History Characters / ThreeBillboardsOutsideEbbingMissouri

->'''Played by:''' Creator/FrancesMcDormand
-->'''Robbie:''' You old cunt!
-->'''Mildred:''' [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne I'm not old, Robbie.]]

[[folder:Chief Bill Willoughby]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/harrelson.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Dixon, you goddamn asshole! I'm in the middle of my goddamn Easter dinner... sorry kids."'']]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/WoodyHarrelson

-->''"I'd do anything to catch the guy who did it, Mrs. Hayes, but when the DNA don't match no one who's ever been arrested, and when the DNA don't match any other crime nationwide, and there wasn't a single eyewitness from the time she left your house to the time we found her, well... right now there ain't much more we could do."''

The well-loved Chief of Police in Ebbing. Mildred attempts to force him and his department into solving her daughter's murder with three billboards.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Admits that he found Mildred assaulting her dentist by drilling a hole in his finger funny when he comes to take her to the station.
* AlliterativeName: '''W'''illiam '''W'''illoughby.
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: He chooses to end his life rather than wait for his cancer to kill him slowly.
* BloodFromTheMouth: Courtesy of his cancer.
* DeadManWriting: [[spoiler:Willoughby narrates three suicide letters after he takes his life halfway through the film]].
* DeadpanSnarker: He quite a dry sense of humor.
* DeadStarWalking: Played by big name Creator/WoodyHarrelson, [[spoiler:Willoughby kills himself about halfway through the film, but remains relevant through the notes he left behind for its remainder.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:When he can't stand the though of his cancer treatment slowly sucking the life out of his family, Willoughby decides to take his own life via gun to the head halfway through the movie.]]
* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler: He calmly shoots himself in the head after having what he feels was a perfect day with his wife and daughters, choosing to go quickly rather than have a long, drawn out death.]]
* AFatherToHisMen: He is adored by his subordinates at the station. [[spoiler:They're devastated by his suicide, leading to many tearful hugs.]]
* GoodParents: What we see of his family life shows him as a loving father to his two daughters.
* AGoodWayToDie: [[spoiler:Spends his last day before committing suicide taking a day off with his family, playing silly games with his daughters, making love to his wife, and petting and feeding his horses. He even plans how to best mitigate the pain of his passing by writing a series of suicide notes to encourage his wife and Dixon, and he gets the last laugh on Mildred by paying for the signs to stay up, leaving her to deal with the consequences, a joke Mildred can't help but respect and laugh at.]]
* HappilyMarried: To his wife, Anne. They have two daughters together.
* MayDecemberRomance: His wife is significantly younger than him (their actors are twenty-one years apart) and refers to him affectionately as "papa."
* OnlySaneMan: Between Mildred's crusade and Dixon's temper, it generally falls to him to be the sensible one.
* OpenSecret: Mildred bluntly tells him that everyone in town knows he has cancer despite his attempts to keep it secret.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Generally depicted as a good and devoted police officer and father. He tries his hardest to mold Dixon into a good police officer and points out to Mildred that her daughter's case was investigated as much as possible, but there was just no evidence or leads to follow up and that her anger against him is misdirected and unfair.
* TheTopicOfCancer: He has pancreatic cancer and [[spoiler:he prefers to commit suicide]] rather than having a long, painful death.
* UglyGuyHotWife: Willoughby certainly isn't ugly but his wife is played by Abbie Cornish.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: He adamantly believes this about Dixon, even telling him in his farewell letter that he believes he has the potential to be a great detective if he can just let go of his anger.
* YourDaysAreNumbered: He has terminal cancer and knows he doesn't have long left.

[[folder:Officer Jason Dixon]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rockwell.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"It's 'persons of color' torturing business these days, if you want to know. And I didn't torture nobody."'']]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/SamRockwell

-->'''Mildred:''' Hey fuckhead!
-->'''Dixon:''' What?

A drunken and hateful cop who allegedly tortured a black Ebbing resident during an interrogation.

* TheAlcoholic: Drinks often, even on the job. Ultimately, his worst moments come whenever he's intoxicated.
* AntiHero: Surprisingly takes steps towards this after [[spoiler:reading one of Willoughby's heartfelt suicide notes. He takes his advice to heart and starts working hard to catch Angela's murderer while never ''quite'' shaking off [[NobleBigotWithABadge his racism, stupidity, or propensity for violence]].]]
* AntiVillain: Dixon, who is trying to administer justice as he understands it. He is ultimately well-intentioned but the results are always at best mixed.
* ArmouredClosetGay: Is hinted towards being this: the only female character he's shown giving any affection towards is his mother, his choice of music when he's vising the police station alone is ABBA as described below who're known as something of a gay icon, his method of getting DNA evidence from the suspect he thinks might've killed Mildred's daughter involves scratching them on the cheek with his fingernails, a part of the letter that William left to him reads "no-one will think you're gay, and if they do, arrest them for homophobia. Won't they be surprised?" and he earlier points out that if they fired every racist cop, there'd only be 3 left and those would be homophobes.
* TheAtoner: Becomes this upon reading Willoughby's letter to him. His first act after his HeelRealization is retrieving the files on Angela's case from the burning Police Department, receiving horrific injuries in the process.
* BadCopIncompetentCop: Starts off this way, but starts to improve [[spoiler:after he's fired (ironically enough).]]
* BrilliantButLazy: Despite his immaturity, he's a genuinely talented police officer and surprisingly clever as his plan to get [[spoiler: DNA evidence from the man in the bar shows.]]
* TheChewToy: Oh ''boy'' is he ever. [[spoiler:He winds up with burns all over his body after narrowly escaping a fire at the police station and later gets the crap beaten out of him by two random bar patrons]]. Both of these instances, however, are the two biggest moments of character development for him.
* TheDeterminator: Turns into this after he takes Chief Willoughby's advice to heart. He goes so far as to [[spoiler:get himself horribly beaten in a bar just to get a DNA sample of a man he suspects murdered Angela Hayes]].
* DiggingYourselfDeeper: Dixon tries to correct Mildred's statement that he's in the "nigger-torturing business" by saying it's the "'people of color'-torturing business", and it gets worse once the chief arrives.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Lives with his mother and takes her advice to heart, even though neither of them are particularly good people.
* GreyAndGrayMorality: A very racist incompetent cop, but one who respects his boss Willoughby deeply and who really did want to do good in his community.
* HeadphonesEqualIsolation: Twice.
** First, the day after [[spoiler:Willoughby commits suicide]], Dixon is too distracted listening to Music/{{ABBA}} to immediately notice the distress of the men at the station.
** Second, when Mildred [[spoiler:calls the police station three times to make sure no one is inside, he fails to hear the phone go off, leading to her starting a fire with him still inside]].
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Dixon is an immature, racist bully but he shows that he's capable of genuine kindness and heroism after reading Willoughby's letter.
* LaserGuidedKarma: He's a racist bully who throws his weight around town and is heavily implied to have tortured a "person-of-color" in a previous incident that he was never punished for. His comeuppance arrives after he [[spoiler:throws Red through a window and viciously beats him in front of the whole town, pausing only to snarl a threat towards a dumbfounded African-American man watching him... who turns out to be the new police chief, who promptly fires him.]]
* {{Manchild}}: He's pretty immature, spending much of his day reading comics at his desk and that's when he's not throwing his weight around like a schoolyard bully.
* MissingDad: In his letter Willoughby mentions that Dixon's dad died which is implied to [[FreudianExcuse have caused Dixon to become hateful]].
* MommasBoy: And everyone in town knows that he still lives with her.
* NoodleIncident: A past "persons of color-torturing" scandal (also referred to in [[NWordPrivileges less savory terms]]) apparently involving Dixon is mentioned a few times, but no details are ever given. At one point Willoughby almost denies that it happened, but hesitates and simply says that it was never proven.
* PoliceBrutality: Played with in that he doesn't torture Red behind closed doors, but straight up assaults him in front of the whole town.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Upon discovering the first billboard as it's being put up, Dixon calls the first painter (a Latino) a "beaner". The second painter (an African-American) also gets the obvious profiling attitude coming from Dixon, and later, Red taunts Dixon over practicing PoliceBrutality on blacks as well as Mildred calling out the police for prioritizing arresting black people for no reason when she's interviewed. Likewise, Mildred calls Dixon out for his "negro-torturing" and Dixon tries to claim that he doesn't and that [[MoralMyopia it's "person-of-color-torturing"]].
* RabidCop: He has anger problems that usually interfere with his job as a cop, like when he assaults Red or in the NoodleIncident regarding his torture of a black person.
* SecretSecretKeeper: [[spoiler:He knew all along that Mildred's the one that burnt down the police station, but didn't tell anybody. When Mildred confesses to him at the end of the film, his response can be summed up as, "Well, ''duh''."]]
* UltimateJobSecurity: Willoughby is called out for not having fired Dixon after he tortured a guy in custody. Willoughby defends Dixon saying he is a good guy.
* WouldHitAGirl: Punches Red's secretary, Pam, after throwing him out of a window in a fit of rage.

[[folder:Red Welby]]
->'''Played by:''' Caleb Landry Jones

-->'''Willoughby:''' You really wanna fuck with the Ebbing Police Department, Red? Do you?
-->'''Red:''' ...I guess.

The owner of Ebbing's advertisement agency.

* DestinationDefenestration: [[spoiler:Is thrown out of his own window by Dixon and ends up in the hospital, though it doesn't look like the fall did any permanent damage]].
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Only ever referred to as "Red" by the townspeople due to his red hair. Whether or not it's his real name is never explored.
* NiceGuy: Even after he realizes that [[spoiler:Dixon is the burn victim he has to share a room with, he still gives him a glass of orange juice — with a straw.]]

[[folder:Robbie Hayes]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/LucasHedges

Mildred and Charlie's son and brother to the late Angela Hayes.

* ExtremelyProtectiveChild: For all his disagreements with his mother, when Charlie pins her to the wall by her neck, he immediately grabs a knife and puts it to his throat.
* PartingWordsRegret: Probably not to the extent of Mildred, but his last conversation with his sister involved him calling her a cunt.
* WhatTheHellHero: Gives a small one to Mildred about the billboards constantly reminding him of the details of Angela's brutal death (which he tried to avoid) over and over.

[[folder:Charlie Hayes]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/JohnHawkes

-->''"All this anger, man. It just begets greater anger."''

Mildred's ex-husband who she left due to alleged DomesticAbuse.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Downplayed, as he's not evil but not a good person. Despite his alleged records of DomesticAbuse to his wife, he is genuinely depressed over what happened to his daughter, Angela, whom he loved very much.
* DomesticAbuse: Though it's her word against his, Mildred claims to have divorced Charlie for this reason. An instance in the movie where he pins Mildred against a wall hints that she's saying the truth.
* MayDecemberRomance: He's in his fifties and is dating Penelope, who looks like she's barely older than his own son.
* OlderThanTheyLook: John Hawkes was fifty-eight when the film came out but certainly doesn't look it.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: He’s Mildred’s former husband and Robbie’s father, and Angela was ''his'' daughter too, so it still counts.

[[folder:Penelope]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/SamaraWeaving

Charlie's significantly younger girlfriend.

* BrainlessBeauty: She's very youthful and attractive, yet she gets polo and polio confused and can't read the room when she catches the Hayes family in the middle of a violent argument.
* BrainyBrunette: Averted. She's brunette but not very sharp. Martin [=McDonagh=] even asked Samara Weaving to dye her natural blonde hair brown as he felt it would make Penelope's ditzy nature funnier.
* NiceGuy: She is not very bright, but she's generally a sweet person. Even Mildred acknowledges this when she tells Charlie to be good to her.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: See Charlie's quote? He got it from Penelope reading a bookmark. It's these words that allow Mildred to finally start moving past her anger.

[[folder:James]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/PeterDinklage

The town midget famous for his skill at pool. He has a crush on Mildred.

* TheAlcoholic: Admits to having a drinking problem.
* DeadpanSnarker: Kind of inevitable when you're played by Peter Dinklage.
* HopelessSuitor: It's clear that his crush on Mildred is pretty one-sided.
* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: He tends to regard all the jokes about his being a dwarf with mild annoyance.
* NiceGuy: Goes out of his way to help Mildred, and rushes to Dixon's aid when he sees him at the scene of the fire.
* PetTheDog: When he stumbles onto the scene of Dixon running out of the police station on fire, he runs to his aid without hesitation.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Delivers one when Mildred accuses him of 'forcing' her to date him, angrily pointing out that he merely asked her out after helping her and that while he's aware he's not exactly many people's idea of a catch, she has no room to judge him considering that she's become so bitter, angry and hate-filled that she'd stoop to [[spoiler:firebombing a police station.]]

[[folder:Angela Hayes]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/KathrynNewton

Mildred and Charlie's daughter who was raped and murdered before the events of the film.

* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Her only scene is a flashback of her complaining that Mildred won't let her use the car.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Angela was not only raped ''while'' dying but was set on fire, leaving a scorched mark that persists to the present day.
* DaddysGirl: Allegedly got along better with her father than Mildred, and apparently asked Charlie if she could move in with him. Of course, Charlie throws this in Mildred's face later on.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Both of her parents outlived her.
* PartingWordsRegret: Both her brother and mother regret their final interactions with her before her rape and murder, with Robbie having called her a cunt in his last interaction with her, and the final interaction between Angela and Mildred was an argument where Angela yelled that she hopes she gets raped and Mildred saying she hopes Angela gets raped too.
* PosthumousCharacter: She was raped and murdered before the events of the film, and we only get to see her in a flashback.

->'''Played by:''' Creator/SandyMartin

[[caption-width-right:350:''"What's the law of what you can and can't say on a billboard?"'']]

* {{Hypocrite}}: She puts up those billboards demanding Sheriff Willoughby answer why there have been no arrests yet for the ill fate of her daughter. When Willoughby ''does'' approach her to do so, Mildred complains he's just wasting both of their time as he'd be better off just catching other criminals out there.