This page is a character sheet for Valiant Hearts and its sequel.
Character sheets are inherently revealing about their characters, so beware of unmarked spoilers!
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Main Characters
In Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Emile
Emile Chaillon
Voiced by: James Barriscale
A beloved grandfather.
The first of our controllable Protagonists that we're introduced to; a French farmer and the Father of Marie, Father-in-Law to Karl and the Grandfather to their son Victor. Initially content with living out his days with them in peace on their farm, he is soon drafted to fight at the start of the war not long after Karl himself is deported back to Germany.
- Accidental Murder: His strike on his commanding officer wasn’t intended to be a fatal hit, but the officer ultimately dies from the injury sustained.
- Action Dad:
- Big Damn Heroes: He saves Freddie, Walt and Anna's father from Baron Von Dorf's flamethrower rampage.
- The Cameo: He briefly shows up in spirit while holding the serving ladle he used initially at the end of Coming Home when James and Ernst are both tasked with cleaning up and gathering any relics of importance from various fallen individuals once The War is over.
- Controllable Helplessness: As you march him to his doom in the final level.
- Despair Event Horizon: Falls into a deep depression upon learning that Karl died trying to escape a POW camp, and never recovers.
- Dramatic Irony: He only gets the news that Karl has been killed on the battlefield, but never knows that Karl faked his death.
- Easily Forgiven: Gets tried for desertion, but is ultimately pardoned because of his brave actions in a previous battle, and he is later sent back to the front.
- Eyes Out of Sight: His scruffy gray hair keeps his eyes out of sight.
- Face Death with Dignity: Emile retains his honor as a man who fought for his country as he is marched to be executed by firing squad.
- Fire-Forged Friends: He saves Freddie from getting bullied by a group of French troops, and they become steadfast friends afterwards.
- Hero on Hiatus: Shortly after he enters combat, he gets captured by German forces and is stripped of his uniform for the rest of the game, and is away from the front for a large portion of it.
- Improvised Weapon: After he escapes from a POW camp, he resorts to using a serving ladle as his weapon until he finds a trench shovel.
- Kidnapped by the Call: He's drafted to fight in The War on the French side and is taken away from his farm.
- My Greatest Failure: He maintains until the end of the game that his greatest regret was failing to protect Karl, leading to his apparent death.
- Old Soldier: He certainly looks the part, and he is even regarded as such by Marie in one of her first Diary Entries, where she claims that he is, "too old to fight." With his Birthday being revealed to have been 1867 after his execution, this would have placed him only in his late forties and early fifties at most. Yet regardless, as the rest of the game shows, his age clearly doesn't do very much to slow him down.
- Only One Name: He is only ever addressed by his first name throughout the story, and his last name, "Chaillon," is only even mentioned once at the beginning when Marie receives a report about him being wounded in his first battle. His last name appears for a second time on his grave.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: After Emile is clearly frustrated by his commanding officer, he attacks the latter with a shovel, but ends up killing him, which leads him to the firing squad later.
- Shot at Dawn: Tragically encounters this fate after lethally wounding his commanding officer.
- Shovel Strike: Emile uses both a serving ladle and later his trench shovel to knock out those who get in his way, but uses too much force and kills his commanding officer when Emile tries the same trick on him.
- Sleeves Are for Wimps: Downplayed for not being of his own volition; He's stripped of his uniform early on when he is captured by Von Dorf's forces and then spends the rest of the game in little more than an undershirt and trousers, this of course doesn’t take away from his badassery.
- Sound-Only Death: As he is executed, the screen cuts to black, only letting us hear the sound of the gunshot and his body hitting the floor.
- The Stoic: Far more composed and less prone to sudden bursts of emotion when compared to his companions. Though he does occasionally express himself in moments of great duress.
- Team Killer: Strikes his last officer upside the head with a shovel to stop his men from being sent out to get torn apart by machine gun fire.
- Tunnel King: A lot of his levels involve him digging series' of tunnels first with his serving ladle and then with his trench shovel he acquires later on.
- Working-Class Hero: According to the official website, worked as a miner early in his life, and has many miners in his family.
- Younger Than They Look: The years written on his grave at the end list his date of birth as being 1867. Which means that he was only 47 at the start of The War in 1914, and only 50 at his execution in 1917, which isn't that old at all (although it does objectively make him one of the oldest members of the cast)! But with a full head of grey hair and a matching beard in combination with his overall disheveled appearance due to lacking a proper uniform and being unable to maintain hygiene, he could easily pass for man 20 or even 30 years older!
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Is awarded a medal for the many deaths of German soldiers operating a tunnel he helped collapse, but burns the award and wants nothing to do with it.
Freddie
Freddie
A determined soldier.
Our second Protagonist. Freddie is an African-American who originally moved to Paris to marry his fiancé, only to lose her tragically in a German Bombing attack orchestrated by Baron Von Dorf. In response, he became volunteer soldier who enlisted in the French Army in order to take revenge for his fiancé's murder.
- Almighty Janitor: Makes huge gains for France, despite being a volunteer and starting out as a private in the French army.
- America Saves the Day: Came to fight on the side of the French before America’s entry into the war, and pulls more than his weight in defeating the German army.
- Badass in Distress: He can outwit the German army on his own, but at one point Baron von Dorf has him cornered in a room threatening to torch him with a flamethrower, requiring Emile’s aid to save him, Walt, and Anna’s father.
- Badass Pacifist: Refuses to kill anybody on the enemy side, but that doesn’t stop him from using his cunning to destroy as much German property as possible.
- Cruel Mercy: Unknowingly, sparing Baron von Dorf allowed him to be reassigned to a lesser post away from the frontlines, at which point von Dorf would prefer if Freddie killed him.
- Crusading Widower: Fights against the German army to avenge Catrin, his late wife.
- Demoted to Extra: From one of the original game's heroes to an important NPC in the sequel.
- Hidden Eyes: His eyes are only seen once in a flashback, and at that point they appear as Black Bead Eyes.
- Eagle Squadron: He’s an American who joins the French army before America’s entry into the war, although he lived in France beforehand.
- Fire-Forged Friends: With Emile, after Emile saves him from French troops who were bullying him.
- If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: He refuses to kill Baron von Dorf because he doesn’t want to cross the moral thresholds that von Dorf has.
- It Has Been an Honor: Gives a non-verbal one to Emile, as the latter is marched towards his death.
- It's Personal: Freddie has it in for Baron von Dorf for being involved in the bombing raid that killed his wife.
- Jumped at the Call: After the German army led a bombing raid that killed his wife, he rushed to the first chance to enlist in the French army.
- Martial Pacifist: Doesn’t want to kill anybody during the war, but will kick your ass and wreck your stuff if you’re in between him and his safety, or the safety of his fellow soldiers.
- No One Could Survive That!: Freddie gets the nickname “Lucky Freddie” for surviving the massive explosion at Douaumont.
- Ragin' Cajun: Freddie is a Louisiana Creole, and it makes him all the more badass.
- Second Love: He and Anna fall in love over the course of "Coming Home" too bad it doesn't last.
- Sleeves Are for Wimps: He’s muscular enough to knock out German troops with a punch, and doesn’t wear any sleeves during his deployment.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Out of respect for his late wife, Freddie refuses to kill anybody during the war, inflicting a non-lethal Tap on the Head to other German troops.
- Where da White Women At?: At the end of "Coming Home" he and Anna go to America to get married, unfortunately, they're assaulted by some bigots and Freddie ends up fatally stabbed.
- Worf Had the Flu: Freddie was reputed to be a fearsome fighter, and even managed to beat Baron Von Dorf within an inch of his life in a one-on-one fist fight, just stopping short of killing him. His injury he sustained at the end of Coming Home means that he has to walk on a stick, which hindered his fighting prowess greatly, and made it easy for a duo of ruffians to stab him. Had he came back home to America able-bodied, he might manage to fight the ruffians off.
Karl
Karl
A conscripted youth.
Emile's son-in-law who was deported to Germany and conscripted for their aims.
- Action Survivor: Comes across as this the most out of the main characters, since we don’t ever control him in a battle, we only get to see him on the run from French forces.
- Dressing as the Enemy: From his point of view, since he has to change into French uniforms in order to progress through a large stretch of the game.
- Easily Forgiven: He deserts combat to find and save his wife and son from getting gassed, but doesn’t suffer any repercussions within the German army.
- Eyes Out of Sight: His hair is quite short, but it’s long enough to cover his eyes.
- Faking the Dead: He replaced his dog tags with a fallen comrades to stop French soldiers from pursuing him.
- Friend to All Children: As a father himself, he puts his life at risk to save a young girl from a pack of wolves, despite starving in the middle of winter.
- Happily Married: He’s Emile’s son-in-law and is married to his daughter, Marie.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Has blonde hair and doesn’t wish harm to anyone during the war, only wanting to return to his wife and son.
- Heroic Sacrifice: When he sees that Marie is unconscious and dying from exposure to chlorine gas, Karl takes his mask off and gives it to her without hesitation, fully prepared to die to ensure that his family survives the attack. Thankfully, with much effort and Walt’s help, Anna saves his life.
- Kidnapped by the Call: He was deported from France, and Germany drafted him to fight, even though he just wants to live with Marie and Victor on Emile’s farm.
- You Can't Go Home Again: He is deported from France to Germany at the start of the game and is drafted as a German soldier, and his journey is about how he tries to return home to his family in France.
Anna
Anna
A dutiful medic.
A Belgian veterinarian who takes to work as a field medic in search of her father. She's the only one of the four heroes to come back for the sequel.
- Action Girl: She doesn’t fight anybody, but she does get into the thick of combat to heal soldiers’ wounds when they need her. Also see Badass Driver.
- Badass Driver: She drives a taxi throughout Europe, dodging all sorts of hellish obstacles, and it doesn’t slow her down at all.
- Brainy Brunette: Brainy enough to be a veterinarian, and perform surgeries on humans as well.
- Eyes Out of Sight: Her hair is long enough to cover her eyes.
- Friend to All Children: Anna saves children whenever she can, fixing a little girl’s leg wound and saving another from a room full of deadly gas.
- Like Brother and Sister: She develops excellent platonic relationships with Karl and Freddie, and helps both of them out the most. She and Freddie fall in love in "Coming Home".
- Open Heart Dentistry: She’s a veterinarian, but she only performs operations on people during the time we see her during the war.
- Prim and Proper Bun: She wears her hair in a bun near the back of her head.
Walt
Walt
A heroic Doberman.
A German rescue dog who finds himself encountering all four of the above main characters.
- All-Loving Hero: Will try to save everyone he can, German, French, civilian, or otherwise.
- Bring Help Back: As Karl is dying trying to save his family from a gas attack, Walt runs across France to Anna to try to save Karl’s life.
- Canine Companion: He helps just about everybody progress through the game- even when a lot of the main characters are separated from each other, he’s always there to help them.
- Dog Stereotype: He turns the stereotype of the vicious Doberman completely on its head.
- Dogs Love Being Praised: He whines affectionately when one of the human characters pet and praise him.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: He barks at enemy soldiers, either French or German who would pose a danger to his current handler.
- Heroic Dog: Hell yes. He helps the human characters rescue soldiers and get through obstacles they’d never be able to get through without his help.
- Token Nonhuman: Not that this makes him any less of a badass.
In Valiant Hearts: Coming Home
James
James
Freddie's brother and an American citizen who writes to Freddie about the progress of the war. One of the four protagonists of Coming Home.
- Black Bead Eyes: Has these drawn on him.
- Jumped at the Call: He wants to enlist to fight for America, much to Freddie's dismay. In the sequel, he is.
- Named in the Sequel: He was unnamed in the original game.
- Spear Carrier: Close to the end of the game, he sends an excited letter to Freddie that Americans will soon join the war, but because of the game’s length at that point, that’s about it.
- You Are in Command Now: After Freddy is injured he takes command of the unit.
George
George
A British pilot who helps Freddie spot an artillery target in one level. One of the four protagonists of Coming Home.
- Another Side, Another Story: "Coming Home" shows how he helped Freddy with the artillery target from his perspective.
- Ascended Extra: From Bit Character in the original game to one of the main characters of the sequel.
- Bit Character: Despite showing up a lot in trailers and the like, he only gets a single level to his name.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He accidentally starts his plane before he gets in the cockpit forcing him to run after it before it takes off without him, he's also capable of flying a plane to safety after accidentally confusing both the Germans and the Allied forces to try to both shoot him down at the same time.
- Demoted to Extra: He was supposed to be a main character early in the original game's development, and was in a lot of promotional material, but he only appears in one late level. The sequel allows him to get even.
- Dressing as the Enemy: Accidentally, he's forced to steal a German plane to escape their camp, it not only doesn't fool the Germans but fools the Allies into opening fire on him.
- The Faceless: His face is obscured by his goggles, coat, and goggles.
- Mistaken for Spies: He's forced to hijack a German Triplane leading to his own side mistaking him for a spy, fortunately he's capable of proving his innocence.
Ernst
Ernst
A German diver who tries to avoid the war only to be drafted to work on a German U-Boot.
- Creepy Old-Fashioned Diving Suit: He uses an old fashion diving suit that lets him walk on the ocean floor but not swim, requiring an elevator platform to get to the surface, which becomes a problem.
- Sadistic Choice: His captain orders him to sink a ship which Ernst realizes has James on board or be executed for disobeying orders, he manages to get out of it by near missing the ship convincing the captain he was doing his best.
- Trauma Conga Line: He starts off going to the bottom of the ocean to salvage a wreck only for a battleship to be sunk overhead forcing him to run as bodies of drowned sailors and wreckage fall from above, then after making it back up he tries to save the drowning sailors only for his boat to be sunk with him as the only survivor. Later he's forced into a Sadistic Choice and later still his U-Boot is sunk, possibly because his sabotage of the torpedoes and distracting the captain. He and the captain are then taken Prisoner.
- Walk, Don't Swim: His diving suit isn't suited for swimming.
Family Members
Karl and Emile’s Family
Marie
Voiced by: Polly Eachus
Emile's daughter and Karl's wife who maintains the farm after her husband and father are conscripted.
- Eyes Out of Sight: Her blonde hair covers her eyes quite effectively.
- Happily Married: To Karl.
- Missing Mom: Her mother is never mentioned, but it's mentioned on the site that her mother died in childbirth giving birth to twins, of which she was the survivor.
Victor
Karl and Marie's son and Emile's grandson, who is an infant by the time Karl and Emile go off to war.
- Black Bead Eyes: His eyes are among the only few that are visible, as with all civilian children.
- I Want My Mommy!: Played entirely for drama: As Emile’s farm is being razed, he cries out for his mama and papa very distressingly.
Freddie’s Family
Catrin
Freddie's late wife who died in a German air attack.
- Collateral Angst: Her death motivates Freddie to seek vengeance against the German war machine.
- Dead-Hand Shot: Her hand is the only thing Freddie sees of her after the fateful bombing raid that claims her life.
- Morality Chain Beyond the Grave: Her memory is the only thing keeping Freddie from killing Baron von Dorf.
- Posthumous Character: She is killed in a German bombing raid and propels Freddie into action to avenge her death.
- Walking Spoiler: Her introduction is how Freddie’s motivations for revenge against Baron von Dorf.
Anna’s Father
Anna’s Father
A scientist who Anna pursues when he goes missing during the war.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Is first seen as an extra in Baron von Dorf’s retinue when Emile is in a German prison camp.
- Distressed Dude: Alongside Freddie, he's seconds away from being roasted alive by Baron von Dorf's flamethrower when Emile saves him.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Can jury-rig Baron von Dorf’s tank to replace its flamethrower with a cannon in a short amount of time.
- Kidnapped Scientist: Baron von Dorf kidnaps him and uses him to develop weapons for the German army.
- Science Hero: Helps out Freddie when he can, and helps him escape Douaumont’s ruins.
Military Members
France
French Officers
Numerous French officers who command Emile through his journey in the war.
- Dirty Coward: In the last level, one of them orders soldier after soldier into the meatgrinder (hundreds of corpses of French soldiers are visible) while remaining perfectly out of harm himself.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: One pushes Emile through basic training at the start of the game, and isn’t soft about it.
- French Jerk: They gets worse throughout the game, but even at the start they aren’t very nice people.
- The Neidermeyer: The last one earns enough ire from Emile that he brains him with a shovel.
- Sanity Slippage: The one at the start of the game isn’t exactly nice when he gets Emile through basic training, but at least he praises him when he does something right. By the end of the game, the war has made the French officers madmen, and this one makes an offensive that he claims would win the war but turns out to be the bloodiest in the entire game.
- We Have Reserves: By the end of the game, an officer has no compunctions with sending dozens of French soldiers to their deaths, as long as he gets progress for his “war-winning” campaign.
French Sergeant at Vouecourt
A French Sergeant Karl encounters at Vouecourt whose uniform is the objective of a level.
- French Jerk: Isn’t very nice to Karl or Walt, even before you spill wine on him to progress.
- Made of Iron: Can handle taking dynamite to the inside of his car, so either he has a bunker in there or he's incredibly lucky.
- Military Mashup Machine: Takes control of some sort of armored car with a machine gun and a mortar battery in pursuit of Anna and Karl. It somehow has the storage capacity to store barrels inside, which he hurls at the duo.
Germany
Walt’s Handler
Dr. Hans Weiss
A German medic who is Walt's official handler.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Is killed in a bombing raid saving Karl’s and Walt’s lives.
- Mook–Face Turn: He orders around Emile when he’s at the POW camp, but he is a lot kinder to Karl, since they’re on the same side of the conflict.
- Signature Headgear: He wears a peaked cap as his headgear of choice.
- No Name Given: Not in the game, but in *Dogs of War*, we learn that his name is Dr. Hans Weiss.
Baron von Dorf
Baron von Dorf
A German noble and officer who serves as a threat to the cast for the first part of the game.
- Cool Airship: He has a zeppelin armed to the teeth with machine guns and mortars, and can even launch planes.
- Dirty Coward: He causes a massive explosion that claims hundreds of German lives at Douaumont just to cover up his escape and try to kill Freddie.
- Frontline General: Leads his troops into battle personally, but always from the safety of one of his war machines.
- The Heavy: The German war machine as a whole and von Dorf’s superiors are to blame for his involvement in the war at large, but Baron Von Dorf poses the greatest threat to the main characters.
- Glory Hound: Constantly puts himself in command at the front lines, using the Great War to achieve his own personal glory.
- Kick the Dog: He has no personal quarrel with bombing civilians- with chemical weapons, no less.
- Leitmotif: Mahler V Movement 2.
- Military Mashup Machine: Uses quite a few of these, including a zeppelin that functions as a firebase and a personnel carrier, and not one, but two tanks, one of which is armed with a pintle-mounted flamethrower.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: After Freddie beats him senseless, he is demoted for his actions and assigned to a post far away from the front lines, much to his displeasure.
- Shaped Like Itself: The "Von X" part of his title is supposed to say his place of origin/ the territory he rules over, but "Dorf" only means village, so either his name is literally "Baron of a village" or the village is just named "Village".
- Signature Headgear: He wears a pompous-looking hat to emphasize his self-important nature.
- The Von Trope Family: In his name.
