The following is a list of characters who appear in The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer.
open/close all folders
introduced in Annihilation
The Biologist
The biologist of Expedition 12
The twelfth expedition's wildlife specialist, and the perspective character of Annihilation.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: The biologist's sense of what is right and normal differs greatly from that of other people, which leads to her having differing reactions to Area X and its horrors.
- Decoy Protagonist: The first book is the biologist's account of the twelfth expedition into Area X. By the second book, she's still in Area X, while her clone Ghost Bird is found and brought to the Reach instead.
- The Smart Girl: Specialist in wildlife biology assigned to the twelfth expedition.
The Psychologist
The psychologist of Expedition 12/Cynthia, previous director of the Southern Reach/Gloria
The de facto leader of the twelfth expedition into Area X.
Authority reveals that this psychologist is actually the previous director of the Southern Reach, whom Control is taking over for as acting director. Acceptance reveals that her given name is Gloria.
- Free-Range Children: Acceptance reveals that she tended to roam away from her mother's place to spend time with Saul Evans.
- Mind Control: The psychologist regularly uses post-hypnotic commands to control the other expedition members, to keep them calm and focused.
- The third book reveals that she was hoping that Lowry, who was blackmailing her, wouldn't do it to her.
The Crawler
"The Crawler"
An indescribable creature that inhabits the buried "tower" within Area X.
Acceptance confirms that the Crawler used to be lighthouse keeper Saul Evans.
- Eldritch Abomination: The biologist saw the Crawler firsthand, yet she cannot actually describe its appearance after the fact. The omniscient narrator in Acceptance does describe the Crawler, but even the narration falls short. The Crawler possesses a roughly bell-shaped body that takes up most of the passageway, an arm that writes out its wall-growing "sermon", and three floating rings.
- Madness Mantra: An extremely lengthy one, that it inscribes on the walls of the tower. “Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead...”. It seems almost infectious in a way, to the point the previous director essentially painted part of her office black by writing it over and over again.
- Mind Rape: In Annihilation, the Crawler subjects the biologist to an experience that turns her mind inside out before letting her go. The biologist's final written records in Acceptance refers to this as her "annihilation by the Crawler".
- Tragic Monster: Some part of Saul Evans is still present in the Crawler, as seen by the biblical syntax in the tower. But it's too late to save him, and he's unable to control himself
introduced in Authority
Control
John "Control" Rodriguez
The current director of the Southern Reach, following the disappearance of the previous director during the twelfth expedition. John is the grandson of Central leader Jack Severance.- Heroic BSoD: Acceptance sees Control understand the scale of the futility of the Southern Reach's expeditions in the face of Area X.
- Like Father, Unlike Son: He takes after his spy mother far more than he does his artist father.
- Married to the Job: When Ghost Bird asks him what he does outside of work, he's unable to come up with any answers besides working out (itself just an extension of being an active agent) and taking care of his cat. This realization makes him a little uncomfortable.
- My Greatest Second Chance: Control sees his new job as Southern Reach director as some form of redemption for his previous failures.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: His mother was gone for large stretches of time due to her espionage. It eventually ruined her marriage to Control's father and he later describes her presence in his life as that of some distant star that would occasionally fall to earth before departing again.
Grace
Grace Stevenson
The assistant director of the Southern Reach. Previously serving under the former director until the latter unauthorized joining of the twelfth expedition, she grudgingly (and obstructively) assists Control as the new director.- Be as Unhelpful as Possible: Her MO. She will always undertake her duties in a way that will most inconvenience Control.
- Home Field Advantage: She's on roughly the same skill level when it comes to espionage as Control is, but unlike Control she is deeply embedded in the Southern Reach meaning she can outmaneuver him.
- Jerkass to One: She has a special animosity towards Control for taking the Director's place, and she makes sure he's aware of it.
- Malicious Compliance: She cannot outright disobey Control, but when given an order she tries to enact it in the worst way possible.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: She hampers Control's ability to actually do his job as director, out of a sense of loyalty to the previous director.
- Only Sane Man: Her obsessive connection with the former director aside, Grace is the only one at the Agency who still seems to act like an agent. Unfortunately for Control, this just makes her even harder to deal with as she's on more or less equal ground with him in terms of bureaucratic skill.
The Voice
The Voice/Lowry
Control's handler during his time at Southern Reach, the Voice is a mysterious figure who seems unsympathetic to Control's problems at the Southern Reach.- Ambiguous Gender: All identifying factors of their voice have been covered up by filters. Jackie Severance reveals to Control that the Voice's true identity is Lowry.
- Broken Pedestal: Downplayed Trope. Control still takes The Voice seriously, since they are his employer after all. But after the Voice spills coffee on themselves and swears mid-call, he finds their mysterious and grand aura has completely vanished and they've become just another boss in his mind.
- Jerkass:
- In the previous director's chapters, Lowry forces her to come to his office, where he makes a show of pouring them both drinks before throwing the director's glass in a bid to intimidate her. The entire time, he's smiling.
- Secret Identity: In reality, The Voice is Lowry, the Sole Survivor of the first expedition into Area X.
- Voice with an Internet Connection: As per their "title", Control can only ever speak to The Voice via phone call, in order to keep their identity a secret.
Allen Whitby
Allen Whitby
The longest serving staff member at the Southern Reach, the years have there have not been kind and Whitby comes off almost as deeply odd as the anomaly he is studying.- Butt-Monkey: Despite his seniority over practically everyone, his lack of skill in playing Agency politics means he's disrespected and often treated as little more than an errand boy.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: He is deeply, deeply odd, due to having spent so long at the isolated Southern Reach, researching an Eldritch Location. Add to that the possibility that he either fought and killed a clone of himself, or is the clone and killed the original Whitby.
- Despair Event Horizon: Control notes in his file that Whitby was once submitting a request for transfer to another, more sane agency once a month for quite a while. When these requests were universally denied, they started getting submitted more slowly. By the time of the story, he's stopped submitting any at all.
introduced in Acceptance
Saul
Saul Evans
The lighthouse keeper who lived in the zone now known as Area X. Acceptance follows his life before Area X's creation and his transformation into the Crawler.- Cool Old Guy: To Gloria.
- Manly Gay: He's a masculine and outdoorsy lighthouse keeper, who is a homosexual.
