Characters / Shovel Knight — Order of No Quarter

Shovel Knight Main Character Index
Shovel Knight Treasure Trove: Main Characters | Order of No Quarter | Townsfolk and Other NPCs | Wandering Travelers and Guest Characters | Enemies and Other Bosses
Shovel Knight Dig: Drill Knight & The Hexcavators
Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon: Puzzle Knight and Other Characters

Tropes about the members of the Order of No Quarter.

Click here to return the the character index.

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Order of No Quarter

A villainous group of knights led by The Enchantress that took over the Valley, dividing it into four quadrants closed by locked gates. Each member guards a specific location in the valley and must be defeated to reach the Tower of Fate.

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In General

• Breakout Character: The entire idea of the "Dig the Vote" poll was based upon this, allowing the game's backers to vote on which bosses should not only become playable, but get their own campaign with their own distinct mechanics and feel; the majority vote winner was Specter Knight, with Plague Knight and King Knight taking second and third place. Specter Knight ended up being cemented as a major part of Shovel Knight's lore by the time Specter of Torment came out, ending up tied to Shield Knight and the Enchantress.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: They're a colorful, sometimes humorous band of villains... Who have terrified the valley into cowering, usurped their royalty, threaten to take over the world, and are a bad enough threat that requires a hero like Shovel Knight to step in, who isn't exempt from getting his attacks handed back to him with the Order's skill at combat.
• Demoted to Extra: Comparatively speaking in King of Cards, nearly all of them aside from Specter Knight are optional boss fights rather than mandatory like in the first three campaigns.
• Evil Counterpart: The art book's commentary says that some of their attributes correspond to Shovel Knight's (such as Treasure Knight being obsessed with treasure, Polar Knight fighting with a shovel, etc.).
• Expy: Of the Robot Masters, being unique bosses with different stage themes and gimmicks.
• Forced into Evil: Zigzagged. While King Knight joined of his own to take over Pridemoor Keep as the accomplishment of his journey of becoming a king, almost none of the others wanted to work for the Order in the first place: while Treasure Knight (being an established pirate) was already rather villainous, Mole Knight and Tinker Knight were parts of a now disbanded criminal organization before resorting to new activities, Polar Knight and Propeller Knight already preferred to be left alone to their own devices, Plague Knight was trying to accomplish his own goals (and ended up making a secret organization to continue it), and Specter Knight (after having recruited the previous ones by beating them into submission) was blackmailed by the Enchantress.
• Honor Before Reason: The only possible reason in-universe they don't bum-rush Shovel Knight or Plague Knight during their rematches. The other reason out of universe, of course, is due to game design and difficulty balancing.
• Hidden Depths: Each knight had a proposed campaign that would have explored these, whether it was the other facets of their past and personality or what their personal motivations are. Specter, Plague, and King are the only knights who would actually get it explored in-game, however.
• King Mook: A subtle example: all of them have minions who look or act like them in various degrees:
  • While King Knight considers Propeller Rats as his army, he looks like a square version of Goldarmors. Ironically, they are far less predictable than he is.
  • Specter Knight is this to Boneclangs: he can even summon them in battle.
  • Plague Knight is this to his Plague Minions.
  • Treasure Knight is the sole possible exception, as the only enemies who seemingly fight like him are Purple Goldarmors (while his weapon is an anchor, they have an infinite arsenal of them).
  • Mole Knight is a King Mook to... well, Molers.
  • Tinker Knight is a variation: Cogslotters are much bigger than he is, but while they only use one attack, he still has a diverse moveset at his worst.
  • Polar Knight is a King Mook to Rungstriders and Tundreads, even if they prefer to keep distance while he doesn't hesitate to get his hands dirty.
  • Propeller Knight is this to Hoverhafts and Hover Meanies, as they attack your character in the air or use their propeller to hinder your progression.
• Names to Run From Really Fast: The order title basically translates into The Order of No Mercy.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: With the exception of Specter Knight (who's revealed to be named Donovan), all of them are only known by their title as a knight.
• Promoted to Playable: They're all fully playable in the Showdown game mode, and are unlockable playable characters in Pocket Dungeon.
• Punch-Clock Villain: They each seem to have their own lives outside of being Order members, such as Mole Knight's excavation and Tinker Knight's work on machinery.
• Red Baron: Along with their knight title, they all have a nickname to enforce their reputation.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Showdown's various routes, but particularly Propeller Knight, Tinker Knight, Mole Knight, and Treasure Knight, show that the Order are prone to infighting once they either get frustrated with their partner (with Tinker Knight engaging Propeller Knight once the latter indicates he doesn't know what he's doing) or outright attempting to betray each other (Mole Knight becomes indignant that Treasure Knight double-crossed him, because he was planning to do the exact same thing to him).
• Villains Out Shopping​: They're not always being dastardly. The Boss Rush even takes place when Shovel Knight bursts in on them casually having dinner as a group.

Members

King Knight

King Knight

"As the embodiment of opulence, I demand tribute!"

A Knight clad in gold armor. The Enchantress gave him Pridemoor Keep, but he isn't really the king of it. As he is the protagonist of the King of Cards campaign, tropes regarding him can be found here.

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Specter Knight

Specter Knight

"She granted me new life... So that I may take yours!"

An undead knight who wields a scythe and master of The Lich Yard. As he's the protagonist of the Specter of Torment campaign, tropes regarding him can be found here.

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Plague Knight

Plague Knight

"The fruits of my research are no mere trick!"

A cloaked knight who wears a Plague Doctor mask who's hiding in the depths of The Explodatorium. He's also the protagonist of the Plague of Shadows expansion, so tropes regarding him can be found here.

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Treasure Knight

Treasure Knight

"My gems... My vessel... My ocean. Your very presence tarnishes."

A Knight clad in a diving suit. He's found in the Iron Whale, a gigantic submarine-like vehicle that holds all of his stolen treasure. He attacks with an anchor attached to a harpoon gun.

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• Anchors Away: His weapons, and he as a cannon/Harpoon Gun that fires an anchor.
• Arm Cannon: Uses it to fire an anchor on a chain, which he also uses as a grappling hook.
• Awesome by Analysis: Treasure Knight is brought onboard by Specter Knight for the specific purpose of being the Enchantress' financier — her only one. That means not just the Order, but every single one of their individual minions across the Valley, he personally works out and distributes the exact salary for.
• Badass Longcoat: A body-swapped Treasure Knight wears one of these completely buttoned up.
• Berserk Button: Becomes enraged after Plague Knight states there is something more valuable than gold.
• Break the Haughty: In his ending, he's left with nothing except a single penny... Or a Bait Bomb, courtesy of Plague Knight.
• Butt-Monkey: In Shovel of Hope and Plague of Shadows, he has his entire treasure trove stolen from him while he just sulks in the corner. In Plague of Shadows specifically, he also he gets bombed just for the heck of it.
• Cast from Money: The character poll suggested one of his abilities would have been this, if he'd become a playable character.
• Creepy Old-Fashioned Diving Suit: He is a towering and imposing pirate who wears a deep-sea SCUBA gear armor.
• Genius Bruiser: Apart from being the sole holder and organizer for the inordinately vast wealth of the Enchantress and the Order, distributing the pay of however many hundreds of minions under them, Treasure Knight claimed his domain by single-handedly diving to the bottom of the ocean and taming the Teethalon by beating the ever-loving crap out of it and sealing its lure in that treasure chest before punching it into the ocean floor.
• Greed: As his name would suggest, he spends his time searching the seafloor for treasure and confronts anyone who would try to take it...
  • Pirate: ...Though he's not above stealing from others to increase his hoard.
• Laser-Guided Karma: In Shovel of Hope's ending, the people who he pillaged take their money back from him, and leave him with nothing but a penny. In Plague of Shadows, Plague Knight and Mona both steal all of his fortune (despite earlier stating they were above petty theft because they could just create gold), and leave him a bomb.
• Leitmotif: A Thousand Leagues Below (his stage theme) and The Bounty Hunter (his boss theme).
  • The Price Of Doing Business in Specter of Torment.
• Money Fetish: He flies into a murderous rage at Plague Knight over him thinking something was more valuable than gold and he seemingly has no goal other than hoarding treasure.
• Money Mauling: His Scuttle Slam creates a wave of gold coins that damage his enemies.
• Mundane Utility: The reason that an infamous pirate and treasure hoarder was "hired" by The Enchantress? To be the financial manager for the Order of No Quarter.
• Non-Standard Character Design: He wears a diving suit as opposed to armor like everyone else, and his proportions look more along the lines of a retro, Inkblot Cartoon Style character.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: If saved after his second defeat, he states that no amount of gold is worth the pain Shovel Knight will have to face later.
• Pet the Dog: After Shovel Knight saves the Order, he can talk to each one. Treasure Knight is one of the few to wish him luck in the final fight.
• Punch-Clock Villain: It's worth noting that though he is rather greedy, he's one of the only knights not to refuse Specter Knight's offer to join the Order of No Quarter upfront - but only because they're offering a convenient way to make gold. He only fights Specter Knight because he's skeptical about if his investment will be secure.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner:
  "Let us duel. Winner takes all..."
• Red Baron: "The Bounty Hunter".
• The Rival: Serves as this for Mole Knight's story in Showdown, first teaming up, they were planning to betray the other and take their riches.
• Schmuck Bait: Occasionally, he'll toss out a treasure chest. Trying to open it will not only hurt Shovel Knight, but also steal some of his gold.
• Shockwave Stomp: An attack he can do. In this case, the shockwave is a wave of gold coins. Even when you refight him during the Boss Gauntlet (where the gold apparently appears out of Hammerspace when he does that attack).
• Shut Up, Kirk!: Shovel Knight criticizes him for his greed, but he's having none of it.
  Shovel Knight: You are to lay claim to the sea itself? Your greed knows no bounds, Treasure Knight.
  Treasure Knight: Your hands are no less dirty. Even now, others are paying for your avarice.
• The Team Benefactor: Specter of Torment reveals that he is the bookkeeper of The Order and pays the soldiers.
• Top-Heavy Guy: Built like an inverted triangle (though not as much as King Knight due to wider hips) — a broad upper body tapering into an itty bitty set of skinny legs. Emphasis on "guy", as the Body Swap version has much more realistic proportions.
• Treasure Room: Mountains of gold are visible in the background of his boss room. The gold also covers the floor of the room, to the point that his Shockwave Stomp sends out waves of them.
• Villain Has a Point: When Shovel Knight calls him out on his greed, Treasure Knight responds by pointing out that none of this would have happened if Shovel Knight and Shield Knight hadn't challenged the Tower of Fate. He's completely right; if not for the two of them reaching her locket, the Sorceress would have remained neatly sealed away.

Mole Knight

Mole Knight

"You're out of your depth, spelunker. Are you lost?"

A rotund knight who has mole-like claws and fiery ports on his armor. He's hard at work digging his way through the Lost City, and he's not too keen on being interrupted.

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• Acrofatic: Even though he's very stubby, he can jet himself through his arena, and he only gets faster as the fight goes on.
• Adaptive Ability: Mole Knight's armor is able to take on various different qualities based on the job he's signed up for, but the recurring theme always seems to be "things that exist deep below the surface."
• All Animals Are Domesticated: He has moles as part of his workforce and they are shown to be loyal to him.
• Ambiguously Human: His mole-like attributes and structure, along with the player not seeing under his helmet, indicates him to be some mole-like creature rather than most of the implicitly human Order members. Dig reveals anthromorphic moles exist in the setting, with their overall structure resembling Mole Knight's. However, a conversation between him and two mole NPCs has the latter two question whether he is actually a fellow mole because of him asking them about claw recommendations, which still puts him in this status.
• Animal Motifs: Moles as shown by his design, love of digging and geology, and his mole companions.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He is always eager to prove his digging superiority.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: His armor resembles both a furnace and a large mole.
• Benevolent Boss: He appears to be a firm-but-fair boss while working in the mines. In Shovel Knight Showdown, he can taunt his opponents by calling them "useless" in battle but he offers them a job working in the mines.
• Berserk Button: Challenging his authority or schedule. He gets mad at Plague Knight for supposedly clowning around after mistaking him for a demolition expert, Specter Knight for dropping by with his offer right when break time was over, King Knight for both breaking the hot tub and the 'no diving' sign during his break time on top of insinuating himself above Mole Knight, and Treasure Knight for trying to betray him before Mole Knight got the chance to betray him first.
• Bouncing Battler: His boss fight in Specter of Torment has him utilize the bouncy green slime from his stage to spring around the stage more erratically. His armor even turns green with it.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Shovel Knight and Plague Knight both befriend him, and the latter lends him the aid of his Shovel Knight slime for extra digging power.
• Dishing Out Dirt: He frequently burrows into the walls and floor of his boss room, and can attack by sending walls of dirt hurtling at Shovel Knight or even dropping dirt blocks all around him.
• Doppleganger Spin: 4 piles of dirt emerge from the floor, one of them contains Mole Knight digging from the floor. Each pile Shovel Knight doesn't dig bursts forth and spews lava, although everything is defused if he digs up Mole Knight.
• Expy: He seems to be one of Flammole the Moleroid, both being mole-themed characters with fire-elemental powers and attacks that involve Fast Tunnelling.
• Fast Tunnelling: He can tunnel into the walls and burst through with such force he can immediately dive right into the opposite wall.
• Flaming Hair: The longer plume in his Body Swap counterpart seems to imply this trope.
• Graceful Loser: He recognizes Shovel Knight as his better after the rematch in the Tower of Fate.
  Mole Knight: I have to hand it to you, you have superior digging technique. We should share notes.
• Leitmotif: An Underlying Problem (his stage theme) and The Claws of Fate (his boss theme).
  • Facing The Task in Specter of Torment.
  • Thermal Vent and The Quenched in Shovel Knight Dig.
• Magma Man: In addition to digging, Mole Knight can cover himself in fire and flick off lava at Shovel Knight.
• Making a Splash: In Dig, he guards the Secret Fountain and uses water powers alongside his Fast Tunneling.
• Mole Miner: He's supposedly just a guy in a mole-like suit of armor, but still applies since he's excavating the Lost City.
• Mole Monster: He spends all of the fight attacking you from holes in the walls, ceiling, or floor.
• Playing with Fire: Magma, technically. He coats himself in it and lobes balls of it. There's no shortage of the stuff in his stage, either.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner:
  "I will bury you!"
• Punch-Clock Villain: More than any other knight in the Order. He's clearly more interested in his excavation project than whatever the Enchantress has planned.
• Red Baron: "The Claws of Fate". "The Quenched" in Dig.
• The Rival: Serves as this for Tinker Knight's story in Showdown, their ways of working clashing with each other's.
• Running Gag: Mistaking his assailants for his workers.
• Scary Impractical Armor: Not scary at all, it's not exactly useful for serving as a knight but it seems to serve its purpose as PPE for mining excavations. The fire is an impressive addition to his design, it still raises the question of how he's able to see through his helmet. His tiny legs also raise the question of how he's able to hold up the rest of his body.
  • His previous Hexcavator ensemble, however, had some subtle practical features for traversal in the Secret Fountain. Namely, his helmet fin helped direct water around his armor, and webbing in between his claws for propulsion. These were both lost in the ending, when he dived into lava. Whether this lava was in the Lost City or the Smeltworks is up for debate.
• Thrill Seeker: Dig reveals that before serving the Enchantress, Mole Knight was part of the Hexcavators for the adventure.
• Top-Heavy Guy: His torso looks like a bulb with toothpicks for legs.
• Turns Red: Will trap Shovel Knight by surrounding him with large blocks of dirt and begin to move much faster while tunnelling.
• Workaholic: He's described as someone who enjoys working on his projects and keeping on schedule.
• Worthy Opponent: If you save him after the Boss Rush, he says that Shovel Knight's digging techniques are better than his, and that they should share notes.

Tinker Knight

Tinker Knight

"There are substantial inadequacies in my hydraulic actuators. Considerable iteration is warranted!"

A tiny knight who wears a welding mask. He may be short, but he makes up for it with ingenuity, so don't underestimate him! His workshop is located in the Clockwork Tower.

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• Advancing Boss of Doom: In Specter of Torment, Tinker Knight's mecha will pursue Specter Knight from behind over a series of platforms and pits.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: In King of Cards, he tried to build robots to fight for him, and gave them a mind of their own. It isn't really explained what happened after that, but he was forced to flee from his home and hide somewhere until the dust settled.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • He's the smallest member of the Order and tends to trip a lot. His only attack is throwing wrenches at you. Until he gets into his medieval tank.
  • Averted in Specter of Torment and King of Cards where he's far more dangerous, doesn't trip, and there will be no cheesing him this time. And then in phase two he sets his mech to auto-pilot and attacks you in tandem with it.
• Challenge Seeker: Dig reveals that before the Order of No Quarter, he joined the Hexcavators because the problems they had to solve were a stimulating challenge for him.
• Crazy-Prepared: Whether he is hiding in a random house or dining at the Tower of Fate, he is somehow able to summon the Tinker Tank to him whenever he needs to.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Due to being an inventor, first and foremost, he's very ill-equipped for a straight fight, spending his boss fight awkwardly running around and trying to throw wrenches at you, and is only really effective in a scuffle riding upon the Mobile Gear, as shown in Specter of Torment, or piloting his mech.
• Dub Name Change: He is named Machine Knight in Japanese.
• Friend to All Children: In the ending to Shovel Knight's story, he's shown to have put his tinkering skills to work making tin toys for children.
• Gadgeteer Genius: While it may be a bit off given the setting, Tinker Knight is a master gadgeteer.
• Geek Physiques: As seen above, male Tinker Knight's official art shows he has quite a belly under his apron.
• Girlish Pigtails: Tinker Knight's body-swapped form has them.
• Humongous Mecha: His second phase has him jump into a giant tank and start bombarding the player character with missiles.
• Idea Bulb: Taking inspiration from this trope, Tinker Knight's parry in Showdown has him pull a giant lightbulb out of his pocket and shine it above his head to stagger his enemies.
• I Meant to Do That: Showdown incorporates Tinker Knight's constant tripping as an attack in his moveset. It's called the "Definitely Intentional Trip," hinting at his insecurity about his poor coordination.
• The Klutz: Trips over his own feet constantly in his boss fight. He even has a weaponized trip. One of his win quotes in Showdown implies he's self-conscious about it.
• Leitmotif: Of Devious Machinations (his stage theme) and The Schemer (his boss theme). And The Destroyer when he busts out his Tinker Tank.
  • Tools Of War in Specter of Torment.
  • Fully Furnaced and The Forger in Shovel Knight Dig.
• Magma Man: In Dig, he's the guardian of Smeltworks, and during the second phase of his boss fight, he uses a submersible boat to create a lava pool and uses fake-out flame pillars as doppelgangers.
• Noodle Incident: When King Knight encounters him in King of Cards, he's hiding out in an abandoned house after his project of men made of tin and brass went wrong and threatened his life. Exactly what happened is never fully explained, but Tinker Knight mentions that the Clockwork Tower has been left a mess, implying the level's state in Specter of Torment is due to this incident.
• One-Hit Kill: The Mobile Gear will instantly defeat his first form.
• Red Baron: "The Schemer". "The Destroyer" for the Tinker Tank. "The Forger" in Dig.
• The Rival: Serves as this for Propeller Knight's story in Showdown, angered by Propeller Knight having promised him a way to go back without really thinking.
• Sequential Boss: At first, all he does is run around throwing wrenches in the air, but after he's defeated in this phase, he jumps into his Tinker Tank.
  • In Dig, after flying around in a fragile bomber plane and throwing wrenches, he brings out a submersible boat with four attacks; submerging to eliminate the lower platform, dropping bombs from the pipe on top, ramming the wall with the attached drill to cause waves, and popping out of the hatches (with the occasional fake-out flame pillars) to throw wrenches.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: He uses a lot of long and technical words when talking about his machinery, as shown if Shovel Knight talks to him after the Boss Rush. This is the only time he talks like that; in his every other appearance, he speaks exclusively in short words.
• Science Wizard: Tinker Knight is an inventor whose own work combines magic with mechanical engineering. Unlike Plague Knight, he isn't dressed or widely known as a wizard, though the two of them do respect each other as kindred spirits.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Is, without question, the shortest member of the Order, but also quite possibly the smartest member as well (even Plague Knight requires assistants for his alchemy). In fact, Plague Knight despite his flippant attitude toward most people has respect for Tinker Knight's talents enough to offer to leave without a fight if the latter just handed over his essence.
• Shout-Out: To Metal Man. In addition to the conveyor belts in both characters' stages, he also has a massive weakness to his own cog weapon (he utilizes the Mobile Gear in his Specter of Torment boss battle).
• Terse Talker: Tinker Knight speaks near-exclusively in one-syllable words. However, he becomes sesquipedalian when using technical jargon to discuss his craft.
  Tinker Knight: [To Shovel Knight; first line in Shovel of Hope] Aah! Did you make all that noise? I can't think straight!! I have so much work to do!
  (...)
  Tinker Knight: [To Shovel Knight; last line in Shovel of Hope] There are substantial inadequacies in my hydraulic actuators. Considerable iteration is warranted!
• Token Good Teammate:
  • While most of the Order are ruder and/or selfish than outright evil, Specter of Torment paints him as the nicest of the bunch. When encountered in the Tower of Fate, he recommends that the Order's rule over the land should be a fair and just one.
    Tinker Knight: Tools of war can force a kind of peace, but I think our rule should be fair and just. None but fools would break things and not rush to fix them.
  • Notably, his moments of aggression primarily come from him being stressed (Shovel of Hope and Showdown), feeling threatened (Plague of Shadows and Specter of Torment) or both (King of Cards).
  • Dig reveals that he wasn't always like that, as he willingly joined the Hexcavators and like them, dug without thinking of the consequences, implying that their defeat and the result of their excavation leading to the liberation of the Enchantress radically changed his view of the world.
• Took a Level in Badass: Inverted story-wise, but played straight if you play the campaigns in their release order. In Specter of Torment and King of Cards, he's far more dangerous even without the use of his mech and much less clumsy, as opposed to being a complete joke in Shovel of Hope and Plague of Shadows.
• Turns Red: He will desperately fling wrenches all over the place when damaged enough. During the second phase of the fight, he will turn the slow-moving missiles of his mech into bouncing bombs, making the way to the top of his mech more dangerous.
• Wrench Whack: His main weapon outside his inventions are his wrenches. In his case, they act like boomerangs when thrown, coming back to him after a set distance.
• Wrench Wench: In Body Swap mode.

Polar Knight

Polar Knight

"The bitter cold will claim you."

A huge Viking-helmeted knight who wields a massive snow shovel and is found in the remote Stranded Ship. Unlike most of the other Knights of the Order, he and Shovel Knight have a history with each other.

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• Beard of Barbarism: Appropriate for being a Viking knight, he has quite the Nordic beard.
• BFS: His shovel is twice as long as an average human.
• Big Eater: Implied when speaking to him at the dinner table in Specter of Torment.
  Polar Knight: This stuffy keep is no place for warriors, but the meat is plentiful. I may sit here a while yet.
  • Both of his taunts in Showdown are related to the standard "Viking warrior" foodstuffs, in one taking a swing from a tankard of ale (or possibly juice) and the other having him bite a chunk from a leg of meat. He is seen with both at the same time while dining in the Tower of Fate.
• Blood Knight: Obviously, Specter Knight has to fight all the knights of the future Order of No Quarter in Specter of Torment, but the angle that he takes with Polar Knight suggests this, discussing Polar Knight's fearsome reputation and attempting to sway him with the promise of all the battles he'll face as a member of the Order. Polar Knight joins after losing that fight.
• Braids of Barbarism: On the female version, the male Polar Knight's beard and the pelt on his back and shoulders are both replaced by massive thick braids.
• Brawn Hilda: The female version of Polar Knight is, as you may expect, a giant, fearsome, muscular woman.
• The Brute: The largest member of the Order even while bending over (implying he used to be bigger), and is only rivaled by the standing up straight Baz for the largest human character in the game.
• Catchphrase: "Hmph."
• Dub Name Change: He is named Frost Knight in Japanese.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • While all knights of the order are this to Shovel Knight to various degrees, him wielding a large snow shovel and a number of his attacks being bigger, more powerful versions of the little blue guy's make him the most obvious example. He also appears to have been an avid adventurer, having met Shovel Knight before their fight in the game.
  • Additionally, he has a Norse theming, and his circular shoulder plates resemble bucklers with particularly aggressive bosses, as well as the exact same beauty mark that is meant to foreshadow the relationship between Shield Knight and the Enchantress. This resemblance is heightened with Body Swap mode, which shifts the bucklers down to her forearms.
• Ground Pound: His Shovel Slam is a more forceful version of the Shovel Drop.
• Informed Flaw: He's said to have the most Annoying Laugh in the Order. He doesn't laugh.
• Leitmotif: A Cool Reception (his stage theme) and The Stalwart (his boss theme).
  • A Wintry Paradise in Specter of Torment.
• Mighty Glacier: Of all the characters in Showdown, he has the slowest walking speed and highest knockback resistance. However, proper use of his Polar Plow can turn him into a Lightning Bruiser.
• Mysterious Past: His familiarity with the heroes is left ambiguous. As noted in The Rival he and Shovel Knight have met and fought before (possibly together, definitely against each other), and even when he's beaten through the entire Order, Polar Knight still wants to see Shovel Knight join alongside him. Shovel Knight's campaign ends with him staring off into the sunset, contemplating, while Plague of Shadows ends with him sharing a campfire with Black Knight with the title being "Reunion." One of his Rail Riders, after you've defeated him in Specter of Torment, says that he's dealing with "his loss" in a way that might refer to simply being angry Specter beat him, or may refer to something that happened before Specter Knight's arrival. His Story Mode in Showdown implies the loss being in the latter category, with his disdain for Shovel Knight's comment about blind loyalty and the latter's shock about it.
• Non-Standard Character Design: He looks more like a Viking as opposed to the more heavily armored or clothed members of the cast, and is one of the few Knights in the game aside from Shield Knight to have his face exposed. His sprites also have much more detail to them than the rest of the relatively minimalistic Order, due to his much larger size.
• Pet the Dog:
  • During the Epilogue of Specter of Torment, he's seen tending to the wounded Terrorpin, Black Knight's mount.
  • King of Cards shows him to be very fond of Spinwulves, respecting their hunting skills and tracking capabilities.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner:
  "The bitter cold will claim you!"
  • There's also this quote before the Boss Rush:
    "Hmph. Pass the salt."
• Real Men Eat Meat: He is seen eating meat in every game except King of Cards.
• Red Baron: "The Stalwart".
• The Rival: While Black Knight is a mirror of Shovel Knight, Polar Knight is his opposite, being a ruthless Viking knight wielding a snow shovel. Pre-fight dialogue implies they've had a falling-out, and Polar Knight seems to genuinely wish that Shovel Knight would join up with them.
  • He serves as this for Black Knight's story in Showdown, making it clear the side he's standing on.
• Shovel Strike: His main weapon is a snow shovel.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: Bluntly shuts down Black Knight's attempts to convince him to leave the Order in the latter's campaign in Showdown.
• The Stoic: Doesn't emote beyond the occasional "Hmph!"
  • Not So Stoic: In Plague of Shadows, he flies into a rage when Plague Knight, a "weak wizard", challenges him.
• Strength Equals Worthiness: While he respects Shovel Knight and King Knight because they're powerful physical fighters, he thinks the former should join the Order of No Quarter, as he considers it as the elite troupe of the Valley (implying that he respects Specter Knight, the knight who forced him to join the Order, as well).
• Terse Talker: His sentences rarely exceed six words, except when he has good food, happens to be in a tricky situation or is challenged by somebody he doesn't consider worthy.
• Turns Red: Will start digging up one-hit kill spikes from the ground of his arena.
• Worthy Opponent: He and Shovel Knight have fought before, and he has enough respect for Shovel Knight that he wishes that Shovel Knight could fight alongside him in the Order of No Quarter. He also seemed to consider King Knight worthy when he was on his quest to become a king and was a powerful physical fighter. This doesn't extend to Plague Knight, who he considers a weakling that relies on cheap tricks to win.

Propeller Knight

Propeller Knight

"All business, no pleasure, such a shame."

A flamboyant knight with helicopter-like headgear. He's the captain of the Flying Machine.

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• Affably Evil: He doesn't seem to really hold any grudge against Shovel Knight, asking him if he likes the view of his Flying Machine. He also thinks that it'd be neat if the two went on an adventure together.
• All Work vs. All Play:
  • His pre-battle dialogue gives this vibe towards Shovel Knight, saying he's all about work with no rest.
  • In his path in Showdown, he runs across Tinker Knight. The two form an uneasy alliance when Propeller Knight wishes to get back to the Flying Machine, but after that Propeller Knight simply wants to cruise around the world of the mirror and wait to receive some sort of sign as to what the way to get out is, instead of trying to investigate a strategy himself. He gives Tinker Knight empty assurances that they're making progress while they fend off foes and play it by ear, but Tinker Knight gets more and more stressed out that there's no solid plan of action, which causes him to finally turn on Propeller Knight in anger at the end.
• Ambiguously Bi: His mannerisms seem to evoke this, not to mention that during his ending he's endeared himself to several women ... and one burly Bag Fellow.
• Berserk Button: Propellor Knight's rose means a lot to him, and stealing it is the easiest way to tick him off. In King of Cards, King Knight finds the rose unattended and takes it with him, unaware of who it belongs to. In response, Propeller Knight immediately launches an all-out attack on the Glidewing with his crew, demanding the rose back.
• Blow You Away: Using his propeller hat, becomes especially dangerous after he's had one of his airships blast a couple of Bottomless Pits into his stage.
• The Dandy: An impeccably well-dressed and classy foe for Shovel Knight to face, "debonair" is almost always a word used to describe him.
• Disproportionate Retribution: What's his response to King Knight unwittingly stealing his rose? Launching an aerial assault with all his army on the ship he happens to be on, without any regard for the crew who weren't even aware.
• Even the Guys Want Him: A Bag Fellow swoons over him in the ending. This trope can be inverted in Body Swap Mode, where a bunch of women will swoon over the female Propeller Knight.
• Everything Sounds Sexier in French: He's a dashing, freewheeling airship captain who can charm the ladies effortlessly, and he also supposedly has a semi-silly Maurice Chevalier Accent peppered with Gratuitous French, complimenting his overall persona nicely.
• Evil Counterpart: To Phantom Striker. Both use fencing as their preferred combat style and are both are associated with elements of the sky (Propeller Knight for wind/air and Phantom Striker with lightning). Both were approached by Specter Knight to join the Order of No Quarter, and both were beaten by Specter Knight, but Phantom Striker refused, while Propeller Knight submitted.
• Evil Laugh: One of the few villains with an audible laugh clip ... but unlike Black Knight, his is more silly.
• Free-Fall Fight: In Specter of Torment and King Of Cards, Propeller Knight's fight starts off on a generic arena/the prow of the Glidewing, respectively, as it did in the other two campaigns. Then the cannonballs from the battleships in the background completely shatter the arena, leaving Specter/King Knight to fight Propeller Knight while using the latter's navy ships as platforms.
• Friendly Enemy: He is nothing but polite towards Shovel Knight, even though he knows they are enemies.
• Funny Foreigner: Supplementary material claims he has an outrageous accent. In-game, his slightly irregular speech patterns hint at his foreignness, but the accent isn't specifically written out.
• Graceful Loser: When Shovel Knight lifts up The Order of No Quarter then Propeller Knight will compliment him and say that they ought to join together in an adventure one day. In Plague of Shadows he will be a waiter for Plague Knight and Mona while they are on a date on his airship. In Showdown, Treasure Knight's storyline has the two wager their earnings on who wins the most battles, and Propeller Knight drops in to honor his word in the end. He is also fairly magnanimous in victory as well; he has his rival Cooper at his mercy in the ending sequence of King of Cards, but he apparently lets him walk away unscathed after gloating a little.
• Gratuitous English: In the French localization, he speaks in broken French and peppers his dialogue with a few English words, like how English speakers are portrayed in French comedy.
• Gratuitous French: Calls Shovel Knight his "petite^note Note the feminine modification" blue friend and (appropriately for a fencer) starts the battle with an 'En Guard!"
• Handsome Lech: Acts like one. The ending reveals his charms are true; he manages to make women and even a bulky guy swoon over him.
• Hat of Flight: See those helicopter blades? Those are not just for show. He spends a large part of his boss fight flying out of reach.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Tries to do this to Shovel Knight in their battle by using his hat to blow Shovel Knight into the sky and then catching him on the tip of his sword.
• Improbable Weapon User: Inverted, in that he's the only knight in the game to NOT use an improbable weapon, using an actual sword (a saber, to be exact).
• Indy Ploy: In his Showdown story, his plan to escape from the colosseum boils down to "mess around and wait for something good to happen". This does not sit well with Tinker Knight, who would prefer to have an actual plan in place.
• Leitmotif: High Above the Land (his stage theme) and The Spin Controller (his boss theme).
  • A Cargo Of Fineries in Specter of Torment.
• Lightning Bruiser: Propeller Knight is fast, agile, tough, and most importantly, hard-hitting; he can deal one full hitpoint worth of damage, whereas the majority of other enemies only deal half that amount. In New Game Plus, a single attack from Propeller Knight can deal two full hit points instead.
• The Matchmaker: In the ending of Plague of Shadows, he sets up a romantic dinner for Plague Knight and Mona on the bridge of his airship, and even serves them wine for the event.
• Maurice Chevalier Accent: Supplementary material suggests the "outrageous accent" he's supposed to have combined with his Poirot Speak is meant to sound like one of these.
• Nerf: Downplayed in the Boss Rush version of his fight, there are no Bottomless Pits pits to worry about. In fact, The ships that normally create them once he's 1/3 of his health now just shoot bombs after 2/3 is remaining and stays that way. The rest of his move set is still present, however.
  • His incarnation in Plague of Shadows had to be nerfed slightly because it was apparently too difficult.
• Poirot Speak: He lightly peppers all of his dialogue with Gratuitous French in a manner meant to resemble a Maurice Chevalier Accent, even if his nationality is unknown.
• Red Baron: "The Spin Controller".
• The Rival: King of Cards reveals he's something of a rival to Cooper. In the ending of that campaign, he finally gets Cooper tied up during the raid on the Glidewing. However, considering Cooper is alive and well in the first two campaigns, it seems Propeller Knight was content to lord his victory over Cooper and let him go, which speaks volumes of his character.
  • In his Specter of Torment ending, however, Cooper is shown among Propeller Knight's fleet, implying any rivalry they had vanished between the two campaigns.
  • He serves as this for Treasure Knight's story in Showdown, where they bet on who can win more fights and win more gold.
• Sky Pirate: Though they're not too big on piracy, his crew is styled like this.
• Suave Sabre: A dashing, roguish airship commander who wields a saber in battle.
• Swashbuckler: As a debonair sky pirate who fights with a saber, he ends up falling into this hard. Not only does he have moves which demonstrate his tremendous sword finesse, but his general attitude is quite devil-may-care.
• The Tragic Rose: He drops one during his defeat animation.
• Turns Red: Will summon a backup battleship to break part of the arena and attempt to pull or push Shovel Knight into the pits. In Specter of Torment, the battleship destroys the entire arena, leaving Specter Knight only various little one-person ships to jump and climb on, in addition to trying to Dash Slash Propeller himself. Less of this and more a Bait-and-Switch Boss in King of Cards, though, where he breaks the prow of the Glidewing immediately (though you can still get a hit or two in).

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