The Dresden Files/Characters/The Church

Michael Carpenter

"Our lives belong to the Almighty. We serve and live for the sake of others. Not for our own."

A Knight of the Cross, wielder of the holy broadsword Amoracchius, Badass, and overall Nice Guy. His wife is Charity Carpenter, and the oldest of his many children is Molly.

• Badass
• Bargain with Heaven: They're called knights of the Cross for a reason.
• Berserk Button: Don't threaten his children, especially while claiming to be serving the cause of good while so doing.
• BFS: Amoracchius is described as 5 feet long.
• Big Brother Mentor: He's really close to being the big brother Harry never had. Well, one of two that he never had.
• The Big Guy: When even Murphy isn't enough.
• Church Militant: Known and feared as "The Fist of God," throughout the supernatural-nasty community.
• Contrived Coincidence: Justified, in that this is explicitly part of how being a Knight of the Cross works. When one of them is needed, coincidence occurs to get them where they are needed in time for them to help. This has ranged from Father Forthill's car breaking down near Michael's house just when Michael needs someone to watch his children while he heads out to fight evil, all the way into some really awesome Big Damn Heroes moments (Proven Guilty being the most notable one for Michael).
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Michael spends his entire adult lifetime fighting against the forces of darkness, fully expecting that he would die in that quest, and quietly afraid of what it might mean to his family. In Small Favor', he is crippled but alive, and forced to retire from his duties as a Knight, but this leaves him able to take care of his children, coach their sports games, and build houses, like he always wanted to. This is, ultimately, the best he could have hoped for, as Harry notes that most Knights end up retiring feet first in a wooden box.
• Good Is Not Dumb: Michael knew the entire time that Harry had picked up a Denarian coin to prevent Michael's son from getting possessed.
• Good Is Old-Fashioned: Played straight and subverted. Michael gets on to Harry about sleeping with a woman without marrying her. See his Knight in Shining Armor quote for the subversion.
• Happily Married
• Heroic Lineage: Descended from Charlemagne. All Knights of the Cross are descendents of royalty.
• Holier Than Thou: Averted hard. See "Open-Minded Parent" for just one example.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Figuratively and literally. Charity makes it. And reinforces it with Kevlar.
  • "My Faith protects me. My Kevlar helps."
• Knight Templar: Averted in all its shiny glory.
• Meaningful Name: "Michael" is also the name of the Archangel of War; "Carpenter" is both Michael's family name and his day job. The latter is especially meaningful when one recalls a certain other carpenter.
• Nice Guy
• Open-Minded Parent: When Harry brings Molly home in Proven Guity, the first thing Michael does on seeing his daughter, now covered in tattoos and piercing, is hug her. While he then expresses concern about Molly he never condemns her.

Michael: "Harry, tell me, am I too old?"

• The Paladin: Embodies the archetype. Realistically.
• Papa Wolf: "Warrior" shows just how bad an idea it is to threaten his kids. Even as early as Grave Peril, we see this tendency as well; when Lea makes a coy offer to return the Sword to Michael in exchange for Molly, his response is to literally snatch her up and lift her off the floor and promise that he will destroy her if she messes with his children.
• The Paragon: Harry really doesn't believe he's a good person. Michael believes otherwise, and Harry will often rise to the occasion to be worthy of this trust.
• Precision F-Strike: In Warrior. Even Harry is floored.
• Retired Badass: Forcibly retired from the evil-slaying business due to injuries suffered in Small Favor. He is still, however, hinted to be under the personal protection of a literal Archangel - at the very least, he's confirmed to have a whole contingent of guardian angels protecting him and his family - so messing with him is still not a good idea.
  • Per Word of God, getting shot and crippled as he was is his "happy ending." As Harry notes, most Knights end up retiring in coffins. In Michael's case, he gets to build houses and take his children to sports practice.
• Royal Blood: Descended from Charlemagne.
• Weapon of Choice: The massive two-handed broadsword Amoracchius, which is Excalibur.

Charity Carpenter

"My children are vulnerable. I'm taking them to safety. Help me or stand aside."

Michael's loving and caring wife, mother of their seven children, devoted housekeeper, first-aid medic, armor- and weaponsmith, and sparring partner.

• Action Mom
• Almighty Mom: Mess with her kids and doom will befall you, even if you're a powerful fear-eating faerie.
• Badass Normal: Unlike her husband, Charity has no supernatural powers anymoreor ancient artifacts. That doesn't stop her from being Michael's primary sparring partner and hitching up alongside Harry, Murphy, and Thomas to charge headlong into Queen Mab's stronghold to rescue her kidnapped daughter. And she pulls her own weight the whole way.
  • Badass Abnormal: If the RPG is to be taken into account, then she's got Faith powers. Not quite as overt and flashy as her magic used to be, but still powerful nonetheless.
• Biker Babe: Presumably; Michael mentions she used to work on motorcycles, so it's not a stretch to imagine she rode them, too.
• Former Teen Rebel
• Good Is Not Nice: "I hear they make antiseptics that don't sting anymore. Charity used iodine."
• Happily Married
• Knight Templar Parent: See also Mama Bear, Badass Normal, and Big Damn Heroes.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Inverted - she has the secret and doesn't share with anyone, not even Michael. Harry, being a detective, figures it out on his own.
• Mama Bear: Ooooooooh boy.
• Rescue Romance: She met Michael when he saved her from a firebreathing dragon.
• Secret Legacy: Atrophied magical talent, which is passed on to her daughter Molly.

Shiro Yoshimo

The eldest of the three Knights of the Cross, a Japanese man who wields the katana Fidelacchius. Part shinto monk, part Mr. Miyagi; he could easily be compared to a version of Michael in thirty years or so.

• Arch Enemy: Possibly to Nicodemus.
• Badass Abnormal
• Badass Grandpa
• Bargain with Heaven
• Church Militant
• Cool Old Guy
• Heroic Lineage: Descendent of the last king of Okinawa.
• Heroic Sacrifice
• Katanas Are Just Better
• Knight in Shining Armor
• Lost in Translation: A literal example, Shiro converted to Christianity because he was at an Elvis concert and a preacher asked the audience to "Meet the King." Thinking it was an invitation back-stage, he went and ended up becoming Baptist.
• Master Swordsman: Simply put, if you try to take him on with a sword, you lose. Even if you happen to be a 2000 year old Denarian. You will lose. In the RPG he has plot device levels of swordsmanship.
• The Mentor: To Michael and Sanya.
• Nice Guy
• The Obi-Wan
• The Paragon
• Royal Blood: Apparently a descendant of the last ruler of Okinawa.
• Weapon of Choice: Fidelacchius, a katana that is supposed to be Kusanagi.

Sanya

One of the Knights of the Cross, and a former Denarian who went straight. He's black, Russian, and prone to wearing Kevlar and hauling around a Kalashnikov to match his sword, Esperacchius.

• Arbitrary Skepticism: Despite working directly for God and wielding a literal holy sword given to him by the Archangel Michael, Sanya is an agnostic. He believes there's power, just not that it's God. Or he may be having a sustained hallucination from a coma or something, or maybe he was given Esperacchius by aliens masquerading as angels. He actually throws all of these out as possible explanations... Still, God or no God, the job needs to be done. Harry once called him the "Knight of Maybe."
• The Atoner: For when he was being used by Magog.
• Badass Abnormal
• Bargain with Heaven - or possibly aliens, see above.
• Big Damn Heroes / Just in Time: In Changes.
• Blood Knight: While a Denarian.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Powerfully built, extremely strong, and quite loud and cheerful.
• Contrived Coincidence: As in Michael's case, it's part of being a Knight of the Cross, and results in an epic save in Changes.
• Flat Earth Atheist: He got his sword directly from an archangel. You wouldn't know it from his views on religion.
  • An old woman cries out Oh God in Heaven, help us. Then Sanya shows up and claims it's Contrived Coincidence.
• Gallows Humor: A lot of Sanya's jokes tend to be classically dark Russian humor, such as joking to Harry after he becomes the Winter Knight that if he became a monster and Sanya had to kill him, he'd do it painlessly.
• Husky Russkie: His muscles make Michael look like, in Harry's words, "he needs to eat some wheat germ or something."
• Lightning Bruiser: Very fast for a man of his size.
• Nice Guy: Yep, all three of them are incredibly nice people who would go out of their way to save anyone in need. This however also means that the saving deals with fighting monsters that normal people would piss themselves from the sight of.
• Royal Blood: Sanya can trace his ancestry back to Saladin.
• Scary Black Man: Though quite congenial to his friends, he invokes this when interrogating Stevie D in Changes.
• Twofer Token Minority: He's a black man in Russia. In his own words, for Moscow he was very strange. If he went into smaller towns, he had to keep off the main roads because he caused accidents because motorists would take their eyes off the road to gawk at him. For an added bit of diversity, he is descended from Saladin, a Kurd.
• Villainous Friendship: His relationship with Rosanna was a Type III; he genuinely loved her and his Heel Face Turn happened when he found out just how little she cared for him.
• Weapon of Choice: Esperacchius, once known as Durendal, forged into a cavalry saber. Also a Kalashnikov.

Uriel (aka "Jake", aka "Mr. Sunshine")

The Archangel responsible for gifting Harry with Soulfire. Liked by Mab (which does not bode well), respects free will above all else, interferes only when he has to balance the influence of Hell, and apparently is Heaven's spook/Black Ops guy. Harry has spoken to him a couple of times so far.

• Angel Unaware: That janitor was not the janitor.
• Batman Gambit: See Guile Hero.
• Celestial Paragons and Archangels: The only we've one seen so far, though Michael has made a couple of offscreen appearances and Raphael and Gabriel have been briefly mentioned.
• The Chessmaster: Kill two birds with one stone--save two souls with one move. It's his business.
• Do Not Call Me Paul: Because I Know Your True Name is serious business, Uriel gets very frosty with Harry for calling him "Uri."
  • To clarify, Harry has on at least two occasions affected characters' identities by giving them nicknames. Since the "el" in "Uriel" means "of God", one can understand why he would be a bit touchy about having it removed...
• Good Is Not Nice: Apparently, responsible for a lot of the Old Testament. For instance, the slaying of the First Born of Egypt. Since Uriel is often equated with the Angel of Death, this is not surprising.
• Guile Hero: Manipulates, tricks and manoeuvres people to defeat the forces of darkness on the quiet. Once conned Satan a.k.a The Father of Lies.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: According to Mab, Uriel is "by far the most dangerous" of the Archangels, despite Michael traditionally being seen as "the boss"/the most powerful. Probably because he's Heaven's equivalent of the Blackstaff.
• Our Angels Are Different: They're apparently composed entirely of soul-stuff and interfere only within their particular area of responsibility; in Uriel's case, he safeguards free will. So far, he has only appeared in an entirely human form.
• The Quiet One: One of the reasons why Mab likes Uriel.

Father Anthony Forthill

Father Forthill is senior shepherd at St. Mary of the Angel's church in Chicago, Harry's main contact with the militant side of the Catholic Church. While relatively little about his background has been revealed, there are hints that he was much more active in his opposition to the forces of evil in his youth.

• Embarrassing Tattoo: Has an Eye of Thoth tattoo, a remnant of his vampire-slaying days.
• Good Shepherd
• Saintly Church
• Church Militant: A member of the Ordo Malleus.
• Hidden Depths: Is also a lawyer who does pro bono work for his congregation.
• Retired Badass: When he was younger he swore an oath to protect the innocent from supernatural threats and helped to slay a vampire.
• Seeking Sanctuary: St. Mary's.
  • Place of Protection

Father Roarke (aka "Buzz")

Appears in the short story "The Warrior." Former member of the Army Rangers, Father Roarke was trained as a chaplain in the US Army and eventually joined the Ordo Malleus (aka the Inquisition) to fight evil. Once Harry became custodian of Fidelaccius and Amoracchius, he became convinced that either Harry was misusing the Swords or that he was actively trying to keep them out of the hands of the Knights, and took steps to recover them.

• BFG: Wields a .50 caliber Barrett sniper rifle that punches clean through Harry's shields.
• Badass Normal: Manages to keep Harry on the backfoot, despite having no magic whatsoever.
• Cold Sniper
• Combat Pragmatist
• Hostage for Macguffin
• I Have Your Daughter: Kidnaps Michael's daughter Alicia and holds her hostage to get the Swords back.
• Knight Templar
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Michael delivers one to him with a baseball bat and the flat of Amoracchius.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist