Characters / Psycho

Character page for the Psycho franchise, concerning characters from the 1959 horror novel Psycho and its 1982 sequel, as well as the original novel's famous 1960 film adaptation, said adaptation's 1998 remake, and the former's three sequels.

For characters from the film's spiritual prequel and Broad Strokes adaptation, Bates Motel, see here.

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Franchise-wide

Norman Bates

Norman Bates

"We all go a little mad sometimes."

Played By: Anthony Perkins (original film series), Henry Thomas (young; Psycho IV), Vince Vaughn (1998 remake)

The owner and proprietor of Bates Motel, a failing motel outside the town of Fairvale, Norman Bates' whole world revolves around his abusive mother Norma.

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• Abled in the Adaptation: He wears glasses in the novel. He's never seen wearing them in any adaptations.
• Abusive Parents: The films make it no secret that he's been tormented by his own mother. If you consider Psycho IV canon, his stepfather Chet also enjoyed beating him in "sports."
• Adaptational Attractiveness: In the novel, Norman is an overweight, balding, alcoholic slob. In the film, he's a handsome yet shy nice guy who looks cute and innocent. Vince Vaughn, who plays Norman in the 1998 remake, is slightly closer to his book counterpart.
• Adaptational Badass: In the novels, Norman continued his descent into insanity and was completely dominated by the memory of his mother. In the film series, he slowly overcomes his split personality's control over him and finally breaks free in the fourth and final film.
• Adaptational Heroism: In the second book, Norman completely accepts his inner darkness and goes on a killing spree throughout California For the Evulz. In the second film, Norman wants to become a normal man and live a peaceful life befriending others. This change was understandably made in order to retain the audience's sympathy for him.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: The films depict Norman as a much more sympathetic and kindly figure driven to kill by his mental illness, as opposed to his sleazier novel counterpart.
• Adaptation Personality Change: In the original novel, Norman is a bitter, alcoholic Jerkass obsessed with spiritualism, the occult, and porn and indulges in violent fantasies. In the film, Norman is a genial Nice Guy who seems more interested in taxidermy than anything; he is pretty bitter about his lot in life and is The Peeping Tom, but it's not as central to his character as it is with book Norman,
• Affably Evil: He's a shy but Nice Guy as "Norman", but as "Mother"… well, not so much.
• Age Lift: In the novel, Norman was forty. In both the 1960 film and its remake, he is played by actors in their late twenties. Oddly enough, Anthony Perkins was pushing 60 at the time Psycho IV was made and was in his fifties at the time of the 80s sequels.
• The Alcoholic: The book offers a simpler explanation for his transformations into Norma: He drinks a lot.
• Animal Motif: Norman is associated with birds. He taxidermies various birds and puts them around his house, he briefly compares Marion to a bird as a compliment, and he exhibits various bird-like mannerisms, such as cocking his head or eating candy corn in a manner that resembles bird-like pecking.
• Anti-Villain: As he notes during his conversation with Marion Crane on private traps, "I was born into mine. I don't mind it anymore".
• Ax-Crazy: When the mother side of his personality is in control, brutally stabbing anyone she needs to kill over and over again.
• Bad Liar: Norman is quite frankly a terrible liar, constantly stuttering and slipping up whenever he makes excuses. Although surprisingly enough, his stuttering and incessant chewing goes some way in convincing Arbogast that he had nothing to do with Marion's disappearance.
• Being Evil Sucks: For the Norman personality, going through extreme amounts of stress and anxiety covering up the murders, as well as dealing with his Mother personality.
• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Given for bad guys who are raised by Abusive Parents.
• Berserk Button: He gets really angry when Marion suggests sending his mother to an asylum.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He may be the Trope Codifier. He's really a soft-spoken and caring young man, but his Split Personality is the psychotic one that takes over and kills.
• Big Bad: Specifically his "Mother" personality, who will kill anybody she has to to keep Norman under her thumb.
• Bookworm: In the original novel.
• Cartwright Curse: Connie (from Psycho IV) is the only one of Norman's love interests who escapes a tragic fate.
• Character Tic:
  • He's prone to cocking his head.
  • In the first film, he's frequently seen eating candy corn in a distinctive, pecking-like manner.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: He attracts numerous women throughout the sequels due to his droky charm. Unfortunately, the relationships never work out.
• The Corruptible: Without his Mother personality, Norman's a genial, kindhearted Shrinking Violet who helps people out and runs his motel as ethically as he can. With the personality, he's completely convinced his mother is still alive, dangerously insane, and willing to cover up the bodies to protect her.
• Creepy Crossdresser: When his Mother personality takes over.
• Creepy Good: In Psycho II. He's as socially awkward and vaguely menacing as ever, but he's just trying to live a normal life and is taking steps to redeem himself; even when he starts going crazy again, he fights it every step of the way.
• Cute and Psycho: His boyish charm, non-threatening demeanor and poor social skills can easily throw off the viewer as to his true nature.
• Dark and Troubled Past: His father died when he was five years old, leaving him in the care of an overbearing and somewhat incestuously inclined mother, who would emotionally abuse and degrade him.
• Death Seeker: It's subtly implied more than a few instances that he has grown tired of living his depressing life.
• Destroy the Abusive Home: In Psycho IV, Norman finally overcomes his insanity by destroying the house he lived in with his mother and committed the series' gruesome murders.
• The Dog Bites Back: You could say his brutal murder of his mother was more than justified.
• Doom Magnet: All of his love interests die as a result of getting too close to him.
• Driven to Madness: By his domineering mother, no less.
• Driven to Villainy: When his mother takes a lover and continues in bullying him.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: In the novel Psycho II, Norman is killed in self-defense by a hitchhiker he was planning on murdering and use his corpse to take his own death after escaping the asylum, which isn't discovered until near the end due to the hitchhiker burning the body. The actual killer of the novel turns out to be Norman's psychiatrist Dr. Clairborne.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: In Psycho IV, Norman defeats his insanity by facing his inner demons and destroying the "trap" his mother kept him in all his life by burning down the house. He's finally able to start a new family with his wife and prevent his child from carrying on his family's monstrous legacy.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: A rare male example. Norman is a very emotional man with a Dark and Troubled Past.
• Endearingly Dorky: His social awkwardness and kind attitude results in a lot of people trusting him, and several women wind up falling in love with him over it.
• Everyone Has Standards: In the second movie, he's completely disgusted with the new motel manager allowing drugs and prostitution in his motel. Outraged by this, Norman fires him on the spot.
• Extreme Doormat: To his mother, who deliberately made him dependent upon her after his father's death.
• Freudian Excuse: The abuse he was subject to by his mother when he was young.
• Giggling Villain: He has a habit of suddenly giggling in the middle of his sentences, which is particularly unsettling when he's in the midst of a serious conversation. This changes after his time in the mental institution.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: His mother prevented him from interacting with pretty much anyone else, causing him to become socially awkward and dependent on her.
• Gollum Made Me Do It: The last scene of the film is his mother personality plotting and scheming to blame Norman for the murders.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: He switches from good to evil all the time due to his mental instability. However, he wants to be good, but struggles in every film.
• Heel–Face Turn: Finally becomes good in Psycho IV after confronting his Dark and Troubled Past.
• Hidden Depths: He's shown to be somewhat of a nihilistic philosopher during his brief interactions with Marion Crane.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: He really does want a woman in his life, but his unfortunate circumstances always prevent that from happening.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: He desires to live as a non-abused human being would in a happy environment with a loving woman in his life. Considering his childhood, this is very justified.
• Insane Equals Violent: His Split Personality makes him kill every time it takes over.
• Insecure Love Interest: He lacks a lot of confidence in himself while trying to establish a relationship with Mary and Maureen due to his dark history and low self-esteem.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: In Psycho IV, aside from murdering his abusive mother, he also kills his stepfather Chet as well.
• The Killer in Me: He's completely unaware he has a murderous Split Personality and, while he does cover up the killings, only does so because he wants to protect his mother. When he's cured in Psycho II, he's guilt-ridden about his killings, and is utterly terrified he's been committing the murders because he would always black-out when he killed.
• Kubrick Stare: Perhaps the grimmest and most soul-destroying one in cinematic history.
• Loners Are Freaks: As a result of being isolated from society, he's developed some serious problems.
• Made of Iron: He takes multiple stab wounds in the second film from Mary, but he just shrugs them off.
• Momma's Boy: "A boy's best friend is his mother."
• Mommy Issues: His mother left such a damaging impact on his psyche that it ended up developing his split personality disorder. His murderous split personality is due to being emotionally dependent upon his mother since she isolated and abused him after his father died when he was young.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Whenever he's able to think straight, he clearly feels a ton of guilt over the murders he committed.
• Nervous Wreck: He appears to have a lot of nervous tics, like chewing, laughing, and stuttering.
• Nice Guy: When the Mother personality doesn't take over, Norman's a pretty polite, timid, and sweet guy.
• No Social Skills: Because he's been isolated all of his life, Norman has trouble interacting with others.
• Not Me This Time: The antagonist from Psycho II is actually not Norman.
• Odd Couple: The oddest relationship he ever had was his romance with Maureen, a nun with emotional issues.
• Odd Friendship: He forms a close friendship with a rational person in every film.
• The Peeping Tom: In the parlor and hidden behind a painting, is a hole that looks into Cabin 1. He uses it to look at Marion Crane and Maureen Coyle.
• Psychopathic Manchild: His bedroom looks exactly like it probably did when he was young, with toys and everything still in place.
• Psychological Projection: Subverted. At the end of the first film, the psychiatrist says the reason Norman's Split Personality killed anyone he was attracted to was because he believed his mother was as possessive of him as he was of her; the sequels, however, show she genuinely was that possessive.
• Red Herring: The audience is fooled into believing that he's the killer of the second movie. However, it's revealed that Norman is innocent this time.
• Reformed, but Rejected: In the second film, Norman attempts to resume living a normal life, but a new killer disguised as his mother drives him back into insanity.
• Reluctant Psycho: In the sequels, while his level of sanity varies, the one thing that's consistent is his reluctance to give into his Mother personality and start killing people again.
• Sanity Slippage: After being cured, Lila and Mary's gaslighting campaign and Mrs. Spool's killings slowly drive him back into insanity. It's a gradual, painful process for Norman, who desperately tries not to slide back into insanity and fails.
• Self-Made Orphan: A surprisingly justified example. He killed his mother in order to put an end to his abuse.
• Serial Killer: In Psycho II, he is revealed to have killed seven people before being captured at the end of the first film.
• Sex Is Evil, and I Am Horny: When Norman finds himself attracted to women (such as Marion Crane), the Mother personality lashes out and seeks to rid him of his supposedly sinful urges by way of murder.
• Ship Tease: Had some romantic interactions with Mary and Maureen.
• Shrinking Violet: Due to his mother's atrocious abuse, Norman is very shy and has No Social Skills.
• Socially Awkward Hero: While he varies between being a genuine hero and a Villain Protagonist depending on the film, Norman is always shown to be socially awkward and have trouble around people.
• Split Personality: Norman and his internalized mother.
• Split-Personality Takeover: At the end of the first film. In the words of the psychiatrist: "Norman Bates no longer exists". He gets better in the sequel, however.
• Straw Nihilist: During his conversation with Marion, he expresses a bleak view of life as a trap from which he doesn't even try to escape.
• Sweet Tooth: He's frequently seen munching candy.
• Sympathetic Murderer: He's a good guy, but his dark side is too strong for him to control and have a normal life.
• Talking to Themself: His mother has been dead for years, but he has conversations aloud with his alternate personality of her.
• Taxidermy Is Creepy: He keeps a roomful of stuffed birds adjacent to the motel office. And the film's great twist is that his "mother" is actually just a preserved and stuffed corpse.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: He looks like an awkward young man, but he has Dissociative Identity Disorder and the Mother personality is homicidal and cruel.
• Tomato in the Mirror: His mother is a murderous Split Personality based off of his actual mother after he killed her.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: By the end of Psycho IV, he overcomes his insanity and becomes optimistic for a brighter tomorrow with his newfound family.
• Took a Level in Kindness: From the second film onward, Norman becomes a kinder person simply trying to live a normal life and escape his psychological issues.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • He's frequently seen munching on candy corn throughout the original film.
  • The second film shows Norman enjoys toasted cheese sandwiches, since one of the few happy memories he has of his mother is her serving him the sandwiches while he was sick.
• Tragic Villain: Although one with an ultimately happy ending, provided you see Psycho IV as being canon. Still, Norman is an abuse victim who's so traumatized by having to kill his horrifically abusive mother in self-defense that he developed a Split Personality based on her, leaving him perpetually unable to escape his abuser no matter what.
• Tranquil Fury: When Marion innocently suggests that Norman should send his mother to "...someplace", he unexpectedly gets really angry at her. The only sign of it is the way he leans forward while staring at her for a few seconds, unblinking and unsmiling, before speaking.
• Trauma Button:
  • Implied in the first film, where he gets uncharacteristically angry at Marion when she brings up a mental asylum. His subsequent monologue heavily implied he had a traumatic stay at a Bedlam House, which is why he refuses to let his mother be taken to an asylum. Even in the second film, where he's clearly appreciative of his psychiatrist Dr. Raymond curing him in the asylum, he still breaks into tears when he briefly entertains being sent back.
  • Throughout the second film, he is visibly freaked out around knives, thanks to remembering the murders he committed with them.
• Troubled, but Cute: He has "boy next door" good looks and a pretty gentle, kind demeanor. Not his fault that he has a murderous split personality due to the extensive abuse by his mother since he was a kid.
• Verbal Tic: He's prone to stuttering whenever he's talking with a stranger or lying.
• Villain Protagonist: After Marion's death, the film rotates between him and her sister as primary protagonists. Norman completely averts the Villain part of this trope in the second film until the very end of the film and plays this role straight in the third film. Norman then completely averts this again in the fourth with exceptions of the Protagonist Journey to Villain flashbacks.
• Vocal Evolution: In the sequels, Norman's voice is much deeper and less youthful, due to Anthony Perkins' aging.
• Walking Spoiler: Sort of. He may not be on the same level as his mother, but he's near impossible to talk about without explain his "alter-ego".
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He becomes this in Psycho IV. Specifically, he plans to kill his wife Connie because She's pregnant, and he's afraid their child will grow up to be a psycho killer as well. Fortunately he changes his mind, and they have a (relatively) happy ending.
• Wicked Cultured: Norman is devotee of Beethoven. While searching his room in the first film Lila notes a record of Symphony No. 3 ("Eroica") on his turntable, and in Psycho II he plays the Moonlight Sonata on the piano.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: He just wants a normal life, but certain problems prevent that.

Marion Crane

Marion/Mary Crane

^{Click here to see her before her death} 

Played By: Janet Leigh (1960 film), Anne Heche (1998 remake)

A secretary working for real estate salesman George Lowrey, Marion impulsively steals $40.000 from her boss and goes on the run, by chance stumbling across the Bates Motel.

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• Accidental Hero: A posthumous example. By stealing the money, she set off the chain of events that exposed Norman’s murderous antics.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Due to Alfred Hitchcock's fondness for blondes, Marion has blonde hair in the film instead of the novel's black. But both Mary and Marion do have blue eyes though if any color photographs of Janet Leigh are of any indication.
• Adaptation Name Change: Her first name is given as "Mary" in the novel and "Marion" in the films. This was because a real Mary Crane, two of them, existed in Phoenix.
• Alone with the Psycho: Unbeknownst to her, staying at the Bates Motel means that she's spending time alone with a lunatic murderer and gets killed because of it.
• Anti-Hero: She steals from her company to live a good life with her fiancé.
• Break the Cutie: A sweetheart, she realizes the error of her ways when she talks with Norman.
• Dead Star Walking: Seems like the main character, but dies about halfway through the film.
• Decoy Protagonist: The Trope Codifier. While Sam and Norman both get a decent amount of screen-time in the early stages, the film is almost entirely her story. Then the shower scene happens and her sister takes over as the female lead.
• Dies Wide Open: The final shot of her body shows her cold, emotionless eyes releasing a Single Tear before she passes away.
• Foil: To Norman. They're both criminals who deeply care for a loved one and commit crimes based around them, before ultimately feeling guilty for said crime and deciding to make amends. However, Marion committed a robbery to provide for her boyfriend Sam, whereas Norman does his crimes out of platonic love for his mother. Marion is completely aware of her crimes and what she's doing, while Norman is mentally ill and is completely unaware that he's a Serial Killer. And Marion decides to turn herself in only a few days after her theft, while Norman continues to cover up his "mother"'s crimes until he's finally arrested, and only fully comprehends what he did after years of therapy.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: She would likely have ended up dead either way, but after having dinner with Norman (and just before her fatal shower), she decides to return the stolen money to her employers and face the music.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Knifed in the shower a dozen times until dying.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Well, she's only really a jerk in terms of being a criminal, but Marion is consistently shown to be compassionate and kindhearted in her interactions with Sam, Norman, and her coworkers.
• Kill the Cutie: The film's famous plot twist (well, the first of two, the second being the reveal of Norman's mother) is that the lovable Marion gets killed after about 40 minutes into the film.
• Off with Her Head!: As opposed to being stabbed to death, Marion is beheaded in the novel's version of the shower scene.
• Promoted to Parent: When she was seventeen, her father got hit by a car, preventing her from going to college and having to help her mother and sister around the house. This detail is only mentioned in the novel.
• Redemption Equals Death: She decides to return to face punishment for her crimes, but is soon killed by Norman.
• Sacrificial Lion: Most famously, the film spends the first half detailing her motivations and conflicts, to make it more horrifying when Norman slaughters her.
• Single Tear: A final drip of water drops across her pale, dead face.
• Stealing from the Till: Her primary conflict is stealing money from her place of business to help pay off her lover's debts.
• Sympathetic Criminal: She only steals the money to pay off Sam's debts.

Lila Loomis

Lila Loomis, née Crane

^{Click here to see her in Psycho II} 

Played By: Vera Miles (original film series), Julianne Moore (1998 remake)

The sister of Marion Crane, who discovers Norman Bates gruesome secrets while investigating Marion's disappearance.

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• Abusive Mom: She manhandles her daughter and screams at her numerous times, though it could be her way of showing Anger Born of Worry out of fearing that if Norman indeed goes crazy again while Mary is vulnerable to his state, Lila does not want to lose her to Norman like how she lost Marion to him in the first movie.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the second novel, Lila is just an innocent victim roped back into Norman's horrific story. In the second film, she's a part of the Big Bad Ensemble.
• Ambiguously Evil: She Took a Level in Jerkass and constantly threatens Norman, but she's entirely right in questioning his sanity and some of her motives behind her actions are good-intentioned, making her character ambiguous, possibly bordering on an extreme take of the Hero Antagonist role.
• Arch-Enemy: She's Norman's greatest enemy.
• Armor-Piercing Question: She constantly delivers several of these towards the town sheriff and her daughter about Norman.
• Asshole Victim: In Psycho II, her actions in the sequel before her death might have been good-intentioned in a way, but otherwise still amoral and vindictive towards a man who paid his debt to society.
• Best Served Cold: In Psycho II. She desires swift vengeance on Norman because she believed he slipped through the justice system.
• Big Bad Ensemble: She and Mrs. Spool are both the main antagonists of the second film.
• Black-and-White Insanity: She refuses to see the good in Norman after he paid his debt to society and desires for him to be locked up for life as an irredeemable murderer she sees him as in the second film.
• Cain and Abel: Lila in the second film only proves herself to be the Cain to Marion's Abel.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Impaled through the mouth with a kitchen knife in Psycho II.
• Dead Person Impersonation: Subverted. She almost tries to impersonate Norman's mother, but she ends up killed by the new killer.
• Death by Irony: She ends up killed in the exact same room where she encountered Norman and his mother.
• Death Glare: Constantly delivers a hateful stare at Norman.
• Didn't See That Coming: She's very shocked at what she discovers in Norman's basement.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Is seemingly murdered by Norman in Bloch's Psycho II as well but the actual killer is revealed to have been Dr. Clairborne.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She's very amoral and unpredictable, but she cares about her deceased sister and husband Sam. However, it's very debatable as to whether or not she loved her daughter Mary, though she did promise her that no harm would come her way if Norman indeed goes insane again after the final stage of her scheme is complete (as she would come in to rescue her before anything else happened), and the way she treats Mary could be a result of Anger Born of Worry from not wanting to lose Mary to Norman like how she lost Marion.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite the fact that she Took a Level in Jerkass in the second film, she absolutely hates Norman for being a psychopath. Ironically, she's as bad as he ever was.
• Evil Old Folks: Becomes the villain of the second film after she Took a Level in Jerkass.
• Evil Plan: She intends to have Norman recommitted to the asylum as part of her revenge scheme.
• Face–Heel Turn: She was originally the hero of the first film, but the sequel has her become the antagonist trying to ruin Norman's life out of spite.
• Fatal Flaw: In addition to being impulsive, she has a nasty habit of taking matters into her own hands when she feels things are not progressing as they should. It is justified in the first film and novel, but it almost gets her killed. In the second film, it finally catches up to her.
• Genre Blind: She's unable to accept that Norman has truly reformed and believes he'll return to his psychotic ways, despite the fact that he's trying to change for the better. However, she fails to realize that driving a former Serial Killer back to insanity may result in unfortunate consequences. Which it ultimately does.
• Gone Horribly Right: Posthumously for her, her plan to drive Norman insane again in the second film goes off very well. Unfortunately, she wasn't counting on Mary becoming sympathetic towards Norman, and definitely didn't foresee Emma Spool messing everything up. Most importantly, which is why her actions are considered to be Nice Job Breaking It, Hero moves, she never foresee Norman undergoing Karma Houdini at the end of the second film after being driven Ax-Crazy again until his Karma Houdini Warranty in the next film, as if Spool had not killed Lila, she would have alerted the authorities the instant she learned Norman has just finally snapped and the further bloodshed under Norman's hand in the third film would have been avoided.
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: She lights a few cigarettes when feeling angry.
• He Who Fights Monsters: In Psycho II. Her obsession to avenge the death of her sister against her murderer slowly begins to corrupt her, causing her to Took a Level in Jerkass by being amoral in her actions and even allowing murders not committed by Norman to be pinned on him anyway.
• The Hero: In the first film only. Unfortunately, she becomes a villain (though can be viewed as the Hero Antagonist kind of villain, only this time of the He Who Fights Monsters variety, to one viewer's perspective) in the sequel.
• Hero Antagonist: Towards Norman, in Psycho, along with Sam Loomis. It's subverted in Psycho II, as the Antagonist side of this trope outweighs the Hero and due to the fact that Norman was innocent to begin with and would have stayed that way had she not interfered.
• Heroic Wannabe: In the second film, she believes that she needs to remain Norman's Hero Antagonist to bring him to justice, despite the fact he initially already reformed and she desires to make Norman psychotic again in order to justify him being recommitted.
• Hot-Blooded: She's very eager to find her sister, often getting into trouble due to her irrational actions. Sam and her daughter usually calm her down in most of their scenes together.
• Icy Blue Eyes: She has a cold, Death Glare of a facial expression.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Is stabbed through the mouth.
• Inspector Javert: A non-cop version. Still hounds Norman and views him as the irredeemable murderer after he's been released from the mental institution in Psycho II.
• Irony: She tells her daughter that people never change who they are. This is despite that she Took a Level in Jerkass.
• It's Personal: She absolutely hates Norman Bates for murdering her sister. To the point where she can't even accept that he's trying to reform himself.
• Jerkass Has a Point: In Psycho II, although she does not give Norman a chance, in the opening courtroom scene, she was correct that usually the justice system would not give criminals convicted of first degree murder a light sentence of being released back into society to reintegrate, has every right to be bitter and hostile to Norman for her sister's death and is entirely right in questioning Norman's sanity to the point where even on-lookers at the court expresses she has a point.
  Lila: Why bother? It's all too obvious. Our courts are protecting criminals not their victims.
• Kick the Dog: One of the symptoms of her suffering from He Who Fights Monsters:
  • Not only does she argue to have an emotionally broken Norman thrown back into prison, but she chews him out right after his hearing and treats him like an animal.
  • She also hurts Mary in a fit of rage (which could be the peak of her Anger Born of Worry) while shouting at her.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: Especially in Psycho II, when she attempts to avenge her sister's death by making sure Norman is locked away for good. Also, in the first film, she attempts to search for her sister with determination.
• Knight Templar Parent: She's very forceful towards her own daughter.
• Moral Sociopathy: She prides herself as a Hero Antagonist out to stop a Serial Killer once and for all, despite her Lack of Empathy towards the new killing spree happening at the time of the second film.
• Morality Chain: It turns out that her husband Sam was this for her. He kept her calm and rational whenever he was present. Unfortunately, after he dies in between films, she becomes mentally unstable and monstrous.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Thanks to her desire for revenge on Norman, she caused him to return to his psychotic ways.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: She wanted Norman to regrow his psychotic mental instability to have him arrested again, but instead she causes him to regrow into a Serial Killer while she's framed for all of his crimes in the second movie.
• No Sympathy: She doesn't care that Norman has truly reformed and intends to have him recommitted anyway.
• Oh, Crap!: Has this reaction upon discovering what's in Norman's basement.
• Revenge Before Reason: In Psycho II. She feels that Norman didn't get punished for his crimes and goes on a crusade to ruin his life. However, she breaks numerous laws in her quest, bringing her own death on herself.
• Relationship Upgrade: She married Sam Loomis between Psycho and Psycho II.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: She does have a point in questioning Norman's mental condition and if he's truly ready for the world. However, she completely hates him and has No Sympathy for Bates because of what he's done to her.
• Sociopathic Hero: In Psycho II, this is one of the symptoms of Lila suffering from He Who Fights Monsters when she takes her Hero Antagonist role too far when a teenage boy dies horribly in Bates' home, she quickly dismisses the death even though she was not directly responsible for his death and sees it as an opportunity to pin it on Norman, not giving a care about the life lost at all. Her daughter calls her out on it.
• Stalker without a Crush: In her newfound role as a vigilante, she's monitoring Norman's entire life in order to get him recommitted to the insane asylum out of vengeance for all the wrongs he's done to her.
• Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Despite surviving the horrors of the first film, she ends up killed in the second.
• Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: Without much explanation, Lila becomes more villainous in the second movie.
• Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: In the original film only, in the sequel she conversely became a somewhat unsympathetic Inspector Javert vigilante.
• Tautological Templar: In Psycho II, she uses amoral methods to bring down Norman. These methods involve driving a reformed criminal back into insanity and murdering a lot of innocent people.
• Tempting Fate: She constantly says that Norman is a psychopath who hasn't changed. She's proven right in the end after her revenge had a part in driving Norman back into evil.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In Psycho II. In the first movie, she was a polite but determined Amateur Sleuth who wanted to find out what happened to her sister and more of a straightforward Hero Antagonist to Norman's then-Villain Protagonist. In Psycho II, while still fulfilling her part as a Hero Antagonist, she became an unscrupulously staunch Knight Templar Vigilante Woman who tries to amorally drive Norman insane again out of revenge.
• Unknown Rival: Norman has no idea that she's attempting to ruin his life. Simultaneously, she has her own unknown rival stalking her for trying to harm Norman.
• Vigilante Injustice: In Psycho II, in which her brand of justice outside of the law involves gaslighting a redeemed ex-killer who has initially paid his debt to society into killing again to get him re-arrested.
• Vigilante Woman: In Psycho II, when she decides to take the law to her own hands to apprehend Norman herself after feeling the courts "protect criminals, not their victims," when Norman was released and declared sane.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: In Psycho II. Aside from the fact that her attempts to drive Norman insane again to get him recommitted, which is considered to be a very risky move, are a result of avenging her sister's death, it also seems out of protecting any other potential victims (or as she quotes them to be "an innocent public") out of harm's way of a "homicidal maniac" (also quoted by her in the opening courtroom scene) in case if he ever relapsed back into insanity on his own without any interference from outside parties such as herself if not sooner. Plus, even though Lila did not seem to care if others who are already killed to have their deaths pinned on Norman anyway, it could be possible Lila saw them as necessary Sacrificial Lambs to bring, what she see it as, a Karma Houdini murderer to justice.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: In Psycho II, when she still views herself as the Hero Antagonist to Norman's Villain Protagonist (only this time, however, unlike the first film where both characters played their aforementioned roles straight, the Villain part has been removed from the Protagonist part until the end of the film of course, which in turn the Hero part is mostly nonexistent next to the Antagonist part).

Sam Loomis

Samuel Loomis

Played By: John Gavin (1960 film), Viggo Mortensen (1998 remake)

The debt-ridden boyfriend of Marion Crane.

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• Adapted Out: While he appeared in Robert Bloch's version of Psycho II, he doesn't appear at all in the second film, owing to John Gavin's lack of availability (having been appointed as the new US Ambassador to Mexico by the Reagan administration).
• Big Damn Heroes: He saves Lila from Norman in drag at the climax.
• Bus Crash: He's dead by the time of Psycho II.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: In Robert Bloch's version of Psycho II, both Sam and Lila are murdered by Norman, though it's actually Adam Clairborne. In the film version, Sam is already dead from unknown circumstances. (While an overstatement, some like to believe that Lila killed him over her opinion of Norman being restored to normal.)
• Hero Antagonist: Towards Norman, in Psycho, along with Lila.

Milton Arbogast

Milton Arbogast

"We're always quickest to doubt people who have a reputation for being honest."

Played by: Martin Balsam (1960 film), William H. Macy (1998 remake)

• Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the novel, he is hacked to death by Mother with Norman's razor immediately after entering the house rather then falling down the stairs and getting stabbed off-screen.
• He Knows Too Much: Norman, currently under the control of his mother personality, stabs him to death after he both gets too close to the truth and breaks into his house.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's gruff and rough around the edges, but he clearly sympathizes with Lila, Sam, and even Marion, doing his best to help the former two out with no ulterior motive.
• Killed Offscreen: After falling down the stairs, his stabbing occurs off-screen.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: He goes the extra mile to help Lila and Sam, which gets him killed by Norman.
• Private Detective: He's a PI hired by Marion's boss to track her down.
• Slashed Throat: He ends up with a razor in his throat in the novel's version of events.

Norma Bates

Norma Bates, née Spool

^{Click here to see her after her death} 

Played By: Olivia Hussey (Psycho IV)

Voiced By: Virginia Gregg (Psycho to Psycho III), Paul Jasmin (Psycho), Jeanette Nolan (Psycho)

The abusive and domineering mother of Norman Bates.

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• Abusive Mom: Always yells at her son and keeps him away from women.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: In Psycho IV, she fell in love with a new man named Chet, who also enjoys beating her son.
• All Women Are Lustful: She constantly craves for a man's affection, be it her own son or another man in town.
• Asshole Victim: She was an abusive monster who caused all the hell in Norman's life. Nobody feels bad when we learned that she was killed and preserved as a corpse by Norman.
• Ax-Crazy: Even if she didn’t kill anyone that we know of, she’s still a deeply disturbed woman who is driven to hurt others, in this case her own son.
• Bitch Alert: Her very first scene is her screaming at Norman from her bedroom, solidifying her as an antagonistic woman.
• The Cameo: In Psycho II, when Norman needs proof that his mother is truly out of his life, the police allow him to view her corpse as proof after digging it up from her grave.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: She was overbearing on her son Norman.
• Companion Cube: The film reveals that her corpse is this for her son. A rare Played for Drama example.
• Control Freak: She would love nothing more than to see Norman completely under her thumb, even as a spirit.
• The Corrupter: She's the one who made Norman a Broken Bird and even controls his mind long after death.
• A Day in the Limelight: Psycho IV is the film that focuses on her relationship with Norman the most.
• Dead All Along: Lila finally manages to confront her in the basement of the Bates' home, only to discover she is nothing but a decayed corpse.
• Dead Person Conversation: Norman preserved her corpse and talks to it as if she's still alive.
• Dirty Old Woman: Played for Drama. In Psycho IV, she's shown to have constantly sexually harass Norman at every turn.
• Domestic Abuse: She abuses Norman even after death.
• Evil Gloating: After she abused Norman, she would start talking about how he deserved it in a smug manner.
• Evil Matriarch: Though Psycho IV downplays this.
• Evil Old Folks: She abused Norman all his life and still haunts him from beyond the grave.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: Particularly in the second and third films.
• Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Norman describes her as the most beautiful woman in his life. She's also the one who scarred him for life.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • If her words about her dad in Psycho IV are to be believed, he was not sympathetic to her either.
  • Another one is lampshaded by Dr. Steiner in the novel: "I gather Mrs. Bates hated men ever since her husband deserted her and the baby, and this is one of the reasons why she treated Norman the way she did."
• Greater-Scope Villain: She's established as the biggest problem in the series. At least in Norman's psyche.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Every perceived instance of Norman being less than picture-perfect causes her to fly off the handle. See also Mood-Swinger.
• Hate Sink: Without revealing any spoilers, she is established as a sick person before anyone meets her.
• Hypocrite: She tells Norman that all women are whores except for her. This is despite the fact that she's so perverted that she comes on to her own son.
• I Was Quite a Looker: In Psycho IV, she was very beautiful before aging into a disfigured corpse.
• Incest Subtext: It was confirmed that she did sexually abuse Norman.
• It's All About Me: She abuses Norman because she always complains about how he's ruining her life.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: One of the only things we know about her is that she's very angry. She also would cruelly pretend that she was harsh on Norman because she said that she does care about him, only in an effort to drive him back to her so she had someone to abuse.
• Jump Scare: Her first appearance physically is seeing her corpse spun towards the camera.
• Karmic Death: She's killed by the very son she tormented and left a bloody husk Norman made with his taxidermy skills.
• Kick the Dog: Her constant treatment towards Norman ranges from berating him to constantly abusing since childhood. It's really saying something when the smallest insult Norman remembers is when she told him that she should have had an abortion to prevent him from ruining her life.
• Knight of Cerebus: The film (and its sequels) establishes her as the darkest character.
• Lack of Empathy: She never once actually cared about her son's well-being.
• Loners Are Freaks: She lives alone with Norman in an isolated area and horribly abuses him for a sick laugh.
• Manipulative Bitch: Even beyond the grave, she continues to torment Norman.
• Mask of Sanity: Psycho IV really shows that she's more psychotic than her own son.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Norma is either depicted as a monstrous personality deep inside of her abused son's mind or an actual ghost still haunting Norman from beyond the grave.
• Meaningful Name: Her first name is Norma - Nor-Ma. 'Norm' is short for Norman. 'Ma' is an abbreviated term meaning 'mother'. So her name is literally "Norman-Mother," and she becomes a part of Norman's split personality whom he refers to as 'Mother,' which alternates.
• Mind Rape: A downplayed, realistic example. Her constant abuse eventually broke her own son's mental health. Now her personality lives on within him because of her cruel presence in his life.
• Mood-Swinger: She can go to be nice and endearing towards her son, to completely sadistic in an instant. When her son tries to bond with her, they're playfully having fun until she snaps at him, dresses him up like a girl, beats him, and locks him up in a closet for a week. The next day, she's all lovey-dovey towards him.
• Moral Myopia: The final straw for Norman was, after years of abusive insistence away from the opposite sex and into co-dependence towards Norma, she found her own romantic partner and supposedly decided she didn't need his company anymore.
• Mummies at the Dinner Table: In Psycho. Norman preserves her corpse as best he can and keeps her in the master bedroom, hiding her in the fruit cellar when anyone comes snooping around.
• My Beloved Smother: Part of Norman's backstory is that she dominated him and forced him to become co-dependent after his father died. Not to mention her bullying behavior during the film. Or at least, her behavior as Norman remembers her, anyway.
• Never My Fault: She blames Norman for all the problems in her life, even when it couldn't have possibly been his fault or was pretty blatantly her own.
• Nightmare Face: Her permanent facial expression has become this after Norman used his taxidermy skills to preserve her corpse. Just look at the image from the original film.
• No Indoor Voice: She's always yelling at her son.
• No Sympathy: She doesn't care about the lives of anyone, even her own son.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Justified, since she's an old lady. Subverted and exaggerated in the climax, when it's revealed that she's been dead for years.
• Obviously Evil: Her first scene involves her screaming at Norman from her house, with Norman saying how she always puts him down.
• Of Corpse He's Alive: Played for Drama. Norman couldn't bear to live without her anymore, so he took her corpse, remade it as best he could, and pretends to interact with it in order to continue living on the life he's always had with her.
• Parental Incest: It's confirmed that she did sexually abuse Norman.
• Peek-a-Boo Corpse: In Psycho. It serves as the twist when we see that she's been preserved by her own son.
• Posthumous Character: We only learn more about her after it's revealed that she's been dead for years. Otherwise, Norman's flashbacks only show her personality.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers very harsh ones to her own son throughout the first and fourth film.
• The Reveal: She's revealed to be nothing but a corpse physically, but her personality is inside Norman due to all the abuse he's suffered under her.
• Sadist: Psycho IV shows that she loved torturing her son all his life. You don't feel sad when she gets what's coming to her.
• Self-Serving Memory: We only have Norman's memories and interpretations of Norma to go on throughout the film series. This got played with in adaptations like Bates Motel where "Mother" was a Flanderized manifestation in Norman's unhinged mind; the real life Norma was a much more well-meaning (if still morally dubious) parent.
• Sex Is Evil, and I Am Horny: She tells Norman that sex is a horrible thing that he should never have, but she'll make up an excuse to trick him into sleeping with her.
• Shaped Like Itself: "Oh, I refuse to speak of disgusting things because they disgust me!"
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: In Psycho IV, she's such a pretty girl that you'd never suspect she's really a complete monster.
• The Unseen: She's never seen until the end of Psycho. But she is often heard either by Norman or anyone not near the two in the first movie.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: In Psycho II, Norman claims she used to be a loving mother before going mad. However, it's implied to be him rationalizing her abuse and that she was always an abusive monster.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Thanks to her abuse, she caused Norman to become a mentally unstable Serial Killer.
• Walking Spoiler: She plays a very important part to Norman's character.
• Vocal Evolution: In the second and third films, Norma's voice actor and original portrayer Virginia Gregg's voice was notably gruffer and raspier then in the original film, which makes her sound even creepier then before.
• Yandere: Nobody gets between her and Norman.

Film-only

Mary Samuels

Mary Samuels (real name Loomis)

Played By: Meg Tilly

The daughter of Lila Loomis.

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• Accidental Murder: She accidentally kills Norman's therapist Dr. Raymond in self-defense after mistaking him for an insane Norman. Ironically, her own death is this as well.
• All for Nothing: Her attempts to help Norman and Lila resolve their personal issues ultimately ends in failure due to her death.
• Becoming the Mask: Despite being a spy sent by her mother to corrupt Norman, she actually grows fond of him after realizing that he genuinely is a good person deep down.
• Cassandra Truth: She tries to tell Lila that Norman is cured of his insanity and her attempts to drive him crazy are only making things worse, but she refuses to acknowledge her arguments.
• Dead Person Impersonation: Impersonates Norman's mother with a robe, a wig and the kitchen knife in hope of stopping him from going insane again. It doesn't end well for her.
• Death by Irony: She accidentally kills Dr. Raymond after mistaking him for Norman, thinking he was going to kill her. She gets shot dead by the police when they mistake her for the murderer when they see her assaulting Norman while dressed as his mother.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: She was initially very cold towards Norman at first and distanced herself from him, but wound up developing a fondness for him.
• Didn't Think This Through: When the police arrive on the scene, she never thought that they'd consider her the criminal despite that she's holding a weapon, threatening Norman, and dressed as his mother.
• The Dragon: To her mother Lila.
• Dull Surprise: She reacts pretty well to Norman informing her about his Serial Killer past. Justified, since her mother informed her all about him already.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: She's very beautiful, but she hides ulterior motives. Specifically her mother's plans for Norman.
• Failure Hero: She wanted to help Norman and her mother Lila solve their problems. Unfortunately, all she did was escalate the conflict even more with her futile attempts to derail it.
• Failure Knight: Her main goal was to help her mother Lila get Norman recommitted to the institution, but she genuinely develops feelings for Norman and tries to help him fully reform. However, thanks to Spool's interference, her attempts to help Norman sadly fail and she ends up mistaken as the true killer and gunned down by the police, failing her goals.
• Faux Action Girl: Despite being armed with a gun and a Honey Trap for Norman, these skills never come up or do her any good in the end.
• Girl Next Door: She's so unbelievably attractive that Norman never assumed she's be interested in spending time with him.
• Good Is Dumb: She initially assumes that Norman is evil when the two first interact, but then starts to see the good in him after she caused him to slowly lose his mind and slip into evil again. Her foolishness eventually leads to her death.
• Heel–Face Turn: She grows genuinely convinced of Norman's newfound sanity and at some point doesn't want to help her mother make him insane anymore; however, after discovering Lila's dead body, she fully accepts that Lila was right all along about Norman and gets killed just after believing it.
  • Heel Face Doorslam: She begins to accept that Norman was crazy all along after finding Lila's corpse under his basement. Unfortunately, she gets shot dead by the police for being mistaken as the real killer.
• Hero Antagonist: Was in on Lila's plan to bring Norman to justice and have him incarcerated for good. Subverted when she starts to sympathize with Norman and later turn against her mother's intentions to have him arrested again. However, after discovering Lila's body in the pile of coal in Norman's cellar, Mary firmly grasped completely on this trope only to seconds later be shot by the police for her attempt on Norman's life.
• Heroic Wannabe: She really comes across as this near the end of Psycho II. She wants to help appease both Norman and her mother, but struggles between making a choice on whose side she's on. Sadly, she causes Norman to pull another Face–Heel Turn in the end because of her mistakes.
• Honey Trap: She was sent to seduce Norman by her own vengeful mother Lila.
• Kill the Cutie: She is shot dead by the police after an unlucky and tragic chain of reactions.
• Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: Thanks to her death, Norman is able to return to his psychotic life and resume killing people like he did before.
• Mistaken for Murderer: The police arrive just when she's about to kill Norman while dressed as his mother, causing them to think she's the real psycho. This results in her death.
• The Mole: She was sent to spy on Norman by her mother Lila.
• Ms. Fanservice: She gets her own shower scene in the second film. This time, the audience gets to see a full view of her wet, nude body.
• My God, What Have I Done?: She feels incredibly guilty for driving Norman back to insanity. However, she changes her tune at the last minute when she thinks that her mother was right about him all along.
• Nice Girl: She acts kind and gentle towards both Norman and her Jerkass Inspector Javert mother when she doesn't have to.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Her part in her mother's plan is the biggest contribution to Norman pulling another Face–Heel Turn.
• Not Helping Your Case: She tries to prove Norman's crazy. However, the cops find her attacking Norman with a knife while dressed as his mother. Unsurprisingly, she ends up accidentally incriminating herself.
• Oh, Crap!: She finally gives in to her mother's beliefs after finding her corpse under Norman's basement.
• Only Sane Woman: She seems like the most rational person in the movie other than Norman's therapist Dr. Raymond. However, she ends up losing her own mind.
• Pet the Dog: She genuinely comforts Norman when he suffers a Freak Out, calming his nerves. She also defends him from Toomey and Lila's criticisms towards him.
• The Scapegoat: Thanks to a string of unfortunate events, the police mistake her as the true killer attacking people in the Bates Motel since she happens to be standing over Norman while dressed as his mother, brandishing a knife before attempting to kill him. She ends up framed for all the killings of the film, while Norman takes out the real killer in the end, allowing a mentally deteriorating Norman to continue his troubled life once more.
• Ship Tease: She develops a small interest in Norman, which he returns.
• Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: In contrast her mother's Inspector Javert, Mary, despite being in on her mother's plans, is sympathetic towards Norman and later turn against her mother's mission to have Norman re-arrested and re-committed, until seeing her mother's corpse convinces her Lila was right all along it seems.
• Too Dumb to Live: When she hears the cops rushing into Norman's house, she never once thinks of removing her "Mother" costume while brandishing a knife preparing to kill Norman. This causes the cops to assume that she's the real killer and shoot her dead.
• Vigilante Woman: At first, she was involved with her mother's Well-Intentioned Extremist plans, but later turn against Lila after becoming convinced of Norman's newfound sanity, but later plays this role straight for a minute in the climax after discovering her mother's dead body.
• Walking Spoiler: Once you find out her true role in the film, it's impossible to say what she does without giving away too much.
• What the Hell, Hero?: She questions why Lila is entirely against Norman, calling her out for being extremely judgmental towards him.
• You're Not My Mother: If Mary on the phone thinking it's her mother during the sequel's climax addressing her by her forename instead of "mother" following their argument in the hotel lobby is any indication.

Emma Spool

Emma Spool

Played by: Claudia Bryar

The cook of a local diner in Fairvale, who supports Norman after his release from the asylum, helping him get back on his feet.

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• Affably Evil: She's very approachable when she's not killing people to defend Norman.
• An Arm and a Leg: The third film ends with Norman realizing her severed arm is in his pocket.
• Asshole Victim: Norman kills her with a Shovel Strike at the end of Psycho II.
• Ax-Crazy: She killed multiple people while trying to reach Norman.
• Bait-and-Switch: At first, she seems like a Cool Old Lady. You'd never suspect that she's really the main villain.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: She truly desires to be a mother figure to Norman. By the end of the second film, Norman killed her and used her corpse to replace the now buried Norma.
• Beware the Nice Ones: She may seem like a sweet old lady, but she's the real killer of the second film.
• Big Bad Ensemble: She and Lila are both the villains of the second movie.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She may act like a nice elderly woman at first approach, but she's really an Ax-Crazy Serial Killer who wants to take Norman as her own child.
• Cain and Abel: More like Cain and Cain. She didn't like her sister Norma one little bit. She even tries to take her son under her wing. However, unlike Norma, she is not as outwardly abusive towards Norman, but was killed before more of her personality is shown.
• Cool Old Lady: She gives Norman a job after he's been through some tough times. However, she hides sinister intentions underneath.
• Dead Person Impersonation: She dressed up as her deceased sister and murdered numerous people under her identity.
• Didn't See That Coming: She thought that Norman would accept her with open arms upon revealing herself as the true killer of the second film. Instead, he kills her and uses her body to replace Norma.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: Turns out that this seemingly kind, elderly lady was truly the Greater-Scope Villain of the entire Psycho film series.
• Evil Old Folks: She performed all the murders of the second movie in order to drive Norman back to her.
• Evil Versus Evil: She's entirely against Lila Loomis in the second film. Both are revealed to be the antagonists.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Of the original trilogy, through kidnapping Norman as a baby and killing Norman's biological dad, she's indirectly responsible for allowing her sister to abuse Norman, which turned him into a serial killer who caused the events of the first film and its sequels.
• Hero Killer: Kills Hero Antagonist Lila in the first sequel, though this is subverted as while Lila was straightforwardly The Hero in the original film, Lila has Took a Level in Jerkass and shares one half of the Big Bad Ensemble with Spool.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: She ended up creating Norman along with her own sister. Fittingly enough, she ends up killed by him as well.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In III, Norman stabs her corpse repeatedly in order to purge his mind of her for good.
• Insane Equals Violent: She's really an escaped mental patient who wants Norman to be her son. So naturally, this makes her violent because she kills multiple people.
• Insane Troll Logic: Makes up a half-assed excuse about Norman really being her son when in actuality they're not mother and son.
• Irony: She absolutely hates Norma Bates for abusing Norman. In the end, she finds herself in the same place as her dead sister. As a corpse that Norman talks to.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: She got away with attempting to steal Norman and murdering people for a very long time. That is, until Norman killed her in a fit of rage.
• Karmic Death: Killed by the very child she was trying to dominate.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: She killed Norman's deplorable hotel manager and Lila after they refused to stop harassing Norman.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: To Norma. Emma is a deranged Serial Killer, but she genuinely loves Norman and was friendly enough to be well-liked by her coworkers, unlike Norma, who was a cruel, abusive woman and only kept Norman around so she could have someone to control and abuse without consequence.
• Mama Bear: Don't insult or threaten Norman in front of her. As Toomey and Lila found out the hard way.
• Mummies at the Dinner Table: "Replaces" Norman's mother at the end of Psycho II and in Psycho III. Norman stuffs her body at the beginning of Psycho III.
• My Beloved Smother: Subverted. She claims she is Norman's mother and tries to raise him exactly the same way his real mother did.
• Never Mess with Granny: She's the killer of the second movie. She's been able to kill numerous people without the police force ever suspecting her.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: She ends up causing Norman to fully revert back to his old ways and is the first victim of his new killing spree after ousting herself as the true villain.
• Parental Substitute: Sort of. In the most horrible way imaginable, actually. She "replaces" Norman's mother as a mummy Norman talks to.
• Pet the Dog: She gives Norman a job when he's down on his luck and kills people who try to ruin his life by driving him insane again.
• Psycho Knife Nut : She is the knife-wielding murderer in Psycho II.
• Replacement Goldfish: Ends up replacing Norma's corpse as Norman's new mother.
• The Reveal: She is Norma's sister.
• Small Role, Big Impact: She has such a minimal role in most of her screen time, that you'd hardly ever suspect that she's the murderer of the second film. She even drives Norman back to his murderous ways. In fact, she influences the whole film series altogether because of her actions.
• Stupid Evil: She kills psople who are ruining Norman's life to protect him without attempting any alternatives first. She doesn't seem to realize that her actions would immediately make Norman a murder suspect.
• Stalker without a Crush: She's been following Norman, Mary, and Lila all throughout Psycho II. Her main purpose is to protect Norman from Lila because she claims that he's her son. Mary almost catches her, but Spool is surprisingly stealthy.
• Walking Spoiler: Aside from Norma, she also proves to be the biggest influence in the entire Psycho series as well.

Sheriff John Hunt

Sheriff John Hunt

Played By: Hugh Gillin

• By-the-Book Cop: He takes his duty to protect and serve everyone in his community seriously, up to and including protecting the (initially) reformed serial killer who has already served out his sentence from those who wish to retaliate against him for his past crimes. That being said, when Norman becomes a suspect in a new string of murders due to them occurring on his property, he does not let his personal feelings get in the way of executing a search warrant on the Bates house over Norman's objections, and admonishes Norman for seemingly attempting to interfere in the investigation.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Perhaps even moreso than other forgiving members of the Fairvale community like the diner owner Mr. Statler, he believes that Norman has served his time, is fully rehabilitated and restored to sanity, and deserves to be left in peace. Consequently, he is not afraid to give all of those attempting to bother Norman about his past a piece of his mind, and he initially appears to be right in his convictions. Unfortunately, Norman's sanity ultimately does turn out to be more fragile than he suspects (no thanks to the efforts of others going out of their way to trigger a mental breakdown in him), and Sheriff Hunt is very disappointed to discover by the end of the third film that Norman has relapsed into serial murder.

Dr. Bill Raymond

Dr. Bill Raymond

Played by: Robert Loggia

• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: He has blond hair and a complete Nice Guy.
• Nice Guy: He does everything in his power to help Norman and stop him from backsliding into madness out of pure altruism, and is generally shown to be friendly and polite to everyone he meets.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: His efforts to expose Mary and Lila's gaslighting and stop Norman's Sanity Slippage result in Mary accidentally stabbing him when he startles her.
• Only Sane Man: He's the only one trying to keep the situation from escalating in Psycho II.

Warren Toomey

Warren Toomey

Played by: Dennis Franz

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• Actor Allusion: Dennis Franz's casting can be this to his collaborations with Brian De Palma, who is known for his early works paying homage to Alfred Hitchcock (the director of the original 1960 film), one of which being Dressed to Kill which drew comparisons with Psycho.
• The Alcoholic: Toomey's never seen drinking onscreen, but it's pretty obvious he's a habitual drunk, and he's clearly hammered whenever he starts harassing Norman.
• Asshole Victim: After spending his screentime behaving like a total asshole, it's pretty satisfying when Mrs. Spool stabs him to death.
• Expy: He bears a near exact resemblance to Robert Bloch's description of Norman, both physically and personality-wise, a fat, lecherous alcoholic (just not psychotic), while being a Take That! to the book's depiction of Norman unlike Perkins' iconic screen portrayal.
• Fat Bastard: He's overweight, and doesn't have a single redeeming quality to speak of.
• Hate Sink: He seems to exist for the sole purpose of giving the audience someone to hate in Psycho II. While Lila has several good points, Norman isn't the killer this time and has truly reformed, and Mrs. Spool is genuinely Affably Evil, Toomey is just a vile scumbag with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
• Jerkass: He's a lecherous, sleazy drunk who starts harassing Norman for firing him.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He flings sexist, derogatory insults at Mary before boiling down to sexually harassing her.
• Red Herring: He's initially set up as the one gaslighting Norman.
• Slimeball: Pretty much everything he does just oozes slime. He sells drugs to kids, runs a prostitution ring out of the Bates Motel, sexually harasses Mary, and shows up at Norman's place of work just to harass him.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: He's initially cordial to Norman in spite of his obvious sleaziness when he thinks they'll be business partners. When Norman fires him for the unethical way he runs the motel, he just starts harassing Norman and Mary out of petty revenge.

Maureen Coyle

Maureen Coyle

Played by: Diana Scarwid (Psycho III)

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• Accidental Murder:
  • Norman accidentally makes her fall down the stairs to her death when he sees the spirit of his mother.
  • Earlier in the film, she accidentally pushes the superior nun off of the church bell tower when she tries talking her out of jumping.
• Attempted Rape: While hitching a ride with Duke, he attempts to rape her, but she quickly gets out of his car before he can have his way with her.
• Bath Suicide: She attempts to kill herself in the motel bath tub, but Norman saves her.
• Book Ends: For her story, she accidentally murders another nun trying to help her while suffering a Heroic BSoD and she ends up accidentally killed while trying to reach out to Norman while he's suffering a Heroic BSoD.
• Break the Cutie: Suffers from serious depression at her convent, questioning whether or not if her life has purpose. Then, she accidentally kills the head nun when she tries talking her off of the bell tower, causing her to go through one hell of a Heroic BSoD.
• Broken Bird: She suffers from extreme depression that causes her to be Driven to Suicide.
• Butt-Monkey: Played for Drama. She experiences a lot of hell throughout the third movie. Fortunately, Norman lets his good side comfort her.
• Crisis of Faith: She seems to have lost all her faith in Catholicism, since her very first line has her shouting how there is no God or hope. Fortunately, Norman helps her rebuild her optimism throughout the film.
• Cruel Twist Ending: Assoon as she turns her life around and offers Norman a chance to do the same, she dies by accidentally falling down the stairs and ending up impaled by a statue of Cupid shooting his arrow.
• Death by Irony: After admitting her love for Norman, she falls down the stairs, and ends up impaled In the Back by a statue of Cupid's arrow.
• Death Seeker: For the first half of the movie, she attempts to kill herself because she no longer has faith in God. Fortunately, she comes across the Bates Motel, where bigger things come into play for her.
• Decoy Protagonist: Much like her predecessor Marion Crane, she appeared to be the female protagonist of the third film, only to die while Tracy Venable is the true female protagonist while simultaneously acting as the Hero Antagonist to Norman's Villain Protagonist. However, unlike Marion who is killed in the middle of the first film, Maureen managed to last up to the beginning of the third film's climax.
• Despair Event Horizon: Passed it in the opening of Psycho III, where she loses her faith in Catholicism and accidentally kills another nun.
  Maureen: THERE IS NO GOD!
• Downer Beginning: Her introduction scene has her attempting suicide while her fellow sisters try talking her down. Only for her to accidentally cause the head nun to fall off the bell tower they're on to her death. Unable to remain at the covenant, she wanders off into the desert to die. This was just the beginning.
• Driven to Suicide: She nearly kills herself, but Norman rescues her.
• Give Me a Sign: She desperately pleas for a sign from God after undergoing a crisis of faith. She accidentally mistakes Norman as a sign of hope while bleeding out in the bath tub. But, she sees Norman as an equal who can bond with her. She's almost entirely correct.
• Good Is Dumb: Subverted. Several characters call her foolish for thinking there's good in Norman Bates, but she's proven right in the end. She's the first girl who has come close to freeing Norman from his controlling mother. Sadly, she ends up killed completely by accident after Norman lets her hand go while walking upstairs.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She has beautiful, blond hair and is the kind to everyone.
• Heel Face Doorslam: Just when she finally gets over her troubles and begins a relationship with Norman, she dies completely by accident.
• Heroic BSoD: Suffers a heavy one in the first half of Psycho III. However, Norman helps her recover.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: She thinks very little of herself when Norman praises her for remaining strong in her emotional endeavors.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: She realizes that Norman's love for her is what made her life worth living.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: She ends up impaled on a statue of Cupid's arrow through her back after falling from the stairs.
• Insecure Love Interest: Ironically, she thinks that she's not good enough for Norman. He attempts to prove that she's stronger than she thinks she is.
• Interrupted Suicide: When Norman comes into her room, his good personality returns just in time to save her, preventing history from repeating itself.
• Kill the Cutie: By accident. Or was it Mother's spirit?
• Leg Focus: Norman observers her undressing and notices her nice, smooth legs first.
• Love Epiphany: She ultimately realizes that she's in love with Norman Bates and wants to save his soul so they can live happily ever after together.
• Love Redeems: She realizes that she is in love with Norman and vows to help him get better. Sadly, tragedy strikes soon after.
• Mirror Character:
  • Another girl exactly like Norman. Both are emotionally hurt people who are nice to everyone they meet, but hide their inner pain from others.
  • Also one to Marion Crane. She's an emotionally troubled girl who hides out at the Bates Motel after committing a crime she regretted. Norman even notices that they have the same initials and a similar, uncanny appearance.
• Morality Pet: Becomes a major one to Norman. Every time he sees her, he's able to prevent his mother personality from taking over or bringing harm to her.
• Ms. Fanservice: The audience gets a perfect view of her body (which was mostly done by her actress Diana Scarwid's body double Brinke Stevens) in the bath tub.
• Naughty Nuns: She works as a nun, but slowly develops feelings for Norman. She's also the third film's Ms. Fanservice, getting entirely naked at one point (even though that was done by her actress' body double).
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: After finally realizing her true feelings for Norman, she dies completely by accident.
• Nice Girl: She shows nothing but respect for everyone around her.
• Nun Too Holy: She's a nun who wants to kill herself.
• Oh, Crap!: Has this reaction after accidentally killing the superior nun. And again when she reunites with Duke at the Bates Motel.
• Redemption Equals Death: Just when she turns her own life around and is about to help Norman do the same, she dies accidentally falling down the stairs after Norman loses his grip on her hand.
• Sex Equals Love: Inverted. She falls in love with Norman because of his kindness towards her rather than having sex with him. Very likely because of her horrible experience with Duke's method of winning her over.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: When she and Norman go out on their first date, she doesn't look as broken as she did earlier in the film.
• Ship Sinking: Her relationship with Norman takes quite a hit when she ends up leaving him after learning of his troubled history. However, she finds herself unable to leave Norman and desires to live a happy life with him forever Unfortunately, just about when Norman is going to accept her back, she accidentally dies falling down the stairs.
• Ship Tease: She and Norman develop a relationship together, that Norman hopes to keep.
• Shout-Out: Her introductory scene has her climbing a tall church tower on the edge of the building while watching an innocent friend fall over to her death, scarring her for the rest of the movie.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She falls for Norman because he is a so caring towards her. At least when he's not under control of his Split Personality. She even tries to save his soul because she knows he's a good man deep down. It almost works, too.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: She's the most well-meaning character in the entire film series. Unfortunately, she dies while trying to save Norman from his split personality. The only thing that makes it less depressing is that Norman didn't kill her.
• Too Happy to Live: Just when she and Norman are about to live happily ever after, she dies completely by accident.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: After she and Norman form a loving, stable relationship, she is much happier than she was earlier in the film.
• Troubled, but Cute: She's very attractive, but needs a lot of help conquering her inner demons.
• When She Smiles: She has a nice, innocent grin when she snaps out of her depression. This shows up a lot on her dates with Norman.

Duane Duke

Duane Duke

Played by: Jeff Fahey

Dubbed by: Daniel Russo (European French)

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• Asshole Victim: By the time Norman kills him, it's hard to do anything but cheer.
• Big Bad Wannabe: He's The Sociopath who tries to blackmail Norman to keep him under his thumb and to extort money to fund his guitar musician career. Originally, he was supposed to be a Loony Fan of Norman and another Jack the Ripoff committing the murders in the third film.
• Catchphrase:
  • "My name's Duane, Duane Duke. You can call me Duke, everybody does."
  • "Watch the guitar!"
• Cruel and Unusual Death: He gets a really brutal one. Norman beats him with his own guitar, but he survives it; instead, he dies when Norman submerges Duke's car in the swamp, and Duke drowns as it submerged. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, really.
• Handsome Lech: He's very handsome and charming, but he's also a total pervert and a scumbag with a low opinion of women.
• Hate Sink: He has no redeemable features whatsoever, and seems to exist just so the audience will have someone to root against instead of Norman.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He has a very low view of women, treating them like sex objects and getting angry when they don't give in to his demands.
• Skewed Priorities: His reaction to Norman beating him with his own guitar is to once again yell "Watch the guitar!", more concerned with any damage inflicted on it than getting killed.
• Slimeball: He's a Handsome Lech with a high opinion of himself and generally oozes sleaze.
• Smug Snake: He sleazily believed he could take advantage of Norman's murder spree for his own gain in the third film.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For Toomey, replacing him as the resident Slimeball Hate Sink who works at the motel.

Holly

Holly

Played by: Sharen Camille

Norman's first victim. ^note After Norma and Chet, of course.

• Curiosity Is a Crapshoot: She's really curious about Norman and what he does all day. He tries to shoo her away, knowing what will happen if she gets too close. Unfortunately, she doesn't listen.
• Genki Girl: She always seems really excited about everything.
• Ms. Fanservice: So very much. She starts off wearing short shorts and a skimpy top (which she later takes off). Also, when she goes to see what Norman is up to she's just wearing a bathrobe and no shirt, with her underpants showing.
• Nice Girl: She comes across as very cute and likable.
• No Name Given: Her name is never spoken in the actual movie (Psycho IV); the only way you would know is from the credits.
• The Prankster: Of the non-malicious sort. She seems to like sneaking up on Norman and the like.

Novel-only

Dr. Adam Claiborne

Dr. Adam Clairborne

Played By: N/A

Norman's psychiatrist in the novel Psycho II, who has spent the past two decades working with Norman in the hopes of becoming famous by curing him. When Norman escapes, Claiborne tries to track him down using everything he has learned about his patient over the last 20 years.

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• Adapted Out: Since the movie version of Psycho II has nothing to do with the novel, Claiborne doesn't appear at all. The closest equivalent would be Dr. Raymond, though the two characters couldn't be more different.
• Attention Whore: He only cares about curing Norman in the hopes of getting famous.
• Psycho Psychologist: After snapping and becoming a killer himself.
• The Reveal: He's the real killer of the story, having assumed Norman's Mother identity after Norman's death drove him insane.
• Sanity Slippage: Realizing that Norman's death meant all his work was for nothing, Claiborne went insane and assumed the identity of Mother, setting out to fill Norman's role in the killing spree.

Santo Vizzini

Santo Vizzini

Played by: N/A

A Hollywood director who's currently working on a movie based on the Bates murders.

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• Adapted Out: Like Claiborne, Vizzini doesn't appear in the movie Psycho II at all, since it has a completely different plot from the novel.
• Freudian Excuse: Like Norman, Vizzini suffered severe childhood trauma (in his case, his mother was raped and murdered), which led to his disturbed mentality as an adult.
• Horrible Hollywood: Hollywood is portrayed like this in the nove, and Vizzini is no different. At one point, he plans to rape and murder the actress playing Marion Crane, though he doesn't go through with it.
• Identical Stranger: By a weird coincidence, Vizzini is the spitting image of a young Norman Bates, making Claiborne even more suspicious of him, especially since they share a similar background.
• Red Herring: Is set up as a likely suspect for the killings, especially since he has some very disturbing fantasies about sexual violence and murder. He has nothing to do with the murders, Claiborne is the real killer.

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