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Main Characters
Klaymen
Voiced by: Edward Schofield (English) Kōsuke Okano (Japanese)
"Word."
- Cute Mute: He counts, having a sort of childlike demeanor along with being a Heroic Mime. He averts this in both endings by actually speaking.
- Ditzy Genius: He's a little slow, but he's got the smarts to solve the Neverhood's puzzles.
- Expressive Accessory: The little brown thing on the top of his head sometimes moves along with Klaymen's emotions and even twitches independently of him.
- Heroic Mime: He doesn't talk (unless you finish the game) and he's the inadvertent savior of the Neverhood.
- Major Injury Underreaction: In Skullmonkeys, there is a cutscene where a Ynt tricks Klaymen into putting his arm into a hole, and then strips that arm to the bone. Klaymen's response? "Cool!"
- Meaningful Name: Klaymen. Clay man.
- Protagonist Without a Past: He wakes up in a mysterious room. While the Hall of Records mentions every other character, there's no mention of Klaymen. Willie's tapes show that prior to Klaymen waking up in the room, he had been just created from one of Hoborg's seeds.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: At one point during the weasel chase.
- Suddenly Speaking: In both endings, he actually speaks. He talks more in Skullmonkeys as well.
- Treasure Chest Cavity: Klaymen can press a button on his torso to open it up. He can store items inside through there.
- Vague Age: Is he a child, or an adult? Looking through Willie's tapes shows Klaymen was born looking the way he does now, but it's ambiguous as to whether Klaymen was Born as an Adult and just has a childlike mentality, or if he really is a child and just has a large lumbering body.
- Vocal Dissonance: His voice is very normal-sounding when contrasted with both his large, clumsy body and everyone else's voice (Hoborg and Bil have very deep voices, Willie's voice is scratchy and nasal while Klogg's voice is high and haughty), to the point where it's almost a little comical.
- Adding onto this, his voice in the Japanese translation is unexpectedly deep.
Klogg/Kloggmonkey
Voiced by: Douglas TenNapel (English) Tōru Furusawa (Japanese)
"Now, Hoborg, we shall see who rules this world!"
- Big Bad: The story's conflict is all caused by him.
- Big Ol' Unibrow: His large brows are connected together.
- The Corrupter: In a last-ditch effort to try and keep his status as the Neverhood's king, he attempts to convince Klaymen to put on the crown as a Last-Second Ending Choice.
- Creepy High-Pitched Voice: The guys in the studio pitched it up so he'd sound like an evil crusty little guy.
- Evil Makes You Ugly: As a direct result of Klogg's greed for the crown, and Klaymen's greed if the player chooses so, he is cursed with a hideous appearance to match his personality.
- Evil Overlord: Manages to be this despite only having a few monsters under his thrall. Is this moreso in Skullmonkeys where he is able to trick the skullmonkeys into serving him.
- Faux Affably Evil: Once you finally meet him, he politely introduces himself to you and tells you he's willing to let you rule "his" kingdom as long as you put on the crown. It's all an act to manipulate Klaymen into going along with it, and he drops it as soon as he realizes Klaymen wants to revive Hoborg instead.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: His own cannon shoots him in the face, blowing him off the Neverhood for good. For bonus points, it's the cannon he used to kill Bil and Willie.
- Kick the Dog: If you go back to the Nursery after Willie falls off the Neverhood, Klogg has a message waiting for you. "Ding Dong, The Willie's Dead!"
- Killed Off for Real: In Skullmonkeys. To drive the point home, there's even a song about it.
- Large Ham: His voice is high, hoity-toity, and at times even screechy. He's prone to taking weird Dramatic Pauses in the middle of his sentences, and has a slightly flamboyant way of speaking.
- Meaningful Name: Klogg. Which is pronounced like "clog." Hoborg was going to create more friends for him and Klogg, but since Klogg stole Hoborg's crown, which he needed to be alive and moving, all further creations by Hoborg are stopped up.
- Never Found the Body: He is shot out of the Neverhood and into the void below. Skullmonkeys later reveals this didn't kill him, as he kept falling until he landed on the planet Idznak.
- Orcus on His Throne: Klogg mostly hangs out in the castle, and only intervenes indirectly by calling forth the Clockwork Beast and remote controlling the Cannon once you use Robot Bil against him.
- Psycho Prototype: It turns out that he was one of Hoborg's creations who stole the crown for himself. As Willie's story shows, he looked just like Klaymen did before the crown transformed him.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Downplayed. His color scheme consists primarily of red and dark brown, but the dark brown is pretty close to black.
- Satanic Archetype: One of the first creations of a divine being, ended up corrupting himself via his own pride and envy, and rebelled against his creator in an attempt to take his world. Though unlike Satan, Klogg was actually successful in dethroning his creator.
- Self-Disposing Villain: He is shot off the Neverhood by the cannon after accidentally stepping on its remote while trying to stab Hoborg.
- Smug Snake: Both before and after he takes the crown from Hoborg and puts it on, he taunts him and gloats about it. He also comes off as very self-aggrandizing in his interactions with Klaymen. His downfall is ultimately that he fails to get rid of Klaymen at every step, and trying a last minute We Can Rule Together gambit bites him in both endings - either Klaymen gives the crown back to Hoborg, or puts it on himself and then decides I Can Rule Alone and lays Klogg out.
- Spikes of Villainy: Many parts of Klogg are sharp and angular, such as the spike on top of his head, his shoulder sleeves, and his claws.
- Villainous Breakdown: When he finally comes face to face with Klaymen, he attempts to sweet-talk him into putting on the crown, with the promise that they can rule the Neverhood together. Once it's clear that Klaymen intends to return the crown to its rightful owner, Klogg goes ballistic and attempts to kill Hoborg just so he can be king.Klogg: DIE, YOU OLD FOOL!
- Unexplained Recovery: In the (probably non-canon) Gaiden Game Klaymen Gun-Hockey, Klogg returns from being blasted off the Neverhood to challenge the cast to a game of air hockey played with guns.
- We Can Rule Together: His offer towards Klaymen.Klogg: Everything you see here is mine to do with as I so desire! And I desire for all of this to be yours to rule! All you have to do is wear the adornment of a king! This! The Neverhood crown! You know where this baby goes, so let us make our decision, shall we?
Willie Trombone
Voiced by: Mark Lorenzen
"Um... hello! Me Willie. Me Willie Trombone!"
- Cloudcuckoolander: Willie is very odd, to say the least.
- Cowardly Lion: He is terrified of Klogg (for good reason), but he still manages to give Klaymen the tools he needs to defeat him.
- Demoted to Extra: In The Neverhood, he's a prominent member of the main cast. In Skullmonkeys, he only appears in the first and last cutscenes and as a power-up.
- The Ditz: Has some moments, like accidentally turning his back to the camera during his tapes (after falling from the top of the screen), and knocking himself out while running around in panic when the Clockwork Beast shows up.
- Extreme Omnivore: He eats sandwiches, Weasel corpses and chunks of machinery.
- The Fool: Willie might not be the sharpest crayon in the box, but he's very friendly and manages to avoid the fate four of his brothers met in the Hall of Records.
- Mr. Exposition: Find his tapes, and he'll tell you the (abridged) story of the Neverhood's creation, how Klogg came into power and how Klaymen came into being.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: For the most part, he's pretty ditzy and low-key. That being said, he begins to panic once Klogg releases the Clockwork Beast.Clockwork Beast, Clockwork Beast! We're doomed!
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: When the attack of the Clockwork Beast begins, he briefly drops his scratchy Simpleton Voice and begins to speak in a high-pitched voice.
- Simpleton Voice: His voice is low and scratchy, but also a little nasally.
- Spanner in the Works: He is the one who ultimately kickstarts Klogg's downfall by planting the Life Seed in the Nursery, where it would grow into Klaymen.
- Third-Person Person: It's a little inconsistent on what self-referential pronouns Willie uses. While narrating his story, he refers to himself in the third person. In his letters, he uses first-person pronouns. Other times, he swaps out "I" for "me."
- Too Dumb to Fool: A story in the Hall of Records tells a tale about Willie encountering a group of Victoids. They assume Willie is not a fool and attempt to try to trick him so they can devour him. Unfortunately, Willie is "a fool among fools", and their tricks fall flat. In fact, the Victoids spent so much time trying to futilely fool Willie that Bil arrives in time to save him.
- Troll: Drops a flowerpot on Klaymen's head for no rhyme or reason.
- Vocal Dissonance: His voice in the Japanese version is high and soft. It still has that raspy quality, but still...
- Wham Line: The last tape of his you find, particularly his cheerful "Happy Birthday!" It reveals that he was the one who created you.
- You No Take Candle: This is how Willie speaks.
Big Robot Bil
Voiced by: Douglas TenNapel
"Meeee Bil."
- Artificial Intelligence: Bil can be controlled and manipulated from the inside, but the first sign to the player that Bil is in fact sentient is when he moves the crane to reach for his beloved teddy bear. Klaymen sees Bil's levers moving by themselves and shrugs.
- Berserk Button: The Clockwork Beast destroying his teddy bear causes him to fly into a rage.
- Cute Machines: He's a friendly face who is attached to his teddy bear.
- Cutscene Power to the Max: Until you reawaken him, he's stuck in a hole trying in vain to reach for his teddy bear, which is dangling from a crane. Once you do reawaken him in the cutscene, he's shown to be perfectly able to reach for the crane, turn it around and get the bear to him.
- Gentle Giant: He's ultimately pretty nice for a giant robot, making friends with Willie and saving him from being eaten by Victoids.
- Hulk Speak: All Bil can say is "Meeee Bil."
- Humongous Mecha: He's a gigantic robot.
- Morality Dial: Inside his chest cavity, there's a lever that can change his behavior from bad to good. In the Hall of Records, Hoborg theorizes that this was a clumsy attempt by Bil's creator to give him free will.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Bil has three arms.
- My Nayme Is: Downplayed, it's spelled Bil, with a single L.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Unlike most of the characters (who are made from clay), he is made from metal.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: For some reason, Bil wears a necktie.
Hoborg
Voiced by: Douglas TenNapel
Willie: It all all started with Hoborg, a being who had to create, because... he had to.
- Distressed Dude: He's trapped in his castle courtesy of Klogg.
- God Is Good: Effectively the Neverhood's God, and he is portrayed as nothing but benevolent and mellow.
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: His first creation steals his crown and attempts to stab him. What does Hoborg think of that? Well, all he has to say is this:Hoborg: You know, I never really understood that guy.
- The Good King: His name means "big heart" for a reason. When he first sees Klaymen after getting freed, he thanks him for his rescue, literally makes him some new friends and brings back Willie and Bil.
- Meaningful Name: The Hall of Records explains his name means "big heart", and he is a kindhearted king who loves to create.
- Non-Human Head: While Klaymen, Willie and Klogg have expressive faces, Hoborg's face is a cube with a little hole carved into it, setting him apart as the world's creator.
- My God, What Have I Done?: When Klogg steals his crown, he asks this before solidifying.
- Physical God: He's capable of creating life.
- Taken for Granite: Without his crown, Hoborg can't move. Klogg remarks that he's now frozen solid.
- Too Many Belts: Hoborg doesn't just have one belt around his waist, he also has an extra one wrapped vertically over his chest that holds his chest together, keeping his guts from spilling out. That first belt being not a belt, but the gouge where he used some of his own base matter to save Willie Trombone and Big Robot Bil. The second belt is that very same strip of base matter.
Other Characters
Clockwork Beast
Willie: CLOCKWORK BEAST, CLOCKWORK BEAST, WE'RE DOOMED!
- Animal Motifs: The Clockwork Beast bears a resemblance to a klaybird.
- The Dreaded: He is feared by Willie!
- Humongous Mecha: Like Big Robot Bil, He's a gigantic robot as well.
- Evil Is Bigger: He's an evil Humongous Mecha after all.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Like Bil, he is made from metal as well.
Hammerboy
- Cute Bruiser: He's literally a small creature with a hammer.
- Meaningful Name: His name's Hammerboy, since he has a hammer.
Rude Guy (or Redeye)
Rude Guy: Oh it's you. Hi, go away!
- Jerkass: Practically his only character trait.
- Leave Me Alone!: Most of his dialogues are just this.
- The Trees Have Faces: It's simple, he has one eye and can talk.
The Weasels
- Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": They sure don't look like weasels.
- The Dreaded: They are both feared by Klaymen and Willie. Justified, since those things are out for their blood. Metaphorically speaking, anyway.
- Feed It a Bomb: How the player dispatches of the green Weasel.
- Green and Mean: The green Weasel is mean and green, and it is bad!
- Purple Is Powerful: The second Weasel the player sees is purple, and it's just as nasty as the green one.
Bear Retrieval Unit (Unit A and Unit B)
- Bird People: They resemble anthropomorphic klaybirds.
- Cool Car: You can't get cooler than a monster truck!
- Fat and Skinny: One is short and chubby, while the other is taller and skinnier.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: They are implied to smoke cigarettes, cluing in the player how eeevil they are.
- The Unintelligible: They speak in squawks.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: They pretty much vanish after retrieving the bear.
Hall of Records Characters
The Father
The all-powerful creator of existence and of Quater. Lives on the Other Side and rarely interacts with his universe.- All-Powerful Bystander: Is overall very hands off with his universe, leaving most of the creation to the sons of his only creation. That said, it's implied that the life seeds come from the Father.
- God Is Good: Gives his creations a lot of automation and free will, even if they frequently misuse it.
Quater
The only creation of the Father. An extremely powerful being who acts as a mediator between Father and the rest of creation. He made seven sons to help him create the worlds to fill the universe, seven crowns for his sons to wear, and he also created a Hall of Records on each world.- Messianic Archetype: Is roughly an equivalent to Jesus Christ, being the mediator between his all-powerful father and the rest all life.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Probably one of the only truly reasonable people in the whole Neverhood universe. He is very wise and pretty good at settling conflicts.
Seven Sons of Quater
General Tropes
- Cast of Snowflakes: Despite Quater being described as not being as good of a "manbuilder" like Father, he still manages to create seven kings that looked completely different from each other.
- Cool Crown: All of them have one, as it was gifted to them by Quater.
- The Ghost: With the exception of Hoborg, none of Quater's sons ever make it into the game aside from having some statues in their likeness.
- Physical God: All of his children are physical beings capable of creating life.
Ogdilla
- Genius Loci: Despite being a bunch of gas, he managed to tear himself apart to prevent a war between the Specks.
- Turtle Island: During Ogdilla's travels, he picked up many particles from space. Those particles were the Specks, who reside upon his back.
Bertbert
- Clone Degeneration: He was described as a failed clone of Quater. Bertbert mistakenly believed he was the real Quater, and attempted to create more sons just like his father had done. However, his creations experienced degeneration as the line went on and each of his generations became worse and worse. It got to the point that Uh Uh, the last in line of his generation, was a non-sentient lump.Just as everybody thought that the whole "each-generation-gets-worse" thing had finally turned around, Ehp's own creation came out looking like a pile of something badly burned, so he named it, "Uh Uh."
Uh Uh was not alive, so it could not begat anything.
Numeron
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While being prideful and bossy, he actually shows mercy towards Numby and Grace when he decides to blow up his world.
- Noah's Story Arc: Eventually Numeron grew fed up with the vile decadence of his world, and decided to blow it all up and (possibly?) start anew. He decided to spare his child Numby and Numby's wife, Grace from this fate. He led them to a treehouse where they were safe from the world being blown up. The two lived happily in their treehouse until they peacefully passed away.
- The Perfectionist: Described as being obsessed with being sensible, correct, and following rules. He would rarely do anything without asking for Quater's instructions.
Ottoborg
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: He has two eyes on his palms.
- Gadgeteer Genius: According to the Hall of Records, he had done a lot of research on robots, so he created three.
- Genki Guy: Described as such.
- Genius Ditz: From what is seen, he comes across as this. He builds three robots who have some amount of sentience, yet carelessly forgets to hold his world together with gravity.
- Greater-Scope Paragon: He created Willie and Big Robot Bil, two characters instrumental to the story of The Neverhood. And yet, he never appears physically.
Homen
- Flat Character: Not much is known about him other than that he gave a crown to his son, who ultimately is more important than him.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He and his son created the Ynts, which would go on to appear in Skullmonkeys.
- Unusual Eyebrows: His son had those as well.
Arven
- Small Role, Big Impact: Among the worlds he created, the planet Idznak is among them. Idznak is where Skullmonkeys takes place.
- The Stoic: He's serious if nothing else.
- Super-Speed: He has this ability.
- Troll: Arven told everyone that the door of Burrntoowie is inaccessible because entering it would be under the death penalty. He only stated this to taunt people over its inaccessibility.
The Specks of Ogdilla
Both in general
- Cute, but Cacophonic: Aloh-Al even lampshaded this in his diary, describing their sounds as "whinings."
Bertbert's Generations
General Tropes
- The Clan: Bertbert had many generations (until Uh Uh was created.)
- Clone Degeneration: Bertbert mistakenly thinks he's the real Quater and attempted to create more sons just like his father did. However, his creations experienced degeneration as the line went on and each of his generations became worse and worse. It got to the point that Uh Uh, the last in line of his generation, was a lump that wasn't even alive.
- Flat Character: Most of his generations has little to no mention, aside from Bickback and Klee's story.
Bickback
The great-great-grandson of Bertbert, who has purple-green splotches all over his body.- Happily Married: He wed a demure lady named Phyllis and they begat a child ever after.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: When he realized what he had done to his brother Lytle, he decided to sing a song about him.
- Smart Jerk and Nice Moron: Deconstructed, as he realized what he had done to his brother.
Klee
Feh's favorite son, who is honest and clever.- Awesome Moment of Crowning: He had become a prime minister after reading so many Bedheads.
- The Butler Did It: Pettenpippa lied to her sister that he dressed up like Portenchipa just to get her to make eyes at him. Portenchipa beat Klee to within a foot span of his life, then threw him into jail.
- Butt-Monkey: He had been beaten up a few times and his brothers even sewed him and his fine shorts to the back of a Fwabull.
- Doting Parent: Feh was this to him. as he would sing loving songs for him and his brothers.
- Dumb Is Good: Implied to his brothers when he taunted them.
- Farm Boy: He and his brothers herded creatures which are called "Fwacattles."
- Never Found the Body: The perpetual honking and flapping of his songs echoed up to the ears of Quater, who, after many years of tolerance, could finally take it no more. Quater smote Feh with a bolt of energy so intense that nobody ever found a trace of his body. Feh was destroyed in the prime of his life, but not before he was able to create thirteen sons.
Ehp
One of the last generations of Bertbert.- Doting Parent: Acker was this to him, just like Feh did to his sons. Wah-Nee's a doting grandparent as well.
- Sickly Child Grew Up Strong: He grew to be a strong and handsome being, much closer in likeness to Bertbert than any generation before him. He also became a mighty leader of other beings who saw that he was in favor with Quater.
Numeron's clones
General Tropes
- The Clan: Like Bertbert, he had many generations of clones as well.
- Flat Character: Like Bertbert, not much is known about Numeron's clones, aside from Numby and Grace.
- Killed Off for Real: Numeron detonated the catastrophic explosion, destroying all the being. except for Numby and Grace.
Nasak The Great
Numby's brother, who does not think Numby is a fine king.- Sibling Yin-Yang: The Yin to Numby's Yang. He never thinks Numby is a fine king and he think's Numby's preaching about Numeron is a nuisance.
Numby
Numeron's son, who remembered him well.- The Good King: He is described as a "blameless and a righteous king"
- Happily Married: To Grace of course.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: The Yang to Nasak's Yin. because after all, he's the good king.
Ottoborg's Seven Sons
General Tropes
- Aerith and Bob: Their names, in order from most odd to least odd: Derradious Hapsicom, Hypen Nupen, Aloh Al, Petri Alfonzo, Willie Trombone and Ed.
- Cast of Snowflakes: Each of Ottoborg's sons are distinctive according to a pile of official sketches (as seen in the left corner).
- The Ghost: None of Willie's brothers appear in the game.
- Posthumous Character: Most of them are dead, with their deaths being described in the Hall of Records.
Hypen Nupen
The first son of Ottoborg and the only son to have a nose. He loved flowers.- Gag Nose: Since he's the only son to have a nose, it is quite bigger than his father does.
- Nature Hero: He loved flowers and how happy and festive they can make a place. Often, he would make a wreath of some of the flowers to decorate the loop in his head.
- Ungrateful Bastard: He overworked his chunk of land to produce flowers (and only flowers) and was never impressed no matter how many flowers the soil produced.
Petri Alfonzo
The second son of Ottoborg, whose head-loop often got caught on many things.- Driven to Suicide: He was so tired of getting his head hooked onto things that he cut his own head off.
Aloh Al
The fourth son of Ottoborg, who writes about his daily life in his diary.- The Nicknamer: Calls the creatures he comes into contact with "Big Heads" and "Needle Noses" and refers to their representatives as "Father Guy."
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: His diary ends abruptly, due to the fact that the chunk of land that he was landing on suddenly smashed into a dirt clod that collided with it head-on. Both the chunk and the clod were travelling at great speeds upon impact. Nothing was ever seen of Aloh Al again.
Creeker (Derradious Hapsicom)
The fifth son of Ottoborg.- Gonk: He was described as bizarre-looking, even for a giant.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: His real name was Derradious Hapsicom, which was quite a name hard to spell. So he goes by Creeker. Simpler, no?
- The Perfectionist: He was very critical of his work. Even when he was not sculpting something, he would be out scrutinizing one of his previous sculptures.
Hondo
Sixth son of Ottoborg, and one of his few children that still lives.- Sole Survivor: He didn't die at the end of his story, his chunk of land just ended up on the back of a giant animal that lived in a desert on an undocumented planet.
Ed
Seventh and last son of Ottoborg, who is floating in space in his chunk forever.- Flat Character: Besides being stranded in space forever, nothing else was known about him.
- Space Isolation Horror: "Ed's chunk just spun in place, forever."
Pinto Bunyan
Homen's son.- Flat Character: Like his father, not much is known about him, besides having given a crown by his father Homen from Quater.
- Taken for Granite: Possibly implied. his crown got taken away from Quater and gave it to a new being named Arven (Quater's seventh and last son) and was never mentioned again...
White Ynts
White bug creatures created by Pinto Bunyan.- The Ghost: The White Ynts do not appear in Skullmonkeys.
- Light Is Not Good: The White Ynts mingled the Ynts. One morning, a White Ynt threw an egg at a Blue Ynt, causing a dreadful feud.
Skullmonkeys Characters
Jerry-O
An intelligent Skullmonkey telling Klaymen to save Idznak and defeat the Kloggmonkey.- Only Sane Man: He is the smartest of the Skullmonkeys and the only one who never obeyed Kloggmonkey.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Implied to have built the flight suit that takes Klaymen to Idznak, and is always seen with some sort of communications device on the side of his head (where his ear ought to be if his head wasn't a skull).
- Token Heroic Orc: He is one of the few Skullmonkeys we see who is exclusively on the side of good. Though admittedly the Skullmonkey species as a whole are suggested to be stupid enough to follow whoever commands them.
Evil Engine Number Nine
A giant airship-like robot created by Kloggmonkey.- Cutscene Boss: The real challenge is making it up to it in the first place. Once you do, Klaymen will put the potato in the exhaust pipe, saving the Neverhood once again.
- Killer Robot: It was made to destroy the Neverhood. Fortunately, Klaymen stopped it by putting the root in the exhaust pipe, causing the Evil Engine Number Nine to explode.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Like the Clockwork Beast and Big Robot Bil, it is made with metal as well.
Ynts
In General
- Cute Bruiser: Most (if not all) of them look like cute little bugs (especially the Worker Ynts), but they are enemies regardless.
- Insectoid Aliens: They are based off a few insects (like a mantis and an ant), so they count.
