Line #125 Characters/ThreeBillboardsOutsideEbbingMissouri


1	[[foldercontrol]]
2
3	!!Hayes Family
4
5	[[folder:Mildred Hayes]]
6	!!Mildred Hayes
7	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/frances.png]]
8	[[caption-width-right:350:''"What's the law of what you can and can't say on a UsefulNotes/{{billboard}}?"'']]
9	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/FrancesMcDormand
10
11	->'''Robbie:''' You old cunt!
12	->'''Mildred:''' [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne I'm not old, Robbie.]]
13
14	A grieving mother who intends to push the police to finding her daughter's killer -- by paying for three billboards that display a direct and aggressive challenge to Chief Willoughby.
15	----
16	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Laughs when [[spoiler:Willoughby admits in his suicide note that he paid for her billboards over the next month just so that she'd have to defend after he died]].
17	* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: She embarrasses Robbie through her unpopular, unflinching use of the billboards rather than through coddling or public humiliation. (Though kneeing two people in the groin at his school is fairly embarrassing.)
18	* AntiHero: Mildred is a grieving mother who just wants justice to be found for her daughter who was raped and murdered. Sounds pretty heroic, right? However, her actions over the course of the film, while always understandable, become increasingly unsympathetic:
19	** She's rude at almost the slightest provocation. She seems disdainful of James even though he is nothing but kind to her (see the WhatTheHellHero entry below for more about that). Even her relationship was strained with her daughter, as we see in the movie's only flashback. [[spoiler:In fact, the daughter apparently wanted to move in with her abusive father, Mildred's ex-husband to get away from her. When she asks her son if this is true, he weakly says he doesn't know, confirming that it was true to Mildred.]]
20	** She stoically rejects Willoughby's request to take down the harshly critical billboards even knowing that he did all that he legally could and is dying of cancer.
21	** [[spoiler:She ''burns down the police station'' in a fit of furious retaliation after her signs are burned down. Although she tried to make sure no one was inside, calling the station three times, she still nearly killed Dixon (who couldn't hear the phone because he had earphones on). She almost destroyed all existing evidence of her daughter's murder and potentially dozens of similar crimes in a fit of rage and then later finds out that no one at the station had anything to do with the billboard fire and that her ex-husband did it while he was drunk.]]
22	** [[spoiler:At the end of the movie, she agrees to travel with Dixon to Idaho to murder the man who had threatened her in the shop and was overheard confessing to a rape and murder. In a bit of potential CharacterDevelopment, however, she expresses that she may not follow through with the murder when they get there.]]
23	* BlatantLies: She denies visiting the dentist despite her mouth still being numb from the Novocain.
24	* TheDeterminator: Wants her daughter's killer found by any means necessary, but her ''real'' determinator instincts come more as she harasses the police station into taking action.
25	* EasilyForgiven: The last scene of the movie has [[spoiler:her confessing to Dixon that she started the fire at the police station and Dixon brushing it off by saying "Who the hell else would it have been?"]]
26	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: After her tough-as-nails and vulgar request for the billboards, Mildred flips over a beetle that's struggling on its back so that it can walk again, showing a soft side to her hardened exterior.
27	* EveryoneHasStandards:
28	** Calls the police station to make sure nobody was inside before [[spoiler:attempting to burn it down.]]
29	** She looks genuinely shocked and concerned for Willloughby when [[spoiler:he starts coughing up blood during his interrogation of her at the station.]]
30	* GreyAndGrayMorality: Mildred is a grieving mother who just wants her daughter's rapist/muderer found, but the lengths she goes to and her general unpleasant personality manages to make her very unsympathetic at times.
31	* GroinAttack: While dropping Robbie off at school, she kicks a boy and a girl in the groin after they throw a soda can at her car.
32	* {{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, [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk Mildred even lashes out at him for that]] ranting on he's just wasting both of their time as he'd be better off just catching other criminals out there.
33	* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Never has to own up to any consequence after she sets fire to the police station, [[DeconstructedTrope however she's shown to have felt guilty over her actions over the course of the film,]] to the point she confesses to Dixon about her causing the fire (which Dixon doesn't give a shit about).]]
34	* MamaBear: Is viciously protective of her son and daughter. She'll even extend this Penelope, the young girlfriend of her ex.
35	* OutlivingOnesOffspring: She, of course, outlives her raped and murdered daughter Angela, and is [[PartingWordsRegret is guilt ridden by the fact that her final interaction with Angela before her death was a fight]].
36	* ParentsAsPeople: Mildred is not exactly a candidate for mother of the year. While she clearly loves her son, he appears to be something of an afterthought to her own rage and grief (she's genuinely taken aback when Robbie furiously points out that the last thing he wants is to be constantly reminded of the horrific nature of his sister's death by three huge billboards proclaiming it within eyeshot of his house, suggesting that she didn't bother considering how he might feel about it before erecting them), the one flashback we see of her interacting with her daughter involves a bitter argument between them, and it seems that her relationship with her daughter was so sour that Angela expressed a desire to live with her wife-beating DisappearedDad rather than her.
37	* PartingWordsRegret: In a flashback, Angela storms out of the house saying she hopes she gets raped. Mildred responds "Yeah, I hope you get raped too."
38	* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Has no issue calling a local reporter a "retard" and calls her own daughter a cunt.
39	* ScrewPolitenessImASenior: She's played by the sixty year old Frances [=McDormand=] and has zero regard for mincing her words or hiding her true feelings.
40	* SirSwearsALot: Possibly the foulest mouth in the whole film, which is really saying something.
41	* TranquilFury: Mildred seems to be walking throughout the entire movie simmering with rage. One example is when she walks over to Charlie and Penelope's table at the restaurant with a wine bottle in her hand [[spoiler:after Charlie tells her he set her billboards on fire.]]
42	* WouldHurtAChild: Or at least a few high school teenagers who threw a soda can at her. She delivers two [[GroinAttack groin attacks]] while dropping Robbie off at school.
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Robbie Hayes]]
46	!!Robbie Hayes
47	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/LucasHedges
48
49	Mildred and Charlie's son and brother to the late Angela Hayes.
50	----
51	* 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.
52	* PartingWordsRegret: Probably not to the extent of Mildred, but his last conversation with his sister involved him calling her a cunt.
53	* 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.
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Charlie Hayes]]
57	!!Charlie Hayes
58	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/JohnHawkes
59
60	->''"All this anger, man. It just begets greater anger."''
61
62	Mildred's ex-husband who she left due to alleged DomesticAbuse.
63	----
64	* 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.
65	* 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.
66	* MayDecemberRomance: He's in his fifties and is dating Penelope, who looks like she's barely older than his own son.
67	* OlderThanTheyLook: John Hawkes was fifty-eight when the film came out but certainly doesn't look it.
68	* OutlivingOnesOffspring: He’s Mildred’s former husband and Robbie’s father, and Angela was ''his'' daughter too, so it still counts.
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Angela Hayes]]
72	!!Angela Hayes
73	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/KathrynNewton
74
75	Mildred and Charlie's daughter who was raped and murdered before the events of the film.
76	----
77	* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Her only scene is a flashback of her complaining that Mildred won't let her use the car.
78	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Angela was not only raped ''while'' dying but was set on fire, leaving a scorched mark that persists to the present day.
79	* 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.
80	* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Both of her parents outlived her.
81	* 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.
82	* PosthumousCharacter: She was raped and murdered before the events of the film, and we only get to see her in a flashback.
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	!!Police
86
87	[[folder:Chief Bill Willoughby]]
88	!!Chief Bill Willoughby
89	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/harrelson.png]]
90	[[caption-width-right:350:''"Dixon, you goddamn asshole! I'm in the middle of my goddamn Easter dinner... sorry kids."'']]
91	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/WoodyHarrelson
92
93	->''"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."''
94
95	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.
96	----
97	* 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.
98	* AlliterativeName: '''W'''illiam '''W'''illoughby.
99	* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: He chooses to end his life rather than wait for his cancer to kill him slowly.
100	* BloodFromTheMouth: Courtesy of his cancer.
101	* DeadManWriting: [[spoiler:Willoughby narrates three suicide letters after he takes his life halfway through the film]].
102	* DeadpanSnarker: He quite a dry sense of humor.
103	* 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.]]
104	* 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.]]
105	* 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.]]
106	* AFatherToHisMen: He is adored by his subordinates at the station. [[spoiler:They're devastated by his suicide, leading to many tearful hugs.]]
107	* GoodParents: What we see of his family life shows him as a loving father to his two daughters.
108	* 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.]]
109	* HappilyMarried: To his wife, Anne. They have two daughters together.
110	* MayDecemberRomance: His wife is significantly younger than him (their actors are twenty-one years apart) and refers to him affectionately as "papa."
111	* OnlySaneMan: Between Mildred's crusade and Dixon's temper, it generally falls to him to be the sensible one.
112	* OpenSecret: Mildred bluntly tells him that everyone in town knows he has cancer despite his attempts to keep it secret.
113	* 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.
114	* TokenGoodCop: While there is [[GreyAndGreyMorality more nuance than usual for this trope]], the rank-and-file of the local cops are bigots who aren't above PoliceBrutality. The [[spoiler:terminally-ill]] Willoughby is a ReasonableAuthorityFigure who is both more insightful and rule-abiding than his subordinates.
115	* TheTopicOfCancer: He has pancreatic cancer and [[spoiler:he prefers to commit suicide]] rather than having a long, painful death.
116	* UglyGuyHotWife: Willoughby certainly isn't ugly but his wife is played by Abbie Cornish.
117	* 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.
118	* YourDaysAreNumbered: He has terminal cancer and knows he doesn't have long left.
119	[[/folder]]
120
121	[[folder:Officer Jason Dixon]]
122	!!Officer Jason Dixon
123	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rockwell.png]]
124	[[caption-width-right:350:''"It's 'persons of color' torturing business these days, if you want to know. And I didn't torture nobody."'']]
125	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/SamRockwell
126
127	->'''Mildred:''' Hey fuckhead!
128	->'''Dixon:''' What?
129
130	A drunken and hateful cop who allegedly tortured a black Ebbing resident during an interrogation.
131	----
132	* TheAlcoholic: Drinks often, even on the job. Ultimately, his worst moments come whenever he's intoxicated.
133	* 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]].]]
134	* 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.
135	* 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.
136	* 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.
137	* BadCopIncompetentCop: Starts off this way, but starts to improve [[spoiler:after he's fired (ironically enough).]]
138	* 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.]]
139	* 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.
140	* 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]].
141	* 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.
142	* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Lives with his mother and takes her advice to heart, even though neither of them are particularly good people.
143	* 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.
144	* HeadphonesEqualIsolation: Twice.
145	** 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.
146	** 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]].
147	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Dixon is an immature, racist bully but he shows that he's capable of genuine kindness and heroism after reading Willoughby's letter.
148	* 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.]]
149	* {{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.
150	* MissingDad: In his letter Willoughby mentions that Dixon's dad died which is implied to [[FreudianExcuse have caused Dixon to become hateful]].
151	* MommasBoy: And everyone in town knows that he still lives with her.
152	* 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.
153	* PoliceBrutality: Played with in that he doesn't torture Red behind closed doors, but straight up assaults him in front of the whole town.
154	* 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"]].
155	* 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.
156	* 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''."]]
157	* 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.
158	* WouldHitAGirl: Punches Red's secretary, Pam, after throwing him out of a window in a fit of rage.
159	[[/folder]]
160
161	!!Ebbing Townsfolk
162
163	[[folder:Red Welby]]
164	!!Red Welby
165	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/CalebLandryJones
166
167	->'''Willoughby:''' You really wanna fuck with the Ebbing Police Department, Red? Do you?
168	->'''Red:''' ...I guess.
169
170	The owner of Ebbing's advertisement agency.
171	----
172	* 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]].
173	* 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.
174	* 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.]]
175	[[/folder]]
176
177	[[folder:Penelope]]
178	!!Penelope
179	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/SamaraWeaving
180
181	Charlie's significantly younger girlfriend.
182	----
183	* 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.
184	* 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.
185	* NiceGirl: 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.
186	* 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.
187	[[/folder]]
188
189	[[folder:James]]
190	!!James
191	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/PeterDinklage
192
193	The town midget famous for his skill at pool. He has a crush on Mildred.
194	----
195	* TheAlcoholic: Admits to having a drinking problem.
196	* DeadpanSnarker: Kind of inevitable when you're played by Peter Dinklage.
197	* HopelessSuitor: It's clear that his crush on Mildred is pretty one-sided.
198	* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: He tends to regard all the jokes about his being a dwarf with mild annoyance.
199	* 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.
200	* PetTheDog: When he stumbles onto the scene of Dixon running out of the police station on fire, he runs to his aid without hesitation.
201	* 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.]]
202	[[/folder]]
203
204	[[folder:Momma Dixon]]
205	!!Momma Dixon
206	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/SandyMartin
207
208	Dixon's mother.
209	----
210	* EvilOldFolks: Played with. She is not the most kind-hearted but they get along reasonably well.
211	* RacistGrandma: Not actually a grandma, but old enough.
212	-->'''Dixon''': Things have moved on in The South!\
213	'''Dixon's mother''': Well, it shouldn’t have.

Context Characters / ThreeBillboardsOutsideEbbingMissouri