History Characters / Dunkirk

* PinballProtagonist: In contrast to the characters in "The Sea" and "The Air", who make important decisions affecting the outcome for other characters, the main characters of "The Mole" are mostly just trying to survive an increasingly perilous situation and reacting to the danger around them. [[FridgeLogic They've just lost the Battle of Dunkirk; trying to fight the enemy now would be a death sentence.]] It's lampshaded when Alex says, "All we did was survive".

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The unseen antagonists of the film, from the ''Heer'' (Germany Army),

* BigBad: They are central antagonists to Tommy and the other soldiers. They even kill Tommy's comrades at the beginning.

* {{Expy}}: While Mr. Dawson clearly acts as a stand-in for all the civilians who manned the "Little Ships" that went to Dunkirk, more specifically he may represent [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lightoller Charles Lightoller]][[note]]Yes, the same one who served aboard the ''Titanic''.[[/note]]. Lightoller's own personal boat, ''The Sundowner'', was used during the evacuation. Similar to Dawson, Lightoller insisted on piloting the vessel himself, taking his son and another hand along with him, and personally rescued soldiers. He also evaded an attack by a Stuka dive bomber (as opposed to a Messerschmidt) by standing on the bow and ordering hard to port at the last second, taught to him by his late son Herbert, an RAF pilot killed early in the war. Not mentioned in the film is the fact his second eldest son Trevor was a 2nd Lieutenant serving in Montgomery's Third Division at Dunkirk (he was evacuated 48 hours before Lightoller arrived).

* CoolOldGuy: He personally takes his boat, the ''Moonstone'', to Dunkirk to save as many lives as he can and even evades fire from a fighter plane while doing so. [[spoiler:A number of civilian sailors coming to evacuate the soldiers at the film's climax are also this]].

* SoleSurvivor: Tommy is the only one of his squad to make it to the beach, with the rest being wiped out by German fire in the first five minutes.
** This becomes a problem for him as no unit will accept him as he is not one of theirs, being sent away by Grenadiers from their waiting line for rescue. [[spoiler:Later, Alex and the Highlanders are willing to send him to his death in an attempt to lose some weight from the Dutch trawler as he's also not one of theirs.]]

* HeroicBystander: Like his father, he's a civilian who risks his life in a war zone to rescue as much soldiers as he can from the pocket of Dunkirk. Peter physically bridges all three of the film's plotlines together through his heroics in rescuing both Collins ("The Air") and Tommy ("The Mole") from the sea during the climax set around a British minesweeper put under German air attacks.

* BraveScot: Collins, who reacts to being pilled from his sinking plane at the last minute with a casual "Afternoon".

->'''Played by:''' Tom Glynn-Carney

* TheGhost / HumansAreCthulhu: The Germans are portrayed as a powerful and deadly [[UltimateEvil ultimate force]]. Also, they are noticeably absent from the picture. They aren't even called out by name in the opening title cards and general dialogue, referred to only as "the enemy." (the only time they were referred directly, it was by an angry soldier and even then in the form of the pejorative slang "Jerrys", and the conversation he brings it up in isn't even about them) They are primarily represented in the film by aircraft, unseen U-boats, or shots fired from off-screen. [[spoiler:The only Germans seen are the ones who take Farrier prisoner at the end of the movie when he crash-lands on the beach. Even they have their faces blurred to seem like some supernatural menace.]] When they launch air attacks on the beaches, the attackers reveal themselves only as distant flying shapes, not people in planes.

The unseen antagonists of the film. Establish themselves in the beginning by having German soldiers from offscreen gun down Tommy's regiment, then bombing the beach full of lined-up British soldiers with Stukas.

* EldritchAbomination: From the Brits' perspective, at least. Especially if they're not in their own fighter planes.

* NothingIsScarier: They are never seen (except for the end), and are all the scarier for it.

* ViolentGlaswegian: He is Scottish and has a HairTriggerTemper.

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* {{Expy}}: Their role and lack of onscreen appearance until the end is quite similar to that of Man from ''Literature/{{Bambi}}''. [[note]]Which is an Austrian novel and their leader Adolf Hitler was born in Austria.[[/note]]
* TheGhost / HumansAreCthulhu: The Germans are portrayed as a powerful and deadly [[UltimateEvil ultimate force]]. Also, the Germans are noticeably absent from the picture. They aren't even called out by name in the opening title cards and general dialogue, referred to only as "the enemy." (the only time they were referred directly, it was by an angry soldier and even then in the form of the pejorative slang "Jerrys", and the conversation he brings it up in isn't even about them) They are primarily represented in the film by aircraft, unseen U-boats, or shots fired from off-screen. [[spoiler:The only Germans seen are the ones who take Farrier prisoner at the end of the movie when he crash-lands on the beach. Even they have their faces blurred to seem like some supernatural menace.]] When they launch air attacks on the beaches, the attackers reveal themselves only as distant flying shapes, not people in planes.

* ObliviouslyEvil: If you look at them from history's perspective, you might see them as average soldiers who are just following orders.

* CompositeCharacter: Seems to be one for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Vereker,_6th_Viscount_Gort General Lord Gort]], the commander of the British Expeditionary Force, and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Alexander,_1st_Earl_Alexander_of_Tunis Major General Harold Alexander]], who initially led its 1st Infantry Division but became responsible for an entire corps by the time of Operation Dynamo. Like his Royal Navy counterpart Bolton, Winnant’s final appearance in the film alludes to one of the aforementioned RealLife figures, what with Alexander [[spoiler:leaving Dunkirk on the last destroyer on 3 June only after ensuring that all British troops had been evacuated.]]

* TheGhost / HumansAreCthulhu: The Germans are portrayed as a powerful and deadly [[UltimateEvil ultimate force]]. When they launch air attacks on the beaches, the attackers reveal themselves only as distant flying shapes, not people in planes.

* ObliviouslyEvil: If you look at them from history’s perspective, you might see them as average soldiers who are just following orders.

* PinballProtagonist: In contrast to the characters in "The Sea" and "The Air", who make important decisions affecting the outcome for other characters, the main characters of "The Mole" are mostly just trying to survive an increasingly perilous situation and reacting to the danger around them. It's lampshaded when Alex says, "All we did was survive".

* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler:Alex considers him a DirtyCoward for doing what he did, but the truth is that everyone is equally desperate to leave the beach before the Germans finally reach it.]]

* GuileHero: [[spoiler:He masquerades as a British soldier to improve his chances of survival, successfully bypasses lines to board a rescue ship early, and is then GenreSavvy enough to not go below decks, in a decision that saves numerous lives, including that of Tommy and Alex. Too bad about those chains...]]

->'''Played by:''' Barry Keoghan

The unseen antagonist of the film, an unknown German soldier (or several) responsible for the deaths of Tommy’s teammates.

* BigBad: They are central antagonists to Tommy and the other soldiers. They even kill Tommy’s friends at the beginning.

* EldritchAbomination: From the Brit’s perspective, at least.
* EvilWearsBlack: They are depicted in black uniforms.

* TheGhost / HumansAreCthulhu: The Germans are portrayed as a powerful and deadly UltimateEvil. They launch air attacks on the beaches and all that it's shown are planes and sounds.
* KnightOfCerebus: Any scene with the Germans in it darkens the mood and sets a tense atmosphere, with a few characters dying. The most notable scene being the pack of British soldiers trapped inside a boat with soldiers shooting at them for no specific reason.

* UnseenEvil: Christopher Nolan’s decision to not show the Germans or their perspective of Operation Dynamo onscreen stems from the fact that the British soldiers at Dunkirk in RealLife had very little interaction with them.

* {{Expy}}: Their role and lack of onscreen appearance until the end is quite similar that of Man from ''Literature/{{Bambi}}''. [[note]]Which is an Austrian novel and their leader Adolf Hitler was born in Austria.[[/note]]

* {{Expy}}: Their role and lack of onscreen appearance until the end is quite similar that of Man from ''Literature/Bambi''. [[note]]Which is an Austrian novel and their leader Adolf Hitler was born in Austria.[[/note]]

* UnseenEvil: Christopher Nolan’s decision to not show the Germans or their perspective of Operation Dynamo onscreen stems from the fact that the British soldiers at Dunkirk in RealLife had very little interaction with them.

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