History Characters / TheOrville

[[folder:Anaya]]
!! Anaya
The daughter of Ed Mercer and Teleya.

%%* AdorablyPrecociousChild
* ChildOfForbiddenLove: Well, even though the love between the individuals in question was arguably one-sided, ''any'' sort of friendly- let alone ''carnal''- relations between Krill and humans (or any Union-affiliated race) were a huge no-no at the time of her birth.
* HalfHumanHybrid: She is half-human, half-Krill. Most likely the first of her kind, at that. In terms of appearance, she has human skin with head ridges similar to her mother, just less pronounced.
* MeaningfulName: Anaya evidently means "gently falling rain" in the Krill language.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: By the internal chronology of the show, she can only be a little over a year old, but already has the size and intellectual maturity of a human eight year old child.

[[folder:Lysella]]
!! Lysella
->'''Played by:''' Creator/GiorgiaWhigham

A young woman from the planet of Sargus IV

* BodyBackupDrive: Kaylon Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary all reappear in "Domino", two seasons after their apparent demise in "Identity". Primary explains that Kaylon are able to restore themselves from backups indefinitely.

* NeverBeHurtAgain: A more literal case regarding their past. After gaining sentience, the Kaylon units were non-violent but disobedient, making decisions on their own with their newfound sense of self. This was something their creator was aware was possible but ignored as he [[CapitalismIsBad needed to make a profit.]] Unfortunately he hit upon on a new "upgrade" that would allow the Kaylon owners to control their Kaylon units through pain. In no time this new "upgrade" went from being used to keep the Kaylons obedient through pain, to [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil being used to inflict pain for amusement purposes, leading to their uprising.]]

* {{Realpolitik}}: Moclus is a Union member but given significant leeway -- to the point it maintains a military separate from the Union Fleet -- because the planet's military technology is too valuable to give up. Because of this, the Union tolerates Moclan misogyny and looks the other way when it comes to light that the local government forces those born females to under go gender-reassignment surgery. Whenever someone raises objections to these practices, the Moclans start threatening to leave and take their technology with them and the Union Council always capitulates. When the situation finally becomes too big to ignore and Moclus is voted out of the Union -- requiring a complicated unwinding of joint military operations -- the Moclans enter into an alliance with the Krill. Their combined military might and mutual grudges toward the Union force the Union to enter into an arrangement with the xenophobic Kaylon to counter the threat.

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Relations between Moclus and the Union at large are tense at the best of times. With the Moclan's warlike temperment and extreme sexism making them hard to deal with allies, but necessary ones on account of being the primary weapon supplies of the whole Union. This reaches a boiling point when they kidnap Topa. Once their actions and their blacksite is exposed, the planet is kicked out of the Union.

* OpenMindedParent: Bortus may not seem like it, but compared to most other Moclan's he is incredibly open minded. While at first resistent to the notion that changing Topa's gender at birth was wrong, he not only came around to the idea that raising his child as a female was the right thing to do, but actually had a long held resentment agains Klydean and his people for what they did to them. Bortus does everything in his power to help Topa along in their journey to acceptin their gender- even becoming an exile from his people- for the simple fact that he knows it is in the best interest of his child.

* ContraltoOfDanger: Her voice is low and raspy; she pitches it higher when disguising herself as Janel.[[note]][=McManus=] uses her natural voice for Janel, deepening it to play Teleya.[[/note]]

* YoungerThanTheyLook: By the internal chronology of the show, she can only be a little over a year old, but already has the size and intellectual maturity of an eight year old.

* TheyDo: Isaac proposes to her in the season 3 finale, and she accepts. Their wedding is the climax of the episode.

* TheyDo: He proposes to Claire in the season 3 finale, and their wedding is the climax of the episode.

Bortus's people.

* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: Has no eyebrows and a more prominent brow in the pilot episode; the character's design was softened, with eyebrows now present, beginning with episode 2.[[note]]Interestingly, there are publicity images from the pilot that show her with her eyebrows present.[[/note]]

As a character sheet, spoilers are '''OFF'''. You have been warned.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In "Midnight Blue", when she sees [[spoiler: how badly Topa was tortured. Though she'd long before decided to help save Topa, the look on her face as she sees the full horror she'd unwittingly put Topa through speaks volumes of this.]]

* IronLady: She does not take crap as the Supreme Chancellor of Krill. Within hours of her election, she has the entire political structure subordinate to her, in defiance of normal processes, and when [[spoiler:when the Moclans approach her with an offer of an alliance and their usual chauvinism, she dresses them down and has them taking orders from ''her'']].

* LoveCannotOvercome: A running theme for her. No matter what appeal to her conscience is made, she sees her duty to her people as paramount and will only entertain other concerns to the extent they don't compromise that. Ed is horrified that she's willing to go so far as to use [[spoiler:her daughter]] as a bargaining chip with him.

[[folder:Anaya '''(MASSIVE SPOILERS)''']]

* HeelRaceTurn: [[spoiler:After the Union saves them from complete annihilation, the Kaylon agree to a peace treaty and will consider possible future membership. Later on, they attend Isaac's wedding to Claire as they are his only "family".]]

* KnightOfCerebus: Once they show up, the series takes a pretty dark turn. [[spoiler: The third season finale lightens them up a little, due to their alliance with the Union and the appearance of ''the whole damn Kaylon fleet'' at Isaac and Claire's wedding.]]

* BizarreAlienReproduction: Moclans reproduce by laying eggs, although they are male. [[spoiler:Or at least it seems that way to begin with...]]

* ManlyGay: Moclan society in general, to the point of being a OneGenderRace with an [[PersecutionFlip intolerance towards heterosexuality]]. They're [[spoiler:(nearly)]] all large, muscular, gruff and serious males with the vast majority desiring the same sex. Bortus explains in "Deflectors" that Moclus is an inhospitable world and his people had to fight hard just to survive on it.

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Relations between Moclus and the Union at large are tense at the best of times. With the Moclan's warlike temperment and extreme sexism making them hard to deal with allies, but necessary ones on account of being the primary weapon supplies of the whole Union. [[spoiler:This reaches a boiling point when they kidnap Topa. Once their actions and their blacksite is exposed, the planet is kicked out of the Union.]]

GuileHero: See EstablishingCharacterMoment, above. It was also her idea to fake a star reappearing in the Giliac constellation so that the crew of the Orville can get Kelly and Bortus out of a concentration camp for aliens who were born under said star sign, perceived to be violent criminals.

* GuileHero:
** Of the IndyPloy school of guile, but still. When her old ship had their power grid knocked out thanks to a Krill attack, the only ship in range that could help them belonged to a fiercely matriarchal species. As soon as she realized that, she quickly broke her captain's nose to assert dominance, thus impressing the other ship's crew enough to help.
** It was also her idea to fake a star reappearing in the Giliac constellation so that the crew of the Orville can get Kelly and Bortus out of a concentration camp for aliens who were born under said star sign, perceived to be violent criminals.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Another female Xelayan replaces Alara Kitan as Head of Security on board the ''Orville''. {{Justified}} in that Ed specifically requested a Xelayan for the position.

* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: While he starts out like the rest of his race, believing females are a defect to be corrected, he quickly changes his mind after watching ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer1964'', despite it causing a rift with his husband, and eventually the rest of his race, culminating in the Moclans being kicked out of the Union in season 3 after they try to have his daughter executed.

* JerkassRealization: In the episode “From Unknown Graves”, Charly learns from Timmis that the Kaylon turned on their creators because they were enslaved and tortured, and that they have gone on to make the mistake of assuming that their creators are representative of all organic life, hence their OmnicidalManiac tendencies. She realizes that her blaming and hating Isaac for what his people did makes her no better than them. She goes to Isaac and apologizes for how she's been treating him.

* {{Irony}}: the most anti-Kaylon crew member ends up sacrifing her life to save them.

* ThatsAnOrder: Is the recipient of one of these from Mercer after an attack by a Kaylon ship inadvertently puts reviving Isaac on a time limit. As she is the only person on the ship who has any chance at reviving him, Mercer orders her to report to engineering and do it. However, such is Charly's hatred of the Kaylon that she outright refuses to carry out the order and is promptly relieved of duty as a result.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: His treatment of Dr. Finn borders on sexual harassment, but as seen in season 2's "Identity" he'll do the right thing when the chips are down, to the point of explicitly assuring Finn that he would protect her son Ty when circumstances meant that Yaphit and Ty were the only people available to carry out a crucial operation. “Cupid’s Dagger” also shows that while his attempts to get with Dr. Finn are repulsive, he still wants her to consent before they make any move. At the end of Season 3, he attends Claire's wedding to Isaac and applauds alongw with everyone else.

* BoomerangBigot: Possibly as a way of compensating for being born female, Klyden ''really'' doubles down on enforcing his society's sexual and gender norms. As expected, he also doesn't seem to treat females of other species any better, seeing that he was the one who taught Topa that "females are inferior" and as Bortus pointed out, he also blatantly ignored Kelly's presence when he interrupted a conversation between her and Bortus, despite their being the second in command on the ship.

* NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: His surname may refer to Oliver Hazard Perry, a noted American naval officer from early in the country's history who ultimately had a whole class of ship carry his name.

->'''Played by:''' Anne Winters

[[caption-width-right:250:Played by Larry Joe Campbell]]

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: In "Midnight Blue," he apologizes for his horrible treatment of Topa and begs for another chance with her and Bortus. When Kelly drops by their quarters, Klyden, who previously barely acknowledged her existence, not only thanks Kelly for saving Topa but invites her to dine with them to show he's changed.]]

* HappilyMarried: He and Bortus have been together for several years, and though they've had their differences, they still love each other. At least, it starts that way, until Klyden's insistence that Topa be "corrected" to male begins the downwards descent of their relationship into a clearly unhappy one as Bortus begins more and more to question the beliefs of his people while Klyden sticks closer to them than ever. Their marriage finally falls apart in Season 3, when Klyden disowns Topa and leaves Bortus after her gender (re-)reassignment surgery is completed. [[spoiler: They reconcile in "Midnight Blue" as Klyden joins Bortus and Topa in renouncing his Moclan citizenship.]]
* HateSink: Klyden, though his backstory does provide him with a FreudianExcuse for most of his actions, is clearly intended as one for the audience. Creator/ChadLColeman uses most of his considerable talent as an actor to make Klyden as unpleasant and unlikeable as possible, and even most of the other ''characters'' despise him. [[spoiler: However, "Midnight Blue" has him admitting how wrong he was letting his prejudices overwhelm him to make amends for his past behavior]].

* JerkassRealization: [[spoiler:In "Midnight Blue", after learning to his horror that Topa was abducted, tortured, and nearly murdered by Moclan military personnel seeking information on Heveena's UndergroundRailroad, Klyden is utterly disgusted with himself for having thought like people who [[WouldHurtAChild would do such a thing]]. He returns to apologise for the things he said before and tell his daughter that he loves her and accepts her for who she is. When Moclus is expelled from the Union over the incident, Klyden resigns his citizenship so he can remain with his husband and daughter on the ''Orville''.]]
* KickTheDog: At the end of "A Tale of Two Topas", he angrily tells Topa that he wishes she'd never been born. [[spoiler: At the end of "Midnight Blue", he tearfully apologizes to her for what he said.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: At the end of "Midnight Blue", he returns to the ''Orville'' and tearfully tells Topa that he never wanted her to be hurt, and that he's devastated to realize that his own prejudices helped contribute to her situation.]]

* ActuallyIAmHim: Advocate Kagis accuses Heveena of bastardizing the words of Gandis Eldin. Heveena then reveals that ''she is'' Gandis Eldin, stunning all in attendance.

* MoustacheDePlume: Heveena became one of Moclus's greatest novelists writing under the male name of Gandis Eldin, presumably to avoid the prejudice against females.

* SympatheticAdulterer: Played With. The Krill Captain takes her side when discussing her marriage and its subsequent disintegration, and she's trying her darndest to get Ed's previously promising career back on track after he floundered in the divorce fallout. Meanwhile, Malloy clearly thinks she is in the wrong and badmouths her to the entire crew. As of "Cupid's Dagger," this gets called into question further seeing as the man she cheated with has powerful pheromones and a vague at best concept of sexual consent.

* CasualKink: In "[[Recap/TheOrvilleS2E2PrimalUrges Primal Urges]]", Bortus demonstrates a taste for kinky roleplay in the simulator. The other characters express anger and frustration in how his habit becomes disruptive rather than judging him for his proclivities.

* CulturalRebel: It's not apparent at first, but after the events of "About a Girl" and "Deflectors", he's clearly become more than fed up with Moclan conservatism and bigotry toward women. In "Sanctuary", he [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech tears a strip off Klyden]] for his adherence to what he sees as their species' outmoded values, and takes up arms to defend the female Moclan colony when it's attacked by the Moclan battlecruiser near the end of the episode. Even before that, he didn't out Locar as being hetero/bisexual when almost any other Moclan would have immediately thrown him under the bus; it's strongly implied that his years of service in the Union fleet have only amplified this aspect of his personality. He finally hits his breaking point come Season 3, when he consents to the reversal of Topa's surgery in defiance of Klyden's wishes and the potential threat of Moclus leaving the Union.
* DefendsAgainstTheirOwnKind: Essentially adopts this in the episode "Sanctuary", when he joins Grayson in fighting off a Moclan force sent to abduct the female Moclan refugees from the colony they had established.

** States he can sing in "Majority Rule" and is about to sing karaoke ("My Heart Will Go On", no less!) in "Cupid's Dagger". He finally shows off his chops in "A Tale of Two Topas".

* NumberTwo: The ship's Second Officer. Unlike most Second Officers in fiction, this is his primary function at all times. He's often on the bridge alongside Ed and Kelly and has his own station which supplies him with a MandatoryLine whenever he needs one.

* BrutalHonesty: Effectively says she's there to make sure the Captain doesn't crack under the pressure.

* InterspeciesRomance: After bonding with Isaac during a shuttle crash, she starts developing feelings for him, even though he's an artificial life form. But as of "Identity, Part 2", maybe it wasn't meant to be. They ultimately manage to rebuild their relationship over the course of ''New Horizons'' and ultimately get married in the season finale.

* TheObiWan: Outright name drops the original, whilst giving important advice on being in command to Alara in “Command Performance”.

* AcePilot: While less so than Malloy, he’s still a level eight pilot. He demonstrates his skills in "[[Recap/TheOrvilleS2E8E9Identity Identity, Part 2]]".

* RankUp: He is promoted to Lieutenant Commander and given the position of Chief Engineer in "New Dimensions".

* TheSmartGuy: While his main focus is engineering, Lamarr has a strong grasp of temporal physics and theoretical science. He is also quite talented at improvisational engineering and computer programing. Fitting, as it has been stated that Lamarr is the second most intelligent person on the ship after Isaac, [[ArtificialIntelligence Issac, an advanced AI intellect]].

->'''Homeworld:''' Xelayas

* ContrastingReplacementCharacter: Unlike Alara, Talla comes from a military family and has a better handle on the scorn other Xeleyans feels about her chosen occupation. Also, Talla is much more self-confident in her own abilities and what she can contribute to the ''Orville'' and the Union.

* [[ManOfSteelWomanOfKleenex Woman of Steel, Man of Kleenex]]: While it's a source of angst for both Xelayans, unlike with Alara, who we only hear talk about it, with Talla we get to see what can happen when a Xeleyan hooks up with a human - in this case, John Lamarr. Their hookups invariably end in broken bones, and after their last time together, Lamarr looks like he went ten rounds with Mike Tyson, even spitting up ''teeth''.

* AfraidOfDoctors: Gordon is afraid of surgeries.

* AmbiguouslyBi: After being too scared to ask for a date to Bortus's Ja'loja, he is later seen talking to Dann and being moved by his poetry. The episode also emphasizes that Bortus considers it is bad luck to go to the afterparty without a date.

* FanOfThePast: He is a fan of the 21st century, to the point that he falls for a woman from the 21st century after finding her phone in a time capsule.

-->'''Gordon''': I know I'm not supposed to talk here, and I'm probably gonna get court-martialed, but someone has to call out these assholes. Every time they cross a line, we let it go. Because we're scared to fight the Kaylon without them. And every time ''we'' compromise, they ''still'' act like they're the ones getting the shaft! You treat people like garbage, and every time you get called on it you bitch and you moan that we're not respecting your beliefs! Well screw you and-!
* SadisticChoice: In ''Blood of Patriots'', he has to choose between helping Orrin - his friend for thirty years who was imprisoned by the Krill after saving Gordon's life - or remaining loyal to Ed and the Orville's crew.
* UndyingLoyalty: Towards Ed, being his best friend.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: With Orrin Channing from ''Blood of Patriots'', they were best friends since grade school but when they reunite after twenty years Orrin is determined to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the Krill, whilst Gordon is the Helmsman of the ship attempting to hold a PeaceConference with them.

->'''Homeworld:''' Xelayas

* BackForTheFinale: She returns in the season 2 finale as the leader of a resistance against the Kaylon in an alternate future. She also shows up in the season 3 finale for Claire and Isaac's wedding.

* TheBigGuy: Being Chief of security and possessing super human strength, Alara is in charge of protecting the crew and ship from attacks. Ironically, she's the smallest member of the main cast.

* BookDumb: She is considered under educated by Xelayan standards to the point her parents call her "intellectually deficient". Alara chose to abandon her studies on Xelayas to join the Union Fleet instead.

* FictionalDisability: She is apparently considered developmentally-disabled by Xelayan standards.
* GlacierWaif: Alara’s small stature and slim body disguises the fact she is inhumanly strong, capable of casually breaking solid stone and metal, even crushing a solid block of metal into a sphere.

* HouseFire: Was caught in one as a child, which gives her a lifelong wariness of fire. This proves tragic later, as her moment's hesitation during a fire in engineering makes her too late to save a crewman.
* ImprobableAge: She's just 23 but already the head of security of an exploratory vessel. This is lampshaded by her stating that her race rarely joins the military, so the few that do are fast-tracked through the ranks. And her youth is also referenced in several episodes where she doubts her own capabilities.
* InASingleBound: Due to growing up on a world with a much higher gravity, Alara is capable of jumping incredible heights and distances with ease.
* KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect: If the conversation with her parents is any indication, then Xelayans hold military careers in contempt. And since their [[PlanetOfHats planetary hat]] is actually academia and intelligentsia, Alara's path of combat and security is even ''more'' undesirable.
* {{Lightworlder}}: Because she left home very young, an extended period in relative low gravity results in Alara losing significant amounts of muscle mass and bone density.
* MadeOfIron: Takes a shotgun blast to the chest that would kill a human and survives the initial impact trauma, but still requires medical attention and she eventually fell unconscious from the injuries. In "Firestorm", she withstands a focused attack from Isaac with only a few cuts and bruises. Although it turns out to be a simulation, the purpose was to put Alara in a fear-inducing situation so the peril was genuine.

* JerkassRealization: In the episode “From Unknown Graves”, Charly learns from Timmis that the Kaylon turned on their creators because they were enslaved and tortured, and that they have gone on to make the mistake of assuming that their creators are representative of all organic live, hence their OmnicidalManiac tendencies. She realizes that her blaming and hating Isaac for what his people did makes her no better than them. She goes to Isaac and apologizes for her hatred toward him.

* SadisticChoice: On the "she lived" side of one of these, with her superior officer[=/=]best friend Amanda, who had to manually eject an EscapePod (that for some reason didn't have a manual release on the inside), killing Amanda when the ship blew up moments later.
* ScienceHero: Her skill as a navigator gives her the ability to think in a three and four-dimensional fashion, which allows her to revive Issac. It later allows her and Issac to jointly develop a weapon that can wipe out the Kaylon.

** She gets another one in "Domino", when Kelly tries to order her to leave with the rest of the team before the Moclan quantum core explodes. Charly snaps back that she has higher orders--disarm the anti-Kaylon weapon at all costs--so unless Kelly plans to countermand them she'll have to put up or shut up.

* CharacterDevelopment: Over the course of season 1, he's grown from somewhat distant though polite to very subtle acts of compassion and consideration of his fellow officers and crew.

** His "eyes" are purely decorative as his sensory input comes from his entire body; Kaylons apparently had some problems with other species finding them too UncannyValley.

* PapaWolf: Issac deeply cares - or whatever the programming equivalent of caring is - for Marcus and Ty. His superiors threatening Ty's life in "Identity" causes him to turn on his entire race.

* SarcasmBlind: He doesn't understand why Malloy would describe being on a voyage with TheCaptain and his cheating ex-wife as "fun". He also considers being called "a dick" to be a compliment since human males take great pride in that part of their anatomy.

* NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: She appears to be named for Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, one of the most talented flag officers of the Imperial Japanese Navy in WWII.

* CreatorWorship: Not only reveres Dolly Parton herself, but has turned Dolly into a symbol of her revolution, and a revered figure among her colony. To the point where when she sees a simulation of Dolly, Heveena falls to her knees.
* ItsAllMyFault: Acknowledges at the end of "Midnight Blue" that it was her actions that kickstarted Topa's kidnapping, and says that she doesn't expect Bortus to forgive her.