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Commanders of Gilead / Sons of Jacob
For Commanders Fred Waterford and Joseph Lawrence see the Main Characters page.
For Ryan Wheeler see the Other Characters page.
Traits shared by Commanders
- 0% Approval Rating: So far, the Republic of Gilead is a pariah state in the international community, with Europe shunning them for implementing an authoritarian regime that institutionalizes rape and the only countries willing to deal with them are their immediate neighbors Mexico and Canada. In Season 2, Canada cuts off relations after several letters are released into the public showing how bad things are in Gilead.
- Adaptational Villainy: Zig-Zagged. In the original books, they were racist, sexist, homophobic, militarist, anti-science and just plain A Nazi by Any Other Name since they shipped off minorities to the Colonies to die painfully. The show omits the racism aspect by permitting racially-diverse residents within their republic, as well as featuring non-white Handmaids. They still retain their homophobia and amplify their misogyny by mutilating women like taking out their eyes, tongues, clitoris or fingers, something which was absent in the book.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: While the Sons of Jacob were analogous with several authoritarian regimes like Communist Romania and Fascist Italy for obsessively promoting birthrates, post-Revolution Iran and the most obvious one, the show's version makes contemporary allusions depicting the Republic of Gilead as the Christian equivalent to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
- Both are religious militaristic groups lead by Commanders/Emirs (the Arabic word for "Commander") that come into power in a moment of political disorder and gain control of large swathes of territories.
- They are in conflict with other denominations of their faith, outlawing other religions entirely with Gilead forces being shown demolishing a church, just like ISIL has blown up multiple mosques and shrines of figures revered in Islam.
- Both display a virulent hate for the female gender with ISIL becoming infamous for enshrining a theology of rape justifying enslaving Yazidi and Christian women for being "infidels", just like the Handmaid's program targets "fallen women" that committed adultery, prostitution or homosexuality. Even more galling is that other women were complicit in their abuse like the Wives and the so-called "jihadi brides" in real life, or the Aunts/the Al-Khansaa Brigade (an all-female group of ISIL fighters) responsible for policing and oppressing other women.
- They share a knack for cruel and unusual punishments towards dissidents, "gender traitors" (LGBTQ) and others like hangings and drownings, though Gilead's favorite method is shipping them off to the colonies so they can be worked to death or perish to radiation. One character gets hanged with a crane just like what ISIL does.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: Zigzagged. In contrast to their book counterparts, they have no problem accepting non-whites into their ranks or employing non-white Handmaids. Season 2 even introduces Commander Horace, a person of color. Seems their goal of reducing infertility trumps any other consideration in their eyes. However, when assigning new Handmaids, Aunt Lydia informs her colleagues that some Commanders won't accept Handmaids of color.
- Evil Is Sterile: Both literally and figuratively; as a society, Gilead is culturally stagnant since intellectuals were targeted under their regime and the proliferation of knowledge is probably looked down upon to not promote reading or writing among women. On an individual level, its heavily implied that most Commanders if not all of them are actually sterile since unlike other male characters, they were unable to beget children of their own.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: While Fred certainly qualifies as his personal flashbacks show him as a mild-mannered man before eventually becoming one of Gilead's architects, this trope extends to the Sons of Jacob as a whole being a group that started out as political activists that helped troubled youths before becoming a conspiracy faction that overthrew the USA government and established a militaristic, theocratic regime. As June deduces after piercing together past events:June: You were there. All the time. But no one noticed you.
- The Fundamentalist: They follow a literal interpretation of the Old Testament to impose their laws.
- Heteronormative Crusader: Homosexuality or "gender treason" is punishable by death, which is considered a Mercy Kill. Lesbians are exempted so long as they can be used as Handmaids, but if anyone else (like "Marthas") is caught in the act, they are fair game.
- Hiding Behind Religion: According to Margaret Atwood
, they are not "truly Christians and are interested only in power and control". Keen viewers can notice they never mention Jesus by name, though they do occasionally quote Him out of context to twist it into their agenda, nor do they have any actual clergy, priests or pastors on their side to legitimize them. - Holier Than Thou: Not only other religions are illegal, but all of Christendom might as well be considered heretical to them. Catholics are officially persecuted and its heavily implied that they are at war with other Protestants when you consider the South (which is heavily Baptist) is in revolt against the Republic of Gilead. Yet for all their blabbering about pure and modest lifestyles (even their own rape rituals with the Handmaidens aren't supposed to be pleasurable for either party), they have state-sanctioned brothels which only high-ranking officials can enjoy.
- Hypocrite: Most of them are under the impression that the rules they made themselves for the society don't apply to them. Committing "the sin of lust" and thinking nothing of it seems to be particularly common.
- Madonna-Whore Complex: But of course. Since sex is officially only meant to procreate, they are implied not to have it with their wives - which doesn't mean they won't visit Jezebel's. The Handmaids fall somewhere in the middle, as they are meant to be just wombs and the Wives view them that way... while the husbands tend to see them more as free sex toys.
- New England Puritan: They seem to model themselves after this trope and embody the worst aspects such as fundamentalism, intolerance even towards other Christians and patriarchal attitudes, but amplified to the extreme. Fittingly, according to in-universe maps, Gilead controls territory which has been historically Puritan domain.
- One-Steve Limit: Apparently, as the Handmaids' "names" modeled after their given names seem to never repeat (unless one inherits a posting, obviously).
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil:
- They legitimized a twisted variation of a Marital Rape License by naming the coerced procreation act the Ceremony. They even discuss the Ceremony in terms of trying to make it sound appealing to their Wives: the process is designed to not be pleasurable for the rapist either, since its purpose is to impregnate the victim.
- As a result, all of them are assumed to be rapists (and the wives being accomplices) by the Handmaids, even though at least one of them is shown not to engage in a Ceremony.
- It's revealed that in the beginning of Gilead some families didn't want to engage in Ceremonies and it was common enough that the leaders turned to supervising them. As all the household members are obliged to "report deviancy", think of it as an enforced and extended Marital Rape License.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Flashbacks show they enjoyed some level of popularity when they started out by "helping kids out of gangs into better lives" and even had sympathizers among the government. By the time they have taken power, this is no longer the case.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: A few of them, at least initially, simply wanted to create a more peaceful America. Others had more violent ambitions for power, which led into the Sons of Jacob performing their coup.
- Western Terrorists: Involved in the massacre of Congress, which they blamed on outside terrorists.
Commander Warren Putnam
Played By: Stephen Kunken
A Commander who is an acquaintance of Fred Waterford. Husband of Naomi.
- An Arm and a Leg: Has a hand amputated after Janine's suicide attempt.
- Asshole Victim: He gets shot in front of his wife at a restaurant they were having breakfast in, at the orders of Lawrence and Nick. As both him and Naomi were the main culprits behind poor Janine’s mental breakdown in Season 1, it’s a very satisfying moment.
- Dirty Old Man: Esther is only fourteen or at most fifteen years old when he creepily offers her chocolates (and rapes her afterwards).
- Easily Forgiven: Other than the loss of his hand, he doesn't seem to suffer any other negative consequences for his treatment of Janine and is frequently seen in positions of power afterwards. Averted after he rapes Esther, but only because said rape happens before she is posted as Handmaid to his home instead of during the Ceremony.
- Eviler than Thou: He downright makes fun of his fellow Commanders for not taking more advantage of their positions. Eventually this comes back to bite him when Lawrence and Nick use his own bragging to arrange his execution for raping a handmaid out of schedule.
- Foil: To the Waterfords, when paired with his wife. She is abrasive toward her Handmaid, he plays nice to use Janine for sex. The results are also similar to the Waterfords' and the first Offred.
- Gaslighting: Does this in spades to the already unstable Janine, promising they'll be together in order to carry on an affair with her.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: After getting away with his cruel treatment of Janine, he finally gets his well deserved comeuppance via execution by gunshot for raping Esther.
- Meaningful Name: In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Thomas Putnam is a greedy man who abuses the Bible by getting his daughter to accuse people of witchcraft so he can obtain their property. Meanwhile his wife, Ann Putnam, is unstable from having lost seven infant children.
- Too Dumb to Live: You would think after losing his hand due to his indiscretions with Janine, he would hold back with his interactions with other handmaids. He doesn't, and his act of raping Esther before she is posted results in his execution.
- Villainous Crush: Similar to Waterford's relationship with June, Putnam may have hots for Janine for real. He made her sleep with her outside of the ceremony and perform other sexual acts (like blow jobs), which is forbidden in Gilead.
High Commander George Winslow
Played By: Christopher Meloni
A high-ranking commander from Washington who takes a special interest in Fred Waterford.
- Amoral Attorney: Used to be a corporate lawyer before Gilead, now is part of a horrific and murderous system.
- Asshole Victim: Stabbed and bludgeoned to death by June when he tries to rape her at Jezebel's.
- Corrupt Politician: He has numerous children, but still continues to rape a Handmaid monthly for more. Lampshaded by Rita, who says that his high status allows him to flaunt the rules that other Commanders must follow.
- Death by Irony: June perforates his lung with the very pen that created Gilead's laws.
- Depraved Bisexual: Downplayed but hinted at. "Depraved" by virtue of the culture of Gilead.
- Greed: From the perspective of Fred and Serena, at least. He and his wife have an unusually high number of children, more than any of the main characters have ever seen in Gilead, but he still keeps a Handmaid.
- Doting Parent: Compared to other onscreen Commanders who don't seem involved in their children's lives, he is very affectionate to his numerous (stolen) children. Even June can't help to smile at his paternal side before it sinks in that he essentially hoards kidnapped children.
- Homoerotic Subtext: Quite a bit towards Fred.
- Lust: His Fatal Flaw. He continues to rape a Handmaid monthly (even though he already has six children) and is shown to frequent Jezebel's. In fact, it's his desire to rape June that leads to his death.
- Never Found the Body: His death is ultimately concealed by the Marthas at Jezebel's- the blood stains bleached from the carpet, the sheets and his body both thrown into an enormous incinerator. They do such a good job that Gilead's leadership initially believes he is secretly being held in the same prison with Fred Waterford.
- Not Helping Your Case: Begging for his life for the sake of his stolen children probably wasn't the best thing to say to a Mama Bear like June.
- Opportunistic Bastard: When Fred comes to Washington to film propaganda videos and put pressure on Canada for baby Nichole's return, George goes all in and gives Fred everything he wants- including a Handmaid March on the National Mall. Just one little string attached: George doesn't want Nichole to come back. He's using this theater to put pressure on the Canadians to expel all of the American refugees back to Gilead- something he's been working on but making no progress toward for a long time.
- Red Herring: You'd think something bigger is going to come out of his homoeroticism-filled cooperation with Fred, possibly leading to one of the men's undoing. They go down in the same episode but in completely unrelated circumstances, Winslow killed by June in Jezebel's and Fred betrayed by Serena and arrested by Canadian's officials.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: After much build-up as the Big Bad of the third season, he gets unceremoniously killed off by June in the third to last episode.
Commander Matthew Calhoun
Played By: Jonathan Watton
A young commander, introduced in Season 3, who is a member of the War Council for Gilead. Has a pregnant Handmaid in Natalie, who gives birth to his son.
- A Million Is a Statistic: Does not care about the women captured in Chicago and prefers to send them to the Colonies where he thinks they would be useful, knowing full well that these women will slowly die there.
- Hypocrite: Dismisses Handmaids as "whores", despite using one to conceive a child.
- Warhawk: Very gung-ho about the war effort against the resistance and wants to retaliate against Canada after Commander Waterford is captured and High Commander Winslow disappears.
Commander Ray Cushing
Played By: Greg Bryk
A minor antagonist in Season 2, in charge of security after Lillie's suicide bombing.
- Asshole Victim: He's arrested under false charges, but he arranges for the execution of Commander Deeds, his wife, and their household as punishment for Lillie Fuller's suicide bombing. He later carries out random civilians' executions.
- Blofeld Ploy: Cushing has a random Martha shot in the streets to demonstrate his power over June while interrogating her.
- Framing the Guilty Party: Serena has Nick fake evidence of apostasy and treason against Cushing in order to keep him from harming any more people.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Despite being hyped as a new, more dangerous antagonist, he only appears for a single storyline. It is quite likely he was Killed Offscreen and hanged from the Wall, due to the nature of the crimes with which he's charged.
Commander Pryce
Played By: Robert Curtis Brown
One of the chief architects of the Gilead regime, along with Fred Waterford and Commander Pryce. Later, the head of one of the Councils of Commanders.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: He's still one of the architects of Gilead and of the Handmaid system, but he does push for said Handmaid system to be "respectful" of the women pushed into it. Unfortunately, he's both believing in his own bullshit too much - and the system is nowhere near respectful of the women.
- Asshole Victim: He's one of the architects of the Handmaid system and ends up killed in Lillie Fuller's suicide bombing of the Rachel and Leah Centre.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: In a sense: Nick asks him to keep a particularly close eye on Waterford and especially on June. Pryce agrees, only to be killed when Lillie blows up the new Red Center.
- Knight Templar: When Commander Putnam is charged with adultery, Pryce pushes for the harshest punishment within law, which result in the mutilation of Putnam's left hand.
- Pet the Dog: He has a genuine soft spot for Nick and took him under his wing because Nick was legitimately lost in life. Even into the foundations of Gilead, Pryce still looks out for him.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Pryce wears a sharp three-piece suit.
Commander Guthrie
Played By: Christian Lloyd
One of the chief architects of the Gilead regime, along with Fred Waterford and Commander Pryce.
- Asshole Victim: He's one of the architects of the Gileadean regime and ends up arrested by it.
- Corrupt Politician: After the Gileadean regime is established, he begins stealing money from the transportation budget.
- Dirty Old Man: According to Nick, he has been sleeping with two of his Handmaids outside of the confines of "the Ceremony".
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: According to Fred, he's a godly man, even if his manner of speaking is a bit blasphemous.
Commander Roy
Played By: Lawrence Cotton
The third Commander to whom Emily is enslaved to.
- Out with a Bang: He suffers a heart attack after raping Emily.
Commander Davidson
Played By: Adrian Griffin
The Commander and regular patron of Jezebel's.
- Professional Butt-Kisser: Fred comments that he's a kiss-ass that constantly attaches himself in the direction where power blows.
Commander Mackenzie
Played By: Jason Butler Harner
He and his wife Tabitha are parents to Hannah Bankole, whom they have renamed Agnes.
