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Luke
Played by: Rafe Spall
- Adaptation Dye-Job: In the book, Luke is described as being blond, while Rafe Spall is brunet.
- Character Development: When Moder starts attacking the group directly, he's the one who's trying to save his friends.
- Dirty Coward: Considers himself this for not trying to help Robert when he was being mugged and was subsequently killed.
- Fingore: He breaks his thumb to escape his bindings.
- It's All My Fault: Blames himself for Robert's death and is probably feeling the same way for the rest of his friends by the end of the film.
- The Lancer: Actively points out the flaws in Hutch's plans, and acts as the secondary leader of the group, before taking the role of the main leader after Hutch's death.
- Only Sane Man: He's the only one against the shortcut, and once freaky things start to happen, is the only who suggests going back the way they came.
- Sole Survivor: He's the only one of the protagonists to survive.
- Survivor's Guilt: He's torn up over surviving the holdup that killed Robert. It's this emotional torment that causes Moder to choose him as her newest worshiper, and the end of the movie can't have made this better.
- Took a Level in Badass: Starting with breaking his thumb to escape his bindings, Luke starts confronting the recurring waking nightmare hallucination where he abandoned Robert, and eventually fights and confronts Moder directly. Even screaming at her defiantly.
Phil
Played by: Arsher Ali
- Cloudcuckoolander: The strangest member of the group.
- Conspiracy Theorist: The second the group comes across the statue, he becomes convinced it has to do with witchcraft. Ultimately he's wrong, but points for coming close.
- He also starts trying to guess what Moder’s motives are, believing that the hanged up dead bodies are done because she knows they'd find them.
- Only Friend: Phil is the only person of the group who doesn't blame Luke for Robert's death.
- Out of Focus: He's given the least amount of characterization of the group.
- Sanity Slippage: Gradually becomes less and less sane throughout the movie.
- The Smart Guy: The first person to get any kind of idea about what situation they were in.
- Token Minority: The only non-white member of the group.
Hutch
Played by: Robert James-Collier
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: A bit on the snarky and unreasonable side at times, but has a good heart and clearly is trying to look out for the group the best he can.
- The Leader: He's the one who keeps the group together once they're deeper in the woods. Perhaps that's why Moder took him first.
- Only Sane Man: Once Hutch realizes how much shit they're in, he's the most reliable one next to Luke.
- Potty Failure: Wakes up from his nightmare having completely pissed himself. He's...less than happy about it.
- Short Cuts Make Long Delays: His attempt at cutting their trip to the louge short ends up putting them back longer time-wise. It's also the reason they end up in their situation in the first place.
Dom
Played by: Sam Troughton
- The Big Guy: The most aggressive and rude member of the group, and the one of the largest size.
- Face Death with Dignity: He tries this when he's tortured and realizes he won't survive, but he breaks down when faced with Moder herself.
- Jerkass: Blames Luke for Robert's death, and for putting them in their situation in the first place.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Comes to forgive Luke near the end of the movie, and upon accepting his death, asks him to tell his wife that he loves her.
- The Load: He injures his knee early in the film and spends the rest a liability.
- The Millstone: Arguably - he walks without a cane in the woods, arguably is the instigator of the whole detour and suggests to go down the path, which leads the group deeper in the woods.
- He also decides to pick a fight with Luke at the worst possible moment.
Robert
Played by: Paul Reid
- The Heart: Clearly was the person who kept the group together, considering it became far more confrontational after his death.
- Nice Guy: The friendliest character in the film overall.
- Posthumous Character: By the time of the main plot, Robert has been dead for six months.
- Sacrificial Lamb: His death is the impetus of the group's trip to Sweden.
The Pagans (Spoilers)
A group that lives in the Sarek forests.
- Age Without Youth: Their worship of Moder allows them to live long beyond their time, but it doesn't halt their aging. The mummies in the attic are heavily implied to be her first worshippers and have been reduced to little more than withered skin over bones.
- Black Speech: Most of them speak English or Swedish, but the mummies in the attic speak a raspy, monstrous language. Though it's also possible that their vocal cords have deteriorated to the point that they can't speak properly anymore.
- Cult: They worship Moder in exchange for immortality.
- Human Sacrifice: The people that Moder brings to them or that stumble onto their home by accident are offered up to her as sacrifices.
- Join or Die: Moder will occasionally "mark" victims that it leads to the cult. They are offered a place among them, to partake in their immortality and worship of Moder, but will also be sacrificed if they refuse.
The Monster
Moder
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: Inverted: according to the creators and shown when she kills Dom, Moder is a shapeshifter who can assume any form she desires. How she appears is how she wants to be seen.
- All There in the Manual: Moder is never named in the film itself. Her name and gender were confirmed by the director's reference to the original novel.
- Animalistic Abomination: Her body appears to be that of a large elk overgrown with plant matter, with the addition of protruding spines from the vertebrae and an additional set of human-like hands by her hips. Her head is far more monstrous, resembling a headless human torso with antlers for arms and arms for legs, with a vaguely human head with glowing eyes where its crotch would be. A fitting appearance for a Jötunn, the primordial, and chaotic in nature Giants of Norse Mythology, and a child of Loki, the Norse Trickster god, who is known for having monstrous Jötunn children.
- Big Bad: She is the main antagonist of the film, being the object of worship amongst the villagers and frequently stalking the group.
- Black Speech: On the few occasions she speaks she does so in a primal language as ancient as her.
- Dead Guy on Display: Whether human or animal, her victims are impaled on branches and left to hang. Her cultists specifically avoid disturbing them for fear of angering her.
- He Was Right There All Along: The forest environment allows her to blend in almost perfectly simply by standing still.
- Hell Is That Noise: Her roars haunt the protagonists throughout the film.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The way she prefers to kill her victims.
- The Marvelous Deer: Resembles an elk, and while far from "marvelous", is definitely supernatural.
- No Name Given: Her cultists never speak her name, though supplementary material names her as Moder.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Why does she spare and even reward the cultists for bringing her victims? Why the hell is she in the forest to begin with and where did she come from? More importantly, why is she killing? Who knows? Her reasons for doing so might not even be understandable to humans.
- Physical God: Her cultists call her a Jötunn, a child of Loki, and explicitly say she's a god. Given that she can grant immortality and delve into people's minds to dredge up their fears and desires, they're not entirely wrong.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: At the end of the film, it's revealed that the forests aren't just her hunting ground but her prison.
- Shapeshifter Default Form: According to the creators, the form Moder appears in is how she wishes mortals to perceive her. Whether or not she even has a true form is unknown.
- Super-Toughness: She can be wounded, but none of the harm she suffers in the film is enough to truly impair her.
- Villainous Breakdown: Once Luke escapes the woods and out of her grasp, she lets out an angry roar as she is unable to chase after him.
