Characters / Vampyr (2018): Major Characters

This is the character page index for Vampyr (2018) Major Characters.

Jonathan E. Reid

Dr. Jonathan Emmet Reid

"That word again. From a so-called man of science."

Voiced By: Anthony Howell

Species: Ekon

^{Click here to see Jonathan if he becomes evil in his alternative costume.} 

Mesmerize Level: 0 – 5

Age: 38

A physician who served on the front lines in France during World War I, he returns home to his family only to be attacked by an unidentified vampire and turned into one himself. Now cursed with a thirst for blood, he tries to come to terms with his supernatural condition as well as help London defy the epidemic of Spanish Flu.

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• Absurdly Sharp Claws: Jonathan can fight using his fingers — which he can transform into claws by investing experience into the eponymous skill.
• Affectionate Nickname: His best friend's and his family's "Johnny."
• Agent Scully: Exaggerated. Despite his plight, Jonathan has trouble accepting the fact he's a vampire to the point it becomes Implausible Deniability. He gets better after some in-game days and help from Lady Ashbury.
• At Least I Admit It: Even when played as a Fully-Embraced Fiend, Jonathan is utterly disgusted at Dr. Swansea upon discovering that he betrayed not one but two of his patients by injecting vampire blood into Harriet Jones, triggering the Skal epidemic in London. When Swansea states that Jonathan has no room to judge him due to his own victims, Jonathan retorts with this.
  Jonathan: We are both deceivers, but at least I know I'm a monster.
• Backstory: A great deal of Jonathan's is uncovered during “A Journey to the Past” investigation. At first, he wished to follow in his mother's footsteps and become a poet/artist but ended up pursuing medical studies since he wanted to improve life for all. He tried to intern at the Pembroke Hospital, but his application was rejected. In 1908 he went to France to study under Dr. Carrel and derived his own means of blood transfusion. In 1915, he volunteered and served as a WW1 field surgeon/officer.
• Badass Longcoat: He is dressed in a grey trenchcoat with a brown liner and brown padding on the elbows after being accepted into Pembroke Hospital. The pre-order DLC lets him switch it for a black trenchcoat with a different styled collar and a detachable cape.
• Black Eyes of Crazy: If Jonathan turns evil, he develops red irises, vertically-slitted pupils, and jet-black sclerae to signify his villainous nature.
• Bloody Murder: One of his aggressive skill branches is dedicated to weaponizing blood. Several defensive abilities (e.g. coagulation, blood barrier) also revolve around blood.
• Blue Blood: Comes from a well-off family despite some parental issues. People like Dorothy Crane, Cristina Popa, and Giselle Paxton will chew him out on this if he tries to sympathize with them, citing he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
• Bungled Suicide: Jonathan tries to kill himself early on by shooting himself in the chest whilst under the impression that everything is an illusion. Being a vampire, this doesn't work and he wakes up with his shirt and the bed he was lying on covered in blood to make him know for certain - no, everything that happened wasn't a dream of some kind and he's indeed now completely unaffected from being shot in the chest.
• Cain and Abel: A tragic example, since the first victim he kills is his own sister, Mary, who he stumbles on shortly after being turned, and is wracked with immense shame and guilt because of it. Then his sister, now a vampire herself, returns, craving revenge against him for having turned her and causing him to put her out of her misery.
• Captain Obvious: After the early fight where Jonathan is first supposed to use a skill, he remarks that his strength and reflexes clearly indicate he is no longer human...which is a somewhat delayed reaction to his capabilities at this point since he's already escaped vampire hunters by moving like a shadow to dodge gunfire and go over ledges. He did say he felt quite dizzy from doing that the first time though, so he probably wasn't in the mood for contemplating it then.
• Casting a Shadow: His other aggressive skill branch is dedicated to manipulating shadows.
• Charm Person: He can Mesmerize people in order to take them into a secluded location to drain them. His in-conversation blue-prompted dialogue choices are also based upon this skill.
• The Chosen One: Downplayed. Jonathan was sired by a vampiric entity known as Myrddin in order to stop the Red Queen's rampage. He is special, but very far from unique; ultimately he is just the newest one in a line of champions created for this very purpose.
• Combat Medic: He used to be one during the Great War. One flashback early in the game shows him trying to save a patient in the middle of a battle and after succeeding he grabs a gun and prepares to fight off the approaching enemies.
• Compelling Voice: When using Mesmerism or prying the truth from people with hints, his voice resonates.
• The Confidant: Can become this to many of his colleagues (read: honest crooks) from Pembroke Hospital.
• Dark Messiah: If played as an evil vampire, he will have become this trope by the endgame. He saved London from a Disaster just like he was anointed to, but left a trail of bodies whose blood he used to fuel his powers and become strong enough.
• Deadly Doctor: Can become one if he equips medical utensils like surgical knives and bonesaws as melee weapons.
• Deadpan Snarker: Has quite a wry and medical sense of humor.
  Jonathan: (upon inspecting drug bottles in the morgue) Balls of Mars. Fortifiers, pfft! As popular as they are ineffective.
• Disappeared Dad: His father, Aubrey Reid, was compelled to leave England and his family ten years prior to the in-game events due to being diagnosed with a terminal illness (though Jonathan himself only learns this if you complete the ”A Journey to the Past” sidequest). Jonathan explicitly admits to having forgiven the man.
• The Dutiful Son: Subverted. The young Jonathan got so caught up in his dream of becoming a doctor that he started to callously disregard his family. When interrogated, the butler Avery admits that Emelyne – Jonathan's mother – wanted for him to be a better son, despite loving him dearly.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Even on the serial killer route, he'll still grow rather fond of his friends Dr. Swansea and Lady Ashbury, grieve for Mary's death, and care for his mother. The player can subvert this trope at their own discretion by having Jonathan kill all of them. Or in Lady Ashbury's case, drive her to commit suicide.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Even when played as a ravenous predator, he will still express disgust towards unpleasant individuals like Clay Cox, Cadogan Bates, and Aloysius Dawson. He will also be just as appalled as a good vampire at Dr. Swansea, when learning he'd caused the epidemic, stating that while they are both deceivers, Jonathan at least admits he is a monster.
• Evil Brit: Anthony Howell provides the posh Received Pronunciation accent and Jonathan himself can certainly be played as a total Dr. Jerk.
• Evil Makes You Monstrous: Should Jonathan embrace his thuggish, bloodthirsty side, his appearance will eventually change, and he'll gain Red Eyes, Take Warning, complete with Hellish Pupils, and scarred vein-streaked skin. Surprisingly enough, the surviving citizens will never comment on these obvious disfigurements, though it's implied Jonathan can hide them from the oblivious mortals.
• Faux Affably Evil: A completely inhuman Jonathan will eventually stop tempering his temper, becoming cold-hearted and curt even to those he cherishes. Despite that, he's just as polite in his manner and is willing to look askance at the nastier aspects of society while remaining wholly and unrepentantly evil.
• Flash Step: One of his abilities is to dodge attacks and teleport to close distances.
• Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: One side of the coin. He can be played this way by refusing to feed on civilian citizens, though this makes him weaker and more vulnerable.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Implied to have been the Responsible Sibling to Mary's Foolish before the war.
• Freudian Trio: Is The Spock to Elisabeth's The Kirk and Edgar's The McCoy.
• Fully-Embraced Fiend: The other side of the same coin. Should he opt to kill civilians, he will grow stronger at the cost of becoming more detached from humanity and giving in to his darker impulses.
• Gentleman and a Scholar: He is a scientist who's unfailingly polite to mortals and immortals alike (with some rare exceptions).
• Glass Cannon: Jonathan is required to be played this way should you decide not to kill civilians. You are always at best three hits away from death, making an evasive playstyle a necessity. Fortunately, your weapons can be upgraded independent of your experience, so your damage output can be extremely high no matter how fragile you are.
• Good Is Not Soft: Even if played like a Friendly Neighborhood Vampire that abstains from targeting and feeding on innocents, there is nothing preventing him from biting his opponents mid-combat to heal aggravated wounds without penalty.
• Healing Factor: Being a vampire, he can regenerate his injuries up to a certain point. Aggravated wounds (fire, sunlight, pinning attacks from other vampires) reduce his maximum health and he must feed on his opponents mid-combat or use handmade serums to fully recover.
• The Hero: While attitude and collateral damage are up to the player, Jonathan will save London from the epidemic – though, naturally, he will fit this trope better if he is played as a Friendly Neighborhood Vampire interested in saving and protecting innocents. Turns out this intended to be this all along, as he was made a vampire specifically to save Britain from the Disaster.
• Hypocrite: Falls prey to Moral Myopia at times, especially if he has fed on innocents.
  • He will be appalled at Sean Hampton becoming a Skal and can opt to kill him so he doesn't become a threat to others. This comes off as hollow as Jonathan represents a proportionally bigger threat than Sean since he can plunge London into anarchy while the latter will be contained within his district.
  • A similar case with Father Whitaker who claims London must be cleansed due to the evil plaguing it. Jonathan will call him a monster while blatantly ignoring the fact many innocents lay dead by his hand.
  • He will chew out Rakesh Chadana for stealing from the dead, yet he'll walk a few steps and steal from the first available corpse without a speck of self-awareness.
• I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Downplayed. His relationship with his Maker leaves plenty to be desired, but Jonathan will never deliberately antagonize him.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Gets them as the list of embraced victims gets larger. These serve as an in-between between normal human eyes and Red Eyes, Take Warning.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Give Anthony Howell a beard and he becomes a very dapper gentleman that could very well be Jonathan Reid. Compare Jonathan to NBC’s Dracula (2013)'s Lord Laurent (whom Anthony portrayed) here.
• Irony: He pioneered the revolutionary blood transfusion technique, but ended up being transformed into a blood-sucking vampire. This gets lampshaded by Swansea early on in the game.
• It Never Gets Any Easier: The early flashback of him trying to save a patient on a battlefield of the Great War despite how the enemy is almost on them has him claim to his assistant "...Killing is easier than healing." after he grabs a revolver to answer what they're supposed to do now. Jonathan then states actually it never got any easier right after the flashback ends.
• Karma Meter: His eyes are an unusual variation of this trope: it can only drop. If Jonathan refuses to hunt down civilians throughout the story, his eyes will remain normal and he will unlock the Golden Ending. If he goes on a killing spree, the sclera will blacken, irises will change to red, and pupils will become slits. If this happens, his choice of an ending is limited.
• The Lab Rat: Many sidequests have him carry out a forensic crime scene investigation e.g. finding out the true cause of a patient's death or trying to locate a missing person by hoarding clues.
• Leitmotif: "The Struggle."
• Lightning Bruiser: However you build him, he notes that his strength, agility, and reflexes have become super-human. This becomes very apparent with upgraded health and stamina.
• Manly Tears: An off-screen instance where Mary observes tears in his eyes, following their mother's death. The chapter-concluding cinematic afterward presents this as a Single Tear.
  Mary: Are those tears, brother dear? Your heart still bleeds with emotion. (sneers) My dead heart has dried!
• Martial Pacifist: As mentioned above, he can abstain from feeding on innocents and killing in general. This doesn't stop him from stunning enemies and non-lethally thrashing them.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Played straight if he resorts to evil.
• My God, What Have I Done?: His reaction upon realizing that he just killed his sister Mary shortly after being turned.
• Nay-Theist: Openly admits he's "not a religious man" and is especially dismissive of Father Tobias's self-righteous preachings. Nonetheless, Lady Ashbury coaxes him into atoning for Mary's murder before Vicar Larrabee. The player chooses how it'll go.
  Jonathan: (if sincere) There! I confessed to that vicar. Do I feel better? Only time will tell.
  Jonathan: (if insincere) Whatever happened on this dock is between my sister and I. It does not concern God at all!
  • However he is forced to deal with God being real as crosses repel him in his vampiric state.
• Nice Guy: Jonathan is extremely polite by default, but he will only really mean it if played as a heroic vampire. The player can subvert this by choosing jerkass responses.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes serve as this after feeding on civilians.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Not surprising, considering he's a brilliant doctor.
  Jonathan: (to Dr. Swansea) Do you not think epidemiology could be helpful in the matter? To retrace the origin of the infection through time and topology?
  Jonathan: (to Father Whitaker) You're mad. And dangerous! You're nothing but a soulless butcher... A small time Torquemada. The Savonarola of Whitechapel!
• Science Foils: To Dr. Swansea. Jonathan is methodical, clings to skepticism, has a knack for analytical thinking, and despite his predicament doesn't quite believe in the supernatural. Edgar is emotional, very optimistic, and when it comes to vampires, doesn't discount Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection.
  Dr. Swansea: <...> And what a turn of fate! England's most esteemed blood specialist returns to London a vampire!
  Jonathan: (scoffs) That word again. From a so-called man of science.
  Dr. Swansea: (solemnly) I understand. Traditionally the role of science is to refute myth, but when myths walk among us?
• Science Hero: In the spare time between missions, the player can have Jonathan search for materials to craft medicine (so he can heal civilians and raise a district's health) or serums (to boost his own abilities). It turns out this is the main reason Myrddin chose Jonathan as his champion: as a scientific expert on blood and bloodborne diseases, he is uniquely suited to find a cure to the vampire epidemic.
• The Spock: Even when played as a vampire who doesn't harm the innocent, Jonathan's still a vastly cynical and cold-blooded individual – though he does let his emotion bleed when he grieves. Being a logic-driven man of science also contributes to this.
• Super Doc: He’s explicitly recognized as a specialist in blood and blood transfusions but, if needed, he can also perform complex surgeries and even diagnose one patient with a rare mental disorder.
• This Is Unforgivable!: His default reaction to Edgar's involvement in the tragedy.
• Super-Senses: Demonstrates super-hearing, -sight and -smell over the course of the game. He can also sense heartbeats from a fair distance and determine who they belong to.
• Sword and Gun: He can arm himself with knives, machetes, and swords in one hand and firearms in the other to fight.
• Vampire Doctor: He is a vampire and a doctor, so he can see people's health conditions using his Vein-o-Vision. The best way to level yourself up quickly is by feasting on any of the unique civilian citizens. They all have placards over their heads showing how much experience they're worth, so it tempts the player as much as the thirst tempts Jonathan.
• Vein-o-Vision: This seems to be combined with super-hearing when he uses it.
• Zen Survivor: War had changed him for the better as mentioned by several people who have known him before he departed for France.

Lady Ashbury

Lady Elisabeth Samantha Mary Ashbury

"Jonathan, we are what we are. A paradox. Dead flesh with a lust for life!"

Voiced By: Katherine Kingsley

Species: Ekon

Mesmerize Resistance: 20

Age: 367

An elder female vampire who befriends the recently-turned Jonathan and helps him come to terms with his condition. She's also Pembroke Hospital's main sponsor with a highly mysterious past.

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• Action Girl: Downplayed and Subverted. She saves Jonathan's life from William Bishop in her introductory scene, but that being said, it is the only time we see her in action. Justified, as she, in her good friend Dr. Swansea's words, abhors violence.
• Amicable Exes: At least implied. It’s not clear what happened or how did she and her husband fall out, but it can be assumed that she and Jacob do not necessarily hate each other – even if Jacob is targeting Elisabeth’s adopted daughter’s acquaintances.
• The Atoner: Elisabeth was a ruthless killer while infected by the Blood of Hate. In the end, after the Blood made her massacre an entire orphanage of children, she was persuaded to drink the antidote and cure herself. Nowadays, she spends most of her time tending to the poor and wretched of London’s East End and upkeeping an orphanage for girls in the West End.
• Been There, Shaped History: According to a signed edition of Dracula, the author Bram Stoker seemed to have feelings for her, and perhaps even based his novel on her abilities. She also appears to have met Vincent van Gogh, as he made a painting of her in 1885.
• Despair Event Horizon: Finding out that her blood infected Harriet Jones, who, in turn, was revealed to be none other than a Disaster, breaks her hard that she tries to end her life in shame. She can only be rescued depending on how Jonathan was played during the game – if he reined in his thirst, he will be able to talk her out of it. If he became a ferocious beast, she will jump into the flames she had set to destroy her estate.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Dresses in all black, but is the most upstanding person in the entire game.
• Driven to Suicide: In the finale, she tries to take her own life to atone for her part in the epidemic.
• Freudian Trio: Is The Kirk to Edgar's The McCoy and Jonathan's The Spock.
• Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Downplayed in that she does feed on humans, but she’s still upright and ethical about it.
• Frozen Fashion Sense: Inverted. Elisabeth is so contemporarily fashionable that she’s the only female character in the game that wears pants. And this is 1918 when women could’ve been sent to jail for what was then considered to be a crime.
• Good Samaritan: She's friendly, courteous, and is a good Parental Substitute to her adoptive daughter Charlotte. She even lampshades the Samaritan part.
  Lady Ashbury: (smiles) And besides, who would ever suspect the kind Samaritan, Lady Ashbury?
• Happily Adopted: After Elisabeth lost her biological parents to the plague of 1578, she was adopted and Turned by William Marshal.
• Heroic BSoD: All but ceases to function when Jonathan reveals to her that Edgar’s been using her blood for his own illicit experiments and that it had caused such widespread destruction across London. She flees in shame seconds later.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Shares the trope with Swansea and becomes this to Jonathan — a person who can, at any moment, go on a murder spree and kill her beloved adopted daughter.
• Hypocrite: Downplayed. While discussing the Brotherhood of St. Paul Stole, Elisabeth will cheekily remark how as long as the Brotherhood does not intervene in the vampires' affairs, all of them can co-exist. She says this while dismissing the fact she had consented to become a test subject to a member of the said Brotherhood.
• The Kirk: Strikes a balance between Jonathan's logic and Edgar's emotion by semi-acting as the peacemaker.
• Leitmotif: "The Lady."
• Love at First Sight: When Jonathan asks how she feels about him, she admits falling in love with him since she first saw him when he saved Sean Hampton in the abandoned canning factory.
• Magic Antidote: Subverted. The Tears of Angels that Elisabeth had drunk is this. It had ‘cured’ all the symptoms she’d been suffering from – rage, hate, desire to kill – but the illness remained and, eventually, infected others.
• Meaningful Rename: Twice. Her née name is Englewood, but she became Lady Blackwood after marrying Jacob: a surname that personified callous murder and the Blood of Hate. After drinking the Tears of Angels, and to showcase that Lady Blackwood was no more, in 1795, she bought the Ashbury Estate and inherited the title.
• Necessarily Evil: Calls herself this, and indeed, the reason she had founded and is sponsoring a hospital is twofold. She aids those who can be saved and uses the dying, terminally ill patients as sustenance. This very habit had put all of her plans into jeopardy when Dorothy Crane started to – rightly – suspect her.
• Ms. Exposition: Provides Jonathan with background information on vampirism and local vampire politics once he deals with her blackmailer.
• Parasol of Prettiness: While she's consoling Jonathan at Mary's funeral, the pretty Lady Ashbury holds up a black umbrella to keep themselves out of the dreary rain.
• Parental Substitute: She’s this to her adopted daughter, Charlotte. Deconstructed when Jonathan catches Charlotte musing on whether Elisabeth ever adopted others before her only for them to pass away with a never-aging mother.
• Platonic Life-Partners: She and Edgar Swansea have been friends for almost a decade.
• Really 700 Years Old: The epilogue reveals that she was born in 1551, meaning she is 367 years by the time the game takes place.
• Reluctant Monster: She feeds on dying Pembroke patients, but takes no pleasure in taking lives.
• Rescue Introduction: Gets introduced when she saves Jonathan from William Bishop with a Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind.
• Sarcastic Devotee: Tags along with Jonathan but that detail doesn’t exempt him from the mixture of wit, sharpness, and sarcasm as she “teases and gently mocks young Ekons.” Justified, as, in her own words, she can’t help but mock her friends when uneasy.
• Second Love: Becomes one to Jonathan and it's revealed she'd already been married once.
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Has red hair and green eyes and is one of the two people responsible for The Plague.
• Science Is Good: As science-less as vampirism (of all things!) can appear, Elisabeth firmly believes this. She allows Edgar to perform cutting-edge experiments on her so he’d cure her addiction for blood.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Ashbury is a lukewarm and unforthcoming individual, but she does have a softer side. Best seen when she starts painting Jonathan’s portrait somewhere around mid-to-late game.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Her ex-husband, Jacob, is only seen once – a 1788 painting in Elisabeth’s estate – but it’s clear he wasn’t/isn't a looker, in contrast to the delicate Elisabeth.
• Unholy Matrimony: In her villainous past, Elisabeth was married to Jacob Blackwood – who is also her Progeny.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: See the entry below. She founded Pembroke Hospital and in 1909 appointed Dr. Edgar Swansea as its administrator. A conversation on vampire folklore between the two quickly blossomed into Edgar trying to appease her hunger by transfusing her with human blood.
• Unwitting Pawn: To Dr. Swansea when he kept samples of her blood after a routine transfusion procedure.
• Vampires Are Rich: She owns at least two mansions – one in London, one in Scotland – and had founded and financed Pembroke Hospital. As it is explained in the finale, she did so to honor her own adoptive father, William Marshal, the first Earl of Pembroke.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Has quite a few towards Jonathan should he go against her recommendations and murder Dorothy Crane or Turn Alysious Dawson, both choices being incredibly bad story-wise.
• Wrong Assumption: Shares this trope with Swansea. She, like him, is convinced the Guard of Priwen wouldn’t dare to attack the Brotherhood of Saint-Paul’s Stole i.e. Pembroke Hospital where Edgar is residing. McCullum, as it turns out, doesn’t care what they think.
• You Know I'm Black, Right?: Has a couple of these moments with Jonathan as she doesn't see vampirism as a curse. Until the discovery that she caused the plague.

Edgar G. Swansea

Dr. Edgar Griffith Swansea

"By George and the Saints! You've solved the mystery of these terrible murders! Patience, good fellows, I've come to offer help."

Voiced By: Harry Hadden-Paton

Species: Human/Potentially Ekon

^{Click here to see Edgar late-game.} 

Mesmerize Resistance: 6

Age: 45

The Administrator of Pembroke Hospital and a member of the Brotherhood of St. Paul Stole. He crosses paths with Jonathan early on and offers him a place to stay in his hospital. He also serves as Pembroke's district Pillar.

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• Admiring the Abomination: Vampirism, as an affliction, fascinates him and a vampire is even Pembroke's biggest donor. In exchange, he lets — though doesn't advocate — Lady Ashbury (and consequently Jonathan) feed on the terminally ill patients. He even asks Jonathan to introduce him to the vampires the latter has met on his journeys. Ultimately subverted when it's revealed he installed an orichalcum-powered ultraviolet trap in Pembroke's loft in case vampires attack it or him. McCullum ends up abusing it.
  Dr. Swansea: And you, [Jonathan], have a foot in both countries! The view must be vertiginous!
• Affably Evil: See also the Ambiguously Evil entry; he's ultimately a self-serving weasel with a callous disregard for human life, but it doesn't stop him from being oh-so-friendly and polite to all he meets.
• Agent Mulder: Doesn't see vampires as something all that supernatural and is a passionate advocate of this belief. Justified in that he's been studying the Ekon strain of vampirism for over two decades.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Choosing “Let Die.”
• Almost Dead Guy: By the time Jonathan finds him after the Guard kidnapped him, he has been savagely beaten up to the point he doesn't have much time left to live. Unless if he is turned into a vampire, he will succumb to his injuries.
• Ambiguously Christian: Carries a crucifix everywhere he goes and can repel vampires by manifesting faith but at the same time Jonathan — if he leaves Swansea to die — will overhear him brood over whether there’s an afterlife of any sort.
• Ambiguously Evil: As a matter of fact, he's so affable, he becomes this trope. His actions have brought havoc to the city of London, but he himself is a man of no evil intent. He is responsible for the upkeep of Pembroke Hospital and thanks to his selfless intervention, Jonathan managed to fulfill his destiny as Myrddin's Champion — even if he had caused the entire mess to begin with. Knowing this, it makes it very hard to put him anywhere on the Sliding Scale of Antagonist Vileness and he's treading a thin line between it and Blue-and-Orange Morality.
• Ambiguous Situation: Edgar is the only living character in the game who doesn't leave his final thoughts behind if Jonathan drains him. Why? No one really knows.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: A lighthearted example. Edgar makes Jonathan such an offer (work at Pembroke, be paid and be kept from harm) early in the game which Jonathan accepts after some rumination.
• Benevolent Boss: Is a withdrawn and peculiar man, but that doesn't stop him from ensuring that Pembroke continues to aid the people despite the sanitary crisis. It is also implied that he's aware of all the ne'er-do-wells among his staff, but decides to look the other way so the needs of many are met.
• Black Comedy:
  • When Jonathan discovers him in the cellar of Doris Fletcher's theater, Swansea will greet him by nonchalantly diagnosing himself with a punctured lung, broken ribs, and internal bleeding i.e. a few minutes to live at most.
  • Minutes later and should Jonathan decide to feed on him, Edgar will try to crack an unamused joke about how he has always wanted to be bitten before he's Killed Mid-Sentence.
• Black Sheep: Unsurprisingly, his fervent interest in all things vampire has led him to become a maverick in the eyes of his Brotherhood's compatriots.
• Broken Pedestal: He becomes this to Jonathan and, to a lesser extent, Elisabeth after it is revealed he’d used not one but two of his patients as guinea pigs for his research. Jonathan, being a doctor himself – with his own shaky morals, to be frank – is very much upset and will chew Edgar out on several occasions, even if he abandons Edgar to die or murders him.
• Cerebus Call-Back: Early in the game, Dr. Swansea makes an off-hand request: Jonathan should call him by his first name. After The Reveal, if Jonathan decides to kill him, he’ll mock-call Edgar by his surname, prompting Edgar to remind him in a half-aggravated half-desperate tone that he’d asked him to call by his first name.
• Crazy-Prepared: Subverted. He might have secured his hospital from a vampire attack, but he didn't anticipate a group of armed human militia barging into Pembroke.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Finds himself on the receiving end of this trope after the Guard of Priwen abduct him.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Not evident at a first glance, but it there’s if Jonathan turns him (i.e. leaves him to reanimate on his own). In short, a fledgling vampire had managed to navigate a city chock-full of vampire hunters, get back to his hospital, see to his patients, and tidy up his office in a short span of a day. This becomes even more impressive when one remembers that Healed!Sean's parishioners helped him adjust, Lord Redgrave personally tended to Turned!Dawson, and Turned!McCullum wouldn't be attacked by Priwen.
• Dark and Troubled Past: When he was a child, he witnessed a vampire Embrace his nanny. In a curious subversion of this trope, the horror neither scarred him nor haunted him — or so it would seem, see Admiring the Abomination — and became the spark that ignited his interest in vampires.
• Fatal Flaw: Egoism as pointed out by the writers.
• Foreshadowing:
  • When discussing Priwen with him, Edgar will mention that the Guard might spare no wrath towards him for sheltering Jonathan. Regardless, he'll ease Jonathan's worries by saying that McCullum would never dare to invade the hospital while he's in charge.
  • Right before informing him of Mary's funeral, Edgar will try to persuade Jonathan to let him further study the regenerative properties of vampire blood – his blood.
  • Considering he near-worships Jonathan and supports Elisabeth as best as he can, the final reveal that he's actually a Vampire Vannabe should not be all that surprising.
• For Science!: This is revealed to be his primary motivation. His thirst for knowledge caused the biggest outbreak of vampirism in history that almost wiped out London. And should Jonathan turn him into a vampire, he will continue on with his experiments, however, this time wisely promising to perform them only on himself from now on.
• Freudian Trio: Is The McCoy to Jonathan's The Spock and Elisabeth's The Kirk.
• Friendly Enemy: He's an insipidly considerate, cheerful man who values Jonathan's and Elisabeth’s friendships and wants what is best for them. Nonetheless, that cheerfulness doesn't excuse his heinous, vicious crimes that bathed London in the blood of thousands killed. This trope is epitomized if Jonathan turns him — Edgar still views himself as Jonathan's friend despite the latter’s unmistakable distaste.
• Gentleman and a Scholar: He's one of the most amiable characters Jonathan is going to meet and will assist him by providing him with specific information on all sorts of matters.
• Gentleman Snarker: Just like Jonathan, he's full of subtle wit, but can be particularly caustic if the former starts to indiscriminately cull Pembroke patients and staff.
  Dr. Swansea: I understand you need for blood, and will not get in your way, but if you could refrain from feeding within these walls it would go a long way to defending your case [to the Guard of Priwen].

  Jonathan: [later conversation, if Pembroke has fallen] You're nothing but the prince of a fallen kingdom. Pembroke is a graveyard, littered with corpses and Skals.
  Dr. Swansea: Indeed. But is it not your own doing, Jonathan? How could it end, truly, when you have plunged your fangs into so many throats hereabouts?
• Glory Hound: All For Science! aside, it is obvious that he’s also motivated by pride and hunger to be lauded and lionized. It is also implied that he doesn’t quite agree with how the Brotherhood operates and how it is led; Myrddin outright says he is thinking of usurping Usher Talltree.
• Gratuitous Latin: Should Jonathan change him into his Progeny, the next night a newspaper clipping will become available where it is said Swansea cried out a pedantic “Timor mortis conturbat me!” (“Fear of death confounds me!”) to the journalists at Pembroke before showing them out.
• Here We Go Again!: Downplayed. If Jonathan turns him, Edgar will proclaim that he plans to continue his experiments – but only on himself from now on.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Shares the trope with Elisabeth and becomes this to Jonathan — a person who can single-handedly decimate Pembroke and all other boroughs should the mood move him.
• Hypocrite: Turning him and then interrogating him (did he take a life in his hunger?) will make Edgar brush the question aside as “indiscreet.”
• Hope Springs Eternal: Invoked. He's easily the most optimistic person in London that Jonathan will meet and Edgar is well aware of that.
• Ironic Last Words: In the “Let Die” path, his are “in the end, life betrays us all,” and he says them into the face of a very immortal vampire.
• Karma Houdini: Only if he is turned into a vampire, that is. Otherwise, it's a Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves.
• Leitmotif: “A Friend.”
• Loon with a Heart of Gold: Edgar may have an odd habit or two – as mentioned by Lady Ashbury, Lord Redgrave, and Usher Talltree – but he is still Pembroke's top surgeon and selflessly helps Londoners cope with the epidemic. Further reiterated when he, expecting nothing in return, gives Jonathan a roof over his head and a job.
• The McCoy: Emotion drives him and that impulse turned out to be the cause of all in-game events.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: What he ultimately is.
• Morton's Fork: Playing with. There is no truly good outcome regarding what should be done with him at the end. If you kill him or let him die, the district will lose its Pillar and become unstable – not to mention that Edgar is worth more in terms of Health Status than any other citizen and may very well take the entire district down with him. And if you turn him into a vampire, not only will he become a Karma Houdini due to being completely fine with his new condition, he will – eventually – prey on his patients and staff. Fortunately, this doesn't happen in the game itself – the only way to keep the district sanitized is to turn him. Furthermore, the Fork is further illustrated by the post-decision newspaper clippings: if Edgar dies, the reporters will admit that, despite his methods, he had saved a lot of people, and if Edgar comes back as a vampire, the reporters will address all of the atrocities that happen within the hospital’s walls.
• Mr. Exposition: He fills you in on details about basic vampire abilities, in-game factions, and the current epidemic.
• Muggle with a Degree in Magic: For vampirism, specifically the Ekon strain. Swansea's understanding of Ekons is such that the document he gives you as a basic tutorial on your capabilities is an excerpt of his own research. His scientific knowledge about (and fascination with) vampires is impressive, but he is nonetheless mortal. Until you turn him, that is.
• Mysterious Backer: Edgar may be a Reasonable Authority Figure, but it's never really made clear whose side he is on or what is his agenda and even his boss won’t tell you much about him. And he stays an enigma even if Jonathan Embraces him.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Lord Redgrave describes him as having “some sort of immortal fetish.”
• Non-Action Guy: To quote, he's a man of peace and would rather flee than fight – in contrast to Jonathan.
• Non-Answer: Frequently dodges all but the most unequivocal questions Jonathan can lob his way which subtly foreshadows the fact he doesn’t trust vampires.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
  • Sought to treat Elisabeth’s vampiric hunger and invent a cure to the Spanish Flu by experimenting with Elisabeth’s blood.
  • Collapsing the district of Pembroke reveals that the hospital has been dreadfully overcapacity for literal months — it could accommodate only a hundred or so patients but at the time of the in-game events, it housed over three-hundred — and killing Edgar likewise confirms that it was he who’d decided to spearhead the mass admission of patients during the first wave of the outbreak.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Lady Ashbury. By the time Jonathan makes his appearance, he's been friends with her for nine years.
• Professor Guinea Pig: Discussed. After his Turn, Edgar readily admits that he'll be conducting a number of experiments on himself and muses on becoming the next Henry Head.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Not in the actual game, but he pulls this off in the cinematic that branches chapters three and four.
• Science Foils: To Dr. Reid. While Jonathan is meticulous and risk-averse, Edgar is a bit of a risk-loving hothead.
• Secret-Keeper: He provides shelter to Jonathan and Lady Ashbury in his hospital and keeps their true identities a secret from his staff and patients.
• Shout-Out: Edgar Swansea's entire appearance seems to be modeled after Jim Sturgess's character Dr. Edward Newgate◊ from 2014's Stonehearst Asylum, down to the polka-dotted tie.
• The Short Guy with Glasses: Is shorter than Jonathan and wears glasses, but knows a lot about what's truly happening in London.
• Too Happy to Live: Vampyr is a Dysfunction Junction plot where people succumb to the Spanish Flu by the dozen, feral vampires and unscrupulous hunters roam the streets of London. And despite all that Edgar never stops smiling and laughing – you know something is going to happen to him.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: Starts giving these after he confesses the role he played in the events of the story. Seeing as he's dying, he's justified.
• Unishment: Should Jonathan turn him into a vampire—something he clearly intended to be a Cruel Mercy—Swansea will be overjoyed about becoming immortal.
• Universally Beloved Leader: Downplayed. He's respected by all Pembroke employees – for all the right reasons, too – but that's just for the district of Pembroke. Subverted, if he comes back as a vampire, however: some of the long-term patients will comment that they do not appreciate his presence anymore.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In the past, he unwisely used vampire blood in an effort to cure the Spanish Influenza only for the patient, Harriet Jones, to mutate into a depraved Ichor and then Disaster.
• Vampire Vannabe: What he really is deep down. He expresses joy at being turned into a vampire should Jonathan take the Cruel Mercy route, and if he chooses to kill him, Swansea will comment he always wanted to be bitten before finding out the hard way that Vampire Bites Suck.
• Verbal Tic:
  Dr. Swansea: By the [Sacred] Stole!
• We Used to Be Friends: With Geoffrey McCullum, it seems, judging from their quite familiar behavior towards each other and flavor text.
• Zombie Advocate: As a member of the Brotherhood of St. Paul, he is a scholar interested in studying vampires and provides assistance to those that are willing to cooperate with him.

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