Characters that appear in Clive Barker's Jericho:
Contains spoilers
Jericho Squad
Tropes applying to the Jericho Squad as a whole:
- Church Militant: They serve as the special ops team of Chaplain Corps, tasked to deal with supernatural events.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Each member of Jericho comes from a tragic to downright horrific background due to their abilities.
- Military Mage: The Jericho Squad is a top secret combat arm of the United States Army Chaplain Corps, each being a specialist in one of a certain arcane art. The team is tasked by the US Government to handle covert occult warfare and have been titled by the team leader as "witches with guns".
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The members of Jericho Squad are certainly strange and display radically unique personalities and characteristics that each make them a misfit in their own way.
- Supernatural Team: The Military Mage equivalent, with abilities ranging from Healing Hands to Playing with Fire to Mind over Matter to a Timey-Wimey Ball.
Main Characters:
Captain Devin Ross
The leader of the Jericho Squad, Ross possesses healing powers. Still somewhat of a skeptic even after the emergence of his magical powers, all the supernatural events he has witnessed, and even after dying and subsequently being forced to inhabit the bodies of his squad mates. Is surprisingly good-humored for a dead guy.
Tropes associated with Devin Ross:
- Arbitrary Skepticism: As his profile states, he barely believes in his own powers. That he uses on a constant basis.
- Body Surf: After his death, he gains the ability to enter his squadmates' bodies to grant them his healing powers.
- Dead Star Walking: Subverted. He dies, but he's still the main protagonist regardless.
- Death by Origin Story: Oh, he's quite alive at the start of the mission. A run-in with Leach quickly changes that.
- A Fate Worse Than Death: It is implied that he may eventually start to go mad from being a spirit inhabiting a body other than his own.
- Friendly Ghost: Despite being a disembodied spirit after his death, Ross still maintains his humorous and level-headed demeanor.
- Healing Hands: He is unique in that his healing powers transfer to whomever he's possessing at the time, while still being able to use his host's abilities.
- We Cannot Go On Without You: In the early chapters of the game, if Ross and Rawlings both die, then it's game over.
Sergeant Frank Delgado
A Pyromancer of Mestizo and Chickasaw descent, Delgado is the Squad's heavy weapons expert. He made a pact with a Chickasaw flame spirit (who he claims is Ababinili), offering his right arm as sacrifice for the its cooperation. He is now the spirit's host, using it to formidable effect in battle. As a result of this reduced dexterity, Delgado favours high-powered weaponry. A very hot-tempered sort of guy with little respect for authority, but has a sense of humor, nonetheless. Is dating Church. Tends to make snarky jokes regarding Black's sexuality. Often clashes with Rawlings.
Tropes associated with Frank Delgado:
- Artificial Limbs: Has a kind of replacement on his right arm, which he gave up as part of his pact.
- Berserk Button: Anything bad happening to Church. When Church first allows Ross to possess her, she warns him to be careful while doing so, "or you'll have to deal with Frank".
- Playing with Fire: Due to making spiritual pacts with Fire Spirits/Demons, he can set others ablaze by releasing the spirits sealed in his right arm.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: He and Black both like to say "fuck" a lot. Well, let's be honest, most people would in that situation.
Lieutenant Abigail "Abbey" Black
The sniper of the Squad, Black possesses telekinetic powers. She has the ability to steer her shots mid-flight. Suffering through an abusive childhood, she rose to become the top sniper in the US Army. Black is a lesbian, but has repressed feelings for Jones in spite of this. Is good friends with Jones and Cole, and is often the butt of Delgado's jokes - the two often engage in witty banter. Is a control freak and a bit of a loner. Has a snarky sense of humor.
Tropes associated with Abigail "Abbey" Black:
- Cold Sniper: A mild example - while she is stated to be a bit of a loner, it isn't emphasized much in-game.
- Grenade Launcher: An accessory to her rifle.
- Mind over Matter: Her power allows her to guide her bullets mid-flight, among other capabilities.
- Psychic Nosebleed: She is said to suffer from these if she exerts her powers too much.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: She and Delgado both like to say "fuck" a lot. Well, let's be honest, most people would in that situation.
- Stupid Sexy Flanders: According to the in-game character profiles, she has an unrequited crush on Jones.
Corporal Simone Cole
A programmer/numerologist, Cole is the only member of the Squad with no magical powers whatsoever - her gifts are purely intellect and tech based, but practically qualify her as a Sufficiently Advanced Alien. Compared to the rest of the team, Cole is very polite, quiet and mild-mannered... most of the time. Often confuses her squadmates with Techno Babble, and is very protective of her equipment. Is mildly autistic and an Atheist, hates being touched, and suffers from claustrophobia and nyctophobia.
Tropes associated with Simone Cole:
- Badass Normal: She’s the only member of the team that doesn’t possess any supernatural powers, with her combat capabilities coming only from her SMG, her smarts, and the advanced technology she’s packing.
- Break the Cutie: It is only a brief breakdown, but still notable.
- Flat-Earth Atheist: Despite being in a Supernatural Team, she doesn’t believe in the supernatural. Slightly justified by her powers being purely scientifically based.
- Hates Being Touched: Don't touch her.
- Heroic BSoD: See Break the Cutie above - she suffers one of these after being subjected to a nasty mental attack by the Child Crusaders. However, she recovers after Black manages to calm her down.
- Jiggle Physics: Just take a look at her chest during the game's intro. It is subtle, but definitely there.
- Ludicrous Gibs: She is sadly reduced to this, along with Jones.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: "Sir, I believe he is going to channel our powers against us. However, if you are currently in possession of—"
- Lipstick Lesbian: According to Black.
- Plotline Death: Reduced to Ludicrous Gibs alongside Jones just before the Final Boss.
- Precision F-Strike: She only utters the word "fuck" once, during her Heroic BSoD, when Rawlings activates her Berserk Button.
- Reality Warper: Outright controls space and time to reload her team's weapons.
- The Spock: She conducts herself in a very clinical and calculating manner, even when facing down a horde of undead monsters. However, as seen in Heroic BSoD, this does have limits.
- Throw Down the Bomblet: She carries a plentiful supply of explosives that can be used as remote charges, land mines or simple hand grenades.
- Time Master: Can use her technology to rewind or slow down local space time.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: She manipulates the various weapons of the team by winding them back to a time when they were fully loaded.
Captain Xavier Jones
Ross' second-in-command, Jones is a seer, which allows him brief, albeit often cryptic, glimpses of past or future events. Due to his second sight, he can spot paranormal elements that others cannot. He can also project his consciousness into a separate host body, and can control their actions to a certain degree. A good-natured and all-round friendly guy, he is the least experienced, combat-wise, of the Squad, but his high level of intelligence and his powers make up for it. Is good friends with Ross and Black.
Tropes associated with Xavier Jones:
- Elite Tweak: Go ahead and possess an enemy in combat, try it. You can then cast Jones' own version pyrokinesis or Blood Ward. The kicker? His version of Blood Ward uses the health of the enemy to cast it and his possession technique can be performed from distances that would make Black blush.
- Ludicrous Gibs: He is sadly reduced to this, along with Cole.
- Precision F-Strike: He only utters the word "fuck" once, after Ross is killed by Leach.
- Prophet Eyes: Most likely due to his powers.
Sergeant Wilhelmina "Billie" Church
The most troubled member of the Squad, Church is able to cast powerful wards, enchantments and banishments through the ritual of drawing her own blood and writing potent sigils with it. This comes with an obvious physical price. Her traumatic past has left her with numerous mental problems (although they are currently under control), a fear of snakes, and a massive Berserk Button. While she was at one point suicidal and introverted, she has become a lot more extroverted and confident after being taken in by the D.O.W.. Prefers to use swords over guns, although she does use both. Is dating Delgado.
Tropes associated with Wilhelmina "Billie" Church:
- Abusive Parents: Her entire family abused and exploited her.
- Berserk Button: Address her as "Wilhelmina" at your own risk.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: She is the one who lands the final blows on the Firstborn.
- Doesn't Like Guns: Although she is required to use one by the US Army.
- Jiggle Physics: During her battle stance, mostly.
- The Musketeer: Dual wields a katana and a machine pistol while fighting.
- Named Weapons: Her sword Nodachi and her pistol Kenju. Amusingly enough, Nodachi means "Greatsword/Field Sword" while Kenju is simply the Japanese for "pistol".
- Rape as Backstory: It's only part of her backstory and just one of the reasons why she has issues, but it's still worth noting.
- Sideboob
Father Paul Rawlings
A priest and the oldest member of the Squad, Rawlings has served as a Chaplain in the military, and is a veteran of war. He wields two Desert Eagles, and has the ability to heal squadmates and to curse enemies. He is also a powerful exorcist. He has a troubled past which he will not talk about, but it haunts him to this day. It is strongly implied that he knows a lot more about the Squad's mission than he is letting on. His strong personality often leads to him clashing with Delgado.
Tropes associated with Paul Rawlings:
- Dark and Troubled Past: Implied to be
none-too-savoury. - Hand Cannons Akimbo: He uses two .357 caliber Desert Eagles simultaneously!
- Healing Hands: His primary ability is healing squadmates.
- May–December Romance: Implied— by their actions and his words— to have had one of these with Muriel.
- Rawlings: (discovering Muriel's mangled body) I sent her here. I thought we needed space. I was afraid someone... might find out.
- Pedophile Priest: Lichthammer heavily implied that he committed pedophilic acts in his past. That being said, it is only ever mentioned by Lichthammer, who also claimed that Billie wanted Rawlings to rape her like her father had, and is never brought up again once she is defeated.
- Precision F-Strike: He only utters the word "fuck" once, just before the Squad battles the Firstborn.
Antagonists
The Firstborn
Tropes associated with the Firstborn:
- Creepy Child: Its true form is never shown.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Only played partially straight; its voice often has a deep undertone, and this is when it sounds the most sinister, but switches constantly between this, a childlike trill and a female voice midsentence. See Voice of the Legion below.
- Humanoid Abomination: An extremely powerful, sanity-breaking, reality-warping entity in the form of a malformed, genderless child.
- Parental Abandonment: The parent is God and the Abandonment was getting booted from creation (and thus reality) itself.
- Reality Warper: The Pyxis is the little corner outside reality where it's made itself home, and inside it, reality is all but it's plaything.
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: "Silence, bitch!" * SPLAT*
Arnold Leach
Leach is a former D.O.W. member turned Cult leader, dedicated to the worship and release of the Firstborn. He and his cult killed themselves in a horrific ritual suicide, opening the Breach once again, and they were all subsequently resurrected into Firstborn-warped monstrosities. Leach shows a deep hatred for Ross, has a mocking sense of humour, and possesses psychic powers.
Tropes associated with Arnold Leach:
- Came Back Wrong: Though he was evil to begin with, after committing suicide alongside his cultists in order to open the Pyxis he’s resurrected by the Firstborn as a hideous winged monster.
- Cult: Heads one known as the Brotherhood Of The Dark Rapture, who then proceeded to commit atrocities across the world in order to amass enough negative energy to open a breach into the Pyxis, contributing to the remainder by committing mass suicide.
- The Dog Bites Back: See Heel–Face Turn below.
- Eye Scream: His eyes are held open by cords of some description that wrap around his head.
- Face–Heel Turn: Used to be a D.O.W. member.
- Heel–Face Turn: ...But then seems to turn back at the end of the game, when, upon realizing that he was nothing more than the Firstborn's pawn, decides to take the responsibility of killing it.
- Heroic Sacrifice: After a change of heart upon realising the Firstborn’s duplicity, he sacrifices his life to destroy it.
- Winged Humanoid: Possesses wings made out of his own stretched flesh in his undead form.
Hanne Lichthammer
The psychic commander of the Geheimnisvoll Abwehrmacht, an elite army of psychic German soldiers which is heavily tied with the Nazi hierarchy. Lichthammer is highly sadomasochistic and spiteful, with a penchant for both physical and mental torture, and holds little regard for human life. She is an incredibly powerful telepath, and, upon her transformation by the Firstborn, also gains the ability to teleport and control the flies, as well as seeing an increase in her already strong powers. Often uses her telepathy for mental torture, to control her army, and to expose people's innermost fears and demons.
Tropes associated with Hanne Lichthammer:
- Came Back Wrong: Wronger. She was evil to begin with, but now her appearance reflects it.
- Entitled Bastard: She begs Church to spare her life, in spite of all of her evil deeds, numerous attempts to slaughter the Squad, and previous dog-kicking of Church. (The fact that the Squad needs to spill her blood to progress to the next Time Slice doesn't hurt, either.)
- Fan Disservice: Though she is, believe it or not, a source of titillation for some players... Considering the man behind the game, the interplay of sexuality was almost certainly intentional.
- Flunky Boss: She sends her soldiers to fight the Squad shortly before she decides to take them on herself.
- Form-Fitting Wardrobe: Complete with epic boobs. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the new sponsor of tit tape.
- Ghostapo: Although not an official division of the Wehrmacht or the SS, her occult group, the Geheimnisvoll Abwehrmacht was essentially this.
- Groin Attack: She expresses a desire to do very... nasty things to Rawlings' manly parts. Also, if you look closely, her crotch appears to be bloody and mutilated.
- Handicapped Badass: Kicks a lot of ass despite losing an eye. Could be a Justified Trope due to her demonic resurrection, although it is never made clear whether the loss of her eye happened while she was still human or not.
- Hate Sink: She's a psychic Nazi commander who guards the path of souls, littered in the countless bodies of her victims over the years in her service to the First Born. When confronted by the Jericho squad, Lichthammer continues to show her sadism in combat and even mocks the sexual abuse suffered by one member in her past.
- Kick the Dog: The way she uses details of Church's abusive past to mock both her and Rawlings.
- Lightning Bruiser: Despite her mutilated state, she’s extremely quick on her feet, packs a powerful punch and can take a massive amount of damage to subdue.
- Press X to Not Die: The scene with her exorcism is the longest interactive cutscene in the game, requires pretty quick reflexes (OH GOD SHE'S BITING ME ARGH GOD GET HER OFF) and is responsible for causing some players no small amount of frustration. It isn't really that hard once you get the hang of it, but it bears mentioning.
- Prophet Eyes: Well, eye, but, still.
- Villains Want Mercy: Pleads for her life just before Church kills her. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't help.
- Waif-Fu: Justified due to her resurrection by the Firstborn.
Bishop Maltheus St. Claire
A cruel and insane bishop, Maltheus assembled an army of children to fight in the Crusades with the Pope's consent, claiming their innocence and Christianity would protect them from harm. Whether he actually believed this or not is never specified. He saw Al-Khali through Firstborn-induced visions, believing it to be the Garden of Eden. When his child army was horribly slaughtered by the Saracens, Maltheus fled to the safety of the chapel. Unfortunately for him, the vengeful ghosts of the children took to haunting the chapel, and, naturally, things didn't end well for him. The blood of the children was sufficient enough to open the Breach, and Maltheus, like all the others, was raised from the dead as a monster.
Tropes associated with Maltheus St. Claire:
- Bilingual Bonus: A lot of his battle cries are in Latin.
- Came Back Wrong: Though he was completely insane to begin with.
- Death by Irony: Not just killed once, but twice, by the spirits of the Child Crusaders.
- Flunky Boss: Although, in a minor subversion, said "flunkies" are also busy attacking him, but that doesn't mean the Squad are exempt from their wrath.
- Groin Attack: If you look closely, his crotch appears to be bloody and possibly mutilated.
- Hate Sink: An insane bishop and implied pedophile who convinced the pope to grant him an army of children for a crusade, only for them to be slaughtered alongside with him. As a spirit in service to the First Born Maltheus traps the children's wrathful, tormented souls in his chambers and has the audacity to curse the Jericho squad for calling him out on the monster he is.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: After a prolonged fight with the Jericho squad, a weakened Maltheus orders the spirits of his child crusaders to come to his aid, only for them to turn on and lash him to death before retreating.
- Knight Templar: At about the same time as the Trope Namer no less and for much the same reason. Tellingly, said Trope Namer considered him a madman and set out to stop him. They were even the ones to close the Rift when he opened it, though they've since been consumed by the Firstborn or imprisoned by those who have and gone over the Despair Event Horizon.
- One-Hit Kill: Better hope you've got a couple of squad members outside the radius of his Black Rose attack.
- Pedophile Priest: His dialogue implies he had an unhealthy obsession with the children under his care. Also, his unlockable dossier says that he had "appetites" that he had trouble resisting and made him worry that he wasn't going to Heaven.
- Real Event, Fictional Cause: Zigzagged. The crusade that Maltheus led into the Middle East was known as the Children's Crusade in Real Life and was a real event, though it turned out even worse in-universe- In Real Life, said crusade was not sanctioned by the church (and thus was not a real crusade), and members of the crusade who stuck it out until the end were either shipwrecked or sold into slavery (events which are both mentioned in the game's unlockable dossiers); Maltheus himself didn't exist, nor did the slaughter of his charges happen in Real Life.
- Was Once a Man: He was once an unhinged bishop that led himself and his Child Soldiers to the deaths in the Crusades. Now he’s a towering Undead Abomination lurking in the depths of the Templars’ castle.
Governor Cassus Vicus
An obscene, perverted, cannibalistic Roman Governor, Vicus is highly hedonistic and incredibly obese. He was banished to Al-Khali by Caligula himself, as the latter did not want Vicus' excesses to rival his own. After opening the Breach after being promised endless orgies and parties in his dreams by the Firstborn, Vicus was, like everyone else, transformed into a monster. After spending literally thousands of years indulging himself in his endless perversions, Vicus has no intention of letting anyone spoil his party. He exhibits mild psychic abilities.
Tropes associated with Cassus Vicus:
- Bald of Evil: Exaggerated: his body appears to be totally devoid of hair.
- Body Horror: His stomach looks like it's literally exploded and been sewed back together.
- The Caligula: As governor of Al-Khali, he used his power to indulge his fetish for rape and slaughter.
- Came Back Wrong: Though he was evil to begin with, so its more of a case that he came back worse.
- Fat Bastard: He's massively obese and a totally irredeemable Sadist.
- Full-Frontal Assault: Wears not a single stitch of clothing, as a sign of his perversion and decadence.
- Faux Affably Evil: Upon confronting the Jericho squad, he carries himself with the demeanour of a jolly old Big Fun. All the while contemplating about what horrors he should do to them as he waddles down a hallway encrusted with gore and feces. And that’s discounting the fact that he was also leading them into a trap at the time.
- Handicapped Badass: Well, sort of - while he can deal out a lot of damage in spite of barely being able to move due to his obesity, he does require some help with it. Possibly justified due to his demonic resurrection.
- Hate Sink: A bloated Roman aristocrat who sates his appetites on the endless suffering of his immortal subjects, Vicus regularly has them crucified, defiled and cannibalized for his own delights. Aroused by his combat with the Jericho squad, Vicus' vile nature is symbolized in the waste he spews forth during their fight with him.
- The Hedonist: He just wants to be able to "feast and fuck and kill", without consequence.
- Hell Seeker: He's arguably the only one who actively sought his way into the Pyxis without ending up regretting it. While Maltheus is constantly being tormented by his children, Lichthammer finds herself locked in eternal combat against Blackwatch and Leach ends up being nailed to a wall by the Firstborn itself, Vicus had all his dreams fulfilled and all his wishes granted when he entered the Pyxis.
- I'm a Humanitarian: As his pre-Pyxis history would tell, he’s no stranger to the taste of human flesh.
- Large and in Charge: Happens to be large both vertically and horizontally.
- Living Forever Is Awesome: 2000 years of cannibalistic BDSM parties, and he's far from bored with his life in the Pyxis.
- Villainous Glutton: His appetite for fine food is just as big as his appetite for pain and suffering.
- Muriel Green
- Major Patrick "Pat" Buckland
- William De Auxerre
- Sir Richard De Gray
- Centurion Tercius Longinus
- Antadurunnu
- Ereshkigall
- Ki
- Ninlil
- Inanna
- Enlil
- Nanna
- Utu
