Warning: Due to major plot twists and later revelations, all spoilers are unmarked.
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The Resistance
Kay/KB209
The viewpoint character of the novel. A normal Isonomian who works as a teacher, indoctrinating his students into the teachings of the Father. During one rally, he meets Ellie, and later grows closer to her, eventually joining her in seeking to free to Zion.
- Action Survivor: Kay has absolutely no military or weapons training. He only gets through several perilous situations by improvising on the fly, learning as he goes along, or simply getting lucky.
- Big Brother Is Employing You: He works as a teacher in one of Isonomia's schools- and since things like math are outlawed, his job is primarily indoctrinating children into the Isonomian dogma.
- Cult Defector: After meeting Ellie, he begins resisting the totalitarian cult of Equalism.
- Despair Event Horizon: Twice in rapid succession. When he finally realizes that all safe havens in Zion are already in control of Isonomia, he loses all hope and Mercy Kills Tilly so she won't have to be tortured by Equalists. Then Ellie reveals herself as the Father and that she has been using him all along, and he finally loses what little hope he had left, convinced all his efforts were for nothing. Though he does regain enough hope to manage to hand a scrambler to a little girl before his death, it is unlikely it will amount to anything.
- The Everyman: He is just another teacher and citizen in the forcibly equal world of Isonomia.
- Expy: Of Winston Smith. The Everyman and viewpoint character who meets a pretty girl and member of the ruling party (here the same person) and is encouraged by her to rebel against the dystopian government, only to discover that the rebellion was a trap and the party member was leading him to his doom. He is tortured and defeated by the regime.
- It Gets Easier: Kay is horrified when he first kills an Equalizer, to the point where he almost has a breakdown. After he kills another five, he's far less upset. Halfway into the story, he's gunning down Equalizers with no hesitation whatsoever.
- Only Sane Man: Once he is able to overcome his mindcap, he becomes the only teacher who questions the Equalism ideology.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Kay is the father of G451/Peter, the martyr who ratted out his father to the police and got him imprisoned for eight years. And just like in the story, Kay's wife, Christine, killed their own son over what he did.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: He has a burnt face and scars all over his body from his days being tortured at the reeducation camp. He hooks up with Ellie, whom the narration describes as having beautiful, golden skin and blonde hair.
- Unwitting Pawn: To Ellie/the Father, who was using him to seek out the rebel base in Zion so she could eliminate the rebels.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: After rebelling from Isonomia, he believes in all of his rebel allies and that there is a paradise they can reach where they can live as who they are. This is proven very wrong by the end.
Ellie/LE905
A rebellious girl and Kay's love interest. She is the unofficial leader of a small group of rebels seeking to flee the tyranny of Isonomia and reside in the paradise of Zion. She gets Kay's attention through her painted toenails, an indicator of her gender- which is illegal.
- Bad Boss: Ellie is secretly in charge of the country's army and navy, yet she willingly kills several soldiers and sailors alongside the other rebels just to maintain her cover.
- Big Bad: She is secretly the current Father, the ruler of Isonomia, making her responsible for all the oppression and misery. She also sends the White General to pursue her and Kay, and manipulates the rebels into evil actions as part of her trap.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Ellie acts like a sweet, innocent woman, but she's really the Father, the leader of the Equalist Empire, who manipulated Kay into finding the rebels' hideouts, and she subsequently got all of the rebels killed.
- Composite Character: Of Julia, O'Brien, and Big Brother himself. Like Julia, she is the primary Love Interest of the protagonist who inspires him to rebel and enters a forbidden romance with him, only to betray him in the end. Like O'Brien, she meets the protagonist at a rally and convinces him to rebel, but is actually a high-ranking member of the government (in this case, the supreme leader) who has the protagonist imprisoned and personally tortures him while explaining the philosophy and true purpose of their ideology. And like Big Brother, she as the Father is the ruler of the regime who is worshipped and shrouded in mystery.
- Dark Action Girl: She helps her fellow rebels fight against the forces of Isonomia and takes out quite a bit of them, especially the White Navy. She is also secretly the leader of Isonomia who considers killing people to be a fun game.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Subverted. She regards the White General, her husband, as more a tool than anything else, despite sharing his love of brutality, and while she does claim to love Kay even after betraying him, she clarified that she loves the sex she had with him, found him interesting to talk to, and loves how he led her to the rebels and became a martyr for Isonomia. She then lets him be executed without a second thought.
- Love-Interest Traitor: She seems to fall in love with Kay and gives new meaning to his life, inspiring him to rebel against Isonomia and seek freedom, and they have a loving relationship. Then she turns out to be the Father, the Big Bad themself, and reveals she used Kay to snuff out the rebels threatening her empire. She explains that she “loved” him, but in a shallow way.
- Karma Houdini: Neither she nor the White General face any form of comeuppance for their actions. And both of them are going to keep Isonomia in the current state that it's in, ensuring more torture and death will continue.
- Malevolent Masked Man: Or woman. As the father, she is the masked dictator of Isonomia. The mask hides her true gender and the fact that she is not the same as the Fathers before her.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Despite her abuse by the White General, and while not quite as hyper-active as most examples, she remains untamed, free-spirited, and kind, and helps to bring meaning to the life of her male Love Interest, freeing him from the banality of his life in Isonomia. And then it all turns out to be an act she put on to string Kay along and use him as her Unwitting Pawn.
- Ms. Fanservice: The narration draws attention to her attractive features like her small breasts.
- Rebel Leader: Though not officially the leader, she is considered such by the others.
- Running Both Sides: She is essentially the leader of the resistance who controls where they go and what they do. She is also secretly the Father, the ruler of Isonomia.
- Samus Is a Girl: Happens twice. When she first appears, she is wearing the same gender-obscuring masks and robes as everyone else. So Kay is shocked to see her painted toenails (though less because she is a woman and more because she is daring to show indications of gender, because Individuality Is Illegal and so is gender). She also turns out to be the seemingly-male current Father, having used the gold mask and robe to obscure her true gender while posing as male.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: She is described as having beautiful, golden skin and blonde hair. She hooks up with Kay, who has a burnt face and scars all over his body from his days being tortured at the reeducation camp.
- Unholy Matrimony: With the White General, her husband, as both rule over Isonomia and keep the oppression and brutality going. They also have a shared love of killing others as a twisted game.
Tilly
A girl with the resistance.
- Killed Off for Real: Is killed by Kay to spare her from being tortured by the Equalists.
Adrian
A big man with the resistance.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He is a very cynical man who clashes with the rest of the idealistic resistance and puts them down regularly, but ultimately stays loyal to them and wants to be free.
Equalist Empire/People's Republic of Isonomia
The Father
The supreme leader of Isonomia. Shrouded in mystery, he is the only one in Isonomia who is allowed to show his gender. Though rarely seen in person, his people worship him fanatically, and consider him to be the god of the universe.
- Dead All Along: The original Father, at least, is long-dead, with many people taking on his mantle.
- Expy: Of Big Brother, as the Shadow Dictator who is worshipped as a god by the people and instills a dystopian regime. Both are also implied (and in the Father's case, confirmed) to not be a single person, but an idea for the citizens to rally behind.
- God-Emperor: While every citizen of Isonomia is officially equal, the Father is the subject of an omnipresent cult of personality that treats him as a deity. The party line is that the Father created the universe and that the stars are his servants.
- God Is Evil: He serves as the local God figure for Isonomia, and is a cruel despot who hoards all the luxuries for himself and his elites while oppressing the populace.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The original Father is the leader responsible for turning Isonomia into the eponymous False Utopia that it is, as well as being the one forcing the nation to fight off Zion and other nations who oppose Isonomia's regulations. The current Father and Big Bad is his successor, Ellie.
- Malevolent Masked Man: His face is obscured by a golden mask, like everyone in Isonomia. unlike most, however, this actually serves a purpose beyond the enforcement of equality- to hide the fact that the Father is a Legacy Character and trick the populace into thinking he is an immortal God-Emperor.
- Posthumous Character: The original Father and all Fathers prior to Ellie are all dead, with Ellie wearing their gold robe and mask to keep up the illusion of them being immortal.
- Predecessor Villain: The original Father was the one who built the dictatorship of Isonomia. This also applies to his successors prior to Ellie.
- Shadow Dictator: He is worshipped all throughout Isonomia, with pictures of himself everywhere, but he rarely if ever makes public appearances and his true identity is obscured behind his mask.
EQL61/The White General
One of the leaders of the White Army and the Father's sadistic second-in-command. He is the main enforcer of Isonomia's laws, and the one leading the mission to capture the rebels fleeing the nation.
- Ax-Crazy: The White General is a murderous beast of a man, reveling in the torture and slaughter of anyone in his way.
- Bad Boss: The White General doesn't care about the sheer amount of soldiers who die under his command. He even chokes one of them to death just for reluctantly questioning one of his orders.
- Card-Carrying Villain: He is a complete sadist who takes much delight in torturing and killing anyone who opposes the Isonomian Empire.
- The Dragon: He is Ellie's husband and top enforcer who commands the White Army and chases after the rebels on her behalf.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Subverted; though he initially seems to be going after Kay because he made off with his wife, it was actually all part of their plan, and Ellie describes his love as "fish love. He loves only how the fish tastes. What the fish can do for him." He treats her like a trophy and cheats on her besides. Not that she minds, being equally twisted.
- For the Evulz: His ordering of the crucifixion of hundreds of innocents, including children, initially seems to have been done because Kay "stole" his wife Ellie from him, so he sent a message to Kay to scare him into giving her back. Given The Reveal that Ellie is his boss and had no intention of being given back because everything was under her control, that motive no longer seems to be the case, so it seems like he did it just to satisfy his sadism- which is not out-of-character at all for him.
- The Heavy: The Father is the Big Bad, but he stays in the background while EQL61 is the main prominent figure in the White Army chasing after Kay and Ellie and hunting down the rebels.
- Insane Admiral: He leads the White Army and is a sadist who spends the story murdering anyone he comes across.
- Karma Houdini: Neither he nor Ellie face any form of comeuppance for their actions. And both of them are going to keep Isonomia in the current state that it's in, ensuring more torture and death will continue.
- Sadist: The White General openly revels in torture and murder, and has probably killed millions of people. He kills his victims with his own hands whenever possible, and he and Ellie engineered the entire plot just to create a group of "rebels" that he could hunt and kill for sport.
- Unholy Matrimony: With Ellie, his wife, as both rule over Isonomia and keep the oppression and brutality going. They also have a shared love of killing others as a twisted game.
Zion
Bialik
The noble who rules over Zion and the primary enemy of Isonomia. He is the subject of the rallies, in which the audience expresses hatred for him. He embodies all that Isonomia stands against- bigotry, inequality, and tyranny.
- Ambiguously Evil: He never says a word and his evil is an in-universe Informed Attribute, with only the world of the Party on his evil acts. The one image we see in the rallies shows him with slave women looking miserable, but without context, Bialik and the slaves could easily just be actors paid (or coerced) by the Party to help construct their narrative.
- Dead All Along: Implied. Zion as a whole is revealed to have been destroyed by Isonomia long ago, and while Bialik's status is never confirmed, he most likely died with the rest of his realm.
- Evil Makes You Ugly: For propaganda purposes, his hideousness (being a Fat Bastard with a Beard of Evil and other unattractive features) is emphasized to make him look worse compared to the Father in his beautiful golden robe and mask.
- Fat Bastard: He is noted to be pretty obese, and is depicted as a total scumbag of a noble.
- Expy: Of Emmanuel Goldstein. Like Goldstein, he is the primary enemy of the dictatorship who is said to be the leader of a secret organization of rebels dedicated to overthrowing the Party and all it stands for, and is the subject of Two-Minutes-Hate-like rallies where the audience screams at him and expresses hatred for him. He is used by the Party as The Scapegoat on which to place all blame for the suffering of the citizens, and is utilized as a Satanic Archetype. Also like Goldstein, it is ambiguous if he even exists, as his kingdom is long destroyed.
- Satanic Archetype: The Party portrays him as a malicious rebel and leader of a land of sin who tempts people to have forbidden thoughts and wants to overthrow the benevolent God-figure, the Father.
- The Scapegoat: He and his supposed resistance blamed for any problems the people under the Father and the Party suffer. In truth, his nation was destroyed long ago, so he is likely dead.
