History Characters / ClawingAtGlass

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Murdering your leader is usually awful. But when your leader is an abusive, genocidal maniac like Talvor, it's far more understandable. Avis makes common practice of this with his fellow day-vamps, turning what would otherwise be awful [[TeamKiller team killing]] to this.

* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask: Ahandi is established early as anxious and nowhere near as unflappable as she makes herself out to be, but she only reveals these feelings to Wydel. To everyone else, Ahandi has all the power and grace expected out of the Sprucequeen.

* WeaponOfChoice: Fancies a crimson dagger, with which he is ''very'' apt to use [[SlashedThroat to cut his enemies' throats]].

* NotSoDifferent: Growls this at Avis when he attempts to decry her actions: "I won't say I did anything worse than you have."

* SacrificialLamb: [[spoiler:Vinn is the first named character with over a chapter of page-time to die in the story to illustrate the threat of the Motherbrood.]]

* BigBadDuumvirate: They're the ones behind the Red Dawn, the Motherbrood attacks and all the misery in the plot.

* BrokenTears: [[spoiler:Upon her exile from Inoptica, Zada can only weep sadly, even without eyes.]]

* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: [[spoiler:She befriends the Watcher itself, making it her partner in her scheming.]]

* TheExile: [[spoiler:Her final fate is permanent exile from Inoptica, to earth.]]

* AndIMustScream: His victims are taken in his flames to burn and scream forever, within a macabre 'collection.

* WouldntHurtAChild: Zig-zagged. Zada is adamant alongside Avis that Wydel stay out of the battle, but when Wydel insists on attacking anyways, Zada sneak-attacks Avis while he's attempting to passively subdue her, leading to a chain of events that ends with Wydel being stabbed. Zada doesn't--[[LackOfEmpathy or can't]]--care beyond a superficial level.

* LackOfEmpathy: [[spoiler:Zada's moral compass is defunct by her own admission and has been for as long as she's been in Inoptica. Dubbing herself a "researcher" of those sorts of emotions, years of seeing people die and suffer without being able to foster proper emotional connections to them have left her unable to care for her fellows, instead focusing on the one thing that's become closest thing she's reached to a truly good thing in her life.]]

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: To Razmin from ''Mirrorworld''. Both are [[TheMole spies for the antagonists]] subject to reveals concerning their true loyalty around halfway, but the contrasts are numerous. Aesthetically, Razmin is a night-claw associated with darkness, whereas Zada is a wing-sage associated with blinding white light; character-wise, Razmin was a ReluctantTraitor suffocated by her own guilt for the amount of death her treachery inadvertently caused while doing everything she can for a good cause, particularly House Dusk, whereas Zada simply ''can't'' care about the lives she expends, arranging for the death of hundreds of her own people for her own goals.

[[folder:Zada]]

An auditor in House Midnight, and the aide to Jondi.

* AMillionIsAStatistic: [[spoiler:Don't sweat the small stuff. Even when the small stuff is countless members of her own House and others ending up as corpses.]]
* AffablyEvil: [[spoiler:A wicked LackOfEmpathy or not, Zada is still as sincerely pleasant and cheerful as she is when she's holding up the mask. She doesn't even seem to bear Avis, who attempts to murder her, any ill will.]]
* AllLovingHero: Zada is the most heroic character seen yet, and she has empathy and compassion for everyone within Inoptica. [[spoiler:At least, as she presents on the surface.]]
* AssassinOutclassin: [[spoiler:Trick-Jack dismisses her use when Avis proves more convenient to him and orders him to kill Zada. Zada nearly kills ''him'' instead, leading to her accepted back while Avis is left to die.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Played with. Zada really ''is'' AffablyEvil, doesn't behave drastically different from the straight-edged, perky NiceGirl she appears to be when she reveals her treachery, and she doesn't even seem to bear the concept of any genuine malice or evil. It's just that the LackOfEmpathy she's griped with with all her life has left her, after a point, uncaring to the "little things"--even if those little things are hundreds of fellow wing-sages.]]
* BreakTheCutie: The attack of the Brood does a horrible number on her, reducing her to tears at the mere memory of it. [[spoiler:It's possible there never really ''was'' much to break, as Zada remarks she's felt "wrong" inside ever since she crossed into Inoptica.]]

* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Zada is as least a good as manipulator as Avis, and has outplayed everyone, even Avis being caught off guard to a degree by her.]]
* CombatPragmatist: [[spoiler:She's lightning-fast, but she doesn't have the stamina to keep up in prolonged combat with people like Avis. To accommodate, Zada has a tendency to strike when her opponents are distracted, no matter why, using Avis' moment of paralyzed horror when he accidentally strikes Wydel to get him InTheBack.]]
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: [[spoiler:To Razmin from ''Mirrorworld''. Both are [[TheMole spies for the antagonists]] subject to reveals concerning their true loyalty around halfway, but the contrasts are numerous. Aesthetically, Razmin is a night-claw associated with darkness, whereas Zada is a wing-sage associated with blinding white light; character-wise, Razmin was a ReluctantTraitor suffocated by her own guilt for the amount of death her treachery inadvertently caused while doing everything she can for a good cause, particularly House Dusk, whereas Zada simply ''can't'' care about the lives she expends, arranging for the death of hundreds of her own people for her own goals.]]
* DarkActionGirl: [[spoiler:Zada puts up the image of being a docile wing-sage with no combat training whatsoever. Turns out she's good enough to keep up and beat ''Avis''.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:For everything she's lied about, Zada's distaste for the Red Dawn seems to be entirely sincere. Her entire plot for the King and Queen seems to be her own scheme meant to prove the Red Dawn and all the death that goes with it as unnecessary.]]
* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler:Zada's been one of the chief agents of the Red King and the White Queen for ''far'' longer than she's even been Jondi's aide. The botched moon-strike was arranged by her, which doesn't become clear until chapter sixteen.]]
* EyeScream: [[spoiler:Jondi takes out her right eye, and it's covered by a white, moon-shaped eyepatch from then on.]]
* TheExtremistWasRight: [[spoiler:A twisted instance: Zada puts the person she's fascinated with, Jondi--a formerly great brood-surgeon who collapsed into ineffectual alcoholism and drug abuse to become a shell of his former self--through absolute ''hell'' to try and really prove he has what it takes to reach greatness again. Jondi ruminates it ''worked''.]]
* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: [[spoiler:Zada outwardly is pleasant, smiley, and has a cute-as-a-button face. Behind it, Zada is a calculating, amoral mass murderer incapable of feeling anything but detached regret for the hundreds of lives she destroys and the hell she puts her own charge Jondi through in attempting to "better" him.]]
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Among the auditors, Zada is seen as weird and creepy. [[spoiler:Looking closer reveals exactly why they think that.]]
* GenkiGirl: Perky and upbeat as Jondi is downcast. Which is to say, very.
* HiddenDepths:
** Trying to keep up her cheerful demeanor after the Brood attack leaves her sad and despondent under previous genki-ness.
** [[spoiler:At her core, Zada is [[BitchInSheepsClothing far, far more]] than the giggly, perky wing-sage she appears to be on the outside.]]

* LonersAreFreaks: Zada is seen as isolated and creepy by others. [[spoiler:Turns out this is accurate. Zada is a maladjusted sociopath who can kill hundreds of people just as easily as she can shake someone's hand.]]
* MoralityPet: To Jondi. Jondi isn't evil, but he's acerbic, depressed and an alcoholic wreck. Zada's influence helps to get him back on track as a brood-surgeon, and she directly gives him the opportunity to join the moon-strike. [[spoiler:It turns out it's the exact opposite way around; ''Jondi'' is the only truly positive aspect Zada has in the present day, and she utterly refuses to hurt him even when he attacks her.]]

* NiceGirl: One of the nicest in the entire cast. Her pleasant demeanor is ''particularly'' noticeable next to Jondi, and even he finds himself relishing her sweetness. [[spoiler:It's a [[AffablyEvil much more complicated case]] than that.]]
* NiceMeanAndInBetween: [[spoiler:Of the King and Queen's three primary agents--Avis, Kryce and herself--Zada is the Nice. She lacks Avis' conscience and she's a dedicated agent of the King and Queen who ruthlessly manipulates the death of hundreds of her own kind, but she's also ''sincerely'' AffablyEvil incapable of genuine malice as she is incapable of genuine benevolence, and unlike Kryce's savagery and eventual [[OmnicidalManiac attempts at killing all life in Inoptica]], is actively working so at least ''some'' of Inoptica's population will survive.]]
* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler:Growls this at Avis when he attempts to decry her actions: "I won't say I did anything worse than you have."]]
* PerkyFemaleMinion: [[spoiler:To the Red King and White Queen. None of her cheerful nature is really a farce and she's by far the most AffablyEvil of the King and Queen's servitors, even if that doesn't place her on any higher moral standing than them.]]
* PerpetualSmiler: It's rare Zada doesn't have a big grin on her face.
* PetTheDog: [[spoiler:Though it's unclear how much boils down to either PragmaticVillainy or mere "frivolity," Zada takes numerous small instances to try and mitigate the damage she does, urging Wydel away from the battle she has with Avis and never directly attacking her, and convincing Keane to go on break to get out of the Lunatheneum before she destroys it.]]

* RedRightHand: [[spoiler:Once she's ousted a villain, Jondi takes her right eye out, forcing her to cover it under an eyepatch.]]

* TheSociopath: [[spoiler:Played for drama. Zada doesn't seem capable of deep emotions and can't care for others beyond superficial levels. She seems aware of this, but it doesn't seem to change it.]]
* TragicVillain: [[spoiler:Her predicament isn't on the same level as Kryce, but Zada's status as TheSociopath anguishes her as much as it does others. She's attempted in the past numerous times to mitigate her damage ([[PetTheDog and she still does in the present day]]) with no success, and she's long given up on any real notion of overcoming her nature because she knows nobody's ever going to save her from it.]]
* TraumaButton: Mention of the Brood reduces Zada to a crying wreck, as she's forced to remember her fellow wing-sages murdered and violated. [[spoiler:Or does it...?]]
* UncannyValleyGirl: [[spoiler:Zada's pleasant, seemingly well-meaning and docile, and looks adorable, but there's mentioned to be something off and creepy about her. She seems to be the perfect kind of girl to lift [[BrokenAce Jondi]] out of his rut and back into greatness, and in a roundabout way she ''does'', but Zada is secretly a broken sociopath willing to annihilate the majority of her own race.]]
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Zada only means well by giving Jondi the opportunity to become a brood-surgeon again, but unfortunately that puts Jondi directly in harm's way of the Motherbrood's attack. [[spoiler:Or so it appears.]]
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Zada "rationalizes" her actions as this, seeing a few-hundred lives snuffed out as irrelevant to Jondi whom she believes will change ''everything''--though it's unlikely this is out of any genuine benevolent intent [[TheSociopath given who she is]]. On another note, she flip-flops between serving the wishes of decidedly ''not'' well-intentioned deities and attempting to mitigate their long-term damage when their alternative is to [[OmnicidalManiac butcher everything]].]]
* WouldntHurtAChild: [[spoiler:Zig-zagged. Zada is adamant alongside Avis that Wydel stay out of the battle, but when Wydel insists on attacking anyways, Zada sneak-attacks Avis while he's attempting to passively subdue her, leading to a chain of events that ends with Wydel being stabbed. Zada doesn't--[[LackOfEmpathy or can't]]--care beyond a superficial level.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: Subject to one of the story's biggest reveals.

** [[spoiler:Trick-Jack admonishes her for not doing her task ''quite'' as well as Avis has, and attempts to have her killed by Avis for having become a liability. Zada ends up [[AssassinOutclassin turning the tables on Avis and nearly killing him]] instead.]]
** [[spoiler:More implicitly, but Zada pulls this on Hypraith, whom she's been playing the entire story, killing him [[HeelRealization just as he's decided to have seconds thoughts on ruling the House]].]]
* YouWillBeSpared: [[spoiler:Though she's working to ensure greater populations of Inoptica stay alive (as opposed as to what would happen in Kryce's Conflagration plan) Zada singles out Keane before she initiates the destruction of the Lunatheneum. It's based more on arbitrary "frivolity" more than anything given Zada's lack of a conscience, but Zada does single her out [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe because she was one of the few auditors who didn't mock her]].]]

* NiceMeanAndInBetween: [[spoiler:Of the King and Queen's three agents--Kryce, Zada and himself--Kryce is the In-Between. Morally he's superior to both and he has a heart of gold buried deep, ''deep'' under his JerkassFacade, but he's also blunt, nearly emotionless, callous, and sometimes just as sadistically violent as any of the other day-vamps in Talvor's brigade--albeit, he mostly keeps his violence targeted ''toward'' [[AssholeVictim said brigade]].]]

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Outside House Noon, Talvor is hated and despised by all others.
* ANaziByAnyOtherName: In a world fraught with violent FantasticRacism, Talvor is the absolute nadir: a genocidal, supremacist sadist who preaches the day-vamps as the MasterRace and loathes Dusk with such a passion he decrees his [[FinalSolution only solution]] is a "holocaust dream" to exterminate them. To draw even more parallels, Talvor fills up literal body pits of his victims and purges his own House to root out any inferiors--like the children and the sickly.
* AbusiveParents: Talvor treats House Noon like his family. A dark example, as he's a sadistic, abusive monster who views his 'children' as tools to kill for him and tortures them until they're willing to do so.

* AttackAttackAttack: Talvor's strategies involve throwing day-vamps at the enemy until they're extinct.
* BadBoss: Talvor mutilated his day-vamps, convincing them they deserved it, while forging them into savage killers.

* ColdBloodedTorture: Talvor frequently and horribly tortures the day-vamps under his command to condition them into his genocidal little puppets.

* FinalSolution: Talvor, FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence, has shaped in motion a plan he calls the "Red Dawn," wherein Noon will exterminate House Dusk to the absolute last. [[spoiler:He also had plans to exterminate every other House save House Noon.]]

* MaskOfSanity: Emphasis on mask. Talvor can act superficially pleasant, but he's a psychopathic Nazi under it.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Downplayed. Talvor is beloved by House Noon precisely for his savagery, and his House mourns his loss immensely, but outside Noon, Talvor's universally seen as a lunatic.

* WouldHurtAChild: The children of House Noon are subject to savage purges, the same as any other "weakling" in his House, and night-claw children are emphatically not spared in his massacres.