Conductor Coudert
Born in Algeria, Jacques Coudert came to Paris at 18 to seek his fortune. A longtime employee of Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (C.I.W.L.), his face is known to regular travelers on the Orient Express. Now just a few months from retirement, he has saved his money and looks forward to returning to Algiers, where he can live like a pasha on his pension.- Butt-Monkey: Depending the number of times you break Max out of his cage and he has to bring him back. It can be seen as a perverse urge to make life miserable for Coudert.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: What became of him after Cath unhooked the cars is anyone’s guess.
Count Vassili Alexandrovitch Obolensky
- Everyone Has Standards: After stabbing Alexei again and again, he delivers a long prayer.
- Expy: A probable genderbent version of Princess Dragomiroff from Murder on the Orient Express.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He cares for Tatiana, but not so much for Alexei due to his political views. He even goes as far as stabbing him to death.
- Oh, Crap!: When his own granddaughter blows up the baggage car.
- Scatterbrained Senior: Mostly averted, but he does have a few delirious moments.
- Seers: “Those passengers will never arrive in Constantinople.”
- Ungrateful Bastard: He still sees Alexei as a man who brought shame and dishonor to his family.
- When Elders Attack: Stabs Alexei to death with his own knife.
Tatiana Obolenskya
Sixteen-year-old granddaughter of the count. She has been at school in Paris and is now returning to Russia, probably to be married off to an appropriate member of the nobility. Fragile and innocent (but an excellent chess player), she still cherishes a childhood love for Alexei Dolnikov, the son of a neighboring aristocratic family outside Odessa.
- Bilingual Dialogue: She speaks English, her native Russian and a little bit of French.
- Break the Cutie: After losing Alexei at the hands of her grandfather’s knife, her mind has become peacefully unhinged.
- Driven to Suicide: Wishing for no more war, she blows up August’s munitions crate and the baggage car with a lighter...which later turns out to be a Senseless Sacrifice since World War I starts anyway.
Claude Boutarel
French geologist and engineer. Monsieur Boutarel is more interested in science and developing technologies than in politics, so he sees no problem in working for the Anglo-Persian oil company at the first oil refinery in Abadan. He encourages the scientific leanings of his son, Francois.
- Bilingual Dialogue: Speaks French and English fluently.
- Henpecked Husband: A mild example. His wife tries to get him to talk sense into their son.
- Oh, Crap!: When he finds out that the train has been hijacked, he starts to panic.
George Abbot
British commercial agent. A last-minute addition, George Abbot boards the train at Munich, although his name doesn’t appear on the passenger list. Abbot is a frequent traveler on the Orient Express as he conducts his business across the continent. Behind his garrulous, overly inquisitive persona is a sharp, capable mind; he has an odd way of knowing a great deal of private and personal information and of being in the right place at the right time.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Behind his motor mouth exterior is an intelligent man.
- Kill It with Fire: He is presumably burned alive when Tatiana blows up the train.
- Motor Mouth: He’s a very loquacious fellow as part of his cover.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: A bumbling gentleman who is later revealed to be a spy.
Francois Boutarel
Precocious boy of 7. Young Francois has an interest in scientific experimentation and a special passion for insects, in which his father indulges him. He’s no more obedient to his mother than other boys of his age, and makes authoritative comments on everything he sees — comments ignored, of course, by his parents and other adults.
- Cassandra Truth: His mother doesn’t believe him when he sees Cath throw Tyler’s body off the train.
- Enfant Terrible: He has a tendency for slipping into the harem’s compartments, pulling off the limbs of bugs and on top of everything else: a morbid obsession with death.
- Sadist: Likes to pull limbs off of bugs when they won’t follow orders.
- Spoiled Brat: Has shades of this and sometimes makes life miserable for his mother, but not intentionally.
Madame Boutarel
A practical Frenchwoman, largely and benignly ignored by husband and son. Madame B. maintains a keen sense of the proprieties and disciplines of family life, as well as her own position and ambitions in society.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She cares for Francois despite his bratty tendencies, but doesn’t tolerate his obsession with death.
- Lean and Mean: She’s pretty thin and has a mean steak towards both her family and Conductor Coudert.
- Mama Bear: To the point where she persuades the conductor to have Max removed from Anna’s compartment for the sake of protecting her son.
- Not Now, Kiddo: She doesn’t believe Francois’ claims of seeing Tyler Whitney’s corpse thrown off the train.
- Rich Bitch: Particularly the snobbiest character in the game next to Sophie.
- Unnamed Parent: Her first name isn’t given.
- Wet Blanket Wife: Largely ignored by her son and husband.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Subverted. She most likely left the abandoned sleeping cars according to the game over epilogue where Cath fails to stop the train after detaching them.
Rebecca Norton
A young upper-class Englishwoman. Rebecca has escaped from a stifling London environment and is on her first adventure abroad with her dashing friend Sophie. Although naive and inexperienced, Rebecca is observant and intelligent; she keeps a diary and will one day become a famous journalist.
- Abhorrent Admirer: Her fiancé Reginald is a mild one.
- All There in the Diary: In-universe. Her diary shows us the events of the game from her persective.
- Bilingual Bonus: She is English and sometimes converses with Sophie in French.
- Gayngst: Does not like the idea of marrying a man. Compounded by the fact that her lover, Sophie, assumes that they both will someday and doesn't seem too distressed about it.
- Hide Your Lesbians: She and her "travelling companion" Sophie are clearly in a relationship, but it's never made explicit. Justified by the historical setting of the game and the fact that the POV character isn't someone they'd trust with that information.
- Lipstick Lesbian: With Sophie.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Averted. In the final game over sequences where Cath and Anna perish, Rebecca reveals that she and Sophie made it to their island.
Sophie de Bretheuil
A young, attractive Frenchwoman. Sophie is a provocative, spoiled girl living a privileged and indolent bohemian life. She’s indifferent to politics; only personal intrigue interests her. Her intelligence is of the highly practical and social kind; for the moment she’s happy to be with Rebecca, but she keeps an eye out for other excitements. Ironically, although Rebecca is destined to become a great writer, it is Sophie who will achieve success first in the 1920s by writing a best-selling gossip book under a pseudonym.
- Ambiguously Bi: She and Rebecca are lovers, but Sophie upsets Rebecca with her insistence that they will both marry men someday. Whether she's bisexual and genuinely likes the idea of marrying a man, or just wants a husband in order to be accepted by society is unclear.
- Bilingual Bonus: She is Bohemian and sometimes converses with Rebecca in English.
- Hide Your Lesbians: She and her "travelling companion" Rebecca are clearly in a relationship, but it's never made explicit. Justified by the historical setting of the game and the fact that the POV character isn't someone they'd trust with that information.
- Lipstick Lesbian: With Rebecca.
- Rich Bitch: Snubs Cath when he asks her for a light.
Anna Wolff
Concert violinist. The daughter of an Austro-Hungarian military commander, she’s been touring the concert halls of Europe and the United States, where her brilliant playing and striking appearance have won her great fame as well as a perfect excuse to travel widely through the most influential levels of European society.
- Action Girl: Makes for a physically competent spy behind her Proper Lady facade.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Anna embodies the deceptive nature of any female spy in The Edwardian Era. During the earlier portions of the game, she may seem willing to go above and beyond to be a proper lady who charms and gets along easily with her fellow men. But in private, she proves to be an unscrupulous spy who would gladly shoot Cath if given the chance. Gradually, she warms up to him.
- Damsel in Distress: Kronos holds her hostage in the game’s climax and he even forces her to play “Tsardas” for the open Firebird.
- Femme Fatale Spy: Defiantly fits this.
- Fiery Redhead: She’s a spy with red hair.
- The Heroine: The female protagonist of the game.
- Nice Girl: She gradually warms up to Cath after he speeds the train past Belgrade.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: She could be based on Mata Hari, who was also a spy and a frequent client of the Orient Express in Real Life.
- Tsundere: Towards Cath at first.
- Unwitting Pawn: Both she and August are part of a conspiracy to start World War I.
- Uptown Girl: Hails from a rich military family, but falls for the middle class Robert Cath.
Milos Jovanovic
A young Serbian commander. Milos is a charismatic, self-educated rebel with a good combination of fighting skills, idealism, and practical cunning. Under the banner of General Georgevich, he fought many successful campaigns in the Balkan League’s 1912-13 wars against Turkey. Faithful to his friends and fierce in battle, Milos is a good friend of Tyler Whitney’s, and passionately committed to the cause of Serbo-Croatian unity.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Other than Kronos, Milos, as the leader of the Serbians, is the most prominent antagonist in the game.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Doesn’t take too kindly to assuming that Cath killed Tyler.
- The Unfought
Vesna Savin
At the age of 12, Vesna saw her family slaughtered by the local Turkish militia. A Croatian, she fled into Serbia and joined a Bosnian irregular fighting unit. Since then, Vesna has lived in the mountains and honed herself into a merciless fighter. Suspicious of all outsiders, she’s a humorless, dedicated soldier and a loyal comrade to Milos.
- Action Girl: Uses both a knife and Mahmoud’s sword to fight Cath.
- Climax Boss: She is not the final threat in the game (though she is the final proper "fight") or even the leader of the Serbians, but the second battle against her marks the climax of the game and is by far the most complex and difficult action sequence.
- Death by Origin Story: Her family was murdered by a Turkish militia, which could be one of the reasons behind her cold personality and her killing of Mahmoud.
- The Dragon: To Milos.
- Foil: To Anna.
- The Stoic: She hardly shows much emotion on her face aside from anger, leading her to come off as this.
Ivo Biskupovic
A taciturn Bosnian Serb farm boy turned soldier. Unusually tall and broad, Ivo feels awkward in the confined spaces of the train. Like Vesna, he’s fiercely loyal to Milos and a very good fighter... but he’s never been in a restaurant before, and would much rather be in the hills than on a luxury train.
- Co-Dragons: To Milos.
- Sole Survivor: While his comrades are killed off, Ivo is presumably still unconscious in the rear baggage car.
- Those Two Guys: They are sometimes seen together.
- The Voiceless: He and Salko have no audible lines in the game.
Salko Popivoda
Twenty-year-old Bosnian Serb and Ivo’s shadow. During the Balkan Wars, Salko slipped across the border to Montenegro, and from there to Serbia, where he joined an irregular army unit. He and Ivo became friends and have been inseparable ever since. The little bells sewn onto the sleeve of Salko’s jacket are his attempt to add a touch of splendor to his apparel, as befits a client of the Orient Express.
- Co-Dragons: To Milos.
- Those Two Guys: They are sometimes seen together.
- The Voiceless: He and Ivo have no lines in the game.
Conductor Mertens
This is young Rene’s fifth run on the Paris-Constantinople route. Although he believes he’s working hard, he’s too lax to make a really top-notch conductor. His job is made more difficult by the ever-watchful eye of his uncle, the Trainmaster, to whom Rene owes his rapid promotion to this position.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: He’s pretty lax, but that doesn’t stop him from preventing tourists from entering Prince Kronos’ car, as well as catching Cath trying to enter the corridors in his compartment.
- Oh, Crap!: “Mon Dieu!” He says when he discovers Tyler’s corpse in one of the game ending scenes.
Tyler Whitney
American freedom-fighter, philanthropist, and gunrunner. Tyler and Cath met at Yale, where Tyler — idealistic and wealthy son of Southern landed aristocrats — developed a passionate interest in the Wobblies workers’ movement. He eventually left the U.S. and joined the Zapatista revolt in Mexico and Cuba, helping raise funds and run guns and munitions, before lending his support to Serbia in the 1912-13 Balkan Wars.
- Posthumous Character: Subverted. He is alive in the opening, but when Cath arrives in his compartment, he is already dead.
- Small Role, Big Impact: His death and his actions set the plot and World War I in motion.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His goal was to pay the Firebird to Prince Kronos in exchange for a briefcase of gold, pay August Schmidt for crates of guns to be used by Serbian nationalists...which will eventually be the cause of World War I.
Robert Cath
American doctor, age 29. Barred from medical practice in the U.S. because of his unorthodox methods and interest in ancient and esoteric forms of medicine, Cath has been living quietly in Paris. He and Tyler Whitney have been friends since college, and shared many adventures, but Cath hasn’t seen Tyler in several years.
- Badass Bookworm: Medical doctor, speaks four languages and packs a punch to name a few of his abilities.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: As lampshaded by Abbot, his commitment to the Hippocratic Oath is what got him into trouble with a wounded policeman.
- Cosmetic Award: If he fails to stop the train, Cath is awarded with a medal from the Austrians for his heroic service, but with World War I on the horizon, the medal ends up meaningless.
- The Hero: The main protagonist of the game.
- Run for the Border: He sees the Orient Express as an escape from both the law and his own personal troubles.
Alexei Dolnikov
Russian student. The idealistic son of an aristocratic family, Alexei left school in St. Petersburg and went to London, where he became deeply involved in the Anarchist movement. Renouncing his heritage, he dedicated himself to the abolition of the tyrannical system in which he was brought up.
- Bomb-Throwing Anarchists: He’s a Russian anarchist with a chip on his shoulder the size of Siberia and he attempts to blow up the train with a bomb.
- Childhood Friend Romance: According to Tatiana, she and Alexei used to play together every summer in Odessa.
August Schmidt
German industrialist. From humble beginnings, August Schmidt has built a empire from metal and arms manufacturing. One of the rising industrialists of the new Germany, he follows political developments very closely, and looks forward to prosperous times. He’s also a gourmand and an appreciator of beauty in all its forms.
- Abhorrent Admirer: Lampshaded by Abbot as “not her type”.
- The Alcoholic: He drinks a lot in the smoking compartment.
- Batman Gambit: His crates of machine guns are to be sold to Serbian terrorists in order to start World War I.
- Fat Bastard: He carries shades of anti-Semitism and he’s got the hots for Anna Wolff. But on her part, she is dating him...to grill him.
- Honest Corporate Executive: To some degree, but he doesn’t know that his guns will be confiscated in Budapest...and Milos’ hijacking of the train prevents that.
- Unwitting Pawn:
- Both he and Anna are part of a conspiracy to start World War I.
- Schmidt is the only major character who never learns Cath's true identity, still believing until their final moments together that he is Tyler Whitney. Cath attempts to inform him of the truth, but the cars have already been unhooked from the train, so...
- What Happened to the Mouse?: August swears to Cath (or "Whitney" as he still believes him to be) that they will meet again, but what became of him after Cath unhooked the cars is anyone’s guess.
Mahmoud Makhta
Persian Eunuch. Mahmud is charged with the safe conduct from Paris to Cairo of a four-woman harem belonging to a certain unnamed personage who anxiously awaits their arrival. The trip has been a tense and frustrating one for Mahmud, who must reconcile the logistical difficulties of a long European train journey with his employer’s strict requirement that the women not show themselves in public.
- Alliterative Name:
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: All of his dialogue is in Arabic.
Fatima
At 45, Fatima is the harem’s oldest member. Though in a position of authority with respect to the younger women, she has seen enough in her life to take things in stride, and is generally willing to turn a blind eye to Hadija’s and Yasmin’s high jinks.
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: All of her dialogue is in Arabic.
- First-Name Basis: Applies to her and the other members of the harem.
- Royal Harem: Is the oldest member.
Yasmin
- Royal Harem: Is one of the younger members.
Hadija
- Royal Harem: Is one of the younger members.
Alouan
- Royal Harem: Is one of the younger members.
Trainmaster Verges
In 1876, at age 16, Verges got his first job washing the exteriors of the train cars. As a pioneer of the railway, he has gradually risen in the ranks to the position of Trainmaster. A lifelong bachelor. Verges keeps a firm eye on his nephew Rene, and tries to instill his own sense of responsibility and discipline into this unlikely bottle.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Downplayed. He’s a big stickler for the rules and is pretty harsh with his nephew.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He disappears from the story after Cath unhooks the cars.
Kronos
A wealthy and mysterious art collector. Prince Kronos’s origins are obscure. Believed to have come from North Africa, he has amassed an enormous fortune. He is said to command a private army, and have a fortress in the Pyrenees, but rumors about him contradict each other. When in Europe, he travels in his lavish, eccentrically outfitted private rail car, the Saturn.
- Benevolent Boss: He is very understanding to Kahina, especially with her situation involving Max the dog.
- Big Bad Ensemble: He's the most significant threat in the game and the final opponent, though he is absent for most of the second half and is not responsible for the events of the climax (that honor goes to Milos.
- Big "NO!": Shouts one when Cath sics the Firebird on him.
- Faux Affably Evil: He's an affluent and cultured man and appears friendly on the surface, but his short temper and threatening nature quickly become clear. Demonstrated in his first conversation with Cath, where he snaps at Cath for being too flippant before recovering himself.Cath: Is "Kronos" your first name or your last name?Kronos: (angrily) I HAVE NO TIME TO...(recovering) continue these delightful discussions of names.
- Karmic Death: He ends up getting clawed by the very treasure he was looking for.
- Knowledge Broker: He seems to have dirt on almost every passenger on the train...as well as Cath’s mission to Jerusalem.Kronos: Knowledge is more precious than gold and rarer than rubies.
- Meaningful Name: Kronos is named after the Greek God of Time, while his private car Saturn is named after the Roman god of wealth. Interestingly, Kronos even lampshades this trope to Cath.Kronos: You should take care when choosing an name for yourself. Names have power. The most primitive cultures understood this.
- Mysterious Past: His backstory is never revealed.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: Kronos is a very serious threat in the case of him wanting something that he has his eyes on. Even worse, he doesn’t just admonish Cath for failing to bring the Firebird or his briefcase in a game over sequence...he has Kahina kill him with her iron bracelet.
- Only One Name: Cath asks: “Is Kronos your first name or your last name?”
- The Spook: His real name and his background are never revealed; neither are his motives for wanting to get his hands on the Firebird, and the reason why he knows Cath's real identity. He may even be supernatural.
Kahina
Proud and taciturn, Kahina is the last of an ancient Matabele tribe of female warriors who were defeated and driven from their Southern African homeland. Kahina owes her life to Kronos, and her loyalty to him is total and unswerving. Her command of English, French, Ndebele, and other languages makes her an ideal secretary, bodyguard, and general factotum to Kronos wherever he travels.
- Bodyguard Babe: A loyal servant to Kronos, who also packs heat and lays the beat down on Cath in the game over sequences.
- Bling-Bling-BANG!: Her pistol, which is silver plated.
- The Dragon: To Kronos.
- Even Evil Has Standards: She doesn’t frisk Cath when he has the Firebird on his person (“Must be part of the Matabele tribal code.” lampshades the strategy guide).
- Flat Character: She spends most of the game hovering around Kronos and it seems apparent that she doesn’t have feelings of her own...except for her subtle fears of Max attacking her.
- Ironic Name: The meaning of her name at least. In Arabic, Kahina can mean “kind”, “sweet” or “loving”, none of which, seem to fit her personality.
- Inspector Javert: Suspects Cath from their first meeting.
- Last of Her Kind: According to the strategy guide, before she was hired by Kronos, she is mentioned in passing to be the last member of a Matabele tribe.
- The Quiet One: Doesn’t have much verbal interaction with Cath.
- The Stoic: Barely shows any emotion, especially whenever Cath quips in front of her.
- You Talk Too Much!: A variation.Kahina: (to Cath at gunpoint) You talk a great deal for a man who knows so little.
