For the original series, see here.
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ALO Player Base
General
Pictured: Some unfortunate ALO players who ventured outside of a safe zone.
The players of ALfheim Online, who have taken what is ostensibly a children's game and made it their own.
- Aloof Ally: Most of the players don't care about Sakuya' and Eugene's Race War, but play along anyway out of fear of being griefed like the Spriggans.
- The Beastmaster: Salamanders have made their virtual pets extremely powerful due to their strong emotional connection to them. Even Becky/Eugene mourns when she hears that a bat named Squeaker was killed.
- Fantastic Racism: With the nature of the roleplaying culture surrounding the game and the fact that the characters can be nine different races, not to mention the campaign that kickstarted the game's popularity being titled "Race War", it was really only a natural result. While it was initially meant to be a friendly competition between the races to see who could get to the top of the World Tree first, with the titualar "race" referring to this competition, it quickly spiralled out of control after two of the leaders broke up. Even when out-of-character, the Salamanders look down on Leafa for being a Sylph and call Kirito a "filthy Spriggan." The Sylphs aren't much better, so that Recon offers to kill Kirito for Leafa, while some other players capture a Cait Sith and treat him like a pet.
- G.I.R.L.: Like in SAO, at least one male player plays as a girl to score with other players.
- Gratuitous Japanese: The Cait Sith all speak with Japanese phrases such as "desu" and "sugoi" mixed into their sentences. Their leader is "Princess Hime Kuroneko Desu-Chan of the Nyan-Nyan Tribe," which is half redundant and half Japanese cat puns.
- Hero-Worshipper: It turns out that all the Spriggan players were an alliance of Kirito fans, who based their name and appearance on him. It works as an explanation for both why Kirito had difficulty in finding a variation of his alias that wasn't taken, and why Kirito hasn't been able to find any other Spriggan Players due to the fact that the Spriggan's leader had tried to mediate peace on the server between Brian and Becky's breakup in order to bring fun back to ALO again: resulting in the Spriggans being constantly griefed to the point where they just quit the game altogether. Not helping matters is that when Kirito actually arrived into the game, he is constantly mistaken to be one of his own fanboys rather than the genuine article.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Episode 16 implies that the other players have been eating the Cait Sith.
- Lost in Character: A frequent problem for the excess of roleplayers in the community, going from merely acting Fantastic Racism to actually living it, and Dylan the Salamander freaking out his friend when he gets lost in imagining the "Prophecy" role he was talking about.
- Misaimed Fandom: In-Universe examples.
- The races are supposed to complement each other, and work together against educational NPCs like The World Tree. High-level players Brian and Becky ruin this gimmick for everyone after breaking up, rallying all their friends against each other as part of their petty squabble and hijacking the community's "Race War" that sucks in every new player.
- Terry The Tweaker Tarantula was created by the devs to be a strawman for drug dealers. However, since the LSD samples he hands out have no negative drawbacks, he became quite popular within the fandom, causing a revolt when he's changed into a Cuddle Bug.
- Nightmare Fetishist: A G.I.R.L. tries to flirt with another player by saying he's "definitely allergic to the latex". The other player's smile implies this worked on them.
- Periphery Demographic: In-Universe. While ALO seems marketed to children ("aerial combat supremacy" notwithstanding), most players are older gamers taking advantage of its underpopulated server as a stage for roleplaying or were attracted to the VRMMO's flight mechanics.
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: In-Universe. Players were not happy with the game's update in Episode 17, as it removed most of the benefits of the in-game drug items. Their drug-induced revolt afterwards implies they didn't quite get the intended Drugs Are Bad aesop.
- The Purge: Every Spriggan player ended up getting griefed into quitting the server, merely because their leader, Kirito Prime (aka Ted), refused to pick a side in the very toxic break-up between Brian/Sakuya and Becky/Eugene and instead attempted to initiate peace talks in an attempt to keep the personal drama surrounding the whole mess from tearing the server apart.
- The Roleplayer: According to Leafa, a catalyst behind the game suddenly becoming so big was a roleplaying group finding the game and realizing the wide variety of races in the game made it perfect for a campaign they came up with. As a result, the entire culture of the game ended up revolving around roleplaying, and people can get very, very intense about it.
- Serious Business: Leafa admits that she tries to stay in character for as long as possible while online, just because of how seriously most people take it.
- We Used to Be Friends: The founders of the RP server (the leaders and/or second-in-commands of the races) used to be real-life friends... however, because of a bad break-up between two of them, they dragged the entire server into it, forcing everyone to pick a side of their relationship. When Ted/Kirito Prime tried to deescalate things, he and the Spriggans were griefed into leaving the server, and things just got worse.
Sylphs
Shinichi Nagata / Recon
"So, where are you guys off to? Going on a que... (ahem)
You guys going on a mission?"
You guys going on a mission?"
Voiced by: Spencer "BuddyVA" Downs
A Sylph player who quests with Leafa in ALfheim Online, and "quests" with Suguha in real life. He is usually the target of bullying by Leafa and Prince Cazmer, but tries to help out his princess nonetheless.- Adaptational Achilles Heel: His malfunctioning NerveGear. It occasionally pulses the fear center of his brain, triggering several hallucinations and occasionally paralyzing him. It becomes quite the hindrance during his covert mission in Episode 16.
- Adaptational Badass: During his espionage mission, the original Recon blew his cover due to his own lack of stealth. Here, he kept himself hidden for far longer and only got discovered because his NerveGear misfired, something he had no control over.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: In the original series, Recon was extremely clingy with Leafa, but out of sincere, if immature love. Here, he's extremely nice, to the point where even Kirito doesn't even try to mock or belittle him in any way. His more creepy tendencies are also completely phased out, while his naivety is increased.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: The ship tease between Leafa and Kirito in the original series was moved to Recon and Leafa instead in the Abridged version.
- Affectionate Nickname: "Nutter Butter". While it can be taken the wrong way, it's the best you can get from Suguha.
- Apologizes a Lot: Mostly out of fear that someone will hit him if he doesn't retract.
- Bad "Bad Acting": When confronted with Kirito, his "threat" to the Spriggan is so wooden you could make household furniture out of it.
- Blatant Lies: In Episode 16, if the shot of his corpse is any indication, he did not, in fact, "fight bravely".
- Bodyguard Crush: He's Leafa's guardian (or "fuck-boy"), and he has a crush on her that she secretly reciprocates.
- Butt-Monkey: Poor guy gets treated like crap by Leafa, and also got the vice treatment by Cazmer once. His Adaptational Achilles Heel doesn't help matters at all.
- Calming Tea: He often deals with his panic attacks by pouring himself some tea.
- The Confidant: The only person whom Suguha keeps in touch with both in real life and in ALfheim, and as a result the only one who knows of her identity as Princess Leafa. However, he's not a shining example as he keeps accidentally addressing her by her screen name in real life when under pressure, much to her anger.
- Covert Pervert: He agreed to a "sewer handy" from Leafa once. "It was for a quest" not whistanding.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Averted. Despite his feelings for Suguha/Leafa, he has no issue with her hanging out with Kirito at all. Episode 15 shows he's more annoyed at being ditched by her causing her storyline fiance to torture him and he trusts Kirito to a degree that confuses him.
- The Cutie: A sweet and kind-hearted boy with an adorable crush on his princess.
- Dogged Nice Guy: He does whatever Suguha/Leafa tells him to because he's attracted to her. The attraction doesn't seem to be one-sided either; despite Suguha hitting him with the butt of her kendo stick when Shinichi asks her on an actual date in Episode 15, she also tells him to meet her in the janitor's closet for some implied sex. Suguha/Leafa also mentions that she "sucked him off one time", but insisted that it was for a quest. Finally, Yui notes that both of their heart rates increased by 22% when near each other. Further complicating things is that Suguha is a Master of the Mixed Message, abusing Shinichi/Recon one minute, then giving him sexual favors the next. As such, Shinichi/Recon is constantly nervous around Suguha, in part because he's attracted to her and in part because it's impossible to know where he stands with her.
- Dumb Is Good: He's not dumb, just very naive, but he truly is a pure and selfless boy.
- Embarrassing Nickname: His number is saved as "Nutter Butter" in Suguha's phone. Interpret it as you will.
- Extreme Doormat: As befitting for a princess' "fuckboy", he stands by Leafa/Suguha despite how horribly she treats him.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Leafa does like him, but doesn't want to show it. Kirito says that he is "too pure for this world," but that's the extent of it. Cazmer certainly doesn't have a problem torturing or even killing him in-game if he becomes too much of a nuisance.
- Friends with Benefits: Light on the "friends," and more emphasis on the "benefits."Suguha: You and I are barely friends! Recon is Princess Leafa's fuckboy. Got it? Don't confuse the game with real life, you perv! Now meet me in the supply closet after practice, I've got another quest for you.
- Foil: He's to Leafa what Sachi was to Kirito.
- They're both cute and ineffectual players with an Adaptational Achilles Heel (bad internet and a faulty NerveGear respectively) who represent exactly what Kirito and Leafa respectively hate the most (Sachi is The Millstone of her guild due to her lag, while Recon is an avid enjoyer of fairy games.) but who somehow managed to insert themselves in the Sociopathic Hero's lives and become their personal Morality Pet. The difference between them can be traced down to their personalities; Sachi was a pessimistic loner with self-esteem issues who hates being in SAO, while Recon is The Token Wholesome teammate who loves playing ALO, sometimes even mistaking it for real life.
- They were both very submissive to their leaders, but Sachi was very perceptive and didn't hesitate to call Kirito an asshole when he became too unbearable. Recon, on the other hand, is too scared of Suguha to call her out on her abuse and is a borderline Sycophantic Servant.
- When facing death, Sachi simply smiled, happy to be finally relieved of her horrible life situation. Recon, on the other hand, tried to run off screaming after being caught before getting shot in the ass by the salamanders, despite death not being permanent in ALO.
- Gag Penis: Implied. When Kirito and Yui are teasing Leafa about her apparent feelings for Recon and the latter points out their increase in heart rates when they interacted as evidence, she retorts that maybe she's scared of him because he has a "
big knife", causing the two to crack up. It should be noted though that she doesn't deny their assumption upon realizing how That Came Out Wrong, instead telling them to shut up before flying ahead with a Luminescent Blush. - Gosh Dang It to Heck!: He doesn't try to swear once (barring a small "frak" during his introduction), not even outside ALO. He also refers to Leafa's blowjob as a "sewer handy".
- Groin Attack: "He used the vice, Kirigaya. I don't think I'll ever be able to listen to Cascada again."
- Hero-Worshipper: Episode 15 shows that Shinichi would like to meet Kirito due to his fame as the Hero of Aincrad.
- Hidden Depths: Suguha is rather impressed with his stealthiness as a spy, managing to capture Cazmer's entire conversation without blowing his cover despite being a more cowardly player. He only gets caught after his broken NerveGear misfires and shocks him.
- Horrible Judge of Character:
- He's easily scammed by the parents of a deceased SAO player who sold their damaged NerveGear for $100 more than the new ones were worth. When informed of this, he tries to justify their actions by saying that they were probably in mourning and didn't have time to process the price.
- Subverted in later episodes, where he's shown to be more perceptive than Leafa herself, as he quickly picks up on the fact that Leafa was trying to shoo him away by sending him to spy on Cazmer, and also rationalizes the latter's behavior as him being mad that Leafa wasn't playing along with the wedding storyline instead of him being up to any wrongdoing (even though it later turned out he actually was).
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Or as Kirito puts it:Kirito: You are too pure for this world.
- Invisibility: Uses a cloak of invisibility to spy on Cazmer and the salamanders. Unfortunately, this doesn't help you much when your broken NerveGear triggers a loud shriek from you.
- Morality Pet: held in high regard by both Kirito and Leafa, while definitely being the type of person they would both relentlessly emotionally terrorize under normal circumstances.
- Nervous Wreck: After learning of Cazmer's "betrayal", he completely loses it and spends hours frantically trying to reach Suguha. He has to pour himself some tea to calm down.
- Nice Guy: The most wholesome ALfheim player by far, and arguably the nicest character of the entire series as well, owing to being of the few to not receive the Adaptational Jerkass treatment, being even nicer than his original counterpart. Despite the fact that his NerveGear was bought second-hand for $100 more than a new one, and that he had to clean the previous user's brain out of it, he doesn't once criticize the sellers' heartlessness, but instead chooses to assume it was due to grief. Additionally, upon Leafa describing a certain act she did with him, ostensibly in pursuit of a quest, Kirito goes so far as to call him "too precious for this world."
- Only Friend: With hints of Ship Tease thrown in for good measure. He's the only person of ALfhem that Suguha actually gives a shit about, and he's also presumably the only person nice enough to stand her IRL as well.
- The Pollyanna: He takes his Butt-Monkey status in stride, and seems to be the only ALO player whose enjoyment of the game hasn't been ruined by Sakuya and Eugene's race war.
- Satellite Love Interest: He doesn't have many interactions with anyone outside of his princess.
- The Scapegoat: Cazmer blames him for the wedding storytelling falling apart, and uses the vice on him.
- Ship Tease: It's suggested multiple times that he and Leafa are attracted to each other but Leafa refuses to act on her side of it because she doesn't want to be outed for enjoying the fantasy genre.
- Shot in the Ass: By the salamanders after blowing his cover. Three times.
- Shrinking Violet: In Episode 15, when asking Suguha out on a date, he acts shy and withdrawn.
- Spear Counterpart: To Silica. They're the smallest members of the main cast but have the biggest heart. They're also The Pollyanna to their companion's antics, whom they have crushes on (although Silica got over Kirito during Episode 4) and are some of the few characters to take their Jerkass demeanor in stride. While Kirito never hit Silica like Suguha did Nagata, they both had their traumatic experiences met with a similar Lack of Empathy (Kirito shrugged off Silica's grievances with her deceased virtual pet, while Suguha couldn't care less about Recon's torture at the hands of Cazmer).
- Supernatural Fear Inducer: On the receiving end of this due to a faulty NerveGear, which occasionally "pulses the fear center of his brain" and sends him into shrieking fits where he hallucinates tentacle monsters in classrooms.
- Super Gullible: See Horrible Judge of Character above.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Leafa apparently baked him cupcakes once, not to mention her "sewer handy".
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Despite being around the same age, Leafa dwarves him.
- Token Good Teammate: He's the only Sylph player who isn't a complete Jerkass. Barring an awkward introduction, he also appears unaffected by his people's Fantastic Racism for the Spriggans and warms up to Kirito rather quickly.
- Undignified Death: After awkwardly blowing his cover, he gets shot in the ass by the salamanders, with mayo being thrown in for good measure. Luckily, Death Is Cheap.Recon: I just need you to know... I fought bravely.
- Undying Loyalty: He caters to Suguha/Leafa's every whim, and is extremely protective of her, to the point of calling her 96 times to warn her about Cazmer's assassination attempt.
- Wrong-Name Outburst: A variation. He accidentally calls Suguha by her ALO name while in real life, much to her embarrassment.
Brian / Queen Sakuya
Oooh, look at me! I idolize a time period where I’d have absolutely no rights or indoor plumbing! I’d probably make more sensible decisions if my make-up weren’t just chock full of lead!
Voiced by: Chase "Coffinjokey" Corbin
A lifeguard in real life, in ALO Brian is the queen of the Sylphs, one of the most powerful factions in ALO, and one of the greatest combatant in the Race War. It later turns out that the reason he is a "she" in-game is because he hacked the account of his Arch-Enemy and bitter ex, (and she returned the favor) and had roped half of the entire server into his fight. Kirito comes to a peace talk Sakuya is holding in Episode 16 in an attempt to gain his help in rescuing Asuna, only to get roped into fighting Eugene.- Adaptational Dumbass: The original Sakuya was known as a very good strategist. Brian here sends one Sylph player to defeat an entire Salamander army and when she's killed, Brian thinks the enemy has been sufficiently intimidated.
- Adaptational Villainy: With Cazmer's Adaptational Heroism comes Sakuya's instance of this trope. Her canon self was a Reasonable Authority Figure whose worst crime is attempting to seduce Kirito into joining her guild. Here, Brian is a Manchild who took his messy break-up out on an RP server, resulting in the Race War that's the cornerstone of their "lore", and any attempts to try to deescalate the situation results in backlash for the mediator, such as The Purge of the Spriggans and Cazmer's banishment.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- There's no indication that Sakuya and Eugene had any personal connections in canon, while in the abridged series, they're bitter exes IRL. He's also not falling in love with Kirito anytime soon.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: For Denise, at least, who joins him in favor of her cousin.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: Queen Sakuya is responsible for the mass "extermination" (read: banning) of the Spriggan race, which are treated in-game as Space Jews. Yeah...
- Bad Boss: As if starting the Race War wasn't enough, he sends a fellow Sylph to a suicide mission against the Salamanders, casually talks about eating Princess Hime, and banishes Cazmer and all Spriggans from the servers when it's revealed he tried to stop the Race War.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Not as pronounced as Becky, but Brian vomited on their neighbour's pet dog while inebriated at least one "out of solidarity".
- Control Freak: He's accused of being this by Becky. His banishment of both the Spriggans and Cazmer for trying to pick a middle ground in the conflict proves her right.
- Dirty Coward: Is never shown fighting himself, instead forcing his allies to fight for him.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- He's disgusted with Becky for puking on the neighbor's dog more than once and forcing him to apologize on her behalf. Somewhat muddied when she revealed that he had also vomited on said dog before.
- Bad Boss as he is, he's shocked when Leafa (falsely) tells him that Cazmer had tortured her into giving out information on the peace meeting, calling it "low, even for him".
- Evil Is Petty: Like Becky, he forces his friends to pick a side in his proxy war against Becky, and is responsible for the Spriggan race not wanting to play the game anymore. Later in Episode 16, he banishes Prince Cazmer for attempting to get them back together.
- Fantastic Racism: Alongside Becky, he takes Cazmer's place as the main perpetrator of violence against both the Spriggans and the Cait Sith. Brian cranks it to its logical extreme, as it's later revealed he "genocided" the Spriggans after their leader tried to arrange a Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario between him and Becky.
- Faux Horrific: Sakuya banishes Cazmer from the game for the horrific crime of trying to get him to make peace with Becky. The exchange has to be seen to be believed.Cazmer: I JUST WANTED PEACE BETWEEN THE RACES!
Sakuya: Your mad dreams end here, Travis. You're banished! - Gender Flip: Played With. Sakuya here is very blatantly a man playing a character of the opposite sex, while in canon, her player is assumedly the same gender as her avatar. Turns out he did originally belong to an avatar of the same gender, but him and Becky hacked each others' accounts after a nasty breakup and stole the other's avatar, leaving it vague who's each other's canon equivalent is.
- Hypocritical Humor: Brian uses Becky's incident of vomiting on their neighbour's dog as an example of why she's a bad girlfriend, only to go on the defensive when she reveals he had previously puked on it as well.
- Insane Troll Logic: Many times throughout a single episode. The worst offender being referring to Cazmer's wish to end the Race War as a "mad dream".
- It's All About Me: Brian/Sakuya would rather keep fighting with Becky than sit down and talk, and isn't afraid to punish and cut ties with his concerned friends who don't want to take sides. He rallies his friends against Becky over a petty feud, and doesn't think twice in cutting ties or punishing all those who try to mediate or refuse to take sides.
- Literal-Minded: During the fight with Eugene.Sakuya: Ew, no! The Undine have thrown in with the Spriggans?! I always knew there was something off about them! Breathe air or water, pick a side!
Leafa: Mom, please, read the room.
Sakuya: But we're outside, dear. - I Am a Humanitarian: Sakuya refers to the Cait Sith as "a powerful and succulent ally", and Eugene outright states that she expects them to straight up eating each other.
- Jerkass: Alongside Becky, both are equally repulsive and childish assholes who purposefully alienate their friends by creating a proxy war after a messy breakup.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Sakuya initially seems to be willing to talk things out with Eugene as she uses a spell to revive him after his Curb-Stomp Battle with Kirito, only for the two of them to start fighting like usual. Things only get worse when it's revealed he exterminated the Spriggans after their leader suggested patching things up between them, and then again when he does it to Travis/Cazmer for the same reason.
- Kimono Fanservice: He wears a revealing Kimono to taunt Becky (the original Sakuya).
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Brian is a wannabe veteran who believes his job as a lifeguard is akin to working the Navy.
- Never My Fault: Sakuya reveals that the peace treaty between the Sylphs and the Cait Sith was only an excuse to get them to admit that Becky was solely to blame for their fight and subsequent breakup, showing his unwillingness to compromise.
- Pet the Dog: Brian once apologized to their neighbor on Becky's behalf after she vomited on their dog. Somewhat undermined by the revelation that he had once puked on said dog himself.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: How his relationship with Becky apparently used to work, if their multiple Noodle Incidents are of any indication.
- The Stoic: When in-character as Sakuya, Brian rarely emotes.
- Toilet Seat Divorce: The reason for his breakup and endless fighting afterwards with Becky is because he wanted to see the Lakers game while she decided she would rather go to the opera:Sakuya: Please. This is simply a non-aggression pact stating that Eugene knew exactly what he was doing when he bought those opera tickets, even though Sakuya had been talking about attending the Lakers game that night for actual months, BECAUSE EUGENE NEVER LISTENS UNLESS IT'S ABOUT HER THINGS!
- With Us or Against Us:
- This seems to be his mentality, as Ted and the Spriggans soon learn. Cazmer learns it the hard way too.
- This seems to apply to other factions outside of his own, as he insults the Spriggans for supposedly throwing in with the Undeen.
Sakuya: Breathe air or water, pick a side! - With Friends Like These...: Poor Denise, Jonathan, Ted and especially Travis are forced to have their enjoyment of the game sapped and take sides in his Race War with Eugene just to spend a little time with him. Ted and Travis even got banned from the game after trying to take action against them.
Travis / Prince Cazmer
I JUST WANTED PEACE BETWEEN THE RACES!
Voiced by: Jesse Inocalla
The prince of the Sylphs who is engaged to Princess Leafa. He behaves as an arrogant, temperamental noble who turns out to be scheming against his queen. He is actually a real-life friend of Brian and Becky who wants them to stop polluting the role-play with their bitter post-breakup fighting.- Adaptational Heroism: Prince Cazmer, in canon, is an underhanded spy for the Salamanders. Here, he's a real-life friend of Brian (Queen Sakuya's Cross Player) who is seriously upset with how his breakup with Becky (Eugene's player) has caused the roleplaying scene to devolve into a vaguely racist one-upsmanship game that chased all the Spriggan players out because of their anger at their Lord, Kirito Prime (aka Ted), trying to deescalate things, and his scheme was trying to force them to talk about their issues.
- Adaptation Name Change: From Sigurd to Cazmer.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Aside from the Adaptational Heroism, Cazmer also proves to be a bit more personable. His earlier rude encounter with Kirito and Leafa, which mirrors his canon self's one, was largely the result of roleplaying and to avoid potentially exposing his plot to get Brain and Becky talking, and when exposed he apologises to Kirito for his previous behaviour before getting banished. Also, whereas his canon self was a horrible Fantastic Racist, here he has a feeling of kinship with the now-persecuted Spriggans due to his friendship with their leader, Ted.
- Adaptational Sympathy: He is "banished" from ALO by Sakuya in both in the source material and the abridged version, but given that in the latter he was the Token Good Teammate of the sylph royal members, the impact is starkly different.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Despite being on the receiving end of most of his harsher actions, Kirito can't bring himself to look at him in the eye as he goes on his Motive Rant and shows himself to be a Well-Intentioned Extremist at worst. Thus, it's not cathartic at all when he gets banished by Sakuya.Kirito: I don't feel good about anything that just happened.
- All for Nothing: All his "wheeling and dealing" does not pay off in the end. The Race War still continues and he's banished from ALO like the Spriggans.
- Big "NO!": When Sakuya banishes him from ALO.
- Breakup Makeup Scenario: Tries to orchestrate one between Brian and Becky, but his plan is exposed by Recon and ruined by Kirito and Leafa.
- Faux Horrific: His attempt to achieve peace between the races is called a "mad dream" by Sakuya, who then banishes him for it.
- Good All Along: It turns out he was secretly puppeteering to get his friends to reconcile and end the Race War.
- Green and Mean: Subverted. He has green hair and is presented as an antagonistic force, but he turns out to be the attempted peacemaker between the races.
- Hero Antagonist: He's behind the Salamanders' attack that hinders the protagonists' progress, and is presented in an antagonistic light during his introductory scenes. In Episode 16, however, it's revealed he was actually just trying to make peace between the races to make ALO fun again for everyone.
- Jerkass Façade: He's introduced as an irritable jerk who forces others to cater to his storylines and is racist to Spriggans, which quickly earns him the distrust of Leafa and Kirito. Despite this, both of these attitudes are just roleplay, and he's keen on maintaining the ruse until he can get Brian and Becky to talk. Before being banished, he also apologizes to Kirito for insulting him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As Prince Cazmer, Travis is something of a Control Freak, as he is very insistent that his in-game engagement with Leafa follows through. He's also abrasive and has a terrible temper, especially against his minions. However, this is all his persona. In reality, Travis is deeply upset about how Brian and Becky have turned the roleplay community toxic and desperately wants them to bury the hatchet, and believes his sabotage of the Sylphs' war will cease hostilities.
- Kick the Dog: Yes, he had to maintain the ruse, but did he really have to use the vice against Recon for not being able to convince Leafa to attend her wedding?
- Laser-Guided Karma: In a tragic sense, it's oddly fitting that his plan gets exposed by Recon, arguably the minion he abused the most while trying to maintain his ruse.
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: Prince Cazmer acts as a physically abusive Bad Boss, but his player, Travis, while a bit manipulative, is honestly worried about Sakuya/Brian and his scheme is to make the RP less toxic. He even attempts to apologize to Kirito for the in-character treatment seconds before he's banned.
- My Greatest Failure: Before getting banished, he tearfully apologizes to Kirito for being rude to him, knowing how much Fantastic Racism he and the other Spriggans must be suffering at the hands of his other friends.I only regret that I didn’t stand with my Spriggan brothers when they needed me most! You! Last of the Kiritos! I'm so sorry for the way I treated you! I had to maintain the ruse! It was the only way! I just wanted peace between the races!
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: When Cazmer/Travis later attempts to mediate the fighting between Brian and Becky, he's banished from his race while being treated as the bad guy.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Brian/Sakuya (and only him) sees his banishment as this.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: He ended up meeting the same fate as his friend Ted, banned from playing ALO ever again by Brian.
- Token Good Teammate: The only other royal Sylphs shown in the series are Queen Sakuya (who kickstarted the war alongside his ex) and Princess Leafa (who happily partook in it), and of the three, Cazmer is the only one who wanted to put an end to the race war.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He's very manipulative, willing to "kill" Recon in-game for interfering with his plans, and is very committed to maintaining his Bad Boss persona, but he genuinely has everyone's best interests at heart, and believes the game will be fun to play again for everyone once his schemes pay off.Well, Trav, you finally did it. All your wheeling and dealing has finally paid off. Sure, I wish it hadn't come to such drastic measures, but they'll come to see the necessity of it in time.
Salamanders
Becky / King Eugene
I just love pick-up trucks and football and an ice cold Miller Lite with just a smidgen o’ lime! Gosh, I’m such an Alpha!
Voiced by: Cat "Lunafreya" Protano
A valley girl who likes The Crown (2016) in real life, in ALO Becky is the king of the Salamanders, one of the most powerful factions in ALO, and one of the greatest combatants in the Race War. It later turns out that the reason she is a "he" in-game is because she hacked the account of her Arch-Enemy and bitter ex (and he returned the favor) and had roped half of the server into her fight. In Episode 16, in an attempt to gain Eugene's help in rescuing Asuna, Kirito gets roped into fighting her.- Adaptational Dumbass: The original Eugene was more brawn than brains, but he had a sense of self-awareness, unlike Becky.
- Adaptational Villainy: Eugene was already a villain in the source material, but Becky makes him even worse by taking messy break-up out on the RP server, resulting in the Race War that's the cornerstone of their "lore", and any attempts to try to deescalate the situation results in backlash for the mediator, such as The Purge of the Spriggans and Cazmer's banishment.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: There's no indication that Sakuya and Eugene had any personal connections in canon, while in the abridged series, they're bitter exes IRL.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Becky had a bizarre habit of vomiting on their neighbor's pet dog while inebriated. It got so bad that Brian had to go and apologize to them on her behalf.
- Clashing Cousins: Eugene is blatantly racist towards the Cait Sith, and doesn't seem to care if her cousin Denise is leading them. The resentment is very much mutual on Denise's part.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: She bizarrely explodes after Kirito stabs her to death with his two swords. She gets better thanks to Sakuya's magic. The randomness of the explosion is Lampshaded by a Salamander.Salamander: O-Okay, but, like... why'd he explode, though?
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Eugene loved the Salamanders' pet bat Squeaker. She expressed her eagerness to attend his pup's baby shower, and was visibly distraught when she heard of his demise.
- She also says she's in a healthy relationship with Jonathan/PantySmasher. Then again, she might be an Unreliable Narrator considering how petty she's shown to be. For what's worth, she does eventually leave the fight at his request.
- Evil Is Petty: Like Brian, she forces her friends to pick a side in their proxy war, and are responsible for the Spriggan race not wanting to play the game anymore.
- Fantastic Racism: Alongside Brian, she takes Cazmer's place as the main perpetrators of violence against both the Spriggans and the Cait Sith.
- Gender Flip: Played With. Eugene here is very blatantly a woman playing a character of the opposite sex, while in canon, her players is assumedly the same gender as her avatar. Turns out she did originally belong to an avatar of the same gender, but she and Brian hacked each others' accounts after a nasty breakup and stole the other's avatar, leaving it vague who's each other's canon equivalent is.
- Girly Girl And Tomboy: Presented as an alpha male southerner who gloats about being a veteran and wears a red armour decorated with a fidget spinner, Becky/Eugene is the tomboy to her cousin Hime/Denise's Girly Girl.
- Hypocritical Humor: Becky is a Straw Feminist, yet she idolises Feudal Japan, a time period when women didn't have any rights.
- I Am a Humanitarian: Zig-Zagged compared to the more blatant Sakuya. Kirito accuses her and the Salamanders of eating the Spriggans, and she doesn't deny it. The revelation that the Spriggans were griefed out of the servers after a Mediation Backfire somewhat mitigates this but it's still plausible that she assisted in the griefing by cannibalizing her fellow players.
- Jerkass: Alongside Sakuya. Both are equally repulsive and childish assholes who purposefully alienate their friends by creating a proxy war after a messy breakup.
- It's All About Me: She would rather keep fighting with Sakuya than sit down and talk, and forces her friends to take sides and fight a proxy war so she doesn't cut ties with them. At one point, Sakuya complains that she's unable to listen unless it's about her things.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Becky was said to have vomited on her neighbor's dog at least twice, so it's tragically fitting that she loses her beloved virtual pet Squeaker later in the episode.
- Pet the Dog: Eugene was looking forward to Squeaker's baby shower and was genuinely distraught upon hearing about his death.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: How her relationship with Brian apparently used to work, if their multiple Noodle Incidents are of any indication.
- Straw Feminist: When her boyfriend Jonathan tries to break up her petty fight with Sakuya, she instantly assumes he's implying that she can't defeat him because she's a woman.
- Toilet Seat Divorce: The reasoning for her breakup and endless fighting with Brian afterwards is because Brian wanted to see the Lakers game while she decided she would rather go to the opera:Sakuya: Please. This is simply a non-aggression pact stating that Eugene knew exactly what he was doing when he bought those opera tickets, even though Sakuya had been talking about attending the Lakers game that night for actual months, BECAUSE EUGENE NEVER LISTENS UNLESS IT’S ABOUT HER THINGS!
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: As Eugene, Becky puts on a deliberately gruff and manly southern voice, and sticks to the role even when Brian is not around. Despite this, she behaves like a Genki Girl when she's around Jonathan.
- With Us or Against Us: This seems to be her mentality, and her distaste for Spriggans implies she was around for their mass genocide after they tried to mediate.
- With Friends Like These...: Poor Denise, Jonathan, Ted and especially Travis are forced to have their enjoyment of the game sapped and take sides in her Race War with Sakuya's just to spend a little time with her. Ted and Travis even got banned from the game after trying to take action against them.
Jonathan / General PantySmasher
I don’t know what sorta arrangement you degenerates have made with the Sylphs, but know this. The Salamanders cannot be stopped… and we shall not rest... until we have... dat bootay.
Voiced by: Logan "BlazingAzureCrow" Laidlaw
A Salamander general who role-plays preying on Leafa. He is actually Becky's new boyfriend who works at a soup kitchen.- Adaptation Name Change: From Kagemune to PantySmasher.
- Adaptational Villainy: The original Salamander leader (named Kagemune) was an Affably Evil player who, while tasked to "kill" Leafa, still gave her a fair chance at fighting. Here, PantySmasher is a deranged predatory general who intends to rape Leafa before killing her. Subverted later when this attitude was revealed to be a case of Mean Character, Nice Actor, making him more of an Adaptational Nice Guy.
- Anti-Villain: He roleplays a sexual predator, but he's a normal guy outside of the game, and he's also a Friendly Enemy to Leafa.
- Big "NO!": PantySmasher gives a particularly convincing one when his fellow Salamander Keith is "killed".
- Casual Kink: Despite not knowing Suguha much, Jonathan isn't shy about his affinitty to role-play as a sexual predator.
- Chivalrous Pervert: He and the other Salamanders target Leafa constantly to role-play their rape scenes, but he's still patient enough to put the roleplay on pause for a while to help her flesh out her character better first.
- Deep South: He affects a "redneck" accent and behaves like a character from Deliverance, something Kirito picks up on. It later turns out to be the Salamander more-or-less official accent, with the players only dropping it when not roleplaying.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Played with. PantySmasher's reaction to Keith's "death" implies he cared dearly for him. Of course, it's all roleplay.
- Extreme Doormat: He seems to be always in a state of perpetual fear when talking to his girlfriend Becky, choosing his words carefully so as to not upset her.
- Evil Brit: Played with. PantySmasher's player is a Brit going by accent, but he only goes into it when speaking OOC and is a Mean Character, Nice Actor.
- Fantastic Racism: As PantySmasher, he considers the Spriggans to be "a garbage race". Thankfully, he doesn't seem to be Lost in Character in this regard (unlike Sakuya and Eugene).
- Friendly Enemy:
- With Leafa. In-game, she's PantySmasher's main Lust Object/assassination taget, but once the roleplay gets paused, they are rather cordial with each other.
- As Episode 16 reveals, with the other players as well, he worked with Sylph Prince Cazmer to arrange a Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario between Brian and Eugene.
- Hero Antagonist: In Episode 16, it's revealed he was hired by Cazmer to "kill" Princess Leafa as part of the latter's plan to get Brian and Becky to reconcile so that everyone can enjoy ALO again.
- Hidden Depths:
- Despite working at a soup kitchen, he's a rather talented actor, on top of being very invested in his character's demeanor and motivation. He also briefly serves as an acting coach for Leafa, giving her some rather sound advice.PantySmasher: Yeeees. You see? That’s exactly the kind of choice Leafa would make in this situation! You just have to ask yourself the right questions and the character basically writes itself!
- He's got some strange kinks, but he's a very supportive boyfriend to Becky.
- Despite working at a soup kitchen, he's a rather talented actor, on top of being very invested in his character's demeanor and motivation. He also briefly serves as an acting coach for Leafa, giving her some rather sound advice.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: He's quick to reprimand players who don't take their characters seriously, but he's smart enough to stay silent when his girlfriend Becky/Eugene breaks character to rant at her ex, knowing intervening would just piss her off more.
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: Johnathan works all day in a soup kitchen and, though frustrated with Leafa's shortcomings, still takes the time to coach her on her roleplaying, but spends his time in ALO as a "sexually-predatory general named PantySmasher".
- Morality Pet: He's this for his abrasive girlfriend Becky, who calms down after he shows up and leaves the fight with Sakuya at his request.
- Nice Guy: Bizarre fantasies aside, he's one of the more pleasant ALO players, and is happy to assist his fellow roleplayers when they're struggling with their role.
- Out-of-Character Moment: In-Universe, during his Evil Gloating, he slips and refers to Leafa's rear as "booty", then he immediately corrects himself and says that PantySmasher would never say "booty", and leaves in a huff.
- Pet the Dog: While role-playing a rape scene with Leafa, he briefly breaks character to correct her on her Bad "Bad Acting". The revelation that he had been sent by Cazmer to "kill" her shows he really didn't have to bother, but did it anyway.
- The Roleplayer: In ALO, he role-plays as a sexually predatory general who is after a beautiful princess Damsel in Distress. He also takes acting very seriously and takes time to coach said princess, Leafa, on how to properly behave as a damsel when she fumbles with her role.
- Second Love: For Becky, after her big fight with Brian.
- Serious Business: Role-playing and character consistency is this for him, and he gets very frustrated with players who fumble or outright refuse to commit to their characters.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Kirito "kills" his Salamander Co-Dragons (and throws him off his rhythm with his refusal to role-play), he gives up on him and Leafa and flies away.
- Soul-Sucking Retail Job: Jonathan talks about his job at a soup kitchen like this, imploring Leafa to play off him so that he can at least enjoy the role-playing at ALO while he can.
- Villain of Another Story: Jonathan's role as PantySmasher was as a villain in Leafa's storyline, being hired by the sketchy Prince Cazmer to kill her. However, Leafa's Bad "Bad Acting" ruins the narrative for him, and Kirito's unexpected intervention completely throws him off.
Dylan / DeezGunz and Trevor / Keith
Trevor: Listen, Dylan, my mom says my pizza bagels are ready. I don't think we should see each other again.
Dylan: Whaaaaat?! Come onnn, it's just a little role-play, don't make it weird! ...Trevor? note
Dylan: Whaaaaat?! Come onnn, it's just a little role-play, don't make it weird! ...Trevor? note
Voiced by: Spencer "BuddyVA" Downs (DeezGunz) and FrozenFrost (Keith)
General PantySmasher's minions.- Adaptational Nice Guy: The minions in the source material were still roleplayers, but were trying to harass and rob Leafa against her wishes. Here, she was a Deliberately Distressed Damsel with whom they were playing with no ill intent.
- Aerith and Bob: DeezGunz and Keith. Subverted with their real names (Dylan and Trevor), which are both normal American names.
- Anti-Villain: They're Salamanders, which in ALO makes them enemies to Kirito (a Spriggan) and Leafa (a Sylph) by default, but they're relatively normal people outside of the game.
- Ax-Crazy: DeezGunz is even more unhinged than PantySmasher. Subverted in real life, where Dylan is a bit scatterbrained at worst, but seems to be a nice guy.
- Blood Knight: If Dylan's alternative story is any indication, DeezGunz is this to the point of assassinating his best friend after he brings peace to the Salamanders.
- Cain and Abel: What Dylan was trying to mimic with his prophecy, with DeezGunz killing Keith in his sleep to usurp his position as leader. Alas, he never got to see it through.
- Co-Dragons: They serve as this to General PantySmasher.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Dylan is a scarily over-the-top roleplayer who freaks out even his closest friends with his angsty made-up storylines.
- Deep South: Exaggerated with DeezGunz, who puts on a front as a stereotypical hillbilly.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The mayo item DeezGunz uses to flick at his victims. Considering what his character is supposed to be, one can imagine what it's supposed to represent.
- Everyone Has Standards: Trevor has no problem roleplaying as a rapist, but he draws the line at Dylan's messed up betrayal script. It doesn't help that he's the victim in said script.
- Face Death with Dignity: In Dylan's story, Keith would've gone out calmly accepting his demise at the hands of DeezGunz. Trevor is not happy about this outcome.
- The Generic Guy: Trevor doesn't put much effort into his roleplaying, so his character Keith ends up coming across as this compared to his peers.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Both get sliced in half by Kirito after he mistakes them for actual predators.
- Half-Witted Hillbilly: Dylan seems to be trying to invoke this with DeezGunz.
- Hero Killer: In the game, they "kill" Recon in Episode 16 after the latter blows his cover during their meeting with prince Cazmer.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Lampshaded when Kirito kills DeezGunz while he's ranting about his made up "prophecy".DeezGunz: Argh! That darn Spriggan just done asploded Keith! Bu… but the prophecy said- (Kirito dashes up to him) Oh wow. You’re not even gonna wait now, are you? (gets cut in half).
- Improv: While they're waiting to respawn, Dylan talks about a made-up prophecy that no one else has heard of, and spins a tale of destined kings, assassination and remorse. Trevor simply logs out to eat pizza rolls and says they should stop seeing each other.
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: Like Jonathan/PantySmasher, their predatory behavior is just a part of their character, and they seem to be relatively normal people outside of their roles.
- My God, What Have I Done?: According to Dylan, DeezGunz would've ended his story wracked with guilt after killing his best friend Keith over political differences.
- Named In The Adaptation: The Salamander general's cohorts weren't given a name in the original anime.
- Only Sane Man: Keith seems to be one of the few ALO players who doesn't get Lost in Character.
- Poor Communication Kills: When Kirito shows up and mistakes them for actual rapists, the two refuse to break character, and Kirito promptly kills them both (in-game).
- The Roleplayer: Although Dylan seems more invested in his role than Trevor. One could argue he's even more interested in Trevor's role than Trevor.
- Say My Name: Dylan screams Trevor's name at the top of his lungs after the latter breaks their friendship and logs out.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once Dylan is done telling Trevor his insane script, the latter simply logs out.
- Serious Business: Roleplaying is this for Dylan, to the point of writing an entirely made-up murder story involving his character and Keith, in which the former betrays and murders the latter in his sleep.
- The Chosen One: Had Kirito not messed Dylan's story up by killing them, Keith would've been revealed to be this for the Salamanders, urging them to abandon their violent ways to embrace a culture of love, art, and veganism.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: Dylan's The Chosen One storyline, which was ruined by Kirito's intervention.
- Those Two Guys: They're always seen together, even after Trevor apparently breaks off their friendship.
- Tom the Dark Lord: "Keith" stands out as a particularly mundane username in comparison to the rest of the ALO player base.
- We Used to Be Friends: Trevor cuts ties with Dylan after sitting through his nightmarish backstory, much to the latter's chagrin. They're shown together in Episode 16 though, implying they may have mended their friendship.
Squeaker
Master! Squeaker's frightened!
Voiced By: Hayden Daviau
The Salamanders' virtual pet bat and personal spy.- Adaptational Sympathy: The bat in SAO proper behaved like an actual AI and thus its "death" didn't affect Leafa and Kirito's conscience in the slightest. Here, Squeaker is a Ridiculously Cute Critter with a family and who loved his master very much, so nobody is happy when he dies.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Kirito is shocked when Leafa kills him and is even more appalled when she tells him that he had likely been sent on a suicide mission to get them. The fact that this couldn't be farther from the truth only makes his fate all the more tragic.
- Anti-Villain: He might serve as a minion for the Salamanders, but he's just a pet NPC following orders, and he offers no threat to the protagonists whatsoever. His last words upon death also imply he simply longed for his master's approval, which he got in his final moments.Squeaker: D-did... did Squeaker do good... master?
Salamander: (tearfully) No... No... (sobs) Squeaker did great.
(Squeaker emits one last gasp and dies; the Salamander does an anguished Skyward Scream in response) - Birth-Death Juxtaposition: He's implied to have died on the same day his wife gave birth to his babies. He never even got to meet them, as the Salamanders were hoping to surprise him during the baby shower.
- The Cutie: He's a skittish bat with a cutesy voice whom everyone swoons over.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Passes away in his master's arms, while the latter tearfully comforts him.
- Evil Counterpart: He's not evil per se, and neither are his masters, but he's the Salamanders' version of Yui: a flying "pet item" (but only for ALO in Yui's case) who are beloved by their players as more than mere NPCs. Squeaker's demise also mirrors Yui's Disney Death due to how their masters reacted to it. What differentiates them (aside from Yui's admin privileges) is their relationship with their human companions: Yui regards Kirito as her dad, and gets mad when he calls her his pet, while Squeaker is content with his position, as evidenced by him calling the Salamander who held him "master".
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Leafa refers to him as "it" after killing him, as she doesn't grasp how emotionally attached the Salamanders are to their pets.
- Kill the Cutie: Leafa kills him with a spell after discovering he'd been tracking them.
- Loved by All: Contrary to Leafa's claims, the Salamanders' love for him was real. Even the abrasive Becky (who makes a habit out of puking on dogs) was eager to attend his baby shower.
- Mirror Character: To Pina from the previous game. They're both cherished pet items to their respective masters (Pina is Silica's pet dragon and Squeaker is a Salamanders' pet bat) who are given a voice in the Abridged version and who are killed in combat while serving them, dying in their distraught masters' arms a few seconds later.
- Morality Pet: For Becky/Eugene and the other Salamanders. His death causes a Villainous BSoD in all of them.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Subverted: He has red eyes, but is actually harmless.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Which only makes his death all the more tragic.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After being discovered by Yui, he tries to fly away while crying for help. Leafa makes sure he doesn't get far.
- Third-Person Person: He refers to himself in the third person, adding to the cutesy factor.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Lasts only two scenes before being disintegrated.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Leafa shows no remorse over killing him and disregards Kirito's complaints by saying the Salamander's affection for him was pure Pragmatic Villainy. As it turns out, it wasn't.
Cait Sith
Denise / Princess Hime Kuronekodesuchan
They’ve got us sur-meow-nded, Sakuya-Sama! What should we dooo? Desu.
Voiced by: Bread Breaderson
The leader of the Nyan Nyan Tribe. She is Becky's cousin who takes on many "fangirl Japanese" mannerisms.- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Canonwise, Sakuya and Alicia Rue both had ambiguous feelings for Kirito* and have a heavily implied relationship with each other.* Here, Sakuya and Hime lack any romantic inclinations for either Kirito nor each other, with Sakuya instead being bitter exes with Eugene. Not helping matters is that the IRL players for the latter two, Brian and Becky, used to own the others accounts before the breakup, in which they then hacked into and stole their exes, with Brian/Sakuya mentioning Denise/Hime is Becky/Eugene's cousin.
- Adaptation Name Change: Alicia Rue is referred to here as Princess Hime Kuronekodesuchan of the Nyan-Nyan Tribe. Her IRL name meanwhile is Denise.
- The Baby of the Bunch: She seems to be invoking this with her general demeanor, though she's treated more like a nuisance (or a potential meal) than a child.
- Cat Girl: She is the leader of the Cait Sith with fluffy cat ears, a collar with a bell, Cute Little Fangs, claw weapons on her waist, a catsy grin, Cat tail, constant meowing, and deliberately trying to be as cute as possible (and mostly just annoying others in the process).
- Cute Little Fangs: One of her fangs is shown even with her mouth closed.
- Clashing Cousins: She doesn't have a high opinion of her cousin Becky, and admonishes Brian for sleeping with her.
- Ears as Hair: She can even move them at will.
- Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: Invoked. She speaks like this in what is clearly an effort to appear more cutesy (though other people tend to find it more annoying than anything else). She notably drops it whenever she breaks character.
- Extreme Doormat: As part of her roleplay, she allows Sakuya to boss her around, and dutifully stays behind during his argument with Eugene.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Both Sakuya and Leafa threaten to eat her at different points, and it's implied being a Cait Sith makes her an acceptable target in her friends' eyes. On Kirito's part, he instantly drops his roleplaying when she pulls a They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! on him, and ignores her afterwards.
- Genki Girl: While Denise seems to be more serious IRL, as Princess Hime she behaves like this.
- Girlish Pigtails: Unless they're her cat ears, she sports two small triangular pigtails.
- Girly Girl And Tomboy: Presented as an overly cutesy cat girl who frequently uses cat puns and wears a one-piece armour, she's the Girly Girl to her cousin Becky/Eugene's tomboy.
- Innocently Insensitive: When Kirito gets angry at Sakuya/Brian refusing to grant him an army to rescue Asuna, she tells him to chill out because "it's just a game", not knowing that his wife is currently being held prisoner by a megalomaniacal rich creep within said game and he is that at that very moment engaged in a deadly serious Race Against the Clock to save her from being forcibly married off.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's an active participant in Sakuya and Eugene's "Race War", and shows No Sympathy when Cazmer gets banished from the game for trying to make peace. Other than this, she just seems to be trying to enjoy ALO as much as she can and is far nicer to Kirito than Sakuya.
- Little Bit Beastly: She's a Cat Girl but still has her elf ears underneath her cat ears.
- Motor Mouth: Much to Leafa's chagrin, she won't shut up, which coupled with her Elmuh Fudd Syndwome makes her unbearable for many players.
- Occidental Otaku: Denise loves to pepper her speech with Gratuitous Japanese, even in her name, regardless of incorrect pronunciation or grammar, and will only answer to "Princess Hime-Senpai".
- Overly Long Name: Her "surname" is Kuronekodesuchan, a long string of Gratuitous Japanese.
- Playful Cat Smile: She's a Genki Girl who grins like a cat, which is pronounced when she calls Kirito out for not showing her the proper respect.
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: She insists on being called "Princess Hime-Senpai".
- Unusual Ears: Befitting for a Cat Girl. They even flop when Sakuya calls her attention.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Queen Sakuya/Brian. Though they still fight and insult each other (and he threatens to eat her at one point), she considers him to be a better companion than her cousin and sticks with him through ALO.
Spriggans
Ted / Kirito Prime
The leader of the Spriggans, a now-gone race of Kirito roleplayers, who was banished for attempting to stop the fighting between Brian and Becky.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's left unclear if he used Kirito's name to role-play as him (as the Spriggan skin does resemble the teenager in a way), or if he was trying to take credit as the hero of Aincrad by stealing his name.
- Canon Foreigner: While there likely was a Spriggan leader in the source material, there's no indication of them using Kirito's alias or being "friends" with Sakuya and Eugene.
- Dramatic Irony: The only chance of achieving peace between the races ended up being unintentionally foiled by his personal idol and true hero of Aincrad Kirito.
- The Ghost: He's only brought up in Episode 16, but never seen as he's long been chased out of the servers by Brian and Becky.
- Hero-Worshipper: A possible reason for his chosen name. Definitely applies to some of his fellow Spriggans, though.
- Mediation Backfire: His attempt at getting Brian and Becky to talk things out ended up getting his race "exterminated" by the former.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Kirito Prime/Ted, the leader of the Spriggans, simply wanted Brian and Becky to work things out between them to end the Race War they instigated so the role-playing could be less toxic and the game could be fun again. Sakuya and Eugene's responsed to this by persecuting the Spriggans, which ended up driving them out of the game.
- Only Sane Man: Out of the entire ALO player base, he and the Spriggans are the only ones (aside from some of the players in the capital) who refused to participate (and even tried to prevent) the Race War. Even Cazmer had to get his hands dirty to try to make peace.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After being griefed by his former friends for far too long, he quit playing ALO altogether, shortly before the real Kirito arrived at the game.
- Shadow Archetype: After his banishment, Prince Cazmer ends up following in his footsteps taking a much more extremist approach, only to end up meeting the same fate as him when his plans got foiled by Ted's idol and fellow Spriggan Kirito.
- Space Jews: After his banishment, this is the Sylphs' default treatment of any Spriggan straggler.
"Educational" ALO NPCs
The Math Tree
Voiced By: Ken Tynan
An NPC, in the form of a creepy-looking tree, that challenges players to answer deviously perplexing math problems.- Big "NO!": When Kirito answers his equation correctly, he lets off one of these before bursting into flames.
- Canon Foreigner: As the original ALO wasn't meant to be an educational game, there was no "Math Tree" to be seen.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: Blows up when Kirito solves his "mystical equation".
- Faux Horrific: Add two plus two — if you dare...
- Foreshadowing: The tree's penalty for not doing its math equation implies some kind of torture, which is a more mundane form of brainwashing compared to being mauled by "psychic super bears" in the Halls of History, let alone Sugou's actual plot.
- Gonk: Has sunken yellow eyes, and dark gray teeth the size of car hubcaps. Its animation also clashes with the rest of the show's aesthetic, although (A) this is partly due to Something Witty's limited time and resources for original animation, and (B) it's completely intentional, in the name of comedy.
- Sound-Only Death: After his Big "NO!", we only hear the explosion and a faint glow from off-screen, followed by a "10 EXP" message popping up above Kirito's head.
- Large Ham: "Gather 'round, children, and test your NUMERICAL MIGHT! against my mystical equaaationnss..."
- This Cannot Be!: He really thought his equation would "stupefy the mind" and "perplex the soul", so he's rather shocked when Kirito solves it so casually.
- The Trees Have Faces: And a particularly creepy one.
- Unintentional Uncanny Valley: In-Universe. RECT likely didn't expect him to turn out as scary as he was.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Is destroyed offscreen when Kirito gets tired of listening to it and yells "Oh my gosh — FOUR!"
- Wise Tree: Likely what RECT was going for with his "soul-perplexing" and "mind-stupefying" equations. Unfortunately, it's a kids game, so Kirito passes his test with ease.
Animatronic Gandalf
Question one! In what year did man first walk on the moon?
Voiced by: Spencer "BuddyVA" Downs
A robotic Gandalf who guards "the Hall of History".- Artistic Licence – History: His "Hall of History" is filled to the brim with this:Animatronic Gandalf: The moon landing was a communist conspiracy to lull America into a false sense of superiority and pave the way for the rusky’s army of psychic super bears!
- Canon Foreigner: Since Sugou wasn't portrayed as stealing ideas from anyone other than Kayaba, this animatronic was nowhere to be seen in the source material.
- Captain Ersatz: An obvious one for Ian McKellen's Gandalf, down to his vocal inflections.
- The Faceless: We only see his shadow.
- Fake Difficulty: It doesn't matter how much you know about basic history, you'll fail his test and meet a horrible end.
- Large Ham: He's a copy of Gandalf, so this is a given.
- Would Hurt a Child: After a kid fails his test, he unleashes a pack of psychic super bears on him.
Terry the Tweaker Tarantula
ALO's anti-drugs NPC.
- Broken Aesop: In-Universe, he was created to give a Drugs Are Bad lesson to the players by giving them free samples of LSD so that they could experience what it was like to take the drug without the negative drawbacks. No wonder it was patched.
- Breakout Character: In-Universe, he quickly rose in popularity among the players due to handing out safe drugs, so everyone was upset when his ability was removed.
- The Cameo: After being introduced by the game announcer, he can be seen in Arun when Kirito, Leafa, and Yui are strolling through the town.
- Canon Foreigner: Since ALO didn't have a drug problem in SAO proper, there was no Terry to be seen.
- Cool Shades: Though they're mostly useless as they only cover two of his Extra Eyes.
- Cuddle Bug: After having his tweaker personality removed, he can be seen holding up a sign that reads "hugs not drugs".
- Drugs Are Bad: The Aesop he's supposed to give. However, since the LSD samples he hands out have no negative drawbacks, it comes off instead as Drugs Are Good.
- Extra Eyes: As befitting for a tarantula. He's Comically Cross-Eyed in all of them.
- Heel–Face Turn: After the game was updated, he went from a tweaker to a hugger.
- The Speechless: Seems to be mute, as he requires hand-held signs to interact with the players.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Only appears in a cameo, but his notoriety forces RECT Progress and Ubisoft to shut down the game to patch his behavior. This puts Kirito and Leafa's mission to rescue Asuna on hold and leads to them bonding a bit IRL, triggering the latter's Jerkass Realization.
- Talking with Signs: Can be seen holding up a Drugs Are Bad sign in Arun.
- The Voiceless: Seems to be mute.
Guardian Knights
Roger roger
Obvious rip-offs of the B1-Battle Droids who guard the world tree. Like their predecessors, they operate in strength in numbers.
- Cannon Fodder: For Kirito to dispatch. He even warns them to stay out of his way if they want to live.
- Captain Ersatz: They're obvious ones to the B1-Battle Droids from The Phantom Menace. They even use stolen lines from said movie.Kirito: Oh COME ON, SUGOU! Who didn't you steal from?!
- Hive Mind: They operate as this.
- Machine Monotone: Like their predecessors, they speak like this.
- Mecha-Mooks: They serve as this for Sugou.
- Zerg Rush: What makes the world tree so impenetrable. It just continues spamming these guys until the inside of the tree is completely full.
IRL
Mr. and Mrs. Kirigaya
Kazuto and Suguha's unseen parents.
- Adaptational Jerkass: It runs in the family. From what little we hear of them, they're not the Good Parents they were in the source material.
- Ambiguously Absent Parent: While Episode 12 has Kazuto say that he's going to tell on Suguha to their mom, neither she nor Mr. Kirigaya is shown onscreen. Episode 16 implies they're somewhat neglectful, but it's unclear if they even live with them as of the events of the series.
- The Ghost: They're never shown onscreen, and we only hear about them from Kirito.
- Parental Neglect: In Episode 16, Kirito states that "they're never around". Because of this, they apparently failed to notice the grandfather's abuse of their daughter, and both her and Kazuto growing to become bitter Jerkasses as well.
- Pet the Dog: Kazuto's mom was implied to have been a bit neglectful, but she convinced him to leave Kendo in favor of coding because of his asthma, showing she cares about his well-being at least partially.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: As revealed in Episode 17, Kazuto's mother getting him out of Kendo for his well-being not only led to Suguha getting abused by her grandfather for choosing to stay in Kendo (and growing up to abuse Kazuto in return), but also led to Kazuto getting into video games, and becoming a victim of the SAO disaster years later.
Kazuto and Suguha's Grandfather (Unmarked Spoilers)
Kazuto and Suguha's maternal grandfather, and a renowned kendo practitioner.
- Abusive Parents: Like in the source material, only here he beat Suguha for wanting to learn Kendo while in the original he beat Kazuto for leaving Kendo.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In the original anime, Kazuto was the main victim of his abuse because he left Kendo in favor of coding, with Suguha's relationship with her grandfather being unknown. In the abridged version, Kazuto only saw the good side of him, and even after he left Kendo like in canon, the grandfather turned his abuse unto Suguha instead because she wanted to learn and he wasn't interested in training her.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: If the training regime he put Suguha through was in any way similar to the one she put Kazuto through during their sparring, then he was a particularly cruel teacher.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He seemed to care about Kazuto at least, and was eager to teach him kendo. It's also implied Kazuto never saw his darker side up until Suguha told him about it in Episode 17.
- The Ghost: We only hear about him from Leafa, and it's unclear if he's even alive as of the events of the show.
- Greater-Scope Villain: He's the reason Suguha grew up to be an anti-feminine Little Sister Bully, so by proxy he's also the reason behind Kazuto's misanthropic phase that hindered so many people during the SAO disaster.
- Gruesome Grandparent: Like Suguha is Kazuto's Freudian Excuse, this Sadist Teacher is hers.
- Hate Sink: If everything said about him is true, he was a Straw Misogynist who's the man responsible for Suguha's life being ruined, and her Taking A Level In Jerkass afterwards.
- Misplaced Retribution: Kazuto leaving Kendo had nothing to do with Suguha; it was their mother who convinced him to get into coding instead. Regardless, he took all his anger on his granddaughter.
- Parental Favoritism: He clearly favored Kazuto and didn't hold it against him when his mother withdrew him from practicing Kendo, but was extra abusive to Suguha to make her quit the sport. When told about this, Kazuto was shocked, implying he only ever saw his good side.
- Sadist Teacher: When recalling her grandfather's training, Suguha puts extra emphasis on how harsh he was on her.
- Shadow Archetype: Suguha would eventually follow in his steps and become a sadistic and misogynistic bully who tormented Kazuto like her grandpa tormented her, especially during Kendo practice.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Him bullying Suguha with her being a Determinator so that she could make Kazuto see how fun Kendo was didn't work, and she became crueler to her brother as a result, slowly turning him into the Jerkass we see in Episode 1.
- Straw Misogynist: Other than Parental Favoritism, it's heavily implied he looked down on Suguha because she had a feminine personality, causing her to double down and adopt a toxically masculine demeanor around everyone around her to prove him wrong.
- Would Hit a Girl: Implied to have tortured Suguha during Kendo to get her to quit.
- Would Hurt a Child: While this is inevitable in Kendo, it's all but confirmed he pulled no punches while teaching his granddaughter.
