Left Behind/Characters

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Tribulation Force

Rayford Steele

An airliner pilot who lost his wife and son to the Rapture. Becomes one of the founding members of the Tribulation Force.

• Author Avatar, with a dash of compensating for something: The guy's surname is Steele, for crying out loud. Fred Clark specifically identifies him as the avatar for LaHaye.
• Badass Grandpa: Eventually becomes this when Kenny is born.
• Designated Hero: He walks past a bunch of people who need first aid, counseling, serious psychological help and maybe more, and does precisely jack shit for them.
  • When New Babylon is covered in darkness, Rayford wishes he could do something for those who have taken the Mark of the Beast. The least he could do is help Nicolae's secretary get out of the city before it's destroyed. Unfortunately, she gets killed before she has the chance.
• Final Guy: Rayford survives the tribulation by the skin of his teeth.
• Jerkass: Comes off as one quite a bit. He does get some humanizing touches throughout the series, and he even gets blatantly called out on his asshole tendencies in one book to counterbalance this.
• Madonna-Whore Complex: Appears to have this, although the story doesn't seem to consider this a flaw
• Manly Tears: Sheds these when he meets Jesus face to face.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: To his wife Irene and his son Raymie after they have been raptured.
• Overprotective Dad: Subverted in that he just lets Buck come over and wait to talk to Chloe about his supposedly two-timing her and doesn't help Chloe in the slightest in her wanting to get rid of Buck.
• The Scapegoat: Was made into this when Carpathia was assassinated, when clear evidence showed that Chaim Rosenzweig was the real assassin.
• Sole Survivor: Was the only member of the original Tribulation Force to survive until the Glorious Appearing.

Chloe Steele

The daughter of Rayford Steele who gets left behind, becoming a founding member of the Tribulation Force and the wife of Buck Williams.

• Adaptation Dye Job: Blond-haired in the books, became dark-haired in the films.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: After Chloe is captured by the GC, among the things the GCNN report is that she was expelled from her university for making threats against the faculty, aborted two fetuses (with another daughter dying under unknown circumstances), and naming her son Jesus Savior Williams.
• The Chick
• Face Death with Dignity: Was eventually beheaded after being caught and vicious interrogated and psychologically tortured. She still managed to die with her dignity intact.
• Happily Married: To Buck Williams.
• Incessant Music Madness: Was subject to listening to "Hail Carpathia" all night in her cell when she was captured by the GC.
• Mama Bear: To her son Kenny.
• Straw Feminist: She was this early in the book series, before she changes.

Cameron "Buck" Williams

A newsmagazine reporter who witnessed the Rapture on the same flight Rayford was the pilot of. Becomes one of the founding members of the Tribulation Force.

• Again, Author Avatar with a dash of compensating for something. As the writer of the pair, Fred Clark indicates he's probably Jerry Jenkins.
  • Interestingly, despite this, Jenkins had him die as the last of the original protagonists to die before the Glorious Appearing.
• Designated Hero: Simply by virtue of being a protagonist, he's supposed to be a heroic character, even though many of his actions are a far cry from heroic.
• Informed Ability: His writing skills, at least early on. Later, we do get to see some of his actual writing in universe, and it is somewhat mediocre.
  • The young adult companion series expands on his written work a little, and this trope is slightly less in force than in the adult series.
• Intrepid Reporter: Something of an Informed Attribute - he rarely asks useful questions, he writes in Purple Prose, and he buries stories out of self-preservation.
• My Girl Is Not a Slut: One of Chloe's most frequently mentioned attributes is her virginity; both she and Buck are virgins when they begin dating, and remain as such until they are married.
• Not What It Looks Like: Chloe accused Buck of two-timing her because of her encounter with a fellow female co-worker outside his apartment delivering stuff and talking to her fiancee on the phone, assuming that Buck was her fiancee. Fortunately this got straightened out.
• Official Couple: He and Chloe were meant to be this from Day One.
• Papa Wolf: To his son Kenny.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Carpathia sees through his "George Oreskovitch" routine. Twice.
• Purple Prose: And he's a journalist
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules: Feebly attempts this with Nicolae Carpathia when he is offered a job in Nicolae's inner-circle.
• Screw Your Ultimatum: Does this to Carpathia in Armageddon.
• "The Villain Sucks" Song: Crafts one called "Fail Carpathia".
• Voice of the Resistance: Second to Tsion Ben-Judah's, his online publication The Truth disseminates the information that the Global Community-controlled press doesn't want the general public to know about Nicolae Carpathia.

Bruce Barnes

A pastor who was left behind due to his unbelief in God. Becomes one of the founding members of the Tribulation Force.

• Hypocrite: For a pastor, he was dabbling more in his own lusts and interests than he was in pursuing his own faith. At least he was willing to admit that was what caused him to be left behind with the unbelievers.
• The Mentor: To Rayford, Chloe, Buck, and the Young Tribulation Force in Left Behind: The Kids.
• Race Lift: Was Caucasian in the books, made African-American in the films.

Tsion Ben-Judah

A rabbi who during the Tribulation found the proof that Jesus Christ was the prophesied Messiah of the Jews. Becomes a member of the Tribulation Force.

• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Earned the ire of his fellow Israelis by declaring that Jesus is the Messiah, wanted in the murders of his wife and stepchildren, and accused of "fleecing his flock" millions of Nicks.
• Badass Israeli
• Badass Preacher: In Armageddon, when he turns over leadership of Petra to Chaim Rosenzweig so he can preach Jesus Christ to the Jews remaining in Jerusalem while helping them to defend their city against the Global Community Unity Army on the day of Jesus' second coming.
• Deadpan Snarker: Not often, but he has some pretty pithy one-liners with the enemy. For instance, his response to someone from the enemy side advising him to refer to Carpathia by his official title,

Then will he forget I address him to over a billion daily as Antichrist?

• The Mentor: After Bruce Barnes is killed during the Second Seal Judgment.
• Screw Your Ultimatum: Does this to Carpathia in Armageddon.
• Voice of the Resistance: During the Tribulation, his name became synonymous with the Tribulation Force preaching true biblical Christianity that Christians were pejoratively called "Judah-ites".

Chaim Rosenzweig

The scientist who came up with the Miracle Gro that got bartered for a seven-year peace treaty. Becomes a member of the Tribulation Force.

• Badass Israeli
• Heel Face Revolving Door: Chaim Rozensweig is torn between his friendship with Tsion Ben-Judah and his loyalties to Nicolae Carpathia. It is only after assassinating Carpathia and fleeing Israel that Chaim puts his faith in God.
• Heroic BSOD: Has one when he sees who got killed in his household following the death of Carpathia.
• The Mentor: Previously to Tsion Ben-Judah before the Tribulation.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist
• Playing Sick: Chaim accomplishes this beautifully in order to get close to Nicolae and kill him.
• Significant Anagram: His alter ego Micah, which is an anagram of Chaim.
• Sixth Ranger
• Took a Level in Badass: Ironically, despite him being the assassin of Carpathia, he truly took multiple levels in this trope after gaining the courage to face down Carpathia when he desecrated the temple of God.

Mac McCullum

Rayford's co-pilot when he was working for Carpathia. Later became Carpathia's main pilot until faked his own death to escape into the underground with the Tribulation Force.

• Americans Are Cowboys: Confirmed to be from Texas.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Faking the Dead: Does this to escape from New Babylon.
• Some Call Me... Tim: His real first name is Montgomery. His last name is Cleburn. He's rarely referred to by either.

Donny Moore

• The Smart Guy: At least until he gets killed by the Wrath of the Lamb earthquake.

Albie

A former Middle East arms dealer who became a believer.

• Meaningful Name: Albie is actually the initials of his hometown Al Basrah.
• Only Known by Their Nickname

Abdullah Smith

Mac's co-pilot when he was working for Carpathia, who later faked his own death to escape into the underground with the Tribulation Force.

• Badass Bookworm
• Broken Bird: He starts off as a Muslim, but when his wife Yasmine and their two children, Bahira and Zaki become Christians, they leave him following one argument too many. This drives Abdullah into a state of depression, where he loses himself in booze and women, eventhough he wants his family back.
• Deadpan Snarker: Mostly to McCullum in the form of one liners.
• Faking the Dead: Does this to escape from New Babylon.
• The Pilot
• The Quiet One: Regarded as such by his employment records for the GC.

Ken Ritz

A charter pilot who was working for the Tribulation Force.

• Badass Bookworm
• Deadpan Snarker
• I'll Take That as a Compliment: Rayford tells him in the Dramatic Audio that he'd be on the Most Wanted List for feminists for the type of things he says about Hattie. All Ken asks for is a copy of the list so he can send it to his mother.
• The Pilot

Floyd Charles

• Acquired Poison Immunity: Subverted big time. He contracts the poison used to kill Hattie's baby from Hattie herself and later dies from it.
• All Love Is Unrequited: His relationship to Hattie Durham
• The Medic

Leah Rose

A former nurse working at Brigham Young Hospital, who becomes a member of the Tribulation Force.

• Broken Bird: Prior to becoming the head nurse at Brigham Young Hospital, Leah Rose had quite the checkered past. From a broken household to a teenage drug addict who slept around, aborted a pregnancy and nearly killed herself several times before she finally cleaned herself up, got her GED and after getting married, her husband put her through nursing school and the pair adopted two boys. After their children were taken in the Rapture, she and her husband tried to kill themselves. Her husband succeeded. She didn't. In the end, she became a believer.
• The Medic

T.M. Delanty

• The Pilot
• Some Call Me... Tim: His full name is Tyrola Mark Delanty.

David Hassid

The tech guy in New Babylon working as a mole for the Tribulation Force.

• Badass Israeli
• Faking the Dead: Does this to escape New Babylon.
• The Smart Guy

Hannah Palemoon

A medic in New Babylon who was a believer.

• All Love Is Unrequited: Her relationship with David Hassid.
• Faking the Dead: Does this to escape New Babylon.
• The Medic

Ming Toy

A former prison guard at Buffer in Belgium who is part of the Tribulation Force.

• Faux Action Girl: When she is introduced, a lot is made of her experience as a prison guard with combat skills — but from then on, she pretty much divides her time between office work and babysitting.
  • Later on this gets explained, she spent more time in an administrative role.

Chang Wong

The tech guy in New Babylon working as a mole for the Tribulation Force, who is Ming Toy's brother.

• Deadly Change-of-Heart: Averted in his case concerning the Mark of the Beast, as it was forced upon him after his becoming a believer while he was drugged by his parents.
  • In fact, it's because of this he the seal of God AND the Mark (which he eventually loses later by his own request to God).
• Teen Genius
• Reverse Mole: Working as a techie for Carpathia while secretly informing the Tribulation Force of any Global Community activities.

Naomi Tiberias

The tech girl in Petra.

• Teen Genius

Eleazar Tiberias

The father of Naomi Tiberias.

• Overprotective Dad: Mostly to the extent of his own culture, though he does allow Naomi to go with Rayford and Abdullah to get Chang out of New Babylon during the plague of darkness.

Dwayne Tuttle

A member of the Tribulation Force who works as a pilot for the International Commodity Co-op, along with his wife Trudy.

• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Told Leon Fortunato he was the False Prophet straight to his face and lampshaded it. Ended up paying for it.

Hattie Durham

The flight attendant who worked alongside Rayford Steele as his intended love interest. She later became Nicolae Carpathia's personal assistant and then departed from him to go underground, eventually becoming a believer.

• Butt Monkey
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: She denounces both the Antichrist and the False Prophet in public and is instantly incinerated for it.
• Damsel in Distress: How often she requires somebody to save her.
• Faking the Dead: Does this in order to escape a GC detention center with the help of her friends.
• Hell Seeker: Eventually averted.
• Madonna-Whore Complex: As pointed out in the Slacktivist blog, Rayford has this this toward her
• Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: More stereotypically feminine than the other main female characters that the authors have more respect for.
• Straw Loser

Steve Plank

The former editor-in-chief of Global Weekly, who became a believer under the alias of Pinkerton Stephens and an undercover mole.

• Body Horror: He wears an artificial face to hide how disfigured his actual face looks.
• Loophole Abuse: Subverted. He initially hoped he could dodge having to face the decision to take the Mark of the Beast (which he had no intention of getting) since his right hand is a stub and his face is essentially gone, but since the procedure for the face could be applied anyway, that loophole disappeared, so he opted to say he was refusing it and chose the guillotine.
• Nightmare Face: Post-Wrath of the Lamb, he lost most of his face, which had to be replaced with a plastic prosthesis. Without, his eyes are exposed, most of the flesh is simply gone from there down to his lips,and his brain sac is exposed.
• No One Could Survive That: Though horribly disfigured, he managed to survive the Wrath of the Lamb earthquake.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: He was thought to have been killed during the Wrath of the Lamb Earthquake, but is pretty much alive...yet horribly disfigured, and going by the name Pinkerton Stephens.

George Sebastian

• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His rescue mission gets the whole Greek Co-op wiped out.

Lionel Whalum

• You Are In Charge Now: Takes over control of the Co-op when Chloe Williams is killed.

Razor

• Meaningful Name: Razor even tells how he got it.
• Only Known by Their Nickname

Millennium Force

Raymie Steele

The son of Rayford Steele and his first wife Irene, who was raptured along with his mother.

• Chaste Hero: The nature of his new body and mind renders him permanently unable to seek a romance with anyone.
• The Mentor

Kenny Bruce Williams

The son of Buck and Chloe Williams

• The Hero
• Not What It Looks Like: Kenny gets involved in a situation where he is framed for being a traitor of the Millennium Force. It turns out that the whole thing was the work of Qasim Marid, a mole who was working for The Other Light.

Zaki Ababneh

The son of Abdullah Smith

• The Lancer

Bahira Ababneh

The daughter of Abdullah Smith

• The Chick

Global Community

Nicolae Carpathia

Becomes the Supreme Potentate of the Global Community. The Antichrist of the series.

• Affably Evil -> Evilly Affable After being indwelt.
• The Antichrist
• Big Bad
• Blondes Are Evil: In the films, though, he is dark-haired.
• Broken Pedestal: Increasingly becomes this to the world when they slowly begin to see through his original noble character facade just how evil he really is.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Prior to becoming the President of Romania, Carpathia himself personified this trope, as anyone who stood in his way were killed or bribed into submission.
• Deadpan Snarker: Post-indwelling.
• Defiant to the End: Nicolae is this to Jesus...until Satan is cast out of him.
• Devil in Plain Sight: You'd have to be a hard-core Nicolae Carpathia fan to not see it, or not even care to see it.
• Drunk with Power: Nicolae becomes this post-indwelling, until Satan comes out temporarily to remind him that he is just a shell when Nicolae gets too big for his britches.
• Dull Surprise: His treatment of Viv Ivins' death in the Dramatic Audio version of Glorious Appearing.
• Embarrassing Middle Name: Jetty
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Clearly not the case with him, as he and Viv Ivins engineered Marilena Carpathia's death when he was old enough to not need his mother anymore.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He treats his mentor Viv Ivins like a beloved aunt, but post-indwelling, when Ivins sits on his throne, she gets put in the doghouse until a year before the Glorious Appearing, when Nicolae forgives her. In the Dramatic Audio, though, Ivins gets crushed by a hailstone during the seventh Bowl Judgment, and he just casually shrugs off her death.
• Evil All Along: He always was, and anyone who knew better realized it, he was just very good at hiding it, but after the halfway point of the Tribulation, he didn't bother to try hiding it.
• Evil Is Hammy: Especially after the indwelling.
• Evil Overlord: Subtle pre-indwelling, overt post-indwelling.
• From Nobody to Nightmare
• God in Human Form: Claims to be this, but is really indwelt by Satan.
• Has Two Daddies: Through the nature of genetic engineering, two gay men had their altered sperm impregnated into Nicolae's mother. They were both killed off when Nicolae no longer needed them.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: Near the end of Glorious Appearing, he ends up having to kneel before Jesus Christ and confess that He is Lord.
• If You Die, I Call Your Stuff: After executing both Todd-Cothran and Stonagal, Nicolae is the sole inheritor of both their estates. When the children of both men dispute the claim, Nicolae simply pays them off under the condition that they do not contest the will.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Leon, who is twenty years his senior.
• Large Ham: His moment of resurrecting Leon Fortunato from the dead in the Dramatic Audio gets pretty hammy.
• Last Villain Stand: Attempted and failed.
• Our Zombies Are Different: He technically is one after his assassination, it's just that Lucifer is keeping him alive and healthy via the indwelling, but his body is otherwise a corpse that barely clings to life without him.
• Reluctant Ruler: Since Fortunato taught him out to feign humility, Carpathia offers token resistance to the role of Secretary-General of the U.N. Only when he accepts does things go downhill.
• Villain Song: Gets one in the form of his own national anthem "Hail Carpathia".
• Villain with Good Publicity: It starts to seriously degrade from Book Ten onwards.
• You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With: Post-indwelling, Carpathia promises that things for those who call him Antichrist will get much worse.

Leon Fortunato

Originally the Supreme Commander of the Global Community, later became the High Reverend Father of Carpathianism. The False Prophet of the series.

• Big No: Leon screams this in the Dramatic Audio when he gets sent to the Lake of Fire.
  • He's hardly any more dignified in the books.
• Butt Monkey: Gets at least one moment per book to look like an idiot, and usually gets himself hurt in the process.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: A lesson some members of the Tribulation Force have learned the hard way.
• Dirty Coward: Becomes this when he and Nicolae are brought before Jesus.
• The Dragon: To Nicolae.
• From Nobody to Nightmare
• Heel Faith Turn: Attempts this when he is brought before Jesus, but it doesn't work.
• High Priest: Taking over for Peter Mathews when Nicolae is resurrected from the dead.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Nicolae, who is twenty years his junior.
• Lickspittle: To the point even Nicolae is occasionally nauseated by it.
• Last Villain Stand: Attempted and failed.
• Sinister Minister: Takes over this role after Peter Mathews is killed and Enigma Babylon One World Faith folds.
• Yes-Man: To Nicolae.

Peter Mathews

The leader of Enigma Babylon One World Faith during the Tribulation.

• Disc One Final Boss
• Et Tu, Brute?: The manner of his death.
• High Priest: Before he was replaced by Leon Fortunato.
• Kill It with Ice: His death was with sharp feathers from an ice sculpture of him.
• Sinister Minister

Viv Ivins

• The Dark Chick
• Evil Mentor: To Marilena Carpathia
• Left Hanging: Her fate in the books, though implied through the events of Glorious Appearing that she doesn't live to enter into the Millennium.
  • The audiobook version makes her death by giant hailstone pretty explicit.
• Meaningful Name: Her name consists of the Roman number VI repeated three times, hence 666.
• Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: Her fate in the Dramatic Audio presentation, as she is killed by a giant hailstone.

Guy Blod

• Ambiguously Gay: Sounds a tad fruity in the Dramatic Audio presentation.

Jim Hickman

• Despair Event Horizon: His getting Ramon Santiago killed when he spilled the beans about something overheard from Nicolae's offices led to his suicide.

Loren Hut

• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: After failing to kill Micah when he was supernaturally protected, Loren tells Carpathia off before he is killed.

Walter Moon

• Calling Your Attacks: Becomes a victim of an Ironic Echo from Nicolae Carpathia in the Dramatic Audio when he fails in getting Tsion Ben-Judah off the air with his messages.

Elena

A mole working for the Global Community posing as Georgiana Stavros

• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: She and her fellow agents try to pull this on George Sebastian.

Heaven

Jesus Christ

• Big Good
• Exalted Torturer: He sadly sends the unbelievers and the wicked to their righteous judgment.
• God in Human Form
• Good Is Not Soft: He isn't called the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God for nothing!
• I Have Many Names: Jesus even recites them upon His arrival from heaven.
• Immune to Bullets: Even a missile does nothing to Him in His current state.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness
• Kneel Before God: Does this to Nicolae, Leon, and Satan.
• Large Ham Title: Jesus has some interesting titles.
• Light Is Not Good: If you're on the Antichrist's side and you're facing Jesus at His Glorious Appearing, expect to kiss your life goodbye!
• Omniglot: He can supernaturally speak to people in their own languages.
• One-Hit Polykill: Jesus' WMD is The Word Of God.
• Only I Can Kill Him: Jesus is the only one who can defeat Nicolae, Leon, and Satan.
• Person of Mass Destruction: His Word alone can kill many people en masse.
• Rightful King Returns
• Second Coming
• Words Can Break My Bones: Jesus' Words can split you right open and turn you into a gory mess, if you happen to be opposing Him during the Battle of Armageddon. His Words even caused the three fallen angels -- Ashtaroth, Baal, and Cankerworm -- to instantly incinerate and become ashes in seconds.
• You Are In Charge Now: Turns over the kingdom to God the Father at the end of the Millennium.

Eli and Moishe

The two witnesses

• Badass Beard: Seen mostly in the graphic novels.
• Badass Preachers
• Dead Guys On Display: Remained dead and unburied for 3 1/2 days before they were resurrected.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Constantly denounced Carpathia as Antichrist, but were spared death until the days of their preaching have ended, according to The Word of God.
• Disney Death
• Kill It with Fire: How they deal with those who come against them during their days of preaching.

Hell

Satan/Lucifer

• Evil Mentor: To Nicolae, Leon, and Viv.
• Evolutionary Levels: His take on God is that he just evolved out of the primordial soup earlier, and he claims that makes God no better than him. When it comes time for God to retort to that, he makes pretty clear via Jesus he's quite wrong on that.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: Jesus recites Satan's boast in Isaiah 14:13-14 right back at him while adding verse 15 to declare his fate.
• I Have Many Names
• Kill the God: Satan's aim and goal, which gets foiled in the end according to The Word of God.
• Large Ham Title: Satan has his share of these
• Light Is Not Good
• The Man Behind the Man
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Becomes this during the Millennium when Michael the archangel bounds him up and locks him away in the bottomless pit.

Others

Marilena Carpathia

The mother of Nicolae Carpathia who appears only in the prequel stories.

• An Offer You Can't Refuse: In the prequel novel The Rising, Marilena Carpathia wishes to become a mother. Enter Viviana Ivansova (Viv Ivins), who makes the following proposal to her: join our group and swear loyalty to her lord, and she will have the baby she so desperately desire. Marilena should have read the fine print about what her son will become in the future.
• Heel Faith Turn: Attempts this when she was poisoned and near death. Whether she was saved or not is up for debate.

Irene Steele

The wife of Rayford Steele

• Crisis of Faith: Irene Steele experiences this before switching to New Hope Baptist Church.
• I Warned You: Turns out that she and her church were right all along about the Rapture.

Verna Zee

Was Lucinda Washington's replacement as the editor-in-chief of the Chicago Global Weekly office.

• Bury Your Gays: Dies during the Wrath Of The Lamb earthquake.
• Race Lift: Became a black woman in the films.
• Straw Feminist: And a lesbian to boot.
• Straw Man Has a Point: Verna is constantly presented as a no-fun, uppity woman who thinks Buck is a pompous jerkass. And she's right.

Jonathan Stonagal

• Adaptational Badass: Was made out to be somewhat more sinister in the movie version of the first book.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive
• The Chessmaster: His Project People's Victory was for the benefit of him possibly ruling the world with his created "puppet ruler", the Antichrist.

Joshua Todd-Cothran

• Corrupt Corporate Executive

Dirk Burton

• Conspiracy Theorist: Was made into this in the movies. Lampshaded as such in the books.

Bo Hansen

• A Plague on Both Your Houses: According to T.M. Delanty, upon finding out that his brother Samuel was killed while escorting Hattie Durham, Bo Hansen got wasted in a bar, pulled out a gun, cursed Nicolae, God and the world, and killed himself.
• If You Die, I Call Your Stuff: Attempts to get his hands on the wealth Ken Ritz had stashed at Palwaukee Airport when the plague of locust demons strikes.