Criminal Minds/Characters

Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner (Thomas Gibson)
""Did you join a boy band?""
 * Abusive Parents: It's heavily implied that Hotch's father abused him, and that's why he grew up to catch serial killers.
 * Alone With the Psycho
 * Awesome By Analysis: So much that the trope should be renamed "Hotchalanche".
 * Badass
 * Badass Beard: Only in "It Takes a Village". The fandom consensus seems to be that he should grow it back.
 * Apparently others associated with the show liked it, too: a brief clip of the Badass Beard is shown in the Season 7 opening credits.
 * Badass Bookworm: Collected coins as a kid, grew up to be a prosecutor, then took an apparent level in badass and joined SWAT and then the elite unit of the BAU at the Bureau.
 * Badass in A Nice Suit
 * Break the Cutie
 * Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: On the rare occasion when a situation requires both him and Rossi to throw their weight around, Hotch is Captain Smooth.
 * Cold Sniper: Used to be with SWAT, one of the best shots in the cast, and the BAU agent with the highest killcount.
 * The Comically Serious
 * Deadpan Snarker: It comes out of nowhere.


 * Death Glare: Look at the picture to the right. That's him on a good day.
 * Despair Event Horizon:
 * Family Versus Career: In season three, Haley makes him choose - her and Jack or the FBI. He chooses the FBI. In season five,, he must choose between them again. FBI's still winning, though he does.
 * Hates Being Touched
 * Heterosexual Life Partners / Ho Yay: Hotch and Rossi, who are the only two team members to regularly call each other by their first names and have been very close friends for over fifteen years.
 * High School Sweethearts: Hotch and Haley married right out of high school. Apparently, it was love at first sight and Hotch joined a production of Pirates of Penzance as the "worst Fourth Pirate ever" to impress her.
 * Hot Dad
 * Its Personal: Any and all violence against children (especially physical child abuse) and cases that leave children without a father, not to mention his obsession with catching the Reaper. After the Reaper and the events of "100", we can add.
 * Last Name Basis: Except for Haley and Rossi, everyone calls him "Hotch".
 * The Leader: Type II.
 * Married to The Job: It leads to his divorce.
 * Papa Wolf: Do not mess with his team. It will end badly.
 * Furthermore, let the fate of  serve as a cautionary tale against attacking Hotchner's family.
 * Perpetual Frowner
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * Samaritan Syndrome: Hotch tends to think he can save everybody, and actually goes and tries. This is deconstructed in the series twice - first, in "Omnivore", when Rossi gives him a verbal smackdown ("That isn't your conscience talking, Aaron, it's your ego."); and second, in "Hopeless", when he, along with Rossi and Prentiss, leave the group of UnSubs to their intended Suicide By Cop, knowing he can do nothing to stop local law enforcement from enacting revenge.
 * The unsub of Scared To Death lampshades this.
 * Second Love: Has this with Beth in season 7.
 * Team Mom
 * The Chains of Commanding
 * The Profiler: Along with the rest of the team.
 * The Stoic: Usually.
 * Not So Stoic: "Mayhem", "Outfoxed", and especially "100".
 * In Season 7, he's largely gotten over Haley's death and has started dating. He now appears more often in casual clothing, smiles and laughs more, and everyone (especially Rossi) is absolutely delighted to see this.
 * What Could Have Been: Before Thomas Gibson was cast, Hotch was originally written as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Mormon.
 * When He Smiles: They are few and rare (and occur mainly around his young son), but when they appear, they are stunning.

David Rossi (Joe Mantegna)

 * Amicably Divorced: Above and beyond this with first ex-wife Carolyn, implied to be this with his two other ex-wives as well.
 * Agent Scully
 * Badass Beard: Even grows one. In his first appearance, "About Face", he's clean-shaven and a total jerkass. In the next episode, "Identity", he seems to have taken Hotch's advice to heart along with growing his goatee.
 * Badass Grandpa
 * Break the Haughty: "Damaged" does a number on him in season three; "Epilogue" does a worse one in season seven.
 * Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: On the rare occasion when a situation requires both him and Hotch to throw their weight around, Rossi is Sergeant Rough.
 * Casanova: Largely in backstory. Apparently, Rossi is the reason behind the Bureau's "no-fraternization" policy.
 * The Chessmaster: His hostage-negotiation in "Minimal Loss" and interrogations in "Masterpiece" and "Zoe's Reprise" teach us that you do not want to try and out-maneuver David Rossi.
 * Cool Old Guy: Knows enough about Grand Theft Auto to identify characters from it, claims he's played video games, and explains Twitter to Reid.
 * He's also seen playing video games with Ashley at the end of "Coda".
 * Helps Hotch coach Jack's soccer team. It's really kind of adorable.
 * Deal With the Devil: In "Profiling 101"
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Famed in Story: When Manilow's not in town.
 * First Name Basis: Hotch is the only one to regularly call him "Dave". Op Oo Likewise, he's one of the three people who ever call Hotch "Aaron". Rossi also calls Strauss by her first name ("Erin"), usually to piss her off.
 * Guile Hero
 * Heterosexual Life Partners / Ho Yay: Rossi and Hotch, who are the only two team members to regularly call each other by their first names and have been very close friends for over fifteen years.
 * Honorary Uncle: Jack calls Rossi "Uncle Dave" at least once.
 * Its Personal: The Galen case ("Damaged"), the Butcher case ("Remembrances of the Past"), idol worship/emulation, especially directed toward him ("Limelight", "Zoe's Reprise"), and religion ("Demonology", "Public Enemy").
 * Jerkass: Depending on the writer. Moreso in season three, but there have been episodes in season five where writers of various episodes have him lapsing back into his Jerkass-y ways.
 * Jerkass Facade: Rossi comes off as an egotistical bastard when he first shows up, baiting UnSubs and insulting a lot of people's intelligence. Turns out he's just kind of crap at this whole "team" thing, and once he realizes that these people have his back ("Damaged", most notably), he's a lot more open and caring toward them.
 * Large Ham: Can pull it off when needed, usually in the course of distracting the press (as seen in "The Performer" and "Painless").
 * Lying to The Perp: Rossi's a master at this - see "Masterpiece" and "Reckoner" for particularly spectacular examples.
 * Arguably, "Reckoner" deconstructed this, as Rossi tells the somewhat Sympathetic Murderer that he slept with his wife, multiple times, and.
 * Married to The Job: Rossi, in his own words, is "more married to this team than I have been to three wives."
 * The McCoy: Usually playing this role to Reid's Spock and Morgan or Hotch's Kirk.
 * The Mentor: To Seaver.
 * New Old Flame: It takes until season 7, and it's in heartbreaking circumstances, but we do meet the first ex-Mrs. Rossi, Carolyn.
 * Papa Wolf: It takes a bit for him to warm up to the team, but by "Masterpiece", he'll destroy you if you touch his team.
 * Parental Substitute: For Ashley Seaver. Ironically, Rossi.
 * Real Men Cook: Turns out to be an excellent cook, especially Italian food.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: Acts as the de facto leader when Hotch isn't around; especially when compared with Erin Strauss.
 * Retired Badass: Before he returns to the Bureau. He's not so much retired anymore.
 * Screw the Rules I'm Doing What's Right: He does this often. In "Hit", when the FBI Director orders Strauss to sacrifice the unsubs' hostages in order to take them down, the team immediately protests. Strauss asks them if they plan on defying the Director. Rossi's response is simply "Yes."
 * Team Dad
 * The Consigliere: Mostly to Hotch, but as of S5, to Morgan as well.
 * Xanatos Gambit: Out-gambits Henry Grace fairly magnificently in "Masterpiece".

Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore)
"Morgan: Thanks Babygi- Agent Garcia."
 * Bald of Awesome
 * Bald Black Leader Guy: Briefly in Season Five.
 * Berserk Button: Touch his "baby girl" Garcia, and you are going to wish for death. Also, does not deal well with sexual abuse cases - it's kind of close to home.
 * Big Brother Instinct: He will put your head on a pike if you DARE to touch a single hair of his surrogate little brother Spencer Reid.
 * Or anyone else on the team, actually.
 * Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: Averted and subverted with Garcia - she's not technically his "love interest" and he doesn't have a problem at all sexualizing her.
 * Clear Their Name: In "25 to Life", when a man Morgan profiled as a rehabilitated offender is suspected of murder.
 * Morgan himself in "Profiler, Profiled", when he is suspected of a series of murders in his old neighborhood.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Watch "Profiler, Profiled" and all of Morgan's issues with authority figures and sexual abuse make sense. Then take a look at "Big Sea" and "The Company" and get a look into how fractured the stalking and disappearance of his cousin Cindy caused the family to be.
 * Fair Cop: Literally. Morgan used to be a cop before he joined the BAU.
 * Genius Bruiser
 * Handsome Lech: The playful, mostly-directed-toward-Garcia kind.
 * He's mostly smooth with ladies he seriously wants to date, and turns on a more over the top 'lech' attitude with Garcia, older women and/or bums...and it's ADORABLE.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: With Reid. Although the fandom prefers to forget the "Heterosexual" part.
 * Its Personal: Sexual abuse cases ("Profiler, Profiled"), racism ("Fear and Loathing", among others), and violence against cops ("Brothers in Arms"). He's also had the Prince of Darkness ("Our Darkest Hour"/"The Longest Night"), the Reaper ("Omnivore", "Faceless, Nameless"), clearing the name of Don Sanderson ("25 to Life"), and his cousin's disappearance in "Big Sea" and "The Company".
 * He spends almost every waking moment after Prentiss's "death" hunting down Ian Doyle, culminating in going off-grid.
 * Mr. Fanservice: Particularly apparent in "I Love You, Tommy Brown," where he steps out of a shower dripping wet with a loving pan up his body.
 * No One Gets Left Behind: He does this for Prentiss in "Lauren".
 * Parental Substitute: For Ellie Spicer.
 * Platonic Life Partners: With Garcia. No one messes with his "Baby Girl".
 * Raised By Dudes: Inverted, with interesting consequences. All of the relatives we've ever met of his are female (his mother, his three sisters, his aunt, his cousin), which reinforces why Morgan treats the women in his life (especially Garcia) so well.
 * : Painfully revealed in "Profiler Profiled".
 * The Nicknamer: Can fall into this when talking to Reid ('Kid', 'Pretty Boy', 'Genius') or Garcia (too many to list).
 * His favorite by far is "Babygirl".
 * To Know Him I Must Become Him: Fun drinking game in the first couple seasons - count the number of times Morgan says "I'm the UnSub".
 * Urban Legend Love Life
 * What Happened to The Mouse: Not Morgan himself, but his work specialising in obsessional crimes. The fact that he has this specialty hasn't come up in ages, even in episodes such as "The Big Wheel" where the crimes clearly are obsessional.
 * Would Hit a Girl: Blows Lucy away without a second thought.
 * Would Hurt a Child: If that child were a killer, or so he claims to a teenage unsub in "Exit Wounds." Fortunately, the unsub ultimately surrenders voluntarily.
 * You Called Me X It Must Be Serious: After being promoted to Unit Chief in Season Five:

Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler)


""Never wage a practical joke war against an MIT graduate, because we have a history of going nuclear.""
 * Adorkable: In general, but especially with his giant Nerd Glasses when he was a child.
 * Awesome By Analysis
 * Badass Bookworm: If the Boom Headshot in "L.D.S.K." didn't convince you, his thirteen-minute-long profile from thin air to keep from being killed by Chester Hardwicke in "Damaged" might.
 * Badass Long Hair: In seasons four and five.
 * Bad Dreams: Nightmares have been plaguing him since childhood.
 * Berserk Button: Don't tell him that bullying is something some kids have to deal with. If looks could kill...
 * Beware the Nice Ones: He can shoot straight sometimes, you know.
 * Played for Laughs in "Painless"

"Prentiss (after interviewing the homeless for information): How'd you guys do?
 * Bishonen: It's the literal translation of one of Morgan's nicknames for him, "pretty boy".
 * Break the Cutie: So many times. It seems the writers like to torture him, lock him up, drug him,  tie him up...
 * could count as well. How did he spend the time while she was away? At JJ's house, crying, and almost relapsing on Dilaudid.
 * Calling the Old Man Out: Reid does this to his own father in 4x7 "In Memoriam", and then to.
 * Inverted in 4x20 "Conflicted", when he.
 * Cannot Tell a Joke: Spencer tells hilarious jokes ... if you're a genius speed-reading polymath with an eidetic memory. Otherwise, not so much.
 * He seemed pretty surprised when the villain from "Masterpiece" actually understands a joke he told a university class.
 * The Cast Showoff: The magic tricks.
 * Child Prodigy: Graduated from high school at 12, had two BAs by 16, has an IQ of 187 and an eidetic memory.
 * Clueless Chick Magnet: Poor guy doesn't realize that when beautiful movie stars kiss him it's because he's a babe, not because of 'transference'.

Hotch: Well, Reid got propositioned by every prostitute we talked to..."

"Reid: I was able to differentiate between two distinct voices, two authors. I found various idiosyncratic words, phrases, punctuation and orthography within the blog. Entries consistent with each separate person, words like soda and pop. One guy uses dashes while the other guy uses ellipses. *chuckles*
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Poor kid. Mommy's schizophrenic and Dad abandoned everyone. Biggest brain in the room and usually the one targeted physically by the serial killers.
 * Disappeared Dad: First with his own father, and then with his father figure, Gideon.
 * Fan Wank: In an in-universe example, Reid has a tendency to bore his colleagues with rants about the specs of the Death Star, whether Bill and Ted is a ripoff of Doctor Who, and the nature and frequency of science errors in the original Star Trek the Original Series.
 * Flanderization: We all know that athletics are not Reid's strong suit, but failing EVERYTHING involving physical exertion (marksmanship, physical training, the obstacle course, Hogan's Alley, etc) at the Academy? It's a little extreme and it begs the question of how he not only passed the Academy, but continues to pass his field qualifications.
 * Geek Physiques: The skinny kind. Probably as a result of Forgets to Eat.
 * Genius Sweet Tooth: If there's junk food around, Reid will find it.
 * Good With Numbers
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Definitely shows signs of this with Morgan.
 * Hidden Depths: Who'd have pegged Reid as a basketball coach in high school?!
 * Hollywood Nerd
 * In Series Nickname: "Spence" from JJ, "Kid" and "Pretty Boy" from Morgan, and countless ones from Garcia, 'Gorgeous Grey Matter' being a notable example.
 * Insufferable Genius: Unlike most versions, this comes not from arrogance (He's quite humble) but simply his habit of outshining others with his knowledge, making Them look bad by comparison (Which is very unintentional and simply a habit of his).
 * Intelligence Equals Isolation: Reid's school experience - "Being the smartest kid in class is like being the only kid in class."
 * I'm Taking Him Home With Me: He does tend to engender this type of response in some people.
 * James Bondage: Definitely. The most danger-prone agent out of the bunch. Enough said.
 * Mr. Fanservice
 * Keeping with this: Nerds Are Sexy. Lila Archer (1x18 "Somebody's Watching"), Austin (4x9 "52 Pickup"), and various prostitutes (c.f. 2x22 "Legacy" and 4x7 "In Memoriam") seem to think so.
 * Must Have Caffeine: Everyone in the BAU appears to like coffee, but Reid's is the only one to have a big point made of it. Probably because of all of the sugar he takes with it.
 * Nerd Glasses: Wears these from time to time.
 * Nightmare Fuel Stationattendant: The member of the team most likely to inform you of the Squickiest thing the unsub might do. Like eat human eyeballs.
 * No Social Skills: He's VERY awkward around people other than the team.
 * No Social Skills: He's VERY awkward around people other than the team.

Detective Linden: ... where'd you find this kid?

Rossi: He was left in a basket on the steps of the FBI."

"Reid: You should have listened to me.
 * Not That Kind of Doctor: Gideon always introduces him as "Dr. Reid" and Hotch does occasionally, leaving Reid to explain that he hasn't been to medical school, but does have three PhDs.
 * Note that this doesn't stop him from trying to use his title of "Doctor" to approve himself for active duty in Season 5 when he disagreed with the notion of taking time off to let his leg fully heal.
 * Older Than They Look: Post 'boy band' haircut, he manages to look about 12, despite the actor being 29 at the time.
 * Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Oh god. So much.
 * One of Us: Really into Doctor Who and magic, not so much modern pop culture.
 * Photographic Memory: His eidetic memory has been proven to be imperfect - for example, his memories from his very young childhood are murky at best - but, generally, it's reliable.
 * Prank Date: Was victim to this in high school. It was... brutal, to say the least.
 * The Prankster: Do not try and prank an MIT grad, Morgan. Giving Reid's number to a bunch of press leads to a hilarious return-serve of Reid hijacking all of Morgan's electronic equipment (iPod, cell phone, etc) and programming them to play a looped message of him screaming.
 * Pretty Boy: Hoo boy. In the words of Shemar Moore (the actor who plays Morgan), 'Matthew's so pretty he's almost a girl.'
 * It's also his nickname.
 * Well he was a fashion model...
 * Primal Fear: It's revealed in The Boogeyman that he's scared of the dark.
 * Revolvers Are Just Better: Switches from a pistol to a revolver as his sidearm in Season 4.
 * Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: He uses so many SAT words that it's not even funny.
 * Smart People Play Chess: Inverted and subverted; Reid plays, but is constantly beaten by Gideon, and Prentiss out-thinks him in 2x10 "Lessons Learned."
 * Additionally, in "The Uncanny Valley," it's implied that he stopped playing against people after Gideon left, while playing out every possible game with himself.
 * Snark Knight: Turns into this towards JJ after he finds out that
 * Someday This Will Come in Handy: Reid has so much apparently useless knowledge that it is, in fact, ridiculous. By contrast, his knowledge of pop culture varies: he knows Siouxsie and the Banshees but not Twilight or Lady Gaga. (Note that both Twilight and Gaga are newer than Siouxsie and the Banshees, so it may be that his knowledge of pop culture is simply limited to a certain period of time.)
 * And some of it does come in handy, such as in "Plain Sight", where he recognises the literature that the unsub writes quotes from at the crime scenes.
 * Lampshaded by Morgan in "True Night"

Morgan: It wouldn't have saved that much time, Reid, let it go.

Reid: The interchange between the 405 and the 101 freeways is consistently rated the worst interchange in the entire world.

Morgan: Why do you know that?

Reid: The government report.

Morgan: So what?

Reid: So you work for the government, you don't read the reports?

Morgan: On traffic patterns in a city 2,500 miles from where I live?

Reid: 2,295 miles.

Morgan: Do not make me smack you in front of all these people."

"Interviewer: Now, calm down, Agent--
 * The Spock: An interesting take on this trope. He's usually the most logical team member and the one to come up with the most effective plans. Though he is still not even close to handling cases unemotionally.
 * Team Pet
 * Teens Are Monsters: Holy shit his classmates in his Backstory. See Prank Date above, and keep in mind he would've been at most twelve.
 * The Smart Guy: Three Ph Ds, one of them in engineering, check. Difficulty with guns (at least, in "LDSK"), check. Prefers to talk people down rather than risk shoot-outs, check. Badass Bookworm, check.
 * Took a Level In Badass: A few over the course of the show, but a spectacular one in "It Takes a Village".

Reid: This is calm and it's Doctor."


 * Tropaholics Anonymous: In 3x16 "Elephant's Memory," he's seen attending a meeting of "Beltway Clean Cops" to cope with the Dilaudid addiction he developed in season two.
 * What the Hell Hero: He is not happy to learn that.

Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vagsness)
""Girlfriend? Kevin, if you come within 100 feet of Agent Rossi, I will unleash an unrecoverable virus onto your personal computer system that will reduce your electronic world into something between a Commodore 64, and a block of government cheese... call me later!""
 * Badass Boast: In a slightly nerdy way whenever she answers the phone to the team, for example she's announced herself "the fountain of all knowledge" on one occasion. Also see the quote under Beware the Nice Ones, she could absolutely do that. There's also her CMOA at the end of "The Internet Is Forever".
 * Beware the Nice Ones:

"Garcia: I don't believe in guns!
 * Big Beautiful Woman: Hell yeah.
 * Break the Cutie: Her  in "Lucky"/"Penelope", and the subsequent episodes that show her healing process - "House on Fire" and "Exit Wounds".
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer
 * Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: Averted and subverted with Morgan - he's not her love interest and she sexualizes him plenty.
 * Characterization Marches On: She's nearly unrecognizable to what she would later become in the pilot, in which she's a Deadpan Snarker who dresses like a stereotypical "working stiff" and who actually easily gives up trying to hack something.
 * Depending On the Writer: Whether or not she's an only child. S2 says she has four brothers. S6 says she doesn't.
 * Mind you, she mentioned having a step-father, so both could be true at once.
 * Doesn't Like Guns: In "Penelope", Morgan tries to give her one for protection.

Morgan: (shoves one her hands) Believe me, they are very real!"

"Garcia: Talk dirty to me.
 * Expy: Garcia shares a lot of personality traits with Abby Sciuto, though their precise roles are different. Both shows are on CBS.
 * Funnily enough, this is likely a complete coincidence; Garcia's character was originally going to be a chubby, middle-aged Latino man. Then they met Kirsten Vangsness.
 * Feminine Women Can Cook: Subverted in "Proof". Garcia can bake, but apparently lacks most cooking skills. Rossi ends up teaching her.
 * Geeky Turn On: How she first meets Kevin.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: She, Prentiss, and JJ are all extremely close - Garcia is even godmother to JJ's son Henry.
 * In Series Nickname: So, so many from Morgan.
 * Manic Pixie Dream Girl
 * Meganekko: When she's wearing her glasses.
 * Mission Control
 * Multicolored Hair: With more colors than a cotton candy machine. Garcia digs the Manic Panic.
 * Ms. Fanservice: She's quite well-built, to say the least, and several of her outfits, particularly the dress she wore to, seem designed to show it off.
 * Oh Crap: When she gets a call from Morgan she usually answers in a very flirty way, which leads to these moments when he replies "You're on speakerphone".
 * The crowner has to be Garcia's expression in "In Name and Blood":
 * The crowner has to be Garcia's expression in "In Name and Blood":

Strauss: This is Section Chief Strauss."


 * One of Us: So much that Garcia is the online fandom's spirit animal. Internet nerdery, quoting classic movies, loves comic books and other assorted media.
 * Interestingly enough, "The Internet Is Forever" implies she's not a fan of social networking sites.
 * Platonic Life Partners: With Morgan, her "sweet prince" and other assorted nicknames.
 * Playful Hacker: One of the most dangerous in the world, actually.
 * Promotion to Opening Titles: From season 2 onwards.
 * Recruiting the Criminal: After she got caught hacking the FBI's database, the choice was pretty much "join the Bureau or we put you in jail".
 * The Heart: She and JJ tend to share this role between them.
 * The Nicknamer; You could count on one hand the number of time she refers to anyone she's talking to by their real name. Made all the more impressive in that she comes up with a new one every time.
 * In fact, this is such an important character trait, that when Reid calls her after he's  he can tell how upset she is by the fact that she calls him "Reid".
 * Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs: Averted in that any time Garcia takes a role other than computer-related analysis, there's always a good reason and she goes back to technical analyst when it's finished (ex: doing some profiling during "House on Fire" at Hotch's request; becoming the interim media liaison  because she wants to help out).

Jennifer "JJ" Jareau (A.J. Cook)

 * Action Mom
 * Beware the Nice Ones: "Revelations" and kill-shots to three rabid dogs. "Penelope" and one beautiful headshot through a plate-glass window. "The Performer" and a shovel to the back of an UnSub's head. Do not fuck with JJ.
 * Character Development: JJ's original role on the team was to manipulate the media (and through them the bad guys) as well as deal with people the team came into contact with. Starting at the end of season five her role noticeably expanded until her temporary departure part way through Season 6. As of Season 7's "Proof" she's out pounding the pavement with Reid as well checking out body dumps and talking profiler-speak to the locals with Rossi.
 * Deadpan Snarker: JJ seems to have absorbed best-bud Emily's penchant for sawdust-dry wit in season 7.
 * Fair Cop
 * Happily Married: In Season 3's "Lo-Fi", Will LaMontagne tells the team that he's asked JJ to marry him. They are shown living together during Season 7, with Will taking care of Henry while JJ is chasing a serial killer in Tornado Alley, but not officially married until the season 7 finale.
 * Hot Mom
 * Its Personal: Small-town violence ("North Mammon", "Risky Business"), stalking ("The Crossing"), and suicide ("Risky Business").
 * Mama Bear: DO NOT threaten her kid when she's around, she WILL kick your ass, as a thrillseeking bank robber/terrorist found out in the season seven finale.
 * Put On a Bus: Thanks to Executive Meddling, she left in Season 6's "J.J.", accompanied by loads of Reality Subtext.
 * The Bus Came Back: In "Lauren" for one episode, then as of "Out of the Night", JJ is officially back. And the Fandom Rejoiced.
 * Screwed By the Network: See Put On a Bus. And the bitch of it is that in the episode directly preceding her exit, "The Longest Night", A.J. Cook does some of the best work of her career.
 * She was even more screwed than usual: Cook wasn't let go because of ratings or a dispute with the cast or crew; she was let go because CBS was pinching pennies to make a spinoff (which failed) and was too cheap to renew her contract.
 * The Danza: Subverted. Although A.J. Cook jokes that the character was named JJ so she'd be able to remember it (being a blonde), the producers swear they came up with the name before Cook was cast.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Four over the course of the show.
 * What Happened to The Mouse: Will and Henry seem to appear and disappear in continuity Depending On the Writer.
 * What Happened to The Mouse: Will and Henry seem to appear and disappear in continuity Depending On the Writer.

Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster)


"Prentiss: What'd you do to it?
 * Action Girl
 * Agent Mulder: Especially in "Demonology", where she's the one to bring up the exorcism angle.
 * Big Sister Mentor: Towards Ashley Seaver.
 * Boobs of Steel: She's not as busty as Garcia, but each one is still roughly the size of her head. Fittingly, the episode that shows this off most, "Lauren," is also when she's at her most Badass.
 * Brainy Brunette
 * Break the Cutie: All through her story arc involving Ian Doyle. Also, the writers sometimes seem committed to literally breaking her, ad she is the team member most likely to have to endure a savage beating.
 * Commuting On a Bus: Luckily, only for part of season 6.
 * Cool Big Sis: To Reid, especially after.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Druggie friends, a neglectful mother, disappeared father, and an . Not to mention.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Probably the preeminent snarker amongst the cast.
 * Disappeared Dad: We know a lot about Prentiss's mother, the Ambassador, but her father is never mentioned.
 * Eerie Pale Skinned Brunette
 * Fair Cop: Most of the time, but especially when she's undercover in "52 Pickup".
 * Goth: In high school.
 * Also, Eighties Hair.
 * Honor Before Reason: Some of her behavior in "Valhalla" and "Lauren".
 * Hot Chick in A Badass Suit
 * Its Personal: Politics ("Honor Among Thieves") and violence against women (especially rapes, as in "Slave of Duty"). "The Thirteenth Step" starts the Ian Doyle arc, which is played out until "It Takes a Village".
 * I Was Quite a Fashion Victim: Prentiss's Goth look in high school is played for laughs:
 * Honor Before Reason: Some of her behavior in "Valhalla" and "Lauren".
 * Hot Chick in A Badass Suit
 * Its Personal: Politics ("Honor Among Thieves") and violence against women (especially rapes, as in "Slave of Duty"). "The Thirteenth Step" starts the Ian Doyle arc, which is played out until "It Takes a Village".
 * I Was Quite a Fashion Victim: Prentiss's Goth look in high school is played for laughs:
 * I Was Quite a Fashion Victim: Prentiss's Goth look in high school is played for laughs:

Garcia: Do?

Prentiss: You obviously photoshopped it or something. I mean, that hair!

Garcia: Oh no, Pussycat, that's all you. Garfield High, class of '89.

Prentiss: You really didn't change anything?

Garcia: I hacked it as is. You trying to tell me you seriously don't remember rocking that look?

Reid: Perhaps your lack of recognition stems from a disassociative fugue suffered in adolescence. Like, say, at a Siouxsie and the Banshees concert?"


 * Older Than They Look: According to her, she's in her forties, and Prentiss is actually a year younger than the actress who plays her.
 * One of Us: Reads comic books, makes Star Trek references, and digs Vonnegut.
 * Parental Substitute: To, though not at all in the way his father intended.
 * Parenthetical Swearing: Usually directed toward Strauss. Only Prentiss can make the address "ma'am" sound like "fuck you, you soulless bitch".
 * She also gives Hotch a rather icy "sir" in "Sex, Birth, Death" when he touches a raw nerve by accusing her of playing political games.
 * And her response of "And also with you" (to unsub Father Paul's condescending "May God's love be with you") is delivered in a tone that sounds more like a spit to the face.
 * Ship Tease: For a series that is strictly No Hugging No Kissing among the main cast, she gets quite a bit with both Reid and Morgan
 * This Is Gonna Suck: Her response to going "undercover" in "52 Pickup".
 * Took a Level In Badass: Sure, we always knew Prentiss was badass, but in her Doyle story arc she suddenly becomes a superspy when she
 * What Happened to The Mouse: The  inflicted by Doyle seems to have magically disappeared.
 * When You Coming Home Mom: While it's never really confirmed, Emily Prentiss does not have a good relationship with her mother, and has implied numerous times that Ambassador Prentiss was neglectful toward her (most notably in "Honor Amongst Thieves", when she's surprised the Ambassador would go to her, and in "Demonology", ).
 * It really doesn't get much more neglectful than
 * When You Coming Home Mom: While it's never really confirmed, Emily Prentiss does not have a good relationship with her mother, and has implied numerous times that Ambassador Prentiss was neglectful toward her (most notably in "Honor Amongst Thieves", when she's surprised the Ambassador would go to her, and in "Demonology", ).
 * It really doesn't get much more neglectful than

Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin)



 * Alone With the Psycho: The Footpath Killer in "Extreme Aggressor" and "Compulsion".
 * Awesome By Analysis
 * Badass Grandpa
 * The Chessmaster
 * Dark and Troubled Past: One of the main subplots of the pilot episode is Hotch having to decide if Gideon is a risk in the field, due to an incident in Boston where he caused the deaths of six agents and his subsequent nervous breakdown.
 * Defective Detective
 * Guile Hero
 * Its Personal: One Word - Frank.
 * The bomber in "Won't Get Fooled Again" turns out to be a copycat of the imprisoned Adrian Bale, the guy who killed Gideon's original team.
 * Mysterious Past: A lot about him is never revealed. He has a son, but it's never made clear what his relationship with the mother was, and where literally every other main character has had their youth delved into at least a little, his remains a complete mystery.
 * Parental Substitute: The closest thing to a father Reid had, which made the abandonment all the more heartbreaking.
 * Real Life Writes the Plot:
 * Sick Episode: In "Blood Hungry" he's stuck at headquarters due to a skydiving accident.
 * The Stoic: To a lesser degree than Hotch, but capable of keeping cool even when having a shotgun pointed at his face.
 * The Strategist
 * Team Dad: Though he doesn't actually want you calling him "dad", as he informs Elle.
 * To Know Him I Must Become Him: All the time.
 * To Know Him I Must Become Him: All the time.

Elle Greenaway (Lola Glaudini)

 * Action Girl
 * Becoming the Mask
 * Fair Cop
 * Groin Attack: How she gets the unsub from "Broken Mirror" to tell her where the girl he abducted is. When Reid wonders how she got him talking later on, Gideon suggests that its best not to think about it.
 * I Wished You Were Dead and Never Got to Say Goodbye: The last thing she said to her father before he was killed in the line of duty was "I hate you!"
 * Its Personal: Violence against women and sexual assaults.
 * Knight Templar

Jordan Todd (Meta Golding)

 * Heroic BSOD: Her arc on the show is basically her descent into this.
 * Morality Pet: Serves as one to remind the audience (and the team) that most people find what the BAU does to be a horrible job and cannot cope with the constant mental trauma.
 * She Cleans Up Nicely: Not that Meta Golding was unattractive before, but going undercover in "52 Pickup" gives her a chance to look extremely pretty.
 * Skewed Priorities: In "52 Pickup", Jordan lies to the mother of a victim, telling her that her own sister was killed and her mother wouldn't help the police, pressuring the mother into letting the sister of the victim talk to the FBI. Hotch calls her out on it and delivers a blistering verbal smackdown. She gets herself back on track by teaming up with Prentiss to go undercover and catch the UnSub.
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For JJ, while she was on maternity leave.
 * The Heart
 * Temporary Substitute

Ashley Seaver (Rachel Nichols)

 * Agent Obvious: Seems to be her main role on the team.
 * Ascended Guest Star
 * Broken Bird
 * Character Depth: Quite a bit. We learn a good deal about her in her introductory episode.
 * Emotionless Girl: Comes off as this at first.
 * Expy: Ashley is very similar to Rebecca Locke from The Inside, another young profiler played by Rachel Nichols. Substitute "" for "I was kidnapped by a serial killer and I have issues".
 * Fan Nickname: Agent Mary Sue, by the disgruntled fans.
 * Faux Action Girl
 * Informed Ability: Despite supposedly great marks at the Academy, she shows quite a lack of judgment toward the climax of her debut episode.
 * Parental Issues: Hoo boy.
 * Parental Substitute: Rossi is hers. Ironically, he captured her real father.
 * Put On a Bus: Transferred to another unit. Prentiss and JJ are happy for her, at least.

Haley Hotchner (Meredith Monroe)

 * Girl Next Door
 * Give Him a Normal Life: Plays the trope straight, though she's not technically the "hero".
 * High School Sweethearts: Married Hotch right out of high school.
 * Hot Mom
 * Morality Pet: For Hotch.
 * Taking the Kids
 * Tell Our Son About His Father
 * Taking the Kids
 * Tell Our Son About His Father

Jack Hotchner (Cade Owens)

 * Daddy Had a Good Reason For Abandoning You: The first half of season five.
 * Honorary Uncle: He calls Rossi "Uncle Dave" at least once.
 * Lamarck Was Right: Seems to have a mild case of Hotch's focus and desire to fight crime, lampshaded by Foyet: "Look at him, a little junior G-Man."
 * Morality Pet: For his dad, of course.
 * My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad: According to Jack, "no one beats Daddy".

Detective Will LaMontagne (Josh Stewart)

 * Ascended Extra: Originally only meant to appear in "Jones," when A.J. Cook became pregnant, the writers had to create a love interest for her quickly, and remembering her chemistry with Will, brought him back to be her mate.
 * The Big Easy
 * A Day in The Limelight: While "Hit" and "Run" don't focus entirely on him, he plays a huge role in the story and we learn a lot about him.
 * Fair Cop
 * Happily Married: Maybe not married, but certainly living with JJ, and it's kind of adorable.
 * Hot Dad
 * Like Father Like Son: His father was also a detective.
 * Married to The Job: Averted. He was perfectly willing to give it up to be closer to JJ and the baby.
 * Season seven shows that he is now working as a detective in Washington.
 * Put On a Bus: A longer and more frequent one than JJ.
 * That One Case: In "Jones".

Kevin Lynch (Nicholas Brendon)

 * Big Eater
 * Butt Monkey: He is, after all, played by Trope Namer Nicholas "Xander Harris" Brendon.
 * Drop in Character
 * Geeky Turn On: "Oh, you are NOT seriously trying to backhack me!"
 * Non Action Guy
 * Playful Hacker: Though he admits he's not as good as Garcia.
 * Naked People Are Funny: His... awkward encounter with Rossi in "Damaged".
 * Temporary Substitute: For Garcia in "Penelope".
 * Temporary Substitute: For Garcia in "Penelope".

Section Chief Erin Strauss (Jayne Atkinson)

 * : Revelealed to be one in season seven.
 * Bait and Switch Tyrant: She has the occasional, very rare Pet the Dog moment.
 * Depending On the Writer: In her first appearances, she's trying to be a manipulative bitch. Then it look like she is A Tyrant Taking The Helm. In her next appearance, she becomes a Bait and Switch Tyrant and gets a few Pet the Dog moments. Then, as of the current season, she's back to the Obstructive Bureaucrat boss who does things over the team's objections.
 * Drop in Character
 * Genre Savvy: In "It Takes a Village", she knows as soon as Emily asks for permission to  that the BAU's already set the plan into motion.
 * Iron Lady
 * Obstructive Bureaucrat
 * Pet the Dog: Surprisingly, in "100", after spending the entire episode.

Diana Reid (Jane Lynch)

 * Broken Bird: Severe paranoid schizophrenic who had to be committed to a sanitarium by her then-eighteen year old son. Has just as brilliant a mind as Spencer, under the delusions and medication.
 * Conspiracy Theorist: Of the "government is watching me and my son works with fascists" variety.
 * Cool Teacher: Was once a university professor, before the schizophrenia.
 * Drop in Character
 * The Schizophrenia Conspiracy

Carolyn Baker Rossi (Isabella Hoffman)

 * Amicably Divorced: She even kept her husband's surname.
 * New Old Flame: Though Rossi had already mentioned about his divorces.
 * New Old Flame: Though Rossi had already mentioned about his divorces.

Karl Arnold, the Fox (Neal Jones)
"Karl Arnold: It's great to see you squirm, Agent Hotchner!"
 * Abusive Parents: His father was a violent man who molested him. Karl himself turned out to be a controlling, obsessive husband and father.
 * Berserk Button: Lack of order. See Super OCD below.
 * Boom Headshot: How fathers were disposed of.
 * Collector of the Strange: He collects the wedding rings of the fathers he has killed as a trophy.
 * Cunning Like a Fox
 * Dark and Troubled Past: See Abusive Parents above.
 * Evil Gloating: In Outfoxed.


 * Evil Redhead
 * Forced to Watch: He showed each father his dead family before shooting him.
 * Grievous Harm With a Body: When cornered, he threw a baby at Gideon.
 * Hypocrite: Hates abusive husbands despite keeping his own family terrified of Him.
 * In Series Nickname: A curious example. He's known as the Fox, but the BAU didn't use that nickname before Outfoxed. Until that episode, it was All There in the Manual.
 * Knife Nut: Stabbed mothers and children to death.
 * Knight Templar: He thought that not only he had to punish families he saw as dysfunctional, but also that he had to show the father what happens when "the head of household isn't strong".
 * Manipulative Bastard: He exploited his position as family therapist for his criminal schemes.
 * Neat Freak
 * Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: Would force captive children to make these.
 * Pater Familicide: At least two (probably four) of his family killings were disguised as this.
 * Psycho Psychologist
 * Super OCD: He's obsessive about cleanliness and order. Gideon exploits this flaw to trick him into confessing.
 * Took a Level In Jerkass: In Outfoxed.
 * Would Hurt a Child

Randall Garner, the Fisher King (Charles Haid)

 * Berserk Button: Don't break the rules of The Quest.
 * Criminal Mind Games
 * Couldn't Find A Pen: Enjoys writing things in blood.
 * Driven to Suicide
 * Even Evil Has Standards: He made sure his victims were unrepentant criminals, and while he shot Elle, he stated he derived no pleasure from it, claiming it was out of necessity, and "barbaric" and "dishonorable".
 * Evil Cripple: Burned over ninety-percent of his body
 * Fairy Tale Motifs: He's the Fisher King, his surviving daughter is the grail, and the BAU are the Knights of the Round Table.
 * Fiction 500: The never explicitly state how wealthy he is, but it is quite apparent that money is no object to him.
 * Final Boss: Of Season 1.
 * Finger in The Mail: A head in a package.
 * Off With His Head: Hired a guy to kill a man this way; later, he himself killed the assassin via...
 * Impaled With Extreme Prejudice: With a replica of Excalibur, no less.
 * The Other Darrin: Though due to the make-up and dubbing, you can't actually tell.
 * Significant Anagram: Sir Kneighf.

Frank Breitkopf (Keith Carradine)

 * And I Must Scream: Puts his victims in this state via drug that leaves them paralyzed, but fully conscious as he slowly vivisects them... in a room with a mirrored ceiling.
 * Calling Card: Taking a right rib bone. And making wind chimes out of them.
 * Driven to Suicide:
 * Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Subverted. While he kept his mother's body in a pristine apartment, and surrounded it with flowers, it's heavily implied that she was his first victim.
 * Evil Genius
 * Faux Affably Evil: He's polite and soft-spoken, but he's not a nice person at all.
 * Final Boss: Of Season 2.
 * First Name Basis: He always calls Gideon by his first name.
 * Hannibal Lecture: Loves giving these to Gideon.
 * It Got Worse: Word for word in "No Way Out", as the team and police uncover more of his MO.
 * Its Personal: Killed Gideon's old flame, then started targeting people he had saved in the past.
 * Knife Nut
 * Lack of Empathy
 * Meaningful Name: Points out that his name is derived from a type of spear and Gideon shares his with a Greek Hero and a biblical figure.
 * Mommy Issues: His mother was a prostitute, who he witnessed perform and have performed on her every indignity imaginable.
 * Morality Pet: Jane.
 * Not So Stoic: The ever so brief look he gives when Gideon mentions they've learned who his mother is, and what his childhood was really like.
 * Recurring Character: In Season 2
 * Self Made Orphan: In No Way Out II: The Evilution of Frank, the team discovers his mother's corpse in his apartment and it is implied that he killed her.
 * Serial Killer: That goes without saying but Frank took it to a whole new level. He's killed 166 people all over the United States for at least thirty years, though it should be noted he's nothing compared to Billy Flynn and a few Real Life Serial Killers.
 * Smug Snake: The poster boy. He manages to make sitting in a cafe, drinking his coffee look arrogant.
 * The Sociopath: He feels no remorse for the people he kills and is incapable of empathy.
 * Son of a Whore
 * Start of Darkness: "No Way Out II: The Evilution of Frank".
 * That One Case: For Gideon, apparently even before "No Way Out".
 * Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Espouses a belief akin to this before killing himself and Jane.
 * What Is This Thing You Call Love: Can't feel it, but wants to.
 * Wicked Cultured: Enjoys classical music, ornothology, literature and has an interest in mythology. He'd be interesting to spend time with if You could get past the whole "Cuts people open" aspect of his personality.
 * Wouldn't Hurt A Child: Well, not directly...
 * Worthy Opponent: Sees Gideon as one of the few people who deserves to catch him.
 * Xanatos Gambit: Pulled off successfully in "No Way Out", but he's Out Gambitted in "No Way Out II".

Charles Holcombe (Tahmus Rounds)
"Maggie: I don't have any diseases. I just went to the clinic. I'm clean.
 * Death Course: The way he has modified the meat plant his family owned.
 * Evil Counterpart: To detective McGee. Both suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder, both have lost their own father and both are focused on street people.
 * Hope Spot / I Lied: He offered his victims a way out, only to.
 * Jerkass: Is profiled as one and it helps turn his Only Friend against him.
 * Judge Jury and Executioner

Charles: You don't even know the meaning of the word. You've been judged and sentenced to death."


 * Kill the Poor: His victims are homeless people, prostitutes and junkies.
 * Knight Templar
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Missing White Woman Syndrome: Nobody seems to notice his kidnappings since nobody notices his victims in the first place. Lampshaded by Hotch.
 * Shout Out: In the opening scene, he's whistling Johanna. Also, there are a lot of references to the Saw saga.
 * Smug Snake
 * Super OCD
 * Torture Technician

Stanley Howard (Michael O'Keefe)
"Stanley Howard: I think your greatest fear is that you can't save everyone."
 * Abusive Parents: His mother.
 * Affably Evil
 * Awesome By Analysis: Believe it or not, he manages to profile Hotch the first time he sees him.


 * Catch Phrase: "Is it worse than you thought?"
 * Control Freak
 * Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Subverted. He didn't even attend his mother's funeral. He had his own motivations, however.
 * Foreshadowing: He noticed Hotch's Samaritan Syndrome, which became prominent during the Reaper story arc.
 * For Science: How he tries to rationalize his murders when.
 * Freudian Excuse
 * The Harmful Shrink
 * Ironic Echo: He repeats his Catch Phrase (this time in an affirmative way, referring to himself) before.
 * Mind Rape: His modus operandi.
 * Mommy Issues
 * Psycho Psychologist

Tobias Hankel/ (James van der Beek)

 * Abusive Parents: His father is a contender for worst parent in the entire series.
 * Holier Than Thou:  and.
 * Knight Templar:.
 * Missing Mom
 * Monster Sob Story: Poor Tobias.
 * Sympathetic Murderer
 * That One Case: For Reid.
 * That One Case: For Reid.

Deputy Jason Clark Battle (Bailey Chase)

 * Hero Syndrome
 * Hot Guys Are Bastards
 * Killer Cop
 * Man of Wealth and Taste: Attempts to give this impression.
 * Suicide By Cop/Taking You With Me: Once he realizes his number's up, the only thing he wants to do is take as many FBI down with him as possible..
 * That One Case: For Garcia.
 * Villain With Good Publicity
 * Villain With Good Publicity

aka True Night (Frankie Muniz)

 * Anti Hero/Anti Villain: The episode even ended with a quote from Frank Miller.
 * Creator Breakdown: In-universe.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Played with. Sure, True Night is a murderer, but.
 * Darkness Equals Death
 * Ironic Echo: "You're not gonna wanna miss this".
 * Kick the Dog: He attacked a man who had nothing to do with . Luckily, the man didn't die.
 * No Kill Like Overkill: His victims were hacked to bits. In particular,  was gutted, dismembered and then beheaded.
 * Power Born of Madness: His unexpected strength and extremely high tolerance to pain come from a severe psychotic break.
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge
 * Sympathetic Murderer: All his victims were gang criminals who.
 * Vigilante Man
 * Woobie Destroyer of Worlds: Even the team feel sorry for him.

Owen Savage (Cody Kasch)

 * Abusive Father: His father resented him since he had had to leave the Army to take care of his son.
 * A Date With Rosie Palms: Three of his victims were the guys who had filmed him when he masturbated in the shower room as initiation and posted it on the schools social network from which it presumably reached the Internet.
 * Kick the Dog: When he stabbed Ike Stratman, though it was to avoid being discovered, and he clearly showed remorse.
 * Missing Mom: She died in a drunk driving accident.
 * Misunderstood Loner With a Heart of Gold: Before the killings started, at least.
 * Monster Sob Story
 * Morality Pet: Has one in Jordan.
 * No Kill Like Overkill: His father and Kyle Borden (the guy who had taken advantage of Jordan, Owen's girlfriend with slower learning abilities) were shot in the face at a point-blank range.
 * Not So Different: Reid identifies with him because they both went through hell at high school.
 * Suicide By Cop:
 * Sympathetic Murderer
 * Whos Laughing Now

Henry Grace (Jason Alexander)

 * Awesome By Analysis:
 * Batman Gambit:
 * Criminal Mind Games
 * Crazy Prepared: His plan hinges largely on Reid picking up on his verbal clues and the unusual pattern to his murders, and he knows that Reid alone is smart enough to do it because said pattern and clues are very unusual and rooted in advanced mathematics.
 * Dirty Coward: Always attacks his victims from behind, both because he's a pretty small guy and because women intimidate him. Rossi calls him out on it after
 * Disproportionate Retribution: Murders several women just because they reminded him of the fiancee` who dumped him years ago.
 * Evil Genius
 * The Fettered:
 * Hannibal Lecture: Almost a whole episode of these, mostly directed at either Rossi or Reid.
 * In the Blood: Firmly believes this. Rossi calls it "junk science" and thinks he's just looking for excuses.
 * Its Personal: Blames Rossi for ruining his life...for capturing his Serial Killer older brother.
 * Loners Are Freaks: Mentioned as being a non-teaching professor, to the point where nobody on campus seems to know who he is. Justified in that everyone who he had been on normal terms with didn't want to know him after his brother was exposed as a homicidal maniac.
 * Off On a Technicality:
 * Revenge By Proxy:
 * Smug Snake
 * Trauma Conga Line: His brother turned out to be a notorious Serial Killer, leading to his fiancee` dumping him and everyone he knows distancing themselves from him and his family, nearly ruining his career in the process, while the man who caught said brother went on to become a wealthy and bestselling non-fiction writer and he had nothing.
 * Shut UP Hannibal: Rossi gives him an epic and pretty nasty one at the end, even resulting in a Villainous Breakdown.
 * Shut UP Hannibal: Rossi gives him an epic and pretty nasty one at the end, even resulting in a Villainous Breakdown.

Megan Kane (Brianna Brown)

 * Abusive Father
 * Black Bra and Panties: In the opening shot of the episode.
 * Blondes Are Evil: Though much less evil than the majority of the unsubs.
 * Brains and Bondage: She's a learned woman and at least one of her victims had been consensually bonded before being poisoned.
 * Broken Bird
 * Daddys Girl: Averted. Her father is an abusive and violent man, who nevertheless tries to use this trope to get what he wants from her.
 * Dominatrix: Some of her clients wanted her to play this role.
 * Dumb Blonde: Averted. She's interested in foreign literature, can speak and read French and is also very cunning.
 * Freudian Excuse
 * : More or less. She has finally managed to indirectly  and is relieved to be with , who she considers "the first man she'd met who didn't let her down".
 * High Class Call Girl: Though not for money. She wanted to punish the men on her list.
 * Kick the Dog: When she shot Trent Rabner, a childless widower who had always been faithful to his wife until the end.
 * Monster Sob Story
 * Ms. Fanservice
 * Parental Abandonment
 * : She asks this to  after
 * Sympathetic Murderer: With only one exception (Trent Rabner, who she killed only because she was devolving), all her victims had it coming.
 * Villainous Breakdown
 * Villainous Breakdown

, the Boston Reaper (C. Thomas Howell)
"Hotch: If you touch her...
 * Badass Longcoat
 * Calling Card: The Eye of Providence and/or the word FATE; also had a habit of taking something from his victims and leaving the object at the scene of the next murder.
 * Cold Blooded Torture: Hotch and Marshal Kassmeyer.
 * Crazy Prepared
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy
 * Dark Is Evil
 * Disc One Final Boss
 * Ephebophile: Rossi profiles him as one, due to the disproportionate amount of time he spends with his female victims (knifed anywhere from ten to sixty-seven times) as opposed to his male victims (all simply shot, except for Hotch).
 * He also shaved his head.
 * Guttural Growler: Used in his debut.
 * The Heavy: For much of Seasons 4 & 5.
 * Hoist By His Own Petard: Hotch was originally going to stab him to death with his own knife, but they decided to change the cause of death to Extreme Melee Revenge.
 * Its All About Me: Believes that Hotch has no right to hunt him down (despite his being a Serial Killer) and goes out of his way to blame Hotch for his problems.
 * Knife Nut: But also known to use firearms.
 * Lack of Empathy: Has none for anyone.
 * Malevolent Masked Men
 * No Kill Like Overkill: His young female victims were stabbed an excessive number of times (one had somewhere in the range of sixty stab wounds). The entire bus massacre scene in "Omnivore".
 * Serial Killer
 * Smug Snake
 * That One Case: For Hotch.
 * The Sociopath: Blatantly.
 * The Unfettered
 * Very Loosely Based On a True Story: He has similarities to both the Zodiac Killer and (to a lesser extent) BTK, as pointed out "Omnivore".
 * Wham Line: "You should have made the deal..."
 * Wild Mass Guessing: Some people seem to think he
 * I don't know where anyone could get an idea like that. He specifically says to Hotch "" Certainly a statement explicit enough to support theorizing.
 * And in 100:
 * I don't know where anyone could get an idea like that. He specifically says to Hotch "" Certainly a statement explicit enough to support theorizing.
 * And in 100:

The Reaper:"


 * Would Hurt a Child: Hadn't Hotch stopped him, he would have probably tortured and then killed

Adam Jackson aka (Jackson Rathbone)

 * Asshole Victims: His prefered victims were Jerkasses who reminded him of his stepfather. At least one cheated on his girlfriend with no remorse and they all tended to treat women badly.
 * Bishonen: Notice that it plays an important role in his murders.
 * Mr. Fanservice
 * Freudian Excuse
 * He Really Can Act: Amazingly so, and you wouldn't think it from the other movies he was involved in.
 * Sympathetic Murderer
 * Sympathetic Murderer
 * Sympathetic Murderer
 * Sympathetic Murderer

Vincent Rowlings (Alex O'Loughlin)
"Stanley: I wish you were my dad."
 * Affably Evil: Especially towards his Morality Pet Stanley.
 * Chronic Villainy
 * Freudian Excuse: His modus operandi is similar to the way  was killed. See Monster Sob Story.
 * Knife Nut: Especially in his first murders.
 * Loners Are Freaks
 * Monster Sob Story: His father  and he sat by her side for almost an entire day before they were found.
 * Morality Pet: Found one in Stan.
 * Neat Freak
 * Parental Substitute: Perceived this way by Stan.


 * Power Born of Madness: While devolving, he has an extremely high tolerance to pain.
 * Redemption Equals Death: His last murders showed hints of remorse, and right before dying he told Stanley that he had helped him "to see".
 * Super OCD: So far the most accurate display of obsessive compulsive disorder in the series.
 * Sympathetic Murderer: One of the rare cases in which the victims were not assholes.
 * Terrified of Germs
 * Weird But Cute: Said by one of his victims.

The Turner Brothers (Garrett Dillahunt and Paul Rae)

 * Brains and Brawn: Mason is the brains, Lucas the brawn.
 * Drop the Hammer: Lucas's MO.
 * Dumb Muscle: The severely handicapped Lucas.
 * Evil Cripple: Mason, a quadriplegic barely kept alive by a ton a of machinery.
 * Evil Genius: Mason is very, very bright.
 * Expy: Mason is based heavily on Mason Verger from Hannibal. Both are sexual sadists (though the latter is a pedophile) who were crippled by a Serial Killer (albeit in very, very different circumstances, and unlike the Evil Genius Lecter the Man Child Lucas wasn't a killer at the time) and seek humiliating revenge on them (of very different sorts though). Both have farms with man-eating pigs, and are verbally and emotionally abusive to their carers- in the novel, Verger's carer is his sister, which only adds to the similarities. Most obviously, both are named Mason.
 * Fat Bastard: Lucas, although much more sympathetic than most.
 * Fate Worse Than Death: How Mason views his condition.
 * Final Boss: Of Season 4.
 * For Science: How Mason tries rationalizing manipulating his mentally handicapped brother into killing the homeless for his experiments, saying that he is searching for a cure for his condition. Earns him a Shut UP Hannibal from Rossi, who calls him out as just another sadistic bastard since his farm and equipment are no where near adequate for such a task, and he's arranged mirrors around the house in a way that lets him see his victims suffer from his bed.
 * Genius Cripple: Mason
 * Go Out With a Smile: Mason, who lies back and smiles before he is shot.
 * I'm a Humanitarian: Sorta. Lucas doesn't really seem to mind eating pigs that he's fed a ton of people to.
 * Karma Houdini: Lampshaded by Rossi, who says that selling the idea that a bed-ridden former doctor is really a manipulative homicidal maniac to a jury is going to be an uphill struggle, especially since Lucas actually did all the killings.
 * Kill the Poor: They prey on homeless people, prostitues and junkies on the premise that they're useless, and no one will miss them.
 * Lack of Empathy: Mason has no empathy for those they've killed, saying that they should be grateful that they can become a part of something greater than themselves. Subverted with Lucas, who starts empathising with the last victim after the police show up to the farm and he's forced to spend time with her in his old childhood hideaway.
 * Mad Doctor: Mason, with Lucas acting as his hands.
 * Mercy Kill: Mason's take on Lucas' death.
 * Missing White Woman Syndrome: Along with the "useless to society" thing, Mason presumably had Lucas target the homeless because he believed no one would really care or notice.
 * Motive Rant: Mason gives a pretty good one
 * Psychopathic Manchild: Lucas, implied to be extremely volatile even before Mason manipulated him into killing.
 * Serial Killers
 * Shout Out: An Evil Cripple named Mason who lives in a pig farm. Subtle.
 * Sibling Yin Yang: Lucas is a six and a half foot tall, three hundred pound Dumb Muscle Brute and Psychopathic Manchild with severe retardation and Autistic tendencies, who dresses in overalls, loves the farm, and doesn't seem to understand that he's killing actual people. Mason is a short, cold-blooded Evil Cripple and Evil Genius who attended med school, wanted to move away from home, and is fully aware of what they're doing, but just doesn't care.
 * Siblings in Crime
 * The Sociopath: Mason
 * Sympathetic Murderer: Adult Child Lucas, very much so. His brother Mason, not so much.
 * Very Loosely Based On a True Story: Robert Pickton, a farmer who killed primarily prostitutes, and disposed of the remains by feeding them to his pigs.
 * Vigilante Execution: Mason's death.

Boyd Schuller and Tony Mecacci (Lawrence Pressman and Tom Ohmer)

 * Asshole Victim:  And all the victims that had got away before.


 * For Great Justice
 * Hanging Judge: Schuller. He could have been it even before, if you consider that the victims on his list were supposed to be the worst criminals that had got away when he was in charge.
 * I Lied
 * Karma Houdini: Played with.
 * Killed Mid Sentence:
 * Knight Templar: Schuller.
 * Laser Guided Karma:
 * Pay Evil Unto Evil
 * Poetic Serial Killer: Victims were mutilated and/or tortured in ways that reflected their crimes.
 * Professional Killer: Mecacci.
 * Start of Darkness: For Schuller, it was.
 * Sympathetic Murderer: A rare case (for this series) in which each one of his victims had it coming.
 * Thanatos Gambit:
 * To Be Lawful or Good
 * Well Intentioned Extremist: Schuller really believes he's acting for justice.
 * Wicked Cultured: Tony Mecacci adopter his alias "Bosola" after a character in the play The Duchess of Malfi.

Samantha Malcolm (Jennifer Hasty)

 * Accidental Murder: She doesn't want her victims to die. Instead, she does her best to keep them alive, even if the state of paralysis in which they are inevitably leads to their death.
 * And I Must Scream: She uses injections to paralyze her victims so she can dress them up and have tea parties with them.
 * Blonde Brunette Redhead / Token Minority: Her dolls are a blonde, a red head, and an African-American girl.
 * Collector of the Strange
 * Freudian Excuse
 * Living Doll Collector: A more human one than most examples, all things considering.
 * Loners Are Freaks
 * Missing Mom: Her mother's death was where her troubles all started.
 * Monster Sob Story
 * No Social Skills: Part of her profile. She's skilled enough to lure her next victim into her van, but generally she behaves in a clumsy and paranoid way.
 * Please Don't Leave Me: Said to her last "doll".
 * Replacement Goldfish: Her human dolls.
 * Sympathetic Murderer: Without Asshole Victims.
 * Woman Child: The way she acts and moves puts you in the mind of a five year old. She even has tea parties with her "dolls". Also, when one of her victims dies, she leaves the body in places crowded by children, like parks or carnivals.
 * Woman Child: The way she acts and moves puts you in the mind of a five year old. She even has tea parties with her "dolls". Also, when one of her victims dies, she leaves the body in places crowded by children, like parks or carnivals.

Anita and Roger Roycewood (Beth Grant and Bud Cort)
" Come on, you gotta be kid... BANG!"
 * Driven to Suicide:
 * Evil Matriarch: Anita, despite the children not being hers.
 * Evil Old Folks
 * Guilt Ridden Accomplice: Roger seems to show slight traits of this, but the interpretation is left open and is very debatable.
 * I Shall Taunt You:  tries to do this to Charlie. Bad idea. See below.
 * Killed Mid Sentence


 * Lady Macbeth: Anita.
 * Murder By Cremation: When the children they've abducted grow out of control, Anita sedates them and burns them in her family's crematorium.
 * Outlaw Couple
 * Unholy Matrimony
 * Would Hurt a Child: Probably the worst case so far.

Billy Flynn, the Prince of Darkness (Tim Curry)

 * A God Am I: "I decide who dies, but mostly, I decide who lives. I'm like... God."
 * All There in the Manual: His name was revealed prior to "The Longest Night", on the "Our Darkest Hour" cast pages of sites like imdb or TV.com
 * Boom Headshot: How most of his victims are killed.
 * Dark Is Evil
 * Darkness Equals Death
 * Enfant Terrible: Killed his mother and one of her clients when he was thirteen, apparently forcing the latter to beg for his life before shooting him.
 * Evil Is Hammy
 * The Family That Slays Together: Since Detective Spicer only had a kid because he allowed him to live years earlier, Flynn developed a kind of "grandfather delusion" towards Spicer's daughter, who he tries to make his sidekick.
 * Final Boss: Of Season 5.
 * Forced to Watch: If he's in the mood for some rape, he'll usually force someone (usually the victim's children) to watch.
 * Large Ham: He has some moments. Being played by Tim Curry surely helps.
 * Mercy Kill: Over the years he eventually came to rationalize his mother's murder as this.
 * Mommy Issues: His mother was a hooker; she made him watch, and later pimped him out to paedophilic clients.
 * Not So Different: From Ellie, as invoked by JJ. It works.
 * Pet the Dog: His release of Ellie.
 * The Pig Pen
 * Self Made Orphan
 * Serial Killer: Up to Eleven, in all likelihood having in the neighborhood of four hundred victims. For the curious, this likely makes him (within the context of the show, of course) either the most- or second-most prolific murderer in human history.
 * Smug Snake
 * Suicide By Cop
 * Talking the Monster To Death
 * That One Case: For Morgan.
 * Tim Curry
 * Uncleanliness Is Next to Ungodliness
 * Very Loosely Based On a True Story: Has some elements of Richard Ramirez, better known as the Night Stalker.
 * Villainous Breakdown

Raymond Donovan and Sydney Manning (Jonathan Tucker and Adrianne Palicki)

 * Abusive Parents: Holy shit.
 * The Alcoholic
 * Boom Headshot: How Ray and Syd dispose of each other's pedophile fathers.
 * Dark Action Girl: Syd gets her Dark Action Girl on when she and Ray shoot up the AlAnon meeting; the expression on her face is particularly telling.
 * Death Glare: Syd gives her father a pretty epic one when she realizes he has another young daughter, about the same age Syd was when he was abusing her.
 * Freudian Excuse: See Abusive Parents and Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil
 * Gun Crazy
 * Guns Akimbo: How they dispatch their victims.
 * Kick the Dog: As is the course for Sympathetic Murderers on this show. Syd's is, and Ray's is his treatment of Syd's little sister.
 * Lady Macbeth: Sydney.
 * Mr. Fanservice: Ray has a Shirtless Scene after the opening titles. Also, while filming their activities, Syd takes a shot of his rear.
 * Ms. Fanservice: An intriguing amount of shots seem to be dedicated to Syd's rack and rump.
 * Murder the Hypotenuse:.
 * My God What Have I Done:.
 * Outlaw Couple
 * Pet the Dog: Syd's Pet the Dog is a direct reversal of Ray's Kick the Dog: she genuinely loves her sister and reassures her that everything will be okay, even as Ray is threatening to shoot her in the head.
 * Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: They were both raped by their fathers as children.
 * Russian Roulette: Ray does this to his dad.
 * The Sociopath: Ray, probably the most sympathetically-portrayed one yet. Syd, as a sidenote, is a psychopath.
 * Sympathetic Murderers
 * The Dog Bites Back: Their ultimate motive is doing this to their fathers.
 * Theres No Kill Like Overkill: Up to and including shooting already-dead bodies for the heck of it. It's hinted they actually get off on this.
 * Tropaholics Anonymous: Met via an AlAnon meeting. Ray is later seen attending a meeting... which he and Syd promptly shoot up after the organizer irritates Ray.
 * Unholy Matrimony
 * Woobies, Destroyers of Worlds
 * Unholy Matrimony
 * Woobies, Destroyers of Worlds

Ian Doyle, Valhalla (Timothy V. Murphy)

 * Big Bad: Of Season Six.
 * Boom Headshot: How most of his victims are disposed of, though he's not adverse to knives and poison.
 * The Dragon: A mook named Liam appears to fill this role.
 * Its Personal: Has quite the grudge against Emily, more so than anyone else he's after.
 * And with good reason, too. She
 * Monster Sob Story: Doyle was led to believe that
 * As of "It Takes A Village,"
 * Offscreen Villain Dark Matter
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Killing everyone responsible for putting him away, Emily included.
 * Stating the Simple Solution: Liam does this several times.
 * Tattooed Crook: A four-leaf clover on the wrists of him and his followers.
 * That One Case: For Prentiss.
 * Western Terrorists: Headed an offshoot of the IRA.
 * White Mask of Doom: Worn by him and his Mooks.
 * That One Case: For Prentiss.
 * Western Terrorists: Headed an offshoot of the IRA.
 * White Mask of Doom: Worn by him and his Mooks.

Lucy (Angela Sarafyan)

 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
 * The Dragon: Has a huge one who actually manages to curbstomp Morgan!
 * Final Boss: Of Season 6.
 * First Name Basis: And Lucy may not even be her real name.
 * Psycho for Hire: She claims she's Only in It For The Money, but is obviously getting off on it.
 * Manipulative Bitch
 * Russian Roulette: Was going to play one before the arrival of the agents.
 * Smug Snake: Not nearly as smart as she thinks she is.
 * The Sociopath: She even pretends to be a kidnapped victim to enjoy every moment of the actual victims' suffering.
 * Tiny Tyrannical Woman: The team were orginally expecting the leader of the human trafficing ring to be a very big man and yet she manages to have total control over her employees.
 * Torture Technician
 * Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Tries it on Rossi; it doesn't work.

Ben "Cy" Bradstone (Andy Milder)

 * Bad Liar
 * Everyone Calls Him Cy
 * Evil Uncle
 * Serial Killer: Differently from Samantha Malcolm, he's actually a serial killer who just happens to have a brain damage.
 * The Mentally Disturbed
 * The Sociopath

aka The Piano Man ()

 * Isn't It Ironic: Why did  know he was lying when he said that he learned the song so that he could sing it to propose to his wife? Because the song was "Total Eclipse of the Heart".
 * Oh Crap: When he realizes that  has recognized him.
 * Rape As Drama
 * Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil
 * Soundtrack Dissonance: He plays romantic songs from The Eighties when raping his victims.
 * Soundtrack Dissonance: He plays romantic songs from The Eighties when raping his victims.

and the Face Cards (Evan Jones, Seth Laird, Tricia Helfer, and Josh Randall)

 * Abusive Grandfather: Implied for Izzy..
 * Bald of Evil: Oliver, and Chris has a buzz-cut, as well.
 * Designated Girl Fight: JJ vs Izzy, probably surpassed only by as the most epic fight the series has had so far.
 * Femme Fatale: Izzy is an archetypical one. She even wears black leather.
 * Final Boss: Of Season Seven.
 * Four Bad Band:
 * Big Bad:
 * The Dragon: Izzy Rogers
 * Those Two Bad Guys: Chris and Oliver Stratton
 * Big Bad Wannabe: lets Chris think he's in charge, and it's implied Chris doesn't even know he exists.
 * For the Evulz: The only reason and Izzy do all the terrible things they do is that it gets them high, essentially.
 * Harmful to Minors: Izzy does not seem to like children; she shot one at one of her previous robberies, shot a father in front of his daughter in the robbery the episode focuses on,.
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: All things considered, the Strattons are kind of pathetic, and their caring for each other makes it difficult to properly hate them.
 * Its All About Me:, whose entire motivation is that he was kicked out of the Marines for being a jackass and feels like the world owes him somehow.
 * Lack of Empathy: Izzy; it's implied all the empathy was beaten, or possibly even molested, out of her by her grandfather. too, with no known Freudian Excuse.
 * Malevolent Masked Men: And, as Izzy would probably be quick to remind you, one woman.
 * Mauve Shirt:.
 * Morality Pet: The Stratton brothers to each other.
 * Outlaw Couple: and Izzy
 * The Sociopath:, who does and orders others to do terrible things while smugly grinning all the while. Izzy has shades of this, too; her favorite method of killing people is shooting them in the stomach, as that's the slowest and most painful place to bleed out from.
 * Sociopathic Soldier: Izzy and are both disgraced ex-military.
 * Theme Naming: They're the Face Cards: Chris the King, Izzy the Queen, and Oliver the Jack,.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:.