Firefly (TV series)/Characters

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This character sheet is for Firefly.

The crew of Serenity

Mal	Zoe	"Wash"
Inara	Kaylee	Jayne
Simon	River	Shepherd Book

Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds

Played by Nathan Fillion

Captain Reynolds is a Browncoat--a veteran of the stellar civil war that precedes the events of the series by six years. He fought under the rank of Sergeant for the Independents, the side that lost to the Alliance. He has been left bitter by the Independents' loss; he never quite recovered from seeing his ideals crumble around him. Ever since, he has been eking out a living on the wrong side of the law, at the helm of the Firefly-class ship Serenity, defiantly named after the valley where the Alliance's victory was sealed.

• Anti-Hero: Type II/Type III
• The Anti-Nihilist: "We're still flying."
• Badass
  • Badass Browncoat
• Berserk Button: Threatening to harm anyone under his protection.
  • The Alliance in general acts as his, to the point that he'll deck you if you accuse him of being in league with them.
• Big Brother Instinct: Towards Kaylee, their relationship is pretty much summed up in the movie;

Kaylee: Goin' on a year now, I ain't had nothing twixt my nethers weren't run on batteries! Mal: Oh GOD! I can't know that!

• • On a good day, he has a bit of this towards Simon as well. Only on a good day though.
• Big Damn Heroes: Ain't he just?
• Broken Hero: In addition to his A Father to His Men tendencies, and considering what happened to his homeworld, he was ridiculously, recklessly cheerful during the war. It's hard to tell if he's an adrenaline junkie, genuinely considered it just a big adventure, was all an act, was a coping mechanism, or if he was completely unhinged. Or even all of the above. But despite all the stress, he somehow managed to stay pretty upbeat.
  • After the war, he alternates between this, Hurting Hero, and Knight in Sour Armor.
• The Captain
• Chronic Hero Syndrome
• Combat Pragmatist: Mal has absolutely no problems with shooting first.
  • To quote from "Heart of Gold": "Shoot the rider, not the horse. Dead horse is great cover, live horse is a great pile o' panic."
• Dawson Casting: Inverted, a rare example where the actor is actually younger then the character, Mal is 49 and Nathan Fillion was 32 at the time of shooting.
• Deconstruction: Mal's character is something between exploring "what if Han Solo was The Good Captain?" and "what if The Good Captain encountered so many set-backs he became an Anti-Hero?"
• Deadpan Snarker
• Despair Event Horizon: Serenity Valley. Also possibly within the same timeframe, the destruction of his homeworld.
• Determinator: Enough Determinator-ness to prop up his crew when they're faltering, too.
• Death Glare: Serenity doesn't need weapons. It has Mal's eyes!
• Disappeared Dad: The one time Mal mentions his past ("Our Mrs. Reynolds"), he says that he was raised by his mother and "about forty hands", but makes no mention of his father.
• Doomed Hometown: His homeworld, Shadow was orbitally bombarded by the Alliance so heavily that it was rendered completely uninhabitable afterwards.
• Fight Magnet: Mal gets into an unnecessary fight at least once every few episodes.
  • Lampshaded by Zoe: why does he always manage to find himself in an Alliance-friendly bar come Unification Day?
• Good Is Not Nice: Nor is Mal's wrench!
• The Gunslinger: Type D. The Quick Draw
  • He even out draws The Operative who's already holding a gun in his hand!
• Hidden Depths: "Yes, I've read a poem. Try not to faint."
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Casually shoots Dobson in the head from ten feet away in the pilot... While Dobson has a Human Shield.
• Jade Coloured Glasses
• Leeroy Jenkins: Displays shades of this in the flashback to his army days:

Mal: WHOO-HOO! I'M RIGHT HERE! I'M RIGHT HERE! YOU WANT SOME OF ME?! YEAH YOU DO! COME ON! COME ON!

• Living Emotional Crutch: Every person on Serenity for Mal.
• Lovable Rogue
• Made of Iron: Even torturing Mal to death isn't enough to keep him down.
  • Or getting shot or stabbed multiple times.
• Morality Pet: Anti-hero version. See Living Emotional Crutch.
• Mr. Vice Guy: He's a fan of all seven sins. But right now, he's gonna have to go with wrath.
• Nay Theist
• Not So Different: From Simon, which is something he vaguely acknowledges by the end of the series. Despite their different backgrounds, they both ran afoul of the Alliance and chose to resist in their own ways, protecting what was most important to them.
• Older Than They Look: He's supposed to be about fifty, but he certainly doesn't look it.
  • He's 50 years old in a 'verse where the average lifespan is about 120. This puts Mal in the same age bracket that Nathan Fillion was in during the show's production (31 years old, when the average lifespan is about 80).
• Organ Dodge
• Papa Wolf: Do not mess with Mal's crew; he takes it very personally. Oh, and if you even make a crass remark towards Kaylee, don't expect mercy.
• Platonic Life Partners: With Zoe. Becomes an issue with Wash in "War Stories".
• Rage Against the Heavens: Hates God for letting the Browncoats lose the war.
• Rebel Leader: Or at least the leader of his band of varyingly anti-Alliance misfits. As an Independent Sergeant, he didn't have much rank but still was this.
  • At the Battle of Serenity Valley, he was field-promoted several times as the higher ranking officers were killed, rising from leading a relatively minor unit to over 5000 men at one point, which were whittled down to just 150 by the time of the ceasefire.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Mal is red, usually against Simon or Zoe's blue.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran
• Still Wearing the Old Colors: Even the coat!
• Team Dad: To the younger members of the crew especially.
• Undying Loyalty

"You're on my crew. Why are we still talking about this?"

• • Also has a tendency to inspire this. Nowhere shown more clearly than in Serenity, after his crew seems ready to mutiny at the prospect of flying through Reaver space:

"I mean to confound these bungers. Take my shot at getting to Miranda. Maybe find something I can use to get clear of this. So I hear a word out of any of you that ain't helping me out or taking your leave, I will shoot you down. Get to work!"

• • And every one of them gets to work.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Inara, of the constant-arguing kind.
  • Lampshaded and defied in "War Stories", when Wash accuses Mal and Zoe of lusting after each other, and at the end of the show we see that they can't even keep a straight face long enough to share a kiss. They really ARE life partners, but not sexually interested in each other.
• Would Hit a Girl: At the end of "Our Mrs Reynolds", and the beginning of "Trash." Hard to feel sorry for the one receiving the fist, though.

Zoe Alleyne Washburne

Played by Gina Torres

Zoe is also a Browncoat. She was a corporal serving under Mal during the war against the Alliance. She even now accompanies him on Serenity and still calls him "sir", 15 years later. She is married to Wash; the wacky pilot of the ship.

• Action Girl
  • Action Mom: It's revealed in post-Serenity comics that she's pregnant with Wash's daughter.
• Badass
• Berserk Button: Do not badmouth Mal or his leadership abilities in front of her, and do NOT mess with Wash.
• Big Damn Heroes: The Trope Namer.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Determined Homesteader's Wife: Fits the personality, though her "homestead" is an old transport in this case.
• Dual-Wielding: Briefly during "War Stories", with two pistols.
• Happily Married: To Wash.
• Hot Amazon:

Wash: Have you ever been with a warrior woman?

• Just Following Orders: A non-villainous, sometimes questioning, but very pragmatic version. Especially evident in a deleted scene from the pilot. (The "He" being mentioned is Mal).

Zoe: If you get Kaylee through this, I think he'll do right by you. He won't kill unless he has no other option. Simon: What if he tells you to kill me -- Zoe: -- I kill you.

• Lady of War
• The Lancer: Toward Mal.
• Military Brat: Zoe's backstory is that she was born ship-side to parents who raised her to be Career Military. This definitely explains her habit of calling Mal "Sir"
• Number Two: again, toward Mal.
• Platonic Life Partners: Once again, with Mal.
• The Reliable One
• The Remnant: According to the tie-in comic "Better Days," Zoe was a member of the "Dust Devils," which were a group of Browncoats who kept fighting after the Independents surrendered.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man
• Scary Black Woman
• Still Wearing the Old Colors
• The Stoic
• Straight Woman
• Undying Loyalty: Toward Mal due to their experience together on the battlefield.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Parodied -- there is just about no lust and even less romantic chemistry between her and Mal, but her husband fears what their long history might mean for such a relationship. They disprove this notion in an almost-kiss that is so damn awkward even Jayne is unsettled.

Hoban "Wash" Washburne

Played by Alan Tudyk

Wash is the pilot of Serenity. Most of the time he is wacky, playful, excitable, and a bit on the immature side, though when he needs to be, there is no one more focused, calm, and collected on the crew. He's a whiz at the controls of a vehicle, and has saved the lives of the rest of the crew many a time.

• Ace Pilot
• Adult Child: Plays with dinosaur figurines on the job.
• Anti-Hero: Type I.
• Author Avatar
• Badass Pilot
• Bunny Ears Lawyer
• Characterization Marches On: In early episodes, Wash is a calm, masterful pilot, all nerves of steel while the other characters are panicking. By "The Message" he's just as excitable as anyone else, because Alan Tudyk bought himself an Xbox and discovered he's not the naturally-calm-pilot type, which Tim Minear threw in on grounds of Rule of Funny. (And, just to confuse things, Wash shows elements of both performances in the Big Damn Movie.)
  • Taken as a whole, his level of panic seems to be inversely proportional to the actual level of danger. When there's Reavers on their tail and they're running for their lives, he's oddly calm, while if it's something more mundane, he gets more excited.

Zoe: Proximity alert. Must be coming up on something. Wash: Oh my god. What can it be? We're all doomed! WHO'S FLYING THIS THING!? (Beat) Oh right, that would be me. Back to work!

• The Conscience: Frequently enough to be noticeable, though others fill this role as well. (Probably one of the things that draws him and Zoe together: they both try to keep things grounded.)
• Danger Deadpan
• Deadpan Snarker
• Dramatic Gun Cock: Does this in "War Stories: to punctuate a Badass Creed -- with the smallest, girliest gun on the table.
• Happily Married: To Zoe.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice
• Killed Mid-Sentence
• Killed Off for Real: In the movie.
• The McCoy: Sometimes shares this role with Simon.
• Non-Action Guy: Though he graduates a bit to "Semi-Action Guy" after "War Stories." He's no heavy hitter like Mal, Jayne, or Zoe, but he's apparently more apt to shoot than Kaylee or Simon after that ordeal.
• Non-Action Snarker
• Overshadowed by Awesome: His wife, Zoe, who wears the pants in their relationship. Still pretty awesome in his own right.
• Plucky Comic Relief
• Surprisingly-Sudden Death
• Survival Mantra: "I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: A variant, in that Wash himself seems surprised that a guy like him could manage to marry someone like Zoe.

Inara Serra

Played by Morena Baccarin

Not really a member of the crew, Inara rents a shuttle for her... services. Despite (or maybe because of) her profession, she is well-versed in the ways of the universe (and sex) and continually shows Hidden Depths--who'd expect a space whore to be good at Sword Fights? Plus, she is a High-Class Call Girl, which adds to Serenity‍'‍s reputation: a woman who can go out in public on the arm of an aristocrat (and into his bedroom) wouldn't be shipping out with Mal and his crew unless they were at least somewhat respectable. Ironically, her profession is legal, which is more than Mal can say.

• Ambadassador: Not Badass to the degree of the rest of the crew, but she has no qualms with holding people at gunpoint and holds her own in hand-to-hand combat.
• Band of Brothels: She's a member of the Companions Guild.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Mal. It's even a plot point in the movie.
• Bi the Way: Takes female clients as well as male.
• The Chick
• Deadpan Snarker: Usually towards Mal.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Inara is shown to be very in demand for both her male and female clientele. And that's without speculating on Kaylee's admiration.
• The Face: Officially, her role on the ship is to use her social contacts to "open doors that would otherwise be closed" to a group like Captain Mal and the crew. Being that she's the only one with a legal job she's the only one that can show their face to polite company the crew might need help from.
• High-Class Call Girl: Very high class.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Subverted. She does have a heart of gold, but she doesn't really want to be rescued from her career.
• Hot Chick with a Sword: She attempts to teach Mal how to fence in "Shindig".
• Ill Girl: Word of God and Morena Baccarin confirmed a subplot involving Inara with a terminal illness, hinted at in "Serenity," "Out Of Gas," and "Heart of Gold."
• Lady of War: Good in swordfighting and archery.
• Mama Bear: Inara is the only one who will stand up to Mal whenever he threatens to boot Simon and River off the ship.
• Not So Above It All: She really seems to enjoy participating in capers and double-crossing the villain of the week when she gets the chance.
• Ms. Fanservice: The pilot has her taking a long, gratuitous spongebath. There's other scenes, too. Lots of other scenes. You'll be in your bunk.
• The Ojou: Companions aren't actually royalty, but they're sometimes treated like it.
• Rule of Sexy: Applies to her muchly.
• Sex Tourism: Inverted. Inara finds clients in the area they're in.
• Spirited Young Lady: Sometimes crosses into Silk Hiding Steel territory.
• Tall, Dark and Bishoujo
• Team Mom: Especially to Kaylee and River.
• Tsundere: Type B. She is unflappably courteous and kind to everyone she meets...except Mal.

Kaywinnit Lee "Kaylee" Frye

Played by Jewel Staite

Kaylee is the ship's mechanic. She's perky and cheerful more often than not, always optimistic, and innocent -- though she does enjoy the simpler pleasures in life. She's the most laid-back and friendly person on the ship at any given time (if you insult the ship itself, though...). She's probably the worst in a fight among the crew, but she's extremely adept at keeping the ship in working order, and seemingly has a spiritual link to it.

• Ambiguously Bi: Some of her interaction and dialogue with Inara leans slightly this way.
• Badass Adorable: Easily the most panicky in a fight and unwilling to actually hurt people, but when the ship is rigged with a booby trap and the slightest mistake can result in either depressurization or getting raped, eaten and sewn into clothing by rabid space zombies, she's the best choice.
• Berserk Button: Not much can get Kaylee mad, but make one smart comment about her ship...
• Blithe Spirit
• Brainy Brunette: Behind her cheerful smile is a mechanical genius.
• Cool Big Sis: To River.
• The Cutie
• Dogged Nice Girl: Towards Simon.
• Genki Girl
• Good Bad Girl
• The Heart
• Hollywood Nerd: Notably averted, at least in part -- the cast is perfectly aware that Kaylee is attractive.
• Love At First Sight: Well, at least infatuation at first sight.
• Ms. Fixit
• Naked First Impression: Was in the middle of having sex the first time she met Mal.
• Nerds Are Sexy
• Nice Girl
• Pink Means Feminine: Has a pink Pimped-Out Dress that she got in "Shindig".
• Plucky Girl
• The Pollyanna: No one is ever more cheerful than Kaylee.
  • So much so that "sometimes you just wanna tie her up and dump her in the hold for a month".
• Princess for a Day / She Cleans Up Nicely: In "Shindig", not that she was unattractive before.
• Rape as Drama: Not actual, but threatened by Jubal Early.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Kaylee adores Simon. Simon doesn't know what to do about it.
• Southern-Fried Genius: In SPACE!
• Unkempt Beauty: Especially when she's covered in engine grease.
• Will They or Won't They?: The good doctor is stiff, awkward, and busy repairing the broken cutie. You have your work cut out for you, Kaylee.
• When She Smiles, everything turns shiny.
• Wrench Wench

Dr. Simon Tam

Played by Sean Maher

Simon is the doctor aboard Serenity. He's an extremely gifted surgeon and a cunning planner, even though he's socially awkward and not exactly streetsmart. He cares for his sister River more than anyone or anything else in the world, and he is willing to go to extreme lengths for her well-being.

• Action Survivor: A classic - he prefers being a Non-Action Guy and is only a hero because his Mei-Mei needed him.
• Adorkable: Mostly when he's around Kaylee, and helped along by his Fish Out of Water status - notable in that it's quite a change from the calm, collected demeanour he assumed when he first came on board Serenity.
• Badass Bookworm: What he becomes when his Berserk Button is pushed. Jayne learned the hard way that, though Simon may not be the strongest guy around, you do not want to push this button. Ever.
  • Provoking the Big Brother Instinct of someone who is obviously willing to die for it is something to be shy about.
• Badass Waistcoat: Has worn them on occasion.
• Berserk Button: Simon is very protective of River.
• Big Brother Instinct
• Blue Oni Red Oni: Blue, against Mal or Jayne's red.
• Cannot Spit It Out: It's difficult for him to act on his feelings for Kaylee (and ends up butchering any conversation with her at least 50% of the time because of the way he words things).
  • Mind you, by about three episodes into the show, they're both perfectly aware of his feelings towards her, and it is an ongoing discussion topic, he's just too danged shy and proper to do anything about it, even without being distracted by caring for and protecting River.
• Cannot Tell a Joke
• The Caretaker: Toward River.
• Catch Phrase: Frequently calls River his meimei (妹妹), Chinese for "little sister".
• The Champion: To River. Obviously. And he will protect her.
• City Mouse
• City Slicker
• Clueless Chick Magnet
• Deadpan Snarker
• Death Glare: Anyone who threatens Mei-mei withers slowly before his eyes.
  • As do incompetent surgeons. He must have been a terror to work under.
• Determinator: Will do whatever it takes to protect River.
• Dogged Nice Guy: To Kaylee.
• Doting Big Brother
• Fish Out of Water: The awkwardness disappears when he's in his element, as shown in the hospital on "Ariel" and also in "Heart of Gold" when Petaline goes into labour. Even though he's never helped with a delivery before. Medicine is his Forte.
• Foil: Simon reflects a younger version of Mal, one who hasn't had his optimism shot off in the war yet. When a Power Trio is called for, it tends to be Simon vs. Jayne.
• Gentleman Snarker: In several places. "Objects in Space" was an awesome display of Gentlemanly Snarking.
• Going Native
• Heroic Sacrifice:

River: You gave up everything you had... Simon: Mei-Mei, everything I have is right here.

• Honor Before Reason: Basically his whole storyline. He gave up a lucrative job and lifelong dream to help his sister (His hunch being based on some pretty thin logic), ruining his life and turning himself into a fugitive. Later he says he will never harm Jayne or break his oath as a physician, despite Jayne betraying him and threatening him on multiple occasions. And one gets the impression He'd do it all again in a minute.
• I Will Find You: Variation; he had already done this when the show opens (although how he does so is seen in the prologue to the Big Damn Movie). Now it is necessary to make sure they don't find her.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: Don't mess with Simon's little sister.
• The McCoy: Admit it, On at least a couple of occasions, You expected him to say "Dammit Mal, I'm a doctor, not an outlaw".
• The Medic: The initial reason Mal lets him stay on on board.
• My Fist Forgives You: Punches Mal in the face for endangering River's life in the movie, although he was just returning the favor.
• Naive Newcomer
• Nerves of Steel: Just watch him in "Ariel"! Or the opening of the Big Damn Movie, for that matter - it's the first time he's seen River in several years, she's currently strapped to a chair shrieking and whimpering, and he doesn't so much as twitch an eyebrow!
  • Of course he has them. He's a surgeon.
• Noble Fugitive
• Old School Chivalry: He is a well dressed doctor who doesn't swear or have casual sex. Needless to say he doesn't fit in with the thieves he lives with, but he says that he has to be proper because it's all he has.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: He's a brilliant doctor though River is supernaturally good at everything.
• Princely Young Man
• The Proud Elite: When we first see him he looks so arrogant one would swear that he considers himself a superior species above and beyond mere humanity. In fact he is not as bad as all that but is simply unused to being in a strange country. He does tend to maintain an aristocratic air about him though.
• Promotion to Parent: And personal physician, and therapist, and bodyguard, and once even Gentleman Thief.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Simon is cooler, calmer, and more disciplined compared to his more sensitive and (for obvious reasons) erratic little sister.
• The Smart Guy:

Simon: " 'Gifted' is the term."

• Sharp-Dressed Man
• Sugar and Ice Personality
• Tall, Dark and Handsome
• The Strategist: Comes up with a complicated but solid plan for infiltrating the hospital in "Ariel", which even Jayne admits is excellent.
• Took a Level in Badass: Started as the smart guy and became a Badass by the time of the film.
• Undying Loyalty: To River. This is one of the most notable things about him as well as his reason for being on Serenity in the first place.
• Will They or Won't They?: Kaylee. He is shy about this sort of thing and he is busy taking care of his Mei-Mei. They do at the end of the Big Damn Movie.

River Tam

Played by Summer Glau

River is the aforementioned precious cargo, and Simon's little sister. She's stone cold crazy. With good reason, though, and she gets a bit better. She's also a prodigy par excellence, taking to difficult subjects with ease (considering university-level physics to be a "challenge" when she was fourteen, for example). She's enough of an asset to the crew at critical times that it makes up for being The Load when she's freaking out.

• Action Girl
• Ambiguous Disorder: Even prior to the experiments. Asperger's? Autism? ADHD? All of the above?
• The Anti-Nihilist: As seen in the episode "Objects in Space".
• Ax Crazy: She has slashed people up in the past, including Jayne, for wearing a Blue Sun t-shirt. In the R. Tam Sessions, she murdered her "counselor" with a pen.
• Berserk Button: Do not mess with Simon.
• Big Brother Worship
• Brain Critical Mass
• Brainy Brunette:

Simon: She makes me look like an idiot child.

• Breakout Character: Probably the most well-known and popular character on the show.
• Break the Cutie: In a convenient pre-broken package. The R.Tam Sessions show the whole process from start to finish.
• Ceiling Cling: Leading to the "Ceiling River is watching you" meme.
• Cheerful Child: Not a child but with the mental age of one. And her ability to be cheerful in distress is often beautiful.
• Child Prodigy: Was one of these.
• Child Soldier: One of the Academy's goals in... "developing" her.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Most of what she says is applicable to the situation at hand, but her language is slightly...perpendicular to reality. Judging by her flashbacks and the R.Tam Sessions, she was pretty much this way before she was driven insane, too.
• The Coats Are Off: Just before River tears apart the Maidenhead bar.
• Combat Clairvoyance: Implied (along with her Waif Fu) to be the reason she is so successful in fights.
• Combat Pragmatist: Neither your danglies nor any other part of your body is off-limits when she's in assassin-mode.
• Covert Pervert
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: More of a Crouching Crazy Hidden Badass.
• Cute Witch: Not a witch in the traditional sense, but she is possessed of supernatural powers and still very cute herself. Actually mistaken for a witch in "Safe".
• The Cutie: She wanted so badly to learn, and it cost her dearly.
• Dance Battler
• Deadpan Snarker: From time to time.
• Deuteragonist: Though Mal is the central character of the series, River and what happened to her at the Academy forms a major part of the conflict over the series, and River is central to a significant number of episodes and her story serves as one of the series' dominant running background plots. Becomes especially apparent in Serenity.
• Deconstruction: Of the whole Action Girl concept, showing just how mentally screwed-up a manufactured supersoldier would end up being.
• Dirty Mind Reading: Brushes with this in "Objects In Space," and implied in both the movie when she spies on Simon and Kaylee and the comics.
• Damsel in Distress: For most of the series -- and even when she develops her impressive combat abilities, her insanity still renders her extremely vulnerable.
• Driven to Suicide: Or at least, driven to begging to be killed by her brother.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette
• The Empath: The majority of her psychic abilities center around sensing others' thoughts and intentions.
• Foe Yay: Some of her interactions with Jayne come off like this. Jayne even calls her "cute" at one point ... after seeing her naked.
• Fetal Position Rebirth: Both her first appearance in the series and her last appearance in The Movie.
• Foot Focus: River is usually barefoot; Joss Whedon once referred to River's Feet as the 11th character, with Serenity herself being the 10th.
• Going Native
• Gone Horribly Right: The Academy wanted to make River into an assassin and spy. They succeeded, much to the Alliance's eventual regret.
• Heroic Sociopath
• I Just Want to Be Normal: River does not want her Psychic Powers, especially because they make her friends and adoptive family terrified of her.
• Ill Girl: Complete with the older protector in Simon.
• Insane Equals Violent: Justified, as the experiments that drove her insane were intended to make her a Super Soldier, so violent tendencies are only to be expected.
  • Also subverted to a degree. While she does have violent episodes, most of the time she is not-hostile, even when crazy.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Shoots three guards without even looking in "War Stories", thanks to her Psychic Powers.
• Knight Templar Little Sister: Do not mess with River's big brother. Pity the poor Reavers.
• Living Weapon: Explicitly called such in Serenity.
• Mama Bear: River develops into this toward a few of the later episodes and of course the movie.
• Meaningful Name: She's named after Ophelia's river.
• Messy Hair
• Mind Rape: What the Academy did to her.
• Mystical Waif
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant:

River: You think we're going to run out of air. That we're going to die gasping. But we're not... We'll freeze to death first.

• • In another episode, after she's been yelling loud enough to spook the cattle in the cargo hold:

River: The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds, given adequate vacuuming systems. Mal: See, morbid and creepifying I got no problem with, so long as she does it quiet-like.

• Noble Fugitive
• The Ophelia
• Photographic Memory: One glance is all it takes!
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The most pint-sized and the most powerful on the show.
• Phlebotinum Rebel: The decisions of the crew often have to factor in that there are government and corporate goons after her.
• Playing with Syringes
• Protectorate: To Simon especially, to everyone by extension. Eventually inverted, with River protecting them.
• Psychic Powers: She can kill you with her brain.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: In the film, her blue to The Reavers' red.
• Reluctant Warrior: She may be the most brutal killing machine in the 'Verse, but she sure as hell doesn't want to be.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Notably when rattling off a lot of Techno Babble while editing Shepherd's bible.
• She Knows Too Much: One of many reasons why the Alliance is interested in her.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: She is more sensitive, physically powerful, and (for obvious reasons) more erratic than her disciplined and calmer big brother.
• Sixth Ranger
• Spaceship Girl: "Objects in Space." Subverted in that she's only pretending, to confuse the Bounty Hunter. The setup, despite how it tended to be hard science fiction, sure had Jubal convinced!
• Spock Speak
• Strange Girl
• Super Soldier: Apparently what the Academy wanted from her.
• Talkative Loon
• Took a Level in Badass: The series had one notable moment where she displays Improbable Aiming Skills. In The Movie, she's a full-blown Lightning Bruiser.

Wash: Tell me again how Jayne got knocked out by a 98-pound girl, 'cause I don't think that's ever getting old!

• Undying Loyalty: To her big brother in particular, but also to the whole crew.
• Unkempt Beauty
• Waif Fu: Especially during the movie.
• Waif Prophet
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity
• You Shall Not Pass: Against the Reavers in Serenity.

Shepherd Derrial Book

Played by Ron Glass

The Verse's equivalent of a Christian priest, Book also wandered onto Serenity in the pilot, just wanting to walk the 'verse a while. Later he wonders if he's on the wrong ship, but then again, he does seem to know a lot of things that one doesn't find in The Bible.

• Abusive Parents: He left home in his youth to escape his abusive father.
• The Atoner: It is implied very strongly that his Dark and Troubled Past was rather sinister and that that was the reason he became a Good Shepherd.
• Badass Preacher
• Cool Old Guy
• Dark and Troubled Past

Book: I wasn't born a shepherd, Mal. Mal: You have to tell me about that sometime. Book: No, I don't.

• • Wild Mass Guessing was all over the place until Joss Whedon finally settled it in A Shepherd's Tale by Deconstructing a Dark and Troubled Past. Book was a feckless thug who tried to become The Unfettered to escape from an Abusive Father. Then he became an Independent Mole and an Alliance torturer, but his inability to choose something to believe in killed over 4,000 people. After finally hitting rock bottom, he found God and religion, dedicating himself to spreading a message of peace and love to compensate for his wasted life.
• Dead Person Impersonation: Joss Whedon let slip years ago that Book got his name from someone he killed. Turns out that's Not Hyperbole. He killed a random passer-by who looked like kinda like him and swapped wallets.
• Electronic Eyes
• Foreshadowing: That Book was more than he seems was hinted as early as the pilot where in the moments after Dobson gets distracted after accidentally shooting Kaylee, Book manages to both disarm Dobson of his gun and knocks him out with a one-two punch.
• Good Shepherd: The flock of Serenity could use some good news.
• Heel Faith Turn
• Hidden Depths: How does a preacher know so much about Alliance troop movements, anyhow?
• Killed Off for Real
• Magical Negro: Tries his best to get Mal to believe in something.
• Meaningful Name: Shepherd Book. Quite obvious, really.
• Mysterious Past: Until it was finally revealed in A Shepard's Tale, eight years after the series first aired.
• Precision F-Strike: Book is usually the most well-mannered of the crew, but during "War Stories," he busts loose with one of the filthiest Chinese swears in the book (which translates to "filthy fornicators of livestock") upon seeing Zoe come back with Mal's severed ear.
• Retired Badass
• Reluctant Warrior: But a conspicuously efficient one.
• Team Chef: As shown in the pilot.
• Technical Pacifist
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Though The Bible is somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps.

Jayne Cobb

Played by Adam Baldwin

Jayne is a thuggish, misogynistic, crude Jerk with a Heart of Gold. He's not one to leave the back turned near, as he's a bit power-hungry and greedy. What he lacks in delicacy and loyalty, though, he makes up for in strength, size, and fighting prowess.

• Accidental Hero: 'Jaynestown' is pretty much this in a nutshell.
• Anti-Hero: Type IV on his good days, Type V in a target-rich environment.
• A Real Man Is a Killer: This is practically his religion.
• Asskicking Equals Authority: Invoked with his "chain of command," but ultimately subverted.
• Badass
  • Badass Boast: "Six men came at me once... the best of them used this..."
• Berserk Button: He may not care for much of the rest of the crew, but touch a hair on Kaylee's head...
  • When Dobson shoots Kaylee, and Book moves to defend his unconscious body from Jayne.

Jayne: Out of the way, preacher. Book: You're not going to kill this man. Jayne: Not right away.

• BFG: Vera, of course, but he has quite a few.
• Big Brother Instinct: Consistently sends money home to treat his ill brother.
• The Big Guy
• Black and Gray Morality: One of his primary beliefs, best exemplified when yelling at the Mudders:

Jayne: "Well there ain't people like that, there's just people like me!"

• Boisterous Bruiser
• Book Dumb

Wash: How did your brain even learn speech?!

• Catch Phrase: "I'll Be in My Bunk"
• Cold-Blooded Torture: He doesn't get to, but he really wanted to. He was gonna get himself an ear, too.
• The Corruptible: If money's involved.
• Cunning Hat
• Dumb Muscle / Street Smarts Genius Bruiser: While not refined or educated, Jayne is an impressive judge of character (reading Dobson's lies instantly, for example), a reasonably cunning planner, an expert tracker, and a capable pilot. Basically, so long as what he's doing is a practical skill and doesn't require a lot of Book Smarts, he can crack it.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: And write them letters. And send money to treat their brother Mattie for the damp lung .
• Even Evil Has Standards
• The Face: His official job title on the ship is "Public Relations" and considering the Serenity's relations with the public this usually means hurting people.
• The Friend Nobody Likes
• Gender Blender Name: His mother must have liked this trope, since his brother also has a traditionally female name, Mattie.

River: "Jayne is a girl's name". Jayne: "Well, Jayne ain't a girl!"

• Girl-On-Girl Is Hot: Upon learning that Inara will be servicing a female client on board her shuttle, he has only this to say:

Jayne: I'll be in my bunk.

• I Call It "Vera": Trope Namer!
• I'll Be in My Bunk: Also the Trope Namer.
• It's All About Me: Jayne thinks mostly about himself, and is always happy to take the easy way out. Though he does care about his family and the crew, to some extent.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Knife Nut: Carries one at almost all times.
• Lovable Traitor
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Maybe. Notably, he doesn't seem to have reached Vash The Stampede levels of Obfuscating Stupidity, as he appears to overcorrect whenever he does something out of character, such as putting a transparently stupid grin on his face or saying he wanted him an ear too.
• Psycho for Hire
• The Rival: According to Joss Whedon in the commentary of Serenity, Jayne has no long-term love interest beyond a lingering crush on Kaylee. This is probably one of the reasons why he takes a dislike for Simon.
• Sarcastic Devotee
• Sour Supporter
• Thrown Out the Airlock: Mal almost does this to him after he tries to betray Simon and River to the Alliance.
• Token Evil Teammate: And he's quite aware that he's not a great guy.

And the whole crew are, of course:

• Big Damn Heroes
• Quote Overdosed: Everyone has their moments. Everyone.
• True Companions. Especially Inara.

Notable Villains

Jubal Early (Richard Brooks)

Shows up in the final episode, "Objects In Space." When we first meet him, he proves to be more than a match for Mal and company, but it isn't long before his true colors become apparent.

• Bait the Dog: Whedon was defining having some fun manipulating Boba Fett fans.
• Berserk Button: Trying to psychoanalyze him. River turns this against him by mercilessly deconstructing his stoic, spacy exterior from where he can't get at her.
• Bounty Hunter: The evil, sadistic kind.
• Catch Phrase: "Does that seem right to you?"
• Cloudcuckoolander: Early and reality are not on one-to-one terms, though it's not clear how much of this is deliberate on his part.
• Dramatic Space Drifting
• Expy: Directly inspired by Boba Fett, right down to his Cool Starship which looks remarkably like Slave One.
• Faux Affably Evil
• Foil: Jubal is calm, intelligent (though not quite all there), a skilled combatant with a decidedly precise style, and deeply intuitive, able to suss out a person's nature in an eerily quick fashion. Just like River.
• Insistent Terminology: Subverted, in a surreal way:

Simon: So you're a bounty hunter? Early: No, that ain't it at all. Simon: Then what are you? Early: I'm a bounty hunter. Simon: That's what I said. Early: Yeah, but you didn't say it well.

• Psycho for Hire
• Scary Black Man
• Soft-Spoken Sadist
• Warrior Poet: In a weird sort of way.

Saffron (Christina Hendricks)

One of the few recurring villains (they likely intended more, but dying off after one season does mess up plans a bit) of the show, Saffron is a con woman who specializes in seduction. Introduced in (and as) 'Our Mrs Reynolds'.

• Accidental Marriage: How she's introduced.
• Best Her to Bed Her: Subverted within the course of a few seconds.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
• Evil Redhead
• Extreme Doormat: But it's an act.
• Femme Fatale / The Vamp.
• I Have Many Names: resulting in the awkward but canonical "YoSaffBridge."
• Laser-Guided Karma: After plotting and scamming the crew so much, she's outwitted and left in a dumpster by Inara.
• Loveable Rogue
• Manipulative Bitch
• Ms. Fanservice: Her nude scene.
  • Ignore the Fanservice: What Mal tries to do.
• Shadow Archetype: Easily construable as Inara's Foil and opposite.

Adelai Niska (Michael Fairman)

A crime lord introduced in the second pilot, "The Train Job." Very concerned about reputations, especially his own. He is the second recurring villain of the show.

• Back from the Dead: Niska likes to do this to people who die on him during his torture sessions.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: This is Niska's modus operandi in the series. He strongly believes in the principles of Shan Yu.
• Electric Torture: When Niska gets busy, he likes to start off with this before getting nastier.
• Faux Affably Evil
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul
• Karma Houdini: Thanks to the show's cancellation and all.
• Large Ham
• The Mafiya: Of sorts. In Space.
• Sadistic Choice: Niska's attempt to give one to Zoe backfires on him when she immediately chooses Wash.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: He can be very soft-spoken in the tone of a kindly old man. The fact that he does this while he's zapping the living daylights out of you, cutting off your ear, or even worse things makes him utterly fucking creepy.
• Torture Technician: What Niska is generally known for.
• You Have Failed Me...: People who disappoint Niska tend to be tortured to death multiple times.

The Blue Gloves (Jeff Ricketts and Dennis Cockrum)

Mysterious duo in search of River, whom she refers to as "two by two, hands of blue."

• Badass in a Nice Suit
• Brown Note: The mysterious weapon they use.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: What generally happens to those said weapon is used on.
• Death Ray: Though not so much a ray as a sonic emitter that causes catastrophic internal bleeding. The blue gloves they wear extend to cover their chests under their suits, so they're not affected.
• Fan Nickname: "The Hands of Blue," after River's Madness Mantra concerning them. Is probably more widely used than their official title.
• Government Conspiracy
• Implacable Men
• The Men in Black
• Mysterious Mercenary Pursuers
• Person with the Clothing
• Those Two Bad Guys

The Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor)

Primary villain in Serenity. A special agent/assassin of Parliament, sent out to keep government secrets and take care of loose ends. While he technically represents their interests, they are never seen, making him more-or-less the Dragon-in-Chief.

• Affably Evil: For a man who's possibly the most dangerous assassin the Alliance has, he is impeccably polite, willing to negotiate, and seems genuinely saddened by the measures he's forced to take in capturing River Tam.
• Badass: Outside of River, arguably the biggest badass in the Firefly universe.
• Catch Phrase: "Do you know what your sin is?"
• Combat Pragmatist:

The Operative: I am, however, wearing full body armor. I am not a moron.

• Cool Sword: He likes swords way too much for a guy living in a sci-fi world with laser guns..
  • Lampshaded by Mr. Universe

"He killed me Mal. Killed me with a sword. A sword. How weird is that?"

• Determinator: Practically to a Mal Reynolds degree.
• Finishing Move: A particularly sweet one where he effectively paralyzes his victim, then places his sword at such an angle that the victim slowly overbalances and is impaled.
• Genre Savvy
• Heel Face Turn: After Mal shows him the recording of what the Alliance did to the planet Miranda.
• Inspector Javert
• Katanas Are Just Better: His preferred weapon.
• Kick the Dog: Kills plenty of people when it's not necessary to his mission, including Mr. Universe.
• Knight Templar/Well-Intentioned Extremist: He really does believe he's helping to create a better world, even if, in Joss Whedon's words, it "does involve a certain amount of genocide."
• Necessarily Evil
• No Name Given
• No Place for Me There: Trope Namer.
• Scary Black Man
• The Unfettered
• Utopia Justifies the Means: His reason for existence; he's apparently OK with the idea he won't exist after he gets his world.
• Villainous Breakdown: One inflicted on him by Mal in an ironic, thematic defeat; by the end, he himself says that he's a shell waiting to die, bereft of purpose. In short, exactly what Mal took steps not to become after Serenity Valley.
• Warrior Poet
• Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him: He takes steps to defy this trope as it applies to him by means of a Bulletproof Vest.
• Worthy Opponent: Seems to think this of Mal.
• Would Hit a Girl
• Would Hurt a Child: If he has to.

Doctor Matthias (Michael Hitchcock)

The Academy technician in charge of taking care of River. He is noticeable for an odd encounter with a certain spoiled rich kid who had curious questions about his baby sister. Vaguely related to this was an investigation by a government agent who gave him lessons about the customs of "certain older, civilized cultures".

• Bio Augmentation: What he was researching.
• Dirty Coward
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice
• Kick the Son of a Bitch: Paralyzing a government scientist and then leaving him helpless to stop himself from being impaled would normally be a Kick the Dog. When said scientist is a mad scientist who Mind Rapes young girls... well, lets put it this way: was anyone not pleased when The Operative killed him?
• Obstructive Bureaucrat
• Organ Theft: Particularly parts of the brain.
• Playing with Syringes
• Mad Doctor / Mad Scientist: With Parliament approval!
• Involuntary Seppuku
• Torture Technician
• Utopia Justifies the Means
• You Have Failed Me...: Why the Operative kills him.

The Reavers

The Reavers are a band of roving murderous, feral thugs who terrorize everything and everyone they come across. They are infamous for being cannibals, self-mutilation enthusiasts, everyone-else-mutilation enthusiasts, and rapists of both mind and body. They are the survivors of an Alliance experiment to make a planet's population more manageable by using powerful psychotropic drugs on them. This made 99.9% of them catastrophically docile, and they just laid down and died en masse. The remaining 0.1%, however took to the drug just a bit differently and became the base savages known as Reavers.

• Aesoptinum: Their origin -- see spoiler above.
• Exclusively Evil
• The Berserker: Played with. When attacking someone face-to-face, the Reavers become mad, frothing, berserk killers. Outside of face-to-face combat, however, Reavers are disturbingly thoughtful and intelligent, laying carefully-prepared traps, operating advanced spacecraft, and deliberately torturing people to break their minds to increase their numbers. They're skilled enough that they can take an entire ship by surprise without leaving any obvious trace of their presence.
• Better to Die Than Be Killed: No one wants to be taken alive by the Reavers, and no one who can stop it will allow someone else to be, leading to several Mercy Kills.
• Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon:

Zoe: If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing. And if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it In That Order.

• Go Mad from the Revelation: Reavers have a penchant for breaking and torturing people into becoming second-generation Reavers simply by exposing them to what they do to others.
• The Horde
• I'm a Humanitarian: They prefer human flesh. Of live people.
• Insane Equals Violent: Reversed. They're insane because their aggressor instincts were heightened to a truly ridiculous level, driving them to do the things they do.
• Nothing Is Scarier: See Take Our Word for It.
• Shrouded in Myth: Until the movie.
• Space Madness: Originally believed to be their origin.
• Take Our Word for It: We never see a "true" Reaver in the series, only their ships, the reactions others have to them, and one man who was broken into becoming one of them. The Movie throws this out the window.
• The Usual Adversaries

and let's not forget ...

Serenity

The ship. Including the bits that fall off.

• The Alleged Ship
• Big Damn Gunship: parodied in the Cold Open of "The Train Job"
• Cool Ship
• Good Is Old-Fashioned
• I Am Not Left-Handed: the rotating thrusters that made the 'Crazy Ivan' from the pilot possible is a rare mechanical variation.
• Meaningful Name: After the turning point in Mal's life, the battle of Serenity Valley.
• Shiny-Looking Spaceships: This is noticeably not in effect.
• Spell My Name with a "The": Averted -- you don't say 'the Serenity.' It's like a person's name.
• Thememobile
• Used Future: Literally -- Mal buys her at a used ship lot. The salesman tries to steer him towards a more suitable (read: expensive) vessel
  • To clarify, Serenity was in such bad nick she couldn't get off the ground, let alone be space-worthy when Mal bought her.
• What a Piece of Junk!: Serenity may not look like much, but according to Kaylee, "she'll fool ya."

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