Harry Potter / The Black Wizard / The Wizard in the Shadows / The Lord Moristar Morinhetar (Black Wizard Darkness Slayer), Royal Wizard of Gondor and Arnor
Harry ends up in Middle Earth after flooing from the Headmasters Office on Dumbledore's advice for a little R&R. Ends up trapped there and with the status of something equivalent to a shadowy avenging angel.
- Action Hero
- Anti-Hero: Type II or III, occasionally drifting into Type IV at bad moments.
- Badass Angster: Until the Grey Company turn up.
- Badass Boast: Drops one for the entire cast.
- Badass Longcoat: Comes with the Ranger gear. Surprisingly considering the author's fondness for long coat wearing badasses, particularly wizards it's never directly mentioned.
- The partially rewritten first chapter does make note of it briefly.
- Berserk Button: Hurting Ginny or indeed anyone he cares about is beyond stupid.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Genuinely quite nice.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Emrys notes the dissonance between his Fun Personified Crazy Is Cool behaviour and his (well earned) reputation as The Dreaded.
- Big Brother Instinct: To Emrys.
- Big Brother Mentor: Has this relationship with Boromir and Aragorn and Theoden, being the little brother. Is the big brother to Emrys.
- Break the Cutie: Most of the breaking happened pre story, but still...
- Buffy Speak: Once or twice. Notably: 'Rangery'.
- Byronic Hero: At first.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: With Ginny.
- Clipped-Wing Angel: Harry has a Willow vs. Glory moment with the Witch King. Since the Author is a serious Buffy fan, the Shout-Out is almost certainly intentional. Especially since the primary attack is Shock and Awe.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: He has his moments.
- Cry into Chest: to Boromir after Gandalf dies. This one doubles as a Cooldown Hug because Harry has just destroyed a very large amount of things, including the east gate of Moria.
- Cuddle Bug: As he loosens up.
- Cultured Badass: Mostly a Pop-Cultured Badass, but he does quote Hamlet, or rather, paraphrase it. Also speaks Rohirric fairly fluently and understands a few words of Sindarin.
- Dark and Troubled Past: All the crap he gets in the books plus four years of heavy duty fighting in the North of Middle Earth with no prospect of return to his own world.
- Dark Is Not Evil: He dresses in black. He's known as the Wizard in the Shadows and the Black Wizard.
- Deadpan Snarker: The Arch Snarker in a World of Snark.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Harry vs Saruman round two. Harry vs the Witch King, though it's a Subverted Trope with the second. He does do one hell of a lot of damage, but he gets punched out himself.
- The Dreaded: Everything evil is (and most Dunlendings are) absolutely terrified of him, elevating to semi deity level status. Most other people are a little scared of him too.
- Dual Wielding: Wand and knife/sword.
- Dying Moment of Awesome
- Expy: His characterisation owes something to the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors.
- Black clothes, a longcoat, endures much suffering and a reputation as The Dreaded? Hello Harry Dresden!
- Fun Personified: See Expy.
- Flying Firepower: When he whips out his broomstick.
- Heroic BSoD: When Gandalf dies, and when Ginny is poisoned at the Pelennor Fields.
- Heroic Lineage: To a truly ridiculous degree. He is descended from, among others, Godric Gryffindor, Maedhros Fëanorion, King Arthur Pendragon, and Ignotus Peverell.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Aragorn and Boromir.
- I Have Many Names: Not quite so many as Aragorn.
- Incendiary Exponent: Prone to this.
- Kill It with Fire: his standard tactic.
- Knight In Shining Armour: Genuinely chivalrous, kind and protective of innocents. Unfortunately, he's also slightly mad and in perpetual danger of falling off the edge of sanity and in some cases, the Moral Event Horizon.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Absently notes - when Gandalf is tearing Denethor a new one - that 'The Return of the King' would make a good title for a book or film.
- Lightning Bruiser: Moves very fast and does one hell of a lot damage.
- Limited Wardrobe: Generally dresses either in black ranger gear or light armour with a surcoat.
- Manly Tears: Happens on several occasions. A Justified Trope because for all his Badassery, he is extremely emotionally unstable and suffering from many years of constant war.
- Master Swordsman: Becomes this, though nowhere near Aragorn or Boromir's level of skill.
- Motor Mouth: Never, ever, ever shuts up.
- Papa Wolf: doesn't actually have children yet, but is very protective towards those he cares about, and shows slight fatherly/elder brotherly protective instincts towards Emrys.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Occasionally described as a force of nature for a very good reason.
- Pop-Cultured Badass: Almost all the Shout Outs.
- Reality Warper: Routinely disregards one of the fundamental laws of magic, by transfiguring random objects into snacks.
- Sad Clown: His hat.Harry: You know what they say. Sometimes you have to laugh or you'll cry.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran
- Shipper on Deck
- Shout-Out: Shares a reputation with Batman. This is lampshaded by Ron.
- And his characterisation has some elements Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. The author is an avowed Doctor Who geek, so it's probably intentional.
- And Harry Dresden.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Swears rather more than in canon. Considering the Trauma Conga Line he's been through, this is justified.
- Stepford Smiler: Like Maglor, a mix of Type A and C before Ginny turns up.
- Stepford Snarker: Along with Sad Clown.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome
- The Quiet One: At first. It's implied that after he found that he was stuck in Middle Earth, he clammed up and closed off. As he loosens up, he turns into a prime example of Motor Mouth.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Abandoned this a very long time ago. Doesn't kill innocents, but takes a Punisher style attitude to those who do. The name of mercy is not Harry.
- Tranquil Fury: When Boromir is shot.
Aragorn
- Back-to-Back Badasses: With both Harry and Boromir at different points.
- Big Brother Instinct: Usually treats Harry like his little brother.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Harry.
- The Straight Man: To Harry, usually.
- Sword and Sorcerer: The sword to Harry's sorcerer.
Merlin
A half Maia immortal time travelling wizard. Immensely powerful. Very mysterious. By From Out of the Shadows, he's making his presence obvious. Grandfather to Emrys and Eirian.
- The Chessmaster
- Cool Old Guy
- Early-Bird Cameo: Word of God says he has had one or two, dropping numerous hints as to where.
- For the Lulz: Apparently created Doctor Who for a laugh.
- Really 700 Years Old
- The Faceless: No one has actually seen him yet. Or have they...
- Troll: See For the Lulz. He's probably behind Merlin as well.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: He only looks middle aged and respectable because it suits him.
Emrys Ap Derfel Ap Merlin
/ Sir Emrys the Valiant / the AvengerHalf Dunlending, Half Rohirric. Saves Theodred's life, because of Honor Before Reason. Takes several truly spectacular levels in badass.
- Anti-Hero: Shows shades of Type III.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: shows hints of this in From Out of the Shadows.
- Author Avatar: started out as this, apparently unconsciously.
- Badass Normal: At first. Takes out a full grown Uruk with a rusty sword despite being a rather malnourished fifteen year old. Then takes out a troll with two swords.
- Battle Aura
- Berserk Button: As pointed out below, hurting his sister is a terrible idea.
- Big Brother Instinct: He's the little brother, but god help you if you've hurt his big sister. When it turns out that Wormtongue raped his sister, he beats the shit out of him, then tries to drown him. When he's about sixteen. He also requests - and gets, until Eirian unleashes her revenge - executioner duties for Wormtongue.
- Cool Shades: seeks to acquire these.
- Curbstomp Battle: receives one of these whilst training with Harry, then starts handing them out like sweets on Halloween.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Lets see... lost his mother, then his father, to Rohirric raiders, then his sister, the only person left who cared for him as part of the pact the Dunlending Chiefs made with Saruman to create his army of Uruk-hai. His childhood nicknames were 'son of a bitch' and 'half-breed', and people routinely beat him up, sometimes trying to kill him while he fended for himself. He went looking for his sister by joining Saruman's forces and is implied to have killed his first man somewhere between the ages of 13 and 15, certainly by 15, then nearly died due to poisoning, then found his sister alive but having spent the last few years being raped by Wormtongue. Really, it's a wonder the poor boy's sane.
- Deadpan Snarker: Like most of the cast.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Theodred, the guy who captured him, is just about the only person he takes orders from.
- Dual Wielding: Becomes his signature style.
- Exact Words: Worryingly good at it.
- Fire-Forged Friends: With Harry and the rest of the main cast.
- Healing Factor: In line with other superpowers.
- Half-Human Hybrid
- Heroic Lineage
- Heel–Face Turn: Not actually evil. Just looking for his sister.
- Heroic Lineage: Grandson of Merlin and Nimue.
- Honor Before Reason
- I Can't Believe A Girl Like You Would Notice Me: To Miriel.
- Implausible Fencing Powers: See Instant Expert
- Insecure Love Interest: again, to Miriel.
- Instant Expert: Harry gives him some swordsmanship lessons on top of what he already knew. Also a Justified Trope due to his Maia heritage.
- One-Man Army
- Only Sane Man: Like Boromir, regards most of the Fellowship and associated persons as completely insane. But thinks they're rather fun to be around.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Implied to be potentially this on a truly vast scale.
- Punch-Clock Villain: when working for Saruman. If he were higher up, he'd have been a Dragon with an Agenda.
- Relative Button: For the love of all that is holy, if you value your life do not even think about hurting his sister.
- Anything that reminds him of what happened to her equally sets him off.
- Revenge: Clearly a fondness for this runs in the family.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: Seems to have this dynamic with Miriel.
- Speed Blitz: He seems to be quite fond of this.
- Took a Level in Badass: Several, even.
- Unfazed Everyman: Deals remarkably well with the sheer weirdness that follows the main cast.
- Unstoppable Rage: *cough* Wormtongue *cough*
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Not a textbook example in that he isn't evil, but he had to grow up very fast indeed.
Eirian Ap Derfel / The Doom Singer
Emrys' sister. It takes a little bit of time, but she's just as badass as her little brother. And like him is Part Maia and eventually a phenomenally powerful witch.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Very, very much so. Ask Wormtongue and his Fate Worse than Death.
- Cool Big Sis
- Dark and Troubled Past: See that of Emrys, but at the age of around 14, became the only parental figure to her 8 year old brother, then was taken to Isengard to be used as a breeder for Saruman's army. She was then singled out by Wormtongue as his 'personal whore' and raped several times a week for four years.
- Magic Music: Her primary spell casting method.
- Non-Action Guy: For now. And no less scary for it.
- Promotion to Parent: Implied after her father's death.
- Took a Level in Badass: big time. When first seen, she's an emotional wreck, for obvious reasons. Then, she grants Wormtongue a Fate Worse than Death. By From Out of the Shadows, she's a confident young woman with magical powers including limited target telepathy.
- You Wouldn't Like Her When She's Angry
Maglor Fëanorion
- The Atoner
- Beware the Silly Ones: Sure, he seems mildly crazy and harmless, but you have to remember that he is one of the oldest elves alive, and that he has had thousands of years of experience as a statesman and a soldier.
- Big Brother Instinct: Genuinely loved his little brothers and is utterly furious with Fëanor for what he did to them.
- Broken Ace
- The Casanova
- Cultured Badass
- Daddy Issues: Oh, so very much.
- He utterly despises Fëanor, to the point of doing mocking impersonations of him and designing the attack lawnmower with him in mind.
- And called up Fëanor with the Resurrection Stone for a round of Calling the Old Man Out.
- Heartbroken Badass: Misses his mortal wife something fierce. And his mother. And his brothers. But not his father. At all.
- Master Swordsman
- Obfuscating Insanity / Obfuscating Stupidity: Nowhere near as daft or harmless as he pretends to be.
- A lot smarter than he pretends to be.
- The Pornomancer
- Really Gets Around
- Rule of Funny: The author has admitted that this is the reason for Maglor's Really Gets Around tendencies.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Goes some way to explaining his crazy tendencies.
- Sherlock Scan: The entire last chapter is written from his point of view, and has him pull this on the cast.
- Stepford Smiler: To an extent, a blend of types A and C.
- Stepford Snarker
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome
- Troubled, but Cute
- Warrior Poet
- Warrior Prince