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McKinley High Teachers and Staff

Sue Sylvester

Vice President Ms. Susan Rodham Sylvester (R-OH)

You think this is hard? Try being waterboarded... That's hard!

Portrayed by: Jane Lynch

Voiced by: Rebeca Manríquez (Latin-American Spanish; S1), Magda Giner (Latin-American Spanish; S2-S6)

The coach of the the school's championship cheerleading squad (the Cheerios), and in Seasons 5 and 6 principal. She continually attempts to bring down New Directions, but has a soft side due to her disabled family members, sister Jean and daughter Robin. As of the finale, she is the Vice President of the United States.

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• Alliterative Name: Susan / Sue Sylvester
• Arch-Enemy: She hates Will’s guts (mostly) and is constantly trying to bring both him and the Glee club down. Apparently part of her hate-on for him is that she hates men with curly hair. This is Sue though, so take that with a rather large grain of salt.
• The Artifact: One of the bigger complaints about Season 2, was the fact that it seemed like the writers were running out of ideas for Sue's character. She had her ups and downs, but remained a very enjoyable character of the show.
• Attention Whore: Sue wants all the school's and all of Ohio's attention to be on her.
• The Beard: A variant - Sue is straight, but enough people mistake her for gay due to her butch mannerisms that she feels the need to get a boyfriend to deflect suspicion.
• Berserk Button: Don't you dare say the R-word, especially not about anyone who has Down syndrome. Finn Hudson learns this the hard way. Disrespecting anyone with Down syndrome at all immediately gets you on Sue's sh-t list.
• Bifauxnen: Sue in a Zoot Suit, that is all.
• Big Bad: The main antagonist of the series, being a constant thorn in New Direction's side. Even temporarily sidelined by others baddies, or involved in an uneasy truce, her shadow still looms.
• Breakout Character: The most popular character in the series. She wasn't even in the original outline, and was only added when a network executive said there should probably be a villain. And even then, she wasn't planned to be a regular until another project of Jane Lynch's fell through.
• Break the Haughty: She is a master at recovering from her defeats, but when karma bites her in the back, the results are explosive. Family is also a sore subject for her, her relationship with her mother being strained at best, she had to protect her sister during their childhood who was bullied because of her Down syndrome (and who died during the show, leaving Sue devastated), and her baby also has Down syndrome.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Her Cheerios routines are extremely awesome, all things considered.
• But Not Too Evil: Sue is suppose to be an offensive and non-PC person. Doesn't stop viewers from getting personally offended when she says something not nice, like commenting about Quinn being manic depressive.
• Byronic Hero: As of Season 5. More heroic than the clueless Will, in any case...
• Camp Straight: Despite her many butch attributes, Sue fell for three different men and was implied to have a fling with a fourth, but no women. Though her marriage to herself - obviously a woman - does complicate things. She also outright admits in her monologue in "I Kissed a Girl" that she's straight, discussing how despite fitting various lesbian stereotypes, she's really only attracted to men.
  Sue: Why would someone assume I'm a friend of Ellen? Just because I'm mannish, and highly aggressive, and have short hair, and I only wear tracksuits, and I coach a girls' sport, and I married myself... It just doesn't make sense!
• Catchphrase:
  • "Do you think this is hard? Try [Refuge in Audacity], That's hard!"
  • "And that's how Sue C's it".
  • "HORROR!!!
  • "Outstanding!"
  • "Let me break it down for ya."
  • "Now get the hell out of my office."
• Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: In "Rumours" she starts dressed as David Bowie, cut to a flashback and back, and she's now Ann Coulter. Immediately lampshaded by Terri
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: Sue is the master at dealing them out at mere whims.
• Comedic Sociopathy: The very basis of her character. She performs unbelievable acts of petty cruelty, and sometimes outright felonies, all Played for Laughs.
• Commuting on a Bus: Barring one appearance, was absent from Episode 14 of Season 5 until the first episode of the final season.
• Cruel to Be Kind: As mean-spirited as she can be at times, it's usually done with the best interests at heart. Sometimes...
• Deadpan Snarker: One of the biggest ones of the show, along Santana.
• Death Glare: She loves to give these, though most of the time they are overly dramatic and are played for comedic purpose. The one time she gave a genuinely chilling death glare (when Finn called her baby retarded) was very disturbing, to say the least.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Sue gradually underwent this throughout Season 3.
• Depending on the Writer: Can vary from a Jerk with a Heart of Gold to an out-and-out Jerkass, depending on what episode it is.
• Disproportionate Retribution: As you might have guessed, Sue has obviously dabbled in this once or twice.
• Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: She slips Figgins a roofie and uses photos of their forced tryst as blackmail against him. This is never treated as anything other than comedic. It is strongly implied that nothing actually happened, as she was fully dressed.
• Dramatic Drop: Sue's overreaction to the Glee students using the photocopier.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Puts her Cheerios through the wringer, with outlandish, fiendishly difficult and sometimes outright dangerous training regimes. Seems to work given her year-long winning streak.
• Driven to Suicide: After her Humiliation Conga (see below), she attempts to commit "Sue-icide" (Though this was actually a feint.).
• Enemy Mine: Happens occasionally.
  • She has an absolute hatred towards bullying (since her disabled sister was the target of it, and ironically she became quite a bully herself), which led her to team up with Will on some occasions, including season 6, when she is in on Will's plan to teach Vocal Adrenaline a lesson (and get back at them after what they did to Sheldon), and unleash her (real) hounds on them after having slashed the tires of their bus.
  • Forms one with Roz Washington, her Cheerios coach replacement, to educate the Glee club girls about domestic violence not being a joking matter.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • In "Journey", Sue was absolutely disgusted when the judges screwed over New Directions at Regionals simply because they lacked the flare (which in one case meant outright sucking up to the judges) of the other competitors.
  • In "Furt", Sue, who is a bully herself as well as a victim of bullying (due to her disabled sister), takes Kurt seriously and resigns as principal in protest of Karofsky being able to return to school.
  • She and Roz Washington set up a proper teaching lesson about domestic violence to Santana, Brittany, Tina, Mercedes, and Sugar after hearing them joke about Beiste's new black eye. When Beiste reveals that was actually what happened, Sue offers Beiste to crash at her place for a while.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • While Sue can be mean to pretty much anybody, the one person she shows absolutely no malice towards is her older sister, Jean, who was born with Down Syndrome. Her death in season 2 crushes her greatly.
  • She's a Mama Bear to her daughter Robin, also born with Down Syndrome.
  • Outside of family, Becky is the one she deeply cares about. She goes to great lengths looking after her, particularly because Becky reminds her of her sister Jean.
• Evil Is Bigger: As played by the 6'0" Jane Lynch, Sue towers over almost all of the student characters, and even some of the adult men.
• Evil Laugh: With confetti cannons, too.
• Fabricated Blackmail: After being fired, Sue drugs Principal Figgins and takes pictures of the two of them in bed together. She uses this to get her job back. To drive home how staged the whole thing is, Sue pulls back the sheets to reveal she is fully clothed.
• For the Evulz: Fundamentally Sue's reason for functioning, breathing, and existing.
  • In "The Substitute":
  Sue: My first order of business: destroy Glee Club.
  Will: I thought we were friends?
  Sue: Yeah, that got boring.
• Glamorous Single Mother: From what we've seen from her house in previous seasons, she has no trouble supporting her daughter financially, and she regularly uses Kitty as a babysitter, which makes it seem a little odd when she says to Millie Rose in "Glee, Actually" that "we single parents know how tough it is". When you remember that Robin has Down's syndrome, though, it may lead to...
• Good Is Not Nice: After her Heel–Face Turn in season 3. For a given value of "good".
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Sue is basically this, depending of the circumstances and mostly what amuses her the most at the moment between helping or antagonizing New Directions.
• Heel–Face Turn: In "Funeral", she says she's going to stop going after the glee club and start making the world a better place for disabled people like Jean... Then subverted. She tries to be nice, but by the start of the next season she is attacking not only New Directions but every show choir in America, then done straight: by the halfway point of season 3, Sue makes it her mission in life to get New Directions named national champions. She develops a very adorable Good Cop/Bad Cop and Vitriolic Best Friends routine with Will. However, she has a tendency to change sides on a whim.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Sue has a soft spot for the disabled and people who get bullied, though she is rather selective about that, since she is a bully herself and while she wants to protect gay people, she isn't as tolerant towards transgender people (see her treatment of Unique).
• Hoist by Her Own Petard:
  • This is what led to her temporary suspension in "Sectionals" after the leaked setlists with her letterhead and handwriting were delivered to Figgins's hands.
  • Her plan to win a Local Emmy by doing a scathing expose on Glee's production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show is derailed when she accidentally convinces Will to cancel the show.
  • Her torturing of the club in the time leading up to Regionals inspires them to write the song that gives them the win.
  • She gets Quinn, Santana, and Brittany to join the club as moles. Finding that they enjoy being around people who support and care about them, they decide to stay. Sue has a pretty poor track record with her evil plans, doesn't she?
• Humiliation Conga: The entire third act of "The Sue Sylvester Shuffle." Quinn, Santana, and Brittany quit the Cheerios, Sue loses Nationals for the first time in seven years, is somehow voted Biggest Loser of the Year, and the rest of the Cheerios' budget for the year goes to New Directions.
• Ice Queen: Cold as the Artic and in complete control.
• Instant Web Hit: Sue's "Physical" music video in Bad Reputation.
• Implausible Deniability: Sue in "Sectionals", after Figgins confront her leaking the setlist and all the increasingly damning amount of evidence pointing at her, to which she replies with ludicrous lies completely straight-faced.
• It's All About Me: To Sue, the world must revolve around her and her alone. She hates the Glee Club so much because it takes the spotlight (and budget) away from her and her Cheerios.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: At prom when she tries to get Artie to tell her who put him up to spiking the punch. She never got around to actually pulling his teeth out, though, thanks to a fight Finn started in the gym.
• Jerkass: Sue is a real ass to everyone, except people with disabilities. During season one, every time she is hit with Laser-Guided Karma, she ultimately ends up benefiting from it. She has no qualms about doing unforgivable and illegal things as long as it serves her interests.
• Jerkass Has a Point: In trying to sack Will while Principal. Will is clueless enough to think that singing songs about date-rape and twerking on stage with underage minors is a good thing. Or having the entire Glee club spend a week walking around in Lady Gaga costumes just the week before. No real-life teacher would get away with such antics... and that is just within the first five weeks of her reign! And a week later, when Will asks for $600 for Nationals costumes. Sue says no unless Will can explain how he can afford all of the costumes for their mid-episode dances, such as Artie's $1,000+ "Lady Gaga airbag" from three episodes ago, and yet not afford money for the Nationals costumes. Will doesn't give us an explanation...
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Has proven on several occasions that she actually has a pretty big heart.
• Karma Houdini: Even though she gets setback or occasionally taken down a peg, she's so far avoided any real consequences for her worst actions, which would have landed her in jail. Generally, it's an Acceptable Break from Reality. Without Sue, the show wouldn't be half as interesting.
• Kick the Dog: Sue enjoys doing this so much that if it were a sport, she would be the gold medalist. In "Funeral," she kicks Becky off the Cheerios because she reminded her of her own sister Jean, who'd died the day before. She gets better.
• Kindly Housekeeper: Not her, but she keeps one named Imelda around.
• Leitmotif: The show seems to use "O Fortuna" as one for her. It almost always plays during one of her rampages...which is often.
• Limited Wardrobe: Her track suits.
• Little Sister Instinct: Towards her older sister, Jean. Being born with Down Syndrome and with neither of their parents around, Sue took it upon herself to look after her sister and loves her unconditionally.
• Lonely at the Top: Flat-out stated in "Funk"
• Mama Bear: Gives a truly impressive Death Glare to Finn in 4.05 when Finn calls her baby daughter (who has Down's syndrome) "retarded".
• Mistaken for Gay: In-universe, during Sue's campaign for Congresswoman, one of her opponents tries to make it seem like Sue is gay because she's unmarried and because she appointed a lesbian, Santana, as head cheerleader. However, as we've seen in her previous dalliances with men and as she confirms in the following episode, Sue is actually straight. As mentioned above (see The Beard), this apparently happens to her often.
• Mommy Issues: Explored in "Furt".
• Morality Pet: Her sister and Becky. Also, Kurt to a degree.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: She does EVERYTHING to get Blaine and Kurt back together. She succeeds. And looks very pleased with herself. And, officially, becomes beloved by almost all fans.
• The Nicknamer: Rarely calls the kids by their real names.
  • In "Throwdown", she addresses the minority students as "Santana! Wheels! (Artie) Gay Kid! (Kurt) Asian! (Tina) Other Asian! (Mike) Aretha! (Mercedes) Shaft! (Matt)"
  • In "Furt", when Kurt asks her to stop calling him 'Lady', she offers him a choice of three alternatives: Gelfling, Porcelain, and Tickle Me Doe-Face. (He goes with Porcelain.)
  • Again in "Extraordinary Merry Christmas", when she calls Artie, Kurt and Blaine into her office. Blaine seems upset when she at first calls him "Other Gay", but seems pleased when she rectifies this by calling him "Young Burt Reynolds". She later also dubs him a shaven Tom Selleck.
  • Subverted when it comes to fourth-season newcomer Marley Rose, who simply doesn't have very many negative/extreme/racial points that Sue can make fun of at all. In that respect, Sue freely admits that she hasn't thought of a name for Marley at all, but when she tries a few seconds later, all Sue can manage to do is compliment her. Though, given the bulimia disaster, you wouldn't be surprised if you later heard Sue call her something along the lines of "Vomit Factory!"
• Obviously Evil: By now, the Glee kids really should have stopped taking any advice she gives them.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: "O Fortuna" is used to hilarious effect during the Sue vs. Will scenes in episode 7. And again during her rampage in the Superbowl episode. And again in Glease...
• Pet the Dog:
  • All of Sue's actions in Episode 9, really: reading Little Red Riding Hood to her sister, accepting Becky into the Cheerios despite her disability, treating her no differently than the other members of the squad, donating money to build three new wheelchair ramps in the school...
  • In "Journey" she manipulates Principal Figgins into giving Will and New Directions another year because she respects the relationships he has with his students. Besides, what would she do without an enemy?
  • In "Furt" she promises to keep an eye on Karofsky in case he harasses Kurt again, and has him expelled as soon as the death threat comes to light. She also resigns as principal partly due to the school board overruling her expulsion of Karofsky.
  • In "Glee, Actually", she sells a valuable Christmas tree to a toothpick factory and leaves the money at Marley's house so Marley's mom can pay for her daughter's therapy. She also leaves them a bunch of presents, something they would otherwise have had to miss out on in order to put the money towards Marley's treatment. She may have also been responsible for buying the tree, since Marley's mother had decided to forgo getting one, as it costs $50.
• Pretend Prejudice:
  • It varies, but Sue spews an incredible volume of invective at just about every conceivable group, while at the same time not really treating those groups markedly different from anybody else (her chief cheerleader/minion is Latina and a lesbian, she recruited Kurt (gay) and Mercedes (black) onto the team without a problem). She basically just seems to be a misanthrope who will use any insult at her disposal. Occasionally, she's been shown to have a much better understanding of privilege than Will "We're all minorities!" Schuester.
  • Sue is the living embodiment of the Competition Theory of racism: she doesn't feel any actual prejudice towards any group, but she will exploit whatever edge she can get, whether it be race, gender, sexuality, disability, anything. If dissing someone for being gay will give her an edge, she'll use it. If dissing someone for being prejudiced against gays will give her an edge, she'll use it. If an opening for dominance exists anywhere, Sue will use it.
• Psychopathic Womanchild: Though she might think otherwise, Sue's melodramatic behavior, pathological need for control, petty rivalry against a group of teenagers and tendency to throw violent tantrums paint a picture of a person whose mental age lags far behind their physical age.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: During her short tenure as Principal. Also has shades of this trope throughout the series, but to a more subtle extent.
• Refuge in Audacity: Her standard modus operandi.
• Running Gag: Whenever Sue gets really frustrated and furious, she destroys everything in her path like a wild demon, while O Fortuna plays in the background.
• Sadist Teacher: To the point where it gets physical. From her brutal yet efficient ways of training the 'Cheerios' cheerleading squad, to the way she throws things around and almost throws a kid out of a corridor when she's angry in one episode. She has her reasons for this - bullying someone for being different seems to be her own Berserk Button. Although she ruthlessly terrorizes the school, she is very much an equal-opportunity bully, and the kids know it.
• Salt the Earth: Sue actually salted the earth in her backyard when she sold her house.
• Screw Yourself: She tried to marry herself in "Furt". It may or may not be legal...
• Serious Business: Domestic Abuse. Sue is the first person to sling an offensive joke, but she will not tolerate students making light of spousal violence. Period.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: In "Puppet Master", both in a fantasy sequence and in reality.
• Ship Tease:
  • In "Funk" they really tease the hell out of the Sue and Will ship.
  • Their dance to "Sing, Sing, Sing" was kind of adorable, too.
  • The Belligerent Sexual Tension kind in "Child Star". She's probably trying to intimidate Will with getting her face this close to his, but it looked a lot like Almost Kiss. Not to mention, their newest feud emerged from Sue making about Will something that she'd originally brought onto herself from the third party. Her inability to go too long without picking on him with no reason sometimes appears like a Villainous Crush.
• Shipper on Deck: Is revealed to be a fanatical Klaine shipper. Terrifyingly fanatical! We're talking Saw here! Complete with her own Jigsaw!
• Small Name, Big Ego: Subverted; though Sue has won national cheerleading competitions for X amounts of years in a row, gives interviews, and said to have written a book (in "Journey"), Sue is still a teacher and (as Olivia Newton-John says) "lives in Ohio!"
• Smug Snake: A definite defining characteristic of Sue. The problem in her case is that she often has a reason to be smug, as she is indeed often in control of any situation she is in and does not only masterfully plays her part, but often comes in top in any confrontation she has. What’s worse, she seems to relish in the effect her smugness has on others.
• Stealth Insult: Sue, being Sue, manages to sneak one to Will in her rendition of Vogue on "The Power Of Madonna".
• Stalker Shrine: Yes, she has one, though chances are you will be stunned when you discover who it is dedicated to: Klaine. She shipped Blaine and Kurt, hoping that she would be the flower girl at their wedding. She even goes as far as to try to make them come back together in season 6! And it works!
• Strawman Political: Early on, she tended towards being a Straw Conservative. This has been toned down, particularly since the beginning of the "Back 9" of Season 1; she's subsequently acquired a couple of Straw Liberal traits, and a bunch of randomly crazy ones that don't really relate to any ideology. Maybe the writers realized the inherent contradictions of being comically self-centered and Strawman Conservative and a union public-sector worker.
• Straw Feminist: Not usually, but from time to time Sue will react with something like "Nobody would oppose this if I were a man!" when someone opposes to one of her (objectively insane and in no way gender-related) ideas.
• Taking the Heat: During the episode "Shooting Stars", a gun is fired (twice) inside the school, which cause a general panic. She confesses to Will, Shannon and Figgins that it was her gun which was fired accidently, when she was cleaning it, and she accepts the consequences of her actions (namely, getting fired)... Except that she in fact covered for Becky, who brought a gun to school in order to protect herself, and who accidentally fired it when giving it to Sue.
• Team Mom: Gradually grows into (an albeit begrudging) one of these for New Directions. She will deny it to her deathbed, but she has a soft spot in the blackened husk replacing her heart for them.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Sue tends to perform utterly epic ones whenever she can.
  • Delivers probably her most spectacular one yet to Will in season 6, pointing out just how a self-centered, hypocrite and creepy guy he has been in many occasions, denouncing his blatant favoritism of some kids over the others, the fact that he never thanked the band who has always been there to help him and the Glee club (truth is, he doesn't even know the names of the musicians), and the fact that he was a mediocre language teacher (who accepted not one but two "teacher of the year" award despite not speaking a single word of Spanish!).
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Emma's Girly Girl.
• Took a Level in Kindness: She mellowed out of her evilness in some seasons, becoming a bona fide ally of Will and the kids. However, drama dictates that she must become an antagonist again when the time comes, every time someone does something she perceives as an insult. And she really just loves to do this For the Evulz.
• Torture Technician: She threatens to pull Artie's teeth out during "Prom Queen".
• Totalitarian Utilitarian: Her attainment of the permanent position as principal leads to what could best be described as a reign of terror. That said, her commitment to making the students live in fear of her wrath while enforcing a strict academic curriculum has boosted McKinley's rankings to a level putting it on par with elite private schools like Dalton Academy.
• Tritagonist: when she isn't The Antagonist.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Sue is a master at this and relishes in rubbing it in the face of her opponents
  "I am engorged with venom, and triumph."
• Victory Is Boring: At least part of the reason (and the main reason that she'll admit to) that she helped the glee club in the first season finale. What would she do without Will to push around?
• Villain Song: Sue's version of "Vogue". Also "You're a Mean One, Sue the Grinch"
• Villainous Rescue: In "Journey", Sue manages to secure another year for New Directions even after they didn’t place at Regionals.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Sue, of all people, calls Will out thrice: once on his treatment of his minority students, once on his treatment of disabled students, and once on relying on gimmicks rather than trusting in his kids. Amazingly enough, she's totally right.
  • Two of those are rather debatable, particularly the disabled one - Will assumed that Sue had some sort of sadistic ulterior motive, which is completely justified given what he knows about her.
• When She Smiles: Most of the time, Sue is only smiling when she's acting smug, and when all is going according to her plan. In "Glee, Actually", following her Pet the Dog gesture, the Glee club decides to sing a Christmas song to thank her. Her smile during the last seconds of the episode is incredibly heartwarming.
• Wild Card: While in Season 1 she was focused on hating and destroying Will and the club in Season 2 it's become almost impossible to predict what she'll do next, why or how.
• Woman Scorned: When she has problems in her love life (as evidenced by "Mash-Up"), she takes it out on everyone around her.
• Worthy Opponent: Eventually sees Will as this.
• Younger Than They Look:
  • In "Vitamin D", Sue wrote in her diary that she's turning thirty soon, which means she's only twenty-nine, or in deep, hilarious denial.
  • She also claims to have participated in Operation Just Cause in 1989, so it seems that denial would be more likely.
  • She claims to have been involved in My Lai, putting her in her early 60s, if not older
  • Mercedes even caught her in a lie about her age when she realized the math just didn't add up.
  • In Funeral Sue states that Jean (her older sister) was over 50 at the time of her death, making it likely that Sue is quite a bit older than her stated age of 30.
  • So, in this case at least, Sue is an Unreliable Narrator.
  • There are so many instances of the math of her age not adding up (examples not mentioned here include, but probably are not limited to, claiming having been a teacher for 20 years in 1.02 and having frozen her eggs in the 70s in the third season, the first of which would make her 40+ and the second 60+ years old), that it can well be considered a Running Gag.

Emma Pillsbury

Emma Pillsbury-Schuester

Well you can't blame her Will; if we were to rate crush worthy teachers in this school you'd be number one with a bullet.

Portrayed by: Jayma Mays

Voiced by: Nallely Solís (Latin-American Spanish)

The school's obsessive-compulsive germophobic guidance counselor. Is in love with Will but got engaged to the football coach, Ken, because he was still married to Terri at the time. They began going out after he left her.

At the end of season one, she begins dating her dentist Carl, who actually begins to help her with her OCD. Eventually, they get married, until her continued crush on Will leads to them getting an annulment.. She is now married to Will Schuester.

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• Abusive Parents: Her parents used to tie her thumbs together to stop her from cleaning everything. She chewed through the twine. "It was so cute!" And rather than being remotely understanding about her mental illness, they pick on her and belittle her over it. "Is that my little Freaky Deaky?"
• Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Terri’s Veronica.
• Beware the Nice Ones: After learning from Sue about Will's escapades throughout the second half of season 1, she's beyond furious. She's even more furious after New Directions loses Regionals (supposedly due to Sue's machinations) and Principal Figgins wastes no time in canceling the club in "Journey".
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The Redhead of the trio.
• Break the Cutie: A lot of moments, but probably the worst was when Terri tells Emma that she will never have a chance with Will and she may as accept her consolation prize and marry Ken.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Mostly averted, Emma often gives and takes on board bad advice, struggles to give anybody guidance with sex issues, though later episodes show that she can be a capable counselor when necessary, like when she was talking with Artie in "Dream On". Whenever she makes Will listen to reason, she generally shows herself to be thoughtful and extremely observant.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Emma is kind of spacey, but that adds to her charm.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Emma is often shown in yellow clothing. This can be both symbolic of her general positivity, hopefulness, and intelligence. It can also reflect her timid and somewhat cowardly tendencies.
• Crazy-Prepared: She has pamphlets for everything.
• The Cutie
• Deadpan Snarker: Only to Sue. The moments where Emma stops being a frightened little Woobie and delivers a perfect one-liner are some of the funniest moments in the show.
  (Sue walks in with dark eye makeup)
  Emma: Sue! Did someone finally punch you? (flawless smile)
  • Not only to Sue, though
  Rachel: I guess I just don't have a gag reflex.
  Emma: When you're older, that will turn out to be a gift.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Emma to Will.
• Freudian Excuse: One episode implies that at least part of the reason for her germophobia results from her ginger-supremacist parents making her clean glasses and silverware touched by a non-ginger server at a restaurant.
• Hates Being Touched: The reason she's a virgin. Over the course of the series she slowly gets better, culminating in her and Will sleeping together in "Nationals".
• Heroic BSoD: In "Diva" she has a panic attack about planning for the wedding, and starts completely trashing her office until Finn Shut up kisses her.
• Important Haircut: Not so much a haircut as a style-change. In "Special Education", her hair is not as perky as it is in the previous episodes. This reflects how Carl is making her less obsessive about her life. She did get an actual haircut earlier in the season - also designed to show how dating Carl is getting her to break out of her shell.
• Love Hurts: Episode 2 showed Emma sitting in her car, in the rain, and crying while listening to sad music because she has such a crush on Will.
• The Maiden Name Debate: When Emma gets engaged to Ken, she specifically tells him that she's going to keep her name. Later on, one of the ways that it is made clear to the audience that Emma has indeed married Carl is a shot of her old name plate reading "Ms. Emma Pillsbury" being replaced with a new one that reads "Ms. Emma Pillsbury-Howell".
• Motor Mouth: Pulls one during the song "(Not) Getting Married Today". Jayma Mays, that was awesome.
• Nature Abhors a Virgin: In "Hell-O", Emma confesses to Will that she's a virgin. If her insecurity about her virginity is any indication, then this is the direction her character will go.
• Neat Freak: It results from her phobia of germs.
• Nice Girl: Very sweet and caring, for all her crazy. In fact, her crazy is part of her sweetness.
• Terrified of Germs: To the point of sanitizing everything around her and taking several decontamination showers at time.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to Sue's Tomboy.
• Visual Innuendo: Emma singing about how she could have "done a thousand things I've never done before" combined with a close-up of a pearl necklace?
• What the Hell, Hero?: Emma to Will when he gets upset about her and Ken's wedding being scheduled for the same day as Sectionals, not only assuming that Ken did this on purpose but also that Sectionals is more important than their wedding. And delivers another one when Sue tells her about Will and Shelby/Will and April.

Principal Figgins

Principal Figgins

My hands are tied, Schue!

Portrayed by: Iqbal Theba

Voiced by: Juan Alfonso Carralero (Latin-American Spanish; S1-S5), Nicolás Frías (Latin-American Spanish; S6)

The principal of William McKinley High. Known to be quite the cheapskate.

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• Blackmail: How Sue pushes him around in Season 1.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: He thinks vampires are real. And in a DVD extra that William Shakespeare was an American president.
• Insistent Terminology: "So-called Finchel".
• Instant Web Hit: Averted. It only got 2 hits.
• Kick the Dog: cutting the Glee club even though it only lost to the national champions, a choir that found out who the judges were, and despite the fact Sue Sylvester was one those judges.]
• Only Sane Man: Most of the time.
• Only Sane Employee: When Sue replaces him.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Again, most of the time.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: In "Britney 2.0", with some Brain Bleach thrown in:
  Figgins: I would like to address the rumor that I like to be milked like a cow because my breasts are full of wholesome, nourishing milk. This rumor is not true.
• Took a Level in Badass: After finding out about all of Sue's shenanigans he FINALLY asserts his authority in suspending her pending an investigation. The look on his face afterwards suggests he knows about the can of worms he's opened.
• Unsettling Gender-Reveal: He didn't realize that Unique was, in fact, born a boy.
• Unwitting Pawn: The reason why Sue gets away with so much crap.

Coach Beiste

Sheldon Beiste

Do not get up in The Panther's business, lady. You're all coffee and no omelet.

Portrayed by: Dot Marie Jones

Voiced by: Gabriela Gómez (Latin-American Spanish)

Ken Tanaka's intimidating but gentle replacement as football coach. Although he butts heads with Will and Sue in his first appearance, soon he becomes a staunch ally to the glee club and eventually even Sue warms up to him. Came out as trans (female to male, birth name of Shannon) in the final season.

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• All There in the Manual: After the events of the Grand Finale, Sheldon became a coach for the Cleveland Browns.
• Big Eater: He eats a chicken for every meal. A whole chicken.
• Domestic Abuse: "Choke" revealed that Beiste is in an abusive relationship, and even after Sue offered to rescue him, he still went back to his abuser. The marriage ends in "Props", though.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Harsh and strict towards the football team, but this is part of the Jerk with a Heart of Gold personality.
• Gentle Giant: He's built like a tank, but wouldn't hurt a fly.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Some of his Jerkass and Drill Sergeant Nasty characteristics are an act to get results from his team and to hide his insecurities, but once he drops the act he's a genuinely decent and nice person. This is especially evident in his forgiving Will for his previous Jerkass behavior himself, something that he has no reason at all to do. He also allows Finn back on the football team after kicking him off and even gives Artie a chance to prove himself on the field.
• Lame Comeback: In a weird variant, Beiste's comebacks to Sue are completely nonsensical, but this in itself completely throws Sue off her game.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: "Beiste" is pronounced like "Beast." Subverted, though, since he's actually a giant pussy cat.
• Odd Friendship: With Sue, of all people. Even though Sue still snipes at Beiste and has a rivalry with him, when Sue discovered that Beiste's husband hit him, she immediately offered to let Beiste come live with her.
• Papa Bear: Do NOT mess with the Glee kids, especially Puck.
• Parental Substitute: To Puck.
  "You are loved, pumpkin. You are not alone."
• Pædo Hunt: One of Sue's ploys to get Beiste fired is to get Brittany to claim that Beiste touched her boobs.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Beiste's characterization, clothing style, and delivery is very similar to football coach predecessor Ken's, to the point that one dating site pairs them up!
• Verbal Tic: Tends to call everyone close to him "Pumpkin."

Other Notable Students

Becky Jackson

Rebecca Faye Jackson

Got it, coach!

Portrayed by: Lauren Potter

Voiced by: Gaby Ugarte (Latin-American Spanish; S1-S3), Xóchitl Ugarte (Latin-American Spanish; S3, in Prom-asaurus and Nationals; S4-S6)

A Handicapable Cheerio with Down's Syndrome, who showed up in "Wheels" and has never been too far away since. In Season 3 she becomes co-captain of the Cheerios (with Santana).

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• All Love Is Unrequited: It's revealed in "Yes/No" that she has a crush on Artie, and is very vocal about it, to the point of sending him a nude pic without his consent. Even after he turned her down as politely as he could, she continued making advances at him, and while he doesn't feel for her the way she feels for him, Artie genuinely likes her as a friend and wants the best for her. This is particularly shown in "Movin' Out", in which he encourages her to be honest with herself and take a chance on college. She appears to have gotten over him in season 6, when it's revealed she got an actual loving boyfriend, Darrell, after graduating.
• Axes at School: She brought a gun to school with her in "Shooting Stars".
• Badass Adorable: See Serious Business below.
  • Her "raindeer dog" costume in A Very Glee Christmas.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Don't let her disabilities fool you; she can get pretty mean and manipulative. See her strip poker game with Puck at the anti-prom in "Promasaurus".
• Deadpan Snarker: Especially when she and Sue hold Cheerio tryouts and Finn tries to dance.
• The Dragon: As of Season 2, she's Sue's semiofficial right-hand woman. Perhaps the strangest example of this trope ever. In season 3, she's made co-captain of the Cheerios.
• Food as Bribe: In "Glee, Actually", Millie bribes her with candy to get her to tell that yes, it was Sue who gave them the presents and money for Marley's treatment.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Double-subverted. She's blond and portrayed as young and innocent and generally sweet but can actually be a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, however she's overall more Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
• Inspirationally Disadvantaged: Started as such, but as she begins to show Sue's influence, it's less and less apparent.
• Morality Pet: Initially to Brittany, but more and more to Sue.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: "Did I do something wrong?"
• Replacement Goldfish: To Sue, who can't help but see her sister Jean in Becky.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After failing to be nominated for prom queen in her senior year. She attacks the cafeteria line and declares a war on xylophones.
• Serious Business: From the Rocky Horror Glee Show: "Give me some chocolate or I will cut you."
  • Note that this was during the Halloween episode and Becky was dressed as Sue.
• Sophisticated as Hell: Her inner monologue voice is a very ghetto (and very uncredited) Dame Helen Mirren.
• Spoiled Brat: In "Glee, Actually". After Sue gives her presents, and Becky throws every single one aside:
  Sue: How about this one? (Becky opens it and throws it aside) Becky, it's a beautiful sweater from Benetton.
  Becky: Epic fail! I've already got one of these, Coach! Give me something I don't already have!
  Sue: Like what?
  Becky: Like a hot date! Or a snowmobile!
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Under Sue's influence.

Jesse St. James

Jesse St. James

I like to give impromptu concerts for the homeless - it's so important to give back.

Portrayed by: Jonathan Groff

Voiced by: Gerardo García (Latin-American Spanish)

Member of Vocal Adrenaline, the Glee Club's biggest competition going in to Regionals. Was in a relationship with Rachel in the back nine of Season 1. It ends in "Funk", when Jesse goes back to Carmel High, and he and the rest of Vocal Adrenaline egg Rachel, putting him back on the "heel" side of the "heel"/"face" divide.

He returns for the final three episodes of season two in order to make amends with Rachel after he was kicked out of UCLA for only going to his theater classes. Mr. Schuester later hires him as a consultant for New Directions, to the dismay of everyone save Rachel.

By Season 3 he has become the coach for Vocal Adrenaline (again) and by the Grand Finale, has married Rachel.

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• All Girls Want Bad Boys
• Alliterative Name: If you omit the St. in his name, that is.
• All Love Is Unrequited: Implied to still have feelings for Rachel long after their breakup(s). Requited by the end, as they end up married.
• The Bad Guy Wins: At least in the first season.
• Badass Boast: YMMV on this, but he and the rest of Vocal Adrenaline singing "Another One Bites The Dust" personally to the members of New Directions just oozes "you're screwed". By the reactions of most of the members of New Directions, they seem to achieve the purpose a Badass Boast usually does.
• Becoming the Mask: He admits to Shelby that he's starting to fall for Rachel.
• Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Finn's Betty.
• Birds of a Feather: Seemingly with Rachel.
• Brainless Beauty: This seems to be the case come his return in "Prom Queen."
• Brutal Honesty: His absolutely ripping Santana's, Mercedes's, and Kurt's performances apart in "Funeral" could count as this.
• Camp Straight: To some degree.
  • It's played with. Jonathan Groff doesn't portray him as "camp" in terms of mannerisms, but the character is written as a total musical theatre nerd, so there's some overlap. The first thing the boy DOES is tell Rachel she lacks Barbra Streisand's emotional depth. He's also a straight Stephen Sondheim fanboy, which is a pretty good example of the way the show subverts stereotypes.
• Cassandra Truth: No one in New Directions listens to his criticisms during Season 2, choosing to believe that their Power of Friendship approach will garner them the win. Surprise surprise, National Show Choir Championships don't work like that, and they finish in twelfth place.
• Casting Gag: Not his first dysfunctional relationship with Lea Michele.
• Celebrity Paradox: Rachel sings "Let It Go" from Frozen in the final season. His actor plays one of the main characters there.
• Character Development: Season one he's dedicated more to his music career and life at Vocal Adrenaline to the point that he eggs his ex-girlfriend after luring her to a parking lot. Rachel may have forgiven him except New Directions reeled her back in because he hadn't really changed or shown he was sorry. Several years later, he is still pining after her but gives her space and works on improving himself as a person. Once he's proven that he has truly changed, Rachel gives him another chance and marries him.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: It's pretty obvious that he's evil, since he wears black and dark gray all the time! Possibly subverted in season two: he keeps the dark colors and is still a major jerkass, but he's shown himself to be on New Directions' side.
• Department of Redundancy Department: He's going to the University of California, Los Angeles. Perhaps you've heard of it? It's in Los Angeles.
• Derailing Love Interests: He goes from "I'm starting to have feelings for Rachel and I don't want her to get hurt" to being utterly cruel for no fathomable reason. One theory is that Vocal Adrenaline had him act this way as is initiation to return and he chose ambition over his girlfriend. While the way he broke up with her could still make sense, the egg-assault in the parking lot and him acting like she somehow did something to deserve it does not make sense, especially since the last time we saw them they were perfectly happy together and she had done nothing to upset him, though the implication was that he saw Rachel still had some degree of feelings for Finn and decided to dump her. Subverted later on though — he makes it clear that he regrets his actions and has clearly reformed by the end to the point of ending up with Rachel.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: As the New Direction's consultant near the end of season 2. He provides some rather harsh critiques. He wasn't entirely wrong.
  • When he returns in season 3 as the coach for Vocal Adrenaline, we see he's kept the persona, but lost the point.
• Duet Bonding: How he wins Rachel over in "Hell-O" with Lionel Richie's Hello. And how he leads up to his apology to Rachel in "Prom Queen" with Adele's Rolling in the Deep.
• Easily Forgiven: Most probably by Rachel, at least; zigzagged in that she refused to take him back. On the other hand, Finn didn't look like he was about to forgive Jesse any time soon, and neither do Mercedes and Kurt.
  Kurt [to Rachel]: Correction. You had feelings for him. He made breakfast on your head.
• Entitled Bastard: In season 2, he starts flattering Rachel and kissing her butt to make up for the egging incident and to win her back, because surely she will forget about how cruelly he dumped her. Jesse gets a reality check when Rachel chooses Finn and is visibly disappointed.
• Evil Counterpart
• Foil: To Finn, being a confident, promising singer and performer on par with Rachel.
• Hidden Depths: He seems to bring this out in Shelby, especially in "Dream On", and admits to actually starting to fall for Rachel.
• Insufferable Genius
• Jerkass: To nearly everyone - especially Finn, but not so much Rachel.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: His Drill Sergeant Nasty critiques as a Consultant in Season 2 weren't without merit. While his delivery could have been improve, every single one of his critiques were valid and New Directions dismissing them ultimately bit them in the ass at Nationals.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: It seems in season one that he got away with betraying New Direction and breaking Rachel's heart. Come season two, he got kicked out of college, and when he tries to get back together with Rachel, he fails because Rachel, despite her temptation, isn't so brainless as to get back together with a guy that egged her. Not even Finn has done anything as terrible as that. Jesse truly regrets what he did but doesn't get the memo that he's a terrible person. She only gets back together with him years later after he's matured a bit and has shown he has changed.
• Laser-Guided Karma: He only gets to be with Rachel for real when he's proven that he's no longer an egotistic, selfish Jerkass.
• Morality Pet: Rachel, and only Rachel.
  • Kick the Morality Pet: His third act of betraying New Directions in Season 1 was luring Rachel to the parking lot and, along with the rest of Vocal Adrenaline, egging her in "Funk". When it was his turn to toss an egg, she gave him a steely Death Glare and told him to do it, to smash an egg since he already broke her heart.
  • Pet the Dog: Telling Carmen Tibideaux that Rachel is a star, and would be an excellent addition to NYADA.
• Mr. Fanservice: Quite possibly the biggest one in the series among the fans. An incredibly big part of his popularity among the fans is due to Jonathan Groff's good looks.
• My God, What Have I Done?: He has this reaction after luring Rachel to the parking lot and egging her; it's implied Vocal Adrenaline coerced him to hurt her For the Evulz. When he hesitates on hitting her, they all encourage him to do it. Even she says it, while covered in egg yolks. Jesse says he loves her and does it, with a horrified look. In season 2, he's visibly regretful as New Directions is treating him like a traitor.
• New Transfer Student: From "The Power of Madonna." He transfers back, though.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: See "Punny Name" below.
• Oh, Crap!: The look of Jesse’s face, along with the rest of Vocal Adrenaline after Will invited them to see New Directions rendition of “Give Up the Funk” and as they are seeing the rendition is priceless; they speak volumes about how unsure they are that New Directions would be an easy win.
• Parental Favoritism: Says that the fact that his parents favored him over his brother and sister drove them to be an addict and bulimic respectively.
• Punny Name: He's so bad his name is Jesse James, but it's in hiding with the St. Plus they pretty obviously gave him the name Jesse so they could get Jessie's Girl on at some point (which occurs in "Laryngitis").
• Put on a Bus: He left for UCLA after "Journey" and is only mentioned a couple of times in Season 2 until The Bus Came Back. This was probably the reason he was made a senior in the first place. He returned in "Prom Queen", and stayed for the last three episodes of season two. He returns again in the back eight of season 3 as Vocal Adrenaline's coach, then makes two appearances in the final season.
• Reformed, but Rejected: Sort of. Will hires Jesse as a consultant for the New Directions in Season 2. The group is still hostile for his actions in the previous season, and Jesse is an unrepentant Jerkass. That doesn't mean his criticisms weren't right.
• The Rival: For Finn.
• Romantic False Lead: We all know who's gonna win Rachel in the end. Played horribly straight in "Funk," where he humiliates Rachel for no reason, although in "Prom Queen" and "Funeral" one can tell he regretted it. And then ultimately subverted when Rachel ends up with him in the end.
• Second Love: Marries Rachel several years after her first love, Finn, dies.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After "Total Eclipse of the Heart."
• Sixth Ranger Traitor
• Spear Counterpart: To Rachel, arguably. They're both arrogant, confident in their talents, and ambitious.
• Spell My Name With An S: The most common rendition is "Jesse" (as in Jesse James) but there are still fans who use "Jessie" (as per "Jessie's Girl").
• Star-Crossed Lovers: This is how Rachel sees her relationship with Jesse.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • He flunked out of UCLA when he didn't realize he would actually have to study and make the grades.
  • Jesse expects his ex-girlfriend to forgive him for the egging incident and get back together with him if he lavished enough singing praise on her. It's not the same as an apology, let alone making up for his betrayal. While Rachel is tempted, she has enough common sense to say "no" because she remembers the eggs.
• Third-Option Love Interest: After having a crush on Finn and some UST with Puck, Jesse was introduced as Rachel's third potential love interest in the series. He ultimately ends up getting hitched and Happily Married to Rachel.
• Too Dumb to Live: Got kicked out of the University of Los Angeles (in Los Angeles) because he only went to his theatre classes.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In "Funk", although to some extent you can tell he regretted it. Exaggerated after he begins advising the club in "Funeral", and is a dick to pretty much everybody except for Rachel.
• Traitor Shot: At the end of "Hell-O" he kisses Rachel...with while making eye contact with Shelby across the stage.
• Troubled, but Cute: Appears that way.

Dave Karofsky

David "Dave" Karofsky

This is high school. People's memories for good stuff lasts about as long as their Facebook Status.

Portrayed by: Max Adler

Voiced by: Daniel Lacy (Latin-American Spanish; S1-S3, S6), Carlos Enrique Bonilla (Latin-American Spanish; S1 in Theatricality), Emmanuel Bernal (Latin-American Spanish; S5 in Opening Night)

A meathead Hockey jock ("puckhead") who, with Azimio, took over as the school's chief bully once Puck stopped harassing the other members of New Directions. In "Never Been Kissed", he reveals himself as an Armored Closet Gay by forcefully kissing Kurt after Kurt confronts him over his bullying, later threatening to kill him if he told anybody. The threat itself came to light, and he got (temporarily) expelled for it.

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• Ambiguously Jewish: Dave Karofsky easily could be a Jewish name, although it could also easily not be. The actor who plays him is Jewish.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: To Kurt during episode "Heart".
• Armored Closet Gay
• Ascended Extra: As of "Never Been Kissed".
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: Subverted. He gets crowned Prom King, but then Kurt gets crowned Prom Queen. Neither of them think it's very awesome.
• Bad "Bad Acting": On a specific note, his apology to ND. On a broader note, subtlety is not his strong suit; the only reason more people in-universe haven't figured out his secrets is because he isn't Camp Gay.
• The Bear: He says the guys at the gay bar call him a "bear cub".
• The Beard: Mutually, with Santana, who's a lesbian. Santana is the one who proposes the idea of the two of them dating to cover up the fact their both gay.
• Becoming the Mask: When Santana blackmails him into starting the anti-bullying initiative with her, at first it's just part of her scheme to win Prom Queen with him as her King (thus being each other's beard in the process). But as he starts getting into it, he begins to genuinely regret his actions, and gives a tearful, heartfelt apology to Kurt. By that point Kurt didn't even feel the need to be protected, but let Dave keep doing so because it was helping him come to terms with himself. Seeing how conflicted his feelings for Kurt were, he probably did feel guilt before.
• The Bully
• Bungled Suicide
• Byronic Hero: Gets shades of this in late Season 2. But he does fit the trope.
• Character Development: The kiss scene in 'Never Been Kissed' took Karofsky from a one-dimensional stock character to a tortured individual.
• Character Tic: More of an actor tic; Max Adler's tongue has a habit of appearing at the oddest moments. There are times, especially in scenes with Kurt, it might be intentional, but it happens enough in Real Life that there's no way it's simply an acting choice on his part.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: After his cameo appearance and two-episode arc in Season 3, culminating in his Bungled Suicide in "On My Way", the character, despite the episode highlighting that Kurt wishes to help him get through it, is neither seen nor heard from until the first part of Season 6, as Blaine's new boyfriend and Disposable Love Interest.
• Depraved Homosexual: Karofsky's behavior towards Kurt shows signs of this. Though his Freudian Excuse is that it's because he's in denial about being gay, different from most cases of the trope, as is the fact that his main target is another gay person.
• Dressing to Die: Karofsky, who is only ever seen in his letterman jacket, takes out a suit and lays it on his bed, changes into it, tests his belt around his fists and then steps up on a chair to hang himself.
• Driven to Suicide: After he's outed at his new school. But his attempt fails.
• Even Evil Has Standards: According to him, picking on crippled people such as Artie is below him and Azimio even mentions his supposed moral code.
• Forceful Kiss: To Kurt in "Never Been Kissed."
• Freudian Excuse: Averted - according to Word of God, Karofsky's dad isn't the reason for his Gayngst. Although, as we learn in "On My Way," his mother is a different story. The homophobes at school are.
• Gayngst: Oh yeah. And how.
• Genius Bruiser: In spite of his thuggish appearance and demeanor, is (or at least was) an excellent student.
  • He mentions being in Calculus during "Prom Queen", despite being a junior.
• Has a Type: In the sixth season it's revealed that he's dated a small legion of 'bears' (some of them visibly older than him). Which seems a little odd considering that among the named characters he's been attracted to Kurt, Sebastian and Blaine.
• Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: He's taken it to violent levels on occasion.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: In "The Sue Sylvester Shuffle". He hates Glee at the beginning, then he loves it when he finds out he's pretty good at it, then hates it again when he gets a slushie facial, then loves it again after joining them in the middle of "Thriller/Heads Will Roll", then hates it again by the end of the episode, though that was because it would've made him a slushie-target even faster than his coming out would.
• Heel–Face Turn: A fake one, at Santana's urging in "Born This Way". He's only pretending to be rehabilitated so he and Santana can be Prom King and Queen. However, as revealed in a scene between him and Kurt in "Prom Queen", Karofsky's apology is genuine and he truly is sorry for what he did to Kurt. Additionally, he and Kurt have a heart-to-heart in a gay bar in "The First Time", so he really did do a Heel–Face Turn.
• I Call It "Vera": He named his fist "the Fury".
• Jerk Jock: Speculated. Apparently, he even targets other jocks.
• Joker Immunity: There's apparently nothing anyone can do about him. He assaults students in the middle of the halls, in one instance with a teacher watching, and suffers no consequences. Even after Sue finds out about the death threat he gave Kurt and had him expelled, the school board just gave him a verbal warning and sent him back. Sadly, this willful ignorance in bullying is Truth in Television for many a school.
• Last-Name Basis: The only people who ever call him Dave are the adults and Kurt.
• Loving Bully: To Kurt. He even gives him a Forceful Kiss in the episode "Never Been Kissed".
• Manly Gay: Especially now that he's considered a "bear cub."
• Oh, Crap!: After his Anguished Declaration of Love to Kurt in "Heart" he runs into someone who is presumably a classmate...who saw the whole thing.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He starts the series as an extreme homophobe, but gets better starting around "Born This Way."
• Prom Wrecker: Is a victim of this when the vote is rigged so that he and Kurt get voted Prom King and Queen respectively. Given that Karofsky had been trying to make up for what he did to Kurt by protecting him from bullies, this was likely deliberately done to humiliate him along with Kurt.
• Recurring Extra: Until his ascension in "Never Been Kissed".
• Spear Counterpart: He shares many characteristics with Santana, most obviously the Gayngst, but also the fact that they were both bullies and most of the glee club hated for most of the first two seasons (and some still do).
• Straight Gay: Although he doesn't seem to have any concept of this.
• Straw Hypocrite
• Surprise Incest: Supposedly with Blaine in the early sixth season, though it was revealed to be a Sue trick.
• Took a Level in Kindness: As of "On My Way".
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: According to his father.
• Unstoppable Rage: Mike, Sam, and Artie confront him on his bullying of Kurt. It results in all three of them getting knocked down.
• Villainous Crush: Much to Kurt's dismay, though it was debatable if he actually had a crush on Kurt or was just kissing the only out-gay kid he knew to explore his own confused feelings. Confirmed in "Heart" though it's less villainous nowadays.
• When He Smiles: "Thriller/Heads Will Roll" is the first time we see him with a genuine smile on his face, not some douchey smirk. The way his face lights up when he runs in to join the performance is absolutely adorable.
  • His smile in "Heart" right after The Reveal is really cute.
• Yandere: His post-NBK interactions with Kurt have strong elements of this.
• You Are What You Hate: Oh, Karofsky...

Sebastian Smythe

Sebastian Smythe

Let's get a few things straight. Blaine is too good for you, New Directions is a joke and one of us has a hard-luck case of the gay face, and it ain't me.

Portrayed by: Grant Gustin

Voiced by: Alejandro Orozco (Latin-American Spanish)

The new captain of the Dalton Academy Warblers, who is openly gay, freely promiscuous and sets his sights on Blaine the moment the two meet.

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• Aborted Arc: Save for a couple of rather dangerous pranks, Sebastian arguably doesn't get that much more threatening than when he first appears. The build-up to full-blown antagonist is slow and steady through the first half of Season 3, but his development and story arc is somehow brought to a complete stop and instantly resolved in "On My Way", in which Karofsky's suicide attempt pushes him to become 'good', effectively ending the threat he poses to the others. While this can be considered a 'complete' character development arc, the nature in which he is built up makes it seem like the writers were planning bigger things for him, but very suddenly decided against it. He then gets demoted to a rather harmless background character in the fourth season in favor of new Warbler Captain Hunter Clarington.
  • There's also absolutely nothing to say for his sudden lack of interest in Blaine for the rest of his appearances since 'Michael' - anyone remember how he used to text and talk to Blaine as often as Kurt did and then tried to blind Kurt? Well, forget that - the writers seem to have forgotten it.
    • Played with and justified in that despite the fact that Sebastian can be seen giving Blaine adoring looks and praising his performance in Dynamic Duets, he also stated that he'd turned over a new leaf, presumably meaning he's not going to actively chase Blaine any more.
• Actor/Role Confusion: Poor Grant Gustin actually got death threats from Klainers because his character was trying to break up Kurt and Blaine so he could have Blaine to himself. This seems to have died down since Gustin became The Flash in 2014.
• All Gays are Promiscuous: He has a very active sex life and he isn't shy about flaunting it.
• Alliterative Name: Applies to his actor, too!
• Ambition Is Evil: Wants to win the National Trophy and Blaine's affection, and he's not afraid to play dirty.
• Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Kurt's Betty.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Switches from insulting New Directions and Kurt to smiling and talking about going out drinking the second Blaine returns from getting coffee.
• Being Good Sucks: He clearly states so in "Dynamic Duets".
  Blaine: …Sebastian, of course it was you [that stole the Nationals' Trophy].
  Sebastian: No it wasn't. I swear. I turned over a new leaf, remember? No more bullying, blackmail or salt this year.
  Blaine: That must be boring for you.
  Sebastian: [Beat] Yeah, it is. Being nice sucks.
• Captain Obvious: It's all fun and games. Until it's not. Makes perfect sense in context, though.
• Demoted to Dragon: After his Heel–Face Turn, he loses his position as vocal coach of the Warblers to new Big Bad Hunter Clarington.
• Depraved Homosexual: Although unusual in that his target is also gay, otherwise a much straighter-playing of the trope than Karofsky who will not take no for an answer.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Sebastian might be a dick, but even he's not going to laugh off a suicide attempt, especially one he feels partially responsible for. Very much truth-in-television, as parts of the gay community that vocally disagree with each other will come together on that particular issue.
• Faux Affably Evil: Sebastian affects a gentleman-like veneer of civility to belittle and demean people. He tells Kurt that he's going to steal Blaine away from him right to his face, is eager to use information Blaine accidentally discloses to the Warblers' advantage, openly states he's tired of playing nice against the New Directions and attempts to blind Kurt with a rock salt laced slushie, though Blaine took the bullet for him. Sebastian does all of this with a smirk on his face.
• Heel Realization: He acts like a player who always win and treats people as eithers props to use, prizes to win or obstacles to take down. But as he admitted, it's all fun and games until someone attempts suicide. Such a reality check knocks him down quite a number of pegs.
• Limited Wardrobe: So far we have seen him once out of the uniform, at the gay bar. He goes to performances at another school wearing it. He visits the Lima Bean wearing it. And apparently he is wearing it while he drinks wine (unless that was only an excuse to call Blaine).
• Meaningful Name: Possibly totally unintentional, but Saint Sebastian is considered to be a gay icon and even the patron saint of homosexuals.
  • Given that the creator, Ryan Murphy is gay and was raised Catholic, this is equally likely to be completely intentional.
• My God, What Have I Done?: He rejects Dave's advances with every bit of sympathy and tact we've come to expect from him (that is, none at all and making fun of Dave's weight and appearance at that). After Dave attempts suicide, Sebastian is horrified at the part he played, calls off an unrelated blackmail scheme against New Directions and does a complete Heel–Face Turn.
• The Nicknamer: Fond of this. He attaches nicknames to the various New Directions members with varying levels of spite depending on how much he knows about them.
  • He calls Rachel 'a young Barbra Streisand' and Kurt 'an old Betty White'.
  • He calls Blaine 'Gay Cyclops' after the slushie incident.
  • He calls Tina 'Tina Blowin-Wang' despite never having a conversation with her.
  • In a deleted scene, he calls Santana Sha-Queer-a after she's outed.
  • On the other hand, Santana and Kurt are shown to have more than a few nicknames for him too.
• Not Me This Time: See Being Good Sucks above.
• Obviously Evil: His first conversation with Blaine is intercut with Santana—as Anita in West Side Story—singing "A Boy Like That".
• Politically Incorrect Villain: If his comments towards Santana are any indication, he's racist and sexist on top of being a douche. It's also implied that he's a Smug Snake towards anyone who isn't wealthy.
  • He also has issues with Kurt's effeminacy, though it's hard to tell if any of these are genuine prejudices or just low blows to people he doesn't like.
  • He tends to take a trait that he knows about a person and just attach a nickname to him/her, regardless of whether the nickname is good or bad. He calls Rachel 'a young Barbra Streisand' and Blaine 'Gay Cyclops' in 'On My Way'. See The Nicknamer above.
• Really Gets Around: And he's damn proud of it.
• Retroactive Recognition: Sebastian Smythe is one of Barry Allen's alternate universe doppelgangers.
• The Rival: Played for Laughs, but just see the interaction between Sebastian and Artie in "Michael", especially in Bad and later in Black And White. It reeks of two rival gang leaders trying to best each other.
• Romantic False Lead: In his early appearances, he was set up as a possible romantic interest for Blaine in competition with Kurt.
• Sesquipedalian Smith: A mild case.
• Serial Homewrecker: Downplayed for we only see him try to break one couple, but how casually he treats it hints that he might have done it before. Anyways, he is dead-set on bedding Blaine, knowing full well and not caring the slightest that this will wreck his target's relationship.
• Smug Smiler: His looks, athletic skills and singing talent earn him more than a few bragging rights, but his punchable sneer clearly indicates that he fancies himself as better than anyone.
• Smug Snake: "Smirky little meerkat face" and "obnoxious CW hair" aside, Sebastian seems confident about how it's only a matter of time before Blaine succumbs to his "charms".
• Spear Counterpart: Has been described as a male version of Santana. There are even people who ship them together because of this, despite the mutual case of Incompatible Orientation.
  • Some may consider him Santana's Evil Counterpart.
• Spell My Name With An S: During his early appearances, his surname was alternately spelled as "Smyth" or "Smythe".
• Stalker with a Crush: To Blaine. Seemed less desperate than the normal application of this trope, until he throws a rock-salt-laced slushie in Blaine's face, lacerating his eye and forcing him to have surgery. Sebastian openly admits the slushie was intended for Kurt.
• Straight Gay: Devoid of any trace of campiness and an all-around athlete to boot.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Tall, dark-haired and very easy on the eyes.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: At first his villainy was limited to trying to get in Blaine's pants despite the latter's attachment to Kurt, until the episode "Michael" upgraded him to full-blown antagonist.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Has since become much nicer.
• Villainous Crush: On Blaine. Though it is unclear whether he wants him as a boyfriend or just another notch on his bedpost. Nevertheless, he wants Blaine as his alone.
• Villain Song: "Smooth Criminal".
• "The Villain Sucks" Song: "A Boy Like That".
• When He Smiles: Smiles much more genuinely and warmly after his Heel–Face Turn.

Hunter Clarington

Hunter Clarington

I'm not even remotely bi-curious.

Portrayed by: Nolan Gerard Funk

Voiced by: Rodrigo Carralero (Latin-American Spanish)

The new Captain of the Dalton Academy Warblers in Season 4, who is determined to dethrone the New Directions as National Champions.

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• Affably Evil: Subverted. He tries very hard to present himself as this, but he is far too arrogant and unpleasant for it to work.
• Ambition Is Evil: Oh yes. Hunter is so determined to win that he forces the Warblers to use steroids, which leads to their initial win (later revoked).
• Blackmail: Attempts this on Blaine, who turns him down unimpressed, and later takes back the object of the blackmail right under his nose.
• Berserk Button: Splenda. Apparently, it tastes like pencils.
  • Oh, and don't suggest that he looks too old for high school. It will not end well.
• Camp Straight: Claims to be this, perhaps in an attempt to keep Blaine (and the fans) from thinking he's anything like his predecessors.
  • Interestingly enough, he didn't explicitly say he was straight, only that he's "not even remotely bi-curious". This could imply that he's either entirely straight or entirely gay, which one he is is never explained.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: His win is immediately revoked after his steroid abuse is revealed, and being legally of age, he is brought to justice for it.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Sure Hunter, wreck an entire coffee shop just because some overworked barista mistook your order. Very mature pal, very much... not!
• Expy: In-universe of Sebastian, though "not even remotely bi-curious."
• Evil Is Hammy: Though this may have been a result of being introduced in "Dynamic Duets", he really does act particularly hammy while explaining his strategy to win Nationals to Blaine. It even sounds like a monologue that a villain would say after finally getting what he wants.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He cultivates a smooth image, but hides a very short fuse, and more than a few anger-management problems. See also Berserk Button and Disproportionate Retribution.
• Meaningful Name: Someone called Hunter surely can't be good.
• Military Brat: Implied to be this, having led his military academy choir to a Regionals victory with Presidential Honors, which is what led Dalton to offer him a scholarship to transfer and lead the Warblers to victory.
• Obviously Evil: Our introduction to him involves swinging around in a swivel chair and stroking a cat! So guess who serves as the figurative 'Dark Side' in Dynamic Duets?
• Older Than He Looks: Can pass as a teenager, (as much as the other actors that is), but is alluded to be older. Which makes sense As he needed to graduate high school to enter most military academies.
• Right-Hand Cat: Named Mr. Puss.
• Smug Snake: One of the worst offenders of the series. Hunter plays high and mighty, but resorts to cheating, blackmails and easy shortcuts. Long story short, he fancies himself as an Evil Genius but is more of a Harmless Villain whose only successes are due to circumstances outside his control.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Fits the stereotype to a T.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Because Marley blacks out mid-performance during Sectionals, the Warblers are unanimously voted the winners of Sectionals - just like Hunter predicted.
  • Subverted, as they won because of abusing steroids. When this is discovered, their win is revoked and New Directions moves on to Regionals instead.
• Villainous Breakdown: Flies into violent, exceedingly disproportionate rages as soon as his Berserk Button is pressed, which means often.
• We Can Rule Together: His reasoning as to why Blaine should transfer back and rejoin the Warblers comes off this way, implying that with Hunter's leadership and Blaine acting as the central vocal force that a Nationals win is guaranteed.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Disappears after "Naked" and has not even been mentioned in season 5, despite the Warblers reappearing in "Love, Love, Love" (with Sebastian seemingly leading again, along with the Warbler Council). It has been presumed that he was summarily expelled after the steroids scandal.

Major Family Members

Terri Schuester

Terri Schuester (nee Del Monico)

Look, Will, I know that I made your life... challenging sometimes, but... it was only because I loved you so much.

Portrayed by: Jessalyn Gilsig

Voiced by: Xóchitl Ugarte (Latin-American Spanish; S1-S2), Angélica Villa (Latin-American Spanish; S4, S6)

Will's bratty ex-wife. She suffers a hysterical pregnancy but lies to Will and continues to pretend it's real.

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• Advertised Extra: Jessalyn Gilsig is credited as a regular for the first 2 seasons but stops appearing regularly after the first 13 episodes only having a few scattered appearances afterwards. In Season 2 she only appeared in roughly 6 episodes.
• All Guys Want Cheerleaders: She was once a cheerleader.
• The Atoner: In "Funeral".
• Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Emma's Betty and Will's Archie - an interesting case, as Terri is married to him.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The Blonde of the trio.
• The Bus Came Back: For "Glee, Actually" (in a dream sequence), "2009" (in a flashback), and a silent cameo at the end of "Dreams Come True."
• Can't Get Away with Nuthin': What she did was horrible, but the story seems to be far more forgiving to Sue.
• Commuting on a Bus: Her story arc was effectively dead by the end of the first half of Season 1, but the show had to bring her back every once in a while because Jessalyn Gilsig was still a series regular - usually to Ship Tease with Will only to sink the ship again by the end of the episode. As of Season 3, Terri was on the bus for good. Returned for the final number of the series, and in a hilarious Continuity Nod, when she gives Will a hug, Emma is non too happy.
• Deus ex Machina: In "Funeral," when Sue reveals she rerouted New Directions' flight to Libya and there's nothing she can do about it, Terri comes around and tells Will she managed to get the higher-ups of American Airlines to give New Directions first class flights to New York for free.
• Disposable Fiancé: Terri is a bit too blatantly set up to be this.
  Will: I might be leaving Terri.
  Sue: Didn't see that one coming.
• Dr. Feelgood: As the school nurse.
• High-School Sweethearts: Terri and Will are a not-so-happy version of this.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: The same pillow that Terri used to lie about her pregnancy to Will being found by Will himself and used as an instrument to debunk the lie could count as this.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Seemingly as of "Funeral."
• Kick the Dog: Telling Emma she would never have a chance with Will, despite the fact that she and Will were technically separated at the time.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: She is absolutely desperate in regards to getting pregnant, but can't.
• Lethal Chef: "Oh, it's just Hamburger Helper." Beat "Look out for bones."
• Love Makes You Crazy and Love Makes You Dumb: Terri has the… honor of actually combining these two classifications at the same time.
• The One That Got Away: For Bryan Ryan, apparently. She was the one girl he always wanted and she married his apparent rival.
• Put on a Bus: In "Funeral," she tells Will she's moving to Miami to be a manager at Sheets 'n' Things. This one actually stuck, as Gilsig was also no longer a series regular after season 2.
• School Nurse: Temporarily in "Vitamin D".

Burt Hummel

Rep. Burt Hummel (I-OH)

He is my son. Out in the world, you do what you want; not under my roof.

Portrayed by: Mike O'Malley

Voiced by: Salvador Delgado (Latin-American Spanish)

Kurt's dad, a flannel-wearing auto mechanic (who owns his own business) and single father who looks like the last sort of parent who'd accept having a gay son, let alone one as camp as Kurt. In his case, appearances are definitely deceiving.

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• Action Dad
• Characterization Marches On: The first mention of Kurt's dad in "Acafellas" states that he bought Kurt a car in exchange for a promise to stop dressing in such a stereotypically gay way. This seems extremely out of character for Burt, in retrospect. This trait comes back in "Prom Queen" when Burt is concerned that going to prom in a kilt will make Kurt too visible and therefore a target for homophobic violence. It seems to be an intermittent trait that surfaces in response to concerns about Kurt's safety more than anything else.
• Good Parents: He unconditionally loves and accepts Kurt in spite of their differences.
• Grease Monkey: He runs his own car fixing business.
• Hidden Depths: Most of the audience would have pegged him as a homophobe when he first appears (and not to mention that in "Acafellas," it was mentioned he punishes Kurt for keeping flamboyant items, or rather bribe Kurt to not keep those items) but he surprises Kurt and everyone else.
  • As of "Pot O'Gold", it looks like we can add political acumen to the list of Things We Did Not Know About Burt Hummel. He joins the House race to challenge Sue, and makes an extremely intelligent advertisement for himself.
• Hollywood Heart Attack: Averted, his heart attack in "Grilled Cheesus" is brought on by another medical condition altogether, and is depicted realistically, with Burt mistaking it for indigestion before collapsing.
• I Hate Past Me: It's implied and later stated outright that his overly supportive/Papa Wolf moments are at least partly motivated at the shame he feels for bullying gay kids when he was in school. In "The Quarterback", he admits that his infamous berating of Finn in "Theatricality" was more about himself then it was Finn.
• Love Makes You Dumb: Non-romantic, but still. His desire to protect Kurt does often blind him to his son's less savory actions (such as trying to seduce Finn even though Finn clearly didn't feel the same way).
  • Firmly averted as of "Duets". It isn't easy trying to teach your proud, stubborn, deeply vulnerable sixteen-year-old-son to navigate the collision points between his survival strategies, the rough edges of his own personality, and other people's boundaries and limitations - especially while trying not to sound like the bullies who tell him every day that he's in the wrong just for existing, and especially not while you're still recovering from a heart attack and days-long coma. But Burt's doing the best he can.
• My Greatest Failure: "The Quarterback" reveals that he views his treatment of Finn for using the word "faggy" with Kurt as this. While pervious episodes indicated that he had since realized he overreacted, in "The Quarterback" he admits that it was more about how he himself acted in the past and that Finn didn't deserve that.
• Nice Guy: Especially when compared to some of the other Glee Club kids' parents.
• Open-Minded Parent: He supports his son's interests and activities even without fully understanding them. So much so that when he catches his son making out with a girl, he recommends protection if things get to that point. Though given the flimsy attempt by Kurt to pretend to be straight, one can guess he's mostly just humoring his son's soul searching.
  • Played for Drama at times (see I Hate Past Me).
• Parent with New Paramour: Kurt fixes him up with Finn's mom as part of one of his schemes, then sours on the idea, but by then it's too late, as Burt genuinely likes her.
• Papa Wolf: One surefire way to get the rather intimidating Mr. Hummel breathing down your neck is to go after his son.
  • Using the word "fag" around Burt is the fastest way to enrage him, even more if it's directed at his son. To the point that he turns on Finn, his girlfriend's son - aka the kid most guys sweat about impressing - and berates him and kicks him out of the house for using the word "faggy".
  • Denying Kurt things isn't a good idea, either. He threatened to take a blow torch to the school when Will automatically gave a solo to Rachel despite Kurt expressing a desire for it, and he calmly but somewhat menacingly brought in some businessmen to donate when a play Kurt had a vested interest in seeing continue was threatened due to money constraints.
  • In "Furt", he's ready to do something when Kurt admits that Karofsky has been taunting and shoving him. However, he's stopped by the realisation his son isn't telling him everything. As soon as Kurt tells him about the death threat, he's out of the room before either boy can blink, absolutely flipping out on Karofsky and pinning him to the wall, despite his heart condition and the fact Karofsky is a minor, which could have gotten Burt in serious trouble. The only thing that stops him is his son, scared for his father's health, pleading him to stop.
• Parting-Words Regret: Burt bursts into tears while describing the last time he saw Finn. Finn was really upset about failing a test at college and instead of hugging him and telling him it was going to be okay, Burt patted him on the back and told him to keep trying.
• Second Love: With Finn's mom, Carole.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Burt gives a pretty big one to Finn in "Theatricality" and a smaller, but no less impressive one to him in "Furt".
  • He gives a smaller one to Kurt in "Duets" but really isn't up to the challenge.
• Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Averted, though he admits that Kurt wasn't the son he initially imagined having.

Shelby Corcoran

Shelby Corcoran

I want you to look so talented, it's hurting you; I want a look so optimistic it could cure cancer.

Portrayed by: Idina Menzel

Voiced by: Erica Edwards (Latin-American Spanish)

The initial director of Vocal Adrenaline, New Directions' biggest rivals, and Rachel's mother.

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• Age-Gap Romance: With Puck. In-Universe she's old enough to be his mother as she is the mother of one of his classmates.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Shelby's dignified demeanor has been mentioned quite a few times by the other characters.
• Ascended Meme: Despite initial claims to the contrary, Shelby is Rachel's mother.
• Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Emma's Betty and Will's Archie, at least for an episode.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The Brunette of the trio.
• Broken Bird: She may be starting to move on now but failing to become an actress hurt her deeply.
• Celebrity Paradox: Rachel sings "Let It Go" from Frozen in the final season. Her actress plays one of the co-protagonists of the film, and is actually the one who sang said song.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: A very mild case of this and a saint compared to her colleague, Dakota Stanley, but she has some level of this.
• Hot Teacher: She's played by Idina Menzel, that's enough and needs no more explanation.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: After giving Rachel up to her dads, she's been told she can no longer have children. In "Journey", she tells Rachel that she wants a second chance at a family (but not, apparently, with Rachel herself), and adopts Puck and Quinn's daughter.
• Love Interest: Will's, for an episode, at least.
• Luke, I Am Your Father
• Only Sane Man: She is the one of the most level-headed characters the show has portrayed so far.
• Put on a Bus: She quits her job after Regionals, instead moving to New York to take care of Beth. The bus comes back for the first half of season three, as well as a guest appearance near the end of season four.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: She actually is quite the reasonable person though.
• So Proud of You: She tells Rachel this when Rachel asks her to sign her NYADA recommendation letter in "Mash-Off."
• Teacher/Student Romance: With Puck.
• What Happened to the Mouse?
• What the Hell, Hero?: Gives one to Quinn in "Mash-Off", regarding how Quinn doesn't really care about Beth and only wants her to boost her own self-confidence.
  • Quinn gives her one when she confronts her about Puck, pointing out that she shouldn't have brought Beth back to Lima, ambushed her, and tried to get them to be a part of the baby's life since both had been moving on.
• Workaholic: Shelby is so caught up in coaching Vocal Adrenaline (and probably teaching at some point) that she doesn't even own a house at her age. She realizes this is a problem.

Carl Howell

Dr. Carl Howell, DDS.

Portrayed by: John Stamos

Voiced by: Carlos Íñigo (Latin-American Spanish)

Emma's sexy dentist boyfriend and Romantic False Lead for Will. He marries her in "Special Education" but as of "Born This Way" they are divorced].

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• Always Someone Better
• Beware the Nice Ones: Can accept the fact that Will still has feelings for Emma, but it's really a bad idea to act on them regardless.
• Disposable Fiancé: Like Terri, Carl seemed a little too well-set-up to be this.
• Foregone Conclusion: We all knew he and Emma weren't going to work out in the long term. Which ticked off quite a few fans who think Carl is better for Emma than Will ever was.
• Mr. Fanservice: In his first appearance at Glee, all the girls clearly find him attractive; Santana makes sexual invitations at every opportunity, obviously trying too hard.
• Nice Guy
• Temporary Love Interest: Emma's new boyfriend-turned-fiance for much of season two before she and Will get back together.
• Unaccustomed as I Am to Public Speaking...: Despite his claim that he couldn't sing and dance like Will in Britney/Brittany, he is in fact pretty awesome at both, and rocks out to "Whatever Happened To Saturday Night" during the Rocky Horror episode.

New York

Cassandra July

Cassandra "Cassie" July

We are the best of the best.

Portrayed by: Kate Hudson

Voiced by: Karina Altamirano (Latin-American Spanish)

Rachel's dance instructor at NYADA, and a huge bitch, though she really does care about her students. Has a bit of a drinking problem.

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• Alpha Bitch: It may not be high school anymore, but most of her remarks are those of an Alpha Bitch.
• The Alcoholic
• Anti-Villain: Type III. She does want her students to succeed, but acts bitchy and bullies them so they'll be ready for the hard life that awaits them on this business.
• Berserk Button: Savagely attacked an audience member for answering his phone in the middle of one of her plays.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Subverted. She's an awesome dancer, but her Broadway career ended very quickly when she became known as "that crazy actress".
• Disproportionate Retribution: No matter how annoying a cell phone ringing is when you're acting, taking it from its owner and destroying it is not the right way to deal with the issue.
  • Rachel was a tad careless with her words at the start of Glease. But Cassandra luring Rachel into leaving for Ohio so Cassandra could sleep with Brody, and then rubbing it in Rachel's face afterward was just plain low.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: She trains her dancing students hard.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Gives ones to all of her new students. Rachel's is "Schwimmer" (implying she looks like a man - David Schwimmer).
• Expy: She's basically a Hotter and Sexier Sue. She even uses most of her same tactics.
• Fallen Princess: She was a highly regarded actress until she snapped on Broadway.
• Hot Teacher: To the point of sleeping with one of her students.
• Ice Queen: Cold and snarky.
• Instant Web Hit: Presumably the video of the onstage meltdown that ruined her career.
• Jacob Marley Warning: In "Britney 2.0", after Rachel blows up at her, she warns Rachel that if her outburst had been caught on camera and put on the web, she'd never get cast in a role. This, of course, is exactly what happened to Cassandra herself.
• Jerk Ass Has A Point: Much of her critiques and harsh words are relevant feedback and common statements heard amongst the industry to prepare her students for the harsh world of show business. She often chews Rachel out for egotistical behavior and not being able to handle the slightest criticism.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Acts mean to her students, but when one of them succeeds she's actually overjoyed.
• Karma Houdini: Receives no comeuppance for bullying Rachel.
• Lady Drunk: Younger than the usual version, but personality-wise fits right in.
• Manipulative Bitch: She sends Rachel to Lima to see Grease with her frequent flyer miles, then hooks up with Brody who Rachel backed out of her plans with to go to Lima.
• Ms. Fanservice: The actress is gorgeous and it is clearly shown.
• My Greatest Failure: Her filmed outburst attacking an audience member in the middle of a performance is what got her more or less barred from Broadway.
• The Nicknamer: Gives some not-so-nice ones to her students as part of her Drill Sergeant Nasty style teaching.
• Pet the Dog: Turning Rachel's "6 am dance midterm" into a public recognition and celebration that she got the Funny Girl callback. She tries to claim that it's just NYADA tradition, but even Rachel can tell Cassandra's actually proud of her.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Starts giving one to Rachel in "Glease" over the phone. Rachel hangs up.
  "Auditioning for an off-Broadway play, throwing yourself at an upper classman, and telling me that I need to get back in the game? I need to get back in the game?! I think you were over reaching and needed a little bit of a reminder. I am the game, Schwimmer. And you are what you've always been. A privileged, self-indulgent, dime a..."
• Sadist Teacher: "Welcome to Dance 101. If you don't have body dysmorphic disorder in a month, you aren't trying hard enough."
• Villain Song: "Americano / Dance Again".
  • Better example her parts in "There are worse things I could do" since it involves her seducing Rachel's love interest specifically to hurt her and contains lyrics like "I could hurt someone like me out of spite and jealousy"

Adam Crawford

Portrayed by: Oliver Kieran-Jones

Voiced by: César Garduza (Latin-American Spanish)

An upperclassman of British origins, who leads the Adam's Apples, the fun-focused Glee Club in NYADA, earning little respect in such a competitive college. He quickly befriends Kurt and becomes his second boyfriend, after his (temporary) break-up with Blaine.

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• Aborted Arc: His story with Kurt never goes anywhere. Kurt has Sex with the Ex before they get together, and dumps him even before taking Blaine back, with Adam nowhere to be seen.
• All Gays Love Theater: Justified by the fact that he's about to graduate a high-class theatre program.
• All There in the Manual: Not validated by Word of God, but the actor has pictured him quite a backstory, as the son of a American man and an English woman, who divorced and live each in their country. As such has a hard time to fit in, but can see people's potential and encourages people to enjoy life.
• Big Brother Mentor: Adam plays this role at first for Kurt, introducing him to NYADA, guiding him around and imparting lessons on how to perform. But he quickly becomes one of his Love Interests instead.
• Child of Two Worlds: His actor states that being both British and American, he has trouble fitting in in both countries, which could explain the trope below.
• Excellent Judge of Character: According to his actor, he has a knack for seeing people's worth.
• For Happiness: Adam insists in enjoying what you do and generally having a good time. Earning a living through your passion is well and good, but keep in mind why it is your passion to begin with.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: A blonde and a total sweetie.
• Hunk: Adam is lean but muscular, with broad shoulders and attractive features.
• Insecure Love Interest: First believes that the popular Kurt will not give him the time of the day, then realizes that his boyfriend is still pinning for his ex. The first fear was unfounded, the second however...
• Love at First Note: Adam explains that he first saw Kurt when he owned the song "Being Alive" from Company (Sondheim) and was instantly smitten.
• Put on a Bus: Gets sent out of the picture as soon as Kurt and Blaine get back together. Somehow justified as he graduates shortly after, but still...
• Romantic Runner-Up: He's nice, caring and excellent boyfriend material, but let's face it, everyone and their dogs knew he stood no chance against Klaine from the instant he was announced. Kurt is painfully aware of it, stating that as much as he wants to move on and be with Adam like he deserves, he's still head over heels with Blaine. And true to form, they break up after a few episodes.
• Satellite Love Interest: Clearly gets more focus and substance than Chandler, but all in all, he remains an accessory to Kurt's narrative in New York.
• Serious Business: A deliberate subversion. As dedicated as he is to major in theatre, Adam is all for having fun and enjoying yourself when singing, and teaches Kurt to relax in his efforts.
• Serenade Your Lover: He sings "Baby Got Back" by Sir-Mix-A-Lot with his choir to entice Kurt to join, but it also serves to light Kurt's romantic interest towards him.
• Straight Gay: There is nothing camp about him.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: A blonde Nice Guy in a theater program with a crush on Kurt, Adam is what Chandler could have been.
• Temporary Love Interest: Adam develops a crush on Kurt pretty much at first sight. They do get together, but it was only a matter of time before Kurt got back together with Blaine. Heck, they even hook up before Adam has any chance of becoming a real boyfriend to Kurt.
• Woman Scorned: A downplayed gender-reversed example. The last we hear of Adam, we learn that he kicked Kurt out of his glee club after he and Blaine got engaged. And given that he was pretty much a rebound unceremoniously dumped, he has more than a right to some pettiness points.

Brody Weston

Brody Weston

In case you were wondering, which you were, I'm straight.

Portrayed by: Dean Geyer

Voiced by: Luis Leonardo Suárez

One of Rachel's classmates at NYADA, as well as a potential love interest.

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• Derailing Love Interests: How to break Rachel up with her Nice Guy upperclassman? Why, make him a prostitute of course!
• Flat Character: Outside of being Mr. Fanservice and being nice to Rachel just try to find something to say about his personality.
• Hidden Depths: In the end of "I Do" it's pretty strongly implied (and confirmed two episodes later) that he works as a prostitute.
• Home Nudist: Frequently walks around the loft stark naked, without a care in the world.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Though he's lying about it, he only took the job to pay for tuition and clearly doesn't enjoy it.
  • High-Class Call Girl: The male variation. He seemingly seeks clients who can afford.
• Modesty Towel: His only clothing when we first see him. Could have happened to an uglier fellow.
• Mr. Fanservice: Spends a fair amount of his moderate screen times naked.
• Nice Guy: Sweet and charming, all around a nice boyfriend to have.
• Put on a Bus: Says he won't give up on Rachel, even after she discovered he's a prostitute. Then poof!
• Please Put Some Clothes On: The reaction when people see him naked.
• Romantic False Lead: Rachel does get with him, but not for long, heavens forbid.
• Satellite Love Interest: Little to bring to the story aside from a temporary romance with Rachel.
• Slut-Shaming: Him being a prostitute is portrayed as an unforgivable flaw, despite his distate for it.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: His standards of beauty.
• Temporary Love Interest: He'd make an excellent boyfriend to anyone (until we discover that he sells himself that is), but Rachel running back to Finn was a Foregone Conclusion before he entered the picture. It is telling that even after Cory Monteith's tragic passing, Rachel did not end up with him.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Tactfully handled, The Reveal of him being a reluctant prostitute who does it to cover his insanely high college tuition could have made an interesting take on how lower class students have to get by in the big city. Alas, it was but a cheap plot device to get rid of him.

Dani

Danielle

I think you need a 100% Sapphic goddess.

Portrayed by: Demi Lovato

Voiced by: Karla Falcón, Cecilia Gómez (only in Tina in the Sky with Diamonds)

Santana's girlfriend, an aspiring artist who works alongside her, Rachel and Kurt at the Spotlight Diner.

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• Aborted Arc: Kurt's cover band plot never goes anywhere, being more of an Excuse Plot to send in the Special Guest.
• Celebrity Paradox: Rachel and Brody previously covered "Give Your Heart A Break", Demi Lovato's biggest hit. One review jokingly speculated that Dani actually "is Demi Lovato in one of those Princess Jasmine scenarios where she’s trying to find someone who loves her for her." Other Demi Lovato songs would later be covered.
• Gayngst: Her parents didn't take well to her being gay, though at this point she seems fairly well-adjusted about it.
• Gender-Blender Name: Santana lampshades it, trying to crack a joke about her parents knowing she'd be a lesbian and giving her a boyish name to go along with it.
• Lipstick Lesbian: A feminine girl who likes girls.
• No Full Name Given: We never learn her last name.
• Put on a Bus: Was not meant to last, and disappears as soon as Kurt's band stop being plot relevant.
• Romantic Runner-Up: After Brody and Adam, she makes the Rule of Three in the "hot new Love Interests met in New York who can't hold a candle to the High-School Sweethearts" scenario.
• Satellite Character: Dani only purpose was to be in Pamela Lansbury (Kurt's cover band) and also be Santana's girlfriend.
• Satellite Love Interest: Notice a trend there?
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After her parents started freaking out about her sexuality she packed up her things and left.
• Special Guest: Not there for many episodes.
• Temporary Love Interest: Like Brody and Adam, there is nothing wrong with her but the Fan-Preferred Couple cannot stay apart for long...
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Seeing as Brittany and Santana got back together AND married, Dani was not long for the Glee world. Truth be told, a bulk of the Gleeks (Britanna fans and otherwise) figured it out when she was announced.

Elliot "Starchild" Gilbert

Elliot "Starchild" Gilbert

It's an homage. To Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

Portrayed by: Adam Lambert

Voiced by: Bruno Coronel (Latin-American Spanish)

An older boy who goes to NYU and joins Kurt's band. A theatre kid who is very flamboyant and outgoing, and not afraid to hide his talent. "Starchild" is his stage name, but he goes by Elliot in casual situations.

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• Aborted Arc: Kurt's cover band plot never goes anywhere, being more of an Excuse Plot to send in the Special Guest.
• The Ace: Insanely talented, confident and well-adjusted.
• All Gays Love Theater: So much that like Kurt, Blaine, Adam and Chandler before him, he's studying it in college.
• Always Someone Better: Kurt initially feels seriously threatened by him, and for an excellent reason.
• Big Brother Mentor: Quickly sheds The Rival dynamic in favor of this one with Kurt.
• Camp Gay: So camp that his sexuality isn't even a question, Kurt just off-handedly refers to him as a gay as if it were obvious.
• Mentor in Queerness: Kurt discusses his relationship problems with him, and he gives good advice.
• Only Sane Man: He seems to be the only one in the group who can use the art of communication to resolve conflicts and misunderstandings.
• Pet Homosexual: Defied, he tells Rachel he doesn't appreciate being called her 'best gay', because it sounds like he's her pet.
• The Rival: Temporarily for Kurt, though it's more of Kurt being his Unknown Rival because of being scared that Elliot's talent will outshine him in his own band.
• Put on a Bus: The last time we hear of him, he left everything for a yoga retreat.
• Special Guest: A high-profile actor playing a role.
• Steampunk: His first outfit seen has elements of this, such as the top hat and goggles.

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