Characters / Pulp Fiction

These are the characters that appear in Quentin Tarantino's film, Pulp Fiction.

WARNING: Due to the film's non-linear narrative, it's hard to discuss the characters without going into spoiler territory. Due to this, spoilers are off. You Have Been Warned!

Marsellus Wallace Crime Ring

Vincent and Jules as a duo

• Affably Evil: When not "in character". Between Jules and Vincent, Jules is usually the more polite of the two, having friendly conversations with Vincent, the Wolf, his old partner Jimmie, and even his boss Marsellus Wallace.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Both spend most of the film in a suit. They lose them after the Wolf's clean-up job in favor of really ugly T-shirts. Subverted with Vincent. While he initially comes off as your typical stoic, smooth-as-ice hitman, as the film progresses he proves to be a useless, idiotic person who causes far more problems than he resolves and is simply too strung out on heroin to let anything faze him. Alongside Jules, a legitimate badass, he manages to appear competent, but on his own it becomes all too obvious that he relies on his partner to do all of the work for him.
• Bantering Baddie Buddies: Jules and Vincent are a pair of hitmen working for crime boss Marsellus Wallace. As they get their guns ready and prepare to do a hit, they have rambling, Seinfeldian Conversations (including an infamous one about the social meaning of foot massages, though that one has plot relevance given that Vincent was being hired to watch over Mia Wallace, their boss's wife, who's the subject of the foot-massage talk). As Villain Protagonists, they're rather likable, but also capable killers (at least Jules anyway. Vincent not so much). Jules is also prone to quoting the Bible, making him seem more eloquent (at least, if you're not aware that his passage is actually taken from a martial arts movie).
• The Men in Black: Jules and Vince dress in matching plain black suits for their visit to Brett's apartment, giving them a uniform and intimidating effect as representatives of Wallace.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Jules is the hammy, religious red oni to Vincent's apathetic, stone-faced blue oni. Vincent's cool demeanor is the direct result of a drug habit, and thus he is actually less competent and collected than the more emotional Jules. Due to Vincent's incompetence, Jules is able to pull off the Hypercompetent Sidekick, No-Nonsense Nemesis paper much better.
• Villainous Friendship: While the two's relationship is rooted in them being hitmen for the same crime boss, they seem to generally get along pretty well, and talk casually with each other about inane and personal topics when out on the job. Their bond is further shown in their later interactions, with Jules making sure to preface his frustrations with Vince's carelessness by emphasizing that he respects him, and Vincent seeming genuinely upset when Jules tells him that he is planning on leaving the criminal life behind and ending their partnership.
• Villain Protagonist: They're two hitmen working for an L.A. crime lord who has them mercilessly execute his partners in a business transaction in the opening.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: You only need one line to understand it:
  Jules: We just witnessed a miracle, and I want you to fucking acknowledge it!

Vincent Vega

Vincent Vega

"You play with matches, you get burned."

Portrayed By: John Travolta

Dubbed in French By: Michel Vigné

Dubbed in Japanese By: Hirotaka Suzuoki

"And right now I'm a fucking race-car, alright, and you got me in the red."

One of the three lead characters in the film, and a Villain Protagonist. Together with Jules, he's part of Marsellus Wallace's organized crime group. Vincent has just come home to LA after serving in Amsterdam for about three years. Compared to Jules, he's pretty lousy at his job, utterly genre blind and dumb, a heroin addict suffering constipation (a side effect of heroin), and on top of that he tends to be a big jerk.

Along with Mia, he's the protagonist of the film's first segment.

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• Alas, Poor Villain: It can be sad to see him anticlimactically meet his end right after the story that focuses on him.
• Alliterative Name: Vincent Vega.
• AM/FM Characterization: A deleted scene has Mia ask him if he's an Elvis man or a Beatles man. He picks the former.
• Backup Twin: When discussing the unmade Vega Brothers sequel, Tarantino considered having Travolta playing Vince's twin or an identical older brother.
• Badass on Paper: At a glance, Vince is a bonafide badass. He's an enforcer for a powerful crime boss who treats killing with detached indifference, carries himself with an easy confidence, and always wears a slick-looking suit when on the job. In practice, though, he proves himself to not only be a bumbling halfwit, but someone so Too Dumb to Live that he is killed within days of being separated from his much more competent partner.
• Bad Mood as an Excuse: For insulting Butch.
• The Brute: To Marsellus, as the abrasive but quiet Dumb Muscle.
• Bullying a Dragon: He needlessly acts like a dick to Butch, a professional boxer, after a very trying day. Guess who ends up killing him? Heck, if Vincent weren't a friend and employee of Marsellus, Butch would have kicked his ass at the bar.
• The Bully: Spends much of the movie needlessly antagonizing other people, being obstinate, expecting more respect than he deserves and almost always in situations where doing this is an active detriment to himself and those around him.
• Bumbling Sidekick: To Jules. Notably, Vincent's incompetence gets him killed barely a few days after Jules retires.
• Calling Your Bathroom Breaks: Vincent always crudely announces his need to go, which helps to differentiate him from his more professional counterpart, Jules. It also creates some incongruity with his character, being a professional hitman in a suit and tie.
• Cheated Death, Died Anyway: Survives a shooting through possibly supernatural means, only to be murdered by Butch a few days later.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the standard crime thriller protagonist. He's cool, calm, and doesn't let anything faze him, but this is almost entirely because he's on heroin through most of the film and mostly unaware of his surroundings. His actual skills as a hitman are highly dubious, as Jules does all of the work for the two of them while Vincent immediately makes the situation worse whenever he takes any direct action. Despite all of this, his natural charm is enough to fool the audience into believing him to be all that he appears to be for most of the film.
• Decoy Protagonist: He leads the first segment of the film, and has many surface-level traits in common with the typical bad boy crime thriller protagonist. His actor also receives top billing, creating the impression that he is the central protagonist to the uninformed viewer. Despite this, he drops out of the spotlight the moment the film's non-linear format is revealed, and never returns to being the main focus. As a character, he is also shown to be generally useless and more prone to creating problems than he is at resolving them, making both Jules and Butch fit into the position of protagonist not only as much, but better, than he does. He's still the largest role, but outside of the first act, the film is not his story.
• Dies Wide Open: When Butch shoots him down, his eyes are still open.
• Drives Like Crazy: He doesn't treat his car very well when he's panicking over Mia's overdose, crashing it into Lance's house just so he can get her out a few seconds earlier.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: After being the central character of the previous story, he comes out of the bathroom and gets shot by Butch before he can even say or do anything.
• Dumb Muscle: An assassin who's dumb as a box of rocks. He has little understanding of gun safety, doesn't appear to be able to even wash his hands correctly, and dies because he leaves his weapon where his mark can get to it.
• Early-Bird Cameo: In the prologue, you can see Vincent heading to the restroom in the background as Honey Bunny and Pumpkin discuss holding up the diner.
• Everyone Has Standards: He's a Jerkass who is prone to shifting the blame for his own failings onto others, but he sincerely thanks Winston Wolfe after he helps him dispose of the evidence of Marvin's death. Considering that he spends most of the Wolf's screentime acting ungrateful for his help, this final thank you reveals that he has a shred of humility in him.
• Genius Ditz: Vincent isn't completely dumb — he can speak a little French. Plus...
  [Vincent points at the various Jackrabbit Slim's servers.]
  Vincent: That is Marilyn Monroe. And that is Mamie Van Doren. I don't see Jayne Mansfield, so it must be her night off.
  Mia: Pretty smart.
  Vincent: Yeah, I got my moments.
• Genre Blind: He claims that he doesn't watch television, which might explain the many unwise decisions that lead to his demise (being strung out on heroin all the time probably doesn't help either). He doesn't consider that taking a bathroom break during a stakeout mission generally isn't a good idea, and that continuing with the life of a hitman probably isn't the wisest reaction to an apparent brush with a divine miracle.
• Hidden Depths: In spite of his general ignorance of most things, Vincent is surprisingly knowledgeable about 1950's culture, as he is correctly able to distinguish between a waitress dressed like Marilyn Monroe and another dressed like Mamie van Doren. He's also friendly enough with Jules to hold long, intellectual conversations and keep up with his more philosophical partner (including making a point regarding foot massages)... but Vincent's poor temper and inability to handle stress without being strung out on heroin blunt this side of him.
• Historical Character's Fictional Relative: In a deleted scene, Mia asks Vincent if he is related to Suzanne Vega, and he confirms she is his cousin. When Mia incredulously asks if "folk singer Suzanne Vega" is really his cousin, Vincent (in keeping with the ignorance he displays throughout the film) claims not to know that she's become a folk singer.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: When Butch kills him with Marsellus' Wallace's gun. It's a symbolic way of saying that being attached to Marsellus has gotten him killed.
• Idiot Hero: For a given value of heroic, but he's definitely not all that bright. Constant heroin use does not a competent hitman make. Special idiot points should be given for his handling of firearms. Not only does shooting Marvin on accident qualify, but his own death could have been avoided if he didn't go to the bathroom and leave a submachine gun on the kitchen counter of a man he was supposed to kill.
• I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: The Trope Namer. He waves a loaded gun around with his finger on the trigger, and accidentally shoots Marvin in the face. Later, Vincent leaves a gun lying around when he goes to the bathroom, and it becomes the instrument of his anticlimactic demise at the hands of his target.
• Irony: A few days after being shot at and surviving due to the shooter having poor aim, Butch kills him using the notoriously inaccurate MAC-10. For added insult to injury, Butch shoots the famously hard-to-control gun from the hip.
• Jerkass: His behavior is particularly obnoxious, as he outright antagonizes others without a real reason, including when they are helping him clean up his messes.
• Kick the Dog: There is zero reason for him to treat Butch like shit save just to be a prick, and because he had a bad day.
• Lethally Stupid: He accidentally kills Marvin and spatters the car with blood in the middle of a talk. He almost accidentally gets his boss' wife killed too.
• The Millstone: He is never much more than a liability in whatever he's involved in. He fails to locate the hiding man in the bathroom while Jules is interrogating the others, accidentally shoots Marvin, antagonizes Jimmie, gets into a pointless argument with Wolf, almost screws up Jules' peace negotiation with Ringo and Yolanda, leaves heroin out for Mia to nearly die from an overdose, and gets himself killed waiting for Butch.
• Never My Fault: He seems pathologically incapable of accepting responsibility for anything, even when he screws up or escalates situations to dangerous levels. It takes serious pressure for him to muster even a tiny ounce of concession to the Wolf.
• Pet the Dog: He treats Mia very kindly, which offsets some of his assholish tendencies. While part of this is pragmatism (she is the boss' wife, after all), he does seem to genuinely enjoy her company.
• Reckless Gun Usage: When Vincent, an experienced hitman, is talking with Marvin, he rests his hand on the edge of the seat, his pistol pointed straight at Marvin with his finger still on the trigger. When Jules hits a bump,^note this is what Vincent blames it on, at least; Jules tells him "the car didn't hit no motherfuckin' bump!" Vincent accidentally fires the weapon, shooting Marvin in the face and naming a trope. Even after the accident, Vincent doesn't remove his finger from the trigger; he continues waving it around as though the gun had nothing to do with the mess in the backseat.
• Same Surname Means Related: Tarantino says he and Vic Vega from Reservoir Dogs are brothers.
• Ship Tease: With Mia. However, because she's married to Marsellus, Vincent knows better than to try anything. He might have changed his mind, but then Mia overdosed, and then Vince died.
• Siblings in Crime: With Vic Vega/Mr. Blonde, though it appears the two of them work for different bosses.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With his brother Vic. Vincent might be a lethally stupid fuck up and ruthless killer, but he has some decent qualities to him. Vic is a stone-cold psychopath and genuine monster who enjoys torturing and killing those he can.
• The Spock: To Jules' McCoy.
• The Stoic: When he's 'in character'.
• Stupid Crooks: He has a large number of personally stupid moments, two of which are directly in relation to his job as a hitman and enforcer for Marsellus Wallace's criminal empire. Not only does he provide us the Trope Name for I Just Shot Marvin in the Face, but Vincent also leaves Marsellus' submachine gun in plain view while he goes to the bathroom at Butch's apartment when he's supposed to be waiting for Butch to show up and kill him. Butch ''does'' show up, and, upon noticing the gun, picks it up and shoots Vincent dead after he steps out of the bathroom.
• Too Dumb to Live: Due to being a strung-out heroin addict. He leaves his gun on the counter when staking out Butch's house, resulting in Butch taking the gun himself and killing Vincent with it. Also, he nearly gets himself shot (chronologically) earlier in the film by screwing up Jules' peace negotiation with Pumpkin and Yolanda.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Based on his conversations with Mia, steak.
• Ungrateful Bastard: He spends the entire time after shooting Marvin in the face being whiny and ungrateful to the people trying to help him clean up the mess that he caused. Jules is quick to call him out on it, and he's given a really precise chewing out by Mr. Wolfe.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Vincent's carelessness causes a lot of problems through the film, whether he's disregarding the laws of gun safety like a moron, leaving heroin out where a coke addict can mistake it for her drug of choice, or even carelessly insulting an already stung Butch.

Jules Winnfield

Jules Winnfield

"I don't remember asking you a goddamn thing!"

Portrayed By: Samuel L. Jackson

Dubbed in French By: Thierry Desroses

Dubbed in Japanese By: Akio Ōtsuka

"If my answers frighten you, Vincent, then you should cease asking scary questions."

One of the three lead characters in the film, and a Villain Protagonist. Together with Vincent, he's a part of Marsellus Wallace's organized crime group. He's been living in Inglewood for several years. Compared to Vincent, Jules is miles more intimidating, capable of scaring whoever he's facing in a fingersnap. However, he's much more personable, and believes in the Bible.

He's the protagonist of the film's third segment.

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• Afro Asskicker: Well, a Jheri Curl Asskicker anyway.
• AM/FM Characterization: Calling his British mugger "Ringo" suggests he's a Beatles man, contrasting him with his partner Vincent.
• As the Good Book Says...: He's fond of (mis)quoting Ezekiel 25:17 (with a bit of his own embellishment, as only the final lines of Jules' speech, the ones about "great vengeance and furious anger," appear in the aforementioned passage) before executing someone. As he explains to another character later, he "just thought it was some coldblooded shit to say to a motherfucker before I popped a cap in his ass", but after he's begun to question his lifestyle, he starts really thinking about its meaning.
  "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and goodwill, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy My brothers! And you will know My name is the Lord... when I lay My vengeance upon thee!"
• The Atoner: He's started down this path by the end of the film.
  "The truth is, you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo, I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd."
• Baritone of Strength: It's Samuel L. Jackson, muthafucka. His voice noticeably deepens when he's talking to a target, suggesting it's just another facet of his hitman 'persona' that he puts on in front of his targets. Unlike Vincent, he is actually a hyper-competent badass able to terrify a man just by eating his burger.
• Beam Me Up, Scotty!: In-Universe. Jules has taken some serious artistic license in adapting Ezekiel 25:17 into a Badass Creed, since the way he quotes the passage is almost entirely incorrect. But it's still some cold-blooded shit.
• Berserk Button:
  • Disrespecting his boss, Marsellus Wallace. You had better remember what he looks like and not try to "fuck Marsellus Wallace like a bitch"^note double-cross him if you want to live. And damn, you'd better remember that Marsellus Wallace don't like to be fucked by nobody but Mrs. Wallace.
  • Repeatedly answering a question with "what" also counts. (Though with both of these, it's heavily implied to be more of an act on his part than genuine anger; he even makes a comment to Vincent about getting into character.)
  • Having to pick up all the bits of Marvin's head from the back seat of the car, when it was Vincent's Reckless Gun Usage that caused the mess.
• But Now I Must Go: Played with, as when Jules has a near-death and then near-life-in-prison moment in the same day, he decides he must leave and travel the world. Not only is he not a heroic character, but the story is told out of order, so although his time in the film ends after he makes his decision, chronologically he sticks around long enough to deliver the briefcase and his resignation to Marsellus.
• Breakout Character: When the film first came out, Jules was overshadowed by the marketing around Vincent Vega and Travolta's Career Resurrection. Years later, Jules is seen as the most popular character from the film and even gets argued as the true main character.
• Break Them by Talking: His method of torturing Brett, after shooting his buddy Roger, is to put on a Faux Affably Evil character and grill Brett with words before he shoots Brett's arm, and eventually both him and Vincent shoot him to death.
• Co-Dragons: With Paul. Paul is Marsellus' Number Two, while Jules is more visible and active.
• Deadpan Snarker: It's usually overshadowed by his Large Ham status, but he does get in some good snarking.
  • His response to Vincent's statement that he doesn't watch television:
    Jules: But you are aware there's an invention called a television, and that on that invention, they show shows, right?
  • His response to Brett's nervous repetition of Defensive "What?" (when Jules asks him what country he's from):
    Jules: "What" ain't no country I ever heard of! They speak English in "What?"
• Does Not Like Spam: He doesn't eat pork; pigs are flithy animals.
• The Dragon: Jules is Marsellus Wallace's primary enforcer.
• Early-Bird Cameo: If you listen closely you can hear him talking in the background of the opening scene when the couple are discussing robbing the restraunt.
• Enemy Eats Your Lunch: He's the trope page image, pictured eating Brett's burger and drinking from his soda to intimidate him.
• Faux Affably Evil: When "in character" at Brett's apartment. Jules comes in, acts civil and friendly, and even politely asks Brett if he can take a bite of his burger and a drink of his Sprite. Of course, throughout the entire discussion, everyone present knows that Jules and Vincent are hitmen who, at best, are here to recover the glowy thingy in the briefcase, and at worst, are here to kill them, so Jules's act of civil politeness just serves to ratchet up the tension, until Jules finally dispenses with the whole thing, breaks Brett's concentration by shooting his buddy, and grills Brett over having double-crossing Marsellus Wallace.
• Heel–Faith Turn: His reciting from the Bible was initially simply to make himself more intimidating, but when he actually takes the time to think about what he's saying, he decides to become a better person. This is brought on by his near-death experience in the apartment, where one of his would-be targets unloads a gun at him at close range and misses every shot. This leaves Jules shaken enough to reexamine his life.
• Heel Realization: The entire final part of the film involves Jules's realization that he is, in fact, a tool used by wicked men. It's left unknown whether or not his words help Pumpkin and Honey Bunny have the same sort of realization as well.
• Hitman with a Heart: Played with. On one hand, Jules believes in a higher power and is arguably more caring than Vincent, and he's very friendly to his colleagues and boss. On the other hand, he's absolutely merciless to his marks, shooting two defenseless men at his mercy with pure spite in mind, and only learning to show mercy near the end of the film to Yolanda and Pumpkin by letting them go when he could feasibly have killed one or both of them in a standoff.
• Holy Hitman: "And you will know My name is the LORD, when I lay My vengeance upon thee." When Jules actually thinks about what this means, especially after almost getting shot, he really starts to wonder about his life choices.
• Hot-Blooded: He can act this way around his targets, but it's just a tool for intimidation.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: To Marsellus, to the point where he can backtalk him, hang up on him, quit on him, and still be respected and given the very best support team.
  • Even if someone sees Vincent as the lead in their two-man cell, it's clear Jules is the only competent part of the partnership. Vincent is a drug-addled moron who simply cannot do anything right, while Jules is a very smart, very competent professional who backs up his image with action. In fact, his not being around results in Vincent getting himself unceremoniously killed.
• Kirk Summation: He figures "Ringo" out pretty quickly, and is able to talk him out of leaving the diner in peace without the briefcase.
• Large Ham: At many points, such as the ending and of course the infamous "Describe what Marsellus Wallace looks like!" bit.
• The McCoy: To Vincent's Spock. This becomes especially emphasized after his Near-Death Experience.
• Messy Pig: Jules gives this as a reason for why, despite not being Jewish or Muslim, he doesn't eat pork.
• Near-Death Experience: The mook in the bathroom nearly kills both him and Vince, but misses every shot. Jules is the only one who takes time to contemplate the situation, however, and decides to call it quits before the mob life gets him killed.
• The Nicknamer: He calls his current targets by nicknames to further assert his power over them.
• No Indoor Voice: Most prominently when he and Vincent meet Brett.
  "DOES?! HE?! LOOK?! LIKE?! A?! BITCH?!"
• Pop-Cultured Badass: He makes references to Green Acres, A Flock of Seagulls, and other bits of pop culture.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: His recitations of (his version of) Ezekiel 25:17.
• Real Men Love Jesus: He's an absurdly intimidating hitman who believes in the Bible. Though it's downplayed up until the climax, where Jules admits to Ringo that his recitation of Ezekiel 25:17 was just to intimidate people he was about to kill, and that he never gave much thought to what it meant. By the end of the film, however, Jules has had something of an epiphany and moves closer to this.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • The red to (an unusually wickeder) Paul's blue. He subverts the usual scenario by having a Heel Realization during the third segment and quitting the mob life.
• Repeat to Confirm: Jules gives these orders to his boss Marsellus as they discuss the Marvin cleanup. Their mutual respect is so strong that not only does Marsellus accept this, and not take getting yelled at over the phone as an insult, his repetition includes a change that gives Jules an even better outcome than he was requesting, sending in the Wolf, a famously competent cleaner, as opposed to any other "cavalry" members.
• Scary Black Man: Very much so, enough to be the former page image. Particularly when he's "in character".
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Played with. Jules is initially as foul-mouthed as most of the other characters (e.g., extremely), but after his religious awakening, he begins to object to Vincent saying things like "goddamn" and "Jesus Christ", because it's taking the Lord's name in vain. He plays it a little loose with Matthew 15:11, because "fuck", "shit", and "motherfucker" still come exploding out of him if he's sufficiently angry.
• Soul Brotha: He wears a Jheri curl hairdo and Porn Stache and speaks with a bit of Jive Turkey. Tarantino is known for his 70s throwback embellishments (the hair was supposed to be an afro, though, but it was decided that the Jheri curl looked better).
• Walking the Earth: Invoked, as his retirement plan.

Butch Coolidge

Butch Coolidge

"He was dead before he ever stepped into the ring."

Portrayed By: Bruce Willis

Dubbed in French By: Patrick Poivey

Dubbed in Japanese By: Kōichi Yamadera

"That's how you're gonna beat 'em, Butch. They keep underestimating you."

One of the three lead characters in the film. Unlike Jules and Vincent, Butch is an Anti-Hero, a decent and honorable guy who would rather live his own life with his girlfriend Fabienne. He is a boxer who's been in the ring for quite a few years, but his story starts after he double-crosses the mob he affiliated himself with by winning a match so handily he kills his opponent, despite being paid to take a dive.

Along with Marsellus Wallace, he's the protagonist of the film's second segment.

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• Accidental Murder: He accidentally kills another boxer in the ring. This is what starts all of his trouble, as he'd promised Marsellus Wallace that he'd take a dive.
• AM/FM Characterization: He sings along to "Flowers on the Wall" by The Statler Brothers while driving back from his apartment.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: In a symbolic reading of the film, Butch is essentially an anthropomorphic personification of Honor. His whole storyline revolves around him attempting to do right by his family legacy, and nearly all of his actions stem from him refusing to do anything that would compromise his moral code. His conflict with Marsellus is ultimately an ideological conflict over whether Power trumps Honor.
• Anti-Hero: He is the closest thing the film has to a good guy, since he's not a criminal and saves Marsellus' life, but he's still more than willing to double-cross mob bosses and at least pretends he doesn't care that he accidentally killed an opponent in the ring.
• Assassin Outclassin': Vincent is sent to his apartment to kill him as payback for not throwing a fight. Butch comes home while Vincent is in the bathroom, finds Vincent's gun on the counter, and uses it to shoot Vincent as he's exiting the bathroom.
• The Atoner: While Butch claims not to care about killing his opponent, he mutters, "Sorry, Floyd," to the air when he hears the news. His compulsion to save Marsellus may be connected.
• Badass Back: Butch slashes Maynard, the pawn shop's owner, with a katana. Then, he walks past him and finishes him off by thrusting the blade behind him.
• Badass in Distress: Butch, having previously survived an attempt on his life and attempted to run over mobster Marsellus Wallace, finds himself captured by a duo of deranged hicks who intend to take turns raping him and Marsellus. He manages to free himself, and almost walks out of their pawn shop before returning for Marsellus.
• Berserk Button: When he realizes that Fabienne neglected to pack a watch that's been in his family for three generations. Downplayed insofar as he regains his calm with impressive speed and even reassures her that it's not her fault and that he can't stay mad at her.
• Breaking the Bonds: Butch breaks the ropes tying him to a chair after being captured by Maynard and Zed.
• Car Fu: Butch runs down the crime boss who wants him dead after seeing him at a crosswalk. Unlike most, he doesn't get to full speed; he hits him after only going about ten feet. He is also injured when his car is T-boned in the process, as he was not wearing a seatbelt.
• Casualty in the Ring: This happens offscreen to the man Butch fought. This gets him in serious trouble with Marsellus Wallace, because he was supposed to throw the fight for him.
• Chainsaw Good: Subverted. Butch is choosing a weapon to use to rescue Marsellus Wallace. He grabs a chainsaw, and then stops and instead grabs a katana, since it's a much more pragmatic choice to sneak up on someone. In the same scene, he also subverts Batter Up! as he contemplates using a baseball bat.
• Combat Pragmatist: When deciding to choose a weapon for the purpose of ambushing Maynard and Zed so he can rescue Marsellus, Butch uses a katana for stealth purposes after previously contemplating the use of a chainsaw, a bat, and a hammer, subsequently sneaking up on Maynard and killing him before holding Zed at katana-point.
• Conscience Makes You Go Back: Him going back to save Marsellus after escaping the Gimp, even though Butch owes Marsellus nothing and is in fact on the run from him.
• Enemy Mine: When Butch goes back to rescue Marsellus. It ends up getting Marsellus to downgrade his punishment from death to exile.
• The Fool: Bordering on Idiot Houdini. Butch is a decent guy, but more than, that he's incredibly lucky despite his poor judgment. Instead of skipping town, he decides to go back in order to fetch a watch that isn't worth anything beyond its sentimental value, but might very well get him killed... which it would have had not both hitmen waiting for him at his home been indisposed at the same time. And then he manages to get out of a rather weird kidnapping, free his former boss in the process, and manage to resolve the bad blood between them. Basically, he does something that would have gotten him unceremoniously killed off in any normal reality, but here he gets out of it not only (mostly) unscathed, but actually better for it.
• Genius Bruiser: He's a talented boxer who can knock a man out with one punch, but is also surprisingly crafty and clever, as his scheme to double cross Marsellus shows.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Subverted; he only gets angry twice — when he sees that Fabienne has forgotten the watch, and during the chase with Marsellus. Immediately after he's exploded at Fabienne and lost his temper, he collects himself and admits that it's not her fault that he didn't make it clear how important the watch was to him. He then goes out of his way to reassure her that everything will be fine.
• Honor Before Reason: More like Honor Before Self-Preservation. It would've made more sense for Butch to just leave Marsellus behind, but the story he learned as a child about how you do the right thing, regardless of the consequences, inspires him to go back. He also implores Zed to go for his gun before cutting him down, suggesting an unwillingness to kill an unarmed opponent.
• Irony: Despite his grandfather having been killed in the Pacific by the Japanese in World War 2 (as explained by Captain Koons giving the backstory of his precious gold watch), Butch seems to regard the katana (a Japanese sword), with which he commits his first heroic deed, with a fascinated reverence.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As much of an asshole as he can be, he can still be trusted to do the right thing, and shows a softer side with Fabienne: when he loses his temper with her and scares her, he controls himself and apologises to her and explains why he was so angry, and then makes sure she's reassured before he goes off to retrieve the watch. Only when he's in the car, away from her, does he give in to his anger again. He even saves Marsellus when he had every reason to leave him for dead.
• Jobber: Subverting this is what gets him in trouble with Marsellus.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Butch chooses a katana to save Wallace's life in the pawn shop, taking advantage of the weapon's relative stealth compared to the other weapons present. It's made ironic by the fact that his grandfather was killed by the Japanese in the Pacific during World War 2.
• Memento MacGuffin: His gold watch, bought by his great-grandfather and passed down through the generations to him. However, the watch is much more important than just being a family heirloom: at one point in its story, Butch's grandfather gives it to a completely unrelated person he's never met before, Winocki, a door gunner on a transport, and asks him to pass it on to Butch's father. Winocki does so, even though if he hadn't, nobody would have ever known about it, which makes it clear that the watch doesn't so much symbolise Butch's ancestors as the principle of doing the right thing, regardless of how it does or doesn't benefit you.
• Military Brat: His great-grandfather fought in World War I, his grandfather fought in World War II, and his father fought in The Vietnam War.
• Mood-Swinger: He rather frighteningly goes from Tranquil Fury to just plain fury at the flick of a switch and back again.
• One-Hit Kill: He is able to knock the Gimp unconscious with just one good punch.
• Persona Non Grata: Marsellus revokes Butch's "L.A. privileges", but this is a downgrade from an earlier implication that he'd be tortured and probably killed for disobeying Marsellus. Besides, he was planning to ride off into the sunset and never look back anyway, so "never setting foot in L.A. again" isn't too harsh of a condition.
• Pragmatic Hero: He saves Marsellus due to personal honor.
• Redemption Earns Life: Not as clear-cut as other examples, but Butch's decision to save Marsellus Wallace from being raped might just be what saves him from being killed by Wallace's associates. He crosses Wallace in the beginning, but choosing to save him might spare Butch from being killed later on.
  Quentin Tarantino: If he just left [the pawn shop], would he still get out of town with Fabienne? Would he still make it to Tennessee? Would he still have all the money and everything like that? Well, he'd be looking over his shoulder. Right now, he's not looking over his shoulder because he did the moral thing.
• Skewed Priorities: Rather than simply cutting his losses and leaving the gold watch in order to give himself as much of a headstart as possible, Butch instead risks heading back to his apartment to retrieve it. Somewhat justified since it's made clear from Captain Koons' monologue just how many people, including those outside his family, sacrificed to get it to him.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Driving into someone from just a couple feet away will not kill them, but it will still be enough to hurt you if you're not wearing your seat belt.
  • Butch contemplates using a chainsaw, a claw-hammer, or a bat to rescue Marsellus after escaping his bonds. However, after a few moments of contemplation, he decides to use a katana instead in order to catch Maynard and Zed off guard. Unlike the previously mentioned items, a katana has slashing and stabbing capacities while being relatively quiet as a weapon.
• Symbolism: Given Tarantino's love of Japanese culture, it's almost certain that the weapon he happened to find, a katana, was meant to tie into the samurai ideal of honor, given that honor is Butch's defining character trait and he goes so far as to save his enemy because he refused to turn his back on his sense of honor.
• Throwing the Fight: Marsellus tries to make him do this. He thinks winning the fight and betting everything on himself is a better idea.
• Token Good Teammate: Downplayed; he's the only half-decent character working for Marsellus, or in the film's cast in general (with the possible exception of Jules post-Character Development). He does go against Marsellus' orders, unintentionally killing his opponent in the ring, and flip-flops about it afterward — he smack-talks him, saying if he was a better fighter he wouldn't be dead, but also says to himself "Sorry, Floyd."
• Tragic Keepsake: Why he's so protective of his father's watch.
• What You Are in the Dark: Butch could have easily left Marsellus to be raped to death by Maynard and Zed, but decides to go back and save the mob boss who had been trying to kill him. Given that he had no guarantee that Marsellus would call off his hitmen out of gratitude, it probably would have been more prudent for him to leave Marsellus to his fate. However, because that would go against Butch's moral code (see Memento MacGuffin, above), he doesn't do it. It's also likely that he realized that he easily could have been picked instead of Marsellus, and would want to be saved if he was in that position.

Marsellus Wallace

Marsellus Wallace

"Pride only hurts, it never helps."

Portrayed By: Ving Rhames

Dubbed in French By: Jean-Michel Martial

Dubbed in Japanese By: Tesshō Genda

"I'll tell you what now between me and you... there is no me and you. Not no more."

The leader of the organized crime group that Vincent and Jules work in, and a Villain Protagonist, being the one who Butch is affiliated with at the start of the film. In spite of how powerful he is, Marsellus is calm and reasonable as long as one doesn't betray him. Butch apparently doesn't get the memo, and for double-crossing him, Marsellus will hunt him down to the ends of the Earth and beyond.

Along with Butch, he's the protagonist of the film's second segment.

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• Affably Evil: He's a powerful crime lord, but he's polite, calm, reasonable, and kind to his employees.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: In a symbolic reading of the film, Marsellus is essentially an anthropomorphic personification of Power. Nearly all of the events in the film either happen because of orders that he gives, or because of characters trying to avoid his wrath; he can decide any character's fate on a whim, and it's simply taken as a given that defying his will means death. Even Butch, who comes the closest to actually "beating" him, only gets his happy ending because Marsellus chooses to let him go free. Of course, the only reason Marsellus has the ability to make that choice is because Butch saves his life; the implication seems to be that no Power is absolute.
• Badass in Distress: Marsellus, a feared LA mobster, ends up captured by Maynard and Zed, who proceed to take turns sexually assaulting him before Butch returns to kill Maynard and set Marsellus free. Marsellus proceeds to shoot Zed in the groin, and states his intention of subjecting Zed to a painful death.
• Baritone of Strength: It's Ving Rhames. When he mentions "getting medieval" on Zed's ass, you better believe him.
• Benevolent Boss: Implied, at least. While staking out Butch's apartment, he goes to get coffee and donuts for Vincent and himself. He's also surprisingly understanding when Jules lashes out at him after the whole "Marvin" incident.
• Berserk Button: Given how angry he gets about Butch's ploy and the way he gets personally involved, as well as the implication that Brett tried to double-cross him, it's fair to say that betrayal is a big one for him. Even more so if you believe the rumor that Tony Rocky Horror massaging Mia's feet was the inciting incident that led Marsellus to have Tony thrown out a window.
• Big Bad: A rare cross between this and Villain Protagonist, as he's behind all of Vincent and Jules's dirty dealings. Played straight in Butch's story.
• Brick Joke: At the beginning of the film, Jules says, "Marsellus Wallace don't like to be fucked by anybody except Mrs. Wallace." Near the end, he is randomly taken captive by two sadistic hillbilly types in the basement of their pawn shop, where they proceed to rape him. "I'm pretty fucking far from okay", indeed.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Marsellus intends to call in a couple of his men and let them subject Zed to as much pain and agony as they can devise before finally killing him. Such a fate is presented as well-deserved for Zed, who had joined Maynard in tag-team raping Marsellus and planned to do the same to Butch.
• Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: His "I'mma get medieval on your ass" threat to Zed, even if the way he drops it is unquestionably brutal.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Subverted. Everybody thinks Marsellus threw somebody out of a five-story window for giving his wife a foot massage, but Mia denies it ever happened. Of course, Mia is an Unreliable Expositor, so the exact truth is left ambiguous to the audience.
• Distressed Dude: He becomes incapacitated, and subsequently is rescued by Butch as part of the latter's Redemption Quest.
• The Don: He is the boss of his organization.
• Double Take: When he spots Butch escaping at the crosswalk, complete with a Precision F-Strike which, if you consider the nature of the film, is comically precise.
  Marsellus: ...Motherfucker.
• Dramatic Deadpan: A lot. If he raises his voice, it means some serious shit has gone down.
• The Dreaded: As evidenced by the fact that almost everyone who knows him expresses at least some hesitation in pissing him off.
• Enemy Mine: After Butch rescues him, Marsellus takes the opportunity to shoot Zed in the groin, thus preventing Zed from getting the drop on Butch. He proceeds to express every intention of subjecting Zed to an agonizing death, while letting Butch walk away on the conditions that he keeps quiet and leaves Los Angeles forever.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Marsellus runs a pretty diverse group for an organized crime outfit.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He lets Butch go for saving him from the rapists.
• Evil Virtues: He has a few.
  • Camaraderie: He's laid-back and polite most of the time, and gets along very well with those under him.
  • Honor: As fearsome as he can be, Marsellus is someone who can usually be trusted to keep his word.
  • Humility: He doesn't take it personally or get angry when Jules lashes out at him, and he shows genuine gratitude to Butch for saving his life, letting him leave LA unharmed.
  • Kindness: He is good to the men under him, and is capable of repaying kindness when it's shown to him, as illustrated by his letting Butch go.
• The Faceless: Up until the "Gold Watch" chapter, when Butch runs into him at the crosswalk. This is the first point in the film where his face is clearly seen, and afterwards his face is seen in "The Bonnie Situation" as well, which chronologically takes place well before "The Gold Watch".
• I Owe You My Life: After Butch saves Marsellus from Maynard and Zed, he calls off the hit on Butch on the condition that he never breathes a word about what just happened, and that he leave LA for good that same night.
• Large and in Charge: Zigzagged. While he is the broadest person in the entire cast, and also a mob boss, he's also merely 6'0" in contrast to the 6'2" Jules and Vinnie.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: After he and Butch take down Zed and Maynard, Marsellus promises that he and Butch will be cool again, so long as he never brings up what happened between the two of them and Zed.
• Made of Iron: He takes a lot of abuse, being run over by Butch and raped by Zed and Maynard. It doesn't seem to slow him down.
• Major Injury Underreaction: His response to Butch asking him if he's okay after being raped (on top of having been hit by a car not long ago)? "Naw, man. I'm pretty fuckin' far from okay." Downplayed in that he's clearly in a lot of pain, and it's taking him a fair bit of effort to stand up straight.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: He's the boss of a mob who dresses as one would expect.
• Mister Big: Zigzagged. While he's 6'0" in contrast to the 6'2" Jules and Vinnie, and also a mob boss, he's the broadest person in the cast.
• Noble Demon: He's genuinely grateful to Butch for saving his life when it would have been more pragmatic to leave him to his fate, and lets him go as a way of thanking him.
• Pragmatic Villainy: After Butch saves him, Marsellus is willing to make a deal: if Butch never tells anyone else what happened, and leaves Los Angeles that night for good, Marsellus will forget all the ways Butch has wronged him. Butch agrees, and Marsellus, true to his word, lets him go.
• Rape Portrayed as Redemption: Played With, since Marsellus' rape is more about Butch's redemption than his own. When Butch saves him from the rapists, Marsellus considers him redeemed and calls off their feud.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Although he's the Big Bad of the story, he's still an Affably Evil man. He doesn't get angry at all, not even Tranquil Fury, when Jules gets short with him over the situation with Marvin. He also seems to take Jules quitting very well too. He also lets Butch go in gratitude for saving his life with the strict conditions that Butch leave LA and never return and keep quiet about what happened, both of which Butch happily agrees to.
• Repeat to Confirm: Marsellus gets these orders from Jules as they discuss the Marvin cleanup. Their mutual respect is so strong that not only does Marsellus accept this, and not take getting yelled at over the phone as an insult, his repetition includes a change that gives Jules an even better outcome than he was requesting, sending in the Wolf, as opposed to any other member of the "cavalry".
• Rhyming Names: Marsellus Wallace.
• Scary Black Man: He is the person with the most power in the film, and he clearly doesn't look like a bitch — unsurprising because, again, it's Ving Rhames!
• Sharp-Dressed Man: He's big on suits, and wears natty jumpers when at home.
• Sophisticated as Hell: Marsellus speaks in a manner that can be described as a combination of urbane and colloquial language, as demonstrated when he threatens to "get medieval on [Zed's] ass".
• The Stoic: He's generally calm and unemotional, which makes the few outbursts he has all the more noticeable.
• To the Pain: Marsellus graphically describes his intentions of torturing Zed for raping him.
  Marsellus: (to Butch) Let me tell you what now. I'mma call a couple of hard, pipe hittin' niggas to go to work on the homes here, with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch... (to Zed) You hear me talkin', hillbilly boy?! I ain't through with you by a damn sight, I'mma get medieval on your ass!
• Tranquil Fury: After being freed from his hellish ordeal at the hands of Zed and Maynard, Marsellus calmly orders Butch to step aside before castrating Zed with a shotgun blast, then proceeds to describe to Zed the horrific acts of revenge he has in store for him.
• Villainous Friendship: Jules and Vincent are loyal to him, and Marsellus, in turn, treats them well. When they finally get back from the whole business with Brett, Marsellus pulls Vincent into a hug, and even when he and Jules argue over Marvin's death, it's clear there's a friendliness behind it, and he personally sends Winston to bail them out.
• What You Are in the Dark: Marsellus gets his own version of this when he has both Zed and Butch dead to rights with a gun. Instead of killing both like he really wanted, he instead takes the high road and lets Butch live for saving his life. Despite the fact Butch knows information that would be embarrassing if not outright damaging to Wallace, he still implicitly trusts Butch to be a man of honour and lets it all go.
• Wicked Cultured: Implied — his house is full of vinyl records, African sculptures, and paintings on every wall.

Mia Wallace

Mia Wallace

"I can keep a secret if you can."

Portrayed By: Uma Thurman

Dubbed in French By: Juliette Degenne

Dubbed in Japanese By: Masako Katsuki

"Why do we feel it's necessary to yak about bullshit in order to be comfortable?"

Marsellus Wallace's wife, a spoiled former actress who starred in a TV pilot for a series that never kicked off.

Along with Vincent, she's the protagonist of the film's first segment, where Vincent takes her out for dinner.

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• AM/FM Characterization: Her first scene is set to Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man", and upon returning home she puts on Urge Overkill's cover of Neil Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon".
• Action Girl: In-universe, she played one in the TV pilot she starred in. Her character's specialty was knives (she was apparently the best woman with knives in the world). And terrible jokes.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: While she is very flirty with Vince, she comes off as very distant and detached overall.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Largely averted when she overdoses — blood, vomit, spittle and all.
• Broken Bird: An aspiring actress turned apathetic mob wife and drug addict.
• Brutal Honesty: She doesn't have much of a filter, and offers her blunt summation of almost every situation. This is likely because her husband is a mob boss, so she's grown accustomed to not being taken to task.
• Damsel in Distress: When she overdoses and needs to be saved by Vincent.
• Deadpan Snarker: Most notable in her banter with Vince.
  "This doesn't sound like the usual, mindless, boring, gettin'-to-know-you chitchat."
• Drugs Are Bad: Mia nearly dies from an overdose, and the off-the-grid "medical treatment" she receives is rather disturbing.
• Hates Small Talk: Mia Wallace favors silence to worthless conversations.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: She was part of a failed TV pilot called Fox Force Five, where at the end of every episode, she would tell one of these. We only get to hear the first one.
• Mafia Princess: Pretty self-explanatory. She's the wife of Marsellus Wallace, apparently one of the biggest crime bosses around.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: She's a version of this. Vincent assumes he wouldn't get along with her for real, as she is his boss' wife and he's only going out with her on his orders. However upon getting to know her, he has a good time with her, to the point that it's almost ship teased between them. However, her overdose and Vincent's death prevent the relationship from going too far.
• Morality Pet: To Vincent. He actually seems to lower his guard around her.
• Near-Death Experience: Her accidental heroin overdose. It's only through Vincent getting her to his dealer's house to get a shot of adrenaline to the heart that she lives.
• Noodle Incident: When Vincent asks Mia about the story where Tony Rocky Horror was thrown out of a building for giving Mia a foot massage, Mia points out how stupid and disproportionate this is, then says that no one but Marsellus and Tony know what happened. We never find out the truth.
• Ship Tease: With Vincent. Since Butch guns Vincent down not too long after their date, it goes nowhere.
• Spoiled Brat: "I want to dance! I wanna win! I want that trophy."
• Too Dumb to Live: Sure, part of it is Vincent's fault for leaving his drugs around, but she really should've known better than to go snorting someone else's stuff without being certain of what it is. Luckily for her, she survives.
• Trophy Wife: Marsellus probably only married her because of her beauty and youth.
• Worst Aid: How she's revived after the heroine overdose: she gets an adrenaline shot directly to her heart.

Winston 'The Wolf' Wolfe

Winston 'The Wolf' Wolfe

"I don't smile in pictures."

Portrayed By: Harvey Keitel

"I think fast, I talk fast, and I need you guys to act fast if you wanna get out of this."

Marsellus Wallace's top cleaner, the Wolf is a stoic gentleman with excellent manners and a mouth just as foul as his co-workers. He's called by Marsellus to help Vincent and Jules dispose of Marvin's body before anyone learns about it who shouldn't.

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• The Ace: He has a reputation for being very good at what he does, to the point that Jules goes from panicked to instantly calm when he hears Marsellus is sending him. His behavior on screen shows that such a reputation is entirely justified.
• Affably Evil: He's a dapper, elegant gentleman with excellent manners and a pleasant disposition who will dispose of dead bodies to "solve problems" — possibly the nicest thing he does for a living.
• Alliterative Name: Winston Wolfe.
• Ambiguously Jewish: His name^note "Wolfe" is a common surname among Ashkenazi Jews, though can also be German and his being in organized crime possibly point to it (he also happens to be played by a Jewish actor), though he doesn’t otherwise display any obvious signs of it.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: He is in a nice tux for the duration of his screentime, and is still badass enough to bark orders at hitmen. Justified, as Marsellus called him away from a party he was attending.
• Berserk Button: He does not like having his orders questioned or getting backtalk from people he's been sent to help. Although, as noted, he never actually loses his cool.
• Birds of a Feather: He shares Jimmie's love for gourmet coffee, making a point of silently commenting on how good it is.
• Brooklyn Rage: Downplayed. Winston speaks with a thick New Yorker accent, but his anger is depicted as being snarky frustration rather than genuine rage. His professionalism speaks volumes.
• Brutal Honesty: In a sense. While he's always polite, the issue of time means he can't fool around with pleasantries and has to be blunt with orders and trust that Vincent and Jules will act accordingly. This attitude rubs Vincent the wrong way, and their brief conflict nearly sends the Wolf away.
• Cleanup Crew: He "solves problems" — in this case, overseeing the disposal of Marvin's body and all the evidence surrounding his death. The Wolf just needs Jules and Vincent to stop wasting time and get their car and themselves street-safe, and he'll handle it from there.
• Clock King: He says he'll arrive at Jimmie's house in ten minutes, and pulls up to his driveway with 23 seconds to spare. He isn't as obsessive or smug as the usual type, but he nonetheless makes excellent usage of the narrow window of time in which he has to work; within just under an hour of being called in, Marvin's body is in the trunk, the gory interior of the car has been scrubbed and camouflaged, and Jules and Vincent have cleaned themselves up and changed clothes.
• Cool Car: An Acura NSX, driven very fast, right up to the fourth wall.
• Drives Like Crazy: He doesn't treat speed limits with an awful lot of respect. The drive to Jimmie's house from where he is normally takes 30 minutes, but the Wolf gets there in just under 10.
• Evil Genius: He's smart enough to clean up Jules, Vincent, and the car, and arrange for the disposal of Marvin's corpse, the car, and the duo's bloody clothes, all in less than an hour. He seems to be Marsellus' best cleaner.
• The Fixer: Winston's role in resolving "The Bonnie Situation": He lays down a plan on how to get the tainted car ready to move, assigns roles, sets up a drop-off destination for car and corpse alike, and pays off Jimmie for his trouble. Aside from spraying down Jules and Vincent to get the blood off of them, he doesn't actually dirty his own hands with grunt work.
• Gentleman Snarker: "Let's not start sucking each other's dicks quite yet" takes the cake, but he spends a good deal of his screentime snarking at Jimmie, Jules, and Vincent. The Wolf is especially acidic towards Vincent, but does tone it down with Jimmie on the grounds that he's doing them a huge favor by not kicking them out and/or calling the police. He also gracefully accepts Vincent's apology for his earlier rudeness after the job is safely done.
  "If I'm curt with you, it's because time is a factor. I think fast, I talk fast, and I need you guys to act fast if you wanna get out of this. So, pretty please, with sugar on top, clean the fucking car."
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: All Marsellus has to do is say that he's putting the Wolf on the job, and Jules goes from panicked and angry at everyone to being downright jovial (but still angry at Vincent). He really is as brilliant as his reputation says he is, and at the end, Jules and Vincent rave about how awesome it is to see him at work. The thing is, the closest he comes to doing any actual cleaning is hosing Vincent and Jules down; his real gift with them is cutting through the bullshit and telling them what to do. By the time the cleanup is done, he's already made arrangements for the car, the body, and Jules and Vincent's bloody clothing to be destroyed at a junkyard.
• Implied Death Threat: Played for Laughs when he hands Vincent the keys to his car.
  "If I get my car back any different than I gave it, Monster Joe's gonna be disposing of two bodies."
• May–December Romance: With Monster Joe's daughter. Though they don't see each other often, they seem very content to go out to breakfast together after the Bonnie Situation is finally taken care of.
• Real Men Take It Black: Averted. The Wolf likes his coffee with lots of cream and sugar, and nobody has a damn thing to say about it.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He treats those under him according to how much they did to get themselves into their current mess. To Jules and Vincent, who brought a bloody car and a dead body to Jimmie's doorstep, he's a taskmaster who snaps off orders and doesn't bother with pleasantries. He's much more cordial to Jimmie, complimenting his coffee, asking politely where he and Bonnie keep their cleaning products, and paying him generously for imposing on him and ruining the linens that his aunt and uncle gave him as a wedding present.
• Red Baron: He's usually just referred to as "The Wolf."
• Simple, yet Awesome: His instructions for Jules and Vincent really just boil down to them cleaning the car as quickly as possible, focusing on the worst areas and covering up the bloodstains so cops won't notice from a glance, and he uses nothing more complicated than ordinary household cleaning products and blankets. But he's so calm and collected, and does it with such a style and efficiency, that it becomes awesome anyway. This is deliberate; since the clock is ticking, they don't need to clean the car perfectly, just good enough to get it to the dropoff without arousing too much suspicion, and quick enough that they're away from the house before Bonnie gets home.
• Sophisticated as Hell: He is charming, professional, and cultured in his manner of dress and speech, but he is no less foul-mouthed than his fellow criminals.
• Verbal Business Card: "I'm Winston Wolfe. I solve problems."
• Wicked Cultured: He attends elegant parties, sports fine clothes, is well-spoken, and has a nice car. Oh, and he disposes of dead bodies.

Marvin

Marvin

"Man, I don't even have an opinion!"

Portrayed By: Phil LaMarr

Dubbed in French By: Gunther Germain

One of the four friends at the start of the film that Vincent and Jules track down to kill in the film's prologue. As seen in the third segment, he's actually an informant that works for Marsellus Wallace, meaning he's the only of the four who comes out unharmed. Though he doesn't have much time on-screen before his fate ends up naming a trope...

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• Boom, Headshot!: How he's killed.
• Butt-Monkey: In his short screen time, he's told to shut up, gets seemingly traumatized as he watches his "friends" die, and then he gets his head blown off by accident. Then comes the humiliation of disposing of his body; Wolfe brushes him off as "nobody who'll be missed".
• Foreshadowing: Vincent mentions to Jules that one of the men in Brett's apartment is working for them, and thus by extension Wallace. Since Marvin is the only person not killed during the bloodbath, and the two give him a ride, the audience is left to assume it was him, though it's never explicitly revealed. (Notice that Marvin opens the door for them at the appointed time without them knocking or indicating their presence - so that they know which one he is.)
• Gory Discretion Shot: Played with, in that his head is blown open and all the blood splatters the back windshield before we get to see the trauma. Later averted, where the audience then gets a good few moments to see his deflated head when he's stuffed in the trunk for disposal.
• I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: The Trope Namer, and his fate.
• The Informant: It's implied he was Jules and Vince's informant, and thus is also on Marsellus' payroll.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death:
  Vincent: I mean, do you think that God came down from Heaven and stopped— (gunfire, blood, and brains splatter over the rear window and Vincent and Jules) Oh man, I shot Marvin in the face.
• Your Head A-Splode: When he gets shot in the face, the entire inside of his head goes all over the car.

Brett

Brett

"What?"

Portrayed By: Frank Whaley

Dubbed in French By: Éric Legrand

One of the four friends at the start of the film that Vincent and Jules track down to kill in the film's prologue. Seeing as he's the most versed when it came to screwing Marsellus up, Brett seems to be their prime target of the four.

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• Asshole Victim: He apparently screwed Marsellus out of a fortune. With that in mind, Brett may not be as innocent as he looks. Downplayed, as his killing is still depicted as a Kick the Dog moment for Jules and Vincent; even the informant, Marvin, is horrified by Brett's death.
• Bullying a Dragon: If what Jules says is true, Brett and his preppy friends attempted to embezzle from or sneak off with the property of Marsellus Wallace. Keep in mind, Wallace is a known and dangerous mob boss with hitmen that are very willing to kill, and Brett and friends are just some nervous young men with one pistol between them.
• Butt-Monkey: He's interrogated by Jules, has his food eaten, gets shot in the shoulder, and then gets blown away by both Jules and Vincent.
• Defensive "What?": Practically his Catchphrase, spitting one five times as Jules breaks him by talking.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Initially played straight when the camera cuts as he's being shot to death with only the muzzle flashes to go by. Later subverted when in the third segment we see Brett being riddled with bullets and convulsing. We don't see his body, though.
• Hero of Another Story: He and his group somehow came into possession of the briefcase and did something to get on Marsellus' bad side before the events of the film, but we never really find out how.
• Karmic Death: It's strongly implied that he and his friends are small-time criminals who double-crossed Marsellus in a past business deal related to the contents of the briefcase. Being a nervous youth who seems quite milquetoast, perhaps "karmic" is a bit strong of a word, but still.
• Noodle Incident: How a bunch of young losers like Brett and his friends got ahold of a suitcase belonging to a mob boss isn't explained.
• Unlucky Everydude: He doesn't seem to be the criminal type. It's strongly hinted he got in way over his head in the deal, and bit off more than he could chew when he screwed over Marsellus.

Roger

Roger

Portrayed By: Burr Steers

One of the four friends at the start of the film that Vincent and Jules track down to kill in the film's prologue. He's also the one with the least screentime, seeing as he was barely unable to say anything before Jules guns him down.

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• All There in the Manual: His name is never spoken in the film's dialogue. Jules refers to him only as "Flock of Seagulls" in reference to his Mike Score-esque haircut.
• Make an Example of Them: Jules proves he's not fucking with the young men when he nonchalantly shoots him in the chest. He barely has time to flinch and cover his face in fear when he's turning the gun barrel on him.
• Pretty Little Headshots: Despite taking a shot to center mass and not the head, his death qualifies as this, since a round point-blank to center mass the way Jules shot him would have resulted in blood and viscera going everywhere.
• The Quiet One: His only spoken dialogue before being unceremoniously shot dead is to reveal where they'd stashed the briefcase.
• Unlucky Everydude: Like Brett, he just happened to get in over his head. What's worse is that he barely gets anything to say in his defense.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Gunned the first out of the four friends, and worse is that he wasn't able to say anything, either!

Man # 4

Fourth Man

"Die, you motherfuckers! Die!"

Portrayed By: Alexis Arquette

One of the four friends at the start of the film that Vincent and Jules track down to kill in the film's prologue... except, unlike the other three, he doesn't appear in the prologue, only in the film's third segment, where he tries his best to ambush the hitmen before failing pathetically and ending up with the same fate as them.

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• Amusingly Awful Aim: He takes the lead characters by surprise and unloads a large-caliber revolver at them, only for him to miss every shot and get gunned down after a Beat. Jules interprets this unlikely scenario as divine intervention, and decides to give up the life of a gangster and Walk the Earth. Vincent on the other hand just dismisses the guy as a lousy shot.
• Epic Fail: He fires 6 revolver shots towards Jules and Vincent at close range, and misses completely.
• Four Is Death: Subverted. He fares just as well as the rest of Brett's crew against Jules and Vincent, i.e. not well at all.
• Hand Cannon: He attempts to wield one. Emphasis on "attempts".
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: He somehow misses Jules and Vincent despite the bullets hitting directly behind them, meaning they had to purposely miss their target. Jules notices this.
• Karmic Death: He hides in the bathroom while his partners get killed, then pops out for a surprise attack. It doesn't end well for him. To be fair, jumping out to attack before anyone died would have yielded the same result, and the fact that handguns are difficult to use, especially under extreme stress, means he might have hit his crew too.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: "Fourth Man" is literally how IMDb credits the character.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He isn't onscreen for more than a few minutes, but his failed attempt to kill Jules and Vincent causes the former to reevaluate his place in life, and eventually decide to start cutting ties with Marsellus Wallace for good.
• Spanner in the Works: Subverted, but only by a whisker; he absolutely would have been this under different circumstances. Were it not for divine intervention/blind luck (and Jules's money is on the former), two experienced, incredibly intimidating hitmen would've been taken out by a scrawny punk who barely knows how to use a gun.
• Truth in Television: Handguns are difficult to use accurately, especially under extreme stress. A large-caliber revolver is even worse due to the recoil, so missing six shots from across a room while rapid-firing in a panic is more plausible than one might think. As for the bullets hitting the wall "behind" them, a bullet only needs to miss by a fraction of an inch. All-in-all, the "bullet miracle" scene is fairly believable even without divine intervention.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Failed miserably at gunning Vincent and Jules, and falls to them quickly after they realize this.

Paul

Paul

"Get yo asses down in here!"

Portrayed By: Paul Calderón

"Hey, my name's Paul, and this shit's between y'all."

The owner of the bar Marsellus Wallace conducts his business at, he's a very amicable and polite man.

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• Affably Evil: As with most of the criminals in the film, he's pretty polite when he needs to be, and off the job he's very amicable with his coworkers.
• The Bartender: He owns the bar that Marsellus conducts his business at.
• Nice Guy: He immediately welcomes Vincent and Jules to his bar once they finish the job, and refers to them by their merits.
• Number Two: To Marsellus.
• Oh, Crap!: A more humourous version — when Vincent mentions he's not met Mia yet, he shoots a wicked sideways glance that sets Jules off laughing, as if both are aware of the effect Mia has on men but are too polite to tell Vincent.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue oni to Jules' red oni, though he subverts the usual scenario by being much more on the evil side than him.

Tony Rocky Horror

Antwan Rockamora a.k.a. "Tony Rocky Horror"

An unknown man who is mentioned during the film. He apparently had an incident with Mia that caused Marsellus to dispose of him.

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• Destination Defenestration: He's mainly known for the time Marsellus threw him out of a four-story building.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Allegedly, Marsellus tossed him out the window because he gave Mia a foot massage. Mia denies it, but she may not be telling the truth.
• Fat Bastard: Tony's half-Samoan and apparently heavyset, which Jules defends him over, but the "bastard" part depends on whether or not he actually gave Mia that foot massage (or whatever capacity he serves in Marcellus's criminal organization).
• The Ghost: He's mentioned in passing, but we never see him. He serves as more of a cautionary tale for Vincent, specifically not to get too close to Mia Wallace on their "date".
• Noodle Incident: Zig-zagged. This would be the implication, if Mia is telling the truth when she claims that nobody knows why Marsellus threw him out the window but the two of them. However, if what Jules heard is correct, then the reason is known.
• Speech Impediment: Surviving the fall from a four-story building and crashing into a greenhouse left Tony in this state.

Other Criminals

"Pumpkin" a.k.a. "Ringo"

Pumpkin

"All right, everybody be cool, this is a robbery!"

Portrayed By: Tim Roth

Dubbed in French By: Pierre-François Pistorio

Dubbed in Japanese By: Yoshito Yasuhara

"Yeah, well the days of me forgetting are over, and the days of me remembering have just begun."

One of the two very first characters seen at the start of the film, alongside his wife Yolanda. "Ringo" (as he's referred to by Jules) is tired of mugging convenience stores due to the language barrier, so in the restaurant he's having breakfast with Yolanda in, he decides they should switch their targets then and there.

Along with Yolanda, he's one of the villains of the film's third segment. Of the two, Pumpkin is the calm mastermind.

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• Affectionate Nickname: "Pumpkin", by Yolanda. In turn, he calls her "Honey Bunny".
• Affably Evil: While Pumpkin is an experienced store robber, it is shown he loves his wife Yolanda, and before holding up the restaurant, he has a rather pleasant and friendly conversation with her. Additionally, once Pumpkin is held at gunpoint by Jules, and after Jules lets him go, he calmly sits down, not ever threatening to shoot Jules again.
• Asian Store-Owner: This trope is discussed by him in the film's opening conversation; he laments about how knocking over convenience stores has become nearly impossible, since many such store owners don't speak enough English to understand "Open the fucking register!"
• Brandishment Bluff: He discusses a borderline case about a story he heard of someone robbing a bank by walking in with a phone and saying there was a little girl on the line that they were going to kill if the teller didn't hand over the money. He points out there was probably never a little girl in the first place, but the story proves that you can rob a bank with nothing more than a cell phone.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He and Yolanda are a loving, devoted Outlaw Couple. One of them being in danger is enough to freak the other out immensely.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite his threats and posturing, he admits early on that he doesn't want to kill anyone during his robberies and is worried about ending up in a situation where it will become a necessity. Part of his reason for wanting to rob the diner is his reasoning that waitresses, busboys and managers aren't going to stand in his way and will cooperate to avoid bloodshed.
• Evil Brit: Going by his accent, he's British, and he is an experienced robber.
• Hypocritical Humor: During the opening scene, Pumpkin complains about how "too many foreigners own liquor stores", which makes robbing them harder. "Ringo" is an Englishman in America — a foreigner, in other words.
• Karma Houdini: He and Yolanda are made to give back the MacGuffin briefcase and Jules' wallet... but, other than that, they get to keep all the loot they've robbed, including the contents of the register, several of the other diners' wallets and a cell phone, and Jules' money, and walk away entirely unharmed — while, admittedly, looking rather shaken up.
• Motor Mouth: He does most of the talking when he's with Yolanda, but shuts up pretty quickly once he meets Jules.
• Mugging the Monster: He has no way of knowing Jules is a dangerous hitman far above his league when he sticks a gun in his face. Jules points out upon gaining control of the situation that, any other day, "Ringo" and Yolanda would've been dead from the get go.
• Nice to the Waiter: He's rude to the waitress at the diner, derisively calling her "garcon" and shouting at her for more coffee, showing that he's not a good person.
• No Name Given: We never do find out his real name ("Pumpkin" is Yolanda's pet name for him, and Jules only refers to him as "Ringo" due to his English accent).
• Outlaw Couple: With Yolanda. He's the calm and cool one, she's the frightening and psychotic one.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: In his opening conversation with Yolanda, he casually drops slurs against pretty much every racial and religious group that exists.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: With Yolanda. Just look at what their nicknames for each other are!
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: He drops quite a few swears (and slurs) in the intro scene.

Yolanda a.k.a. "Honey Bunny"

Honey Bunny

"Any of you fucking pricks move, and I'll execute every motherfucking last one of ya!"

Portrayed By: Amanda Plummer

Dubbed in French By: Françoise Dasque

Dubbed in Japanese By: Shinobu Adachi

"I bet you could cut down on the hero factor in a place like this."

One of the two very first characters seen at the start of the film, alongside her husband "Pumpkin". Yolanda lives the thug life with her husband at their leisure, though she understands Pumpkin's boint that mugging convenience stores is becoming harder due to the language barrier. As a result, she agrees they should switch their preferred targets of robbery in the restaurant she and Pumpkin are having breakfast, then and there.

Along with Pumpkin, she's one of the villains of the film's third segment. Of the two, Yolanda is the crazy enforcer.

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• Affectionate Nickname: "Honey Bunny". In turn, she calls her husband "Pumpkin".
• Affably Evil: At least when not waving around a gun, she can be quite friendly, especially towards her husband.
• Ax-Crazy: Subverted. Compared to Pumpkin, she's ready to blow people's heads off as soon as they stop talking. Since she and Pumpkin agree at the beginning they don't want to kill anyone, however, this is apparently just her act during the robbery to scare people into compliance. Note how, when Jules gets the drop on "Ringo", she's panicky, crying, terrified, and clearly out of her depth — but despite apparently being utterly unstable and psychotic moments before, she never pulls the trigger. Vincent could stand to learn something from her.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Pleasant, polite Honey Bunny transforms into a shrieking, swearing robber the moment the game is on.
• Blah, Blah, Blah: When she and Pumpkin talk about quitting robbing.
  Yolanda: When you go on like this, you know what you sound like?
  Pumpkin: I sound like a sensible fucking man, is what I sound like.
  Yolanda: You sound like a duck. Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack...
• Desperate Plea for Home: Yolanda's Ax-Crazy persona breaks down the longer Pumpkin is held at gunpoint, even when Jules begins taking steps to defuse the situation; when Jules asks her how she's doing, Yolanda whimpers "I wanna go home."
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She and Pumpkin obviously love each other very much.
• Freak Out: She has a screaming breakdown when Jules takes "Ringo" hostage, and comes close to breaking down from the pressure of it all.
• Karma Houdini: Along with Pumpkin, she gets away with the robbery scot-free (apart from, as noted above, some Jules-inflicted psychological trauma).
• Nice to the Waiter: She's very pleasant to the waitress who serves her and Pumpkin coffee in the diner. Then they hold the place up.
• Outlaw Couple: With Pumpkin. He's the calm and cool one, she's the frightening and psychotic one.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: With Pumpkin, if their conversation before holding up the diner is any indication. Just look at what their pet names for each other are!
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Not so much in normal conversation, but she really gets going when the robbery starts.

Lance

Lance

Portrayed By: Eric Stoltz

A drug dealer who sells Vincent his finest heroin at the start of the film's first segment. He later helps Vincent cure Mia's overdose.

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• Affably Evil: Sort of. He's a drug dealer, but a pretty friendly and pleasant guy... as long as the people he's selling to are white.
• Artistic License – Medicine: The injection scene would not have worked in real life for a variety of reasons. See the main page for details.
• Bystander Syndrome: He tries to do this when Vincent brings an overdosed Mia to his house for treatment. Vincent won't take "no" for an answer. Eventually though, Lance relents.
• Erudite Stoner: He sits around his house all day in a bathrobe, but he's smart enough to keep medical journals around his place in case of ODs. He also seems to be one of the more reasonable characters in the film.
• Knight in Sour Armor: He clearly doesn't want to do anything with Mia's overdose, but he eventually gives in and helps Vincent revive her. Somewhat justified given Mia's overdose happens at midnight, so he clearly he wouldn't want to be bothered at such a late hour.
• Looks Like Jesus: He has long hair and a beard.
• The Medic: It is mentioned he is capable of bringing people back from ODs. Mia's case, however, is unique in that he's never had to actually do so before.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He casually uses the N-word, and implies that he only cares about white people. Despite this, when Vince comes to his house with Mia overdosing he knows who Marsellus Wallace is and not to cross him by letting his wife die.
• The Slacker: He's described in the script as someone who "looks like he's never had a job".
• Stating the Simple Solution: When Vincent tells him that Mia overdosed, Lance tells him to take her to a hospital and call a lawyer. Vincent is too scared of Mia's husband to even consider this.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He contributes to Mia's overdose, albeit indirectly, by putting Vincent's heroin in a baggy instead of a balloon, and as a result Mia later mistakes it for cocaine.

Jody

Jody

Portrayed By: Rosanna Arquette

Lance's wife.

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• Bystander Syndrome: Downplayed. Like Lance, she doesn't like to be bothered late hours of the night and when she sees Lance and Vincent carrying an overdosed Mia's body and asking for help, she tells them to "fuck off". Eventually, however, she watches the entire thing.
• Nightmare Fetishist: She seems to enjoy Mia's OD and revival, at least in retrospect, calling it "trippy" with a big grin.
• Savage Piercings: Largely subverted. She's chock full of facial piercings, (eighteen piercings total on her body, five in each ear, one through the nipple of her left breast, two in her right nostril, one in her left eyebrow, one in her belly, one in her lip, and has at least one genital piercing by her own account), but other than finding Mia's revival interesting, she seems like one of the more arguably normal people in the film.

Trudi

Trudi

Portrayed By: Bronagh Gallagher

A friend of Lance's and Jody's who crashes on their couch and indulges in recreational drug use.

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• Bystander Syndrome: Played as straight as a line. She sits on the couch smoking out of a bong while watching Vincent, Lance and Jody revive Mia from an overdose.
• Ship Tease: Lance asks Vincent what he thinks of her and tries to fix them up together.

Zed and Maynard

Zed and Maynard

"Well, bring out the Gimp."

Portrayed By: Peter Greene (Zed), Duane Whitaker (Maynard)

Zed: You wanna do it in here?
Maynard: Naws. Drag him back there to Russel's old room.

A pair of brothers that operate a pawn shop... which doubles as a rape dungeon. Unlike the majority of the criminals in the film, both are portrayed as despicable and having no redeeming qualities, seeing as they readily delight in the misery of Butch and Marsellus Wallace.

Both are the true villains of the film's second segment.

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• Beard of Evil: Maynard has an unkempt beard which highlights his vile, sadistic personality.
• Bigot with a Badge: Perhaps in order to increase the random horror of the encounter, rapist cop Zed is also really racist, making it a point to choose Marsellus Wallace as his first victim.
  Zed: Eeny, meeny, miney, moe. Catch a nigger by the toe.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Marsellus has every intention of giving Zed an agonizing death, using pliers and a blowtorch for undisclosed purposes. Considering the latter raped Marsellus and planned to do the same to Butch, Zed has it coming.
• Companion Cube: The only thing Zed cares about besides himself is his motorcycle, Grace.
• Cool Bike: Zed's chopper 'Grace' is admittedly a very cool ride. And also possibly stolen, depending on how you take Zed's questioning if it's fine to leave outside. It is stolen in turn by Butch following his rescue of Marsellus, which is understandable, as Zed won't be needing it any more.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Marsellus intends on subjecting Zed to an agonizing death in retribution for him and Maynard tag-team raping him. We don't learn much of the specifics, but it will apparently involve a pair of pliers and a blowtorch.
• Deep South: They both speak with Southern accents.
• Depraved Homosexual: They have a rape dungeon at their place of business where they abduct men for the sole purpose of tag-team sexual assault.
• Dirty Cop: Zed is a security guard who moonlights as a Serial Rapist.
• Dirty Coward: Zed's arrogance and sadism vanish as soon as he's faced with an actual threat. When Butch storms in and holds his katana against Zed, he's too frightened to even reach for his gun.
• Eviler than Thou: They prove to be much more depraved than Marsellus, and take turns raping him when they have him at their mercy. Marsellus retaliates by shooting Zed in the groin, and threatening to torture him to death.
• Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Zed is quite physically attractive, but also an utterly depraved monster.
• Fat and Skinny: Maynard is a pudgy schlub, while Zed is a scrawny asshat.
• Fat Bastard: Maynard is an overweight pervert who delights in rape.
• Faux Affably Evil: Zed is pretty soft-spoken for such a despicable excuse for a human being.
• Groin Attack: Zed is on the receiving end of one from a shotgun at point-blank range. It's implied that it totally destroys his genitals. If Marsellus' description of Zed's upcoming fate is any indication, it will probably be the least painful experience he suffers at his hands.
• Hate Sink: Their favorite hobby is kidnapping and raping various men, either murdering them or keeping them as sex slaves after. Maynard locks Butch and Marsellus in his basement, and calls Zed in. The two elect to rape Wallace first, calling him the N-word when they decide to, while forcing Butch to wait for his turn under guard of their personal Sex Slave the Gimp. They are so cruel that Butch can't bring himself to leave Wallace in their clutches, despite only having gotten into the situation because Wallace was trying to kill him earlier that day. In a film where every other major character has some moments of kindness or psychological depth, or is capable of genuine friendship, cordiality, loyalty, love, and other positive traits, or stands out just due to their skill at their work and actors' charisma, these two stand out due to possessing absolutely no positive or redeeming qualities.
• Hereditary Homosexuality: Zed and Maynard are brothers and both are homosexuals that enjoy sadistically torturing men.
• Hillbilly Horrors: The duo are a pair of deranged hicks who get their rocks off through sexual assault.
• I Call It "Vera": Zed's nickname for his motorcycle is "Grace".
• Karmic Death: The deaths of the two rapists are portrayed as well-deserved comeuppance, since both Maynard and Zed are portrayed as people who will not be missed, given the atrocities they have committed— namely raping Marsellus, and attempting to rape Butch. Maynard at least goes quickly. Zed, on the other hand, is shot in the groin, and is implied to be tortured to death.
• Kick the Dog: Not only do Zed and Maynard decide to rape Marsellus and Butch For the Evulz, they call the former the N-word when deciding who to start with.
• Lean and Mean: Zed is a slender sadist who takes joy in rape.
• Mugging the Monster: Zed and Maynard probably don't realize just how powerful Marsellus is in the criminal underworld before they sexually assault him. Naturally, Marsellus returns their cruelty with a vengeance.
• Offscreen Villainy: While the fact that they are shown tag-team raping Marsellus —in addition to keeping a previous victim on display and name-dropping another— establishes a pattern of the duo having raped at least three people and having intended to rape a fourth, they are never shown killing anyone onscreen, nor is there physical evidence of their murders.
• Plot-Irrelevant Villain: They have absolutely no relevance or connection to the main plot or any of the characters. They only enter the story because Butch and Marsellus just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: They use the N-word when choosing whom to rape first (and it's implied Marsellus is chosen because he's black).
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: They're brutal rapists, and the only characters in the film with no redeeming traits whatsoever. Their atrocities are treated as especially horrific by the narrative.
• Rasputinian Death: Marsellus does not plan on letting Zed die anywhere nearly as quickly as Maynard did. He intends to "get medieval on" the man with pliers and a blowtorch.
• Red Right Hand: Maynard has heterochromia, his right eye being brown and his left being blue.
• Sadist: They take immense pleasure in their depravity, even keeping one victim on as a sex slave and torture victim.
• Schlubby, Scummy Security Guard: Zed is a tall, slender and soft spoken security guard. He's likewise, along with his brother, shopkeeper Maynard, a depraved, racist sadist who's implied to regularly kidnap men to torture and rape, as they do to Butch and Marsellus Wallace. Along with Maynard, he stands out as the only antagonist in the film to possess no sympathetic traits.
• Serial Killer: They are implied to have murdered multiple people offscreen.
• Serial Rapist: They are strongly implied to have tag-team raped multiple men, keeping one of their previous captives on display while name-dropping another captive, and have every intention of tag-team raping both Marsellus and Butch. While they succeed at assaulting Marsellus, Butch manages to escape and subsequently rescue Marsellus before any more damage is done.
• Siblings in Crime: According to the script, Zed and Maynard are brothers.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Zed always speaks in a calm and soft tone of voice that highlights his depravity quite well.
• Two Shots from Behind the Bar: When Butch and Marcellus bust into Maynard's pawn shop, he stops Butch by pulling out a shotgun.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Maynard stands out a bit with his beard and long hair, but there's still nothing about either of their appearances that hints at how monstrous they are.
• Torture Cellar: The basement of their pawn shop serves as a base of operations for acts of rape.
• Unsexy Sadist: Both of them, even the fairly handsome Zed, are utterly repulsive perverts.

The Gimp

The Gimp

Portrayed By: Stephen Hibbert

Zed and Maynard's (possible) sex slave.

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• Ambiguously Evil: How willing of an accomplice he is in Zed and Maynard's rapes within the context of the film remains ambiguous.
• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: It's heavily implied that his regular sexual abuse at the hands of Zed and Maynard has led him to become just as sadistic and depraved as they are.
• The Faceless: We never see the face behind the mask.
• Fate Worse than Death: He's an implied sex slave trapped at the whims of two truly vile people whose regular abuse has completely shattered his psyche. If anything, Butch knocking him out and letting him choke to death is a kindness.
• Giggling Villain: He starts giggling like a little schoolgirl when he's left alone with Butch.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: He's covered from head to toe in black leather.
• No Name Given: His actual name is never revealed.
• Nothing Is Scarier: We learn absolutely nothing about the Gimp, but it's safe to assume that whatever happened to him to make him the way he is, it wasn't good.
• Oh, Crap!: He's terrified when Butch manages to get free, squealing for Zed and Maynard to save him before Butch lays him out with a single punch.
• Past Victim Showcase: He's kept around partially to show other victims what will potentially happen to them and make them hope Zed and Maynard simply kill them.
• Sex Slave: The Gimp is held captive and implied to be subject to repeated sexual abuse.
• That Man Is Dead: It's heavily implied that the Gimp has completely abandoned any semblance of his life prior to being captured by Zed and Maynard.
• The Spook: Absolutely nothing is ever elaborated on about the Gimp. Who he is, how he ended up the way he is now, where he came from. It's all one big question mark.
• Uncertain Doom: The last we see of him, he's left knocked out with a very angry Marsellus Wallace in the other room. Though seeing that he's dangling by his neck, he's probably dead from strangulation by the leash. Considering his situation prior, it was probably the best thing for him.
• The Unintelligible: Due to his mask.

Jimmie Dimmick

Jimmie Dimmick

"But you know what's on my mind right now? It ain't the coffee in my kitchen."

Portrayed By: Quentin Tarantino

"I don't need you to tell me how fucking good my coffee is, okay? I'm the one who buys it. I know how good it is. When Bonnie goes shopping, she buys shit! I buy the gourmet expensive stuff cause when I drink it, I wanna taste it."

Jules' former partner-in-crime who worked for Marsellus Wallace before retiring from the mob life. He's an old good friend of Jules. Unfortunately, Jules and Vincent drop by his house in the morning just a few hours before his wife gets home from work with the pretense that they need a place to hide before disposing of Marvin's dead body; Jimmie is, obviously, not pleased at all.

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• Creator Cameo: Tarantino originally wrote the role with Steve Buscemi in mind, but took it up himself when Buscemi was unable to do it because of his schedule.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Implicitly; he's a milquetoast suburbanite who nonetheless previously worked as an enforcer for a powerful mob boss, and has no problem acting indignant to a stone-cold killer like Jules. Jules also noticeably seems to respect Jimmie, and makes no attempt at talking back when he chews him out.
• Deadpan Snarker: A very justifiable moment of his before he chews out Jules for using him to hide their mistakes.
  (to Jules) I want to ask you a question: When you came pulling in here, did you notice a sign on the front of my house that said "Dead Nigger Storage"?
• Happily Married: His greatest fear in the whole situation is what his wife will think of him should she find "a bunch of gangsters doing a bunch of gangster shit" in their kitchen and a dead black man in their garage.
• Hypocritical Humor: Telling Vincent and Jules, who are wearing his clothes, that they look like a couple of dorks after putting them on. Jules even points this out. Justified in that they appear to be old clothes from his college days and likely not what he normally wears now.
• Jerkass Has a Point: He's somewhat ill-tempered, but it's hard not to blame him, given that people from a life he left behind showed up out of nowhere and brought a blood-splattered car and a corpse with a good portion of its head missing with them into his home, putting him in the middle of a very tricky situation that puts his life and marriage in danger. Jules even says he has good reason to be grouchy.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he's very rude to Jules when he attempts to make polite conversation, his anger is very much justified, as Jules has just brought a dead body to his house out of the blue. Outside of this, his primary concern about the whole ordeal is how it could impact his marriage, he is adamant that there is no way that Jules could persuade him to stop loving his wife, and he is shown to be very polite and grateful toward Winston Wolfe (who, unlike Jules, was called in specifically to help out with disposing of the body as a trained professional). The fact that he's willing to let Jules use his garage to hide the body at all also shows that he's game for sticking his neck out for his old partner, at least to a point.
• Knight in Sour Armor: He's not too happy with helping Jules and Vincent out of their jam, and he doesn't try to hide it.
• Motor Mouth: He flies off on a tangent when Jules and Vincent show up with a dead body.
• Must Have Caffeine: He swats down Jules' attempts to change the subject (after bringing in Marvin's corpse) by praising his coffee, but he can't quite resist the temptation to brag about his taste for the good stuff.
• No Badass to His Valet: He talks to Jules (and by extension Vincent) with the casualness of an old college buddy, and berates them to their faces without any fear of retaliation. Conversely, he is much more submissive and polite when speaking with Winston Wolfe, who he does not know personally, has a reputation that precedes him, and treats him with the poise and decency befitting of a consummate professional. It helps that Jules and Vincent are actively putting him and his marriage in jeopardy just by being there, and Wolfe is doing everything in his power to get them out.
• N-Word Privileges: He goes on a massive tirade to Jules about trying to hide a dead black man's body in his garage, casually dropping the N-word numerous times. Likely in-verse justified, as he worked for a black crime boss, worked with a black partner, and is married to a black woman, so Jules lets it slide.
• Odd Friendship: Many people wonder why a gangster like Jules knows a neurotic suburbanite like Jimmie. In reality, he's Jules' old partner who quit "the life", just like Jules does by the end of the film, but still occasionally does him small favors.
• Pet the Dog: He helps Jules, and he sincerely loves his wife.
• Reformed Criminal: See below. No wonder he's so pissed when Jules brings him a dead body asking for a favor.
• Retired Monster: Word of God says Jimmie used to be Jules' partner, but he quit 'the life', and Jules respects that.
• Skewed Priorities: Never mind the mountain of criminal and legal issues that could arise if Jules, Vince, and Marvin's corpse were found at his house; Jimmie's only real concern, to the point that he's nearly horrified at the very thought, is that his wife would divorce him if she walked in on them and discovered their criminal activities. Somewhat justified when you consider that he used to work for the mob and likely would have their protection against most legal proceedings, whereas no amount of connections would be able to make his wife forget he helped stash a dead body. There's also the matter of the sheets; yeah, they're going to be used to mask the inside of a gory car, and yeah, Jimmie not getting divorced sorta hinges on that, but he's hesitant to let them go because they're his best linens, a wedding gift from his late aunt and uncle. (Granted, there is the logical issue of him now having to explain to his wife where all the linens suddenly disappeared to, but at least Wolfe has paid him enough to replace them and buy some new bedroom furniture.)
• Supreme Chef: In a sense. He buys and makes excellent coffee which both Jules and the Wolf praise.

Monster Joe

Monster Joe

The proprietor of Monster Joe's Truck and Tow, an auto scrapyard that apparently moonlights as corpse disposal.

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• Cleanup Crew: Winston hands the car (and the late Marvin) off to Joe to handle the actual disposal, which we don't see.
• The Ghost: We don't ever see Joe himself (his only appearance is in a deleted scene), just his daughter Raquel who will someday own the business herself according to the Wolf, whom we saw on the phone with Joe earlier.

Other Characters

Captain Koons

Captain Koons

"I hid this uncomfortable hunk of metal up my ass, two years."

Portrayed By: Christopher Walken

A soldier who fought in the Vietnam War alongside Butch's dad. He gives a young Butch his dad's watch at the start of the film's second segment.

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• Ass Shove: How he hid the watch in order to give it to Butch.
• Local Reference: Although the film takes place entirely in Los Angeles, he references Quentin Tarantino's birthplace of Knoxville, Tennessee.
• Memento MacGuffin: He delivers one (the gold watch) to a very young Butch.
• Mood Whiplash: Koons tells a harrowing story about Butch's ancestors carrying the watch. The story becomes absurd and hilariously ridiculous as he goes on, but his tone never changes. Then again, it's Christopher Walken.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: He refers to his Vietnamese captors as "gooks" and "slopes" with "greasy, yellow hands," though considering the time period and the torture he suffered, it could crossover with Deliberate Values Dissonance.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: He was a POW and tortured in Vietnam.

Fabienne

Fabienne

"I'm gonna order a big plate of blueberry pancakes!"

Portrayed By: Maria De Medeiros

Butch's wife. She's sweet, though pretty quirky and a bit of a ditz, since her clumsiness ends up kicking the plot into full gear after she leaves Butch's treasured watch in their apartment.

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• Affectionate Parody: A lot of Fabienne's general weirdness becomes more explicable if she is regarded as an affectionate parody of a character from Le Film Artistique; in particular, her Fauxlosophic Narration dialogue about attractiveness and pot bellies is like the kind of character de Medeiros herself plays in Philip Kaufman's Henry & June (that character being real-life writer Anaïs Nin.) Fabienne's general air of helplessness is not due to mental impairment, but to such a character being wildly out of her depth in a violent gangster story.
• Cloudcuckoolander: She has shades of this, thanks to her odd choices of topics of conversation. She wants to have a pot belly because she thinks it's attractive for women to have one, and she's really into blueberry stuff for breakfast. A common theory is that she's actually pregnant, with the potbelly comment being a subtle hint-drop and the blueberry-heavy breakfast being Wacky Cravings.
• Funny Foreigner: There is some humor surrounding her accent.
• Genre Refugee: Poor girl really seems out of place in this sort of movie.
• Morality Pet: For Butch.
• Must Have Caffeine: Fabienne plans to order a big breakfast, followed with a cup of black coffee.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: She is for the most part a sweet girl, if a bit quirky. The only time she really gets upset is when Butch starts making fun of her intelligence and takes it too far. Considering some of the tropes previously listed, her mentality might be a sore spot for her.
• Small Role, Big Impact: As noted above, despite being a fairly minor character, her forgetting the watch is ultimately what kicks off a good chunk of the movie.
• Token Good Teammate: She's pretty much the only straight up good character of the main bunch, as Mia is neutral despite being married to Marsellus, and Butch is more of an Anti-Hero.
• Wacky Cravings: The next morning, Fabienne tells Butch she's ordering a big breakfast — blueberry pancakes with maple syrup, eggs over easy, five sausages, a cup of decaf black coffee, a glass of orange juice, and a piece of blueberry pie topped with a slice of cheese afterwards.

Esmerelda Villalobos

Esmeralda Villalobos

Portrayed By: Angela Jones

Butch's driver, who takes him away from the ring once he's done with the match.

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• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Implied. She seems to be sexually attracted to Butch for beating another man to death.
• Deranged Taxi Driver: She's a pleasant conversationalist, a steady hand behind the wheel... and is also fascinated by death and perfectly willing to cover for Butch if anyone comes looking for him.
• Eating the Eye Candy: She's eye-balling Butch as he changes clothes in the backseat.
• Expy: Jones played a character named Gabriela (a crime scene cleaner who gets aroused by the sight of blood) in a short film in 1991, Curdled, who was about as creepy as Esmerelda in the same ways as her. Tarantino saw Curdled and created Esmerelda's role for Jones; Pulp Fiction's success subsequently led to Curdled being remade as a full-length feature in 1996. Esmerelda and Gabriela could easily be the same character.
• Funny Foreigner: She speaks with an exaggerated accent that seems to be Played for Laughs.
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Butch bums a cigarette off of her in exchange for telling her "what it feels like to kill a man"
• Must Have Caffeine: Esmeralda sips from a cup of black coffee as she works late at night as a taxi driver and waits to pick up Butch from his boxing match.
• Nightmare Fetishist: She is fascinated by death and murder, and since Butch is the first confirmed murderer she's ever met, she takes the opportunity to inquire about it.
• Sex Is Violence: She seems turned on by Butch having beaten his opponent to death, but that could just be the accent.

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