A character page for the Original Characters of Cultstuck. Canonical characters can be found here.
The Grand Elder (Horuss Zahhak/Darkleer)
- Ascended Extra: The Grand Elder/Horuss goes from a minor character in canon to a major one in this fanfic. That's why he merits a different entry than his canonical counterpart.
- Benevolent Boss: The Grand Elder, who understands that Karkat (and Tavros) is just a kid with flaws who doesn't want to act like the Cult's messiah. He's one of the few among them who treats Karkat like a person, and it's his influence that allowed Karkat to grow up outside the Cult.The Grand Elder eventually reached the conclusion, or at least claimed to reach the conclusion, that they had been demanding Your Official Blessing for too many a Frivolous Occasion and they needed to clearly delineate When and Why you were to attend so as to not make Unreasonable Demands of Your Time. It didn't exactly solve your problems, but it gave you room to cope and a semblance of routine, which is about all you could ask for — as you still don't know how to describe your issues with the whole thing.
- Cool Old Guy: The Grand Elder. If Karkat’s opinion is anything to go by, he’s the most reasonable adult on Alternia (not that this is saying much, since adults are banned from the planet and the ones there illegally... well). He’s certainly a lot more together than the rest of the cult. As Karkat's narration puts it;You like the Grand Elder. He strikes you as someone who doesn't so much believe in the Sufferer as he happens to think the Sufferer was a Guy who said Sensible Things. He's also a huge, looming hulk of a giant, so people tend to shut up and behave when he's around, even though he's never raised a finger or attempted to assert his authority in any way.
- Large and in Charge: The Grand Elder is enormous, and the other members of the cult tend to defer to him. He does not particularly want them to defer to him, but since he’s about the most level-headed cultist and is implied to have been around more or less since it started, he’s ended up with a lot of effective power.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The Grand Elder chose his name to reflect his size; on learning that people interpreted it as "the elder who is in charge", he attempted to rename himself Big Elder, but seems to be the only person who actually uses the latter form of his name. Even Karkat calls him Grand Elder.
- Only Sane Man: By far the most levelheaded cultist we’ve met.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Which makes sense since he's Darkleer and thus was alive during the Sufferer's time.
- Really 700 Years Old: He knew the Summoner personally, making him older than the law kicking the adults off the planet. And as Darkleer, he's older than the cult itself.
- The Faceless: The illustrations of the Grand Elder avoid showing his face or the tips of his horns, although there’s a brief description of his face in chapter 13. This is to avoid giving away his identity too early- he is a minor canon character with a very distinctive appearance. The description was a strong hint, but an illustration showing his face would have revealed him as Darkleer several chapters early.
Blade Dancer
- Defector from Decadence: It's implied that Nijinsky became this after disappearing from imperial society. Specifically, that he joined the Cult and became the troll we now know as Blade Dancer.
- Hero-Worshipper: Is this to Nijinsky...assuming he's not Nijinsky in disguise.
- Motor Mouth: When talking about Nijinsky, he can just go on and on.
