History Characters / TheLighthouse

->'''Played By:''' Creator/RobertPattinson\\
'''Dubbed By:''' Thomas Roditi (European French)

-->''"Now look here! Ain't nothing wrong with a man startin' fresh, startin' new. Just looking to earn a living. Just like any man. Just want to settle quiet-like with some earnings."''

->'''Played By:''' Creator/WillemDafoe\\
'''Dubbed By:''' Creator/EricHersonMacarel (European French)

-->''"Should pale death, with treble dread, make the ocean caves our bed, God who hear'st the surges roll, deign to save our suppliant soul."''

* EntitledBastard: Wake calls him out for being one in his {{Reason You Suck Speech}}.

-->'''Winslow:''' He went mad? You made him mad with that charm! That scrimshaw trinket! But I broke it, see. See! Now I'm free... I'm free from yer designs!
-->''[Winslow breaks off in a crazed laughing fit as Wake watches in shock and pity]''

* PrettyBoy: Despite sporting a disheveled appearance for most of the film, Wake pokes fun at Winslow through [[{{InformedAttractiveness}} off-hand mentions that he finds him attractive]].

* UnreliableNarrator: [[{{AmbiguousSituation}} Possibly]]; more than once, Wake contradicts what Winslow believes to have happened, regarding both Winslow's actions and the passage of time, though the movie never makes it clear whether it's the effect of Winslow slowly going insane or if Wake is deliberately {{gaslighting}} him. The film's [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane setting]] doesn't help clear up matters.

-->'''Wake:''' Now. I'm a wickie and a wickie I is. And I'm damn well wedded to [[spoiler:this here light]] and she's been a finer, truer, quieter wife than any live-blooded woman.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:Killing Wake off counts as this considering his mistreatment of Winslow beforehand.]]

->'''Played By:''' Creator/RobertPattinson
->'''Dubbed By:''' Thomas Roditi (European French)

->'''Played By:''' Creator/WillemDafoe
->'''Dubbed By:''' Creator/EricHersonMacarel (European French)

* PrettyBoy: Despite sporting a disheveled appearance for most of the film, Wake still finds a way to poke fun at Winslow through [[{{InformedAttractiveness}} mentioning he finds him attractive]].

* SirSwearsALot: Swears the most out of the two men. This can be a justified example as he is younger, hence not as mature, and works alongside a crude former sailor.

* LaughingMad: Has one moment after he [[spoiler:breaks the mermaid scrimshaw]]. Believing that he's broken a curse Wake placed on it, he celebrates by unnervingly laughing in his face to mock him.

* PrettyBoy: Being the visibly younger of the two wickies, Wake will poke fun at Winslow's more youthful appearance.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:Killing Wake off counts as this considering the way he treated Winslow beforehand.]]

-->'''Wake:''' The only medicine is drink. Keeps them sailors happy, keeps them agreeable, keeps them calm, keeps them...\\\
'''Winslow:''' Stupid.\\\

[[folder: Ephraim Winslow]]

* AmbiguouslyChristian: When Wake questions him about his beliefs, he described himself as "God-fearing", but we don't get much more context beyond that.

* AndIMustScream: It's implied that [[spoiler:the last scene of the film where he is EatenAlive by seagulls is either a DyingDream or [[FateWorseThanDeath he is doomed for eternity being disemboweled and defecated on]]. Either way, he is alive and aware the entire time.]]
* TheAtoner: Zigzagged. He speaks of wanting to start over when Wake asks why he chose the job, even saying that he's done things that he isn't proud of. In the scene where he spills the truth that [[spoiler:he murdered the real Ephraim Winslow]], he expresses some guilt over what he's done. However, despite his remorse and supposed desire to leave his sins behind, [[spoiler:he still murders Wake in the end in similar fashion to Winslow]].

-->'''Winslow''': That's the trouble with you!
-->'''Wake''': That's the trouble with ye!
-->'''Winslow''': With you!
-->'''Wake''': With ye!
-->'''Winslow''': No! NOOO!!!

* ChurchgoingVillain: While he admits that he doesn't pray that much, Winslow identifies as 'God fearing'.

-->'''Wake''': The only medicine is drink. Keeps them sailors happy, keeps them agreeable, keeps them calm, keeps them...
-->'''Winslow''': Stupid.
-->[pause, then Wake starts to laugh]
-->'''Wake''': Curse me! If there ain't an old tar spirit somewheres in ye, lad!
* TheDeterminator: His obsession with the light drives him to do anything to either earn the entry or break in. Even [[spoiler:kill his boss]].

-->'''Wake''': ...Ye pretended to some mystery in yer quietudes, but there ain't no mystery, yer an open book. A picture, says I. A painted actress screaming in the footlights, a bitch what wants to be coveted for nothin' but being born, cryin' bout the silver spoon what should've been yers.

-->'''Winslow''': He went mad? You made him mad with that charm! That scrimshaw trinket! But I broke it, see. See! Now I'm free...I'm free from yer designs!

-->'''Wake''': So, what brung such a one as you to this damned rock?
-->'''Winslow''': Such as what?
-->'''Wake''': Pretty as a picture.
-->[Wake laughs]
-->'''Wake''': Only joshing, lad, only josh…

-->'''Winslow''': You think yer so damned high and mighty cause yer a goddamned lighthouse keeper? Well, you ain't a captain of no ship and you never was, you ain't no general, no copper, you ain't the president, and you ain't my father -- and I'm sick of you actin' like you is! I'm sick of your laugh, your snoring, and your goddamned farts. Your damned goddamned farts. Goddamn yer farts! You smell like piss, you smell like jism, like rotten dick, like curdled foreskin, like hot onions fucked a farmyard shit-house. And I'm sick of yer smell. I'm sick of it! I'm sick of it, you goddamned drunk. You goddamned, no-account, drunken, son-of-a-bitch-bastard liar! That's what you are, you're a goddamned drunken horse-shitting -- short -- shit liar. A liar!

[[folder: Thomas Wake]]

-->'''Winslow''': You've been drunk since I first laid eyes on you.
* AmbiguouslyBi: Similar to Winslow, both express attraction towards women early in the movie; Wake recalls previous encounters with pretty nuns and was originally married before he left to continue his work. Besides the obvious slow dance and near kiss scene, it can be noted that Wake sometimes describes Winslow as "pretty" or a "handsome lad".

* BerserkButton: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBZwUdJFnhw Insulting his cooking is a BIG no.]].

-->'''Winslow''': You feel shame when you lie with a woman?
-->'''Wake''': I ain't shamed of nothing!
-->[they both laugh]

-->'''Wake''': Now. I'm a wickie and a wickie I is. And I'm damn well wedded to [[spoiler:this here light]] and she's been a finer, truer, quieter wife than any live-blooded woman.

* FatherNeptune: Though he's a lighthouse keeper and not a sailor anymore, he ticks so many of the boxes for this trope that Winslow eventually complains that he "talks like a goddamn parody". It may actually be [[spoiler:an act however - he gives conflicting stories about what happened to his bad leg, and at one point Winslow accuses him of being a total fraud who was never a sailor, which Wake doesn't really confirm or deny]]. Then again Winslow might have been projecting a little, as [[spoiler:he himself is lying about his true identity]].
* TheGadfly: Besides getting drunk and sleeping, he also likes to pass the time by getting on Winslow's nerves.

** He [[spoiler:docks Winslow's pay]] for reasons such as 'working drunk', 'habitual self-abuse', and attempting to harm his coworker. On any other day, Wake would be right to do this if he wasn't guilty of the same actions himself.

* LethalChef: Winslow describes Wake's cooking as "horse-shit", however he might have said that just to be rude.

* ShapeshifterShowoffSession: Occurs by way of MaybeMagicMaybeMundane in the final act; Wake abruptly appears to transform into [[spoiler: the real Ephraim Winslow]], the mermaid from Winslow's dreams, and [[spoiler:a horrific tentacled version of himself (possibly his true form)]] after [[spoiler:Thomas Howard]] attacks him.

[[/folder]]

* ShapeshifterShowoffSession: Occurs by way of MaybeMagicMaybeMundane in the final act; Wake abruptly appears to transform into [[spoiler: the real Ephraim Winslow]], the mermaid from Winslow's dreams, and [[spoiler:a horrific tentacled version of himself(possibly his true form)]] after [[spoiler:Thomas Howard]] attacks him.

* AndIMustScream: It's implied that [[spoiler:the last scene of the film where he is EatenAlive by seagulls is either a DyingDream or [[FateWorseThanDeath he is doomed for eternity being disemboweled and defecated on]] Either way, he is alive and aware the entire time.]]

An unpleasant old sailor, Thomas Wake is a more seasoned wickie and mentors Winslow throughout the movie. Supposedly a former sea captain, he speaks in a nautical tongue and has the temperament of a gruff, unsound pirate. His possessiveness of the light makes one wonder if he knows more than he acts like he does...

* LargeHam: Dafoe is clearly enjoying himself playing the "crusty old seadog" to an [[ExaggeratedTrope almost comical extreme]], and is prone to extremely grandiose turns of phrase, most notably during the "Hark!" scene when he goes on an utterly deranged two-minute rant, delivering a nightmarish nautical death curse damning Winslow's soul to hell and back in PurpleProse... for the crime of [[RantInducingSlight insulting his cooking]].

* ShapeshifterShowoffSession: Occurs by way of MaybeMagicMaybeMundane in the final act; Wake abruptly appears to transform into [[spoiler: the real Ephraim Winslow]], the mermaid from Winslow's dreams, and [[spoiler:a horrific tentacled version of himself(possibly his true form)]] [[spoiler: after [[spoiler:Thomas Howard]] attacks him.

* AmbiguouslyBi: Similar to Winslow, both express attraction towards women early in the movie; Wake recalls previous encounters with pretty nuns and was originally married before he left to continue his work. Besides the obvious slow dance scene and near kiss, it can be noted that Wake sometimes describes Winslow as "pretty" or a "handsome lad".

* EvenEvilHasStandards: The movie makes it hard to list this trope because we're never sure if [[spoiler:Wake's even innocent for a crime that he condemns Winslow for]].

* ShapeshifterShowoffSession: Occurs by way of MaybeMagicMaybeMundane in the final act; when tensions between Ephraim Winslow and Thomas Wake finally result in a fight to the death, Wake abruptly appears to transform into [[spoiler: the man Winslow murdered for his identity]], startling his opponent into submission; then, Wake becomes the mermaid that's been haunting Ephraim and tries to draw him in for a kiss... only for the mermaid to become a tentacled monster version of Wake and try to throttle him to death.

* UnreliableNarrator: [[AmbiguousSituation: Possibly]]; more than once, Wake contradicts what Winslow believes to have happened, regarding both Winslow's actions and the passage of time, though the movie never makes it clear whether it's the effect of Winslow slowly going insane or if Wake is deliberately {{gaslighting}} him. The film's [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane setting]] doesn't help clear up matters.

* UnreliableNarrator: [{AmbiguousSituation: Possibly}]; more than once, Wake contradicts what Winslow believes to have happened, regarding both Winslow's actions and the passage of time, though the movie never makes it clear whether it's the effect of Winslow slowly going insane or if Wake is deliberately {{gaslighting}} him. The film's [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane setting]] doesn't help clear up matters.

* SirSwearsALot: Swears the most out of the two men. This can be a justified example as he is younger than Wake (hence not as mature) and works alongside a former sailor.

* UnreliableNarrator: [{AmbiguousSituation Possibly]]; more than once, Wake contradicts what Winslow believes to have happened, regarding both Winslow's actions and the passage of time, though the movie never makes it clear whether it's the effect of Winslow slowly going insane or if Wake is deliberately {{gaslighting}} him. The film's [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane setting]] doesn't help clear up matters.

* AffablyEvil: Winslow's an odd example because it's hard to say he's openly nice either. He doesn't try to cause trouble and may joke with Wake a few times, but he definitely dislikes him from the get-go. When he goes through a {{villainous breakdown}} from constant labor, alcohol abuse, and Wake's gaslighting, Winslow becomes a lot more irritable and even threatening towards him.

* RedOni,BlueOni: The obvious blue to Wake's stormy and joking red.

* TheUnblinking: Not for the whole movie, but during [[SignatureScene his long-winded rant at Winslow]], he doesn't blink once, which only serves to make it even ''more'' unsettling.

!!Ephraim Winslow/Young [[spoiler: (Thomas Howard)]]

A quiet man with a sordid past and many secrets, Ephraim Winslow is a newly appointed assistant wickie tasked with maintaining the lighthouse alongside his superior. He's an inexperienced and grudging figure who comes to the island looking to earn a quick salary after mysteriously changing careers from being a timber man. As his sanity erodes over the course of the film, his past comes back to haunt him until he reveals [[spoiler: his current identity is stolen from his former foreman]].

* TheAlcoholic: Due to Wake's influence, he progressively develops a similar dependence on alcohol. It gets to the point where he drinks heavily while working, and even [[spoiler: drinks turpentine mixed with honey after their rum rations run out]].

** It's implied to possibly be more than situational. In the masturbating scene, he starts to imagine both Wake and [[spoiler: the real Winslow]], however becomes uncomfortable and is unable to suppress his thoughts. This plays into the theory that [[spoiler: Winslow only killed his boss due to severe inner turmoil over being attracted to him]].

* AmbitionIsEvil: Deconstructed. After constantly trying to prove how much he deserves entry into the lighthouse, Winslow only meets his goal by [[spoiler: murdering Wake]]. It doesn't last long, however...

* TheAtoner: Zigzagged. He speaks of wanting to start over when Wake asks why he chose the job, even saying that he's done things that he isn't proud of. In the scene where he spills the truth that [[spoiler: he murdered the real Ephraim Winslow]], he expresses some guilt over what he's done. However, despite his remorse and supposed desire to leave his sins behind, [[spoiler: he still murders Wake in the end in similar fashion to Winslow]].
* AxCrazy: Winslow [[spoiler: hacks Wake to death with an axe after being attacked by him, and it’s also possible he attempted to kill Wake earlier with one when he was trying to escape the island]]. When he [[spoiler: killed his previous boss, he used a cant hook]].
* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: In the beginning part of the film, he [[spoiler: beats a seagull to death which seemingly brings down a storm on the pair and strands them for most of the film]].
* BerserkButton: [[spoiler: Both of his bosses met their demise because they kept referring to him as a dog]].

* BewareTheQuietOnes: Despite Winslow's subdued and reserved personality, [[spoiler: he's capable of angry fits of murder]].

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: He dies after falling down the lighthouse stairs from being being burned and driven mad by the light. In the afterlife, Winslow has his insides eaten and defecated on by sea gulls for presumably all eternity, similar to Prometheus.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Despite never being a wickie or sailor, he certainly has the dry wit of one. It’s one of the only things Wake ever compliments him for.

-->'''Wake''': Curse me if there ain’t an old tar spirit somewheres in you, lad.
* TheDeterminator: His obsession with the light drives him to do anything to either earn the entry or break in. Even [[spoiler: kill his boss]].
* DudeWheresMyRespect: Winslow nearly kills himself doing dangerous tasks to maintain the station, only for [[spoiler: Wake to recommend that Winslow not be compensated for any of the labor he's completed]]. He's understandably pissed off by this when he finds out.

-->'''Wake''': ...Ye pretended to some mystery in yer quietudes, but there ain’t no mystery, yer an open book. A picture, says I. A painted actress screaming in the footlights, a bitch what wants to be coveted for nothin’ but being born, cryin’ bout the silver spoon what should’ve been yers.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler: Killing Wake off counts as this considering the way he treated Winslow beforehand.]]
* LaughingMad: Has one moment after he [[spoiler: breaks the mermaid scrimshaw]]. Believing that he's broken a curse Wake placed on it, he celebrates by unnervingly laughing in his face to mock him.
-->'''Winslow''': He went mad? You made him mad with that charm! That scrimshaw trinket! But I broke it, see. See! Now I’m free...I’m free from yer designs!

* NightmareFetishist: The mermaid that washes up on the beach [[spoiler: (if she's even real)]] has grotesquely shaped fins and even frightens Winslow with her eerie shrieking. Nonetheless, he still fantasizes about having sex with her.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: He made a really long and crude one on the spot after he [[spoiler: learned Wake was purposely misreporting his work to cut his pay]], the speech doubling as a {{Rage Breaking Point}}. The quote below isn't even the full rant.

* SanitySlippage: Winslow was probably already on the verge of one since he's [[spoiler: in constant denial that he consciously killed someone]]. When cabin fever, alcoholism, vivid hallucinations, and mental abuse is added to the pile, he starts to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4ONq7jNShU lose all reason]].
* SentimentalDrunk: It kinda confirms Wake's ideas on alcohol when it makes someone as mistrustful as Winslow more content and open to trust Wake more. They even share a drunken slow dance together and hold each other while [[spoiler: Winslow admits to being an imposter]].

* VillainProtagonist: The story follows the journey of a [[spoiler: killer]] trying to hide from his past.
* WeirdnessMagnet: Winslow is haunted by the lighthouse, mermaids, gulls assumed to be the souls of dead sailors, [[spoiler: possibly Wake]], and whatever other supernatural things that lie on the island. [[spoiler: If the theory is correct that he already died and is a spirit traveling through purgatory, this would make Winslow "weird" as well]].

* WouldHarmASenior: [[spoiler: At the end of the movie, he attacks and eventually kills his older boss, Wake]].

-->'''Winslow''': You’ve been drunk since I first laid eyes on you.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: [[spoiler: It's possible that Wake is a primordial guardian of the light, or even the very god of the sea. There's a consensus that Wake's character was modeled off of Proteus, a prophetic sea god from Greek mythology that would take the appearance of an old man]].
* AxCrazy: Both Wake and Winslow take turns trying to [[spoiler: kill each other]] with one.

-->'''Wake''': I ain’t shamed of nothing!

** Similar to Winslow's sexual obsession with the mermaid carving, Wake has an unusual attraction for [[spoiler: the light itself]].
-->'''Wake''': Now. I'm a wickie and a wickie I is. And I'm damn well wedded to [[spoiler: this here light]] and she's been a finer, truer, quieter wife than any alive-blooded woman.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: The movie makes it hard to list this trope because we're never sure if [[spoiler: Wake's even innocent for a crime that he condemns Winslow for]].
* FatherNeptune: Though he's a lighthouse keeper and not a sailor anymore, he ticks so many of the boxes for this trope that Winslow eventually complains that he "talks like a goddamn parody". It may actually be [[spoiler: an act however - he gives conflicting stories about what happened to his bad leg, and at one point Winslow accuses him of being a total fraud who was never a sailor, which Wake doesn't really confirm or deny]]. Then again Winslow might have been projecting a little, as [[spoiler: he himself is lying about his true identity]].

** He [[spoiler: docks Winslow's pay]] for reasons such as 'working drunk', 'habitual self-abuse', and attempting to harm his coworker. On any other day, Wake would be right to do this if he wasn't guilty of the same actions himself.
** Towards the end of the movie, Wake reviles Winslow for being a [[spoiler: murderer]]. However, it's never settled if Winslow is incorrect about [[spoiler:Wake killing his former worker]].

* MeanBoss: Wake's an awful mix of this and a {{bad boss}}. Not only does he demean Winslow and overwork him, but he [[spoiler: even attempts to kill him]].

* SignatureLine: Anyone who's seen the trailer can probably guess it off the top of their head: [[spoiler: "Why’d y’spill yer beans?"]]

* AmbiguouslyChristian: When Wake questions him about his beliefs, he described himself as "God-fearing", but we don't get much more context beyond that.

* AmbiguouslyChristian: Seemingly worships and prays to the Christian God on multiple occasions, but his relationship to Christianity is made complicated by the near-pagan levels of superstition, culminating in a prayer to the Greek gods Triton and Neptune.

* AxeCrazy: Both Wake and Winslow take turns trying to [[spoiler: kill each other]] with one.

* {{Hypocrite}}: He [[spoiler: docks Winslow's pay]] for reasons such as 'working drunk', 'habitual self-abuse', and attempting to harm his coworker. On any other day, Wake would be right to do this if he wasn't guilty of the same actions himself.