Characters from the film The Banshees of Inisherin.
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Pádraic
Pádraic Súilleabháin
Played By: Colin Farrell
"Some things there's no moving on from. And I think that's a good thing."
The protagonist, a farmer who lives on the remote Irish island of Inisherin. He is well-liked by the villagers, though not that bright. When his old friend Colm cuts him off, Pádraic refuses to accept it.
- Bad Liar: Pádraic comes up with a completely transparent lie to get one of Colm's music students, Declan, away from Inisherin, involving the student's father being hit by a bread truck. Due to Declan's naivete, as well as the fact that his mother died from being hit by a bread truck, he believes it anyway. He also openly admits to being a terrible liar after finding the first finger and not wanting to tell Siobhan what the noise at the door was.
- Despair Event Horizon: Pádraic makes a full swerve into darkness when he discovers his beloved donkey Jenny choked to death on one of Colm's fingers.
- Desperately Craves Affection: Pádraic seems to need to be liked by everyone at all times. When Colm cuts him out of his life, Pádraic can't accept it and spend time with the numerous other people on the island who enjoy his company, he needs to get Colm back specifically because he can't handle not being liked.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Pádraic's rant at Colm at the pub. Despite being drunk off his head on whiskey and stumbling through several points, he successfully calls out Colm for his incredibly petty reasons for ending their friendship, pointing out that the "less dull" company he's now accepting after cutting Pádraic out of his life includes Peadar, a loathsome man who beats and (maybe) molests his son. Colm even acknowledges his point, saying he actually likes Pádraic more after doing it.
- Dumb Is Good: Though they're unable to tell him that he's as intellectual as Colm, or intelligent in general, the islanders try to reassure Pádraic that he's "one of life's good guys".
- Establishing Character Moment: Pádraic is introduced happily walking through town, greeting passersby, on his way to Colm's house, establishing him as a Nice Guy. There's even a rainbow in the sky behind him to really drive the point home.
- Everybody Has Standards: Despite becoming murderously angry at Colm for the accidental killing of Jenny the donkey, Pádraic has no desire to kill Colm's dog, even after Mrs. McCormick puts the idea in his head. He even warns Colm to keep his dog safe while telling him that he's going to burn his house down.
- The Everyman: Our protagonist Pádraic is terribly mundane and normal.
- Fatal Flaw: Denial. Pádraic refuses to see the bad parts of life and discourages others from dealing with ideas or topics that make them sad, as he believes that actually discussing the hard parts of life isn't nice. This leaves him horrifically unprepared for when bad things start happening to him and he winds up lashing out in violence and anger.
- Humble Hero: Pádraic is a simple man whose only apparent goals in life seem to be running the modest farm he inherited from his parents and spending time with his friends, sister and animals.
- Kindhearted Simpleton: Pádraic is this at the beginning. He's friendly to everyone and seems to be perfectly content with his simple and mundane existence in Inisherin, thinking nothing more beyond his day to day. Colm breaking off his friendship with Pádraic with no explanation and what follows turns him into a much more bitter man.
- Lack of Empathy: While Pádraic is fully capable of seeing others in pain and doing nice things for them, he never once shows an ability to put himself in other people's shoes. He would rather people hide their personal feelings of suffering than open up to him.
- Manchild: This is Pádraic's characterization. He's rather dim, friendly, and weak-willed. He has no love life, seems to want nothing else except to hang around his buddy and pet donkey, and gets childishly spiteful when he's angry.
- Nice Guy: Pádraic starts the movie as this, and it's part of what makes Colm resent him: despite his dullness, he's just so nice that it's hard to break off their friendship in a normal, healthy way. Dominic reveals that it's the reason he hangs out with Pádraic so much. When Pádraic reveals that he cruelly tricked a man into thinking his father had been killed by a runaway van just to mess with Colm, Dominic is disgusted with him.
- The Pollyanna: A vicious deconstruction of the character type. Pádraic is always happy, nice, and sees no downsides to life... because he's afraid of confronting his personal feelings of despair, and hopes to use an active social life to keep those feelings at bay. Because of this, he is ill-equipped to deal with anyone in his life having a negative feelings, preferring them to push down their bad feelings like he does. Once he loses all of his social outlets, he is overpowered by his despair and becomes a miserable jerk like everyone else on the island.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: He gradually becomes more petty and spiteful as the movie progresses, with him lying to Declan about his father dying in order to get him away from Colm being seen as an early low point that leaves Dominic disillusioned with him. The double whammy of Siobhan leaving Inisherin and Jenny choking to death on one of Colm's finger's hardens him in to a much more bitter, angry man.
- Trauma Conga Line: Pádraic, in rapid succession, has to deal with his longtime friend not wanting to be friends with him anymore and coldly rebuffing him whenever he tries to reconcile, his sister leaving Inisherin for a job on the mainland, his beloved pet donkey dying, and his other friend drowning in the lake, heavily implied to be by suicide. It's no wonder he becomes increasingly bitter and closed-off.
Colm
Colm Doherty
Played By: Brendan Gleeson
" I just have this tremendous sense of time slippin' away on me, Pádraic. And I think I need to spend the time I have left thinking and composing. Just trying not to listen to any more of the dull things that you have to say for yourself."
The deuteragonist and Pádraic's old friend. He is a folk musician who wants to compose a song for which he will be remembered.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Colm cuts ties with Pádraic primarily due to this, feeling unfulfilled by their friendship after all the years together and believing he needs to spend his remaining years dedicating himself to his music so that he will compose something that will be remembered after he's gone.
- Everybody Has Standards: Colm is horrified at learning that he'd inadvertently caused Jenny's death. When Peadar arrives and begins to mock Pádraic's grief over her death, Colm promptly knocks him out cold. Jenny's death and Pádraic declaration of retribution marks the point where Colm begins to regret how far his vendetta has gone.
- Fatal Flaw: Sloth and Pride. Colm is becoming older and has yet failed to write his magnum opus and receive recognition for his musical talent. This is largely because of his choice to spend his days with Pádraic at the pub. Despite this, Colm's pride drives him to refuse to accept responsibility for his perceived failure, instead blaming Pádraic for holding him back. Even his ultimatum of cutting off his fingers is mostly a convenient excuse to give him an out in case he fails, as it's implied in the story that he knows Pádraic won't be able to stop himself.
- Fingore: Colm threatens Pádraic that he will cut off one of his own fingers every time Pádraic tries to talk to him. He makes good on that threat, five times over.
- Hypocrite:
- Colm starts the plot off by deciding he no longer wants to be Pádraic's friend because he's too boring. Siobhan angrily rebukes this by telling him, "You're all fecking boring!" Depending on how you interpret his character (and in particular his scenes with the priest where talks about how his despair remains even after cutting Pádraic off), it could be determined that Colm was projecting what he didn't like about himself onto Pádraic.
- Similarly, he points to Pádraic's lack of intelligence as another factor in his decision to no longer be friends with him, but the company he keeps afterwards aren't shown to be that much better. The few times he has conversations with Siobhan, the only other person in the film who is intellectually on equal footing with him, Colm struggles to figure out what to discuss beyond small talk about the weather.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- As cruel and petty as his justifications for ending his friendship with Pádraic are, Colm clearly gets to Siobhan when pointing out how soul-crushingly monotonous and unfulfiling life on Inisherin can be. Unlike Colm and Pádraic however, who ultimately can't bring themselves to escape their misery on Inisherin, Siobhan actually takes steps to improve her situation by leaving the island and starting life anew on the Irish mainland.
- No matter the reason for it, Colm ultimately has the right to choose who he will and won't be friends with. Much of the conflict of the film is driven by Pádraic's stubborn refusal to respect Colm's desire to be left alone, and ultimately ends with both having lost everything over it.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Colm seems to suffer almost no distress from his severed fingers and is sometime seen casually going about his business with the stumps still bleeding.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Colm only begins to regret how far his vendetta with Pádraic has escalated once his actions accidentally cause the death of Pádraic's donkey. Unfortunately for him, Pádraic's declaration of murderous retribution for this makes any chance of reconciliation at that point impossible.
- Poor Communication Kills: He probably could have avoided making things worse with Pádraic had he simply explained how he was feeling and asked for some time to himself, making it clear it wasn't Pádraic that was the problem. Instead, he cuts him off without a word and only explains when pressed and even that is done in a very insulting manner that starts the feud.
- Reformed, but Rejected Colm eventually realizes the feud has gone too far and tries to mend fences with Pádraic. His attempt is coldly rebuffed, with Pádraic telling him they will never be friends again and the feud will only end when one of them is dead.
- Self-Harm: Colm warns Pádraic that if he doesn't stop talking to him, he'll cut off one finger every time he does. He follows through with the threat.
- Small Town Boredom: He feels stifled by the mundanity of life on their remote island and cuts Pádraic off in a misguided attempt to make something of himself.
- Swan Song: Invoked. Though he empathetically says he is not dying, he is still visibly getting on in years and starts making drastic changes in hopes of being able to compose a memorable tune before he goes.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Colm's attempt to become more intellectual coincides in him becoming more unpleasant.
- Wicked Pretentious: Colm thinks of himself as a great intellectual and artist whose mind is well above those of the other Inisherin residents, bar Siobhan. Siobhan doesn't agree, telling Colm he's just as "boring" as Pádraic and the others are and also corrects him about a claim he made about Mozart at the pub.
Siobhán
Siobhán Súilleabháin
Played By: Kerry Condon
"There's enough judging people on this fecking island."
Pádraic's intelligent and sensible sister, whom he lives with on their family farm.
- Bookworm: She is one of the most intellectual women on Inisherin. She has a pointed love of reading and is seen reading books in several scenes. She is able to utilize this to leave the island for a librarian job on the mainland, only upset that she can't take her books with her.
- Old Maid: She's middle-aged and notably unmarried. Dominic asks why she hasn't found a husband; annoyed, she tells him to mind his business. It's implied that she doesn't really have anyone she can connect to due to her relative intelligence.
- Only Sane Woman: Siobhan is the only character in the film who thinks that both Pádraic (for not letting Colm's decision go) and Colm (for ending his and Pádraic's friendship for entirely petty and selfish reasons) are being ridiculous and tries to expand her horizons beyond Inisherin.
- Pet the Dog: Although she clearly dislikes Dominic, finding him irritating and creepy, she's quite gentle and sympathetic to him when he confesses his love to her, even though she doesn't return it.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Part of her motivation for leaving the island at the end is that she can see Pádraic and Colm's feud will end badly and wants to get out of dodge before it does. She is also afraid of winding up like Colm, old, alone, and unfulfilled.
- Small Town Boredom: Like Colm, she feels stifled and unfulfilled with life on their remote island, but unlike him, she is able to leave it.
Dominic
Dominic Kearney
Played By: Barry Keoghan
"Me, I pay no attention to wars. I'm against them. Wars and soap."
A local boy who is being abused by his father.
- Despair Event Horizon: Depending on whether or not you believe Dominic killed himself, he crossed this when Siobhan turned him down.
- Driven to Suicide: It's ambiguous whether Dominic really did slip and drown as Mrs. McCormick said or if he killed himself after being disillusioned by Pádraic's growing cruelty and Sioban's romantic rejection of him.
- Hopeless Suitor: He's really got absolutely no chance with Siobhan, though she's kind enough to let him down gently when he does try to confess his love for her.
- Kindhearted Simpleton: He's less intelligent than the "dull" protagonist Pádraic, but is trusting and naive to the point of silliness.
- Nice Guy: Dominic is cheerful, kind, and empathetic towards everyone he meets.
- No Social Skills: Dominic, out of some combination of drunkenness, a terrible upbringing, and a mental disability, is awkward and blunt whenever he talks.
- Smarter Than You Look: Dominic is implied to be far more intelligent and perceptive than he seems. Not only is he very good at reading the feelings of others, but in once scene he uses the word "touché" properly, a word a poorly-educated boy from a remote Irish village shouldn't know, let alone know how to use correctly.
Peadar
Peadar Kearney
Played By: Gary Lydon
The abusive local Garda (policeman) of Inisherin.
- Abusive Parents: Peadar beats his son Dominic almost every night, and it's an open secret around the island. At one point, Pádraic accuses him of sexually molesting his son as well, it's never confirmed but both Peadar and Dominic's reaction to this suggestion imply it's true.
- The Bad Guys Are Cops: Peadar is a police officer and the most despicable person on Inisherin, and openly beats people, including his own son with impunity.
- Dirty Coward: He seems to target his physical abuse against Dominic and Pádraic, the two people on the island who are too meek and kindhearted respectively to ever stand up to him. When Colm uses his one functioning hand to knock him out cold near the end of the film, Peadar does nothing in retaliation, instead showing up for church the next day looking meek and sporting a black eye.
- Hate Sink: Peadar — an abusive, drunkard cop and father — is one of the few characters with absolutely no redeeming qualities.
- Kick the Dog: Peadar is established as a jerk when he ignores Pádraic's friendly greeting, and Pádraic gripes under his breath that the constable in fact always ignores his greetings.
- Male Frontal Nudity: Apparently, Peadar likes to sleep in his rocking chair completely naked, which both Pádraic and the audience have the pleasure of seeing.
Mrs. McCormack
Mrs. McCormack
Played By: Sheila Flitton
A mysterious old woman who portends doom.
- Evil Old Folks: Evil might be too extreme, but Mrs. McCormick seems to enjoy the suffering that goes on around her to an extent. She even tries to put the idea of killing Colm's dog in Pádraic's head when he is going to burn Colm's house down. Even as angry as he is at Colm, he's completely put off by the idea. Then there's the ambiguity of whether she is a banshee or not. Colm speculates that if banshees are real, maybe they don't shriek and portend death anymore, maybe they just sit back and watch in amusement. This certainly would fit Mrs. McCormick.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Is she just a creepy old lady (and the tragedies she predicts coincidental or inevitable), psychic in some way, a witch, or is she truly a banshee like the kind Colm talks about? The film never clarifies.
