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Clockwise from left: Chris, Peter, Lois, Meg, Stewie, and Brian.

"We're an unusual family."
Stewie Griffinnote 

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    General 
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One big happy family!note 

Tropes for all of them:

  • The Alcoholic: Almost all of them have at least a little bit of a problem with alcohol, including Stewie.
  • Anti-Hero: Classical Anti Heroes, being an idiotic family prone to dangerous acts. As time goes on, however, a couple in particular (Peter and Lois) evolved into Nominal Heroes or even Villain Protagonists, being only considered "heroes" because they're the main characters, and aren't above hurting others and breaking rules to get their way. Even Chris, Meg and Brian have committed questionable acts.
  • Ax-Crazy: Each family member is shown to be mentally psychotic and/or unstable, a trait particularly seen in Stewie, Peter and Meg.
  • Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: They really do care about one another, they just show it rarely or even at times unhealthily.
  • Badass Family: Surviving all sorts of chaos on a weekly basis certainly makes them this.
  • Big, Screwed-Up Family: They make The Simpsons look like The Brady Bunch.
  • A Boy, a Girl, and a Baby Family: The family consists of one son (Chris), one daughter (Meg), and one baby (Stewie). Although, Brian is also treated as a normal member of the family despite being their pet.
  • Brother–Sister Team: Occasionally pops up when Chris, Meg, and/or Stewie work together or are paired with one another.
  • The Bully: All six members have taken turns abusing or mocking everyone around them just for the kick of it. In traditional fashion, they prove extremely thin-skinned and hypocritical whenever taking it back. It's revealed a key reason they usually pick on Meg is because they break the moment they harass someone that can dish it back. Meg herself isn’t so above it all.
  • Bullying the Disabled: Depending on the episode, they are dismissive of Joe and make fun of his disability. They are also quite abusive towards Chris, who either has an intellectual disability or a learning difficulty.
  • Character Death: It was confirmed that one member of the family would die in Season 12 and be replaced by a new character. If you count his death that was soon retconned, Brian is the one to qualify for this.
  • Characterization Marches On: All of them have had they're far share examples of this, the most pronounced examples are Peter and Lois, but also Brian has had a big change since the uncancellation, as started out more good natured, but then were portrayed as malicious family members.
  • The Chew Toy: Most of their injuries are Played for Laughs.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Mostly in the later seasons, but they will screw each other over at a moment’s notice.
  • Comedic Sociopathy: And not just them. 90% of the show's character humor seems to revolve around this trope really.
  • Creepy Family: They became more violent and prone to committing morally disturbing acts with each subsequent season.
  • Deconstruction: "Seahorse Seashell Party" has proven to probably be the episode where there are more deconstructions than any other. The most prominent is the deconstruction towards Meg's severe bullying in her family, and she readily tells all truths to each family member.
  • Depending on the Writer: The state of Peter and Lois's marriage varies from episode to episode. In some, they are a loving couple, sharing romantic dances when they have the house to themselves, and enjoying each others' quirks. In others, their partnership is more tenuous, but with an undercurrent of mutual love holding them together. In others still, it's implied the marriage is hanging by a thread, with only the smallest of excuses keeping them from splitting up.
  • Dirty Coward: Unlike The Simpsons, who are Action Survivors, they are rather cowardly in some situations; in "Dial Meg For Murder", no one tries to help Peter when he gets raped by a bull or when Meg attacked him, in fact the whole family was under Meg's thumb and even shifted the blame to Stewie, a baby. Nearly all of them bully, abuse and mock each other and everyone around them. They snivel and cower the moment it seems they've passed their victim's breaking point, however.
  • Double Standard: Lois and Meg are often depicted more sympathetically, even though they are just as abusive and unhinged as the rest of the family. Meg's case is justified as she has to put with the brunt of her families' abuse, therefore any instance of her being abusive is actually her snapping.
  • Dysfunctional Family: After Season 6, they've become less loving to each other and more psychopathic and at each other's necks.
  • Family Business: Peter and the kids open up "Big Pete's House of Munch" in "No Meals on Wheels".
  • Flanderization: A lot of their negative traits from early seasons are known to been exaggerated over time, with almost 'none' of their good traits. In the early seasons, they were actually sympathetic and their negative traits were balanced out. Now they're negative traits have been so over-exaggerated that they've become a bunch of petty, selfish jerks. Possibly justified, in that the flanderization could be a result of their deteriorating mental health.
  • Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Meg and Stewie's Responsible to Chris' Foolish. Both of them are noticeably more mature in contrast to him.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble:
    • Choleric — Peter
    • Melancholic — Lois and Stewie
    • Sanguine — Chris
    • Phlegmatic — Meg and Brian
  • It Runs in the Family: All of them share each other's flanderized psychopathy and jerkassery from Season 6 onward. Lois and Brian both have the same level of agenda-driven soapbox approach, Peter and Chris are equally stupid, and Meg and Stewie both serve as a voice of reason whom are always ignored.
  • Jerkass to One: They've all been flanderized into particularly horrible excuses for human beings, but they focus a lot of their vitriol and bullying on Meg. Lampshaded in "Seahorse Seashell Party," when Meg finally has enough of their crap, the whole family starts to have a nervous breakdown due to lacking their usual "lightning rod".
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: All of them show at the end of the day that in spite of the trouble they put each other through, deep down they really care for each other. However, this depends on the writer.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: In the later seasons, it’s clear when they do something even remotely heroic, it’s, more often than not, for selfish reasons.
  • Lack of Empathy: At their worst, but mostly Stewie and Peter. Lois may fall under this trope in the later seasons.
  • Large Ham: Most of the family members are this, other than Brian and Meg.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Depending on the episode, sometimes they'll reference other media or straight up mention how this is all a cartoon. However, they either treat it as an in-universe tv show with characters smoking in between cutaways or acting as if they are working on a set or treat it as an actual cartoon.
  • Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Meg is the Masculine Girl to Chris and, to a lesser extent, Stewie's Feminine Boys. Meg has displayed violent, intimidating tendencies and aggravated revenge to those who have messed with her—most notably in "Dial Meg for Murder", and surprisingly averts the teenage girl stereotype for the most part. Chris, on the other hand, is so sensitive and innocent that he wouldn't hurt a fly (though this becomes deconstructed in the later seasons where he Took a Level in Jerkass); Stewie, while an intimidating, precocious, Badass Adorable individual, still has some flamboyant tendencies, such as cross-dressing and getting giddy over opportune prospects, not to mention that he still has some interests of a typical baby/toddler, such as his Teddy bear Rupert.
  • Medium Awareness: All of them have directly spoken to the audience at some point, but this especially goes for Peter, who is basically the Deadpool of Family Guy. He not only breaks the fourth wall, but even uses it to help him get places.
  • Nice, Mean, and In-Between:
    • Out of the three children:
      • Nice: Meg. She has her questionable moments too, but she's a relatively good person compared to the rest of the family, and the others are jerks to her more often than the other way around.
      • Mean: Stewie. In early seasons he was the Token Evil Teammate who wanted to kill his mother. He got nicer in later seasons, especially compared to Peter, Lois, and Brian, but he's still more devious and prone to Comedic Sociopathy than his siblings (and a bit of a jerk to Brian).
      • In-between: Chris. A harmless ditz who is mostly Out of Focus, but he also can be a jerk, especially to Meg.
    • If you want to divide the family into pairs:
  • Parental Obliviousness: Either they're all really oblivious to Stewie (apart from Brian), or they just don't seem to care, neither option seems very good. Word of God states that they notice Stewie saying and doing everything the viewers see, but because he is a baby, they do not take him seriously.
  • Parents as People: Peter and Lois started off as such, trying their best to make their kids happy and give them the good life, only for their zeal or incompetence to make things worse. In later seasons however, they are far less well meaning to say the least.
  • Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Meg and Chris. Lois and Peter also when they are in their PJs.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Brian's Blue to Stewie and Peter's red. Brian is the rational and responsible one of the trio who tries his best to prevent the latter two's recklessness.
  • Sadistic Choice: The family had to make the decision to eat a frozen Ben Fishman or less they face a similar fate. Everyone (sans Peter), are extremely reluctant, but go ahead and eat him, seeing no other option.
  • Selective Enforcement: Several of the Griffins react in shock and disgust when Meg does or says something, even when they themselves have done the same thing:
    • In "Model Misbehavior," when Peter tells Lois that he'll "pleasure himself" to Lois' modeling, both Chris and Meg say they'll do so as well. Though Chris said the same thing, Peter angrily chews out Meg and only Meg for doing so before punching a hole in the wall and ordering her out of the house.
    • In "Big Man on Hippocampus," when Lois explains to the amnesiac Peter that he can't have sex with his children, Meg makes an incest jokenote ; the entire family lambasts her, with Chris literally kicking her out of the room. However, in "Partial Terms of Endearment," Lois tells a joke that implies that Meg gave birth to Stewie, and receives no such violent reaction.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Peter's Manly Man to Chris' Sensitive Guy. Both are the Sensitive Guys to Stewie's Manly Man. In the later seasons, Stewie is the Sensitive Guy to Brian's Manly Man. A rare example in where the Sensitive Guy is more capable than the Manly Man.
  • Sexless Marriage: In the episode when Lois marries Brian, this occurs. They even have separate beds.
  • Short Teens, Tall Adults: Chris and Meg, whose parents visibly tower over them. While Chris' case can perhaps be justified in that he hasn't left puberty yet, Meg is at an age where she should have realistically stopped growing.
  • The Sociopath: If not villainous, most of them have become this after season 6, due to their ego and heartlessness in the later seasons.
  • Stepford Smiler: Lonely and love-depraved Meg and self-conscious Brian are Type A, Stewie is possibly Type B. Chris is hard tell, but likely a Type A.
  • They Killed Kenny Again: All of them have died at least a few times, especially in the Cutaway Gags. However, Peter and Meg tend to die the most often. "Dearly Deported" ends with the entire family being killed by mongooses.
  • Thin-Skinned Bully: Pretty much all of them are tall order Comedic Sociopaths come the later episodes, though the majority of time are simpering Dirty Cowards in the face of being abused themselves. Peter in particular, routinely has the disposition of a schoolyard bully, right down to his common reaction to someone aggressing him being blubbering like a wuss.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: With the exception of Stewie and Meg, all of them have become increasingly nastier after the third season to an unrealistic degree.
  • Two Girls to a Team: Lois and Meg, the only girls of the immediate family.
  • Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Peter and Lois, with a little Lampshade Hanging, as the couple was once described in an in-universe news report as "a fat man inexplicably married to an attractive redhead".
  • Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Most of the time Peter, obviously, but when another of them gets A Day in the Limelight, they are usually this as well.
  • Vocal Evolution: Some more than others, but it comes with the characterization. Peter, for example, is given a slightly higher pitch to coincide with his increasingly childish disposition. Stewie becomes a lot more casual and less refined after losing any hints of being Wicked Cultured, and Brian's range is now higher after (more or less) losing his position of being the analytical Straight Man.
  • Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Peter is this to Meg and Stewie, being less in touch with reality than the two.

Character-Specific Pages

    Lois Griffin (née Pewterschmidt) 

Lois Patrice Griffin (née Pewterschmidt)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lois_griffin.png
"Hey! I could be like Hillary Clinton—only, you know, without the penis."
Voiced by: Alex Borstein

A woman from the richer side of Rhode Island that teaches piano lessons to children. Voiced by Alex Borstein, she had a Vocal Evolution since the show was Un-Canceled.


  • Abusive Parents: Since Season 7 onwards, she pretty much emotionally abuses Meg (compare with the earlier seasons, when she would have done her best to console Meg whenever she was bullied, from taking her to a spa during spring break or concocting a plan to have Quagmire go after Connie D'Amico), even going so far as to steal her boyfriends and give her Ambien and a Sylvia Plath book so she can commit suicide and not have to worry about her. A Cutaway Gag had her abandon one of her other children in a theatre. Furthermore, it's become something of a running gag to mention that Meg was entirely unplanned for and was almost aborted. During her second pregnancy (again unplanned for due to a broken condom) Lois apparently drank and smoke a lot in lieu of an abortion but stopped halfway which is why Chris is so stupid. She also used marijuana while pregnant with Stewie.
    • In one episode, when Lois hesitates to rescue Joe as he is about to fall into the sewer, Joe tells her to pretend that she is rescuing one of her children; Lois then nearly lets him go, prompting Joe to shout "Not Meg, not Meg!", implying that Lois wouldn't bother to save Meg's life if she was being endangered.
    • In "Stew-Roids", Lois limits Meg's lunch bag to Chris' sandwich crusts, an orange peel, and a picture of her eating a turkey leg to taunt her.
    • In "Cat Fight", she cruelly mocks Chris's intelligence while he sleeps, then pours on fake compliments when he wakes up. Meg, who saw the whole thing, calls Lois a "monster" for it.
  • Action Mom: In "Lethal Weapons." Also, in the episode "Lois Kills Stewie," when she could hold her own in a fight against Stewie.
  • Adaptation Dye-Job: Her hair was supposed to be blonde in the pilot.
  • Almighty Mom: Becomes this in "Halloween On Spooner Street" by telling off another mother because her child stole Stewie's candy.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: One could argue this is the reason she remains with Peter even after the latter has devolved into a Psychopathic Manchild.
  • Alpha Bitch: Acted like one in high school. Even as an adult, she's selfish, erratic and condescending to her kids to the point that she ends up being abusive and insensitive.
  • Balloon Belly: She gained massive weight in "Sibling Rivalry", becoming nearly as fat as Peter, if not just as fat or even a bit fatter.
  • Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Pound for pound she is the Griffin least likely to suffer from the show’s gruesome violence.
  • Berserk Button:
    • Lois does not respond well to anyone getting in the way of her sex life. Despite being a steadfast supporter of the FFC's censorship in "PTV" initially, all it takes is for them to ban intercourse for her to quickly submit that Peter may have a point against them. In a case where Peter takes abstinence, she outright rapes him.
    • Someone taking away her grocery shopping: her response to Peter and Chris picking up groceries as a favor is to beat the hell out of Peter and toss a mason jar at a fleeing Chris.
    "That's right. I do groceries."
    • Having breakfast for dinner is apparently anarchy to her.
    • Harry Hamlin is implied to be another one in a cutaway where they invite Bubo from Clash of the Titans to dinner, and when they can't understand him when Lois asks him about Greece and Peter says only Hamlin can and they should have invited him too, we get this gem from Lois:
      Lois (through gritted teeth): I will not. Have Harry Hamlin. In this house.
    • Don't you ever compare her to Anne Hathaway in any shape or form.
  • Bratty Teenage Daughter: In her younger years, she was entitled and dismissive of her father.
  • Big Beautiful Woman: "Sibling Rivalry" sees her gain a substantial amount of weight, but remaining just as, if not, becoming even more gorgeous.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: In some episodes. In early episodes, whenever Peter did something to usurp her from a position of authority, such as the run for schoolboard president or as a theatre director, she later shows up to watch the results of his antics, stating it's only because she wants to watch him fail and see the people publicly destroy him (only to completely lose her cool in public when this failed). Notably, this was lampshaded as early as the second season, when the Griffins appear on a talk show and Lois gets the caption "probably more of a bitch than she lets on".
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: She does this on occasion for her behavior. She has this with Joyce Kinney when the latter confronts the former about what she did to her when they were teenagers. This is, however, understandable, given the fact that what Lois did was over 20 years ago and nobody remembers things like that well.
  • Butt-Monkey: Not as much as her daughter or even the rest of the family, but she's been shoved down the stairs by her husband Peter, fallen off the roof of the Griffin house when Peter's rickety balcony breaks, drenched in scalding cooking oil by Peter, etc.
  • Characterization Marches On: Lois' Women Are Wiser role in early seasons was completely genuine, like other female characters, to the point of nearing outright meekness, having only substantial moments of weakness or selfishness that she was almost always remorseful about afterwards.
    • Originally a genuinely compassionate Mama Bear whose occasional bouts of self righteousness and impulsiveness led to moments not unlike her husband's, in later seasons is an extreme Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and is almost as callous and self centered as Peter. Especially towards Meg, who she seems to outright hate, and sometimes towards Peter. For the most part her persona is based on Rule of Funny or Depending on the Writer (even more so than the majority of the cast). Whether she is genuinely wiser or a female version of Peter depends on where the gag takes her.
    • In early episodes, she was a piano teacher, which partially explains how the family was able to survive on Peter's paycheck. Later episodes exaggerated her being a housewife to the point she's obsessed with shopping for groceries. It's strange the writers forgot she used to have a job given her playing the piano starts off the show.
    • Her temper changed considerably, in early seasons she was much more mellow and laidback, gradually she developed a short fuse (most notably around Meg and Brain) and became more manic as time went on.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: She does not like to see Peter being with another woman, just ask Jennifer Love Hewitt.
  • Covert Pervert: Has shown to be into BDSM, and seems to be as interested in sex as Peter.
  • Cruel Cheerleader: She was a nasty one in high school.
  • Cute, but Cacophonic: Lois may be attractive, but has a rather annoying nasally voice.
  • Dating What Daddy Hates: Her dad was never fond of Peter.
  • Deadpan Snarker: It comes with the characterization. She can be very snarky towards Brian and Meg, sometimes Peter.
  • Depending on the Writer:
    • Some episodes portray Lois as a compassionate Mama Bear and the voice of reason to contrast Peter's stupidity. Others have her acting as immaturely as her husband, even having her display malicious delight at Brian or Meg's suffering.
    • Lois' opinion on Meg changes dramatically according to the episode. "Stew-Roids" and "Breaking Out Is Hard to Do" imply that she secretly wishes her daughter was dead; while "Better Off Meg" shows her crying in despair when she is led to believe that Meg has died.
  • Distaff Counterpart: Is almost (d)evolving into this in later episodes, a lot of her role consisting of joining Peter in giggling over immature gags or even sharing similar sociopathic tendencies. The extent of this is Rule of Funny however.
  • Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: When she gets too fed up of Peter's shenanigans, she resorts to viciously attacking him. It's mostly Played for Laughs.
  • Dude Magnet: Not only her own husband finds her hot, but so does Brian, Glenn Quagmire, and many other men. Even her son Chris and his friends have shown attraction to her.
  • Early Installment Character-Design Difference: She had blonde hair in the pilot, and her clothes were colored different.
  • Enraged by Idiocy:
    • "Petarded" reveals that Lois is deeply aggravated by Peter's idiocy, with her repressed frustration causing a tumor to develop in her brain.
    • In "A Shot in the Dark", Lois snaps when Peter announces he is going to perform in blackface, and repeatedly hits him with a folded magazine while yelling that he is stupid.
    • "Cat Fight" implies that Lois is annoyed by Chris' stupidity, as she says that Meg may not be popular, but at least she is not an idiot like him.
  • Entitled Bitch:
    • In "Customer of the Week", she is convinced the titular award should go to her, and goes to absurd lengths to get it.
    • In "A Bottle Episode", she is outraged that Dottie hasn't taken down the bad review she gave her on Air BnB, despite the fact that she knowingly stole a bottle of shampoo from Dottie's house, and went to great lengths to justify her actions.
  • Even the Girls Want Her: In "Our Idiot Brian", Meg's friend, Ruth, remarks "Your mom is so f*ckin' hot".
  • Extreme Doormat: While she does get angry at Peter's tendencies to embarrass her and other shenanigans he puts the family through, Lois always forgives him at the end of the episode and has never even thought about leaving him. She'll also rarely stand up for Peter whenever her father puts him down.
  • Fiery Redhead: Downplayed and justified. She shows shades of this when her patience with Peter is at her limit, especially in the first Christmas special when she completely loses it and goes on a destructive mini-rampage. However, any woman married to Peter would develop a bit of a temper, considering how much of a Jerkass he is.
  • Flanderization: As the series has went on, her arrogance became her main flaw and slowly engulfed her personality, and by season 8, she's a full-on Jerkass.
  • Freudian Excuse: It's implied that her villainous behavior (such as stealing from a mall) originates from her Corrupt Corporate Executive father, Carter Pewterschmidt.
  • Friendless Background: While she's shown being friends with Bonnie and sometimes Donna (Loretta in the early seasons), some episodes depict her as having no female friends. Usually because of how the women treat each other.
    "Look, I don't have a lot of friends, it's kind of a problem on the show."
  • The Gambling Addict: In "The Son Also Draws", she has a gambling addiction during a trip and loses her car at an Indian casino.
  • Gasshole: After gaining weight, it was remarked by Peter that she farted badly.
  • Genki Girl: Especially since the revival, she's perky and energetic, as she dropped most of her maturity.
  • Good Parents: She used to be a good example of decent parenting in the earliest seasons, where she acted protective and caring towards all three of her children and was always there for them if something went wrong. Then Flanderization happened, and she Took a Level in Jerkass and started being abusive and neglectful towards her kids.
  • Hard-Drinking Party Girl: In the In-Universe "premiere" of "Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story", she shows up completely drunk, with Peter having to support her. She also gets completely hosed at Peter's roast, ruining her father Carter's joke. Carter even lampshades it when he tells the reception staff to stop serving her.
  • Hidden Depths: Lois has a bit of a mean streak, first seen when she advises Meg on how to get back at her bullies that crops up every now and again. It's implied that she's where Stewie gets it from.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: She marries an idiotic Manchild, she remains oblivious to the fact that her baby son wants to kill her (even when the drawings of him doing so were seen right in front of her), she fails to acknowledge the fact that her brother is a homicidal maniac who strangles fat guys to death. That's just a few things.
  • Housewife: She is a stay-at-home mother and housewife who also does some piano lessons from home to supplement the family income. One episode has her defend her choice to be a housewife.
  • Hypocrite:
    • She regularly calls Peter out for being a terrible husband and father. While she is right about that, she herself can border on being an Abusive Parent to her children (especially Meg), and has on occasion physically assaulted Peter over minor transgressions, such as when she hit him across the face with a frying pan just for tickling her.
    • Her attitude towards the women Brian dates. She mocked Brian for dating the seemingly-stupid Lauren Conrad, but when Lauren was revealed to be a genius, Lois got mad at her for "one-upping" her during dinner. And she relentlessly taunted him for dating the fifty-year-old Rita, leading Brian to point out that she regularly railed against him for dating young bimbos. She also mocked Brian for dating the less than bright Jillian despite the fact that she herself is married to a man who is arguably just as dumb if not dumber.
    • In "Quagmire and Meg," Lois chastises Peter for interfering with Meg's supposedly harmless fling with Quagmire. When she finds out Quagmire intends to have sex with Meg and blames Peter for letting it happen, Peter is quick to remind Lois that she told him to stay out of Meg's business in the first place.
    • She gets mad when Peter cheats on her, but has cheated on him herself.
    • In "A Bottle Episode", she gets angry at Meg and Chris when she thinks they stole something, but when it's revealed that she was the thief, she makes all kinds of excuses for it.
  • Hypocrite Has a Point: While Lois is a jerkass and a hypocrite, sometimes her hypocrisy isn't without merit.
  • I Surrender, Suckers: Lois is about to be taken in for shoplifting in "Breaking Out is Hard to Do." She goes to get her purse...and makes a vehicular escape.
  • Idiot Ball:
    • "In Harmony's Way." When Chris is the one to slap some sense into you, you know you're this trope. But if you're not convinced, consider that she tries carving a turkey with a vacuum cleaner two minutes later into the episode.
    • In "Hot Shots", she not only refused to get Stewie vaccinated, but convinced the rest of the parents in town to do the same. This led to the whole town being quarantined when a measles epidemic struck. Stewie lampshades this instance, stating that he'd expect this kind of foolishness from Peter, but not Lois.
    • In "Throw It Away", Lois becomes obsessed with decluttering, throwing away anything that doesn't "kindle joy". This ultimately leads her to throw out first Peter, then the whole family, leaving her alone in a (literally) empty house.
  • Jerkass: In later seasons.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Lois can be a pain when she reprimands her children, but she does bring some good points.
    • In "Jungle Love", Chris' first day at James Woods High School, he runs away to join the Peace Corps and escape the "Freshman Hunt"...which Lois basically feeds him to. Even then, she wasn't far off when she tells Chris that he shouldn't run away from his problems. Doubles as Hypocrite Has a Point.
    • In "Dial Meg for Murder", she finds out that Meg has been seeing a convict she fell in love with, and forbids her from seeing him again. Though she could have checked things out before jumping to conclusions, there's a chance that the criminal could be manipulating Meg, or otherwise hiding more criminal behavior than we were led to believe. Notably, a three-year sentence for robbery may not sound right if no people were shot or killed. The DVD version expands on this by adding a scene where Lois describes her own unpleasant experiences dating convicts in her youth. This also doubles as Hypocrite Has a Point if you consider Lois' arrest for shoplifting in "Breaking Out Is Hard To Do" to be canon (and even then, she presumably wasn't in prison for THAT long).
    • In "Internal Affairs," she rightly criticizes Peter for giving Joe the idea to cheat on Bonnie.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite being flanderized into a jerk, Lois sometimes still shows genuine care for others, more often so than Peter. In "This Little Piggy", she was horrified when she found out that Meg became a foot-fetish model, and came along with Peter to her rescue. Likewise in the episode "Livin' on a Prayer", she kidnapped a boy who had a treatable form of cancer because his parents were Christian Scientists who refused doctors or medicine, in order to get him to the hospital for his treatment.
  • Karma Houdini: While Flanderization has made her near equally abusive and selfish as Peter, she tends to face consequences for her actions or learn from her mistakes the least out of all the family (which is saying a lot), designated more often into Straight Man role and having her Jerkass tendencies played more for minor comic relief. Still, to critics, she's an unfit mother whose actions would have cost her her children if the show followed reality (which it doesn't). A perfect example would be when she raped Peter and was portrayed in the right.
  • Kick the Dog: Encouraging her own daughter to commit suicide with pills and a Sylvia Plath book for starters.
  • Lack of Empathy: At her worst, mostly in later seasons, where she shows absolutely no emotion or interest in some very emotional situations.
  • The Lad-ette: Sometimes. At first sight she seems the typical housewife, but she's also sexually aggressive and in some gags she's portrayed as a female Peter.
  • Lust Object:
    • For Quagmire. He has pictures of Lois in his house, including on the inside of his closet door in "Emission Impossible". He was once arrested for peeping on Lois in the girls' bathroom in "Blind Ambition".
    • For Brian too. Brian developed incontinence from repressing his attraction to Lois, he openly groped her when they were celebrating Francis's death, and he drunkenly hit on her at Martha's Vineyard, leading to a fight with Peter when Brian said he didn't deserve Lois.
  • Mama Bear:
    • Take into account the Halloween Episode, where, after an older kid steals Stewie's candy, she makes him give Stewie his candy back...then makes him give Stewie his own candy, and tells the kid's mother to also give her 80 bucks, and steals their welcome mat for good measure. The fact that Stewie is visibly disturbed by this makes it even more humorous.
    • She threatened Quagmire after he attempted to sleep with Meg now that she was 18, saying she'd cut his penis off and feed it to Brian if he goes near Meg again.
    • When Connie D'Amico and her friends humiliated Meg at a school dance, Lois helped Meg plan revenge on them. When Meg backed out of the plan, only to be humiliated when Connie and her friends humiliated Meg again, Lois anticipated this and enlisted Quagmire to "scar them for life."
      Quagmire: Hey, good-looking. How old are you?
      Connie: Sixteen.
      Quagmire: Eighteen? [...] I like where this is going!
    • In the episode "Stewie Loves Lois", when a large dog snatches Rupert in his mouth and runs away, Lois doesn't hesitate to chase him down, tackle him, and pry his jaws open to save Stewie's teddy bear.
  • Moral Myopia:
    • In "Customer of the Week". She keeps insisting that she's a "good person", despite the literally criminal lengths she's willing to go to in order to win a meaningless award, from poisoning a barista she knows has a peanut allergy (in an attempt to "rescue" her), to kidnapping people to avoid punishment.
    • In "A Bottle Episode". After threatening Dottie into taking down the negative review, she declares that Dottie has received her "comeuppance".
  • Mrs. Robinson: In the episode "Lois Comes Out of Her Shell", Lois is trying to seduce Justin Bieber and she refers to herself as Mrs. Robinson. Justin misses the reference.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Some episodes will have her dressing revealingly or in underwear.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Lois's reaction to Meg calling her out in the episode "Seahorse Seashell Party." It even drives her to tears.
    Lois: (tearfully) You're right! You're right, I'm a terrible mother! I'm so sorry! I'm so, so sorry, Meg! Can you ever forgive me? Oh God! (continues to cry)
  • Narcissist: Lois does have shades of this, such as seeing herself as superior to others (like Peter and Meg), excessive pride in her appearance, puts others down, but she has a hard time accepting criticism. She also has traits of the abusive, narcissistic mother as well.
  • Never My Fault: In "Quagmire and Meg," Quagmire takes advantage of the fact that Meg is 18 and begins to court her. Lois encourages it, believing that nothing will actually happen. She tells Peter that it's just a ploy for attention and she'll rebel if they try to stop her, just as Lois herself did against her father. When Meg later goes up to Quagmire's sex cabin for the weekend, Lois calls Peter out for not stopping her, to which Peter rightfully retorts that Lois told him to stay out of Meg's business in the first place. Lois concedes he's right, and they immediately go out to stop them from doing the deed.
  • No Indoor Voice: Thanks to Vocal Evolution, Lois is as loud as she is rude.
  • Not Helping Your Case: In "Go, Stewie Go", her attempt to apologize to Meg for kissing her boyfriend Anthony is derailed when she smugly claims that she could get him if she really wanted him.
  • Not So Above It All: Meg has called her out on the fact that she is generally no better than a drug-addicted whore who has let both Bill Clinton and Gene Simmons "go to town on her".
  • Only Sane by Comparison: In later seasons, she is a obnoxiously shrewish and abusive nymphomaniac, though due to her family consisting of her Psychopathic Manchild husband Peter, unhinged Butt-Monkey Meg, neurotic Kiddie Kid Chris, precocious and incredibly sociopathic baby Stewie, and pretentious Intellectual Animal Brian, she still tends to be designated to the Only Sane Woman role in many plots. Deconstructed in "The Most Interesting Man In The World", where Peter undergoes an intelligence boost, and Lois soon wants the old dysfunctionally stupid Peter back. Not because the new Peter is worse, but simply because Peter being well behaved and clever means she is no longer the smart adjusted one by relation.
  • Only Sane Woman: In early seasons, she's often one of the most reasonable characters along with Brian. Less so in later seasons when she's prone to Comedic Sociopathy.
  • Parental Obliviousness: For not seeing Stewie's attempts and contempt for her life in early seasons.
  • Parenting the Husband: Often a literal example when Lois and Peter's interactions are more like a mother and her child. Lois has told Peter he can only have one candy bar at the supermarket, yelled at him to get back and clean up the Jello powder he spilled, and told him he can only have one friend over at a time. You barely see Lois nag Meg and Chris the way she nags Peter.
  • Pet the Dog: Even after her Flanderization, she can be a compassionate wife, Depending on the Writer. She still seems to be established as the caring and intelligent housewife of the family, though depending on the gag, can switch between nurturing and loving her kids endlessly or being as abusive and neglectful to them as Peter. She's also lends a helping hand to Peter's friends when they need it or when a Peter starts treating them like shit.
  • Pink Is Erotic: In "Switch the Flip", Lois becomes incredibly horny after a sex seminar and strips down to her pink underwear. In "I am Peter Hear Me Roar", Lois wears a pink dress and gets in a fight with Gloria that arouses Peter so much that he runs home with Lois so they can have sex.
  • The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: When was the last time we've seen her give piano lessons?
  • Pushover Parents: In the earlier seasons, she would barely dish out strict punishment to Stewie for his malicious and homicidal tendencies. Though, it's unclear if she can understand Stewie or was just oblivious to what he is saying or doing.
  • Race Fetish: A few later episodes imply that she has a fetish for black men.
  • Really Gets Around: Implied in her younger days. She was called "Loose Lois" for a reason.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Is given one by her husband. Later she's also given a far more brutal and completely justified one by her daughter Meg, to the point that Lois is driven to tears.
  • Rebellious Princess: Peter is at odds with her tyrannical father in order to gain his approval, which he never does. She marries him, despite her father's insistence that she doesn't really love him or his covert attempts to kill Peter.
  • Redhead In Green: Redhead with, as Peter puts it, “Green shirt, tan pants—that’s refreshing.”
  • Self-Serving Memory: In "From Russia With Love". She claims that Quagmire's current girlfriend Stephanie bullied her often in the high school, to the point of pushing her into a pool. But it is eventually revealed that Strephanie did nothing of the sort; Lois fell into the pool by tripping on her shoelaces, and Stephanie tried to warn her to be careful.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: Without makeup on, Lois is pale and a little wrinkly.
  • Shipper on Deck: Out of all of Brian's relationships, she's most supportive of him and Jillian.
  • Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Probably. Her eyes are usually black pupils but in the Disney universe she has green irises. Noteworthy, since Disney Chris and Stewie are given blue irises.
  • Single Woman Seeks Good Man: In the earlier seasons, Lois loved Peter because he was a funny, sweet guy who and wished he would tell her that he loved her. Later seasons has her invert this trope; after she and Peter Took a Level in Jerkass, her attraction towards him became more "all girls want bad boys".
  • Stacy's Mom: There is an episode where Lois has an affair with Meg's new boyfriend, except that Lois is the one who instigates the affair. Quagmire frequently makes mention of this, but is in the wrong peer group.
    • Lampshaded by Chris:
    "All my friends think you're hot. They can't believe I came out of you!"
  • Statuesque Stunner: Stands at a rather impressive 5'8, which is quite tall for a woman. She's also noticeably taller than many other female characters in the show.
  • Super-Strength: The power she gained during the events of "Super Griffins".
  • Take Five: Earlier episodes had a running gag where Lois would tell Meg to take Stewie to his room whenever he's at risk of seeing something that Lois believes he shouldn't.
  • Temporary Bulk Change: After Peter gets a vasectomy and won't have sex, Lois starts eating out of frustration and gains weight. Peter makes fun of her for that at first (despite being fat as well), but he changes his mind after a night of sex and likes her being fat, so he decides to make her gain more weight. But Lois ends up having a heart attack and is taken to the hospital, where she gets a liposuction to be thin again.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: In the first season, she was a calm mother who always was wiser than Peter. Over the other two pre-revival seasons (actually starting with "The Son Also Draws"), some flaws began to show in her seemingly-perfect persona, yet she was still a nice person to have as a mother. When the show came back, however, she essentially became a female version of Peter.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Reverted back to her pre-revival nature around season 14 (at least towards Meg, Chris, and Stewie).
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy to Meg's Girly Girl. Lois is a temperamental and rowdy Fiery Redhead who wears a green shirt and brown pants while Meg is a demure teenage girl who wears pink and has a girly room.
  • Tranquil Fury: After Peter gets feminized, Gloria Ironbox mocks Lois for being a mere housewife instead of being a real woman and blames her for Peter's initial lack of respect towards women. Once she claims Lois' children are completely screwed up, this pushes Lois over the edge and she proceeds to beat the shit out of Gloria without even raising her voice.
    Lois: You bitch! (delivers a straight punch at Gloria's face)
  • Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Hot Wife to Peter's Ugly Guy with a little Lampshade Hanging, as the couple was once described in an in-universe news report as "a fat man inexplicably married to an attractive redhead", along with an artist's impression of what they might look like - Fred and Wilma Flintstone. Lois came from a ridiculously wealthy family and could have hired a different gigolo every night, if she were looking for a hunk. That said, Lois has lost some of her lustre with age. When Peter becomes blind, she stops applying makeup, which makes her noticeably pale and wrinkled.
  • Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: In later seasons, where she can be almost as bad as her husband.
  • Uptown Girl: She's from an EXTREMELY rich family but chose to marry low-class yokel Peter for love.
  • Villain Protagonist: Starting from Season 17, there have been a few episodes in which Lois starts out with a small goal or hobby that all end with her undergoing Sanity Slippage and diving headfirst into this territory.
    • In "Throw It Away", Lois begins to declutter the house to get rid of things that don't spark joy. She ends up throwing out everything and everyone, to the point that the house is a White Void Room and her family are out on the streets.
    • In "Customer of the Week", Lois tries to win a coffee shop award for validation after feeling that her family don't appreciate her. Her attempts to win the award go from her making a nuisance of herself to her poisoning a barista so she can save her life, then tying up another barista who caught her.
    • In "Prescription Heroine", Lois is bored with her life around the same time that Brian receives pills from the vet. She ends up getting hooked on the pills to the point that she's willing to endanger Stewie for the last pill that fell in the toilet.
    • In "A Bottle Episode", Lois is banned from an Airbnb after stealing a bottle of shampoo. After downplaying the bottle's worth, Lois returns it to the owner in hopes of getting the bad review changed. When the owner (understandably) refuses to change it, Lois stalks and blackmails her until she gives in. This episode is the point where her status as this trope becomes fully-fledged; unlike the previous three episodes where she undergoes a Protagonist Journey to Villain, this episode reveals that she intentionally stole from the Airbnb owner out of petty jealousy for her better life and lied about it through the entire episode without remorse. Her rant at the end of the episode confirms she's utterly lost it.
  • Vocal Evolution: Her voice was noticeably deeper and less nasally in the first three seasons.
  • Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: She falls into this big time in "Customer of the Week". She's convinced she deserves the award by virtue of being a better customer than most, even though (as Stewie points out) she only ever did the bare minimum expected of any customer. At the end of the episode, she goes to another coffee shop and leaves a big tip in the tip jar, then immediately gets annoyed that she wasn't thanked for it (despite the fact that tipping is customary).
  • What Does She See in Him?: Many characters (justifiably) have this reaction to Lois' marriage to Peter. In the episode "Petarded," Brian flat-out asks her, "Have you ever stopped to think, "Wow, I'm married to that guy?" Lois simply states that she represses such thoughts... and as it turns out, she has done so so often that she's developed a brain tumor. Death asks her this question verbatim after Peter asks him to elaborate on his previous sentence, even though he was obviously finished talking. In "Go, Stewie, Go", she jokingly suggests that she just "likes fat guys".
  • Women Are Wiser: Most of the time, anyway, like the other female characters. It DEFINITELY applies with respect to intelligence... She is smarter than Peter by leaps and bounds. The moral component of that trope is where the grey area comes in, she's almost as bad as Peter in later seasons.

    Meg Griffin 

Megatron, aka Megan "Meg" Griffin

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/220px_meg_griffin.png
"How come I never get any lines in these things?"
Voiced by: Rachael MacFarlane (uncredited role in unaired pilot), Lacey Chabert (Season 1), and Mila Kunis (Season 2-present)

An average teenager with average teen problems. Probably the only normal one of the family. Although lately, she's so psychologically screwed up that she's basically Walking Black Comedy. Voiced by Lacey Chabert in the first season (however, she was not credited), Mila Kunis in the rest, and Rachael MacFarlane in the unaired pilot.


  • Abhorrent Admirer: Boys would rather set themselves on fire and kill their siblings than go to a dance with her. She is briefly this also to Brian and Joe in some episodes. She was able to attract some males in the pre-cancellation era, before her "ugliness" was played up, and she has her own recurring abhorrent admirer in the form of Neil Goldman. Strangely enough, Quagmire apparently thought she was at least somewhat attractive, since he kept asking when she turned 18.
  • Accidental Misnaming: Meg's name is "Megatron Griffin" on her birth certificate, but she has also been called Megan, Meg Harvey Oswald Griffin, and Mel by various people. In "Stewie Griffin: An Untold Story" Meg has a sex change and changes her name to Ron, yet she is still mistakenly called Meg.
  • The Ace: Some episodes imply she's this but no one pays enough attention to her to notice. In "Meg Goes to College" Peter puts several ridiculous fake skills on her college application and when exposed as fake, she does all of them with barely any time to prepare. Though depending on the gag and the plot, she can be the opposite (in "The Simpsons Guy", she's not good at anything, until she tries the saxophone).
  • Acquired Situational Narcissism: Whenever Meg obtains some form of attractiveness, she becomes a selfish and narcissistic bitch and treats others like crap based on their inferiority.
  • Acrofatic: Although Meg is "overweight", she has no problem moving around like a skinny person. In "The D in Apartment 23", she performs a series of nimble, acrobatic moves as she and Chris fight every other student in their school.
  • Allegedly Dateless: Although her supposed ugliness drives most guys away, she is seen having many attractive boyfriends depending on the episode. She manages to hook up with/date at least: Doug (Prick Up Your Ears), the nudist neighbor she liked, Mayor Adam West, Quagmire, Kevin Swanson, Michael, a medical student, Anthony (Go, Stewie, Go) as well as being pursued by Neil Goldman and losing her virginity on live national television to Jimmy Fallon during the opening of Saturday Night Live.
  • All Love Is Unrequited: Virtually every boy she attempts to ask out rejects her, all of them making up wild excuses to get out of having to go out with the homely Meg. The most extreme examples is one boy who gives himself a self-inflicted nail gun wound to the stomach with the excuse that he's going to be in the hospital that day, and another who kills his brother right there just to say that he has to attend his brother's funeral. The one person who is interested in marrying her, ditches her at the altar when she finds out that she wasn't pregnant.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: Ignored, neglected, and ridiculed by everyone, including her own family, for no reason other than being "Meg".
  • Ambiguously Bi: She asked Connie if she can think about her in the tub in "Stew-Roids" and tongue-kissed her while she was unconscious in "Dial Meg for Murder".
  • Ambiguous Gender Identity: A cutaway gag in "This Little Piggy" suggests that Meg was born a boy, but Peter cut off her penis instead of the umbilical cord, so she was instead deemed a daughter. Then there's Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, which depicts her in the future as a man named Ron. Considering how loose continuity is in these shows, these should probably be taken with a grain of salt.
  • Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: In "The Griffin Family History", Meg is so distraught when a group of robbers won't rape her that she actually gets arrested for sexually assaulting them.
  • Ax-Crazy: Shows tendencies of psychopathy. Justified given the abuse she has to put up with in and out of school.
  • Barrier Maiden: As she explains, her being the Butt-Monkey keeps the Griffin family in-tact. When she explains this to Brian, he's impressed, and amazed.
  • Beautiful All Along: She is proven to be this in the episode "Don't Make Me Over."
  • Beautiful Singing Voice:
    • In "Don't Make Me Over", the family forms a band in which Meg plays the role of lead singer. Her voice and sex appeal greatly contribute to their success and catapult them to stardom.
    • In "Meg Goes to College", Meg sings Pat Benatar's "Love is a Battlefield" in Russian as part of her application, earning herself a standing ovation.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me:
    • She is very prone to instantly falling for a guy if he treats her well. If the guy in question doesn't reciprocate her feelings (usually because they pity her rather than actually like her), she's likely to turn into a Stalker with a Crush.
    • She doesn't call out Stewie or Brian in "Seahorse Seashell Party" because the former rarely interacts with her and the latter is the most decent to her out of all the Griffins.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Meg Griffin has been described by Brian as "far sweeter and kinder than the typical American girl" and has put up with a lot of abuse these past couple of years. However under the right circumstances, Meg could unleash her repressed rage on anyone that pisses her off enough or have prison life turn her into a hardened badass that her whole family is DEATHLY afraid of.
  • Big "WHAT?!": She does this in "Dial Meg For Murder."
  • Blind Without 'Em: Stewie breaks Meg's glasses because he hates to be watched while he sleeps. We even see how bad her vision is when Stewie does a vision test and holds an undetermined object (which appears very blurred out).
  • Blood Knight: Meg is usually timid and nonviolent, but in the episode "Hot Pocket-Dial", while all the other partygoers are shocked by or trying to break up the fight between Peter and Quagmire, Meg inexplicably shouts "Kill him, Dad! MURDER HIM!"
  • Born Unlucky: It's uncommon courtesy that the writers would make something go right for Meg just once.
  • Borrowed Catchphrase: "Shut up, dad!"
  • Brainy Brunette: Apparently, she's very good at anatomy. She even got an internship and saved Peter's life with her skills. It was also mentioned that she gets good grades in school.
  • Break the Cutie: The writers' main goal seems to be to rile her up and destroy every opportunity she has.
  • Brief Accent Imitation: In the episode "Crimes and Meg's Demeanor", Meg pokes fun at Lois' thick New England accent:
    Meg: I know what you're gonna say, and I know how you're gonna say it.
    Lois: Oh, really?
    Meg: Yep. [imitating Lois] "I don't wantcha drinkin' or ya life's gonna go down the crappah."
  • Broken Bird: Some episodes depict her being both emotionally fragile and disturbed, derived from a desperation for love and attention.
  • Bully Magnet: She gets this at school from the Alpha Bitch and other students, and even at home from her own family, for no apparent reason aside from being "ugly" and unpopular. The one episode in which she tries to stop her family's bullying, she ends up having to sit back and take it because unless she's the "lightning rod" to the Griffins' unrelenting horribleness, the family will literally tear itself apart by bullying each other.
  • Butt-Monkey: One of the most infamous examples in Western Animation. At first she was merely a selfish and whiny and Bratty Teenage Daughter indirectly humiliated by her family's well-intentioned bumbling or quirkiness. This evolved into the entire universe growing a profound hatred of her, with practically everyone—even her own family—showing a casual disregard for her well-being and insulting her for no reason. Even the Smiths hate her. During the Simpsons/Family Guy crossover:
    Lisa: Meg, you need to know that you matter.
    Meg: Really? No one's ever told me I mattered before.
    Lisa: That's why you have to say it. So say it!
    Meg: I matter.
    Lisa: Louder!
    Meg: I matter!
    Peter: [off-screen] Shut up, Meg! You don't matter!
  • Cain and Abel: Chris remembers Meg killing a sister. Their parents strongly deny this in an almost panicked voice.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: Saves her harshest diatribe for Peter in "Seahorse Seashell Party".
  • Cartwright Curse: All of Meg's relationships are doomed to fail, some of her suitors will even take death over dating her.
  • Character Development: In the early seasons, Meg's low self-esteem led her to be constantly embarrassed by her family's quirks and show deference to the popular kids. By season 19, Meg has matured to the point she no longer bothers to seek approval from her bullies, though she at least acts civil around them. She also stands up for herself more often, even pranking or expressing joy at Peter's suffering on occasion, suggesting she's been desensitized to his antics. She's also shown to fight back against her bullies (albeit rarely) by either raising her voice or taking revenge, a far cry from the girl who would burst into tears and run away when she's embarrassed or humiliated.
  • Characterization Marches On:
    • In earlier episodes, while still somewhat luckless, Meg was a far less exaggerated punching bag. She was actually a primary target of concern and affection from her parents, most of her abuse stemming from their inadvertent and nondiscriminate bumbling. This was actually taken to the point of affecting her demeanor, often acting like a somewhat self-absorbed and manipulative Daddy's Girl.
    • She initially had a crush on the Swanson's son, Kevin. Though the crush went away after the first two seasons.
  • The Chew Toy: Plenty of fans enjoy Meg's Butt-Monkey status; she is a victim of tons of slapstick like the male characters of the show.
  • Chronic Self-Deprecation: Tends to fall into this trope in the latter seasons. Considering her status as The Chew Toy, it's not surprising.
  • The Conscience: Meg usually acts as the voice of reason to her family whenever Brian isn't doing so.
  • Crazy Cat Lady: She almost becomes one in "Family Cat", after Pouncy gets her claws into her (figuratively and literally). She is only saved from this fate via Quagmire taking on the role instead.
  • Dark Action Girl: In "Dial Meg for Murder" (the one where Meg ends up in jail for harboring a criminal) and "A Fistful Of Meg" (the one where Quagmire teaches her to fight back against a deranged bully).
  • Demoted to Extra: Just like with Hayley and Roberta, she was struck by this very hard starting in Season 12 where she barely appears or gets any lines aside from the one or two episodes that focus on her. This is even parodied in Family Guy Presents: Laugh It Up, Fuzzball, where she's in a couple of seconds of the special, tops, and as a giant space worm. Played with in later seasons, which seem to give her more side stories and deconstruct her Butt-Monkey status.
  • Depraved Bisexual: She is shown to have a disturbing lust for Connie. This is apparent when she tongue kisses her unconscious body in "Dial Meg for Murder" and in "Stew-roids" when she grumbled that she was still going to masturbate to Connie in the bath even after Connie said no.
  • Depending on the Writer:
    • Her Butt-Monkey status. Sometimes she merely suffers due to other characters' inadvertent bumbling or carelessness. On others she is such a target for misfortune that even Straight Men like Lois and Brian feel the need to directly make her life hell.
    • Her looks also change quite frequently, she's mainly an outcast because of her looks, but her love interest for the episode finds her beautiful.
      • In "A Fistful of Meg" she's shown to be heavily obese and in "Friends Without Benefits" she's said to have a birth defect, but in other episodes, she's shown to have a relatively normal body.
      • In other cases, it's been suggested that Meg is actually a messily-made trans woman, with a cutaway gag explaining that, as a baby, Peter cut off Meg's penis, mistaking it for an umbilical cord. Other characters have mistaken her for a boy and in "Meg Stinks!", she's shown peeing like a man. In "Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story", Future-Meg is revealed to have had a sex change and has now called herself "Ron", after correcting the timeline, Meg is shown appreciating the name "Ron" and seems to be contemplating the idea of a sex change.
  • Desperately Craves Affection: She pretended to be a lesbian to be accepted, and she falls obsessively in love with any man who treats her nicely.
  • Did Not Get the Boy: Twice with both Joe's son and the nudist boy. She does get Neil, but then drives him away when he proves to be annoying.
  • Disappointing Older Sibling: Despite being the oldest child, she is seen by everyone as the loser of the family and is often picked on and belittled not only by her younger siblings (especially Chris) but also by her parents. Ironically, she's probably the most normal of the family.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: As part of her Butt-Monkey status in the family, Peter once casually shot her in the face with a handgun because she walked past and said "hi, dad."
  • Doesn't Know Their Own Child: On the child end of this trope. Meg Griffin is ignored by her family so often, that there are moments where they don't even understand her. Such as when footage gets out about her kissing somebody, she says shes going to go eat peanuts, which Peter and Lois stare at her in confusion over. She tells them she's allergic. When they don't react, she angrily shouts they don't know anything about her.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: One episode has her saving Peter using her skills as a doctor after her father gets mauled by a puma and receiving no gratitude for it.
    Meg: Isn't anybody gonna thank me?
    Peter: Yeah, I'll have a water if you're getting one.
  • Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Not only were her clothes colored differently in the pilot, her voice sounded older.
  • The Eeyore: It's justified, though.
  • Even Nerds Have Standards: Neil Goldman is apparently so hideous that not even someone as desperate for attention as Meg would want him.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Best shown in "Peter's Sister." When Peter's bullying sister Karen comes to visit, Meg relishes the abuse Peter suffers at her hands and considers it Laser-Guided Karma for how he treated her... until Karen gleefully strangles him until he passes out, stutters, and wets himself, upon which she realizes that Peter bullied and abused her all these years because Karen treated him the exact same way and helps him fight back.
  • Fatal Attractor: It doesn't end well for the boys who date Meg, either because they want to avoid her or because they're grossed out by her body.
  • Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: She and Stewie are the Responsible to Chris' Foolish. She can be a bit of a Yandere at times but is still smarter than Chris.
  • Freudian Excuse: Meg's Yandere tendencies stem from her not being used to people treating her nicely. So when anybody treats her well, she usually seizes any opportunity for a friendship/relationship.
  • Friendless Background: Depending on the episode, she's occasionally depicted as having no friends. This becomes downplayed later on in the show, as she is more often than not shown hanging with the nerdy, unpopular clique of girls.
  • Given Name Reveal: In the episode "A Fistful of Meg", when someone calls Meg "Megan" she replies "Actually, Meg is short for something else". The scene then changes to just after she was born, Lois gives Meg's birth certificate to Peter, who then changes the name on it to "MEGATRON GRIFFIN", and sings "Robots in Disguise!"
  • Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook: In the episode "Dial Meg for Murder."
  • Hates Their Parent: Meg seems to greatly resent her parents, even giving them a verbal dressing down in one episode. Justified given their treatment of her.
  • Hearing Voices: One musical Christmas episode shows Meg wishing for "softer voices in my head" for a Christmas present.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Of a non-lethal variety. She decides to take the abuse her family dishes out because without it, they would be at each other's throats nonstop (save for Brian).
  • Hidden Depths: Several episodes show that Meg has a wide variety of skills, from medical knowledge, to ballet talent, and is even good enough to earn a place in the Winter Olympics as a biathlete.
  • Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Most of the abuse she receives from Peter is Played for Laughs for the most part.
  • Hypocrite: In "The Kiss Seen Around the World", Meg states that Neil is unable to be kissed by anyone (even by his own father). This is coming from the girl who is rejected by pretty much any guy she talks to.
    Tom Tucker: Thank you Meg. I guess beggars can be choosers.
  • I Just Want to Be Special: Meg is often shown as emotionally fragile or disturbed, derived from desperation for love and attention.
  • I Just Want to Have Friends: Depending on the episode. Some episodes does show she has friends.
  • Informed Deformity:
    • Meg is seen as being absolutely hideous by every character, save for her Abhorrent Admirer; it's taken up to eleven in "Don't Make Me Over," where the mere sight of her is enough for two people to be Driven to Suicide... by setting themselves on fire and throwing themselves out the nearest window. She's also mistaken for a boy several times, despite being drawn with a clearly female chest. Made even more bizarre when she actually looks exactly like Lois, who is considered to be hot by a lot of characters, with the only difference being that she wears glasses and a hat and is slightly chubbier. Besides that, Meg is the one who gets the most crap for being ugly, even if most of her family members (notably Peter, Chris, and Stewie) are visibly uglier than her.
    • Meg is also seen as unflatteringly pear shaped. With her large bottom being referenced a few times as another thing she's made fun of for. In reality, she is drawn slightly more stout than other females.
    • The few times she's been shown in her underwear have her looking just like Lois in her underwear, only slightly bigger, which makes the comments (often her own) about having a large ass and small breasts very odd. Yet she's made out to be uglier in-universe than Chris or Stewie and both of her brothers have been more successful in romances than her even if they didn't last either.
  • Iron Butt Monkey: Given how much physical abuse she can withstand.
  • Jerkass Ball: Gets handed this depending on the episode. Meg can be genuinely friendly and caring but she can also be a crazy, obsessive and selfish whiner who's not afraid to be violent towards other people.
  • Kavorka Man: A female example. Although guys are normally disgusted by her, she sometimes gets dates like it's nothing.
  • A Lighter Shade of Black: The closest the family has to a decent person, but she’s still a borderline psychopathic stalker.
  • Likes Older Men: Several episodes showcase Meg as being attracted to guys who are much older than her. She notably develops a Yandere crush on Joe in "The Hand That Rocks the Wheelchair".
  • Loser Protagonist: Meg is frequently put on the receiving end of various abuse.
  • Love Makes You Crazy: Her desire for parental love is what drove her into a rampage in "Dial Meg For Murder".
  • Morality Pet: Brian's kindness towards her compared to the other characters (especially when compared to the other Griffins) really brings out the Jerk with a Heart of Gold in him.
  • More than Mind Control: Even ignoring the obvious Sanity Slippage she suffers from living with her abusive family, she's been subjected to this multiple times. Notable examples include "Not All Dogs Go To Heaven", where she becomes a born-again Christian after watching a religion channel while being bedridden with the mumps, and "Dial Meg for Murder", where her time in prison has completely changed her personality, and not exactly for the better. A more blatant example of this would be in "Family Cat", where she falls under Pouncy's control, but also makes it clear that the abuse and neglect she goes through led to her being a Crazy Cat Lady.
  • Never Bareheaded: She almost always wears her signature pink hat, and its nature has been explored in various offhand gags. When Quagmire hits on her in "Quagmire and Meg", he tries to take her hat off flirtatiously, but a small green hand pokes out from under her hair and pulls it back down. In "Friends Without Benefits", she has a condition where her heart sticks out of her head like a tumor, which she covers up with her hat. The episode "A Shot in the Dark" portrays her and Chris as wearing hats because they pull their own hair out in frustration whenever Peter and Lois fight.
  • Nice Girl: Yandere tendencies aside, she is the only Griffin other than Stewie who hasn't been flanderized into a jerk and her worst qualities are a result of her loneliness and insecurities.
  • Nice, Mean, and In-Between: For the Griffin kids, she is the nice to Stewie's mean and Chris' in-between. As noted above, Yandere tendencies aside, she is the only Griffin other than Stewie who hasn't been flanderized into a jerk.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Dished one to Peter and the popular kids at her high school in the episode "Dial Meg For Murder."
  • No-Respect Guy: She is this or the Butt-Monkey Yandere emo, Depending on the Writer.
  • Non-Standard Character Design: Downplayed, but most characters in Family Guy (and other animated shows created by Seth MacFarlane ) have round eyes, while Meg has oval eyes, which go nicely with her oval shaped glasses.
  • Not So Above It All: Meg sometimes makes fun out of other Griffin members when the situation calls for it e.g. Chris being made fun for Lois being in a porno by other schoolkids and Meg joins in. She also salvaged upon a brief moment Brian was "the New Meg". Although it could be her trying to fit into a crowd.
  • Out of Focus: She has been hit with this the most. It's to the point that, even in an episode where Meg is the driving force of the plot, she disappears entirely after the first five minutes, does not reappear until five minutes before the end and spends three of those being entirely silent.
  • Phrase Catcher: Multiple characters all get the chance to say "Shut up, Meg" or some variant throughout the series.
  • Pintsized Powerhouse: She's able to curb stomp people much bigger than her.
  • Pink Girl, Blue Boy: The Pink Girl to Chris' Blue Boy. She wears a pink beanie and shirt, while Chris wears a blue shirt.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
    • Meg unleashes a HUGE one on Chris, Lois, and Peter during a hurricane. This is the hurricane three-parter when The Cleveland Show, Family Guy, and American Dad! aired back-to-back (the episode name is "Seashell Seahorse Party"). Compared to Cleveland Junior calling out the rest of the Tubbs on ignoring the National Weather Service, and Francine calling out Stan on how he made things infinitely worse with his idiotic actions that nearly killed the family (and yes, everyone in that episode nearly died), Meg has done the longest series of pointing out the hardest flaws out of three characters.
    • She gives a small one to Connie after she asks Meg for help to get back at Chris for dumping her. Meg points out all the horrible things Connie did to her growing up in school (Meg cut herself each time to ease the pain) and promptly tells Connie to go fuck herself for even thinking about asking for help, although she changes her mind when Chris throws a javelin at her.
  • The Scapegoat: The family need "Someone" other than themselves to blame for their flaws, and based on the ensuing fight she's the only member of the family who would take it rather than defending herself. When Meg decides to stop being her family's "Dysfunction Lightning Rod" Chris, Lois and Peter start tearing into each other.
  • Secret Secret-Keeper: In "Family Cat", she reveals to Brian that she knows about Stewie's time machine (as her room is opposite his, and the machine is loud), yet she never saw fit to tell the rest of the family about it.
  • Self-Harm: The most obvious sign of Meg's mental instability is her willingness to damage her own body. It's mentioned in several episodes that she cuts herself when she feels frustrated, and she has also been seen casually swallowing sleeping pills.
  • Serial Killer: Although, she has been shown to have Ax-Crazy tendencies in earlier episodes, she is confirmed to be one in "Trans-Fat".
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: The episode "Don't Make Me Over" had her get a makeover that made her look pretty. She reverted to her normal self because it was too much work.
  • Sliding Scale of Beauty: Meg, whose onscreen likeness is likely anywhere from Just Average to at worst Normal Ugly, is depicted as anywhere from Super Ugly to so ugly that merely being with her is fate worse than death and going to Hell. Presumably, her extreme homeliness is a major reason why Peter and Lois abuse her, and often leads to her often desperate attempts to fit in at school. Not to say Meg hasn't tried to upgrade her physical appearance — in "Don't Make Me Over," she gets a makeover where she becomes (briefly) a World Class beauty. In Season 9's "Road to the Multiverse," Meg is very attractive - though she is still "one of the ugly ones" as everyone is gorgeous in this universe.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Meg usually stalks guys who are nice to her. She stalked Brian, Joe, and Kent in separate episodes. However, it came to a point that her stalking wasn't played for laughs and the police had to stop Meg from raping Brian.
  • Stocking Filler: In "Halloween on Spooner Street", Meg goes to a costume party as a "slutty cat", wearing an outfit that consists solely of a cheap cat mask, a tube top, a short skirt and fishnets.
  • Straw Loser: Originally part of her Butt-Monkey status, though eventually the rest of the family hit such a low point that it began to get subverted, with Meg depicted as the most lucid and redeemable of a family of sociopathic deadbeats.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: For the most part she looks like Lois but nobody ever points it out. The only real differences are that Meg is a brunette, wears glasses and a hat and is a bit shorter and bigger.
  • Supreme Chef: When given the chance to cook for the family, she creates a gourmet meal of ahi tostadas, couscous, asparagus, and chocolate lava cake.
  • Temporarily a Villain: She went into this in "Dial Meg for Murder" after she spends time in jail. She even beats up Peter as if she's standing up to him for the abuse he put her through. When Brian encouraged Meg to turn back to normal, Meg felt bad for what she's done and she decided to put the gun down.
  • This Loser Is You: An unpopular social outcast with barely any friends, she's this for the teenage audience.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone:
    • In several episodes such as "Peter's Daughter", "Quagmire and Meg", "Meg Stinks!", "This Little Piggy" or "Crimes and Meg's Demeanor", Peter and Lois show that they do really care about Meg after all.
    • Season Eight onwards depict Meg getting the occasional retaliation to her abuse, becoming more snarky and temperamental. In "Dial Meg For Murder" after a duration in prison, she comes back embittered and brutally pummels Peter. In "Hefty Shades of Grey", she is the only one who hears Peter calling for help when he is locked in the basement. She chooses to ignore him, smirking as she puts on earphones. "Throw It Away" reveals that she has a Voodoo Doll of Lois (and she decides to keep it when she finds out it actually works).
  • Took a Level in Badass: She became a hardened thug after a bout in prison in "Dial Meg For Murder". While the incident was self contained and she reverted back by the end of the episode, Meg biting back at her abuse has become far more recurrent since then.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Par occasional Yandere traits, Meg has far less bratty or self centered traits than in earlier seasons.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Lois' Tomboy. She's a teenage girl who wears pink and has a girly room while Lois is a temperamental and abusive Fiery Redhead who wears green and brown.
  • Treated Worse than the Pet: Poor Meg is one of the most infamous examples of this trope — never mind that the Griffins' dog, Brian, can talk and is intelligent enough to be treated as human by the rest of the world. She is constantly the butt of the family's jokes, told to shut up, and farted on, on a GOOD day.
  • Tsundere: She showed some tendencies of this towards Neil Goldman early on, namely in the episode "The Kiss Seen Around the World".
  • Turn to Religion: "Not All Dogs go to Heaven" begins with Meg, suffering from the mumps and Parental Neglect, discovering Christianity, since someone who Desperately Craves Affection like she does would naturally latch onto the belief that God exists and loves her unconditionally.
  • The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: This is usually averted, but it's played straight when Meg gets a makeover in the episode "Don't Make Me Over." Too bad it's only temporarily.
  • The Un-Favourite: Part of the Butt-Monkey thing above; Peter and Lois even apparently agreed that if they could only save two of their kids in a crisis, Meg is the one who gets screwed over.
    • When Lois has to save Joe from falling to his death:
      Joe: Pretend I'm your child, Lois!
      (Lois starts losing her grip.)
      Joe: NOT MEG! NOT MEG!
      (Lois slowly pulls him up to safety.)
  • Unusual Pop Culture Name: Meg's full first name is "Megatron." Lois was going to name her "Megan," but Peter was in charge of finishing the birth certificate.
  • Unwitting Pawn: In the episode “Don’t Make Me Over,” Jimmy Fallon only used Meg for comedy by having sex with her on live TV.
  • Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Downplayed but Yandere tendencies aside, Meg is shown to be much more mature than her father, Peter.
  • Weight Woe: Meg is shown to be an overeater, and makes a habit out of throwing up after meals. She has far more issues than that however. Stewie even tells her one time that she should consider becoming anorexic and bulimic like the female ballerina dancers since it "seems to work out for them".
  • "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: She gains Peter's respect at the end of one episode and he reveals to her that he actually does love her, despite his inexplicable abuse. He tells her that when they're alone, he'll be nice to her, but he'll be a jerk to her whenever anyone else is around.
  • Wolverine Claws: During the events of "Super Griffins". Actually, her fingernails only grow a few inches.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: In the episode "Dial Meg For Murder," when she returns from prison and gets revenge on everybody who bullied her by dishing two No Holds Barred Beatdowns to Peter, Connie and the other popular kids at her school (by filling a bag with unopened soda cans and hitting them with it). Brian snaps her out of it by showing her an issue of Teen People Magazine and describing her as "Far sweeter and kinder than the average teenage girl."
  • Yandere: Shows instances of this towards Brian, Joe, and Kent.

    Chris Griffin 

Christopher Cross "Chris" Griffin

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/220px_chris_griffin.png
"I'm Chris. Sometimes I have to poop for a long time. Now you say something."
Voiced by: Seth MacFarlane (Unaired pilot only), Seth Green

Chris Griffin is stout like his father, and also has a learning disability. However he is also much more introverted and honest than Peter, as well as having a better grasp on reality. While normally gentle and sensitive, he is prone to emotional outbursts and he tends to believe what he is told. Chris is pure Id, and when it comes to the crunch, there's not a bad bone in his body. Voiced by Seth Green, and Seth MacFarlane in the unaired pilot.


  • Acrofatic: Despite his chubbiness, Chris often pulls off surprisingly acrobatic feats.
  • Acquired Situational Narcissism: In "Run, Chris, Run", Chris is elected homecoming king (unknown to him, out of sympathy). He quickly starts acting like an actual king, treating the rest of the family like lowly peasants.
  • Advertised Extra: Always appears in promotional illustrations, yet gets significantly less screen time than characters like Quagmire.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: Far less prominent than Meg, but some episodes that explore his school life showcase Chris as a social outcast among his schoolmates.
  • Alliterative Name: His complete name. Christopher Cross "Chris".
  • Annoying Younger Sibling: To Meg. He often pulls childish pranks on her, but in the newer seasons he occasionally goes beyond Innocently Insensitive territory by joining the rest of the family in abusing her.
  • The Artifact: Back in the test pilot, he got his blond hair from a blonde version of Lois. In the series proper, while Lois was changed to a redhead, he retains his blond hair.
  • Author Avatar: Occasionally acts as rather blatant avatar for voice actor Seth Green. Each of the Star Wars parodies ends with him and Peter breaking character to debate over their VAs' shows.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Chris is usually very friendly and harmless for the most part, but will go completely insane if messed with.
  • Beware the Quiet Ones: Usually, Chris is pretty quiet, and a really nice guy. Except when he's removed from his comfort zone, and then he just goes absolutely crazy.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: He's pretty eccentric, but does not take kindly to being pushed around.
  • Big Brother Bully: Inverted; he bullies Meg, but she's older.
  • Big Fun: Chris is likeable whenever he's in-character and not holding the Jerkass Ball just to be popular.
  • Big Little Brother: He's the biggest Griffin child, but Meg is the oldest. The actual height difference is relatively minor, though he's also quite a bit heftier.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Comes off as the more level-headed or kind family member, but he can be just as bad as the parents when it comes to Meg.
  • Book Dumb: Lampshaded in 'When You Wish Upon a Weinstein' when Peter throws a book at him to show he isn't too bright, and Peter tells him the lamp did it. Chris then starts beating up the lamp.
  • Brains and Brawn: He is the brawn to Stewie's brains. When the two are together Chris is often portrayed as Stewie's mount for the episode. Which shown by Stewie being carried on his back via baby carrier, backpack or piggyback ride.
  • Brick Joke: Him being big even at his birth. At first a cutaway gag, it turns out he was so large he dragged half of Lois out with him. Lois required extensive reconstructive surgery and has been told she'll be lucky if she lives past 50. Interestingly, that is the second time it's been implied Lois will die age 50 - the first being Stewie saying that he left a time-bomb in her uterus (his "first act of violence") and then saying "Happy 50th birthday, Lois". Although, it's been shown in Time Travel episodes that she does indeed live long past 50.
  • Brilliant, but Lazy: Chris's main problem isn't so much a lack of intelligence as much as he was thinking too much about sex. When chemically castrated he was able to focus all the time and energy he spent on himself into his studies and did much better in school.
  • Caught with Your Pants Down: One episode has Chris drinking a lot of energy drinks, like his dad. We see Peter try to milk a cow at super speed, causing her teats to catch on fire. A few seconds later, we see Chris running downstairs with no pants and his crotch on fire, with the obvious implication.
  • Characterization Marches On:
    • In early Season 1, Chris was protrayed more as a Stoner/Slacker type originally, but evolved to be more innocent/dopey.
    • The earlier seasons portrayed Chris mostly as a hyperactive and childlike Dumbass Teenage Son, and an emotionally sensitive Nice Guy who struggles with fitting in at school whenever his character is taken seriously. While he hasn't outgrown these two traits, he's definitely become more bold and cynical in the later seasons, often to intimidating extents.
    • In "The Son Also Draws", revealed that Chris had a talent and passion for art that was constantly shown through the first two seasons. After the show got Un-Canceled, his talent stopped being brought up and was completely forgotten.
    • Chris has always been awkward around girls and women, but later seasons depict him as an outright pervert who will spy on women or do other inappropriate things.
  • Childish Older Sibling: He's the childish and immature middle child while his baby brother is Wise Beyond Their Years.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Chris is very prone to behaving like a hyperactive and kooky oddball.
  • The Cutie: As a malice-free, warm-hearted young boy, Chris definitely qualifies for this title. Although, it's downplayed due to his masturbation obsession and jerkass tendencies he would come to develop.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Occasionally and surprisingly in the later episodes, he's prone to snarking at his family, sometimes even when he isn't in the right to do so or whether or not it's really an appropriate time.
    Brian: What'd you do with the gun?
    Peter: Gun?
    Lois: Yeah, my father gave me a gun as a present yesterday.
    Peter: Where was that during birthday sex? Maybe I would have finished.
    Lois: Unlike you, guns can actually fire.
    Chris: [dryly] I don't think this marriage needs a gun.
  • Demoted to Extra: Chris' screentime was significantly decreased after the show started to focus on Peter, Brian and Stewie as the lead characters. Season 18's "Disney's the Reboot" lampshades this by equating him to Joe Swanson and Tricia Takanawa, essentially confirming his status as a supporting character.
  • Depending on the Writer:
    • Chris' maturity level zigzags between episode. Some episodes portray Chris as a stereotypical Hormone-Addled Teenager who's battling through high school and puberty with an impulsive obsession with masturbation, pornography, and girls, while other episodes portray him as a naïve, mentally undeveloped Kiddie Kid with a childlike enthusiasm and keety demeanor.
    • His intelligence also varies from time to time. Sometimes he's able to talk about serious issues; like drugs, sports injuries, and society's obsession with validation from social media. Whereas, in other episodes, he can't comprehend death and is far less articulate. At one point he didn't even understand his own name and in Throw It Away Chris is shown to be illiterate.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: When he gained pyrokinesis during "Super Griffins", he sets a kid on fire for calling him by a mocking nickname.
    Chris: You remember that time you called me "Chris Gristle"?
    Hector: I think so.
    Chris: Well burn for it!
  • The Ditz: He is said to have an intelligence somewhere between that of a sign post and a bag of moldy French fries. But it's really because he focuses so much on masturbation.
  • Does Not Know His Own Strength: There have been numerous occasions where Chris snaps necks like Jacobs Crackers. And several times, it's been a complete accident.
  • Double Standard: Violence, Child on Adult: In "Hannah Banana", Chris creates a booby trap disguised as an offer to win a free hat to lure Peter in for revenge. When Peter falls for it, Chris cuts the rope and ends up smashing his father's head with two logs.
  • Dumbass Has a Point: In "The New Adventures of Old Tom", he rightfully calls Brian out for having no honesty or integrity when it comes to women (as proven by his attempt at dating Shelby by pretending to be rich).
  • Dumbass No More: The later seasons portray Chris possessing a more cynical, judgmental personality that contrasts his ditzy tendencies in the earlier seasons.
  • Dumbass Teenage Son: He is one, but due to lack of focus (and sometimes showing hidden intelligence) the viewers don't see him acting dumb as often as his father.
  • Dumb Blonde: A male example. He's the dumbest of the Griffin children, and the only blond.
  • Dumb Muscle: Has occasionally acted as this for Stewie, either voluntarily or through Stewie's mind control devices.
  • Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Before the first cancellation, Chris had earrings on his ears that were removed in the third production season
  • Everybody Hates Mathematics: He's Book Dumb, and especially has low grades in math.
  • Everyone Has Standards: In "Baby Stewie", he immediately alerts Peter and Lois when Brian attempts to share an insult about the family with him.
  • Fartillery: In one episode where he ends up running away from home and moving in with Herbert (It's a Long Story), he inadvertently wards off Herbert's attempt to rape him in his sleep by grossly farting as Herbert is sneaking into his bed.
  • Fat Comic Relief: If obesity jokes aren't being made about Peter, they'll most likely be directed to Chris instead.
  • Fat Idiot: Like his father, though he doesn't usually cross into Psychopathic Manchild or Fat Bastard as much as his father does and usually comes across as childlike at certain points.
  • Fat Slob: A few episodes imply that he has very poor hygiene and smells terrible.
  • Flanderization: Chris's slowness gradually became his defining factor. His chronic obsession with masturbating also became much more played up.
  • Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Foolish to Meg and Stewie's Responsible. Both of them are noticeably more mature than him.
  • Friendless Background: Depending on the Writer, some episodes portray Chris as lacking a friend circle.
  • Gag Penis: Since "And the Wiener Is..." Chris is described as having an abnormally large penis. When Peter first saw it, he thought it was his leg. Lois considers it the reason he always slouches, and Brian claimed it was the biggest in the family.
  • Genius Ditz:
    • He's apparently very good at drawing, although it's never brought up anymore.
    • Chris is also extremely knowledgeable in the fields of film and popular culture, usually bringing up their overlooked details.
  • Hates Being Touched:
    • In "Lethal Weapons", he starts fighting with Meg after she pushes him, saying "I don't like to be touched!"
    • In "The Peanut Butter Kid", he goes ballistic and beats Peter to a pulp after Peter puts his hand on his son's shoulder in a comforting way.
  • He Cleans Up Nicely: While still slightly more popular than Meg, Chris is seen by other characters as repulsive and he even stated that a blind girl refused to sit next to him and Mort Goldman after touching their faces. It has been shown, however, that when Chris has enough motivation or is in the right crowd, he really can tidy himself up and look better by gelling his hair into a pompadour and either wearing a suit or wearing a better-fitting t-shirt. As shown in the episodes "Stand by Meg", "Extra Large Medium", and "Stew-Roids".
  • Hollywood Genetics: Brunet Peter and redheaded Lois conceived blond Chris. Something doesn't add up here... Out-of-universe, the reason for this is that in the pilot, Chris and Lois both had blond hair, but in the series proper, Lois became a redhead while Chris stayed blond.
  • Hormone-Addled Teenager: Chris spends a majority of his free time masturbating, thinking about girls, and looking at pornography like an average boy his age. Depending on the Writer, he zig-zags between this and Kiddie Kid.
  • Hypocrite: Calls Stewie out for his cynicism in "Foxx in the Men House", when later seasons have had him being just as much of a negative asshole as Stewie is (if not more).
  • Idiot Savant: While Chris is a complete dumbass, he does possess savvy drawing skills as well as an extensive knowledge in film.
  • I Just Want to Be Special: Many episodes that focus on Chris showcase his insecurities and imply that he wants to fit in with the popular kids at his school.
  • Innocently Insensitive: Most of Chris' misbehaviours and meanness are done out of sheer ignorance.
  • In Touch with His Feminine Side: He has a large degree of emotional sensitivity, has a very hyperactive and childlike demeanor, and had no qualms over crossdressing at the end of "Stew-Roids".
  • Jerkass Ball: Happens to him in later seasons, where he becomes more cynical and makes snarky remarks at the most unnecessary of times.
  • Jerk Jock: Became one temporarily in "Stew-Roids" when he becomes popular.
  • Karma Houdini:
    • While Meg catches him in the act and blackmails him for it, Chris received no actual punishment for stealing from Lois' purse in "Chris Cross".
    • Received no punishment for locking Stewie in his backpack for five days straight in "Secondhand Spoke".
    • He also received no punishment for holding Meg captive in "Better Off Meg", so he could continue to enjoy the popularity he received over her "death".
  • Kavorka Man: Has dated several attractive girls (one of which resembled his mother).
  • Keet: Seems to be his main schtick in the later seasons, where he becomes more hyperactive and shouts out random things.
  • Kiddie Kid: To Peter's Manchild. Chris has a childlike enthusiasm, pranks Meg for his own amusement, and still wants to sit on Santa Claus' lap well into his teenage years. Zigzagged, as he can also be a Hormone-Addled Teenager Depending on the Writer.
  • Like Father, Like Son: Just as obese and stupid as his father.
  • Like Parent, Like Spouse: At one point, Chris dates a girl, Lindsay, who basically looks like someone stuck Lois' head on a teenager's body. It turns out that he's dating her for this exact reason—he figures that a.) he's the kind of guy who "only his mother could love," and b.) he's hoping to replicate the kind of dysfunctional dynamic that Lois has with Peter.
  • Loser Protagonist: Chris is a geeky, unpopular, typical Hormone-Addled Teenager who wastes his free time dwelling in his room masturbating or using the computer.
  • Loser Son of Loser Dad: Chris is the geeky, unpopular son of his alcoholic, also-obese-and-slow-witted father Peter.
  • Named After Somebody Famous: Grammy-winning rock musician Christopher Cross.
  • Nice, Mean, and In-Between: For the Griffin kids, he is the in-between to Meg's nice and Stewie's mean.
  • Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: It isn't particularly hard for Chris to turn on that "creepy" switch when he wants to. Several episodes point out he even makes a hobby out of killing small animals, which C-3PO notes is the first pathological sign of a future serial killer.
  • No Sense of Personal Space: Has no problem getting up close and personal to touch Alana's knee and then smelling her hair, despite her being visibly uncomfortable.
  • Oblivious to Love: It's unclear if Chris is or isn't aware of Herbert the pedophile's blatant lust for him. In the episode where he befriends a new old man who is actually a surviving Nazi, he complains to Herbert about all the things he's made Chris do for him... because he thinks Herbert just enjoys making him do physical work.
  • Odd Friendship: He quickly becomes friends with Rallo once Cleveland returns to Quahog.
  • Out of Focus: He has become the least featured character of the Griffin family. To the point where, for a time, Joe seriously thought his name was "Caleb".
  • Pink Girl, Blue Boy: The Blue Boy to Meg's Pink Girl. Chris wears a blue shirt, while Meg wears a pink beanie and shirt.
  • Playing with Fire: During the events of "Super Griffins".
  • Plucky Comic Relief: He usually plays this role in the later seasons, where he mostly exists to be funny as a result of being Out of Focus.
  • Rise of Zitboy: The subplot of "Brian the Bachelor" revolves around Chris getting his first pimple, which can talk.
  • Simple-Minded Wisdom: It's been shown in a few episodes that he can be rather smart such as when he explains to Peter and Lois the effects of marijuana and when he starts to question that Herbert is a paedophile when he starts babysitting him along with Meg and Stewie.
  • Simpleton Voice: Although it was slightly different in the earliest episodes.
  • Social Media Is Bad: Discussed; in "Boys & Squirrels" Chris blames Stewie's obsession with social media for the death of their pet squirrel.
    I'm not the one who just had to post a video to Instagram that very second. You couldn't even enjoy the moment for one damn minute before desperately groveling for online approval from Aunts you never talk to and past coworkers you don't even like!
  • Strong Family Resemblance: His chin and obesity is much like Peter's.
  • Stout Strength: Depending on the episode, Chris can be shown fighting adults and other teens without difficulty but is only shown to be one of the weaker members of the Griffin family. In "Stand by Meg", he's shown bench pressing without difficulty.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: After 12 seasons of being friendless, Chris has finally found a friend in Neil Goldman. This also has ended Neil's obsessive crush over Meg. He's also being gradually more used by repeatedly putting him in a trio as Stewie's Dumb Muscle, since he actually understands him.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Around the 11th season where he's now gained an abrupt cynical edge and will insult anyone for no real reason whatsoever. See "Secondhand Spoke" and "Herpe, the Love Sore" (back-to-back episodes) as shining examples.
  • Vague Age: Chris was cited as 14 in "Trading Places", yet celebrates an unspecified birthday in "Save the Money!". Due to the Floating Timeline of the series, it remains ambiguous as to whether he's 15 now.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: In early episodes he wanted his father to be proud of him.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Chris' interactions with Stewie often end with him hurting the toddler, either by mistake or as a prank. He unhesitatingly knocks Stewie over the head with a book in a misguided attempt to cure him from a hallucination and gets into a fist fight with his brother for the right to sit in a massage chair, among other instances.
  • Younger Than They Look: Chris is only in his early teens and hasn't even left puberty yet, but passes for a young adult due to his height and gigantic weight.

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