Main Cast: Kids, Pre-Scratch; Kids, Post-Scratch; Trolls (Lowbloods, Midbloods, Highbloods, Pre-Scratch); Cherubs Supporting Cast: Guardians & Ancestors; Sprites; Exiles & the Midnight Crew; Agents & Monarchs; The Felt (Leaders); Others Expanded Universe: Post-Canon; Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff; Hiveswap (Troll Call)
Warning: this page contains unmarked spoilers for Act 1 of Hiveswap.
For the trolls introduced in Troll Call, see here.
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Protagonists
Joey Claire
i am going to do my absolute best to raise your standard of friendship where having your name remembered is not the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you.
The main character of the Hiveswap side. A chipper lass who is always willing to help people in need, with an even temper and a knack of puzzle-solving. She wants to be a VETERINARIAN someday, so she can take care of cute animals. She looks up to her mother with aspiration and takes up ballap (Ballet and Tap-dancing) in stride.She has allocated her STRIFE SPECIBUS with FLASHLIGHTKIND ABSTRATUS. She is also able to distract and dodge enemies by using her TAP SHOES or BALLET SLIPPERS.
all lowercase, with proper grammar!
- Actual Pacifist: She tries to be this, finding ways to defeat the monsters non-violently. She feels bad when she injures and possibly kills one of them with spices.
- Alliterative Family: Continues the trend set by John, Jade, Jane, and Jake.
- Ambiguously Bi: Many side comments made by Joey suggest that she may possibly be attracted to other girls despite her current stated crush being a boy. In particular, when examining Pa's scantily clad blue woman lamps she gets rather flustered, thinks about how she idolizes Clarissa a lot, and quickly loses focus when thinking about Dot from ReBoot when going over other shows she enjoys. Her Hot Steppin' poster is also a bit suspect, along with her blushing when thinking about how cool a female TV show character is. Given her age and reaction to learning Xefros is a boy who is attracted to another boy she could also be read as Ambiguously Gay and unaware of it yet. She is also extremely flustered by Elwurd's flirting, as well as very receptive of it, though she also seems surprised to learn that it was flirting when Xefros suggests using it to their advantage.
- Androcles' Lion: Initially terrified of Dammek's lusus, a huge cat-like beast with deer's antlers, which she runs from every chance she gets. After deducing the creature is following her because it's wounded, not aggressive, she uses a vet's kit to remove a thorn from its paw. In return, the lusus allows Joey to ride on its back.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: She is accustomed to taking care of the people around her. In fact, what makes her snap out of the culture shock induced by Alternia is the realization that Xefros is in even more danger than she is.
- Dance Battler: She specialises in Ballet and Tap, though she doesn't do much actual fighting and uses it to escape instead.
- Doesn't Like Guns: She even refuses to use toy guns, let alone real ones. Given who her father is, there are a lot of guns in her house that you get to ignore, and even more in Dammek's house. Her extreme distaste for guns is probably connected to her dislike of her absent father, who is obsessed with them.
- Failed a Spot Check: Is completely oblivious to the fact that Marvus is at all dangerous due to him acting fairly genial and helpful towards her and Xefros for a long while. Despite Xefros and, well, everyone they meet when Marvus is around being incredibly uneasy and/or nervous whenever he pops up.
- Friend to All Living Things: She loves animals, and wants to become a vet when she grows up. Needless to say, she doesn't approve of her Pa's hobby.
- Gender-Blender Name: "Joey" is a typically male name, although it can be a shortened form of some more feminine names.
- Improbable Weapon User: Flashlight? Unusual. Tap shoes? Out there. Jar of spice? Now that's improbable.
- In the Hood: In Act 2, she wears one of Dammek's hoodies.
- Leitmotif: "Joey Claire, Extraordinaire"
. - Meaningful Rename: She adopted her mother's surname, Claire, in order to symbolically distance herself from her estranged father.
- Missing Mom: Clearly feels her mother's absence deeply.
- Naïve Newcomer: As an alien on Alternia, Joey is very ignorant of many bits of commonplace knowledge on this new planet; romantic quadrants, the dangerous wildlife, the blood caste system, clowns.
- Nice Girl: While she can lash out due to how stressful things have been for her she's a very sweet girl at heart.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Her attempt to fit in with the other trolls in Act 2 involves one of Dammek's hoodies with some fake horns attached, but nothing to hide her skin or eye colour. The other trolls either don't comment on this, or think she looks that way because of an illness, although it's shown that at least one troll (Remele) knows she's actually a disguised alien.
- Promoted to Parent: Due to their dead mother and absent father, the older Joey has had to become the woman of the house and take care of her excessively paranoid brother with only a drunk babysitter for help.
- Stepford Smiler: Yes, she's chipper and friendly, but she hides a large amount of stress and sadness due to her Pa's bad parenting.
- Taken even further in Act 2, when she still manages to sport a smile despite almost getting killed by Baizli, and then witnessing Xefros pushing him off the bridge and onto the spikes below.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Jude.And sometimes you feel like you should make more of an effort to relate to Jude, but he's so stupidly self-assured, and you aren't sometimes, and it's hard to be a nice big sister when you resent him for that.
Jude Harley
But as a last resort... no. Never. If it comes to that, you'll fight your way in there and save your sister yourself, overwhelming odds and certain death be damned!
Joey's little brother, who is a major conspiracy nut who believes in aliens, cults, and other matters of the occult. Based on the predicament he and his sister ended up in, he might be right about a few of these theories.He has allocated his STRIFE SPECIBUS with FLAREGUNKIND ABSTRATUS. He can deliver messages off the grid with his trio of pigeons: THE LONE GUNBIRDS, Aka Frohike, Langley and Byers.ALL UPPERCASE. TERSE RAMBLING JARGON over.
- Alliterative Family: See his sister's entry.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: His conspiracy-theory nonsense annoys Joey, though she trusts him to be her Mission Control.
- The Beastmaster: He commands three carrier pigeons and a "pet" that even Joey won't go near.
- Break the Cutie: He doesn't take Frohike getting eaten by one of the monsters and Langley flat out abandoning him well. On top of that despite his begging, Joey activates the portal and is torn away from him.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Convinced, among other things, of the existence of a local cult.
- The Cuckoo Lander Was Right: He likes his spy games, but he takes the protection of his big sister seriously. If Joey had stayed in her room and ignored his advice, she might well have been killed.
- The cult Joey doesn't believe in turns out to be true as well.
- Flare Gun: His weapon. Unfortunately he fumbles it out of his treehouse while backing up Joey and is lost when it lights a pile of leaves on fire.
- Geek: Jude insists on using "Over" to end his sentences on the walkie-talkie, a conspiracy nerd, set up a huge hamster tunnel network for his "pet" to get around their house, and obviously cares a lot about his big sister. When she finds his collection of pogs he even offers her one based on Scully in exchange for her keeping them safe.
- Large Ham: Frequently, especially where his pigeons Frohike and Langley are concerned.
- Leitmotif: "Jude Harley, Bizarrely".
- Mission Control: He's the one who guides Joey through the house, setting off flares to keep the monsters off her back.
- The Strategist: The first thing he tells Joey is to get out of her room and find shelter without large, vulnerable windows. About ten minutes later, he's proven right when the monsters kick down the front door. The rambling, disorganized nature of the monster attack has him convinced that they're only the vanguard of something bigger, though it remains to be seen whether or not he's right.
- Vague Age: He's Joey's little brother and their mother has been missing for at least ten or eleven years, so he has to be between ten and thirteen, but an exact number isn't given.
Dammek
Connected
The Taurcer rebellion leader, planning to overthrow the Heiress of Alternia. He'll be the protagonist of the Hauntswitch side. Based on Xefros' description, Dammek seems to have Xefros' and the rest of the lowbloods' dreams of absolution in mind, but based on the way he treats him, he may be as bad as the casteist highbloods he plans to overthrow, at least to Xefros.- Animal Motifs: Deer, by virtue of his lusus and horns.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Possibly. He's a powerful leader, but treats his moirail awfully even if he isn't intending to.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: From what Xefros has said about him, he truly wants to help people, although his actions supposedly make it hard to tell.
- The Bully: To Xefros, not that he realizes this at first.
- Childhood Friends: He and Xefros have been friends "since grubhood".
- Control Freak: Judging by the fact that he has a camera in Xefros' bedroom.
- Good Is Not Nice: He's a dick to his friends and yet heads the rebellion to change how society works for the better.
- La Résistance: According to Xefros, it was all his idea.
- The Last Dance: It's implied by Xefros that Dammek is reaching the age where he'll be tested to either die or be sent off Alternia to grow up. It's likely that he's taking this as his last chance to rebel against the highbloods.
- The Leader: Of the Mastermind Variety. One of the Tetrarchs alongside Cridea, Fiamet and Xefros Or was it Chixie?
- No Name Given: His last name is unknown. Unless Dammek is his last name, which would mean his first name is unknown.
- The Power of Blood: His official aspect is Blood.
- Properly Paranoid: His house is piled with guns and has an extremely high-tech security system, but given what we know of Alternia, his concerns are absolutely justified.
- Red Baron: Most trolls get an eight letter title when they come of age and are sent off planet, but given how Xefros refers to him as "Tetrarch" he seems to be invoking this early. A Tetrarch is a Roman title referring to one of four co-rulers of an empire, reflecting his desire to overthrow the highbloods' current empire, intent to get rid of the caste system that leaves only one ruler in charge at any given time, and in a meta sense his status as one of the series' four main characters.
- Trash of the Titans: His house is stacked with junk and laundry, and Joey finds exactly one clean dish in the entire place.Did he just... hurl a handful of eggs into the fridge and leave it like that?
- Vocal Dissonance: A lowblood rebel, has tons of huge weapons lying around everywhere. Then you listen to his and Xefros' music, and realize from the lyrics that he's the high-pitched voice and Xefros is the one with the deeper tone.
Xefros Tritoh
Practice makes almost adequate. That's the burgundy way. note
A self-deprecating Ariborn who has been friends with Dammek since grubhood.
He has allocated his STRIFE SPECIBUS with CUEBATKIND ABSTRATUS. He can also use his TELEKINESIS to pick up small objects.
types in all lowercase letters Xcept for X. doesnt use apostrophes.
replaces the words "cross", "ten", all "ex" sounds, and the prefix "trans-" with "X".
uses smilies with an X representing his horns X:)
- Accidental Murder: Baizli winds up tossed over a catwalk onto spikes when he tries to kill Joey in front of Xefros.
- Animal Motifs: Sloths. His lusus is a sloth-like creature, and his last name seems to be a corruption of tri-toe, as in a three-toed sloth.
- Apologises a Lot: Including apologizing for apologizing too much.
- Batter Up!: Xefros' strife weapon of choice is a tool for his favorite sport, Arena Stickball, known as a 'cuebat'. An amalgamation of a pool stick and a baseball bat.
- Berserk Button: Xefros does not take kindly to Azdaja bowling Joey over with psychic powers. Enough so that, when this happens, he takes hold of Azdaja and proceeds to slam him bodily against the floor several times using his psychic abilities. Note, this is from someone who is self admittedly a very weak psychic and who has been shown to struggle doing things like bend a spoon or open a lock with said powers. When Baizli tries to kill Joey, Xefros intervenes in a way that does not end well for Baizli.
- The only exception seen to this series of reactions has been Nihkee, despite the fact that she punched Joey's lights out in one swing. By the time Joey is up and at em again, we only get the indication that Xefros has been waiting for Joey to awaken, rather than tried to take a retaliatory swing at Nihkee.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He's friendly to most people, but as mentioned above, it's not a good idea to cause Joey any harm while he's around.
- Bring My Brown Pants: Joey offhandedly mentions him wetting his pants when deercat surprised them in a dark forest.
- Can-Crushing Cranium: Celebrates the successful unlocking of his sports vault by crushing a can of grub juice against his forehead.
- Cassandra Truth: He tries over and over to warn Joey what clowns are really like, but Joey thinks he's just being prejudiced.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: Comes with living on Alternia. He enjoys stickball despite it being implied to be hockey in a maze full of troll-eating animals, loves his status as the goalie yet acknowledges that he's only goalie because it's the most dangerous position and he can hear dead players, and casually talks to Joey about the hemospectrum and highblood cruelty.
- Childhood Friends: He and Dammek have been friends "since grubhood".
- Cowardly Lion: He may be a scaredy-cat, but by god, if he needs to get to Dammek's hive to help Joey he will.
- Declaration of Protection: When Joey gears up for the fight with Azdaja, Xefros declares that he'll protect her. He keeps his word for the most part from thereon, utterly trouncing Azdaja when he bowls Joey over with his psionics. And when Baizli tries to kill Joey, Xefros does not take it lying down.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: They're more visible in some shots than others, but he has some clearly visible dark areas under his eyes.
- Extreme Doormat: Despite being complicit in the upcoming rebellion, he sounds quite content with his status as bottom-caste burgundy. Not to mention Dammek walks all over him on a regular basis.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Xefros is very quick to bring up his own inadequacies, both personal and brought on by his low blood caste, and does so constantly. Both in speaking to Joey and in his own self monologues.
- Hidden Depths: He's quick to talk up his lack of intellect, and it's clear Dammek was happy to let him, but he's by no means stupid. Once Joey repeatedly encourages him to open up, he's able to interpret revelutionary art, comment on the nuanced ways the caste system reinforces itself, and even realize that Dammek has habitually mistreated him.
- Internalized Categorism: He's quick to write off not just himself but his entire caste as "rustblood gutter trash." As much as he hates the Heiress, he seems to believe everything he's been taught about the hemospectrum. Joey is determined to convince him otherwise.
- I See Dead People: Well, he hears them, but this ability proves useful in Arena Stickball, where he's a goalie. In fact, Xefros proves that this ability is a general Rustblood thing, not just an Aradia-exclusive ability.
- Kind Hearted Simpleton: He may not be "smart or good at anything", but he's awfully friendly. This turns out to be more Internalized Categorism than anything; he's quite perceptive and philosophical, but before Joey, no one has ever really listened to him.
- Leitmotif: "Rustblood".
- Letter Motif: X. His name begins with X, he capitalises X's in his dialogue, as well as replacing it for certain parts of words, he uses an X to represent his horns in emoticons, and his symbol looks like the letter X as well.
- Lovable Jock: Xefros is a kind and caring individual who is also very interested in sports an even plays on a team for 'Arena Stickball'.
- Made of Iron: Despite being a lowblood, he's able to easily shrug off getting crushed by the remains of his hive in Act 1, and being beaten up by Chahut in Act 2 without any lasting effects.
- Martial Pacifist: Because of fear, not ideals. He will protect Joey only when she is in severe danger- voluntarily "wrestling" with a blueblood, which is painful but nonfatal, doesn't trigger his instincts.
- Major Injury Underreaction: He really doesn't seem to react to his house collapsing on him.Xefros: i think im about to pass out from bloodloss so im gonna chill out for a little while X:)
- Mind over Matter: As a burgundy troll, he has the power of telekinesis, but he's pretty bad at it. Unless you hurt his friend, that is.
- The Power of Hate: His official aspect is Rage.
- Properly Paranoid: He's so worried that the Purplebloods will do something bad that the player can't switch from Joey to him while they're in the Purple train car. He's proven right when they make Joey play a game that involves killing other trolls.
- Situational Sociability: Xefros' first interaction with Joey is less a "conversation" than "her cries for help mixed with his attempts to conform to caste protocol". After he learns Joey is also red-blooded, he calms down enough to actually talk to her.
- Stronger Than They Look: Though mostly due to the highly similar looks of the characters' body types, as well as his own generally meek disposition, Xefros has stated that he's always been strangely strong for his blood type. However, this may only be due to the sprites, as it has been mentioned by one of the creators that, were he drawn more realistically, Xefros would actually be fairly buff, which we see during the trial in Act 2.
- This also turns out to be true for his psychic powers as well, as he bounces Azdaja like a pinball the second Azdaja hurts Joey.
- Trauma Conga Line: Joey herself puts it best.Joey: Getting your house bombed, meeting an alien, getting bombed again, getting juiced by a bee, and then peeing yourself when deercat suddenly caught up with us on the road is a pretty scary chain of events!
- Worth It: The extreme danger of stickball does not stop Xefros from playing it because it's one of the few things he enjoys (and because living on Alternia is dangerous anyway).
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: After meeting Joey, she's constantly praising Xefros's ingenuity and his strengths, in opposition to him talking himself and his skills down. By the end of Act 2, it seems she's beginning to get through to him.
Earth
Joey and Jude's Pa/Jake Harley
With a fondness for adventure, he's almost perpetually absent from his children's lives as a result.
See Homestuck: Guardians for tropes pertaining to his appearance in the main comic.
- Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: It remains to be seen just what Pa is up to, but the machine in the attic and things only those who have read Homestuck would know would suggest the man's got some gravely important matters to attend to.
- The Ghost: Seen in photos and mentioned often, but has not appeared in the game and, at the moment, doesn't seem likely to.
- Parental Neglect: As mentioned above he never really spends time with his kids so Roxy has needed to take care of them instead when she's able to. It's also part of why Joey's so bitter towards him, while his reasons for doing this and the effect this has had on Jude are unclear so far.
A. Claire
Joey and Jude's late mother. Joey aspires to be a dancer like she was.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Joey's shown to think very highly of her despite having very little memory of the woman.
- Missing Mom: At least unlike their dad she has a good reason to be "missing", being dead and all.
Tesseract
The kids' pet dog.
- Big Friendly Dog: She appears to be either a Great Pyrenees or a Samoyed, and is seen happily cuddling with the kids in the beginning.
Joey and Jude's Babysitter/Roxy Lalonde
Hired by the kids' Pa to look after them. She's a bit of a drunkard, but they like her.
See Homestuck: Guardians for tropes pertaining to her appearance in the main comic.
- The Alcoholic: She's noted to be prone to drunken irresponsibility.
- The Ghost: She's only spoken of and pictured in one photo so far. Joey implies that she had been staying with them but ran out to get groceries when the monsters attacked.
The Cult
A strange band of figures, who Jude despises.- Sinister Silhouettes: We can only see them covered in shadow.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: Joey doesn't believe in them, but it turns out Jude was right all along.
Alternia
Trizza Tethis
Compatriot
As a fuchsiablood (more specifically, a Picen), she is the current heiress to the Alternian throne. She runs an oppressive regime where she (among other things) forces all her subjects to laugh at her jokes.
- '50s Hair: She has short hair styled into a pompadour.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Her status as Heiress leads to her enforcing the caste system more than ever, destroying a low district for a selfie, and making people laugh at her (assumably) bad jokes.
- Depending on the Artist: While her appearance at the end of Act 1 shows her hair to be neatly styled, some images of her in official art or on adverts in the game's backgrounds show her with Spiky Hair. Her original concept art even had the latter hairstyle, but her 3D sprite had the former. The same goes for her lips — sometimes they're black, sometimes they're pink. Maybe she just likes to change her hairstyle and lipstick every so often?note
- Doomed by Canon: There's only one heiress at a time, the one by the time of Homestuck proper is not her, and she did not replace the Condesce.
- Evil Is Petty: The reason Xefros' neighborhood is being razed? She wanted to take a good selfie.
- Face Framed in Shadow: When we first catch a glimpse of her, anyway.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: She's not "Empress" yet, nor is she ever going to be, but as the Heiress she's already a bloodthirsty and vain tyrant.
- Leitmotif: "Wish You Were Here".
- Power Hair: She's in Alternia's most powerful position (And second most powerful position to The Empire) and has the short hair to show for it.
- The Power of Blood: Her official aspect is Blood.
- Princesses Prefer Pink: She wears fuchsia as her primary color motif, as it is the color of her royal blood.
- Royal Brat: The most "royal" of all seadwellers and a very unpleasant person.
Dammek's Lusus
The Cuspidated Grimalkin who acted as both a parent and steed for Dammek prior to their ward's disappearance, but grows to accept Joey in his stead.
- Androcles' Lion: Androcles' Deercat, with obligatory thorn in its paw.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: It's named by the player, although its default nickname is "Cornibuster".
- Papa Wolf: Grimalkins are fiercely protective of their trolls, and often die defending them. The instinct is so strong that many Grimalkins adopt more than one troll over the course of their lives.
- Horse of a Different Color: It serves as Dammek's and, later, Joey's main means of transaportation. If not for the saddle on it, Joey wouldn't have even thought it could be ridden.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: A deercat according to Joey, and it species description has it as a "perfect hybrid of predator and prey". Appearance-wise, it looks like a panther with the horns of a buck.
- Why Isn't It Attacking?: Joey takes one look at it and runs, since she's never seen a lusus before. The lusus itself just looks vaguely curious and tries to follow her — not out of hunger, but because it wants to investigate the strange child.
Xefros' Lusus
The slow and sleepy Glacial Treetrudger responsible for raising Xefros.
- Bumbling Dad: He's a kind and earnest father to Xefros, but he's incredibly slow to react to things, such as Xefros' hive collapsing. He seems to be some sort of sloth-like creature, so he can't help it.
- Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": It's called a "Glacial Treetrudger" and looks like a cross between a pangolin, a bear and a sloth, but likes "sloth treats".
- Gentle Giant: It's a humongous sloth-like creature that's one of the better lusii introduced thus far.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: Named by the player, although its default nickname is "Zoosmell".
- Mythology Gag: Its default name is Zoosmell, the joke name that's almost given to John at the beginning of Homestuck.
- Papa Wolf: Parodied. He tries to dig Xefros out of the rocks, but he's so slow that it doesn't amount to much.
Cridea Jeevik
An Aqualo Violet-Blood who is assisting in Dammek's resistance. She is hosting a party when Joey lands known as "Jeevik Week."
While hinted at it Act 1, her full appearance was shown via the SAHCON 2022 Live Stream.
- The Leader: Of the Charismatic Variety. One of the Tetrarchs alongside Dammek, Fiamet and Xefros Or was it Chixie?
- Fun Personified: Hosts a huge party in her name, Jeevik Week, which is open to all blood hues and is herself very cheerful and nice to Joey, an alien from another planet.
- Phoneaholic Teenager: Her typing quirk involves hashtags, she is a beauty vlogger and has the second most followers on Chittr second only to the Hieress herself.
- Spoiled Sweet: As a sea-dweller she is very well off, yet she has joined lowblood Dammek in his resistance simply because she feels bad for those lower and less fortunate.
The White Man
A mysterious figure who gives Xefros a new "security program" for his tablet. Trizza is possibly working with him.- The Chessmaster: It's implied that everything he's doing for Joey and Xefros and possibly other characters is to achieve a specific goal, possibly to make sure the current Heiress does not kill the Condesce in order to keep the Stable Time Loop of Lord English's existence.
- Exploiting the Fourth Wall: It's heavily implied that he might be the hint system. Whatever his plan is, guiding the player around seems to be exactly what he wants.
- Reality Warper: The program he gives Xefros protects all his future communications from being monitored. This protection also extends to his past communications retroactively and may have always been in effect. Given that the White Man is Doc Scratch whose every move is meant to bring about the rise of Lord English, time shenanigans should be expected.
- Red Baron: This obviously isn't his name, but it's less of a spoiler than to call him Doc Scratch.
- Walking Spoiler: Obviously, hence why this isn't even under his real name. After all, not only is Scratch attempting to help Xefros and Joey, he's also the only canon Homestuck character who's directly involved in the plot.
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