John Wick | John's Family | The Continental Hotels | The High Table | The Tarasov Crime Family | Winston's Crew | Other Criminals
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John's Family
Helen
Helen Wick
"This illness has loomed over us for a long time, and now that I have found my peace, find yours. Until that day, your best friend, Helen."
Portrayed By: Bridget Moynahan Other Languages
Appearances: John Wick | John Wick: Chapter 2 | John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum | John Wick: Chapter 4
"You only came back because Helen was taken away from you. The real question is, who do you wish to die as? The Baba Yaga? The last thing many men ever see. Or as a man, who loved and was loved by his wife."
— Winston
The deceased wife of John Wick.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Played With. She was Happily Married to John freaking Wick. That being said, John became a very different person around her, to the point where he actually left the criminal underworld to start a new life with her (he's also generally a Nice Guy anyway unless you’ve pissed him off). It's also not entirely clear how much she knew of his 'other life'; in the sequel, when Gianna D'Antonio asks John what Helen would think of him when he's forced to return to the old profession, he remains silent.
- Flat Character: The series began at her funeral and all we know about her is that she died of an illness and that she was so wonderful she inspired the most feared assassin in the world to retire. She was so great in-fact, John goes the extra mile in destroying the Tarasov Crime Family for killing the dog she left him and selling his life to the High Table just so he could keep her memory alive.
- Flower Motifs: Daisies. They were apparently her favorite flower and she is constantly associated with them; in her many of her scenes, there are daisies hidden in the background somewhere, her coffee mug has a daisy on it, the cards she gives John have daisies on the front, John gave her a bracelet with daisies on it for an anniversary (which he keeps on his bedside table after her death) and the puppy she got for him was named Daisy (upon learning this, John says "Of course").
- The Lost Lenore: John is clearly grieving her during the movie and probably the rest of his life.
- Love Redeems: Apparently Helen did manage to convince John to leave a life of crime. Once she died, though...
- Meaningful Name: In Greek, Helen means "bright" or "the shining one" - she was "the light" of John's life and generally represented everything good and happy in his life (notably, many of their scenes together have them surrounded by some source of light). See also The Iliad, where Helen was "the face that launched a thousand ships": the loss of Helen (to Paris after Aphrodite made her fall in love with him) drove Menelaus to lead Greece to war against Troy, much as the loss of keepsakes from Helen drives John to war with The Mafiya.
- Morality Chain: As Wick clarifies to Viggo, his wife was his last link to humanity. Once she dies (and subsequently her parting gift, the dog, dies), John loses all emotional and moral connection to the human race, bringing him back to his assassin life.
- Morality Pet: Helen is pretty much John's human side.
- Posthumous Character: We only see her through John's memories and a video he recorded of her.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Her screentime amounts to probably five minutes tops, but she's the very core of John's rampage in the movie, and he frequently takes the time to reminisce or look at old video or pictures of them.
Daisy
Daisy
Portrayed By: Andy
Appearances: John Wick
"John, I'm sorry I can't be there for you. But you still need something, someone, to love. So start with this. Because the car doesn't count."
— Excerpt of Helen's posthumous letter
Helen's final gift to John, an adorable beagle puppy. Her death sets off John's rampage.
- And Your Little Dog, Too!: Iosef has his men shut the dog up because she's barking. She's harmless, but the guys are mad at her owner for not respecting them so they kill her to spite him.
- Cross-Cast Role: Daisy is played by a male puppy, Andy.
- Licked by the Dog: Daisy instantly takes a liking to John, establishing him as being fundamentally good.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Acts as such to John, being the last gift of his departed wife and a way to help him grieve her in a healthy manner.
- Morality Pet: After Helen dies, Daisy is the only thing keeping his humanity intact.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Her death kicks off, not only the plot of the first film, but arguably the entire franchise. Had John not returned to the Continental for revenge, Santino wouldn't have heard about it and wouldn't decide to cash in on his marker, thus not putting John in the position of the second film resulting in him killing Santino, becoming Excommunicado, and going through the events of the third film, and anything else that comes after.
- Precious Puppy: Did the movie about a Roaring Rampage of Revenge necessarily need to be started off with the killing of a puppy? No. But it wouldn't have left as big an impact.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: John warms up to her shockingly fast because she is just that damn adorable.
- Rule of Symbolism: Daisy reflects John's brief attempt to return to the light; her youth reflects the brevity of his stay in the normal world, and her death reflects his immediate return to the underworld.
- Small Role, Big Impact: John only had her for a day, but it's very clear that what she represented to him was more important than anything else.
Dog
Dog/Boy
Portrayed By: Burton
Appearances: John Wick | John Wick: Chapter 2 | John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum | John Wick: Chapter 4
Charon: And the dog, does he have a name?
John: No.
John: No.
A second dog John Wick rescues at the end of the first movie. A dark brown pit bull. Equally adorable.
- Morality Pet: But unlike his past two John tries really hard to keep this Morality Pet safe. He also serves as one to Charon.
- Never Given a Name: John hasn't had time to name him by the start of the second movie.
- Pet the Dog: Is basically treated well by everyone regardless of who is or isn't on John's side. Despite John being cut off from Continental services they take the Dog in anyways and treat him kindly for most of the movie and when the hotel is attacked Winston lets him stay in his safe room with him for the duration of the fight. Even after Winston betrays John he lets the Dog continue to hang around in the hotel afterwards, and once the Bowery King's men retrieve John from the street they let him tag along when they bring John to the Bowery King who allows the Dog to take up a spot on one of his couches without protest. Even Zero is kind to him. Everyone loves this dog.
- Replacement Goldfish: John takes this dog to replace the previous dog he lost. It's mildly implied he's not fully over the loss of the previous one and this factors in why this one doesn't have a name.
- Rule of Symbolism: He reflects John's return to the underworld. He's an adult, as John is in the underworld, and like John he's from a breed that's infamous for becoming a vicious killer when properly abused.
- Undying Loyalty: Takes to John in an instant and sticks with him.
