This list comprises information on characters who exist in the following fantasy novels:
The Skulduggery Pleasant novels are written by Derek Landy.
The premise of the novel is that magic is real and those with the ability to wield it live among us. Magic is split into many "Schools" or disciplines, the two main groups being Elementals (which concentrate on magic involving the classical elements of fire, earth, air and water) and Adepts (which is split into many other disciplines, some more obscure than others, examples being Sensitives (similar to traditional psychics or mediums), Teleporters, Shapeshifters, Necromancers etc.). Many years ago an evil sorcerer named Mevolent attempted to conquer the world and was opposed by a resistance movement led by a powerful magician named Skulduggery Pleasant who was later killed by Mevolent's forces but came back to life as a living skeleton and then defeated Mevolent. In the book Skulduggery meets a strong-willed girl named Stephanie Edgley whose uncle, an old friend of Skulduggery has died under mysterious circumstances and together the two of them must defend the world from various evil beings who seek to destroy it. Stephanie subsequently adopts the name Valkyrie Cain which she retains for the rest of the series. She and Skulduggery have a good relationship.
Skulduggery Pleasant is a powerful magician who was killed in battle many years ago but came back to life as a skeleton. Many centuries ago according to Skulduggery, an evil sorcerer named Mevolent gathered an army and tried to conquer the world but he was opposed by a resistance movement. Skulduggery was one of the leaders of this resistance movement but he fell victim to Mevolent's second-in-command, Nefarian Serpine who killed Skulduggery's wife and child and then tortured Skulduggery until he died. Mevolent's minions then stuck Skulduggery's body on a pike and burnt it for all to see.
One by one the other leaders of the resistance fell but strangely Skulduggery's spirit did not move on. It was hinted at the end of book 5 that it was Lord Vile had something to do with his resurrection. His bones had been placed in a bag and thrown in a river but Skulduggery was somehow able to go into the bag, re-enter his bones and quite literally put himself together. He then returned, and with his help the resistance was able to defeat Mevolent whose minions were either imprisoned or rehabilitated, Nefarian Serpine included. Another of Mevolent's henchmen, Baron Vengeous, was personally tracked down by Skulduggery, who threw a stick of lit dynamite at him. A truce was signed between the Sanctuaries and the former followers of Mevolent and an uneasy peace ensued. After Mevolent's defeat, Skulduggery (now a skeleton) became a detective, but he never lost his hatred for and desire for revenge on Serpine.
Skulduggery, despite his bizarre appearance which he hides with a disguise in public, is something of a dapper gentleman. He has a polite, old-fashioned way of speech, and a velvety-smooth voice which enraptures Valkyrie when they first meet. As well as a powerful sorcerer, commanding the four elements, he is particularly enthusiastic about detecting, always sleuthing for clues, much to Valkyrie and Taniths chagrin. He is also a flamboyant egotist, vocally exalting his own plans and showing off his magical abilities to Stephanie, at one point walking on the ocean's surface after falling from a cliff.
Skulduggery is a clever strategist, usually forming the plan the team uses (when they indeed have a plan) and sharpening his wit on Stephanie's, taking pleasure in his own wisecracks. The two partners develop a relationship throughout the books. He reveals in Playing With Fire that he used to be great at motivational speeches, although he has obviously lost this talent, as his attempt to psyche up the party before they confront the Grotesquery ends with "I seem to have lost track of this speech, I'm not sure where it is going, but I know where it started and that's what I want you to remember. Has anyone seen my hat?"
Skulduggery's suave demeanour hides a desire for revenge. Because he died hating Serpine and his hatred brought him back, it forms part of his existence. At Valkyrie's questioning, he describes his true nature as a "dark, twisted thing." Several characters throughout the series have commented about his legendary rage, though he has never displayed this in the books. Conversely, witnessing the murder of his family makes him sensitive to the loss of others. Although he accepts sacrifice of individuals as part of war, he is highly reluctant to allow this to happen. He protects Stephanie diligently throughout the novels; originally only about to arrest Serpine, he is forced to kill him when he attempts to kill Valkyrie.
When the Faceless Ones returned to Earth, Skulduggery is sucked into the vortex along with them. He was trapped with them in a Parallel universe.
On an interesting note, the head he is currently wearing is not his own, he won it in a poker game. His real head was stolen from him by goblins while he was asleep. At the end of The Faceless Ones a Necromancer called Solomon Wreath says his head is an Isthmus Anchor and says to Valkyrie: "But if you were to retrieve this missing head and give it to Mr. Renn, he would find the link between the skeleton and his 'real' skull that is keeping the gateway from closing over." In book four, "Dark Days," he replaces the head he is wearing with the original one, saying that "Its nice to have a spare."
In Book 4, he was rescued by Valkyrie. He also learns to fly, and is now able to use his fire powers like a flamethrower.
In Book 5, he is much more ruthless and brutal, due to his apparent insanity, but isn't featured as much as in previous books. He takes a lot of damage in the book, and is shown to be a competent swordsman when he duels Burgundy Dalrymple. Also, when the Remnants siege the Hibernian, he is shown to have developed a new earth power, as he presses his hands to the ground and a cave collapses. Near the end he bumps into Tesseract in Torment's house and their fight leads to The Sanctuary.
In Book 6, titled Death Bringer, it is revealed that High Priest Tenebrae is responsible for the resurrection of Skulduggery after he perished at the red hand of Serpine. He did this because he thought Skulduggery has potential as a Necromancer, as Skulduggery is one of the few sorcerers with the ability to switch between magics. It is also revealed that Skulduggery became Lord Vile during the war as he no longer cared for what happened during the war, he just wanted to kill people. Lord Vile's armour gains some consciousness, and attempts to kill the Death Bringer. During a fight in the secret tunnels beneath Gordon's house, Skulduggery becomes Lord Vile to stop Melacholia killing people, and Valkyrie becomes Darquesse in order to stop him. He goes missing after finding out China's role in his family's tragic death.
Stephanie Edgley is introduced at the start of the book when her wealthy uncle, Gordon Edgley, a writer of horror/gore fiction, dies under mysterious circumstances. He leaves Stephanie (whom he was especially fond of) his mansion and his fortune in his will. Stephanie is depicted as an exceptionally mature and independent girl who possesses great confidence and self-esteem. Skulduggery says that she is much like her uncle whom he describes as "strong-willed, intelligent, sharp-tongued, doesn't suffer fools gladly." Stephanie proves herself to possess all these qualities in spades and she and Skulduggery frequently exchange witty banter. Although the two annoy each other considerably they do have a great respect and affection for one another.
Stephanie is extremely brave to the point of being fearless and also possesses a great desire for adventure and discovering the unknown. She does not have many friends her age and laments the boredom of her dull ordinary life in the village, Haggard, in which she lives. Stephanie appears to possess considerable physical strength for the twelve year-old girl she was at the start of Book 1 and exhibits aptitude in swimming, running and fighting. At the end of Book 1 she also displays magical powers, confirming that she is part of the ancient race of mages called the Ancients,that banished the race of gods, The Faceless Ones.
During Book 1 Stephanie adopts the name Valkyrie Cain to protect herself from people using her former name to control her, and is known as Valkyrie throughout the rest of the series. Valkyrie is the last person to look inside the Book of Names before it was destroyed, and thus the only person who knows her own true name, which is Darquesse. In the second book of the series, Valkyrie's fighting skills have improved but she seems somewhat more insecure than before. She is also much more passive. Throughout the book numerous adults ignore and patronise her and various characters (including her cousins) refer to her as a child, something which Valkyrie was established in the first book as hating. She says nothing however and does not even complain. She kills the Grotesquery (a hybrid form made by Baron Vengeous from the remains of a Faceless One) with Tanith Low's sword, and when she's surprised she and Skulduggery haven't died, Skulduggery says, "Of course not. I'm too clever to die and you're too pretty."
In Book 3, she uses the Sceptre of the Ancients to kill a Faceless One and another Faceless One dies by destroying it. She is told by Solomon Wreath that she would have great potential as a necromancer at the end of the book, and in Book 4 he says that she may even surpass Lord Vile, once the most powerful of the Necromancers.
In Book 4, Valkyrie travels into what Skulduggery calls hell, the dimension in which the Faceless Ones were trapped, in order to rescue Skulduggery. She kisses Fletcher Renn twice, once before going into the alternate universe to rescue Skulduggery and the second time was at Kenspeckles after she thought Fletcher was dead thinking about how she "didn't want to admit to herself how much he meant to her." It was in this book that the Necromancers start referring to her as 'The Death Bringer', and Sanguine decides not to kill her because 'It will be more fun to keep her alive' and she 'has a lifetime of dark days ahead of her'. At the end of the book a "Dream Whisperer" that Cassandra Pharos gave her is seen whispering a dream which reveals to her that her true name is Darquesse, a sorcerer who is said to destroy the world.
In the fifth book, Valkyrie is shown to have matured (ever so slightly). She has a romantic relationship with Fletcher and is worried about her future and possibility that she will be the one to destroy the world. She undertakes the problem alone, going to Doctor Nye to have her true name sealed, not alerting even Skulduggery at what she faces. This hints at a fear she didn't know she had: Skulduggery's reaction. However, after her name being sealed by Doctor Nye, she tells Skulduggery. She gets captured by the remnants, which bring out Darquesse, which is Valkyrie at her most powerful but with no morals on killing. Skulduggery and Tanith manage to persuade her to destroy the remnant inside her and return to normal.
In the sixth book Valkyrie has lost interest in Fletcher as a boyfriend and is cheating on him with Caelan. She later breaks up with him him. She also finds out that Darquesse comes out whenever her life is truly threatened, which helps in defeating the Jitter girls. She is devastated when she finds out that Skulduggery was Lord Vile, but she manages to forgive him as she understands why he kept it from her. She becomes Darquesse in order to prevent Lord Vile killing Meloncholia, but calms down as Valkyrie and Skulduggery reassert themselves, though she is tempted by the power Darquesse has. She prevents Scorn killing China after learning of China's secret, and leaves her afterwards. She then reconciles with Fletcher after Caelan attempts to turn her through force.
She was based on a friend of the author called Laura.
Tanith Low is a master swordswoman who is first introduced while battling a troll on London Bridge in the first book. Tanith does not work for the Elders (who are the leaders of the magical population of Europe) because she has a natural distrust of all authority. Instead she merely, as Springheeled Jack says in 'Playing With Fire', "deals out what she calls justice". She is English and originally lived in London. Tanith Low's job is to apprehend or otherwise kill criminals and evil creatures who threaten national security.
She befriends Valkyrie in Book 1. During a conversation with Valkyrie, Tanith expresses a desire for a little sister and she and Valkyrie develop an affectionate sisterly relationship. Valkyrie refers to Tanith as being like a sister to her in the fourth book. Tanith is also known to have an elder brother whom she states she "loves to death." Despite her softer, warmer side, Tanith can be very ruthless, sending two Cleavers to their death in order to distract some Hollow Men to rescue Skulduggery from Serpine. She is also an excellent fighter. She takes on Serpine's White Cleaver in combat at the end of the book, and nearly wins, but the White Cleaver throws his scythe through her back and she nearly dies.
She assists Skulduggery in defeating the Torment in the second book. She is an Adept who can run on walls, strengthen doors and unlock locks by touching them. Her appearance is one of beauty as she is described as appearing in her early twenties with golden hair. Her actual age is around eighty. In Playing With Fire Springheeled Jack thinks to himself And such a pretty face. Jack hadn't seen a pretty face in many a year. and Valkyrie has remarked that Tanith acts like a four year old despite her physical or actual age. In Book 2 she comments that Valkyrie should spend more time with people her age. While fighting the Grotesquery halfway through the book she was poisoned by it and the others had to go to the Sanctuary to get the antidote for her. In the final battle, she proves instrumental in the defeat and destruction of the Grotesquery.
In Book 3, she is asked to protect Peregrine, but fails and is injured in the hand by Murder Rose and Gruesome Krav in the process. In the end of the book, she loses in a fight against Murder Rose again, resulting in more injuries such as getting stabbed in the shoulder and leg.
In Book 4, Tanith assists Valkyrie in finding Skulduggery’s skull. She is arrested by the Sanctuary when she tries to assist in stealing Skulduggery’s skull from the Sanctuary. She is later freed, and is kidnapped by the Revengers Club and tortured by a possessed Grouse, who nails hands through her hands, legs and collarbones.
In Book 5, Mortal Coil, Tanith develops some feelings towards Ghastly Bespoke after he asks her out on a date. Later on, Tanith is taken over, or possessed by a remnant, and loses her true self and control of her body. At the end of the book she and Billy-Ray Sanguine are together. As Valkyrie puts it "Tanith was gone now. She was lost." Though Valkyrie hopes that they will be able to track down Tanith and remove the remnant, she doubts it. It was rumoured that Nye may come back in Death Bringer to cure her of the Remnant, but this does not happen.
In every book, Tanith will be tortured either emotionally, physically or psychologically because, as Derek Landy commented, "she deserves it". This was because in the first draft of the story, he wrote her being killed off by the White Cleaver. But his agent said it was too depressing so Landy said that he would let her live on the condition that he would get to torture her every single book.
An immensely strong tailor who was born with hideous facial deformities (scars that are the result of a jinx cast on his mother while she was pregnant with him) but is nevertheless a perfectly pleasant and sociable individual who is an old friend of Skulduggery and expresses concern for Valkyrie's safety much to her chagrin. He is apt at boxing which he learned from his mother and sewing which he learned from his father. Reasoning that he was ugly enough already without having to get his face damaged in a boxing ring, Ghastly went into sewing and became a tailor. His considerable physical strength and boxing skills come in handy when he assists Valkyrie and Tanith in taking on Serpine. He is an Elemental.
He is not seen in the second book as he harnessed the power of earth in the first book to turn himself into stone, thus protecting himself from being killed by The White Cleaver.
Ghastly stayed in his stone form through the entirety of Playing with Fire, but became his human self again mid-way through The Faceless Ones. He then made Valkyrie a new suit (which was black with red sleeves), and progressed to help them in the battle later on.
In The Faceless Ones, he tells to Valkyrie his mother was a Sensitive (an Adept with powers similar to that of traditional psychics) who didn't want the power but sometimes the visions just came to her, and that she once told him of a vision where Valkryie died a very painful death while the world ended.
In book 5, Mortal Coil, Ghastly asks Tanith out on a 'date' and was not rejected. Unfortunately, Tanith gets taken over by a remnant and so gives him a reason to take up the post as an Elder of the Irish Sanctuary. Even though he knows very well he can't do anything to remove the remnant, he just chooses not to believe it as Skulduggery says.
Fletcher is the newest and only living Teleporter after the Diablerie killed all the others. The Diablerie force Fletcher to open the gate to the Faceless Ones dimension. He has "spiky and carefully, meticulously untamed" hair that "defies both gravity and reason" and an English accent- as he is from London. He appears as a selfish, overconfident brat when first introduced, however he seems to grow as a person towards the end of the book. He seems to have growing likening to Valkyrie and they become friends, but when he first laid eyes on Tanith Low, he developed a crush on her which lasted throughout the third book.
In the year between Books 3 and 4, Fletcher's crush on Tanith dissipated and during Book 4 his affections move to Valkyrie which is displayed when he kisses her before she rescues Skulduggery, and is jealous when she cultivates a friendship with Caelan, an attractive vampire. At the end of the fourth book they are officially a couple.
In Mortal Coil, Fletcher's ego grows rapidly when he learn the secret to teleportation, that the universe revolves around him his relationship with Valkyrie gets deeper when he meets her parents. They go out on a date and ended up kissing him. Nearing the last part of the book, he gets possessed by a remnant and goes against Valkyrie. At the last moment, Valkyrie was saved by Caelan before Fletcher could do anymore damage to her. At the end of the book he teleports to Australia with Valkyrie, who tells him she loves him whilst they're there.
In Death Bringer, Fletcher and Valkyrie break up, leaving him hurt and feeling betrayed, though at the end of the book they agree to be friends once more.
An enchantingly beautiful but dangerous sorceress who has a charm on her that makes anyone who sees her fall in love with her, regardless of age or gender, even affecting Valkyrie (the effect wears down slightly every time one meets her). China Sorrows owns a library of rare magical devices which she collects by ruthless and somewhat corrupt means. As mysterious as her brother, Mr Bliss, she is a cunning and insidious character whom Skulduggery does not trust. The two of them know each other well and appear to have mutual respect. It is also implied that they had a romantic relationship in the past.
China controls Stephanie using her name in the first book until she chooses her name Valkyrie and China loses power over her.
In Book 2, Valkyrie seems to still be in love with China. In Book 2 the Echo Stone Gordon Edgley says he also loved her, saying our love was stronger and true. It is also revealed that China, not only belonged to a cult with Baron Vengeous that worshipped the Faceless Ones, founded a group called the Diablerie who were "dangerous by a zealots standards". Vengeous attempts to convince her to join him in Playing With Fire but when she rejects his offer, he vows to destroy her. She is also a formidable sorceress and quite a skilled fighter through the use of magical "Symbols" which appear in the form of tattoos on her body. These symbols also appear on most of her possessions, allowing her to magically manipulate them in various ways, e.g. sending all of the furniture flying at intruders to her home, or heating the kettle to boil the water inside.
In Book 3, Jaron Gallow also came to her to ask her to lead the Diablerie to victory when the Faceless Ones came through the portal saying that "Batu was a great leader but he wasn't her. He could never be her." She admitted that his offer was quite tempting but in the end refused stating that she was "a traitor to a race of sadistic gods who loathe humanity," and asked him why she would want them to return.
In Dark Days, she is shot in the chest by a new Sanctuary Detective named Pennant. She heals herself, but is left injured in the rest of the book. Remus Crux reveals that she was involved in Skulduggery's family's death, stating that "Everyone knows what you did. They're all whispering. China Sorrows, China Sorrows, she's the one, they're saying. She's the one. Nefarian Serpine killed Skulduggery Pleasant, but China Sorrows led his family into the trap." China subsequently shoots him in the chest, point blank, killing him. China also becomes less passive at the end of Book 3 and throughout Book 4, actively assisting Skulduggery and Valkyrie instead of merely passing information to them. China's friendship towards Skulduggery and Valkyrie is broken when Eliza Scorn tells them of China's involvement in Skulduggery's family murder.
On an amusing sidenote China also states that she has attempted to kill her brother several times and failed, most likely due to their shared tendency to double-cross people.
China also tends to become more reliable in the last few books. She is more trustworthy and helps Skulduggery and his gang a lot more. In book 6 she apparently thinks of Skulduggery and Valkyrie as friends, and tries to protect her secret from them.
The strongest man on Earth, Mr. Bliss is a sinister and enigmatic man who works for the Elders. He later betrays them in favour of Serpine who he believes is too powerful to defeat. He is later revealed to be a double-agent for the Elders and assists in defeating Serpine. He is China Sorrows' brother. In addition to his alarming strength, Mr. Bliss is also described as being very difficult to kill, with his sister admitting "I've tried to kill him several times already. He just won't stay down". He and China were brought up to worship the Faceless Ones but neither worships them anymore although they continue to believe in their existence and so assist Skulduggery in preventing Serpine from resurrecting them in Book 1 and Baron Vengeous from doing so in Book 2 and Batu and the Diablerie in Book 3. Both he and China mistrust and apparently despise each other, However, in the third book after Gruesome Krav attempts to kill China he fights him yelling "My sister? You tried to kill my sister? My sister is the only family I have left!” Krav ran away from Bliss and was possessed by a Faceless One which ripped Bliss in half and killed him.
The Sanctuary's top scientist, Kenspeckle is a paranoid genius with a neurotic phobia of vampires. He appears to be a perfectionist and is entrusted with the task of dismembering the Grotesquery once Skulduggery and Valkyrie steal it; however the Grotesquery wakes up and kills two of Kenspeckle's assistants. Kenspeckle later bemoans their deaths saying "They were good lads they didn't deserve to die like that." In the book it says that he had always had a soft spot for Valkyrie. He vehemently refuses to take part in any violence (though he did use some kind of magic to defend himself in an attack), and constantly admonishes Skulduggery for putting Valkyrie in danger with such alarming regularity. He seems to have the ability to take away or to give pain. Grouse only appears in the second, third, fourth and fifth books, although a reference is made to a "cantankerous old man" that heals wounds in the end of the first book, presumably Grouse.
In Book 4 Grouse is kidnapped by the Revengers Club because he had the ability to repair the Desolation Engine, and was possessed by an evil spirit called a Remnant. Whilst in Grouse's body, the Remnant tortures Tanith by nailing her to a chair. Tanith later states that though it was not Grouse who hurt her, she cannot help but hate him for it. Grouse is also shown to blame himself, though he in fact has no recollection of torturing Tanith at all. He was the creator of the Desolation Engine; a bomb which destroyed the Irish Sanctuary in the end of the 4th book. In the fifth book, he was told to cure Vaurien Scapegrace and Thrasher (Gerald), but ended up not doing so. Kenspeckle dies at the last part of the book, he was killed by his remnant occupied assistant Clarabelle. Valkyrie was the one that discovered this after repeating their names three times.
William Raymond Sanguine or Billy-Ray in short is a Texan assassin (he calls himself a hitman deluxe) with the ability to melt into the ground and travel under it like a mole. He was introduced a little way through Book 2. Sanguine dresses like a stereotypical cowboy, giving him similarities to the Stephen King character, Randall Flagg. He has no eyes but is capable of sight and he can see very well in the dark. He covers his empty eye-sockets with a pair of sun-glasses. He is described as being rather attractive, though this was mentioned before it was revealed that he has no eyes. Skulduggery and Tanith Low speculate that he may be a clinical psychopath however he appears to be somewhat cowardly in contrast to the reckless fearlessness of most clinically diagnosed psychopaths (However, as demonstrated near the end of the climax, this could be simply an act). Nevertheless, Sanguine himself admits to being psychopathic and also exhibits misogynistic tendencies. He has an obsession with his razor (an enchanted blade, scars from which never heal) which he uses to commit his murders and becomes enraged when it is taken from him by Valkyrie Cain twice. Sanguine, like Dusk, has an obsession with killing people and, like Scapegrace, despises Valkyrie though for different reasons. Sanguine was the one who freed Baron Vengeous from prison with the help of a vampire called Dusk although he is actually working for Batu, the leader of the Diablerie.
In The Faceless Ones Sanguine says "I been workin' for you for over a year now. Ain't it time we met, face to face?" Sanguine only appears in the second, third and fourth books, and near the end of the third book, he says to Valkyrie "Everybody bein' so eager to die...almost takes the fun outta killin' them!” Valkyrie then cuts his stomach and he shouts "What the hell have you done!" before disappearing into the ground.
Strangely enough, despite his reputation as a worldwide feared mercenary and murderer, Sanguine appears remarkably inept at his profession; apart from killing Vaurien Scapegrace and turning him into a zombie, he has never actually killed someone in the course of the books, and appears to only offer a physical threat to the surprised, the helpless and those without combat training, and is mainly used as a mode of transportation rather than a fighter by his employers.
In Book 4, he picks up his father after being released 2 days early from a high security prison in Arizona. His father is revealed to be Dreylan Scarab. With Scarab, he forms the Revengers Club, the main antagonists of Skulduggery Pleasant: Dark Days. The wound given him by Valkyrie Cain at the end of Book 3 is shown to seriously damage his magical powers in the book. He makes an appearance late in the fifth book, Mortal Coil, working for the Roarhaven sorcerers, and aids Valkyrie, Skulduggery and the others in their war with the Remnants. He has developed a perverse crush on Tanith, which Valkyrie (Stephanie) describes as "disgusting". and after she is possessed by the final Remnant, they abscond together.
An enigmatic and powerful vampire, introduced in Book 2. Dusk is a freelancer who works for Vengeous and Billy-Ray Sanguine. He is obviously highly treacherous as Vengeous was not surprised that he did not attempt to free him from prison and so did not take it upon himself to punish the vampire.
Like all vampires Dusk is eerily elegant and graceful. Valkyrie describes him as "oddly beautiful." He possesses immense physical strength and superhuman agility and speed(all vampires have that too). He curbs his vampire nature through the use of a syringe. (containing a mixture of Hemlock & Wolf's bane, which Kenspeckle Grouse says is rare) When Valkyrie knocks the syringe from his hand when he is about to inject himself with it he loses control and transforms into his monstrous form, earning a slash across the face from Billy-Ray Sanguine's razor, a wound which never healed. Dusk dedicated himself to punishing Valkyrie for this and later captured her and threatened to turn her into a vampire and set her loose on her parents while in her bloodlust. As he was transforming however Valkyrie stabbed him in the leg with his syringe that he had thrown away beforehand, wanting the monster within to have free rein, leaving him trapped between human and vampire. Springheeled Jack later defeated him and threw him into the sea which knocked him unconscious. He was later taken into custody by Mr Bliss.
He escapes the prison in Russia in Book 4 and joins Billy-Ray Sanguine's Revengers Club. He succeeds in biting Valkyrie Cain, but she is cured by Kenspeckle Grouse before she turns into a vampire. He then gets revenge on Springheeled Jack by leaving him to defend on his own against Anton Shudder and Ghastly Bespoke.
Book 2 opens with a fight scene between Valkyrie and Scapegrace. An incompetent aspiring serial-killer, Scapegrace seeks to make a name for himself in the world by becoming the greatest murderer of all time, "The Killer Supreme" by the use of his to-be title; however he proves to be utterly inept at killing people. He claims to make murder into a form of art. He is easily apprehended by Valkyrie and Skulduggery at the start of Book Two and imprisoned in the Sanctuary. He is later called upon by Skulduggery and Valkyrie who force him to assist in their investigation, where he helps them find the Torment. Scapegrace appears to be emotionally immature. He is easily frightened and has a tendency to cry when he is hurt. He despises Skulduggery and Valkyrie for capturing him, the latter in particular but is more of a nuisance that a threat.
In "Dark Days" he is killed by Billy-Ray Sanguine and becomes a zombie. He then calls himself the Zombie King. In this state, he begins infecting people and builds up an army. However, all but one (Thrasher) are disobedient to him and he leaves defeated once again.
In "Mortal Coil" he seeks out a cure for being a zombie as bits of his body keep falling off(like his ear, while he tries to glue it back on). In this search, he finds out where Skulduggery lives, and is forced to give the information to Tesseract. Valkyrie and Skulduggery bring him and Thrasher to Kenspeckle to be cured, but are forgotten about during the Remnant invasion. After Kenspeckle's death, he, along with Thrasher are forgotten by everyone else so they stayed locked in the medical facility. Caelen discovers them and sets them free, still uncured.
In 'Death Bringer' Scapegrace and Thrasher are inlisted to help the Necromancer Order accomplish 'The Passage'. He makes another horde of Zombies and leads them into the secret passages underneath Gordon Edgelys house. However, all of his minions except Thrasher are eaten by the monsters that reside there and, while attempting to flee the tunnels from Valkyrie, he is beheaded by the White Cleaver and taken away by Thrasher.
Valkyrie's uncle, Gordon was a wealthy author of horror fiction who based his bestselling novels on adventures he had had with Skulduggery. Skulduggery describes Gordon as "sharp-tongued, strong-willed, intelligent, doesn't suffer fools gladly" traits Valkyrie herself possesses. Gordon was a cultured and sophisticated gentleman with a childish playful demeanour who had a great fondness for Valkyrie although he didn't have children of his own. He and Valkyrie's mother dated for a while until she met Gordon's brother who later became Valkyrie's father. Gordon chivalrously stepped aside and allowed his girlfriend to marry his brother although he later complained that he had never had anything more than a peck on the cheek. He did however go on to have numerous torrid affairs with many beautiful women.
Gordon died whilst putting the finishing touches to his novel And the Darkness Rained Upon Them before being killed by Nefarian Serpine. Secretly he had the Sceptre of the Ancients concealed in a maze of catacombs beneath his mansion and left the Key to it (disguised as a brooch) to his greedy brother Fergus and his grasping wife Beryl. He left his fortune and mansion to Valkyrie.
A living image or "ghost" of Gordon is seen in an Echo-Stone in Playing With Fire and "Dark Days". Valkyrie found the stone in a secret room in Gordon's mansion and later took it to the family reunion with her in a pocket. When taking refuge from her disagreeable cousins in an adjourning room, Valkyrie took the Echo-Stone out of her pocket and had a conversation with the living memory of Gordon. While being a separate entity from the real Gordon, the living memory in the Echo-Stone was essentially a perfect copy of the real Gordon. After learning that Gordon was dead, the "Echo-Gordon" had something of an existential crisis but did not lose his sense of humour, dryly remarking that being taken to the family reunion with Valkyrie reminded him that he didn't miss his family at all. Gordon was once genuinely in love with China Sorrows and liked to think that she reciprocated his feelings. In Mortal Coil when Valkyrie finally reveals the existence of the Echo Stone to the group China refers to him as "my darling dear." However this might not prove anything as China often uses terms of endearment.
Gordon played a very small role in The Faceless Ones, though he does assist Valkyrie in finding a new crystal to power the Sceptre of the Ancients, and points her in the direction of Anathem Mire's house in the tunnels underneath his house. It is also revealed that Tanith Low is a fan of his books.
In the fifth book, mortal coil, Gordon is finally revealed to the others in the group by Valkyrie Cain, only to find out that the skeleton detective, Skulduggery Pleasant, knew the whole time but didn't say anything because he figured that Gordon would be a little sensitive. Gordon then assists the group to capture the remnants.
Caelan is a vampire, who offers his services to Valkyrie when she tries to retrieve the skull from a dealer named Chabon. When questioned about his motives, Caelan says he holds a grudge against Dusk, and was a lot better off when he was imprisoned. He is described as relatively young and quite attractive, with sleek black hair.Valkyrie believes he looked to have died at the age of 19 or 20 years. Caelan seems to be the only vampire who tries to control his condition- sealing himself in a cage which only unlocks at dawn. He is not well liked by many of the characters, aside from Valkyrie- most of the vampires hate him because he killed another vampire (the one forbidden rule among them) - when asked why he simply says that the other vampire had it coming. Skulduggery states upon meeting him that he neither likes nor trusts him. When Caelan leads Skulduggery and Valkyrie to Moloch's lair, he is exiled and targeted by the other vampires, who destroy his cage, forcing him to turn to Anton Shudder for new dwellings. Caelan appears in the final fight scene and fights with Dusk, but is easily outmatched. Many suspect that he has certain feelings for Valkyrie- much to Fletcher's jealousy.
In book 5, Caelan confesses to Valkyrie that he loves her, and kisses her. This causes Valkyrie to get confused with her feelings towards the vampire. She stays quiet about this to the others except Tanith Low. Meanwhile, Caelan watches over her in secret and becomes her 'guardian angel'. Towards the end of the book Valkyrie meets up with him and Caelan reveals to her that he has been taking Dusk's serum so that he will not turn into a monster every night, telling her that "For her, he could be human". In book 6, it is revealed that Valkyrie is cheating on Fletcher with Caelan, eventually leading to Fletcher getting dumped. Valkyrie then trys to dump Caelan but he goes all crazy and tries turn her into a vampire too. Fletcher had not been removed as Val's emergency contact so he is forced to come to her aid and him and Valkyrie push him into the sea. Due to the large amount of sea water (which is deadly to vampires) he ingests, his throat swells up and he dies.
Thrasher is the zombie servant of Vaurien Scapegrace (in life his name was 'Gerald'). He was the only zombie to listen to his masters orders, although annoys him with his loyalty and nervous disposition (he begins to cry when the other zombies refuse to listen to him). At the end of Dark days, he and Scapegrace escape capture/death.
He often tries to correct Scapegrace, such as his name for the Revengers Club (Vengeance Brigade), agreeing with Valkyrie's suggestion, Vengeance Squad. He also admits to Valkyrie that the reason he burns so well is probably the creams he uses. Thrasher doesn't seem to be the sharpest crayon in the crayon drawer.
In Mortal Coil, Thrasher assists his master in his plan to be embalmed. This is unsuccessful and Thrasher and Scapegrace end up becoming test subjects for Kenspeckle (whom wanted to make them human again.) Eventually, they're set free by Caelan and escape.
A Cleaver that was abducted by Serpine and turned invincible through the use of Necromancy, he was the cause of Ghastly Bespoke turning himself into a statue. He was about to kill Tanith, but suddenly left. At the time it was presumed that he had actually formed his own mind, and betrayed Serpine on his own initiative.
The White Cleaver reappears in The Faceless Ones, where it is revealed that the "Necromancer contingent" who "created" the White Cleaver dictated that, since he was created using their own Necromancy, he would obey any order from the Necromancers. Therefore, when Serpine commanded him to kill Skulduggery and Valkyrie, they ordered him to stop.
The White Cleaver aids the good guys along with the Necromancers in The Faceless Ones, The White Cleaver also attempts to kill a Faceless One but fails and the Faceless one punches him in the chest, that removes him from the battle. He appears briefly in Mortal Coil with the Necromancers during their meetings.
The White Cleaver is an extremely strong fighter, being able to heal any wounds immediately. He fights and defeats Tanith Low (nearly killing her by impaling her on his scythe), and even defeats Murder Rose in the third book. In the first book he proves more than a match for Skulduggery, Valkyrie, Tanith and Ghastly put together, and in the end they are forced to retreat from him, during this fight Ghastly is forced to use the power of earth and turn himself into a statue. The White Cleaver does not appear in the fourth book. In the sixth book he acts as a bodyguard to Craven and Melachonia and is torn apart fighting Lord Vile.
An immensely powerful hybrid creature made from the remains of a Faceless One by Baron Vengeous who gave it the name Grotesquery. Because it was made from the remnants of a Faceless One along with various other monsters the Grotesquery is effectively part-god and Baron Vengeous worships it as such. It resembles a stereotypical Egyptian mummy and is similar to the Chimera of Greek mythology.
The Grotesquery has powers of teleportation as well as unfathomable strength. A punch from Mr Bliss, the single strongest man on Earth did not phase it in the slightest, yet it was able to incapacitate Bliss with a single blow. It does not seem particularly intelligent however. Given the fact that it was made from part of a Faceless One it is presumably immortal however it is not indestructible as it was overpowered and almost killed by a group of Cleavers.
It eventually meets its demise after Valkyrie Cain stabs it through the heart with Tanith Low's sword. While Valkyrie stabbed the Grotesquery's heart, it emitted a death scream which alerted the Faceless Ones to the weakest point in our reality. It is a necessity for the ritual to open the portal for the Faceless Ones. Also to open the gate for the Faceless Ones in Book 3, they had to use the Grotesquery's torso to open the gate to the realm of the Faceless Ones.
A mage with an obsession with killing, he is named after the legendary London monster, Spring-heeled Jack, and acts in the same manner. Springheeled Jack is a hideous man who, like Sanguine, does not have traditional magic powers. Instead he is capable of leaping over great distances and haunts the roofs and streets of London at night looking for people to murder. He is apprehended by Tanith Low and imprisoned but is later freed by Billy-Ray Sanguine who asks him to kill a man working for the Sanctuary in London.
Jack later learns that Sanguine was working for Vengeous who wanted to bring back the Faceless Ones. Knowing how dangerous the Faceless Ones are, Jack does not want them free and is furious at having been tricked. He then defeats Dusk, unknowingly aiding Tanith meanwhile saving Valkyrie and running off to Italy.
Jack appears again in the fourth book, as a member of the Revengers Club. His aim is to kill Tanith Low.
Finbar Wrong is a tattoo artist that resides near Temple Bar in Dublin. He appears to be perpetually confused and there is no mention of his magical powers in the second book, when Valkyrie first meets him. In the third book, however, it is revealed he is a Sensitive. Using his magic, he helped Skulduggery and Valkyrie find the Gateway of Realities, although he temporarily becomes possessed by the Faceless Ones while doing so.
In the Book 4, Finbar talks to Valkyrie and Skulduggery about the visions that all Sensitives find disturbing: a vision of the end of the world, caused by the feared sorceress, Darquesse. He has a wife 'Sharon', who never appears, and later on a child too.
During Mortal Coil, Solomon Wreath possesses Wrong with a Remnant to find out whether Valkyrie will be the "Death Bringer." This plan was unsuccessful however as the Remnant saw the future which Darquesse created and came to the conclusion that she was their Messiah.
In The Death Bringer Finbar is approached by a journalist called Kenny Dunne who finds out about the sorcerers and plans to blow there cover. Finbar then sets up a meeting between Dunne and Geffory Scrutinous who persuades him that the sorcerers are crazy.
An ancient and enigmatic sorcerer as well as one of the Children of the Spider, the Torment is a misanthropic recluse who lives in an underground building beneath the sordid village of Roarhaven. The building itself was intended to be a new Sanctuary by a group of dissenters in Roarhaven who attempted to overthrow the Elders and create a Sanctuary of their own. The plan failed and the building itself sank in decay. The Torment believes that sorcerers should rule over those who do not wield magic, and believes that his kind are weak to hide from humans when they should be conquering them. He fought against Mevolent in the war however as he reasoned that if the Faceless Ones came back, no-one would be safe, even him.
He claims to despise the Ancients as much as the Faceless Ones however and because Valkyrie is a descendant of the Ancients he demands that Skulduggery destroy her in exchange for information on the whereabouts of the Grotesquery. Skulduggery pretends to kill her by shooting her reflection and when the Torment learns that Skulduggery tricked him he comes after the undead sorcerer for revenge but is defeated by Skulduggery and Tanith Low.
The Torment is a Shapeshifter with an affinity for spiders and is capable of transforming into a giant three-eyed spider himself. He fights the Grotesquery as a spider, but is defeated (by being scalped). The Torment later appears again in 'Mortal Coil', where he hires Tesseract to kill Marr. However, the Torment attempts to kill the mercenary after. He is also responsible for helping Madam Mist (another child of the spider) to become an Elder. Near the end of the book, Tesseract gets his revenge by splitting the Torment's skull with his bone breaking ability, killing him.
He is the incompetent replacement for Skulduggery as the lead detective for the Sanctuary after Skulduggery was fired at the end of Book 2. He was appointed by Thurid Guild. He is portrayed as a fool, but apparently knows a secret concerning China Sorrows in regards to Skulduggery's rebirth, and uses it to frequently blackmail China Sorrows. Crux arrests Valkyrie right after her parents leave for Paris in Book 3, and tries to arrest her again during The Battle of Aranmore Farm, but ultimately fails. During the Battle, his sanity was shattered after looking upon one of the intangible Faceless Ones.
In the fourth book, he began to worship the Faceless Ones, and he ended up joining the Revengers Club. China eventually seeks him out and she reminds him that he tried to kill Valkyrie at her house late at night, but after he tries to convince her that he told everybody the secret saying that "Everyone knows what you did. They're all whispering. China Sorrows, China Sorrows, she's the one, they're saying. She's the one. Nefarian Serpine killed Skulduggery Pleasant, but China Sorrows led his family into the trap.", China shoots him and leaves him to die.
Solomon is a Necromancer introduced in Book 3, who has some connection to Skulduggery's past, possibly an old partner like Valkyrie. He placed his power inside his cane, much like Lord Vile's armour, and is quite powerful. During the crisis in the third book, he forms a "Necromancer contingent", consisting of him, a Necromancer with his power forced into a flintlock pistol, a necromancer whose power has been channelled into her cape, and the White Cleaver, who they brought under their control. In the battle of Aranmore Farm, whilst trying to guide the final Faceless One through the gate, he throws his cane over to Valkyrie, who tries to use it to stop it from killing Skulduggery. The cane breaks, but Solomon creates another cane "identical to the first one", upon which Valkyrie remarks "How original of you". The book ends with Wreath telling Valkyrie that to get Skulduggery back from the realm of the Faceless Ones they will need Skulduggery's true head, which was stolen from him while he was meditating and won a new one in a game of poker, as an Isthmus Anchor, and to gain the power needed Valkyrie would have to change her profession from Elemental to an Adept Necromancer.
During the year-long gap between books 3 and 4 Wreath teaches necromancy to Valkyrie Cain. It is during this book that the Necromancers start referring to Valkyrie as the "Death Bringer." Thinking that she is the one who has the power to break down the barriers between life and death.
In Book 5 Wreath is ordered by the High Priest Tenebrae to take the Remnant that was possessing Kenspeckle Grouse and was now trapped inside a soulcatcher and to release it upon Finbar Wrong, to see if Valkyrie really was the "Death Bringer." In book 6 Wreath captures Valkyrie after telling her what the Passage is, and the role of the "Death Bringer", which is to stop the cycle of life and death by killing 3 billion people at the same time, so the massive release of souls will stop the stream of life and death.
Introduced in Playing With Fire as the new Grand Mage of the Irish Council of Elders, he has yet to appoint any other Elders and so is by effect the dictator of the Sorcerer's Sanctuary of Ireland. He does not trust Skulduggery and holds Valkyrie in contempt. A somewhat grim and humourless character, Skulduggery speculates that he may be corrupt and thinks he was in league with the Diablerie in Book 2, but is proved wrong in Book 3, when "the Administrator", brought in by Guild, proves to be the traitor.
In Book 4 Guild seems to have forgiven Skulduggery and helps the team, although this may be due to the fact Skulduggery knows it was him who actually killed Vanguard. At the end of the fourth book he is sentenced to 300 years in prison but isn't imprisoned due to the destruction of the Irish Sanctuary. His leg is disintegrated by the same explosion that destroyed the Sanctuary.
Evil souls who possess people as they do not have bodies of their own. For a long time they were trapped in room 24 in the Midnight Hotel- owned by Anton Shudder, until one of them was freed by Solomon Wreath and attacked the Midnight Hotel, releasing all 2000+ Remnants trapped there. They attack and possess many people in Ireland and inflict terror on the entire country. In Mortal Coil they have one goal: to make Valkyrie Darquesse so that they can dwell in the dead world without bodies. They only manage to make Valkyrie Darquesse for a short while by possessing her, which they regret after Darquesse starts killing them all. They are then trapped in the Receptacle, a huge soulcatcher located in a mountain chain, with only the one in Tanith escaping.
A power hungry Necromancer who detests Solomon and Valkyrie. He experiments on Meloncholia to make her the Death Bringer by looping her Surge so she is constantly gaining power. He is killed by Skulduggery in Death Bringer.
Valkyrie's rival in Necromancy. She is not particularly powerful in Mortal Coil, but after having symbols carved into her skin, her power continuously cycles making her powerful enough to be the Death Bringer. She uses her new power to slice Valkyrie within an inch of her life. Her powers drive her crazy when she attempts to kill the whole world, resorting Skulduggery to become Lord Vile to stop her. She brings out Darquesse by attempting to kill Valkyrie when Valkyrie asks her to. She is placed into a coma by Nye to prevent her from killing everyone.
One of Mevolent's Three Generals, Vile was a powerful Necromancer who also possessed the ability to manipulate darkness and shadows to suit his purposes. He had impregnable armour that rendered him invincible which is the object of Baron Vengous's desires in Playing With Fire. Lord Vile died alone in a chamber, but it has not been revealed how. China Sorrows says that Vile was "remarkable" and "could have changed the world" while Baron Vengeous "wouldn't know where to begin". He was apparently extortionately powerful, probably one of the most powerful mages ever to have lived, and Baron Vengeous says "how could Vile ever have been beaten with power like this?” In The Faceless Ones, Ghastly says, "There was a rule we had back then. You don't go up against Vile alone. You wait until your army is gathered behind you, you all attack together and you pray someone gets in a lucky shot."
It is suggested that Lord Vile is much more powerful than either Nefarian Serpine or Baron Vengeous, as Ghastly's mother defeats both of these but is killed by Vile. He is considered an enemy by the Necromancers. Vile was originally believed to be the saviour of the Necromancers, whom they called the "Death-Bringer", but since his apparent death Solomon Wreath at least believes that this may actually be Valkyrie Cain. It is actually hinted though that Lord Vile may still be alive. The Necromancers seem to know more about this and it is likely that he is hiding.
Lord Vile makes a brief appearance near the end of Mortal Coil where he attacks Skulduggery and Tesseracact.
Revealed in Death Bringer, Lord Vile is actually part of Skulduggery Pleasants subconscious that can operate his armour without Skulduggery. Skulduggery becomes Lord Vile in order to defeat Melancholia. He then fights Darquesse and nearly kills her, but instead stops and casts off the armour.
Lord Vile is suggested to be the most powerful Necromancer to ever live and also possesses the ability to fly and manipulate his armour. It is this which houses his extraordinary power that obliterated entire armies at at time. He is also shown to be incredibly strong and capable of clubbing the virtually invincible Darquesse's brain out through her skull. He is also invulnerable to the latent energy that Darquesse wields. Though, Lord Vile seems a little over confident in his own abilities as he seems to think that he could take on the entire race of faceless ones who have torn apart worlds.
Characters who have only appeared in the first book so far:
An insane, power-crazed sorcerer intent on finding the sceptre of the ancients to gain access to the Book of Names and take over the world. He used necromancy to first create the White Cleaver, and then used it to make himself invincible. However, he is destroyed by the Sceptre of the Ancients as it only works for its owner, and can only be used once its owner is killed, but Serpine effectively turned himself into a living, self-repairing corpse like The White Cleaver, meaning he couldn't truly live. Therefore, Skulduggery was able to use the Sceptre against him. Skulduggery was able to use the Sceptre because while he was dead, he did not die after gaining possession of the Sceptre, allowing him to keep possession of it. It is revealed in the sixth book that Serpine got his red hand from the High Priest Tenenbrae with the unknown added extra that his hand would not truly kill Skulduggery, allowing Skulduggery to come back. And let revenge await with Nefarian Serpine.
The Elders are the three democratic leaders of the Sanctuary, the Sorcerer's Parliament. Every different country has a different Sanctuary which is hidden in an inconspicuous location. Sanctuaries usually have three elders. The main Elders seen in the series are based in Dublin and the representatives of Ireland where the majority of the story takes place. Other known Sanctuaries exist in London, Russia, New York, Berlin and Tokyo, respectively.
Once Grand Mage and leader of the Elders, Meritorious was one of the most powerful and wisest magicians in Europe. He was killed along with Morwenna by Serpine with the Sceptre of the Ancients in Skulduggery Pleasant.
A very beautiful sorceress, Morwenna was killed along with Meritorious by Serpine in Book 1. There is speculation as to Morwenna having been a Necromancer due to her method of appearance in Book 1- forming out of a black shadow , much likes the ones described in connotation to other Necromancers in later books. It is confirmed in Death Bringer that she was the first and only Sanctuary Elder to be a Necromancer. She is mentioned by Tenebrae in book 6.
Although a wise and powerful Elder himself, Sagacious Tome appears to have something of an inferiority complex and is somewhat paranoid believing that all the Magical Community believe him to be insignificant compared to Meritorious and Morwenna. Bitter at this, the very ambitious Sagacious joins forces with Serpine and tricks the other Elders enabling Serpine to destroy them in order to get the Great Book of Names. When the spell that Sagacious, Meritorious and Morwenna placed over the Book to protect it still doesn't disappear, Serpine destroys Sagacious as well, thereby enabling him to take the Book.
Sagacious is a very haughty individual and is notable for being even more melodramatic than Serpine saying about the people who he believed were mocking him "The streets will run red with their blood" causing Serpine to wryly comment "How very dramatic". Also, in The Faceless Ones, he is mentioned to have been a Teleporter, as evidenced when he appeared and disappeared from the Christ Church in Book 1.
Characters who have only appeared in the second book so far:
Baron Vengeous was one of Mevolent's three infamous generals, along with Nefarian Serpine and Lord Vile. He has a nickname of The Baron. Along with Nefarian Serpine he has the objective to bring back the Faceless Ones. He works with Billy-Ray Sanguine and Dusk. He also tries to bring back the Grotesquery with Lord Vile's armor. Vengeous is an Adept with the ability to make whole bodies explode as shown when he blows up Argus- one of Mevolent's men. He is described by China as "an unusual man, he likes to think of himself as straightforward. He is anything but." He tried to make China "come back into the fold." When she refused he became unreasonably angry and told her that she would be the first traitor they destroy. He was killed at the end of Book 2 by the Grotesquery.
Characters who have only appeared in the third book so far:
Faceless Ones have many powers.They are impossibly powerful and have greater power than any mage alive.They seem to have powers along the lines of Darquesse's.These include killing by looking at the victim or driving them insane, resistance to any magical or non-magical attack, and looking at one hits like a physical force.Also they can kill peple in various different ways with a wave of their arm and turn things to dust and have some form of mental power to move objects with their mind. They are drawn to hosts by invitations that Batu inscribed on the Diablerie's arms. The only member of the Diablerie able to get away from being hosted by the invitations Batu inscribed on them was Jaron Gallow, who cut his own arm off. . At the very end of The Faceless Ones, Skulduggery Pleasant is sucked through a portal into the world the Faceless Ones were inhabiting.
A man called Paddy Hanratty who was from a family of sorcerers with no magical powers who brings back the Diablerie after their destruction. He uses them to bring back the Faceless Ones by tattooing symbols onto their arms. He explains that these are for their protection, to mark them out as believers when the Faceless Ones come, but in fact they are invitations; when the Faceless Ones return they will inhabit their bodies and become invincible beings. Batu does this as not to waste the Faceless Ones' time searching for good hosts. He also offers himself as a host, so then he would finally have magic. He didn't know that it would completely wipe his personality. At first Batu appears as an old man who doesn't know about magic. Batu reappears in the fourth book briefly as the body that the Faceless Ones use to torture Skulduggery.
A mysterious secret society, akin to a terrorist organisation, the Diablerie were the ones responsible for the manipulation of Baron Vengeous in Playing With Fire. Sanguine was working for them and he meets their leader in secret in the penultimate chapter of the book. They seek the return of the Faceless Ones, a "race of sadistic gods who loathe humanity". As revealed in Skulduggery Pleasant: the Faceless Ones, China Sorrows started the Diablerie, and Baron Vengeous later took over.
Their leader's plan was for the Grotesquery to die so that its dying scream would alert the Faceless Ones to the whereabouts of the Earth, meaning that all the Diablerie have to do now is let them in. In The Faceless Ones, the Diablerie are the main antagonists of the book, including a "huge man with silver hair" called Gruesome Krav and a mad swordswoman called Murder Rose, as well as a dark-haired man called Jaron Gallow. Jaron Gallow is believed by Solomon Wreath, a Necromancer, to be the Diablerie's leader, but this is later revealed to be Paddy Hanratty, who nicknames himself "Batu". Batu isn't a sorcerer and he wants the "Faceless Ones" to return so one of them can possess him and give him magic, although this would wipe out his personality.
Gruesome Krav and Murder Rose are possessed by Faceless Ones and killed, although Jaron Gallow escapes this. Batu is also possessed by a Faceless One, but that Faceless One is pushed through the "portal between realities", away from "our reality". The word "Diablerie" is an apparent derivation of the Latin "diabolos" meaning "devil".
Introduced to us in Book 3 when he enters China's apartment asking her to come and take her old position as leader of the Diablerie, just as Batu's plans were coming to fruition, to which China laughed and said "Oh Jaron, how delightfully treacherous of you."
A good fighter and a quick thinker as we see in the Battle at the end of Book 3 when he realises that the symbol burned into his arm invites the Faceless Ones to take him over, he uses his belt to stop the blood flow to his arm and chops it off with a Cleavers scythe. He survived the battle and is seen in the sixth book with a replacement arm. He attempts to help China stop Eliza Scorn blackmailing her, but is killed.
An adept magician with powers similar to that of Tanith Low. A member of the Diablerie under Batu. Murder Rose defeats and nearly kills Tanith, after Batu kills the teleporter Emmette Peregrine. She has amazing sword and knife skills.
Gursome Krav is an adept mage that can run on walls like Tanith Low. He attacks Tanith with the help of Murder Rose.
Characters who have only appeared in the fourth book so far:
Dreylan is a great sorcerer who returns to the earth from 200 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit. Scarab was freed from prison, thirsty for revenge against the Sanctuary and Thurid Guild, who framed him, having served his full sentence. Once freed Scarab is joined first by his son, Billy-Ray Sanguine, and later by the other members of the Revenger's Club, who join him on his quest for revenge. Now aged after 2 centuries in a bound prison, unable to touch his magic, Scarab is an old man who is willing to commit suicide in his attempts to disgrace Thurid Guild. Scarab's Adept ability is with symbols, and he also displays knowledge of magic-science, e.g., resurrecting Scapegrace as a zombie.
Characters who have only appeared in the fifth book so far:
Darquesse is the evil sorceress who is believed to destroy the world. In Dark Days Valkyrie sees a vision of Darquesse killing her parents, and an older image of herself doing nothing to stop it. At the end of the book Valkyrie uses a dream whisperer to see a nightmare of hers. It was in the repository as Skulduggery and Serpine fought. As the Book of Names fell, Valkyrie sees her true name, Darquesse, therefore Darquesse is actually Valkyrie. So in an effort to prevent the future of Darquesse killing the world, she goes to Doctor Nye to seal her name. This does not prevent her future as we see later on in Mortal Coil she becomes Darquesse when she is possessed by a remnant (although the remnant is not in control while she was possessed; Darquesse is).
When all the remnants are trapped in the receptacle (a giant soul catcher) apart from the one possessing Tanith, Valkyrie assumes that her future is no longer possible. Sensitives can still sense Darquesse in the future so evidently Valkyrie is wrong and therefore must decide to destroy the world of her own accord. In Death Bringer her mind is touched by the Jitter girls and she turns into Darquesse and they get the girls back in the box. Later Valkyrie is surprised that Darquesse doesn't come out when she is being attacked by Melancholia and left sliced up. She discovers that Darquesse only comes out when her life is in true danger. She comes out again after Valkyrie gets Melancholia to attempt to kill her so she can fight Lord Vile.
Darquesse can wield a unique type of magic (possibly ancient magic) which grants her huge strength, the ability to fly, the ability to sharpen her senses, the ability to wield latent energy which can turn rock to dust, the ability to see and maniplate someones consciousness, the ability to dull pain, the ability to heal, the ability to survive situations that would kill a normal mage and most likely many others that we have yet to see.
Doctor Nye is a hugely tall, long-limbed, pale-skinned doctor who worked in an unidentified warehouse, dissecting dead bodies delivered to it by the Dullahan (a headless coach driver employed by a banshee). An evil doctor who is androgynous and subsequently genderless..It agrees to seal Valkyrie's true name after she dies in the Coach-a-Bowers, but ends up trying to dissect her to find her soul. After Valkyrie attacks it with shadows and breaks its legs, it agrees to finish the operation and places all of her organs back into her body. It later saves Valkyrie's life after an attack by the Death Bringer in Book 6, having been employed by Ravel as Sanctuary doctor.
An immensely strong and mysterious headless coach driver who picks up those who are subjected to the banshee's scream. Valkyrie is required to die to seal her name, and allows herself to be taken by the Dullahan (but not before she tries to fight it off after it takes another woman). The Dullahan is invulnerable and according to Valkyrie is like 'punching a brick wall'. This is elaborated, the Dullahan being unable to get hurt due to just "being". After delivering Valkyrie to Nye, it isn't featured again.
Burgundy Dalrymple was one of Mevolent's most competent soldiers, and was a master swordsman. He is obsessed with Remnants, as he misses the feeling of closeness and belonging to something greater than himself, and owns one half of the key that can operate the Receptacle. He engages Skulduggery and China in an energetic sword duel, but is subsequently beaten, and hands over the key. Later on in the book, he is featured in a small cameo when he shoots Billy-Ray Sanguine when he sprays bullets at Skulduggery, Tanith, Valkyrie and Sanguine. He is eventually killed by a possessed Valkyrie after begging to be possessed as well.
Tesseract is a lethal Russian assassin. In Mortal Coil, he is hired by The Torment to kill Davina Marr. Eventually, after a failed assassination attempt on Marr thanks to Skulduggery Pleasant, Tesseract is lead to an old pub where a now zombified Scapegrace is giving out info on Skulduggery Pleasant’s living quarters. After a brutal fight in the bar, Tesseract kills everyone besides Scapegrace and his sidekick, Thrasher.
Scapegrace tells him where Pleasant lives while being aware that Tesseract could kill him. Tesseract arrives at Skulduggery’s house only to find that Tanith, Valkyrie and Ravel are also there. Tesseract confronts them and his superior strength and abilities overwhelm the team so much that they eventually resort to back up, with Fletcher Renn teleporting the team away just in time. Later, The Torment buries Tesseract alive. But, Tesseract escapes and sets out to gain revenge. After failing to kill The Torment, he and the Torment's gang are possessed by Remnants.
Toward the end of the book, Tesseract now free of the remnant inside him, attempts to kill The Torment again only to bump into Pleasant while at Torments house. He manages to kill the Torment and then battles with Skulduggery. Their fight leads them to the Sanctuary, where eventually what appears to be Lord Vile attacks the two.
Tesseract is mortally wounded and Skulduggery manages to get rid of Vile by merely punching him. Tesseract eventually takes off his mask and reveals his face but at a cost of his body now rotting and killing him. Tesseract then requests Skulduggery to let the sun hit Tesseract's face as it is warm. While Pleasant carries Tesseract to a bench outside the Sanctuary, Tesseract explains how he will miss his cat. Tesseract is laid out on the bench outside the Sanctuary. He asks Skulduggery questions about Vile and Skulduggery’s resurrection. Skulduggery does not answer and Tesseract dies.
Characters who have only appeared in the sixth book so far:
A worshipper of the Faceless Ones whose beauty is only surpassed by China, she blackmails China into assisting her. She has a plan to recruit all the major Faceless Ones worshippers, planning to meet them at the Requiem Ball. She destroys China's library and reveals China's secret to Skulduggery and Valkyrie, this secret being the fact that she led Serpine to Skulduggery's family. She leaves peacefully after Valkrie threatens that Skulduggery will kill her.
They look identical to cleavers but they wear black and have twin sickles (instead of sythes) on their backs. Rippers are personal bodyguards or mercenaries.
A simpleton, Prave is only used for comic relief. He is a worshipper of the Faceless Ones and tries to be a leader with Eliza Scorn, yet she told him that she was the leader and he made the tea, much to his dismay. Many people frown upon him due to his unpleasantness.
A journalist whose career as a freelance journalist is starting to deteriorate at the start of Death Bringer, where he plans to meet the sensitive Paul Lynch, who is a homeless man living on the streets, in a park. He finds Lynch dead, he is then interrogated by Skulduggery and Valkyrie, posing as a Police Inspector and a school girl on work experience. After realising they were not who they said they were, he plans a meeting with Finbar Wrong, who tells him to go to Geoffrey Scrutinous, where he gets brainwashed. He later realises he was brainwashed, but we don't see him until the very end of the book, where he is planning to unearth the entire magical subculture.
Ian Moore
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