Griffin: The TV Tropes Breakdown
The Aloner - He outcasts himself by his choice, but he has to. Or else, you know, everyone dies.
Anti-Hero - Griffin fits this mythology to a t.
- On the Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes, Griffin straddles the line between a Type III and a Type IV.
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny! - "They're dead, all of them. Get used to it, it's only a matter of time. ... I'm gonna get some take-away, d'you want some?"
Awesomeness is Volatile - Okay, let's start with a baseball bat. Nah, a badass knife. No, wait, sharks. Forget that, a flamethrower! No, no, a double-decker bus! Screw that, a big fucking bomb. Moral of the story: Improbable and elaborate harbingers of death. Griffin likes them.
Badass Decay - What he fears is happening to him in Siren's Port. And if he's not a badass, he can't protect himself.
Beneath the Mask - Not as big a dick as he tries to be.
Being Good Sucks - Well it does.
Berserk Button - Go ahead. Insult his dead parents. See what happens. (Fast-forward to about 3:06.)
Blood Knight - Killing Paladins is fun. So is beating up other people.
Blue Eyes - Like the sea after a storm Okay, no. Just your standard cloudy blues.
Break the Cutie - Griffin's history, basically. How this precocious young man turned into this sack full of crazy.
Brutal Honesty - Tact? What is this "tact" of which you speak?
Can't Hold His Liquor - A headcanon fact, but true all the same.
Combat Pragmatist - It's kill or be killed. Griffin doesn't have time for that "Let's fight like gentlemen" bullshit. And it's the twenty-first century, who says you can't hit a girl?
Dark and Troubled Past - He has a backstory worthy of comic book heroes, okay?
Dark Secret - Griffin has killed and tortured. A lot. And enjoyed it, really. And doesn't feel an ounce of remorse, outside of the bit he has for the people who got caught in his crossfire. It's almost a Not Secret, really, because it's kinda obvious that he's a violent little bastard. But he keeps it fairly underwraps, just how depraved he can be.
Dartboard of Hate - It's canon that he has a dartboard in his Lair. Headcanonly speaking, you know he's drawn pictures of Roland and taped it on there.
Determinator - He's really not willing to give up on that "kill ALL the Paladins" thing. Also not willing to be dead, which is impressive in his world's standards; most Jumpers are killed in early childhood, usually when they're five.
Deus Angst Machina - Oh God, so much.
The Dog Bites Back - Hey, Paladins. Remember that tiny little child whose parents you brutally murdered right in front of him? Yeah, about that...
Don't You Dare Pity Me - Griffin hates pity. Not only does he not want it, he will mock you if you're expecting it from him.
Driven to Suicide - He was really close to this once. And of course, it could be argued that his entire mission of kill every Paladin ever is just a prolonged suicide mission.
Emotional Maturity is Physical Maturity - Griffin looks younger than he really is, and he tends to act much younger than he really us.
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas - Griffin still deeply loves his parents and he always will.
Fearless Fool - Griffin errs on the side of caution more often than not. But sometimes, that boy can let his attention-seeking/competitive ways get the better of him and he becomes this. Example: Stealing a Mercedes-Benz... in the middle one of Tokyo's busiest intersections... Jumping it out of the dealership... and proceeding to drive it around town at breakneck speeds... oh, while Jumping it and driving in mid-air.
Fire Forged Friends - How Griffin meets most people and ends up talking to on a regular basis? Having to beat/blow shit up with them. For Siren's, it's how he ended up becoming friends with Sarina.
Friendless Background - He hates all of you. (Shhh, not really. He just thinks all of you are going to try and kill him. ... Still dislikes a majority of you, though.)
From Nobody to Nightmare - Griffin would have probably grown up to be a political cartoonist if it weren't for the whole Paladin thing.
Geek - He's a gamer, a movie lover, a comic aficionado, a Francophile, an artist, and obsessed with maps. His inner geek is in a very transparent closet. Also something of a Hollywood Geek/Nerd, because... how many geeks do you know look like that, can beat the crap out of people, and land chicks in Tokyo?
Good is Not Nice - What he considers his work.
Grumpy Bear - Morals and crap are for losers.
Guilt Complex - Griffin will hold the deaths of his parents and everyone he's ever cared for over his head forever. Hence why he tries to stop caring.
Happy Place - Literally, it's his Lair. Metaphorically, his comics and vidja games can be used as an escape of his friendless existence.
Hates Everyone Equally - Exactly what it says on the tin.
Heel Face Revolving Door - This mostly has to do with the fact that Griffin is a self-serving prick. But catch him at the right time and he can do some good.
Hell Bent for Leather - His leather jacket is awesome, okay?
His Story Repeats Itself - His parents die, his caretakers die, his friends die... Lather, rinse, repeat.
Holy Hitmen - Essentially, these are what the Paladins are. So if you get religious in Griffin's general direction, he will not like it.
Hot Blooded - Griffin tries to present a cool, stoic front. He really does. But more often than not? He fails spectacularly at it.
I Just Want to Have Friends - Oh, Griffin does. Deep down. ... Deep, deep down.
I Work Alone - "I don't play well with others."
Ineffectual Loner - Oh, how he tries to be. Griffin's much more successful at it in his world than in Siren's Port.
Intergenerational Friendship - What's developing between him and " Michael Xavier."
It's All About Me - While Griffin does display this in the "I don't care about you" sense, it's more often employed in the paranoid sense. Someone hurts someone he's talked to? It's a message for him. He gets an anonymous Get Well card in a hospital? It's a death threat. And so on.
It Gets Easier - He didn't always enjoy all the violence and making people dead.
Jade Colored Glasses - To a ridiculous degree, especially when it comes to the matter of trusting people. These are the jadest glasses you can find.
Jerk With a Heart of Gold - Okay, it's not gold so much as... rusted bronze with some holes in it. Griffin IS a jerk. However, he is not as big as jerk as he portrays himself.
Jerkass - Remember that thing about him hating all of you?
Jerkass Dissonance - Griffin struggles with the concept of people liking him.
Jerkass Woobie - But EVERYONE HE'S EVER CARED FOR DIED, so there's a basis is his jerkass-itude.
Kitsch Collection - Yeah, Griffin kind of has the habit of drawing his enemies, sometimes dying in various creative and extremely gory ways. It's comforting, okay?
Knife Nut - It's a necessity for Griffin. Not only are knives easily to carry than guns, but mixing guns with his Jump scars is a very bad idea.
Knight in Sour Armor - Griffin keeps stumbling into this territory in Siren's Port.
Leaning on the Furniture - Griffin employs this a lot.
Carrie Kelley. Except they're like a real brother and sister combination. The kind that annoys the crap out of each other.
Leaning on the Furniture - Griffin employs this a lot.
Leave Me Alone - Griffin employs this a lot, but rarely uses these actual words. It's more like "Piss off."
Loners Are Freaks - This guy talks to unconcious Paladins who he's beaten to a pulp. And throws soda cans at them when he loses video games.
Madden Into Misanthropy - Griffin's whole life is this trope turned up to eleven
Man Child - Some of his favorite not-death related things are candy, soda, video games, and comic books. Griffin also is fairly immature when it comes to his feelings and being able to articulate them.
The Mean Brit - Naturally.
Menacing Stroll - Comes with the territory.
Miles to Go Before I Sleep - Griffin firmly believes he's going to die in a fight. But damn if he isn't going to squeeze every last drop out of his existence first, and you bet your ass that includes doing as much damage to his enemies as he possibly can.
Muscles Are Meaningless - He might be a skinny, wiry little prick, but he can kick some serious ass.
Murder is the Best Solution - Reserved for Paladins.
Mysterious Past - You want to hear Griffin's full back story? You have to earn it. And it's not easy.
Not a Morning Person - Headcanon. And why this icon exists. He doesn't sleep particularly well.
Not So Stoic - Again, he tries. There's just a lot of times when he sucks at it.
Older Than They Look - God damn it, he is a man.
Parental Abandonment - They're dead.
Pay Evil Unto Evil - Griffin's lifestyle, basically. The people he tortures and kills are infamous for torturing and killing innocent families and children. You can't get any more kick the son of a bitch / asshole victim than that.
Psychopathic Manchild - Griffin probably gets way too many of his "how to kill Paladins" ideas from comic books.
Sanity Slippage - That line between sane and insane? Griffin has the tendency to play jumprope with it. He's high functioning, but some surprising things can set him off.
Screaming Warrior - Especially when the Berserk Button is hit.
Selfish Good, Selfish Evil - Yeah, his motives are almost entirely based in himself.
The Slacker - Sure, Griffin likes to get shit done. But he could devote whole days to his video games or comics, pigging out and generally moving as little as possible. He just has to balance them with days of violence and productivity.
Silly Rabbit, Idealism is for Kids! - Let the bad guys live? Yeah, Griffin interprets that as suicide. Your morals do not work here.
Sir Swearsalot - In the PG-13 movie with Samuel L. Jackson, Griffin was the one given the f-bomb. That should say something. And in Siren's Port, compared to his usual crowd, he is definitely the filthy mouth.
Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter - Basically his entire relationship with Gabriel. Griffin has a nasty, self-destructive habit of taunting this angel. Talk about tempting fate.
Sympathetic Murderer - Well Griffin does usually limit himself to the people who murdered his parents, not to mention thousands of little kids. That has to count for something.
Teleporters and Transporters - Griffin is a human teleporter.
They're Called Personal Issues For a Reason - Griffin really doesn't want his past revealed to the vast majority. The only exception so far is Magneto and again, he earned the right to hear it.
Violence is the Only Option - How he deals with non-Paladin disagreements, usually.
Weak Willed - A surprising flaw of Griffin's. While there are certain things where he absolutely won't budge, there are others where he's highly suggestable. But it only works if Griffin likes/respects you. So maybe Medium Willed...
Who Needs Enemies? - David Rice. Forever.
Woobie Destroyer of Worlds - He becomes one of these at the end of Jumper. Except it's more like Woobie Destroyer of Apartment Buildings.
*This will probably be a forever growing list as I endlessly stalk TV Tropes.