Cecil Palmer

Cecil Gershwin Palmer is the voice of Night Vale. He works at Night Vale Community Radio as the announcer and is an acclaimed journalist. He is Carlos' husband as well. He is also the "true vessel" of the dream demon known as Tad Strange, although the relationship between the two is healthy.

## Appearance

Cecil appears as a middle-aged man with messy platinum blonde hair fashioned into a sort of pixie cut. He wears a sweater vest that varies in color but usually royal purple or beige, with a light purple tie, gray pants and brown shoes. He is also shown to wear large red glasses. It is implied that Cecil is not exactly human, and simply has the appearance of one. When asked by Dipper whether he was human or not, Cecil simply responded with, "Physically or characteristically? Either way, it's one of the many wonders of the universe."

When Tad is in control, his appearance remains mostly the same although his most notable features are his horizontal pupils with a third eye on his forehead and dark purple tattoos depicting the tentacles of a cephalopod, single eyes with horizontal pupils, or thorny vines, around his arms reaching all the way to his neck. The tattoos and third eye also give off an ominous purple glow, with the eye looking as though it is transparent and is a few centimeters away from his forehead.

## Personality

Cecil is a very gentle person and is described as being "innocent and kind". He also seems to be very well acquainted with the folks about town. Indeed, though he may not be aware of it, he seems to be one of the town's more prominent citizens. He is very fond and proud of Night Vale, despite its horrors (many of which he has experienced firsthand) and often provides comfort for the residents of the town during times of uncertainty or danger. Though he is quick to praise the City Council, the Sheriff's Secret Police, and their draconian policies, his views on many social issues are surprisingly tolerant for a resident of a police state, and he even occasionally calls out the town's crooked politicians on air, despite the risk of retaliation.

Due to being Tad Strange's vessel, he has something of a dual personality. He can be serious and cheerful by turns, switching between extreme tones at the drop of a hat. Stanford and Carlos separately described him as "overenthusiastic about most things". He struggles with impulse control: he outed Steve Carlsberg as the opponent of the drawbridge project, asked his listeners for dating advice despite being aware that his radio show was not the time or place for it, and accidentally alerted StrexCorp to the pending rebellion in Night Vale. He has repeatedly been willing to use his professional reach and influence for personal gain.

Surprisingly, Cecil has a very good relationship with Tad and vice versa. Despite the fact that Tad Strange is an immensely powerful demon, the two treat each other as equals and respect one another. Cecil himself mentions that Tad never abuses his body when in control, although there have been few occasions where Tad had suddenly taken control of Cecil in the midst of a speech or conversation. The bond between them is great enough to the point where they would even protect each other from harm, seeing as where Cecil would go out of his way to save Tad from the clutches of StrexCorp despite the dangers, and Tad would shield Cecil from harm repeatedly if he was attacked physically or mentally. Tad and Cecil admitted that they are "best friends".