History Characters / BigNate

* SmallNameBigEgo: Frequently boasts of his own greatness, even though he rarely achieve anything.

* EmbarrassingMiddleName: His middle name is Butthurst.

** it seems that his hair is black like Nate's, and Ellen probably got her hair from her mother

* {{Foil}}: He is well behaved, has good grades,and is very clean,while Nate is extremely messy,has poor grades, and often gets in trouble.

* SmellyFeetGag: Nate is shown to have horrible foot odor. It was able to knock out flies at one point, and Chad had to wore a gas mask in order to not get affected at one point.

* ButtMonkey: Gets scared by cats, hurt in sports, fails to impress Jenny... few things go right for this kid.

* BrilliantButLazy: Nate is amazing with random trivia (basketball, {{ComicStrip/Peanuts}}, etc.), yet earns horrible grades because he lacks the motivation to study properly. He's also a chess prodigy (even going to the occasional state tournament), and only earns horrible grades in Mrs. Godfrey's Social Studies class. Every other class hovers around a grade of C. He is also shown to be a master prankster and creating some of the largest pranks pulled on Prank Day. From letting a flying squirrel and a ''moose'' into the school (Rocky and Bullwinkle theme) to setting up a dating profile with Ms. Godfrey and setting her up on a date with a desperate rodeo clown (evening showing up to school with flowers), Nate shows off a commendable amount of planning and logistics for these pranks.

* AntiRoleModel: While Nate has his good points, he’s not someone students should take advice to or grow up to be.

* SatelliteLoveInterest: Doesn't get much characterization besides being a pretty nice person.

* AnimeHair: Has very spiky hair. At one point, his friends try to make fun of him by making an ice cream cone with ice cream that looks like his hair. Nate admits that while he's not happy with it, it is a creative use of "Hershey's Kisses."

** In one arc, he's dared by Gina to get a perfect 100% on a Social Studies exam. He proceeds to ''cram'' with Peter, learning as much as possible. On the day of the exam, he comments that there's no excitement since he knows all the answers, and decided that studying takes all the fun out of it. (He ended up getting a 99%, since he was so focused on the questions he forgot to write his name at the top.)

* CatchPhrase: "Spitsy, you idiot" and "Oh, how I hate her."

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Nate is very [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorbed]] and sometimes treats others in ways that aren't always acceptable. However, Nate will do the right thing when it counts, such as sticking up for others who need it (in his own way). Nate is often seen sticking up for those needing it (such as when a student is dealing with someone annoying or that's a jerk, Nate lures them to his locker and opens it, blasting them away with the crammed junk.) It's implied that the main reason he is a jerk (outside of ego) is from frustrations caused by being a CosmicPlaything.

** The chapter novel ''Big Nate Blasts Off'' actually has him move on from this and realizes she never really liked him (romantically, anyway.) [[spoiler: It also seems to have happened in the strip after his breakup with Trudy.]]

* ParentalObliviousness: Doesn't seem to notice how much Ellen bullies Nate, and if he does, [[AdultsAreUseless never is seen doing anything about it.]] There's even a time where he sees Ellen forcibly noogieing Nate while sitting on top of him...and walks right past, saying to Nate "You're on your own."

* HiddenDepths: Owns a Peruvian snake venom extruder, which Nate finds in his locker once. Nate even lampshades it, saying, "There's more to Chad than meets the eye."

* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler:As revealed in ''Big Nate Blasts Off'', his parents don't live together and by the time he tells Nate this, they're getting divorced. Randy says that every week he moves "from [his] mom's house to [his] dad's. And back again." As such, it's implied part of his antagonistic attitude is him lashing out from his dysfunctional family situation.]]

* ItsAllAboutMe: She clearly doesn't care if Nate doesn't return her feelings for him and doesn't seem to care about Nate's displeasure about being around her, yet she tries to force herself on him to the point where she'll strangle him if he doesn't go along with what she wants.

* TheLeader: Of "Amanda's Pony Poisee" in "Big Nate Flips Out."

* VagueAge: He's old, but we're not sure just ''how'' old. When Nate asks Mr. Galvin how old he is, Mr. Galvin replies "I was born in the Holocene epoch," though that isn't any help, considering that it's the time period we currently live in and began millions of years ago.

* YoungerThanTheyLook: As mentioned above, he's over six feet tall and has five o' clock shadow, and yet he's ''[[ExaggeratedTrope still in sixth grade.]]'' Though he might not be as old as Nate and his friends, given the hints that he's been to summer school and might have been held back several years for anger issues.

* DamnedByFaintPraise: At one point when he gets replaced as the regular weatherman, Nate calls him, at one point telling him that his replacement has none of his "clumsy, overweight, average Joe charm"

* SpotlightStealingSquad: [[InUniverse]]. She loves the spotlight a bit too much. In Big Nate Lives It Up, the others have to pry her away from the camera. She even mentions stealing the spotlight as one of her traits in the TV series.

* AdaptationalSexuality: In the books, she has boyfriend named Jim. In the animated series, she revealed she is lesbian, and has crush on Amy.

->Voiced by: Creator/DoveCameron

[[folder:Jenny Jenkins]]
[[quoteright:121:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jenny_1.png]]
->Voiced by: Chandni Parekh

Nate's long-running crush who is often annoyed and angered by him. Despite this, she manages to have something of a friendship with him. Is currently dating Artur. [[spoiler: Moved to Seattle for awhile in 2013, but ended up returning. Nate also seems to have gotten over her after his breakup with Trudy.]]

* AlliterativeName: '''J'''enny '''J'''enkins.
* BerserkButton: Can get rather violent when Nate makes advancements or accidentally messes her up when trying to do something.
* DeadpanSnarker: When dealing with Nate.
* EveryoneLovesBlondes: She's blonde, popular and is Nate's biggest crush.
* FirstLove: Nate's first crush, dating all the way back to first grade.
* TheLeader: She was the one who took charge in planning Mrs. Godfrey's birthday party.
* LysistrataGambit: Uses a (toned down) version of this technique to beat Nate at Monopoly.
* NiceGirl: When not being bugged by Nate, she can be nice. After Nate got over her, she's now more comfortable with being around him.
* NiceMeanAndInbetween: The in between to Dee Dee's nice and Gina's mean.
* NightmareFace: She pulls one off very well in this [[https://www.gocomics.com/bignate/2017/02/23 strip]] combined with a PassiveAggressiveKombat tone. It is justified though.
* OddFriendship: Although Jenny frequently shoots down Nate's advances with either violence or harsh words, she still frequently hangs out with him and the rest of his friends for swimming or Monopoly. She also appeared more often early in the strip as just one of Nate's friends whom he had a crush on.
** Nate's OddFriendship with her boyfriend Artur may be a reason. In a chapter book, she goes to Nate when Artur is an uncharacteristically bad mood (inadvertently caused by Nate, though only he knows that) and when he asks why she came to him, she mentions that Artur trusts and respects Nate.
* OfficialCouple: Artur is her best-known boyfriend, but she's also had several other boyfriends before him.
* SatelliteLoveInterest: She doesn't really have much prominence in the strip outside of being Nate's crush and Artur's girlfriend; predictably, she got DemotedToExtra for the most part after the former got over her.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Artur Pashkov]]
[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/artur.jpg]]
->Voiced by: Creator/ToddHaberkorn

A transfer student from Belarus, who is Nate's {{Foil}}. While he is probably the nicest character in the strip, he has a one-sided rivalry with Nate (from Nate's point of view). Very [[SarcasmBlind blind to sarcasm]].

----

[[folder:Sheila]]
[[quoteright:108:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sheila.png]]

A popular girl who is Francis' girlfriend. She doesn't appear much nowadays.

* FlatCharacter: She really only exists in the strip as Francis' girlfriend and as an extra, without much character.
* GiveGeeksAChance: She goes out with Francis, TheSmartGuy.
* IntrepidReporter: Sometimes shown as a reporter for the school newspaper.
* NiceGirl: Her main character trait. She never really got much character development other than that, which is probably what led to her being OutOfFocus.
* OnlyOneName: Her last name is never revealed, though one comic referred to a character named "Sheila Stapleton", which may or may not be her.
* OutOfFocus: Sheila was most common early in the strip, but hasn't been in many strips as of late.

[[folder:Gina Hemphill-Toms]]
[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gina_4.jpg]]
->Voiced by: Lisa Kay Jennings

Nate's other arch-enemy, Gina is the polar opposite of Nate, getting straight A's and [[InsufferableGenius never letting him forget it.]] Basically, she's Ellen all over again, just a whole lot less ditzy.

* TheStoic: Constantly keeps a completely deadpan expression and tends to say things very bluntly.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: In the novels and animated ventures, his more jerkish personality traits are toned down or even gone entirely and has many more PetTheDog moments towards others. Though this can probably be attributed to a difference in medium from a four-panel gag comic with not much space to show consequences or any real story aside, to actual narratives that need to make Nate a protagonist the audience would want to root for.

!!Animals
[[folder:Spitsy]]
[[quoteright:168:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spitsy.jpg]]
->Voiced by: Mitch Watson

A dog belonging to Nate's neighbor and is probably the closest thing to a pet Nate could ever have.

* BigFriendlyDog: Often greets Nate by glomping and licking him. Nate regards this gesture as either touching or annoying (usually the latter, though).
* ConeOfShame: Spitsy is never actually seen with''out'' his collar, and it enhances his goofy appearance. Fitting, for a dumb dog like him.
* DogsAreDumb: Nate constantly calls him an idiot for getting beat up by ''squirrels'' and going out for parties with Francis's cat.
* TheGlomp: His preferred way of greeting people, especially Nate.
* InterspeciesRomance: Is dating Francis's cat, Pickles. Don't think on that one too hard.

[[folder:Pickles]]
Francis' cat. As cats go, she's basically a prodigy (especially compared to [[DogsAreDumb Spitsy]]).

* CatsAreSuperior: She's ''ridiculously'' smart and talented, which makes Spitsy's lack of knowledge look even worse. The greatest feat she's performed in the strips is [[ExaggeratedTrope tap dancing, singing, and juggling at the snap of Francis' finger.]]
-->'''Francis''': Wait! She's about to ride her unicycle!
* InterspeciesRomance: She's apparently engaged to Spitsy.

[[folder:Sherman]]
Nate's class gerbil who spends his days snarking at the class' (especially Nate's) antics.

* DeadpanSnarker: His only "lines" consist of him making snide commentaries about Nate and his classmates, especially when they start fussing about him. Here's one of his gems:
--> '''Nate:''' Quite the adventure, huh, buddy? You have something to tell your grandchildren about.\\
'''Sherman:''' Unless my living situation changes significantly, grandchildren are a remote possibility.
* TheFaceless: Sort of. He's too small to have a visible expression, and most of the time he's half buried in wood shavings so the audience can only see a vague lump in his tank.
* SapientPet: The only animal in the series that's capable of human-like thoughts, which he expresses through his ThoughtBubbleSpeech.
* SilentSnarker: Since he can't verbalize his thoughts, but the more observant characters notice his expressions of derision and distaste whenever he's thinking of snide remarks.
-->'''Chad:''' Is it just me, or is he making a sarcastic face?
* TeamPet: He's the class pet and is considered their unofficial mascot.
* ThoughtBubbleSpeech: Being a gerbil, Sherman lacks any distinctive facial expression and/or visible body language, but he is able to "talk" using thought bubbles for the reader's convenience.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: In his book and animated ventures, his more jerkish personality traits are toned down or even gone entirely and has many more PetTheDog moments towards others. Though this can probably be attributed to a difference in medium from a four-panel gag comic with not much space to show consequences or any real story aside, to actual narratives that need to make Nate a protagonist the audience would want to root for.

* EveryoneHasStandards: In the strip in which Jenny asks Artur out, she gives Nate the fateful note. He considers disposing it, before realizing it was a sleazeball move... and then goes to deliver it to Artur, chastising himself for not being a sleazeball.

* AdaptationalSexuality: In the books, she has boyfriend named Jim. In the animated series, she revealed she is lesbian has crush on Amy.

* NotSoAboveItAll: Gina was quite annoyed by Nate's weird habit of hitting his head with a plastic bottle as stress relief. He then had the moxie to hit her head with it... which prompted her to do it and it relaxed her as well.