• Ax-Crazy: Well over half the team is comprised of violent, unstable psychopaths.
• Bright Is Not Good: Yellow is the brightest color of the primary and secondary colors of any colorspace, and the Yellow Lanterns are made up of Ax-Crazy Knight Templars.
• Cowardly Yellow: Yellow is associated with fear on the emotional spectrum, with its embodiment Parallax needing a host to be afraid before possessing it. The Sinestro Corps play with this idea somewhat, as unlike the other lantern corps they inflict their emotion rather than feeling it. Among their ranks Amon Sur plays it straight, being a Dirty Coward who could never overcome fear like his father Abin and fled when the Green Lanterns were authorized to use lethal force.
• The Dreaded: To be part of the Sinestro Corps, you need to be able to inspire great fear, so it isn't surprising that many members of the Sinestro Corps are extremely violent and sinister criminals and monsters of the utmost notoriety. It really says a lot about this requirement when one Sinestro Corps ring came close to recruiting Batman.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: When the Sinestro Corps was originally formed, new ring wielders originally gained uniforms that were based on Sinestro's old black and blue costume, and instead of the Corps' symbol they simply had a yellow circle on their chests (similar to how Geoff Johns' run established rookie Green Lanterns as having blank white circles on their uniforms and not having Lantern insignias until after they finished training). They were later supposed to go through a process called a "Fear Lodge," where they were put inside stone rooms, cut off from the rest of the world, and would have to confront their greatest fears in order to ignite the power of their rings. Once that was done, they gained the proper Corps uniform as a symbol of being an official member. Considering the amount of the upheaval the Sinestro Corps' has been through, the lack of mention of the Fear Lodge is understandable, but ring wielders no longer start out with the preliminary uniform when they gain a ring.
• Egocentric Team Naming: They could, and have been called the Yellow Lantern Corps in some occasions, but they are officially named the Sinestro Corps.
  • Funnily enough, it was actually Booster Gold who inadvertently named the corps during an attempt to distract Sinestro (see Line-of-Sight Name).
  • After Sinestro's Heel–Face Turn, Arkillo's in charge, and wants to change the name because of the betrayal, now wanting to be called the Yellow Corps. Or the Fear Corps.
• Evil Counterpart: They are considered to be this to the Green Lantern Corps. The Green Lanterns Corps use the power of will, while the Sinestro Corps members use the power of fear. The fact that their founder, namesake and leader is himself a former Green Lantern helps.
• Galactic Conquerors: They use fear to dominate, and several of them were feared dictators prior to becoming Sinestro Corpsmen.
• Heel–Face Turn: After Sinestro re-joined the Sinestro Corps (then called the Yellow Lantern Corps) following Forever Evil (2013), having donned a Yellow ring once more since Wrath of the First Lantern, they have been more "defenders of Korugar" than "oppressors of them and everybody else". When the Green Lantern Corps suddenly vanishes from the universe, Sinestro wastes no time having his Corps take over the role of "universal police", and Soranik does her best to rein in the group's homicidal tendencies. However, once their role is accepted, Sinestro immediately orders them to once more bring terror to the cosmos.
• A House Divided: In Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, later recruits under Soranik don’t agree with Sinestro’s extremist ideology and they agree even less with being in the same Corps as a bunch of psychotic, sadistic murderers and bullies. They willingly follow Soranik into an alliance with the Green Lantern Corps. This works so well that when Soranik goes nuts and embraces her father's legacy, these recruits decide to stay and become Green Lanterns instead of following her.
• I Know What You Fear: Yellow Rings can materialize a victim's fears out of energy.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Their depredation of Daxam while under Mongul II's control was absolutely brutal, with wholesale slaughter and enslavement of the few survivors that they left being the order of the day. That being said, Daxam was one of the most xenophobic planets in the galaxy, with a cultural belief that they were the lone civilized species and that anything else was a mud race deserving of extinction. Sodom Yat was practically the only Daxamite who wasn't like this, and his disgust for the rest of his species was so great that he very nearly just left it to Mongul II and the rest of the Corps to tear apart.
• Psycho Rangers: A great deal of the initial recruits were basically psychotic, evil counterparts of big name Green Lanterns.
• Red Shirt: A common Sinestro Corps character trait in the New 52. In the opening arc of the relaunched Green Lantern book, any Sinestro Corps character introduced that was not existent from the group's inception, from the hunter sent after Sinestro in issue 2 to Evil Genius Professor Insidd, was killed off before the arc's conclusion. Meanwhile, most of the established Yellow Lanterns were said to have been forced into a hibernating state.
• Ring of Power: Yellow power rings work pretty much exactly like their green counterparts, with the addition of being able to sense their opponents' fears and project them as energy constructs.
• Shout-Out: You can find a Xenomorph and a Predator and many others in group shots, appropriately enough

Thaal Sinestro

"Labeled the first renegade of the Green Lantern Corps, I was banished to the underbelly of the universe, the Antimatter Universe... and delivered back into darkness. For the first time in my life — I felt fear. And I was blinded by its brilliance. I believed fear to be a part of the chaos I abhor, but it was more controlling than all the willpower in the universe. And it would be mine."

Sinestro was a former Green Lantern who carried out his oath through the use of tyranny. When exposed, Sinestro was brought in by Hal and imprisoned in the Battery. There, he made contact with Parallax, a living yellow parasitic embodiment of fear. Years later, after his plot against Hal Jordan had run its course, he retreated to the Anti-Matter universe and built a Yellow Power Battery, making him the first to harness one of the new colors to form a Corps.

You can read his own take on himself here.

• 0% Approval Rating: This is addressed in his own comic run, no less. It's always unclear just how many of those who act like they approve of Sinestro are telling the truth, but most people in the universe know better than to trust him including most of his own Corps and he makes it clear that he doesn't trust any of them either. He does start regaining the loyalty of parts of the corps as the title progresses, but they have very different priorities than most people.
• The Ace: Before Hal, he was considered the greatest of the Green Lanterns. It shows, as he has tricks up his sleeve that Hal still hadn't learned, even after over a decade on the job. When it comes to the tactical use of the power ring, Sinestro has no equal.
• Action Dad: Soranik Natu is his daughter. While the two aren't on the best of terms, Sinestro puts no stops in protecting her and he's a formidable warrior in his own right.
• Affably Evil: Despite being sworn enemies that are constantly at odds, Sinestro still views Hal Jordan as a friend and protégé, and isn't above complimenting him on occasion.
• Alliance with an Abomination: Has teamed up with the Anti-Monitor and Parallax at different times, though only Parallax stuck with him past the Sinestro Corps War.
• And I Must Scream: During Emerald Twilight, he describes his time trapped in the Central Power Battery as this:
  Sinestro: Do you know what it was like inside the Battery, Jordan? Being reduced to less than a thought in that limbo? It's like having a maddening itch that you can never scratch... because there's nothing there. There's no you. That's what it was like, Jordan. And it wasn't... very... pleasant!
• Antagonist in Mourning: Abin Sur was Sinestro's best friend and he personally saw Abin as the best member of the Green Lantern Corps sans himself. Even after his turn to villainy and disgracing the Green Lanterns on a mutual basis, Sinestro has nothing but respect for Abin Sur and mourns his loss, with his mentoring towards Hal Jordan based on his own perspective of honoring Abin in a way. In fact, part of the reason why Sinestro hates the Guardians of the Universe is because he feels that they indirectly played a role in Abin Sur's death via a Manhunter and that they didn't bother to intervene, something in which he isn't wrong about.
• Anti-Villain: When written by Geoff Johns he's much more willing to work with the heroes against bigger threats, sometimes even reaching arguably Anti-Hero territory.
• Arch-Enemy: To all Green Lanterns, but Hal Jordan in particular mainly because it was Hal who exposed Sinestro's actions as a dictator to Korugar and using lethal force by proxy, which ended with him getting revoked from the Green Lantern Corps. That said, Sinestro still sees himself as a mentor and friend to Hal.
• Ax-Crazy: For a team that is wielded by those who inspire fear and do so via showcasing their savage and bloodthirsty nature, Sinestro isn't one of them, being mostly calm and collected. Even when driven into a Villainous Breakdown, the most he reacts is rants and fighting more recklessly than he usually does.
• Back for the Dead: Sinestro's return during the third issue of Emerald Twilight. The character had not been seen for years apart from an appearance as a spirit possessing John Stewart in Mosaic. Yet in what was meant to be Hal Jordan's final issue as Green Lantern, the Guardians seemingly resurrected Sinestro from his imprisonment inside the Central Power Battery in an attempt to stop Hal Jordan's rampage. It doesn't work, as Hal kills him by breaking his neck. Later stories would reveal that the Sinestro that died was a Parallax-created illusion to help break Hal Jordan's will, but at the time this was meant to be the final showdown between Hal and Sinestro.
• Badass Boast: During their last round in Sinestro Corps War with Hal and Kyle, he ends up shouting out this line...
  Sinestro: As long as there is life, the universe will never be without fear!
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: He, of all people, ends up getting the White Lantern power. Then hilariously Subverted, as he's smacked away soon enough after and has to be backed up by the others.
• Bait-and-Switch Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #3 ends with Hal defeated by a squad of Sinestro Corpsmen, ready to take him to Sinestro. The next issue begins with Sinestro about to gloatingly welcome Hal... only it turns out that the Green Lantern brought before him is Guy Gardner, who'd been captured offscreen.
• Beneath the Mask: Sinestro happens to hide a lot of repressed emotions like hate, shame, and regret. This made him a notable host for Umbrax to take influence upon him, turning Sinestro into an Ultraviolet Lantern.
• Best Friend: He shared this dynamic with Abin Sur, whom Sinestro saw as the best member of the Green Lantern Corps besides himself. Even years after his death and Sinestro breaking his ties with the Corps to become their Arch-Enemy, Sinestro maintains a great deal of respect for Abin.
• Big Bad: Sinestro is the main antagonist of the second-half of Emerald Dawn and Sinestro Corps War. Eventually, he works himself up into becoming the main adversary of the Green Lantern Corps by being their most persistent member, establishing an Evil Counterpart version of the group that he once served and being Hal Jordan's most personal nemesis.
• Big Damn Heroes: He plays this role in Forever Evil during the scuffle against Power Ring. While Power Ring was able to fend off Batman (who, at that time, also held a Yellow Lantern Ring) and Catwoman, Sinestro suddenly shows up, formerly presumed to be dead, to take on and defeat Power Ring.
• Black and Blue and Scary All Over: Zigzagged; Sinestro's original costume was black and blue. The same outfit would serve as the standard uniform of the Sinestro Corps when it was originally formed to promote fear, though they were soon replaced with the traditional Lantern suit with yellow to represent the Corps. The outfit itself was later retconned to being Sinestro's civilian clothing when he became a Lantern. With his creation of the Ultraviolet Lanterns, Sinestro's old outfit has been reinstated as their corps uniform and colors.
• Break the Badass: Sinestro was able to inspire fear in Guy Gardner. While Guy isn't the most important, popular, or powerful of the Green Lanterns, what's notable about him is that Guy is known to be utterly fearless towards anything he faces off against, to the point where he would tell "funny stories" to a lot of enemies Hal fought against. Sinestro isn't one of them.
• Breakout Villain: In his first characterization he was a mostly one note villain with some claim to Hal’s arch-nemesis with not much going to him besides a yellow power ring. Compare that to now, where he along with Atrocitus are the pedestal villains of the Lantern Corps, and Sinestro himself being a pillar of the DC Supervillain community as a whole, with him generally being the go-to ring slinger in any Legion of Doom style Villain Team-Up. It eventually got to a point where Sinestro would receive his own comic book issues detailing his arc during the New 52.
• Bright Is Not Good: Sinestro was a Green Lantern member, so his suit was naturally a bright shade of green. In his prison attire, he wore a moderate shade of purple, but his most notable clothing is a bright yellow suit. He's also a militant dictator who commits villainous acts as a way to provide benefit and order in his twisted psyche.
• Bring It: After Hal, Kyle and Sinestro have all had their rings drained and end up on a rooftop, Sinestro just glares at them.
  Sinestro: Come on, then. The both of you.
• Broken Pedestal: Sinestro is this to the Green Lantern Corps, being their once greatest and most effective member, who was then revealed to be a dictator using unscrupulous methods to maintain a system of order that the Green Lantern Corps found unacceptable and were forced to remove him. The feeling is mutual with Sinestro feeling as if the Green Lanterns are not strong or capable enough to maintain order in the universe.
  • He also winds up becoming this to his own Corps in his own New 52 series, which occurred shortly after Sinestro defected from it. Some parts of the pedestal is rebuilt, but even they tend to be wary at times.
• Card-Carrying Villain: His Silver Age self. He managed to take charge over the Weaponers of Qward by saying he would show them what "true evil" is.
• Characterization Marches On: invoked Initially Sinestro rarely had speaking roles in comics, and was often depicted as a Palette Swap variant of the Joker. Now, he's straddling the line between Anti-Villain and Anti-Hero, despite Word of God saying much of his characterization is based on Adolf Hitler. The most consistent trait is his personal relationship with Hal Jordan, though that has gone from Arch-Enemy to Friendly Enemy at times.
• Combat Breakdown: At their final bout in the Sinestro Corps War, the battery of Sinestro Yellow Lantern Ring runs out, which also occurs with Hal and Kyle's rings. He decides to just battle them with his own body and fists.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: His original looks were based on David Niven. Some fanon said, however, that he was an expy of Gamal Abdel Nasser.
• Control Freak: As someone who is obsessed with keeping order, Sinestro would do whatever it takes to enforce it upon those he feels that either needs control or should be saved, something which leads him into becoming a dictator to his own home planet and an enemy to the Green Lanterns. And as Hal puts it best:
  Sinestro wants complete control. Over everything and everybody. And what Sinestro can't control- he destroys.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: He ends up on a very one-sided one against Hal Jordan when the latter taps into his pure-willpower form. What's even worse for Sinestro is that he is powered by Parallax and that still does nothing to shift the fight in Sinestro's favour, and neither can he prevent the destruction of his base in an Earth-Shattering Kaboom.
  • On the other hand, his fight against Power Ring also ends up like this; a master of fear whose power revolves around how much the victim fears him at nearly full power versus a man with dwindling energy whose power revolves around his own fear of others. The previous issue even lampshades how predictable the outcome is, as does one of the variant covers of the issue.
• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: He gave up his daughter so she wouldn't be persecuted for her father's political ideas. Given what happened to her mother, it was clearly a good call.
• Dark Is Not Evil: The modern take on Sinestro explores this, as far as him wanting to instil "order" throughout the universe as the motive for his villainy, which often plays out like an Evil Plan.
• Dastardly Whiplash: Subverted; he's a villain and has a Snidely-esque whiplash, but his personality is nothing like the villain stereotype.
• Defiant Captive: Twice over following his capture at the end of Sinestro Corps War.
  • Even when he's being being taken to Korugar for a public execution, Sinestro does nothing but mock the Green Lanterns escorting.
  • After the Red Lanterns capture him, Sinestro shows no fear whatsoever, mocking Atrocitus to his face.
• Determinator: There was a reason he was a member of the Green Lantern Corps after all. In fact, Sinestro was considered among its greatest member because, alongside willpower, he demonstrated great resolve and determination in his convictions and goals. It's one of the traits he's consistently maintained throughout his appearances, with Sinestro being one of the hardest individuals to put down partly because of his drive to see his goals succeed, no matter what.
• Discard and Draw: When he obtains an Ultraviolet Ring, he stops using his Sinestro Corps power ring. During Dark Nights: Death Metal, he uses all of his Ultraviolet power to punch a hole in the Omega Knight, he wears his old ring again.
• The Dreaded: The Yellow Lantern Rings are powered by the amount of fear the wielder inspires towards others. Given that Sinestro is among the most powerful member of his own Corps as well as their top superior, it's safe to say that he is easily among the most feared beings in the DC Universe.
• Drunk with Power: His initial fall from grace had shades of this and revisiting the issue through flashbacks have only reinforced the idea.
• Dynamic Entry: He starts off the fourth issue of Forever Evil by blasting Power Ring in the back.
• Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Sinestro (with Sector 3600) destroys the rebuilt Bolovax Vik (Kilowog's home planet), along with the spirits of Kilowog's race.
• Egocentric Team Naming: When Sinestro uses the Yellow Light of Parallax held into a ring to create a Corps, the most logical thing would be to establish the Yellow Lantern Corps as a name. Nope, he instead insists on calling it the Sinestro Corps, which is symbolic of his constant need of order and his belief that he is the best individual capable of bringing peace to the universe, despite his own Corps being powered by fear and housing a collective of Ax-Crazy berserkers.
• Endangered Species: Sinestro's first plan of action after returning is finding and rescuing the few remaining Korugar natives (his own race) all of whom hate him with a passion and are only alive because they fled their homeworld to escape from him. Unfortunately for them they're now in danger of being attacked by others for Sinestro's crimes.
• Enemy Mine: With Hal/the Green Lantern Corps against worse villains such as Nekron, Krona, and Volthoom. Then again, with many of these foes opting for universal annihilation, there can't be any order if there isn't anything left, so Sinestro is forced into an alliance with his usual arch-enemies if they're up against those wishing to destroy the universe and beyond.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • Deep down he still cares for his dead wife Arin Sur, and his daughter Soranik Natu. He also had a very close friendship with Abin Sur, whose dismissal by the Guardians is one of the reasons he hates them.
  • On Korugar, the first police officer to support him was a woman named Arsona. While she later came to regret this choice and eventually denounced him, some part of her still cared for him, and he for her. Wrath of the First Lantern later reveals that he had fallen in love with her (Volthoom explicitly states his feelings for her are the same he felt for Arin Sur), and her death in Korugar's destruction served as his second Despair Event Horizon, first driving him to try and steal Kyle's white lantern ring to revive her and the planet, then driving him to take control of Parallax and take revenge on Volthoom and the Guardians. Although Volthoom can't die due to his Complete Immortality (but did scream in agony and was later killed by Hal and Nekron), Sinestro and Parallax slaughtered the Guardians, only sparing Ganthet.
  • It must be noted that even after everything he put them through, Sinestro has never stopped loving Korugar and his people, to the point that one of the few rules of the Sinestro Corps was to bring no harm to the planet under any circumstances. When Mongul II refused to listen and tried to conquer it, Sinestro himself came to his people's aid and riddled him with holes. When Volthoom destroyed Korugar and most of his race, Sinestro made him scream in agony, and with his Corps' help, he terraformed a former prison planet into New Korugar, a new home for his people.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Sinestro just can't figure out why people who fled his subjugation react with varying degrees of horror and fury when he catches up to them and transports them to a repurposed prison planet he and his army keep an eye on from the old guard moon. He also mistakes his heroic daughter sticking around to keep an eye on him and his plots as burgeoning loyalty.
• Evil Counterpart: Fitting that his team is a villainous counterpart to the Green Lanterns, Sinestro is this to Abin Sur, with both being among the best that the Corps had to offer, with both of them acting in unorthodox ways compared to other members. That said, Abin Sur was more in lines of negotiating things peacefully whereas Sinestro thought that was best done by dominating others and enforcing order, effectively making him a dictator. Regardless of their differences and alignment, both saw each other as Best Friends with Sinestro being shown to grieve for Abin Sur.
• Eviler than Thou: During the Red Lanterns' introductory arc, he and Atrocitus spent much of the time boasting in each other's face about being the bigger threat.
• Evil Former Friend: To Hal Jordan, who he mentored. The two still respect each other to a degree.
  Hal: Were we ever truly friends?
  Sinestro: That's the tragedy of all this, Jordan. Hal. We'll always be friends.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Parallax is not happy being controlled by Sinestro. It’s noted that even for Sinestro it is often hard to maintain control over the entity for extended periods.
• Evil Is Petty: Green Lantern Rebirth revealed that Sinestro was the true mastermind behind Hal’s fall from grace as Parallax, as he was the one that told the entity to use Hal to escape the Central Power Battery to begin with. The reason he picked Hal specifically? He wanted Hal to see what it was like to have been considered the greatest Green Lantern of them all, only to then be called a traitor and murderer.
• Evil Mentor: Granted, he wasn’t evil at the time, but he was Hal’s main teacher when he was starting out in the Corps, and still sometimes makes reference to being his teacher, albeit usually as a way to condescend to him. He is very quick to state that Hal has not yet Surpassed the Teacher - and while Hal has got the better of him, and it’s not like his ego would allow him to say otherwise, he's shown more than once (including when he was re-inducted into the Corps) that he still has tricks to teach his old student.
• Face–Heel Turn: Once, he was among the best of the Green Lanterns, that is until Hal discovered that Sinestro was actually using underhanded tactics to govern Korugar like a dictator, all while out of notice from the Corps. Once he was caught, stripped of his privileges, and arrested, Sinestro vowed that he would have revenge. And revenge, he would attempt in a glorious fashion.
• Faking the Dead: He faked his own death when he fought Hal during Emerald Twilight.
• Fallen Hero: Sinestro used to be the single most respected member of the Green Lantern Corps until he took a shortcut in his work by enslaving his home planet. Just to add to the tragedy, Johns' run suggests that Sinestro didn't just start off as a jerk (though he was) who happened to turn evil, but through losing his family to violence on Korugar.
• Foe Romance Subtext: He and Hal Jordan have a very close bond, even as enemies, but their antimatter counterparts under Grant Morrison's pen are also secretly lovers, with the antimatter Sinestro trying to urge his Hal to run away with him to the positive matter universe so they can be together openly.
• Foil:
  • Sinestro is one to Atrocitus. Both are leaders of a Lantern Corps that just so happen to be in opposition against the Green Lantern Corps, command great fear from their alliance, and tend to employ incredibly unscrupulous and ruthless actions in order to achieve their objectives. They also intend to fight for a good cause, albeit in an incredibly extreme way. That said, while both are associated with negative emotions, Sinestro is powered by Fear whereas Atrocitus places emphasis on Rage. Their methods for a better universe also differ; Sinestro wants to bring about order and control in a fascistic way whereas Atrocitus wants to lead his Corps into targeting and butchering the truly wicked partly to sate their rage and partly to ensure they don't inspire the same kind of actions against that turned a Red Lantern into what they are now.
  • He is also one to Black Adam. Both are powerful, feared leaders who command great fear in their subordinates, have a personal relationship with their arch-enemies, and tend to display their superiority towards others on multiple occasions. This gets played up in Forever Evil where Sinestro and Black Adam recognize their similarities and end up bonding and becoming friends over these.
• Friendly Enemy: Claims he and Hal Jordan have always been friends.
  Hal: Were we ever truly friends?
  Sinestro: That's the tragedy of all of this, Jordan. Hal. We'll always be friends.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: As a young man on Korugar, Sinestro was a simple student of archaeology. Years later, he became a despotic tyrant feared across the stars.
• Galactic Conqueror: Sinestro's greatest aspiration is to bring order to the universe and ensure it is safe and secure under his watch, but given his own actions being more in lines with a militant dictator, he's more in lines with this trope than anything else.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: While normally someone who relies on using his ring (of which he appears to be among the very best in, Sinestro can fight using his bare hands if necessary, as shown in the end of the Sinestro Corps War.
  Ring: Warning. Power levels approaching 0.0%.
  Sinestro: (to Hal and Kyle) Come on, then. The both of you.
• Graceful Loser: He takes his defeat at the revived Hal's hands in Rebirth quite well.
  Sinestro: Heh. Jordan... welcome back.
• The Heavy: Almost always causes problems for the Lanterns in anyway.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Between starting off as Lantern, becoming a supervillain, forming his own Corps (that underwent its own Face–Heel Turn eventually), taking part in several Enemy Mine situations- it's not so much what 'side' Sinestro is on as much as what course of action best serves his purpose of bringing order to the universe.
• Hero Killer: In the Sinestro Corps War Sinestro leads his fellow Corps into killing several Green Lantern members in an effort to assert their own superiority towards them. This also turned out to be a ploy on Sinestro's part for the Guardians to finally allow the Green Lanterns to use their powers to kill others. While this eventually turns the tide and Sinestro is defeated, he still muses over the fact that his actions have made the Green Lanterns more ruthless than before, something that he desired.
• Heroic Willpower: Though he can't really always be said to be heroic, Ion himself said he had the strongest willpower of all Green Lanterns.
• Hero's Evil Predecessor: Evil Predecessor to either Hal Jordan (greatest Lantern) or Katma Tui/Soranik Natu (Lantern of Sector 1417).
• Hijacking Cthulhu: Using both his mastery over fear and his exceptionally strong willpower, he's able to control Parallax, having it possess him and maintaining control, and practically treating it like a pet.
• Interspecies Friendship: He's Korugarian, while his partner, Abin Sur was Ungaran.
• Interspecies Romance: He's Korugarian, while his late wife, Arin Sur, Abin's sister was Ungaran.
• Ironic Echo: Soranik angrily confronts Sinestro about how he used her, but he retorts that she's trying to blame him for something that she really should have expected.
  Sinestro: Take responsibility for your failures, Soranik. Or you will never learn from them.
  • Shortly afterwards, they receive word about Hal Jordan resurfacing and opposing the Sinestro Corps. Sinestro starts ranting about how he was always a disappointment, and Hal can never single-handedly oppose him.
    Soranik: Take responsibility for your failures, father. Or you will never learn from them.
• It's All About Me: Sinestro repeatedly shows himself to be incapable of believing that someone else can succeed where he failed, such as automatically concluding that Kyle Rayner's White Lantern ring came from Volthoom rather than accept that Kyle achieved that state on his own, blaming others for his failures rather than accept that he wasn't good enough on his own.
  • Part of his hatred for Hal Jordan also stems from believing that Hal betrayed him by not joining him when he found Sinestro was a tyrant behind the Corps' backs. He does not seem to ever consider the reverse possibility; that it was him that betrayed the Corps.
• Jerkass: He may be a Well-Intentioned Extremist but he’s still a pretentious condescending asshole who respects very few people (his Archenemy Hal Jordan being one of them). He constantly refers to Kyle Rayner as an unworthy street rat because of the nature in which he got his powers.
• Karmic Death: Sinestro delivers this trope to Power Ring in Forever Evil. Power Ring's ring is powered by one's own cowardice; because he is a massive coward, that makes him very powerful. However, Sinestro's ring also feeds on Power Ring's cowardice. Their battle is brief and - for Sinestro - hilarious.
• Kick the Dog: Though he is portrayed more sympathetically as of late, Sinestro does occasionally do this to remind readers that while he might be justified in questioning the Guardians' authority, he is still a villain. He killed Red Lantern Laira just when it seemed like Hal might have calmed her down and taunted Hal about it, and then he later stabbed Ganthet.
• Knight Templar: Above all, he wishes to bring order to the universe — and he's willing to completely enslave it to do so.
  • Part of his goal in the Sinestro Corps War was to force the Green Lantern Corps into resorting to lethal force so that even if he lost, the Corps would be more 'efficient' at bringing about order.
    Sinestro: The universe will fear Green Lanterns. And the universe will be better for it.
• Laser-Guided Karma: His puppy-kicking is not without consequence. Several members of the Red Lantern Corps, as Atrocitus himself is happy to point out, are victims of Sinestro's corps, making him partially responsible for the rise of the Red Lanterns. And killing Laira drives Hal into such a rage that he is inducted into the Red Lantern Corps himself and comes dangerously close to killing Sinestro and his corpsmen, if not for Saint Walker's intervention.
• Last-Name Basis: Hardly anyone calls him Thaal.
• Last-Second Chance: In Emerald Twilight, when Sinestro is sent against Hal, the latter tells the former to back away or else he would kill. Sinestro doesn't do what Hal told him, and considering the state he was in, Sinestro didn't last long.
• Leave Him to Me!: More than once regarding Hal, on the grounds that he reckons that It's Personal and he regards Hal as being greater than any of his corpsmen - consequently, he feels he's the only one who can take on Hal. All the evidence says that he's not wrong.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: He's evil, but he's generally treated as the better man when he fights over villains like Mongul or Nekron. While a villain, Sinestro does have some scruples, honor, and virtues and at least he genuinely believes that he's doing what he does for a better cause.
  • Like most of the villains in Earth 1, Sinestro naturally ends up being this in Forever Evil where he's pitted against Power Ring, an evil version of Hal Jordan from Earth 3 who is defined by his supreme cowardice as well as being selfish, an exact opposite of the Hal Jordan Sinestro knew.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: He's Soranik Natu's father.
• Manipulative Bastard: Is very charismatic and intelligent, and very good at scheming and manipulating people.
• Meaningful Name: His name is derived from "sinestra", which is Latin for left-handed. It's also an indication that he's not a nice guy.
• Mirror Character: During the events of Wrath of the First Lantern, Sinestro ends up becoming this to Atrocitus and John Stewart.
  • With Atrocitus, Volthoom ends up destroying Korugar, which sends Sinestro into deep despondency. This was something that Atrocitus had also went through and to further twist the knife, both the destruction of Korugar and Ryut were because of the ignorance and incompetence of the Guardians who neglected to keep the Manhunters under control. On a similar note, it's also similar to John Stewart role in the destruction of Xanshi. If both men hadn't been so egotistical and intent on ending the crisis by themselves, then both worlds might have been saved.
  • He also ends up being this to Kilowog; the both of them loved their worlds and their people, but would later lose both to Sinestro's own vanity: Kilowog when Sinestro destroyed the new Bolovax Vik to try to destroy the Lanterns on it, and Sinestro who refused help against the First Lantern. Both events lead to major events in Sinestro's life as well: after destroying Bolovax Vik, Sinestro was tried and killed by the Corps, only for his soul to enter the Power Battery & meet the Parallax entity; and after Korugar's loss, Sinestro bonds with Parallax & kills most of the Guardians, and leaves for unknown space.
• Misplaced Retribution: At the slave auction in his eponymous series, Sinestro says he'll kill everyone if the Korugar survivors are not handed over to him, even though most of the audience is not bidding and just appears to be the downtrodden watching a spectacle and there are slaves in the audience. When the woman who had the highest bid orders her guards to kill the Yellow Lanterns he then kills everyone but her in retaliation. It's especially erroneous because her reason for bidding on them is never revealed, for all he knows she wanted to free them, and anyone with any knowledge about Korugar knows better than to trust Sinestro to keep his word.
• Murder by Inaction: His predecessor as Green Lantern was Prohl Gosgotha, who loaned Sinestro his ring to help him fend off a Weaponer while he was seriously injured. Seeing himself more worthy of wielding the power, Sinestro inherited Gosgotha's ring by refusing to give the ring back and letting him die.
• Naked People Are Funny: Not Sinestro himself, but in one moment when Guy Gardner runs out of his his ring's battery, it's revealed that he's worn nothing and he ends up naked. In a humorous moment, Sinestro ends up face-palming at the whole situation.
  Sinestro: Gardner, how did the Green Lantern Corps ever accept you into its ranks?
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Sinestro sounds like sinister. Considering A Sinister Clue, it's pretty clear he's up to no good.
• Narrator All Along: The events of Emerald Twilight are narrated and told to the audience by him, though we don't know this up until the very end of the story.
• Neck Snap: This is how he ends up dying, courtesy of an enraged and maddened Hal Jordan, in Emerald Twilight. He gets better.
• Nemesis Weapon: He originally wielded a ring that was composed entirely of the "yellow impurity" in the standard-issue GL rings. In more modern continuity, Sinestro and his Sinestro Corps wield rings that tap into fear, the antithesis of the willpower the modern Green Lantern rings tap into. Further, under Geoff Johns's tenure, this was expanded into six other Lantern corps that tapped into other emotions, some of which were Nemesis Weapons to one another, including Black Hand and the Black Lantern Corps, whose rings drive them to consume emotion on the grounds that the blackness of death is the absence of emotion.
• Never My Fault: He'll never admit that the reason his wife, Arin Sur, turned against him, that his people came to fear him, and that he was stripped of his position as Green Lantern, is all his own fault due to what borders on a pathological need for control. Instead, he'll constantly blame Hal Jordan, the other Green Lanterns, and the Guardians of the Universe for being too weak or not intelligent enough to understand what's required to bring about order.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: Despite being a villain himself, Sinestro ends up being on the benefitting end of the trope, courtesy of Volthoom destroying Korugar, which pissed him off to the point where he siccs Parallax and his Corps on the First Lantern.
• Nightmare Weaver: Sinestro can conjure up a projection of one's worst nightmares in case his ring picks up emotional residues of their fear. He enforces a routine ala a "fear lodge" in an attempt to indoctrinate others into his cause and teach them how to weaponize their fears.
• Noble Demon: He is sometimes depicted as this. Despite his horrible methods, he genuinely has good intentions and still has lines he won't cross, will willingly ally with the heroes if a greater evil emerges, still cares for his daughter and Hal, and has some regrets about what he's done.
• Not So Stoic: Atrocitus was the first to discover Sinestro had a daughter in the first place, and vowed to kill her in retaliation for Sinestro's acts against him. This marked a very rare moment when Sinestro was genuinely afraid.
• Obviously Evil: He's scarlet-skinned with a Snidely-esque whiplash and is literally called Sinestro; the only thing shocking about his villainy is that it's well-intentioned.
• Papa Wolf: On a rare occasion, he will act uncharacteristically protective in case his daughter gets involved in a deathly situation. After all, Sinestro felt that it would be best that Soranik be left distant from him as her association as Sinestro's daughter would damage their reputation as well as have foes think of her as emotional leverage for Sinestro.
• The Paragon Always Rebels: He used to be "The Greatest Green Lantern". Now he's the Corps' worst enemy and he dragged down countless people with him.
• Pay Evil unto Evil:
  • Slaughtering all the Guardians but Ganthet is horrific, but given this was after they'd taken several major levels in jerkass from Sinestro Corps War onwards, up to and including trying to wipe out all sentient life in the universe... it's not unfair to say they kinda had it coming. Even Hal, when trying to stop him - not knowing he'd already done it - is trying to talk Sinestro down from killing them not for their sake, but his.
  • In Forever Evil, Sinestro is the one to kill Power Ring, a member of the Crime Syndicate who think nothing other than invading other worlds to conquer and indulge in their own evil.
• Pretender Diss: During his brief return to the Green Lanterns, he remarked to Starstorm, an alien hero who'd fought him in his Yellow Lantern days and had been utterly psychologically crushed by it, that he had seen men climb out of far worse ruin than that... and then added that, however, Starstorm was no Hal Jordan. In general, he deemed the various Earth Lanterns to be Inadequate Inheritors to Hal - who is just about the only person he very begrudgingly respects. Kyle Rayner got the worst of it, with Sinestro mocking him as an "alley rat" who was never deserving of the ring.
• Pride: Sinestro's fatal flaw. He can't accept that anyone can succeed where he has failed, with the closest he's come to acknowledging another's equality/superiority in any respect being when he considered his and Hal's clash to be the ultimate clash between Fear and Will.
• Planet Baron: He lorded over Korugar like a military general and felt that it was his right to govern the planet to a prosperous route. What's surprising about this is that Sinestro genuinely believes that he's doing a big service to Korugar, even though many in the planet actually dislike him for what he's done.
• Post-Final Boss: Once Volthoom is defeated, Hal has one more battle, against Sinestro, who wants to murder the Guardians. However, Hal wasn't trying to save the Guardians, he was actually trying to prevent Sinestro from crossing another line.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: In order to cement his control of the universe, Sinestro creates the Fear Engine, a gigantic machine inside Warworld. Thousands of captives are shown their greatest fears, which would fuel the Sinestro Corps' fear rings indefinitely. However, Sinestro actively avoids the "child" part of this trope. He believes that only the best and brightest can provide enough fear energy, and children certainly don't fit the criteria.
• Power Tattoo: During his tenure as a member of the Ultraviolet Lanterns, instead of a ring, Sinestro was branded a tattoo in the shape of a ring on his middle finger that held and conjured the ultraviolet powers of repressed emotions.
• The Psycho Rangers: He created an entire organization of one to oppose the very Corps that he used to be a part of as well as prove it to them that what he can do is better and more effective than what they've done. Of course, The Sinestro Corps is filled with ruthless, raving maniacs powered by fear, and they're all sub subservient towards Sinestro because in addition to being their leader, he inspires the greatest fear out of the bunch.
• Purple Is Impure: As an Ultraviolet Lantern, Sinestro's costume is largely the same, except the yellow is replaced with a dark shade of purple and his ring constructs also generate Hard Light with a dull purple color scheme.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Sinestro is pink, and he's a formidable leader, an expert manipulator, a skilled fighter, and an incredibly talented figure in his own right.
• Redemption Rejection: The villains are granted full pardons for their help in defeating the Crime Syndicate in Forever Evil, but only Luthor and Cold accept it. Sinestro and Black Adam openly laugh at the idea.
• Retcon:
  • His Silver Age debut established him as having been kicked out of the Corps long before Hal Jordan joined. Years later, the Emerald Dawn storyline would establish that his fall from grace happened not long after Hal got the ring (with Hal being directly responsible for it).
  • His "death" at a maddened Hal Jordan's hands would later be rewritten as false, with the Sinestro Hal "killed" actually being a Hard Light construct created by Parallax.
• Ring of Power: He had one, and was considered its most skillful user. Sometime after his defection from the Green Lantern Corps, he ends up in possession of another powered ring, this one being yellow and powered by how much fear it inspires. It leads Sinestro to create his own corps.
• Satanic Archetype: He was the best and brightest of a heavenly host, but his prideful and opinionated nature led him to become disobedient. This led to him being cast out and becoming their greatest enemy.
• Scary Dogmatic Aliens: He's a fascist Control Freak who sincerely believes that a universe that is effectively ruled by fear - whether it is of his Corps, or a Green Lantern Corps that embraces fear to defeat him - is a better one.
• A Sinister Clue: He's left-handed, which is referenced in his name.
• Smug Super: Sinestro can be pretty smug and arrogant at times. Most of the time, he doesn't bluff about how powerful and controlling he can be and is very open to demonstrating his might and showing his opponents how much they're underestimating him.
• The Social Darwinist: He frequently looks down on the weak and believes that those with considerable strength are inherently in the right. He even became Green Lantern of his sector by refusing to return the ring to his predecessor Prohl Gosgotha when the latter was gravely wounded and loaned Sinestro his ring to fend off a Weaponer of Qward.
• The Starscream: Back when he was still a Green Lantern. He had major plans to dethrone and murder his superiors, the Guardians, due to his belief they were doing a poor job running the universe (which, all things considered, probably isn't far off).
• Tome of Eldritch Lore, Being the founder and leader of a Corps dedicated to using Fear as their main emotion of power, he is owner of the Book of Parallax, which details everything the Corps' member have, can, and will do in the name of inspiring fear.
• Took a Level in Badass: Johns has pulled this with a number of characters. Sinestro went from being a good arch-enemy to Hal and already badass to becoming a full-blown Manipulative Bastard.
• Trauma Button: During Blackest Night, Carol zaps him with the standard Star Sapphire technique of putting him in a crystal prison that makes him feel love. Unfortunately, it reminds him of Arin, and Sinestro promptly goes berserk, smashing out of the crystal instantly.
• Villain Has a Point: As shown in full from approximately Blackest Night through Brightest Day and culminating in Rise of the Third Army and Wrath of the First Lantern, his opinion on the Guardians of the Universe was largely correct. Hal comes to accept that, and when he confronts Sinestro at the end of the last event, he makes it very clear that he agrees, and he's not trying to save the Guardians from Sinestro - he's trying to save Sinestro from himself.
• Villainous Breakdown: He has one during Blackest Night. Whenever he finds out that the Guardians made Abin Sur (his only true friend) look like he had gone insane when he really was the only one who knew the truths behind Blackest Night, he gets really pissed off. Understandably so! Also, his reaction to Hal getting the Parallax entity again instead of himself and the part around the end with his need to get the White Lantern battery.
• Villain Respect: Towards Hal Jordan. He views practically everyone else with total contempt, but Hal is pretty much the only one who earns his compliments, backhanded and snarky as they often are.
• Villainous Friendship: Considers Black Adam a friend and peer, mainly because of the number of similarities they tend to share with one another.
• Villainous Valor: Even if his plans have failed or he's at a severe point of weakness, Sinestro will always fight back, unwavering in his cause and ambitions. Given he was a former Green Lantern and was once its greatest member, there's no doubt Sinestro would stand his ground and fight with whatever dignity he has left.
• Villainous Vow: Like all the other Corps, the Sinestro Corps has their own oath that they recite. Sinestro's case is unique in that instead of chanting '"Burn like his Power", he instead proclaims "Burn like my Power!"'' to further emphasize that his Corps was named after himself.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: After Volthoom is defeated, Sinestro admits to Hal that this is how he really sees him as, in spite of their opposing sides and their means to maintain order in the universe.
• We Can Rule Together: Sometimes offers this to Hal when they clash, telling him join him or die. Hal invariably turns him down, lampshading that they're both too stubborn to ever change.
• We Used to Be Friends: He was Hal's friend and mentor before his Face–Heel Turn. In Wrath of the First Lantern, Sinestro states they've never even really stopped being friends.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Depending on the incarnation, but the comic usually portrays Sinestro as this. He really does care about his people and maintaining order, but the lengths he will go to in order to keep them safe and thriving are almost always what most would call controversial. For one, he felt that being a dictator to Korugar really was for the best for the planet, even if many hated him for it.
• Willing Channeler: Twice in Green Lantern #20. Sinestro frees Parallax from the Yellow Power Battery so he can utilize his powers. He does, and keeps control of himself. Hal also becomes a Black Lantern specifically to return from the Dead Zone and summon Nekron to kill Volthoom. It also doubles as Hijacking Cthulhu as because he is well aware of what Parallax is and a master of Yellow Energy, Sinestro manages it easier than Hal, who has to use his Heroic Willpower to overcome Nekron's control.
• The Worf Effect: He's on the giving end of this trope in Green Lantern: Rebirth and Sinestro Corps War. The first thing Sinestro does upon showing up in the former is to beat the hell out of Kyle Rayner, even on the latter occasion when Kyle has a huge power boost. This is done just to make Sinestro look badass.
• Worthy Opponent: He has exactly two, for the most part - his daughter, Soranik Natu, in part because she has the strength to defy him, and his eternal nemesis (and only friend) Hal Jordan. Despite it all, and a tendency to snipe at Hal when they fight and when they team up, he genuinely has enormous respect for Hal's willpower and on Hal's return in Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, he portrays their clash as the ultimate battle between Yellow and Green, between Fear and Will, telling his entire corps to back off because Hal was too great for them. Given that he was in full control of Parallax and Hal had become living Willpower (and just ripped through their supercharged ranks like they weren't even there), it's hard to argue with that.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Back in the Sinestro series, the titular villain had been gravely wounded, resulting in his daughter Soranik taking over the Sinestro Corps. Under her leadership, the more-benevolent Corps was accepted as the new protectors of the universe. However, it turns out that Sinestro was counting on her good nature for the Corps to install order. With that accomplished, he heals himself by absorbing Parallax, and re-takes command to start keeping order. Hal figures this out pretty much as soon as Soranik explains that she remade the Sinestro Corps into a force for good, finishing the explanation. As he lampshades, he knows Sinestro's style of scheming pretty well by this point.
• Xanatos Gambit: In the Sinestro Corps War, he set things up so that no matter what the outcome was, he would win. Either he and his troops gained control of the Multiverse, or he forced the Green Lantern Corps into adopting more aggressive tactics that he feels would be more suitable to bringing order to the Universe.

Arkillo

" Only fear is beautiful."

Sinestro's right-hand man and most loyal supporter. Arkillo was the first being Sinestro chose to join the Sinestro Corps, and he quickly proved his worth as a leader and taskmaster. The hulking, ogre-like alien is the Corps' main drill sergeant and overseer of the ring forges. After the Sinestro Corps War, when Sinestro was imprisoned on Oa, Arkillo led the faction that remained loyal to him; he challenged the usurper, Mongul, for control of the Corps, but lost and had his tongue ripped out as punishment. Following Sinestro's return, Arkillo resumed his old duties.

Arkillo was off with the New Guardians when the Corps went rogue and Sinestro disbanded them, and was incredibly angered at Sinestro's apparent betrayal. The Weaponer provided him with a new (albeit likely flawed) battery, and Arkillo now serves no one but himself and the Yellow Light.

• Ax-Crazy: When you piss him off.
• Berserk Button: If you either mention Mongu-er, the M-word around him or ask about his necklace, he'll kill you on the spot. No questions asked.
• Boisterous Bruiser: A dark example. Extremely loud and always up for the chance to kill people.
• Character Development: Has received a great deal of this in Green Lantern: New Guardians, and went from a full-fledged villain who just had a great sense of honor, to an Anti-Villain, and then quickly progressed from a Nominal Hero all the way to a full-blown Unscrupulous Hero.
• Deadpan Snarker: For a being whose generally a violent brute, sarcasm is surprisingly common from him.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Guy Gardner beat him in a brutal fist-fight without their rings to secure his allegiance to the Green-Yellow Lantern union, correctly figuring that even if Soranik Natu was in charge, Arkillo was key to getting the Yellows to fall in line and recognising that Arkillo was his opposite number. After that, they became good friends, and remained so even after the alliance fell apart, meeting up for a monthly beer. It got to the point that Arkillo actually faced him down when a Darkstar possessed Guy nearly killed his father in a rage, telling him to Go Through Me if he wants to finish the job, refusing to fight back, instead challenging him to take off the Darkstar mantle and telling him You Are Better Than You Think You Are. The Power of Friendship actually snaps Guy out of it, after an extended pummelling.
• The Dragon: Sinestro's right-hand man.
• Dragon Ascendant: With Sinestro's Heel–Face Turn, Arkillo's in charge of the Corps. Unfortunately he's one of the few left.
• The Dreaded: The universe fears the Sinestro Corps. The Sinestro Corps? They fear him, and with good reason - even after he mellows out, he's one of the most dangerous ring-slingers in the universe. The only exception to this among the Sinestro Corps is Sinestro himself.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: If you fail his tasks in any way, shape, or form, he'll devour you then and there. Well, that's how he used to be; he's become far more reasonable since his life fell apart and he was forced to rebuild everything.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • To Kilowog, the Green Lanterns' drill instructor and fellow hulking alien. They dueled twice in the Sinestro Corps War, with Arkillo initially being contemptuous of Kilowog, before going a few rounds with him and instead taunting/lamenting that such a warrior is let down by those around him.
  • Guy Gardner sees Arkillo as the Yellow Lantern equivalent to himself, due to both of them being wildly temperamental but possessed of Undying Loyalty to their Corps and leaders. Which he proves with a knock-down drag-out bare-knuckle brawl
• Fatal Flaw: Although he believes his ring isn't working correctly, according to Carol the reason it isn't working is because (ironically) he's afraid that he isn't capable of measuring up to/surpassing Sinestro's legacy and isn't owning up to it.
• Fingore: He loses most of his left hand's fingers to Bekka during the events of Green Lantern: Godhead.
• Good Is Not Nice: After his Heel–Face Turn, he's still the same Drill Sergeant Nasty savage he always was, he's just not going to eat you.
• Hidden Depths:
  • He's always been portrayed as a bloodthirsty, murderous savage, but it was recently revealed by Carol Ferris that Arkillo actually loves Sinestro and is afraid he'll never measure up to him. Though it's not yet known if his love for Sinestro is romantic or filial (Carol mentions him having "daddy issues"), it helps explain his Undying Loyalty to Sinestro and why he took Sinestro's betrayal so hard. Time will tell if this is also why Saint Walker has become his Morality Pet after Walker regrew his tongue.
  • In general, he takes his friendships very seriously, as demonstrated with Saint Walker, and his friendship with Guy Gardner, to the point where he let the latter almost beat him to death to make a point.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Fail his tasks and he'll devour you on the spot. Well, he used to. He's mellowed out significantly.
• Insistent Terminology: Now that he's the leader of the Sinestro Corps, Arkillo would rather have the corps be called Yellow Lanterns or Fear Lanterns, as Sinestro betrayed them.
• Insult Backfire: When the Archangel defeats several members of different Corps. he advances on Saint Walker and Arkillo, saying that they're more black hearts, Arkillo lunges at him saying "The Blackest".
• Jerkass: During the Corps' initial run, he was an absolutely brutal and merciless drill sergeant who felt that fear was the best motivator and would keep lower-ranked members in line with the threat of being devoured alive.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: After his life fell apart and he had to rebuild everything, he became a hell of a lot more reasonable, and became good friends with Saint Walker and Guy Gardner - he even seemed pretty well disposed to Kyle Rayner.
• Last of His Kind: After Sinestro betrayed and disbanded the Corps, Arkillo was the only Yellow Lantern left active. Didn't last for very long, though.
• Leeroy Jenkins: When the New Guardians encounter Invictus, a terrifyingly powerful archangel, what does Arkillo do? He charges right at him and decks him. Oh, and keep in mind that Invictus was otherwise curb stomping the rest of the New Guardians. And yet, in spite of all that, Arkillo is STILL going toe-to-toe with him.
• Lightning Bruiser: Extremely strong, tough, and fast.
• Memetic Badass: Considered this in-universe by his men, who simultaneously fear and revere him. This is part of why Guy goes after him in a bareknuckle brawl to secure his loyalty to the Yellow-Green Union.
• Morality Pet: Saint Walker is one for him after he healed Arkillo's tongue. Their relationship grows more and more into this with time spent together. In issue 10 of New Guardians, as Saint Walker continues to fight while saying he'll never give up hope, Arkillo — who is fighting Reach soldiers at the time — tells Walker to "Fear not". He's a bloodthirsty killer who gets off on inducing fear and despair, but he just told Walker to not be scared. Then in issue 11 of New Guardians, for example, Arkillo is pleased with Saint Walker after he becomes adamant about making Larfleeze pay for the Reach invasion to the Blue Lantern homeworld. He pats Walker's shoulder and comments that he's glad to finally see some fire in Walker's belly.
• Odd Friendship: With Guy Gardner during the brief period where the Green and Yellow Lanterns were united. It endured, and they meet up every month for a beer. They're close enough that he can call on The Power of Friendship to snap Guy out of Darkstar possession.
• The Power of Friendship: You wouldn't think it, but his friendship with Guy ended up being strong enough that combined with a You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech, he could snap Guy out of a Darkstar possession.
• The Speechless: After his run-in with Mongul, Arkillo's tongue was ripped out and uses his power ring to communicate. Saint Walker eventually healed him.
• Super-Strength: Even without his ring.
• Tongue Trauma: When Mongul ripped his tongue out.
• Took a Level in Kindness:
  • Spending time with the New Guardians team has had this effect on him. This can be seen with his relationship with not only Saint Walker (see Morality Pet), but also Carol Ferris, who he doesn't want being insulted. Moreover, he doesn't seem to be as bloodthirsty as he was before joining.
  • In Sinestro's solo comic, the Corps heads to Earth to defend it from an invasion of emotion-stealing creatures. After Arkillo protects a mother and daughter from one of the creatures, the little girl tells her mom not to worry because a superhero is protecting them. Arkillo instantly notices this. Shortly afterwards, the Corps heads out to fight some more, but Arkillo opts to stay behind in order to protect the defenseless civilians.
• Undying Loyalty: He's pretty much a very violent and barbaric brute, but he is also fiercely loyal, namely being Sinestro's most loyal Corps member. He's also been showing this towards Saint Walker after the latter used his ring to regrow Arkillo's tongue, first by trying to protect him from Invictus (though he finds it difficult to actually voice the word "friend" when referring to Walker) and then by quickly and with no hesitation coming to help Walker and the Blue Lantern corps fight against the forces invading their home planet. He later demonstrates this towards Guy, never failing to turn up when he needs help.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Arkillo, of all people, is the one to talk a Darkstar possessed Guy out of killing someone (his alcoholic, abusive father) by appealing to this and The Power of Friendship. Not bad for a guy who used to eat people.

Amon Sur

"Yes! The son of the great Abin Sur! Who fled the woman he loved to seek glory! Oh, yes! It is such an achievement to bear the most powerful weapon in the universe! It is so challenging when you can destroy everything blocking your path! You want to know what I am, Green Lantern of Earth? I am a man who once had nothing and made an army. I am a man without a destiny but who now controls the fate of thousands. And I am the man who killed Green Lantern."

The son of Abin Sur that the legendary Corpsman didn't even know he had. Unlike his father, Amon is a craven coward who terrorizes those weaker than him so he can feel good about himself. His resentment over his father's death and jealousy of Hal Jordan made him a member of the Black Circle Crime Syndicate. While he seemed to die while fighting Kyle Rayner, he resurfaced after Hal Jordan's return, becoming a Sinestro Corpsman. When he murders the family of the fallen Green Lantern Ke'Haan, he is murdered by Laira Omoto.

• Asshole Victim: Laira may have murdered him and cost herself her ring because of it, but it's not like he didn't have it coming.
• Bald of Evil: Like his father he's bald, but unlike his father, he's a criminal, a coward and a murderer.
• Cowardly Yellow: Most Yellow Lanterns inspire fear in others, but don't feel it themselves. Amon is a Dirty Coward who only kills and menaces others to cover up his own terror.
• Dirty Coward:
  • Pretty much his whole character. In the "Wanted: Hal Jordan" arc, he tries to prove he's worthy of his father's ring by killing Hal Jordan. But as Hal points out, Amon sends a small army of bounty hunters to soften him up first, drains his ring of its power while he's unconscious, has the bounty hunter, Hunger Dog, standing by in case Hal fights back, and his hand is shaking on the trigger.
  • Again in the Sinestro Corps War. The second he discovered that the Green Lantern Corps' rings were now allowed to use lethal force against Sinestro Corps members, he ran away to save his own skin. Afterwards, he tried to get back in his comrades’ good books by killing Ke'Haan's family, hoping that it would "inspire" them to do the same (little guessing that other Sinestro members already did that, and with greater success, to boot).
• Entitled Bastard: He was convinced that if he was in the vicinity when Hal died, then his father's ring would automatically go to him.
• Family Extermination: After he was kicked out of the Black Circle, he not only killed every one of the Syndicate's members, but hunted down all the member's families and killed them, too. This is what earned him a place in the Sinestro Corps.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Amon Sur was the son of the legendary Green Lantern Abin Sur. He grew up to be a leader of Black Circle Crime Syndicate. It was implied he was trying to live up to his father's accomplishments and angry that his father was not around to raise him. When he dug up his father body with Hal Jordan and he goes on to say how he should have been different and how his father was never there for him, and it the Green Lantern Corp’s fault he died. Hal Jordan had No Sympathy, pointing out not having a father did not excuse his crimes. He even provides the current page image.
  Amon Sur: Things should have been different. I should have been different. My father was never there for me. He was never there because of the damn Green Lantern Corps. What I become for so long was their fault.
  Hal Jordan: You gotta be kidding me. You don't get a free pass because your father wasn't there. No one else did.
• Green-Eyed Monster: He hates Hal Jordan because he thinks he should have his father's ring.
• Killed Off for Real: Laira killed him on the spot for his murder of Ke'Haan's family, then later set his corpse ablaze for good measure. Amon's body was revived as a Black Lantern, only to be completely destroyed soon after.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: Abin Sur was a noble, courageous man, dedicated to upholding justice. Amon Sur is a cruel, cowardly criminal.
• Never My Fault: While standing before his father's corpse, Amon insists that what he became was because of the Green Lanterns "taking" Abin from him.
• Punny Name: His name sounds like "A monster."
• Strong Family Resemblance: He looks a lot like his father. So much so, in fact, that Kyle and Green Arrow first thought he was Abin Sur, somehow back from the dead, before Amon clarified. This is also part of the reason it took both men so long to realize he was actually a crook.
  Ollie: We looked at Amon Sur and saw his dad. Let him lead us around by the nose. The apple really does fall far from the tree, sometimes.
• Your Head A-Splode: How he died at the end of his first appearance — his head was blown clean off. Apparently, this isn't enough to kill someone of his species.
  Amon: Not all races are as vulnerable to cranial injury as terrestrials.
• Would Hurt a Child: Oh, yes. Amon greatly prefers it when his intended victims are unlikely to fight back. The whole reason he earned a Yellow Ring was from all the families he executed.

Bedovian

A mysterious being resembling a hermit crab, Bedovian usually drifts through space, emerging from his shell only to feed. He was recruited by the Sinestro Corps, as their sniper. It was noted by Lyssa Drak that unlike the others, he did not have to train to conquer his own fears, as the centuries of isolation within his shell had numbed him to all emotions.

He was defeated in battle by John Stewart, who managed to figure out where he was and snipe him back. He survived, and in the Blackest Night, his greatest contribution to the war was to shoot the zombie Anti-Monitor in the head and destroy him.

• Bizarre Alien Biology: Bedovian's alien metabolism enables him to survive for centuries in the harsh vacuum of outer space without air, food, or water.
• Cold Sniper: He's sniper and also stoic and humorless to an extreme degree.
• Eldritch Abomination: Considered something pretty close to it in-universe.
• Hero Killer: During the Sinestro Corps War, he was shown to have murdered the Green Lanterns, Barin, Diamalon, and Cundiff Cood.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Can snipe people from three space sectors away.
• Really 700 Years Old: It's been stated that he can go 600 years between meals.
• The Quiet One: Never seen speaking, only acknowledging commands and shooting.

Bekka

"Love. Love for you, my soldiers. But for you, Sinestro, for what we have both done here today, only damnation awaits."

• Brought Down to Badass: As a New God, she's more than capable of fighting even if her ring runs out of power.
• Defector from Decadence: Well, somewhat: she's one of the New Gods of New Genesis, who in post-Flashpoint continuity have suffered from severe Adaptational Villainy. The Sinestro Corps itself isn't much better.

Bizarro Green Lantern

A Bizarro duplicate of Hal Jordan who somehow got a Sinestro Corps ring. Made his debut during the "Escape from Bizarro World" arc of Action Comics, attempting to aid Bizarro alongside the rest of the Bizarro Justice League before his ring pulled him away to join in the Sinestro Corps' fight against the Green Lantern Corps during the Sinestro Corps War arc.

• Adaptational Badass: The Pre-Crisis Bizarro Green Lantern was a total coward and had no real power to speak of because he wasn't able to recharge his ring using Hal Jordan's power battery due to his ring having no power over green objects (in contrast to a Green Lantern ring having no power over yellow objects) and declined Bizarro's offer to use the duplicator machine to create a yellow power battery, while the Bizarro Green Lantern that appeared in All-Star Superman was depicted as too stupid to think of any constructs to make with his ring. This Bizarro Green Lantern is able to use his yellow ring without any issue and relishes in using his constructs to scare other Bizarros.
• Adaptation Name Change: The Pre-Crisis character he was based on was called The Yellow Lantern.
• Inconvenient Summons: His ring drags him into participating in the Sinestro Corps War while he's trying to assist Bizarro in his latest fight with Superman.
• Oddball Doppelgänger: As to be expected from a Bizarro duplicate, Bizarro Green Lantern is essentially Hal Jordan but with a pale, angular complexion and a yellow costume.
• Riddle for the Ages: It isn't explained how he became a Sinestro Corpsman when he is Hal Jordan's Bizarro World counterpart rather than a recruit who earned his yellow ring from a fearsome reputation.

Borialosaurus

• Evil Counterpart: Can be seen as one for Isamot Kol, being a humanoid dinosaur-like alien.
• Last of His Kind: He's implied to be the last of a race of carnivorous sea animals the Guardians of the Universe hunted into extinction.
• Time Abyss: He's said to be the oldest of the Sinestro Corps, dating back to when the Guardians still lived on Maltus.

Despotellis

A sentient virus recruited into the Sinestro Corps. Even before joining the Sinestro Corps, Despotellis was a genocidal maniac, having killed over three-fourths of the beings in Space Sector 119. Sinestro used Despotellis to murder Maura Rayner, using her death to break her son Kyle's will to make him susceptible to possession by Parallax. During the Sinestro Corps War, Despotellis infected Guy Gardner, but it was defeated by his counterpart in the Green Lantern Corps, the sentient smallpox virus Leezle Pon, whose partner Despotellis had killed. Despotellis is currently in custody on Oa.

• The Dreaded: He is considered the deadliest member of the Sinestro Corps.
• Evil Counterpart: To Leezle Pon, another super-intelligent smallpox virus and member of the Green Lantern Corps.
• Frame-Up: He infected Mogo in the form of mushroom spores and used this to drive two Green Lanterns to suicide, framing Guy Gardner for murder. But Guy and Soranik Natu found out the truth and freed Mogo from the spore's influence just long enough for Mogo himself to destroy the mother spore.
• Laser-Guided Karma: He was defeated by Leezle Pon, the partner of Reemuz, a Lantern he had recently killed.
• Meaningful Name: A member of the authoritarian Sinestro Corps named Despot-ellis.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Even before joining the Sinestro Corps, Despotellis was a genocidal maniac, having killed over three-fourths of the beings in Space Sector 119.
• Self-Duplication: In keeping with his viral nature, Despotellis can create non-sentient replicas of himself to infect his victims. He can also destroy these copies at will, leaving no traces of them within the host.

Feena Sik

• Art Initiates Life: She completed a ritual meant to bring her art to life by murdering her husband. Her pieces came to life and immediately slaughtered everyone in the vicinity.
• Black Widow: She murdered her husband in order to use his death to gain power.
• Creepy Painting: Even prints of her paintings are outlawed due to fear that they'll take form and start murdering again.
• Facial Markings: Has some on her forehead and on her cheeks.
• Green-Skinned Space Babe: Looks incredibly like an attractive human woman, besides her odd hair and skin color.
• Mad Artist: An artist willing to murder her own husband to bring her creations to life certainly isn't right in the head.

Haasp the Hunter

• Beard of Evil: Unlike his brother's mustache, he has a wild beard that signifies his evil.
• Cain and Abel: The Cain to his brother Harvid, a veteran Green Lantern's, Abel. He's dedicated himself to hunting down and killing his heroic brother in revenge for his brother arresting him for his many murders.
• Egomaniac Hunter: He hunts and kills endangered sapient species in order to sell their pelts and body parts.
• Evil Counterpart: The yellow lantern to offset his brother's heroic green lantern activities.
• Human Aliens: Unlike his brother's red skin, Haasp's skin color makes him look very similar to humans.

Karu-Sil

Born on a harsh jungle world, Karu-Sil was orphaned by a rival tribe. She was soon taken in by a small pack of predators, eventually thinking of herself as one of them and mutilating her mouth to look more like them. Eventually, a Green Lantern named Blish found her and killed her "fathers", thinking they were threatening her, and she was institutionalized until her yellow ring found her. She's now constantly accompanied by yellow constructs in the form of her pack.

Sometime after the Sinestro Corps War, Karu-Sil and several other female members of the Sinestro Corps are captured by Zamarons. Her body along with the two others are shown to the Guardians and Green Lantern Corps who visit the homeworld of the Zamarons. The trio are being subjected and conditioned to be members of the Star Sapphire Corps. The impurity of the subject to instill fear being eliminated, replaced by love it was not finished as she was released by Sinestro. During the Blackest Night, Karu-Sil was attacked by the corpses of her pack, reanimated as Black Lanterns. Although initially unwilling to fight her "fathers", she was convinced by a passing Green Lantern to join her light with him and destroy them. She then killed the Green Lantern herself.

• Adopt the Food: Possibly averted, according to her resurrected fathers they kept her alive as a kind of "livestock. Storage for a lean winter". Given typical Black Lantern ''Modus operandi'' how truthful this is up in the air.
• Butter Face: Gave herself a mouth like Mortal Kombat's Mileena.
• Corrupted Character Copy: Her backstory paints her as one to Mowgli; a child lost in a jungle and raised by a predatory species. But unlike Mowgli, who was led into a human village by an attractive member of his species, Karu-Sil responded to meeting a handsome boy by killing him so her family could feed on his corpse.
• Death World: Her homeworld.
• Freudian Excuse: Grew up on a particularly brutal Death World, saw her entire family killed by a rival tribe, saw her adoptive family killed by a Green Lantern who had no clue what the fuck he was doing, and was thrown into an institution where she languished for some time until her ring found her. Given the sheer horror of her entire existence, it's a wonder that she wasn't drafted by the Red Lantern Corps instead.
• Morality Pet: She has three of them in the forms of her three dead adoptive fathers that are resurrected during Blackest Night.
• Punny Name: A play on the word "carousel," as her three animal constructs circle around her like a demonic merry-go-round.
• Raised by Wolves: Her origin story was that she was a child taken in by a pack of alien predators.
• Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Sometimes depicted like one.

Kiriazis

• Extra Eyes: Kiriazis has four eyes.
• Hair Substitute Feature: Her spikes take the place of hair.
• Horned Humanoid: Four of her spiky growths are positioned like horns at the sides of her head.
• Humanoid Aliens: Other than her humanoid form, she's very much alien-looking.
• Spikes of Villainy: Her body is covered in thin needle-like spikes.

Kretch

• Ear Wings: His ears look more like a combination of bat wings and fins than any earth based ears.
• Omnicidal Maniac: He has the reputation of engulfing whole planets in hellfire. Morbidly, it's stated that if you see a star blink out, it may very well be Kretch's doing.
• Our Demons Are Different: He comes from the planet Soh, but has a distinct appearance similar to classic devils and demons.

Kryb

"Only I can nourish the infant in the Lantern's womb. Nourish it with a power to snuff out the Green Lantern Corps forever. Nothing is going to stop me from taking that child. Nothing!"

During the Blackest Night, Kryb escaped Zamaron, and convinced Miri Riam into helping her find her children, who had become the Black Lantern Corphans. She found them attacking Oa, being destroyed by a Red Lantern Guy Gardner. She attempted to stop him, during which time Gardner tore off one of her arms and rammed it down her throat. She is however, later seen when all of the Lantern Corps assembled over the Earth to fight Nekron, and is seen fighting the Black Lanterns of Xanshi.

• Abusive Parents: Double Subverted. She claims to love all the children she's stolen and says she'd never harm any of them, to the point that even the Star Sapphires believe her love is genuine. But in at least one appearance she deliberately scratched the cheek of Green Lantern Jeryll's child to make Jeryll lower her defenses and kill her, and she generally keeps all her kidnapped charges fed on a liquid which brainwashes them into seeing her as their mother. So while she's not usually physically abusive, she's emotionally and mentally abusive because she makes those children love her.
• An Arm and a Leg: Red Lantern Guy Gardner rips one of her arms in his rampage.
• And I Must Scream: Was among those female Sinestro Corpsmen the Star Sapphires attempted to convert via crystal prisons. As she was in their custody during the Blackest Night and its lead-up, however, she was forced to hear the voices of her stolen children as they were abducted by Black Lanterns while unable to do anything about it. This causes her to cry, and Miri Riam feels a moment of Sympathy for the Devil.
• Black Eyes of Crazy: Up close her eyes turn out to be black, and she's a mentally unstable being that kidnaps children.
• Body Horror: The "cage" on her back isn't just an inverted rib cage. It has nipples for her stolen children to suckle.
• Hero Killer: She is infamous for her method of instilling fear by murdering Green Lanterns who are parents, and stealing their children.
• Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: She was believed to be a ghost story parents told their children, but she is a very real monster and, in a twist of irony, the parents have more reason to be afraid of her than the kids.
• Mama Bear: Would you believe she genuinely loves and is protective of the children she steals?
• Mind Control: Whatever kind of milk she secretes has this effect, convincing whoever partakes that she is in fact their mother.
• Morality Pet: The kids she steals. She was not happy when they were missing.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: She has four arms.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: The Black Corphans were the direct result of nobody bothering to ask her where her children were. Which basically means the Green Lanterns and Zamarons were responsible for the mass starvation of thousands of innocent children of their own deceased comrades. Although Star Sapphire Miri points out if Kryb hadn't murdered their parents and kidnapped the children in the first place, they'd still be alive.
• Psychic Powers: Not that it's heavily expanded upon, but her milk apparently creates a telepathic connection between her and those who ingest it, which implies some level of Mind Control and Telepathy on her part.
• Punny Name: Her name is a homophone of "crib" and she holds infants in a cage on her back.
• Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Has the hair for it, at least.

Low

• And I Must Scream: According to Lyssa Drak, he feasts on his victims' bones while they're still alive.
• Bizarre Alien Reproduction: They lay a bunch of eggs in their victims which then hatch as slug like offspring before eating their way out and growing to the somewhat more humanoid adult form.
• Chest Burster: They lay eggs in their victims, which then eat and wriggle their way out.
• Eyeless Face: Their mouth takes up too much room for any eyes to fit on their face.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Their mouth is full of rows of sharp teeth.

Lyssa Drak

"—Do not rely solely on your rings— Their skin will be more pages in the book of Sinestro! Their blood will ink this chapter of our ghastly history!"

The Keeper of The Book of Parallax, she records the history of the Sinestro Corps in its pages. Her past is unknown, but she is incredibly loyal to Sinestro and her leader obviously trusts her with their group's greatest secrets. She also supervises the final test for membership: a potential recruit is locked in a Fear Lodge, a sealed box of absolute darkness, with an uncharged power ring. If they can overcome and master their own fears, they can ignite their ring and escape. Failure means death from thirst, starvation, suffocation, or suicide. She noted with interest the example of Bedovian mentioned above, and she unexpectedly gave Amon Sur a bit of encouragement by reading to him the tales of the others before him.

She was arrested and imprisoned on Oa, but broke free from her cell during a prison riot. While searching for her book, she found the mysterious Book of the Black, only for the Guardian known as Scar to trap her within it. During Brightest Day, Krona freed her and recruited her for his plans. After Krona's defeat, she returned to Sinestro and serves as his most loyal follower and on-again, off-again love interest.

• And I Must Scream: When she was trapped in The Book of the Black.
• Badass Bookworm: Her primary job is to record the history of the Sinestro Corps, but she is just as capable as any other Yellow Lantern.
• Badass Cape: Part of her usual attire.
• Breakout Character: For certain reasons she's gone from Sinestro's creepy librarian to a major supporting character in almost every Green Lantern story that features the Sinestro Corp.
• Chained by Fashion: The Book of Parallax is kept chained to her wrist.
• The Dragon: She's been Sinestro's right hand ever since he returned to lead his Corps in 2014's Sinestro #1. She actually replaced Arkillo, who had held the role since before the New 52, after the latter had fallen out of Sinestro's good graces.
• Green-Skinned Space Babe: A hot alien babe with blue skin.
• Heel–Face Turn: After Krona freed her, she turned against Sinestro for knowledge and not being rescued. She eventually came back around, though. Once Sinestro got his own standalone series, Lyssa joins him as a supporter of his goal to order the universe. So she's significantly less evil than she was at her debut at least, still far from a pure face though.
• Horror Host: "Tales of the Sinestro Corps", a back-up feature of the Green Lantern comic leading up to (and in the cases of the last two installments, occuring during) the Sinestro Corps War arc, had her serve as a horror host by reading a story about a member of the Sinestro Corps from the Book of Parallax. The first three installments had her tell the newly recruited Amon Sur tales where the Sinestro Corpsmen Despotellis, Karu-Sil and Bedovian wreaked havoc (as well as how they were recruited into the Sinestro Corps in the cases of the latter two), the fourth installment was the back-up story for the Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special that began the arc and has her tell the audience a considerably biased retelling of how Sinestro was disgraced and kicked out of the Green Lantern Corps and the final installment appeared as the back-up story of the Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime one-shot and had Lyssa try to scare expecting Green Lantern couple Amnee and Matoo Pree by telling them a story where Sinestro Corps member Kryb took a Green Lantern's child after murdering her and her husband.
• Hot Librarian: She qualifies as this, since she keeps the Book of Parallax
• Humanoid Abomination: If she wasn't one before, she's definitely one by Brightest Day, with her manipulation of the Book of the Black.
• Human Notepad: A Talokite Notepad. In the aftermath of Wrath of the First Lantern, Lyssa senses that the Book of Parallax has been destroyed, and proceeds to use her ring to burn it all into her skin from memory.
• Long-Lost Relative: Her surname implies she's a distant relation to Shadow Lass of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
• Mad Oracle: An insane oracle recruited for her lack of weaknesses and ability to inspire fear.
• Meaningful Name: You need Bilingual Bonus. "Lyssa" sounds sexy but it's Greek and means "rabies".
• Ms. Exposition: Her usual role in the Sinestro corps. Justified since it's her job to know all the stories of every last member of the corps.
• Ms. Fanservice: A scantily-clad blue-skinned babe and also an Hot Librarian.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: Her outfits usually have a deep v-neckline that goes down (or past) to her navel.
• Official Couple: She and Sinestro share a kiss and get together towards the end of his New 52 solo series.
• Pointy Ears: Long blue ears.
• The Storyteller: Lyssa loves to tell stories about her corps to anyone willing to listen. When she gets interrogated by some GLs, she only tells them stories about the corps.
• Stripperific: Her usual outfit is very skimpy.
• Tome of Eldritch Lore: The Book of Parallax holds the life story of every member of the Sinestro Corps, and every atrocity they have committed in the name of fear.
• Thong of Shielding: Her sinister attire leaves a great deal of her bottom exposed.

Maash

• And I Must Scream: The top head does not in any way approve of his brothers' crimes, but he can't do anything about it from where he is.
• Conjoined Twins: Conjoined triplets, only the heads and minds of all three developed they're all sharing one body.
• Evil Counterpart: They are a criminal and murderer with a power ring designed to spread fear who shares his sector with the heroic but repenting Green Lantern Krista X, whose sense of morality keeps her away from Oa after becoming involved in a secret division practicing psychological warfare and manipulation which she later grew to regret.
• Evil Twin: Inverted. Maash is in fact a set of triplets that merged into one in their mother's womb. The bottom two heads are in control all the time and are the actual monsters. The very top head is completely innocent and has no ability to stop his siblings.
• Multiple Head Case: Three heads stacked atop each other.

Moose

• Bizarre Alien Biology: He resembles an elephant, but has no head or visible features, instead having a giant pair of tusks where a head should be.
• The Brute: He prefers to charge at his enemies rather than create constructs with his ring.
• Cruel Elephant: An elephant-like creature, with a natural talent for inducing fear in others.
• The Unpronounceable: His true name cannot be pronounced, so his ring chose the closest approximation.
• The Voiceless: He can only snarl and roar.

Murr the Melting Man (Ausiin Snow)

• Poisonous Person: He can melt things with a touch.
• Was Once a Man: He used to be a normal scientist until he got mutated in a freak lab accident.

Nax

• Alien Abduction: Nax was part of and raised in an enclave of traveling scientists who abducted and experimented on lifeforms from various planets.
• Alien Hair: Nax has no hair, but does have two short thin tentacles hanging from the back of her head.
• Psychic Powers: A unique ability she has compared to her family is the ability to psychically disassemble and reassemble bodies, without killing them if she doesn't want to. In combat she can choose not to put targets back together.
• Token Good Teammate: Most of the Sinestro Corps is made up of murderers and genocidal maniacs of all stripes and, while Nax isn't a complete innocent, she acts as a medic and does not act out of a malicious intent.

Romat-Ru

Xudar's worst serial killer. A minor arrest led the Xudarian police force to discover the bones of thousands of children on his property. The intense fear he instills in the people of Xudar leads to him being recruited as a Sinestro Corpsman.

• Asshole Victim: He is murdered by Tomar-Tu after gloating about the children he'd murder in the future. This leads Tomar-Tu to eventually join the Darkstars.
• Ax-Crazy: A sadistic serial killer of children.
• Evil Counterpart: To Tomar-Tu.
• Sadist: He revels in the suffering he causes, at one point saying that he prefers to kill children exactly because they have their whole lives ahead of them.
  Romat-Ru: Why waste effort on the grown? Their lives are already behind them. I steal Xudar's leaders and surgeons and heroes of tomorrow.
• Serial Killer: He's murdered countless children.
• Undying Loyalty: While Arkillo was off fighting Mongul, Romat-Ru led the rest of the loyalists to free Sinestro.
• Would Hurt a Child: Police discovered the bones of thousands of children in his home.

Schlagg-Man

• Continuity Nod: His home planet of Bismoll is the home of Matter-Eater Lad of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Or at least it will be in a thousand years.
• HULK MASH!-Up: A purple-skinned variation, he shares the Hulk's broad diet and is more articulate than the normal dumb brute characterization.
• Extreme Omnivore: He's a Bismollian so this is natural, but after his teeth were removed and he had them replaced with a set of dentures made from Bismollian steel, he can bite through anything.
• Tuckerization: His name's a variation of Adam Schlagman's.

Scivor

• A God Am I: He's passed himself off as an ancient torture god and influenced thousands to murder in his name, including some of the worst serial killers in the universe.
• The Blank: He has no face.
• Charm Person: To a degree.
• Hair Substitute Feature: His horns take the place of hair.
• Horned Humanoid: Two of his spiky growths are shaped and positioned like traditional depictions of little devil horns.
• Mind Rape: Scivor's method of implanting thoughts of murder.
  • More than Mind Control: How much of these thoughts are Scivor's own doing or whether he just gives a little push towards murder is up for clarification.
• Spikes of Villainy: Covered in thorn-like spines across his body, and very evil.
• Tuckerization: Of Ethan Van Sciver's last name.

Seer Ruggle

• Bald of Evil: She's a bald alien woman and a Mad Bomber.
• Green-Skinned Space Babe: Bald and orange skinned but not bad looking.
• Mad Bomber: Seer Ruggle is a renowned designer of various destructive devices including blink-bombs. She was the creator of the blink-bomb used in the attempted assassination of Mogo by the Children of the White Lobe.
• Pointy Ears: She's got pointy ears, one of the few indicators she's an alien.

Sirket

• Big Creepy-Crawlies: It's a giant insect that inhabits the space between universes.
• Hell Is That Noise: It's said that the sound it makes when rubbings its legs together can drive men to madness.

Slushh

• Blob Monster: His body is half slime, half corrosive acid.
• Hollywood Acid: Has an incredibly acidic interior.
• Starfish Aliens: One of the more alien members of the Sinestro Corps
• The Unintelligible: Communicates in squiggly lines, which are nonetheless understood by his compatriots.

Smithwick

• Evil Counterpart: To Salakk. They come from the same planet, but while Salakk is a gifted strategist and coordinator of the Green Lantern Corps, Smithwick is a firm believer in chaos and anarchy.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Being a Slyggian, Smithwick has four arms and is very much dangerous.

Snap Trap

• Fate Worse than Death: He feeds on spines, which he removes using a hypnotic gaze, whip-like tongue, and a jaw like a steel trap. However, his victims are still alive after he's done with them.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: His teeth are numerous.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: He resembles an alien alligator which walks on two feet.

" You forget that I'm a Natu by name, but a Sinestro by blood. Fear is the family gift. I feel it throbbing inside you. The fear that made you keep your secret. Fear that I wouldn't want to be with you. Fear that I'd be the love you let slip away. You fear a wounded heart! You can't hide from your fear, alley rat."

• See Green Lantern Corps

Ranx the Sentient City

One of the most powerful of the Sinestro Corps, Ranx is an interstellar city the size of a moon. Its origins are unknown, but it is said to be as old as the stars. The circuitry running through it allows it to be aware of every activity on its surface, and it can manipulate its own landscape and gravity, similar to Mogo. Ranx's only inhabitants were criminals and drifters, but it developed a grudge against the Green Lanterns for attacking it and taking them away. The other Sinestro Corps members used Ranx as a base and training ground, similar to Mogo and the Green Lanterns.

An ancient prophecy by Qull of the Five Inversions decreed that Ranx would destroy Mogo, and the Green Lanterns with it. But Sodam Yat defeated it and blew it up. Ranx' remains have since been merged with Warworld.

• Arch-Enemy: Very fixated on Guy, owing to their previous encounter in which Guy detonated a bomb in Ranx's sewers, causing the city to "void its bowels".
• The Chosen One: A malevolent example. Qull of the Five Inversions predicted he would finish off the Green Lanterns by killing the last of their kind, Mogo. But the prophecy failed due to the extermination of the Children of the White Lobe, who would've killed Sodam Yat and the Hazy-Feel Turn of the Red Lanterns. With Sodam (and many other Lanterns) alive, Ranx failed.
• Evil Counterpart: To Mogo.
• Fusion Dance: His remains were merged with Warworld, allowing him to take it over as his new body.
• Genius Loci: He’s a sentient spaceship.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: How he was defeated and destroyed. The bomb he tried to kill Mogo with was instead transported inside Ranx by Sodam Yat, blowing the Sentient City to pieces instead. Besides, even if he had succeeded in destroying Mogo with the bomb, he would eventually regenerate.
• Malevolent Architecture: A sinister world-sized city.
• Planet Spaceship: The personal and living headquarters of the Sinestro Corps.
• Shout-Out: To the Death Star.
• That's No Moon: What the Green lanterns find out the hard way.

Tekik

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Was a non-sentient drone initially. When its creators gave it free will, it became outraged at the slavery it perceived, and created a fear program to topple the planet.
• Mauve Shirt: He can be seen hanging around in many crowd scenes, often alongside Slushh and Romat-Ru.
• Undying Loyalty: He, Romat-Ru, and several others were still loyal to Sinestro after Mongul II took over. Tekik personally gave Sinestro his ring back.
• Verbal Tic: Speaks in a stilted, robotic manner, represented in his speech balloons by putting a period after every word he speaks.

The Weaponer

• Only Known by Their Nickname: Only known as The Weaponer, with his individual name unknown.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: When the Corps broke up, he ditched his ring to avoid vengeful mobs. He can always make another, but probably isn't in a hurry to align with a group of ringslingers again.

465

• Asshole Victim: He led the gang rape on Bleez. He bites it as soon as she becomes a Red Lantern.
• Death by Origin Story: A villainous example. Bleez kills him upon becoming a Red Lantern.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He only appears in Bleez's backstory, but it was his actions that led to her becoming a prominent Red Lantern.
• No Name Given: He’s not named, just known to be the Sinestro Corpsman of Sector 465.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: He attempted to have his way with Bleez, which led to his downfall when Bleez's rage at her plight made her a Red Lantern.

Other

• When the Corps was first founded, Batman was offered a ring, but was rejected due to Batman's previous encounter with a Green Ring. This version of "Sinestro Corps Batman" was enough famous to have his own figure as well DLC costumes for Batman in various video games.
• Jonathan Crane was also offered a ring, but it was confiscated before it could get to him. He was temporarily deputized during the Blackest Night.
• Superboy-Prime was freed and later recruited as part of the Corps for Sinestro Corps War as herald for the Anti-Monitor (with his own agenda, by the way). For more details see here and here.

Parallax

"The whole universe will empower me as our terror spreads, old man. And Sinestro will control all."

The Fear Entity—the embodiment of the Yellow Light, given life and strength from the fear of every sentient being. It was born when early life experienced fear for the first time. The Guardians bound it on Maltus eons ago, until it was released by Larfleeze. Eventually, the Guardians ended Parallax's reign of terror by trapping it in the Central Power Battery on Oa, where it stayed for countless ages until everyone, even the Guardians themselves, forgot about its existence. Parallax was the Yellow Impurity that prevented Green Lantern rings from affecting the color yellow.

Like Ion, Parallax can possess a living host, but it either dominates them completely or subtly manipulates their actions. Hal Jordan was its best-known host, through whom Parallax destroyed the Green Lantern Corps and nearly remade the entire universe. During the Sinestro Corps War, Parallax possessed Kyle Rayner for a brief time.

• A Darker Me: How it usually manifests in comparison to its hosts, Sinestro excepted - probably because he controls it and because there's not much further it can drive him. Indeed, it's a bit unclear how much of a personality it has on its own; it's perfectly intelligent, it just doesn't seem to really show much sign of it without a host.
• Alternate Company Equivalent: To The Phoenix Force, initially believed to just be a new name taken by a hero after a Sanity Slippage induced Face–Heel Turn, later retconned into a powerful, malevolent, Cosmic Entity that took control of them. However due to more recent retcons it could be seen as the Shadow King to Ion and/or The Spectre's Phoenix Force.
• Ancient Evil: Prior to being sealed away by the Guardians, it is said to have almost brought the universe to ruin.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: Of the yellow light of fear, and fear itself by extension.
• Arch-Enemy: The Spectre absolutely despises it - and is somewhat afraid of it. Parallax, meanwhile, gleefully despises the Spectre for what he is and holds a grudge for how he managed to chain it for a while in Hal's soul.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Downplayed in its regular form, which is far larger than a human but not towering. Played straight when possessing Ganthet at the climax of Green Lantern: Rebirth, where Hal is about the size of its eye.
• Ax-Crazy: Batshit insane bug whose personality is full of malice.
• Badass Boast: Makes several to the Spectre during Rebirth and Blackest Night.

  "You are more likely to eradicate the color yellow from reality than you are to eradicate me, Black Lantern."

• Berserk Button: Does not take kindly to the idea that it fears anything, especially Hal Jordan, which Hal baits it with.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Its true form evokes this, mixed with a little dragonfly and serpent/eastern dragon. Though the extent of this does depend on the artist.
• Body Horror: Tends to do this to its hosts, with the tamest example being how it likes to give them grins with More Teeth than the Osmond Family. Sinestro is the usual exception, given his control of it, save when he really loses it with Volthoom the First Lantern in Wrath of the First Lantern. Since Volthoom had blown up Korugar and taunted him about it, as a way of regaining his full powers, this isn't exactly surprising.
• Break Them by Talking: Loves to attempt this, and the access it has to its hosts' memories and knowledge means it can make its lectures cut quite deeply indeed.
• Card-Carrying Villain: While the Sinestro Corps as a whole may hover somewhere around Knight Templar-hood, Parallax itself is utterly and gleefully evil, with absolutely no redeeming features or any real goals other than spreading fear.
• Civilization Destroyer: The reason the Guardians had to seal it away. In the past, any planet it landed on would have its civilisations collectively driven insane by fear, which Parallax would feed off until they ultimately destroyed themselves.
• The Corrupter: Was responsible for Hal Jordan's descent into insanity and subsequent villainy by influencing his mind from inside the Central Power Battery. And when Krona returns it to the Central Battery to control all the Green Lanterns during Brightest Day, even though the Earth Lanterns (plus Kilowog and Ganthet) are able to resist being outright controlled, its influence almost turns them against one another.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Black Lantern Spectre didn’t even make it sweat.
• Demonic Possession: It can possess any being that feels even the faintest flicker of fear. People it has done this to include not just Hal and Kyle, but the Flash and Superman. Sometimes it likes to twist the knife by pretending to speak as the person it is possessing.
  • The flip side is that it is unable to control anyone that has overcome or mastered fear, which is how Sinestro was able to turn the tables and control it instead.
• The Dragon: To Sinestro in Sinestro Corps War and Krona in Brightest Day.
  • Dragon with an Agenda: Obviously doesn't care about Sinestro's goal of bringing order to the universe. It only sticks with him because if Sinestro succeeds, then the entire universe will be living under fear, which it wants very much to feed off of.
• Eldritch Abomination: It looks like a cross between a giant dragonfly and a serpent.
• Emotion Eater: Comes with being the embodiment of fear.
• Energy Being: Its body.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Superman points out that by it's very nature, it's probably incapable of truly understanding emotions like willpower and hope.
• Evil Costume Switch: Yeah, being possessed by Parallax is an objectively horrific experience. But at least you get a cool set of Instant Armor and a Badass Cape out of it!
• Evil Counterpart: To Ion.
• Eviler than Thou:
  • It makes itself clear that while it may be a member of the Sinestro Corps, it owes them no loyalty and they will die if they get in its way.
  • It is repeatedly subjected to this by Sinestro, whose combination of raw willpower and mastery of fear means that he can leash it for extended periods of time. It is not, in any way, shape, or form, at all happy about this. Sinestro, for his part, doesn't care and will just make it come to heel.
  Sinestro: Don't make me repeat myself.
• Faux Affably Evil: At least acted this way towards Kyle Rayner when it had an internal conversation with his mind.
• Four-Fingered Hands: In some artistic interpretations.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Parallax used to be nothing more than an ordinary little bug... before it became the first being to experience fear.
• Fusion Dance: Once, while possessing Kyle Rayner, it absorbed Jordan into itself to become what appeared to be a merged body that visually combined the looks of both their respective uniforms while acting as its host, only yellow. It backfired on Parallax spectacularly, since absorbing Hal let him reach Kyle and help him break free.
• The Heartless: Embodiment of all fear.
• Hijacking Cthulhu: The Spectre took Hal Jordan as a host with the intent of separating his soul from Parallax, only for Parallax to - eventually - use their merger to hijack the Spectre's power instead.
  • Also on the receiving end courtesy of Sinestro, who used it as a mixture of supercharge and attack animal. Parallax doesn't like this, and Sinestro doesn't care.
• I Am the Noun: If you somehow forgot which emotion it represents, it will be more than happy to remind you.
  ”You see, I’m not afraid, Superman... I am fear.”
• Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: Parallax deliberately kidnaps several children from Metropolis in order to get to Superman.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: Zig-zagged as while Parallax is usually referred to as an ‘it’, ‘he’ is also used occasionally. Parallax is definitely as inhuman and eldritch as this trope implies, however.
• Kryptonite Factor: Aside from literally being the yellow impurity that gave the Corps their original weakness against yellow, Parallax is a Green Lantern's kryptonite factor, as the rings require focus and willpower to wield and fear tends to disrupt that. Only Green Lanterns with the ability to overcome great fear can stand against it.
• Last of His Kind: The only non-humanoid (as with Black Hand) emotional entity not sealed into the Source Wall as of the end of "Light's Out". It couldn't care less.
• Light Is Not Good: Quite possibly the ultimate example of this, being both an embodiment of light and also completely evil.
• Locked into Strangeness: A telltale sign of Parallax’s influence is grey hair, either at the temples or as a skunk stripe.
• Lovecraftian Superpower: During Sinestro Corps War, we got a lovely look into what Parallax can do to its host's bodies: most prominently, while possessing Kyle Rayner, it turned his chest into a mass of yellow tendrils so it could absorb Hal Jordan.
  • When a host is freed from its control, the usual way of portraying this is that both of them are literally ripped out of the 'merged' body, which is then discarded as a husk of skin and teeth and yellow goo on the ground. It's even less pretty than it sounds.
• Made of Evil: Well, made of fear, which should technically be more neutral... except Parallax is by far the most malicious of all the emotional entities. Thematically, it also represents the opposite of what all Green Lanterns strive for, being the manifestation of fear trying to overcome you.
• Mind Rape: It is able to instil doubt and fear into people’s hearts, which is how it got to Hal to begin with.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: It has rows and rows of needle-like teeth, a trait it loves to pass on to its hosts. Sinestro is usually the exception, unless he's particularly angry, thanks to his sheer control.
• Omnicidal Maniac: In case that time it made Hal Jordan destroy the universe wasn't enough proof:
  Spectre: You will be destroyed...
  Parallax: No. I believe that's everyone else.
• Orifice Invasion: It’s preferred method of directly possessing people. Thanks for not cutting away while it happens, comic artists!
• Powers via Possession: Anyone it possesses will essentially become a Physical God. Interestingly, it's implied that Parallax itself becomes much more powerful with a host, even if the host doesn't have any superpowers of their own. It is described as a 'parasite', after all.
• Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Disturbingly, it tends to come off as this towards Hal, referring to him as its 'special someone'.
• Psycho Supporter: Inverted; it regards Batman as its disciple due to his methods of combating crime.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Green Lantern: Rebirth revealed that the long-established "yellow impurity" in the Central Power Battery was actually Parallax, the "yellow fear entity," an insectile manifestation of that emotion, released when Hal "Greatest GL of them All" Jordan entered the Central Battery years before. Before that, it was in a box that was stolen from Maltus by Larfleeze and his crew. Later it was imprisoned in a Sciencell, and finally got ripped apart and stashed in four separate batteries. Most recently, that can has been Sinestro himself.
• Skewed Priorities: During Blackest Night, it’s so busy trying to kill the Spectre that it doesn’t even seem to notice or care that there’s still a Black Lantern invasion happening in their immediate vicinity that needs stopping.
• Slasher Smile: Its default expression. It only really drops it when it's angry.
• Speech Bubbles: Yellow ones with more angular lettering to match its demonic appearance and nature.
• Supernatural Fear Inducer: Well, duh.
• The Dog Bites Back: Sinestro’s use of Parallax as his own personal attack dog earned him the entity’s hatred for enslaving it, leading it to try and kill him in revenge once it finally got free.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: It saved The Spectre from the Black Lanterns just so they could have a proper rematch.
• Throat Light: It’s made of light, but the glowing fear symbol that represents the Sinestro Corps is located in its mouth.
• Time Abyss: Parallax was stuck in the Central Power Battery for at least ten million years, and existed long before the Guardians trapped it there. We find out in Blackest Night that it is the second oldest of all the emotional entities save for Ion, being born the moment fear was felt for the very first time.
• Villainous Breakdown: Right at the end of Green Lantern: Rebirth when Hal still refuses to give up, its frustration and fury are extremely evident.
• Villain Decay: Since the New 52, Parallax has been not so much a villain of its own as much as a tool for greater power over yellow energy, with its own personality having been ignored for the most part. Given that Sinestro long ago figured out how to control it, this isn't entirely surprising. After finally escaping from Sinestro's control, the once mighty fear entity is reduced to kidnapping children off the streets of Metropolis in order to build his strength back up.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Ever since DC Rebirth, Parallax’s appearances in comics have been sparse at best, and its current location and activities are unknown. However, it's fairly reasonable to speculate that it's avoiding Sinestro. And probably Hal, come to that.
• Yandere: Shows some elements of this to Hal, wanting to use him as a host again and sometimes calling him "my precious Hal".

Parallax

• We Hardly Knew Ye: Soon after they escape the Source Wall, this new Parallax is killed when one of the Sun Eaters devours all of the fear that composes it.