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"I'd prefer to be boring than deadly."
— Hopeless to Ghastly, Skulduggery Pleasant: Hell Breaks Loose
Hopeless
AOH Hopeless

A presumed image of Hopeless.[1]

Character Information
Taken Name Hopeless
Species Human
Gender Male
Birth 1556-1600[2]
Age 261-372
Death 1861-1928
Magic Adept
Faction Dead Men
Location Deceased

Hopeless is a former Knife in the Darkness and a founding member of the Dead Men who died during the 300 Year War.

Personality[]

Hopeless is unsettlingly insightful, noticing and understanding details about people that they do not notice or understand about themselves. Ironically, Hopeless himself remains enigmatic, even to his closest friends. A man of many faces, he tends to imitate the personalities of the people he talks to, making it difficult to assuage his true disposition.

However, he has several consistent characteristics. He has a grimly pessimistic outlook on life, hence his name, and a resignation to the status quo that borders on fatalism. He also has a notable fondness and respect for animals, helping them with uncharacteristic gentleness. He is very practical, and struggles to understand philosophical and metaphysical concepts, showing condescension to those who discuss them.

Other characteristics displayed by Hopeless include a reluctance to engage in small talk, a tendency to hold grudges against those who hurt his friends, a sense of sadness, and an appreciation for humour in others (despite being humourless himself). Even his close friend Ghastly is unable to determine whether these are genuine aspects of Hopeless’ personality, or whether he is simply emulating the other Dead Men.

Hopeless is highly independent. Though he is fully capable of functioning as a cohesive part of the Dead Men, he prefers to accomplish tasks by himself, relying solely on his own skill and wits even in battle while trusting the others to fend for themselves. His faith in his comrades is justified and his confidence in himself is seldom misplaced, so this is rarely a problem, but in at least one timeline, his self-reliance results in his death.

Biography[]

The 300 Year War[]

Born in Ireland between 1556 and 1600,[2] Hopeless was trained as a Knife in the Darkness, though at some point he struck out on his own. He befriended Skulduggery Pleasant prior to the outbreak of the 300 Year War in 1615.

As Hopeless did not fall under the influence of Drestan Bizarre during the early stages of the war, he did not meet Skulduggery's friend Ghastly Bespoke until around 1633. At some point afterwards, Hopeless introduced Erskine Ravel to Ghastly and Skulduggery, and the four became close as they fought alongside each other for decades. Hopeless and the others met Dexter Vex sometime after Skulduggery was reduced to a skeleton in 1690, and met Saracen Rue and Anton Shudder sometime after that. Hopeless volunteered with them for the suicide mission that would lead to the group becoming the Dead Men, and stayed a constant member of the group.

Along with the other Dead Men, Hopeless was attacked by Lord Vile in Denmark between 1730 and 1735. When the corpses of Vile's victims attacked two nights later, Hopeless was one of only ten survivors.

Around 1745, the Dead Men joined forces with the Diablerie to eliminate Abyssinia. Tensions rose between the groups and the alliance almost broke down until Abyssinia was located. Their combined force fought Abyssinia for several days, but failed to defeat her until China Sorrows threatened to kill Abyssinia's son Caisson. At some point around this time, Hopeless made an unsuccessful attempt on China's life.

In around 1850, Hopeless was present when Larrikin Fetter decided that it was Shudder’s birthday towards the end of a perilous mission in France. Along with the others, he tried not to laugh at Larrikin’s antics and Shudder’s reaction.

In 1861, Hopeless and the other Dead Men pursued Nefarian Serpine from Wyoming to South Dakota. They were ambushed by Noche’s zombies at a church, and fought them off. As Hopeless was retrieving their discarded guns, he found and captured Noche, who revealed Serpine’s destination to the Dead Men. They failed to catch up to Serpine before he entered the safety of the Necromancer Temple.

The details surrounding Hopeless’ death are unknown, but circumstantial details suggest that he was killed by Baron Vengeous's magic in Prussia, causing the other Dead Men to become scattered for a time. He was replaced by Larrikin.

Alternate timelines[]

When Strickent Abhor travels back in time to 1703, the Dead Men of this new timeline try to prevent him from assassinating Mevolent, so that Mevolent will be able to close the Gate to Hell. The plan goes awry when Skulduggery sees a chance to kill Serpine and goes rogue, whereupon Hopeless leads the vote to decide what to do, himself voting for calling for an army to be teleported to San Gimignano so that Mevolent will tighten security.

The group reunites with Skulduggery at the Gate, which Abhor throws himself into, becoming a powerful sorcerer. Hopeless is given the duty of assassinating Abhor before he can widen the Gate any further, but Abhor has become too powerful for this to be achievable, and Hopeless is unceremoniously killed. His death is one of the catalysts for Skulduggery becoming Lord Vile in this timeline, though the timeline itself is later reversed by the efforts of Valkyrie Cain.

Magic and abilities[]

Hopeless is an Adept, though his precise magical discipline is unknown. It is potentially the cause of his almost inhuman speed. Alternatively, as he was trained as a Knife in the Darkness and is remarkably stealthy, he may be a Wall-Walker.

Hopeless is an extremely formidable physical combatant, as dangerous on the battlefield as he is skilled as an assassin. He is regarded by the other Dead Men and by their superiors as the deadliest combatant of the group, and is considered to be capable of defeating Baron Vengeous single-handedly. His greatest assets are his speed, precision, and stealth, allowing him to embody the Dead Men’s motto of “strike from the shadows, disappear into darkness”. According to Ghastly, Hopeless is little more than a ghost, and his opponents rarely see him coming until it is too late.

In 1703, he uses a bow or a crossbow as one of his primary weapons, and is extremely accurate over short distances. By 1861, he has replaced this with a Sharps rifle and two pistols. His primary melee weapon is a machete.

Trivia[]

  • According to The Skulduggery Pleasant Grimoire, Larrikin substituted for Hopeless in the Dead Men at some point before Hopeless' death, while Hopeless was busy with "other commitments". It is unclear if the Grimoire meant to refer to Skulduggery instead.

Appearances[]

DBMentioned
LSoDMMentioned
Armageddon-Outta-Here Cover
  1. The image is from the wraparound cover of the first edition of Armageddon Outta Here. Due to its hat and gun, the figure strongly resembles the nearby Vex, Saracen, Shudder, and Ravel, indicating that it is another Dead Man. As Skulduggery and Ghastly appear elsewhere on the cover, the figure is presumed to be Hopeless by process of elimination.
  2. 2.0 2.1 It has been confirmed that Hopeless was born roughly within fifty years of Skulduggery, Ghastly, and Ravel. Skulduggery and Ghastly were born in 1580, and Ravel was born in 1606, so Hopeless must have been born between 1556 and 1630 to be within fifty years of both. As Hopeless was friends with Skulduggery prior to 1615, when Skulduggery was thirty-five, it is unlikely that he was born any later than 1600.
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