Mark Rowe
Portrayed By: Daniel Clark (TV)
The protagonist of the story. He has secret magical abilities. This is why he is taken to the island Baladora to test out his shrunken head.
- Adaptational Curves: He mentions in the book that he's a bit chubby. But the actor who portrays him in the TV episode is quite skinny.
- Badass Adorable: He is a quirky boy who can be a bit awkward at times. He quickly finds out that he has "Jungle magic" with the shrunken head, and uses that to his advantage to find his Aunt Benna.
- Boys Like Creepy Critters: When first exploring the jungle around Baladora with Kareen, Mark found some amazing yellow spiders that were nearly as big as his fist, and Kareen also showed him a carnivorous plant that can trap an insect inside itself for days before it digests it all. Mark thought these all were pretty cool.
- Catchphrase: Likes to shout "Ka-lee-yah!" when excited. It turns out to be a magic incantation to use his Jungle magic.
- Cloudcuckoolander: His mind tends to wander off into some interesting thoughts. And when he discovers that he has jungle magic, this becomes worse.
- Disappointing Older Sibling: Overlaps with Big Brother Bully. His sister, Jessica, is annoyed with him constantly for refusing to let her play his video games on the computer. And when Mark finds out that he'll be going to Baladora on a trip, he refuses to let Jessica come along, much to her outrage.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: He ends up defeating the evil Hawlings family, happily reunited with his aunt, and is able to make it safely back home. Though, he does end up losing his magical abilities and finds out that his shrunken head is still sentient.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He is quite rude with his friends and Jessica, but he has a sentimental side when sympathizing with Kareen over her family and later with Aunt Benna.
- Meaningful Name: The name "Mark" means "to be war-like". He is also granted with magical abilities and fights the Hawlings family to protect him and his aunt.
- Only Friend: Implied to be this with Kareen. It is mentioned that she does not have anyone else her age on the island to hang out with, and when she starts to get closely acquainted to Mark, she seems to delight in being around him. This trope might be why she feels so guilty about revealing her falsehood in front of Mark, as she did genuinely like hanging out with him.
- Properly Paranoid: When he sees in a journal how corrupt the Hawlings family is, he believes that this includes Kareen, and accuses her of going after Aunt Benna. And when the ruse is revealed, his accusations prove to be mostly correct, except for the fact taht she actually wanted to be his friend.
- Sibling Rivalry: Is shown to have this with Jessica at the beginning of the story. When he receives the shrunken head at home, Jessica immediately wants it and they fight over it. And when Mark is excited about going to Baladora, Jessica immediately starts arguing about wanting to go as well, with him retorting that she can go next time.
- With Friends Like These...: He doesn't like sharing his computer games with his two best friends, much to their frustration.
- Would Hit a Girl: He was willing to actually beat up Kareen when he suddenly comes into confrontation with her on why her family is after his aunt.
Kareen Hawlings
Portrayed By: Beki Lantos (TV)
The daughter of a scientist on the island who quickly befriends Mark.
- Asshole Victim: She certainly had it coming when she was shrunk to the size of a mouse in the wilderness.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She pretends to be helping Mark, but she then turns him and his aunt over to her father.
- Creepy Blue Eyes: Has them, and Mark notes that she looks creepy after he finds out that she is evil like her father.
- Daddy's Girl: She is awfully close to her father, so much so that he entrusts her to lure Mark into a false sense of security and lead her father to his aunt to find out about the jungle magic.
- Evil All Along: She convinces Mark that she, unlike her father, is on the good side. In reality, she's almost as bad as he is.
- False Friend: Downplayed. She lied so much to him in order to track him and his aunt down, but she seemed to genuinely like him. She also seemed pretty guilty when he gets angry at her for having been so false towards him.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Inverted in the TV episode.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: The shrunken head does not seem to be evil or anything or the sort, just one with mystic abilities. But Kareen hides her true nature in order to gain it through utter greed.
- Incredible Shrinking Man: When Mark uses the shrunken head and magic words against her, Dr. Hawlings, and his wife, they shrink to the size of mice. They then angrily run around before disappearing in the tall grass.
- Manipulative Bitch: She fools Mark into thinking that he can trust her into finding his aunt and keeping them safe. Then, while she goes along with him to search for her, she has her father trailing not far behind them to track them. She also listens to what Mark tells her about what he discovered of the shrunken head and jungle magic, so she can later pass the information all along to her father.
- The Mole: She pretends to be actually on Mark's side unlike her father, and attempts to help him whenver she can, but these were all for a more sinister purpose because she actually is working with her.
- Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: When she shrinks down because of Mark, she disappears under the large sunhat she was wearing and reappears by crawling under it. Mark doesn't point it out in his narration, but if that included all her OTHER clothes as well, then she is trapped outside in the jungle naked along with her father and mother.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: When she reveals her true colors, she is shown to be quite cunning, manipulative, and dishonest in order to get her goal.
- Walking Spoiler: Mentioning anything about her friendship with Mark and her relationship with her father is bound to give away most of the story's plot.
- Was It All a Lie?: When she reveals her falsehood, Mark angrily asks her this trope, enraged that she wasn't really her friend. She looks down in guilt, and said that she did what she had to, but she really did enjoy being his friend.
Shrunken Head
The head in the TV series
The titular shrunken head that Mark receives. It allows him to use the jungle magic his Aunt Benna put in him.- Ascended Extra: Mildly. In the TV episode, it does a bit more, such as leading Mark to Benna's tapes and speaking more often.
- The Cameo: It makes a small appearance in the movie on the Muglani's staff.
- Magical Incantation: Mark activates it's powers by shouting "Kah-Lee-Ah!"
- Suddenly Speaking: It doesn't speak until the very end, when it asks Mark to let it tell the part about the tiger.
- Words Do Not Make The Magic: The jungle magic must be placed inside you for the aforementioned words to work.
