History Characters / Leverage

* AluminumChristmasTrees: John Rogers points out to fans who call Eliot's eclectic assemblage of skills "unrealistic" that most of them are skills that ''the real-life Christian Kane actually has''. He really is an experienced chef, he really does sing country, and he personally performs every stunt that the insurance will let him (and many that they really, ''really'' wouldn't, if they knew about it beforehand). When he was informed that he needed to learn how to play hockey and fight on skates in time for the shooting of "The Blue Line Job", he said "Okay," and was ready by the time the cameras started rolling.

* TheHeart: Particularly when he brings the team together at the start of the series.
* TheHero: If this is a FiveManBand, anyway.

* OfficialCouple: With Sophie, beginnng in season 4.

* TheDragon: Was once one to Starke, in a sense, and now is Nate's NumberTwo.

* VitriolicBestBuds: With Hardison.
* WouldHitAGirl: But only if she hits him first.

* BetaCouple: With Parker.
* BlackAndNerdy: He's a hacker. What do you expect?

* FiveManBand:
** TheLeader: Nate
** TheLancer: Sophie
** TheBigGuy: Eliot
** TheSmartGuy: Hardison
** TheChick: Parker
** TheSixthRanger: Tara in season 2 during Sophie's temporary departure. Maggie in "The Second David Job" and "The Last Dam Job."

** TeamDad: Nate
** TeamMom: Sophie
** BigBrotherInstinct: Despite his fractious relationship with Hardison, Eliot is very defensive of the team.
** AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Hardison, at least to Eliot.
** EveryonesBabySister: Parker (don't make her relationship with Hardison creepy, you creep)

A former UsefulNotes/{{Mossad}} agent who serves as The Hitter in Marcus Starke's crew. Has a FoeYay-filled confrontation with Eliot.

* FoeYay: With Eliot.

* BaldOfAwesome /BaldOfEvil: Randall has a little of both.

* TheDreaded: According to Chaos, Sophie is such a feared person in the world of professional thieves that they generally get somewhere else when she's in town. It's why Chaos, upon learning there's even a chance of her joining his crew (which he planned on betraying), simply tries to blow her up.

* TheBrute: Seems to have this role in the VillainOfTheWeek's gang. He's probably the most dangerous member of the group, but isn't her NumberTwo, and would appear to have been hired solely for his skill as a leg-breaker.

* EvilGloating: Take the opportunity to taunt Eliot while the latter is lying flat on the floor, bleeding.

* HiredGuns: Works for kidnappers and gangs who wants muscle.

* TheMafiya: Works for them in "The Carnival Job" though he's clearly not a member of their organization.

* AffablyEvil: Their somewhat professional, cordial guys, who don't actually hurt anyone over the hunt for the Van Gogh.

* CoDragons: Ultimately turns out to be working together and for the man after the painting.

* MercyLead: Frank offers one to the old man with the painting at the episodes beginning, although he suggests that the guy just use it to turn over the painting.

* NoodleIncident: Eliot says Randall owes him $27,000 over a job involving a Beatles Guitar.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: He is determined to screw over stagers and employs alike to get richer.
* EvilOldFolks: Utterly remorseless about letting children die for a little extra money witholidng their policies save.

* ItsPersonal: For Nate it is.

* OutGambitted: Underestimated Nate's brains and Maggie's complicity, and overestimated Sterling's loyalty.

* VillainousBreakdown: When he realizes that Nate's target is [[spoiler: the $150 million worth of ''other'' art in his gallery, which was loaned to him and insured by IYS... and that Nate had him on record being warned of an impending robbery and outright refusing to call the police because he wanted to catch Nate himself]].
* WickedCultured: The guy loves his art.

* TheChessmaster: He is pretty good at planning things out. But he failed to fully see Nate's plan or Chaos'.
* TheDreaded: He thought himself to be a fearful, and powerful figure. [[spoiler:This was not the case. He was only seen this way because he was working with ''Sophie'', the real dreaded]].
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: He trusted [[CardCarryingVillain Chaos]]. Not the best move there, buddy.

* MirrorCharacter: With Nate. When Sophie is saying how brilliant man whose pride has been hurt and personally challenged, it will lead him to do a bigger, more dangerous con. One of the team asks if she's talking about Starke or Nate. This is referenced by interspersing clips of Nate and Starke giving pretty much the same speech and even putting their suit coat on in the same fashion.
* OnlyInItForTheMoney

* CombatStilettos: Faces Eliot while wearing heels.
* DarkActionGirl: Works for criminals (well, more mercenary criminals than our team) and is a very tough fighter.
* DefrostingTheIceQueen: Her character arc for the episode involves showing a little more warmth through her interactions with Eliot, even after their crew gets thwarted.

* FromCamouflageToCriminal: Like Eliot, once she was a soldier for her country, now she just works for whoever pays.

* GentlemanThief: A well-mannered professional pickpocket

* PhantomThief: Steals a painting form one side of a wall right as Parker tries to get through the other side to steal it.
* TheRival: To Parker, who he repeatedly competes with during a robbery or pickpocketing scene, although it gradually turns into a FriendlyRival vibe.

* DirtyCoward: He's quaking and terrified when he thinks his life or freedom are in danger.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Tires to be charming but its very superifical, and the guy is a very dangerous criminal.
* LackOfEmpathy: Had a cop gunned down, listens to Culpepper's "death" without batting an eye, tries to cut a deal with Nate's character (who supposedly offed Culpepper)...not a lot of empathy going on there.

* BigBad: The team is initially just trying to get Parker out of trouble when she was on a solo run rather than target anyone, and then initially think the CEO is the one that is behind things, but Hannity is the one with the EvilPlan they need to thwart, and who they sicc the authorities on.
* LackOfEmpathy: To put this in context. She is willing to kill all the wheat in the world, the most common grain and source of food, just so she can have a monopoly and make a profit. The death toll from the resulting famine would easily be greater than any other villain in the entire series. [[spoiler: The only one comparable would be weaponized [[UsefulNotes/TheSpanishFlu Spanish Flu]].]]
* MadScientist: She wants to destroy half of the worlds wheat.

* SmugSnake: God yes. She talks like she's in complete control when talking to Sophie. When the latter brings up her failures with the company, Hannity all but states that she's plotting to unleash the blight, purely because she can't stand to have her intelligence challenged.

* TheMafiya: Was working with the Russians when the Leverage team encountered him.

* TakingTheHeat: Went to prison because the Three Families needed him to. Their refusal to pay him what was owed him for this plays a major role in "The Three-Card Monte Job".
* ThickerThanWater: His reason for taking Latimer's job in "The Radio Job". Yes, the two million dollar payout was important... but he also did it to protect his son.

* DisneyVillainDeath: He falls [[spoiler: off of a dam's concrete platform in a struggle with Dubenich going for a gun Nate set down at the edge to kill the other.]]

* TheManBehindTheMan: To Earnshaw Pharmaceuticals, [=DuberTech=], Wakefield Agricultural, and Merced Financial, all of whom were exposed by the Leverage team.

* UnknownRival: Unbeknownst to the Leverage team, Latimer has been profiting of their crusade against corrupt companies and is secretly working with [[spoiler:Victor Dubenich, the first person they put away]].

A hulking giant from the Russian Mafia, with a grudge against Eliot, a penchant for using cooking ware as weaponry, and a very ugly reputation in the underworld. Appears in "The Wedding Job."

* TheDreaded: Nate, Sophie, Hardison, and Parker have all heard of him, and are tempted to abort the mission when he shows up alongside the other Russians. See the page quote.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep

* GoodScarsEvilScars: His last encounter with Eliot left him with some very evil burn scars on one cheek.

* IronicEcho: "It burns!" Shouted in flashback when Eliot smacked him in the face with a burning piece of plywood, shouted in the present when lemon juice is sprayed into his eyes.

* BrainsAndBrawn: With Chaos in the Season 4 finale.

* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:Returned in the season 4 finale.]]

* HiddenBadass: Eliot really didn't see that one coming.[[note]]This serves as a bit of FridgeBrilliance. This quiet, nobody goes from unimposing to severely beating Eliot. Now we - the viewers - know what all those mooks feel when they go after Eliot in disguise.[[/note]]

* LightningBruiser: Just like Eliot, but in contrast to Eliot being a fast-moving tank, Quinn is more of a hard-hitting speedster as shown in their fight where he's able to dodge most of Eliot's attacks and lay a beatdown, but Eliot soaks up the attacks before KOing Quinn in a few hits.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Gives a pretty nasty one to Marcus Starke, telling him flat out that Sophie's the one people were really afraid of.

* [[spoiler: TheBusCameBack: Twice. First in season 3's "The Ho Ho Ho Job" and then returned in "The Last Dam Job".]]
* TokenEvilTeammate: [[spoiler:In "The Last Dam Job". Quinn and Eliot at least respect each other have no hard feelings over being on opposite sides in the past while Archie obviously cares about Parker. Chaos is only recruited because of his hacking skills and the other characters make it clear they neither like nor trust him.]]

* [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench Everything Sounds Sexier in Italian]]: Oh yes. More mysterious too.

* HiddenAgendaVillain: We know she wanted Moreau out of the way. What we still don't know is why. She could be anything from a KnightTemplar looking to see him arrested to a rival BigBad scheming to take his place.
* ManipulativeBastard: She's behind Nate's moves even as he thinks he's alerting independence from her.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Kicking Hardison (handcuffed to a wooden swivel chair) into a swimming pool and letting him flail underwater helplessly for a full minute before throwing the keys in. Taking a nonchalant sip of brandy as Eliot stands helplessly, knowing that if he goes for Hardison, the dozen armed guards will blow him to sushi.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast

* VillainousBreakdown: Slowly but does break down over the course of his story arc as he realizes a handful of people he's never heard of [[spoiler: and one former employee]] are destroying everything he's built.

* TheChessmaster: Played with. Nate states that his father's game is [[ShellGame Three-card Monte]], not chess, and Jimmy is nothing if not opportunistic, keeping his cards close to his chest and improvising as need be. That said, he does have an overall plan, and it's very near as detailed as one of Nate's. And intriguingly, it's not all that different from Nate's plans; the key is [[KansasCityShuffle making the marks outsmart themselves]].

* DyingDeclarationOfLove: His last words in life was to ask Nate to tell people how much Jimmy Ford loved his son. This admission of parental love [[spoiler:stuns Nate so he is far enough away from the explosion that kills Jimmy]].
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Clearly cared very deeply for his late wife. As he said, his wife may not have always got him, but they loved each other. His last words were to let his son know that he loved him.

* TheFixer: Moved up from con-games, loan sharking, and book-making to be the best fixer in the neighbourhood, linking up bad guys and henchmen for the Three Families.

* TheIrishMob: Worked for the Three Families for thirty years.

* VillainsWantMercy: [[spoiler: In "The Last Dam Job", Dubenich corners Nate with intent to kill, but unfortunately his gun was empty as he failed to keep track of how many shots he fired while chasing Nate. Nate, however, did keep track, then pulls his own fully-loaded gun on Dubenich. He immediately starts begging Nate not to shoot him while trying to pin blame on Latimer to save his own hide.]]

* WoundedGazelleGambit: In his first appearance, wherein he pretends to have been robbed by Pearson (in reality he wants the team to rob Pearson for him).

* AmbitionIsEvil:
* BackForTheFinale: He came back for the season 1 finale, season 2 finale, and series finale.

* {{Catchphrase}}: He is fond of introducing himself with "Hello, Nate."

** In both "The First and Second David Jobs", he is present in the room when Ian Blackpoole admits that IYS is engaged in an outrageous scheme to cheat its clients; like in Creator/JohnGrisham's ''Literature/TheRainmaker'', Blackpoole has IYS purposefully stall paying all its claims as long as possible - this often results in people losing their homes after disasters, and the death of numerous people who expected IYS to pay for medical care such as Nate's son - but it keeps IYS from having to write checks. Sterling is able to spin the effects of the con into getting Blackpoole's job.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In "The Frame-up Job", one of the few times Sterling is (more or less) on Nate's side. When Nate brings up that the curator as a suspect of stealing paintings and replacing them with forgeries, Sterling casually brings it up before the suspect, which causes said suspect to run in panic.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Though Nate would beg to differ. Sterling later admits that he no longer recognizes the person Nate has become while Nate seems upset by Sterling's willingness to abet the man who they both know let Nate's son die in season 1.

* BeardOfEvil: He has a short beard and is one of the more sisinster criminals on the show. The commentary even uses the phrase "Beard of Evil'' in his second appearance.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: He backstabs Starke, Dooley, and his own henchmen, all in the space of two episodes. [[spoiler:Averted when he helped the Leverage team for three likely reasons. First, he enjoyed the fact Hardison came to him for help. Second, he knew that the team would most likely see a double-cross coming and would ''certainly'' succeed in making him pay for it. Thirdly, the con had no monetary payout, so he could only profit if the con survived long enough to get paid. Additionally, according to WordOfGod, he was also angling to get a position on the team, [[IFightForTheStrongestSide seeing them as the best around.]] You don't betray the people you're looking to impress. ]]

* OnlyInItForTheMoney

* BitchInSheepsClothing: He pretends to be an honest businessman who was wronged by his competitor and uses the memory of Nate's dead son to manipulate him into helping him steal from Pierson Aviation. Nate says that had Dubenich outright said he wanted them to commit a crime they would have suspected a double cross immediately. By pretending to be an honest citizen way in over his head, he was able to more easily fool them.

* BullyingADragon: After getting taken down by the Leverage team the first time and getting a firm warning by Nate to never mess with them again, you'd think he'd take the warning to heart. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, he doesn't as he wanted petty revenge on them. He REALLY should've listened to Nate's warning [[TooDumbToLive because then at least he'd still be alive]].]].
* TheBusCameBack: Returned in [[spoiler:the Season 4 finale.]]

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Heads the civilian wing of Bering Aerospace. He appears to be an honest man in over his head, but in truth is willing to lie, steal, and then kill the thieves he hired to prevent them from telling anyone or possibly being blackmailed.
* DemotedToDragon: [[spoiler: During the finale of Season 4 he basically acts like Latimer's security adviser.]] However, since he becomes TheHeavy in the process it's not that big a demotion.
* DirtyCoward: [[spoiler: The minute Nate has him dead to rights, Dubenich desperately attempts to talk his way out of the situation.]]
* DisneyVillainDeath: He falls [[spoiler: off of a dam's concrete platform in a struggle with Latimer going for a gun Nate set down at the edge to kill the other.]]
* DragonTheirFeet[=/=]ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler: In the Season 4 finale, after the team successfully deals with Latimer, Dubenich decides to try and run off with the remainder of Latimer's money. Of course, the team is waiting for him.]]

* FlawExploitation: He is excellent at recognizing the flaws of his enemies to use against them. He uses Nate's messiah complex [[spoiler:and Jimmy's need to protect his son against them in "The Radio Job"]]. However, Dubenich is not immune to this himself as shown by Nate twice.
* TheFixer: He hired Parker, Hardison, and Eliot to be the underlings for Nate in order to "retrieve stolen merchandise."

* TheHeavy: [[spoiler: In Season 4 he is technically working for Latimer, but functions as a more direct antagonist to the team.]]
* HijackedByGanon: [[spoiler: The ending of Season 4's penultimate episode, shows he was behind the episode's events...which include the murder of Nate's father. The finale shows him acting as Latimer's Dragon.]]
* ItsPersonal: With Pearson Aviation [[spoiler:and Nate after he gets sent to prison.]]

* ManipulativeBastard: He goes to Nate, Eliot, Parker, and Hardison with a sob story about his business competitor stealing from him and his dire straights in order for them to not realize they are stealing from the legitimate owner. For Nate, he adds in that [=IYS=] will have to pay out a huge sum of money if Pierson is robbed. This is all done so they don't foresee the double-cross when he tries to kill them.
* MightAsWellNotBeInPrisonAtAll: [[spoiler:Masterminds the entirety of Season 4's overarching plot from his jail cell. He certainly wants out, but he doesn't need to leave in order to be a problem.]]
* MoralMyopia: He views himself as Nate's victim and hates the Leverage team for costing him his business and getting him imprisoned. Except he was the one who incurred their wrath by decieving them into stealing airplane designs from his competitor and then trying to kill them after they'd done what he wanted.

** He single-handedly formed the team of operatives who turned around and made him penniless. Congrats.
** His words about how the most precious things to a man are his business, his possessions and his name are what inspires Nate's revenge plan against him and Latimer as Nate takes them on by attacking those very things.
** They also only turned around and made him penniless in the first place because he tried to kill them instead of just paying them for their services and letting them go their separate ways from each other.
** Trying to kill Nate was understandable, as his assumption might be that Nate might figure things out and go to the police. But trying to kill the ''extremely good'' professional criminals was really stupid, because he knows both Parker and Alec Hardison could easily ruin his life, and trying to kill Eliot Spencer seems almost suicidal (Eliot was probably at a place where he wouldn't have killed Dubenich for that, but Dubenich can't know that.) A single person escaping ruins everything.

* RevengeByProxy: [[spoiler:Kills Nate's father to get to him.]] Note that this wasn't intended;[[spoiler: he was really trying to kill Nate.]]
* TheRival: Seems to see Pearson as his personal rival as well as a financial one.
* SmugSnake: Rarely was he oozing anything but overconfidence and smugness. He really believed he had the upper-hand in any situation.
* StarterVillain: In an interesting way, he hired the team, sans Sophie, to steal goods that he claimed were stolen from him. Had he just let things lie and pay them, the Team would have not been a danger to other corrupt forces. He chose to become their enemy by trying to kill them (and not paying Parker).
* StupidEvil: If he just paid the team off instead of trying to kill them to get out of it, he would have gotten away with it.
* TooCleverByHalf: This is largely how he is defeated in the pilot episode. If he wasn't smart enough to figure out what they were doing, the KansasCityShuffle would have never worked. [[spoiler: It was helped by the use of Nigerians which is so obviously a con they couldn't possibly be real, which, surprise surprise, they were.]]
* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler: Nate calls him out on this, saying Dubenich had been too angry and unfocused to pay attention to the small details, like keeping track of how many bullets he had fired, and didn't realize he was empty until it was too late. He practically started pissing his pants when Nate pulls out his father's FULLY-LOADED gun on him and proceeds to beg for his life. Nate then also brings out Latimer and mocks out a dilemma that if he kills one of them, the other would profit in some way from their death. Instead, Nate doesn't bother and leaves the gun between them on the ledge of the dam before walking off. Predictably, Dubenich and Latimer take the bait and immediately began to fight over the gun, then both wind up falling over the edge to their deaths, saving Nate the hassle]].
* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler:While no dullard in his first appearance, he seems a lot craftier when he returns in Season 4. He's also far more willing to get his hands dirty, even if he isn't much of a fighter.]]
* TookALevelInJerkass: [[spoiler:He was a prick in his first appearance, but he was a pragmatic prick, whose attempt at killing the team was far from personal. In his second appearance he's become a gloating sadist who takes a sick delight in having killed Nate's father.]]

* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler: Brought on to be Parker's replacement in the Season 4 finale.]]

* OohMeAccentsSlipping
* PapaWolf: Don't disrespect Parker in front of him. He might just taser you. Or stab you. He nearly shot Nate when he thought Nate had nearly gotten her killed.

* SwordCane: One of his canes contains a 10,000 volt taser. The other one contains a six-inch stilletto. And he sometimes "forgets" which one he has. Chaos learned this the hard way.

-->''"Somebody tricked you into bringing a briefcase full of evidence of your own crime straight to the police. Come on, Mr. Leary, nobody’s that smart."''
* HeKnowsTooMuch: Was shot and almost killed by gangsters over one investigation.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: WordOfGod notes that [[spoiler:he knows Nate brought down the guys who shot him up, and if you're Irish or Italian from UsefulNotes/{{Boston}}, you do not let that just slide. Especially since Nate went to jail with a bullet in his stomach to pull that off. And the cherry-on-top is that the FBI was perfectly willing to let the guilty parties not only go free but continue committing crimes. Help Robin Hood catch more bad guys, or help out the people who got him shot then lied about it?]]

* PutOnABus: Taggert. The latest appearances of [=McSweeten=] always had him offhandedly mention a reason why Taggert couldn't be with him.

An investment banker with a large number of addictions, he steals from a charity in a flawed attempt at helping them, making himself the target of one of Leverage's cons. He proves to be an alright guy underneath everything, and returns in a later episode. Appears in "The 12-Step Job" and "The Boys' Night Out Job."

* TheAlcoholic: Formerly. As of his second appearance in "The Boys' Night Out Job," he's been sober for two years.

* NiceGuy: Outgogin and always quick to help people (albeit in sometimes questionable methods).
* WellIntentionedExtremist: He really thought stealing money and increasing it was for the best.

* BadassAdorable: Briefly becomes one when she whales on a would-be assassin with a frying pan. The fact that she caught him totally by surprise probably had a lot to do with it.
* BerserkButton: Don't ruin her kitchen knives. A Venezuelan assassin tried to stab her with one of them, and she was angrier about the damage to the knives than the fact that he tried to kill her.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: When an assassin tries to attack her, instead of getting scared, she gets angry in a way that implies the rage had been building for a while and beats him with a frying pan.

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Thought Parker was a bookkeeper and then a spy; has no idea she's good friends with the world's greatest thief.

An old friend of Eliot's who fought alongside him in their Black-Ops days. Now employed on the anti-terrorism business. Makes a brief cameo in "[[Recap/LeverageS05E01TheVeryBigBirdJob The (Very) Big Bird Job]]" and has a substantial role in "The Rundown Job".

* NoodleIncident[=/=]OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: When Vance is testifying before Congress about his use of unregistered Black Ops teams there seems to be an interesting story in there. [[NoodleImplements All we hear is the characters involved]]: A [[AcePilot naval aviator]], an [[CowboyCop FBI profiler who shot up a cafe in Rome]], two electrical engineers from [=NASA=] without security clearance, and a [[JurisdictionFriction CIA agent operating domestically]].

A waitress at the Brewery the team works out of in Season 5, who hangs out with an injured Parker in "[[Recap/LeverageS05E08TheBrokenWingJob The Broken Wing Job]]."

* NonIdleRich: Comes form a very wealthy family but is fine just working as a waitress.

* TookALevelInBadass: An ordinary waitress who, under Parker, becomes more adept at surveillance and helps foil a crime. [[spoiler: especially impressive since that crime turned out to be her own kidnapping]].

An Special Forces buddy of Eliot who shows up for the poker game during "The Boys' Night Out Job.

* IdTellYouButThenIdHaveToKillYou: Said nearly verbatim when Bonanno asks about his current operations. He was not, in fact, joking.

* ExactWords: Sometimes, though it decreased as her time with the team increased, she would take an instruction to its literal meaning. One instance is when Nate asked her to start a "fight" with a woman near Hardison. Instead of a yelling match, as Nate hoped for, Parker starts out with punching the woman. Nate later apologized for his vagueness and said next time he would use "argument" when he wants just the verbal fight.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In "The Miracle Job" Parker showed quick insight onto how best to take down the mark. [[spoiler:It hints at her capacity to eventually become the Mastermind in the finale]].

* GreenEyedMonster: She becomes jealous when Hardison is a little too friendly with other women. This was most notable in "The Double-Blind Job."

* InHarmsWay: She's a heck of an adrenaline junkie.

* KleptomaniacHero: She steals so much that pickpocketing is pure instinct to her. In "The Twelve Step Job" she figures out badguys are in the rehab clinic because she instinctively picked ''the gun'' out of his ''concealed holster.''
* LiteralMinded: Early on and occasionally afterwards, Parker would not understand subtlety or metaphors.

* MasterOfUnlocking: It comes with the job.
* MoneyFetish: "I don't like stuff, I like money." Nate even gets her to stay in the first episode after [[spoiler:they were almost blown up by Dubenich]] by saying if the plan worked she would get lots of money and possibly some payback.

* MundaneSolution: Parker was tasked by Sophie to replace an auctioneer by charming him away. She thought trying to get into his head would take too long, so she opted to chloroform him unconscious instead.
* NoSocialSkills: At first but as her time with the team increased, she has become more like a nice young lady with some strange quirks.
* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: She once stabbed the mark with a fork.

* PintSizedPowerhouse: She hangs off buildings by her fingertips, so she is pretty strong.

* StealthHiBye: Parker sometimes tends to appear suddenly right next to her surprised targets. In "The Stork Job", after running away when she stabbed the mark with a fork, the rest of the team wondered where she had gone.
--> '''Hardison''': ''She could be halfway around the world by now. Trust me, she's gone.''
--> '''Parker''': ''Who's gone?'' (pan to right to show Parker {{Right Behind|Me}} them)
** Does this again in "The Zanzibar Marketplace Job" when she suddenly appeared sitting on the bar counter and casually explaining how the supposed theft had occurred. Sterling questioned where she came from while Nate doesn't even bother anymore.

* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: The pilot episode has a flashback to her childhood of her blowing up her foster parents' house. In "The Gold Job", she mentions having made grown psychiatrists cry when she took their psych exams as a kid.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Hardison. [[spoiler: They're now together as of "The Long Way Down Job"]]

--> Parker: "He could've just let me tasered him."

* WomanChild: Has a few vague traces of this, especially of the "emotionally stunted" variety. When a con man posing as a psychic does a cold read on her to suss out that her brother died in a car accident while riding a bike when they were children, she gets ''very'' upset and is convinced he's for real. The entire team (including SixthRanger Tara) gathers round to explain exactly how it was done and that everything's going to be okay.
-->'''Parker:''' ''But I didn't say anything.''

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Really needs to pick boyfriends and business associates better. Nate has admittedly changed quite a bit, and to be fair she had no idea that [[spoiler:Blackpoole had denied the insurance for Sam's treatment]] because Nate didn't tell her... but he was still crooked as hell, and [[spoiler:Alexander Lundy]] in season 2's "The Zanzibar Marketplace Job" is simply an idiot. Sterling even points out Maggie's unfortunate taste in men in that episode.

* VaporWear: In formal occasions Maggie wears a lot of gowns which are visibly too skimpy for a bra, including the gold gown with the plunging neckline that she wears in her introductory scenes in "The First David Job" and the spaghetti-strap blue dress with the keyhole cutout on the lower chest in "The Zanzibar Marketplace Job" (pictured above).

A grifter who replaces Sophie on the team during Sophie's [[JourneyToFindOneself Journey to Find Herself]]. While little is known about her, a few details are clear. She worked for the army, and was trained by either the FBI, or the Marines. Since Sophie returned, the two women have been meeting off-screen, but did not work together due to their clashing styles.

* TheBusCameBack: In "The Girls' Night Out Job."

* HiddenDepths: "The Girls' Night Out Job" reveals that she was trained at Quantico. Even before that, she lets slip to Parker that she was trained in cryptography, and then cuts herself off.
* HotterAndSexier: Than Sophie, who she's temporarily replacing.

* PutOnABus: When Sophie's bus came back.

* SixthRanger: While Sophie is on her [[JourneyToFindOneself Journey to Find Herself]], Tara fills in as the Grifter.

* AccidentalAimingSkills: In "The 12-Step Job" he takes out a loan shark's engine block while aiming for the man's leg. This probably helped more in the end.

* AmbiguouslyJewish: The first time, he claimed to be Jewish to invoke EverythingIsRacist, but he mentions Jewish concepts of repentance in "The Too Many Rembrandts Job" and says that Nana runs a multi-denominational household, which some fans have taken to mean that he really is Jewish.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Certainly has this dynamic with Eliot, who is the more mature caretaker of the team, and often has to bail Hardison's ass.

* BavarianFireDrill: When he's not behind the keyboard, this is Hardison's other specialty. Best exemplified in The Three Days of the Hunter Job, where, with a quick little background check courtesy of Eliot, he turns around his interrogation to the point where ''he becomes the interrogator''.

* BreakTheHaughty: In "The Iceman Job" and again in "The Gold Job," in which he allows his InsufferableGenius tendencies to rage out of control and ends up having to be bailed out by the rest of the team. However, Nate does reassure him that his plan in "The Gold Job" was a genuinely good one, his problem was that he didn't have a back-up plan.

* BringMyBrownPants: He pisses himself in fear after rappelling down an entrace into a building in "The Radio Job". Not just a joke. The foley sells it.
* BuriedAlive: During "The Grave Danger Job".

* CatchPhrase: "Age of the geek, baby."

** [[spoiler: Ironically, it is Parker who gets to run the crew... likely, The Gold Job pointed out why he shouldn't.]]

* DistressedDude: So far, he's had to be rescued the most out of everyone of the team. (Sophie's skilled enough she doesn't end up in those situations and Parker is second to Eliot in physical danger. Nate... is a crazy drunk Irish boy from Boston.)

-->'''Hardison''' (at gunpoint and in disguise) This is because of my ethniticity, isn't it? 'Cos I'm [[BaitAndSwitch Jewish]]?

* HollywoodHacking: Oh so very much. With just a few keystrokes he often rewires entire security systems and uncovers money trails not even a team of highly-trained FBI forensic accountants would be able to do in the space of time he has. However some of his cool hacking stuff is justified in the show beyond existing for the sake of the plot (for instance he modified the team's phones to make them more useful as tools for their line of work, such as being able to spoof RFID information via the cellular radios so they can break into keycard-protected areas if the card and the break-in location are separated from each other).
* InsufferableGenius: Interestingly, he's so charismatic by nature that he's generally easy to forgive when he gets into a bragging spiel. The other characters aren't quite as charmed as the audience, though.

** Taken UpToEleven in "The Gold Job." Hardison comes up with a new con that actually works pretty well. And he spends nearly every one of his scenes reminding people of how "perfect" his plan is. [[spoiler: Cue the end, where his con is just about to succeed [[BreakTheHaughty when the plan falls apart.]] Nate points out that the problem with his plan was that games needed a delicate balance between boredom and frustration, with Hardison's plan being too frustrating. Basically, the {{Aesop}} was that there is no perfect plan and that it's always good to have some backups.]]

* MasterForger: Whilst primarily a computer expert, one of his [[RenaissanceMan many talents]] is creating forgeries to the point that he taught himself how to create period-looking art that can hold up to close inspection.

* PlayfulHacker: On his downtime (like he knows the contents of Nate's Netflix queue; apparently the man has a thing for ''Series/SexAndTheCity'').

* TheReliableOne: Since he's most often behind a desk and not on the field, whenever the team is in trouble or their plans go tits up, they have to call on Hardison to save them. The whole team acknowledges that despite his incessant whining, when the chips are down, Hardison ''will'' find a way to save them.
* RenaissanceMan: Paints, sculpts, hacks, plays violin, and he's a decent actor to boot. Oh, and he taught himself a crash course in creating period-looking art that holds up to pretty amazingly close inspection.

* TookALevelInBadass: From just a physically lacking, but supreme hacker, by the end of the series [[spoiler:he became a more than capable fighter and forger, as well as a minor thief and grifter.]]

** [[spoiler: They're now together as of "The Long Way Down Job"]].

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Hardison is highly allergic to dust and is a bit of clean freak. Unfortunately for him, sometimes he's forced into very dusty or dirty places when in the field.
-->'''Hardison:''' ...These files are scrubbed clean. Which I will never, ever be, again.
-->'''Parker:''' Sorry.

* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: When Hardison is freaking out after having been BuriedAlive, it's Parker's talking to him over the phone and calling him Alec that grabs his attention and keeps him going.

* AmbiguouslyBi: Eventually she gets together with Hardison but has had some suspicious LesYay from time to time.
* AmbiguousDisorder: Beyond her need to compulsively steal she also has some other quirks that seem to impede her ability to understand the emotions of others and react appropriately (be it for the purpose of a con or when actually interacting with others). WordOfGod confirmed that she has Asperger’s.

* BadBadActing: Due to not really being good interacting with people outside her group and utter lack of social skills, Parker can't blend in well, as opposed to Sophie. In "The Snow Job", Parker was to create a distraction on the stopped ski lift by faking she is in danger of falling.

* CannotSpitItOut: But Hardison understands. [[ItMakesSenseInContext He's her pretzel.]]

* ChronicallyKilledActor: InUniverse. Whenever Parker grifts, there's a good chance her character will be killed off to sell the con- Cindy [=McAllen=] in "The Three Days of the Hunter Job", Pat the French Maid in "The Maltese Falcon Job", and Alice (White?) in "The Morning After Job" to name a few. "The Snow Job" had her posing as a patient who was barely clinging to life with her brain tumour.

* DeadpanSnarker: She has her moments when he's not being a complete space cadet.

** Her bad driving skills briefly return onscreen again in "The Lonely Hearts Job" where she steals a cab. The instance she starts driving, the other characters starts freaking out.

* FromCamouflageToCriminal: One of the things he confesses to Nate was that he was once "a kid with a flag on his shoulder" before he got recruited into mercenary work and lost his way until he found the team.

* HairTriggerTemper: A man barreled into him and caused him to spill coffee on his shirt; Eliot knocked out a few of his teeth. Sterling walked into a bar; Eliot threw him over a table. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking A woman insulted his appetizers;]] he went after her with a knife (the last example was PlayedForLaughs but still true all the same). To sum up what's above: DO NOT MESS WITH THE GUY. Even if you're a woman.

* HeelFaceTurn: At some point pre-series.

** Really driven home in "The Experimental Job" when [[spoiler: after discovering Hardison was kidnapped]] he ''immediately'' turned the tables on his captor and in the span of 30 seconds figured out where he was held and busted out of his cell to go get him.

* HyperAwareness: Eliot is very adept at noticing details. For example, in "The Homecoming Job" he's searching for a couple of PrivateMilitaryContractors in a hospital looking to murder a witness. He notices that a doctor in the hospital is wearing crocs, and immediately remembers that two other doctors he passed by moments ago are wearing ''boots''. Naturally, they're the would-be killers. In the subsequent brawl, he's able to ID one of the killers as a former Marine, likely Force Recon, just by the way he handled his knife.

** In "The Cross My Heart Job", Eliot revealed he once fought an assassin in Damascus with a ''nerf sword''.

** For a while early on, Eliot didn't even fight anyone who gave him a challenge. Since then, he's taken a few serious beatings, but has yet actually to ''lose'' a fight. It certainly makes him immune to TheWorfEffect. Until "The Carnival Job"...[[spoiler: He ends up unconscious on the floor, unable to help a little girl. He does still win the fight in the end, though.]] [[spoiler: And even on that occasion he's smacked in the head by [[http://www.amusementsofamerica.com/aoa/midway/images/56L1.jpg a moving ride]].]]
** And then, of course, there was [[BossInMooksClothing Moto's very determined bodyguard.]] The man fought Eliot to a draw... after getting knocked around and BLOWN THROUGH THE FLOOR. Seriously, what the hell was that guy made of?!

* MadeOfIron: Eliot can take a lot of punishment due to his occupation as a hitter. He once got hit by a ''car'' in "The Boost Job" and didn't suffer lasting injuries.

** Sometimes the job makes use of this for serious effect, as in "The Radio Job", when he allowed himself to be beaten by three guys for a few minutes to sell a role.

* TheNapoleon: A rather minor version. In the Season 5 premiere Eliot is implied to be slightly insecure about his height when with one of his old friends, even though he is about average at 5'9". The friend in question was also played by Creator/AdamBaldwin.
* NerdsSpeakKlingon: In "The Nigerian Job" Eliot is posing as a geeky IT technician. When the secretary he is distracting comments on how strong he is, he says he works out because he likes to go to conventions as a Klingon. He then pretends to speak Klingon which causes her to laugh.

** Played for disturbing implications. He did ''something'' while working for [[spoiler: Damien Moreau]] that was incredibly horrible. He begs the team not to ask what it was, because if they ask, [[YouDoNotWantToKnow he'll tell them]], with the implication that they truly do not want to know what he did.

** WordOfGod states that if [[Franchise/StargateVerse those particular shows]] hadn't already broken down their sets, Season Two would have had Eliot having a flashback ''where he was about to go to'' '''Stargate''' ''as a member of an SG-team.''

* {{Omniglot}}: Speaks Hebrew and Arabic and possibly other languages. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]; he is a world traveler with a professional need to speak local languages.

* ProperlyParanoid: He gets leery about the idea of his face being widely circulated. Having multiple bounties on his head from several countries ''plus'' a fatwa gives him good reason. [[spoiler: The 'punchline' of when this was revealed would originally have been the Butcher of Kiev almost seeing his website]]

* ReallyGetsAround: If we take his claims about his own love life to be truth. (To put things in perspective, he also claims to grow his own food and sleep ninety minutes a day.) Then again, he's been shown to pick up women quite easily, so it's not beyond plausibility that he could have dated a neurologist and slept with a flight attendant. And the supermodels. And the Japanese policewoman who taught him how to trim a bonsai. WordOfGod confirms that Eliot "has a full social life" but "doesn't bring it into the office" (save, presumably, for the rare on-screen exceptions such as in "The Studio Job").

* SeenItAll: What makes him so effective as the team's "Hitter". His ability to analyze any potential conflict comes from his years of experience in dealing with every kind of dangerous situation and encountering every type of enemy combatant. He's the one Nate asks when the team needs to know how a violent crime is likely to go down, and he's rarely wrong. He can also recognize undercover hit men and the like by observing small cues in the way they dress, stand, move, or hold equipment.

* ShipperOnDeck: He sent both [[spoiler:Parker and Sophie flowers with the implication that they were from Hardison and Nate, helping the guys out as they aren't the best at being romantic.]]

* SouthernFriedGenius: In and out of universe, we've received repeated confirmation that Eliot has a great big brain that mostly gets used to make him big ol' muscles go boom boom.

* TookALevelInBadass: In terms of development, he went from a brilliant fighter, to [[spoiler:a capable grifter able to see what the mark wants and use that to get it for them. Basically the flip-side to Sophie.]]

* PrettyInMink: At the end of "The Ice Man Job", she's at a high-class diner and wearing a hooded white fur coat. It looked glamorous and also helped cover Gina's baby bump during that season.

* TookALevelInBadass: While she was never an outright ActionGirl like Parker, she became a much more competent fighter in the second season.
* TheyDo: [[spoiler: With Nate]]

* ActionHero: Eliot is an excellent martial artists and weapons expert with military experience. He frequently uses his combat expertise to take down any henchmen the team runs into.
* AluminumChristmasTrees: John Rogers points out to fans who call Eliot's eclectic assemblage of skills "unrealistic" that most of them are skills that ''the real-life Christian Kane actually has''. He really is an experienced chef, he really does sing country, and he personally performs every stunt that the insurance will let him (and many that they really, ''really'' wouldn't, if they knew about it beforehand). When he was informed that he needed to learn how to play hockey and fight on skates in time for the shooting of "The Blue Line Job", he said "Okay" and was ready by the time the cameras started rolling.

* BatmanGrabsAGun: In the third season [[spoiler: he picks up a couple of guns in "The Big Bang Job" and mows down a dozen-plus of Moreau's hitmen.]]
** He does so again in the fourth season finale, [[spoiler:when he seriously considers killing Dubenich so that Nate won't have the chance to earn that sin.]]

** In "The Tap-Out Job" Sophie warns a mark that putting Eliot in a fight where he's handicapped is the same as "taking the safety off the gun." Subverted, in that it's all an act. They removed the drugs from his water before he drank any.
* BerserkButton: As seen in "The French Connection Job", he has an extreme dislike for people [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking who don't appreciate his cooking]], or food in general since he's a highly trained chef.

* BoisterousBruiser: A rather mild example, as he seems full ready to throw himself into action at any given moment. In "The Boiler Room Job" he is happy towards the end when a Mook tries to take him by stating he "hasn't hit anybody in over 2 weeks".
* BrainsAndBrawn: When partnered with Hardison he's the Brawn.

* CatchPhrase: "Dammit, ([[PhraseCatcher Teammate's name. Usually Hardison]])!" (which is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Hardison in a few episodes) and "It's a very distinctive [[MadLibsCatchPhrase (impossibly small detail he can use to identify something or someone)]]."
** Given that it was used as a TrustPassword in "The San Lorenzo Job," "We'd be the cavalry," may also qualify.
** Not to mention "I used to date a [[MadLibsCatchPhrase (random career)]]" as a reason for knowing details about a specific job. Examples include flight attendants, neurologists and supermodels. (He's claimed to have been with only one of each of those, but it could still count since he's said it twice.)
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Eliot has performed a number of borderline superhuman feats throughout the show. These include taking out four guys in the time it takes a bag to hit the floor, throwing a dart into the bullseye without looking, and surviving getting smacked in the head by a tilt-a-whirl at an amusement park.

* ChivalrousPervert: Eliot is often frequently seen flirting with women before, after, and sometimes even ''during'' a con, most notably in "The Two Live Crew Job" ''in the middle of a fight'' when his opponent lost her shirt and he stopped attacking to check her out (and they were later implied to have hooked up off-screen). At the same time, he genuinely pays attention to the women he hooks up with and takes interest in them as people rather than just as sexual conquests, which also accounts for the broad variety of things he's learned from women he's slept with.
* CrazyPrepared: In "The Morning After Job" it's noted that he's studied footage of hockey games - or, more accurately, fights during hockey games - because "you never know when you might have to fight on the ice." He makes a similar comment in "The First Contact Job," this time about the possibility of fighting ''aliens''.
* CrypticBackgroundReference: We never learn ''what'' Eliot did when he worked for [[spoiler: Damien Moreau]]. This is almost certainly for the best. We're also still waiting to find out about [[NoodleIncident the monkey]].
* DarkAndTroubledPast: [[NoodleIncident Whatever he did]] for [[spoiler:Damian Moreau]] is so heinous and vile that he will ''never'' discuss it at any length more than warning people about how much they do not want to know what it is.

* DistractedByTheSexy: Only two things throw Eliot's focus: a child in trouble, or a pretty woman.
* DoesNotLikeGuns: Any time he gets his hands on a gun, it's so that he can eject the bullets and throw it away, often stating in as many words that he doesn't like guns. [[spoiler:In the season three episode "The Big Bang Job" matters become dire enough to force Eliot to pick up a pair of handguns and demonstrate that just because he doesn't ''like'' guns doesn't mean he's not very capable of using them.]]

* FriendToAllChildren: Surprisingly and rather scarily. He has particular compassion for kids who've drawn the short stick of life, but even spoiled rich kids love him. Then there's the argument he has with Hardison in "The Morning After Job" until Hardison agrees to detour from a job to stop a domestic dispute because there ''could possibly'' be children involved. [[TheAtoner Non-fluffy reasons]] for this have been strongly hinted.

* MirrorCharacter: With Starke. When Sophie is saying how a brilliant man whose pride has been hurt and personally challenged, will lead him to do a bigger, more dangerous con. One of the team asks if she's talking about Starke or Nate. This is emphasized by interspersing clips of Nate and Starke giving pretty much the same speech and even putting their suit coat on in the same fashion.
* OfficialCouple: With Sophie, beginnng in Season4.

* ThePromise: In the pilot, after Nate and his team take down Dubenich for double-crossing them, he warns hims that if they ever meet again, he won't be so nice. [[spoiler: Nate makes good on that promise after Dubenich had his father killed in the 4th season finale by tricking him and Latimer to fight over a loaded gun near the edge of a dam, and they both plummet to their deaths]].
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Nate would deliver these to some of his marks after he and his team run a con on them.

* SmartPeoplePlayChess: This is his running motif. He even played in a chess tournament of Grandmasters as part of a con.

** Inverted in at least one instance; "The Boiler Room Job". The team goes in knowing that their mark is beyond their ability to con him as he's just too good at it himself. So they attempt to rob him blind...which he catches onto. Nate then adjusts their approach so the mark ''knows'' he's being conned...all so they can go back to Plan "A" and rob him blind while he's too focused on exposing the con.
* TheyDo [[spoiler: With Sophie]]

** Early on, Nate was the only team member who was genuinely interested in helping people. By the beginning of the second season, however, this is no longer the case, as he's gotten the others to realize that GoodFeelsGood and they have all become committed to continuing to help people (to the point of all but forcing Nate to go along with it despite his protests that he's trying to live a normal life again).
** Dubenich deliberately picked Nate to lead the team because he needed one honest man to keep them in line.

* WellDoneSonGuy: In a weird, kinda twisted and ruthless way, as seen in "The Three-Card Monte Job."
** Played more straight (and tragic) in "The Radio Job", when [[spoiler: his dad is trapped in a warehouse with explosives about to go off, he tells Nate over the phone, "Tell them how much Jimmy Ford loved his son." Nate, who was [[LeeroyJenkins about to rush into the warehouse]], is so stunned he stops in his tracks and can only watch helplessly as the building explodes.]]

* WouldHitAGirl: Cold cocks a nun in "The Boys' Night Out Job." [[spoiler:Though, she wasn't really a nun.]]

* AllWomenLoveShoes: In "The Nigerian Job", Nate mentions that Sophie used her money from the eponymous job to "buy a truly impressive number of shoes." In "The 15 Minute Job", after the mark fails to respond to her running by chasing a baby carriage, she gives up and gets distracted by a shoe sale. She also always carries an emergency pair of high heels with her, and has a second emergency pair stashed at Nate's apartment. In "The Frame Up Job", Nate's able to deduce she was playing him ''and'' find out where she was going based on ''the sound her shoes made''.

* BadActorGoodLiar: Sophie can assume fake identities as easy as a chameleon changing color. Despite this, her theatrical acting is so atrocious that Eliot finds it worse than the time he was forced to play Russian Roulette. In one episode, a critic says her production of The Sound of Music was so terrible it made them root for the Nazis. However, Sophie can act well when a con requires her to play the role of a talented actress.

* DistractedByTheSexy: Part of her MO is that her looks help blind male marks to any ulterior motives she might have.

* TheDreaded: According to Chaos, Sophie is such a feared person in the world of professional thieves that they generally get somewhere else when she was in town. It's why Chaos, upon learning there was even a chance of her joining his crew (which he planned on betraying), simply tried to blow her up.

* GiftedlyBad: As an actor.

* TheHeart: Ironically, as Nate was the "honest man" who got everyone to work together, she's become Nate's moral compass and the emotional center of the group.

* JourneyToFindOneself: Second half of season 2.

* LostInCharacter: During the middle of season 2, she realized she no longer knew who she was anymore. She was so lost in all her false identities which were more than words on paper because she knew everything about them, from where they were born to how their parents died. She had to leave to find herself.
* MaleGaze: Sophie's wardrobe, even when not on a con, seems almost calculated to appeal to this.

* NoNameGiven: "Sophie" is one of many, many aliases. The audience doesn't know her real name yet, and Nate... forgot it. In bed.
** [[spoiler: WordOfGod finally said that the name Nate used during the proposal]] in the series finale, "The Long Goodbye Job", may or may not be her real name. Her "you know [[spoiler:Lara's not my real name"]] comment was intended to give them cover for if they got a sixth season.They They didn't, so that name was canon... Until the new series got picked up. ShrugOfGod?

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Gina Bellman has been doing an incredible job, but considering the number and scope of the accents she has to do, it was inevitable that eventually she'd slip on a couple. Her Southern Belle has been specifically mentioned.

* TheMissusAndTheEx: [[spoiler:Sophie and Maggie respectively. They are friends and respect each other, which puts Nate on edge just slightly.]]

* OfficialCouple: [[spoiler:With Sophie.]]
* PassingTheTorch: To [[spoiler:Parker]] in the GrandFinale.

* BadassCrew: The Leverage crew consists of the world's greatest grifter, a mercenary with fighting skills beyond compare, a hacker who robbed the Bank of Iceland as a teenager, an expert thief who has been commiting crimes since she was a kid and a former insurance investigator whose career has granted him the expertise to be a mastermind.

** Nate was an honest man before the insurance company he worked for as an investigator rejected the policy on his son's health coverage, leading to his death. As a result of this, his marriage ended in divorce, he became an alcoholic, and turned to a life of [[JustLikeRobinHood Robin Hooding]] to give his life meaning again. He also had a pretty crappy relationship with his father.

** As the only member of the team to have physically hurt people in the past, Eliot is TheAtoner. It's heavily implied he did something he considers unforgivable for [[spoiler: Moreau]], possibly killing children. WordOfGod has it that Eliot is a man who has "accepted that he is damned." It's also mentioned in one episode that he and his father had a falling out when Eliot joined the military and it isn't known if they ever reconciled.
** Parker grew up on in the foster system with a series of terrible foster parents -- one of whom she may have blown up after they stole her favorite toy. She had a brother who died at a young age in when he was hit by a car while on his bike and feels guilty about his death because she taught him to ride. She was driving getaway cars when she was 10. After being caught for car theft when she was 12, she was thrown into juvenile detention. She trained under the greatest thief in the world as a teenager who kept her away from his real family because he thought she wouldn't fit in. To top it off, WordOfGod indicates that she also has UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome, meaning that she never really fits in well in social situations.

* FireForgedFriends: Over the course of the show, the team go from a group of criminals who were only out for themselves and can barely stand each other to having a bond comparable to family. It can be easy to forget that in the first episode Hardison pulled a gun on Eliot.

* HeelFaceTurn: Eliot, Sophie, Hardison and Parker were career criminals in the pilot episode. After taking down Dubenich, they decided to use their various skills to help innocent people who have been wronged by the rich and powerful.

* TheAlcoholic: He was one before Season 1 and it showed by the end of the season when he was getting more and more drunk on each episode. He eventually sobers up but fails and in the end simply settles on being a functioning addict.

* BigGood[=/=]BigBad: He thinks himself the former before realizing [[spoiler:that he truly is a thief now, and so a criminal. No criminal could be a BigGood, so he is simply a very smart and dangerous BigBad who stands on the same side of the weak and oppressed good people.]]
* BrokenAce: In the early seasons. He is a gifted people-reader and situation analyst tempered by years of insurance investigation, familiarity with the criminal mindset, and natural talent for adjusting on the fly but it comes at the expense of personal tragedy coloring his characterization and motivation, drinking himself under the table, and self-loathing. Nate tries to channel this into helping others with his and his team's talents but he is frequently questioned by the team about what he actually hopes to get out of their jobs; if it's for the good of the client or his own way of being able to live with himself. He starts to become better once his acceptance of being a black hat settles in at the end of season 2.

* TheChessmaster: His label in the team is Mastermind. He has at least, on average, a dozen plans to take down his targets. He very adapt at not only thinking up a long plan but using spur of the moment bits to help move the plan along. He knows the team members' strengths and weaknesses and how best to use them in plans.

** In "The Cross My Heart Job", the villain is an [[EvilOldFolks aged]], terminally ill arms manufacturer who tries to hijack a heart transplant from a 15-year-old boy who will die without it. Reminded of Sam's fate, Nate goes a little crazy; he not only tells the villain his real name and gives him an epic TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, he actually threatens to kill him ''personally'' --the only time he's ever done so. [[spoiler: His actions do ensure the mark's death from his illness, but Nate makes it clear he'd do the deed himself if anything happened to the kid.]]

* InTheBlood: Nathan seems to view his relationship with his father like this, to an extent. While he rejects his father's nefarious traits, he doesn't deny he picked up a fair bit of expertise that he applies to his exploits. This is relevant in "The Bottle Job" (where he reminisces about his time in the bar with his father and uses it to cozy up to some off-duty cops) and particularly in "The Three-Card Monte Job" (where his father is directly involved in the story and we can see how much Nathan gleaned from his pops).

* TheLeader: Type I -- he's even called The Mastermind.

* RaisedCatholic: Nate was raised Catholic and actually went to seminary school to become a Jesuit priest. Although he dropped out, flashbacks in "[[Recap/LeverageS01E06TheMiracleJob The Miracle Job]]" shows that he kept his faith until quite late in life, even christening his son, and only turned his back on the church after his son died. If a con requires someone to impersonate a member of the clergy, he'll be the one taking the role like he did in "[[Recap/LeverageS01E03TheWeddingJob The Wedding Job]]" and "The Boys' Night Out Job".

* DarkAndTroubledPast: [[NoodleIncident Whatever he did]] for Damian Moreau is so [[MoralEventHorizon heinous and vile]] that he will ''never'' discuss it at any length more than warning people about how much they do not want to know what it is.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Whatever he did for Damien Moreau is so heinous and vile that he will ''never'' discuss it at any length more than warning people about how much they do not want to know what it is.