The main protagonists of Cause of Death. With the exceptions of Natara (FBI), Anders (Internal Affairs) and Reed (SCT) all of these guys work for the San Francisco police department.
All of these characters fall under:
- Big Damn Heroes: These guys have put away more serious criminals than most cops ever do in a lifetime.
- Determinator: Mal, Natara, Maria, Kai, Amy and Jeremy led a 7-man militia coup of General Salazar's country... that worked. (With military supplies from Natara's father and the cooperation of local rebels of course).
- Twofer Token Minority: The cast includes an Indian woman (Natara), a black guy (Ken), two Asian women (Maria and Amy) and a Native American (Jeremy).
WARNING: Many unmarked spoilers as of the latest volume.
- Brains and Brawn: Played With: Mal is more physically skilled and Natara is more intelligent, but they are both very good at the other's specialty still.
- Determinator: Not just to each other but to their job.
- Everyone Can See It: Even as early as Season 3 (poor Tasha), it's clear Mal's developed feelings for Natara. Well, not clear to them...
- Happily Married: After Volume 10's ending, the two began dating, and then they married after the series' conclusion. Outside of Volume 12, the two never seemed to have any discord in their marriage.
- I Have Your Wife: A handful of times throughout the series, i.e. with Mad Stranger and Firstborn.
- Married to the Job: This is averted until Volume 14, when Natara is transferred to the SCT — this caused problems for them what with being forced to separate. Then again, after the SCT was disbanded following the plane bombing...
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Mal is the red, Natara is blue.
- Trivia: Mal and Natara are the only protagonists who are present throughout all the volumes; all the others either did not debut in Volume 1, died, or took some off time for whatever reason.
- Undercover as Lovers: Several times.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension / Will They or Won't They?: Until Volume 10.
Ever since the Maskmaker situation, he's been teamed up with Natara Williams to deal with San Francisco's current Connoisseur-catalyzed serial killer problem. They're a perfect dyad for the task...in more ways than one.
- Amicable Exes: He's actually on friendly terms with his ex-wife, as is seen in several chapters (i.e. V 5 C 5-C6). It helps that he realizes that Sandra's infidelity was more of a result of how dissonant their careers had rendered their personal lives.
- Married to the Job: Aside with Natara (see above folder), they both had demanding jobs.
- The Big Guy: Although Mal is quite witty, his higher physical strength and not-as-refined intelligence (compared to Natara) highlight him as this.
- Broken Pedestal: Idolizing your superlative police officer father in your early years. Then finding out just how much of a Dirty Cop he is, while he's the captain...OUCH.
- By-the-Book Cop / Cowboy Cop: He tends to shift back and forth between these. He's usually By-the-Book, unless he feels a sense of urgency with someone's life on the line. At least even then, he has the sense to keep his eyes out for probable cause.
- Deadpan Snarker
- Follow in My Footsteps: Averted. Even after Jacob's pedestal starts crumbling, Mal's still determined to maintain the Fallon police tradition.
- I Am Not My Father: And he's determined to stay that way.
- Morality Chain: In Volume 16, Mal goes nuts and commits Police Brutality against David Troy (Troy spread panic over Tokyo's Onryo serial killer, which incited a large panic that killed 14 people including one child; Mal attributed this responsibility to Troy). As Jeremy points out and Mal realizes, he never would have committed such an act if Natara was with him, and Mal realizes that Natara as his partner made him a better cop than he had any right to be.
- Police Brutality: Although he never does it to anyone unjustly, Mal's Cowboy Cop impulses can sometimes lead himself to this territory (though many times it's the player's choice).
- See Morality Chain above.
- In the first chapter, Mal is on suspension because he punched the mayor's son (when Diego commented that that was hardcore, Mal responded by saying "Hardcore was what he did to the girl he assaulted"). It's unknown if Mal was punished simply because it was the mayor's son or if his punch was genuinely over the line.
- Tabletop Game/Poker: Although it became downplayed over the series, the early volumes (and Volume 9) show that Mal is a regular poker player (i.e. against ex-CI "Diego Hernadnez").
- Victorious Childhood Friend: His wife Sandra was his classmate in high school—and they married about two years after graduation. Unfortunately, it didn't last much past ten years, although not for lack of trying.
- Action Girl / Badass: Along with most of the female cast.
- FBI Agent
- The Profiler: Natara's chief ability is in profiling criminals.
- Secretly Rich: Her father is Raj Mansingh, the 113th richest man in the world.
- Shed the Family Name: Natara changed her last name (Mansingh) because her father is the 113th richest man in the world; she says that many people saw Natara as a Mansingh before they saw her as Natara.
- The Smart Girl / The Profiler: Natara is one of the smartest women in the series. She is 'extremely' and almost frighteningly proficient at profiling and has an extremely wide range of knowledge in other subjects.
Ken is introduced as Mal's best friend on the force. Ken is a guy who was always gung ho and like Mal, a bit of a Cowboy Cop. He was also reputed to be something of a playboy but in Season 8, he settled down into a relationship with Amy. Unfortunately, he was killed off later in 8-6.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: In his past as a US Marine, his unit was tasked with torturing a man (you can actually choose how Ken reacts in his flashback, but his decision apparently doesn't change the rest of the game in the modern day). Regardless of what Ken does, one of his other squadmates tries to take revenge on Ken's unit in his side story, Greene Zone.
- Fire-Forged Friends: As we learn in a Volume 13 flashback, Ken and Mal's first case together involved them being kidnapped and forced to fight in a cage (not helping was how they were already at odds before they god kidnapped). Their fight seemed to bond them together, and they both escaped.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In 8-6, realizing he isn't going to survive Zargoza's attack, he intentionally grabs him and flings them both out of Amy's building. Even though Zargoza survives, Amy is saved from his attack.
- Jive Turkey: Comparatively speaking, anyway. His diction is much more jocular and slangy than anyone else's, but good luck matching him to any of the usual stereotypes.
- Killed Off for Real
- The Power of Friendship / Power of Trust: He really respects and trusts Mal. During Volume 2's penultimate episode, when Mal is the subject of an arrest warrant after being framed for murder, he bailed him out by letting him jump into his car simply because of his proven-right faith that Mal was innocent. Not to mention, in that episode's non-canon failure scene, Ken tells Mal that he can do nothing about how he is behind bars despite how he knows he is innocent.
- Sacrificial Lion: He's the only protagonist in the game to die.
- Secret Relationship: He began dating Amy Chen and the two seemed super-happy and cute together (but the initially kept it hidden). It's pretty sad that he died days after starting the relationship.
- Vigilante Execution / Revenge / It's Personal: In 8-8, Blaise, which would later cause a plot arc (seeming to start around Volume 13), killed a defenseless Kolo Zargoza to avenge Ken after he surrendered. To be fair, the writers tried to make Blaise's morally questionable decision more sympathetic by making her comment on how she feared that she might've been extradited if he was arrested justly.
Captain of the SFPD's homicide division. The daughter of immigrants from South Korea (they left when she was three), Yeong didn't take long to be promoted to the homicide division. It was there that she learned firsthand of Jacob Fallon's little empire, and practically turned exposing him into a second career. Despite all that, though, she actually managed to develop a healthy family. She was pressured into resigning at the end of 9-8, when she disobeyed direct orders from Internal Affairs representative Charles Anders, in order to ensure no one else would be blacklisted. However, Seth Holland later made her Commissioner, and as of 14-9, she's also heading the FBI's Special Task Force for the purpose of stopping Alex Dominguez.
- Badass Driver: She sometimes gets to show off how good she is behind the wheel. Even Blaise was frightened and impressed by her skill.
- Put on a Bus: It certainly looks this way after 9-8, as she resigned to spare everyone else, but she plays an important role in Jacob's rescue operation in Season 11, and after Seth, Lies, and Videotape, she returns to the force as ''the Commissioner'', and isn't about to depart.
The SFPD's data analyst. She has near-genius level IQ, and can work computers lightning-fast. She enjoys working with the police and is usually cheerful. In Season 1, she has a crush on Forensics Specialist Eric Mills, until he is revealed as The Maskmaker and kidnaps her. In Season 8, she starts dating Ken Greene. After Ken's Heroic Sacrifice later in the season, she is never quite the same again. After an undercover operation in Season 9, she quits the force to join the renegade 'hacktivist' group Brimstone.
- Action Girl: From Season 9 onwards, when she is in Brimstone
- Break the Cutie: After Ken's death in Season 8, she begins to act quiet and distant.
- Damsel in Distress: At the end of Season 1.
- Heroic Sacrifice: She attempts this to save Ken in Season 8 and it sort of works... But in the end it was the other way around, with Ken throwing both himself and Zargoza out of Amy's apartment building to save her.
Originally from Hawaii, Kai once ran with a motorcycle gang for a brief time, but then sought to become an astronaut. One problem—he wasn't hale enough, courtesy his asthma. He did, however, pass muster as a forensic scientist, and was brought in to replace Eric Mills after he was exposed as the Maskmaker and apparently drowned.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: For all the strange tangents he can wind up on, no one is going to look askance at his forensic aptitude. Then again, his strangeness means that except for Amy and Boone, no one wants to be near him when they don't need his forensic aptitude.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: And how!
- The Coroner
- Dating Catwoman: He and Kara Yan genuinely care for each other.
- Hidden Depths: Kai really is deeper than his nerdy, obnoxious persona.
- Juvenile Delinquent: Was one for a brief portion of his mid-teen years.
- Platonic Life-Partners: With Amy,
no matter how much the Amy*Kai shippers might keen otherwise.
Introduced in 7-8-B. She actually was part of the SFPD before the Maskmaker crisis; she'd simply been gone to assist the FBI with investigating terrorist cells. Yeong called her back so she could have all the manpower she could muster to deal with the approaching Kraken disaster. Corso herself is very fond of shooting first and asking questions later, to the point her name has become something of a byword for heedless fervor.
- Cowboy Cop
- Dark and Troubled Past: As though her home life wasn't bad enough (absconded father, apparently pinballing through multiple trailer parks, her two elder sisters abandoning their dementia-blasted mother to her, etc.), she was taken prisoner by an unknown criminal early in her career...only to be released by him, seeing how he had some sort of plan for her. It goes From Bad to Worse in 14-9, with the strong suggestion that the criminal was none other than Alex Dominguez—meaning he thinks she's a potential fellow Serial Killer.
- Disappeared Dad: When she was four.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: She can be extremely prickly about people wanting her to stop being so self-destructive (for starters, she doesn't even realize she's self-destructive). Her sky-high self-hatred does not help the case. Small wonder her relationship with Jeremy foundered.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to both Mal and Jeremy. Scratch that; the entire SFPD force is the blue to her red.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Has a bad case of arachnophobia, which makes the situation with the Spinnerette very squirmy for her. She doesn't seem to be too fond of clowns or sharks, either.
Introduced in Season 9. Originally just a particularly rules-oriented police officer in El Dorado, he unintentionally achieved some celebrity status when he brought down an infamous killer with his sharpshooter skills. Not by killing him, but by crippling his vehicle. As a result, Charles Anders decided to bring him to help with his crusade against the Cowboy Precinct of San Francisco. What Anders didn't expect was that Jeremy's resolve to always do the right thing would mature into him understanding that there are times when "right thing" and "proper thing" don't always overlap. After 9-8, he becomes an SFPD detective.
- By-the-Book Cop: Where Mal sine-waves between this and Cowboy Cop, Jeremy keeps very close to this.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Him killing Theo Sinclair in 9-3 establishes just how very good he is with firearms. And in Wild Stag, during the "zombie" shootdown, he actually gets twenty "kills" down just with his carefully aimed pistol before Mal, Óscar, or Kai (all using much heavier artillery) can.
- Magical Native American: He likes to occasionally mess with people's ideas with this when he introduces himself, claiming his father was a shaman who specialized in summoning rain-spirits. (He actually runs a sporting goods store.)
- Opposites Attract: Him and Blaise, a couple? One doubts anyone saw that coming before the end of Fourth of July Special.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Blaise's red.
Anders's original plan was football, not police. But when an ACL injury blockaded him from that, he ended up joining Austin's K-9 unit, ultimately ascending to detective. Unfortunately for him, the rest of the police force was quick to ostracize him when he informed on his Corrupt Cop partner. Except for Internal Affairs, that is. He was transferred to San Francisco to deal with the remnants of Jacob Fallon's empire. And somehow, his bosses thought there was something fishy about the SFPD's homicide division.
Cue Anders going into Guilty Until Proven Innocent mode. He even requisitioned Jeremy Redbird, sort of the ultimate By-the-Book Cop, to assist in his endeavors to permanently repair the SFPD...only to find even Redbird rejecting the severity of his ideals. Ever since Yeong resigned to prevent any other SFPD members from being blacklisted for helping her stop Livewire, Anders has been Acting Captain. Thankfully, he's becalmed to a measure since then.
- By-the-Book Cop: Very, very distrustful of anyone short of this. Probably informed by his bad experiences in Austin.
- Career-Ending Injury: Police work was Plan B. Football, before the injury, was Plan A.
- Defective Detective: He's divorced. Given how much of a Control Freak and Well-Intentioned Extremist he was early on, this isn't too surprising.
- Internal Affairs
- Jade-Colored Glasses / Knight in Sour Armor: It is not easy for him to take the positive view of matters (e.g. Mal and Natara being a couple; it might jeopardize their focus).
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Again, he genuinely wants to obliterate every last bit of corruption and ill-doing in the SFPD. But early on, he was taking far too much of a black-and-white view.
- Evil All Along / The Mole: A lot of fans believed him to be The Firstborn back around his debut episodes. He wasn't.
- Impersonation Gambit / Grand Theft Me: In the final episodes, the Firstborn beats up Reed, takes off his bandages to reveal that he has surgically altered his face to resemble Reed, and sends Reed off to be executed. The Firstborn succeeded in fooling the SFPD/SCT until he revealed of his own accord.
- It's Personal: He, although he was actually acting in and killed him in self-defense (unlike Blaise with Kolo), went absolutely brutal on the biker-mercenary who blew up his teammates as revealed in a V15 bonus scene.
- Mysterious Past: He has a super-secret past; he tells Kai at one point that part of the reason is how in one of his operations back in less-classified days, almost all of his team members were killed days after it succeeded. So he keeps his past super-secret to prevent similar incidents. Not sure that the story expressed this clearly enough, the writers decided to have his in-game file in Secret Files 2 heavily redacted as well.
- Not Quite Dead / No One Should Survive That!: The Firstborn's second-in-command, Kingfisher, botched Reed's execution after The Firstborn revealed he was impersonating Reed — despite being shot in the head, the bullet didn't kill Reed. It did leave him paralyzed, and he states in the series epilogue that he'd consider becoming a teacher what with his fluency/functionality in many languages.
- Sole Survivor: He, because the Firstborn intentionally left only his parachute on the plane (and removed all the others), was the only member of the SCT (besides Natara who wasn't on the plane) to survive it's bombing. Led to the instance of It's Personal listed above.
