Garfield (Comic Strip)/Characters: Difference between revisions

 

== Garfield ==

The strip's title character. Most of the time, he's a fat, lazy, cynical cat, with Jon being the main victim of his constant sarcasm. Many of the strip's gags revolve around his constant eating and/or sleeping, as well as offering plenty of sarcasm towards Jon and abuse towards Odie.

* [[Acid Reflux Nightmare]]: Garfield [https://web.archive.org/web/20110811205054/http://garfield.nfshost.com/1987/01/11/ had] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110811210317/http://garfield.nfshost.com/1988/01/10/ several] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110811220930/http://garfield.nfshost.com/1984/10/14/ of] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110811203648/http://garfield.nfshost.com/1988/09/25/ these], one interestingly from [https://web.archive.org/web/20110811201942/http://garfield.nfshost.com/1998/09/13/ drinking too much coffee.]

* [[Acrofatic]]: For a cat who is supposedly morbidly obese, Garfield is surprisingly athletic when he wants to be. [[Lampshade Hanging|Subtly lampshaded]] in an early strip when Garfield ran so fast that he went ''straight up one wall, across the ceiling, and down the opposite wall''! Jon noted that "I know cats are fast, but that's ridiculous."

 

== Jonathan Q. "Jon" Arbuckle ==

Garfield's owner and the most prominent human in the strip. For most of the strip, he was a simple enough bachelor who cared for Garfield, but eventually grew to be portrayed as a total loser. His personality hit a watershed in the late 2000s when he and Liz finally became the [[Official Couple]].

* [[Awesome McCoolname]]: Davis took Jon's name from a coffee commercial.

* [[Aside Glance]]: The other prime user of this trope, usually in response to one of Garfield's remarks.

 

== Odie ==

Introduced in the strip's first year as Lyman's pet dog (see below), but later [[Retcon|Retconned]] to be Jon's dog. He's pretty much portrayed as wide-eyed, drooling and dumb.

* [[Achievements in Ignorance]]: He once climbed a tree because he didn't know that he couldn't.

* [[Anthropomorphic Shift]]: Not as extremely as the other characters, he is sometimes seen walking on two legs but mostly still walks on fours.

== Nermal ==

The self-proclaimed "world's cutest kitten". Initially a kitten owned by Jon's mom, Nermal also had his origin blatantly retconned. He's now just a neighborhood cat who wanders into Garfield's house at random times.

* [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]]: He never misses an opportunity to mock Garfield about his weight and/or age.

* [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]]: Since the '90s, Nermal has a tendency to disappear from the strip for a long period of time then return.

== Lyman ==

Jon's roommate, who appeared two months into the strip. He was initially Odie's owner, and was intended to provide the role of someone that Jon could talk to, until Garfield took over in that role. As a result, Lyman totally disappeared from the strip.

* [[Black Bead Eyes]]

* [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]]: Such a prominent example that the trope could easily be called The Lyman. He appeared less and less between 1981 and 1982, not appearing or mentioned in ''Here Comes Garfield'', before vanishing after April 1983. According to Jim Davis, he joined the Peace Corps and was never heard from again (possibly [[Killed Off for Real]]).

== Dr. Elizabeth "Liz" Wilson ==

Garfield and Odie's vet, and the frequent target of Jon's affection. Although Jon spent a good quarter century trying to date her with minimal success, she finally gave in.

* [[Ascended Extra]]

* [[Character Development]]: After she finally gave in and became Jon's girlfriend, she changed from being little more than [[The Comically Serious]] to a more sympathetic type.

== Arlene ==

Garfield's onetime girlfriend. She would appear on and off, and Garfield would constantly be as unsuccessful in trying to get her love.

* [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]]: Before her reappearance in 2008, she could've been this as she didn't appear in the strip for ''nine'' years.

* [[No Accounting for Taste]]

== Irma ==

The owner of Irma's diner, a [[Greasy Spoon]] that Jon and Garfield frequent.

* [[Black Bead Eyes]]

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]

'''Garfield''': Cheese! I'll have a grilled cheese! }}