Characters / True Detective Season One

The characters of the television series True Detective.

Main Characters

Rust Cohle

Det. Rustin Spencer 'Rust' Cohle

"I'd consider myself a realist, alright? But in philosophical terms I'm what's called a pessimist... I think human consciousness is a tragic misstep in evolution."

"I know who I am. And after all these years, there's a victory in that."

Played By: Matthew McConaughey

"World needs bad men. We keep the other bad men from the door."

Rust Cohle is a Louisiana State Police detective who transferred out of Texas law enforcement. A cerebral, intense thinker, he holds a negative view of society which sometimes puts him at odds with his partner, Martin Hart, and the rest of the force.

• The Alcoholic: Zig-Zagged as Cohle is a relapsing-remitting. He's mostly sober in 1995, though he briefly falls off the wagon in the first episode. In 2012, he's drunk by noon and demands the interviewing detectives bring him a six-pack if they want him to keep talking. He also chugs a bottle of cough syrup while driving on the way to interview a CI and seems to buy barbiturates from her after the interview is over.
• Amateur Sleuth: He still investigates the Yellow King case post-retirement.
• The Anti-Nihilist: Zig-Zagged. He philosophizes about the absurdity of life itself, yet continues doing his job of "keeping the other bad men from the door." He definitely lacks the typical Anti-Nihilist's compassion and moderately optimistic view though: he is a nihilistic, brutally honest Misanthrope Supreme. However, his very last line in the series is definitely optimistic:
  Rust: Once there was only dark. If you ask me, the light's winning.
• Badass Biker: While he did undercover work with outlaw bikers and Mexican cartels. After a fistfight with Hart, in which Cohle got the upper hand, Hart still realizes that Cohle was holding back.
• Blatant Lies: While answering to a board for the deaths of Ledoux and Dewall.
  Rust: I can say that I walked away from the experience with a greater respect for the sanctity of human life, yeah.
• Broken Ace: He's the most dedicated and skilled cop we see. He can fight, track, shoot, and gains a reputation as a master interrogator, having more assists than anyone in the department. He spends more time working than anyone else. However, he's an absolute mess in his own life, constantly using drugs and going back and forth on alcohol abuse.
• Brutal Honesty: Cohle doesn't bother himself with other people's feelings.
  • He consistently rebuffs Marty's complaining about his family life and doesn't ever mince words telling him what a lying stupid jerk he is for cheating on Maggie.
  • To get a confession out of a criminal, he pretends to be understanding and compassionate; once he gets the confession, he drops the act and bluntly tells them what they've just gotten themselves into.
    • He tells the "Marshland Medea" that newspapers are going to be tough on her and prison is very hard on people who hurt kids, so if she gets the opportunity, she should kill herself.
    • He points out to the crying Guy Francis that the latter just confessed to a double murder.
    • Charlie Lange confesses to Rust and Marty that he's shown Reggie Ledoux photos of Dora Lange while they were cellmates; then, he's imprudent enough to ask if he might have gotten her killed; Cohle replies he might have something to do with that. Even Hart, no stranger to mistreating suspects, calls Cohle out on telling Charlie it was his fault. However, note Rust's wording: he doesn't say it was Charlie's fault; he goes no further than speculating a connection.
  • Maggie appears to be the only person with whom Rust sometimes tries to be nicer but even she isn't safe. When she complains to him after discovering Marty's affair, he tells her that except to make kids, relationships are just not supposed to work. And after what happens in episode 6, he's... not trying anymore. When she asks him to tell her Marty is not going to get hurt, Rust refuses to tell her that and chews her out for asking him to lie to her about Marty.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He is darkly pessimistic, a misanthrope who sleeps under a crucifix (despite being non-religious) and with a tendency to philosophize at random. Despite this, he is a skilled and hard-working detective.
• Byronic Hero: He embodies many of the Byronic tropes: deep intelligence, a Dark and Troubled Past, an overall broody mood, a world view deeply at odds with society, and a strong moral code despite his intense cynicism.
• The Cameo: He and Hart appear in online newspaper clippings in Season 3, and the events of the first season are discussed by woman interviewing Wayne Hays.
• Character Development:
  • Cohle has changed more overtly than Hart by 2012, as he is now washed-up, even more nihilistic, and completely lost control of his drinking problem.
  • In the season finale, Cohle admits that he's not as nihilistic as he appears to be and that's what he acknowledges at the end. His near-death experience has also given him at least some closure to his existential crisis.
• Comically Serious: In Episode 3, Maggie manages to set him up with one of her acquaintances. He has the same stoic expression on his face even when he's dancing.
• Consummate Liar: Contrary to Hart, Cohle lies very naturally and makes it very believable that he was a part of whatever fictitious event he's describing. Understandable, considering his past as an undercover cop.
• Cowboy Cop: He pays scant regard to police protocol or procedure and engages in his own investigations, which doesn't sit well with his partner or superiors.
• The Cynic: Unlike most examples, it isn't played as him being simply grumpy or downbeat but having genuine existential despair about life and humanity and shows what a wreck he is. By the end of the investigation, he's shown to be getting better, in his own nihilistic way.
• Cynicism Catalyst: More than anything else in his life, the death of Cohle's daughter is implied to be the reason he's so cynical and nihilistic. Notably, most of his arguments against existence end up concluding that his daughter was lucky to have died early.
• Deadpan Snarker: Being an abrasive cynic, Rust is prone to scathing remarks.
  • Hart identifies one of the girls in a brothel as being underage and gives her a handful of money, encouraging her to get out of that line of work.
    Rust: Is that your down-payment?
  • When Marty complains to Rust about his family life, this exchange happens:
    Marty: Hell of a bedside manner you got, Rust.
    Rust: You know being stupid's different than callin' in sick, and this is a bar, not a fuckin' bedside.
  • He comments on other detectives' hypothesis:
    Rust: You know, me, I don't see the connection between two dead cats and a murdered woman. But then, I'm from Texas.
  • When Quesada tells Cohle to shut the hell up, Cohle complies... and mockingly raises his hand when he has something to say. Quesada notes that Rust is a smartass even with his mouth shut.
• Death Seeker: He implies this is his motivation in 2012. He just wants to solve the Dora Lange case first.
  • And usually defied. For all his talk about the pointlessness of existence, he never once seems to consider killing himself, and is deeply enthusiastic about his work.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the Straw Nihilist and Misanthrope Supreme tropes. showcasing just how miserable and psychologically broken someone has to be in order to believe in those things, which his partner points out when he goes on his philosophical musings. He eventually overcomes it after nearly dying in the final confrontation with the killer he and his partner had pursued for years and realizes that perhaps there is still hope to be found in his life.
  • Cohle also serves as a deconstruction of Thomas Ligotti's philosophical pessimism and anti-natalist beliefs as depicted in his 2010 philosophical treatise The Conspiracy Against The Human Race. Nic Pizzolatto showcases just what kind of person would believe that: a broken and deeply disturbed individual who has gone through copious amounts of trauma throughout his life. It takes nearly dying for Cohle to realize that perhaps there is something worth looking forward to in life, and how there is still hope to be found.
• Defective Detective: He is really messed up, at least when he's not on the job.
• The Determinator: He will solve the Dora Lange case, no matter the cost. This is shown to great effect in "Form and Void", where he manages to survive getting stabbed by Childress and nearly bleeding out.
• The Eeyore: A very serious example, in that he's clearly deeply depressed and rationalizing everything he does to try and justify it.
• Everyone Has Standards: He's not perfect, but he makes it clear a number of times that he knows about Hart's infidelity and finds it distasteful.
• Friend to All Children: Downplayed, but Cohle is noticeably softer around children than he is around adults.
• The Friendly Texan: Completely averted. Despite being born in Texas and spending his adult life there (he was raised mostly in Alaska), Rust is, at his best, deeply aloof and introverted, and at his worst, disdainful, unpleasant, and deliberately cruel.
• Functional Addict:
  • In 1995, he uses speed and molly regularly during investigations. He also does some cocaine in Episode 4 and is implied to have done it often when he was running with the motorcycle gangs. Notably, it's implied that this usage is "self-medication", since his depressive attitude needs something to take the edge off, and he doesn't have any family or friends to spend time with. He's very functional while doing all of this.
  • In 2012, Cohle remarks that he has been stone-drunk most of the time since 2002 while remaining functional.
• Genius Bruiser: He's a brilliant detective, but he also proves to be a very skilled combatant as well.
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: The good cop to Marty's bad cop. When interrogating criminals, Cohle's demeanor is almost priestly, sympathetically extracting a cathartic confession from them. Then he abandons them.
• Guile Hero: While he can scrap when the situation calls for it, Cohle uses his wits and intelligence to get the results he wants.
• Hallucinations: In episode 2, he sees blurring lights on the highway, a weirdly neon-pink wave that spreads across the cloudscape, and a flock of birds forming the symbols on Dora Lange's body. He explains that it's a side-effect of a number of drugs he was taking while undercover.
• Hardboiled Detective: Both Cohle and Hart count as modern-day spins on this trope, but especially Cohle with his poetic cynicism about the world around him.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Played With in Cohle's case, while he never crosses over the line that causes him to become as evil as the people he goes up against, it's clear that seeing the worst of humanity every day has taken its toll on Cohle's psyche. He also treads the line several times with his tendency to skirt ethical guidelines.
• Hollywood Atheist: Cohle is not only an atheist but a nihilist who believes that life is meaningless. He's constantly depressed as a result. His cynical nihilism is because of a personal tragedy and he eventually finds some form of faith (a classic Hollywood Atheist arc), but it's never implied that he’s wrong to be atheistic, at least. (Depending on one’s interpretation of the series’ “supernatural” elements.)
• Hypocrite:
  • Cohle tries to convince himself that he knows the "truth," which is that nothing matters and he doesn't care, to erase the pain he feels because he does care. Obsessively. His speech may frequently refer to nihilistic philosophies, but all his actions are to fight against the abyss. Hart calls him out this conflict in episode 3:
    Hart: For a guy who sees no point in existence, you sure fret about it an awful lot.
  • This also turns Cohle's claim that the difference between him and Hart is that Cohle isn't in denial about who he is into hypocrisy, because he is in denial.
• In-Series Nickname:
  • The Taxman, for being from Texas and for the ledger he carries, while most detectives simply have notepads.
  • Ginger refers to Rust as Crash.
• The Insomniac: As he himself says.
  Cohle: I don't sleep. I just dream.
• Insufferable Genius: Gives off this vibe when he talks about his philosophic views.
• Irony: For someone who's dismissive of religion in general, he doesn't think too hard about the fact that he sleeps below a cross. Rust is even cast as a Jesus-like figure in the finale: a long haired bearded man is left bleeding out from a stab wound in his side while in the arms of a loved one, he lies "dead" for several days until he experiences a sort of rebirth.
• Jade-Colored Glasses: Has such a prominent pair that it's almost a deconstruction because it shows what a psychological wreck a person becomes by wearing them.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Comes across as abrasive and is extremely cynical about humanity in general, but when he shows up drunk to dinner with Hart's family, he genuinely apologizes. Also, even though Marty tries to arrange an alibi for him to leave gracefully, Rust stays because he finds that he actually enjoys spending time with Marty's family, more than he thought he would.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Has very little empathy with criminals, no matter how he acts in interrogations. Once he manipulates a confession from The Marshland Medea, he recommends that she kills herself to avoid media and prison persecution.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Cohle often preaches about the futility of humanity, but nonetheless works as a detective to, as he says, "bear witness" and "keep the other bad men from the door." In Episode 7, Cohle admits that after he's done with righting this great wrong that he and Hart had inadvertently allowed to continue, he intends to die and put all the horror and tragedy of his life to rest.
• The Last Dance: His investigation from 2010 to 2012. At least that's what he thought he wanted at the time.
• Looks Like Jesus: Yes, get your laughs in now, but Rust looks a lot like Jesus when we first see him lie in a hospital bed.
• Manipulative Bastard: He is extraordinarily skilled at working out how people think, and using it to his advantage. Hart mentions that Rust spots weakness better than anyone he'd ever met. He mostly uses this talent to interrogate criminals, acting as if he's their friend and that confessing to him would be their best course of action (a variation on real life recommended police strategy). As soon as he gets a confession from them, the act drops and he lets them know how much the killers disgust him. Papania even calls him a manipulator in the season one finale.
• Meaningful Name: Rustin Cohle. Also the pronunciation of Hart and Cohle's surnames, which makes them sound like Hot and Cold. Also, Heart and Coal.
• The Mole: Was one for four years while working for a DEA task force in Texas. Undercover cops are supposed to be pulled out after 11 months, but Cohle kept going because the DEA was essentially using his self-destructive behavior to further their own ends and could do so with impunity because of a previous shooting that would otherwise have put Cohle in jail or, at the very least, gotten him kicked off the force.
• Misanthrope Supreme: Zig-Zagged. Rust says he believes human consciousness is a mistake and that mankind should have the guts to stop procreating and go extinct. But he never takes any steps towards that, and in fact spends most of his life trying to solve crimes against humans. Ultimately deconstructed, as it shows that it's a defense mechanism for Rust so that he won't feel the constant emotional pain he's in, as Marty points out:
  Marty: For a guy who sees no point in existence, you sure fret about it an awful lot..
• Mysterious Past: He grew up with a 'Nam vet turned survivalist father in Alaska, his daughter fell into a coma after a car accident and later died, his marriage fell apart, he went undercover for an extensive drug operation that turned him into an addict, was in a shooting, and spent time in a mental institution all before coming to Louisiana to work the Dora Lange case. He also visited Paris for a month at some point in the past; he claims that all he really did there was get drunk in front of Notre Dame Cathedral.
• Mr. Fanservice: He is played by Matthew McConaughey. He often wears his wifebeater to show off his impressive torso. When he’s dressed in his tight-fitting suits, he loosens his tie and rolls up his sleeves. At one point he even ends up in a leather jacket! His suit-and-tie ensembles are also notably more expensive, diverse, and color-coordinated than Hart’s more conventional attire.
• No Social Skills: He is aloof and often abrasive to other people, as seen during his stilted interactions with the other Louisiana police officers and the awkward dinner with Hart's family. Subverted when it becomes clear that Cohle is perfectly able to be social when he wants to be. He's an outstanding interviewer and can also adopt realistic personalities while undercover. He even maintains a brief relationship so as not to arouse suspicion. When he's not playing a part, however, he simply chooses not to be sociable.
• The Nothing After Death: This what he describes to Hart after having a near-death experience following his battle with Childress. Interestingly, he seems to find it comforting, as he will finally be free of conflict, and he believes that his father and his daughter are waiting for him there.
• Not So Stoic:
  • The first time Cohle and Hart have a confrontation, Rust actually takes his pulse afterwards, showing that he's not that emotionless as he lets himself appear to be.
  • After he realizes that Maggie has been using him for revenge on Marty, he actually screams at her to get out, the only time that he ever raises his voice in the series.
  • In the final episode, he breaks into tears as he recounts his near-death-experience to Marty.
• Odd Friendship:
  • With Marty, even though they don't like each other at first and probably wouldn't term their relationship 'friendship,' especially after their falling out, but still, the two have their subtle moments together, like Cohle playing devil's advocate for Marty when his wife learns of his affair, or Marty refusing to at first entertain the notion that Cohle has become a deranged copycat killer. It's mainly this because, in the end, they're not so different. Cohle also has one with Marty's wife Maggie. Although Maggie using him as a tool to get back at Marty sours that relationship as well.
  • Cohle and Maggie both seem to have moved past this in the future, and in the season finale, Cohle and Hart have strongly reaffirmed their friendship, even if it's in 'actions speak louder than words' kind of way. As Marty and his family seem to have finally reconciled after so many years, it's implied that Cohle and Maggie's relationship will begin to mend as well.
• Off the Wagon: Identifies himself as a recovering alcoholic, shows up to dinner with Hart's family drunk. By 2012, he's fully relapsed.
• Off Screen Moment Of Awesome: While undercover, he got in a shootout with members of a Mexican Cartel. He was shot four times (based off his Iron Crusaders jacket), but killed all of the Cartel hitmen.
• Outliving One's Offspring: His young daughter was killed in an automobile accident back when he was married. He doesn't like to talk too much about it, other than to mention that the tragedy drove a wedge between him and his wife leading to the dissolution of his marriage. His bleak outlook on the universe seems to be at least partly an outgrowth of that event.
• Perpetual Frowner: Is this in 1995.
• Pet the Dog: May be a misanthropic nihilist, but he still makes sure to individually direct two kids to hide in their bathtubs for safety in Episode 4 just before and during a riot.
• Pragmatic Hero: Cohle is clearly on the side of the angels. But he's not afraid to cross legal and ethical lines if it means he gets the results he desires.
• The Profiler: Has elements of this. Hart warns him not to be; if he's trying to fit the evidence into a presumed narrative, he'll bias his judgment of the facts.
• Sherlock Scan: Is able to pull these off, but outside of his job, saying it out loud usually gets him in trouble. Casually deducing that Hart is cheating in Episode 2 (which to be fair, a lot of people could have done) gets him slammed up against a locker.
• Signature Move: The wrist lock. He uses it in episode 2 in his locker room confrontation with Hart and the interrogation of the mechanic and in episode 6 when Hart attacks him in the parking lot.
• The Smart Guy: Hart highlights Cohle's intelligence several times just in the first episode.
• Straw Nihilist: He spends a lot of time talking about how humanity is evil and life is pointless. Hart lampshades how annoying his nihilist rants are. Ultimately deconstructed as it shows just how miserable and psychologically broken he is in order to believe it.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Cohle and Hart don't particularly care for each other when first partnered up.
• Trauma Conga Line: His whole life seems to be this in one way or another. His daughter died, his marriage broke apart, and he sees the worst humanity has to offer every day of his life. No wonder he's so cynical and nihilistic.
• The Unfettered: He doesn't care about career advancement, other people's feelings, or even his own safety, so he absolutely commits himself to his investigation.
• Unreliable Narrator: Insists in 2012 that his leave of absence in 1996 was to visit his father. In fact, he went undercover in a biker drug ring, and was involved in a major firefight/riot. He and Hart also covered up the latter's execution of Ledoux, telling the world that there was a firefight.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: He bent some ethical guidelines as an undercover cop and does so again on his unauthorized sting against the Iron Crusaders. Still, when Ginger ropes him into helping rob a rival gang's HQ, he makes sure that the children onsite are safe in the bathrooms.

Martin Hart

Det. Martin Eric 'Marty' Hart

"Do you wonder ever if you're a bad man?"

"You gotta take your release where you find it, or where it finds you. I mean, in the end it's for the good of the family."

Played By: Woody Harrelson

"I get the feeling like, I can see forty and it's like I'm the coyote in the cartoons, like I'm running off a cliff, and if I don't look down and keep running, I might be fine. But I think I'm all fucked up."

Partner of Rust Cohle, Marty is the more conservative of the pair. While he may not always understand Rust's methods, he respects his partner's commitment to police work and will run interference between Rust and their commanding officer. Marty has two daughters with his wife, Maggie.

---

• Actually Pretty Funny: When the occult task force rolls into the station, Rust mocks them mercilessly to their faces. This actually elicits an audible chuckle from Marty, who up until that point, and for most of the show after, had very little reason to smile around Rust.
• The Alcoholic: Descends into this over the course of the investigation. Early on, he brags that he can have one beer with lunch and "not need twenty more." However, as pressures build, he drinks more and more and becomes a belligerent drunk. After the case is initially closed, he joins a program as part of his efforts to win back his wife. After he returns to the investigation in 2012, he also starts drinking again.
• A Man Is Always Eager: Arguably the source of most of his problems, along with Poor Communication Kills and Crazy Jealous Guy. The man loves sex so much he doesn’t know how to tell his wife, and all too easily resorts to adultery even when he knows how badly it could backfire. He ends up paying for this.
• Bad Liar: When he lies he either stumbles and avoids eye contact if improvising or uses unnatural words in a robotic way that makes it obvious he's reciting a rehearsed story. He does surprisingly well hoodwinking an old colleague in 2012 however. He also manages to keep what really happened with Reggie Ledeux a secret.
• Beneath the Mask: A subtle example. On the surface he presents himself as a laid-back, easygoing family man who bears the responsibility of his job. Underneath, he cheats on his wife and has shades of volatile anger issues when Cohle calls him out on it and when he is outright cruel to his wife at home.
• Berserk Button: He goes nuts over anything relating to his sexual or romantic life.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Beneath Hart's laid-back Good Ol' Boy facade, he cheats on his wife and is dealing with psychological issues. Contrast with Cohle who doesn't bother with a facade and is utterly upfront with all his flaws.
• Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: He's willing to beat up two boys for having sex with his daughter, Audrey. To be fair, she was sixteen and they were nineteen and twenty.
• Break the Haughty: happens twice:
  • First, in 1995, Lisa, his mistress, gets jealous after he breaks into her house. She sees Maggie in person and, in front of his children, tells her about the affair. Maggie and the kids leave to stay with her parents and Hart breaks down after Maggie's father refuses to let him speak to the kids.
    • Ultimately Subverted since eventually they come back.
  • The second time around, in 2002, his daughter is caught in a three-way and she begins to loath him after he chastises her. Then Maggie founds out about his new mistress, Beth, and leaves for good, Skip ten years, and Hart lives alone, seeking out middle-aged women on online dating sites in an attempt to get his old life back.
• The Cameo: He and Cohle appear in online newspaper clippings in Season 3, and the events of the first season are discussed by woman interviewing Wayne Hays.
• Character Development: While he still spouts hypocritical advice and insights, by 2012 Hart has greater introspection and self-awareness, having realized that he didn't appreciate his wife and daughters enough in the 1990s. It comes to a head during the season finale, when he realizes that he's made a terrible mistake with his relationship with his family, and cries openly when they come to visit him.
• Cowboy Cop: Not as much as Cohle, but Marty proves that he'll bend or outright break some rules if it means getting the results he desires.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Arguably his defining trait. He goes nuts at the slightest suggestion of disloyalty from his partners. He’s about ready to fistfight Rust for chatting with his wife without him, even though Rust would never think of doing that.
  • When he sees his mistress, Lisa, going home with another man, he breaks down her door and terrorizes him. He promises to skull-fuck Lisa for personally telling Hart's wife about their affair in retaliation for Hart's breaking-and-entering. After his wife leaves him, Hart begs her to give him another chance at the hospital where she works and has to be held back by security, leaving only when prompted by Cohle regarding their case.
  • Notably, Maggie knows the only way she can get him to divorce is if she actually does cheat on him.
• Deadpan Snarker: Sarcasm helps him deal with Rust's philosophizing, arrogance, and abrasiveness.
  • Marty comments on Rust's deduction:
    Marty: You get that from one of your books? [...] You got a chapter in one of those books on jumping to conclusions?
  • Marty and Rust have a heart-to-heart:
    Rust: I'm bad at parties.
    Marty: Let me tell you. You ain't great outside of parties either.
  • His attempt to shut Rust up with his nihilistic rants:
    Marty: Let's make the car a place of silent reflection from now on, okay?
  • When Charlie Lange describes how it was to be Ledoux's cellmate:
    Marty: (while looking at Cohle) Had to be tough, living with someone spouting insane shit in your ear all day long.
  • When Rust rebuffs his complaining, Marty says this:
    Marty: Every time I think you hit a ceiling, you just keep raising the bar. You are like the Michael Jordan of being a son of a bitch.
• Defective Detective: He is a competent investigator; he drinks when his work gets too stressful; he has big anger issues, so he sometimes beats up suspects and even executes one on the spot, and at the slightest hint that his wife or his mistress may be unfaithful to him, he goes Crazy Jealous Guy.
• "Eureka!" Moment: He's the one who ultimately breaks the case wide open by asking "Why does the Green-Eared Spaghetti Monster have green ears? It's from the paint he used to paint one of the victims' houses.
  • Even better, the moment is foreshadowed by Cohle in the first episode when he explains his reason for his notebook and the detailed notes he keeps.
• Everyone Has Standards: He was disgusted that Beth, an underaged girl, was working at the whorehouse ranch, giving her money so that she could find a better life for herself. He's also quite annoyed his father in law's 'in my day' crap.
• The Face: He's the one that does the talking to their fellow policemen and superiors.
• Formerly Fit: By 2012, Hart has taken on a noticeable beer gut.
• Friend to All Children: Marty's problems with his own daughter aside, he's really sensitive about seeing violence against kids. That's what made him execute Ledoux on the spot and eventually, quit the force entirely.
• Future Loser: At the start of the case, Hart is a career-minded investigator with a loving family, a slim figure, a full head of hair, and a knack for attracting beautiful women. By 2012, Hart pretty much has none of those things. Solving the case, at the very least, opens up an opportunity to reconnect with Maggie and their daughters.
• Growing Up Sucks: Part of what drives him to act. He's longing for the days when he and his wife "could have a perfectly good time without leaving my bedroom." But now that they have kids, they can't just do that like they used to.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He is extremely impulsive, like when he executes Ledoux out of disgust.
• Hidden Depths: Despite his good ol' boy persona, Marty is more affected by the horrors of his job than he would like to admit. But his inability to talk about it and preference to ignore his problems eventually screw him big time. He also proves to be a very competent investigator who eventually cracks the case.
• Hypocrite:
  • In episode 3 ("The Locked Room"), 2012 Marty natters on about the importance of family and boundaries, while 1995 Marty bursts into his mistress's apartment and beats her date up. Mind you, he's flying into a rage because the woman he's cheating on his wife with is seeing someone else.
  • He justifies his affair with a courthouse employee essentially as letting off steam and states that it is ultimately "for the good of the family." He is saying this in 2012 with a left hand entirely devoid of a wedding ring.
  • Hart continually calls out Cohle for his perpetual angst, but indulges in it just as much himself where his family life is concerned. Even in the car, which he designated an angst-free zone after Cohle's first misanthropic rant.
  • While he seems sad when his wife tells him that she knows he's cheating on her again, he calls her a "whore" and threatens her after she tells him that she slept with Cohle.
  • His rage at his daughter sleeping with men who were older than her (she was 16, they were 19 and 20) admittedly rings slightly hollow after he starts an affair with Beth, a young woman he has at least thirty years on and who he first met as (in his own words) a child prostitute. It's not quite the same thing but it does make his morals look even shakier.
• It's All About Me: He has this in spades throughout 1995 and 2002, as he believes that his family is meant to serve him, rather than the other way around. He gets over this, but after realizing how much he screwed everything up.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He is a jerk and a hypocrite. But he's not entirely without redeeming merit; he's good at his job, has several moments of sincere generosity, kindness and decency towards his workmates and civilians throughout the series, and by 2012 appears to have developed some self-awareness and regret about his own failings. He's also quick to defend the ordinary people who are often the subject of Cohle's misanthropic and at-times self-righteous contempt. He also does love his family, in his way, and among the self-awareness and regrets he's developed by 2012 is that he wasn't the better husband and father to them that they deserved.
• Kavorka Man: He's not exactly the most handsome man on the force, but he has a gorgeous wife and attracts two busty young bombshells (one of whom is barely drinking age) who become totally obsessed with him.
• Kick the Dog: After he finds out his daughter was fooling around with two men in a car, he calls her a slut then slaps her when she tells him to go fuck himself.
  • When his wife tries to talk to him about their marital issues and get him to open up about the trauma he faces at his work every day, he deflects and accuses her of seeking pity, even having the audacity to tell her that she 'has a penchant for self-pity.'
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Him executing Ledoux after finding the children he kidnapped and tortured most definitely qualifies. When Cohle learns why he did it, he approves, saying that he is "glad to see you [Hart] commit to something" and immediately helps Hart go about staging the scene to fit their false narrative. This later comes to bite them in the ass when they realize years later they did not get all the killers, and that they just offed their only two leads on the subject.
• Killer Cop: Hart straight-up executes Ledoux after discovering the extent of his crimes. Cohle previously executed a meth head who injected his own daughter with crystal meth.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: While Marty is a competent cop, it's Rust who primarily pushes through the Dora Lange case. At least until 2012, when seeing the tape from Billy Lee Tuttle's house puts him into top gear. He also ends up cracking the case by figuring out the connection behind the Green-Eared Spaghetti Monster.
• Madonna-Whore Complex: A classic example of it, as was noted by Slate magazine. Like the classic Freudian example, he lets his categorization of girls as "good girls" or "whores" drive him to some awful things, like cheating on his wife.
• Manly Tears: When he reunites with his family after confronting Childress, he tries to play it off but he eventually weeps in their presence.
• Meaningful Name: His surname is homophone for heart. It's both meaningful and ironic for a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
• Never My Fault: Hart is prone to this, variously blaming his family, job, a midlife crisis, his father's death and even Cohle for his affair.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Had Hart not shot Reggie Ledoux in a rage, he and Cohle would have likely cracked the case many, many years earlier, and many lives would have also been saved.
• Odd Friendship: Zig-Zagged with Cohle. They don't always get along, with Marty viewing Cohle as an asshole and Cohle resenting Marty for throwing away something he lost. There are points where the two absolutely detest each other, such as when Maggie cheats on Marty with Rust. But there are also points where the two seem to be getting on as well. Played straight by the end of the series once they really go through the shit together.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: His partnership with Cohle.
• Poor Communication Kills: He and his wife aren't great at talking things out. A few communication lessons might've gone a long way.
• Pride: A bit too much of this leads to his second affair. A former teen prostitute he was kind to once recognizes him, then calls him a hero for what he did in the '95 shoot-out. That's all it takes, apparently.
• Rabid Cop: He is a hot-headed detective who's prone to committing violence
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: He's very disturbed by what he sees in his job, which is part of what leads to him acting out. Truth in Television - police detective is a stressful job with weird hours, and the divorce rate is high.
• Simple-Minded Wisdom: This trope is played with; by all accounts, Hart's a competent detective, but not as cerebral as Cohle. However, Hart's the only one to call out Cohle on his rampant contemplation of navels and other acts of anti-social behavior during their time as police detectives. Hart also actually notices that Cohle cares about things, despite all the talk..
  Hart: For a guy who sees no point in existence, you sure fret about it an awful lot.
• Unreliable Narrator: His first lie is that Cohle visited his father, when in fact the two went undercover in a biker ring. He and Cohle also tell Gilbough and Papania that there was a firefight at Ledoux's meth lab. The flashbacks show that Hart actually executed Ledoux.
• Verbal Tic: Is prone to making a "psst" sound when being dismissive of something.

Maggie Hart

Maggie Hart

"In a former life I used to exhaust myself navigating crude men who thought they were clever."

Played By: Michelle Monaghan

A nurse at the local hospital, Maggie is married to Louisiana State Police detective Martin Hart. They met in college and now have two daughters together. Intelligent and outspoken, her instincts are as sharp as her husband's.

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• A Day in the Limelight: Gets an important role in Episode 6, where she is interviewed by Gilbough and Papania and revealing how the final blow to her marriage came about.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Hart's affair. In 2012, she says that she realized that she couldn't hate Marty, as he 'never really knew himself' as she put it. That said, she never goes back to him after he cheats the second time, and for good reason.
• Genre Savvy: When being interviewed by Papania and Gilbough, she says that after being married to a cop for so long she's aware of the tricks used in interviews, and tells them to just get straight to the point.
• Good Adultery, Bad Adultery: Subverted. She might seem like a textbook sympathetic adulterer, cheating to get even with her philandering husband, but in doing so, she takes advantage of Cohle's emotional connection to her and destroys their friendship.
• Hospital Hottie: She’s a nurse and is played by the stunningly beautiful Michelle Monaghan.
• Jerkass Has a Point: She comes across as cold and hostile at times but she's consistently justified in being angry at Marty. All her criticisms of him as a husband and father end up being vindicated.
• Kick the Dog: Telling Cohle "he must have been a great husband" after he plays devil's advocate for Marty to her. To her credit, she almost immediately looks incredibly guilty, especially when Cohle just stares at her and then walks out of the diner they were eating in.
  • Then even more brutally done when she has sex with Cohle — who is clearly drunk at the time — solely to get revenge on Marty. Rust screams at her to get out, the only time in the entire series to that point that Rust has raised his voice.
• The Matchmaker: She's determined to set Rust up with a nice girl.
• Ms. Fanservice: She is played by Michelle Monaghan after all, so that's a given.
• Odd Friendship: Maggie, the sweet married mother has a genuine, platonic friendship with alcoholic, stoical Rust. Sadly, it disintegrates once Maggie uses Rust to break up her marriage with Marty by having sex with him.
• Poor Communication Kills: She's often right in her assessments of Marty, but probably says them a little harder than she has to. This is something they're both guilty of.
• Unreliable Narrator: She claims to have no idea why Marty and Cohle fell out in 2002, nor to have understood Cohle very well. She and Cohle actually had a pretty well-developed friendship, and it was her having sex with Cohle in order to extract revenge on Marty that led to Cohle and Marty's fall out.
• Woman Scorned: She's understandably pissed at Marty for cheating again, so she retaliates by banging Cohle, not only ending her marriage with Marty but also torpedoing Marty and Rust's partnership.

Maynard Gilbough

Det. Maynard Gilbough

Played By: Michael Potts

One of two detectives who interview Cohle and Hart about the Dora Lange case.

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• Characters as Device: Gilbough and Papania's contribution in episode 1-6 is essentially to interrogate Cohle, Marty, and Maggie. Episode 7 gives additional depth by hinting they're being manipulated by their superiors.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Gilbough notes the inconsistencies in Rust's story, which makes him think Rust could be the killer. While he's wrong on that front, his read on Cohle is only a few degrees off. Cohle also didn't help his case by spouting off his nihilistic philosophies and refusing to let them inside of his storage locker, which only made him look more suspicious.
• Foil: Gilbough's stoicism parallels Cohle, though he is far less talkative and preachy than Cohle.
• Hero Antagonist: Not only Papania and Gilbough are pushy and probing in their interviews, similar to Rust and Cohle during their prime in '95, but they also suspect Rust to be the murderer. While they work against the heroes, they are still working for the same greater good that Rust and Marty are ultimately seeking out.
• Paper Tiger: He and Papania imply that they are sitting on a lot of important information about the Lake Charles killing, and imply later on that they have compelling evidence that Cohle is the killer. In truth, their investigation is going nowhere.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue one. He's generally the more stoic one in he and Papania's partnership.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: He's suspicious of Cohle, realizing his stories don't always line up. While he's wrong about Cohle possibly being the killer, he's only a few degrees off, deducing that Cohle isn't telling the entire truth about what happened during the investigation.
• The Stoic: As Hart says, Gilbough is very difficult to read. If the two pairs of detectives, old and new, were compared, then Gilbough would be Cohle, though not as dramatic.
• Unwitting Pawn: He and Papania are for Cohle, who is using them to get information on the 2012 case. Cohle also fears that they're being manipulated by police or influential men in the Yellow King cult.

Thomas Papania

Det. Thomas Papania

Played By: Tory Kittles

One of two detectives who interview Cohle and Hart about the Dora Lange case.

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• Characters as Device: Gilbough and Papania's contribution in episode 1-6 is essentially to interrogate Cohle, Marty, and Maggie. Episode 7 gives additional depth by hinting they're being manipulated by their superiors.
• Foil: to Hart. They are both the more emotional of their respective partnerships. And both, at some point, think Rust is crazy.
• Hero Antagonist: Not only Papania and Gilbough are pushy and probing in their interviews, similar to Rust and Cohle during their prime in '95, but they also suspect Rust to be the murderer. While they work against the heroes, they are still working for the same greater good that Rust and Marty are ultimately seeking out.
• Paper Tiger: He and Papania imply that they are sitting on a lot of important information about the Lake Charles killing, and imply later on that they have compelling evidence that Cohle is the killer. In truth, their investigation is going nowhere.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Slightly more emotional than his partner Gilbough.
• Unwitting Pawn: He and Gilbough are for Cohle, who is using them to get information on the 2012 case. Cohle also fears that they're being manipulated by police or influential men in the Yellow King cult.

Louisiana CID

Ken Quesada

Major Ken Quesada

Played By: Kevin Dunn

The head of the Louisiana CID branch where Cohle and Hart work, who is under pressure to close the Dora Lange case.

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• Da Chief: Of the CID branch in 1995. Is quite agitated by the political pressure he's facing to solve this case.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Shown when Hart and Cohle catch Reggie Ledoux. Before then he was just under a lot of pressure.
  "Cohle, you couldn't manage to get shot?"
• Put on a Bus: Has retired by 2002.

Steve Geraci

Sheriff Steve Geraci

Played By: Michael J. Harney

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• Blind Date: Was once set up with one of Maggie's friends. Ended quickly after he vomited in her lap.
• Chekhov's Gunman: In his first appearance, he does little other than briefly antagonize Cohle. He doesn't appear again until the last two episodes of the series, when it's revealed that he assisted in covering up the Marie Fontenot case.
• Defective Detective: Like Marty, Geraci is a heavy drinker in 1995; one of the justifications he gives in 2012 for his cover-up of the Marie Fontenot disappearance is that his drinking problem blinded him to what was going on around him.
• Dirty Cop: Not in the traditional sense, he's just too selfish, lazy and incompetent to do his job properly and makes everything easier for the real bad guys.
• Everyone Has Standards: He might be a jerk, but he's horrified when Cohle shows him the Tuttle tape.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: He was an uncouth jerk in the 90s, but in 2012 he seems to have mellowed out and become friendlier, only to revert back to his Jerkass behavior when he's confronted by Marty and Rust.
• Just Following Orders: His rationalisation for the things he does.
• The Sheriff: By 2012 he's become a Sheriff of his own parish^note A "parish" in Louisiana is the equivalent to a county in most of the United States.

Leroy Salter

Major Leroy Salter

Played By: Paul Ben-Victor

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• Da Chief: A textbook example. Has little patience for Rust's shenanigans and resorts to the classic Turn in Your Badge and gun disciplinary method.
• Deadpan Snarker: He's brutally sarcastic. Bonus points for calling Hart 'the human tampon'.
• Hot-Blooded: Salter is constantly angry.
• Large Ham: Big time, particularly in the scene where he rolls his rs when he tells Cohle to never, ever talk to the other victims' families again. Paul Ben-Victor clearly had a great time with the role.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: All he does on-screen is stop Rust from continuing his investigation in the Tuttle Family.

Hart's Family

Audrey Hart

Audrey Hart

Played By: Madison Wolfe & Erin Moriarty

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• Bratty Teenage Daughter: After the Time Skip to 2002, when she's become a goth-grungey rebellious type and become sexually promiscuous. Clearly The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes.
• Sibling Rivalry: Scenes imply that she's jealous of her little sister, which resulted in sibling bullying. The first scene that shows this, is during episode 5, before the Time Skip.
• The Unfavorite: Audrey believes that Martin treats Macie better, which might be the reason for the Sibling Rivalry.
• Three-Way Sex: After the Time Skip, she's caught with two young adult men having sex.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Has a disturbing fixation with sex, posing her dolls in positions that resemble a gang-rape, and getting in trouble at school for drawing people having sex in her notebook. It foreshadows 2002, where she is picked up by Sheriffs about to have a three way with two adults in a pickup truck.

Macie Hart

Maisie Hart

Played By: Meghan Wolfe & Brighton Sharbino

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• Unknown Rival: Doesn't seem to realize how much her older sister is jealous of her and believe she's the favorite between the two of them.

Jake Herbert

Jake Herbert

Played By: Thomas Francis Murphy

Maggie's dad and Marty's father-in-law, who gruffly expressed concern to Marty back in 1995 about kids these days...

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• Everyone Has Standards: Is quite understandably vexed when he learns that Hart had been cheating on his daughter, and calls him a 'fucking asshole' on the phone.
• Grumpy Old Man: How he comes across, complaining about 'young people'.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Might be a bigoted jerk, but he sincerely cares about his daughter and is disgusted by Hart's infidelity.
• Innocently Insensitive: Loudly complains about this generation being terrible when Marty is a police officer who takes pride in making the world better.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: Seems lowkey racist and generally oblivious. More justifiably, he completely refuses to allow Marty to speak with Maggie after she leaves him in 1995.
• Racist Grandma: Says in his day, people stayed married and kids weren't foolish enough to march in the streets. Considering the timeline and his tone, he's probably complaining about anti-war protests or the civil rights movement. He's also not accounting that there were probably plenty of people who wanted to get divorced back then who just couldn't because no-fault divorce didn't exist yet.
• Slobs Versus Snobs: His home seems much nicer than Marty's. It's implied that being from a much nicer economic background is part of why he and Marty don't get along.

Tuttle Ministries

Billy Lee Tuttle

Billy Lee Tuttle

"I've seen more souls lost down a bottle than any pit. At the same time, it's hard to trust a man who can't trust himself with a beer."

Played By: Jay O. Sanders

A high-ranking reverend with a cousin in office, who founded a number of private Christian schools somehow connected to the Lange case.

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• Ambiguous Situation: He dies shortly after Rust steals the tape of the Marie Fontenot murder from his home, as a result of “mixed medications”. Was he killed by another cult member? Did he commit suicide, and if he did was he pressured into it by the cult? Or was his death genuinely an accident? There’s also the possibility Rust really did kill him and lie to Marty about it, although it’s unlikely.
• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: When it becomes apparent Cohle is onto him, Tuttle indirectly explains how he will be discredited if he pursues this case further.
• Condescending Compassion: He describes how much of a shame it is to see 'so many souls lost down in a bottle' while talking about Theriot's leaving, but he makes it implicitly clear that he knows about Cohle's substance abuse issues and will take steps to discredit him if he keeps snooping around.
• Corrupt Church: Is in charge of one, and has become wealthy enough to afford four mansions with the profits.
• Faux Affably Evil: Tuttle has an easy smile, a genial manner and is unfailingly polite to the police. He's also behind a coverup of some pretty horrific scandals at his ministry and private schools, which Cohle also believes to be connected to the occult murders. And of course he took part in sexual abuse, rapes and murders to an unspecified degree.
• Foregone Conclusion: Tuttle dies in 2010. Despite it seeming that Cohle killed him, he didn't. Cohle instead guesses that the other members of the Yellow King group killed Tuttle before he could be blackmailed with the evidence Cohle stole.
• Greater-Scope Villain: He is ultimately revealed to have been a leader of the Carcosa cult whose rape and ritualized killing of hundreds of children inspired the murders driving the plot of the first season.
• He Knows Too Much: Died shortly after Rust stole evidence of his activities; Rust speculates the rest of the cult killed him to keep him from being blackmailed.
• Held Gaze: He and Cohle share one in their first meeting. In this case, however, it becomes a case of Xanatos Speed Chess as both of them try to find out what the other knows by how they react.
• Large and in Charge: Towers over most other characters.
• No-Sell: It's noted many times that Cohle can look suspects in the eye and figure out how to break them. When he sits down with Tuttle, the man stares right back, and the two have a very intense Battle of Wits.
• Offscreen Villainy: Like the protagonists, we never personally see him committing any crimes, but the evidence strongly suggests he was one of the ringleaders of the cult.
  • It’s all but certain he participated in Marie Fontenot’s rape and murder, since he has a tape of it in his house. It just can’t be completely confirmed since none of the men in the video take off their masks.
• Pedophile Priest: Reverend, but still.
• Sinister Minister: He has a major role in the Carcosa cult. At the same time, he's trying to set up an 'Anti-Christian Crimes' task force.
• Villain with Good Publicity: He's a big name in religious circles and is well-known as the founder of Christian schools. The fact that he's also the cousin of Senator Tuttle makes him an even more well-respected and untouchable pillar of society.
• Would Hurt a Child: Photo evidence proves that he took part in the Yellow King rituals and child abuse at his schools.

Joel Theriot

Joel Theriot

Played By: Shea Whigham

A traveling preacher whose congregation the killer appears to have visited, and who previously worked at one of Tuttle's schools.

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• The Alcoholic: He turns to alcohol after his experience with Tuttle.
• Evil Stole My Faith: After his experience with Tuttle's church, the constant vandalism of his church tent, and the psychological effects of his alcohol abuse, Joel quit preaching. It's left ambiguous how his personal belief was affected, though.
• Foil: To Rust. Joel's sermon techniques are a much showier version of Rust's interrogation techniques. Both men resigned from their jobs after uncovering an apparent conspiracy and being blocked at every turn, and both men turned to alcohol later in life. However, Joel's deeply held religious views are practically the polar opposite of Rust's.
• Good Shepherd: Joel might initially give off Sinister Minister vibes, but he's genuine in his intent and a true believer.
• Interfaith Smoothie: There's something very Gnostic-sounding about Joel's nominally-Christian preaching: "This world is a veil, and the face you wear is not your own. Your sorrows pin you to this place -- they divide you from what your heart knows."
  • The comment about the face is also a tie to the Yellow King, suggesting the Tuttles' public philosophy had taken some root in him before he rejected the corruption beneath.
• Large Ham: His sermons are something to behold. Shia Whigham was really giving his all with this performance.
• Preacher Man: Although he is actually the minister for a local congregation, his appearance in 1995 is styled like he is a traveling tent-revival preacher. It makes sense, as the church building burned down and the outdoor meetings are supposed to be a temporary situation.
• Suspiciously Specific Sermon: His sermon makes references to masks and veils that resemble the ramblings of individuals associated with the killings. This makes sense, given that the killer attended his sermons and may have derived some of his phrases from Theriot.

Extended Tuttle Family

Sam Tuttle

Sheriff Sam Tuttle

Played By: N/A

The former sheriff of Vermilion Parish and the patriarch of the Tuttle clan, likely deceased. He sired many bastard children, according to his former maid Miss Dolores, who also said that he is the grandfather of Errol (a.k.a., the Lawnmower Man). He was the father of Billy Lee Tuttle and uncle of Eddie Tuttle.

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• Greater-Scope Villain: Just about everything can be traced back to Sam Tuttle. He raped 'Betty' and most certainly raped his grandson Errol as a boy, likely numerous times, and gave him the scars that would mark him for the rest of his life. Sam Tuttle turned Errol into a monster.
• Karma Houdini: Even though he may have created and at the very least sustained the child-raping cult of Carcosa, and was responsible for the horrific rape, torture, mutilation and murder of many children including his own kin, Sam Tuttle was never exposed. He likely died of old age or something else fairly innocuous.
• Posthumous Character: Long dead before the events of the show.
• The Unseen: Sam Tuttle is never seen in the series, and he's never spoken of in the present tense so he's likely deceased.

Edwin Tuttle

Senator Edwin Tuttle

Played By: N/A

Louisiana governor in 1995 and a senator in 2012; also the cousin of Reverend Billy Lee Tuttle.

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• Corrupt Politician: He was instrumental in covering up the activities of the Yellow King/Carcosa cult and his family's activities.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Much like Sam Tuttle, his power and influence allowed the Carcosa murders to go undiscovered, unpunished and uninterrupted for decades.
• Karma Houdini: None of the Tuttles are arrested for their connections to the Carcosa cult.
  • Karma Houdini Warranty: Possibly. A news report shown at the hospital where Marty and Rust are recovering does mention the Tuttles in connection with the killings. It’s possible law enforcement brought charges against the Tuttles after further investigation, but even if they didn’t their reputation is likely destroyed for good.
• The Unseen: The Senator is never actually seen, but he's mentioned enough that his presence is felt heavily.

Ted Childress

Ted Childress

Played By: N/A

The former sheriff of Vermilion Parish who closed the Marie Fontenot report in 1990.

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• Corrupt Cop: He's the one who makes sure that the Marie Fontenot case is never properly investigated.
• The Sheriff: Uses his position in law enforcement to cover up the Tuttle Family's crimes.

The Yellow King

In General

The Yellow King

Played By: Charles Halford, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Glenn Fleshler, Jay O. Sanders

A mysterious group comprised of both influential and ordinary people who are responsible for the molestation of hundreds of young children. Their beliefs, motives and purpose is unclear.

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• The Conspiracy: In Episode 7, it's revealed that it's a group of men committing the murders, not just one.
• Dirty Cop: Cohle suspects some members are police.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Of the first season. Most members are never seen on screen, and by the end of the series, Senator Edwin Tuttle is all who remains. Also implied to be this of the third season, which has the scene that links the Yellow King symbol to a sign used by pedophiles.
• Hidden Villain: The Yellow King may even be a conspiratorial group rather than one man.
• Interclass Friendship: A very dark example of this. The cult includes poor backwoods-dwellers like the Ledoux boys and Errol as well as some of the richest and most powerful people in Louisiana.
• Interfaith Smoothie: The cult's theology is never fully revealed, but it appears to be a mixture of Lovecraft-esque mythos, Acadian folklore, and old Cajun supernatural beliefs dating back to colonial times or even earlier. Assuming Tuttle's ministry isn't solely a cover, it would appear the cult also draws on elements of southern baptist evangelical Christianity as well... or a very twisted interpretation of it at any rate. This would be supported by Joel mentioning some of the cult's beliefs during his sermon, suggesting there's a Lovecraft-Cajun-Christian fusion going on.
• Karma Houdini: Marty and Rust manage to take down Errol Childress, clearly the worst and craziest of the cultists, as well as Reggie and DeWall Ledoux, but a few of the others remain unknown and at large. Marty points out that they'll most likely never catch them...but at least they caught theirs.
• Malevolent Masked Men: They wear masks from a sort of local Mardi Gras celebration, including animal masks. These are worn during all Yellow King activities and rapes, to prevent identification.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Depending on how much of the last episode is ascribed to Cohle's hallucinations. Errol Childress seems to somehow be able to track Cohle's location and continue speaking to him seemingly from nowhere, as Cohle tracks him through the ruined building. Then Cohle has a conveniently timed hallucination that allows him to be ambushed, of a Lovecraft-esque cosmic void. The nature of the entire scene is intentionally ambiguous enough for Cohle not to be hallucinating.
• Secret Society Group Picture: Cohle finds them in Tuttle's safe. The group's also branched out from pictures to child-rape videos. They wear masks in all of them though.
• Serial Killer: The amount of victims is unknown, but Cohle seems to believe it may be at least a double figure number. Ultimately averted; there is no 'lone' Serial Killer but a highly organized group.
• Would Hurt a Child: The entire "Yellow King" cult/Tuttle ministry runs on this, with the ritualized molestation, rape, torture and murder of children farmed from Tuttle's schools.

The Creature in the Tall Grass

The Creature in the Tall Grass/The Green-Eared Spaghetti Monster/Errol William Childress

Played By: Glenn Fleshler

"My family's been here a long, long time."

The mysterious Serial Killer who murdered Dora Lange.

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• Abusive Offspring: He is shown to keep his emaciated, abusive father trapped on a bed, starved and apparently unable to speak.
• Abusive Parents: His grandfather gave him the scars on his face and his family almost certainly abused him within their cult, based on his cryptic words to Cohle.
• A God Am I: If his ramblings about his upcoming ascendance can be taken into consideration, it appears he thinks of himself as a higher being than other humans.
• Ax-Crazy: Complete with axe! He uses a hatchet with a hammer-head (befitting The Brute) against Cohle and Hart.
• Beneath Suspicion: He's the groundsman of Tuttle's school and Cohle quickly forgets him; he's actually Tuttle's nephew and a key member of the group.
• Big Bad: Though he's ultimately only one member of the cult, his murders are what drive the plot of the first season.
• Boom, Headshot!: He ultimately dies when Cohle blows half of his head off with Hart's dropped gun as he prepares to kill Hart.
• The Brute: This was apparently Errol's role in the cult. He's just a lowly handyman, but he's large, strong, and a particularly depraved sadist.
• Cult: Possibly the most dangerous member of the Carcosa cult. However, he seems to have gone off the reservation slightly. The cult seems to have largely faded, and Errol seems to be the only one who's keeping the 'rituals' going.
• Death Seeker: Childress believes that being killed will bring him to a new existence.
• Depraved Bisexual: Raped and tortured grown women, along with young girls and boys.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: The gardener Cohle has a conversation with outside one of Tuttle's schools in one scene? He's the Big Bad.
• Drugs Are Bad: Gives his victims meth and LSD.
• Evil Brit: Played with. In his one POV scene, after he's revealed to be the final villain, he spends much of it affecting an upperclass British accent and spouting high-brow quotes.
• Faux Affably Evil: When outside of his 'natural environment', he is polite and helpful. Underneath this facade, he's a monster who preys on women and children, and does nightmarish things to them before killing them as part of hie beliefs in the cult.
• Fat Bastard: He has a big bloated belly. He's also one of, if not the, biggest monsters in the series.
• Fat Slob: Errol lives in an absolute pigsty of a home; the door is partially busted in, rotting food lies everywhere, discarded clothes of his victims, unwashed plates and all sorts of other miscellaneous crap.
• Freudian Excuse: Was sexually abused and tortured by his father along with countless other children as part of the cult's rituals, which is what drives him to do the same to countless other children and young women.
• The Ghost: The only glimpse seen of him is a silhouette as he arranges Dora Lange's body, in the first scene of the first episode. Subverted in that he appears in a brief scene where Cohle asks him questions, then the ending of episode 7 and the start of episode eight focuses on Errol.
• Genius Bruiser: Despite what his appearance may suggest, Errol proves to be quite intelligent and is shown to be well versed in literature, philosophy, and religion. He also has the ability to mimic accents that he hears on his TV.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Errol Childress, a man who tortures and kills kids, has ugly scars on his face.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: He's only seen in the final two episodes, and of course his very brief appearance early on when he was Beneath Suspicion.
• Hidden Villain: The actual killer of Dora Lange is not seen for much of the series.
• Implacable Man: He takes three headbutts from Cohle and two gunshots from Hart, and still manages to throw a hatchet into Hart's chest and almost kill him.
• Ironic Name: Errol Childress is an abuser and killer of children.
• Large and in Charge: He's a tall, broad and fat man and is very involved with the cult.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Depending on how much of the last episode is ascribed to Cohle's hallucinations. Errol seems to somehow be able to track Cohle's location and continue speaking to him seemingly from nowhere, as Cohle tracks him through the ruined building. Then Cohle has a conveniently timed hallucination that allows him to be ambushed, of a Lovecraft-esque cosmic void. The nature of the entire scene is intentionally ambiguous enough for Cohle not to be hallucinating.
• Psycho Knife Nut: Seems to favour knives as instruments of murder.
• Psychopathic Manchild: He and his sister are both described by the show's creator as like children who have been left alone for too long.
• Red Right Hand:
  • Is visually distinguished by his facial scars. When hunting him down, Hart and Cohle often make the same hand gesture around their chins when asking about "The Man With Scars."
  • The green ears. They're from the paint he once used to paint a house. He spotted one of his targets and gave chase. She then described him as a "green-eared spaghetti monster" when questioned by the police.
• Self-Made Orphan: He killed his father, William Lee Childress, tying him to a bed in a locked shed with his lips sewn together, presumably killing him of exposure to the heat.
• Serial Killer: It's eventually revealed that the murders are a mixture of cult sacrifices and lone killings by a remnant of the cult: serial killer Errol Childress.
• Softspoken Sadist: He has a quiet and soft Southern accent. And is a sadistic torturer and killer of women and children.
• Stout Strength: Is pretty fat, but strong and tough enough to lift Cohle bodily with the knife he has jammed in his stomach, and hold him there while Cohle continuously headbutts him.
• Tragic Villain: He was almost certainly raped by the Yellow King Cult as a child and is quite insane as an adult. Word of God suggests he made his murders so ostentatious in order to draw public attention to the cult that abused him.
• Villainous Incest: Errol has sex with a mentally challenged woman who is confirmed by DNA tests to be his half-sister. It's also strongly suggested to have been done by his father upon Errol as a child.
• Would Hurt a Child: His victims are mostly children farmed from Tuttle's schools.

Ledoux Family

Reggie Ledoux

Reggie Ledoux

"I saw you in my dream. You're in Carcosa now, with me."

Played By: Charles Halford

The prime suspect in the Dora Lange case.

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• Asshole Victim: Executed by Hart, who discovered the children Ledoux had abducted and killed.
• Boom, Headshot!: Hart shoots him through the side of the head, and the bullet blows his face to pieces upon exiting.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Apparently, despite his obvious insanity, he really was quite a talented drug cook.
• Creepy Souvenir: The most logical reason for why he walks around his house wearing a very faded My Little Pony towel.
• Depraved Bisexual: He kept two children at his compound as sex slaves and he took part in the "rituals" that went on at the Tuttle schools.
• Disc-One Final Boss: He's the prime suspect, but he's not the culprit, or not the main one at any rate. Later episodes suggest that him and DeWall assisted in carrying out the murders, as well as in sexually abusing children as part of the cult's rituals, but they weren't the lead killers.
• Drugs Are Bad: He's a meth cook, and frequent user.
• Framing the Guilty Party: Ledoux and his cousin DeWall (who also died at the farm) were involved in the rape, torture and murder of children that forms the central case, but as mooks and not the main figurehead or villain. Deconstructed in Episode 7 however, when Cohle and Hart acknowledge that by executing him and covering it up they gave up a valuable lead. Then again, it's likely that if they'd successfully arrested Reggie, he'd just have committed suicide on the cult's orders.
• Evil Counterpart: To Rust. His relationship with Charlie Lange mirrors that of Rust's and Marty's relationship and his "Time is a flat circle" quote is repeated by Rust himself. Hinting that he and Reggie may have had similar philosophies.
• Evil Sounds Deep: He has some notable bass to his voice.
• Ghostapo: He has several swastika tattoos and associates with a white power biker gang. He also has several Satanic tattoos and associates with a twisted cult.
• Gonk: If it's at all possible to have a non-animation example of this, Reggie debatably qualifies. He's an extraordinarily gross and feral-looking man in a show that's full of visually-unappealing characters. His mangy hair, tattoos, and nakedness make him a memorable villain despite his limited screen time.
• Large and in Charge: He towers over Marty and Rust, and his police file lists him as 6-foot-7.
• Machete Mayhem: He's seen with a machete stalking around his home, but he's never seen using it.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Reggie claims to have seen Cohle in a precognitive dream. Since Ledoux is invoking Lovecraftian mythology, he could be telling the truth. It's possible he's just mentally unstable or spun out on meth, or that he's trying to freak Rust out.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: His rape of two children is what prompts Hart to kill him.
• Scary Teeth: His teeth are noticeably rotten.
• Storyboard Body: Reggie seems to consider his body a canvas, and has acted accordingly.
• Tattooed Crook: His art includes such lovely features as 666, a few swastikas, and a hangman's noose around his neck.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Unfortunately for the viewers, he spends the entirety of his screen time wearing the bare minimum.
• Wicked Cultured: In spite of looking like a homeless meth fiend, he's apparently familiar with Nietzsche and The King in Yellow.
• Would Hurt a Child: Along with his two accomplices, he killed at least one child, and left another horrifically traumatized. He's wanted for jumping bail on a statutory rape charge, before anyone even suspected him of involvement in the cult.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Claims to have foreseen his own arrest, and possibly his own death. He offers no resistance while being cuffed and made to kneel, and even smiles while rambling about esoteric happenings.

De Wall Ledoux

DeWall Ledoux

Played By: Ólafur Darri Ólafsson

"You got demons little man. And I don't like your face. Makes me want to do things to it."

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• Asshole Victim: Let's just say no one shed any tears when he accidentally blew himself up.
• Commie Nazis: A devil-worshiping, Nazi, pedophile, meth cook and possible Serial Killer.
• Fat Bastard: Notably more overweight than his cousin. Very much a bastard as well, as he threatens to kill Cohle simply for getting a bad vibe from him and also molesting and killing children.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: DeWall, that genius, steps on one of his own land mines.
• Karmic Death: Blows himself up with one of his own landmines.
• Land Mine Goes "Click!": And boom goes DeWall.
• Ludicrous Gibs: He steps on one of his land mines and explodes very messily.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: He claims to be able to see Cohle's soul, and the corruption in his eyes within minutes of meeting him. Considering just how mentally disturbed Cohle is, Dewall is strikingly convincing. Even Rust is spooked by De Wall's assessment.
• Would Hurt a Child: He and his cousin were keeping two children as sex slaves.

Other Characters

Dora Lange

Dora Kelly Lange

Played By: Amanda Rose Batz

The first victim that Hart and Cohle encounter, whose murder kicks off the entire investigation. The 28-year-old former prostitute was found dead in Erath in 1995 wearing antlers, with a spiral tattooed on her back.

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• Abusive Parents: It's heavily implied that her father sexually abused her.
• Drop Dead Gorgeous: Her body is found naked and...positioned.
• Posthumous Character: She's the murder victim that kicks off the events of the series.

Charlie Lange

Charlie Lange

Played By: Brad Carter

Dora Lange’s ex-husband, whom Hart and Cohle interview in prison. He is Reggie Ledoux’s former cellmate.

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• Beard of Evil: He is a convict and has a beard.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While he is a criminal, he cares about his estranged wife. He's horribly upset about her passing and feels as though it's his fault she was murdered, as he'd introduced Reggie to Dora via some photos while they were cellmates.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As would be expected of a convict, Charlie is surly and sarcastic. We never learn what it was that got him sentenced, but it can't be that bad if he's not in Angola, the regional high-security prison. And then, he's genuinely shocked and saddened when he learns of Dora's death and even blames himself for indirectly introducing her to her murderer.
• My God, What Have I Done?: He feels as though it's his fault that Dora was murdered, as he'd shown her photos Reggie while they were cellmates.

Lisa Tragnetti

Lisa Tragnetti

Played By: Alexandra Daddario

A young court reporter who is having an affair with Hart.

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• Clingy Jealous Girl: Cohle's take on her. He thinks that she's parading in front of Hart with another guy to make him jealous, and that he could tell with one look that she's a bit crazy.
• Jerkass Has a Point: She tells Maggie about Marty's affair, nearly ending his marriage. But as she points out, when Marty burst into her house and assaulted her date he treated her like an object, and she was not going to be treated like one.
• Ms. Fanservice: Strips naked before having sex with Hart.
• Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: She gets very vindictive towards Marty. But she's not unjustified to do so.
• Put on a Bus: Not seen after 1996.
• Revenge Before Reason: She tells Maggie about the affair to get back at Marty, despite having just seen first hand how dangerously violent he can get.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives this viciously to Marty over his hypocrisy after she told Maggie of the affair.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Cohle notes how Lisa looks like a young Maggie, and Marty has an affair with the similar looking Beth in 2002.

Beth

Beth

Played By: Lili Simmons

• Brick Joke: As they leave the Bunny Ranch, Marty gives $100 to Beth, one of the Ranch's underage girls, to try and get her out of prostitution. Rust quips that Marty's putting down "a down payment" on the girl, which raises Marty's ire. Seven years later, Marty meets an older Beth and they start having an affair.
• Evil Uncle: She apparently had one.
• Hero-Worshipper: Why she's valued by Hart. He helped motivate her to get out of prostitution and was later in the papers for heroism. She remembers all this and makes him feel like a big man.
• Ms. Fanservice: She's seen naked, and later she's parading around in front of a mirror in skimpy lingerie while talking dirty to her lover over the phone.

Ginger

Ginger

Played By: Joseph Sikora

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• Fluffy the Terrible: He's a biker named Ginger for God's sake which is apparently a reference to his red beard.
• If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: Ginger tests Cohle's legitimacy by making him take a snort of cocaine and then rob a drug stash house with him.
• Karma Houdini: Ginger gets dumped in a ditch by Cohle, but otherwise escapes all punishment for his drug stash invasion and general scumbaggery.
• Meaningful Name: Ginger is a redhead.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: We never do find out Ginger's real name.
• Refuge in Audacity: Ginger's plan to rob the stash house in the ghetto is incredibly audacious. To wit, he dresses himself and two other guys in cop uniforms (keep in mind they are still bearded, tattooed 1%ers), rolls into the ghetto, takes a few black guys hostage and proceeds to rob the gang. It would have worked, even though the gangbangers were fooled only for a moment, but one of the bikers shot the hostage, prompting people outside to retaliate.
• A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Ginger imprisons and roughs up Tiger to use as a guide to the black gang's drug stash. After that fails spectacularly, Rust binds and beats Ginger to act as his unwilling liason with the Iron Crusaders.

Robert Doumain

Robert Doumain

Played by: Johnny McPhail

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• Beware the Quiet Ones: That silent, sulky, world-weary tavern owner that Rust works for? He's actually a brutally effective sniper.
• 11th-Hour Ranger: Doumain assists Hart and Cohle in their off the books continued investigation of the Dora Lange case, though he doesn't show up until the penultimate episode of the season.
• The Quiet One: Has the fewest lines of any recurring character.
• Saloon Owner: He owns the bar where Cohle works as of 2012.

Jimmy Ledoux

Jimmy Ledoux

Played By: Jay Huguley

An estranged second cousin of Reggie Ledoux who, in 2012, gives Hart and Cohle intel on a possible meeting years back with the so-called spaghetti monster, a scarred-face man who kept looking at him ominously.

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• Good Counterpart: He's the only Ledoux shown who isn't a a crazy member of a cult, though Jimmy stresses to Hart and Cohle that his cousins were the pariahs of the Ledoux family. He even says they're worse than white trash.
• Irony: He refers to the false story of Hart and Cohle killing his cousins right to Hart and Cohle, who make no attempt to say they're the ones that did it.