Instance assignment is null but still able to reference properties?

thank you for reading my post. I am working on a combat script for a text game. I got it to work once while writing it but now getting the most bizarre error.

I am making two Character objects called charA, charB. I am taking my array of instantiated Character objects, and assigning two random indices to charA, charB. The Debug.Log is telling me that characters[indexA] is null, and thus charA is null, so my combatEncounter() function is throwing an exception, and yet charA.Name displays the name in the TMP component. All of the charA stats are showing properly in the UI, but the class instance itself is null. I have no idea how to fix this and I feel like I'm missing something vital.

My code:

using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
using TMPro;
public class ButtonGenerateName : MonoBehaviour
{
private GenerateName generatorName;
private GenerateWord generatorWord;
private GameController gc;
private Character character;
private Character charA;
private Character charB;
private BuildingBlocks bb;
public TextMeshProUGUI combatantNameA;
public TextMeshProUGUI combatantNameB;
public TextMeshProUGUI storyPanel;
public TextMeshProUGUI combatanthpA;
public TextMeshProUGUI combatanthpB;
public TextMeshProUGUI combatantWpnA;
public TextMeshProUGUI combatantWpnB;
public TextMeshProUGUI combatantstrA;
public TextMeshProUGUI combatantstrB;
public TextMeshProUGUI combatantdexA;
public TextMeshProUGUI combatantdexB;
public int NumberOfCharacters = 20;
public List<Character> characters = new List<Character>();
// Start is called before the first frame update
void Start()
{
generatorName = GetComponent<GenerateName>();
generatorWord = GetComponent<GenerateWord>();
character = GetComponent<Character>();
bb = GetComponent<BuildingBlocks>();
// Initialize GameController
gc = GetComponent<GameController>();
for (int i = 0; i < NumberOfCharacters; i++) 
{
if (generatorName != null)
{
Debug.Log($"Loop `{i}` is entered!");
/**
* * NAME GENERATION:
* * PREFIX => FIRST NAME => LAST NAME (DYNASTY) => SUFFIX => TITLE
**/
name = $"{bb.PREFIXES[UtilityFunctions.GetRandomInt(0, bb.PREFIXES.Count)]} {generatorName.nameGen(UtilityFunctions.GetRandomInt(1, 5))} {generatorName.nameGen(UtilityFunctions.GetRandomInt(1, 5))} {bb.SUFFIXES[UtilityFunctions.GetRandomInt(0, bb.SUFFIXES.Count)]} {bb.TITLES[UtilityFunctions.GetRandomInt(0, bb.TITLES.Count)]}";
}
Debug.Log("NameGen GameController: " + name);  
Stats stats = new Stats() { Health = Random.Range(50, 150), Strength = Random.Range(3, 12), Agility = Random.Range(3, 12), Intelligence = Random.Range(3, 12) };
Weapon weapon = new Weapon() { Name = bb.WEAPONS[UtilityFunctions.GetRandomInt(0, bb.WEAPONS.Count)], Damage = Random.Range(5, 120) };
List<Trait> traits = new List<Trait>() { new Trait() { Name = "Brave", Description = "Never backs down from a fight" } };
//GameObject characterGO = Instantiate(CharacterPrefab);
character = new Character(name, stats, weapon, traits);
characters.Add(character);
Debug.Log("Character: " + character.Name);
Debug.Log("Characters array: " + characters);
}
displayName();
displayStory();
}
public void displayName()
{
// Check if the characters array has enough characters to choose from
if (characters.Count < 2)
{
Debug.LogError("Not enough characters to select from.");
return;
}
foreach (Character character in characters) 
{
Debug.Log("Character Name in list: " + character.Name);
}
// Select two different random indexes
int indexA = UtilityFunctions.GetRandomInt(0, characters.Count - 1);
int indexB;
do
{
indexB = UtilityFunctions.GetRandomInt(0, characters.Count - 1);
} while (indexA == indexB);
Debug.Log("IndexA: " + indexA + ", IndexB: " + indexB);
Debug.Log("characters[indexA]: " + characters[indexA]);
Debug.Log("characters[indexB]: " + characters[indexB]);
charA = characters[indexA];
charB = characters[indexB];
Debug.Log("CharA: " + charA);
Debug.Log("CharB: " + charB);
// Set the names to the TextMeshPro components
combatantNameA.text = charA.Name;
Debug.Log("Combatant A: " + combatantNameA.text);
combatantNameB.text = charB.Name;
Debug.Log("Combatant B: " + combatantNameB.text);
// Set the HP to the TextMeshPro components
combatanthpA.text = $"Health: {charA.CharacterStats.Health.ToString()}";
combatanthpB.text = $"Health: {charB.CharacterStats.Health.ToString()}";
// Set the Weapon name to the TextMeshPro components
combatantWpnA.text = $"{charA.CharacterWeapon.Name}, DMG: ({charA.CharacterWeapon.Damage})";
combatantWpnB.text = $"{charB.CharacterWeapon.Name}, DMG: ({charB.CharacterWeapon.Damage})";
// Set the Strength to the TextMeshPro components
combatantstrA.text = $"STR: {charA.CharacterStats.Strength.ToString()}";
combatantstrB.text = $"STR: {charB.CharacterStats.Strength.ToString()}";
// Set the Agility to the TextMeshPro components
combatantdexA.text = $"DEX: {charA.CharacterStats.Agility.ToString()}";
combatantdexB.text = $"DEX: {charB.CharacterStats.Agility.ToString()}";
}
public void displayStory()
{
/**
* * STORY GENERATION:
* * {COMBATANT A} met {COMBATANT B}
* * AT THE {PLACE} OF {wordGen()}
* * {whatHappened}
**/
string randomPlace = bb.PLACES[UtilityFunctions.GetRandomInt(0, bb.PLACES.Count)];
string randomPlaceName = generatorWord.wordGen(10);
string paragraph = "";
string whatHappened = "";
if(charA != null && charB != null)
{
whatHappened = combatEncounter(charA, charB);
}
else
{
Debug.LogError("charA or charB is null, cannot call combatEncounter.");
}
paragraph += $"Once upon a time...\n\n{combatantNameA.text}\n met\n {combatantNameB.text}\n in battle at the {randomPlace} of {UtilityFunctions.CapitalizeFirstLetter(randomPlaceName)}.\n\n\n{whatHappened}";
storyPanel.text = paragraph;
}
private string combatEncounter(Character A, Character B)
{
if(A == null || B == null) 
{
Debug.Log("A: " + A);
Debug.Log("B: " + B);
Debug.LogError("One or both of the characters are null.");
return "";
}
string whatHappened = "";
string turn = "";
int damageA;
int damageB;
int hpA;
int hpB;
damageA = A.CharacterWeapon.Damage;
damageB = B.CharacterWeapon.Damage;
hpA = A.CharacterStats.Health;
hpB = B.CharacterStats.Health;
while (hpA > 0 && hpB > 0)
{
turn += $"{A.Name} attacked {B.Name} with a {A.CharacterWeapon.Name} for {damageA} damage.\n{B.name} had {hpB} health left.\n";
hpA -= damageB;
turn += $"{B.Name} attacked ${A.Name} with a {B.CharacterWeapon.Name} for {damageB} damage.\n{A.name} had {hpA} health left.\n";
hpB -= damageA;
whatHappened += $"{turn}\n\n";
}
Debug.Log("What happened: " + whatHappened);
return whatHappened;
}
}

Here is my log showing that charA and characters[indexA] are both null, and yet charA.Name ("CombatantA") is logging fine:

EDIT: Adding my Character type implementation, if that helps.

using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
[System.Serializable]
public class Stats
{
public int Health;
public int Strength;
public int Agility;
public int Intelligence;
}
[System.Serializable]
public class Weapon
{
public string Name;
public int Damage;
}
[System.Serializable]
public class Trait
{
public string Name;
public string Description;
}
public class Character : MonoBehaviour
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public Stats CharacterStats { get; set; }
public Weapon CharacterWeapon { get; set; }
public List<Trait> CharacterTraits { get; set; }
public Character(string name, Stats stats, Weapon weapon, List<Trait> traits) 
{
this.Name = name;
this.CharacterStats = stats;
this.CharacterWeapon = weapon;
this.CharacterTraits = traits;
}
}

This is probably happening because Character extends MonoBehaviour. Unity has it's own equality override for it's own objects (like MonoBehaviours, GameObjects and other things) which can say things are equal to null in scenarios where normal C# wouldn't (check out this article for more info about that: https://matheusamazonas.net/blog/2020/04/01/null-check-and-equality-in-unity/). It's a bit annoying and confusing but they had their reasons for it.

It doesn't look like you're attaching the Character objects to any GameObjects, and you are instantiating them with the new keyword rather than something like obj.AddComponent<Character>();, so I assume that internally Unity is getting confused because the created Character behaviours aren't attached to any object, so their custom equality operator is saying it's null, even though it's not actually null.

I haven't tested it, but I think if you change Character to not extend MonoBehaviour then it will fix this issue.

Alternatively, if you want to keep it as a MonoBehaviour, you could keep it as-is but instantiate it by attaching it to an object by using obj.AddComponent<Character>() instead of new Character().

Also, I am surprised your code runs without throwing errors earlier, as normally trying to create a MonoBehaviour instance using new causes an error (from what I've seen, anyway).