Characters / Room

Jack Newsome

”When I was small, I only knew small things. But now I’m five, I know everything!”

Portrayed by: Jacob Tremblay

The five year old protagonist of the novel. He was born and raised entirely in Room.

• Abusive Parents: His father held him hostage and planned to murder him instead of letting him go. It’s important to note that Jack is completely unaware Old Nick is his father, and he had no real part in raising him, so Jack doesn’t have any feelings that most children of this trope usually do.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: When Ma is trying to tell Jack how she got kidnapped, he keeps asking her things like what color Old Nick's car was.
• Baby Talk: In the book, Jack will say things like "we knowed" or "I brunged" or "why you don't know" or refer to man and woman as "he and she" like "the he walked up". This is kind of perplexing due to Ma regularly correcting his grammar, watches TV ranging from cartoons to the news and soap operas, and even has a game with Ma where he parrots what he just heard on TV to help with his grammar. The movie largely removes this, mostly keeping Jack referring to objects in Room by noun, Lamp, Rug, Meltady Spoon, etc, as a part of life in Room.
• Calling Parents by Their Name: Due to not even knowing he's his father, Jack refers to his dad as Old Nick.
• Carpet-Rolled Corpse: Jack plays the corpse in this Body Bag Trick.
• Child by Rape: Jack is one of these, although he is unaware of this.
• Coming of Age Story: Jack is only five, and the book only takes place over a month and a half, but he matures a lot of that time.
• Constantly Curious: Due to having spent the first five years of his life in a single room, Jack is very interested in the outside world.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Because of his long hair, Jack is frequently mistaken for a girl.
• Faking the Dead: Jack pretends to be dead so he and Ma can escape Room.
• First Time in the Sun: In the movie, the sensory overload of experiencing the sun for the first time almost screws up their escape plan. In the book, Jack escapes in the evening, so the sun doesn’t bother him.
• Hates Being Alone: Having spent literally every moment of his life with at least one person, Jack can't stand being without someone, most specifically Ma.
• Important Haircut: At first, Jack refuses to cut his hair because he believes it to be where his strength comes from. After Ma tries to commit suicide, Jack gives her his ponytail so she can have his strength.
• Innocent Inaccurate: Due to being five, Jack doesn't realize things that obvious to the reader. Most significantly, Jack doesn't realize that he and his mother are being held hostage and that he is a product of one of Old Nick's sexual assaults on Ma.
• Innocently Insensitive: Jack doesn't really understand what happened in Room, so he brings it up in casual conversation, even to complete strangers.
• Playing Sick: Jack does this so he and Ma can escape Room.
• Sick Captive Scam: Jack plays the sick captive in their escape plan.
• Small, Secluded World: Jack has spent his entire life in a shed with only one ceiling window to let in the light.
• Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Jack is very loosely based on Felix Fritzl, a five year old who was also held hostage for his entire life.
• Wild Child: Averted. Jack is called feral by the media, but due to Ma (as well as having a TV to watch), he is at the same intelligence level as a five-year-old should be.

Ma/Joy Newsome

Portrayed by: Brie Larson

”Oh, Jack, we’re never going back.”

Mother of Jack. She was kidnapped as a teenager by Old Nick, who then preceded to hold her hostage and rape her for seven years.

• Adapted Out:
  • In the book, Ma is adopted, but in the movie it's never stated.
  • In the book, Ma says she had an abortion at age eighteen. In the movie, it's never brought up, nor the topic of abortion in general.
  • Ma's stillborn daughter is removed from the movie.
• Alice Allusion: Ma uses this to try and help Jack understand that she wasn't always in Room.
• Anger Born of Worry: Ma gets angry at Jack when he upsets Old Nick, which could endanger them both.
• Birthday Hater: Each birthday is a reminder for Ma of how much of her life has been stolen by Old Nick.
• Broken Bird: Being kidnapped, raped, and held hostage for nearly a decade left her severely depressed, to the point of even trying to commit suicide. Word of God states she will never truly be over it.
• Bunker Woman: Ma has spent the past seven years of her life in a shed that was transformed into a soundproof cell.
• Death of a Child: A year before Jack was born, Ma had a daughter who was stillborn. Ma also fakes this with Jack.
• Defiant Captive: Downplayed. Ma has retained her defiant spirit, but, by the time the novel has started, pretends to go along with Old Nick not only for her and Jack’s safety, but because her defiant plans against Old Nick have proven unsuccessful.
• Defiled Forever: Downplayed. Ma wasn't innocent before she got kidnapped; she wasn't a virgin, for one. But it's clear that her experience has left her permanently damaged.
• Driven to Suicide: Ma eventually resorts to this, but fortunately survives.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: Before Jack was born, Ma thought that the TV was telling her to do things, and that objects would appear bigger or smaller than they actually were.
• Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Averted. Ma had an abortion at age eighteen.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: She has her moment's in Room, understandable given the stress of her situation. It becomes a bit more prevalent once's she's outside between her PTSD, Jack's struggles to adjust, dealing with other people, and being in the public eye.
• Happily Adopted: The interviewer basically calls this trope out for Ma by name.
• Heroic BSoD: Ma has days where Jack refers to her as "Gone".
• Heroic Sacrifice: Ma fakes Jack being dead with herself still being left in Room, knowing that there’s a chance that Jack may not be able to locate where Room is, or locate where it is too late.
  • The interviewer basically asks why she didn’t do this when Jack was born, telling her that she could have told Old Nick to put him up for adoption. She even calls it "the ultimate sacrifice". The realization that she could have done this but didn’t drives her to suicide.
• I Just Want to Be Free: This is all that Ma wanted for her seven years of captivity. This desire later becomes more urgent when she learns that Old Nick has been without a job for six months and knows he'll kill her and Jack before he'll let them free.
• Improvised Weapon: Ma hits Old Nick in the head with a toilet lid in her first attempt to escape.
• Innocently Insensitive: In the book, she's all too ready to put Room behind her after she and Jack are rescued. But she ends up pushing Jack into trying a couple of things before he's ready and denies him therapy for separation anxiety, and has to be reminded (either by herself or their doctor) that this is all new and stressful to Jack.
• Ironic Name: Ma, who has severe depression, is named Joy.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: She expresses this trope twice.
  • She corrects someone after they call her stillborn daughter “it.”
  • She gets upset when her father says he can’t be around Jack because “it makes [him] shudder.” Ma tells him there is no “it” and that Jack is a five-year-old boy.
• Lies to Children: Ma lies to Jack about the outside world existence so he doesn’t feel deprived of anything.
• Love Martyr: Averted. When Ma is asked if she ever had this, or any sort of empathy for Old Nick, she flat out says she hated him.
• Mama Bear: Ma, especially when she thought Old Nick was going to harm Jack.
• Mood-Swinger: Has her moments in the first half of the novel, but it gets more frequent after she's rescued, going from calm to an angry rant in a heartbeat.
• Named by the Adaptation: In the book, Jack mentions people calling Ma by her "other name" but never reveals what it is. In the movie, it’s revealed her name is Joy Newsome.
• No Name Given: In the book, it's never revealed what Ma's real name is. Averted in the movie, as we learn her name is Joy Newsome.
• Not Afraid of You Anymore: Ma has seemingly no fear of meeting Old Nick in court, even wanting to meet him in person so she can "look him in his mean little eye" and show him that she's free from him while he'll be rotting in a cell.
• Outliving One's Offspring: A year before Jack was born, Ma had a stillborn daughter.
  • What Ma makes Old Nick believe in her Body Bag Trick.
• Parents in Distress: Ma when Jack escaped for the first time, and when she was in the hospital.
• Stepford Smiler: Ma pretends to be grateful to Old Nick for both her and Jack's safety, and to project a happy image on her son. Ma basically calls this trope out by name saying that she "did it on autopilot" and acted like a "Stepford Wife" when asked how she was able to survive those seven years of captivity.
• Stress Vomit: Happens to Ma in the novel when she visits Room again.
• Unnamed Parent: In the book, Jack mentions Ma having an "other name' and people calling her that, but he never reveals what it is. Averted in the movie, as we learn her name is Joy Newsome.
• Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Ma is very loosely based on Elisabeth Fritzl.

Old Nick

Portrayed by: Sean Bridgers

”I figure there must be something wrong...you’ve never let me get a good look since the day he was born. Poor little freak’s got two heads or something?”

A man who kidnapped Ma as a teenager and held her hostage for seven years. He is also the biological father of Jack.

• Abusive Parents: Since he is Jack's father and kept the boy locked up in a shed his whole life and would've been willing to kill him if it came to that, Old Nick more than qualifies.
• Beard of Evil: He has a beard and is as vile as they come.
• Death Faked for You: Ma fakes Jack's death to him so they could escape Room.
• Denied Food as Punishment: Old Nick threatens to do this when Ma tries to escape for the first time.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Old Nick wears glasses.
• Glorified Sperm Donor: Joy doesn't consider him a true father to Jack for pretty damn good reasons.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He'll go off on belittling and degrading rants at Ma's expense for the smallest things.
• Hate Sink: He is made to be hated and he succeeds at the task admirably.
• Jerkass: Even for a brutal rapist and kidnapper, Old Nick is a deeply unpleasant, rude and short-tempered person.
• Kingpin in His Gym: When Ma and Jack visit Room again, Jack sees a treadmill in Old Nick's house.
• Meaningful Name: "Old Nick" is another name for Satan.
• No Name Given: Old Nick's real name is never revealed. In the movie, Ma specifically notes that she doesn't know what his name is.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Before Jack was born, Ma had a stillborn daughter. He's later tricked into believing this when Ma fakes Jack's death.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: He abducted Ma and forced her to be his sex slave.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When the Badass Bystander starts shouting out the numbers on Old Nick’s license plates, he drops Jack and starts driving away as far as possible.
• Unconfessed Unemployment: Old Nick has been laid off from his job for six months and didn’t tell Joy about it until the last minute.
• Unnamed Parent: Old Nick is Jack’s biological dad and his real name is never revealed.
• Very Loosely Based on a True Story: He’s very loosely based on Josef Fritzl.

Grandma

Portrayed by: Joan Allen

”Do you think you’re the only one whose life was DESTROYED?!?”

Joy's mother and Jack's grandmother. Ma and Jack briefly live with her and Leo after they escape.

• Anger Born of Worry: In the book, Jack briefly runs off in a store. She is then furious at him because it reminded her of when Joy went missing and what she went through.
• Mama Bear:
  • She always held hope that her daughter was alive for the seven years she was missing, and searched very hard to find her during then.
  • She becomes a grandmother version of this with Jack.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: It's implied that her divorce with her first husband was, at least partially, caused by their daughter's disappearance. Most notably, the fact that Joy's father believed she had died, while she always retained hope. Either way, the death or disappearance of a child can cause enough strain to a marriage to cause a divorce.
• Your Makeup Is Running: When she cries after seeing her daughter for the first time in seven years, Jack mentions her tears are black.

Grandpa

Portrayed by: William H. Macy

Joy's father and Jack's grandfather.

• My Greatest Failure: He can't bear to look at Jack, because, to him, he symbolizes his failure to protect his daughter.
• Outliving One's Offspring: What he believed to have happened after Ma disappeared, to the point of even holding a funeral for her.
• Parents as People: Bob isn't a bad guy and was implied to be a good father to Joy but his years of grief and guilt make it very difficult for him to welcome Joy and Jack back, particularly Jack who Bob sees as a representative of all the horrible things Joy went through that he couldn't protect her from.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: It's implied that his divorce with his ex-wife was, at least partially, caused by their daughter's disappearance. Most notably, the fact that he thought Joy had died, while her mother still held onto some hope that she was still alive. Either way, the death or disappearance of a child can lead to enough strain in a marriage to cause a divorce.
• That Thing Is Not My Child!: Grandchild, in this case, but he rejects Jack due to being unable to look past the fact that Jack is the result of one of the many sexual assaults Old Nick did against his daughter.

Steppa/Leo

”[What do you call adults without kids?] Folks with better things to do?”

Portrayed by: Tom McCamus

Leo is the second husband of Joy's mother, the stepfather of Ma, and step-grandfather of Jack. Ma and Jack briefly live with him and his wife after their escape.

• Compressed Adaptation: Leo has a much smaller role in the movie than in the book.
• Cool Old Guy: Jack views him as this and it's not hard to see why as Leo is a kind, sweet-natured man who treats Jack as though he were his own grandson.
• Heroes Love Dogs: He has a dog named Seamus who he introduces Jack to.
• Nice Guy: Leo is a kind, patient and caring person.
• Parental Substitute: He becomes one for Ma and a substitute grandfather for Jack who comes to regard Leo in such terms.
• Wicked Stepmother: Subverted. Despite Ma being hostile towards him at first, Leo is a much more kinder and sweeter grandfather than Jack's "real" grandfather is. In fact, at the end of the novel, Jack considers Leo to be his real grandfather.

Ma's Daughter

The daughter of Ma and sister of Jack. She was stillborn and was buried in Old Nick's backyard.

• Abusive Parents: Her biological father didn't care if she lived or was healthy and wasn't upset when she did die. Had she lived, he would have held her hostage, never allowing her to leave the shed he kept her mother and brother locked in.
• Adapted Out: She is never mentioned in the film. However, the police did find a hole with something buried inside it by a tree next to Room, implying that this is where she was buried.
• Child by Rape: She was a product of one of the many sexual assaults against her mother.
• Death of a Child: She was stillborn.
• Foreshadowing: Her existence is foreshadowed twice: by Jack claiming there's a stain on the bed from when he was "born the first time" and Ma telling Old Nick to not bury Jack in the backyard before saying "You never should have done that."
• No Name Given: If she was ever given a name, it’s never said.
• Outliving One's Offspring: She was stillborn, so she died before both her parents.
• Very Loosely Based on a True Story: She was most likely inspired by Elisabeth Fritzl's child who died three days after birth.
• Walking Spoiler: Her existence reveals that Ma had a stillbirth and another child besides Jack.