open/close all folders

Main Characters

Vignette

Vignette Stonemoss

Played By: Cara Delevingne

Action Girl: Her introduction has her fighting a werewolf and killing it with its own chain, and she wields a knife (while threatening Philo with it after they meet again).
Action Survivor: Though she can handle herself in a fight, she's introduced being thrown through so much shit she falls into this. She fought off a werewolf, was the sole survivor of a Pact massacre, barely made it to a ship that just avoided Pact gunfire, only to be sunk by a storm before it made it to the Burgue. She ended up being the only person to survive the wreckage.
Affectionate Nickname: Vignette's friends and loved ones often call her "Vini".
Bisexual Love Triangle: Is in one of these with Philo and Tourmaline during Season Two and ultimately chooses the latter, and in the series finale both she and Tourmaline return to Tirnanoc and eventually marry.
Boyish Short Hair: Vignette sports this throughout the series, aside from a single widow's braid in the back (which she cuts off later), both in the present and the flashbacks. It fits her image as a tomboy.
Fighter, Mage, Thief: She fits the Thief. She's a rogueish type who favors knives, is adept at sneaking around, is somewhat morally flexible, and tends to be a Combat Pragmatist in a fight. Ironically, when Ezra claims she stole from them and ran (in actuality, she fled following a rape attempt), Philo is quick to note how unlikely that is since "she's no thief".
Good Is Not Soft: She's stand-offish and quick to resort to violence, but she does so to protect herself and others. She's also an Action Girl who can handle herself rather well in a scrap.
He Who Fights Monsters: Thanks to how they treated her homeland and her people, she has little affection for humans. Though we don't really see any reason for her not to.
Important Haircut: She cuts her widow's braid once she learns Philo is alive.
Indentured Servitude: She's briefly in this to the Spurnrose siblings, as Ezra had a sizable investment in the ship that brought her to the Burgue and she was supposed to work off her debt. This ends after Ezra tries to abuse his ownership and she has to fight off his Attempted Rape.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy to Tourmaline's Girly Girl, though only because as a sex worker, Tourmaline kind of has to dress in a feminine manner. When she suggests working in the brothel with her though, Tourmaline is quick to point out that this isn't the kind of work Vignette is suited for.
Weapon Specialization: Her weapon of choice is knives.

Philo

Rycroft "Philo" Philostrate

Played By: Orlando Bloom

Child of Forbidden Love: Philo is the love child of a Faerie and a nobleman. This kind of relationship is condemned by most humans.
Dark Secret: He's actually half-Faerie; his wings were cut off when he was a baby so that he could pass as human.
Did Not Get the Girl: Vignette chooses Tourmaline over him in their Love Triangle by the second half of Season Two.
Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Philo is drugged, and has his sperm removed while he's unconscious. While it is not treated as good, it is also treated as not being a big deal either.
Foreign Culture Fetish: Outwardly, his sympathy towards the Fae and extensive knowledge of their background make him appear to have this; he calls their homeland the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. It's actually his own mother's culture.
Going Native: What many believe he did during the war in Tirnanoc, thanks to his noted sympathy for the Fae. In actuality, he's half-Fae, and it was more a 'homecoming' he experienced.
Good Is Not Soft: He's easily one of the noblest folk in the Burgue, especially when the Fae are concerned. He's also not against threatening a subordinate with a cleaver for harassing Fae folk in the Row, or punching another for making unsightly remarks about Fae women.
Half-Human Hybrid: It's revealed that Philo is half Faerie, with his wings being removed as a child.
Hard Boiled Detective: He's introduced investigating the "Unseelie Jack" attacks and murders.
Heroic Bastard: Philo is the love child of an unmarried singer and a nobleman, but also one of the series' heroes.
Interspecies Romance: He engaged in one with Vignette in the past, and its clear he's still in love with her. He's also the product of one.
Only Known by Their Nickname: He's only called by his full name formally. Usually, everyone just refers to him as "Philo".
Le Parkour: He's shown to be skilled in this when chasing after Unseelie Jack, and also appears to be an adept rock climber. His skill with navigating strange terrain seems to be some leftover from the loss of his wings.
Love Triangle: Is in one of these with Vignette and Tourmaline during Season Two. He Did Not Get the Girl, though his feelings for Vignette continue to be as strong as ever throughout the rest of the series.
Offered the Crown: Is honoured when the Burguish Parliament offers him the Chancellorship as the son of Absolom Breakspear, though he notes that he was offered the position because they could not see the scars on his back where his wings used to be, which made him acceptable in their eyes. Philo turns down the Chancellorship in favour of a candidate with horns — or wings.
Parental Abandonment: He grew up in an orphanage.
Phantom Limb Pain:Philo's wings were cut off when he was a child so that he could pass for a full-blood human. Even though it happened when he was a babe he sometimes feels them.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Why he's well-liked among the Fae; unlike most of the police force, he treats every crime in the Row with the same respect, and shows nothing but professional respect to Fae victims, seeking justice for all. This, in turn, makes him well-respected among the more reasonable uniform officers and despised among the more racist and corrupt ones.
Secret Legacy: As the true first-born son of Absalom Breakspear, he's apparently the one who's destined to be greater than him, not Jonah. This reality is what motivates Lady Piety to create the Darkasher and send it to hunt him down in the first place.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: He served in the Burgue-Pact War, and is still scarred by it. Mostly though it seems he's troubled by having to abandon the Fae to the Pact's mercy, and for having to leave Vignette. Still, his continued visits to Darius' cell show he's fully aware how easily he could have been the one to end up like him and feels Survivor's Guilt for it.

Fae and Fauns

Tourmaline

Played By: Karla Crome

Bad Powers, Good People: Inherits the powers of the Haruspex when she died, powers that Tourmaline was warned were pure evil and that no good would come of their use, yet she continues to be the same sweet and friendly Tourmaline who would do anything to help her friends.
Hidden Depths:
- She is good a drawing and secretly draws all her johns when they are asleep.
- She was also a Poet Laureate in Tirnanoc.
Hooker with a Heart of Gold: She cares about Vignette a lot, and even Philo.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: She loves Vignette and was once involved with her, but repeatedly asserts that even given their history, she values Vignette's friendship, and doesn't begrudge her new love interest.
Lipstick Lesbian: Tourmaline is a female Girly Girl fairy who previously had been with her female best friend Vignette. They later get back together and marry.
Love Triangle: Is in one of these with Vignette and Philo during Season Two, with the former choosing her over the latter and eventually becoming her wife by the series finale.
Platonic Life-Partners: In season 2, she becomes this with Darius. The two become very close very quickly, and in fact it even seems like the series playing Pair the Spares, and much of their relationship seems very coded for a romantic relationship. However, the two remain Just Friends, and their mutual affection and protectiveness of one-another never crosses into romance. She does at one point ask him if he thinks there's something between them when trying to get him to leave so he doesn't get killed protecting her, but he shoots it down since he already knows she's in love with Vignette.
The Tease: She occasionally flirts with Philo from her window, inviting him up. This seems to merely be friendly banter though as she knows they're both still in love with Vignette.
True Companions: She has this with Vignette and Philo to some extent. This eventually extends to Darius in Season Two.
Unproblematic Prostitution: This is a bit up in the air, as Faeries are considerably more relaxed about sex than humans are, plus Tourmaline works in a relatively safe environment with a Madam who takes good care of her employees. She obviously finds being a sex worker a bit of a comedown after having been the equivalent of the Poet Laureate back in Tirnanoc, but when Vignette suggests joining her in the trade her main concern is that Vignette doesn't have the right mindset for it and would likely end up shanking one of the customers, rather than the job itself being degrading.
Your Days Are Numbered: Receives a vision of what she assumes was her death at the hands of the Sparas and spends much of Season Two worried about that eventuality. Ultimately averted, as it turns out that while the Sparas did come to kill her for stopping it from killing Philo and the Burguish Parliament, it was the Sparas that would be killed.

Agreus

Agreus Astrayon

Played By: David Gyasi

Dubbed By: Jean-Baptiste Anoumon

Brutal Honesty: He mixes this with being a Snark Knight, but he's not afraid to put things bluntly and doesn't put up with people looking down on him.
Classy Cane: Carries a walking stick to emphasize his status. Imogen calls it ridiculous.
Fauns and Satyrs: An immigrant Faun or 'Puck' as some call them.
The Gadfly: When he realises a human is pretending to be nice to him, he'll gladly turn things on them to make them uncomfortable. He also initially goes out of his way to make Imogen uncomfortable during their arrangement as revenge for her initial hostility, until the two grow fond of each other.
Hunter of His Own Kind: He built his fortune off of hunting down runaway indentured servants, rationalizing it on the grounds that he was given the same contracts they were and served his time. He's clearly troubled by this, though, and holds humanity in little regard for making him do it because of it.
It Amused Me: He buys a painting for 300,000 guilders on a whim, mainly to taunt a rich human who'd been condescending to him earlier with the knowledge that a Faun could snap up something that he automatically assumed would be his.
Noble Savage: He's viewed in this light by much of high society, and treated like a novelty when he's not being sneered at.
Nouveau Riche: He is a wealthy Satyr trying to get accepted into the aristocracy of the Republic. He wears impeccable fashion, with a hat angled across his horns and a walking stick topped with a silver ram's head at his side. He displays some Conspicuous Consumption when he purchases a painting at auction for an extravagant sum just to show off and thumb his nose at a blue blood.
Rags to Riches: He started as a poor refugee fleeing a war and worked his way up to the upper-crust. Deconstructed, though, as it's left him rather bitter, and he desires to rub his wealth in the noses of the wealthy humans, as he's now wealthier than they are.
Self-Made Man: Agreus rose up from indentured servitude to become very wealthy. He makes a cutting comment at one blue-blood for doing nothing with his inheritance but safeguarding it.
Serendipitous Survival: His having to flee the Burgue at the end of the first season to avoid being arrested for wounding Ezra (in self-defense) means he also escapes being forced into Carnival Row with the rest of the Fae.

Fleury

Played By: Anna Rust

Dropped a Bridge on Him: She gets shot while trying to escape the Fae ghetto in the season one finale, to mark the turn in things.

Darius

Played By: Ariyon Bakare

Anger Born of Worry: He's angry at Philo when he reveals he told Portia about his half-fae blood, because he knows that if the truth comes out, Philo's life will be ruined. There's some selfish motivation, though, as this could also mean that he'll be killed without Philo's protection.
Heroic Sacrifice: Dies saving Tourmaline from the Sparas when it comes to kill her for stopping it from killing Philo and the Burguish Parliament.
Our Werewolves Are Different: He survived an attack by a Pact werewolf trooper but suffered a bite, so every full moon he turns. Upon returning to the Burgue he's forced to live in a cell, even when the moon isn't full, since he's 'a critch who can turn others into critch.
Playing with Syringes: He was a victim of this in prison, where the Burgue army were performing tests to see if they could trigger and control his lycanthropy to use him as a weapon. As a result, while his Marrok form is still involuntary, it's triggered by pain (specifically, anything piercing his skin) rather than just the moon (but it is indicated that during full moons, he transforms), and while he's gained enough control over this to use his Marrok form to protect those he cares about, he still can't completely control it and is scared of spreading it to others.
Right for the Wrong Reasons: When still coming down from his lycan transformation, he says that Philo reeks of Fae, believing its because he's fallen so deep for Vignette that he smells of her, rather than because of Philo's true lineage. He either realises the truth or was lying, though, as he later reveals he was a Secret Secret-Keeper.
Secret Secret-Keeper: Ever since he was bitten, he's known the truth about Philo, and has kept it a secret, both out of loyalty and practicality. He's in no position to be bigoted about it and he knows if he outs him, it could harm his own well-being.
True Companions: As he says himself concerning Philo, he's "a real mate". Seven years after the war, Philo still visits his cell every day and brings him lunch and companionship. Flashbacks reveal they grew up together in the same orphanage, so they're as close to being brothers as they can be.
Was Once a Man: He still is, but Burgue society considers him a monster that needs to be locked up, lest he turns others into Critch like himself.

Leonora

Played By: Joanne Whalley

Better to Die than Be Killed: Slits her own throat when held at gunpoint by Agreus, likely so that the Burgue wouldn't get the satisfaction of executing her themselves.
Dirty Communists: Although she portrays herself and the New Dawn as Chummy Commies she and they are ultimately this.
Interspecies Romance: Mentions having a human lover to Imogen, although it's a little fuzzy on how much of that is actually true and how much of it is Lenora manipulating Imogen into believing that the New Dawn is more progressive and accepting of her relationship with Agreus than the Burgue or the Pact.
The Revolution Will Not Be Civilised: Is perfectly fine with resorting to terrorist tactics and large numbers of civilian casualties in the name of the Revolution. She also disappears entire families and left their bodies to rot in a swamp if they were anything less than fanatical in the cause.

Darkasher

The Darkasher

Played By: N/A

Ankle Drag: His modus operandi. He drags his victims by their ankle and then guts them.
Body Horror: Take the concept of Frankenstein, throw in some Fae bodyparts, a little Lovercraftian inspiration, and you get an abomination of pure nightmare fuel.
Bond Creatures: Has a psychic link with Lady Piety.
Cthulhumanoid: It's a flesh golem composed of limbs from dead creatures; it even has the head of an octopus and large wings, giving it a very Cthulhu-like appearance.
The Dragon: For its creator, Lady Piety. Its actions are in service to her.
Dumb Muscle: The Darkasher is a powerful, lumbering corpse of undead flesh with no mind of its own. It's technically not even sentient, meaning it's just an extension of Piety's will.
Eldritch Abomination: It's a hulking mass of animal and Fae parts, cannot be killed no matter what physical harm it faces and is psychically connected with its creator. It even looks like Cthulhu due to having a squid attached to its head.
Flesh Golem: A living mass of dead body parts from both human and fae alike.
Gutted Like a Fish: What he does to his victims in order to remove their liver.
Healing Factor: Because its life is bound to its master, it can heal and reattach severed limbs and continue on the attack, no worse for wear.
The Heavy: It has no mind of its own, and only does what it's commanded to do by its creator. Still, it's the one doing the killing and providing the physical threat.
Implacable Man: Nothing, absolutely nothing short of killing its creator will stop this thing.
It Can Think: Philo mentions to Haruspex that he senses an intelligence in the creature. She corrects him pointing out that he sensed the intelligence behind the creature.
Lightning Bruiser: It's fast and can easily tear its victims apart.
Nigh-Invulnerable: It can shrug off and heal from from just about any direct damage to its body. Killing its creator is the only way to put it down for good.
Off with His Head!: Philo tries killing it this way. It doesn't work.
Undead Abomination: The Darkasher is created by fusing dead parts of animals and Fae, and reanimated with the seed of its creator. It's not truly alive and can't be killed unless the one who brought it to life is killed. A chunk of its torso is missing, and it simply re-attaches its severed head when Philo cuts it off, making it clear that it can survive anything.
The Unfettered: Nothing Philo does can slow it down or stop it. Had Vignette not killed Lady Piety, nothing would have stopped it.

Sparas

The Sparas/Major Mikulas Vir

Played By: Andrew Buchan

Body Horror: Its true form resembles that of a flayed human with wings, claws and a giant fanged mouth where its torso should have been.
Dirty Communists: It is eventually revealed that the Sparas is a member of the New Dawn, working as a kind of agent provocateur by killing humans and Fae in order to exacerbate the already poor relations between the two and make the Burgue ripe for revolution.
Last of His Kind: Is implied to either be this or at least one of the last Sparases in existence, owing to the Burguish shelling of their home during the war against the Pact. It is also theorised that the murders in the Burgue at its hands were revenge killings, though it is later revealed that the Sparas was actually working for the New Dawn.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: The Sparas is a shapeshifter that can take a human form, specifically that of Major Mikulas Vir, aide-de-camp of the Pactish ambassador.

Humans

Breakspear Family

Absalom

Chancellor Absalom Breakspear

Played By: Jared Harris

Big Good: As Chancellor of the Republic of the Burgue, he's the elected leader of the Republic and the highest politician. Though imperfect, he is fair and progressive.
The Chosen One: One part of a prophecy that made Piety obsessed with him; he was destined to be a great man, and would father a son who was destined to be greater. He's also somehow tied with a Puck cult's belief, which makes him a target for assassination.
Generation Xerox: Like Philo, he's a champion of allowing Fae basic rights, and once loved a Faerie, Aisling, whom he abandoned without a goodbye in order to save her life. Philo wants to hate him for what he did to his mother, but he recognises that he did the exact same thing himself.
The Good Chancellor: He generally demonstrates himself to be a fair, progressive leader of the Republic, and though he loses his shit when his son is kidnapped, he's otherwise cordial and friendly with his largely Faun staff.
Good Is Not Soft: Played With, as he demonstrates a willingness to physically confront those who he believes have harmed those he cares about. However, Love Makes You Stupid is also at play, so he's easy to manipulate by playing on his love for his son, whom he has spoiled so much he completely lacks discipline.
Interspecies Romance: He's rumoured to have engaged in affairs with Pix harlots. She wasn't a harlot, but otherwise it's true.
Luke, You Are My Father: When he confronts Philo, believing he murdered his former love Aisling, Philo reveals that he thought Absalom was the one who did it, being his father. Absalom didn't connect the fact Aisling having a half-blood child would mean it was his.
Pet the Dog: He tries to arrange to have Vignette pardoned for making a scene in a Burgue museum, and though he personally doesn't like her, he supports Sophie's position leading the opposition despite what he thinks her father did to his son. He also raised Jonah despite knowing he wasn't his son, and shows nothing but love for him in-spite of his spoiled nature.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Deconstructed. He champions Fae rights and inclusion and is clearly demonstrated to be a progressive, fair leader, who understands it was the Burgue's fault why the Fae are refugees in the first place. But because so many are unreasonable, he's facing being voted out for it.

Lady Piety

Lady Piety Breakspear

Played By: Indira Varma

Abusive Parents: She has her son kidnapped, for one thing, and tries gaslighting him when he's 'rescued' in order to control him.
Ambition Is Evil: She's obsessed with her husband's prophetic nature and the destiny of his son, and married the former so she could birth the latter. She seemingly does all this so that she can tie herself to their greatness and kills anyone in her way.
The Beastmaster: She controls the Darkasher.
Big Bad: She's the one behind the Darkasher, and is having it kill people who know the Dark Secret that could threaten her son's destiny.
Gas Lighting: She subjects both her husband and her son to this. She's not as good at it as she thinks, however, as Jonah realizes she was behind his kidnapping and so sees through her obvious manipulations after it, and Absalom later pieces together the extent of her manipulation.
Lady Macbeth: She manipulates her husband repeatedly to ensure she can maintain the power being his wife brings her.
My Beloved Smother: Darker example than most; she's so determined to stop Jonah from wasting his destiny in hedonistic pursuits that she has him kidnapped, and tries gaslighting him into behaving more like she wants him to. She also enacted a complex conspiracy involving creating an Eldritch Abomination that killed three people just so she could hunt down his potential half-brother.
Sanity Slippage: She's clearly going insane, what with her having her own son kidnapped just because he's not living up to her expectations, and begins to unravel when it becomes clear Jonah knows the truth. It turns out this started when a fake blackmail letter reveals to her that Absalom had fathered another son; realizing that Jonah's destiny is at risk of belonging to another, she creates a Darkasher and sends it out to hunt down and kill all who know about it, hoping to hunt down the half-blood bastard son.
Serial Killer: Turns out to be one, murdering people who stand in the way of her son taking power.
Villainous Breakdown: She completely loses it when Absalom figures out she's responsible for the Darkasher, prompting her to kill him so she can find Philo.
Vorpal Pillow: She kills Absalom using this, when he won't reveal what she wants to know.

Jonah

folder:Jonah Breakspear

Played By: Arty Froushan

Ambition Is Evil: When he finally decides to stop being a lazy Spoiled Brat, he becomes a fascist who quickly seeks power by punishing Fae.
Asshole Victim: He's brutally murdered by a Sparas that devours his internal organs. Considering he was a Fae-hating fascist, he certainly had it coming.
Brilliant, but Lazy: His mother thinks so, and wants him to stop being so hedonistic and take his destiny seriously.
The Chosen One: Supposedly, the son of Absalom is meant to be even greater than he was, and his mother only married the latter in order to be Jonah's mother. Too bad she had an affair so Jonah's not his, and Absalom already had a son.
Cruel and Unusual Death: He's attacked and brutally eaten by the Sparas. It appears to take it's time with killing him, making sure he's alive to feel every agonising moment as it disembowels him. Not that he didn't deserve it.
Generation Xerox: Absalom notes that he always took more after his mother than his father, which we see with his aforementioned similar ambition. However, he shares Absalom's love of both Fae women (as he frequents the brothel on Carnival Row) and of Lady Macbeth types, as he falls for Sophie Longerbane. This in spite of not being Absalom's son by blood.
- Inverted politically, as while he inherits his father's seat and party, his father was a progressive reformist who wanted to help the Fae whereas he quickly proves to be a conservative fascist who scapegoats them. As a result, the party seat he inherited is planning to oust him partly because his policies are harming the Burgue, but also because they just don't line up with the party he leads.
The Scapegoat: When he becomes interim Chancellor, he embraces using the Fae as one for the Burgue's problems in order to seek power, declaring that there is a secret war going on for their streets.
- This is reinforced in the Season 2 premiere, when he has the Faun cultists executed for the murders of his father and mother. While they certainly were murderers and really did plot (and actually tried) to kill Absalom, they were still technically innocent of both crimes. It's also deconstructed, as his use of the Fae and their subsequent exile and oppression greatly hurts the Burgue economically, both because they're not the cause of society's problems and because without them, the workforce needed to sustain the upper class' lifestyle is greatly diminished, both ensuring the problems already present within the Burge remain and fester while new problems emerge. As such, his party are planning to oust him as soon as they're free to elect a new Chancellor.
Smarter Than You Look: His mother underestimates how aware he was during his abduction and he's able to deduce it was her by the sound of her heels. He also realizes Sophie was the one who orchestrated her Sanity Slippage, faster than Sophie expected him to, with not much more than some handwriting samples to go on. On top of all that, he recognizes that he needs someone like Runyan to be his advisor once he becomes Chancellor.

The Longerbanes

Ritter Longerbane

Played By: Ronan Vibert

Abusive Parents: He's kept his daughter locked away supposedly for her own protection, provides her with no company but himself and refuses to support her desire to travel and study. The emotional abuse seems to have turned her into a sociopath as a result. Season 2 also confirms he was physically abusive, and would also beat the servant's children (her only company her own age) in front of her as a particularly cruel form of psychological abuse.
Asshole Victim: He's innocent of Jonah's kidnapping, but given how he's responsible for a lot of the hardship facing the Fae and is openly racist and sexist, it's hard to feel too badly for him.
Fantastic Racism: He's the voice of subjugating and expelling Fae refuges.
Frame-Up: On the receiving end, framed as the kidnapper behind Jonah Breakspear's abduction.
Pet the Dog: Even after being brutalized by her husband, he speaks kindly to Piety and seems to be genuinely empathetic to her son's kidnapping. Unfortunately exploited, as she's the one who's really behind the kidnapping and uses his softness around her to kill him in order to cover her tracks. It also makes sense as we learn they were lovers in the past.
Politically Incorrect Villain: Besides the Fantastic Racism, he's also a regular racist and misogynistic, too. He dismisses and insults his late wife's heritage, and is against women being educated.

Sophie

Sophie Longerbane

Played By: Caroline Ford

Ambition Is Evil: She wanted to escape her life of being a Lonely Rich Kid, so she sent a letter that drove Piety insane and led to several deaths, including her own father's, all so she could rise.
Bookworm: Spend most of her childhood reading books since it was the only thing her overprotective father would allow her to do in her Gilded Cage.
Brother–Sister Incest: Though it's Surprise Incest for Jonah, she knew already that he was probably her brother, and figured it didn't really matter because incest was just another boundary in the society she wanted to dismantle.
The Chessmaster: Sophie Longerbane definitely thinks this way, bordering on Always Chaotic Evil.
Commonality Connection: She hides it behind feigned racism to play up to her party's politics, but she has deep empathy for the Fae, that's largely born from both her close relationship with her family's servants and her experiences with sexism and racism from her own father.
Death by Childbirth: Her mother died giving birth to her. This made her father overprotective of her as a result.
Defiant to the End: She uses her last words, moments before Jonah has her executed, to demand that he doesn't look away when it happens.
Expy: She's somewhere between Cersei Lannister and Petyr Baelish. She even expresses a similar sentiment to the latter regarding chaos, and has used a very similar justification as Cersei for incestuous sex with her brother.
Friendless Background: She suffered a lonely childhood driven by her overprotective dad after the mother died in childbirth.
Good All Along: Not quite exactly, but it turns out she actually has pretty noble intentions for her political ambitions, namely to protect the Puck family who acted as her family's servants, and were the only kind people to her as a child. But to do so, she needs to put on a strong (or rather, sociopathic) front to gain the dominance of her father's party and become Chancellor, which means playing into their Fantastic Racism and scapegoating of the Fae. She still has some self-serving intentions, but it's clear by the time of her death that her main motivation was a largely sympathetic desire to help those she cares about and others who've experienced the same sexism she has.
Living Lie Detector: She learned from her father how to lie and discern lies. Jonah is like an open book for her.
The Man Behind the Man: Indirectly though, but she's responsible for Piety's Sanity Slippage, which she wanted in order to seed the disorder she sought.
- Season 2 reveals she also has a man behind her, the daughter of her maid and her Only Friend, who coaches her through the political scheming to gain power.
Nice to the Waiter: She's friendly and kind to her Faun maid, which tips off Jonah that her anti-Fae bigotry is just an act to get in good with her father's political party. At the same time, however, this shows she's willing to back actions that would hurt her own maid, as a Fae, for power, subverting the trope somewhat.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Ultimately, she had good intentions for her political scheming, but unfortunately when its outed, Jonah has her executed for it.
Off with Her Head!: She is executed via guillotine when her scheming is finally uncovered, with her decapitated head rolling across the ground and stopping at Jonah's feet, causing him to vomit.
Order Versus Chaos: She's very much in favor of the latter.
"Chaos creates opportunity."
The Scapegoat: She pretends to be as bigoted about the Fae as her father's party in order to keep them on her side. She actually doesn't even like the word Critch, finding it demeaning, and is quite friendly with her Fae maid. It also turns out her best friend is the daughter of her Fae maid, and a lot of her scheming is to get the power needed to actually protect them, but to do so she needs to play into the bigotry of her father's party.
The Sociopath: She effortlessly lies, manipulates, and orchestrates events that result in many deaths, including her own father. She has no line she won't cross since she sees all lines as rules that should be broken, and does so without any remorse. Or at least, that's how she presents herself to Jonah. Season 2 reveals she actually has a great deal of empathy, but because of the way she was raised, she represses it behind the act of being a sociopathic racist to gather the power needed to help the ones she cares about. Maintaining this facade proves to be very painful for her, and she cracks briefly when presented with a dying fae child.
Straw Hypocrite: She compares her status as a mixed-race woman and the discrimination her mother's side faced for the color of their skin to the discrimination the Fae face now, only to turn around and say that the Fae should be discriminated against because they're not human. However she doesn't actually believe this, she's just playing politics.

The Spurnrose Siblings

Imogen

Imogen Spurnrose

Played By: Tamzin Merchant

Ambiguous Situation: Ezra accuses Imogen of having been a manipulative Alpha Bitch in their youth to prevent him from marrying away, and that was why she was still unmarried by the time Agreus met her. While Imogen's Rich Bitch characterisation pre-Character Development could certainly match this accusation, she denies having spread rumours about Ezra to chase away his potential suitors and the things he claims she told them hardly seem out of character for him. She seems to admit some truth to the claims after when apologising to Agreus for her past, but its unclear how much is truly how she acted and how much of her apology is more apologising for her brother.
Break the Haughty: When she (or rather Vignette) forgets her umbrella, and she's forced to either stand in the rain or share with the neighbor she was trying to alienate. It's the start of many experiences that cause her to reflect and change.
Character Development: She grows quite a bit through the series. By the end of the first season she willingly leaves everything behind to flee with her lover Agreus, so that he won't get in trouble with the law.
I Am Not Pretty: Imogen describes herself as plain in the first episode.
Innocent Bigot: She's grown up in a very toxic environment that's resulted in toxic values. However, despite her initial disgust, she realizes that a Faun like Agreus is far better company than the upper-class Rich Bitch crowd she's part of.
Lampshade Hanging: " Servant's entrance, yes, I'm aware of the irony."
Rich Bitch: She's one until she learns her fortune is in serious danger, and she gets acquainted with Agreus.
Significant Wardrobe Shift: She starts season one in plenty of pastel colours and lace, conforming to Burgue high society and fashion; her outfits get darker as her relationship with Agreus deepens, particularly since he sends her a new outfit as a gift, and she ends the season in deep reds. Season 2 sees this again, as her fine pink dress becomes ragged, loses layers, and gains stains from the hard work in the New Dawn weapons factory and later stresses from travel. When she returns to the Burgue, she's dressed in New Dawn's signature dark greens.

Ezra

Ezra Spurnrose

Played By: Andrew Gower

Ambiguous Situation: Ezra accuses Imogen of having been a manipulative Alpha Bitch in their youth to prevent him from marrying away, and that was why she was still unmarried by the time Agreus met her. While Imogen's Rich Bitch characterisation pre-Character Development could certainly match this accusation, she denies having spread rumours about Ezra to chase away his potential suitors and the things he claims she told them hardly seem out of character for him. She seems to admit some truth to the claims after when apologising to Agreus for her past, but its unclear how much is truly how she acted and how much of her apology is more apologising for her brother.
Asshole Victim: He's suffocated by Imogen after trying to give their position away to Pact soldiers, knowing they will likely kill Agreus. While his death at the hands of his own sister is portrayed as being incredibly tragic, Ezra being the controlling, racist, murdering prick that he was meant he definitely had it coming.
Attempted Rape: Tries to rape Vignette when she'd forced to become his servant, prompting her to run away.
Big Brother Instinct: This is a generous reading for what causes him to shelter Imogen from certain realities and attack Agreus when he learns about their affair, though a combination of patriarchal and xenophobic attitudes might also be the culprit.
Even Evil Has Standards: He's taken aback that Agreus, as a 'skip jack', hunted down fugitive Fae who were escaping from their indentures. Agreus turns this on its head though, as he calmly points out that he personally has never met another skip jack who wasn't human.
Jerk With A Heart Of A Jerk: Briefly in Season 2, it looks like the Break the Haughty experience has gotten to him and he's willing to admit the truth about Imogen and Agreus, and claims he just wants to reunite with his sister rather than continue driving her away with his racism. Then he kills Fergus, the man who told him where his sister was, because he, a human, was willing to be employed by a Critch. Later still, when forced to rely on one-another to escape the New Dawn and the Pact, he tries to betray them all to the Pact under the selfish belief they'll spare him, resulting in his own death and ultimately causing his sister and Agreus to get recaptured.
Kick the Dog: At first, Ezra seems like a fairly harmless Upper-Class Twit who is simply more dopey than his Ritch Bitch sister. Then he tries to rape Vignette, revealing himself to be a villain.
Rich Bitch: He doesn't get the development his sister does and remains a spoiled, intolerant, ass.
Straw Hypocrite: In Season 2, he claims that Agreus kidnapped his sister and infers that Agreus is raping her, as a means to inspire racist disgust from others in his circle and garner sympathy. This is despite he himself being an Attempted Rapist. Furthermore, he utterly spirals at the thought of a Fae being attracted to his human sister and finds it a personal violation, but he himself demonstrated twisted attraction to a Fae woman (Vignette) with his aforementioned Attempted Rape.
Straw Misogynist: He dismisses Imogen's interests in fashion and gossip (despite these being important for her duties as a high-class lady, and something society forces her to be interested in) and insinuates her fashionable lifestyle is to blame for their wealth issues, rather than his own poor investment. He also tries to force himself on Vignette during her Indentured Servitude, calling her a 'Critch cunt'.
Ungrateful Bastard: If it wasn't bad enough that in season 1 he tried to exploit Agreus for his money only to try and kill him for daring to become romantically attracted to his sister, in season 2 Agreus repeatedly saves his life from the New Dawn and convinces Imogen to allow him to join their escape attempt, and protects them from the Pact soldiers during their attack. Ezra repays this by verbally abusing his sister while they're journeying to freedom, spends the whole journey waiting for an opportunity to kill Agreus, and eventually tries to turn on them to surrender to the Pact. Imogen has to kill him to keep him silent.
Upper-Class Twit: Ezra isn't very bright and is a poor businessman. He lets his sister spend beyond their means without reining her in until they're desperate for money, then puts almost their entire fortune into a single venture.

The Burgue Constabulary

Sergeant Dombey

Played By: Jamie Harris

Dirty Cop: Philo certainly thinks so, but while he's a full-on racist and political extremist, he's not Unseelie Jack. However, he later proves he is violently abusive towards Fae inmates, and tries to have Philo killed.
Disproportionate Retribution: Early on, Philo punches him after making a particularly unsightly remark about Fae women. After that point, he holds a grudge that at first personifies as undermining Philo's investigation, but when he learns that Philo has been hiding something, he digs into his personal life and reveals his Dark Secret to the Constabulary, and uses it to paint him as the one responsible for the Darkasher killings.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: As Season 2 shows, while he may be a corrupt racist, he's still a genuinely loving husband and father to his wife and young son, and also takes care of his own disabled father. Philo and Darius use this to their advantage, forcing Dombey to actually listen to Philo for fear of them hurting his family.
Even Evil Has Standards: Even he doesn't agree with the horrific actions of Constable Thatch and his group of racist Choppers, who storm the row and begin butchering innocent Fae left and right.
Hate Sink: He's enthusiastically on the wrong side of just about every issue, making him easily one of the most hateable characters in the show. Subverted over the course of season two as he gradually becomes more sympathetic to the Fae.
Heel–Face Turn: He becomes a lot less hostile toward the Fae after Philo and Darius (who are a half-breed and a Marrok respectively) save his life. This is best seen when Constable Thatch and his thugs attempt to massacre the Fae living on the row, and Dombey leads the police in stopping them. By the end of the series, he's been promoted to inspector and seems to have left his life of bigotry behind him.
I Owe You My Life: He's still a prick, but he noticeably softens toward Philo after the latter saves his life when the Black Raven come to kill him. He then aids Philo in his mission to find and kill the Sparas.
Police Brutality: He beats Fae inmates and takes obvious pleasure in harming them. When Philo is arrested, he decides to lock him in a cell full of Choppers (anti-Fae human extremists), hoping to see him beaten (Philo beats them up instead).
Red Herring: His politics and appearance makes him an early suspect for Unseelie Jack. Turns out it's a sailor completely unconnected to him.
Sadist: He's shown to really enjoy hurting Fae and seeing them suffer. He tries to have Philo beaten by Choppers, and later comes back to enjoy the show, only to be disappointed and peeved when he sees the Choppers are the ones who got beaten.
- In Season 2, he clearly takes great pleasure in killing a sick Fae woman, cracking a smug grin after fatally shooting her in the chest.
Smug Snake: He insults and slurs the Fae as much as possible, and when he's got officers to back him up will abuse his power against them.
Would Hit a Girl: She did just kick him in the nose, but he still beats Vignette while she's already restrained.

Constable Berwick

Played By: Waj Ali

Bumbling Sidekick: Downplayed. He's not that bumbling, but by contrast to Philo he's far less skilled in police matters. He quickly loses track of the action during a chase, and is always lagging two steps behind when Philo is solving the case.
Cruel and Unusual Death: He's one of the few good cops in the Burgue, which makes his gruesome death at the hands of the Sparas very undeserved, with the creature ripping his guts out and leaving him to die.
Friend on the Force: In season 2, thanks to Philo being stripped of the badge. He remains not only a friend, but the only thing close to a genuinely good copper.
Nice Guy: Some Innocently Insensitive remarks aside, he's a good man, something Philo recognises.
Noble Bigot with a Badge: By contrast to the other coppers shown, he's shown to be a loyal officer who looks up to Philo, and follows his lead eagerly. He still engages in mild racism towards the Fae, but by contrast it's more ignorance than hate.
Token Heroic Orc: Token Heroic Human. He's pretty much the only human who not only has good intentions but never resorts to dirty tactics or become morally corrupted. It's not easy since he's still raised in the racist society of humans, but he makes an effort to temper his biases and assumptions and idolises Philo.
Undying Loyalty: When Philo is outed as a half-blood and accused of the Darkasher killings, he remains quietly in-support of him, insisting he get a fair day in court and warns him about Dombey's plan to have him killed.
The Watson: When Philo is doing police work, Berwick is usually the officer accompanying him, and giving him someone to explain the case and/or his deduction.

Magistrate Flute

Played By: Mark Lewis Jones

Da Chief: Philo's direct supervisor within the constabulary. He frequently butts heads with Philo due to the latter's desire to do his job even for the Fae instead of just dismissing them like every other officer.
Inspector Lestrade: He dismisses obvious signs of serious crimes happening in the Row, primarily because it's only affecting the Fae. He turns into an Inspector Javert when Philo's half-blood lineage makes him a suspect for the Darkasher killings.
Karma Houdini: Never faces retribution for keeping Philo locked up even after discovering that he's innocent because he's half-Fae.
Mean Boss: He'd rather Philo ignore the Row and the Fae than bother solve crimes dealing with it. He's not as bigoted as Dombey, but he seems to accept and support the latter's right to racism more than he does Philo's insistence on combating it.
Noble Bigot with a Badge: Unfortunately he can't put aside his bigotry. Outside of Fae matters he's quite reasonable, and claims to think highly of Philo's police work. However he refuses to look at the Row's crime problems seriously, and when he learns that Philo is half-Fae, he reveals the full extent of his bigotry.
Pet the Dog: Cruelly Subverted. When he thinks that Philo's half-blood status is a lie, he seems to almost instantly take his word that he's innocent of the murders. But when he refuses to deny his lineage, he calls him a dirty half-blood critch and proceeds to throw away the key.
What Happened to the Mouse?: He's completely absent from Season 2 with not even a mention as to his whereabouts. Instead, Dombey fills his place as the highest visible authority within the Burgue Constabulary for the season.

Others

Runyan Milworthy

Played By: Simon Mc Burney

Brutal Honesty: He's not afraid of being destitute if it means telling Jonah Breakspear to get over himself. This leads Jonah to giving him a job as his advisor.
Hidden Depths: He doesn't seem like a particularly potent individual during his first few appearances. When Jonah tries to belittle and bribe him, however, he not only reveals that he's made of sterner stuff than anyone anticipated, but that he's been through quite a lot.
Mr. Exposition: He provides a lot of the exposition regarding Philo's mother Aisling who he was close with back in the days.
Nice Guy: He's one of the few completely non-bigoted people in Burgue. He holds Aisling's memory very highly and considers her one of his dearest friends, and is troubled by how bigoted people have become since. He cares deeply for his Kobold actors and, though he tries to undermine their sentience, only does so in order to protect them from deportation, and appears to have treated them well.
Street Performer: He runs a Kobold show on the street that is halfway between a puppet show (using living puppets) and street theater.

Morange

Played By: Gregory Gudgeon

Back-Alley Doctor: Of the noble kind; he's volunteered to help with abortions and cosmetic surgery to help Fae pass, and helped Philo's mother both give birth and hide her child's existence.
Closet Gay: He had to hide his sexuality because the morals of the time would not allow otherwise.
The Coroner: He acts as this for the police, and it's noted he does it without pay as well, considering it his "civic duty". It is specified that he only performs autopsies on human corpses, and given his lack of bigotry and sympathy with the Fae it's not clear why exactly, though it could be due to the differing biology, and that he only knows how to analyze human organs.
Nice Guy: It's said after his murder that he never took money for his work with the police, seeing it as his civic duty. This goes further as he also helped women with abortions and Fae with passing surgery.
Secret-Keeper: On the side he helps Fae undergo surgeries to help them pass for human. He was even possibly a Secret Secret-Keeper for Philo.
Straight Gay: The reason he empathizes with the Fae and helps them undergo surgery to pass. He knows what its like to need to hide who you are. Tragically, in order to maintain the charade of being in the closet, he had to perform his own lover's autopsy without giving away his grief. It helps that he's The Stoic.

Portia Fyfe

Played By: Maeve Dermody

The Atoner: After outing him as half-Fae, Portia regrets that this led to Philo being arrested for suspicion of murder and claims she made it all up to set him free. However, he refuses to confirm this since that would mean denying his Faerie mother.
Kick the Dog: When Philo reveals his true lineage, she kicks him out of her house in disgust, and then later reveals his secret to the police. She later regrets it.
Love Cannot Overcome: Philo eventually confesses to her that he's half-Fae, after she had been insisting she could handle whatever burden he has. She immediately recoils in disgust and kicks him out.
The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: Philo refusing to let her in on his Dark Secret puts a strain on their budding relationship, until he finally decides to open up. It doesn't end well as a result.
My God, What Have I Done?: She outs Philo as half-Fae to the constabulary, but is horrified when she learns this has incriminated him in the murders he's been investigating and he'll likely be executed.
Romancing the Widow: She's a widow, and has become lovers with Philo (to one of her tenant's strong disapproval, as they're unmarried).
Romantic False Lead: She's seriously interested in Philo, while he pushes against it. Of course, Philo and Vignette are the One True Pairing of the show, so this was doomed to fail.
Pet the Dog: After kicking it first, mind. Hearing that Philo has been incriminated because of her outing him, she then lies, and tries to clear his name by claiming she made it up to hurt his reputation.

Haruspex

Played By: Alice Krige

Blind Seer: She foresees the future via magic.
Face Death with Dignity: She doesn't try to avoid her death and embraces the moment calmy as she knows You Can't Fight Fate.
Prophet Eyes: Her eyes are blurred.

Characters / Carnival Row

Main Characters

Vignette Stonemoss

Rycroft "Philo" Philostrate

Fae and Fauns

Tourmaline

Agreus Astrayon

Fleury

Darius

Leonora

The Darkasher

The Sparas/Major Mikulas Vir

Humans

Breakspear Family

Chancellor Absalom Breakspear

Lady Piety Breakspear

folder:Jonah Breakspear

The Longerbanes

Ritter Longerbane

Sophie Longerbane

The Spurnrose Siblings

Imogen Spurnrose

Ezra Spurnrose

The Burgue Constabulary

Sergeant Dombey

Constable Berwick

Magistrate Flute

Others

Runyan Milworthy

Morange

Portia Fyfe

Haruspex

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / Carnival Row

Edit Locked

Main Characters

Vignette Stonemoss

Rycroft "Philo" Philostrate

Fae and Fauns

Tourmaline

Agreus Astrayon

Fleury

Darius

Leonora

The Darkasher

The Sparas/Major Mikulas Vir

Humans

Breakspear Family

Chancellor Absalom Breakspear

Lady Piety Breakspear

folder:Jonah Breakspear

The Longerbanes

Ritter Longerbane

Sophie Longerbane

The Spurnrose Siblings

Imogen Spurnrose

Ezra Spurnrose

The Burgue Constabulary

Sergeant Dombey

Constable Berwick

Magistrate Flute

Others

Runyan Milworthy

Morange

Portia Fyfe

Haruspex

Previous

Index

Next