History Characters / Mindhunter

* TownWithADarkSecret: The murder would have turned into this if the FBI didn't get involved, given the local cops reluctance to accept that one of their neighbors could have done it.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance
* HappilyMarried
* MonsterFangirl
* PaedoHunt
* SelfInflictedHell
* TooSmartForStrangers
* TheUnreveal
* WeCouldHaveAvoidedAllThis

* AllLoveIsUnrequited / YourCheatingHeart: Turns out Beverly Jean wasn't so sure she would marry Benji as he was.

[[folder:Benji]]
!!Benjamin "Benji" Barnwright
->'''Portrayed By:''' Joseph Cross

The main suspect in the murder and post-mortem mutilation of Beverly Jean Shaw, a babysitter in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

* AllLoveIsUnrequited
* ALoveToDismember
* InelegantBlubbering

[[folder:Frank]]
!!Frank Janderman
->'''Portrayed By:''' Jesse C. Boyd

Benji's brother in law and another suspect.

* TheCorrupter
* KarmaHoudini
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory
* YourCheatingHeart

[[folder:Rose]]
!!Rose Barnwright-Janderman
->'''Portrayed By:''' Jackie Renee Robinson

Benji's sister and Frank's wife.

* INeverSaidItWasPoison
* KarmaHoudini

[[folder:Wade]]
!!Principal Roger Wade
->'''Portrayed By:''' Mark Kudisch

An elementary school principal in the D.C. area with a compulsion to tickle children's feet.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance
* HappilyMarried
* MonsterFangirl
* PaedoHunt
* SelfInflictedHell
* TooSmartForStrangers
* TheUnreveal
* WeCouldHaveAvoidedAllThis
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Devier]]
!!Darrell Gene Devier
->'''Portrayed By:''' Adam Zastrow
----
* PerpSweating
[[/folder]]

!! Off the radar

[[folder:BTK]]
!!Dennis Rader
->'''Portrayed By:''' Sonny Valicenti
[[quoteright:225:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mindhunter_btk.jpg]]
----

A budding serial killer in Sacramento with a vendetta against elderly women and dogs.

* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals
* MommasBoy
* MyBelovedSmother

* MommyIssues: See DarkAndTroubledPast.

* MommyIssues: She did everything wrong she could, on a psychological level.

* MoralityPet: He has a pet bird he fed while it healed a broken wing. But the trope is brutally subverted when he kills it in front of the FBI agents during a fit of rage.

* SirSwearsALot: A more raging, less planned example than Rissell.

[[folder:In general]]

* TheButcher: One of his nicnames is "The Co-Ed Butcher" because he killed college girls and dismembered them.

* TheDreaded: Even his "deeds" are exaggerated to make him look scarier.
* HairTriggerTemper
* HellholePrison
* HollywoodHistory
* MonsterFangirl
* MoralityPet
* SirSwearsALot

* TeensAreMonsters: Committed his first rape at 14, and he was instantly in and out of probation, counseling and therapy as a teen.

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mindhunter_brudos.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:''"What can I say, I'm a collector."'']]

* TheDreaded

* TechnologyMarchesOn: In-universe. He was interested in technology before he was incarcerated in 1969. He is amazed by how much cameras and tape recorders have changed by 1977.

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mindhunter_spreck.jpg]]

[[caption-width-right:350:''"The only way I could have those girls was to kill them, and it worked. They became my spirit wives. They're still with me.".'']]

* OffWithHisHead: He decapitated his victims before raping them and took the heads home.

[[caption-width-right:350:''"Nobody wanted me, man. Nobody on this earth ever wanted me. Put that on your fucking tape.".'']]

* AffectionateNickname

* CargoShip
* ConsummateLiar

* ADateWithRosiePalms
* DeadlyDelivery

* NeverFoundTheBody
* RedBaron
* StartOfDarkness
* TechnologyMarchesOn
* ThirdPersonPerson
* TroublingUnchildhoodBehavior

* BerserkButton: Feeling powerless and lied to by women. His first fatal victim was a woman who tried to fake that she was enjoying the rape, in an attempt to get over with it quickly. [[EpicFail He went bonkers instead.]]

!!Jerry Brudos

* CreepyCrossdresser: This trope is played with where Brudos is concerned -- he cheerfully admits to being a fetishist of women's high heels and more grudgingly admits to wearing some of the garments he plundered from local women. Tench and Ford [[TransEqualsGay needle him about this to no conceivable benefit]] until Carr calls them out.

* WoundedGazelleGambit

* AbusiveParents
* DarkAndTroubledPast
* EvenEvilHasStandards
* TheFriendNobodyLikes
* HeManWomanHater
* SeriousBusiness
* SirSwearsALot

* StartOfDarkness
* TeensAreMonsters
* TroublingUnchildhoodBehavior
* YourCheatingHeart

* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine
* OffWithHisHead
* RedBaron
* RealityEnsues
* SelfMadeOrphan
* SoftSpokenSadist: His mild mannerisms contrasted with his frank discussion of his rapes and murders give him this vibe.
* TroublingUnchildhoodBehavior
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory
* VillainWithGoodPublicity

* TheDreaded: By 1977, he has already acquired mythical status.

* CardboardPrison
* ControlFreak
* DarkAndTroubledPast
* TheDreaded

* EvilDetectingDog
* EvilIsBigger
* FreakierThanFiction

* GeniusBruiser
* IHaveYouNowMyPretty
* IJustWantToBeNormal
* MommyIssues

A disorganized killed who shot eight couples in New York City between 1976 and 1977.

!!Edmund Kemper

* GentleGiant: A king-size subversion. Due to Kemper's impressive size, he has obviously tailored his mannerisms to come across as harmless and affable as possible -- all the better to make friends with cops and disarm his victims, who were petite young women.

[[folder:Dwight]]

[[folder:Benji]]

[[folder:Frank]]

[[folder:Rose]]

[[folder:Wade]]

[[folder:Devier]]

* DarkAndTroubledPast
* TheDreaded
* MessyHair
* MommyIssues
* NonActionBigBad

* AndTheFandomRejoiced: [[spoiler: It's all but officially confirmed that he will be a regular in Season 2.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:''"So what's he gonna do? He's gonna take the fucking'' [gun] ''away, kill you with it, and then have sex with your face".'']]

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: The show's casting member, Laura Mayfield, [[http://www.newsweek.com/mindhunter-netflix-david-fincher-cast-689791 stresses that the actual men playing these serial killers]] are kind, respectful, hard-working people. Presumably this is to avoid ActorRoleConfusion given how unpleasant the men they're depicting are.

[[folder:Ward]]

[[quoteright:350:''"The only mistake I made was ever doubting myself."'']]

[[quoteright:350:''"So what's he gonna do? He's gonna take the fucking'' [gun] ''away, kill you with it, and then have sex with your face".'']]

[[quoteright:300:''"You're so good at reading people, you tell me."'']]

[[quoteright:300:''"I don't know what I expected. I've spent months of my life and I had hoped that we could complete our research before seeing it used to this end."'']]

[[quoteright:300:''"The Bureau does not do that. We do not get involved until a crime is committed and has risen to the level of our radar."''.]]

[[quoteright:300:''"Our family joke was that we'd never run out of guilt or oats."''.]]

Interviewees questioned by the team of Ford, Tench, and Carr, as well as other killers operating in the late 1970s.

* ByTheBookCop
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything

* KindHeartedCatLover
* LipstickLesbian
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone
* QuicklyDemotedWoman
* TheSmurfettePrinciple
* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs

* TheMole: Holden and Bill fear that he's this for Shepard; it isn't the case, though he isn't untrustworthy for other reasons
* {{Nepotism}}: His dad is an old friend of Shepard's and he's assigned to the unit despite Bill preferring a more qualified candidate. That said, he is a perfectly competent and hardworking agent; his faults lie elsewhere.

!Serial Killers

[[folder:In General]]
!! Serial Killers

Interviewees questioned by the team of Ford, Tench, and Carr, as well as other serial killers operating in the late 1970s.

[[folder:BTK]]
!!Dennis Rader
->'''Portrayed By:''' Sonny Valicenti
[[quoteright:225:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mindhunter_btk.jpg]]
----
* ChekhovsGunman: Appears constantly throughout the show's teasers before his importance becomes clear.

[[folder:Kemper]]
!!Edmund Kemper
->'''Portrayed By:''' Cameron Britton
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mindhunter_kemper.jpg]]

* FauxAffablyEvil: Kemper is remarkably likable. He's polite, articulate and honest. Despite his size, he's rather disarming. He also genuinely considers Ford to be his friend, and it's suggested that the feeling might be somewhat mutual.
* GentleGiant: A king-size subversion. Due to Kemper's impressive size, he has obviously tailored his mannerisms to come across as harmless and affable as possible -- all the better to make friends with cops and disarm his victims, who were petite young women.
* SoftSpokenSadist: His mild mannerisms contrasted with his frank discussion of his rapes and murders give him this vibe.

[[folder:Brudos]]
!!Jerry Brudos
->'''Portrayed By:''' Happy Anderson
[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mindhunter_brudos.jpg]]

* BadLiar: Unlike Kemper, he refuses to take personal responsibility for any of his crimes, professing to be the victim of police coercion and the vindictiveness of his ex-wife. But he can't resist the chance to relive his crimes by recounting them, so every word out of his mouth about the women he killed makes it perfectly clear both to the agents and the audience that he's responsible.
* CreepyCrossdresser: This trope is played with where Brudos is concerned -- he cheerfully admits to being a fetishist of women's high heels and more grudgingly admits to wearing some of the garments he plundered from local women. Tench and Ford [[TransEqualsGay needle him about this to no conceivable benefit]] until Carr calls them out.
* FatBastard: Overweight and personally unpleasant.
* IHaveThisFriend: Holden gets him to open up about his crimes by asking him to describe the actions of a hypothetical killer doing the same thing.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Speck]]
!!Richard Speck
->'''Portrayed By:''' Jack Erdie
[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mindhunter_spreck.jpg]]

* {{Gayngst}}: Downplayed; she is a lesbian, and a minor plot point in one episode involves her hiding her sexuality to ensure employment with the [=FBI=]. That said, she seems comfortable with being gay and there isn't overmuch emphasis on it.

* YourCheatingHeart: Has a fling with another student. Holden is not happy to find out about it.

* NotSoAboveItAll / HeWhoFightsMonsters: The investigation of the serial killers starts to rub into himself after a while.

[[folder:Tench]]

* NaiveNewcomer
* NotSoAboveItAll
* HeWhoFightsMonsters
* OppositesAttract
* PlayingAgainstType

* [[RedOniBlueOni Red Oni]]

* ThisIsGoingToBeHuge