The Astounding Wolf-Man/Characters
The Main Characters of The Astounding Wolf-Man
Gary Hampton AKA Wolf-Man
Gary Hampton is a family man and extremely successful business owner. That is until the fateful night when he was mauled at a campsite one night. He comes to discover that he has contracted lycanthropy. With the help of a knowledgeable vampire named Zechariah Gary resolves to use his new powers to help people. Gary is clever, charismatic, and very caring.
- Badass
- Clear My Name: What a good deal of the story revolves around.
- Clothing Damage: A given with all of the impromptu 'wolfing out.'
- Cursed with Awesome: Zechariah lampshades it in #2. Gary has a powerful and agile wolf form and a Healing Factor when he changes forms. Poor him. All it costs is going into a blood rage once a month which he quickly deals with.
- Dark Is Not Evil
- Eyes of Gold: Except for when he's in moon rage when they turn red.
- Fake Defector
- Fully-Embraced Fiend
- Good Parents
- Happily Married
- Hard Work Hardly Works: Heavily Averted. We learn from Dunford that Gary essentially built his business from the ground up.
- Healing Factor: Leading to many a Good Thing You Can Heal moment.
- Hero with Bad Publicity
- Hot Dad: In both forms. Maybe.
- Hurting Hero
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Some enemies try to sway him to The Dark Side, but Gary is too good and pure.
- Last of His Kind: After the elder dies he is very probably the last elder brood.
- Millionaire Playboy / Rich Idiot With No Day Job: Also heavily Averted. Gary is a hard worker even to the detriment of his family life.
- Nice Guy: Dunford's story explains it all. Related to Gary's Tragic Flaw below.
- Papa Wolf: Fiercely protective of his family, especially Chloe.
- Super Senses: As Wolf-man. His sense of smell is particularly strong.
- Survivor Guilt
- Tears of Remorse
- Tragic Hero: Gary's flaw, which he irons out over the course of the series, is that he is too driven to help people. What ruined him from the get-go was that he was so ecstatic about being able to help people as a super hero that he neglected his family and failed to realize how untrustworthy Zechariah was despite the constant warnings of his loved ones. His desire to do good was ultimately his downfall. That said his flaw has helped him out a couple of times and earned him the loyalty of both Invincible and Cecil.
Zechariah
Zechariah is a very old and knowledgeable vampire who finds Gary and mentors him in his new life as a werewolf. He is secretive, occasionally shifty, and Gary's friends and family distrust him immediately. After a string of lies and half-truths from Zechariah push he and Gary apart Zech accidentally(?) kills Gary's wife leading to a bloody animosity between the two.
- Ambition Is Evil: After becoming a vampire and seeing the sad state of the vampire community he resolves to become a hero and make vampires into a powerful force to be reckoned with. Fast forward and now Zech is a ruthless and power hungry Manipulative Bastard.
- Arch Enemy: To Gary.
- Badass Grandpa
- Consummate Liar: Just about everything he tells Gary in the beginning is a lie or a Half Truth
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: An interesting example because his son is mortal.
- Evil Costume Switch: See Hell-Bent for Leather below.
- Evil Plan
- Half Truth: Chock full of 'em.
- Hell-Bent for Leather
- Karma Houdini
- Katanas Are Just Better
- Kingpin in His Gym: With Chloe and their swords
- Manipulative Bastard
- The Obi-Wan
- Really 700 Years Old: Lampshaded. Zech asks Gary how old he thinks he is and Gary guesses "I don't know...what, a thousand?". Zech then bemoans how the mystique of vampires has vanished due to representations in the media.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning
- Start of Darkness / Backstory
- The Undead
- Visionary Villain
- Would Hurt a Child: He once killed and sucked the blood of a werewolf child.
The Elder
An ancient and extremely powerful werewolf. Being an 'elder' he (like Gary) has a specific strain of lycanthropy that makes him much stronger than lesser werewolves. He is the one who made Gary into a werewolf and when Gary comes to him for advice on how to kill a vampire The Elder trains him.
- Asskicking Equals Authority: He became the head of the werewolves only after he killed the rest of the elder ruling class.
- Evil Counterpart: Sort of to Gary.
- Large and In Charge: He's twice as big as a normal werewolf, and twice as beastly.
- Lightning Bruiser: He's incredibly strong yet incredibly fast.
- Treacherous Advisor
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Immediately after being made into a werewolf he slaughtered the rest of the elders and took charge of the werewolf community.
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