Characters / The Green Mile

Cold Mountain Guards and Staff

Paul Edgecombe

Portrayed by: Tom Hanks (age 44), Dabbs Greer (age 108)

"We each owe a death. There are no exceptions. But oh God, sometimes the Green Mile seems so long."

"I've done some things in my life I'm not proud of, but this is the first time I've ever felt in real danger of hell."

---

• Age Lift: In the novel, he was 40 when he met John Coffey and is 104 in the present day. In the film, he's now 44 and 108 respectively. This is likely due to the fact that the year he met John Coffey was changed from 1932 in the novel to 1935 in the film.
• Actually Pretty Funny: He admits that Wild Bill's Moon Pie prank against Brutal was pretty original, Brutal himself even agrees.
• Blessed with Suck: His long life.
  "Sometimes there is absolutely no difference at all between salvation and damnation."
• Cool Old Guy: He's over a century old but still charming and sharp minded.
• Death Seeker: Paul knows he will die eventually but admits he wishes for it already after living through all his friends, his wife and his son passing before him.
• December–December Romance: With Elaine. But considering how old Paul actually is, you could argue that this is actually a Mayfly–December Romance.
• Everyone Has Standards: Stops Brutal from beating up Percy multiple times, immediately rushes to save Percy when Wharton grabs him through the bars (even checking to see if he's okay afterwards) and tries to stop Coffey from infecting Percy with the cancer.
• The Executioner: Along with the other Death Row guards, they execute convicts.
• Fate Worse than Death: One can say Coffey inflicted this on Paul unintentionally.
• Good Is Not Soft: He's genuinely a good guy and treats the inmates with respect, but he will not hesitate to put those same people in their place, as well as Percy when he puts him in the padded room.
• Long-Lived:
  • Along with Mr. Jingles, as a result of being cured by John Coffey, wind up "cured" of everything for the rest of their lives. Functionally, this means they keep aging but are immune to everything that would eventually kill them. When Paul is telling the story, he's over 100, and Mr. Jingles - a freaking mouse, - is over 60. Paul considers it his punishment for allowing Coffey to be executed. However, Mr. Jingles does finally die, so the punishment will end someday.
  • The average lifespan of a mouse is one and a half year, topping at 3. Mr. Jingles lived to see 60. If we follow the pattern, Paul will live up to 20 times the human lifespan, or about 1000 years for someone born at the early 20th Century.
• My Greatest Failure: Executing John Coffey is this for Paul. He’s brought to tears whenever he talks about it, and even considers his long life his punishment for executing one of God’s miracles.
• Nice Guy: Is very nice and caring to the death row inmates because he knows that they are all scared of their impending death sentences and wants to treat them with respect and compassion as they face the end.
• Older Than They Look: His present day self looks like he's around 80 same as his actor, but he's actually 108. Even his past self looked quite a bit younger than a 44-year-old man in 1935 should have looked.
• Outliving One's Offspring: He mentions at the end that his son passed away years before.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Forces Percy to watch Del's slow and painful execution.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: As the head guard on E Block, Paul is pretty reasonable and treats the prisoners fairly. Brutal is the same way, only bringing his sheer size into play when he has to help subdue an unruly prisoner.
• Sex God: Played for Laughs, as one of the side effects of having his UTI miraculously healed is getting an enhanced stamina down there. His wife says he hasn't been this virile since they were teens.
  Coffey: Was your misses pleased?
  Paul: [nods] Several times.
• Survivor Guilt: He has seen all of his friends and relatives die and feels that this is his punishment for killing John Coffey.
• Walking Spoiler: Look at all these spoiler tags.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: He's 108 years old and will presumably live for several more centuries, but has had to watch all of his friends and family members die, already having lost both his wife and son.

Brutus "Brutal" Howell

Portrayed by: David Morse

• Berserk Button: Percy, just in general. But especially when Brutal catches him making mocking comments to Arlen Bitterbuck's dead body after his execution:
  Percy:: Adios, Chief. Drop us a card from hell, let us know if it's hot enough.
  Brutal:: He's paid what he owed. He's square with the house again, so keep your goddamn hands off him!
• Beware the Nice Ones: For all his kindness, Brutal is the most adamant Percy pay what he did to Delacroix, and thus takes the most sadistic pleasure in making him squirm during his Cool and Unusual Punishment even getting in a vicious slug to the face while he's restrained just out of contempt. Even when it's over, he starts persuading Paul not to let it go (though Coffey finishes Percy before anything can be made of it). He'd just pushed Brutal's buttons way too much. He also has no issue putting his size to good use when he wants to intimidate or rough up Percy or Wild Bill.
• The Big Guy: He's easily the most physically imposing of the guards (David Morse is 6'4) and characters in general, second only to John Coffey.
• Deadpan Snarker: Sometimes.
  Percy: You switched them [the mouse he stomped on that John Coffey healed]. You switched them somehow, you bastards.
  Brutus: I always keep a spare mouse in my wallet for occasions such as this.
• Everyone Has Standards: As much as he might despise Percy, even he is disgusted by Wharton sexually assaulting Percy and later tries to stop Coffey from infecting Percy with the cancer.
• Gentle Giant: While he's almost as tall as Coffey and is easily the most physically imposing of the guards, he's a very soft-spoken and reasonable guard, and fiercely protective of the inmates' mental states and is generally a very kind and sweet-natured person. His nickname even comes from the fact that despite his size, he's a kind person who wouldn't hurt a fly, not unless you really get on his bad side.
• Ironic Nickname: His nickname "Brutal" is actually born out of irony because he is the most kind and sympathetic to the inmates and almost never gets angry or physical (at least until you press his buttons or if you're Percy or Wharton).
• The Lancer: As well as The Big Guy.
• Meaningful Name: His name in Latin means "heavy/muscular" and he's the most physically imposing of the guards.
• Nice Guy: As long as your name isn't Percy Wetmore or William Wharton, Brutal is an exceptionally kind, compassionate and gentle person and a loyal friend who cares deeply about the mental well-being of the inmates, making their last days as comfortable as possible and helping them go to the chair with dignity and generally treating them with compassion and respect, both before and after their execution. His nickname even comes from a joke about the fact that, despite his size, he isn't dangerous unless you really piss him off.
• Non-Indicative Name: "Brutal" as well as his given name contrast his kind, soft-spoken nature. Similarly, he is named "Brutus" after Julius Caesar's famous friend turned assassin, one of the most infamous traitors in history, but he regularly shows himself to be an extremely loyal and trustworthy friend.

Hal Moores

Portrayed by: James Cromwell

• Benevolent Boss: His employees at the Green Mile all like and respect him. In fact, he's friends with most of them and they enjoy lunch visits with their respective wives.
• Deadpan Snarker: He has his moments, most notably his glorious response to Percy claiming he didn't know the sponge used in executions was supposed to be wet:
  Hal:: How many years did you spend pissing on the toilet seat before someone told you to put it up before you start?
• Everyone Has Standards: Hal is rather aloof for quite a bit of the story (mainly because he's preoccupied with his dying wife), but he's still a good man with a moral compass.
  • He's visibly horrified by the gruesome botched execution of Eduard Delacroix and chews Percy out when he discovers he was responsible for it.
  • Openly shows disdain for Wild Bill for his depravity and awful crimes. He also takes care to note, even while still emotional from learning about his wife's tumor, that Wild Bill murdered a pregnant woman.
  • While he puts up with a lot of Percy's shit due to his family connections, he makes clear that he doesn't like him anymore than Paul and is simply tolerating him until he leaves and is absolutely furious when he sees how Percy botched Del's execution.
• Happily Married: He loves his wife dearly and he's broken apart knowing she has terminal cancer.
• Inelegant Blubbering: He breaks down and weeps like a baby after Coffey cures his beloved wife.
• Large and in Charge: He's 6'7' and as Warden, definitely the boss.
• Nice Guy: Is friendly with the guards and, along with Melinda, shares a friendship with Paul and Jan. Additionally, he promises to stick his neck out for Paul and John Coffey after Percy's fate, even if he loses his job for it, out of gratitude for saving his wife.
• Nothing To See Here: Delivers a decidedly unconvincing one after Delacroix's disastrous execution.
• Precision F-Strike: He delivers one after Del's horrifically botched execution, combined with Punctuated! For! Emphasis!.
  Hal:: What! In the blue! FUCK! Was that!?
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He is gruff, but fair.

Percy Wetmore

Portrayed by: Doug Hutchison

"I think of it as a bucket of piss to drown rats in, that's all. Anybody doesn't like it, hmm? You can kiss my ass."

• Actually Pretty Funny: Even he can't help but laugh at Toot-Toot's comedic lines at the execution rehearsal.
• Arch-Enemy: To Brutal. The other guards can (just about) stomach Percy's presence due to his family and work around him. Brutal, however, absolutely hates the little prick and has no issue expressing that fact, regardless of Percy's connections, and is most adamant that Percy be held accountable for all he's done and physically roughing him up when has the chance and greatly enjoying doing so.
• Ax-Crazy: A borderline example. While he's not openly unhinged like Wild Bill, it's pretty clear that he enjoys hurting others for his own sick amusement.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: He stomps Mr. Jingles right in front of Delacroix. But thankfully John was there to bring him back.
• Blatant Lies: "I didn't know the sponge is supposed to be wet."
• Bring My Brown Pants: Percy wets himself when Wharton catches him through the bars of his cell and threatens to rape him.
• The Bully: Percy is a preening little sadist who enjoys mistreating those he has power over.
• Bystander Syndrome: He stands by and does nothing while Wild Bill is trying to strangle Dean when he arrives on the Mile, despite the other guards demanding he do something. Mostly this is because he's caught off guard by what's happening, but also because he's a vile, petty and spiteful coward.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: After every evil deed he has done, he gets Mrs. Moores' cancer transferred into his body by John Coffey, shoots Wild Bill to death and is committed to the asylum he wanted to work in.
• Dirty Coward: He constantly picks on and bullies the inmates because he has power over them, but when one is actually loose he won't help the other guards subdue him. This gets Exaggerated when he slaps around an inmate after the man has already been executed. Finally, Percy sabotages a man's execution just to see him suffer, and then can't even look at the man's painful death. He also tries to bolt out once he is confronted by the othe guards who plan to lock him the padded room as punishment, only for Brutal to restrain him, and then begs Paul not to lock him up.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He's visibly horrified by the results of sabotaging Del's execution, with the script itself confirming he was not expecting it to go as badly as it did.
  • He clearly looks shocked and even sheds a tear when John shows him what Wild Bill did to those two little girls, right before he shoots him dead.
• Evil Counterpart: He is this to Paul. While Paul treats both his guards and the inmates with basic decency, Percy is a slimy asshole who gets off on abusing those weaker than him.
• Evil Is Petty: Carries himself like a schoolyard bully at almost all times.
• Faux Affably Evil: He feigns courtesy when he thinks it suits him.
• Foil: To Brutus. Brutus is a tough but empathetic man who is magnanimous to those around him unless you push him too far and is a loyal and brave friend when things do go bad. Percy is a shrimpy asshole who bullies those weaker them him and chickens out when faced with someone scarier.
• Forced to Watch: He deliberately sabotages Del's execution and watches him be cooked in agony. When he is horrified at what he has done and looks away, Paul has none of it and forces him to watch his own handiwork.
• For the Evulz: Most of his actions serve no purpose beyond sheer cruelty. He even became a guard on the mile solely to watch inmates die in the chair.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: All his co-workers hate him. They are professional enough to put up with him at first, until they realize he's a lost cause.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: John Coffey gives him a really good, hard look at what true evil looked like, in the form of Wild Bill raping and murdering the two girls. After he shoots Wild Bill dead, he falls into a state of permanent catatonia - a patient in the very hospital he was due to go to work in the next day.
• Hated by All: Percy is heavily disliked by his fellow guards, and the only reason they haven't reported his more horrible behavior to the authorities is because they just want him gone that badly. As Paul puts it "The inmates hated him, the guards hated him, everyone hated him, presumably, except for his political connections, Percy himself, and maybe (but only maybe) his mother."
• Hate Sink: The main antagonist does not come until late in the story, so who do we have until then? An obnoxious, arrogant, cowardly Sadist.
• Ignored Epiphany: Seems to have a moment of realization after Del's execution but he's back to his old ways before long.
• Ironic Name: Percy Wetmore's name becomes horrifically ironic in the infamous scene where he doesn't wet the sponge in a spiteful Kick the Dog moment, causing Del's execution to go very badly.
• Irony: He wanted to work in a mental asylum. By the end of the movie, he does end up in an asylum, but as a patient.
• Jerkass to One: He's unpleasant to just about everybody he meets, but he has a special hatred for Delacroix, to the point of sabotaging his execution.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: He shows affability only two times when he recommends the guards give Del a cigar box and cotton padding to make a bed for his new pet mouse and later when he congratulates Del for doing well in entertaining people with Mr. Jingles. Then he proceeds to scare Del and make him fall and hit his head and then later, he coldly stomps on Mr. Jingles right in front of him.
• Karma Houdini: The novel sets him up as this by stating at the start that he eventually went to the Briar Ridge Mental Hospital, a place with much more pleasant conditions and a higher guard-pay than Cold Mountain. Eventually averted when Laser-Guided Karma kicks in. He does end up in Briar Ridge Mental Hospital, but as an inmate, not a guard.
• Kick the Dog: He does this to Del a lot.
  • First, he breaks his fingers just for smirking at him.
  • Next, he stomps on his pet mouse, Mr. Jingles. This is fortunately averted when John revives him.
  • Right before his execution:
    "There's no [Mouseville]. It's just a fairytale [the guards] told you to keep you quiet. Just thought you should know...faggot."
  • And last but certainly not least, sabotaging his execution by putting a dry sponge in the electric chair's cranial cap, thus condemning the man to die a horrible, agonizing death.
  • He also mocks Arlen Bitterbuck's dead body after his execution, telling him to "drop us a card from hell, let us know if it's hot enough" which infuriates Brutal enough to tell him to "keep your goddamn hands off of him!".
• Laser-Guided Karma: John gives him Melinda's brain tumor along with a vision of Wild Bill murdering the two sisters. Even after he coughs up the tumor, the trauma he experiences is enough to permanently render him catatonic.
• Meaningful Name: Or surname. In one scene, he wets himself and Del makes fun of him, pointing out that Wetmore is the right surname for him. Although this name becomes dramatically ironic later on, for different reasons.
• My God, What Have I Done?: He's genuinely horrified at what happens to Del, but after his treatment of Del as well as his general demeanor, no one is sorry to see Paul make him watch the whole thing in all its horror.
• The Napoleon: Much shorter than the rest of the cast (except for Del), but extremely aggressive, violent, and short-tempered.
• Nepotism: Uses his Uncle's (aka. the state governor) connections to stay in the job.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Try not to cheer when he shoots Wild Bill dead.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He calls Del a "faggot" more than once.
• Prison Rape: He's never actually penetrated, but Wild Bill sexually assaults him to the point that he wets his pants, and after sabotaging Del's execution he's so terrified of the other guards' reprisal that he at first believes they plan to give him to Bill when they begin to tie him up.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Not to the same extent as Wild Bill, but Percy is an extremely irresponsible and petty asshole who became a prison guard for no reason other than to satisfy his own sadistic desires. Threatening to tell the governor if anything bad happens to him on the Mile is like a bratty child saying he'll tell on his parents, and Paul even describes him as someone who calls his aunt and squeals like a schoolroom sissy.
  Percy: I didn't know the sponge was supposed to be wet.
  Hal: How many years you spend pissing on the toilet seat before someone told you to put it up?
• Sadist: Of the Psycho for Hire variety. His sole reason for wanting to be a prison guard is to watch the inmates be electrocuted to death.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Percy is still at the prison, and transferring to a better job, because of his connections. And he doesn't want to leave right away for the cushy job at the mental asylum, because he wants to be up close and in charge of an execution, and uses those connections to bully his way into doing so. Even as Paul knows full well Percy would screw it up.
• Sissy Villain: He speaks in a soft, high-pitched tone and is a weedy weakling without his uncle's connections to protect him.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Downplayed in regards to "small name" since he's the governor's nephew, but good god is he callous and arrogant. Just read his page quote for proof.
• Smug Snake: He's selfish and has no respect for anyone, prisoners or guards.
• The Sociopath: Low-functioning example; although Wetmore takes sadistic joy in bullying those weaker than he is and displays the utter lack of morality, compassion and empathy characteristic of all sociopaths, he lacks the charm and intelligence found in most other examples.
• Sympathy for the Devil: None of the guards are pleased when Wharton sexually assaults him and causes him to burst into tears and wet himself, with Paul even checking on him to see if he's okay afterwards. They also try their best to save him when Coffey is trying to give him the cancer, visibly trying to snap him out of it afterwards.
• Token Evil Teammate: Most of the other guards are decent people who do the best to carry out an unpleasant task with respect and dignity, but he's a notably nasty exception.

Dean Stanton

Portrayed by: Barry Pepper

• The Baby of the Bunch: Dean appears to be the youngest guard (not counting outlier Percy) by well over a decade.
• Inelegant Blubbering: Coffey's execution is too much for him to take, and he breaks down in tears.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Can come across as a bit defensive and withdrawn at times, but is ultimately a good man who helps break Coffey out, quickly rushes to save Percy from Wharton and Coffey and shows the most emotion when Coffey is executed.

Harry Terwilliger

Portrayed by: Jeffrey DeMunn

• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Gets his own back on Wild Bill after the latter urinates on him.
  "Piss on me?" (cue the fire-hose)

Cold Mountain Inmates

John Coffey

Portrayed by: Michael Clarke Duncan

"I couldn't help it. I tried to take it back, but it was too late."

"I'm tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. I'm tired of never having me a buddy to be with, to tell me where we's going to or coming from, or why. Mostly, I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world every day. There's too much of it — it's like pieces of glass in my head, all the time. Can you understand?"

---

• All-Loving Hero: He empathizes with every person he meets, even those who are evil (with a few notable exceptions).
• Ambiguously Human: Given his powers and lack of any history prior to his crime, it's debatable if John is an ordinary man who happens to have extraordinary powers or some kind of divine being.
• Angel Unaware: He definitely has some divine powers.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: A false, scapegoated bad guy, but Coffey was willing to take the fall getting rid of Percy as the other guards pondered how to keep him quiet, eliminating Wild Bill in the process too.
• Bald Mystic: He's bald and an Empathic Healer, capable of healing people by touching them and literally purging the injury by throwing it up.
• Beware the Nice Ones: While a Gentle Giant and innocent of his crimes, he uses his powers to a very terrifying nature towards those he considers "bad men".
• Blessed with Suck: Being an empath means he can feel all the hatred and evil in the world.
  "It's like pieces of glass in my head. All the time."
• Covered in Scars: He has a large scar across the upper right side of his chest. How he received it is unknown, but it looked very painful, and you know he didn't deserve it.
• Death Seeker: Despite using his abilities to prove his innocence to Paul and Paul offering him a way to escape. John wants to go through with the execution because he feels the endless amount of hatred and evil emitting from the world in agonizing detail. Not only that but he is friendless and is tired of living alone and afraid.
• Deuteragonist: He spends most of his screen time with Paul Edgecombe, has some of the biggest moments in the story, and the story focuses on his last days alive and his interactions with other characters while on the mile.
• The Drifter: He implied that he was this his whole life prior to being incarcerated.
• The Empath: Quite literally.
• Empathic Healer: Coffey heals by touch, then spits out the hurt in the form of weird firefly-like things.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: He's Incorruptible Pure Pureness personified, but he has no sympathy for people like Percy and Wild Bill because he knows they are "bad men".
• Face Death with Dignity: Allows himself to be executed in order to escape having to feel the evils of humanity.
• Friend to All Children: It's implied when he said he wanted to bring the two girls back to life.
• Friend to All Living Things: John vows to take care of Mr. Jingles after Del is executed.
• Full-Name Basis: Most of the guards called John Coffey by his full name.
• Gentle Giant: Practically the Trope Codifier. He's big, but is a peaceful man with healing powers.
• Healing Hands: Coffey's powers require him to be able to touch his patients, as close to the injury as possible. Thus is he mistaken for a murderer: when the posse finds a Scary Black Man with a mangled white girl under each arm, bloody hands pressing their crushed skulls, who would believe he had found them that way and was trying to heal them using magic? Also creates an awkward situation when Coffey heals Paul's groin infection.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: He's a magical healer with the innocence of a child, but is known to the outside world as a child rapist and killer.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Despite technically awaiting execution for murdering two girls, he turns out not to have a bad bone in his body.
• Magical Negro: John Coffey is a literally magical one. Though his role in the story only weakly conforms to that archetype. He does have the perfect moral saintliness down, and very much wants to use his powers to help people, including the (white) protagonist, the warden's (white) wife, and, unsuccessfully, the two dead (white) girls of whose deaths he was convicted. However, he has other roles in the story besides this, including using his powers to kill Wild Bill and break the mind of Percy, as punishment for being "bad men", and his lasting effect on the protagonist's life is not entirely positive, inflicting him with a case of Who Wants To Live Way Too Long?. He also lacks the trait of dispensing folksy wisdom or being Closer to Earth (quite the opposite, really) and the character and his powers are more of a central driving force of the plot than merely a device to achieve Character Development in the white protagonist.
• Manchild: John Coffey is this, but only to a certain degree. The sight of stars in the sky, a handful of fresh grass, and seeing a flicker show for the first time is enough to fill him with childlike wonder and amazement.
• Meaningful Name: John Coffey. - Stephen King even joked about how blatant it was in On Writing. Also, "Like the drink only not spelled the same."
• Messianic Archetype:
  • Does share a few traits with the biblical Christ. Aside from the initials, Coffey performs miracles by the laying of hands; he heals a woman of her terminal illness, he heals Paul of his urinary tract infection, and he even brings Mr. Jingles back to life. The only difference between Christ and Coffey, however, is that he chose to be executed on his own volition whereas Christ sacrificed himself for mankind as a whole. Coffey also does not get resurrected either.
  • Unlike Christ, Coffey's influence also in some ways ruins Paul's life, albeit without his intention. While he was cured of his urinary tract infection, that also meant that he was cured of everything. Worse, he suffers from longevity, outliving his wife when she was killed in a freak bus accident, and by the time the book ends, he is over 100 years old and is unlikely to die lest through killing himself.
• Mysterious Stranger: No one has any clue of where John came from or his past prior to his arrest with even the extensive investigations of a law firm turning up almost nothing, to say nothing of never finding out where exactly his powers came from.
• Nice Mean And In Between: Of the three main inmates, he's the nice (Incorruptible Pure Pureness) to Wild Bill's mean (Psychopathic Manchild) and Delacroix's in-between (The Atoner).
• Nice Guy: In addition to being nothing but a kind soul to both the guards and the inmates, he also takes away Paul's UTI and Melinda's cancer, shares cornbread with Del and Mr. Jingles and even personally helps take care of the latter twice, all out of pure altruism. Even when he punishes Percy and Wild Bill, he's really just doing it out of divine punishment for them being bad rather than sheer sadism or spite.
• Not What It Looks Like: Dramatic example. Coffey is found with the bodies of the raped and murdered girls in his arms. When he's asked what happened, he says: "I couldn't help it. I tried to take it back, but it was too late!" Everybody assumes that he killed the girls, and was talking about his own murderous impulses. Actually, he found them and tried to heal them, but it was too late for that. Wild Bill was the true culprit.
• Prisoner's Last Meal: His last meal before his execution by electric chair is meatloaf, mashed potatoes with gravy, okra, peach cobbler, and of course, some of Mrs. Edgecomb's cornbread (the peach cobbler is omitted in the film).
• Riddle for the Ages: Who exactly is John Coffey? Why does he have healing powers? Even he doesn't know.
• Right Man in the Wrong Place: He has angelic abilities of healing and empathy but the story takes place in 1935. This also applies to how John ended up on the Green Mile. John came across the aftermath of Billy the Kid's crime and tried to resurrect the two girls but was unsuccessful. Overwhelmed with empathy, he was found screaming while holding the corpses as he felt their agonizing final moments. Leading the mob and sheriff to believe that he had murdered them in cold blood.
• Scary Black Man: Subverted. Coffey is big and scary looking, but gentle and childlike.
• Shrouded in Myth: Everything about John, from his backstory to his powers and how he came to them, is a complete mystery.
• Significant Monogram: J(esus) C(hrist).
• The Spook: There's no indication of who he really is, where he comes from or how he got his powers with Burt Hammersmith saying it's like he "dropped out of the sky". It's not even clear if John Coffey is his actual name.
• Stupidity-Inducing Attack: Does this to Percy, not through evil intentions but to remove the threat to his friends, resulting in the guard ending up in an insane asylum.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Overall a wonderful human being who couldn't deal with the evils of humanity anymore, so he went through with the execution anyway. The people carrying out the sentence are in tears while doing it.
• Vague Age: He looks like a middle-aged man, but there are no records of his birth, or anything pertaining to his existence. Whether this means he's just too unimportant to have his birth recorded, he literally just "fell out of the sky", or has been alive for a very long time, is unclear.

Eduard "Del" Delacroix

Portrayed by: Michael Jeter

"I sure wish I could've met you guys somewheres else."

• Alas, Poor Villain: Whatever his crimes while alive, it is pretty clear that Del did not deserve to die so horribly. Even the warden and the guards feel sorry for him because of it. Even the citizens who were attending his execution can't help but feel a little horrified before fleeing away in panic, implying that they didn't intend to see Del suffer such a horrible death; even Coffey himself feels Del's gruesome pain.
• Asshole Victim: Zigzagged. He committed a heinous and destructive crime that got him on death row, but for the characterization we see of him, his botched execution can be seen as excessive, to say nothing of being done out of nothing but sheer sadistic spite on Percy's part, and the fact that Del truly regrets his actions.
• The Atoner: The narration in the book says that whatever had possessed him to commit his crimes had left him long ago. He's a model prisoner while on the Mile, respectful of the guards (save for Percy, who hasn't done anything to deserve respect), enjoys his time with the wild mouse who befriends him, and seemingly genuine in his remorse for the crimes he'd done. Additionally, he prays desperately in the moments before his execution, likely asking God to forgive him, and fully accepts his fate, meeting his end with as much dignity as possible and using his last words to sincerely apologize for his crimes.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: A mix of this and Karmic Death as described below. During his electric chair execution, Percy places a dry sponge in his head cap instead of a wet one. For those who don’t understand, the point of wetting the sponge is to conduct electricity straight to the brain, causing death almost instantly. A dry sponge directs electricity hits every point of the body, burning all the nerves you have before killing you.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He becomes a caretaker for Mr. Jingles.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Del was an arsonist rapist-murderer and manslaughterer before he arrived on death row. Even then, he's genuinely appalled by Percy's animal cruelty towards Mr. Jingles.
  Del: It's just a little mouse, you dumb merde!
• Face Death with Dignity: Though he's visibly afraid, he goes to the chair without any resistance or struggle and only uses his last words to sincerely apologize for his crimes and pray for forgiveness.
• Foil:
  • Del is one to Wild Bill. While both men committed serious crimes that warranted the death penalty, Del honestly repented for his actions and behaved like a model prisoner and was very liked by the guards except Percy, while Wild Bill didn't regret his crimes at all and gets a jolly out of antagonizing the guards. It is notable that John happily shared his cornbread with Del and was deeply traumatized by his botched execution, but didn't share his cornbread with Wild Bill and later had him brutally murdered by Percy.
  • He can also be seen as one to John Coffey. Both are inmates who have been sent to death row for similar offenses. However, the difference lies in the fact that Del actually is responsible for the crime but repents for it, whereas John holds himself responsible for the crime because he wished he was able to stop whoever did it.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: Del genuinely repented his misdeeds, to the point where the guards treat him respectfully...but this will not spare him the chair. He doesn't seem to ever hope that it will either, fully accepting his fate.
• High-Voltage Death: Horrifically botched. See Cruel and Unusual Death above.
• Karmic Death: His botched execution caused him a slow and painful death by burning alive, and he was condemned to die for rape, murder, arson, and manslaughter. However, his death is still portrayed as a tragic and horrific fate. It could even be argued as a subversion as Del was genuinely repentant for his crimes, went without any resistance, and Percy did it not out of any sense of justice but for pure sadism.
• Loveable Rogue: Played With. Delacroix's crimes are not remotely justifiable and have gotten him sent to Death Row. However, the honest remorse he shows for his crime, respectful attitude toward Paul and the other guards, and his love of Mr. Jingles make him quite endearing.
• Meaningful Name: "Delacroix" is French for "of the cross", which is meant to symbolize Del's penitence in comparison to Wild Bill's impenitence.
• Nice Mean And In Between: Of the three main inmates, he's the in-between (The Atoner) to John Coffey's nice (Incorruptible Pure Pureness) and Wild Bill's mean (Psychopathic Manchild).
• Pet the Dog: What his training of Mr Jingles entails. He also makes a genuine attempt to save Paul's life when he thinks John Coffey is trying to kill him.
• Prisoner Performance: Downplayed. As Eduard Delacroix doesn't have any family to visit him in prison on the day that the guards prepare for his execution, the guards arrange for a group of people to pose as members of the press and watch him demonstrate tricks that he had taught his pet mouse, Mr. Jingles.
• Prisoner's Last Meal: In the original novel, he ordered chili for his last meal with special instructions for the kitchen to "lay on dat hot-sauce," adding that he won't mind the toilet issues the following day because he'd be dead.
• Rape Is A Special Kindof Evil: Del is responsible for the rape and murder of a young girl, which is presumably part of what invokes Percy to punish him so harshly. However, unlike Wild Bill, he actually regrets what he did to the poor girl.
• Redemption Earns Life: Averted. It doesn't matter how repentant a Green Mile inmate may be; he's still going to die.
• Sympathetic Murderer: Played with. While his actual crimes are not sympathetic in the slightest, being condemned to death for rape, murder, and arson, he is given some humanizing moments that are mostly attributed to Mr. Jingles. In fact, Del is so upset over what might become of Mr. Jingles once he's dead, that Paul and the other guards tell him a little white lie about sending Mr. Jingles to a place called Mouseville, where they take in all kinds of mice that can do special tricks, and people from all over the world come and pay to see them. He even started hollering for help when he thought Coffey was going to hurt Paul. Meanwhile, Percy, despite being one of the guards, is a sadistic Jerkass and a Dirty Coward, who actually likes seeing the prisoners electrocuted, and goes out of his way to be cruel, such as stomping Mr. Jingles to death, and intentionally botching Del's execution in an act of petty revenge (as Del had mocked him for wetting his pants after Wild Bill attacks him); in fact, just before the switch is thrown, he makes it a point to tell Del, "Oh, by the way, there is no Mouseville, they made it up so you'll feel better. Just thought you should know...faggot." There's also the fact that Del was fully and genuinely remorseful of his crimes.
• Would Hurt a Child: He raped and murdered a young girl, and then set her corpse on fire, with said fire killing six other people, including two children.

William "Wild Bill" Wharton

Portrayed by: Sam Rockwell

"Ain't this a party now?!"

"You will have to slap his nose a time or two, I guarantee you that, but be careful when you do it. This man just doesn't care."

— Curtis Anderson

• Age Lift: He's said to be 19 years old in the novel, but he looks to be in his thirties in the film (Sam Rockwell was 31 at the time).
• Asshole Victim: Nobody weeps a tear over his death.
• Ax-Crazy: As evidenced by his crimes, as well as his antics at the prison. The guards sure don't call him Wild Bill for nothing!
• Blood Knight: He loves fighting and committing chaos
• Big Bad: Is the true main antagonist of the film, kicking the plot into motion with his rape and murder of the two girls that John ends up being convicted and tragically executed for, revealing himself to be so vile he makes Percy look like a harmless child compared to him.
• Berserk Button: Likes his nickname to be Billy the Kid, not Wild Bill, on account of Wild Bill Hickock having been a lawman rather than an outlaw like Henry McCarty. He also hates being put in the padded cell, with the threat of going there the only way Paul can get him to shut up.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Bill is fully aware of what a piece of shit he is and takes great pride in it. When John Coffey calls him a bad man, his response is, "That's right, nigger, bad as you'd want!"
• Cop Killer: He was very close to killing Dean before Brutal stepped in.
• Depraved Bisexual: He gropes, kisses, and threatens to sodomize Percy. He also raped and murdered two girls before his arrest.
  "Soft like a girl. I'd rather fuck your asshole than your sister's pussy, I think."

• Establishing Character Moment: At first, he seems like an impotent loon due to being drugged. Then once it's revealed that it was fake, he goes completely off the rails and attacks the guards, nearly strangling Dean to death.
• Evil Is Petty: He briefly dips into this after Coffey refuses to share the cornbread Paul's wife had made for him as thanks for curing Paul's UTI with him, while sharing it with Del and Mr. Jingles. Since he can't get back at Coffey directly (as they are locked in cells across from each other), he settles for antagonizing the guards for refusing to make Coffey share with him; he urinates on Terwilliger's feet (and threatens to throw his feces on the guards) and spits a chewed-up Moon Pie in Brutal's face. Both of these incidents result in him being blasted with a firehose, straight-jacketed, and locked in the solitary padded room for several hours. After the second time, Wild Bill ceases his petty pranks due to fear of solitary.
• Evil Is Hammy: He is pretty over-the-top and entertaining but is such a disgusting, monstrous character.
• Eviler than Thou: As much of a smug, sadistic coward Percy is, he at least didn't rape and murder two innocent little girls like Wild Bill did.
• Fate Worse than Death: How he sees being put in a straight jacket and thrown into the padded cell. He even tried to swallow his tongue (or at least pretended to) just so he wouldn't have to endure the experience.
• For the Evulz: Why does Wild Bill commit serial murder, torture people, and rape children? For kicks.
• Hated by All: Everyone, from the guards (even Percy Wetmore) to John Coffey despises Wild Bill.
• Hate Sink: While he does have funny moments, they only illustrate how obnoxious and odious he is, making you want him to get his comeuppance in the most satisfying way imaginable. When he's revealed to have raped and murdered two little girls while mocking and torturing them, he loses any humourous traits he had and makes Percy look like Paul in comparison. Despite not having the same level of power to abuse as Percy, Wharton is one of the most evil and despicable Stephen King villains ever adapted in a movie.
• I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: How he kept the two little girls quiet while he kidnapped and raped them. He told each sister that he'd kill the other one if she screamed...and then killed them both anyway.
• Improbable Age: It's incredible that such a barely-functioning sociopath like the Wharton of the film managed to survive and live till his thirties. Him being 19 in the novel is much more believable.
• In-Series Nickname: There's a reason why he's called "Wild Bill" by the guards. He's a completely out-of-control, untamed individual with a knack for violence.
• Ironic Death: Percy shoots him six times. If you really think about it, that's like a bullet for each of Billy's confirmed victims. The Detterick twins, three people from an armed robbery, and it's his fault that John died too since he got framed for his crimes.
• Jerkass: He's sadistic, problematic, racist, violent, and a complete psychopath.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Making Percy piss himself out of fright just after abusing Del.
• Lack of Empathy: He has absolutely zero remorse for any of his crimes or consideration for any of the people he hurt. In fact, he is outright proud of what a monster he is.
• Laughably Evil: Most of his antics in the prison are shown in an over-the-top manner, and is able to make even the most serious scenes into Black Comedy. It's averted heavily in the end, though.
• Nice Mean And In Between: Of the three main inmates, he's the mean (Psychopathic Manchild) to John Coffey's nice (Incorruptible Pure Pureness) and Delacroix's in-between (The Atoner).
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: He spends so much time being loud and childish that it can be easy to forget he's on the mile for a very good reason, having killed three people. To say nothing of being the actual murderer of the girls Coffey is accused of having killed.
• Pædo Hunt: Bill has a thing for little girls, as shown in his criminal history when he was caught molesting one half his age when he was 18, and then escalating into the all-out rape and murder of the Detterick sisters.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Has all of two conversations with John, and calls him a "nigger" in both. He also jokingly compares Brutal to "Little Black Sambo" after spitting in his face with a moon pie and later stated that black and white people should have different electric chairs.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Acts like a 5-year-old in a grown man's body, and is a complete maniac to boot. Hal even Lampshades it when he calls him a "problem child".
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: And he has absolutely NO QUALMS about it either.
• Sadist: He spends all of his time in Cold Mountain causing as much trouble as he can while laughing maniacally (even during Del's execution, a moment which leaves Percy Wetmore horrified, and sports a Slasher Smile as he contemplates raping and murdering those two little girls. He also gets giddy and ecstatic during Del's botched execution.
• Serial Killer: Of three innocent people in an armed robbery, including a pregnant woman, and the two little girls he raped as well as many other potential victims.
• Serial Rapist: Implied when he sexually harassed Percy, and all doubt is removed when it's revealed that he's the one responsible for raping two little girls. When Paul investigates his past, he also finds out that Wharton was caught molesting a 9-year-old girl when he was 18.
• Slasher Smile: Sports some truly nightmarish ones throughout the film.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Likes to think of himself as a great outlaw, but none of the guards take him seriously.
• Smarter Than You Look: Wild Bill might be an impulsive, childish element of pure chaos but he's fairly cunning. He pretends to be drugged-up to lull his guards into a false sense of security and knows how to lay in wait for the likes of Percy. He's also savvy enough to be able to abduct, rape, and murder two little girls by playing on their love for each other; if either of them had screamed, he'd likely have been done for.
• The Sociopath: A low-functioning example and to a far greater extent than even Percy. He enjoys torturing others with absolute sadistic glee and shows zero remorse for any of his actions.
• Would Hit a Girl: One of his victims in his armed robbery was a pregnant woman.
• Would Hurt a Child: One of the people he killed in the holdup that got him sentenced to death was a pregnant woman. Before that, he raped and killed the two little girls that John was put in prison for.

Arlen "Chief" Bitterbuck

Played By: Graham Greene

---

• A Lighter Shade of Black: Compared to the crimes committed by Delacroix (rape, murder and arson), Wharton (multiple murders and child rape and murder) and John Coffey (although innocent, is convicted of child rape and murder), Arlen's crime was quite tame (he killed a man in a drunken bar brawl, which would probably be considered manslaughter today and receive a much lighter sentence). He is also sincerely remorseful for what he did.
• The Atoner: He is very remorseful for his crime.
• Face Death with Dignity: He goes to the chair quietly and without resistance, only hoping to be forgiven by God for his crime.
• The Lost Lenore: He talks about a wife he once had when he was 18 and it's implied that she's long dead. He hopes that once he dies, he'll be reunited with her in heaven for eternity.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He's the first inmate to be executed (in the novel, he's killed before John Coffey even arrives on the Mile) and as a result, gets less time to shine than the other inmates.

Other Characters

Janice "Jan" Edgecombe

Portrayed by: Bonnie Hunt

• What the Hell, Hero?: Delivers a scathing one in the book to Paul and the other guards when it becomes apparent that there's nothing they can do to save Coffey from being executed. Her diatribe is absent in the movie, where she merely accepts that, while it's unfair, this is the way things have to be.

Melinda Moores

Portrayed by: Patricia Clarkson

Burt Hammersmith

Portrayed by: Gary Sinise

"You may get away with it once, or even a hundred times, but in the end, you'll get bit."

• Adaptational Job Change: In the book, Hammersmith is a reporter rather than John's defense attorney.
• Ambiguously Evil: Gary Sinise's performance is sly enough that it's unclear if he intentionally sabotaged John's defense. He might be telling the truth in his belief that all men are entitled to a defense, but his attitude toward black people is hardly out of keeping with the time.
• Amoral Attorney: Downplayed. The man does not see black men as people and has a harsh attitude toward criminals, comparing them outright to mad dogs who ought to be put down. However, he does genuinely believe John to be guilty, acknowledges his apparent remorse as genuine and he has a good reason to distrust criminals. See below.
• Cynicism Catalyst: His son losing an eye to his pet dog explains his harsh attitude toward felons.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: His views are undeniably racist but aren't seen as anything overly unusual by other characters given the setting, even Paul who admonishes Wild Bill for calling John a racial slur. He's even somewhat more progressive for his time, believing all men deserve a defense and believing that John was sincerely remorseful rather than just being a monster.
• Freudian Excuse: It's shown that his dismal view of John and refusal to consider that he might be innocent comes from he and his family taking in a stray dog that later attacked and deformed his son, seeing John's crimes as being similar in nature.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Not about black men being like dogs, but about people in general and their ability to snap out of nowhere.
• Noble Demon: Despite being racist, he insists that he gave Coffey the best defense possible. Even if it weren't for the racism of the time, John did look pretty guilty. He also acknowledges that, while he believes John to be guilty, he also believes he was sincerely remorseful (and even mentions it's possible John never did anything crime prior to this), but remorse doesn't remotely excuse his actions.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: He used to have a dog that he and his family cared for and loved which eventually randomly attacked his son, leaving the poor boy with only one eye.
• Papa Wolf: He shot his dog who made one of his sons lose his eye, which is why he is very nervous around criminals like Coffey.
• Pet the Dog: Racist comments aside, he does believe Coffey is genuinely sorry for the crimes he was convicted of. Plus he still felt Coffey was entitled to due process whereas the angry mob who found him with the dead girls might have preferred a lynching. He's also very polite to Paul and his scenes with his son shows him being quite gentle, understanding how sensitive he is about his scars, indicating that he is a loving father.
• Riddle for the Ages: Discussed with Paul regarding John Coffey's origin. Despite his enormous size and unique ability (which someone was bound to notice at some point), there's no record whatsoever of him; birthplace, date of birth, family or even work history. Hammersmith even emphasizes he and his team tried really hard to find any concrete evidence about his past (if only for his case), but they came up with nothing. Hammersmith does offer up the plausible theory that his records are simply lost in a sea of people who are drifting by the thousands looking for jobs and it's not easy for anyone to stand out. It still doesn't explain much though.
  Hammersmith: Like he dropped outta the sky.
  Paul: How can that be?