Characters / Insignia

Main Characters

Tom Raines

Thomas "Tom" Raines

The protagonist of the trilogy.

• Amazon Chaser: Seems to be this; Medusa's fighting skills impress him so much that he pursues to get to know her personally.
• Artificial Limbs: In Vortex Tom gets cybernetic fingersafter losing his fingers in Vortex, he's given cybernetic replacements.
• Anti-Hero: While Tom is a good person at heart, he has an arrogant, impulsive personality, manages to anger almost every influential person he comes across and wins his duel with Medusa by publicly humiliating her.
• Book Dumb: Tom notoriously flunks out of school; however, that doesn't stop him from having a talent for gaming and a potential to become a great space combatant.
• Break the Haughty: Vengerov kidnapping and psychologically torturing cause Tom to become much less of a hothead.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Badly.
• Cannot Talk to Women: An excellent example is his unfortunate horse conversation with Medusa.
• Character Development: Especially at the end of Vortex, Tom becomes less defiant, arrogant and even pretends to work with Vengerov in order to save Medusa. Cannonballs in Catalyst, when his character is almost entirely destroyed.
• Competition Freak: Tom is extremely competitive and always tries to win at everything he does.
• Dating Catwoman: Tom and Medusa in Insignia; they meet through the internet, fight online and are genuinely friendly to each other despite fighting on two opposing sides of the international war.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Defiant to the End: Does this all the time. Subverted, as he is eventually mind-tortured into submission for a time.
• Description in the Mirror: Used to show how Tom's appearance changes over time— from pimply shrimp to somewhat good-looking to faintly deranged after his year of captivity.
• Dumbass Teenage Son
• Fatal Flaw: Tom's refusal to give in, which culminates in his mental torture after a series of mistakes.
• Fingore: In Vortex, after Vengerov locks him outside in Antarctica he gets frostbite and his fingers fall off.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Choleric; passionate, stubborn, rebellious, often rude and arrogant.
• Friendless Background: Had no friends his own age before joining the Spire and befriending Vik, Wyatt and Yuri.
• His Own Worst Enemy: On one occasion, Tom sabotages his future four times in one day.
• Honor Before Reason: Tom won't show an ounce of respect towards the CEO executives, even if it means losing his chance to become a space combatant.
• Idiot Ball: Has his moments.
• Jabba Table Manners: According to Wyatt, Elliot, and Lieutenant Blackburn.
• The Lab Rat
• Missing Mom: Tom's estranged mother abandoned him and his dad when Tom was a child.
• Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!
• Official Couple: With Medusa.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Often ruins things for himself this way.
• Rebellious Spirit
• The Resenter: Towards Blackburn for the better part of Vortex.
• Revenge Before Reason: In the first book, he traps a bunch of Dominion Agra executives in sewage, which comes back to bite him in the butt. Several times.
• Rookie Red Ranger: In book one Tom's a Naïve Newcomer. He later turns out to be one of the two people on the entire planet who are able to interface with machines and bend them to their will.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Tom's tendency to do things his own way caused him a large amount of issues - almost losing his chance to become a combatant and losing his fingers after Vengerov almost killed him.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Medusa. Her and Tom fight for two sides of an international conflict and have met only on-line, due to living in the U.S and China respectively, at the same time risking a charge for treason.
• Technopath: Similarily to Medusa he is able to manipulate machines and bend them to his will. It later becomes an important plotpoint as he uses this ability to publicly expose Medusa's face in order to win the duel.
• Tempting Fate: Doesn't seem to be capable of going a week without it.
• The Unfettered: Would do anything to win.

Vik Ashwan

Vikram "Vik" Ashwan

• Fair-Weather Friend: Has elements of this, especially after Yuri's neural processor is fried and he and his friends narrowly avoid treason charges. Eventually subverted when the situation is most dire
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine; outgoing, funny, optimistic.
• The Nicknamer: Comes up with nicknames mainly for Yuri ("the android") and Wyatt {"evil wench", "man-hands").
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Wyatt.

Wyatt Enslow

Wyatt Enslow

• Action Girl: Even though Wyatt is not into fighting, Tom has remarked that in simulations she's one hell of a fighter.
• The Apprentice: To Blackburn.
• Badass Bookworm: Despite having potential for being an action girl, Wyatt relies mainly on her incredible programming skils which save her and her friends on numerous occasions.
• Beta Couple: With Yuri Sysevich.
• Captain Oblivious: Misses most social clues, and had no clue that Vik had a crush on her.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Melancholic; loyal, organized, introverted.
• Graceful in Their Element: An excellent programmer and mathematician; not particularly good at anything else
• Lady Looks Like a Dude: According to Vik, her hands look like a boy's.
• Loner-Turned-Friend: Was a socially awkward loner before befriending Tom, Yuri and Vik.
• Official Couple: With Yuri Sysevich.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: She bickers a lot with Vik, who on the other hand nicknames her "evil wench" or "man-hands".
• We Used to Be Friends: Allies reveal that before Heather joined Camelot Company, she used to be friends with Wyatt. Only as it turned out, Heather's ambitions were more important to her.
  "Wyatt stared at her. “You only sit with me now when you want something.” She stung with the realization. “You don’t want to be my friend; you just want me to do stuff for you.”
  Heather rolled her eyes, her lips curling. “Oh my God, that’s so pathetic. Are you this out of touch with the way people work?”

Yuri Sysevich

Yuri Sysevich

• Beta Couple: With Wyatt Enslow.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Yuri Sysevish; when his friends find out Vengerov has been doing some spying in the Pentagonal Spire using Yuri as an unwitting pawn, Obsidian Corp. takes control of him.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic; kind-hearted, quiet, calm.
• Gentle Giant

Medusa

Medusa / Yaolan

• Action Girl: Save for Tom, she's the best known space fighter. Her success stems from her unique ability to mind-hack into systems of spaceships and predict their further moves. Tom has the same ability.
• Action Survivor: Survived a fire and earthquake.
• Best Her to Bed Her: She and Tom meet by killing each other in simulations.
• Broken Ace: While Medusa is (next to Tom) one of the most talented fighters in the series, but is implied to be a broken bird due to the extensive burn scars she has.
• Dating Catwoman: In the first book she befriends Tom, a combatant from the opposing side of the international conflict.
• Facial Horror: The reason why Medusa doesn't want to reveal herself to Tom, is because half of her face is covered with scars from a fire.
• Meaningful Name: Medusa's alias seems to allude to her facial disfigurement.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Tom. Him and Medusa fight for two sides of an international conflict and have met only on-line, due to living in the U.S and China respectively, at the same time risking a charge for treason.
• Technopath: The reason why she's such a successful space combatant is her unique ability to manipulate machines according to her will.

The Spire

Lieutenant James Blackburn

Lieutenant James Blackburn

• Arch-Enemy: Blackburn hates Vengerov with a burning passion and has dedicated his life to bringing him down, becoming Vengerov's greatest enemy.
• Black-and-Grey Morality: Lampshaded. He goes so far as to kill a teenage girl to preserve his chance at revenge, but also eventually brings about the downfall of a corrupt oligarchy.
• Dark and Troubled Past The poor guy lost his mind and ended up killing his family after being implanted with a neural processor as an adult.
• Good Is Not Nice: Blackburn is ruthlessly devoted to bringing down Vengerov and doesn't care about any social niceties getting in his way.
• Inspector Javert: Played with, as Vengerov is distinctly less innocent than Valjean.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Blackburn is a gruff, cynical jerk, but he genuinely cares about Wyatt and grows to care about Tom.
• Parental Substitute: Implied to act one towards Wyatt as her mentor. He even remarks that Wyatt doesn't have much support from her parents and that she reminds him what it was like to be a father. It's sort of a Tear Jerker knowing that he accidentally killed his own kids after having a neural processor installed in his brain.
• Paying Evil Unto Evil: His vendetta against Vengerov.
• Pet the Dog: Blackburn in Vortex is a lot kinder than in the previous book; he saves Tom's life, comforts him and helps him, Wyatt and Vik to take down a Brainwashed and Crazy Yuri.
• Sadist Teacher: Mainly in the first book; in the second he is much more sympathetic.
• Sanity Slippage
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky

Blackburn: Mr. Raines, if I were a lesser man, I'd rub this moment in your face. [pause] Actually, I am a lesser man.

General Terry Marsh

General Terry Marsh

• The Chooser of the One: In a sense. Brings Tom to the Spire in the hopes that he will end the war.
• Cool Old Guy
• Internal Reformist: Even though he works for the system, Marsh is aware of how corrupt the government is and plans to use Tom to end the war.

Elliot Ramirez

Elliot Ramirez

• Grew a Spine: Eliot initially was obedient regarding the military's orders; only later he claimed to have destroyed the skyboards (something Tom was responsible for) and publicly criticised the multinational corporations.

Heather Akron

Heather Akron

• Action Girl: As a member of CamCos and a space combatant, she definitely is one.
• Ambition Is Evil: Leaks information about other combatants, threatens Wyatt and blackmails Tom only to achieve a higher status.
• Asshole Victim: In Vortex. Heather's plan to blackmail Tom into helping her win her Capitol Summit fight with Medusa ends with her career being destroyed, losing sponsorship and then being murdured by Blackburn in order to keep Tom's secret away from Vengerov.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
• Character Death: In Vortex she is killed by Blackburn after she finds out that Tom is able to interface with machines and threatens to reveal this to Vengerov and other CEOs.
• Characterization Marches On: In "Insignia" Heather is merely a member of the Camelot Company who Tom has a crush on, and affably evil at worst. Future installments expand on her personality; Allies reveals her former friendship with Wyatt, whom she wanted to use for personal benefit. In Vortex Heather leaks humiliating information on her Cam-Cos colleagues to degrade their public image, bullies Wyatt, proceeds to blackmail Tom into helping her win the Capitol Summit by incapacitating Medusa and after refusing to have her memory modified, she is killed by Blackburn so that Tom's secret ability can be safe from Vengerov.
• Disney Villain Death: Well, Heather isn't as villainous as Vengerov, but being thrown down a vacuum train tube fits this trope to a tee.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Heather's plan of blackmailing Tom ends with her career being destroyed, losing sponsorship and a looming danger of being reprogrammed like Nigel Harrison. As she later attempts to get away from the Spire without her memory being modified, she is killed by Blackburn.
• Manipulative Bastard
• Slave to PR: To the point where she sabotages fellow CamCos.
• We Used to Be Friends: Allies reveal that before Heather joined Camelot Company, she used to be friends with Wyatt. Only as it turned out, Heather's ambitions were more important to her.
  "Wyatt stared at her. “You only sit with me now when you want something.” She stung with the realization. “You don’t want to be my friend; you just want me to do stuff for you.”
  Heather rolled her eyes, her lips curling. “Oh my God, that’s so pathetic. Are you this out of touch with the way people work?”

Karl Marsters

Karl Marsters

• The Bully
• Character Development: Eventually loosens up and even befriends Tom.

Nigel Harrison

Nigel Harrison

• All the Other Reindeer: Due to his tics many characters mock him. One of the computer viruses that caused facial spasms was even named after poor Nigel.
• Brainwashed: His implied fate after attempting to blow up the Pentagonal Spire. After undergoing reprogramming, he works for one of the corporations as a walking computer.

Other Characters

Neil Raines

Neil Raines

• Cassandra Truth: Claims that there is something off about the faces of the Camelot Company kids. As it turns out, the electronic devices inside their heads regulate their facial tics.
• Like Father, Like Son: As stubborn and reckless as his son.
• Shadow Archetype: A reckless gambler who struggles to survive, travels from town to town and gets into fights - exactly what Tom could have become if he didn't become a space combatant.

Joseph Vengerov (Unmarked Spoilers)

Joseph Vengerov

• Anonymous Benefactor: How Tom gets promoted to Upper.
• Big Bad: He's the one who behind all of the crimes in the series due to his attempts to gain control over the whole world.
• Dirty Coward: Vengerov's greatest fear is facing the consequences of his actions and will do anything to avoid them and harm, such as nearly ending the world with the asteroid Cruithne so he could hide out in a bunker or immediately surrending when confronted in person and then try to escape later.
• Faux Affably Evil: Vengerov puts on the air of being at least honest about his attempts to bribe Tom, in reality Vengerov is still lying to and manipulating Tom who sees him as nothing but a tool.
• It's All About Me: Vengerov cares only about benefitting himself and only views other people as tools to get him what he wants and has no issue with killing or torturing anyone who gets in his way such as Tom.
• Kick the Dog: Vows to Blackburn to remove Yuri's neural processor from the Spire. Does so by electrocuting Yuri and turning off the processor, which Yuri needs to survive.
• Kill and Replace: Vengerov isn't actually Joseph Vengerov, but rather his little brother Ivan Vengerov who murdered his brother and took his identity.
• The Man Behind the Man: Influences Dalton throughout the series.
• Sibling Murder: As he's actually Ivan Vengerov and not Joseph he killed his brother to steal his identity.
• The Sociopath: It's very clear that Venegerov doesn't see other people as people, but rather as just tools that exist to serve him.
• Villain with Good Publicity: After Vengerov steals the credit for saving the world by destroying the asteroid Cruithne Vengerov is hailed as a world-wide hero and wipes away the bad press he had gotten from being revealed to be Playing Both Sides.
• Would Hurt a Child: Has no problem rendering teenage Yuri braindead, mind-raping Tom, and killing his rivals' families.

Dalton Prestwick

Dalton Prestwick

• Smug Snake: Dalton is incredibly smug and full of himself, believing he's entitled to whatever he wants and openly brags about how he's immune to consequences.
• The Social Darwinist: Dalton believes it's the right of the rich and powerful to exploit the rest of the world.
• Wicked Stepfather: He is one to Tom, especially after he tried to alter Tom's mind into submission in the first book.

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