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Changed it back to ambiguous because it has yet to be confirmed on the actual show, even when Alex Blake brought it up. Plus, I'm not sure how legit the actor's input is (no offense MGG if you can see this).
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* AspergersSyndrome: According to WordOfGod. The [=UnSub=] of "Broken Mirror" mentioned this as well.
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* AspergersSyndrome: According to WordOfGod. AmbiguousDisorder: Whether or not he is autistic is up in the air. The [=UnSub=] of "Broken Mirror" mentioned this as well.states it's obvious (though he was trying to intimidate the team) and Alex Blake makes a joke about the possibility.
%%* AnimalMotif:
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%%* NiceGirl
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* SnarkKnight: Turns into this towards JJ after he finds out that [[spoiler: JJ lied to him about Prentiss' death.]]
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* SnarkKnight: Turns Whenever his heroin cravings return, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Reid will become very acerbic]]. He also turns into this towards JJ after he finds out that [[spoiler: JJ lied to him about Prentiss' death.]]
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* PunnyName: Who would have guessed that the guy named "Reid" is a total bookworm who can read 20,000 words per minute?
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* PunnyName: Who would have guessed that the guy named "Reid" is a total bookworm who can read 20,000 words per minute? bookworm?
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* SuperSpeedReading: Has been shown reading and rapidly turning the pages.
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* SuperSpeedReading: Has been shown reading and rapidly turning the pages.He can read ''20,000'' words per minute.
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* PunnyName: Who would have guessed that the guy named "Reid" is a total bookworm who can read 20,000 words per minute?
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* DeadpanSnarker: Usually at Reid's expense or during his banter with Garcia.
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** [[spoiler: Prentiss' supposed death]] could count as well. How did he spend the time while she was away? At JJ's house, crying, and almost relapsing on Dilaudid.
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** [[spoiler: Prentiss' supposed death]] could count as well. How did he spend the time while she was away? At JJ's house, crying, ''for 10 weeks straight'', and almost relapsing on Dilaudid.
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The youngest member of the team, Reid is a child prodigy genius with an I.Q. of 187, an eidetic memory, and an encyclopedic knowledge of a wide variety of different fields. He also has underdeveloped social skills and various Vulcan-like character tics that stem from being a walking computer and serve as the source of a lot of the show's humor.
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The youngest member of the team, Reid is a child prodigy genius with an I.Q. of 187, an eidetic memory, and an encyclopedic knowledge of a wide variety of different fields. He also has underdeveloped social skills and various Vulcan-like character tics that stem from being a walking computer and serve serves as the source of a lot of the show's humor.
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* PluckyComicRelief: Much of the show's humor is derived from Reid's many eccentricities, like his {{Adorkable}} nature and lightning-fast technobabble.
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* [[spoiler:DyingMomentOfAwesome: Gives the BAU the clues they need to solve his own murder while he's bleeding out by shooting a specific spot in the wall of his cabin.]]
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* DisturbingStatistic: He's a veritable fountain of these. If the team needs to know a statistic relating to crime, you can bet he'll know it.
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* DisturbingStatistic: He's a veritable fountain of these. If the team needs to know a statistic relating to crime, you can it's a good bet he'll know it.it. If they ''don't'' need to know, it's absolutely certain he will.
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Fixing typos and stuff.
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* PutOnABus: Kate takes an extended maternity leave after her actress, Jennifer Love-Hewittm decided to do the same.
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* PutOnABus: Kate takes an extended maternity leave after her actress, Jennifer Love-Hewittm Love-Hewitt decided to do the same.
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* BrainyBrunette: Has a PhD in linguistics.
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* BrainyBrunette: Has a PhD [=PhD=] in linguistics.
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* TokenReligiousTeammate: Is Catholic, and is the most openly sympathetic and comfortable member of the team in dealing with religious matters.
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* TokenReligiousTeammate: Is Catholic, and is the most openly sympathetic and comfortable member of the team in dealing with religious matters. [[spoiler:Because of his religious background, he's unable to help his wife kill herself. In a dark way, he lets her die, but only because she begged him not to call 911 to stop her death.]]
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* ExtremeMeleeRevenge: How Hotch [[spoiler: kills Foyet in rage]].
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* PummelingTheCorpse: [[spoiler: After beating Foyet to death, Hotch continues to break the asshole's head open to ensure he ''stays'' dead until Morgan finally pulls him off]].
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* TheresNoKillLikeOverkill: Hotch [[spoiler: kills Foyet by brutally beating him to death, ignoring his [[VillainsWantMercy plea of surrender]]. Considering this asshole just murdered his ex-wife and bragged he will do the same to his son, Hotch wanted to make the shit suffer immensely for all the victims he had killed by completely ensuring he ''stays'' dead for good]].
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Lewis joined the team as a forensic psychologist. Her past work has included extensively interviewing psychopathic killers and determining whether or not they are fit for trial.
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[[folder: Tara Lewis]]
-->'''Played by:''' Aisha Tyler
[[/folder]]
-->'''Played by:''' Aisha Tyler
[[/folder]]
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*PutOnABus: Kate takes an extended maternity leave after her actress, Jennifer Love-Hewittm decided to do the same.
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* TokenMinority: The only person of color on the team.
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* TokenMinority: The only person of color on the team. Averted once Tara Lewis joins the team, making the team roughly 1/3 African American. However, no other minority groups are represented on the team.
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Did someone use a template for an animated show? These are regular actors, not voice actors
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-->'''Voiced by:''' Thomas Gibson
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-->'''Voiced by:''' Joe Mantegna
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-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MandyPatinkin
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-->'''Voiced by:''' Lola Glaudini
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-->'''Voiced by:''' Meta Golding
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-->'''Voiced by:''' Rachel Nichols
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-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/PagetBrewster
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-->'''Voiced by:''' Jeanne Tripplehorn
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Apparently in the CM Universe, Reid is the sexiest guy on earth.
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* NerdsAreSexy: 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.
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* NerdsAreSexy: Lila Archer (1x18 "Somebody's Watching"), Austin (4x9 "52 Pickup"), and various prostitutes (c.f. 2x22 "Legacy" and "Legacy", 4x7 "In Memoriam") Memoriam", and 10x22 "Protection") seem to think so.
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Adding some info from the Five Man Band trope page
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* TheLancer: To Hotchner's TheLeader.
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* TheBigGuy: The strongest and best fighter of the group.
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* TheSmartGuy: See PlayfulHacker above.
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* TheChick & TheHeart: She and Penelope tend to share this role between them.
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* TheLancer: To Hotchner's TheLeader.
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* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Her son Ethan died of an unnamed neurological disease at age 9.
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Ops! wrong character
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* OutlivingOnesOffspring: His son by his first wife died shortly after being born.
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* OutlivingOnesOffspring: His son by his first wife died shortly after being born.
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* OutlivingOnesOffspring: His son by his first wife died shortly after being born.
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[[folder: Jennifer Jaraeu]]
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[[folder: Jennifer Jaraeu]]Jareau]]
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wick cleanup
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** [[TwoWords One Word]] - Frank.
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** [[TwoWords One Word]] - Frank.
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!! Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner (Thomas Gibson)
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!! David Rossi (Joe Mantegna)
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!! Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore)
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* ToKnowHimIMustBecomeHim: Fun drinking game in the first couple seasons - count the number of times Morgan says "I'm the [=UnSub=]".
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* ToKnowHimIMustBecomeHim: Fun drinking game in the first couple seasons - count the number of times Morgan says "I'm the [=UnSub=]".
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!! Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler)
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!! Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness)
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!! Jennifer "JJ" Jareau (A.J. Cook)
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!!Kate Callahan (Jennifer Love-Hewitt)
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!! Jason Gideon (Creator/MandyPatinkin)
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!! Elle Greenaway (Lola Glaudini)
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* ActionGirl: Shows herself to be this not even a minute into her first appearance. Not afraid to take on the [=UnSubs=] directly
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* ActionGirl: Shows herself to be this not even a minute into her first appearance. Not afraid to take on the [=UnSubs=]
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* IWishedYouWereDead[=/=]NeverGotToSayGoodbye: The last thing she said to her father before he was killed in the line of duty was "I hate you!", though it should be noted that she was about eight at the time.
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* IWishedYouWereDead[=/=]NeverGotToSayGoodbye: IWishedYouWereDead: The last thing she said to her father before he was killed in the line of duty was "I hate you!", though it should be noted that she was about eight at the time.
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!! Jordan Todd (Meta Golding)
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!!Ashley Seaver (Rachel Nichols)
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* [[CaptainObvious Agent Obvious]]: Seems to be her main role on the team.
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*
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!! Emily Prentiss (Creator/PagetBrewster)
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!! Dr. Alex Blake (Jeanne Tripplehorn)
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* AloneWithThePsycho: "The Good Earth"
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* AloneWithThePsycho: "The Good
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[[/folder]]
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[[folder: Penelope Gracia]]
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[[folder: Penelope Gracia]]
Garcia]]
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* AmicablyExs: Above and beyond this with first ex-wife Carolyn, implied to be this with his two other ex-wives as well.
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* AmicablyExs: AmicableExes: Above and beyond this with first ex-wife Carolyn, implied to be this with his two other ex-wives as well.
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[[foldercontrol]]
!The Current [=BAU=] Team
[[folder: Aaron Hotchner]]
!! Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner (Thomas Gibson)
[[quoteright:245:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/245px-Aaron_Hotchner_7340.jpg]]
TheStoic [[TheLeader leader]] of the Behavioral Analysis Unit's lead team, a former prosecutor who transitioned to criminal profiling and eventually rose to his current position. Until J.J.'s marriage, he was the only member of the team with a stable home family life ([[spoiler: for the first few seasons, anyway]]).
* AbusiveParents: It's heavily implied that Hotch's father abused him, and that's why he grew up to catch serial killers.
* AloneWithThePsycho: His encounter with Foyet.
* AwesomeByAnalysis: So much that the trope should be renamed "Hotchalanche".
* BadassBeard: 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 BadassBeard is shown in the Season 7 opening credits.
* BadassBookworm: Collected coins as a kid, grew up to be a prosecutor, then took an apparent [[TookALevelInBadass level in badass]] and joined SWAT and then the elite unit of the BAU at the Bureau.
* BadassInANiceSuit: Always wears a suit, with the jacket buttoned neatly and a plain white shirt.
* BerserkButton: Threatening his family is a good way to get yourself a one-way trip to the emergency room. [[spoiler:Or beaten to death.]]
* BigBrotherInstinct: In addition to being this with BAU members, he's this to his little brother.
* BreakTheCutie: Done to him by Foyet.
%%* ByTheBookCop
* CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: On the rare occasion when a situation requires both him and Rossi to throw their weight around, Hotch is Captain Smooth.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: Takes his position as head of his unit very seriously.
* ColdSniper: Used to be with SWAT, one of the best shots in the cast, and the BAU agent with the highest kill count.
* TheComicallySerious: Even when joking, he maintains a very serious demeanor.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: It's heavily implied that his father who died from lung cancer was abusive.
* DeadpanSnarker: It comes out of ''nowhere''.
-->"Did you join a boy band?"
* DeadPersonConversation: Has one with Haley and ''Foyet'' after he's seriously wounded, in a coma, and unsure if he wants to stay with Haley or Jack more. It seems they both want him to return to the living and move on with his life.
* DeathGlare: Look at the picture to the right. That's him on a good day.
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Listening to Foyet psychologically torture his ex-wife and son, promising to kill them, hearing Haley shot over the phone, and finding her body in their old home. Hotch ''loses it'' and empties his gun into Foyet, then beats him to death with his own hands.]]
* FamilyVersusCareer: In season three, Haley makes him choose - her and Jack or the FBI. He chooses the FBI. In season five, [[spoiler: after Haley is killed]], he must choose between them again. FBI's still winning, though he does [[spoiler: work out an arrangement with his sister-in-law to help raise Jack]].
* FBIAgent: And a very good one.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Choleric
* GoKartingWithBowser: Apparently Haley and Foyet got along in the afterlife (or Hotch's unconscious mind) a lot better than one would expect.
* GoodIsNotSoft: He's a very nice and pleasant guy, off the job and sometimes when on, but he never hesitates to pull the trigger to stop someone. That said, he does try to reason with them when he can.
* TheGunslinger: Of the team members he demonstrates the highest degree of skill and familiarity with firearms, especially when it comes to marksmanship.
* HeroicSecondWind: [[spoiler: After Foyet murders his wife, ambushes him in his own house, beats him badly and then threatens to go after his son after he's killed him, [[UnstoppableRage Hotch makes sure he doesn't survive long after that.]]]]
* HeterosexualLifePartners: 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. Rossi is also able to consistently get a smile from Hotch, and Hotch has been known to joke with and confide in Rossi, something he almost never does with the rest of the team. To top it all off, in "The Pact", Hotch actually calls Rossi sexy, if a bit indirectly:
--> '''Garcia''' ''(In reference to Rossi giving away his vacation days.)'' Altruism is sexy.
--> '''Hotch:''' Yes it is.
* HighSchoolSweetHearts: 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.
* InSeriesNickname: Frequently called "Hotch" by the others.
* ItsPersonal: 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 [[spoiler: [=UnSubs=] torturing their victims over the phone, and [=UnSubs=] who use knives and sexual sadism against their victims]].
* JackOfAllTrades: His skill set seems to be the most well-rounded of the team members; conversely, while he's a very skilled profiler, he never shows detailed expertise in any specific area, beyond skill with firearms and ability to tolerate the bureaucracy involved in leading an FBI team.
* LastNameBasis: Except for Haley and Rossi, everyone calls him "Hotch".
* TheLeader: Type II.
* MarriedToTheJob: It leads to his divorce.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In "Doubt", [[spoiler:he ends up getting the [=UnSub=]'s profile ''completely wrong'', directly leading to the deaths of three people. This very nearly destroys his career, and ''does'' destroy Gideon's.]]
* NotSoStoic: "Mayhem", "Outfoxed", and especially "100". In general, whenever it comes to his family.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Almost everyone calls him Hotch, with occasional exception of Rossi who is an old friend.
* PapaWolf: Do ''not'' mess with his team. It will end badly. Furthermore, let the fate of [[spoiler: George Foyet/The Reaper]] serve as a cautionary tale against attacking Hotchner's family.
* PerpetualFrowner: Rarely smiles at work.
* TheProfiler: Along with the rest of the team.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Honestly cares about his team and tries to do right by them.
* SamaritanSyndrome: 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 SuicideByCop, knowing he can do nothing to stop local law enforcement from enacting revenge.
** The unsub of "Scared To Death" lampshades this.
* SecondLove: Has this with Beth in season 7.
* TheSouthpaw
* TheStoic: Usually. 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.
* TallDarkAndHandsome: As a result of being played by Thomas Gibson.
* TeamMom: Truly cares about the well-being of all his people.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Given how many bad things have happened to him, its sometimes sad to see moments in early episodes when we see how happy his family made him.
* [[WhenSheSmiles When He Smiles]]: They are few and rare (and occur mainly around his young son), but when they appear, they are stunning.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: David Rossi]]
!! David Rossi (Joe Mantegna)
[[quoteright:209:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rossi_5646.bmp]]
One of the founding members of the [=BAU=], who became wealthy and somewhat famous writing books about his experiences in the early days of the unit. Came out of retirement to fill the spot left empty by Jason Gideon's departure early in Season 3, serving as the team's oldest and most experienced member, though he's noticeably more wry and ornery than Gideon was.
* AmicablyExs: Above and beyond this with first ex-wife Carolyn, implied to be this with his two other ex-wives as well.
* AgentScully: Especially plays this to Prentiss's AgentMulder in "Demonology".
* BadassBeard: Even [[GrowingTheBeard 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.
* BadassGrandpa: The oldest member of the team, and quite a badass.
* BreakTheHaughty: "Damaged" does a number on him in season three; "Zoe's Reprise" does a worse one in season four. He wasn't so haughty anymore, but "Epilogue" and [[spoiler: "The Replicator"]] break him ''even more''.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Inverted, Rossi spent twenty years obsessing over a case where parents were murdered in front of their children, and expected everyone else to do the same. When he tries to follow up on it, he is genuinely shocked that an isolated cold case has no new information and no one working on it. By the time the series rolls around, even the surviving children tell him to just drop it because they want to get on with their lives.
* CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: On the rare occasion when a situation requires both him and Hotch to throw their weight around, Rossi is Sergeant Rough.
* TheCasanova: Largely in backstory. Apparently, Rossi is the reason behind the Bureau's "no-fraternization" policy.
* TheChessmaster: 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.
* TheConsigliere: Mostly to Hotch, but as of S5, to Morgan as well.
* CoolOldGuy: Knows enough about VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto 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.
* DealWithTheDevil: In "Profiling 101" [[spoiler: Rossi makes a deal with the [=Unsub=]. The [=Unsub=] is off death row and he will give Rossi the name and location of the body of one of his victims every year on a certain day. But it has to be on a special day of the [=Unsub's=] choosing. He chooses Rossi's ''birthday''.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Among many other examples, he explains Reid by saying "He was left in a basket on the steps of the FBI," and responds to an unfriendly, obstructive cop by asking, "Do you need a hug or something?"
* DisappearedDad: He recently learned that he had an adult daughter that he was not aware of by his second wife who gave birth after their divorce. To really add to it, it turns out his daughter is married with a two year old son.
* FamedInStory: When Manilow's not in town.
* FBIAgent: And well-known author on the topic.
* FirstNameBasis: Hotch is the only one to regularly call him "Dave". 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.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Leukine
* GuileHero: As one of the most experienced profilers on the team.
* HeroicBSOD: Suffers from one in "The Replicator" after the titular [=UnSub=] [[spoiler: kills Strauss]]. Of course, part of his breakdown (him [[spoiler: pointing a gun at Morgan]]) can be blamed on the fact that he'd been [[spoiler: drugged by a deadly combination of ecstasy and other stuff that exacerbated his distrust]].
* HeterosexualLifePartners: 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. Rossi is also able to consistently get a smile from Hotch, and Hotch has been known to joke with and confide in Rossi, something he almost never does with the rest of the team. To top it all off, in "The Pact", Hotch actually calls Rossi sexy, if a bit indirectly:
--> '''Garcia''' ''(In reference to Rossi giving away his vacation days.)'' Altruism is sexy.
--> '''Hotch:''' Yes it is.
* HiddenDepths: You wouldn't expect it given his age, but Rossi seems to be the team member with the most in-depth knowledge of video games.
* HonoraryUncle: Jack calls Rossi "Uncle Dave" at least once.
* ItsPersonal: 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}}: [[WriterOnBoard 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.
* JerkassFacade: 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 he has good intentions and simply isn't the best at expressing them; once he realizes that these people have his back ("Damaged", most notably), he's a lot more open and caring toward them, until he finally grows into the role of TeamDad.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: This is probably a better description of him. Yes, he's a little arrogant and egotistical at first, and yes, he may come across as a jerkass, but he's definitely a good guy who is truly passionate about catching bad guys and helping people. A good example is in "Penelope", when he's kind of pushy and harsh when questioning Garcia...but only because he wants to catch the guy who shot her.
* LargeHam: Can pull it off when needed, usually in the course of distracting the press (as seen in "The Performer" and "Painless"). Also, when cooking.
* LyingToThePerp: Rossi's a master at this - see "Masterpiece" and "Reckoner" for particularly spectacular examples. "Reckoner" deconstructed this, as Rossi tells the somewhat SympatheticMurderer that he slept with his wife, multiple times, and [[spoiler: the unsub dies without learning that it was a lie, which just adds an extra tinge of tragedy to an already fairly brutal episode]].
* MarriedToTheJob: Rossi, in his own words, is "more married to this team than I have been to three wives." He also hates going on vacation.
* TheMcCoy: Usually playing this role to Reid's [[TheSpock Spock]] and Morgan or Hotch's [[TheKirk Kirk]].
* TheMentor: To Seaver.
* NewOldFlame: It takes until season 7, and it's in [[TearJerker heartbreaking]] circumstances, but we do meet the first ex-Mrs. Rossi, Carolyn.
* NonIdleRich: He could stay retired thanks to being a wealthy best selling author but he just loves the job. He's also used his wealth on one occasion ("Snake Eyes") to help solve a case.
* OutGambitted: Pulls this on Henry Grace fairly magnificently in "Masterpiece", and it's one of his major moments of awesome.
* PapaWolf: It takes a bit for him to warm up to the team, but by "Masterpiece", he'll ''destroy'' you if you touch his team.
* ParentalSubstitute: For Ashley Seaver. Ironically, Rossi [[spoiler: captured her real father, a notorious serial killer]].
* RealMenCook: Turns out to be an excellent cook, especially Italian food.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Acts as the ''de facto'' leader when Hotch isn't around; especially when compared with [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Erin Strauss]].
* RetiredBadass: Before he returns to the Bureau. He's not so much retired anymore.
* RevengeByProxy: Henry Grace attempted to do this to him in "Masterpiece", with the other members of his team (except for Garcia) as the "proxy". It doesn't work, since Rossi successfully [[OutGambitted out-gambits]] him.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: 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."
* SemperFi: He served in the Marines in [[VietnamWar Vietnam]].
* TeamDad: By virtue of being the oldest and most experienced member of the team.
* TokenReligiousTeammate: Is Catholic, and is the most openly sympathetic and comfortable member of the team in dealing with religious matters.
* TookALevelInKindness: Was initially a bit of a jerkass after joining the team, and was pretty aloof and distant towards all the other members except for Hotch; however, he eventually realizes that the rest of the team truly considers him to be one of them and has his back, and he warms up to the rest of them in turn. The episode where things started to change was probably "Damaged", in which Prentiss, JJ, and Morgan (who had nothing to work on while Hotch and Reid were away) flew to Indianapolis to help Rossi solve a cold case that had been bothering him. When Rossi coldly brushes them off and tells them to go home, and they refuse, the turning point seems to come from this line:
-->'''Rossi''': Why do you care?\\
''(Morgan, Prentiss, and JJ exchange looks)''
-->'''Prentiss''': Because you do.
* UnclePennyBags: A bit more sarcastic than most but he still fits. He's invited his co-workers to his house to drink expensive wine, used his wealth to help victims that he's involved with personally like buying and maintaining a house for some kids ("Damaged") and paying for a victim's funeral ("Zoe's Reprise").
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Derek Morgan]]
!! Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore)
[[quoteright:225:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/morgan_2859.bmp]]
[[TheLancer The team's second-in-command]], Morgan is a former Chicago cop turned FBI agent. The most socially outgoing and athletically inclined member of the team, he maintains an ongoing mock-romantic banter with Garcia as well as a big brother relationship with the bookish, nerdy Dr. Reid. Originally specializing in obsessional crimes, his role on the team has evolved to more general duties such as acting as Devil's Advocate when spit-balling ideas, bonding with victims[=/=]witnesses, and kicking down many, many doors.
* BaldOfAwesome: Does anyone actually remember the last time Shemar Moore had hair? [[Film/DiaryOfAMadBlackWoman He looked pretty nice then, too.]]
* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: Briefly in Season Five.
* BerserkButton: Touch his "babygirl" Garcia, and you are going to wish for death. Also, does not deal well with sexual abuse cases--it's [[ItsPersonal kind of close to home]].
* BigBrotherInstinct: 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.
* CantActPervertedTowardALoveInterest: Averted and subverted with Garcia--she's not technically his "love interest" and he doesn't have a problem at all sexualizing her. She has ''no'' problem reciprocating.
* ClearTheirName:
** 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.
* CoolShades: When it's sunny outside, Morgan is always wearing them.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: 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.
* FairCop: Literally. Morgan used to be a cop before he joined the BAU.
* FBIAgent: His job.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Choleric
* {{Flanderization}}: In the first season--particularly the first half--Morgan dressed in suits and other professional attire and was known as an intellectual who just happened to be good at fighting. While his brain hasn't left him, his style of clothing (to a much more casual dress) and the pronouncement of his emotions suggest that the "fighter" part of his persona has shoved his brain to the back seat, though he goes back toward his previous characterization after being promoted to unit chief. See also WhatHappenedToTheMouse below for more.
* GeniusBruiser: The most physical of the team, but as highly intelligent as any of them.
* HandsomeLech: 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.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Reid. Although the fandom prefers to forget the "Heterosexual" part.
* HollywoodAtheist: He was a devout Christian who lost his faith after [[spoiler:being molested]] and became angry and resentful towards religion and God.
* ItsPersonal:
** 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.
* MixedAncestry: Like his actor, Morgan's dad is black, while his mother is visibly white.
* MrFanservice: Particularly apparent in "Snake Eyes," where he steps out of a shower dripping wet with a loving pan up his body.
* TheNicknamer: Can fall into this when talking to Reid ('Kid', 'Pretty Boy', 'Genius') or Garcia (too many to list). His favorite by far is "Babygirl".
* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: He does this for Prentiss in "Lauren".
* ParentalSubstitute: For Ellie Spicer.
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Garcia. No one messes with his "Baby Girl".
* RaisedByDudes: 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 ([[PlatonicLifePartners especially Garcia]]) so well.
* RapeAsBackstory: Painfully revealed in "Profiler, Profiled".
* SmarterThanYouLook: [=UnSubs=] often assume he's just DumbMuscle. He's not.
* TokenMinority: The only person of color on the team.
* ToKnowHimIMustBecomeHim: Fun drinking game in the first couple seasons - count the number of times Morgan says "I'm the [=UnSub=]".
%%* UrbanLegendLoveLife
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Not Morgan himself, but his work specializing 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.
* WouldHitAGirl: Blows Lucy away without a second thought.
* WouldHurtAChild: If that child were a killer, or so he claims to a teenage unsub in "Safe Haven." Fortunately, the unsub ultimately surrenders voluntarily.
* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: After being promoted to Unit Chief in Season Five:
-->'''Morgan''': Thanks, Babygi--Agent Garcia.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Spencer Reid]]
!! Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler)
[[quoteright:245:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/245px-Spencer_Reid_1_1117.jpg]]
The youngest member of the team, Reid is a child prodigy genius with an I.Q. of 187, an eidetic memory, and an encyclopedic knowledge of a wide variety of different fields. He also has underdeveloped social skills and various Vulcan-like character tics that stem from being a walking computer and serve as the source of a lot of the show's humor.
* {{Adorkable}}: In general, but especially with his giant NerdGlasses when he was a child.
* AspergersSyndrome: According to WordOfGod. The [=UnSub=] of "Broken Mirror" mentioned this as well.
* AwesomeByAnalysis: Does all the pattern analysis for the team.
* TheBabyOfTheBunch: Reid is the youngest member of the main characters.
* BadassAdorable: He's a fully trained FBI agent, but acts like an overgrown puppy at times.
* BadassBookworm: If the BoomHeadshot 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. When Hotch compliments him on the headshot in "L.D.S.K." however, Reid blushes and jokes he was actually aiming for the unsub's knee.[[note]]The unsub is wearing body armor, and it's made clear than if he's not killed immediately, he ''will'' take someone with him. It's also clear that given the setup, he was actually aiming for the head.[[/note]]
* BadDreams: Nightmares have been plaguing him since childhood.
* BerserkButton:
** Don't tell him that bullying is something some kids ''have'' to deal with. If looks could kill...
** Don't abuse or insult the mentally-ill around the kid whose mother is a diagnosed schizophrenic.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: He can shoot straight ''sometimes'', you know. PlayedForLaughs in "Painless".
--> "Never wage a practical joke war against an MIT graduate, because we have a history of going nuclear."
* BreakTheCutie: ''So'' many times. It seems the writers like to torture him, lock him up, drug him, [[spoiler: infect him with anthrax,]] tie him up...
** [[spoiler: Prentiss' supposed death]] could count as well. How did he spend the time while she was away? At JJ's house, crying, and almost relapsing on Dilaudid.
** He finally gets a girlfriend, a clever geneticist, but they only communicate via handwritten letters and payphones. When he finally sees her face-to-face, [[spoiler:she's being held at gunpoint by a jealous woman, then she's ''killed in front of him'' by said jealous woman in a single-bullet murder-suicide.]] Ouch, writers. ''Ouch.''
* CallingTheOldManOut:
** Reid does this to his own father in 4x7 "In Memoriam", and then to [[spoiler: the unsub's father in "The Uncanny Valley"]].
** Inverted in 4x20 "Conflicted", when he [[spoiler: interrupts Adam/Amanda Jackson's murderous version of this]].
* CannotTellAJoke: 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.
* ChildProdigy: Graduated from high school at 12, had two [=BAs=] by 16, has an IQ of 187 and an eidetic memory.
* CluelessChickMagnet:
** Poor guy doesn't realize that when beautiful movie stars kiss him it's because he's a babe, not because of '[[FlorenceNightingaleEffect transference]]'.
--->'''Prentiss''' ''(after interviewing the homeless for information)'': How'd you guys do?\\
'''Hotch''': Well, Reid got propositioned by every prostitute we talked to...
** Also this (after Morgan teases him about "not being able to get a date") [[note]]Of course, given that we've actually ''seen'' women throwing themselves at him, he probably just didn't notice. [[/note]]:
--->'''Reid:''' Do you think that [being interested in weird things] is why I can't get a date?\\
'''Elle:''' Have you ever asked a girl out?\\
'''Reid:''' No.\\
'''Elle:''' That's why you can't get a date.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Poor kid. Mommy's schizophrenic and Dad abandoned everyone. At one point, he was going to be the next victim of a local pedophile and child murderer. Biggest brain in the room and usually the one targeted physically by the serial killers.
* DisappearedDad: First with his own father, and then with his ''father figure'', Gideon.
* DisturbingStatistic: He's a veritable fountain of these. If the team needs to know a statistic relating to crime, you can bet he'll know it.
* FanWank: In an in-universe example, Reid has a tendency to bore his colleagues with rants about the specs of the [[Franchise/StarWars Death Star]], that ''Film/BillAndTed'' was a ripoff of ''Series/DoctorWho'', and the nature and "surprising infrequency" of science errors in the original ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}''.
* FBIAgent: Though he goes by "Doctor" and not "Agent."
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Phlegmatic
* {{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.
* GeekPhysiques: The skinny kind. Probably as a result of ForgetsToEat.
* GeniusSweetTooth: If there's junk food around, Reid ''will'' find it.
* GoodCounterpart: He has the most EvilCounterpart's and even physically resembles some [=UnSubs=].
* GoodWithNumbers: And has been banned from many a casino as a result.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Definitely shows signs of this with Morgan.
* HiddenDepths: Who'd have pegged ''Reid'' as a basketball coach in high school?!
* HollywoodNerd: He's played by a former model.
* ILetGwenStacyDie: [[spoiler:He blames himself for letting Maeve be killed by her stalker.]]
* [[ImTakingHerHomeWithMe I'm Taking Him Home With Me]]: He does tend to engender this type of response in some people.
* InSeriesNickname: "Spence" from JJ, "Kid" and "Pretty Boy" from Morgan, and countless ones from [[TheNicknamer Garcia]], 'Gorgeous Grey Matter' being a notable example. "Pipe cleaner with eyes" from a witness.
* InsistentTerminology: ''Doctor'', not ''Agent''.
* InsufferableGenius: Unlike most versions, this comes not from arrogance (because he's quite humble) but simply his habit of outshining others with his knowledge, making them look bad by comparison, and his MotorMouth tendencies.
-->'''Prentiss:''' ''(After he puts together a star puzzle)'' There's a lot to hate about you Dr. Reid.\\
'''Rossi:''' Play poker with him sometime.\\
'''Morgan:''' Try playing chess with him.\\
'''Garcia:''' Or Go.
* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: Reid's school experience - "Being the smartest kid in class is like being the only kid in class."
* JamesBondage: Definitely. The most danger-prone agent out of the bunch. Enough said.
* TheLostLenore: [[spoiler: seems to see Maeve as this in in season 9.]]
* LovableNerd: Everyone seems to want to take care of him.
* MotorMouth: Talks ''extremely'' fast, about virtually any subject down the the most pedantic minutiae. A fun drinking game is to count how often Reid is interrupted by an irritated teammate.
* MustHaveCaffeine: 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.
* NearDeathExperience: [[spoiler:Tells the team in "Epilogue" that when he was dying in Tobias Hankel's shed, he felt a warmth and saw white lights.]]
* NerdGlasses: Wears these from time to time.
* NerdsAreSexy: 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.
* NiceGuy: He might have NoSocialSkills, but Reid compensates by having ample amounts of compassion.
* NoSocialSkills: He's VERY awkward around people other than the team.
-->'''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)''\\
'''Detective Linden''': ... where'd you find this kid?\\
'''Rossi''': He was left in a basket on the steps of the FBI.
* NotThatKindOfDoctor: Gideon always introduces him as "Dr. Reid" and Hotch does occasionally, leaving Reid to explain that he hasn't been to medical school, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qMKGuel6OQ but does have three [=PhD=]s]]. 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.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Post 'boy band' haircut, he manages to look about 12, despite the actor being 29 at the time.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Oh god. So much.
* PhotographicMemory: 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.
* PrankDate: Was victim to this in high school. It was... brutal, to say the least. He was lured to the football field, where he was ambushed, stripped naked and tied to a goal post ''all night''.
* ThePrankster: 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''.
* PrecisionFStrike: Reid easily having the cleanest mouth of the team, when he does swear, it means something.
** Played for comedy in season 7.
--->'''Reid:''' Loner, invisible, boiling rage--''son of a bitch!''
** And played for drama in season 8.
--->[[spoiler:'''Reid:''' Maeve ''is'' somebody and this ''bitch'' is a nobody!]]
* PrettyBoy: 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 [[InSeriesNickname nickname.]] Unsurprising, given that he's a real-life Calvin Klein model.
* PrimalFear: It's revealed in ''The Boogeyman'' that he's scared of the dark.
* PuppyDogEyes: It's his default expression.
* RevolversAreJustBetter: Switches from a pistol to a revolver as his sidearm in Season 4. This is especially notable when you remember that when Reid was kidnapped by Tobias Henkel, [[spoiler: he was forced to play Russian Roulette four times and survives, and later manages to get the same gun (still with only one bullet) away from him and kills him with one shot.]] It's quite possible he started carrying a revolver for this reason.
* SarcasmBlind: Not always, but part of him having NoSocialSkills means that he often gives sarcastic questions actual answers, hearing a request for information rather than an expression of exasperation. He's actually pretty good at using sarcasm, though.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: He uses so many SAT words that it's not even funny.
* TheSmartGuy: Three [=PhD=]s, 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. BadassBookworm, check.
* SmartPeoplePlayChess: 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. [[spoiler: Until the end of the episode, anyway.]]
* SnarkKnight: Turns into this towards JJ after he finds out that [[spoiler: JJ lied to him about Prentiss' death.]]
* SomedayThisWillComeInHandy: 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 ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' or Music/LadyGaga.
** And some of it does come in handy, such as in "Plain Sight", where he recognizes the literature that the unsub writes quotes from at the crime scenes.
** Lampshaded by Morgan in "True Night":
--->'''Reid:''' You should have listened to me.\\
'''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:''' ''Don't'' make me smack you in front of all these people.
* TheSpock: 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, but he's still not even close to handling cases unemotionally.
* SuperSpeedReading: Has been shown reading and rapidly turning the pages.
* TeamPet: Everyone wants to take care of him.
* TeensAreMonsters: Holy ''shit'', his classmates in his {{Backstory}}. See PrankDate above, and keep in mind he would've been ''at most twelve''.
* TookALevelInBadass: A few over the course of the show, but a spectacular one in "It Takes a Village".
-->'''Interviewer''': Now, calm down, Agent--\\
'''Reid''': [[Awesome/CriminalMinds This is calm and it's]] ''[[Awesome/CriminalMinds Doctor]]''.
* TropaholicsAnonymous: 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.
* WhatTheHellHero: He is ''not'' happy to learn that [[spoiler:the fact that Prentiss' death was [[FakingTheDead faked]] was intentionally hidden from him]]. He lets go of most of his anger after "Proof", but he still remains somewhat distant from the rest of the team, [[spoiler:JJ]] in particular.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Penelope Gracia]]
!! Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness)
[[quoteright:240:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Kirsten_vangsness_240_4129.jpg]]
The team's MissionControl, Garcia is an extremely skilled hacker who was captured by the FBI and offered a job by Hotchner as an alternative to prison, due to her extreme skill and obvious strong sense of justice. In both style and personality she's the most free-spirited and non-traditional member of the team, due to her origins in hacker culture and her status as a techie rather than a field agent.
* {{Adorkable}}: She is enthusiastic and awkward in equal parts.
* AwesomeByAnalysis: She's a technical analyst, which means she sifts through electronic records and finds the good bits, and then puts them all together in a big picture. And remember, she learned at the feet of Aaron Hotchner.
* BadassBoast: 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 BewareTheNiceOnes, she could absolutely do that. There's also her CMOA at the end of "The Internet Is Forever".
* BewareTheNiceOnes:
-->"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!"
* BreakTheCutie: Her [[spoiler: shooting]] in "Lucky"/"Penelope", and the subsequent episodes that show her healing process - "House on Fire" and "Exit Wounds".
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Does not look the part of an FBI employee at all, but it doesn't matter because she's brilliant at her job.
* CantActPervertedTowardALoveInterest: Averted and subverted with Morgan - he's not her love interest and she sexualizes him plenty.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: She's nearly unrecognizable to what she would later become in the pilot, in which she's a DeadpanSnarker who dresses like a stereotypical "working stiff" and who actually easily gives up trying to hack something.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: One of the sweetest and most justified versions. After spending her days catching murderers, she volunteers one day a week to counsel the families of murder victims.
* ControlFreak: She admits to being one.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Both of her parents died in an automobile accident when she was only 18.
* DependingOnTheWriter: 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 and that she was 18 when her parents died, so both could be true at once if the brothers were older.
** It's funny how a character on a show about murders and such that a character can go from four brothers to none and instead of making a plot they just ignore it.
* DoesntLikeGuns: In "Penelope", Morgan tries to give her one for protection.
-->'''Garcia''': I don't believe in guns!\\
'''Morgan:''' ''(shoves one into her hands)'' Believe me, they are '''[[DialogueReversal very real]]'''!
* {{Expy}}: Garcia shares a lot of personality traits with [[Series/{{NCIS}} 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.
* FakeGuestStar: In Season 1; they just didn't have the money to put her in the title credits. In fact, she is the ''only'' character to be [[PromotionToOpeningTitles Promoted To Opening Titles]] who was not a replacement for a departed character. She's credited with "Also Starring" from Episode 14.
* FeminineWomenCanCook: Subverted in "Proof". Garcia can bake, but apparently lacks most cooking skills. Rossi ends up teaching her.
* FieryRedHead: For one season.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Sanguine
* GeekyTurnOn: How she first meets Kevin.
* TheHeart: She and JJ tend to share this role between them.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: She, Prentiss, and JJ are all extremely close - Garcia is even godmother to JJ's son Henry.
* InSeriesNickname: So, so many from Morgan.
* MagicalComputer: Garcia can do things with computers that are flat out impossible and can deliver instant search results from {{Omniscient Database}}s that sometimes contain info that have absolutely no business being online. Months old surveillance footage, sealed court records, records that predate the digital age, etc. Nothing is off-limits or takes any real amount of time to sift through or cross-reference. On the other hand, this saves us from having to deal with months of subpoenas and dead end searches, so TropesAreNotBad. The show {{lampshades}} this with repeated references to how good she is in that "she can find anything". The Sheriff in "A Rite of Passage" evens says she wants someone like Garcia for Christmas.
%%* ManicPixieDreamGirl
* {{Meganekko}}: When she's wearing her glasses.
* MissionControl: Does all the BAU's computer work and rarely goes out in the field.
* MoralityPet: To Morgan, but mostly to the entire team as a whole.
* MulticoloredHair: With more colors than a cotton candy machine. Garcia digs the Manic Panic.
* MsFanservice: She's quite well-built, to say the least, and several of her outfits, particularly the dress she wore to [[spoiler:JJ's wedding]], seem designed to show it off. Rather blatant in "Snake Eyes," which almost literally opens with a ''very'' good look down her nightshirt. May or may not be a coincidence that the same episode had the series' most blatant bit of ''male'' fanservice, as well. Considering Garcia would be HollywoodPudgy on most shows, it's refreshing to see her being treated as one of the most attractive characters on the show.
* NearDeathExperience: In "Penelope", she tells Morgan, Emily, and Reid that she heard the David Bowie song "Heroes" while she was coding in the ambulance, which makes her wonder if David Bowie is God.
* NewJobAsThePlotDemands: 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 [[spoiler: when JJ leaves]] because she wants to help out).
* TheNicknamer; 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 [[spoiler: been infected with anthrax,]] he can tell how upset she is by the fact that she calls him "Reid".
* [[NonActionGuy Non-Action Girl]]
* OhCrap: 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":
-->'''Garcia''': Talk dirty to me.\\
'''Strauss''': This is Section Chief Strauss.
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Morgan, her "sweet prince" and other assorted nicknames.
* PlayfulHacker: One of the most dangerous in the world, actually.
* PromotionToOpeningTitles: From season 2 onwards.
* RecruitingTheCriminal: After she got caught hacking the FBI's database, the choice was pretty much "join the Bureau or we put you in jail". In "The Black Queen" it's implied that she let herself be caught to escape her controlling boyfriend.
* TheReliableOne: Always working away in her office, just a phone call away.
* RightBehindMe: How she meets Prentiss' replacement, complete with lampshading: "Oh god, I'm doing that thing where I'm talking and they're right [-behind-] [--me--]..."
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Jennifer Jaraeu]]
!! Jennifer "JJ" Jareau (A.J. Cook)
[[quoteright:242:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jj-jareu_9258.jpg]]
Originally the team's media liaison in charge of controlling the media response around investigated crimes (and thus its potential effect on the [=UnSub=] as well as the community), in the latest seasons she has transitioned to a more hands-on role as a full-time field agent[=/=]profiler.
* ActionMom: Don't try to go after her son. It will not end well for you.
* AlliterativeName: Applies with and without her nickname.
* AloneWithThePsycho: ''The Performer'' and [[spoiler: ''All That Remains'']].
* BewareTheNiceOnes: "Revelations" and kill-shots to three rabid dogs. "Penelope" and one beautiful [[BoomHeadshot headshot]] through a plate-glass window. "The Performer" and a shovel to the back of an [=UnSub=]'s head. In ''Nanny Dearest'' she [[BoomHeadshot pops the [=UnSub=] in the forehead]] from nearly [[ImprobableAimingSkills a block away with her sidearm]]. Do ''not'' fuck with JJ.
* TheBusCameBack: In "Lauren" for one episode, then as of "Out of the Night", JJ is officially back.
* CharacterDevelopment: 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. Part of this has to do with the fact that in Season 7, she has a different official job. The role of media liaison had already been filled when she returned to the team. The only way she could come back was to fill Prentiss' (then) vacated spot. (When Prentiss came back, she took Seaver's spot, and Seaver left). She's officially one of the profilers now. Hotch had suggested getting qualified for that role years before (back in something like Season 3), but she was happier as a media liaison at the time.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Her sister killed herself when JJ was eleven by slitting her wrists.
* DeadpanSnarker: JJ seems to have absorbed best-bud Emily's penchant for sawdust-dry wit in season 7.
%%* FairCop
* FBIAgent: Like all the main cast.
* FirstNameBasis: She's the only person besides his mother who calls Reid "Spencer".
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Phlegmatic
* HappilyMarried: 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.
* ItsPersonal: Small-town violence ("North Mammon", "Risky Business"), stalking ("The Crossing"), and suicide ("Risky Business").
* MamaBear: DO NOT threaten her kid when she's around, she WILL kick your ass, as a thrill seeking bank robber/terrorist found out in the season seven finale.
** And don't do anything to harm her team, either, that gun is not for show.
* PutOnABus: Thanks to ExecutiveMeddling, she left in Season 6's "J.J.", accompanied by loads of RealitySubtext.
* TookALevelInBadass: ''Four'' over the course of the show.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Will and Henry seem to appear and disappear in continuity DependingOnTheWriter.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Kate Callahan]]
!!Kate Callahan (Jennifer Love-Hewitt)
[[quoteright:263:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/52d31da459890811c9b113eac60871c5.jpg]]
An undercover member of the FBI's Sex Crimes Unit who joins the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Season 10 after Alex Blake's departure at the end of Season 9.
* MsFanservice: Wears a ''very'' low-cut shirt in her last scenes.
* ParentalSubstitute: After her sister and brother-in-law died in 9/11, Kate became the legal guardian to their (now 13-year-old) daughter Meg.
* RememberTheNewGuy: Apparently the team has already met her several times off-screen. They all comment how great she is.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: A bit more girly than the Bureau's previous brunettes: she tells Garcia about cute animal videos she's seen, which astonishes Garcia in that there could possibly be something cute on the internet she hasn't seen before due to her need for BrainBleach, and talks with JJ about what skin treatments are best to help heal injuries.
* UndercoverCopReveal: In the season premier, we saw her working as an undercover cop before joining the BAU.
* [[WhenYouComingHomeDad When You Coming Home, Mom?]]: At the end of the season premier, she apologizes to Meg for being away for two days. (We learn the details of their relationship later, but their FirstNameBasis indicates that Kate may not be Meg's mother.)
[[/folder]]
!Former [=BAU=] Members
[[folder: Jason Gideon]]
!! Jason Gideon (Creator/MandyPatinkin)
[[quoteright:271:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/00763758-photo-jason-gideon-mandy-patinkin-dans-esprits-criminels_3442.jpg]]
One of the founding members of the [=BAU=], Gideon served as an older, experienced wise mentor-type team member in the first two seasons of the show. Though intellectual and slightly eccentric, he was still much more grounded than Dr. Reid.
* {{Archenemy}}: He and Frank.
* AloneWithThePsycho: The Footpath Killer in "Extreme Aggressor" and "Compulsion".
* AwesomeByAnalysis: Took a very intellectual approach to the work, compared to the more hands-on approach of some of the team members.
%%* BadassGrandpa
* BusCrash: [[spoiler:Gideon hadn't been in contact with the BAU for years, so it was very surprising to see his cabin again in the recent episode "Nelson's Sparrow." Then we find out it's because he's the VictimOfTheWeek. Cue an ItsPersonal TearJerker for the entire team, especially Reid. Counts as a BusCrash rather than a BackForTheDead because the corpse is always covered by a sheet.]]
* TheChessmaster: Could beat Reid in chess.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: 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.
* DefectiveDetective: Has PTSD from pre-series case.
* FBIAgent: Of course.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Melancholic
* GuileHero: As an experienced and skilled profiler
* ItsPersonal:
** [[TwoWords 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.
* LeavingYouToFindMyself: The in-series reason for Gideon leaving.
* MysteriousPast: 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.
* NotSoDifferent: Frank implies the two of them are.
* ParentalSubstitute: The closest thing to a father Reid had, which made the abandonment all the more heartbreaking.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: The reason Gideon disappears without a trace is because actor Creator/MandyPatinkin couldn't take the constant emotional impact of the horrific cases on the show.
* SickEpisode: In "Blood Hungry" he's stuck at headquarters due to a skydiving accident.
* TheStoic: To a lesser degree than Hotch, but capable of keeping cool even when having a shotgun pointed at his face.
%%* TheStrategist
* TeamDad: Though he doesn't actually want you calling him "dad", as he informs Elle.
* ToKnowHimIMustBecomeHim: All the time.
* WalkingTheEarth: After leaving the bureau, he abandons his cabin and is last seen traveling the country on a personal quest of self-discovery. [[spoiler: At some point he goes back to living in his cabin, where he is murdered by an old [=UnSub=] from one of his earliest cases]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Elle Greenway]]
!! Elle Greenaway (Lola Glaudini)
[[quoteright:228:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Elle_Greenaway_1405.jpg]]
The original holder of the team's HighTurnoverRate position, Elle was a member of team for Season 1 and the beginning of Season 2 who specialized in sexual offense crimes. Driven and somewhat impulsive, she served honorably but ends up leaving the team under fairly shady circumstances.
* ActionGirl: Shows herself to be this not even a minute into her first appearance. Not afraid to take on the [=UnSubs=] directly
--> '''Elle''' What's the matter, Scotty? Can't deal with a woman who's not afraid of you?
* BrainyBrunette: Very intelligent, in Extreme Aggressor she figures out they are following a decoy due to the way he is driving - and of course intelligence is a given in her line of work.
* BrokenBird: After the events of The Fisher King [[spoiler: she is shot in her own home and brought back from the dead, left with PTSD that is triggered when she goes undercover to catch a rapist, costing the team the case... so she shoots him to stop him from raping anyone else.]]
%%* BecomingTheMask
* ButNowIMustGo: Something of a darker variant- after [[spoiler: getting shot by the Fisher King]], she feels that the team let her down, and she dreads the advent of new cases while she used to love them, so she quits the team, knowing that she simply can't do the job anymore.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: [[spoiler: Raped when she was younger.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: The amount of one-line zingers she gets off is amazing. It also helps that she's got the timing and tone down pat as well.
* DrowningMySorrows: After the events of "The Fisher King", there's at least one scene where she drinks quite a bit.
* FallenHero: As a result of her own trauma. She even gets PTSD.
%%* FairCop
* FBIAgent: Like all the team members.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Choleric
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In one episode in Season 1, she said that when she worked in Sex Crimes, she saw dozens of offenders get away with it. [[spoiler: In season 2, she KNOWINGLY fucks up and a rapist gets away with it- so she follows him home and kills him.]]
* GroinAttack: 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.
* TheGunslinger: After the events of "The Fisher King", she wears double holsters, totalling two guns in easy reach.
** She had her double holster as early as "The Fox" (1x07)
* ImportantHaircut: Gets one after returning to work after the events of "The Fisher King".
* InstantDeathBullet: [[spoiler: Averted. After she's shot by the Fisher King, she actually remained lucid long enough to dial 911, and while the King thought he'd killed her, she got through it.]]
* ItsPersonal: Violence against women and sexual assaults. After [[spoiler: "The Fisher King"]], it's also people getting attacked at home.
* IWishedYouWereDead[=/=]NeverGotToSayGoodbye: The last thing she said to her father before he was killed in the line of duty was "I hate you!", though it should be noted that she was about eight at the time.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Rapist or not, she mercilessly killed a man and got away with it. Hell, she didn't even get fired, she quit voluntarily- and she told Hotch that if she had to do it again, she wouldn't change a thing.]]
%%* KnightTemplar
* MadeOfIron: See InstantDeathBullet. In addition, [[spoiler: the paramedics said 'we might lose her again', implying that she actually died but they brought her back.]]
* MoralMyopia: [[spoiler: Aside from apologizing at her father's grave, she shows no regret whatsoever for murdering the [=UnSub=] in "Aftermath", and argues that the other team members would've done the exact same thing if they had been put in a similar situation. Before that, she blames the local police for not being able to prevent the [=UnSub=] from raping a woman in her own home, even though they had no legal reason to break into her house. Finally, she blames the team for being shot because they weren't there for her, even though none of them could be expected to guard her in her own house.]]
* NeverMyFault: [[spoiler: The only reason the [=UnSub=] got away in "Aftermath" is because Elle confronted him before he did something that would have given the team legal cause to get his DNA. Despite this, Elle acts like the [=UnSub=] getting released is a failure of the system, and never admits that it was her carelessness that allowed him to be released in the first place. She even says that she would do the exact same thing again, apparently preferring to be a murderer to easily putting the guy behind bars.]]
* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler: Her unshakeable conviction that she did the right thing in killing the [=UnSub=] in "Aftermath", ignoring any alternatives and making numerous leaps in logic to convince herself that it was the only way is scarily similar to how many [=UnSubs=] justify their actions.]]
* RapeAsBackstory: [[spoiler: When she was younger. One of the reasons she works sexual crimes.]]
* SpicyLatina: Her mother is Cuban and Elle displays many of the qualities that are a part of the trope, especially being able to take care of herself and confrontational tendencies.
* ThousandYardStare: Sports one when she comes back to the team.
* VigilanteExecution: "The Aftermath". After accidentally fucking up and letting the [=UnSub=] walk, she follows him home and shoots him.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Jordan Todd]]
!! Jordan Todd (Meta Golding)
[[quoteright:175:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jyoosyy_7393.jpg]]
An FBI media liaison who took over J.J.'s duties while she was gone on maternity leave. Having dealt mostly with general enforcement and non-violent crimes, she was understandably disturbed by the serial murders and other extreme crimes investigated by the [=BAU=].
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Phlegmatic
%%* TheHeart
* HeroicBSOD: Her arc on the show is basically her descent into this.
* MoralityPet: 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.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Not that Meta Golding was unattractive before, but going undercover in "52 Pickup" gives her a chance to look extremely pretty.
* SkewedPriorities: 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=].
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: For JJ, while she was on maternity leave.
* TemporarySubstitute: For JJ's maternity leave.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Ashley Seaver]]
!!Ashley Seaver (Rachel Nichols)
[[quoteright:225:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ttkd8ti_5390.jpg]]
An FBI trainee who was temporarily brought onto the team for the duration of Season 6 to fill the position left open by J.J.'s [[spoiler: and later Prentiss']] temporary departure. She was recruited into the team due to her unique insight into the psychology of serial killers, due to the fact her father was a serial killer himself.
* [[CaptainObvious Agent Obvious]]: Seems to be her main role on the team.
%%* [[AscendedExtra Ascended Guest Star]]
%%* BrokenBird
* CharacterDepth: Quite a bit. We learn a good deal about her in her introductory episode.
* EmotionlessGirl: Comes off as this at first.
* {{Expy}}: Ashley is ''very'' similar to Rebecca Locke from ''Series/TheInside'', another young [[TheProfiler profiler]] played by Rachel Nichols. Substitute "[[spoiler:my daddy was a serial killer and I have issues]]" for "I was kidnapped by a serial killer and I have issues".
%%* FauxActionGirl
* FBIAgent: In training, at least.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Leukine
* InformedAbility: Despite supposedly great marks at the Academy, she shows quite a lack of judgment toward the climax of her debut episode.
* ParentalIssues: Hoo boy. [[spoiler: Daddy was a serial killer.]]
* ParentalSubstitute: Rossi is hers. Ironically, he captured her real father.
* PutOnABus: Transferred to another unit. Prentiss and JJ are happy for her, at least.
* TheWatson: Her main role on the team, due to her status as the rookie newcomer.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Emily Prentiss]]
!! Emily Prentiss (Creator/PagetBrewster)
[[quoteright:281:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/emily_1854.jpg]]
[[HighTurnoverRate The team's 7th member slot has often been shifting for the duration of the entire show]]. Of all the characters who have had the position, Emily Prentiss held it for the longest period of time, for almost a full 6 seasons. The daughter of a prominent U.S. diplomat, Prentiss is fluent in several languages, is knowledgeable about many foreign cultures, and [[spoiler: was formerly an international undercover agent of Interpol prior to her time in the FBI.]] She joins the team early in Season 2, taking the position left open after Elle Greenaway resigns after her [[spoiler: vigilante execution of the serial rapist in "Aftermath"]].
* ActionGirl: Not one to sit back and solve issues by analysis alone.
* AgentMulder: Especially in "Demonology", where she's the one to bring up the exorcism angle.
* BigSisterMentor: Towards Ashley Seaver.
* BoobsOfSteel: 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}}.
* BrainyBrunette: Like all profilers, she's highly intelligent.
* BreakTheCutie: All through her story arc involving Ian Doyle. Also, the writers sometimes seem committed to literally breaking her, as she is the team member most likely to have to endure a savage beating.
* TheBusCameBack: Returned for the 200th episode.
* CommutingOnABus: Luckily, only for part of season 6.
* CoolBigSis: To Reid, especially after [[spoiler: her return from the dead]].
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Druggie friends, a neglectful mother, disappeared father, and an [[spoiler: abortion at fifteen]]. Not to mention [[spoiler: her time as an undercover operative tracking terrorists for Interpol]].
* DeadpanSnarker: Probably the preeminent snarker amongst the cast.
* DeathFakedForYou: To deal with Doyle
* DisappearedDad: We know a lot about Prentiss's mother, the Ambassador, but her father is never mentioned.
%%* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette
* FairCop: Most of the time, but especially when she's undercover in "52 Pickup".
* FakingTheDead: To deal with Doyle.
* FBIAgent: Until she leaves for England.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Melancholic
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Subverted. We find out in "Demonology" that Prentiss got pregnant in Rome when she was 15, and had an abortion. While she does show regret that she endured that time in her life without much in the way of support, she is never shown to be "damaged" in any way from the decision. Rather, it is the reaction of the Catholic church and the ignorance of her mother that is the problem.
* {{Goth}}: In high school.
** Also, EightiesHair.
* HeroicSacrifice: Subverted. With the exception of JJ and Hotch, the whole BAU team thinks Prentiss died from her encounter with Doyle, and there is a funeral. At the end of "Lauren" however, it is clear that Prentiss is in fact still alive, but in Witness Protection.
* HonorBeforeReason: Some of her behavior in "Valhalla" and "Lauren".
* ICannotSelfTerminate: In "Lauren", she tells Morgan, "Let me go", which prompts a NoOneGetsLeftBehind response from him.
* ItsPersonal: 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".
* IWasQuiteAFashionVictim: Prentiss's {{Goth}} look in high school is played for laughs:
-->'''Prentiss''': What'd you do to it?\\
'''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?
* NearDeathExperience: Reveals in "Epilogue" that when she coded in the ambulance in "Lauren", all she felt was cold and darkness. Being a very lapsed Catholic, she says she desperately wants to change.
* OlderThanTheyLook: According to her [[spoiler:fake tombstone]], she's in her forties, and Prentiss is actually a year younger than the actress who plays her.
* ParentalSubstitute: To [[spoiler: Declan Doyle]], though not at all in the way his father intended.
* ParentheticalSwearing: Usually directed toward [[TyrantTakesTheHelm 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.
* PutOnABus: But it's a happy ending for her as she's now the head an Interpol team.
* ShipTease: For a series that is strictly NoHuggingNoKissing among the main cast, she gets quite a bit with Reid, Hotch, and Morgan. Especially Reid.
* SugarAndIcePersonality: Cold and sarcastic towards most people and prefers living alone with her cat to an unsatisfying love life, but definitively caring toward the rest of the team.
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Her response to going "undercover" in "52 Pickup".
* TookALevelInBadass: Sure, we always knew Prentiss was badass, but in her Doyle story arc she suddenly becomes a superspy when she [[spoiler: turns out to have been an undercover operative for Interpol; over the course of her final episodes she winds up going rogue, staring at the door all night with her gun out, tossing grenades into [=UnSubs=]' cars and spraying them with machine-gun fire, and shooting hood rats in the ear. To say nothing of her badass change in wardrobe at the end of "Valhalla".]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The [[spoiler: scarification shamrock]] inflicted by Doyle seems to have magically disappeared.
* [[WhenYouComingHomeDad 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", [[spoiler: when she says her mother "would have killed" her if she'd found out Emily was pregnant and had an abortion]]). It really doesn't get much more neglectful than [[spoiler: failing to attend your own daughter's funeral.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Alex Blake]]
!! Dr. Alex Blake (Jeanne Tripplehorn)
[[quoteright:210:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/120709jeanne-tripplehorn1_8730.jpg]]
A linguistics professor and experienced FBI agent, formerly a contemporary of Rossi, Strauss, and [[spoiler: John Curtis]]. One of the agents working on the infamous Amerithrax case, her career was badly damaged in the aftermath of the case's failure, and she had to spend the past decade working her way back into the FBI's good graces, with her assignment to the [=BAU=]'s lead team in Season 8 and Season 9 (to fill the position left open by Prentiss' departure) being her "second chance".
* AloneWithThePsycho: "The Good Earth"
* BrainyBrunette: Has a PhD in linguistics.
* CunningLinguist: It's her defining characteristic, and it's come in handy several times. The best instance of this was in "The Silencer"[[spoiler:, when her knowledge of sign language was instrumental in capturing the [=UnSub=], who was deaf]]. [[{{Irony}} Ironically]] she is ''terrible'' at communicating with her own family and hasn't gone home to Kansas City in five years ([[spoiler: big brother getting killed and mom dying of cancer (in the same hospital no less)]] can do that).
-->'''Blake's younger brother''' (paraphrased): You're a big fancy linguist but ''you don't talk to us''!
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Melancholic
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler:Resigns from the BAU at the end of "Demons" due to being heavily traumatized by Reid getting shot.]]
* RightBehindMe: Her introduction to Garcia.
%%* TheStoic
* ThoseTwoGuys: Has shades of this with Reid.
* TwoFirstNames
[[/folder]]
!The Current [=BAU=] Team
[[folder: Aaron Hotchner]]
!! Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner (Thomas Gibson)
[[quoteright:245:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/245px-Aaron_Hotchner_7340.jpg]]
TheStoic [[TheLeader leader]] of the Behavioral Analysis Unit's lead team, a former prosecutor who transitioned to criminal profiling and eventually rose to his current position. Until J.J.'s marriage, he was the only member of the team with a stable home family life ([[spoiler: for the first few seasons, anyway]]).
* AbusiveParents: It's heavily implied that Hotch's father abused him, and that's why he grew up to catch serial killers.
* AloneWithThePsycho: His encounter with Foyet.
* AwesomeByAnalysis: So much that the trope should be renamed "Hotchalanche".
* BadassBeard: 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 BadassBeard is shown in the Season 7 opening credits.
* BadassBookworm: Collected coins as a kid, grew up to be a prosecutor, then took an apparent [[TookALevelInBadass level in badass]] and joined SWAT and then the elite unit of the BAU at the Bureau.
* BadassInANiceSuit: Always wears a suit, with the jacket buttoned neatly and a plain white shirt.
* BerserkButton: Threatening his family is a good way to get yourself a one-way trip to the emergency room. [[spoiler:Or beaten to death.]]
* BigBrotherInstinct: In addition to being this with BAU members, he's this to his little brother.
* BreakTheCutie: Done to him by Foyet.
%%* ByTheBookCop
* CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: On the rare occasion when a situation requires both him and Rossi to throw their weight around, Hotch is Captain Smooth.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: Takes his position as head of his unit very seriously.
* ColdSniper: Used to be with SWAT, one of the best shots in the cast, and the BAU agent with the highest kill count.
* TheComicallySerious: Even when joking, he maintains a very serious demeanor.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: It's heavily implied that his father who died from lung cancer was abusive.
* DeadpanSnarker: It comes out of ''nowhere''.
-->"Did you join a boy band?"
* DeadPersonConversation: Has one with Haley and ''Foyet'' after he's seriously wounded, in a coma, and unsure if he wants to stay with Haley or Jack more. It seems they both want him to return to the living and move on with his life.
* DeathGlare: Look at the picture to the right. That's him on a good day.
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Listening to Foyet psychologically torture his ex-wife and son, promising to kill them, hearing Haley shot over the phone, and finding her body in their old home. Hotch ''loses it'' and empties his gun into Foyet, then beats him to death with his own hands.]]
* FamilyVersusCareer: In season three, Haley makes him choose - her and Jack or the FBI. He chooses the FBI. In season five, [[spoiler: after Haley is killed]], he must choose between them again. FBI's still winning, though he does [[spoiler: work out an arrangement with his sister-in-law to help raise Jack]].
* FBIAgent: And a very good one.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Choleric
* GoKartingWithBowser: Apparently Haley and Foyet got along in the afterlife (or Hotch's unconscious mind) a lot better than one would expect.
* GoodIsNotSoft: He's a very nice and pleasant guy, off the job and sometimes when on, but he never hesitates to pull the trigger to stop someone. That said, he does try to reason with them when he can.
* TheGunslinger: Of the team members he demonstrates the highest degree of skill and familiarity with firearms, especially when it comes to marksmanship.
* HeroicSecondWind: [[spoiler: After Foyet murders his wife, ambushes him in his own house, beats him badly and then threatens to go after his son after he's killed him, [[UnstoppableRage Hotch makes sure he doesn't survive long after that.]]]]
* HeterosexualLifePartners: 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. Rossi is also able to consistently get a smile from Hotch, and Hotch has been known to joke with and confide in Rossi, something he almost never does with the rest of the team. To top it all off, in "The Pact", Hotch actually calls Rossi sexy, if a bit indirectly:
--> '''Garcia''' ''(In reference to Rossi giving away his vacation days.)'' Altruism is sexy.
--> '''Hotch:''' Yes it is.
* HighSchoolSweetHearts: 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.
* InSeriesNickname: Frequently called "Hotch" by the others.
* ItsPersonal: 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 [[spoiler: [=UnSubs=] torturing their victims over the phone, and [=UnSubs=] who use knives and sexual sadism against their victims]].
* JackOfAllTrades: His skill set seems to be the most well-rounded of the team members; conversely, while he's a very skilled profiler, he never shows detailed expertise in any specific area, beyond skill with firearms and ability to tolerate the bureaucracy involved in leading an FBI team.
* LastNameBasis: Except for Haley and Rossi, everyone calls him "Hotch".
* TheLeader: Type II.
* MarriedToTheJob: It leads to his divorce.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In "Doubt", [[spoiler:he ends up getting the [=UnSub=]'s profile ''completely wrong'', directly leading to the deaths of three people. This very nearly destroys his career, and ''does'' destroy Gideon's.]]
* NotSoStoic: "Mayhem", "Outfoxed", and especially "100". In general, whenever it comes to his family.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Almost everyone calls him Hotch, with occasional exception of Rossi who is an old friend.
* PapaWolf: Do ''not'' mess with his team. It will end badly. Furthermore, let the fate of [[spoiler: George Foyet/The Reaper]] serve as a cautionary tale against attacking Hotchner's family.
* PerpetualFrowner: Rarely smiles at work.
* TheProfiler: Along with the rest of the team.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Honestly cares about his team and tries to do right by them.
* SamaritanSyndrome: 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 SuicideByCop, knowing he can do nothing to stop local law enforcement from enacting revenge.
** The unsub of "Scared To Death" lampshades this.
* SecondLove: Has this with Beth in season 7.
* TheSouthpaw
* TheStoic: Usually. 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.
* TallDarkAndHandsome: As a result of being played by Thomas Gibson.
* TeamMom: Truly cares about the well-being of all his people.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Given how many bad things have happened to him, its sometimes sad to see moments in early episodes when we see how happy his family made him.
* [[WhenSheSmiles When He Smiles]]: They are few and rare (and occur mainly around his young son), but when they appear, they are stunning.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: David Rossi]]
!! David Rossi (Joe Mantegna)
[[quoteright:209:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rossi_5646.bmp]]
One of the founding members of the [=BAU=], who became wealthy and somewhat famous writing books about his experiences in the early days of the unit. Came out of retirement to fill the spot left empty by Jason Gideon's departure early in Season 3, serving as the team's oldest and most experienced member, though he's noticeably more wry and ornery than Gideon was.
* AmicablyExs: Above and beyond this with first ex-wife Carolyn, implied to be this with his two other ex-wives as well.
* AgentScully: Especially plays this to Prentiss's AgentMulder in "Demonology".
* BadassBeard: Even [[GrowingTheBeard 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.
* BadassGrandpa: The oldest member of the team, and quite a badass.
* BreakTheHaughty: "Damaged" does a number on him in season three; "Zoe's Reprise" does a worse one in season four. He wasn't so haughty anymore, but "Epilogue" and [[spoiler: "The Replicator"]] break him ''even more''.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Inverted, Rossi spent twenty years obsessing over a case where parents were murdered in front of their children, and expected everyone else to do the same. When he tries to follow up on it, he is genuinely shocked that an isolated cold case has no new information and no one working on it. By the time the series rolls around, even the surviving children tell him to just drop it because they want to get on with their lives.
* CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: On the rare occasion when a situation requires both him and Hotch to throw their weight around, Rossi is Sergeant Rough.
* TheCasanova: Largely in backstory. Apparently, Rossi is the reason behind the Bureau's "no-fraternization" policy.
* TheChessmaster: 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.
* TheConsigliere: Mostly to Hotch, but as of S5, to Morgan as well.
* CoolOldGuy: Knows enough about VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto 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.
* DealWithTheDevil: In "Profiling 101" [[spoiler: Rossi makes a deal with the [=Unsub=]. The [=Unsub=] is off death row and he will give Rossi the name and location of the body of one of his victims every year on a certain day. But it has to be on a special day of the [=Unsub's=] choosing. He chooses Rossi's ''birthday''.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Among many other examples, he explains Reid by saying "He was left in a basket on the steps of the FBI," and responds to an unfriendly, obstructive cop by asking, "Do you need a hug or something?"
* DisappearedDad: He recently learned that he had an adult daughter that he was not aware of by his second wife who gave birth after their divorce. To really add to it, it turns out his daughter is married with a two year old son.
* FamedInStory: When Manilow's not in town.
* FBIAgent: And well-known author on the topic.
* FirstNameBasis: Hotch is the only one to regularly call him "Dave". 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.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Leukine
* GuileHero: As one of the most experienced profilers on the team.
* HeroicBSOD: Suffers from one in "The Replicator" after the titular [=UnSub=] [[spoiler: kills Strauss]]. Of course, part of his breakdown (him [[spoiler: pointing a gun at Morgan]]) can be blamed on the fact that he'd been [[spoiler: drugged by a deadly combination of ecstasy and other stuff that exacerbated his distrust]].
* HeterosexualLifePartners: 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. Rossi is also able to consistently get a smile from Hotch, and Hotch has been known to joke with and confide in Rossi, something he almost never does with the rest of the team. To top it all off, in "The Pact", Hotch actually calls Rossi sexy, if a bit indirectly:
--> '''Garcia''' ''(In reference to Rossi giving away his vacation days.)'' Altruism is sexy.
--> '''Hotch:''' Yes it is.
* HiddenDepths: You wouldn't expect it given his age, but Rossi seems to be the team member with the most in-depth knowledge of video games.
* HonoraryUncle: Jack calls Rossi "Uncle Dave" at least once.
* ItsPersonal: 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}}: [[WriterOnBoard 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.
* JerkassFacade: 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 he has good intentions and simply isn't the best at expressing them; once he realizes that these people have his back ("Damaged", most notably), he's a lot more open and caring toward them, until he finally grows into the role of TeamDad.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: This is probably a better description of him. Yes, he's a little arrogant and egotistical at first, and yes, he may come across as a jerkass, but he's definitely a good guy who is truly passionate about catching bad guys and helping people. A good example is in "Penelope", when he's kind of pushy and harsh when questioning Garcia...but only because he wants to catch the guy who shot her.
* LargeHam: Can pull it off when needed, usually in the course of distracting the press (as seen in "The Performer" and "Painless"). Also, when cooking.
* LyingToThePerp: Rossi's a master at this - see "Masterpiece" and "Reckoner" for particularly spectacular examples. "Reckoner" deconstructed this, as Rossi tells the somewhat SympatheticMurderer that he slept with his wife, multiple times, and [[spoiler: the unsub dies without learning that it was a lie, which just adds an extra tinge of tragedy to an already fairly brutal episode]].
* MarriedToTheJob: Rossi, in his own words, is "more married to this team than I have been to three wives." He also hates going on vacation.
* TheMcCoy: Usually playing this role to Reid's [[TheSpock Spock]] and Morgan or Hotch's [[TheKirk Kirk]].
* TheMentor: To Seaver.
* NewOldFlame: It takes until season 7, and it's in [[TearJerker heartbreaking]] circumstances, but we do meet the first ex-Mrs. Rossi, Carolyn.
* NonIdleRich: He could stay retired thanks to being a wealthy best selling author but he just loves the job. He's also used his wealth on one occasion ("Snake Eyes") to help solve a case.
* OutGambitted: Pulls this on Henry Grace fairly magnificently in "Masterpiece", and it's one of his major moments of awesome.
* PapaWolf: It takes a bit for him to warm up to the team, but by "Masterpiece", he'll ''destroy'' you if you touch his team.
* ParentalSubstitute: For Ashley Seaver. Ironically, Rossi [[spoiler: captured her real father, a notorious serial killer]].
* RealMenCook: Turns out to be an excellent cook, especially Italian food.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Acts as the ''de facto'' leader when Hotch isn't around; especially when compared with [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Erin Strauss]].
* RetiredBadass: Before he returns to the Bureau. He's not so much retired anymore.
* RevengeByProxy: Henry Grace attempted to do this to him in "Masterpiece", with the other members of his team (except for Garcia) as the "proxy". It doesn't work, since Rossi successfully [[OutGambitted out-gambits]] him.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: 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."
* SemperFi: He served in the Marines in [[VietnamWar Vietnam]].
* TeamDad: By virtue of being the oldest and most experienced member of the team.
* TokenReligiousTeammate: Is Catholic, and is the most openly sympathetic and comfortable member of the team in dealing with religious matters.
* TookALevelInKindness: Was initially a bit of a jerkass after joining the team, and was pretty aloof and distant towards all the other members except for Hotch; however, he eventually realizes that the rest of the team truly considers him to be one of them and has his back, and he warms up to the rest of them in turn. The episode where things started to change was probably "Damaged", in which Prentiss, JJ, and Morgan (who had nothing to work on while Hotch and Reid were away) flew to Indianapolis to help Rossi solve a cold case that had been bothering him. When Rossi coldly brushes them off and tells them to go home, and they refuse, the turning point seems to come from this line:
-->'''Rossi''': Why do you care?\\
''(Morgan, Prentiss, and JJ exchange looks)''
-->'''Prentiss''': Because you do.
* UnclePennyBags: A bit more sarcastic than most but he still fits. He's invited his co-workers to his house to drink expensive wine, used his wealth to help victims that he's involved with personally like buying and maintaining a house for some kids ("Damaged") and paying for a victim's funeral ("Zoe's Reprise").
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Derek Morgan]]
!! Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore)
[[quoteright:225:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/morgan_2859.bmp]]
[[TheLancer The team's second-in-command]], Morgan is a former Chicago cop turned FBI agent. The most socially outgoing and athletically inclined member of the team, he maintains an ongoing mock-romantic banter with Garcia as well as a big brother relationship with the bookish, nerdy Dr. Reid. Originally specializing in obsessional crimes, his role on the team has evolved to more general duties such as acting as Devil's Advocate when spit-balling ideas, bonding with victims[=/=]witnesses, and kicking down many, many doors.
* BaldOfAwesome: Does anyone actually remember the last time Shemar Moore had hair? [[Film/DiaryOfAMadBlackWoman He looked pretty nice then, too.]]
* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: Briefly in Season Five.
* BerserkButton: Touch his "babygirl" Garcia, and you are going to wish for death. Also, does not deal well with sexual abuse cases--it's [[ItsPersonal kind of close to home]].
* BigBrotherInstinct: 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.
* CantActPervertedTowardALoveInterest: Averted and subverted with Garcia--she's not technically his "love interest" and he doesn't have a problem at all sexualizing her. She has ''no'' problem reciprocating.
* ClearTheirName:
** 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.
* CoolShades: When it's sunny outside, Morgan is always wearing them.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: 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.
* FairCop: Literally. Morgan used to be a cop before he joined the BAU.
* FBIAgent: His job.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Choleric
* {{Flanderization}}: In the first season--particularly the first half--Morgan dressed in suits and other professional attire and was known as an intellectual who just happened to be good at fighting. While his brain hasn't left him, his style of clothing (to a much more casual dress) and the pronouncement of his emotions suggest that the "fighter" part of his persona has shoved his brain to the back seat, though he goes back toward his previous characterization after being promoted to unit chief. See also WhatHappenedToTheMouse below for more.
* GeniusBruiser: The most physical of the team, but as highly intelligent as any of them.
* HandsomeLech: 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.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Reid. Although the fandom prefers to forget the "Heterosexual" part.
* HollywoodAtheist: He was a devout Christian who lost his faith after [[spoiler:being molested]] and became angry and resentful towards religion and God.
* ItsPersonal:
** 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.
* MixedAncestry: Like his actor, Morgan's dad is black, while his mother is visibly white.
* MrFanservice: Particularly apparent in "Snake Eyes," where he steps out of a shower dripping wet with a loving pan up his body.
* TheNicknamer: Can fall into this when talking to Reid ('Kid', 'Pretty Boy', 'Genius') or Garcia (too many to list). His favorite by far is "Babygirl".
* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: He does this for Prentiss in "Lauren".
* ParentalSubstitute: For Ellie Spicer.
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Garcia. No one messes with his "Baby Girl".
* RaisedByDudes: 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 ([[PlatonicLifePartners especially Garcia]]) so well.
* RapeAsBackstory: Painfully revealed in "Profiler, Profiled".
* SmarterThanYouLook: [=UnSubs=] often assume he's just DumbMuscle. He's not.
* TokenMinority: The only person of color on the team.
* ToKnowHimIMustBecomeHim: Fun drinking game in the first couple seasons - count the number of times Morgan says "I'm the [=UnSub=]".
%%* UrbanLegendLoveLife
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Not Morgan himself, but his work specializing 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.
* WouldHitAGirl: Blows Lucy away without a second thought.
* WouldHurtAChild: If that child were a killer, or so he claims to a teenage unsub in "Safe Haven." Fortunately, the unsub ultimately surrenders voluntarily.
* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: After being promoted to Unit Chief in Season Five:
-->'''Morgan''': Thanks, Babygi--Agent Garcia.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Spencer Reid]]
!! Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler)
[[quoteright:245:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/245px-Spencer_Reid_1_1117.jpg]]
The youngest member of the team, Reid is a child prodigy genius with an I.Q. of 187, an eidetic memory, and an encyclopedic knowledge of a wide variety of different fields. He also has underdeveloped social skills and various Vulcan-like character tics that stem from being a walking computer and serve as the source of a lot of the show's humor.
* {{Adorkable}}: In general, but especially with his giant NerdGlasses when he was a child.
* AspergersSyndrome: According to WordOfGod. The [=UnSub=] of "Broken Mirror" mentioned this as well.
* AwesomeByAnalysis: Does all the pattern analysis for the team.
* TheBabyOfTheBunch: Reid is the youngest member of the main characters.
* BadassAdorable: He's a fully trained FBI agent, but acts like an overgrown puppy at times.
* BadassBookworm: If the BoomHeadshot 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. When Hotch compliments him on the headshot in "L.D.S.K." however, Reid blushes and jokes he was actually aiming for the unsub's knee.[[note]]The unsub is wearing body armor, and it's made clear than if he's not killed immediately, he ''will'' take someone with him. It's also clear that given the setup, he was actually aiming for the head.[[/note]]
* BadDreams: Nightmares have been plaguing him since childhood.
* BerserkButton:
** Don't tell him that bullying is something some kids ''have'' to deal with. If looks could kill...
** Don't abuse or insult the mentally-ill around the kid whose mother is a diagnosed schizophrenic.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: He can shoot straight ''sometimes'', you know. PlayedForLaughs in "Painless".
--> "Never wage a practical joke war against an MIT graduate, because we have a history of going nuclear."
* BreakTheCutie: ''So'' many times. It seems the writers like to torture him, lock him up, drug him, [[spoiler: infect him with anthrax,]] tie him up...
** [[spoiler: Prentiss' supposed death]] could count as well. How did he spend the time while she was away? At JJ's house, crying, and almost relapsing on Dilaudid.
** He finally gets a girlfriend, a clever geneticist, but they only communicate via handwritten letters and payphones. When he finally sees her face-to-face, [[spoiler:she's being held at gunpoint by a jealous woman, then she's ''killed in front of him'' by said jealous woman in a single-bullet murder-suicide.]] Ouch, writers. ''Ouch.''
* CallingTheOldManOut:
** Reid does this to his own father in 4x7 "In Memoriam", and then to [[spoiler: the unsub's father in "The Uncanny Valley"]].
** Inverted in 4x20 "Conflicted", when he [[spoiler: interrupts Adam/Amanda Jackson's murderous version of this]].
* CannotTellAJoke: 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.
* ChildProdigy: Graduated from high school at 12, had two [=BAs=] by 16, has an IQ of 187 and an eidetic memory.
* CluelessChickMagnet:
** Poor guy doesn't realize that when beautiful movie stars kiss him it's because he's a babe, not because of '[[FlorenceNightingaleEffect transference]]'.
--->'''Prentiss''' ''(after interviewing the homeless for information)'': How'd you guys do?\\
'''Hotch''': Well, Reid got propositioned by every prostitute we talked to...
** Also this (after Morgan teases him about "not being able to get a date") [[note]]Of course, given that we've actually ''seen'' women throwing themselves at him, he probably just didn't notice. [[/note]]:
--->'''Reid:''' Do you think that [being interested in weird things] is why I can't get a date?\\
'''Elle:''' Have you ever asked a girl out?\\
'''Reid:''' No.\\
'''Elle:''' That's why you can't get a date.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Poor kid. Mommy's schizophrenic and Dad abandoned everyone. At one point, he was going to be the next victim of a local pedophile and child murderer. Biggest brain in the room and usually the one targeted physically by the serial killers.
* DisappearedDad: First with his own father, and then with his ''father figure'', Gideon.
* DisturbingStatistic: He's a veritable fountain of these. If the team needs to know a statistic relating to crime, you can bet he'll know it.
* FanWank: In an in-universe example, Reid has a tendency to bore his colleagues with rants about the specs of the [[Franchise/StarWars Death Star]], that ''Film/BillAndTed'' was a ripoff of ''Series/DoctorWho'', and the nature and "surprising infrequency" of science errors in the original ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}''.
* FBIAgent: Though he goes by "Doctor" and not "Agent."
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Phlegmatic
* {{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.
* GeekPhysiques: The skinny kind. Probably as a result of ForgetsToEat.
* GeniusSweetTooth: If there's junk food around, Reid ''will'' find it.
* GoodCounterpart: He has the most EvilCounterpart's and even physically resembles some [=UnSubs=].
* GoodWithNumbers: And has been banned from many a casino as a result.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Definitely shows signs of this with Morgan.
* HiddenDepths: Who'd have pegged ''Reid'' as a basketball coach in high school?!
* HollywoodNerd: He's played by a former model.
* ILetGwenStacyDie: [[spoiler:He blames himself for letting Maeve be killed by her stalker.]]
* [[ImTakingHerHomeWithMe I'm Taking Him Home With Me]]: He does tend to engender this type of response in some people.
* InSeriesNickname: "Spence" from JJ, "Kid" and "Pretty Boy" from Morgan, and countless ones from [[TheNicknamer Garcia]], 'Gorgeous Grey Matter' being a notable example. "Pipe cleaner with eyes" from a witness.
* InsistentTerminology: ''Doctor'', not ''Agent''.
* InsufferableGenius: Unlike most versions, this comes not from arrogance (because he's quite humble) but simply his habit of outshining others with his knowledge, making them look bad by comparison, and his MotorMouth tendencies.
-->'''Prentiss:''' ''(After he puts together a star puzzle)'' There's a lot to hate about you Dr. Reid.\\
'''Rossi:''' Play poker with him sometime.\\
'''Morgan:''' Try playing chess with him.\\
'''Garcia:''' Or Go.
* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: Reid's school experience - "Being the smartest kid in class is like being the only kid in class."
* JamesBondage: Definitely. The most danger-prone agent out of the bunch. Enough said.
* TheLostLenore: [[spoiler: seems to see Maeve as this in in season 9.]]
* LovableNerd: Everyone seems to want to take care of him.
* MotorMouth: Talks ''extremely'' fast, about virtually any subject down the the most pedantic minutiae. A fun drinking game is to count how often Reid is interrupted by an irritated teammate.
* MustHaveCaffeine: 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.
* NearDeathExperience: [[spoiler:Tells the team in "Epilogue" that when he was dying in Tobias Hankel's shed, he felt a warmth and saw white lights.]]
* NerdGlasses: Wears these from time to time.
* NerdsAreSexy: 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.
* NiceGuy: He might have NoSocialSkills, but Reid compensates by having ample amounts of compassion.
* NoSocialSkills: He's VERY awkward around people other than the team.
-->'''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)''\\
'''Detective Linden''': ... where'd you find this kid?\\
'''Rossi''': He was left in a basket on the steps of the FBI.
* NotThatKindOfDoctor: Gideon always introduces him as "Dr. Reid" and Hotch does occasionally, leaving Reid to explain that he hasn't been to medical school, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qMKGuel6OQ but does have three [=PhD=]s]]. 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.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Post 'boy band' haircut, he manages to look about 12, despite the actor being 29 at the time.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Oh god. So much.
* PhotographicMemory: 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.
* PrankDate: Was victim to this in high school. It was... brutal, to say the least. He was lured to the football field, where he was ambushed, stripped naked and tied to a goal post ''all night''.
* ThePrankster: 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''.
* PrecisionFStrike: Reid easily having the cleanest mouth of the team, when he does swear, it means something.
** Played for comedy in season 7.
--->'''Reid:''' Loner, invisible, boiling rage--''son of a bitch!''
** And played for drama in season 8.
--->[[spoiler:'''Reid:''' Maeve ''is'' somebody and this ''bitch'' is a nobody!]]
* PrettyBoy: 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 [[InSeriesNickname nickname.]] Unsurprising, given that he's a real-life Calvin Klein model.
* PrimalFear: It's revealed in ''The Boogeyman'' that he's scared of the dark.
* PuppyDogEyes: It's his default expression.
* RevolversAreJustBetter: Switches from a pistol to a revolver as his sidearm in Season 4. This is especially notable when you remember that when Reid was kidnapped by Tobias Henkel, [[spoiler: he was forced to play Russian Roulette four times and survives, and later manages to get the same gun (still with only one bullet) away from him and kills him with one shot.]] It's quite possible he started carrying a revolver for this reason.
* SarcasmBlind: Not always, but part of him having NoSocialSkills means that he often gives sarcastic questions actual answers, hearing a request for information rather than an expression of exasperation. He's actually pretty good at using sarcasm, though.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: He uses so many SAT words that it's not even funny.
* TheSmartGuy: Three [=PhD=]s, 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. BadassBookworm, check.
* SmartPeoplePlayChess: 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. [[spoiler: Until the end of the episode, anyway.]]
* SnarkKnight: Turns into this towards JJ after he finds out that [[spoiler: JJ lied to him about Prentiss' death.]]
* SomedayThisWillComeInHandy: 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 ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' or Music/LadyGaga.
** And some of it does come in handy, such as in "Plain Sight", where he recognizes the literature that the unsub writes quotes from at the crime scenes.
** Lampshaded by Morgan in "True Night":
--->'''Reid:''' You should have listened to me.\\
'''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:''' ''Don't'' make me smack you in front of all these people.
* TheSpock: 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, but he's still not even close to handling cases unemotionally.
* SuperSpeedReading: Has been shown reading and rapidly turning the pages.
* TeamPet: Everyone wants to take care of him.
* TeensAreMonsters: Holy ''shit'', his classmates in his {{Backstory}}. See PrankDate above, and keep in mind he would've been ''at most twelve''.
* TookALevelInBadass: A few over the course of the show, but a spectacular one in "It Takes a Village".
-->'''Interviewer''': Now, calm down, Agent--\\
'''Reid''': [[Awesome/CriminalMinds This is calm and it's]] ''[[Awesome/CriminalMinds Doctor]]''.
* TropaholicsAnonymous: 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.
* WhatTheHellHero: He is ''not'' happy to learn that [[spoiler:the fact that Prentiss' death was [[FakingTheDead faked]] was intentionally hidden from him]]. He lets go of most of his anger after "Proof", but he still remains somewhat distant from the rest of the team, [[spoiler:JJ]] in particular.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Penelope Gracia]]
!! Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness)
[[quoteright:240:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Kirsten_vangsness_240_4129.jpg]]
The team's MissionControl, Garcia is an extremely skilled hacker who was captured by the FBI and offered a job by Hotchner as an alternative to prison, due to her extreme skill and obvious strong sense of justice. In both style and personality she's the most free-spirited and non-traditional member of the team, due to her origins in hacker culture and her status as a techie rather than a field agent.
* {{Adorkable}}: She is enthusiastic and awkward in equal parts.
* AwesomeByAnalysis: She's a technical analyst, which means she sifts through electronic records and finds the good bits, and then puts them all together in a big picture. And remember, she learned at the feet of Aaron Hotchner.
* BadassBoast: 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 BewareTheNiceOnes, she could absolutely do that. There's also her CMOA at the end of "The Internet Is Forever".
* BewareTheNiceOnes:
-->"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!"
* BreakTheCutie: Her [[spoiler: shooting]] in "Lucky"/"Penelope", and the subsequent episodes that show her healing process - "House on Fire" and "Exit Wounds".
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Does not look the part of an FBI employee at all, but it doesn't matter because she's brilliant at her job.
* CantActPervertedTowardALoveInterest: Averted and subverted with Morgan - he's not her love interest and she sexualizes him plenty.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: She's nearly unrecognizable to what she would later become in the pilot, in which she's a DeadpanSnarker who dresses like a stereotypical "working stiff" and who actually easily gives up trying to hack something.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: One of the sweetest and most justified versions. After spending her days catching murderers, she volunteers one day a week to counsel the families of murder victims.
* ControlFreak: She admits to being one.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Both of her parents died in an automobile accident when she was only 18.
* DependingOnTheWriter: 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 and that she was 18 when her parents died, so both could be true at once if the brothers were older.
** It's funny how a character on a show about murders and such that a character can go from four brothers to none and instead of making a plot they just ignore it.
* DoesntLikeGuns: In "Penelope", Morgan tries to give her one for protection.
-->'''Garcia''': I don't believe in guns!\\
'''Morgan:''' ''(shoves one into her hands)'' Believe me, they are '''[[DialogueReversal very real]]'''!
* {{Expy}}: Garcia shares a lot of personality traits with [[Series/{{NCIS}} 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.
* FakeGuestStar: In Season 1; they just didn't have the money to put her in the title credits. In fact, she is the ''only'' character to be [[PromotionToOpeningTitles Promoted To Opening Titles]] who was not a replacement for a departed character. She's credited with "Also Starring" from Episode 14.
* FeminineWomenCanCook: Subverted in "Proof". Garcia can bake, but apparently lacks most cooking skills. Rossi ends up teaching her.
* FieryRedHead: For one season.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Sanguine
* GeekyTurnOn: How she first meets Kevin.
* TheHeart: She and JJ tend to share this role between them.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: She, Prentiss, and JJ are all extremely close - Garcia is even godmother to JJ's son Henry.
* InSeriesNickname: So, so many from Morgan.
* MagicalComputer: Garcia can do things with computers that are flat out impossible and can deliver instant search results from {{Omniscient Database}}s that sometimes contain info that have absolutely no business being online. Months old surveillance footage, sealed court records, records that predate the digital age, etc. Nothing is off-limits or takes any real amount of time to sift through or cross-reference. On the other hand, this saves us from having to deal with months of subpoenas and dead end searches, so TropesAreNotBad. The show {{lampshades}} this with repeated references to how good she is in that "she can find anything". The Sheriff in "A Rite of Passage" evens says she wants someone like Garcia for Christmas.
%%* ManicPixieDreamGirl
* {{Meganekko}}: When she's wearing her glasses.
* MissionControl: Does all the BAU's computer work and rarely goes out in the field.
* MoralityPet: To Morgan, but mostly to the entire team as a whole.
* MulticoloredHair: With more colors than a cotton candy machine. Garcia digs the Manic Panic.
* MsFanservice: She's quite well-built, to say the least, and several of her outfits, particularly the dress she wore to [[spoiler:JJ's wedding]], seem designed to show it off. Rather blatant in "Snake Eyes," which almost literally opens with a ''very'' good look down her nightshirt. May or may not be a coincidence that the same episode had the series' most blatant bit of ''male'' fanservice, as well. Considering Garcia would be HollywoodPudgy on most shows, it's refreshing to see her being treated as one of the most attractive characters on the show.
* NearDeathExperience: In "Penelope", she tells Morgan, Emily, and Reid that she heard the David Bowie song "Heroes" while she was coding in the ambulance, which makes her wonder if David Bowie is God.
* NewJobAsThePlotDemands: 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 [[spoiler: when JJ leaves]] because she wants to help out).
* TheNicknamer; 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 [[spoiler: been infected with anthrax,]] he can tell how upset she is by the fact that she calls him "Reid".
* [[NonActionGuy Non-Action Girl]]
* OhCrap: 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":
-->'''Garcia''': Talk dirty to me.\\
'''Strauss''': This is Section Chief Strauss.
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Morgan, her "sweet prince" and other assorted nicknames.
* PlayfulHacker: One of the most dangerous in the world, actually.
* PromotionToOpeningTitles: From season 2 onwards.
* RecruitingTheCriminal: After she got caught hacking the FBI's database, the choice was pretty much "join the Bureau or we put you in jail". In "The Black Queen" it's implied that she let herself be caught to escape her controlling boyfriend.
* TheReliableOne: Always working away in her office, just a phone call away.
* RightBehindMe: How she meets Prentiss' replacement, complete with lampshading: "Oh god, I'm doing that thing where I'm talking and they're right [-behind-] [--me--]..."
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Jennifer Jaraeu]]
!! Jennifer "JJ" Jareau (A.J. Cook)
[[quoteright:242:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jj-jareu_9258.jpg]]
Originally the team's media liaison in charge of controlling the media response around investigated crimes (and thus its potential effect on the [=UnSub=] as well as the community), in the latest seasons she has transitioned to a more hands-on role as a full-time field agent[=/=]profiler.
* ActionMom: Don't try to go after her son. It will not end well for you.
* AlliterativeName: Applies with and without her nickname.
* AloneWithThePsycho: ''The Performer'' and [[spoiler: ''All That Remains'']].
* BewareTheNiceOnes: "Revelations" and kill-shots to three rabid dogs. "Penelope" and one beautiful [[BoomHeadshot headshot]] through a plate-glass window. "The Performer" and a shovel to the back of an [=UnSub=]'s head. In ''Nanny Dearest'' she [[BoomHeadshot pops the [=UnSub=] in the forehead]] from nearly [[ImprobableAimingSkills a block away with her sidearm]]. Do ''not'' fuck with JJ.
* TheBusCameBack: In "Lauren" for one episode, then as of "Out of the Night", JJ is officially back.
* CharacterDevelopment: 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. Part of this has to do with the fact that in Season 7, she has a different official job. The role of media liaison had already been filled when she returned to the team. The only way she could come back was to fill Prentiss' (then) vacated spot. (When Prentiss came back, she took Seaver's spot, and Seaver left). She's officially one of the profilers now. Hotch had suggested getting qualified for that role years before (back in something like Season 3), but she was happier as a media liaison at the time.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Her sister killed herself when JJ was eleven by slitting her wrists.
* DeadpanSnarker: JJ seems to have absorbed best-bud Emily's penchant for sawdust-dry wit in season 7.
%%* FairCop
* FBIAgent: Like all the main cast.
* FirstNameBasis: She's the only person besides his mother who calls Reid "Spencer".
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Phlegmatic
* HappilyMarried: 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.
* ItsPersonal: Small-town violence ("North Mammon", "Risky Business"), stalking ("The Crossing"), and suicide ("Risky Business").
* MamaBear: DO NOT threaten her kid when she's around, she WILL kick your ass, as a thrill seeking bank robber/terrorist found out in the season seven finale.
** And don't do anything to harm her team, either, that gun is not for show.
* PutOnABus: Thanks to ExecutiveMeddling, she left in Season 6's "J.J.", accompanied by loads of RealitySubtext.
* TookALevelInBadass: ''Four'' over the course of the show.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Will and Henry seem to appear and disappear in continuity DependingOnTheWriter.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Kate Callahan]]
!!Kate Callahan (Jennifer Love-Hewitt)
[[quoteright:263:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/52d31da459890811c9b113eac60871c5.jpg]]
An undercover member of the FBI's Sex Crimes Unit who joins the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Season 10 after Alex Blake's departure at the end of Season 9.
* MsFanservice: Wears a ''very'' low-cut shirt in her last scenes.
* ParentalSubstitute: After her sister and brother-in-law died in 9/11, Kate became the legal guardian to their (now 13-year-old) daughter Meg.
* RememberTheNewGuy: Apparently the team has already met her several times off-screen. They all comment how great she is.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: A bit more girly than the Bureau's previous brunettes: she tells Garcia about cute animal videos she's seen, which astonishes Garcia in that there could possibly be something cute on the internet she hasn't seen before due to her need for BrainBleach, and talks with JJ about what skin treatments are best to help heal injuries.
* UndercoverCopReveal: In the season premier, we saw her working as an undercover cop before joining the BAU.
* [[WhenYouComingHomeDad When You Coming Home, Mom?]]: At the end of the season premier, she apologizes to Meg for being away for two days. (We learn the details of their relationship later, but their FirstNameBasis indicates that Kate may not be Meg's mother.)
[[/folder]]
!Former [=BAU=] Members
[[folder: Jason Gideon]]
!! Jason Gideon (Creator/MandyPatinkin)
[[quoteright:271:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/00763758-photo-jason-gideon-mandy-patinkin-dans-esprits-criminels_3442.jpg]]
One of the founding members of the [=BAU=], Gideon served as an older, experienced wise mentor-type team member in the first two seasons of the show. Though intellectual and slightly eccentric, he was still much more grounded than Dr. Reid.
* {{Archenemy}}: He and Frank.
* AloneWithThePsycho: The Footpath Killer in "Extreme Aggressor" and "Compulsion".
* AwesomeByAnalysis: Took a very intellectual approach to the work, compared to the more hands-on approach of some of the team members.
%%* BadassGrandpa
* BusCrash: [[spoiler:Gideon hadn't been in contact with the BAU for years, so it was very surprising to see his cabin again in the recent episode "Nelson's Sparrow." Then we find out it's because he's the VictimOfTheWeek. Cue an ItsPersonal TearJerker for the entire team, especially Reid. Counts as a BusCrash rather than a BackForTheDead because the corpse is always covered by a sheet.]]
* TheChessmaster: Could beat Reid in chess.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: 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.
* DefectiveDetective: Has PTSD from pre-series case.
* FBIAgent: Of course.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Melancholic
* GuileHero: As an experienced and skilled profiler
* ItsPersonal:
** [[TwoWords 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.
* LeavingYouToFindMyself: The in-series reason for Gideon leaving.
* MysteriousPast: 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.
* NotSoDifferent: Frank implies the two of them are.
* ParentalSubstitute: The closest thing to a father Reid had, which made the abandonment all the more heartbreaking.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: The reason Gideon disappears without a trace is because actor Creator/MandyPatinkin couldn't take the constant emotional impact of the horrific cases on the show.
* SickEpisode: In "Blood Hungry" he's stuck at headquarters due to a skydiving accident.
* TheStoic: To a lesser degree than Hotch, but capable of keeping cool even when having a shotgun pointed at his face.
%%* TheStrategist
* TeamDad: Though he doesn't actually want you calling him "dad", as he informs Elle.
* ToKnowHimIMustBecomeHim: All the time.
* WalkingTheEarth: After leaving the bureau, he abandons his cabin and is last seen traveling the country on a personal quest of self-discovery. [[spoiler: At some point he goes back to living in his cabin, where he is murdered by an old [=UnSub=] from one of his earliest cases]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Elle Greenway]]
!! Elle Greenaway (Lola Glaudini)
[[quoteright:228:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Elle_Greenaway_1405.jpg]]
The original holder of the team's HighTurnoverRate position, Elle was a member of team for Season 1 and the beginning of Season 2 who specialized in sexual offense crimes. Driven and somewhat impulsive, she served honorably but ends up leaving the team under fairly shady circumstances.
* ActionGirl: Shows herself to be this not even a minute into her first appearance. Not afraid to take on the [=UnSubs=] directly
--> '''Elle''' What's the matter, Scotty? Can't deal with a woman who's not afraid of you?
* BrainyBrunette: Very intelligent, in Extreme Aggressor she figures out they are following a decoy due to the way he is driving - and of course intelligence is a given in her line of work.
* BrokenBird: After the events of The Fisher King [[spoiler: she is shot in her own home and brought back from the dead, left with PTSD that is triggered when she goes undercover to catch a rapist, costing the team the case... so she shoots him to stop him from raping anyone else.]]
%%* BecomingTheMask
* ButNowIMustGo: Something of a darker variant- after [[spoiler: getting shot by the Fisher King]], she feels that the team let her down, and she dreads the advent of new cases while she used to love them, so she quits the team, knowing that she simply can't do the job anymore.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: [[spoiler: Raped when she was younger.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: The amount of one-line zingers she gets off is amazing. It also helps that she's got the timing and tone down pat as well.
* DrowningMySorrows: After the events of "The Fisher King", there's at least one scene where she drinks quite a bit.
* FallenHero: As a result of her own trauma. She even gets PTSD.
%%* FairCop
* FBIAgent: Like all the team members.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Choleric
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In one episode in Season 1, she said that when she worked in Sex Crimes, she saw dozens of offenders get away with it. [[spoiler: In season 2, she KNOWINGLY fucks up and a rapist gets away with it- so she follows him home and kills him.]]
* GroinAttack: 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.
* TheGunslinger: After the events of "The Fisher King", she wears double holsters, totalling two guns in easy reach.
** She had her double holster as early as "The Fox" (1x07)
* ImportantHaircut: Gets one after returning to work after the events of "The Fisher King".
* InstantDeathBullet: [[spoiler: Averted. After she's shot by the Fisher King, she actually remained lucid long enough to dial 911, and while the King thought he'd killed her, she got through it.]]
* ItsPersonal: Violence against women and sexual assaults. After [[spoiler: "The Fisher King"]], it's also people getting attacked at home.
* IWishedYouWereDead[=/=]NeverGotToSayGoodbye: The last thing she said to her father before he was killed in the line of duty was "I hate you!", though it should be noted that she was about eight at the time.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Rapist or not, she mercilessly killed a man and got away with it. Hell, she didn't even get fired, she quit voluntarily- and she told Hotch that if she had to do it again, she wouldn't change a thing.]]
%%* KnightTemplar
* MadeOfIron: See InstantDeathBullet. In addition, [[spoiler: the paramedics said 'we might lose her again', implying that she actually died but they brought her back.]]
* MoralMyopia: [[spoiler: Aside from apologizing at her father's grave, she shows no regret whatsoever for murdering the [=UnSub=] in "Aftermath", and argues that the other team members would've done the exact same thing if they had been put in a similar situation. Before that, she blames the local police for not being able to prevent the [=UnSub=] from raping a woman in her own home, even though they had no legal reason to break into her house. Finally, she blames the team for being shot because they weren't there for her, even though none of them could be expected to guard her in her own house.]]
* NeverMyFault: [[spoiler: The only reason the [=UnSub=] got away in "Aftermath" is because Elle confronted him before he did something that would have given the team legal cause to get his DNA. Despite this, Elle acts like the [=UnSub=] getting released is a failure of the system, and never admits that it was her carelessness that allowed him to be released in the first place. She even says that she would do the exact same thing again, apparently preferring to be a murderer to easily putting the guy behind bars.]]
* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler: Her unshakeable conviction that she did the right thing in killing the [=UnSub=] in "Aftermath", ignoring any alternatives and making numerous leaps in logic to convince herself that it was the only way is scarily similar to how many [=UnSubs=] justify their actions.]]
* RapeAsBackstory: [[spoiler: When she was younger. One of the reasons she works sexual crimes.]]
* SpicyLatina: Her mother is Cuban and Elle displays many of the qualities that are a part of the trope, especially being able to take care of herself and confrontational tendencies.
* ThousandYardStare: Sports one when she comes back to the team.
* VigilanteExecution: "The Aftermath". After accidentally fucking up and letting the [=UnSub=] walk, she follows him home and shoots him.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Jordan Todd]]
!! Jordan Todd (Meta Golding)
[[quoteright:175:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jyoosyy_7393.jpg]]
An FBI media liaison who took over J.J.'s duties while she was gone on maternity leave. Having dealt mostly with general enforcement and non-violent crimes, she was understandably disturbed by the serial murders and other extreme crimes investigated by the [=BAU=].
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Phlegmatic
%%* TheHeart
* HeroicBSOD: Her arc on the show is basically her descent into this.
* MoralityPet: 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.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Not that Meta Golding was unattractive before, but going undercover in "52 Pickup" gives her a chance to look extremely pretty.
* SkewedPriorities: 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=].
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: For JJ, while she was on maternity leave.
* TemporarySubstitute: For JJ's maternity leave.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Ashley Seaver]]
!!Ashley Seaver (Rachel Nichols)
[[quoteright:225:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ttkd8ti_5390.jpg]]
An FBI trainee who was temporarily brought onto the team for the duration of Season 6 to fill the position left open by J.J.'s [[spoiler: and later Prentiss']] temporary departure. She was recruited into the team due to her unique insight into the psychology of serial killers, due to the fact her father was a serial killer himself.
* [[CaptainObvious Agent Obvious]]: Seems to be her main role on the team.
%%* [[AscendedExtra Ascended Guest Star]]
%%* BrokenBird
* CharacterDepth: Quite a bit. We learn a good deal about her in her introductory episode.
* EmotionlessGirl: Comes off as this at first.
* {{Expy}}: Ashley is ''very'' similar to Rebecca Locke from ''Series/TheInside'', another young [[TheProfiler profiler]] played by Rachel Nichols. Substitute "[[spoiler:my daddy was a serial killer and I have issues]]" for "I was kidnapped by a serial killer and I have issues".
%%* FauxActionGirl
* FBIAgent: In training, at least.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Leukine
* InformedAbility: Despite supposedly great marks at the Academy, she shows quite a lack of judgment toward the climax of her debut episode.
* ParentalIssues: Hoo boy. [[spoiler: Daddy was a serial killer.]]
* ParentalSubstitute: Rossi is hers. Ironically, he captured her real father.
* PutOnABus: Transferred to another unit. Prentiss and JJ are happy for her, at least.
* TheWatson: Her main role on the team, due to her status as the rookie newcomer.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Emily Prentiss]]
!! Emily Prentiss (Creator/PagetBrewster)
[[quoteright:281:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/emily_1854.jpg]]
[[HighTurnoverRate The team's 7th member slot has often been shifting for the duration of the entire show]]. Of all the characters who have had the position, Emily Prentiss held it for the longest period of time, for almost a full 6 seasons. The daughter of a prominent U.S. diplomat, Prentiss is fluent in several languages, is knowledgeable about many foreign cultures, and [[spoiler: was formerly an international undercover agent of Interpol prior to her time in the FBI.]] She joins the team early in Season 2, taking the position left open after Elle Greenaway resigns after her [[spoiler: vigilante execution of the serial rapist in "Aftermath"]].
* ActionGirl: Not one to sit back and solve issues by analysis alone.
* AgentMulder: Especially in "Demonology", where she's the one to bring up the exorcism angle.
* BigSisterMentor: Towards Ashley Seaver.
* BoobsOfSteel: 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}}.
* BrainyBrunette: Like all profilers, she's highly intelligent.
* BreakTheCutie: All through her story arc involving Ian Doyle. Also, the writers sometimes seem committed to literally breaking her, as she is the team member most likely to have to endure a savage beating.
* TheBusCameBack: Returned for the 200th episode.
* CommutingOnABus: Luckily, only for part of season 6.
* CoolBigSis: To Reid, especially after [[spoiler: her return from the dead]].
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Druggie friends, a neglectful mother, disappeared father, and an [[spoiler: abortion at fifteen]]. Not to mention [[spoiler: her time as an undercover operative tracking terrorists for Interpol]].
* DeadpanSnarker: Probably the preeminent snarker amongst the cast.
* DeathFakedForYou: To deal with Doyle
* DisappearedDad: We know a lot about Prentiss's mother, the Ambassador, but her father is never mentioned.
%%* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette
* FairCop: Most of the time, but especially when she's undercover in "52 Pickup".
* FakingTheDead: To deal with Doyle.
* FBIAgent: Until she leaves for England.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Melancholic
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Subverted. We find out in "Demonology" that Prentiss got pregnant in Rome when she was 15, and had an abortion. While she does show regret that she endured that time in her life without much in the way of support, she is never shown to be "damaged" in any way from the decision. Rather, it is the reaction of the Catholic church and the ignorance of her mother that is the problem.
* {{Goth}}: In high school.
** Also, EightiesHair.
* HeroicSacrifice: Subverted. With the exception of JJ and Hotch, the whole BAU team thinks Prentiss died from her encounter with Doyle, and there is a funeral. At the end of "Lauren" however, it is clear that Prentiss is in fact still alive, but in Witness Protection.
* HonorBeforeReason: Some of her behavior in "Valhalla" and "Lauren".
* ICannotSelfTerminate: In "Lauren", she tells Morgan, "Let me go", which prompts a NoOneGetsLeftBehind response from him.
* ItsPersonal: 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".
* IWasQuiteAFashionVictim: Prentiss's {{Goth}} look in high school is played for laughs:
-->'''Prentiss''': What'd you do to it?\\
'''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?
* NearDeathExperience: Reveals in "Epilogue" that when she coded in the ambulance in "Lauren", all she felt was cold and darkness. Being a very lapsed Catholic, she says she desperately wants to change.
* OlderThanTheyLook: According to her [[spoiler:fake tombstone]], she's in her forties, and Prentiss is actually a year younger than the actress who plays her.
* ParentalSubstitute: To [[spoiler: Declan Doyle]], though not at all in the way his father intended.
* ParentheticalSwearing: Usually directed toward [[TyrantTakesTheHelm 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.
* PutOnABus: But it's a happy ending for her as she's now the head an Interpol team.
* ShipTease: For a series that is strictly NoHuggingNoKissing among the main cast, she gets quite a bit with Reid, Hotch, and Morgan. Especially Reid.
* SugarAndIcePersonality: Cold and sarcastic towards most people and prefers living alone with her cat to an unsatisfying love life, but definitively caring toward the rest of the team.
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Her response to going "undercover" in "52 Pickup".
* TookALevelInBadass: Sure, we always knew Prentiss was badass, but in her Doyle story arc she suddenly becomes a superspy when she [[spoiler: turns out to have been an undercover operative for Interpol; over the course of her final episodes she winds up going rogue, staring at the door all night with her gun out, tossing grenades into [=UnSubs=]' cars and spraying them with machine-gun fire, and shooting hood rats in the ear. To say nothing of her badass change in wardrobe at the end of "Valhalla".]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The [[spoiler: scarification shamrock]] inflicted by Doyle seems to have magically disappeared.
* [[WhenYouComingHomeDad 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", [[spoiler: when she says her mother "would have killed" her if she'd found out Emily was pregnant and had an abortion]]). It really doesn't get much more neglectful than [[spoiler: failing to attend your own daughter's funeral.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Alex Blake]]
!! Dr. Alex Blake (Jeanne Tripplehorn)
[[quoteright:210:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/120709jeanne-tripplehorn1_8730.jpg]]
A linguistics professor and experienced FBI agent, formerly a contemporary of Rossi, Strauss, and [[spoiler: John Curtis]]. One of the agents working on the infamous Amerithrax case, her career was badly damaged in the aftermath of the case's failure, and she had to spend the past decade working her way back into the FBI's good graces, with her assignment to the [=BAU=]'s lead team in Season 8 and Season 9 (to fill the position left open by Prentiss' departure) being her "second chance".
* AloneWithThePsycho: "The Good Earth"
* BrainyBrunette: Has a PhD in linguistics.
* CunningLinguist: It's her defining characteristic, and it's come in handy several times. The best instance of this was in "The Silencer"[[spoiler:, when her knowledge of sign language was instrumental in capturing the [=UnSub=], who was deaf]]. [[{{Irony}} Ironically]] she is ''terrible'' at communicating with her own family and hasn't gone home to Kansas City in five years ([[spoiler: big brother getting killed and mom dying of cancer (in the same hospital no less)]] can do that).
-->'''Blake's younger brother''' (paraphrased): You're a big fancy linguist but ''you don't talk to us''!
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Melancholic
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler:Resigns from the BAU at the end of "Demons" due to being heavily traumatized by Reid getting shot.]]
* RightBehindMe: Her introduction to Garcia.
%%* TheStoic
* ThoseTwoGuys: Has shades of this with Reid.
* TwoFirstNames
[[/folder]]
