Characters appearing in My Name Is Cinder. All spoilers from the story are unmarked.
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The Stark Family
General Tropes
- Fairytale Motifs: Thanks to Brigit’s manipulations, Sterling and Clem are the siblings that torment Cinder.
- Unwitting Pawn: Brigit manipulates Sterling and Clementine into hating Cinder after their father kills himself.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Other than Brigit, the rest of Cinder's family doesn't get as much characterization before being killed. Only Clementine makes it past the first chapter.
Cinder
Cinder Autumn Stark
The oldest daughter and middle child. Find her tropes here. Brigit
Brigit Stark
Cinder's Abusive Mom. A gold digger who manipulated her husband into suicide to get his money.Tropes:
- Abusive Mom: Despite being her mother, Brigit isn't above abusing Cinder.
- Asshole Victim: If you’re glad that she got barbecued by Cinder, you definitely aren’t alone.
- Batman Gambit: Using Cinder's knowledge of her heartless nature, she makes Cinder make herself look like she's hurting her while Brigit acts sorrowful in front of her other children. From Sterling and Clem's perspective, Cinder was trying to invalidate their mother's feelings of grief. This helped to make Cinder's life miserable since her other children ended up hating her. Sterling even joins in on the torment.
- Beauty Is Bad: Being described as attractive doesn't stop Brigit from being pure evil.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She presents herself as a caring wife and mother, but she wants her family dead and horrifically abuses Cinder.
- Child Hater: She harbors no love for her children and only sees them as parasites in the way of getting money from her husband.
- Consummate Liar: Cinder says she has acting skills that would put movie stars to shame.
- Dirty Coward: While she acts all tough and scary, she takes out her aggressions on a child. When she’s not in a position of power, she quickly cowers in fear. Evidenced by her death; Cinder even calls her a coward in her narration. It was implied long before as well : she notes that she couldn't hurt Cinder when Anthony was still alive.
- Domestic Abuse: She abuses Cinder, kills Sterling and drives her husband to suicide.
- Evil Matriarch: Cinder’s abusive mother-figure is a greedy, purely evil monster with no concern for anyone but herself.
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Brigit is described as gorgeous many times. She's also a vicious, abusive, greedy, and Manipulative Bitch who's a gold digger. Cinder even describes her as a demon wrapped in an angel’s skin.
- Fairytale Motifs: She is Cinder’s greedy, controlling, abusive mother-figure who encourages her children to hate Cinder.
- Faux Affably Evil: The night she catches Cinder spying on her, she tucks her in at night while faking a motherly tone. However, her words imply that she'll make Cinder life miserable if she says anything.
- For the Evulz: Her logic might see abusing Cinder as her punishment for trying to expose her cruel nature, but there really isn't much reason for it other than to be cruel.
- Gold Digger: She only married Cinder’s father for his money.
- Hate Sink: Completely devoid of any redeeming qualities and only exists to be hated.
- Hoist by Her Own Petard: Her Batman Gambit worked to make Cinder's siblings hate her while getting away with driving her husband to suicide. However, exposing her cruel nature to Cinder only made the girl resent her. Eventually, she comes up with a plan to kill her and it's hard to say that Brigit didn't bring it upon herself for the way she treated her daughter.
- Hypocrite: She calls Cinder a "psycho brat" for killing Clementine. This coming from the woman who drove her husband to suicide for money, poisoned her son for the same reason, and frequently beat her daughter just because she tried to expose her true nature. Cinder immediately calls her out on this.
- Icy Blue Eyes: Cinder mentions her cold blue eyes. Fitting her personality quite well.
- It's All About Me: Her first and only concern is herself. She only cares about getting money and is willing to kill her own children and her husband just to get the inheritance.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: For years, she essentially got away with conspiring to drive her husband to suicide and abusing her daughter while taking his money. She thought she'd be set for life, but Cinder made sure that karma caught up with Brigit.
- Kick the Dog: Pretty much everything that she does to Cinder. There’s also the fact that she tells her husband that she never loved him in order to get him to kill himself while coldly dismissing his death when she sees him hanging.
- Lack of Empathy: Brigit is incapable of seeing people as anything other than means to her own ends. She only says "Good riddance" when she makes her husband kill himself and doesn't care about traumatizing her children by showing them his hanging dead body. She also kills her son before he turns eighteen.
- Manipulative Bitch: She tricks her other children into hating Cinder to justify her abuse and can even manipulate public perception when her husband kills himself. She also manipulated Cinder into making herself look bad, so she can make her other children hate her for "hurting mommy."
- Meaningful Name: Brigit’s name comes from the Irish goddess Brigid, who was the goddess of fire. And as the writer implies, fire leaves behind cinders after it is gone.
- Ms. Fanservice: Cinder mentions that she has a body that most women would kill for. It doesn’t get a lot of focus in the story, but Cinder says she got her looks from her.
- Murder by Suicide: After growing tired of waiting for his depression to become too much to bear for him, Brigit decides to give him the final push by saying that she never loved him. This causes him to finally hang himself. A few people say that she killed him when referring to this incident.
- My God, You Are Serious!: She thinks that Cinder handcuffing her to the banister is some kind of joke. She finds it to be hilarious and promises not to beat her if she lets her out immediately. Cinder quickly assures her that it is not a joke. And Brigit's amusement ends just as quickly.
- Oh, Crap!: When she realizes that Cinder is definitely going to leave her for dead.
- Offing the Offspring: Cinder mentioned that Sterling was poisoned sometime between Chapters 1 and 2 of My Name Is Cinder. She speculates that it was Brigit's doing.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Her total appearance in this series only spans two chapters, but she has a profound impact on the story as a whole. In this continuity, if it were not for her, Cinder wouldn’t be evil and she wouldn’t have assembled Team CRME. Her abuse also still has direct lasting effects on Cinder as her attack on Melanie Black shows. Also, Mercury possibly wouldn't even be alive if not for Cinder looking for Marcus. He would've bled out and died after killing his father had Cinder and Emerald not gotten there when they did. To take things a step further, Cinder is the one who hired Roman for the Dust robbery that Ruby intervened in. Basically, Ozpin wouldn't have noticed Ruby's fighting skills, she wouldn't have been accepted into Beacon early, and the entire show wouldn't have happened the way it did. In this fic series, she is in essence responsible for RWBY happening in the first place.
- Smug Snake: She thinks she got away with everything, and she genuinely did for years. However, her superiority over Cinder is shown to be misplaced when her daughter leaves her for dead. She is reduced to begging for Cinder to release her since her manipulation doesn't work on Cinder.
- The Sociopath: A near textbook example. She's selfish, manipulative, devoid of conscience, superficially charming, and only sees people as means to her own ends. Now we know where Cinder gets most of it from.
- Starter Villain: She is killed in the second chapter of My Name Is Cinder, but she is the first hurdle Cinder must overcome to become the villain she is in the series proper.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: While it’s likely that Salem would have found another person to take Cinder’s place, Brigit turned Cinder into the monster she was, making it easier for Salem to take advantage of her and destroy Vale.
- Villainous Breakdown: She wigs out when Cinder doesn't release her.
- Villains Want Mercy: She tries to get Cinder to release her and freaks out when she doesn’t. She keeps hopelessly begging Cinder for an escape.
- Would Hurt a Child: She nearly chokes out six-year-old Cinder when the latter catches her complaining about having another child and admitting that she tried to get rid of her and Sterling before they were born.
- You're Insane!: She calls Cinder a "psycho brat" for killing her sister. As pointed out in Hypocrite above, she doesn't have much room to talk.
Anthony
Anthony Stark
Cinder’s father and Brigit’s husband. He had lived with depression.Tropes:
- Driven to Suicide: Brigit planned on him killing himself and he ends up hanging himself after Brigit says that she never loved him.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He’s mostly referred to as their father or Brigit’s husband. His first name was only used once.
- Good Parents: Cinder notes that Anthony was always glad to see her and her siblings and that they were the one thing that kept him going through his depression. In fact, Brigit considers killing one of their children in the hopes of driving him to suicide. She also notes that she couldn't abuse Cinder when Anthony was still alive.
- Morality Pet: Anthony's children were the only thing that prevented him from committing suicide, up until Brigit revealed that she never loved Anthony.
- Parental Favoritism: Heavily downplayed and not even shown on-screen. Brigit states once that Anthony was especially fond of Cinder.
- Posthumous Character: Since the first chapter is Cinder recounting her life up to the present day in that chapter, it means he’s already long dead considering the present-tense format primarily used in the solo stories.
- Shout-Out: Yes. His name is Anthony Stark.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: While not much was known about him, by the time Cinder joins Salem, Anthony is the only one of his family who hasn't any speck of evil in his heart. He's also the first of said family to die.
- Unnamed Parent: Up until an edit in late May of 2018 gave him his first name, he went without one.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Even more so than his children. He doesn’t even get lines or (up until months after the story was completed) a first name.
- White Sheep: For his short screentime, he seems to be that. Compared to the ridiculously abusive Brigit, Sterling and Clementine who were taught to hate their — back then still innocent — sister Cinder and the latter becoming worse than Brigit, Anthony's lack of evil deeds make him stand out.
Sterling
Sterling Stark
The eldest Stark child and Cinder’s older brother.Tropes:
- Alliterative Name
- Big Brother Bully: To Cinder, thanks to Brigit’s manipulations.
- Killed Offscreen: He was said to have been poisoned between chapters 1 and 2.
- Unwitting Pawn: He is manipulated into bullying Cinder.
Clementine
Clementine Stark
The youngest Stark child and Cinder’s younger sister.Tropes:
- Harmful to Minors: While all the children saw their father’s body, she was specifically shielded from seeing it.
- Kill the Cutie: She was killed by Cinder.
- Mercy Kill: Cinder kills her because she doesn’t want her to grow up without a mother or to die painfully in a fire.
- Unwitting Pawn: She was taught to hate Cinder by Brigit.
Bandits
Grayson
Scarlet Grayson
The leader of a Bandit tribe that took Cinder in.Tropes:
- Affably Evil: For a murderous bandit, she is quite nice to her tribe and Cinder.
- Bandit Clan: She is the leader of one.
- Curtains Match the Window: Her hair and eyes are red.
- Ephebophile: She still wanted Cinder despite the fact that Cinder was fifteen at the time.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She truly wants Cinder to love her and cares about the members of her tribe.
- Even Evil Has Standards: She doesn’t believe in harming children in the raids and demands loyalty to the tribe.
- Hypocrite: She has a man killed for warning a tribe about the raid so that they would be ready. She sees no problem picking off an easy target, but she will be furious with someone doing the right thing and going against the tribe.
- Incompatible Orientation: She is a lesbian who wants to be with the asexual Cinder. It has a layer of irony considering the fact that Cinder wasn't using her body to manipulate people yet like she does with Emerald. Otherwise, she might have had a chance since Cinder could use the attachment to keep herself safe.
- In the Back: Cinder stabs her in the back just before killing her.
- Meaningful Name: Scarlet has red hair and eyes.
- Mentor Archetype: Before Salem came along, she was the one who trained Cinder to fight.
- Slashed Throat: How she is ultimately killed by Cinder.
- Statuesque Stunner: Downplayed. Cinder says that she's rather tall and that she's easy on the eyes.
- Two First Names: "Grayson" can be a male given name, and it's likely why Cinder expected her to be a man.
- With Us or Against Us: She believes in loyalty to the tribe at all costs. If you’re not with the tribe, you don’t deserve mercy.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: She makes a point for her and her men to not harm children during their raids. Some may get hurt by Grimm beasts, but that can’t be helped.
Hunter
Hunter
One of the bandits in Grayson's clan.- Gender-Concealing Writing: His description of Grayson conveniently leaves out any pronouns to indicate that she is female.
- Killed Offscreen: If he wasn't killed in the Ursa attack, he had to have been killed somewhere along the line.
- Mr. Exposition: His role is mostly to tell Cinder about Grayson.
- Only One Name: To be fair, he's not important enough to have another since he doesn't really serve any purpose in the plot.
The Kidnappers
The Three Kidnappers
The bandits that attacked and abducted Cinder.- Asshole Victim: If they died in the Ursa attack, then the fact that they abducted a fifteen-year-old girl to pass her along as an offering doesn't gain them much sympathy.
- No Name Given
- Would Hurt a Child: They were not going to kill her since Grayson wouldn't allow it, but they still attacked her and planned to trade her off to Grayson as an offering and essentially a Sex Slave.note
Salem and Her Inner Circle
Salem
Watts
Doctor Arthur Watts
Find his tropes here. Tyrian
Tyrian Callows
A scorpion Faunus and member of Salem’s inner circle.Tropes:
- Ax-Crazy: Tyrian is called a lunatic and a madman. His idea of a funny joke was to attempt to sting Cinder. Him laughing about Cinder stabbing her sister in the throat and burning her mother alive also doesn’t suggest a lot of mental soundness.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: His idea of a prank involves attempting to lethally poison a fifteen-year-old girl.
- Faux Affably Evil: He is very polite to Cinder... just before attempting to sting her with his tail.
- The Ghost: In CRME. He is mentioned a few times, but he never actually makes an appearance.
- Psychopathic Manchild: He tries to play a prank on Cinder that could’ve lethally poisoned her had she not been quick enough. And he cowers in fear when Salem reprimands him much like a child being scolded by a parent.
- Troll: He politely introduces himself to Cinder and holds out his hand for a handshake… only to attempt to sting her hand with his tail.
Hazel
Hazel Rainart
A member of Salem’s inner circle.Tropes:
- Affably Evil: He behaves in a fatherly manner towards Cinder, but he still works for Salem.
- Out of Focus: He doesn't get nearly as much characterization as Salem's other subordinates. Even though Tyrian has a short time in the series, he still has more lines.
- Parental Substitute: Cinder says he acted like a father to her.
- The Quiet One: He’s not much of a talker in this series.
