Line #104 Characters/BoardwalkEmpireSchroederRohanFamily


1	!Schroeder Family
2
3	[[foldercontrol]]
4
5	[[folder:Margaret Thompson]]
6	!!Margaret Catherine Sheila Rohan Schroeder Thompson
7	->'''Played By:''' Creator/KellyMacdonald
8
9	[[quoteright:283:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Margaret-Schroeder_4680.jpg]]
10	[[caption-width-right:283:''"I've done what I thought was best and wound up here. How did that happen?"'']]
11	A poor, young Irish mother of two and (thanks to Nucky) widow. She is initially aided by Nucky only out of pity, but they fall in love with each other and begin a relationship as the series progresses. Margaret begins a luxury life as a kept woman and is probably Nucky's closest emotional connection - until he manipulates her into marrying him as a way to escape imprisonment for his many crimes.
12	----
13	* AdaptationExpansion: Margaret is inspired by Mary Ill, a woman that appears in the prologue of the non-fiction source book ''Boardwalk Empire'' coming to Enoch Johnson's office to ask for help after her husband gambles away the family savings. She was also involved in female organizations where she spoke in support of Johnson.
14	* [[AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted A Fool and Her New Money Are Soon Parted]]: Margaret spends vast amounts of Nucky's money on dresses, jewelry and donations to charity and the Church, but she makes no use of it or his connections to pursue a career or start a business that could give her some independence. She has not even learned to drive as she nears her second year of marriage, despite considering it months before Nucky proposed to her. The season three finale finds her sleeping with her children in a low class apartment in Brooklyn, in even worse conditions than before she met Nucky, after she decides to break up with him.
15	* AlcoholicDad: His habit worsened the family's situation back in Ireland, and probably led to his early death.
16	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Nucky is an obvious improvement over Hans, but he's still a mob boss. And ''then'' she falls for Owen...
17	* ArrangedMarriage: To Nucky.
18	* BettyAndVeronica: Betty to Lucy's Veronica.
19	** Because of the danger that is dating her after she marries Nucky, she is the Veronica to Katy's Betty when it comes to Owen.
20	* BewareTheNiceOnes: A non-violent example. She's way smarter than other people credit her for and has a lot of determination.
21	%%zce* CheatingWithTheMilkman
22	* CoolBigSis: To her sisters, especially the youngest, Aylesh.
23	%%* DarkAndTroubledPast
24	* DeadpanSnarker: Occasionally.
25	* DeliveryStork: She makes up a story about one of these getting lost to tell her young children who are confused about her miscarriage.
26	* DemotedToExtra: In the first three seasons, she appeared on every episode except one ("[[ShooOutTheClowns Two Imposters]]") and was the actor with the most appearances after Creator/SteveBuscemi. After she leaves Nucky at the end of season 3, her role is greatly reduced; in season 4, she only appeared in 4 episodes out of the 12, though Creator/KellyMacDonald still got second billing. Her role was somewhat larger in season 5 (6 out of 8 episodes) but still reduced compared to the first three seasons.
27	* DomesticAbuse: Suffered this from her drunken, lazy first husband.
28	* DryCrusader: At the beginning of the series, she's a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and a supporter of prohibition.
29	* EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench: Nucky prefers her to keep her speech Irish-accented and free of Americanisms.
30	* FaceHeelTurn: Her awesome moment in "Ourselves Alone" probably qualifies as this.
31	* FakeIrish: Kelly [=MacDonald=] is actually Scottish.
32	* HappyMarriageCharade: To Nucky in the third season.
33	* HeroicBSOD: In "A Man, A Plan..." when she sees Owen's [[BodyInABreadbox dead body in a box]].
34	* HideYourPregnancy: Kelly [=McDonald=] was starting to get heavily pregnant by the end of Season 3 and dressed in extra-loose 20s clothes in order to hide it. Ironically, her character also got pregnant at the same time (though at a later date) and decided to abort.
35	* {{Hypocrite}}: An [[{{Flanderization}} increasingly]] prominent aspect of Margaret in the first three seasons, with her disapproving almost everything Nucky does, but being fine with paying the Church (with his money) as an easy way out of her own sins. Eventually, at the end of season 3, she leaves him, and when he tries to give her money, she refuses to accept it.
36	* InSeriesNickname: Her siblings call her "Peg".
37	* ItsAllMyFault: After Emily gets sick in the second season, she gets paranoid thinking that it is nothing but divine punishment directed to her for her "sinful" life.
38	* LadyMacbeth: Seems to be going in this direction in "Ourselves Alone", but by "Two Boats and a Lifeguard" (after Nucky is shot), pleads with him to leave the gangster life.
39	* LieBackAndThinkOfEngland: While still attached to Nucky, she loses interest in having sex with him as season 2 goes on.
40	* MafiaPrincess: Financial security is one of the reasons she hooks up with Nucky. However, she quickly becomes uncomfortable in the role, and tries to support charity instead of buying pretty things.
41	* MassiveNumberedSiblings: She has a brother and three sisters.
42	* TheMissusAndTheEx: Her relation with Lucy is far from amiable. Eventually, Lucy is targeted by a CountryMatters PrecisionFStrike.
43	* MoralityPet: She and her children are this to Nucky.
44	* ObfuscatingStupidity: Saves the day using this in "Ourselves Alone".
45	* OhCrap: When encountering Arnold Rothstein in her new job in New York.
46	* TheObstructiveLoveInterest: Becomes this for Nucky after suffering a sudden crisis of conscience in mid Season 2.
47	%%* OverlyLongName
48	* PrecisionFStrike and [[CountryMatters C Strike]]: Margaret generally never swears, which makes the moments she does significant, as Lucy finds out.
49	* PutOnABus: Along with her children, she leaves at the end of the third season for Brooklyn.
50	** TheBusCameBack: Nucky contacts her after [[spoiler:Eddie kills himself]].
51	* RagsToRiches: Becomes RichesToRags at the end of the third season.
52	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Margaret and her brother give each other one in "Peg of Old".
53	* ShutUpHannibal: To Lucy, in two different occasions.
54	* SilkHidingSteel: A morally ambiguous example.
55	* SoapboxSadie: Margaret is a less ham-fisted example than usual: she usually fights against injustices she has genuinely suffered herself. In Season 1 she campaigns for female suffrage, she being an immigrant from a country (Ireland) where women can vote to one (America) where they can't; she supports Prohibition because her abusive husband gets even more violent when he drinks, rather than because she thinks that alcohol is intrinsically immoral (and she drinks herself with moderation); and in Season 3 her main struggle is to open a clinic that teaches women to take better care of themselves during pregnancy, she having already suffered two miscarriages before 30 herself. The one time she considered fighting for a hopeless cause (bringing Nucky's criminal empire down, which is the basis of her own wealth and status to boot) was one time that she was stressed and not thinking rationally because of her daughter being sick and she blaming herself for it.
56	* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: "A Man, A Plan..." reveals that she is pregnant with Owen's child only after he is killed. Subverted when she has an abortion two episodes later.
57	* TeenPregnancy: Revealed in "Family Limitation". Her immigration file notes that she was 16 and pregnant when she sailed from Ireland, but lost the child on arrival.
58	* TheTeetotaler: Begins the series as one, but abandons it as she is corrupted by the good life.
59	* TokenWholesome: [[EnforcedTrope Enforced]]. Rumors say that Creator/KellyMacDonald demanded a non-nudity clause in her contract (she declared her unwillingness to do nude scenes after the birth of her first child).
60	** Though the character - through a BodyDouble - did have a topless scene in season 1.
61	* TookALevelInBadass:
62	** In "Ourselves Alone", when she steals Nucky's ledger from under the police and again in "Gimcrack and Bunkum" when she breaks up a fistfight between Nucky and Eli by frog-marching Eli out with a shotgun to the head (granted, the gun was empty, but she gets points for effort).
63	** In "Bone For Tuna" she takes another level by playing Dr. Landau and the bishop against each other in order to get the pre-natal care program she wants at the hospital. She may not love Nucky anymore but it seems like she's taken some of his ManipulativeBastard traits.
64	* TookALevelInJerkass: She's pretty mean to her maids in the second season, although it's presented as somewhat understandable in light of her own background in service and continued feeling of uncertainty about her family's future and her place in society.
65	%%* WantingIsBetterThanHaving
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Teddy Thompson]]
69	!!Theodore "Teddy" Thompson, born Schroeder
70	->'''Played By:''' Rory & Declan [=McTigue=]
71
72	[[quoteright:244:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Teddy_Schroeder_2807.png]]
73	[[caption-width-right:244:''"He tries anything, I'll stick him in the face with this. And I'll kill him."'']]
74	Margaret's oldest surviving child.
75	----
76	* AbusiveParents: AlcoholicParent and {{Domestic Abuse}}r Hans Schroeder was a real piece of work.
77	* CreepyChild / TroublingUnchildhoodBehavior: As a result of his deadpan delivery, the way he asked if his little sister was going to die without seeming worried about it, how he feigned being crippled himself to draw Margaret's attention, or the fact that he always knows more than he seems, in no small part because he actively ''spies on other people.'' And ''then'' he is also a:
78	* {{Pyromaniac}}: He develops a fascination with fire after he sees Nucky burning his childhood home.
79	* GreenEyedMonster: He is jealous of his sister receiving more attention.
80	* HappilyAdopted: All things considered, the kids lot in life is greatly improved by Nucky and they genuinely love him.
81	* MoralityPet: Nucky also loves and cares for him and his sister.
82	* ObliviouslyEvil: Possibly on the way to become this. Teddy is, after all, just a kid, but nobody ever bothers to sit down and explain him why the things he does are bad.
83	* ParentalNeglect: Though Nucky is a very decent parent, living temporarily in a hotel suite / criminal HQ is not the best environment for raising kids.
84	** Margaret devotes most of her time to Emily after she gets polio, neglecting Teddy, and his isolation only gets worse when she gets angry with Nucky and tries to keep him from contacting them. What makes Margaret's choice worse is that [[WhenYouComingHomeDad Teddy clearly yearns for a father figure.]]
85	* ParentalSubstitute: Nucky Thompson goes from HonoraryUncle to parent.
86	* PrimalFear: Teddy fears "the gypsy", a bagman whose very name sounds like Gyp Rosetti.
87	** UnknownRival: The poor guy really exists and is just a bum. Let's hope Teddy never finds him.
88	%%* RagsToRiches: ZigzaggedTrope.
89	* TurnOutLikeHisFather: Margaret fears that Teddy will grow up to be an abuser like Hans.
90	%%* TheUnfavorite
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder:Emily Thompson]]
94	!!Emily Thompson, born Schroeder
95	->'''Played By:''' Josie & Lucy Gallina
96
97	[[quoteright:214:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Emily_Schroeder_3261.png]]
98	[[caption-width-right:214:''"I can't move my legs."'']]
99	Margaret's second surviving child.
100	----
101	* AbusiveParents: Her father Hans was an abusive scumbag who beat on her mother, but she gets a healthier father figure with Nucky.
102	%%* AfraidOfNeedles
103	* BreakTheCutie: In Season 2.
104	%%* ChildrenAreInnocent
105	* HappilyAdopted: By Nucky.
106	%%* MafiaPrincess
107	* MoralityPet: To Nucky, and all things considered, to Teddy.
108	* ParentalNeglect: See Teddy above. Of the two she is the one that gets more attention, however.
109	* ParentalSubstitute: Nucky.
110	%%* RagsToRiches: ZigzaggedTrope.
111	[[/folder]]
112
113	[[folder:Hans Schroeder]]
114	!!Hans Peter Schroeder
115	->'''Played By:''' Creator/JosephSikora
116	[[quoteright:279:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hans-schroeder_4367.png]]
117	[[caption-width-right:279:''"You sit down or you'll get the belt!"'']]
118	Margaret's abusive husband, an unemployed baker assistant with a gambling addiction. He is killed under orders of Nucky at the end of the pilot and used to pin the Woods Massacre on.
119	----
120	* AssholeVictim: He is a violent, abusive alcoholic bastard who hits and mistreats his children and beats his pregnant wife so viciously she suffers a miscarriage. After accusing her of being a whore. And taking the nest egg he'd found out she had, and going off to drink and gamble it away. He's bad enough that Nucky personally signs off a hit on him, at a time when Nucky was basically just a grafting politician, not a gangster, and definitely not a killer.
121	* DeceasedFallGuyGambit: He's made the fall guy for the Woods Massacre.
122	* DomesticAbuse: Beats Margaret repeatedly during the pilot. Season 2 confirms that he also beat the children.
123	%%** DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff
124	%%* TheGamblingAddict
125	* HateSink: An abusive father and a wife-beating scumbag with no redeeming qualities.
126	* KarmicDeath: After he beats Margaret so hard she miscarries, Nucky orders Eli to beat him to death without even telling him why.
127	* PayEvilUntoEvil: His death ain't precisely pretty.
128	* SacrificialLamb: You don't actually expect Nucky to whack him in the pilot.
129	[[/folder]]
130
131	!Rohan Family
132
133	[[folder:Eamoinn Rohan]]
134	!!Eamoinn Rohan
135	->'''Played By:''' Creator/TonyCurran
136	[[quoteright:240:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eamoinn-rohan_7146.png]]
137	[[caption-width-right:240:''"[[ItsAllAboutMe You did as you wanted, Peg.]] You always have. Nothing you bring and nothing you buy will change that."]]''
138
139	Margaret's estranged older brother, now working as a subway digger in Brooklyn.
140	----
141	* AloofBigBrother: To Margaret. He outright says to her: "I don't feel much about you at all."
142	* FakeIrish: Like [=MacDonald=], Curran is also Scottish.
143	* FieryRedhead: Averted. Eamoinn always accepts authority and has no ambition besides working to survive and provide for his sisters.
144	* DemotedToExtra: Eamoinn was likely slated to return in Season 4 when Season 2 was written, but Margaret's drastically reduced screen time (in part because of Kelly Macdonald's RealLife pregnancy) meant that any part he had was scrapped. His ''feet'' are still visible in one scene, obviously from an extra, showing the cramped conditions Margaret and her children sleep in after they leave Nucky to live with the Rohans.
145	* {{Jerkass}}: He is not even one time nice to Margaret when she comes back home.
146	* JerkassHasAPoint: Though he is harsh in his dealings with Margaret, he calls her out on several of her less than upstanding actions and tendencies that we observe during the course of the series. Among these are her accusing a boy of rape to obscure a relationship out of wedlock, her theft of her family's money, and her ItsAllAboutMe attitudes as noted in his page quote. Not to mention her tendency to attach herself to virtually any man for her own gain. While she was trying to avoid a hard life, the conditions that she would have found herself in were par for the course for women of the time.
147	* ParentalSubstitute: To his younger sisters, particularly Aylesh.
148	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: He unleashes one on Margaret in "Peg of Old". Of course, since this is a show with BlackAndGrayMorality, Eamoinn's reasons to hate Margaret is that she does not blindly follow authority while that he always does, ''even when that meant condemning a teenage Margaret to a life of slavery in a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalene_laundry Magdalene Laundry]]''. 12 years later, he still does not regret his position and holds her escape against her.
149	* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: He initially takes the money when Margaret attempts to return what she stole from the family back in Ireland, but returns it to her and tells her to not come back when he believes that she is going to 'corrupt' Aylesh.
150	* ThickerThanWater: Despite his dislike for Margaret, he still lets her to live in his apartment when she leaves Nucky and has nowhere to go.
151	[[/folder]]
152
153	[[folder:Nuala Rohan]]
154	!!Nuala Rohan
155	->'''Played By:''' Creator/ShannonGarland
156	[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nuala-rohan_4648.png]]
157	[[caption-width-right:225:''"She's our Peg of old, just."'']]
158
159	Margaret's oldest sister and the third Rohan child overall. She works as a seamstress.
160	----
161	* AllThereInTheManual: Some fans mistook her for Eamoinn's wife.
162	* {{Foil}}: To Eamoinn. She welcomes Margaret back and holds nothing against her, and has no problem with Margaret spending her money as she likes, regardless of how she obtained it.
163	* NiceGirl: "You've a good heart, Nuala."
164	* OneDialogueTwoConversations:
165	-->'''Margaret''': Eamoinn... thank you for replying to my letter.
166	-->'''Nuala''' (to Margaret, smiling): Couldn't leave you wandering out there, so far from home. (turns back to Eamoinn, serious) Could we?
167	* ParentalSubstitute: To Beth and Aylesh. Presumably, to Margaret's kids later, as Margaret mentions that her sisters helped raising them.
168	[[/folder]]
169
170	[[folder:Beth Rohan]]
171	!!Bethany "Beth" Rohan
172	->'''Played By:''' Creator/NadiaAlexander
173	[[quoteright:191:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beth-rohan_1970.png]]
174	[[caption-width-right:191:''"She's not a 'Miss', Aylesh."'']]
175	Margaret's teenage second sister, a laundry worker.
176	----
177	* AllThereInTheManual: Her full name.
178	[[/folder]]
179
180	[[folder:Aylesh Rohan]]
181	!!Aylesh Rohan
182	->'''Played By:''' Creator/EmmaKenney
183	[[quoteright:191:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aylesh-rohan_3222.png]]
184	[[caption-width-right:191:''"Send me books! I like anything with a horse in it."'']]
185
186	Margaret's youngest sister and the only one who has lost her Irish accent after moving to America. She was a newborn when Margaret left and has no memory of her.
187	----
188	* AllGirlsLikePonies: She tells Margaret to send her books about horses. When Margaret brings her one personally and Aylesh is in a sad mood, she asks if the horse dies because she "wouldn't like that".
189	* BilingualBonus: She welcomes Margaret with a toast in Gaelic that goes untranslated. Additionally, the toast is given entirely in an American accent, serving to present Aylesh's character.
190	-->Sláinte chuig na fír, agus go mairfidh na mna go deo![[labelnote:Transl.]]"Health to the men, and may the women live forever!"[[/labelnote]]
191	* CheerfulChild: Most of the time, at least.
192	%%* FieryRedhead
193	* IfOnlyYouKnew: Her imaginative description of Nucky nails him completely.
194	* MissingMom: Aylesh barely remembers hers.
195	* [[YouWatchTooMuchX You Read Too Much Books]]
196	[[/folder]]
197

Context Characters / BoardwalkEmpireSchroederRohanFamily