Name: Matt Walker (or Matrim Planestrider)
Age: 17
Role: Wizard Turncoat
Appearance: Something of a boy-next-door, weedy Matt Walker has always been a fragile-looking slip of a boy, shorter than average, thinner than average and generally looking like the word sport might send him into a panic attack. No, far from an athlete, Matt is something of a mathlete and despite not really gelling with the typical geek crowd spends a lot more time with his nose in a book or a computer than in the mud during a football game - and he looks it. At a glance his well-done hair and fashionable clothes might make him appear 'cool', but really they're more the design of his helicoptering mother than himself, and left to his own devices he'd be more likely to turn up to school in a snuggie with bed-hair than in whatever fashion she's stuck in his wardrobe as of late.
Personality: Jumpy and panicky, Matt is fragile in his manner as well as his appearance. Having never been good under pressure, the sudden dawning of an apocalypse hasn't done much for his nerves, even though he's supposed to be on the winning side. One key flaw in his usefulness for taking over the world is his loathing of hurting anything - from an irritating fly to an irritating non-wizard. That said, Matt isn't entirely useless. Who knows, maybe being told to set fire to the world will finally be the point where he grows backbone enough to disagree with a word his mother says.
Bio/Short History: Matt has always been a momma's boy. Overprotective and frankly quite terrifying, Alice Walker (or Alyssia Planestrider) has dominated Matt's life since he was very little. Determined for her little boy to be the best he can be, to excel at everything and to have more friends than he can shake a magic wand at, her helicoptering influence has dictated most of his interaction with the world. To her credit, she has mastered the art of the stealth-chopper, flicking a switch in the presence of his friends to go from pandering overbearing dictator to chilled 'cool-mom' in an instant.
As a result, Matt has always been fairly popular and privileged - his mother's efforts helped along by a fairly endearing personality, albeit a bit scatter-brained outside of academic matters, of course. When Alice told Matt that she was a wizard a few years ago, he first thought it was a joke. Then she set fire to a house plant.
He took her seriously after that.
From that point onwards, Alyssia Planestrider nurtured Matt to be the best little wizard she could ever have hoped for, but she didn't bargain on one thing - that he might eventually develop free will. When crunch time came and she told him to put his hat on and start blasting the non-wizards, he said something to her he'd never said before.
"No."
In a war between mother's influence against his terror of harming people, natural teenage rebellion tipped the scales in favour of his better nature, and Matrim Planestrider ("No, it's just Matt, for god's sake mother") ran away from home with his cyan hat firmly stuffed into his backpack.