History Characters / ThePrestige

* GoSeduceMyArchnemesis: He ordered Olivia to become a spy under Borden so he can know about the trick behind his Transported Man trick.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Borden in the books is far more morally grey than he is in the film. The first time he and Angier meet, he shoves over Angier's assistant when revealing that a seance he's performing is a sham. [[spoiler:This actually causes Angier's assistant, who is also his pregnant wife, to have a miscarriage that results in her falling into depression.]] They also both one up and ruin one another's acts for a while, and though Borden never talks much about what he did to Angier, he admits he wasn't guiltless in it all, [[spoiler: which is very true as we learn from Angier's journal that Borden once replaced some stage knots for an escape trick Angier was attempting to perform with inescapable knots, nearly resulting in Angier drowning.]]

* DyeingForYourArt: An extreme InUniverse version. [[spoiler:Since one of the twins loses two fingers due to Angier sabotaging one of his acts, the other one agrees to replicate the damage on his own hand to keep being a perfect match for his brother.]]

* HeelRealization: [[spoiler: The dying Borden who is presumably the one who loved Olivia, was wholly obsessed with the craft above all, probably was the one who crippled Angier, and was desperate for Angier's secret when the other one urged him to move on. He seems to realize how awful he was with his final words to "Fallon", apologizing for all that he's done.]]

->'''Portrayed By''': Christian Bale

* MistakenForCheating: Played with. Sarah gets hinted at Alfred's infidelity with Olivia when the latter uses an AffectionateNickname for him in front of her. However, she's EntertaininglyWrong courtesy of [[spoiler:both her husband and his twin, the latter which is the one who is romancing Olivia. Under the prospect of losing their ruse, they withheld the truth from everyone, including both Sarah and Olivia. The uncertainty of her husband's behavior leads Sarah to commit suicide.]]

* EntertaininglyWrong: [[spoiler:She takes Borden's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove as an obvious lie after he just declared that he never loved Sarah and only ever loved her. She concludes that he is an inhuman narcissist to say such about the mother of his child. It turns out that Borden was being honest with her, but since he was unwilling to explain to Olivia that he's a twin just like the other was unwilling to tell Sarah, Olivia is right to leave, as Borden still chooses to only deliver half-truths to their respective lovers.]]

** She is sent by Angier to engrace herself to Borden, and she ends up abandoning Angier because he basically sent her off to Borden as if she were a stagehand on an errand, and also following Angier's own dismissive comments about his own late wife. It helps that she realized her love for Angier would always remain [[AllLoveIsUnrequited unrequited]], while Borden actually reciprocates her feeling for him [[spoiler:(or, at least, one of them does)]].

* EntertaininglyWrong: [[spoiler: She takes Borden's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove as an obvious lie after he just declared that he never loved Sarah and only ever loved her. She concludes that he is an inhuman narcissist to say such about the mother of his child. It turns out that Borden was being honest with her, but that he was unwilling to explain that he was a twin to Olivia just like the other was unwilling to tell Sarah, Olivia is right to leave as Borden still chooses to only deliver half-truths to their respective lovers.]]

** She is sent by Angier to engrace herself to Borden, and she ends up abandoning Angier because he basically sent her off to Borden as if she were a stagehand on an errand, and also following Angier's own dismissive comments about his own late wife.

* ContrivedCoincidence: [[spoiler:She abandons both Angier and later Borden due to their callous attitude towards their late wives. By leaving Angier for Borden, she went out of the frying pan into the fire, though she didn't realize this until much later.]]

* CloningBlues: [[spoiler:He gets philosophical about whether he is the original or the clone after each trick. Doesn't help that, after the first use of the machine, the Angier inside it shoots the other one, while during the shows, the Angier in the machine is the one who constantly drowns while the Angier outside repeats the act in the next show.]]

'''MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW.'''

[[spoiler:He is actually a set of identical twins (called Albert and Freddie in the books) sharing Alfred's identity, with the one playing Alfred while the other disguises as Fallon, and the two regularly switch characters between them. The secret is kept to everyone, including their lovers.]]

[[spoiler:In a way, he didn't die. The magic trick he was showing when he was "killed", his own version of the Transported Man, works by using a magical machine invented by Nikola Tesla that creates a clone of him in a displaced location, while the original Angier is deliberately drowned. After his supposed murder, the surviving clone "renamed" himself to his real name, Lord Caldlow, having lived under the Robert Angier pseudonym the whole time.]]

[[UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla The famous real-life inventor]] currently working in America who helps Borden and Angier with their magic. [[spoiler:Actually, he had never helped Borden. Borden deceived Angier into going to America and pour all of his resources on a nonexistent magical Tesla machine that Borden supposedly used to create his Transported Man trick. Unfortunately for both of them, Tesla ''did'' create a magical machine, a machine that can clone things perfectly.]]

->'''Portrayed By''': [[spoiler:Christian Bale]]

Borden's mysterious ingenieur after Julia's death. [[spoiler:Fallon is a constructed identity used to disguise the other of the Borden brothers when one of them is appearing as Alfred Borden. The two constantly exchange characters as part of their {{kayfabe}}]].

'''[[spoiler:Angier]]:''' Caldlow. Yes, I am. I always have been.

->'''Portrayed By''': [[spoiler:Hugh Jackman]]

An aristocrat who is a collector of machines used in magical acts. [[spoiler:He is actually Robert Angier, and Robert Angier is his pseudonym. See his folder for tropes that describe him and his Caldlow persona.]]

* ALighterShadeOfGrey: Borden makes himself slightly less worthy of contempt than Angier, [[spoiler:as he never attempts to kill Angier, despite Angier trying twice to kill him, and Fallon once. Even the more obsessive Borden tries to save Angier during his frame-up.]]
** [[spoiler:Borden always attempts to sacrifice his own life]], while Angier tends to sacrifice others [[spoiler:including his own clones]]. This, combined with Borden's love for Jess, Sarah and [[spoiler:Olivia makes him more sympathetic.]]
** [[spoiler:One of the twins is an even lighter shade of grey, as he is the only one out of the three main protagonists to try to end the cycle of revenge.]]

[[folder:Lord Caldlow]]

[[caption-width-right:320:[[labelnote:Spoiler in this image.]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/caldlow_1494.jpg[[/labelnote]]]]

->'''Borden:''' You must be Lord Caldlow--\\
'''[[spoiler:Angier]]:''' Caldlow. Yes, I am. I always have been.

->'''Portrayed By''': [[spoiler:Hugh Jackman]]

An aristocrat who is a collector of machines used in magical acts. [[spoiler:He is actually Robert Angier, and Robert Angier is his pseudonym. See his folder for tropes that describe him and his Caldlow persona.]]
----
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Acts through his lawyer [[spoiler:to cover the fact that he's Angier himself. Or maybe the most recent clone.]]
[[/folder]]

* AdaptationalHeroism: Borden in the books is far more morally grey than he is in the film. The first time he and Angier meet, he shoves over Angier's assistant when revealing that a seance he's performing is a sham. [[spoiler:This actually causes Angier's assistant, who is also his pregnant wife, to have a miscarriage that results in her falling into depression.]] They also both one up and ruin one another's acts for a while, and though Borden never talks much about what he did to Angier, he admits he wasn't guiltless in it all, [[spoiler: which is very true as we learn from Angier's journal that Borden once replaced some stage knots for an escape trick Angier was attempting to perform with inescapable knots, nearly resulting in Angier drowning.]]

Borden's wife.

* MadEye: Has one eye with a dilated pupil and [[https://imgur.com/MIoIuBR one without]].

* PyrrhicVictory: [[spoiler:The surviving Borden kills Angier and reunites with his daughter, but must live with the loss of his wife and twin brother.]]

* MysteriousPast: Lord Caldlow's solicitor notes that Fallon has barely any known information and thus likely won't be able to keep custody of Jess after Borden's imprisonment. [[spoiler: This is because "Fallon" isn't real, but an alias for the Borden twins to operate alongside their brother.]]

[[folder: Sarah Borden]]

* RivalTurnedEvil: To Angier.

* CrusadingWidower: His feud with Borden is [[RevengeMyopia initially]] driven by rage over his wife's death.

* RevengeMyopia: As he spirals deeper and deeper into obsession, Angier stops caring about why he wanted to outdo Borden, only caring about hurting his rival as deeply as possible.
-->'''Angier''': I don't care about my wife, I care about his secret.