMySorrows: Adelle reacts to harsh circumstances by pouring herself a drink, and she finds herself increasingly doing this as the show progresses.
100	* EatingTheEyecandy: [[spoiler: Has a rather brazen crush on Victor, as the trope below explains. Even after she permanently calls off the Ms. Lonelyhearts engagements, she still ogles Victor at the Dollhouse now and again.]]
101	* [[EmbarrassingNickname Embarrassing]] [[DarkSecret Secret]]: [[spoiler:She is in fact the infamous Victor repeat-customer, Ms. Lonelyhearts. When a character discovers it, the reactions range anywhere from contempt, to confusion, to even [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments hilarity]] - especially considering that everyone is under the impression that Ms. Lonelyhearts is a creaky old woman in a walker.]] While most of the other characters play this up for laughs, [[{{Tearjerker}} she herself is utterly ashamed and pathetic in the face of it.]]
102	* EvenEvilHasStandards: In "Belonging" of the misogynistic Nolan:
103	--> You're a rapist scumbag just one tick short of a murderer. I've forgotten, do you take sugar with your tea?
104	%%* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor
105	* IAmVeryBritish: TropeNamer. She doesn't say hard 'r's.
106	* KickTheDog: In both "Meet Jane Doe" and "A Love Supreme" .
107	* LadyDrunk: Due to her tendency to indulge in DrowningMySorrows.
108	* LonelyAtTheTop: Due to her job demanding both complete secrecy and utter ruthlessness, she's unimaginably lonely. She tries to have a secret sexual relationship with [[spoiler:Victor as the infamous repeat client Ms. Lonelyhearts]], but it just ends up making her even more depressed and miserable. Not helped at all by the fact that most of the Dollhouse staff makes fun of her for it (without realizing it's her). This is later rectified as she establishes a motherly bond with Topher.
109	* MadeOfIron: The woman takes a bullet right in the gut, and ignores it completely to finish what she was doing before getting treatment.
110	* MamaBear: Toward the Actives in general and, eventually, toward Topher.
111	* ManipulativeBitch: She's got everyone under her thumb.
112	* MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: Easily the most dangerous character in the show.
113	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:A minor one alongside Topher, when she realises what they inadvertently did to Priya.]]
114	-->[[spoiler:"You have made me an accomplice in something vile... and it ends now."]]
115	* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: Always true but specifically demonstrated when [[spoiler:she breaks with Rossum in "Epitaph One".]]
116	* TheStoic: She took a bullet during [[spoiler:Dominic's]] mind-wiping and refused treatment until it was over.
117	%%* SugarAndIcePersonality
118	* TookALevelInJerkass: Becomes much harsher, colder, and pettier after her DespairEventHorizon in season 1, and she was already not the cuddliest person in the House.
119	* XanatosSpeedChess: To quote the woman herself, any good battle plan must be fluid.
120	-->'''Dominic:''' You played a good hand, ma'am.\
121	'''Adelle:''' I played a bad hand very well. There is a distinction.
122	[[/folder]]
123
124	[[folder:Boyd Langton]]
125	!!Boyd Langton
126	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/langton_boyd_7600.jpg]]
127	[[caption-width-right:350:''"We're pimps and killers, but in a philanthropic way."'']]
128	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/HarryLennix
129
130	Echo's gruff but kind handler. An ex-cop, he has serious reservations about the work the Dollhouse does, yet constantly shows unswerving loyalty to Echo. Acts as the moral lodestone of the Dollhouse. Later promoted to head of security.
131	----
132	* AffablyEvil: [[spoiler:He's genuinely polite, kind and charming even while manipulating people to his own ends. He genuinely cares about all of the team and considers them "his family". Even when his cover is blown, he never loses his manners.]]
133	%%* BaitTheDog
134	* BigBadFriend: Boyd turns out to be the [[spoiler:head of Rossum]].
135	* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler:The mysterious founder of Rossum Corporation had been hanging out in the LA Dollhouse for two whole seasons, right in front of the viewers faces.]]
136	%%* CorruptCorporateExecutive
137	* DeadpanSnarker: Not as much as Topher, but definitely has his moments - his quips make him come across as the OnlySaneMan. [[spoiler:Funny in that he's ''far'' from it - even lampshaded by Topher.]]
138	* DoUntoOthersBeforeTheyDoUntoUs: [[spoiler:He is afraid of imprinting technology bringing about the end of civilization... so he plans on controlling all imprinting technology so that he can cause that apocalypse himself and control the remnants of civilization. Crosses over into StartXToStopX.]]
139	* EvilAllAlong: He's been the [[spoiler: head of the Rossum corporation]] all along. Even before the events of the show.
140	* TheHandler: His official job in the Dollhouse is being Echo's handler. He's later upgraded to Chief of Security and essentially becomes everybody's handler.
141	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Is turned into a Doll in his last moments, willingly and ignorantly blowing himself up with an innocent smile.]]
142	* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Of the ActionBomb variety.]]
143	%%* KnightInSourArmor
144	* LargeAndInCharge: He's the tallest of the cast at 6"4" and revealed as [[spoiler:the head of Rossum]].
145	* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:He was the head of Rossum the entire time.]]
146	%%* ManipulativeBastard
147	* MoralityChain: He serves as this to Adelle. Or at least he tries. [[spoiler:Or so it seems.]]
148	* PapaWolf: In regards to Echo.
149	%%* RevolversAreJustBetter
150	* TrueCompanions: "You're my family. I love you guys." [[spoiler: Has ''way'' darker undertones when the team learns what this really means (that he wants to safeguard them, and only them, against [[MindControlDevice remote imprinting technology]]) and how batshit insane he is.]]
151	* WalkingSpoiler: Due to TheReveal [[spoiler: that he is in fact the head of the Rossum Corporation]], he becomes very hard to talk about.
152	* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:He believes that the imprinting technology will inevitably bring about the end of civilization, and he is (in his own twisted way) attempting to safeguard the people he cares about through it by using [[TheImmune Echo]]'s [[HumanResources cerebrospinal fluid]] to create a vaccine for them.]]
153	[[/folder]]
154
155	[[folder:Topher Brink]]
156	!!Topher Brink
157	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brink_topher_110.jpg]]
158	[[caption-width-right:350:''"If I think I can figure things out, is that curiosity or arrogance?"'']]
159	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/FranKranz
160
161	The Los Angeles Dollhouse's genius head programmer. He creates and implants the personalities used by the actives, but has little regard for the morality of what he is doing... at first.
162	----
163	* AffablyEvil: He's actually a very fun person to be around. He just happens to be a sociopath with no morals whatsoever.
164	* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: After realizing he unintentionally caused the Apocalypse.]]
165	* BunnyEarsLawyer: He requires a trampoline and a fridge to agree to work for the Dollhouse.
166	* CharacterDevelopment: At first, he only cares about doing things ForScience and doesn't care how his technology is used. As the series goes on, he becomes increasingly disillusioned with Rossum's work and becomes more empathetic, if still rather full of himself.
167	* DatingCatwoman: With Bennett.
168	* DeadpanSnarker: Odds are 9 to 1 if there's a dry quip to made in any situation, it'll come from Topher.
169	* EvenEvilHasStandards:
170	** Topher is horrified when he discovers what really happened to [[spoiler:Priya and refuses to allow Sierra to be given over to Nolan permanently.]]
171	** He also had serious reservations about imprinting a batshit insane serial killer onto an active simply because his Uncle was a favored repeat customer.
172	--->'''Topher''': Certain enough that I have serious ethical problems trying to wake him up.
173	--->'''Boyd''': ''Topher'' has ethical problems. ({{Beat}}) '''''Topher'''''.
174	--->'''Topher''': Heh. ...Way to land it.
175	** He also becomes livid after Adelle sells his remote-imprint tech to Rossum in exchange for regaining control of her house, knowing full well it could end the world.
176	* GoMadFromTheRevelation: [[spoiler:In "Epitaph One," he's gone mad from the realization he might be responsible for the end of the world. Might have been helped by Bennett's murder having clearly traumatized him.]]
177	* ForScience: This appears to be his primary motivation.
178	%%* HeelRealization
179	%%* HeelFaceTurn
180	* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler:After Bennett is killed right in front of him. He has a milder one earlier after helping kill and dismember the doctor who made Priya into a Doll.]]
181	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:In "Epitaph Two: Return," he restores the minds of everyone that has been imprinted with a pulse that kills him when activated.]]
182	* InsufferableGenius:
183	-->"Of the two people here, one of us is a genius, and the other is a security guard in a very lovely suit."
184	* {{Jerkass}}: In first season, gradually evolving into JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
185	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's still a bit of a prick in the second season, but he also has a lot more humanizing moments and a stronger conscience.
186	* LackOfEmpathy: His defining trait, that is until CharacterDevelopment sets in.
187	* LonelyAtTheTop: Due to the nature of his work (and possibly because of a general lack of morality), Topher is an incredibly lonely guy. Adelle realizes this, and to make sure he doesn't go crazy from it lets him imprint an active into a friend once a year (on his birthday). Later in season 2, this trope is largely averted as he grows closer to Echo, Boyd and Ballard.
188	* MadScientist: His technological advances brought about the thoughtpocalypse, after all.
189	* ManChild: In both positive and negative senses. He's playful and fun-loving in a childlike way, and on occasions when he's given an Active to play with, he only uses them for platonic play. On the other hand up until late in the show's run, he's never had to think about the consequences of his actions or deal with the morality of working for a place like the Dollhouse.
190	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
191	** [[spoiler:By "Epitaph One", due to his role in creating the tech.]]
192	** He has a smaller-scale one earlier when he realises that, [[spoiler:instead of helping Priya by curing her psychosis, he was complicit in her enslavement and rape.]]
193	* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: A computer expert ''and'' neuroscientist. Though both are essential for his job.
194	** Computational neuroscience and neuroinformatics are [[TruthInTelevision actual]] sub-fields that pretty much have those as the basic requirements.
195	* SanitySlippage: Throughout Season 2, he suffers one trauma after another. [[spoiler:It culminates with Bennett's death and he completely snaps, regressing to a child-like state. Not helped at all with Rossum mentally torturing him by killing people and forcing him to watch every day for ten years.]]
196	* PetTheDog: Intentionally treats his assistant like shit so she doesn't end up as messed up as he is. This no longer becomes necessary after they learn of Rossum's plans and the LA House goes rogue.
197	* PsychopathicManchild: Type C, especially in season one. He's like a big very intelligent kid who does not care about right or wrong who performs [[MindRape Mind Rapes]] for a living. In some ways this makes him seem less threatening than some other type C's.
198	** The juice boxes and trampoline also help.
199	* TechBro: The young and casual Topher Brink created most of the technology that fuels Rossum's shadow empire, but he is so immature and amoral that he programmed one of the Actives to regularly scold him so that he doesn't get too arrogant.
200	* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: He has a phobia of rats.
201	* WouldHitAGirl: Knocks Bennett out when he discovers her duplicity.
202	[[/folder]]
203
204	[[folder:Paul Ballard]]
205	!!Paul Ballard
206	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ballard_paul_7087.jpg]]
207	[[caption-width-right:350:''"The Dollhouse is real!"'']]
208	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/TahmohPenikett
209
210	FBI agent striving to investigate the truth about The Dollhouse, a job described as "the nicest version of fired the bureau has." Like Alpha, he has developed an unhealthy obsession with Echo/Caroline, but you know, a less slashy one.
211	----
212	* AgentMulder: In Season One. He is obsessed with finding and exposing the Dollhouse, and his fellow FBI agents, believing the very idea of such a place to be an urban legend, think him a nutjob for it.
213	* BadassInANiceSuit: Wears one both as an FBI agent and as Echo's handler.
214	%%* BoomHeadshot
215	* CharacterDevelopment: Starts in 1x06, when he begins to realize the BlackAndWhiteMorality lens he's been viewing the Dollhouse through is [[GreyAndGrayMorality somewhat inappropriate]].
216	* CowboyCop: If the urban legend-y subject of his investigation didn't alienate him from his fellow agents already, his tactics of badgering witnesses and interfering in other investigations to try and find information on the Dollhouse sure did.
217	* {{Determinator}}: Even after being suspended from the FBI, he still sneaks in to convince a coworker to run prints and pictures for him in his quest for the Dollhouse.
218	%%* {{Deuteragonist}}
219	%%* TheDulcineaEffect
220	* TheHandler: Becomes Echo's handler in Season Two.
221	%%* HeroAntagonist: In the first season.
222	* IdiotHero: For an FBI agent, he seems hopelessly ignorant of proper procedure and constantly goes into situations without preparation or backup. Of course, it's more that no one in the FBI would ''be'' his backup or follow the leads he does. Fittingly, his career comes to an end only halfway into the first season.
223	* KnightInSourArmor: Especially after he starts working for the Dollhouse in season two.
224	* MrFanservice: This guy finds shirts mostly unnecessary, especially in his own home. And in his own dreams. At one point when Topher is installing Active architecture to restore him from brain death and Victor is in the Attic, [=DeWitt=] suggests that Ballard could replace him.
225	%%* NiceGuy
226	%%* OnlySaneMan
227	* ReassignedToAntarctica: It's implied that assignment to the FBI's Dollhouse investigation was intended as either a punishment or a place to stick an incompetent agent where they could do minimal harm.
228	* SurprisinglySuddenDeath
229	* WrongGenreSavvy: He gets over it.
230	[[/folder]]

Context Characters / DollhouseMainCharacters