History Characters / TheAlienist

-->'''Played by:'''

* PowerfulPeopleAreSubs: He is an ambitious psychiatrist and quite a high-ranking member of the New York society, but there are some hints [[CasualKink that he enjoys a submissive role in romantic relationships]]. This shows up in his conversation with the professional dominatrix Mrs. Williams (he mentions that he enjoyed her stories of "men's vulnerabilities"), and in his relationship with Karen Stratton, who takes him to various kinky places. His relationship with Mary also has strong undertones of this kind: he is highly dependent on her due to his bad arm, and she enjoys his timidity whenever he needs her to do something for him (and whenever he pisses her off, she just leaves him on his own, and he cannot even tie his own shoelaces without her). Besides, while Mary was away, he sneaked to her room to sniff her clothes.

* IdleRich: John Moore starts out showing some tendencies of this trope—he is a wealthy, hard-drinking playboy who only halfheartedly dabbles at his job as a crime illustrator for the New York Times, and who, by his own admission, "likes to avoid" what he calls "an honest day's work." However, as the series goes on, he begins to take on quite a bit of hard work in an effort to contribute to the investigation. [[spoiler:Midway through the series, moved by his love for Sara Howard, he begins to change in earnest, giving up alcohol, working harder, and even attempting to learn how to type so he can take up reporting.]]

A freelance artist from a well-off family. In the first book, he becomes involved in Kreizler's investigation while making crime-scene illustrations for the ''New York Times''. In ''Angel of Darkness'', he has become a journalist at the ''Times'', a position from which he aids Kreizler and Howard's investigation.

* IdleRich: John Moore starts out showing some tendencies of this trope—he is a wealthy, hard-drinking playboy who only halfheartedly dabbles at his job as a crime illustrator for the New York Times, and who, by his own admission, “likes to avoid" what he calls "an honest day's work." However, as the series goes on, he begins to take on quite a bit of hard work in an effort to contribute to the investigation. [[spoiler:Midway through the series, moved by his love for Sara Howard, he begins to change in earnest, giving up alcohol, working harder, and even attempting to learn how to type so he can take up reporting.]]

* BreakTheHaughty: Undergoes one in the later half of Angel of Darkness. His methods to extract information fail utterly and result in the death of one of his men

-->'''Played by:'''Melanie Field

[[/folder]]

* CuteMute: {{Subverted}}. She ''looks'' cute and innocent, but is actually very sharp-minded, and capable of brave and sometimes violent actions in extreme circumstances (such as killing her abusive father and [[spoiler:fighting back with a kitchen knife when attacked by Captain Connor]]). See also GoodIsNotNice.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: She is sweet and compassionate, but her father and [[spoiler:Captain Connor]] learned the hard way that you better not get on her bad side.

* GoodIsNotNice: She is gentle and kind-hearted, but can fight back when attacked. She can also mess around with people she dislikes, as seen when she didn't open the door to Sara (whom she was jealous of). Also, when she felt that she was slighted by Kreizler, she went on a date with John, leaving Laszlo alone for the whole day to manage domestic tasks on his own (which was a big problem for him due to his handicap).

[[folder:Sara]]
!!Det. Sara Howard
-->'''Played by:''' Creator/DakotaFanning

New York's first female detective. In ''Angel of Darkness'', she becomes a private eye.

* ActionGirl: She is the NYPD's first female detective, and enjoys getting her hands dirty.
* DaddysGirl: She loved her father dearly, and his suicide still affects her to this day.
* PrivateDetective: Sara becomes one at the start of ''Angel of Darkness'', having left the NYPD to open her own agency focusing on cases brought by women.

[[folder:John]]
!!John Schuyler Moore
-->'''Played by:''' Creator/LukeEvans

A freelance artist from a well-off family. In the first book, he becomes involved in Kreizler's investigation while making crime-scene illustrations for the ''New York Times''. In ''Angel of Darkness'', he has become a journalist at the ''Times'', a position from which he aids Kreizler and Howard's investigation.

* TheAlcoholic: Early on, he's seen drinking frequently. His grandmother gets him to quit drinking partway through the series, and he's got clear withdrawal symptoms from then on.
* AmbiguousDisorder: Moore demonstrates some signs of clinical depression, self-medicating with alcohol and promiscuity.
* ButtMonkey: Moore simply cannot catch a break. In addition to his long dead little brother, he gets the shit kicked out of him, drugged (multiple times), in all likelihood sexually assaulted, Sara doesn't take his feelings seriously, Laszlo treats him rather poorly, he struggles with alcoholism, gets dragged into a depraved serial's killer ritualistic murder spree of young children, and you can count on one hand the characters who ''don't'' give him shit about ''something''.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: He has been close friends with Sara Howard since they were kids, and they hook up during the course of their investigation with Laszlo.
* ChivalrousPervert: Moore gets it on with any willing lady, but he's not vulgar or abusive about it, and he's otherwise a decent guy. And he always acts the perfect gentleman toward Sara. He never really hits on her, except in a fond half-joking manner.
* IdleRich: John Moore starts out showing some tendencies of this trope—he is a wealthy, hard-drinking playboy who only halfheartedly dabbles at his job as a crime illustrator for the New York Times, and who, by his own admission, “likes to avoid" what he calls "an honest day's work." However, as the series goes on, he begins to take on quite a bit of hard work in an effort to contribute to the investigation. [[spoiler:Midway through the series, moved by his love for Sara Howard, he begins to change in earnest, giving up alcohol, working harder, and even attempting to learn how to type so he can take up reporting.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Moore is a cynical, ill-tempered drunk, but he's basically a good guy. He genuinely cares for Sara, he loves his grandmother, and he befriends the boy prostitute Joseph, making sure he stays safe and talking to him about how he might help him escape this life.

[[folder:Lucius and Marcus]]
!!Lucius and Marcus Isaacson
-->'''Played by:''' Matthew Shear, Douglas Smith

Two brothers who serve in the forensics department at the New York Police Department.

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Poor Marcus is shot dead in ''Angel of Darkness''.]]
* NiceJewishBoy: Lucius is presented as kind, intelligent, polite, hard working, and deeply devoted to his mother and his religious faith.
* ThoseTwoGuys: They usually appear together.

[[folder:Byrnes]]
!!Chief Thomas Byrnes
-->'''Played by:''' Creator/TedLevine

The Chief of the New York Police Department. Calling him dirty would be an understatement, as he openly takes bribes from the rich and powerful and regularly interferes with Laszlo and his allies' investigations into his wealthy patrons.

* BreakTheHaughty: Undergoes one in the later half of Angel of Darkness. His methods to extract information fail utterly and result in the death of one of his men
* DeliberatelyBadExample: He represents everything wrong with the cops in the 19th century, being racist, sexist, brutish and utterly corrupt.
* DirtyCop: He openly takes bribes from the rich and powerful.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:In ''Angel of Darkness'', he is willing to protect the lying-in hospital from being investigated in order to protect its wealthy and powerful patrons, but he warns Dr. Markoe that if he finds out he's been performing abortions, he will bring the wrath of God down on the hospital. He also offers Kreizler and Sara his full cooperation when Lucius is murdered, helping them rally the rest of the NYPD to take down Goo Goo and Libby.]]
* TheMillstone: In ''Angel of Darkness'', [[spoiler:Cornelius Vanderbilt forces Sara to retain Byrnes as part of her team. Byrnes proceeds to mess with the investigation at every turn, seeking to undermine Sara and Kreizler.]]

[[folder:Willem]]
!!Willem Van Bergen
-->'''Played by:''' Josef Altin

The scion of the wealthy Van Bergen family, and a pedophile.

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Connor kills him partway through ''The Alienist''.]]
* PsychopathicManchild: He likes to drug and rape young boys, and when confronted by it, he throws a temper tantrum like a spoiled eight-year-old.
* RedHerring: [[spoiler:While Van Bergen is a serial child-rapist, he is not the killer, as evidenced by the fact that another murder is being committed almost at the exact same time that Connor tracks him down and shoots him dead.]]
* ScaryTeeth: He's been nicknamed "The Man with the Silver Smile" by the prostitutes because the mercury used to treat his syphilis has stained his teeth a silvery color.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: His family have used their money to protect him for years. [[spoiler:It does not, however, save him when Captain Connor comes after him; he tries to bribe Connor but gets shot dead.]]

[[folder:Drury]]
!!Japeth Drury
-->'''Played by:'''

The BigBad of ''The Alienist'', a mentally unstable serial killer who mutilates children.

* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: As is often the case with real-life serial killers, the killer here began with torturing and killing animals. He seems to have a particular enmity against cats.
* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler:Japeth Drury wasn't the most sane young man to begin with, what with his fanatically-religious parents and being witness to grisly events on the frontier, but being sexually assaulted by a trusted adult friend was what finally pushed him over the edge.]]
* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler:He murdered nearly his entire family in his first act of killing. Only his older brother, who had already left the area, was spared. The massacre is so brutal that the locals actually chalked it up to an Indian raid, and the remains of the Drury farmstead has become the local "scary old house on the edge of town."]]

[[folder:Libby]]
!!Libby Hunter[=/=][[spoiler:Elspeth Hunter]]
-->'''Played by:''' Rosy [=McEwan=]

The BigBad of ''Angel of Darkness'', a young ward nurse with a violent streak and a penchant for kidnapping babies.

* RedHerring: [[spoiler:He is not the killer, as evidenced by the fact that another murder is being committed almost at the exact same time that Connor tracks him down and shoots him dead.]]

* ButtMonkey: Moore simply cannot catch a break. In addition to his long dead little brother, he gets the shit kicked out of him, drugged, (multiple times) in all likelihood sexually assaulted, Sara doesn't take his feelings seriously, Laszlo treats him rather poorly, he struggles with alcoholism, gets dragged into a depraved serial's killer ritualistic murder spree of young children, and you can count on one hand the characters who ''don't'' give him shit about ''something''.

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler:In ''Angel of Darkness'', he sleeps with Sara, while being engaged to Violet.]]

* TheButtMonkey: Moore simply cannot catch a break. In addition to his long dead little brother, he gets the shit kicked out of him, drugged, (multiple times) in all likelihood sexually assaulted, Sara doesn't take his feelings seriously, Laszlo treats him rather poorly, he struggles with alcoholism, gets dragged into a depraved serial's killer ritualistic murder spree of young children, and you can count on one hand the characters who ''don't'' give him shit about ''something''.

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Poor Lucius is shot dead in ''Angel of Darkness''.]]

The BidBad of ''The Alienist'', a mentally unstable serial killer who mutilates children.

* BadPeopleTortureAnimals: As is often the case with real-life serial killers, the killer here began with torturing and killing animals. He seems to have a particular enmity against cats.

[[/folder]]

A freelance artist from a well-off family. Kreizler initially hires him to make renderings of crime scenes. In ''Angel of Darkness'', he has become a journalist at the ''New York Times'', a position from which he aids Kreizler and Howard's investigation.

* ThoseTwoGuys: They usually appear together.

[[folder:Libby]]
!!Libby Hunter[=/=][[spoiler:Elspeth Hunter]]
-->'''Played by:''' Rosy [=McEwan=]

The BigBad of ''Angel of Darkness'', a young ward nurse with a violent streak and a penchant for kidnapping babies.

-->'''Played by:'' Rosy [=McEwan=]

-->''Played by:''' Matthew Shear, Douglas Smith