Villains Are Destined to Die Characters: Full Cast Guide

Villains Are Destined to Die characters split into a family Penelope was adopted into under false pretenses, and the five men whose affection scores she has to manage without dying in the process. Knowing which relationships are load-bearing to the plot, and which are red herrings, changes how the early volumes read.

TL;DR: Villains Are Destined to Die characters, wiki-verified: Penelope Eckhart (the reincarnated protagonist, cursed to be disliked on sight), her three adoptive Eckhart siblings, and five love interests, though only Callisto Regulus, the crown prince, becomes her actual endgame. The full breakdown below covers who matters and why.

Villains Are Destined to Die Character Guide: Key Takeaways

• Penelope Eckhart is a reincarnated protagonist named Siyeon Cha in her original life, now living as the cursed villainess of the otome game she used to play
• Callisto Regulus, the crown prince, is Penelope's actual endgame romance, despite killing the villainess multiple times in the original game's hard mode
• Ivonne Eckhart is the Eckhart family's real missing daughter; Penelope was adopted specifically because she resembled her
• Five characters count as love interests on the character wiki's own list, but only some of those relationships stay romantic through the story
• Reynold Eckhart's hostility toward Penelope has a specific, traceable cause: resentment over something she did as a frightened child, not random cruelty

Overview: A Reincarnation Story Built on a Cast That Already Hates the Lead

The premise is simple to state and harder to live through. Penelope Eckhart wakes up inside the body of a doomed villainess from an otome game she was playing the night before. She's cursed with a magical trait that makes people dislike her at first meeting. That curse, combined with a family already primed to resent her, is why nearly every relationship in this cast starts in negative territory. Almost none of it develops naturally; it has to be actively repaired first.

The Eckhart family's coldness isn't generic villain-adjacent hostility. Duke Eckhart adopted Penelope specifically because she resembled his biological daughter Ivonne, who'd gone missing years earlier. When Penelope grew older, she stopped resembling the memory of Ivonne. The family's affection curdled into something closer to disappointment. This is a specific mechanism: resemblance-based adoption gone cold. It explains more of this cast's behavior than the villainess premise alone does.

For the full verdict on how this reincarnation premise pays off across the story:

Villains Are Destined to Die Review →

Villains Are Destined to Die Characters: Penelope and the Reincarnation

Penelope Eckhart is the protagonist. In her original life she was a modern woman named Siyeon Cha, around 20 years old. As Penelope, she's 17 to 18, the adopted daughter of Duke Eckhart, carrying a curse that inclines people to dislike her on first impression. The original, pre-reincarnation Penelope was petty and miserable. She took her unhappiness out on the people around her. The protagonist who wakes up in her body is different: sarcastic, calculating, and strategic, fully aware of exactly what game she's living inside. She plays it on purpose, not by accident.

Her childhood, before the Eckharts found her, was spent as a commoner, and her biological mother is dead. That detail matters. It's why she fights so hard for a place in a family that doesn't want her at first, and why she rarely takes safety for granted even once she has it.

Penelope's official design. Her turquoise eyes in the manhwa are a different shade than the novel's emerald, per the character wiki.

Villains Are Destined to Die Characters: The Eckhart Family

Duke Eckhart is Penelope's adoptive father, the man who found and adopted her as a child because she resembled his missing biological daughter. He grows cold and distant toward Penelope once she's older and no longer looks enough like the daughter he actually lost.

Ivonne Eckhart is that missing daughter, Duke Eckhart's biological child, who disappeared around age 11 or 12 and is later found. Her absence is the entire reason Penelope was taken in, which makes Ivonne's eventual reappearance a direct threat to Penelope's already-fragile place in the family.

Derrick Eckhart is the eldest Eckhart son, concerned above everything else with the family's reputation. The character wiki notes that at the end of the novel he's the only family member Penelope doesn't keep in contact with.

Reynold Eckhart is the second Eckhart son and, per the character wiki, the family member most hostile to Penelope, starting with an Affection Score of -10%. His resentment traces back to overhearing young Penelope pray that his missing biological sister wouldn't return, a moment of childhood fear rather than genuine cruelty. He becomes more forgiving once she's able to explain that the prayer came from her own terror of returning to poverty.

Villains Are Destined to Die Characters: The Love Interests

Callisto Regulus is the crown prince of the Eorka Empire and Penelope's actual endgame romance. He has a reputation for violence and instability, and in the original otome game, he kills the villainess multiple times in hard mode. The manhwa uses that reputation as a setup rather than a warning: he becomes the male lead Penelope ends up with.

Eckles is a former prince from a fallen kingdom, purchased out of slavery by Penelope and made into her personal knight. His storyline is one of the more structurally unusual in the cast: he reaches 99% on Penelope's in-story affection tracking but can't cross 100%, because what he feels is closer to obsession than genuine love. When Penelope refuses his request to run away together, he turns adversarial and betrays her.

Winter Verdandi is a sorcerer who runs a magic guild called the White Rabbit. He's eliminated as a romantic option quickly, after Penelope's first encounter with him, making him the shortest-lived name on the love interest list.

For where the story actually starts and how the arcs build from there:

Villains Are Destined to Die Reading Guide →

Villains Are Destined to Die Characters: Household Staff

Emily is Penelope's maid and one of the first people in the estate to become genuinely loyal to her. She starts the story disliking Penelope enough to routinely prick her with a needle while she sleeps. Penelope catches her at it and holds the secret over her instead of punishing her outright. That single choice, mercy where the old Penelope would have lashed out, is what actually turns Emily around; the relationship shifts into real loyalty once the two of them get past that early antagonism.

Pennel is the head of the Eckhart estate, introduced acting condescending toward Penelope. She shuts that down quickly by asserting her actual status in the household, a small early scene that tells the reader exactly how this new Penelope intends to handle people who underestimate her.

Where the Story Stands: Ending, Side Stories and the Anime

Every name above now has a finished arc. The webtoon, drawn by SUOL from Gwon Gyeoeul's web novel, finished its main story with chapter 214 (per Anime Corner), and on August 9, 2026 Kakao Piccoma, its Japanese publisher, announced the end of the main story there and a TV anime in the same press release. Here is the state of each version, checked November 3, 2026 (our Villains Are Destined to Die anime explainer tracks the adaptation news in more detail):

Tapas shows 16.6 million views and about 280,000 subscribers for the series. If you start now, note that Tappytoon and Manta still release weekly, while Tapas shuts down at the end of March.

Spoiler line for the late arcs: the Ivonne section above undersells her. Yen Press's own blurb for volume 9 has Penelope poisoned and unable to wake, the love interests "divided", with "a certain crown prince hell-bent on finding the culprit", while "Ivonne continues to spin her web of lies". The missing daughter becomes the late-story antagonist, not just a threat to Penelope's place in the family. That's the part of this cast we'd most want an anime to get right, because the early chapters set her return up as the family's happy ending and Penelope's worst case.

Villains Are Destined to Die, Vol. 9, Ize Press, August 18, 2026 (cover via Yen Press).

Step-by-Step

The wiki's own character-page order roughly tracks how central each name is to the plot, which doubles as a reasonable introduction order for a new reader.

1. Penelope Eckhart: the protagonist, present from the prologue as both the original villainess and the reincarnated lead who takes over her body.

2. Duke Eckhart and the Eckhart siblings: established early as Penelope's adoptive family, the household she has to survive inside before any of the romance plot develops.

3. Eckles: introduced as Penelope's purchased personal knight, one of the first relationships she actively builds rather than inherits.

4. Callisto Regulus: introduced as the crown prince with a dangerous reputation, later developing into the story's actual central romance.

5. Winter Verdandi and the household staff (Emily, Pennel): rounding out the cast as Penelope's estate life and social circle expand.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the main character in Villains Are Destined to Die?

Penelope Eckhart, reincarnated from a modern woman named Siyeon Cha into the body of a cursed, disliked-on-sight villainess from an otome game.

Who does Penelope end up with?

Callisto Regulus, the crown prince, despite his route being the deadliest one for the villainess in the original game.

How many love interests does the series have?

Five, per the character wiki: Derrick Eckhart, Reynold Eckhart, Callisto Regulus, Winter Verdandi, and Eckles, though not all of them stay romantic options through the full story.

Is Ivonne Eckhart Penelope's real sister?

No. Ivonne is Duke Eckhart's biological daughter, missing since childhood; Penelope was adopted because she resembled her.

Why do Penelope's adoptive brothers hate her at first?

A combination of her curse (which makes people dislike her on sight) and Reynold's specific resentment over a childhood incident involving his missing sister Ivonne.

Is Villains Are Destined to Die finished?

The main story is. Anime Corner reports it concluded with chapter 214, Kakao Piccoma announced the end of the main story in Japan on August 9, 2026, and Tapas, where the English edition has 226 episodes, posted on August 15 that the main story had closed and special episodes would follow after a hiatus.

Is there a Villains Are Destined to Die anime?

Announced, not scheduled. A TV anime was announced on August 9, 2026, in the same Kakao Piccoma press release that marked the end of the main story in Japan; Wikipedia's entry, checked November 3, 2026, lists no studio, cast or premiere date.

Is this character guide based on the manhwa or the web novel?

The manhwa. The character details trace back to the Otome Isekai Wiki's character pages for the series, cross-checked against this site's review and reading guide; the status, anime and credits come from Wikipedia, Tapas and Yen Press.

Related Reading

• Villains Are Destined to Die Review
• Villains Are Destined to Die Reading Guide
• Manhwa Like Villains Are Destined to Die
• Villainess Isekai Trope Explained: The "wake up as the doomed villainess" setup Penelope's story runs on, across the genre.
• Best Romance Manhwa 2026
• Best Villainess Manhwa 2026

References

• Villains Are Destined to Die Characters (Otome Isekai Wiki)
• Villains Are Destined to Die on Tapas (until Tapas closes on March 31, 2027), also on Tappytoon
• Villains Are Destined to Die on Wikipedia: credits, end date, anime announcement
• Yen Press: Villains Are Destined to Die, Vol. 9
• Anime Corner, August 9, 2026: TV anime announced as the main story ends