< El Goonish Shive

El Goonish Shive/Characters


Here's a list of characters from the Web Comic El Goonish Shive.

Given the amount of gender bending in this series, Gender Bender should only be noted for a character under special circumstances like Tedd or Vlad.

For a comprehensive list of appearances and statistics, see at this fan-site or at this wiki.

Heroes

Elliot

Elliot Daniel Dunkel

Because it sounds like one big, awkward moment.

Somewhat inhibited former Bully Hunter with Chronic Hero Syndrome who has been Tedd's best friend since third grade. Attends Moperville North with Tedd, Susan, and Sarah. Was an only child until Ellen came along.

Associated tropes:

Elliot: I fail at perversion.

Elliot: It's the price I pay for being one of the good guys.

  • Big Brother Instinct: towards Ellen, despite her being his Half Identical Twin/Opposite Gender Clone who technically has more life experience (thanks to her dream life) than he does.
    • Papa Wolf: And there is the fact of Ellen also being his daughter
    • Actual quote from Dan Shive: "Do not threaten or otherwise endanger Ellen. Elliot will break you."
  • Blessed with Suck: Elliot's original shapeshifting powers only allowed him to turn into a catman, which hurt. Then he developed the power to change into a girl, which he dislikes, and all of the powers he's developed since are girl or girl-related transformations as well. At least the super heroine can fly. Tedd theorizes that Elliot's magic will keep giving him girl-related transformations until he convinces himself he's satisfied with the girl forms he already has.
  • Berserk Button: bullies. Which led him to become a...
  • Bully Hunter: He mostly abandoned this habit, with a few exceptions like Justin's case—though he's still ready to jump in. Goes part and parcel with his Chronic Hero syndrome (see below)
  • Butt Monkey: He gained the ability to turn into a girl, then had to start doing so several times a day or risk it happening on its own. He gained a super-powered alternate form, but it's female. He gained secret identity forms (tying in with the superhero form), and at least one of those is attracted to his gay friend (who, by the way, is attracted to male Elliot). The author is on record that he enjoys tormenting Elliot.
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome: Susan once pointed out that Elliot would save his own worst enemy. Elliot denies it after envisioning himself allowing Damien to fall off a cliff, then promptly protects the worst bully in the school from a supernatural creature.
  • First Law of Gender Bending: Leads to Power Incontinence, Involuntary Shapeshifting, Voluntary Shapeshifting, you name it.
    • Second Law of Gender Bending: Played with. Tedd theorizes Elliot's magic will continue to provide him with girly transformations until it finds one that satisfies him, putting Elliot in the awkward position of having to accept some aspect of femininity in order to escape the rest.
      • Third Law of Gender Bending: Elliot's female transformations usually affect his clothes as well, apparently because he just can't help visualizing girls in "girly" clothing.
  • Hidden Depths: It is implied that Elliot's "wooden reserve" is due to his fear of losing control of an extremely violent temper.
  • Incompatible Orientation: with Justin.
  • Man, I Feel Like a Woman: Averted, except for one mirror scene early on. Tedd even theorizes that Elliot's failure to "embrace" any of his girl forms is why his magic keeps giving him new ones trying to find one he will accept.
  • Official Couple: with Sarah, though they have some problems they need to work out.
  • Secret Identity: In addition to the Masquerade and Elliot not liking the idea of everyone knowing he is "Cheerleadra", the spell turning him into a stock Superheroine includes for this purpose three other (and also cliché) forms that provide an efficient disguise not dependent on his acting ability.
  • Seen It All: Sort of.
  • Shapeshifting: Thanks to Abraham, he can turn into girl or cat now.

"What does 'exorbitant breadth' mean and what does it have to do with my chest?"

Tedd

Tedd Drew Verres

Those gaming peripherals were for SCIENCE!

Self-avowed pervert, mad scientist, and Grace's love interest. Obsessed with sex, physical transformations in general, and gender benders in particular. Attends Moperville North with Elliot, Susan, and Sarah. His love for Grace has made him a bit more mature and a bit less of a pervert... okay, he IS still a pervert, but ALL his perverted thoughts are about Grace, now.

Associated tropes:

Elliot: Whether or not Tedd takes interest in something is a good way to determine whether or not it should be censored.

    • As you can see from "A Disturbing Look into the Mind of Tedd", he's secure in the knowledge that his girlfriend isn't against it. She even catalogued his fetishes (and access to the TF gun obviously allows her to personally implement a considerable part of this):

Grace: ...and couples switching bodies is #37 on your list of weird things you like.

Ted: Either I'm a narcissist, or I'm just that girly.

  • Embarrassing Middle Name: Middle Names are Always Fun!
  • Epileptic Tree: Was the first character in the main eight to get his own section of the WMG page.
  • Face Heel Turn/ He Who Fights Monsters: Tedd has built a gauntlet just like Lord Tedd's. This comes at the end of an arc called 'One Way Road', just after Tedd has declared that he's going to balance science and friendships... and anyone who fucks with him or his friends will be sorry. The implications are bad.
  • Famed in Story: At least amongst the magical community his name makes eyebrows raise high. Jerry could identify him just from Susan's brief explanation. And the mention of him was enough to make Raven freak out and rethink his entire plan to capture the boar. They claim it's only because he's the son of Big Good Mr. Verres or enigmatic Mrs. Verres, though this doesn't come across as completely convincing.
  • Gender Bender: Likes to become a woman for certain tasks, like cooking or showering. Literally all the gender bending in the series that doesn't involve Dr. Germahn's office or the Uryuom is ultimately his fault; according to Word of God, he's the only person (other than villains) Ellen will zap without permission.
  • I Am Who?: Turns out Lord Tedd is enough of a threat in his own universe that he conquered the planet and the possibility of Tedd going down the same path has been heavily hinted.
  • If It's You It's Okay: Grace as a male is the only guy Tedd will allow himself to be attracted to.
  • In Spite of a Nail: There is always a Tedd in every Universe. Given that at least two Tedds have independently built Magitek gauntlets, this may not be a good thing.
  • It's All My Fault: Blames himself for his parent's divorce. Raven says it's not his fault though.
  • Magitek: The prime source of it in comic. The TF Gun runs on it, as does his gauntlet.
  • Mad Scientist: He began with mixing human and Uryuom technologies, but now conducts his own research on their possible Magitek applications. And as he says in a sketchbook:

How did i accidentally turn myself into girl? I was fixing a toaster.

    • As he's gone on, he's moved away from transformations mostly and is instead investigating magic in general.
  • Missing Mom: Exactly the hows and whys of Tedd's mother is one of the biggest ongoing mysteries of the strip, although it's been hinted that Tedd believes she left because of him.
  • My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Has the ability to sense whenever girls he knows have moments of sexy awesomeness or nearly have that kind of moment.
  • Noodle Incident: It's implied in pre-Cerebus Retcon strips that he's done weird stuff to Elliot over the years, to the point that Elliot learned a self-hypnotic suggestion so he wouldn't Freak-Out whenever he went to Tedd's house.
  • Third Law of Gender Bending: Tedd claims that he's a better cook when he's female. He justifies this in this strip.
  • Official Couple: With Grace.
  • Pretty Boy
  • Running Gagged: In comparison to some later characters like Noah, Tedd really just isn't that androgynous and the old gag has been retired.
  • Shrinking Violet: When he was younger.
  • The Smart Guy
  • Start of Darkness: Tedd has independently built a gauntlet just like Lord Tedd's. The arc this was revealed in is named "One Way Road". The implications are grim indeed.
  • Stepford Smiler: In a cast of a lot of people who've undergone tragic pasts, Tedd is the most upbeat and heavily suggested to be the most miserable, at least before meeting Uryuoms.
  • Stupid Sexy Flanders: Triggering bullying reactions in others.
  • The Tease: Yes!!!
  • Unlucky Childhood Friend: His alternate version in Ellen's universe, at least.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Susan. Until the school uniform arc, where Tedd and Susan became normal friends in a touching scene. Not that it prevented other "sissy slap fights" later.
  • You Gotta Have Purple Hair: His father has blue hair, and his mother's niece Nanase has red hair, so Tedd's purple hair is genetic. In the EGS universe, these colors are every bit as normal as brown or blonde. According to Word of God, Tedd was originally supposed to have black hair, but the artist wasn't skilled enough to make it look good in the early years.
    • In one strip a random girl in the MNHS cafeteria refers to him as "that cute jelly-haired boy".

Sarah

Sarah Brown

I'm done thinking for today! It's caused me enough trouble!

Elliot's girlfriend. The "normal" one of the bunch, Sarah attends Moperville North with Susan, Tedd, and Elliot. Intrepid Reporter Carol was later revealed to be her older sister.

Associated tropes:

Grace

Grace T. Sciuridae

You sound awfully annoyed for a guy with a furry fetish and a half-cat girlfriend.

Just your typical cute and bubbly girl next door, provided the girl you live next to is a part-human, part-alien, part-squirrel shapeshifting defused Tyke Bomb assassin with very liberal ideas about nudity. Attends Moperville South with Ellen, Nanase, and Justin. She is Teddsexual.

Associated tropes:

Grace: ...I am not horrible at volleyball!
Ellen: Grace, you either dive for cover or launch the ball into orbit.
Grace: That's how I deal with most of my problems.

Nanase

Nanase Kitsune (狐 七瀬 kitsune nanase)

Version Post Sister II arc


It's hard to look bad-ass when you're using fairy powers.

Tedd's cousin. Martial Artist, Magic user, all-around badass. Attends Moperville South with Ellen, Grace, and Justin. Has an overbearing mother and a little sister named Akiko. Tend to overthink the potential problems until she makes a mountain out of a mole hill: her mother, while domineering, doesn't act half as oppressive as expected except in school matters and Akiko's fangirling about the older sister's relationship with a girl is quite unlikely to be anything more than the usual "Boys Have Cooties" attitude—which was obvious to Ellen.

Associated tropes:

Gerald: I should have known you'd run out of men in the school eventually.

Justin

Justin Tolkiberry

Man, I suck at negotiating.

Nanase's best friend, an amiable comic shop clerk who was traumatically outed by his former best friend Melissa shortly before Elliot rescued him from bullies and befriended him. Since Elliot is also the one who introduced him to Nanase and the rest of the main cast by extension, Justin feels a huge debt of gratitude and an unrequited crush towards him. Justin also suffers from a seemingly irresistible compulsion to mess with long hair, though he is bothered by the stereotype. He also attends Moperville South.

Associated tropes:


Susan

(Tiffany) Susan Pompoms

Already the males make excuses for their gender.

Sarah's best friend. Poor Little Rich Girl who lives in a huge house but complains about the cost of text messaging and works in a video store. Attends Moperville North with Sarah, Elliot, and Tedd. Caught her father committing adultery when she was little and still hasn't quite recovered from the psychological trauma.

Associated tropes:

Ellen

Ellen Danielle Dunkel

That crazed look could have meant any number of things!

Elliot's more outgoing Opposite Gender Clone, Half Identical Twin Sister and Daughter, Ellen is also Grace's best friend and self-appointed protector. Ellen attends Moperville South with Grace partially because attending school with Elliot would raise too many questions and partially to ensure that Grace will always have the support of a friend she can rely on in school.

Associated tropes:

  • Beware the Nice Ones: Do NOT mock Grace in Ellen's presence; the resulting death glare alone was enough to stun two other girls into silence.
    • Even Justin was not safe from her wrath after he upset her brother.
    • Vlad should consider himself lucky Ellen didn't kill him after he nearly killed Nanase.
  • Bi the Way: There have been times when Ellen's bisexuality has shown through, even though she's currently in denial about it.
  • Big Sister Instinct towards Elliot whenever he's feeling down.
  • Conflict Ball: Off and on; demonstrated best when completely apropos of nothing she cornered Tedd and started yelling at him about wanting to help Nanase, revealing that she has seriously conflicted feelings about Tedd.
  • Chivalrous Pervert
  • Cloning Blues: played straight at first, but mostly subverted in the long run.
  • Closet Key: For Nanase.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: She started with the memories of Elliot. After fully expecting to die in a month and then getting over the identity problem she embraced "live today" attitude.
  • Divergent Character Evolution: From Elliot, it's gotten to the point that Dan himself would rather her just be Elliot's twin sister.
  • Expendable Clone: Felt like one long after the other characters had accepted her as a person in her own right. Subverted, as she went on to become a major character.
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: Ellen's gradually lengthening hair symbolizes her growing acceptance of herself as a real person and a girl.
  • First Law of Gender Bending: Both her current status, and that she can inflict it on others.
  • Half Identical Twin: according to her cover story (she's actually a clone.)
  • Hot-Blooded: she shares Elliot's hot temper but exhibits less control over it.
  • Hypocritical Heartwarming: Her typical approach to Elliot ("You're like me if I were being directed by George Lucas.") Elliot actually gets more upset when she doesn't tease him because he feels guilty she got created (and stuck as a girl) in the first place.
  • If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: She said it to Tedd when he offered to study Nanase.
  • Jumping the Gender Barrier: As someone on the WMG page put it, Ellen's problems derive more from not being Elliot than being female, which she doesn't seem to mind terribly.
  • Most Common Superpower: Her body is based on "Female Variant #5" (designed by Tedd), so she's probably the best endowed of the cast. And since that is her default form, the "Female Variant #5" modification gets applied again on top of it whenever she zaps herself.
  • No Bisexuals: In denial, perhaps to show solidarity with Nanase and perhaps because of an incident in her dream life, though she has also claimed that that she feels squicked by the way her admitted attraction to men was artificially grafted onto her personality by the transformation gun.
  • Official Couple: With Nanase. It has become even more official after the arc Sister II.
  • Opposite Gender Clone: Of Elliot.
  • Poke the Poodle: After she was first created, she tried to be Elliot's Evil Twin but failed miserably.
  • Schoolgirl Lesbians: With Nanase.
  • Sibling Rivalry: Ellen lives to tease Elliot—but god help anyone who actually hurts his feelings.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: She and Nanase tend to be this.
  • Supernatural Martial Arts: She got it in ready form from Elliot, with some extra power on account of being a magical creature.
  • Tangled Family Tree: Here is her family tree. She was created magically instead of being born and can be thought of as having up to four mothers: one of which is also her twin brother, and father, two are mother figures and the fourth is her mother due to being her twin brother/father's mother. By the same logic, she has up to three fathers: one because he's a husband figure to one of her mother figures, one due to her biological relationship to her twin brother, and one due to being her twin brother/father's father. Also, by the same logic, she is dating her aunt, but that is only because of the biological relationship she has with one of Ellen's father figures, so it probably doesn't count. So yeah.
  • Verbal Tic: Has picked up/inherited "Za?" from her brother/father.

Humans

The Feds

Mr. Edward Verres

Mr. Verres after his exposition


Tedd's father. A (former) The Men in Black and the author of preposterous Masquerades that somehow always work despite being patently ridiculous.

Associated tropes:

Justin: Maybe, it's a map?

Agents Wolf and Cranium

Federal agents who work for Mr. Verres.

Associated tropes:

Arthur J. Arthur

"I do not waste time."

Mr. Verres' successor (and predecessor) as head of the office of Paranormal Affairs. Reputed to care more about keeping secrets than helping people. Mr. Raven is on non-speaking terms with him.

Associated tropes:


Family

Mrs. Kitsune

Nanase's overbearing and traditional Japanese Mother.

Associated tropes:

Mr. Kitsune

Background Character. All we know about him is Nanase's belief that her father won't back her against her mother.

Akiko Kitsune

Nanase's little sister. Brave enough to defy their mother (albeit in secret) by sneaking Nanase cookies, but a cypher otherwise. Rarely speaks.

The Dunkels

Elliot and Ellen's seemingly oblivious, unflappable, and ridiculously permissive parents.

Associated tropes:

Elliot: Your daughter is a cat. You could at least pretend this is odd.
[later]
Mr. Dunkel: If you're going to be out late fighting evil, you need to call home first!
Ms. Dunkel: That's right. It affects our ability to plan supper and alibis.

Mrs. Pompoms.

Susan's embittered mother. Appears to have lost all faith in men (and perhaps humanity in general) after her husband's betrayal. Embarrassingly over-aggressive when it comes to "protecting" Susan's interests.

  • Bottle Fairy
  • My Beloved Smother: Bullied the school into allowing Susan to go on the field trip to France, much to Susan's embarrassment.
  • Straw Feminist: To the point where she openly wishes Susan were a lesbian because it would allow her to totally exclude men from her life.

Carol Brown

Ed, I grew up in Moperville. Weird stuff happens here.

Sarah's older sister. A pretty, determined, and gung-ho television reporter who covers the Moperville area. Apparently immune to the Weirdness Censor that prevents other people from crediting the weird stuff that goes on in her home town.

Associated tropes:


Teachers & Mentors

Sensei Greg

Master and founder of the School of Anime-Style Martial Arts (now closed), which he founded after a marathon anime viewing session.

Associated tropes:

Dex: And... haven't I seen you cosplaying as Chun-Li?

Greg: Yep! <thumbs up>

comment: Jackie Chan once dressed up as Chun-Li for a Street Fighter parody in one of his movies. If it's good enough for Jackie Chan, Greg would probably say it's good enough for him.

  • Dirty Old Man: Because of anime martial arts examples such as Happosai and Master Roshi, he considers the fact that he does not fit this trope to be a point of shame.
  • Enlightenment Superpowers: An already experienced martial artist invented his own style after a feat of ascetism ending with a big insight. Shive knows the classics, all right. In Greg's case, it's 168 hours of watching anime without breaks for lunch and sleep—which accounts for the style's... peculiarity.
  • Gentle Giant: Easily towers over everyone in the main cast, yet as a black-belt level martial artist, he's not big on unnecessary violence.
  • Giver of Lame Names: "...you might want to hire a marketing consultant."
  • No Man Should Have This Power: He closed the dojo in part due to worries that there's no way to ensure that good powers would be granted to the right people. Just before the dojo was wrecked by a sleepwalking (and possibly mind-controlled) magic-user and a dragon anyway.

Greg: You three are good kids, but my training could inadvertently give a sociopath atomic breath or something. While awesome, that would be totally irresponsible. (note that he looks very serious when saying this)

  • Scary Black Man: Played with. While he certainly looks the part, he's actually more of a geeky otaku type at heart.
  • Supernatural Martial Arts: Literally. As in "closed his dojo when he realized his training techniques only worked with people who already had a predisposition for magical powers".

Adrian Raven

Moperville South's apparently sinister and demanding history teacher. He's been a teacher there for a very long time and has quite the reputation as a menacing and cryptic individual. The reality of the matter is that he's an elf who has dedicated his time to assisting "gifted" children.

Associated tropes:

Abraham: Feigned frailty, no "En guarde"... Have you no honor?
Raven: The lives of my students are more important. Besides which, I did warn you.

Students - Moperville North

Catalina Bobcat

"Jackasses!"'

Member of the Moperville North Feminist Club with a crush on Susan.

Associated tropes:

Liz

The Goth-esque member of the Feminist club. Seriously addicted to cigarettes.

Sandi

The airheaded member of the Feminist's club. Tony's girlfriend.

Associated tropes:

Tony

School Bully, Tedd's tormentor, and Elliot's nemesis.

Associated tropes:

Matt Cohen

The Head of the Student Council. Because of his position, he often has to announce the latest "ideas" of the Principal.

Associated Tropes:

  • Ambiguously Jewish: His last name and hairstyle suggest that he might be Jewish, though it hasn't been explicitly stated.
  • Beleaguered Assistant: Implied. He seems to love his job, but he is not a fan of the Principal's school uniform idea.
  • Deadpan Snarker: He's gotten in one snark. It wouldn't be very noteworthy, except it was toward Susan. Whether this a defining trait, remains to be seen.
    • His speech about the uniforms was full of this, seemingly designed to get across his contempt for the system and the principal. Kind of impressive, given that these were after he was told to stick to the cards.

"Black ties are encouraged but not required for uniforms, for reasons surely not related to those costing extra."

  • Dogged Nice Guy: Possibly... But considering Dan spent an extra comic because he didn't want to let Matt's intentions hang in the dark, it seems he's pure Nice Guy.
  • Foreshadowing: This and this turns out to be so for this. All of this took place over the course of five years. Only Dan Shive, everybody...
  • I Want My Fellow Student To Be Happy: Matt seems to understand quite clearly that Susan doesn't want to date him, and respects it. When he hears that she's never dated at all, he gives an earnest piece of advice to think on whether or not she'd regret not dating in High School. Even if it's not with him, he just wanted to make sure Susan would be okay.


Students - Moperville South

Diane

"Elementary, my dear Lucy

The Queen Bee of Moperville South. Physically identical to Susan but very different in personality.

Associated tropes:

Lucy

The snarky member of Diane's Girl Posse.

Associated tropes:

Rhoda

The sensitive member of Diane's Girl Posse who serves as Diane's Morality Pet and Lucy's Acceptable Target.

Associated tropes:

Melissa

Justin's former best friend who outed him after he told her he was gay by thoughtlessly confiding in her blabbermouth sister, and who hasn't exactly repaired their relationship with her subsequent behavior.

Associated tropes:

  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Invoked. Justin tells Susan that Melissa is a Smug Snake who almost destroyed his life. Noah tells Elliot that Melissa is a tragic heroine who destroyed her own life as well. Their respective stories are pretty consistent in the details, it's just that Justin seems to hold her more responsible than he does her sister and is thus less willing to forgive her.
  • The Atoner: See Set Right What Once Went Wrong below.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: See Psycho Ex-Girlfriend below.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: She got a surprising Crowning Moment of Awesome by jumping between knocked down "Cheerleadra" and a monster and trying to stare it down.
  • Hidden Depths: Dan claims that her referring to MythBusters is a subtle hint of this.
    • Less subtly, she said her faith in Noah was based on seeing how he had beaten something, compared to which a bulldog faced fireball-breathing dragon the size of a half truck is a misbehaving pup. Which also explains her treatment of it.
  • Incompatible Orientation: She's still attracted to Justin, but it certainly isn't mutual.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Has recently gotten the hint that Justin wants nothing to do with her, and has promised to leave him alone.
    • Doubles as a Tear Jerker as it comes from the realization/belief that if it took Justin this long to forgive her, then they probably shouldn't and won't be friends again anyway.
  • Love Makes You Crazy/Love Makes You Dumb: Pick the one you prefer. When her obsession with Justin kicks in, she acts like a complete lunatic unless she remembers to Dope Slap herself out of it.
    • Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: An annoying example... Except that it's been revealed that her motives are a bit more complex than that. Not to mention that she is fully aware that her attempts to win over Justin are pointless and do nothing but make her come off as annoying and quite possibly psychotic, but can't seem to stop herself.
  • Retcon: Originally, she was just some girl who Justin dated once and who wouldn't let go, but later became a childhood friend who had been in love with him for a long time, making her story more tragic.
  • Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Noah believes that Melissa has deluded herself into thinking she can make everything right again by winning Justin back.
  • This Is for Emphasis, Bitch

Noah

I have been told I can make straight men see rainbows.

Melissa's androgynous boyfriend who rarely uses contractions. An orphan, Noah appears to be the ward of Mr. Raven and recently made friends with Elliot. He is the mysterious hooded figure previously only known as "The Child Left Behind" who has been seeking Grace to repay his debts to her for killing Damien.

Associated tropes:

  • Ambiguous Gender: Noah, whom we know as a boy only because it was said and in comparison to whom Tedd doesn't look "that androgynous" at all, despite this being an old Running Gag.

Elliot: Who's this... guy? I think?
Student: Oh, it's that weird girl.

Noah: Is it jealousy? I have been told I could make straight men see rainbows.

Victor von Hip

A self-publishing schoolboy who tries to be very helpful.

Associated tropes:


Supporting Characters

George

An average nerd and Justin's coworker at the comic book shop.

Associated tropes:

  • Ambiguously Gay: There are some only slightly ambiguous hints that George has a crush on Justin, but this isn't confirmed and could be a Red Herring, and all of the signs (except perhaps for one) could realistically be due to other reasons.
  • Author Avatar: He parrots what Dan says a lot in the commentary and interrupted a Q&A in comic to act as his mouth piece. However, he's not solely existent for that. Dan's actual Author Avatar has shown up less since he was created, though.
  • Fanon Discontinuity: Invoked: George feels this way about Star Wars ep. 1-3.
  • Shipper on Deck: Possibly; repeatedly refers to Elliot as Justin's boyfriend, but maybe he's just being sarcastic... or jealous.
  • Meta Guy: The reason he was created.

Dr. Sciuridae

Grace's "Grandfather" who substituted his own dead daughter's DNA (the original Grace) for the intended genetic sample when Project Lycanthrope created their fourth assassin "Shade Tail."

Associated tropes:

Dex

A regular in the comic shop where George and Justin work, a very hairy and very unkempt guy of less than athletical body shape, though not quite emaciated. He found himself right in the epicenter of the magic mayhem in "New And Old Flames" arc.

Associated tropes:


Villains

Villains

Guineas

Guineapig/human/alien hybrid and the "oldest" of Grace's brothers. Stays in his hybrid form most of the time, in which he is unable to speak any human language. He isn't shown to be particularly bright or strong. He seems to be willing to take orders from Damian, but he also reports to Hedge on the side.

Associated tropes:

Hedge

Hedgehog/human/alien hybrid and the self-appointed "Big Brother" of Grace's animal-hybrid family. Spent most of his first appearances spying on Grace and her friends before he kidnapped Elliot (who he thought was another hybrid). Spends most of his time in his human form, as his hedgehog form can't speak.

Associated tropes:

"Who is Timmy and how did he fall down the well?"

Vlad/Vladia

Bat/falcon/leopard/alien/human hybrid and the final brother introduced in the comic. The giant mix-match of creatures used to create him made his first attempt at transforming a life-threatening experience, so he decided to stay in his hybrid form permanently, even though he hates being seen as a freak. This lasted until he got turned into a girl by Ellen's beam, so now he's decided to stick with that form just so he can look normal.

Associated tropes:

Damien

One of the first Big Bads in the series. He's technically another one of Grace's brothers, not that you'd guess it. Damien is a murderous Chimera with fire-based powers and a messiah complex. He wants to create an army of chimeras with him as their king.

Associated tropes:

Abraham

The creator of the Dewitchery Diamond that created Ellen. Abraham swore an oath to hunt down and destroy all new creatures created by the Diamond because, due to the nature of curses, those creatures tend to be vicious monsters. However, after learning that Ellen, the Diamond's latest creation, is an innocent human being (and is loved by her friends and family), he begins to question whether or not he is in the right anymore.

Associated tropes:

  • Anti-Villain: Especially towards the end of his arc.
  • The Atoner: First for making Dewitchery Diamond, then for trying to fix this problem too enthusiastically. See for yourself. But he's still incorrigibly dramatic.
  • Badass Longcoat
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Was first mentioned in in the first Sister arc, but only appeared recently.
  • Cool Old Guy
  • Didn't Think This Through: His defining trait. He enchanted the Dewitchery Diamond to separate a lycanthropic friend from his curse without considering the potential consequences, didn't think about things like the cosmetic use of magic when he swore that oath, and managed to forget that Adrian Raven was a wizard while in the middle of fighting him. No wonder that two of two wizards who spoke of Abe called him "idiot."
  • Heel Realization
  • Hero Antagonist: in his own mind, at least.
  • Idiot Hero: Double deconstructed, if that's the right way to put it. First, because of his stupidity, he made his friend's condition worse instead of selling the gem to someone more skilled, and it only went downhill from there-that's the example they have written on the Playing With A Trope page for Idiot hero. Then, because he was so stupid, he didn't think about cosmetic magic, such as, say, someone's best friend turning them into a girl or something less drastic, such as a change of hair color, he came to the conclusion that he had to kill Ellen. It's not cute and funny, it's the cause of a horrifying Knight Templar. I mean, he didn't even think to throw the damn diamond in a volcano. Was he even really trying?
  • I Gave My Word
  • Kiai: Lets one out here.
  • Knight Templar: Somewhat. He's fully aware that his goal is morally wrong, but feels that it has to be done regardless.
  • Lawful Stupid: If it wasn't for his oath to kill anything born from the Dewitchery Diamond, he wouldn't even qualify as a villain.
  • Meaningful Name: In The Bible, Abraham was commanded by God to sacrifice his own child, but at the last moment, an angel stopped him, announcing that God was just testing his faith. Now consider that Ellen was created by the Dewitchery Diamond, which means that Abraham is Ellen's father in a roundabout way. Now consider that his oath to God led him to try to kill Ellen. Now consider that Nanase looked awfully angelic when she convinced Abraham to spare Ellen's life.
  • Necessarily Evil
  • Never Live It Down: In-universe example. Apparently, "Every properly trained wizard has heard of Abraham, the idiot apprentice who recklessly enchanted a massive diamond instead of selling it to pay someone more skilled to fix his cursed noble friend."
  • Punch Clock Villain
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old
  • Taken for Granite: A voluntary version. He puts himself into suspended animation to prolong his life.
  • To Be Lawful or Good: Abraham swore an oath to destroy anything spawned by the Dewitchery Diamond, and feels obligated to kill Ellen, even though he's very reluctant to harm any innocent people.

Lord Tedd

Alternate Universe version of Tedd, presumably in control of significant chunks of his dimension along with the ability to slip a few surprises into nearby ones.

Associated tropes:

The French Aberration

A vampire-like creature who plays an important role in Susan's Backstory.

Non-Humans

Aliens

William and Gillian

American-born Uryuom couple. They're not aliens, they're citizens!

Associated tropes:

Elliot: Hey cool! A close encounter of the third kind!

William: Hey cool! A nerd is pointing at me!

Lavender

Mr. Verres' Uryuom secretary. Claims not to be an alien and probably isn't in the strictly legal sense of the term.

Associated tropes:

  • Shapeshifting: Aside of being a limited innate shapeshifting, Dan confirms that her way-too-tall for the Uryuoms form is manufactured.

Agent Wolf: You have a tail! [...] and-antennae-bug-eyes-no-nose-or-ears-and-a-damn-near-impossible-figure...

Lavender: [[[Hand Behind Head]], Luminescent Blush] Nothing!


Supernatural Creatures

The Demonic Duck

Master of Distraction

Some sort of magical summon that takes the form of a red duck with horns and a cartoonish pointy demon tail. He's called forth whenever someone needs the attention taken off of them for a second, usually so they can make a quick getaway. It is possible to be distracted by the duck even if you're the one who summoned him.

Associated tropes:

Magus

A wizard tricked into transporting to environs of our universe and largely unable to interact with it, that occasionally does "favors" for Chaos for the sake of ending his limbo. Has the ability to amplify the emotions of others. Like Chaos, very little is known about him, but what is known is that he wishes to return to life, and believes that Ellen is the key to making this possible. He claims to be Ellen's "Father", which implies that he orchestrated her creation in the first place.

Associated tropes:

  • Back from the Dead: His ultimate goal.
  • Little No: He just gave Chaos a big one, refusing to go along with her plans of Disproportionate Retribution against the already defeated Abraham. Chaos is not pleased by this.
  • Psychic Powers: His amplification ability.

Pandora (Chaos) Raven

An Immortal that can change her form at will. Virtually nothing is known about her except that she occasionally forces Magus to do her more dirty work. She is mostly an observer, but occasionally tries to influence events, particularly when she feels she has been slighted. Oh, and she's Raven's mother.

Associated tropes:

  • Awesome McCoolname
  • Creepy Child: One of her common forms. Used while mindscrewing Mr. Verres and his team and then on live TV. Also, she has a point in that chibi-shape looks more appropriate for minor temper tantrums.
  • Disappears Into Light: After Pandora breaks immortal law to save Adrian from Sirleck's assassins, motes of light start floating off of her per the trope while she resists her impending forced reset. She resists long enough to deliver some exposition and bid her family goodbye, then goes out in a burst of light. This might be a normal part of an immortal reset, a normal part of a forced reset, an effect of her aberration-killing spell, or an effect of her spending a vast amount of magic energy to cast said spell through every immortal on Earth.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: She tries to order Magus to kill the already defeated and unconscious Abraham, but Magus refuses to go that far.
  • Hannibal Lecture: Tries to give Adrian, her son, one about how wanting to defend his students is pointless. He would have none of it.
  • Hidden Agenda Villain: So much that we don't even know if she's truly villainous. (Definably not good, though.)
  • I Have Many Names: Most of them self-appointed, it seems.
  • Lovecraftian Superpower: GAH! DO NOT WANT!
  • Mama Bear: Is very pissed when Abraham nearly kills Raven.
    • Then she started with helping Nanase as her son's ally and eventually came to see the whole gang as sort of extended family. Grace for one, is "practically married to her grand-godson"...
  • Moral Myopia: Okay, killing Abraham is understandable, albeit extreme, but giving the blame to Mr. Verres?
  • Mrs. Exposition: She can be chatty when she allows herself to stop for long enough.
  • Villainous Breakdown: When Magus refuses to do her bidding anymore, she does not take it well.

The French Immortals

A pair of elf-like creatures who awakened Susan and Nanase's magical powers in Paris and now watch over Elliot, presumably at the behest of Mr. Verres.

Associated tropes:

Jerry

Elderly immortal about to undergo rebirth who nonetheless takes time to aid Susan's Character Development. Looks remarkably like Santa Claus.

Associated tropes:

  • Fat Bastard: Calls himself this, while he's anything but. The worst thing we've seen him do was the real origin story for the Hammers, which he admits was an adolescent prank that he didn't realize Susan would take so seriously. Otherwise? He really is just a Cool Old Guy.
  • Hidden Depths: Despite initially coming off as jolly and cheerful, he's able to handle Susan's angst-induced awakening with a minimum of complications and is shown to be very unamused when he hears about what the French immortals had Susan and Nanase do.
  • Hyperspace Mallet: Actually created and powered the artifact allowing females access to these hammers. Now that he's dying, he needs to take back in the power of these hammers.
  • Eccentric Mentor: Less so than Mr. Verres, but he still fits the bill. He's been a little wacky in his life, and some things like his Hyperspace Mallet idea were kind of weird, but bear in mind he's a 200 year old immortal at the height of his power—for now, -- and he's also a master of Serenity-Inducing Fluffy Animal Attack.

Nioi

A female Human/Skunk seyunolu sorceress working for Lord Tedd. While doing private research for her little court intrigue (in Lord Tedd's best interests, as she sees it) in an Alternate Universe where the main cast lives, she accidentally met them and saved Grace using her magical shield. She "fixed" (and later contacted) Ellen as an expert in magical artifacts in general and the Dewitchery Diamond in particular after carelessly running into it while enchanted, thus accidentally creating Kaoli.

Associated tropes:

Sirleck

A body-snatching aberration who currently uses the body of an old man. Has allied himself with Magus after he cut ties with Pandora.

Associated tropes:


Voltaire

An Immortal who had some sort of a problem with Elliot and later Raven. He eventually moved on, but it's yet to be revealed whether this is too late to spare either of them a lot of trouble.

Associated tropes:

  • Pick on Someone Your Own Size: While messing with humans and griffons, he ran into French Immortals. And had a good chance to meet Pandora, who is much more aggressive and probably more powerful. He knowingly plays games with her, but it's not clear yet whether she did notice, and whether he realizes how unhealthy this can be.


The Emissary

Some Immortal, presumably recently "reset", trying to relay his disturbing visions, and not good at this.

Associated tropes:


Heka

Heka was an ancient Egyptian god of magic and medicine. This character may or may not be that Heka; Pandora addresses him as "Heka", while he says that he "hold[s] the mantle of Heka". He guards a secret, "very tomb-like" Magical Library somewhere in Egypt that is "entwined in the destiny of humans and magic". He also claims he can "summon excellent scones".

Associated tropes:


Fourth Wall Mail Slot

Note that in the 'Newspaper' or 'Sketchbook' sections, any character can do this; these almost only show up when talking to the viewers.

Dr Germahn

A stereotypical Mad Scientist, and proprietor of Germahn Laboratories, complete with accent.

Associated tropes:

Amanda

Dr Germahn's lab assistant. Perky, happy, and eternal victim of Dr. Germahn's experiments, almost always involving shrinking.

Associated tropes:

Lisa

Amanda's roommate, and prospective lawyer. Apparently has a crush on Amanda, but as of the last Q&A comics, she's reluctant to voice it where Amanda can hear.

Chika

Amanda's colleague.

Associated tropes:

Dan

Author Avatar. Rarely shows up, of course, but there are times.

Associated tropes:

  1. ↑ (or maybe a previous holder of the mantle of Heka who looks just like him when seen in silhouette)
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