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A page for tropes applying to the characters of Spiritfarer.
Spiritfarers
In General
Spiritfarers are those tasked with sailing around the Spirit World, finding lost souls and guiding them to the afterlife.
- Don't Fear the Reaper: The Spiritfarers are Psychopomps whose job is to find lost souls and help them deal with their unresolved emotional problems so that they can pass on to the afterlife.
- Light Is Good: The main tool of a Spiritfarer is the Everlight, a glowing golden sphere that allows them to manifest various glowing golden tools out of Hard Light. Stella in particular has a lot of gold in her color scheme as well.
- Magic Tool: The Everlight, a golden glowing orb that Stella wears on her belt and Daffodil wears on his collar, can be used to manifest different tools that seem to be made of pure light, from oven mitts to a fishing rod.
- Psychopomp: Spiritfarers are fairly standard phychopomps, guiding souls to the afterlife.
Stella
Tasked with the role of Spiritfarer, Stella becomes the ferrymaster to the deceased. She navigates the seas on her boat, exploring the Spirit World. Her goal is to look for and befriend lost spirits. By caring for them, she guides them to the afterlife.
- All-Loving Hero: Stella is unfailingly kind and helpful to all the spirits under her care; even Bruce and Mickey, who are implied to be mob enforcers.
- Beware the Nice Ones: While an all around nice person, Gwen mentions that when the latter's dad yelled at Daffodil, Stella yelled right back at him.
- Cuddle Bug: Stella can give hugs to a lot of characters, often boosting their moods in the process (save for Elena). She can also give Daffodil affectionate hugs whenever the cat is close by.
- Double Jump: The first movement ability she unlocks is this, which gives her a slight boost when jumping across long distances.
- Dead All Along: Yep! Or, at least, in the process of dying, depending on if you interpret the game as a Dying Dream.
- Heroic Mime: While she does Voice Grunting, most of her dialogue is only implied in her conversations with the spirits. For example, Giovanni parrots her refusal to pick the roses at Ambertown Park because it's "vandalism", despite this never being spoken onscreen by her.
- Improvised Parachute: When she unlocks the ability to glide, she uses her hat as a parachute.
- Meaningful Name: Foreshadowing Stella's eventual fate - to also cross the Everdoor and become a constellation
- Jack of All Trades: In the course of the game she'll learn to fish, mine, cook, farm, smith and catch lightning in bottles, all to meet the needs of her charges.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: One of the few details known about Stella's life is her love of Daffodil, enough that he's able to become a Spiritfarer alongside her. Stella's kindness is also praised by multiple characters, and most gameplay involves trying to help someone.
- The Nicknamer: inverted. She gets many nicknames throughout the game, including Sprout, Sweet Pea, Scout, and Big Hat.
- Peaceful in Death: Lily remarks despite being weak and frail, a dying Stella still looks beautiful.
- Token Human: While all of the Sprits were human while they were still alive Stella is the only character that has a human form.
- Vague Age: Her appearance in-game could be that of a child, teenager, or young adult, although the reveal that she worked in palliative care and had a spouse means that she was at least in her 20s.
- The artbook compounds this, arguably crossing over into Older Than They Look, by revealing that Gwen was Stella's elder by a couple years and died of cancer in her 40s, meaning that Stella couldn't have been younger than late 30s when she herself passed away. From there, the only upper limit given is the fact that Stella's mom was still alive to be at her death bed, going off of Hades' comments and the final illustration in his tower.
- The Lily update gives a more concice answer : Lily mentions a baby picture of Stella, apparently dated at 1973. It's unclear when the game takes place, but if it's 2020, that means Stella died at 47.
- Virtual Paper Doll: She can change her clothes using Alice's wardrobe, which are Palette Swaps of her default outfit.
- World Tour: In life, Stella loved to travel all over the world, especially Japan.
Daffodil
- Cats Hate Water: Jumping into the water will make Daffodil attempt to balance on his Everlight as it floats along the surface, a crazed expression on his face.
- Intellectual Animal: Downplayed in singleplayer, where he can follow Stella as well as use some tools. Played in full force with multiplayer, as the player controlling Daffodil can do most things Stella is able to. He can't talk to people, and he can't use the projector, but he can do everything else, including interacting with people in other ways, like feeding passengers or buying from vendors. Also played with in that half the time the Everlight seems to be acting on its own with Daffodil hanging on for dear life rather than Daffodil directing it.
- Loyal Animal Companion: Daffodil will accompany Stella throughout her travels until they pass through the Everdoor together.
- Oh, Crap!: Daffodil's expression when the co-op player has him dive into water to retrieve something.
- The Unchosen One: He was never meant to become a spiritfarer but due to stealing an everlight from Charon has all the same powers as Stella, the actual spiritfarer.
Charon
- Dark Is Not Evil: Despite looking like a towering mass of shadows within a dark cloak, he's fully benevolent.
- He's also very tolerant of Daffodil crawling around his robe to grab a second Everlight.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He passes on to the afterlife about a minute into the game, right after introducing Stella to her new job.
Passengers
In General
The passengers on Stella's ship are the lost souls of the deceased, and it's Stella's job to keep them happy and help them move on.
- Affectionate Nickname: Except for Gwen, each spirit refers to you mostly by a nickname.
- Always with You: Spectral images of them will appear before Stella for a last hug when she's finally ready to move on.
- Animal Motifs: Once taken onto Stella's ship, each anonymously cloaked spirit transforms into an animal. Many of these reflect their personalities to some degree, though they're rarely according to Animal Stereotypes. Even before transforming, the cloaked spirit has an outline of the animal they become hovering above them rather than the formless smoke of other spirits.
- Flower Motifs: Each spirit is associated with a flower that is representative of their personality and convictions, is worn on their body somewhere and is the same one they leave behind. Exceptions include Elena (who leaves behind a cypress branch), Stanley (who leaves behind mushrooms), Bruce (associated with heliotropes, but only Mickey's flower is left behind) and Buck (associated with Rue, but never leaves)
- In the Hood: Prior to arriving on your ship and taking on their true form, they all just look like the same sort of hooded figure that most of the generic NPCs are, but with an aura shaped like their animal selves. Buck and Daria are exceptions since they're already in their animal forms when Stella recruits them.
- Our Spirits Are Different:
- The spirits here are the souls of the dead currently residing in the Spirit World that the game takes place in. They look like anthropomorphic animals, and it's the players job to help them pass on to the afterlife proper.
- They also still have physical needs and limitations. They still get hungry, Summer starts hibernating if things get too cold and Alice eventually has trouble walking and loses her memory.
- Prophet Eyes: They all have blank, glowing white eyes.
- Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism: All of the spirits have the appearance of humanoid animals, though exactly how humanoid varies. Some are mostly humanoid in shape, others are almost totally bestial, and others are somewhere in-between. They still all act like people though, and even the totally bestial ones have no difficulty manipulating objects.
Alice
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: The only clothing she wears is a sunhat.
- Animal Motifs: A hedgehog represents her shy home-centered sweetness with spines suggestive of how she lashes out in the throes of dementia.
- Delirious Misidentification: When it comes around for her time to go, she has no memory of who Stella is, leaving Stella to pretend to be Alice's granddaughter as she assists her to the Everdoor.
- Dramatic Irony: Alice has a habit of this due to her dementia
- If you feed her her favorite food, Alice will happily say how she will never forget this moment. Likely by that point, she's in the throes of dementia
- When bringing her to the Everdoor, Alice will think it's a normal picnic with her granddaughter and husband. Right before she vanishes, she says she should come back next year.
- Dying as Yourself: Zig-Zagged. Right before the Everdoor, Alice seems to have a brief moment of clarity where she recognizes that Stella isn't her granddaughter but ultimately succumbs to her dementia.
- Does Not Like Spam: Dislikes acquired taste and exotic foods and turns down stimulants due to her age.
- Flower Motifs: Alice's Spirit Flower is a peace lily, which represent virtue, peace, and longevity. Alice is one of the oldest spirits the player meets, only rivaled by Beverly or Gustav.
- Good Parents: She devoted much of her time to raising her children
- Granny Classic: Alice the hedgehog spirit is described as "the grandmother everyone wishes they had". She is kindhearted and selfless, she recounts tales of her younger days and gives you free pastries from time to time. Apart from caring about Stella, she clearly also cared a lot for her granddaughter Annie, and when her Alzheimer's starts getting worse, she mistakes Stella as her own granddaughter when the latter dressed up in the same clothes as Annie.
- Eventually deconstructed over the course of her questline, when she reveals that a lifetime of caring for others has left her feeling like she never had time to do anything for herself. One of her requests is for you to accompany her on a little "adventure" to an island that reminds her of the setting of her favourite novels. Tragically, the brief trip takes so much out of her that she becomes barely able to walk, and her dementia progresses so rapidly from that point that Stella will need to send her to the Everdoor shortly afterward.
- Guilty Pleasures: Alice loves romance novels, and enthusiastically compares the island of Nordweiller to her favorite when Stella takes her on a trip. Interestingly, Stella is a fan of the same novels.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Alice is normally polite and cheerful so it's a shock when she lashes out at Stella due to suffering from dementia.
- Parental Favoritism: She favors one granddaughter over the others, but will never tell which one.
- Scatterbrained Senior: Her memory and mental state deteriorate over her questline, and by the time you bring her soul across, it's because she wants to go home and refuses to return to her room, but believes Stella's her granddaughter, and Stella can't think of another way to help her.
- Signature Instrument: When happy, she plays the harmonica.
- Sweet Tooth: Desserts are one of her "liked" food types.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Loves veggie-pot pie, likes old-fashioned foods and dessert.
Astrid
- Affectionate Nickname: She calls Stella "Munchkin" and Giovanni "Giovikins".
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Played With. Despite loving Astrid, Giovanni cheated on Astrid not only in life, but in death. Calling him a "Bad Boy" is a bit of a stretch, though.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Like Giovanni, Astrid too experienced WWII. In her case, she sheltered Jewish children from Nazis.
- Does Not Like Spam: Dislikes sugary and fine dining foods. She also hates eating guacamole despite being skilled at cooking it.
- Flower Motifs: Her Spirit Flower is a mallow, symbolizing love, protection, and health. It's sometimes considered the guardian of a home, but in Western floriography it can also mean "consumed by love."
- Gossipy Hens: Astid's questline "The Three Sisters" evokes the image of gossipy old ladies trading scandalous news.
- Honorary Aunt: According to Lily, she and Giovanni had become honorary grandparents to Stella.
- Ignorance Is Bliss: If Stella chooses to be honest with Astrid and tell her about Giovanni's infidelity, she will get angry and also suffer a mood penalty. However, if Stella lies and says that Giovanni isn't cheating, Astrid believes her and suffers no mood penalty.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While she can be very blunt and abrasive, she's a good person at heart. She's first encountered leading workers in a strike to get better working conditions and benefits, and she hates to see people exploited.
- Opposites Attract: The severe, strong-willed, simple Astrid fell in love with Giovanni, who is loud, flirtatious, and has a taste for the expensive.
- Shoot the Messenger: She briefly lashes out at Stella if she tells her the truth about Giovanni's infidelity.
- Trademark Favorite Food: She prefers plain foods, in sharp contrast to Giovanni's expensive tastes. Her favorite dish is noodle soup.
- Tsundere: Towards Giovanni and with good reason. While she loves him dearly, she's still suspicious of him cheating on her for another woman, even in the Spirit World.
- Undying Loyalty: According to Lily, Astrid remained at Giovanni's side right to the end, even though they divorced and Astrid had married another man.Lily: He was her one and only Gio.
Atul
- Affectionate Nickname: Refers to Stella as "Sprout."
- Amphibian at Large: He's a frog spirit who towers over Stella, a human.
- Animal Stereotypes: A jolly, boisterous frog who loves the water.
- Big Eater: He really likes food. He's the only character that doesn't have any disliked or neutral foods, he just likes everything.
- Big Fun: He's among the largest of the cast, boisterous, loves food, and is irrepressibly cheerful. Though it's hard to tell if he's actually fat or if that's just his body shape because he's a frog.
- Chubby Chef: He is quite rotund, and (according to himself) he is an incredible chef. His dialogue after receiving the pork chops mentions how he would cook for union meetings, and request spices that were "impossible asks," indicating a level of sophistication.
- Ghost Amnesia: To a minimal degree. Though he remembers most of his life with incredible clarity, Atul says he has trouble remembering his children's faces. This has a negative effect on his mood.
- Happy Rain: He gets a mood boost whenever it's raining.
- Hidden Depths: Though generally upbeat, he clearly misses his family. He also has some things to say about unions and the good that comes from being part of one.
- Large Ham: Has a flamboyant personality, given his voice lines and animations are mostly filled with joy.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Atul leaves without a word after spending a last meal with Stella and her friends. The artbook suggests that in life he simply disappeared one day and Stella never found out why.
- Signature Instrument: Plays his flute when happy, and during the lightning minigame.
- So Happy Together: At the end of his questline, Atul, Stella and a few spirits have a party. He thanks the guests for a happy family meal and everyone enjoys the food and music. Atul vanishes the next day, leaving his spirit flower.
- Thrill Seeker: Thinks that catching lightning is a "rush," even though he mentions that if this weren't the spirit world, Stella would die if she attempted this.
- Trademark Favorite Food: While he likes everything, he loves pork chops above all else.
- Working-Class Hero: In life, he was a blue-collar union man, and enjoys woodworking, fishing, and mechanics.
Beverly
- Blind Date: She met her late husband David on one, which was arranged by Pauline, the school secretary.
- Does Not Like Spam: Dislikes stimulants and food that has an acquired taste.
- Dramatic Irony: A chatty gossip, Beverly is almost unarguably the most talkative of the spirits when you meet her. Unfortunately, her degrading mental condition causes her to gradually lose her ability to speak until, by the time you take her to the Everdoor, she can barely manage a few words at a time.
- Everybody Hates Mathematics: In life, math wasn't her best subject because the numbers "made her brain spin".
- Gossipy Hens: A tiny owl, Beverly loves to tell stories about people she's met, and she worries at one point that the other passengers are gossiping about her.
- Miniature Senior Citizens: An old woman, and by far the smallest spirit (save Bruce, who is a hummingbird). Stella even picks her up when they hug!
- Needlework Is for Old People: Knits wool blankets for Stella frequently, and has a knitting animation to boot.
- Scatterbrained Senior: She is an old woman who forgets what information she has given Stella, and will repeat herself several times over.
- The Lost Lenore: Implied that she views her late husband, David, this way. He passed away due to a terminal illness long before her, and she wishes that they had more time together.
- Tongue-Tied: Played for drama. Beverly is initially the most talkative of the spirits, going on at length about people she knows and reminiscing about the past. However, as her storyline progresses, she gradually starts speaking less and less and when she does speak, she often trails off or forgets words. Eventually it becomes clear she is going through cognitive decline - likely some form of aphasia
- and by the time she goes through the Everdoor she can barely speak at all. - Trademark Favorite Food: Loves Laksa and likes exotic and old fashioned food.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Bev will be aghast at the Cuckoo Tower that Stella builds for her, but later realizes it was because architect Anthony was a jerk who couldn't remember what he built Bev decades ago.
Bruce and Mickey
Both
- Does Not Like Spam: Bruce, due to his opulent lifestyle, turns his nose up at anything with only a single ingredient and Mickey is allergic to shellfish.
- The Dividual: The game treats him and his brother Mickey as a single person. Bruce admits before crossing over that it's because Mickey likely crossed long ago, and Bruce only wished for him to be there.
- Jerkass: Bruce and Mickey are rude and abrasive, not just to Stella but also to other spirits on the boat, which can lower their mood. They are also very materialistic and entitled.
- Joisey: The brothers were once part of the mob, likely enforcers.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Mickey is a large, quiet water buffalo while Bruce is a tiny, Motor Mouth hummingbird.
- Trademark Favorite Food: They both love garlic bread and also like pub food in general.
Bruce
- Affectionate Nickname: Starts calling Stella "Scout" after he warms up to her a bit.
- Animal Motifs: Hummingbirds are combative little birds that are never still for long.
- Big Brother Instinct: Though their respective ages are unclear, Bruce is very protective of his brother, chewing Stella out if she tries to feed Mickey shellfish (which he's allergic to) and claiming he was the only one who could calm Mickey down when he was in a rage. It seems to be mutual, since Bruce tells a story about where Mickey threw an attacker through a window to protect Bruce. One of the many reasons Bruce still can't accept that Mickey is gone is because he looked calm and peaceful while comatose, which Bruce knew wasn't like him at all.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: He'll accept hugs from Stella on condition she doesn't tell anyone.
- Driven to Suicide: Bruce reveals, in a single throwaway line as he is headed to the Everdoor, that he shot himself as a result of the grief of losing his brother.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Bruce is not the most pleasant of people and is implied to have been part of organized crime when alive, but he still has a soft spot for his mother. One thing that boosts his mood is eating food that reminds him of his mother's cooking.
- Five Stages of Grief: Bruce is in stage 1 and 2 - in denial about Mickey's death and lashing out in anger over it. He only reaches acceptance when he too is at the Everdoor.
- Handy Helper:Mickey almost never moves on his own - Bruce has to carry him from place to place, speak for him, and even prompt him to turn around. This is a subtle hint about Mickey's condition (and alludes to Bruce's suggestion that Mickey has already passed on and the "Mickey" that he carries around is simply his refusal to accept what has happened.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Despite being a tiny hummingbird, he's fully capable of hefting his water buffalo brother around.
- My Greatest Failure: The one time Bruce didn't keep an eye on Mickey, he killed himself in a car accident.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Apart from rarely using "shit", Spiritfarer contains very little obscenity presumably to suit the cozy, peaceful feel of the game — except with Bruce, who basically never stops swearing.
- Trapped in Villainy: At the Everdoor, Bruce is bitter and regretful of his life of crime but felt pushed into it (to support his mother) and by then, it's too late to change.
Mickey
- The Brute: Mickey when he was alive. Bruce recounts a story where he killed someone in a rage.
- Dead All Along: Mickey fell into a coma while Bruce was still alive and Bruce can't accept he's gone.
- Drunk Driver: Mickey once got drunk and drove his car into a lake leading to a coma that he never woke up from.
- Gentle Giant: In the game itself he's completely passive, barely moving and never speaking. In life he was very much not this.
- Living Emotional Crutch: He was this to Bruce in life. When he fell into a coma as a result of his accident, Bruce shot himself in his grief, reasoning that he couldn't go on without his brother.
- Silent Partner: Bruce almost always speaks for him.
- Unstoppable Rage: Mickey was prone to this, and Bruce was the only one who could calm him down.
Buck
A dramatic pterodactyl-raptor hybrid spirit who's fond of tabletop RPGs to the point of incorporating its lingo into his speech. He's found stuck atop Hikarishima Lighthouse, which can only be reached with the Bounce ability.
- Angel Unaware: There are quite a few hints that he's different from the rest of the spirits you encounter: he's already in his animal form when you meet him, he's a mythical creature unlike the rest of the animals, he's similar to Francis in that he's the only other character who can get you access to a secret shrine island, and most importantly he's the only member of your party who will never cross over. In fact, he will actually tell Stella when she needs to stop delaying and go through the Everdoor herself, suggesting that he has some connection to Hades.
- Dead All Along: With possible Back from the Dead. Buck has already been through the Everdoor and yet is somehow in the spirit world.
- The artbook clarifies that Buck was one of Lily's friends who died when he was in his teens. Stella never met him personally, but the funny stories Lily told about him made her interested in RPGs. The Buck we see in-game is Stella's mental image of what he was like in life.
- Does Not Like Spam: Is lactose intolerant and does not like fruit. Though oddly enough his eating animation has him scarfing down a box of pizza that clearly has cheese on it, and there's a piece of pizza in his room with cheese dripping from it.
- Foreshadowing: Buck's constellation appears in the sky long before he appears in the game and before you can get him on your ship.
- Game Master: He runs a tabletop-style game and sets Stella challenges around the ship.
- Informed Attribute: Died as a teenager. His room description does mention this, but his love of Old Fashioned Foods and his voice can be taken as indications of someone older.
- Informed Species: Is a Basilisk according to
Word of God, though looks like a mix between a pterodactyl and raptor. - Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Buck will occasionally do this. He will tell Stella that there's not much more to this world which can be interpreted as telling player that there's nothing more to the game.
- Mortality Phobia: He empathizes with Stella's conundrum and tells her he's afraid of death too, and that's what is preventing him from (re)entering the Everdoor.
- Stealth Mentor: His game initially appears to be a joke but in fact ends up leading Stella to a hidden shrine and showcases how to use the new ability it grants.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Loves tomato pizza and likes comfort and old-fashioned food.
Daria
- Animal Motifs: She is a fruit bat, and a patient at a mental health facility. One could say she's "batty." Also, she will only eat fresh fruit. Notably, she is the only spirit who eats in line with the way a normal animal of their type would eat, as a fruit bat would only eat fruit.
- Art Shift: Her platforming sections shift to vibrant, psychedelic swirls of color, complete with trippy music. This is a notable shift from the game's usual aesthetic.
- Bottle Episode: Daria does not join Stella on the boat at all until she requests to go to the Everdoor. Her entire story takes place on the island of Overbrook.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Though difficult to tell whether it is her illness or just her personality, Daria speaks vaguely and with a sense of wonder, referring to Stella's guitar playing as "heavy and dull, like an anchor." This is among the more grounded of Daria's dialogue.
- Her strange descriptions of music could be a result of her sound-to-colour synaesthesia.
- Dead All Along: There are hints that Daria was a (musical) inspiration for Stella, and not an actual person she met.
- Does Not Like Spam: Does not like anything, really, aside from fresh fruit.
- Madwoman in the Attic: Imposed upon her. Daria has been diagnosed with Catatonia, and is kept away from other patients because she is "too unwell" and "volatile." Despite earning free roam after Jackie quits, she seems to prefer it in her room anyway.
- Picky Eater: Will not eat anything aside from fresh fruit. Since she is a fruit bat, this makes sense.
- Trademark Favourite Food: Loves apples.
- Voice of the Legion: Her voice gains a layered reverb whenever she and Stella enter the alternate dimension triggered by the latter playing Daria's song.
Elena
- Animal Motifs: A sighthound — reactive and competitive.
- Broken Bird: There are hints in her dialogue that Elena began her teaching career far more optimistic and idealistic than she eventually became and that her watching systemic injustices in the education system (deserving students failing despite their hard effort, students from rich families buying their way to good grades, etc.) combined with her rigid nature and inability to handle her students' chaotic energy to turn her into a harsh, overbearing disciplinarian that saw herself not as a caring mentor but as an obstacle that her students had to overcome.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Early on in her career, Elena tried to nurture a promising student only to fail for reasons beyond her control. The experience seemed to have shattered her idealism — bright students aren't rewarded while she was forced to pass other less deserving students.
- Final-Exam Boss: She appears late in the game, is hard to please and requires you to complete events associated with previous spirits but with additional requirements attached that demand you use all your movement abilities.
- Does Not Like Spam: Dislikes meat, fine dining, and fried foods.
- Final First Hug: Elena Hates Being Touched and rebuffs hugs. She unbends at the Everdoor and accepts a hug from Stella.
- Hates Being Touched: She's the only spirit whose mood actually drops when hugged. She makes an exception when she finally crosses over, even telling you she'll allow it that one time.
- Hate Sink: An in-universe by-design example. She deliberately makes herself unlikable and demanding for her students, never showing them praise or affection. She reasons that they will either become strong enough to surpass her exceedingly-high demands or will be broken by them and learn what their limits are. She fully acknowledges that her students all grow to hate her, but seems unbothered by this fact.
- Mentor in Sour Armor: She is a stern and harsh teacher and has no time for any form of affection or coddling. She refuses to praise any of her students' efforts (including Stella) and her response to a good performance is typically some variant of "You could have done better." Notably this carries over in-game, as she is almost impossible to get in a good mood and typical ways that boost other spirits' moods (hugs, improving their living space) actually makes hers worse.
- Minimalism: She asks you not to put any ornamentation in her room and upgrading it will actually lower her mood. While you still have to do it if you want the achievement, you can just wait until she's gone through the Everdoor.
- Ice Queen: Unlike the other spirits she seemingly has no personal connection to Stella, demands she prove herself and is very hard to please, rejecting any offers of hugs or improvements to her lodgings. Even by the end of her questline she doesn't defrost that much, still calling Stella a failure but nonetheless accepting a hug from her. the artbook reveals that she was one of Stella's final patients, and passed away with no friends or family in her life.
- Now Allowed to Hug: Elena, a spirit who dislikes physical affection and the only spirit in-game whose mood decreases if hugged. Upon completing her quests and taking her to the Everdoor to pass on, Elena audibly considers hugging you before accepting one just before moving on.
- The Quiet One: Her words are straight to the point and she doesn't bother softening her rhetorical blows or fussing about with unnecessary chatter. Accordingly, her monologue on the way to the Everdoor is by far the shortest of any of the spirits, consisting of only a few lines of dialogue.
- Rage Breaking Point: Surprisingly, for such a controlled, prim, and proper character, Elena supposedly hit one of these early in her career. After a particularly boisterous gym class, her students returned to their lessons but were apparently too rowdy for her to control. She eventually lost it and went on an angry rant against them. The exact contents of the rant aren't spelled out, but Elena implies it was pretty bad, explaining that she disclosed "painful truths" to them that would only reveal themselves in later years, such as the death of a parent or the loss of a job.
- Schoolmarm: Her posture and demeanour line up with the typical presentation of this trope. She thinks of Stella as one of her students and is a ruthless taskmaster for her, harshly grading her efforts and constantly belittling her.
- So Proud of You: According to the filing cabinet, Elena has always seen potential in Stella and her mood noticeably improves after Stella completes one of her challenges. She literally has to be on death's (Ever)door to admit it, however.
- Stern Teacher: She's a teacher who views giving her students mercilessly hard challenges as the only way to help them grow.
- The Stoic: She never shows any emotion, positive or negative, other than occasional flickers of annoyance and disappointment in her students (which seems to be more rhetorical than emotional). This is apparently a big change from when she was younger, as she used to lose control and angrily lash out at her classes in years past. She has no emotional soliloquy during her journey to the Everdoor, looking at things clinically and dispassionately.
- Tough Love: States near the end of her story that she treats Stella strictly because Life Isn't Fair, and Stella's job (hospice nurse) is going to require she be hardened.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Insists on healthy meals - her favorite is green salads, which she declares is "all you need." Her likes are anything plain or healthy.
- When She Smiles: The one time Elena allows Stella to hug her is just before the Everdoor, and her sour demeanor drops and shows a smile of content.
Giovanni
- Affectionate Nickname: He calls Stella "Peanut" or "Bambina".
- Animal Motifs: A male lion. Unfaithful, but also with warlike and charismatic aspects.
- Carpet of Virility: His mane appears to also cover the front of his torso, adding to his flirtatious charm.
- The Charmer: Giovanni constantly flirts with women even Stella to whom he gives expensive gifts and calls various pet names
- Does Not Like Spam: Dislikes dishes with lots of carbs, as well as anything with eggs in it.
- Everyone Has Standards: Although a shameless womanizer, he establishes early on to Stella that she's too young for him. In life, he and Astrid were old enough that Stella considered them like substitute grandparents to her. As well, if Stella opts not to tell Astrid about Giovanni's infidelity, he actually suffers a happiness penalty for feeling "guilty for hurting loved ones."
- Foreshadowing: The first gift Giovanni asks you to procure for a "beautiful woman" is a box of chocolates. If you've figured out Astrid's dislikes, you'll know that she doesn't like sweets, which is something that Giovanni, as her husband, would know. This is an early tip-off that he's cheating again.
- The Hedonist: Giovanni lives in the moment and focuses on simple pleasures. True to the negative side of this trope he doesn't consider how this might affect others around him, in particular Astrid.
- Hidden Depths: He initially appears to be just a sleazebag but it turns out living through war was what made him focus his life on pursuing simple pleasures. He focuses on Astrid in his final moments and gives Stella an inspiring speech when it's time for them to say goodbye.
- Honorary Uncle: According to Lily, he and Astrid had become honorary grandparents to Stella.
- Large Ham: He does everything with as much drama as possible.
- Latin Lover: He is a shameless womanizer with an Italian name. He even eats spaghetti bolognaise in his food animation, despite his distaste for carbs.
- Manipulative Bastard: Asks Stella to collect gifts for a "beautiful woman". Stella is led to believe it's Astrid but it's another woman, essentially making Stella an accomplice to his infidelity.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: It's implied that Giovanni's womanizing and other hedonistic tendencies are a coping mechanism for what he saw in the war.
- Smug Smiler: Giovanni's standard expression is that of very confident smirk with just a hint of something playful.
- Trademark Favorite Food: He has a taste for fine dining and stimulants such as coffee. His favorite food is beef fondue.
Gustav
- The Anti-Nihilist: Gustav's philosophy and worldview is that life is random and meaningless except for what meaning and order humans decide for themselves. Art is the ultimate expression of that search for meaning and thus should be preserved.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: If he's happy enough, he plays his theme on his fiddle.
- Does Not Like Spam: Does not like anything fried or sugary.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: His dialogue has him complain about the Condescending Compassion other people gave to him due to him being wheelchair-bound.
- Flower Motifs: His Spirit Flower is a red poppy, which represents remembrance and hope — befitting the philosophy he shares with Stella on the way to the Everdoor regarding the meaning of art and why it should be preserved and protected.
- Genius Cripple: In life, he was wheelchair-bound from multiple sclerosis.
- The Nose Knows: He can easily identify the aromas of different kinds of food thanks to his keen sense of smell. He doesn't like fried foods because the scent sticks to him.
- One Last Job: Gustav's main project is to create his own exhibition, free of any of the interference his work had in life. Once this is complete he's content to move on, explaining to Stella how art can provide a form of immortality.
- Trademark Favorite Food: He likes exotic foods with complex flavors, and particularly loves surströmming.
Gwen
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Subverted. The digital artbook clarifies that she returned to her family estate intending to take her own life, but that Stella talked her out of it.
- Comfort Food: The night her mother died, she ate five buckets of popcorn out of grief. Popcorn is classified as a comfort food, the kind of food that she likes.
- Cool Big Sis: She comes across as more worldly than Stella and often looks out for her, helping her get used to her new duties as Spiritfarer and making sure she's not ripped off by merchants.
- Does Not Like Spam: Hates anything with fruit or shellfish.
- Hates Their Parent: She took up smoking as an act of rebellion against her parents, though she never had the guts to do it in front of them.
- Must Have Caffeine: As she says, she'd die for a good cup of coffee.
- Pretty in Mink: Gwen's design is clearly supposed to evoke this look, with the fur around her neck resembling the collar of a poofy fur coat.
- Smoking Is Glamorous: Elegant, dignified Gwen is frequently seen smoking using a cigarette holder. Lung cancer thanks to smoking is also what killed her.
- Textile Work Is Feminine: Introduces Stella to the Loom, weaves when happy, and had a fancy sewing machine in life that she treasured very much.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Loves coffee and likes comfort and fine dining food.
- Tragic Keepsake: Aside from her Spirit Flower, Gwen gives Stella her old lighter as something to remember her by. Notably the only Spirit to do this.
- Unusual Ears: While her ears are themselves pretty normal deer ears, she seems to have six of them for some reason.
Jackie
- Affectionate Nickname: He calls Stella "Stellers" or "Smellers".
- Beleaguered Bureaucrat: Though more of a blue-collar employee, Jackie is overworked and underpaid at Overbrook. He's constantly torn between checking in on the general population, making sure faulty machinery is up and running, and watching over Daria, his most "problematic patient."
- Delivery Not Desired: After passing through the Everdoor, Stella finds a few half completed letters Jackie tried to write to Daria asking for forgiveness for how he treated her.
- Does Not Like Spam: Dislikes healthy foods, calling them "fads."
- Driven to Suicide: Implied. Jackie never gives any signs of being unwell or otherwise at risk of dying, but after joining Stella on her boat he confesses he has issues with anger management. He attempts, with Stella's help, to address his problem, but each effort fails and sends him further into self-loathing and depression. Finally, after his last attempt meets with no success, he concludes that he's incapable of change and it's pointless to even try anymore, so he - in his own words - "gives up" and asks to be taken to the Everdoor, with his language heavily reminiscent of someone experiencing suicidal urges.
- It's What I Do: In the end, he tells Stella he simply is unable to change himself, and he'd rather enter the Everdoor than try anymore.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Though it's the tipping point that causes him to quit his job and scream at Stella, Jackie was correct in that it was dangerous for Stella to give Daria the instrument. She is classed as an unstable patient prone to volatile outbursts against Jackie, and she could have hurt herself or others with the heavy glass and steel the instrument is made out of. As a nurse, Stella should have been aware of this risk.
- NPC Roadblock: Functions as this for Daria's Tower, until he quits his job at Overbrook, forcing the player to find a workaround to get to Daria's room.
- Orderlies are Creeps: Aversion. Jackie may be rough around the edges and generally dispassionate about his job, but he does not use his position of power over the patients to take advantage of them. Aside from Daria, in fact, he seems to either get along well with the patients, or leave them alone altogether.
- Real Men Eat Meat: His favorite food is Chilaquiles, but he enjoys anything meaty or fried. He is a highly masculine presence as well, with both the positive and negative aspects this brings.
- Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Jackie is loud and quick to anger, but after joining Stella on the boat he confides in her that he has a hard time staying motivated and getting out of bed in the morning. Much of the back half of his story is spent trying to cheer him up, as he suffers from self-esteem issues and general despondency.
- Tame His Anger: He notes that he gets inexplicably rage-filled for no good reason. He tries reading the self-help books Stella gets him (at his request), but that fails.
- Trademark Favourite Food: See Real Men Eat Meat above.
Lily (SPOILERS)
- The Blank: Lily's form never moves and has no expression; the only thing Stella can do is hug her.
- Drowning My Sorrows: She brings some whiskey with her to help her deal with Stella's last moments. When the bottle is half-empty, Lily tells Stella she'll pretend she drank the rest of it.
- Light 'em Up: Her special ability is to provide light at night, and allow Stella to travel when it's dark. However, by the time she appears, Stella is usually ready to head to the Everdoor herself.
- Meaningful Name: Lilies are associated with funerals.
- Mr. Exposition: Her role is to basically tell Stella's story, basically explaining what's going on beyond metaphor and symbolism.
- Stay with Me Until I Die: She and Marie, the sisters' mother, held each of Stella's hands as she died.
- What the Hell, Hero?: The one thing Lily can't forgive Stella for is taking the family cat, Daffodil, to Montreal when she moved.
- The Worm That Walks: A rare benevolent example.
Stanley
- Abusive Parents: His mother was verbally abusive.
- Can't Take Criticism: Due to his mother's verbal abuse, Stanley handles criticism poorly. Even the gentlest, friendliest critique of his play destroys his self-esteem.
- Cheerful Child: Subverted. Stanley seems like a happy, cheerful kid at first but he's eventually revealed to be a Shrinking Violet from an abusive household.
- Does Not Like Spam: As a child, he hates anything with fruits or vegetables in it. He also turns down stimulants since his mother never let him have any.
- Downer Ending: In his Show Within a Show, he talks about Stella guiding people to the Everdoor — only to add that afterwards, everyone feels pain.
- The Glomp: His hug animation sees him leap into her arms, a contrast with most other characters where Stella initiates the hug.
- I'm Cold... So Cold...: Stanley will remark that he feels cold before he enters the Everdoor.
- Innocent Inaccurate: At one point he asks Stella for a "fakinhage," and is bewildered that she doesn't know what it is. Turns out he means an egg, but misunderstood the name due to his mother's frequent verbal abuse: "Stanley, don't touch that fucking egg!"
- I Want My Mommy!: At the Everdoor, Stanley is so scared that he desperately wishes that his parents were there.
- Mushroom Man: Instead of an animal, he takes the form of a humanoid four-armed mushroom. Stella actually grows him from a mysterious seed rather than meeting him normally as she does the other spirits, and the spirit flower he leaves behind is also a mushroom.
- The artbook notes that his strange appearance references how he sticks out in Stella's memory, as the youngest patient she ever looked after.
- Nice Guy: Stanley is by far the kindest character in the game alongside Stella, he’s polite to everyone, he’s friendly to everyone and he tries desperately to please people around him … though the last one is a result of his Abusive Mother.
- Peaceful in Death: In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, Stanley is the only spirit who has their mood raise when entering the Everdoor.
- Shy Finger-Twiddling: He does this in his idle animation while following Stella around.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Stanley loves breakfast foods such as pancakes or eggs, as well as desserts. His favorite food is french fries, as one might expect from a young child.
Summer
- Affectionate Nickname: Calls Stella "Honeybee."
- Animal Motifs: Though friendly, open, and honest, snake motifs are still present in Summer. Most notably, her bald head is likely a result of her cancer and the following treatment, not a deliberate choice on her end.
- Asleep for Days: At one point she'll retire to her room and sleep for days at a time. This turns out to be due to snakes being sensitive to cold and low humidity, so she's right as rain once Stella installs a HVAC system.
- Does Not Like Spam: Does not like anything with meat or milk in it.
- Granola Girl: She loves nature and plants, is spiritual, is into New Age things like crystals and energies, and is a staunch vegan.
- Hypocritical Humor: According to the filing cabinet, Summer had once spent the whole day mimicking the movements of a sunflower field. She also thinks her wife's (and by extension, Stella's) family is weird.
- In Harmony with Nature: What she learned how to be after meeting Rose and seeing how she treated plants and farmed the land.
- Living Emotional Crutch: As revealed by the digital artbook, Rose. Her death caused Summer to cross the Despair Event Horizon, leading her to stop taking care of herself and her health. When her cancer came back from remission soon after, it claimed her life.
- Magic Music: Summer teaches Stella a song that makes the plants in her garden grow.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: She talks about how her wife, Rose, had an uncanny skill with plants, such as seeming to predict weather patterns or problems with the plants several days before they began to visibly show themselves. Summer believes this was due to her being in-tune with natural energies and the supernatural does clearly exist in this setting, but it may have just been her having a good sense for that sort of thing.
- Obi-Wan Moment: Summer at the Everdoor, takes the time to impart one final lesson to Stella - that we are all starlight and all things end. This likely refers to how Summer was the one to inspire Stella to be a nurse.
- Signature Instrument: Plays the sitar.
- Sweet Tooth: One of her liked food types is desserts.
- Toxic, Inc.: Her work as an agricultural engineer saw her overwork land until nothing would grow there anymore, and may have been the cause of her illness.
- The Topic of Cancer: The "dragon" that killed her was cancer, which she believes may have been caused by being exposed to harmful chemicals at her old job. The cancer lasted such a long time, that Summer became a Granola Girl to cope with it, firmly determined to become a Friend to All Living Things and be In Harmony with Nature. Her dialogue all but outright states that her father had also suffered from cancer in her youth and ultimately succumbed to it.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Loves grain salad and likes regular salad and desserts.
Other Characters
Albert
- Large Ham: A big shark man, who laughs boisterously at his own puns.
- Nice Guy: He'll send you free blueprints every time you unlock a new movement ability to help you use it on your ship, as well as helping you fix the heating problem in Summer's room.
- Pungeon Master: He really likes puns. You get an achievement for enduring 10 of his jokes.
- So Unfunny, It's Funny: He's fully aware of how bad his "dad jokes" are and does it to Troll Stella.
Alex
- Berserk Button: Gets really upset if you decide to disable his music post update.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: He claims he just found the dilapidated bus stops, and decided he owned them. That, and the goofy circus music that accompanies him.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": His name is Alex, NOT Alexander.Alex: It's a garbage name for garbage people!
- Flower Motifs: There's a lilypad on his back.
- Plant People: Not as strongly blurring the line between plant and animal as Francis does but he looks like a Ribbon Seal that just happens to be green and his whiskers have grown to the point they almost look like long yellow roots, as lilypads often have.
- Warp Whistle: His bus stops serve as the game's fast-travel system.
Francis
- Bad "Bad Acting": Apparently, he is also part of Buck's D&D expy campaign. When he tries getting into character, Stella isn't too impressed.
- Plant People: He is a mix between a monkey and an onion bulb.
- We Buy Anything: Unlike the Raccoon Inc. vendors, he'll gladly buy anything from Stella except for most Special Items. She can even sell her "tchochke" (treasures) to him for a high price.
Marie
- Outliving One's Offspring: Marie holds Stella's hand as she heads to the Everdoor, meaning that her child died before her.
- Stay with Me Until I Die: Marie and Lily held Stella's hands as she passed away.
Raccoon Inc. Vendors
- Cartoony Tail: Their tails are exaggerated in bushiness and seemingly "bloom" out, to the point where they are as big as the rest of their bodies. In real life, raccoon tails are merely somewhat bushy, with the fur length being consistent along their whole tail.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: They all wear a red jacket and nothing else.
- Inexplicably Identical Individuals: Every single shopkeeper working for Raccoon inc. looks identical.
- Odd Name Out: Company policy is for their salesmen to introduce themselves as "Theodore," but one of them calls himself "Randy." (He quit the company and struck out on his own)
- Rascally Raccoon: A fairly Downplayed example, but they apparently have a habit of overcharging customers. They give you a fair price after Gwen gives one a stern talking-to though.
- They also apparently drove their predecessors Crows Foot Inc. out of business by muscling into their territory.
Susan
- Collector of the Strange: Susan pays you for your collections and accomplishments.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: She resents being stuck with her job as The Collector while Spiritfarers get to eventually move on, and takes it out on you. To this end, she refuses to pay you compliments, instead choosing to Damn With Faint Praise or give a Backhanded Compliment.
- Non-Indicative Name: She doesn't actually collect the items you show her. She just looks at your collection, and reluctantly rewards you with "more junk" (as she puts it). She can't even choose what to give you, she's bound by duty to give you specific items even if she wants to keep them (e.g., one sentence after realizing that a spirit sent you and that she'll never ever give him back his beloved woodprint, she realizes that the reward she has to give Stella is that exact woodprint).
Hades (SPOILERS)
- He Was Right There All Along: Those strangely drawn dots over the i letters on the Spiritfarer logo? They're his eyes.
- Jump Scare: His very first scene is pretty much the epitome of this.
- Knight of Cerebus: His sections are a lot less lighthearted than the rest of the game, spirit send-offs included. His arrival is the first implication that something deeper is going on with Stella; his second appearance confirms it; and his final appearance is to invite her to the Everdoor.
- Rule of Three: Visits Stella three times: after she's released her first spirit, after she's released about half of them, and after she's (nearly) done.
