Characters from the horror book series by story.
Characters in "An Apple A Day"
Tim Barnett
Click here to see his ultimate fate
The protagonist, a young boy staying with his Grandmother during Summer. He soon meets the mysterious Bill Cole and his alluring apple orchard. He seeks payback when the man bullies his grandmother, with horrible consequences.
- And I Must Scream:Transformed into another tree for Cole's orchard that is implicitly still conscious.
- Badass Adorable: He's an energetic child, quite cute(especially in the manga version), and will stand up to anyone threatening his loved ones.
- Body Horror: After eating one of Bill's apples, his body begins developing plant like features, with leaves sprouting from his ears, little green shoots from his nose, and apples growing under his skin, one popping from his belly button. It's described in disturbing detail and culminates in him fully transforming into another tree that produces more of the deadly apples.
- Break the Cutie: His slow transformation into a tree reduces him to tears in the manga. Finding out the fate of his grandfather was a final kick to the stomach.
- Extremely Protective Child: Deconstructed. Tim is willing to fight for his grandmother's honor against a bully like Bill Cole, but his reckless action gets him in trouble, something his Grandma discourages. It's taken to a tragic conclusion at the end.
- Fatal Flaw: His recklessness. Tim can't seem to back away from crazy stunts, as shown when he attempts a tricky bike flip and fails. Later he incurs Cole's wrath when he calls him a bully, and takes it further by vandalizing his orchard. It leads to his undoing.
- Transflormation:Slowly happens to him after eating one of the cursed apples.
Old Bill Cole
- Ambiguously Human: He definitely is no normal man, but whether he's some kind of sorceror, demon, or otherwise is never revealed. He's just there, he's always been, and he'll remain.
- Child Hater: Bill Cole furiously threatens any kid he catches snooping around his orchard. Not that he minds them eating his apples, given what happens next.
- Cranky Neighbour: He's not a welcoming person, to put it lightly. And that's not even the worst thing about him.
- Evil Old Folks: He's not called "Old Bill Cole" for nothing, and is one of the most evil characters in the books.
- Garden of Evil: More like orchard of evil. His orchard is composed of the poor souls who ate his apples, transmuted into apple trees with some faces still visible on the bark.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: At first glance, he's just a cantankerous old man who wants people to stop intruding his property. He turns out to be something far worse.
- Kick the Dog: When reprimanding Tim's grandmother, he brings up her husband, who disappeared years earlier after finding his orchard. Knowing the man's true fate makes this ten times crueler.
- Satanic Archetype: A subtle one. Bill is a mysterious figure who's been around for an uncertain amount of time, and his beautiful orchard is incredibly tempting, similar to how the serpent tricked Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. What's more his hostility plays into Tim's worst impulses and his human trees are eerily reminiscent of the forest of suicides from the Divine Comedy. For all intent, the ending very much has Bill claim the boy's soul.
- Villain Has a Point: He's an utter dick, but Bill is somewhat right to be angry as Tim was snooping on his property beforehand. Then again, he seems happy seeing the boy pay the horrible price.
Characters in "Man's Best Friend"
Ben Stevens
The protagonist of "Man's Best Friend", who's grandfather has died mysteriously. When the man's pet parrot is gifted to his family, Ben comes to see the evil within the bird as it corrupts his family, and finds himself in a battle of wits with a murderous demon.
- A Boy and His X: He's loving and protective of his gentle dog, Rex.
- Badass Normal: He's an average boy, but he does a commendable job battling a literal demon. He might've won too, had it not been for one little slip up.
- Calling the Old Man Out: When he realizes his parents are turning colder and crueler, callously discussing taking Rex to the pound, Ben furiously objects that he'll always love Rex even if they don't.
- No-Sell: He's the only one immune to Igor's mind control, because according to his late Grandpa's letter, the demon can't influence children.
- Oh, Crap!: Gets a monumental one at the end when he realizes he's only banished the demon a few centimetres away.
- Only Sane Man: As mentioned above he can't be controlled by the demon, so he has to deal with his parents when they become the parrot's evil servants.
- Tragic Keepsake: His grandfather's pocket watch, which turns out to be important as it contains a note detailing how to banish the demon.
- Uncertain Doom: Given he's last seen staring at his newly possessed dog with horror, it seems Ben is screwed. However there's a chance, if small, that he can recite the vanquishing spell again properly.
"Igor"
A haggard, creepy looking parrot given to the Stevens family after Ben's grandfather dies. In truth, he is host to a hideously evil demon who loves tormenting and killing families.
- Demonic Possession: The demon is possessing a parrot, and at the end moves into Ben's dog as a new host.
- Dirty Coward: He acts smug and threatening most of the story, yet dissolves into panicked screaming and begging when Ben is about to banish him.
- Evil Gloating: Igor revels in describing his wicked deeds to both Ben and his grandfather and how he plans to kill them.
- Evil Is Petty: Besides being an absolute prick and mocking his killing of Ben's Grandpa, he also makes his servants do other shit to make Ben's life miserable, like threatening his dog and putting bars around their house to make them feel what it's like to be caged.
- Feathered Fiend: Well, he is a parrot.
- Hate Sink: Igor's smug gloating of his atrocities and cruel taunts to Ben will have you begging to see this bird get stuffed.
- No Name Given: "Igor" is the name of the parrot. The demon itself is never named.
