History Characters / PearlsBeforeSwine

A train conductor for toy trains. Got laid off, then had his wife leave him and well ItGotWorse from there.

* HumiliationConga / ItGotWorse: Lost his job, lost his wife, had her move the new guy into his house, got stepped on, was forced to move to the microwave, was almost cooked alive in said microwave, and then finally held on to Pig's balloon and got sent into a ceiling fan.

Pig's roommate and the main character; a ''very'' cynical rat who is critical of the strip's work and often schemes to get a quick buck. He believes himself to be utterly superior to everyone around him and constantly antagonizes and trolls everyone around him.

The second most important character of the strip: a good natured, yet naive and dimwitted anthropomorphic pig who lives with Rat.

* BottleFairy

* [[EducationMama Education Papa]]: Inverted. He doesn't want Junior to go to school, and instead just wants him to stay home and play Wii, at one point even tackling Junior to keep him from going to school.

* TedBaxter

* BreakoutCharacter: He was supposed to be a one-shot, but fan demand brought him to major character status.

* SmokingIsCool: Averted. Not only does the real Stephan not smoke, but Stephan is shown as an out of shape middle aged pudgy guy.

* ReallyGetsAround: Has dated both Dilbert and Hagar the Horrible while apparenlty with Rat and then left him for Ziggy. She's also apparently dating someone else now.

A cat that the Crocs bought to maim Zebra, but ended up as Zebra's pet. Does shady activites including Terrorism, selling stolen watches and running a gambling ring. Also Guard Duck's best freind.

A non-anthropomorphic duck and the love of Guard Duck's life. Left him to go south for the winter and later came back for him, only to leave him again to be a spokesduck for Aflack.

A man who worked at an amusment park. Wore his costume all the time and moved in with Rat and Pig. Was eventually killed off.

* BackFromTheDead: Or as Rat puts it "Angry Bob Undied."

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Rat is a Jerkass, no question. However, some episodes reveal some interesting things. One time, he saw a guy talking on a cellphone next to a little girl. He grabbed the cellphone and threw it into a river, thinking that the girl was the guy's daughter and that the guy should be paying attention to his kid. The guy angrily reveals that she is not his kid and proceeds to strangle Rat. The girl's parents lead her away, thinking that she should not see the guy strangling Rat. Also, there is story where Pig dresses up like a caterpillar in the hopes of becoming a butterfly. Rat taped wings to Pig's costume one night, because it got so pathetic. Pig was so happy that he jumped off the roof of the house proclaiming "I can fly!" Pig ends up in the hospital and wonders how on earth did it happen. Rat tells him "Dude, you ran smack into the...moon." Pig says "Wow. The mooooo...zzz." Rat says "Get some sleep, you dumb pig."

** And as the Crocs learned, don't mention Maura leaving him if you don't want to become a pair of boots.

A list of characters from the comic strip ''PearlsBeforeSwine''

** He once tried to go Goth, but failed abyssmally, as he had HannahMontana playing on his iPod, who is probably tied with TaylorSwift as the farthest thing from Goth.

!! Pig
The main character of the strip: a good natured, yet naive and dimwitted anthropomorphic pig who lives with Rat.

* AdultChild: His immaturity gets him ridicule from all of his friends.
* ButtMonkey
* ComicTrio: He's often the blind follower to Rat's schemes.
* ExposedAnimalBellybutton
* [[ExpressiveHair Expressive Ears]]
* FatIdiot
* {{Foil}}: To Rat. Pig's idealistic view on life contrasts with Rat's very cynical view.
* TheHero
* IdiotHero
* TheMessiah: His good nature leads him to make friends with even inanimate objects.
* MessyPig
* NiceHat: Wears these on a regular basis.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Pastis hints in a strip dedicated to his father-in-law that Pig was based on him, a big optimist.
* ThePollyanna: He keeps a positive attitude even when Rat abuses him.
** He's so optimistic that he fails at doing pessimistic things, like [[http://comics.com/pearls_before_swine/2010-03-10/ playing the blues]].
** He once tried to go Goth, but failed abyssmally, as he had HannahMontana playing on his iPod, who is probably tied with TaylorSwift as the farthest thing from Goth.
* UnluckyEverydude
* VitriolicBestBuds: Type 1 with Rat. Even when Rat abuses him, he remains best friends with him.
* WideEyedIdealist: Even when Rat, Goat, and Zebra are all cynical, Pig remains optimistic.

Pig's roomate; a ''very'' cynical rat who is critical of the strip's work and often schemes to get a quick buck. He believes himself to be utterly superior to everyone around him and constantly antagonizes and trolls everyone around him.

* {{Foil}}: To Pig. See above.

* LackOfEmpathy: Even to his roomate.

* TheyKilledKenny: Once died after exploding from the stress of smiling too much. Died again of a heart attack when Pastis himself died in the strip. [[IGotBetter He got better]] both times.

* PaintingTheFourthWall: They speak in a unique, properly capitalized font in contrast to the BoldInflation used by the rest of the cast.

* ControlFreak: Taken BeyondTheImpossible to the point where she was timing Rat's sneezes and tried to give him a different. mother

* HeroicSociopath: Veers close to VillainProtagonist sometimes.

* RalphWiggum

* HappilyMarried: For a couple of years.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Subverted a little. Though he's non-anthropomorphic, he does stand on his back legs a lot. Otherwise, he can only say "Baa!" and it's not certain that he understands what's going on around him.

* EverythingsMessierWithPigs

A member of Zeeba Zeeba Eata, Larry lives in the house behind Zebra and is even dumber than his fellow Crocs, though not by much. He also has a wife, Patty and a son, Junior.

* [[EducationMama Education Papa]]: Inverted. He dosen't want Junior to go to school, and instead just wants him to stay home and play Wii, at one point even tackling Junior to keep him from going to school

* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]]

Larry and Patty's son. He tries not to be like the rest of his race and is not only friends with Zebra but a vegetarian. He also has a Zebra girlfriend named Joy, who happens to be Zebra's niece Larry and Patty are not happy about any of this.

Pig's well Guard Duck that he bought when he and Rat couldn't afford a guard dog. He is highly paranoid and his first solution to most problems is to shoot like the dickens. He occasionally works as a soldier of fortune and is usually off on his own adventures separate from the group these days.

* AntiHero: [[SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes Type IV]]

* BerserkButton: Don't insult him or talk down to him It' won't end well
* BreakoutCharacter: Was orignally just another week of one-off strips but the fans liked him enough that Stephan brought him back.
** And as the Croc's learned don't mention Maura leaving him if you dont' want to become a pair of boots.
* TheCaligula: During his brief reign as Mayor he used the city's funds to get revenge on his enemies list, build a giant statue of himself and saw all the presidents men as an instruction book on how to run the city.

* HeartbrokenBadass: During the times Maura has left him he's made on of the crocs into a pair of boots and killed one with a copy machine respectively

* HesBack: After his HeroicBSOD after Maura left him to be a AFLAC spokesduck, he takes out the last member of the croc's "Fantastic Four" and destroys a puppet Rat had been using to torment pig into obeying him.

* PutOnABus: Granted we still saw snapshots of his life with Maura but he left the main cast for a while to live with Maura.

* TriggerHappy