Characters / Inglourious Basterds

The character page for Inglourious Basterds.

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The Basterds

In General

The Basterds

"We will be cruel to the Germans, and through our cruelty they will know who we are."

A group of soldiers who have set out to put the fear of God into Nazi Germany. They started as eight Jewish-Americans, but are later joined by the German Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz after he murders 13 Gestapo officers and the Basterds break him out of jail.

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• '90s Anti-Hero: The main reason to root for them is that their targets are Nazis. They are ultimately a band of thugs who take no prisoners and relish violence.
• Badass Crew: It's not even funny how much fear they put into Nazi Germany, "butchering them like flies." Hitler even ponders them as "apparitions", able to appear and disappear at will. They're just that good.
• Batman Gambit: Their Spare a Messenger bit is just a means to protect whichever prisoner tells them what they want, thus making future survivors more likely to talk. Said survivor is given the "spread fear" excuse so that they aren't immediately put up against a wall and shot for betraying their fellow soldiers, and since the high command typically forbids them to tell the story to anyone else, it works out pretty well. Carving the swastikas into their foreheads is just for kicks, though.
• Blood Knight: Going as far as to scalp the soldiers they kill, the Basterds are in France for the sole purpose of killing German soldiers.
• The Dreaded: They always leave a Sole Survivor with a swastika carved into their foreheads to spread the word that they are going around killing Nazis — nominally, at least.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: All the members can qualify.
• He Who Fights Monsters: They hate the Nazis, yet they do several eerily similar actions to the Nazis as the Nazis did to Jews and other undesirables, even down to locking them in a room under false pretenses (in a manner of speaking). That fits the trope to a "t". But given that it's eight Jews, a hillbilly, and a German traitor, versus the entirety of the Nazi Party, it comes across just as much as a darkly satisfying turning of the tables.
• Knight Templar: Their mission statement is two words long; "Kill Nazis". However, one of the many (many, many) things that makes them morally dubious is that they do not differentiate between Nazis and non-party German soldiers. Joined the German army just for the pay, even if you hate the Nazis, or got conscripted? Too bad; assuming you survive the Basterds, you're still getting branded with a swastika.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Possibly one of the best examples in cinema.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Most of the Basterds are Jewish, and they fight Nazis, so revenge is certainly a motivating factor.
• Terror Hero: The Basterds' preferred tactic is to kill Nazis in such a brutal manner that any survivors give up out of fear.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Four Basterds disappear (Gerold Hirschberg, Andy Kagan, Michael Zimmerman, Simon Sakowitz) never to be shown on screen again. According to leaked versions of the script, whoever didn't show up by the tavern scene had died.
  • However, other versions have the remaining Basterds survive by the story's end.
• Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: Lampshaded by Landa himself: their plan to blow up the cinema via suicide bombers resembles a terrorist plot much more than any sort of military strategy. Though of course, the Basterds, Donny especially, don't see it that way: it's just good old fashioned Jewish vengeance.

Raine

Lt. Aldo "The Apache" Raine

"You probably heard we ain't in the prisoner-takin' business; we in the killin' Nazi business. And cousin, business is a-boomin'!"

Played By: Brad Pitt

Dubbed By: Jean-Pierre Michaël (European French)

"Every man here owes me one. Hundred. Nazi. Scalps. And I want my scalps!"

A hilljack from the backwoods of Tennessee. He has a mysterious scar about his neck that is ultimately left to the viewers' imagination. Tasked with instilling God-induced fear into the Germans before the Armada, he puts together the American-Jewish "Basterds" — all too happy to kill him some Nazis.

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• '90s Anti-Hero: He's the vicious and brutal leader of an equally vicious and brutal squad of essentially war criminals, but his enemies are Nazis, so he ends up on the lighter side of the moral scale.
• Ambiguously Evil: It's really only ambiguous due to his victims being Nazis. If Aldo did to almost any other group of people what he did to the Third Reich, he'd be seen as an utterly insane war criminal. Given we only see him fighting Nazis, it's hard to tell if he'd use similar tactics on others.
• Ambiguously Jewish: Raine is an interesting case. He's placed in charge of a unit of commandos who are all Jewish, but it's never stated whether or not he's Jewish himself. Nothing about his name or personality suggests that he's Jewish, but he does seem to have a personal hatred for Nazis that goes beyond simple enemies of war. Tarantino says his hatred of Nazis has to do with his years fighting The Klan (who, ironically, were despised by the Nazis despite having antisemitism in common). The scar on his neck is likely from a lynching. Whether this is because he's Jewish, part-Native American, or some other reason is unknown.
• Anti-Hero: Aldo seems truly dedicated to taking down Hitler and stopping the persecution of European Jews. The killing and torturing is just a bonus.
• Ax-Crazy: He legitimately gets off on carving swastikas into the heads of German prisoners-of-war. Landa mistakenly assumes this is a very clever tactic at spreading fear among German soldiers, and that beneath it he is rational and able to be reasoned with. Unfortunately....that's not the case — Landa all-too-painfully learns that Aldo is very much a psychopath who savors his art form.
• Badass Native: He claims to be descended from Jim Bridger, which would make him part-Native American.
• Berserk Button: While it's mostly Tranquil Fury, if you're a Nazi or a German soldier, don't even think that after the war you'll just be able to take off that uniform and walk away from everything it stood for.
• Blood Knight: Like most of the Basterds, he really enjoys fighting Nazis.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • He does seem genuinely willing to let Wilhelm leave the bar alive after hearing that he was a father to a newly born child, and gives off a very subtle indication that he doesn't think highly of von Hammersmark killing him in cold blood.
  • He hates Landa to his very core, and makes it known in a very painful manner, but Raine is also willing to let him live and reap the benefits he negotiated due to Hans' "help" ending the war.
• Expy:
  • His speech to the Basterds is reminiscent of General George S. Patton.
  • Also his leading of a Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits and having to infiltrate a Nazi event is similar to Maj. John Reisman from The Dirty Dozen.
• Famous Ancestor: Raine mentions he's a direct descendant of well-known mountain man Jim Bridger.
• Functional Addict: For as much "functional" as a man like him can be, the opening scene shows him bumping some snuff tobacco like he's taking a sip of coffee. He does this a couple times throughout the movie, especially when torturing von Hammersmark.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Like most of the Basterds, he really enjoys killing and mutilating Nazis. He also doesn't mind torturing Bridget when he becomes suspicious of her.
• Knight Templar: He's so dedicated to killing "Nat-zees" he doesn't care if the Germans he meets are actually Nazis (such as the SS) or conscripted soldiers who may or may not be Nazi sympathizers (such as the Wehrmacht).
• Large Ham: His way of speaking is quite theatrical.
  "And I WANT my scalps!"
• Laughably Evil: He is quite entertaining, which is probably the main reason why his blatant sociopathy is largely ignored by the fanbase. It also helps that his modus operandi is to Pay Evil unto Evil.
• The Man They Couldn't Hang: A likely cause of his neck injury.
• Military Maverick: That he mentions having been 'chewed out' before and is still holding the rank of lieutenant probably goes some way to explaining why he is leading an irregular unit on what most people would consider a suicide mission.
• Noodle Incident:
  • When he tweaks the deal Landa made with the Allied general, Raine notes it's not the first time he's gone against orders.
  • How Raine got that scar. He looks like a survivor of a failed hanging, although who hanged him and for what reason is never explained.
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent: An in-universe case, since he makes zero attempts to try to hide his thick Tennessee accent while posing as an Italian stuntman during the film premiere at the climax of the film.
• Obviously Evil: Raine invokes this by carving swastikas into the foreheads of Nazis. Aldo takes issue with the fact that a Nazi could just take off their uniform and no longer be identifiable as a Nazi. So he gives them a little something they can't take off.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: The Nazis are cruel, evil people who will torture and murder without a qualm or second thought. Therefore, Raine feels giving them a taste of their own medicine is a perfectly valid tactic.
• The Snack Is More Interesting: He casually munches on a sandwich while Donny executes Rachtman, and when he's interrogating Butz.
• Sociopathic Soldier: He is definitely one. He orders his team to collect one hundred Nazi scalps each or die trying^note that would total 1200 scalps, and that is just the Basterds. The way he phrases it implies he has done this before with his prior commands, so only Heaven knows how many scalped Germans are out there and he makes clear that he gives absolutely none of a damn about the potential innocence of any soldiers he encounters. His final act in the film is disobey direct orders from high command to escort Landa and his radioman alive and unharmed back to Allied lines to shoot the radioman and carve Landa's forehead the second he is able to, without a care about what his superiors could do to him.
• Southern-Fried Private: He hails from Tennessee, although Raine claims he's got just a touch of Native American blood in him.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: Maybe. We never get to see what happens to him after what he does to Landa, but doing that to a man who just successfully negotiated an end to the war is likely to get Aldo a far worse punishment than just being "chewed out". Of course, this being Aldo, he'd likely think it was Worth It.
• Uncertain Doom: The end of the film has Aldo defying his orders by scarring Landa and killing the radio operator he brought along. While Raine appears quite confident that he'll only be admonished for this behavior, it's very possible that Landa is correct in saying his punishment will be far more severe.
  • It's highly unlikely that Raine would be executed; over 21,000 US soldiers were punished for various crimes, and only 49 were given the death sentence (mostly for desertion, rape or murder), and only one of these sentences was actually carried out.
• Would Hit a Girl: After the disastrous rendezvous with von Hammersmark that results in the deaths of two of his men and a British agent, he has no issue with hurrying von Hammersmark's interrogation along by sticking a finger into the bullet wound on her leg.

Donowitz

Sgt. Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz

"Teddy fuckin' Williams knocks it out of the park!"

Played By: Eli Roth

More commonly known as "The Bear Jew", his infamy and brutality is so widespread among German soldiers stationed in France that many actually believe that he is a golem summoned by a vengeful rabbi. In truth, he is a Jewish-American soldier who really likes baseball. Unfortunately, there are no baseballs in Nazi-occupied France, so he and his bat make do with Nazi melons.

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• Alliterative Name: Donny Donowitz.
• All There in the Manual: Donny's backstory-flashback, cut from the film but found in the published script, reveals that he specifically enlisted to fight in the war on the condition that he fight Germany, not Japan. Also, his bat is inscribed with names of Jewish friends and family members as their blessings for his revenge.
• Animal Motif: He's known by the Nazis as "the Bear Jew" for his brutality and preference for using a baseball bat to bludgeon Nazis to death. His introduction as "the Bear Jew" has him emerging from a tunnel, like how a bear would emerge from a cave. Not to mention that he's a large, hairy man.
• Anti-Hero: Donny is truly dedicated to taking down Hitler, and stopping the persecution of European Jews. The killing and torturing is just a bonus.
• Atomic F-Bomb: "Fuck a Duck!"
• Batter Up!: His weapon of choice is a baseball bat with the names of all his Jewish friends and family inscribed on it. He's become infamous among the Nazis for the zeal with which he bludgeons them to death, spouting off baseball references all the while.
• Blood Knight: Donny loves to kill, and he cannot wait to smash his bat into another human being's face over and over.
• Combat Sadomasochist: He's on cloud nine whenever he's in a fight.
• The Dreaded: Even by Basterds standards, he's feared among the German military, to the point of being Shrouded in Myth.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: He spends his last moments gunning down Hitler and the Nazi High Command before he blows up.
• Famous Son: According to Quentin Tarantino, Lee Donowitz is in fact, Donny's son.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He dies in the explosion of the theater in the end gunning down Nazis to ensure none of them escape.
• Hollywood New England: His Boston accent shows as he clubs Rachtman. It helps that Donnie's played by born-and-bred Bay Stater Eli Roth.
  Donnie: TEDDY FAHKIN' WILLIAMS KNOCKS IT OUTTA DA PAHK! FENWAY PAHK ON ITS FEET FOR TEDDY! FAHKIN' BALLGAME! HE WENT YARDO ON THAT ONE, OUT TO FAHKIN' LANSDOWNE STREET!
• Knight Templar: He's decidedly the most eager Basterd to torment and slaughter him some Nazis.
• The Lancer: He questions Aldo what they need Hammersmark for more than anyone else.
• Large Ham: He tends towards Chewing the Scenery a lot in his lines, like his exaggerated sarcasm when talking about Operation Kino...or his elation after beating Sgt. Rachtmann to death.
  • In the initial interaction with Landa in the theater, Donny’s attempted Italian accent is so forced and over-the-top that Landa playfully has Donny repeat his cover name over and over again just to amuse himself.
• Nightmare Fetishist: His face whilst listening to Raine explain his intentions to the Nazis.
• Red Baron: He's come to be known as the "Bear Jew" among the Nazis.
• Psychotic Smirk: Donny Donowitz pulls one as he approaches the German commanding officer to execute him.
• Same Surname Means Related: Word of God says he's the father of Lee Donowitz from True Romance.
• Shrouded in Myth: Nazis believe he's a golem conjured by a rabbi.
• Slasher Smile: As Aldo Raine describes the guerilla tactics he intends the Basterds to use on the German army, he gives a satisfied smirk.
• Terror Hero: Considering his actor, he looks psychotic in nearly every scene he appears in, smirking during Raine's monologue of spreading terror towards the Nazis, looking like a maniac standing near Bridget von Hammersmark, and his blood lust when he spots Hitler.
• Would Hurt a Child: During the shootout inside the theatre, he guns down one of the girls from the League of German Maidens.

Stiglitz

Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz

"Say "auf Wiedersehen" to your Nazi balls."

Played By: Til Schweiger

A psychotic serial killer who was, for a time, a German enlisted soldier. He gained infamy after brutally butchering thirteen Gestapo officers, and was promptly sent on his way to the gallows. But as it turns out, Aldo was a huge fan of his work and wanted him to play for his team. Hugo didn't even have to ponder the possibility of killing more Nazis.

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• Anti-Hero: As with the rest of the Basterds, he's a viciously brutal murderer who takes great pleasure in his kills, but, of course, his targets are Nazis.
• Ax-Crazy: There really isn't a non-crazy reason for why he enjoys killing Nazis.
• Bathos: His part in the confrontation with Hellstrom is spoiled somewhat by him still having a card from their party game stuck to his forehead.
• Berserk Button: He loathes the Gestapo more so than any of the other Basterds combined — strongly implied to be for rather personal reasons. Despite the fact that he's a psychopath, he is for the most part cool under pressure, and has no problem maintaining a friendly and affable cover among other German soldiers. But the moment Hellstrom walks up, he immediately turns into an unstable time bomb. If Hicox hadn't accidentally blown his cover, it's very likely Stiglitz would've snapped and murdered him anyway.
• Blood Knight: He certainly seems to enjoy that one kill where he chokes a Gestapo officer to death with his fist.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Out of the 13 Gestapo officers he killed, we see three. One was suffocated by stuffing a fist into his throat, and another repeatedly stabbed in the face through a pillow. The third was just strangled with a piano wire.
• A Day in the Limelight: He's the only Basterd to get a full flashback sequence divulging their backstory.
• Defector from Decadence: Downplayed in that the Basterds are nearly as decadent as their targets.
• The Dreaded: "Everybody in the German army's heard of Hugo Stiglitz...!"
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Despite the amount of characterization he gets, he's suddenly killed during the tavern fight, and his death isn't even clearly shown on camera.
• Heel–Face Turn: Subverted. It's never fully explained why he decided to kill Gestapo officers, but the Basterds heard about it and offered him his freedom in return for helping them. Naturally, he joined up. The film hints that the Gestapo tortured him for some reason, setting him off on his personal Roaring Rampage of Revenge before capture (and rescue by the Basterds).
• Irony: Despite prominently carrying an SS knife, which displays their motto of "My honor means loyalty"^note adapted from the praise that Hitler gave the SS when they stayed loyal to him during the SA revolt, Stiglitz is actually a German traitor working alongside the Allies.
• Made of Iron: While hard to tell, a close viewing of the bar shootout shows Stiglitz taking multiple rounds to his back as he stabs Hellstrom before he turns around to return fire, killing two more German soldiers. It takes the bartender's shotgun to finally finish him off.
• Nominal Hero: Hugo has no problems with murder, mutilation, and torture. Unlike the other Basterds, it's unclear if he even thinks it's deserved. His targets are Nazis, though, so his interests are aligned with that of the Allied High Command.
• Not So Stoic: Subverted. Despite losing his shit in his own mind sitting next to a Nazi Gestapo officer in a bar, reliving the Nazi torture he endured at some point, he doesn't blow his cover nor burst into violence. Hicox does. Only after Hicox botches the operation does he shoot the officer in the balls and go nuts stabbing him in the back of the head during the shoot out.
• Pet the Dog: He seems genuine when he congratulates German soldier Wilhelm on the birth of his son, even smiling as he says "Maximilian" is a strong name for a son. It's the nicest he acts in the entire film.
• Psycho for Hire: He just seems to like killing.
• Serial Killer: Before joining the Basterds, he went on a killing spree of 13 Gestapo officers — this is what made him a candidate of interest for the Basterds.
• Sociopathic Hero: He straddles the line between this and Heroic Comedic Sociopath.
• The Stoic: He's almost completely unflappable — even when the prison guards to his cell are being suddenly gunned down. And then there's this gem, when Hicox tells him they should all be sure to remain calm on assignment:
  "I don't look calm to you?"
• Token Enemy Minority: A former German soldier under the Nazis, now he's with the Basterds.
• Workplace-Acquired Abilities: As a former Wehrmacht enlisted man, Stiglitz knows exactly how to make use of his high-ranking disguise and act like a real officer. When Hicox tries and fails to make a pesky German soldier go away, Stiglitz not only casually intimidates the man but also orders other German soldiers to remove him from the table.

Wicki

Cpl. Wilhelm Wicki

Played By: Gedeon Burkhard

An Austrian-born Jew, he quickly fled and became an American citizen right around the time when the Nazi party was coming into real prominence. Afterwards, he joined the Basterds to kick a little ass. He acts as the team's translator, cause the Germans are too shit-scared of Stiglitz.

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• Alliterative Name: Wilhelm Wicki.
• Cultured Badass: He's a bilingual marksman who is part of a dreaded Allied commando squad during WWII.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: The best shot among the Basterds. This is demonstrated when he almost single-handedly wipes out the basement of Nazis before Staff Sergeant Wilhelm guns him down.
• Irony: Despite being a Jew, he disguises himself as an SS officer when rendezvousing with Hammersmarck. Also doubles as Dramatic Irony since Hellstrom is completely unaware (until Hicox gives everyone away) that the SS guy sitting in front of him is a Jew.
• The Lancer: He acts as an interpreter for Raine, goes to the rendezvous with Hicox, and if things had played out the way they were intended, he would've gone to the premiere as part of Operation Kino.
• Made of Iron: He's shot two times in the chest during the tavern shootout, yet keeps standing and shoots down the guy who shot him plus the bartender before Staff Sergeant Wilhelm puts him down for good.
• Only Sane Man: Compared to the rest of the Basterds, he comes across as The Quiet One.
• The Smart Guy: His bilingualism makes him a good asset for gathering intelligence.

Ulmer

Pfc. Omar Ulmer

Played By: Omar Doom

A Basterd who got roped into Aldo's insane plan of bombing the cinema following the Mexican Standoff turned Blast Out in the pub. He doesn't speak Italian, not that Aldo cares.

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• Ascended Extra: He gets little screentime and few lines in the first four chapters before taking a more prominent role in the film's finale.
• Butt-Monkey: Raine treats him like this, but he proves himself otherwise.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Shared with Donny.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He dies in the explosion of the theater in the end, gunning down Nazis to ensure none of them escape.
• Hidden Depths: He's the only one of the trio of Basterds at the premiere who even remotely satisfies Landa's ear for Italian, despite being the only one who can't speak a word of the language.

Utivich

Pfc. Smithson "The Little Man" Utivich

Played By: B.J. Novak

"The Germans' nickname for me is "the Little Man"?"

Reportedly known to the Germans as the "Little Man", even though he's not the smallest of the Basterds, Utivich is a Basterd who, for some reason, was captured by Landa along with Aldo in the hopes of his scheme succeeding. Despite coming off as timid, he is all too happy to follow Aldo.

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• Ascended Extra: He's a background character until the very end of the movie.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Utivich is apparently known as the "Little Man" to the Germans. He's quite miffed when he finds out.
• Expecting Someone Taller: Inverted, much to his chagrin. To mess with him, Landa tells him that he was expecting the "Little Man" to be the type of short you'd see in a circus freak show, but he's actually average height.
• Informed Attribute: He's known as "the Little Man," according to Landa, despite being taller than all of the other Basterds aside from Wicki, Stiglitz, Donowitz, and Raine.
• Sole Survivor: Aside from Aldo, he is apparently the only Basterd involved in Operation Kino to survive. At the very least, he is the only one, along with Aldo, who makes it back across the border safely.

Hirschberg

Pfc. Gerold Hirschberg

Played By: Samm Levine

"About now I'd be shitting my pants if I was you!"

A Basterd with a minor role. He's the shortest member of the Basterds.

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• In the Back: Shoots Private Ludwig when he tries to escape. Aldo scolds him for it.
• The Napoleon: He's the shortest member of the Basterds, and apparently one of the most aggressive.
• Stout Strength: An unused trailer shot has him running through a building firing an MG42.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In interviews, Samm Levine confirms that Hirschberg survives to the story's end, and written-but-not-filmed closing scenes had himself and other unspecified Basterds meeting up with Lt. Raine and PFC Utivich after they settled things with Col. Hans Landa.

Kagan

Pfc. Andy Kagan

Played By: Paul Rust

Another one of the Basterds.

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• Flat Character: Along with Zimmerman and Sakowitz, he gets no significant screen-time and is mostly a background character.

Zimmerman

Pfc. Michael Zimmerman

Played By: Michael Bacall

Another one of the Basterds.

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• Flat Character: Along with Kagan and Sakowitz, he gets no significant screen-time and is mostly a background character.

Sakowitz

Pfc. Simon Sakowitz

Played By: Carlos Fidel

Another one of the Basterds.

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• Alliterative Name: Simon Sakowitz.
• Flat Character: Along with Kagan and Zimmerman, he gets no significant screen-time and is mostly a background character.

The Nazis

German High Command

The German High Command (Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Göring, and Martin Bormann)

Played By: Martin Wuttke & Sylvester Groth

• Asshole Victim: Absolutely no one is shedding a tear for these guys.
• Death by Irony: At a celebration of their military victory and conquest, they meet their deaths at the hands of both their wartime enemies and one of their many victims.
• Demoted to Extra: Hermann Göring and Martin Bormann.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: They're Nazis, they hate Jews and other “inferior races”. It’s their thing.
• Saved by Canon: Completely averted. Both die a year ahead of schedule.
• Villain by Default: They're fricking Nazis.

Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Played By: Martin Wuttke

It's that one guy.

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• Adolf Hitlarious: Downplayed: he isn't exactly played for pure comedy, but his Large Ham ranting and the ridiculous cape he wears in his first scene make him come across as somewhat laughable.
• Big Bad Wannabe: He does absolutely nothing to directly hinder the protagonists, and only gets about three minutes of screen time. Colonel Hans Landa is the real threat.
• Demoted to Extra: Hitler was featured prominently in the trailers, and considering his role in the war, you'd think he'd be one of the main villains. But no, he gets less than five minutes of screen time, and does very little directly throughout the film.
• Incoming Ham: "NEIN, NEIN, NEIN, NEIN, NEIN, NEIN!"
• Historical Ugliness Update: Emphasised in one scene, where Hitler inelegantly rants and sputters in front of a much-lionised portrait that more closely resembles the real thing.
• Large Ham: In his first scene, he really hams it up during his rant about the Bear Jew.
• Living Macguffin: Despite being the ultimate leader of the Nazi party, Hitler has no real influence on the plot, other than just being another target for Shoshanna and the Basterds to kill. Replacing him with another important Nazi would not affect the plot very much.
• Milking the Giant Cow: Wouldn't be Hitler without it. When he rants and raves about Nazi failures, he always uses his hands for dramatic emphasis.
• Nice to the Waiter: After informing his secretary that all talk of "the Bear Jew" is forbidden among the rank and file, said secretary reminds him of a forgotten appointment, for which Hitler thanks him. Later, he decides that the premiere of Goebbels' latest movie is important enough to the German people that he himself attends, and he personally praises Goebbels on his work.
• No Kill like Overkill: Donny never stops shooting Hitler's corpse even well after it's obvious he's already dead, leaving a bloody pulp where his face used to be. Never mind the subsequent point-blank bombing.
• Pimped-Out Cape: He wears one in his first appearance.

Goebbels

Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels

Played By: Sylvester Groth

Hitler's Minister of Propaganda, he sees himself as the next (less Jewish) Fritz Lang. He... really isn't.

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• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: As if being the Nazi Minister of Propaganda didn't make him evil enough, he also has a creepy, passive-aggressive handshake.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite his ego, his temper, and the sort of mentality that gets a person put in charge of Nazi propaganda, Hicox reports that the man's attempt at revitalizing German cinema and "beating the Hollywood Jews at their own game" is actually doing quite well.
• Berserk Button: Don't mention Lillian Harvey. He's still rather sore about her and her opposition to the Nazis.
• Establishing Character Moment: His joke about the Olympic Games being based off "Negro sweat."
• Fan Disservice: Thanks for the Goebbels sex scene, Quentin.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: He's introduced as Dr. Goebbels, and in fact the real Goebbels did have a doctorate in philosophy. It goes without saying that he's evil.
• Number Two: To Hitler. It is in fact a point of personal irritation for Goebbels that the only two people for whom he must wait for an appointment are Hitler and his new, explosively popular movie star Zoller.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He's introduced making racist jokes about black people in the Olympics, and according to Landa, he wouldn't trust a black projectionist to do his job well.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: ...Well, let's not get carried away, but once Zoller lays out a convincing enough argument for moving the premiere of Nation's Pride to a smaller— no, more exclusive venue, Joseph is up for it.
• Smug Snake: Being more smug than he has justification for comes with the territory of being the Minister of Propaganda for the Nazi Party and a white supremacist who considers himself an artistic genius.

Hans Landa

Col. Hans "The Jew Hunter" Landa

"I love rumors! Facts can be so misleading, where rumors, true or false, are often revealing."

Played By: Christoph Waltz

"You are now in the hands of the SS. My hands to be exact."

A Nazi colonel who is a damn good detective (in his words). He's very good at rooting out Jewish families in hiding, having earned himself the title of "the Jew Hunter". This is how he makes the acquaintance of Shosanna Dreyfus, whose family's death he is responsible for. As fate would have it, he is responsible for the security detail for the film premiere...at Shosanna's cinema. Apart from Zoller, he's the only fictional Nazi at the gala, though he shares a lot in common with Reinhard Heydrich, the architect of Hitler's "final solution"; this is remarked on by Landa himself in the film.

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• A Father to His Men: Man, anyway. He shows a unique affection for his adjutant at the climax, and trusts him enough to bring him in on the plot to defect after allowing Nazi High Command to perish. He is absolutely aghast at the man's murder and has a Villainous Breakdown over it, despite knowing his own safety is ensured.
• Ambiguous Situation: He specializes in creating these as an intimidating interrogation tactic; his subject is never clear on whether Landa already knows their secret, and Landa drops hints that would support both possibilities to keep them uncertain before finally revealing his hand.
• Appropriated Appellation: As seen in the beginning, when he mentions having been given the title of "Jew Hunter", which he finds to be rather catchy. Subverted in the final act, several years later, when he has come to loathe the accolade. Both reactions may have just been a lie: he states that he enjoys the moniker to LaPadite, whom he is trying to intimidate, and expresses his distaste for it to Aldo and Utivich, who is trying to broker a deal with and who are both well-known for despising the Nazis.
• Awesome by Analysis: He is essentially a Nazi Sherlock Holmes, and may actually see himself as such (he insists that he's a "detective", and a damn good one; and he even has a gavel).
• Badass Longcoat: The Nazi uniform he wears in the first chapter of the film includes one.
• Because I'm Good At It: His true alliance and personal beliefs are left ambiguous, but it's implied throughout the movie that he might not actually truly belief in the anti-jew propaganda of the Third Reich, it's just that he's a very good detective and that might be why he actually enjoys hunting down jews for the Nazis.
• Big Bad: He is the main antagonist of the film, and the one hunting the Basterds and Shosanna Dreyfus.
• Break Them by Talking: His interrogation of Perrier LaPadite in the first chapter of the story.
• Breakout Character: Thought by many to be the highlight of the film, Landa was the Star-Making Role for Christoph Waltz for international audiences, and Tarantino has said he considers Landa to be the best character he ever wrote.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: An important thing to note about Landa is that he's not simply effective, he is also playful. Every interaction he has in the movie is an interrogation, and for Landa every interrogation is a performance. Neither his meeting with LaPadite nor revealing to Bridget von Hammersmark that he found her shoe at the tavern before he kills her with his bare hands are necessary to achieve his aims, but he does so anyway to amuse himself a little before getting down to business.
• The Chessmaster: He knows how to play people's weaknesses and strengths against them to get what he wants.
• Colonel Badass: A non-physical example; he outmaneuvers most of his opponents with ease, and it does take some nerve to plant dynamite under Hitler's seat without breaking a sweat.
• Create Your Own Hero: Killing Shosanna's family with her watching the whole thing made her into a vengeful Nazi killer who would be responsible for the death of most of the major Nazi officers by having them trapped inside a burning theatre. On the other hand, Landa himself benefited from her actions.
• Cunning Linguist: One of the character's most well-known traits is his quadri-linguality. His ability to speak English allows him to speak freely about the Dreyfusses without tipping them off that he knows where they are and his grasp of Italian completely torpedoes the Basterds’ facade at the theater.
• Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe: He's shown to smoke a rather (bordering on comically) large one. The fact that he only smokes it while interrogating LaPedite is a clue that he already knows the answers to everything he's asking the man.
• The Dreaded: His nickname being the Jew Hunter and all.
• Establishing Character Moment: He sadistically threatens a man's family to get him to give up a Jewish family he's been hiding despite having already deduced that they were there hiding under the floorboards before he had even arrived. He then spares Shosanna not out of mercy, but rather out of whimsy.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Landa seems to be completely shocked when Aldo kills his adjutant in cold blood even though his survival was part of Landa's deal with the Allied command. Arguably, Landa expected Aldo to put his ruthlessness (which he was well aware of) aside for the sake of honor or at the very least of orders. He does not.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Landa is a cynical and amoral opportunist who starts looking to abandon ship on the Nazis and Germany once it becomes clear that they cannot win the war, and he seems to be under the impression that Aldo is just as calculating, cynical, and two faced as he is. The fact that Aldo simply genuinely hates the Nazis (including Landa), and would be perfectly willing to risk some consequences just to hurt them doesn't occur to Landa until after Aldo has violated their deal and has him at knife point.
• Fatal Flaw: Arrogance, as well as not understanding people who are unlike him are what eventually doom him. He thinks that Raine is like him, an amoral opportunist who exaggerates his brutality for dramatic effect. He is very wrong about that.
• Fate Worse than Death: Depending on your interpretation of what happens after, there's a strong argument to be made that Raine affixing a permanent Mark of Shame upon his forehead, thereby dooming him to living the rest of his life branded as a Nazi, means he will constantly be afraid of what people will say about or do to him in response.
• Faux Affably Evil: He loves putting on an unexpectedly friendly and jovial personality when he's interrogating and sometimes even killing people, but there is no doubt that he is really a vicious and opportunistic bastard underneath it. When he lunges at von Hammersmark to strangle her, the Affably Evil facade completely breaks to reveal a snarling, almost animalistic bloodlust.
• The Gadfly: He makes a point that he enjoys "teasing rough" while unraveling Bridget von Hammersmark's mountain climbing story.
• Hypocrite: Seems to despise double agents, judging from the way he personally kills Bridget and refers to her as someone who is bought, yet has no problem defecting to the Allies himself moments later.
• I Gave My Word: Regardless of his other flaws, Landa does respect deals and promises. We see him keep up his end of every bargain he makes, and he is clearly horrified when Raine shoots the German soldier he had included to defect to the US in their agreement at the end.
• I Kiss Your Hand: He does so when meeting ladies for the first time as part of his gentlemanly veneer, but certainly with one of the LaPadite daughters and possibly with Shosanna it's also an intimidation tactic.
• Karma Houdini: Landa most likely will become this in combination with Written by the Winners. He betrays Hitler with the intention of being viewed by the public as being a spy for the Allies, and he being the reason the Allies won. The only way it doesn't quite go the way he plans is Raine's Mark of Shame being carved into his forehead.
  • Karma Houdini Warranty: While he might have gotten away with his crimes, said Mark of Shame will never fully heal.
• Kick the Dog:
  • It's highly likely he knew well in advance where the Dreyfuses were hiding in LaPadite's farmhouse, but terrorizes Perrier LaPadite into confessing anyway. This particular instance strangely overlaps with Pet the Dog at the same time, as instead of simply ordering LaPadite and his family killed, he gives LaPadite the opportunity to "cooperate" (with no further punishment) instead of simply being discovered with Jews hiding in his house (which would likely have fatal results for his family).
  • He murders von Hammersmark in an unnecessarily brutal fashion, but not before making her pull her own lost shoe out of his jacket pocket and slipping it on her foot for her, so that she knows in no uncertain terms how screwed she's been from the start.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Downplayed, but while he does technically get away from his crime. He underestimates Raine's brutality and pays for it dearly when the guy carves a swastika on his head, thus marking him as a Nazi for life.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste: He discovers the Basterds' plan and hijacks it in order to give himself a cushy retirement.
• Living Lie Detector: Why he does his job extremely well.
• Manipulative Bastard: He manipulates his way into surviving the defeat of the Nazis and retiring with a "nest egg".
• Mark of Shame: He becomes the recipient of Aldo's masterpiece so as to not let his crimes be forgotten.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Assuming he's treated as such (as he could be considered a Villain Protagonist), he is not dangerous because of being a physical threat. This is made very clear in his opening scene, where he completely breaks down the much more physically imposing LaPadite without even needing to bring his soldiers into the room.
• Not So Stoic: His brutal and apparently very personal murder of von Hammersmark is a far cry from his usual dispassion about killing people, not to mention his reaction when Raine shoots his driver.
• Omniglot: Landa is fluent in German, English, and French, like his actor, as well as Italian (which Waltz doesn't speak, but fakes convincingly).
• Opportunistic Bastard: Landa's loyalty is not to race or country, just his own prosperity. Which is why he, sensing the Nazi's inevitable defeat, betrays them.
• Pet the Dog:
  • It's implied that he does honor his agreement to leave the LaPadite family alone.
  • He is clearly horrified when Aldo kills his driver after they've surrendered, claiming that he made a deal for the man's life.
  • When making his demands for enabling Operation Kino, he initially asks for the Congressional Medal of Honor, before rescinding that and asking that all members of the operation receive the medal.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Despite being a literal Nazi, whether or not he's a true believer in the cause is open to interpretation. He has Shosanna switch in with her assistant because he presumed Goebbels wouldn't allow a "negro" to manage the film night, and makes a comment that "one could see how that [being a projectionist, staying out of sight behind the scenes] could be a good trade for them [black people]". The former was an accurate statement as to his peers' expectations, while the latter may just be to provoke Shoshanna.
  • Actually, Landa's medals are a good clue that he is lying about the extent/solidity of his Nazi beliefs. At the very least, they show that he at one time was something of a true believer. He is wearing medals and insignia that indicate a long-time membership in the party, which is especially damning for an Austrian. It means he would have been a member long before the Germans annexed Austria in 1938, at a time when being a Nazi Party member in Austria was illegal and a professional detriment. Landa is undoubtedly an opportunist, but his medals suggest that he did have some initial affinity for Nazi ideology, and that he allied himself with the party long before it would have been wise for a career-minded Austrian to do. His efforts to diminish his Nazi connections toward the end of the movie are him rewriting his own narrative.
  • Of particular note is Landa’s possession of the Blutorden medal, which was a highly exclusive Nazi award, given only to participants in the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch or to individuals who had been party members before 1932 (the year in which the Nazi Party enjoyed its first major electoral success and with it a large influx of new members). Landa was, therefore, a party member long before it was personally advantageous to be one, especially in Austria, and may have been a member as far back as the Nazis’ earliest days as a fringe party on the extreme right of Bavarian local politics. He also wears a Golden Party Badge, indicating that he was among the party’s first 100,000 members, and held his membership continuously from first joining until the Nazi seizure of power in 1933. Whatever he says about not being a true Nazi, Landa has clearly been a longtime party member.
  • When he’s laying the outline of his deal with the Americans, he specifically notes he has no desire to be judged by a "Jewish" tribunal after the war. Why he assumes the tribunal would be Jewish is anyone’s guess, but it’s clear he doesn’t want people in control of his postwar fate to be Jewish. Then again, it might be antisemitism or because the fate of the Jew hunter in the hand of the Jewish people is pretty much prison or death.
  • In his first scene, he does make an analogy comparing Germans to hawks and Jews to rats, much like real Nazi propaganda of the time, but he insists that he doesn't mean the comparison as an insult, as rats are tough survivors in a hostile world.
• Psychological Projection: Landa is an amoral pretender using Nazism just to benefit himself personally. Upon discovering the real purpose of the Basterds' tendency to Spare a Messenger scarred with a swastika, Landa assumes Aldo Raine's Ax-Crazy Military Maverick shtick is just an act to scare the Germans. Thinking of him as a like-minded opponent is a rare mistake for the otherwise observant Landa, which ends up being quite painful, since Raine is the one he surrenders himself to.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: A villainous example; it's heavily implied that he's aware of "Emmanuelle's" true identity, ^note during the restaurant scene between him and Shosanna he orders her a glass of milk, and when offering her a cigarette he notes "[it is] not French, [it is] German", much like how Shosanna is a Jew posing as a Gentile French girl but he never divulges his knowledge of her true identity to either Shosanna herself or his superiors.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: In four languages, no less.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: It comes with being (Faux) Affably Evil. The strudel scene says it all.
• The Starscream: He actually puts some of the dynamite in Hitler's box.
• Too Clever by Half: His scheme doesn't go the way he envisions it; also, while he is responsible for the death of the German and Nazi leadership, it's less because he sold them out to the Basterds, and more due to sparing a young Jewish girl (For the Evulz, mind; he'd just killed her entire family, and he spared her just because it amused him to do so) and not recognizing her as a vengeful adult. His biggest mistake, however, is either over- or underestimating Aldo's intelligence; Landa assumes that he and Aldo treat each other as intellectual equals (as shown by his annoyance at the subversion of Worthy Opponent below), so isn't prepared for Aldo either being stupid enough to get himself shot for killing Landa's driver and carving a swastika into Landa's forehead, or intelligent enough to realise he can actually get away with being "chewed out" instead of executed for insubordination. Which one it is depends on how much credit we give Aldo, but either one is a mistake for Landa. Besides Aldo’s intelligence, Landa also misjudges his character. Hans is so self-serving it's questionable if he views the tenets of Nazism as anything but a tool for his own power... but Aldo is unquestionably who he says he is.
• Turncoat: He allows Operation Kino to succeed. For a price, of course.
• Trademark Favorite Drink: He sure does like his milk.
• Troll: While mind-games are a major part of his detective MO, his forcing the Basterds to repeat their atrociously-pronounced Italian cover-names after demonstrating he speaks the language flawlessly appears to be just for his own amusement.
• Urban Legend Love Life: He has a reputation as a womanizer, as von Hammersmark claims to be familiar with a number of his "conquests", but we don't see much evidence of it.
• Verbal Tic: He calls any German he does not know "Herman". Which, if read as "Herr Mann", translates to "Mr. Man" in German.
• Villainous Breakdown: After Raine shoots his driver upon surrendering to the Basterds, Landa's hitherto-unflappable cool instantly goes out the window and he panics as he tries to convince Raine not to kill him. The last we see of Landa is him screaming in agony as Raine carves a swastika into his forehead.
• Villain Protagonist: Landa gets more screentime than both Aldo and Shosanna.
• Wicked Cultured: He embodies this trope.
• Worthy Opponent: Subverted in his relationship with Aldo; he considers his interrogation of all of Aldo's swastika-marked survivors to be an extremely obvious step for an intelligent opponent to take, and when he realises Aldo is surprised that Landa did this, he very petulantly says "we simply aren't operating on the level of mutual respect I'd assumed" and takes a moment to regain his composure. This goes with his general misjudgment of Aldo's character.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: A villainous example, for sure, but Hans Landa seems to think that he's living in a James Bond movie, mixed with a little bit of Sherlock Holmes. He's constantly playing mind games with people, always comes out on top, and even manages to manipulate the outcome of the war by helping betray the German high command. His flaw, though is in assuming that Aldo Raine is his equivalent, and also views the war as an espionage thriller. He doesn't. When Hans thinks he's surrendering to his Worthy Opponent at the end, he's really Alone with the Psycho.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: He burst into uncontrollable laughter over von Hammersmark's mountain climbing story.

Zoller

Pvt Frederick Zoller

Played By: Daniel Brühl

A charming German sniper who gained a hero status in Germany after mowing down nearly 300 American soldiers in a single day from a tower. He is now the centerpiece of Goebbels' latest propaganda film, Nation's Pride. He has a serious case of puppy-love for Shosanna.

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• Alas, Poor Villain: While he's a creepy stalker and a mass murderer, it's sad seeing him being betrayed by someone who he thought he loved, and getting killed by her. Obviously, that sympathy doesn't last for a long time, and he turns out to not be fully dead, and kills Shoshanna in his last moments, but it's still kind of tragic. The music makes it even better.
• Almighty Janitor: On paper, he's just another private, holding the lowest rank an enlisted man can have in the military, a fact that Landa brings up when Zoller starts getting a little too big for his britches. In practice, thanks to his big moment, high-ranking officers practically Squee upon seeing him, and he has meetings with top-ranking officials, with enough influence to ask favors from Goebbels himself.
• Autobiographical Role: The Movie Within The Movie is about his real-life exploits, and he plays himself.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He initially appears as a jovial guy who just simply does his job as he's commanded. Then Shosanna refuses him once too often, and he drops the Nice Guy personality.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Initially, he appears to be a relatively benign example of this trope, but then his true colors are revealed when he gets frustrated that Shoshanna isn't following the "script" of their "love story," and he shows the worst aspects of this trope. In truth, he's nothing but a creepy stalker who has been harassing a woman who is very clearly not interested in him, and he never gets the hint.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: He finally snaps after Shoshanna snubs him yet again, even when he expected his favors would warm her up to him.
• Entitled to Have You: When he drops the Nice Guy facade, he demands that Shosanna submit herself to him.
• Expy: He's kind of a German Audie Murphy: a war hero renowned for an impossible feat turned actor playing himself in patriotic films.
• Friendly Sniper: He acts affably enough. However, this gets subverted as he continuously attempts to force Shosanna into a relationship against her will.
• Humble Hero: Of a sort; he never reveals his celebrity status until fans appear to fawn over him, and afterward doesn't flaunt it. It may be because he's not particularly proud of his claim to fame; see Punch-Clock Villain below.
• Karmic Death: He is ultimately killed by the secretly Jewish girl he'd been harassing the entire movie.
• Mook Lieutenant: He may be just a soldier, but his fighting skills, along with being a protege of Goebbels, makes him stand out from the crowd.
• Mutual Kill: With Shosanna.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Him convincing Goebbels to move the Nation's Pride premiere to Shosanna's cinema ultimately contributes to the death of the entire Nazi High Command.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: He makes a solid effort of wooing Shoshana with both a friendly demeanor and more elaborate shows (namely the premier), but moves onto threats after getting rejected one too many times. As friendly as he is, the fact that he killed so many people by himself hangs over him like a fog; and once he drops the nice act he's quick to point it out, hinting that he's not as ashamed of it as he'd let on previously.
• One-Man Army: Why he's so famous, and why a movie is being made about him; over the span of three days, he managed to rack up a body count in the low triple-digits from the vantage of his belltower sniper nest, and his retelling to Shoshana implies that the American soldiers simply cleared out of the whole town rather than deal with him.
• Prince Charming Wannabe: He's very convinced that Shosanna is a Tsundere for him, unaware that her cold shoulder act is because she genuinely fucking hates him and is terrified of overtly angering him for fear he might discover she's secretly Jewish.
• Punch-Clock Villain: He confesses to Shosanna that he does not want to watch his film, because he does not feel proud of killing so many men. At the premiere, he is visibly uncomfortable as he watches the violence onscreen before quickly excusing himself. On the other hand, he proudly boasts of killing 300 men when threatening Shoshanna, so who knows?
• Taking You with Me: Shosanna shoots him to keep him from discovering her plan, but then gets curious when she hears him is still alive. As she approaches him in sympathy, Zoller shoots her back.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Word of God says that his biggest crime was "being in the wrong movie," and it shows. He seems to think he's in some kind of Meet Cute war-time romance flick where he can defrost the ice queen with his persistence and Nice Guy charm. Not how it works out.

Hellstrom

Major Dieter Hellstrom

Played By: August Diehl

Something of a repulsive Gestapo Major, he works directly under Goebbels. He's not particularly savvy, but very difficult to fool.

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• Bad Boss: He has no problem dragging his own men into what ends up being a mutually fatal shootout, even gloating about orphaning the newborn Max.
• Big Bad Wannabe: He could very well serve as a Deconstruction of Landa's character: good with language, but not good enough to recognize an English accent, despite speaking English. He fancies himself a detective and claims to know "every [German Soldier] in France worth knowing", and yet sits right next to Hugo Stiglitz, the only member of the Basterds whom we know had his face in a newspaper (for killing those 13 officers), whom "every man in the German Army has heard of", and fails to recognize him. He has no personal magnetism, and his charm is all superficial, quickly dropped whenever it becomes inconvenient. And perhaps most important of all: unlike Landa, Hellstrom doesn't Know When to Fold 'Em, and it costs him and his men their lives.
• Cunning Linguist: He has an ear for accents and can deduce any German's birthplace by their accent, as he does with Wicki's Munich accent and Stiglitz's Frankfurt accent. The fact that he can't tell where Hicox's (horrible) accent is from is what tips him off that the latter might be a spy.
• Dead Man Walking: He knows from the moment Hicox outs himself that he isn't walking out of there alive. His eyes immediately after the realization can only be described as ones of regret and acceptance, as he seemingly makes peace with the fact that he will soon die for his country. He even proposes a toast to the Reich before confronting Hicox.
  Hellstrom: You and I both know, captain, no matter what happens to anybody else in this room, the two of us aren’t going anywhere.
• Evil Gloating: He's completely content knowing everyone in the bar is going to shoot each other dead.
• Failed a Spot Check: Zig-zagged. He fails to recognize Stiglitz, despite sitting right next to him. He doesn't fail to notice Hicox using the wrong hand gesture for "three".
• Faux Affably Evil: An act he's not particularly accomplished at; his "friendly" demeanor is still very demanding and intrusive, and he can only turn on the charm for so long before defaulting back to "Nazi".
  "I must say, I grow weary of these monkeyshines."
• Go-Karting with Bowser: He and the Basterds enjoy playing their card game for a few minutes, before Hicox blows his cover and things get tense again.
• Groin Attack: He's shot to death by Hicox and Stiglitz firing their sidearms point-blank into his groin.
  Stiglitz: Say "auf wiedersehen" to your Nazi balls!
• Jerkass: Upon meeting Shosanna, he rudely tells her to get her ass into the car, which was actually supposed to be an invitation, and overall he doesn't enjoy anyone's company including Goebbels and his own men.
• Lack of Empathy: He has no sympathy for little Max growing up without a father.
• Mutual Kill: With Hicox.
• Pet the Dog: Despite his general Lack of Empathy, he allowed Wilhelm and his unit to celebrate his son's birth and even joined them at the tavern, though he stopped short of fraternizing with them, seating himself just around the corner with a beer and a book.
• Stepford Smiler: His smile and manners are entirely superficial and do not hide his cold, smug personality.
• Smug Snake: Hellstrom sure thinks he's some kind of version of Landa. That's the kind of thinking that makes you say "auf wiedersehen" to your Nazi balls.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Like Landa, he appears to get a kick out of being very scary in a conversational tone.
• Spanner in the Works: His intervention kills off every member of Operation Kino besides Bridget who can speak German, forcing the remaining members to pose unconvincingly as Italians in the showing. Had it not been for Landa flipping to the other side and intentionally overlooking their flimsy disguise, Operation Kino would have ended in total failure.
• Spotting the Thread: Subverted, then Played Straight; Hellstrom picks up on Hicox's "obscure small town" accent, but a sufficiently detailed and corroborated cover story assuages his doubts. Then Hicox makes a drink order with the wrong hand gesture, which Hellstrom notices immediately, and the fiction is dispelled.
• Taking You with Me: He makes it clear the moment Hicox blows his cover that he's not leaving the bar alive no matter what, even if that means Hellstrom and his men die with him.
• There's No Kill like Overkill: Stiglitz first shoots him point-blank in both balls, then Hicox shoots him a few more times there, before Stiglitz stabs him twice in the back of the head.
• Undying Loyalty: He is utterly devoted to Nazi Germany — Truth in Television when it comes to the Gestapo. When Hicox blows his cover, under no circumstances will he allow him to leave the tavern alive, even if it means everyone else inside will die, him included.
• Villainous Valor: You have to give him credit for not only being willing to die in the process of stopping an enemy spy, but actually doing so after being shot in the balls at point-blank range.
• Wicked Cultured: He knows a lot about dining, history, German accents, and American pop culture. He also enjoys reading while listening to classical music (instead of indulging in drunken festivities with his men).
• You Have No Chance to Survive: Towards Hicox and the Basterds when explaining they won't survive a shoot out with the German soldiers in the bar.

Wilhelm

Staff Sgt. Wilhelm

Played By: Alexander Fehling

A German soldier under Hellstrom's command. He was given the night off to celebrate the birth of his son, Max, at a pub. Then it all goes to hell.

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• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: His and his comrades' celebrating with drinks in the basement of a tavern certainly doesn't deescalate the situation that follows. It's abundantly possible his booze-enhanced high spirits are responsible for his boldness toward Hammersmark. (See below under Small Role, Big Impact.)
• Anti-Villain: He is a Nazi soldier, but he's also a new father, and the existence of his son helps to redeem him from played-straight lowly mook to anti-villain.
• Broken Pedestal: He goes from idolizing Hammersmark to denouncing her as a "fucking traitor" upon learning she's working for the Allies.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He comes across as a drunken idiot at first, but, even in that state, he identifies Hicox's foreign accent, and he then manages to shoot down Wicki, leaving him as the sole survivor of the shootout with von Hammersmark. At first.
• Even Mooks Have Loved Ones: Unfortunately, Hellstrom doesn't care if his son grows up without a father.
• Good-Looking Privates: He's young, clean-cut (if a touch disheveled at the moment), and soon to be a father.
• I Have a Family: He's given the choice to let Bridget go without a fight so he can be with his wife and son. He accepts the offer, but von Hammersmark has other ideas.
• Mexican Standoff: With Raine... or not... depends if you ask him or Raine.
• More Dakka: While everyone in the bar is wielding small sidearms, Wilhelm goes for the MP40 submachinegun, with brutal effect.
• Punch-Clock Villain: You set aside the whole "Nazi" thing, and what you have left is a swell guy who is celebrating his new family.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Or perhaps his new son, Max, is a better example. Imagine what would've happened if Max hadn't been born that night; Wilhelm and his fellow soldiers wouldn't have gone to that bar, they wouldn't have met Bridget von Hammersmark, Wilhelm wouldn't have drunkenly overstayed his welcome and caused Hicox to reprimand him, Wilhelm wouldn't have picked up on Hicox's accent, which means Hellstrom wouldn't have picked up on his accent, which means the firefight and ensuing Mexican Standoff wouldn't have happened, and everyone in the bar might've lived through the night. If nothing else, Operation Kino would've played out very differently.
• Suddenly Sober: Amazing what a firefight erupting in a basement can do.

Rachtman

Sgt. Werner Rachtman

Played By: Richard Sammel

An honorable and loyal German soldier, who "respectfully refuses" Aldo's offer to rat out his comrades. He becomes the Bear Jew's first on-screen kill.

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• Even Evil Has Standards: He fights for the Nazis, but nonetheless chooses death over giving up his comrades.
  Rachtman: You can't expect me to divulge information that would put German lives in danger?
• Face Death with Dignity: The man is unflappable, given the situation; it takes a baseball bat to the head to finally get a reaction out of him.
• A Father to His Men: As he surveys the dead bodies of his men being scalped, he looks none too pleased....
• My Country, Right or Wrong: He's a completely unapologetic Wehrmacht sergeant in service to the Nazis.
• Not Afraid to Die: He knows full well he will be killed if he doesn't cooperate with the Basterds. At first he politely refuses, then just outright insults the Basterds to drive home his point. Even with the Bear Jew standing with a bat in front of him, he remains unflinching.
• Precision F-Strike: When told his options are to expose the location of an artillery encampment or get beaten to death with a baseball bat, he answers with an unmistakable "Fuck you, and your Jew dogs." He had just seen them murder and scalp his men.
• Punch-Clock Villain: For all we know, he's just a regular Wehrmacht soldier and not a war criminal.
• Senseless Sacrifice: He refuses to divulge the position of another group of German soldiers, and is graphically beaten to death with a baseball bat for it. After watching that happen, another soldier (who does not share his "bravery") is far more cooperative, immediately telling the Basterds everything they want to know.
• Villainous Cheekbones: Played with; he has the classic look of a villain, but is also shown to have noble aspects, chief among them loyalty and courage.
• Villainous Valour: In addition to condemning himself to a violent death rather than betray his army, we have this moment:
  Donowitz: [taps a medal on Rachtman's uniform] You get that for killin' Jews?
  Rachtman: Bravery.

Butz

Pvt. Butz

Played By: Sönke Möhring

A German soldier serving under Sgt. Rachtman.

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• Les Collaborateurs: To the Basterds.
• Dirty Coward: He comes to Raine trembling with fear, and eagerly gives up the information they want upon seeing his commanding officer beaten to death.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: When asked what he's going to do once he gets home, he responds that the first thing he's going to do is hug his mother.
  Raine: [takes a bit of snuff] ...Well isn't that nice.
• Fire Purifies: He then says, when asked, that he plans to dispose of his Nazi uniform by burning it. Aldo takes issue with that, leading to...
• Mark of Shame: The swastika Aldo carves on his forehead.
• Sole Survivor: He's allowed to live for betraying his comrades.

Mondino

Francesca Mondino

Played By: Julie Dreyfus

Goebbels' mistress and French translator.

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• Les Collaborateurs: She's an Italian collaborator of the Nazis, serving as Goebbels' personal translator, much to Shoshanna's Squick-filled contempt.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only woman in or around Nazi high command, by dint of being Goebbels' personal assistant.
• There's No Kill like Overkill: Omar empties an MP40 into her, point-blank.

Jannings

Emil Jannings

Played By: Hilmar Eichhorn

A German actor.

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• Historical Domain Character: He's based on the real life Emil Jannings, who starred in several Nazi propaganda films.

The Allies

Churchill

Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Played By: Rod Taylor

"Brief him."

It's that other guy.

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• Big Good: Of the entire Allied war effort.
• The Cameo: For Rod Taylor.
• Historical Domain Character: He's Winston bloody Churchill.
• Secret Test of Character: Churchill's only involvement in the sole conversation he's in is to ask Hicox a very specific question regarding German cinema under Goebbels, and once Hicox answers it to his satisfaction, giving Fenech the go-ahead to discuss Operation Kino.
• Smoking Is Cool: Courtesy of those legendary cigars.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Until he speaks, Hicox and Fenech act as if he isn't in the room, seemingly for reasons of Plausible Deniability.

Fenech

General Ed Fenech

Played By: Mike Myers

"We have all our rotten eggs in one basket. The objective of the operation: blow up the basket."

An English general under Churchill's command.

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• The Cameo: For Mike Myers, with an impeccable accent and heavy makeup.
• Cool Old Guy: He's an older gentleman who has enough of a sense of fun to have a drink with his subordinates, and admonishes Hicox for being modest while listing out his accomplishments.
• Deadpan Snarker: When informing Hicox that he'll be working with an American secret service known to the Germans as "the Basterds":
  Hicox: The Basterds? Never heard of them.
  Fenech: Whole point of the secret service, old boy; you not hearing of them.
• Failed a Spot Check: He never bothers to check if Hicox can actually pass as a real German or not. The crew pays the price for this when Hicox's terrible accent tips off an SS member, who proceeds to out them all as spies. Even if the aforementioned encounter never happens, Hicox would likely get outed anyway once he meets Landa in the cinema.
• Mr. Exposition: Fenech is the man who outlines "Operation Kino" for Hicox, and thus for the audience.

Hicox

Lt. Archie Hicox

'There's a special rung in hell reserved for people who waste good scotch.'

Played By: Michael Fassbender

A former film critic and journalist who now serves in Her Majesty's Royal Army. His immense knowledge of German cinema makes him invaluable for the upcoming operation in Fenech's and Churchill's eyes.

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• Badass Bookworm: He was a film historian and film critic before joining the Army, and his role in the top-secret Operation Kino requires knowledge of German cinema.
• Cunning Linguist: Utterly subverted. He can speak fluent German, but his accent is so botched that even a drunken German soldier, let alone a sober Gestapo man, can tell right away that he's not native.
• Face Death with Dignity: Why make a big deal about having a gun pointed under a table at you when you can enjoy a good scotch?
• Fatal Flaw: For all his knowledge of German cinema, he doesn't know how to signal "3" with his fingers German-style, which is what confirms Major Hellstrom's suspicions that he's not German. Likewise, he shows a tendency to take control of situations and situate himself as an Only Sane Man direction over the more uncouth Americans, but in a situation where he is not in his element, these attempts to take point in uncomfortable situations rather than be patient leads to disaster: see Worlds Expert On Getting Killed below.
• Fish out of Water: While on paper he is an expert on German culture, it only applies to cinema, and his lack of understanding with German accents and hand gestures proves fatal.
• Elites Are More Glamorous : His cap-badge indicates he is a Commando.
• Gentleman Snarker: His explaination for being in France with von Hammersmark for a movie premiere?
  "Someone has to carry her lighter."
• Groin Attack: He shoots Hellstrom there several times, who repays the favor.
• I Am Very British: "Frightfully sorry, sir!"
• Inopportune Impersonation Failure: Lt. Hicox's meeting with double agent Bridget von Hammersmark is interrupted by Major Hellstrom, who is suspicious of the British Hicox's unconvincing German accent. Hicox improvises masterfully, simply saying he comes from a remote mountain area of Germany and apparently lays Hellstrom's suspicions to rest... until Hicox orders 3 glasses of scotch with a Western hand gesture. All three of them immediately know the game is up, and the bullets start flying moments later.
• One Last Smoke: Along with a glass of scotch.
• Only Sane Man: Deconstructed. He's really certain before the meeting to keep a calm head while undercover. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop him from colliding egos with a Nazi Major bent on exposing him and ruining his evening with a movie celebrity.
• Stiff Upper Lip: "Well, if this is it, old boy, I hope you don't mind if I go out speaking the King's."
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: He's tapped for the mission due to being an expert on German film specifically, as Operation Kino is to take place at a movie premiere, but outside of that he proves to have very little experience with other aspects of German culture, even before there was a war on. This becomes a problem when he's forced to interact with a barfull of drunken and doubtful German soldiers and he ends up blowing his cover.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: He has one once he realizes he's not going to be leaving the bar.
• Token Good Teammate: To the Basterds, as he doesn't commit a single atrocity on screen.
• Trademark Favorite Drink: Scotch and plain water. It inadvertently gets him killed when he gets tempted by an offer of 33-year-old Scotch and orders it for himself and his companions with a culturally incorrect gesture.
• Undignified Death: He dies suddenly via several shots to his crotch.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He’s introduced in and is the point character of Chapter IV. He dies before it’s over.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: In-Universe. Germans note that his accent is rather odd and not native to Germany. He explains it away as being from a village near the mountain of Piz Palu, located on the Swiss-Italian border.
• Worlds Expert On Getting Killed: Though part of it came down to bad chance, despite being introduced as a consummate agent and expert, Hicox progressively botches the situation at the bar until it ends with nearly everyone dead. His impatient and heavyhanded attempt at getting rid of Wilhelm’s inconsequential drunken interruption (which von Hammersmark was already handling) exposes his accent and gains Hellstrom’s attention, his standoffish attitude towards Hellstrom only heightens the latter’s suspicions (again, over von Hammersmark’s attempts to handle it), he pulls from his film knowledge to give himself a high profile alibi that someone like Hellstrom could easily disprove (and indeed, seems unaware of the kind of threat Hellstrom poses), and all that’s before he confirms Hellstrom’s suspicions by failing to gesture correctly — essentially escalating the problem repeatedly. It ends with him dead, the other essential members of the mission dead, and Hammersmark with a bullet wound, kicking off the desperate maneuver in the finale.
• Quintessential British Gentleman: He's a cultured, high-ranking officer in the British Army with a very stiff RP accent and refined demeanor.

Bridget von Hammersmark

Bridget von Hammersmark

Played By: Diane Kruger

A beautiful German actress who has been secretly working for the Allies for quite some time, being Fenech's primary spy on the Germans.

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• Anti-Hero: She's a committed double agent for the Allies, but has no problem gunning down a surrendering new father to protect her cover.
• The Charmer: As befits her career and status as an actor-turned-spy, Bridget charms and flirts her way out of sticky situtations. She's introduced playing party games with the German soldiers at the tavern, and attempts to allay Hellstrom's suspicions by confirming Hicox's cover story while lightly teasing him over it.
• Consummate Liar: She convinces Hellstrom that Hicox is an old friend of hers. She later convinces Wilhelm to put down his gun, then kills him in cold blood.
• Deadpan Snarker: She's outwardly very gracious and charming, but her true personality is quite a bit more snarky and cynical than she lets on. In fairness to the woman, she spends most of her screentime with a very painful hole in her leg, which is liable to make anyone snippy.
  Bridget von Hammersmark: I know this is a silly question before I ask it, but can you Americans speak any other language than English?
• Death by Pragmatism: She guns down Wilhelm after he surrenders to eliminate witnesses, but fails to clean up the evidence that puts her at the tavern shootout in the first place; namely a fancy shoe and an autographed handkerchief for Max with a lipstick kiss on it, both of which Landa finds.
• Femme Fatale: She's beautiful, devious, and willing to kill. Posters of the film play this up by showing her in her film premiere outfit while holding a pistol. Hicox's pistol, specifically.
• Good Is Not Nice: She's charming and sociable enough when we first meet her, but after the tavern rendezvous goes to hell she kills Wilhelm to keep him from blowing her cover, and loses much of her joviality after catching a bullet in the leg.
• Guile Hero: General Fenech acknowledges that Operation Kino is her brainchild, and she's the only member of the Allies directly involved who is a non-combatant.
• High-Class Gloves: At the film premiere, she makes sure to dress like a major movie star, with an outfit that includes long, white gloves.
• Idiot Ball: Her ability to lie convincingly suddenly fails her when questioned about evidence that implicates her, though at this point she had probably realized that Landa had her cornered and that any attempt to talk her way out was pointless.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: She's on the receiving end of this when Raine gets suspicious that she set them up after the disastrous tavern rendezvous. She manages to talk him down.
• Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: She loses one of her shoes during the shootout at the pub. It leads to Landa deducing her identity.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Her black premiere dress has lots of beads, lace, and feather trim at the hem.
• Pretty in Mink: Her premiere outfit is topped by a blue fox fur wrap.
• Refuge in Audacity: When asked by Landa about a large (and stylishly high-heeled) cast on her leg, she actually goes with Aldo's suggested "broke-your-leg-mountain-climbing story". Landa doesn't buy it for a second, but the fact that she attempts to pass this obvious lie off as the truth puts him into hysterics.
• The Mole: Her role in Operation Kino, as a German actress working against Germany (specifically the Nazis).
• Shoot the Dog: Even Aldo seems mildly disappointed with her for straight-up killing Wilhelm after they made a deal for his life.

Le Gamaar Theater

Shosanna

Shosanna Dreyfus / Emmannuelle Mimieux

Played By: Mélanie Laurent

A French Jew whose entire family was murdered by Hans Landa's men. She eventually inherits a cinema, which ironically becomes the state for the premiere of Nation's Pride. Which, ironically, Landa is providing security for.

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• Anti-Hero: A Pay Evil unto Evil version.
  • She crafts a horrific punishment for an entire theater full of high-ranking Nazis. It certainly helps that she's the only survivor of a massacre by Landa, and Landa left her alive because he figured she couldn't possibly pose a threat to the Nazis in the future. As noted in Would Hurt a Child, it wasn't just the high-ranking officers, but anyone who had a direct association with the Nazi Party.
  • She has Marcel beat up a filmmaker and threatens to kill him and his family if the man doesn't help develop her anti-Nazi film.
• Broken Bird: She was forced to watch the death of her family, and then, years later, hold an event for Nazi High Command in her own cinema.
• The Chessmaster: She plans out a scheme to kill all the top-ranking Nazis, and even works out details like having her special alternate film prepared for the premiere without getting caught.
• Dark and Troubled Past: She's Jewish in Nazi-occupied France, so this is a given. She was betrayed by the farmer hiding her family in his house, and then had to watch her family get slaughtered.
• Evil Laugh: She does one in the film she makes for the Nazis right before Marcel burns the whole place down.
• Final Girl: Subverted. She dies right before her revenge is completed.
• Floral Theme Naming: Shosanna is the Hebrew version of the name "Lily".
• Ice Queen: Justified, given her backstory, the guy trying to court her being a German soldier, and she's already in a relationship with a man she loves dearly.
• Irony: In the end, she manages to kill damn near every high ranking German soldier except the one who was personally responsible for her family's death.
• Lipstick-and-Load Montage: On the night of the premiere, she applies her makeup and loads a small pistol, which she hides in her purse.
• Meaningful Name: She shares a surname with Alfred Dreyfus, one of the most famous victims of Antisemitism in the 20th century.
• Mutual Kill: With Zoller.
• My God, What Have I Done?: She becomes disturbed with herself after shooting Frederick. It results in her death.
• Not So Stoic: After her encounter with Landa, she waits a second or two before breaking down and sobbing. Also in her taped message to the Nazis in the theater, she exults in knowing that they're all about to die horribly, complete with Evil Laugh.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Oh boy, does she get one! She uses her stock of nitrate film reels to set her cinema ablaze, locking all the high-ranking Nazis in attendance in the theater, which along with the Basterds' plan results in not a single survivor.
• Sole Survivor: Of her family.
• The Stoic: The demeanor she puts on to save her life during the occupation of Paris.
• Wham Line: "I have a message for Germany".
• Would Hurt a Child: If she noticed there were girls of the Bund Deutscher Mädel (the League of German Maidens, the girl's wing of the Hitler Youth) in the theater.

Marcel

Marcel

Played By: Jacky Ido

Shosanna's boyfriend, as well as the film projectionist at her cinema. She claims he's the best in the business.

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• Anti-Hero: By association with Shosanna. When she reveals her plan to burn down the theater, he takes little convincing to go along with it.
• Flat Character: He has little characterization other than his loyalty to Shosanna and that his demeanor is that of a...
• Nice Guy: See Flat Character. He likes cinema, hates Nazis, and loves his girlfriend.
• One Last Smoke: He smokes as he waits for the signal to set the film rolls on fire.
• Satellite Character: We never get to learn anything about him, other than that he's Shosanna's boyfriend and a very good projectionist.
• Undying Loyalty: To Shosanna.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Since the final shot of Marcel is the moment when he tosses down his cigarette to ignite the film reels, his fate is unclear: he ought to have had ample time to escape the theater, but it appears that Shosanna never had any intention of walking away from this one alive; if Marcel knew that, he might have preferred to stay and join in her Heroic Suicide rather than live on without her.

LaPadite Family

Perrier

Perrier LaPadite

Played By: Denis Ménochet

A French milk farmer with three daughters. Landa intimidates and pressures him into exposing the Dreyfus family hiding under his floorboard.

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• Keeping Secrets Sucks: The first one: sheltering Jews puts him and his family at risk. And then, to protect his family, he's forced to go along with Landa's game.
• La Résistance: He tries to be this by sheltering Jews.
• Les Collaborateurs: A rare sympathetic example, since he's forced to collaborate under threat to his family.
• Not So Stoic: He puts on a calm front when talking with Landa... then weeps in shame as he's forced to reveal where the Dreyfuses are hiding.
• Oh, Crap!: His stoic resolve breaks when Landa begins insinuating there are Jews somewhere in the house.
• Sadistic Choice: He's given the choice of either selling out the Dreyfus family to the Nazis or having his own family killed for not cooperating. Of course, Hans already pretty much knew he was sheltering the Dreyfus family, so Perrier admitting he was hiding them was kind of a moot point anyway.
• Tears of Remorse: He breaks down after betraying the Dreyfus family to protect his own daughters.

La Louisiane Tavern

Eric

Eric

Played By: Christian Berkel

The bartender of La Louisiane. He doesn't seem overly perturbed by the German occupation.

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• Les Collaborateurs: He seems to have no problem with the occupation, as he has a bar filled with Nazis, and even pushes Mathilda to drink with the Nazi soldiers.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: He keeps one on his side of the bar.
• Two Shots from Behind the Bar: He has a concealed shotgun to keep order in the bar.
• Poor Communication Kills: He kills Stiglitz, and is killed by a Basterd in the confusion of the firefight.

Mathilda

Mathilda

Played By: Anne-Sophie Franck

A waitress working at La Louisiane. Unlike Eric, she is deathly scared of the German soldiers.

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• Les Collaborateurs: Though she seems a reluctant one.
• Innocent Bystander: She's caught in the crossfire of the bar shootout.

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