History Characters / TheDeathOfStalin

* AlliterativeName: Although it is never said aloud in the movie.

** Was also one to Stalin in real life. [[note]]In RealLife, Svetlana wasn't completely spared her father's wretched behavior. The film mentions how Stalin deported her boyfriend but didn't mention how Stalin further strained her relationship by preventing her from having an artistic career and covering up her mother's suicide.[[/note]]

* CourtJester: Part of the reason for his political success seems to be the fact that Stalin likes his jokes.

* TheDreaded: Absolutely everyone is terrified of him, and for good reason, since he'll have people killed at the drop of a hat. Deconstructed in that him being this ends up being one of the primary reasons for his death.

* TheDreaded: Absolutely everyone is terrified of him, and for good reason, since he'll have people killed at the drop of a hat.

* TheTeam:
** TheLeader: Malenkov. Or an attempt to be one, anyway.
** TheLancer: Khrushchev. The OnlySaneMan trying to snap power away from Beria.
** TheHeart: Molotov. He acts rather jovial and thinks the USSR is a true socialist paradise free of cynicism.
** TheSmartGuy: Kaganovich. Acts as an advisor and Khrushchev's NumberTwo in setting a plan to take out Beria.
** TheSocialExpert: Mikoyan. A former loyalist to Stalin using his wit to avoid anyone's wrath.
** TheGenericGuy: Bulganin. The least developed of the seven.
** TokenEvilTeammate: Beria. The one the six others fear more and plot to take out before he does the same.
** SixthRanger[=/=]TheBigGuy: General Zhukov, who is not a member of the Committee, but is enlisted by the others to (literally) take out Beria.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: He's not really sane. See below.

* AdaptationalWimp: While the real Malenkov ''was'' considered a weak leader, he wasn't ''completely'' inept. Foreign dignitaries noted that he was a more charming conversationalist than Khrushchev; he was just as willing (and able) to get blood on his hands as the rest of Stalin's inner circle, and he was hardly blind to Beria's attempts to use him as a puppet, but there was little he could do about it, seeing how he was largely reliant on Beria's support to stay in power. In the graphic novel, Malenkov cheerfully ascends to the position of General Secretary with Beria's backing, but does not hesitate to go along with Khruschev's coup when the latter points out how easily Beria can dispose of him.

* UpperClassTwit: See HorribleJudgeOfCharacter above and WrongGenreSavvy below. She also spends the entirety of the film talking to everyone as if she's the Princess Royal, whilst having no clue how dangerous the Russian capital has become for her since her father's death, and that while she's the closest thing the Soviet Union has to this trope, the post-Tsarist nature of Russia allows for elites to be axed off at any moment's notice.

* HistoricalBeautyUpgrade: The real Zhukov, while not fat, was a bit on the wider side, had a receding hairline and was overall pretty average-looking compared to Jason Isaac's dashingly handsome appearance. Even the scar, which he historically didn't have, doesn't really detract from his looks.

--> '''Zhukov:''' Alright boys... [Opens trenchcoat to reveal smuggled AK-47s] meet your dates tonight!

* TheDreaded: Being the head spymaster in Soviet Russia will make you this. Unfortunately for him, [[MachiavelliWasWrong he ends up being more hated than feared]], leading to ThePurge circling right around to claim ''him''. In real life, even Stalin was wary of him, once devolving into genuine panic upon [[PapaWolf learning that Svetlana]] was [[AloneWithThePsycho at his house alone]] and immediately called and told her to leave at once.

* FalseFriend: They pretend to be jovial friends around Stalin, but this is a complete farce; the only time they really work together is when it's time to shift blame to someone outside their circle.

* NomDeMom: took to using her mother's maiden name instead of her birth name Stalina.

* ConspiracyTheorist: One of the few examples that is both [[ExploitedTrope exploited]] by the character and PlayedForDrama. If he wants someone gone, he'll craft a story that makes them look like conspirators against the Soviet Union. He doesn't actually ''believe'' these stories, but he doesn't ''have'' to, because Stalin doesn't care about anyone's innocence and Beria knows it. As long as he can come up with a reason to put in the paperwork, he can have basically ''anyone'' short of Stalin's immediate family or inner circle killed whenever he wants, something he exploits ruthlessly.

* ConspiracyTheorist: One of the few examples that is both [[ExploitedTrope exploited]] by the character and PlayedForDrama. If he wants someone gone, he'll craft a story that makes them look like conspirators against the Soviet Union.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: On the morning after Stalin's seizure, Khrushchev is having his wife repeat back to him all of the jokes that were bandied around the night before, so he can remember which the Great Leader liked and which fell flat. He's a nervy but calculating individual with a will to survive who isn't nearly as silly as he seems.

* FalseFriend: They pretend to be jovial friends around Stalin, but it is a farce.

--> '''Malenkov:''' No, he deserves a fair trial! He's one of us!
--> '''Khrushchev:''' What about Tukhachevsky? And Pyatakov? Did they get a trial? What about Sokolnikov, who begged him to look after his elderly mother and what did this monster do? ''He strangled her in front of him!'' It's too late. The only choice we have is between his ''death'' or his ''revenge.'' [Shoves the paper and pen to him] And you will [[PrecisionFStrike FUCKING]] sign this.

* AdaptationalWimp: While the real Malenkov ''was'' considered a weak leader, he wasn't ''completely'' inept. Foreign dignitaries noted that he was a more charming conversationalist than Khrushchev; he was just as willing (and able) to get blood on his hands as the rest of Stalin's inner circle, and he was hardly blind to Beria's attempts to use him as a puppet, but there was little he could do about it, seeing how he was largely reliant on Beria's support to stay in power.

* SanityHasAdvantages: A sane mind might've taken the out the rest of the Politburo were offering him, shifting all of the blame onto his subordinates even if he takes a hit in the ongoing power struggle. Khrushchev, after all, has come back from worse hits over the course of the film. But Beria is a brittle psychopath, and when ''he'' gets hit, he shatters, going into a hateful and vindictive VillainousBreakdown that cements the rest of the Politburo's plans to align with Khrushchev and kill him before he kills them, if for no other reason than their own self-preservation in the face of a known killer who's just demonstrated instability and poor impulse control potentially becoming ShadowDictator.

* AffablyEvil: He's a friendly, funny guy, but not a good man. While he's [[ALighterShadeOfBlack better than most of his colleagues]], he's still willing to sacrifice plenty of innocent people in his scheming.
** In private, he sees the massacre of wannabe funeralgoers by the NKVD less as the reprehensible atrocity it was and more as ammunition to use against Beria.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: On the morning after Stalin's seizure, Khrushchev is having his wife repeat back to him all of the jokes that were bandied around the night before, so he can remember which the Great Leader liked and which fell flat. He's a nervy but calculating individual with a will to survive.

-->'''Bulganin''': Jesus Christ, it's the bishops.
-->'''Kaganovich''': I thought we'd banned those freaks.
-->'''Molotov''': Sneeze on the bastards as they go past!

** Notably, the political elite of both the Soviet Union and the United States had real and lasting respect for Mikoyan. When the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Crisis_of_1958%E2%80%931959 1958 Berlin crisis]] upset US/Soviet relations, Khrushchev called on Mikoyan to visit America and reduce the tension. Mikoyan's first response (again, ballsy) was reportedly "you started it, so you go!" but he did end up making the visit, which he did in such an informal way (beginning with a polite request for a holiday visa to "visit my friend," the Soviet Ambassador) that he was warmly received by politicians and public alike. Khrushchev would later ask Mikoyan to be the USSR's official representative at the funeral of UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy; Mikoyan was so visibly upset at Kennedy's death that Jacqueline Kennedy would later write to Khrushchev to tell him how moved she was by Mikoyan's feelings for an ostensible enemy.

-->'''Kruschev:''' "And what about Sokolnikov, who begged him to look after his elderly mother, and what does that monster do? He ''strangled her'' in front of him!"

* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: In the original graphic novel, Zhukov is much more stolid and has much less "screen time", simply informing Khruschev and his cabal that he is content to stay out of politics but will support them because he does not want to see Beria become head of the government.

* SanityHasAdvantages: A sane mind might've taken the out the rest of the Politburo were offering him, shifting all of the blame onto his subordinates even if he takes a hit in the ongoing power struggle. Khrushchev, after all, has come back from worse hits over the course of the film. But Beria is a brittle psychopath, and when ''he'' gets hit, he shatters, going into a hateful and vindictive VillainousBreakdown that cements the rest of the Politburo's plans to align with Khrushchev and kill him.

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Unlike Beria, who takes a sadistic glee in causing pain to others, Khrushchev seems to view the many horrible things he does and has previously had to do as simply the cost of doing business in the Soviet Union under Stalin. He isn't exactly overcome with regret and remorse at, say, setting up hundreds of innocent people to be gunned down by the NKVD, but he didn't go out of his way to bring death and misery to them either; to him, it's just a necessary sacrifice to prevent something worse from happening. [[note]]He didn't exactly allievate the misery of his fellow Ukrainians in the Holodomor, a famine brought about by the attempt to sovietise Ukraine's agriculture - ruining production and initiating the deaths of millions. Khrushchev, as a Commissar for the Ukraine, faithfully tried to bring about Stalin's desires regardless of the cost in his country.[[/note]]