Captain Reynolds is a Browncoat—a veteran of the stellar civil war that precedes the events of the series by six years. He fought under the rank of Sergeant for the Independents, the side that lost to the Alliance. He has been left bitter by the Independents' loss; he never quite recovered from seeing his ideals crumble around him. Ever since, he has been eking out a living on the wrong side of the law, at the helm of the Firefly-class ship Serenity, defiantly named after the valley where the Alliance's victory was sealed.
Broken Hero: In addition to his A Father to His Men tendencies, and considering what happened to his homeworld, he was ridiculously, recklessly cheerful during the war. It's hard to tell if he's an adrenaline junkie, genuinely considered it just a big adventure, was all an act, was a coping mechanism, or if he was completely unhinged. Or even all of the above. But despite all the stress, he somehow managed to stay pretty upbeat.
To quote from "Heart of Gold": "Shoot the rider, not the horse. Dead horse is great cover, live horse is a great pile o' panic."
Dawson Casting: Inverted, a rare example where the actor is actually younger then the character, Mal is 49 and Nathan Fillion was 32 at the time of shooting.
Death Glare: Serenity doesn't need weapons. It has Mal's eyes!
Disappeared Dad: The one time Mal mentions his past ("Our Mrs. Reynolds"), he says that he was raised by his mother and "about forty hands", but makes no mention of his father.
Doomed Hometown: His homeworld, Shadow was orbitally bombarded by the Alliance so heavily that it was rendered completely uninhabitable afterwards.
Fight Magnet: Mal gets into an unnecessary fight at least once every few episodes.
Lampshaded by Zoe: why does he always manage to find himself in an Alliance-friendly bar come Unification Day?
Not so Different: From Simon, which is something he vaguely acknowledges by the end of the series. Despite their different backgrounds, they both ran afoul of the Alliance and chose to resist in their own ways, protecting what was most important to them.
Older than They Look: He's supposed to be about fifty, but he certainly doesn't look it.
He's 50 years old in a 'verse where the average lifespan is about 120. This puts Mal in the same age bracket that Nathan Fillion was in during the show's production (31 years old, when the average lifespan is about 80).
Rebel Leader: Or at least the leader of his band of varyingly anti-Alliance misfits. As an Independent Sergeant, he didn't have much rank but still was this.
At the Battle of Serenity Valley, he was field-promoted several times as the higher ranking officers were killed, rising from leading a relatively minor unit to over 5000 men at one point, which were whittled down to just 150 by the time of the ceasefire.
Also has a tendency to inspire this. Nowhere shown more clearly than in Serenity, after his crew seems ready to mutiny at the prospect of flying through Reaver space:
"I mean to confound these bungers. Take my shot at getting to Miranda. Maybe find something I can use to get clear of this. So I hear a word out of any of you that ain't helping me out or taking your leave, I will shoot you down. Get to work!"
Lampshaded and defied in "War Stories", when Wash accuses Mal and Zoe of lusting after each other, and at the end of the show we see that they can't even keep a straight face long enough to share a kiss. They really ARE life partners, but not sexually interested in each other.
Would Hit a Girl: At the end of "Our Mrs Reynolds", and the beginning of "Trash." Hard to feel sorry for the one receiving the fist, though.
Just Following Orders: A non-villainous, sometimes questioning, but very pragmatic version. Especially evident in a deleted scene from the pilot. (The "He" being mentioned is Mal).
Zoe: If you get Kaylee through this, I think he'll do right by you. He won't kill unless he has no other option. Simon: What if he tells you to kill me — Zoe: — I kill you.
Military Brat: Zoe's backstory is that she was born ship-side to parents who raised her to be Career Military. This definitely explains her habit of calling Mal "Sir"
The Remnant: According to the tie-in comic "Better Days," Zoe was a member of the "Dust Devils," which were a group of Browncoats who kept fighting after the Independents surrendered.
Undying Loyalty: Toward Mal due to their experience together on the battlefield.
Unresolved Sexual Tension: Parodied — there is just about no lust and even less romantic chemistry between her and Mal, but her husband fears what their long history might mean for such a relationship. They disprove this notion in an almost-kiss that is so damn awkward even Jayne is unsettled.
Characterization Marches On: In early episodes, Wash is a calm, masterful pilot, all nerves of steel while the other characters are panicking. By "The Message" he's just as excitable as anyone else, because Alan Tudyk bought himself an Xbox and discovered he's not the naturally-calm-pilot type, which Tim Minearthrew in on grounds of Rule of Funny. (And, just to confuse things, Wash shows elements of both performances in the Big Damn Movie.)
Taken as a whole, his level of panic seems to be inversely proportional to the actual level of danger. When there's Reavers on their tail and they're running for their lives, he's oddly calm, while if it's something more mundane, he gets more excited.
Zoe: Proximity alert. Must be coming up on something. Wash: Oh my god.What can it be?We're all doomed!WHO'S FLYING THIS THING!? (Beat) Oh right, that would be me. Back to work!
The Conscience: Frequently enough to be noticeable, though others fill this role as well. (Probably one of the things that draws him and Zoe together: they both try to keep things grounded.)
Non-Action Guy: Though he graduates a bit to "Semi-Action Guy" after "War Stories." He's no heavy hitter like Mal, Jayne, or Zoe, but he's apparently more apt to shoot than Kaylee or Simon after that ordeal.
Not really a member of the crew, Inara rents a shuttle for her... services. Despite (or maybe because of) her profession, she is well-versed in the ways of the universe (and sex) and continually shows Hidden Depths—who'd expect a space whore to be good at Sword Fights? Plus, she is a High Class Call Girl, which adds to Serenity's reputation: a woman who can go out in public on the arm of an aristocrat (and into his bedroom) wouldn't be shipping out with Mal and his crew unless they were at least somewhat respectable. Ironically, her profession is legal, which is more than Mal can say.
Ambadassador: Not badass to the degree of the rest of the crew, but she has no qualms with holding people at gunpoint and holds her own in hand-to-hand combat.
Even the Girls Want Her: Inara is shown to be very in demand for both her male and female clientele. And that's without speculating on Kaylee's admiration.
The Face: Officially, her role on the ship is to use her social contacts to "open doors that would otherwise be closed" to a group like Captain Mal and the crew. Being that she's the only one with a legal job she's the only one that can show their face to polite company the crew might need help from.
Ill Girl: Word Of God and Morena Baccarin confirmed a subplot involving Inara with a terminal illness, hinted at in "Serenity," "Out Of Gas," and "Heart of Gold."
Kaylee is the ship's mechanic. She's perky and cheerful more often than not, always optimistic, and innocent—though she does enjoy the simpler pleasures in life. She's the most laid-back and friendly person on the ship at any given time (if you insult the ship itself, though...). She's probably the worst in a fight among the crew, but she's extremely adept at keeping the ship in working order, and seemingly has a spiritual link to it.
Ambiguously Bi: Some of her interaction and dialogue with Inara leans slightly this way.
Badass Adorable: Easily the most panicky in a fight and unwilling to actually hurt people, but when the ship is rigged with a booby trap and the slightest mistake can result in either depressurization or getting raped, eaten and sewn into clothing by rabid space zombies, she's the best choice.
Berserk Button: Not much can get Kaylee mad, but make one smart comment about her ship...
Adorkable: Mostly when he's around Kaylee, and helped along by his Fish Out of Water status - notable in that it's quite a change from the calm, collected demeanour he assumed when he first came on board Serenity.
Badass Bookworm: What he becomes when his Berserk Button is pushed. Jayne learned the hard way that, though Simon may not be the strongest guy around, you do not want to push this button. Ever.
Provoking the Big Brother Instinct of someone who is obviously willing to die for it is something to be shy about.
Cannot Spit It Out: It's difficult for him to act on his feelings for Kaylee (and ends up butchering any conversation with her at least 50% of the time because of the way he words things).
Mind you, by about three episodes into the show, they're both perfectly aware of his feelings towards her, and it is an ongoing discussion topic, he's just too danged shy and proper to do anything about it, even without being distracted by caring for and protecting River.
Fish out of Water: The awkwardness disappears when he's in his element, as shown in the hospital on "Ariel" and also in "Heart of Gold" when Petaline goes into labour. Even though he's never helped with a delivery before. Medicine is his Forte.
River: You gave up everything you had... Simon: Mei-Mei, everything I have is right here.
Honor Before Reason: Basically his whole storyline. He gave up a lucrative job and lifelong dream to help his sister (His hunch being based on some pretty thin logic), ruining his life and turning himself into a fugitive. Later he says he will never harm Jayne or break his oath as a physician, despite Jayne betraying him and threatening him on multiple occasions. And one gets the impression He'd do it all again in a minute.
I Will Find You: Variation; he had already done this when the show opens (although how he does so is seen in the prologue to the Big Damn Movie). Now it is necessary to make sure they don't find her.
Nerves of Steel: Just watch him in "Ariel"! Or the opening of the Big Damn Movie, for that matter - it's the first time he's seen River in several years, she's currently strapped to a chair shrieking and whimpering, and he doesn't so much as twitch an eyebrow!
Took a Level in Badass: Started as the smart guy and became a Badass by the time of the film.
Undying Loyalty: To River. This is one of the most notable things about him as well as his reason for being on Serenity in the first place.
Will They or Won't They?: Kaylee. He is shy about this sort of thing and he is busy taking care of his Mei-Mei. They do at the end of the Big Damn Movie.
River is the aforementioned precious cargo, and Simon's little sister. She's stonecoldcrazy. Withgoodreason, though, and she gets a bit better. She's also a prodigypar excellence, taking to difficult subjects with ease (considering university-level physics to be a "challenge" when she was fourteen, for example). She's enough of an asset to the crew at critical times that it makes up for being The Load when she's freaking out.
Ax Crazy: She has slashed people up in the past, including Jayne, for wearing a Blue Sun t-shirt. In the R. Tam Sessions, she murdered her "counselor" with a pen.
Child Soldier: One of the Academy's goals in... "developing" her.
Cloudcuckoolander: Most of what she says is applicable to the situation at hand, but her language is slightly...perpendicular to reality. Judging by her flashbacks and the R.Tam Sessions, she was pretty much this way before she was driven insane, too.
The Coats Are Off: Just before River tears apart the Maidenhead bar.
Cute Witch: Not a witch in the traditional sense, but she is possessed of supernatural powers and still very cute herself. Actually mistaken for a witch in "Safe".
The Cutie: She wanted so badly to learn, and it cost her dearly.
Deuteragonist: Though Mal is the central character of the series, River and what happened to her at the Academy forms a major part of the conflict over the series, and River is central to a significant number of episodes and her story serves as one of the series' dominant running background plots. Becomes especially apparent in Serenity.
Deconstruction: Of the whole Action Girl concept, showing just how mentally screwed-up a manufactured supersoldier would end up being.
Dirty Mind Reading: Brushes with this in "Objects In Space," and implied in both the movie when she spies on Simon and Kaylee and the comics.
Distressed Damsel: For most of the series — and even when she develops her impressive combat abilities, her insanity still renders her extremely vulnerable.
Spaceship Girl: "Objects in Space." Subverted in that she's only pretending, to confuse the Bounty Hunter. The setup, despite how it tended to be hard science fiction, sure had Jubal convinced!
The Verse's equivalent of a Christian priest, Book also wandered onto Serenity in the pilot, just wanting to walk the 'verse a while. Later he wonders if he's on the wrong ship, but then again, he does seem to knowa lot of things that one doesn't find in The Bible.
Abusive Parents: He left home in his youth to escape his abusive father.
Book: I wasn't born a shepherd, Mal. Mal: You have to tell me about that sometime. Book: No, I don't.
Wild Mass Guessing was all over the place until Joss Whedon finally settled it in A Shepherd's Tale by Deconstructing a Dark and Troubled Past. Book was a feckless thug who tried to become The Unfettered to escape from an Abusive Father. Then he became an Independent Mole and an Alliance torturer, but his inability to choose something to believe in killed over 4,000 people. After finally hitting rock bottom, he found God and religion, dedicating himself to spreading a message of peace and love to compensate for his wasted life.
Dead Person Impersonation: Joss Whedon let slip years ago that Book got his name from someone he killed. Turns out that's Not Hyperbole. He killed a random passer-by who looked like kinda like him and swapped wallets.
Foreshadowing: That Book was more than he seems was hinted as early as the pilot where in the moments after Dobson gets distracted after accidentally shooting Kaylee, Book manages to both disarm Dobson of his gun and knocks him out with a one-two punch.
Good Shepherd: The flock of Serenity could use some good news.
Mysterious Past: Until it was finally revealed in A Shepard's Tale, eight years after the series first aired.
Precision F-Strike: Book is usually the most well-mannered of the crew, but during "War Stories," he busts loose with one of the filthiest Chinese swears in the book (which translates to "filthy fornicators of livestock") upon seeing Zoe come back with Mal's severed ear.
Jayne is a thuggish, misogynistic, crude Jerk with a Heart of Gold. He's not one to leave the back turned near, as he's a bit power-hungry and greedy. What he lacks in delicacy and loyalty, though, he makes up for in strength, size, and fighting prowess.
Accidental Hero: 'Jaynestown' is pretty much this in a nutshell.
Dumb Muscle / Street Smarts Genius Bruiser: While not refined or educated, Jayne is an impressive judge of character (reading Dobson's lies instantly, for example), a reasonably cunning planner, an expert tracker, and a capable pilot. Basically, so long as what he's doing is a practical skill and doesn't require a lot of Book Smarts, he can crack it.
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: And write them letters. And send money to treat their brother Mattie for the damp lung *
The Face: His official job title on the ship is "Public Relations" and considering the Serenity's relations with the public this usually means hurting people.
It's All About Me: Jayne thinks mostly about himself, and is always happy to take the easy way out. Though he does care about his family and the crew, to some extent.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Maybe. Notably, he doesn't seem to have reached Vash The Stampede levels of Obfuscating Stupidity, as he appears to overcorrect whenever he does something out of character, such as putting a transparently stupid grin on his face or saying he wanted him an ear too.
Foil: Jubal is calm, intelligent (though not quite all there), a skilled combatant with a decidedly precise style, and deeply intuitive, able to suss out a person's nature in an eerily quick fashion. Just like River.
Simon: So you're a bounty hunter? Early: No, that ain't it at all. Simon: Then what are you? Early: I'm a bounty hunter. Simon: That's what I said. Early: Yeah, but you didn't say it well.
One of the few recurring villains (they likely intended more, but dying off after one season does mess up plans a bit) of the show, Saffron is a con woman who specializes in seduction. Introduced in (and as) 'Our Mrs Reynolds'.
A crime lord introduced in the second pilot, "The Train Job." Very concerned about reputations, especially his own. He is the second recurring villain of the show.
Back from the Dead: Niska likes to do this to people who die on him during his torture sessions.
Cold-Blooded Torture: This is Niska's modus operandi in the series. He strongly believes in the principles of Shan Yu.
Electric Torture: When Niska gets busy, he likes to start off with this before getting nastier.
Death Ray: Though not so much a ray as a sonic emitter that causes catastrophic internal bleeding. The blue gloves they wear extend to cover their chests under their suits, so they're not affected.
Fan Nickname: "The Hands of Blue," after River's Madness Mantra concerning them. Is probably more widely used than their official title.
Primary villain in Serenity. A special agent/assassin of Parliament, sent out to keep government secrets and take care of loose ends. While he technically represents their interests, they are never seen, making him more-or-less the Dragon-in-Chief.
Affably Evil: For a man who's possibly the most dangerous assassin the Alliance has, he is impeccably polite, willing to negotiate, and seems genuinely saddened by the measures he's forced to take in capturing River Tam.
Badass: Outside of River, arguably the biggest badass in the Firefly universe.
The Operative: I am, however, wearing full body armor. I am not a moron.
Cool Sword: He likes swords way too much for a guy living in a sci-fi world with laser guns..
Lampshaded by Mr. Universe
"He killed me Mal. Killed me with a sword. A sword. How weird is that?"
Determinator: Practically to a Mal Reynolds degree.
Finishing Move: A particularly sweet one where he effectively paralyzes his victim, then places his sword at such an angle that the victim slowly overbalances and is impaled.
Utopia Justifies the Means: His reason for existence; he's apparently OK with the idea he won't exist after he gets his world.
Villainous Breakdown: One inflicted on him by Mal in an ironic, thematic defeat; by the end, he himself says that he's a shell waiting to die, bereft of purpose. In short, exactly what Mal took steps not to become after Serenity Valley.
The Academy technician in charge of taking care of River. He is noticeable for an odd encounter with a certain spoiled rich kid who had curious questions about his baby sister. Vaguely related to this was an investigation by a government agent who gave him lessons about the customs of "certain older, civilized cultures".
Kick the Son of a Bitch: Paralyzing a government scientist and then leaving him helpless to stop himself from being impaled would normally be a Kick the Dog. When said scientist is a mad scientist who Mind Rapes young girls... well, lets put it this way: was anyone not pleased when The Operative killed him?
The Reavers are a band of roving murderous, feral thugs who terrorize everything and everyone they come across. They are infamous for being cannibals, self-mutilation enthusiasts, everyone-else-mutilation enthusiasts, and rapists of both mind and body. They are the survivors of an Alliance experiment to make a planet's population more manageable by using powerful psychotropic drugs on them. This made 99.9% of them catastrophically docile, and they just laid down and died en masse. The remaining 0.1%, however took to the drug just a bit differently and became the base savages known as Reavers.
The Berserker: Played with. When attacking someone face-to-face, the Reavers become mad, frothing, berserk killers. Outside of face-to-face combat, however, Reavers are disturbingly thoughtful and intelligent, laying carefully-prepared traps, operating advanced spacecraft, and deliberately torturing people to break their minds to increase their numbers. They're skilled enough that they can take an entire ship by surprise without leaving any obvious trace of their presence.
Better to Die than Be Killed: No one wants to be taken alive by the Reavers, and no one who can stop it will allow someone else to be, leading to several Mercy Kills.
Zoe: If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing. And if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it In That Order.
Go Mad from the Revelation: Reavers have a penchant for breaking and torturing people into becoming second-generation Reavers simply by exposing them to what they do to others.
Insane Equals Violent: Reversed. They're insane because their aggressor instincts were heightened to a truly ridiculous level, driving them to do the things they do.
