History Characters / Hereditary

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* EldritchAbomination: We only see Paimon's "form" or "forms" in old books that Ellen had, and it's disturbing to say the least. It's implied that the light the characters see is the only part of his body they can comprehend.

* BlackMagic: The premise of the film, essentially.

* HormoneAddledTeenager: Normal example. He likes to ogle girls and fantasises about hooking up with them while Annie and Charlie struggle with Ellen's death. The sign of the great trauma over [[spoiler:Charlie's]] death leaves him unable to do anything.

* TheUnfavourite: Although Annie doesn't exactly [[ParentalFavouritism ''favour'']] Charlie, she and Peter have an extremely difficult relationship and are much more capable of antagonising each other.

* ParentalFavouritism: Although not by her ''actual'' parents, she was mostly raised by her grandmother, and Annie, who is Ellen's daughter, admits that Charlie "was her favourite".

* SupernaturalProofFather: He doesn't believe in seances, ghosts, or the occult and thinks [[spoiler: Ellen's body being placed in their attic and Annie's rantings about a demon worshipping cult is the result of Annie having a nervous breakdown.]] He is also the only character to not encounter or experience anything supernatural [[spoiler: until towards the end when he's burned to death by Paimon when Charlie's cursed sketchbook is thrown in the fire.]]

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* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: After a pigeon flies into her classroom window and dies from the impact, she later goes to the dead bird, cuts off its head and puts it in her pocket.

[[caption-width-right:350:Sorry, I know it's irrational.]]

[[caption-width-right:331:Are you okay, mom?]]

[[caption-width-right:310:I want Grandma.]]

[[caption-width-right:213:You know, Annie, you can always build a shrine to all the terrible things in the world, but it doesn't mean that you have to destroy anything that is good. ]]

[[caption-width-right:350:How's your relationship with your son?]]

* MaleGaze: An early scene shows Peter's point of view in class, determinedly focused on the rear end of the girl sitting in front of him. [[spoiler: A later scene makes this HarsherInHindsight by depicting Peter's classroom point of view after the accident that killed Charlie - he's now unable to focus on anything, and memories of the traumatic incident keep creeping into his field of vision.]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: Peter's mom forces him to take his little sister with him to a party. Peter leaves her unsupervised to go smoke weed with a girl he likes. Charlie eats cake with nuts in it and suffers a severe allergic reaction. Peter, while stoned, tries to drive Charlie to the hospital. When she sticks her head out the window to get air and Peter swerves to avoid a dead animal in the road, Charlie's head hits a telephone pole, decapitating her. Peter is essentially unable to process what just happened, so he, in a state of complete shock, drives home with her headless corpse in the backseat, crawls into bed, and lets his mother find the body in the morning.]]

* AccompliceByInaction: A thoroughly unintended variation. [[spoiler:Leaving Charlie's headless body in his car]] is one of the main WhamShots that utterly destroy Annie, but he only does this due to his extreme trauma, and even then, it remains ambiguous how much [[spoiler:Paimon]] had to do with it.

* TragicVillain: All along, Annie never intended to hurt Peter or Charlie, but when [[spoiler:she tried to burn them alive]], Peter was never able to forgive her. She insists with total sincerity that she loves him, and she did save him from [[spoiler:his evil grandmother]] by being separated from her, but her trauma over the many terrible things that happen to her family lead to her [[spoiler:possession by Paimon and suicide.]]

* KillTheCutie: A CreepyCute young teenager [[spoiler:and the first character to die]].

* PapaBear: When it becomes clear to Steve that his wife is losing her mind, his preoccupation turns to keeping Peter safe from her wrath.

* HeManWomanHater: When Annie looks in one of her mother's books regarding Paimon, it's mentioned that he becomes "livid and vengeful" when offered a female host. This is possibly why he wrought destruction on the Graham family because Charlie was offered as his first host.

* BreakTheHaughty: Not overly, but he's pretty abrupt and cold to Charlie and

* RaisedByGrandparents: Downplayed, and possibly a rare supernatural example. Annie gave in and let Ellen have contact with Charlie from when she was very young, which she didn't with Peter. As a result, Charlie and Ellen are extremely close and Charlie is the only person in the family who is genuinely distressed by Ellen's death.