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The Romance

    Veronica Sawyer 

Veronica Sawyer

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/heathers_veronica.png
"I say we just grow up, be adults and die."

Played By: Winona Ryder (Film), Annaleigh Ashford (Joe's Pub), Barrett Wilbert Weed (Hudson Theatre and Original Off-Broadway), Charissa Hogeland (Closing Off-Broadway)

The protagonist of the story; a cynical high school junior (made a senior in the musical adaptation) who's starting to regret getting In with the In Crowd.


  • Adaptational Nice Girl: The stage show version is a kindhearted and caring person whose biggest flaw is susceptibility to peer pressure. In the original movie, she was more passive towards the Heathers bullying of others, more callous about death, and more explicitly attracted to J.D.'s worst qualities.
  • Adaptational Villainy: Her TV series counterpart is darker in contrast to her musical and movie counterparts. Rather than try to deactivate J.D.'s bomb like in the musical and the movie, she actually sets it off, killing everyone in the school including herself and J.D. in a nod to how the movie's ending was originally conceived.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Maybe not all of them, but Veronica sure does. Eventually deconstructed, as J.D. is a murderous psychopath.
  • Ambiguous Situation: On more than one occasion in the movie. Did she know she grabbed the wrong cup that killed Heather Chandler? When did she figure out about the "Ich Luge" bullets? Did she always know, did she find out before she shot Kurt or after? Was it a moment of panic or was she fully aware of what she was doing? J.D. thinks she wanted to kill them. It's possible Veronica isn't sure herself.
  • Anti-Hero: She may not be bloodthirsty like J.D., but she's definitely no paragon of virtue in the first half of the movie. She left behind her loyal friends to go in with the popular crowd. She is shaken up, but only slightly bothered by the death of Heather Chandler - which she herself had caused. She clearly couldn't care less what happens to Heather McNamara with the two rapists when she ditches her for J.D. She makes plans to injure said two assholes, but over spreading a rumor about her, and not for them attempting to rape her friend - plans that end up with their untimely deaths. While she feels guilty about their deaths, she's still more upset that she was tricked by J.D., not the fact that she killed two people. Downplayed in the stage show, where she becomes a lot more sympathetic and a lot less actively complicit in what J.D.'s doing.
  • The Atoner: Feeling guilty once Martha and Heather McNamara try to kill themselves (and being taunted by the ghosts of Heather Chandler, Ram and Kurt), she realizes once J.D. plans to blow up the high school and those in it for the pep rally, that she has to stop him once and for all. See The Determinator.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: In the musical, part of why she was initially attracted to J.D. was she saw him as someone "strong" who could "protect" her. However, murdering her bullies wasn't what she had in mind, which she lampshades in "Dead Girl Walking (Reprise)."
  • Bittersweet 17: There's even a song about it in the musical version, titled 'Seventeen'.
    "Let's be normal
    See bad movies
    Sneak a beer and watch TV
    We'll bake brownies
    And go bowling
    Don't you want a life with me?
    Can't we be seventeen?"
  • Brainy Brunette: The only brunette of the Heathers. She specifically was considered bright enough to consider going ahead into high school out of the sixth grade, rather than attend junior high.
  • Break Her Heart to Save Her: She tries this with Martha in the musical when Martha suspects J.D killed Kurt and Ram, Veronica admits she forged Ram's note and that it was just a prank, hoping to throw Martha off the scent. It backfires horribly.
  • Chromatic Arrangement: Played straight; she's the Smart Girl of the Girl Posse, and The Lancer to the red leader.
  • Color Motif: Blue, suitable for her melancholic temper, and her position as Heather Chandler's foil. Her outfits incorporate more and more black as the movie progresses, as she turns her back on her days in the color coded Girl Posse, and grows closer to J.D., seeing how Evil Wears Black.
  • Date Rape Averted: Three times! First at the college party, then at the cow tipping double date, and then with J.D.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Oh boy is she, especially in the musical.
  • The Determinator: She WON'T let her fellow students and the faculty of the high school die by J.D.'s bomb, and is determined to stop him. First by trying to appeal to that part of him who loves her, then trying to get his gun but wounding J.D., and finally ready to get the bomb far enough away to keep the others from dying even if SHE does (as sung in the Reprise of "Dead Girl Walking").
    "His solution is a lie, no one here deserves to die
    Except for me and the monster I created!"
  • Dark Reprise: The first time she sings "Dead Girl Walking", it's because she's about to impulsively have sex with J.D. and enjoy herself one last time before her reputation is wrecked by Heather Chandler. The second time she sings it, she really is a "dead girl walking", about to sacrifice herself to stop J.D. from blowing the school sky-high.
  • Ditzy Genius: She's a gifted student who was offered to skip a grade and is able to convincingly forge documents and fake her own suicide but also has her ditzy moments, like accidentally starting a trash fire at a college party.
  • Driven to Suicide: Veronica offs herself following J.D.'s taunts. Subverted; she's actually Faking the Dead, and was able to find out J.D.'s plan because of it.
  • The Fashionista: Monocles and kimonos are a staple of her leisure-wear...
  • Fatal Flaw: Extremely image-conscious and lacks the assertiveness to stand up for herself. She gets over it at the end, addressing the whole school as herself.
    • Most obviously, she's desperate to stay in the good books of the Heathers. When she blows her shot by throwing up on Chandler at a party, she compares waiting for her inevitable exile to being on death row.
    • In "Fight for Me", she fantasizes about J.D. but worries that he wouldn't even want to be seen in public with her. After sleeping with him for the first time, her first concern is what others will think if they find out.
    • And, of course, has trouble standing up to J.D. about his murders and her association with him, and even hurts Martha to prevent her finding out.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: Among the four members of the Girl Posse, she is the Melancholic.
  • Good Bad Girl: The musical makes her more kindly and reserved, but also has her engage in some pretty aggressive and rough sex with J.D. during "Dead Girl Walking"- and unlike in the film, she initiates it by sneaking into his bedroom.
  • Heel–Face Turn: First, it seems she is pulling one while drifting away from the bitchy Girl Posse while getting involved with J.D. When he is revealed to be all kinds of Axe-Crazy, she leaves him and tries to mend the havoc they've caused throughout the school. This culminates in her attempting to kill him to save the student body in the movie, before watching him blow himself up after successfully doing so.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: In the musical, she attempts one to save everyone in the school from being blown to bits, but J.D. chooses to take her place.
  • Honey Trap: As part of her and J.D.'s plan to humiliate Ram and Kurt, she lures them to the graveyard with promises of a threesome.
  • Intelligence Equals Isolation: Subverted. She is highly intelligent, and was supposed to skip a year or two in school. She then converts her book smarts to people smarts, and becomes a member of the popular Girl Posse. Played straight at the beginning of the musical, though.
  • In with the In Crowd: Veronica's arc is a dark, dark take on this trope. She walks out on her good friend Betty (Martha in the musical) and joined the popular Heathers, and is suitably self-deprecating about it.
  • Karma Houdini: She kills three people, involved in the death of the fourth, and is merely singed by the end of the film.
  • The Lancer: To Alpha Bitch Heather Chandler.
  • Master Forger: This becomes a major plot point. Veronica is first accepted into the Heathers' clique when she forges a hall pass to get them out of detention, and later when JD kills Heather Chandler, Ram, and Kurt, he persuades her to forge notes in their respective handwriting styles to make their deaths looks like suicides.
  • Meaningful Name: Her name is a combination of classic comic character, Veronica Lodge, and classic literary character, Tom Sawyer, symbolizing her role as the more mischievous and selfish best friend of Betty Finn (whose own name is a combination of Betty Cooper and Huckleberry Finn, the more noble best friends of Veronica and Tom).
  • Love Cannot Overcome: In both versions, J.D.'s refusal to stop murdering classmates is what ends their relationship and leads to his death. More pronounced in the musical, where Veronica more clearly loves him and explicitly says that his inability to tell right from wrong is why she's dumping him.
  • Morality Pet: Musical version only, and thoroughly deconstructed. Veronica is the only person J.D. likes and it's for her that he starts murdering bullies (since Heather Chandler and the two jocks both made her cry), but his love for Veronica isn't enough to get him to value the lives of other students. At least not until he decides that Redemption Equals Death.
  • My God, What Have I Done?:
    • The song "Yo Girl" has Veronica find out from Heather Duke that Martha tried to kill herself "trying to copy the popular kids and failing miserably." Needless to say, she's horrified Martha almost joined Heather Chandler, Ram and Kurt among the ghosts around her.
    • In the West End version, she has this moment before Martha's suicide attempt. Right before the song "I Say No", it finally sinks in for her just how crazy J.D. actually is. And this is after her confrontation with Martha, which ended in her admitting that she forged the love letter from Ram, which was the final straw that would soon push her best friend into attempting suicide.
      Veronica: Martha was right about you… Martha was right, and I broke her heart!
    • In the movie and the musical, she is horrified when she realizes that she helped J.D. kill Kurt and Ram. The film has a bigger impact on her since she's the one who kills Kurt, albeit unintentionally. She also had this reaction after Martha and Heather McNamara attempt suicide.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Downplayed in the musical, as she had no way of knowing how messed up J.D. was when they first met, but he was content to numb himself (both literally with slushies, and figuratively) with cold apathy and indifference to cope with his rage and pain at the world, and Veronica convinced him he wasn't as numb as he thought when she pursued a relationship with him. Then he started unleashing that rage on the student body. As she sings in "Dead Girl Walking (Reprise)":
    Veronica: I wanted someone strong who could protect me
    I let his anger fester and infect me
    His solution is a lie
    No one here deserves to die
    Except for me and the monster I created!
  • Odd Name Out: She's the only Heather not named Heather.
  • Oh, Crap!: In "Yo Girl", when she learns that JD has forged evidence of suicidal fantasies from her and shown it to her parents, she grows increasingly frantic as she figures out he's coming to kill her.
  • Outlaw Couple: Played with in her relationship with J.D.- she thought they were just going to pull some harmless pranks. She even lampshades this with talking about the Ur-Example, Bonnie and Clyde, but she eventually turns on him.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: In a way, Musical!Veronica is the red to Movie!Veronica's blue. In the musical, Veronica is much more impulsive, emotional, awkward, and passionate, while in the movie she comes off as more collected, calm, reserved, and stoic.
  • Self-Harm: She burns herself with the car lighter the morning after Ram and Kurt die in The Movie. The Musical leaves out this detail.
  • Snark Knight: Only Betty Finn is safe from her sharp tongue.
  • "Take That!" Kiss: At the end, she sticks one on Heather Duke, kissing her on the cheek and taking the trademark red scrunchie before announcing that she's the "new sheriff in town".
  • True Blue Femininity: See Color Motif.
  • True Companions: In the musical, "Seventeen (Reprise)" has Martha and Heather McNamara become this for Veronica.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Moreso in the musical, where she unintentionally ends up pushing J.D. in his dark path of destruction and murder.
  • Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: The spirits of Heather Chandler, Ram and Kurt taunt Veronica that she's "truly a Heather" and "earned that red scrunchie." After J.D. makes his Heroic Sacrifice she DOES take the scrunchie and says "There's a new sheriff in town."

    Jason "J.D." Dean 

Jason "J.D." Dean

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/heathers_jd.png
"The extreme always seems to make an impression."

Played By: Christian Slater (Film), Jeremy Jordan (Joe's Pub), Ryan McCartan (Hudson Theatre and Original Off-Broadway), Dave Thomas Brown (Closing Off-Broadway)

An outsider that Veronica takes an interest in after he pulls a gun on some bullies, and later gets romantically (and criminally) involved with.


  • Abusive Dad: His father is clearly unhinged and violent.
  • Adaptational Heroism: At the end of the musical he gets up after being shot and carries the bomb away from the school so Veronica doesn't have to.
  • Adaptational Nice Guy: The musical adaptation makes him less of a bloodthirsty sociopath and more of a troubled Anti-Villain, who sees the error of his actions at the very end. The film also included several big hints that J.D. committed murders at other schools before arriving at Westerburg, which were covered by his dad constantly moving around. The musical omits these, leaving the implication that Heather Chandler really was his first victim.
  • Affably Evil: A charming and carefree teenage rebel who also happens to be a psychotic murderer.
  • Alas, Poor Villain: In the musical especially, he eventually takes his own life, lamenting what an animal he has become.
  • Ax-Crazy: He's your basic Troubled, but Cute high school rebel serial killer. This is him while rambling about blowing up the school:
    "We'll watch the smoke pour out the doors!
    Bring marshmallows, we'll make s'mores!
    We can smile and cuddle WHILE THE FIRE ROARS!"
  • Axes at School: Carries a big gun with him his first day, and later rigs a "serious-as-fuck bomb in the boiler room, to set off a pack of thermals upstairs."
  • Badass Longcoat: He sports a long, black duster - always.
  • Bait the Dog: His friendly and approachable demeanor makes us think he'll be the cool outsider who stands up to the bullies and will rescue Veronica from her dreary life. He turns out to be worse than any of them and ends up being abusive toward Veronica.
  • Fetishized Abuser: Subverted. He pressures and threatens Veronica into helping him murder their more unpleasant classmates. Adaptations differ on whether he's a pure sociopath who's merely using her, or if he genuinely loves her and is simply too insane to process her reluctance. In any case, once Veronica realizes he very much intends to kill people, she breaks up with him and stops idealizing him. In their final fight, he's very remorseless about slapping Veronica because she touches a nerve on top of calling him out.
    JD: You chucked me out like I was trash, for that you should be dead.
  • Big Bad: His murders drive the plot.
  • Birds of a Feather: He thinks he and Veronica fit this trope, but it turns out Everyone Has Standards.
  • Bully Hunter: Thinks he's this. And he is right that his victims were terrible people who made others miserable, but his "solution" does not prevent future bullying and instead sparks a rash of suicide attempts among the bullied (which he shows no signs of caring about).
  • The Chain of Harm: Musical version only. After his mom committed suicide in front of him as a little kid, and a lifetime of abuse from his dad and bullying from classmates, J.D. doesn't know how to deal with his problems except by murdering classmates and framing it as suicide. Eventually his violence spills over into his interactions with Veronica.
  • The Corrupter: J.D. plays into Veronica's worst desires and enables them to come true, and wants to keep going and turn her just as misanthropic as him. It's indicated pretty clearly that Veronica would never have committed a crime without J.D. coming in and making her complicit and then active.
  • Cute and Psycho: He's charming, brooding, charismatic, attractive, and absolutely bugfuck crazy.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Very snarky, though more psycho than deadpan.
  • Death Equals Redemption: At the end of the musical he gets up after being shot and carries the bomb away from the school so Veronica doesn't have to.
  • Deconstructed Character Archetype: A dark parody of the misunderstood rebellious loner kid in teen dramas. Instead of being a good-hearted kid who uses a tough guy facade to hide his pain, he's... still that, but so broken that he thinks murder will solve the world's problems.
  • Entitled to Have You: Towards Veronica in "Meant to Be Yours".
    "You were meant to be mine
    I am all that you need
    You cut open my heart
    Can't just leave me to bleed!"
  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: His mother committed suicide when he was young, and he obviously misses her terribly.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The only people J.D. appears to have genuine affection for are Veronica and his late mother.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: In "Meant to Be Yours," he thinks Veronica broke up with him because of the influence of the classmates, not because he was a maniac who was killing people. Thus he resolves to blow up the school.
  • Fatal Flaw: He admits he destroys things just like his father to the point where he never could BUILD things like Veronica. So he makes the decision to get the bomb to safety and let Veronica do what he could not.
  • Freudian Excuse: J.D. had a really bad childhood, being the son of a sociopath who drove J.D.'s mother to commit suicide by walking into an exploding building in front of him. This goes a long way towards explaining his own budding sociopathy.
  • Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: In the West End production of the musical, Veronica lampshades that, for all of the trauma he's been through, his actions are still done by his own choice and he has to own up to that fact, rather than running to blame his past or his father or using Veronica as an excuse to justify his actions.
    Veronica: Blame your childhood
    Blame your dad
    Blame the life you never had
    But hurting people? That's your choice, my friend...
  • Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Initially, his cigarette habit is meant to make him look cool and rebellious, which it does. When he shows his true colors though, the smoking gets a lot more sinister. A significant moment is when he lights his cigarette on Veronica's burning palm after she'd engaged in self-harm.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: In the musical, he trades his life for Veronica's in the end, because he believes she's worth it.
  • Iconic Outfit: No matter the adaptation, J.D. just isn't J.D. without his long black trenchcoat.
  • If I Can't Have You…: In "Meant to Be Yours", he mentions that he thought about killing Veronica for breaking up with him. That is, before he decided that everyone at school should die, believing that they are keeping him and Veronica from being together.
  • Ironic Name: The name Jason means 'healer'.
  • It Runs in the Family: See Fatal Flaw. His father is similarly unhinged and destructive.
  • Laughably Evil: Undoubtably the most evil character in a school full of jerks, as he is a sociopathic Serial Killer who by the end plans on blowing up the school. He's also so over-the-top psychotic in his evil deeds that he's pretty dang hilarious.
  • Loners Are Freaks: A lonely young man who is also a murderous sociopath.
  • Love Cannot Overcome: In the musical version particularly, his love for Veronica cannot overcome his psychotic tendencies or inability to tell right from wrong, nor his belief that Redemption Equals Death.
  • Love Makes You Evil: His relationship with Veronica and his inability to control his emotions is ultimately the driving force behind his actions. But at the same time...
  • Love Redeems: In the musical, he trades his life for Veronica's in an attempt to make up for his actions and to give Veronica a chance to live her life.
  • Manipulative Bastard: That's an understatement. He tricks the school into signing a Suicide Pact.
  • A Man Is Always Eager: In the stage musical, he seems totally fine with Veronica breaking into his room in the middle of the night (when they'd only spoken twice and he didn't even know how she learned his address) and aggressively demand rough sex from him, presumably on these grounds.
  • Missing Mom: His mother died in an explosion. Circumstances are debatable.
  • Mood-Swinger: Emphasized in "Meant to Be Yours", when he snaps back and forth between tenderly professing his love for Veronica and excitedly rambling about his plan to blow up the entire school in a staged mass suicide. The last verse of the song is him pleading with Veronica to open the door and take him back, then yelling that he's about to break in.
    "Veronica! Open the—open the door, please
    Veronica, open the door!
    Veronica, can we not fight anymore, please?
    Can we not fight anymore?
    Veronica, sure, you're scared, I've been there
    I can set you free!
    Veronica, don't make me come in there!
    I'M GONNA COUNT TO THREE!"
  • Never My Fault: In the musical especially, J.D. blames everyone and everything else for his actions. See Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse
  • Not Good with Rejection: To say that he was upset over his and Veronica's breakup is the understatement of the millennium. He attempts to blow up the school because of this.
  • Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He talks a lot about how his victims were horrible people who were making life unbearable for others. But when Heather McNamara stands up and openly admits to suicidal thoughts, something he of all people should empathize with, he has no help to offer. J.D. simply doesn't have the capacity for anything constructive.
  • Only Known by Initials: J.D. is short for "Jason Dean," but is also a Shout-Out to James Dean and is 1950s slang for "juvenile delinquent."
  • Pet the Dog: He never targets McNamara, although he does nothing to stop her date-rape in the film.
  • Redemption Equals Death: In the musical, after Veronica brings his bomb to the football field in order to die for their sins, J.D. follows her and makes the sacrifice himself.
  • Sanity Slippage: While not exactly stable before his relationship with Veronica, he ultimately spirals into his path of destruction and murder as a result of his relationship with Veronica.
  • Self-Disposing Villain: Blows himself up with his own bomb after Veronica defeats him in the boiler room. Unlike his aforementioned Heroic Sacrifice in the musical, he’s not doing it to save the kids he tried to massacre.
  • The Sociopath: A tragic example. He's initially seen as charming, but he's also reckless and has poor impulse control, manipulates and lies to people around him, doesn't consider other people's feelings beyond what they mean to him personally, and has a constant need for stimulation and gets off on the murders he commits. It's emphasized that his horrible life partly made him what he is, though, and ultimately in his own twisted sense of morality he believes that he's doing people a favor. The musical downplays this, as he has shown to be capable of love and remorse for his actions.
  • Straight Edge Evil: He's a serial killer, but one who avoids drugs in favor of slushies.
  • Theme Serial Killer: Leaves fake suicide notes at all his kills, usually ones forged by Veronica. On the surface, this makes sense as a way of covering his tracks, but as he even plans to do it for his planned mass murder of the whole school, and considering he lost his mother to suicide, it might be a symptom of his deeper psychological issues.
  • Trademark Favorite Drink: Slushies from 7-Eleven, which he uses as a substitute for drugs since they give him brain freeze.
    "Freeze your brain...suck on that straw, get lost in the pain...
    Happiness comes when everything numbs...who needs cocaine?"
  • Tragic Villain: Despite all that he does, the audience can't help but feel bad for him in the end. The musical especially, where it's strongly implied that he just wanted someone to care about him.
  • The Unfettered: J.D. lets no moral standards get in his way, and commits murders without remorse. However, in the musical, his love for Veronica pushes him to spare her life over his and he willingly denotes the bomb so she can clean up the mess he left.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Upon seeing Veronica "dead", he descends deeper into madness while monologuing about his plan. "Meant To Be Yours", however, doesn't just leave him going more insane throughout the song as he reveals his final plot, but also leave him utterly grieved and angered about Veronica's "death".
    J.D.: Oh my God... No... Veronica...!
    Please... don't... leave me alone...
    You... were... all I could trust...
    I... can't... do this alone...

    STILL I WILL IF I MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUST!!!!!!
  • Villainous Crush: His love for Veronica is not in any way healthy, but he does love her.
  • Villain Song: "Our Love Is God" and "Meant To Be Yours", both contrasting his professed love for Veronica with his violent, sociopathic impulses.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: In his eyes, he's turning this Crapsack World into a better place one murder at a time. Or one high school at a time...
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: A Serial Killer with a Freudian Excuse.
  • Yandere: A huge one for Veronica. His mental issues become much more obvious following her rejection. Near the end, he plans on blowing up the school and making it look like mass suicide, believing that he and Veronica will get back together with their classmates out of the way.

The Heathers

    General 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/original_43.jpg
"No, Heather, it's Heather's turn. Heather?" "Sorry, Heather."

The Heathers are Westerburg High School's most popular clique. The group consists of the three Heathers, aptly named Heather Chandler, Heather Duke, and Heather McNamara, and one non-Heather member, Veronica Sawyer. These four girls are among the wealthiest and most powerful students in their school.


  • Antagonist Title: Outside of J.D., they're among Veronica's main antagonists (especially Heather Chandler).
  • Anti-Intellectualism: They value people-smarts, not book-smarts. Veronica mentions being a gifted student before throwing in with them, and Heather Duke seems embarrassed about the fact that she reads Moby Dick.
  • Aristocrats Are Evil: See themselves as the school's social elite. Their "aristocrat" status is represented symbolically by their penchant for croquet, usually an upper-class game.
  • The Beautiful Elite: Attractive, rich, and their level of approval determines your popularity at Westerburg.
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead:
    • In the movie Heather McNamara is Blonde, Heather Chandler is Dirty Blonde, Heather Duke is Auburn haired (Redhead), and Veronica has Brown hair.
    • This trope was still present in the Off-Broadway theatre adaptation, however, there Heather Chandler was the redhead and Heather Duke was the brunette.
    • The poster for the Off-Broadway version, depicts Heather McNamara as the redhead and Heather Chandler as the blonde.
    • In the reboot series, Heather Chandler and Heather McNamara have Black hair, Heather Duke has Red hair and Veronica is Blonde.
  • Color Motifs:
    • Heather Chandler always plays red. And also wears red, carries a red purse and decorated her locker with only red items. She sets the tone for equating the color red with power throughout the movie, given the Law of Chromatic Superiority.
    • Before taking over for Heather Chandler, Heather Duke was always dressed in green. She switched to red as soon as she could. But stayed in green in the Off-Broadway version of the musical.
    • Heather McNamara is Yellow. She is the only one not to switch colors. She only dons black for the movie's several funerals and when in her cheerleading uniform.
  • Dysfunction Junction: Their popularity has not prevented them from developing huge personality defects. Duke is a pathologically jealous bulimic, McNamara struggles with anxiety and thoughts of suicide, they're all obsessively image-conscious, and even Veronica practices self-harm and is evidently attracted to sociopaths.
  • Girl Posse: Heathers McNamara and Duke act as Heather Chandler's girl posse at the start of the film, with Veronica as an increasingly reluctant member. It sort of falls apart after Heather Chandler dies.
  • Iconic Outfit: The color-coded shoulder pad jackets, thigh-length skirts, and long socks combo. The off-Broadway production took the liberty of making the skirts shorter and the jackets more form-fitting than would be typical of 80s fashion (you know, for dance numbers. And other reasons.), which mostly caught on.
  • Identically Named Group: Their first names are all Heather and they are called "The Heathers".
  • Loved by All: Subverted. Everyone finds them attractive and desires their favor, but that's not the same as liking them. Here's an exchange between other reasonably popular, attractive, and wealthy kids who see Heather Chandler approaching.
    Country Club Courtney: Great, here comes Heather.
    Country Club Keith: Ah, shit.
  • Nice Mean And In Between:
    • Heather McNamara is Nice, in that she is kinder than the other Heathers and becomes genuine friends with Veronica at the end of the musical. Heather Chandler is Mean, being the most actively cruel of the Heathers. Heather Duke is In-between, not as bad as Chandler but meaner than McNamara, and gleefully takes over after Chandler dies, using her newfound power to show her more sadistic side.
    • Heather Chandler and Heather Duke switch places in the musical: Duke is Mean due to Adaptational Villainy making her nastier from the start (while in the original movie, Duke and Veronica had a slight camaraderie, Duke is dismissive of Veronica from the start, calling her fat in the first song) while Chandler is In-between since she is slightly more civil towards Veronica than Duke.
  • Rich Bitch: More explicit in the musical: McNamara's family is loaded because her dad sells engagement rings, Duke's parents paid for implants, and Chandler has quite an impressive collection of material possessions.
  • Rule of Symbolism: In the musical, Chandler compares getting in with the Heathers' clique to entering a candy store. Candy is delicious, but can rot your teeth if you eat too much—a good thing in small amounts that can rot you from the inside out. Just like being In with the In Crowd seems appealing to Veronica at first because everyone thinks she's cool and nobody bullies her anymore, but now she's being separated from Martha and forced to bully her or lose her own school cred.
  • School Idol: Deconstructed. Everyone wants them "for a friend or for a fuck", but nobody has any delusions about how awful they are. And being valued only as a possible means of social advancement hasn't made them very functional people.
    Students: I love Heather, Heather and Heather...I hate Heather, Heather and Heather...I want Heather, Heather and Heather...I need Heather, Heather and Heather...
  • Shoulders of Doom: Their Iconic Outfits feature period-typical shoulder pads, signifying their dominant status on the school social ladder.
  • Villain Song: The musical gives them "Candy Store", and in true Villain Song fashion, it's one of the best songs in the musical. It doubles as a Villain Recruitment Song, as it's about the Heathers trying to convince Veronica to join them in bullying Martha.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Tear into each other only slightly less than anyone else. As Veronica observes, they're less "friends", and more "people who have the same job, which is being popular and stuff".

    Heather Chandler 

Heather Chandler

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e9fa7cc501111e77bb368c7da9c8ca65.jpg
"Fuck me gently with a chainsaw, do I look like Mother Teresa?"

Played By: Kim Walker (Film), Jenna Leigh Green (Joe's Pub), Sarah Halford (Hudson Theatre), Jessica Keenan Wynn (Original and Closing Off-Broadway)

Westerburg High's local “Mythic Bitch”. The richest, hottest, and meanest girl in school. Relishes power and wields it without mercy. She loves nothing more than to humiliate those who she thinks are beneath her, which comes back to bite her in the end.


  • Adaptational Jerkass: Her Hidden Depths from the party scene in the film are omitted in the Musical, removing any sympathetic traits she might have had in the musical.
  • Alpha Bitch: An epic one at that, at least until she dies. Even then she's still a huge jerk.
  • Asshole Victim: To J.D. and Duke anyway, while clearly a terrible human being and a raging bitch, she might not have deserved to die. Especially not in such a vile, blue way.
  • Big "SHUT UP!": In "Candy Store", when Duke tries to start the last verse, Chandler gives her a hard shove and yells, "SHUT UP, HEATHER!"
  • Character Catchphrase: In the musical, she's always telling Duke to "Shut up, Heather!" (Always followed by, "Sorry, Heather.")
  • Deadly Prank: J.D. and Veronica trick her into drinking drain cleaner. It kills her.
  • Deadpan Snarker: So snarky, it hurts.
    Veronica: Doesn't it bother you that everyone thinks you're a piranha?
    Heather Chandler: Like I give a fuck. Everyone here wants me as a friend or a fuck. I'm worshipped at Westerburg, and I'm only a junior.
  • Evil Is Hammy: In the musical, she hams it up in "Candy Store".
  • Evil Redhead: In the Off-Broadway production, Chandler's actresses Jessica Keenan Wynn (main) and Charissa Hogeland (understudy) were redheads.
  • Favors for the Sexy: In the musical, she mentions this while coercing Veronica to stay with the Heathers.
    Heather Chandler: Guys fall at your feet, pay the check, help you cheat!
  • Gratuitous French: "Veronica. Jesse James. Quelle surprise."
  • Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Bordering on The Alcoholic, she apparently gets too trashed to leave her bedroom at least once a week.
  • Hideous Hangover Cure: In every version of the story, she demands a prairie oyster (a drink made with raw egg, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, salt, and pepper) from Veronica after waking up with a hangover the morning after the homecoming party...which J.D. switches out for drain cleaner.
  • Hidden Depths:
    • Manipulative, ruthless bitch that she is, Heather herself is dealing with some issues of her own, mostly being pressured into having sex with a guy she dislikes in order to assure her status. It seems the main reason she gets so mad at Veronica at the party is because Veronica herself won't be pressured into sex. (Coerced sex seems to be an expected part of 80s high school "popular people" society.)
    • Invoked with her suicide note. Veronica and J.D. write the note and make her look like The Woobie, which in turn makes her more popular than ever and gets her a tribute in the yearbook.
      "People think that because you're beautiful and popular, life is easy and fun. No one knows that I had feelings, too. I die knowing no one knew the real me."
  • Iconic Item: Her red hair scrunchie, which Heather Duke swipes from her after her death, symbolizing her new position as leader of the remaining Heathers. At the end, Veronica swipes this from Heather Duke, saying "There's a new sheriff in town."
  • Inferiority Superiority Complex: In the movie. Outside Westerburg, she's out of her element, getting easily pressured into oral sex by a sleazy undergrad despite her obvious discomfort. The play mostly cuts this, except for possibly some momentary vulnerability when she's puked on at a party and everyone present stares at her.
  • Jerkass: Huge one. What else do you call someone who demands hangover cures and kneeling from someone delivering a sincere apology, which she intends to reject anyway?
  • Kick the Dog: Constantly, not only does she pick on Martha and encourage Veronica to do the same, even though Martha never did anything to her (something Veronica even points out, to which Heather just gives a glorified shrug), she mocks Heather Duke for having bulimia rather than do anything to help her.
  • Lady in Red: Heather Chandler signature color is Red.
  • Lame Last Words: "Corn...nuts!" Cue keeling over due to bleach poisoning and crashing into a coffee table.
  • Law of Chromatic Superiority: She wears primarily red and is the most dominant of the Heathers. Her red scrunchie in particular becomes a symbol of power.
  • Manipulative Bitch: Heather Chandler manipulates Veronica into forge a love note from Kurt to Martha.
  • Really Gets Around: Implied to be pretty free with sex, but only if it's with "acceptable" people like college-age guys. Whether she likes them seems to be irrelevant.
  • Rich Bitch: In her own words, she likes "looking hot, buying stuff they cannot, drinking hard, maxing Dad's credit card".
  • Statuesque Stunner: Stage adaptations usually make her the tallest of the Heathers, though that was McNamara in the original film.
  • Villain Respect: In the musical, when Martha figures out that Kurt and Ram's deaths were not a suicide and she (accurately) suspects J.D had a hand in it, Heather Chandler is sincerely impressed.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: A variant, as she fully becomes this trope after her death. Since Veronica managed to very convincingly forge her suicide note, everyone begins to sympathize with Heather C., sincerely believing that her cruelty was a cover for her pain. Heather herself, as a ghost (maybe), is quite pleased with this, as it means that in death she's more popular than ever before.
  • Virtue Is Weakness: At the beginning she asks some people what they would do if they won 5 million dollars. When one girl says she'd give it all to the homeless, Heather just gives her a "You're such a loser" look.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Heavy on the "vitriolic" and light on the "best buds" with Veronica, who is part of her Girl Posse but is very aware of what a heinous bitch she is.
    Heather Chandler: You were nothing before you met me. You were a bluebird. You were a brownie. You were a Girl Scout Cookie. I got you into a Remington party, and what's the thanks I get? It's on the hall carpet. I got paid in puke!
    Veronica: Lick it up, baby! Lick! It! Up!

    Heather Duke 

Heather Duke

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_8ac04c5d837e41940e6483708915e9b3_f218c2c7_540.jpg
"Veronica, why are you pulling my dick?"

Played By: Shannen Doherty (Film), Christine Lakin (Joe's Pub), Kristolyn Lloyd (Hudson Theatre and Closing Off-Broadway), Alice Lee (Original Off-Broadway)

The whipped beta dog of the three Heathers. Deeply insecure. When she finally becomes Queen Bee, she wields power like a bulldozer.


  • Adaptational Jerkass: She’s much less sympathetic in the musical than her movie counterpart. She slut-shames Veronica with McNamara and later accuses her of being an Attention Whore for confessing to murder, humiliates McNamara in the cafeteria thus driving her suicide attempt, and snatches Chandler’s crown on her own accord, unlike in the film where she’s manipulated into taking it by JD.
  • All for Nothing: By the end, she has alienated both McNamara and Veronica due to her bitchiness, the petition she made everyone sign becomes irrelevant, and Veronica takes the red scrunchie away from her, symbolically ending her power. She seems to realize it in her last scene.
  • Alpha Bitch: After the original one dies, Heather Duke takes over. She is in no way better than her predecessor.
  • Alto Villainess: In the musical, she has an alto voice and is an Alpha Bitch.
  • Big Eater: She's bulimic at the start of the film, then after Heather Chandler's death she starts "digesting food." Eating a chicken wing in the locker room, for example.
  • Beta Bitch: Originally shares this role with Veronica. Although she doesn't come off as this early in the movie, and it instead looks like Heather McNamara is Chandler's second-in-command.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: When Veronica asks her to seek help for her bulimia, it seems like she might have a vulnerable side and possibly not be such a bad person after all. This is one of those times when first impressions are misleading.
  • Bookworm: She's shown reading in several scenes and her bookishness is even adapted as the “theme” of her (J.D.-induced) “suicide” in Veronica's dream.
  • Brainy Brunette: Heather Duke has auburn hair (brown hair with undertones of red) and seems to be the most intelligent of the Heathers. Heather is shown to be quite the Bookworm, reading books like Moby Dick.
  • Butt-Monkey: For Heather Chandler, amplified in the Musical.
    Heather Duke: Honey, what'chu waitin' for—
    Heather Chandler: (pushes her) SHUT UP, HEATHER!
  • The Chain of Harm: She was heavily emotionally bullied by Chandler, then when she dies, Duke takes up the position as Alpha Bitch and starts treating Heather McNamara the same way Chandler treated her, and she shows absolutely no sign she's aware of the irony.
  • Childhood Friends: Heather Duke and Martha Dunnstock were close friends during their childhood. Heather is now embarrassed of this relationship due to Martha being at the bottom of the school food chain and it is also made clear that Heather Duke does not want anyone at Westerburg High to know or remember about their past friendship.
  • Chromatic Arrangement: Subverts the usual by being the one to take over for red.
  • Deadpan Snarker: The more confident she becomes, the snarkier she gets.
    Veronica: Why can't you just be a friend? Why do you have to be such a mega-bitch?
    Heather Duke: Because I can be. Do you think if Betty Finn's fairy godmother made her cool, she'd still hang out with her dweeb-ette friends?
  • The Dog Bites Back: The other Heathers mock Duke for her bulimia, and Heather Chandler especially bullies her. After Chandler dies, she turns on McNamara.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: In the film, while Veronica is a very flawed kind of "good", Duke keeps considering her as a close friend, being intrigued by Veronica's budding relation with J.D. and even brushing off a full slap to the face for joking about Martha's suicide attempt, probably due to their camaraderie before Chandler's death. At worst, she seems to consider Veronica as a potential second-in-command that needs some reigning in.
  • Evil Power Vacuum: After Chandler dies, she takes her spot as the Alpha Bitch of Westerburg High.
  • Extreme Doormat: Often on the receiving end of Chandler's "Shut Up Heather!" orders. Once Chandler dies, she becomes more assertive- i.e., she basically just starts acting like Chandler but even worse.
  • Face–Heel Turn: In the movie, she initially comes off as the most sympathetic Heather of the three, even having a slight camaraderie with Veronica, only to take Chandler's place and become increasingly malicious. After the other Heathers mocked her for her bulimia, Heather Duke goes after Heather McNamara when Heather Chandler dies, by cruelly exposing and mocking the surviving Heather's suicidal contemplation.
  • Flat Character: Aside from being an Adaptational Jerkass, she's this in the original musical, and it's even lampshaded, with Veronica stating that she has "no discernible personality". This is further reflected by the fact that all of her songs are reprises. The West End version averts it by graduating her into a full-on Dragon Ascendant to Heather Chandler, giving her her own musical number "Never Shut Up Again" to solidify it.
  • Freudian Excuse: Heather Duke was bullied by Heather Chandler. After Chandler was murdered, she took the red scrunchie, and became a Jerkass, just like Chandler.
  • Green and Mean: She is colour coded with green (she's even forced to play as green in the Heathers' croquet game). After Heather Chandler's death, she's the one who becomes the new Alpha Bitch and show little remorse for others feeling.
  • Heel–Face Turn: She seems to undergo one in the final number of the musical. It's implied she might be in the middle of one by the end of the film, too.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: No one apart from Veronica seems to realize how dangerous J.D. is, but Duke is a particularly egregious example, as she really believes he's interested in bringing the Big Fun to Westerburg through the petition. Even before, she laughs off with sincere enthusiasm Veronica and J.D.'s quarrel in the car as a normal occurrence between two lovebirds.
  • I Just Want to Be You: After Heather Chandler's death she wastes no time usurping her position at school, dressing like her, and even adopting her catch phrases.
  • Karma Houdini: Downplayed. She drives McNamara to a failed suicide attempt by gossiping about her suicidal feelings to the school masses out of pure malice and is never called out, or suffers any consequences for it. The worst she gets for her Alpha Bitch streak behavior overall is getting dethroned by Veronica and slapped once by her. She's also the only antagonist who is alive at the end, although she seems condemned to disappear in the school crowd now that her days of power are gone.
  • Kick the Dog: Publicly mocking Heather McNamara for openly speaking about her anxiety problem, either by chalking "Poor Little Heather" on the board before class or leading the class in very loud jeers. McNamara flees the room in tears. It's implied this is Duke's way of emulating Heather Chandler to better usurp her position.
  • Lack of Empathy: Once Heather Duke takes over, she really proves to be quite cold-hearted. She bawls out Heather McNamara for revealing her depression, and mocks Martha's own suicide attempt as an attempt at popularity. It is telling that when Heather McNamara attempts suicide in the musical, she imagines Duke goading her into it.
  • Lady in Red: After Chandler death, Heather Duke began to dress in Red.
  • The Lancer: First to Heather Chandler and and then to Veronica, being second-in-command to the acting lead Heather.
  • Law of Chromatic Superiority: In the movie and some musical productions, she takes up the red color as well as Heather Chandler's red scrunchie when Heather Chandler dies.
  • Manipulative Bitch: She manipulates the entire school into signing a petition.
  • Plastic Bitch: She's a member of the Girl Posse who eventually ascends to Alpha Bitch. In the musical, she is introduced thus:
    Veronica: No discernible personality, but her mom did pay for implants.
  • Post-Stress Overeating: Inverted. Her bulimia appears linked to the stress of dealing with Heather Chandler. Once Chandler is gone, she suddenly realizes she can actually digest food for once, and is seen chowing down in the locker room out of relief.
  • Race Lift: For some reason, she's the most likely to get this treatment in stage shows. Off-Broadway she was played by Asian-American Alice Lee, and on West End she was played by African-British T'Shan Williams.
  • The Starscream: To Heather Chandler.
  • The Sociopath: She is seen as this in many of scenes.
    • In her mind, Heather Duke wishes many times for Heather Chandler to die and thanks God when she finally does. Saying "Hallelujah" with a big smile on her face.
    • She shows no remorse when she tells the entire school about Heather McNamara struggles in life.
    • She laughed when Martha try to kill herself and tell Veronica the world would be a better place if people like Martha were to die.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Originally starts off as the most nicest and sympathetic of the Heathers, until Heather Chandler’s death. Her behavior for a while is questionable but justified, but afterwards, she starts to become a Jerkass overtime, until the end.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Heather Duke used to be friends with unpopular, overweight, Shrinking Violet Martha "Dumptruck" Dunnstock. But some time prior to the beginning of the story she clearly became a mean and cruel person, and showed no signs of regret after Heather Chandler's death.
  • Villain Song: Multiple, in fact. Originally Shine A Light (Reprise) served as hers, even if technically it featured an imagined version of herself singing. The replacement for Blue (Reprise), Never Shut Up Again, is definitely her though.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds:
    • Seems to be following in her predecessor's footsteps with Veronica by the end of the movie.
      Veronica: Heather my love, there's a new sheriff in town. (kisses her cheek)
    • The Musical has Veronica take the red scrunchie from Heather Duke, then give her a "Take That!" Kiss before singing "Listen up folks, war is over, brand new sheriff's come to town..."
  • With Friends Like These...: Heather McNamara took part in Heather Chandler mocking Heather Duke's bulimia; after taking over as Alpha Bitch, Heather Duke solidifies her status by cruelly exposing and mocking Heather McNamara's suicidal contemplation.

    Heather McNamara 

Heather McNamara

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1675718751090.jpg
"God had cursed me I think."

Played By: Lisanne Falk (Film), Corri English (Joe's Pub), Elle McLemore (Hudson Theatre, Original and Closing Off-Broadway)

The last of the Heathers, who is beautiful and innocent, yet ditsy. Can be mean on command if Heather Chandler orders it, but is actually quite vulnerable and fearful, especially when Heather Chandler's iron grip on Westerburg comes crumbling down.


  • Adaptational Jerkass: In the Musical, she sets up Veronica for date-rape and Slut-Shames her despite knowing Kurt and Ram’s claims weren’t true.
    • Some productions of the musical have her looking horrified when Duke slut-shames Veronica, even reaching out to comfort her before being stopped by Duke.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: When Veronica saves her from her suicide attempt, Heather McNamara bonds more to Veronica. The Musical takes it one more step in "Seventeen (Reprise)", when she takes Veronica's hand after the "new sheriff in town" reaches out to her.
  • Beta Bitch: Early on in the movie she seems to be Heather Chandler's second-in-command, and McNamara is the the closest Heather to Heather Chandler, while Heather Duke is a ditzy, bulimic bookworm that Chandler bullies.
  • BSoD Song: The musical gives her "Lifeboat", where she expresses anxiety over the rash of suicides among her peers. In it, she describes the school as a tiny lifeboat where people are pushing and fighting among each other, and anyone could be the next to get pushed into the ocean...
  • Chromatic Arrangement: She always wears yellow, which suits her position as the most inferior lackey in the Girl Posse.
  • Cowardly Yellow: McNamara wears yellow and is the most timid of the Heathers, victimized by Duke's bullying after Chandler's death.
  • Date Rape: It is unclear in the movie if Kurt or Ram got their way with her after Veronica takes off with J.D. She's pretty clearly trying to fight Ram off in the cow pasture. After Ram's death, she merely says that she "had sex" with him, although in that moment she's in a bad place mentally.
  • Dumb Blonde: Hidden sweet personality aside, she is one ditzy blonde. She even has difficulty unscrewing childproof prescription-bottle caps.
  • Easily Forgiven: In The Musical, Veronica doesn't hold Heather McNamara's luring her towards Ram and Kurt, nor her joining the Slut-Shaming in "Blue (Reprise)" against her when Heather Duke drives McNamara to a nervous breakdown that nearly has her Driven to Suicide. Veronica stops McNamara from getting all the way there.
    • Somewhat averted in some productions, where she looks horrified by the slut-shaming Veronica endures in “Never Shut Up Again” (the song which replaced “Blue (Reprise)” on the West End and subsequent productions), and she stays to the side with Veronica rather than participating in the choreography.
  • Fallen Princess: Starts the movie as Heather Chandler's right-hand man and second-in-command. Unlike Heather Duke, Chandler doesn't bully McNamara, and McNamara's the closest Heather to Chandler. But that all changes when Heather Chandler dies. Heather Duke senses the opportunity and becomes the head of the Heathers (what's left of them) and bullies McNamara just as Heather Chandler previously did to her. McNamara is so desperate as to attempt suicide.
  • Heel–Face Turn: At first she’s arguably just as much of a bully as the other Heathers, being the one who puts the note on Martha’s tray on the film and laughing hard about it, but she was also subject to some Toxic Friend Influence and becomes nicer after she begins getting bullied herself (which may have made her realize how awful bullying was).
  • Hidden Depths: Is revealed to actually have severe anxiety over the three recent "suicides" of her peers, as well having to put up somewhat of a Hidden Heart of Gold-hiding facade as one of the esteemed Heathers, so much so that she attempts suicide from it. Her song "Lifeboat" from the musical further exemplifies just how lost she's been all this time.
  • Innocently Insensitive: In the musical, contrast to Heather Chandler's open hostility. For example, offering Veronica a rather nice compliment but in a deeply creepy way. Even using Veronica as bait to keep a drunken Kurt from groping her seems more like her being too dim to fully realize the implications.
  • Interrupted Suicide: By Veronica, who realizes that she's is going to commit suicide in the bathroom following Heather Duke leaking her secrets, and stops her just in time.
  • Kick the Dog:
    • After she is led to mock Heather Duke for her bulimia by Heather Chandler's Toxic Friend Influence, she in turn gets cruelly ridiculed for her suicidal anxieties (once Heather Chandler, Ram and Kurt die) by Heather Duke.
    • She also joins in with the other students in "Blue (Reprise)" when they start Slut-Shaming Veronica, which drives her to tears.
  • Pet the Dog: Veronica runs after her and stops her from succumbing to those anxieties. Heather then realizes Veronica genuinely cares for her. In The Musical, she hugs Veronica warmly after Veronica stops her suicide attempt. She also takes Veronica's outstretched hand in "Seventeen (Reprise)" and joins her and Martha in singing.
    • Some productions of the musical have her looking horrified when Duke slut shames Veronica, and reaching out to comfort her before being stopped.
  • Stepford Smiler: Seems like the most vapid and dim-witted Heather. Underneath that facade, she's deeply anxious and contemplates suicide often.
  • Suddenly Shouting: In "Lifeboat", her solo begins slow and somber before she starts to shout in desperation.
    "Everyone's pushing
    Everyone's fighting
    Storms are approaching
    There's nowhere to hide
    If I say the wrong thing
    Or I wear the wrong outfit
    THEY'LL THROW ME RIGHT OVER THE SIDE!"
  • Token Good Teammate: The relatively nice and kind member of The Heathers.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Downplayed. She starts off as a bystander of Heather Chandler to the victim Heather Duke, mainly due to Toxic Friend Influence, but later in the film she has Hidden Depths, and starts to become nicer.
  • True Companions: "Seventeen (Reprise)" has Veronica invite her to join Martha and Veronica. She accepts and joins them in singing.
  • Weak-Willed: Note this exchange...
    Veronica: If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you?
    Heather M.: (beat) Probably.
  • With Friends Like These...: Secondary punching bag for Chandler, promoted to primary punching bag for Duke. In "Shine A Light (Reprise)", she imagines her "friends" jeering at her for having an emotional breakdown and goading her to commit suicide. It doesn't seem remotely out of character for either.
  • Verbal Tic: A less severe one than most examples, but she often ends her sentences with "...and stuff."

Other Students

    Kurt Kelly and Ram Sweeney 

Kurt Kelly and Ram Sweeney

Kurt Kelly Played By: Lance Fenton (Film), James Snyder (Joe's Pub), Evan Todd (Hudson Theatre and Original Off-Broadway), Dan Domenechnote  (Closing Off-Broadway)

Ram Sweeney Played By: Patrick Labyorteaux (Film), PJ Griffith (Joe's Pub), Jon Edison (Hudson Theatre, Closing and Original Off-Broadway)

A duo of Jerk Jocks, who are the Captain and linebacker of Westerburg High's football team respectively. They are enamored by the Heathers and are easily swayed by the possibility of sex. As the star football players of Westerburg, their status makes it easy for them to pick on the school's outcasts and try to sexually harass the popular girls scot-free.


  • Adaptational Villainy: In the original version of the musical, Kurt and Ram's performance of "Blue" makes them come across as two bumbling drunken idiots trying to pressure Veronica into sex. Starting from the 2018 London production, "Blue" is replaced by "You're Welcome", a much darker song that removes all ambiguity and makes it clear they want to rape her.
  • Alliterative Name: Kurt Kelly.
  • All Men Are Perverts: Not only do they objectify women and discuss "righteous" Anatomically Impossible Sex, Ram (possibly) rapes Heather McNamara on the cowfield and Kurt claims they double-stuffed Veronica after she dumps him. Charming.
  • Asshole Victim: Played with, as despite being "sexist, bullying jock assholes," there's a huge turnout at their funeral.
  • Bring My Brown Pants: After J.D. pulls a gun, it's assumed.
    "All J.D. really did was ruin two pairs of pants."
  • The Bully: During the cafeteria scene, they try to intimidate J.D., simply because Veronica looked at him.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Little did they expect J.D.'s reaction.
  • Double Date: Kurt and Ram go on a date with Veronica and Heather McNamara, at Heather's insistence.
  • Dumb Jock: Ram more so than Kurt - the musical even calls Kurt the smartest jock on the team ("which is like being the tallest dwarf.").
    "Should we just whip it out?"
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In the musical, Kurt is genuinely horrified when J.D. shoots Ram, yelling, "You killed my best friend!" as he flees in terror.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Tellingly, in the musical, Ram seems uncomfortable when people bully Martha and though he laughs along, he never instigates it himself and his ghost even comments when Veronica brutally tells Martha she forged Ram's note that it was harsh and Kurt even agrees with him.
  • Freudian Excuse: In the musical, from the brief scene with Kurt, Ram and their fathers, it's pretty obvious they treat everyone at school the same way their fathers treat them. Their Slut-Shaming Veronica gives J.D. one to kill them.
  • Hidden Depths: In "Beautiful", when the audience hears the inner thoughts and insecurities of all the other students, Ram's and Kurt's are, respectively, "Why did I hit him?" and "Why do I act like such a creep?", implying that the two of them are at least aware that they shouldn't act the way they do and regret doing so, but genuinely aren't sure how to stop.
  • Ignored Epiphany: In the opening song, they internally express some regret for being jerks, but soon forget about it and continue to act like jerks for the rest of the musical.
  • Interrupted Intimacy: Kurt and Ram strip down, expecting a threesome with Veronica. Then J.D. steps in.
  • Jerk Jock: Kurt and Ram are both football players, whose main source of fun seems to be bullying the weaker students. When they die in The Musical their ghosts haunt Veronica as this as J.D. killed them, not giving them a chance to grow out of it.
    J.D.: Football season is over, Veronica. Kurt and Ram had nothing to offer the school but date rapes and AIDS jokes.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: It was a dick thing to say, but Ram admittedly has a point when he tells Martha, "People wouldn't hate you so much if you acted normal" - Martha is notably quite childish and idealistic (though not stupid) for a high-schooler, particularly in how she dresses in an outfit more suitable for a six-year-old.
  • Mistaken for Gay: Or arranged to look gay, by Veronica and J.D.
    Fake!Kurt and Ram: Ram and I died because we had to hide our gay forbidden love from a disapproving world.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Subverted twice in some parts; whenever Ram begins to lose his cool, Kurt calms him down by saying "We're seniors", implying that they're trying to be good examples. And then something happens and they both fly off the handle.
  • Shirtless Scene: Both Kurt and Ram die in their underwear. To add further humiliation for them, the musical has them reappear as ghosts and invokes Jacob Marley Apparel, meaning that this is all they wear for the duration of their time onstage.
  • Those Two Guys: They're always together.
  • Undignified Death: Getting lured to a graveyard by a Honey Trap and then shot while in your underwear can't be a fun way to go.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: The musical added a touch that Ram used to be friends with Martha when they were in kindergarten, and they even kissed once. Even as a teenage Jerk Jock he still has a very tiny soft spot for her, and doesn't seem to think it's fun to bully her..... Which sadly isn't enough to stop him from joining in when his friends do it.
  • Villain Song: Originally Blue and Blue (Reprise) served as theirs, sort of. Later versions of the musical replaced Blue with You're Welcome, a more overtly villainous song, and Blue (Reprise) with Big Fun (Reprise). Big Fun (Reprise) was then eventually combined with Heather Duke's Never Shut Up Again.

    Martha Dunnstock 

Martha Dunnstock

Played By: Carrie Lynn (Film), Julie Garnye (Joe's Pub), Katie Ladner (Hudson Theatre, Closing and Original Off-Broadway)

An overweight girl cruelly nicknamed “Martha Dumptruck”. The opposite of confident and popular, she possesses a kind heart, optimistic even in the face of rejection.


  • All of the Other Reindeer: In both the film and musical versions, she is bullied by the other students for being overweight, and is one of the Heathers' favorite targets.
  • Ascended Extra: In the musical, where she replaces Betty Finn as Veronica's best friend, and she even gets her own song ("Kindergarten Boyfriend").
  • Attempted Suicide: She tries to kill herself after Veronica reveals Ram never wrote her the note, it was just a prank and everyone at school knew about it. Fortunately she only ends up with broken bones.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: She knows Ram will never love her back, but she still pines for him because she remembers when he was nice to her in kindergarten.
  • Big Fun: Inverted. Martha's weight is a constant source of bullying, meaning that others make fun of her while she's the shiest character of the film, never taking part to a comical scene. To twist the knife further, she's wearing a Big Fun T-shirt during her attempted suicide.
  • Bully Magnet: Poor Martha is bullied by everyone at school and given the embarrassing nickname "Martha Dumptruck" because of her weight. When she first appears in the musical, Kurt is making fun of her by yelling, "Martha Dumptruck! Wide load! Hoooooooonk!"
  • Break the Cutie: Arguably, both versions, the musical more so, where she is kind, bubbly and "a sucker for happy endings" as she states in "Beautiful". Note her last speaking line:
    Martha: ...Are there any happy endings?
  • BSoD Song: "Kindergarten Boyfriend", where she sings about how she and Ram liked each other in kindergarten, and then he left her behind when they grew up.
  • Childhood Friends:
    • In the flim, Martha Dunnstock had a past friendship with Heather Duke, they were very close in their childhood.
    • In the musical, she and Veronica have known each other since... diapers.
  • Composite Character: In the musical, her character is combined with Betty Finn's. She kept her name, and her crush on Kurt/Ram, but gained Betty's perky personality. She also replaces Betty as Veronica's best friend before joining the Heathers.
  • Nice Girl: The only totally pure character in the musical.
  • The Quiet One: Film version. She says only one line at the very end.
  • Shrinking Violet: Film version, mostly. When Ms. Fleming starts her little get together in the cafeteria, Martha hides under a table. The musical version has a tendency to cower behind Veronica at certain points.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Not as pronounced as J.D., but holding a crush on a boy you kissed once in kindergarten and who has treated you horribly ever since isn't exactly healthy. Although it is played more for pity than horror in this case.
  • Weight Woe: She's constantly bullied for her weight.
  • We Used to Be Friends: In the musical, she and Ram were friends in kindergarten. He stopped liking her by first grade, but Martha still has a crush on him and has for years.
  • When She Smiles: Film version, after Veronica asks if they can see a movie together. Less so in the musical where she is The Pollyanna.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: At the start of the musical, but she's disabused of that mindset by the ending.

    Peter Dawson 

Peter Dawson

Played By: Jeremy Applegate

An active member of the student faculty.


  • Adapted Out: He is not in the stage show. You can pretend he's the preppy kid in the ensemble, if you like.
  • Ambition Is Evil: Downplayed; he can be considered pretentious at times and wants to go to Harvard, but he is never actively malicious.
  • Comically Missing the Point:
    • When asked about a hypothetical question about getting $5 million dollars while aliens are coming to blow up the planet, he takes the time to bring taxes to account.
    • When he and the class talk with Miss Fleming about Heather’s suicide, he says that he and Heather used to date. However, Heather broke up with him because she said he was too boring. Peter thinks she broke up with him not because he was boring, but because she was depressed. However, it’s made quite clear that Heather really did break up with Peter because he was boring.
    • Veronica, trying to work out the location of J.D.'s bomb, asks Peter about the boiler room underneath the gym. From his reaction, Peter clearly thought she was inviting him to something, ah, private.
  • Extracurricular Enthusiast: Spends lunchtime shilling for the school's food drive and also apparently works at the newspaper.
  • Insufferable Genius: He's a smart kid and works in a lot of school clubs, but he's also a little smarmy.
  • Pet the Dog: He's the one that tells Veronica about Ram and Kurt's rumor about her. He also doesn't buy it for a second.
  • Social Climber: His devotion to extracurriculars and getting recommendations would suggest he's a mite obsessed with padding out his college application.
  • Teacher's Pet: To Miss Fleming. He helps her organize her anti-suicide stunt for the explicit purpose of getting a recommendation.

    Betty Finn 

Betty Finn

Played By: Renée Estevez

Veronica's old friend before joining the Heathers.


  • Adapted Out: She is not in the musical. Her character is combined with Martha Dunnstock, who now has Betty's perky attitude and status as Veronica's best friend.
  • Morality Pet: Veronica will drop her standard issue Heather mean-girl persona in a heartbeat when Betty is around.
  • Former Friend of Alpha Bitch: Averted. While Veronica has simply joined the Heathers, and isn’t the leader (that role belongs to Heather Chandler and later Heather Duke) but Veronica does become distant with her best friend after joining the Heathers.
  • Nice Girl: Very friendly and polite.
  • Opposites Theme Naming: Betty Finn is obviously a combination of Archie's Betty and Huckleberry Finn, as a counterpart to her friend, Veronica Sawyer, implying that they originally made a formidable duo.
  • We Used to Be Friends: Downplayed. She and Veronica are still friends, even though Veronica is spending less time with her due to being In with the In Crowd.

Adults

    The Sawyers 

Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer

Mr. Sawyer Played By: William Cort (Film), Kevin Pariseau (Joe's Pub), Daniel Cooney (Hudson Theatre)

Mrs. Sawyer Played By: Jennifer Rhodes (Film), Jill Abramovitz (Joe's Pub), Rena Strober (Hudson Theatre), Michelle Duffy (Original Off-Broadway), Molly Hagernote  (Closing Off-Broadway)

Veronica's parents.


  • Adaptational Nice Guy: Veronica's parents seem a little more attentive and nurturing in the musical. Mrs. Sawyer is nice enough to bring her daughter a snack.
  • Adults Are Useless: All the parents have a "hands-off" approach to their kids, and the Sawyers aren't aware that their children are out all night murdering people.
  • Hidden Depths: As shown by her below comment about "human beings", Veronica's mom is a lot more socially astute than most teens expect their parents to be.
  • Ironic Echo: The first two conversations Veronica has with her parents.
  • Parental Obliviousness: The Sawyers have no idea Veronica's activities with J.D. stretch the definition of teenaged mischief.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Veronica's mom delivers one to Veronica when she starts whining about unfair the world is.
    Treated like human beings? Is that what you said, Little Miss Voice of a Generation? Just how do you think adults act with other adults? You think it's all just a game of doubles tennis? When teenagers complain that they want to be treated like human beings, it's usually because they are being treated like human beings.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Mrs. Sawyer always has pate at the ready.

    "Big Bud" Dean 

"Big Bud" Dean

Played By: Kirk Scott (Film), Eric Leviton (Joe's Pub), Rex Smith (Hudson Theatre), Anthony Crivello (Closing and Original Off-Broadway)

J.D.'s father.


  • Abusive Parents: To J.D. Largely neglects his son after he drove his mother to suicide.
  • Adaptational Villainy: While Bud isn't a great character in either version, he's more directly malicious in the musical. In the film he at first appears to be off-kilter but charming, like his son, and Veronica even joins in on the father/son dialog he shares when J.D. In the musical, Bud immediately sets off warning signs that make Veronica (and the audience) uncomfortable, including offering her beer and violating her personal space by putting an arm around her, and being drunk in the middle of the day. While in the movie J.D. doesn't act that differently around his dad, in the musical he's uncharacteristically quiet and nervous when they're in the same room.
  • Ambiguous Situation: How much does Big Bud know or care about his son's mental illness or homicidal tendencies? He seems to accept in both versions that J.D. blames him for what happened to his Mom, and his father/son reversal dialog implies he understands how he expected J.D. to grow up faster than normal. The movie also drops hints that J.D. has killed before, and it was covered up by his dad constantly moving around, but that could be Bud knowingly covering for his son or J.D. taking advantage of his dad's profession.
  • Evil Counterpart: Big Bud is a pretty creepy counterpart to the Sawyers. The Sawyers kept their daughter in school instead of letting her skip ahead to college so she could form better social skills. Big Bud repeatedly pulls his son out of school every few weeks, which only damages his already-shakey mental health. Veronica has a cute Running Gag with her dad calling him an idiot in a joking, loving manner, but J.D. and Bud have a much darker running gag where they refer to each other as role-reversed father and son, that just highlights the unhealthy way J.D. has been raised.
  • Hate Sink: Especially in the musical. Him being an abusive father alone puts him in this category in the film, but the musical further implies he drove his wife to suicide, and that he has singlehandedly molded J.D. into the Tragic Villain he is.
  • Promoted to Parent: Played with. J.D. and his dad have a Running Gag where they talk to each other as father and son, roles reversed.
    Bud: Gee pop, I need some help with my homework.
    J.D.: Not right now, tiger, I'm a little busy.
  • Saving the Orphanage: Defied by Bud, who brags about the monuments and neighborhoods he took down that didn't get saved.
  • The Sociopath: Bud's managed to channel it into his job as a Demolitions Expert.

    Bill Sweeney and Paul Kelly 

Bill Sweeney and Paul Kelly

Ram and Kurt's respective fathers.


  • Adaptational Sexuality: Neither father was (or at least came out as) gay in the film, but this is added in the musical.
  • Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: If coming out and making out at their funeral could count posthumously. Whether they were like this before their deaths is unknown.
  • Armoured Closet Gay: Bill mentions that he used to be threatened whenever he saw a "homo" and Paul starts his speech lamenting on the "sick, disgusting things that Kurt and Ram were doing".
  • Camp Gay: During their song.
  • Good Parents: Bill loudly announces how he still loves his son.
  • Named by the Adaptation: Both fathers were unnamed in the film; in the musical they address each other as "Bill" and "Paul".

    Pauline Fleming 

Pauline Fleming

Played By: Penelope Milford (Film), Jill Abramovitz (Joe's Pub), Rena Strober (Hudson Theatre), Michelle Duffy (Original Off-Broadway), Molly Hager (Closing Off-Broadway)


  • Adults Are Useless: And she's probably the most useless of the lot.
    "Call me when the shuttle lands."
  • Bad Samaritan: She seems more interested in using teen trauma for self-aggrandizement rather than actually treating it for the good of her charges.
  • Bait the Dog: She's introduced lecturing her fellow teachers on treating the Chandler suicide so callously and expresses a need to help out students through this process. Then her actual teaching process reveals herself as incompetent and out of touch.
  • Condescending Compassion: Veronica accuses her of this in the musical, pointing out that the facts that she's letting people film her rap sessions with the kids and their "therapeutic" talks about suicide and how to prevent it comes off as both patronizing and a little bit selfish. It falls on deaf ears.
  • Hippie Teacher: It's not clear what subject she teaches, but her classroom has an informal seating arrangement, including a spray of cushions to sit on.
    "Will we be tested on this?"
  • I Take Offense to That Last One: A darkly hilarious example:
    Veronica: None of us want this spectacle to be experimented on like guinea pigs or patronized like bunny rabbits!
    Miss Fleming: (completely offended) I DON'T PATRONIZE BUNNY RABBITS!

    Father Ripper 

Father Ripper

Played By: Glenn Shadix

The priest who leads the bizarre funeral services.


  • Adapted Out: He doesn't appear in the musical, as Heather Chandler's funeral is omitted, and Kurt and Ram's funeral instead involves the pair being eulogized by their fathers.
  • Large Ham: His sermon style -
    "On the outside, Heather Duke was the vivacious young woman we all knew her to be......BUT HER SOUL WAS IN ANTARCTICA!!!"
  • New Media Are Evil: Initially blames youth suicides on "MTV Video Games".
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Bizarrely, the priest's scenes are some of the funniest in the film.
  • Rule of Three: We see him deliver three eulogies: Heather's, Kurt and Ram's, and Heather Duke's dream funeral.
  • Totally Radical: Invokes this when talking about that "Righteous dude, Jesus."

Alternative Title(s): Heathers The Musical

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