Bones/Characters

Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel)

 * Action Girl
 * Adorkable: She has her moments of this particularly in lighthearted moments with Booth.
 * Agent Scully: No matter how insightful or useful Sweets is, she persists in dismissing any time he's right as "coincidence" because of her dismissal of psychology as a science.
 * Ambiguous Disorder: Has something going on with the lack of social skills and poor metaphor grasping.
 * Anguished Declaration of Love
 * Badass Bookworm
 * Blue Eyes: Emily Deschanel's peepers rival her kid sister's.
 * Brainy Brunette
 * Brutal Honesty: When you combine her cold-bloodedness, her honesty, and her social incompetence that is pretty much what you get.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer
 * Cannot Tell a Joke
 * Catch Phrase: "I don't know what that means."
 * For a while there was also "Don't call me Bones," but she soon learned to accept (but not embrace) the nickname.
 * Embarrassing Middle Name: Word of God gives it as.
 * Hollywood Nerd
 * Honest Advisor: She is not exactly incapable of lying. But her concern for the truth is extreme to the point of ruthlessness. This is multiplied by the fact that she barely knows how to use a metaphor.
 * Hot Mom
 * Hot Scientist
 * In-Series Nickname: Take a wild guess.
 * Insufferable Genius
 * Literal-Minded: More than anyone who's not a robot should be.
 * Meaningful Name: "Temperance" means "moderation or self-restraint in action, statement, etc.; self-control."
 * Even more meaningful is the fact that  Many characters point out that Temperance's need for temperance is a direct result of her parents' abandonment and her subsequent experiences in the foster care system, before which she was much more carefree.
 * My Beloved Smother: Christine is barely out of the womb and she's already started, getting suspended from the Jeffersonian's daycare for interfering too much.
 * Mystery Writer Detective: A borderline case as her skills as a forensic anthropologist are far more important to solving crimes than any supposedly ability as a writer.
 * Especially as
 * Nerds Are Sexy
 * No Social Skills: Not quite as bad as Zack but enough to count.
 * Oblivious to Love: To Booth in season five.
 * Pregnant Badass
 * Principles Zealot: Downplayed. She can bend once in awhile but she is on the whole fairly rigid about scientific ethics.
 * Real Life Writes the Plot: Her pregnancy this season
 * She's All Grown Up: Kid Brennan, according to a photo of her winning a science fair (at age 11) showed her as kinda chubby. She grows up to be a gorgeous woman (played by Emily Deschanel).
 * That Man Is Dead: She sometimes has that attitude toward her Dark and Troubled Past as the daughter of a bank robber.
 * The Spock
 * The Stoic: In the literal as well as figurative sense. Not only is she inhumanly cold-blooded, she is about as incorruptible as a human could be and Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus are somewhere in the afterlife watching her and smiling.
 * She is surprised when others take it ill at being corrected. As she points out, she would want to be corrected if she is wrong. And she means every word of that. When she says she is the best forensic scientist on the continent, she is not bragging in the least. She is in fact the best and what is there to boast of about facts any more then anything else?
 * Straw Vulcan
 * Sugar and Ice Personality
 * Unrequited Love Switcheroo
 * UST: With Booth
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She once commented, "I find it interesting that I'm only afraid of snakes when Booth is around to be jumped upon".
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She once commented, "I find it interesting that I'm only afraid of snakes when Booth is around to be jumped upon".
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She once commented, "I find it interesting that I'm only afraid of snakes when Booth is around to be jumped upon".

Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz)

 * Anguished Declaration of Love: It didn't work at first.
 * Atonement Detective: Booth seems to have a scale in his head, weighing roughly how many kills he made as a sniper versus how many murderers he's caught.
 * Badass
 * Berserk Button: If any one threatens, insults or mildly annoys Brennan, Booth seems ready to do violence. Also clowns. Even on ice cream trucks.
 * Also don't even think about hurting his son. While we haven't really seen this in action, he is on record that his protective instinct for Parker outweighs his faith in God himself, which is kinda a big deal.
 * It can safely be assumed that this now extends to.
 * Big Brother Instinct: Towards his younger brother Jared, to the point where its somewhat unhealthy for them both.
 * Also towards Sweets and Wendell.
 * Book Dumb
 * Cold Sniper: His job in the Army.
 * The Face: He's an FBI agent surrounded by Lab Rats. While they do their geeky science thing he's talking to witnesses and cracking supects.
 * Fair Cop
 * The Gambling Addict
 * Good-Looking Privates: What? He was an Army Ranger. That counts.
 * Hot Dad: To Parker
 * Jerk Jock: Booth is a mostly-mellowed version of this trope. While he has outgrown most of the trope's more noxious aspects, he still retains disdain for intellectuals and scientists (although it tends to be more good-natured ribbing with those he gets to know).
 * Last-Name Basis
 * The McCoy
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Most of the cast has realized he's doing it by now, but Gordon is the only one that has straight-out called him on it.
 * Overprotective Dad: Baby's not even out of the womb and he's being this.
 * Raised Catholic
 * UST: With Bones
 * Why Did It Have to be Clowns? Played over the seasons,
 * Why Did It Have to be Clowns? Played over the seasons,
 * Why Did It Have to be Clowns? Played over the seasons,

Jack Hodgins (T.J. Thyne)

 * Agent Mulder
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer
 * Conspiracy Theorist: Though he refers to any of the associated paranoia as simply having all the facts.
 * Give Geeks a Chance: The object of the trope, with Angela.
 * Happily Married: To Angela.
 * Hollywood Nerd
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold
 * Last-Name Basis: Even his wife rarely calls him Jack.
 * Non-Idle Rich: See Secretly Wealthy.
 * Official Couple : With Angela
 * Screw the Money, I Have Rules
 * Secretly Wealthy: And hates it. Or at least will go to almost any length to keep it a secret, so he can keep his life as just being the "Bug and Slime guy" of the group.
 * They Do: With Angela

Angela Montenegro (Michaela Conlin)

 * Ambiguously Brown
 * Bi the Way
 * Good Bad Girl
 * Happily Married: To Hodgins.
 * The Heart: Often serves as a counterpoint to the team's rational and scientific assessment of a case or victim. Makes sense as she's the only one without any scientific training.
 * Hot Mom
 * Hot Scientist
 * Official Couple: With Hodgins.
 * Oops, I Forgot I Was Married: Her big, beefy, forgotten-in-a-drunken-haze island husband. She didn't even remember his name at first.
 * Really Gets Around: To the point that Sweets convinces her that it keeps her from forming stable relationships.
 * Shipper on Deck: She ships Brennan/Booth, by the way.
 * Team Mom
 * They Do: With Hodgins

Zack Addy (Eric Millegan)

 * Adorkable: According to many fans.
 * Ambiguous Disorder: Even more than Bones, which is saying something.
 * Deadpan Snarker: "Apparently, all Angela needed was to hear her job description in a deep African-American tone."
 * Whether or not it qualifies as a full turn is debatable, as Zack never becomes evil.
 * Hollywood Nerd
 * No Social Skills: He's been shown to be extremely blunt to the point of rudeness with people he doesn't know well.
 * Put on a Bus
 * The Bus Came Back: In "The Perfect Pieces in the Purple Pond".
 * No Social Skills: He's been shown to be extremely blunt to the point of rudeness with people he doesn't know well.
 * Put on a Bus
 * The Bus Came Back: In "The Perfect Pieces in the Purple Pond".

Camille Saroyan (Tamara Taylor)

 * Benevolent Boss: Much less imposing than her immediate predecessor, although she can still crack the whip if she needs to.
 * Black Boss Lady
 * The Coroner: Having worked for the New York Police, she's the most comfortable with the fleshy part of the team's job.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Hot Scientist
 * The Nicknamer: Hodge-Podge for Hodgins, and Zackaroni for Zack. Oddly, she's one of the only people to call Booth by his first name, Seeley.
 * And Vino Delectable for Vincent.
 * Only Sane Woman
 * Only Sane Employee: More levelheaded than Hodgins, less coldly logical then Brennan, and more clinical than Angela.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * When She Smiles: Cam's always gorgeous, but that smile just takes it Up to Eleven.
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?

Lance Sweets (John Francis Daley)

 * Adorkable
 * Butt Monkey: A mild case, but yes, both Booth and Bones often treat him like this. Booth sees him as little more than a child, whereas Bones vehemently denies the usefulness of psychology and insults him about it.
 * Fan Nickname: Baby Duck.
 * Hollywood Nerd
 * Meaningful Name: He is a ridiculously Nice Guy.
 * Nice Guy
 * The Nicknamer : Only with regard to Daisy Wick, who he calls "Miss Daisy"
 * "No Respect" Guy: To both Temperance and Booth.
 * Official Couple : With Daisy.
 * Older Than They Look: He's in his 20s, but looks like a 14-year-old.
 * The Profiler
 * The Shrink: Especially to Booth and Bones, but almost everybody's had a turn with him at one point.
 * The Shrink: Especially to Booth and Bones, but almost everybody's had a turn with him at one point.

Max Keenan (Ryan O'Neal)

 * Affably Evil: Until his Heel Face Turn
 * Papa Wolf: Verging on Knight Templar Parent.
 * Retired Badass: He used to kill people on occasion. Now he bowls.
 * Shipper on Deck: Doesn't see why Booth hasn't gone after his daughter yet, and also bought his daughter a toothbrush-holder for two.

Vincent Nigel-Murray (Ryan Cartwright)

 * Adorkable: His enthusiastic reciting of facts earned him the spot of "favorite intern"... both with Brennan and the fans.
 * The Alcoholic: Recovering.
 * Attention Whore
 * Berserk Button: Try telling him that Jimi Hendrix is a better guitarist than Jimmy Page. I dare you.
 * That was literally the only time he ever got angry about anything. Ever.
 * Can Not Tell a Lie: In 'The Babe In The Bar', when he, Sweets, Cam and Brennan lie about knowing that, he starts whimpering, covers his face and says "Please, I beg of you, don't look at me directly. Just say what you came to say."
 * Cloudcuckoolander
 * Cursed with Awesome: He ended up winning Jeopardy! with his compulsive declaration of facts.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Hot Scientist
 * Insufferable Genius
 * Little-Known Facts: His are actually true, but no more useful for all that.
 * Motor Mouth
 * Nerds Are Sexy: "If I killed everyone who looked at me lustily, I wouldn't have made it out of school."
 * Nice Guy
 * Raven Hair, Ivory Skin
 * Three First Names
 * Verbal Tic: His random facts seem to be a compulsion and increase when he's stressed.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: With Brennan.
 * Verbal Tic: His random facts seem to be a compulsion and increase when he's stressed.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: With Brennan.

Daisy Wick (Carla Gallo)

 * Ascended Fangirl: Doctor Brennan is her hero and working at the Jeffersonian is her life long dream. She will never let you forget that.
 * Attention Whore: A milder example, but still. She always makes her role in a discovery extremely. extremely clear.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: Her quirk being that she never shuts up.
 * Cloudcuckoolander
 * Genki Girl
 * Hot Scientist
 * Manic Pixie Dream Girl
 * Motor Mouth
 * The Nicknamer : Only with regard to Lance Sweets, who she calls "Lancelot"
 * Official Couple : With Sweets.

Gordon Gordon Wyatt (Stephen Fry)

 * Berserk Button: "Fry cook? FRY COOK?!"
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Hidden Depths: He's apparently a fantastic cook.
 * Large Ham
 * Old Master: To Sweets. He's older, been a psychologist for much longer, and was able to tear apart Sweet's thesis about Bones and Booth's relationship in less than a minute.
 * Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness
 * The Shrink: Been at it even longer than Sweets, not that that's saying much.
 * Stephen Fry
 * Three First Names

Caroline Julian (Patricia Belcher)

 * Courtroom Antics: She's completely full of them.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Heel Face Turn: Her flashback self was rather more politically motivated in her behavior, and accused Booth of same.
 * One-Scene Wonder: but it's okay, because she's awesome.
 * Became an Ascended Extra after a bit.
 * Sassy Black Woman
 * Shipper on Deck: She's actually the one who gets Booth and Brennan to kiss for the first time, due to her "puckish" side and a strategically-placed sprig of mistletoe.
 * The Big Easy: She's from N'Awlins, cherie.
 * Two First Names
 * Verbal Tic: "Cherie".

Howard Epps (Heath Freeman)

 * Ax Crazy
 * Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas
 * Freudian Excuse: His mother, a religious fanatic, washed his hands with ammonia (and made him take baths in it) and taught him that sex was evil. Needless to say, it didn't do his psyche good.
 * Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook: He could be a Manipulative Bastard all along, or maybe he learned it while on death row. When we first meet Epps, he's claiming to be innocent and trying to get exonerated, but it ends up he just reveals he's killed even more people than previously thought, so they have to keep him alive while they process the new bodies. When he returns in season 2, Epps is even more manipulative and playing serial killer games, leading the team on a merry chase with body parts as clues.
 * Monster Misogyny: Literally. Booth even theorizes that Epps hates Brennan because she's a smart, strong, confident woman.
 * Moral Event Horizon: His various murders and sick games are bad enough, but when he
 * Serial Killer: Of teenage girls. Fun guy.

Dr. Daniel Goodman (Jonathan Adams)

 * The McCoy: Oddly, to Hodgins's Spock, not Brennan's.
 * Long Bus Trip: His sabbatical has lasted how many years now?
 * Reasonable Authority Figure

Clark Edison (Eugene Byrd)

 * Naughty by Night
 * Not So Above It All
 * Only Sane Man

Wendell Bray (Michael Grant Terry)

 * The Everyman: Came from a humble background and has had a lot of less sophisticated jobs.
 * Hot Scientist
 * Nice Guy
 * Romantic Runner-Up: He's Angela's replacement for Hodgins when they break up.
 * Smoking Is Cool: Subverted, as his dad died of lung cancer, and he only holds a cigarette (without lighting it) when he's trying to think like him.

Arastoo Viziri (Pej Vahdat)

 * Fauxreigner: To cut down on persecution for his devout beliefs, he pretended to be 'just off the boat'.
 * Game of Nerds
 * Hot Scientist
 * Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping

Colin Fisher (Joel Moore)

 * Actor Allusion: Joel Moore played a major character in Avatar, and one episode has Mr. Fisher and his nerd pals camping outside for the premiere.
 * Casanova/KavorkaMan: Has slept with around a hundred women.
 * The Eeyore: Clinically depressed.
 * Hollywood Nerd

Finn Abernathy (Luke Kleintank)
"Finn: Oh, I gotta say ma'am, this is the best damn job ever!"
 * Big Eater: His breakfast order looked to be enough for 2 or 3 people.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Which gets revealed in a heartfelt conversation with Bones of all people.
 * The Nicknamer : Already dubbed Hodgins "Thurston", likely a Gilligan's Island reference to his money.
 * And a retaliation for Hodgins rather derisively calling him "Opie."
 * Nightmare Fetishist: Upon pulling a large python from the abdomen of the Victim of the Week:


 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Given to a deserving Hodgins, who Took a Level in Jerkass towards him. Cam approves.
 * Reformed Criminal
 * Southern-Fried Genius
 * Teen Genius
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With Hodgins, once they start to get along.

Angela's Dad (Billy Gibbons)

 * As Himself: Played with since (see below) no one ever actually calls him by name.
 * Badass Grandpa
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Even though it's Billy Gibbons noone ever actually call him by name. He's just "Angela's dad".
 * Papa Wolf