Characters / The Troop

The Novel

Tim Riggs

• Adults Are Useless: Averted. Actually after he is infested and killed by the tapeworms the situation only gets From Bad to Worse.
• Ambiguously Gay: Is single and childless in his forties, but the only ones who think he’s gay are Kent and his dad, whose words can be taken with a grain of salt on that matter.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Is unceremoniously killed by a falling tree after he’s locked in a closet.
• The Medic: The only one in North Point.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Is as patient with Kent’s antics as he can be while also making a point of ensuring he keeps his ego in check. This takes a noticeable dip when he gets infected, but never truly goes away.

Kent Jenks

• Alas, Poor Villain: Kent is an arrogant brute who sticks his nose up at authority at every turn, but his prolonged torture and drowning at he hands of Shelley is portrayed as nothing but a horribly cruel, unfair death, especially when the narration goes into detail about all the things Kent will never be able to do now that he’s dead.
• Asshole Victim: Subverted. His characterization makes it seem like he’s meant to be a Hate Sink whose misfortune will allow the audience some catharsis but him getting infected by the tapeworms brings nothing but more misery to everyone still alive on the island, and Ephraim beating the piss out of him after he eats all their food only leads to Ephraim breaking down at the possibility that he may have also become infected. Any joy that may be found in his suffering is also tempered by the fact that, bully he may be, he’s still just 14 years old.
• The Bully: Kent is bigger and stronger than most other kids his age and is gleeful at the prospect of throwing that weight around.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Jerkass he may be, Kent is nothing if not punctual in times of emergency, as he is always the first of the boys to try and handle a situation and is constantly muscling his way into leadership positions. Of course, this may just be down to his ego and disrespect for adults, but points for effort, at the very least.
• Freudian Excuse: His flippant, sometimes disdainful attitude towards adult authority is directly stated to be due to his father, the sheriff of North Point, taking him on ride alongs that exposed him to the worst sides of people. This chipped away at his respect for adults until we get the smug little shit we have today.
• Jerk Jock: Riggs even says outright that he exudes “jock smell.”

Newton “Newt” Thornton

• Badass Bookworm: His extensive knowledge on wildlife and foraging is one of the only things keeping anyone alive after Kent eats all the food.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Newt spends the majority of the story taking heaps of abuse from everyone while only offering help in response. Of course, when the situation finally escalates to the point of no return, namely, when Shelley steals the spark plugs and Max yells at him over it, he finally snaps and attacks him physically.
• Bully Magnet: Everybody treats Newt like shit, and Tim is painfully aware that trying to protect him to much from this will only make it worse.
• Butt-Monkey: The poor kid keeps getting vigorously insulted by all the other scouts, even after things go to shit, which he calls out.
• Character Development: He starts out as a wimpy, put upon doormat before growing more assertive and brave as the story goes on.
• Face Death with Dignity: He gets infected by Shelley just before he and Max can get off the island. Realizing that he’s a dead man walking, he tries to get Max to leave him behind and, failing that, provokes the navy into shooting him so Max may be allowed to return home.
• Stereotypical Nerd: Gives off ‘Nerd Scent’ according to Tim Riggs, and he does nothing throughout the story to dissuade that notion.
• Tears of Remorse: Sheds these after he and Max kill the sea turtle.

Ephraim Elliot

• Fatal Flaw: His temper. It gets the better of him numerous times over the story, which only results in more problems for him, such as his beating of an infected Kent, which splits Ephraim’s knuckle open enough to leave him paranoid about having also become infected, which is ultimately the cause of his death.
• Generation Xerox: Ephraim has a good deal of angst over the idea that, due to his anger issues, he's destined to end up just like his father, a temperamental misfit and criminal. It's not helped when Kent and his own mother make the comparison.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Has anger issues and is well aware of it, enough that he’s in therapy by the time the story starts up, which has dulled this trait a bit. It comes out in full force after Kent gets infested and eats all the food, for which Ephraim beats him senseless and never really improves.
• Man on Fire: Shelley goads him into burning himself alive to kill off the tapeworms that (probably) aren’t even inside him.
• Self-Harm: He gets really paranoid about possibly getting infested with tapeworms after getting into a fight with Kent. Shelley, being the little monster that he is, does nothing but goad him into doing this. It ends up being how he dies.

Maxmillian “Max” Kirkwood

• Character Development: Starts as a largely passive participant in whatever the wider group is doing before growing into a more independent minded person.
• The Generic Guy: Unlike Kent, Newt, Ephraim, and Shelley, Max doesn’t really have a noticeable quirk to his personality, which is probably better for him in the long run considering the absolute chaos that the others cause on the island.
• Sole Survivor Is the only person on Falstaff who gets off it with his life, though the ending leaves it ambiguous if it’ll stick.
• Tears of Remorse: Sheds these after he and Newt kill the sea turtle.

Shelley Longpre

• Ax-Crazy: He's downright murderous and sadistic.
• Asshole Victim: Gets infested by the the tapeworms while murdering Kent.
• Beneath Suspicion: Due to his generally placid demeanor and him being cunning enough to avoid acts of overt cruelty in front of others, everyone tends to assume Shelley is creepy but harmless. They could not be more wrong.
• Big Bad Ensemble: While the tapeworms are the primary threat that hounds the boy scouts in the island, Shelley taking the opportunity to indulge his weird sadistic daydreams causes even more problems.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: His tapeworm infestation ends in a notably more spectacular way than the others, with his stomach basically exploding while he’s trying to infect Newt.
• Enfante Terrible: He's only 14, but even before he spent his time killing and torturing things.
• Evil Feels Good: Torturing and killing things are some of the only ways for him to feel anything resembling pleasure, since otherwise he's an Empty Shell driven by dispassionate impulses. The day he drowned a kitten was the most erotic instance in his life.
• Freudian Excuse: Subverted. His parents, while oblivious to his sociopathy, aren't presented as abusive. His parents, however, noticeably never even acknowledge the possibility that their son may have a problem, which couldn’t have been any good for his development.
• Meaningful Name: Outside of his cruel but largely fleeting whims, Shelley is basically a hollow shell of a person.
• Psychopathic Manchild: He's 14, but acts like a particularly vicious spoiled seven-year-old.
• Teens Are Monsters: Shelley spends the whole story being a disturbed little creep, not taking the situation near as seriously as the others in favour of tearing apart insects and torturing Kent and Ephraim.
• Therapy Is for the Weak: His mother seems to believe this.