History Characters / TheOfficeUSMainCharacters

* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Pam in the early seasons, especially in Season 2 when Pam's wedding date with Roy becomes official. A lot of critical speculation said that its resolution would destroy the show. Its continuing strength even after dealing with the UST is a testament to the writing team. TheyDo.

* {{UST}}: With Jim. [[spoiler:TheyDo]].

* Nice: Jim, who, despite his mischief and pranks on Dwight, is nonetheless a fairly NiceGuy overall, and the most pleasant and level-headed of the three.
* Mean: Dwight, the most unpleasant, hostile and unfriendly most of the time, bordering on EvilGenius towards his co-workers.
* In-Between: Michael, who tries to be friendly but is often selfish, obnoxious, InnocentlyInsensitive, and a jerk to Toby.

Nice: Jim, who, despite his mischief and pranks on Dwight, is nonetheless a fairly NiceGuy overall, and the most pleasant and level-headed of the three.
Mean: Dwight, the most unpleasant, hostile and unfriendly most of the time, bordering on EvilGenius towards his co-workers.
In-Between: Michael, who tries to be friendly but is often selfish, obnoxious, InnocentlyInsensitive, and a jerk to Toby.

* ArmorPiercingSlap: After Michael dumps Helene, Pam gives him a slap that's been building up over the past few years.

* DeadpanSnarker: In the early seasons, this was one of his defining characteristics, particularly on ConfessionCam. He still maintains it to a degree after he got DrunkWithPower and let his ego run wild.

* ManChild: Not as blatant as Michael, but Ryan's temperament and personality is comparable to that of a teenager's.

* CoolHat: His trilby. Where'd he get it? He'd rather not say.

* ColorCharacter: Most of his outfits are predominately blue or contain at least one item of blue. When he takes Jan's job, he starts wearing less items of blue, [[DarkIsEvil instead opting for darker colors]].

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Especially in later seasons, no one in the office cares at all for him, save Michael's creepy man-crush on him, his RelationshipRevolvingDoor with Kelly and the hints of an OddFriendship with Toby. In season 8, everyone encourages Kelly to date Ravi, simply because he's not Ryan and anyone is better than him (Pam outright tells Ryan that he's not a good person, and even the ones who never met Ravi prefer him over Ryan). In "The Fire" Dwight mercilessly mocks him after finding out that the fire in the office was caused when Ryan made a dumb mistake in the break room (using the wrong setting on the toaster oven), and no one steps up to defend him, not even Michael. Later, after he conned his way to management and acted like an asshole to everyone - coming up with a business plan that would potentially make all the sales staff redundant - he burned all his bridges. Even Michael and Kelly gradually got fed up with how much of a {{Jerkass}} he is.

* GoingNative: Ryan was one of the most sane people in the beginning of the show; As of season 6, he has his own "quirks" like everyone else, probably from just accepting being stuck in the office for his life. His quirks mostly involves him being inconsistent with his morals, interests, fashion and personality which makes him a bit of a erratic person.

** In the show finale, she finally gave up her still persistent insecurity and self-doubt, she fully support Jim in his ambitions outside Scranton solding their house to go in Austin ready herself to moving forward.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: He loves messing with Dwight for his own amusement but he ultimately sees Dwight as a friend and will look out for Dwight's best interests. Like when he physically fought Dwight to prevent him from going into a meeting where he'd be scapegoated and fired and putting together the ultimate bachelor party so that Dwight can make peace with Kevin and stepping aside so that [[spoiler: Dwight can have Michael as his best man]].

** Asking an actor friend (who happens to be Asian) to go to work in his place and pretend to be him.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: After Pam rejects him in the season two finale, Jim - hurt by her rejection and not wanting to see her married to someone else - feels there's no reason for him to stay in Scranton and takes a promotion at Dunder-Mifflin's Stamford office to get a new start. He stays there in the first quarter of season three before coming back after Scranton absorbs the Stamford office.

* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Pam in early seasons. A lot of critical speculation said that its resolution would destroy the show. Its continuing strength even after dealing with the UST is a testament to the writing team. TheyDo.

->''"When a child gets behind the wheel of a car and runs into a tree, you don't blame the child. He didn't know any better. You blame the 30-year-old woman who got in the passenger seat and said; Drive, kid. I trust you."''

* BabiesEverAfter: By the series finale, she has a daughter (Cecelia) and a son (Phillip) with Jim.

-->'''Pam:''' The first lesson of watching World Poker Tour at 2 AM: you play the opponent, not the cards

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Jim accidentally convinced Pam's father to leave her mother. At their wedding, Pam's father brought his new sugar-baby along, understandably agitating Helene. Helen would then make the unwise decision to shack up with Michael, creating some unnecessary drama between Michael and Pam.

* CharacterDevelopment: He starts as a BrilliantButLazy prankster who take no risk to a more professionally active and ambitious man HappilyMarried to the woman he had a hard time to confess his love and became FireForgedFriends with his favorite target for pranking.

** In the show finale, she finally gave up her still persistent insecurity and self-doubt, she fully support Jim in his ambitions outside Scranton solding their house to go at Austin ready herself to moving forward.

** She learns to gain a backbone and be more outspoken about her true feelings concerning both Roy (her ex-fiancee she doesn't love anymore) and Jim (her OneTrueLove) . She became also more assertive even to the point of being brutally honest sometimes.

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: After Jim steps away from Athlead to save their marriage, Pam feels guilty and resolves to make it up to him. One year later she sells their house so he can move closer to Athlead's main office and have the best of both worlds.

* MenDontCry: Jim cries precisely once in the whole series; when he's givin Pam a love confession knowing that she'll be marrying someone else.

* HappilyMarried: With Jim as of early season 6. They go to a couple of rough spots, especially in season 9, but the marriage survives.

* ChickMagnet: There's Pam, of course, but he also dated [[Creator/AmyAdams Katy]], Brenda, and Karen, who even went from "what's up with that guy?" to crushing on him in one episode. There's also Cathy, who unsuccessfully tries to steal him from Pam, and all the other women in the office admitted that if they had to do it with someone, they would pick Jim.

* OnlySaneMan: While Jim is probably the most likely out of the entire Dunder Mifflin staff to point out his coworker's foibles and snark about them, he is more than willing to indulge them for his own amusement whenever he's bored, which is often. In later episodes, though, Jim has shown that he's not immune to picking up the IdiotBall, especially when he's put in charge of anything, and he and Pam go through a good deal of drama in the final season due to their inability to communicate.

* BatmanGambit: A lot of Jim's pranks on Dwight can only fully work if Dwight reacts a certain way, like using the "gaydar" on himself in "Gay Witch Hunt". But Dwight, since he's SuperGullible and has very specific obsessions and thought patterns, almost always does exactly what Jim expects him to do.
* BirdsOfAFeather: With Pam, both being apathetic about their work, and aware of being more normal and reasonable compared to their quirky coworkers. They are also both considered the most attractive and desirable people in the office, but don't have much social life outside of work.

* ButtMonkey: After getting with Pam, Jim's awkward moments are played up. He's forced to confront Karen after getting suckered into a prank that backfired. He makes a fool of himself while trying to discuss "Angela's Ashes" with Pam's "Finer Things Club". His attempts at leadership expose his similarities to Michael and make his co-workers turn against him. He makes a bad first impression on Michael's new boss. He accidentally reveals that Pam got pregnant out of wedlock in front of her conservative grandmother. Then there's the snowball fight...
* CharacterDevelopment: He starts as a BrilliantButLazy prankster who take no risk to a more professionally active and ambitious man HappilyMarried to the women he had a hard time to confess his love and became FireForgedFriends with his favorite target for pranking.

* ChickMagnet: There's Pam, of course, but he also dated with [[Creator/AmyAdams Katy]], Brenda, and Karen, who even went from "what's up with that guy?" to crushing on him in one episode. There's also Cathy, who unsuccessfully tries to steal him from Pam, and all the other women in the office admitted that, if they had to do it with someone, they would pick Jim.
* CoolLoser: Despite his charismatic personality, he doesn't seem to have too much of a social life outside of the office and Pam. Probably Justified though because it's clear Jim spends a lot of time working.
* ConsistentClothingStyle: His office attire generally consists of blue/white long sleeved shirts with the sleeves rolled up more often than not and a simple solid black/navy necktie.

* EveryoneCanSeeIt: With Pam.

** As much as he pranks and mocks Dwight, he strongly disapproves of Michael's treatment of him, notably in "Drug Testing" and "Golden Ticket". Probably at least in part because, whereas Jim's actions are in response to Dwight's JerkAss behavior towards him, Dwight practically worships the ground Michael walks on (most of the time).

* HappilyMarried: With Pam as of early season 6. They go to a couple of rough spots, especially in season 9, but the marriage survives.

* JerkassToOne: He regularly picks on Dwight, but is rarely mean to other people.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]. Some of his pranks on Dwight are [[JerkassBall genuinely mean-spirited]], but most would agree he's a NiceGuy.
* KarmaHoudini: Most of his pranks should have gotten him reprimanded. More than a few of them should have gotten him fired. And a small handful of them should have ended in his immediate arrest.

* LonelyAtTheTop: When he briefly became co-manager alongside Michael.
* MellowFellow: Jim is laid-back and hardly ever raises his voice.

** Mentioned by a few characters. It doesn't help that during a game of Who Would You Do, Jim jokingly said Kevin.

* OhCrap: Due to being the closest embodiment of NoFourthWall on the show, his tend to be most visible.

* OnlySaneMan: While Jim is probably the most likely out of the entire Dunder Mifflin staff to point out his coworker's foibles and snark about them, he is more than willing to indulge them for his own amusement whenever he's bored, which is often. In later episodes, though, Jim has shown that he's not immune from picking up the IdiotBall, especially when he's put in charge of anything, and he and Pam go through a good deal of drama in the final season due to their inability to communicate.
* ThePrankster: Though he usually limits himself to Dwight (or occasionally Andy). He tends to play pranks out of boredom, but occasionally because they're driving him crazy and pranking them allows him to turn their insanity into comedy. How sympathetic Jim is depends a lot on how funny his pranks are and how much the victims did to deserve them that episode.
* TheRival: To Dwight, though there are occasional moments where they get along.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: After Pam rejects him in the season two finale, Jim, hurt by her rejection and not wanting to see her married to someone else, feels there's no reason for him to stay in Scranton and takes a promotion at Dunder-Mifflin's Stamford office to get a new start. He stays there in the first quarter of season three before coming back after Scranton absorbs the Stamford office.

* VitriolicBestBuds: As noted above, his relationship with Dwight gradually evolves into one of these. Even before this, however, for all his pranking he typically shows more concern for Dwight than you'd expect.
* WackyMarriageProposal: He proposed to Pam at a gas station. Outside. While it was raining. Despite the strange timing, she happily accepted.

* TheAlcoholic: It's not a defining trait for her, but it's clear she has a fondness for alcohol. In "The Dundies" she not only finishes her drink but sneaks swigs from other people's unfinished drinks, and gets very drunk in the process. In "Benihana Christmas" the party that she stages with Karen is specifically centered around margaritas. In "Dinner Party" she brings a bottle of wine to the party.
* AmbitionIsEvil: An interesting case. Averted in the first four and a half seasons in which her artistic aspiration is treated as one of her more positive qualities but played painfully straight after that. [[spoiler: She quits her job to help Michael poach clients from her former co-workers in order to get promoted to sales]]. It's elaborated a bit that Pam frequently gets bored where she is and the bottled up frustration causes her to make too big a jump forward. As a result she also often runs out of steam and gives up on the thing she was ambitous for after she finds out it's harder than she thought. Ultimately the job she sticks with is one she made up that amounted to what she was already doing as a receptionist but without having to make calls.

* BestFriend: To Dwight. He said this in the show finale.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Despite her typical niceness, she has a selfish and passive aggressive streak, not to mention that she likes being TheGadfly along with Jim.

* EveryoneCanSeeIt: With Jim.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: After she starts going out with Jim in season 4, she wears her hair down and ditches the button-up shirts.
* ExtremeDoormat: She tolerates absolutely everything Roy does while they're together, no matter how insensitive or borderline abusive. She gets better.

* GreenEyedEpiphany: Pam first noticed her feelings for Jim when he began a relationship with Katy, a purse saleswoman.

* MasterOfTheMixedMessage: A major theme in Season 2 is how she acts this way towards Jim, initiating interactions with him in a flirtatious way (despite being engaged to Roy), but then behaving a bit coldly if he initiates anything. Best exemplified by how she literally makes a point of hanging out with Jim in his bedroom in "Email Surveillance", then one episode later in "Christmas Party", she doesn't try to get the teapot he bought for her back in the "Yankee Swap" game, hurting his feelings.

[[caption-width-right:310:''"Yeah, I'm not a temp anymore. I got Jim's old job. Which means at my 10-year high school reunion, it will not say 'Ryan Howard is a temp.' It will say 'Ryan Howard is a junior sales associate at a mid-range paper supply firm.' That'll show 'em."'']]

[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/robert_california.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:150:''"I'm the [bleep] lizard king."'']]

[[center: [- [[Characters/TheOfficeUS Main Character Index]] | '''Main Characters''' | [[Characters/TheOfficeUSMichaelScott Michael Scott]] | [[Characters/TheOfficeUSSecondaryCharacters Secondary Characters]] | [[Characters/TheOfficeUSRecurringCharacters Recurring Characters]] | [[Characters/TheOfficeUSThreatLevelMidnightCharacters Threat Level Midnight Characters]] | -] ]]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dwight_2755.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"Nothing stresses me out. Except having to seek the approval of my inferiors."'']]

->Played by: Creator/RainnWilson\\
Seasons: 1-9\\
''"Last week I gave a fire-safety talk, and nobody paid any attention. It's my own fault for using [=PowerPoint=]. [=PowerPoint=] is boring. People learn in lots of different ways, but experience is the best teacher."''

Sales Representative/Assistant to the Regional Manager/Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin, Scranton.

UK counterpart: Gareth Keenan.

* AffectionateNickname: Called "possum" and "D" by Angela.
* AgentMulder: He seems to be the most willing of the office to believe in cryptids, including vampires, zombies, and Sasquatch.
* AmbiguousDisorder: While his eccentricities are likely just a product of his ''very'' strange upbringing, he’s easily distracted on random topics and turns minor issues into SeriousBusiness, he is TheParanoiac and a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} displaying symptoms of many disorders, possibly being anywhere on the Autism spectrum.
* AmbiguouslyChristian: The Schrute family has UsefulNotes/{{Amish}} roots, but the few times Dwight expresses any religious sentiments, they're very eclectic and hard to pin down. In fact, judging from his claim in "Crime Aid" that Angela introduced him to monotheism, and the deleted scene in "Drug Testing" where he considers praying to [[Myth/NorseMythology Thor]] to help him find the employee who left the joint in the parking lot, the Schrutes may practice some kind of UsefulNotes/NeoPaganism.
* AmbitionIsEvil: He's infamously ruthless, ambitious and power-hungry. Every time he's in authority, he behaves like an unfeeling dictator and this isolates from his co-workers who don't desire to be his employees due to how obnoxious and egotistical he is. Luckily by the end, he develops a more amiable demeanor as he finally becomes branch manager of Dunder Mifflin.
* AssholeVictim: Downplayed, but a lot of what keeps Jim's fondness for pranking him from seeming ''too'' mean is that, initially at least, he's often just taking Dwight down a peg or two; most of his pranks come after moments where Dwight has been particularly arrogant, insufferable or abrasive.
* BabiesEverAfter: By the series finale, he has a son, Phillip, with Angela.
* BadLiar: Dwight has many impressive skills. Deception is not one of them. In "The Coup", even ultra-dense Michael can easily figure out that Dwight is lying about skipping work for an emergency dental appointment with "Dr. Crentist".
* BearsAreBadNews: A firm believer in this trope.
* BerserkButton: If you value your life, don't ever talk badly about Angela in his presence.
* BigEater: In "The Coup", he orders a meal large enough to feed an entire family.
* BirdsOfAFeather: Dwight and Angela are both very quirky, overly serious, and obnoxious egomaniacs who love being controlling of others.
* BrutalHonesty: In "Pam's Replacement", Pam even starts taking advice from Dwight because he's the only one she knows for ''sure'' is being honest with her.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: He's the most-successful ''active'' salesman at Dunder-Mifflin, and yet his quirks are far more pronounced than Michael's.
* ButtMonkey: Exemplified in the penultimate episode of season four, when Michael leaves the office. Dwight (accurately) announces that he is in charge of the office for the day. Stanley simply stands up and leaves. Over the course of the episode, so does every other employee except Angela.
* CatchPhrase: "Idiot." Also begins countless sentences with "Question...", "Fact..." or "False..."
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: He used to be an almost blind worshiper of Michael, eagerly doing all his requests, but in later seasons [[TheStarscream he grew increasingly dedicated to surpassing and taking the Regional Manager job for himself.]]
* CharacterDevelopment: In Seasons 8 and 9 he learns to appreciate his coworkers more. Examples:
** When he's putting together a team to go to Tallahassee and gets saddled with his least favorite people in the office, but soon recognizes that even they have traits that he can appreciate.
** When he tries to hire one of his personal friends to pick up Jim's slack (as he is busy starting another business), and when he finds out that none of them would be even remotely competent, he realizes that he holds his coworkers to a far higher standard than his friends.
** By the time he is appointed Regional Manager again near Season 9's end, everyone in the office is actually happy for him, and among his final words in the series is him admitting that he does get along with his [[InsistentTerminology subordinates]].
** By the second half of the final season, Dwight actually considers Pam and Jim his close friends, and they are both happy to admit the same (even if they are still prone to pranking him). Dwight, without pause, tells Pam he thinks Jim would be best choice for Regional Manager, and Jim says this of Dwight to David Wallace. After Dwight's promotion, [[FireForgedFriends he immediately asks Jim to be his number two]].
** In the finale, he even asks Jim to be his best man over Mose and any other family members present.
* TheChewToy: His relationship with both Jim and Michael.
** Jim has next to no respect for Dwight, so Mr. Schrute routinely finds himself to be the go-to guy when Jim is bored and in a pranking mood (though he does, it has to be said, [[AssholeVictim tend to bring much of it upon himself]]). Dwight does, on rare occasion, get his own back.
** With Michael, it's love-hate; he loves Dwight's obsession/idol worship of him and does everything he can to keep it, but he hates the kiss-ass sycophancy that comes with it and so dismisses Dwight as a friend and any of his attempts to gain authority, real or imagined.
* ChronicPetKiller: Euthanized Angela's cat Sprinkles because it was weak. He really thought he was doing both the cat and Angela a favor, though. He also shot a "werewolf" that turned back into the neighbour's dog. And, while volunteering at the animal hospital, euthanized over 150 pets by himself. Angela had asked him to take care of her cat because he was the only one she trusted. He proceeded to decide that Sprinkles' quality of life was too low and put her in Angela's freezer - ''while she was still alive''. Sprinkles then proceeded to throw up her medication, choke on the vomit and die.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Dwight is someone who, while his behavior is mostly predictable, seems to have motivations and an internal monologue that indicate that he is one of these.
* TheComicallySerious: Everything is SeriousBusiness for him and this is often, if not always, PlayedForLaughs.
* CompetitionFreak: He went as far as taking on a computer (which he thought was sentient, by the way) on a contest who could get the most sales before the end of the day. He won. Near the end of the series, Dwight becomes Regional Manager, and Jim becomes the Assistant to the Regional Manager. When Jim decides to take on his own assistant and hold a competition to determine who it would be, Dwight eventually can't help but compete and win.
* ConsistentClothingStyle: His office attire generally consists of brown/tan suits with short sleeve button down shirts in various earth tone colors and a matching tie. When made to wear white long sleeve button shirts by Charles Miner, he expresses serious discomfort with the change.
* ControlFreak: He greatly dislikes letting anyone share his status or have more authority than him, not even letting his girlfriend Angela share it when they plan for Dwight to take over the branch.
* CrazyPrepared: He has a large amount of weapons hidden around the office in case of attack. Also, he has a wig for every person in the office, because "you never know when you need to bear a passing resemblance to someone."
* {{Determinator}}: In "Tallahasee" he tries to make it through a Sabre seminar even though he's in pain from an appendicitis. Later in the day he still tries to give a presentation just a few hours after having an emergency appendectomy.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Played with. Dwight likes to think he's the "hidden badass" part of the trope, but the joke is often that there's a gulf between his true abilities and his perception of his true abilities, meaning he's often more just the "crouching moron" part. He is often shown to tout his martial arts prowess and the fact that he's CrazyPrepared for any eventuality -- however, on several occasions it's shown that his abilities in both are less impressive than he wants others to think. He memorably gets defeated by Michael, a complete novice, in karate on one occasion, and his preparations for violent conflict (most notably by hiding a massive arsenal of weapons around the office) are massively out of proportion for the actual likelihood of such conflict occurring within the regional branch of a mid-level paper company. While he does rise to the occasion on at least one occasion by using his pepper spray to deter Roy from beating up Jim, this is played more as [[DumbassHasAPoint a stopped clock being right for once]] rather than Dwight being the actual badass he has deluded himself into believing he is. This trope actually does come into play (albeit on a much-smaller scale than he wants to think) with regards to his sales abilities, however, which despite almost everything else about him are genuinely impressive.
* DiggingYourselfDeeper: He tends to fall into this in his reactions to a lot of Jim's pranks; many of them would probably be unsuccessful, or at least less successful, if he were able to just roll with the punch and walk away, or even genuinely laugh it off. But he usually makes things worse for himself due to both his gullibility and his utter lack of a sense of humor about himself and Dunder-Mifflin, leading to him getting more engaged with and entangled with worse outcomes.
* DitzyGenius: While he is an intelligent salesman, he's still a naive, impulsive and socially oblivious {{Manchild}} that's gullible to many of Jim (and Pam)'s classic pranks.
* DumbButDiligent: In contrast to Jim, who is BrilliantButLazy, Dwight, while not unintelligent, is very socially inept, gullible and lacks both social and self-awareness. Nevertheless, he manages to make a success of his career simply through his tendency to never give up or accept "No" for an answer. His interpersonal skills are inappropriate, sometimes even illegal, but he has a high level of passion for everything he does.
%%* EncyclopaedicKnowledge
* EnemyMine: Prior to befriending Jim, there were a few things that would make him enter into this with Jim - the opportunity for a major sale (when Robert California closed the Binghamton Branch while drunk, for example) or Todd Packer being the most notable.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: After initially hazing Ryan, he takes him on a sales call, in which Ryan not only loses the sale, but apparently gets told that they didn't like him rather harshly. Dwight consoles Ryan by saying honestly "(b)ut they didn't have to say it to your face". He's then more than happy to join in what Ryan throws eggs at the building in frustration.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Has never heard the phrase "Live and Let Live" before and doesn't understand what it means when he does.
* FireForgedFriends: He and Jim go from rivals to friends in the final season, to the point that Dwight makes Jim his Best Man at his wedding.
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Choleric.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Fits the bill for Proximity and Supervision. Dwight is easily the least liked person in the office, with even friend hungry Michael trying to avoid him if he can help it. Most of Jim's pranks work largely due to ''nobody'' in the office being willing to support Dwight if he catches on or keeping quiet so he doesn't figure it out. Ironically, Jim and Pam seems to be about the only ones in the office willing to treat Dwight as a friend.
* GermanicEfficiency: He's German-American, and prides himself on his work ethic, productivity, and no-nonsense attitude.
* AGodAmI: Dwight calls himself "the King of Kings" of sales because thinks of himself as UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, something reinforced when he does a {{Tableau}} of ''Art/TheLastSupper'' so he can play Christ in the center.
* HairTriggerTemper: While he's not touchy as Andy, Dwight's not the type of person most people would like to upset due to his HotBlooded personality and a stubborn and a rather intense attitude that he displays with others.
* HappilyMarried: With Angela as of The Finale.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Subverted in that everyone knows this is how he acts, but he's often so poor at it they just brush it off.
* HiddenDepths:
** He is an able entrepreneur. His antics aside, his farm and motel are actually well-managed.
** To say nothing of adding becoming owner of the office complex to the mix. He juggles this, the above two jobs, ''and'' being the most effective salesman in Dunder-Mifflin with seemingly no trouble at all.
** He's pretty good at basketball, yet not so good in martial arts (despite his boasts). He does obtain a black belt near the end of the series, so he may well have improved, or is better than his onscreen attempts to show off his skills make him seem.
** Despite turning the office into a near living hell for his "subordinates" whenever he's Regional Manager, it's pointed out that the office as a whole runs ''very'' well under Dwight's watch. When he becomes Regional Manager at the end of the series after learning to respect his coworkers, he manages to bring that efficiency without sacrificing morale (he even brings back Devon!)
** While Dwight can be seen as off-putting by a lot of people, he's surprisingly good with and quite fond of children and babies, including Jim and Pam's baby, Cece. This is best seen in the episode "Viewing Party" where Cece keeps crying and Dwight takes her from Pam and does a simple hand motion that stops her crying and causes her to fall asleep within seconds. Pam even notes that she "loves him" much to Jim's despair.
** It's implied in a few episodes that he's fully aware that Jim's having him on, but he just goes with it for whatever reason.
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Some of the things he says about his childhood are pretty horrifying, including years of being shunned (starting when he was ''four''- because he forgot to save the excess oil from a tuna can) and performing his own circumcision (okay, you can [[ShareTheMalePain uncross your legs]] now).
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: With Angela who stands 5'1 next to his 6'3.
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** He is irritated when Jim dresses like Dwight and imitates him mockingly in one episode, he also tells Jim that "Identity theft is not a joke." In a later episode Dwight pretends to be Andy in order to annoy him, similar to what Jim did to him earlier, and in "Scott's Tots" part of his plan to get Jim fired is posing as Kevin, Stanley and Toby in phone calls to David Wallace.
** He tells Meredith's son that he does not have games on his office computer because that would be inappropriate. But in a later episode, he plays Second Life during work. However he himself doesn't consider it a "game." He later sets aside an entire desk just for gaming when he creates Mega Desk while Jim and Pam are away on paternity and maternity leave.
** In general he is a stickler for rules and an enthusiastic authoritarian... right up until the point where the rules start constraining his interests and the authority figure is someone he dislikes or disapproves of.
* HypocriticalHumor: During "Niagra", Dwight talks with a group of kids about how he believes Jim only got the co-manager position due to "kissing the boss-man's butt". Kind of a dubious argument for Dwight to be making, considering his being a Professional Butt-Kisser to Michael is one of the strongest aspects of his character.
* IdiotHoudini: He has done numerous things over the course of the show that would have gotten him fired ''at best'' and is not only never disciplined for them but ends the show as the office's regional manager.
** There's honestly no logical explanation for why corporate didn't fire him (or why Stanley didn't sue him, or why the police didn't arrest him) in "Stress Relief" (other than StatusQuoIsGod, of course). First, he intentionally started a fire in the office that not ''only'' led to people damaging corporate property in the panic, but almost ''killed'' Stanley, who has a heart attack from the stress. Then, after inexplicably not being fired, he costs corporate 3,500 dollars a day or two later when he deliberately destroys a CPR dummy. And he's still not fired. Top salesman or not, you've got to expect that he'd be fired and sued immediately in RealLife.
** He also somehow failed to suffer any consequences whatsoever for assaulting (and then subsequently terrorizing) Jim to the point of drawing blood in "Classy Christmas." In fact, Michael and Holly wind up reprimanding ''Jim'' for the whole thing (granted, this was after he accidentally broke a window in the office trying to lob a snowball at Dwight with a lacrosse stick. Not cool- but nowhere NEAR as bad as what Dwight did to him.)!
* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: Showing off a family heirloom holster and an antique revolver he hopes will impress Jo, Dwight displays staggering incompetence with a gun for a man with CrazySurvivalist tendencies. He accidentally discharges the firearm ''in the office''; thankfully, the damage is limited to bursting Andy's eardrum and putting a small hole in the floor.
* InsistentTerminology:
** Frequently insists that his coworkers be referred to as his subordinates, even when that's not really the case and this fact is pointed out to him.
** In the earlier seasons he always referred to himself as "Assistant Regional Manager" despite others- frequently Michael, the actual Regional Manager- reminding him that his actual title is "Assistant '''to''' the Regional Manager". In both cases, his concern seems to be less about accuracy and more IRejectYourReality, trying to pretend he has more authority than he does until everyone just accepts it.
* InsufferableGenius: Downplayed; he's a great salesman with a ''gigantic'' ego. However, he considers himself to be a genius in other ways which are far from the case, meaning he's mostly just the 'insufferable' part.
* {{Jerkass}}: His default mood is being harsh and rude to everyone he interacts with, except Michael, in which case he is a suck up. Due to his BrutalHonesty and lack of social skills, he comes across as aggressive, hostile and difficult.
* JerkassHasAPoint:
** While he may deserve a few of Jim's pranks when they act as LaserGuidedKarma for his rude behavior to his coworkers, "Conflict Resolution" has Jim himself realize that the sheer number and excess of many of them is uncalled for and Dwight has a right to be angry about them.
** He ''thinks'' he's this with regards to his insanely dangerous fire drill. However, while he does have a bit of a point in that his co-workers failed to cover themselves in glory at the time, an objective reading of the situation clearly demonstrates that this was mainly because he stacked the decks against them from the start. The scenario he set up would likely be near-impossible for them to survive had it been real, and was full of secret and at times contradictory little traps that were almost unavoidable (note that at one point he mocks everyone for not trying to call the fire department -- despite Pam having attempted to do so, revealing that he's ''sabotaged the phone lines'' and that they ''can't'' phone the fire department). Furthermore, while he claims he was trying to give everyone instructions on how to get out, that was mainly in the form of unhelpful quiz questions, and he ultimately spent most of the drill strutting, mocking and crowing about their ineptitude rather than taking charge of the situation and maintaining calm, which was his ''actual'' job in the situation as safety manager. Any point he might have is ultimately minor compared to the "jerkass" part of what he was doing.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Occasionally. Though his compassion isn't seen by any characters (just the audience), its effects are obvious. Almost the entirety of his relationship with Angela shows this, especially getting fired (temporarily, though he didn't know it) due to respecting her wish to keep their love a secret. He also cares a great deal about Jim and Pam (even choosing the former as his best man and referring to the latter as his "best friend" by the end of the series).
* KarmaHoudini: See his entry on the main page under this trope.
* KavorkaMan: Despite his rather questionable fashion sense, behavior and general ethics, he easily scores a one-night-stand with one of Pam's attractive friends. Said friend even came back for more, only to find Dwight talking with another woman the following day, again quite successfully from the looks of it. And then there was that entire women's basketball team in "Night Out"…
* KnowNothingKnowItAll: While he's not exactly stupid, he does have an over-inflated impression of exactly how intelligent and knowledgeable he is. Furthermore, despite his posturing there are some significant gaps in what he considers to be his areas of expertise (for example, as noted elsewhere for a supposed survivalist his knowledge of proper gun handling appears to be somewhat lacking, and when he's strutting around doing a drug investigation as a volunteer sheriff's deputy he fails to spot Creed referring to the specific strain of marijuana used in a joint). Furthermore, even those areas of knowledge he does possess are usually not very applicable to his actual circumstances or he doesn't know how to use the knowledge he has that ''is'' relevant appropriately, making him look foolish; for one example, his knowledge of military strategy, survival skills and animal behavior is less relevant in a white-collar mid-level suburban paper company than he seems to think.
** This is largely evident in his gun handling skills. For a guy who has a lot of survivalist tendencies and loves to brag how proficient he is with weaponry, his gun safety knowledge is shockingly low. No real artillery expert would ever assume a gun not to be loaded, or have their finger on a trigger when they don't intend to fire, both things that Dwight has done.
* LargeHam: He often talks and acts in ways that are bizarrely over-the-top.
* LawfulStupid: Treats even the most trivial rules with the utmost importance. A joint at the parking lot is enough to have him don his (voluntary) sheriff uniform and subject the entire office to interrogations and drug tests. Another time, Jim tells Dwight that wasting valuable office time is against the rules and Dwight goes as far as peeing in a coke bottle at his desk and ''sneeze with his eyes open'', simply not to waste time. {{Justified}} since he is actually a [[CompetitionFreak Competition]] and ControlFreak and his extreme emphasis on the rules is as much about intentionally undermining or irritating others to advance his own agenda as it is any actual Uber-respect for the rules; notably, he quickly finds himself chafing against the same rules he pompously insists others should follow the moment they start constraining ''him''.
* LethallyStupid: He always thinks he's doing the right thing, but his actions are often dangerous to other people around him. Examples:
** Killing Angela's cat because she was in pain.
** Bringing various weapons to the office (such as crossbows, mace and large knives) and hiding them in random places.
** Firing a ''Smith & Wesson revolver'' instead of a starter's gun for a fun run.
*** Backs even ''that'' up later by firing ''another'' gun. ''In the office''. Resulting in Andy's temporary hearing loss.
** Shooting Stanley with a bull tranquilizer.
* LikeBrotherAndSister: There are moments with Pam where Dwight actually tries to be as supportive as possible towards her. By the end of the series, the two are pretty much like siblings.
* {{Manchild}}: At his worst, he behaves like an impulsive, stubborn and petulant child when he's angry.
* ManipulativeBastard: On occasion. One of his schemes to sabotage Jim in season 6 actually succeeds, and spends much of that season trying to get Jim fired or make him look bad.
* {{Munchkin}}: In the episode "Murder," he and everyone else in the office play a murder mystery dinner party game set in Savannah, Georgia. He draws the Butler character but immediately abandons it to play a hardass detective.
* NaziGrandpa: Repeatedly hinted that his grandfather was a German war criminal, to the point that the Shoah Foundation protested Dwight's visa to visit him in [[ArgentinaIsNaziLand Argentina]].
* NerdGlasses: Has both the glasses and the look.
* NerdInEvilsHelmet: If he has a chance to perform for the camera or make a pop culture reference it will often be something villainous, and he will invariably take it ''way'' too far- case in point, his homage to ''Film/SilenceOfTheLambs'' when he pretends to be Hannibal Lecter by ''skinning the face off a resuscitation dummy and wearing it as his own!''
* NoSenseOfHumor: ''Everything'' is SeriousBusiness for him, which makes him a perfect target for Jim's pranks. The major exception is in "The Injury", when part of his NotHimself behavior after his concussion is that he starts telling jokes, even beating Michael to a ThatsWhatSheSaid quip.
* NoSocialSkills: Comes with being raised on a beet farm, far away from society with a family that shunned him for two years (starting when he was ''four'' years old) for not saving excess oil from a can of tuna, just to name something. This is what he has to say about Angela:
-->'''Dwight:''' She introduced me to so many things. Pasteurized milk. Sheets. Monotheism. Presents on your birthday. Preventative medicine.
* NumberTwo: To Michael, but noticeably refused to be Deangelo's number two by season seven.
* NotSoAboveItAll: As much as he tries to avoid doing so, he does occasionally find himself involved in the antics of his fellow employees - among other things, he was a part of the Lip Dub of "Nepotism", he was one of the many people trying to see what Stanley would notice, and he was willing to help Jim and Pam trick Michael into believing he'd slept the entire day after the latter had eaten an entire chicken pot pie (mostly because he had to bring one of his horses to the vet and needed to leave early).
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Occasionally. In "Office Olympics", when Michael offers to rent his spare room to Dwight, Dwight intentionally annoys Michael into withdrawing the offer because he doesn't want to have to say no.
* TheParanoiac: Dwight tends to believe that everyone else in the office has (or even, ''should have'') just as much of a ChronicBackstabbingDisorder as he does and acts accordingly, plotting against others in the workplace and assuming that they are plotting against him; he is a security freak to the point that he doesn't let anyone walk behind him for fear of being attacked from behind, and hides numerous weapons around the office in case someone actually does; he is a ProfessionalButtKisser of the highest order yet mostly so he can abuse his power and further his own career, and ultimately plots to replace his own boss; he entertains numerous crazy fantasies and conspiracy theories whilst simultaneously pointing out the (perceived) stupidity of other peoples' more mundane ideas; and, like many paranoids, his behaviour and attitude becomes a SelfFulfillingProphecy as it just leads to almost everyone in the company disliking, undermining and pulling pranks on ''him''.
* PasteEater: In "A.A.R.M." it's revealed that he snacks on Dunder Mifflin paper enough to know which stocks are the most flavorful, with the fact that Angela's son eats Dwight's preferred paper being one of the things that makes Dwight think he's the father [[spoiler: (which, of course, he is)]].
* PerpetualFrowner: "I never smile if I can help it. Showing one's teeth is a submission signal in primates. When someone smiles at me, all I see is a chimpanzee begging for its life."
* ProfessionalButtKisser: Was this until "The Coup", and then it was on and off until the Michael Scott Paper Company arc, where it seems he lost all of the respect he had for Michael.
* ProperlyParanoid: Downplayed. As mentioned above, Dwight keeps numerous weapons hidden around the office in the event of an assault. In "The Negotiation" when an enraged Roy enters the office and attacks Jim, Dwight stops him with the pepper spray. This leads Dwight to smugly ask WhosLaughingNow when he notes that his coworkers mocked him for carrying pepper spray around. However, it should be noted that this is pretty much the only violent altercation in the show's run where one of Dwight's weapons actually comes in useful, and the sheer amount of weaponry and contingency plans for incredibly unlikely scenarios he has make this more a case of [[DumbassHasAPoint a stopped clock being right for once]] rather than an indication that Dwight's paranoia is actually based on sound principles.
%%* PsychoForHire
* RecklessGunUsage: Dwight and firearms seem to be a bad combination. In "Survivor Man" he watches Michael through the scope of his hunting rifle- ''with the safety off'' (only when the camera crew apparently question him about what he's doing does he actually think to check it). And then there's the accidentally-discharging-a-gun-in-the-office incident mentioned above.
* RefugeInAudacity: For example, sending the entire office into a panic by tricking them into thinking there was a fire for the sole purpose of running a realistic fire drill.
* RelationshipRevolvingDoor: With Angela.
* TheRival: Jim. Andy, initially, but they become good friends in season 5.
* RulesLawyer: He has a tendency to come up with ridiculous, pedantic and arbitrary workplace rules and demand that they be followed to the letter. Which often backfires on him in his rivalry with Jim, since Jim is quick-witted enough to turn them on Dwight in a way that Dwight feels compelled to follow even if they're to his detriment.
* SeriousBusiness:
** Dwight treats everything in his life with absolute seriousness, especially his job.
** Never ''ever'' disparage ''Battlestar Galactica'' in his presence.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Even more than Michael.
%%* SmugSnake
* TheSocialDarwinist: Dwight tends to view practically everything in his life, from his career to his relationships to his dealings with the world at large, as if every interaction is a vicious zero-sum dog-eat-dog competition in which there are no rules, no quarter can be given or expected and from which only one survivor can emerge triumphant, and as if he is locked in constant combat with those around him.
* StayInTheKitchen: Dwight feels this way about anything that "elevates" women to the status of men.
* TheStarscream: Starting from "The Coup", when Angela demands that he take over.
* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: He and Angela.
* SuperGullible: He apparently suffers from AesopAmnesia every time Jim pulls a prank on him, and always falls for Jim's tricks and ridiculous lies.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Dwight and Jim occasionally have to work together when faced with someone who annoys them more than each other (such as Todd Packer and Deangelo Vickers). It's also shown that they actually make a very effective sales team despite their personal animosity.
* TookALevelInKindness: For most of the show, he's a selfish, power-hungry {{Jerkass}} with occasional PetTheDog moments. In the final season, he evolves into a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who genuinely cares about his co-workers and is open about his friendship bond with Jim and Pam.
* {{Tsundere}}: To Angela.
* UglyGuyHotWife: He's quite average and a bit dorky-looking compared to his later wife the petite, pretty blonde Angela.
* UltimateJobSecurity: He even ''fired a gun in the office'', and the worst punishment he got was being barred from the Regional Manager position, and Jo even lifted ''that'' when she saw [[{{Determinator}} how dedicated he was to getting the job]]. The fact that he owns the building the office is located in adds into the situation. Even earlier, in season 5, he deliberately started a fire and blocked all the exits (except for one) and all he had as punishment was to get everyone to sign a piece of paper (which he tricks everybody into doing).
* UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: Back and forth with Angela.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Dwight's relationship with Jim is... complicated, to say the very least. On the one hand, the two are always feuding and annoying one another that can cause problems in the workspace. On the other hand, the two can actually be an effective team when they can put their differences aside. However, the two of them eventually manage to become good friends as the show progresses, [[spoiler: with Dwight even having Jim as his best man during him and Angela's wedding.]]
* WorthyOpponent: With Jim.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Dwight treats real life as if it were a different genre of fiction. He treats the threat of layoffs as if he were participating in a competitive reality TV show like Survivor, keeps a variety of weapons in strategic hiding places throughout the office as though violent attacks were imminent, and at one point describes a detailed robbery plan that would be Genre Savvy if he existed in a crime thriller.
** In general, he seems to view his life and interactions with those around him as if he's the protagonist in a story which somehow combines a 1980s greed-is-good business thriller in which he must ruthlessly betray, crush and annihilate all competition in order to secure the powerful corporate position (which isn't even as powerful as he thinks it is) ''and'' a kind of nineteenth century pre-industrialisation rural survivalist narrative in which man must battle the elements of nature. As opposed to being, well, a low-level white collar employee of a slowly failing mid-level paper company in a comfortable twenty-first century industrial urban city.
* YesMan: To Michael in the first seasons. This stems from a mix of [[HeroWorshipper Hero Worship]] and a desire for authority, which he thinks being Michael's YesMan gives him. Later seasons, he loses this trait as he finds that being a sycophant would get him nowhere in his career and behaves more rebelliously.
* YouAreInCommandNow: He's been given command of the office a few times (though none of them have stuck), such as when Michael left for the New York job and when Michael leaves for good but is almost immediately removed because of the aforementioned gun incident and two years later the new CEO David Wallace gave him another chance by promoting him after Andy's departure, and this time Dwight didn't screw it up.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:James Duncan "Jim" Halpert]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/08d2pfa35tzx3at2_6911.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Right now this is just a job. If I advance any higher in this company, then this would be my career. And well, if this were my career I'd have to throw myself in front of a train."'']]
->Played by: Creator/JohnKrasinski
->Seasons: 1-9

Sales Representative/Co-Regional Manager/Assistant to the Regional Manager/Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin, Scranton.

UK counterpart: Tim Canterbury.
----

* YouAreInCommandNow: Andy's the new official manager of Dunder-Mifflin at the start of s8, though this doesn't last for long.

* DeadpanSnarker: In the early seasons, this was one of his defining characteristics, particularly on ConfessionCam. He lost it once he got DrunkWithPower and let his ego run wild.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Played with. Dwight likes to think he's the "hidden badass" part of the trope, but the joke is often that there's a gulf between his true abilities and his perception of his true abilities, meaning he's often more just the "crouching moron" part. He is often shown to tout his martial arts prowess and the fact that he's CrazyPrepared for any eventuality -- however, on several occasions it's shown that his martial arts abilities are less impressive than he wants others to think (he memorably gets defeated by Michael, a complete novice, on one occasion), and his preparations for violent conflict (most notably by hiding a massive arsenal of weapons around the office) are massively out of proportion for the actual likelihood of such conflict occurring within the regional branch of a mid-level paper company. While he does rise to the occasion on at least one occasion (using pepper spray to deter Roy from beating up Jim), this is played more as [[DumbassHasAPoint a stopped clock being right for once]] rather than Dwight being the actual badass he has deluded himself into believing he is. This trope actually does come into play (albeit on a much-smaller scale than he wants to think) with regards to his sales abilities, however, which despite almost everything else about him are genuinely impressive.

* InsufferableGenius: He's a great salesman with a ''gigantic'' ego.

** He ''thinks'' he's this with regards to his insanely dangerous fire drill. However, while he does have a bit of a point in that his co-workers failed to cover themselves in glory at the time, an objective reading of the situation clearly demonstrates that this was mainly because he stacked the decks against them from the start. The scenario he set up would likely be near-impossible for them to survive had it been real, and was full of secret and at times contradictory little traps (note that at one point he mocks everyone for not trying to call the fire department -- despite Pam having attempted to do so, revealing that he's ''sabotaged the phone lines''). Furthermore, while he claims he was trying to give everyone instructions on how to get out, that was mainly in the form of unhelpful quiz questions, and he ultimately spent most of the drill strutting, mocking and crowing about their ineptitude rather than taking charge of the situation and maintaining calm, which was his ''actual'' job as safety manager. Any point he might have is ultimately minor compared to the effects of his actions.

** This is largely evident in his gun handling skills. For a guy who has a lot of survivalist tendencies and loves to brag how proficient he is with weaponry, his gun safety knowledge is shockingly low. No real artillary expert would ever assume a gun not to be loaded, or have their finger on a trigger when they don't intend to fire, both things that Dwight has done.

* LawfulStupid: Treats even the most trivial rules with the utmost importance. A joint at the parking lot is enough to have him don his (voluntary) sheriff uniform and subject the entire office to interrogations and drug tests. Another time, Jim tells Dwight that wasting valuable office time is against the rules and Dwight goes as far as peeing in a coke bottle at his desk and ''sneeze with his eyes open'', simply not to waste time. {{Justified}} since he is actually a [[CompetitionFreak Competition]] and ControlFreak and his extreme emphasis on the rules is as much about intentionally undermining or irritating others to advance his own agenda as it is any actual Uber-respect for the rules.

** He ''thinks'' he's this with regards to his insanely dangerous fire drill. However, while he does have a bit of a point in that his co-workers failed to cover themselves in glory at the time, an objective reading clearly demonstrates that he stacked the decks against them from the start. The scenario he set up would likely be near-impossible for them to survive had it been real, and was full of secret and at times contradictory little traps (note that at one point he mocks everyone for not trying to call the fire department -- despite Pam having attempted to do so, revealing that he's ''sabotaged the phone lines''). Furthermore, while he claims he was trying to give everyone instructions on how to get out, that was mainly in the form of unhelpful quiz questions, and he ultimately spent most of the drill strutting, mocking and crowing about their ineptitude rather than taking charge of the situation and maintaining calm, which was his ''actual'' job as safety manager. Any point he might have is ultimately minor compared to the effects of his actions.

** His fire drill, while insanely dangerous, proved that he was right about how ill-prepared his coworkers were for an actual fire. Though this is tempered by the fact that he stacked the decks against them and egged them on into panic rather than taking charge of the situation and maintaining calm like he was actually supposed to do.