Line #120 Characters/BoardwalkEmpireTheCommodoresCircle


1	[[Characters/BoardwalkEmpire Return to Boardwalk Empire Characters]]
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3
4	[[foldercontrol]]
5	!The Commodore's House
6
7	[[folder:Louis Kaestner a.k.a. The Commodore]]
8	!!Louis "Lou" Kaestner a.k.a. "The Commodore"
9	->'''Played By:''' Creator/DabneyColeman & Creator/JohnEllisonConlee
10	[[quoteright:288:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/commodore-coleman_7925.jpg]]
11	[[caption-width-right:288:''"Look around, boy. I didn't get any of this by being stupid."'']]
12	Nucky's mentor and predecessor as city boss before being imprisoned as part of a PR campaign by UsefulNotes/WoodrowWilson in the 1910s. He is the victim of a poisoning attempt during the first season and breaks with Nucky after he refuses to take action against the person responsible, deciding to take Atlantic City back for himself. He is also Jimmy's father.
13	----
14
15	* BrokenPedestal: For Nucky, after the Commodore returns to the power plays.
16	* TheChessmaster: Even after thoroughly mentoring Nucky in the essentials for becoming a highly successful power broker in his own right, he still manages to catch his onetime apprentice offguard with a meticulously planned coup in the beginning of Season 2.
17	* TheCollectorOfTheStrange: Live and stuffed animals, weapons, Asian statues...
18	* DemocracyIsBad: Very dismissive about the average voter, whom he views as ignorant and unfit to have any kind of choice, although he doesn't care much for the suffragettes as long as they vote Republican.
19	* DirtyOldMan: When he was in his 50s, he impregnated a 13 year-old Gillian. He has not changed a little bit. The flashbacks in season 5 show us that he used to rape young girls regularly.
20	* DiscOneFinalBoss: In Season 2. In the season's opening episodes, he masterminds a conspiracy to usurp Nucky Thompson as Atlantic City's kingpin but is incapacitated by a stroke before he can bring his plans to fruition. [[OrcusOnHisThrone No longer able to directly execute his vendetta against Nucky]], he is forced to [[DragonAscendant entrust oversight of his plans to his bastard son, Jimmy Darmody]].
21	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Want to know his real name? [[AllThereInTheManual Check the HBO website]]. Nucky, Eli, Gillian, and Damian occasionally call him "Lou", though it's very rare, and it's only once halfway through the second season when his full name is finally given onscreen.
22	* EvilMentor: To Nucky, and later Jimmy.
23	* EvilOldFolks
24	* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: He stops shaving and combing his hair as he gets sicker in season 1. Then he feels healthier in season 2, so he dyes it. Then he suffers a stroke, so it is white again...
25	* FauxAffablyEvil: Season 5 shows that in his younger days he was much friendlier...on the surface.
26	* {{Foreshadowing}}: His early season 2 speech about the stuffed grizzly bear.
27	* GreatWhiteHunter: Was one when he was younger.
28	* GreaterScopeVillain: In Season 2 after his stroke. While Jimmy Darmody serves as the plot's acting BigBad for most of the season, his role is largely limited to seeing through the plan already set in motion by the Commodore to incarcerate Nucky (all while relying on the old man's resources and connections to do so).
29	** On a larger scale, he qualifies as this for the entire series by serving as the EvilMentor to Nucky Thompson, [[StartofDarkness driving Gillian Darmody down the path of depravity]] by [[RapeAsDrama raping her as a child]], and making Atlantic City a hub for murder and exploitation.
30	* GrumpyOldMan
31	* HateSink: He is easily one of the most vile characters in the show and a grade A asshole to everyone around him. Not only is he abusive, bigoted, racist and misogynistic, he is also an utterly loathsome and unapologetic pedophile and a serial rapist.
32	* HeManWomanHater
33	* {{Hypocrite}}: Recruits Jimmy and Eli to his conspiracy against Nucky using their bitterness over Nucky's dismissal of Eli as sheriff (which was the Commodore's suggestion) and Nucky facilitating Jimmy's mother's rape (by the Commodore). Nucky even points this out to Jimmy (even if, seeing how he was the one who actually pimped Gillian out in the first place, he is hardly in any position to talk).
34	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Tries to do this to Jimmy. Fails.
35	* {{Jerkass}}: In the first season, he's unpleasant to pretty much everyone, and is one of the most bigoted characters in the show. It does seem that this had something to do with his illness since he [[FauxAffablyEvil comes across as rather avuncular and charismatic in the second season though he remains no less cruel and self-serving]].
36	* LaserGuidedKarma: He gets so overexcited at the prospect of having sex with the adult Gillian that he suffers a stroke. This renders him mute and paralyzed, and then Gillian decides that [[BestServedCold it's time to get her vengeance]].
37	* ManipulativeBastard: Ironically, some of the people he wins to his side are convinced by his claim that Nucky is a ManipulativeBastard.
38	* NiceCharacterMeanActor: Season 5 reveals him to have been this in his younger days. In the 1884 and 1897 flashbacks he is shown behaving in an avuncular and jovial manner in public, only to display his cruel and sadistic nature when in private. By 1919, after having lost his power and been in jail, he has dispensed with the pretense and is unpleasant towards virtually everyone. His [[FauxAffablyEvil pleasant facade returns somewhat in the second season after recovering from his illness]].
39	* TheMentor: Straight example in his backstory. He teached Nucky everything about "the business" and Nucky inherited all that he now controls from the Commodore, in a deal the two made together for the Commodore to retire.
40	** This is, however, subverted in the season 5 flashbacks, where the late 19th century Commodore is shown to be mostly disinterested in young Nucky and quite the jerkass to him. The one that actually took Nucky under his wing was the Sheriff, Jacob Lindsay. The Commodore was an EvilMentor, in the sense that he set Nucky with the example of corrupt boss to follow.
41	* NiceToTheWaiter: Played with, his nastiness is showcased by the deplorable treatment of his maid who in revenge was poisoning him, causing his illness during the first season. Strangely, his will leaves most of his estate to the maid. He did not even change the will after he found out that she tried to poison him and she fled. This adds some significance to the Commodore's seemingly hypocritical line after learning about the poison.
42	-->'''Commodore''': Do you have any idea what I've done for you? Ignorant bitch!
43	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: His character is loosely based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Kuehnle Louis Kuehnle]], a successful businessman who founded the Republican political machine which dominated Atlantic City for decades and was similarly known as "The Commodore" for owning a yacht firm. His personality also seems modeled off of [[UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt]] given his affinity for hunting as well as his enthusiasm for cultivating an image of robust masculinity.
44	* OffingTheOffspring: Attempted on Jimmy, though this was only in defense of Jimmy's mom, Gillian, after Jimmy started choking her for badmouthing Jimmy's deceased wife. Ironically, after Jimmy wounds him, Gillian is the one who encourages Jimmy to finish him off.
45	* PerfectPoison: Averted. His food, clothes and even toothpaste are poisoned with arsenic for almost a year and while his health worsens considerably he still survives.
46	* PetTheDog: He showed a lot of affection to his dog Jerry. He also has an oddly ambiguous posthumous PetTheDog when it's revealed that he left the entire estate to his maid Louanne, who had been poisoning him in return for his constant abuse.
47	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He's a vocal misogynist and a white supremacist.
48	* RasputinianDeath: It takes the better part of two seasons, and consequently most of his screentime. First he manages to survive prolonged cyanide poisoning over the course of Season 1, and recovers completely. After this he survives a stroke early in Season 2, which puts him largely [[OutOfFocus out of commission]], except for the occasional [[PrecisionFStrike words of wisdom]]. Finally he is stabbed after a brutal melee struggle by Jimmy, who still has to deliver a FinishingMove before the Commodore is finally off his feet.
49	* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Arguably. When he recovers his speech, he keeps secret the fact that Gillian abused him after he got paralyzed, suggesting that he was ashamed of what he had done to her, and he dies trying to save her when a drugged, emotionally broken Jimmy tries to choke Gillian. Ironically, Gillian is the one that convinces Jimmy to finish the Commodore.
50	* RedFlagRecreationMaterial: In Nucky's first meeting with [[EvilOldFolks the Commodore]] in the pilot episode, the latter remarks disgustedly on his former protege's dealings with Arnold Rothstein and hands him a book he's been reading: ''The International Jew'' by Henry Ford, a notoriously antisemitic work. It's an early sign that the Commodore is [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain a nasty piece of work]] even before his credentials as a RetiredMonster are revealed. Given his ties to the Ku Klux Klan and his attacks on Chalky White in season 2, it's also foreshadowing.
51	* RetiredBadass[=/=]RetiredMonster: The previous [[IOwnThisTown owner]] of Atlantic City and the one who [[PassingTheTorch passed the torch]] to Nucky. He eventually tries to come out of retirement.
52	* RightHandCat: Averted with Jerry, his little pet dog.
53	* SerialRapist: Flashbacks in season five reveal Gillian wasn't his only victim, the Commodore was a frequent rapist of little girls.
54	* TheScrooge: Supposedly, he took care of Gillian, but she still needed to sell her jewels to pay for a roof. It's implied that he never got himself a family because he felt it would tamper with his 'reign' over the city.
55	* SirSwearsALot: He is probably the worst in a very bad mouthed cast. This could be due to [[NotHimself his illness]], [[ScrewPolitenessImASenior his age]], or most likely because [[JerkAss he was always that way]].
56	* SpeechImpediment: Gets one after his stroke.
57	* TimeshiftedActor: Season 5 contains flashbacks to 1884, where a younger version of the Commodore is played by John Ellison Conlee.
58	* TookALevelInBadass: After he recovers from his illness, he exercises to the point of being able to lift a heavy elephant tusk over his head. Later on, despite still recovering from the stroke, he nearly manages to kill Jimmy, a man thrice younger than him and a war veteran, in melee combat after a surprise attack.
59	* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: He doesn't want Nucky killed, but to go to jail like he did.
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Luann Pratt]]
63	!!Luann Pratt
64	->'''Played By:''' Creator/JohnnieMae
65	[[quoteright:279:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Luann-Pratt_6336.png]]
66	[[caption-width-right:279:''"[[BlackHumor Because if I'd used a shotgun, I'd had to clean the mess myself]]."]]''
67	The Commodore's long-suffering maid, who takes it upon herself to put him out of his misery with long-term poisoning.
68	----
69	* BlatantLies
70	--> '''Halloran:''' Arsenic was found in the Commodore's food, drinks, even the toothpaste. How do you explain this?
71	--> '''Luann:''' I guess it musta fell in there somehow by accident.
72	%%%* TheButlerDidIt
73	%%%* TheDogBitesBack: Luann herself.
74	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Looking back at Luann's first scene, there are numerous visible hints that she was poisoning the Commodore.
75	* KarmaHoudini: The Commodore and Gillian see her as this. She did get away with attempted murder, but if ever there was an AssholeVictim, it was the Commodore.
76	%%%* KickTheDog: Poor Jerry never hurt a soul. [[AssholeVictim The Commodore, on the other hand...]]
77	%%%* KindlyHousekeeper: Well, she acts kindly enough to most people...
78	%%%* LargeHam
79	* {{Mammy}}: Subverted. While she acts the part, Luann is actually quite crafty and has a far from benevolent agenda of her own.
80	* PerfectPoison: Averted. The Commodore still clings to life after months of continuous poisoning, and Luann eventually gets caught before the payoff.
81	* PutOnABus: Nucky gives her money and tells her to skip town after her murder attempt is discovered.
82	%%%* SassyBlackWoman
83	%%%* ServileSnarker
84	* TimeshiftedActor: It is possible that she is a young maid seen in the Commodore's office in a Season 5 flashback, set in 1884.
85	* UnexpectedInheritance: The Commodore named her his heir before he recognized Jimmy and apparently forgot to change his will even after she was discovered trying to kill him. Jimmy then has the will destroyed.
86	* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: As illustrated by her quote, she takes the slow path with the Commodore because she regards the straightforward one as [[PragmaticVillainy messy and impractical]].
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	!1921 Allies
90
91	[[folder:Leander Whitlock]]
92	!!Leander Cephas Whitlock
93	->'''Played by:''' Creator/DominicChianese and Creator/JordanLage
94
95	[[quoteright:257:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Leander_Whitlock_3259.png]]
96	[[caption-width-right:257:''"I can't fault you for boldness, but not every insult requires a response."'']]
97
98	The Commodore's long-term lawyer as well as an Atlantic City power-broker. He later serves as an advisor to Jimmy and (reluctantly) Gillian.
99	----
100	* AdvertisedExtra: Even if he has only one line, Dominic Chianese will be the first name you see in the closing credits.
101	* AffablyEvil: He's a polite and well-spoken old gentleman, but he still went along with all of the Commodore's misdeeds [[spoiler: including covering up the Commodore's rape of young girls]].
102	* AmoralAttorney
103	* BestServedCold: [[spoiler: Betrays Gillian as revenge for her role in the Commodore's death, after pretending to be her ally for three years.]]
104	* TheConsigliere: Used to serve as the Commodore's. Serves as Jimmy's, and reluctantly, Gillian's.
105	* CoolOldGuy
106	* KarmaHoudini: He manages to live well past his former cohorts despite being complicit in all of the Commodore's crimes.
107	* TheMentor: Briefly, to Jimmy.
108	* OnlySaneMan
109	* PunchclockVillain: He initially scomes across as this due to his soft-spoken demeanor and his prudent advice to Jimmy Darmody and his mother, Gillian. [[spoiler: Later [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] when he [[MoralMyopia institutionalizes Gillian for her role in the Commodore's death despite having full knowledge of her sexual abuse by him]]. Ultimately, any doubts about his villainy are firmly set aside in Season 5 when he is revealed in flashbacks to have directly procured young girls for the Commodore's [[RapeIsASpecialKindofEvil "pleasure"]].]]
110	* RedOniBlueOni: The Blue Oni to Commodore Louis Kaestner's Red Oni. As Kaestner's most trusted aide and confidante, he serves as a voice of levelheadedness and pragmatism in stark contrast to his petty, [[{{Pride}} egomaniacal]] boss.
111	* SmartPeopleKnowLatin: He greets Eli with a Latin toast when he joins the Commodore against his own brother.
112	* TimeshiftedActor: His 1897 self appears in the Season 5 flashbacks, already working for the Commodore.
113	* TreacherousAdvisor: [[spoiler: To Gillian.]]
114	* UndyingLoyalty: To Commodore Louis Kaestner. When the rest of the Commodore's backers abandon him shortly after he sustains a stroke, he alone stays to counsel Jimmy on ruling his father's massive criminal empire (despite being hindered at every turn by Gillian much to his chagrin). [[spoiler: After witnessing the Commodore's ambitions go down in flames at the hands of Gillian, he obtains vengeance on behalf of his [[VillainousFriendship late friend]] by having her institutionalized.]]
115	* WorthyOpponent: He sees Nucky as this.
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	[[folder:Jackson Parkhurst]]
119
120	!!Jackson Parkhurst
121	->'''Played By:''' Creator/RichardEaston
122	[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/parkhurstvwx2013_2623.jpg]]
123	[[caption-width-right:315: ''"It's high time that you and your whole damn generation learn something about respect."'']]
124
125	A New Jersey bigwig and war profiteer. He is part of a group of rich investors who back Commodore Louis Kaestner in his attempted political coup against Atlantic County Treasurer Nucky Thompson.
126	----
127	* BullyingADragon: He first belittles Jimmy Darmody's participation in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI then goes so far as to strike a highly-trained killer in the head for his generation's "lack of respect." He later dies for it.
128	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: He's given possibly the most horrifying death in the whole series.
129	* EvilCripple: He's wheelchair-bound, but no less evil.
130	* EvilOldFolks: Parkhurst's age hasn't impeded his greed or temper.
131	* GreaterScopeVillain: Initially serves as this in Season 2 when he and a group of other influential fat cats finance the Commodore's bid to seize power in Atlantic City. However, after barely being introduced, the Commodore's son, Jimmy Darmody, murders him after he unwisely strikes the younger man with his cane.
132	* GrumpyOldMan: He views the current generation of Americans with barely concealed contempt (notwithstanding the fact that many of them died or experienced irreparable harm fighting for their country in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI).
133	* KarmicDeath: He is scalped to death; it makes sense since he participated in genocide against Native Americans.
134	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He takes great pride in participating in the U.S. government's genocidal campaign against Native Americans.
135	* PetTheDog: Unlike the racist Commodore, he is portrayed as a surprisingly pleasant boss to his African-American butler, Alexander.
136	* ScrewPolitenessImASenior: Despite his position as a member of the Atlantic City Memorial Committee, he quickly dispenses with the formality of congratulating Jimmy Darmody for his service in World War and proceeds to rudely question him regarding the destruction of their alcohol warehouse as well as the unseen return on their investment. When Jimmy finally insults the men after enduring their berating, Jackson strikes him on the head with a cane.
137	* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: When he first appears, many of his colleagues seem to view him with contempt and disgust. Whitlock later states his death is unlikely to trigger much sympathy among his colleagues.
138	[[/folder]]
139
140	[[folder:Mr. Darlington]]
141	!!Mr. Darlington
142	->'''Played By:''' Creator/MartinLaPlatney
143	[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1000px-darlingtonvwx2013_14811_1559.jpg]]
144	[[caption-width-right:270:''"[W]e have yet to see a dime."'']]
145
146	A New Jersey bigwig as well as one of several investors who bankrolls the Commodore's coup against Nucky in Season 2.
147	----
148	* EvilCripple: He uses an ear trumpet to compensate for his hearing loss. This handicap is later accentuated when he becomes visibly agitated when too many people begin talking for his liking.
149	* EvilOldFolks
150	* FauxAffablyEvil: He initially acts very courteous and respectful towards Jimmy Darmody by commending him for his service in World War I. However, when the conversation turns to money, he joins in with his colleagues to berate Jimmy for failing to show them a return on their investment.
151	* GreaterScopeVillain: Initially serve as this in the beginning of Season 2 when he and a group of other influential fat cats finance the Commodore's bid to seize power in Atlantic City. [[spoiler: However, when Jimmy Darmody murders one of their colleagues, Jackson Parkhurst, in retaliation for an earlier physical altercation, they withdraw their backing.]]
152	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He admits to using ties with the [[TheKlan Ku Klux Klan]] to deal with the Commodore's ''"colored problem."''
153	[[/folder]]
154
155	!1884-1897 Allies
156
157	[[folder:Sheriff Jacob Lindsay]]
158	!!Sheriff Jacob Lindsay
159	->'''Played By''' Creator/BorisMcGiver
160	The Sheriff of Atlantic County for most of the last quarter of the 19th century. He took young Nucky under his wing and taught him that he could do dirty 'jobs' on the side for the Commodore while still keeping an air of decency, having a lovely family and earning the town's respect.
161	----
162	* AFatherToHisMen / DaChief: To Nucky in 1897.
163	* BaitAndSwitch: When he catches 12 year-old Nucky taking a bath in the Commodore's office's bathroom in 1884, it looks like he is going to punish him, but instead he takes Nucky and Eli to dine with his family and covers their absence to their father by telling him that Nucky is now working for him (Nucky's job as a bellboy in the Commodore's hotel had just ended with the tourist season). He finishes by offering Nucky to be his deputy in the future, which he accepts.
164	* DirtyCop: The town wouldn't be complete without one.
165	* DirtyBusiness: He justifies being the Commodore's hatchet man because he sees it as necessary to keep Atlantic City going. However, when he has to cover up for the Commodore raping a young girl, he can's stomach it anymore and walks away.
166	* EveryoneHasStandards: While he has done many despicable things for the Commodore, he has enough when he is called in to help cover up after the Commodore has raped a young girl. He gives his badge to Nucky and walks away.
167	* TheMentor: To Nucky, more than the Commodore. It seems that Nucky got [[EvilMentor the riches and power-hunger]] from the Commodore, and the idea that he could do unsavory things and still be a good husband and father from Lindsay.
168	* NiceGuy: Practically a saint compared to the men he hangs out with.
169	* ParentalSubstitute: To Nucky, to the point he cuts off all contact with his father when he becomes Lindsay's deputy.
170	* ProfessionalKiller / DeadlyEuphemism: What most "jobs" for the Commodore probably are.
171	* RagsToRiches: He was a carpenter's assistant when he met the Commodore. After doing two "jobs" for him, he was given the badge.
172	* TokenGoodTeamMate: In the Commodore's team. This eventually leads him to break with him.
173	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere / ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: He effectively leaves his post to Nucky when the Commodore asks him to take a girl he just raped to her parents, and tell them not to make a scandal.
174	[[/folder]]
175
176	[[folder:Pat Halligan]]
177	!!Pat Halligan
178	->'''Played By:''' Creator/DannyMcCarthy
179	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5bmjrimguxyjytyjezmy00zjixltlizgutyjlmyzqxn2q5ythixkeyxkfqcgdeqxvymtuynzi0mde_v1.jpg]]
180
181	A political ally of the Commodore, before he decides to team up with some unspecified people "from New York" (likely Tammany Hall) who wish to wedge in Atlantic City and extract concessions from the Commodore. It goes badly for him.
182	----
183	* TheConsigliere: Seems to be this to the Commodore in 1884, spending most of the time next to him, and advicing him to pay his respects to Nucky's family when Susan dies so they remember when elections come.
184	* JerkAss / JerkWithAHeartOfGold: At least compared to the Commodore. Unlike him, he does warm up to Nucky over the years.
185	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: How much of the series plot would actually have taken place, if he had not decided to prank 12 year-old Nucky by "losing" a hat with a 50$ bill (from 1884!), telling Nucky to retrieve it, and then telling him that he was not getting any tip for returning the money too?
186	* SleazyPolitician: Comes with the territory of being a part of the Commodore's corrupt political machine.
187	* TheStarscream: Turns on the Commodore by 1897. While in a very softer way than most examples in the series (and out of it), it leads directly to...
188	* YouHaveFailedMe: ...the Commodore ordering him to be tied up and thrown off the pier to drown.
189

Context Characters / BoardwalkEmpireTheCommodoresCircle