Characters / And Then There Were None

These are the main characters of And Then There Were None.

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Ten Little Murder Victims

Tropes related to the killer's identity should be listed separately so as to avoid spoiling The Reveal.

Dr. Edward Armstrong

Dr. Edward George Armstrong

Portrayed By: Walter Huston (1945), Dennis Price (1965), Herbert Lom (1974), Anatoly Romashin (1987), Yehuda Efroni (1989, as Dr. Hans Yokem Werner), Toby Stephens (2015)

A successful Harley Street surgeon and also a recovering alcoholic at the beginning of the novel. He is accused of killing a patient, Louisa Mary Clees, due to operating on her while drunk.

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• Acquitted Too Late: He became the prime suspect after the fifth death, until Vera and Philip found his body washed up in the shore after they discovered Blore's murder.
• The Atoner: He is very repentant of his crime and did give up drinking in order to do no more harm to patients.
• The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes:
  • He studies treatments for nervousness, yet is the most fidgety and fearful of all the guests.
  • In the 2015 BBC version, he claims to specialize in "female disorders", yet as soon as it's established there's a murderer among them, he immediately fixates on the only young, attractive woman among the guests as the prime suspect. He's also not too fond of the older woman remaining, either…
• Gender Flip: In the 2017 Japanese TV adaptation, Dr. Armstrong becomes a female (named Dr. Erika Konami) and is given a penchant for fishing. Dr. Armstrong is also sometimes performed by an actress in the play adaption to balance out the female to male ratio somewhat.
• Horrible Judge of Character: He's far too trusting of "proper" authority figures like Wargrave.
• Large Ham: In the 2015 BBC version, he's prone to shrill flippancy and rashness, especially in one scene where he discovers a body.
• My God, What Have I Done?: His nervousness and abstinence from drinking are in response to his guilt over causing the death of a patient.
• Pet the Dog:
  • In the 2015 version, he's very adamant that he check Mrs. Rogers over after she 'faints.' He also clearly disapproves of Rogers' domestic abuse of his wife.
  • He's the only one to try and actually change his ways after being wracked by guilt over the death of his patient while he was under the effects of alcohol, and by the time the story begins is a recovering alcoholic. Though clearly not enough for U.N. Owen...
• Recovered Addict: A recovering alcoholic.
• Red Herring Mole: As the novel goes on, the remaining characters begin to suspect he is the killer after his mysterious disappearance, only for it to turn out that he became an unwitting accomplice in the judge's plan and ended up getting murdered by the judge himself.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: In the BBC version, he mentions serving in the army medical corps during WWI. He's also a recovering alcoholic, and later, when everyone's partying, he expresses familiarity with cocaine, which he says he would use to stay awake in the army. While he's high, he keeps going on about all the bodies and maimings he saw, and all the amputations he had to do, all in a dissonantly cheerful tone.
• The Teetotaler: Since he's a recovering alcoholic.
• Too Dumb to Live: He makes the fatal mistake of trusting the judge and helping him fake his death, and the judge kills him as well. Justified, as he strongly believes in social class and respectability and thus is convinced that someone as respectable as the judge could not possibly be a killer.
• Unwitting Pawn: If only he knew whom he was trusting…

William Blore

William Henry Blore

Portrayed By: Roland Young (1945), Stanley Holloway (1965), Gert Froebe (1974), Aleksei Zharkov (1987), Warren Berlinger (1989), Burn Gorman (2015)

A former policeman who tends to be a bit too bold for his own good. He is accused of being on a crime syndicate's payroll and causing the death of an innocent man named James Landor by planting false evidence and landing him in prison, which caused him to die of untreated tuberculosis in jail. In the game, this is anted up to give him a more personal connection to the character the player controls when it's revealed that he also framed the character's brother to take the heat off himself.

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• Actually, I Am Him: In the novel and the 1987 and the 2015 versions he comes to the island under the alias of Mr. Davis and confesses to being Blore once the accusations are read aloud.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the 2015 version he comes to show genuine guilt over what he did, culminating in a teary confession, while in the novel he mostly regrets not getting proper compensation for framing Landor.
  Perhaps we're dead already and we just don't realize it. And this is hell. We're in hell, and we're being punished for what we done. Because I did kill him - Landor. I stomped him until he was pulp. His own mother couldn't see him, couldn't say goodbye! I murdered him, alright. He was helpless and I didn't stop. He must've been so frightened. He was just a young lad.
• Adaptational Attractiveness:
  • In the BBC miniseries, he's portrayed by Burn Gorman, who is younger and leaner than his heavyset, middle-aged novel counterpart.
  • It also applies in the Soviet version, where Aleksei Zharkov, the actor portraying him, was barely in his forties.
• Adaptational Heroism: See Adaptational Angst Upgrade above.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • In the 2015 version, he is shown beating a young man, arrested for cottaging, gorily to death in a police cell for no other reason but homophobia. Zig-zags into Adaptational Heroism when he ends up feeling heavy remorse for what he did and wishing he could have done things differently.
  • In the game, he also framed the protagonist's brother when people began to suspect him of being an inside man for the Purcell gang.
• Catchphrase: "I get it!" in the 1945 film version, and when it seems as though he really does get it, he gets it — on the head from a marble clock.
• Character Exaggeration: The Hollywood adaptations tend to take his basic characteristic of being too bold for his own good and make him Too Dumb to Live.
• Death from Above: In the original novel, he is killed when a marble clock is dropped on his head.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Instead of getting a clock dropped on his head, he is stabbed by someone wearing a bearskin rug in the 2015 version.
• Dirty Cop: "A bad hat", as Assistant Commissioner Legge puts it. The 1989 adaptation takes this to a whole new level — not only is he Too Dumb to Live, he is also paranoid bordering on Ax-Crazy. After discovering the body of the General, he actually tries to shoot Lombard.
• Dumb Muscle: It's frequently mentioned how he lacks imagination and gets nervous at the face of abstract, unseen threats such as U.N. Owen, but is fearless and determined when faced with concrete, visible problems. He's also described as being equally physically strong as Lombard, making them foils.
• Enemy Mine: Reluctantly works with Patrick in the game in order to save their lives.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: In the 2015 version he's on the list partially because of being prone to violence and flying off the handle.
• In-Series Nickname: Lombard calls him "Tubs" in the 2015 version, to his constant annoyance.
• My God, What Have I Done?: In the 2015 version, his guilt and fear eventually cause a complete emotional breakdown.
• Old-Fashioned Copper: He predates the milieu associated with the trope (Britain in the 1970s), but he could be considered a precursor of it.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: In the 2015 version, his violent homophobia gets him onto the deadly island. Also, he instantly suspects Lombard from the start because of his Irish heritage (denoting him as 'Fenian' in his notebook).
• Precision F-Strike: In the BBC miniseries, he's quite prone to this, much to Emily Brent's dismay.

Emily Brent

Emily Caroline Brent

Portrayed By: Judith Anderson (1945), Daliah Lavi (1965, as Ilona Bergen), Stéphane Audran (1974, as Ilona Morgan), Lyudmila Maksakova (1987), Brenda Vaccaro (1989, as Marion Marshall), Miranda Richardson (2015)

A staunchly religious spinster who takes a cold, unforgiving attitude towards anyone who, in her eyes, is a sinner. She is accused of driving her pregnant servant girl, Beatrice Taylor, to suicide after throwing her out of her household.

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• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the 2015 adaptation, she's more upset than in the book: she gives a prayer to God when Anthony dies, where in the book she's the one who finds the general's corpse and seems more worried when one of her wool balls are stolen.
• Adaptational Attractiveness:
  • Her character is completely rewritten in all but one Hollywood adaptations, from an elderly spinster to an attractive movie star.
  • To a lesser extent in the Soviet version, but still – she is played by the very good-looking, then-47-year-old Lyudmila Maksakova, who was famous for roles such as Rosalinde.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • In the 1945 adaptation, she is coldly indifferent about her crime, which is changed to sending her own nephew to a reformatory where he eventually hanged himself, while all other versions of her character show at least some degree of guilt, even if repressed.
  • In the game, she is the murderer — Gabrielle Steele, who killed the real Emily Brent.
• Beneath the Mask: The other guests may not see it because of her unyielding front, but she's being unconsciously consumed by repressed guilt.
• Dead Person Impersonation: In the game, Gabrielle Steele killed the real Emily Brent and impersonates her on the island.
• Defiled Forever: Brent strongly believes this, and threw her own maid out over it.
• Despair Event Horizon: In the BBC adaptation, after hallucinating about Beatrice, she's overwhelmed by guilt and loses her sanctimonious behavior, somberly accepting the fact that Owen wants to murder everyone on the island.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • In one instance, she voices a sentiment of racial equality, taking issue with downplaying Lombard's evil deed because his victims were "natives". She's also disgusted by Marston's crime.
  • In the game, Gabrielle Steele expresses particular disdain for Brent, calling her a "hateful old hag".
• Evil Counterpart: Not to another guest, but still to another Christie's character — Miss Marple. Both are elderly spinsters who like to knit, but Miss Marple is compassionate and never lets religion hinder her empathy, while Emily Brent is devoted to her principles to the point that she feels no sympathy for anyone who doesn't live up to her standards. Also, Miss Marple is always caring with her maids, while Miss Brent's harshness eventually drove her maid to suicide.
• Evil Redhead: In the 1989 adaptation and in the BBC miniseries.
• The Fundamentalist: She has a strict and insufferable religiosity that seems to permeate her whole life. For instance, when questioning what it was that Dr. Armstrong did to be accused of murder, she immediately suggests that he had performed an "illegal operation", a euphemism for an abortion.
• Gambit Roulette: She attempts this in the game and fails, thanks to one, tiny event she did not foresee: Patrick Narracott being stranded on the island.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: At the end of the game. To explain it would be a bit...complex...
• Holier Than Thou: She looks down on anyone who doesn't meet her insanely strict religious standards.
• Irony: In the novel, she is being psychologically tortured by Wargrave, as are the rest of the guests. In the game, she's doing this to Wargrave, flipping the tables entirely.
• Lack of Empathy: If you're someone who doesn't meet her high standards, you're damned in her eyes, no ifs, ands, or buts. Then again, she chews Lombard out for leaving his men to die for being natives, so she is certainy capable of empathy.
• Love Makes You Evil: A trope used in some adaptations, notably the game, where she's the murderer with her motive being to torture Wargrave by making him watch others die and being powerless to stop it because he sentenced her lover to death, and the BBC miniseries, where she's implied to have had feelings for her maid and to have thrown her out due to jealousy.
• My God, What Have I Done?: She eventually comes to realize the gravity of what she has done, although by that point it's too late.
• Obliviously Evil: At least in the book, where her judgment is so clouded by her principles that she is unable to understand why U.N. Owen should punish her as well. Although she knows you don't talk about that publicly as she tells Vera she knew the others would consider firing a pregnant woman and showing no guilt over her suicide poor taste.
• Pet the Dog: In the 2015 adaptation, she extends some sympathy towards Mrs. Rogers, although this is mainly due to the latter's ability as a cook. She also disapproves of Lombard's nonchalance toward the people he left to die.
• Principles Zealot: To the point she didn't feel remorse or sadness when Beatrice Taylor killed herself since the latter was, in Miss Brent's eyes, guilty of two sins.
• Psycho Lesbian: In the 1989 adaptation, and implied in the 2015 BBC miniseries. In the 2017 Japanese TV miniseries, she even goes as far as to propose to Beatrice by putting a ring on her finger (Given that the Japan version is set in current times, this would seem appropriate with modern values.)
• Pure Is Not Good: She's a staunchly religious person, but her moral inflexibility makes her incredibly cold-hearted.
• Sanity Slippage: She starts having nightmares and hallucinations about Beatrice.
• Straight Edge Evil: She's the only guest who avoids both drinking alcohol and smoking.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?:
  • She hates, hates bees and wasps (in adaptations — in the novel she mentions quite enjoying honey and never brings up bees). And of course, U.N. Owen uses it to his advantage.
  • In the game, she states she's allergic to bees.

Vera Claythorne

Vera Elizabeth Claythorne

Portrayed By: June Duprez (1945), Shirley Eaton (1965, as Ann Clyde), Elke Sommer (1974, as Vera Clyde), Tatyana Drubich (1987), Sarah Maur Thorp (1989), Maeve Dermody (2015)

A young former governess, now gym teacher and secretary. She is accused of causing the death of her young charge, Cyril Hamilton, by allowing him to swim out to sea and drown, which she vehemently denies.

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• Adaptational Heroism: She really didn't cause Cyril's death in the 1945 movie, the play or the game. In the first two, her sister was the one who did it. In the game, Hugo was the one who set Cyril up to die and Vera lied to protect him.
• Adaptational Villainy: She's much more frigid and cruel in the BBC adaptation than she appeared to be in the original novel. In the book, she is wracked with guilt and slowly begins losing her mind as she comes to terms with what she has done, but in the miniseries it is strongly implied to all be an act of a vicious fully-blown sociopath. Also, little Cyril's death at sea is now shown to be a cold and calculated murder, while in the book it was implied to be a spur-of-the-moment crime of passion.
• All for Nothing: She let Cyril, a child in her care to swim out to sea and drown so her lover, Hugo (who was Cyril's uncle), could inherit his estate and marry her. However, Hugo realized that Vera caused Cyril's death on purpose, and left her in horror.
• Asshole Victim: In the BBC adaptation, she's left to die by Wargrave after she hastily tries to bargain with him by having them throw Lombard (who she supposedly cared for) under the bus for all the other murders on the island, and also due to her Adaptational Villainy she's a lot less sympathetic than in the novel.
• Ax-Crazy: What she eventually becomes by the end.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Vera is perceived by the other guests to be very sweet, but she ends up snapping in one of the worst ways possible at the end. She is also considered the worst guest by the murderer, which is why he keeps her for last.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She stole Lombard's revolver by faking concern over Armstrong's decency in death; not to mention the crime she's accused of, which she carried out after gaining the trust of a young boy and his family.
• Break the Cutie: So very much. This becomes even worse in the Russian film adaptation as in addition to the mental rape she undergoes, she is also actually raped by Lombard.
• Cute and Psycho: A gentle, sweet, naive girl who caused the death of her lover's nephew, who was her charge, by letting him drown in the sea so her lover could inherit the family estate and marry her. She only gets crazier as the story goes on.
• Dirty Coward: In the BBC version, she pathetically begs Wargrave for her life and tries to bargain with him in any way she can to convince him to spare her. It doesn't work.
• Don't Do This Cool Thing: How the Russian film version implies Vera goaded Cyril into swimming out to sea and drowning. She kept teasing him that the rock he wanted to swim up to is too far away and he won't be able to reach it.
• Driven to Suicide: Vera finally reaches the breaking point at the end, where she is faced with the choice to hang herself and does so.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: In the two faithful adaptations.
• Even Evil Has Standards: When Emily Brent gloats about how she drove her "sinful" maid to kill herself, Vera is very unnerved.
• Final Girl: Subverted. She's the last victim left standing, but is Driven to Suicide anyway. In the play, however, she's rescued just in time.
  • Arguably, she's the Trope Maker. Lampshaded by the murderer in the play. "It's always more fun if the last victim is a girl!"
    • In many ways, she's the worst out of all of them in the BBC adaptation, so her being the last one to be killed is played for catharsis.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She's blonde in all but the first Alan Towers adaptations, and she's innocent of the crime she's accused of.
• Happy Flashback: Played with in the Russian film version. As she is driven mad by guilt and about to hang herself, Vera experiences a brief flashback to a happier time as Cyril's governess where the two of them bond and play joyfully on the beach.
• Haunted Heroine: Former governess, apparently a normal, sweet young woman, whose neuroses bubble up to the surface as uncanny events pop up. But subverted in that she did deliberately cause the death of her charge, and she ends up snapping completely in the end. Though part of her 'haunting' may be the fact that killing Cyril ended up being All for Nothing when Hugo realized what she had done and dumped her.
• Ironic Name: Vera can mean "truth" in Latin. Vera, as it turns out, is one of the most duplicitous characters in the story.
• Karmic Death: In the original book and adaptations where she is a murderer, she asphyxiates just like the little boy she allowed to drown, on the same date (August 11th). It's more so in the 2015 BBC series, where as she gave Cyril false hope he could make it to the rock, Wargrave gives her false hope that he'll spare her.
• Kick the Dog: In the BBC version, she offers to Wargrave to help him frame Philip (after she took him as a lover then shot him to death in a fit of paranoia) for the murders, all to save her own hide. Wargrave isn't impressed.
• Lack of Empathy: Vera allows Cyril to drown, utterly failing to understand the effect that would have on Hugo, and also that he would clearly see right through her.
• Love Hurts: She caused the death of her pupil Cyril so his uncle/her lover could inherit the family fortune, which drove said lover into alcoholism. Vera is constantly tormented by memories of the ordeal.
• Love Makes You Evil: She allowed a child in her care to swim out to sea and drown so her lover, who also happened to be the child's uncle, could inherit his estate and marry Vera for love, something unlikely when he didn't have a penny.
• Ms. Fanservice: Because Vera is the youngest (hence most attractive) guest, she gets subjected to Fanservice quite a lot in the Harry Alan Towers adaptations. And then this is deconstructed in the Russian film version...
• Naïve Everygirl: Very much so in the play, viciously deconstructed in the novel.
• "Not So Different" Remark: In the BBC version, the killer seems to recognize this about Vera. Wargrave realizes she's just as sociopathic as he is, but whereas he is guided by Moral Sociopathy to punish the guilty, Vera is a calculating Yandere who only truly values herself.
• The Ophelia: As time passes.
• Proper Lady: Mercilessly deconstructed. At first, Vera seems to be the typical girl that we'd expect to see married after the resolution of the mystery: she's helpful and considerate, even if a past tragedy still weighs on her and has taken her fiance Hugo away from her. As the story goes on, the veneer starts to crack and we see that her politeness is hiding something really dark. In the end, she kills Lombard, who in another setting could have been her second Love Interest, and turns out to be guilty of one of the worst crimes among the guests, the real reason why Hugo broke up with her.
• Sanity Slippage: In the book and in the faithful adaptations, she progressively becomes more paranoid and nervous, which culminates in her breaking down at the sight of the noose in her room and hanging herself.
• Second Love: In the various adaptations, she manages to find new love with Lombard, Patrick Narracott, or Charles Morley.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Deconstructed in that the killer exploits this as part of their end game.
• The Sociopath: She's heavily implied to be this in the BBC adaptation. While she's still distressed, it seems to be more out of fear for her own safety or of her crime being found out rather than out of actual guilt. She isn't particularly fazed by the deaths happening around her, and empties the gun on Lombard instead of shooting him once as in the book, proving to be much colder than expected. While her decision to hang herself seems to be done out of guilt, she changes her mind as soon as she sees Wargrave entering the room, and tries to bargain for her life.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Play and Hollywood adaptations. Depending on what you do in the last chapter of the game, you can either play this straight, or subvert it.
• Uncanny Valley Girl: She's a beautiful young teacher who is still suffering for the accidental death of a child in her care... at first. As the plot thickens, it becomes clear that there's something off about her, with her sudden nervous outbursts and increasing paranoia. And it's not just an impression: she did cause the child's death and, by the end, she completely snaps.
• Unwitting Pawn: After finding Armstrong's dead body, she shoots Lombard, believing him to be Owen and her to be the only guest left alive. As it turns out, Owen had staged the showdown so that she would get rid of Lombard.
• Villain Protagonist: She's the closest thing to a main character we have as she outlives all the other guests, except for U.N. Owen, but is far from heroic. In several of the adaptations, she's just The Hero outright.
• Villainous Breakdown: The long repressed guilt and the psychological torture at Owen's hands come crashing down on her at the sight of the noose.
• Would Hurt a Child: She's accused of letting a child drown so that his uncle could become rich and marry her. This is revealed to be true in the novel and the BBC adaptation, but subverted in the 1945 film, the play and the game.
• Yandere: In the book, turns out that she did cause Cyril Hamilton's death so his uncle Hugo, who was her lover, could inherit the child's estate. Downplayed in the Russian film adaptation, where a single flashback shows her coldly watching Cyril run into the sea to his death after Hugo explains why he can't marry her.

Philip Lombard

Philip Lombard

Portrayed By: Louis Hayward (1945), Hugh O'Brien (1965, as Hugh Lombard), Oliver Reed (1974, as Hugh Lombard), Aleksandr Kaydanovsky (1987), Frank Stallone (1989), Aidan Turner (2015)

A cool-headed and intelligent man, once a mercenary having seen various parts of the world. He is accused of leaving twenty-one men from an African tribe to starve and freely admits to it.

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: His appearance in the book, while still charming, is described as feral and subtly menacing, while in the various American film adaptations he's portrayed by more conventionally attractive actors. His portrayal in the Russian version is closer to that in the book. In the BBC miniseries, he's played by Aidan Turner.
• Adaptational Heroism: In the stage play and some films, Lombard is innocent. He went to get help and didn’t come back in time. He just made the story up just so he could see everyone’s reaction to his confession.
• Adaptational Intelligence: In the BBC adaptation, he tries to reason with Vera when she's aiming the gun at him, rather than simply charging at her. It doesn't work anyway. He also tries to convince her that there's someone spying on them, which turns out to be true.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • In the Russian version, he rapes Vera.
  • In the book, he abandons the tribesmen to starve to death while they were lost, but did not directly kill them. In the 2015 version, he actively murdered the 21 Africans and burned their village in pursuit of securing a diamond mine.
• Animal Motifs: He's often compared to predatory animals. Wolves and large cats are a recurring theme when it comes to describing his appearance and behavior.
• At Least I Admit It: He's the only guest who admits upfront to his crime and in the 2015 BBC adaptation, he points out that at least he's willing to own up to what he did instead of lying about or hiding it like everyone else.
• Black Comedy: He loves bringing up the foreboding poem at the worst possible moments.
• Cold Ham: In the BBC miniseries, while keeping his typical coldness, he doesn't mind dropping​ some dramatic lines here and there.
• Dead Person Impersonation: A plot twist in the many Hollywood versions and game turns him into Charles Morley, a friend of Lombard's impersonating him on the island after the latter's mysterious death.
• Death of the Hypotenuse: In the game if you choose not to save him at the end. Even if he lives, however, Vera will still end up with Patrick (assuming she's saved, too).
• Even Evil Has Standards: He definitely has a chivalrous streak in the novel and Wouldn't Hit a Girl although since he got killed because of it, it could also be considered Death By Sexism. This is subverted in the Russian version, however; he comes across this way at first, or at least a bit protective of Vera. Turns out he had other ideas.
• Gentleman Adventurer: What he is the Hollywood versions, although this can be attested to the character not really being Lombard. Novel!Lombard is more like a evil version of the trope.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In the game, or more specifically in the game's best end, he lets Vera go with Patrick with the instruction to take care of her.
• Not Quite Dead: In the play, Vera gets so anxious that she steals his gun and shoots him, but he lives to save her life a minute later.
  "Good thing women can't shoot."
• Only Sane Man: He's probably the most clear-headed person on the island. Special attention is drawn to this in the BBC version. Justified since he is a mercenary, is armed and has zero guilt over what he did.
  Vera: We'll say that it was Philip, that he was mad…
  Wargrave: Oh, he was quite the sanest of the lot, I thought.
• Pet the Dog: In the 2015 series, he realizes that Vera isn't the killer because she has an alibi when Blore is dead. Lombard tries in vain to protect her knowing the other killer is on the island. Sadly, it doesn't save him when Vera gets ahold of his gun.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Besides his crime, of course, it's kind of interesting that while the newer version of the novel replaced the racist earlier title, Lombard's anti-Semitic and racist sentiments are left intact, and while his chivalry is a redeeming quality, he also displays it in a sexist way.
• The Scapegoat: Downplayed, as Lombard is guilty (something he himself freely admits), but he mentions in passing that there were two other men with him who also stole the food and abandoned the Africans (with it being unclear if they were just as culpable as Lombard, less culpable or even guiltier than he was), who avoid U.N. Owen's radar, unlike Lombard himself.
• The Social Darwinist: He freely admits to having left twenty-one African men to starve to death (it's unclear whether all of them actually did die, but Lombard seems to think they did), and is well-known for participating in quasi-legal activities. His justification is, "self-preservation is a man's first duty." However, this ultimately becomes his own undoing during the showdown between himself and Vera Claythorne at the end.
• The Sociopath: He lacks remorse, hides a dangerous nature behind a superficial charm, cares only about himself and works outside the law. He is somewhat protective of Vera, but even this trait is rather ambiguous. The Soviet version cements his status as a sociopath by having him rape an already unstable Vera after gaining her trust.
• Spared by the Adaptation: The play and Hollywood adaptations (assuming one refers to the person that arrives on the island, since the Dead Person Impersonation adaptations of course has the real Philip Lombard already be dead before any of the guests arrived on the island). Depending on what you do in the next-to-last chapter of the game, you can either play this straight, or subvert it.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's frequently described as somewhat young, well-built and good-looking.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: In the stage version, Lombard actually didn't leave his men to die but tried to save them in every way he could. However, the rumor spread that he had abandoned them, and eventually he got so tired of denying it that he decided to play along.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Played straight between him and Vera with disastrous results in the novel, ending in his death.

General John Macarthur

General John Macarthur

Portrayed By: Sir C. Aubrey Smith (1945, as General John Mandrake), Leo Genn (1965, as General John Mandrake), Adolfo Celi (1974, as General André Salvé), Mikhail Gluzsky (1987), Herbert Lom (1989, as General Romensky), Sam Neill (2015)

A retired World War I general. He is accused of causing the death of Arthur Richmond, his wife Leslie's lover, by sending him on a mission that guarantees him dead.

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• Adaptation Name Change: His surname is sometimes changed in post-WWII versions, to avoid confusion with the real General Douglas MacArthur.
• All for Nothing: His wife died shortly after the war, making his crime entirely fruitless.
• Anti-Villain: He committed a crime of passion and was never the same again. Especially after his wife's death, he felt himself dead on the inside.
• Cassandra Truth: He predicts none of the guests will be leaving the island alive, but his ranting is first dismissed to him just being older and thus, more likely to be off his rocker.
• Death Seeker: Because of his deep guilt over his actions, he takes on a fatalistic attitude toward the certainty of the guests being killed and seems to welcome death. In a later Canadian novel adaptation, he was spared because of this. He then admits to the police that he killed the other nine people so they can hang him, but he can't explain the story.
• Despair Event Horizon: He is already riddled with guilt at the start of the novel, but he basically gives up soon after it becomes clear there's a murderer on the island, taking to long walks by himself where he ends up staring into the distance by the ocean waiting for death.
• Everyone Has Standards: He did commit one of the nastiest military crimes, but even then he was genuinely disgusted with Lombard's act, abandoning his own men to their deaths, which implies that he believed in some level in the responsibility of a commander towards his underlings.
• May–December Romance: Implied among him and Leslie, which explains why she ultimately turned to a much younger man.
• My God, What Have I Done?: He couldn't bear to hear any reminders of what he did.
• Nice Guy: He's actually a very nice and accommodating person, if a bit air-headed in his old age. His crime was done on impulse and it's haunted him every single day since.
• Not Afraid to Die: He is so consumed by guilt that he actually welcomes his impending fate. Owen rewards him with a quick and painless death.
• Sacrificial Lion: His death is the first one that is obviously murder.
• Sanity Slippage: After his past is brought up, he falls into a deep depression and isolates himself from the other guests.
• Uriah Gambit: His method of doing away with his wife's lover, in a neat inversion. He stays away from church whenever the passage about David and Uriah is to be read.

Anthony Marston

Anthony James Marston

Portrayed By: Mischa Auer (1945, as Prince Nikita Starloff), Fabian (1965, as Mike Raven), Charles Aznavour (1974, as Michel Raven), Aleksandr Abdulov (1987), Neil McCarthy (1989), Douglas Booth (2015)

A spoiled, vain youth with little concern for others. He is accused of causing the death of two young children, John and Lucy Combes, by accidentally running them over.

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• Adaptational Intelligence: In the 2017 Japanese miniseries, Antony Marston (named Gomyo Taku) is now an ex-boxer turned mystery crime writer. He is the first one to deduce the anagram of Mr. Owen's name sounding like Unknown even before the record is played. Of course, it still doesn't save him.
• Adaptation Name Change: In the 1945 film, to Nikita "Nicky" Starloff.
• Brainless Beauty: He's very handsome, and is described in the novel as being godlike in his beauty, but he's also vain, vapid, and only interested in partying.
• Drives Like Crazy: He's a very reckless driver, and has accidentally killed two children with his careless driving. At the start of the story, he almost drove Armstrong into a ditch when he was speeding on the road he shared with the doctor.
• Foil: To Lombard. Both are young, attractive and with a clear lack of empathy that manifests when they both admit their crimes shortly after the accusations are brought up. Lombard is much more conscious of his own nature and recognizes the moral and social implications of his crime but doesn't care, while Marston doesn't even seem to grasp them.
• It's All About Me: In Marston's worldview, there are two kinds of people in the world: Anthony Marston, and people who don't matter. The only thing that he worries about running over two young children is that he had his license taken away for six months.
• Jerkass: He pins on others the blame of his own dangerousness and shows no remorse for what he has done. The films take a step forward, making him shrug off Emily Brent's reaction with a laconic "We live in the age of speed" (as in the Russian version) or belittling the sacrifices done by his country in the Great War, and even praising German roads in a period of absolute tension with the Third Reich (as in the BBC version).
• Lack of Empathy: He regards running over two kids as unlucky for him, because his license was suspended, and feels no guilt about it. U.N. Owen characterizes him as essentially an animal and kills him first since he has no morals or empathy to speak of, Marston is the most "innocent". Owen can't terrorize him or make him face his guilt; he opts to put him down quickly instead.
• Large Ham: Every actor who has portrayed his equivalent in the Hollywood adaptations. They all make sure his death scene is the most exciting thing to watch in the whole film.
• Obliviously Evil: He is unable to realize the gravity of his crime.
• Pretty Boy: Tall, young and attractive. The only exceptions are the 1945 and 1974 film, where his character is changed quite radically.
• Psychopathic Manchild: He has zero grasp over the fact that killing innocent kids is wrong, whining about how he lost his license.
• Ship Tease: In the Russian adaptation, he flirts and dances with Vera and stares at her at dinner. Considering that the actor specialized in Prince Charming parts, some viewers unfamiliar with canon got the wrong idea of what the plot would be like.
• The Sociopath: He shows many traits of low-functioning sociopathy, including recklessness, disregard for rules, inability to learn from past errors and lack of remorse. It's this sociopathy that marks him as the first to die on the island, as Wargrave reasons he's incapable of feeling remorse for his actions, and therefore wouldn't appreciate the psychological torment the other guests will endure.
• Spoiled Brat: A rich asshole who doesn't give a rat's ass for anyone else's life.
• Too Dumb to Fool: Well, Too Dumb To Torment. Owen doesn't bother including him in the mind games he plays with the other guests, instead making him the first victim, because Marston is a low-functioning sociopath who's just too stupid for any psychological torture to reach him. He'll never be tormented by guilt because he sees nothing wrong with anything he does, and he won't be scared by the others' deaths because he can't understand consequences. So he's instead made an example to the others that U.N. Owen will follow through on his threats.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: When Owen's message was first played, Marston gladly embraces the mystery, believing this to be an amusing game that would bring life to the otherwise dull party. He is killed almost immediately afterwards.

Thomas and Ethel Rogers

Thomas and Ethel Rogers

Portrayed By: Richard Haydn and Queenie Leonard (1945), Mario Adorf and Marianne Hoppe (1965, as Josef and Elsa Grohmann), Alberto De Mendoza and Maria Rohm (1974, as Otto and Elsa Martino), Aleksei Zolotnitsky and Irina Tereshchenko (1987), Paul L. Smith and Moira Lister (1989, as Elmo and Edna Mae Rodgers), Noah Taylor and Anna Maxwell Martin (2015)

The butler and maid who accommodate the other guests. They are accused of causing the death of their former employer, a rich spinster named Jennifer Brady, by withholding a vital drug so that she would die and they could inherit her money.

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• Adaptational Heroism: The fact that Rogers mentally abused his wife is omitted in the Soviet adaptation. Which makes it the opposite trope for Mrs. Rogers, who is therefore as guilty of murder as him instead of being under duress.
• Adaptational Personality Change: In the 1965 film, Mrs. Grohmann sternly stands up to her husband, although she still breaks down when they are accused.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the BBC miniseries, Rogers smothers Ms. Brady with a pillow. Also, he beats his wife.
• Ambiguously Evil: Despite strong suspicion based on the cicurmstances of Mrs. Brady's death and their reactions to being accused, the Rogers' are never explicitly confirmed as having killed her in the book. Their version of her death happening while Rogers was genuinely trying to get her medicine is plausible, and it does seem odd that they would have risked committing an Inheritance Murder when the inheritance was little enough that they were still working as servants a few years later. Unless the murder was committed because of the assumption that the servants would inherit all her money and only later found out that it wasn’t the case, making this a case of All for Nothing.
• The Butler Did It: Lampshaded in the game: "Will it ring true this time? Did the butler do it?" In both game and book, he didn't. Unless you count the backstory, where he did do it.
• Domestic Abuse: Rogers mentally dominated his wife Ethel and essentially forced her into causing the death of Ms. Brady. In the BBC adaptation, he also beats her.
• Fainting: Mrs. Rogers' reaction when "The Voice" reveals all of the crimes.
• Females Are More Innocent: Mrs. Rogers feels much more guilt than her husband does and it's implied (or outright shown, as in the BBC adaptation) that her role in the murder was essentially indirect and passive.
• Not So Stoic: In the Russian version, though he carries on with his duties the morning after his wife's death, he is shown wiping off tears when he is alone.
• Peer Pressure Makes You Evil: Mrs. Rogers mostly acted under the influence of and out of fear of her husband.
• Shrinking Violet: Mrs. Rogers, sorta. Especially after their crime is revealed; ever since then, she seems to be always at the verge of a breakdown. This is mentioned as one of the reasons why she was killed before her husband and given a more or less peaceful death: being poisoned while in her sleep.
• Slain in Their Sleep: Mrs. Rogers dies in her sleep from an overdose of chloral hydrate.
• Stiff Upper Lip: Mr. Rogers continues to do his job even as the corpses start piling up – including that of his wife.
• When It All Began: In the epilogue, the killer states that they were first inspired following a discussion with the GP (family doctor) of the employer of Mr & Mrs Rodgers. The GP stated that he was certain that the Rodgerses had deliberately killed their employer by witholding medication, but knew that there was no way of proving this, and wondered to the killer about how many other similar cases existed, where people had committed murders in ways that could never be proven.

Judge Lawrence Wargrave

Judge Lawrence John Wargrave

Portrayed By: Barry Fitzgerald (1945, as Judge Francis J. Quinncannon), Wilfrid Hyde-White (1965, as Judge Arthur Cannon), Richard Attenborough (1974, as Judge Arthur Cannon), Vladimir Zeldin (1987), Donald Pleasence (1989), Charles Dance (2015)

A retired hanging judge with a no-nonsense attitude. He is accused of deliberately sentencing an innocent man, Edward Seton, to hang.

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• Acquitted Too Late: Trope Namer.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: In the book he's described as having a slumped posture and harsh features, such as a mouth similar to a turtle beak due to him using dentures. The adaptations omit these traits, giving him a much more dignified appearance.
• Adaptational Heroism: In the 2005 game someone else is responsible for the murders on the island and Wargrave's plot to fake his own death comes into play to actually catch Owen and prevent more harm to the others.
• Adaptation Name Change: In the 1945 film, to Francis Quinncannon.
• Affably Evil: Especially in the film adaptations, where he's more polite than his stern book counterpart, despite his alleged crime.
• Ambiguously Evil: Even without considering the crime he's accused of, he's an infamous black cap judge. However, it turns out that Seton really was guilty.
• Animal Motifs: He's frequently compared to a turtle, with his wrinkled face, sunken lips, heavily-lidded eyes, and generally slow, calm demeanor mentioned as shared traits.
• Black Cap of Death: He has gained a Hanging Judge fame, so this trope is mentioned. In the BBC miniseries, we see him wearing one in a flashback about Edward Seton's process.
• Boom, Headshot!: How he dies.
• Even Evil Has Standards: His Never Hurt an Innocent creed is Not an Act. Edward Seton was guilty and Wargrave had evidence that proved him as such.
• Hanging Judge: He is infamous for being a "hanging judge" for his frequent death sentencing. However, he only convicts those who really are guilty, as he couldn't bring himself to murder innocents due to his strong sense of justice.
• Kick the Dog: He's not the only unrepentant one on the island, but one of his viewpoint passages shows him outright gleefully reminiscing about turning the jury against Seton. Subverted when it turns out that Seton really did do it.
  The shrunken lips fell in. It was a cruel mouth now, cruel and predatory.
  Hooding his eyes, the judge smiled to himself.
  He’d cooked Seton’s goose all right!
• Mask of Sanity: A calm rational person in public.
• Meaningful Name: A surname composed of "war" and "grave" really suits a Hanging Judge. It still applies with the Adaptation Name Change, since the surname is changed to Cannon (or Quinncannon), which is very similar to "canon" (or "Queen's canon"). His first name is Lawrence. Appropriate, given that he is a judge operating by the law for justice.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: "Wargrave" certainly doesn't sound like a peaceful man's surname.
• Obfuscating Disability: Not in canon, but a popular trope for productions of the play is to have him introduced either using a wheelchair or walking with a cane. And then turns out he doesn't need them.
• Only Sane Man: He is the most level-headed out of all the characters, aside from possibly Lombard.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Has a very strong sense of justice, which drove him to his liberal use of the death sentence to people he believes to be guilty.
• Pet the Dog: In the BBC adaptation, he's very sympathetic to Vera and even talks her out of trying to leave the island by swimming, which would surely result in her drowning.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Subverted. He comes across as being an intelligent, cultured man, until you learned he sentenced an innocent man to die. Double subverted, when it turns he was a actually a very fair judge, who always wanted to be sure he was punishing guilty people.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: As a Hanging Judge, he used to wear the typical red cape and Black Cap of Death. Owen also mimics his judicial attire with a red curtain and a black kerchief when his corpse shows up.
• Vague Age: While this is true to most of the characters in the book (only Emily Brent's age is stated explicitly), Wargrave is implied to be the oldest guest along with General Macarthur. The adaptations differ greatly on his age: in the looser ones, he's generally younger and possibly not retired yet (Attenborough is the most extreme example, as he was only 51 at the time), while in the more faithful ones he's portrayed by older actors (Zeldin at 72, Dance at 69).

Walking Spoilers

All spoilers will be unmarked. Proceed accordingly, should you wish.

The Killer/U.N. Owen

Judge Lawrence John Wargrave/U.N. Owen

Portrayed By: See Wargrave's entry above

Otherwise known as Lawrence John Wargrave. All tropes related to The Reveal are listed here.

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• Acquitted Too Late: Deliberately invoked by him as part of his plan. He keeps saying, "Acquitted too late!" every time someone dies, reinforcing in the others' minds the obvious idea that once someone dies, they're no longer a suspect. So when he later fakes his own death, the remaining survivors no longer suspect him.
• Adaptational Heroism: In the game, where he's NOT the murderer and really did want Armstrong to help him catch the killer.
• Adaptational Villainy: Most adaptations make him even worse than he was in the book, by either having him try to torment the victims as they're dying or being willing to kill innocent people, sometimes knowingly. This is pretty out of character compared to his novel character.
  • In the BBC version, he comes to taunt Vera while she's hanging herself, explaining his motivations while she slowly suffocates. It isn't just to verify that she did kill Cyril; he has a sadistic smile on his face during the whole thing as she begs for her life. Unlike in the book where he lets her hang herself, here he deliberately pulls the chair away and leaves her to die.
• Affably Evil: Wargrave is pretty polite considering he's a murderer. He's also U.N. Owen, of course. In the Alan Towers adaptations, he's quite avuncular to Vera as he explains his plan to her, and even recommends her to hang herself as she's alone, since public executions are rather humiliating.
• All Part of the Show: He told the nearby locals and Fred that the island residents were going to be playing a game and to not respond to distress signals. It turns out that Fred didn't buy it, but by the time he arrived, everyone was dead on the island.
• Ambiguously Evil: If fighting evil with evil doesn't qualify for ambiguous it is hard to think what does.
• And Then What?: He does consider the possibility that the police will uncover him as the murderer by spotting the clues. Owen is actually fine with that.
• Anti-Villain: Wargrave is, by his own admission, a complete and utter maniac, but he is also a deeply moral man who chooses to use his final days ending the lives of criminals. What's particularly effective about him is that he doesn't exempt himself from his extremely rigid moral code: he knows that by committing murders, he will have become just as guilty as the people he killed, and that means he too has to die, a fate which he calmly accepts without question.
• Ax-Crazy: Lampshaded by himself in the final note.
  • In the play, he's a screaming lunatic that tries to kill Vera himself.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: In his confession letter, he mentions "certain experiments" he performed on animals as a little boy as one of the early signs of his sociopathy and obsession with death.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: Wargrave starts his scheme in earnest when he receives a terminal diagnosis from his doctor. He realizes that he has a choice: wait for the disease to finish him slowly and painfully, or commit the crime he's always dreamed of and either kill himself after succeeding or get hanged as a murderer. He opts for the latter and pulls the whole thing off perfectly.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Being a mentally deranged man, he does not operate by a normal moral code. His criteria for murder depends on several variables.
  • People who are completely innocent of a crime are spared his viciousness, even those who could potentially unravel his scheme.
  • If you are a murderer, but you show honest remorse for your crimes, you will get a quick and painless death. Mrs. Rogers (whose abusive husband pressured her into being an accomplice to his murder of their employer) is allowed to die in her sleep, and MacArthur (who's a Death Seeker from the guilt) gets a simple bludgeon to the brain.
  • He only tortures people who have the emotional and mental capability to understand the weight of their crimes; Owen sees low-functioning sociopath Marston as essentially an animal to be put down, since he's incapable of even comprehending that actions have consequences or that murder is wrong, and is too vapid to ever realize otherwise.
    • As a corollary, he only tortures people who make it fun for him by falling for his mind games- MacArthur doesn't bother because he's a Death Seeker, and Marston is too dumb to even realize what's happening.
  • Blore and Dr. Armstrong suffer bad fates because they were both men in authority who misused their positions.
  • Vera gets the most prolonged period of emotional agony, because Owen considered her the worst person for not saving her charge from drowning.
• Boom, Headshot!: How he was killed... or so it seemed. He later does this to himself for real.
• The Chessmaster: He organises the death of nine others, using a precise method and order to correspond to a poem. In doing so he deliberately creates an unsolvable mystery, which is only illuminated with his confession.
• Creepy Child: He refers to himself as such when recounting his childhood, as he was fascinated with death and murder ever since he was a kid.
• Devil in Plain Sight: The most obvious clue that he is Owen is that the latter is motivated by a twisted form of justice, which matches well with a judge. All the murders by the other characters were due to greed, spite or carelessness.
• The Dreaded: Everyone is terrified of him, especially not knowing his identity.
• Driven to Suicide: At the end, he commits suicide in such a way as to match the details of his "murder."
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • He is disgusted on finding out that Blore was a Dirty Cop and Armstrong killed a woman by operating on her while drunk. Mr. Owen thinks that authority figures ought to behave better.
  • Wargrave assures the reader of his message that he made sure to verify that everyone on the island was guilty, in the book at least.
  • It's implied that he left Vera and Lombard for last because their crimes were the worst. Lombard's was bad in that he killed multiple people, and Vera was the only one responsible for a child's death. Wargrave recounts that he was horrified how Hugo was in a broken state and that Vera did that to him.
  • In the BBC adaption, he is rather unimpressed when Vera offers to help him frame Philip for the murders when his body's not even cold yet. Not to mention that she confirms that she did kill Cyril, an innocent child, to assist Hugo. Also he's a killer that kills killers, so...
• Evil Gloating: A rare case where it doesn't nail him, except in most adaptations.
  • In the book, after he assures himself that everyone is dead, he writes up his summation of the murders, puts it in a bottle, and tosses it into a sea. By the time a fisherman finds the bottle, it's long after the plot has been enacted.
  • In the 2015 BBC adaptation, he explains to Vera about his motivations as she's slowly suffocating and begging for her life. She's in no position to escape and he kills her.
• Faking the Dead: He appears to be the sixth victim, but his first death was faked. He did, however, commit suicide after everything was done, and the police wound up finding 10 dead bodies on the island.
• Framing the Guilty Party: A particularly brilliant example; Wargrave sends himself a Forged Letter from a friend of his and makes sure that he is on the list of the accused. While Lombard accurately measures his character as enjoying power, no one considers that Edward Seton was guilty and the Judge didn't murder him.
• Gambit Roulette: Once you know the full extent of his plans and the circumstances around them, you realize that he was very lucky that the things turned out the way they did. One of the biggest instances would be the fact that the bad weather prevented Narracott from coming back before it was too late. He did use the excuse that it was a social "experiment" to dissuade the villagers from coming. But we later learn that Fred Narracott wanted to bypass these orders as soon as he saw the first distress calls, but couldn't because of the storm. Had he been able to sail, most of the murders could have been prevented.
• Knight Templar: In the book his stern vision of justice is just as much the motive behind the murders on the island.
• Mad Artist: He considers himself this in his confession. He wanted to create ten artistic deaths that no-one could solve, but acknowledges that he's writing the confession to show off the crime as his so that people will see how clever his scheme was.
• Moral Sociopathy: From a young age, he's had pronounced sadistic tendencies — but also a strong moral code that causes him to disdain harm towards the innocent.
• Morton's Fork: Wargrave explains that he suffered this trope due to his two biggest personality traits. On the one hand, he was obsessed with committing a murder and having power over life and death, but on the other, his impossibly strong moral code and belief that only the guilty should be punished left him unable to act on that obsession. He remarks that the whole reason he became a judge was to get relief by sentencing criminals to hang, but it wasn't enough—he was agonizingly trapped between two impulses and couldn't do anything about it until he hit upon his scheme.
• Never Hurt an Innocent: In the book and 2015 BBC miniseries, he confirms that he made sure all of the victims on the island were guilty of their crimes. He spares Fred Narracott, who was innocent, and in fact orders him not to return to the island.
• Noble Demon: He's an unhinged sadist and killer...but he prefers to direct his cruelties toward those who deserved it. He's even willing to give the genuinely remorseful characters a painless death.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Two instances in the 2015 BBC miniseries:
  • Seton smiled at Wargrave during his hanging because he knew that Wargrave, like him, was a sociopath who had delighted in reading his accounts of how he had murdered others and would implicitly go on to use these accounts as inspiration for planning his own murders.
  • Additionally, Wargrave telling Vera that she's his "favorite" can be interpreted as an admission that she, like him, is a Manipulative Bastard who conceals her Ax Craziness underneath a kindly facade.
• "Oh, Crap!" Fakeout: In the 2015 series, he calmly says, "It's all spoiled" in a petulant tone when Vera says that Lombard's gun is out of bullets. He then waits for Vera to beg for her life and to reveal she did kill Cyril. Cue him pulling the chair away so that she hangs, and revealing he pocketed the bullet that supposedly killed him.
• Pet the Dog:
  • He gives Mrs. Rogers and General Macarthur quick, painless deaths on the grounds that they show genuine remorse and they've already suffered enough for their crimes.
  • He explicitly tells Fred not to return to the island, no matter what, because he doesn't want an innocent man caught up in the murders. In the BBC series, he also spares Isaac Morris, who has undergone Adaptational Heroism and is thus innocent as well in this version.
  • From the BBC series, Wargrave urging Vera not to risk her life trying to leave the island becomes a massive subversion upon The Reveal that he's the killer and feels the most contempt for Vera. He was more likely concerned she'd spoil his plans if she died too early, since death by drowning would have no correlation to the nursery rhyme his murders are themed after.
• Poetic Serial Killer: He invited nine people who had committed some offense to an isolated island and killed them in order of (in his mind) least guilty to most guilty.
• Serial-Killer Killer: He's essentially a proto-Dexter — a guy who realizes he's a psycho and chooses to restrict his victims to those who truly deserve it.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Utterly unflappable on the outside, his inner monologues reveal him to be basically a giggling maniac. He is especially this in the 2015 series, never raising his tone once when monologuing to Vera about his motivation.
• Thanatos Gambit: His very last victim is himself, since he's fatally ill and wants to leave the world of the living right after the last victim dies.
• Theme Serial Killer: The deaths of his victims were patterned after the "Ten Little Indians" rhyme.
• Vigilante Man: Although he lacks the physical prowess typical of the trope, he embodies the idea all the same: kill people who have escaped legal justice.
• Walking Spoiler: Because he's the killer.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: This is at least how Wargrave likes to see himself. He firmly believes that everything he's done is in the name of justice being served, both during his Hanging Judge career and during his last hurrah as a self-appointed vigilante punishing those who slipped through the legal system's cracks.
• Your Days Are Numbered: He mentions in his confession letter that he didn't have the guts to go through with his plans until he received a fatal (though unspecified) diagnosis from his doctor. Wargrave realized that he didn't have much time left and decided to go out not just murdering murderers, but setting up a grandiose mystery in the process.
• You Will Be Spared: He spares Isaac Morris in the 2015 adaptation, owing to Morris just being an ordinary lawyer.

Gabrielle Steele

Gabrielle Steele

Near the end of the 2005 game Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None, Patrick stumbles across Vera being held at gunpoint by Emily Brent... who was actually murdered two weeks prior. The woman posing as Emily is a former actress named Gabrielle Steele who harbored a serious grudge against Justice Wargrave after her boyfriend Edward Seton killed himself while he was imprisoned.

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• Adaptational Villainy: She manages to be worse than the original U.N. Owen as she is perfectly willingly to kill innocent people.
• Adaptation Expansion: A famous actress named Gabrielle Turl is mentioned in passing in the novel, where she is just one of many people rumored to have purchased the island after it went up for sale, which turns out to be false. In the game, not only is Gabrielle Steele one of the house's past owners, it turns out she's still its owner.
• Attack on the Heart: One of the game's possible outcomes is Gabrielle fatally shooting Vera in her heart.
• Ax-Crazy: The Reveal firmly establishes just how much of a crazed mastermind Gabrielle truly is.
• Big Bad: Of Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None.
• Bludgeoned to Death: She kills three of the victims this way, using an unspecified blunt instrument with General John Mackenzie, doing Justice Lawrence Wargrave in with his own law book, and a bear-shaped marble clock for William Blore.
• Chekhov's Gunman: She even reminds Vera that the house's screening room features posters of her.
• Dead Person Impersonation: Gabrielle killed Emily Brent two weeks before the game's events, impersonating her from that point on.
• Evil Gloating: Gabrielle details everything in detail to Vera in the game's climax, with Patrick witnessing it from Vera's doorway.
• Evil Redhead: It's a given since she's the Big Bad of the game.
• Faking the Dead: She has herself stung a few times by bees, takes some curare, and applies Bellman's Universal Embrocation in order to make sure it appear she kicked the bucket from a severe allergic reaction to bee stings.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Thomas Rogers literally gets the axe from Gabrielle, and she uses it to cut him into halves.
• Hidden Villain: Her survival, her true identity, and her murderous personality aren't made known until the game's almost over.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Gabrielle's "Emily Brent" act lays out just how insensitive she was about her role in Beatrice Taylor's suicide. When she lets her identity out of the bag, however, she proves to be even worse than Emily was.
• The Killer Becomes the Killed: After getting into a brief physical confrontation with Patrick, he shoves Gabrielle into the noose she prepared for Vera.
• Kill It with Fire: Ship Rock's bonfire is rigged by Gabrielle to explode, and that kills Charles Morely if Patrick takes too long.
• Never Hurt an Innocent: This is what Gabrielle claims regarding her victims.
  Gabrielle: Madmen kill for no reason! No sense of justice at all! I only killed those who deserve to die!
• One True Love: Gabrielle certainly felt this way about Edward, which is why his death causes her to absolutely lose it.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After Edward Seton committed suicide, Gabrielle plotted to make Justice Wargrave suffer over the course of three days by surrounding him with death before she killed him.
• Serial Killings, Specific Target: Justice Wargrave was the true target of her scheme.
• Slain in Their Sleep: Gabrielle overdoses Ethel Rogers with Trional, ensuring that heart failure is what kills her while she's sleeping.
• Smug Snake: After The Reveal, it's clear she's convinced that all will go according to plan.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Gabrielle has a soft voice, and she took pleasure in Wargrave's suffering.
  Gabrielle: I wanted to extend Wargrave's torture for three excruciating days. What better way than to make him watch others die, crimes committed under his very nose, deaths he was helpless to prevent? How his ego must have been scraped raw!
• Speak Ill of the Dead: She calls Lawrence a "venomous old judge" and Emily a "hateful old hag."
• Suicidal Sadistic Choice: After voicing her intention to shoot Patrick dead and commit suicide with poison, Gabrielle tries to convince Vera to hang herself unless she wants to be executed for supposedly being the killer.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: Anthony Marston dies at Gabrielle's hand after she laces some whiskey with potassium cyanide, resulting in him being fatally asphyxiated.
• Theme Serial Killer: She makes sure that the deaths happen just like in the rhyme "Ten Little Sailor Boys."
• Two Aliases, One Character: Ulrick Norman Owen and Una Nancy Owen? Yeah. That's all Gabrielle.
• Walking Spoiler: Nobody suspected that Gabrielle was a murderous seeker of vengeance pretending to be Emily or that the Owens were fictitious people she came up with.
• Wham Line: "I've always had a duplicated set of keys, Miss Claythorne, as a former and actually the current owner of this house."
• Wham Shot: Right before the Wham Line is delivered, Patrick opens the door to Vera's bedroom... only to stumble upon "Emily Brent" holding Vera at gunpoint.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Once Archibald Morris was finished assisting her in finding information about her then-future victims, she murdered him with poison.

Charles Morley

Charles Morley

In some adaptations, Morley is a friend of Philip Lombard who impersonates him and comes to the island in Lombard's place after receiving U.N. Owen's invitation.

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• Canon Foreigner: He is a completely original character, often inserted into adaptations to help make them Lighter and Softer.
• Curiosity Killed the Cast: Morley's whole reason for impersonating Lombard and coming to the island was because he was suspicious of U.N. Owen and wanted to investigate him. In the game, this can get him killed.
• Dead Person Impersonation: Whenver Morley appears, it's mentioned that the real Lombard committed suicide some time prior to the story's beginning. This way the guilty Lombard doesn't get away with his crimes.
• Good Counterpart: To Philip Lombard. He's implied to have been a Gentleman Adventurer like Lombard, but never committed the horrible crime that Lombard did and genuinely tries to save the lives of the other victims. He usually gets a happy ending in most adaptations because of this.
• Idiot Ball: He maintains his Lombard persona long after it would make sense to reveal himself, to the point that in some cases it gets him killed. Of course, given given the nature of the killer, Morley revealing his innocence would mean there would likely be no story.
• Love Triangle: In the game, Morley and Patrick Narracott compete for Vera's affections. Who she winds up with (assuming both she and Morley survive) depends on the player's choices.
• The Reveal: The revelation that he's not actually Philip Lombard is a pretty big moment in the various adaptations.
• Token Good Teammate: Of the Ten Little Murder Victims, Morley is the only unambiguously and completely innocent one as he didn't commit the crime Lombard is accused of. As such, he tends to be more heroic.

Other

Fred and Patrick Narracott

Fred and Patrick Narracott

Fred is the man who brings the victims to the island in the novel, and who later returns and finds the bodies. It is mentioned in the novel that he has a brother, and, as Patrick, the brother has a major role in the game.

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• Ascended Extra: Patrick is only mentioned in the novel, but has a much larger role in the game.
• Badass Bystander: Fred's the only one to smell a rat in the story Mr Owen gives the people of Sticklehaven to cut off contact with Soldier Island. When he hears that an SOS signal's been spotted coming from the island, he decides to ignore the orders and gathers a group to sail to the island as soon as the sea is calm enough.
• Captain Obvious: If you click on certain items, Patrick will comment on them by stating the obvious: "It's a painting of an albatross" says he of... a painting of an albatross.
• Chekhov's Gunman: In the epilogue, it's mentioned that Fred came back to the island when he realized something's wrong. In the game Patrick gets stranded on the island as well.
• Clear Their Name: Patrick is attempting to clear his brother's name by exposing Blore's lies and landing him in prison. Of course, he never gets the chance to do so because Blore gets killed anyway. Though if you save either Lombard or Vera, they corroborate Blore's earlier confession
• Rivals Team Up: But this doesn't stop them from occasionally teaming up or confiding clues to one another.
• Sole Survivor: Fred is the only named character to survive the novel, as he has (as far as we know) committed no crimes and is thus not a target of the killer.
• Strong Family Resemblance: In the game, Blore initially believes that Patrick is Fred because of how similar they look.
• Unwitting Pawn: He isn't on Wargrave's plan.

Hugo Hamilton

Hugo Hamilton

Hugo was Vera's beau and may have been her fiance if he was wealthy. He was unwilling to marry her while he was poor because he wanted to support her. Unfortunately, that decision had tragic consequences.

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• Adaptational Badass: Book Hugo is a bit of a wimp who suffers a nervous breakdown after Vera gets Cyril killed on purpose. In the 2015 series, unlike in the book where he disappears and becomes an alcoholic, he confronts Vera with her testimony that weak-lunged Cyril outran and outswam her. Hugo may be naive, but he is not stupid, and he says that if he could prove it, he would make sure Vera went to the gallows.
• Adaptation Explanation Extrication: Wargrave confirms in the book that Hugo was his unwitting informant about Vera's crimes. The BBC version cuts this but hints that Hugo was Wargrave's informant, this time wanting to find a way to get justice for his nephew rather than babbling about it while drunk. There is his talk about how he wants to see Vera hang if he could prove she let Cyril drown.
• Adaptation Name Change: A minor one, but in the play his name is changed to Hugh Hamilton.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the game and the play, he murdered Cyril and blamed Vera for it.
• Be Careful What You Say: He tells Vera he doesn't want to marry her because he has no money, thanks to Cyril being born. He regrets it after Vera murders Cyril so Hugo will inherit his fortune.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Vera mentions him many times and how she lost him after Cyril died. Wargrave in the book reveals that Hugo was his informant, who told him about Vera killing his nephew.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Hugo became an alcoholic after realizing that Vera killed Cyril because of him.
• My God, What Have I Done?: In the book. he is Drowning My Sorrows on realizing that he was indirectly responsible for Cyril's death.
• Papa Wolf: More like Uncle Wolf, but in the 2015 BBC series He breaks up with Vera and bluntly tells her that if he could find the evidence that she killed his nephew, then she would be hanged.
• Smarter Than You Look: Vera paints him as a naive bachelor in love, and that's why she wanted to marry him. It turns out he's not an idiot; in both the book and the 2015 BBC adaptation, he reveals that he knows what Vera did but can't prove it.
• Spotting the Thread: In the BBC adaptation, he states that he wasn't sure Vera was guilty until he heard her speak at the inquest, professing her guilt over not being able to catch up with Cyril. He then confronts Vera with the knowledge that Cyril was sickly with weak lungs and couldn't have possibly outrun or outswum Vera, who is still in her prime. It's not enough to prove that Vera committed murder, but it's enough for him to break up with her.
• Unable to Support a Wife: He has some old-fashioned ideas about this and refuses to marry Vera because of his income level. This is what leads to Vera deciding to fix that problem for him.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: What he told Vera about wanting to have the income to support her before marrying her led Vera to murder Cyril. He does not take this realization well.

Isaac Morris

Isaac Morris

Isaac is a shady businessman and drug dealer who arranged for the purchasing of the island for Mr. Owen and the invitations to the guests.

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• Adaptational Heroism: The 2015 BBC adaptation has him as an ordinary lawyer and not a drug dealer. For this reason, Mr. Owen spares him.
• Amoral Attorney: A shady lawyer who dealt drugs and would do other suspicious things for money with no questions.
• Dead All Along: It's revealed that he died of a drug overdose the day the others left for the island.
• Hypochondria: He had many imagined physical ailments and was killed with pills he was assured would solve that problem.
• Mouth of Sauron: Morris deals with people on behalf of his client due to Mr. Owen being an Invented Individual whose creator can't afford to let anyone know who they are.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Owen poisoned him once he'd done everything required, and because he himself was a target for getting at least one person killed with his drugs.
• You Will Be Spared: In the 2015 adaptation owing to Adaptational Heroism, Owen leaves him alive.

Sir Thomas Legge and Inspector Maine

Sir Thomas Legge and Inspector Maine

Policemen in the epilogue who review the clues and try to figure out what really happened.

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• Adapted Out: No filmed adaptation so far has featured them, as even the ones that use the book's original ending omit the epilogue.
• Mr. Exposition: The two provide details about things that happened off of the island (away from the ten main characters) as well as the evidence found in the aftermath.
• Police Are Useless: Both AC Legge and Inspector Maine are meticulous in analysing the case and trying to work out who the killer was. Maine refuses to use any shortcuts and probes every possible explanation for the deaths, even when this means accepting none of their theories. However, they cannot crack the case.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Legge and Maine do a diligent job of being fair-minded as they discuss the ten guests. They don't leap to judgments about whether Owen's claims are all true and are also willing to acknowledge and consider the misdeeds of public servants like Wargrave and Blore - and in Blore's case, are heavily critical of him and don't hold back on him because he was a police officer like both of them. Most notably, they seem to appreciate how improper Justice Wargrave's summation of the Seton trial seemed, even though it later transpired that Seton was guilty.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: Both men knew Blore and are willing to agree that he was "a bad hat" who perjured himself and not the kind of man who'd be prone to committing vigilante murders on behalf of other people.