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Humans
In General
- The Good Kingdom: Cloister, the only observed kingdom in the movie, fits this trope quite nicely. Had Roderick taken over, he would have likely turned it into The Empire.
- Humans Are Warriors: They put up a good fight against the giants.
- Red Shirt Army: The Guardians, Cloister’s protectors. To emphasize, most of the Guardians who attempt to save Isabelle are quickly killed by the giants or the human traitors. Elmont is the only remotely capable member of the group. Even Jack, who becomes an honorary member, fares a lot better.
- Could be defended on the grounds that they are only shown dealing with the Outside-Context Problem of the giants and may cope better when facing more conventional foes. And they manage to put up a good fight defending the castle.
Jack
- Played by: Nicholas HoultVoiced by: Irwin Daayán (Latin-American Spanish), Eiji Wentz (Japanese)
The Hero of the story. Jack starts the story as a simple, yet idealistic farmboy whose father told him stories about the giants who attacked humanity hundreds of years ago. Then, Jack meets Isabelle, the Princess of Cloister, and the two embark on a great adventure to save the kingdom from the giants once more.
- Action Survivor: Before he takes a level in badass.
- Crazy Enough to Work: He uses a honeycomb to put inside a giant's helmet to distract him long enough for them to escape. Elmont considered the idea terrible, but not only did it work, but it killed the giant from the fall, causing the trio to let out a good laugh.
- Expy: Let's see, farmboy who meets a princess, is helped by a literal Obi-Wan and becomes a great hero. Sound familiar?
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Jack's father was a kindly man who comforted him during a storm and told him the story of King Erik and the giants.
- Guile Hero: Considering he is not a trained soldier like Elmont, Jack relies more on quick-thinking to defeat the giants.
- Fire-Forged Friends: With Elmont. At first, Elmont disregards Jack as a mere farmboy, but he earns his respect after Jack saves his life. After escaping from the giants’ lair, Elmont gives him a Guardians’ badge, making him an honorary Guardian.
- Honorary True Companion: By the time they descend the beanstalk, Elmont gives Jack a Guardians' badge acknowledging him as one of them.
- Insecure Love Interest: He and Isabelle gain romantic feelings for each other over the coarse of their adventure, but Jack, being a commoner, doesn't think he's worthy for a princess. He gets over it by the end of the film when he saves the kingdom from the giants.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Him losing the beans during the argument with his uncle kickstarts the rest of the plot and Isabelle being taken by the stalk.
- Official Couple: With Isabelle. At the end of the movie, they are married and have children.
- Took a Level in Badass: Heck yeah!
Princess Isabelle
- Played by: Eleanor TomlinsonVoiced by: Leyla Rangel (Latin-American Spanish), Airi Taira (Japanese)
The Princess of Cloister. Just like Jack, Isabelle grew up with her mother's stories about the giants. After Jack saves her life, they decide to stop the giants together. She is also a descendant of Erik, the king who defeated the giants long ago.
- Arranged Marriage: To Roderick. Needless to say, she is not happy about it.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: She wishes to go on her own adventure after the confinement from her Arranged Marriage. Once she's taken by the beanstalk she kidnapped by the giants and forced to be rescue on the very adventure she longed for.
- Bling of War: She wears a golden armor during the climax.
- Faux Action Girl: Isabelle wants to travel around the world, but when she begins her first real adventure, she is absolutely helpless and needs Jack and Elmont to get her out of trouble.
- Fiery Redhead: Averted. Aside from wanting to go on adventures, Isabelle is very sweet.
- Modest Royalty: She's humble in comparison to her father who tried to make a portrait of himself during his introduction. She even falls for Jack who's a farm boy.
- Nice Girl: She's a very sweet and considerate girl who doesn't look down on others in spite of her royal heritage.
- Official Couple: With Jack. At the end of the movie, they are married and have children.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: This defines her relationship with Jack, who she falls in love with for his bravery and kind heart.
Elmont
- Played by: Ewan McGregorVoiced by: José Antonio Macías (Latin-American Spanish), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese)
Captain of the Guardians. Upon hearing the princess is danger, Elmont leads the mission to save her. At first, he is unimpressed by Jack but after seeing his courage, they earn each other's respect.
- The Ace/Authority Equals Asskicking: Not only is he the leader of the Guardians, he is their most effective member. He is the only Guardian to return from the land of the giants alive and the one who coordinates Cloister’s defense when the giants attack.
- Badass in Distress: He is almost cooked alive but never loses his dignity.
- Genre Savvy: Elmont is aware of how the story will turn out, as shown during his fight with Roderick."I may not be the hero of this story, but at least I get to see how it ends!"
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: To Jack.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's harsh around Jack and doesn't think much of him given he is a civilian with no combat training. However, Elmont is a loyal and good man who cares for his men and is willing to admit when he's wrong and sincerely thanks Jack for saving his live and considers him an honorary Guardian.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He'll put a good scare in Jack for not kneeling when he's supposed to—but when the Princess goes missing, Elmont remembers that Jack was the peasant who'd stand up to bullies to protect a strange girl whom he didn't even know was the princess. He vouches for Jack with the King when it counts.
Crawe
- Played by: Eddie Marsan
Elmont's Number Two. A fellow knight who, like Elmont, is a bit rough around the edges but genuinely valorous.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: His body is broken apart by Fallon and eaten alive.
- Defiant to the End: "Choke on my bones!"
- Knight in Shining Armor: Same as Elmont. He appears to be his second in command.
- Mauve Shirt: Survives the longest of any of the other knights sent on the expedition, and the only one among the dead who had a distinct personality. After he dies, they give him a small funeral where the others don't get much of a mention.
- Number Two: To Elmont. He's also one of the only Guardians to survive the climb till his death.
- Pet the Dog: In the beginning, while Elmont is still sour on Jack, Crawe is more ambivalent and looks after him a bit - enough that for Jack to ask after him after he dies.
- Satellite Character: Is only ever seen alongside Elmont, following his orders and helping him in his goals.
- Too Dumb to Live: He really should not have threatened Fallon in eating him.
Roderick
- Played by: Stanley Tucci
The king's advisor. Although he might look loyal to the king, he is in fact planning to use Erik's magic crown to usurp the throne and take control of the kingdom. However, Jack and Isabelle cause trouble to his plans.
- Arranged Marriage: To Isabelle. Needless to say, she is not happy about it.
- Big Bad Wannabe: When first introduced, he proves a very ambitious man who plots to usurp the throne of Cloister outright from King Brahmwell and become king himself. When Princess Isabelle gets trapped in the sky based land of the giants, he opportunistically takes part in the journey to the giants' kingdom alongside Jack, Elmont, and the other knights assigned for the journey under the hopes of acquiring the crown of the legendary King Erik and using its power to take control of the giants so he can use them as an army with which to take over Cloister. Unfortunately, in his smug belief that he'll be impossible to defeat once he gest ahold of the crown, he arrogantly reveals his treachery to the rest of the rescue party and starts working to kill them off before he's even established control of the giants. And when he tries to kill Elmont not too long after acquiring the crown, his sheer confidence in the idea that he's now unstoppable as a result of having acquired the crown and gotten the giants under his control results in him underestimating the incredibly skilled knight and subsequently getting fatally stabbed with Elmont's knife. And to add insult to injury, it also doesn't take too long before the crown of King Erik is wrested away from him by the giants' genuine leader Fallon, who proceeds to act as the true Big Bad and Final Boss of the film and launch an attack against Cloister by the giants as if Roderick had never even been there at all.
- Evil Chancellor/Treacherous Advisor: Obvious from the beginning.
- Evil Is Hammy: Stanley Tucci clearly had fun while making this movie.
- Karmic Death: He attempts to push Elmont to his death and Elmont kills him with a knife.
- Stupid Evil: He starts killing off the rescue party before establishing control over the giants.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: He believes he is the main villain of the story made unstoppable by possession of the crown of King Erik and that Elmont is an insignificant enemy to be easily crushed. He is not the Big Bad, Fallon is. Elmont easily kills him and the giants take the crown and attack the humans as if he was not there at all.
King Brahmwell
- Played by: Ian McShane
The King of Cloister and Isabelle's father. After the death of his wife, Brahmwell kept his daughter safe and arranged her to be married to Roderick. When Isabelle disappears, Brahmwell is desperate to find her. He is also a descendant to King Erik.
- Big Good: He is the most benevolent authority figure in the kingdom, and he intends to keep his people safe from the Giants.
- The Good King: The king is a pretty decent guy. Aside from one serious blind spot early on, he's a good leader who handles himself well, deals with his subjects fairly, and isn't above hard labor right alongside the common soldiers when necessary. He also shows remarkable restraint when dealing with Jack, refraining from trying to intimidate him once it's clear there's some chemistry between him and the Princess. Not to mention he insists on fighting alongside the guards when the Giants attack, and gives Elmont a "Like Hell!" when asked to leave.
- Horrible Judge of Character: He should have not trusted Roderick.
- The Needs of the Many: Once it was clear that the giants were real and the giant beanstalk was an open pathway for them to come down and destroy Cloister, Brahmwell resigned himself to stranding his daughter up there if it meant Cloister would be safe.
- Properly Paranoid:
- Once he sees proof that the giants are real, he orders his men to cut down the beanstalk immediately, even if it would condemn his daughter and men in the sky. Given Roderick was planning to invade the kingdom with the giants, he made the right call.
- After the giants arrive and start attacking the kingdom, the king orders Isabelle and Jack to light a beacon at the top of the castle to warn the other kingdoms knowing they won't be able to hold them for long. Had Jack not arrived back with the crown to stop them, they would have died after they breached the gate.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Brahmwell fights alongside his men during the final battle with the giants, joins the soldiers tugging on the lanyards to secure the drawbridge and refuses to flee when things look hopeless.Elmont: Get the king to safety!
King Brahmwell: (pulls out his sword) Like hell!
King Erik
The king who defeated the giants long ago. He forged a crown that could control giants. He is also the ancestor of Isabelle and Brahmwell.
- Famed In-Story: He became a legend after he defeated the giants.
- The Magnificent: By the time the movie takes place, he is known amongst the people of Cloister as "Erik the Great". The giants know him as "Erik the Terrible".
- Posthumous Character: He only appears in flashbacks.
- Royal Blood: He is the ancestor of Isabelle and Brahmwell. The giants can recognize them because they can smell blood.
Giants
In General
- Evil Is Bigger: Well, they're giants.
- Fantastic Racism: All of them hate humans.
- Impossibly Graceful Giant: Their builds don't slow them down at all. They can easily outpace horses.
- Lightning Bruiser: The giants are strong enough to rip trees out of the ground and they can run faster than horses despite their size.
- One-Gender Race: Every giant in the movie is male.
- Toilet Humor: The giants do fart, belch and pick their noses, forgivable because they are portrayed as being grotesque creatures.
Fallon
- Played by: Bill Nighy (large head) and John Kassir (small head)
General of the giants. Being one of the giants who attacked humanity long ago, Fallon seeks the chance to return to the human land once again. He has two heads.
- Big Bad: As if Roderick's death wasn't obvious enough.
- Can't Take Criticism: He'll hit you with his iron flail if you talk back to him, and kill you if you insult him.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Jack throws a bean down his throat and a beanstalk rips his body apart from within.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: When he grabs Isabelle after breaking into the castle. Although, Fallon’s desire for her seems to be less out of lust and more out of indirect revenge (since it was her ancestor, Erik, that first used the crown against the Giants).
- Just the First Citizen: He is only a general. He becomes the leader of the giants after Roderick dies and he takes the crown.
- Klingon Promotion: At the start of the movie, Fallon is a general. When Roderick dies, he takes the crown and the giants accept him as their leader.
- Royal "We": Fallon often refers to himself as "we" and "us", presumably to include his second head. He seems to only use "I" and "me" when things get personal.
- The Unintelligible: The small head's speech is almost entirely incomprehensible.
Fumm
- Played by: Ben Daniels
One of Fallon's lieutenants. He and Fallon appear to have a deep hatred for each other.
- The Mutiny: Fumm challenges and doubts Fallon's authority throughout the entire film. He eventually takes charge of the Gantuan army when Fallon falls into the fire moat and is presumed dead.
