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Personality
Matthew's personality can be summed up as 'complicated'. Matthew shares his body with the Blue Electric Angels, the manifestation of the life left over in the telephone wires. 'Possessed' might be the closest term for describing their relationship with each other, but it's not really accurate as it's more of a symbiotic relationship than one controlling the other. They can and do regularly switch between one or the other, sometimes even in the middle of sentences. As a result, even though both of them have their own personality traits, the distinctions between the Matthew and the angels are not always clear. They also tend to regard themselves as one being, with any differences between them as irrelevant. But, for all that they claim that they are the same, Matthew and the angels do each have distinct personality traits and they're not as integrated as they see themselves. And while it might be rare, they can also disagree with each other.
Matthew is the human part of the equation, and he uses singular pronouns to refer to himself. If it weren't for the fact that he's a sorcerer and inhabited by the Blue Electric Angels, you'd probably call him pretty ordinary. Before dying he never made waves as a sorcerer, content to pretty much just do his own thing and get on with his life. Dying, obviously, had a big impact there - especially since the one responsible for his death was his own teacher. He became much more paranoid and less willing to trust others afterwards, treating those he meets with a waryness that he wouldn't have had before he died.
Dying also imbued Matthew with an extremely strong desire for revenge, and since Matthew also happens to possess extreme single-mindedness once he's locked onto a goal, he pursued revenge with, well, a vengeance. Once achieved though, revenge didn't really sit too well on Matthew's shoulders - he detests killing, thus leading him to often take the option of not killing more than you would think from someone who'd stated he was after revenge. He also feels a lot of guilt over others who end up dying in the crossfire, because Matthew had been too focused on his end goal to think about the consequences. After the bloodbath that was the battle at the Kingston Exchange, Matthew does make much more of an effort to not get other people hurt, but he can still at times get tunnel-vision as a result of his single-mindedness. In the end, Matthew believes in doing what is right over doing what is necessary, and on multiple occasions where killing is in fact the 'logical' option that would save many other lives, Matthew inevitably chooses not to kill and to try and find some other way around the problem.
Many other characters assumed that before he died, Matthew wasn't at all a powerful sorcerer, and that it's the presence of the Blue Electric Angels that made him powerful. This isn't strictly true - Matthew always had power, but he was also afraid of his own power and what he ultimately could be capable of. Sinclair describes Matthew as "smart enough to be afraid", and someone who "knows when a power shouldn't be used". He's essentially inclined to be more restrained with his power than other sorcerers. Quite often when he ends up slinging around massive amounts of power, it's really the angels that are leading the charge. In fact, Matthew is what holds the angels back most of the time.
Matthew is also someone who can end up irritating the hell out of other people. He's sarcastic, flippant, and irreverent, and takes way too much glee in annoying people and pushing their buttons. He has little regard for rules or authority, which admittedly becomes a bit of a problem when Matthew ends up becoming the authority. He'll avoid doing things like paperwork and is known to deal with the problems that he's not supposed to deal with while ignoring the ones that he is. People skills, really, are not his forte.
Matthew is also rather curious and inquisitive ("Never the kind of man who didn’t press the button"). He has no sense of style, and thus isn't inclined to go and give himself a more impressive name like many others. And he's scared of doctors and frightened by medicine, making him very much an impossible patient.
The angels, unlike Matthew, are anything but ordinary. They are a conglomerate being made up of countless numbers of leftover life left on the telephone wires, and as such they use plural pronouns to refer to themselves. They are inhuman, and very much child-like in their attitudes and view of the world. The angels are young, and they have the maturity to match. If you gave a child unimaginable power, without any restrictions or rules, you might get something like the angels.
At core, the angels are about freedom and delight in life. They love life, are fascinated by it, and they delight in just being able to experience the world. Sensations, new experiences - the angels will try anything once, and their curiosity is a trait that they share with Matthew. Especially when they are first summoned into the world with Matthew, the angels are basically high on life. If it weren't for the fact that there had been people trying to kill them, they probably would have spent all their time running around trying out every aspect of Life that they could think of. Time tempers them a little bit, but any new experience is something for them to savor.
But, while they love life and love being able to now experience it, they wouldn't have chosen to be resurrected with Matthew. Because having a body of flesh, while amazing, is still in the end not the freedom they experienced in the wire. And for the angels, freedom means freedom in all respects - freedom from rules and consequences as well as the freedom to do what you want. The angels don't think about consequences, and so they are quick to anger, often likely to react instantly, perhaps with violence. They'll toss out threats like there's no tomorrow, just because someone has angered them, without a care as to whether or not this is a good idea. They also love power, will get high on it, and there's been times where Matthew has had to basically drag them away from getting lost in it. There's a reason why many other characters have the view that if it weren't for the fact that the angels share a body with a sorcerer who holds them back, the angels would burn down the city just to watch the flames. In reality the angels aren't that bad - their love of life doesn't mean that they love destruction for destruction's sake, and they would much rather just experience life than wreak havoc upon it - but it's certainly true that they would be a mad, uncontrollable force without Matthew.
Being so enamored with life, and previously existing as immortal spirits of the wire that couldn't ever die, now that they are stuck in a flesh body the angels are completely terrified of death. Irrationally, utterly terrified - which often isn't a good combination for others, as they'll desperately try to burn anything that might kill them. They also don't deal at all well with pain, or bodily discomfort, so often it ends up being Matthew who has to make them keep going as opposed to just sitting down and doing nothing like they'd like to.
They also have certain compulsions relating to their nature as spirits of the telephone wire - if a phone rings in an empty street in the night, they have to answer it, because that is what they are. They are also soothed by the sounds of conversations in the wires.
Both Matthew and the angels personalities though, while still being distinct from each other, do also inevitably affect each other. The angels have made Matthew much more child-like, while Matthew has made the angels more human and restrained. And having been melded together like they are, separation is, while technically possible, a really bad idea. Later on in the series, when someone does manage to pull out Matthew's consciousness, it's extremely clear that the angels cannot cope with existing in a physical form without Matthew. It's less clear whether Matthew could exist on his own - it's likely he might, since unlike the angels Matthew has prior experience living as a human on his own - but at the very least since he regards the angels as a part of himself now, he wouldn't be happy about it.
Matthew is the human part of the equation, and he uses singular pronouns to refer to himself. If it weren't for the fact that he's a sorcerer and inhabited by the Blue Electric Angels, you'd probably call him pretty ordinary. Before dying he never made waves as a sorcerer, content to pretty much just do his own thing and get on with his life. Dying, obviously, had a big impact there - especially since the one responsible for his death was his own teacher. He became much more paranoid and less willing to trust others afterwards, treating those he meets with a waryness that he wouldn't have had before he died.
Dying also imbued Matthew with an extremely strong desire for revenge, and since Matthew also happens to possess extreme single-mindedness once he's locked onto a goal, he pursued revenge with, well, a vengeance. Once achieved though, revenge didn't really sit too well on Matthew's shoulders - he detests killing, thus leading him to often take the option of not killing more than you would think from someone who'd stated he was after revenge. He also feels a lot of guilt over others who end up dying in the crossfire, because Matthew had been too focused on his end goal to think about the consequences. After the bloodbath that was the battle at the Kingston Exchange, Matthew does make much more of an effort to not get other people hurt, but he can still at times get tunnel-vision as a result of his single-mindedness. In the end, Matthew believes in doing what is right over doing what is necessary, and on multiple occasions where killing is in fact the 'logical' option that would save many other lives, Matthew inevitably chooses not to kill and to try and find some other way around the problem.
Many other characters assumed that before he died, Matthew wasn't at all a powerful sorcerer, and that it's the presence of the Blue Electric Angels that made him powerful. This isn't strictly true - Matthew always had power, but he was also afraid of his own power and what he ultimately could be capable of. Sinclair describes Matthew as "smart enough to be afraid", and someone who "knows when a power shouldn't be used". He's essentially inclined to be more restrained with his power than other sorcerers. Quite often when he ends up slinging around massive amounts of power, it's really the angels that are leading the charge. In fact, Matthew is what holds the angels back most of the time.
Matthew is also someone who can end up irritating the hell out of other people. He's sarcastic, flippant, and irreverent, and takes way too much glee in annoying people and pushing their buttons. He has little regard for rules or authority, which admittedly becomes a bit of a problem when Matthew ends up becoming the authority. He'll avoid doing things like paperwork and is known to deal with the problems that he's not supposed to deal with while ignoring the ones that he is. People skills, really, are not his forte.
Matthew is also rather curious and inquisitive ("Never the kind of man who didn’t press the button"). He has no sense of style, and thus isn't inclined to go and give himself a more impressive name like many others. And he's scared of doctors and frightened by medicine, making him very much an impossible patient.
The angels, unlike Matthew, are anything but ordinary. They are a conglomerate being made up of countless numbers of leftover life left on the telephone wires, and as such they use plural pronouns to refer to themselves. They are inhuman, and very much child-like in their attitudes and view of the world. The angels are young, and they have the maturity to match. If you gave a child unimaginable power, without any restrictions or rules, you might get something like the angels.
At core, the angels are about freedom and delight in life. They love life, are fascinated by it, and they delight in just being able to experience the world. Sensations, new experiences - the angels will try anything once, and their curiosity is a trait that they share with Matthew. Especially when they are first summoned into the world with Matthew, the angels are basically high on life. If it weren't for the fact that there had been people trying to kill them, they probably would have spent all their time running around trying out every aspect of Life that they could think of. Time tempers them a little bit, but any new experience is something for them to savor.
But, while they love life and love being able to now experience it, they wouldn't have chosen to be resurrected with Matthew. Because having a body of flesh, while amazing, is still in the end not the freedom they experienced in the wire. And for the angels, freedom means freedom in all respects - freedom from rules and consequences as well as the freedom to do what you want. The angels don't think about consequences, and so they are quick to anger, often likely to react instantly, perhaps with violence. They'll toss out threats like there's no tomorrow, just because someone has angered them, without a care as to whether or not this is a good idea. They also love power, will get high on it, and there's been times where Matthew has had to basically drag them away from getting lost in it. There's a reason why many other characters have the view that if it weren't for the fact that the angels share a body with a sorcerer who holds them back, the angels would burn down the city just to watch the flames. In reality the angels aren't that bad - their love of life doesn't mean that they love destruction for destruction's sake, and they would much rather just experience life than wreak havoc upon it - but it's certainly true that they would be a mad, uncontrollable force without Matthew.
Being so enamored with life, and previously existing as immortal spirits of the wire that couldn't ever die, now that they are stuck in a flesh body the angels are completely terrified of death. Irrationally, utterly terrified - which often isn't a good combination for others, as they'll desperately try to burn anything that might kill them. They also don't deal at all well with pain, or bodily discomfort, so often it ends up being Matthew who has to make them keep going as opposed to just sitting down and doing nothing like they'd like to.
They also have certain compulsions relating to their nature as spirits of the telephone wire - if a phone rings in an empty street in the night, they have to answer it, because that is what they are. They are also soothed by the sounds of conversations in the wires.
Both Matthew and the angels personalities though, while still being distinct from each other, do also inevitably affect each other. The angels have made Matthew much more child-like, while Matthew has made the angels more human and restrained. And having been melded together like they are, separation is, while technically possible, a really bad idea. Later on in the series, when someone does manage to pull out Matthew's consciousness, it's extremely clear that the angels cannot cope with existing in a physical form without Matthew. It's less clear whether Matthew could exist on his own - it's likely he might, since unlike the angels Matthew has prior experience living as a human on his own - but at the very least since he regards the angels as a part of himself now, he wouldn't be happy about it.