The Suffering/Characters

Torque

The silent protagonist of the first game and the not-so-silent protagonist of the second, with a dark past, a criminal record and a history of violent outbursts. Introduced upon his arrival at Abbot State Penitentiary, Torque has been found guilty of murdering his wife and children, and though he cannot remember what exactly happened, he is due to be executed within the next three months. The earthquake and the Malefactor incursion does him an unexpected favour, allowing him the chance to escape- and perhaps to find out who was really responsible for the death of his family. It won't be easy, though, even with the powers his own rage has given him...

• Badass
• Berserk Button: Though apparently unflappable most of the time, he gets very angry whenever his relationship with Carmen or his sons are belittled.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: To Luther and Kyle, should he take the good morality path.
• Dark and Troubled Past
• Does Not Like Shoes: Travels across Carnate Island completely barefoot, having taken his shoes off during the intro.
• Enemy Within: His inner beast, which often spurs Torque onto greater acts of violence. Blackmore also functions as this.
  • Enemy Without: In the climax of the first game, Torque fights the physical recreations of himself and his inner beast that Killjoy has called into being.
• Frame-Up: In the good ending, it's revealed that Torque is innocent of the murders, which were committed by a group of Blackmore's thugs.
• Heroic Mime
• Jekyll and Hyde: Torque has at least two Hydes- his inner beast and Blackmore.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Apart from his inability to recall what happened on the night of the murders, he also cannot remember what happens when he transforms.
• One-Man Army
• Papa Wolf
• Pater Familicide: In the evil ending of the first game, he is guilty of the crimes he was accused of.
• Multiple Choice Past: The truth of who killed Torque's family is determined by how Torque behaves during the game.
• Split Personality Takeover: During the evil ending of the first game, Torque gives into his anger and becomes his insanity form permanently, killing the boatman who came to rescue him, and fleeing back into the wilderness in search of prey.
  • In the evil ending of the second game, Blackmore destroys Torque's personality and continues expanding his empire on a full-time basis.
• Super-Powered Evil Side: When pushed to the very limits of his rage, Torque has the ability to transform into a nightmarish creature powerful enough to tear Malefactors to bloody shreds with its bare claws. However, it's revealed that he technically doesn't transform at all- the monster is all in his head, and the strength is fueled by his own adrenaline.
• Unstoppable Rage

Carmen

Torque's wife and moral compass. In life, she spent a good deal of time trying to steer her husband onto more responsible courses of action; though she clearly loved Torque, she ultimately divorced him after he was jailed for manslaughter. Doubly unfortunately, the next time she was due to see her ex-husband, someone beat her to death. However, following the earthquake, she returns as a ghost to advise Torque- and to help him remember what really happened...

• Accidental Murder: in the neutral ending of the first game, she died following an argument with her husband that ends with Torque knocking her to the ground and breaking her skull in the process.
• Good Angel: Acts as this throughout both games.
• My Greatest Failure: At points in both games, she sorrowfully admits that divorcing Torque only made things worse for both of them in the long run.
• Spirit Advisor
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: If Torque takes the evil path, she will hand out a lot of these.

Corey

Torque's eldest son. Resentful of his father's impact on their family, he had an especially confrontational relationship with Torque... up until someone threw him out a window. Again, with the supernatural in full force on Carnate, he reappears as a ghost to haunt his father over the course of the game.

• Calling the Old Man Out: Does this quite often in both games.
• Corrupt the Cutie: In the second game, it's revealed that, in the event that the neutral ending was achieved, he was singled out by Blackmore as a means of hurting Torque. Apart from introducing Corey to drugs, Blackmore went onto continue his "tuition" long after Corey's death, encouraging him to push Malcolm's spirit into the Drowning Pool.
• Enfant Terrible: In the the neutral ending.
• Freak-Out: Caused by witnessing his mother's accidental death in the neutral ending.
• Kill the Cutie: In the Good and Evil endings.
• Murder-Suicide: Again, in the neutral ending of the first game, in which he drowns Malcolm in the bathtub and jumps to his death.
• Undead Child
• You're Not My Father: "You never were my dad! Not really!"

Malcolm

Torque's youngest son. In sharp contrast to Corey, Malcolm adored his father; even being drowned couldn't stop him from returning to offer help to Torque.

• Cheerful Child: A lot cheerier than his older brother- occasionally introduced by playing a chasing game with his father.
• Kill the Cutie
• Undead Child

Doctor Killjoy

One of Carnate Island's most infamous figures, Doctor Killjoy ran an asylum on the island's western edge during the early twentieth century, attempting to cure his patients through means that were unconventional at best and lethal at worst. Despite having vanished in the thirties, Killjoy lives on as a ghost contained in 16-mm film projectors, and is now determined to cure Torque of his burgeoning insanity- by any means necessary.

• Affably Evil: Charming, urbane and always happy to see Torque. Plus, he genuinely wants to help Torque, even going so far as to accept his temporary defeat in the boss battle as a sign that he needs to be more prompt in treating him.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Averted- after developing the "Rebirth Machine" as a means of curing his patients, he actually attempted to have it patented, but he disappeared before the paperwork could be completed.
• Deadly Doctor
• Deadpan Snarker
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: When Torque leaves Carnate for Baltimore, Killjoy starts communicating through television sets.
• Dressed to Heal
• Hard Light: Played with; though he's as intangible as you'd expect, Killjoy can still manipulate physical objects by touch if he wishes. Closer examples can be found in the form of the barriers he sets up across certain entrances and exits, or the items he gives Torque.
• Large Ham
• Mad Doctor: Good God, to say the least. Quite apart from all the experimental mayhem he's commited in the past, he also subjects a CO to electroshock therapy, has another partially devoured by rats because his body "threatened the safety of his own mind", slashes an inmate to death while giving a tutorial on lethal injection, and overdoses three heroin addicts to the point of their heads exploding!
• Mad Scientist: Modified the Slayers to become even more deadly, and built a machine that could help destroy Torque's inner demons.
• Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate
• Narcissist
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Killjoy bears a startling resemblance to Vincent Price.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist
• Psycho Psychologist
• Projected Man
• Virtual Ghost
• Well-Intentioned Extremist
• Wicked Cultured: In both games, he enjoys a good Shakespearian soliloquy.

Horace Gage

Another figure of Carnate Island's past, Horace was an inmate at Abbott, though nobody can remember what he was originally jailed for. Instead, he is remembered for murdering his wife on a conjugal visit- under the delusion that she wasn't safe outside the prison- and being sentenced to death in the electric chair. His electrified ghost lingers on however, still tied to the electric chair, still in agonising pain; however, during the first game he acts as an advisor to Torque, hoping to spare him from a similar ending.

• Death Seeker
• Electric Torture: Constantly subjected to this.
• Fate Worse Than Death: His eternal tie to the electric chair.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: The top of his head and his hands are still charred from the shock that killed him.
• Guttural Growler
• Invisible to Normals: During his final encounter with Torque, Horace's sudden appearance goes completely unnoticed by Ernesto.
• Not So Different: Frequently alludes to the similarities he shares with Torque.
• Psycho Electro: Subverted; while Horace is certainly unhinged, he's actually one of the saner characters in the game.
• Spirit Advisor
• Shock and Awe
• Tragic Monster

Hermes Haight

One of the most hated COs at Abbott, Hermes T Haight was responsible for executions during his employment at the prison, and took great delight in his work; over the course of his long career, he employed almost every single method of killing permitted by the Maryland Board of Corrections, from the noose to the electric chair. However, it was the gas chamber he loved the most. Appropriately, it was in the gas chamber that he eventually killed himself in. Of course, he returns during the Malefactor infestation of Carnate, manifesting as a ghost composed of swirling green gas.

• Career Killers
• Consummate Professional
• Creepy Monotone: Speaks in a gentle monotone punctuated with long, slow breaths- apparently savouring the smell of his own gas.
• Deadly Gas: Hermes' spectral body is composed of poisonous gas; however, he notes that it's not the same gas he used in life, which was colourless and odourless. Being a sadistic bastard, he colours his gas so that his victims can see it coming.
• Enemy Mine: Grudgingly assists Torque in the final stage of his escape.
• Intangible Man
• In Love with Your Carnage: He loves watching Torque go berserk.
• Lack of Empathy
• Psycho for Hire: Averted- at least prior to his employment at Abbott, anyway.
• Punch Clock Villain: Apparently, he actually started out as this, given that the Board of Corrections rejected applicants who actually enjoyed killing. Instead, Hermes came to enjoy the role of executioner at least partly because of the congratulations he earned from his superiors.
• The Killer Becomes the Killed: Twice.
• The Sociopath
• To Know Him I Must Become Him: In life, Hermes grew obsessed with how his victims felt in the days before their executions, and did everything in his power to learn, from listening to their phone conversations, to studying their bodies after he'd killed them. In the end, he decided that the only way he could possibly learn the truth was by tasting the gas...

The Three Girls

The ghosts of three young girls in Puritan Dress, often seen wandering the forests and roads of Carnate Island; unlike Horace and Hermes, they do not personify their cause of death, existing as simple ghosts for most of the game. In life, the girls were inhabitants of Carnate's first settlement, Goodsmouth, and were ironically responsible for it's collapse: apparently driven by sheer boredom, they began accusing people of witchcraft, resulting in the deaths of eleven people during the ensuing Witchhunt. Unable to live with what they had done, the girls killed themselves. Though they return during the game as spirits that pester Torque about what happened to his children, they refuse to directly interfere until the climax of the game, in which they take on the form of some of the strongest Malefactors in the game- the Infernas.

• Creepy Child
• Creepy Doll: Each of them can be seen holding one of these. Their first scene reveals that it doubles as a supernatural firebomb.
• Driven to Suicide: In their final appearance in the game, the Three re-enact their suicide for Torque, flinging themselves off a cliff.
• Heel Realization: Suffered a massive one following the end of the Witchhunt.
• Ironic Nursery Tune: In one appearance, they are seen dancing around the site of the witch-burnings, singing Ring Around The Rosie- just before they transform into Infernas.
• Kids Are Cruel: Not only did they have at least eleven people killed during the backstory, they also enjoy playing games with Torque's head, at one point sneering that he failed to protect Malcolm and Cory- assuming they aren't actively accusing him of murder.
• My God, What Have I Done?
• Obliviously Evil
• One-Winged Angel: Their Inferna forms.
• Playing with Fire

Warden Hargrave

Little is known about Hargrave prior to the disaster, although he presumably harboured a considerable amount of hatred for the inmates of his prison. Ultimately, he used the earthquake and the infestation of Malefactors as an excuse to begin rounding up inmates and slaughtering them en mass, apparently as the prelude to armageddon.

• Axe Crazy
• Bad Boss: According to some of the other COs, Hargraves was also prepared to execute his underlings if they failed in their duties or failed to "suck his dick good enough."
• Corrupt Hick
• Fat Bastard
• Flunky Boss: During the boss battle, he sends in several teams of COs to kill you--while riddling you with bullets from a machine gun turret.
• Knight Templar
• Mundanger: Hargraves isn't a Malefactor, nor does he have the backing of Carnate Island's Ghosts, or any supernatural powers of his own. He's also managed to clean the Malefactors out of V-Block, and is using this newfound freedom to massacre the surviving inmates.

The Captain

One of the higher-ranking officers, and the first of Torque's companions; having spent enough time killing Malefactors alone, he decides that he'd much prefer the company of "a murdering scumfuck from the row," and decides to team up with him. In the good path, the Captain ends up getting electrocuted by Horace.

• Authority Equals Asskicking: The first CO that isn't murdered in his very first scene.
• Badass Normal
• Good Is Not Nice
• Jerkass: The Captain doesn't trust Torque, and makes it very clear that he won't hold fire if he needs to shoot one of the Malefactors and Torque's in the way. Then again, Torque is still an inmate, so it's kind of understandable.
• Mauve Shirt: Mauve enough to survive the first few waves of Malefactors, but too Red to live for very long afterwards.
• Not Bad For An X: The nicest thing he can say about Torque, essentially "You handled yourself alright for an inmate."
• Properly Paranoid
• Sir Swearsalot: There's very little of his dialogue that doesn't include foul language.

Luther

Named only in one of CO Hawks' broadcasts, Luther has apparently "lost his soddin' mind" during the attack on the prison. By the time Torque meets him, Luther has reverted to a childlike state of mind, and latches onto Torque as the only person that can help him get to the radio building and call for help.

• Dropped a Bridge on Him: In the good path, Luther is left in charge of the radio building, promising to keep it safe from the Malefactors while Torque goes to find whatever's interfering with the transmission. Returning hours later, Torque finds Luther slumped on the floor, dead.
• Hero Worshipper: Upon seeing Torque defeat an entire yard of Malefactors, Luther decides that Torque must be "an Angel of Vengeance come to save us all!"
• Lovable Coward
• Man Child
• Momma's Boy: Can be heard whimpering for his mother on occasion.
• Prematurely Bald
• Scary Black Man: Subverted: when standing up straight, Luther would probably be even taller than Torque, but that's about the only thing vaguely imposing about him.
• Speech Impediment: Stutters frequently.

Sergei

Hidden away in an upper-story room in Dr Killjoy's Asylum, Sergei has apparently come to terms with the fact that he will die when the Malefactors find him, and is taking steps to enjoy himself as much as possible before then: though the lack of power prevents him from listening to the radio and his hookah broke in the earthquake, he still has a pipe and plenty of marijuana. As such, he's pretty happy to see Torque when he finally shows up...

• Cloudcuckoolander
• Erudite Stoner
• Irony: Sergei chuckles over the fact that he's growing enough marijuana to get himself a very long stay in prison for his troubles- even though working at Abbott Penitentiary is so horrible he might as well be an inmate anyway.
  • He also notes the hilarity of coming to America "The Land of the Free" only to end up working in a prison.
• Nice Guy
• The Philosopher
• Russian Guy Suffers Most: Averted. Quite apart from being both safe and intensely relaxed, Sergei is the only surviving member of the Corrections Officers stationed at the Asylum.
• Video Game Caring Potential: You can restore power to the building for him, allowing him to listen to his music- and netting you a leg up on the Karma Meter.
• Vodka Drunkenski: Also averted, given that vodka is most definitely not Sergei's intoxicant of choice.
• While Rome Burns

Harley And Friend

Met only very briefly during the game, Harley is found trying to fight off several Festers while his unnamed friend tries to drag him back to safety. As Harley is fighting Malefactors with inappropriate weaponry- ie: without a fire axe or molotov cocktails- their survival depends on Torque's assistance.

• Ambiguously Gay
• Berserk Button: By all accounts, Harley despises rats, hence his little temper-tantrum directed at the Festers.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Harley
• Red Oni, Blue Oni
• Sir Swearsalot: Harley
• Unstoppable Rage: Harley.

Ernesto

Notable for being one of the guards who escorted Torque to his cell at the beginning of the game, Ernesto remains absent until towards the end of the game. Though he doesn't trust Torque, he ends up joining him nonetheless, if only because Torque didn't take the chance to kill him when they bumped into each other again. Over the course of their travels, it emerges that he is married to Consuela, and is making his way to their home on the other side of the island to ensure the safety of her and their children.

• Badass Normal
• Badass Spaniard
• Character Development: At first, he's just a CO with a chip on his shoulder; then, it's revealed that he's fighting to save his wife and kids; then, he and Torque begin to trust one another; by the time Ernesto sees the Infernas playing with Torque's children, he's begun to wonder if Torque was really guilty.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Torque, should you take the good path.
• Good Is Not Nice
• Gratuitous Spanish
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As one of his fellow Corrections Officers notes, Ernesto can be a jackass: he's very vocal in declaring that the inmates should all die, shoves Torque in the back on the way to his cell, and spends a good deal of the escort mission flinging insults at him. However, he's also a very devoted husband and father; plus, as he spends time with Torque, he gradually begins to trust him- to the point that he starts to reconsider his opinions.
• Papa Wolf: Very protective of his children, and utterly despises abusive fathers, hence his disgust at Torque's crime.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: At the end of the escort mission, he is last seen hurrying into the town to see if his family are still alive; Torque is unable to follow, and the sequel reveals nothing of his fate.

Dallas

One of Torque's friends from Eastern State Penitentiary, Dallas is one of the few people who seem happy to see him; eagerly joining his old partner-in-crime in the hopes of escaping the prison, he spends a great deal of time detailing his theories on what caused the Malefactor attack.

• Black Best Friend
• Bury Your Gays: In his tutorial on lethal injection, Dr Killjoy slashes a random inmate to death with a scalpel. It's not until Dallas joins Torque that it's discovered that the inmate was Byron, Dallas' boyfriend.
  • Also, Dallas himself can be killed during the evil path.
• Cluster F-Bomb: When under stress, Dallas tends to drop quite a few of these at once, especially after being attacked by a Mainliner.

Mo-ther-fucker. I grew up in Lafayette Court, and I tell ya I ain't never been so fuckin' scared! What kinda sick mutant was that thing? Fuckin' government, fuckin' experiments, fuckin' BULLSHIT!

• Conspiracy Theorist
• The Load: Up until they enter T-Block, Dallas is unarmed, and more than a bit of a hindrance.
• Prison Rape: Avoided the T-Block showers for this very reason. Of course, once the Mainliners show up, he's got even more reason to avoid them.
• Sophisticated As Hell: Dallas can be surprisingly eloquent; at one point, after suggesting that the Malefactors were created through scientific experimentation, he remarks "Didn't they ever read Mary Shelley? That shit don't ever work out!"
• Straight Gay: Very comfortably homosexual, though he doesn't have that kind of relationship with Torque.
• Took a Level In Badass: Dallas spends the first half of his time in the game unarmed and being chased by every monster that isn't interested in Torque. Then he gets hold of a pistol and becomes a lot more effective.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In the good path, he's last seen escaping the prison alone, and nothing more is heard of him after that.

Clem

By far the oldest inmate encountered in the game, Clem was apparently plotting an escape around the time of the earthquake; undeterred by the attacking Malefactors, he managed to actually observe and document them in an improvised bestiary- which Torque ends up collecting- before going through with his plan to leave the island by raft. Unfortunately, he's trapped on the shore by the newly-arrived Festers until Torque arrives to help...

• Action Survivor
• Apocalyptic Log: Most of his notes read like this.
• Badass Beard
• Badass Bookworm: Writer, illustrator, philosopher, amateur historian, and a dab hand with a molotov cocktail.
• Badass Grandpa
• Berserk Button: Clem hates the Festers with a passion.
• Blue Oni: With Torque.
• Crazy Prepared: Clem set up numerous secret caches of ammunition throughout the island- just in case. For good measure, he gives Torque a map to them in exchange for assistance.
  • Crosses over with The Dev Team Thinks of Everything, if Torque tries to backstab Clem by stealing the raft, the whole thing explodes the moment he touches it.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: His notebook reveals that he dreamed of Torque's Rage Form, and once saw a vision of Torque's dead family.
• Inferred Survival: If Torque helps him, Clem is last seen rafting away from Carnate Island; though the second game reveals that Jordan and the Foundation have had encountered him or his writing- enough to continue his tradition of documenting Malefactors, anyway- it's not mentioned what exactly happened to him.
• Kill It with Fire: Clem is always armed with a molotov.
• Monster Compendium: Managed to write the one for the first game, detailing every single monster he'd encountered through first-hand experience- in other words, all of them, plus the three ghosts. Far more impressively, he managed to write notes on Torque, Torque's family, Torque's Rage Form, and even the Final Boss.
  • Furthermore, the one found in the second game was written in his honour.
• Photographic Memory
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: His speech is layered with it.
• Southern-Fried Genius
• Southern Gentleman

Jimmy

The last inmate that Torque can accompany in the game, and by far the most unstable: Jimmy believes that the Malefactors are just hallucinations brought on by food laced with drugs by the COs, who are now killing the inmates for sport; his solution to this is to hide out in the basement of the lighthouse until "the drugs wear off and the hacks run out of ammo." Unfortunately, along the way, he runs into Torque and mistakes him for a CO. Even worse, it turns out he's managed to gather an impressive supply of TNT during his time in the wilderness, and starts flinging it all over the place as he flees into the cave network; this naturally ends up with Jimmy getting trapped by a cave-in, and Torque has to decide wether not to rescue him...

• Axe Crazy
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Trying to bomb Torque leaves him trapped in the cave by a collapsed ceiling; Torque himself has to decide wether or not this can lead to a Karmic Death.
• Mad Bomber
• The Millstone
• Scary Black Man
• Tempting Fate: Once they arrive in the lighthouse basement, Jimmy is very quick to claim that nothing can get in. Then Hermes wafts into the room through a grate under Jimmy's feet, suffocating him to death.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Jimmy seems to be under the impression that he's in a strictly non-supernatural psychological thriller.

Overall Tropes

• Always Chaotic Evil
• Enemy Civil War: The Malefactors do not get along well once they're deprived of human victims. In one particularly telling cutscene, a Slayer jumps a Mainliner, and begins jabbing it painfully with it's blades... only for both of them to be pounded into mulch by an angry Fester.
• Genius Loci: Believed to be the product of a particularly malevolent Genius Loci that's enjoyed a long history of pain and suffering.
• Humanoid Abominations
• The Legions of Hell: What some people believe them to be.
• Rule of Symbolism: Every single Malefactor in the first game represents a form of execution, and their design fits their origins appropriately.

Slayer

The Slayers are the first Malefactors encountered in the game, and generally the most plentiful (though stronger variants are discovered as the game continues). As the living incarnation of Beheading, their heads have been suspended above their shoulders with vice-like mechanisms, and their limbs have been replaced with steel blades; in spite of this, they can still walk and run with considerable speed. They can even leap into the air and crawl across the ceiling for stealth attacks- though the clattering sound of their blades does tend to alert people to their approach.

• Bandaged Face: Quite a few Slayers sport heavily bandaged faces.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Type 3, for all four limbs.
• Fragile Speedster
• It Can Think: Slayers tend to behave very intelligently by Malefactor standards, displaying a certain grasp of tactics which allows some of them to actually attack COs while they're reloading or from behind; at one point, a Slayer trails a wounded victim for several hundred feet until he's too tired to move any further or even fight back before it finally kills him.
• In a Single Bound
• Malevolent Masked Men: Some of the Slayers wear grinning metal facemasks.
• Off with His Head: Their finishing move.
• Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: Later versions of the Slayers encountered in the game have been beefed up by Dr Killjoy so that they can revive themselves after death. The only way to stop them from coming back once and for all is to remove their heads- and then kill them again.
• Shout-Out: The heads of some Slayers are studded with pins and nails a la Hellraiser.
• Sword Drag: Often, Slayers can be encountered dragging their blades along the walls and floor to intimidate opponents, producing a Sinister Scraping Sound.
• Wall Crawl
• Weakened by the Light: Slayers go out of their way to avoid light, actively shying away from torches and flashlights, and dying instantly if caught in the beam of a spotlight.

Marksman

First encountered among the relics of Fort Maleson in the prison basement, the Marksman appears mainly human except for it's oversized frame, the blindfold of flesh over its eyes, and the bagpipe-like cluster of rifles on its back; these rifles are its chief weapon, making it one of the most common ranged-attackers in the game. As both its appearance and Clem's notes indicate, the Marksman is the incarnation of a military firing squad; it's also the first Malefactor to have a direct origin story: the execution of three innocent soldiers during World War II, during Carnate Island's brief stint as a POW camp.

• Body Horror
• Disability Superpower: Due to the blindfold of flesh, Marksmen are very adept at detecting their opponents without having to actually see them.
• Do Not Run with a Gun: Marksmen have to hold still in order to open fire on a target.
• Emergency Weapon: Variant- if it's being attacked at close range and the assailant is out of it's rifles' reach, it can launch chunks of shrapnel from it's wounds.
• Eyeless Face
• Ironic Hell: If the Marksmen are the reincarnation of the firing squad that was used at Fort Maleson, then they clearly have been made to suffer just as much as their previous victims; not only are they blinded, but they also emerge from the ground tied to stakes, and close examination of their bodies show numerous bullet wounds.
• More Dakka
• Shot At Dawn: Their origin story.

Mainliner

A personification of the Lethal Injection, the Mainliner is a small, froglike creature with stunted limbs and a back that has been embedded with dozens of syringes. In sharp contrast to the apparently painless nature of the execution, it's in constant pain from the chemicals rushing through its bloodstream, and can be heard screaming and moaning in agony whenever it appears. In spite of their apparent weaknesses, Mainliners are still dangerous, because their syringes are still filled with lethal fluids, and can be thrown with lethal precision; furthermore, they can teleport across Carnate Island via bodies of still liquids- blood, stagnant water, anything not disturbed by motion- and ambush their prey in large numbers.

• Bloody Murder: Their blood is still very toxic even after death.
• Body Horror: Let's just say that the Mainliners are screaming in pain for a very good reason, and leave it at that.
• Eye Scream: Their eyes have been replaced by syringes as well.
• Improbable Weapon User
• Personal Space Invader: If close enough, a Mainliner will leap at it's target and attempt to stab them in the neck with a syringe.
• Portal Pool: How they travel around the Island.

Nooseman

A very obvious incarnation of hanging, the Nooseman is little more than a skinned legless body dangling from a noose; it's single mode of attack is to drop from puddles of blood on the ceiling and strangle unsuspecting passers-by to death. According to Clem, the skinless nature of the Nooseman is due to it being inspired by a prison riot in the 1950s, during which five COs were lynched, skinned alive and hanged for leaving inmates to die in a quarry cave-in.

• The Faceless
• Flaying Alive
• Peek-a-Boo Corpse
• Wall Master

Burrower

Arguably the least human out of all the Malefactors, the Burrowers appear to represent live burial, having been stuffed into a burlap sack and wrapped in chains at some point. Travelling across the island by burrowing and moving more like snakes than anything else, they emerge from the ground to lash at their victims with their chains, occasionally constricting them to death. Clem's notes detail that they were likely inspired by an accident at the Carnate Island quarry, where several inmates were trapped by a cave-in and left to die by the guards.

• Achilles Heel: Because Burrowers leave holes in the ground when they retreat from battle, the easiest way to kill them is to drop in a stick of dynamite into one of the holes and let the explosion do the rest.
• Buried Alive
• Chained by Fashion
• Combat Tentacles: Their chains function as these.
• Worm Sign: The Burrowers produce very obvious trails in the ground as they move, which can be nerve-wracking before their introduction, as they don't attack you or even emerge from the ground until them.

Fester

Massive, bloated corpses lashed together with the very manacles they use to attack their victims, and eaten from the inside by rats, the Festers are first encountered blocking Clem's escape via the beach, but soon afterwards it's found all over the island. It's origins are rooted in the wreck of an 18th century slave ship grounded on Carnate's northwestern shore: when the ship first ran aground, an entire consignment of slaves was abandoned in the hold by their masters, on the grounds that they would rebel if any rescue attempt was made; the slaves either drowned or were consumed by rats. Almost three hundred years later, the Festers rise from Carnate's waters...

• Body Horror
• Chained by Fashion
• Epic Flail: Their weapon of choice is a ball-and-chain.
• Fat Bastard
• Ironic Hell: Clem notes that the Festers are far too pale-skinned to be the slaves who were drowned and devoured in the hold of the ship, so in all likelihood, the slavers are currently living out the nightmare they inflicted on their cargo.
• Kill It with Fire: As Clem notes following their introduction, an ideal way of dealing with them is to burn them alive with either a molotov or a flamethrower.
• Nigh Invulnerable: It is literally impossible to kill the Festers without a fire axe, a molotov cocktail, or dynamite.
• Respawning Enemies: Until you set fire to the wreck of the slave ship, the Festers will not stop respawning, and even once you do that, there are still a few hanging around the island, just waiting for you to arrive.
• Stout Strength
• Walk, Don't Swim: Given that they're much too heavy to swim, they are seen walking out of the ocean, having marched across the sea-bed from the slave ship to get there.

Inferna

The Malefactor forms of the Three Little Girls and a clear representation of burning at the stake, the Infernas resemble nothing more than charred corpses wreathed in flame. Fast moving, capable of igniting almost anything they touch, and able to return from death if their ashes aren't immediately scattered, they are among the hardest Malefactors in the game.

• Boss in Mooks Clothing
• Burn the Witch: Their origin story.
• Giggling Villain
• Ironic Hell: Though they don't appear to suffer as a result.
• Lightning Bruiser
• Playing with Fire
• One-Winged Angel
• Resurrective Immortality: Unlike most of the Malefactors, the Infernas are not replaced by new Infernas after their deaths; they simply arrive back in reality, apparently unscathed by the previous encounter. For good measure, to finish them off, their ashes have to be scattered as soon as they die, or else they regenerate.
• Undead Child
• Wreathed in Flames

Miles

Another one of Torque's old friends, Miles was caught in the middle of Blackmore's attempt to get Torque jailed, and ended up being sent to prison as well; after that, he developed something of grudge towards Blackmore. Naturally, when Torque returns to Baltimore following his escape from Carnate, Miles joins him in a mutual quest to find and kill the crime boss.

• The Bartender: Before he went to prison, Miles was the owner and bartender of a small underground den called "The Underground."
• Black Best Friend
• Blue Oni: To Torque.
• Disney Death: Gets shot in the chest by Copperfield, only to return a few levels later.
• Killed Off for Real: Ends up getting killed by Blackmore after he learns the truth about Torque.
• Non-Action Guy: Miles isn't a big fan of physical violence, and prefers to help Torque from afar.
• OOC Is Serious Business: It's easy to tell that something's very wrong when Miles is seen holding a gun... and pointing it at Torque.
• The Smart Guy
• Sophisticated As Hell: Frequently alludes to classical mythology, even alongside his frequent uses of slang and expletives.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Flings a barrage of these speeches at Torque when he learns the truth about him and Blackmore. Eventually, this leads to his death when Blackmore takes over Torque's body and beats him to death.

Hejira

Torque's old neighbour, a devout Muslim and apparently a member of a Black Nationalist group, Hejira is the first real companion Torque gains in Ties That Bind. Apparently having planned ahead, he is trying to get to an abandoned soup kitchen where he can meet up with a few of his other allies before leaving the city, and he requests Torque's help in getting there.

• Badass Normal
• Badass Preacher: "And the Righteous shall put down the devils!"
• Crazy Prepared: Hejira is probably the only person in the entire game fully prepared to deal with the situation at hand.
• Good Is Not Nice: Undoubtedly standoffish and dour, but clearly well-meaning. He sensibly agrees to work with Torque regardless of wether or not he killed his wife, stating that Torque "need only fear the judgement of Allah."
• Sawed-Off Shotgun
• Scary Black Man
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Assuming Torque doesn't abandon or kill him, Hejira is last seen outside the soup kitchen, waiting for his friends to arrive; nothing more is seen or heard of him after that (with the possible exception of the review in "The Greatest Story Never Told")

Kyle

A heroin addict found hiding in an abandoned building just behind the Grand Theatre, and apparently suffering the early symptoms of withdrawl. Kyle immediately latches onto Torque, believing him to be his long-lost father, and naturally begs him for help; unlike most of the other companions in the game, Kyle's objectives are very simple: find another hit.

• Cloudcuckoolander
• Inferred Holocaust: His part in the game ends with him finally tracking down his friend's stash of heroin and giving himself another dose; Torque isn't encouraged to stick around to see what happens next, but given that Kyle's trapped in a crackhouse infested with Mainliners, the odds of his survival are slim.
• The Load
• Morality Pet: Dr Killjoy interprets Kyle as having some "therapeutic benefit" to Torque, and spares his life for this very reason.
• No Peripheral Vision: Played straight in his final scene, and justified due to his addiction; when he finally tracks down the box of heroin his friend was keeping, it takes him a while to actually notice that his friend is lying dead just a few feet to his left.

Warden Elroy Jr.

Current warden of East Baltimore Correctional, son of one of the most infamous wardens to serve at the prison, and one of the few Corrections Officers to survive the Malefactor Outbreak. Elroy Jr is reluctant to trust Torque, but clearly not as untrusting as the other COs, as he teams up with him very quickly in an attempt to escape the prison and survive.

• Action Survivor
• Authority Equals Asskicking: To a certain extent, anyway.
• Enemy Mine: Teams up with a group of inmates towards the end of his time with Torque; after some initial hostility, they eventually manage to get to Teeth-Clenched Teamwork levels of cooperation, enough to escape the prison altogether.
• Glass Cannon: One of the weakest characters in the game, but comes equipped with a very powerful 45. magnum.
• Inferred Survival: Assuming that he and the other inmates survive their encounters with Torque, it's entirely possible that Elroy Jr can escape Baltimore alive with the team he's managed to gather. Alone, though...
• Nerd Glasses
• Reasonable Authority Figure
• Sins of Our Fathers: Elroy Sr was despised by the inmate population, and for good reason- sabotaging the machine shop to burn several prisoners to death, subjecting other prisoners to months of solitary confinement, and using armed response teams as an easy way of ending minor rebellions. Naturally, Elroy Jr ends up universally loathed because of this: the guards think that he's a pussy because he's much more liberal than his father, the inmates think that he's just as bad as his father but too cowardly to show it, and both sides end up regarding him with considerable distrust after the outbreak.

Ranse Truman

A former inmate of both Abbott State Penitentiary and Eastern, and the mysterious writer of the quotations that appear at the beginning of each level. Little is known of his past or the crimes that landed him in prison, but judging by his notes, he took the time to study the unique history of Carnate Island; unfortunately, his research apparently disturbed him very deeply, ultimately driving him to suicide. Doubly unfortunately, he survived and was transferred to East Baltimore, a city no better than Carnate in terms of corruption and urban decay. However, in spite of his next suicide attempt, he managed to survive both the blood loss and the Malefactor infestation- at least long enough to bump into Torque.

• Driven to Suicide: He's evidently tried to slit his wrists in the past, and judging by the fresh bandages around his neck, he's also tried to cut his throat.
• Mysterious Past
• Southern-Fried Genius

Overall Tropes

• Gas Mask Mooks
• Government Agency of Fiction
• Private Military Contractors: Most of their soldiery is comprised of mercenaries, some of whom go out of their way mention sordid campaigns in third-world countries during the Black Mesa Commute.
• Redshirt Army: Most of the Foundation troops end up as this when faced with Malefactors.
• Who You Gonna Call?

Blackmore

The head of a vast criminal organization spread out across Baltimore, and Torque's former employer; known as "The Colonel" for the unquestioning discipline he inspires in his followers, Blackmore is also renowned for the punishment he mets out against his enemies: his drowning pool has become an urban legend on par with the Creeper for this very reason. As such, he took Torque's attempt to leave his organization very badly, going so far as to engineer a scenario which would end in Carmen divorcing her husband- and it worked. Unfortunately, Torque didn't lose interest in his wife and children, so Blackmore went one step further still: in all three morality playthroughs, he is responsible for their deaths, having either ordered his men to kill them, encouraged Corey into murder and suicide through drugs, or just convinced Torque to do it himself. During the second game, Blackmore decides to ally himself with the Foundation- only to end up ousting Jordan from power and taking command of it's private army in an attempt to seize power- and to apparently take revenge on Torque. Late in the game, it's revealed that Blackmore is another one of Torque's secondary personalities, and the orders he delivers to his troops are given while Torque is unconscious; however, he's also grown tired of having to run his empire on a part-time basis, and is now trying to destroy Torque's personality so he can take control.

• Affably Evil: Calm, polite, genial, and ruthless beyond measure. He treats his henchmen generously- provided they obey his orders without question. He even goes out of his way to offer Torque "friendly advice." But should Torque disregard it...
• Bald of Evil
• Beard of Evil: Sports a goatee.
• The Chessmaster: As well as being a strategist at heart, he likes making references to games, including chess.
• Cruel Mercy: The reason his troops spared Torque's life after killing his family in the good ending of the first game.

"He said to leave you alive. Only you. Enjoy your new life."

• • However, if you started the game with the good ending from the first game, a flashback reveals that he had ordered his men only to scare Torque's family, but when finding out that they went above and beyond those instructions, he reacts with genuine horror.

Blackmore: "I never said to do THAT!...Now they're gone!!

• Diabolical Mastermind
• The Dreaded
• Evil Mentor: To Torque. The finale reveals that he also acted as this during Torque's childhood.
• Evil Sounds Deep
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: There appear to be several old scars on his cheeks.
• Imaginary Friend: Blackmore started out as this to Torque.
  • Not-So-Imaginary Friend: What he became.
• Jekyll and Hyde: Hyde to Torque's Jekyll.
• The Killer in Me
• Lean and Mean
• Manipulative Bastard
• Parental Substitute: To Torque- or at least he likes to think so, judging by all the times he refers to Torque as "My little one." Flashbacks during the endgame reveal that he was a more concrete example during Torque's years in the orphanage.
• Split Personality Takeover: Should Torque take the good path, Blackmore will be purged from his mind once and for all; on the other hand, at the end of the evil path, Blackmore will simply destroy Torque's personality and take over.
  • Split Personality Merge: At the end of the neutral path, Torque and Blackmore learn that they are unable to destroy one another, and are forced into an uneasy truce.