Characters / ParaWorld

Heroes in general

• Authority Equals Ass Kicking: The hero units grow larger as they gain levels, leading up to the level 5 characters being 3 meters high.
• Badass Bookworm: All three of the main heroes. Even in the manual it outright states that Cole the geologist, Bela the physicist, and Stina the biologist are respectively the best melee, missile and anti-animal units in the game. In game, that's not far from the truth given their special abilities and augmented stats. It's even more unbelievable that they achieved all this with only 3 weeks of survival and weapons training and are then thrust into a world with berserkers, ninjas, tyrannosaurs, giant robots and magical golems.
• Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: Downplayed, since both Stina and Bela are quite handsome, both Stina and Cole are powerful warriors and all three are quite smart.
• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: all six characters based on historical ones are implied to have been Not Quite Dead and leading very different lives, undergoing personality changes in the process.
• The Big Bad: Babbit
• The Big Guy: The Governor.
• Captain Ersatz: Word of God says that James Warden is a Captain Ersatz of Darwin, and Taslow is a Captain Ersatz of Nikola Tesla. The same goes for Jarvis Babbit (Charles Babbage), Heinrich Kleeman (Henrich Schliemann)and Ada Loven (Ada Lovelace)
• Chosen One: Played with, discussed and apparently subverted in the end as We Do the Impossible.
• The Dragon: Leighton.
• Dull Surprise: Much of the voice acting (at least in the english version), also 'acting' of the cinematics, most of which is generated with in-game models which don't do any expressions beside open and close their mouths and waving their hands around.
• Fight to Survive: Most of the game, especially Mission 11
• Science Hero: 7 out of 11 major characters are scientists using their knowledge and skills ‘’onscreen’’
• Secular Hero: Everybody except Leighton , who is vaguely Christian: Stina is agnostic, Cole is something of a snarky atheist and mentions religiosity only in jokes, and the rest of the main characters do not talk religions at all, despite encountering functional magic and violations of laws of physics.
  • The Dust Raiders are polytheistic and the rest of the tribes holds various animalistic beliefs.
• Surprisingly Elite Cannon Fodder: as the villains realize after Mission 7
• The Three Trials:The heroes must pass them at one point or so The Governor tells them.
• Trapped in the Past: Stina has a theory, that many species, humans included, came from the Paraworld, so in a weird sense the heroes have reached the ur-place of humanity. Also, because of technology levels there.

Cole

Voiced by: Richard Epcar (English)

• Anti-Hero: Cole always prefers the brutal solution
• Barbarian Hero: A hot-blooded American badass, contrasted by the refinement of the other characters; also quite keen on Norsemen, doing a BBQ out of some prehistoric meat and dreaming of beer kegs.
• The Berserker: wields two big machetes and is always eager… to fight, this time. Also, unlocks the berserker unit for the Norsemen.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Wields two machete swords.
• Hot-Blooded Sideburns: They give him a rugged appeal.
• Implied Love Interest: Implied to have been romantically involved with Stina in the past, which she doesn’t recall so fondly as he does. Ultimately bonds with Ada, but the heavy part of it is only implied.
• A Man Is Always Eager: One of his defining characteristics.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: His primary policy towards the villains.
• Sawed-Off Shotgun: His special ability is to fire one… all three barrels at once!
• Surfer Dude: In one mission even walking with a surfing board.
• Terror Hero: Chops the arms off people and plotts their death in tortures.
• Victory Pose: In a cutscene after Mission 11.

Stina

• Action Girl: Courageous, one of the best melee units around, frequently powerwalks in the middle of the heroes ensemble.
• Androcles' Lion: Rides a big sabre-toothed cat.
• Berserk Button: The killing of James Warden
• Nature Hero: Gives bonuses both to the tribe’s animals and anti-animal protection.
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Allegedly Swedish, sounds nothing of the sort.
  • Some units also don't have the same accents as the rest of their comrades do, and the Norsemen stand out as being Americans in a crowd of tribes who at least sound like their ethnicity.
  • According to the lore, she is a daughter of a diplomat, so a correct, if dull delivery might be understandable.
  • Completely moot in the case of a few other language versions, since in their case there is often not even such a thing as accents.
• Whip of Dominance: She carries a whip with her, which she uses both as a weapon and to control animals, like her sabertooth tiger companion.

Bela

Voiced by: Crispin Freeman (English)

• Gentleman and a Scholar: polite and merciful, always helpful and full of science.
• The Hero: Played Straight, in contrast to others in the trio.
• Oh, Crap!: After spotting the SEAS fleet in Mission 12.
• Renaissance Man: An astronomer, avionics engineer, pilot, sailor, interdimensional science specialist and master archer.

Arch-Druid

• Healing Hands: From level two is surrounded by an aura of healing, even for ships!
• Magic Staff: Shoots plasma at range, hits hard in melee.
• The Medic: You WILL want him around.
• Regenerating Health: His primary trait. No other unit in the game can heal themselves, which makes him superior to all other healers, who need to walk in pairs.
• Seers: Immediately recognized, that the heroes came from another dimension, although it is somewhat possible, that he simply knew about interdimensional travelers and did an educated guess on the 20th century clothes of the visitors and on their possible motivation.

Taslow

• Gadgeteer Genius: Much like his real-life inspiration.
• Giving Radio to the Romans : Averted, since they cannot replicate his technological marvels without him. Hilariously, if you click him enough, he will ask mockingly “Who invented the radio?”.
• Like a Son to Me: about Bela
• Phlebotinum Breakdown: Found himself in a world with different laws of electricity
• The Smart Guy: The Heroes count on him to return home.
• Technology Uplift: A recurring theme of his bonuses for the tribe.

Babbit

Voiced by: Steve Blum (English)

• Affably Evil: Usually quiet, composed and polite.
• The Chessmaster: self-made man in charge of all Earth’s businesses connected to the parallel world and initially a major player there.
• Disney Villain Death: Falls to a giant pit of lava.
• Enraged by Idiocy: So he feels about The Governor.
• Evil Colonialist: According to Taslow.
• Evil Old Folks: He is visibly old born in the 18th century, no less! and a powerful combatant, especially in his Exo-suit.
• Gadgeteer Genius: An Evil Counterpart to Taslow, the original engineer of an interdimensional teleport, an analytical engine and a portable minigun (if not much more).
• He Knows Too Much: about the heroes
• Mad Scientist: Does dangerous stuff with volcanos.
• Take Over the World: on two paralell Earths is his ultimate goal, which he justifies through Someone Has to Do It.
• Villain's Dying Grace: Upon his defeat, he is more sad than anything, but then regains confidence, bids the heroes a polite goodbye and dies laughing to himself
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Can be interpreted as just that. In that case, also: Tragic Villain.
• The World Is Not Ready: about the Paraworld
• Xanatos Speed Chess: After failure in the desert decides to intervene in person in the plot.
• You Have Failed Me: About Ada, after she obviously betrayed SEAS.
• You Shall Not Pass!: his Last Stand

Ada

• Blue Blood: If her glamourous clothes and a shining rifle with a gold-plated stock don't tell you that, she is a Captain Ersatz for Ada Lovelace, the daughter of Lord Byron.
• Ms. Fanservice: Her defining characteristic.
• Of Corsets Sexy: Wears one all the time.
• Older Than They Look: She is over 140 years old.
• Sexy Secretary: To Babbit.

The Three Traders

The triplets Larry, Harry & Barry:

• Because You Were Nice to Me: In Mission 13 gifts 10 minutes worth of full-throttle economy resources together with a magical artifact to the heroes.
  • If you clear the landing zone for him in time.
• Intrepid Merchant: They try do do business in the lands of the Amazons and Barbarians.
• Same-Sex Triplets: It is not directly stated, but we can assume it from the reactions of the protagonists
• Twin Switch: A running gag of quid pro quo, until Bela gets Genre Savvy and stops caring.

Leighton

• Badass Preacher: Considers himself that.
• Holy Hitman: Quotes the Bible and then misquotes Darwin before killing James Warden
• Mouth of Sauron: Mouth of SEAS.

The Governor

• Carry a Big Stick: Wields a glaive with much skill.
• Heroic Build: Downplayed: he is clearly very muscular, but also sports a belly more typical for middle-aged men.
• Moving the Goalposts: To the heroes.
• Puppet King: for Babbit
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Despite his reputation with his boss, apparently able to improvise Playing With prophecies.

Kleeman

• Adventurer Archaeologist: together with an Adventurer Outfit!
• Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age: his large-caliber musket.
• Obviously Evil: even warns the player about a potential Trojan Horse ploy somewhere in the future.
• Smug Snake: Thinks he can outsmart and kill the trio of Badass Bookworms himself.

James Warden

• Fluffy Tamer: To his Allosaurus.
• Friend to All Living Things: His first trait is that wild animals won’t attack him unprovoked.
• Tree Top Town: Clearly inspired by The Village In The Treetops by Jules Verne.