Gone (novel)/Characters

Characters for the Gone Series by Michael Grant. Beware of Loads and Loads of Characters. For the sake of simplicity, characters will be sorted by whatever side they start on, as alliances are perpetually changing.

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Perdido Beach

Sam Temple

The series' protagonist. Fourteen years old at the start of Gone, Sam is reluctantly pulled into playing the role of the town's hero. After deposing his twin brother, Caine he takes over as the mayor of Perdido Beach at the end of Gone and does his best to protect it from external and internal threats.

• Anti-Hero: Edging closer to this, but no more than a Type 3.
• Berserk Button: Exploited by Astrid, who realizes he'll be better able to use his power when angry and tells him that Drake slapped her and made her call Little Pete a retard.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Dekka, to the point that, when he imagines moving into a houseboat with his girlfriend and her little brother, he pictures Dekka living there, too.
• The Hero: Especially in Gone.
• Heroic BSOD: Starts in Hunger, but more so in Lies and Plague.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Quinn, at first. They've drifted apart now.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Uses this as a justification when others try to stop him from completing less than pleasant tasks.
• Kid Hero: Justified, in that there aren't any adults.
• Light'Em Up: His power.
• Promotion to Parent: Deconstructed; the stress of being the adopted father of every kid in Perdido Beach is taking its toll on him.
• Reluctant Warrior: Never wanted to rule Perdido Beach, but the choice was between him and the people who did want to, who weren’t the best candidates.
• Shoot the Dog: Often called upon to do this.
• Stalker with a Crush: A very minor version before the series starts. Apparently followed Astrid home on at least one occasion.
• They Do: With Astrid in Fear.
• Ultimate Authority Mayor: In Hunger.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Is on the receiving end of this a lot.

Astrid Ellison

Nicknamed "Astrid the Genius," Astrid is Perdido Beach's resident Smart Guy. Sam's main love interest and one of the series' few non-Action Girls, but don't hit her little brother, or she'll strangle you and bite your ear off.

• Betty and Veronica: Betty to Taylor's Veronica.
• Blue Eyes
• Control Freak: Her biggest flaw.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Much more social than she was before the series.
• Dumb Blonde: Inverted; Astrid is at least tied with Computer Jack and Albert when it comes to brains.
• Faith Heel Turn: Not exactly, but it's only after she starts seriously questioning her faith that she can pull off a tragic and disturbing Shoot the Dog.
• Hair of Gold
• Promotion to Parent: Deconstructed again, as she hates being her brother's sole caretaker at fourteen.
• Raised Catholic: Averted; seems to genuinely believe in her religion as opposed to holding to it due to upbringing although, in Plague, starts questioning.
• The Resenter: Starts feeling this towards Little Pete.
• The Smart Guy: Fulfills this role in the Sam's Five-Man Band.
• Shoot the Dog: Berates Sam for his willingness to do this but later goes through with it herself with her younger brother, Pete.
• Teen Genius
• They Do: With Sam in Fear.
• What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: She can read a person's potential. In a world of pyrokinetics and whiphands, this has yet to do her any good. (Probably because Michael Grant retconned it.)

Peter Ellison

Called Pete, Petey, or Little Pete. Astrid's younger brother, Little Pete suffers from very severe autism, rendering him mostly incapable of communication, which hides what is probably the FAYZ's highest-ranking power.

• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence
• Berserk Button: Astrid being threatened is enough to get a reaction out of him.
• Disability Superpower
• The Load: Despite his high-ranking powers, Astrid spends most of her time looking after him.
• Physical God: More or less the closest thing to one. Lampshaded frequently by Astrid, especially during her Heel Faith Turn.
• Random Teleportation: Random to everyone but him.
• Reality Warper: Quite probably. Becomes this full stop after his "death".
• Shoot the Dog: Is the dog. Is shot. Detaches mind from body just in time. Floats around the FAYZ.

Albert Hillsborough

Before the FAYZ, Albert lived a life of relative anonymity, but after the adults disappeared, he kept his head and started figuring out how to make things work. At this point, he pretty much runs the FAYZ's economy.

• Awesomeness By Analysis: Manages to come up with a working economy using an eighth grade education and an encyclopedia.
• Black and Nerdy: Implied to have been this before the FAYZ.
• Good with Numbers: And economics in general.
• Greed: His main vice.
• "No Respect" Guy: Subverted. While not everyone admits his importance, almost everyone recognizes that he holds the real power, at least in Plague.
• Not Quite Dead: In Plague.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Pulls a fast one in Fear.
• Self-Made Man: He started the series as a loner from a large family without much money, and, in Plague, Sam notes that he effectively runs the FAYZ despite never directly taking part in the power struggles.

Lana Lazar

Only in the FAYZ because her parents caught her sneaking out alcohol and sent her to live with her grandfather, Lana was trapped in a crashed car in the middle of the desert after her grandfather disappeared. In her desperation, she developed the ability to cure her own injuries and eventually met and joined the protagonists.

• Action Girl: Like most female characters.
• Badass: Well, she brains a coyote with a gold brick.
• Broken Bird
• Healing Hands: Her power.
• Heroic BSOD: Starting to suffer from this.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Love Triangle: Edilio, Quinn, and Sanjit have one revolving around her, although it's a pretty minor subplot and only hinted at in Edilio's case, and definitely not going anywhere there, what with him and the Artful Roger.
• The Medic: A superpowered one, no less.
• Won't Work On Me: Is completely unFAYZed by Penny's illusions.
• Mr. Vice Guy: Smokes, drinks, packs a gun. At fourteen.
• My Name Is Inigo Montoya: She is Lana Arwen Lazar. And the Gaiaphage knows it.
• Smoking Is Cool: Doubts she'll live long enough to suffer the consequences.

Quinn Gaither

Sam's best friend and surfing buddy. Suffers from some serious jealousy of the kids with superpowers in Gone, but eventually comes around. He finds solace in being a fisherman and becomes an important resource for the Peridido Beach kids.

• The Chick: In Sam's Five-Man Band, although he’s far from being The Heart.
• Dirty Coward: In Gone. He gets better.
• Dogged Nice Guy: With Lana until she pulls a gun on him.
• Fantastic Racism: Towards moofs, initially. At his lowest points, sometimes resorts to actual racism. He gets better, though.
• Gallows Humor: Lampshaded.
• Heel Face Revolving Door: Not exactly, but he flips sides a lot in Gone. Also, at the end of Plague, he stays with Caine instead of going with Sam. He wants to fish.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Sam, at first.
• The Load: Starts off as this. Then he learns to fish.
• Unfazed Everyman: He's not a moof. He's not a Badass. He's just . . . Sam's friend.

Edilio Escobar

Son of illegal immigrants, recently moved to Perdido Beach from Honduras. One of the few people in the FAYZ who's not either an Anti-Hero or straight-up villain, and trains their version of armed forces.

• Badass Normal: No superpowers to speak of. Total Badass.
• The Big Guy: Fills this role in Sam's Five-Man Band until Orc has a Heel Face Turn and takes over.
• Child Soldiers: Trains them.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Implied to be this for Lana. Until she shoots him. Yeah, she's forming a habit.
• Nice Guy: One of the series' few genuine ones.
• Only Sane Man: He's one of the few genuinely good people in the FAYZ who's just trying to keep everyone else safe.
• The Stoic: With the occasional but effective Not So Stoic moment.
• Invisible to Gaydar/Suddenly Sexuality: He is revealed to be gay in Fear.
  • He points this out by saying that he just figured it out Possibly justified, considering his age and the situation .
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Implied in Gone when he expresses disgust at Orc for doing so, but it's unclear if he keeps this in the Crapsack World the FAYZ is becoming.

Charles "Orc" Merriman

A bully-turned-atoner, Orc was originally recruited by Caine before defecting to Sam's side as it seemed more likely for him to win. Becomes The Alcoholic by the end of Gone. After coyotes devour him, he replaces his missing body parts with rock, leaving only a shrinking patch of skin on his face. Howard acts as his best friend, toady, and manager. Revealed in Plague to be suicidal.

• Abusive Parents: His father drilled a hole through his hand.
• The Alcoholic: In eighth grade.
• The Atoner: Feels horrible about killing Bette and even puts his life at risk putting out fires in Lies and refuses to take payment for it. However, he does accidentally kill a little boy in Plague.
• Berserk Button: Nobody threatens Astrid.
• The Big Guy: Post-Heel Face Turn.
• Big Damn Heroes: Only for beer or Astrid.
• The Brute: Pre-Heel Face Turn
• Death Seeker
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: Which leads him to accidentally kill Bette and a random kid on the street.
• Driven to Suicide: Tries in Plague.
• Heel Face Turn: At Howard's recommendation.
• Taken for Granite
• Villainous Crush: While not exactly a villain, at least after his Heel Face Turn, he's heavily implied to have had a crush on Astrid since before the FAYZ and will occasionally help her when she's in trouble.

Howard Bassem

Orc's best friend, toady, and manager, Howard is cynical, sarcastic, and fond of nicknaming things. Doesn't seem to care much about anyone aside from himself and Orc.

• Ambiguously Gay
• Deadpan Snarker
• Dirty Coward: At first, he hides behind Orc and switches sides at his own convenience. Later seems to be developing some courage, though.
• The Dragon: To Orc.
• Fun with Acronyms: Most nicknames in the series (e.g. the FAYZ, Zekes, etc.) are his doing.
• Heel Face Turn: Changes to Sam's side with Orc in Gone when he thinks it's the smarter move.
• Jerkass: Especially in Gone, where it takes a physical threat from Mary to convince him to arrange to get food for a bunch of toddlers.
• Killed Off for Real: In Fear, when he makes the mistake of wandering too close to Drake and a pack of starving coyotes...
• Like a Weasel: Tries to ingratiate himself with whoever's in power, although that doesn't stop him from calling the bullshit on them from time to time.

Mary Terrafino

A girl from Sam's grade who used to suffer from anorexia and bulimia and relapses soon after taking over the daycare.

• Driven to Suicide: After almost a year of taking care of every child in Perdido Beach.
• Meaningful Name: Well, Mother Mary.
• Promotion to Parent: The most brutal deconstruction in the series, and that's saying a lot.
• Team Mom: Literally, for the daycare.

John Terrafino

Mary's little brother who helps her take care of the baby.

• Promotion to Parent: At nine.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: How are you reacting to {spoiler|your only remaining family member's suicide}}? Not at all? Okay...

Duck Zhang

One of the normal kids in the FAYZ until he discovers an ability to alter his density.

• Ascended Fanboy
• Chekhov's Gunman: Turns out, that random kid whose pool got stolen really is important.
• Duck: What do you expect?
• Heroic Sacrifice: Manages to keep the Gaiaphage quiet for a while . . .
• Senseless Sacrifice: . . . but not forever.
• Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Duck? Really?

Brittney Donegal

One of Edilio's Child Soldiers, she is working in the power plant when it gets attacked.

• And I Must Scream: The poor kid gets buried alive.
• The Fundamentalist
• Child Soldiers: Is one before she dies.
• Body Horror: While attached to Drake, she gets chopped up by Brianna. And gets better.
• Faith Heel Turn: In Plague.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate
• Immortality: Her power.
• Monster From Beyond the Veil: With Drake.
• Sharing a Body: Again, with Drake.
• The Undead: She has no pulse and doesn't need to breathe, although she objects to being called a zombie.

Hunter

One of Zil's friends until he develops the power of Radiation, which leads to a bit of friction.

• Driven to Suicide
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: In Plague.
• Meaningful Name /HisNameReallyIsBarkeep: His name is Hunter. And he's a hunter.

Bette

Usually called "Bouncing Bette," Bette is a girl in Sam's class at school who has the ability to create small fireballs.

• Cool Big Sister: Secures her younger brother's safety while suffering internal damage to her brain.
• We Hardly Knew Ye

Jamal

Shows up in Plague when a newly escaped Drake enlists his help.

• The Dragon: To Drake, for a very, very short time.
• Pet the Dog: Doesn't shoot Brianna, even when threatened. Considering the number of people whose Berserk Button she is, this was probably a good idea.

Coates Academy

Caine Soren

The series' resident Big Bad and Sam's twin brother, Caine was raised by unloving parents and developed high ambitions and a sociopathic nature. He demonstrates little, if any, understanding of right and wrong and doesn't object to hurting anyone but his love interest, Diana.

• Affably Evil: He's perfectly pleasant until you imply you don't want him to rule the world.
• Berserk Button: As a general rule, messing with Diana when he's around is not a good idea.
• Big Bad: Especially in Gone.
• The Chessmaster
• Dogged Nice Guy: Comes across, at first, as being this for Diana.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He has no problems killing innocents, siccing coyotes on small children, and imposing dictatorships, but he doesn't rape Diana, although, as he is fond of pointing out, it would be easy for him to do so. However, much of the fandom thought he was a bit to proud of something so basic.
  • He's also horrified at what Penny does to her victims in Fear.
• Enemy Mine: Repeatedly pulls this with Sam whenever Drake and the Gaiaphage are involved.
• Evil Overlord: His ambition. Actually succeeds, although it takes him four books.
• Jerkass: Becomes this to Diana in Plague. She does not take it well.
• Lack of Empathy: More and more as the series progresses.
• Manipulative Bastard: His specialty.
• Meaningful Name: His name is Caine. He's trying to kill his brother.
• Mind Over Matter: His power.
• Morality Pet: Diana acts as this for him until he spends a whole book kicking said morality pet.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast
• Name of Caine: Well . . .
• Separated at Birth: With Sam.
• The Sociopath: According to Word of God.
• Teen Pregnancy: Gets Diana in this situation.
• Would Hurt a Child: Tries to smash a helicopter full of them into a cliff.

Diana Ladris

Caine's chief assistant and love interest, Diana is beautiful, snarky, and manipulative. Out of all the consistently villainous characters in the series, she voices the most hesitations about overly evil tendencies and remains openly on her own side, rather than Caine's or Sam's.

• Card-Carrying Villain: Constantly refers to herself as a "bad girl," although it's unclear if this is a reference to her status as a villain, which she seems to resist, or the reputation she mentions having in Plague.
• Dark Chick: Fills this role in Caine's band.
• Deadpan Snarker: Even to Drake and Caine.
• Enigmatic Minion
• Even Evil Has Standards: She's definitely not a nice person, but Caine's worse plans get her upset, and eating Panda in Lies really shakes her up.
• Fille Fatale: To some extent, although, in the FAYZ, fourteen isn't that young.
• High Heel Face Turn: Zig Zagged. Throughout the series, she's probably the least outwardly loyal Coates kid, often to the point of sabotaging their plans, but is the only one that actually cares about Caine. She stays even after half the team Heel Face Turns but is openly critical of how things are being done. Finally, in Plague, she leaves for good, but that's because she's pregnant, not out of a change of heart. But she remains on her own side the whole time, so there's no technical change.
• Important Haircut: She shaves it in Hunger in order to bring Jack back.
• Manipulative Bitch: Lampshaded by many characters.
• Morality Pet: Is this for Caine, at least through Lies.
• Non-Action Snarker: One of the few non-Action Girl of the series, yet a total Deadpan Snarker
• Pragmatic Villainy: Objects to mindless violence, such as letting the coyotes eat the children at the end of Gone or crashing island kids' helicopter in Lies, partly on the basis that they're not serving any purpose.
• Really Gets Around: Had this reputation before the FAYZ.
• Random Power Ranking: her power.
• Tall, Dark and Bishoujo
• Teen Pregnancy: In Plague, with Caine.
• Tsundere: A definite Type A for Caine.

Drake Merwin

Caine's second-in-command and the series' resident Complete Monster, Drake is viewed as the most evil of the kids in the FAYZ. Has no apparent goals aside from whipping anyone he comes into contact with.

• Ax Crazy
• Back from the Dead
• Berserk Button: Is quite good at pushing these.
• Combat Sadomasochist: Leers while pulling a knife out of himself. Of course, he is immortal, so . . .
• The Dragon: To Caine. Until the end of Hunger. He then becomes the loyal servant of the Gaiaphage.
• Combat Tentacles: Acquires one in Gone.
• Foe Yay: Where to start? Any scene with Sam could be taken out of context. Hell, you wouldn't need to change any of the dialogue or Sam's reaction and the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown he gives him at the end of Hunger could be a rape scene. Then there's his relationship with Caine, and Diana's comments about Caine "doing a little for her and a little for Drake" don't help. Then his whole relationship with Diana and, to a lesser extent, Astrid, although that could be intentional.
• Microwave The Dog
• Lack of Empathy: To an extreme degree.
• Meaningful Name: Drake means dragon.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast
• Psycho for Hire: Whilst getting his arm cut off, Drake mentions that he would rather die than live without a right arm. Caine, however, "needs him" and "keeps him" because he likes to hurt people.
• Sharing a Body: With Brittany.
• The Sociopath: Duh.
• The Starscream: It's clear from his first perspective chapters that he's disloyal to Caine, although he probably didn't plan on splitting so soon.
• Villain Ball: Realizing that calling Diana a bitch in front of Caine is a bad idea? Great job. Then you decide to Whip her, throw her into the air and drop her onto a rock because she yelled at you? Really?
• Whip It Good: How he uses his whiphand.
• Would Hurt a Child: Gets a sadistic joy out of it, too.

Computer Jack

A technical genius, Computer Jack was sent to Coates Academy after hacking into a police database to cancel a friend's father's speeding ticket. He's used to being used for his intelligence, although he shows signs of resenting it.

• Badass Bookworm: After developing powers.
• Berserk Button: Threatening Brianna is enough to make him stand up to Drake in Hunger.
• Evil Genius: pre-Heel Face Turn. Also post-FaceHeelTurn, pre second HeelFaceTurn.
• Heel Face Revolving Door: First Caine scared him into evilness. Then Diana talked him out of it, but possibly only temporarily. Then Sam won, so he switched to his side and got a girlfriend. But a dose of underappreciation and looking down Diana's shirt changed his mind until Drake threatens aforementioned girlfriend . . . and on and on.
• Precocious Crush: His thing for Diana could count, as he's in elementary school and she's in high school.
• Power Incontinence: Has Super Strength and is one of the series' biggest geeks.
• The Smart Guy: Along with Astrid, post-Heel Face Turn.
• Super Strength: His power.
• Welcome Back, Traitor: Gets this on both sides.

Dekka Talent

One of the Coates kids imprisoned by Caine for refusing to cooperate with his plans, she soon becomes Sam's second-in-command.

• Action Girl
• Badass: Despite being a telekinetic and having Drake on his side, Caine mentions that it was difficult to chain her up.
  • Badass Gay: ...and she's a lesbian.
• The Big Guy: Occasionally fills this role, mostly in Gone and Hunger, after which she went into full Lancer territory.
• Berserk Button: Brianna, even more so than Jack.
• Butch Lesbian: A less stereotypical version than others. She demonstrates some masculine traits and isn't very feminine, but she's developed beyond this.
• Cool Big Sis: To Brianna.
• Dogged Nice Girl: A Type 2 for Brianna.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Sam.
• Gravity Master: Her power
• Green-Eyed Monster: Does not like Jack.
• The Lancer: In Sam's Five-Man Band.
• Threefer Token Minority: She’s black, she’s a lesbian, and she’s a superpowered mutant.

Brianna

Imprisoned with Dekka and the other Coates mutants through most of Gone, Brianna was among the first to enlist in Sam's side. She possesses the ability to run extremely fast and is generally aggressive and energetic.

• Action Girl
• Boisterous Bruiser: Starts screaming in victory after chopping Drake into pieces. Not so much when he puts himself together again . . .
• Child Soldiers: Is one.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Everyone has this, but by Plague, she seems to enjoy her work as a Child Soldier.
• Even the Girls Want Her
• Fragile Speedster: If she runs into anything, she'll probably smash up her legs, and if she trips while running she'll break a lot of bones.
• Genki Girl: When she's not running around screaming with guns.
• Little Miss Badass: The obvious example in the series
• Love Triangle: At the center of one between Jack and Dekka, although she has no idea of the latter's feelings for her until Plague.
• Motor Mouth: Does everything fast.
• Oblivious to Love: Dekka's feelings were pretty obvious, especially since, as her best friend, Brianna was probably aware of Dekka's lesbianism, which seems to be fairly common knowledge in Perdido Beach.
• Super Speed: Her power.

Penny

Introduced in Lies, Penny is a twelve-year-old with the ability to make people see monsters attacking them and acts as The Dragon for Caine after Drake's betrayal.

• Asian Airhead: Somewhat, although not nearly so much as Taylor.
• Having Your Legs Smashed Makes You Insane: Has gone completely off the deep end by Fear, and loves it.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Towards Caine.
• Complete Monster: Gets a kick out of using her illusions to torture people past the point of insanity.
• Dark Action Girl
• The Dragon: To Caine.
• Disabled Snarker: As of Plague, although not a very funny one. She Gets Better
• Green-Eyed Monster: Hates Diana, who's actually grudgingly nice to her.
• Killed Off for Real: In Fear.
• Master of Illusion: Her power.
• Really Gets Around: Is revealed to use her powers for more than creating Nightmare Fuel in Fear.
• The Starscream: In Fear. She actually pulls it off for a bit.
• Yandere: Gives off this vibe, but, while she's willing to commit atrocities for Caine, she's never actually tried to kill Diana, possibly because she's aware it would be pushing a major Berserk Button.

Bug

Given name Tyler, Bug has the power of invisibility and acts as Caine's spy. Looked on as something of a creep.

• Abusive Parents: Implied to have had these.
• Big Eater: Caine loves Diana, Penny loves Caine, Bug loves candy.
• Invisibility: His power.
• Power Perversion Potential: Exploits this to spy on Diana getting changed.

Taylor

One of the mutants rescued from Coates Academy in Gone, Taylor has the power of Teleportation.

• Action Girl: A ditzy version.
• Asian Airhead: Although her ethnicity is only mentioned once.
• Humanoid Abomination: Becomes one in Fear due to Petey testing his unrestrained powers on her.
• Romantic False Lead: Unless the author plans to pull a major fast one on the readers, she is not ending up with Sam, no matter how many times they make out.
• Teleportation: Her power.

The Human Crew

Zil Sperry

Resentful and jealous of the perceived special treatment for mutants, Zil starts a group of Fantastic Racists determined to make life in the FAYZ worse.

• Adolf Hitler: Based on him, resulting in a near-universal hatred for him in the fandom.
• Ambiguously Bi: He leers after Nerezza but spends half his time obsessing over his magnificent, cool, handsome friend Lance.
• Depraved Bisexual: Definitely depraved, probably bi.
• Fantastic Racism: Starts a whole movement.
• Killed Off for Real: And There Was Much Rejoicing.
• Smug Snake: Extremely so.
• Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: His older brother's name, Zane, while not common, is normal enough, but Zil? Meaning, nothing?

Lance

Once popular, now a member of the Human Crew on whom its leader may or may not have a crush.

• Broken Ace: Once popular, smart, and athletic. Now a wannabe-Nazi.
• Fantastic Racism: Against mutants. Stoops to actual racism, blaming Jews, African Americans, Hispanics, and gays for his problems.
• Killed Off for Real
• Smug Snake

Hank

One of the Human Crew's more violent members.

• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Beats up Hunter enough to give him severe brain damage.
• Fantastic Racism
• Killed Off for Real: In Lies.

Lisa

A member of the Human Crew, dating Zil.

• The Dark Chick: Fills this role in The Human Crew, somewhat.
• The Ditz
• Fantastic Racism
• What Happened to the Mouse?: With the rest of the Crew Killed Off for Real or serving Caine, we have no idea what happened to her.

Turk

A member of the Human crew disliked even by the other members.

• Beauty Equals Goodness: While this is averted with most Human Crew members and actually most of the series' villains, Turk is described as being rat-like and ugly.
• Fantastic Racism

The Island Kids

Sanjit Brattle-Chance

• Big Brother Instinct: For all his adopted siblings.
• Class Clown: Has this personality.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Towards Lana.
• Happily Adopted: Inverted; he refers to his adoption as a kidnapping and refuses to go by his "slave name." Still loves his sibs, though.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Virtue.
• Promotion to Parent: With Virtue, for his siblings.
• Son of a Whore: And apparently unbothered by it.
• Third Option Love Interest: For Lana in Plague.
• Tempting Fate: Enjoys baiting Caine in Lies.

Virtue Brattle-Chance

• Detect Evil: His power.
• Happily Adopted: Well, he's happier than he was in a refugee camp.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Sanjit.
• Only Sane Man: Feels like everyone in Perdido Beach except his family is batshit insane. He's probably right.
• Precocious Crush: Possibly on Dahra, him being twelve and her being a teenager, but the age gap isn't that big and it's not clear if he actually does like her.
• Promotion to Parent: With Sanjit.

Peace, Pixie, and Bowie Brattle-Chance

• Ill Boy: Bowie
• Happily Adopted: Appear to be.
• The Load: All of them, really, but they’re all under ten.
• Tagalong Kids
• Who Renames Their Kid Dude?

Others

Orsay Pettijohn

• Homeschooled Kids: Was homeschooled by her father before the FAYZ.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Decides to befriend evil incarnate. Bad idea.
• Killed Off for Real: One of the few recurring POV characters this happens to.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: She just wants to help everyone, but she ends up driving several teenagers to (probable) suicide before getting strangled herself.
• Dream Reading: Her power.

The Gaiaphage

a.k.a. Nerezza, a.k.a. Gaia

• Big Bad: Seems to be, for all intents and purposes, evil incarnate.
• Bigger Bad: While Caine fills this role in individual plotlines, particularly in Gone, The Gaiaphage seems to be this in the series as a whole.
• Devil in Plain Sight: When it becomes Nerezza.
• Eldritch Abomination
  • Humanoid Abomination: As Nerezza in Lies and when it possesses Diana's daughter, Gaia in Fear.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Tends to make people do this.
• Load-Bearing Boss: It is revealed in Fear that Little Pete used its biomass to create the sphere containing the FAYZ.
• Meaningful Name: "gaiaphage" means "world-eater" or "earth-eater". oh, and Nerezza is Italian for "darkness"
• The Alien Behind the Man: To Caine in Hunger.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: No matter what you call this guy—Darkness, Gaiaphage, Nerezza—it does not sound inviting.

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