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The characters of Brand by Henrik Ibsen. Alternative Character Interpretation is always a possibility.

Brand

  • Always on Duty: In the third act, he states that he has an obligation as a priest, putting his duties over the needs of his family. He goes through a lot of angsting over this, though.
  • Badass Preacher: When he braves an impassable fjord in a storm, alone in a nutshell of a boat, with only Agnes to help him. Earlier on, he passes unsafe ice, making others cringe for him.
  • Catchphrase: "All or nothing".
  • Cloud Cuckoolander: Deemed to be one at the end of the play.
  • Cosmic Plaything: Every time Brand resolves on something, the universe hits back at him.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: His mother didn`t love his father - they married for money. Then, his father died early, and he witnessed his mother rob his father on his deathbed, to get a hold on all the money. Brand was so squicked by this, he left home as soon as possible, not returning until the second act - and his mother hadn`t seen him since he was a boy. To this, add the climate: The farm he grew up in was placed right under the glacier, sheltered from the sun. Einar points out that he almost never played with the others.
  • Dead Pan Snarker: Brand snarks back a lot of times during this play.
  • Determinator: If he decides on something, he will follow suit, until the bitter end.
  • Dramatically Missing the Point: Especially when Gerd is around.
  • Failure Is the Only Option
  • Heroic Willpower: Lampshaded: "It is the will that counts. The will sets free, or makes you fall".
  • Holier Than Thou: Brand triggers a lot of resentment in the start, flatly saying that the people around him just aren`t worth the bother.
  • How the Mighty Have Fallen: Brand honestly thinks it.
  • I Choose to Stay: For the sake of his mother, later for the sake of the community.
  • I Work Alone: Most of the way.
  • Principles Zealot: To a T.
  • Rebel Leader: In the fifth act, he comes out as this, leading the entire parish away to a better life.
  • The Soulsaver: He tries, and succeeds with Agnes, and a starving man who killed his children out of need.
  • Straw Nihilist
  • What You Are in the Dark: Brand keeps his sacrifices to himself, making others interpret his actions in the wrong way. It backfires.

Agnes

Gerd

Einar

Brand`s mother

The Bailiff

The provost

The Beggar mother

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