In attempting to classify people or characters into groups, the trouble of course, is that such labels can be misleading at best, and severely prejudiced, and variable. When using terms such as hero, villain, anti-hero, anti-villain, adventurer, or mad scientist, it is important to remember how vague and movable the borders really are, and to ask why a certain label is, or should be, placed on a specific character.
It is never enough to simply classify a character or a person. One must take into consideration what the creator of the character has in mind, what circumstances affected this person’s actions, what culture or society this person came from, what his or her own beliefs or intentions may be, and finally, how our own principles, prejudices, and associations may influence our perceptions.
What makes a person a hero or a villain? How much comes from inner predisposition, from personal destiny, from mere interpretation? Is someone obliged to become a hero or villain by virtue of their existence, or are heroes and villains molded over time with an outcome that could potentially have gone either way? How much of it is voluntary, and how many of these people truly anticipate (and care) how they will be interpreted by others?
Abraham Van Helsing
Allan Quatermain
Captain Nemo
Captain Selene Navarre
Dr. Henry Jekyll / Edward Hyde
Dr. John H. Watson
Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond
Jonathan Harker
Lara Barrington
Rodney Skinner
Sherlock Holmes
Tom Sawyer
Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker, nee, Murray
Lady Godiva
It is never enough to simply classify a character or a person. One must take into consideration what the creator of the character has in mind, what circumstances affected this person’s actions, what culture or society this person came from, what his or her own beliefs or intentions may be, and finally, how our own principles, prejudices, and associations may influence our perceptions.
What makes a person a hero or a villain? How much comes from inner predisposition, from personal destiny, from mere interpretation? Is someone obliged to become a hero or villain by virtue of their existence, or are heroes and villains molded over time with an outcome that could potentially have gone either way? How much of it is voluntary, and how many of these people truly anticipate (and care) how they will be interpreted by others?
Heroes
Abraham Van Helsing
(face: Hugh Jackman)
- a philosopher and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced scientists of his day... this, with an iron nerve, a temper of the ice-brook, and indomitable resolution, self-command, and toleration exalted from virtues to blessings, and the kindliest and truest heart that beats, these form his equipment for the noble work that he is doing to make mankind safe from demons and the horrors of the night.
Allan Quatermain
(face: Patrick Wayne Swayze)
- an American professional big game hunter and adventurer. (Writer may change the background story)
Captain Nemo
(face: Naseeruddin Shah)
- a mysterious figure. The son of an Indian raja, he is a scientific genius who roams the depths of the sea in his submarine, the Nautilus, which was built in pieces all over the world and shipped to the builder. Nemo tries to project a stern, controlled confidence, but he is driven by a thirst for vengeance and a hatred of imperialism focused on the British Empire. He is also wracked by remorse over the deaths of his crew members and even by the deaths of enemy sailors.
Captain Selene Navarre
(face: Angeline Jolie)
- Airship Fleet Commander of a private air force known as the AeroLegionaires.
Dr. Henry Jekyll / Edward Hyde
(face: Jason Flemyng)
- Dr. Henry Jekyll feels he is battling between the good and evil within himself, thus leading to the struggle with his alter ego, Edward Hyde. He spends his life trying to repress evil urges that are not fitting for a man of his stature. He develops a serum in an attempt to mask this hidden evil.
- However, in doing so, Jekyll transforms into Hyde, a hideous creature without compassion or remorse. Jekyll has a friendly personality, but as Hyde, he becomes mysterious and violent. As time goes by, Hyde grows in power and eventually manifests whenever Jekyll shows signs of physical or moral weakness, no longer needing the serum to be released.
Dr. John H. Watson
(face: writer's choice, but Jude Law is good)
- Doctor, scientist, and assistant to renowned private investigator, Sherlock Holmes.
Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond
(face: writer's choice)
- a war veteran who, fed up with his sedate lifestyle, advertises looking for excitement, and becomes a gentleman adventurer. Publishing an advertisement looking for adventure, he soon finds himself embroiled in a series of exploits, many of which involve Carl Peterson—who becomes his nemesis—and Peterson's mistress, the femme fatale, Irma Eckman.
Jonathan Harker
(face: writer's choice but Keanu Reeves is good)
- recently admitted solicitor from England. Jonathan and Mina divorce over her immortality; with him joining Abraham Van Helsing in his adventures.
Lara Barrington
(face: Meagan Marie)
- explorer and writer - she is a woman who travels the world in search of forgotten artifacts and locations, frequently connected to supernatural powers. Often works with Sir William Maubrey.
Rodney Skinner
(face: Tony Curran)
- known as The Invisible Man, Rodney is completely invisible; he renders himself visible when necessary by the application of white greasepaint to his face and (shaven) head, and usually wears a long leather trenchcoat, a trilby, and dark pince-nez. He speaks with a Cockney lilt to his voice. He is also a thief who stole the invisibility formula from (we are led to assume) the original anti-hero.
Sherlock Holmes
(face: Robert Downey Jr)
- famous private investigator. Referring to himself as a "consulting detective" in the stories, he is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science, and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard.
Tom Sawyer
(face: Shane West)
- Agent, American Securities Agency. the fearless and handsome Thomas Sawyer from Missouri is an agent working for the American Securities Agency; an organization whose mission is to protect the United States from all sort of villains, particularly the megalomaniacal villains, that ordinary crime-fighting agencies cannot.
Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker, nee, Murray
(face: Peta Wilson)
- a British adventurer turned immortal, a former music teacher and agent for the British Secret Service. She was also the leader of two incarnations of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Lady Godiva
(face, background, and story is writer's choice.)
- she can be either Hero or Villain.
Villains
Adrienne Simza
(face: Noomi Rapace)
- a Romani Rudari gypsy born in Bratislava. Besides being a talented singer and violinist, she is a dagger throwing artist. Some have accused her as an assassin.
Carl Peterson
(face: Richard Roxburgh)
- a master of disguise, and he’s a very cool customer when it comes to crime. See his alter-ego henchman, Henry Lakington.
Edmond Dantés
(face: Jim Caviezel) ~ RESERVED for Playerfiles ~
- also known as the Count of Monte Cristo, a self-centered man with only thoughts of revenge on his mind and no traits that any hero would display at any point of his tumultuous life.
Fantômas
(face: writer's choice)
- Fantomas Rene Navarre’s background remains vague. He might be of British and/or French ancestry; but has no such qualms and is shown as a sociopath who enjoys killing in a sadistic fashion. He is totally ruthless, gives no mercy, and is loyal to none, not even his own children. He is a master of disguise, always appearing under an assumed identity, often that of a person whom he has murdered. Fantômas makes use of bizarre and improbable techniques in his crimes, such as plague-infested rats, giant snakes, and rooms that fill with sand.
- Fantomas is secretly the brother to Captain Selene Navarre.
Fu Manchu
(face: writer's choice)
- a master criminal... His murderous plots are marked by the extensive use of arcane methods; he disdains guns or explosives, preferring dacoits, thugs, and members of other secret societies as his agents (usually armed with knives), or using "pythons and cobras ... fungi and bacilli ... black spiders" and other peculiar animals or natural chemical weapons. He has a great respect for the truth (in fact, his word is his bond), and uses torture and other gruesome tactics to dispose of his enemies. He is described as a mysterious villain because he seldom appears on the scene. He always sends his minions to commit crimes for him. For instance, sending a beautiful young girl to the crime scene to see if the victim is dead.
Helen Grayle / Velma Valento
(face: writer's choice)
- she leaves a trail of bloody victims in her wake as she tries to hide her past as flame-haired nightclub singer Velma Valento.
Henry Lakington
(face: is same as Carl Petersen's: Richard Roxburgh)
- is Carl Petersen's (Master of Disguise), alter-ego henchman; who is a very nasty piece of work indeed - his main amusements being devising sadistic means of murder and torture and pulling off spectacular jewel robberies.
Irma Eckman
(face: writer's choice)
- a blonde in her late 20s or early30s, she works for villain Carl Petersen, carrying out assassinations as part of a team with another villainess, Penelope. Irma is highly efficient in her work and may be psychotic, since she clearly has no qualms about killing; She kills a man with a booby-trapped cigar, then blows up the skyship he is on, killing at least four more people - but seems to have no emotional reaction to any of this. Irma is shown to have quite an authoritarian streak.
Jack the Ripper
(face: writer's choice)
- terrorizes London with a blade, killing at least five, but suspected many more, women and mutilating their bodies in an unusual manner, indicating that the killer has a substantial knowledge of human anatomy. The culprit has never captured—or even identified—and Jack the Ripper remains one of England’s, and the world’s, most infamous criminals.
Lord Henry Blackwood
(face: Mark Strong)
- the devious cultist and a scientific genius, he inspires fear in the people of England after he returns from the dead (supposedly) in order to enact a terrible plan to overthrow the British Empire.
Milo Bentene Vorhees
(face: writer's choice)
- an unashamed mercenary, insane steam engineer, and deranged surgeon, who cares only for himself, and his own profit, Milo Bentene Voorhees is a tremendous villain. He will stop at nothing to achieve monetary gain, playing the black market, and working on both sides during any war, riot, or public insurrection; even when it involves actions that will kill his own countrymen. Utterly immoral, and utterly committed to pure capitalism, Voorhees only answers to himself and his god: money. But the man has mixed steam engineering and surgical exploration into a science... beginning first with small animals, then onto larger animals... and yes, even men and... his next venture, women.
Professor James Moriarty
(face: Jared Harris)
- a Machiavellian criminal mastermind whom nemesis, Sherlock Holmes , describes as the "Napoleon of crime. He is a man of good birth and excellent education, endowed by nature with a phenomenal mathematical faculty. At the age of 21, he wrote a treatise upon the binomial theorem which has had a European vogue. On the strength of it, he won the mathematical chair at one of our smaller universities, and had, to all appearances, a most brilliant career before him. But the man had hereditary tendencies of the most diabolical kind. A criminal strain ran in his blood, which, instead of being modified, was increased and rendered infinitely more dangerous by his extraordinary mental powers. Dark rumors gathered round him in the University town, and eventually he was compelled to resign his chair and come down to London. He is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city. But in calling Moriarty a criminal, you are uttering libel in the eyes of the law—and there lie the glory and the wonder of it! The greatest schemer of all time, the organizer of every devilry, the controlling brain of the underworld, a brain which might have made or marred the destiny of nations—that's the man! But so aloof is he from general suspicion, so immune from criticism, so admirable in his management and self-effacement, that for those very words that you have uttered, he could hale you to a court and emerge with your year's pension as a solatium for his wounded character."
Sanderson Reed
(face: Tom Goodman-Hill)
- a British government agent turned traitor. Not for any megalomaniacal or fanatical reason except plain, unadulterated GREED. The first lead to the man known as named Fantômas’s.
Svengali
(face: writer's choice)
- he will either fawn or bully, and can be grossly impertinent. He has a kind of cynical humor which is more offensive than amusing and always laughs at the wrong thing, at the wrong time, in the wrong place. And his laughter is always derisive and full of malice... and he is considered a person who, with evil intent, controls another person by persuasion or deceit; feigning kindness and using manipulation to get the other person to yield his independence.
Steerpike
(face: writer's choice)
- Steerpike advances from the castle's nightmarish kitchens to the highest social echelons, via murder. He can be considered an archetypal Machiavellian schemer: a highly intelligent, ruthless character willing to justify any and all means to reach his end.
- His personality as follows: "If ever he had harboured a conscience in his tough narrow breast he had by now dug out and flung away the awkward thing — flung it so far away that were he ever to need it again he could never find it. High-shouldered to a degree little short of malformation, slender and adroit of limb and frame, his eyes close-set and the colour of dried blood, he is climbing the spiral staircase of the soul of Gormenghast, bound for some pinnacle of the itching fancy — some wild, invulnerable eyrie best known to himself; where he can watch the world spread out below him, and shake exultantly his clotted wings."
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