Characters / New Hope University: Major In Murder

Here is a list of characters for New Hope University: Major In Murder, sorted by gender. Be warned: all spoilers are unmarked.

Female Students

Saya Wild

Created By: Ally Nicole Rose

Talent: Ultimate Chess Grandmaster

Saya is the protagonist of the fic, as well as the first-person narrator.

Saya survives the killing game.

• Angst Coma: She passes out after Lucina's execution.
• Aroused by Their Voice: She considers Lucina's voice "gorgeous and musical" when Lucina finally speaks in the fifth trial.
• Badass Boast: Her reason for wearing Nicole's turtleneck.
  "I figured that when I look in the mirror, I want to see someone with her shit together. Because we are not the kind of people who fail exams."
• Can't Take Criticism: She gets very upset with Lucina's criticisms of her manipulative tactics, and asks if Lucina would rather let everyone else die.
• Did Not Get the Girl: Lucina chooses Katy over Saya after the third trial, and ultimately dies in the fifth trial.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Starting at the end of Chapter III, she gets jealous of Katy for going out with Lucina, but has so far not acted on those feelings.
• Guile Hero: Saya is fairly cunning and manipulative, a quality that Lucina fears.
• I Did What I Had to Do: She says this verbatim when Lucina calls her out over her manipulative tactics in the trial, saying she's the reason they're still alive.
• Jerkass Realization: At the start of Chapter III, she owns up to the fact that she was using others to cover for her own flaws, and apologizes to Lucina, who also apologizes.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: She purposefully makes mistakes during the trial as part of a broader scheme.
• Tragic Keepsake: Her dark grey turtleneck, which she got from Nicole. She wears it to the "final exam."

Juliet Mountebank

Created By: J Carp

Talent: Ultimate Girlfriend

A woman who claims to have completely dedicated herself to love, and turns out to have been responsible for several murders, including being the mastermind behind JP's killing Emily.

Juliet is the victim in the fifth Chapter.

• Asshole Victim: Saya considers her one after everything she put the others through.
  "Juliet, evil, confounding Juliet... was dead. I didn't believe in the death penalty even before coming to murder-college, but even the small glimpses I had of her crimes shook the foundation of that particular moral value. If anyone deserved to die, she did. If anyone didn't deserve to die, it was whoever killed her. This unfair, vicious place was going to act out its cruelty again."
• Karma Houdini Warranty: She's responsible for the second murder, but avoids being executed since she didn't actually kill Emily. In Chapter 5, however, she ends up being killed by Lucina.
• Love Makes You Crazy: She plots a murder and plans on letting herself get caught, which would result in her being executed, all so her "beloved" can graduate.
• Love Redeems: Her story, which is implied to be that of the "wicked princess," suggests that she hopes to be redeemed by falling in love.
• Taking the Heat: She intentionally draws suspicion to herself in order to take it away from JP. While Juliet planned the murder in advance, JP was the one who actually killed Emily.
• Token Evil Teammate: She's by far the most unhinged of the group and is responsible for causing a murder, similar to Nagito from the second game.

Lucina Sorenson

Created By: ThatOneFireEmblemFan

Talent: Ultimate Conductor

A talented conductor who is unable to speak.

Lucina is the killer in the fifth trial.

• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • After the first trial, she asks if Saya enjoyed manipulating the other classmates during the trial.
  • Late in the fifth trial, after Saya has realized that Lucina is the culprit, Lucina likens her actions to those of JP, the second culprit. Saya protests against the comparison, and is about to say what the person in question really was, when Lucina interrupts by saying, "A murderer?"
• Brutal Honesty: Played with. While her rebuke of Saya is certainly brutally honest, Lucina admits that she was always afraid to be direct with others, which is why she wanted Saya to be that way, and was disappointed when she wasn't.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Not only does she get repeatedly shot during her execution, but Monokuma kills her by setting her virtual reality pod on fire. He claims that she didn't feel anything when he burned her real body alive, but that's still a gruesome death.
• Cute Mute: She's unable to speak and communicates by writing on pieces of paper. She regains the ability to speak while in the virtual reality simulator during the fifth trial
• Expy: She shares a given name and a hair color with a certain Fire Emblem: Awakening heroine.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one to Saya, as mentioned under What the Hell, Hero?.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Gives a relatively subtle one to Juliet. When Juliet claims that the Cricket can't detect any lies that Lucina writes down, Rocky asks Lucina to write down a lie to test it out. Lucina complies and writes "I am afraid of Juliet," something that the Cricket detects as a lie.
• Shy Blue-Haired Girl: She's said to be fairly shy and her hair is dyed blue.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: She proves surprisingly foul-mouthed once she gets her voice back in the VR simulation.
• Talking with Signs: Her primary method of communication, although she uses sign language with Katy and is once again able to speak during the fifth trial.
• Sympathetic Murderer: After everything Juliet did, Saya feels a lot worse about Lucina's death than about Juliet's.
• What the Hell, Hero?: She gives Saya a blistering one after the first trial, saying that she appreciates her help, but is genuinely afraid of her manipulative nature. Saya doesn't take it well.

Ashley Coelho

Created By: QueenOfChocolateWinx

Talent: Ultimate Debater

An overachieving girl who's also a talented debater.

She is the first victim in Chapter III, having been murdered by Earl.

• Abusive Parents: Her father apparently pushed her quite hard, apparently punishing her harshly when she didn't meet his standards.
• Honor Thy Abuser: Despite being fully aware that her father is not a good person, Ashley is grateful to him for molding her into the person she is today.
• The Perfectionist: A high-strung overachiever who's determined to succeed.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Despite calling her father "a fucker" and "an outright psychopath," Ashley still defends his rather harsh parenting methods as enabling her success, and says that what matters most is that he believes in her. Fittingly, she's the "Obedient Princess," who willingly endures any suffering her father inflicts on her.

Jane Edwards

Created By: Tario Ed

Talent: Ultimate Geneticist

A haughty, if promising geneticist who says she is only attending school to fulfill her employers' requirement for a college degree.

Jane survives the killing game.

• Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Despite her typical condescending attitude, she appeared to have a genuine big-sister relationship with Emily.
• Insufferable Genius: Her Establishing Character Moment has her belittling her classmates by expressing a desire for "more academic" peers.
• Jerkass->Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's a highly unpleasant person and once deeply upsets Saya by suggesting that Saya will be killed. That being said, she softens as the fic goes on and shows a more pleasant side, even if she isn't exactly nice.
• You're Insane!: She has this reaction to Therion being willing to die for the sake of a game. Therion blandly says that he won't be the first.

Nicole Archina

Created By: HeadphonesLynx07

Talent: Ultimate Fashion Designer

A girl who is passionate about science and has a short attention span.

She is the culprit in the third trial, having murdered Earl after the latter killed Ashley.

• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: She often loses focus in her introductory conversation.

Katy Thorson

Created By: dashunterman

Talent: Ultimate Lesbian Romance Author

A lesbian romance author who is famous for writing stories that always have tragic endings.

Katy survives the killing game.

• Always Save the Girl: Katy is desperate to avoid having Lucina executed for Katy's murder, even if it means that Katy and the rest of the students will die.
• Blunt "Yes": Gives this response when asked about her views on lesbian romance.
  Saya: You don't want to... to show lesbians being normal and happy?
  Katy: No! I want to portray feelings. The aching and longing.
• Easily Forgiven: Despite being appalled at Katy's willingness to sacrifice her and everyone else to save Lucina, Saya seems to forgive her soon after the trial.
• Taking the Heat: Tries to confess to killing Juliet, apparently to save Lucina from being executed. While there is some confusion as to which of the two is actually responsible, Saya eventually deduces that Lucina is the culprit, resulting in her execution.
• Yuri Fan: Despite being a lesbian herself, her view of queer women is entirely driven by common tropes, such as Hide Your Lesbians, Bury Your Gays, Pseudo-Romantic Friendship, and Bait-and-Switch Lesbians.

Emily Voss

Created By: TheRealKatsuma990

Talent: Ultimate Astronomer

Emily is the victim in History of Hellenistic Art II.

• Dying Clue: Double subverted. She simply scratches out "I love you, mum" in her final moments, which doesn't seem like a clue. What is a clue is repeating the "Ex" syllable three times in a row. Since "Chi Chi Chi" is "X X X" in Greek, this implicates JP as her killer.
• Nice Girl: She's one of the nicer and friendlier students.

Male Students

Earl Morale

Created By: danieltruong1917

Talent: Ultimate Tank Commander

The leader of the class, as well as a talented tank commander.

He murders Ashley in Topics of Cosmology, but then is blown up and killed when Nicole shoots him with a rocket launcher.

• Asshole Victim: Subverted. Like Hifumi from the first game, he's killed after murdering another student. It turns out later that his victim was the mastermind.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: As you can see in his last words, he's blown up midway through.
• Last-Name Basis: He calls everyone by their last names.
• The Leader: He is the leader for the class.

Rodrigo Diaz

Created By: danieltruong1917

Talent: Ultimate Paladin

Rodrigo survives the killing game.

• Fish out of Water: Since he was raised by monks in a foreign setting, he's out of his element in a modern university that does not share many of the traditions that he's used to.
• It Seemed Trivial: He keeps his hearing Earl crying over Ashley's dead body a secret until the final trial, partly because he thought it was unimportant at the time, and partly because he thought Earl wouldn't want him to tell anyone.
• Token Religious Teammate: As someone who grew up in a monastery, he's the most religious of the students, and even protests that he isn't the killer because he "would never break one of God's commandments."
• You Monster!: Calls Monokuma a "monster" after the first execution.

Giuseppe "Bepi" Perfetto

Created By: Chandagrigus

Talent: Ultimate Cadet

A nameless Child Soldier known only as "Cadet 2," who adopted the name Giuseppe Perfetto.

Bepi is the culprit of Chapter IV, having killed Barrett in order to graduate and survive. In the final trial, he is revealed to have become the mastermind after Ashley's death, and faked his execution. His fate is unknown.

• Ambiguous Ending: He's last seen given the choice between two options- going to his execution or leaving for freedom. None of the characters stay around to see what he decides.
• Awesome Mc Cool Name: Bepi chose his name as a child to deliberately annoy his commanders.
  "I just looked up at them and was like, 'Yeah, call me Joe Perfect.'"
• Big Bad: The mastermind of the killing game.
• Child Soldier: As you can see from his talent, he's been fighting for most of his life.
• Faking the Dead: By surreptitiously inputting a code during Chapter IV, he avoids dying during his execution for Barrett's murder.

JP Laettner

Created By: J Carp

Talent: Ultimate Fraternity Brother

A member of a fraternity that supposedly goes back to the Civil War.

JP is the culprit in History of Hellenistic Art II

• Death by Irony: He's forced to consume a lot of alcohol and paddled until he explodes, in a death reminiscent of a fraternity hazing ritual gone wrong.
• Ludicrous Gibs: He explodes midway through the execution.

Therion Suarez

Created By: Epifanio Therion

Talent: Ultimate Game Designer

Therion is a talented game designer and seems aware of some sort of danger facing the group.

Therion is the first killer, having killed Morgan/The Vandal. He's forced to play Tic-Tac-Toe with Monokuma, resulting in every game ending in a tie until the scoreboard crushes him.

• Blue-and-Orange Morality: He claims to have committed his murder for the sake of setting an example for the other students to follow, in hopes that they'll create a better murder plan than he does so that the game will be interesting.
• Face Death with Dignity: He never shows any emotion at his impending death.
• Starter Villain: Invoked; not only is he the first culprit, but he also commits a murder to challenge successive killers to do better.
• Tame His Anger: Therion used to have a horrible anger issue in his childhood and fought people who got him mad with practical ease, but due to realizing the futility of it, he has learned to calm down until he has fully lost his anger issue.
• Terse Talker: He speaks in short sentences.

Barrett Wood

Created By: Xxx Inquisitor Xxx

Talent: Ultimate Demolitionist

He is the victim in the fourth Chapter.

• Eye Scream: He's stabbed through the eye with a pole.
• The Rival: To Earl. Chapter 3 sees him ally with Nicole against Earl and Ashley.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: He has a fairly foul mouth.

DJ Rocky K

Created By: gamergirl101

Talent: Ultimate DJ

Rocky survives the killing game.

• Heroic BSoD: He doesn't take the fact that his lab got used in the second murder very well.
• Rage Breaking Point: He has these so easily, much of his mental energy is spent on avoiding it.

Morgan Lee

Created By: ThatOneFireEmblemFan

Talent: Ultimate Painter/Ultimate Vandal

A talented painter who happens to have a split personality that is a vandal.

Morgan is the victim in Economics of Labor I, having been killed by Therion in an attempt to make the killing game more interesting.

• Ax-Crazy: Subverted. He appears to be dangerous, but his mental illness only ends up making him more vulnerable.
• The Cassandra: Not only are his warnings ignored, but "The Cassandra" is his official role in the killing game.
• Off with His Head!: He's found decapitated.
• Split Personality: Much like Toko in the first game, he has two personalities- Morgan and the Vandal.

Other Characters

Monokuma

The headmaster of the killing games.

• Adaptation Personality Change: While he enjoys death and suffering as much as his canon self, he comes off as more of a disgruntled Baby Boomer complaining about the next generation than a despair-obsessed teenager or the mascot for an Immoral Reality Show.
• Grumpy Old Man: He doesn't think much of the youth of today, and frequently complains about the students' age group.
• Last-Name Basis: He addresses students by their last names, along with "Mr." or "Miss" as appropriate.
• Series Mascot: In-universe, he's said to be a "central and necessary aspect" of the killing game.

Eugene Alameda

The architect behind the killing game program. He was murdered by Ashley long before the start of the killing game.

• Abusive Parents: To his daughter Ashley, using methods such as denying her food and setting unreasonably high standards for her.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Possibly implied to be this, as the one responsible for creating the killing game.
• Karmic Death: After denying Ashley food as punishment, he ends up being killed with a meatball sub.
• Posthumous Character: The end of the first Prologue reveals that he has been dead for five years.
• Undignified Death: He apparently choked to death on a meatball sub.

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