History Characters / SixFeetUnder

* SoapboxSadie: Realistically for a teenage, then young adult, girl, Claire has strong political and artistic opinions and is not shy about expressing them. Her eventual husband, [[spoiler:Ted]], appreciates this about her.

* LittleBrotherInstinct: Though he and Nate don't really get on very well, David is still deeply protective of him.

* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Of an aneurysm in Season 5.]]

* ShotgunWedding: He marries Lisa briefly after she gave birth to his first daughter.

* ButNotTooBlack: A pretty light-skinned example.

* AmbiguousDisorder: He seems to show signs of being on the autism spectrum. An obsession with order, systems, technology, an aversion towards physical intimacy, running through statistics and rules for comfort, and generally displaying peculiar and almost childish behavior.

* {{Gaynst}}: He largely accepts his sexuality, but his real fear is coming out publicly, over which he and David clash.

* AngryBlackMan: He doesn't take shit from racists, homophobes and other bigots, which gets him into trouble more than once.

* BastardBoyfriend: He treats all of his girlfriends (and Brenda) terribly.

* IAmNotMyFather: Claire tries to fight the fear that she might eventually burn out artistically and turn out to be just like her mother Ruth. Ruth, for her part, says that she see herself in her daughter and gets very angry when Claire drops out of college because she doesn't want her to waste her life as she did.

* SheIsAllGrownUp: She becomes more womanly every season.

* ComingOfAgeStory: A subversion, in that she is around 50 years old when it happens but has been emotionally stunted for most of her life. She gets married at 19, has a family, and lives in a repressive household where no personal growth seems to happen for many years. After Nathaniel's death, she is on her own for the first time. She goes to a floral arrangement class, gets a job, has flings and boyfriends, makes new friends who introduce her to new experiences (like gambling, shoplifting, and a road trip to Mexico). She makes a lot of mistakes but her emotional and personal growth is very noticeable and when she returns to being a strong pillar of support in her family, she is much more accessible and is able to relate with her children as an adult who understands they are also adults.

* ParentalSexualitySquick: Casually averted. She certainly doesn't like walking in on her mother having sex, but it is discussed several times that her parents used to have sex in front of her and her brother, as well as hosting sex parties in their homes growing up. This explains the cavalier attitude she has about it, and may even have been a factor in why [[BrotherSisterIncest Billy's relationship]] with her is so unusual.

* TattooAsCharacterType: She and her brother have the names of their childbook heroes tattoed on their lower backs.[[spoiler: Billy cut his off and tried to do the same to Brenda]]

* CharacterDevelopment: Small example, but see his entry under HeteronormativeCrusader. Note that when David reveals his sexuality to Rico in season one, Rico tells him emphatically not to talk about it. In season four, he can be seen listening to David talk about problems with Keith, and his remarks are InnocentlyInsensitive at worst.

** Gets another spotlight scene in season four, [[spoiler: when she and her sister go to confront the woman Rico had an affair with. With baseball bats. DesignatedGirlFight and vandalism ensue.]]

* HighSchoolSweethearts: Her and Rico's relationship; they sometimes allude to their high school classmates in their conversations.[[spoiler: Might also qualify as MarriedTooYoung to some, especially in the period after Rico's affair.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Often short and abrasive with Rico, and encourages him to pick a fight with the Fishers more than once. But she favors jobs in caregiving, is a devoted mother, and her advice to Rico generally has his best interests at heart.

* InsaneEqualsViolent: He regularly refuses to medicate his BPD, with dire consequences. No less than three main characters (Nate, Claire, Brenda) had to fear for their lives around him on several occasions, and was essentially one of the main antagonists of the first season.

* FriendsWithBenefits: Originally her arrangement with Nate -- casual friendly sex. Though she seemed to have been more emotionally invested in him than he realized, and tells her friends they've been together for years.

* InformedAttribute: Her intelligence.

* {{Jerkass}}: Downplayed; a bit self-centered, uppity and lacking empathy at times, due to emotional instability.

* ADayInTheLimelight: At least, a scene. In the first season, one death scene begins with her and a coworker doing their rounds at a nursery home to find one old woman dead. [[spoiler: Seeing as how that woman turned out to be a surprise choking death and neither worker could have seen the hot dog down her gullet, Vanessa gets fired offscreen that episode.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Definitely has her moments, usually at the Fishers' expense.
* HighSchoolSweethearts: Her and Rico's relationship; they sometimes allude to high school classmates in conversation. [[spoiler: Might be seen as MarriedTooYoung to some, especially in the period after Rico's affair.]]
* MovingBeyondBereavement: After [[spoiler: her mother dies]], part of her and Rico's arc in season 3 is helping her move past the resulting depression.
* Satellite Character: Heavily downplayed and zig-zagged, but arguably an unintended case. While Vanessa is often considered a major character in her own right--she's present throughout the show's run, has a clear-cut personality and relationship dynamics, and works multiple jobs of her own--story-wise, she's mostly there to spur her husband's actions or cause conflict for him in a given plot. Her main relationship beyond Rico is with her sister, who dislikes him, but the sisters almost never appear in scenes together without him also being present. This is particularly the case in the first three seasons. That's not to say they ''never'' do, but in all five seasons, the number of scenes Vanessa appears in without Rico can be counted on one hand.

* HeteronormativeCrusader: Due to his Latin American Catholic upbringing he often shows homophobic tendencies, which leads to some trouble with his boss.

* Satellite Character: Heavily downplayed and zig-zagged, but arguably an unintended case. While Vanessa is considered a main character in her own right--she's present throughout the show's run, has a clear-cut personality and relationship dynamics, and works multiple jobs of her own--story-wise, she's mostly there to spur her husband's actions or cause conflict for him in a given plot. Her main relationship beyond Rico is with her sister, who dislikes him, but the sisters almost never appear in scenes together without his presence. That's not to say they ''never'' do, but in all five seasons, the number of scenes Vanessa appears in without Rico can be counted on one hand.

* AngryBlackMan: He doesn't take shit from racists, homophobes and other bigots which gets him into trouble more than once.

--> Played by: Creator/SpragueGrayden, Creator/Ben Foster, Creator/PeterFacinelli & CreatorMenaSuvari

* LipstickLesbian: Edie is a very attractive lesbian -- a sensual blue-eyed blonde. She dresses sexy, too.
* PerformanceArtist: Edie puts on a performance on an open-mile night, featuring recordings of her mother saying things to her.

* UptightLovesWild: Uptight to Claire's wild. Fun-loving, free-spirited , liberal photographer Claire Fisher falls in love with Ted who is a conservative lawyer.

--> Played by: Robert Foxworth & Joanna Cassidy

--> Played by: Marina Black

--> Played by: Creator/SpragueGrayden, Ben Foster, Creator/PeterFacinelli & Mena Suvari

%%* PerformanceArtist: Edie

--> Played by: Chris Messina

* YouLookFamiliar: RainnWilson appeared in the series finale of Transparent, playing Arthur as a fully-certified and successful funeral director.

* SilverFox: She's about 50, and often commended on her timeless beauty by men and women alike.

* HiddenDepths: His sons get to discover several NotSoDifferent traits.

* TrueLoveIsExceptional: Throughout the series most her partners were artistic types with various degrees of mental instability. Then she meets Ted, a serene conservative lawyer and eventually marries him.

* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler:While never stated she seems to be this with Ted Fairwell in the end of the last episodes flash forward.]]

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: [[spoiler: Averted. She decides to go through abortion when she gets pregnant with her boyfriend Russell who cheated on her with a male professor. She found out about her pregnancy when they were broken up.]]

* BigBad: Of seasons 1 and 2. They keep trying to buy "Fisher And Sons" and vehemently refuse to take "No" for an answer... even if it means resorting to the most unethical measures possible.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Subverted. They suddenly go bankrupt at the end of the penultimate episode of season 2 and have a federal investigation done on them[[note]]both are presumably due to their ridiculously unlawful business practices[[/note]]. However, in the season finale, they have one last laugh by hiring a health inspector to inspect the Fisher And Sons Funeral Home, resulting in Fisher And Sons being charged a $38,000 fine (which they can't afford to pay until [[spoiler: Rico and Vanessa chip in with part of their $100,000 settlement in exchange for Rico becoming a business partner]]) for a backed up sewage system. "If I'm going down, you're going down with me" indeed!

* InsuranceFraud: They burn down an old house they had recently bought.

* RichBitch: Mitzi. She likes to display her wealth by thowing parties for her Kroehner lackeys.

--> Played by: Sprague Grayden, Ben Foster, Creator/PeterFacinelli & Mena Suvari

--> Played by: Eric Balfour

* {{Adorkable}}: Is.... eccentric to say the least. But he remains possibly the most genuinely innocent person in the show.