| 1 | [[center: [-[[Characters/LifeIsStrange Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeTheProtagonists The Protagonists]] ([[Characters/LifeIsStrangeMaxCaulfield Max Caulfield]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeChloePrice Chloe Price]]) | '''The Main Characters''' | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeOtherBlackwellStudents Other Blackwell Students]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeBlackwellFaculty Blackwell Faculty]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeArcadiaBayResidents Arcadia Bay Residents]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrange2 Season 2 Characters]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeHavenSpringsResidents Haven Springs Residents]] | [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeComicSupportingCharacters Comic Supporting Characters]]]]-] |
| 2 | ---- |
| 3 | |
| 4 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 5 | |
| 6 | |
| 7 | !!Season 1 |
| 8 | |
| 9 | [[folder:Rachel Amber]] |
| 10 | !!'''Click [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeTheProtagonists here]] for Rachel's page.''' |
| 11 | [[/folder]] |
| 12 | |
| 13 | [[folder:Mark Jefferson ('''SPOILERS UNMARKED''')]] |
| 14 | !!Mark Jefferson |
| 15 | [[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/216ec8bde744f8eb453cabc5243146ec.jpg]] |
| 16 | [[caption-width-right:250:Always take the shot.]] |
| 17 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/DerekPhillips (English), Masahiro Yamanaka (Japanese) |
| 18 | |
| 19 | A highly reputable and somewhat famous photography teacher at Blackwell, admired by many of his students, who has a very dark and disturbing side to him. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | '''Jefferson's role as a HiddenVillain makes him a WalkingSpoiler. Therefore, ''all spoilers will be unmarked.'' Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!''' |
| 22 | ---- |
| 23 | * AbusiveDad: As a ParentalSubstitute to Nathan, he is verbally and emotionally abusive, and even kills him once he has [[YouHaveOutLivedYourUsefulness no further use for him]]. |
| 24 | * AccidentalHero: If Arcadia Bay was sacrificed to the storm, in the sequel, Victoria bitterly notes in a letter to David how he effectively saved her life by throwing her in his underground Dark Room, which was originally built as a storm shelter and allowed her to ride out the hurricane in safety. |
| 25 | * AchievementsInIgnorance: Despite having no knowledge of Max's powers, he still comes extremely close to killing her by unknowingly nullifying her methods. He renders Max unable to use her time travel powers by drugging her from behind, and later prevents Max from using her photos to travel back in time again by burning her journal. |
| 26 | * AnimalMotifs: Owls can be seen both in the barn where the Dark Room is situated, and in the junkyard, just before he gets the jump on Chloe and Max. Owls usually symbolise wisdom and knowledge as well the ability to see beyond the usual, fitting Jefferson's occupation as a photographer and teacher (and his glasses further this image). They are also nocturnal predators who blend in with their surroundings, reflecting him using his charisma to fit in with everybody while moonlighting as a serial kidnapper and preying on teenage girls to sate his sadistic desires. |
| 27 | * ArchEnemy: He cements himself as Max's after kidnapping her and killing Chloe in front of her. On the flipside, Max is responsible for his downfall in every timeline where they meet. |
| 28 | * AssholeVictim: Jefferson is a remorseless murderer. If David kills him, Max is only upset because of [[HeroicBSOD David's mental state]] rather than the fact that Jefferson is dead. |
| 29 | * AxCrazy: Once his true colors are revealed, Jefferson shows himself to be a batshit insane psychopath who kidnaps and drugs teenage girls to take photographs of them in a vulnerable state. He can also show violent outbursts if Max messes up his shots, and kills Nathan, Victoria, Chloe and David in cold blood (and the last two are ''on-screen''). |
| 30 | * BadassBookworm: He's surprisingly skilled at fighting for a photographer. David will require a lot of help from Max to defeat him. |
| 31 | * BadassInANiceSuit: He wears a nice suit while fighting David. |
| 32 | * BackFromTheDead: His potential death at the hands of David is undone once Max goes back in time to prevent Chloe from going to the Vortex Club party. He's shown being arrested prior to the climax at the lighthouse; where that leaves him in the "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending, after the storm destroys the town, is unknown, [[spoiler: although since both David and Victoria survive the storm, it's likely that he did as well]]. He's clearly alive in the "Sacrifice Chloe" ending, which resets the timeline. |
| 33 | * BadBoss: He killed Nathan shortly before Episode 5 because the boy was an "amateur", as Jefferson himself put it, and that's not counting how coldly he treats Nathan as seen in his texts and notes to him. |
| 34 | * BeardOfEvil: Sports a goatee and is the one behind a good deal of Blackwell's troubles. |
| 35 | -->'''David's Laptop Note''': Never trust a grown man with a goatee. |
| 36 | * BerserkButton: Destroying perfectly good photos. He positively ''explodes'' when Max ruins his shots while he's trying to take photos of her. When Max goes back in time and destroys the photo that would have won her the Everyday Heroes Award, he's pissed off enough to burn her journal. |
| 37 | * BigBad: Episode 5 reveals that he kidnapped and drugged Kate, and at least planned to do the same to Rachel. He murders Chloe and drugs Max at the end of Episode 4, possibly murders Victoria in the beginning of Episode 5 (if she was successfully warned by Max) and murders Nathan before the Vortex Party. |
| 38 | * BitchInSheepsClothing: At first glance, he's a pretty cool guy, often being friendly and kind to his students and generally being a swell guy to be around. Then he resorts to victim blaming on the whole Kate situation in Episode 2. He's also going around drugging girls and taking disturbing photographs of them, and he has been doing so for God knows how long. He also drugs Max, shoots Chloe in the head at the end of Episode 4, murders Nathan and possibly Victoria. |
| 39 | * BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord: If Max says he used Nathan, he says he prefers the term "manipulated". |
| 40 | * BoomHeadshot: |
| 41 | ** He kills Chloe by shooting her in the head at the end of Episode 4. |
| 42 | ** If Max tells David the truth that Jefferson murdered Chloe, David will snap and execute Jefferson with a headshot. |
| 43 | * BourgeoisBohemian: He's a renowned photographer who holds a prestigious teaching position and, it's implied, has made quite a bit of money over the years. But like many artists, he places a great emphasis on counter-cultural values such as nonconformity, freedom of expression, and self-discovery. David Madsen is extremely suspicious of his hipster lifestyle. With good reason, as it turns out, since Jefferson's liberal exterior hides a predatory and narcissistic personality. |
| 44 | * BoundAndGagged: How he likes his "subjects." Once he's caught, he finds himself on the receiving end of this. |
| 45 | * BreakTheCutie: Jefferson's motive. He enjoys kidnapping naive, innocent, idealistic girls and taking photos of them while they're in shock, fear, and misery losing their innocence. By the end of Episode 4, it's revealed he's taken it up a notch to KillTheCutie and kidnap TheCutie later. |
| 46 | * BrokenPedestal: Jefferson was the "biggest reason" Max came to Blackwell, and she viewed him with the utmost admiration and respect. That is, until the end of episode 4 came. |
| 47 | * TheCameo: He’s in talks to teach at Blackwell in a radio interview during Episode 2 of ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm'' and is quite possibly the one taking pictures of Rachel in the Dark Room during TheStinger of Episode 3. A photography book by him can also be found in ''VideoGame/TheAwesomeAdventuresOfCaptainSpirit'', and he is name-dropped by Victoria in a letter to David in ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2'' if Sacrifice Arcadia Bay was chosen. |
| 48 | * CameraFiend: A [[PlayedForHorror particularly dark example]]. He's a renowned and famous photographer who moonlights as a maniacal MadArtist who kidnaps girls for his illegal and unconsenting photo-shoots. |
| 49 | * ControlFreak: Why he forces his victims to pose for him. If they move even slightly, he flips out and swears. This is the trait that cements his obsession with the intersection of the girls' innocence as purely sadistic rather than benignly or even morbidly curious. |
| 50 | * CoolTeacher: Friendly, good sense of humor, and genuinely wants to help his students. Max thinks he can be a bit pretentious, but still thinks he means well. His less endearing side starts to show in Episode 2, as he engages in a bit of UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming with Kate, which is one of the factors that nearly drives her to suicide. Max can actually call him on it during the meeting with the principal later, though his punishment is light compared to what can befall Nathan and David. Then comes TheReveal, which turns it on its head. |
| 51 | * TheCorrupter: |
| 52 | ** Directly, to Nathan Prescott. Although Nathan was already showing a lot of dark and disturbing traits even before the whole Dark Room thing, it was Jefferson who encouraged his worst traits and convincing him to assist him in his operation. |
| 53 | ** Indirectly, to the people of Arcadia Bay in general. Looking at the profiles of Rachel Amber, Chloe Price, Max Caulfield, Kate Marsh, Frank Bowers, and Joyce and David Madsen alone are a case study in the toxic effect that his operation, with Nathan as his accomplice, has had on the people around him, whether through direct suffering and traums inflicted (in some cases up to and including death) or through indirectly straining their relationships and interactions with one another. |
| 54 | * CountryMatters: Jefferson says a C-word when he's dealing with Max's defiance. |
| 55 | * CreepyHighPitchedVoice: He speaks in a distinctly higher register when he's acting out his vices in front of a drugged Max. This is in contrast to how he normally speaks in a calm, smooth tenor. |
| 56 | * CreepySouvenir: Keeps Chloe's necklace and Victoria's bracelet after he kills them in Episode 5. |
| 57 | * DeadpanSnarker: He makes snide comments regarding students that annoy him. |
| 58 | * DeathGlare: After shooting Chloe in the junkyard, he stares down at Max with contempt. |
| 59 | * DevilInPlainSight: Max's seemingly CoolTeacher is the real villain. |
| 60 | * DidntSeeThatComing: He's genuinely shocked that Max knew David was coming to rescue her, which of course she did because of her rewind powers. |
| 61 | * DirtyCoward: Not too obvious, but it's there. As mentioned down below in {{Hypocrite}}, he makes a run for the gun during his brawl with David despite basically calling him ball-less without it. And overall, he only goes after innocent young girls who are totally powerless and won't stand much of a chance struggling. |
| 62 | * TheDogWasTheMastermind: While the hints of his true nature are littered in crumbs throughout the game, they're done so cleverly well that only players carefully studying everything characters say and do would have any real reason to think he's anything but a kindly hipster photography teacher until shortly before TheReveal. |
| 63 | * {{Ephebophile}}: It's possible. There's rumors that he and Rachel slept together at some point (which he doesn't deny, claiming that she was in love with him) and all his known victims are (barely) 18 years old. While there's no evidence he did anything sexual to them, his obsession with the innocence of teenage girls hints towards this. In ''VideoGame/TheAwesomeAdventuresOfCaptainSpirit'', Chris can spot a collection of his legitimate work entitled ''Teen Spirit'', which indicates that his preference for younger models goes back a long way. |
| 64 | * EvilAllAlong: He first came off as a CoolTeacher, though he later turned out to be an utterly unhinged MadArtist, kidnapper, and murderer. |
| 65 | * EvilCannotComprehendGood: |
| 66 | ** Jefferson mentions that he knows Max will be missed once he kills her... because she's such a talented photographer. He doubts anyone would mourn Chloe, on the other hand, because she's one of the "faux punk sluts" he despises. |
| 67 | ** Max can call him out for not actually caring about Nathan. Jefferson argues against this, as he thought he was genuinely talented. He fails to realize that Max was referring to caring about Nathan as a person, not an artist. |
| 68 | * EvilCostumeSwitch: A subtle example. In Episode 4, where his true colors are revealed, he wears a dark-blue shirt under his blazer, as opposed to his usual white one. During the Dark Room scenes in Episode 5, he wears the white shirt but also ditches the blazer and puts on a pair of ConspicuousGloves. |
| 69 | * EvilCounterpart: He's a photographer like Max, but their styles are polar opposites. Max's style revolves around observations of life and depictions of the colorful, innocent beauty of her surroundings, reflecting her wide-eyed curiosity; while Jefferson's photos are bleak, monochrome and represent invasions of privacy, abuse of authority, domination over the weak, and the corruption of innocence through fear, demonstrating his sadistic and psychopathic nature. |
| 70 | * EvilGloating: Once he holds Max hostage, he begins bragging about his evil plan. As Max observes, given how easy it is to goad him into this and how much his gloating resembles his classroom technique, it's not hard to see [[{{Narcissist}} why he became a teacher.]] |
| 71 | * EvilMentor: Jefferson encourages Max's confidence and tries to nurture her photography. And then he kidnaps and assaults her and comes close to murdering her. |
| 72 | * EvilSoundsDeep: After Jefferson reveals his true colors in the Dark Room, he starts speaking in a low, menacing voice. |
| 73 | * EvilTeacher: Photography lecturer by day, creepy MadArtist and eventual murderer by night. |
| 74 | * EvilerThanThou: To Nathan. Not only did he kill Nathan himself, but he might also kill up to ''five''[[note]] Kate, Chloe, Nathan, Victoria and David[[/note]] members of the main cast. |
| 75 | * {{Expy}}: Of [[{{Film/HardCandy}} Jeff Kohlver]]. Aside from name similarities, both are respected photographers with freaky ephebophiliac proclivities, who end up messing with the wrong victims. |
| 76 | * FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: He's considered the most attractive guy at school. He's also a kidnapper, a sadist, and a mass murderer. |
| 77 | * FauxAffablyEvil: Despite the charming, 'hip' persona he puts on, Episode 4 shows his true personality and intentions are much, much darker and psychotic than was ever thought. |
| 78 | * {{Foil}}: To his [[TheDragon Dragon]], Nathan. While Nathan is an angry {{Jerkass}} who Max and Chloe almost immediately suspect, Jefferson is a seemingly NiceGuy who almost no one suspects. Nathan kills Chloe by accident, while Jefferson kills her quite deliberately. Finally, while Nathan eventually regrets his actions and apologizes to Max, Jefferson never once feels any remorse for his crimes. |
| 79 | * ForTheEvulz: His only true motive is pure [[{{Sadist}} sadism]]. |
| 80 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: Has this in spades throughout the game. In Episode 1, where you control Max for the first time in his classroom, he already gives out a notable one. He lampshades it in Episode 5, when he jokes that Max would have figured out his true nature if she had just paid attention in class. |
| 81 | -->'''Mr. Jefferson''': Seriously, though, I could frame any one of you in a dark corner and capture you in a moment of desperation. And any one of you could do that to me. Isn't that too easy? Too obvious? What if Arbus chose to capture people at the height of their beauty or innocence? |
| 82 | * FourEyesZeroSoul: He wears glasses and is a sadistic murderer. |
| 83 | * TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin: Interestingly enough, even though we see multiple different possible timelines in Episode 5, with multiple different possible fates shown for most of the characters, Mark Jefferson's story always ends with him either in prison or dead on the floor of the Dark Room. It seems that from the moment he came in conflict with Max, there was actually never any way for him to win. |
| 84 | * GrayscaleOfEvil: He has an omnipresent grayscale motif; aside from wearing a black jacket over a white shirt with dark trousers, the Dark Room studio is practically a void of white and gray dotted with black furniture. What we see of his legitimate artwork is also monochromatic, dour, and depressive. His preoccupation with grayscale applies to his crimes as well; he's obsessed with degrading pure, innocent girls into broken, corrupted women. "That shift from black to white to gray...and beyond." Jefferson's limited color palette contrasts starkly with the vividness of Arcadia Bay's environment and the colorful characters within it, which symbolizes how joyless and warped his worldview is. His colorless contrast with the lively characters and environment, combined with the theme of suffering that seems to be all over the Bay, also dovetails in with the evil effect he has had on notably every single major character in the plot. |
| 85 | * HateSink: He turns out to be the most despicable character in the game by a wide margin, responsible for drugging and kidnapping countless innocent teenage girls, manipulates the mentally ill Nathan to do his dirty work, and murders Chloe right in front of Max. Needless to say, it's an incredibly satisfying moment if David kills him. |
| 86 | * TheHeavy: He and Nathan kidnapped and murdered Rachel, whose disappearance is the focal point of the first season. Many other girls suffered similar fates to Kate. |
| 87 | * HeroKiller: He shoots Chloe in the head with a handgun at the very end of Episode 4. |
| 88 | * {{Hipster}}: He calls himself this in Episode 4. He definitely has the look down. |
| 89 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: Max defeats him by using photographs in his Dark Room to travel back in time. |
| 90 | * HopeCrusher: His hobby involves breaking innocent girls, photographing the exact moment when they lose hope. |
| 91 | * HotTeacher: Is considered this by many female students (even [[AmbiguouslyBi Chloe]]). |
| 92 | * {{Hypocrite}}: |
| 93 | ** In his first appearance, he calls the Creator/DianeArbus method of photography "bullshit", stating that he could easily capture any member of his class in a moment of desperation (and that any of them could do the same to him). If you choose to look at his pictures set up outside in the school courtyard, his black-and-white pictures are (mostly) of women in dark, dirty environments, looking miserable.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Diane Arbus was known for her black-&-white photos of regular people that showed strong emotions, like desperation, and those photos occasionally tended toward the grotesque. In other words, Jefferson's work apes Arbus's method pretty much exactly.[[/labelnote]] |
| 94 | ** He lectures the class about the moral implications of them spreading around and laughing at Kate's video, even though minutes earlier, he's seen lecturing Kate for that same video and blatantly tells Max that he [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming thinks the video is Kate's fault]]. While Max's conversation with him might have convinced him to be a little more sensitive, it's a rather charitable interpretation. In hindsight, he may having been trying to drive her to suicide before she could remember that he took bondage photos of her. |
| 95 | ** During his fight with David, Jefferson quips "No gun, no balls!"... [[DirtyCoward and then runs for the gun himself]]. |
| 96 | * JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He belittles and victim blames Kate, but later expresses remorse and admits that he didn't fully understand her situation. Then it's eventually revealed he kidnapped and drugged Kate, along with a handful of other innocent teenage girls. |
| 97 | * KarmicDeath: If Max tells David the truth about Jefferson killing Chloe in Episode 5, David will shoot Jefferson in the head, just like Jefferson shot Chloe in the head at the end of Episode 4. And that's after Jefferson says no one would mourn Chloe. |
| 98 | * KickTheDog: He insinuates that Kate willingly participated in the viral video which is ruining her life because [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming she wanted attention.]] However, he only says this just to make sure Kate commits suicide and won't remember him and the Dark Room later on. |
| 99 | -->'''Mr. Jefferson''': But maybe she doth protest too much. |
| 100 | * KnightOfCerebus: Though the world of [=LiS=] has its fair share of jerks and villains, Jefferson is so thoroughly evil and sociopathic that even dangerous criminals like Nathan and Frank look small potatoes in comparison. He's also one of the few characters who has absolutely ''no'' positive or redeeming qualities whatsoever. |
| 101 | * LackOfEmpathy: He sees his victims as "works of art" instead of people. |
| 102 | * LaserGuidedKarma: |
| 103 | ** He mocks Max's selfies before tossing them in front of her in the Dark Room. She ''immediately'' uses them to go back in time and arrange his arrest. |
| 104 | ** After he's finally caught, he's left taped up and unconscious, just like his victims. |
| 105 | * LeaveNoWitnesses: He's very meticulous about keeping his dirty business secret. Once his operation is discovered he goes on a killing spree to cover up his tracks. |
| 106 | * LightIsNotGood: Wears a white shirt in the Dark Room, in contrast to his black heart. |
| 107 | * {{Lust}}: Appears to have this for young girls. At the very least, he gets off on seeing them in a state of helplessness and fear. |
| 108 | * MadArtist: He keeps a large collection of photographs of the girls he's kidnapped, all of them taken with an artsy style and deliberate intent at aesthetics. Since his award-winning photos have consisted of women in grimy, miserable settings appearing in pain, it's possible he had been doing this long before he arrived at Blackwell. |
| 109 | * MadonnaWhoreComplex: His obsession over "innocence" and "purity" is a deciding factor in his targets. This may also be why he actively avoids Victoria's advances so much, Victoria's AlphaBitch personality lessening his interest in her. While Victoria has transparently ulterior motives for hitting on him, he also derides Chloe as a "faux-punk slut" after she flirts with him sincerely in Episode 4. |
| 110 | * TheManBehindTheMan: To Nathan Prescott, who was placed as a more apparent villain since Nathan was so openly rude and malicious. |
| 111 | * ManipulativeBastard: Not only did he exploit Nathan's daddy issues to effectively turn him into a puppet, he uses his charisma to prevent Blackwell staff and students from even suspecting his ulterior motives. Later, in episode 5, he intends to put the entire blame for drugging Kate and the death of Rachel and Max on Nathan. Searching through the Dark Room after reveals how meticulous his plans were. One could also interpret his victim blaming towards Kate earlier as a subtle means of eliminating a loose thread where none would ever suspect him. |
| 112 | * MaskOfSanity: To the public Mr. Jefferson looks nothing else except a celebrity photographer, an old hipster and a cool teacher with the occasional cocky tendencies, but in reality he's a very obsessive and unstable MadArtist. |
| 113 | * MoodSwinger: During one of his photo-shoots with Max, he goes from lustfully admiring her beauty to angrily admonishing her for ruining his shots. |
| 114 | * MotiveRant: Jefferson's disturbing dialogue with Max in the dark room. He grew tired of the "faux punk sluts" of LA and wanted to capture youth and the corruption thereof instead. This artistic obsession with purity leads him to kidnap and photograph girls he sees as suitable subjects. |
| 115 | * MuseAbuse: Considering his MO is kidnapping and photographing girls while they're unconscious, it's a given. |
| 116 | * {{Narcissist}}: To amplified degrees. Jefferson's art catalogue mainly consists of bland black and white photos of young women in bondage. He thinks this work is so high art that he's convinced that his victims ''want'' to be kidnapped and made into his models. |
| 117 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: While bragging about how he'll get away with murdering Max, he throws her photo journal at her, which allows Max to use her powers to alter the timeline to prevent him from winning--she'd been previously unable to do this thanks to being tied to the chair. |
| 118 | * NightmareFetishist: He loves drugging young girls, taping them up, and photographing their vacant faces as they lie sprawled out on the floor. |
| 119 | * NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: |
| 120 | ** He seems to have been inspired by Mark Linkous of {{Music/Sparklehorse}}. Aside from sharing the first name and having a similar appearance, the band's song "Piano Fire" from "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Wonderful_Life_(album) It's A Wonderful Life]]" album is also included in the game's soundtrack, and one of the songs from the aforementioned album is literally named "Maxine". |
| 121 | ** A more direct inspiration may be [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Richardson Terry Richardson]], a celebrity photographer who's been dogged by allegations of misconduct since 2001, and who in 2014, around the time of the production of ''Life is Strange'', published an open letter in the Huffington Post in response to the claims. Note the physical resemblance, as well as Richardson's early history photographing the punk scene. |
| 122 | * NoLoveForTheWicked: Interestingly enough, despite his vast sadistic streak Jefferson never actually expresses any sexual desires towards his victims and his crimes seem to be motivated by an obsession with "capturing that moment when innocence evolves into corruption". |
| 123 | * NoNonsenseNemesis: During TheReveal, he drugs Max (disabling her power in the process) and wipes Chloe out without saying a single word. Also, during his fight with David he will consistently win, until Max distracts him a couple of times. |
| 124 | * ObviousVillainSecretVillain: The "secret villain" to Nathan's "obvious". |
| 125 | * OhCrap: He didn't see David coming in to stop him and his criminal misdeeds. |
| 126 | * OffscreenVillainy: He has a cupboard full of binders with his victims' names, suggesting he has about several dozen kidnappings to his name, but because the exact circumstances behind those incidents and whenever the victims were killed or not are unknown, it's quite difficult to pinpoint the exact number and scale of his crimes. |
| 127 | * PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He makes a few misogynistic remarks in episode 5, referring to Max as a "stupid bitch" and/or a "dumb cunt", and Chloe a "faux punk slut". |
| 128 | * PragmaticVillainy: Usually refrains from murder to avoid attracting unwanted attention. However, Nathan accidentally overdosing Rachel messed up his plans, causing Max and Chloe to start digging into Rachel's disappearance and uncovering his operation. |
| 129 | * {{Sadist}}: Jefferson's sole motivation for all his crimes in the story is, in his own words, his obsession "with the idea of capturing that moment innocence evolves into corruption." By that, he means he's obsessed with watching innocent girls suffering. Models are too "cynical" for him; traumatizing them has either already been done and/or won't be visceral enough for him to get a kick out of. No; he wants to hurt pure, optimistic girls, and capture ''their'' breaking point. And since he's frighteningly particular about the perfect shot, even that has to be on his terms. |
| 130 | * SadistTeacher: His UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming conversation with Kate becomes horrifyingly despicable once you know what he did to her. He's ''intentionally goading'' her into [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]]. |
| 131 | * SpreeKiller: While murder is not his direct intention, he's ''very'' much willing to kill anyone who gets in his way. |
| 132 | * ScaryFlashlightFace: Makes a really frightening one when Max points her cellphone's flashlight at him, the man who just drugged her and gunned down Chloe. |
| 133 | * ShadowArchetype: This guy is what Max and Victoria could turn into if they take their obsession with photographic greatness too far; it's particularly disturbing considering that the player may have done similar to him already--making people like Victoria or Trevor suffer to take optional photographs, and rewinding so that the unfortunate subject doesn't remember it. |
| 134 | * ShameIfSomethingHappened: In one of the unused lines of dialogue from Episode 3, he calls Max's nosiness "a fatal character flaw" and how it could "deprive the art world of [her] vision". |
| 135 | * SharpDressedMan: Always dressed in a nice suit. |
| 136 | * SmugSnake: Even before TheReveal Max acknowledges that there's a certain sense of pretentious smugness to him. He even has his class fully titled ''The Language of Photography''. But way after the reveal, he ''fully'' channels his arrogant side, gleefully relishing in his own evilness and being confident that no one can stop him. |
| 137 | * TheSociopath: He hides in plain sight under the guise of being a famous photographer while subtly influencing or manipulating those around him. By episode 5, he's nearly driven Kate to suicide (and will have succeeded if the player couldn't talk her down), has full access over the Prescott fortune by exploiting Nathan and puts together a ruse to pin everything he has done up until that point on him. All before anyone at Blackwell ever suspected a thing. It's further implied he may have done similar things for years considering he went on a "teaching tour" through several States prior to arriving at Arcadia Bay and has a cupboard full of binders of other women. |
| 138 | * SoftSpokenSadist: Speaks in a low, whispering voice while talking down to Max in her half-conscious state. Kate Marsh also states that "someone" (who was revealed to be him) was talking to her in a soft voice, implying that he also does this to his other victims. |
| 139 | * StrawMisogynist: His sadistic tendencies are targeted exclusively towards women, drugging and capturing innocent ("innocence" being a big deciding factor in his targets) high school girls where he photographs them in such states of vulnerability without their consent. When Max stirs from her drugged-out state using her time-travel abilities, [[MoodSwinger he throws massive tantrums]] and yells at her to stay still. He also manipulated Kate - who was clearly in an emotionally fragile state - into her suicide/attempt by implying that her unfortunate circumstances were 100% a result of her own actions while he himself was complicit in what happened to her. |
| 140 | * TheSvengali: He is Max's photography teacher who uses his friendly facade to conceal his twisted passion for corrupting the innocence of his "models", with Max herself being his latest victim before David finally stops him. His "apprentice", Nathan Prescott, is also a student whom Jefferson groomed and manipulated into committing crimes for him, and it is also implied that he also used Rachel Amber's desperate desire to escape Arcadia Bay to have her willingly pose for his shoots until Nathan accidentally killed her. |
| 141 | --> '''Max's Diary''': I saw him for the first time as he is: a creepy, manipulative psychopath, filled with bullshit. He uses art and passion to seduce people, but behind that there's nothing but hate and perversion. |
| 142 | * TeacherStudentRomance: Victoria is heavily implied to want one, though he shoots her down immediately when she makes that desire apparent in Episode 3. Several other female students indicate they would sleep with him given the chance. He's rumored to have actually slept with Rachel. |
| 143 | ** In Episode 2, the player can find a note in the Junkyard from Rachel to Chloe that states she met a wonderful person and they hooked up. During their 2015 Charity Live Stream, Dontnod confirmed the person in the letter was him. |
| 144 | * TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: He's really a sadist who's been abducting young girls from his class and photographing them in states of distress, but odds are you'd never guess that just by looking at him. |
| 145 | * TreacherousAdvisor: He's Max's photography teacher who later tries to kill her in his Dark Room. |
| 146 | * VillainWithGoodPublicity: He's a famous and renowned photographer. No one expected him to be the mastermind of the Dark Room. |
| 147 | * VisibleVictimology: "Open and honest" young girls, in contrast to the "cynical" models he remembers working with. |
| 148 | * UncertainDoom: It's unknown if he survives the destruction of the town in the "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending, although his odds aren't good. In the "Sacrifice Chloe" ending, he's alive but in custody. |
| 149 | * UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Jefferson's manipulation of Nathan to assist in his sick hobby leads to Rachel's disappearance and death, Chloe being left to deal with a debt to Frank on her own, and Nathan drugging Chloe at some point. All of these things factor into how Nathan, his gun, and Chloe all end up in that restroom with Max. That event awakens Max's powers and incurs the consequences of Chaos Theory over the town itself, which is why she ever has to endure the "Bae or Bay" SadisticChoice. |
| 150 | * WalkingSpoiler: The last ten seconds of Episode 4, which shows not Nathan, but ''him'' shooting Chloe and drugging Max to take her to the Dark Room, throw his whole characterization for a loop. |
| 151 | * WhamShot: Seeing him standing over Max in the junkyard, indicating ''he's'' the one that killed Chloe and drugged Max, and was the one behind the Kate and Rachel case the whole time. |
| 152 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: It's unknown what became of Jefferson after Sacrifice Arcadia Bay. ''Life Is Strange 2'' reveals that David saved Victoria when he investigated the Dark Room, so it's possible that David somehow managed to subdue him and turn him over to the police, or even kill him, but it's never made clear. |
| 153 | [[/folder]] |
| 154 | |
| 155 | [[folder:Kate Marsh]] |
| 156 | !!Kate Beverly Marsh |
| 157 | [[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/337110731a563362bceee3c8591848e8.jpg]] |
| 158 | [[caption-width-right:250:I'm kinda over humanity today. Sorry to be a drama queen.]] |
| 159 | ->'''Voiced by''': Dayeanne Hutton (English), Hana Takeda (Japanese) |
| 160 | |
| 161 | One of Max's classmates -- a quiet religious girl that has few friends, Max being one of them. |
| 162 | ---- |
| 163 | * AbusiveParents: Though her father and sisters are highly supportive when the humiliating video of her is made public, her mother and aunt are not, which doesn't help Kate's self-esteem. [[spoiler:Depending on whether or not Max saves Kate, her mother does a 180 on this. If Kate lives, she becomes extremely supportive and believes that protecting Kate is "her only duty" now. If Kate dies, her mother is devastated and laments ever judging Kate for what she did.]] |
| 164 | * AgainstMyReligion: The fact that Kate is the head of the school's Abstinence Club and against pre-marital sex is one of the reasons why her classmates bully her. |
| 165 | * AliceAllusion: Her spirit animal is indicated to be a rabbit and she's the owner of a white rabbit called Alice. The video about her and the implied sexual assault is the biggest clue about what's been going on. |
| 166 | * AllTheOtherReindeer: In the opening classroom scene, Taylor throws a paper ball at her face, which according to Max, is a regular occurrence. The ball, once uncrumpled, is a note that reads "Dear Kate, we love your porn video - XOXO Blackwell Academy". In the bathroom, on one of the abstinence posters, someone has written 'Kate twerks for God!' on it. |
| 167 | * AmbiguousEnding: The hospital she is in [[spoiler:if she survives her suicide attempt]] does not appear to be in Arcadia Bay, implying she may have survived the storm. |
| 168 | * AMFMCharacterization: Kate plays the violin which serves to emphasize her conservative nature. |
| 169 | * BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:In Episode 5, whenever Max rewrites time to get Jefferson arrested before Tuesday, Kate never attempts suicide and thus survives even if she jumped back in Episode 2. The "Sacrifice Chloe" ending brings Kate back for good.]] |
| 170 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: Even sweet-natured Kate has her limits with how others treat her. At the beginning of Episode 2, she tells [[AlphaBitch Victoria]] that "someday, she'll be sorry" for her ruthless bullying, foreshadowing [[spoiler: Kate's suicide attempt later in the episode, which will cause Victoria to break down in tears by the finale over the stress of the incident, in an almost identical match of how Kate herself was in the Episode 1 finale]]. Provided that she [[spoiler: survives her suicide attempt]], Kate also makes an exception of not showing forgiveness towards Nathan, and expresses her desire to see him pay for his crimes, even going as far as to text Max his room number so she can break in, steal from him, and expose him as the scum that he is to the world. |
| 171 | * BreakTheCutie: Kate has it almost as bad as Chloe. She's constantly bullied by Victoria and Taylor, has a drunken video of herself posted online which goes viral, the teachers won't help her and[[spoiler: she's drugged by Nathan and subjected to Mr Jefferson's sick, twisted photoshoots.]] All this leads to her [[spoiler: attempting suicide]]. |
| 172 | * BrokenBird: She has been broken over a very short period of time, after Nathan drugs her and it causes her to act out at the Vortex Club party. |
| 173 | * BunniesForCuteness: She's an extremely nice, sweet, dorky and adorable girl, and owns a pet bunny that Max takes care of after [[spoiler:her attempted/succeeded suicide attempt]]. In the situation where [[spoiler:she survives her suicide attempt]], Kate thanks Max for taking care of her bunny. |
| 174 | * TheBusCameBack: An unusually dark example in the ''Forget-Me-Not'' comics. [[spoiler:Yes, it's Kate's first canonical appearance since the original game! Unfortunately, that's because in the AlternateTimeline of the comics, Kate's suicide takes the place of the "Bae or Bay" ending choice from the game, in that it's a fixed event that traumatises the surviving characters and kick-starts Steph on her life's path.]] |
| 175 | * ButtMonkey: She has it rough, that's for sure. She's constantly made fun of, apparently for her religious views.[[labelnote:†]] Fun Fact: Oregon, where this story takes place, is traditionally the ''least''-religious state in the USA.[[/labelnote]] In the first episode alone, she gets horrible notes thrown at her in class and is harassed by the head of security. [[spoiler:In the second episode, it's revealed that the reason she's been so bullied is because a viral video of her kissing people while under the influence has been spread around, which eventually drives her to attempt suicide. And that's without diving into what Episode 4 implies have happened to her at the hands of Jefferson.]] |
| 176 | * CoolKidAndLoserFriendship: Downplayed. Kate is friends with Max and while Max herself doesn't have many friends she is not bullied like Kate is. |
| 177 | * ChristianityIsCatholic: She's never explicitly said to be Catholic; however, if [[spoiler: she survives,]] she has a picture depicting the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Heart Sacred Heart of Jesus]] next to her bed. |
| 178 | * ChurchLady: She is a very devout Christian and the head of the local Abstinence Club. |
| 179 | * CrisisOfFaith: It is rather subtle, to the point that those who aren't thorough in searching her room will miss it, but it is evident that the ordeal she has been and is still going through has left her struggling with her beliefs. There are notes in her room from [[spoiler:her mother and aunt]] expressing their displeasure with her, calling her a Jezebel, insisting they will pray her demons away, and demanding she pray for forgiveness. [[spoiler:Telling Kate her mother would miss her during Episode 2's climax pretty much guarantees Kate will jump.]] She's also marked her Bible with post-it notes containing two verses. One, Proverbs 21:15[[note]] "When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers"[[/note]], has been crossed out. Invoking that one during her [[spoiler:suicide attempt]] goes badly. The other is Matthew 11:28[[note]] "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…"[[/note]], which she takes better. |
| 180 | * TheCutie: There is no doubt that this crushingly cute girl is one of the sweetest, kindest, and most innocent characters of the game. |
| 181 | * DaddysGirl: Her relationship with her father is shown much better than the one with her mother. [[spoiler:Telling her that her father will miss her will make talking Kate down from the ledge during her suicide attempt a little easier.]] |
| 182 | * DarkIsNotEvil: She wears just as much black as [[{{Goth}} Alyssa]], but she's one of the kindest characters you can befriend. |
| 183 | * DateRape: Played with; the video of her is a soft version of this where she kisses (and possibly more) a bunch of boys while heavily drugged from a spiked drink. She also fears that this happened to her while Nathan was taking her to the "hospital" during the party. You can even accuse Nathan of doing this later in the game. [[spoiler:Unused dialog has Nathan vehemently deny hurting Kate in any way, and you later learn that Jefferson's victims weren't sexually assaulted. However, what was actually done to her--taking pictures of her bound and vulnerable while she was too drugged to even know what was happening--had about the same effect for poor Kate.]] |
| 184 | * DefiledForever: Because of her fundamentalist Christian beliefs, she has begun to think this about herself after being drugged and probably raped at a Vortex Club party. [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming The reactions of her mother and aunt certainly don't help.]] |
| 185 | * DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Max has to bend reality backwards in order to have a chance pull her out of it.]] |
| 186 | * DrivenToSuicide: In Episode 2, [[spoiler:she finally snaps from all the abuse and tries to kill herself by jumping off the roof of the girls dorm. Whether she ''succeeds'' or not depends on you.]] |
| 187 | * TheEeyore: She's very depressed and irritable when Max encounters her, in part because she was drugged at a party and recorded making out with several boys without her consent, and eventually [[spoiler:attempts suicide because of it]]. She only [[TookALevelInCheerfulness perks up]] [[spoiler:if Max saves her life.]] |
| 188 | * ElegantClassicalMusician: Plays the violin, but ceases playing it when her life is upended by the viral video. |
| 189 | * EvenTheLovingHeroHasHatedOnes: Since she was drugged and abducted by Nathan Prescott, she has nothing but hate towards him and his family. She gladly assists Max in her pursuit to bring Nathan to justice and even says the Prescotts are rotten and evil. |
| 190 | * FelonyMisdemeanor: After the viral video of her is posted online, Kate is the target of relentless SlutShaming and becomes known as the "viral slut" in Blackwell. This is especially jarring because many students have engaged in much more promiscuous behavior than just kissing a few boys. |
| 191 | * FireForgedFriends: It does take a little time and effort for Max to gain Kate's friendship, as she's suffering from severe depression. [[spoiler: However, taking the time to interact with her pays off if you want to prevent her suicide.]] |
| 192 | * FriendlessBackground: Max informs that Kate doesn't seem to have any friends. Of course, she can build a friendship over her due to their similarities. |
| 193 | * GenreBlind: She actually asks Max how to take down a viral video and if she should go to the police for being drugged and possibly raped at a party. |
| 194 | * GiveMeASign: [[spoiler: If Max prevents her suicide]], she will call her an angel sent to help her overcome her inner demons. |
| 195 | * GoodParents: Kate's father is this. In her room can be found a postcard from him, telling Kate that he loves her unconditionally. [[spoiler: If you tell Kate that her father would miss her, Kate says outright that he is the only member of her family who believes in her]]. |
| 196 | * HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: She's one of the sweetest and most genuine people in the game. Despite her family relentlessly victim-blaming her, she forgives them and says that she knows they didn't do anything. [[spoiler: (Which they did; they were a part of what influenced her suicide attempt.) She even gave most of the flowers that she received to other patients in the hospital.]] |
| 197 | * IncorruptiblePurePureness: Almost as much as Max. She's a very kind, religious girl who dislikes swearing and treats others with nothing but respect. |
| 198 | * InnocentBlueEyes: Just check the profile image for her. |
| 199 | * InstantHumiliationJustAddYouTube: A video of Kate making out (and possibly more) with most of the Vortex Club at a party made its way onto Youtube and the URL was distributed among the student body. A few people have taken it upon themselves to make Kate's life a living hell over it, leading to her depressed state at the beginning of the game. |
| 200 | * InterruptedSuicide: In Episode 2, [[spoiler: Kate attempts to end her life. Max presses her time powers to their full extent to get up to the roof and try in an attempt at TalkingDownTheSuicidal. Whether or not you can save her depends on choices you made previously, as well as saying just the right words.]] |
| 201 | * {{Irony}}: She tells Max how she wishes she could turn back time to prevent her life from getting ruined. |
| 202 | * KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:If you as Max are unable to prevent her suicide in Episode 2. If this happens and Max chooses to sacrifice Arcadia Bay to the storm, she's gone forever.]] |
| 203 | * KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: She's one of five characters this can happen to in the main game, the others being Frank, Nathan, Joyce, and Chloe. Failing to prevent Kate's suicide in Episode 2 and choosing to sacrifice the Bay will make her death permanent.]] |
| 204 | * LastSecondWordSwap: She is at one point about to call Victoria a bitch, but catches herself and settles for just saying that she is "not very nice" instead. |
| 205 | * MeaningfulName: Kate is derivative from Katherine, which means "pure", and Kate is definitely [[IncorruptiblePurePureness one of the nicest, purest characters in the game]]. |
| 206 | * MessOfWoe: Downplayed. Kate's room isn't much messier than any normal teenager's room when you first enter it, but Max notes that Kate is usually ''very'' neat and organized and not the type to let clothes pile up on the floor. It's yet another sign of just how badly she's affected by the video. |
| 207 | * NiceGirl: She's a kind and sweet young girl. Made all the more tragic when she's bullied by several people [[spoiler:to the point where she attempts suicide over a viral video being posted online]]. |
| 208 | * NoSocialSkills: Max talks about how Kate doesn't seem to have any friends. This can lead to the two of them forging a friendship due to their similarities. |
| 209 | * OddFriendship: Before Chloe shows up Kate is pretty much Max's only friend at Blackwell even though Kate is a pious Christian while Max is [[SecularHero not religious]] at all. |
| 210 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: In addition to her withdrawn nature, Max also mentions how Kate has recently given up activities she enjoyed, like playing the violin. |
| 211 | * OutOfFocus: PlayedWith. She's fairly prominent in the first two episodes, but falls off afterwards due to [[spoiler:either being dead or in the hospital.]] [[spoiler:Should she survive her suicide attempt, she appears only by text message in Episode 3, and Episode 4 has only one scene with her, plus a few texts.]] However, she still comes up frequently in conversations, and messages of [[spoiler:remembrance/well-wishes]] can be seen throughout the remainder of the game. |
| 212 | * PrimAndProperBun: She's a shy, introverted church girl who wears her hair in a messy bun. |
| 213 | * SaintlyChurch: According to Max, Kate takes her religion seriously, and is the head of the school abstinence club. However, she never preaches about it, which is one of the reasons Max likes her. |
| 214 | * SecurityBlanket: When Max visits her in hospital (assuming [[spoiler: she survived the suicide attempt]]), Kate appears to have been sleeping with a small icon of Jesus next to her bed, possibly for this purpose. Max seems to think this is a little weird, but muses that anything that brings Kate comfort is alright by her. |
| 215 | * ShipperOnDeck: If [[spoiler:she is still alive in Episode 4]], she can mention that she thinks Max and Warren would make a cute couple. |
| 216 | * ShootTheShaggyDog: Implied. [[spoiler: If the "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending was chosen, Episode 5 of the second season reveals that Max, Chloe, David and Victoria were the few survivors of the storm with everyone else presumably dead, which may include Kate. Further suggested by the fact the book she wanted to write appears as an EasterEgg in the second season, but only if the player chose "Sacrifice Chloe".]] |
| 217 | * ShoutOut: Her middle and last name are Beverly Marsh, the name of a main character from Stephen King's novel ''{{Literature/It}}'' who also happens to face SlutShaming. |
| 218 | * ShrinkingViolet: The Kate we see in game is very quiet and reserved. According to Max, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness that isn't how she usually acts.]] Any questions made to her about her change in attitude are gently brushed off. |
| 219 | * SlutShaming: One of the reasons why everyone torments her for the video. She becomes known as the "viral slut". The notes she receives from her aunt and mother reek of this. |
| 220 | * TheTeetotaler: Downplayed. She is not completely against drinking but she drinks very moderately and never drinks to the point of getting wasted. This is actually the reason why she ([[spoiler:correctly]]) suspects that she was drugged at the party. |
| 221 | * TokenReligiousTeammate: She's the only openly religious character in both Max's social circle and the game at large. |
| 222 | * TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: [[spoiler:If Max fails to save her from committing suicide, she will die for good.]] |
| 223 | * TookALevelInCheerfulness: [[spoiler:If Max talks Kate down from her suicide attempt she will visit her in the hospital in Episode 4, where Kate is shown to be much happier then before. Kate even gives the other patients her spare flowers.]] |
| 224 | * TraumaButton: Kate doesn't take her [[AbusiveParents mother]]'s lack of support well. [[spoiler:If Max tries to invoke her during Kate's suicide attempt, she will jump regardless of what decisions you made beforehand.]] |
| 225 | * TrueCompanions: If Max takes the time to learn more about her and comfort her, then Kate will call Max the greatest friend she's ever had. |
| 226 | * WhatTheHellHero: If Max chooses not to defend her from David, doesn't take her call and tells her to obtain proof that [[spoiler:she was drugged]], Kate will call her out for not helping her during her [[spoiler:suicide attempt]]. If Max then fails to properly justify these actions, Kate will become even angrier with her. |
| 227 | * WhenSheSmiles: Max notes that it's been a while since she's seen Kate happy; if you manage to [[spoiler:save her from suicide]] and see her in a later episode, she's noticeably happier looking and better for it. |
| 228 | [[/folder]] |
| 229 | |
| 230 | [[folder:Victoria Chase]] |
| 231 | !!Victoria Maribeth Chase |
| 232 | [[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/7641d95eebb7060b7e825130223818c1.jpg]] |
| 233 | [[caption-width-right:250:Now you're totally stuck in the retro zone. Sad face!]] |
| 234 | [[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote: ''Click here for her appearance in Before the Storm'']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c553d42a_e399_4d32_8572_e2531b81c331.jpeg]][[/labelnote]] |
| 235 | |
| 236 | ->'''Voiced by''': Dani Knights (English, Season One), Akari Higuchi (Japanese), Theresa Croft (English, ''Before the Storm'') |
| 237 | |
| 238 | One of Max's classmates and a member of the elite Vortex Club. "A total bitch," as Max puts it in her journal, but she's attractive, got great grades and has a loyal group of friends. |
| 239 | |
| 240 | During the events of ''Before the Storm'', Victoria seeks to usurp Rachel Amber's place as the "queen bee" of Blackwell, which brings her into conflict with Chloe. |
| 241 | ---- |
| 242 | * AcademicAlphaBitch: A fairly straight example. She makes fun of Max in class for not being able to answer a question, but gets pissed when Max answers the question correctly (using her rewind power, but Victoria obviously doesn't know that). Even being nice to her after a water and paint spill, which Max engineered, only briefly causes her to let her guard down, and she still notes that they aren't friends when texting her gratitude. |
| 243 | ** Episode 4 has her explain why she's this way: [[spoiler: her parents own an art gallery, so she's "seen how the game's played", and believes that you ''have'' to be that callous in order to advance in the art world]]. |
| 244 | * AlasPoorVillain: Victoria isn't exactly a villain, but she did bully Max, and was one of the main factors of [[spoiler: Kate's (attempted) suicide. That said, if she ends up in the Dark Room in Episode 5, it's hard not to feel bad for her, as she's absolutely terrified and filled with remorse for what she did to Kate.]] |
| 245 | * AlphaBitch: This, too. She "sexts" with Juliet's boyfriend and then pins it on Juliet's friend Dana because Juliet wrote an article that spoke negatively of the Vortex Club. Although it isn't made exactly clear how much of this behavior is just a front to achieve whatever ulterior motive she might have. |
| 246 | * AmbiguouslyBi: She clearly has a crush on Mr. Jefferson in the original game, but in ''Before the Storm'' she leaves a comment online calling Rachel hot and asking her who the arm candy is. By that she means Chloe, who is being hugged by Rachel in the picture. When high she tries to insult Rachel by calling her pretty. |
| 247 | * TheAtoner: [[spoiler:''Life Is Strange 2'' reveals that, if Arcadia Bay was sacrificed, Victoria moves back to Seattle and looks after her parents' art gallery after being saved from the Dark Room by David and surviving the storm. She's genuinely respectful of Max and Chloe and hopes that they're looking after David for saving her life.]] |
| 248 | * BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Her potential death at the hands of Jefferson is undone once Max goes back in time to prevent Chloe from going to the Vortex Club party.]] |
| 249 | ** [[spoiler:''Life is Strange 2'' reveals that, if the player chose to sacrifice Arcadia Bay, she was one of the few survivors from the town (ironically being protected from the storm by the Darkroom bunker she had been tortured in).]] |
| 250 | * BetaBitch: While she's an AlphaBitch in the main timeline, the alternative timeline shows her being this to [[spoiler:''Max'', who's the new AlphaBitch (though a [[LovableAlphaBitch lovable one]])]]. |
| 251 | * BitchInSheepsClothing: She acts somewhat pleasant towards Chloe and Rachel in ''Before the Storm'', but beneath that faux sweetness, she's the same unpleasant AlphaBitch she is at the start of the first game. |
| 252 | * BoyishShortHair: Inverted. She has a short pixie cut, but is a feminine {{fashionista}} and AlphaBitch. |
| 253 | * BreakTheHaughty: She is seen crying at the end of Episode 2, in stark contrast to the apparent glee she expressed as she bullied Kate and when filming her suicide attempt. [[spoiler:Also for Episode 5, if she gets kidnapped by Jefferson with Max in the dark room.]] |
| 254 | * BrokenPedestal: [[spoiler:If Arcadia Bay was sacrificed, ''Life Is Strange 2'' reveals that she feels she can no longer look up to Jefferson as an artist after he kidnapped her.]] |
| 255 | * BullyingADragon: Sure, Victoria. Of all the girls you can be bitchy toward, it has to be the school's resident delinquent that does drugs and gives zero fucks to the world. You're pretty damn lucky the worse she could do is sabotaging your homework. |
| 256 | * TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:Following the revelation in ''Life is Strange 2'' that she survived the storm if you chose to save Chloe, she reappears in the subsequent comics arc as a major supporting character.]] |
| 257 | * ButtMonkey: It's possible to turn her into one in ''Before The Storm.'' It ranges from Chloe giving her in-correct homework answers (that come off as inappropriate and gets her in trouble with her teacher) to Rachel using the same drugs to mess with the tea that she herself was going to use in the scenarios where Rachel didn't lose her role as Prospera. |
| 258 | * ClosetGeek: Peeking around in her room in Episode 3 reveals that she secretly collects anime figurines. |
| 259 | * DamselInDistress: [[spoiler:If Max warns her about Nathan, Victoria will go to Jefferson for help, knowing he's the true mastermind before the Dark Room too late when she's tied and helpess along with Max. When Max finds herself back in the Dark Room after ripping her picture to save Chloe from the storm, Victoria has been killed and Max is even more determinate to go back in time to prevent her death and her kidnapping]]. |
| 260 | * DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: In ''Before The Storm'', a drugged up Victoria tells Mr. Keaton she has "revelations to reveal". |
| 261 | * EasilyForgiven: Should Kate [[spoiler:survive her suicide attempt]], she will tell Max that she believes in redemption and is willing to forgive Victoria for what she's done to her. |
| 262 | * EveryoneHasStandards: Upon witnessing [[spoiler: Kate's suicide/ suicide attempt]], she breaks down crying to herself due to her heavy role in the tragedy. |
| 263 | * TheFashionista: Max notes Victoria has a good sense of fashion, and she can get her hands on expensive brand marks. |
| 264 | * {{Foil}}: To Warren. While he is a honest, sensitive and genuinely friendly student, Victoria is a [[RichBitch rich]], [[SmallNameBigEgo egotistical]] {{Jerkass}} with a social circle of friends who enjoy antagonizing other lonely students for a cheap laugh. |
| 265 | * FreudianSlip: In the prequel, if Chloe switches the tea cups and Victoria has no idea she drank the drugged cup, she slurs that Rachel has been drugged [[BlatantLies before correcting herself that she is on drugs]]. [[StupidSexyFlanders She then says Rachel has a pretty face]]. |
| 266 | * GirlPosse: Courtney and Taylor are this to Victoria. |
| 267 | * GratuitousFrench: She sometimes says "Au Revoir!" |
| 268 | * GreenEyedMonster: She is implied to have been jealous of Rachel Amber's popularity, though at least one of her fellow Vortex members contests this, claiming Victoria begrudgingly respected Rachel. There's also hints of it towards Max, as Jefferson shows Max obvious favoritism. |
| 269 | * HarmlessVillain: Sure, she's still nasty enough to bully and harass Kate to the point where she (successfully or not) commits suicide, her dastardly shenanigans are nowhere near as bad the exploits of her loony friend Nathan and [[spoiler: serial kidnapper Jefferson]]. |
| 270 | * HeelRealization: After Kate [[spoiler: attempts and possibly succeeds in committing suicide]] she's shown crying in her room over her involvement in the situation. In the proceeding episodes, her AlphaBitch tendencies are notably toned down (albeit still present), and if Max hasn't been actively antagonizing her back, she'll open up to the other girl and learn to trust her. |
| 271 | * HiddenDepths: Something that even Max can't deny in the long run. |
| 272 | ** Victoria's not a great photographer, but she's skilled enough and very knowledgeable beneath the RichBitch façade she shows to everyone. In Episode 4, she reveals that her parents own a successful gallery so she's grown up viewing the art world from its seedy cutthroat underbelly. It's made her believe that only those ruthless and hyper-aggressive towards their competition have a chance at success. |
| 273 | ** While she speaks with a certain ValleyGirl affectation normally, it's gone when she talks more candidly with Max. [[spoiler:In Episode 4, she can admit that she thinks of Max as the coolest person at Blackwell, precisely because Max doesn't feel the need to act the part as she does, and the two will bury the hatchet if Max reached out to Victoria in Episode 1 following the paint incident.]] |
| 274 | * HiddenHeartOfGold: Heavily downplayed, but Victoria's PetTheDog moments and HiddenDepths suggest she acts this way due to her family's own callous nature in the art world. |
| 275 | * HoistByHerOwnPetard: In ''Before The Storm'', if Chloe took the blame in Wells' office, Victoria will try to drug Rachel in order to play Prospera in her place. Chloe (and the player) have the choice to switch the cups or have her drink the tea to prove her innocence. In both cases, Victoria's plan fails miserably and results in her passing out. |
| 276 | * HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Victoria is best friends with the drug-addled Nathan, [[spoiler: who habitually drugs and kidnaps girls for Mr. Jefferson]], on whom Victoria has a crush. Very downplayed in that she was no more aware of [[spoiler: Mr. Jefferson's true nature than anyone else at the school]] and can also admit that Nathan has been freaking her out as of lately. |
| 277 | * {{Hypocrite}}: Constantly mocks Max over her selfie photography projects, yet has a few selfie pictures of herself in her locker (which Max gloats over). |
| 278 | * ImpliedDeathThreat: If you choose to take a photo of Victoria after she gets covered in paint in episode 1. |
| 279 | --->'''Victoria:''' You do that...I know where you live...So does Nathan... |
| 280 | * InferioritySuperiorityComplex: |
| 281 | ** There are quite a bit of hints that this is the real reason she acts so bitchy around Max. Max is said to be very talented, but hesitates to hand in her photos for fear that she will be rejected. Victoria for all of her fancy equipment is simply not that great and she gets rejected when she hands in her photo to the Kroft Gallery. Come episode 4, she basically admits this is the case; [[spoiler:she admires the fact that Max doesn't seem to really care what others think (in Episode 5, Max can even take a look at Victoria's journal, where she writes of Max, "I want to hate her, but she wouldn't care"), whereas Victoria is constantly feeling peer pressure. She overcompensates to come across as impressive in other people's eyes and she doesn't have a ton of confidence in her own talents]]. She's not evil, she's just very insecure. |
| 282 | ** In both ''Life is Strange'' and ''Life is Strange: Before the Storm'', she has a strong hatred for Rachel Amber, who was more popular than she ever was. While Victoria's feared by most and respected by some, unlike Rachel, she isn't ''loved'', and deep down, she knows she'll never have Rachel's charisma. |
| 283 | * InsufferableGenius: Somewhat downplayed, but she does come across as genuinely talented, studious and capable, albeit with a ''very'' grotty personality. |
| 284 | * IntergenerationalFriendship: Seems to have developed one with David by the time of Life Is Strange 2. At least, she has in the timelines where [[spoiler: David was put in a position where he had to save Max and Victoria.]] |
| 285 | * {{Jerkass}}: She comes across as a generally unpleasant and arrogant person, as she constantly bullies both Max and Kate (especially the latter) and sometimes even her friends. |
| 286 | * KickTheDog: |
| 287 | ** She bullies Kate over her humiliating 'sex video' in Episode 1. Takes a step further in Episode 2, especially to the point where in the background she can be seen eagerly [[spoiler:recording Kate's attempt to commit suicide by throwing herself off the dormitory roof]]. |
| 288 | ** If Max makes fun of Victoria in Episode 1, she'll vandalize Max's room in retaliation and steal her birthday cookies. |
| 289 | * KilledOffscreen: Her death [[spoiler:in episode 5 if you warned her]]. |
| 290 | * KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:If she believes Max's warning about Nathan, Jefferson will kill her this way in the next episode]]. |
| 291 | * LifeSavingMisfortune: Being [[spoiler:kidnapped by Jefferson and being trapped in his bunker]] actually saved her life from the storm in the timelines where it hits Arcadia Bay. She may have been killed by [[spoiler:Jefferson]] had David not rescued her. |
| 292 | * LikeBrotherAndSister: According to Taylor, Victoria and Nathan's relationship is like this. |
| 293 | * LovableAlphaBitch: Though she's [[AlphaBitch pretty cruel]] normally, if Max makes the effort to befriend Victoria, Victoria will show a softer side towards her. |
| 294 | * MaliciousMisnaming: In ''Before the Storm'', she keeps calling Chloe "Keri Price" because she doesn't feel that Chloe is important enough for her name to be worth remembering. |
| 295 | * ManipulativeBitch: She tries to exploit everything she can for maximum drama and is willing to tread on other peoples' toes for [[AttentionWhore attention]] and [[ItsAllAboutMe personal gain]]. |
| 296 | ** In Episode 1, when Juliet critisizes the Vortex Club in her article, Victoria responds by "jokingly" sexting her boyfriend, Zachary, and framing it on Dana, Juliet's best friend, causing a pretty heated confrontation between them. Her letter to Taylor makes it clear that she ''really'' gets a kick out of her petty, dastardly scheming. |
| 297 | ** In Episode 2, she leads a very deliberate harassment campaign against Kate, vandalising her door slate and leaving the link of her disgraceful video everywhere she can. Although she does express regret about her actions, she is still at least partially responsible for Kate's suicide attempt. |
| 298 | ** In Episode 3, Victoria attempts to sleaze her way to the winners list of the Everyday Heroes contest by seducing the photography teacher, Mr. Jefferson. When he rejects her advances she openly threatens him with blackmail. Also, it is implied that, despite genuinely admiring Jefferson as an artist, she is still hoping to use him to advance herself in the photography world. |
| 299 | ** In ''Before The Storm'', if Rachel Amber still has the role by the time of the Tempest play, Victoria will try to snatch it from her by spiking her tea with sleeping pills. Fortunately, you can turn it on her either by switching the cups or daring her to drink the spiked tea. Both will have the same outcome. |
| 300 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After [[spoiler:Kate's suicide attempt (successful or not)]] at the end of Episode 2, she can be seen crying in her room, finally realizing the effects of her petty bullying. Episode 3 gives us some more insight, and she seems to genuinely feel remorse over what she's done and said. |
| 301 | * NeverMyFault: Doesn't consider Kate's suicide to be her fault ''at all''. [[spoiler:At least, publicly.]] |
| 302 | * PetTheDog: |
| 303 | ** If Max [[VideoGameCaringPotential chooses to comfort her]] after engineering the paint spill, Victoria will seem genuinely grateful, delete the unflattering picture she took of her earlier, and apologize for the "Go fuck your selfie" comment. |
| 304 | ** Taylor notes that Victoria is the only other person to care about her hospitalized mother, a fact Max only learns when Taylor lets it slip. |
| 305 | ** Victoria, depending on Max's actions towards her, can become significantly friendlier to her in Episode 4, remarking that she truly believes Max is "the coolest person at Blackwell", but her insecurities and fear of the photography world, which she sees as brutal and unforgiving, force her to push away even those she admires. [[spoiler:Being nice to Victoria means she'll believe Max about Victoria being the next Dark Room victim, and the two resolve to be better friends after the conversation. Unfortunately, as of Episode 5, she'll be in the Dark Room with Max when the game begins if she does believe you.]] |
| 306 | ** In the [[spoiler: alternate timeline where Max is a member of the Vortex Club]], Victoria is extremely kind to her, bordering on clingy if her texts are anything to go on. |
| 307 | ** If [[spoiler: Kate survives her suicide attempt]], Victoria will write a sweet note to her in Episode 4. Kate herself believes that Victoria is being genuine. |
| 308 | ** In the [[spoiler: Sacrifice Chloe]] ending she's one of characters attending [[spoiler: Chloe's funeral.]] Given she and [[spoiler: Chloe]] aren't even remotely close it's likely she's there to support ''Max'', who you can find out in Episode 4 that she secretly admires. |
| 309 | * RedemptionRejection: By the time Victoria has [[spoiler: won the Everyday Heroes Award]] she's had a HeelRealization and seems to be trying to change. During her acceptance speech, she makes a seemingly sincere dedication to Kate, who is either currently [[spoiler: hospitalized or dead.]] Victoria, being a renowned AlphaBitch throughout the school and who's barely tolerated even by the Vortex Club (save Nathan, Courtney, and Taylor who actually ''do'' like her) and is known as having been TheBully to Kate gets ''exactly'' the kind of reaction you'd expect. |
| 310 | -->'''Alyssa:''' You suck, Victoria! |
| 311 | -->'''Crowd:''' ''(cheers)'' |
| 312 | * RichBitch: If the cashmere sweater didn't tip you off, take a look at the incredibly expensive equipment she has in her dorm room. She has ''three'' [=DSLRs=]. |
| 313 | * SextraCredit: Less "extra credit" (as she's doing quite well, GPA-wise) and more "pick me for the contest", but her offer to Mr. Jefferson in Episode 3 is certainly a derivative of this. His reaction is a firm "no", and he chastises her for saying she could threaten him with the accusation. [[spoiler:She gets chosen anyway, but only for lack of anything better. One of the alternate timelines makes it clear that Max would have won hands down if she'd bothered to enter.]] |
| 314 | * SheKnowsTooMuch: [[spoiler:If you convince her to be wary of Nathan, she will run to Jefferson for help, who comes to this conclusion, kidnaps her and murders her during Episode 5, presumably not having the time to deal with her in any other way.]] |
| 315 | * ShoutOut: To [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Cordelia Chase]]. |
| 316 | * SmallNameBigEgo: In ''Before the Storm'', Victoria is not the AlphaBitch in terms of social hierarchy, but she still acts as arrogantly as she will three years later. |
| 317 | * TheStoner: [[spoiler: Seems to be in the alternate timeline.]] |
| 318 | * StupidSexyFlanders: Despite her blatant jealousy of Rachel, the prequel has many occasions of Victoria calling Rachel hot. If she drinks the drugged tea cup she intended to give to Rachel, she will reveal in front of everyone while drugged that Rachel has a pretty face. |
| 319 | * TeachersPet: To Mr. Jefferson, whom she has a painfully obvious crush on or just wants to use to get ahead. Her advances on Mr. Jefferson are rebuffed in Episode 3. |
| 320 | * TeacherStudentRomance: She outright admits that she's infatuated with Mr. Jefferson and bluntly makes a move on him the minute they're alone together. He [[EveryoneHasStandards naturally reacts with great disgust and tells her no.]] |
| 321 | * TookALevelInKindness: |
| 322 | ** At the end of Episode 3 [[spoiler:in the Alternate Timeline. She seems to be good friends with Max in this timeline, calling her Maxine and Mad Max. She also seems to be a bit of a stoner, which might have something to do with it.]] |
| 323 | ** In Episode 4, she is amiable to Max if Max made a genuine effort to be friendly in previous encounters, and [[spoiler:dedicates her prize win to Kate]]. |
| 324 | ** If Arcadia Bay is sacrificed, [[spoiler:Victoria is revealed to have survived the storm in ''Life is Strange 2''. She is very grateful to David for saving her life, and is on seemingly better terms with Max and Chloe (calling them good people and wishing them luck with their life).]] |
| 325 | * {{Tsundere}}: Her text to Max, if Max chose to comfort her, gives off this vibe. |
| 326 | -->'''Victoria:''' BTW THANX BUT WERE NOT FRIENDS. |
| 327 | * VillainousFriendship: A curiously heartwarming one with Nathan, of all people. Victoria is pretty much the only student of Blackwell to not treat Nathan as a 'freak' due to his mental illness, and treats him kindly. [[spoiler: Though in Episode 4, she may admit to Max that Nathan's decline in his mental health has been scaring her as of late, should Victoria and Max decide to burying the hatchet and treat each other as real friends.]] |
| 328 | * WakeUpCall: Going through the traumatic events she did (Being kidnapped by Jefferson and thrown in his bunker. In addition to the storm that destroyed Arcadia Bay if the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending is chosen.) seems to have been this for her as she seems to have changed her RichBitch attitude and become a better person than she was before. (As revealed in Season 2 and the Comics.) |
| 329 | * WhatYouAreInTheDark: [[spoiler:If Max warned Victoria and she believed her, Victoria will find herself in the Dark Room with Max in the next episode. When she realizes the danger they're both in, Victoria breaks down in tears, apologizing for everything she's done and showing regret for what she did to Kate Marsh. In this moment, you see her as a scared, insecure girl who shows her true colors before her final moments. And sure enough, when Max finds herself back in the Dark Room after tearing her photo, Victoria has been killed by Jefferson]]. |
| 330 | * YouLoseAtZeroTrust: [[spoiler:If Max chooses to warn Victoria about the Dark Room in Episode 4, whether or not Victoria believes her depends on how much hostility Max has shown her over the course of the game. In a twist, if you do successfully warn her, it leads to her capture by Jefferson because she in turn warned him, believing him to be trustworthy.]] |
| 331 | [[/folder]] |
| 332 | |
| 333 | [[folder:Nathan Prescott]] |
| 334 | !!Nathan Joshua Prescott |
| 335 | [[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e7d1d38518faf5b56bfdf8c7fde18873.jpg]] |
| 336 | [[caption-width-right:250:Do not analyze me!]] |
| 337 | ->'''Voiced by''': Nik Shriner (English, Season One), Yasuhiro Mamiya (Japanese), Caleb Thomas (English, ''Before the Storm'') |
| 338 | |
| 339 | An honor student and rich kid whose family wields incredible influence within Arcadia Bay, including Blackwell Academy. Though popular with the cliques of Blackwell Academy and possessing a talent for photography, he is incredibly unstable and displays numerous symptoms of mental illness including anxiety, agitation and a HairTriggerTemper. |
| 340 | |
| 341 | During the events of ''Before the Storm'', Nathan is dealing with bullying from his football teammates over allegations that he only got on the team because of his family connections. |
| 342 | ---- |
| 343 | * AbusiveParents: Hinted at. He dislikes his father and calls him an asshole. As the story goes on, his father's abuse becomes more and more apparent, with letters, texts, and e-mails showing an outright hostile, bully-like attitude towards his son. On full display in ''Before the Storm'' Episode 2. [[spoiler: His ParentalSubstitute, Mark Jefferson, isn't any better, going as far to kill him when he's [[YouHaveOutLivedYourUsefulness outlived his usefulness.]]]] |
| 344 | * AccidentalMurder: Despite his unstable personality, he mostly seems to use [[WeaponForIntimidation guns for intimidation]]. His shooting of Chloe in the bathroom is portrayed as a reflex action, caused by her pushing him away. So was [[spoiler: Rachel Amber's death. According to Jefferson, Nathan was trying to sedate Rachel, but used too strong of a dose which killed her]]. |
| 345 | * AintTooProudToBeg: He ''pleads'' [[spoiler: Warren to stop when the latter is giving him a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown]], even crying as it happens. |
| 346 | * AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:One can feel sympathetic or even downright sorry for him when he hearing his desperately sobbing voice mail shortly before he gets killed about how he sorry he is, especially when being aware that he had untreated mental issues AND can be beaten to a pulp by Warren.]] |
| 347 | * ArchEnemy: Serves as a perpetual nemesis to Chloe. He drugged her, (almost) shot her, and it's eventually revealed that he [[spoiler: accidentally killed her girlfriend, Rachel Amber]]. |
| 348 | * AxCrazy: He's... got issues. The scene he's introduced has him walking into the bathroom talking to himself about blowing up the school if he wanted to. Then he pulls the gun out on Chloe. His unedited student file mentions that he has a long history of violent outbursts at school. When you talk to him at the Two Whales Diner, he is hostile regardless of your past interactions with him. |
| 349 | * BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: If Max chooses to sacrifice Chloe to save Arcadia Bay, his death at the hands of Jefferson will be undone.]] |
| 350 | * BarbaricBully: In stark contrast to the manipulative, passive aggressive Victoria, Nathan is much more violent and hateful, and he's barbaric enough to threaten people with a gun. |
| 351 | * BeingEvilSucks: When we first meet Nathan, he's under great duress and frantically trying to bolster his self-confidence in the mirror. It's obvious that all the evil things he does are in response to intense pressure from his domineering father to live up to his family's reputation, and he doesn't seem to take any joy in any of it. |
| 352 | * BerserkButton: Don't tell him what to do. |
| 353 | * BigBadDuumvirate: See BigBadWannabe below, but [[spoiler:he's still a kidnapper and drug dealer.]] |
| 354 | * BigBadWannabe: [[spoiler:In Episode 4 he's shown to be little more than a petty drug addict and dealer. Mr. Jefferson is the one really behind most of the game's events.]] |
| 355 | * BigJerkOnCampus: Of all the "bros" at Blackwell Academy, he's the most popular and most unpleasant of them all. And his nasty temper isn't even his worst trait. |
| 356 | * BoisterousWeakling: In Episode 4, his tough guy act completely crumbles when Warren [[CurbStompBattle wipes the floor]] with him. |
| 357 | * BrokenAce: He's seen as the big man at Blackwell. Although he is very popular and belongs to pretty much the richest family in Arcadia Bay, [[spoiler: Nathan suffers from numerous unknown mental disorders and has AbusiveParents which is evident throughout the story and also in Episode 4 where you can find letters and messages from his father scolding him for his behavior.]] |
| 358 | * BroodingBoyGentleGirl: The Brooding Boy to Samantha's Gentle Girl in the prequel. |
| 359 | * CallForward: There are a number of scenes in Before the Storm that hint at Nathan's (growing) mental issues and the fact that he is not receiving the treatment/help required to solve them, ultimately leading to [[spoiler: his involvement with Jefferson and crimes committed for him]]. |
| 360 | ** In episode 1 Nathan is bullied by Drew, who notes that the photos in Nathan's photo album are rather weird. The first game reveals that Nathan's photography style is indeed rather grim. |
| 361 | ** In episode 2 you can observe Nathan's father, Sean Prescott, give his son a stern lecture on not sullying the family name and not showing weakness. |
| 362 | ** In episode 3 you can walk down the hospital hallway, past Drew/Mikey's and Rachel's rooms, to find a door being ajar. Assuming Chloe failed to protect Nathan from Drew in Episode 1 and told Samantha to stay away from him in Episode 2, going near it allows you to eavesdrop on a conversation between Sean Prescott and a psychiatrist, who urgently suggests Sean gets his son the (psychological) help required to deal with his worsening mental issues. Sean flat out refuses, once again prioritising the family. |
| 363 | * TheCameo: [[spoiler:In ''Life Is Strange 2'', if you sacrificed Chloe, David will keep a mugshot of Nathan taken on the day after he murdered Chloe.]] |
| 364 | * CreateYourOwnHero: Max would have never got the time powers and discovered the Dark Room if it weren't for him shooting Chloe in the bathroom. |
| 365 | * CreepyBlueEyes: Especially noticeable he's doing one of his usual {{Death Glare}}s, and they certainly enhance his scary look. |
| 366 | * CreepySouvenir: [[spoiler:If Kate dies, Nathan steals the cross from her memorial.]] |
| 367 | * DeathEqualsRedemption: [[spoiler:Shortly before Jefferson killed him, Nathan called Max to warn her and to apologize for everything he did. Unfortunately, Jefferson kidnapped Max before she received the call.]] |
| 368 | * DeathGlare: He loves giving these out to people he antagonizes. |
| 369 | * {{Delinquent}}: Nathan's spotless record in Blackwell is ''completely'' fabricated, as he has an entire history of [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking psychotic outbursts in class, cursing at teachers, and attempted theft of Tobanga totem.]] And he's an avid party-goer and drug user and dealer to boot. |
| 370 | * DirtyCoward: He talks and acts tough when he has an overwhelming advantage, like a ''[[NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight gun]]''. In a real fight, though, he's not much, and if slightly threatened, he usually flees. |
| 371 | * DiscOneFinalBoss: He's the main antagonist of the first four episodes [[spoiler: until his mentor - Mark Jefferson - kills him and takes center stage as the game's true BigBad.]] |
| 372 | * TheDreaded: Everyone at school who isn't a part of the Vortex Club tries their best to avoid making contact with him. |
| 373 | * TheDragon: [[spoiler:To Jefferson.]] |
| 374 | * EvilCounterpart: He has a lot qualities similar to Rachel Amber. Both of them are privileged, popular "golden" kids of Blackwell who are a lot more troubled than their social status would suggest. Both suffer from crippling daddy issues and express their frustration through some rather unorthodox, often self-destructive means. Also, both Nathan and Rachel have strong passion for arts but Nathan chose to depict the most bleak, nihilistic aspects of life in his photos and eventually solidifies himself as a villain after [[spoiler: becoming Jefferson's accomplice and possibly killing Rachel with an overdose.]] |
| 375 | * EvenEvilCanBeLoved: The only three people that treat him with any sort of geniune compassion are Samantha, Victoria, and his sister Kristine. And even then, whatever relationship he might have had with Samantha is long gone by the time of the first game, his sister is too far away to actually help him, and even Victoria reluctantly confesses that Nathan is creeping her out. |
| 376 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: In unused dialogue for Episode 3, Max asks him if he raped Kate. Nathan vehemently denies it, and calls Max evil for even suggesting that he'd do such a thing. |
| 377 | * {{Expy}}: Seems heavily inspired by [[Franchise/HarryPotter Draco Malfoy]], being a [[RichJerk rich]], [[SpoiledBrat spoiled]], [[DirtyCoward cowardly]] [[TheBully bully]] that consistently harasses everyone out of his clique, but who's nothing but a tool of the true villain. |
| 378 | * FieryRedhead: A red-headed kid who's also TheMentallyDisturbed. |
| 379 | * {{Foil}}: To Chloe. While both are juvenile delinquents with emotional problems and association with drugs, Chloe is described as being poor and protective to her friends, the rich Nathan on the other hand is violently unstable and desperately trying to prop up his shattered self-esteem by crushing and bullying other people. Not only that, but they have polar opposite paternal figures: William being a kind-hearted man who loved his daughter and David is a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who just wants the best for Chloe and her mother. In contrast, Sean is an abusive father who is fine in leaving his son to deal with his problems alone and [[spoiler: Jefferson]] is a psychopathic BitchInSheepsClothing who merely uses Nathan in order to advance his own goals all while hiding behind a façade of being a [[spoiler: polite and gentle teacher]]. Both are also represented by opposite colors, blue and red. |
| 380 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: He initially freaks out in the Diner when he thinks Max is Rachel Amber. [[spoiler:Understandable considering he killed her, and buried her body.]] |
| 381 | * FreudianExcuse: He hasn't had the easiest upbringing, and both his family and [[spoiler:Mr. Jefferson]] do their damnedest to make his issues worse. |
| 382 | * TheFriendNobodyLikes: ''Everyone'' at the party in episode 4, including other Vortex Club members, admits to being creeped out by him. The only people who have anything remotely positive to say are [[TheStoner Hayden]], who's totally blazed and just wants Nathan's drugs, and [[LikeBrotherAndSister Victoria]], who says herself that she's "the only person who cares what Nathan is going through," and even she can admit that he's been freaking her out as of lately. |
| 383 | * HairTriggerTemper: Will turn on you at slight provocation. |
| 384 | * HatedByAll: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed.]] Due to his parents' parasitic influence that brought misery to the entire town, he was bound to be hated almost from the get go, even before his nasty personality traits fully manifested. Despite being supposedly popular, he was so alienated from his peers that [[spoiler: Jefferson]] could easily coax him into committing crimes for him. |
| 385 | * HatesBeingTouched: If Chloe fails the backtalk with Drew but advises Samantha to support Nathan, he will ''break her ribs'' after what Sean Prescott states Nathan defended himself from an "unwanted and inappropriate physical contact", which is implied to be a simple hug. |
| 386 | * TheHeavy: Nathan is the most obvious and threatening villain for the first four episodes. He kicks off the plot by murdering Chloe, he threatens Max repeatedly throughout the story, he's revealed to have done awful things to Chloe and Kate - being one of the parties responsible for the latter's [[spoiler: suicide attempt]] - and possibly others, he physically assaults Warren [[spoiler: and even tries to shoot him when he later steps in to protect Max on a different occasion]], and he's eventually revealed to [[spoiler: have killed Rachel Amber]]. Compared to him, Frank and David are just minor side-villains and Victoria is little but a minor nuisance. From the very end of Episode 4 onwards, however, [[spoiler: Nathan gets thoroughly kicked out of the Heavy role by Mark Jefferson]]. |
| 387 | * HiddenDepths: |
| 388 | ** Nathan's [=MP3=] player in his room is full of calming whale songs, possibly to help with his mental illness symptoms. |
| 389 | ** As Max notes herself, he is very skilled at taking photos which utilize shadow and the macabre. |
| 390 | ** In the timelines where he dies, Nathan's last act turns out to have been [[spoiler: phoning Max to apologize for his crimes]]. |
| 391 | * {{Hypocrite}}: He hates his father's guts, but also isn't above using his family's name to get himself out of trouble. |
| 392 | * IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: [[spoiler:He ends up killing Chloe due to his frantic gun waving; his apparent horror after the fact in the Sacrifice Chloe ending makes it clear that he wasn't intending to pull the trigger.]] |
| 393 | * IJustWantToBeLoved: In a fatherly way, since his own father is an abusive, narcissistic scumbag who only views him as an extention of the Prescott family name. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, the man who became as his surrogate father figure is also a abusive, narcissistic scumbag who only views him as a tool for his twisted agenda.]] |
| 394 | * InferioritySuperiorityComplex: On the surface level, he appears as a conceited, self-satisfied classist who thinks he's better than others because of his wealthy background, but beneath that he's an insecure, self-hating emotional wreck who's desperate for someone else's guidance. [[spoiler: Desperate enough to become a serial kidnapper.]] |
| 395 | * InsaneEqualsViolent: Nathan is portrayed as physically dangerous largely as a result of his mental instability. Indeed, the first we see of him - babbling nervously to himself in a mirror while holding a gun - he feels like a school-shooting waiting to happen. To be fair, though, it does eventually turn out that what ''really'' makes him dangerous is [[spoiler:his manipulation by the totally in-control but utterly ruthless Mark Jefferson, as well as the fact that his parents ignored ''every'' opportunity to give him the help he needs]]. |
| 396 | * {{Jerkass}}: While not without his sympathetic qualities, Nathan is overall rude, easily angered and willing to physically assault people over minor inconveniences. |
| 397 | * JerkJock: A bit of a different example. He has the look and behavior of one, but he actually isn't very physically strong and takes more to art than sports. |
| 398 | * KickTheMoralityPet: If Chloe doesn't defend him from Drew and tells Samantha to support him, he will attack her in a fit of rage, breaking sereval of her ribs. |
| 399 | * KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: In the "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending, making him one of five characters who can die permanently. Because Jefferson killed Nathan prior to the End of the World party, Max never rewinds back far enough to save him, and choosing to sacrifice the town to the storm removes the option of further time travel.]] |
| 400 | * KilledOffscreen: [[spoiler:By Jefferson before the "End of the World" party, as Jefferson confirms to Max in Episode 5.]] |
| 401 | * LackOfEmpathy: Zigzagged. He actually ''laughs'' at Kate's [[spoiler: suicide/ suicide attempt,]] but later seems to be torn up over [[spoiler:what he did to Rachel and shooting Chloe, if you pick the Sacrifice Chloe ending.]] |
| 402 | * LaserGuidedKarma: In ''Episode 1'', he headbutts Warren and beats the crap of him for trying to defend Max. In ''Episode 4'', Warren goes on to [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown return the favor]]. |
| 403 | ** In "Sacrifice Chloe" ending, Nathan gets tackled on the floor and arrested by David for killing his step-daughter Chloe. The last thing he said to Chloe before shooting her was that [[TemptingFate no one would miss her]]. |
| 404 | * LikeBrotherAndSister: According to Taylor, Nathan and Victoria view each other as siblings. |
| 405 | * MadArtist: Not to the extent of [[spoiler: Jefferson]] but he still counts, with his twisted, macabre artwork. [[spoiler: Plus, he kidnaps and photographs girls on his own volition, hoping to imitate Jefferson's style.]] |
| 406 | * TheMentallyDisturbed: Oh boy, where to start. Nathan has serious psychological issues due to his father's emotional abuse. The fact that the latter refrains him from psychological getting help not to "taint the Prescott name" does not help him the slightest, which worsens Nathan's mental health and causes him to act the way he does during the game. |
| 407 | * MinionManipulatedIntoVillainy: While he's a deeply unpleasant person, [[spoiler:his worst crimes were committed for Jefferson.]] |
| 408 | * MurderMakesYouCrazy: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]. He never was mentally sound to begin with, but his [[spoiler: AccidentalMurder of Rachel Amber]], combined with both feelings of immense guilt and fear of getting caught, made him extremely paranoid and prone to violence. |
| 409 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: |
| 410 | ** If Max fails to stop him from shooting Chloe in the first episode, he's [[PleaseWakeUp horrified about having killed her]]. [[spoiler:In the "Sacrifice Chloe" ending, which involves Max choosing not to save Chloe, it's implied that he confesses everything about Jefferson to the police out of guilt]]. |
| 411 | ** In Episode 5, [[spoiler:when he realizes Jefferson plans to kill him and Max to cover his tracks, Nathan manages to call Max to warn her and apologize for everything he did]]. |
| 412 | ** In ''Before The Storm'', the ending sequence shows that Nathan regrets injuring Samantha who simply wanted to be his friend (only if Chloe failed the backtalk against Drew). |
| 413 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: His gross incompetence as [[spoiler: Jefferson's]] accomplice is what ultimately leads to the discovery of the Dark Room. In "Sacrifice Chloe" ending, Max doesn't even have to do anything at all, since Nathan's arrest leads to him confessing and ratting [[spoiler: Jefferson]] out. |
| 414 | * NightmareFetishist: Most of his art consists of horrifying subjects such as dead whales and birds, and he will take a photo of dead/injured Pompidou if Max leads him onto the road. Also, his Everyday Heroes contest entry is the photo of a grave-digger. All this may suggest that Nathan has a morbid obsession with death. |
| 415 | * ObviouslyEvil: Reconstructed. Nathan is aggressive, permanently angry, misogynistic, and the series opens with him shooting Chloe. It's not a big surprise when he turns out to be involved in the [[spoiler:snuff pictures taken in his basement.]] However, the surprise is [[spoiler:that he's been manipulated into it by Mark Jefferson, who is the bigger bad.]] |
| 416 | * ObviousVillainSecretVillain: He is the "obvious" villain to Jefferson's "secret". |
| 417 | * OverlordJr: A more tragic example than most cases. To his father, he's more of an asset of the Prescott Foundation and its eventual heir rather than a son. This leads to Nathan being so attention-starved that he [[spoiler: willingly agreed to kidnap people for Jefferson, just so that he could earn his respect.]] |
| 418 | * PaperTiger: While he ''does'' get the upper hand in his first fight with Warren, Nathan is mostly good at simply intimidating people (most of the time with his gun). In Episode 4, he goes down the time you think of it and Warren beats him to a pulp. |
| 419 | * ParentalNeglect: Hand-in-hand with AbusiveParents, as [[spoiler: his father is perfectly willing to cover up Nathan's problems, but ''completely'' unwilling to actually help alleviate them - something Nathan's psychiatrist actively called him out for when declining to see Nathan anymore.]] |
| 420 | * PetTheDog: His friendship with [[NiceGirl Samantha]] in ''Before The Storm'' is this. If Chloe succeeds in making them friends, Nathan shows a softer side around Samantha alone, even giving her ice cream at her hospital room if she was injured by a cyclist. |
| 421 | * PleaseWakeUp: [[spoiler:In the Sacrifice Chloe ending, right after he shoots Chloe, he panics when he realizes he what he's done, and shakes her body frantically in order to wake her up, though it's too late]]. |
| 422 | * PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Has a tendency to call multiple female characters sluts/whores/etc. In episode 3, when choosing a certain dialogue option, he calls Max a dyke. Also puts a poster on Warren's door calling him a "beta phag" (faggot). |
| 423 | * PrivilegeMakesYouEvil: Him being from a rich family allowed him to get away with all sorts of nasty things in the past, and his family's [[SlaveToPR obsession with good PR]] and blatant negligence led to his mental issues being ignored and enabled, leading him right into [[spoiler: Jefferson's]] hands. He even despises any attempt to remotely psychoanalyze him as a person (aside from his bought-and-paid-for therapist), so of course [[spoiler:Jefferson, who sees everyone as either artists or subjects, psychoanalyzes him as the former, cultivates his worst traits into a deranged accomplice, and deems him an amateur who can go ahead and die once he [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness becomes a]] [[YouHaveFailedMe liability]]]]. |
| 424 | * RecklessGunUsage: Nathan is hardly the one to practice good trigger discipline, so when he presses the gun into Chloe's chest, it predictably fires and kills her. |
| 425 | * RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: His blood red jacket and black pants clearly indicate him as a villainous character from the get-go. |
| 426 | * RedHerring: [[spoiler:He is not the ultimate villain]]. His red jacket may be a deliberate clue by the creators. |
| 427 | * RedIsViolent: He's Blackwell's resident BarbaricBully with a distinct red letterman jacket. |
| 428 | * RichBastard: He likes to brag about his family's wealth. |
| 429 | * RoomFullOfCrazy: His dorm room contains a lot of items that make him look suspiciously like a serial killer. |
| 430 | * RoyalBrat: He isn't royalty, to be sure, but his family has comparable status as far as Arcadia Bay is concerned, and he has the personality to match. Although in his case, his flaws stem at least partly from genuine mental problems and an abusive upbringing rather than an inherently evil personality. His voice actor Nik Shriner lampshades this, with his profile header stating that [[https://twitter.com/NikShriner/header_photo Joffrey Baratheon and Nathan are "the same person"]]. |
| 431 | * RuleOfSymbolism: In the Tempest performance he plays Caliban, who's described as a "savage and deformed slave," and a "monster of the isle," hinting both at his less than stellar reputation and at the StartOfDarkness that makes him the weak-willed henchman to [[spoiler: Jefferson]] in the first game. |
| 432 | * ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: He claims that his family owns half the town, so he can do whatever he wants. Given that the principal brushes off Max's claim that [[spoiler:he had a gun]] with nothing more than a "I'll talk to him in my office", this seems true. [[spoiler:While you can get him suspended in Episode 2, he just threatens to sue the school and treats it flippantly. As you find out in Episode 3, his father is putting pressure on Principal Wells to have him reinstated, and Nathan's spotless record is actually a fake made up for the same reason. The real records, which depict him as the delinquent he is, were buried.]] |
| 433 | * SelfDisposingVillain: The whole point of "Sacrifice Chloe" ending is that Max WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing; Nathan seals his fate by commiting murder on school grounds and rats the BigBad out to the police. |
| 434 | * SilverSpoonTroublemaker: Like many other members of the Vortex Club, he's already a party boy, but thanks to his noxious personality and his mental illness, he's also a cruel and downright dangerous bully. His father spends a lot of time and money covering up Nathan's behavior, [[spoiler: but even he doesn't know exactly what he's been getting up to in the Dark Room.]] |
| 435 | * SmugSnake: Carries a smug sense of superiority around other students, as though he's better than then. It's quickly shattered as the story goes on, though (especially if he gets pummeled by the likes of Warren). |
| 436 | * SourOutsideSadInside: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]]. He is no doubt a very messed up and somewhat tragic character, but even outside of his criminal endeavors in the Dark Room, he's a thoroughly unpleasant, prideful and self-rightous bully, who is hostile to others for little to no reason, and who is more concerned with propping up his fragile ego and restoring his wounded pride than actually receiving sympathy from his peers. |
| 437 | --> '''Chloe's Diary''': "Of course, the best cure for feeling bad for Nathan is to actually talk to Nathan. Then you remember what a wonderfully punchable face those Prescott genes gave him." |
| 438 | * StalkerWithACrush: Implied to be one for [[spoiler: Rachel Amber. According to Jefferson, he kidnapped her to take pervy pictures of her, mimicing Jefferson's style, but ends up accidently killing her with an overdose.]] |
| 439 | * StartOfDarkness: In ''Before the Storm'', the player gets to see a few glimpses of events that led to him becoming the crazed bully and kidnapper he is in the first game: neglected mental issues; his father's abuse; being ostracized and bullied for his family's wrongdoings; and possibly attacking Samantha, one of the few people who cared about him. |
| 440 | * TheStoner: Frank's logbook shows that he's a regular customer for some pretty heavy drugs, which no doubt contribute to his worsening mental health. He also does his own drug dealing at school. |
| 441 | * TheStoolPigeon: In the ending, if the player chooses to [[spoiler: sacrifice Chloe to save the town]], Nathan appears to have sold out [[spoiler: Jefferson]] to the police. It's unclear if this was out of remorse, or because they offered him a PleaBargain. |
| 442 | * StupidEvil: Despite hiding his phone in a hidden area of his room, Nathan ''does not'' delete his text messages despite them clearly having incriminating evidence that could be used against him. |
| 443 | ** [[spoiler:This could be subverted by the storm still hitting Arcadia Bay in this timeline. This becomes DoubleSubverted when you remember that the Prescotts are responsible for the bunker craze in the town, and therefore have enough wealth to have access to their own bunker.]] |
| 444 | ** In general, he's not very calculative with his dirty deeds and it ends up backfiring at him in the end. [[spoiler: Jefferson was pissed off about his perpetual incompetence and the amount of attention the duo was getting because of him. Rachel's AccidentalMurder turned out to be the last straw for Jefferson and after that he started to plot Nathan's death and FrameUp.]] |
| 445 | * SympathyForTheDevil: |
| 446 | ** Episode 4 shows that Nathan's outbursts and psychopathy are getting worse due to his father withholding treatment and privately encouraging his activities. Evidence suggests his father abused him much of his life, and the drugs he does take leave him in a very unstable state of mind. It's quite possible that what he does is more of his father's fault than his own. |
| 447 | ** If Max lets [[spoiler:Warren continue beating Nathan into the ground]], the latter will crumple up and begin whimpering and crying. Kind of hard not to feel a bit sorry for him when one thinks of what he's gone through with his father and his disorders. |
| 448 | ** [[spoiler:Even after Max learns that Nathan was the one who killed Rachel, she still views Nathan as another one of Jefferson's victims, as Jefferson exploited Nathan's mental illness and abusive father to twist him into his accomplice.]] |
| 449 | * TalkativeLoon: The very first thing we see him do is babble to himself in the girls' bathroom. |
| 450 | * TeensAreMonsters: Of all the students, he's the most explicitly evil one, [[spoiler: being a serial kidnapper and working directly for [[MadArtist Jefferson]].]] |
| 451 | * TermsOfEndangerment: Snarkily calls Max "[[AddedAlliterativeAppeal Mysterious Max]]" during desk confrontation in Episode 2 if Max didn't report him in Episode 1. Notably, this is one of the only times where he doesn't directly insult Max or call her names. |
| 452 | * ThenLetMeBeEvil: His implied motivation for working with [[spoiler: Jefferson]]. Since almost everyone else either hates him and views him as a freak or pretends to like him to mooch off his status, he felt that only by gaining [[spoiler: Jefferson's]] trust he could have someone to geniune care for him. In the end, others' perception of him as a freak was one of the things that caused him to become an actually crazy and dangerous person. |
| 453 | * TookALevelInKindness: His alternate universe counterpart is a much nicer, well-rounded individual than his main universe counterpart. [[spoiler:He also doesn't seem to be involved with any of Jefferson's crimes.]] |
| 454 | * TokenEvilTeammate: While many of the Vortex Club members are conceited jerks, he's only one who's actively involved in criminal activities, [[spoiler: and that's not going into his escapades with Jefferson.]] Also, he's the only Vortex Club member who cannot be befriended under any circumstances. |
| 455 | * TragicVillain: He's both a cruel, deranged bully and criminal and an insecure, vulnerable, weak-willed henchman who was hopelessly out of his depth the whole time. |
| 456 | * TroubledButCute: Throughout the game, he's a psychotic {{Jerkass}} who has anger issues, but [[spoiler:in Episode 5, it's revealed that he's nothing but a frustrated man who apologizes to Max for antagonizing her and everyone he bullied.]] |
| 457 | * TrueArtIsAngsty: In-Universe. It is commented by Max in Episode 3 that if things had been different, even with his clear mental illness and numerous personal difficulties Nathan could've become a successful, if dark, photographer. While his (true) GPA is terrible, even the somewhat elitist Max can't deny that he has real talent when it comes to taking shots of the macabre. |
| 458 | * UngratefulBastard: If Chloe [[spoiler: protects him from Drew]] in ''Before the Storm'''s first episode, Nathan yells at her for interfering. |
| 459 | * UsedToBeASweetKid: Downplayed in ''Before The Storm''. He's still shown to have mental issues, however, they were ''far less'' as bad as in the main game, and he's shown to have a much more kinder side, like around Samantha. |
| 460 | * VillainDecay: In Episode 1, he's presented as a dangerous, physically aggressive bully who is not only prone to violence but is also capable of inflicting it, as shown when he headbutts Warren without even flinching and then grabs Max by the neck. From Episode 2 onward, he's shown as a BoisterousWeakling who's only a threat because of his social status and his ability to drug and kidnap girls, and who gets his ass kicked by Warren easily. |
| 461 | * VillainsDyingGrace: After being Max and Chloe's sworn enemy throughout the first 4 episodes, Nathan revealed in his last voicemail that he is genuinely remorseful for what he has done and even tried to help Max by warning her about [[spoiler: Jefferson]]. However, by the time his voicemail reaches her it is far too late. |
| 462 | * VillainWithGoodPublicity: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted.]] Although, his rich family tries to paint him in a positive light, nobody is fooled as Nathan's creepy and violent nature is transparent. It also helps that his parents are just as hated throughout Arcadia Bay. |
| 463 | * WeUsedToBeFriends: It's implied in the first game and confirmed in ''Before the Storm'' that he and Rachel were close. Whatever friendship they had likely fizzled out when [[spoiler: he drugged her for Jefferson]]. |
| 464 | * WellDoneSonGuy: Nathan's father definitely has this attitude - seemingly the only reason he tolerates Nathan is because he's the heir to the family name. And judging by some of the texts and emails Nathan received, [[LonelyRichKid this is a hereditary practice]]. |
| 465 | * WhatYouAreInTheDark: [[spoiler:Mere moments before his demise at the hands of Jefferson, Nathan calls Max to warn her and gives her a tearjerking apology for everything he's done]]. |
| 466 | * WhenHeSmiles: One of the few times we see Nathan genuinely happy is when Samantha applauds him for his role in the Tempest. |
| 467 | * YouHaveOutLivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler: Jefferson kills Nathan to frame him for his crimes]]. |
| 468 | * YoungGun: Nathan keeps a handgun concealed on his person and won't hesitate to draw it if he becomes agitated. First seen in episode 1, when Chloe attempts to extort him. Max saves her by tripping the fire alarm, which distracts Nathan long enough for Chloe to escape. It's revisited near the end of episode 5 [[spoiler: if Max chooses to sacrifice Chloe, resulting in her death]]. |
| 469 | [[/folder]] |
| 470 | |
| 471 | [[folder:Warren Graham]] |
| 472 | !!Warren Daniel Graham |
| 473 | [[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9a1345f8df3ca6e1b00c89311bb17fbb.jpg]] |
| 474 | [[caption-width-right:250:Max! Let's go ape!]] |
| 475 | ->'''Voiced by''': Carlos Luna (English), Makoto Naruse (Japanese) |
| 476 | |
| 477 | An honors student at Blackwell and its resident sci-fi movie guru. Also, a close friend of Max. |
| 478 | ---- |
| 479 | * AgentMulder: Despite his preference for scientific explanations, Warren is surprisingly open-minded about the possibility of supernatural powers and phenomena. |
| 480 | ** When Max first confides in him about the strange occurrences at Blackwell and says it may be connected to Kate's attempted suicide and Rachel Amber's disappearance, Warren says he isn't much for conspiracy theories, but still admits she might be onto something. |
| 481 | ** Seen again near the climax of episode 5, when Max finally tells him about her rewind powers and her vision about the storm. Not only does Warren believe her, he immediately deduces that the storm was most likely caused by [[spoiler: Max repeatedly tampering with the intended course of time]]. |
| 482 | * AllLoveIsUnrequited: [[ZigzaggingTrope Zigzagged]]. Max spends most of the game seemingly oblivious to Warren's feelings for her and repeatedly describes him as a friend. Whereas in other scenes, such as when Chloe plainly states it during episode 4, Max says she already knows. Even if the player chooses to have Max romance him, she remains unsure what her actual feelings toward him are. But [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XkSmyBx4_s if she writes on his dorm slate]] in episode 4, she admits (to herself) that [[GiveGeeksAChance she's willing to find out]]. |
| 483 | -->'''Max''': ''(thinking)'' "I can have a little fun with Warren for a change. ''He's'' the one who wants to "Go Ape!" and sometimes... [[WillTheyOrWontThey you have to take a chance and see what happens."]] |
| 484 | * AmbiguousInnocence: Warren is a NiceGuy who has Max's back, but he does have some very questionable characteristics. For example, Warren can be spotted watching Max outside her bedroom trying to look at her, [[spoiler: he knows exactly how to make a pipe-cleaner bomb in order to assist Max breaking into the principal's office]], gets drunk at a party despite being a minor, and he beats the crap out of Nathan with a little too much desire to do it (granted, only after Nathan ''seriously'' escalates the situation by pulling a gun while loudly declaring his intent to kill). In his locker there's a picture of Max he photoshopped himself into and the nightmare sequence in Episode 5 suggests that Max subconsciously views his behavior as somewhat creepy and possessive. |
| 485 | * AndThisIsFor: Invoked while beating the ever living shit out of Nathan: |
| 486 | -->'''Warren''': ''(between punches)'' "You like hurting people, huh?? Like Kate? Like Max?! Like ME?? Huh?? [[PayEvilUntoEvil Feel THIS motherfucker!"]] |
| 487 | * BadassAdorable: Becomes this [[spoiler: in Episode 4, when he intervenes when Nathan harasses Max again. And it's a badass moment for him even if you choose to stop him.]] |
| 488 | * BadassBookworm: Mostly Warren comes across as a nerdy intellectual, and he gets his ass kicked by Nathan during their first tussle. In their second fighter, however, Warren not only headbutts Nathan to the ground but disarms him of his gun and starts pummeling him, only stopping if Max intervenes. |
| 489 | * BerserkButton: Warren's usually a NiceGuy and a bit of a goof, but that'll change in a New York heartbeat if anyone tries to harm any of his friends, especially Max. A lesson Nathan learns ''[[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown the]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDUGh34ffiw hard way]]'' if Max doesn't intervene during episode 4. |
| 490 | * BettyAndVeronica: Of Max's two possible love interests, Warren is the friendly, down-to-earth Betty who she's known for a while to Chloe's outgoing, adventurous Veronica who she's just reunited with. Depending on the player's choices, Max can date Warren, Chloe, neither or ''both'' at once. |
| 491 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: He's a dorky guy, but he will ''not'' hesitate to assault anyone who tries to harm Max. [[spoiler: Nathan learns this the hard way.]] |
| 492 | * BigDamnHeroes: He does this twice. The first time is when Nathan confronts Max in the parking lot in the first episode. Warren gets a black eye in the ensuing fight. The second time is in the fourth episode when Nathan catches Chloe and Max in the boys' dorm. Depending on your choice, [[spoiler: Nathan gets either a light beating or a vicious one]]. |
| 493 | * BullyHunter: While he gets beaten fairly easily by Nathan Prescott after he attempted to defend Max, the second time he faces Nathan, he goes completely ''ballistic'' on him, and can even deliver a brutal NoHoldsBarredBeatdown if Max doesn't stop him. |
| 494 | -->'''Warren:''' I really flipped out on Nathan. I just hate bullies... |
| 495 | * ButtMonkey: To a lesser extent. He's always getting bruised up in some way or another, and you can even [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential rewind and tell him to pour even more chemicals]] during his science experiment, causing an even worse explosion. While Brooke will comment on you not helping, Warren will simply take it with humor or even amazement. |
| 496 | * CantHoldHisLiquor: Before the End of The World Party, he claims he's only had half a beer but is clearly crocked. |
| 497 | * CatchPhrase: Warren gets really excited about going to see ''Planet of the Apes'' at the local drive through. He'll spout "Let's Go Ape!" or some variation of the phrase about a dozen times over the course of the game. |
| 498 | * TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler: Gets his revenge on Nathan in Episode 4 when he intervenes to protect Max and Chloe. If Max doesn't hold him back, he'll lose control and beat Nathan even worse than Nathan did him -- to be fair, he does so after Nathan's pulled a gun on him.]] |
| 499 | * DoggedNiceGuy: He really wants to get with Max. Max's attitude depends on the player. His EstablishingCharacterMoment has him going in for a hug as Max approaches him, only for her to hand him the flash drive she borrowed and leave him awkwardly standing there mid-hug for a second. His doggedness really shows up in Episode 3 -- if you decided not to go to the drive thru with him in Episode 2, he lets you know it's still an offer no less than three times across two episodes. |
| 500 | * FunnyBackgroundEvent: If you look outside of Max's dorm window at the start of Episode 2, you can see Warren waiting behind the corner of a nearby building, peeking at the dorm entrance, waiting for Max to come out and talk to her. |
| 501 | * {{Geek}}: He's a bigtime fan of 70s and 80s era sci-fi and horror flicks, such as ''Anime/{{Akira}}'', ''Film/BladeRunner'', and especially ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes''. He also enjoys ''Series/DoctorWho''. |
| 502 | * GenreSavvy: [[spoiler: He works out a theory for what caused the tornado through his knowledge of time travel stories.]] |
| 503 | * GoodIsNotSoft: Gives Nathan a solid headbutt when he attacks Max in Episode 4, then proceeds to give him a serious beatdown after Nathan tries to shoot him. |
| 504 | * GradeSkipper: He's sixteen, but he's smart enough to attend Blackwell Academy alongside seventeen- and eighteen- year olds. If his brief mentions in ''Before the Storm'' are any indication, he's been attending since he was ''thirteen''. |
| 505 | * HandBehindHead: He pulls off this gesture a few times, befitting his awkward personality. |
| 506 | * HardHead: [[spoiler: He gives one hard headbutt to Nathan in Episode 4, which causes the latter to stumble on the floor. While Warren grabs his head for a moment, he recovers quickly enough to kick away the gun Nathan draws, then start beating the living hell out of him.]] |
| 507 | * HeroicSacrifice: A non-fatal version. He takes a beating from Nathan Prescott to protect Max in Episode 1. |
| 508 | * HiddenDepths: Warren comes across as all (admittedly very dorky) sweetness and light most of the time, but he ''will'' beat Nathan to a bloody pulp in Episode 4 if Max doesn't stop him. He's got excellent reasons to fly off the handle, [[note]]this is the second time in a week he's caught Nathan menacing the girl he's got a crush on, he's still got the shiner Nathan gave him for interfering last time, and Nathan responds to his initial head butt with pulling out a ''gun''[[/note]] but all the same, he does have a dark side. |
| 509 | * IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Shall Max turn down his advances, he actually encourages her to pursue Chloe. |
| 510 | * JustFriends: With Max unless the player chooses to have Max pursue his affections. She becomes uncomfortable when Warren tries to woo her and regularly has to remind people that he is not her boyfriend, but she values him as a close friend. If Max hugs Warren in Episode 5, she will reassure him when he calls himself "pathetic", calling him one of her heroes. |
| 511 | * LockedOutOfTheLoop: Max attempts to tell Warren about her rewind ability in episode 1, but gets interrupted by Nathan. Afterward, she decides it'd be best not to involve Warren and keeps it hidden from him for most of the game. In her journal, she jokes that he'd probably like to have a time travelling wife and would try to marry her if he knew. She finally tells him just before the climax of the final episode. |
| 512 | * LovableNerd: Max initially writes that she thinks of him as sort of a geeky kid brother. |
| 513 | * MaybeEverAfter: It's possible for the game to end with the implication that Max will eventually hook up with Warren, which requires the player to have Max pursue him and [[spoiler: sacrifice Chloe, rather than Arcadia Bay]]. |
| 514 | * MeaningfulName: One of the meanings of the name Warren is "guard". In Episode 1 Warren saves Max from Nathan by attacking him and does it again in Episode 4. |
| 515 | * MotivationalKiss: [[spoiler: Max can choose to kiss him before she uses his photo to travel back to save Chloe.]] |
| 516 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Downplayed, but he's notably disturbed by his loss of self-control after brutally beating up Nathan. |
| 517 | * NiceGuy: Despite some of his questionable acts, Warren mostly comes across as well-meaning and a supportive friend of Max. |
| 518 | * NiceGuysFinishLast: Assuming the player opts to "friend zone" him in favor of Chloe. Near the climax of episode 5, he gives Max the photo he took of them at the End of the World party so she can travel back in time, trusting she'll save the town. But Max can betray that trust by allowing the town to be destroyed, in order to save Chloe instead. If so, Warren's name will be listed on the town memorial in [[VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2 the sequel]]. David even tells Sean that Max and Chloe [[UngratefulBitch skipped town the next day]] without ever looking back. |
| 519 | * NowOrNeverKiss: If the player chooses to have Max pursue Warren, she'll be given the chance to kiss him during the scene at the diner in episode 5. Examining Warren immediately after the kiss and reading her journal reveals that Max did it because wanted him to know [[RelationshipUpgrade how she felt towards him]], in case she might die. |
| 520 | -->''(journal entry)'' "Considering how insane my life has been this week, kissing Warren during a deadly storm didn't seem strange at all. It was like we were flipping off the cruel universe, and... ''[[LampshadeHanging if I was gonna die]]'', I wanted at least one kiss from a boy I cared about." |
| 521 | * ObliviousToLove: [[ZigzaggingTrope Zigzagged]], regarding Brooke's blatant crush on him. Warren seemingly doesn't notice due to his own unrequited crush on Max, but the player can subvert the trope by having Max turn down Warren's movie invitation in episode 2, then advise Daniel against attending the End of the World party in episode 4. If Max speaks to Brooke during the party, she'll tell Max that Warren asked her out and that he'll be taking her to dinner afterward. |
| 522 | * OneSteveLimit: {{Averted}} since his middle name (Daniel) is shared by Daniel [=DaCosta=] and by the deuteragonist of ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2''. |
| 523 | * PayEvilUntoEvil: Delivered in spades during episode 4, if the player chooses to let Warren beat up Nathan. |
| 524 | * PrecisionFStrike: Each time he swears, it catches you off guard considering how sweet and dorky he is. He gets quite foul-mouthed during his second fight with Nathan. |
| 525 | * PrecociousCrush: Warren is 16, making him 2 years younger than Max. Not that either of them seems concerned about the age difference. |
| 526 | * ShipperOnDeck: Can potentially become one for Max/Chloe, despite his own crush on Max. If she accepts Chloe's dare in episode 3, Chloe will text Warren the next morning to let him know about it and tells him to back off. Warren will send Max a reply text saying that he understands why she turned him down now and [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy encourages Max to get together with Chloe]]. |
| 527 | * TheSmartGuy: If you read the student files in Wells' office, you'll see Warren has a 4.0 GPA, making him the smartest student at Blackwell. Made evident by his knowledge about sci-fi, time travel, and quantum physics, and is the person Max goes to when she needs to know [[spoiler: how to build a small pipe bomb]]. |
| 528 | * TeenGenius: His date of birth is given as November 20, 1996, making him sixteen by the time the game takes place, and he is extremely knowledgeable on science, chemistry and time travel. ''Before the Storm'' also implies he's been at Blackwell since he was thirteen. |
| 529 | * TookALevelInBadass: In Episode 4. [[spoiler: He fights Nathan for trying to attack Max and Chloe in the boys dorm. If Max/the player doesn't stop him, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown he'll outright beat Nathan to a bloody pulp]] and leave him begging for mercy.]] He regrets doing so, however. |
| 530 | * UndyingLoyalty: To Max. Even if Max [[JustFriends doesn't return his affections]], he remains a loyal friend who will unconditionally love and support her. He'll even [[spoiler: take on Nathan, who has a gun and could easily kill him, to protect her]]. |
| 531 | * UnstoppableRage: [[spoiler: When he gets his hands on Nathan in their second bout, he proceeds to beat the ever loving shit out of him.]] |
| 532 | * UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: A tragic example, since Max uses the photo he took of them at the End of the World party to travel back in time, presumably to save Arcadia Bay. But if the player opts to save Chloe instead, the town gets destroyed by the storm and most of its residents die... including ''him''. |
| 533 | * UseYourHead: [[spoiler: He gets an awesome moment where he headbutts Nathan to protect Max before beating the living crap out of him.]] |
| 534 | [[/folder]] |
| 535 | |
| 536 | [[folder:David Madsen]] |
| 537 | !!David Madsen |
| 538 | [[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/03b3c3ef6a5bf922ae373371fc4913b5.jpg]] |
| 539 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/DonMcManus (English, Season One), Naoya Nosaka (Japanese), D.W. [=McCann=] (English, ''Before the Storm'') |
| 540 | |
| 541 | The chief of security at Blackwell, obsessed with keeping order. He is Chloe's step-father. He used to be a soldier; Max mentions a rumor that he was dishonorably discharged. |
| 542 | |
| 543 | During the events of ''Before the Storm'', David is unemployed and only recently started dating Joyce.\ |
| 544 | [[spoiler:'''For his appearance in ''Life is Strange 2'', click [[Characters/LifeIsStrange2 here]].''']] |
| 545 | |
| 546 | ---- |
| 547 | * AbusiveParents: His attitude at home and work have almost no difference, and it isn't particularly pleasant. He can't seem to leave the military life behind, which strains his relationship with Chloe. [[spoiler:He will slap Chloe for having drugs in her room if Max doesn't take credit for Chloe's blunt.]] He does seem to want to be a good father, but it's obvious his issues conflict with that. In fairness, he does admit that even though she antagonized him he was still wrong [[spoiler:to hit her]], apologizing and saying he will make it up to her somehow. [[spoiler:He does that by going to family therapy to help out with his PTSD.]] |
| 548 | * ActionDad: More like Action Step-Dad; he's Chloe's step-father who's an ex-military and showcases his fighting skills when he [[spoiler:rescues Max from Jefferson]]. |
| 549 | * AesopAmnesia: In the finale of ''Before the Storm'' he and Chloe can potentially mend their ways and learn to respect the other for who they are. Yet, given the events in the original game the player knows that their mutual respect didn't last very long. |
| 550 | * BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:He breaks into the Dark Room to save Max from Jefferson. Max has to give him some tips so Jefferson doesn't kill him, but points for trying.]] |
| 551 | * TheBigGuy: As an ex-military and security guard, it's no surprise that he's the one who physically defeats (and possibly kills) [[spoiler: Jefferson]], and arrests Nathan Prescott in "Sacrifice Chloe" ending. |
| 552 | * ChronicHeroSyndrome: Part of his attitude seems to stem from the fact that David genuinely wants to help and protect people, just to an obsessive extreme. He quietly takes issue with Max being called a hero for [[spoiler:talking down Kate]], and only took the job as head of security because the actual police think he's a loose cannon. |
| 553 | * ControlFreak: Variations of the words "I order you" seem to creep up in his dialogue a lot. |
| 554 | * CrazySurvivalist: David is stocking up on canned food and water, has a full gun rack available at his beck and call, has a book on surviving the apocalypse on his bedside table, and has a general attitude of paranoia and suspicion. He's not full-on tinfoil hat crazy, but he's getting there, [[spoiler:as his investigative files of the students show]]. |
| 555 | * EntitledBastard: ''Before the Storm'' makes it more than clear that part of the reason he and Chloe never got along is because he acted like he had a right to her respect while doing ''nothing'' to earn it, with his sexist comments and outright saying the time since William's death has been 'a vacation from a father figure'. |
| 556 | * TheExtremistWasRight: [[spoiler: David]] knew there was something sinister going on, and was the only one who was actually investigating [[spoiler:the disappearance of Rachel Amber and the Dark Room]], while everyone else just though he was paranoid. |
| 557 | * TheFriendNobodyLikes: He's, by far, the least popular member of Blackwell staff. The entire student body hates him and immediately jumps at a chance to have him fired for good. Michelle Grant and Mark Jefferson, the [[TwoTeacherSchool two known teachers]] at Blackwell, both express their dislike for him, with Ms. Grant doing a petition to stop his surveillance plan and Jefferson outright calling him a "fucking asshole" in the unused dialogue. Even Principal Wells is eager to put him on a leave if Max gives him the photo proof of David's actions (but only if Max doesn't take the fall for Chloe's weed). |
| 558 | * {{Foil}}: He's pretty much the exact opposite of Mark Jefferson. Jefferson is a beloved, vividly progressive, hipster photography teacher, while David is a tyranical security guard who's hated by the students and holds strictly conservative, disciplinarian views. Also, while David may seem rigid and chauvinistic, he genuinely loves his wife and even tries to protect his step-daughter despite her hatred of him. [[spoiler:In contrast, Jefferson fakes his pleasant attitude; in reality, he's a deeply perverted maniac who kindaps, photographs and potentially murders his female students.]] |
| 559 | * FormerTeenRebel: He mentions in passing he used to do wilder things than Chloe when he was her age. |
| 560 | * GoodVersusGood: He's always against Max and Chloe in their investigation, but they both seek the same goal. |
| 561 | * TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: For all his paranoia and claims that he sees everything going on at Blackwell, he's actually pretty bad at his job. Case in point: In just the first episode, a student brings a gun to school, his own stepdaughter (who has been expelled and has no reason to be on campus) is able to walk through a crowded hallway and into the girls bathroom, and a sketchy drug dealer has his RV parked in the parking lot (and Frank is obviously not a student, which means he can only be there to deal). All of this happens on David's watch, yet completely escapes his notice. Also, Kate only managed to get up the roof because David neglected to lock the door. |
| 562 | * HeelRealization: In episode 5, he realizes what a JerkAss he was all along and makes amends with Max. Prior to this, him slapping Chloe if she lies about the marijuana is what convinces him that he needs to seek therapy for his issues. |
| 563 | * HeroWithAnFInGood: He seems to genuinely be trying to protect Chloe and the Blackwell students, but his paranoia makes him go too far. This is also why the police rejected him. |
| 564 | * HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: He does not take it well upon hearing of Chloe's demise.]] |
| 565 | * HeroicWannabe: He thinks that he's the hero of the story, but he's not as good as his stepdaughter and Max. |
| 566 | * HiddenDepths: |
| 567 | ** In Episode 2, he mentions to Max that he used to do worse things than Chloe when he was her age. He also apologizes for his outbursts in the previous episode and says that he doesn't find marijuana itself to be a big deal -– he's only angered by Chloe in particular being around drugs. [[spoiler:Though if Max argues that David was partly to blame for Kate's situation and she'd taken credit for the joint in Episode 1, he will call her a liar and say she's a drug dealer, so how honest he was actually being is rather up in the air.]] |
| 568 | ** Episode 3 gives us a bit more insight into David. [[spoiler:His files you can find in Episode 1 are shown to be detailed, but harmless -- nothing a good private investigator wouldn't have -- and Max can choose to defend him when arguing with Chloe. In addition, after going back in time and saving William Price's life]], you can see a montage of photographs where David and Joyce are genuinely happy together. Maybe he ''is'' an overzealous and vengefully paranoid man, but it's only here that we see the man Joyce sees in her husband. |
| 569 | ** In ''Before the Storm'', David will open to Chloe about his own best friend, whom he lost in war. |
| 570 | * HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Episode 3 shows he thinks Kate is doing/selling drugs, yet he trusts Nathan, a delinquent who actually is doing and selling drugs. [[spoiler:Episode 5 shows that he admits that he was wrong with that theory.]] |
| 571 | * {{Hypocrite}}: |
| 572 | ** If Max takes the blame for Chloe's weed, David will later on tell Max that he won't bust her for it, as even he's not that much of an asshole. However, depending on who Max blames for [[spoiler: Kate's (attempted) suicide]] in Principal Wells' office, he will proceed to do exactly that, potentially getting her suspended in the process. |
| 573 | ** In ''Before the Storm'', his first scene has him criticize Chloe (and women in general) for taking so long to get ready. But he is himself still working on his car and asks Chloe's help before they can leave. |
| 574 | * IdiotHero: For his investigator skills, he's really bad at everything else. It really says a lot when a freaking ''war veteran'' is getting consistently [[CurbStompBattle Curb Stomped]] by a [[spoiler: perverted hipster photographer]], to point where he requires help from a ''teen girl tied up a chair''. |
| 575 | * ImproperlyParanoid: While he's ProperlyParanoid in some respects ([[spoiler: he even pulls a BigDamnHeroes in the timelines where Max and Chloe confide in him or he finds their notes]]), he goes about it in a very heavy handed manner, suspecting and accusing completely innocent parties [[spoiler: which is one of the factors that leads to Kate's -- potentially successful -- suicide attempt at the end of episode 2]]. |
| 576 | * JerkassHasAPoint: |
| 577 | ** [[spoiler: While laughably far from parent of the year and there is no excuse for his actions. Chloe did steal his gun and then lied about it to his face, on top of a myriad of other things including, smoking pot, skipping school, staying out past curfew and stealing from numerous people. Furthermore, if he didn't have friends in the police department that he can get to look the other way, Chloe would have been arrested and put in juvie long ago.]] |
| 578 | ** The reason he cornered Kate in episode 1? [[spoiler: He was gathering evidence against the Vortex club. He believed they were involved with drugs. And since Kate was seen partying with them in that video he was trying to pump her for information. If he wasn't so abrasive he might've got some, too.]] |
| 579 | ** He constantly obstructs Max and Chloe's investigation, ordering them to stay out of danger and let ''him'' gather evidence instead. [[spoiler:Their refusal to tread carefully directly leads to Chloe's murder and Max's kidnapping]]. |
| 580 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He seems to ease up in Episode 2, to an extent, and Joyce insists there's a good side to him. |
| 581 | ** There's a message on the answering machine in his house warning Chloe against hanging out with some unsavory characters. He even makes an effort to step out of the overbearing military persona he usually puts forth in an attempt to sound more reasonable about it. It's a rare moment of actual concern from someone who spends the rest of his time (including face to face with Chloe) being a jerk. |
| 582 | ** [[spoiler:During Kate's suicide attempt, he can be seen sprinting toward the dorms in an attempt to stop her, and seems genuinely distraught later that he couldn't personally resolve the situation]]. |
| 583 | ** In Episode 3, when you search his garage, you can find a birthday card wishing Chloe a happy birthday and saying that he is glad he can be a part of her life, showing that he was at least trying to be a father to Chloe. Episode 5 shows that he's well aware of his flaws and actually doesn't like using his status as a war veteran to justify his behavior. |
| 584 | ** In Episode 3, Max can erase a voicemail from a cop alerting David that the police (correctly) suspect that Chloe broke into the Blackwell swimming pool. If Max deletes the message before David and Joyce can hear it, the police decide to question Chloe. Allowing David to hear the message causes him to lie to the police and give Chloe a fake alibi. |
| 585 | * KnightTemplarParent: He wants to protect Chloe and Joyce, but his paranoia makes him an overbearing and authoritarian parent. |
| 586 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: |
| 587 | ** After slapping Chloe, he immediately regrets his action. This ends up being the HealRealization that he needs in order to seek therapy for his [=PTSD=]. |
| 588 | ** Poor guy ''breaks down'' after learning [[spoiler:he failed to protect Chloe and let Jefferson kill her, and shoots him in the head in a moment of rage, yet to immediately regret it afterwards and sit with his head in his hands in despair]]. |
| 589 | * NeverMyFault: In Episode 4, he sarcastically thanks Max for [[spoiler:Joyce kicking him out]] because Max told about all the things he did [[spoiler:if you sided with Chloe instead of him in Episode 3]]. |
| 590 | * NoSocialSkills: Even aside from his anger issues and other hangups, he seems to genuinely not know how to interact with people without coming across as obnoxious. |
| 591 | * TheParanoiac: The dude actively wants to install security cameras in his school and home for god's sake! He's called out for being overly paranoid on quite a few occasions, including by Max. [[spoiler: Turns out to be ProperlyParanoid when you consider that the school had a ''murderer'' for a teacher, one kid sold drugs and brought a gun inside, and in one ending there is even a murder with gun in a bathroom! For all his abrasive approach, he's in the right about how messed up the school is, especially when you consider how spineless the principal happens to be.]] |
| 592 | * PapaWolf: Despite being cranky and overly paranoid, David ''does'' care about Chloe. [[spoiler:When he learns Jefferson killed Chloe, he murders him in revenge out of guilt for not protecting her]]. |
| 593 | * ParentsAsPeople: David by isn't the best step-parent in the world by any measure, but it's not for a lack of trying. He tries to love Chloe and wants to protect her like his own daughter, but his smothering paranoia and his inability to express his more sensitive side honestly make him come off as an authoritarian KnightTemplarParent. Neither these nor Chloe's deliberate efforts to press his buttons excuse his own abusive behavior, of course. |
| 594 | * PetTheDog: |
| 595 | ** If you didn't delete the message in Episode 3, [[spoiler:he will actually cover up Chloe for sneaking into Blackwell at night by claiming that she was with him]]. It is also implied from his conversations with him in Episode 4 [[spoiler:if you defended him in Episode 3 that he uses his connections from the police regularly to prevent Chloe from going to jail for her mischief.]] |
| 596 | ** [[spoiler:In all of the alternate timelines in Episode 5, he will always believe in Max's testimony of Nathan and Jefferson, leading to their arrest.]] |
| 597 | * PoorCommunicationKills: A lot of David's problems stem from the fact that it's very difficult to get a straight conversation out of him. He plays the authority figure far too much for his own good, and keeps secrets even when doing so is of no benefit. [[spoiler:If you confront him about his files in Episode 3, David will try to deflect rather than admit his reasons -- which are well-intentioned, if a bit misguided -- further alienating Joyce. He acknowledges this in a crumpled up letter you can find in Episode 4, saying he wanted to gather more proof, yet this further factors into it because he never gives the letter to Joyce.]] |
| 598 | * ProperlyParanoid: As it turns out, his excessive surveillance of Blackwell's students and campus might well have led him to [[spoiler: uncover Mr. Jefferson's secret identity]], if the rest of the school hadn't simply dismissed him as an unhinged war vet. [[spoiler:He's also ultimately correct to suspect that everyone he's keeping tabs on is somehow linked to Rachel Amber's disappearance, even if his own preconceived notions kept him from seeing how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together at first]]. |
| 599 | * RealMenLoveJesus: He is a US Army veteran and he is a Baptist. |
| 600 | * RedHerring: Looked highly suspicious of Rachel's disappearance during the earlier episodes. He was harassing students, mainly Kate. He was stalking and following some of the other students while taking pictures, including Max. And Max discovered that he had surveillance equipment all over Chloe's house in the garage. [[spoiler: However, Episodes 3, 4 and 5 reveal that he was actually a WellIntentionedExtremist who was trying to protect the children at Blackwell, especially the girls. But his extreme way of going about it made the girls fearful and eventually ruined his relationship with Joyce. He does make up for this by saving Max from Jefferson, and helping her arrest Jefferson.]] |
| 601 | * RelativeButton: His relationship with Chloe is... [[AbusiveParents rocky]] to say the least, but his overprotective streak extends to him going ''nuts'' if Chloe gets killed. If Max tells him about [[spoiler: Chloe's murder by Jefferson]] then his immediate response is [[spoiler: to murder Jefferson]]. If Max [[spoiler: sacrifices Chloe to save the town by letting Nathan Prescott kill her back in the past]], the player briefly sees a photograph of David [[spoiler: tackling Nathan to the ground, maybe a little more harshly than was strictly needed]]. |
| 602 | * SarcasmBlind: Inverted. If Chloe thanks him for dropping her off to Blackwell, he mistakes it for sarcasm and scolds her. |
| 603 | * SecondLove: To Joyce, who marries him three years after William's death. |
| 604 | * ShellShockedVeteran: It's clear that he's traumatized by his experiences as a combat veteran and struggles to assimilate back to normal life. In ''Before the Storm'', he confides to Chloe that he witnessed his best friend get killed by an IED and is still trying to cope with his death. |
| 605 | * TeenHater: One of his biggest shortcomings is that he's ''incapable'' of interacting with the Blackwell students without hanging his seniority and authority over their head. Trying to parent anyone, especially a rebellious young woman like Chloe, is his worst nightmare. |
| 606 | * ToughLove: [[spoiler: David deep down cares about Chloe and believes she was just like him when he was her age. Since a firm hand is what he needed to straighten out, he seeks to replicate that for Chloe. Unfortunately, he couldn't be more wrong and this actually drives them further apart. By the time the plot starts it has become a never-ending cycle of Chloe acting out, David responding harshly which makes Chloe act out further and so on and so on. ]] |
| 607 | * TroubledAbuser: His behavior towards Chloe is largely due to his own paranoia and experiences as a soldier. |
| 608 | * WickedStepfather: Is shown this way at first, being a gruff, paranoid individual that's harsh towards Chloe (who doesn't help herself by being bratty and rebellious) and goes as far as hit her when he learns she smoked a join in her room. But it's subverted over the course of the game that despite his harsh exterior, he does care deep down about Chloe and wants him, her and Joyce to be a family. He's said to have accepted to go to counselling to help with his PTSD from his soldier days and help him be a better step-father. [[spoiler: [[PapaWolf He even kills Jefferson in one of the alternate realities when he learns from Max he killed Chloe]]]]. |
| 609 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: His actions may be objectionable, but he actually does care about the children of Blackwell (and his own stepdaughter). The more the story progresses towards the ending, the more obvious it becomes. By Episode 5, it also becomes clear that [[TheExtremistWasRight his paranoia was not without ground]]. |
| 610 | * WeAreStrugglingTogether: Is actually the only person in Arcadia Bay who believes Chloe that something bad happened to Rachel Amber, and actually begins to investigate it. [[spoiler: Granted he goes way off the mark in his investigations, but if Chloe, Max and Him had worked together they could have figured it out much faster.]] |
| 611 | * WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou: To Chloe if he hits her. |
| 612 | [[/folder]] |
| 613 | |
| 614 | [[folder:Joyce Price-Madsen]] |
| 615 | !!Joyce Madsen (née Price) |
| 616 | [[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/24454543a4cb00b0462e89df49c01335.jpg]] |
| 617 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/CissyJones (Season One), Bootsie Park (''Before the Storm'') |
| 618 | |
| 619 | Chloe's mother, David's wife, and a waitress at the Two Whales Diner. |
| 620 | ----- |
| 621 | * AmicableExes: [[spoiler:If Chloe was sacrificed, Joyce and David's marriage falls apart and they divorce. However, after some time, they begin speaking again, with Joyce even sending David a postcard from her travels and calling him after his conversation with Sean. David sincerely hopes they can get back together or at least just see each other again soon.]] |
| 622 | * ArmorPiercingQuestion: If Chloe is understanding to her in Episode 1 of ''Before the Storm'', then Joyce will defend her against Principal Wells in Episode 2 as he tries to punish Chloe for all of Rachel's actions, justifiably calling him out for branding Chloe as a troublemaker and placing all blame on her daughter just because Chloe comes from a less influential family as Rachel's. Wells' reaction pretty much confirms that Joyce is not entirely wrong on her argument. |
| 623 | * CigaretteOfAnxiety: [[spoiler: In the alternate timeline, she has a full ashtray in her bedroom thanks to the stress of dealing with Chloe's paralysis and the medical bills brought on caring for her.]] |
| 624 | * ConflictingLoyalty: She's stuck in a war between her daughter and the new love of her life, where BothSidesHaveAPoint. She often switches between whom she defends in a moment, but it's clear that she loves both Chloe and David equally and just wants them to get along. |
| 625 | * CoolOldLady: Joyce is a friendly woman who's not afraid to stand up for herself or others and most of the residents of Arcadia Bay seem to show respect for her despite Chloe's negative reputation around town. |
| 626 | * DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: [[spoiler:She can possibly die in the Arcadia Bay hurricane should Max choose to save Chloe]]. |
| 627 | * {{Expy}}: Of [[Series/TwinPeaks Norma Jennings]]. They share both the ability of cooking and the waitress job in a diner. |
| 628 | * ExtremeDoormat: Towards both Chloe and David. She'll often excuse the abusive behavior of both if they just so happen to raise a point over the other in the moment, and it's obvious that she feels uncomfortable favoring one of the two. |
| 629 | * FeminineMotherTomboyishDaughter: The feminine mother to Chloe's tomboyish daughter. She doesn't explicitly support conservative gender roles, but she does cook and wear an apron often, and she expects Chloe to obey David's authority as a stepfather, even if he can be a little "old-fashioned." |
| 630 | * IronLady: She doesn't take any crap at her job. |
| 631 | * KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: In the "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending, she becomes one of the storm's confirmed casualties among the cast.]] |
| 632 | * KilledOffScreen: [[spoiler:If Arcadia Bay is sacrificed, ''Life Is Strange 2'' as well as the ''Dust'' comic confirm that she was killed in the storm.]] |
| 633 | * TheLostLenore: [[spoiler:To David in the sequel if the player chose to sacrifice Arcadia Bay in the first game]]. |
| 634 | * MamaBear: If Chloe is kind to her in Episode 1 of ''Before the Storm'', Joyce will protect her daughter from Principal Wells' prejudice towards Chloe in Episode 2. |
| 635 | * MissingMom: [[spoiler:In the event where Max sacrifices Arcadia Bay to save Chloe's life, Joyce will lose her life in the hurricane that wipes out the city and leaves her daughter orphaned]]. |
| 636 | * MoralityPet: To David. Despite his cranky behavior towards Chloe and being a jerk to Blackwell Students such as Kate, he clearly loves Joyce and wishes to be a happy family with her and Chloe. |
| 637 | * NiceGirl: Quick to feed everyone, including the homeless woman camped outside the diner. |
| 638 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Joyce doesn't like smoking, especially in her diner. [[spoiler:In the alternate timeline though, she smokes a lot due to the debts they are getting in by keeping Alt!Chloe alive. Max even mentions this as something her original self does not do. It shows how much Chloe's paralysis and failing respiratory system has affected her]]. |
| 639 | ** Joyce did used to smoke [[spoiler:as Max can find her nicotine gum and comment that it looks like she's quitting in the Farewell episode.]] Her distaste for smoking in the diner may be related to that, or just not liking people smoking around food. [[spoiler:The fact that she still smokes in 2013 in the alternate timeline is still an example, as she'd been quitting five years earlier in the original timeline.]] |
| 640 | * OutlivingOnesOffspring: [[spoiler: If you choose the 'Sacrifice Chloe' ending.]] Joyce understandably does not take it well. |
| 641 | * ParentsAsPeople: Despite her complex relationship with her daughter, she does do all she can to raise Chloe well. The problem is that she doesn't really take Chloe's feelings in regards to David into account. She just assumes Chloe should accept him, not realizing that Chloe has deep, unresolved issues in regards to losing her first father figure. |
| 642 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: |
| 643 | ** If Max takes the blame for Chloe's joint in the first episode, she'll say she doesn't believe it in the second (compared to David who flips out, threatens to have her expelled from Blackwell, and apparently tells everyone he caught a drug dealer in Chloe's room). |
| 644 | ** She doesn't get on Max's case for [[spoiler:calling David out on his spying, even though it could ruin her marriage]]. |
| 645 | * SupremeChef: According to Max and Chloe. Joyce's cooking is also cited as the key to the Two Whales Diner's popularity. |
| 646 | * TeamChef: She cooks Max and Chloe breakfast in Episode 2 before they head out for the day. |
| 647 | [[/folder]] |
| 648 | |
| 649 | [[folder:William Price]] |
| 650 | !!William Price |
| 651 | [[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/william_price.jpg]] |
| 652 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Joe Ochman (Season One, "Farewell"), Peter D. Michael (''Before the Storm'') |
| 653 | |
| 654 | Chloe's late father. He died in a car accident shortly before Max moved to Seattle. |
| 655 | ---- |
| 656 | * AscendedExtra: He becomes a recurring character on ''Before the Storm'' through Chloe's dreams/hallucinations. |
| 657 | * BumblingDad: Downplayed. While fairly goofy, he was still a very mature and reasonable person, as seen in [[spoiler:the alternate reality where he lives and Chloe is bound in a wheelchair]]. |
| 658 | * DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: He was shown to be a loving, dorky father to Chloe, and his death sent her to depression. |
| 659 | * DisappearedDad: After losing him, Chloe's life went pretty sharply downhill. Although a lot of it was her own fault. |
| 660 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: He says in Episode 4 that he's scared that he might lose Chloe. [[spoiler: You can let Chloe die by helping her in suicide. Chloe also gets shot by Mr. Jefferson and you can't rewind to save her]] |
| 661 | * FunPersonified: He loved making puns and cracking jokes with his daughter. |
| 662 | * GoodParents: He had a really sweet father-and-daughter dynamic with Chloe before he died. [[spoiler: In the alternate timeline, he does his best to take care of her, even if it practically bankrupts him.]] |
| 663 | * HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: He had strawberry blonde hair and was a kind-hearted individual and devoted father. |
| 664 | * {{Irony}}: A very tragic example. His last conversaiton with Chloe the day he died in a car accident was his response to her saying that Max was never leaving her: "That makes all of us." |
| 665 | * TheLostLenore: To Joyce. Even if she eventually remarried David, she still misses her late husband a lot and has a hard time seeing pictures of him around the house. |
| 666 | * MoralityChain: Implied to be one for Chloe. After his passing, her life took a darker turn. |
| 667 | * NiceGuy: A kind, affable jokester of a father whom Max loved as though he were her own family. |
| 668 | * PosthumousCharacter: |
| 669 | ** He died five years before the start of the game, but we learn a lot about him through Max, Chloe, and Joyce. [[spoiler:Subverted in Episode 3, when Max alters history and saves his life. Then subverted again when Max returns to the original timeline.]] |
| 670 | ** ''Before the Storm'' takes place three years after he died, but Chloe's inability to cope with his death creates much of the game's conflict and he appears in Chloe's recurring nightmares. |
| 671 | * SirSwearsALot: Might be where Chloe got her potty mouth from. He had a SwearJar at Chloe's house, that almost only he filled. And it was ''clearly full''. |
| 672 | * SpiritAdvisor: ''Might'' be this to Chloe through her dreams/nightmares in the prequel. [[spoiler:He noticeably appears to her when she's awake near the end of the game]] but it's unclear if it's related to this or Chloe's bad mental health. |
| 673 | * TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: He's the kindest person in the entire game and tragically perished in a fatal car accident. |
| 674 | [[/folder]] |
| 675 | |
| 676 | [[folder:Frank Bowers]] |
| 677 | !!Francis "Frank" Bowers |
| 678 | [[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bc78b5f7fc03de87d2e0b067b9c9d915.jpg]] |
| 679 | [[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote: Click here for his appearance in ''Before the Storm'']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/frank_avatar_2.png]][[/labelnote]] |
| 680 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Daniel Bonjour (English, Season One), Creator/RyotaTakeuchi (Japanese), Creator/NickApostolides (English, ''Before the Storm'') |
| 681 | |
| 682 | An aggressive drug dealer Chloe owes money to. |
| 683 | |
| 684 | During the events of ''Before the Storm'', Frank is still on good terms with Chloe and is a far more pleasant person. |
| 685 | ---- |
| 686 | * ALighterShadeOfBlack: Frank may threaten Chloe and Max for owing him money, but he is a complete angel compared to [[spoiler: his friend Damon. At the very least, Frank let Chloe owe him up to three grand before forcibly demanding payment from her, while Damon has beaten a teenager to a bloody pulp and ruined his potential career for owing him one-third as much.]] |
| 687 | * AntiHero: [[spoiler:Episode 4]] potentially shows him as this, depending on Max's actions. Despite his violent behavior and rude attitude, all he wants to do is find Rachel and be with her again, [[spoiler:and he can even do a HeelFaceTurn and become a friendly ally of Max and Chloe.]] |
| 688 | * TheAtoner: [[spoiler:If Max tells him that his drugs killed Rachel, Frank resolves to turn his life around.]] |
| 689 | * BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:If Chloe shoots him to death during their confrontation in Episode 4, Max can rewind it and try again. Even if she doesn't, he returns for good in the "Sacrifice Chloe" ending, where none of the game's events past the prologue ever happened.]] |
| 690 | * BadassBoast: If [[spoiler:Chloe non-lethally shoots or stabs him, he tells them not to call an ambulance and that he'll be fine.]] |
| 691 | * BarbarianLonghair: Similar to his beard, his hair is much longer in Season One than it was in ''Before the Storm''. It's implied that losing Rachel caused him to neglect personal grooming a bit. |
| 692 | * BeardOfSorrow: His beard in Season One is noticeably heavier and shaggier than it was in ''Before the Storm'', which makes him look much more threatening to match his more aggressive personality than the thinly-cut beard and more friendly demeanor that he had three years earlier. It's all but stated that this is motivated by the loss of Rachel. |
| 693 | * BerserkButton: |
| 694 | ** Mentioning his relationship with Rachel or attacking Pompidou are ''MAJOR'' ones to him. Max needs to choose her words carefully when she talks to him in Episode 4, or it can lead to [[spoiler:Chloe shooting Frank in self-defense when he jumps to attack her and Max]]. |
| 695 | ** Don't mess with his beans. If Max [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential spills his beer or dumps them on the floor]], he will angrily attack her. |
| 696 | * BigDamnHeroes: In the climax of ''Before the Storm'', [[spoiler: he saves Chloe and Sera before they can be killed by Damon Merrick.]] |
| 697 | * BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:If Max fails to reason with him and Pompidou isn't locked in the RV, Chloe kills Frank by shooting him in the head when he tries to strangle Max.]] |
| 698 | * DeadpanSnarker: All the time when it comes to Chloe and Max. |
| 699 | * DespairEventHorizon: He has not taken Rachel vanishing well, turning him darker and more violent. |
| 700 | * DisproportionateRetribution: If Max deliberately spills his beer in his lap, dumps his food on the the floor, or steals his keys, Frank flips out and attempts to attack her, forcing her to rewind. Max is being intentionally confrontational, but that doesn't make it any less of an overreaction. |
| 701 | * TheDragon: In the prequel, he serves as this to Damon [[spoiler: until he decides [[EveryoneHasStandards he's gone too far.]]]] |
| 702 | * EnemyMine: |
| 703 | ** One way of interpreting his partnership with Max and Chloe is that he's only helping them out since they're close to finding out what happened to [[spoiler: his lost girlfriend Rachel.]] |
| 704 | ** ''Before the Storm'' shows that he was willing to work with Chloe [[spoiler: to steal money from Drew's room so his more unstable partner Damon wouldn't do anything harsher to the kid.]] |
| 705 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: |
| 706 | ** Though "evil" is a big word to describe Frank, he's fairly violent and antagonistic. Despite that, he loves his dog Pompidou a lot. |
| 707 | ** He also treated Rachel right and was really in love with her during the time they had a secret affair. |
| 708 | * EveryoneHasStandards: |
| 709 | ** Even a drug dealer like him is thoroughly disgusted with the abduction of weak girls. |
| 710 | ** He also defends Chloe and Rachel from being attacked by the two lowlifes at the Firewalk concert in ''Before the Storm.'' |
| 711 | ** He's also wary of his partner Damon's methods of handling clients. |
| 712 | ** When [[AxCrazy Damon]] [[spoiler:stabs Rachel in the arm]], Frank is ''horrified'' and [[HeroicSacrifice holds him back from harming the girls again.]] |
| 713 | --->'''Frank''': ''[in shock]'' DAMON, WHAT THE FUCK?! |
| 714 | * EvilFormerFriend: ''Before the Storm'' shows that Frank used to be on good terms with Chloe before their tolerance for each other went severely downhill. |
| 715 | * ExpositoryHairstyleChange: He's noticeably better kept in ''Before the Storm'' and is also a lot more easy-going. [[spoiler: Being forced to kill his best friend and losing the woman he loved have obviously taken a toll on his grooming habits by the time he meets Max.]] |
| 716 | * ExtremeDoormat: To his boss, Damon Merrick. During the confrontation between them, Chloe, and Rachel in ''Hell is Empty'', he spends his time either trying to calm him or the girls down, and just standing in the background, submissively letting Damon do all the talking. |
| 717 | * FaceHeelTurn: Was once a bright student at Blackwell, but was expelled and eventually turned to dealing for survival. However, Heel may be a stretch, as Frank is still a NobleDemon with a lot of standards who would gladly [[spoiler: kill his more violent colleague to protect the innocent.]] He is surprisingly lenient toward Chloe given her history of never paying her loans back and being prying on his business. |
| 718 | * GreenEyedMonster: Episode 5 reveals that [[spoiler:he is envious of Rachel's relationship with Chloe.]] |
| 719 | * HairTriggerTemper: He's very easy to anger and will get violent at the slightest provocation, and Chloe implies that he has anger management issues. In episode 4, Max telling him to calm down after he was getting aggressive is enough for him to fly off the handle and try to strangle her. There's also how quickly he attacks Max if she disrupts his meal in the diner. |
| 720 | * HeroesLoveDogs: The fact that Frank owns a dog is the earliest indication that there's more to him than being a hostile drug dealer. |
| 721 | * HiddenHeartOfGold: |
| 722 | ** Has a spot for dogs, especially his own. He and Rachel also seem to love each other, and he apparently treated her very well. [[spoiler:Episode 4 shows more of this side if Max picks the right choices to have him become their ally]]. In general, Frank seems to be a decent human being that's just fallen on very hard times and become withdrawn and aggressive as a means of coping. |
| 723 | ** ''Before the Storm'' shows that he is a fairly reasonable fellow. Instead of beating the living crap out of a disobedient dealer like his colleague would, Frank chooses to deal with the matter stealthily. When [[spoiler: the lives of two innocent women are threatened, Frank wastes no time coming to their aid and killing their would-be murderer despite being badly wounded.]] |
| 724 | * HotConsort: Frank is the main drug dealer in Arcadia Bay and had an affair with the beautiful and mysterious Rachel Amber. |
| 725 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's a rough, crude drug dealer who has no qualms about pulling a knife on people, but he genuinely cares for both Rachel and Pompidou. [[spoiler:If Max picks the right dialogue options in Episode 4, Frank can become her and Chloe's ally and help them search for Rachel]]. |
| 726 | * KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Frank is one of five characters who can die permanently; namely, by allowing Chloe to kill him in Episode 4 and choosing the "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending. If Chloe doesn't kill him, his odds of surviving the Storm aren't great, but in the former scenario, his death is a certainty.]] |
| 727 | * KickTheMoralityPet: [[spoiler:On the receiving end of this in the finale of ''Before the Storm'', when Damon stabs him for protecting Chloe and Rachel.]] |
| 728 | * LibationForTheDead: [[spoiler:He pours out some liquor for Damon after killing him at the end of ''Before the Storm''.]] |
| 729 | * LoanShark: Chloe owes him money, and he's more than happy to threaten her (and possibly Max) if she doesn't pay up. He never actually adds interest to the amount of money Chloe owes him, but he still fits the spirit of the trope. |
| 730 | ** [[spoiler: Takes a darker turn after ''Before the Storm'' reveals that he has done Chloe a lot of favors. His aggressiveness towards her might be due to him viewing her as an UngratefulBastard.]] |
| 731 | * MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Can get shot/stabbed in the leg by Chloe in Episode 4, but treats both injuries as a minor annoyance and specifically tells Max not to call for an ambulance. |
| 732 | ** [[spoiler:In ''Before the Storm'', Frank is injured during a tussle with Damon, and while still clutching his first wound comes back to fight with Damon again.]] |
| 733 | * MoralityPet: |
| 734 | ** Towards his boss, Damon Merrick. He's pretty much the only person we see him treat with genuine respect. He personally gifted Frank his future CanineCompanion, Pompidou, even when he was offered three thousand dollars to sell him. [[spoiler:Him [[KickTheMoralityPet stabbing Frank]] in the finale is yet another major tip-off that Damon is JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope, and forces Frank to put him down]]. |
| 735 | ** He's also this to his dog, Pompidou, who's loyal and devoted to his owner and is aggressive towards anyone he sees as a threat to him. |
| 736 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Said by him at the end, if you tell him that [[spoiler: Nathan overdosed his girlfriend Rachel on drugs that Frank provided him]]. |
| 737 | * NeverBringAGunToAKnifeFight: Brandishes a knife against the not-particularly-violent Max, who is holding a gun. [[spoiler:The gun doesn't have any bullets the first time, but is very much lethal in Episode 4.]] |
| 738 | * NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight: Repeatedly. He even quotes the trope if the final confrontation is resolved peacefully. |
| 739 | ** At the scrap yard, Frank says he heard the shots but still pulls his knife out and attacks Chloe only to get faced with a gun by Max. |
| 740 | ** If [[spoiler:Chloe keeps her revolver and Max picks the wrong dialogue options, he tries to strangle Max and is threatened by Chloe. If Pompidou is alive and not locked in the RV, he will charge out and get shot by Chloe. This causes Frank to charge Chloe in anger, but she panics and shoots him in the head. If Pompidou doesn't attack, he just gets shot in the leg.]] |
| 741 | * ParentalAbandonment: Frank only met his father once. |
| 742 | * PetTheDog: |
| 743 | ** Quite literally, as one of the few things he is said to care about is his dog. A cop relates a tale about how he freed a bunch of dogs that were part of a dog-fighting ring, one of them being the one he owns now. Later mentions he rescued Pompidou from a highly abusive owner. |
| 744 | ** In Episode 4, [[spoiler:if Frank stole Chloe's gun and Max convinces him to help her find Rachel, Frank will return the gun to Chloe.]] |
| 745 | ** Judging by letters and photographs, he was extremely sweet and romantic to Rachel, though their relationship eventually turned sour according to a letter written by Rachel to him. |
| 746 | ** [[ChurchgoingVillain Goes to church, and proud of it]]. |
| 747 | ** In the [[spoiler:"Sacrifice Chloe" ending, he secretly attends Chloe's funeral to pay his respects, implying he still cares for her despite everything that happened between them.]] |
| 748 | ** During ''Before the Storm'' he stops two punks from hurting Chloe and Rachel even though Chloe owes him money. |
| 749 | ** In "Brave New World" he sends Chloe [[spoiler: to steal the money Drew owes him and Damon]], even going as far to offer to pay her $100 (and possibly erase a few hundred more in debt), for the simple reason [[spoiler: he knows Damon will be far more brutal about retrieving it.]] |
| 750 | ** Also in "Brave New World", if Chloe tells him that she gave the money she owes him to Joyce, instead of chewing her out, he'll actually praise her for looking out for her own. |
| 751 | ** When Damon is violently reacting to Rachel and Chloe, Frank steps in to defuse the situation. [[spoiler: It ends with him getting a nasty stab wound. When Damon is attempting to kill two defenseless women, Frank kills Damon to protect them.]] |
| 752 | ** In ''Before the Storm'', Frank has a refrigerator full of steaks, and his internet history indicates that he bought them for Pompidou. This is in spite of apparently subsisting on nothing but beans himself. |
| 753 | * PokeThePoodle: When Chloe spies his criminal record, she makes fun of his "badass loitering charge." |
| 754 | * SecondEpisodeIntroduction: He makes his first on-screen appearance in the second episode. |
| 755 | * SecretRelationship: With Rachel Amber. Not even Chloe knew they were romantically involved. They look happy in their photos, but notes written to each other indicate that they fought a lot. Frank still seems to take the end of their relationship, and her disappearance, very hard. |
| 756 | * ShadowArchetype: When you get right down to it, Frank is basically what Chloe risks becoming if she continues her self-destructive behavior without Max to anchor her: a bitter, misanthropic criminal addicted to drugs who shuns most human contact except where money is concerned. [[spoiler: This is probably one reason why they both get involved with Rachel Amber.]] |
| 757 | * SourOutsideSadInside: He's not really that bad a guy (well apart from the drug dealing), but not knowing where Rachel is did a number on him emotionally. Once Chloe and Max make it clear to him they're serious about tracking down Rachel, [[spoiler:he shows a much friendlier side]]. |
| 758 | * TattooedCrook: He gets more tattoos the more crooked he gets. |
| 759 | * TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler:In Episode 4, he will attack Chloe if provoked, even if she has a gun. This will always end up with him getting shot, potentially fatally if she had to shoot his dog first.]] |
| 760 | * TookALevelInJerkass: ''Before the Storm'' reveals that Frank used to be much friendlier. In fact, he hires Chloe to resolve an issue peacefully before his violent associate can step in. Throughout the prequel, he saves Chloe from danger on multiple occasions. By the time of the original game, he'll threaten her and Max at the drop of a hat. |
| 761 | * TookALevelInKindness: One possible outcome of his confrontation with Max and Chloe in episode 4. [[spoiler:If Max appeals to his better side and convinces him to help them find Rachel, he's much friendlier to them afterward, even wishing them luck via text message and offering to hang out with them sometime. Even if he was still sour to Max, if she reveals him the truth behind Rachel's death at the diner, he will genuinely thank Max and apologize for his behavior.]] ''Before the Storm'' shows his more caring side [[spoiler: and gives him a much less pleasant foil in the form of Damon]]. |
| 762 | * TrademarkFavouriteFood: He's absolutely furious if Max ruins his dinner of beans in "Chaos Theory". ''Before the Storm'' [[AscendedMeme rolls with this]] and in "Brave New World" his trailer has a cupboard full of them (along with [[{{Futureshadowing}} an upturned plate of them on the floor]]); Chloe is able to bribe him for information by offering to have her mum cook him some, and his icon in the backtalk challenge is even an open tin of beans. |
| 763 | * TrashyTrailerHome: Lives in a trailer by the beach. |
| 764 | * UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler: The drugs Frank sold to Nathan were used by Mr. Jefferson to sexually abuse multiple teenage girls, including his beloved Rachel. He does ''not'' take it well upon realizing this.]] |
| 765 | * WeUsedToBeFriends: With both Chloe and his boss, Damon Merrick. |
| 766 | ** We see that Frank was able to get along with Chloe a lot better before their friendship was soured [[spoiler: to the point he protects her from his colleagues, and eventually turns on his best friend because of it]]. It's implied that this heroic action followed up by [[UngratefulBastard Chloe constantly coming up short on her payments]] (and even trying to ''steal money from him to run off with Rachel'') and the disappearance of Rachel caused the huge rift between them. |
| 767 | ** Also applies to Damon, who it seems has been becoming more and more unstable (and got into criminal enterprises that Frank thinks are going too far). [[spoiler: Frank is seen quietly mourning his former friend after burying him.]] |
| 768 | [[/folder]] |
| 769 | |
| 770 | [[folder:Pompidou]] |
| 771 | !!Pompidou |
| 772 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pompidou_0.png]] |
| 773 | [[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote: Click here for his appearance in ''Before the Storm'']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/puppydiou.png]][[/labelnote]] |
| 774 | |
| 775 | Frank's loyal guard dog. He rescued him from a dog-fighting ring when he was a puppy, and he scares off intruders or anyone he sees as a threat to Frank. |
| 776 | ---- |
| 777 | * AngryGuardDog: Pompidou is really aggressive towards anyone who isn't Frank, and isn't afraid to bite. Considering his owner is a drug dealer, it makes sense. |
| 778 | * AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Being a dog, he forgets about attacking Max the instant he sees she throws food for him. |
| 779 | * BerserkButton: He attacks Chloe if she points a gun at Frank in Episode 4. [[HeroicSacrifice This costs him his life.]] |
| 780 | * BewareOfViciousDog: He's an aggressive dog that's fiercely protective of his owner. He's an obstacle Max and Chloe must face to investigate Frank's trailer, and the only option is to lure him away with food. |
| 781 | * CanineCompanion: To his owner Frank. |
| 782 | * DarkAndTroubledPast: He was saved from a dog-fighting ring by Damon who then gave him to Frank. |
| 783 | * DogStereotype: Pompidou appears to be a German Shepherd Pitbull Mix - a common mixed breed typically used in dog fighting, hence his aggressivity. |
| 784 | * EvilDetectingDog: Should Max tell Frank about [[spoiler:Nathan's AccidentalMurder of Rachel Amber]], in ''Polarized'', he recalls that Pompidou hated Nathan and berates himself for not trusting his dog's instinct. |
| 785 | * FluffyTheTerrible: Frank named his dog, which he took out of a dog-fighting ring and trained to keep trespassers away, "Pompidou". Max lampshades it when interacting with Pompidou's bowl, noting that it sounds more fitting for a poodle than a guard dog. |
| 786 | * MoralityPet: A literal example towards Frank. As gruff and antagonistic Frank is first presented as, he truly loves his dog. Harming his dog is the best way to get on his bad side. If Pompidou got hit by a car but Max is sympathetic and says she loves dogs, Frank will be easier to talk to. |
| 787 | * PreciousPuppy: How he appeared in ''Before The Storm''. |
| 788 | * ShootTheDog: Can literally be a victim of this. Max can choose to throw the bone in the street, which results in him being hit by a car. If he was spared then but the conversation with Frank goes wrong, he can be shot by Chloe. |
| 789 | * ThroughHisStomach: Even a highly trained guard dog is easily distracted by food. |
| 790 | * UndyingLoyalty: To Frank. A given, considering he's a dog. |
| 791 | [[/folder]] |
| 792 | |
| 793 | |
| 794 | !!Before the Storm |
| 795 | |
| 796 | [[folder:James Amber]] |
| 797 | !!James Amber |
| 798 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2abd1e2d_48db_497e_b15b_f1d3ae731b98.png]] |
| 799 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Patrick Finerty |
| 800 | |
| 801 | Rachel Amber's father and the district attorney for the area. |
| 802 | ---- |
| 803 | * AllForNothing: If you go with the KnightTemplarParent interpretation then all his actions are for naught. [[spoiler:With this interpretation, he has Sera kidnapped and drugged to force her and her bad decision making away from Rachel.]] However, regardless of what ending you get, by the time of the season 1, Rachel will have become a drug addict who associates herself with very shady people [[spoiler:and ends up being murdered during one of her attempts to become a model. So Sera's influence in her life would have had no significant negative or positive impact in the long run, as Rachel is DoomedByCanon.]] |
| 804 | * AmbiguousSituation: Doubling as an ambiguous motive, [[spoiler: it's unclear if he had Sera kidnapped]] because of KnightTemplarParent tendencies or if [[spoiler:he did so to prevent the people of Arcadia Bay from finding out that his baby-momma is a drug addict and thus ruining his reputation.]] Damon seems to think it's the latter, but Sera herself thinks it's the former. [[spoiler: It's also ambiguous if he would've stuck to the plan after Damon injured Rachel, since Chloe assumes his identity over the phone to continue it; Rachel getting hurt because of his actions would be a strong incentive to call it off.]] |
| 805 | * AmoralAttorney: In Episode 3, [[spoiler:Chloe discovers that James hired Damon Merrick to keep Sera Gearhardt away from Rachel in exchange for disposing of key evidence and naming their mole in his group. Though admittedly, it's ''Chloe'' who ends up actually carrying out those actions pretending to be James to get Damon to talk, so it's possible however slightly that James didn't intend to actually go that far]]. |
| 806 | * TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: His main goal is to prevent Sera from seeing Rachel. Unless Chloe can convince her, he succeeds at exactly just that.]] |
| 807 | * BrokenPedestal: Rachel does not take finding out her father is cheating on her mother well. [[spoiler: At the end of Episode 3, Chloe has to choose between breaking the pedestal irrevocably by telling Rachel that he had Sera kidnapped and drugged, or conceal that from her and give them a chance to rebuild their relationship.]] |
| 808 | * CassandraTruth: [[spoiler: He wasn't lying about Sera's addiction but he was lying about their estrangement. James claimed that Sera had been accepting the bribe to stay away, when Sera had actually been voiding the checks and trying to reconnect with Rachel.]] |
| 809 | * CorruptCorporateExecutive: [[spoiler:He hired Damon Merrick to kidnap his ex-wife with the promise of removing evidence linking Merrick to a murder investigation, identify a snitch and bring him his ransom money]]. |
| 810 | * TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: [[spoiler: His reason for keeping Sera away from Rachel were legitimate and hard to argue with, she was a drug addict who put her addiction before her own daughter. However, hiring Damon Merrick to kidnap and refuel her addiction to protect his reputation is extreme since Sera had been making an effort to atone.]] |
| 811 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: [[spoiler: The nicest thing that can be said about him is that he at the very least does seem to genuinely care about his wife and daughter.]] |
| 812 | * {{Expy}}: Physically speaking, he looks quite a bit like [[Series/TwinPeaks Leland Palmer]] but with smaller eyes and a slightly better hairline. Given that his daughter wasn't much more than an expy of Laura Palmer in Season 1 this was most likely intentional on the developers' part. |
| 813 | * {{Foil}}: To David Madsen. Both are morally ambiguous father figures who have a strained relationship with their daughter and step-daughter respectively, but there are a few key differences between them: |
| 814 | ** Chloe hated David since day one. Rachel loved James until the events of ''Before the Storm''. |
| 815 | ** Chloe resents David for entering in a relationship with her mother. Rachel resents James for seemingly entering in a relationship with another woman which is not her mother. |
| 816 | ** David is revealed to be [[spoiler:GoodAllAlong by saving Max from Jefferson.]] James is revealed to be [[spoiler:EvilAllAlong by hiring Damon to drug Sera.]] |
| 817 | * HateSink: As Rachel and Chloe (and to an extension the player) learn more about him, James' everyday persona is nothing more than an act and he is actually a selfish man who will do anything to protect his reputation [[spoiler:including hiring a ruthless gangster to kidnap and drug his former-addict ex-wife while promising to remove any evidence incriminating him]]. |
| 818 | * GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:While he isn't as active in the events compared to [[TheHeavy Damon]], his actions have caused the events of ''Before the Storm'' to happen by keeping Rachel's birth mother away from her and hiring the violent and unstable Damon to try and get rid of her.]] |
| 819 | * {{Hypocrite}}: |
| 820 | ** Rachel and Rose accuse him as one for holding personal opinions of people who do shady things for themselves, [[spoiler:even though ''he's'' done some shady things to protect his image]]. |
| 821 | ** [[spoiler: While James presents himself as a righteous prosecutor who upholds the law, and as a concerned parent whose chief concern is protecting Rachel from her irresponsible mother, his plan to drive Sera away involves indebting himself to a drug-dealing thug who's more dangerous to Rachel than Sera could ever be.]] |
| 822 | * JerkassHasAPoint: [[spoiler: While having Sera kidnapped is a bit extreme, he's right that Sera forfeit her role as a mother when she favoured drugs over raising her own daughter. As James says, Sera can't be forgiven that quickly for endangering Rachel all those years ago.]] |
| 823 | * JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: [[spoiler: After being presented as a Jerkass for the majority of the first two episodes, the third episode paints him in a more sympathetic light in that he's trying to protect Rachel from getting hurt by her mother. He loses all sympathy when it's revealed that he not only lied (for the most part) about Sera's backstory, but he basically got Damon to get her re-addicted to heroin.]] |
| 824 | * KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Basically gets off scot-free for trying to get rid of Sera if Chloe conceals the truth from Rachel. Even if Chloe tells Rachel the truth, all James gets for tampering with crime evidence, working with a known criminal, and hiring the criminal to not only kidnap Sera but set her back on an addiction that will likely lead to her death is losing his family.]] |
| 825 | * KnightTemplarParent: If you go with the interpretation that [[spoiler:he had Sera kidnapped and forced into a relapse so that he could keep her and her poor decision-making away from Rachel, rather than doing it so that no one would take Sera seriously when she came out as Rachel's mother.]] |
| 826 | * KickTheDog: When he gets into an argument with Chloe, he calls her a delinquent from a broken home that doesn't deserve to be anywhere near his daughter because of her horrible influence despite the fact that Rachel can argue that she got them both into trouble in the first place. |
| 827 | * LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler: His love for Rachel and desire to protect her is what motivates him to force Sera into having a relapse.]] |
| 828 | * ManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: He's this for Damon, hiring him to kidnap Rachel's birth mother, Sera, and get rid of her]]. |
| 829 | * NoSenseOfHumor: When talking to him, Chloe keeps trying to crack jokes to break the tension. Unfortunately, James seems find all of her jokes inappropriate and just stares impassively at her in awkward silence. |
| 830 | * NoSympathyForGrudgeHolders: [[spoiler: He had a legitimate reason to keep Sera away from Rachel but his inability to forgive and allow Sera another chance is what drives a wedge between him and Rachel and establishes him as an antagonist.]] |
| 831 | * PapaWolf: As soon as he saw Sera overdosing or high while looking after Rachel, he divorced her and forbade her from ever seeing Rachel again. [[spoiler: However, this is revealed to be an overcorrection for that event since his inability to forgive created a wedge between himself and Rachel. Sera was voiding the bribes that he been sending her to stay away from Rachel and she has tried multiple times to reconnect with Rachel but James rejected all these attempts because he lost all faith in Sera to be a good mother.]] |
| 832 | * ParentsAsPeople: He saw Sera high or overdosing while looking after Rachel, forcing him to divorce Sera and keep her estranged from Rachel. His role as an antagonist stems from the fact that he never forgave Sera for putting Rachel in danger and sincerely believes that she will easily relapse into her addiction. |
| 833 | * PetTheDog: [[spoiler: He tries to comfort an emotionally distraught Chloe in the hospital after Rachel is stabbed. It's a pretty nice move even though he doesn't really like her and could've blamed her for taking his daughter to meet a known criminal.]] |
| 834 | * PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Displays a tad bit of classism against Chloe when he calls her [[LowerClassLout a delinquent from a broken home]]. |
| 835 | * PunnyName: For Creator/JamieBamber. |
| 836 | * UnreliableExpositor: While his statements on [[spoiler:Sera's drug addiction]] are true it's hard to say if anything else he tells Rachel and Chloe is true. |
| 837 | * VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:If Chloe tells Rachel that James had Sera kidnapped and drugged into a relapse of her heroin addiction he's last seen angrily destroying a family photo.]] |
| 838 | [[/folder]] |
| 839 | |
| 840 | [[folder:Rose Amber]] |
| 841 | !!Rose Amber |
| 842 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dd02ee88_aa6a_432a_b7d7_5bd5c7435867.png]] |
| 843 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Kelly Handcock |
| 844 | |
| 845 | James Amber's wife and Rachel Amber's mother %%Episode 2 appears to reveal that she isn't. |
| 846 | ---- |
| 847 | * ExtremeDoormat: Chloe can point this out to Sera when she says how Rose just sits back and allows her husband to speak for her, doing whatever he wants without her questioning his actions. It's not a completely fair assessment, given that Rose does stand up for Chloe during dinner. |
| 848 | * GoodParents: Is noticeably nicer that her husband, as well as accepting of Rachel's friendship with Chloe and making an effort to get along with her (apparently being the one who convinced James to invite her to dinner). |
| 849 | * HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: It can be argued that she's this towards her own family. |
| 850 | ** For Rachel: In Episode 2, there's a heavy indication that she falls for Rachel's "perfect" persona just about as much as any other character does; the prime example is during the scene where Rachel is trying to keep Chloe from being punished and embellishes a story about Chloe ditching with her to protect her from doing anything harmful. Rose (and James) are astounded to hear that Rachel would ever consider stealing alcohol or do drugs, clearly viewing it as out of character. Which is quite ironic given Rachel and Chloe did the former in the previous episode and season 1's heavy implications that Rachel developed some form of drug addiction sometime between the two games. |
| 851 | ** For James: She has nothing but trust for her husband and believes him to be a good man. However, [[spoiler:he hired a very violent criminal to kidnap and drug Sera with the promise of getting rid of incriminating evidence.]] She's implied to have not taken this revelation well in the [[spoiler:Truth]] ending, what with her [[spoiler: crying and refusal to look at him.]] |
| 852 | * InnocentlyInsensitive: A lot of her dialogue to and in defense of Chloe is rather patronizing at best, and mildly condescending at worst. Although she obviously has good intentions, she pretty clearly has similar biases to her husband and, intentionally or not, treats Chloe as something of a charity case. She doesn't get called out on it, as Chloe seems to appreciate the effort on Rose's part, even if it makes her mildly uncomfortable. Essentially, she's a woman of (at least some) privilege who genuinely wants to help others but comes off as rude by mistake due to not fully understanding the situation of those around her herself. |
| 853 | * NiceGirl: She's pretty nice and seems willing to allow Chloe to befriend her daughter despite a rocky first meeting. She also gives Chloe some pity laughs at her bad jokes. |
| 854 | * NoSenseOfHumor: Unlike her husband, Rose at least acknowledges Chloe's attempts at humor but clearly doesn't find anything she says to be funny. |
| 855 | * ShipperOnDeck: In Episode 3, she remarks that Rachel and Chloe are lucky to have found each other. |
| 856 | [[/folder]] |
| 857 | |
| 858 | [[folder:Damon Merrick]] |
| 859 | !!Damon Merrick |
| 860 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/19631c93_205b_4228_84ba_36beb376be2a.png]] |
| 861 | [[caption-width-right:350:"No one steals from me! No one!"]] |
| 862 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Kyle Williams |
| 863 | |
| 864 | Owner of the old mill and a friend of Frank Bowers. |
| 865 | ---- |
| 866 | * AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Absolutely nobody but Frank gave a crap about his death. Heck, nobody around the whole town even bats an eye over his disappearance.]] |
| 867 | * AxCrazy: [[spoiler: If him severely injuring either Drew or Mikey wasn't evidence enough that he's this, he later stabs Rachel, nearly killing her, after she attacks him, even though this would jeopardize Damon's deal with James. When Frank intervenes and allows Chloe and Rachel to get away, he lashes out and stabs ''him''.]] |
| 868 | * BadBoss: [[spoiler: When Frank tries to prevent him from murdering Rachel, Damon responds by slashing his cohort and abandons him to die.]] |
| 869 | * BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: He's pretty much a thug hired by [[spoiler: James Amber]] to commit evil deeds for him. |
| 870 | * BeardOfEvil: He has a thuggish beard and is a total monster. |
| 871 | * BigBad: He's the main villain of ''Before The Storm'' seeking revenge on [[PlayerCharacter Chloe Price]] and [[{{Deuteragonist}} Rachel Amber]] for burning down his mill, while [[spoiler:kidnaping Rachel's birth mother Sara. While he was hired to do so by [[AmoralAttorney James Amber]], Rachel's father, it's clear Damon is still the most dangerous antagonist whose [[DragonInChief using James for his own purposes]]]] |
| 872 | * ChekhovsGunman: In "Awake", his name gets dropped several times, but we apparently never see him in person. [[spoiler: The Episode 2 trailer reveals that he was one of the two nondescript men having an argument outside the concert at the beginning of episode 1]]. |
| 873 | * ContrastingSequelAntagonist: To Mark Jefferson. |
| 874 | ** While Jefferson at first seems to be a [[BitchInSheepsClothing trustworthy and friendly guy]], Damon doesn't even bother hiding his true nature. |
| 875 | ** Jefferson has an unhealthy obsession with Max and wants her to be his latest subject in the Dark Room. Damon has no interest in Chloe, and only tries to kill her once she gets into his business. |
| 876 | ** While Jefferson kills his [[TheDragon Dragon]], Nathan Prescott, Damon is ''killed by'' his Dragon, Frank Bowers. |
| 877 | ** Jefferson cared for absolutely no one but himself, not even Rachel Amber. Damon actually has a MoralityPet in the form of Frank, and he makes it very clear that he has UndyingLoyalty towards him. |
| 878 | * CreateYourOwnVillain: Sort of. [[spoiler: While he was obviously a brutal thug long before, the fire Rachel starts burns down his mill and ruins his business, making him more unhinged and desperate for money.]] |
| 879 | * DevilInPlainSight: His name is just one letter away from "Daemon". Chloe even draw horns on him in some of her journal entries. |
| 880 | * DragonInChief: [[spoiler: To James Amber. While Damon functions as the de-facto main antagonist, James is the main source of drama in the game and the one who hired him out for a job in kidnapping and trying to drug Sera. That said, even when they do work together, it's pretty clear that Damon is more in control of the situation than James, and blatantly obvious that Damon is using James for his own means.]] |
| 881 | * TheDreaded: Most characters react in fear or unsettlement whenever his name is dropped. |
| 882 | * EvenEvilCanBeLoved: Despite being a very vicious gangster, Frank genuinely considers him a friend. Even after [[spoiler: he's forced to kill him to save Chloe and Sera, he's later seen mourning his death.]] |
| 883 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: [[spoiler: Had is more accurate. He was close friends with Frank, and gave him Pompidou as a gift. After Rachel's fire burns the mill down, he becomes more unstable, and even stabs Frank in a blind rage when he tries to protect Chloe and Rachel from him; Frank ends up being forced to kill him to save Chloe and Sera.]] |
| 884 | * FauxAffablyEvil: He can act quite cordial when he wants to, but it's a blatant facade that barely conceals the psychopath he really is. |
| 885 | * HairTriggerTemper: He has little to no patience whatsoever and is very easily pissed off. When Rachel starts asking him some questions he reacts pretty violently, [[spoiler: which leads to him stabbing her in blind rage.]] |
| 886 | * HateSink: There's not an ounce of sympathy for this guy and his sole role is to act as antagonistic as possible. Even his lone redeeming quality - his friendship with Frank - is rendered null and void when [[spoiler: he tries to kill him for protecting Chloe and Rachel.]] |
| 887 | * TheHeavy: While it's revealed that he was actually working for [[spoiler: James]], Damon still serves as the main antagonist of the second game, doing a lot more villainous actions than [[spoiler: James]]. |
| 888 | * {{Jerkass}}: We never see a moment where Damon is not acting like a massive jerk. |
| 889 | * KickTheDog: In episode 2, he'll either [[spoiler: hurt Mikey so bad that it breaks his arm or cripple Drew]] in a violent effort to get his money. |
| 890 | * KickTheMoralityPet: [[spoiler: He stabs Frank for trying to protect Chloe and Rachel.]] |
| 891 | * KilledOffScreen: [[spoiler:The last we see of him is Frank attacking him before Chloe passes out. The ending montage shows Frank sitting near a freshly dug dirt mound. Frank remorsefully looks at a photo of him and Damon and before the scene ends Frank pours his drink on the ground, the implication being that Frank killed and buried Damon.]] |
| 892 | * KnightOfCerebus: While the prequel is fairly light-hearted for the most part, every major scene featuring Damon is played completely dark and seriously. |
| 893 | * MeaningfulName: His name sounds an awful lot like ''demon.'' |
| 894 | * MoralityPet: Frank is this to him. He might just be the one and only person Damon shows any compassion to. He personally gifted Frank his future CanineCompanion Pompidou, and will instantly shoot down Chloe's possible attempt to pin Frank as the snitch. He's noticeably hesitant to [[spoiler:fight Frank in the finale, even after he stabbed him earlier, and judging from the fact that Frank killed him despite suffering from the aforementioned stab wound, it's possible that Damon held back]]. |
| 895 | * ObviouslyEvil: BeardOfEvil, tattoos... yeah, he's a bad guy. |
| 896 | * PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Displays a tad bit of sexism. When Frank attempts to prevent a fight between him and Rachel, Damon whines about how woman hide behind their gender to avoid getting hit by men. |
| 897 | * PsychoForHire: Turns out that he's been working for [[spoiler: James]] the entire time, but he definitely gets too much amusement out of tormenting others while on the job. |
| 898 | * ShadowArchetype: He's pretty much a darker version of Frank, but with all sympathy removed. |
| 899 | * TheSociopath: He has no problem hurting others to get what he wants. |
| 900 | * TheStarscream: [[spoiler: He took Sera to use as leverage against James Amber in an effort to gain power in Arcadia Bay, despite being hired by James in the first place to do his dirty work.]] |
| 901 | * WeUsedToBeFriends: [[spoiler: His friendship with Frank goes downhill when he becomes progressively more violent. Eventually, Frank is forced to kill him.]] |
| 902 | * WorthyOpponent: [[spoiler: He has a certain appreciation for Chloe's tough attitude, as he seems to approve if she fights back against Sheldon in Episode 1 and tries to recruit her into his gang.]] |
| 903 | * WouldHitAGirl: ''And how''. Not only does he [[spoiler: ''stab'' Rachel during a confrontation with her and Chloe at the junkyard, he also kidnaps Sera Gearhardt by the orders of [[BigBad James Amber]] and prepares to drug her to make her relapse. When Chloe arrives to save her, he proceeds to viciously beat her, additionally hits Sera when she begs him to leave her alone, and most likely would've killed them both if Frank hadn't intervened]]. Earlier on he had given Rachel a DeathGlare when she shoved him after he grabs Chloe's wrist. Then complained about the DoubleStandard about men and women hitting one another. |
| 904 | --> '''Damon:''' Why is it that chicks think it's okay to hit me, but if I lay a SINGLE FINGER on them, suddenly it's a whole other thing? |
| 905 | * WouldHurtAChild: Is introduced in "Brave New World" when he [[spoiler: starts beating up Drew, and will also break his kid brother Mikey's arm depending on the outcome of the confrontation (as well as threatening to harm Mikey if Drew doesn't pay up in future)]]. |
| 906 | [[/folder]] |
| 907 | |
| 908 | [[folder:Sera Gearhardt]] |
| 909 | !!Sera Gearhardt |
| 910 | [[quoteright:231:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1a7e423f_a415_4c3c_9af6_afc26aaab5d1.png]] |
| 911 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Andrea Fletcher |
| 912 | |
| 913 | A young blond woman James Amber is seemingly having an affair with. %%She's actually Rachel's birth mother. |
| 914 | ---- |
| 915 | * TheAtoner: Episode 3 reveals her arrival in Arcadia Bay is to make amends to [[spoiler:Rachel for driving her and her father away with her drug addiction]]. |
| 916 | * DamselInDistress: In Episode 3, it's revealed that [[spoiler:Sera was being held hostage by Damon by orders of James Amber, who wanted to prevent her from contacting Rachel]]. This is officially confirmed when [[spoiler:Damon sends a photo to James' phone (which Chloe is now in possession of) showing Sera at the abandoned mill, restrained to a chair]]. |
| 917 | * {{Determinator}}: [[spoiler:Subverted; her letters to Rachel and James make it clear that she'll do anything for a chance to meet Rachel and become a part of her life, even going through rehab for her addiction and becoming sober... until Damon shoots her up with heroin against her will. By the time Chloe talks to her afterwards, she's thrown all of that conviction away and is resolved to returning to being an addict. Chloe can easily fail to convince her to go meet her daughter.]] |
| 918 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: If Chloe makes all the right choices, she can be seen finally meeting Rachel in the ending montage.]] |
| 919 | * FanaticalFire: At the end of episode 1, when everyone is watching [[spoiler: the giant fire Chloe and Rachel set in horror]], Sera is nearby, smoking a cigarette, and ''smiling''. |
| 920 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: Her first name [[spoiler:foreshadows that she's Rachel's birth mother]] via the reference to [[spoiler:Sarah Palmer, mother of Laura Palmer (the girl Rachel is considered an expy of.)]] |
| 921 | * IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: [[spoiler:In most scenarios, Sera will decide to leave Arcadia and not meet Rachel out of a desire to prevent her from learning that her father had hired Damon to kidnap her and thus destroy the only family she's ever known, as well as because she feels that she could never be a mother to her.]] |
| 922 | * {{Leitmotif}}: The track, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yqt97jNt7Y "Witches"]] plays during a handful of her scenes. |
| 923 | * LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler: She is revealed to be Rachel's biological mother.]] |
| 924 | * MeaningfulName: Her first name is Sera, which may have been intended as foreshadowing to her role as [[spoiler:Rachel's biological mother.]] [[spoiler:In the first game Rachel wasn't much more than a Laura Palmer expy, meanwhile James Amber looks a lot like Leland Palmer. Laura's mother and wife of Leland was named ''Sarah.'']] |
| 925 | * MissingMom: [[spoiler:She is this to Rachel.]] |
| 926 | * RecoveredAddict: [[spoiler: Mr. Amber]] reveals that at some point in her life Sera became addicted to some unnamed drug (revealed to be heroin by the stated effects and preparation method). This [[spoiler:resulted in James leaving her and taking Rachel with him, refusing to let Sera see Rachel.]] In hopes of being allowed into [[spoiler:Rachel's life]] she kicked her habit and stayed clean for an entire year. [[spoiler:This ended up not persuading the man, who proceeded to hire Damon Merrick to kidnap and drug her to force a relapse.]] |
| 927 | * RedemptionRejection: [[spoiler: She finally overcame her addiction and got herself clean but her ex-husband won't let her see her daughter Rachel. It's initially presented as suitable justice since Sera still put drugs before her own daughter but James is ultimately doing this to protect his reputation and he hires Damon Merrick to get rid of her.]] |
| 928 | * StalkerWithoutACrush: She can be seen watching Rachel's play from afar, [[spoiler: but the revelation that she's her real biological mother implies that she came to see her daughter.]] |
| 929 | * StrongFamilyResemblance: [[spoiler:She looks like an older version of Rachel with a lighter shade of blonde hair.]] Even more so during the flashback to when she was a teen. |
| 930 | * TattooAsCharacterType: She has a large tattoo covering most of her left arm, as well as the same star tattoo Rachel later has, albeit in a different place. |
| 931 | * TheReveal: [[spoiler: She's the biological mother of Rachel Amber]]. |
| 932 | * WalkingSpoiler: It's difficult to talk about her character in terms other than "the mysterious woman in white" without revealing that she's [[spoiler:Rachel's biological mother.]] |
| 933 | * YourMakeupIsRunning: [[spoiler:After being kidnapped by Damon and forced to relapse by the latter, when Chloe wakes up, Sera has her mascara running down her cheeks, showcasing she's been crying as she took her heroin doses]]. |
| 934 | [[/folder]] |
| 935 | |
| 936 | |
| 937 | !!The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit |
| 938 | |
| 939 | [[folder:Charles Eriksen]] |
| 940 | !!Charles Eriksen |
| 941 | [[quoteright:306:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cs_charles_main.jpg]] |
| 942 | [[caption-width-right:306:"Those were the good old days. Man, I hate even saying that... but they really were..."]] |
| 943 | ->'''Voiced by''': Creator/NickApostolides |
| 944 | |
| 945 | Chris's father. He is struggling to be a good father following the death of his wife two years ago, that caused him to become an alcoholic. |
| 946 | ---- |
| 947 | * AbusiveDad: He's emotionally abusive to Chris and it's implied that he has hit him at least once. By ''Faith'', he thankfully learns from it and becomes sober. |
| 948 | * AlcoholicParent: The death of his wife sent him into [[TheAlcoholic alcoholism]], and he's shown to be struggling between being a good father to Chris and his addiction to alcohol. |
| 949 | * BeardOfSorrow: A short one, but he's let his beard grown after Emily's death. |
| 950 | * CrusadingWidower: It's implied that he's actively trying to find the culprit of his wife's murder. |
| 951 | * DrowningMySorrows: He took to the bottle after the death of his wife. |
| 952 | * ExhaustedEyeBags: Due to his alcoholism and depression after Emily's death. |
| 953 | * HappilyMarried: To Emily, at least until her death. |
| 954 | * HeelRealization: He has one in the car while talking to Sean. If Sean uses the right words, Charles can open up to him and Sean will advise him to get some help, in which Charles promises to get his alcoholism treated and become a better father to Chris. |
| 955 | * HiddenDepths: When he's sober, he's fairly kind and compassionate towards Chris, making him eggs (despite getting defensive about them compared to his late wife's cooking) and talking about Christmas with him before promising to buy a Christmas tree with him after he watches a basketball game. He also bonds with Sean over the hardships of looking after the kids in their care. |
| 956 | * JadedWashout: In the past, he was a successful basketball player and coach. In the present, the closest he gets to sports is drinking and yelling at the TV. |
| 957 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While he's far from a model parent and his abuse of Chris is inexcusable, he genuinely does love his son. |
| 958 | * KickTheDog: He tells his nine year old son when he's drunk that he's the reason his mother found death. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone He immediately regrets it afterwards]], but it's too late and Chris runs away in tears. |
| 959 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: During a drunken rant, he tells Chris that if it wasn't from him, Emily would've never drove the car that day. The instant he sees Chris back away from him with tears in his eyes, he regrets his words right away but Chris runs out from home crying and Charles grabs his head in guilt. |
| 960 | * NotInFrontOfTheKid: When he says the F-word in front of Chris, he instantly apologizes and tells Chris not to swear like he does. Though it's harder for him to watch his language in front of Chris when he's drunk. |
| 961 | * PapaWolf: Implied. When he reaches Chris in their backyard and sees him talk to Sean and Daniel, he immediately asks Chris if he knows them, perhaps thinking they were messing with his son. |
| 962 | * ParentsAsPeople: He got Chris in college and is struggling with an alcohol addiction and raising his son by himself after the death of his wife, but despite his problems, anger issues and unintentional neglect of Chris, he still loves his son dearly. |
| 963 | * RecoveredAddict: He's gotten over his alcoholism by ''Faith''. |
| 964 | * SirSwearsALot: He uses a lot of coarse vocabulary when he's drunk. |
| 965 | * {{Sleepyhead}}: Drinking alcohol makes him sleepy. |
| 966 | * TookALevelInKindness: Chris's letter to Sean indicates that Charles is no longer drinking and they have a much better relationship since their meeting. |
| 967 | * TroubledAbuser: He verbally and emotionally (and implied to physically) abuses Chris, but he struggles with alcohol after the death of his wife and is aware of his problems, but feels out of resources. |
| 968 | * UsedToBeASweetKid: He was much happier in life as a teenager, and Chris notes that Charles "doesn't smile like this anymore" when looking at a high school photo. |
| 969 | * YouSoundFamiliar: He's voiced by Nick Apostolides, who previously voiced Frank Bowers in ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm''. |
| 970 | [[/folder]] |
| 971 | |
| 972 | [[folder:Emily Eriksen]] |
| 973 | !!Emily Eriksen (née Wyatt) |
| 974 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/emily_9.png]] |
| 975 | |
| 976 | Chris' mother and Charles' wife, who died two years prior the events of the game. |
| 977 | ---- |
| 978 | * AlliterativeName: With her husband's surname, '''E'''mily '''E'''riksen. |
| 979 | * DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: She was adored by her son Chris and always played with him, but she unfortunately passed away after being hit by a car. |
| 980 | * FriendToAllChildren: She loved kids, being a kindergarten teacher and having a son of her own that she adored and who adored her back. |
| 981 | * TheGhost: She does not appear physically due to being deceased, but she appears in photos and is a big part of Chris' life despite her death. |
| 982 | * GoodParents: She encouraged Chris' drawing activities and took part in his creative games, even calling herself "Super-Mom". |
| 983 | * HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Just like her son, Emily was a kind individual with blonde hair. |
| 984 | * HappilyMarried: To Charles, at least until her death. |
| 985 | * PosthumousCharacter: She's dead by the time the events of ''The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit'' and ''Life is Strange 2'' take place. |
| 986 | * LookBothWays: Died after being hit by a car. |
| 987 | * TheLostLenore: To Charles. Her death and the fact her killer was never found caused Charles to seek comfort in alcohol. |
| 988 | * MissingMom: To Chris, she was killed in a car collision when he was seven years old. |
| 989 | * MoralityChain: Her death sent her husband into alcoholism and depression. |
| 990 | * NiceGirl: From what is being shown of her, she was a good mother to Chris and Charles was destroyed after losing her. |
| 991 | * StrongFamilyResemblance: Charles states that each time he looks at Chris, he sees his wife, as they both have a strong resemblance in appearance and personality. |
| 992 | * TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: A kind mother and wife whose life got taken away by a reckless car driver and put her family through grief. |
| 993 | * TwoFirstNames: Her maiden last name is "Wyatt", which is also a male given name. |
| 994 | [[/folder]] |
| 995 | |
| 996 | [[folder:Claire Reynolds]] |
| 997 | !!'''Click [[Characters/LifeIsStrange2 here]] to see Claire's page.''' |
| 998 | [[/folder]] |
| 999 | |
| 1000 | |
| 1001 | !!Season 2 |
| 1002 | |
| 1003 | [[folder:Esteban Diaz]] |
| 1004 | !!Esteban Diaz |
| 1005 | [[quoteright:298:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/esteban_0.png]] |
| 1006 | [[caption-width-right:298:Don't you think your papito deserves a hug?]] |
| 1007 | ->'''Voiced by''': Amador Plascencia |
| 1008 | |
| 1009 | Sean and Daniel's caring, single father. He is shown to be a responsible, if not fairly relaxed father figure until his shooting death by a jumpy police officer that triggers the events of the story. |
| 1010 | ---- |
| 1011 | * AnimalMotif: A wolf, like the rest of the Diaz-Reynolds family. |
| 1012 | * ClosetGeek: Sean internally thinks so, by his love of old movie posters and video games. |
| 1013 | * DeadpanSnarker: A playful example, as he loves to tease Sean in a fatherly way. |
| 1014 | -->(after Sean kicks a book in frustration) "Well, you really taught that book a lesson." |
| 1015 | * DeathByOriginStory: Witnessing his death is what uncovers Daniel's latent telekinetic powers, as well as kicking off the RunForTheBorder plot that is the driving force behind the whole season. |
| 1016 | * DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: Was a loving, fun hard-working single father who put his sons' needs before his own. Just like William in the previous game, he had no chance. |
| 1017 | * DiesWideOpen: When Sean wakes up after the incident, he sees his father's lifeless body with his eyes wide opened and empty. |
| 1018 | * DisappearedDad: Unfortunately becomes this to his sons after being murdered by a police officier. |
| 1019 | * {{Expy}}: |
| 1020 | ** Is a loving, fun father who dies in the first scene of the game. He's pretty much [[VideoGame/{{TheWalkingDeadSeasonThree}} Salvador Garcia]]. |
| 1021 | ** Being a kindhearted, hardworking man who loves his family dearly, his death being a major source of angst for his offspring, and his affection for automobiles can make him a [[CompositeCharacter composite]] Expy of both William Price and David Madsen. |
| 1022 | * FormerTeenRebel: Sean thinks his father was just as a hard as a party guy when he was his age. This quote from Esteban just seems to confirm it: |
| 1023 | -->"What happens in Mexico, stays in Mexico." |
| 1024 | * FunPersonified: He's a playful and goofy individual, who loves saying puns and playing video games with his sons. |
| 1025 | * GoodParents: In an almost exact fashion as William from the first game, he cares deeply about his two sons and will do just about anything to make sure they grow up to be responsible adults. Just like William, he dies, albeit not before the game's events. |
| 1026 | * GoodScarsEvilScars: He has a faded, but distinctive, scar on his jawline. The cause of it is unknown. [[spoiler: Given how rough Puerto Lobos is shown to be in the endings where Sean and Daniel make it across the border, it's not implausible that he was a victim of gang violence in his youth.]] |
| 1027 | * GreaseMonkey: He was a mechanic who was skilled with cars, and intended to teach his skills to Sean. |
| 1028 | * InnocentBystander: All he wanted was to reason the jumpy officer who was pointing his weapon at his sons. Trying to approach the latter to talk the situation out cost him his life. |
| 1029 | * NiceGuy: Kind, responsible and strict but fair. Nothing indicates that he isn't a loving and great father for the two boys. |
| 1030 | * OpenMindedParent: He will give Sean money to buy alcohol with as long as his son is being honest about it. A conversation Sean can have in his garage implies he has seen his fair share of partying in his day and thus understands it's of no use to forbid your children from experimenting whatsoever. He does, however, ground Sean for finding his weed, implying he is keen on warning his oldest son about the risks of substance usage. |
| 1031 | ** If Sean romances Finn, you have the option to tell Esteban you kissed a boy during the dream sequence in the following episode. Esteban is surprised, but quickly affirms that he supports Sean and wishes for him to be happy no matter what. |
| 1032 | * PapaWolf: Implied. In the most pacific way, Esteban tried to reason with a police officer who was holding his sons at gun point, with the intention to protect them. Sean even calls him his and Daniel's [[InvokedTrope "papa wolf"]], due to their AnimalMotif being the wolf. |
| 1033 | * PlotTriggeringDeath: His untimely demise at the hands of a hasty cop causes Daniel's power to surge, killing the cop in the process and forcing the two boys on the run. |
| 1034 | * SoProudOfYou: He's eternally supportive of his sons, and doesn't miss an opportunity to tell them he's proud of them. |
| 1035 | * StrugglingSingleFather: He at first appears as a [[GlamorousSingleMother Glamorous Single Father]], but Sean finds letters from the mortgage that indicates Esteban struggles with getting it on time, and the fact he's a {{workaholic}} showcases he works to get the money he needs in order to give his sons what they need. |
| 1036 | * TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Like William before him, he's a loving father who dies in a tragic accident. |
| 1037 | * {{Workaholic}}: Esteban works as a car mechanic and loves his job. Sean can find a large stack of outgoing invoices, noting that his dad must be working non-stop. |
| 1038 | [[/folder]] |
| 1039 | |
| 1040 | [[folder:Karen Reynolds-Diaz '''*SPOILERS AHEAD*''']] |
| 1041 | !!Karen Diaz (née Reynolds) |
| 1042 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/baee1096_77b4_49ee_a23b_af386cb3396b.png]] |
| 1043 | [[caption-width-right:350:I know you don't owe me anything. But I beg you, please, help my sons if you can.]] |
| 1044 | ->'''Voiced by''': Joelene Anderson |
| 1045 | |
| 1046 | Sean and Daniel's mother. She abandoned her family shortly after Daniel was born. |
| 1047 | ---- |
| 1048 | * AllForNothing: [[spoiler: In Episode 5, she surrenders to the police to give Sean and Daniel a head start to the border to Mexico, potentially resulting in many years in prison for arson. However, if the player chooses to have Sean surrender to the police during the final confrontation, her sacrifice will be less meaningful]]. |
| 1049 | * AnimalMotif: Like her sons and the rest of her family, a wolf. She's more of the "lone wolf" type, leaving her pack behind and trying to find her own place in the world. She doesn't hesitate a single second to come at her sons' aid and acts [[MamaBear protective]] once she's back in their life. |
| 1050 | * TheAtoner: As soon as she meets her sons for the first time in years, she attempts to make amends for her leaving without notice. It takes her a while to admit that she actually did anything ''wrong'' by leaving, but she's gotten there by the time she allows herself to get arrested. |
| 1051 | * BoyishShortHair: In present day, Karen has her hair cut short. In fact, [[HereditaryHairstyle it looks a lot like her son Sean's!]] Prior to her physical appearance, all of her pictures show her with longer hair. |
| 1052 | * ChekhovsGunman: She's mentioned a lot as the mother who abandoned Sean and Daniel through all first three episodes. She finally makes an appearance in the fourth episode where she helps Sean rescue Daniel from Haven Point's cult. |
| 1053 | * DeerInTheHeadlights: She's frozen and shocked when she witnesses Nicholas beat up her son. |
| 1054 | * EveryoneHasStandards: In the event where the game plays on low morality, she's completely under the shock when she witnesses her ten year old son kill Lisbeth Fischer. |
| 1055 | * ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Old pictures of Karen before she left her family showed her having long hair, while in the present day, she cut it short to indicate how much time passed. |
| 1056 | * HeroicSacrifice: When she learns that the police had found out about their location, she lets herself get captured to give her sons a head start. |
| 1057 | * HeterosexualLifePartners: She has a close friendship with Joan Marcus, an artist who lives in her community at Away. |
| 1058 | * IntimateHealing: If Sean is understanding and opens up to Karen during their conversation, Karen will offer her help to clean Sean's eye. If the player accepts, she will clean his wound, holding his face in an intimate, motherly way. |
| 1059 | * ItsAllAboutMe: The reasons she gives for leaving her family. According to her, she just wasn't cut out for family life. Though she is well aware of the pain she caused and felt trapped with her final decision and what it implied. |
| 1060 | * LaserGuidedKarma: She wanted to leave her family because she wanted more out of her life, but the fact that she failed to make anything out of her life comes across as this. |
| 1061 | * LongHairIsFeminine: Old photos of Karen showed she had longer hair. |
| 1062 | * MamaWolf: Sure, she may have abandoned her family, but she does not hesitate a single second to spring into action when her sons in danger, even going as far as to set fire to a house near the church simply as a distraction. |
| 1063 | -->'''Karen''': [''to Sean''] I can't believe how much crap you guys have been through. Makes me wanna punch in the face each and every asshole that got in your way. |
| 1064 | * MissingMom: She's been missing for eight years. At the end of ''Rules'', Sean and Daniel find a letter from her to her parents asking them to protect her children. ''Faith'' finally has her seek out for her sons after learning that Daniel joined a cult. |
| 1065 | * MyGreatestFailure: Bailing out on her husband and sons is "the hardest decision she's ever made". Even if she doesn't regret leaving them as she was unhappy, she regrets causing them so much pain and not seeing them grow up. |
| 1066 | * ReallyGetsAround: Implied by how Sean finds numerous packs of condoms in her belongings. |
| 1067 | * RebuiltPedestal: Sean can eventually forgive his mom for abandoning the family, even wishing to stay with her longer. In both the ''Redemption'' and ''Parting Ways'' endings, she is now on speaking terms with her parents again. |
| 1068 | * RedHerring: The fact that she left her family abruptly and her religious mother disowned her may lead one to believe that the "intense female reverend" Jacob mentions in ''Wastelands'' might be her and that she left to join a cult. It turns out that the reverend Jacob was talking about was actually Lisbeth Fischer, the BigBad of the next episode and Karen actually left for completely unrelated reasons. |
| 1069 | * ShipperOnDeck: When she sees Sean talk about his best friend Lyla and how they spent time smoking together, she smiles and answers "that's how you know someone is good to you". |
| 1070 | * TragicKeepsake: In the ''Redemption'' ending, she's wearing Joan's vest as she waits for Sean to be released. With the implication that Joan suffers from cancer, it's very possible that Joan passed away sometime in those 15 years and gave her vest to her dear friend Karen. |
| 1071 | * WalkingSpoiler: Her presence in Episode 4 is a huge twist for the Diaz brothers' journey. |
| 1072 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Her fate in the ''Blood Brothers'' and ''Lone Wolf'' endings is unknown. Considering that the FBI were unable to capture the brothers and arrested her, her fate doesn't seem to be good. Though, since she took responsibility for the church fire in Haven Point it can be assumed she was convicted of arson and sentenced to two to fifteen years in a Nevada prison. |
| 1073 | * WorthIt: She's honest with Sean that she ultimately doesn't regret leaving her family, even if there are aspects of that life she does miss. It's also [[ZigZaggedTrope zig-zagged]], however; when she realizes the police are closing in on their location, she shows real remorse for abandoning her sons for the first time, admits that she failed them when she left, and decides to turn herself in to the police to give Sean and Daniel a head start. |
| 1074 | [[/folder]] |
| 1075 | |
| 1076 | |
| 1077 | !!True Colors |
| 1078 | |
| 1079 | [[folder:Gabe Chen]] |
| 1080 | !!Gabriel "Gabe" Chen |
| 1081 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gabe_chen.png]] |
| 1082 | %% [[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]] |
| 1083 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Han Soto |
| 1084 | |
| 1085 | Alex's older brother who she was separated from in the foster care system for eight years. He dies mysteriously shortly after they are reunited, and Alex is determined to find out how. |
| 1086 | ---- |
| 1087 | * TheAtoner: He keeps a list of people he needs to make things right with. Many of them are crossed out by the time Alex finds it after Gabe's death. |
| 1088 | * BestFriend: Ryan and Steph both consider him their best friend prior to his death. |
| 1089 | * CoolBigBro: Even if they were separated for eight years, Gabe clearly loves Alex a lot and they were happy to be reunited. His sudden death pertubates Alex's world, who then decides to use her power of empathy to discover the truth. |
| 1090 | * DeathByOriginStory: His death kicks off the plot of ''True Colors''. |
| 1091 | * DroppedABridgeOnHim: His death is deliberately brutal and occurs very suddenly once the apparent danger of the situation has passed, and is anything but heroic or meaningful. |
| 1092 | * {{Expy}}: Of William and Esteban from the Arcadia Bay arc and ''Life is Strange 2'', respectively. |
| 1093 | * ForegoneConclusion: It's now so openly acknowledged that ''Life Is Strange'' games start by killing off the father figure that they willingly spoilered his death in all the game's promotional materials, even though it occurs about 20% of the way through the actual story. |
| 1094 | * [[GoodStepmother Good Stepfather]]: He's shown to be very good with Charlotte's son Ethan, who clearly holds him in high regard, and fully accepts him as a second father figure even though his biological dad is still in the picture as well. |
| 1095 | * HelpfulHallucination: [[spoiler: He guides Alex through her repressed memories during her near death experience in chapter 5. The way he talks and acts leave makes whether he is a figment of Alex's mind or an actual ghost is left up in the air. Alex speaks to a mental manifestation of him at the end of the last chapter, and he helps her decide whether to settle down in Haven Springs permanently or leave to seek adventure and a career in music.]] |
| 1096 | * NiceGuy: He was beloved by Haven's community and his younger sister. His death creates a shockwave through town, [[spoiler:even for the people directly or indirectly responsible for it]]. |
| 1097 | * ParentalAbandonment: He and Alex were abandoned by their dad not too long after their mom died. |
| 1098 | * SoreLoser: Steph claims that he is one when it comes to foosball. |
| 1099 | * SurprisinglySuddenDeath: Dies just a few hours after reuniting with Alex [[spoiler:when the two of them, along with Ryan, venture into the hills around the mines to look for Gabe's missing step-son Ethan. The trio manage to rescue Ethan from a ledge he'd become stuck on, but just as everything seems to be OK, a mining blast (which had supposedly been postponed during the search) is set off. A falling rock bowls Gabe over the edge of the ravine, and Ryan is forced to cut his safety rope to prevent Alex from falling with him, ensuring there's no way Gabe can survive (though due to the massive blow to the head he took from the rock, it's quite likely he was already dead by the time Ryan cut him loose anyway).]] |
| 1100 | * TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Just like William Price and Esteban Diaz before him, he was a devoted and protective family member and died in sudden and horrible circumstances, leaving his sister Alex grieving him. |
| 1101 | * WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler: He dies in the first episode.]] |
| 1102 | [[/folder]] |
| 1103 | |
| 1104 | [[folder:Steph Gingrich]] |
| 1105 | !!'''Click [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeTheProtagonists here]] for Steph's page.''' |
| 1106 | [[/folder]] |
| 1107 | |
| 1108 | [[folder:Ryan Lucan]] |
| 1109 | !!'''Click [[Characters/LifeIsStrangeTheProtagonists here]] for Ryan's page.''' |
| 1110 | [[/folder]] |
| 1111 |
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