Characters of El Goonish Shive
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El Goonish Shive has an ensemble cast, with a group of eight teenage lead characters being together in all multi-part arcs so far: In Sister they meet at the end, Night Out follows two groups of four, in Painted Black the other seven characters meet to discuss how to rescue Elliot, and all eight were together celebrating Grace's Birthday Party.
Elliot, Tedd, Sarah and Susan attend Moperville North High School, where Elliot and later Ellen fought the goo. Its principal Verrückt introduced school uniforms recently. Nanase, Justin, Grace and Ellen attend Moperville South High School. Elliot, Nanase and Justin also attend the Anime-Style Martial Arts Dojo, owned by Sensei Greg.
More information about EGS characters may be found in the character statistics.[1]
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[edit] Main characters
[edit] Elliot
Elliot Daniel Dunkel (a play on the author's name, Daniel Elliot Shive) was once an average seventeen year-old boy and student of “anime-style” martial arts. Since the beginning of the comic, Elliot has been transformed into both an anthro-cat[2] and a female,[3] gained the ability to resume both forms at will thanks to a confluence of technology and magic, had a female duplicate (Ellen Dunkel) split off himself, fought a monstrous blob of goo and been beaten up by an anthro-hedgehog. A level-headed character, Elliot is often the comic’s straight man.
Elliot's best friend is Tedd, who he met when Elliot saved Tedd from a bully back in elementary school. Elliot has a knight in shining armor complex, meaning he feels compelled to help those in need, especially women, even if he does not particularly like that person. When this resulted in him saving Tedd, Elliot thought Tedd was a girl. While their friendship has always been and remains platonic in nature, the two often wind up in compromising situations, particularly if one or both of them is female at the time.
[edit] Tedd
Tedd Drew Verres is an androgynous teenage boy with a knack for trouble and technology. Tedd is in love with Grace, and is Elliot’s best friend. He wears large electronically enhanced glasses. Formerly shy due to being harassed for his feminine appearance, he has attained a great deal of confidence since being entrusted with developing alien morphing technologies,[4] which he uses in his spare time for his own amusement.
Tedd’s relationship with Grace has developed quickly during the Relations storyline. He has a furry fetish alongside a number of other fetishes. As such, he likes Grace’s animal forms, mainly her half-squirrel and half-cat forms, though not to the exclusion of herself. Although his role is in many ways that of a typical horny teenage boy with the addition of an obsession with transformation, his core character has forced those who judged him, particularly Susan, to re-evaluate their perceptions.
[edit] Ellen
Ellen Danielle Dunkel is the female duplicate of Elliot, who was magically split from him in the Sister storyline. She initially strove to be his “evil twin” when she saw herself as an ephemeral “extra Elliot” and promptly snapped, but has since been adjusting into an identity of her own. Elliot considers her his sister, as she now is legally; Tedd considers her a “hot female Elliot”; but how she considers herself remains uncertain, even to her, and she did not settle on a self-identity for a long time. Although the origin and function of the Dewitchery Diamond, the object that created her, is unclear, she remains alive and well.
Ellen can shoot a beam from her hand that partially mimics the effect of Tedd’s transformation gun set to “Female Variant #5”. She is bisexual, but uncomfortable with her attraction to men. She is much more playful and flirty than Elliot, whom she has compared to herself as being “like [her] if [she] was being directed by George Lucas”, i.e. rather wooden and deliberate. At the end of the Painted Black storyline, the sorceress Nioi cast a spell on her which has caused her to dream of a “second life” - in fact causing her to experience living the life of a female alternate of Elliot in another dimension, and apparently intended to give her the life experiences she would have had if she had grown up normally. This has led to some unexpected explorations of her personality, the most obvious of which was bringing to the surface her repressed discomfort with finding men attractive, which eventually resulted in her identifying as a lesbian.
Ellen and Nanase (who was once Elliot's girlfriend) have shared mutual attraction since the Night Out story arc. They revealed their feelings to each other at the end of the Grace's Birthday Party story arc.
[edit] Sarah
Sarah, at the beginning of EGS Elliot’s best friend, has been his girlfriend since the Relations storyline. She is artistic and arguably the most normal character, with no special abilities other than pulling mallets out of nowhere, which is a normal female trait in EGS. Sarah is usually level-headed, considering the number of bizarre experiences she has had, and she rarely loses her temper. She once had an incident involving Tedd transforming her into a catgirl, since which she has been extremely cautious about transformations involving herself.
[edit] Grace
Grace, formerly known as Shade Tail, is a shapeshifting squirrel/alien/human hybrid who spends a good deal of her time as a human girl. She can transform into a variety of forms, including squirrel, half-squirrel, half-cat, half-hedgehog, Tedd, and a human girl and is capable of creating “legion” forms, which are combinations of two or more forms. Having been genetically engineered as an assassin, Grace is extremely powerful, and at least some of her forms are fire resistant due to her being designed to kill Damien, but she is a pacifist, terrified of abusing her strength, and only uses her offensive capacity when her friends are in mortal peril. The traits she displays most often are innocence and cuteness. She has been Tedd’s girlfriend since the Relations storyline. With the help of Tedd, she designed the clone form of a green-haired girl with Asian features (and without antennae) which she can assume, and goes by the name Claire when using it. This enabled her to go into the public unnoticed by people looking for her usual forms.
Her name comes from Grace Sciuridae, a deceased girl whose DNA was responsible for her human appearance. "Sciuridae" is the family of rodents which includes the squirrels and itself derived from the Greek words skia ("shadow") and oura ("tail"). To make matters worse, the full name can be seen as a pun on the common species name 'gray squirrel' - though Grace herself appears closer to a red squirrel in her altered forms.
[edit] Nanase
Nanase Kitsune is Elliot's ex-girlfriend and Tedd’s cousin. She is another student of “anime-style” martial arts and was initially presented as the best student at the school Elliot and she attend, but it was later revealed that Elliot is holding back out of fear of hurting others (there have been no solid conclusions yet on who is the more competent martial-artist). Nanase is a dangerous fighter and magic user. She has learned to levitate and to transfer her consciousness into little fairy forms near her friends for communication using magic (she actually owns a cell phone, but in her words, "where's the fun in that?"). Nanase dresses provocatively when she can get away with it, as her family makes her dress conservatively in eyeshot. However, she disdains manipulative use of her looks, and her habit of choosing the good over the popular has hurt her social status at school.
Nanase’s new friendship with Ellen has led to some uncomfortable self-discovery, and after some speculation from Justin, Nanase revealed herself as a lesbian to Elliot and Susan. By various ways, all main cast members now know that, but Nanase is unaware of that and still considers her sexual orientation a secret to all but Susan, Elliot, Ellen, Justin, and possibly Sarah (it isn't made clear in that regard). Since the Night Out storyline, Nanase has been attracted to Ellen and the latter is aware of that and has voiced frustration at Nanase’s reluctance to come out. Nanase finally came out to Ellen at Grace's 18th birthday party, and the two shared a kiss.
[edit] Justin
Justin Tolkiberry is also a student of anime martial arts, though of lesser skill than Nanase and Elliot, and friends with the two. He works part-time in a comic book and trading card games store. Justin is gay and, before he found out that Nanase was a lesbian, he teasingly suggested that she might be one. Justin’s last name is a reference to J. R. R. Tolkien and Gene Roddenberry, and he has a geeky obsession with The Lord of the Rings and Star Trek. He's also a fan of the card game Magical Gatherings.
In Grace’s Birthday Party, Justin’s unrequited feelings for Elliot have begun to be addressed.
[edit] Susan
Tiffany Susan Pompoms was the last major character to be introduced in EGS. Initially a friend of Sarah and an extreme feminist, Susan has developed friendships with all other major characters and a crush on Justin. As a reaction to seeing her father’s affair with a blonde woman and her parents’ subsequent divorce at an early age, events that have been partially shown in the Sleepy Time and Grace’s Birthday Party storylines, she colors her hair dark blue and prefers and enforces the use of her middle name to avoid similarity with the blonde woman. Susan lives with her mother in a mansion and works in a video store.
Susan has taught Sarah to use Hammerspace[5] and met Nanase on the optional Moperville joint class trip to France, where both Nanase and Susan gained access to magic. Relations between Nanase and Susan were portrayed as mutually unkind in Sister, but improved to friendship when Susan let Nanase pick Ellen’s clothes for Grace’s Birthday Party.
[edit] Secondary characters
[edit] Families and pets
- Mr. Verres – Tedd’s father and a secret agent of the government, tasked with covering up alien and supernatural activity. This has led to such things as aliens wearing T-shirts that say "Human". This invariably works. He is divorced, Tedd's mother was abroad when last mentioned.
- Mr. and Mrs. Dunkel – Elliot’s parents and, by extension, Ellen’s parents. Very forgiving, and tolerant of weirdness to a degree that can scare others even in company such as this. It has been hinted that Mrs. Dunkel had to end her education when pregnant with Elliot.
- Mr., Mrs. and Akiko Kitsune - Nanase's family was recently introduced as consisting of an overbearing and domineering mother, a standoffish and distant father, and a little sister. The mother has Nanase under heavy pressure to study hard, dress modestly and in general accede to her norms, which is an according source of friction between the two. Nanase acts diligently to keep up appearances, which she ditches when she can get away with it.[6][7] Akiko has been shown as quiet and withdrawn while Nanase and her mother argue, but covertly backing her sister up.
- Jeremy – “The Creature Nature Never Intended,” Jeremy is Tedd’s pet resembling a cat/hedgehog hybrid, brought home by Mr. Verres. Jeremy is quite fond of Susan on the simple basis that she likes animals the least of the main cast, which is apparently instinctive with cats.
- Brownie – Elliot and Ellen’s pet kitten.
[edit] Teachers and students
- Greg – Creator and instructor of “Anime-Style Martial Arts” and teacher of Elliot, Justin and Nanase in that discipline. As befits a person who tried to bring techniques from animation to real life and largely succeeded, he dances on the line between genius and derangement.
- Principal Verrückt – Principal of Moperville North High School, who believes that the school’s problems can be solved through murals and has introduced school uniforms. He distinctly resembled Adolf Hitler due to his hairpiece, until he found out about it.
- Mr. Bleuel – The El Goonish Shive universe’s counterpart of Darren Bleuel, a disgruntled physics teacher at Moperville South. He is particularly annoyed by Nanase's insistence on breaking the laws of physics by hovering on school property.
- Matthew William Cohen – Student Body President of Moperville North, who appears to have developed a distant fascination with Susan after her outburst following the announcement of the new school dress code. He is named after Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, and Billy West. Occasionally delivers pizza.
- “TC” (theater clerk) – Also known as “Da Playah”, a generic gawky teenage male at Moperville North who vastly overestimates his own appeal to the opposite sex.
- Tony – A stereotyped jock jerk, Tony is a football player at Moperville North who often picks on Tedd. Grace believes he has a repressed attraction to Tedd.
- Melissa – Justin’s former lifelong best friend, and the person to whom Justin first revealed his homosexuality, after their first and only date. She accidentally let his secret slip, which then became known to all of Moperville South HS. After that, her and Justin’s friendship dissolved. Ever since, she has attempted to win him back.
- Noah – Androgynous male friend of Melissa at Moperville South.
- Liz – Disgruntled teenager at Moperville North, hooked on nicotine, doesn't care much about anything.
- Matt and Rat – Characters from Dan Shive’s previous (non-web) comic strip at Moperville North.
[edit] Other dimensions
- Lord Tedd – Tedd’s seemingly evil counterpart from the Alpha Dimension.
- General Shade Tail – The Alpha Dimension counterpart of Grace, and Lord Tedd’s right-hand lieutenant. Has a different, male, human genome, which appears similar to the sample of DNA that was originally to be used to make Grace.
- The Goo – A pile of goo that Tedd apparently brought to life in science only to be destroyed again by Ellen in Sister. Later, it was revealed that it was actually animated by one of Lord Tedd's Demon Nuclei, sent to kill Tedd, as opposed to being accidentally vivified by Tedd.
- Nioi – An anthro-skunk (‘nioi’ being a Japanese word for ‘scent’) from the Alpha Dimension, at the service of Lord Tedd, but apparently well-intentioned toward the main characters.
- Kaoli – A young anthro-skunk (‘kaori’ is another Japanese word for ‘scent’) who was split off Nioi by the Dewitchery Diamond.
- Beta Tedd and Ellen - Dimentional Counterparts of Tedd and Elliot respectively, Beta Tedd, in and attempt at contacting Tedd (somehow through his computer), left a message to Grace (since Tedd was out )that the Goo was sent by Lord Tedd. Beta Tedd and Ellen are in a romantic relationship.
- Second Life Tedd, Ellen, Kaoli and Archie - Dimensional Counterparts of Tedd, Elliot and Nioi, while Archie's counterpart is not known. They form a band with Ellen as lead singer. Their dimension, where Uryuoms and Seyunolu are common knowledge, is named after the EGS story Second Life, not the game.
[edit] Project Lycanthrope/Damien
- Dr. Sciuridae – Former employee of the company that produced Grace and her brothers. During Grace’s creation, he replaced the genome of the intended human donor with that of his deceased daughter.
- Guineas - One of Grace’s three “brothers”, Guineas is the oldest of the group. He is half guinea pig and half human, but appears to be incapable of human speech.
- Hedge - Another one of Grace’s “brothers”, Hedge is the second oldest of the group. He is one quarter hedgehog and three quarters human. While in human form, he has blonde spikey hair and wears sunglasses.
- Vlad – The last of Grace’s “brothers”, Vlad has parents of several species, most notably birds and bats. A physically and emotionally tortured character, he found transforming between human and animal forms to be physically too painful. Towards the end of the Painted Black story arc, Ellen permanently turned him into a human female, Vladia. Since transforming, Vladia's personality has gone from "tortured" to simply "shy and somewhat reclusive". It is possible that Ellen just turned him into a female version of his intended male human form. As part Uryoom, Vlad/ia can keep any form they have been given, and regards being human as better than being male.
- Damien – A pyrokinetic villain with a god complex who attempted to use Grace and her brothers in his plot to rule Earth, but destroyed himself in a rage while fighting Grace. His name Damien is probably a reference to Damien Thorn from The Omen series who killed those who raised him before eventually trying to take over the world.
[edit] Other strange characters
- Demonic Duck – Characters occasionally distract each other by pointing away and yelling "Hey, is that a demonic duck of some sort?!". It always is. Sometimes it complains about feeling used. The duck (who is not demonic despite his looks) has a high-school education, a knack for illusions and is a member of the local Distraction Union.
- William and Gillian – An Uryuom couple who asked Mr. Verres to help improve their morphing device, leading to the transformation gun.
- “The Immortals” – Two obscure beings who are secretly watching Elliot.
- Magus – A shadowy ghost who seeks to arrange his own resurrection (after a supposed "demise" caused by a powerful explosion) that would have something to do with Elliot or himself (it's not totally clear) being hit by a Female Variant #5 beam. He is probably the cause of Ellen's “birth”, as he calls himself her father (Tedd shot Elliot with the transformation gun using Female Variant #5, he doesn't know the real reason why he shot Elliot, it was probably due to “Mastermind”, hereafter the gun breaks down, later Ellen-Elliot touches a magic diamond and Ellen is split off).
- "The Creepy Kid" - An immortal, with an unknown agenda who appears in the form of a little girl. Probably responsible for the death of Magus, or at least for his return as a ghost.
- Agent Wolf and Agent Cranium - Two paranormal investigators working with Mr. Verres. The three were sent to check out the site of a recent dimensional shift, where they eventually met the “Creepy Kid”. Their names are a play on Agent Fox Mulder and Agent Dana Scully from the X-files.
[edit] Dan's team
- Dan – Daniel Shive’s anthropomorphic squirrel avatar breaks the fourth wall by its presence and is as such restricted to filler. The character design was initially only intended to be an average of the cast's characteristics and was converted to male some time after it became an avatar. The author now uses either (or, at times, both) as the situation calls.
- Minion – Dan’s Uryom minion; the duties of a minion are strikingly similar to those of an Administrative Assistant, but with higher pay. Minion is dry-witted, level-headed and usually a foil to whatever weirdness Dan has going on.
- Writer’s Block – A malicious flesh-colored rectangle about the size of a dog, with a face, claws and a tail. Can talk in thought bubbles; speaks in sounds reminiscent of a cow crossed with a cat. The manifestation of the author's writer’s block.
- Writer’s Sphere – The Writer's Block's worst fear, an onslaught of too many ideas.
[edit] Dr. Germahn's team
- Dr. Germahn – A “stereotypical German scientist” who pops in to provide “scientific” explanations. As the amount of suggestive gags involving the main cast has decreased, the crew of Germahn Labs has been picking up some of the slack. [1]
- Amanda – Dr. Germahn's busty and gullible lab assistant and often an unwilling volunteer in his weird experiments, often involving shrinking.
- Lisa – Amanda’s roommate and friend and Dr. Germahn’s attorney. Cheerful, friendly and bouncing-off-the-walls reckless with real talent in messing with people. She has been hinted to be a lesbian and may have a crush on Amanda, who remains completely oblivious despite Lisa's fairly overt manipulations.
- Alice - Dr. Germahn's receptionist and niece.
