This is the character sheet for the Rooster Teeth murder mystery series Ten Little Roosters containing tropes that relate to the party guests both specifically and in general. Be careful of spoilers below.
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The Ten Little Roosters
The Characters in general
- Black-and-Gray Morality: All of the party guests are guilty of some kind of crime, and the way that some guests try to defend their actions suggests that these crimes weren't just made up for blackmail purposes. The only thing distinguishing the killer from the party guests is the fact that they committed murder.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Everyone to some degree.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Even if you don't know exactly what happens to the victims, the list of murder weapons
is enough to tell you that the killer is not messing around with their murders. - Dark Secret: Everyone has one, and they're all brought to light in the first episode. Bar Miles'.
- Foregone Conclusion: The poem states that only one person will survive, and the killer will die, so it's clear from the beginning that nearly everyone's gonna die at some point - the only real mystery is when/how they're going to die, who the Sole Survivor will be, and who the Big Bad is.
- Killed Off for Real: Anyone who dies is dead for the rest of the series - no twists endings, no fake deaths etc. Although it doesn't stop the portrait wall telling us Ryan's dead before he actually dies, and due to opposable thumbs it didn't stick.
- Ten Little Murder Victims
Burnie Burns
The host of the party, and the boss of the other party guests. He is accused of killing Shannon McCormick in the first episode. Is later revealed to be an undercover cop who hosted the party in order to catch the killer who murdered his partner years ago. Gets killed in episode 4 by a scorpion's sting. This fulfilled 'life imitated art' because his Red vs. Blue character was killed off by a Scorpion Tank. This makes him the fifth victim of the killer.
- As You Know: Burnie reminds/explains in Ryan in episode 2 that his character in RvB was one of the first characters to die in the show after being killed by a scorpion tank. Two episodes later, Burnie gets killed by an actual scorpion.
- Bad Boss
- Death by Irony: Gets killed by a scorpion (the animal), just as Church was killed by a Scorpion tank in RvB. For extra irony the scorpion was specifically mentioned to belong to Joel, meaning that Caboose was responsible for Church dying again.
- Decoy Protagonist: Is set up as one of the most important characters by episode 2, and actively is one of the few characters trying to stop the killer. Ends up dying half-way through the series.
- Joisey: Cop!Burnie's accent.
- Undercover Cop Reveal: He's looking for the killer.
Chris Demarais
One of the party guests - a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings, he turns up to the party dressed up as a hobbit complete with his own sword. He is accused of killing Josh Flanagan in the first episode. Gets killed in episode 3 as he tries to protect Burnie and gets shot with arrows by the murderer. This makes him the fourth victim of the killer.
- Broken Bird: Obviously has some issues still left over from his parent's divorce and the fact that everyone in the office hates him.
- The Friend No One Likes: Everyone on the show hates him. Even while he is dying, Burnie is more annoyed at him then anything, and just casually walks off in the middle of Chris actually PRAISING the guy.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He dies in order to save Burnie from being shot by arrows.
- Not Quite Dead: He survived the arrows thanks to his "mithril" made of tinfoil hidden under his clothes. When he woke up in a hospital, he had amnesia. With no recollection of his past, he assumed a new identity: Christoph Weiss, an international assassin from Sweden.
Barbara Dunkelman
One of the party guests - acts as the maestro at the party with her cat piano. She is accused of killing Blaine Gibson in the first episode. Is actually the killer, but is killed at the end by Ryan when he activates the 100% accurate Minecraft Creeper suit she's wearing.
- A God Am I: Parodied. Barbara has a "god complex", but actually she just claims to have "transcended puns and into poetry". Subverted into being played straight when she insists Ryan now say "Barb dammit Barb".
- Ax-Crazy: Brutally massacres her co-workers after developing a God complex.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: The below-mentioned letting the poisonous land animals be the ones to roam free and her using her cat piano in an attempt to find a glass-shattering note and free Ryan. Then again, see Obfuscating Stupidity. She was doing this on purpose.
- Faux Affably Evil: She keeps the same fun and bubbly personality, even while condemning Miles to death, or telling Ryan about her plan to frame him for her crimes.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The Creeper suit Barbara wears in the finale is actually 100% accurate, and Ryan activates it through voice command, killing her.
- Not Quite the Right Thing: Upon finding that Joel's dangerous animals were loose she decided try and contain the worst... by locking up the water-based ones and letting the slightly less deadly land ones roam free.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: She "forgets" to get the poisonous land creatures, leading to Burnie's death. She "accidentally" releases the puma that eventually mauls Lindsay. She is "goofy" enough to think she can free Ryan by playing on her cat piano. Yeah, turns out the first two were deliberately setting up a murder and the last was just refusal to help him escape potential death. Not all of it was faked, however, as she did have trouble with the "attention span of a scorpion" line, and didn't realize neckties are slipknots despite taking a tie off of Ryan to tie up his hands with.
- One of the Boys: In Episode 4, Gus says that the reason he hasn't found someone as much In Touch with His Feminine Side as him, despite sharing an office with a girl, is that that girl is Barbara. Miles concedes that.
- The Sociopath: In Episode 8, she concedes that the reason why Ryan would have found her out is that he regularly fakes sociopathy, and so would know it's her by intuition, implying that she is one as well.
Adam Ellis
One of the party guests - He is accused of killing Kerry Shawcross in the first episode. He dies in Episode 6 being strangled by a computer mouse cord. This makes him the seventh victim of the killer.
- Achilles' Heel: His beard, which is constantly getting things trapped or tangled in it, made it easy for the killer to choke him out with the computer mouse wire.
- Badass Boast: "I've got a new idea for a How To: How To Hunt Down A Psycho Murdering Asshole Without Dying."
- Subverted, since after finding his bow-and-arrows stolen and learning of Gavin's death, he drops the plan entirely and opts to just hide it out.
- Running Gag: His beard getting caught in something, or getting something stuck in it.
- Only Sane Man: Actually attempts to stay as far away from the killings as possible by hiding, points out the absurdity that a fan actually sent a live puma to the office, and usually avoids any and all contact with the most obvious people in order to avoid being found. To bad all this ends up being his downfall in the end.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Opted to go solo and hide instead of teaming up with the other Roosters. All this did was make it easier for the killer to ambush him.
Gavin Free
One of the party guests - turns up with a clone of himself, despite the rules against other guests. He is accused of killing Meg Turney in the first episode. Both Gavin and his clone die in episode 2 after tripping over one another and falling onto mousetraps. This makes him the third victim of the killer.
- Actor Allusion: Gavin2's existence is a reference to the RT Short Secret Door, where Burnie, Gus, and Geoff have been cloning Gavin and stuffing the clones that found out behind the titular door.
- Expendable Clone: Gavin2's only real purpose in the narrative is to make Gavin's murder ('One tripped over themselves') make sense.
- Lethal Klutz: Gavin kills himself and his clone because they were running too fast trying to find each other. Gavin crashes into Gavin2 at full-speed, sending them both into the mousetraps behind them.
- Yandere: Possibly; his incriminating photo in the first episode is unique in that it reveals he murdered Meg Turney, his girlfriend, for unknown reasons while everyone else's murders were of friends at most.
Ryan Haywood
One of the party guests - He is accused of trapping Edgar the cow in the first episode. He is the one who survives, killing Barbara with the 100% accurate Minecraft Creeper suit.
- Bond One-Liner: "Well... that ended with a bang."
- He also delivers the obvious one for Miles: "I guess you could say he couldn't go the extra Mile...s".
- Going Commando: He wears his kilt traditionally.
- Man in a Kilt: Like his minecraft skin.
- Nice Guy: His crime is relatively mundane compared to the others (he had Edgar in his hole). He's also the most heroic rooster behind Miles.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Barb damn you, Barb!"
- Sanity Slippage: Seems to go through this in the third episode, being worried that he might have been responsible for the murders of Michael and the Gavins. It gets worse in the fourth episode, as he screams at posters and plushies of Michael and Gavin that he didn't do it. The final episode reveals that Barbara was Gaslighting him to make him think he did so.
- Screw Destiny: Sort of. From Week 1 everyone knew he was the Rooster to be 'trapped in the floor' and therefore most likely to be the one who 'ran out of air' as one of the murder weapons is Airtight Underground Chamber. The sixth episode itself makes it seem like this is going to happen, even getting to the point of Ryan's portrait popping up as the victim. Ryan himself said "Screw this, I have opposable thumbs."
- Sole Survivor: He is the only one who lives.
- Token Evil Teammate: Deconstructed. Barbara attempts to frame him as the killer because of his Comedic Sociopathy in Lets Plays, but it's not actually him.
Lindsay Jones
One of the party guests - She is accused of killing Kdin Jenzen in the first episode. She dies in episode 7 after being mauled to death by a puma. This makes her the eighth victim of the killer.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: In spades, zones out to her imaginary cat-happy place while surrounded by deadly animals and later tries to hide by standing in front of a green screen
- Cluster F-Bomb: When she sees the bodies of Michael, the Gavins, Chris, Burnie, and Gus, she is quoted as saying "Holy fucking shit. We're all going to fucking die here...Oh, my fucking God...Fuck."
- Crazy Cat Lady: Has shades of this, particularly in the second episode. This ends up being her downfall, as she tries luring the puma away from Ryan believing she can speak 'Puma'.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Lures the puma away from Ryan, believing she could communicate with it. She couldn't.
- Minor Major Character
- Out of Focus: She has the least screentime of the main characters, and only ever runs around the building, occasionally hiding in obvious hiding spots.
Michael Jones
One of the party guests - he attempts to blackmail the other party guests in the first episode, and is later revealed to be an actor hired by Burnie in an attempt to catch the killer. He is the first to die among the roosters, presumably dying from poison in episode 1. This makes him the second victim of the killer, after Mark Keys.
- Blackmail: He tries to do this in episode 1, wanting to get rich by exposing the crimes of the other guests.
- HairTrigger Temper: Shows plenty of signs of this while he is blackmailing the rest of the guests.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Screaming at Gavin.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Essentially exists to reveal each of the cast as killers, and then dies to set the tone for the rest of the show.
Miles Luna
One of the party guests. It is not known what crime he has committed in the first episode since his envelope only contains dick doodles. He ends up the final death among the roosters, being glued to a treadmill and forced to run until he dies of exhaustion. This makes him the ninth and final victim of the killer.
- Decoy Protagonist: Of a sort. He and Ryan get the largest amount of screentime, and Miles is the only one actively looking to save everyone, along with being the only one who apparently committed no crime. It comes down to him and Ryan as the last two potential survivors, and Ryan ends up being the one to walk out alive.
- Failed a Spot Check: While looking at motion capture footage on the computer, he neglects to look to his left out the window to see the killer strangling Adam.
- Heroic Wannabe: He spends the majority of the series attempting to actually save the day, as opposed to hiding and surviving the night, believing himself to be the story's hero. Unfortunately, he's still a bit of an incompetent coward. To his credit, he does manage to make it down to the final three.
- Nice Guy: Not only did he not commit any crimes like his fellow roosters, he spends the rest of the series trying to save everyone.
- Rousing Speech: Gives one to himself in episode 2 that is actually the song "This Will Be The Day" from RWBY.
- Gives himself another one while running on the treadmill. Doesn't keep him alive.
- Too Dumb to Live: While he's stuck to a treadmill, he realizes he can just put his feet on the sides to stop running, only for some reason to put is feet back on. Guess what happens?
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Don's Lindsay's Ruby Rose costume in Episode 3. And makeup.
Gus Sorola
One of the party guests - He is accused of killing Baby Gus in the first episode. Dies by pitchfork stab in episode 5. This makes him the sixth victim of the killer.
- Accidental Murder: He reasons out that Baby Gus' death was an accident.
- Death by Irony: The crime Gus was accused of? Killing Baby Gus with a fork. Gus ends up skewered with a pitchfork.
- Minor Major Character
- Out of Focus: Despite being one of the main characters, Gus debatably has the most minor role in the cast. He is absent for an episode, only ever shows up as a quick gag, and dies in the first episode where he had more than one scene.
- Poetry: According to Burnie, Gus is known to write poetry and leave it lying around the office.
- It's later revealed that Gus spends most of his time writing poetry instead of actually working, and he hides it from his office-mate Barbara because she's not "feminine" enough to appreciate it.
- Stylistic Suck: His poems, if the example he reads to Miles is any indication.
The Killer
The mysterious murderer who is offing the party guests one by one. Note: these tropes relate to the masked version of the killer, whilst the tropes relating to the murderer after their reveal are located in the appropriate character's folder.
- Big Bad: They plot to kill the other Roosters off, which sets off the whole plot.
- The Chessmaster: The murderer must have done a huge amount of planning and preparation in order to predict the order and deaths of the victims before they actually happen.
- Evil Plan: It's revealed in the finale that the plot was to kill the other nine Roosters, framing one of them to fulfill the "the killer was killed" line of the poem, and get away scot-free. Doesn't work.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: This person not only goes on a killing spree in the Rooster Teeth office, but was also guilty of cold-blooded murder prior to the series.
- Obviously Evil: Their disguise of choice is a skull mask, a leather jacket and black gloves - Ryan's Heist outfit from the Achievement Hunter Grand Theft Auto V Let's Plays. Their first appearance also has them wielding gasoline and a lighter. If you can't tell this is the killer, then you kind of deserve that murder...
- Pet the Dog: When Chris opens up about his parents divorcing, he hugs the killer, who returns it awkwardly before leaving him alone for an episode.
- Poetic Serial Killer: Leaves a poem relating how each victim will be killed.
- The Reveal: Barbara is the killer.
- The Voiceless: Never says a word while in disguise, only leaving the poem as a means of communication until The Reveal.
Other Characters
Joel
Joel
An employee at Rooster Teeth, who was lucky enough to never get invited to the banquet, thus being spared from being one of the victims of Ten Little Roosters.- The Ghost: He was mentioned.
- Pet Baby Wild Animal: He has several very poisonous pets that he actually keeps at the Rooster Teeth office, including a blue ring octopus, a jellyfish, and a scorpion, and the latter ends up actually being responsible for Burnie's death.
- Walking Spoiler: The events of episode 2 pretty much confirm one of the main character's deaths if the watcher is a fan of Red vs Blue, making it hard to bring up Joel in a discussion about the series.
Pre-Series Victims
Mark Keys
Played by Aaron Marquis
Burnie's former partner from before the series began. He was technically the first victim of the killer., and his death is what sets up the events for the rest of the series.- Plot-Triggering Death: See Small Role, Big Impact below.
- Punny Name: A meta one that doubles as an Casting Gag to his actor, Aaron Marquis.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Him asking Burnie to avenge his death is what leads to the events of the series.
Other Victims
Consisting of Shannon McCormick, Josh Flanagan, Blaine Gibson, Kerry Shawcross, Meg Turney, Edgar the Cow, Kdin Jenzen and Baby Gus.
They are the victims found in the incriminating photos in Episode 1.- Creator Cameo: Josh is the writer and director of the series.
- For Science!: Burnie's reasoning for freezing Shannon is because he actually thought that it would allow Shannon to wake up in the future.
- Fun Size: Baby Gus is basically a much smaller version of Gus.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Baby Gus was impaled with a fork.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Kerry was beaten to death by Adam.
- Slashed Throat: How Chris killed Josh.
