History Characters / ThiefDeadlyShadows

!! Artemus
[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/artie_keeper.jpg]]

->'''Voiced by:''' Nate Wells

--> ''The Age of Darkness will be the child of two fathers... and their names are Ignorance and Fear.''
-->-- '''from the journal of Keeper Artemus'''

One of the Keeper Elders. Along with Garrett, the main recurring character of the series. Fittingly, he's also the second one to be introduced, mere seconds after the introduction of Garrett. Artemus brought Garrett into the Keeper order as a young boy and oversaw his education and stealth training until Garrett rebelled and left the order sometime after reaching adulthood. Despite their somewhat strained relationship, Artemus remains one of the few Keepers that Garrett is willing to trust and talk to even after having left the order.

* AscendedExtra: After being more of a background character in ''The Dark Project'' and ''The Metal Age'', trying to encourage and nudge the defiant Garrett in the right direction, looking out for him.
* BigGood: As close as it gets to this trope, in terms of the setting's multitudes of flawed heroic characters. Even when the Keepers are undergoing a major crisis during the events of ''Deadly Shadows'', he still tries to overcome his fear and stay as calm and collected as possible, all the while helping Garrett.
* CoolOldGuy : Though in his 50s or 60s and slowly graying, he remains an experienced scholar and one of the few people whose stealth abilities are on par with Garrett's (even among the ranks of the Keepers).
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Artemus is suddenly and anticlimactically KilledOffScreen by the Hag towards the end of the game, despite his capabilities and even superiority at stealth over Garrett.
* GentlemanSnarker: You never hear him laugh, but he does scoff or snark with mild amusement in a few scenes throughout the game.
* GentlemanAndAScholar: One of his most distinctive personal traits, making him stand out even among other Keepers, where this trope is fairly commonplace.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: Despite their occassional familial bickering, Artemus is one of the few Keepers that Garrett fully respects as a friend and associate.
* IronicEcho: When Garrett tried to pickpocket Artemus in his youth (seen in ''[[VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject The Dark Project]]''), Artemus caught him and told him he had talent for being able to see a Keeper, especially when he doesn't want to be seen. At the end of the third game, when a little girl tries to pickpocket Garrett, Garrett [[BookEnds says the same thing and smiles at the memory]].
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: He is murdered by The Hag off-screen shortly before the finale of ''Deadly Shadows''.]]
* MentorOccupationalHazard: Sadly, he is murdered by the Hag offscreen and has his skin stolen near the end of the game, with Garrett finding out then in the worst way.
* MrExposition: This gets lampshaded in this installment by Garrett.
* NoNameGiven: After the trope was played straight in the first two games, this was averted in this installment, where we finally learn his name. [[AscendedExtra He also plays a far more substantial role]] than in the two preceding games.
* NonActionGuy: Almost ridiculously adept at StealthHiBye, but he's no warrior and genuinely avoids committing violence.
* OldMaster: To Garrett, being his mentor and teacher of Keeper knowledge and skills.
* ParentalSubstitute: The Alfred Pennyworth to Garrett's {{Franchise/Batman}}, as usual. The third game emphasizes the "father figure" aspect of Artemus' [[IntergenerationalFriendship relationship to his apprentice]] after it had been hinted at before in the series' history.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Wise, professional, self-sacrificing and well-meaning.
* StealthHiBye: Most of his meetings with Garrett begin and end this way. It gets hilariously lampshaded several times in ''Deadly Shadows''.
* TheStoic: Even among the ranks of he Keepers, he is one of the best examples of this trope. While he has his moments of voicing concern or slight amusement, his style of speech sounds almost always matter-of-factly, delivered with deadpan seriousness.

!! First Keeper Orland

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/first_keeper_orland_4156.jpg]]

->'''Voiced by:''' Ken Webster

* ConflictBall: With Garrett, almost perpetually. The two just plain don't trust or like each other, ''ever''.
* DaChief: A more subdued, scholarly medieval version of the trope, to Garrett's renegade former Keeper, the two constantly clashing over it as they work together.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Before ''Deadly Shadows''', he appeared (silhouetted) in a single cutscene of ''The Metal Age'', along with Interpreter Caduca and Translator Gamall.
* GentlemanSnarker: Nearly every conversation he has with Garrett is pure SnarkToSnarkCombat.
* {{Jerkass}}: He is well-meaning and just wants to preserve the Keeper order and its function, but frequently shows incompetence or comes across as abrasive, vindictive and spiteful towards Garrett, and paranoid.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Murdered by The Hag shortly before the finale of ''Deadly Shadows''.]]
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Some of the short-sighted decisions he makes during the Keeper crisis in ''Deadly Shadows'' inadvertently play into The Hag's secret plan.
* ProperlyParanoid: He and the other Keeper Elders are legitimately worried and rather distrustful, but it turns out they've been focusing on the wrong people and the wrong events, instead of the real cause of the Keeper crisis.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: To his credit he tries to make up for his jerkass obstructive ways when he realizes Garrett was right all along, and tries to aid him, before being murdered by the Hag.
* RedHerring: He is framed as the culprit for a short while during the Keeper crisis in ''Deadly Shadows''. Turns out he really had nothing to do with the accusations leveled at him. The same goes for similar accusations he made about Garrett during the same string of events.
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: He spends a good portion of the story fulfilling requests sent to his office, in the form of notes signed by someone going by "C". He assumes that they come from Caduca, only to realize his mistake when the notes keep coming ''after her death''. These requests came from Gamall, and let her steal books or obscure information from the Keepers]].

!! Interpreter Caduca
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/caduca_9310.jpg]]

->'''Voiced by:''' Paula Rester

* BlindSeer: She's blind, but can "read" the Keeper glyphs by touching them. Blindness isn't a requirement of the position, and her predecessor praised her for the unique clarity she had when reading the glyphs in this manner when he recommended her for promotion into his role.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: She might come across as this due to how extremely focused she is on her role within the Keeper order. However, if you meet her in-game character model personally in ''Deadly Shadows'', she'll talk and react like any other person (though with a more tired and elderly tone).
* EarlyBirdCameo: Before ''Deadly Shadows'', she appeared in a single cutscene of ''The Metal Age'', along with Translator Gamall and future First Keeper Orland.
* HiddenDepths: Caduca is the only reason why the Keeper Council didn't dispatch the [[TheDreaded Keeper Enforcers]] to assassinate or forcibly bring Garrett back to the Keeper Compound when he originally left the order, dissuading them from it by pointing out his status as TheChosenOne.
* MeaningfulName: In RealLife, 'Caduc-' is a Latin root, standing for 'old', such as in the word 'caducous'.
* OddCouple: One half of the prophecy-reading team of the Keepers, the other being Gamall.
* TakenForGranite: [[spoiler: Just as she is about to discover information leading her to Gamall's true form, Gamall turns her to stone and frames Garrett for the crime]].
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Though she looks like a really old, withered lady, it is implied that all Keepers who adopt her role within the order age at a far more rapid pace. This occurs presumably due to the far greater exposure to the Keeper's powerful [[spoiler:Glyph Magic]].

!! Translator Gamall
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gamall_2617.jpg]]

->'''Voiced by:''' Terri Brosius

* CreepyChild: Oh, ''yes''...
* CreepyMonotone: Her style of speech, even outside of her Translator trance.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Before ''Deadly Shadows''', she appeared in a single cutscene of ''The Metal Age'', along with Interpreter Caduca and future First Keeper Orland.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Is she ever... And a child version, at that.
* MeaningfulName: In RealLife, the word "gamall" is Scandinavian (and Tolkien-talk) for "old".
* TheMole
* OddCouple: One half of the prophecy-reading team of the Keepers, the other being Caduca.
* OracularUrchin: Subverted by the fact that she and Caduca need to work ''together as a team'' in order to read and translate prophecies. Gamall doesn't read the prophecies, she only translates Caduca's readings in ancient or secret languages in which the prophecies were written.
* TheReveal: While there was definitely something unsettling about her appearance already in the second game, the twist about Gamall's true nature in the third game was really shocking.
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: In ''Deadly Shadows'', when Garrett stumbles upon [[PlotTwist a portrait of someone who looks exactly the same as her]], in a building that burned down long before she was taken in by the Keepers.]]
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: [[DoubleSubversion Double subverted]]. In ''The Metal Age'' and for most of her appearances in ''Deadly Shadows'', you chalk up her oddly emotionless, stoic personality to her upbringing by the Keepers and her function as the order's Prophecy Translator. But when the plot thickens in the later parts of ''Deadly Shadows'', you'll learn that Gamall's hiding more from the Keepers than they or Garrett would believe at face value...

* ArcherArchetype: Averted. However, this is pretty justified, given that most Keepers reside in the interiors of secret compounds. There wouldn't be much room for archers to fire.

* AxCrazy: More so than the series other main villains, being much more physical and hands on with her goals. She's intelligent and cunning, having had centuries to hone her already considerable skill, but her obsession and age have exacted a terrible toll on her mind. When she's forced to get physical, she tears apart everyone and anyone who gets in her way.

* CoolOldGuy : Though in his 50's or 60's and slowly graying, he remains an experienced scholar and one of the few people whose stealth abilities are on par with Garrett's (even among the ranks of the Keepers).