A collection of the different characters in Maize.
The Player
Actor(s): None
A character with no notable attributes who awakens in a corn field.
Tropes:
- Idiot Hero: The Folio descriptions reveal that the protagonist is really, very dumb.
- Silent Protagonist: Never says a word. Vladdy is often annoyed by this.
- The Champion: Declared one by the Ruby Queen for helping her and the Corn People.
- Tomato in the Mirror: It is revealed that you are actually one of several scarecrows installed on site.
Vladdy
Actor:
A Teddy-Bear with a robotic arm and backpack, Vladdy follows you every step of the way and points out how ridiculous all of this is.
Tropes:
- Deadpan Snarker: His bread and butter.
- Deathbed Confession: Vladdy think you not...so...stupid.
- Empathy Pet: Of a sort, Vladdy's grabby-claw-thingy seems to have a mind of it's own and emotes accordingly.
- Heroic Sacrifice: When he sees that the protagonist is targeted by the military drones, Vladdy jumps to action to use his ability to fix things (by kicking them) on the spire. It works, and the drones are destroyed, but Vladdy is electrocuted and burnt beyond repair in the process.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: The game frequently reminds you that, despite everything, Vladdy will still follow you and help you out. Even if he begins to regret it.
- Husky Russkie: Slightly downplayed. He speaks with a Russian Accent, calls the Americans on the radio "Idiot Cowboys", refers to himself in 3rd person and calls you comrade. The only thing stopping him from being Big and Strong is that he's stuck in a teddy bear body.
- Only Sane Bear: Between you, the corn, and the facility, he can only shake his head and declare how stupid everything about this situation is.
- Percussive Maintenance: Vladdy's way of "fixing" things. It works frequently.
- Russian Guy Suffers Most: Most of it happens offscreen in air ducts where the player can only hear noises and guess at what is going on.
- Silent Snarker: Vladdy's claw-thing. It will sometimes "look" at Vladdy pointedly when he says something hypocritical.
- Verbal Tic: Vladdy thinks everything is STUPID! GARBAGE! Idiot.
The Cornacabra
Actor(s):
The Antagonist of this story. An angry and self righteous corn person who attempted a coup against the Ruby Queen by locking her up. Generally petty and doing everything he can to stop your's and Vladdy's progress.
Tropes:
- All There in the Manual: His name is never given at any point in the game, even in the collectible notes, and only appears in the end credits.
- Ambition Is Evil: Presumes himself better than the Ruby Queen in terms of ruling the other Corn People.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Near the end of the game, after being told to leave by the Ruby Queen, the Cornacabra somehow mounts one of the drones sent after the field.
- Call a Human a "Meatbag": Has no love for his creators or any humans in general.
- Evil Is Petty: After ranting to himself, The Cornacabra will run out of a room he's in, to return in order to knock over a mug.
- Harmless Villain: He's a giant goofball who is mainly encountered in cutscenes (save for the end) and runs away most of the time.
- Kill All Humans: Has this attitude. At first it seems like he's responsible for killing all the facility's research staff, but towards the end you learn Bob fired everyone after running out of money, before he and Ted hastily escaped in a sub before the government could audit them.
- Poke the Poodle: Some of the things he does, from messing with the controls of a crane machine just to spite you, to imprisoning the sentient scarecrows in an eternal dance party.
- Speech Impediment: Has a very pronounced lisp.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Is defeated by you throwing an English muffin at him.
Bob
Actor(s): N/A
One of the two scientists in charge of the facility, Bob is more familiar with the presentation/humanities side of scientific work. Writes in red pen and on mauve post-it notes.
Tropes:
- Achievements in Ignorance: Good Lord. It's his fault that the entirety of the Farm and Labs are so poorly planned, as well as major mismanagement of funds during the of the corn experiments.
- Cloudcuckoo Lander: Where to begin?
- Fat and Skinny: The Fat to Ted's Skinny.
- Pointy-Haired Boss: Bob doesn't seem so much malevolent so much as he just doesn't have a clue what he's doing. Consequentially, everyone in the facility suffers.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Played with in his and Ted's color motif. He is the more emotional and carefree of the duo; as well as focused on interpersonal relations/humanites - such as installing fishtanks or lobbies, as well as discussing tours of the secret research facility he works in.
Ted
Actor(s): N/A
The second of the two researchers, who seems far more focused on getting research done than Bob. Writes in blue in and on blue post-its.
Tropes:
- Catchphrase: Every single one of his post-it notes ends with, "-CORDIALLY, TED".
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: A not terribly effective version, compared to most examples. Ted does everything in his power to reign in Bob's sloth and less than stellar moments, but to no avail.
- Fat and Skinny: The Skinny to Bob's Fat.
- Only Sane Man: Subverted Ted believes himself to be in this position, but if Helen's notes are anything to go by, it is his and Bob's fault that the majority of the corn is very stupid.
- Not So Above It All: When Bob suggests to start a record to drum up funds, Ted joins in and writes lyrics as well as produces the music. After seeing Bob's hundreds of statues, he also gets one done in his image and even brags about it (though not for long once Bob puts one next to his that is thrice its size).
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue Oni of the duo, Ted is very focused on his work as well as being very precise about the management of the facility/his things.
- The Workaholic: Implied in his notes to Bob.
Fernando
Actor(s): N/A
An assistant working for Bob and Ted.
Tropes:
- Sadist: He really seems to enjoy torturing the corn people.
- Too Dumb to Live: Is told by the corn that connecting himself to and turning on the spire would give him powers. It does not do that.
Helen
Actor(s): N/A
A third researcher who appears (albeit in notes and documents) later on in the game. Writes in Orange.
Tropes:
- Only Sane Man: She stays out of Bob and Ted's feuding and manages to create the Ruby Queen as well as the contingencies to enable them to leave the site. It's because of her that the Ruby Queen was developed, which is functionally much smarter than the rest of the corn people. She also crafted the plans to help the Corn People leave the facility.
The Corn People
Actor(s):
A group of genetically engineered corn that enables sentience and speech... Not that it accounts for much.
Tropes:
- Achievements in Ignorance
- Apathetic Citizens: No matter what happens, the Corn will always want to take a nap.
- The Ditz: An entire species of them. Justified since Helen's notes reveal that Bob and Ted tampered with the corn's intelligence.
- Those Three Guys: The recurring trio of corn people the player character encounters throughout the game. According to the credits, their names are Jim, Bill, and Fred.
- Single-Gender Species: With the exception of the Ruby Queen. As noted in Helen's notes, this could be on account that different species of corn were used to create each "group".
- Stealth Pun: Why are all the corn talking in English accents? They're 'Cornish'.
- Too Dumb to Live: They are all blown up because they didn't close the fuel hatch in the rocketship.
The Ruby Queen
Actor(s):
Developed from the Ruby Queen strain of corn by Helen, the Queen acts as their ruler and general straight-woman to her races' general silly antics.
Tropes:
- Knight of Cerebus: A non-villainous example. The silliness of the environment always stops whenever she's around. During the final moments of the game, an air raid is called on the farm, she doesn't participate in the dance sequence that stops said raid, and all the Corn People wind up dying due to their incompetence.
- Only Sane Woman: Compared to the other corn people, she's a genius.
- Royal "We": Suiting, given she is sovereign of all of the Corn People.
- The Smurfette Principle: The only female corn person.
