Characters / The Great

A listing of characters from The Great.

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Royal Family of Russia

Empress Catherine II "the Great" of Russia

"Ever since I was a child, I felt like greatness was in store for me. Like God himself had spat me forth to land on this Earth and in some way transform it."

Played by: Elle Fanning

The future Catherine the Great, here a naive and idealistic German princess who comes to the Russian court with grandiose dreams of love and romance. Upon learning that her husband is depraved and dangerous, however, she quickly turns her attention to seizing power and bettering Russia herself.

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• Ambiguously Bi: Catherine mostly didn't like having a threesome with Giorgina.
• Ambition Is Evil: Subverted, at least for now. Her ambition to become Empress is actually driven by altruism.
• Benevolent Boss: Catherine's treatment of her servants, particularly Vlad, is a stark contrast to the rest of the Russian aristocracy.
• Bookworm: She loves reading French philosophy and one of her first tasks when she arrives is finding the library.
• Broken Bird: Admits as much in the season three finale. Older and Wiser Broken Bird Elizabeth reassures her "not all the way through".
• Condescending Compassion: Occasionally called out on thinking she's always right, and that Russia is full of sad idiots who either need her guidance or are too stupid to listen.
• Costume Evolution: Over the course of the first season, Catherine's wardrobe shifts from light pastels to stronger colours, and her outfits take on a more Russian flavour with fur trims.
  • By season two, she starts wearing more jewelry, more elegant and decorative clothes, and more complicated hair, as befitting her new position as Empress in her own right.
• Cynicism Catalyst: Word of everyone is that while she'll always love Peter and grieve him, he needed to die so she could rule pragmatically on her own terms, and not just be torn between concentrating on him and impulsively pushing what she wants.
• Determinator: Once she sets herself on staging a coup and becoming Empress in her own right, she stops at nothing. She even sacrifices her lover in the process.
• Fake Period Excuse: Catherine is told to be nice to Peter. So she goes to him and apologizes, telling him she was in a bad mood because she "had her blood in." He cringes before forgiving her.
  Peter: So I've decided not to kill her. She was full of clever japes. She explained her blood was in for weeks, apparently, which is strange but...may be an Austrian thing. So let us forgive her.
• Fatal Flaw: Her idealism and Pride tend to get her in trouble. She legitimately wants to make Russia better and has a strong belief in her ability to make that happen, but sometimes she overreaches and/or overestimates her own abilities (such as when freeing the serfs results in both the serfs and nobles revolting, and when her insistence that she can stop the war with the Ottomans nearly gets her killed during the parlay).
• Her Boyfriend's Jacket: Played for Drama after Peter's death, as she wears his fur coat, pearls, and several of his shirts.
• Historical Domain Character: A version of Catherine the Great.
• Hypocrite: Multiple characters point out that Peter gets forgiven for things they could never get away with it. She addresses this herself to him, complaining that he bends her and her reign due to his belief he can do whatever he wants.
• I Can Change My Beloved:
  • Variation. Catherine doesn't initially love Peter in the slightest but usually pretends to like him. Once she senses that he may be amenable to change, she tries to slowly make him more progressive by exposing him to art and science under the guise of praising him.
  • Left to his own devices in season 2, Peter eventually tries his best to change himself for her and makes legitimate progress.
• It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: Catherine occasionally gets herself in trouble when she makes a huge decision on a whim, often against the counsel of her advisors. This includes getting Archie elevated as the new patriarch, dressing Shakey as a noblewoman to make a point, and freeing all of the serfs in one fell swoop.
• It's All My Fault: Believes she killed Leo, as it was a Sadistic Choice to either go through with the coup or keep him alive, and blames herself just as much for Peter's death.
  Catherine: Don't speak to me about unintended consequences. I know about unintended consequences, "because Sweden". I could have said anything else, any other words.
• Love Epiphany: Gradually falls in love with Peter, and is finally able to admit it after he comforts Elizabeth about the death of her son.
• Lust Object: Velementov lusts after her, to her disgust. This is later explored — he doesn't want her in particular, but she represents his faraway youth. Catherine is described as a "vision of radiance" in the first episode and is portrayed accordingly. The historical Catherine was considered a beauty.
• Magnetic Hero: Catherine manages to persuade people to join her coup purely on the strength of her personal magnetism and deep-seated belief in her destiny to be Empress.
• Mirror Character: Season two showcases how ruthless she can be and not taking responsibility for her own actions, traits she shares with Peter. She does a "Not So Different" Remark in season three, asking Elizabeth what makes her different from him really.

• Naïve Newcomer:
  • Catherine spends the first episode a naive and romantic rosy-cheeked young ingenue who believes she and Peter will have a "great love". She is disabused of this notion very quickly.
  • Her naivete continues to be a problem for her into season two. She frequently puts her ideas and idealism before reality, resulting in several situations where her tendency to act without thinking and insisting the rest of the world follow actively makes things worse for both herself and the people she wants to help.
• Never My Fault: Blames herself intensely for a few things, but definitely not all. After the disaster of freeing the serfs, she deems it the fault of Russia and her team for abandoning her.
• No Accounting for Taste: To her own shame and embarrassment she falls hopelessly in love with Peter. Her supporters are beyond incredulous as to why she could love him.
• Not So Above It All: She's got a good heart, but is capable of very casual cruelty when she's wronged.
• Princesses Prefer Pink: In the final episode of the first season, Catherine wears a hot pink dress when enacting the coup and seizing power.
• Really Gets Around: During the three seasons Catherine certainly lives up to her promiscuous reputation. In the first two seasons only having sex with Peter and Leo. While in season 3 she has sex with many more men including the American Ambassador, an astronomer, and an opera tenor.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Her character arc is driven by her desire to be this, in contrast to Peter. Catherine is determined to make Russia a better place by introducing progressive values and science from other parts of Europe.
• Sanity Slippage: Does not do well when the love s of her life die:
  • When Leo is killed, she does cocaine so she can work and not have dreams of saving him, holds the Jerkass Ball, and punches herself so she can't cry, something she sees as indulgent because apparently it's her fault.
  • When Peter falls through the ice, she goes through manic denial that it ever happened before collapsing into Broken Tears while tasting the salty dessert, wears his clothes, orders her orchestra to keep playing the song he hummed for her, doesn't really care about dying, and even when She's Back, is notably more pragmatic about being ruthless.
• Screw Destiny: What she learns at the end of season three, as she realizes she's the one who has done all these amazing things, and not just following some nebulous sort of fate.
• Silk Hiding Steel: To the court, Catherine is a sweet outsider. To the audience, she's ambitious and intelligent, with long-term plans for Russia's progress. She later makes use of this trope once her plotting begins in earnest, playing the part of the soft young queen so well almost nobody clues in to the fact that she's planning a coup.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Is very hard on herself and her ideas about destiny whenever she's suffered a blow.
• Statuesque Stunner: A beautiful woman who towers over many of the male characters, including her lover.
• Too Clever by Half: Undeniably clever, with the results to show for it (she manages to take over Russia as an outsider within a relatively short time frame, after all), but her faith in her ideals and her own abilities leads to a few brutal failures.
• We Used to Be Friends: She and Orlo gradually fall apart, and he bitterly complains he was a fool for believing in her.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Throughout the second season, it's shown that while she's very educated and liberal in contrast to the rest of the Decadent Court, she's not yet very good at translating these ideals into tangible change. She often gets frustrated when her advisers tell her that some things just aren't feasible right away, and her impulsiveness gets her and her agenda into trouble multiple times.
• Young Future Famous People: Variation. She's much younger here (20) than when she took power in real life (40s), but the series fast-tracks the buildup to the coup so she may become 'famous' younger.

Emperor Peter III of Russia

"I'm happy to hear anyone's problems with me. Don't worry about the bodies."

Played by: Nicholas Hoult

The reigning Emperor of Russia and Catherine's husband, a hedonistic and violent young man used to getting his way.

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• The Alcoholic: As his real-life counterpart, Peter is a little too fond of alcohol and is often shown drinking throughout his day.
• Aloof Big Brother: Well, half-brother to be more precise. Peter doesn't really care about his half-brother Ivan, even though the child clearly wants to know when his brother will visit him. Although taking into account Peter's horrible personality, it's a blessing in disguise.
• Appeal to Force: Peter is surrounded by yes-men who agree with everything he says because of his power as Emperor and his tendency to lash out violently at anyone who doesn't.
• Ax-Crazy: Committing horrific acts of cruelty and having people tortured and killed is as natural as breathing for Peter.
• The Bully: A grown-up version as he still enjoys treating people horribly simply because he can.
• The Caligula: He sees power as little more than a way for him to do whatever he likes and indulge all his worst impulses without consequence.
• Character Development: Undergoes a mountain of character development in season 2. He goes from a hedonistic Caligula to someone who might actually be a genuine Family Man. By Season 3 he's a House Husband and a Doting Parent to Paul, and would have been happy to do so were it not for his father's legacy coming back to taunt him.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: For all his idiocy, one of Catherine's largest problems is that actually overpowering him in a physical fight is very difficult, as he is very quick on the draw, fast with a knife, and quite strong. He regularly destroys the majority of the soldiers Catherine sends to kill him, usually with trivial ease.
• Domestic Abuse: Peter punches Catherine to prove that emotional pain isn't as bad as physical pain.

• Even Evil Has Standards: Was about to flee to Spain with Paul and his clique, but realizes he cannot steal Paul from his mother.
• Faux Affably Evil: An unusual case in that his friendly demeanor isn't insincere but is undermined heavily by his casual cruelty, a fact he seems totally unaware of. This causes many scenes where he does something awful in a sincerely friendly manner and doesn't see a conflict between his demeanor and actions.
• For the Evulz: Many of his actions, such as killing Catherine's bear, have no motive beyond sheer cruelty.
• Freudian Excuse: Peter clearly idolized his mother, often describing her as a flawless and perfect individual. However, Aunt Elizabeth explains to Catherine that Peter's mother treated him with nothing but disdain and cruelty growing up, causing intense emotional distress and was probably a large reason behind his immature, insecure and violent behaviour in adulthood. His father was cold, distant, and had a withering opinion of him, to the point where he found Peter and Grigor getting raped hilarious.
• The Gadfly: When he's not being angered by minor slights, he very much enjoys messing with both Catherine and his own allies.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: It doesn't take much to set him off and demanding someone killed for displeasing him.
• Hate Sink: Peter has very few redeeming characteristics, and even throws Marial's dog Blini off a balcony at one point. Luckily, there's a parachute attached. Comes out of this in season two and three, struggling but showing sincere Character Development, and after his death, Catherine is enraged that Pugachev is acting how her husband used to be.
• Hates Being Alone: As Elizabeth notes, he doesn't do well when alone for any extended period. He constantly has to be around other people or engaged in some antics to distract himself from his insecurities.
• The Hedonist: Peter enjoys indulgence in women, drink, violence, and... pretty much everything else.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: The sad thing is that as much as he shows Character Development, he can't quite fully change enough, and goes out the way he lived: stupidly thinking he can do whatever he wants while haunted by insecurity.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Goes through some genuine Character Development to where he genuinely loves and understands Catherine more than any person, is a doting father to Paul, and seems to genuinely try to be a better person. It's for these reasons Catherine sincerely falls hopelessly in love with him. But he still has only changed so much, best epitomized by him willingly having sex with Catherine's mother and accidentally killing her.
• Historical Beauty Update: Peter was described by contemporaries as looking like a fish and was disfigured by smallpox. He is played by Nicholas Hoult and is considered handsome In-Universe.
• Historical Domain Character: A version of Peter III.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: This interpretation of Peter is self-centered, an abusive husband, vindictive, cruel, and paranoid. There are claims that the real Peter III's reign was fairly progressive, as he worked to improve life for the peasant class and fought corruption within the government.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: His egotism is slowly revealed to be a shallow front for deep insecurities, mostly around being able to live up to his father. He even admits at the end that he fucked up his whole reign, and that will be his legacy.
• Innocently Insensitive: He honestly doesn't seem to realise that Grigor hates the fact that Georgina's his mistress. When Grigor informs him that it's actually torture for him, he's surprised and says he'll stop sleeping with her.
• Insufferable Imbecile: He's absolutely horrid and also incredibly stupid.
• It's All About Me: Peter is always his own first priority and rarely, if ever, shows concern for anyone else.
• Jerkass: To put it lightly. He's cruel, immature, selfish, sexist, monstrously vain, and generally just a horrid person all around.
• Kick the Dog: Peter is casually cruel to animals, killing them for pleasure. He even shoots Catherine's pet bear at a party for a lark.
• Lack of Empathy: He seems genuinely incapable of even comprehending other people's feelings, let alone caring about them.
• Large Ham: Nicholas Hoult is clearly having a blast in the role.
• Laughably Evil: As vile as he is, Peter is undoubtedly very entertaining and fun to watch.
• Love Redeems: In season 2, his desire to be worthy of Catherine actually makes him grow a conscience and develop empathy, and he makes some strides toward being a loving husband and father. Unfortunately, he gives in to his inhibitions and has sex with her mother during a low moment, which results in Lady Joanna's death...and Catherine, who had recently admitted she had genuinely fallen for him, murderously turns on him for it.
• Manchild: He's not very mature, to say the least, treating power as just a way for him to act however he'd like.
• Momma's Boy: Adores his mother, to the point of having her corpse preserved and displayed in a glass case like an antique because he couldn't bear to bury her. Sadly, she didn't feel the same way about him.

• Murder Is the Best Solution: He's prone to killing people who displease or inconvenience him, courtiers and foreign dignitaries alike. In "The Devil's Lunch" when he realizes that Catherine might actually make some headway with Ambassador Sunduk, which would throw a wrench in his vague plan to retake the throne, he has Sunduk murdered.

• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Stupid and immature as he may be, he is still Emperor and is more than capable of visiting horrific fates upon those who stand against him. Catherine learns quickly that while she may be much smarter than him, his power and cruelty means Peter is not to be trifled with. He's also a surprisingly capable physical combatant.
• Obliviously Evil: Peter thinks of himself as a pretty great guy, and almost never realizes how utterly terrible he is to everyone, from his very best friend Grigor Dymov to the lowliest kitchen servant. He sincerely doesn't understand how vile his behavior is and sees it as nothing but good-natured fun between friends.
• Really Gets Around: Peter seems to have slept with almost every noblewoman in his court. He even had sex with Marial in an orgy, but she insists "that doesn't count."
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He has incredibly sexist views on women, even for the time, and sees them as existing solely to make heirs and be fucked at his pleasure.
• Psychopathic Manchild: He's clearly very immature and generally acts like a spoiled child and much of his cruelty is similar to a schoolyard bully picking on weaker children simply because they can.
• Rape as Backstory: When he was twelve, a boy called Simitz would sexually assault him and Grigor in front of Peter The Great, who found it hilarious.
• Royal Brat: Hoo boy. He makes Joffrey look good by comparison.
• Sadist: Commits numerous acts of cruelty solely for his own pleasure.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: He's got quite the foul mouth.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Remarkably manages to be this despite actually being in charge. He thinks of himself as a brilliant and beloved ruler who is adored by everyone around him rather than the universally hated nitwit he truly is.

• Spoiled Brat: He clearly never grew out of this phase, being a belligerent, violent hedonist who largely sees power as a way for him to do whatever he likes.
• Straw Misogynist: If you ask Peter, women are to Stay in the Kitchen and pop out heirs. Given that the series is told from the perspective of his famously competent wife, this just makes him look even sillier, especially when she starts learning how to work around him.
  Catherine: Together, we could create a greater Russia.
  Peter: No! I rule! You serve.
• Stupid Evil: Peter is not just a very poor, cruel monarch - he's almost impossibly over the top in his cruelty and sheer obliviousness to how his actions affect the people around him. The only reason he is still Emperor is his position as the last male Romanov heir, plus the fact that he is surrounded by competent advisors (such as Orlo and Catherine) who try to curb his impulses and nudge him toward progress. Even so, he is so exhausting and grating that Catherine manages to gather enough support for a coup, even getting his aunt to agree to step aside and let her take over.
• Super Drowning Skills: He ultimately goes out this way partway through Season 3, after falling into an icy river while en route to Sweden.
• Upper-Class Twit: Oh so very much. A life of enormous wealth and privilege has rendered Peter immature, thick-headed, and completely oblivious to the world around him.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Velementov and Elizabeth have fond memories of him actually being a kind child, and Elizabeth tells Catherine that Peter's parents broke him.
• Verbal Tic: "Huzzah!" Catherine eventually adopts it as well.
• Villainous Crush: Catherine's plots get ever more complicated when Peter actually grows to love her (or at least thinks that he loves her) in the latter half of the first season.
• What You Are in the Dark: He has several opportunities to either kill or usurp Catherine in Season 2, and chooses not to, and even chooses to console her.
• We Have Reserves: An angry Peter tells the Swedish King that there's 12 million Russians, and he'd gladly lose 4 million of them to kill 2 million Swedes.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Season three settles on this, as after his death, the people who miss him most realize he was a cruel and abusive dictator, but also capable of great love and haunted by both the ghost of his father, and what he was supposed to be. He wants to be a Blood Knight remembered by Russia like his dad, when really he's best suited for creating food and being a Doting Parent to Paul.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Reflecting some sincere Character Development he is not happy by his clique of supporters pleased that he had sex with Catherine's mother and killed her. They are stunned when he weeps with shame at having hurt Catherine.

Aunt Elizabeth

"Most women die with an unsaid better idea in their hearts."

Played by: Belinda Bromilow

Peter's doting aunt. Although she is quirky, she has the long-term future of Russia in mind.

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• Because You Were Nice to Me: Explains to Petrov that when she was in depression after her son died, just staring at the wall, a then-nine year old Peter brought her a sandwich every day, sat with her, and eventually made her laugh, which endeared him to her greatly.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Aunt Elizabeth spends her time training butterflies and is seen as the Cloud Cuckoo Lander at court. Turns out she's perfectly capable of murdering a defenseless little boy with her own hands and shooting a foreign monarch in the head. She is the only one to suspect Catherine of plotting to seize power.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: A Lovable Sex Maniac with a quirky personality who strongly believes in some very unscientific practices, particularly around pregnancy...some of which actually work.
• Extreme Omnisexual: Elizabeth is...alarmingly focused on sexuality and fertility. As Peter notes, she does love to fuck, and does not seem to discriminate in terms of gender or social status.
• Hidden Depths: Initially, Elizabeth is just Peter's eccentric aunt. This makes it particularly shocking - especially for Catherine - when she slits a child's throat to protect the future of the crown. She also repeatedly demonstrates that she's likely the savviest individual in court when it comes to Russian politics, something Catherine occasionally ignores to her detriment.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: Aunt Elizabeth did not murder Ivan in real life. While it is true that he was murdered, he was killed in his twenties during Catherine's reign after somebody tried to free him — although that was admittedly due to a standing order from Elizabeth's reign.
• Loon with a Heart of Gold: Elizabeth is one of the only people to be friendly to Catherine when she arrives at court and offers her advice for settling in. She's also the resident Cloud Cuckoo Lander.
• Lovable Sex Maniac: Elizabeth's love of sex is widely known at court - she even has sex positions painted on her walls - and she regularly hosts orgies in her rooms.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Elizabeth basically does as she pleases because everyone in the court thinks her to be mad, but when Archie suggests that she usurp the throne from Peter, her carefree manner disappears and the temperature in the room plummets.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Her son Igor was drowned by her sister, and Elizabeth takes small solace in knowing that at least it wasn't her fault for letting him run free.
• Playing Both Sides: While she fully believes in Catherine's ability to and supports her in unseating Elizabeth's nephew Peter, Elizabeth also manipulates things in order to keep Peter alive. She counsels Catherine against killing him despite the fact that it would be the easiest way for Catherine to solidify power, and advises Peter on how to charm Catherine so she'll be less inclined to kill him.
• Stepford Smiler: The penultimate episode of season 2 implies that at least some of her flighty attitude is a coping mechanism for her son dying as a child, and she nearly snaps after she learns it was at the hands of her sister, Peter's mother.
  Elizabeth: I do a good job most days, filling the hole with other things, but today it feels... very fucking deep.
• Tough Love: Elizabeth is no stranger to grief, and loves Catherine genuinely, but in the tail end of season three when Catherine seems on the verge of either killing herself with a gun, or passively suicidal not caring about the uprising, she has to keep telling her to pull herself together.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Elizabeth is occasionally seen in men's clothing. Truth in Television, as the real Elizabeth did enjoy wearing men's clothing.
• Would Hurt a Child: She slits the throat of Peter's younger half brother in order to assure there's no challenge to Catherine's claim to the throne during Peter's near-lethal sickness.

Ivan

Played by: Charlie Price

The bastard son of Peter's father and, therefore, Peter's younger half-brother. Aunt Elizabeth secretly keeps him locked away in a quiet wing of the palace under heavy guard.

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• Bastard Bastard: Certainly set up like this, with strong hints that, should he reach adulthood, he'd be far worse than Peter.
• Big Brother Worship: He seems especially disappointed that his older half-brother Peter never comes to visit him. Although it is implied that Ivan hid a knife and tried to stab Peter at some time in the past, so maybe there is a reason for that.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: The real Ivan lived in captivity until his twenties until his guards killed him after army officials made an attempt to free him. In the series, his throat is slit when he's still a child by Aunt Elizabeth to ensure the future of the Russian throne.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Due to the isolation he is forced to endure he suffers from extreme loneliness.
  Ivan: "I just want someone to play with."
• Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: He draws disturbing and gory images on the walls, implies he tried to stab Peter with a knife in the past and swears like someone far older.

Peter the Great

Played by: Jason Isaacs

Peter's father and predecessor. A widely admired ruler, though not that great of a father.

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• Abusive Parents: By Peter's recollection, his father was a cold and violent man towards him, which goes a long way towards explaining why Peter the younger is the way he is.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Makes multiple appearances as a ghost in Seasons 2 and 3, which are easily read as jus Peter hallucinating, but then again…
• Posthumous Character: He's dead by the time of the show; until Peter starts seeing his ghost, what we know about him is through fragments from people who knew him, like his son and sister-in-law.
• Really Gets Around: By all accounts, he was an incredibly virile man. Even his own sister-in-law Elizabeth cannot help but reminisce about their sexual exploits together.
• Tragic Intangibility: Played for Laughs with his ghostly self, who regrets not being able to engage in worldly pleasures anymore, or to beat his son.
  Peter the Great: "God, you know the worst thing about being a ghost?"
  Peter III: "Uh, you're dead? And can't have more, and then more, and then more, and then even more?"
  Peter the Great: "Yes, and, when your living son needs a beating, you can't give it to him. Makes you feel a failure as a father."

The Russian Court

Count Orlo

"Empress, I have looked at the situation and at what I can achieve within reason."

Played by: Sacha Dhawan

An advisor of Peter's, a progressive concerned with the intellectual development of Russia. Catherine notes that his views are in line with hers and recruits him to join the coup.

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• Bookworm: He's the only person other than Catherine ever seen using the library, and they bond over their love of philosophy.

• Boom, Headshot!: In the closing moments of the 3rd season premier, Catherine shoots at a bush when she hears a sound while hunting with Peter, killing Orlo and not even noticing.
• Chaste Hero: As of the first season, there's no suggestion of any romantic interest on his part, and he is initially entirely oblivious to Leo's appeal to Catherine. He is later hinted to be asexual, after sleeping with a man and a woman and finding he doesn't really enjoy either.
• Extreme Doormat: Orlo comes across as this—the other members of the court routinely shame him for being a weak-willed virgin and a useless bureaucrat. He eventually grows a backbone and then uses his reputation as a doormat to instill false confidence in people who underestimate him. He's really clever about it.

• Grew a Spine: At the start of Season One he is a cowardly intellectual. By the end, he still outwardly appears that way to the Russian court but has actually grown far more confident and cunning.
• The Glasses Come Off: After he kills a soldier he becomes more self-assertive, and sheds the glasses he wears as a sign of it.
• Hidden Depths: As noted by Marial, Orlo might be nebbish, but he has long been a mainstay at the Decadent Court, meaning that he likely has more political savvy than is initially apparent.

• Nerds Are Virgins: Orlo is a studious, awkward intellectual, and the other members of the court mock him for likely being a virgin because of it. Season Two implies he may be asexual, after he sleeps around a bit and realises he doesn't have much fondness for either sex.

• These Hands Have Killed: He kills a Swedish soldier in the Russian forests and wrangles with this afterwards.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: Unceremoniously shot in the head by Catherine, who doesn't even realize she hit something behind the bush when she heard a sound while hunting with Peter.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Orlo is the one that lets slip to Peter that the school Catherine is building is meant for women, not men. This leads Peter to burn the school down and truly starts Catherine's hatred of him.

Archbishop Archie

"People underestimate the joy in suffering."

Played by: Adam Godley

The Archbishop of the Russian church, who opposes the progress Catherine seeks to bring about.

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• Badass Preacher: Archie can hold his own in a scrap; he wrestles as a hobby, is shown doing pushups in his spare time (although with almost comically poor form) and manages to fight off and subdue Orlo.
• Buried Alive: Catherine orders that he be executed via this method after his role in Pugachev's uprising is revealed. Marial ends up digging him out.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Everyone calls the Archbishop "Archie", even after his promotion to Patriarch, and the first two seasons don't reveal his real name.
• Fingore: Catherine bites his fingers after he shushes her by putting his fingers directly on her lips, filling her mouth with blood, and they're heavily bandaged afterwards.
• High Priest: Archie's role at first is to represent the church at court. After he becomes patriarch, he becomes this for the entire Russian Orthodox church.
• Macho Masochism: He derives a thrill and enjoyment from pain, wrestling and enduring other forms of suffering (such as putting his hand over an open flame). He later is shown to be Too Kinky to Torture and relishes having his fingernails torn out and his nipples burned.
• Morality Pet: He genuinely loves Marial as if she were his own daughter and is very protective of her, doing a much better job than her biological father.
• Mushroom Samba: He takes some hallucinogens in order to induce a "vision from God".
• Parental Substitute: To Marial and her sister, after their mother died when they were children and their father turned to drink and women for comfort. In turn, the Patriarch was this for Archie.
• Plague Doctor: When Peter's ill, Archie dresses up in full plague doctor regalia to treat him.
• Sex Is Evil, and I Am Horny: In season two, he turns out to have strongly repressed his "sinful" sexual urges instead of abandoning them, and he spirals when they start resurfacing and he starts lusting after everyone else in the court.
• Sinister Minister: Subverted. While Archie is presented as a zealous defender of the church, vociferously opposing social progress, science, and technology, he also is practical, understands that change is inevitable, and would rather use his influence to make sure the "new" ideas go his way. Even his (and the church's) publically misogynistic positions don't seem to affect his personal attitude towards women very much, and he's a much-loved father figure to Marial. The latter half of Season 3 has him play this straight, with him helping to orchestrate Pugachev's uprising solely so he can stab him in the back and get in Catherine's good graces. It doesn't work, and he nearly dies for it.
• Turn to Religion: When Archie gets too judgy and Holier Than Thou, most characters have absolutely no problem reminding him about his sinful, sex-fueled youth.

General Velementov

"Why can we not just launch an assault?"

Played by: Douglas Hodge

The leader of the Russian military, who takes the brunt of Peter's disappointment at how the war against Sweden is going.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: Velementov is a slobbering alcoholic who lusts after Catherine, much to her disgust. She eventually gets sick of his leching and punches him in the mouth, and he starts taking her more seriously.
• Butt-Monkey: Is treated as one by Peter, being his favorite punching bag and often being blamed for the failures of the military.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Velementov at first appears to be a fat, lecherous alcoholic. While he is indeed all of those things, he also demonstrates himself to be competent and dangerous, as he swiftly and efficiently puts the palace under lockdown when he learns that Peter has been poisoned, is ruthless in removing obstacles to the planned revolt, leads the palace coup personally, and ultimately is instrumental in convincing Catherine to continue fighting Peter. He's also able to personally curbstomp Peter in a physical fight, despite Peter being a foot taller than him, and about 30 years younger.
• Drowning Their Sorrows: He drinks to forget the faces of his soldiers who didn't return from war.
• Old Soldier: A veteran of the Russian army.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: His reaction when Catherine asks him to join the coup.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: With his early sexual harassment of Catherine he initially comes across as an abrasive character, but it becomes clear that his rough exterior hides a deeply sad man.
• Sour Supporter: His role within Catherine's coup: he’s the last person to join and is deeply cynical about the plan, but proves himself to be indispensable..
• Vodka Drunkenski: Velementov's drink of choice as a Russian soldier.

Count Leo Voronsky

"We are always not quite as good as we wish. As capable, as bright. It is the human way to fall short of ourselves. For our thoughts can be untouched by a hard reality, whereas our bodies and souls must bump against the world, and the world will even up the equation over who we are."

Played by: Sebastian de Souza

A young nobleman whom Peter gifts to Catherine as a lover.

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• Beware the Nice Ones: Leo seems perfectly harmless 99 percent of the time, preferring to write poetry, draw, and have sex, instead of engaging in any sort of court intrigue. However, he doesn't hesitate for a second to murder a nobleman who may blackmail Catherine after accidentally revealing her coup plans. He simply nonchalantly picks up a rock and beats the man to death. He later reveals to Catherine that he has been forced to kill people before, but does not enjoy it.
• Desecrating the Dead: After Peter has him murdered, his head is removed and mummified, which Peter keeps in a sack. He later gifts it back to the horrified Catherine. She proceeds to give him a proper Russian burial.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Tends towards melancholic - Doctor Chekhov diagnoses him as having too much black bile. He wears a lot of green and brown, fitting with this date and his role as a Nature Lover.
• Good Is Not Dumb: He comes across as the kindest, most empathetic person on the show, and is quite intelligent, but doesn't always apply himself.
• Locked Out of the Loop: The only one of Catherine's close circle unaware of the coup, at least at first.
• The Lost Lenore: Catherine spends the majority of Season 2 mourning his death.
• Nature Lover: He fondly remembers watching starlings with his father, and brings a tree into his rooms at court.
• Nice Guy: He is kind, sensitive, a charismatic and attentive entertainer, and supportive of Catherine. He is one of her only reprieves from the ribald court. Even Marial likes him since he brings her flowers from his walks.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When he and Velementov are trying to recruit Gorky for Catherine's coup, Leo accidentally lets slip that she's involved, and they have to kill Gorky before he can betray them to Peter...which then leads to Peter having the whole court tortured to find out who's plotting against him.
• Pretty Boy: Short, clean-shaven, fine-featured, and full of cheery joy.
• Sacrificial Lion: Peter holds him hostage against Catherine when the latter acts on her coup. She decides to sacrifice him for her commitment to creating a better Russia, and Leo as a whole symbolizes Catherine's choice between a great personal love and her perceived destiny.
• Working Out Their Emotions: Deals with his hatred of court life by taking up running, 18th-century tracksuit and all.

Grigor Dymov

"He's my emperor and I love him."

Played by: Gwylim Lee

Peter's closest friend at court.

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• Beard of Sorrow: He falls into a funk in the later half of the first season and grows a beard to indicate this.
• Childhood Friends: He and Peter have known each other since childhood, which explains Grigor's almost baffling devotion towards him.
• The Dog Bites Back: When he sees that Peter injured Georgina during sex, he impulsively poisons Peter with a big dollop of arsenic.
• Green-Eyed Monster: He's transparently jealous of his wife's affair with Peter, but bottles it up because of the status and stability Peter's favoritism brings them. This causes him to lash out in less than savory ways, including attempting to poison Peter and falling into depression afterwards.
• Heel–Face Turn: For two seasons he's enabled Peter and tried to fuck over Catherine even though he quite likes her. In season three, Catherine points out that he wants Peter to be happy, and she makes his friend happy, so there is no grit between them. Grigor then tries to be a Positive Friend Influence, and after Peter's death, worries for Catherine's sanity and looks after Paul for her.
• Henpecked Husband: Lampshaded by Marial that Georgina was openly having an affair with his best friend and he still did whatever she wanted.
• Karma Houdini: He and Arkady seem to suffer no punishment for holding Orlo, one of Catherine's chief advisors, at gunpoint and stealing Catherine's plans to liberate the serfs.
• Sanity Slippage: Grigor goes through a mild case of this, due to Peter openly having sex with Grigor's wife, and bragging about it to his face. He winds up attempting to poison Peter with arsenic, after which things only get worse, though he seems to slide back near the end of the season.
• Undying Loyalty: To Peter. Although his wife being Peter's favorite mistress rankles him, he deeply loves the emperor in his own way. Exemplified when the Dymovs are exiled to France at Georgina's suggestion to wait out the coup fallout — Grigor travels back because he can't bear to leave Peter alone.

Georgina Dymova

Played by: Charity Wakefield

Grigor's wife and Peter's favorite mistress.

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• Affectionate Nickname: Peter calls her "George".
• Green-Eyed Monster: In Season 2 becomes a hypocrite in being envious of Marial and Catherine. Marial for having an affair with Grigor who she wants for herself. She also is envious of Catherine having Peter for herself.
• Lack of Empathy: A lot of her hypocrisy comes from the fact she can't empathize with anyone but herself, so while being jealous of Marial for having an affair with Grigor, she also has no issue with frequently having sex with Peter in front of Grigor.
• Lady in Red: She mostly wears this colour, and it represents her role at court: a strong-willed woman who enjoys having sex.
• The Mistress: Peter's favorite extramarital affair; the two go at it all the time.
• Pet the Dog: Nobody even in-universe knows if she's Becoming the Mask or not, but after Peter's death and Catherine is clearly broken, George kisses her on the head and tells her to rest.
• Put on a Bus: She spends the middle half of season two in "exile" in France, though she returns near the end.
• Sex Is Violence: Shows to be a fan of this trope. Unfortunately, combined with her husband Green-Eyed Monster, nearly led to her being an an unwitting accomplice in a failed assassination attempt.
• Silk Hiding Steel: She fawns over Peter and is implied to genuinely enjoy their situation, but in private she's ruthlessly aware that the Dymovs' position at court is sustained by Peter's favoritism, and maintains this position by whatever means necessary.

Lady Antonia Svenska

Played by: Danusia Samal

A wealthy noblewoman who holds a lot of influence with the other ladies at court who develops a rivalry with Catherine.

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• Boom, Headshot!: And totally deserved.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She cries when her husband heads off to war. But when Catherine tries to be sympathetic, Antonia quickly goes back to treating her terribly.
• Hoist By Her Own Petard: Never stopped to think that her serf, who knew and previously worked for Marial, might tell her that Antonia was the one to kill Shakey. Of course, given her incredibly low view of serfs, she wouldn't.
• Laser-Guided Karma: In season two, after being a Rich Bitch to everyone, spreading rumors about Catherine, repeated cruelty to Marial, and plotting against Catherine, she finally gets killed by Marial after needlessly killing an old, feeble serf for nothing other than incredibly petty cruelty and classism. The fact that she fully expected to face no consequences for it makes it all the more satisfying.
• Malicious Slander: After being embarrassed by Catherine for whipping Mariel, Antonia begins spreading vile rumors through the women of the court that Catherine lost her virginity to a horse.
• Rich Bitch: She comes from one of the highest and wealthiest families in Russia. She showers the women of the court with gifts, attention, and fun so they will support her cruel treatment of those who earn her wrath.
• A Taste of the Lash: She has Mariel whipped by the guards to teach her to accept her new position in life as a servant rather than a noblewoman.

Servants

Marial

"What if your vision of the bear, and the great love, your heart filled and glowing, what if that great love was Russia itself? Not Peter."

Played by: Phoebe Fox

Catherine's servant, a former court lady who was demoted to serf after her father offended Peter. She is motivated by her desire to return to her former station and is the one who initially inspires Catherine to overthrow Peter.

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• Ambition Is Evil: Downplayed. Her ultimate goal is to restore her position as a lady of the court, which leads her to betray Catherine on Archie's advice in the first season finale. While she is still somewhat loyal to Catherine, trying to save her life from Peter's wrath by telling him she's pregnant, she still sold her out to Peter and Catherine is visibly furious.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Marial is furious at her father for causing their punishment of serfdom, but shortcuts the discussion part by just punching him instead.
• The Confidant: To Catherine; as her handmaiden, Marial is subject to Catherine's woes and troubles.
• Determinator: She refuses to cry out when viciously beaten by Lady Svenska's guards, so as not to give her the satisfaction, and keeps a list of people who've wronged her to take revenge on when she's returned to her old station. Ultimately, this is what leads her to betray Catherine to Peter in the first season finale - her aim is to regain her old station, and replacing Peter with Catherine is a step towards that rather than her goal.
• First-Name Basis: Her full name used to be Lady Marial Brezhneva, but with her family's demotion to serfdom she loses the title. After this demotion she is addressed by others as simply 'Marial', but she makes sure to still refer to herself as 'Lady Marial'.
• Friends with Benefits: Implied to be the dynamic between Marial and Alexei Rostov, as they were friends before her serfdom and have casual liaisons when he arrives in court.
• Haughty Help: Although she is now a servant, Marial has not lost the airs and attitudes of a high-status lady, and acts accordingly.
• Hot-Blooded: As noted word for word by Catherine: Marial has a short temper.
• I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: A favourite technique of Marial's: she suggests Catherine try it on Orlo to gain his support, but it fails. She later suggests Catherine try it on Velementov. She denies using it herself though: when Alexei Rostov suggests that she's having only sex with him to get his support for the coup, she insists she's doing it because she wants to, not to get anything from him.
  Marial: Maybe a breast...falls from your blouse. Then he will be on you. When he has done you, profess eternal union, stars in alignment, and then talk knives in necks.

• Limited Wardrobe: Most of the ladies at court change their dresses frequently, but Marial stays in much the same outfit throughout the first season thanks to her family's fall from grace. This is not the case from season two onwards, once she's been promoted back to Lady.
• Marriage of Convenience: She's her noble father's only child, and when he dies late in season 2, Marial realizes that her young cousin Maxim, not her, will inherit everything unless she finds herself a husband. After rejecting several members of the court, she decides to just marry Maxim because casually parenting him is easier than marrying a man who actually expects her to act as a wife.
• Mister Muffykins: Marial's small, fluffy and yappy dog, Blini. Her deep love for him confuses even her friends.
• Never Learned to Read: She asks Catherine to teach her in the first episode, as part of Catherine's plans to start a school: it isn't mentioned again, and she appears to have learnt later in the season when she reads one of Leo's letters.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Marial wants Peter gone, but her involvement in the coup is motivated mainly by self-interest - namely, having her status returned to her and leaving serfdom. She's less interested in Catherine and Orlo's revolutionary ideas, which is what ultimately leads her to betray Catherine in the first season finale.
• The Mistress: Becomes this to Grigor when they start their affair up again in season 2.
• The One That Got Away: She and Grigor lost their virginities to each other and Grigor has never fully gotten over that, even given his weird dynamic with Peter and Georgina. This is what triggers their affair in season 2 after Georgina leaves for Paris.
• Sanity Slippage: Marial loses nearly everything, even her status as a person, before the story even starts, then gets a glimmer of hope that something will change with Catherine's coup. As the season progresses, she loses even more - her friend, her lover, and nearly her dog. Every time she gets hope that things will get better it gets taken away from her - which goes some way to explaining why she breaks the truth to Peter in the finale to get her status back.
• Servile Snarker: Marial may be a serf in station and bound to serve Catherine, but she nonetheless does so with copious amounts of sarcasm.
• Simple, yet Opulent: Once she's a lady again from season 2 onwards, Marial tends towards dresses like these, both as a reflection of her wealth, her closeness to Catherine, and her difference from the other ladies at the court.
• A Taste of the Lash: Lady Svenska has Marial lashed to remind her of her place as serf in season 1.
• The Dog Bites Back: Kills Lady Svenska without a single word for murdering the woman she bunked with as a serf. It didn't hurt that Svenska also had her beaten in season one and was consistently cruel to her after her downfall.
• Trauma Button: A smallpox rash is this for Marial because her mother died of the same type when she was a child. She cries when Catherine tells her Vlad has died, which is hugely out of character - she didn't even cry when she was whipped.

Vlad

Played by: Louis Hynes

One of Catherine's manservants.

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• Did Not Get the Girl: Vlad very nearly sleeps with Marial after mooning over her for months, but comes down with smallpox before anything can happen.
• First Kiss: Vlad gets his first kiss from Marial.
• Kill the Cutie: An innocent Nice Guy who dies of smallpox in Season 1.
• Locked Out of the Loop: There's no sign he knows explicitly about Catherine's plans for a coup.
• Never Learned to Read: Catherine slowly teaches him to read, since his poorer upbringing meant he never got the chance to learn.
• Nice Guy: The nicest character in the entire show. Vlad is a genuinely polite, sweet, and innocent person who has no resentful feelings about anyone, even if he's being mistreated as a servant. He was willing to turn himself in so other people won't be infected by smallpox.
• Sacrificial Lamb: His death from pox in season 1 pushes Catherine to realise that Peter isn't committed to reform.
• Tagalong Kid: For the first half of the season, he is a young boy learning to read and being educated by Catherine in areas of science and math, while crushing on Marial. He eventually succumbs to smallpox, and dies alone so as to prevent anyone else from getting infected.

Karine/"Shakey"

Played by: Ninette Finch

An elderly serf. She was Marial's former roommate from when she was a servant, and Marial promotes her to lady's maid after she is reinstated. Shakey is called such because her hands shake when pouring tea.

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• Hidden Depths: Catherine is delighted to find out that an old servant like Shakey is such a talented painter because it's an example of what serfs could accomplish were they not held back by their social status.
• Princess for a Day: In an attempt to make the aristocrats feel empathy for the serfs, Catherine dresses Shakey up as a newly-arrived noble, "Lady Anastasia". Shakey does her part and largely charms the audience, though they are offended when the jig is up.

Foreign Rulers and Dignitaries

Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp

Played by: Gillian Anderson

Catherine's mother, a German noblewoman who has proudly raised her four daughters to be proper queens.

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• Abusive Parents: Abuses with a pat to the head instead of a fist, but wants to control Catherine as much as possible while putting her down passive aggressively, and Catherine has Delusions of Parental Love.
• Admiring the Abomination: Finds Peter both horrifying and fascinating.
• Always a Child to Parent: Aunt Elizabeth's read on the situation regarding Lady Joanna is that the latter cannot help but see Catherine as the daughter she raised rather than the empress she could be, and thus Joanna's maternal instincts and patriarchal upbringing lead her to want Catherine in a less risky position than a controversial ruler. As a result, Joanna tries to manipulate things so that Peter slides back into power after Catherine gives birth, and Catherine eventually realizes that her mother doesn't truly believe in her.
• Artistic License – History: In the show, Joanna talks about marrying off her four daughters to the royalty of Europe. The real Joanna Elisabeth had five children - two boys and three girls - but the only two who survived to adulthood were Catherine and Frederick Augustus.
• Brutal Honesty: Most people who try to approach or impress her instantly have their deepest insecurities revealed and thrown in their face. When Velementov tries to flirt, she brings up his loss of youth and vigor. When Marial tries to speak to her, Joanne casually asks if she's a noble or a servant.
• Control Freak: Joanna is determined to marry all of her children to royalty and expects Catherine to fall in line with this vision, even after the latter's taken over as Empress of Russia. Even her displays of affection with Catherine involve the latter following Joanna's lead.
• Female Misogynist: She's appalled that Catherine would ever strive to rise above her (already very high) station, overthrow her husband, and attempt to rule a country in her own right; her way of doing things is more "manipulate the men around you to get the outcome you want". When Catherine begins drafting a divorce law while on the verge of giving birth, Joanna is horrified.
  Catherine: Wouldn't you have liked to be freer in your life?
  Joanna: No.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Is only around for a couple of episodes, but her (accidental) death at the hands of Peter causes Catherine to try to kill Peter again and arrest his supporters in the Season 2 finale.

King Hugo

Played by: Freddie Fox

The current reigning king of Sweden, who seems nearly as hedonistic as Peter.

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• The Chessmaster: Tries desperately to play to Peter's ego and vanity to support him militarily in an effort to re-establish him as King of Sweden.
• Foil: To Peter and Catherine.
  • He's a spoiled, hedonistic man-child King that has much in common with Peter in terms of feeling in the shadow of his father, having a love of luxurious food, Really Gets Around, and being bloodthirsty.
  • He actually shared the idealism of Catherine for reforms to society to better the lives of the serfs. Unfortunately this led to him becoming anachronistic and exiled.
• Gone Horribly Right: He let his people be educated and speak freely. The people realized they no longer needed a King, rallied together, and ousted him.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: There was no King Hugo of Sweden who was exiled from his country. He does bear a vague resemblance to Louis XVI of France's fate of being the King who got swept up amidst a period of major revolution that made him irrelevant and endangered his life. The rough contemporary would either be Adolf Frederick or Gustav III who, in contrast to Hugo, worked to reestablish royal authority after six decades of being mere figureheads during the Age of Liberty.

The Ottoman Sultan

Played by: Billy Postlethwaite

The sultan of the Ottoman Empire, who agitates for war offscreen throughout season 2.

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• Ear Ache: He has a penchant for cutting off peoples' ears, which he wears on a chain around his neck, and Catherine is cautioned to act hastily if he ever makes eyes on hers. He does, after stabbing Catherine in the hand, but she consequently kills him by stabbing him in the neck.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Only ever referred to as the Sultan, and never by name. It is not known if he is intended to be one of the Ottoman Sultans who reigned during Catherine's lifetime.
• Sibling Murder: He killed the rest of his siblings to gain the Ottoman throne.

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