History Characters / HotlineMiami

* AbsoluteXenophobe: He despises the Russians and assaults a random couple in the digital comic for being Russian. When a tattoo artist refuses to give him a tattoo because there are no available appointments until next Friday, Jake calls him a "Russian asshole". He also appears to be a neo-confederate, implying that he hates African Americans as well.

* DeepSouth: He's a neo-confederate who owns a Confederate flag bedsheet and wants a tattoo of the "good old Dixie".

** Also, after Evan [[spoiler: Interviews Richter, you read a letter from his wife telling him that she misses him, you have two options, you can continue with the novel in pursuit of the truth, or actually call her.]]

* TheUnfettered: For them, if that means more help in toppling the Coalition, threatening someone's ill mother and torching someone's car (which is how they recruited The Fugitive) is fair game.

* {{Jerkass}}: In ''Wrong Number''. It's worth noting that he is only a dick to the people who are violent and hateful. Evan, Beard, and Richter are the only playable characters he appears to bear no ill will towards.

[[folder:Tension Man]]
!!

* NoNameGiven: He's only known as Tension Man.

* UnknownCharacter: Nothing is known about Tension Man, only that he had the sheer bad luck to have been captured by the Russians and being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler: In Jacket's coma, Richter is more aggressive and hostile towards Jacket and he even kills his hallucination of Beard. Once Jacket wakes up and confronts Richter in jail, the latter is apologetic and calmly explains that he too was getting phone calls before saying that he won't beg for his life because he knows Jacket has already made up his mind. Jacket also didn't know that Richter was a caregiver for his ailing mother and was only an operative of 50 Blessings to protect her from them.]]

An unfortunate 50 Blessings operative who was found wearing a Tony mask. He was captured by the Mafiya in ''Tension'' and was being tortured at the time of Jacket's arrival.

* ColdBloodedTorture: He was the previous operative before Jacket but he failed in his mission, resulting in his capture and subsequently being tortured by the Russians.

->''"Killing thows."''

[[folder:Jones]]
!!Jones
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jones_hm.png]]
-> ''"Hey... *COUGH* I think I get it now... This... this whole thing. All that has happened. [[AllJustADream It's just a dream. ... Right? It's all just a bad dream, isn't it?]] ... *COUGH* I knew it...*COUGH*"''

A 50 Blessings operative found bleeding to death in a sewer at the end of ''Full House''.

* BaldOfEvil: Like Earl, can be considered as such.
* {{Expy}}: His animal mask and name is most likely a reference to Killer Croc (real name Waylon Jones) from the ComicBook/{{Batman}} series. He also looks similar to Creator/SteveHarvey.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: His comments about everything being a dream seem cryptic and as though the man is in denial that he's about to die... [[spoiler:and then comes the ''Trauma'' level, where it's revealed Jacket has been in a coma for the game's duration]].
* GuideDangIt: It's possible to play through the entire game and not know he exists.
* LudicrousGibs: His mask makes kills and executions BloodierAndGorier. An image comparing blood and gore with the mask versus without the mask can be found [[https://hotlinemiami.fandom.com/wiki/Jones_Mask?file=Jonesmask_comparison.png here]].
* SewerGator: His mask is based on an alligator, and he's found dying in a sewer.

[[folder:Richter ('''Unmarked spoilers for the first game''')]]
!!Richter Berg
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hmrichter.png]]
[[caption-width-right:200:[[labelnote:Click to see him without his mask.]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/richterface_hm.png[[/labelnote]]]]

->''"Hey, you! [=VIPs=] only tonight. I think you better leave."''

A rather rude man who starts taking over for Beard at a few stores and bars some time after Phone Hom. That is to say, he kills Beard and takes his place. He is eventually ordered to kill Jacket and the Girlfriend by the phone calls, but only succeeds in killing the latter. Jacket later tracks him down to the local police precinct, where he's being held for questioning, and shakes him down for answers about the phone calls.

* AccidentalMurder: He laments the death of girlfriend and the crime scene, combined with Richter's playstyle in the sequel, implies Girlfriend was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Girlfriend was shot through the door to the bathroom and Richter's playstyle shows that he's very jumpy and quick to attack. This creates the idea that Richter was only supposed to assassinate Jacket and he accidentally killed Girlfriend when Richter mistook her for Jacket while she was in the bathroom.

* AnimalMotifs: As a 50 Blessings Operative, Richter is given a rat mask and is called "The Rat". Rats are known to have strong maternal instincts and are prepared to do anything to survive. In the second game, this is inverted with Richter as he does anything to survive and protect his ailing mother from 50 Blessings. Richter is also deemed a traitor to 50 Blessings for trying to back out of their operation by refusing to act on their missions, parallelling how rats are seen as symbols of treachery.

** [[spoiler: Furthermore, his script that can be found right before Martin surrenders himself to the police implies that the Final Cut chapter of the game was supposed to end with Martin recovering the girl rather than getting gunned down by her. The only other presence of film crews outside of Martin Brown's levels is in Manny Pardo's final level, where it's implied, due to the level being a dream sequence, that their presence only exists as an internalized framing device. This raises the possibility that the Midnight Animal movie that Martin is supposedly shooting is only a demented justification for his psychotic tendencies and that he may actually be a serial killer.]]

* SubParSupremacist: While Jake is never shown expressing any supremacist opinions, he is definitely meant to evoke the stereotype of one, as implied by his patriotic hatred of Russians and neo-Confederate allegiance combined with the fact that he is a FatSlob and and a not-so-clever guy.

* {{Tuckerization}}: He is named after the writer of ''Series/GenerationKill'' and ''Cocaine Cowboys'', the latter of which was the inspiration for the series.
* VideoGameCaringPotential: He runs on this. While outright killing enemies ''is'' possible with him, doing so awards less points than knocking them out and unloading their guns.

* SubParSupremacist: Jake hates the Russians and he's also shown to be a neo-confederate, as evident by the confederate flag in his apartment and his tattoo idea being of "Old dixie" on his shoulder. Jake himself is a former junkyard worker and a fat boarish man who lost his job because he berated and insulted his boss. Jake's death was also a result of stupidity and naivety, he told 50 Blessings that he knows about the phone calls and he automatically assumed they would trust him with this information. Causing him to be shot by The Volunteer for knowing too much about their operation.

* AnimalMotifs: As a 50 Blessings Operative, Richter is given a rat mask and is called "The Rat". Rats are known to have strong maternal instincts and are prepared to do anything to survive. In the game, this is inverted with Richter as he does anything to survive and protect his ailing mother from 50 Blessings. In the game, Richter is also deemed a traitor to 50 Blessings for trying to back out of their operation by refusing to act on their missions, parallelling how rats are seen as symbols of treachery.

* NoNameGiven: He's never mentioned by name in dialogue, and never introduces himself. The game files refer to him as "Niklas" (keeping with his status as a CreatorCameo for El Huervo), though. In ''Wrong Number'', he uses various aliases as part of the Ghost Wolves' SpySpeak, but is never referred by his actual name.

* {{Foil}}: To Jacket. Both of them are masked killers with psychotic tendencies, but whereas Jacket invokes KillEmAll and is motivated by revenge, Biker kills only because he finds it fun, yet can spare a whole lot of people. Furthermore, Biker openly talks and is rather forward, while Jacket is silent. Most importantly, however, Biker [[spoiler:found out the truth about the phone calls and pulled a ScrewThisImOutOfHere upon getting his answer, while Jacket falsely concluded that the calls came from the Russian Mafyia and slaughters its leadership instead, further advancing 50 Blessings' goals. Jacket then lets himself get caught by the police without ever learning the truth, dying in custody thanks to a nuking brought by an organization whose goals he advanced. By contrast, Biker may have survived the nuking while hiding in the desert, as he knew the implications of the truth]].

* KillEmAll: Averted. He'll lay waste to all the thugs, but he can spare some people, and you have the option to not kill anyone at Phone Hom, [[spoiler:and the janitors at the end]].

* HeroAntagonist: He's just defending himself and doing his job as the police chief, which presumably entails solving the mystery behind the killings. Too bad [[AntiHero Jacket]] had [[KillEmAll his own method]] of finding the truth.

* KillEmAll: He almost never leaves any survivors. Except for his girlfriend.

** Bodyguard: Starts him off with the same sword that his father's [[NamesTheSame Bodyguard]] used in the first game and gives Corey's ability to roll.

* WeaponOfChoice: He uses a meat cleaver and darts for melee and range.

* ThisIsADrill: His WeaponOfChoice, which his mask gives to Jacket, is a power drill that they use to execute gangsters that have been knocked down.

* WeaponOfChoice: Her primary weapon is a katana, along with some throwing knives.

* HollywoodSilencer: Combined with a pistol, this adds up to his WeaponOfChoice.

[[folder: The Girlfriend]]

* DarkSkinnedBlond: However, we can infer this to be a tan.

* {{Nerd}}: He is good in informatics, which is why he is used by the masked killers.

* AttentionWhore: [[spoiler: His reason for being the Miami Mutilator is to garner the same fame Jacket did.]]

* GloryHound: Goes on killing sprees against armed thugs and gangsters against his superiors' wishes for this purpose.

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: Possibly. [[spoiler: His final chapter involves a nightmare where he's an actor in ''Midnight Animal'' and not really a cop at all. He also briefly hallucinates the film crew when visiting the first crime scene if playing on Hard. It's possible that this is a manifestation of his wish for a movie based on him and his own killings.]]

* AntiVillain: He's a ruthless mass murderer who is implied to do what he does out of sadism, yet has genuine care for a select few and tends to only go after mobsters. [[spoiler:He's also an UnwittingPawn to 50 blessings as well as being psychotic to the point of having no grasp on reality, giving him a layer of tragedy and helplessness.]]
* AdventuresInComaland: [[spoiler: What the Dream Apartment ultimately turns out to be for him.]]

* CoolCar: Drives a [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture DeLorean]]. [[spoiler: It gets defaced by vandals late in the game.]]

* HeroicMime: For a given definition of "hero." He does have a single line of narration in the first issue of the ''Wrong Number'' prequel comic.

* NoNameGiven: He's never given a name in-game, not even a nickname. As such, fans simply refer to him as either Jacket or The Hitman. However, by the time of ''Wrong Number'' he's become known as "The Masked Maniac". It's possible that his Richard mask is named after him.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: For certain characters, he finishes them off by brutally bashing their heads into a bloody pulp, putting out their eyes with his thumbs and in one case, setting the corpse on fire.

* PinballProtagonist: Goes through the whole game apparently never questioning what he's doing [[spoiler: until the ending, and even then he gets played like a fiddle by the Janitors.]] Richard even tells him just before his RoaringRampageOfRevenge that nothing he does from that point on will mean anything.

* {{Revenge}}: While it isn't properly elabortated on until the sequel, both games have Jacket's motivation as this. [[spoiler:He most likely joined 50 Blessings as revenge against the Russians for the death of his friend, and he spends the last third of the first game attacking the mob directly for killing his girlfriend.]]
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: After learning that his girlfriend has been murdered, he escapes from the hospital, puts his IconicOutfit on, and mows through a fortified police precinct just to find the assassin. Unlike most examples of this, once he finds out Richter was just as manipulated as he was, he has the option of sparing him which is the canonical option.]]

* TragicKeepsake: The mystery photo, which he tosses to the wind [[spoiler:in his ending.]] ''Wrong Number'' reveals the context behind it: [[spoiler: it was a photo of him and Beard taken during their time as soldiers in Hawaii. Jacket got it after Beard saved his life. Beard was just asking him to make a copy to send over when the former got a front row seat to the San Francisco incident...]]

* WouldHitAGirl: It doesn't matter if you're a woman; he ''will'' kill you as violently and ruthlessly as he would a man. Just ask [[spoiler: The Bodyguard.]]

* AwfulTruth: [[spoiler: If you collect all the puzzle pieces, Biker learns the truth of what was going on.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: He's a blatant BloodKnight, but he dislikes [[spoiler: the ultranationalist motives of 50 Blessings]].

* {{Foil}}: To Jacket. Both of them are masked killers with psychotic tendencies, but whereas Jacket invokes KillEmAll and is motivated by revenge, Biker kills only because he finds it fun, yet can spare a whole lot of people. Furthermore, Biker openly talks and is rather forward, while Jacket is silent. Most importantly, however, Biker [[spoiler: found out the truth about the phone calls and pulled a ScrewThisImOutOfHere upon getting his answer, while Jacket falsely concluded that the calls came from the Russian Mafyia and slaughters its leadership instead, further advancing 50 Blessings' goals. Jacket then lets himself get caught by the police without ever learning the truth, dying in custody thanks to a nuking brought by an organization whose goals he advanced. By contrast, Biker may have survived the nuking while hiding in the desert, as he knew the implications of the truth]].

* HeroOfAnotherStory: He is the protagonist of the epilogue, [[spoiler:though his actions eventually begin to contradict the canon version of events.]]

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler: He canonically spares the janitors, which only serves to allow them to continue making calls to the other hitmen and ultimately getting Jacket and Richter arrested, and the vast majority of the operatives and jacket's girlfriend killed off, not to mention the quite literal [[NukeEm "fallout"]] of 50 Blessings long term plan.]]

* VillainProtagonist: While Jacket's character is rather ambiguous, the Biker is much more openly psychotic, only wishing to get out of the assassination game because he finds it ''boring''. [[spoiler:Of course, he's only a villain in the sense that he is bloodthirsty. He opposes the Janitors, can spare the workers at Phone Hom, and doesn't kill informants needlessly]].

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler: He's never shown getting killed or nuked, and it's likely that hiding in the desert kept him a somewhat safe distance from the bombings.]]

* DeathSeeker: By the time Jacket raids Fisker's mansion, she's been kept for an unknown amount of time forcibly drugged and tied to a bed to be used as his SexSlave. After Jacket [[KickTheSonOfABitch brutally murders Fisker]] and indeed ''everyone else in the mansion'', Hooker just asks him to get it over with and kill her too. [[WhatYouAreInTheDark Jacket instead carries her gently out of the building and takes her home to nurse her to health.]] [[spoiler: Sadly, by the time she's grown out of this mentality and is implied to have gotten together with Jacket, 50 Blessings has her killed.]]

* MoralityPet: To Jacket. She is the first (and possibly only) person that he spares, and his apartment becomes cleaner (and their beds closer) over the course of her stay. [[spoiler: After she's killed, Jacket goes straight after her assassin, raiding a police precinct to get to him and, if the player so chooses, killing him.]]

* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:''Wrong Number'' reveals this to be the reason for his strange appearances in the first game - he's being hallucinated as part of Jacket's coma dream. The real Beard had been killed before the events of the first game.]]
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: He "dies" in the outro of the first game's third part, and all of his appearances afterwards are filled by Richter - [[spoiler:likely as a result of Jacket's memories blending together]].

* FigureItOutYourself: He encourages Jacket to do just that. In the end, he tells Jacket that he'll never see the big picture - and sure enough, [[spoiler:Jacket gets played like a fiddle while Biker finds the real truth]].

* TheGrimReaper: One interpretation of his role in ''Wrong Number,'' as he always appears [[spoiler:just before someone dies]].

* MistakenIdentity: He gets this on the receiving end from Richter, who thinks he's Jacket at first and tries to apologize him for killing the Girlfriend in [[spoiler:the Hard Mode intro]].

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: [[spoiler:Jacket simply stops hallucinating of her all of sudden and she is never seen again.]]

* DissonantSerenity: Her kind and soft-spoken attitude remains constant, despite [[spoiler: the Dream Apartment slowly decaying into ruin.]]

* VirileStallion: Implied, the horse mask is called "Don Juan" and is in the reference to the Spanish nobleman who was famous for his high sex drive and seduction of women. The mask is also worn by The Girl in Jacket's meetings, who was a sex slave of The Director.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: [[spoiler:Jacket simply stops hallucinating of him all of sudden and he is never seen again.]]

* InsufferableGenius: It's hinted that he's more intelligent than most of the brutish and hedonistic criminals of his kind due to his astute observations and analytical skills. He angrily insults Jacket for enjoying the killing sprees, and uses very formal language to do so. The fact that he's important enough to sit alongside Richard and Don Juan despite his status also supports his intellect , despite his unpleasant personality.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler: On the second-to-last visit to the Dream Apartment, he declares that he's fed up with Jacket and intends to leave.]]

A mysterious homeless man who accidentally crosses path with Jacket while on his killing spree. Jacket has no other choice than to kill him, as he would interfer with the mission.

-> ''"I'll tell you what I know ! Just don't hurt me !"''

* DirtyCoward: He immediately talks under the pressure of the Biker's threats. The operatives he is betraying weren't exactly nice to him so it's actually understandable.

* NoNameGiven: He has no official name in-game. However some speculate that he is called "Charlie" since it's the mask found at the restaurant he resides.

* IAmTheNoun: He refers to himself and the other people 50 Blessings has taken advantage as "curses".

* SenselessSacrifice: In the end, his plan did absolutely nothing to stop 50 Blessings: Jacket never saw him as anything but another mask, the Russian Mafia ended up framed for the phone calls, and [[spoiler: 50 Blessings eventually managed to assassinate the leaders of both Russia and the US and kickstart a nuclear war]].

* BaldOfEvil: Being a mass murderer, he can be considered evil. Although by the standards of the game this isn't much.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: The torture described above lead to his death, his corpse his found covered in fresh blood.

* ImmuneToBullets: Earl's mask allows the player to survive three normally lethal bullets wound. For [[GameplayAndStorySegregation gameplay purpose]] only.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: His comments about everything being a dream seem cryptic and as though the man is in denial that he's about to die... [[spoiler:and then comes the ''Trauma'' level, where it's revealed Jacket has been in a coma for the game's duration.]]

* AnimalMotifs: As a 50 Blessings Operative, Richter is given a rat mask and is called "The Rat". Rats are known to have strong maternal instincts and are prepared to do anything to survive. In the game, this is inverted with Richter as he's does anything to survive and protect his ailing mother from 50 Blessings. In the game, Richter is also deemed a traitor to 50 Blessings for trying to back out of their operation by refusing to act on their missions, parallelling how rats are seen as symbols of treachery.

* ApologeticAttacker: Not so much while committing the act, but in [[spoiler:the NG+ starting cutscene]] in ''Wrong Number'' he apologizes for killing the Girlfriend and/or attempting to kill Jacket.

* KnifeNut: Uses a butcher knife as his weapon as well as a limited supply of throwing knives.

* AwesomeMccoolname: While the game files refer to him as Nicklas or Nicke, Wrong Number's cover shows his name as "Prillan Raketgatan", which would translate from Swedish to Snus Rocketstreet (Prilla being a single use of snus tobacco).

* IllGirl: She's an old lady of poor health.