History Characters / PearlsBeforeSwine

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

* FanNickname: Many people in the [=GoComics=] comments refer to him as [[spoiler: "Paris]] Goat", due to it being revealed as his real name in a strip where Goat visited his annoying mother.

%%* DeadpanSnarker

* {{Jerkass}}: When Patty got kidnapped once, his first instinct was to beg for food until he realized she was gone and if it wasn't for Junior begging him, he probably would have let Zebra keep her.

* FeatheredFiend

%%* PermaStubble

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: He doesn’t get along well with the other members of the Society of People Who Think They’re Better Than Everyone Else, especially not Victor the Vegan.

* GoOutWithASmile: In [[http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2005/01/23 one strip]], he literally went nuclear just by attempting to smile, resulting in one of his "{{death|IsCheap}}s."

* CriticalResearchFailure: Invoked. If any of their plans involves a famous person, odds are they not only get the person's history completely wrong, but the person is most likely dead.

* SmokingIsCool: Averted. Not only does the real Stephan not smoke, but Stephan is shown as an out of shape middle aged pudgy guy. Pastis' author commentary reveals that this is because he intended to make himself look like a loser.

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler:Implied to have had an affair with Stephan Pastis.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: Subverted. It turns out she has a husband, but they're separated.

A fictional character made by Rat. Dies at the end of every story, often in bizarre and unlikely ways.

A fictional character made by Rat. Dies at the end of every story.

* BackFromTheDead: Or as Rat puts it "[[UnexplainedRecovery Angry Bob undied.]]"

* GoOutWithASmile: In [[http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2005/01/23 one strip]],he literally went nuclear just by attempting to smile, resulting in one of his "{{death|IsCheap}}s."
* GunNut: He fought with a Walmartopialand clerk for not selling him a rifle right away with the purchase, as the clerk kept insisting on a waiting period or a detailed analysis of his behavior.

* HerCodeNameWasMarySue: When he [[http://comics.com/pearls_before_swine/2009-10-30/ hijacked the strip once]], he wrote himself as a "Raterpillar" who eats every single character in the strip.

* KarmaHoudini: Rat usually gets away with his schemes and outbursts of violence against the rest of the cast. However, [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty he sometimes gets what's coming to him.]]

* RageAgainstTheAuthor: Often criticizes or threatens Pastis when a bad {{Pun}} or PainfulRhyme is let off as a punch line.
** He also just shows up at Stephan's house just to mess with him frequently.
%%* {{Schemer}}

* {{Troll}}: He appreciates the internet because it allows him to be anonymously rude.
** He also enjoys annoying Stephan by mocking his failures (being unable to win a Ruben award), getting him into legal trouble (ripping out a drawing of a bike from "Baby Blues" because Stephan can't draw bikes, leading to a angry phone call with the strip's creator), or screwing with the strip (spilling beer on a strip Stephan was working on, blurring the last panel).

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e716a1e5_9139_4290_b457_44a6de7dc41e.jpeg]]

* {{Bookworm}}: He is often seen reading while at the diner that he and his friends go to.

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.

* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]]

* WackyParentSeriousChild: Serious child to Larry's wacky parent.

* BerserkButton: Don't insult him or talk down to him It won't end well.
** And as the Crocs learned, don't mention Maura leaving him if you don't want to become a pair of boots.

The creator of the strip. Frequently visits, or is visited by Rat to his never ending frustration.

* WhatDoesSheSeeInHim: She only sees the bad in Pig and threatens to break up with him constantly but never does for long.

* BackFromTheDead: Became two Sea Anemones after Rat killed her the first time.
* HurricaneOfPuns / SublimeRhyme: Annie May, Pig's sea anemone enemy.
* SitcomArchNemesis: To Pig

* KnowNothingKnowItAll: He 'frequently' does this. In fact, the strip's title comes from the fact that he says bullshit things he thinks are wise to the stupid and gullible Pig (putting "pearls" before swine).
* LackOfEmpathy: Ironically, he once got a job writing cards for people. Guess how well that went.

* LiteralMinded: H

* SurroundedByIdiots: Rat and Pig are both {{Manchild}}s, with thee former acting like a bratty, sociopath and the latter being so stupid and annoying, he has literally driven Goat to run away screaming.

* StageNames: [[spoiler: His real name is Paris, he claims Goat is a stage name.]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: While he doesn't want the Crocs or lions to eat him, he has no problem with eating lobster.
** To be fair, it's not the same thing as stalking and threatening a living creature (himself vs. the Crocs), as the lobster is already dead. However, he did kill Larry when he got stuck on a desert island with no food when Larry became a crab and when Larry got shrunken in the "Alice in Wonderland" story arc.

* {{Red Shirt}}s[=/=]{{Mooks}}: All of them, with the exception of Larry.

* TheAlcoholic: Often is seen drinking beer.

%%* BumblingDad
%%* ButtMonkey

%%* TheLoad

%%* MauveShirt
%%* NeverMyFault
%%* SmallNameBigEgo

* WackyParentSeriousChild: Wacky parent to Juniors serious child.

Larry's wife and Juniors mother. Puts up with a lot from Larry and is constantly disappointed in him.

* FantasticRacism: Does not like her son dating a zebra and wants Larry to kill Zebra. Justified in that Larry's a predator. Later Subverted in that while she still wants Zebra dead, she's willing to put differences aside so Junior will come home for Christmas.

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler: Implied to have had an affair with Stephan Pastis.]]

%%* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch
%%* OddFriendship: With Zebra.
%%** IntergenerationalFriendship

%%* WhiteSheep

* BreakoutCharacter: Was originally just another week of one-off strips but the fans liked him enough that Stephan brought him back.

%%* FeatheredFiend

%%* KillerRabbit

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

* [[BubbleBoy Bubble Girl]]: By choice, as she's really germaphobic. So is her father

* TookALevelInJerkass: After Rat sent letters to her in an attempt to get back together with her, instead of telling him [[spoiler: that she got married and has a kid,]] she throws away his letters, which leads to her [[spoiler: husband trying to kill Rat]]. Then in another strip, she has the GALL to ask Rat to watch her child while she and her [[spoiler: HUSBAND go on a honeymoon.]] Which leads to Rat attempting suicide. She then comes back to tell Rat that she divorced her husband, but when Rat asks to date her again she says that she doesn't want to because she just went through a divorce,[[spoiler: but she is dating other comic book characters, like Dilbert and lies about to Rat, then when he finds out, she treats it like nothing.]] In two more further appearances, she tells Rat that she's leaving him (?) for Ziggy because he's a real man (?!) and then when she WANTS to get back together with Rat, she rejects him because he's working in a clown store. PLEASE Mr. Pastis, let someone tell her off.

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

* BashBrothers: With Guard Duck
* CatsAreMean: Subverted, despite his shady activities, he loves Zebra, as he let himself get arrested when Zebra got blamed for one of his activities.
* TheDragon[=/=]TheLancer: To Guard Duck
* FriendVersusLover: Would not leave Guard Duck and Maura alone when they were in Paris to the point of chaining himself to the toilet and then threatening to blow himself up when asked to leave.
%%* TheIngenue

A young bear and social activist

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: He never really cut on.
%%* SoapBoxSadie

%%* TheyKilledKennyAgain

* KilledOffForReal: Seemingly was this at first, but then subverted in that Pastis decided to "un-die" him in a later strip.

* TheDogBitesBack: Her response to Henry's thoughtlessness is to stomp him on the head.

%%* SuicideAsComedy: they are lemmings after all.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop:[[invoked]] Morals to his stories have included "Never Share", "If you can't feel good about yourself, make everyone else feel worse." and "Only hit Billy while the Principal isn't looking."

* FelonyMisdemeanor: says that he will make eating pineapple pizza will be a felony.

* BabysitterFromHell: The ComicStrip/BabyBlues-ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine crossover strip demonstrated that Rat is, bar none, the absolute ''worst'' babysitter that anyone can imagine, making even Vicky from ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' seem like a saint in comparison.

* CatchPhrase: When Pig does something stupid: "You dumb Pig!"

* VillainProtagonist: Sometimes.

%%* TheCynic

* LackOfEmpathy: Even to his roommate.

%%* ExposedAnimalBellybutton
%%* [[ExpressiveHair Expressive Ears]]

* CharacterFilibuster

! Major Characters
!! Rat

!! Pig

!! Goat

!! Zebra

!! Zeeba Zeeba Eata/ The Crocs

!! Larry

!! Patty

!! Junior

!! Guard Duck

!! Stephan Pastis

! Recurring Characters

!! Farina

!! Pigita

!! Snuffles

!! Maura

!! Alphonse

!! Annie May

!! Leonard

!! Wee Bear

!! Chuckie the Non-Anthropomorphic Sheep

!! Miss Bootyworth

!! Toby The Agoraphobic Turtle

!! Angry Bob

!! Andy

!! The Killer Whale

!! Jeffy

!! Controlling Connie

!! Christmas Tree Girl

!! Connie The Judgmental Cow

!! Hobart

!! Dickie the Cockroach

!! Danny Donkey

!! Ellie the Elephant

!! Max and Zach

!!Licensable Bippy

!!The Lemmings

%%* SuicideAsComedy

!!The Penguins

!!Neighbor Bob

* PlanetOfSteves: Pastis confirmed in one of the treasury books that there are many "Neighbor Bobs" in the comic strip, and are never meant to be the same individual, even if they are all drawn similar.

* ManChild: But is bratty and arrogant in contrast to Pig's innocence.

* WhyDoYouKeepChangingJobs: "Rat gets a new job" makes up a fair portion of the strips content. Of course, StatusQuoIsGod and he always goes back to being unemployed (which is what you'd expect given his [[JerkAss general attitude]]).

* SitComArchNemesis: To Pig

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

%%* FatIdiot

%%* TheHero