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Changed line(s) 441 (click to see context) from:
** ObstructiveBureaucrat: He increasingly become something of this status as the show went on.
to:
** ObstructiveBureaucrat: He increasingly become becomes something of this status as the show went story goes on.
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* TheCasanova: Subverted, his first scenes paint him as a Kennedy-esque skirt-chaser, but he's apparently faithful to his wife during the rest of his story-arc.
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* OldFlame: It's suggested that she and Carcetti were more than friends in the past. She tries to lit it again after his victory, but Carcetti turns her down, much to her [[HandsomeLech surprise]].
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Changed line(s) 535,536 (click to see context) from:
President of the Baltimore City School Board, property developer and political fund raiser, implied to be corrupt. Consultant to Stringer Bell.
to:
Krawczyk is a major behind the scenes player in Baltimore as he's the President of the Baltimore City School Board, property an influential real estate developer and political fund raiser, raiser. He's also strongly implied to be corrupt. Consultant corrupt and appears to take part in the WhiteCollarCrime perpetuated by other corrupt legal and political figures such as Clay Davis, although he is never explicitly seen to do so. He is an enemy to the dockworkers, as he spends season 2 pushing to have the grain pier on the docks torn down and used for real estate development while they're trying to revitalize it and use it as a way to increase activity on the docks, and he works as a real estate consultant to Stringer Bell.
-->''I'm going to be the education mayor.''
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A well connected West Side church figure involved in many community projects.
->''A good church man is always up in everybody's shit. It's how we do.''
->''A good church man is always up in everybody's shit. It's how we do.''
to:
->''A
A well connected West Side church figure involved in many community projects. He plays a role in helping various figures over the course of seasons 3 and 4, including helping Dennis "Cutty" Wise get his boxing gym up and running, helping Colvin to first improve the atrocious state of Hamsterdam and later to be able to do the study of inner city school kids that Colvin takes part in during season 4.
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* EveryoneHasStandards: He'll engage in the occasional bit of stealing from ships, but he's clearly freaked out when Spiros offers to pay Nick in drugs, (which Nick can turn around and resell for several times what he's supposed to be paid for the job) and tries to argue Nick out of accepting the offer.
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to:
!Thomas "Horseface" Pakusa
-->''Don't worry, kid. You're still on the clock.''
A veteran checker on the docks and virtually the right hand man of Frank Sobotka. He's also a major part of helping Frank smuggle goods for the Greeks, as he makes shipping containers disappear from the electronic record, and when the MCU begins tracking the computer activity of the union, they find that a majority of the cans that mysteriously go missing are being checked by Horse. After Frank's death he angrily refuses to cooperate with the Greeks any further, but is arrested and charged for his role in the smuggling ring regardless. He is last seen on trial, although the result of his trial is never revealed.
* BigFun[=/=]FatIdiot
* FallGuy: He winds up being the main (perhaps only) man from the docks to stand trial for his part in the smuggling ring. Granted, aside from Frank he's the one who had by far the most involvement in it.
* NumberTwo: Frank's go to guy.
* RefugeInAudacity: He's the one who steals Valchek's surveillance van, which he does by walking onto police property, strolling up to the van as if nothing is wrong, jimmying the lock within a couple of seconds and then driving away with it without a second look.
* TheReliableOne: For Sobotka, and when the Greeks worry about him cracking under questioning, Nick reassures them that "Horse is a rock. You don't need to worry about him, ever."
* UndyingLoyalty: To Frank. When one of The Greek's cans comes into the dock after Frank's death, Horseface refuses to make it disappear for them.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: He is last seen at trial, but whether he was convicted or not is unsure. It's certain that the other union members won't testify against him, (and at one point Nick Sobotka tries to flat out claim that Horseface has nothing to do with the smuggling) but the cops had gathered a lot of evidence on him by then, so those testimonies or lack thereof may be irrelevant.
!Nat Coxson
-->''Frank, where's the money from?''
The union president of the stevedores, he's a hard working, honest foil to Frank Sobotka. He believes that Frank is being overly ambitious in trying to go for having the canal dredged and thinks they should focus on the more modest, but also more likely goal of revitalizing the disused grain pier. Although he disagrees with Frank's insistence on dredging the canal, he nonetheless forms a united front with him in front of the rank and file. Ultimately his worst fears are realized when in the wake of Frank's scandal and death the politicians turn firmly against the union and the real estate developers led by Andy Krawczyk do get ahold of the grain pier and transform it into condominiums.
* CassandraTruth: Right from the start he fears that Frank is aiming too high by trying to get the canal dredged, and even before Frank's involvement with The Greek is made public it's fairly clear that the union isn't going to win that battle. And as he predicted, by trying to get too much they wind up losing everything.
* DeadpanSnarker: Has something of a tendency to trade deadpan remarks with Frank Sobotka.
-->'''Sobotka:''' Black, white, what's the difference, Nat? Until we get that fuckin' canal dredged, we're all niggers, pardon my French.\\
'''Nat:''' Or Polacks, pardon mine.
* {{Foil}}: For Frank in almost every way. He's black instead of white, honest instead of corrupt, more cautious and conservative in his goals for the docks as opposed to Frank's grandiose dreams of saving the docks.
* SuspiciousSpending: He catches on more and more throughout the season how Frank always seems to have more more money to give as compensation to injured union members, to bribe guys into not leaving the union, for ever increasing political donations, etc. and becomes ''quite'' suspicious of it.
* WorkingClassHero
!Maui
-->''Used to be us checkers did everything with paper and a pencil, right? Every move on a ship, we wrote it down. When that ship sails, and there ain't no problems, then that paper gets tossed. That don't happen today, right? Nothin' gets tossed anymore.''
A huge, physically imposing checker with a fair amount of seniority in the union, despite not being one of the local grey beards. He particularly despises Ziggy (more than most people in the union, even) and once had a relationship with Beadie Russell. As a result of that when she comes looking for a way to catch the smuggling, he clues her into how the computers are used, which gives the MCU its first big break in the case.
* AmicableExes: With Beadie. When she shows up at his house he hopes that she's looking to get back together, and while he won't turn informant on the union, he will give her a hint that clues her in about how everything has to go through the computers, and thus a way to track the smuggled cans.
-->'''Maui:''' I ain't no snitch, Beadie. Not even for you am I a snitch.\\
'''Beadie:''' I'm not thinkin' about it like that. I'm thinkin' here's a guy, and we had some times together and even though, you know, it didn't get to where he mighta wanted it, he's still a good guy. Someone I can talk to about this.
* CurbstompBattle: When the stevedores manage to convince Ziggy that Ziggy can take Maui on. Maui doesn't even stop ''chewing his food'' while Ziggy punches him, then he casually ends the fight. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBI4TSbihrE Link]]
* EscalatingWar: With Ziggy. He's responsible for the love child prank among other things.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: It's probably a good bet that Maui isn't his given name, but it's the only one we hear him called by.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Without him giving Beadie the clue about the computers, it's likely that the MCU would have never closed the case.
-->''Don't worry, kid. You're still on the clock.''
A veteran checker on the docks and virtually the right hand man of Frank Sobotka. He's also a major part of helping Frank smuggle goods for the Greeks, as he makes shipping containers disappear from the electronic record, and when the MCU begins tracking the computer activity of the union, they find that a majority of the cans that mysteriously go missing are being checked by Horse. After Frank's death he angrily refuses to cooperate with the Greeks any further, but is arrested and charged for his role in the smuggling ring regardless. He is last seen on trial, although the result of his trial is never revealed.
* BigFun[=/=]FatIdiot
* FallGuy: He winds up being the main (perhaps only) man from the docks to stand trial for his part in the smuggling ring. Granted, aside from Frank he's the one who had by far the most involvement in it.
* NumberTwo: Frank's go to guy.
* RefugeInAudacity: He's the one who steals Valchek's surveillance van, which he does by walking onto police property, strolling up to the van as if nothing is wrong, jimmying the lock within a couple of seconds and then driving away with it without a second look.
* TheReliableOne: For Sobotka, and when the Greeks worry about him cracking under questioning, Nick reassures them that "Horse is a rock. You don't need to worry about him, ever."
* UndyingLoyalty: To Frank. When one of The Greek's cans comes into the dock after Frank's death, Horseface refuses to make it disappear for them.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: He is last seen at trial, but whether he was convicted or not is unsure. It's certain that the other union members won't testify against him, (and at one point Nick Sobotka tries to flat out claim that Horseface has nothing to do with the smuggling) but the cops had gathered a lot of evidence on him by then, so those testimonies or lack thereof may be irrelevant.
!Nat Coxson
-->''Frank, where's the money from?''
The union president of the stevedores, he's a hard working, honest foil to Frank Sobotka. He believes that Frank is being overly ambitious in trying to go for having the canal dredged and thinks they should focus on the more modest, but also more likely goal of revitalizing the disused grain pier. Although he disagrees with Frank's insistence on dredging the canal, he nonetheless forms a united front with him in front of the rank and file. Ultimately his worst fears are realized when in the wake of Frank's scandal and death the politicians turn firmly against the union and the real estate developers led by Andy Krawczyk do get ahold of the grain pier and transform it into condominiums.
* CassandraTruth: Right from the start he fears that Frank is aiming too high by trying to get the canal dredged, and even before Frank's involvement with The Greek is made public it's fairly clear that the union isn't going to win that battle. And as he predicted, by trying to get too much they wind up losing everything.
* DeadpanSnarker: Has something of a tendency to trade deadpan remarks with Frank Sobotka.
-->'''Sobotka:''' Black, white, what's the difference, Nat? Until we get that fuckin' canal dredged, we're all niggers, pardon my French.\\
'''Nat:''' Or Polacks, pardon mine.
* {{Foil}}: For Frank in almost every way. He's black instead of white, honest instead of corrupt, more cautious and conservative in his goals for the docks as opposed to Frank's grandiose dreams of saving the docks.
* SuspiciousSpending: He catches on more and more throughout the season how Frank always seems to have more more money to give as compensation to injured union members, to bribe guys into not leaving the union, for ever increasing political donations, etc. and becomes ''quite'' suspicious of it.
* WorkingClassHero
!Maui
-->''Used to be us checkers did everything with paper and a pencil, right? Every move on a ship, we wrote it down. When that ship sails, and there ain't no problems, then that paper gets tossed. That don't happen today, right? Nothin' gets tossed anymore.''
A huge, physically imposing checker with a fair amount of seniority in the union, despite not being one of the local grey beards. He particularly despises Ziggy (more than most people in the union, even) and once had a relationship with Beadie Russell. As a result of that when she comes looking for a way to catch the smuggling, he clues her into how the computers are used, which gives the MCU its first big break in the case.
* AmicableExes: With Beadie. When she shows up at his house he hopes that she's looking to get back together, and while he won't turn informant on the union, he will give her a hint that clues her in about how everything has to go through the computers, and thus a way to track the smuggled cans.
-->'''Maui:''' I ain't no snitch, Beadie. Not even for you am I a snitch.\\
'''Beadie:''' I'm not thinkin' about it like that. I'm thinkin' here's a guy, and we had some times together and even though, you know, it didn't get to where he mighta wanted it, he's still a good guy. Someone I can talk to about this.
* CurbstompBattle: When the stevedores manage to convince Ziggy that Ziggy can take Maui on. Maui doesn't even stop ''chewing his food'' while Ziggy punches him, then he casually ends the fight. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBI4TSbihrE Link]]
* EscalatingWar: With Ziggy. He's responsible for the love child prank among other things.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: It's probably a good bet that Maui isn't his given name, but it's the only one we hear him called by.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Without him giving Beadie the clue about the computers, it's likely that the MCU would have never closed the case.
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Deleted line(s) 495 (click to see context) :
* AmbiguouslyEvil: Neither the police or the viewers themselves ever catch him doing anything unquestionably corrupt, but when you consider that he's the president of a school board that has somehow mysteriously lost millions of dollars and is letting brand new books and equipment sit in the basement while the students get by with books that are several editions older, (which could be simple mismanagement, or it could be similar to a [[http://articles.latimes.com/2013/sep/06/local/la-me-textbook-theft-20130906 2013 California case where workers at several school districts were stealing and then reselling new textbooks]]) that he's doing consulting work with people like Stringer and Avon who are pretty clearly drug dealers or some other type of criminal, that he's working with Clay Davis as part of Davis' con on Stringer and subtly pushes Stringer towards giving Davis money, and Levy's warning to Marlo that "he's a guy you're going to want to know well, but do not get into a room with him alone. You're going to want me in there with you, or guys like that will bleed you dry" it becomes possible that Andy K, despite flying under the radar and never explicitly breaking the law, may just be the dirtiest player in the whole game.
* ChekhovsGunman: He gets introduced and talked about a lot in season 2, along with some on screen time, before he gets set up for a ''much'' larger role in the city in seasons 3 and 4.
* ChekhovsGunman: He gets introduced and talked about a lot in season 2, along with some on screen time, before he gets set up for a ''much'' larger role in the city in seasons 3 and 4.
* ImplausibleDeniability: Always makes sure to keep at least some layer of it ready for his defense, and thanks to his connections as long as he has that he's a KarmaHoudini for his corruption.
-->'''Det. Holley:''' Are you aware that Russell Bell was regarded as a major narcotics violator? [Krawczyk shakes head]\\
'''Bunk:''' How do you think he made his money?\\
'''Krawczyk:''' I didn't inquire.
* OddFriendship: With ''Valchek''. The two seem surprisingly friendly despite Valchek's JerkAss ways, and Krawczyk calls Valchek by a pet name when the two are discussing the situation about the docks.
-->'''Det. Holley:''' Are you aware that Russell Bell was regarded as a major narcotics violator? [Krawczyk shakes head]\\
'''Bunk:''' How do you think he made his money?\\
'''Krawczyk:''' I didn't inquire.
* OddFriendship: With ''Valchek''. The two seem surprisingly friendly despite Valchek's JerkAss ways, and Krawczyk calls Valchek by a pet name when the two are discussing the situation about the docks.
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* SuspectIsHatless: Helps the police with a gloriously useless definition of Omar.
-->I told you I saw only the one. I know he was black. Big, I thought. With a large weapon
-->I told you I saw only the one. I know he was black. Big, I thought. With a large weapon
to:
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: To the point where the entire Royce administration freaks out at the thought of anything happening to him, and he can be involved with various major pieces of corruption and skate away from it without ever even being seriously questioned.
* StealingFromTheTill: Although unconfirmed it seems likely, given the mysterious and huge hole in the school board budget and the misused/misappropriated equipment that Prez finds in the school basement.
* SuspectIsHatless: Helps the police with a gloriously uselessdefinition description of Omar.
-->I told you I saw only the one. I know he was black. Big, I thought. With a largeweapon
weapon.
* WhiteCollarCrime
* StealingFromTheTill: Although unconfirmed it seems likely, given the mysterious and huge hole in the school board budget and the misused/misappropriated equipment that Prez finds in the school basement.
* SuspectIsHatless: Helps the police with a gloriously useless
-->I told you I saw only the one. I know he was black. Big, I thought. With a large
* WhiteCollarCrime
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State Delegate. A longtime major Baltimore political figure and and a member of the influential State Appropriations Committee, he's a moral voice of authority within Baltimore politicians as he has full support of the religious leaders, looks to address the concerns of the citizens in a decent way and is most critical of politicial corruption. Wheelchair user.
to:
-->''You need to set some deadwood adrift.''
A StateDelegate. A Delegate and a longtime major Baltimore political figure and and a member of the influential State Appropriations Committee, he's Committee. He's something of a moral voice of authority within the circles of Baltimore politicians as he has full support of the religious leaders, looks to address the concerns of the citizens in a decent way and is most critical of politicial corruption. Wheelchair user.
corruption.
A State
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to:
* TwoferTokenMinority: Arguably being black doesn't really count as the show has so many black characters, but Watkins is also a wheelchair user.
* YourCheatingHeart: Well, his marital status isn't mentioned, but he does definitely give every woman around at least some lecherous looks, if not more.
* YourCheatingHeart: Well, his marital status isn't mentioned, but he does definitely give every woman around at least some lecherous looks, if not more.
Changed line(s) 515,516 (click to see context) from:
A Washington-based political consultant and campaign fixer. Strategy manager of Carcetti.
to:
-->''He's taking on a two-term incumbent. It's all gonna be ugly from here.''
A Washington-based political consultant and campaign fixer.Strategy She grew up in Baltimore and was a schoolmate of Carcetti in college, where it's hinted that they had a relationship. When Tommy first tells her of his intention to challenge Royce to an election she's extremely dubious of his chances and all too aware of the uphill battle being waged, but agrees to become his strategy manager of Carcetti.
due to the possible recognition it will win her if they can pull off the upset.
A Washington-based political consultant and campaign fixer.
Changed line(s) 519,521 (click to see context) from:
A Democratic Baltimore Councilman and a close ally of Carcetti before they turn rivals.
to:
A Democratic Baltimore Councilman and a close ally of Carcetti before they turn rivals.
into rivals with both trying to be elected mayor.
* DumbassHasAPoint: Well, he's not dumb, but most people think his focusing on the issue of education given the staggering crime rate and lack of safety in Baltimore is pretty idiotic. And it's not surprising that people prioritize safety over education, as personal safety is a much more primal and visceral need. But he's right: if the Baltimore schools actually worked and gave kids an alternative to life as a criminal, things might be very different for the city and its people. And the school system is certainly plagued with corruption and incompetence, which doesn't help things. Of course, as we see when Carcetti becomes mayor, the problems with the schools are much too big and too InherentInTheSystem for even the mayor to be able to do much about it.
* UnwittingPawn: For Carcetti, who uses Gray's plans to run as a way to split votes from Royce, keep the race from solely being about black man vs white man in a mostly black city, and thus allows Carcetti to win a seemingly unwinnable election.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Despite Carcetti's offers, he's not much interested in still being friends as the election goes on.
* DumbassHasAPoint: Well, he's not dumb, but most people think his focusing on the issue of education given the staggering crime rate and lack of safety in Baltimore is pretty idiotic. And it's not surprising that people prioritize safety over education, as personal safety is a much more primal and visceral need. But he's right: if the Baltimore schools actually worked and gave kids an alternative to life as a criminal, things might be very different for the city and its people. And the school system is certainly plagued with corruption and incompetence, which doesn't help things. Of course, as we see when Carcetti becomes mayor, the problems with the schools are much too big and too InherentInTheSystem for even the mayor to be able to do much about it.
* UnwittingPawn: For Carcetti, who uses Gray's plans to run as a way to split votes from Royce, keep the race from solely being about black man vs white man in a mostly black city, and thus allows Carcetti to win a seemingly unwinnable election.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Despite Carcetti's offers, he's not much interested in still being friends as the election goes on.
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Changed line(s) 402 (click to see context) from:
* TheChainsOfCommanding: As the previous white mayor puts it, governing the city means eating shit from community or another, day in and day out.
to:
* TheChainsOfCommanding: Present and discussed several times. As the a previous white mayor puts it, governing the city means eating shit from community or another, day in and day out.out.
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Changed line(s) 324 (click to see context) from:
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: He knows his trade very well, is very experienced and quickly recognizes threats or tricks aimed at his clients.
to:
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: He knows his trade very well, is very experienced and quickly recognizes threats or tricks aimed at his clients. The moment Marlo hands him a cellphone number, Levy knows it's only a matter of time before his client gets targeted by a wiretap case.
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* TheChainsOfCommanding: As the previous white mayor puts it, governing the city means eating shit from community or another, day in and day out.
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* InternalReformist: Tries to be one and changes some things with his initial élan, but eventually gets assimilated by the game.
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Changed line(s) 123,126 (click to see context) from:
* TheAlcoholic: He received his nickname for drinking over fifty beers on his 25th birthday and is often seen drinking in Delores' bar
* {{Hobo}}: By season 5, he has fallen on hard times and is lives with other homeless men under a bridge.
* {{Hobo}}: By season 5, he has fallen on hard times and is lives with other homeless men under a bridge.
to:
* TheAlcoholic: He received his nickname for drinking over fifty beers on his 25th birthday and is often seen drinking in Delores' bar
bar.
* {{Hobo}}: By season 5, he has fallen on hard times andis lives with other homeless men under a bridge.
* {{Hobo}}: By season 5, he has fallen on hard times and
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!Johnny "Fifty" Spamanto
-->''I take the Fifth Commandment.''
* TheAlcoholic: He received his nickname for drinking over fifty beers on his 25th birthday and is often seen drinking in Delores' bar
* {{Hobo}}: By season 5, he has fallen on hard times and is lives with other homeless men under a bridge.
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Changed line(s) 665,675 (click to see context) from:
!The Deacon
->'''Played by''': Melvin Williams
A well connected West Side church figure involved in many community projects.
->''A good church man is always up in everybody's shit. It's how we do.''
* TheConscience: Gives Colvin a WhatTheHellHero because Hamsterdam has been conceived as a wild zone that needs some regulation, safety messures and social assistance.
* MetaCasting: Melvin Williams, a former gangster arrested by Ed Burns, is one of the inspirations of Avon Barksdale.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: A pillar of the community.
->'''Played by''': Melvin Williams
A well connected West Side church figure involved in many community projects.
->''A good church man is always up in everybody's shit. It's how we do.''
* TheConscience: Gives Colvin a WhatTheHellHero because Hamsterdam has been conceived as a wild zone that needs some regulation, safety messures and social assistance.
* MetaCasting: Melvin Williams, a former gangster arrested by Ed Burns, is one of the inspirations of Avon Barksdale.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: A pillar of the community.
to:
->'''Played by''':
A well connected West Side church figure involved in many community projects.
->''A good church man is always up in everybody's shit. It's how we do.''
An HIV-positive recovering drug addict and drug rehabilitation counselor.
*
* TheSponsor: Gives
* MetaCasting: Melvin Williams, a former gangster arrested by Ed Burns, is one of the inspirations of Avon Barksdale.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: A pillar of the community.
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!The Deacon
->'''Played by''': Melvin Williams
A well connected West Side church figure involved in many community projects.
->''A good church man is always up in everybody's shit. It's how we do.''
* TheConscience: Gives Colvin a WhatTheHellHero because Hamsterdam has been conceived as a wild zone that needs some regulation, safety messures and social assistance.
* MetaCasting: Melvin Williams, a former gangster arrested by Ed Burns, is one of the inspirations of Avon Barksdale.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: A pillar of the community.
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!Theresa "Terry" D'Agostino
A Washington-based political consultant and campaign fixer. Strategy manager of Carcetti.
!Anthony "Tony" Gray
A Democratic Baltimore Councilman and a close ally of Carcetti before they turn rivals.
A Washington-based political consultant and campaign fixer. Strategy manager of Carcetti.
!Anthony "Tony" Gray
A Democratic Baltimore Councilman and a close ally of Carcetti before they turn rivals.
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Changed line(s) 617,618 (click to see context) from:
* ConsummateLiar
* KarmaHoudini: Arguably the worst in the series, as his unethical practices win him a Pulitzer Prize.
* KarmaHoudini: Arguably the worst in the series, as his unethical practices win him a Pulitzer Prize.
to:
* ConsummateLiar
ConsummateLiar: Played with. He's actually a pretty bad liar but he is well protected; though there is a superficial tendency from the higher ups to look away regarding his lies, their whole intention is to allow him to be as flashy and yellow as he can be so that the Pulitzer looks their way. Scott's lies are so outright blatant that he lies even when he doesn't have to: when there is a candlelight vigil for the homeless and he is tasked to gather quotes from attendees (which are plenty and readily available), he chooses to make them up.
* KarmaHoudini: Arguably the worst in the series, as his unethical practices get his editor demoted and win him a Pulitzer Prize.
* KarmaHoudini: Arguably the worst in the series, as his unethical practices get his editor demoted and win him a Pulitzer Prize.
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* TheDitz: In the most self-destructive way.
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* {{Foil}}: His input and opinions are polar opposites of Norman Wilson's in Carcetti's cabinet. While they do impede each other, there is usually no resentment between the two.
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Changed line(s) 454 (click to see context) from:
* {{Foil}}: As the last surviving councelor from Royce's administration, her role is to be the opposition leader during Carcetti's term.
to:
* {{Foil}}: As the last surviving councelor from Royce's administration, her role is to be the opposition leader during Carcetti's term. Quite literally the black voice on a white administration.
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* IronLady: Very much. She does not ever betray a smile and always goes for the jugular.
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* MoralityPet: to Frank Sobotka, Maury and later [=McNulty=]
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* {{Irony}}: The only time he ever gets respect is when he doesn't seek it out by doing stupid shit. Unfortunately, he is nowhere near self-aware enough to realize this.
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Changed line(s) 379 (click to see context) from:
->'''Played by''': Aidan Gillen
to:
->'''Played by''': Aidan GillenCreator/AidanGillen
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Added DiffLines:
!Donut
A sixth grade student who occasionally hangs out with the group of Namond, Michael, Randy and Dukie. He's both very talented at and obsessed with stealing cars, despite the fact that he doesn't try to make any profit off it and never seems to drive them far before crashing them. This has gotten him into some trouble, most notably when the corrupt Officer Walker broke several of his fingers after crashing into multiple cars during a joyride.
* TheArtfulDodger
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Deleted line(s) 180 (click to see context) :
* FreudianExcuse: The only kid able to escape the doomed background of a troubled childhood, a dysfunctional family -at best- and the notion that crime is the only way to earn a living. Sadly, it only happens thanks to a remarkable, extremely unusual or non repeateable White Knight named Howard Colvin.
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* TheOneWhoMadeItOut: The only kid able to escape the doomed background of a troubled childhood, a dysfunctional family -at best- and the notion that crime is the only way to earn a living. Sadly, it only happens thanks to a remarkable, extremely unusual or non repeateable White Knight named Howard Colvin.
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-->'''Claude:''' All damn day, he just sit there, reading. And damned if those East Side bitches don't stay away.
to:
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-->'''Claude:''' True that.
to:
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* SympatheticCriminal
Deleted line(s) 79 (click to see context) :
* SympatheticCriminal
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-->'''Claude:''' All damn day, he just sit there, reading. And damned if those East Side bitches don't stay away.
-->'''Bodie:''' That's real muscle, right there.
-->'''Claude:''' True that.
-->'''Bodie:''' That's real muscle, right there.
-->'''Claude:''' True that.
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correcting a misspelling, fixing a non-Wiki word
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* BigGood: He kickstarts the Barksdale case (flying under the radar until then) and by extension the Major Crimes detail (the series itself). Despite he is not above political maneuvering, he is the man to go when the chain of command is locked or obstructive and takes personal offense when criminals get away.
to:
* BigGood: He kickstarts the Barksdale case (flying under the radar until then) and by extension the Major Crimes detail (the series itself). Despite the fact he is not above political maneuvering, he is the man to go when the chain of command is locked or obstructive and takes personal offense when criminals get away.
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* SlaveToPR[=/=]NotSoAboveItAll: He invokes the PR angle by leaking murder details to the media in order to put pressure on the police. In turn, his big good crusader status takes a dent when he panicks after being excluded from the electoral ticket, coming across as another self-serving bigwig to [=McNulty=]. The judge continues to be a very possitive character after his re-election, however.
to:
* SlaveToPR[=/=]NotSoAboveItAll: He invokes the PR angle by leaking murder details to the media in order to put pressure on the police. In turn, his big good crusader status takes a dent when he panicks after being excluded from the electoral ticket, coming across as another self-serving bigwig to [=McNulty=]. The judge continues to be a very possitive positive character after his re-election, however.
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* ShutUpHannibal: McNulty calls him out on his immorality in "The Hunt", finally fed up with his attitude following [[spoiler: Kima getting shot]], and demands that Levy hand over Savino to them, threatening to investigate his shady finances should he refuse.
to:
* ShutUpHannibal: McNulty [=McNulty=] calls him out on his immorality in "The Hunt", finally fed up with his attitude following [[spoiler: Kima getting shot]], and demands that Levy hand over Savino to them, threatening to investigate his shady finances should he refuse.
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* ShutUpHannibal: McNulty calls him out on his immorality in "The Hunt", finally fed up with his attitude following [[spoiler: Kima getting shot]], and demands that Levy hand over Savino to them, threatening to investigate his shady finances should he refuse.
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* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Among the first things he does is flash his penis at a room full of bar patrons.
to:
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Among the first things he does is flash his penis at a room full of bar patrons. Which, following the exclamation of the landlady, wasn't the first time.
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder: The Docks]]
-->''"We're here through [[UsefulNotes/RobertFKennedy Bobby Kennedy]], [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon Tricky Dick Nixon]], [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Ronnie "The Unionbuster" Reagan]] and half a dozen other sons-a-bitches. [[BadassBoast We'll be here through your weak bullshit, no problem!]]"''
-->--'''Frank Sobotka'''
OnceUponATime, Baltimore was a thriving port-city, and served as one of the main hubs for commerce on the Eastern Seaboard. Sadly, those days are over. Amid the wreckage of old industrial America, the local stevedores union under their Treasurer, Frank Sobotka, tries to eke out a living protecting what's left of Baltimore's docks from "urban renewal", for which we can read "ending poor peoples' jobs to build condos for rich people", and fighting a rearguard action against the encroaching death of America's industrial working class. Desperate, Frank and the union turn to smuggling to try and drum up the money to lobby for a new grain pier and for their canal to be dredged. It all goes to hell in a handbasket, kicking off the events of season 2.
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beadie_rusell_7882.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"There are different kinds of wrong."'']]
!Beatrice "Beadie" Russell
->'''Played by''': Amy Ryan
-->''What they need is a union.''
Officer for the Port Authority and single mother of two. She discovers thirteen dead women in a shipping container, kicking off the events of Season 2. While at first she treats the job as little more than a paycheck, as the investigation progresses she develops a knack for policework and becomes invested in the case. She reappears late in season 3, when she and [=McNulty=] begin a romance, though his behavior in season 5 tests Beadie's patience.
* ActionMom: Eventually.
* DemotedToExtra: After season 2.
* HeroesWantRedheads
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: She initially views working as a port cop as a good gig because the pay is decent and it doesn't involve much actual policework, though she proves pretty good at the latter when major criminal activity ''does'' start happening at the port.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: She gets together with [=McNulty=] after he stops drinking and gets his act together, but their relationship is strained when he falls off the wagon in season 5.
* TookALevelInBadass: When she's introduced at the beginning of season 2, she doesn't take her job very seriously. By the end of the season she's developed into "real police".
!Frank Sobotka
->'''Played by''': Chris Bauer
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/franksobotka_5154.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I know I was wrong. But in my head, I thought I was wrong for the right reasons."'']]
-->''You know what the trouble is, Brucey? [[AmericanDream We used to make shit in this country, build shit.]] [[RonaldReagan Now we just put our hand]] [[TheEighties in the next guy's pocket.]]''
Treasurer for the stevedore's union in Baltimore. Needing to keep his workers paid in the face of declining port traffic and the juggernaut of gentrification, he arranges to lobby and bribe local politicians in exchange for projects to keep the docks alive. He gets the money by an arrangement with The Greek, who uses the port for smuggling. He runs afoul of Major Valchek, who starts investigating into his finances. Things start unraveling when thirteen dead prostitutes are found in a shipping container, and he has to deal with both the police and The Greek. When his son, Ziggy, murders the Greek's fence, and the plans for expanding the docks collapse, he agrees to inform on The Greek to the police. The Greek gets word of this, and has him killed.
* AmbitionIsEvil: One prominent unionist insists they should settle for the more modest goal of the grain pier, but Sobotka aims higher with the dredging of the canal (not for personal gains but for the well-being of the workers). This implies a closer criminal collaboration with The Greek.
* AntiVillain
* DartboardOfHate: Has one on his wall.
* DealWithTheDevil: He's in league with The Greek to get the funds needed to lobby for the expansion of the ailing docks.
* FatalFlaw: Being too proud to compromise with Valchek, and then insulting him to make it [[ItsPersonal worse]].
* AFatherToHisMen: Takes good care of his workers and all of his schemes are for their benefit.
* HonorBeforeReason: He starts an EscalatingWar with Valchek, an influential police officer. A lot of drama could've been [[KnowWhenToFoldEm averted]] with a compromise over a stained-glass window.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo
* TheInformant: Decides to become one, and is killed for it.
* JobStealingRobot: He is horrified by the upcoming trend of mechanical automatization rendering stevedore manual labor obsolete.
* ParentalNeglect: consistently shows little affection or consideration towards his (admittedly irritating) son Ziggy.
* PerpWalk: Invoked by Valchek, whose sole purpose in the case is to ruin Sobotka. The agents who arrest Sobotka are told to wait until he's at the union office, and once they've gone in they wait until a suitably sizeable press gang has assembled before Valchek personally walks him out to the car.
* RaisedCatholic: Frank is a regular churchgoer who pays more than lip service to the Church, but when Father Lewandoski suggest a confession, Sobotka scoffs at the idea.
* ShootTheShaggyDog: His story is a heavy-hitting tragedy. In the end he's killed by the Greeks, the work of his life goes down the drain, the union gets busted, the docks are mortally wounded and his family is damaged beyond repair. All for naught.
* SiblingYinYang: He's crooked and active while his brother Louis is straight and retired.
* SlaveToPR: His well-paid political backers run for cover as soon as Frank's shady deals get exposed.
* SuspiciousSpending: While he repeatedly warns Ziggy and Nick about this and seems to generally avoid it (until you look closely at it, his union seems to have constant financial issues, he generally pays his personal bills late, etc.) he initially attracts Valchek's suspicion by making an extravagant donation for a church window which he shouldn't be able to afford.
* SympatheticCriminal
* TragicHero
* WellIntentionedExtremist
* WhenYouComingHomeDad: His commitment to protecting the union came at the cost of time with his family.
-->'''Ziggy:''' You were always too busy dredging up the canal, making sure the right bum got elected, buying another round for the house. I always used to think you were working, all them hours you spent away.
-->'''Frank:''' It was all work, Zig. Even when it wasn't.
* WorkingClassHero: He has a discussion with his fancy lobbyist about this, but the lobbyist points out his once humble family just climbed the social ladder. Sobotka also delivers [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-j5XWo1fPI a poignant analysis]] on America's industrial decay.
-->We used to make shit in this country, build shit. Now we just put our hand in the next guy's pocket.
!Nick Sobotka
->'''Played by''': Pablo Schreiber
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nickysobotka_3007.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Seniority sucks."'']]
-->''I don't know how to tell you this without hurting you deeply, but first of all, you happen to be white...''
Nephew of Frank Sobotka and cousin of Ziggy. He acts as a go-between for his uncle towards Vondas, often bringing Ziggy along. Seeking a steady income so he can support his girlfriend, he makes an arrangement with The Greek to obtain chemicals used for drug processing. He is paid in heroin, which he sells to local dealers in lieu of Ziggy. The police catch on and send out a warrant for his arrest, and he turns himself in after Frank's murder. In exchange for identifying The Greek, he is sent into the witness protection program.
He is seen briefly in Season 5, jeering the opening of the Granary condominiums.
* BetterLivingThroughEvil: Begins turning to crime to make ends meet because he can't get enough honest work.
* BigBrotherMentor: Tries to be this to his cousin Ziggy, but Ziggy is too ChaoticStupid to take his (or anyone's) advice.
* {{Foil}}: to D'Angelo Barksdale. Both come into life of crime thanks to their uncles, both try to break away from it, both are young fathers. The differences in class and race form the contrast between them.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: The Greeks end up deciding this about him.
* PutOnABus: Despite supposedly [[WitnessProtection being sent away from Baltimore for his own protection]], he reappears in season 5 as a heckler at Carcetti's harborside photo-op.
* SiblingYinYang: With Ziggy (the two are brotherly cousins rather than siblings).
* TheSmartGuy: Of the Sobotka family.
* SympatheticCriminal
* TraumaCongaLine: Finds out his cousin has killed a guy and turned himself in. [[DrowningMySorrows Goes drinking with cousin's old girlfriend. Wakes up in bed with her. Does the walk of shame to his own place and finds out the cops raided it and are running him up on drug charges, to his family's surprise. Oh, and his uncle's murdered the next day.]]
* UnableToSupportAWife: his desire to afford a place for himself and his girlfriend/baby mama Aimee is one of the reasons he becomes entrenched in a life of crime.
* WitnessProtection: Where he ends up, but according to [[WordOfGod David Simon]], he opted out of it after a while.
!Chester Karol "Ziggy" Sobotka
->'''Played by''': James Ransone
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ziggysobotka_1186.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:μαλάκας]]
-->''Let me show you old gents some bulk cargo that none of you could ever handle. Who says they don't make 'em like they used to?''
Son of Frank Sobotka. He is stupid and impulsive, failing at both legitimate work in the docks, as well as drug dealing. He convinces his cousin Nick to make a deal with The Greek to sell drugs. Nick's success where he failed sends him into a depression, which drives him to kill one of The Greeks' frontmen when a deal goes sour. He is apprehended and sent to prison. Both the police and the Greek try to use Ziggy's situation to apply leverage to Frank and Nick.
* BoisterousWeakling: Talks quite a lot about taking down Cheese, Maui, and anyone else he thinks has wronged him, but generally gets punked whenever he actually tries anything.
* BondOneLiner: "Malaka."
* ButtMonkey: Played for laughs at first, later not so much.
-->I got tired of being the punchline to every joke.
* ChaoticStupid: Tends to act this way.
* ConspicuousConsumption: $2000 on a new coat. After Nick advises him not to flash too much money around to avert SuspiciousSpending.
* TheDogBitesBack: Snaps and kills Glekas after being humiliated and ripped off one too many times.
* DontYouDarePityMe: He very much resents his cousin helping him.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Among the first things he does is flash his penis at a room full of bar patrons.
* FearlessFool: Makes decisions that any moron should see are ''really bad ideas'' because of a combination of shortsightedness, being too brave for his own good, and SmallNameBigEgo.
* GagPenis
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: His personality is centered around trying to look tougher and more important than he is in reality, probably to hide his low self-esteem.
* {{Jerkass}}: Ziggy is obnoxiously annoying to virtually everyone around him. He's not completely unpleasant, but his good parts are few and far between.
* LeeroyJenkins
* TheLoad: Managing to get a better deal on some stolen cameras is about all he manages to help his uncle or cousin with.
* MaleFrontalNudity: On a couple of occasions.
* MoneyToBurn
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Has this reaction crossed with a VillainousBSOD after killing Glekas and shooting the kid working in the shop.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname
* ThePreciousPreciousCar: His Camaro, Princess, which first gets stolen, then ''torched''.
* PuppyDogEyes
* RageBreakingPoint: His entire arc during the season is him inevitably moving to the breaking point at a bad place and time.
* SiblingYinYang: With his cousin Nick.
* SmartBall: While he is an abject failure at ''everything'' else, when it comes to being a thief he has his moments. Interestingly, he seems to pick this up whenever he ''isn't'' trying to be the center of attention - the only time he gets anything close respect or affection is when he isn't acting up for them.
* WhatAnIdiot: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]]. Just about everyone who interacts with him comes to think this.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: The Docks]]
-->''"We're here through [[UsefulNotes/RobertFKennedy Bobby Kennedy]], [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon Tricky Dick Nixon]], [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Ronnie "The Unionbuster" Reagan]] and half a dozen other sons-a-bitches. [[BadassBoast We'll be here through your weak bullshit, no problem!]]"''
-->--'''Frank Sobotka'''
OnceUponATime, Baltimore was a thriving port-city, and served as one of the main hubs for commerce on the Eastern Seaboard. Sadly, those days are over. Amid the wreckage of old industrial America, the local stevedores union under their Treasurer, Frank Sobotka, tries to eke out a living protecting what's left of Baltimore's docks from "urban renewal", for which we can read "ending poor peoples' jobs to build condos for rich people", and fighting a rearguard action against the encroaching death of America's industrial working class. Desperate, Frank and the union turn to smuggling to try and drum up the money to lobby for a new grain pier and for their canal to be dredged. It all goes to hell in a handbasket, kicking off the events of season 2.
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beadie_rusell_7882.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"There are different kinds of wrong."'']]
!Beatrice "Beadie" Russell
->'''Played by''': Amy Ryan
-->''What they need is a union.''
Officer for the Port Authority and single mother of two. She discovers thirteen dead women in a shipping container, kicking off the events of Season 2. While at first she treats the job as little more than a paycheck, as the investigation progresses she develops a knack for policework and becomes invested in the case. She reappears late in season 3, when she and [=McNulty=] begin a romance, though his behavior in season 5 tests Beadie's patience.
* ActionMom: Eventually.
* DemotedToExtra: After season 2.
* HeroesWantRedheads
* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: She initially views working as a port cop as a good gig because the pay is decent and it doesn't involve much actual policework, though she proves pretty good at the latter when major criminal activity ''does'' start happening at the port.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: She gets together with [=McNulty=] after he stops drinking and gets his act together, but their relationship is strained when he falls off the wagon in season 5.
* TookALevelInBadass: When she's introduced at the beginning of season 2, she doesn't take her job very seriously. By the end of the season she's developed into "real police".
!Frank Sobotka
->'''Played by''': Chris Bauer
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/franksobotka_5154.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I know I was wrong. But in my head, I thought I was wrong for the right reasons."'']]
-->''You know what the trouble is, Brucey? [[AmericanDream We used to make shit in this country, build shit.]] [[RonaldReagan Now we just put our hand]] [[TheEighties in the next guy's pocket.]]''
Treasurer for the stevedore's union in Baltimore. Needing to keep his workers paid in the face of declining port traffic and the juggernaut of gentrification, he arranges to lobby and bribe local politicians in exchange for projects to keep the docks alive. He gets the money by an arrangement with The Greek, who uses the port for smuggling. He runs afoul of Major Valchek, who starts investigating into his finances. Things start unraveling when thirteen dead prostitutes are found in a shipping container, and he has to deal with both the police and The Greek. When his son, Ziggy, murders the Greek's fence, and the plans for expanding the docks collapse, he agrees to inform on The Greek to the police. The Greek gets word of this, and has him killed.
* AmbitionIsEvil: One prominent unionist insists they should settle for the more modest goal of the grain pier, but Sobotka aims higher with the dredging of the canal (not for personal gains but for the well-being of the workers). This implies a closer criminal collaboration with The Greek.
* AntiVillain
* DartboardOfHate: Has one on his wall.
* DealWithTheDevil: He's in league with The Greek to get the funds needed to lobby for the expansion of the ailing docks.
* FatalFlaw: Being too proud to compromise with Valchek, and then insulting him to make it [[ItsPersonal worse]].
* AFatherToHisMen: Takes good care of his workers and all of his schemes are for their benefit.
* HonorBeforeReason: He starts an EscalatingWar with Valchek, an influential police officer. A lot of drama could've been [[KnowWhenToFoldEm averted]] with a compromise over a stained-glass window.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo
* TheInformant: Decides to become one, and is killed for it.
* JobStealingRobot: He is horrified by the upcoming trend of mechanical automatization rendering stevedore manual labor obsolete.
* ParentalNeglect: consistently shows little affection or consideration towards his (admittedly irritating) son Ziggy.
* PerpWalk: Invoked by Valchek, whose sole purpose in the case is to ruin Sobotka. The agents who arrest Sobotka are told to wait until he's at the union office, and once they've gone in they wait until a suitably sizeable press gang has assembled before Valchek personally walks him out to the car.
* RaisedCatholic: Frank is a regular churchgoer who pays more than lip service to the Church, but when Father Lewandoski suggest a confession, Sobotka scoffs at the idea.
* ShootTheShaggyDog: His story is a heavy-hitting tragedy. In the end he's killed by the Greeks, the work of his life goes down the drain, the union gets busted, the docks are mortally wounded and his family is damaged beyond repair. All for naught.
* SiblingYinYang: He's crooked and active while his brother Louis is straight and retired.
* SlaveToPR: His well-paid political backers run for cover as soon as Frank's shady deals get exposed.
* SuspiciousSpending: While he repeatedly warns Ziggy and Nick about this and seems to generally avoid it (until you look closely at it, his union seems to have constant financial issues, he generally pays his personal bills late, etc.) he initially attracts Valchek's suspicion by making an extravagant donation for a church window which he shouldn't be able to afford.
* SympatheticCriminal
* TragicHero
* WellIntentionedExtremist
* WhenYouComingHomeDad: His commitment to protecting the union came at the cost of time with his family.
-->'''Ziggy:''' You were always too busy dredging up the canal, making sure the right bum got elected, buying another round for the house. I always used to think you were working, all them hours you spent away.
-->'''Frank:''' It was all work, Zig. Even when it wasn't.
* WorkingClassHero: He has a discussion with his fancy lobbyist about this, but the lobbyist points out his once humble family just climbed the social ladder. Sobotka also delivers [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-j5XWo1fPI a poignant analysis]] on America's industrial decay.
-->We used to make shit in this country, build shit. Now we just put our hand in the next guy's pocket.
!Nick Sobotka
->'''Played by''': Pablo Schreiber
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nickysobotka_3007.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Seniority sucks."'']]
-->''I don't know how to tell you this without hurting you deeply, but first of all, you happen to be white...''
Nephew of Frank Sobotka and cousin of Ziggy. He acts as a go-between for his uncle towards Vondas, often bringing Ziggy along. Seeking a steady income so he can support his girlfriend, he makes an arrangement with The Greek to obtain chemicals used for drug processing. He is paid in heroin, which he sells to local dealers in lieu of Ziggy. The police catch on and send out a warrant for his arrest, and he turns himself in after Frank's murder. In exchange for identifying The Greek, he is sent into the witness protection program.
He is seen briefly in Season 5, jeering the opening of the Granary condominiums.
* BetterLivingThroughEvil: Begins turning to crime to make ends meet because he can't get enough honest work.
* BigBrotherMentor: Tries to be this to his cousin Ziggy, but Ziggy is too ChaoticStupid to take his (or anyone's) advice.
* {{Foil}}: to D'Angelo Barksdale. Both come into life of crime thanks to their uncles, both try to break away from it, both are young fathers. The differences in class and race form the contrast between them.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: The Greeks end up deciding this about him.
* PutOnABus: Despite supposedly [[WitnessProtection being sent away from Baltimore for his own protection]], he reappears in season 5 as a heckler at Carcetti's harborside photo-op.
* SiblingYinYang: With Ziggy (the two are brotherly cousins rather than siblings).
* TheSmartGuy: Of the Sobotka family.
* SympatheticCriminal
* TraumaCongaLine: Finds out his cousin has killed a guy and turned himself in. [[DrowningMySorrows Goes drinking with cousin's old girlfriend. Wakes up in bed with her. Does the walk of shame to his own place and finds out the cops raided it and are running him up on drug charges, to his family's surprise. Oh, and his uncle's murdered the next day.]]
* UnableToSupportAWife: his desire to afford a place for himself and his girlfriend/baby mama Aimee is one of the reasons he becomes entrenched in a life of crime.
* WitnessProtection: Where he ends up, but according to [[WordOfGod David Simon]], he opted out of it after a while.
!Chester Karol "Ziggy" Sobotka
->'''Played by''': James Ransone
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ziggysobotka_1186.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:μαλάκας]]
-->''Let me show you old gents some bulk cargo that none of you could ever handle. Who says they don't make 'em like they used to?''
Son of Frank Sobotka. He is stupid and impulsive, failing at both legitimate work in the docks, as well as drug dealing. He convinces his cousin Nick to make a deal with The Greek to sell drugs. Nick's success where he failed sends him into a depression, which drives him to kill one of The Greeks' frontmen when a deal goes sour. He is apprehended and sent to prison. Both the police and the Greek try to use Ziggy's situation to apply leverage to Frank and Nick.
* BoisterousWeakling: Talks quite a lot about taking down Cheese, Maui, and anyone else he thinks has wronged him, but generally gets punked whenever he actually tries anything.
* BondOneLiner: "Malaka."
* ButtMonkey: Played for laughs at first, later not so much.
-->I got tired of being the punchline to every joke.
* ChaoticStupid: Tends to act this way.
* ConspicuousConsumption: $2000 on a new coat. After Nick advises him not to flash too much money around to avert SuspiciousSpending.
* TheDogBitesBack: Snaps and kills Glekas after being humiliated and ripped off one too many times.
* DontYouDarePityMe: He very much resents his cousin helping him.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Among the first things he does is flash his penis at a room full of bar patrons.
* FearlessFool: Makes decisions that any moron should see are ''really bad ideas'' because of a combination of shortsightedness, being too brave for his own good, and SmallNameBigEgo.
* GagPenis
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: His personality is centered around trying to look tougher and more important than he is in reality, probably to hide his low self-esteem.
* {{Jerkass}}: Ziggy is obnoxiously annoying to virtually everyone around him. He's not completely unpleasant, but his good parts are few and far between.
* LeeroyJenkins
* TheLoad: Managing to get a better deal on some stolen cameras is about all he manages to help his uncle or cousin with.
* MaleFrontalNudity: On a couple of occasions.
* MoneyToBurn
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Has this reaction crossed with a VillainousBSOD after killing Glekas and shooting the kid working in the shop.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname
* ThePreciousPreciousCar: His Camaro, Princess, which first gets stolen, then ''torched''.
* PuppyDogEyes
* RageBreakingPoint: His entire arc during the season is him inevitably moving to the breaking point at a bad place and time.
* SiblingYinYang: With his cousin Nick.
* SmartBall: While he is an abject failure at ''everything'' else, when it comes to being a thief he has his moments. Interestingly, he seems to pick this up whenever he ''isn't'' trying to be the center of attention - the only time he gets anything close respect or affection is when he isn't acting up for them.
* WhatAnIdiot: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]]. Just about everyone who interacts with him comes to think this.
[[/folder]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Added Brother Mouzone to this section, moving Fat Face Rick to Other Dealers
Changed line(s) 538,549 (click to see context) from:
!Ricardo "Fat-Face Rick" Hendrix
->''Shit, nigga, we was good when your uncle had it. You had to go ahead and put up with Marlo...''
Drug lord from Veronica Avenue, on the East Side of Baltimore. Founding member of the New Day Co-Op, he becomes a co-representative in the finale.
* CigarChomper: Usually seen smoking a cigar.
* GenreSavvy: He's not fooled by Marlo's lies about Omar killing Joe and Hungry Man, obviously aware that's not Omar's style.
* RealEstateScam: Makes the local news when it's exposed that the city council is going to relocate him to redevelop the land where his club stands. He's being offered more than what his club is worth and a better council owned property elsewhere, so he will net a million dollars for moving. Not by coincidence, Rick has a history of campaign donations.
to:
->'''Played by''': Michael Potts
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brother_mouzone_2902.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Good day to you sir."'']]
-->''Let me be emphatic: You need to take your
In the hospital, Mouzone soon realizes that it had to be Stringer who set him up with Omar, but says nothing and leaves Baltimore after recovering from his wound. In season 3 he comes back to town, and forms an alliance with Omar to kill Stringer Bell as packback for the earlier set up. After they succeed, he leaves Baltimore for good.
While not stated outright, his manner and dress suggests that he is a member of the
* AffablyEvil: Very much, saying "Good day to you sir" after kicking Mister Cheese's ass is a must.
* {{Badass Bookworm}}
* BadassInANiceSuit
** BowTiesAreCool
* BigApplesauce
* CulturedWarrior: When he's not working as a ruthless killer-for-hire, he's reading intellectual magazines like "The Nation" and "Harper's".
* DissonantSerenity
* TheDreaded: To anyone who does their research like Prop Joe. To the extent that Joe not only refuses to let his nephew try and take revenge for Brother shooting him (knowing that whoever he
* EnemyMine: He eventually teams up with Omar to kill Stringer Bell.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: His [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5VxvF7DaCw first scene as enforcer]]; he politely debriefs ''Mister'' Cheese, emphatically asks him to move his ass where it belongs, calmly gives him a bullet for his troubles, says goodbye and then continues about his reading business.
* {{Foil}}: Lamar, his DumbMuscle and affably patronized sidekick.
* HolyHitman: Implied to be a member of the Nation of Islam, but the stance on drugs of this collective casts some doubts about his official membership.
* LetsYouAndHimFight
* MalcolmXerox: To the point that Cheese initially thinks he's a recruiter from the Nation of Islam until he gets a ''very'' rude surprise in the
* CigarChomper: Usually seen smoking
* GenreSavvy: He's not fooled by Marlo's lies about Omar killing Joe and Hungry Man, obviously aware that's not Omar's style.
* RealEstateScam: Makes
* ProfessionalKiller
-->'''Prop Joe:''' You think I'm gonna send any of my people up against Brother?! Shit, that
* PutOnABus: Twice, first after being
* ShroudedInMyth: Has a
** Also, he may or may not be the the man who killed TheNotoriousBIG (his strange manner of dress is apparently based on eyewitness accounts of Biggie's shooter).
* SophisticatedAsHell
* StrangeBedfellows
* WickedCultured
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''[[http://www.baltimoresun.com/ The Baltimore Sun]]'' is Baltimore's local broadsheet and newspaper of record. However, like most of the institutions of ''The Wire'', it has fallen on hard times of late, losing money at a prodigious rate and suffering from a staff brain drain, as ambitious reporters use it as a springboard for careers with the ''New York Times'' or ''Washington Post''. In addition, it is now run by an unnamed company from Chicago, who are less interested in local journalism than they are with doing gltizy "state of the nation" feature pieces with one eye on a Pulitzer Prize. The ''Sun'' storyline is largely used as a vehicle for David Simon to reflect on journalism, contrasting his own no-nonsense, context-rich style in the form of Gus Haynes with the more essay-like, narrow-focused journalism of the ''Sun'''s owners. [[{{Anvilicious}} It's fairly obvious which one he prefers.]]
to:
''[[http://www.baltimoresun.com/ The Baltimore Sun]]'' is Baltimore's local broadsheet and newspaper of record. However, like most of the institutions of ''The Wire'', it has fallen on hard times of late, losing money at a prodigious rate and suffering from a staff brain drain, as ambitious reporters use it as a springboard for careers with the ''New York Times'' or ''Washington Post''. In addition, it is now run by an unnamed company from Chicago, Chicago[[note]]The real-life ''Sun'' was bought by the Tribune Company, whose flagship and namesake newspaper is the ''Chicago Tribune'', in 2000, before ''The Wire'' started but after David Simon left the ''Sun''. For much of Simon's tenure, the ''Sun'' was run by the Times-Mirror Company out of Los Angeles.[[/note]], who are less interested in local journalism than they are with doing gltizy "state of the nation" feature pieces with one eye on a Pulitzer Prize. The ''Sun'' storyline is largely used as a vehicle for David Simon to reflect on journalism, contrasting his own no-nonsense, context-rich style in the form of Gus Haynes with the more essay-like, narrow-focused journalism of the ''Sun'''s owners. [[{{Anvilicious}} It's fairly obvious which one he prefers.]]
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[[folder: The Next Generation]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/boysofsummer_9132.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''Boys of Summer'']]
-->'''Dukie''': ''Remember that day one summer past...?''\\
'''Mike''': ''[[InnocenceLost I don't]].''
A collection of [[TemptingFate adorable children]] from West Baltimore's projects and rowhouses, who the show uses to examine the school system and how it utterly fails in the struggle with "the corners" for the futures of Baltimore's children. Each child follows a different path, and each one ends up at a different conclusion - although, sadly, it is not always the ending they or the audience hope for.
!Duquan "Dukie" Weems
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/duquan_1787.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''There ain't no special "dead". Just "dead".'']]
->'''Played by''': Jermaine Crawford
-->''How do you get from here to the rest of the world?''
Eighth-grade student. Living in dire poverty, he is bullied by everyone, including his friends Randy and Namond, and especially Namond's "friend" Kenard. The clothes he is given by the school get stolen and then sold by his parents to feed their drug addictions. He is the one who shows Randy and Michael the bodies in the vacants.
He comes to depend on his teacher, Mr. Pryzbylewski, who does his best to try to help Dukie through his troubles. Eventually he is compelled to graduate by the school bureaucracy even though he is not ready for and incapable of dealing with the abuse he will get at the high school level, so he drops out and starts dealing alongside Michael. When this falls through, he tries to find work, only to end up with a junkie scrap metal thief. We last see him asking Pryzbylewski for money, and then shooting up in the final montage, with heavy implications that he's set down the road that Bubbles is escaping.
* HistoryRepeats: A likeable guy victimized by others on the street who winds up a junkie and working by selling aluminum scraps? Sure does sound like Bubbles.
* ICouldaBeenAContender
* ThePigPen: Dirt-poor. Kindly reconstructed by Mr. Prez., who noticing how unkemptness and marginalization go together, takes meassures to ammend it.
* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: His relationship with Mr. Prez, his kind mentor, gets terminated when the teacher realizes all too well that Duquan has been deceiving and swindling him for money. A genuine tear jerker both in and out-universe.
* ShrinkingViolet
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Due to a hard life. While Namond, Randy and others come up with elaborate stories of how Chris Partlow is a voodoo master who bewitches people and controls them, Dukie knows the cold truth that Chris simply murders them and leaves their bodies in abandoned buildings.
* WithFriendsLikeThese
!Randy Wagstaff
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/randywagstaff_2764.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''You promise?'']]
->'''Played by''': Maestro Harrell
--> ''You gonna look out for me?''
An eighth-grade student who is an earnest and mostly warmhearted entrepreneur being raised by a tough but fair foster mother. Friends with Namond, Michael, and Dukie. Because he always has his ear to ground about ways to make a buck, he hears about Marlo's fondness for pigeons and traps several so he can sell them to Marlo. The Stanfield gang later use him as a patsy to lure a disobedient dealer to his death. This, combined with the revelation by Dukie that the slain are sealed in abandoned rowhouses, eventually lead to him talking to the police.
Unfortunately when Herc is questioning a suspect he gives away that Randy is his source of information and the Stanfield gang spreads the word that Randy is a snitch, which causes him to be ostracized by his peers and makes him a target for retribution. Carver attempts to give him police protection, which isn't enough to stop his house from being firebombed, hospitalizing his foster mother for the foreseeable future. Carver fights to find him another foster parent, even offering to adopt him himself, but nothing can be done to keep him from a group home. As we see in Season 5, the bullying and abuse break him until he is just another anger filled thug.
* BreakTheCutie
* DemotedToExtra
* [[HighSchoolHustler Middle School Hustler]]
* HistoryRepeats: A kid who loses his mother figure early in life, whose talents go mostly overlooked and unappreciated, is repeatedly screwed over by the system, and winds up adopting a thug attitude. Sounds like Bodie, although we don't see if he ends up the same way.
* TookALevelInJerkass: By the time we see him in season 5.
* TraumaCongaLine: Starts off mild. Taken UpToEleven in the WhamEpisode.
* YoungEntrepreneur
!Namond Brice
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/namondbryce_3151.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"I love the first day, everybody all friendly and shit."'']]
->'''Played by''': Julito [=McCullum=]
--> ''We do the same thing as y'all, 'cept when we do it, it's "oh my God these kids is animals!" Like it's the end of the world coming. Man that's bullshit, alright? That's like, what's it...hypocrit-''hypocritical.
An eighth-grade student and the son of Wee Bey and De'londa Brice. Friends with Randy, Michael, and Dukie. The money given by the Barksdale Organization as a reward for Wee-Bey taking the fall means he is (relatively) well off... until his mother spends it all, because she is sure that there will always be more money coming from the Barksdales. When the Barksdale organization disintegrates, however, Brianna cuts De'londa off and as a result De'londa promptly begins trying to push Namond into the game as a drug runner. When placed in Bunny Colvin's experimental classroom, he is one of the most disruptive students, but is soon recognized to be considerably smarter than he acts.
As De'londa increasingly pushes him into dealing despite the fact that he has no operation to protect him and is surrounded by vicious factions like the Stanfield gang, it becomes understood by all who know him that the game will take his life. Cutty, Carver and Colvin all begin to try to help him, culminating with Colvin going to Wee Bey to plead for another life for Namond. When Wee Bey hears how De'londa turned Namond out of their home, he agrees to allow Colvin to adopt Namond. After this Namond abandons street life entirely and becomes an excellent student.
* AbusiveParents: His mother forces him to play the mortal game to maintain her lifestyle.
* DemotedToExtra: Is a central character in season 4 but only appears briefly in one episode of season 5.
* FreudianExcuse: The only kid able to escape the doomed background of a troubled childhood, a dysfunctional family -at best- and the notion that crime is the only way to earn a living. Sadly, it only happens thanks to a remarkable, extremely unusual or non repeateable White Knight named Howard Colvin.
* HappilyAdopted: From the end of season 4 onwards.
* HeelFaceTurn: When we see him in season 5 Namond has turned his life around and become a good student, winning an urban debate championship.
* HiddenDepths: Colvin notices an intellectual potential below his obnoxiousnesses and overcompensation.
* HistoryRepeats: He comes from a family noted for their connection with the drug trade and it's assumed that he will take up that mantle as well despite having no heart for the game. Sounds like D'Angelo, but he gets a rare happy ending because Wee-Bey realizes the drug trade isn't right for him and allows Namond to be adopted by Colvin instead.
** [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Alternatively]], Namond is a clever opportunist who says that "I'll take any motherfucker's money if he's giving it away" and shows an interest in politics. He could wind up as the next Clay Davis.
* IAmNotMyFather
* {{Jerkass}}
* JerkassFacade: He acts tough due to feeling pressured to live up to the reputation of his father Wee-Bey.
* SignificantHaircut: He is enormously fond of his huge, frizzy ponytail, but is repeatedly encouraged to cut it because it will make him easily identifiable to the police. He tries to make himself do it but ultimately can't, choosing instead to restyle it into cornrows. After being adopted by Colvin, he returns to the frizzy ponytail style.
* TheScrappy: Arguably he is this InUniverse. He's kind of TheLoad of the Barksdale organization; he's not a very good dealer, but Wee-Bey's influence is still strong enough to see him taken care of by Bodie, and his friends put up with him partly (if not entirely) because he seems well off in comparison.
!Michael Lee
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/michaellee_5189.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"Everything so serious now."'' ]]
->'''Played by''': Tristan Wilds
-->''Yo look, I'm not tryin' stand around and let some chump ass niggas think I'm shook, I ain't.''
Another eighth-grade student. Friends with Dukie, Randy, and Namond. Deeply introverted, he lives with his junkie mother and little brother, who he has to take care of because his mother isn't up to the task. Shortly into season 4 his stepfather gets out of prison and moves back in, and it is strongly implied that his stepfather sexually abused Michael when he was younger.
Michael starts boxing in Cutty's gym where he shows promise, but he is uncomfortable being the target of Cutty's fatherly attentions. It's not long before he starts dealing and focuses less on boxing. Increasingly fearful that his stepfather will abuse his brother Bug the same way he did Michael, Michael contacts Chris Partlow and asks Partlow to kill the stepfather for him. Partlow agrees, on the condition that Michael begin working for the Stanfield gang. Michael agrees, and is taken under the wings of Chris and Snoop, who train him to be a soldier.
Michael works for Marlo as both muscle and the head of his own corner in large part so he can take care of his brother and Dukie. He soon finds himself feeling out of place, as he frequently questions the necessity of the many murders that Marlo orders and finds the street life undermining his attempts to look after Bug and Dukie. When Marlo is arrested Michael's frequent questioning of his boss places him under suspicion of having talked to the police, and Snoop is sent to assassinate him. He recognizes what's going on and kills her first. He is last seen on the run from Marlo's people, having been forced to split from Dukie and his brother permanently, and become a stick-up boy like Omar.
* {{Badass}}: A middle school student who stares down ''Marlo Stanfield''. Marlo is suitably impressed and starts looking to recruit Michael afterward.
* BewareTheNiceOnes
* ChekhovsSkill
* CombatPragmatist
* HatesBeingTouched: A consequence of having been molested by his step-father.
* HistoryRepeats: Becomes a stick up man like Omar. In fact, the last thing we see him do is shoot someone in the knee during a robbery, just like we saw Omar do during Omar's first robbery in Season 1.
* [[IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy I Just Want My Brother To Be Happy]]: After the Stanfield Organization turns on him, he sends his brother Bug off to their aunt along with all the money he has, (with the promise of more to come) so that Bug will be safe and away from the game.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope
* KickTheDog: Kenard may be a little shit, but seeing Michael pound on a kid half his size over and over again is still disturbing.
* NervesOfSteel: Despite the many stressful situations he's put under he only shows fear once in the series, when Omar visits his corner for a friendly chat at gunpoint. (He is nervous that Omar will recognize him from being part of a Stanfield ambush and likely is also fearful about forced into close contact with a Gayngster due to his childhood molestation.) Still doesn't break, though.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: On Kenard, when Namond catches Kenard trying to steal Namond's drug package. Namond is so disturbed by the sight that he refuses to take the package from an unconscious Kenard afterward.
* PetTheDog: Diligently takes care of his little brother and Dukie, and he stands up for Randy when a couple of kids accuse Randy of being a snitch.
* PromotionToParent
* StaringDownCthulhu: Stares down Marlo in one of his earliest scenes.
* TheStoic
* UnwinnableTrainingSimulation: Part of his training is facing off with experienced professional killer Chris and Snoop with realistic paintball guns. Despite his complete lack of experience at that point, he wins anyway.
* YoungGun
!Kenard
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kenard_3013.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"Ain't no school can hold me if I wanna leave."'']]
->'''Played by''': Thuliso Dingwall
--> ''It's my turn to be Omar!''
Very young "friend" of Namond Brice. Torments Dukie every chance he gets. He joins the Stanfield Organization as a dealer in Season 5, and goes on to assassinate Omar Little. Last seen in the final montage of the series being arrested by the police, presumably for Omar's murder.
* BoisterousWeakling: Talks a lot of shit and has a lot of attitude, but whenever the show sets him up for a fistfight, he either gets his ass kicked or needs someone else to step in for him. Of course, size doesn't matter if he has a gun in his hand...
* BrattyHalfPint: Rare ''genuinely evil'' variant.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Albeit unintentionally - the actor who plays Kenard, Thuliso Dingwall, first appears as one of the children re-enacting the shootout outside the Barksdale stash house in season 3.
* EnfantTerrible
* HistoryRepeats: He shows the text-book signs of being a sociopath. Has dreams of becoming a great street legend like Omar. Sounds like Marlo Stanfield, who himself, is a sociopath that had dreams of becoming a street legend and saw his chance to act on it, after the Barksdale crew was brought down. Kenard saw his chance by killing Omar Little, knowing the Stanfield crew was looking for him. However, it's unknown if he was arrested for Omar's murder, or if he'll get charged as an adult if he was. Given that he's very young, there's a chance he might just get sent to a behavior correctional center, which in a way is a KarmaHoudini example, just like Marlo.
* {{Jerkass}}: An irredeemable little shit who deserves every beating he takes.
* KidsAreCruel: His treatment of Dukie, not to mention a scene where he is [[MoralEventHorizon dousing a cat with lighter fluid]] until Omar passing by distracts him and allows the cat to get away.
* SirSwearsALot
* TheSociopath: Strongly hinted to be one.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: The Courthouse]]
-->''"I wouldn't wipe my ass with a Baltimore lawyer."''
-->--'''[=McNulty=]'''
Once the cases the BPD brings in go to trial, they are in the capable - or not as the case may be - hands of the Baltimore City legal profession. The show focuses mainly on the State's Attorney's office in Baltimore, and their stable of prosecutors and grand jurors, as well as Judge Phelan, an old friend of [=McNulty's=] whose complaints to Burrell start the investigation into the Barksdale Organization in season 1. The prosecutors at the courthouse are generally portrayed as quite morally upstanding, especially for Baltimore, but sadly the same cannot be said of drug lawyer Maurice Levy, who commits violation after violation of just about every rule of lawyers' professional ethics.
!Rhonda "Ronnie" Pearlman
->'''Played by''': Deidre Lovejoy
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rhondapearlman_9022.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"The front office is going to go ''batshit''!"'']]
-->''Your client walks away now, or the both of you don't walk at all.''
Assistant State's Attorney. She handles the cases brought in by Daniels' department. Rhonda tries to walk a fine line between bringing in quality casework and protecting/advancing her own career, and a few times gets blindsided by Lester (and his tendency to issue subpoenas against politically connected individuals, like her boss) and Jimmy (who browbeats Maurice Levy in defiance of the professional deference that Rhonda wishes to show him). She had an affair with [=McNulty=], which is part of what caused his marriage to end, though by the start of the series, the romance has cooled off. Later in the series, she starts a relationship with Cedric Daniels after he and his wife separate; the romance is still ongoing as of the series finale, in which Rhonda avoids being scapegoated for [=McNulty's=] plot and becomes a judge.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Averted for the most part, although [=McNulty=] confronts her about the implications of her ambitions when she points out that pushing too hard against Levy would mean antagonizing the whole profession, a terrible thing for her career.
-->'''Jimmy:''' If only half you motherfuckers at the district attorney's office didn't want to be judges, didn't want to be partners in some downtown law firm... If half of you had the fucking balls to follow through, you know what would happen? A guy like that would be indicted, tried and convicted. And the rest of 'em would back up enough, so we could push a clean case or two through your courthouse. But no, everybody stays friends. Everybody gets paid. And everybody's got a fucking future.
* HelloAttorney
* HeroesWantRedheads: [=McNulty=], Daniels and Judge Phelan all certainly do.
* IronLady: A firm and unwavering attorney who often takes difficulties in stride or talks down allies and foes alike.
* MatzoFever: Provokes this reaction frequently, though her Jewishness is never especially emphasized.
* ScrewTheRulesIMBeautiful[=/=]ShowSomeLeg: She uses Judge Phelan's attraction to her to get favorable rulings out of him in a few cases with weak probable causes.
-->'''Daniels:''' Quite the legal mind
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan
* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: She and Daniels must initially keep their relationship a secret because it becoming known that Daniels was divorcing his wife Marla and dating a white woman instead would harm Marla's political career.
* WorkingWithTheEx: She and [=McNulty=] are carrying on a discontinuos affair at the start of the show, which causes some awkwardness later in their professional relationship.
!Daniel Phelan
->'''Played by''': Peter Gerety
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/judgephelan_6917.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"See you at sentencing."'']]
-->''Mr. Hilton, are you the second coming of our savior?.''
The judge who presides over D'Angelo Barksdale murder case. After a witness changes her statement, leading to a non-guilty verdict, Phelan summons [=McNulty=] to enquire about it, only to discover the Barksdales are not being investigated at all. The judge takes this very seriously and makes it a priority, opening a can of worms as the police chiefs are clueless. Grudgingly, the Major Crimes detail ensues to appease him and the media.
* BigGood: He kickstarts the Barksdale case (flying under the radar until then) and by extension the Major Crimes detail (the series itself). Despite he is not above political maneuvering, he is the man to go when the chain of command is locked or obstructive and takes personal offense when criminals get away.
* ChivalrousPervert: His attraction towards Pearlman is both notorious and exploited.
* DeadpanSnarker: If you are a murderer seeking parole, His Honor [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_zJDJGJ82M will ask]] (and get you off the hook) if you are the SecondComing of Jesus.
* GrammarNazi: Justifiably so. Jimmy knows no better than to present an official affidavit full of mistakes.
* HangingJudge: He does ''not'' like the drug trade or its dealers one bit. Notable at the end of Bird's trial, where he brushes right over Maurice Levy's (truthful) assertions that the state's key witness (Omar) has perjured himself. Admittedly, Bird ''did'' do the crime.
* HistoryRepeats: Shown heeding Sydnor's lamentations in the finale, like he used to do with [=McNulty=]'s.
* TheJudge
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Almost always willing to help the police and to prosecute the drug dealers, shaming the obstructive chiefs if necessary.
* SlaveToPR[=/=]NotSoAboveItAll: He invokes the PR angle by leaking murder details to the media in order to put pressure on the police. In turn, his big good crusader status takes a dent when he panicks after being excluded from the electoral ticket, coming across as another self-serving bigwig to [=McNulty=]. The judge continues to be a very possitive character after his re-election, however.
* ToxicFriendInfluence: He's a supportive old friend of Jimmy's, but his demands for actual police work and leaks of insider information to the press practically kill [=McNulty=]'s career, if it existed. The support wanes in the middle of his re-election bid, but they eventually reconcile.
!Maurice Levy
->'''Played by''': Michael Kostroff
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mauricelevy_5385.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"You don't say anything, you don't do anything, you don't write anything!"'']]
-->'''Maurice Levy:''' ''You are amoral, are you not? You are feeding off the violence and the despair of the drug trade. You are stealing from those who themselves are stealing the lifeblood from our city. You are a parasite who leeches off...''\\
'''Omar Little:''' ''Just like you, man.''\\
'''Maurice Levy:''' ''...the culture of drugs. Excuse me? What?''\\
'''Omar Little:''' ''I've got the shotgun, you've got the briefcase. It's all in the game though.''
Drug lawyer for the Barksdale organization, and later, Marlo Stanfield. Very good at his job, getting cases scuttled and sentences reduced for his clients. Based on several real life Baltimore drug lawyers who happen to be jewish. David Simon, jew himself, remarked he was not willing to pull a punch just to avoid a stereotype.
* AmoralAttorney: An unapologetic drug-lawyer who also doubles as counselor to his criminal clients outside of the court and the interrogation rooms.
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: He knows his trade very well, is very experienced and quickly recognizes threats or tricks aimed at his clients.
* EvilGenius: Functions as this for the Barksdale and Stanfield crews, helping them set up fronts and side businesses to hide their activities from the police and evade prosecution.
* GreedyJew: At one point he gleefully remarks that he likes seeing his clients busted by the cops, because it means more billable hours for him.
* KarmaHoudini: Although thanks to Freamon's work Pearlman does hold a sword over his head in the form of evidence with which she can charge him with grand jury tampering.
* OnlyInItForTheMoney
* PsychoticSmirk
* SmugSnake
* SpottingTheThread: He realizes there is something fishy in the Stanfield case.
* YiddishAsASecondLanguage
!Ilene Nathan
Head of the violent crimes unit, tasked with prosecuting homicides in Baltimore, later promoted to Assistant State's Attorney.
* GetOutOfJailFreeCard: Provides Mr. Little with one after he testifies against Bird. Nathan has him transferred to a safer prison when Omar uses the card after he's framed.
* IronLady: Firm and tough.
!Rupert Bond
->'''Played by''': Dion Graham.
Candidate running for the office of Maryland State's Attorney.
* GlorySeeker: Combined with other factors, his decision to keep the Davis case in the local court in order to achieve a high profile conviction eventually sinks the case thanks to a [[CommonNonsenseJury gullible jury]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder: City Hall]]
-->''"Money launderin'!? They gonna come talk to me about Money launderin'!? In West Baltimore?! Sheeeeit, where do you think I'm gonna raise cash for the whole damn ticket!? From laundromats and shit!? From some tiny-ass Korean groceries?! You think I got time to ask a man why he given me money or where he gets his money from?! I'll take any motherfucker's money if he's givin' it away!"''
-->--'''Maryland State Senator Clayton Davis'''
At the root of why nothing can ever get done in Baltimore, and, by extension, America, City Hall tells the story of Baltimore's political leaders and their Byzantine efforts at backstabbing and career advancement. City Hall is explored through the eyes of Democratic Councilman Tommy Carcetti, who achieves a feat most of the Democratic Party think impossible by winning election as the white mayor of a majority black city. Despite his initial idealism, he is unable to leverage his electoral success into political success, being forced to back up on his promises for the sake of his career. The City Hall storyline is an examination of the corruption at the heart of Baltimore political system and how internal reformers are either forced into resignation, acquiescence, or corruption.
!R. Clayton "Clay" Davis
->'''Played by''': Isaiah Whitlock Jr.
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/claydavis_3096.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Sheeeeeeeit"'']]
-->''Fool, what do you think? That we know anything about who gives money? That we give a damn about who they are or what they want? We have no way of running down them or their stories. We don't care. We just cash the damn cheques, count the votes and move on.''
Maryland state senator. Corrupt doesn't begin to describe him. He takes bribes from many sources, including the Barksdale organization under Stringer Bell, and does patronage and fundraising in return, when he doesn't simply fleece them. Two simultaneous investigations, one by the Major Crimes department of the Baltimore Police, the other by the FBI, are focused on him. Neither succeeds in bringing him down.
* AffablyEvil
* {{Catch Phrase}}: "Sheeeeeeeeiiiiiiit."
* ChewbaccaDefense
* ConMan: In all but name. A real shakedown artist.
-->'''Norman:''' He's slick, apologizes for the short con and in the next breath setting us up for the long.
* CorruptPolitician: "Corrupt" doesn't begin to describe him.
* EverythingIsRacist: Spins the investigation into his corruption into an inspiring narrative of his own victimization at the hands of villainous whiteys and Uncle Toms in the State's Attorney's office. Depressingly, it works.
-->'''Gus Haynes''': 45 inches of Clay Davis playing not just the race card but the whole deck, coming at ya.
* KarmaHoudini
* ManipulativeBastard: When he is put on in Season 5, he easily charms the Baltimore jury into believing that his theft of money from his charity organizations was for a good cause, and is acquitted.
* PlayingTheVictimCard: In the stairs of the courtroom and then inside of it. He portrays himself as a man of the people who is the victim of a greek tragedy.
* {{Rainmaking}}
* SleazyPolitician: In addition to his criminality, he's pretty scummy in his personal life as well.
* SlimeBall: An amalgamation of everything that's wrong inside the political machine.
* SmugSnake
* VerbalTic: Addressing his victims as "partner". An intentional, reassuring pet word.
* VillainousBreakdown: Delivers angry rants to his political cronies whenever he's under scrutiny. He loses it during Carcetti's term when he begins to realize he's sinking with no rope or allies in reach, but he quickly pulls himself together to present his usual slimy public persona.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: So good that it helps him get acquitted of fraud charges.
!Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti
->'''Played by''': Aidan Gillen
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tommycarcetti_3234.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I wake up white, in a city that ain't."'']]
-->''Yummy, my first bowl of shit.''
City Councilman. He dreams of supplanting the current mayor, Royce, and cleaning up Baltimore. He gets his chance with the rise in violent crime, and when a key witness is killed due to the lack of proper witness protection. When Hamsterdam is exposed, he starts campaigning in earnest, pulling off an upset and becoming mayor. Once in office, with his advisors Norman and Steintorf, he seeks out people he can trust within city government, particularly the police force. Promising a reduction in crime, he is undermined by the revelation that financial legerdemain had been used to to hide a massive deficit in the school budget. Deciding not to seek the Maryland governor's help in bailing out the schools, he takes the money from the police force instead. He is unable to fulfill most of the promises he made to his allies and constituents, but manages to get elected governor by attacking his Republican opponent's positions on homeless and the poor, which works as a high-profile issue due to [=McNulty=]'s fake serial killer.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Played with. When forced to choose between helping the city he was elected to save and his own political ambitions, he chooses the latter, by deciding not to take money to cover the city's budget deficit from the state because doing so will hurt his chances of being elected governor. However, the series makes the argument that it is the [[InherentInTheSystem political system which corrupts politicians]] rather than the other way around.
* BeleagueredBureaucrat: For a while and also a consequence of his own ambition; he has good intentions but not the political clout or the funds to implement them.
** ObstructiveBureaucrat: He increasingly become something of this status as the show went on.
* BigGood: At first he's set up as possibly being this, but it's ultimately subverted.
* CorruptTheCutie: Starts out as something of an idealist, but is fast sucked into the dirty world of politics.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: In the end of the third episode in which he appears Carcetti committs adultery with an unnamed woman he meets at a political event, staring at himself in the mirror as he does so. Though it seems at the time to be a throwaway scene, it actually serves to highlight Carcetti's narcissism and willingness to break promises for personal gain, both character traits which play a role in his later tenure as mayor. The scene actually receives a CallBack in season five, when Carcetti watches news coverage of himself making a grandstanding political speech with a similarly rapturous expression on his face.
* FaceHeelTurn: Mildly and realistically so. He doesn't so much go from good to evil as go from an [[CorruptTheCutie idealistic crusader]] to just another self-interested politician.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: He bears some resemblances to real-life former Baltimore mayor Martin O'Malley, though Simon has said the character was based on a number of Baltimore politicians, most of whom are too obscure to be recognizable to viewers.
* PetTheDog: On an epic scale during his Baltimore cleaning spree.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: At first.
* RousingSpeech: He gives a few of them, usually of the self-serving variety.
* SirSwearsalot: While everyone except Omar swears a lot in this show, Tommy is particularly foul-mouthed.
* SleazyPolitician: Eventually turns into one.
* TookALevelInJerkass: He becomes more and more of a {{Jerkass}} as the stress of campaigning and then running the city wears on him.
!Clarence Royce
->'''Played by''': Glynn Turman
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clarence_royce_6732.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Nobody here wants to do a real job."'']]
--> ''Next year? For some things, that's a long time to wait.''
Deeply corrupt mayor of Baltimore. His administration has seen a dramatic rise in violent crime, which he seeks to patch over as best he can. Major Colvin's experiment in establishing drug-free zones causes crime to drop, and he makes the mistake of delaying action in bringing them to an end. When exposed, Carcetti campaigns against him for allowing them, and beats him in the mayoral election.
* CulturalPosturing: During the Democratic primary campaign against the white Carcetti his staff prints up posters using African colors in an effort to appeal to racial solidarity.
* GracefulLoser: After losing the primaries, Royce invites Carcetti to the office, has a friendly chat with him and makes him try the mayoral chair.
* InterruptedIntimacy: His affair with an assistant is witnessed by Herc.
* MayorPain: Subverted; at first he's presented as too venal and incompetent to do anything about Baltimore's problems but Carcetti's arc reveals that it's the system rather than the person at the top of it that's most responsible for the city's plight.
* SlaveToPR: His reaction to Hamsterdam comes off as self-serving [[PetTheDog but somewhat redeeming]], but once it is exposed on television and becomes a major [=PR=] disaster he quickly shuts it down.
* SleazyPolitician: Not nearly as bad as [[CorruptPolitician Clay Davis]], but still pretty unethical.
!Norman Wilson
->'''Played by''': Reg E. Cathey
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/normanwilson_1435.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I wish I was still at the newspaper so I could write on this bullshit."'']]
-->''Everybody's gettin' what they need behind some make believe.''
Tommy Carcetti's deputy campaign manager, and later, his right hand man. He is brutally honest, keeping Carcetti in line and his feet on the ground.
* [[invoked]] ActuallyPrettyFunny: Laughs his ass off when the true nature of the serial killer is exposed, despite Carcetti calling up DudeNotFunny!
* BrutalHonesty: Speaks his mind quite freely.
* TheConsigliere
* CynicalMentor: Shows Carcetti the ropes in a very realistic, almost jaded way.
* DeadpanSnarker
* HonestAdvisor: To Carcetti. Norman has no problem criticizing the mayor.
-->'''Carcetti:''' Say it, Norman, you're thinking it. Truth to power, Norman. Isn't that what I keep you around for?
* IntrepidReporter: His backstory. He laments he can't publish the sordid but juicy stuff that he experiences as a City Hall insider.
* KnightInSourArmor: Becomes disillusioned by Carcetti putting his ambitions ahead of the city, but keeps working for him to speak truth to power and to do what he can to make sure he fulfills his campaign promises.
* ServileSnarker
!Nerese Campbell
->'''Played by''': Marlene Afflack
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/neresecampbel1l_7830.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"It was supposed to be my turn!"'']]
-->''Clay, it is what it is.''
President of the Baltimore City Council. When Carcetti is elected mayor, she is immediately hostile to him because she was understood to be next in line after Royce. He proves to be pliable, and she comes around to pulling strings for him, though she scuttles many of his planned projects. She is elected mayor after Carcetti.
* {{Blackmail}}: Burrell hands over the dossier on Daniels to her, a card she uses to coerce the Commissioner.
* ChangingOfTheGuard: She finally succeeds Royce when Carcetti becomes governor.
* {{Foil}}: As the last surviving councelor from Royce's administration, her role is to be the opposition leader during Carcetti's term.
* InformedAttractiveness: "Council President's hot as balls!"
* KarmaHoudini: Another schemer who doesn't get any major comeuppance.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Based on the very shady Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon, city council president when O'Malley moved to Maryland.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat
* PassedOverPromotion[=/=]PassedOverInheritance: She is not happy about Carcetti's rising, as it was assumed she would be Royce's heir apparent.
* SleazyPolitician: Another morally flexible politician, very good at intrigue.
!Michael Steintorf
->'''Played by:''' Neal Huff
-->''Kids don't vote.''
Mayor Carcetti's chief of staff. A realist, he lets Carcetti know that many of his plans are infeasible. Later, he pressures Daniels to alter crime statistics.
* TheConsigliere: A less principled and more Machiavellian version of Normal Wilson.
* GenreSavvy: Immediately recognizes that Rawls has political leverage, and consequently cuts a deal with him to protect the mayor.
* TheManBehindTheMan: Regularly behind the scenes making deals or implementing shady policies to protect and insulate the mayor.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Reintroduces the infamous stats game in the fight against crime.
!Andy Krawczyk
->'''Played by:''' Michael Willis
-->'''Rawls:''' Mayor's office already called twice, worried sick about the man. That's a whole lotta campaign contributions sitting on the back of that ambo.
President of the Baltimore City School Board, property developer and political fund raiser, implied to be corrupt. Consultant to Stringer Bell.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Not portrayed openly corrupt à la Clay Davis, but his familiarity with the political machine all but states it.
* TheRival: To the stevedores, as his grain pier condominium project competes against the remodelation of the docks.
* SuspectIsHatless: Helps the police with a gloriously useless definition of Omar.
-->I told you I saw only the one. I know he was black. Big, I thought. With a large weapon
!Odell Watkins
State Delegate. A longtime major Baltimore political figure and and a member of the influential State Appropriations Committee, he's a moral voice of authority within Baltimore politicians as he has full support of the religious leaders, looks to address the concerns of the citizens in a decent way and is most critical of politicial corruption. Wheelchair user.
* TheConscience: Tries to keep the Royce administration morally balanced.
* TheFettered: One of the more principled members of Royce's camp.
* KingmakerScenario: Thanks to his influence and resources, any candidate who gets his endorsement receives more than a big boost in a close race.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: One of the few public figures who genuinely cares about and works for his constituents. A true leader of the community who provides actual help to Colvin and Cutty.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: The Homeless]]
-->'''Bodie''': ''"He's a drug addict man!"''
-->'''D'Angelo''': ''"And you're a goddamn drug dealer."''
-->'''Bodie''': ''"So? So, what, the customer is always right?"''
The drug trade would, of course, be nothing without the people who actually buy drugs. The various homeless characters of ''The Wire'' are the show's way of exploring these often-ignored individuals. The main homeless character is Bubbles, a drug addict who, whilst prepared to go pretty damn low for his fix, is nevertheless one of the more human and morally upright characters on the show. The show charts his struggles with addiction and the world around him, especially the desperation and fear of the day-to-day life of one of the War on Drugs' refugees.
!Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins
->'''Played by''': Andre Royo
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reginaldbubbles_2640.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"You equivocating like a motherfucker!"'']]
--> ''How y'all do what y'all do every day and not wanna get high?''
A homeless heroin addict. He mentors Johnny Weeks from seasons 1-3, and Sherrod in season 4, teaching them the life of scheming and scrounging that's necessary to support a life on the streets. When Weeks is attacked by members of the Barksdale crew, Bubbles renews his duties a police informant, providing critical information to Greggs and [=McNulty=]. In season 4, Bubbs is repeatedly beaten and robbed by another drug addict, but as :Kima and [=McNulty=] are no longer working drugs, Bubbs must settle for snitching for the considerably less reliable Herc, who twice fails to come to Bubbles's aid. Bubbles pays Herc back for his incompetence by feeding him bad information that gets him in some trouble with his superiors, but his plan for dealing with the robber backfires, resulting in Sherrod's death. He attempts to turn himself in, and attempts suicide, but is the recipient of an uncharacteristic bit of mercy from Jay Landsman.
By the fifth season, he has moved into his sister's basement, weaned himself off drugs, gotten a job selling papers, and begun attending Narcotics Anonymous. In the final montage of the series, he is finally allowed up into the house to have dinner with his family.
* AntiHero: Of the original, hero without heroic characteristics type.
* BlueOni: To Johnny Weeks', and later Sherrod's, RedOni. It keeps him alive while both of them end up dead.
* ButtMonkey: Played for drama.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Over the course of the series he endures as much hardship as any other character, and he's one of only a few "street" characters who doesn't die, go to prison, or appear to be headed for one of those two fates in the end.
* GuileHero: He manages to inform on various drug dealers for the better part of five seasons without ever being suspected of being a snitch, mostly because he's very clever in his information-gathering.
* TheInformant: Partially earns his living working as one for the [=BPD=].
* InterruptedSuicide: After Sherrod's death.
* TheMentor: Does his best to school his green protégés.
* MobileKiosk: Starts telling t-shirts and other items from a shopping cart to support himself in season 3.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After Sherrod takes the "hot shot" Bubbles had prepared for his tormentor and dies.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: His real name is revealed only through incidental references to legal documents and the like; he's almost always called "Bubbles" or "Bubbs" in conversation.
* ThePunishmentIsTheCrime: The reason Landsman drops his prosecution. Bubbles has to live with the guilt over Sherrod's death, but eventually he overcomes the grief and is able to move on.
* StreetSmart
* ThoseTwoGuys: With Johnny Weeks.
* TraumaCongaLine: Until his happy ending.
* TropaholicsAnonymous: Bubbles drifts in and out of various recovery programs and addiction support groups until he finally sobers up for good in season 5.
!Johnny Weeks
->'''Played by''': Leo Fitzpatrick
--> ''I'm brown.''
A homeless addict, taken under the wing of Bubbles. A counterfeiting operation brings down the wrath of Bodie and Poot, leaving him in the hospital, where he learns he has HIV. Bubbles' informing the police produces a rift between the two, and Weeks leaves and goes to Hamsterdam. He is found dead by overdose some time later.
* BusCrash: Dies off-screen.
* ConMan: Participates in several with Bubbles. But he's much less successful when he tries to run them on his own.
* {{Expy}}: Johnny is an extension of Leo Fitzpatrick's character from ''Film/{{Kids}}''.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Suffers one after he gets caught trying to scam the Barksdale crew in the Pit.
* NothingPersonal: His attitude about getting beat by Bodie and company. He's shocked and even somewhat disturbed when Bubbles reveals that he has been informing on the Barksdales in revenge for Johnny's beating.
* RedOni: Unlike Bubbles, who is [[BlueOni more restrained and cautious in his drug use]], he uses impulsively and recklessly. It leads to his death by overdose.
* WhiteGangbangers: Comes off as one at times.
!Sherrod
-> '''Played by''': Rashad Orange
A young dealer who is taken in by Bubbles. Bubbles tries to get him to go back to school, but Sherrod does not, and starts using. When they are attacked by another junkie, Bubbles puts poison in a dose of heroin, in the hopes that the junkie would rob them, use, and die. Sherrod takes the dose by accident.
* SacrificialLion
[[/folder]]
[[folder: The Baltimore Sun]]
-->''"...as I look back over a misspent life, I find myself more and more convinced that I had more fun doing news reporting than in any other enterprise. It is really the life of kings."''
-->--'''HLMencken'''
''[[http://www.baltimoresun.com/ The Baltimore Sun]]'' is Baltimore's local broadsheet and newspaper of record. However, like most of the institutions of ''The Wire'', it has fallen on hard times of late, losing money at a prodigious rate and suffering from a staff brain drain, as ambitious reporters use it as a springboard for careers with the ''New York Times'' or ''Washington Post''. In addition, it is now run by an unnamed company from Chicago, who are less interested in local journalism than they are with doing gltizy "state of the nation" feature pieces with one eye on a Pulitzer Prize. The ''Sun'' storyline is largely used as a vehicle for David Simon to reflect on journalism, contrasting his own no-nonsense, context-rich style in the form of Gus Haynes with the more essay-like, narrow-focused journalism of the ''Sun'''s owners. [[{{Anvilicious}} It's fairly obvious which one he prefers.]]
!Augustus "Gus" Haynes
->'''Played by''': Clark Johnson
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gushaynes_2700.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[PunctuatedForEmphasis We! Cannot! Run! This! Shit!]]"'' ]]
-->''Our job is to report the news, not to manufacture it.''
Editor for The Baltimore Sun, who does his best to keep the paper alive and relevant during bad times for the industry.
* AuthorAvatar: Runs into many of the same problems David Simon dealt with during his time at the Sun.
* DaEditor
* DramaticIrony: After [=McNulty=] gives credibility to the first phone call by the "serial killer", completely made up by Templeton.
-->Well, 10 minutes ago I'd' have said this whole thing was complete bullshit. Shows what I know, I guess.
* TheFettered: A principled editor.
* GenreSavvy: Zigzagged. He knows his trade and knows about many cases of fabricated stories, but Gus doesn't anticipate the higher-ups would sweep the truth under the rug.
* HumbleHero: He's content with reporting the local news with integrity and has no ambition or desire for a higher, flashy profile.
* TheLastDJ: Alongside a few other colleagues from the paper, he's a member of the old guard that is bent on maintaining its integrity.
* ReassignedToAntarctica: His fate after the higher-ups side with Templeton's sensationalized drama pieces.
!Alma Gutierrez
->'''Played by''': Michelle Paress
-->''Evacuate?''
A young Hispanic reporter who has the bad luck to come onto The Baltimore Sun as it is downsizing.
* AmbitionIsEvil: averted; she's ambitious but principled.
* BreakTheCutie
* IntrepidReporter
* ReassignedToAntarctica
* TokenMinority: Baltimore has a sizeable Hispanic population, yet Alma and Omar's boyfriend Renaldo are the only two Hispanics on the series.
* WideEyedIdealist
!Scott Templeton
->'''Played by''': Thomas [=McCarthy=]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/scotttempleton_202.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Fuck you Gus!"'']]
-->''Every last word is in my notes!''
A young reporter who falsifies his stories. He is roped into the fake serial killer story, and ends up winning a Pulitzer while his more scrupulous colleagues are demoted.
* AmbitionIsEvil: An unprincipled careerist.
* ConsummateLiar
* KarmaHoudini: Arguably the worst in the series, as his unethical practices win him a Pulitzer Prize.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed[=/=]CompositeCharacter: Based on Jim Haner, David Simon's co-worker in the Sun who invented quotes and events without punishment from his editors. Templeton shares traits with other fabulists such as Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair and Jack Kelley, who are all name-checked by Haynes when he's trying to convince the editors of Templeton's guilt. His status as a Pulitzer winner who fabricated his story has shades of Janet Cooke too, although she was caught. He also has shades of Walter Duranty, one of the most abhorrent journalistic fabricators, who won a Pulitzer Prize despite regurgitating Stalinist propaganda about how there was totally no famine in Ukraine. Nope. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor None at all.]]
* NotSoDifferent: [=McNulty's=] self-loathing comes to a head when he compares himself to Templeton.
* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: He starts out as just another writer trying to get by, until he's driven by a combination of frustration (due to the mounting pressure from the paper for big stories) and fear (the paper keeps downsizing and Scott doesn't have the work history to get hired by a bigger name paper) to start fabricating stories. Eventually hits it big by pretending to witness a kidnapping attempt by [=McNulty=]'s nonexistent serial killer.
* ProtectionFromEditors: In-universe, his stories are too flashy and profitable to be hampered by the guardians of the truth.
* SmugSnake
* TheUnfettered
!Michael "Fletch" Fletcher
->'''Played by''': Brandon Young
A general assignments reporter at the Sun who writes a character piece on Bubbles. He enjoys a promotion to senior line editor when Gus is demoted at the end of the series.
* BrilliantButLazy / TheSlacker: on the one hand, he's a talented writer; on the other, he repeatedly fails to meet deadlines.
* CharacterAsHimself
* ChangingOfTheGuard: his piece on Bubbles is topical and true-to-life, and he might well be the next Haynes.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: his promotion at the end. This plot development is significant in the larger context of the series: the point of season 5 was to demonstrate that the newspapers miss the important stories of the city, but the quality and depth of Fletcher's article (and its warm reception) shows that the situation with the press isn't hopeless.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Other Characters]]
!Terrance "Fitz" Fitzhugh
->'''Played by''': Doug Olear
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/agentfitz_4167.jpg]]
-->''[[FBIAgent We]] may be assholes, but on the upside, there's an awful lot of us.''
A special agent with the FBI, friend and major ally of Jimmy [=McNulty=]. He inspires [=McNulty=] to use modern electronic surveillance against the Barksdale organization by showing live surveillance during the bust of a drug production ring. He tells Jimmy it would be the last major bureau drug investigation in Baltimore because they are shifting resources to counter-terrorism.
* ButtMonkey: His lack of familiarity about how two cars should be placed during an unofficial meeting in the middle of nowhere - with adjacent driver's windows - is turned into a RunningGag at his expense by Jimmy and Lester, who joins in the joke eventually.
* CowboyCop: His extracurricular, personal assistance is not sanctioned or known by the bosses most of the time. In season 3, he expedites a wiretap by registering Stringer Bell as a homeland security threat named "Ahmed".
* FBIAgent: FBI agent working from the Baltimore field office.
* FriendOnTheForce: Jimmy usually goes to him for assistance because the overwhelming resources and prowess of the Bureau make him a real law enforcer working for a real agency, unlike the guys from the Baltimore Police Department.
* KnightInSourArmor: He's not very happy with the TheWarOnTerror monopolizing the resources of the FBI and is bitter about it. Still finds the time and need to help [=McNulty=] with the so called war on drugs.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Regularly goes out of his way to help the struggling BPD. He even apologizes to Daniels as he reveals that a greater success in the Sobotka case was prevented by [[TheMole a mole inside the FBI]], and later makes up for it.
!The Deacon
->'''Played by''': Melvin Williams
A well connected West Side church figure involved in many community projects.
->''A good church man is always up in everybody's shit. It's how we do.''
* TheConscience: Gives Colvin a WhatTheHellHero because Hamsterdam has been conceived as a wild zone that needs some regulation, safety messures and social assistance.
* MetaCasting: Melvin Williams, a former gangster arrested by Ed Burns, is one of the inspirations of Avon Barksdale.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: A pillar of the community.
!Ricardo "Fat-Face Rick" Hendrix
->''Shit, nigga, we was good when your uncle had it. You had to go ahead and put up with Marlo...''
Drug lord from Veronica Avenue, on the East Side of Baltimore. Founding member of the New Day Co-Op, he becomes a co-representative in the finale.
* CigarChomper: Usually seen smoking a cigar.
* GenreSavvy: He's not fooled by Marlo's lies about Omar killing Joe and Hungry Man, obviously aware that's not Omar's style.
* RealEstateScam: Makes the local news when it's exposed that the city council is going to relocate him to redevelop the land where his club stands. He's being offered more than what his club is worth and a better council owned property elsewhere, so he will net a million dollars for moving. Not by coincidence, Rick has a history of campaign donations.
[[/folder]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/boysofsummer_9132.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''Boys of Summer'']]
-->'''Dukie''': ''Remember that day one summer past...?''\\
'''Mike''': ''[[InnocenceLost I don't]].''
A collection of [[TemptingFate adorable children]] from West Baltimore's projects and rowhouses, who the show uses to examine the school system and how it utterly fails in the struggle with "the corners" for the futures of Baltimore's children. Each child follows a different path, and each one ends up at a different conclusion - although, sadly, it is not always the ending they or the audience hope for.
!Duquan "Dukie" Weems
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/duquan_1787.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''There ain't no special "dead". Just "dead".'']]
->'''Played by''': Jermaine Crawford
-->''How do you get from here to the rest of the world?''
Eighth-grade student. Living in dire poverty, he is bullied by everyone, including his friends Randy and Namond, and especially Namond's "friend" Kenard. The clothes he is given by the school get stolen and then sold by his parents to feed their drug addictions. He is the one who shows Randy and Michael the bodies in the vacants.
He comes to depend on his teacher, Mr. Pryzbylewski, who does his best to try to help Dukie through his troubles. Eventually he is compelled to graduate by the school bureaucracy even though he is not ready for and incapable of dealing with the abuse he will get at the high school level, so he drops out and starts dealing alongside Michael. When this falls through, he tries to find work, only to end up with a junkie scrap metal thief. We last see him asking Pryzbylewski for money, and then shooting up in the final montage, with heavy implications that he's set down the road that Bubbles is escaping.
* HistoryRepeats: A likeable guy victimized by others on the street who winds up a junkie and working by selling aluminum scraps? Sure does sound like Bubbles.
* ICouldaBeenAContender
* ThePigPen: Dirt-poor. Kindly reconstructed by Mr. Prez., who noticing how unkemptness and marginalization go together, takes meassures to ammend it.
* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: His relationship with Mr. Prez, his kind mentor, gets terminated when the teacher realizes all too well that Duquan has been deceiving and swindling him for money. A genuine tear jerker both in and out-universe.
* ShrinkingViolet
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Due to a hard life. While Namond, Randy and others come up with elaborate stories of how Chris Partlow is a voodoo master who bewitches people and controls them, Dukie knows the cold truth that Chris simply murders them and leaves their bodies in abandoned buildings.
* WithFriendsLikeThese
!Randy Wagstaff
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/randywagstaff_2764.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''You promise?'']]
->'''Played by''': Maestro Harrell
--> ''You gonna look out for me?''
An eighth-grade student who is an earnest and mostly warmhearted entrepreneur being raised by a tough but fair foster mother. Friends with Namond, Michael, and Dukie. Because he always has his ear to ground about ways to make a buck, he hears about Marlo's fondness for pigeons and traps several so he can sell them to Marlo. The Stanfield gang later use him as a patsy to lure a disobedient dealer to his death. This, combined with the revelation by Dukie that the slain are sealed in abandoned rowhouses, eventually lead to him talking to the police.
Unfortunately when Herc is questioning a suspect he gives away that Randy is his source of information and the Stanfield gang spreads the word that Randy is a snitch, which causes him to be ostracized by his peers and makes him a target for retribution. Carver attempts to give him police protection, which isn't enough to stop his house from being firebombed, hospitalizing his foster mother for the foreseeable future. Carver fights to find him another foster parent, even offering to adopt him himself, but nothing can be done to keep him from a group home. As we see in Season 5, the bullying and abuse break him until he is just another anger filled thug.
* BreakTheCutie
* DemotedToExtra
* [[HighSchoolHustler Middle School Hustler]]
* HistoryRepeats: A kid who loses his mother figure early in life, whose talents go mostly overlooked and unappreciated, is repeatedly screwed over by the system, and winds up adopting a thug attitude. Sounds like Bodie, although we don't see if he ends up the same way.
* TookALevelInJerkass: By the time we see him in season 5.
* TraumaCongaLine: Starts off mild. Taken UpToEleven in the WhamEpisode.
* YoungEntrepreneur
!Namond Brice
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/namondbryce_3151.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"I love the first day, everybody all friendly and shit."'']]
->'''Played by''': Julito [=McCullum=]
--> ''We do the same thing as y'all, 'cept when we do it, it's "oh my God these kids is animals!" Like it's the end of the world coming. Man that's bullshit, alright? That's like, what's it...hypocrit-''hypocritical.
An eighth-grade student and the son of Wee Bey and De'londa Brice. Friends with Randy, Michael, and Dukie. The money given by the Barksdale Organization as a reward for Wee-Bey taking the fall means he is (relatively) well off... until his mother spends it all, because she is sure that there will always be more money coming from the Barksdales. When the Barksdale organization disintegrates, however, Brianna cuts De'londa off and as a result De'londa promptly begins trying to push Namond into the game as a drug runner. When placed in Bunny Colvin's experimental classroom, he is one of the most disruptive students, but is soon recognized to be considerably smarter than he acts.
As De'londa increasingly pushes him into dealing despite the fact that he has no operation to protect him and is surrounded by vicious factions like the Stanfield gang, it becomes understood by all who know him that the game will take his life. Cutty, Carver and Colvin all begin to try to help him, culminating with Colvin going to Wee Bey to plead for another life for Namond. When Wee Bey hears how De'londa turned Namond out of their home, he agrees to allow Colvin to adopt Namond. After this Namond abandons street life entirely and becomes an excellent student.
* AbusiveParents: His mother forces him to play the mortal game to maintain her lifestyle.
* DemotedToExtra: Is a central character in season 4 but only appears briefly in one episode of season 5.
* FreudianExcuse: The only kid able to escape the doomed background of a troubled childhood, a dysfunctional family -at best- and the notion that crime is the only way to earn a living. Sadly, it only happens thanks to a remarkable, extremely unusual or non repeateable White Knight named Howard Colvin.
* HappilyAdopted: From the end of season 4 onwards.
* HeelFaceTurn: When we see him in season 5 Namond has turned his life around and become a good student, winning an urban debate championship.
* HiddenDepths: Colvin notices an intellectual potential below his obnoxiousnesses and overcompensation.
* HistoryRepeats: He comes from a family noted for their connection with the drug trade and it's assumed that he will take up that mantle as well despite having no heart for the game. Sounds like D'Angelo, but he gets a rare happy ending because Wee-Bey realizes the drug trade isn't right for him and allows Namond to be adopted by Colvin instead.
** [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Alternatively]], Namond is a clever opportunist who says that "I'll take any motherfucker's money if he's giving it away" and shows an interest in politics. He could wind up as the next Clay Davis.
* IAmNotMyFather
* {{Jerkass}}
* JerkassFacade: He acts tough due to feeling pressured to live up to the reputation of his father Wee-Bey.
* SignificantHaircut: He is enormously fond of his huge, frizzy ponytail, but is repeatedly encouraged to cut it because it will make him easily identifiable to the police. He tries to make himself do it but ultimately can't, choosing instead to restyle it into cornrows. After being adopted by Colvin, he returns to the frizzy ponytail style.
* TheScrappy: Arguably he is this InUniverse. He's kind of TheLoad of the Barksdale organization; he's not a very good dealer, but Wee-Bey's influence is still strong enough to see him taken care of by Bodie, and his friends put up with him partly (if not entirely) because he seems well off in comparison.
!Michael Lee
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/michaellee_5189.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"Everything so serious now."'' ]]
->'''Played by''': Tristan Wilds
-->''Yo look, I'm not tryin' stand around and let some chump ass niggas think I'm shook, I ain't.''
Another eighth-grade student. Friends with Dukie, Randy, and Namond. Deeply introverted, he lives with his junkie mother and little brother, who he has to take care of because his mother isn't up to the task. Shortly into season 4 his stepfather gets out of prison and moves back in, and it is strongly implied that his stepfather sexually abused Michael when he was younger.
Michael starts boxing in Cutty's gym where he shows promise, but he is uncomfortable being the target of Cutty's fatherly attentions. It's not long before he starts dealing and focuses less on boxing. Increasingly fearful that his stepfather will abuse his brother Bug the same way he did Michael, Michael contacts Chris Partlow and asks Partlow to kill the stepfather for him. Partlow agrees, on the condition that Michael begin working for the Stanfield gang. Michael agrees, and is taken under the wings of Chris and Snoop, who train him to be a soldier.
Michael works for Marlo as both muscle and the head of his own corner in large part so he can take care of his brother and Dukie. He soon finds himself feeling out of place, as he frequently questions the necessity of the many murders that Marlo orders and finds the street life undermining his attempts to look after Bug and Dukie. When Marlo is arrested Michael's frequent questioning of his boss places him under suspicion of having talked to the police, and Snoop is sent to assassinate him. He recognizes what's going on and kills her first. He is last seen on the run from Marlo's people, having been forced to split from Dukie and his brother permanently, and become a stick-up boy like Omar.
* {{Badass}}: A middle school student who stares down ''Marlo Stanfield''. Marlo is suitably impressed and starts looking to recruit Michael afterward.
* BewareTheNiceOnes
* ChekhovsSkill
* CombatPragmatist
* HatesBeingTouched: A consequence of having been molested by his step-father.
* HistoryRepeats: Becomes a stick up man like Omar. In fact, the last thing we see him do is shoot someone in the knee during a robbery, just like we saw Omar do during Omar's first robbery in Season 1.
* [[IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy I Just Want My Brother To Be Happy]]: After the Stanfield Organization turns on him, he sends his brother Bug off to their aunt along with all the money he has, (with the promise of more to come) so that Bug will be safe and away from the game.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope
* KickTheDog: Kenard may be a little shit, but seeing Michael pound on a kid half his size over and over again is still disturbing.
* NervesOfSteel: Despite the many stressful situations he's put under he only shows fear once in the series, when Omar visits his corner for a friendly chat at gunpoint. (He is nervous that Omar will recognize him from being part of a Stanfield ambush and likely is also fearful about forced into close contact with a Gayngster due to his childhood molestation.) Still doesn't break, though.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: On Kenard, when Namond catches Kenard trying to steal Namond's drug package. Namond is so disturbed by the sight that he refuses to take the package from an unconscious Kenard afterward.
* PetTheDog: Diligently takes care of his little brother and Dukie, and he stands up for Randy when a couple of kids accuse Randy of being a snitch.
* PromotionToParent
* StaringDownCthulhu: Stares down Marlo in one of his earliest scenes.
* TheStoic
* UnwinnableTrainingSimulation: Part of his training is facing off with experienced professional killer Chris and Snoop with realistic paintball guns. Despite his complete lack of experience at that point, he wins anyway.
* YoungGun
!Kenard
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kenard_3013.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"Ain't no school can hold me if I wanna leave."'']]
->'''Played by''': Thuliso Dingwall
--> ''It's my turn to be Omar!''
Very young "friend" of Namond Brice. Torments Dukie every chance he gets. He joins the Stanfield Organization as a dealer in Season 5, and goes on to assassinate Omar Little. Last seen in the final montage of the series being arrested by the police, presumably for Omar's murder.
* BoisterousWeakling: Talks a lot of shit and has a lot of attitude, but whenever the show sets him up for a fistfight, he either gets his ass kicked or needs someone else to step in for him. Of course, size doesn't matter if he has a gun in his hand...
* BrattyHalfPint: Rare ''genuinely evil'' variant.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Albeit unintentionally - the actor who plays Kenard, Thuliso Dingwall, first appears as one of the children re-enacting the shootout outside the Barksdale stash house in season 3.
* EnfantTerrible
* HistoryRepeats: He shows the text-book signs of being a sociopath. Has dreams of becoming a great street legend like Omar. Sounds like Marlo Stanfield, who himself, is a sociopath that had dreams of becoming a street legend and saw his chance to act on it, after the Barksdale crew was brought down. Kenard saw his chance by killing Omar Little, knowing the Stanfield crew was looking for him. However, it's unknown if he was arrested for Omar's murder, or if he'll get charged as an adult if he was. Given that he's very young, there's a chance he might just get sent to a behavior correctional center, which in a way is a KarmaHoudini example, just like Marlo.
* {{Jerkass}}: An irredeemable little shit who deserves every beating he takes.
* KidsAreCruel: His treatment of Dukie, not to mention a scene where he is [[MoralEventHorizon dousing a cat with lighter fluid]] until Omar passing by distracts him and allows the cat to get away.
* SirSwearsALot
* TheSociopath: Strongly hinted to be one.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: The Courthouse]]
-->''"I wouldn't wipe my ass with a Baltimore lawyer."''
-->--'''[=McNulty=]'''
Once the cases the BPD brings in go to trial, they are in the capable - or not as the case may be - hands of the Baltimore City legal profession. The show focuses mainly on the State's Attorney's office in Baltimore, and their stable of prosecutors and grand jurors, as well as Judge Phelan, an old friend of [=McNulty's=] whose complaints to Burrell start the investigation into the Barksdale Organization in season 1. The prosecutors at the courthouse are generally portrayed as quite morally upstanding, especially for Baltimore, but sadly the same cannot be said of drug lawyer Maurice Levy, who commits violation after violation of just about every rule of lawyers' professional ethics.
!Rhonda "Ronnie" Pearlman
->'''Played by''': Deidre Lovejoy
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rhondapearlman_9022.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"The front office is going to go ''batshit''!"'']]
-->''Your client walks away now, or the both of you don't walk at all.''
Assistant State's Attorney. She handles the cases brought in by Daniels' department. Rhonda tries to walk a fine line between bringing in quality casework and protecting/advancing her own career, and a few times gets blindsided by Lester (and his tendency to issue subpoenas against politically connected individuals, like her boss) and Jimmy (who browbeats Maurice Levy in defiance of the professional deference that Rhonda wishes to show him). She had an affair with [=McNulty=], which is part of what caused his marriage to end, though by the start of the series, the romance has cooled off. Later in the series, she starts a relationship with Cedric Daniels after he and his wife separate; the romance is still ongoing as of the series finale, in which Rhonda avoids being scapegoated for [=McNulty's=] plot and becomes a judge.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Averted for the most part, although [=McNulty=] confronts her about the implications of her ambitions when she points out that pushing too hard against Levy would mean antagonizing the whole profession, a terrible thing for her career.
-->'''Jimmy:''' If only half you motherfuckers at the district attorney's office didn't want to be judges, didn't want to be partners in some downtown law firm... If half of you had the fucking balls to follow through, you know what would happen? A guy like that would be indicted, tried and convicted. And the rest of 'em would back up enough, so we could push a clean case or two through your courthouse. But no, everybody stays friends. Everybody gets paid. And everybody's got a fucking future.
* HelloAttorney
* HeroesWantRedheads: [=McNulty=], Daniels and Judge Phelan all certainly do.
* IronLady: A firm and unwavering attorney who often takes difficulties in stride or talks down allies and foes alike.
* MatzoFever: Provokes this reaction frequently, though her Jewishness is never especially emphasized.
* ScrewTheRulesIMBeautiful[=/=]ShowSomeLeg: She uses Judge Phelan's attraction to her to get favorable rulings out of him in a few cases with weak probable causes.
-->'''Daniels:''' Quite the legal mind
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan
* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: She and Daniels must initially keep their relationship a secret because it becoming known that Daniels was divorcing his wife Marla and dating a white woman instead would harm Marla's political career.
* WorkingWithTheEx: She and [=McNulty=] are carrying on a discontinuos affair at the start of the show, which causes some awkwardness later in their professional relationship.
!Daniel Phelan
->'''Played by''': Peter Gerety
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/judgephelan_6917.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"See you at sentencing."'']]
-->''Mr. Hilton, are you the second coming of our savior?.''
The judge who presides over D'Angelo Barksdale murder case. After a witness changes her statement, leading to a non-guilty verdict, Phelan summons [=McNulty=] to enquire about it, only to discover the Barksdales are not being investigated at all. The judge takes this very seriously and makes it a priority, opening a can of worms as the police chiefs are clueless. Grudgingly, the Major Crimes detail ensues to appease him and the media.
* BigGood: He kickstarts the Barksdale case (flying under the radar until then) and by extension the Major Crimes detail (the series itself). Despite he is not above political maneuvering, he is the man to go when the chain of command is locked or obstructive and takes personal offense when criminals get away.
* ChivalrousPervert: His attraction towards Pearlman is both notorious and exploited.
* DeadpanSnarker: If you are a murderer seeking parole, His Honor [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_zJDJGJ82M will ask]] (and get you off the hook) if you are the SecondComing of Jesus.
* GrammarNazi: Justifiably so. Jimmy knows no better than to present an official affidavit full of mistakes.
* HangingJudge: He does ''not'' like the drug trade or its dealers one bit. Notable at the end of Bird's trial, where he brushes right over Maurice Levy's (truthful) assertions that the state's key witness (Omar) has perjured himself. Admittedly, Bird ''did'' do the crime.
* HistoryRepeats: Shown heeding Sydnor's lamentations in the finale, like he used to do with [=McNulty=]'s.
* TheJudge
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Almost always willing to help the police and to prosecute the drug dealers, shaming the obstructive chiefs if necessary.
* SlaveToPR[=/=]NotSoAboveItAll: He invokes the PR angle by leaking murder details to the media in order to put pressure on the police. In turn, his big good crusader status takes a dent when he panicks after being excluded from the electoral ticket, coming across as another self-serving bigwig to [=McNulty=]. The judge continues to be a very possitive character after his re-election, however.
* ToxicFriendInfluence: He's a supportive old friend of Jimmy's, but his demands for actual police work and leaks of insider information to the press practically kill [=McNulty=]'s career, if it existed. The support wanes in the middle of his re-election bid, but they eventually reconcile.
!Maurice Levy
->'''Played by''': Michael Kostroff
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mauricelevy_5385.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"You don't say anything, you don't do anything, you don't write anything!"'']]
-->'''Maurice Levy:''' ''You are amoral, are you not? You are feeding off the violence and the despair of the drug trade. You are stealing from those who themselves are stealing the lifeblood from our city. You are a parasite who leeches off...''\\
'''Omar Little:''' ''Just like you, man.''\\
'''Maurice Levy:''' ''...the culture of drugs. Excuse me? What?''\\
'''Omar Little:''' ''I've got the shotgun, you've got the briefcase. It's all in the game though.''
Drug lawyer for the Barksdale organization, and later, Marlo Stanfield. Very good at his job, getting cases scuttled and sentences reduced for his clients. Based on several real life Baltimore drug lawyers who happen to be jewish. David Simon, jew himself, remarked he was not willing to pull a punch just to avoid a stereotype.
* AmoralAttorney: An unapologetic drug-lawyer who also doubles as counselor to his criminal clients outside of the court and the interrogation rooms.
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: He knows his trade very well, is very experienced and quickly recognizes threats or tricks aimed at his clients.
* EvilGenius: Functions as this for the Barksdale and Stanfield crews, helping them set up fronts and side businesses to hide their activities from the police and evade prosecution.
* GreedyJew: At one point he gleefully remarks that he likes seeing his clients busted by the cops, because it means more billable hours for him.
* KarmaHoudini: Although thanks to Freamon's work Pearlman does hold a sword over his head in the form of evidence with which she can charge him with grand jury tampering.
* OnlyInItForTheMoney
* PsychoticSmirk
* SmugSnake
* SpottingTheThread: He realizes there is something fishy in the Stanfield case.
* YiddishAsASecondLanguage
!Ilene Nathan
Head of the violent crimes unit, tasked with prosecuting homicides in Baltimore, later promoted to Assistant State's Attorney.
* GetOutOfJailFreeCard: Provides Mr. Little with one after he testifies against Bird. Nathan has him transferred to a safer prison when Omar uses the card after he's framed.
* IronLady: Firm and tough.
!Rupert Bond
->'''Played by''': Dion Graham.
Candidate running for the office of Maryland State's Attorney.
* GlorySeeker: Combined with other factors, his decision to keep the Davis case in the local court in order to achieve a high profile conviction eventually sinks the case thanks to a [[CommonNonsenseJury gullible jury]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder: City Hall]]
-->''"Money launderin'!? They gonna come talk to me about Money launderin'!? In West Baltimore?! Sheeeeit, where do you think I'm gonna raise cash for the whole damn ticket!? From laundromats and shit!? From some tiny-ass Korean groceries?! You think I got time to ask a man why he given me money or where he gets his money from?! I'll take any motherfucker's money if he's givin' it away!"''
-->--'''Maryland State Senator Clayton Davis'''
At the root of why nothing can ever get done in Baltimore, and, by extension, America, City Hall tells the story of Baltimore's political leaders and their Byzantine efforts at backstabbing and career advancement. City Hall is explored through the eyes of Democratic Councilman Tommy Carcetti, who achieves a feat most of the Democratic Party think impossible by winning election as the white mayor of a majority black city. Despite his initial idealism, he is unable to leverage his electoral success into political success, being forced to back up on his promises for the sake of his career. The City Hall storyline is an examination of the corruption at the heart of Baltimore political system and how internal reformers are either forced into resignation, acquiescence, or corruption.
!R. Clayton "Clay" Davis
->'''Played by''': Isaiah Whitlock Jr.
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/claydavis_3096.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Sheeeeeeeit"'']]
-->''Fool, what do you think? That we know anything about who gives money? That we give a damn about who they are or what they want? We have no way of running down them or their stories. We don't care. We just cash the damn cheques, count the votes and move on.''
Maryland state senator. Corrupt doesn't begin to describe him. He takes bribes from many sources, including the Barksdale organization under Stringer Bell, and does patronage and fundraising in return, when he doesn't simply fleece them. Two simultaneous investigations, one by the Major Crimes department of the Baltimore Police, the other by the FBI, are focused on him. Neither succeeds in bringing him down.
* AffablyEvil
* {{Catch Phrase}}: "Sheeeeeeeeiiiiiiit."
* ChewbaccaDefense
* ConMan: In all but name. A real shakedown artist.
-->'''Norman:''' He's slick, apologizes for the short con and in the next breath setting us up for the long.
* CorruptPolitician: "Corrupt" doesn't begin to describe him.
* EverythingIsRacist: Spins the investigation into his corruption into an inspiring narrative of his own victimization at the hands of villainous whiteys and Uncle Toms in the State's Attorney's office. Depressingly, it works.
-->'''Gus Haynes''': 45 inches of Clay Davis playing not just the race card but the whole deck, coming at ya.
* KarmaHoudini
* ManipulativeBastard: When he is put on in Season 5, he easily charms the Baltimore jury into believing that his theft of money from his charity organizations was for a good cause, and is acquitted.
* PlayingTheVictimCard: In the stairs of the courtroom and then inside of it. He portrays himself as a man of the people who is the victim of a greek tragedy.
* {{Rainmaking}}
* SleazyPolitician: In addition to his criminality, he's pretty scummy in his personal life as well.
* SlimeBall: An amalgamation of everything that's wrong inside the political machine.
* SmugSnake
* VerbalTic: Addressing his victims as "partner". An intentional, reassuring pet word.
* VillainousBreakdown: Delivers angry rants to his political cronies whenever he's under scrutiny. He loses it during Carcetti's term when he begins to realize he's sinking with no rope or allies in reach, but he quickly pulls himself together to present his usual slimy public persona.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: So good that it helps him get acquitted of fraud charges.
!Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti
->'''Played by''': Aidan Gillen
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tommycarcetti_3234.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I wake up white, in a city that ain't."'']]
-->''Yummy, my first bowl of shit.''
City Councilman. He dreams of supplanting the current mayor, Royce, and cleaning up Baltimore. He gets his chance with the rise in violent crime, and when a key witness is killed due to the lack of proper witness protection. When Hamsterdam is exposed, he starts campaigning in earnest, pulling off an upset and becoming mayor. Once in office, with his advisors Norman and Steintorf, he seeks out people he can trust within city government, particularly the police force. Promising a reduction in crime, he is undermined by the revelation that financial legerdemain had been used to to hide a massive deficit in the school budget. Deciding not to seek the Maryland governor's help in bailing out the schools, he takes the money from the police force instead. He is unable to fulfill most of the promises he made to his allies and constituents, but manages to get elected governor by attacking his Republican opponent's positions on homeless and the poor, which works as a high-profile issue due to [=McNulty=]'s fake serial killer.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Played with. When forced to choose between helping the city he was elected to save and his own political ambitions, he chooses the latter, by deciding not to take money to cover the city's budget deficit from the state because doing so will hurt his chances of being elected governor. However, the series makes the argument that it is the [[InherentInTheSystem political system which corrupts politicians]] rather than the other way around.
* BeleagueredBureaucrat: For a while and also a consequence of his own ambition; he has good intentions but not the political clout or the funds to implement them.
** ObstructiveBureaucrat: He increasingly become something of this status as the show went on.
* BigGood: At first he's set up as possibly being this, but it's ultimately subverted.
* CorruptTheCutie: Starts out as something of an idealist, but is fast sucked into the dirty world of politics.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: In the end of the third episode in which he appears Carcetti committs adultery with an unnamed woman he meets at a political event, staring at himself in the mirror as he does so. Though it seems at the time to be a throwaway scene, it actually serves to highlight Carcetti's narcissism and willingness to break promises for personal gain, both character traits which play a role in his later tenure as mayor. The scene actually receives a CallBack in season five, when Carcetti watches news coverage of himself making a grandstanding political speech with a similarly rapturous expression on his face.
* FaceHeelTurn: Mildly and realistically so. He doesn't so much go from good to evil as go from an [[CorruptTheCutie idealistic crusader]] to just another self-interested politician.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: He bears some resemblances to real-life former Baltimore mayor Martin O'Malley, though Simon has said the character was based on a number of Baltimore politicians, most of whom are too obscure to be recognizable to viewers.
* PetTheDog: On an epic scale during his Baltimore cleaning spree.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: At first.
* RousingSpeech: He gives a few of them, usually of the self-serving variety.
* SirSwearsalot: While everyone except Omar swears a lot in this show, Tommy is particularly foul-mouthed.
* SleazyPolitician: Eventually turns into one.
* TookALevelInJerkass: He becomes more and more of a {{Jerkass}} as the stress of campaigning and then running the city wears on him.
!Clarence Royce
->'''Played by''': Glynn Turman
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clarence_royce_6732.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Nobody here wants to do a real job."'']]
--> ''Next year? For some things, that's a long time to wait.''
Deeply corrupt mayor of Baltimore. His administration has seen a dramatic rise in violent crime, which he seeks to patch over as best he can. Major Colvin's experiment in establishing drug-free zones causes crime to drop, and he makes the mistake of delaying action in bringing them to an end. When exposed, Carcetti campaigns against him for allowing them, and beats him in the mayoral election.
* CulturalPosturing: During the Democratic primary campaign against the white Carcetti his staff prints up posters using African colors in an effort to appeal to racial solidarity.
* GracefulLoser: After losing the primaries, Royce invites Carcetti to the office, has a friendly chat with him and makes him try the mayoral chair.
* InterruptedIntimacy: His affair with an assistant is witnessed by Herc.
* MayorPain: Subverted; at first he's presented as too venal and incompetent to do anything about Baltimore's problems but Carcetti's arc reveals that it's the system rather than the person at the top of it that's most responsible for the city's plight.
* SlaveToPR: His reaction to Hamsterdam comes off as self-serving [[PetTheDog but somewhat redeeming]], but once it is exposed on television and becomes a major [=PR=] disaster he quickly shuts it down.
* SleazyPolitician: Not nearly as bad as [[CorruptPolitician Clay Davis]], but still pretty unethical.
!Norman Wilson
->'''Played by''': Reg E. Cathey
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/normanwilson_1435.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I wish I was still at the newspaper so I could write on this bullshit."'']]
-->''Everybody's gettin' what they need behind some make believe.''
Tommy Carcetti's deputy campaign manager, and later, his right hand man. He is brutally honest, keeping Carcetti in line and his feet on the ground.
* [[invoked]] ActuallyPrettyFunny: Laughs his ass off when the true nature of the serial killer is exposed, despite Carcetti calling up DudeNotFunny!
* BrutalHonesty: Speaks his mind quite freely.
* TheConsigliere
* CynicalMentor: Shows Carcetti the ropes in a very realistic, almost jaded way.
* DeadpanSnarker
* HonestAdvisor: To Carcetti. Norman has no problem criticizing the mayor.
-->'''Carcetti:''' Say it, Norman, you're thinking it. Truth to power, Norman. Isn't that what I keep you around for?
* IntrepidReporter: His backstory. He laments he can't publish the sordid but juicy stuff that he experiences as a City Hall insider.
* KnightInSourArmor: Becomes disillusioned by Carcetti putting his ambitions ahead of the city, but keeps working for him to speak truth to power and to do what he can to make sure he fulfills his campaign promises.
* ServileSnarker
!Nerese Campbell
->'''Played by''': Marlene Afflack
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/neresecampbel1l_7830.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"It was supposed to be my turn!"'']]
-->''Clay, it is what it is.''
President of the Baltimore City Council. When Carcetti is elected mayor, she is immediately hostile to him because she was understood to be next in line after Royce. He proves to be pliable, and she comes around to pulling strings for him, though she scuttles many of his planned projects. She is elected mayor after Carcetti.
* {{Blackmail}}: Burrell hands over the dossier on Daniels to her, a card she uses to coerce the Commissioner.
* ChangingOfTheGuard: She finally succeeds Royce when Carcetti becomes governor.
* {{Foil}}: As the last surviving councelor from Royce's administration, her role is to be the opposition leader during Carcetti's term.
* InformedAttractiveness: "Council President's hot as balls!"
* KarmaHoudini: Another schemer who doesn't get any major comeuppance.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Based on the very shady Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon, city council president when O'Malley moved to Maryland.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat
* PassedOverPromotion[=/=]PassedOverInheritance: She is not happy about Carcetti's rising, as it was assumed she would be Royce's heir apparent.
* SleazyPolitician: Another morally flexible politician, very good at intrigue.
!Michael Steintorf
->'''Played by:''' Neal Huff
-->''Kids don't vote.''
Mayor Carcetti's chief of staff. A realist, he lets Carcetti know that many of his plans are infeasible. Later, he pressures Daniels to alter crime statistics.
* TheConsigliere: A less principled and more Machiavellian version of Normal Wilson.
* GenreSavvy: Immediately recognizes that Rawls has political leverage, and consequently cuts a deal with him to protect the mayor.
* TheManBehindTheMan: Regularly behind the scenes making deals or implementing shady policies to protect and insulate the mayor.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Reintroduces the infamous stats game in the fight against crime.
!Andy Krawczyk
->'''Played by:''' Michael Willis
-->'''Rawls:''' Mayor's office already called twice, worried sick about the man. That's a whole lotta campaign contributions sitting on the back of that ambo.
President of the Baltimore City School Board, property developer and political fund raiser, implied to be corrupt. Consultant to Stringer Bell.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Not portrayed openly corrupt à la Clay Davis, but his familiarity with the political machine all but states it.
* TheRival: To the stevedores, as his grain pier condominium project competes against the remodelation of the docks.
* SuspectIsHatless: Helps the police with a gloriously useless definition of Omar.
-->I told you I saw only the one. I know he was black. Big, I thought. With a large weapon
!Odell Watkins
State Delegate. A longtime major Baltimore political figure and and a member of the influential State Appropriations Committee, he's a moral voice of authority within Baltimore politicians as he has full support of the religious leaders, looks to address the concerns of the citizens in a decent way and is most critical of politicial corruption. Wheelchair user.
* TheConscience: Tries to keep the Royce administration morally balanced.
* TheFettered: One of the more principled members of Royce's camp.
* KingmakerScenario: Thanks to his influence and resources, any candidate who gets his endorsement receives more than a big boost in a close race.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: One of the few public figures who genuinely cares about and works for his constituents. A true leader of the community who provides actual help to Colvin and Cutty.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: The Homeless]]
-->'''Bodie''': ''"He's a drug addict man!"''
-->'''D'Angelo''': ''"And you're a goddamn drug dealer."''
-->'''Bodie''': ''"So? So, what, the customer is always right?"''
The drug trade would, of course, be nothing without the people who actually buy drugs. The various homeless characters of ''The Wire'' are the show's way of exploring these often-ignored individuals. The main homeless character is Bubbles, a drug addict who, whilst prepared to go pretty damn low for his fix, is nevertheless one of the more human and morally upright characters on the show. The show charts his struggles with addiction and the world around him, especially the desperation and fear of the day-to-day life of one of the War on Drugs' refugees.
!Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins
->'''Played by''': Andre Royo
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reginaldbubbles_2640.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"You equivocating like a motherfucker!"'']]
--> ''How y'all do what y'all do every day and not wanna get high?''
A homeless heroin addict. He mentors Johnny Weeks from seasons 1-3, and Sherrod in season 4, teaching them the life of scheming and scrounging that's necessary to support a life on the streets. When Weeks is attacked by members of the Barksdale crew, Bubbles renews his duties a police informant, providing critical information to Greggs and [=McNulty=]. In season 4, Bubbs is repeatedly beaten and robbed by another drug addict, but as :Kima and [=McNulty=] are no longer working drugs, Bubbs must settle for snitching for the considerably less reliable Herc, who twice fails to come to Bubbles's aid. Bubbles pays Herc back for his incompetence by feeding him bad information that gets him in some trouble with his superiors, but his plan for dealing with the robber backfires, resulting in Sherrod's death. He attempts to turn himself in, and attempts suicide, but is the recipient of an uncharacteristic bit of mercy from Jay Landsman.
By the fifth season, he has moved into his sister's basement, weaned himself off drugs, gotten a job selling papers, and begun attending Narcotics Anonymous. In the final montage of the series, he is finally allowed up into the house to have dinner with his family.
* AntiHero: Of the original, hero without heroic characteristics type.
* BlueOni: To Johnny Weeks', and later Sherrod's, RedOni. It keeps him alive while both of them end up dead.
* ButtMonkey: Played for drama.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Over the course of the series he endures as much hardship as any other character, and he's one of only a few "street" characters who doesn't die, go to prison, or appear to be headed for one of those two fates in the end.
* GuileHero: He manages to inform on various drug dealers for the better part of five seasons without ever being suspected of being a snitch, mostly because he's very clever in his information-gathering.
* TheInformant: Partially earns his living working as one for the [=BPD=].
* InterruptedSuicide: After Sherrod's death.
* TheMentor: Does his best to school his green protégés.
* MobileKiosk: Starts telling t-shirts and other items from a shopping cart to support himself in season 3.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After Sherrod takes the "hot shot" Bubbles had prepared for his tormentor and dies.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: His real name is revealed only through incidental references to legal documents and the like; he's almost always called "Bubbles" or "Bubbs" in conversation.
* ThePunishmentIsTheCrime: The reason Landsman drops his prosecution. Bubbles has to live with the guilt over Sherrod's death, but eventually he overcomes the grief and is able to move on.
* StreetSmart
* ThoseTwoGuys: With Johnny Weeks.
* TraumaCongaLine: Until his happy ending.
* TropaholicsAnonymous: Bubbles drifts in and out of various recovery programs and addiction support groups until he finally sobers up for good in season 5.
!Johnny Weeks
->'''Played by''': Leo Fitzpatrick
--> ''I'm brown.''
A homeless addict, taken under the wing of Bubbles. A counterfeiting operation brings down the wrath of Bodie and Poot, leaving him in the hospital, where he learns he has HIV. Bubbles' informing the police produces a rift between the two, and Weeks leaves and goes to Hamsterdam. He is found dead by overdose some time later.
* BusCrash: Dies off-screen.
* ConMan: Participates in several with Bubbles. But he's much less successful when he tries to run them on his own.
* {{Expy}}: Johnny is an extension of Leo Fitzpatrick's character from ''Film/{{Kids}}''.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Suffers one after he gets caught trying to scam the Barksdale crew in the Pit.
* NothingPersonal: His attitude about getting beat by Bodie and company. He's shocked and even somewhat disturbed when Bubbles reveals that he has been informing on the Barksdales in revenge for Johnny's beating.
* RedOni: Unlike Bubbles, who is [[BlueOni more restrained and cautious in his drug use]], he uses impulsively and recklessly. It leads to his death by overdose.
* WhiteGangbangers: Comes off as one at times.
!Sherrod
-> '''Played by''': Rashad Orange
A young dealer who is taken in by Bubbles. Bubbles tries to get him to go back to school, but Sherrod does not, and starts using. When they are attacked by another junkie, Bubbles puts poison in a dose of heroin, in the hopes that the junkie would rob them, use, and die. Sherrod takes the dose by accident.
* SacrificialLion
[[/folder]]
[[folder: The Baltimore Sun]]
-->''"...as I look back over a misspent life, I find myself more and more convinced that I had more fun doing news reporting than in any other enterprise. It is really the life of kings."''
-->--'''HLMencken'''
''[[http://www.baltimoresun.com/ The Baltimore Sun]]'' is Baltimore's local broadsheet and newspaper of record. However, like most of the institutions of ''The Wire'', it has fallen on hard times of late, losing money at a prodigious rate and suffering from a staff brain drain, as ambitious reporters use it as a springboard for careers with the ''New York Times'' or ''Washington Post''. In addition, it is now run by an unnamed company from Chicago, who are less interested in local journalism than they are with doing gltizy "state of the nation" feature pieces with one eye on a Pulitzer Prize. The ''Sun'' storyline is largely used as a vehicle for David Simon to reflect on journalism, contrasting his own no-nonsense, context-rich style in the form of Gus Haynes with the more essay-like, narrow-focused journalism of the ''Sun'''s owners. [[{{Anvilicious}} It's fairly obvious which one he prefers.]]
!Augustus "Gus" Haynes
->'''Played by''': Clark Johnson
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gushaynes_2700.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[PunctuatedForEmphasis We! Cannot! Run! This! Shit!]]"'' ]]
-->''Our job is to report the news, not to manufacture it.''
Editor for The Baltimore Sun, who does his best to keep the paper alive and relevant during bad times for the industry.
* AuthorAvatar: Runs into many of the same problems David Simon dealt with during his time at the Sun.
* DaEditor
* DramaticIrony: After [=McNulty=] gives credibility to the first phone call by the "serial killer", completely made up by Templeton.
-->Well, 10 minutes ago I'd' have said this whole thing was complete bullshit. Shows what I know, I guess.
* TheFettered: A principled editor.
* GenreSavvy: Zigzagged. He knows his trade and knows about many cases of fabricated stories, but Gus doesn't anticipate the higher-ups would sweep the truth under the rug.
* HumbleHero: He's content with reporting the local news with integrity and has no ambition or desire for a higher, flashy profile.
* TheLastDJ: Alongside a few other colleagues from the paper, he's a member of the old guard that is bent on maintaining its integrity.
* ReassignedToAntarctica: His fate after the higher-ups side with Templeton's sensationalized drama pieces.
!Alma Gutierrez
->'''Played by''': Michelle Paress
-->''Evacuate?''
A young Hispanic reporter who has the bad luck to come onto The Baltimore Sun as it is downsizing.
* AmbitionIsEvil: averted; she's ambitious but principled.
* BreakTheCutie
* IntrepidReporter
* ReassignedToAntarctica
* TokenMinority: Baltimore has a sizeable Hispanic population, yet Alma and Omar's boyfriend Renaldo are the only two Hispanics on the series.
* WideEyedIdealist
!Scott Templeton
->'''Played by''': Thomas [=McCarthy=]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/scotttempleton_202.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Fuck you Gus!"'']]
-->''Every last word is in my notes!''
A young reporter who falsifies his stories. He is roped into the fake serial killer story, and ends up winning a Pulitzer while his more scrupulous colleagues are demoted.
* AmbitionIsEvil: An unprincipled careerist.
* ConsummateLiar
* KarmaHoudini: Arguably the worst in the series, as his unethical practices win him a Pulitzer Prize.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed[=/=]CompositeCharacter: Based on Jim Haner, David Simon's co-worker in the Sun who invented quotes and events without punishment from his editors. Templeton shares traits with other fabulists such as Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair and Jack Kelley, who are all name-checked by Haynes when he's trying to convince the editors of Templeton's guilt. His status as a Pulitzer winner who fabricated his story has shades of Janet Cooke too, although she was caught. He also has shades of Walter Duranty, one of the most abhorrent journalistic fabricators, who won a Pulitzer Prize despite regurgitating Stalinist propaganda about how there was totally no famine in Ukraine. Nope. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor None at all.]]
* NotSoDifferent: [=McNulty's=] self-loathing comes to a head when he compares himself to Templeton.
* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: He starts out as just another writer trying to get by, until he's driven by a combination of frustration (due to the mounting pressure from the paper for big stories) and fear (the paper keeps downsizing and Scott doesn't have the work history to get hired by a bigger name paper) to start fabricating stories. Eventually hits it big by pretending to witness a kidnapping attempt by [=McNulty=]'s nonexistent serial killer.
* ProtectionFromEditors: In-universe, his stories are too flashy and profitable to be hampered by the guardians of the truth.
* SmugSnake
* TheUnfettered
!Michael "Fletch" Fletcher
->'''Played by''': Brandon Young
A general assignments reporter at the Sun who writes a character piece on Bubbles. He enjoys a promotion to senior line editor when Gus is demoted at the end of the series.
* BrilliantButLazy / TheSlacker: on the one hand, he's a talented writer; on the other, he repeatedly fails to meet deadlines.
* CharacterAsHimself
* ChangingOfTheGuard: his piece on Bubbles is topical and true-to-life, and he might well be the next Haynes.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: his promotion at the end. This plot development is significant in the larger context of the series: the point of season 5 was to demonstrate that the newspapers miss the important stories of the city, but the quality and depth of Fletcher's article (and its warm reception) shows that the situation with the press isn't hopeless.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Other Characters]]
!Terrance "Fitz" Fitzhugh
->'''Played by''': Doug Olear
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/agentfitz_4167.jpg]]
-->''[[FBIAgent We]] may be assholes, but on the upside, there's an awful lot of us.''
A special agent with the FBI, friend and major ally of Jimmy [=McNulty=]. He inspires [=McNulty=] to use modern electronic surveillance against the Barksdale organization by showing live surveillance during the bust of a drug production ring. He tells Jimmy it would be the last major bureau drug investigation in Baltimore because they are shifting resources to counter-terrorism.
* ButtMonkey: His lack of familiarity about how two cars should be placed during an unofficial meeting in the middle of nowhere - with adjacent driver's windows - is turned into a RunningGag at his expense by Jimmy and Lester, who joins in the joke eventually.
* CowboyCop: His extracurricular, personal assistance is not sanctioned or known by the bosses most of the time. In season 3, he expedites a wiretap by registering Stringer Bell as a homeland security threat named "Ahmed".
* FBIAgent: FBI agent working from the Baltimore field office.
* FriendOnTheForce: Jimmy usually goes to him for assistance because the overwhelming resources and prowess of the Bureau make him a real law enforcer working for a real agency, unlike the guys from the Baltimore Police Department.
* KnightInSourArmor: He's not very happy with the TheWarOnTerror monopolizing the resources of the FBI and is bitter about it. Still finds the time and need to help [=McNulty=] with the so called war on drugs.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Regularly goes out of his way to help the struggling BPD. He even apologizes to Daniels as he reveals that a greater success in the Sobotka case was prevented by [[TheMole a mole inside the FBI]], and later makes up for it.
!The Deacon
->'''Played by''': Melvin Williams
A well connected West Side church figure involved in many community projects.
->''A good church man is always up in everybody's shit. It's how we do.''
* TheConscience: Gives Colvin a WhatTheHellHero because Hamsterdam has been conceived as a wild zone that needs some regulation, safety messures and social assistance.
* MetaCasting: Melvin Williams, a former gangster arrested by Ed Burns, is one of the inspirations of Avon Barksdale.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: A pillar of the community.
!Ricardo "Fat-Face Rick" Hendrix
->''Shit, nigga, we was good when your uncle had it. You had to go ahead and put up with Marlo...''
Drug lord from Veronica Avenue, on the East Side of Baltimore. Founding member of the New Day Co-Op, he becomes a co-representative in the finale.
* CigarChomper: Usually seen smoking a cigar.
* GenreSavvy: He's not fooled by Marlo's lies about Omar killing Joe and Hungry Man, obviously aware that's not Omar's style.
* RealEstateScam: Makes the local news when it's exposed that the city council is going to relocate him to redevelop the land where his club stands. He's being offered more than what his club is worth and a better council owned property elsewhere, so he will net a million dollars for moving. Not by coincidence, Rick has a history of campaign donations.
[[/folder]]
