Characters that were introduced in, and are exclusive to Phase 1 of the series.
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Protagonists
The Reflection/ Stephanie Edgley
Skulduggery brings Stephanie's reflection to life by casting a spell on her mirror. The reflection takes her real self's place at home and at school when she's out with Skulduggery, something that Valkyrie increasingly comes to rely upon. This has unexpected consequences.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The magical equivalent.
- Ambiguously Evil: Gets steadily creepier as the series progresses, and ultimately murders Carol and tries to kill Valkyrie. But in Last Stand of Dead Men she gets a Sympathetic P.O.V., starts fighting to protect her family and is clearly smitten with Fletcher. She pulls a full Heel–Face Turn... and mostly just in time to die.
- Anti-Villain: Fluctuates between this and Anti-Hero, before eventually settling on Anti-Hero.
- Badass Normal: As Skulduggery points out at one point, Valkyrie's reflection has all of her knowledge (and more, thanks to a perfect memory) and all her skills other than magic.
- Berserk Button: Don't call it Valkyrie, don't call it a reflection and don't call it "it".
- Crueland Unusual Death: While she may not be that well liked her slow painful death at the hands of Darquesse is most definitely cruel and hard to read and you can't help but feel sorry for her afterwards.
- Combat Pragmatist: Thanks to having the entirety of Valkyrie's extensive combat training and exactly none of her powers, this is the inevitable result.
- Emotionless Girl: The default state of a reflection, which makes it all the more startling when she's not this.
- Face–Heel Turn: When she decides she'd be safer without Valkyrie
- Heel–Face Turn: In Last Stand of Dead Men, where she essentially replaces Valkyrie as the protagonist once the latter goes full Darquesse
- Gas Lighting: Tries to convince Valkyrie that she let her out of the mirror in Mortal Coil when clearly she got out of the mirror herself.
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: It's hinted early on that she's a bit odd for a Reflection, something suggested to go back to Skulduggery summoning her out of a different surface to usual to fake Valkyrie's death, and even by the second book, the Reflection is used regularly enough that a sorcerer out of practice or a vampire doesn't immediately recognise her as a reflection. Then she develops a fully fledged personality.
- I Did What I Had to Do: How she justifies murdering Carol. Later, after developing a conscience, she feels absolutely horrible about it.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Her expressed attitude, and she resents Valkyrie for using her as a means to have it both ways.
- Kill and Replace: Her ultimate plan for Valkyrie, though she back-pedals away from this and the two come to an accommodation. Then, naturally, Darquesse horribly murders her.
- Killed Off for Real: By Darquesse, and fairly horribly at that.
- Meaningful Rename: After Stephanie's declaration at the end of Kingdom of the Wicked, even the narration switches from 'it' and 'the reflection' to 'Stephanie' and 'she'.
- Mirror Monster: Becomes this, eventually, largely thanks to mistreatment and resentment. However, her Character Development takes her beyond this into a genuinely good person - if one with many issues.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Part of the reason she went evil is because Valkyrie and Skulduggery don't treat her very well. Ironically, Valkyrie started being nice to her reflection around the time Stephanie decided to kill her.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Its suggestion for dealing with Moore, and its plan to protect its family from Darquesse.
- Not So Above It All: For someone who insists she wants a normal life, her attempted use of a one liner suggests she's enjoying Valkyrie's life of adventure.
- Other Me Annoys Me: She really hates Valkyie. She gets over this... then Darquesse kills her.
- The Stoic: Given that reflections only simulate emotions, this isn't surprising. This changes as she becomes more human.
- Not So Stoic: She eventually develops very real feelings. This is not necessarily a positive development.
- Tears of Joy: When Valkyrie calls her Stephanie.
- Took a Level in Badass: Takes a bigger one in Last Stand of Dead Men, when she gets Valkyrie's old clothes and weapons (as well as the Sceptre) and becomes a formidable fighter.
- Treacherous Advisor: It seems to be trying very hard to prevent Valkyrie from confiding in Skulduggery.
- Walking Spoiler: As you've probably guessed from the spoilers. Even knowing they're a spoiler probably qualifies as a spoiler.
- What Is This Feeling?: The reflection's reaction to suddenly feeling terrible about having killed Carol and to freaking out after watching Darquesse decimate an entire army.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Skulduggery and Valkyrie kind of treat it like crap, which has... consequences, later on. Valkyrie starts treating it a lot better in Kingdom of the Wicked out of loneliness. She's outright stated that she considers it a person now. Unfortunately, she agrees.Reflection: I'm not a thing. I'm not an it. I'm a person. I'm a her. I have a family who loves me. I have parents and a little sister who I'm going to take care of. I have friends in school, and I want to go to college. I want a normal life. A happy life. A life. And I'm going to take it.
The Dead Men
Anton Shudder
- Cast from Sanity: He can only call gist so many times before it takes over his mind.
- Enemy Within/Superpowered Evil Side: Can summon a ghostly duplicate called a gist to fight for him that will eventually take over his body.
- Killed Off for Real: By the Black Cleaver.
- Meaningful Name: It's only reasonable that a man named "Shudder" would have a rather terrifying and frightful form of magic.
- One-Man Army: Not Anton himself, but the gist inside him.
Erskine Ravel (SPOILERS)
One of Skulduggery's best friends, and the secret mastermind behind the Roarhaven plot.
- Ambition Is Evil: Zig-Zagged. On the one hand, he wants sorcerers to rule mortals, with every Sanctuary essentially absorbing the mortal governments, and schemes to achieve vast power to that end. On the other hand, he has absolutely no desire to rule the world himself, pointing out that he would be terrible at it, and is quite content to accept a prison cell or exile as punishment for his crimess.
- Antagonist in Mourning: Legitimately mourns Ghastly and Shudder.
- Anti-Villain: He genuinely believes in his cause, he bitterly regrets killing Ghastly and Shudder, is concerned with good governance to the point where he picks genuinely good choices for replacement Elders after he orchestrates several assassinations, and is quite content to be imprisoned or exiled for his crimes after all is said and done.
- Asshole Victim: Neither his extensive torture by Darquesse or being thrown into Accelerator by Skulduggery get him much sympathy after he killed Ghastly and Shudder.
- Big Bad: After building up to his plan throughout the entire series, he starts a civil war in Last Stand of Dead Men.
- Big Bad Friend: Orchestrated everything bad that happens in Last Stand of Dead Men, except for the attack on Roarhaven and Darquesse's arrival (which were both still his fault, but less intentionally).
- Big Good: Once he becomes the Grand Mage. Or so we thought.
- Cessation of Existence: After Skulduggery uses him to turn off the Accelerator, he doesn't rejoin the stream.
- The Chessmaster: Behind everything the Faceless Ones are not. Not great at thinking short term though.
- Cruel Mercy: How Darquesse deals with him. She doesn't kill him... she just makes him wish very, very much that he was dead. Most people think he deserved it.
- Enemy Mine: He teams up with Skulduggery and the gang to fend off the invading Warlocks at the end of Last Stand of Dead Men.
- Evil All Along: As it turns out.
- Evil Former Friend: His former friends make it very clear they want nothing to do with him, with Dexter Vex cutting him dead with a single sentence when he tries to make cheerful conversation, and Skulduggery has absolutely no compunction about destroying his soul to turn off the Accelerator.
- Face–Heel Turn: Apparently in Last Stand of the Dead Men, though in fact he pulled one somewhere in the region of a century ago.
- Fate Worse than Death: Unbearable pain for twenty three hours of the day qualifies. Also, he doesn't just die, he ceases existing.
- Hypocrite: He gets angry with Skulduggery for teaming up with Alternate Serpine, who killed his family, when he murdered Ghastly and Shudder.
- I Did What I Had to Do: In his opinion. He seems to genuinely regret having to kill Anton Shudder and Ghastly, nearly killing one perhaps who laughs at Ghastly's corpse.
- Karmic Death: Used to switch off the Accelerator mere moments after using it himself.
- Killed Off for Real: When Skulduggery gives him up to the Accelerator by throwing him in it.
- Man Behind the Man: Particularly in Dark Days and Last Stand of Dead Men, but his presence is still felt throughout the series.
- Manipulative Bastard: He plays absolutely everyone but his co-conspirators like a harp, even those who knew him best (or thought they did). Then it turns out that the Warlocks weren't quite as stupid as he thought and didn't fall for his false flag.
- Meaningful Name: "Ravel" undoubtedly refers to his numerous, tangled schemes throughout the series.
- Memory-Wiping Crew: To a different extent than Geoffrey Scrutinous. Anyone who he hires or talks to will forget almost everything about him, hiding his identity as the Grand Mage of Ireland.
- Mole in Charge: When someone unknown is trying to push the Sanctuary into war, you'd have thought the Grand Mage would be above suspicion, but no.
- Mysterious Employer: For Davina Marr, Tesseract, Tanith and many more.
- No Place for Me There: Says that once his plan is complete, he will either hand himself into the authorities for his crimes, or go into exile.
- Remember the New Guy?: Absolutely no mention before the fifth book, yet apparently Valkyrie's known him for years.
- The Reveal: The main characters know that Ravel has golden eyes, but the reader doesn't. Ravel's eye color is never specified until he murders Ghastly.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilised: It involves murdering dear friends and setting psychopathic Warlocks on the mortal population of Dublin, for a start.
- Tears of Remorse: When killing Ghastly.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: In his opinion, his actions are all justified by the results, and he's quite content to pay the price for it. Unfortunately for him, many people disagree. Even more unfortunately for him, one of those people is Darquesse.
- Walking Spoiler: From Last Stand Of Dead Men, spoiling most of the tropes in his folder.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: After being rescued by the Torment from Mevolent and seeing how the Children of the Spider and other non-human passing supernatural people had to live, he became determined to merge their two worlds... with the mages in charge.
- We Used to Be Friends: The attitude of the Dead Men towards him is between this and outright homicidal.
- What Beautiful Eyes!: A bright gold. They're very carefully never described when he's named, while when he goes unnamed, they're his defining feature.
Hopeless
- Cryptic Background Reference: Tried to kill a pre-Heel–Face Turn China at one point.
- Posthumous Character: Killed during the war in unknown circumstances
- Would Hit a Girl: Tried to kill China at some point. She seems to have forgiven him and referred to the whole thing as "Good times."
Larrikin
- Man Hug: Attempt to give one to Shudder. Which turned into a wrestling match.
- Posthumous Character: Murdered by Serpine in Wales, months before the end of the war.
- Taking the Bullet: Died saving Dexter Vex from Serpine's Red Right Hand.
- Sixth Ranger: Was an occasional fill in (notably when Ravel was injured and Skulduggery went "walkabout") but officially joined the group after Hopeless died.
Major Antagonists
Argeddion
The true name of Walden d'Essai, who seeks to grant magic to everyone in the world in order to achieve peace and equality. One of the major villains in Kingdom of the Wicked.
- Adaptive Ability: It's implied that he can learn to use other forms of magic just by seeing them in use.
- Affably Evil: He's genuinely a very friendly guy, with an earnest belief in the goodness of human nature. The worst that could be said about him is that he's a bit self-righteous, condescending, and preachy. Oh, and he has an unfortunate habit of Mind Control. And then there's his tendency to overlook civilian casualties in the name of the 'greater good'.
- A God Am I: It's hinted through his words and Greta's (with whom he is linked) that on one level or another, he believes this.
- Alliance of Alternates: He summons his counterpart from the Leibniz Dimension and teaches him their true name so there's now two of him. His alternate is horrified and fights back.
- Anti-Villain: He only wants to give magic to mortals so everyone can be equal and happy.
- Beneath the Mask: We occasionally get a glimpse under the calm and benevolent Argeddion to the more complex man beneath. When called on effectively murdering Tyren Lament and his other supposed friends, he suddenly snarls that they locked him away for decades, Darquesse's reappearance shakes his cheerful calm, and he completely freaks out when Kitana murders Greta Dapple, his ex.
- Big Bad Ensemble: In Kingdom of the Wicked, along with Mevolent and Kitana - though he's responsible for both of those two becoming threats, by shunting Valkyrie over to the former's dimension and empowering the latter.
- The Chessmaster: He manages to run a very decent plot from within a coma, neatly moving everyone like pieces to get him in place. Unfortunately, he's not very good at Xanatos Speed Chess, which means he gets very thrown when unexpected factors appear - such as Darquesse re-emerging when Valkyrie is almost killed.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: He's a deconstruction of the Wide-Eyed Idealist, the Messianic Archetype, and the Actual Pacifist. While he has genuinely good intentions and is pleasant enough, his idealism comes to the point of blindness to reality no matter how incredibly harmful his actions are, he has the abilities of a messiah such as resurrecting the dead but is pettily willing to let people he has a grudge against die even when they simply made an honest mistake, he's depicted as incredibly arrogant in his belief that he knows best, and he ignores that his actions have consequences and get people killed until it's brutally brought home to him with Greta Dapple's death. Furthermore, his pacifism is inconsistent, technical at best, and usually a guise for moral cowardice.
- Dimensional Traveller: Learned this ability from Silas. Darquesse learns it from him and kills him immediately after.
- Fatal Flaw: Arrogance. He believes that his conclusions and solutions are infallible, that everything will go as he has planned, and that he's basically unstoppable once he's locked away Darquesse and Vile. Oh, and that he has a right to play god.
- Healing Factor: As standard for a True Name Sorcerer, he can heal pretty much anything if he has time to focus on it, which is why Darquesse makes sure to take him out very quickly once she reactivates the Argeddion personality to get at his knowledge, as he's already healing even as he's getting his bearings.
- Humanoid Abomination: Borders this and Physical God, thanks to his raw power, the nightmares his impending emergence causes in the more psychotic sorcerers, and his subtly inhuman perspective.
- Hidden Depths: And not necessarily positive ones. Despite what he says about Lament and his companions being his friends, he clearly holds a significant grudge for subduing and imprisoning him, and casually strips the magic he lent them away despite knowing it would kill them, instead of finding a more pacifistic solution. Since he casually psychically subdued Darquesse, he could have done it, implying that whether he admits it or not, he wanted to kill them. It gets worse when it's revealed that he's fully capable of outright resurrecting people when he wants to.
- Holier Than Thou: He tends to have a faint air of amiably condescending benevolence, pitying others for not being so enlightened as he believes he is.
- Light Is Not Good: He's heavily associated with the colour white, at a contrast to Darquesse, and his plan is a rapture style 'Summer of Light'. He also causes unnatural changes to the world and bad dreams befitting the emergence of an Eldritch Abomination, he's entirely willing to let people die while his experiment runs, he sees people as little more than pawns as he intends to remake the world in his image, and as the fate of Tyren Lament and co suggests, he's not quite as perfectly pacifistic and forgiving as he pretends to be.
- Killed Off for Real: Darquesse kills him by firing a pencil sized laser into his heart after absorbing his shunting ability.
- Lack of Empathy: Subtly done, but for all his talk of eternal compassion for all and building a utopia, he's pretty much entirely indifferent to the suffering his experiments cause and the concerns of anyone human other than Greta Dapple - and since she loves him dearly and acts as his primary enabler, this doesn't help. Even Darquesse calls him on it, even if the gist of her commentary is closer to At Least I Admit It.
- Mind Control: He has an unfortunate habit of this.
- Mind Rape: The Mind Control escalates to this in the case of Tyren Lament and his friends, who he basically bent to his will, to the point where they're aware of it but seemingly unbothered by it to a worryingly cheery degree.
- Non-Action Big Bad: Actually directly killing someone in a way he can't justify, albeit accidentally, leaves him in shock.
- Not So Above It All: His response to being called on technically murdering Tyren Lament and company, and to the death of Greta Dapple, shows that he's all too human under the facade.
- "Not So Different" Remark: He and Darquesse exchange a few, as they're the only True Name sorcerers out there - though he emphasises the perceived differences for the most part, and she cuttingly points out that his proclivity for death and destruction is arguably worse than hers, just more removed, and his Lack of Empathy isn't really any different.
- Oh, Crap!: When Darquesse pops up again, having broken free of his psychic blocks thanks to Valkyrie almost dying, and revealing that she learned stuff like True Sight much, much faster than he did - which implies terrifying things about her learning curve.
- Perfect Pacifist People: He wants to create a world like this. Sadly, Humans Are Bastards - or at least, enough are that simultaneously giving them all significant magical powers that they won't understand is a truly terrible idea. He refuses to acknowledge this possibility, partly because he never directly deals with the consequences of his actions... then they all smack him in the face. Greta is brutally murdered in front of him, after he instinctively lashed out and killed his counterpart who had just harshly repudiated his beliefs despite having almost all the same knowledge, and Darquesse reappears, who reveals that she can see the world just as he can and she remains a Psychopathic Womanchild - and points out that his actions have harmed far more people than she ever has.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Comes with knowing your true name.
- Power Copying: He learns to teleport and dimensional shunt after seeing each ability once.
- Psychic Powers: His are immensely strong, enough to influence dreams and subconscious minds across continents, and to lock away Darquesse in Valkyrie's head.
- Smug Super: Justifiably. He's the first True Name sorcerer to last any length of time, he's a genius who's had decades to explore his power, and he's functionally a Physical God. The only direct personal threats to him are Darquesse (a fellow True Name sorcerer with a killer instinct), who he locks in a psychic box in Valkyrie's head, and Vile (hideously powerful, incredibly skilled, and a ruthless killer), who he acknowledges and deals with by immediately pinching his armour and hiding it. However, he never really anticipated people figuring out how to counter him. Or, for that matter, the implication that Darquesse might be smarter than he is.
- Super-Empowering: He gives magical powers to various mortals, treating it like an experiment. Even Darquesse calls him on this.
- Technical Pacifist: Almost everyone points out, however, that he's caused a lot of death and hurt with his plans. He just brushes it off with 'the greater good' speech. Even Darquesse calls him on this, in a brutal "Reason You Suck" Speech, pointing out that he's killed far more people than she has.
- Teleporters and Transporters: One of his powers.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: The entire moral underpinning of his scheme. As is pointed out more than once, this means ignoring all the carnage along the way, but he doesn't seem to care.
- Visionary Villain: He believes in a perfect world that has empowered mortals and mages as a Perfect Pacifist People. And he's willing to ignore any and all evidence that suggests he might be wrong. Darquesse, of all people, is the one to point out that he's just a scientist treating people as petri dishes.
- Villainous Breakdown: He's on the edge of one for most of the final fight, when he's actually in danger for the first time in a long while, he instinctively lashes out and kills his alternate self, he's helpless to do anything but watch as Greta is killed, which causes him to freak out, and Darquesse is back with a Breaking Speech and a revelation that not only is she a much quicker study than he is, but as living proof that while she shares his perspective she's still a Psychopathic Womanchild - which undercuts his core belief.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He really does mean well, and wants a world of Perfect Pacifist People.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: To naive levels sometimes.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: It's more than once implied that he was the genuinely kind and gentle man he seems to be now before becoming Argeddion, and that his power levels threw several screws loose - or at least removed him from anything like a human perspective - much like a more subtle version of Darquesse.
Baron Vengeous
"Only a heathen would bring a gun to a sword fight."
Another former general of Mevolent's, a zealot and devout follower of the Faceless Ones. He plans to call them back to this reality by using the Grotesquery in Playing With Fire.- Alas, Poor Villain: As he begs for forgiveness to the Grotesquery after being fatally injured by Skulduggery, Valkyrie regards the moment as almost tender. Then it snaps his neck.
- Back from the Dead: His Alternate Universe counterpart is brought back as an unthinking zombie.
- Beard of Evil
- Berserk Button: Desecrating the Grotesquery.
- Big Bad: Of Playing With Fire, seeking to raise the Grotesquery and summon the Faceless Ones.
- Co-Dragons: Was one of Mevolent's Three Generals, along with Vile and Serpine.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Of the Type 1, No Sense of Humor variety.
- The Fundamentalist: What sets him apart from his fellow Co-Dragons. Whereas Serpine is cunning and ruthless, and Vile is immensely powerful, Vengeous holds a devout and undying faith in the Faceless Ones. He apparently sees Skulduggery's existence as a crime against nature, and frequently calls him an "abomination."
- Henpecked Husband: His alternate universe counterpart. With Eliza Scorn.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Played With. He was already dying when the Grotesquery snapped his neck.
- Honour Before Reason: The aforementioned "sword to a gun fight" conversation.
- Meaningful Name: "Vengeous" is clearly derived from "vengeance", and the Baron wishes to take revenge on the heathens who banished their rightful masters - the Faceless Ones.
- Powered Armour: Baron Vengeous later obtains Lord Vile's armour and wears it as part of his plan. As is later demonstrated, there is a very big difference between your average person wearing that armour and the original owner wearing it. Or, frankly, when it decides to go walkabout...
- Pretender Diss: While wearing Lord Vile's armour, China tells him that he's weak and that the real Lord Vile was able to change the world with his power. Given what we see of both the main Lord Vile and Leibniz universe's Lord Vile, this is in no way an exaggeration - Vengeous, in the armour, is scary. Vile is terrifying.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: He needs Faceless One blood to revive the Grotesquery, but with no Faceless Ones around, he decides that Valkyrie's blood should be a close enough match because she's a descendant of the Ancients. The ending of the book Bedlam reveals that Valkyrie is actually a descendant of the Faceless Ones, so Valkyrie's blood worked because it was exactly what Vengeous needed, not just a suitable substitute.
- Unwitting Pawn: Of the Diablerie, who arranged for him to be broken out of prison and complete his Grotesquery.
- Would Hurt a Child: Especially if said child was the key to bringing back the Grotesquery.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The Diablerie instruct Sanguine to abandon him after he's finished resurrecting the Grotesquery, and the Grotesquery itself finishes him off once he's been mortally wounded.
Batu
The mastermind behind the Diablerie's plot to bring back the Faceless Ones - a mortal farmer born into a family of mages. He desires to become a vessel for the Faceless Ones.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Subverted; he succeeds in summoning the Faceless Ones but his goal of becoming one with them fails utterly.
- Big Bad: Of The Faceless Ones as the leader of the Diablerie. While the titular Eldritch Abominations usurp him near the end of the climax, the one that possesses him is notably the only one that doesn't die.
- The Chessmaster: Almost perfectly arranges for the Diablerie to gain their Isthmus Anchor and summon the Faceless Ones.
- Demonic Possession: He offers himself as a vessel to the Faceless Ones.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Possessed by a Faceless One in the climax of the book. Though this is somewhat played with as the Faceless One possessing him ends up as the final opponent of the book.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: The old farmer, Patrick "Paddy" Hanratty, was behind the Diablerie.
- Godhood Seeker: His entire motivation is to become possessed by the Faceless Ones and become one with them. While he achieves the former, the latter goal is sheer arrogance that never had a chance of coming true.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The dark gods he murdered countless people to become one with, and who he offered his followers up as sacrifices to, end up erasing his personality.
- Man Behind the Man: He arranged for Venegeous to be freed by Sanguine, and is the new leader of the Diablerie with Gallow set up as his fall guy.
- Muggle Born of Mages: This is why he wants to be possessed; he grew up knowing about mages but wasn't one himself, subsequently becoming insanely jealous of their power.
- Non-Action Big Bad: As a normal human, and an old one at that, he isn't able to fight. The Diablerie do most of the work on his behalf.
- Walking Spoiler: His identity is a secret for most of the book, only being revealed well into the climax.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: To use Valkyrie's words, he was pretty much discarded like a leaky boat after the Faceless Ones were done with him.
Dreylan Scarab
Mevolent's top assassin and Sanguine's father, who was arrested for the death of famed peace advocate Esryn Vanguard during the war.
- The Bad Guy Wins: While he fails in forcing Guild to kill thousands of mortals, his scheme results in Guild being arrested for killing Vanguard and framing Scarab.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: With Sanguine as the leaders of the Revengers' Club in Dark Days.
- Framing the Guilty Party: Scarab was already Mevolent's top assassin with a long list of deaths to his name, but he had nothing to do with the death of Vanguard. Guild used the assassination to take care of two birds with one stone.
- Man Behind the Man: He comes up with the Revengers' Club's plan.
The Man With the Golden Eyes
See Erskine Ravel
A mastermind lurking behind the scenes for a large part of the series, working with the Roarhaven mages towards some inscrutable goal. Capable of wiping the memories of anyone who speaks with him, leaving his identity a mystery until Last Stand of Dead Men.
Melancholia St Clair/The Death Bringer
- Back for the Finale: She's revived from her coma to help kill Darquesse. She nearly succeeds, too.
- Back for the Dead: Is brought out of her coma in The Dying of the Light in order to fight Darquesse, only to be killed.
- Back from the Dead: In Phase 3, in perfect health i.e. minus the power tattoos. Valkyrie is very confused, and Melancholia provides a cheerful half-explanation that suggests that she, along with Solomon Wreath, managed to sneak back to life when Darquesse was putting the universe back together. It's not entirely clear what she's been doing in the intervening six years, and she's evasive on the subject when Val asks.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: After her reappearance in Phase 3 has her cheerfully flirting with Val, it's quite easy to reinterpret a number of her previous interactions with Val in this light.
- Big Bad Ensemble: With Vile in Death Bringer. Melancholia is the bigger threat, but Vile's desire to kill her is a constant secondary threat that culminates with Melancholia depowered and helpless while Vile becomes the Final Boss.
- Blessed with Suck: At the peak of her powers, she's capable of at least rivalling the raw might of baseline Lord Vile - though her inexperience means that she struggles with his Animated Armour and when Vile himself takes the field, she is beyond outclassed - and when charged up, alongside Vile she's a legitimate threat to Darquesse. However, their nature means that those powers spike and dip dramatically and threaten to blow her up like a mini-nuke.
- Brought Down to Badass: After her resurrection, or so one would assume, as she lacks the supercharging but unstable tattoos.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Inflicts this on Valkyrie.
- Convenient Coma: Eventually placed in an induced coma by Doctor Nye.
- Deadly Upgrade: Thanks to Craven, one which almost kills her. And, eventually, will. Or would have, if she didn't end up being killed by Darquesse. When she comes back, she comes back without it.
- Death of a Thousand Cuts: Almost does this to Valkyrie. Lord Vile gives her a taste of her own medicine and manages to sabotage the sigils that empower her, though Valkyrie saves her before she can be killed.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Depowered by Vile at the beginning of the climax, with the rest of the book consisting of her and Valkyrie trying to avoid being killed by him.
- Dragon-in-Chief: While Craven gave her the immense power she used to become the Death Bringer, this in no way gives him control over her. Once she grows tired of listening to him, she effortlessly puts him in his place.
- Drunk with Power: She changes remarkably from the stiff, demure, obedient student we first meet in Book 4. In The Dying of the Light after delivering a Badass Boast to Darquesse she even lampshades that she's "carried away with the whole power thing."
- Dragon Ascendant: As Craven found out the hard way, Evil Is Not a Toy and once she grew into her powers, she didn't actually have any reason to listen to him anymore.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Both in terms of her fluctuating powers and the position of Deathbringer, which attracts the attention of Lord Vile (something you really do not want), and herself, as Craven finds out when she decides not to be his puppet.
- Hypocrite: She disdains the necromancers as hypocrites for being afraid of death but she herself has no desire to die. Also she rightly calls Craven a coward but screams for his help whenever she's in danger of losing. Finally, she derides necromancy for the subsequent reliance on an magical artifact, saying that her body is all she needs to focus her power; however she completely ignores her own severe reliance on her enhanced magic.
- Meaningful Name: "Melancholia" means "deep sadness", and indeed it's accurate to describe her mental state as such which Craven preys upon in convincing her to become the Death Bringer.
- Necromancy: She's one of the most powerful and notable Necromancers in a millennium, listed alongside Lord Vile in Phase 2 of the series, and of her contemporaries only potentially Valkyrie (had she stuck with Necromancy) would have equalled or surpassed her.
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One-Scene Wonder: In A Mind Full of Murder, she pops up to reveal that she's alive, that Solomon Wreath is alive, imply that more people came back when Darquesse fixed the universe than were strictly meant to, and hit on Valkyrie. - Person of Mass Destruction: She's estimated to be capable of killing millions of people in one go.
- Pet the Dog: Shows something vaguely resembling sympathy towards Valkyrie after she bites the...thing ... that was trying to kill her.
- Power Incontinence: Sometimes extremely powerful, sometimes so weak she can't stand.
- Oh, Crap!: When she fights Lord Vile. To be fair, this is an entirely justified reaction to facing Vile.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: As she starts to grow in power and insanity her eyes begin glowing red.
- Save the Villain: By Valkyrie, from Lord Vile.
- Smug Snake: She thinks she's the bees knees. Then she goes up against Vile.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: When Crave carves the symbols into her skin and her fate at the end of book 6.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Her brutal beating at the hands of Lord Vile comprehensively broke her of her haughtiness. In A Mind Full of Murder, it would seem that dying and coming back minus the Deadly Upgrade has further improved her disposition, cheerfully greeting a baffled Valkyrie, then, to her shock, making a cheeky pass at her.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Eventually develops this with Valkyrie before she dies. Hilariously, in Phase 3, after returning from the dead she casually flirts with a flabbergasted Valkyrie, telling her that if she ever breaks up with Militsa and is still interested in hot Necromancer girls, she should give her a call.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: When she hits the peak of her Death Bringer powers, her marbles get rather looser.
The Remnants
Malevolent spirits known for possessing people.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Darquesse, who they chose as their Messiah and are responsible for unleashing, ends up killing them all.
- Big Bad: Collectively serve as the main antagonists in Mortal Coil.
- The Corruption: When Remnants possess people, they don't completely take control. Those who become possessed are essentially their old selves, except with a few of the Remnants' desires and no soul.
- Demonic Possession: Their entire schtick - Remnants possess people to cause mass chaos, and if they stay in a body for more than five days they're permanently bonded.
- Killed Off for Real: Darquesse ends up absorbing them all in Dying of The Light.
- The Soulless: People possessed by Remnants have no moral compass. At least at first, as those who become permanently bonded can learn to regrow their conscience.
Minor Antagonists
Bubba Moon
An affilate of the anti-Sanctuary, and the main antagonist of Get Thee Behind Me, Bubba Moon.
- Big Bad Wannabe: While certainly a threat to normal mortals, to Skulduggery and Valkyrie he's decidedly less dangerous. While they're briefly captured, after escaping they easily kill his god and exorcise Moon, binding him to his circle.
- Demonic Possession: After an astral projecting accident leaves him unable to return to his original body, he ends up possessing Pete and uses him as a vessel for most of the kid's life.
Caelan
A youthful-looking vampire, who was cast out from his society for murdering a fellow vampire. Works with Valkyrie to bring back Skulduggery from the realm of the Faceless Ones, but develops an attraction for her.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Like you wouldn't believe.
- Deconstruction: His relationship with Valkyrie during "Deathbringer" is one for Edward and Bella's relationship in Twilight. Unlike Bella, Valkyrie is uncomfortable with Caelan's limerent behavior and when she has enough of it, Caelan tries to kill her only to wind up dead himself.
- Friendly Neighbourhood Vampire: Ultimately subverted.
- Hemo Erotic: It certainly seems like this was the case - he was more or less stable beforehand, but after he had a sip of Valkyrie's blood (because she wants to know what Dusk tasted), he went off the deep end of obsession.
- Kill It with Water: Salt water, to be exact.
- Love Makes You Crazy: His obsession with Valkyrie just grows.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Except in terms of brooding and stalking.
- Really 700 Years Old: 100 years, but anyway.
- Stalking is Love: Considers himself to be Valkyrie's Guardian Angel by partway through Book 5
- Take That!: A somewhat less than subtle jab at our mate Eddie, with a jab at Angel.
Charivari
A powerful sorcerer who leads the warlocks.
- Anti-Villain: Ultimately just trying to protect his people.
- Evil vs. Evil: He's certainly an unforgiving and cruel enemy, but he's going against the Roarhaven mages who want to rule the mortals.
- Genius Bruiser: Despite his size, and brute strength he see's past Golden Eye's plan for the warlocks to attack the mortals, and goes after Roarhaven.
- Killed Off for Real: Stephanie disentegrates him with the Scepter.
Kitana's Gang
Kitana, Sean, Doran and Elsie - a group of teenage mortals who are granted dangerous amounts of power by Argeddion in Kingdom of the Wicked. They use their newfound magic to wreak havoc and kill anyone who tries to stop them, eventually causing Elsie to leave the group.
- Back from the Dead: Kitana, Doran and Sean get killed by Vile and Darquesse and brought back by Argeddion.
- The Heavy: While they're empowered by Argeddion and are complete small-fries in comparison to the possibility of Mevolent invading, Argeddion himself isn't all that evil and Mevolent is stuck in another dimension. Their rampage is the direct source of destruction in the normal universe, and are somewhat symbolic of what would happen should Argeddion succeed.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Valkyrie and Skulduggery are the better fighters but simply aren't strong enough to take them down and get curbstomped. Vile and Darquesse? Not so much.
Davina Marr
An American sorcerer who is hired by the Irish Sanctuary, but is secretly working for the Man with the Golden Eyes.
- Asshole Victim: After trying to brutally beat a confession out of Valkyrie, blowing up the Sanctuary out of what is heavily implied to be nothing more than mere spite and being a smug and antagonistic Jerkass in general it’s hard to not cheer when Tesseract kills her.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She tends to act quite polite and well intentioned while saying and doing awful things.
- Detective Mole: Is convinced by The Man With The Golden Eyes to destroy the Irish Sanctuary.
- Jerkass: Condescending and mean.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Valkyrie did take an enormous risk bringing Skulduggery home.
- Killed Off for Real: You almost feel sorry for her. Almost.
- Police Brutality: Goes out of her way to hurt and humiliate Valkyrie when she is already in custody instead of just taking her to her cell.
- Red Right Hand: Her heterochromia.
- Stupid Evil: Dropping Valkyrie's Necromancer ring on the floor to taunt her? Not a smart move. Pushing Valkryie onto the floor where she can pick it up? Stupid.
- Would Hurt a Child: Has no issue smacking around Valkyrie purely for the fun of it.
Remus Crux
A Sanctuary detective who is hired to replace Skulduggery after the Skeleton Detective is fired.
- Clueless Detective: Thurid Guild tells people he has his best detective on the case. They respond, oh, I didn't know you'd got Skulduggery Pleasant back.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Catches a glimpse of a Faceless One.
- He Knows Too Much: The reason China kills him.
- Jerkass: He's pretty much just a massive prick. To everyone.
- Killed Off for Real: By China.
- Mind Rape: A Faceless one's doing. He completely loses his mind after glimpsing one.
- Too Dumb to Live: Blackmailing China Sorrows sure was a great idea...
Madame Mist
A sibling of the Torment's - a fellow Child of the Spider living in Roarhaven. During the political crisis, she is elected a Sanctuary Elder, although her true allegiance lies withe the Man with the Golden Eyes.
- Bad Powers, Bad People: As with The Torment
- Devil in Plain Sight: Appears from books 5 to 9, and at no point did anyone completely trust her.
- The Dragon: To the Man with the Golden Eyes.
- The Faceless: Her face is never seen.
- Killed Off for Real: By China.
- Kill It with Fire: She survives everything until China pulls out her last resort.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Does anyone particularly want to know what is under that veil? The answer? Her face. Oh, and a lot of spiders crawling beneath her skin.
- Obviously Evil: Sibling of the Torment, face is always hidden, and a Child of the Spider.
- The Worm That Walks: Madame Mist's insides are literally made out of spiders.
Tesseract
- Affably Evil: In his final moments he's incredibly polite to Skulduggery, the two having a relatively civil conversation as they wait for him to die.
- Alternative Character Interpretation: In-Universe. From the heroes' perspectives he's a Professional Killer, stoic, silent but deadly, and seems to be able to handle anything that gets in his way. In chapters from his perspective he retains most of these features, but also is very intelligent, yet constantly making mistakes and having bad luck and only just managing to stop them being a serious problem.
- Buried Alive: He survives, too.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: To everyone else he's an unstoppable killing machine, able to take out everyone he comes across, but his thought process is... definitely quirky.
- Cool Mask: Has medicinal properties for some unknown disease in him.
- The Heavy: Of Mortal Coil. While the Remnants are the Big Bads, Tesseract's pursuit of Davina Marr makes him the main antagonist of the story until they get released, and their unofficial leader ends up possessing him for a majority of the rest of the book once they do get out.
- Killed Off for Real: By Lord Vile.
- Pragmatic Villainy: He prefers to kill when his victim is asleep, or when their back is turned, or on one occasion, when they were already dying from a heart attack.
Vaurien Scapegrace
The self-proclaimed "Killer Supreme", an incredibly ineffectual mage who has yet to actually kill anybody. A bumbling, but tenacious foe of Valkyrie and Skulduggery. Gets turned into a zombie by Dreylan Scarab in Dark Days.
- Back from the Dead: Sanguine kills him in Dark Days after finding out he's not a killer, but Scarab decides they may as well put his death to good use, and makes him a zombie. Then in Kingdom of the Wicked he gets Dr. Nye to bring him completely back to life. See Gender Bender.
- Break the Haughty: The final book has him finally face the fact that he's nowhere near as badass as he'd like to be. He actually takes it pretty well.
- Butt-Monkey: Seriously. He gets humiliated or injured in every appearance.
- Card-Carrying Villain: He's very proud of his status as a murderer. (Er... wannabe murderer.)
- Determinator: He simply does not give up. Much good it does him.
- Evil Duo: Him and Thrasher, with him being in charge - though eventually, they pull a Heel–Face Turn.
- Gender Bender: Nye gives him the wrong body. He's unhappy with it, to put it mildly, and while this is initially Played for Laughs, it's later elaborated that he's feeling at least some gender dysphoria and realises that while his new form makes him popular, he's not popular for who he is.
- Heel–Face Turn: Decides to become a superhero in Last Stand of Dead Men. The Dark and Stormy Knight. He's equally bad at it as he was at being evil, but he tries.
- Hidden Depths: They're very hidden, granted, and it takes until The Dying of the Light to discover them but would you believe that Vaurien Scapegrace passes the third test (just) and nearly becomes the King of Necropolis. And that he turns it down for the moment because he and Thrasher promised Clarabelle they'd come back.
- I Can Still Fight!: With his head chopped off.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: He's so dreadfully awful at being a bad guy, it's hard not to pity him, just a little, especially as Valkyrie and Skulduggery use his incompetence for their own plans. Though he does pretty much deserve it.
- Losing Your Head: Under Gordon's house. Valkyrie drop kicks it.
- Meaningful Name: Both his first name and his surname mean "scoundrel".
- Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: Turns out... chopping off his head won't kill him.
Thrasher
Scapegrace's eventual sidekick, and the first man he turns into a zombie after becoming one himself. His real name is Gerald. Doggedly accompanies his master, and may be the only person more ineffectual than him
- Disney Death: In the Necropolis, thanks to his replacement brain being made out of plant matter.
- Evil Duo: Him and Scapegrace, with Scapegrace being mostly in charge, until the Heel–Face Turn.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Scapegrace, though it's all but stated that he'd much rather it become more than heterosexual. Scapegrace is completely and utterly oblivious to this.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Is completely blind to how incompetent his master really is.
- Minion with an F in Evil: He's possibly the least menacing bad-guy imaginable.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: On at least one occasion, he catches someone completely by surprise, despite the fact that he's a partly decayed zombie. Said person promptly demands to know if Thrasher is a ninja. As Scapegrace sadly replies, he's not - he just fades into the background really well.
- Undying Loyalty: Notably, his loyalty to Scapegrace at first appears to be a result of his zombification, but as time goes on and this no longer becomes a factor it is implied he was really just that lonely.
The Torment
A Child of the Spider with a hatred for mortals, who lives in Roarhaven - a town made up entirely of sorcerers. A grouchy and malicious old man, capable of transforming into a massive spider-like creature.
- Bad Black Barf: He even spews it up and it turns into monstrous spiders. Or turns him into a monstrous spider.
- Enemy Mine: Helps Valkyrie fight the Grotesquery.
- Killed Off for Real: By Tesseract.
- Obviously Evil: Well, with a name like that...
- Villainous Rescue: Saves everyone in Playing with Fire.
- Would Hurt a Child: Or rather, Would Order Someone to Murder Their Beloved Partner, Who Also Happens to be a Child.
The Maleficent Seven
Sabine
Spring-Heeled Jack
A legendary English serial killer known as the "Terror of London", whose magic allows him to leap great heights and distances. A battle with Tanith Low drags him into the paths of Skulduggery and Valkyrie.
- Abhorrent Admirer: To Sabine, though she's unaware of this, and he [[spoilers:dies never being able to tell her his feelings for her.]]
- Affably Evil: Even if he's trying to kill someone, chances are he'll still be perfectly friendly with them.
- Alas, Poor Villain: He may have been a vicious cannibalistic monster but it’s hard to not have at least some pity with him after seeing him get beheaded in cold blood by Tanith just as she gave him the false hope of finding out what he really is and lied to him about Sabine liking him.
- Eats Babies: In Grimoire, Tannith says he had a tendency to eat babies.
- In a Single Bound: His main power.
- Killed Off for Real: By Tanith Low during the end of Maleficent Seven.
- Off with His Head!: Courtesy of Tanith‘s sword. Sanguine then kicks it off a rooftop as a distraction.
- Single Specimen Species: He's the only one of his kind as far as he knows. His payment for being in the Maleficent Seven would be to find out exactly what he is.Unluckily for him it turns out that Tanith had no intention on keeping that promise as she didn’t actually know anything about that.
- Villainous Rescue: He saves Val's life in Playing With Fire.
Billy-Ray Sanguine
- Abhorrent Admirer: Has a crush on Tanith despite being a sociopathic murderer who tried to kill her multiple times. Grows out of it eventually as he genuinely falls in love with her while she’s possessed and ends up sacrificing himself for her even after she’s freed of the remnant.
- Berserk Button: Taking his razor.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: With his father in Dark Days. While Scarab may be the leader of the Revengers' Club, the two act like partners and Sanguine does most of the work. Sanguine was also the one who came up with the Legion of Doom plan in the first place, and brought together the Club's members.
- Brought Down to Normal: Valkyrie causes him to lose his tunneling power when she almost kills him with Tanith's sword. He slowly gets better, but still needs a Doctor to repair his wounds.
- Co-Dragons: With Dusk to Venegeous, and with Gallow to Batu.
- Cool Shades: He wears sunglasses in order to cover the holes where his eyes should be.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Often refers to himself as "Mamma Sanguine's favourite son".
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He ultimately comes to genuinely care for Tanith even after she gets her remnant removed, ultimately making a Heroic Sacrifice against the Black Cleaver.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He's absolutely horrified at Darquesse's brutality.
- Everyone Has Standards: In Kingdom of the Wicked, Sanguine is shocked when a dismembered head in Dr. Nye's office speaks to him, despite him accepting several other undead things as normal.Sanguine: You got a head in a jar.
Nye: So?
Sanguine: It spoke to me!
Nye: What did you think it was going to do, shake your hand? - Eyeless Face: Of the empty eye-socket variety.
- Hayseed Name: 'Billy-Ray', and he has the Texas accent and speech pattern to go with it.
- Heel–Face Turn: A very slow and somewhat fuzzy one, but proximity to both Remnant Tanith and latterly Darquesse inspires one in him. He wants to be better for the former and encourages her to be the better person she was pre-Remnant, accurately pointing out that deep down she wants to be, while the latter horrifies him. At a contrast to his previous disturbing crush on Tanith, post-remnant he's sadly accepting that she understandably doesn't have feelings for him any more, and saves her life at the cost of his own from the Black Cleaver.
- It's Personal: With Valkyrie after she permanently wounds him. He gets over it.
- Killed Off for Real: By the Black Cleaver.
- Ladykiller in Love: His crush on Tanith was pretty hilarious. Until Mortal Coil. Though, oddly enough, it actually ends up improving him.
- Laughably Evil: Despite being a sadistic sociopath who kills people for money he is one of the most entertaining characters in the entire series. It also helps that he does have some Hidden Depths and on a semi-regular basis he's pointed at something much worse. And then there's his Hazy-Feel Turn that latterly progresses to a full Heel–Face Turn.
- Love Redeems: His crush on Tanith is amusing and weird at best, but oddly enough, his relationship with Remnant Tanith actually slowly redeems him and has him actively encouraging her to be a better person.
- Meaningful Name: "Sanguine" is the colour of blood - suitable for an assassin/serial killer.
- Psycho for Hire: This means he sometimes ends up on the hero's side with enough incentive.
- Slashed Throat: How the Black Cleaver ultimately kills him, after Sanguine thinks he's won.
- Took a Level in Badass: After spending the last few books magically crippled thanks to Valkyrie, he is in full badass mode in The Maleficent Seven.
- Tunnel King: His main power note is being able to tunnel through walls and the ground. He can also grab you, pull you into the ground and leave you there so you're stuck.
- Would Hurt a Child: Expresses his desire to kill Valkyrie multiple times, in response to first his razor being stolen and then for being slashed by it. He gets over it.
- Villain Protagonist: One of the main characters of The Maleficent Seven and one of the few to survive the end of the book.
Black Annis
Spoilers for Maleficent Seven: Wilhelm Scream
The Necromancers
Solomon Wreath
A pleasant man who becomes Valkyrie's mentor in Necromancy after Skulduggery is taken away by the Faceless Ones. One of the more sociable of the Necromancers. [[spoiler: Is killed by Darquesse, then, according to Melancholia, was one of a number of necromancers who managed to come back to life while
- Ambiguously Evil: Prior to the reveal of just what the Passage is. After that, while the Passage itself is a bit evil, his intentions are good and more Blue-and-Orange Morality than anything else.
- Back from the Dead: According to Melancholia in A Mind Full of Murder, along with her and several other necromancers, he came back when Darquesse was recreating the universe. How they did it, even Melancholia doesn't seem certain, and it's also unclear what he's been up to for the last six years.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Doesn't mind about killing 3 billion people but does mind about killing a few million, because then the plan wouldn't work. Valkyrie lampshades how screwed up this is.
- Cane Fu: He conducts his shadows with a cane.
- Deadpan Snarker: He can match wits with Skulduggery.
- Evil Mentor: For a given value of evil regarding the whole Passage matter. 'Morally Ambiguous' might be a better way to put it - he means well, and genuinely believes that he's doing the right and necessary thing. He also is fairly open about wanting to tempt Valkyrie towards necromancy and away from Skulduggery. As it is, he's a good teacher to Valkyrie, a supportive mentor, and holds no grudge about her opposing him over the Passage - and even when it seems like she's not going to be the Death Bringer, he still considers it both an honour and a pleasure to train her.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Courtesy of Darquesse.
- Killed Off for Real: By Darquesse. As it turns out, he gets better, also courtesy of Darquesse.
- Meaningful Name: "Solomon" was a Biblical king famed for his wisdom, and this Solomon eventually becomes Valkyrie's tutor in Necromancy.
- Necromancy: One of the more powerful, and most adept, necromancers in the series, their answer to Skulduggery, and Valkyrie's tutor.
- Treacherous Advisor: Briefly, to Craven, on the entirely understandable grounds that Craven was crazy.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He's perfectly willing to kill 3 billion people if it means the rest live forever. Anything less, in his eyes, is an unconscionable genocide.
- Walk the Earth: At the end of Death Bringer, before returning a few books later.
Auron Tenebrae
The leader of the Necromancer Order in Ireland, who hides his fair share of secrets.
- Killed Off for Real: By Melancholia.
- Meaningful Name: "Tenebrae" is the Latin word for "darkness", as befitting a Necromancer who wields darkness itself.
Vandameer Craven
A sycophantic aide to Tenebrae, who secretly plans to overthrow him using Melancholia St. Clair's newfound power as the "Death Bringer".
- Big Bad Wannabe: He wants power and seeks to gain it through Melancholia as his Puppet King. He quickly realises he's got no chance of controlling her, has ultimately got himself stuck in a bigger mess than if he hadn't tried to turn her into the Death Bringer and spends much of his last hours obeying her in fear for his life.
- Dirty Coward: He has no problem sending a group of hopelessly outmatched necromancers to the Rippers and locking the door behind them if it buys him a few extra minutes to live. Most of his actions in book 5 involve putting other people between himself and the danger, whether Melancholia or the Sanctuary.
- Killed Off for Real: Got a bullet in the head from Skulduggery.
- Meaningful Name: "Craven" means "coward", and Vandameer does indeed behave like one throughout the series.
- The Obi-Wannabe: He paints himself as a wise mentor to Melancholia with Necromancy's best intentions at heart to convince her to let him turn her into the Death Bringer. He even manages to convince himself of this to some extent. Melancholia obeys him for a bit but sees through him quickly enough.
- Who's Laughing Now?: His motivation is not anything to do with The Passage but more about being more powerful than Tenebrae and Wreath for a change.
Vincent Foe
The leader of a group of nihilists who want to end the world.
- Arc Villain: The main antagonist of The End of the World novella.
- Demoted to Dragon: First to the Supreme Council, then to China, then (happily) to Darquesse.
- Straw Nihilist: Believes nothing in the world matters, and is more than happy to burn it all to the ground.
The White Cleaver/The Black Cleaver
A skilled soldier of the Sanctuary who is captured by Nefarian Serpine and killed, before being brought back to life in an experiment. Seemingly unstoppable, and he serves whichever Necromancer is the strongest.
- Back from the Dead: Naturally, as he is a zombie. Done once again in Last Stand of Dead Men when he becomes the Black Cleaver.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: He switches sides a lot. Justified, as he becomes the servant of whichever Necromancer is the strongest.
- Killed Off for Real: By Tanith, finally, in ''The Dying of the Light.
- The Worf Effect: He's a completely unstoppable badass, who lasts all of five seconds against Lord Vile before he's ripped apart. Similarly, the Black Cleaver beats the crap out of Skulduggery until he uses Necromancy.
The Edgleys
Gordon Edgley
Valkyrie's uncle, a famous author who became a part of the hidden world of magic and based all of his works on stories he had heard from real-life sorcerers. His death is what kickstarts the events of the series. A form of him returns as a memory dwelling in an Echo Stone, allowing him to become Valkyrie's adviser even after his death.
- All Love Is Unrequited: It is heavily implied that he is still in love with Melissa, for all that he gracefully stepped aside when he realised she was in love with his brother.
- Author Avatar: Landy managed to pull this trope off with a character who died in the first chapter.
- Cool Uncle: To Stephanie, his favourite niece.
- Deadpan Snarker: Even his will is full of snide comments.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: "No, wait-"
- Living Memory: Thanks to the Echo Stone, which has all the memories and personality of the "real" Gordon.
- Obi-Wan Moment: When Darquesse erases him from the Echo Stone he gets enough time to calmly say goodbye to Valkyrie. He even mentions the Trope Namer.
- Posthumous Character: His death sets the plot of the first book into motion.
- Romantic Runner-Up: Dated Melissa, but graciously stepped aside when he realized she and Desmond were in love. He didn't hold it against them, but it's implied he never quite got over her.
- Spirit Advisor: He still manages to help Valkyrie out after death, with a little help from an Echo Stone.
Other
Clarabelle
Professor Grouse's sweet assistant, who seems utterly detached from reality.
- Axe-Crazy: Unlike all the other remnants who seem lucid and have a clear cut goal, Remnant!Clarabelle is batshit insane.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Partially deconstructed. She never has very many friends, other than Scapegrace and Thrasher, or possibly Kenspeckle Grouse. And she ends up murdering Kenspeckle while possessed by a Remnant.
- Hidden Depths: In Death Bringer she seems to be aware of her strange behaviour, feeling that Grouse needed someone to take care of, having evidentally played her behaviour up. Given that she acts even stranger afterwards, it's hard to tell if she's smarter or ditzier than she let on.
- Stepford Smiler: Came across as this a little in Death Bringer, acting even weirder than normal after killing her boss and only friend as a Remnant.
Finbar Wrong
A seemingly-clueless tattoo artist who doubles as a skilled Sensitive capable of foreseeing the future.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite all appearances, Finbar genuinely is a powerful Sensitive who Skulduggery and Valkyrie come to rely on more than once. On the other hand, he seems to be a pretty terrible tattoo artist.
- Combat Pragmatist: Dispatches an assassin with a poisoned teacup.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Do not mess with a Sensitive. He will see you coming. And he will kill you.
- Demonic Possession: Happens to him a lot, apparently.
- Establishing Character Moment: In his first appearance in book 2 when despite seeming not at all aware of what's going on around him, he nonetheless spots Dusk the vampire stalking Valkyrie.
- "Reason You Suck" Speech:Finbar: You're an evil man for making me do this and I hope you burn in whatever hell you believe in.
- Surfer Dude: Minus the surfboard.
- Took a Level in Badass: In Last Stand of Dead Men, when he deals with a member of the Supreme Council who has come to kill him.
- Voice of the Legion: When he's temporarily possessed by the Faceless Ones.
General Mantis
- Ambiguous Gender: Like Nye, Mantis is only referred to as "it". We eventually learn that their species doesn't have genders.
- Cool Mask: A gas mask, for some reason.
- The Heavy: For much of Last Stand of Dead Men Bisahalani's the guy calling the shots on the opposing side, and the Man with the Golden Eyes is the Big Bad, but Mantis is the one leading the Mooks, so it's the most direct antagonist.
- Heel–Face Turn: Once the Sanctuaries stop fighting each other and start fighting the Warlocks.
- Mercy Kill: Given one by Skulduggery.
- Mook Lieutenant: In charge of Grand Mage Bisahalani's army.
- Never Bare Headed: Never takes off its gas mask.
- Punch-Clock Villain: It only opposes the heroes because it happens to work for the opposing Sanctuary. Before and after the War, it worked along side the protagonists against greater threats.
- The Strategist: The battle's it commanded were always successful.
Mr. Bliss
A man with incredible physical strength, making him one of the most powerful sorcerers in the world. The somewhat-estranged brother of China Sorrows.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: China and Mr. Bliss (the embodiment of Tranquil Fury) were "wary around each other" and she had tried to kill him a couple times, but when Krav tries to kill her he loses it.
- Big Brother Instinct: China may not be the best person, and they might not be close, but do not hurt her in Bliss' presence. He won't like that one bit.
- Defector from Decadence: Like his sister, he eventually turned his back on the Faceless Ones, albeit much sooner than she did.
- Icy Blue Eyes: He has pale blue eyes, befitting his cool and detached nature. They're what tip Valkyrie off that he and China are related.
- Killed Off for Real: By a Faceless One.
- Meaningful Name: "Bliss" is the opposite of "sorrows", which is the name of his sister.
- Not So Stoic: In the third book, when China is threatened. Then there's his Oh, Crap! moment right before he gets pulverised by a Faceless One.
- The Mole: In the first book, he secretly works for Serpine... so he can defeat him.
- Super-Strength: His strength is beyond legendary.
- Tranquil Fury: His anger isn't the screaming and shouting kind (usually), but if he's pissed off, God help you.
- World's Strongest Man: Skulduggery describes Bliss as physically the most powerful individual on the face of the planet.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: His The Mole status in the first book is revealed when he is ordered to kill an helpless Valkyrie. He point-blank refuses.
Professor Kenspeckle Grouse
A grumpy old sorcerer who specialises in healing and science magic. Forms a close bond with Valkyrie despite their differences.
- The Atoner: He's the man who built the Desolation Engine.
- Subverted, sort of. He says he's not this trope, but has still changed his behaviour and feels sorry about what he's done.
- Badass Pacifist: He hates fighting... but he will if he has to.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: The pink hospital gown he makes Skulduggery wear.
- Demonic Possession: He gets better... but not before nailing Tanith to a chair.
- For Science!: Used to have this mindset. Grew out of it.
- Grumpy Old Man: A result of having to put up with Skulduggery endangering Valkyrie.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Spends most of his time berating Skulduggery. Adores Valkyrie.
- Killed Off for Real: In the most disturbing, violent way possible by remnant!Clarabelle.
- Meaningful Name: To "Grouse" means to complain, and Kenspeckle certainly does that quite often.
- The Medic: He's usually the one to patch Valkyrie up after a particularly bad scrape.
- Only Sane Man: He, along with Ghastly, points out how utterly insane it is to bring Valkyrie, a child, into Skulduggery's work. Skul admits he has a point.
- Papa Wolf: For Valkyrie. He frequently chews Skulduggery out for endangering her, and does what he can to protect and help her.
