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Protagonists
Mattalyn (Mattie) Ross
Kim Darby (1969), Hailee Steinfeld and Elizabeth Marvel (2010)
- Adorably Precocious Child: Seems very mature for her age, particularly in the remake.
- An Arm and a Leg: She has her arm amputated after it's bitten by a snake in the 2010 film.
- Badass in Distress: She has to be rescued several times. Then again, she's only fourteen.
- Boyish Short Hair: In the original film.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: In the 2010 film. Living your life so focused on vengeance and so insistent on getting involved in things women didn't generally get involved with at the time, like guns and business, helps to isolate Mattie from her peers; she never marries and is generally thought of as an odd woman.
- The Determinator: She won't stop until Chaney is either captured or dead.
- Do You Want to Haggle?: In all versions, Mattie is a vicious negotiator, and despite being only 14, tends to absolutely steamroll over any opponent. She's so effective, Stonehill the horse trader accepts a blatantly terrible deal just to get rid of her.Stonehill: I am paying you for a horse I do not possess and have bought back a string of useless ponies I cannot sell again.(Later)Stonehill: Wait a minute. Are we trading again? I just handed you twenty dollars each for those ponies and you now propose to buy one back for ten? Little girl, I will give you ten dollars to refrain from doing any more business here. It would be the most astute deal I have struck in Arkansas.
- Girlish Pigtails: In the 2010 film.
- Guile Heroine: Lacking the physical build, age, and combat experience to be of any reliable help in a straight up fight, Mattie instead uses her wits and quick thinking to get out of tight spots, though she does end up killing Chaney herself with enough timely luck and determination by blasting him off a cliff.
- Hand Cannon: Has her father's Colt Dragoon, which is already a pretty big pistol.Rooster Cogburn: Why, by God, girl, that's a Colt's Dragoon! You're no bigger than a corn nubbin, what're you doing with all this pistol?
Mattie Ross: It belonged to my father, he carried it bravely in the war, and I intend to kill Tom Chaney with it if the law fails to do so.
Rooster Cogburn: Well, this'll sure get the job done if you can find a fence post to rest it on while you take aim.- In the 1969 film, it's actually a Colt Walker with a changed cartridge...the 2010 version on the other hand is an authentic Dragoon.
- Little Miss Bad Ass: She decides to obtain justice for her father when the law seems will just let Cheney slide and finally gets it after a Stern Chase. She is barely in her mid-teens and described by Rooster Cogburn at one point as "no bigger than a corn nubbin'".
- Little Miss Snarker: She has absolutely no qualms about telling grown men exactly what she thinks of them.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Her obsession with getting Tom Chaney is noted by some characters to be downright creepy, especially in the 2010 version.
- You Killed My Father: Her whole motivation for her journey.
Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn
John Wayne (1969), Jeff Bridges (2010)
- Age Lift: He's in his early forties in the book. Both Wayne and Bridges were 61 when they played him.
- Anti-Hero: Though this seems to be a plus in Mattie's eyes. When she asks about who the best marshal is, and is given several options, she picks Cogburn because he's described as the meanest.
- Badass Longcoat: Cogburn dons a cool-looking long coat when he starts the hunt for Lucky Ned's gang. He keeps that look for the rest of the film.
- Berserk Button: Don't mention his weight or his eye unless you're ready to fill your hands.
- Cowboy Cop: He has a propensity for shooting dead his bounties that a defense attorney tries to sell to the jury as outright trigger happiness (in his defense, throughout the story he does offers his enemies the chance to surrender; they just don't take it). He also has no problem going to places that other bounty hunters refuse to enter (like Indian territory) in order to catch his quarry. It's because of this that Mattie decides to hire him.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: In the 2010 film. He is a deconstruction of the alcoholic yet noble Anti-Hero. He still has "true grit" like the other versions but we see more of the anti-hero in this portrayal. Because of his alcohol addictions, we see more of him as an insecure person who is capable of acting quite scary and not very stable. Jeff Bridge's Rooster is more self-abusive and very hate-filled when it comes to his life (which might explain his alcoholism).
- Determinator: The titular "true grit", in a nutshell, and Rooster has plenty of it.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: There's no mention of him having an eyepatch in the book.
- Eyepatch of Power: Cogburn has one bad eye and covers it with an eyepatch (notably, Wayne's Rooster has one over his left eye and Bridges' has one over his right eye, and the patch is a film-only detail of Rooster). Some depth problems aside, he is still the meanest marshal in the territory.
- Feeling Their Age: He's quite a bit past his prime and this bothers him. His last words on screen in the 2010 version are lamenting that he can't keep up any more and Mattie may die as a result. He still succeeds in saving her life, regardless.Rooster: "I have grown old!"
- Handicapped Badass: Cogburn is missing an eye and he still demonstrates his reputation as the meanest marshal in the territory.
- Knight in Sour Armour: He's a grumpy old bastard and cynical as all get, yet at the end of the day, Rooster will do everything he can to dispense justice and help those in need.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Appears at first to be this lazy, rude alcoholic who's past his prime. But once Mattie really gets to know him she realizes how noble, selfless, brave and true he is.
- Papa Wolf: To Mattie, once she is taken by the Pepper gang and is bitten by a rattlesnake at the climax.
LaBoeuf
Glen Campbell (1969), Matt Damon (2010)
- Death by Adaptation: Explicitly stated to have succumbed to his wounds in the 1969 film. Granted it's never stated that he survives in the other tellings.Rooster: "That Texican saved my neck twice. Once after he was dead."
- Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off!: LaBoeuf becomes infuriated when Mattie shows up just as he and Cogburn are about to track down Chaney, demanding to accompany them through the wilderness despite the obvious danger. After one too many sasses from Mattie, LaBoeuf takes matters into his own hands (literally) by forcing Mattie to her knees and spanking her repeatedly and painfully until she cries. Harsh, but done only with good intention for the girl's own sake... not that it deters her stubbornness.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: He has a high opinion of himself and talks as though the Texas Rangers are practically superheroes of the Old West, but fails to live up to that reputation. That said, he does prove to be more capable than Mattie originally gave him credit for.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: His Sharps Carbine has a ridiculously long range and he kills Lucky Ned from the edge of its effective range. (He did wait until Ned was stationary and aimed very carefully, though.)
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He can be rather full of himself and a tad inconsiderate at times, but deep down, LaBoeuf is a decent man who ultimately does right by Mattie and Cogburn.
- Only One Name: "LaBoeuf" is presumably his surname. The audience is never told what his first name is.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Goes from thinking Mattie is a Bratty Half-Pint (and spanking her for it) to sincerely telling her she has earned his respect.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: In-universe. After the Chaney incident, Mattie never hears from him again, though she states in her closing narration that she'd like to know what became of him.
Antagonists
Tom Chaney
Jeff Corey (1969), Josh Brolin (2010)
- The Alcoholic: Mattie refers to him as a "whiskey drinker".
- Evil Is Petty: Kills Mattie's father for a mere handful of coins in a moment of drunken rage, and the criminal history LaBeouf tells Mattie and Rooster supports that he's prone to hurting people without any forethought. He also wishes to kill Mattie at the climax mostly because Pepper ordered him to stay behind and watch over her as a hostage, not visibly caring about why Mattie is there to begin with.
- The Heavy: Within the Pepper gang, he is just one more goon, but all of the events of the story happen because of his random acts of evil.
- Smarter Than You Look: Subverted. LaBoeuf claims Chaney is much more cunning than he lets on but in reality Chaney only escapes because of LaBoeuf's incompetence.
- Stupid Evil: The plot makes clear that Cheney hurts people without any forethought of what may happen, mostly in bouts of drunken rage. This includes shooting a governor (which is why LaBoeuf is chasing him), killing Mattie's father (which gained him almost nothing in terms of loot) and deciding to kill Mattie even if that means possibly pissing off Pepper for defying his orders that she was not to be harmed.
"Lucky" Ned Pepper
Robert Duvall (1969), Barry Pepper (2010)
- Affably Evil: Seems rather impressed with Mattie's bald-faced shooting of Chaney and has a chat with her over the fire about how embarrassing it is for a rifle to misfire. Of course, he's still holding her hostage.
- Big Bad: He’s the leader of the criminal gang Cheney belongs to, and tries to kill Cogburn at the climax. Downplayed in the fact that he was dragged into the plot by Chaney's drunken trigger-happiness.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Orders that Mattie not be harmed, not because he particularly cares about her, but because she's a valuable hostage and killing her would not benefit him in any way.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Insists that no harm come to Mattie no matter what Chaney's grudge with her is, albeit mostly because of her value as a hostage.
- Villain of Another Story: Hits most of the points of being a Big Bad (up to and including having a prior beef with Rooster Cogburn), but his role in the plot is just collateral damage of Cheney's petty evil. He even chastises Cheney for being a drunken idiot and dragging Pepper into this mess, reins him in when he wishes to hurt Mattie, and tries to kill Cogburn instead of taking the option to flee because it seemed like too good a chance to dispose of his old foe.
