History Characters / GilmoreGirls

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[[foldercontrol]]

!Gilmore Family
[[folder: Lorelai Victoria Gilmore]]
[[quoteright:224:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_4_5658.jpg]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/LaurenGraham

A single mother, avid eater and caffeine addict, and manager of the Independence Inn in the small town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut. At the age of 16, her entire life was changed when she became pregnant, and two years later, she ran away from the home of her controlling parents with her baby to make a life of her own.

* TheAce: Lorelai is charming, funny, beautiful, fit, a great leader, a decent mom, and a smart businesswoman. She was the brightest in her class before she got pregnant and worked her way up to part-owner of the Independence Inn off of sheer reliability and street smarts.
* AesopAmnesia: Lorelai has a tendency to go back to Christopher at the most inappropriate times. Rory calls her out on it, but she doesn't learn.
* AffectionateNickname: Christopher sometimes calls her "Lore".
* AmicablyDivorced: With Christopher, most of the time. While it's clear that Christopher still has feelings for Lorelai and they do try to make an adult attempt at their relationship, the disastrous marriage that followed became an indication for both of them that it was never going to work out. At the end of the series, they managed to be civil at Rory's graduation.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Despite her rocky relationship with her parents, she has a few bonding moments with them. Her father has some nice words for her in the finale, and she says to her parents that she wants to keep the Friday Night Dinner with them, even after Rory's departure.
* BigEater: It's implied Lorelai eats a lot, and yet remains extremely slender. Other characters occasionally comment on this.
* BlackSheep: Of the Gilmore family; getting pregnant young and running away from home will do that.
* BrokenAce: She's almost as much as TheAce as her daughter, but still has hang-ups about dating and her parents that lead to a lot of the series' conflicts, as well as her insecurities for being considered the BlackSheep of the Gilmore family.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Despite her eccentricities, she does a good job running first the Independence Inn and later The Dragonfly Inn.
* CatchPhrase: "Dirty", as her own version of ThatsWhatSheSaid.
* ChronicPetKiller: All of Lorelai's pets, at least until she adopts the dog Paul Anka in season 6, have died. It's a RunningGag, to the point where Miss Patty even attempted to stop the dog shelter worker from allowing Lorelai to take Paul Anka.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: A mild case compared to her neighbors, but many find her to be eccentric.
* CoolBigSis: To Rory, despite actually being her mother, not her sister. They are extremely close. At one point, Lorelai regrets she hadn't taught her how to drink and handle alcohol when Rory is going for her first spring break at college. She is also this towards Lane, who feels more comfortable confiding in Lorelai than her actual mother.
* CursedWithAwesome: This is what led her to breaking away from her family and upbringing. She was smart and brave enough to realize that she could raise her kid on her own and that her parents were wrong to insist on the ShotgunWedding and on controlling her life so closely. But of course, this led to her living in squalor for years and untold amounts of grief in the present.
* DeadpanSnarker: She's very quick-witted, and easily the snarkiest character on the show, even more than Luke.
* DomesticAbuse: Her parents were never physically abusive, but Emily's treatment of her comes across as emotional abuse in modern times, pathologically dismissing her wishes and insisting she do things her way. When your daughter would rather live in a converted storage shed with a one-year-old rather than live another moment with you, there's something wrong. Even in the present day, Emily - and often Richard - seem fundamentally incapable of acknowledging Lorelai's growth and happiness, which of course, [[{{Irony}} only fuels it.]]
*DotingParent: Definitely. She thinks her daughter is a paragon of perfection, and reacts very strongly when forced to realize that is not always the case.
* DudeMagnet: Besides her two most important LoveInterest (Luke and Christopher), she also dates Max, Alex, and Jason. Kirk had a crush on her for a while and asks her out in one episode. She's also considered a StacysMom to Rory who once said "I hate having hot parents!". When Zack (who is much younger) meets the Gilmore girls for the first time, he was more interested in Lorelai rather than in her young beautiful daughter.
* EmbarrassingNickname: "Umlauts", which involved Lorelai as a teen, a particularly cold summer day when she fell out of a canoe at summer camp wearing a t-shirt with no bra; the nickname comes from how a certain part of her body resembled said diacritic after coming out of the water.
* FeminineWomenCanCook: Lorelai is a career woman and sure as hell can't cook, but she can at least brew up coffee and she's a damn impressive seamstress. She's paired with Luke, a bistro owner who is an excellent cook, and her close friend Sookie is a master chef who occasionally cooks her something.
* TheGadfly: It's her main coping mechanism when it comes to her parents, and a mainstay of the series. In season 3 she even admits this to her mother, and "teaches" her the trick so she could cope with Trix, her mother in law. As Lorelai later tells Rory, Emily has done it beautifully.
* GenkiGirl: Lorelai is perhaps one of the most chipper characters on the show.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With both Rory and Sookie. Rory is her daughter, her only close family for a really long time when she was not on good terms with her parents. Sookie is her best friend with whom she starts a business.
* HiddenDepths: Going by some of the books she reads and some of the people she references, she takes an interest in serial killers. For instance, in a dream she wants to name her twins Leopold and Loeb, and when she sees a creepy-looking bridesmaid at Liz's wedding her first thought is Leslie van Houten.
* MamaBear: Lorelai's laid back for the greater part of the time, but if you hurt Rory...
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Her quirky and upbeat personality appears to be part of what attracts guys to Lorelai besides her looks. Discussed in the early episode, Cinnamon's Wake.
* MotorMouth: A Gilmore trait. She talks and talks and talks in rapid-fire pace.
* MsFanservice: The show rarely passed up opportunities to have Lorelai in sexy outfits and lingerie.
* MustHaveCaffeine: Lorelai can't function before her morning coffee, and drinks unhealthy amounts of it during the day.
* NotSoDifferentRemark: Occasionally with Emily. Though if someone points it out, [[YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame expect the horrified Lorelai to quickly drop off her ways]].
* ObliviousToLove: Luke has a crush on her since the first season, but she doesn't realize it until much later. Even ''Emily'' notices it the first time she meets Luke.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: She plays up being air-headed and ditzy, usually part and parcel of her being TheGadfly. However, she attend private school and her parents had planned to send her to Vassar. In Rory's Chilton valedictorian speech, she mentions that Lorelai filled their home with books and music featuring strong female role models, such as Jane Austen, Eudora Welty, and Patti Smith. She earns a business degree while managing the Independence Inn, and later successfully co-owns and runs the Firefly Inn with Sookie.
* OpenMindedParent: Very much so, though she had a hard time with all of Rory's relationships throughout the series at one point or another. She mentions at one point that she plays the "Mom" card as infrequently as possible.
* OnlySaneWoman: She is the most level-headed between her, Sookie, and Michel. She's also the most well-balanced Gilmore woman, lacking Rory's later neuroses or Emily's lack of social grace.
* ParentalSubstitute: For Lane. Lane is Rory's best friend with an extremely strict mother and she must hide her true self from her. Lorelai can offer her advice on stuff she couldn't admit to her mom.
%%* PluckyGirl
* RebelliousPrincess: Lorelai became pregnant with Rory at sixteen but chose not to marry the father, Christopher Hayden. Instead, she left her privileged world and moved to Stars Hollow where she became employed at the Independence Inn. There Lorelai progressed from maid to executive manager.
* RedOniBlueOni: To Rory's Blue. She's a humorous and talkative GenkiGirl, while Rory is studious and shy.
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: With Luke, even when they weren't a couple. He's usually the GrumpyBear OnlySaneMan, and she's quirky and talkative.
* SelfMadeWoman: Even though she comes from money she ran away from home as an unwed mother, got her first job basically because the inn's owner took pity on her, lived in a ''tool shed'' and less than twenty years later owned her own house and was part owner of her own inn.
* ShipperOnDeck: To Rory and Dean in seasons 2 and 3. Dean was the only one of Rory's boyfriends whom Lorelai really liked, but she only truly embraced this trope when [[ShippingTorpedo Jess entered the scene]].
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Played with. She gets drawn back to Christopher each time because she thinks he gets his act together.
* SmarterThanYouLook: She may be a rebellious {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, but it's mentioned in ''Christopher Returns'' that she was [[BookSmart "the brightest in her class"]] before getting pregnant and leaving school. She is Rory's mother, after all.
* StatuesqueStunner: Stands at 5'9", and several characters habitually comment on her beauty.
* TeenPregnancy: Got pregnant at 16 with Rory.
* TheUnfavorite: To both Emily and Richard, but especially Richard. She feels they prefer her daughter Rory over her. However, they prove multiple times that they do love her as well.
-->'''Lorelai:''' ''[to Rory]'' You are the Great White Hope of the Gilmore Clan. You are their angel, sent from up above. You are the daughter they didn't have.
* UptownGirl: Even though Lorelai has run away from her wealthy background, her parents' mistreatment of working class, blue-collar Luke is enough to break them up for a while. They work through it and agree to avoid her parents as much as possible.
* VerbalTic: Inverted with her dislike of the word "cahoots".
* VocalEvolution: Her voice was very high as a teenager. Over the next sixteen years it dropped considerably as she aged.
* WackyParentSeriousChild: Wacky Parent to Rory's Serious Child.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: With Luke. [[spoiler:Eventually TheyDo.]]
* {{Womanchild}}: Her daughter is much more mature than she is.
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Once her mother agrees with her in something, Lorelai usually begins to self-doubt. One example would be Emily's approval of Lorelai's desire to terminate Rory's friendship with Bad Boy Jess. Lorelai immediately comes to conclusion that she must've crossed a line and decides to give Rory more freedom.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lorelai Leigh "Rory" Gilmore ]]
[[quoteright:267:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rory_6732.jpg]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/AlexisBledel

Lorelai's teenaged daughter and best friend. A shy and socially awkward bookworm with aspirations to become a journalist. She slowly comes out of her shell and finds herself drawn to the upper-class world her mother left behind.
----
* TheAce: She's an Ivy League academic genius to the point of being AlwaysSomeoneBetter than the other students, extremely witty, sweet, kind, a beautiful DudeMagnet, universally adored and considered perfect by nearly everyone, and doted on by her mom and her rich grandparents. This is downplayed in the revival, where she arguably becomes more of a BrokenAce (see FutureLoser).
* AesopAmnesia: In the revival, taken directly from her mother: [[spoiler:repeatedly coming back to her "man she cannot quit", even when it's a glaringly bad idea as he's engaged. She also apparently forgets that cheating and treating her boyfriends badly are bad things, treating your work seriously and prepare for it.]] At least she doesn't steal anything this time.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Over the course of the series, seems determined to date the baddest boy in the series (so long as he's book smart). First, she dumps wholesome Dean for Jess; after Jess leaves town, she ends up back with Dean, who is a significantly darker character, given that he's cheating on his wife with Rory; later, she chooses Logan, who is a member of a secret society and a rebel against the wealthy society of his upbringing, over NiceGuy Marty.
* AllLovingHero:
** In early seasons, while people do annoy her on occasion, she's still pleasant to everyone she deals with, even if they're antagonizing her and is remarkably kind to school bullies like Paris and Tristan. Downplayed in later seasons as she becomes more spoiled and self-centered.
** Averted in the revival, as while she still cares about her family and friends [[spoiler:she's rather condescending towards others, including the people who could help further her journalism career, and has no problems cheating on her boyfriend repeatedly just because he's "boring" and she can't be bothered to break up with him.]]
* AloneAmongTheCouples: Both her best friends, as well as her mom, and her mom's best friend start off as single but end up in a relationship by the end. Despite being a DudeMagnet, she ends up single in both the original series and the revival, although it was her own choice.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter:
** Unintentionally to Paris. She's very smart and does extremely well in academic stuff, so Paris feels she might overshadow her, which later happens to a degree. Also, Paris's personality drive most people away (except her GirlPosse in high school) and she envies Rory for being popular with guys, especially since Rory manages to attract Tristan, Paris's long-time crush.
** Rory's best friend Lane is also sometimes jealous of her life, because everything seems to be going swimmingly for Rory: she's at a great school, heads to Ivy League, has a loving boyfriend, has a close relationship with her mom and her rich grandparents adore her while Lane is stuck at uninspiring high school, her mother is incredibly strict and she can't follow her true passion without being sneaky about it.
* AmicableExes:
** She finally parts with Jess on friendly terms (not so much with the two other boyfriends). She also was this with Dean in Seasons 3 and 4.
** ''A Year in the Life'' shows that her and [[spoiler:Dean on good terms now, despite their disastrous third breakup in season 5.]]
* BewareTheNiceOnes: She has a very long fuse, but you don't want to be around on the rare occasions she goes off.
* BigEater: Like her mother, Rory is able to consume huge amounts of food, rich food like fries or pizza including. It never shows on her body. Often lampshaded by other characters, including her boyfriends Dean and Jess.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Bitch is definitely pushing it, but while Rory attracts guys with her cuteness and wit, she's not a particularly nice person in a relationsip; more likely to make someone's problems about herself rather than actually listening. That she cheats on most of her boyfriends is proof of this.
* BookSmart: A hard-working and excellent student who gets accepted to three Ivy League colleges.
* BrainyBrunette: She's a brilliant, studious TeenGenius and has brown hair.
* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: She's the Gentle GirlNextDoor to Jess' TroubledButCute Brooding Boy.
* CantTakeCriticism:
** In Season 5, she responds poorly to Mitchum Huntzberger telling her she doesn't have what it takes to be a journalist. Her HeroicBSOD is understandable, given that this is coming from a major figure in her desired profession, but stealing a yacht was a decidedly poor way of handling the situation.
** In ''A Year in the Life'', she reacts badly during her interview with Sandee Says for being unprepared and unoriginal.
** Also the reason behind her summer-long fight with [[spoiler: Lorelai]] in Season 6, and their falling out right before Rory and Emily's trip to Europe in Season 5. In both of these cases, Rory's reason for leaving is wanting to avoid Lorelai's opinions on Rory's life choices (especially in her romantic life).
** Honestly, Rory has two ways of responding to criticism: If she believes it’s unfounded (such as the incident with the deer, the Puffs initiation, or any time she and Lorelai fight), she throws a fit and yells until whoever dared criticize her either takes it back, gives her an out, or walks away from the conversation. If she perceives the criticism as in any way valid (such as when she’s told to drop a course or when Mitchum tells her he doesn’t think she’s ‘got it’), she shuts down entirely, usually sobbing into someone’s arms and declaring that “Everything’s falling apart.”
* CharacterDevelopment:
** Starts the series as a shy, awkward bookworm who struggles to string two sentences together around boys and generally prefers her own company. Come Season 5, she's actively pursuing Logan.
** Shockingly inverted in ''A Year of the Life'', when we find out she's actively regressed and borders on FutureLoser: [[spoiler:she makes very poor professional decisions, is drifting through life without goals, treats yet another boyfriend like dirt and has gone back to the man "she cannot quit" - much like Lorelai with Christopher - and is having an affair with him to boot, as they are both in relationships]]. It results of her storyline consisting of getting out of the rut, very similarly to season six.
* CuteBookworm: She's a cute girl and she's never without a book (until she drops out of Yale). Her relationship with Jess stems from a mutual passion for reading.
* DeadpanSnarker: Although more subtle than her mother or Luke.
* DudeMagnet: Manages to attract a large number of men throughout the course of the show. Five boys fall in love with her, sometimes to obsessive levels, and others also show attraction to her (she even manages to attract Paris's cousin). In season 2, Dean, Tristan, and Jess are all interested in her.
* EndearinglyDorky: She's initially portrayed as a shy and naïve bookworm who is uncomfortable in social situations (especially at school), but her sweetness makes her instantly loved by almost everyone she meets, including boys. A popular boy named Tristan thinks some of Rory's nerdy traits are odd (like reading a book at a school party) but this makes him even more attracted to her.
* FutureLoser: In the original series she's Valedictorian and Vice Student Body President at high school, gets accepted into multiple Ivy League schools, editor of the Yale paper and ends the show covering Obama's campaign tour. [[spoiler: Come ''A Year In The Life'' she's perpetually unemployed, seemingly published a handful of articles in ten years, unprofessional regarding any job opportunities she does get and sleeping with her ex-boyfriend while he's engaged and she's dating someone else. And then ends up returning to her small-town home pregnant.]]
* GenerationXerox: Her three main love interests greatly resemble her mother's three main love interest in the course of the show. Also in the revival [[spoiler:, albeit not at sixteen, she gets pregnant, most likely with the guy paralleling Christopher in her mother's life. Additionally, the first half of ''A Year in the Life'' depicts her resembling ''her father'' in similar age, being aimless and unable to get herself together.]]
* GeniusBookClub: Rory reads everything, from contemporary literature to criticism to biographies to classics. Nearly every episode has reference to at least one book that she has read, is reading, or is planning on reading.
* GirlNextDoor: A cute and feminine girl, and a big part of her appeal is how approachable and down to earth she is.
* GoGetterGirl: Ambitious, hard-working straight A student and ExtracurricularEnthusiast.
* HeroicBSOD:
** Being told "'''You don't got it."''' causes Rory to give up her dreams and drop out of school.
** She has a minor one when she doesn't get the Reston Fellowship in the New York Times. As Lorelai tells her, she's used to working hard and getting what she wants, so it's difficult for her to deal with disappointment.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With both Lorelai and Lane. Later with Paris, too.
* HollywoodDateless: During her freshman year at Yale, when she tries to get guys to date her but fails, and the other characters point out she is the only one without a boyfriend. This despite the fact that, for most of the show, she's a notable DudeMagnet, and both Lane and Paris envy her for it.
* HollywoodNerd: For a supposed "nerd", Rory's stunning.
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** Has her moments. For example, she's absolutely horrified when she learns that Dean's dropping out of college, and tries to persuade him that no reason is good enough for such an act. Any of those reflections come back to her when she does exactly the same a season later?
** In the revival, Rory also tells the CEO of ''Sandee Says'' that her actions are unprofessional, while Rory was the one who showed up unprepared, without any ideas or pieces of writing to show her; she doesn't even appear to have a resume or portfolio with her.
* IWantMyMommy: Said verbatim when accompanying Sherry during Gigi's birth and again on Rory's first night at Yale. Whenever Rory needs help or emotional support, Lorelai is typically her preferred port of call.
* InnocentBlueEyes: Her mother has blue eyes too, but Rory fits this more due to her sweet, naïve personality.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Has a tendency to fall into this, especially in the later seasons. When she hears a boy she asked out is telling everyone about a crazy girl stalking him, she confronts him and yells at him for dragging her reputation through the mud [[spoiler: and is then embarrassed to find out he actually ''was'' being stalked by a different girl.]] She also bitches out Mitchum for sending Logan away to try to break them up, and Mitchum flatly tells her [[spoiler: he doesn't waste much time worrying about Logan's love life and he has different motives for sending him away.]]
* KarmaHoudini: Her sleeping with Dean despite his being married is pretty much glossed over in Season 5. She gets a chewing out by Lorelai for it (which admittedly is a rarity) and she does show some initial signs of feeling guilty, but Lorelai eventually forgives her and whatever guilt she may feel isn't strong enough to prevent her from continuing to see him (though he did leave his wife as a result). Stars Hollow also continues to adore and idolise her, even though they're normally pretty gossipy and judgmental, and know the circumstances of Dean and Lindsay's divorce.
* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Also has a few moments of this, especially in college.
* LackOfEmpathy: In ''A Year In The Life'' it's shown that she is fine with sleeping with someone in a relationship while cheating on her boyfriend of over a year because he's "boring".
* LadyAndAScholar: Especially in the first few seasons, this was part of her appeal in-universe, being intellectual but charming, humble, and polite at the same time. This also makes her a foil to her classmate Paris who is equally intellectual but more of an InsufferableGenius.
* LeftHanging: Remember during the season 6 finale where Rory begged for a job at her internship? Yeah, it's forgotten during the first episode of the seventh season.
* MoralityPet:
** Both her boyfriends Jess and Logan are introduced as jerks who eventually learn to show their HiddenHeartOfGold to her.
** To Paris in later seasons. She's still abrasive to most people, but a good friend to Rory most of the time.
* MotorMouth: Even faster than her mother.
* MustHaveCaffeine: Rory's need for caffeine isn't as extreme as her mother's, but it's there all the same. [[note]] Alexis Bledel didn't like coffee, so in any scene in which Rory drinks it, she's actually drinking coke. [[/note]]
* NerdsAreSexy: Her opinion, as there's an episode where Rory is seen sitting in the college cafeteria wearing a t-shirt with the logo, "Reading is Sexy." Considering she wears it while thinking about Logan, the third guy in the series she's attracted to for his intellect, it is a reflection of what she honestly feels.
* NeverASelfMadeWoman: Defied, with her refusing to take advantage of Logan's connections to advance her career.
* NewTransferStudent: Rory transfer mid-year to Chilton. A more realistic example, in that it takes a lot of time and work for her to catch up on her assignments and start getting good grades.
* NiceGirl: A genuinely good, pleasant GirlNextDoor, and considered the biggest sweetheart in Stars Hollow.
* NiceToTheWaiter: When she borrows Logan's personal driver, Frank, for a day, she learns his name, brings him food, and is generally very polite and pleasant to him. This shows up again while she's staying with her grandparents in season six, where she remembers the maid's name, chats with her in Spanish, and helps her polish silver - unfortunately, in this case it backfires, as Emily immediately fires Esperanza in retribution.
* OnlyFriend:
** In "New and Improved Lorelai", Paris admits that she considers Rory this. This mostly applies in college, as Paris used to have a GirlPosse in high school.
** To Jess, during season 2 and 3 of the series. In part due to him leaving Stars Hollow and in part due to CharacterDevelopment, Jess outgrows this by season 6, and is seen to have a least a few friends at Truncheon.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Her full name is Lorelai, named after her mother and later revealed to be a traditional family name, but she's always referred to as Rory.
* ParentalFavoritism: Emily and Richard have no qualms about spoiling and praising Rory while looking down on Lorelai.
-->'''Lorelai:''' ''[to Rory]'' I'm not sure my father has ever loved anything in the world more than he loves you.
* PrincessPhase: Rory doesn't want her grandmother to make her into a princess as she thinks of it being something for small children. She honestly did imagine herself as a princess when she was young. At least she has a crush on the prince from the ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'' cartoon. She specifically says that it was a long time ago.
* RedOniBlueOni: Blue Oni to both Paris and Lorelai's Red.
* ReplacementGoldfish: A sore point throughout the series is Emily trying to bring Rory up to be the daughter that Lorelai never turned out to be. This comes to a head when Rory is living with her grandparents and Emily accidentally refers to Richard as Rory's father.
* ScheduleFanatic: Gets this way every season approaching exams. Keeps detailed to-do lists and gets mad if Lorelai tries to schedule off-time for her.
* ScholarshipStudent: Rory has a middle-class working single mom and her Chilton and Yale tuition are paid by her old-money grandparents. In some episodes, she's shown trying to get scholarship.
* ShrinkingViolet: She starts as a quiet, shy, socially awkward bookworm who is uncomfortable around other students, especially boys. She grows out of it, in college.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Despite her [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys other tendencies]], it's there. At first it's played straight, when she chooses the nice Dean over the insufferable Tristan (though she shows some signs of attraction to Tristan). Then she dumps Dean for the 'bad boy' Jess... only to start complaining over time that he doesn't treat her the way Dean used to. And the trend continues: after breaking it off with Jess, she goes back to Dean, ostensibly because he's someone 'who loves her and is good to her'... while he is ''married'' to another woman. The next is Logan, a self-claimed womanizer who tries to persuade Rory that he's not a boyfriend material. She goes for him anyway and is hurt when he turns out to be, well, a womanizer and not quite a boyfriend material. Essentially, she goes for the bad of wrong men while still expecting the 'Good Man' scenario.
* SpoiledSweet: She was raised by her Closer to Earth single mother in relative poverty, but when she's a teen, she definitely benefits from her grandparents' wealth, upper-class status and influence. Her mom, neighbors and her grandparents dote on her and she's constantly showered with love and attention. Usually they buy her whatever she needs and wants and she's always taken care of. She's considered the biggest sweetheart in Stars Hollow and perhaps in the whole of New England. On the other hand, she's so used to being constantly praised that any other kind of feedback, ''especially'' valid criticism, sends her into existential free-fall.
* TomboyishName: She's named after her mother and great-grandmother, but everyone calls her Rory.
* TookALevelInJerkass:
** In college. Particularly after she [[spoiler: slept with a married man, stole a boat, dropped out of school, moved in with her grandparents, joined the DAR, and didn't speak to her mother for months.]]
** In ''A Year In the Life'' [[spoiler: where she again sleeps with a guy in a relationship, cheats on her own boyfriend and acts horribly bratty regarding her career. And unlike in the original series no one calls her out on any of it.]]
* TheUnfairSex: Played with. Lindsay and Dean's moms certainly bear hatred towards her and consider her a homewrecker, and Lorelai chewed her out for simply disregarding Dean's marital status and sleeping with him, as if Lindsay's feelings didn't matter. Luke, on the other hand, goes on and on about how Dean is not worthy of her and was 'unstable' because he got married despite pining for his former girlfriend (this last is particularly unfair because it simply wasn't true. ... At least, [[GenderFlip about Dean]]).
* UptownGirl: To her first two boyfriends. Rory herself was pretty down to earth, but both Dean and Jess were considered 'not good enough' by her grandparents. Dean worshiped the ground Rory stepped on, as well as her intellect and ambitions, but it became increasingly obvious that she wanted more of life than he did and he couldn't catch up. Jess, in turn, had trouble grasping the concept of a proper socialization in civilized world, like getting along with his girlfriend's family or basically communicating with other people. This even led Luke to try to lay out for his nephew what it means 'to be with a girl like Rory', making it a DiscussedTrope.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Paris started out as Rory's academic rival but slowly grew to be her close friend and confidant when Rory couldn't confide in her mother or Lane. They still bicker a lot, though. Even in early seasons, Paris often ran to Rory for help when she had a problem.
%% * WackyParentSeriousChild: Serious Child to Lorelai's Wacky Parent.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: She has some unresolved romantic feelings and sexual tension for Jess -- and he for her -- in Seasons 2 and 3.
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Played with. She can often be very mature and act as the responsible one in her reationship with Lorelai. On the other hand, she can (and often does) act in a very immature manner, as befitting a teenager/young adult (like when she almost didn't change schools to Chilton because of Dean in the first episode). A large part of her character arc is learning to be more than just book smart and becoming "life smart" as well. Inverted in the relaunch; her personal development apparently stalled out entirely and she's incredibly immature and selfish for a woman in her thirties.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Emily Gilmore]]
[[quoteright:192:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_5_2473.jpg]]
->'''Played by:''' Kelly Bishop

Lorelai's wealthy and controlling mother with whom she has been estranged with most of her adult life. Emily insists on being involved in her daughter and granddaughter's lives after allowing her to borrow money for Rory's tuition, much to Lorelai's dismay.
----
* AbusiveParents: She comes close to being abusive in the way she treats Lorelai. She was way too controlling when Lorelai was a teenager to the extent that Lorelai ended up taking baby Rory and running away to Stars Hollow, and Emily continues to meddle in her daughter's life when she's an adult. She has a right to care, but never seems to understand or learn that her actions hurt Lorelai.
* AesopAmnesia: Emily just never learns that she has a tendency to drive away Lorelai and even Rory at times by seeking to control everything.
* AndStarring: "and Kelly Bishop".
* CharacterDevelopment: Of all the characters, Emily has progressed the most character-wise in ''A Year in the Life''. She learns how to live her life without Richard, manages to reconcile and bond with Lorelai, and even manages to ''keep'' a long-term maid.
* DeadpanSnarker: When she's displeased (particularly with Lorelai), she tends to shoot long, sarcasm-heavy monologues, but every now and then displays the classic, deadpan form of the art of snarking.
-->'''Emily:''' [[StealthHiBye Lorelai, hello.]]\\
'''Lorelai:''' ''[startled]'' Mom?!\\
'''Emily:''' You remember, I'm so touched.
* DefrostingIceQueen: She usually seems icy, especially to people who don't come from upper classes, but she can show her warm side. For example, she has a nice scene when she talks about her wedding in the club at Lorelai's bachelorette party or when she got carried away planning Sookie's wedding, revealing she's hopelessly romantic. She's also much softer and more vulnerable following Richard's death.
* EvilMatriarch: Her desire to control the lives of everyone around sometimes make her cross the morality line. The best example is manipulating Christopher into breaking up Luke and Lorelai in Season 5.
* GrandparentFavoritism: Emily and Richard adore Rory and put her on a higher pedestal than they do Lorelai.
* HappilyMarried: No matter what else you can say about her, you can't deny that she and Richard are truly, deeply in love. Even when they're on the rocks, they always come back to each other in the end. [[spoiler: A lot of Emily's storyline in ''A Year in the Life'' is about her trying to cope with his death.]]
* HiddenDepths: Emily likes Russian styles, especially Romanov-style.
* LawfulStupid: Though it's more a case of Emily only seeing things in black and white.
* LimitedWardrobe: For a woman of wealth and taste, Emily sure does repeat wearing the same outfits, although maybe that's just for Friday Night Dinner or she's simply fashion conservative and sees no need to flaunt her wealth.
* MamaBear: It's rarely shown, but the times she goes into this mode are the most awesome. When Emily and Richard find out that the reason Rory engaged in reckless behavior that landed her community service, was all because of Mitchum rejecting her internship and Shira criticizing her background and relationship with their son Logan, Emily ''destroys'' Shira, in public, in such a sugary sweet tone and using such harsh jabs that Shira can't even respond.
-->'''Emily:''' Now let's talk about your money. You were a two-bit gold digger fresh off the bus from Hicksville when you met Mitchum at whatever bar you happened to stumble into. And what made Mitchum decide to choose you to marry amongst the pack of women he was bedding at the time I'll never know, but hat's off to you for bagging him. He's still a playboy, you know. Well, of course you know! That would explain why your weight goes up and down 30 pounds every other month, but that's your cross to bear. But these are ugly realities, no one needs to talk about them. Those kids are staying together for as long as they like. You won't stop them. Now, enjoy the event!
* ManipulativeBitch: Lorelai regards her as a master manipulator, and it's not unfounded. She seems especially fond of using [[PolitenessJudo verbal traps]] to get her way.
* MeddlingParents: Emily tends to have strong opinions about how Lorelai should lead her life and is not shy to constantly try to preach/force/manipulate her visions into reality, often over her daughter's will.
* MoralMyopia: She feels entitled in Lorelai's (who disagrees completely) name to have Christopher in a relationship with her daughter no matter what, because they have a child together. To his second daughter, however, Emily refers as 'it' and simply cannot understand what claim Georgia or her mother may have to Christopher.
* MrsDegree: She met Richard while he was a student at Yale, and she studied history at Smith.
-->'''Emily:''' I went to Smith, and I was a history major, but I never had any plans to be an historian. I was always going to be a wife. I mean, the way I saw it, a woman's job was to run a home, organize the social life of a family, and bolster her husband while he earned a living. It was a good system, and it was working very well all these years.
* MyBelovedSmother: Emily doesn't seem to understand that Rory is her own person, and constantly pushes her own ideals onto her; unlike her mother under similar treatment, Rory doesn't push back much.
* NeverMyFault: To the point that in season five, after she instigates Luke and Lorelai's breakup, she thinks it's acceptable to show up at Luke's ''place of business'' and verbally berate him with no evidence whatsoever, simply because the idea that Lorelai is justifiably pissed with her and refuses to forgive her for what she did is beyond her comprehension.
* RichBitch: [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Not the worst out there]], but she can be controlling and has a manipulative streak. She often looks down on people from working or middle class.
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Emily is very involved in the family's social life and will often be the active (or pushy) one when it comes to orchestrating the events, while Richard is often the one to be dragged from function to function with a resigned look on his face, wishing he would be working. It fits their roles as {{Socialite}} and {{Workaholic}} respectively, but also their tempers.
* ShipperOnDeck:
** For Christopher/Lorelai, even when it's clear the pair aren't going to work.
** Strongly supportive of Rory/Logan, especially since the Huntzbergers were in a higher social tier than the Gilmores and could elevate them to a more desirable social status.
* SilverVixen: Emily's good looks are sometimes commented on, she attracts an admirer in a bar which is apparently a picking-up area oriented at women about 20 years younger than her, and is mentioned to have several suitors within her social circles.
* {{Socialite}}: Her main role as a society wife. [See above quote under MrsDegree]. She admits in the original series hints that she sometimes wishes she'd pursued a proper career and struggled with revolving around Richard. [[spoiler: The revival sees her ditching the role altogether, moving to Nantucket with her maid's family and becoming an enthusiastic tour guide at the whaling museum.]]
* SurroundedByIdiots: She holds this view of the endless maids she fires on a weekly basis. Some are genuinely incompetent, others just annoy her or fail to meet her standards.
* TookALevelInKindness: By the end of the revival [[spoiler: she's mellowed out considerably, is much softer towards Lorelai, ditches her snobby DAR friends and - in contrast to her weekly firing of maids in the original series - not only keeps one, but takes in her ''entire family'' and is last seen making ''soup'' when the maid is sick.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Richard Gilmore]]
[[quoteright:160:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_6_2517.jpg]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/EdwardHerrmann

Lorelai's father. A normally reserved and no-nonsense insurance man, he begins to form a close bond with Rory after coming back into their lives.
----
* BewareTheNiceOnes: He seems (and is) much more genial than Emily, but does have sneaky moments and can be [[PapaWolf quite protective of his family]].
* CharacterDeath: He dies somewhere in between the original series finale and the beginning of "A Year in the Life" (due to the real life death of Edward Hermann).
* CoolOldGuy:
** He finds a lot of common ground with Rory, especially through their taste in books.
** When Mitchum Huntzberger mistreats Rory, he goes medieval on his arse and gives him a ShutUpHannibal speech.
* DeadpanSnarker: Mostly to Emily, as a sort of a coping mechanism. He makes sarcastic remarks with deadpan expression and tone, apparently without any hope of making an impact and she almost never notices.
* DotingGrandparent: He adores Rory and has a far more amicable relationship with her than most his friends do with their grandchildren. Lorelei thinks this is likely because Rory was all her parents wanted for a daughter.
* FakeGuestStar: Each season opening lists Edward Herrmann as making a ''Special Appearance''.
* GrandparentFavoritism: Rory is his only grandchild, but he is a lot more lenient with her than he is with Lorelai or Emily.
* HappilyMarried: With Emily, a few bumps notwithstanding. They're still in love and remain married all the way up until he dies.
* ManipulativeBastard: While no-where near as bad as Emily, Richard does have his moments, especially when he tries to coax Rory into going to Yale.
* MommasBoy: Will even ignore his wife for his mother's needs, and became depressed after she died.
* PapaWolf:
** It's rarely shown, but the times he goes into this mode are the most awesome. When Emily and Richard find out that the reason Rory engaged in reckless behavior that landed her community service, was all because of Mitchum rejecting her internship. Emily and Richard team up to take down both spouses. Emily making jabs at Shira's weight and Richard telling Mitchum off.
** He also viciously defends Lorelai when Christopher's father accuses her of seducing Christopher and mocks her job.
* TheQuietOne: Often has the least to say at family dinners. Of course, [[MotorMouth with THIS family...]]
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Emily is very involved in the family's social life and will often be the active (or pushy) one when it comes to orchestrating the events, while Richard is often the one to be dragged from function to function with a resigned look on his face, wishing he would be working. It fits their roles as {{Socialite}} and {{Workaholic}} respectively, but also their tempers.
* SharpDressedMan: You'll be hard-pressed to see this man in anything but a suit and tie.
* ShipperOnDeck:
** For Christopher/Lorelai, even when it's clear the pair aren't going to work.
** Strongly supportive of Rory/Logan, especially since the Huntzbergers were in a higher social tier than the Gilmores and could elevate them to a more desirable social status.
* ThePatriarch: Very much the head of the Gilmore family.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Lorelai "Trix" Gilmore]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/MarionRoss

Lorelai's paternal grandmother whom she inherited her name from. She is very close with her son, but completely disapproves of Emily.
----
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: She had this attitude towards Lorelai, she at least acknowledged that she was an amusing person and seemed to appreciate that to some extent, even though she did have her limits.
* CharacterDeath: Trix dies of old age.
* EvilMatriarch: ''Worse'' than Emily. Has been bullying her daughter-in-law to no end for over thirty years, tried to convince her son to leave his bride-to-be at the altar, and leaves a copy of the letter with that for Emily to find, to hurt her beyond the grave.
%% * IronLady: Trix fits this trope almost perfectly.
* {{Jerkass}}: Rude and condescending towards Emily, for no apparent reason. She's adoring towards her son and likes Rory and Lorelai, but Emily? Forget it.
* KissingCousins: Her maiden name was Gilmore... Rory and Lorelai are squicked by the fact and immediately try to find any genetic faults on their bodies.
%% * ManipulativeBitch: Far worse than Emily.
* MeddlingParents: [[spoiler:Pleaded with Richard not to marry Emily. On their wedding day, no less.]]
* ObnoxiousInLaws: When she visits she puts even more energy into bullying her daughter in-law than into pampering her son.
* PetTheDog: For all of her faults, Trix had a genuinely loving relationship with her son and contributed a lot to charities.
* RichBitch: Very rich, and more of a bitch than Emily.
[[/folder]]

!Stars Hollow
[[folder: Lucas "Luke" Danes]]
[[quoteright:183:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_7_277.jpg]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/ScottPatterson

The owner of the local diner in Stars Hollow that Lorelai and Rory frequent often. Despite his gruff exterior, he is very dependable. He harbors a crush on Lorelai for most of the series, but they begin a relationship in season 4.
----
* AccidentalMarriage: With Nicole between seasons 3 and 4. Their relationship and marriage falls apart over the course of the season.
* TheBartender: Though he only runs a diner, Lorelai sometimes treats him as this, ordering coffee refills and telling him about her problems.
* BettyAndVeronica: The Betty to Christopher's Veronica for Lorelai's Archie (also Betty to Max, Alex, Jason... the list goes on. Safe to say he's seen a lot of Lorelai's boyfriends pass by).
* BigBrotherInstinct: Luke will never pass up an opportunity to help the people he cares about. Jess occasionally will poke fun at him for it.
* BookDumb: Not particularly well-educated, but makes up for it with practical, real-world experience and his own sort of wisdom.
* BumblingDad: He starts out as this to April, especially in the episode where he wants to give her a birthday party, but eventually evolves into a good father figure.
* CarpetOfVirility: Has very manly hairy chest.
* CastingGag: Luke really sucks at baseball. Scott Patterson played baseball professionally before he became an actor.
* CelebrityResemblance: Is told by Miss Celine that he looks like Creator/EliWallach in a certain light.
* CrazyJealousGuy: Towards Christopher and vice versa. Luke says less about it, but is more likely to engage in fisticuffs.
** Luke becomes this when he discovers he's being cheated on by Nicole.
* DeadpanSnarker: One of the only things he has in common with Lorelai. He's always sarcastic towards quirky people around him, especially because of his OnlySaneMan status.
* EmbarrassingFirstName: A sure-fire way to annoy Luke would be referring to him as Lucas. Only Mia is allowed to call him Lucas.
* EmbarrassingNickname: His nickname was Butch in high school.
* FirstGuyWins: The show's very first scene is Lorelai at his diner, many boyfriends before they got together. The final episode includes Luke and Lorelai kissing and most likely getting back together, and near the end of the revival Luke and Lorelai get married.
* GrumpyBear: Has a gruff, world-weary personality.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: It comes from cynicism and anti-social GrumpyBear attitude rather than any actual jerkishness. However, he has a close relationship with Lorelai and Rory, and is always willing to help his friends and family.
* KnightInSourArmor: He's cantankerous and horribly cynical about family, relationships and Stars Hollow but he also spends most of his time looking out for the people he cares about - namely Lorelai, Jess and Rory, bailing his sister out of trouble and is one of the most reliable people in town whenever anyone needs help.
* KnightTemplarBigBrother: Later in the series his BigBrotherInstinct gets [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]] and comes in a somewhat darker tone. Jess is the one to [[WhatTheHellHero call Luke out of it again]] in his [[BrutalHonesty usual style]]. Luke [[HeroicBSOD does not take it well]].
* LukeIAmYourFather: More like "I Am Luke And I Am Your Father". [[spoiler:April shows up out of nowhere and takes his hair to compare their DNA. She is his daughter he had with his ex-girlfriend who never told him because she thought he disliked kids.]]
* NiceHat: He's rarely seen without his beloved baseball cap.
* OddFriendship: With Kirk. Luke is by far the most normal person in Stars Hollow, with Kirk being the quirkiest, yet Luke looks out for him and helps him when he needs it.
* OnlySaneMan: The most normal person in Stars Hollow, [[QuirkyTown which admittedly isn't saying much.]]
* PapaWolf:
** Tends to be quite protective of the young people he loves: Jess, April, and Rory. To the point where he even calls out Rory's ''actual'' father on being there for her less than he has been. In the last few seasons, he also becomes protective of Lane and Zack, despite his initial reluctance with Zack.
** Sometimes, he also becomes protective of other people. In "Go, Bulldogs!", when Kirk tells Luke he wants to dump Lulu, Luke threatens him to break every bone in his body if he hurts her. Even if Luke is not very close to Lulu, he knows she is a NiceGirl and tells Kirk he should "kissing the ground that she walks on".
* ParentalSubstitute: He is a parental figure for Rory and Jess, even stating in "Winter" that he considers them like his own.
* PermaStubble: He is never seen clean shaved.
* RealMenCook: Though it's clear Lorelai and Rory would accept just about anything that was edible, Luke's abilities shine in a season-five episode when Sookie takes ill and he has to take over for Sookie at the Dragonfly Inn. Despite his lack of training compared to hers, some of the patrons prefer his food to Sookie's.
* TheReliableOne: To the whole of Stars Hollow.
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Savvy Guy to Lorelai's Energetic Girl, even before they were an actual couple.
* SupremeChef: Revealed to be this in later seasons. His cooking is good enough to rival Sookie and in one episode he replaces her at the Dragonfly Inn.
* TallDarkAndHandsome: Tall, dark-haired. He was a ChickMagnet in high school.
* TallDarkAndSnarky: See TallDarkAndHandsome above, and most of his dialogue is snarky.
* TookALevelInDumbass: Downplayed. He never becomes ''dumb'', but after he starts dating Lorelai, the story starts to evidence him as the "uneducated BookDumb Stars Hollow guy", so that Emily can look down on him. Even more so after April's arrival that turns him into a clueless BumblingDad and the other citizens are surprised to find out he actually has a smart daughter.
* WillTheyOrWontThey:
** With Lorelai for a while and the town considers their relationship a constant source of entertainment. Much like [[Series/{{Friends}} Ross and Rachel]], this was introduced in the first episode and was not resolved until the very last scenes of series finale.[[spoiler: TheyDo]].
** [[spoiler: Luke and Lorelai ''finally'' decide to get married after nearly a decade together in the Fall episode of ''A Year in the Life''.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Kirk Gleason]]
[[quoteright:224:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download56_3126.jpg]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/SeanGunn

The oddball among oddballs in Stars Hollow. He is never seen in the same occupation.
----
* AmbiguousDisorder: It's hard to tell if Kirk is just well-meaning but slightly quirky, or perhaps mildly autistic.
* AscendedExtra: Started out as a random guy named "Mick" in the pilot, then developed into an actual character with his own subplots as the series went on.
* ButtMonkey: Cannot seem to catch a break, ever.
* TheChewToy: He usually has it coming because of his stupidity, but still.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Even in an entire town of these he stands out. He has weird theories about how world works and constantly breaks social norms when discussing his private life.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: He moved out of his mother's house, per Luke's suggestion, but didn't find a place to live before leaving. As a result, he spent a few episodes staying the night at other peoples' places after he was found sleeping in Lorelai's garage. He spent a few of them sleeping in Rory's room when she was away at Yale and on Lorelai's couch when she wasn't.
* FanDisservice: Many probably considered seeing Kirk's naked skinny body a disservice but after they did it the first time loads of people were requesting them to do it again and again.
* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: When he talked about having a date, he mentioned it was with a young lady (Lulu).
* InnocentlyInsensitive: He's very blunt because he has NoSocialSkills, but he means well and can be likable in his own way.
* ManChild: Among his quirks are an affection for childish cereal, toys, and a [[MommasBoy over-reliance on his mother]].
* MommasBoy: Until Lulu comes along, he has some serious trouble cutting those apron strings.
* NewJobAsThePlotDemands: He seems to have a different job in every episode. It is eventually lampshaded when out of the blue, he overbids Luke in a real estate deal:
-->'''Luke:''' Where the hell did you get that much money?\\
'''Kirk:''' I've been working for eleven years. Luke, I've had fifteen thousand jobs.
* PerpetualFrowner: Always has the same facial expression and it's ''not'' a smile.
* PromotionToOpeningTitles: In season 3.
* RunningGag: Kirk's many jobs. 43, according to Lorelai, as of the end of season four.
* TheStoic: Rarely shows emotions, though he has some NotSoStoic moments.
* TalkingInYourSleep: He sleepwalks, too.
* ThrowTheDogABone: He gets a pretty and nice girlfriend in later seasons.
* YesMan: Often acts like this to town selectman Taylor, running errands for him and trying to please him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Sookie St. James]]
[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_8_6485.jpg]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/MelissaMcCarthy

Lorelai's best friend and a perfectionist chef extraordinaire. She gets married and starts a family at the end of season 2.
----
* AlliterativeName: '''S'''ookie '''S'''t. James.
* BetaCouple: She gets together with Jackson early in the series and they get married only a bit later, and their relationship is stable, in contrast to Lorelai's and Rory's love life.
* BigBeautifulWoman: She is overweight and very pretty. Jackson falls for her in the first few episodes, and her old friend Joe had a crush on her for ten years.
* BigFun: A perfect female example of the trope. She's plus-size, cute, funny, and amusing.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: She's kind of strange and has many quirks, but she's a supreme chef and everybody loves her cooking.
* ButICantBePregnant: She was ''extremely'' surprised with her third pregnancy. Particularly because [[spoiler:Jackson had told her he'd gotten a vasectomy. He lied.]]
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: She was much clumsier in her first appearance, but then that part was dropped later.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Another major example, to the point that Lorelai actually takes on the role of the CloudcuckoolandersMinder when hanging out with her.
* ControlFreak: Rules her kitchen with an iron fist, even when she's supposed to be on bed rest at the end of her pregnancy.
* CuteClumsyGirl: Part of some early awkward characterization. The perfectionist side of her gets more developed in the later seasons. Apparently, on the day she first met Lorelai, she had cut her fingertip off in a kitchen accident. Lorelai had picked up the part and took her to the hospital, only for the accident to repeat itself several days later.
* DemotedToExtra: Sookie's role gets reduced to a short cameo in ''A Year in the Life'', as Melissa [=McCarthy=] could only film for a short time.
* FatBestFriend: To Lorelai. They are very close and start a business together.
* GenkiGirl: Energetic, bubbly and outgoing like Lorelai, or even more so.
* GirlishPigtails: Although she's an adult woman, she almost always wears adorable pigtails. It's always a good idea to tie your hair if you work with food.
* HappilyMarried: Marries Jackson at the end of Season 2, and they remain the most stable couple from that point forward.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Lorelai. They both work at the Independence Inn and dream of having their own business.
* ShipperOnDeck: She would love to see Lorelai happy. At different points, for Lorelai with either Max or Luke. Particularly for Luke.
* SkewedPriorities: Especially if cooking is involved. Cooking is always on top.
* SupremeChef: She's so obsessed with cooking and baking that she has minor meltdowns when someone other than her does the cooking or baking. Case in point? She drinks herself into a tizzy when Jackson revealed that his Thanksgiving plans for their turkey was to deep-fry it... along with a lot of other things.
* TheyDo: After a season or two of back-and-forth, she and Jackson tie the knot in the Season 2 finale.
%% * {{Womanchild}}
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Jackson Belleville]]
->'''Played by:''' Jackson Douglas

Stars Hollows's prominent produce man who takes great pride in his work. He begins a relationship with Sookie and the two get married and start a family together.
----
* BeleagueredBureaucrat: In season 5, Jackson decides to run for town selectman against Taylor, being tired of his obsessiveness, and wins by an overwhelming landslide. However, Jackson finds that the job is very unfulfilling, so he hands the reins back to Taylor.
* BetaCouple: Starts dating Sookie pretty early on and they remain a stable, happy couple. They provide contrast to Lorelai's relationships.
* GoodOlBoy: A manly man with old-fashioned values and a country-boy upbringing.
* EmbarrassingOldPhoto: Jackson owns a pair of pajamas with an old wrestling photo of him on it. Unfortunately, he couldn't hide them from Lorelai and Rory.
* HappilyMarried: He marries Sookie and they remain very satisfied with their life together, and have several children throughout the series. They are not without a fair share of problems, but they remain loving and devoted to each other.
* {{Hypocrite}}: In season 7, it’s revealed that [[spoiler: he lied to Sookie about getting a vasectomy, and she’s now pregnant because she went off the pill without telling him]]. He’s outraged by this until Lorelai points out that [[spoiler: Sookie had no reason to tell him she went off the pill because ''she thought he’d had a vasectomy.'']]
* NiceGuy: Genuinely one of the nicest and most-caring men in the series, especially apparent when he and Sookie were first dating.
* NiceHat: He is rarely seen without a beanie on.
* SatelliteLoveInterest: Despite being married to the best friend of one of the leads, Jackson doesn't really get much to do outside of his relationship with Sookie. However, he gets ADayInTheLimelight in a season 5 episode when he runs against Taylor for town selectman (and wins).
* TheyDo: Marries Sookie at the end of Season 2.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Michel Gerard]]
[[quoteright:183:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download234_8563.jpg]]
->'''Played by:''' Yanic Truesdale

A Frenchman with a biting attitude and tongue who works as the concierge at the Independence Inn and later the Dragonfly. Although he is condescending to everyone he comes across, he can't help but admit that Lorelai and Sookie are his friends.
----
* AmbiguouslyGay: Viewers perceive Michel as such, though he is not intended to be gay. Though he has an obsession with Celine Dion, maintains an overly-close 'gal pal' relationship with his mother and worries about his carb intake, Amy Sherman often says in the scripts he does this for the ladies. He is intended to be a dandy. When venting his frustrations toward Tobin, the night desk clerk, he insults him for his homosexuality. It's subtle, but it's there, and that's what makes it even funnier. We occasionally see members of his family, they're all like that. The simplest explanation for newcomers is that he's not gay, he's just French.
* CampStraight: Combines camp mannerisms (a love for Celine Dion, impeccable dress, vanity) with occasional assertions of his heterosexuality. [[spoiler:Subverted in the revival; he's married to a man and they're considering kids]]
* CharacterDevelopment: Michel matures considerably between the original series and the revival, becoming less troublesome and less hostile towards the world (though he doesn't lose the snark that makes him entertaining), reaching the level where sometimes ''he'' is the civil and professional one in contrast to Lorelai's behavior.
* ButtMonkey: Frequently to Lorelai, Rory, and Sookie who constantly mock him and make fun of him.
* ChildHater: He insists he does not hate babies, but he is clearly not a fan.
* TheDandy: Michel is obsessed with how he's dressed and how many calories he consumes per day.
* DeadpanSnarker: His passive-aggressive rants are usually declaimed with a deadpan tone, heavy accent and spiked with jaded snark.
* FrenchJerk: He is a French concierge, and can be condescending and rude when conducting business.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Downplayed. Lorelai and Sookie find him annoying and abrasive, but they still care about him and always ask him to accompany them in all of their business ventures.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He appears to share some level of friendship with Lorelai, Sookie and Rory, and deep down cares about them. [[spoiler:In the revival, he does call Lorelai and Sookie his friends, feeling lonely that Sookie went on her sabbatical. He apologizes to Lorelai for wanting to leave, but she respects his decision and he's one of the witnesses at Lorelai and Luke's elopement.]]
* HappilyMarried: He gets married in the period between the main series and ''A Year in the Life''.
* MommasBoy: Adores his mother, much to Lorelai's amusement.
* NationalStereotypes: Embodies plenty of Frenchmen stereotypes (effeminate, rude/snarky, condescending, vain).
* OlderThanTheyLook: Apparently he turns fifty in ''A year of the life''. Yanic Truesdale looks exactly the same as he looked in the first season of the original series and Lorelai only knows his age because she's known him since she was a teenager.
* PassiveAggressiveCombat: Michel never tires of giving lengthy, jaded, sarcastic, passive-aggressive monologues in situations where simple 'yes' or 'no' would often suffice.
* PetTheDog: He dotes on his Chow Chow dogs.
* SharpDressedMan: Always impeccably dressed.
* SmallNameBigEgo: He thinks he is refined and so ''above'' everyone else. He isn't.
* SpearCounterpart: In ''A Year In The Life'' Lorelai flat out states that he is to her what Paris is to Rory.
* TookALevelInKindness: Michel is noticeably more mellowed out and kind in the revival, having become Lorelai's closest friend since Sookie moved away. He is genuinely heartbroken when he tells her that [[spoiler: he wants to work somewhere else, having outgrown the Dragonfly Inn.]]
* TwoferTokenMinority:
** He is Black and French. Several characters, Drella in particular in season 1 and Jackson's cousin Rune, bring up the whole CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkey thing.
** [[spoiler:''A Year in the Life'' confirms Michel as being either gay or bisexual, as he now has a husband.]]
* UltimateJobSecurity: In real life, no one that rude and dismissive would get to be a concierge for long. However, the revival shows that he's actually [[BunnyEarsLawyer very competent at his job]] and goes out of his way to make the guests happy, only complaining to Lorelai afterwards. [[spoiler:He decides to leave the Dragonfly for the W Hotel, citing the fact that the inn is too small for his skill set and feels stifled, especially since his husband is looking to start a family.]]
-->''[Michel is ignoring the phone]''\\
'''Lorelai:''' Michel, the phone.\\
'''Michel:''' Mmm-hmm. It rings.\\
'''Lorelai:''' Can you answer it?\\
'''Michel:''' No, people are particularly stupid today. I can't talk to anymore of them.\\
'''Lorelai:''' You know who's really nice to talk to? The people at the unemployment agency.\\
'''Michel:''' ''[picks up the phone]'' Independence Inn, Michel speaking.
** Also, the inn's owner finds his accent incomprehensible.
** [[spoiler: The ending of ''A Year in the Life'' implies that Michel might stay at the Dragonfly Inn, as Lorelai decides to open an annex in Stars Hollow.]]
* UrbanLegendLoveLife: Michel quite often talks about dates and how he is dieting because ladies love him fit, but we never see him in action.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Lorelai. Well, not exactly best friends, but about thrice as vitriolic and still friends.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: Lorelai doesn't usually need any outside conflict in the Inn, Michel complaining and behaving passive-aggressively will suffice.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Lane Kim]]
[[quoteright:160:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_9_5525.jpg]]
->'''Played by:''' Keiko Agena

Rory's best friend in Stars Hollow. The two have been inseparable since they met in kindergarten. Lane attempts to be an ordinary American teenager under the watch of her conservative Christian, Korean-centric parents.
----
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: When she starts to fall for Zach, she admits to Rory that him being a womanizer with "grunt caveman" behavior is part of his appeal.
* AsianAndNerdy: She's pretty, but can be incredibly dorky and awkward in situations with the opposite sex.
* AuthorAvatar: Producer Avatar. Lane was inspired by Helen Pai, creator Amy Sherman-Palladino's best friend and show producer.
* BetaCouple: With Zach, after they start dating. They eventually get married.
* ButICantBePregnant: Only had sex once on their honeymoon, but it was enough.
* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Her attempts to hide her lifestyle from her mother ''never'' go well.
* TheChick: She's the glue that helps keep Hep Alien together.
* CoolLoser: She's witty, creative, cute, and fun-loving, but sometimes is not allowed to participate in fun activities because of her strict mother, and is insecure about dating boys in early seasons. She also is OvershadowedByAwesome compared to her friend Rory.
* CulturalRebel: Hides unapproved music, makeup and cloths under the floor, as well as giving Rory things to take home so her mother wouldn't find them. She then leaves her mother's house to live with her bandmates (and boyfriend).
* DeadpanSnarker: Just as snarky as everyone else. A lot of her snark is SelfDeprecation.
* DemotedToExtra: In ''A Year of the Life'', we get to spend more quality time with Kirk's pet pig Petal than with Lane.
* DudeMagnet: At least four guys fall for her throughout the show. Even Young Chiu, her Korean fake-boyfriend, who helps her date Dave in the early days of her clandestine relationship, eventually turns into a clingy AbhorrentAdmirer.
* {{Foil}}:
** Despite being best friends with Rory, the Kims have the exact opposite relationship than the Gilmores.
** Her relationship with her mother is a mirror to Lorelai's relationship with Emily.
* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: Despite being her best friend, she rarely interacts with Rory in later seasons (they still have their moments though). Justified since Rory is at Yale while Lane has her band in Stars Hollow.
* TheirFirstTime: A subverted example. She and Zach decide to wait until the wedding night to have sex for the first time... and they decide to recreate a sex scene from a movie. That took place on a beach. So not only do you have the inevitable awkwardness, you also have sand, water, and various other inconveniences the movie wouldn't mention. Unsurprisingly, Lane does ''not'' enjoy herself in the least, and it seriously turns her off (no pun intended) to the idea of having sex again for quite awhile.
* GenkiGirl: She's quite fun-loving and energetic despite her strict, conservative parents.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Been best friends with Rory since kindergarten. She feels and fears they might drift apart when Rory changes school and later is in college, but they both make effort to stay as close as possible.
* {{Meganekko}}: A cute girl with glasses.
* NerdGlasses: A serious turn-on for Zach, as it turns out once she gets rid of them. He and Mrs. Kim both agree that they make her look smart.
* NiceGirl: She's a better friend to Rory than Paris is, mainly because Lane is ''much'' nicer. Despite being rebellious due to her controlling mother, she's a generally a very friendly girl who has no problem getting along with people (both boys and girls).
* OneOfTheBoys: Single girl in an all boy band. One of the reasons Zach had a hard time thinking of her as a possible love interest.
* OnlyFriend: In early episodes to Rory. While Rory is liked by everyone in Stars Hollow, most of the residents are just adults and acquaintances. Also Rory has no real friends in high school since she is shy and uncomfortable around other students and Paris is more of a frenemy.
* OnlySaneWoman: After Dave leaves, she's the most level-headed member of her band.
* ThePowerOfRock: Eventually, it sets her free, and is her path to find love(s).
* SignificantAnagram: Lane's band Hep Alien is an anagram of Helen Pai.
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: Both her mom and Zach agree that glasses suit her because she's a smart girl.
-->'''Zach:''' You're the first smart girl I’ve ever gone out with, and the glasses are a big part of that.
* TheyDo: Spends a few seasons going back and forth with Zach until they finally wind up married.
* TokenMinority: Lane and her mother are among the only non-white residents of Stars Hollow.
* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: A funky, rebellious GenkiGirl who eventually becomes a drummer in a rock band where all the other members are boys. She also has some typical girly interests like boys and make-up, and at one point, she was a cheerleader.
* VirginInAWhiteDress: She planned on having sex but when she had the opportunity she surprised herself by saying, "Oh, well, I have to wait until I get married", because the morals her Seventh Day Adventist mother taught her had stuck. She was afraid that she might never get married and have sex but she did.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Mrs. Kim]]
->'''Played by:''' Emily Kuroda

The antique shop owner in Stars Hollow and Lane's mother. She is a very conservative Christian and disapproves of most American customs.
----
* AlmightyMom: She scared the crap out of Zach when found out that he'd been 'laying hands' on her little girl. Also most of Lane's peers (''Jess'' is polite to her), and some of the adults, like Lorelai and even Taylor, fear her to varying degrees.
* ApronMatron: She's the unquestionable head of the household (if [[TheGhost Mr. Kim]] is ever shown, he's never singled out of the crowd of the Koreans occasionally gathered in the house) and rules it with an iron fist.
* AsianStoreOwner: Own the town antique shop.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Beneath her icy exterior lies a good-hearted woman who genuinely does love and want the best for her daughter. she even looses up her standards for suitable men for her daughter.
* {{Determinator}}: And she enforces it on members of her family too. She may think Lane's taste in music is sinful, but she'll be damned if she's going to let her daughter give up on her dream:
-->'''Mrs. Kim:''' Kims do not give up!
* DrillSergeantNasty: The first association Zach and Brian have upon seeing her is: 'remember that guy from ''Film/FullMetalJacket''?' and after watching her commanding a group of people inside her salon it's easy to see why.
%%* TheFundamentalist
* GenerationXerox: A heart-warming example; Mrs. Kim hides her Christian lifestyle from her traditional Buddhist mother mirrors Lane hiding her lifestyle from her mother when she was growing up.
* TheGhost: Her husband, Mr. Kim. Lane always talks about her parent'''s''' but Mr Kim is never seen or heard.
* HiddenDepths: She knows a surprising amount about music, and in a way, becomes Hep Alien's pseudo-manager, booking them a tour and helping Zach write songs.
** Mrs Kim has a masterful understanding of Shakespeare (which she reads to 'goof off'), to the point where she quotes a obscure but highly appropriate line of Theatre/HenryVI ("Let never day nor night unhallowed pass, but still remember what the Lord hath done.”) in response to Dave acknowledging his crush on Lane (The quote is the King speaking to a blind man who has regained his power of sight, and it's in essence Mrs Kim saying something between ''Well duh'' and ''Finally, you're seeing her as you should''. It's also a touch of Brilliance as Mrs Kim allowed Lane to attend a Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet play with Lorelai and Rory all the way back in the first season because she thought it was a cautionary tale of young people in love who don't listen to their parents... which is one of the most highly held scholarly viewpoints on the play.
* IronLady: Mrs. Kim runs her antique store and raises Lane in a very strict, no-nonsense manner and often intimdates others with her demeanor.
* MyBelovedSmother: She is extremely strict, and pushes Lane into a life she doesn't want. However, Mrs Kim loves Lane and cares deeply about her. But thinking that Rory might corrupt Lane... well, RuleOfFunny was in play.
* OddFriendship: With Lorelai. The two see eye-to-eye on almost nothing, but Lorelai respects the solidarity of motherhood and will go behind Rory's back when Rory conspires with Lane to do something Mrs. Kim disapproves of. This has the strange effect of making Mrs. Kim the sole person alive who Lorelai will ever cross Rory for.
* PerpetualFrowner: She's rarely seen smiling.
* TeamMom: Evolves into this for Lane's band. Although she has reservations about her daughter being in a rock band, it is clear she cares about them and wants them to succeed, especially when she helps Hep Alien go on tour.
* TerseTalker: Mama Kim lives, runs the business, and raises her daughter by simple rules ('You break, you buy!', 'No boys!') and doesn't have to waste words to get people into obeying her.
* TookALevelInKindness: She remains strict, but she eventually mellows slightly, going from not allowing Lane to even ''speak'' to boys and forcing Lane to hide music and makeup under the floorboards, to helping Zach write a song ([[ItMakesSenseInContext to prove he's worthy of Lane's hand]]), lovingly giving Lane her grandmother's wedding ring, and sincerely encouraging Lane to follow her dreams and become a professional drummer. Perhaps Lane moving out was the wake-up call she needed?
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Dean Forester]]
[[quoteright:144:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deangilmoregirls_6924.jpg]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/JaredPadalecki

A Stars Hollow high school student from Chicago who eventually becomes Rory's first boyfriend.
----
* BettyAndVeronica:
** Betty to Jess's Veronica. Rory later expressed regret about the relationship with Jess to her best friend Lane Kim; saying that, while she was initially attracted to Jess' intellectualism and his "bad boy nature", she had become used to Dean's reliability and affectionate nature.
** He was the Archie to Lindsay's Betty and Rory's Veronica.
* TheBusCameBack: Dean has a short cameo in ''A Year in the Life'' where he runs into Rory at Doose's Market where they catch up.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Dean seemingly disappears in season 5 after realizing that Rory's in love with Logan. He has a single scene with Luke and is never seen in the rest of the series.
* CoolBigBro: He's very nice to his younger sister.
* CrazyJealousGuy: He gets angry towards Rory when she declines to spend time with him in favor of school or town activities and therefore in the vicinity of Tristan, Jess or Logan. He insisted on being there when Rory and Tristan rehearsed the death scene of ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', as it involved a kiss. He also dumped her after she blanked on saying "I Love You" back after gifting her with a car and telling her he loved her. Rory eventually did say it several episodes later. His jealousy of Jess at least turns out to be pretty well justified.
* FatalFlaw: Dean's flaw is a double-edged sword - he cares more about the experience of being happy than he does about education. This means he's satisfied with simple goals like a partner and family. But it also means he doesn't understand Rory's foibles and gets frustrated when things go outside his purview.
* {{Foil}}: For Jess. For all of his dependability Dean doesn't stimulate Rory intellectually like Jess does, clashing with him for obvious reasons. Dean also is a good fit for Stars Hollow, whereas Jess tends to annoy the townspeople with his pranks and general attitude. In Dean's final appearance he's still in Stars Hollow after a failed marriage and a job in the local construction company while Jess is last seen having written a book and part of the local arts scene where he lives.
* HappilyMarried: As of ''A Year in the Life''. He is married with kids and has moved away from Stars Hollow and appears to have a happy life.
* InformedAttractiveness: He's described as 'beautiful' or 'gorgeous' probably even more frequently than the protagonists (compared to their respective amounts of the screen-time)
* InsecureLoveInterest: It becomes his FatalFlaw from season 2 onwards. He thinks Rory is the absolute perfect girl and that he's not smart enough for her, developing all his CrazyJealousGuy tendencies as a result. In season 5, he ends up dumping Rory because he feels he doesn't belong to Rory's glamorous world. In his last appearance, he tries to make Luke insecure as well, telling him that both Gilmore girls want more than a simple Start Hollow guy.
* NewTransferStudent: In season one. He is introduced as the new guy in town in the "Pilot".
* NiceGuy: In the first seasons, Dean is the typical friendly wholesome BoyNextDoor, especially in contrast to Rory's other boyfriends. His character devolves over later seasons though, see TookALevelInJerkass.
* PromotionToOpeningTitles: In season 2.
* ProperlyParanoid: He may be a CrazyJealousGuy but he was right: Rory ''was'' attracted to Jess and actually kissed Jess while still in a relationship with Dean.
* RomanticRunnerUp: He may have been Rory's first ever boyfriend, but he eventually loses her to Jess and then to Logan as the series progressed.
* SatelliteLoveInterest: Despite being an important character, he's this to Rory. His story-lines revolve exclusively around a) how he and Rory are in love b) how he is being jealous for Rory's current other love interests c) how is his [[DisposableFiance new relationship]] inferior to what he had with Rory. Also, him not having much of plans or ambitions outside relationship with Rory and revolving around her while she has other things to do is a recurring aspect since early in the series.
* TallDarkAndHandsome: About 90% of the characters who encounter him comment how tall he is, about 90% of the female characters who encounter him comment how good-looking he is, and he has dark hair.
* TookALevelInDumbass: Downplayed. As the plot was progressing, the writers tried to emphasize his position as Rory's - and her new love interests - intellectual inferior. He never becomes ''dumb'' but gradually turns into a simpleton without an original thought, able only to admire Rory.
* TookALevelInJerkass: By the time seasons 4 and 5 roll around, he's cheating on his wife and gets possessive of Rory.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Zach van Gerbig]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/ToddLowe

The lead singer and guitarist of the band Hep Alien, who becomes Lane's boyfriend and eventual husband.
----
* CharacterDevelopment: He goes from being a happy-go-lucky slacker to a reliable husband and father by the end of the series and the revival. At one point, he even laments that he has to balance out his 9-to-5 career with his rocker lifestyle.
* ChickMagnet: He is several times seen to be quite popular among the ladies and eventually even Lane falls for him.
* ChildrenRaiseYou: Once [[spoiler: Lane gets pregnant, a lot of Zach's slacker tendencies fall by the wayside as he prepares for the kids.]]
* CommanderContrarian: If there is a conflict in the band, Zach will be the one causing it.
* CrazyJealousGuy: Goes over-the-top when he thinks other guys (even Brian) might be interested in Lane.
* GuiltyPleasures:
** In episode 11 of the 4th season, "In the Clamor and the Clangor", it is highly implied that he actually likes Music/{{NSYNC}} and that they are his guilty pleasure. But, he didn't want to admit it and got a little bit defensive when the band teased him about it (they, too, revealed their guilty pleasures -- which did not include boy bands or bubblegum pop acts though).
** He secretly plays banjo in a bluegrass band.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Immature, lazy, selfish, but he genuinely loves Lane.
* LadykillerInLove: Before falling in love with Lane, he was a womanizer.
* LikesOlderWomen: The first time he meets the Gilmore girls. He isn't much interested in Rory, but makes passes on Lorelai whom he considers StacysMom archetype.
* ManChild: Not the most mature member of the group, to say the least.
* MistakenForCheating: In season 5 when he hides his bluegrass playing from Lane.
* SecondLove: For Lane. Dave was her first serious love, but after Dave moves to California, Zack replaces Dave as Lane's romantic interest.
* TheSlacker: When he is not playing, arguing or womanizing, he is usually seen playing video games or lazying around the (dirty) house and trying to delegate chores to Lane or Brian.
* SurferDude: He speaks in TotallyRadical and has a cool-wannabe attitude, for example forbidding Gil to talk about parental matters because it's not 'rock and roll'.
* ThoseTwoGuys: He and Brian started out as Dave's weird teammates without much of character depth.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Brian Fuller]]
->'''Played by:''' John Cabrera

The bassist of Hep Alien and eventually one of Lane's roommates when she moves out of her mother's house. He is a proud geek with a lot of quirky interests.
* NerdGlasses: Wears a pair and his look is a honest indication about his personality.
* ProudToBeAGeek: He has a tattoo of [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Snoopy]], according to Lane.
* ShipTease: With Kyon. Her and Brian are visibly interested in each other from the day when Brian impressed her with his knowledge of Korean culture.
* SicklyNeuroticGeek: He suffers from asthma, hypoglycemia, and has a deviated septum, among other things.
* TheSmartGuy: Between him, Zach and Gil, Brian is the only one who has the ambition to read or learn about anything.
* ThoseTwoGuys: He and Zach started out as Dave's weird teammates without much of character depth.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Dave Rygalski]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/AdamBrody
A guitar player and music afficionado who has an instant connection with Lane after they meet.

* BirdsOfAFeather: With Lane.
* {{Determinator}}: In regards to dating Lane. After the Bible quest even Mrs Kim was impressed.
* FirstLove: Lane had several crushes during the show - notably Henry - but admitted Dave was the first one she felt so strongly about.
* NiceGuy: A friendly person and a caring boyfriend. Even Mrs Kim likes him.
* OffscreenBreakup: His last appearance is in season 3, but
* OnlySaneMan: The most level-headed one in the band.
* PutOnABus: Leaves [[Series/TheOC "for California"]] after Season 3.
* SecretRelationship: With Lane. They hide their relationship for a while because Lane's mom only wants her to date Korean guys.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Taylor Doose]]
->'''Played by:''' Michael Winters

The selectmen of Stars Hollow and owner of the local grocery store.
----
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Because of how annoying and obsessed about ridiculous town matters he is, nobody has much patience for him. However, when it hits the critical point and Jackson runs against Taylor for a selectman and wins by a landslide, turns out that Taylor is the best candidate for that job... exactly because he's the only one willing to take care of the ridiculous town matters.
* AmbiguouslyGay: Is apparently considered this in-universe, going by the revival.
* AuthorityInNameOnly: He's the town selectman and for the most part, he's seldom taken seriously.
* ButtMonkey: Taylor is basically the town butt monkey of Stars Hollow and is even the butt monkey amongst his family. Shockingly enough, Lorelai seems to be the only person to have any sympathy for him.
* ControlFreak: Hooboy, is he a stickler for the rules.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: He's definitely not "evil" but when his obsessive and overbearing actions lead to Jackson beating him by a landslide for Town Selectman he seems genuinely dumbfounded that there were negative consequences to how he did the job.
* HiddenDepths: Always wanted to be a magician, as he reveals to Miss Patty every dance marathon.
* {{Jerkass}}: He's unbelievably obnoxious, but usually just tries to do what is right in his mind (or is simply self-serving at worst). Townspeople mostly acknowledge that Taylor is a good guy, but don't have much patience for him anyhow.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Seems to take a perverse delight in insisting every rule be followed to a tee, particularly when it irritates others.
* SitcomArchnemesis: To Luke, who seems to be the only person in Stars Hollow to disapprove and speak out against Taylor's obsessive need to control every aspect of the town. The rest of the townspeople tends to treat Taylor as a joke and Luke's feuds with him as another one.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Babette Dell]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/SallyStruthers

Lorelai and Rory's loud, eccentric, but loving next-door neighbor. She treats the two girls like her own daughters. Just among the many of Stars Hollow's zany bunch.
----
* ChubbyMamaSkinnyPapa: She's short and chubby while her husband Morey is tall and thin.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: A serious example even among eccentric neighbors (though not nearly as much as Kirk). She's quirky, has a strange voice, and often makes inappropriate comments.
* GossipyHens: Along with Miss Patty, knows every bit of gossip in the town and happily broadcasts it.
* HappilyMarried: With Morey. She frequently mentions her husband but she appears more often than him.
* KindheartedCatLover: Nearly bordering on CrazyCatLady at times. Babette can't resist taking in cats and treats them like her own children.
* NoIndoorVoice: She talks in very loud voice all the time.
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Morey is usually very quiet and hardly ever speaks but she's very chatty and talkative.
* UrbanLegendLoveLife: At least the way Babette describes it. Apparently she's pushed out of a moving car by a guy and was even part of a cult once.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Patricia "Miss Patty" Lacosta]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/LizTorres

An older woman who runs Miss Patty's School of Ballet in Stars Hollow. She was once quite the starlet and dancer in her youth and never fails to bring it up. Miss Patty is also very involved in the town's politics.
----
* BigBeautifulWoman: She's large, but still very beautiful, especially when you consider her age. The revival features her having lost a lot of weight and with a completely different hairdo.
* DeadpanSnarker: Like almost everyone in Stars Hollow, she deals with Taylor with crippling sarcasm. Or just telling him to shut up.
* DirtyOldWoman: Flirts with every man who crosses her path, regardless of age.
* GossipyHens: She usually stands in front of her ballet school and surveys the town for new interesting bits to see or hear, and she happily passes the knowledge. She's never malicious.
* IWasQuiteALooker: Used to have quite a career on the stage as a beautiful dancer/actress, apparently.
* TheLancer: Serves as this to Taylor Doose. Whenever Taylor's not running the town meeting, Patty is. Appears to serve a high ranking position in town but it is unclear what that positition is, elected or not.
* MrsRobinson: Granted Miss Patty flirts with men of all ages, she seems particular fond of handsome young men.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: No one ever calls her "Patricia."
* SerialSpouse: With at least four different husbands, according to a conversation between her and Lorelai.
* SpicyLatina: Miss Patty is what happens when this character type grows up and never loses her fiery personality.
* UrbanLegendLoveLife: Many of her scandalous stories seem to involve famous actors from her heyday as a dancer. Nobody really seems sure if she's telling the truth or not.
* WomenAreWiser: Particularly when Taylor is involved. Despite her over-the-top personality, she seems much more grounded and level-headed than him.
[[/folder]]


[[folder: Mia]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/ElizabethFranz (Season 2), Creator/KathyBaker (Season 7)
The owner of the Independence Inn in Stars Hollow. She took in a 17-year old Lorelai and an infant Rory when she ran away from her parents' home and arrived at Stars Hollow, giving her a place to stay and a job.
----
* FamilyOfChoice: Lorelai's relationship with Mia is much more warm and loving than her relationship with Emily.
* FirstNameBasis: Mia is the only one allowed to refer to Luke by his actual name "Lucas".
* ParentalSubstitute: Mother figure to Lorelai and a grandmother figure to Rory.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: She only appears in a total of 2 episodes throughout the entire series, but her act of kindness in the show's backstory has a major impact.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Gypsy]]
->'''Played by:''' Rose Abdoo

* AmbiguouslyBrown: In the very white Stars Hollow.[[note]]Rose Abdoo, who plays her, is of part-Lebanese and part-Dominican descent.[[/note]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Taylor makes her favorite target, but not the only one.
-->'''Jess:''' ''[about his car, being repaired by Gypsy]'' Are you waiting for it to tell you where it hurts?\\
'''Gypsy:''' I've seen dumber things talking.
* GirlishPigtails: Despite her tomboy appearance otherwise
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Assuming "Gypsy" is just a nickname. Her full name is never mentioned.
* WrenchWench: Car trouble in Stars Hollow? Gypsy's your go-to woman.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Rachel]]
->'''Played by:''' Lisa Ann Hadley

Luke's old girlfriend who travels around the world working as a photographer. She is said to have once been the great love of Luke's life, but could never stay settled in one place.

* AllergicToRoutine: Part of the reason why her and Luke's relationship didn't work out. She wanted to travel around the world, but he never wanted to leave Stars Hollow.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Rachel recognizes that Luke is in love with Lorelai before he can even admit it to himself.
* IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: She eventually decides to leave Stars Hollow when she realizes that Luke is in love with Lorelai, not her. For what it's worth, she doesn't seem too bothered by it and tells Luke not to wait to long to tell her.
* InformedAttractiveness: Sookie and Miss Patty describe Rachel as being drop-dead gorgeous, comparing her to Elle [=MacPherson=]. The actress is beautiful, but not quite a supermodel.
* OldFlameFizzle: Rachel came back to Stars Hollow to give her relationship with Luke another try, but it's clear his heart's not in it.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Although she disappears from the series after season 1, her photography helps lead Lorelai to rediscovering the old Dragonfly Inn, which is in disrepair. Lorelai and Sookie eventually purchase and renovate it. Rachel also helps push Luke along to realizing his feelings for Lorelai, which takes him a few seasons to act on.
* SmallTownBoredom: One of the reasons Rachel decided to become a photographer since she didn't want to stay in one place for too long.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Cesar]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/ArisAlvarado

* BigFun: He's both obese and always cheerful, sunny and polite to customers, in contrast to Luke.
* BumblingSidekick: Sometimes to Luke.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Aris Alvarado can be spotted as an extra in season 1 at Rory's Chilton dance.
* SpearCounterpart: To Sookie who is a chef as he works in the kitchen of Luke's diner. Though Cesar is much less important than Sookie.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Morey Dell]]
->'''Played by:''' Ted Rooney

The Gilmore girls' next-door neighbor and Babette's husband. He carries himself with a very cool demeanor and is a talented musician.
----
* CoolShades: He wears sunglasses.
* HappilyMarried: With Babette. He's frequently mentioned by his wife.
* NiceHat: He is usually wearing a black pork pie hat.
* KindheartedCatLover: Much like Babette, he cares deeply about cats and is one of the nicest guys in Stars Hollow. He does become distressed when Kirk adopts a cat that won't stop attacking him, though.
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Morey is usually very quiet and hardly ever speaks but his wife is very chatty and talkative.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Andrew]]
->'''Played by:''' Mike Gandolfi

The owner of the local bookstore.
----
* FlatCharacter: Never really makes an impression but is featured just as regularly as the rest of the Stars Hollow peanut gallery.
* OnlySaneMan: Averted. He may not be as "weird" as everyone else but he also doesn't seem to call out the others on their eccentricities either.
* RidiculouslyAverageGuy: Unlike most of the Star's Hollow residents Andrew is very "normal". Never really stands out and doesn't really possess the quirky traits of his fellow townsmen.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Nicole Leahy]]
->'''Played by:''' Tricia O'Kelley

An attorney who works with Taylor Doose. She becomes Luke's girlfriend in season 3.
----
* AccidentalMarriage: Luke and Nicole get married offscreen in between seasons 3 and 4. Most of the rest of the season deals with their crumbling relationship and divorce.
* BettyAndVeronica: The Veronica to Luke's Archie.
* FourthDateMarriage: Nicole and Luke had only been together a few months at most when they decided to get married on their romantic cruise together.
* OffscreenBreakup: Luke and Nicole's divorce gets finalized when he discovers she's been cheating on him in their home.
* TemporaryLoveInterest: The last of Luke's love interests before he starts dating Lorelai.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Liz Danes]]
->'''Played by:''' Kathleen Wilhoite

* AbusiveParents: Of the deeply neglectful and self-absorbed kind. She essentially leaves Jess to raise himself and apparently spent more time drinking and going through a string of terrible men rather than taking care of her son, with a strong implication that she did marijuana and other drugs around him as well. Even on Christmas, she doesn't ask to see him.
* TheAlcoholic: She apparently binge drank without realizing she was pregnant with Jess.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: To Luke, although he loves her.
* TheAtoner: Knows she's messed up in the past, knows the reputation she has and is trying to be better.
* BetaCouple: She's Luke's younger sister and had a string of bad short-term relationship. However, her relationship with TJ is stable, while Luke has ups and downs with Lorelai.
* BigBrotherWorship: Adores her big brother Luke
* CallingParentsByTheirName: Her son Jess almost exclusively calls her Liz, highlighting their strained relationship.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: She and T.J. even joined a vegetable-growing cult by ''accident'', needing Luke and Jess to bail them out. Luckily for them, they were apparently ''too odd'' for the cult and got kicked out before Luke and Jess save them. Jess flat out calls her a whackjob as he angrily rants about the state of his life to his biological father.
* {{Foil}}: Is a Sookier version of Lorelai. She has a lot of Sookie's personality -- is optimistic, impulsive, funny, creative, not always that reliable -- and a lot of Lorelai's life situation -- teen mother, gone through a lot of relationships, but instead of her mother being cold and strict she died when Liz was young, while her father is implied to have been distant with her.
* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: She references that she was [[TheAlcoholic a binge drinker]] and marijuana user in the past, and went through a string of crappy boyfriends and husbands before she met T.J. All this while apparently forgetting that she had a son. By the time she shows up in Stars Hollow with T.J., she has apparently cleaned up her act although Jess doesn't fully believe her.
* JunkieParent: Heavily implied to be this throughout Jess's childhood.
* MaternallyChallenged: And she knows it. In addition the other tropes mentioned here, when Liz becomes pregnant in season 7, she freaks out that she will makes the same mistakes with the new baby as she did with Jess.
* ParentalNeglect: She packs off Jess, her troubled teenage son, and sends him off to his uncle Luke while none of them had any word in the matter prior to Jess' arrival to Stars Hollow. Jess practically states that she rarely paid attention to him and mostly ignored him, being wrapped up in her own matters in getting drunk, high or finding a man.
-->'''Jess:''' She does not care what we think. She really doesn't care what I think. I've got nineteen years of proof to back me up.
* TheStoner: She used to be a heavy pot smoker, but since quit.
* TeenPregnancy: It's implied she had Jess as a teenager, much like Lorelai had Rory.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: TJ]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/MichaelDeluise

* TheDitz: In his [[{{Flanderization}} later appearances]]. He wasn't initially presented as a particularly bright guy, but later devolved to someone whom a construction crew can trick into thinking he's the boss, while sending him off to buy them sandwiches to get him out of the way.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's an obnoxious moron.. but he genuinely loves Liz and sees Luke as family.
* ObnoxiousInLaws: He's one for Luke. In a variation, T.J. is more obliviously obnoxious, he does like Luke and treats him like family. Luke just sort of tolerates him for Liz's sake (Jess flat out can't stand him).
* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: During one episode, he imposes himself on Luke and Lorelai's romantic dinner after having a spat with Liz, to Luke's annoyance, though as usual he's oblivious to it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Lindsay Lister]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/ArielleKebbel

* AlliterativeName: Until she married Dean, anyway.
* BettyAndVeronica: The Betty to Rory's Veronica.
* DisposableFiance: She was so disposable that Louise was able to predict her marriage with Dean breaking because of Rory despite ''never even meeting her''.
* EveryoneLovesBlondes: ''Michel'' found her attractive.
* {{Hypocrite}}: She is offended when she overhears Rory complaining that Dean is dropping out of college and working all the time to make money to afford the things Lindsay wants, and why doesn't ''Lindsay'' get a job... then a few episodes later she has a fight with Dean because she's sitting at home bored while he works all the time. Neither of them consider the possibility of Lindsay [[CuttingTheKnot getting a job to help out with their finances and also keep her occupied]].
* LethalChef: Apparently. Though she tried her best to improve for Dean's sake and seemed to make some progress.
* ProperlyParanoid: After overhearing her husband's ex-girlfriend verbally trashing her in the town market, Lindsay tells Dean she doesn't want him talking to Rory anymore. Four episodes later, their affair starts.
* SpoiledBrat: She's immature and would rather have fun than acknowledge that her husband has to work, but she cares about Dean and consequently tries to improve in cooking to please him.
* VirginInAWhiteDress: In the fifth season, when she doesn't have any JerkAss moments and her innocence is played up as [[spoiler:the extramarital affair's wronged party]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Lulu]]
->'''Played by:''' Rini Bell
Kirk's girlfriend.

* AmbiguousDisorder: While being seen with Kirk a lot makes her appear down-to-earth, she still has the ability to throw screaming fits over pink bows in public without seeing anything unusual about it.
* BerserkButton: While not as quirky as many Stars Hollowers, she gets very upset if you threaten her love of pink.
* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: Kirk's, as probably the only one that gets him.
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: For Kirk. He describes her as a woman who made him enjoy his life to its fullest. She's a teacher and, when seen in person, she's not actually very quirky or crazy.
* NiceGirl: An utter sweetheart.
* WhatDoesSheSeeInHim: The entire town wonders what she sees in Kirk, including Kirk himself.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fran Weston]]
->'''Played by:''' Linda Porter

The local baker
----
* CharacterDeath: Her death in season three is what leads to Lorelai and Sookie starting the Dragonfly Inn.
* CloudCuckooLander: Fran acts oblivious to her own mortality.
* SweetBaker: Fran is a very sweet old woman who owns and runs a bakery.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tom]]
->'''Played by:''' Biff Yeager

The construction guy Lorelai always hires.
----
* DeadpanSnarker: Always speaks in an apathetic tone and hardly says a line that isn't a snark.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Kyon]]
->'''Played by:''' Susane Lee

A studious and shy exchange student from Korea.
----
* CulturalRebel: She hides her American tastes like Lane did. Lane is even bemused when she finds out that Kyon likes Avril Lavigne.
* ReplacementGoldfish: Moves in with Mrs. Kim after Lane moves out. Lane even calls her on it.
* ShipTease: She shows interest in Brian after finding out his love of Korean culture.
* SuperGullible: Kyon never watches TV due to believing that Mrs. Kim can know when she watches it even when she isn't around and calls French fries "the devil's starchy fingers."
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Rev. Archie Skinner]]
->'''Played by:''' Jim Jansen

The local man of the church. His church doubles as a Synagogue.
----
* OnlySaneMan: One of the few townspeople who is able to challenge Taylor's ludicrous actions as town selectman.
* ThoseTwoGuys: With Rabbi David Barans.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sophie Bloom]]
->'''Played by:''' Carole King
The music store owner. Moves to Stars Hollow from New York in season two.
----
* CastingGag: The character was a successful musician in the seventies, rather like her actress.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: April Nardini]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/VanessaMarano

Luke's long-lost daughter; he doesn't find out about her existence until season six.
----
* AcademicAthlete: Mostly academic, but she's also an enthusiastic swimmer.
* BookSmart: She's introduced doing a science fair experiment, which wins her second prize. She attends M.I.T. in the revival.
* BrainyBrunette: A very smart, dark-haired girl who loves science. ''A Year in the Life'' reveals that she's an MIT student.
* BrutalHonesty: Self-admitted in the original series, she's a NiceGirl but can be too blunt with her opinions.
* CallingParentsByTheirName: April originally does this with Luke. She starts calling him 'Dad' once they begin to develop a bond.
* CousinOliver: A young, precocious character added in during a rather unpopular stretch of the show.
* HollywoodNerd: April is supposed to be a dork, but aside from her NerdGlasses, she's actually quite lovely.
* LukeYouAreMyFather: To, well, Luke.
* {{Meganekko}}: She wears NerdGlasses.
* NoSenseOfHumor: Self-admitted in the revival; she's working on it.
* ReplacementFlatCharacter: As Rory has become a confident college girl in later seasons, April is introduced to fill the role of the cute, geeky, and naïve teenager like early Rory.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: In college, to the point where Luke needed a dictionary, a thesaurus, and a book about natural philosophy just to decode a letter she sent him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Anna Nardini]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/SherilynFenn

Luke's ex-girlfriend and the mother of April. She and Luke don't see each other after their breakup until after April tests Luke's DNA for her science fair project.
----
* BecauseISaidSo: Her preferred method of parenting and of dealing with Luke.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Presumably she and Luke got along well enough to date at one point, and she's very pleasant to the customers at her store, but she's also consistently [[{{JerkAss}} condescending and belittling to Luke about his career, his love life, and his parenting skills]]. She also [[MoralMyopia acts like he has no claim whatsoever to April when it interferes with her plans]], much to [[LackOfEmpathy Luke (and April's) dismay]].
* ControlFreak: To the point that she flips out after discovering that April met Lorelai, Luke's fiancee and her future step-mother, without her permission. Her reasoning is that [[InsaneTrollLogic an engagement isn't stable and she doesn't want April to get attached and then upset if things don't work out.]] [[note]][[spoiler: Ironically, the engagement ''does'' fail, but only because [[SelfFulfillingProphecy Luke having to keep Lorelai separate from April drives Lorelai crazy, breaks trust between them, and seriously damages the relationship.]] ]] [[/note]]
* {{Foil}}: To Lorelai. Both are single mothers [[GlamorousSingleMother (by choice)]] to brilliant daughters. However, Anna actively tries to keep Luke out of April's life, while Lorelai always let Christopher be [[DisappearedDad as involved as he wanted to be.]]
* SmugSnake: When Luke challenges her for custody of April, she gives him an extremely condescending TheReasonYouSuckSpeech in an attempt to bully him into dropping the lawsuit. It doesn't work, and when the judge rules in favor of Luke she gets very upset.
* SolomonDivorce: Anna doesn't want Luke to have any say in April's care, doesn't tell him that April exists, and actively tries to obstruct him from having full parental responsibilities once he does get involved.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Her insistence that [[MyBelovedSmother April must be sheltered from any kind of shock]] and so [[InsaneTrollLogic Lorelai can't be around her]] results in [[spoiler: Lorelai and Luke's breakup and Lorelai's eventual marriage to Christopher.]]
[[/folder]]

!Yale
[[folder: Paris Eustace Geller]]
[[quoteright:191:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_10_9258.jpg]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/LizaWeil

One of the top students at Chilton, who tries to make Rory's life there hell. The two of them eventually become close friends, but it always remains a little shaky.
----
* AcademicAlphaBitch: The first time that Rory meets Paris at Chilton, Paris tells her how she's going to be editor of the school paper and valedictorian, ending with, "You'll never catch up. You'll never beat me. This school is my domain and the Franklin is my domain. And don't you ever forget that."
* AlwaysSecondBest: She was probably the most brilliant student before Rory starts attending Chilton. Eventually Rory is named Valedictorian and also gets accepted to Harvard, while Paris is rejected, much to her horror (they eventually both go Yale though).
* AscendedExtra: Especially after season 1. Originally Paris was only going to be in a few episodes, but Liza Weil really stood out and her role was greatly expanded.
* TheBGrade: Paris gets an A-minus on a science test and forces Rory to have an emergency study session with her.
-->'''Paris:''' All I had to do was [[MisplacedADecimalPoint move a decimal point]], and none of this would have happened.
* BelligerentSexualTension: With Doyle. The original series ends with her breaking up with him and him refusing to accept it. [[spoiler:In the revival she is getting divorced from him, but admits that she misses him and the sex was "volcanic".]]
* BigEater: Not typically, but in college, she fasted for Ramadan as part of an assignment for the Yale newspaper and as soon as it was over, she ordered a staggering amount of takeout and freaked out when her cheesy bread didn't arrive with the rest of her food.
* BookSmart: Like Rory, she's a hard-working and excellent student who eventually goes to Yale.
* BrutalHonesty: Don't ask Paris a question unless you're prepared for a pretty harsh answer.
* ClingyJealousGirl: In the later part of Season 1 and the beginning Season 2, she freezes out Rory because she believes that Rory accepted a date with Tristan (she didn't). Never mind the fact that A) Rory was the one who set up Tristan with Paris in the first place and B) Rory personally helped Paris prepare for her first date with him.
* DeadpanSnarker: Very much so, she always has snarky insults and rude comebacks for people she dislikes, so pretty much everyone.
* DefrostingIceQueen: While she's still blunt while the series goes on, she gradually becomes a true friend to Rory despite two falling outs and by the time of the revival views Lorelai as one of the closest things she's had to a mother.
* {{Determinator}}: She will fight to succeed and get what she wants.
* DitzyGenius: She's smart academically, but tactless and socially clueless.
* DrillSergeantNasty: Whenever she has an opportunity, she terrorizes, shouts at and commands around just everybody below her (and some weak-willed individuals who are technically her superiors). It shows best when she becomes the editor of Yale's Daily News, but starts as early as in Chilton.
-->'''Francie:''' What idiot gave ''her'' a gavel?
* EvilCounterpart: While not evil, her main role is being a {{Jerkass}} foil to Rory, especially in high school where she was at the most antagonistic. Both are very academic and ambitious, but Paris is the AcademicAlphaBitch in contrast to Rory's GoGetterGirl, and an InsufferableGenius in contrast to Rory's LadyAndAScholar.
* ExtracurricularEnthusiast: Even makes a chart of experiences and activities to do by graduation.
* FishOutOfWater: She doesn't fit in so well on her first trip to Stars Hollow, but mostly because she's convinced that it's secretly some kind of seedy hellhole.
* FriendlyRivalry: Eventually (the friendly part) with Rory. Even after they become close friends, Paris said that she needed Rory because, in addition to being her best friend, she challenged her to do better (as the only real competition she had) and without her she would have gotten lazy.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: To most people she hangs out with, her personality is hard to handle. Rory eventually becomes the only friend who gets her.
* GenerationXerox: [[spoiler:Sadly, the revival shows her during a divorce with Doyle with their kids being more attached to their foreign nanny, although their family situation still doesn't look ''as'' bad as Paris' when she was growing up.]]
* GoGetterGirl: Like Rory, only with a slight touch of insanity to it.
* HasAType: She mainly likes to date intellectual guys, like Jamie, Asher Fleming, and Doyle. The only exception is her crush on [[TheCasanova Tristan]] in season 1.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Rory and Paris usually find a way to work things out, though.
--> '''Emily:''' ''[to Rory]'' Are you and Paris Gellar friends? I can never tell.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Mainly with Rory, though not only. Paris is brilliant and knows it, but her insecurity on a social level and paranoid personality makes her feel easily threatened. The revival shows that, despite her relative success, this hasn't totally gone away. During an alumni day at Chilton, she runs into former AlphaBitch Francie and not only freaks out on her for stuff that happened years ago, but turns on Rory too, accusing her of conspiring with Francie.
* InformedJudaism: The only time it really came up during the course of the show was when Paris visited Jamie during the holidays, and when it's pointed out her bat mitzvah dress carries a menorah, though Liza Weil does practice Reform Judaism in real life.
* InsufferableGenius: Paris is brilliant, sure, but she's also a pain in the ass about making sure everyone knows it.
* IronicName: In one episode, Paris mentions she has read ''Literature/TheIliad'' three times. ''The Iliad'' features a pathetic, cowardly character named Paris, which is the opposite of Paris Geller's strong overachiever personality.
* {{Jerkass}}: In Season 1, defaulting to JerkWithAHeartOfGold in later seasons.
* JerkassToOne: In early seasons, she's mean to everyone, but especially to Rory. Inverted in later seasons, where she treats [[MoralityPet Rory]] like a friend and is nicer to her, while still being rude to everyone else.
* LonelyRichKid: It's downplayed, but one gets the sense her parents don't care an ounce about her. She was basically raised by her nanny, and is heartbroken when she moves to college and has to let her go (but they still talk), and she doesn't have many friends. Though that's due to her having NoSocialSkills, and it gets better in later seasons.
* MayDecemberRomance: With college professor Asher Fleming. She seems to have a thing for older men as well, including [[StacysMom Richard]]. Both squick out Rory. It seems that she just judges people for her brains and accomplishments, so older men have an advantage.
* TheNapoleon: She is usually the shortest, the loudest and the most power-hungry person in the room.
* NoIndoorVoice: What's shouting for others, for Paris is a normal speaking volume. It's implied to be her FatalFlaw which cost her [[spoiler:Harvard]].
* NoSocialSkills: She's good with academics, not with people.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: How she feels about Rory. On notable example is in "Secrets and Loans" when she just HAS to know if Rory's PSAT scores are higher than hers. Rory refuses to tell her.
* ParentalAbandonment: Technically she still has her parents but not only [[TheGhost do we never see them]] neither does she (we do see Paris's mother once, but she's on for less than a minute to lecture her about her acne regimen). They're rarely even in the same ''country'' as her and she was functionally raised by her nanny, who attends her graduation with her own family to provide some kind of 'family' support. Later they forget to pay their taxes, leave the country to avoid charges and leave her penniless. In the revival she actually claims that Lorelai was the closest thing to a mother she had, after her nanny. Lorelai is somewhat disturbed by this.
* ThePerfectionist: She has ridiculously high standards, a fact that bites her on the ass when she takes over editorship of the Yale Daily Editor. Her need to micromanage everyone and force every article to live up to her standard of quality drives most of the staff to quit.
* PerpetualFrowner: Paris is usually stressed about something, angry and/or feels that she's SurroundedByIdiots, and her expression reflects that.
* PowerHair: She cuts her hair into this style in the revival as she runs a successful fertility clinic.
* PreppyName: Shares a name with a famous city, and her middle name is a boy's name.
* PromotionToOpeningTitles: In season 2.
* RedOniBlueOni: The Red to Rory's Blue.
* RichesToRags: After her parents leave the country to avoid charges for tax evasion. She manages remarkably well (she already seemed to have logical money skills and shamed her parents for stupid accounting), and adjusts fairly quickly to no longer having money, all things considered.
* TheRival: Introduced in Season 1 as a rival to Rory, and always feels this way a little, even when they become friends.
* RunningGag: In spite of vehement individualism, is frequently concerned about not doing what people her age are "supposed" to be doing, such as attending a discotheque.
* SlutShaming:
** Paris inflicts it on ''herself'', apparently seeing a link between having sex with Jamie and [[spoiler:not getting into Harvard]]. She does it during her Chilton Bicentennial speech, which is aired live by Creator/{{CSPAN}} (a very rare instance of that network lending its brand to a fictional series). And then outs Rory as a virgin, and 'deduces' (correctly) that therefore [[spoiler:she will get accepted into Harvard]]. Did we mention it was on C-SPAN?
--->'''Paris:''' Pack your chastity belt, Gilmore -- you're going to Harvard!
** By the next season, she criticizes Rory twice for slut shaming her (first over her affair with Professor Fleming, and later about having sex with Doyle), referring to Rory more than once as a prude.
* SchoolNewspaperNewsHound: editor of both the Chilton Franklin and Yale Daily News.
* StudentCouncilPresident: She serves in this capacity during the third season. She is only able to get elected by having Rory as her VP to soften her image (people respects Paris' abilities and focus, but are terrified/put-off by her personality so she needed a softer, friendlier running mate who would have her back).
* SugarAndIcePersonality: She's usually the icy part with everyone, including close friends and loved ones, but every so often, the sugar part comes through, like with Lorelai, Rory, and Jamie.
* TomboyishName: Her middle name is 'Eustace', although nobody calls her that.
* TookALevelInJerkass: In season 4. Paris was never the nicest person around, but at least in earlier seasons she tended to abuse people who'd annoyed her or the ones she was feeling threatened by. Granted, those two categories covered most of the population, but at least she used to have reasons. In her freshman year in college, however, she goes to treat her innocent, nice and loving boyfriend like dirt, and not even for a cover for her affair with an older man, but simply because she doesn't even bother to tell Jamie she doesn't want him anymore.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Despite trading snark with each other, Rory and Paris have become close friends and will stick up for each other. Paris, in a way, becomes Rory's closest confidante during the periods of time when Rory's relationships with her family became strained. Even in early seasons, Paris often ran to Rory for help when she had a problem.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Doyle [=McMaster=]]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/DannyStrong

* BelligerentSexualTension: With Paris, until TheyDo (much to Rory's initial disgust). And after that too. The revival shows them still being in that stage while [[spoiler:they are getting ''divorced''.]]
* BetaCouple: With Paris, to Rory and Logan.
* DeadpanSnarker: Frequently.
* LovableNerd: Who else but Creator/DannyStrong?
* SchoolNewspaperNewsHound: A pretty [[ProfessionalButtKisser desperate one.]]
* TheSmartGuy
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Logan Huntzberger]]
[[quoteright:193:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download345_3242.jpg]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/MattCzuchry

* BrilliantButLazy: Rory swears that Logan is even smarter than she is, and when he wants to, Logan displays serious intelligence and education. He just doesn't usually want to. The only reason he manages to stay on the staff of the school paper is because the editor knows who his father is.
* TheCharmer: He knows how to pick up many girls and he's very charismatic. Rory falls for him almost immediately.
* FreudianExcuse: He's a lazy, partying, womanizing sleaze... but does so because he's been under constant pressure since childhood from his overbearing dad, and born to a BigScrewedUpFamily who's first reaction to him actually settling down with someone in Rory is to pick her apart and say she's not right for him.
* HandsomeLech: Very attractive and a serious womanizer.
* IconicSequelCharacter: He's introduced in season 5, but is very important for being the main character's LoveInterest in the last three seasons.
* ImAManICantHelpIt: How he justifies his horn doggery.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He starts off as a jerk but eventually evolves into a nice and loving boyfriend to Rory.
* LadyKillerInLove: When he falls for Rory, Logan tries to swear off his womanizing ways.
* MeetCute: When buying coffee from the cart at school Rory turns around and drops her change all over the ground. She crouches down. Logan stops to help her pick up the coins and he greets her with, "This would definitely qualify as a cute meet if we hadn't already met."
* PromotionToOpeningTitles: In season 6.
* RebelPrince: He says that he sees only one door, and feels he's being pushed through it. What he feels he's being pushed into is inheriting the Huntzberger Publishing Company, a national newspaper conglomerate.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Doesn't care about breaking rules (or laws) because he is secure that his family's wealth can get him out of any tight spots.
* SmugSnake: Early on, though he occasionally relapses into it.
* SpoiledBrat: And how!
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: His appearance and behavior, at first at least, might give a feeling that we're seeing a couple of years older [[PutOnABus Tristan]] again. Down to having ThoseTwoGuys companions with whom he does stupid things, and ridiculing his [[BettyAndVeronica the Betty]] rivals for belonging working class.
* ThirdOptionLoveInterest: A successful one at that, quickly replacing Dean and Marty.
* TroubledButCute: A shining example.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Has serious daddy issues with his overbearing, disapproving father.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Marty]]
->'''Played by:''' Wayne Wilcox

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Implied. The second time that Marty and Rory meet, he says he's finally not too intimidated to talk to her - [[InnocentlyInsensitive because it's when she's running late for breakfast and ran to the dining hall still wearing her pajamas]]. This may be a hint that [[{{Jerkass}} his later jerkish behavior]] isn't so out of character.
* TheBusCameBack: He was out of focus in later years at Yale but he reappears in the final season just in time for Rory to reject him again.
* DerailingLoveInterests: Goes from a nice, sweet friend to a bit of a jealous {{Jerkass}}.
* DoggedNiceGuy: Towards Rory. He likes her a lot but she wants to be just friends. She's not interested in him romantically.
* JustFriends. He might have even used the phrase itself during his confession.
%% * MeetCute
* NakedFirstImpression: First meets Rory when he wakes up outside her dorm room after a party, without any clothes on.
%%* NiceGuy
* OnlyOneName: His last name is never mentioned.
* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: The poor suitor to Logan's rich. Also shows how Rory's priorities have changed, as she goes after the upper-class jerkass Logan (who is charming in his own way).
%% * RomanticRunnerUp: To Logan.
* ScholarshipStudent: Marty is the poorest kid we meet at Yale. He can't afford to eat with the rich kids and sometimes works for Logan as a waiter. Logan is very condescending about it.
* StalkerWithACrush: Marty borders on this with Rory, especially in season 7. When he dates Lucy, she mentions he stalked her and it's hard to say if she's deadpan and joking, half-joking or serious.
-->'''Lucy:''' ''[describing how they met]'' He stalked me... I was playing Portia in ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'' at the Rep, and every night, I see this guy in the front row -- same seat, same intense gaze. And after the fifth show, I went up to him and I said, "next time I see you, you better bring flowers or have a knife and stab me." And...\\
'''Marty:''' The next time I saw her, I had daisies and a butter knife.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tana Schreck]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/OliviaHack

One of Rory and Paris's dormmates in their freshman year at Yale. She is younger than both girls and is very quiet and out of place in social situations.
----
* AmbiguousDisorder: She's socially awkward and only ever seems to be interested in giving out facts to people.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: She is very odd and tends to say the wrong things.
* DitzyGenius: Intelligent enough to get into Yale when she's just 15, but she appears to be extremely clueless and awkward.
* FishOutOfWater: She's even more socially awkward than Rory.
* NoSocialSkills: ''Zero'' social skills, even compared to Rory of the early seasons.
* PutOnABus: Disappears after season 4, since she wasn't rooming with Rory and Paris anymore.
* TeenGenius: She was 15 when she started college. ''Yale'' college.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Janet Billings]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/KatieWalder

Another of Rory and Paris's dormmates in their freshman year at Yale. Her strong personality often causes her to clash with Paris.
----
* DeadpanSnarker: Especially towards Paris.
* PassionateSportsGirl: She is very athletic and often gets up in the early hours of the morning to go jogging.
* PutOnABus: Her last scene is in season 6 where she gives romantic advice to Rory.
* SitcomArchEnemy: To Paris. Paris being a geek and Janet being a jock, they can't stand each other.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Asher Fleming]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/MichaelYork

An old colleague of Richard's and professor at Yale. He has a reputation for dating young attractive female students.
----
* BusCrash: He and Paris go away to England during the summer, and he dies there.
* CharacterDeath: He has a heart condition and dies.
* CoolOldGuy: Tries to be cool by dating young college girls.
* HotTeacher: Paris and quite a lot of female students at Yale would say so.
* MayDecemberRomance: He and Paris start dating and their relationship lasts quite long. He seems to have a reputation for dating young female students. Paris names the trope word-for-word to describe their relationship, though Rory describes it as a "May-Min Dynasty romance".
* PersonalHorror: He is ''very'' offended when Rory thinks that he may be giving her better grades because she knows he's sleeping with Paris.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Lucy]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/KrystenRitter

A friend Rory makes in her senior year of Yale. She is dating Rory's old friend, Marty.
----
* LifeOfTheParty: Whether it's dyeing her hair green, hosting a 2003-themed birthday party in 2007, or stealing dining hall trays to use as makeshift sleds, Lucy is always up for anything.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Lucy always refers to her boyfriend, Marty, as 'Boyfriend,' leading Rory to not realize the connection until she actually bumps into him.
* ThoseTwoGirls: With Olivia.
[[/folder]]

!Chilton
[[folder: Madeline Lynn and Louise Grant]]

Two members of Paris' Chilton clique, always seen together.
----
* BetaBitch: They help Paris intimidate Rory in early episodes, though it's clear Madeline is not particularly mean, but more of a follower.
* ExperimentedInCollege: Somewhat. While on spring break in college, the two girls discover that they can manipulate boys by kissing each other.
* TheFashionista: While they are rarely seen out of her Chilton uniform, they are very interested in fashion and very emotionally invested in new trends and fashion magazines.
* FriendlyEnemy: To Rory, periodically. Theoretically they are supposed to follow Paris in her FaceHeelRevolvingDoor, but have trouble remembering whether they are supposed to talk to Rory at the moment, or not.
* GirlPosse: Two sidekicks for [[AcademicAlphaBitch Paris]].
* LovableAlphaBitch: They seem to 'hate' Rory only on Paris' command and over time become sort of friends with her. They are still capable of behaving like bullies at times, though. Just ask Brad.
* MinionWithAnFInEvil: While they are on Paris's side when she antagonizes Rory, it's clear they are just followers and have nothing against Rory. Madeline, in particular, is the least malicious and would just everyone to get along.
* MsFanservice: Both Madeline and Louise seemed to fit the role, especially during college when they discovered that they can get boys to do what they want by kissing each other. The outfits fit that role.
* NiceMeanAndInBetween: Madeline is sweet and naïve (nice), Paris is harsh and rude (mean), and Louise is a slightly snarky GoodBadGirl but still friendlier than Paris (in between).
* OddFriendship: With [[InsufferableGenius Paris]]. It seems neither Madeline or Louise aren't particularly interested in her well being, but Madeline is more willing than Louise to play along with Paris' schemes, as she is more naïve.
* PutOnABus: Since they don't go to Yale with Rory and Paris, they make a re-appearance in a spring break episode in season four.
* ThoseTwoGirls: Always seen together.
* TookALevelInDumbass: In the first season they were average Chilton students and it's mentioned they easily get A's and B's. In seasons 2 and 3 they are portrayed as ditzy {{Valley Girl}}s, to the point you wonder why they are friends with [[InsufferableGenius Paris]].

!!Madeline Lynn
->'''Played by:''' Shelly Cole

* AfraidOfBlood: Madeline is afraid even of the word 'blood'. Saying it will make her scream.
* BrainlessBeauty: To a certain degree. While ditzy, she has a very good memory and is able to achieve decent grades with effort.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: A played down version of the ditz variety.
* GeniusDitz: Hard to tell. Madeline seems like a complete idiot at times, and yet she's still a Chilton student and apparently does quite well at school. One of the early episodes is about Rory getting a D, while Madeline gets a B (and both Paris and Louise get an A).
* InnocentBetaBitch: She is a cheerful airhead who is genuinely friendly and keeps forgetting that she's supposed to hate Rory when Paris is mad at her.
* KindheartedSimpleton: The dumbest of Paris's friends but also the nicest.
* UpperClassTwit: She is very wealthy, and not very bright.

!!Louise Grant
->'''Played by:''' Teal Redmann

* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: To Madeline.
-->'''Louise:''' Madeline, you are not confused. Think. Process. Focus.
* DeadpanSnarker: Though not as much as Paris. She might not be as book smart as Rory and Paris, but she's just as capable of trading barbs with them and getting under Paris's skin.
* GoodBadGirl: While both she and Madeline are flirtatious, Louise is implied to be quite promiscuous.
* ReallyGetsAround: Supposedly. When they are talking about a "Romeo and Juliet" school play...
-->'''Paris:''' You can't be Juliet. She's supposed to be chaste.
* WhiteCollarCrime: Her father is sent to prison for some kind of fraud, and then gets a LuxuryPrisonSuite when Louise and her mother visit him in jail for Christmas.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Max Medina]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/ScottCohen

* AlliterativeName
* AmicableExes: With Lorelai. When she meets him again after she's left him at the altar, Max acts so classy, that it makes Lorelai a little uncomfortable.
* CoolTeacher: Voted favorite by the students.
* HotTeacher: A few of his students mention how attractive he is and wonder if he's dating someone.
* RomanticFalseLead: In season 2, he and Lorelai were going to get married and move in together.
* TallDarkAndHandsome
* TheBusCameBack: Returning from California.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tristin Dugray]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/ChadMichaelMurray

* BettyAndVeronica: The Veronica To Dean's Betty, before Jess arrives.
* TheCameo: Has a non-speaking one in "Spring", bringing Paris' insecurities to the fore.
* TheCasanova: During the preparation to the school play he chooses a group with Paris (whom he briefly dated) and Rory (whom he kissed) out of five or so others, because... it was the only one free of his ex-girlfriends.
* FreudianExcuse: He's implied to have a pretty bad family situation.
* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: Obsessed with Rory at least partly because she isn't interested in him. Rory even says that she doesn't think he actually likes her, just that he wants to prove that he could get her to like him.
* LovingBully: He's rude to Rory, but he teases her just because he has a crush on her.
* PutOnABus: Shipped off to military school.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His name has been spelled as both Trist'''a'''n and Trist'''i'''n.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Headmaster Hanlin Charleston]]
->'''Played by:''' Dakin Matthews

* GoodIsNotNice: He's reasonable, but it doesn't mean he's not an ass most of the time.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Henry Cho]]
->'''Played by:''' Eddie Shin

* AsianAndNerdy: He's bright enough to attend Chilton and is an aspiring pediatrician.
* PutOnABus
* SecretRelationship: Somewhat, despite never actually going on a date. Ironically, Henry would probably be the perfect boyfriend for Lane in her mother's eyes, but Lane decides to hide the relationship since she thinks her parents would either never approve or approve of him so much that Lane wouldn't like him anymore.
* TokenMinorityCouple: With Lane. She even refers the trope in his first appearance when they meet at Madeline's party.
-->'''Lane:''' Oh no... It just figures that the only Korean boy at this party has his Korean girl radar on!
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Francine "Francie" Jarvis]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/EmilyBergl

* AlphaBitch: Leader of the Puffs, Chilton's "secret" sorority, and senior class president in season 3, who pits her two enemies, Rory and Paris, against each other and subtly manipulates the student council for personal gains.
* EvilRedhead: Has red hair and is an antagonistic character.
* KarmaHoudini: Francie manipulates Paris and Rory into renewing their hostile attitude towards each other and is never seen again afterwards.
* SmugSnake: Lampshaded by Paris: 'She's not smart enough to be sneaky'. She does manage to temporarily do some harm to Paris and Rory's friendship, but mostly by an accident (she mentions Paris' boyfriend not intending this information to be the bomb) and thanks to Paris' paranoid personality. Usually, though, her plots are easily brought down by Paris or Rory, but she still fancies herself as a formidable enemy of them.
[[/folder]]

!Others
[[folder: Christopher Hayden]]
->'''Played by:''' David Sutcliffe

Lorelai's childhood love and Rory's father.
----
* AmicablyDivorced: For the most part of the series with Lorelai, despite not having been ever married. He eventually does end up being divorced [[spoiler:twice, to two different women, both being the mothers of his daughters]].
* BettyAndVeronica: The Veronica to Luke's and especially Max's Betty.
* BumblingDad: To Rory.
* CrazyJealousGuy: To Lorelai's other LoveInterest Luke. They are more likely to engage in fisticuffs.
* DisappearedDad: For the most part.
* ExtremeDoormat: Any time his parents or Lorelai's parents tell him to do something, he usually does it without much protest. He usually means well for Lorelai and Rory, but he doesn't seem to be able to stand up to their parents. Plus, when Sherry tells him she's pregnant, he's visibly torn between staying for Rory or returning to Sherry before caving in and leaving again. [[spoiler:It's strongly implied from his conversation with Rory in "Fall" that even if he tried to convince Lorelai to let him help raise Rory, he wouldn't be able to change her mind and figured it would be easier to let her have her way.]]
* GlorifiedSpermDonor: He was rarely in Rory's life, largely due to Lorelai running away and breaking off contact, and because his parents directed his life to keep contact to a minimum as well as wanting to show her that he was stable enough to help. [[spoiler:When Rory goes to see him in "Fall", she asks him about why he didn't to convince Lorelai to raise her together. He confessed that when he first saw how she held baby Rory, he knew there was no way he could get in between them. He knew that because she was so headstrong about her choices and because they were so young, he wouldn't be able to change her mind anyway and let her raise Rory alone.]]
* HumansAreFlawed: Christopher usually means well and is generally a nice guy, but can't seem to get a control over his life, is weak, easily manipulated and well, [[StarCrossedLovers he and Lorelai tend to have a horrible timing]], so his appearance usually make things worse. Rory at some point realizes it and tries to keep him from causing damage to her mother's life. [[AesopAmnesia Lorelai doesn't.]]
* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: In season 7, he becomes jealous of Lorelai's bond with Luke and takes some time apart from her [[spoiler:including not returning her calls after Richard is hospitalized for a heart attack.]] He is then deeply affronted and refuses to let Lorelai explain when he shows up unannounced and finds that Luke has brought food [[spoiler:to the hospital - which Luke never would have done if Christopher had actually been there supporting his family.]]
* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: At the start of the series, Christopher is 32 - Lorelai's age - and is ''still'' struggling badly to make a successful business, despite not having to raise a child and coming from a very wealthy family.
* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: Rich Suitor for Lorelai, with Luke being the Poor Suitor. It has to do more with the social standing than with the actual money, though. And in later seasons he gets filthy rich when he inherits his father's money. He spends a romantic getaway with Lorelai in Paris and uses his money to pull a GrandRomanticGesture -- they were hungry and couldn't find a place, so he pays a lot of money to have a romantic restaurant opened just for them.
* RomanticFalseLead: For Lorelai: no matter how much he (and sometimes she) wished otherwise, it was always going to be Luke for her. Even acknowledged in-universe as such.
* ShotgunWedding:
** Averted with Lorelai when she got pregnant with him when they both were teens; both their parents pushed hard for this, and he was willing, but Lorelai refused.
** He actually wanted to end his relationship with Sherry, but returned to her when he found out she is pregnant; they got married and had Gigi.
* StarCrossedLovers: With Lorelai, for more than twenty years. [[spoiler:Eventually they get to get together and then split up for good.]]
* UnluckyChildhoodFriend: He's known Lorelai since they were kids and genuinely does love her. He even proposed to her when she got pregnant, and they did get married in Season 7, but her heart ultimately lies with Luke. [[spoiler:When Rory goes to notify him about the wedding, he tells her to send Lorelai his best wishes and that he's learned his lesson about letting her go.]]
** The series is born out of this trope - Christopher and Lorelai were very close as children, but Christopher is and was too much of a dumb and irresponsible man to really keep up with [[SilkHidingSteel Lorelai.]]
* UnwittingPawn: A lot of his actions towards Lorelai are largely triggered by suggestions from Emily, in an albeit misguided attempt to do right by Lorelai. For her part, she doesn't seem to begrudge his efforts, but she knows that he rarely did things of his own volition and mostly because the parents tell him to.
%%* WellDoneSonGuy: And then his father dies.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Jess Mariano]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/MiloVentimiglia

[[quoteright:224:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_11_4546.jpg]]
* AmbiguousDisorder: Shows the disdain and apathy consistent with someone suffering from depression and social anxiety, and in his centric episode in season 3, he blows up about his insecurities. See HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood below for more information on his troubled past and the actor has said that Jess is the kind of person who gets uncomfortable and leaves a room when there's too many people.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: In season 4's "Last Week Tights, This Week Fights", Jess begs Rory to run away with him and be with him ("And I"m ready. I'm ready for this. You can count on me now. I know you couldn't count on me before, but you can now. You ''can''.") -- this is possibly a reaction to seeing Rory and Dean together outside her dorm room as he comes to talk with her. It doesn't make Rory's rejection any less heartwrenching. This comes in the same season as his LoveConfession, which was unexpected, but less anguished.
* AmicableExes: [[spoiler:With Rory in the revival. They chat over drinks, he provides a sounding board for her current life struggles, and gives her the idea to write her book.]]
* BettyAndVeronica:
** The Veronica to Dean's Betty. Rory later expressed regret about the relationship with Jess to her best friend Lane Kim; saying that, while she was initially attracted to Jess' intellectualism and his "bad boy nature", she had become used to Dean's reliability and affectionate nature.
** The Betty to Logan's Veronica in Season 6.
* BigApplesauce: Jess is from New York City. He spends some time in the series CommutingOnABus between there and Connecticut, before ultimately moving to Philadelphia sometime between seasons 4 and 6.
* BlackSheep: To all of Stars Hollow.
* BookWorm: Rory's massive book collection prompts him to steal and annotate her copy of Ginsberg's "Howl" so that he can attempt to actually talk to her. Their mutual love of reading forms the basis of their relationship.
* BrokenAce: Inverted. Jess' outward image highlights his troubled nature, his insecurity, and loner tendencies, when he's actually quite sophisticated and intelligent.
* BrilliantButLazy: Starts out this way, then puts on this as a façade the fact he's got a job at Walmart where he works overtime shifts. He also secretly fixed Luke's toaster and refuses to admit he did it. He's shed the façade completely by Season 6 as he's written a book and is running a small publishing house.
* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: Brooding Boy to Rory's Gentle Girl.
* BrutalHonesty: He's absolutely not afraid to say what's on his mind, especially how he sees Luke acting towards Lorelai. His first encounter with Lorelai even led him to bluntly ask her if they were a couple. In Season 6 this trait comes in handy making Rory see how much she's screwed up her life and go back to Yale.
* CharacterDevelopment: By Season 6, he's matured greatly, learned to communicate with people, and thanks both Luke and Rory for supporting him when his life was a mess.
* CommonalityConnection: Despite his bad boy, cynical New Yorker attitude being at complete odds with small-town sweetheart Rory, they quickly bond over a shared passion for music, popular culture, and literature.
* CommutingOnABus: Returns twice for several episodes in Season 4, and two in Season 6. He's mentioned in "Winter" and appears in "Summer" and "Fall".
* DeadpanSnarker: Must be inherited from his uncle, as their conversations tend to fall into SnarkToSnarkCombat, as well as towards Lorelai. He's much nicer to Rory for obvious reasons.
* DeliberateUnderPerformance: Jess doesn't see the point in school and doesn't bother to try. He reads during tests in school (when he actually goes), and doesn't do his work. He fails out of high school despite being intellectually on-par with Rory and Paris.
* DisappearedDad: His father left the family right after Jess was born.
* {{Foil}}:
** For Dean. While Jess has his own problems and is generally not well liked by the residents of Stars Hollow he connects with Rory on an intellectual level unlike anyone else in the town.
** For Logan: Both of them are intelligent but unmotivated, rebellious and had neglectful childhoods. But while Logan is ridiculously wealthy and can rely on his family to bail him out of trouble, Jess comes from a poor single parent family and has to deal with the consequences of his bad decisions. They're also foils regarding Rory: Both of them fell for her despite being fairly guarded, uncaring guys most of the time but while Logan drags her down into partying and theft, Jess inspires her to stick with her dreams and go back to Yale. [[spoiler:This carries into the revival where she's Logan's mistress while Jess tells her to write a book.]]
** For Rory herself. Both of them were raised by young mothers without their fathers present. But while Lorelai raised Rory with a fierce devotion in the stable environment of Stars Hollow, Liz was a wildly unstable alcoholic and drug user who rarely paid attention to her son while barely raising him in the more chaotic New York City, forcing him to raise himself. When they first met, she was on a bright path to Yale while he was insecure and self-destructive about his path in life. [[spoiler:In the revival, he has a stable life in Philadelphia working in publishing while Rory is floundering in her career and unsure about her life. As one review put it, it's telling that while he continues to carry a book with him and is reading in his final scenes, ''Rory'' hasn't been seen with a book the entire time, aside from glancing at the ''Stars Hollow Gazette'' and writing the first three chapters of her manuscript.]]
* GeniusBookClub: A trait shared with Rory. He has read and can be found reading many famous authors, including Tom Wolfe, Kurt Vonnegut, and Jack Kerouac. He debates the merits of Bukowski with Paris and teases Rory for her disdain of Hemingway. He grabs her attention in an EstablishingCharacterMoment by writing notes in the margins of her copy of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl", which he tells her he's read "about 40 times."
* HatesSmallTalk: Self-admittedly. His monosyllabic tendencies are commented by several characters and never in a positive light.
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: When Liz shows up her ditzy nature and bad taste in men is almost entirely played for laughs... never mind that Jess had to grow up with an unstable mother and her string of horrible boyfriends. And yeah, ''he'' gets blamed for being bitter about it? In his first meeting with Lorelai, she clumsily attempts to relate to him with her own past - despite some clear differences, namely that her parents smothered her while his neglected him - and it only makes him even angrier.
* IconicSequelCharacter: He doesn't appear until season 2, but quickly becomes Rory's SecondLove, and is probably the most iconic of Rory's love interests on the show, thanks to his popularity with fans.
* InsecureLoveInterest: Openly admits that he has no idea why Rory is with him, and his insecurity is a major reason their relationship falls apart.
-->'''Luke:''' She picked you.\\
'''Jess:''' God knows why.\\
'''Luke:''' She knows, that's all that matters.
* {{Jerkass}}: In season 2, he treats everyone ''horribly'' except Rory. In season 3, he's not much better and there's also his treatment of Rory herself after they start dating, which ends with him leaving town without telling Rory anything. He has a FreudianExcuse but still...
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's certainly rude, surly, uncommunicative and difficult, but does care about Luke and Rory, and tries to support them though he's too dysfunctional to succeed at first. By his return in S6 he's shed most of the jerkish aspects and is much nicer, though his bluntness and snarking remain.
* LikeASonToMe: To Luke by the end of the series. [[spoiler:In ''A Year In A Life'', Lorelai even asks Luke if he wanted a son to throw a football around with and Luke says he has Jess.]]
* LoveAtFirstSight: Upon his second return in season 4, he tells Rory that he knew they were "meant to be together" from the first time he saw her. Sadly, Rory has lost her trust in him by this point and rejects him.
* MenaceDecay: The show treats Jess like a bona fide James Dean, but he does very little to live up to any sort of standard of "bad boy," other than smoking and a disdain for authority. His list of crimes include stealing garden gnomes, his high school's supply of baseballs, and creating a chalk outline of a fake murder victim outside the grocery store. He crashes Rory's car...avoiding a small furry animal. He skips school...to work a job at Walmart. This is, at one point, lampshaded by Lorelai at a town meeting, but when he shows interest in Rory, she also starts treating him like he just got out of juvie. Logan weirdly fits the trope better, but managed not to be the boyfriend remembered as the "bad boy" by the show or the fandom.
* {{Nephewism}}: Is introduced into the story by being sent to live with his uncle, Luke.
* NiceGuy: Upgrades to this by Season 6 and in ''A Year In The Life'' as he's much more communicative, reliable and friendly.
* NoRomanticResolution: In "A Year in the Life", [[spoiler:Jess is the only one of Rory's major ex-love interests she does ''not'' get closure with. This did not go unnoticed by Literati shippers.]]
* OddFriendship:
** Although very short-lived, as they really interacted only on one evening, Jess notably goes down in the show's history books as the only one of Rory's love interests who got along with Paris. A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD_k1HHnABE deleted scene]] showed that even Paris could sense their BelligerentSexualTension and gave him her seal of approval.
-->'''Paris:''' If you ever do decide that you like him, I wouldn't blame you. He's unbelievably cute, and though his literary tastes leaves a little to be desired, at least he has literary taste.
** Rory's friendship with Jess is seen as this by pretty much everyone, including Lorelai. This is mostly due to Jess coming off as a troublemaker and punk to the rest of the town, but he connects with Rory over their shared interests.
* OperationJealousy: The first half of season three. Jess gets himself a blond bimbo solely to infuriate Rory and show her that little does he care about her still being Dean's girlfriend. As soon as Rory and Dean are broken up, the bimbo is out of the picture.
* ParentalAbandonment: Jess ends up in Stars Hollow because his mother couldn't handle him. She ships him off to Luke without asking his (or Luke's) input.
* PetTheDog: In one episode, he pulls a prank which turns the whole town against Luke because he tried to defend him yet again. When he gets a WhatTheHellHero from Rory for not caring about it and being ungrateful to Luke, he fixes the toaster Luke was working on in the beginning of the episode and doesn't even take credit for it.
* PromotionToOpeningTitles: In season 2.
* TheReliableOne: Amazingly - considering how he started out - he's become this in the revival, getting Luke to talk about his situation with Lorelai, solving his wi-fi problem and comforting Rory through her mid-life crisis.
* SecondLove: To Rory. Dean was the first.
* SelfMadeMan: Season 6 reveals that he's published a short book co-runs a small publishing business, and is very involved with the local independent arts scene.
* SmarterThanYouLook: The early seasons. Most of the town thinks he's a failure and a trouble maker, and he does little to change that opinion. He fails high school, but is highly intelligent, well-read, and goes on to work in publishing, including a novel of his own. Rory calls him on this explicitly in "Teach Me Tonight", and tells him he could do more with his life.
* StarCrossedLovers:
** As the show went on, this became the case for him and Rory. Their initial attraction and relationship is plagued by the presence of Dean, the town's disapproval and Jess's own issues. Jess then runs away, leaving Rory heartbroken but later returns to find Rory back with Dean, leaving him heartbroken. He then returns again (after fixing himself) as a young adult to find Rory now with Logan and as much of a mess as he was before. After he convinces her to 'fix' her life, they kiss for a final time, only for her to decide to remain with Logan instead, causing Lit fans to lose their final shred of patience with the writers.
** [[spoiler:The ending of ''A Year In A Life'' hints that Jess might still have feelings for Rory, but only a few scenes later we discover she's pregnant with (probably) Logan's child.]]
* StickyFingers: Jess steals things for his own amusement. Luke finds this bizarre, because the items he steals have no monetary value. This includes Babbette's prized garden gnome (which he hid in Luke's closet) and all ''500'' of Stars Hollow High's baseballs. [[NoodleIncident No word on where he stored those or what he did with them.]]
* SugarAndIcePersonality: In the early seasons, Jess is a jerk to pretty much everyone but Rory. She notices, of course, and confronts him about it. He evades until she drops it.
* TeensAreShort: Milo Ventimiglia is actually 5'10", which is the average height for guys. Part of the trick to convince the audience that he was was 17 was to use camera angles to make him look shorter as well as dressing him in slightly baggier clothing. Playing most of his scenes against the 6'3" Luke and 6'4" Dean also helped make him look smaller by comparison and Milo has said that when filming "Keg! Max!"'s big fight scene, what Jess lacked in size, he made up for in scrappiness.
* TerseTalker: He can be eloquent (mostly when talking to Rory or taunting Dean), but usually gets by 'yep', 'nope' and 'huh'. Frequently [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded.]]
-->'''Jess:''' The verbal thing comes and goes.
* TookALevelInKindness:
** Far friendlier and more sociable when he returns in S6, and certainly much better at articulating his feelings. The Jess we first met would never have given genuine heart-felt speeches about appreciating everything Luke and Rory did for him.
** Taken UpToEleven in "A Year in The Life" he gets along quite well with Rory again [[spoiler:and gives her the idea for her novel]], and comforts Luke when [[spoiler:Lorelai leaves to find herself]] before yanking out the diner's [=WiFi=] to give his uncle some peace. [[spoiler:It's strongly implied in his last scene he's still in love with Rory, and might have another shot with her.]]
* TroubledButCute: Sullen, broody, a neglectful and borderline abusive mother... but damn is he cute. Post CharacterDevelopment he settles on being just cute.
* {{Tsundere}}: He is Tsun Tsun towards everyone but Dere Dere mainly to Rory and at times Luke.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Jess has pretty low self-esteem at the start of the series, despite being intelligent and well-read. While the townsfolk of Stars Hollow buy into his bad boy persona, Rory and Luke don't and insist he can do more with his life. They were right. By season 6, Jess has mellowed; he has published a short novel and works for a publishing company. Both Rory and Luke are proud of him.
* WackyParentSeriousChild: Particularly in comparison with Liz, his mother.
* WhatHaveWeEar: Is introduced with a talent for sleight-of-hand magic tricks. He attempts to use them to flirt with Rory. She is not impressed.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: With Rory during Season 2 and 3. [[spoiler: They do but later break up.]] Then again during Season 4, when he's CommutingOnABus, again during brief appearances in Season 6 [[spoiler:and then the revival reignites this trope literally ''minutes'' from the end]] .
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Jimmy Mariano]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/RobEstes

Jess's absentee father. He walked out on Liz shortly after she gave birth to Jess, eventually settling in Venice Beach, California where he runs a hot dog stand named "Dante's Inferno" and lives with his girlfriend Sasha.

* CallingParentsByTheirName: Jess only ever refers to him as Jimmy.
* CallingTheOldManOut: Luke gives him a scathing speech for walking out on Liz and Jess. Jess also gives him one after leaving Stars Hollow and having no where and no one else to turn to besides him.
* DisappearedDad: He had been absent from Jess's life for about 18 years.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: He's shown to have the same love for music and books as Jess.
* MultipleChoicePast: In Jess's first appearance, Jimmy was said to have walked out on them two years before, but later episodes established he's been gone since Jess was a baby.
* ParentNeverCameBackFromTheStore: The last time Liz and Luke saw him before the series started was when he left for the store to buy diapers.
* VisitByDivorcedDad: Jimmy appears randomly in Stars Hollow in season 3 to meet Jess for the first time. And later in the season, Jess makes his way to California after dropping out of high school.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Jason Stiles]]
->'''Played by:''' Chris Eigeman

Richard's business partner and Lorelai's boyfriend for most of season four.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Jason seems to have sensory issues. He dislikes noise to the point that he prefers to dine in a separate room at restaurants and is so uncomfortable sleeping next to anyone that he puts his one-night stands in a luxurious guest room.
* AmicableExes: Shares a sweet scene with Lorelai in ''A Year In The Life'' when he genuinely asks if she's happy and they tease each other with their childhood nicknames.
* TheBusCameBack: Digger returns in ''A Day in the Life'' at Richard's funeral. He and Lorelai are able to reconcile.
* DerailingLoveInterests: Once he goes after Richard, Lorelai dumps him. He then squats at the Dragonfly, refusing to take no for an answer despite Loreli breaking up with him, nearly ruining her budding relationship with Luke.
* EmbarrassingNickname: "Digger" Stiles. A lot of the characters call him that simply to annoy him.
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Most of the time his childhood is brought up, it's for laughs.
* PutOnABus
* ThirdOptionLoveInterest: For Lorelai.
* WellDoneSonGuy: He and his father outright hate each other, and his team up with Richard was partly to get back at him. Given his dad later sues him and destroys his business, it's justified.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Nothing ever comes from the storyline dealing with Jason suing Richard.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Gil]]
->'''Played by:''' Sebastian Bach

An older rocker who joins Hep Alien after Dave moves to California. Despite his age, he is just as capable of keeping up musically with his younger bandmates.
----
* CoolOldGuy: Something that both Brian and Zach had reservations about since they wanted the band to maintain a youthful image. Lane vetoed both of them and let Gil in the band due to his guitar-playing abilities.
* HappilyMarried: Married and with kids. In one scene, the characters were shocked to see Gil making out with someone, only to find out it's his wife.
* NiceGuy: The sweetest guy. It's part of what gets him in the band: Lane sees him with his family and genuinely thanking her for the opportunity and can't bring herself to reject him based simply on his age.
* TeamDad: An actual dad with two young kids. Not to mention, he is the oldest member in Hep Alien. Sometimes his fatherly instincts brush off on the band, to Zach's displeasure.
* PluckyComicRelief: Generally serves this.
* SurferDude: Speaks like this.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Sherry Tinsdale]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/MadchenAmick

Christopher's seemingly perfect new girlfriend and later fiancée. A glamorous, driven career woman who always insists on getting her way.
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* ControlFreak: To the point of scheduling giving birth.
* {{Determinator}}: She usually finds a way to get her own way no matter the circumstances, such as getting Rory to bond with her and trying to arrange every little detail of her pregnancy and birth.
* FamilyVersusCareer: A career girl. The show does ''not'' treat it sympathetically.
* MissingMom: [[spoiler:Abandons Christopher and Gigi when Gigi is still a toddler because she was chasing a career opportunity in Europe. Though later she changes her mind and seeks a contact with her daughter.]]
* PutOnABus: Despite only appearing in the second and third seasons, Sherry's impact is felt throughout the rest of the series.
* ScheduleFanatic: Scheduled her C-section, but goes into labor a week early. It upsets her very much, as she wrote it down.
* ShotgunWedding: She and Christopher only return to each other and get married because Sherry discovers she's pregnant. [[spoiler:It ends the way you'd expect it to.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Berta]]
->'''Played by:''' Rose Abdoo

Emily's new maid in the revival, and the first of her maids to not get fired between episodes. [[spoiler:She lasts the entire revival and is firmly in place with her entire extended family by the end.]]
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* AmbiguouslyBrown: Rose Abdoo, who plays her (and who also plays Stars Hollow's resident mechanic Gypsy) is of part-Lebanese, part-Dominican ethnicity.
* FunnyForeigner: Berta doesn't even try to speak English, gradually moves her large extended family into Emily's house, and Emily has no idea what goes into her cooking (although since it's delicious, this is not a problem.)
* SpicyLatina: Averted. She's Latina but she's warm and friendly.
* TheUnintelligible: Nobody in-universe knows exactly what language Berta speaks (best guess is one of the Iberian Romance languages) but her dialogue is subtitled for the benefit of the viewer. [[note]] Rose Abdoo apparently [[https://www.gilmorenews.com/2016/12/01/rose-abdoo-on-new-role-as-berta/ just modified her Spanish]].[[/note]]
[[/folder]]

%%* KindheartedCatLover

[[folder: Fran Westin]]

* CharacterDeath: Her death in season three is what leads to Lorelai and Sookie starting the Dragonfly inn.

->'''Played by:''' Creator/JimJansen