I thought I’d make a post of all the characters for my fanfic House of Swords and update it as I draw more. Eventually I need to make reference sheets for everyone but all the sketches and concepts that I’ve done will have to do for now.

ASHLEY FLETCHER



Bio: After a whirlwind of events he was too young to remember, which ended with the unexplained disappearance of his father, Ash moved from Holyhead to New York with his stepmother at the age of eight. Although his life there was happy, though not without its ups and downs, he never really felt like he fit in and spent most of his life questioning who he is and what happened to change everything. Now he’s back where it all began to find out what went wrong… for better or worse.

Age: 23 (as of the story’s setting of autumn 2015)

Physical characteristics: At 5′3″, he’s short and very slim. He’s baby-faced, with heart-shaped features, wide eyes and a button nose and looks much younger than he really is. His pale blue eyes are distinct and he’s known for an intense stare. He has a fluffy mop of mousy brown waves which birds like to sleep in.

Personality: Ash is shy and introverted. A pacifist, he dislikes conflict and avoids it where possible, to the point that he’d rather let people walk all over him than escalate the situation. He’s genuinely warm and caring and hates seeing people hurt. He does have an anger problem, though, and a very bad habit of bottling up all his feelings. He can be remarkably stubborn when he has to be.

Likes, hobbies: He’s a shameless nerd and into anime, mecha and video games. He also likes photography, builds small robots for his own amusement and is good at drawing, usually robots and spaceships.

Other facts: He’s an animal lover and a vegan, and finds it easier to talk to birds than people. He tends to refer to people he distrusts by their last name alone. He’s an empath and gifted with other powers too, but he tries to bottle them up in a misguided attempt to be like other people.

Quirks: Ash often bites his lip or knuckles when nervous, which grows to self-mutilation by biting on his hands and arms when having a panic attack. He hates being touched without permission except by those he deeply trusts and will reflexively jerk away from unwanted contact. Often does breathing exercises to help maintain his calm and self-control.

ERIC NYE



Bio: After graduating from drama school, Eric moved to the States from Canada looking for opportunities to start his career. Instead, he found himself drifting, unwanted, from city to city until he finally washed up in Holyhead with hardly a dollar to his name. There, he was approached by one William Fredrickson, who was looking for actors to portray the animal characters in his new family restaurant come theatre, Freddy’s Family Diner. He’s seen the history of the franchise from its beginning, watching helplessly as it came crashing down around him in flames. If he knew then what Fredrickson had started, he might have said no and taken a shift at the refinery instead.

Age: 46

Physical characteristics: Tall, lanky, often described as a scarecrow. He has long, awkward limbs and big hands and feet. He has a prominent hooked nose, auburn hair cut short and often tousled from running hands through it from stress, and honey brown eyes. He’s short-sighted and needs glasses.

Personality: Calm and quiet, he’s slow to anger and lets most things roll off him with a shrug. When he does get angry, he’s easily flustered and often says things he doesn’t mean, only to regret them later. He’s introverted and mostly likes to keep to himself. He’s a caring person at heart, if cautious and ‘by the books’, and in a bad situation he’ll leap to take charge and look after others first.

Likes, hobbies: He likes reading, typically classic literature as it’s what inspired him to go to drama school, but he also enjoys a good thriller. He also grows roses for a hobby and is noted for having one of the nicest gardens in the town, even winning awards from local magazines on occasion. He’s addicted to chocolate and coffee.

Other facts: Eric is a self-admitted workaholic and hates to leave a job half-finished. Due to the stress involved in his job as night manager at Freddy’s, he took up smoking and struggles to kick the habit now despite several attempts. Gin turns him into a sobbing wreck and should be kept away from him at all costs. He’s also arachnophobic.

Quirks: He habitually straightens his clothes when nervous or agitated, which some have compared to him ‘ruffling his feathers’. Bird puns are a common annoyance for him due to his beaky nose.

MIKE SCHMIDT



Bio: Born in England to a pair of climate scientists, he was forced to move to Louisiana with them when they left to study ocean currents in the Gulf of Mexico. To their disappointment, he never wanted to be a scientist himself. So when their research boat sank in a storm, drowning them both, he was safely on dry land and left to find his place in the world alone. He eventually found himself a new family in his daughter, Sera, and took on a second job as a night guard at Freddy’s Family Diner to make sure he could provide for her. But she, too, was taken from him by someone known only as the ‘smiling man’, a man he’s still hunting for to this day—and he’ll do whatever it takes to protect Ash from him.

Age: 42

Physical characteristics: Lean, muscular and athletic, with broad shoulders and a V-shaped chest. He has a strong face with high cheekbones and cold, grey-blue eyes. His hair is dull black and choppy. He used to take more care in styling it when he was in a band, but these days he can’t be bothered. He has two piercings in each ear and two tattoos, a heraldic lion on his right shoulderblade and a smiley emoticon on his left wrist to remind him of his one purpose in life.

Personality: Mike is short-tempered and prickly by nature, even in a good mood. He’s impatient, quick to grow frustrated and hates small talk. There is a softer side to him, however, one he likes to hide with thorns and anger. He’s honest to a fault and completely selfless, willing to do whatever is necessary to protect those he cares about, and has made it his mission to make Holyhead a safer place.

Likes, hobbies: Mike loves rock and metal music and once entertained dreams of being in a famous band. Those dreams are dead, now, but he still plays the guitar regularly. He also likes classic cars and finds fixing them to be therapeutic, so nowadays he makes his money working as a mechanic.

Other facts: Eschews rules, dress codes, the establishment and wearing colours that aren’t black. He drinks enormous quantities of tea and whiskey. Once he’s finally hunted down the smiling man and exacted his revenge, he intends to have a red X tattooed over the smiley on his wrist. Never forgive, never forget.

Quirks: He bares his teeth a lot. Whether or not he realises that it’s intimidating is up for debate. His accent hasn’t dulled at all over the many years he’s lived in Holyhead and he still has issues enunciating the letter H.

GAEL FLETCHER

Bio: No one really knows where Gael came from or much about his background, beyond the fact that he was at one point a professional dancer until he was kicked out of his troupe for pranking the wrong person. He came to Holyhead after hearing that Fredrickson was looking for performers. The townsfolk were not kind to him with their gossip, often focused around rumours that Gael had strange powers and his son was a demon, so when children started to disappear at the diner he was quick to receive the blame. He disappeared shortly afterwards and is still missing to this day, presumed dead.

Age: 33 at time of disappearance.

Physical characteristics: Slender and lean, he was surprisingly muscular and much stronger than he looked. He looked a lot like his son, Ash, with the same fey, heart-shaped face and pale blue eyes, and liked to keep his hair shoulder-length, usually tied back into a ponytail.

Personality: Gael was cheerful and good-natured. Ever an optimist, he always looked on the bright side, even though he was more than aware of what people liked to say about him. He went out of his way to help others and was good with kids. In the last few years of his life he fell into depression, but tried his best to keep his chin up and do what was best for his son.

Likes, hobbies: Gael liked to tinker with machines in his spare time and was taken on as the new technician when the previous was fired. Though his passion in life was dancing, once he was no longer fit enough to do he dedicated himself to robotics.

Other facts: Apparently he was a fantastic cook and made the best pancakes in town. He was good friends with Mike, as the only other single dad in Holyhead, and used to share babysitting duty with him so they could cover each other while they were working. He was an empath, much like Ash, and the two of them could hold entire conversations without saying a word.

Quirks: He smiled when he was nervous as well as when he was happy, which led to many an awkward situation.

LOUISE BORDELON

Bio: A rough and tumble girl from the streets of New Orleans, Louise learned at a young age that the fastest way of getting things done is to wade into the muck and do it herself. Bored of her life spent fixing cars and parade floats, she moved to Holyhead looking for more colourful experiences and picked up a job at the diner doing small maintenance. After the tragedies there closed it down for good, she now works full time at the pizzeria trying, with limited success, to keep the animatronics from killing anyone else. She got the exciting life she wanted, that’s for certain, but not in the way she expected.

Age: 41

Physical characteristics: Tall, broad-shouldered and bulky, with big arms, walnut skin and a flat chest. Her face is sharp and angular and she has hazel eyes. Her hair would’ve been dark brown once, but these days she keeps it dyed bubblegum pink. She doesn’t care for looking ‘ladylike’ or being much of a lady at all, dressing however the hell she wants and adding to her extensive tattoo collection whenever she thinks up something new. Most of the tattoos don’t mean anything in particular save for the roses on her hands. She doesn’t like to talk about those.

Personality: Louise is loud, brash and has no qualms about voicing her opinions, even if no one particularly wants to hear them. She’s not a bully, though, and acts as a protective ‘mama bear’ towards those who’ve earned her affections. She hates people who are all talk and no action and when something needs doing, she’ll roll up her sleeves and get her hands dirty.

Likes, hobbies: Louise likes to sing and dance, and doesn’t care whether people are looking or not. She also likes photography, particularly artistic portraits, and kickboxing.

Other facts: Her favourite colour is actually green, not pink, but she thought it would look stupid in her hair and opted for second best.

Quirks: She likes to come up with annoying nicknames for all her friends. She’s usually first on the scene when Eric and Mike are fighting again, but isn’t always successful in breaking it up.

JEREMY FITZGERALD

Bio: No one really knows how a bright young mind like Jeremy ended up working a late shift at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, but what they do know is that he seems to be one of the few people who enjoy every minute of it. In reality, he’s just a profiteer, and a company brimming with as many rumours and ghost stories as Fazbear’s is very profitable indeed. He knows everybody’s business, and can be convinced to share—for a price. Typically, that price is junk food.

Age: 20

Physical characteristics: Of average height and skinny build, Jeremy has dark skin and rounded features. He keeps his wiry black corkscrews cropped short and likes to dress fashionably. After all, he is a businessman, and in business looks are everything; at least, that’s what he claims. It’s more likely that he just really likes clothes.

Personality: Jeremy is positive and bubbly, but not naive, and certainly not stupid. To those he views as more than just his ‘business partners’, he’s reliable, kind and always willing to lend a hand. He does, however, have a cruel streak, which he saves for those he deems to have earned it when he strips their social media of juicy gossip.

Likes, hobbies: Jeremy likes to think he’s suave and sophisticated, but really he’s a huge nerd and will often have squeeing fits with Ash over their favourite anime. He’s also a tournament-winning Magic: The Gathering player and DMs Dungeons and Dragons games.

Other facts: He’s even worse than Louise for encouraging and enabling Mike’s antics, as Mike getting into fistfights and setting things on fire makes him a lot of money on bets. He also genuinely loves the resulting chaos.

Quirks: Talks in a valley girl accent, uses the word ‘like’ for all the wrong things at the wrong times, ambiguously metrosexual.

JACOB STRAKER

Bio: Holyhead has a way of attracting travellers and vagrants, but not everyone there is a permanent visitor. Jacob is one of those born and bred there. He was always the odd one out, the ugly duckling in his family of righteous, pious, upstanding citizens, and assumed that his fascination with death and inability to form emotional attachments to people was simply because he was ‘born bad’. Now he’s older, wiser, and knows he was chosen for a purpose.

Age: 44

Physical characteristics: Straker has handsome features but they’ve been left to neglect. He’s a little too gaunt, a little too thin, and his golden curls are left uncut and unkempt. His eyes are grey and piercing, and often described as unsettling by those who don’t like the fact that he knows things about them he shouldn’t. He has straight scars cut into his arms, legs and back from some incident in the past, and, oddly, he seems to be very proud of them.

Personality: His thinly-veiled god complex is insufferable, but no one can deny his charm. Even those who find him unsettling tolerate his presence due to his charisma and social tact. He’s clever, manipulative and difficult to say ‘no’ to, a shrewd diplomat with a hidden agenda. While despised by the townsfolk for turning out ‘wrong’, they can’t deny that his abilities are useful and turn to him when a conflict needs to be resolved, or a swamp creature slain.

Likes, hobbies: Straker enjoys reading leather-bound grimoires full of mysterious things, chocolate, chai lattes and, apparently, aromatherapy. At least, he does buy a lot of scented candles and oils for unexplained purposes.

Other facts: Animals really don’t like him.

Quirks: His charming smile shows a lot of teeth, but never quite warms his cold, grey eyes. His speech is grandiose, probably just to show off. He seems to feed off attention, good or bad, and has a remarkable talent for commanding it.