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Kril
A humble, well-meaning hermit crab who is evicted from his shell after being unable to pay his taxes. He goes on a long quest just to get it back.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Kril starts the game as a timid recluse, but several people around him note his inexplicable and concerning talent for violence. He eventually confesses he's been simmering with repressed rage ever since he left his tide pool and saw the awful state of the world, and becomes a full-on Screaming Warrior against the final antagonists.
- The Drifter: What he becomes by the end of the game. He gives his own shell up to a homeless hermit crab, and devotes his entire life to helping the other sea life, travelling from place to place.
- Drunk with Power: Downplayed. After defeating Pagurus the Ravenous, Kril gleefully remarks to himself that he feels powerful and only then does he concede that "that lobster" (Chitan) might have had a point about fighting off the Gunk-corrupted monsters.
- Everyone Has Standards: While only in on the treasure hunt for the chance to reclaim his shell, Kril is appalled at the sight of Flotsam Vale upon his arrival. He incredulously tells Nemma that he thought Roland was a great businessman, clearly having a different idea of what that means.
- Grew a Spine: Though he initially starts as a nervous wreck that becomes horrified at his acts of self-defense, over the course of the game, Kril becomes more and more heroic, coming to terms with the fact that he may never get his shell back. He also comes to learn that he might as well direct his anger towards those that oppress others when Chitan tells him to do just that.
- Heroes' Frontier Step: When he finally gets his shell back, his whole drive for his quest, instead of keeping it for himself, he gives it to a homeless hermit crab instead.
- Heroic BSoD: Has one when he and the crew falls down the Mouth of the Drain. He is stricken with guilt that he might have caused the deaths of all of the other crew members, all for worthless "damp paper", which Firth berates him for. When Nemma saves him from a set of sand mites, he also tells her that he feels completely worthless, and might as well be left behind.
- Homeless Hero: He's been rendered homeless after Prawnathan steals his shell from the Tide Pool and is doing everything to get it back and return to the blissful ignorance of living in the Tide Pool. In the end, he chooses to give his shell away to a vagrant hermit crab and chooses to become a drifter who protects others from the polluted sea life.
- It's All My Fault: Thinks this constantly when things seem to go wrong by his account, and even when other characters forgive him.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Although his argument is phrased in a very selfish way, he's ultimately right to say that he was the one who fought for the map pieces and deserves the treasure more than anyone, especially since Prawnathan won't give his shell back to him and has been rendered homeless until Kril finds and gives Prawnathan the entire treasure.
- Nominal Hero: Kril's primary motivation in the game is to simply get his shell back from Prawnathan and return to the Tide Pool. He only fights and kills corrupted sea creatures in self-defense instead of trying to save anybody.
- Only Sane Man: Kril is one of the few characters that even questions the harmful capitalistic system within its setting. He also tries to tell Duchess Magista about all the violent crabs in the shallows during their first meeting, only to be brushed off.
- Rage Breaking Point: Firth's refusal to listen to his pleas to save Chitan and his rambling about spreading more trash about the ocean finally cause Kril to snap and admit he's been holding back all his rage and frustration since he arrived in the ocean, and now he's going to cut loose on Firth so he can take the Perfect Whorl for himself.
- Reluctant Warrior: Despite his talent for fighting with his fork, when Praya Dubia is speaking to him during his Heroic BSoD Kril claims that he never wanted to be good at fighting.
- Unscrupulous Hero: Kril is only on the treasure hunt to get his shell back from Prawnathan and return to the Tide Pool. His attitude towards others using the map he finds the pieces of also shows his more selfish side.
Firth
A young, arrogant hermit crab that Kril meets on his quest.
- Ambitious, but Lazy: He wants to use the Perfect Whorl for his own purposes, but he has Kril do all of the hard work. Despite this, he refers to HIS initiative as "our's".
- A God Am I: As he becomes exceedingly Drunk On Power from wearing the Perfect Whorl, he starts gaining delusions of godhood and outright declares himself a god before he attacks Kril.
- Asshole Victim: Is squashed to death by a giant boot after defeating him, which is depicted as being well deserved.
- Death by Irony: Firth gets squashed to death by a giant boot-shaped liqueur bottle labeled "Boot Liqueur", obviously a pun on the term "bootlicker". Considering that this is essentially what he is, this couldn't be a more fitting death for him.
- Evil Counterpart: Firth is more or less everything that Kril isn't, being a greedy, capitalistic, and selfish wannabe business tycoon that cares more about his own self-interests and those of the system rather than the people it oppresses.
- Final Boss: After defeating Praya Dubia, Firth claims the Perfect Whorl and challenges Kril to a two-phase final duel.
- Hate Sink: Even before his betrayal, he is portrayed as an obnoxious asshole that puts Kril down constantly for his beliefs about the system. He also looks up to Roland, despite knowing how much of a greedy son of a gun he is, vowing that he'll give the money he receives from the Perfect Whorl to charity, while having Kril do all the work. He also berates Kril when he's down, calling him "selfish" for wanting to get his shell back, and for supposedly being the cause of the deaths of the rest of the crew when he rightfully attacks Roland, even going as far as to tell him to jump into the mouth of the "apex predator" to be useful for once. His whole "plan" of giving his money to charity proves itself to be a big lie when he gets the shell itself, and shows more interest towards the economy rather than the people of New Carcinia, or even the well-being of a dying Chitan. When he is defeated, a giant boot even crushes him to death, after he tries to ask for Kril's forgiveness.
- Hypocrite: Deems Kril as being "selfish", but yet when he obtains the Perfect Whorl, he intended to use it to enhance the system, instead of helping a dying Chitan, or showing any concern for the long term damage his plan might cause to New Carcinia's people.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Firth claims to know everything about economy and currency, believing that groveling and following the rich will make him rich in his own way. However, his grand plan of sinking trash island to boost the microplastic economy is the equivalent of trying to fix an economic crisis by simply printing more money, rather than looking at the deeper complexities caused by an economic crisis, such as inflation, interest rates, recession, economic depression, and the even value of a country's currency.
- Meaningful Name: It's one letter off from "Filth," showing how he revels in the ocean's trash-based ecosystem.
- Mirror Boss: In his first phase, his moveset is almost identical to Kril's, though he uses a spoon instead of a fork as Kril does.
- Power Stereotype Flip: Of humanoid Soulsborne Final Bosses. Normally, when the final enemy is some kind of Evil Counterpart or Mirror Boss to the player, they're portrayed as either some kind of tragic Fallen Hero, a Worthy Opponent who wants one final duel, or a Humanoid Abomination of some variety. Firth on the other hand is none of those, being a selfish opportunist who's solely out to better his own interests who only has the power he does through exploiting the work of others. Instead of his motivations being sympathetic or too alien to understand, he has the plain and infuriatingly simple motivation of just being a greedy asshole who doesn't care for anyone but himself.
- Strawman Political: He's based on the "temporarily embarrassed millionaire" or "crypto-bro" stereotype of capitalism supporters, idolizing Roland (a billionaire tycoon) and investing heavily in "alternative" solutions that ultimately benefit himself.
Loan Shark/Prawnathan
A con artist prawn who poses as a shark, and takes away Kril's shell.
- Asshole Victim: After tricking Kril into a dangerous adventure, reneging on the deal to return his shell, and generally being a massive, greedy jerk, there's no tears lost when Krill kills him and takes his shell back.
- …But He Sounds Handsome: When Kril catches up to Prawnathan and confronts him about the shark that stole his shell, Prawnathan claims that "that shark seemed super cool and chill" to him.
- Kill the Creditor: Which is what happens to him after he tries to back out of his deal with Kril.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: The Loan Shark is obviously not a real shark, but a grabber toy wearing a cowboy hat. It seems to fool Kril just fine though, who never comments on them being the same person. Justified in that Kril has probably never seen a grabber toy, and thus could never tell it apart from a real shark.
- Too Dumb to Live: Yes, keep insulting the hermit crab you robbed, tricked into a Suicide Mission, and came back from it having killed an Eldritch Abomination and another hermit crab that dropped a trash island on New Carcinia. See how that ends up for you.
- Uriah Gambit: He tasked Kril with going on the treasure hunt in the hopes that Kril would be killed in the process so he can keep Kril's shell. When Prawnthan finds out that not only did Kril survive, but he also sunk the trash island and unwittingly boosted the economy in New Carcinia, Prawnthan still refuses to give back the shell.
Konche
An old hermit crab who serves as New Carcinia's historian and museum owner.
- Due to the Dead: In the post-game cutscene, it's revealed that (presumably) Kril retrieved the hourglass Konche used as a shell for a memorial site in front of the old hermit crab's museum, Tortellini now apparently running it.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Chitan stabs him through the chest and kills him while possessed by the Praya Dubia.
- Really 700 Years Old: While Konche is clearly an old-timer, he later reveals that he was a refugee of the destruction of the Old Ocean 30 years ago. That may not seem old to a human, but it alarms Kril—which makes sense when you consider that real-life hermit crabs live to be about 15 years old. That would make Konche positively ancient.
- Verbal Tic: Ends most of his sentences with "I say!"
- Yank the Dog's Chain: After traversing through thick and thin, directing and following Kril through the Unfathom and beyond, he manages to see the Perfect Whorl with his own eyes. A legend in itself and something any archaeologist or museum curator would give anything to obtain. Right as he says how much he and Kril can change the world with it, he's stabbed through the back and out his chest by Chitan possessed by the Praya Dubia. His last words reflect his frustration as he says "Oh, coddammit" right before dying.
Nemma
The owner of the bar Bottomfeeders.
- Determined Defeatist: When reassuring Kril after everyone falls down the Mouth of the Drain and the treasure is revealed to be paper money useless to the trash economy, she reveals that her optimism isn't entirely blind to her surroundings. After confiding her worries about her children who she wanted a better future for, she reaffirms that giving up and dying won't solve anything—no matter how the odds are stacked."Livin' ain't always fun. Maybe not even half the time. But livin's what we do. It's all we can do. We pick our sad lil' selves up, we put on our war face, and we shuckin' survive."
- Only Sane Woman: She has the clearest view of the foul and unsustainable nature of the trash economy, as well as healthy ways to resist it. She also points out that even the tide pool Kril calls home wouldn’t have been safe forever.
- Struggling Single Mother: Is raising two daughters alone while also running her bar, and embarks on her journey to find the treasure to maybe give her children a better life.
- What Measure Is a Mook?: Averted. While most of the other characters appear only concerned about the treasure – those that aren't shown to be killed, anyway – Nemma is the only one who acknowledges that all the polluted crabs used to be "people" if you talk to her in the Expired Grove. Kril admits that he stopped thinking about that.
- What the Hell, Hero?: She is the first to call Kril out when he admits that he doesn't intend to share the treasure with the others, but wants to use it to buy his shell back. She then chews him out even worse when he says he just wants his life to go back to "normal", when it hasn't been normal for the others from the start.
Chitan
The last remaining lobster guard of Duchess Magista after a mysterious force seems to overtake the entirety of her castle, who swore to defeat whatever caused it.
- Blood Knight: She has a serious passion for violence against the injustices of the world, to the point where Grovekeeper Topoda rejects her as a pupil because her "enthusiasm" makes him nervous. She appears to have mellowed out by the end – realizing that her rage let the Praya Dubia seize control of her – since the post-game cutscene shows her training with other crabs under Grovekeeper Topoda.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: She is seized by the Praya Dubia and forced to fight Kril after murdering Konche. From her brief moments of lucidity, she wants nothing to do with the creature and begs Kril to help her.
- Genuine Human Hide: Crustacean-on-crustacean example. After fleeing Slacktide, she wears the carapace of a crab as a helmet. Probably didn't help to be wearing it when traveling to Topoda for lessons in combat.
- Jerkass Has a Point: She's aloof, condescending and uncomfortably bloodthirsty, but her militant viewpoint does have merit — as she says to Kril, if everyone simply tries to avoid and step around the corruption plaguing the ocean, it'll just keep spreading until there's nowhere left to run.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After being discarded by the Praya Dubia upon her apparently fatal wounding, she is horrified that her strength was used to kill Konche—an innocent that "never raised a claw against [her]." And she doesn't accept the excuse that Kril provides of the Praya Dubia making her, saying that her constant rage was what let it possess her.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: She manages to defeat Inkerton while Kril is fighting Roland, and she's later found standing next to the corpse of a spider crab in the Abyssal Plains.
- Uncertain Doom: It's never outright stated she died from the wounds Kril inflicted on her as a result of their fight, and the collapse of Trash Island leaves him unable to check on her. Averted in the post-game cutscene, where Kril goes back for her to support her as they leave the Bottom of the Drain and she's shown drilling under Grovekeeper Topoda with other crabs.
Moon Snail
A wise old magical Moon Snail that teaches Kril about Umami magic and skills.
- Purple Is Powerful: They are a super powerful, purple colored moon snail. Their shells littered around the game also serve as save points and – after meeting them in person – warp points.
- Third-Person Person: They narrate all of their interactions with Kril, with some creative editorializing.
Grovekeeper Topoda
A peacock mantis shrimp that upgrades the adaptations Kril collects with Umami crystals.
- Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: Extremely Inverted. Despite what his French accent would suggest, Topoda is one of the toughest bosses in the game, and challenges you to a fight before you even have an opportunity to explain yourself.
- Face Death with Dignity: When downed and unable to defend himself anymore, Topoda takes it calmly. His only regret is that he hoped for a "cooler death" against "ten or twelve guys."
- Flash Step: His Megaton Punch will sometimes combo into this, with a Dragon Ball Z-esque sound effect.
- Hermit Guru: Lives in a secluded grove where he hones his skills.
- Lightning Bruiser: Just like a real-life mantis shrimp, Topoda hits you hard and fast.
- Not So Stoic: While composed aside from the spread of pollution weighing on his mind, Topoda has a few moments where his quiet dignity falters. First in a slight tangent where he confesses that he hoped for a "cooler death" when he thinks he's about to be slain. And second when Kril finally has a chance to explain he isn't polluted nor trying to kill Topoda. The mantis shrimp can only let out an awkward "…Oh."
- Poor Communication Kills: When Kril finally reaches Topoda's grove, he assumes Kril is another Gunk-possessed monster and attacks on sight. Kril doesn't get a chance to speak and correct the misunderstanding until he fights him off.Kril: (panting while leaning on his fork) I'm not… trying… to kill you!
Topoda: …Oh.
Duchess Magista
A tyrannical Dungeness crab who is taxing the reef's populace to build her castle.
- Bad Black Barf: As a show of how far gone she is to the Gunk by Kril's return, Duchess Magista barfs out a stream of it after barely speaking a few words. She also weaponizes it by puking pools of Gunk to slow and poison Kril in her fight proper.
- Dead Guy on Display: After Kril's return to Slacktide, there are several crabs tied to posts with their "crimes" written on plaques beneath.
- Epic Flail: The tea strainer she seems to treasure operates as her main weapon. It can also leave a puddle of Gunk on the ground when slammed down or open to trap Kril for her grapple move.
- God Save Us from the Queen!:
- Even before she goes mad from the Gunk, Magista was a corrupt bully who forced dozens of crabs to pay her tribute and killed them for the most petty of reasons.
- She also employed Nephro as the Captain of the Guard and the Royal Shellsplitter as likely enforcers. Whether they were already partially corrupted by the Gunk, both attack Kril on sight and Nephro has several dead crabs tied to posts as "criminals" around his territory.
- It's All About Me: She clearly only cares about her castle's construction for her own benefit while masking it as protection from threats beyond the walls. Case in point, when Kril tries to mention the violent polluted crabs, she brushes him off while saying she tires of him.
- Poisonous Person: After her corruption by the Gunk, many of her attacks tend to leave puddles of toxic bile behind. If accidentally stepped in, Kril will be affected by the Gunk status, gradually poisoning him over time.
- Starter Villain: Her taxation policies are the reason Kril loses his shell and has to leave home, but she's soon overcome by the Gunk and struck down.
- Stealth Pun: Her title of Duchess is remarkably close to the name of her species as a Dungeness crab.
- Villainous BSoD: She appears to be in the middle of one when Kril finally reaches her in the polluted Slacktide. Though she claims she can see clearly now, how worthless her castle and everything around her is, she quickly succumbs completely to the Gunk and tries to kill Kril.
Roland
A greedy business tycoon isopod who intends to retrieve the treasure at the Mouth of the Drain for himself.
- Bad Boss: To Inkerton. He tells Inkerton that he wishes that he never found him, just because he was unable to take Kril down.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Roland is initially built up as being the game's main antagonist, being an incredibly greedy business tycoon that was a significant reason for Flotsam Vale's current state, being on the most heavily polluted areas in the game. He also competes with the main characters towards finding the treasure in the Mouth of the Drain, which Kril wanted to get in order to pay the Loan Shark to get his shell back. Towards the end of the game, however, he is killed off by his own minion Inkerton affected by the Gunk, whom Kril must fight before he reaches the final area of the game.
- Cane Fu: Walks with an Allen key he uses for a cane, which he also beats you with during his boss fight. One of his most powerful attacks has him wielding six of them.
- Corrupt Politician: Refers to himself as the city's "de facto mayor". In other words, he never won an election and likely appointed himself.
- Dastardly Whiplash: He's one in isopod form, complete with curly mustache and top hat.
- Disc-One Final Boss: He's built up as the primary antagonist during the New Carcinia treasure hunt, but his defeat leads into the story's final act.
- Faux Affably Evil: He tries to put on a generous Southern Gentleman facade, but it's very clearly just a cover for his own greed.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Inkerton blasts Roland with his gun while the latter is in the middle of insulting him.
- Living Battery: To power his factory in Scuttleport, he keeps Voltai, the Accumulator locked in the power center.
- Non-Indicative Name: He has the Boss Subtitles of Venture Crabitalist, but he's an isopod.
Inkerton
A squid who works as the "right-claw" of Roland.
- The Dragon: To Roland before he gets affected by the Gunk and kills him.
- Meaningful Name: One letter off from "Pinkerton," the infamous detective agency known for its violent enforcement of capitalist policies. Doubles as a Punny Name considering he's a squid.
- Precision F-Strike: Calls Roland a "bastard" upon his own death, to show that he never even liked him anyway. Fitting, given that Roland felt the same towards him.
- Shout-Out: Functions as a massive one to Bloodborne, with him using a crab cracker and a pistol at the same time in the same way a Hunter uses a trick weapon and sidearm, complete with him being able to toss the pistol aside to extend the range of the cracker. His tricorn-like mantle and Boss Subtitle of Crab Hunter only make it more obvious.
King Camtscha
An Alaskan king crab, who is the former king of the old Carcinia, whose negligence lead to its eventual downfall.
- Broken Armor Boss Battle: Forcing him to molt his shell and expose his softer underbody is key to taking him out for good.
- Drunk with Power: When the Hermit Crab elders had created the Perfect Whorl, Camtscha was afraid that they might overthrow him, causing him to exile and/or execute all of them and destroy all of their artifacts but the Perfect Whorl, believing that the artifact will make him even more powerful. He had never figured out how to use its power though – beyond possibly using a fraction of its power for his regenerative molting – and hid it below his throne so that only he can use it.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Despite being thought to be long dead by the events of the game, Camtscha is the entire reason for the establishment of the newer Carcinia, as his actions are what led to the downfall of the entire Old Ocean. Him stealing the Perfect Whorl also prevented the Hermit elders from keeping the ocean's balance in check, allowing the pollution from the Gunk to spread unimpeded.
- Healing Factor: Played with. Like the gnarled crabs around the Old Ocean and Carcinia, King Camtscha gets a second health bar when he molts his shell. Either it heals his wounds and restores his vitality or none of Kril's attacks reached his flesh through his super-thick shell, which he abandoned one it was too damaged to keep using.
- Immortality Immorality: During the second phase of his boss fight, Camtscha starts ranting that he refuses to die, and that he has been reborn "eon after eon". It's unclear how exactly Camtscha has remained alive for as long as he has, considering that he was unable to use the Perfect Whorl for his own benefit—though it's possible he's in some kind of cycle of reincarnation. When he gets old, his shell gets big and bleached, but he can simply crawl out of it as a younger, pinker version of himself. The fight, after all, features both versions of Camtscha.
- Mighty Glacier: In his first phase, his shell is so thick and heavy that he can't even move his main body, using a toilet brush as a sweeping weapon or to shoot bubbles that afflict the Scour status and striking with both his free claw and occasionally one of his legs. After his health is depleted, he's "reborn" by molting his shell and becomes much faster while retaining his strength and getting new attacks.
- Scary Teeth: In the first phase of his boss fight Camtscha's face is covered in barnacles, but when he molts from his old shell he spares no time inserting a set of dentures into his mandibles, giving his already uncomfortably fleshy appearance a horrifically human-looking set of chompers. He even uses them to chew you to death should he kill you with his grab.
- The Unintelligible: Played for Horror. Camtscha doesn't speak words, but rather in a ghastly rattling hiss that is translated through the subtitles. Notably, no other character speaks like he does, probably in part because he has been alive far longer than any crab has the right to, and he has deteriorated so much that he can't even talk anymore.
Praya Dubia (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
An enigmatic god-like entity found at the bottom of the Drain.
- A God Am I: Calls itself "the ocean's one true god." It's later revealed to be a primordial hydrozoan
made up of negative Umami and damned souls of those that died from pollution. - Big Bad: While it is not responsible for the Gunk infestation that is threatening to slowly destroy the ocean, it appears to refer to itself as "the Spiral", where those who died from pollution would end up. Its connections with the Perfect Whorl, an ancient artifact from the hermit crab elders, also solidifies it as such. Its ultimate goal was also to manipulate Kril into using the Perfect Whorl to put an end to the ocean.
- Foreshadowing: Both its existence and role in the game are alluded to when Kril winds up in the Mouth of the Drain. It starts speaking to him when he first arrives, though it is unclear whether it is real or just imagined. The same voice can also be heard when Kril speaks to what appears to be a glowing tube-like creature with a bulbous head.
- The Ghost: The Praya Dubia is never alluded to until the second half of the game, where it begins talking to Kril directly. The thing itself isn't ever seen either until the very end of the game, where Kril now has to fight it to obtain the Perfect Whorl.
- Knight of Cerebus: Compared to all other antagonists in the game's story, the Praeya Dubia is played as being the biggest and most serious threat of all. All scenes that involve it are also played dead seriously, in stark contrast to the bubbly, often satirical edge of the rest of the game.
- Pre-Final Boss: It is the final obstacle that Kril has to face before Firth decides to hijack the Perfect Whorl for himself, thus leading to the actual final boss thereafter.
- Shown Their Work: Praya Dubia is made up of a conglomerate of souls, which reflects how the real-life Praya dubia is a colonial animal consisting of many polyps that operate as a single organism.
- Straw Nihilist: As a manifestation of negative Umami, it's the culmination of the polluted ocean's despair and pain, and spends much of its screen time ranting about the untenably horrific state of the world. And while it claims to be the Spiral itself, it notably leaves out any possibility of rebirth—only focusing on the inevitable end of all things.
- Villainous Breakdown: Its entire second phase, where it self-destructs to launch a chaotic wave of beams, spikes and energy bombs while screaming in agony, hoping to kill Kril for good.
- Voice of the Legion: What the Praya Dubia sounds like when it speaks. Chitan's voice is added on top when it possesses her.
