Line #103 Characters/TheThousandAutumnsOfJacobDeZoet


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6	[[foldercontrol]]
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8	[[folder: Dejima Dutchmen]]
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10	!!Jacob de Zoet
11
12	The main character of the novel. A young clerk who is sent to Dejima for his post in the Dutch East India Company to save money to marry his fiance, but whose life complicates with the encounter of Aibagawa Orito.
13
14	* AlmightyJanitor: A clerk who becomes a main role in events concerning the future of The Napoleonic Wars and Japan as a country.
15	%%* DidNotGetTheGirl
16	%%* TheHero
17	%%* NaiveNewcomer
18	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Based on Hendrik Doeff, the Dutch commander at Dejima from 1803-15, who among other things dealt with an English frigate attempting to force trade relations out of Japan, similar to Jacob.
19	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Being honest does bring him a lot of trouble in his life.
20	* UnfazedEveryman: During the ''Phoebus'' arc, most definetly.
21	%%* UnluckyEverydude
22
23	!!Dr. Lucas Marinus
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25	The doctor working at Dejima, who despite his oddly anti-social behaviour is a humanist, and becomes a friend of Jacob.
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27	%%* CoolOldGuy
28	* DrJerk: On the surface.
29	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He does become a friend of Jacob.
30	%%* IntergenerationalFriendship: With Jacob.
31	* TheLancer: To Jacob, during the ''Phoebus'' arc.
32	* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Not as extreme as some cases, but since he is leading the teaching of rangaku, Dutch Knowledge, to the Japanese at Dejima, he has to teach them about subjects far out of his expertise.
33	%%* TheSmartGuy
34
35	!!Unico Vorstenbosch
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37	The commandant at Dejima who arrives along with Jacob in the beginning of the novel. [[spoiler: Near the end of the first arc, he is revealed to be corrupt, and Jacobs refusal to comply with this leads to his demotion before Vorstenbosch leaves.]]
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39	%%* DaChief
40	* Hypocrite: Near the beginning, he states that he and Jacob are probably the only honest men on Dejima. [[spoiler: Come the end of the first arc, only Jacob is left.]]
41	* KarmaHoudini: He never appears again after leaving Dejima at the end of the first arc.
42	%%* PointyHairedBoss
43	%%* VillainWithGoodPublicity
44	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Disappears after leaving Dejima at the end of the first arc.
45
46	!!Melchior van Cleef
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48	The second-in-command to Vorstenbosch, and later the commander of Dejima.
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50	* AntiHero: Jacob doesn't particularly like him, but describes he is about as honest as they get in the company.
51	%%* DaChief: Come his promotion.
52	* EveryoneHasStandards: Giving his dubious behavior to get promoted by Vorstenbosch earlier, one would expect he would immediately rat out Dejima to get a cushy deal with the British, but surprisingly, he refuses to deal with them.
53	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: He never appears again after the ''Phoebus'' leaves Dejima. Given hsi refusal to cooperate with thim, it is likely prison awaited him on arrival in England.
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55	!!Peter Fischer:
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57	A Prussian-born clerk at Dejima, who becomes second-in-command after Jacob is demoted by Vorstenbosch.
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59	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: He is introduced earlier, but the hint to his role later in the novel is given when he brutally beats van Cleef's slave for an undisclosed reason.
60	* OhCrap: [[spoiler: As soon as things don't go as he expects, this is his reaction.]]
61	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Granted, all the Europeans, including Jacob, keep slaves and are racist, but Fischer is the only to directly mistreat his, and his racism is definitely worse.
62	%%* {{Slimeball}}
63	%%* SmugSnake
64	* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler: When he realizes that neither the other Dutchmen nor the Japanese are willing to comply with his demands during the ''Phoebus'' incident, he suffers from this. Penhaligon notices it, and realizes just how pathetic Fischer really is.]]
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66	[[/folder]]
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68	[[folder: Japanese]]
69
70	!!Aibagawa Orito
71
72	A midwife, and a rangaku (Dutch Studies) student at Dejima. In the first scene of the novel, she saves the child of bugyo Shiroyama, and he rewards her by allowing her to study under Marinus at Dejima. Jacob falls in love with her, but before he can act, she is spirited away to the mountain cult of Abbot Enomoto, to be used as a midwife by him.
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74	* ActionGirl: Not explicitly, but her [[spoiler: escape form Shiranui]] was pretty badass.
75	* AlmightyJanitor: Similar to Jacob, a simple midwife becomes essential in big politics in Japan.
76	%%* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Yayoi.
77	* HonorBeforeReason: [[spoiler: Her aborted escape attempt form Shiranui. She returned to make sure Yayoi could survive]]
78	* WickedStepmother: Her stepmother was the person who made it possible for Enomoto to kidnap her.
79
80	!!Enomoto
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82	The abbot of Shiranui monastary, and the primary antagonist of the novel. [[spoiler:He is responsible for kidnapping Orito, and his cult harvests human babies for a purported elixir of immortality.]]
83
84	* BadBoss: [[spoiler: Everyone around him is kept in an iron grip. The monks and nuns are kept addicted to drugs that will kill them as poison should they leave the monastary without his permission, and he is strongly implied to kill Shuzai and his mercenaries after dealing with Ogawa.]]
85	%%* BigBad
86	%%* TheChessmaster
87	* EatsBabies: He is just that evil.
88	* EvilGloating: Full of it, both to Jacob (indirectly), Orito, [[spoiler: Ogawa before his death]], and in the end, more like UnsportsmanlikeGloating to Shiroyama.
89	* EvilOldFolks: Very old, if he is to be believed.
90	* HannibalLecture: [[spoiler: Delivers an excruciating one to Ogawa before killing him.]]
91	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: It is never stated outright if his magic tonics actually work.
92	* OutGambitted: [[spoiler: Epically out-gambits Ogawa, but is then out-gambitted by Jacob and Shiroyama.]]
93	* OhCrap: [[spoiler: When he realizes his demise is near.]]
94	* PeopleFarms: The truth about Shiranui.
95	* Really700YearsOld: He claims to be 600 years old.
96	* VillainousBreakdown: After realizing he has been poisoned, he, with increasing despair and fear of death, babbles on about how what he is doing is right, nobody understands him, that he will live forever, and Ogawa and Shiroyama are worthless people. Then, he tries to draw his ceremonial dagger to attack Shiroyama before the poison takes effect.
97	%%* VillainWithGoodPublicity
98
99	!!Ogawa Uzaemon
100
101	One of the best interpreters at Dejima from a samurai family, who had previously been in love with Orito, but prevented form marrying her. [[spoiler: He takes a major role in the second arc of the book, trying to rescue Orito from Shiranui.]]
102
103	* HeroOfAnotherStory: at first, to Jacob. [[spoiler: After his death, Jacob realizes it was not that simple.]]
104	* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: He wanted Jacob and Orito to marry.
105	%%* NiceGuy
106	%%* OutGambitted: By Enomoto
107	%%* SacrificialLion
108
109	!!Shiroyama
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111	The magistrate (bugyo) of Nagasaki. His child is saved by Orito at the start of the story. [[spoiler: Because of this, he feels he owes her a debt, and as Jacob later helps him save Nagasaki from the ''Phoebus'', in order to pay them both back, he sacrifices his life to kill Enomoto and free the nuns and monks of Shiranui.]]
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113	* CoolOldGuy: Fifty years old, but it still counts.
114	%%* DaChief
115	* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Sacrifices himself to kill Enomoto. When he is certain that he had been poisoned, he calmly explained to him why he was getting killed.
116	* GoKartingWithBowser: Regularly plays go with Enomoto. [[spoiler: Granted, that was before he realized he was a complete psychopath.]]
117	%%* HeroicSacrifice
118	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: He is based on the magistrate of Nagasaki during the ''Phaeton'' Incident of 1808, Matsudaira Yasuhide, seeing as the ''Phoebus'' arc takes a lot of inspiration from this incident, including the understaffing of samurai ready to defend Nagasaki, and [[spoiler: Matsudaira's suicide after the incident, the difference being that the historical Matsudaira committed suicide to repent for not having the sufficient defenses ready at Nagasaki, while Shiroyama in the book does it to take down Enomoto without tainting his family's name, and thereby ruining the life of his young son.]]
119	* TookALevelInBadass: For most of the novel , he is merely a background character. [[spoiler: Not so much when Jacob reveals to him what Enomoto was doing. Rather than being on Enomoto's payroll like Shuzai was, and murdering Jacob, he sacrifices his life to kill Enomoto and free the captives at Shiranui.]]
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121	!!Shuzai
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123	The old fencing teacher of Ogawa, whom he enlists in his attempt to rescure Orito. [[spoiler: Turns out to be an accomplice of Enomoto, and betrays Ogawa.]]
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125	%%* CoolOldGuy
126	* FalseFriend: Betrays Ogawa to Enomoto.
127	%%* OldMaster
128	* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: [[spoiler: Implied to have been killed off by Enomoto after the death of Ogawa. The report Jacob receives states that 11 bandits (fitting with Shuzai and his ten men) had been tortured to death as penalty for Ogawa's death by Enomoto, and he is never seen again after that.]]
129	%%* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: His implied fate.
130
131	!!Yayoi
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133	A nun at Shiranui, whom Orito developes a friendship with, and is the only thing that makes her life bearable at the monastary. She has fox-like pointed ears, similar to the [[AsianFoxSpirit kitsune]].
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135	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Developes a friendship with Orito, [[spoiler: and as they visit Dejima together ten years after gaining their freedom, they are strongly implied to have a close relationship for life.]]
136	%%* TheIngenue
137	%%* NaiveEverygirl
138	%%* NiceGirl
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140	[[/folder]]
141
142	[[folder: Crew of the ''Phoebus'']]
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144	!!John Penhaligon
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146	The captain of the ''Phoebus'', and the leader of the ship's attempt to open relations with Japan.
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148	* AntiVillain: While he is an antagonist to Jacob, his backstory is kind fo sympathetic. His wife and only son are dead, and his career is waning, the reason why he is desperately trying to revive it with the Japanese mission.
149	%%* TheCaptain
150	* MightyWhitey: Obviously perceives himself as this.
151	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Similar to Jacob being inspired by Hendrik Doeff and SHiroyama by Matsudaira Yasuhide, Penhaligon is this to Fleetwood Pellew, the captain of the ''Phaeton'' during the incident in 1808 which served as an inspiration for the events of the third arc, although his resemblence to Pellew is somewhat less obvious, as Pellew was only 19 at the time of the incident, while Penhaligon is closing in on retirement.
152	* OneLastJob: His Nagasaki mission is meant to be this before his retirement.
153	* RedRightHand: His podagra in the left foot, with makes him more and more crippled as the novel progresses.
154	* SoreLoser: When he realizes he cannot open relations to Japan as hoped, he decides to bomb the crap out of Dejima.
155	* YouRemindMeOfX: [[spoiler: The reason he cannot bring himself to kill Jacob is because he reminded him of his late son.]]
156	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: After failing to give the order that would kill Jacob, he leaves Nagasaki, and his fate is not revealed. During the epilogue, Jacob himself wonders what has happened and wishes he could have met him, but concludes that he probably died long ago.
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158	!!Daniel Snitker
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160	The former commander of Dejima, who is relieved of his command at the start of the novel by Vorstenbosch due to corruption, but returns as the instigator of the ''Phoebus'' incident later on, as part of Penhaligon's crew.
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162	* TheBusCameBack: Almost 400 pages after being PutOnABus, he turns up with a vengeance.
163	* TheCynic: Tries to justify his corruption with this.
164	* FishOutOfWater: Among the English, obviously.
165	%%* {{Slimeball}}
166	%%* SmugSnake
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Context Characters / TheThousandAutumnsOfJacobDeZoet