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Cartoon Characters
Angel Gabby
Click here for her Wylde Hare appearance
"I'll always be your warrior, Jonah. I hope we'll never have to draw a weapon, but as your guardian angel, I'll always be ready."
Voiced by: Stephanie Varens
The main character of the Angel Hare cartoon. Later revealed to be Archangel Gabriel.
- Adorable Abomination: Although it may be A Form You Are Comfortable With, her cuteness can't be denied, especially during the 6th episode's Art Shift.
- And I Must Scream: Downplayed slightly. Entering the internet to try and help every child at once stretches her form beyond immediate perception, and forces Jonah to put together multiple computers to see her. She seems to be in pain at first, but when she gains control again, she only notes that she's experiencing a bit of Sensory Overload from being shared across so many devices.
- Animation Bump: Becomes a lot smoother during season 1's finale, signifying that she truly has returned.
- Archangel Gabriel: That's her name, though she is more commonly known as Gabby. Angel Zag says that the nickname is because Gabby is traditional.
- As the Good Book Says...: Gabby often cites Bible verses to support her lessons. At one point in the VCR recordings, Gabby substitutes a much darker passage from Revelation for the original citation from the scripted episode.
- Benevolent Abomination: Despite how unnerving VCR Gabby is, as well as the implications that she is behind the disappearance of Jonah's father, Gabby wants nothing more than the comfort of troubled kids like Jonah. It helps that she's cute.
- Big Good: She is perhaps the most influential figure amongst the good guys, helping Jonah through his abusive homelife, and being the primary reason for Jonah becoming the new CEO of Wreath of Life.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Angel Gabby does this constantly, especially in Jonah’s recording of the show. While in the official VHS copy she only does it in the way most children’s show hosts do to address the kids watching at home, in Jonah’s copy, she addresses Jonah directly and even seems capable of seeing and hearing what’s going on on his side of the TV. It appears she’s only capable of doing this when the show is being broadcast.
- Cool Big Sis: Based on what is shown of Jonah's recording of the show, Gabby was this for Jonah as a child. In the VHS copies, she plays this role for Francis, though she generally acts more coldly towards him in the VCR recordings.
- Digital Abomination: When she migrates from television to the internet, her 'form' (or at least what we see of it) is a giant trace-like sketch of her rabbit and human forms, constantly switching. This depiction of her is so large, it needs to be split across multiple tabs.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: The entire crux of season 2, and the reason why she's gone missing. Back in the olden days, she was able to appear to troubled kids who were watching her show, but after being exposed to the Internet, Gabby ultimately overexerted herself by trying to help absolutely everyone and suffered a Heroic RRoD as a result.
- Fluffy Cloud Heaven: Angel Gabby lives in a house in the clouds, clearly evoking this idea of heaven.
- Friend to All Children: Obvious, given her show's target demographic, but even beyond that, her entire goal is provide hope to children who are in desperate need of it, including those that have been abused. Her real self is just a bit more forceful about it if need be.
- Gender Flip: Gabriel is described as male in the Bible, but Angel Gabby is female. This is not unusual for depictions of Gabriel, as he is commonly depicted as female outside the Bible.
- Good Is Not Nice: VHS Gabby is a standard kind Christian kids' show character extolling the virtues of optimism, friendship and kindness. VCR Gabby, on the other hand, is apathetic towards forgiveness (though she was really only telling Jonah he shouldn't have to forgive someone who wronged him if he doesn't want to, which isn't a bad lesson to teach, but certainly not what one would normally expect from a character like her) and endorses creating an alibi for crimes (although she does it in a way that technically doesn't contradict the "lying is wrong" message of the episode she was in by suggesting one where he wouldn't have to lie about where he was), as well as implicit murder, destruction of evidence and memory wiping, but still seems to be caring and supportive.
- Guardian Angel: Gabby declares herself to be Jonah's Guardian Angel at one point. How true this is is left up to interpretation.
- The Kirk: She's this to Francis' McCoy and Zag's Spock.
- Light Is Good: Goes without saying, as an angel dressed in white and gold.
- Loophole Abuse: Subverted, as she ultimately does this for Jonah's safety, rather than her own self-interest. She is unable to tell Jonah to lie in order to create an alibi for the disappearance of his father, who she implies to be very dangerous, so she tells him to go to a neighbor's house when HE gets violent so that Jonah won't have to lie about where he was.
- Making a Splash: Heavily implied. While looking for information about what happened to his father, Jonah learns that a flood had destroyed all public records in his hometown. Considering a different flood within the bible, it doesn't take much to put the pieces together.
- Mama Bear: Angel Gabby grows increasingly protective of Jonah as the series goes on. It's strongly implied she has something to do with the disappearance of Jonah's abusive father. Though it's never explained what she did or how.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: VHS Gabby is only ever called that and even refers to herself that way when introducing herself to the viewers. She only reveals her full name to be Gabriel in the VCR copy when introducing herself to Jonah for the first time.
- Parental Substitute: Served as one for Jonah, guiding him through his rather rough life with his abusive father and neglectful mother at home.
- Proper Lady: Gabby is a highly traditional, graceful, kind, and motherly guardian angel.
- Righteous Rabbit: A very kind and supportive angel with the appearance of a hare.
- Superdickery: The thumbnails and video titles paint a far more sinister picture of Gabby and the episode's contents than what actually transpires in them.
Francis
Click here for his Wylde Hare appearance
"Oh but Gabby, how am I supposed to have the strength to face the day? All the rain has got me shivery and sad..."
Voiced by: Venaimin
An often sinful but well-intentioned badger whom Gabby preaches to every episode.
- Ambiguous Situation: A lot of things about Francis are left to interpretation. Is he an angel, an assistant, or a part of the cartoon brought to life? Has he been alive the whole time, or did he just gain consciousness during the series? If so, was it when Angel Zag showed up? Was from the Last Letters, where the second to last question glitched out the set?
- Beneath the Earth: Francis' home is an underground burrow (or sett
) in the middle of the forest. - Butt-Monkey: He's a Nervous Wreck who in the show is always involved in some disaster or crisis of faith, in the letters segments he seems to be all too aware of the strange things about the show but unable to explain (perhaps for fear of Gabby's anger), and even in the soundtrack video he's trapped in a hot air balloon trying to get Gabby to help (though to be fair to Gabby, she has headphones on and her eyes are closed so she probably doesn't notice his predicament). In the VCR copy of the show, he doesn't come to life when Gabby does and continues to follow the script oblivious to Gabby's deviations from it. In a previously missing episode of the in-universe show - the Easter special - he finally deviates from the script by painting gnostic and pagan symbols on his Easter eggs, but even then, he fails.
- Season Two also puts him at the behest of this with Zag, who treats him with even less patience than Gabby ever did at her worst, especially when Francis starts talking a little too much about Zag's past with Gabby more than he's comfortable sharing with Jonah, causing Zag to shove Francis across several monitors in the process to shut him up.
- The Cutie: He is the sinful, though rather innocent and loveable, accomplice of Gabby.
- The Mccoy: In a sense. He's clearly the most emotional of the trio, but unlike other examples of this trope, he's more timid than Hot-Blooded.
- Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: In the Easter episode, he repeatedly paints demonic sigils on eggs and presents them to a less than amused Gabby. He seems unaware of how blasphemous it is, but eventually clues in that they bother her and sheepishly stops.
- Sensitive Artist: Has himself a bit of an interest in art, making drawings far more detailed than the rest of Angel Hare. He's also quite meek and fearful.
- Throwing Out the Script: Tries to follow the general story of the tapes to a T, even when Gabby starts to break character. While he starts having a mind of his own during the Easter special, it isn't until Gabby's disappearance and Zag showing up to find her that things go off the rails, and Francis finally starts to deviate from the script.
Angel Zag
Click here for his Wylde Hare appearance
"I'm not her dad, Pal. I don't care for her hand-holding approach, but her work's none of my business. You ask me, kids are smart. Show 'em what to do, they'll figure it out without the song and dance."
Voiced by: Joey Sourlis
A new angel hare looking for Gabby. Later episodes reveal he's actually Zag Wylde, the main character of a noir detective cartoon, and furthermore that he's actually the angel Zagzagel.
- Angels in Overcoats: In his Wylde Hare form, he wears a trenchcoat and hat to match his detective aesthetic.
- The Comically Serious: Although initially worrying, in retrospect, Angel Zag has shades of this. He has the demeanor of a hardboiled detective having no choice but to go undercover as a children's TV show host, and completely phoning it in.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Despite initial impressions, Angel Zag turns out to be this, on the search for Gabby after the latter's disappearance.
- Deadpan Snarker: When he says his last line in "Case 2 - Last Resorts", when Jonah threatens to stop the livestream for the episode he is in.
- Didn't See That Coming: What triggers the real Off the Rails moment of the second season is when Jonah reveals he's actually broadcasting Angel Hare and threatens to cut off the stream, which causes Zag to completely drop any attempt at Bad "Bad Acting" and confront Jonah in shock that he is the one in charge of the broadcast and not just watching the show.
- Doves Mean Peace: His detective form wears a dove lapel on his collar, hinting at his true nature.
- Face Framed in Shadow: On Wylde Hare, his entire head is always covered in shadow, leaving only his mouth and nose clearly visible.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Also one, though he's quick to catch on. It turns out that he's even older than Gabby.
- Fire-Forged Friends: With Jonah. At first, Jonah is given very little reason to actually trust him when he just shows up out of the blue in Gabby's place after her disappearance and even after he reveals he's actually on the same side of trying to find out what happened to her. Jonah repeatedly makes it clear that he doesn't trust Zag compared to Gabby in his asides, especially as Zag stonewalls any attempt of Jonah's to pry into who he actually is and puts him at arms distance during the investigation. However, as they get closer to finding the truth with Gabby, its clear they start to consider each other and Zag, despite his insistence on not holding Jonah's hand, shows a startlingly level of concern when Jonah asks Gabby to make him forget again to spare her the pain of having brought her to the internet in the first place.
- Foil: Acts as one to Gabby. While Gabby, who is usually warm and nurturing, preaches about faith and hope, Zaggy, who is usually cold and serious, preaches about respect and penitence. In addition, he states to dislike Gabby's methods of interacting with children, believing that they don't need their hands held to figure things out.
- Gender Flip: Just like Gabriel being gender-flipped, Zagzagel has gotten the same treatment.
- Hardboiled Detective: He comes from Wylde Hare, a detective noir show, and as such has all the hallmarks of a detective even in a different cartoon.
- Hidden Depths: Fitting of his Hardboiled Detective identity, Zag is very emotionally distant to Jonah compared to Gabby and repeatedly alludes to the fact that her line of work just isn't for him... but he makes it clear later that he's not apathetic to children or people who are suffering, just that he is firm in the belief that people can eventually pull themselves out of their troubles and is confident that Jonah can take care of himself just fine without him holding his hand, which proves to be right as Jonah manages to figure out what happened to and recover Gabby mostly on his own after Zag makes the groundwork possible by transferring over to Wylde Hare.
- Hostile Show Takeover: Takes over Angel Hare during season 2 after Gabby disappears. That being said, he's not that bad, just a bit quicker to anger and serious than Gabby. Zag is only in Angel Hare because he's looking for her.
- Intrepid Fictioneer: In season 2, it's eventually discovered that Zag wasn't originally a character from Angel Hare, but rather the protagonist of Wylde Hare, a noir detective cartoon that predates Angel Hare. After tracking down a film reel of the older show, Jonah is able to let Zag and Francis travel between shows. Characters and objects that travel between shows are altered to suit whichever world they're in, so while Zag and Francis are cartoon animals in the Angel Hare world, they become humans in the Wylde Hare world. Francis' drawing also converts into a newspaper.
- Medium Awareness: Unlike Gabby, he makes next to no effort to hide the fact that he's a literal angel in the livestream. He's even able to forcibly continue the show after Jonah has it paused. That being said, he's completely blindsided by Jonah being the one in charge of the broadcast.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Similarly, Zag is only referred to by his fuller names, Zag Wylde and Zagzagel, later on in season 2.
- The Spock: Shows shades of this. Of course, he is the Angel of Wisdom.
Francine
Click here for her Angel Hare appearance
Voiced by: Daniel Fore
The secretary at Zag Wylde's detective agency.
- All There in the Manual: It doesn't come up during the main series, but the Season 2 mixtape video reveals that her Angel Hare form is a fox.
- Foil: Appears to be one of Francis, due to their similar sounding names, being a sort of sidekick to the protagonist of their respective shows, and both having positions related to accounting, with Francis being an actuary and Francine being a secretary. However, whereas Francis is generally nervous and hesitant, Francine is generally sassy and confident.
Humans
Jonah Whitman
"I should be frightened. I should be confused. But there is only calm. And a sense of dread that something happened... That something tore us apart..."
Voiced by: Roger Hanna
Our protagonist. A young man reminiscing on his childhood watching Angel Hare.
- All-Loving Hero: Proves himself to be one in the finale of season 2, where he laments being responsible for Gabby's current predicament, and believing that Gabby should just make him forget again for her sake. While Gabby tells Jonah not to be hard on himself, she also deems it a generous act for him put others before himself. He also becomes in charge of broadcasting the show online to the world for the sole purpose of making the world a better place by having Gabby helping others.
- Break the Cutie: His childhood was pretty bad, having lived with an abusive scumbag of a father for much of it before meeting Gabby. The second season also shows how this had affected him mentally, with him being unable to trust Zaggy at first due to having a somewhat similar demeanor to his father, and being dependent on Gabby.
- Dark and Troubled Past: The fact that Gabby had protected and potentially saved his life from his abusive father is what makes him try to reach out to Gabby, and find her when she disappears in the second season. This is also his primary drive to livestream Gabby's show, wanting to help children who are in the same dire situation he was in.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: By the second season's finale, he wishes that he had forgotten about Gabby, believing that meeting with her again had only hurt her from livestreaming her show.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: At first his lack of real memories about the show is attributed to Jonah only having been a child at the time he first watched it, but then we find out that he doesn't even remember that he had a father.
- Manchild: A positive example, as it is child-like endearment towards the titular program that gets him where he is by the second season's ending. He has become attatched to Angel Hare when he re-discovers the show and all that Angel Gabby did for him. Angel Zaggy even depricates him for supposedly being too old to be into Angel Hare.
- Nervous Wreck: Begins to show shades of this after he rediscovers that he once had a father. This fully comes through in the second season, when he meets with Angel Zaggy, worried that he may not have good intentions in mind.
- Nice Guy: A selfless man who puts himself before others, willing to have his own memory wiped if it meant that it would keep Gabby safe, and happily oblidging to help children who faced similar hardships that he did.
- Promoted Fanboy: An In-Universe example. At the end of season 2, Jonah apparently either works for, or re-founded from scratch, Wreath of Life, the company that originally produced the Angel Hare show. Instead of just being a fan, he's now in charge of broadcasting the show online to the world so that Gabby can help people.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Jonah, although his arc has very little to do with whales or questioning the Lord.
- Suddenly Voiced: After all of his narration had been represented as text-only throughout the series, we finally hear Jonah speak during the livestream at the end of season 1.
- The Voice: Downplayed. By the end of the second season, we see the back of his upper body.
"HE" (unmarked spoilers)
"Nod once if HE's not coming back for a while."
The unseen abusive father figure of Jonah who seemingly disappeared prior to the events of the series.- Abusive Parents: It becomes clear by episode 2 that Angel Gabby was trying to the best of her ability to protect young Jonah from HIM and give Jonah the strength to endure the abuse. She might have even found some way to get rid of him.
- Ax-Crazy: Judging by Gabby's concerns about the firearm "being used for harm" and not having to "draw a weapon", it appears that HE was originally going to use it to harm someone else, or worse. By Tape 4, things have seemingly escalated to the point where Gabby had to help Jonah create an alibi.
- Big Bad: HE is Jonah's most personal enemy, and the entire reason why Angel Gabby had interacted with him in the first place, noticing his less than favorable relationship with his father. Even though HE isn't present in Season 2, Jonah's memories of his father still haunt him, implying that Zag in some shape or form reminds him of his father.
- Capital Letters Are Magic: He is usually referred to as "HE" or "HIM" in capital letters.
- David Versus Goliath: Quite literally invoked in his introduction in episode 2, where Gabby outright compares Jonah and his father to David and Goliath repsectively.
- Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Gabby always appears uptight or disgusted just by talking about Jonah's father, indicating him to be vile enough to even be hated by Gabby, who once told Francis that all people can change for the better, of all people.
- Evil Counterpart:
- In a downplayed sort of way, HE serves as one to Gabby herself, as the both of them served as guardians to Jonah as a child, and became major figures in his nostalgia trip for the titular program in his adulthood. However, whereas Gabby served as the source of Jonah's cherished memories, HE served as a reminder for the hardships of Jonah's childhood.
- HE also appears to serve as one to Angel Zaggy, with Jonah on more than one ocassion referring to him the same exact way he did his own father, noting his rather cold personality and emotional detatchment. Despite this, Zaggy at the very least shows that he actually cares for others, being concerned for both Gabby and Jonah when he does eventually find the former.
- The Ghost: As of now, we have never seen this "HE" in-person, though his existence is hinted at several times throughout the series.
- Hate Sink: HE is made out to be a very cruel and violent individual who regularly beat his son to the point of scarring him, and leaving him emotionally damaged. HE is also seemingly stripped of all human characteristics, never being shown in-person, never speaking once, and is never even referred to by a proper name.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: In stark contrast to the Benevolent Abominations that Jonah meets with, despite being very human, the series makes HIM out to be very monstrous in demeanor, even avoiding giving him a proper name, and instead referring to him as "HE" or "HIM".
- Knight of Cerebus: Any scene in the series that involves HIM is usually depicted as being ominous and something to be dreaded, as opposed to the otherwise heartfelt and sometimes comedic tone of the series.
- Mask of Sanity: Despite his violent and cruel nature, HE appears to put on a charismatic and warm facade around those he abuses, something that is noted by Gabby in the second episode.
- Parental Neglect: HE leaves Jonah alone with a loaded firearm for hours on end.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He never appears onscreen, isn't even named and is long dead by the time of the series. He's still the catalyst of the entire plot.
- The Sociopath: Heavily implied to be one, such as when Gabby warns Jonah of the times when HE may put on a friendly facade to gain his trust, equating it to feeling the sun's warmth. This espescially becomes more evident when Jonah begins to see similarities with HIM and Angel Zag, noting the latter's emotional detatchment, and believing that he wouldn't be there for others, a huge reason why Jonah was hesistant to trust him at first.
- Uncertain Doom: It is implied that Gabby had done something to HIM. What exactly she did to HIM is unknown, however, though it is implied she helped Jonah create an alibi to avoid suspicion.
- Would Hurt a Child: He regularly beat his own son when he was only six-years-old, leaving him with both physical and emotional scars.
- You Know the One: The character is never referred to by a proper name, instead being referred to by male pronouns in all caps, something that'd typically be done to refer to an Eldritch Horror. This was meant to reflect his utter lack of empathy or humanity.
Dr. Euleila B. Whitman (unmarked spoilers)
Jonah's mother, who is a child psychologist. She previously appeared in the creators' earlier work, The West Patch.
- I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: She is portrayed by the mother of the Mangan sisters.
- Parental Neglect: Downplayed. She didn't appear to aid Jonah despite his predicament, though supplementary content seems to imply that she had little no control over anything that happened at home, likely being just as much of a victim of HIM as her son.
- Parents as People: When her husband is taken out of the picture, she wonders if the TV show Jonah was obsessed with might have had a negative effect on him. This leads her to start investigating the links between television and childhood mental development, and to start harassing Giles Kieth and his employees. It's clear that she isn't a bad person, just desperate for answers.
Giles Kieth (unmarked spoilers)
The CEO and founder of Kieth Publishing. He previously appeared in the creators' earlier work, The West Patch.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Is heavily implied to be one, as his company is infamous for removing what made the works it adapts special, or not fully respecting their quality.
- Greater-Scope Villain: He is the CEO of Kieth Publishing, which had distributed Angel Hare, the show which Jonah would greatly be influenced by. His means of doing this however, appear to be less than honest.
Other
Demon Hares
An enigmatic species of demons that are said to exist in the world of Angel Hare.
- The Ghost: Though they are brought up a few times in supplementary content, they are never shown once to the audience. If they actually exist at all is never confirmed, either.
- Our Demons Are Different: Based on how they are described, "Demon Hares" appear to be more metaphorical than physical threats. In the online game based on the series, after Francis is punished for giving Jonah a ticket without whacking any demon hares, he describes this as "running away from his own demons". The entirety of the game following the whack a mole game also plays off of the theme of this dishonest bargain, as well, with Jonah having to spell the word "CHEATER" in the lilypad game, and Jonah expressing guilt to Gabby for cheating after completing the matching game.
Wreath of Life (unmarked spoilers)
The original producers of both Angel Hare and Wylde Hare.
- Greater-Scope Paragon: They were the ones who created Angel Hare, the show that Jonah would be most influenced by. They also created Wylde Hare, the show which Angel Zaggy originated from.
True Gabriel & False Gabby
Alternate versions of Satan from the Mandela Catalogue and Angel Gabby respectively, who swapped roles.
- Mr. Exposition: They were both created with the purpose of explaining the real Gabby's motives for disposing of HIM, revealing that whatever she did to HIM, it was out of necessity, as HE proved himself to be a highly dangerous individual by then.
