Characters in Eastward.
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Main Characters
John
John
A miner of Potcrock Isle and Sam's guardian, also a man of few words.
- 11th-Hour Superpower: Sam fuses with his weapon in order to help him defeat Mother in the final battle.
- Action Survivor: John is nothing but a simple digger (albeit one of the best), but he still fights monsters, mechanical abominations and even MIASMA spawns with nothing but his guts and his frying pan.
- Badass Normal: He has no superhuman powers, but is really good at whacking things with skillets and gets a variety of guns and bombs.
- Chef of Iron: John is both parts great chef and great fighter.
- Eyes Out of Sight: John's hair is always covering his eyes, at least until the epilogue where he says goodbye to Sam.
- Frying Pan of Doom: His primary weapon is the frying pan he uses for cooking. Over the course of the game he upgrades to larger frying pans.
- Heroic Mime: Never says a single word throughout the game. People often remark his taciturn behavior.
- Manly Facial Hair: John sports an impressive beard and stache.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His activation of the factory in Chapter 2 ended up leading the MIASMA to destroying Greenberg.
- Not So Stoic: His face remains static most of the time, but he does have an additional emote where he scratches the back of his head sheepishly. Chapter 4's dream heavily implies John feels terribly guilty about Greenberg's destruction and the death of its people. And then there's the epilogue where he has to say goodbye to Sam.
- Papa Wolf: He'll dive into danger without hesitation if it means being able to protect Sam. The few times John raises his weapon before a fight is when dealing with people who might threaten Sam.
- Supreme Chef: A bonafide cook which can turn any combination of foodstuffs into delicious meals. This is particularly important when he and Sam get involved into a bet with Lee, a notorious individual of New Dam City.
- Walking Armory: Throughout the game John holds an impressive arsenal of weapons from frying pans to bludgeon enemies to things like bombs, a shotgun, a flamethrower and a saw blade gun.
Sam
A young girl discovered by John one day in an abandoned area, who wishes to visit the surface.
- Adorably Precocious Child: A kind and curious child with a cheerful personality who endears herself to nearly every adult she meets.
- Berserk Button: She begins reacting angrily to people calling her Mother as Mother's name becomes involved with progressively more destructive and ominous events.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: It's only really noticeable in the official art, but she's got a pretty bushy pair of black eyebrows for a young girl.
- Charge Attack: Gains access to one which can break barriers and neutralize several enemies at once.
- Eyelid Pull Taunt: Sometimes does this in various moments.
- It's All My Fault: After finding out that she and Mother are one and the same, Sam is also crushed by the guilt of the lives Mother has destroyed.
- Mystical White Hair: Her very long white hair is her most striking feature and an indication of the hidden psionic powers she possesses.
- The Paralyzer: Her main form of defense is energy orbs that will constrict enemies. It will kill Miasma monsters, however.
- The Pollyanna: Never lets anything get her down for too long.
- Proportional Aging: Being a more "evolved" human Sam ages much slower than normal people.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Loses all memory of Whitewhale Bay and Greenberg after it was destroyed by the MIASMA. Her memories comes back after Chapter 5. And she loses her memories of all of her adventures after merging with Mother, including her time with John.
- Tomato in the Mirror: She is the one known as "Mother". It's implied that Sam is just one of her many bodies.
- White Magician Girl: Caring, cheerful and able to learn a healing spell on top of her paralyzing attack.
Supporting
Alva
The princess of New Dam City, who creates inventions to help the citizens.
- Compressed Hair: She's got a pretty sizable plume of pink hair that's only kept at bay by her helmet.
- Green-Eyed Monster: According to Isabel, she was secretly jealous of John for being able to explore freely, not that Alva has ever shown jealousy towards John and Sam.
- Hidden Buxom: Beneath her lab outfit, she actually has a decent sized chest.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Isabel turns out be very emotionally dependent on her and is incredibly protective of her as a result. When Alva is killed, Isabel quickly falls for Mother's manipulations just for a chance to bring her back to life.
- Rose-Haired Sweetie: She's an inventor who's known by the citizens of New Dam City for helping them and protecting the city from the Miasma.
- Stepford Smiler: Alva may seem a genki genius, though deep down she's admittedly terrified of failing the city if the MIASMA prevails.
Isabel
A ranger and Alva's close lab partner.
- BFS: Carries a sizable sword on her back almost at all times.
- Climax Boss: Isabel is the final opponent John has to fight before facing Mother in order to rescue Sam.
- Driven to Villainy: After Alva dies she desperately wants her back and Mother offers Isabel this chance leading her to join Mother and opposing John and Sam. All for Alva's sake.
- Foil: To John. Both are protectors of people with great powers/knowledge. While John is always quiet Isabela is a woman that keeps mostly to herself. Both goes to great lengths to protect the ones they love and both fail at some point, but whereas John chooses to push forward, Isabela falls into despair and becomes an easy prey for Mother's schemes.
- Glass Cannon: Her boss fight consist of John having to counter her attacks with good timing and she can rack up a lot damage very fast. However she goes down in three hits, after she's been worn down and struck, which is the lowest health for any boss in the game.
- The Stoic: She never displays much emotion. The only time she gets flustered is when Alva gets angry at her for losing a part of the rocket. Lee reveals that she's actually been actively suppressing her own emotions after they caused her to kill Lee's dog.
- Would Hurt a Child: Emphases on 'would'. She nearly considered killing Sam until Mother appears before her and ends up falling for her manipulations.
Antagonists (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Solomon
A young upstart in New Dam City who fancies himself Charon's herald.
- Climax Boss: He is the last obstacle between John and Sam to reach the place where Isabel and Alva went. His last defeat also opens way to a much bigger threat than him.
- The Dragon: Parodied and then played straight with Solomon. In New Dam City, Solomon seems like a random person, name dropping Charon and making ominous warnings but not actually being threatening, but his attempt to make good on them results in Alva being mortally wounded. The adult and elder Solomon in the next two areas are played more straight, but still somewhat comedically, having childish goals of supreme dominion of the world. Mother, for her part, doesn't discuss any role he'd have in her vision of the future.
- Gadgeteer Genius: All battles has him jumping into some form of machine or contraption of his design.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: He appears to be just a random punk of New Dam City with delusions of grandeur. The aftermath of the first battle against him is a grim reminder that Mother's influence is as threatening as the MIASMA itself which he proves by sabotaging the Wind Shrine and he actually manages to kill Alva and destroy the hopes of people while forcing Isabel on a dark path in her desperate quest to save Alva.
- Recurring Boss: Holds the honor of being the only boss fought several times during the game.
- Recurring Character: Appears as an antagonist at three different points in the game, every time aging up more.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Mother disposes of the elder Solomon after successfully possessing Sam.
MOTHER
A mysterious figure who resembles Sam and only seems to appear to her and a select few others.
- Big Bad: She is the one responsible for the MIASMA, and thus the main threat to mankind.
- Bad Boss: Once Solomon, one of her most devoted minions, is of no use to her anymore, she disposes of him in order to get a chance at possessing Sam.
- The Corrupter: She's very fond of manipulating people with words. To her credit she held her end of her bargain with Isabel...
- Evil Is Petty: For all her mysticism and power Mother makes sure to mock John's effort to save Sam in Charon in the pettiest of ways in her attempt to erode his morale.
- Light Is Not Good: As she technically is Sam, she possesses all of her powers and more. In the final battle Mother uses a lot of light based attacks as well.
- No Name Given: Even though she's referred as "Mother", her name in speech bubbles is always "???".
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Those who follow her parrot that her goal is to elevate mankind through continued iteration. Her final attempt at a "Reason You Suck" Speech to Sam indicates that she will never be satisfied with humanity because she can only see their weaknesses.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Nothing of her origins and very little of her past lives is made known.
- Shadow Archetype: To Sam. Mother destroys humankind in an endless cycle of death and rebirth with callous coldness, Sam on the other hand values every life and is the polar opposite of Mother in terms of personality.
- The Unreveal: What lead her to create the MIASMA and gave her the twisted goal of "perfecting" humanity? Nothing about it is revealed.
