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Introduced in the original fic
Louis DaPen
- Big Bad: Of the original fic until Sonja has him killed.
- Brain Food: This is a common trait of all illithids, and is one of the reasons for their infamy among Shadowkind. He never does so on-camera, but Draco claims that he has witnessed him doing it.
- Cheaters Never Prosper: During Jinx's duel with Shira when she infiltrates his headquarters, DaPen starts controlling Shira when Jinx is gaining the upper hand. He then starts using his powers in order to turn the duel in Shira's favor. (such as altering his Imperial Iron Wall card into Swords of Revealing Light and manipulating the coin toss of Jinx's Twin-Barrel Dragon) Jinx would've easily won if she could summon Jalal's card but can't because as far as she knew, Shira was only hired help meaning using Jalal's card wouldn't be justified. She later finds out that Dapen was controlling Shira this whole time, meaning winning with Jalal was fair game.
- Cigar Chomper: Cubans, naturally.
- Disc-One Final Boss
- The Don: Despite operating in Japan but is far from being a Yakuza.
- Eldritch Abomination: Being an illithid, he fits the description, although he doesn't act like one.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Not him but according to one of Dugan's narrations in Ascension; many of the criminals working for him wouldn't be working for him if they found out he was an illithid. There are many reasons for this, including the race's history, their views towards other races, their diet; basically, most other races are afraid of them at best.
- Killed Off for Real: Is poisoned by Sonja after he loses to Shichiro.
- Mind Control: He's very fond of this, and can be very subtle about it. In Mistle's case, it took Gears a while to realize that she was, indeed, under his control. He can also make the effect last much longer than Edmund, and in the case of creating thralls (which combines this with Mind Rape) makes it permanent and irreversible.
- Mind Rape: What he did to both Jinx and Gears, and intended to do to Shichiro (and probably Ember). Fortunately, it wore off after Sonja had him killed.
- I Own This Town: He seems to have this influence over Satellite. In Twice-Told Tales, it is even suggested that many of the Duel Gangs that Team Satisfaction opposed were working for him.
- Insult Backfire: Happens when it becomes clear to Shichiro that he has not only Mind Raped Gears and Jinx, he has taken some of their cards:Shichiro: "DaPen, you're nothing but a thief!"DaPen: "I beg to differ, Mr. Osaka. I'm a great thief!"
- Legion of Doom: Averted. His goal was to unite all the Shadowkind criminal leaders in the Neo Domino area under his leadership, hoping to oppose the Shadowchasers as a united force. (Despite being part of the conspiracy led by Sonja he didn't seem to be fully clear about the true plan. They all declined, citing the bad history they had with him, which led him to try to impress them by defeating the Neo Domino group on his own.
- Psychic Powers: A common trait of his species. He also uses a Psychic deck.
- Signature Card: Hyper Psychic Blaster
Edmund Mason
- Arch-Enemy: To Gears.
- Combining Mecha: Uses a V-to-Z deck in his first duel with Gears.
- Crazy-Prepared: In his second duel with Gears, he switches to a Anti-Machine Slime/Jam deck instead of his Worm deck because he fully expects Gears to duel, thinking he would be using his Worm deck.
- The Dragon: To Louis DaPen, although he isn't completely loyal.
- Eldritch Abomination: His Worm deck, monsters who serve the Light of Ruin. He also used an Alien deck during his final duel with Gears.
- Fate Worse than Death: Ember believes this is what might have happened to him, due to him being an ur-priest and all. Although being an ur-priest, Edmund fully understands that this will happen to him in the end. As an ur-priest, he knows that he can never get away with what he's done and must accept his eventual fate of eternal damnation.
- Grand Theft Me: Attempts this on Ember when he is reduced to a mere soul when she tries to stop the Deluge. Unfortunately for him, Flamvell Urquizas destroys his Magic Jar killing him permanently.
- Ironic Echo: Not only does he lose to Ember twice in a row, but she also defeats him with the same monster both times.
- Irony: Despite that he and Gears are arch-enemies due to Gear's past with another worm-that-walks and their decks being arch-enemies to each other. He has never dueled Gears at all with his Worm deck. Although this could be more of a case of Pragmatic Villainy considering Gears' Allies of Justice were made specifically to counter Light monsters and Flip effects (which Edmund specializes in.). Gears does get to duel against the Worm monsters in Power Primordial (although it was used by someone else instead of him.)
- Jerkass: It is said that at some point, he stopped bothering to try to get people to like him.
- Killed Off for Real: After Flamvell Urquizas destroys his Magic Jar.
- Light Is Not Good: His Worm deck. Contrast with Gears' Allies of Justice Deck.
- Loophole Abuse: At one point in the middle of the original fic, he attacks Shichiro with a flash grenade that temporarily blinds him and then challenges him to a duel. Since Shichiro couldn't see, Edmund could easily deny that the flash grenade wasn't his and says that if Shichiro lays even one finger on him, it would be assumed that Shichiro broke the treaty. Unfortunately for him he doesn't take Ember into consideration and loses to her. Later when Shichiro recovers, he accidentally slips that the grenade was his (not too mention he tried to attack Ember with dark magic), meaning that he was fair game to be assaulted with force.
- Mind Control: Like his boss, he's good at this, but less subtle than DaPen, and the effect is always temporary.
- Necromancer: This is the case for most wizards that become Worms that Walk.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: During his last duel with Gears, he uses Alien monster in hopes of capitalizing on Gears' neilasparophobia. It only serves to help Gears get over it and he even thanks Edmund about it.
- Odd Couple: As Shichiro points out, DaPen and Edmund working together is a very strange pairing. Edmund is a necromancer, and undead are one of the only things that illithid are truly afraid of, because Psychic Powers are worthless against them. The arrangement starts to make more sense as the truth behind the conspiracy starts to be revealed. More than likely, Edmund had more loyalty to Sonja, and had made promises to DaPen that he never intended to keep.
- Omnicidal Maniac: His goal is to destroy the world, and he does not care about his own life. He knows that he cannot strike against the gods that he despises, but feels that the next best thing he can do is destroy what they have created.
- Power at a Price: Jalal even gives a brief lecture as to why evil wizards willingly turn themselves into things like this.
- Rage Against the Heavens: He is an ur-priest, a type of divine spellcaster who hates gods and gains divine power by stealing it. Endmund's reason for this is because the woman he loved was killed when a plummeting meteorite struck her; given the incredible unlikelyhood of such a thing happening, he refused to believe it had happened by chance, and was certain that the gods had killed her on purpose.
- Signature Card: Worm Queen, Worm King and Worm Victory. He also has Worm Zero, the strongest of the Worms but it is said that even he was frightened by it that he never used it.
- Soul Jar: His Magic Jar which he uses as a last resort tactic to keep himself alive when all the worms that formed his body were destroyed during his final duel with Gears.
- The Worm That Walks
Sonja
The true Big Bad of the original fic. Sonja is the daughter of Athentia, the sphinx that originally gave Jamor Stormbringer his immmortality. What Jamor didn't know however (and what Athentia never admitted to) was that Athentia could only give immortality once, which was meant to be for her daughter. In order to take revenge on Jalal for taking what was supposed to be hers, Sonja spent several years studying sorcery and casting several planets to their doom with the Deluge in order to siphon enough energy for her to harness the Power Primordial. So far she has targeted about five planets with the planet Earth set to be her sixth one.- Asshole Victims: She admits to Ember during their duel that among the worlds that she flooded with the Deluge were those whose inhabitants that were less than pleasant and she knew others wouldn't miss if they perished.
- Big Bad: The actual one in the original fic.
- Fate Worse than Death: Her final fate. (Although what actually happens to her when the Light of Ruin takes her away to punish her is unknown.)
- Light Is Not Good: Her deck includes Sphinx Teleia and Andro Sphinx, which represent her parents, and Theinen the Great Sphinx (which she claims is their parent).
- Making a Splash: Is a water elemental sorceress who plans to cast the Deluge on Earth. Subverted in the way that she does not use a Water Deck.
- The Woman Behind The Man: The one behind DaPen, Hebi-Na, Edmund, and Draco in the original fic.
- Revenge by Proxy: She wants revenge on Jalal by flooding the Earth because of his father taking the immortality that her mother was suppose to pass on to her.
- Signature Card: Endymion the Master Magician and his Citadel field spell as well as the Sphinxs
- Walking Spoiler: Definitely qualifies seeing as her identity and motives are only revealed by the end of the original fic and knowing who she is would spoil the identity of the mastermind behind the conspiracy in the original fic.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Kills DaPen after he loses to Shichiro in order to act as the "fall guy" in her operations.
- You're Insane!: Ember says this to her after she finds out who Sonja is and why she wants to cast the Deluge on Earth.Ember: Lady… You're nuts! If you had any sense, you would have blamed the Light of Ruin for forcing your mom to accept that contest. But I'm guessing that would be biting the hand that feeds you. And it wasn't the only one to blame. Your mom's enormous ego was at fault too. She couldn't admit to a weakness, and made Jamor think that immortality was something she could give out freely.
Introduced in Risen Nemesis
Marcus Childsman
- Abusive Parents: His biological father abandoned him on some random beach in California.
- Affably Evil: He's so witty, charming, and charismatic that you sometimes forget that he's evil.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: His crimes include assault, battery, extortion, attempted assassinations, using dark magic without a permit...and littering.
- An Ice Person: Uses an Ice deck as his third deck during his duels against the Las Vegas Shadowchasers.
- Benevolent Boss: Compared to every other major villain in the series he's a joy to work for, he buys his employess drinks, pays for the Chinese take out, and never threatens to kill his goons.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Despite his over-the-top antics, he shows his credibility as a threat when he almost defeats the entire Las Vegas Shadowchaser branch.
- Card-Carrying Villain
- Cloudcuckoolander: Let's face it, Childsman is weird. He considers the best fifty bucks he's ever spent was paying a guy to get his monkey to give him a high-five.
- The Charmer: Best shown after his arrest when he uses his natural charisma to convince the guards to increase the standards of living in his prison.
- Cool Shades: Wears a pair.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Las Vegas' biggest supernatural Loan Shark.
- Diabolical Mastermind
- Disc-One Final Boss: Is the final opponent for the first half of Risen Nemesis.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He seems to truly love his adopted family, who return the favor, best shown when his adopted sister becomes hellbent on finding out what happened to him in the sequel.
- Happily Adopted: He was adopted by a rich family after he became friends with their daughter, who was a fan of sharks, and no, he isn't a Gold Digger. It was all by accident, he didn't know that they were rich.
- Last-Name Basis: Everyone calls him by his last name.
- Loan Shark: Almost literally.
- Making a Splash: Aside from being a shark himself, he uses WATER-themed decks.
- Rags to Riches: To a homeless kid on the beach, to a Corrupt Corporate Executive.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Uses Reptiles as his final deck during his duels against the Las Vegas Shadowchasers.
- Shout-Out: He makes two to Kamen Rider Den-O. "Mind if I string you along?" and "Everything, I'll devour it."
- Meaningful Name: His name is Childsman, and he's rather childish.
- Youkai: He's a sambito, a water-based Yokai. (Ironically, Hyde has a card that depicts this creature.)
- The Wonka
Xue Yin Jien
- Amoral Attorney: As an attorney, sure. Downright immoral any other time.
- Fusion Dance: Her deck uses Fusion Monsters, with a unique twist. Her cards can transfer them from her Extra Deck to that of her opponent, while her Kyonshi Monsters gain benefits depending on the Monsters in her opponent's Extra Deck.
- Hoist By Her Own Petard: After losing a Shadow Duel to Faye, she is cursed with the exact fate she intended for Faye, transformed into a doll. What happens to her after that is unknown.
- Loophole Abuse: As an attorney, she specializes in finding these in anything. One example is when she uses her cards to put more than 15 cards in Faye's extra deck, saying that a duelist only needs to have 15 cards when the duel starts but can have more if effects during the duel do so.
- Necromancer: She seems to be very skilled at this, seeing as she was able to revive Sieg as a kyonshi.
Volk Lloyd
- Combining Mecha: His Black Phantom and Black Armament cards.
- Go-Go Enslavement: Bounds Mira to a genie's lamp at one point which causes her to wear a revealing harem girl's outfit. (It is implied that this is the same kind of device that Anthony Draco used on Ember in the original fic. He claims that he bought it on the internet, which may or may not have been a joke. Unlike Draco, however, he clearly was not ignorant of its full effect.)
- Shout-Out: Quite possibly, the Black Phantom and Black Armament cards are based on the anime version of the Meklord Emperors found in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, which work in a similar fashion.
- Signature Card: Black Phantom
- You Killed My Father: He was the one who killed Jack's father years prior to Risen Nemesis and hid that fact from Jack for several years until the climax of Risen Nemesis, Jack does not like this at all.
Miles Davidson
- Arch-Enemy: To Hyde.
- Blow You Away: He is the avatar of Susanoo, the Japanese god of storms, and thus has incredible power over wind and weather in general.
- Broken Pedestal: He was Hyde's mentor who taught him everything he knows on being a detective, after his plans killed several people, including Hyde's little sister, he is definitely this.
- Great Detective: He is the one who mentored Hyde.
- Never Found the Body: After he loses his second duel with Hyde. Which is a clue that he's still around. By the end of Risen Nemesis, he is still at large.
- Sharp-Dressed Man
- Signature Card: Avatar of Susanoo
- Weather of War: Has the ability to manipulate the weather whenever he pleases.
- Youkai: Uses the Mountain-Dwelling archetype during his first duel with Hyde, which are based on them. He was also the original owner of Hyde's Youkai deck.
Niles Grayarts
- Corrupt Politician: He's the mayor of Las Vegas. (A revelation that disgusts both Barron and Faye when he's revealed as the mastermind; they both supported his campaign and voted for him.)
- Half-Human Hybrid: He's a dhampire - a half-man, half-vampire. His plan is also to turn every citizen in Las Vegas into these by putting Residue on their water supply.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: His Stained Glass Royal monsters, who form the strongest cards in his Stained Glass deck.
- Shout-Out: His Stained Glass monsters are possibly a reference to the Fangire from Kamen Rider Kiva.
- Signature Card: His Stained Glass Royal monsters.
- Villainous Breakdown: He has a big one when Kamen defeats him, foils his plans, and reveals himself to be Vergil, his secretary.
Introduced in Power Primordial
The Aboleth
The true Big Bad of Power Primordial, it is an nonhumanoid Shadowkind belonging to an ancient race. Its ultimate goal is to gain power by harnessing the Power Primordial, an energy source unleashed at the very moment the universe was created.- Bad Boss: It is clear that the Paragons really dislike it. (Of course, given its general attitude towards humanoid beings, its hard to blame them.)
- Big Bad: Of ''Power Primordial.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: On a far bigger scale than most examples of this trope. It is the leader of an interplanetary organization headed by a race called the psurlons, and all of them are very corrupt.
- Demonic Possession: Does this to Iggwiliv during her final duel with Ember.
- Evil Cripple: An aquatic being, it cannot breath or even move about easily on land without technological aid. According to Jalal, an aboleth who suffocates out of water won't die, but enter a comotose state called "Long Dreaming" in which they suffer nightmares about the Eldritch Abominations that populated Hell before the fall of Lucifer (a Fate Worse than Death to them.)
- Fate Worse than Death: Inflicts this on Hebi-Na in ''Power Primordial. The "Long Dreaming" state is considered this for it and other aboleth.
- Genetic Memory: An aboleth is born with the memories of its parent. Because the whole race had this trait, it means that every aboleth has the memories of the whole race, and because their race is incredibly ancient, they know things that even some gods don't.
- Grand Theft Me: Does this to its Dark Highlander card during its first duel with Ember. Apparently he never intended to defeat her at that time (as seen when it ignores a play that would've defeated her) because it was more interested in gaining a powerful body that had no limitations.
- Hates Everyone Equally: Maybe "hate" is too strong a word, but this creature (and its whole species, it is suggested) has a superiority complex like that few others can match, holding any creature younger than itself (which is almost anything) with nothing but contempt. It even referred to the sentient races it murdered as "vermin". Jalal claims that these creatures (or at least most of them) consider themselves superior to most gods, seeing as they are old enough to remember the origins of almost all divine beings.
- Mechanical Life Forms: Uses a Cyber Dragon deck during his duel with Shichiro.
- Obviously Evil: Just looking at it is enough to convince you.
- Olympus Mons: Uses Earthbound God Ccapac Apu (the actual one and not a vestige) during his final duel with Ember.
- Power of the Void: Uses Void monsters during his final duel with Ember.
- Smug Snake: This creature has a huge ego, a common trait of its species, and tends to look down on humanoid beings. It even goes so far to tell the Titans to their faces that their people (who it murdered) were "vermin". A lot of this has to do with its advanced age, but eventually, its overconfidence blows up in its face.
- Time Abyss: The exact age of this aboleth is unknown, but Jalal has yet to meet a member of this species who cannot prove it at least ten-thousand years old, and many are far older than that. In theory, they are immortal unless killed by violence. As one expert says, aboleth culture has no myths regarding an afterlife, because they expect to live forever and consider death a failure.
- The Unpronouncable: It says it has a name but claims that its name is unpronounceable by "lesser beings".
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Does this to Trueman in the middle of Power Primordial. Although it was actually just a ruse set up by the both of them so that Trueman can continue his operations without the Neo Domino Shadowchasers looking for him.
Introduced in Ascension
Jalie Squarefoot
An undead pit find and viceroy of Mephistopheles, he is one of deadliest enemies the Shadowchasers have faced in their history.- Always Someone Better: According to Jalie, a devil learns a specific lesson every time it is promoted, and this is the lesson associated with becoming a pit fiend. It is a very hard lesson for them to accept, because at that point, a devil has literally worked for thousands of years to become one of the ruling class of Hell, and is now very likely at the limit of its ability to advance. For Jalie, this is one of the biggest reasons for his goal to become a god.
- An Ice Person: Is capable of casting the Investment of Cania, a spell that freezes the target in a seal of ice. He does this to Ophelia and Jeb after he defeats the both of them and was going to do the same to Dante. Unfortunately for him, he loses to Dante and the Aesir rescue Ophelia and Jeb from his spell afterwards.
- As Long as There Is Evil: It probably doesn't apply to him, personally, but in one early chapter he mocks Dante with an Evil Gloating that emphasises the concept. After the Final Battle, however, Jalal counters this boast with a pep talk that invokes As Long as There Is One Man.
- Bad Boss: It's doubtful that you would find anyone among the nobility of Hell who did not fit this trope, and there are obviously ones worse than he is. Still, examples of the cruelty he shows towards his servants, mortals and devils alike, is shown many times throughout Ascension.
- Big Bad: Of Ascension.
- Cassandra Truth: Is warned several times that his plan will not work as he had hoped. He never listens.
- Chekhov's Gunman:: Was first mentioned in a Shadowchaser file before making a full-fledged appearance in Ascension.
- Crazy-Prepared: In order to protect his Hellfire Sentinel's emergency off switch, he placed a brimstone golem with the soul of rival devil Belphagon in it. However, Belphagon's deck is rigged: Once it detects what deck his opponent is using, he magically changes his deck into the perfect counter deck.
- Deal with the Devil: After he defeats Ophelia and Jeb, he offers Dante a Faustian Pact, which would release his partners if he signs it. Dante refuses.
- Enemy Mine: With the Shadowchasers to stop the Hellfire Sentinel. Of course it was only short lived and he did it for his own benefits (See Manipulative Bastard)
- The Exile: His Outcast Devil deck is filled with these.
- Fate Worse than Death: We never truly learn exactly how Mephistopheles punishes him, but given the Lord of the Eighth's notorious foul temper, it likely won't be pleasant.
- Godhood Seeker: His whole plan in Ascension, the backbone of which involves killing Tharizdun and absorbing his divine power. Tharizdun was chosen as a target because Jalie was certain that no other gods would try to stop him.
- Hellfire: Is incredibly skilled in casting this, which is typical for powerful devils in the employ of Mephistopheles.
- Hypocrite: Claims that his master Mephistopheles is foolish for trying to usurp Lucifer as the ruler of hell yet is planning to do the same himself once he becomes a god.
- He is also called out for using the Temporal Machine Gods during his Triangle Duel with Jeb and Ophelia due to the fact that he is using them only to fuel his crazy ambition. Jalal says that at least Z-one (the original user of those cards) had a good motive and actually thought he was stopping a disaster.
- Immortality: As a lich, Jalie cannot truly be killed unless his phylactery is destroyed. (This is even better than those who can be revived From a Single Cell; Jalie can return if absolutely nothing remains of his body. However, if his body is destroyed, it takes about three days, give or take, for him to reform.)
- It Amused Me: When he confronts Jeb after he defeats Ophelia and imprisons her in a seal of ice, he lies to Jeb that he "tortured her, killed her, dismembered her carcass and fed the pieces to the hellhounds," in such a casual tone. Once he sees Jeb's distraught reaction, he starts laughing and admits he lied about it just to see Jeb's reaction.
- The Legions of Hell: As a viceroy of Mephistopheles, Jalie has armies of devils at his command. Fortunately for the Shadowchasers, because his plan is being conducted without the permission of his master, he can only call upon a limited number of them.
- Manipulative Bastard: He gives Dante instructions on how to destroy the Hellfire Sentinel that went out of his control, but omits the fact that Dante will have no ways to escape and will probably die when the Sentinel explodes, thereby clearing two problems at once. Unfortunately for him, Dante survives the blast.
- Meaningful Name: His nickname comes from his left foot. Undeath has turned what was once a fiendish hoof into a shriveled, knobbed club. According to the Shadowchaser Files, he was first called "Squarefoot" by his master, Mephistopheles, and the name stuck.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The monsters in his Outcast Devil Deck are all named after powerful (and currently exiled) devils, some of which are well known and notorious, including Geryon and Moloch. In fact, it is implied that the monsters truly are these beings, and that using the deck lets him call on them for aid. (Naturally, one cannot use the deck without side effects...)
- Jalie himself might qualify, actually. He has been an enemy of the Shadowchasers almost since the organization was founded, and his name is dreaded and feared among most Shadowkind races on Earth. Dybukk at first tells Lorelei and Tiberius that he does not know his employer's identity - a lie, because he believes they would refuse his offer if they knew. His hunch is correct; Lorelei is terrified when she realizes who she has been working for. (Seeing as she's a Doomdreamer, that's saying a lot.)
- Obviously Evil: The unholy aura he radiates is so intense that when Tiberius and Lorelei speak to him the first time, even they (depite being Doomdreamers, who deal with nightmarish things on a regular basis) are terrified, despite the fact that he has hidden himself in shadow and they can't see any part of him except his eyes. That's saying a lot.
- Oh, Crap!: His reaction when he discovers what Unity-of-Rings actually is. Suffice to say, he wasn't expecting it.
- This is also his reaction when his master Mephistopheles confronts him regarding his plans.
- Olympus Mons: During his Triangle duel with Jeb and Ophelia, he uses a deck containing Z-one's Temporal Machine Gods. Subverted in that Jalal and Unity-of-Rings don't think of them as Archangels at all and that he is simply deluded (which he is).
- One-Winged Angel: During his Triangle Duel with Ophelia and Jeb, he turns into a card of his own image: "Jalie, God of the Devil Realm" - a monster that not only has very high attack and defense points, but is practically indestructible and can attack directly. He returns back into his normal appearance after his card is defeated.
- Our Liches Are Different: Jalie is unusual even for a lich, seeing as he's both a lich and a devil.
- Playing with Fire: See Hellfire.
- Pragmatic Villainy: During his Triangle Duel with Ophelia and Jeb, he focuses on taking out Ophelia first due to her finding ways to defeat his Time Lord monsters by either getting around their abilities or removing them from the field without destroying them.
- Rule of Three: His Outcast Devil deck, which can only be used trice in a week without any serious repercussions.
- Signature Card: While not a very powerful card, Jalie seems to be fond of the "Just Desserts" card and considers it to be his favorite card as well as "Jalie, God of the Devil Realm", a card based on his own image.
- Stupid Evil: He has many bouts of this, mostly stemming from the fact that he is challenging beings who possess power that he cannot comprehend. This is a recurring theme in Ascension and a lesson that he never seems to learn.
- There is also the incident wherein he used the soul of his rival Duke Belphagon as the guardian of the Hellfire Sentinel. Then when Belphagon gains control over it, he turns it on him. Jeb and Ophelia lampshade this stupid line of thought, even causing the latter to think he was probably drunk when he thought about it.
- You Have Failed Me: Strangles Dybbuk to death after he fails to get help from the Center-Of-All.
- He also incinerates Victor with Hellfire after he loses to Jeb when the Boston Shadowchasers are infiltrating his fortress.
- This also seems to be the reason why he transforms Panik into Nitemare, but in the long run, it doesn't seem like much of a punishment - he becomes far stronger as Nitemare than he ever was when he was human.
Paragons
Tropes shared by all four of them:
- Evil Counterpart: To the Primordial Titans. The experiment that created them was an attempt to copy the one that gave the Titans their powers, but the scientists who did so were sloppy and took shortcuts, giving them powers that were, at best, a dark perversion of what they intended.
- They also use Evil Counterparts of the Signer Dragons during their last stand against the Neo Domino Shadowchasers.
- Last of Their Kind: Like the Titans, they are the sole survivors of their species, but for a very different reason: They themselves killed every other member of their race after gaining their powers. To make things worse, each of them plans to eventually murder the other three in order to consume their energy, and they don't even keep it secret from each other. Their alliance with each other will only last until one of them becomes more powerful than the others.
- Life Drinker: All four of them. They are parasites who feed on the Life Energy of living beings to sustain their power and immortality.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Each of them purposely named themself after a villain well-known to Shadowkind for his or her notoriety.
- Omnicidal Maniac: All four of them are known to be some of the worst sociopaths in the galaxy.
- Rage Against the Heavens: They are the sole survivors of the Vashar, a race known for their hatred of all divine beings.
- Red Baron: All of them each have their own title.
- Villains Out Shopping: In one scene, they pass the time playing poker; Menzoberra wins, causing Rary to comment that wearing veils shouldn't be allowed in games where bluffs are used.
Soth, Paragon of Earth
- Arch-Enemy: To Jinx in Power Primordial.
- Dishing Out Dirt
- Evil Counterpart: His Dark Fairy Dragon (which was the vestige of Earthbound God Cussilu) to Ancient Fairy Dragon, which he uses in his final duel with Jinx.
- Genius Bruiser: Says that Shanalla never gave him the acknowledgment he desired because she thought he was all muscle no brain. Jinx believes that Shanalla didn't acknowledge him not because he didn't have any brains but because of what he used it for.
- Made of Iron
- Red Baron: The Black Stone Blight
- Youkai: Has a Yokai deck.
Rary, Paragon of Wind
- Arch-Enemy: To Shichiro in Power Primordial.
- Blow You Away
- Evil Counterpart: His Dark Dragon Archfiend (which was the vestige of Earthbound God Aslla Piscu) to Red Dragon Archfiend, which he uses in his final duel with Shichiro.
- Expy: Bares a resemblance to Sephiroth. Shichiro even notices this when they first meet.
- The Legions of Hell /Fallen Angels: Uses a Dark World/Fabled hybrid deck in his duel with Gears.
- Red Baron: The Cyclonic Ravager
- Winged Humanoid: Uses Harpie Ladies.
Menzoberra, Paragon of Water
- Arch-Enemy: To Gears in Power Primordial.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Her intended fate for Jinx, after taking her prisoner, something she is implied to have done before. She stuffs Jinx inside a Carcerean oyster, which will eventually transform her into a dark pearl. To make this even worse, she sells dark pearls that she creates this way to demons and other evil beings who collect such things. (After Ember defeats Iggwiliv, learning about this makes her decide to attempt to rescue Jinx first, and fortunately, she succeeds.)
- Evil Counterpart: Her Dark Rose Dragon (which was the vestige of Earthbound God Ccarayhua) to Black Rose Dragon, which she uses in her final duel with Gears.
- Making a Splash
- Red Baron: The Waterveiled Slayer.
- Stripperific: She wears a harem girl outfit, and really doesn't care what anyone says about it.
- Zerg Rush: Her Mokey Mokey deck, that she uses during her duel with Jinx.
Iggwiliv, Paragon of Fire
- Arch-Enemy: To Ember in Power Primordial.
- Evil Counterpart: Her Dark Stardust Dragon (which was the vestige of Earthbound God Ccapac Apu) and Diabolic Star Dragon (which was the vestige of Earthbound God Wiraqocha Rasca to Stardust Dragon and Majestic/Savior Star Dragon respectively, which she uses in her final duel with Ember.
- Evil Redhead
- Playing with Fire
- Olympus Mons: Uses Uria, Lord of Searing Flamers during her first duel with Ember.
- Red Baron: The Holocaust Assassin
- Stripperific: Dressed like a harlot when she first meets Ember. She even tells Ember that she has actually gotten close and killed some of her victims because of this.
- Stupid Evil: In her second duel with Ember, she brings Il Mathman's card and summons him to her side of the field using the Cursed Prison Trap Card. Not only is she practically inviting Ember to rescue him (which she does), she is disobeying a direct order from the aboleth.
Bloodletter's Gang
The villains in City of Angels, they are a splinter group of an infamous “One-Percenter” motorcycle gang called the Sons of Tyranny that was started by Hextor, the god of tyranny. However, it is unclear how much loyalty, if any, they have to Hextor. Their goal seems to oppose the Shadowchasers and the structure they use to enforce the law in order to bring about their own very demented system.
Tropes that apply to all of them:
- Card-Carrying Villain: There are a few exceptions, but most of them. (Ironically, one who seems to even have a small amount of decency is is half-demon.)
- Cheaters Never Prosper: A big part of the plot of “City of Angels” is that the villains are allied with a counterfeit ring that makes and distributes copies of incredibly powerful and illegal cards, many of which are unique to certain duelists. Except in rare cases, they do not prosper.
- The Dreaded: The Sons of Tyranny as a whole are like this, due to the near-mythic nature of their origins.
- Knight of Cerebus: Unlike most of the other villains here, they can actually back up thir boasts and successfully accomplish their evil deeds.
Vladimir Bloodletter
The leader of the gang, a notorious, feared, and mentally unstable outlaw. Apparently, he left the Sons of Tyranny to form his own splinter group after he realized he would never move any further up the ladder in it and that their methods were too morally restrictive, and holding him back. (The Sons of Tyranny is an organization that is notorious for the mass murder of over a hundred police officers on the day they were founded.)- Axe-Crazy: Definitely. In Ascension, the following critique is given on his mental status:Narration: A noted criminal psychologist who had studied the case said that, in his professional opinion, Bloodletter was a sociopath whose penchant for violence was unusual, even when compared to other members of the Sons of Tyranny. Then he gave his personal opinion, saying that the man was a lunatic that at times would have made Charles Manson seem lucid.
- Badass Biker: Yeah, that's kind of required for joining a biker gang...
- Bad Boss: He killed a few members of his gang when it looked like they were about to be arrested and might talk.
- Evil Mentor: He was this to Damien during Damien’s brief membership in the Sons of Tyranny. When Damien challenged him to a duel, Vlad turned it into a Shadow Duel as a demented idea of fun, and it was a Curb-Stomp Battle, whith Damien on the receiving end.
- Hero Killer: He's a Knight of Cerebus, kicks the main character of his stories' ass, is the first villain to kill a Shadowchaser on-screen, and in the future, will apparently beat Jalal in a duel. ...Yeah, every other villain seems like C-List Fodder compared to him.
- Knight of Cerebus: Although his entire gang is one he stands out the most. He is a dangerous sociopath that has no humorous quirks, kills heroic characters, a genuinely scary antagonist, and is by far the most competent Big Bad to ever grace a Shadowchasers story.
- Loophole Abuse: Horribly subverted. He actually believes that the Fair Fight Clause of the Great Treaty makes murder justified (or at least he claims it does). It is doubtful that such a defense would hold up in any court of law.
- In fact, many members of his gang do not play fair at all in duels. A big part of the plot involves villains using counterfeit versions of cards which are illegal, a blatant example of cheating.
- Mechanical Lifeforms: In his first duel with Damien in the fic, he uses a deck with Machine-Types and Monsters that use motorcycles. Flashback scenes show him using this deck in the past too.
- Motor Mouth: He does seem to love hearing himself talk. Even when no-one else is listening.
- Our Demons Are Different: He was initially described as a cambion, which might suggest he is half-human-half-demon. However, it has been suggested that his non-demon parent may well have been… Something else. (Just what is not known right now.)
- The Social Darwinist: Type 2. He views this as the ideal society.
- The Worf Effect: Stories that take place after “City of Angels”, chronologically, mention that he defeated Jalal in a duel, and the situation is regarded this way because of it. (The exact details have yet to be outlined.)
Minamochi
A kappa and a member of the House of the Surging Tempest (probably an exiled member) he’s one of Vlad’s chief enforcers.- Ax-Crazy: Hands down the most insane character to ever grace a Shadowchasers story.
- Beware the Silly Ones: His over the top antics just enhance how screwed up in the head he is.
- Evil Virtues: Seriously inverted. Most kappa are known for being incredibly polite. Minamochi does not have this trait.
- Faux Affably Evil: Acts like a happy little kid but is freaking insane at the same time.
- Giggling Villain
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: He apparently likes to sing, but is incredibly bad.
- Hulk Speak
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent
- Pre Ass Kicking Oneliner: "No Lord to save you, tin man..."
- Psychopathic Manchild: A very disturbing Type A.
- Third-Person Person
Lazarus
A lich and evil sorcerer working for Vlad, and someone who appears to be his advisor.- Deadpan Snarker: Pretty much all of his dialouge is him lampshading how absurd it is to live in a world where Duels Decide Everything.
- Glory Days: He misses the days when you could just kill people and not have to bother with playings childrens trading card games.
- Grumpy Old Man
- Jerkass: He doesn't pretend to be anything he's not.
- Our Liches Are Different: But not much different than the ones that are typical in this continuity.
- Lethal Joke Item: His deck contains many Monsters that are considered utterly worthless by duelists in today’s meta. (Including Pumpking, Castle of Dark Illusions, and the three Normal Zombies used by Ghost Kotsuzuka in Duelist Kingdom. However, he also uses Kotsuzuka’s Spell version of Call of the Haunted along with very powerful Spell and Trap Cards that make these Monsters quite potent.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Not only does his actual name qualify, but according to him, his titles while he was alive have included “Son of Kyuss”, “Bringer of Plagues”, and “the Ageless Blight”
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: He doesn't screw around.
- Pulling Themselves Together: This happens to him a lot. As a lich, he has prolonged his live using dark magic, and is a living corpse as a result… But he tends to lose body parts easily. (Often when Vlad gets angry at him and hits him.) Fortunately, reattaching them is easy.
- Straight Man: Appears this way, seeing as he complains when Vlad does wasteful things (like blowing up a warehouse they were using as a headquarters when it was hardly necessary).
Toguro
A henchman of both Vlad and Sowrex, his appearance is brief (thusfar), but memorable.- Affably Evil: Compared to the rest of Vlad’s gang, at least.
- Evil Counterparts: He uses an Evil Hero Deck, some of which weren’t even used by Haiou Judai. (Given who he works for, the cards are obviously counterfeits.)
- Half-Human Hybrid: Half-human, half-demon
- The Starscream: Possibly. It is hinted that he is the one who planted the self-destruct mechanism in Sowrex’s desk, and he definately stole his blueprints.
- Special Guest: Apparently, he is the same Toguro that appears in the anime YuYu Hakusho. (The author of the fic claims this.)
- Super-Strength: Due to his demonic heritage.
Sowrex
The mind behind the counterfeiting operation, he is an ally of Vladimir, due to a deal they made in the past. Not that he cares for Vladimir – or anyone other than himself.- Artifact of Doom: Well, fake artifacts of doom. As you might expect, he uses counterfeit cards himself, copies of Paradox’s SIN cards.
- Crippling Overspecialization: His species has an odd ability. Their strength and endurance is directly proportionate to the amount of their material wealth in the immediate area, potentially giving them Super-Strength and invulnerability if they’re in a place where there’s a lot of it. He confronts Fourteen in an office where there’s likely several million dollars’ worth of goods, but it is situational.
- Fat Bastard: In every possible way. He doesn’t even pretend that he cares about anything but money, which he seems to have too much of already.
- Greed: He’s a porcurian, a type of demon that embodies this concept. He resembles a morbidly obese humanoid with pig-like features.
- Killed Off for Real: He was killed by some divine force that was angry at him for “touching [its] children”, and “corrupting their essence and making them mere monsters”. It would not give its name to Fourteen, even though it thanked him.
- Stupid Evil: First of all, when Fourteen confronts him, he is in the process of completing what he hopes will be his “hottest seller”, counterfeit copies of the Egyptian God Cards. Rashid can probably tell you how stupid using that sort of thing is.
- And if that weren’t enough, it seemed he was stirring up a hornet’s nest already. After losing the duel to Fourteen, he is apparently struck by a Bolt of Divine Retribution by an entity that was angry at him for what he did.
Introduced in Danse Macabre
Count Ivan Palethorn
The Big Bad of Danse Macabre, he is one of the Grand Generals of the war where vampires were nearly obliterated.- And Now You Must Marry Me: More than likely, this is his plan for Alice, as he had said he plans to make her his “Queen”, although his true motive for doing so probably has something to do with regaining his full power.
- Card-Carrying Villain: He may even rival Vladimir Bloodletter in this regard.
- The Dreaded: To fully understand the extent of his infamy, a brief explanation of that of the Grand Generals must be given. Voltaire claims that this group was "the Sith Lords, the Death Eaters, Organization Thirteen, The Order of the Silence, every shadowy covenant of supremely powerful beings ever depicted in popular culture, saturated in nightmare, marinated in hate and raised to the tenth power" and claims that each of them had "powers equal to or greater then a demi god" and that "people speak these names with the same kind of fear and reverence one would any Elder Evil."
- Second, Palethorn was supposedly one of the worst of them, and he is one of the few that there is any confirmed information of. One of his titles is "the Torture King", there are rumors that Overlords of Hell learned methods of torture from him, and the numbers of innocents he murdered numbered in the tens – if not hundreds – of thousands. Certainly, if any villain in this franchise qualifies as infamous, it's him.
- Knight of Cerebus: Some of his minions may qualify for this Trope. As for Palethorn himself, see The Dreaded above.
- Large Ham: So much that his right-hand man Lawrence seems rather annoyed by it in one scene.
- Villain Decay: He’s certainly a terrible threat maybe more so than most villains, but it seems that he only possesses a fraction of the power he once had as one of the Great Generals, who had power bordering on godlike. (Possibly, casualties from the war are to blame.)
Introduced in The Eldritch
The Possessor
The current antagonist of The Eldritch. It is pursuing Ryan for an unknown reason, using its power to control people by stabbing black thorns into their bodies. Due to its methods, it has not appeared in person.- Expy: One reviewer noted that between its use of People Puppets and obvious contempt for humanity, it's not very far from Harbinger.
- For the Evulz: Just about the only reason it bothers to duel is seemingly because it's quite amused by what it sees as humanity's form of combat.
- It also brings this up to Cox, suggesting that normally it and its kind see humanity as nothing but entertainment.
- Large Ham
- People Puppets: Its main tactic.
- Puny Earthlings: Its opinion of humanity is this.
- Smug Snake: Even through possessed bodies, it oozes arrogance and contempt for humanity.
