Characters / Hand of Fate

Introduced in Hand of Fate

The Player

The player of the Game of Life and Death. A.K.A you. He has to battle through all of the Dealer's minions to win the game.

• Blood Knight: The Dealer sees him as such. As Hand of Fate 2 shows, the Dealer was right — Kallas himself notes he's sick of card games and wants good, honest combat.
• Fantastic Racism: Most of his foes are nonhuman. Secretly, he hates all non-humans, even the ones that help him. In the sequel, he uses the Deck to create a human-supremacist empire, and directs it to exterminate most of the non-human population, driving the lizardmen and ratmen races to extinction.
• Fatal Flaw: Wrath. Despite his nobility and heroism, he is little more than a bloodthirsty human supremacist.
• The Hero: The main protagonist and the one you control in the first game.
• Legendary in the Sequel: A century later, the towns he saved from the hordes worship him like a god.
• Multiple-Choice Past: The Wildcards DLC allows the player to select a set of different Fates which affect different attributes about the player character. Such as being a Monk who forsakes material wealth but does more damage against skeletons. Subverted in Hand of Fate 2, he has always been the Warlord.
• No Name Given: Subverted in the second game, his actual name is Kallas.
• One-Man Army: He manages to destroy entire hordes of bandits, skeletons, rat men, and lizardfolk by himself.
• Rogue Protagonist: After he wins the game and seizes the Deck, its raw power corrupts him over the course of a century.

The Dealer/Valenos

The supernatural traveling dealer of the Game of Life and Death.

He is but a distortion of your memory - do not trust him. Do not trust him. (Hand of Fate 2)

• Affably Evil: For a certain interpretation of evil. He's definitely an antagonist in the first game, but he's generally polite and soft spoken.
• Ambiguously Human: While he looks human enough, his longevity and his knowledge of the supernatural and the Game puts what exactly is he into question.
• Big Bad: While not exactly evil, he does act as the main antagonistic force in the first game, setting himself as the final challenge the player needs to overcome.
• Big Good: Acts as this in 2, slowly teaching the player how the game is played and never tries to do them any harm.
• Game Master: His role. While the player can set up their own deck for the most part, he alone sets up the rules of the game and the challenges.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Directly helps the player in the final battle in the second game. A later released DLC allows the player to use him when replaying challenges after the final battle.
• Jerkass Has a Point: In 2. At first he seems to be motivated purely by revenge, but the further you get into the campaign, the clearer it is that Kallas has to be stopped.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Many of his lines call into question whether he is talking about the Game of Life and Death or the Hand of Fate video game itself.
• No-Sell: He's clearly infected by the Corruption — a parting shot from Kallas — but he's the only person in the world able to halt its progress through sheer power.
• Serious Business: He takes his Game very seriously, and considering the world-changing nature of it, he isn't exactly wrong.
• The Snark Knight: Often has some pretty barbed quips to the player. Even in the sequel where he is actively helping the New Player, he still can't help it when the player gets a Huge Failure.
• Time Abyss: Has lived for countless years. Even should his material body die, he still exists in some form, eternally refining the Game.

Event Characters

Mister Lionel

A friendly goblin that disguises as a human. One of the first events the Player can come across.

• Cool Uncle: To both Oswin and Hubie in the sequel.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: His disguise just consists of wearing a cloak covering his body and a fake mustache. Despite this, however, he never gets found out.

Introduced in Hand of Fate 2

The New Player

A traveling adventurer who one day meets with the Dealer and sets out on a mission to kill the Emperor.

• Contrasting Sequel Protagonist: While the Player in the first game was a One-Man Army with no permanent allies or friends, the sequel's protagonist meets a few companions along the way who the player can help. Going out of the way to complete all of the companions' questlines is what triggers the Golden Ending, where The Dealer trusts the new Player with the Game where the previous Player failed.
• Glory Hound: In comparison to Kallas, the new Player is obsessed with being famous to the point that the Dealer has to modify the rules and add Fame as a game mechanic; this can benefit the player by convincing various members of the Empire to help them based on their awesome reputation, but as a detriment some powerful items cannot be used with low Fame.
• No Name Given: Not in-game; concept art gives the female hero's name as Isondry.

Malaclypse

A traveling mage masquerading as a bard.

A magician, a jester, and a vagabond.

• An Arm and a Leg: Has his right arm amputated to stop the spread of The Plague.
• The Bard: Subverted. Malaclypse is a mage, but disguises himself as a simple lute-playing bard, because The Empire kills magic-users.
• Barrier Warrior: His ability protects the Player from one hit in combat. Upgrades to create an explosion when destroyed.
• Cowardly Lion: Doesn't like getting into conflicts and berates the player for choices that get them into fights. Despite this, however, he helps them with such fights.
• Friend to All Children: Defied. Despite two of his Companion Specific Sidequests involving rescuing mage children from The Empire, Malaclypse remains confused and alarmed by child behaviour.
• Healer Signs On Early: He's the first companion acquired, and the least offensively capable of the main story companions. He doesn't actively heal, but instead provides the Player with a Deflector Shield.
• Magic Missile Storm: His attack is similar to the enemy mages from the first game — three Energy Balls that target up to three enemies.
• Mark of the Supernatural: At the end of his quest-line, he has to get his right arm amputated to stop a disease and has it replaced by an artificial arm made from green crystals.
• Mr. Vice Guy: Likes to drink and is very womanizing. Despite this, however, he ultimately does have morals that he follows.
• Names to Run From Really Fast: Part of his name is taken from the word apocalypse. Despite this, however, he is no harm to anyone except the player's enemies in combat.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He and the Hermit were part of the mage cabal that brought the Dealer back — unleashing the Corruption as a result.
• The Virus: Like the other mages who brought back the Dealer, Malaclypse has been infected by the Corruption. If you fail the last precision gambit of his storyline, he'll become a Blight Juggernaut and you'll be forced to kill him.

Ariadne

The daughter of a disgraced blacksmith who seeks to rebuild her father's forge.

Steel and flesh both subscribe to the same rules. If you hit them hard enough, they do what you want.

• Ancestral Weapon: The Hard Mode of the Strength chapter sees her helping to reforge the Jousting Armour that her father made.
• Because Destiny Says So: The fortuneteller in Stiegal told the young Ariadne that she would die a hero, so she has sought opportunities for heroism ever since. Whether the fortune teller is phony or not is left ambiguous.
• The Blacksmith
• Brawn Hilda: Very big and muscular, justified as she works as a blacksmith
• I Am Not My Father: Dislikes being compared to her lauded blacksmith father, as she feels he was a coward who failed to stand up to the Emperor.
• Selective Obliviousness: The fortuneteller's exact words are that Ariadne will die at the side of a hero; if you don't see her questline through to the end, that's precisely how her story ends.

Colbjorn

An exiled Northerner who the player rescues. Has a very stout body and dual wields kukris in combat.

His family lost, his clan turned against him, Colbjorn has travelled south in search of meaning.

• Back from the Dead: Part of his story is that he has to be killed to atone for his sins, which he does, and then is brought back to life by you.
• I Owe You My Life: Pledges himself as an ally of the player after he is rescued, helping them in combat even against other Northerners.
• Life Drinker: To resurrect Colbjorn, the Player must kill 50 Northerners with the sword that contains his soul.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Was exiled due to disagreeing with how militant the Northerners became in the face of the empire, feeling it betrays their history as a prideful nomadic tribe. Doubly so when the Northerners started purging their own villages to quell pacifist dissent, turning themselves into a barbaric anti-empire.
• Pelts of the Barbarian
• Sealed Badass in a Can
• Soul Jar: His soul is placed inside a sword, allowing him to come Back from the Dead.
• The Quiet One: While he does talk, he doesn't really say anything outside of necessity.

Estrella

A former Empire captain who defected after witnessing the atrocities The Empire committed.

Having only ever known military life, Estrella's high rank and fame were justly earned.

• Assassination Attempt: Her assassination as newly-crowned Empress leads to the Bad Future of The Mapmaker, from the Outlands and Outsiders DLC. The Player must Set Right What Once Went Wrong.
• Defector from Decadence: After the Empire firebombs their city to prevent the spread of the corruption and even tries to kill uninfected citizens, Estrella commits treason and joins the Player.
• Doomed Hometown: Her Companion-Specific Sidequest involves accruing allies to protect her hometown of Far Water from the Empire.
• Eyepatch of Power
• Fantasy Gun Control: Averted. The only party member with a firearm, prior to the A Cold Hearth DLC.
• Interspecies Friendship: With the last Rat Queen.
• Lady of War: Not particularly ladylike in appearance, but well-spoken and has the most finesse as a fighter of your party members.
• Officer and a Gentleman: Her ancestry/nobility isn't addressed outright, but she is an Imperial Captain with high ideals compared to her corrupt colleagues, and becomes Empress after the end of the game.
• Punch-Packing Pistol: Her Combat Ability allows her to insta-knockdown an enemy with a shot from her pistol.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!
• Sword and Gun

Event Characters

Oswin

A temporary companion who appears only in The Lovers challenge. A simple potato farmer.

His love for potato is unrivalled and unyielding.

• Big Eater: Technically speaking, he only eats as much as the Player. But by comparison with your other companions who do not eat your rations, Oswin is a serious drain on your Food.
• Distressed Dude: His only function in the Escort Mission level in which he appears is to get kidnapped repeatedly.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Sort of. Replaces your regular companions for The Lovers, but doesn't bring anything useful to the table.
• Interspecies Friendship: The goblin Mister Lionel is Oswin's uncle. Whether there's Interspecies Adoption, Random Species Offspring, or something else at work is never explained.
• The Load
• Obsessed with Food: Potatoes, specifically. Farms them, eats them, thinks about them.
• Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: The eponymous Lovers are Oswin and his beloved, who is an undead abomination intent on killing him so they can be together forever.
• Wizard Needs Food Badly: If Oswin dies, it's a Non-Standard Game Over. Good thing potatoes can revive him from near-death.

Lord Apollyon

A rich noble who helps the player during The Devil challenge in exchange for challenging him to card games. Eventually, he is revealed near the end of the challenge to be The Devil who lures people with help then takes their soul through an unwinnable card game.

• Names to Run From Really Fast: Is named after an angel of destruction. And sure enough, he eventually reveals himself to be The Devil.
• Suspicious Video-Game Generosity: Seems to have exactly what the player needs during the challenge to rescue their comrades. This eventually leads to trapping the player in an unwinnable card game.
• Unwinnable by Design: His final card game, which, if the player doesn't use a potion given to them earlier in the challenge or use a specific card, will trap the player in a game where they can't win.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: The fate of those who lose his final card game, becoming permanent thralls to him incapable of moving their own body.

The Old Maiden/Mereth

One of the first encounters you can unlock: a frail old woman who lives in the woods, and will always offer you health, food, or gold at no cost.

• Big Good: Arguably the closest thing this world has to a selfless benefactor: she's helped adventurers for centuries, and never asked anything in return.
• Call-Back: She's Mereth, the Maiden from the first game, a century older.
• Video Game Caring Potential: Once she gets a token added to her card (after completing the Yvonne and Yvette storyline), she'll note that in all her years of helping others, no one's ever helped her. And even though she doesn't explicitly ask you to do anything, you can give her the Potion of Youth blessing from the Waterfall of Youth, and she'll become the Maiden again, a Platinum card identical to how she looked in the first game.

DLC Companions

Hubie

A young goblin. Part of the Outlands and Outsiders DLC.

Some say that goblins are older than time. This goblin seems a little younger than that.

• Mark of Shame: As part of his loyalty mission, Hubie's hat is eaten as punishment, and he must go without until his quest is completed and he redeems himself. As he says, "Without a hat, a goblin is no goblin at all!"
• Practical Taunt: Hubie does not deal damage in combat. Instead, his Companion Ability taunts all enemies, causing them to completely ignore you even if you tear into them with easily-countered combos.

Veles

A Lord of the Shadow Realm, last scion of House Lashar. Part of The Servant and The Beast DLC.

A nightmare from the fables.

• Dark World: The Shadow Realm, the Lysa Hora, which allows the Player to avoid enemies.
  You find yourself suspended in a fractured parody of the Lashar Manor ballroom. Broken pieces of columns and furnishings hang gently in the aether, and everything is tinged in an otherworldly violet light.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Veles will be standoffish and rude for most of the game, but the Brimstone version of The Servant has him showing genuine affection for both Grobben and the player (even if he'd never openly admit it).
• Noble Fugitive: Veles' feud with his brother means he is hunted by goblins and other Shadow Beast Houses.
• Only Friend: Grobben, Veles' loyal goblin servant. Also, the Player character, who Veles calls 'other Grobben'.
• Our Vampires Are Different: Shadow Beasts drink blood to gain life, but are not human in appearance — they are greenish, with horns, a snout full of teeth, clawed hands and feet, and walk digitigrade. Stripped of their cloaks (seen when they are stunned or crazed), they look more like goblins than anything else.
• The Renfield: The Player becomes this for Veles, providing him with blood either in the form of your own Hit Points or by knocking down enemies for him to feed on in combat.
• Shout-Out: Both Veles and his brother Perun are derived from Slavic Mythology, where two of the top gods — Veles and Perun — had a similar dynamic of constantly screwing with each other.
• Sibling Murder: Veles' feud with his brother Perun ends in Perun's death.
• Super Mode: When Veles' blood lust is sated, he becomes a Brimstone card for the next battle, with increased damage output and a stun attack.

Keturah

Known as Cruel Keturah. An aged bounty hunter. Introduced in the A Cold Hearth DLC.

You will find no charity here.

• Amnesia Loop: And a brutal one at that. You help her bring down Aculeus, only to discover he's not the man who killed Keturah's daughter. It turns out Tamar died so long ago that Keturah barely remembers anything about who did it — she's not even sure it was a man. The Downer Ending of her storyline seems to do an about-face in Endless Mode, where she is absolutely certain the killer is one of your bounty targets… but as soon as that fight ends, she says it's not him either and starts mumbling about someone else. Her character description takes on a whole new meaning after that.
  Until she finds her daughter's killer, she will not rest, she will not die.
• BFG: Keturah's platinum upgrade lets her use the Grand Dame, a 4-shot rifle with bleed and piercing effects.
• Cool Old Lady: Considerably older than the Player and the other human companions.
• Fantasy Gun Control: Averted. Uses nothing but firearms, and for the first time, gives the Player access to them too.
• Find the Cure!: Her Companion-Specific Sidequest at one point involves this after an encounter with the Prince of Poisons.
• Meaningful Name: In archaic Hebrew, her name translates to "surrounded" — which is exactly her status when you first meet her. Not that she minds.
• Multi-Ranged Master: Carries a pair of pistols, and has a musketoon slung across her back, which is used for her activated ability.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Her beloved daughter Tamar died long ago.
• Status Effects: Her upgraded combat ability causes bleeding.