The Ballad of Buster Scruggs / Characters

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The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Buster Scruggs

The Misanthrope, The San Saba Songbird, The West Texas T(w)it, Herald of Demise

Portrayed by: Tim Blake Nelson^{Foreign VAs}

"I don't hate my fellow man, even when he's tiresome and surly and tries to cheat at poker. I figure that's just a human material, and him that finds in it cause for anger and dismay is just a fool for expecting better."

A cheerful singing cowboy.

Affably Evil: Buster's a cheerful, charismatic cowboy who obeys house policy and loves singing as much as he loves mercilessly gunning down everyone who threatens him. Even then, he's awfully polite until he gets insulted, and he's genuinely impressed with an opponent who keeps trying to kill him with a severe lack of fingers. Buster seems to be aware of his status as this, though, since he says to the audience not to "let his white duds and pleasant demeanor fool you."
Always Someone Better: He's killed by a younger gunslinging songbird, with the final page of the story indicating that the cycle of the best being killed by someone better will continue.
Ambiguously Evil: It's certainly arguable just how evil he is, considering the setting and the fact that everyone he kills is armed or at least threatening him. At the same time, he doesn't go out of his way to defuse situations, and it could be argued that he in fact escalates the situations to give himself an excuse to kill. There's also little question that he loves killing, and celebrates his own violence with a song-and-dance. The way he kills one opponent is pretty sadistic, too, shooting off his fingers one by one.
Berserk Button: Buster is generally pretty good-natured even when it comes to his enemies, but when Curly/Surly Joe's brother calls him the "West Texas Twit" seemingly by mistake, his expression hardens for a moment. He later kills Curly Joe's brother in an excessively violent way.
Beware the Silly Ones: He's a cheerful singing cowboy with a comically expansive vocabulary clad in perfectly white duds; just about everyone underestimates him, to their regret.
Bright Is Not Good: He's an all white wearing cheery singing cowboy straight from the golden era of western cinema. He's also a violent killer, who escalates bad situations he gets into, delights in killing his foes, especially in drawn-out and painful manners, and is a pragmatic fighter and dishonorable duelist on top of all that, preferring to use tricks and dirty tactics rather than fight honorably. To be fair, he does tell the audience upfront to not "let (his) white duds and pleasant demeanor fool (us)."
Breaking the Fourth Wall: He frequently speaks directly to the audience.
Combat Pragmatist: He's a showman, but when he has to, his methods become "downright Archimedean".
Cowboy: He's a singing cowboy right out of a Golden Era Western.
Crowd Song: He leads the patrons of a Bad Guy Bar in a song mocking the man he's just killed.
Cruel Mercy: After mortally wounding someone, he decides to let the guy go, even opening the door for him as he crawls away in pain.
Deconstructed Character Archetype: A "singing cowboy" leading a crowd into a grand musical number right after he killed someone paints him as a hard-core sociopath, especially when the deceased's brother enters the room...
Disproportionate Retribution: Curly Joe's brother accidentally calling him the "West Texas Twit" is the only time he briefly loses his joyful nature. Later in their duel, Buster kills him by shooting off all of his fingers then shooting him in the heart as a fancy trick shot for the benefit of the audience.
Exact Words: One of his tactics for duels. He asks if his opponent needs a countdown, and the moment they say no— BANG! Unfortunately for Buster, the Kid learned this trick too.
Fastest Gun in the West: He's incredibly quick in the draw and can pull off some ridiculous trick shots. He considers shooting center mass while aiming backwards with only a mirror as a guide to be him being "not too fancy". Even then, he acknowledges that no one can stay the best forever.
Graceful Loser: Buster might be severely arrogant when it comes to his abilities, but when he's bested, he accepts his fate with a slightly melancholic song, admitting that he should've seen his end coming.
Hammerspace: He produces a hand mirror from absolutely nowhere on two occasions.
Hoist by His Own Petard: While Buster is undoubtedly a master at the quickdraw, part of his speed comes from setting up his opponents verbally. As soon as they give some form of verbal confirmation that they are going to go through with a gunfight, he draws on them. The Kid has picked up this trick too, and Buster walks right into it as if he never expected the tactic could be used on him.
I Take Offense to That Last One: In his introductory speech, Buster tells the audience that he is known by many nicknames through the land (including such cognomens as "The Herald of Demise"), but he really does not like that one of his wanted posters calls him "The Misanthrope", because he does not hate his fellow man (for all that he has no problem killing them).
Karmic Death: Buster is killed in much the same manner as his final victim, gunned down immediately after denying that he needs a count.
Killing in Self-Defense: He's something of a Deconstructive Parody of heroes who do this. Every person he kills is a violent outlaw who was trying to kill him first, but only because he blatantly goes out of his way to antagonize dangerous people and hides his own skills so people will underestimate him. The end result is that he comes off as a Blood Knight who deliberately engineers scenarios where violence is justified.
Outside-Genre Foe: Violence aside, he's a pitch-perfect old-school "singing cowboy" from the heyday of Roy Rogers himself. The juxtaposition between him and the more realistic cowboys surrounding him is one of the big gags of the short.

The Kid

Portrayed by: Willie Watson

Affably Evil: Despite being out to make his name by spilling blood, he's well-mannered, polite and respectful. He and Buster seem to like each other rather well, and they even have a duet together.
Always Someone Better: He outdraws Buster Scruggs so quickly that Buster needs a few seconds to notice he's been shot in the head. The final song also shows that the Kid is very much at peace with the idea that somewhere there is someone even better than him.
Beat Them at Their Own Game: While The Kid's speed is undeniable, the way he beats Buster would be considered almost cheap by any other measures - asking if he needs a count, then drawing the second his opponent says no. Yet considering we just saw Buster pull the same trick on a lesser gunfighter beforehand, it's entirely on Buster for not catching his own trick being used against him.
Bling-Bling-BANG!: His sixguns have a shiny, sleek black finish contrasted with distinct, polished silver grips.
{Cowboy}: In contrast to Buster, the Kid represents more darker cowboys from the Spaghetti Western movies of the 60s and ‘70s.
Due to the Dead: The Kid kicks dirt over Buster's corpse after he's just killed him. To the uninformed, this may seem like an example of Last Disrespects. However, it's an old frontier belief, mostly among gunfighters, that kicking dirt over the dead body of an opponent allows their souls to cross over. The moment he does this, Buster begins to ascend to heaven.
Evil Wears Black: He's clad entirely in black to contrast with Buster Scruggs, but in truth, he's no better or worse than Buster.
Fastest Gun in the West: He definitely becomes this after he beats Buster Scruggs. He puts a bullet in Buster's forehead so fast that Buster needs a moment to catch up on this fact.
Villain Respect: Though it's debatable if he's an outright villain, he's the only person who encounters Buster that gives him any sort of respect.
Young Gun: He's been wandering the desert looking for Buster Scruggs so he can beat him. He succeeds, but knows full well that he’ll suffer the same fate, too.

Çurly/Surly Joe

Portrayed by: Clancy Brown^{Foreign VAs}

Combat Pragmatist: He brings a gun into a saloon that has an explicit "no guns allowed" rule and tries to use it on Buster, who is unarmed. Unfortunately, Buster managed to out-pragmatize him.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: It turns out that Joe had a brother, and the brother's reaction at finding Joe's corpse is to break down crying and try to get revenge.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Çurly/Surly Joe's response to Buster wanting to start the poker game again after seeing he got the Dead Man's Hand? "Play the hand or I'm going to hurt you." His reaction to Buster insisting he won't? Pull out a gun (which are expressly forbidden in the saloon, by the way) and escalate to "play the hand or I'm going to kill you."
I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: Buster kills him by making him put a bullet in his own head via a Plank Gag. Four times.
Malicious Misnaming: Çurly Joe is called "Surly Joe" by Buster in the song he sings to celebrate killing him.
Undignified Death: Accidentally blowing your brains out with a Plank Gag is awful. That it happens four times is nuts. The man who pulled the plank gag on you deciding to make a grand musical number to mock you right afterward is just pushing it too damn far.

Çurly/Surly Joe's Brother

Portrayed by: Danny Mc Carthy

All There in the Script: The script gives his name as "Ike".
Determinator: After Buster blows off each and every one of his gun hand's fingers, he still tries to draw with his off hand. Buster amusedly acknowledges that he's got that, at least.
Buster Scruggs: Looks like when they made this feller they forgot to put in the quit.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Surly Joe sure wasn't a nice man, but the brother's reaction at finding his brother's dead is to break down into tears and demand retribution from the man who killed him.
Fingore: Buster blows off all of his gun hand's fingers, which is realistically very painful. Scruggs might have even left him alive if not for the fact he tried to keep fighting with his other hand.

Near Algodones

Meal Ticket

The Impressario

Portrayed by: Liam Neeson

The Artist

Portrayed by: Harry Melling

All Gold Canyon

Prospector

The Prospector

Portrayed by: Tom Waits

A grizzled old prospector, who comes upon a pristine valley in hopes of finding gold.

Beware the Nice Ones: His upbeat, jovial attitude and the fact he lets the owl keep three of its eggs suggests he's really a good guy at heart. However, the only time he's seen interacting with another person, he blows their brains out for trying to kill him. It would appear that pleasant as he is, the guy is not afraid to get his hands dirty when the situation calls for it, both literally and metaphorically.
Cool Old Guy: He goes into territory unsettled by (white) man all by himself, manages to find an untapped vein of gold there, and survives a fight with a younger man, despite getting shot in the back by said man, by Playing Possum until he can get the drop on him.
Nice Guy: While we don't see much of his personality, considering he's alone without a human companion, he cheerfully sings aloud and talks excitedly to both himself and the gold pocket he's after, dubbing it "Mr. Pocket", and lets an owl keep some of its eggs rather than steal them all, suggesting that he's ultimately a nice guy. His desecration of the beautiful canyon also isn't done out of any genuine malice, either; he's simply trying to make his living. However, when someone else tries to ambush him for his gold, he doesn't hesitate to kill them.

The Gal Who Got Rattled

Alice

Alice Longabaugh

Portrayed by: Zoe Kazan^{Foreign VAs}

Better to Die than Be Killed: Mr. Arthur really hammers this sentiment into her, telling her that the attackers will rape and torture her before killing her, to the point where she shoots herself when his battle with the Native Americans seems to go wrong, even though Mr. Arthur ultimately prevails and only seemed to have been killed.
Damned by Faint Praise: Her brother states that she can be charming and attractive "when she has a mind to be," then adds that she rarely has a mind to be. Considering she comes across as a sweet-natured young woman and is very attractive physically, it comes down to Gilbert being a dick.
Politically Incorrect Hero: She's an agreeable young woman in every other way, but she calls an approaching Native American a "savage".
Senseless Sacrifice: She blows her brains out the very second Mr. Arthur seems to have been beaten, ironically as Mr. Arthur ordered her to do. Had she waited about five seconds longer, she would have averted her fate.

Gilbert

Gilbert Longabaugh

Portrayed by: Jefferson Mays

Asshole Victim: He's a lazy, lying Confederate sympathizer who attempts to marry his sister off to a stranger to benefit himself. Even his own sister doesn't mourn him overly when sickness takes him.

The Mortal Remains

Lady

Mrs. Betjeman, the Lady

Portrayed by: Tyne Daly

Holier Than Thou: She takes a great deal of haughty pride in being an "upright" sort, looking down her nose at her fellow passengers for their lack of spiritual and moral hygiene.
There Are Two Kinds of People in the World: She considers them the "upright" and the "sinning."

Irishman

Clarence, the Irishman

Portrayed by: Brendan Gleeson^{Foreign VAs}

Affably Evil: Despite being a merciless bounty hunter, he's a pleasant fellow with a beautiful singing voice. He even grows a little bashful when complimented on his killing skills, admitting with some embarrassment, "I can thump."
Ambiguously Human: It's heavily implied that he and his partner are not bounty hunters, but instead reapers that help transport souls to the afterlife.
Bounty Hunter: Along with his cohort, Clarence is said to be a bounty hunter. They consider "reaper" to be a better term.

Englishman

Thigpen, the Englishman

Portrayed by: Jonjo O Neill

Affably Evil: He's well-spoken, polite, considerate, and cheerful in spite of his grisly profession and admitted sadism.
Ambiguously Human: It's heavily implied that he and his partner are not bounty hunters, but instead reapers that help transport souls to the afterlife.
Bounty Hunter: Although he's said to be a bounty hunter and doesn't exactly deny it, he prefers the terms "reaper" or "harvester of souls".
The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Downplayed. When he opines about how much he loves seeing the revelation of their fate in his victim's eyes, the camera shifts between him and the Frenchman as he stresses "I do," only for his eyes to shift directly into the camera on his final "I do." After a moment of lingering, the camera cuts to the Lady to keep it ambiguous as to whether he was shifting his gaze to her or the audience.
There Are Two Kinds of People in the World: In his view, it's "Dead or Alive".

Frenchman

René, the Frenchman

Portrayed by: Saul Rubinek

Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a rude, obnoxious asshole who delights in toying with Mrs. Betjeman, but when she appears to be having a medical emergency, he shows immediate concern and tries to stop the coach.
There Are Two Kinds of People in the World: Averted. René believes most people are fundamentally alike, but everyone has a core of individuality that no one else can possibly understand.

Trapper

Portrayed by: Chelcie Ross

Motor Mouth: To the eternal consternation of his fellow passengers, the Trapper really cannot stop talking. He even acknowledges this, explaining that his job involves him being alone for long stretches of time, so when he does have a chance to talk to people, he talks excessively.
There Are Two Kinds of People in the World: Averted. He believes all people are fundamentally the same, "like ferrets." His insistence on it is what kicks off the discussion and drags the other characters into stating their own opinions.

Characters / The Ballad of Buster Scruggs