Blind Without 'Em: Leven is very nearsighted, to the point of being a serious disability. However, his abusive stepmother Addy refuses to get him glasses, because she thinks "it would make her look odd, walking around town with a bespectacled boy." Luckily, the magic of Foo corrects such problems.
Power Incontinence: Going along with How Do I Shot Web? above, when it decides to show up, Leven's Offing ability sometimes has unexpected results. Oh, it always does what it's supposed to, but it often takes an awfully strange and roundabout path to it. In the first book, a sleep-deprived and starving Leven is trying to make a woman give him her sandwich. She does - because she's so terribly sorry for punching him in the face. In the second book, Leven and Clover are trapped in a trench which is quickly filling up with a sealant which will trap and suffocate them. Leven's ability gives them a way out: using Clover's stash of magical candy to turn Leven into a living piece of bubble gum and let the wind blow them to freedom.
Significant Wardrobe Shift: In the beginning, Leven generally dresses in jeans and an old, beat-up hoodie. On top of that image, his abusive stepmother makes him wear the free T-shirts she gets from her job at a baby wipe company. He always wears them inside out. We know he's starting to mature when he changes into the woven robes of the Foo elite.
Socially Awkward Hero: One of the least popular kids at school, and a constant target of bullies, at least until Winter freezes them.
Super-Senses: When manipulating fate, this can manifest.
Winter Frore
And Your Reward Is Infancy: Having originally fought in the first war for Foo, Winter chose to be put in a baby's body and sent back to Reality, to grow up with no memory of who she used to be. It turns out for the best.
Blithe Spirit: Whether she counts as a Fish out of Water depends on which life you count as the "real" one, but if you consider her "real" self to be the one before she was reincarnated, she is most definitely this.
Expressive Hair: Winter's messy, wild blond hair tends to blow in the wind without any wind and move according to her mood.
Messy Hair: Her instantly recognizeable character trait.
Not Afraid of You Anymore: She re- discovers her powers when she finally gets fed up with her self-satisfied walrus of a teacher, and freezes the whole classroom.
Clover Ernest
Allergic to Routine: Barely made it through guard duty throughout Leven's childhood.
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Often disappears for days at a time, only to show up again with either no explanation, or a completely unbelievable one, for where he's been.
Bad Liar: Unfortunate for anyone who gets into as much trouble as Clover does.
Blind Obedience: This is the ultimate goal of his species, and he tries his best, but just isn't very good at it.
Collector of the Strange: His "void" (Bigger on the Inside pocket) is stuffed full with stolen valuables, live small animals, unidentifiable... things, and of course his infamous candies.
Constantly Curious: Apparently a racial trait, but Clover takes it up a notch.
Cool People Rebel Against Authority: Clover is the only known sycophant not to live up to his species' name. He tends to be good-natured, but a little overly mischevious and dangerously curious. He's also the only sycophant to be an important character, and his masters have all been highly important people.
Cuddle Bug: His favorite place to sleep is curled up in the hood of Leven's hoodie, pressed against his shoulders.
Dreadful Musician: Makes small animals beg for mercy with his attempts at "whistling."
Paste Eater: Many of the 'candies' in his infamous candy stash were made illegal years ago.
Extreme Doormat: On his worst days. He is one of the race of Lithens, who believe that fate solves all problems on its own. After his anger and bitterness is magically taken out of him and given its own consciousness, he all but loses the ability to work for his own ends.
Nerves of Steel: Withstands being ripped apart, thrown in a volcano, swallowed by a fish, a worm and a giant snake golem, and worse with little more than an "Interesting."
Seen It All: Again, goes along with being a Lithen.
The Stoic: Goes along with being a Lithen; however, it's revealed that he didn't use to be this way; his emotional drive was magically taken from him.
Time Abyss: Is implied to be as old as Foo itself, i.e., literally as old as dreams.
Villains
Sabine
Bad Boss: When you can kill your employees just by clapping...Then again, they are literally his shadows.
Ezra
Attack! Attack! Attack!: His uncontrollable rage leads into some pretty impossible battles for a magically animated toothpick.
The Berserker: Being created out of the rage and bitterness of someone else will do that to you.
Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Even when broken almost clean in half and nearly in tears, his response to attempts at comfort is to brutally tear down the self-confidence of the one who tried.
Anti-Villain: You can't help but feel sorry for him, as revolting as he is.
Extreme Doormat: Has been the perfect drone of an employee for his whole life; has absolutely no willpower to make things better than they are, at least until he gets possessed by Sabine.
High Hopes, Zero Talent: Loves to build model airplanes and dream of something better, but has absolutely nothing to make it happen with. Except, of course, for a frilly, talking, continually furious toothpick and the remnants of the essence of something or someone profoundly evil.
Recruited from the Gutter: Continues to help Sabine and Ezra because his old life is so utterly miserable, and Sabine makes him feel powerful, while Ezra continually reminds him how pathetic he used to be. Oh, and also he's possessed.
Allies
Teddy
Janet Frore
Disability as an Excuse for Jerkassery: Lives off disability benefits (for what, who knows) and uses them to laze around and force her daughter to take care of her.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: After she is turned into a Whisp and sent to Foo, she realizes how awful she was to her daughter, and her goal in life becomes to find her and make it up to her.
Jerkass Woobie: Sure, she was already a Jerkass, but she got a lot worse when the man she considered her true love dumped her for being "repulsive."
Amelia Thumps
Hector Thumps
Eye on a Stalk: Apparently a side effect of being the Want.
