Characters from True Villains.
Due to wiki policy trope names will not be spoiler tagged. Read at your own risk.
Sebastian Jalek
"I'm not just your run-of-the-mill adventurer. I'm Sebastian Jalek, adventurer extraordinaire!"
One of two newcomers to Xaneth's team. Sebastian is a famous adventurer whose talents in alchemy and combat are recruited by Xaneth.
- Above Good and Evil: By Saga 5, he considers himself this. Whether he's truly unburdened himself of morality is uncertain.
- Brick Joke: "...Did she say Virgin's Blood?"
- Combat Pragmatist: He doesn't pull his punches when fighting his former companions, offing one by detonating a chemical trigger he had planted earlier.
- Dull Surprise: His reaction to Serial Killer Elia revealing her past.
- Face–Heel Turn: At first, it seems like Sebastian is being forced into this by Xaneth. However, when he blows up Dorn, he seems pretty set in this path.
- Evil Costume Switch: Done subtly during Saga 1, when Sebastian switches out an old and weather-worn white shirt for a new black one before he heads out to Dorn. His complete transformation during Saga 5 is slightly more drastic.
- Important Haircut: During Saga 5, Sebastian does this as part of his Evil Costume Switch and transformation into Above Good and Evil.
- Naïve Newcomer: Being one of the newest faces in Xaneth's band, he gets to ask all the Audience Surrogate questions. In Saga 6, Bayn takes some time while traveling to fill Sebastian in on his past with Xaneth, as well as why Xaneth's shoes are yellow.
- Nominal Hero: Before the comic began, he did heroic deeds more for thrills or reward than to help people.
- Parental Substitute: Towards Mia. She adopts his last name.
- Point of No Return: Considers the destruction of Dorn at his own hands this. Appropriately, it's given significant dramatic build-up and a nice Lampshading. The page where he does it
is even named after the trope. He back-pedals slightly when he rescues Mia. - Shrouded in Myth: Stories of his exploits are somewhat exaggerated.
- The Team Normal: He's the only non-magical member of Xaneth's crew, although his Alchemy comes close.
- The Unfettered: He decides to start acting on what he can do, not what he should do.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: He dons nothing from the waist up for a few pages after being blasted by the Necromancer. Nicely Lampshaded by Xaneth:"...And put a shirt on - you're distracting everybody."
Xaneth Antaris
"Because I have a plan. I always have a plan. So I want you to trust that it is going to work. Do exactly as I say, and you will come out just fine."
The Big Bad of the dungeon, and a very, very shrewd planner. Xaneth is never far from his crystal ball which allows him to see many, many things, as befits a demon of the God of Vision.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: With surveillance, preparation, and an uncanny talent for gauging people's abilities in battle, he's much more dangerous than even his own considerable power suggests. He handily defeats a Master of Illusion prophet of Nox by identifying and hijacking her own illusions.
- Card-Carrying Villain: He's the first to admit that he is Evil — not because his mission requires it, but because he has more fun that way.
- The Chessmaster: It comes with the territory as a demon of the God of Vision.
- Combat Pragmatist: Why fight Dove when you can drop a bomb on him from overhead?
- Consistent Clothing Style: He always wears yellow shoes. Dexter eventually admits to Sebastian that he Cursed him as a joke - Xaneth's shoes actually turn yellow, or, if he goes barefoot, his feet do.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Frequently engages in these, with the exception of a single offscreen duel. It's especially telling that he's able to force the retreat of Alyssa, Olivia and Brawn (after Sebastian, Bayn and Elia are all indisposed) within a couple of pages.
- The vampire Paladin hands him one, tearing him to shreds.
- The Dreaded: Gleefully exploited. All he has to do is fly into a town square and introduce himself and the populace flee en masse.
- Gilligan Cut: "Where are all my minions?!" "HERE I AM!"
- Ineffectual Death Threats: His dialogue with Mia almost solely consists of these.
- Pet the Dog: With much grumbling, he makes occasional gestures of kindness to his team, like sewing Sebastian a new dorky backpack and punting his sister away rather than make him kill her.
- Tempting Fate: Increasingly during Saga 1, when the Golem comes to the dungeon.
- Troll: As often as he says he punishes errors with extreme prejudice, he usually settles for merciless snark instead.
- Would Hurt a Child: ...And endlessly threatens to do so when Mia is within view.
- Xanatos Gambit: At one point makes reference to a "Grandmaster Plan" that's ensured to succeed no matter what issues the past will unearth he's putting into motion when Sebastian asks why he spared him. The ending of Saga 5 makes him seriously reconsider the validity of that statement.
Elia Radscallion
Elia's current appearance
"Aww, you still feel guilt! That's precious."
One of Xaneth's allies and a powerful Necromancer. She is introduced when she is enlisted to kill the survivors of Dorn.
- A Day in the Limelight: Saga 4 puts her and her back story in the spotlight.
- Affably Evil: She's a murderous psychopath who enjoys the prospect of having a few survivors to eviscerate. But she's such a sweetie. And she helps a random elf-girl out just because she was very obviously hiding her pain.
- Ax-Crazy: Implied to have been reigned in by Xaneth since her Dark and Troubled Past as a serial killer. She lets it out full force when she storms a mansion with her undead army to rescue Aya.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Vocally, happily, flagrantly Evil.
- Cuteness Proximity: Falls victim to this when Sebastian brings back Mia, who she's under orders to kill. A polite introduction and a cheery grin later and Elia's completely won over.
- Eye Color Change: While normally green, her eyes glow purple when she uses her necromancy. This makes it easy to pick out which of her undead she's currently inhabiting while playing decoy.
- Good Hurts Evil: Her body is held together by Dark magic, which means the Paladin's Light magic Super Mode cripples her just for standing too close.
- Gorn: Tends to happen when she's around. Her Establishing Character Moment is her melting a mugger's face off.
- Lady of Black Magic: An elegant, always perfectly dressed lady from a noble family, she is also an eighty-four-year-old necromancer, held together with black magic and spite, who can paint the town red with undead armies and deadly spells and will literally rip off her own skin for a tactical advantage.
- Machete Mayhem: Her weapon of choice, as revealed when she storms the mansion in Saga 4.
- Mortality Grey Area: Her body is held together with Dark magic, causing her to collapse on the spot when exposed to Anti-Magic until the enchantments recover. However, she's still alive enough to benefit from Healing Herbs.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Calmly and cutely tells Sebastian that she's off to melt some people, has the most gleeful expression while slaughtering innocents, and was in a relationship with a werewolf for an undetermined amount of time.
- Not Me This Time: During Saga 3, there is a murder conducted in the exact same style Elia used when she lived nearby as a serial killer decades ago.
- Older Than She Looks: She's an 86-year-old necromancer who keeps a collection of youthful skins.
- Possessing a Dead Body: She can transfer her spirit into any of the mindless undead under her control, allowing her to get the jump on an enemy in a fight. Her original body might be an edge case, given that it's held together with Dark magic and stolen skin.
- Serial Killer: Her back story, and the reason she changes skins when she accompanies Sebastian to Grantiar Isle.
- Skin Walker: She's able to switch skins like a normal person switches dresses. Leads to a slight Glamour Failure when a monster pierces holes through her usual skin while she's not in it.
- Soul Jar: Of a sort. At one point, she is shown to be capable of switching bodies by transferring her eyes between them - even leaving her own skeleton behind.
- Would Hurt a Child: For a terrible moment, she confirms she'd do this, as per her orders. Luckily she's not immune to the Cuteness Overload personified that is Mia.
- Yaoi Fangirl: In the April Fools comic.
Mia Jalek
"I can't just give you things for nothing! Then you'd start expecting them. I have to keep you on a short leash, or else you'll be bad."
The team's cute child as well as golem maker. Mia has a special ability to craft metal with her bare hands and infuse it with magical spirits. She lived in Dorn as a street rat but is taken in by Sebastian.
- Barefoot Poverty: Despite joining up with Xaneth's team, she has yet to wear shoes unless in disguise. Or using the Boots of Jumping and Kicking.
- Cheerful Child: Despite being a homeless orphan, she is pretty much always happy.
- Conveniently an Orphan: Lucky for Sebastian that the only survivor of his massacre of Dorn is happy to leave the place behind.
- Daddy's Girl: Sebastian cares for Mia a great deal, and when he rescues her from the Paladin he is actually crying.
- Daddy's Little Villain: She's happy to help out Sebastian and Xaneth with their evil plans, including murdering a Chosen One for them.
- Enfant Terrible: Xaneth's enemies see her as one. Killing Ritania edges her closer to this trope.
- Happily Adopted: Sebastian took Mia in- she uses his name because she does not know her own.
- Innocent Prodigy: Mia is able to build very stable and well working golems- never mind her special ability. She makes all the joints and hinges work, and can do it quickly. She even built a functioning watch. She's also able to talk down to Xaneth and live.
- Little Miss Badass: When her golems don't do the trick, she can kick ass in her Powered Armor.
- And then she makes Amber, a Powered Armor Golem. Which also gets blessed by a Prophet of Ket. It doesn't quite even the odds against a super-powerful vampire paladin, but the pair does manage to hold their own very well.
- Obliviously Evil: Due to Moral Myopia in favour of her new friends or just not understanding what they're doing, she's happy to make heavy weapons for self-declared villains. She also has no problem with killing a Chosen One, because "People die all the time!"
- The Pollyanna: Despite a Hilariously Abusive Childhood on the streets of Dorn, she's relentlessly cheerful, even when exploring torture chambers or looting corpses. Even Tom's death only lowers her spirits for a short time.
- Powered Armor: She can create sprite-infused armor at a moment's notice, making her a much more creditable combatant.
- Token Good Teammate: More Neutral than Good.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Mia is relatively good for being on an evil team. Her solution to the final dilemma in Saga 3? Tell the truth and get the bad guy.
Bayn Pheonix
"I am a sorcerer of Ket. Even as a child, I have power and knowledge most would only dream of."
A sorcerer and associate of Xaneth's. He was old, but then turned into a child, and now works directly with Xaneth, as he did in the past. He does not like his new body, and bemoans the loss of his abilities.
- Barrier Warrior: Uses shield spells with great versatility and effect.
- De-power: After being de-aged, Bayn remembers everything he learned over his life, but can only perform the basic magic that he could do when he was ten.
- Dysfunctional Family: Bayn does not like his family. At all.Dove: I am going to murder your entire family.
Bayn: Please do. - Enfant Terrible: Unlike Mia, Bayn goes directly into battles.
- Fountain of Youth: Bayn is transformed into a child by Xaneth.
- Gruesome Grandparent: His grandfather is a creepy clawed man who even his father is afraid of.
- Hates Their Parent: Bayn is a comically serious Evil Sorcerer whose father is a quirky, whimsical gadfly of vastly greater power. Bayn loathes him for his attitude, the harmless-yet-annoying Curses he stuck on Bayn for fun, and some implicit serious Dysfunctional Family drama, but they reconcile after Bayn's Darkest Hour.Dove: I am going to murder your entire family.Bayn: Please do.
- Locked into Strangeness: Gets a skunk stripe when Ket restores his powers.
- The Power of the Sun: Uses this briefly to amplify his magic tremendously, before Xaneth de-ages him to keep him from becoming too powerful.
- Precision F-Strike: When the newly vampirized Paladin disarms him of his magical focus.
- Punch-Clock Villain: He's explicitly Evil, but largely goes along with what Xaneth wants.
- Spock Speak: Bayn rarely uses contractions and, according to Mia, talks like an old man.
