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Mars Investigations

Veronica Mars

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vm_veronica2_6591.jpg

Portrayed By: Kristen Bell

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

"You know what they say: 'Veronica Mars: She's a marshmallow.'"

1x01 Pilot

Veronica Mars had it all - her dad was sheriff, her parents were in love, she had a loving boyfriend, a fabulous best friend, and lived the fairytale life. Then it all fell apart with her boyfriend dumping her, her best friend being murdered, her father accusing a town hero of the crime and losing his job, Veronica being ostracized, her mother leaving, and Veronica being drugged and raped at an 09er party. Who knows what really happened? Well, she will. Soon.

Action Girl: While she's not as handy in a fight as most of the other characters, she can definitely hold her own. Helps that she has a taser. Comes full circle when she takes Cobb out with a golf club. By Season 4, she's now a fully licensed private investigator who regularly carries a gun, and she's quite capable of defending herself.
A-Cup Angst: Although Veronica presently embodies the opposite trope (see Petite Pride below), the episode "Blast from the Past" reveals that she used to feel very self-conscious about her small chest. It's never specified when she got over this, but it lasted at least into her freshman year of high school.
All Girls Like Ponies: As part of a Running Gag, she insists that Keith buy her a pony. Alas, she has to settle for naming her and Logan's puppy Pony.
All Girls Want Bad Boys: Played with and deconstructed with her relationship with Logan. He's clearly Troubled, but Cute and she breaks up with him at different points because of this very trait. However, her obvious attraction to Logan's wild ways in Season 3 drives then boyfriend, Nice Guy Piz, to attempt to get into fights. This continues during the film. In Season 4, Logan, now reformed, blatantly asks Veronica if she's attracted to him only when he's violent and troubled due to her comments about how "un-Logan" he's now acting. However, it's clear that their relationship is much more stable with Logan reformed than it ever was prior.
All of the Other Reindeer: She starts the series as her high school's pariah. After solving Lilly's murder, does her damndest to avoid more confrontation with her former friends (Weevil even calls her out on it).
Alone with the Psycho: With Aaron Echolls in the season one finale, Beaver/Cassidy in the Season 2 Finale and with Mercer and Moe in the conclusion of the first season 3 storyline. She once again ends up in this situation in the movie, this time with Stu Cobbler.
Amateur Sleuth: She starts out as a semi-amateur sleuth, in that she helps out her father with his case load as a PI while at the same time carrying on her own investigation into her best friend's death (effectively pro bono, as the case is considered solved by the law). Towards the end of the first season, she becomes an unlicensed PI to many of her fellow high school students, digging up information in exchange for cash. In the third season, legally an adult, she passes her test to become a licensed PI. The proposed fourth season which never got off the ground would have ended the amateur part completely, jumping ahead a couple of years for her to become an FBI agent. The movie has her abandon this life and leave Neptune to go to a law school. At the start of the film, she's at an interview to a big New York law firm. Then she's dragged back to Neptune and ends up as this trope again. By the time the official fourth season started, she's working at Mars Investigations as an official PI alongside her dad.
Betty and Veronica: The Veronica for Meg's Betty and Duncan's Archie.
- Also the Veronica to Hannah's Betty and Logan's Archie.
- And she herself is in one of these triangles as the Archie to Duncan's Betty and Logan's Veronica.
Born Detective: Partly justified, as she was raised by the town's sheriff.
Broken Bird: Considering her best friend was murdered, her mother left and she herself was raped, all in a matter of months, that's hardly surprising.
Brother–Sister Incest: Zig-Zagged Trope. She learns that she and ex-boyfriend Duncan might have the same biological father. Cue Vomit Discretion Shot. She later learns that this is not the case. Then they immediately get back together with no aplomb.
Bully Hunter: As particularly demonstrated in the Pilot when she helps Wallace out after he's taped to the flagpole, but if you bully someone in front of Veronica, she'll do something about it.
Bullying a Dragon: Anyone who knows better leaves Veronica alone. Anyone who doesn't learns very quickly. It only takes a few hours for her to ruin your life.
Veronica: After all these years, how do you not instinctively fear me?
Butt-Monkey: Not as big as Logan is, but despite solving cases, nothing ever goes right with her life.
The Cassandra: Veronica will, without fail, get to the bottom of any mystery, embarrassing the guilty Jerk Jock, Alpha Bitch, or idiot sheriff in the process. Despite this, the town residents only ever react to her questioning them with smug indifference. Not only that, but she spends the entire first season trying to figure out who killed her best friend, Lilly. It turns out to have been Aaron Echolls, the father of Lilly's ex-boyfriend and Veronica's boyfriend at the time she figures it out. Unfortunately, when it goes to trial he gets off Scott free (not counting getting shot in the head by Wiedmann) because Logan destroys the sex tapes, and no one believes Veronica or Logan when they testify that they saw the tapes themselves. Even worse, Aaron nearly burned Veronica to death and beat the crap out of her father, but in the trial he claims that Veronica accidentally crashed her car, and they were waiting at the nearest house when Keith found them and attacked him. And the only other witness, the owner of the house, mysteriously went missing. Seriously though, you think these people would learn to trust V's gut once in a while.
Character Tics: She tilts her head to the side when asking for a favor. Weevil humorously lampshades it, noting that as soon as she walked into the room, obviously to ask him for information, she "did that head tilt thing" and added a demure "hey".
The Chessmaster: Hard to believe she's a teen in the show due to this.
Consummate Liar: She even managed to lie circles around FBI agents.
Cosmic Plaything: Seriously, her backstory made her this trope personified.
Daddy's Girl: Clearly very close to her father.
Damsel in Distress: Not often, but occassionally she gets in over her head and needs saving, particularly during finales/resolutions. However, she doesn't much care for it, and each time she's a little less helpless...
Damsel out of Distress: ...culminating in the Hearst Rape resolution, where despite being drugged, she manages to fight off the rapists.
Deadpan Snarker: Her wit is the stuff of legends.
Defrosting Ice Queen: In the pilot she's balks at the idea of letting anyone (Wallace, in this case) get close to her. Her friendship chops get better over the following seasons.
Determinator: No matter the pain she goes through, she will always look forward and never give up. Let's list all the things that happen to her throughout the show: her boyfriend dumps her without notice, her best friend is murdered, she's roofied and raped, she's framed for cheating multiple times in an academic context (which is an efficient way to sabotage an academic career), she's locked in a burning fridge, attacked with her own taser, and roughed up by an Irish mobster. That's not to count the relentless bullying emotional isolation the rest of her school puts her through. And her response to all this? Find out who's responsible for [insert travesty] and make them pay.
Doom Magnet: In so many ways:
- Her best friend is murdered, then she's raped at an upper-class party. Then she falls in love with Logan, her best friend's boyfriend, and comes to suspect him of murder.
- She's also in love with Duncan and they briefly become Sickening Sweethearts. Then she fears that he's actually her half-brother. Even when it turns out that she wasn't actually raped, she and Duncan had sex while he believed that she was his sister. And she actually was raped - by Beaver.
The Dreaded: To Sheriff Lamb, and most of Neptune's cops. Lamb actually warns FBI agents to be careful when interrogating her.
Lamb: You left Veronica Mars in there alone?
Elite School Means Elite Brain: Teen Genius and prodigy detective Veronica got into Stanford, and attended there as a transfer student after she completed her freshman year at Hearst.
Expository Hairstyle Change: Hacks off her long hair after her ostracization and rape. Over the course of the series it grows out again, possibly signifying her overcoming the trauma.
Expy: Stephen King described her as "Nancy Drew meets Phillip Marlowe."
Fallen Princess: Was once a cheerleader and part of the popular crowd. Then it all went to hell. Also, in The Movie, she gave up her plush law job for Neptune.
Famed In-Story: What Veronica ultimately becomes to her own utter shock at graduation as her name is received with a round of applause from her peers and the crowd. This is lampshaded by the principal who asks her, "Did you expect a different response?" Fixing everyone's problems tends to do that.
Fatal Flaw: I Work Alone. From past experience Veronica knows Love Hurts, and prefers to keep people at arms' length—often justified by claiming she's protecting them. She takes after Keith in this regard, and sometimes this comes back around to bite them in the rear—like when Keith is hired to investigate infidelity in the Dean's wife. Veronica knows for a fact that Mrs. The Dean is unfaithful—she's seen it with her own eyes—but because Keith names no names, he doesn't learn that the answer's under his (daughter's) nose until she independently connects the dots.
Fille Fatale: How the defense paints her in order to discredit her testimony against Aaron Echolls. Given Veronica's tendency to lie and her recent chlamydia diagnosis, this works.
Finger Gun: Veronica uses this at Sheriff Lamb in the pilot episode.
First-Person Smartass: As per Film Noir tradition of Private Eye Monologues.
Freudian Excuse: She is mostly an asshole, but she underwent trauma that would make anyone beyond despair.
Full-Name Basis: More than any other character she's always addressed by full name.
Girliness Upgrade: Starts Season 1 as usually wearing army-themed clothes that she wears like her armor, and has short hair. (This was somewhat controversial for a series lead at the time, as Long Hair Is Feminine). In Season 2, she has longer hair and generally dresses in a more feminine way. However, this was completely fulfilled in Season 3 after the show's move to the CW, where she had more fashionable clothes, elaborate hairstyles, and heavier makeup. In season 4, this is inverted, as Veronica goes back to wearing lighter makeup, simpler shirts, jeans, leather jackets, and shorter hair that she generally wears either down or in a simple ponytail.
Good is Not Nice: Veronica does care more than she lets on, and she is always willing to stand up for underdogs and bring people to justice, but she is generally rather snarky and standoffish to everyone, and even snarks at the people she does care for, and is extremely manipulative in order to solve cases.
Green-Eyed Monster: Everyone sees it, every time.
Guile Hero: She prefers to solve crimes with her greatest weapon: her brain. She relies on smooth talking, wit, and calling on favors from her many allies to successfully carry out her detective work. She's outsmarted the police department on several occasions.
Heartbroken Badass: At the start of the series, after Lilly's murder, her mom's exit, and her rape. It gets broken a couple more times, like when her mom skips town again, and at the end of Season 4, with Logan's murder.
Heroic Bastard: Subverted when Veronica looks to be then is revealed not to be the bastard daughter of Jake Kane.
Hero with Bad Publicity: In high school, she has quite a bad reputation despite generally helping people out. Over time though, people start realizing that the rumors about her or false and that she is better than what her reputation implies. She still has plenty of people who don't like her though.
Hello, Attorney!: She's become a lawyer in the movie.
High-School Hustler: Veronica tries to be as moral as possible, but discovering the secrets of others (especially the cool kids) and working as a private investigator requires much hustle, all of which she demonstrates.
The "I Love You" Stigma: Never directly states her feelings to romantic interests. Duncan's last declaration of love is met with a "you better", and when Logan follows his own declaration by asking her if she loves him back, she can only reply with a reluctant "yeah". This is taken to the point where even her inner monologue is silent on her romantic affections. With time and Character Development, she admits to herself, in the books, that she loves Logan.
Intrepid Reporter: She's on the school newspaper, and one episode features a plot where she runs a sensational story against the school administration's wishes. Leaves it behind when her first experience in Hearst teaches her all about the press' disregard for discretion.
In the Blood: Like her father, she's a brilliant detective who hates injustice and will stand up to anyone; like her mom, as she lampshades, she's got an addictive and at times deeply selfish personality.
It's All About Me: At times. One of the main sources of conflict with her friends.
Jaded Washout: Although a heroic version, Veronica was on the brink of leaving Neptune behind forever so she could become a highly respected lawyer. She chose, instead, to return to Neptune and rejoin her father's business, which resulted in her becoming this...kind of. She ultimately recognized this about herself after Logan's death at the end of Season 4, and chose to leave so she could move on with her life.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Veronica is manipulative, unpleasant, condescending, judgmental, constantly mistakes revenge for justice, and at times, very prideful. However, she genuinely wants to help people, uses her skills for good most of the time, and is extremely loyal to those close to her. Although she reverts to being a full-blown Jerkass in season 3, she goes back to this in the film.
Kid Hero All Grown-Up: She is one by Season 4, and struggling with the ramifications of settling down for a "normal life". Again.
Knight in Sour Armor: She's incredibly catty to most people who aren't her dad or her close friends (and sometimes even to them), but she ultimately strives to do the right thing for people (even if she demands payment).
Ma'am Shock: Veronica is astonished when a young mugger she has just apprehended calls her 'lady.' Although her big dog may have had something to do with it.
Magnetic Hero: While she doesn't want to admit it, she does draw the respect and friendship of a lot of people from different walks of life, many of whom end up becoming her go-to guys and girls for particular skills she can't do herself (such as Weevil for mechanics and thievery, Mac for hacking and IT, so on). Even jackasses like Dick aren't immune from this, as he begrudgingly begins to fall in with her group (although more through his friendship with Logan than anything else).
Meaningful Name: 'Veronica' means "true image", thus tying into her seeking the full picture.
Missing Mom: Her mom abandoned her pre-series.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Sometimes, when in disguise and hunting for clues, she'll pretend to be a Dumb Blonde in order to get people to underestimate her.
Ordinary High-School Student: Veronica is a normal high school student...and a private eye.
Private Detective: She becomes a licensed PI in the third season, and by the fourth season, she works in Mars Investigations as an official private investigator alongside her dad.
Pintsized Powerhouse: Downplayed. Veronica is very short, standing just over five feet tall. And, while she's not the most combat-capable person in the show (she is much more reliant on her brains than her physical prowess), she is still fairly capable of holding her own in a fight.
Petite Pride: Although apparently she was quite insecure about her small breasts as a freshman.
Troy: (talking about a tire on Veronica's car) Flat?
Veronica: Just like God made me.
Platonic Life-Partners: With Wallace.
Plucky Girl: Stubborn, headstrong, always willing to see things through.
Pride: Her Fatal Flaw. She can be very arrogant, and insists that she works alone, which get her almost killed in the first season finale. A more devastating example is when in the series finale, she smugly thinks she won until it's revealed to her that her actions (which were around preventing a release of a sex tape with her in it) cost her father's potential return to the sheriff position.
Protagonist Title: The show is called Veronica Mars.
Rape as Backstory: Zigzagged. She and Duncan have consensual sex while she's drugged, which leads to her believing she was raped as she has no memory of it. Then it turns out she was raped by Cassidy on the same night.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: As flashbacks show, she was the calm, reasonable one in her friendship with Lilly. Now she's the fierce, vengeful one to Wallace's blue.
Rude Hero, Nice Sidekick: The "rude hero" to Wallace's "nice sidekick".
Sarcastic Confession: Veronica uses this every so often on her dad. She has a tendency to give him this kind of answer even when she isn't actually doing anything shady (e.g., answering "How was your date?" with "Lousy conversation, but the sex was fantastic!" when the most that happened was a peck on the cheek), which makes it work better.
- One example:
  Keith: What are you doing tonight?
  Veronica: I'll be meeting two hookers at my boyfriend's place.
- And in a later episode, when she answers the phone.
  Veronica: If you're wondering what I'm doing at this time of night, I'm hanging outside a convenience store, eating corn nuts and watching strippers.
School Newspaper News Hound: Veronica was on her high school newspaper staff as a photographer, and later did some actual journalizing herself. The school's television news program was a common sight. (This is not as unbelievable as it sounds; it's the only public school in a county filled with people who would be paying large metric buttloads of property and other taxes.) In college, she joined the newspaper, but didn't stay; the paper was hip-deep in the factionalization of the campus, and Veronica wanted no part.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Season 4 ends with Veronica leaving Neptune for good.
Second Year Protagonist: The series starts in Veronica's junior year, but When It All Began and many flashbacks are set in the previous year, while freshman year isn't mentioned much.
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: She's extremely well spoken and it shows through in her wit, although often dips into this.
Sleuth Dates Cop: Veronica has a private detective/ex-sheriff father. She doesn't always need him to get cases, but she did learn most of her sleuthing skills from him. Through part of season 1, she really did date a cop, who made regular appearances even after they broke up.
The Snark Knight: Veronica much prefers to snark than show her feelings, though it isn't the only reason she snarks, but she's also very proactive and protective of those she loves. Unlike most examples of this trope, she only becomes this after she's been pushed into it by her ostracization for standing by her father. Note her moral principles fall into a sense of justice and not letting the wealthy get away with crimes but she's loose on using deception to get her way. Such is the way of most Private Detective characters.
Standard Cop Backstory: Veronica fits a few of those points: her backstory include losing her best friend to murder, having been raped, and her mother abruptly leaving.
Static Stun Gun: Veronica's signature weapon is a taser that she often used to incapacitate opponents, as being a petite teen sleuth, she's too young to carry a firearm and too small to directly take on most opponents.
Stepford Snarker: In her sophomore year, she is ridiculed, outcast, and raped after the death of her best friend. In her junior year, she makes quips. She falls deeper and deeper into this as the series progresses (this is a Crapsack World, after all), but has grown out of much of the underlying hurt beneath her shell in the nine-year time skip to the movie.
Keith: I can't imagine where I'd be if you had gotten back on that bus [that crashed in season 2].
Veronica: You’d be sad for a while and then you'd probably turn my room into some sort of sewing nook or yoga studio.
Keith: (seriously) You don't have to make a joke, you know.
Veronica: Sure I do.
Used to justify California University and to continue Everyone Went to School Together in Season 3. Veronica got into Stanford in Season 2, but her Alcoholic Parent, Liane, stole her college fund after Veronica put it up for rehab. As a result, she has to go to Hearst because of the lower costs and since she got an academic scholarship. This is hand-waved in the movie, which reveals that Veronica transferred to Stanford after her first year at Hearst.
Surprise Incest: This is what she fears after learning her mother is unsure whether or not Jake Kane or Keith is her father. Cue Vomit Discretion Shot. Though her father is actually Keith.
Teen Genius: She's absolutely brilliant, being in the running for high school valedictorian. The only reason she doesn't go to an Ivy League school is because her chance at a scholarship by becoming valedictorian is ruined by her need to go to the trial of the man who killed her best friend, thus forfeiting her final exam grade.
10-Minute Retirement: In the summer between seasons 1 and 2 Veronica gives up on sleuthing. She can't keep it up for long. As the movie reveals, she takes a much longer one - lasting 9 years - after the events of season 3.
Tiny Tyrannical Girl: Despite being 5'1", she's very sharp and intimidating, and she carries a taser she's not afraid to use.
Tomboyness Upgrade: In the backstory, Veronica was shown to be a rather typical girl, who wore long dresses and hung out with girls and seemingly lacked interest in solving mysteries like her father did. Then, after the murder of her best friend and the ensuing raping she went through at a party, the show starts a year later, with her new best friend being a guy, her hair shorter, her style more masculine, and her big hobby being to take part in her father's PI work.
Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Apparently Veronica's preferred attire. She dresses in very army-inspired clothes and has short hair (ghost Lilly in one of Veronica's dreams even describes her wardrobe as "rocker chick"), but she will wear dresses and skirts and has cute jokes with Keith, like wanting a pony.
Took a Level in Badass: In her backstory she appears like much more of a stereotypical Valley Girl, as opposed to her current take-no-crap Snark Knight loner characterization.
Took A Level In Cynicism: In her backstory, after she was raped while grieving for Lilly.
Took a Level in Jerkass: She loses her good qualities during the 3rd season, which is a major reason why the season was criticized, as she is judgmental, superior, and downright nasty. Thankfully, she reverts back to the Heart of Gold side in the film.
Tragic Hero: If her backstory isn't enough, nothing goes right with her life, especially in the series finale. Even in the film, she has a better life than she had before and throws it away due to her compulsion to seek justice for her town. The tragedy is that she will never change her ways for a better life.
Trauma Conga Line: A few months before the show started, Veronica's boyfriend broke up with her for no reason. Then her best friend was brutally murdered. Then her dad got fired from his job as sheriff, and the related events made her a social pariah in school. Then her mom abandoned her without warning. Then she was drugged and raped at a party, and the new sheriff refused to even investigate. The end result is that she turns her from a popular, fun-loving high schooler to a jaded teen with no respect for authority.
Traumatic Haircut: In flashbacks to her innocent past as Lilly's best friend, she has long hair, but she cut it after her rape. She has short hair throughout Season 1 and then Season 2 and 3 show her gradually growing it out as she overcomes her pain.
Tsundere: An understandable example. Being ostracized by the 09ers and her first love Duncan left her with a massive chip on her shoulder that she exhibits by being extremely brusque and detached with her love interests (even to Logan in Season 4), but she can also be extremely protective and affectionate, it's just hard to get her there.
The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: A scene in season one has Abel Koontz, Lily Kane's supposed murderer who's now a death row inmate, taunt Veronica by asking if she really thinks she's the daughter of the schlubby sheriff. It turns out that she is, and this may seem like an unfair assessment of Keith, given how similar he and Veronica are.
Underestimating Badassery: The kids at Neptune High really have no excuse. The FBI does, but they still shouldn't. Sheriff Lamb, despite being a general moron, never underestimates her.
Unscrupulous Hero: Veronica’s intent is always to catch the bad guy, but her methods can range from manipulating an officer in order to steal evidence or eavesdropping on therapy sessions. Her motivation is almost always revenge rather than justice. She certainly enjoys her Kick the Dog moments, but her targets are always REALLY terrible people so the audience doesn't flinch too much.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: A non-villainous example. She used to be a fun-loving, sweet teen before shit hit the fan and turned her into an angry, cynical misanthrope.
Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World: After all, the premise of the show is Ordinary High-School Student solving crime.
What the Hell, Hero?: Has so many moments where she is called out for her actions, there might as well be a page of this trope dedicated to her.
When She Smiles: Especially in Season 1 she smiles so irregularly that when she genuinely smiles, it's beautiful.
Widowed at the Wedding: In Season 4, Logan gets blown up by a car bomb moments after he and Veronica marry.
Wild Card Excuse: "It's a project for health class" seems to be Veronica's go to excuse to slip all kinds of stuff past her dad.
Wise Beyond Their Years: Veronica is a private eye who not only makes a number of references that should really be beyond her range, but also regularly outsmarts many adult characters over the course of the show despite being a teenager. There is also the matter of her emotional duress which has granted her a cynicism more typical of a divorced adult.

Keith Mars

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vm_keith_8098.jpg

Portrayed By: Enrico Colantoni

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

"Who's your daddy?"

1x01 Pilot/1x22 Leave It To Beaver

The former sheriff and Veronica's father, who lost his job and the town's respect after accusing Jake Kane, the most loved man in Neptune, of murdering his daughter Lilly. While the Lilly Kane murder case is officially closed, Keith, like Veronica, is dedicated to finding out the truth... and protecting his own daughter.

Action Dad: If Veronica's in trouble, he'll kick into action to save her. Necessary in the Season 1 finale.
Back in the Saddle: Gets hired as a consultant for one episode to help Sheriff Lamb investigate a series of murders.
Being Good Sucks: At least once a season, Keith will be presented with a choice between what's best for him and what's right. He always chooses what's right, except the one time that Veronica is involved, at the end of Season 3. Notable examples include, standing by his guns that Abel Koontz was framed in Season 1, and turning down Woody's offer in Season 2.
Beware the Nice Ones: He's a soft-spoken, genuinely nice guy - unless matters of justice or Veronica's well-being are concerned.
Big Damn Heroes: Sometimes, Veronica will get in over her head, and he has ended up saving her life more than once.
The Cassandra: No-one will believe Abel Koontz didn't kill Lilly.
Catchphrase: "Who's your daddy?"
Dating Catwoman: Has some Unresolved Sexual Tension with Kendall Casablancas. Also much less so, but Veronica's mother is a flaky, unreliable, selfish alcoholic, so maybe it's a recurring weakness.
Deadpan Snarker: Like Veronica. So much so that they often get into Snark-to-Snark Combat.
Disney Death: In season 2, Beaver blows up the plane Keith was supposed to be on, making Veronica think her father is gone.
Dude, Where's My Respect?: All over the place after he saves Veronica from Aaron in the Season 1 finale and becomes famous from it — most notably in Season 3, when Jake Kane refuses to let him out of a tampering with evidence charge although he found and brought to justice his daughter's killer.
Fallen Hero: As far as the population of Neptune are concerned, but he gets better in Season 2 after it turns out he was right about Abel Koontz and he saves Veronica.
Famed In-Story: Although slightly less so than Veronica.
Good Parents: Clearly loves Veronica very much and will do whatever he can to keep her safe and happy. They're also very similar, as especially shown when he reassures her that she's not Jake Kane's daughter.
Hero with Bad Publicity: After he refuses to believe Abel Koontz is Lilly's murder, he loses his position, falls from grace, and ends up living an impoverished life with Veronica.
Impersonating an Officer: In the third season, Keith Mars, who was the former Sheriff of Neptune, dons his old uniform to grill two women for information. It fails when one of their friends recognizes him as the previous Sheriff and berates the other two for their ignorance. Later, there's a hilarious bit when Keith drives past the incompetent current Sheriff and gives him a mocking nod.
Meaningful Echo: The pilot establishes that "Who's your daddy?" is Keith's (somewhat oddball) way of saying he has his daughter's back. This is repeated twice later on: first is part way through the first season when Veronica's paternity is in question, he reveals after a test that he is indeed her biological father, and again in the last episode of season one where he rescues his daughter from being burned alive by the season's villain.
Morality Chain: He and Wallace keep Veronica from going too far into the abyss.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He is very much not a physically aggressive person...which makes him attacking the defence attorney who questioned Veronica's morals and insulted her in front of him, in open court, all the more significant.
Papa Wolf: Threaten Veronica's well being at your own peril.
Parent-Child Team: With Veronica in Mars Investigations, and in life more generally.
Parent with New Paramour - Twice with Keith Mars. The first is an attempted relationship with Veronica's guidance councelor, but he decides to call it off because Veronica is still coping with the loss of her mother after she abandoned them both. The second is with Wallace's mother, which lasts quite a bit longer. This one just weirds Veronica out for a while but she later warms to the idea when she sees how they're happy together.
Perpetual Poverty: Throughout Seasons 1 and 2 due to losing his position. Although he frequently gets large payouts, it's apparently not enough to recover their 09er position.
Platonic Prostitution: Keith goes to see a prostitute, but to get her to provide an alibi for Abel Koontz that he was 'elsewhere' on the night of Lilly Kane's murder.
Private Detective: What he becomes after getting fired from his Sheriff position.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Both as town sheriff and as Veronica's father. He is authoritative and concerned but tries to make sure right succeeds.
Running Gag: Several with Veronica, especially him (not) getting her a pony.
Self-Deprecation: Part of his dorky charm.
Stout Strength: He's stocky and got a bit of a gut, but he was the sheriff at one point and can kick some serious ass, notably winning a fight against the taller and much more imposing Aaron in the finale of the first season.
Teacher/Parent Romance: Subverted. Veronica's father Keith starts getting friendly with her guidance counselor, but he decides to break it off when it becomes clear that Veronica is not past her Missing Mom yet.
Tyrant Takes the Helm: Keith when he regains the position of sheriff. While generally a good guy, his response to underage drinking was way out of proportion to the actual problem. The deputies subsequently make no effort to enforce the law in this regard and pointedly ignore Keith's orders.
Virgin Vision: When Veronica comes back from sleeping with Duncan, Keith looks closely at her and says that she seems different.

Neptune High

Students

Wallace Fennel

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vm_wallace_7279.jpg

Portrayed By: Percy Daggs III

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

Veronica: Can you do me a weird favor without asking any questions?

Wallace: Is that not the bedrock upon which our friendship was founded?

1x01 Pilot

Veronica's living best friend, the new kid who she cut down from the flagpole after he was duct taped there by the PCHers. He's steadfastly loyal, and always doing Veronica favours.

Audience Surrogate: Asks the questions the audience would ask and says what the audience would say. The pilot is even his First Day At School Episode, so he's a Naïve Newcomer to Neptune and all Veronica's problems.
Because You Were Nice to Me: In the pilot, after Veronica cuts him down from the flagpole, Wallace sits with her at lunch, and when she later wonders why, given he's heard about her reputation, Wallace points out none of the other kids cut him down from the flagpole.
Beta Couple: With Jackie in Season 2.
Big Eater: Though to be fair, he's a basketball player, and needs the energy:
Wallace: The day of the back-to-school athletics banquet there were spirit boxes in our lockers. There weren't any brownies in there, but there were cookies.
Veronica: Did you eat one?
Wallace: I ate six.
Veronica: That's my Wallace.
Clear My Name: When accused of a hit-and-run that he failed to report.
Deadpan Snarker: On occasion.
Wallace: My first college party: drinking piña coladas with a dude and talking about math.
Disappeared Dad: who makes a comeback in season 2.
Fire-Forged Friends: He and Veronica become friends from the pilot after she rescues him from the flagpole where Weevil put him.
Girl Friday: Gender Flipped and therefore a Rare Male Example. Wallace is Veronica's Closer to Earth kind, levelheaded best friend, but he will help her out when she needs it.
Glorified Sperm Donor: His father, lampshaded by his mother, Alicia. It takes Wallace a little while to realise it, but eventually he does.
The Heart: Especially to Veronica, a role shared with Keith. He'll always be there for her.
I Never Got Any Letters: The thing that eventually brings Wallace around to his biological father.
The Lancer: To Veronica. Her foil as he's much less enthusiastic about investigating but will accompany her when she needs him.
Lovable Jock: A Nice Guy who's also one of the star players on the basketball team.
Morality Chain: To Veronica; he starts her on the path to softening up and making friends, and doesn't hesitate to give her a What the Hell, Hero? speech when it's deserved.
Morality Pet: One of the features in the early seasons. Even when Veronica was at her most embittered, she was always prepared to defend Wallace.
New Transfer Student: In the pilot, which is why he's initially unaware of Veronica's unsavory reputation.
Nice Guy: He doesn't care about status, and he chooses to be Veronica's friend even after she's told him not to be, all because she helped him when he needed it.
Only Sane Man: He usually gets dragged into situations by Veronica, only to point out how ridiculous or dangerous they are.
Out of Focus: In Season 3 and Season 4, unfortunately.
Put on a Bus: Temporarily in Season 2, in search of his father, on a literal bus. The Bus Came Back later that season.
Platonic Life-Partners: With Veronica.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The "blue" to Veronica's "red".
Rude Hero, Nice Sidekick: The "nice sidekick" to Veronica's "rude hero", Wallace is kind, gentle, and somewhat naive, while Veronica is ruthless, hardened, and cynical.
Shirtless Scene:
- In the pilot and the series finale. Despite being in good shape, both are examples of Fan Disservice because of the context.
- The one during the prom episode, however, is straight-up Fanservice.
Undying Loyalty: Veronica's schemes often either risk his job in school, complicate his relationship with his mom, or, in season 3, endanger his life. He doesn't seem to care. In the movie, he is one of the guys who jumps in to defend Veronica's honor at the school reunion after Madison plays the sex tape.
The Watson: As Veronica lampshades:
Elementary, my dear Wallace. Do you know how long I've been waiting to say that?
What the Hell, Hero?: Gives a big one to Veronica in season 2 right before she publicly humiliates Jackie where he calls her out for constantly using him in her ploys while caring very little about the toll it takes on his life, or caring much about his life in general.
Wallace: How about you do me a favor for once? Why does it have to be about you all the time? Have you been paying attention lately? I just learned that my whole life is a lie. My dad isn't my dad. I've always been the shoulder you can lean on. You've given me no time, no sympathy, nothing.

Duncan Kane

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vm_duncan_9796.jpg

Portrayed By: Teddy Dunn

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Veronica: One day, he just dumped me, with no warning...

1x01 Pilot

Veronica's aloof ex-boyfriend, Logan's best friend, and Lilly's (slightly younger) brother. Stays distant from Veronica, yet is more civil to her than most 09ers. It is clearly shown he's hiding things from everyone... but what?

Advertised Extra: Duncan Kane was written out midway through the second season, but his actor Teddy Dunn continued to get credited in the show's opening for that year. This notably did help hide his surprise return in the season finale where he paid an assassin to kill Aaron Echolls.
Artistic Licence Medicine: Duncan's "Type IV epilepsy" is fake, but his symptoms make him a plausible suspect in Lilly's murder.
Back for the Finale: Not the series finale, but he does reappear in the Season 2 finale.
Beardness Protection Program: Grows a beard when on the run the end of the season 1. It doesn't fool anybody
Betty and Veronica:
- The Betty (although still a dark one, given that he abandoned her), to Logan's Veronica for Veronica's Archie.
- The Archie for Meg's Betty and Veronica's Veronica.
Beware the Nice Ones: He orders the execution of Aaron Echolls.
Big Man on Campus: Rich jock who is extremely popular due to his parents' influence, which he shares with Logan.
Broken Ace: By the middle of Season 2, after Meg dies along with everything else he's been through.
Brother–Sister Incest: Zig-zagged. He's led to believe that Veronica is his half-sister, which is why he broke up with her. They're not siblings, though.
Bystander Syndrome: As Veronica angrily told him once, what he does best is "stand idly by". Character Development makes sure that this isn't really the case anymore by the time season 2 rolls around.
Dating What Daddy Hates: Part of the backstory before the series started was a gender flipped version. Duncan Kane's mother hates Veronica. Lilly states that Celeste would hate anyone that Duncan might love more than her. Lilly also warns that Celeste would do anything to break up Duncan and Veronica. Celeste tells Duncan that Veronica might be his 1/2 sister. He breaks up with her without telling her why. Veronica finds out on her own. Two DNA tests later (she throws one out without looking because Keith is her real Dad. Before opening the 2nd one she signs away her rights to the Kane fortune because Keith is her real Dad) it turns out they aren't 1/2 siblings and get back together for a while. It is unclear if Celeste really believes Veronica could be her husband's daughter or she just used it to break them up because she is obsessed with her son. In flashbacks Veronica's Mom and Duncan's Dad don't seem to have any concerns about the two dating. Jake's concern with Duncan and Veronica dating in "present" time seems to be more about knowing Keith doesn't believe that Lilly's murder has been solved, and Jake believing that Duncan accidentally killed his sister during a seizure.
Dead Guy Junior: He names his and Meg's daughter after Lilly.
Defector from Decadence: Eventually. When Meg gives birth and dies, he flees his privileged life with the baby.
Did Not Get the Girl: After his relationships with Veronica and Meg, He ends up neither of them.
Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: He becomes a "zombie" after Lilly's death.
Embarrassing Nickname: "Donut".
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Lilly was the wild child in the family, while Duncan was the responsible one.
Insane Equals Violent: He has type 4 epilepsy, which often manifests itself in rage fits, which makes him a suspect in Lilly's murder. Ultimately played with - he didn't kill Lilly, but he's still more prone to violence than he lets on.
Mistaken for Murderer: By his parents, Jake and Celeste, about Lilly's death, but he didn't do it. Rather than Better Manhandle the Murder Weapon, though, they think this because he held her body.
My God, What Have I Done? Subverted - he didn't do it. Twice.
Noble Male, Roguish Male: He's Noble (polite, well-spoken, a gentleman, a by-the-book boyfriend and a good student) to Logan's Roguish (hot-headed, snarky, prone to fighting and sleeping around).
No Medication for Me: Duncan spends most of an episode avoiding taking his antidepressants. After jumping off a set of bleachers and injuring his head and then having an atypically vivid daydream, he ends up deciding that he's better off taking them after all. However, unlike many other examples, he actually consults a doctor regarding going off the medication.
Papa Wolf: To save his daughter from her abusive, religious grandparents, he kidnaps her and flees to Australia - abandoning his friends, relatives, and status in the process.
Parental Favoritism: Jake and Celeste Kane preferred him over Lilly.
Playing Drunk: Veronica walks into a poker game, picks up a half-empty bottle that the clearly inebriated Duncan has been drinking from all night, and drains it in a single gulp. It was iced tea, and he was faking drunkenness as part of his poker strategy.
Princely Young Man: Heir to the wealthiest family in Neptune, and very popular at school.
Put on a Bus: The last we see of him, he's in Australia with his kid.
The Quiet One: He's rather taciturn even on good days.
Rage Breaking Point: Duncan spends most of season 1 dealing with one tragedy after another, first dealing with his sister Lily's death and the possibility he might be a murderer, a tearful confrontation with his ex Veronica and the admission he's madly in love with a girl he (mistakenly) believes to be his own sister, and then discovering that his best friend Logan is now seeing her. All it takes is for his car door to jam for him to fly into a blind fury.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Veronica gives him one with just one sentence: "You. Stand. Idly. By." On the surface, she's just saying that while he may not have been behind that mudslinging campaign against his principal opponent in the race for student council president, he allowed it to happen, but the subtext is that she's really letting him have it for standing by and doing nothing while all his friends trashed her reputation.
Red Herring: A lot is placed on his odd behavior around Lilly's death, but it turns out that he only found her body.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's mature and rational (blue) compared to manic Logan (red oni).
Spoiled Sweet: He's born into a family that has more money than they'd ever know what to do with, but he's still a pretty nice guy regardless, unlike most of the rich class in Neptune.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In "A Trip to the Dentist". He and Veronica have sex while both strung out on drugs, which she (understandably) mistakes for rape when she wakes up with no memory. He never intended to hurt her, but is accidentally responsible for her Heroic BSoD. Although retconned in Season 2, when it turns out she was raped, so Duncan's actions are not decent but ultimately not responsible for her mental state.

Logan Echolls

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vm_logan_7555.jpg

Portrayed By: Jason Dohring

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

Veronica: Every school has an obligatory psychotic jackass. He's ours.

1x01 Pilot

Lilly's boyfriend when she died, Duncan's best friend, and ringleader of the "Treat Veronica Like Crap" brigade, whom he blames for Lilly's death. Suffers under the thumb of his famous, abusive father, gains respect and love for Veronica over the course of the series

Alpha Bastard: Male version; a well-connected bully who flashes his wealth every which way. Moreover, while he's fond of a good fight, he generally prefers snide putdowns and messing with people's heads to acts of physical aggression.
Annoying Younger Sibling: Exasperation is older sister Trina's most commonly felt emotion towards him. It's partly his fault, because his usual forms of interaction with her (like with most other people) are sarcasm and biting humor.
Armour-Piercing Question: During his confrontation with the Season 2 Big Bad, Cassidy Casablancas, the question causes him to jump off a roof and leaves Logan in stricken silence. It's also a rare example of this trope in that the question itself seems to have as much impact on the person asking.
Logan: Cassidy, don't!
Cassidy: Why not?
Betty and Veronica: He's considered reckless and dangerous - thus the, ahem, Veronica to Duncan (and Leo, and Piz)'s Betty for Veronica's Archie.
Big Damn Heroes: He will go to the mat for anything he perceives as a betrayal, or for malintent toward his friends.And don't even try to mess with his V.
Brilliant, but Lazy: He really is quite clever (he did win Woody Goodman's essay competition) - but high levels of Dismotivation make him a rather poor student.
The Bully: He comes across that way in early episodes. From repeatedly insulting Veronica to her face, to smashing her car's headlights in retaliation to her own retaliation, to presumably being involved in the air being mysteriously let put of Veronica's tires, to just being needlessly obstructionist toward her, he certainly isn't friendly. Mostly grows out of it over the course of half a season.
Butt-Monkey: The show makes it its life-long goal to make sure Logan's life is miserable, right up there next to Veronica.
- His neglectful mother commits suicide, his abusive father turns out to be Lilly's murderer who also tried to murder Veronica and Keith, and then is assassinated (then there's the revelation that Lilly was cheating on him with said father...).
- His luck lands him in situations where he is, over the course of the story, wrongfully arrested for murder four separate times, which lead to an entire town being out to get him twice.
- Oh, and he ends the series on at least one organized crime family's hit list.
Celeb Crush: One of Logan's friends recalls that he used to have a crush on Rosie Perez as a kid, who showed up to one of his birthday parties (Logan's father is a fictional A-list actor named Aaron Echolls who frequents the same circles). However, he was pretty annoyed when she mistook him for a girl.
The Charmer: When he meets Hannah he tells her that she's like the hot daughter of a king he marries off to get, like, Denmark or something. She clarifies that he means a princess so he decides that's what he's going to call her now which makes her giggle. It takes a couple of hours of this after meeting her, and he has her wrapped around his little finger. Does a muted version of this to Parker around a season later.
Clear My Name: Winds up as a key suspect for at least three homicides, and a laundry list of smaller crimes (see Butt-Monkey above).
Commuting on a Bus: In the books, he's almost always out on missions. He comes back as a regular in Season 4, and then dies in the closing minutes.
Deadpan Snarker: Probably more than Veronica. You never know if he's going to be nice or mean, but you do know that he's going to say something funny.
Death Seeker: In the first season, he admits in a "confidential" counseling session that he'd have rather been there to help Lilly when she was murdered, even if it led to his own death. The first half of the second season sees him in an escalating war with the PCH biker gang, who presume him to be guilty of Felix's murder. Veronica even calls him out on it.
Distressed Dude: In season 2, when Logan gets kidnapped by the PCH gang, who threaten to castrate him.
Death Seeker: Has something of a death wish, highlighted most obviously in 1x22 'Leave It To Beaver' and 3x20 'The Bitch Is Back.' But with his background, can you blame him?
Desperately Craves Affection: His sucky home life drives him to find comfort in friendships instead - which is why Lilly's murder, Duncan's aloofness, and Veronica's "betrayal" came as a triple blow to him.
Doom Magnet: Every girlfriend ends up injured, dead, or hurt: Lilly in Season 1, Veronica gets almost killed by his father at the end of Season 1, and raped by his best friend's brother, Carrie Bishop/Bonnie Deville in The Movie.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: Gets blown up by Penn's last bomb in the final moments of Season 4.
Drowning His Sorrows: His relationship with alcohol definitely goes beyond "getting drunk at a party for fun". He even carries a flask to school for a Quick Nip.
Easily Forgiven: For bullying and slut shaming Veronica relentlessly throughout the first half of Season 1. (He is, however, disproportionately punished for sleeping with Kendall in Season 2 and Madison in Season 3.)
Et Tu, Brute?:
- Hearing that Veronica had told Lilly about his kissing another girl after the latter had blown him off, and that Veronica fully supported her father's investigation of Lilly's family in her murder case lead to him shunning Veronica from his elite teen social circle.
- A worse example occurs in the season 1 finale: Logan, held up at the police station as a suspect for Lilly's murder, calls Veronica (his girlfriend at the time) for help. She replies that she will help in whatever way she can. Cue Sheriff Lamb telling him that Veronica was the one who set him up to be arrested in the first place.
Femme Fatale: A very rare male example (uses sex as a weapon, can have shady motives, serves as a Love Interest / antagonist / client / suspect to the PI protagonist).
Fictional Fan, Real Celebrity: When he was a kid, Logan had a crush on Rosie Perez, so Aaron invited her to his birthday party.
Freudian Excuse: Between his abusive father and his mentality unstable alcoholic mother's suicide.
Get into Jail Free: Logan takes a tire iron to a police car in order to get thrown into a holding cell...with the guys who nearly raped Veronica. We get a nice Oh, Crap! look from them, and the scene ends.
Good-Looking Privates: becomes a fighter pilot in the Navy.
Hot-Blooded: Hoo boy. He's seen a lot of injustice firsthand and doesn't hesitate to punch it in the face.
Interrupted Suicide: In the season 1 finale, although it could be argued he was just being his usual manic self and wasn't actually planning to jump off the bridge.
Invulnerable Knuckles: Logan is seen after at least one fight with bleeding knuckles. One person he beat up mentioned that he had bruised Logan's knuckles pretty badly with his face.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's an extremely racist and classist bully, yet also passionately loyal.
Killed Off for Real: After many brushes with death - his abusive father turning out to be a murderer, getting beaten nearly to death at the end of Season 1, the PCHers playing Russian roulette with him in Season 2, held at gunpoint by Cassidy/Beaver at the end of Season 2 — he's ultimately blown up by a car bomb at the end of Season 4.
Knight in Shining Armor: At his best, he's deeply protective of those he cares about. This is actually part of why he and Veronica can be incompatible: She (claims she) doesn't need someone looking over her shoulder.
Ladykiller in Love: First with Lilly, then with Veronica.
Lovable Rogue: He's a pretty shady character, yet you can't help but root for him.
Love Hungry: One of his key traits. With an abusive father who clearly favors his adopted daughter, and a neglectful Stepford Smiler for a mother...
Manly Tears: More so than any other character on the show.
Mr. Fanservice: Logan was never unattractive, but he was less of a beefcake and more of a brooding bad boy. Come Season 4, and the actor who portrays Logan has very noticeably bulked up in the 10 years between Season 3 and Season 4. The show does not waste the opportunity to show him shirtless.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Logan destroying the tapes that show his dad and Lilly having sex removes the only hard evidence against Aaron. The case then becomes a matter of "he said, she said" with Veronica, Keith, and Logan himself having to validate the tapes' (and thereby the illegal relationship between Aaron and Lilly that would destroy his career and give him a motive for murder) existence. They fail.
Noble Bigot: Logan says a great deal of offensive things, especially early in the series, though it's unclear just how much of it he actually believes and how much of it is just looking for a reaction. And yet, he's also genuinely heroic at times, and we root for him, and we cheer when he falls in love with Veronica and they become a couple.
Noble Male, Roguish Male: The Roguish to Duncan's Noble.
Only Friend: By season three, he and Dick are this for each other. Because no one else wants to hang out at Casa de Killer.
Parental Abandonment: mom killed herself, dad was (correctly) put on trial for murder and later killed).
Perpetual Poverty: Especially noticeable in Season 4, but creeping in in Season 3, especially as he went from having Infinite Supplies (as the son of two movie stars) to not being able to afford a home in Neptune. Exaggerated because he's also a pilot, which doesn't pay badly, either.
Puppy-Dog Eyes: For all his tough guy act, he sure can look like a kicked puppy.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's reckless and manic - the red to Duncan's blue. This is switched around so that he's the blue to Veronica's red in Season 4.
Reformed Bully: Formerly an unpleasant, violent, elitist prick with a massive chip on his shoulder due to his abusive home life and grief, he gradually becomes a much better person through the influence of Veronica and her friends and joining the military. By the time Season 4 rolls around, he's got a good job and is much more disciplined and kind, only throwing punches when defending himself or others.
"Risky Business" Dance: Does one in "Russkie Business" at a school event. With no pants on. Subverted in that he's acting out of drunkenness and distress rather than happiness.
Sour Outside, Sad Inside: His sourness is how he compensates for his abusive past.
Spiky Hair: Befitting the mid-00s fashions of the time from Season 1 and Season 3.
Stepford Snarker: He's extremely sharp-tongued and witty, masking his unhappiness at home.
Took a Level in Badass: In the first three seasons, he was Unskilled, but Strong and his main method in a fight was to basically keep attacking until either he or his opponent stopped twitching. Once he joins the Navy and learns military style martial arts ^note, he becomes a lot more graceful and deft in a fight, to the point where he takes down two hired thugs in a way that would make Buffy Summers proud.
Took a Level in Jerkass: Logan Echolls became a grade-a jackass in between the prologue and the pilot episode. He, Duncan Kane, Veronica and his girlfriend Lilly Kane all used to be friends. After Lilly was mysteriously murdered Logan turned on Veronica when her dad, sheriff Keith Mars, publically accused Lilly's father. He started hating Veronica with a passion and is even partly responsible for Veronica getting roofied and raped at a party, while being an openly elitist prick and doing such things like organizing bum fights for kicks. Even his best friend Duncan eventually starts to get sick of it. Veronica lampshades it by calling him a "psychotic jackass" in the pilot, but it's later revealed that Logan is lashing out due to severe physical abuse from his father Aaron. Over time he becomes a Jerk with a Heart of Gold instead.
Took a Level in Kindness: Joining the Navy and growing into adulthood mellows him out substantially. He's now much less likely to solve his problems by throwing punches, and is generally more of a chill person.
Troubled Abuser: Logan torments Veronica, provides the drugs that are used in her rape, and arranges such deranged activities as "bum fights." Despite being one of her biggest tormenters, he eventually became Veronica's boyfriend. He became woobified, as large portions of the audience chose to excuse his actions on the basis of the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father.
Troubled, but Cute: He's an entitled rich kid prone to self-destructive behavior and bullying, who winds up as a murder suspect with alarming regularity and has some serious daddy issues - but also a heart of gold and good timing for Big Damn Heroes moments. He also gets his share of lady-attention.
- This is ultimately deconstructed throughout the series. On several occasions, Logan's penchant for violence and fits of rage drives Veronica away. It isn't until years later, with naval training and regular therapy sessions, that he and Veronica are finally able to make it work.
Undying Loyalty: One of his central qualities. If he believes you care about him, he will walk through fire for you.
The Un-Favourite: His father Aaron dotes on adopted daughter Trina, while his attitude towards Logan fluctuates between indifference and beatings / threats. He doesn't know his birthday.
Villainous Valor: Even at his douchiest, one thing he never is is a coward. The first episode sees him stubbornly continuing to sass Weevil even while Weevil is beating him up with his entire gang at his back.
Vitriolic Best Buds: He's very critical towards Dick, but they're still best friends and have been ever since high school.
Will They or Won't They?: With Veronica, throughout basically the entire show and much of the movie. They do.
Wrongful Accusation Insurance: Numerous times, like when he's accused of Lilly's murder at the end of Season 1 and messing with the PCHers in Season 2.

Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vm_mac_7870.jpg

Portrayed By: Tina Majorino

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

"Crime pays. Technologically assisted mystery-solving? Costs."

2x08 Ahoy, Mateys!

Veronica's quirky, highly-skilled hacker friend, who she met trying to find out who posted false results on an internet "Purity Test" - a test Mac herself had designed. She has tendencies toward being slightly amoral, but cutely so.

Alone with the Psycho: With Beaver in season 2.
Badass Bookworm: She's by no means someone who participates in a fight (usually that role falls to Logan, Veronica, or Weevil), but she's certainly badass enough to hack an extremely protected hard drive owned by Jake Kane, who's the man who's Neptune's answer to Bill Gates, he's shocked that Veronica has the information on it.
Beta Couple: With Cassidy in Season 2, although he turns out to be a mass murderer at the end, so it doesn't work out.
Boyish Short Hair: In The Movie.
Brainy Brunette: A brilliant computer hacker and dark-haired, although she has a quirky color in it, different per season.
Break the Cutie: Dating a mass murderer will do that to you.
Deadpan Snarker: Although a much lighter version than Veronica, she's very witty.
Disney Death: for a second it seems like Beaver may have killed her, although he was thankfully just screwing with Veronica.
She's in a better place.
Do Not Call Me "Paul": Cindy Mackenzie much prefers her nickname, Mac.
Endearingly Dorky: She's an easily-flustered, shy hacker and a sweet perpetual smiler. Cassidy, Butters, and Max find her attractive.
Friendly Rivalry: With Cassidy in Season 2 over who is smarter, which clearly leads to their relationship.
Geeky Turn-On:
- Mac and Max get into an "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better" conversation about whether Mac can take down Max's term-paper-selling website. Logan picks up on the subtext and wonders if he could sell tickets for this "hot nerd-on-nerd action."
- When Mac sees the supercomputer, she remarks "Hello, lover!"
High-School Hustler: She earns quite a bit of cash doing odd tech-related favors for the student body.
In the Blood: Exaggerated, possibly with unintentional comedy as it seems like she inherited every trait from her birth parents.
Lovable Rogue: Her Establishing Character Moment is helping Veronica quell the chaos started by the purity test - a test which Mac herself created in order to earn some cash.
Modesty Bedsheet: "Mars, Bars". When we find Mac in bed with her boyfriend, the sheet covers him at the waist, though she has the sheet cinched tight clear up to her neck.
Nonconformist Dyed Hair: Anti-authoritarian Playful Hacker Mac has brunette hair, but she also has a different color in streaks every season: blue in Season 1, red in Season 2, and blonde-yellow in Season 3. By the time of the movie, she has short fully blonde hair to reflect her "selling out" to Jake Kane, though she eventually comes back to working with Veronica.
Only Known by Their Nickname: She disliked her given name and it rarely pops up.
Out of Focus: Somewhat in Season 3, as she and Wallace were meant to have a mystery arc revolving around them, until the episode order got cut. Tina Majorino opted not to come back for Season 4 as Mac would be marginalised again.
Paralyzing Fear of Sexuality: Mac describes herself as "frozen from the waist down" since a traumatic episode. She and her boyfriend had planned a special night to lose their virginity together. Just before the event, she takes a shower while he waits in bed for her. When she comes out of the shower, he is gone. It turns out that he is a serial killer and rapist, and he left to kill Veronica because she had figured out he was the culprit. However, she subsequently seems to get over this fairly easily, with little on-screen explanation.
Playful Hacker: Talented in all thing computer-related, but never malicious.
Princess in Rags: The revelation that she was switched at birth with the millionaire Madison and the Sinclair family turns her into this, somewhat unfairly. Her parents might not have been the richest but they're never shown to be abusive.
Promotion to Opening Titles: In Season 3.
Put on a Bus: In Season 4, Mac has left Neptune for Istanbul (her actress having other commitments).
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Downplayed as both are determined and somewhat amoral characters, but Mac (shy, kind, quiet) functions as the "blue" to Veronica (fiery, dark, troubled), in a role reversal of Veronica's friendship with Lilly.
Settle for Sibling: If her Ship Tease with Dick panned out.
Ship Tease: With Dick in the final episode.
The Smart Guy: A source of tech help for Veronica. In the film she starts working at Mars Investigations.
Switched at Birth: With Madison Sinclair, of all people.
Techno Wizard: She also uses a Magical Computer.
Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Despite her increasingly androgynous style, she enjoys doing girlier things too and cleans up nicely during important events.
Window Love: With her real mother, who is apparently Madison Sinclair's. They emotionally touch "through" the car window.

Dick Casablancas

Richard "Dick" Casablancas II

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vm_dick_3434.jpg

Portrayed By: Ryan Hansen

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Veronica Mars (film)

Logan: You're not real complicated, are you Dick?

Dick: Try not to be.

2x11 Donut Run

One of Logan's rich "friends", Dick's life revolves around sex, alcohol, food and surfing, likely in that order. And he is stupid. Very. Stupid.

Ascended Extra: He started out with a one-line part in episode 2 of season 1 and got main character billing in the subsequent seasons.
Big Brother Bully: Physically and emotionally abusive towards Beaver.
Break the Haughty: His younger brother's crimes and suicide leave him a slightly humbler and nicer person.
Boisterous Bruiser: Very loud, very energetic, and very extroverted.
The Bully: Just generally a dickhead.
Butt-Monkey: There's almost no end to Dick's suffering. His younger brother was a master criminal who committed suicide as a teenager, his dad goes to prison, he's left more or less alone by everyone except Logan, his father goes to prison then returns to be blown up... However, it's justified because Dick is an asshole.
Cain and Abel: He constantly teases and humiliates Cassidy, appearing to make him the Cain to his Abel. However, it turns out that Cassidy is much more Cain, as a violent, unrepentant murderer, which is partially encouraged by Dick's (Abel's) treatment.
Calling the Old Man Out: After Cassidy's rampage and suicide, he does this to his father (and himself) for bullying him.
Casanova Wannabe: By the time graduation rolls around, no girl in Neptune High or Hearst College wants anything to do with him. Doesn't stop him from trying to score.
Dumb Blonde: A male example of a blond, shallow frat boy.
Dumb Is Good: 'Good' may be overstating it, but he certainly gets a lot more sympathetic treatment despite his horrible actions, like bullying Veronica (and Beaver), and assisting in Veronica's rape, especially in comparison to his Teen Genius brother.
Dumb Muscle: Definitely more brawn than brain.
Easily Forgiven: He tried to drug Madison, which resulted in Veronica's drugging and rape pre-season, and then it's revealed that he convinced Cassidy to rape her. Finally subverted by Season 3, when he isn't prepared to forgive himself.
Failure-to-Save Murder: Although it never becomes an actual storyline, it's implied that Dick blames Logan (and himself) for not stopping Cassidy's suicide.
Dick: Hey, Logan. The night my brother jumped off the roof, did you, like, try and stop him?
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Deconstructed between Cassidy and Dick. Cassidy appears to be much more responsible, intelligent, and levelheaded than Dick, but he's an insane murder and after he commits suicide, Dick has to take at least some responsibility for Cassidy's actions, and it seems like he never really recovers, judging by his comments in The Movie.
Fratbro: Unintelligent and loves to party. Although he doesn't become an actual fratbro until he goes to Hearst.
Full-Name Basis: Mostly by Veronica, although he's rarely called Richard, which is his full name. Rule of Funny in full effect here.
Heel–Face Turn: He becomes more bearable to be around after season 2.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The Trauma Conga Line of Season 2 makes him a nicer person.
Karma Houdini: He drugs Veronica specifically so Cassidy can rape her. Yet, frustratingly, he and Veronica still become friends despite this. And Susan Knight's overdose, for that matter - he passed out before the whole ordeal happened and was never the wise.
Only Friend: By season three, he and Logan are this for each other. Because no one else wants to hang out at Casa de Killer.
Red Herring: In Season 2 - Betina's voicemails from him are just a Red Herring. Season 3 presents him as a much straighter version during the Hearst College Rapist plotline, during which he's wandering around drunk and accusing himself of doing something terrible. It was "just" guilt over his brother's suicide in Season 2.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red (extroverted, loud, brawny) to Cassidy's blue (introverted, brainy, cultured).
Sibling Yin-Yang: Dick is boisterous, dumb and a bully, while his younger brother Beaver is quiet, very clever and often victimized.
Sour Supporter: Of Veronica; he'll help her with an investigation, but not without trading insults the whole time.
Stealth Insult: Of a sort - it's still Dick. Come season 2, he loves to insist on how delighted he is that Veronica - who loathes him - is back in his group of friends.
Dick: Would you and your girlfriend, whose quick wit I find enchanting, like to take a trip back in style?
Stepford Smiler: In the film, he mentions being prescribed marijuana for depression; it's never made clear if he's joking or not.
The Stoner: By the time of the movie, he smokes a lot of weed.
Surfer Dude: Not only does he surf - he has the looks to go along with the hobby.
Undying Loyalty: Surprisingly to Logan, which gets namedropped in Season 1:
Dick: (about Logan's fake alibi) To the grave, remember, Beav?
Upper-Class Twit: Very rich, very dumb.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Although it's usually Logan doing the chewing out, this seems to be the case for Dick and Logan and, by Season 4, Dick and Veronica.
Viva Las Vegas!: He gets married in Vegas in season 3.

Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vm_beaver_1424.jpg

Portrayed By: Kyle Gallner

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

"My name is Cassidy!"

2x22 Not Pictured

Dick's quiet, nervous, secretive younger brother, domineered by his brother and neglected by his father - but he's hiding more...

Abusive Parents: The two Dicks - Sr and Jr - used to compete as to who could make Beaver cry first. His mom does love him, but is usually away in Europe because of Dick Sr.'s pull.
Alliterative Name: Cassidy Casablancas.
All of the Other Reindeer: He seems completely isolated at school except for Dick's friends, who tolerate him, until he meets Mac.
Armor-Piercing Response: Or, rather, an armour piercing silence. When Cassidy asks for one reason not to commit suicide, Logan can't answer, so he goes ahead and does it, although he seems genuinely upset about it.
Ascended Extra: First appears at the end of season 1 as Dick's groupie, gets main character billing in the next season.
Ax-Crazy: Kills a busload of classmates.
Asshole Victim: He raped Veronica and was responsible for the bus crash, so it's hard to feel bad for him when he jumped off the roof.
Badass Bookworm: Although eventually revealed to be an evil one, he still masterminded several plots, including exposing his father's fraud.
Big Bad: Turns out to be responsible for the bus crash in Season 2.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He was introduced as a shy, decent kid until the season two finale of him being a mass murder and a rapist to Veronica.
Bullying a Dragon: The Reveal turns most of his treatment into this. Dick and his father constantly mock him, nobody has a high opinion of him, Woody raped him, but he's also a Teen Genius who is more than capable of forming an Evil Plan.
Cain and Abel: With Dick. Revealed to be the Cain after The Reveal, but he never actually tries to kill or hurt him. But it's still clear he blames Dick for most of the terrible things in his life.
The Chessmaster: He orchestrated a bus crash, for starters.
Connected All Along: To Woody, who abused him and got him on his Start of Darkness.
The Cracker: Downplayed, but his hacking ability leaves him able to plan his crimes and discover his father's.
Cute and Psycho: A sweet, shy boy who murdered a busload of classmates.
Disney Villain Death: He is shown jumping off the Neptune Grande, but his body is never shown and only the car alarm is heard, confirming that he's dead.
Disproportionate Retribution: The first time we see this trait of his is in the middle of season 2, when he sets his older brother up for un Unsettling Gender-Reveal situation because Dick embarrassed him in front of his girlfriend Mac, and it also turns out to be his whole motive for the events of Season 2.
The Dog Was the Mastermind: Killing incorporation was his idea. Bombing the bus and blackmailing Woody Goodman to make it happen was his doing.
Downfall by Sex: Of the Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil variety. If he hadn't raped Veronica and given her chlamydia two years before, he might've been able to escape detection for the bus crash, given that it was what caused her to have the Oh, Crap! reaction when she realized he was on Woody's Little League team.
Driven to Suicide: Jumps to his death to avoid arrest and prosecution.
Embarrassing Nickname: Which is probably a jab at his perceived unmanliness.
Endearingly Dorky: A shy and somewhat dorky teen genius. Mac develops a crush on Cassidy when helping him to set up his own illegal property company. After breaking up, they even hook up again due to arguing over the best way to tutor Weevil. It gets lampshaded multiple times as a major appeal of both characters. In Cassidy's case, it's at least partially an act, to detract from the fact that he's a sociopathic mass murderer.
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: He's a mass murderer, but it's clear that he cares about his real mom (who apparently lives somewhere in Europe) when she briefly visits her two sons following their dad's flight from the authorities.
Evil Counterpart: To Veronica. They were both raped and went through a lot of shit, but unlike him, she didn't take it out on other people. Also in intelligence. Cassidy is one of the few other characters to really outsmart Veronica. It's shown several times in "Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang" when he hires her to tail Kendall, Cassidy takes one look at the photos she brings him and notices that the bags have switched and declares that it's not enough to prove she's cheating - then later, beats her in the fake stocks competition - minor things but good clues to later events.
Face Death with Dignity: After Logan and Veronica get the upper hand over him, he calmly jumps to his death.
Freudian Excuse: Jerked around by his father and older brother. For years. And raped by Woody too.
Insistent Terminology: He hates being called "Beaver', understandably.
Lonely Rich Kid: If you don't count his brother and his brother's friends, Beaver has exactly one friend.
Paralyzing Fear of Sexuality: When dating Mac, Cassidy wouldn't do much more than hold hands, because of his molestation as a child.
Puppy-Dog Eyes: Big, sad, masking homicidal urges. He doesn't even really try and use them, but he just always looks like that.
The Quiet One: Starts the series as an almost wordless fixture orbiting Dick.
Rape as Backstory: Was molested by his Little League coach.
Rape Leads to Insanity: Partially realistic example. He's desperate to hide the fact that Woody abused him, which leads to him crashing the bus. But that doesn't explain his rape of Veronica.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue (smart, introverted, rational) to Dick's red (reckless, dumb, extraverted).
Sibling Yin-Yang: Shy, quiet, wounded to Dick's loud, boisterous Stepford Smiler.
Teen Genius: His business acumen is quite remarkable. As is his capacity for masterminding mass murder.
Troubled Abuser: Both a victim of molestation and a perpetrator of rape.
The Unfavorite: His father preferred boisterous Dick to bookish Beaver. In fact, Dicks Sr and Jr would compete as to who could make Beaver cry faster.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Averted; Word of God says that, during his childhood, he once killed Dick's pet in revenge - which shows just how far back his issues go.
Walking Spoiler: Which is understandable, considering he's the Big Bad in season 2.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: Although his father could hardly appear less interested - even ignoring an eager wave in class - Beaver seems to genuinely want to impress him, which is part of the reason why he reveals Dick Snr's scam and gets even further reviled. Even if Beaver set Veronica up to discover the truth knowingly, he still seems genuinely hurt by his father's continued rejections.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: He was molested, belitted, picked on by his family, and abandoned by his mother. It causes him to go crazy and a blow up a Bus Full of Innocents.

Jackie Cook

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vm_jackie_2547.jpg

Portrayed By: Tessa Thompson

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

"That was pretty fatherly. Almost like you've been saying my name in exasperation for years."

2x02 Driver Ed

Wallace's Rich Bitch Love Interest, daughter of famous baseball star Terrence Cook. When her father is accused of the bus crash, she grows ostracized, yet she and her father grow closer... for a time.

Beta Couple: With Wallace throughout Season 2.
Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Jane's Betty and Wallace's Archie.
Break the Haughty: A good part of her Character Development. After her father is accused of murder and she's ostracized by the school. It's actually very similar to Veronica's situation pre-season 1, except, while Veronica learned to toughen up, Jackie learned a little humility.
Clingy Jealous Girl: She's jealous of Wallace's friendship with Veronica and thinks that the latter is trying to stake a claim on the former.
Fallen Princess: Once her dad is accused on murder, she becomes ostracized by the Neptune High student body.
Family Relationship Switcheroo: Her "little brother" is actually her son.
Honey Trap: She pulls this stunt to clear Wallace's name.
If You Ever Do Anything To Hurt Him: On the receiving end of a serious one from Veronica about hurting Wallace.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's very standoffish and petty, rubbing Veronica the wrong way immediately, and doesn't make any effort to connect with her father initially. Along with her Pet the Dog moment below, she also genuinely cares for Wallace, helps Veronica on a few cases, forms a reasonably strong relationship with her father, and ultimately returns home to parent her child.
Lovable Alpha Bitch: Somewhat of an Informed Attribute. Jackie is supposed to be this, but Veronica actually has good reason to distrust her, as she is constantly mistreating Wallace. But Wallace hardly ever wavers.
Mafia Princess: Downplayed but there's a lot of suggestions that her father Terrence had something to do with the bus crash.
Pet the Dog: She asks the school's mentally disabled boy to a dance with her, and has a very nice time with him there.
Princess in Rags: The Season 2 finale reveals her to be one. While she lived with Terrence for a while, she's actually a teen mom with a young son who works as a disrespected waitress.
Put on a Bus: decides to return to her mom and child and leaves Neptune.
Rags to Riches: She's Terrence's daughter from a one-night stand with a waitress, who gets the opportunity to live the perfect life for a while.
Rich Bitch: Actually subverted. It turns out that while her dad may be rich, she actually grew up with her single mom in Brooklyn and worked as a waitress. Veronica, naturally, sees through her "rich gal" cover and encourages her to tell Wallace the truth.
Sassy Black Woman: Downplayed. Jackie is very snarky, but this is par for the course for the show - most importantly, she also sasses Veronica.
Spoiled Brat: Or so she appears, although she eventually turns out to be compensating for her own poverty.
Spotting the Thread: In the season 2 finale, Jackie tells Wallace she's going to attend the Sorbornne in Paris. However, Veronica calls Jackie up at her real home in a small apartment in Brooklyn. It turns out Jackie's dad may be rich but she and her mom grew up poor as her dad didn't want to acknowledge her and her mom was too proud to ask for money. Veronica relates to Jackie that she figured it out when Jackie worked at the Java Hut as she took to waitressing far too easily for someone from the East Side who never had a job before. Veronica also knew that a 3.1 GPA was nowhere near high enough to get into the Sorbornne and encourages Jackie to tell Wallace the truth before the latter heads to Paris to find her.
Took a Level in Kindness: After the disastrous Homecoming Dance.
What Happened to the Mouse?: In theory, she should have appeared in Veronica Mars as she graduated in 2006, but she doesn't appear past Season 2.
You Hate What You Are: The only possible explanation for Jackie's snobbishness and rudeness despite [Jackie herself being an impoverished single mother in reality.

Meg Manning

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vm_meg_7626.jpg

Portrayed By: Alona Tal

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | Mr. Kiss and Tell

"You have friends, Veronica."

1x08 Like A Virgin

An 09er girl who actually remained friendly to Veronica after the Lilly Kane case, and needs her help occasionally. Meg's kindness earns Veronica's hard-to-win trust, to the extent Veronica would believe cartoon birds braided Meg's hair.

Added Alliterative Appeal: A very popular, kind, 09er with an alliterative name.
Backstabbing the Alpha Bitch: Inverted for real. Meg is a kind popular one, which makes her friends are the mean ones and they betrayed her, For Pam for creating a fake purity test to humiliate Meg and for Kimmy, because she's jealous of Meg's sucess.
Betty and Veronica: The Betty (sweet, wholesome) to Veronica's, uh, Veronica (Troubled, but Cute) and Duncan's Archie.
Broken Ace: Oh Meg, she's one of the most popular girls in the 09ers who is sweet, is the cheerleader at Neptune High School. But, It leads to her downfall when she gets pregnant with Duncan's baby.
Class Princess: One of the most popular girls, but also genuinely kind and wholesome.
Clear My Name: In a mild example, she has to clear a reputation of "The School Slut" in her first episode.
Convenient Coma: She survives the bus crash for a while, but can't tell anyone what happened.
Cynic–Idealist Duo: Meg is the idealist to Veronica's cynic in a big way, with the added foil that Meg appears to be Veronica pre-being raped and traumatized by Lilly's death.
Forgotten Fallen Friend: Meg is a major part of the first half of Season 2, but after she dies and Duncan takes her baby, she is only seen once more and never mentioned specifically. Veronica doesn't even mention her when she's confronting the killer at the end of the season.
The Gwen Stacy: To both Duncan and Veronica - her death leaves them heartbroken and searching for justice.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Blonde, sweet, wholesome.
Kill the Cutie: In Season 2. She's essentially the nicest 09er and is only ever somewhat mean and dismissive towards Veronica in Season 2, episode 1, under immense stress of hiding her pregnancy by Veronica's now-boyfriend, Duncan. Other than that, she's basically perfect, and she eventually dies from an aneurysm from the bus crash.
My Girl Is Nota Slut: Not just a romantic version, unfortunately for Meg. Nobody - neither her family, her boyfriend, or any of the school - reacts well to her (false) reputation that the sweet, virginal Meg has actually been sleeping around, although she hasn't been.
My Secret Pregnancy: Is pregnant by Duncan in Season 2.
Nice Girl: Despite her popularity, she's really a good and kind-hearted person, and she's the only 09er who's been friendly to Veronica.
Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Israeli actress Alona Tal manages to hold an American accent for most scenes but in the scene where Duncan is dreaming about her, she clearly slips into an accent.
Put on a Bus: Enters a Convenient Coma after—appropriately enough—being put on a school bus that crashes.
Sacrificial Lion: In the bus crash; she's the main character that the audience knows and cares about.
Someone to Remember Him By: Gives birth before dying, then Duncan has to protect the baby.
Stepford Smiler: A more realistic example as she is genuinely very, very sweet, but she's also dealing with a lot, like her fluctuating reputation, her abusive parents, and her teen pregnancy.
Token Good Teammate: To the '09ers.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: A sweet character like her couldn't really last long in Neptune.
Took a Level in Jerkass: In the first episode of season 2. At first it seems like she's jealous of Duncan getting back with Veronica, but later episodes reveal that she's pregnant with Duncan's baby and the ensuing stress really gets to her.

Lilly Kane

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vm_lilly_9942.jpg

Portrayed By: Amanda Seyfried

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

"My soul is doomed to walk the Earth until justice has been served... and as kind of a side project, I dispense fashion advice."

1x06 Return Of The Kane

Veronica's dead best friend and Duncan's older sister, whose murder starts the circumstances that start the show. Despite being dead, she often appears from Veronica's subconscious to offer advice on her murder.

All Gays are Promiscuous: A variant; Lilly is bisexual, as she would've been with a woman in Vassar if she'd lived, but she also really, really, really got around.
All Girls Want Bad Boys: Has a relationship (or at least had sex with) Logan, Weevil, and Aaron.
Backup from Otherworld: She is a major motivator in the solving of her own murder. At first it seems like the "Lily" that Veronica and Duncan have visions of is just their imagination, but in season two, she appears at a time when no-one is thinking about her to save V's life.
But Not Too Bi: A throwaway line in the Season 2 finale reveals that she would have been in Vassar with her ex's girlfriend if she hadn't died, but all of her sexual relationships (and there are loads) are with men on-screen: Logan, Weevil, and Aaron.
Everyone Loves Blondes: Nobody could resist the very blond Lilly.
Excellent Judge of Character: She recognized what no one else did about Veronica before her transformation- that Veronica's personality is an adaptive one, and when the sun goes down, her claws will come out. This was why she suggested the girl wear a red dress.
Expy: Of Laura Palmer. She's a teenage girl, who wasn't as sweet and as wholesome as the public was allowed to believe, and her mysterious murder sparks off the plot of the series.
Fille Fatale: Very sexually experienced, very seductive and had a fling with Aaron Echolls, and others.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Where Duncan is a model son, Lilly's the wild child of the Kane family.
The Gwen Stacy: Although Lilly's death was a murder and therefore Veronica knows she isn't responsible, both she and Keith feel this way about their inability to catch her killer (and, in Keith's case, failing to stop an innocent man from confessing).
Kill the Cutie: Initially Lilly, the character who dies before the beginning of the first season, would count as an example, since she was a young attractive teenager who got her head smashed in with an ashtray, though she becomes arguably less of a 'cutie' during some of the later flashbacks as her innocence level drops.
Lovable Alpha Bitch: She may not be a sweet all-American girl, but she's fun and good-hearted.
Magnetic Hero: Although Lilly isn't a hero per se, she is ultimately the character who brings everyone together:
- She and Veronica were best friends. Therefore, Veronica was part of the 009 crowd despite not really being wealthy enough to be there. Veronica also dated her younger brother, Duncan, in the past and present.
- She was Logan's girlfriend, which brings both Duncan and Veronica in contact with him and causes a great deal of angst for Veronica.
- She and Weevil had a brief fling, which draws Veronica towards the very dangerous PCHers.
Manic Pixie Dream Girl: She was Veronica's much cooler best friend, who was mostly known for how edgy and attractive she was, and she played this role for Logan and Weevil.
Missing White Woman Syndrome: Weevil mentions that shortly after her murder, a little girl from his neighborhood named Marisol Reyes disappeared, but she didn't warrant the same amount of media coverage or therapy sessions for the students. (The issue, of course, runs somewhat deeper - Lilly was the daughter of a local celebrity, and brutally murdered whereas Reyes simply disappeared).
Not Too Dead to Save the Day: In the season two premiere, the ghost of Lilly Kane shows up to lead Veronica away from the doomed bus, saving her life.
Plot-Triggering Death: Her murder opens the pilot and starts Veronica on her journey.
Posthumous Character: She's dead before the series starts, and is only seen in flashbacks or present-day visions of the living characters.
Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: With Veronica, which culminates in a sad scene in the Season 1 finale.
(Veronica dreaming of her and Lilly floating in a lake surrounded by water lilies)
Lilly: Isn't it better? This?
Veronica: So much better. This is how it's supposed to be.
Lilly: Totally.
Veronica: This is how it's going to be from now on. Right, Lilly!
Lilly: (giving Veronica a melancholy smile) You know how things are going to be now, you have to know.
Veronica: (pleading) Just like this...
Lilly: Don't forget about me, Veronica.
(Veronica looks up, and Lilly's gone)
Veronica: (tearfully) I could never.
Really Gets Around: She had slept with Weevil, Logan, Aaron just to name people in the main cast.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red (take-no-shit, sexual, fun) to Veronica's blue (sweet, shy), which inspires Veronica to Take a Level in Badass after her death.
Sex Equals Death: Lilly is the most sexual character in the show and she is dead before the show even starts.
Small Role, Big Impact: Although Lilly has a bigger role than some Disposable Women, especially in Season 1, she also has a much bigger role in story than her actual appearances. For example, her and Weevil only dated briefly, but it causes Weevil to lose his position amongst the PCHers, and once the Season 1 investigation has concluded, the trial of her murderer, Aaron, takes up a hefty chunk of Season 2.
Spirit Advisor: Appears to Veronica in ghost form and helps her with the investigation.
The Unfavorite: Her parents loved Duncan and tolerated her.

Madison Sinclair

Portrayed By: Amanda Noret

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | Mr Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

"Regular soda? Why don't you just fill the cup with lard?"

1x21 A Trip to the Dentist

A Neptune High student, and one of Veronica's main rivals.

Age-Gap Romance: She had one with Lamb.
Alpha Bitch: Vapid, stupid, and rude to everyone she knows, extremely entitled because of her rich parents, and absolutely vindictive towards people she's taken a dislike to, particularly Veronica. In The Movie, even 10 years after they've all left high school she still thinks she's God's gift to the world and perceives V to be her personal nemesis.
Arch-Enemy: Veronica has many enemies, all for various reasons, but Madison Sinclair is the one person Veronica truly hates with a passion. Even after almost a decade of not seeing each other, there is still no love lost between them.
Dumb Blonde: Not too dumb to be seriously vicious, but still she fulfils this trope. (Which she also shares with her on/off boyfriend, Dick.)
Future Loser: Stated by Veronica, especially in contrast to Veronica herself in The Movie, although we don't see enough of her to back this up.
Hate Sink: Remains cruel and spiteful to pretty much everyone, even those she considered "friends", was part of the scheme that got Veronica raped, and shows no remorse for her actions, and even years after graduating remains the same snobbish, childish bitch, playing Veronica and Piz's sex tape at Neptune High's Reunion.
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: There's a moment where she looks like she might be developing some empathy for Veronica in "A Trip To The Dentist", but she doesn't... nor does she ever.
Pet the Dog: In the movie, she shared at her former classmates who have died at the Neptune High Reunion, but subverted for Veronica.
Popular Is Evil: Yup, she's the most nasty popular girl at Neptune High School.
Redemption Rejection: When Veronica reveals that she was raped at Madison's party, Madison looks like she's about to show kindness... and then she dismisses Veronica as crying rape. Bitch.
Switched at Birth: With Mac. And unlike Mac, her birth parents don't seem to have any interest in her.
Tempting Fate: In the movie, she dares Veronica to tase her. Note that this would kill her, as she's soaking wet. Veronica compromises by punching her in the face.
Token Evil Teammate: Of the 09ers, the only one who loathes Veronica.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Madison is a petty, spiteful bitch, and she spat in her drink and gave it to Veronica, but it was spiked for Madison, not her.
Valley Girl: Wealthy, dim, blonde, popular.

Gia Goodman

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vm_gia_7687.jpg

Portrayed By: Krysten Ritter

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | Veronica Mars (film)

"I didn't know if you guys were doing, like, relaxed beachy, or the West Coast wannabe East Coast urban, so, F.Y.I., it’s not a statement. I'm just doing the new-school blend-in thing."

2x01 Normal is the New Watchword

The ditzy daughter of influential Neptune citizen and professional baseball team owner Woody Goodman.

All Girls Want Bad Boys: Falls for Dick of all people.
The Beard: In the movie, she is married to a gay politician.
Broken Bird: In the movie, due to Susan Knight's death and being raped/blackmailed by Stu, but also presumably occurs offstage too in Season 2, as she is never shown reacting to her father's death or the news that he's a serial child rapist, but we assume from her conduct in the movie that it led to this.
Cloud Cuckoolander: She thinks chlamydia is a flower.
Create Your Own Villain: In the movie. She was made especially vulnerable to Stu's machinations by Veronica's revealing of her father's crimes.
The Ditz:
Logan: Well, she'd have to be stupid to keep it there.
Veronica: I sat behind her in algebra. Nothing would surprise me.
Does Not Understand Sarcasm: Veronica's quips fly over her head.
Fallen Princess: In the movie, after her father, Woody, is revealed to be a child molester, Gia is totally lost from being one of the most popular girls in school and becomes a borderline Sex Slave to her own stalker, although she still appears nice and popular.
The Fashionista: Apparently, according to her comments about clothes.
Forced into Evil: She unwillingly covers up Susan's overdose and becomes a sex slave for Stu. She then helps Stu to murder Carrie when Carrie was only trying to help her get away from him, and it seems she thought she was setting Veronica up to be killed when she explains the truth.
Genki Girl: Very upbeat and fun-loving until her life spirals out of control, that is.
Lady Macbeth: Although an unwilling version, she helps Stu to murder Carrie Bishop in the movie.
Motor Mouth: Very, very talkative, especially notable in her introductory moment when she reveals her entire backstory to Veronica.
New Transfer Student: At the start of season 2, per her father's wish for her to attend a public high school.
Put on a Bus: Her Last Appearance in "Happy Go Lucky" until the movie ten years later.
Put on a Bus to Hell: What her future is after she disappears from the series, as confirmed by the movie. Though she's held onto her high society position, it's much more fragile after the revelation that her father was a pedophile and his death. She uses drugs with the other 09ers and is manipulated into years of Sexual Extortion, until her sudden murder by her rapist stalker.
Shoot the Shaggy Dog: In the movie, after her Trauma Conga Line of Season 2. Gia has undergone years of sexual extortion from her stalker, never mind her dad being a pedophile. Carrie gets killed for trying to expose Stu, and when Gia tells Veronica the truth for the first time, she's also killed.
Spoiled Sweet: In Season 2, at least. Gia's father, Woody, is mayor of Neptune and extremely powerful and influential, but Gia is very nice, albeit very dumb. The "clueless" part of the trope comes in with regards to her Big, Screwed-Up Family. Her father is a child molester and her mother is unstable and seemingly abusive towards Gia's younger brother. However, Gia doesn't seem aware enough to help Rodney or even be aware of how much is seriously wrong. It's revealed that, by the time she found out, she really stopped being this trope.
Stepford Smiler: In the film more so than the series, where she is more clueless. Keeps her bubbly and sweet facade in public, even though she is being blackmailed and emotionally and physically raped by sociopath, who happens to be obsessively in love with her.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: She was a sweet kid in the TV series. By the film, she's become massively traumatized by the knowledge that her now-dead father was a pedophile, she let Susan Knight die at a party, and she was forced to consent to being essentially raped by her stalker, who knew her secret. And she knew that he killed Carrie Bishop.
Valley Girl: She's not very bright, but she's very wealthy and fashionable. It's greatly died down by the film.

Troy Vandergraff

Portrayed By: Aaron Ashmore

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Duncan's childhood friend - the New Transfer Student in the series' second episode. Also, Veronica's first boyfriend in the series proper - an easygoing 09'er unfazed by her bad reputation.

Birds of a Feather: with his girlfriend Shawna, who is his accomplice in drug trafficking.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He's a thief, a drug dealer and a two-timer.
The Bus Came Back: Reappears for an episode in season 2 as a suspect in a rape case.
Clear My Name: Asks for Veronica's help after being accused of rape in season 2. He didn't do it.
Femme Fatale: Male version, though a milder example when compared to Logan.
Heel–Face Turn: Much more chivalrous and honest in his season 2 appearance.
Out-Gambitted: By Veronica in "You Think You Know Somebody"
Put on a Bus: Hand-waved. He left the school inexplicably in Season 1, but he returned for one episode in Season 2.

Carrie Bishop

Portrayed By: Leighton Meester (series), Andrea Estella (film)

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | Veronica Mars (film)

An early guest starring role by Leighton Meester in one episode, Carrie returns in The Movie, although she's been recast and played by Andrea Estella.

Disposable Love Interest/Disposable Woman: To Logan. They've been dating for years but she dies in an abrupt Bus Crash in the opening minutes of the movie as a way of getting Veronica back to Neptune.
Famed In-Story: As a singer.
Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: That Susan OD'd on the boat and, more literally, that Stu has blackmailed and threatened everyone involved, especially Gia.
Posthumous Character: In the movie, as she's murdered before the events of the story.
Undying Loyalty: With Susan. After Susan's death, she unwillingly covers it up but is about to crack, which is why she's murdered.

Stu Cobbler

Stu 'Cobb' Cobbler

Portrayed By: Martin Starr

Appearances: Veronica Mars (film)

One of the few examples of a movie-original character who also went to Neptune High, although he only appears once he's graduated: a hopeless suitor of Gia Goodman's.

Abhorrent Admirer: To Gia, although she doesn't have a choice about whether to have sex with him once they've concealed Susan Knight's death.
Big Bad: For the movie. He manipulated the people on the boat into covering up Susan's death, blackmailed them, killed Carrie, sexually extorted Gia, and eventually killed her.
The Friend Nobody Likes: Played for Drama. Initially Stu just appears to be your standard tagalong, but it turns out that he's been blackmailing Gia, Carrie, and everyone else who was at the party into tolerating him and letting him into their lives.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Gia mentions barely noticing him and just buying drugs from him...then Susan Knight dies while they're at a party.
Stalker with a Crush: To Gia, to such an extent that he doesn't let her have curtains on her windows, and she has to have sex with him whenever he demands.
Walking Spoiler: Which is understandable, given that he's the Big Bad of the movie.

The PCHers

General

A biker gang composed almost entirely of the young, poor, male Latinos in Neptune. While they are collectively a violent group, not above beating up people, they generally show a more protective and kinder side to the Latino community in Neptune. Like most other characters in the show, many of the PCHers get a Day in the Limelight.

All Bikers are Hells Angels: Played with. The PCHers do commit crimes and are fairly brutish, but almost all of them are young Latinos still in high school. Women aren't shown around them, hell, they're too young to even go to bars.
Badass Biker: Some, but not all. Weevil and even Thumper qualify.
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: The PCHers were disappeared after season two and hardly mentioned them in season three. But except for Weevil.
Cool Bike: They're bikers, so it goes with the territory.
Delinquents: They're career criminals and, in Seasons 1 and 2, mostly all younger men.
Gangbangers: Could be described as this from the beginning. DEFINITELY becomes this when they start dealing coke at the high school for the Fitzpatricks.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: Are the PCHers a not particularly threatening gang run by Weevil, or are they a sprawling criminal enterprise? It varies depending on the episode.
Neighborhood-Friendly Gangsters: The PCHers are a downplayed example as they actually do get involved in much criminal enterprising, but only behind Weevil's back, as he is extremely opposed to drug dealing. They do eventually come around, though.
The Precious, Precious Car: Motorcycles are important to bikers. When Thumper stages a coup and dethrones Weevil, he makes sure to have an underling drive Weevil's bike into the ocean.
Wrong Side of the Tracks: Where all PCH-ers come from.

Eli "Weevil" Navarro

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vm_weevil_5770.jpg

Portrayed By: Francis Capra

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

Weevil: So, who owes who now?

Veronica: I'm not quite sure.

1x01 Pilot

The leader of the PCH bike club, starts off as an antagonist (duct-taping Wallace to a flagpole), but quickly becomes close with Veronica. More affected by the Lilly Kane murder case than he lets on.

All Bikers are Hells Angels: As befitting the leader of the PCH.
Badass Biker: He's very tough, determined, and ready to fight at any time.
Be as Unhelpful as Possible: Naturally his attitude towards authority, but he often slips into this with Veronica.
The Big Guy: Extremely loyal (to Veronica especially and the other bikers), fierce, and will punch you for any reason.
Big Ol' Eyebrows: Just look at that picture.
Book Dumb: Beaver ends up tutoring him in Season 2, and neither enjoy the experience.
Born Unlucky: Especially in comparison to the wealthy '09ers, Weevil is constantly trying to do what he thinks is the right thing and he's nearly always wrong.
Chronic Villainy: He actually tries to leave the gangster life behind and clean up his act by the time of the film, but he goes right back after he's framed for a crime he didn't commit. Weevil and Veronica are not on friendly terms with each other in season 4 because of this. She hoped he would do better than to follow in his uncle's footsteps, while he feels she did not do enough to help him prove his innocence.
Cool Uncle: To his little niece in "Ain't No Magic Mountain High Enough."
Dashing Hispanic: With a lot of crossover with a Rare Male Example of Spicy Latina due to not being as traditionally well-versed or well-dressed as this trope usually is, Weevil is very hot blooded, aggressive, has a narrow grasp of the law, and is always in trouble and picking fights.
Deadpan Snarker: Sometimes:
Veronica: Give Duncan back his computer. Let me handle this.
Weevil: Could you, please Veronica, protect me from the big bad, sweater-vest wearing rich boys?
Delinquent: He is the leader of Neptune's local gang, the PC Hers. He goes to class sometimes and spends more of his time trying to make some money, usually in illegal ways.
Doting Parent: In The Movie, he talks to Veronica all the time about his baby daughter.
Double Entendre: He's really good at making them.
Enemy Mine: He teams up with Logan, whom he strongly dislikes, in season 2 to find the real killer of Felix Toombs within his own gang.
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Grandma. Her biggest dream is to see Eli graduate, which makes it all the more heartbreaking when Lamb arrests him.
Fire-Forged Friends: Multiple times with Veronica, resulting in them becoming True Companions (albeit more subtly than Wallace and Veronica), given that he couldn't stand her in the opening episodes of Season 1.
Friend to All Children: He's very sweet towards his younger relatives, and a proud father to a 3-year-old in the movie.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: Although he shows very quickly that he's not the one-dimensional gangster Veronica suspects, Weevil's behavior ranges from the deeply moral to the very illegal (for instance, killing Thumper, even if he deserved it.)
Heel–Face Turn: In the first episode. Begins by taping Wallace to the post, then ends up as one of Veronica's closest allies.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Underneath all the criminal behavior and the bad attitude, he's actually a pretty good guy. He has a soft spot for his grandmother, he's torn up over the fact that one of his fellow biker gang members was killed, and he even offers Veronica ride back home when she gets stranded on a school field trip, even though the two were fighting at the time.
Lovable Rogue: Even after becoming Veronica's ally and friend, he's not above a theft or a fight.
Neighborhood-Friendly Gangsters: Weevil becomes one towards Veronica later in the series. He was the head of a local biker gang, but he often helped her out and had a particular disdain for the entitled upper class rich kids.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: In the film, Weevil sees an SUV being harassed by a bunch of PCHers on his way to pick up diapers for his kid. He knocks on the door to ask if the driver needs help and promptly gets shot by said driver...Celeste Kane. In the end she enlists the police to help make it look like he was the gang leader, including planting a stolen gun on Weevil.
Only Known by Their Nickname - At first. Towards the end of the 2nd season and predominately during the third season, he starts going more and more by Eli or Navarro, representing him walking away from his old life of crime.
Reformed Criminal: By the time the film rolls around, he's no longer involved in crime and he has a wife and kid.
- Back in the Saddle:too bad subsequent events force him back in.
The Rival: To Logan, for Lilly's affections (among other things). The two are often seen engaging in fights or Snark-to-Snark Combat.
Sleeves Are for Wimps: Wifebeaters are his clothes of choice.
Straight Edge Evil: He's nowhere near evil, but he is a gang leader - who doesn't condone any of his gang members doing (or, heavens forbid, selling) drugs.
Tattooed Crook: Fitting in with his tough-guy persona.
Then Let Me Be Evil: After fighting to overcome his rough start and mellowing out after having a kid and getting married, he tries to help out Jerkass Celeste Kane in the movie...which results in her attacking him and corrupt police framing him. At the end of the movie, he decides to go back to the PCHers instead of fighting them.
Troubled, but Cute: An impoverished gangster constantly on the brink of being kicked out of school, who nevertheless refuses to sell drugs and is a good friend to Veronica most of the time.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Veronica, especially from the middle of Season 2 onwards. He's not really sure what to make of her for most of Season 1 (and calls her out on returning to the rich kids in Season 2), but when Felix dies and he needs her again, they get back to their close friendship and continue insulting one another.
We Used to Be Friends: His situation with Veronica in Season 4. Veronica and Keith were working overtime to prove that Celeste Kane and the corrupt Sheriff Dan Lamb set him up. However, Weevil needed money so he settled without telling Veronica and Keith. He then went back to leading the PCHers disgusting both his wife who took their kid and left, along with Veronica.
Wild Card: Weevil is perhaps the character that believes least in law and justice (with good reason, some of the time), and Veronica's never sure what he's going to do.

Eduardo "Thumper" Orozco

Eduardo “Thumper” Orozco

Portrayed By: James Molina

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

After Felix is murdered, he becomes Weevil's new right hand man. This proves to be a bad idea since he was the one to kill Felix in order to prove his loyalty to the Fitzpatricks. He later stages a coup and runs the PCHers until he is killed by the Fitzpatricks after being framed by Weevil for attempting to steal their drug money.

Big Bad Friend: He killed Felix.
Cruel and Unusual Death: He got chained up and crushed by the demolished baseball stadium, while he was still alive and conscious.
Karmic Death: Logan, who Thumper framed, pulled the switch (not that he knew Thumper was in there).
Laser-Guided Karma: Weevil ends up framing him for trying to steal the Fitzpatricks' drug money. They beat him up and chain him in a bathroom in a baseball stadium the day it is set for demolition.
The Mole: For the Fitzpatricks, which is why he killed Felix.
Number Two: For a while.
Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: He shouldn't really have been surprised that betraying his genuine close friends to a huge, evil mob with no moral scruples whatsoever wouldn't go well for him. It got him crushed under a collapsing baseball stadium, while he was still alive.
Stupid Evil: Messing with Weevil? Not a good idea. Getting indebted to the sociopathic and completely amoral Fitzpatricks? Very, very bad move.
Token Evil Teammate: While the PCHers aren't good, they weren't murderers.
Tyrant Takes the Helm: He takes the gang from Weevil in Season 2, although he eventually gets it back.

Felix Toombs

Portrayed By: Brad Bufanda

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Weevil's right-hand man in the PCH gang. Investigation into his murder is one of the main storylines of season 2.

Number Two: He's Weevil's best friend and second-in-command.
Meaningful Name: Toombs turns up dead.
Satellite Character: His largest role is posthumously, in his death.
Star-Crossed Lovers: He dated Molly Fitzpatrick, of the "Fighting Fitzpatricks" who were the main enemies of the PCHers. Thumper killed him on behalf of the Fitzpatricks because of this.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Felix only wanted to marry Molly and settle down. Which got him killed by his supposed "friend" Thumper.

Faculty

Van Clemmons

Portrayed By: Duane Daniels

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

"Veronica, why does trouble follow you around?"

Vice-Principal, later Principal, of Neptune High.

Batman Gambit: Pulls a rather awesome one of these in "My Mother, the Fiend", using Veronica's fatal flaw (her addiction to investigating) to unearth the truth about a decades-old incident and oust the then-principal of the school.
Veronica: You read Machiavelli this summer, didn't you?
Cool Teacher: Veronica recognizes this, though he doesn't act like a traditional one.
Stay cool, Mr. C.
Friendly Enemy: Realistically to Veronica. She causes nothing but trouble for him but he genuinely cares for and respects her.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Though he does have to deal with Veronica more than he would like, he's mostly portrayed as this.
Clemmons: I can't tell if my job will be easier or harder with you gone. Any advice in case I get another student like you?
Veronica: Don't keep all your passwords taped to the bottom of your stapler. [Beat] And stay cool, Mr. C.
Stern Teacher: He's the (vice-)principal of Neptune High, but he still fulfils this trope by being stern but kind.

Mallory Dent

Portrayed By: Sydney Tamiia Poitier

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Veronica's journalism teacher.

Aborted Arc: She was meant to be a maternal mentor figure and role model for Veronica, which never fully materialized.
Advertised Extra: Remained credited as a regular and appears in the opening credits for the entire first season, despite only appearing in seven out of twenty-two episodes.
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome / Put on a Bus: Leaves early in the first season when she becomes pregnant, which is only mentioned offhandedly after she's already gone, and she's never mentioned ever again.
Real Life Writes the Plot: She was written off the show for creative and budgetary reasons, as there were already so many key characters on the show and she couldn't naturally be worked into any of the ongoing plotlines.

Neptune Sheriff's Department

Don Lamb

Sheriff Don Lamb

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vm_lamb_5129.jpg

Portrayed By: Michael Muhney

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

"Why don't you go see the Wizard? Ask him for a little backbone."

1x01 Pilot

Keith Mars' incompetent, cruel successor, famous for "catching" Lilly Kane's murderer. Quickly won Veronica's anger and distrust, given how he laughed her off when she tried to report her rape. He spends most of the series acting like a slimy bastard, and getting in the way of Keith and Veronica's investigations.

Abusive Parents: The most important bit of backstory we get about him: when the Mannings try to weasel their way out of being caught by him (via Veronica and Duncan), Lamb isn't having it and spends the rest of the night sitting outside of their house as a threat that if he catches wind of their abuse again, he'll be on their asses.
Berserk Button: Child abuse. That's one of the only things that will genuinely make him become scarily good at his job.
Characterization Marches On: His "you should have asked the Wizard for..." Catchphrase was dropped after The Pilot. That said, Wallace does throw it back at him when they have an interaction much later in the series and Lamb only vaguely recognizes him.
Faux Affably Evil: He often appears to have redeeming qualities and a traumatic past, but ultimately, he still laughed about Veronica's rape, and to her face at that.
Freudian Excuse: He was abused as a child - probably in the same way as Meg Manning's little sister.
Glory Hound: Ironically for someone who seems to be both a bad cop and a completely ignores leads that Veronica and Keith give him, he's also obsessed with having as much glory as possible, which also often backfires on him.
Hidden Depths: See Freudian Excuse. It's only mentioned once in passing, but reinforced when he lets Duncan and Veronica go despite catching them breaking into the Manning household, since they were trying to save Meg's younger sister from child abuse.
Ignored Epiphany: There are moments when it looks like he'll become a better sheriff... but he doesn't.
Inspector Javert: He's quite gleeful about his occasional (wrongful) arrests of Veronica.
Jerkass: It seems like every chance Lamb can be cruel, dismissive, or condescending, he takes it.
Kick the Dog: Frequently. Notably, arresting Weevil during the middle of graduation right before he's supposed to walk for the murder of Thumper. Seeing Weevil walk was one of his ailing grandmother's dreams.
Narcissist: Any time Keith or Veronica bring in any new evidence that may point to a different suspect in the arc long cases, his default response is to assume that they're trying to publicly humiliate him.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Although he breaks just about everything (including Veronica after her rape), he does fix one thing and it's totally accidental: Keith survives the plane explosion at the end of Season 2 just because Lamb is petty.
Pet the Dog: While he's an incompetent jackass who should not be anywhere near his position, he isn't completely irredeemable. ** Notably, he lets Veronica and Duncan go after they're caught breaking into the Manning house because they were trying to help Meg's sister, who was being abused. He's absolutely not impressed with Mr. Manning and spends the rest of the night menacingly sitting outside of his house in his police cruiser as a warning.
- If Veronica presents him with irrefutable evidence that he can't deny, he will act on it and do his job. He does begrudgingly admit that Veronica is a damn good detective, even warning the FBI that she's someone who could rival them (which is proven true).
Police Are Useless: In the Back Story, he laughs at Veronica when she reports that she's been raped. Even when he's not an antagonist, he is generally incompetent and more than a few of his men are corrupt.
Promotion to Opening Titles: In season 3.
Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Lamb is killed while chasing a suspect that turns out has no connection to the investigation at all.
Small Name, Big Ego: To the FBI in one episode. Lamb even tries to appeal to an FBI agent that one day he might join them. She scoffs at the thought.
Smug Snake: He relishes in flexing his authority over Veronica and Keith and takes every opportunity he can to rub it in their faces that Veronica's dad's mess up in the Lily Kane case is the reason why he is now chief.
Standard Cop Backstory: It is hinted at that Sheriff Lamb suffered some child abuse. Very little else about his background is given, but he does seem to spend loads of time in the office.
Worthy Opponent: He might not like Veronica (and vice versa), but he does admit respect for her detective skills, and when she presents indisputable things he should use to do his job (that he knows for sure aren't a Red Herring or false lead), he typically doesn't question it further before acting on it.

Leo D'Amato

Leonardo "Leo" D'Amato

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vm_leo_5480.jpg

Portrayed By: Max Greenfield

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | Veronica Mars (film)

Veronica: I used you, then fell for you, not the other way around.

1x14 Mars vs. Mars

A very competent (and very young) Deputy at the Sheriff's department, and Veronica's main tie to organized crime fighting - often involved in the plot when she needs a favor from the police.

Betty and Veronica: The Betty (nice, sincere, a policeman) to Logan's Veronica (a bit of a jerk, always in trouble) and Veronica's Archie.
The Bus Came Back: Having been absent in Season 3, he comes back in Season 4.
Commuting on a Bus: In Season 2. He's technically always there, he just only appears in a couple of episodes.
Fair Cop: Not only is he handsome - he's very young, too.
FBI Agent: By Season 4, he is one, which becomes relevant when the FBI is dispatched to take over the bombing investigation. His familiarity with Neptune as a former resident is one of the reasons he gets put on the case.
Friend on the Force: To Veronica, even after she ends their relationship.
Finding Judas: He's the one who stole the Aaron Echolls sex tapes and sold them to Logan.
Meaningful Name: His Zodiac sign is Leo, as he tells Veronica when she jokes about his name.
Nice Guy: Never anything but kind towards Veronica - even when she uses him.
Sleuth Dates Cop: To Veronica, for a while in season 1.
Token Good Teammate: Excluding Keith's return to law enforcement in Season 2, in Season 1, he is essentially the only remotely nice member of the force to Veronica.
Unresolved Sexual Tension: In Season 4, as a recently divorced man, he has some of this with Veronica, culminating with Veronica having a steamy sex dream involving him that makes her briefly doubt her feelings towards Logan and the steadiness of their relationship.

Jerry Sacks

Deputy Jerry Sacks

Portrayed By: Brandon Hillock

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

Sheriff Lamb's second-in-command who becomes an ally to Mars Investigation after Leo resigns.

Death Equals Redemption: Was caught up in some corruption under Dan Lamb's leadership, but was going to testify against the sheriff's department before he was killed as a means of silencing him.
Token Good Teammate: Takes this role from Leo upon his departure from the sheriff's department.

Dan Lamb

Sheriff Dan Lamb

Portrayed By: Jerry O'Connell

Appearances: Veronica Mars (film)

Don Lamb's older brother, who was elected Sheriff of Neptune, sometime after Veronica left Neptune for her law degree.

Corrupt Cop: Don might've been incompetent, but at least he was honest. Dan however is openly corrupt, selling his services to Neptune's elite to get them out of trouble and make life here for everyone else.
Jerkass: Even more so than his brother.
Replacement Sibling: To his brother, who died in season three.
What Happened to the Mouse?: He isn't mentioned at all in Season 4, where the Sheriff Department seems to have been scrapped for a municipal police force. The second EU novel clarifies he was fired.

Marcia Langdon

Police Chief Marcia Langdon

Portrayed By: Dawnn Lewis

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

The current chief of police as of Season 4. Unlike her not-Keith predecessors, she's relatively competent and not corrupt. She still has a rather negative opinion about private investigators, though.

Black Boss Lady: She's black, competent, and a no nonsense taking figure of authority, made wildly clear when in Episode 5 she puts a wealthy citizen (also a grieving father) who barges into her office to tell her how to run the bombing investigations in his place.
Da Chief: She is the new police chief and spends the entirety of Season 4 working to solve the bombing investigation to mixed results on her end.
Minority Police Officer: She's a black chief of police, but she's also portrayed much more positively than the attitude of The Bad Guys Are Cops and Police Are Useless in Series 1-4.
Reasonable Authority Figure: She's much less corrupt and overall more approachable than the Lamb brothers before her, and is more willing to listen to the Mars family overall than being coerced into it.

Neptune

Residents

Cliff McCormack

Portrayed By: Daran Norris

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

"Okay, my name is Cliff, I'll be your if-you-cannot-afford-an-attorney attorney. So. What are you trying to prove?"

2x06 Rat Saw God

Keith's friend - a local public defender known to help (and request help from) the Mars family out on many an occasion.

The Alcoholic: Is often seen drinking when he's not working and his penchant for over-drinking has gotten him into more than one unfortunate situations, like when he was seduced and handcuffed to a bed in "The Rapes of Graff".
Amoral Attorney: He generally defies this. He's willing to go along with Veronica's schemes and has a fondness for drink and is jaded as all hell, but he'll actually represent his clients to the best of his ability. In the second season, he repeatedly tells Logan to stop grandstanding by demanding Cliff represent him and get real lawyers to do the job Cliff can't.
Brutal Honesty: He's very upfront in what he says.
Chained to a Bed: Handcuffed, more precisely - in "The Rapes of Graff".
Deadpan Snarker: Like Veronica and Keith, he's very deadpan and funny.
Dismotivation: Let's just say he's not very interested in - or good at - his job. (Reportedly, he failed criminal law, and others).
Everyone Has Standards: Apathetic and cynical, but he's not totally without morals. In Season 4, he takes the job as Penn's defense counsel and tells him that even though the police case against him is weak he makes it clear that if Penn is the bomber (which he is), he will personally run him over after he's acquitted him.
Evil Counterpart: Although not evil per se, he's this to Keith. Like Keith, both have lost significant positions, are low in the food chain, snarky, and often forced to work outside the law. However, Cliff doesn't care, nor does he have as strong moral compass, as Keith.
Jaded Washout: Having failed criminal law, he is a very cynical, embittered lawyer and an alcoholic to boot.

Vinnie Van Lowe

Portrayed By: Ken Marino

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

Veronica: Know what's most disturbing about you? Apart from... everything? You're actually a half-decent Private Investigator.

2x15 The Quick and the Wed

Keith's rival PI, rather corrupt and lacking subtlety in comparison to Keith and Veronica, but maintains a successful business in town due to his lax moral standards.

Affably Evil: To even call him "evil" is a stretch, but Season 3 implies that he was working with the Fitzpatricks to steal Keith's position.
Alliterative Name: Vinnie Van Lowe.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He's actually a competent detective, as Veronica begrudgingly admits.
Dirty Old Man: By The Movie, he hits on Veronica once he realises that she's legal.
Evil Counterpart: Much more so in Season 3. Both he and Keith are unlucky private detectives, but Vinnie's willing to help out the Fitzpatricks if it means getting a position in town and money.
Friendly Enemy: To Keith and Veronica. Especially if he is winning.
Future Loser: In the movie, he's gone from being a PI to making money on hidden celebrity videos. Equally skeezy, more money.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Buried deep, but it's there. The time he saved Veronica and her client of the week from the Fitzpatricks being a good example, despite working for the Fitzpatricks at the time. Also he helps Veronica get Duncan and baby Lilly into Mexico. He is paid 30k for his trouble, which might seem like loads of money, but when you consider the repercussions of harboring a fugitive - it really isn't.
Let's Get Dangerous!: He has his moments - saving Veronica from the Fitzpatricks, breaking into the mayor's house and successfully stealing the guy's most sensitive files, and his part in Duncan and the baby's disappearance are the highlights.
Private Detective: His job. One that leads him to skirmish with Keith and Veronica whenever they find themselves on opposite sides of a case.
Smug Snake: His potency varies through the series and movie, sometimes he's little more than a nuisance lurking in the background, looking for opportunities to cash in on the misfortune of others, and other times he is a palpable threat. Occasionally he plays nice with Keith and Veronica, either for money or praise - but he's still pretty smug then too.

Clarence Wiedman

Portrayed By: Christopher B. Duncan

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | Mr. Kiss and Tell

The Head of Security at Kane Software, whose job duties include a number of things not classified as legal.

Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: He kills Aaron Echols after he gets acquitted for Lilly's murder and attempted murder of Veronica and Keith. Nobody is weeping over that one.
Enemy Mine: He teams up with Veronica to investigate a murder in a season 2 episode.
Everyone Has Standards: He's not exactly a great dude by any means, but it's heavily implied that there are lines he won't cross - he could have killed Veronica more than once and made his boss's life easier, but doesn't. Him having a daughter of his own might play into that.
The Fixer: For the Kane family, helping them cover up Lilly's death by paying off Abel Koontz to take the fall, then later tracking down the man who murdered Koontz' daughter for the money. He also kills Aaron Echolls on Duncan's orders.
Incidental Villain: Not quite a Punch-Clock Villain as he seems committed constantly to his job at Kane Security, but his main commitment is loyalty to the Kanes, rather than the law.
Scary Black Man: Unusually for this trope, he's not powerfully built, but that doesn't make him any less scary as Kane Software's head of security. Of course, he towers over Veronica, who often treats him as The Dreaded.
Undying Loyalty: He will do anything for the Kane family. Including murder.
Vigilante Execution: He murders Lilly Kane's killer Aaron Echolls (on Duncan's orders). He's also implied to have murdered the killer of Abel Koontz's daughter after tracking him down to Las Vegas.

Woody Goodman

Woodrow "Woody" Goodman

Portrayed By: Steve Guttenberg

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

A powerful citizen of Neptune - owner of a burger joint and a professional baseball team, The Neptune Sharks. Becomes Mayor of Neptune in Season 2.

Asshole Victim: He is a child molester who dies in the plane crash.
Bullying a Dragon: When Keith starts to look into him, Woody attempts to intimidate him to keep quiet as if he were one of the impressionable boys he molested. Keith is essentially a Hardboiled Detective and the former Sheriff of Neptune. Keith even points out how stupid this is.
Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The only reason Cassidy spares him from the bus crash is because he's going to blackmail him into torpedoing incorporation so Cassidy can make money.
Even Evil Has Standards: Invoked by him, but nobody, especially Keith, believes him. Admittedly, he didn't blow up the bus, but given that he's a serial rapist of children, his excuse rings particularly hollow.
Failed Attempt at Scaring: He attempts to intimidate Keith when he starts to investigate Woody. Keith says he really picked the wrong target, pointing out that he's not some little kid who can be scared so easily, and that he is going to bring him down. Which he does.
Faux Affably Evil: Woody is extremely popular and cheerful, but the minute Keith reveals that he knows his true nature, it disappears instantly and we see just how scary he can be.
Not Me This Time: An unrepentant child molester who, nevertheless, did not blow up the bus.
Pædo Hunt: The subject of one late in Season 2 because he actually did it.
Rape and Revenge: The bus crash victims intended to take him down for molesting them as children. Cassidy, also an abuse victim, intervenes but gets his revenge later.
Soft-Spoken Sadist: A child rapist who is extremely threatening when he wants to be, just subtler about it.
Villain with Good Publicity: He is a serial child molester who is also elected major of Neptune and owns several large businesses.
We Can Rule Together: He tells Keith this in Season 2 about the sheriff's election, but it turns out to be a ploy to prevent him ever finding out about abusing some of the kids on the bus, so Keith rejects it.

The Fighting Fitzpatricks

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

A large, poor, Irish family that is notoriously violent. They run the local cocaine ring in Neptune.

Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: They kill Thumper after Weevil frames him for stealing money from them, to save the PCHers or Weevil himself from having to kill someone (on a meta level; the Fitzpatricks don't do this out of compassion).
Cain and Abel: Liam killed his own brother Cormac and buried him somewhere in the desert after the latter attempted to double cross him, although they subvert the usual good brother-bad brother dynamic in that both were clearly evil.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Liam killed his brother, and they inspired this in Thumper.
Fighting Irish: They're a belligerently violent Irish family. Lampshaded by their nickname, the Fighting Fitzpatricks.
Gangbangers: They're a family that acts more like a gang, dealing coke and having their own territory. This puts them into direct conflict with the PCHers, until Thumper decides to start dealing drugs for them.
The Irish Mob: Essentially, their role in the story, though they aren't as organized. While most of them are Irish, they have at least one black guy working for them in season 4.
Irish Priest: One of their members, Patrick Fitzpatrick. Also most likely a Corrupt Priest and a member of Irish Mafia.
Mutilation Interrogation: One of their specialities. In a season 2 episode Veronica unwittingly ends up in the home den of the Fighting Fitzpatricks gang when she's investigating a corrupt plastic surgeon. When they find out who she is, their leader threatens that she better start talking, or she really will need a good plastic surgeon. Then he brings over a tattooing needle, and prepares to start carving up her face before Logan saves her.
Never Speak Ill of the Dead: One of the Fitzpatricks mocks Keith in one episode for speaking ill of the late Sheriff Lamb, though this is more because Lamb turned a blind eye to the Fitzpatricks' shenanigans.
Pet the Dog: When Matty tells him that her dad died, Liam offers his condolences.
The Sociopath: Perhaps not all of them, but absolutely Liam Fitzpatrick. Every time a Mars has run into him, it has ended in some kind of violence, with him relishing in it.

Clyde Pickett

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clyde_prickett_hits_the_green_veronica_mars.jpg

Portrayed By: J. K. Simmons

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Big Dick Casablancas' fixer as of Season 4.

Affably Evil: Becomes genuine friends with Keith and is horrified by Big Dick's machinations.
Con Men Hate Guns: Variant. He's a robber but he never used guns in any of his crimes.
The Fixer: To Big Dick.
Friendly Enemy: For Keith. He emphasizes how much he genuinely enjoys Keith's company multiple times.
Karma Houdini: Kind of, although a large part of it is that he has no idea how bad Big Dick is or is willing to be.

Penn Epner

Portrayed By: Patton Oswalt

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

A true crime nut that ingratiates himself in the bombing investigation, much to Veronica's irritation.

Attention Whore: He always wants to go on television to talk about the bombings.
The Bad Guy Wins: While he does go to prison, he gets exactly what he wanted: fame, fortune, and attention.
Big Bad: Of Season 4. He's behind the later bombings.
From Nobody to Nightmare: From a nerdy average guy to a bomber and mass murderer.
Sitcom Archnemesis: In Season 4, Patton Oswalt plays supporting character Penn Epner, a pizza delivery guy who participates in an amateur sleuth/conspiracy online group. One member of the group, Don, is constantly sniping back and forth with him and they subject each other to pranks like Penn putting pig ear filters on Don's live feed. He becomes an evil deconstruction of the trope when it turns out he's the bomber.
Small Name, Big Ego: He loves to be on television, believes he knows everything, and is constantly involving himself in the crimes.
Take That!: He functions as one large one to amateur true-crime enthusiasts.

Matty Ross

Portrayed By: Izabela Vidovic

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Daughter of the owner of the Sea Sprite Motel, where the first bomb in Season 4 goes off.

Broken Bird: After the death of her father.
Chekhov's Gun: The ring belonging to Congressman Maloof's brother's dead fiancee, which the Maloof family was trying to track down, is the ring Matty found in the first episode, and which she used to pay to keep control of the Sea Sprite.
The Determinator: Will go to great lengths to track down the man who set the bomb off at the Sea Sprite, killing her father.
He Knows Too Much: Averted. No one knows she witnessed Big Dick Casablancas get killed and decapitated for being the man behind the bomb at the Sea Sprite.
History Repeats: Clearly set up as a younger version of Veronica, from her snarky attitude, to her ability to sneak into places, to her jumping in to a situation without always thinking of the consequences, to channeling her grief into anger and determination. In one episode, she even asks a favor of a boy who has a crush on her in the same way Veronica would ask favors of people, and even uses Veronica's head tilt while she's doing so (Wallace, one of her teachers, witnesses this, and is amused).
You Killed My Father: Her motivation for trying to find the bomber.

Mars Family

Lianne Mars

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lianne.png

Portrayed By: Corinne Bohrer

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | Mr. Kiss and Tell

Veronica's mother and Keith's' wife. At the start of the series she has run off due to what Veronica believes is too much pressure and societal ridicule after Keith is removed from his post for accusing Jake Kane for the murder of his daughter.

The Alcoholic / Alcoholic Parent: Apart from her running off, this is her defining character trait. The fact that she couldn't kick the habit is what makes Veronica essentially throw her out for good.
Blackmail: The head of security at Kane software blackmailing her is what actually drove her to leave her family behind.
Broken Ace: Was very popular in high school and is decidedly not as an adult.
Commuting on a Bus: Throughout Season 1 and 2, having left Veronica under mysterious circumstances before Season 1. She's Put on a Bus at the end of Season 2 and only appears in the books past that.
Daddy Didn't Show: Mom does this twice. First she skips out on rehab, which Veronica had spent her entire savings on. But that's not low enough, so after Veronica confronts her about it, she absconds with a $50,000 check that Keith got for finding Duncan Kane. Oh, and she does this while Keith is in the hospital after saving Veronica from a murderer.
Evil Matriarch: Although evil might be overstating it, she is a nonstop thorn in Veronica's side whenever she shows up - she steals Veronica's college fund, she doesn't last in rehab after Veronica has blown her savings on it, and her cheating on Keith with Jake causes the whole conflict between Duncan and Veronica.
Future Loser: Lianne was very popular, could've married the very rich Jake Kane who was her high school boyfriend, and although it was all going good for a while, ended up an alcoholic who abandoned Keith and Veronica.
Jerkass: Veronica spends an entire episode hoping, and ultimately proving, that high school Lianne wasn't one. Adult Lianne, however, is. Despite Veronica spending all of her college savings to put her in rehab, Lianne doesn't even last a month before leaving. And when Veronica kicks her out, Lianne steals the large payout that Keith received from a case that was also supposed to pay for Veronica's college. Sadly, there's some Truth in Television in a once nice person becoming a self-centered asshole due to their alcoholism.
The Load: A nonstop one to Veronica, causing Duncan to wreck his and Veronica's relationship and spending all of Veronica's college savings without being able to stay in rehab
Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: She is not sure if Veronica is Keith's child or Jake Kane's which puts a huge obstacle in the relationship between Veronica and Duncan.
Missing Mom: Veronica eventually finds her.
Off the Wagon: She falls off after she runs away. And is still off, after her stint in rehab. She tries to mask it by hiding vodka in plastic water bottles, but Veronica finds out and is not happy.
Put on a Bus: Doesn't appear at all past Season 2, although she does appear in Mr Kiss and Tell.
Stepford Smiler: Lampshaded by Veronica in The Movie, who says that Celeste always knew how to party, despite being an alcoholic.
What Happened to the Mouse?: She doesn't appear past the Season 2 finale, and even then it's only in an Imagine Spot (although she does return in Mr Kiss And Tell, which makes her lack of mention in Season 4 jarring).

Kane Family

Jake Kane

Portrayed By: Kyle Secor

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line

Duncan and Lilly's father.

The Bus Came Back: Twice; he returns both in the finale of Season 3, and the finale of Season 4 briefly.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: To a point. He employs at least one professional assassin as his head of security, but otherwise he doesn't seem to be engaging in particularly cut-throat business practices and became a billionaire on merit. Truly not the case in Season 3, though, where he's definitely this (and maybe worse).
Good Parents: For his faults, and unlike his frigid wife Celeste, he's a genuinely good father to Duncan and Lilly, and the few times we see him break composure involves them (namely when seeing Lilly's tribute video and confronting Aaron after he's revealed to be Lilly's killer.) He even faces an obstruction of justice charge to protect Duncan when it's presumed that he was the one who accidentally killed her and does his best to cover it up.
Luke, I Might Be Your Father: In the first season, Veronica has reason to suspect Jake Kane — the father of her ex-boyfriend Duncan, and former lover of her mother — might be her biological father. He isn't.
Red Herring: He didn't kill Lilly.
Same Character, But Different: In Season 1, he only really figured into the mystery in that he was a Red Herring and Keith suspected him. In Season 3, he is a megalomaniacal cult leader.

Celeste Kane

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/celestek.png

Portrayed By: Lisa Thornhill

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | Veronica Mars (film)

Duncan and Lilly's mother.

Abusive Mom: Celeste was, at best, indifferent to Lilly; at worst, she is emotionally abusive, overbearing, and impossible to please.
Evil Matriarch: Although she ultimately had nothing to do with Lilly's murder, she was still a nasty, abusive woman who was horrible to Veronica even after she caught the killer.
Evil Redhead: Celeste had very dark red hair and was very antagonistic towards Veronica and Lilly.
Rich Bitch: Celeste is unbelievably horrible to Veronica, even after Veronica has solved Lilly's murder in Season 2.
Ungrateful Bastard: Veronica found Lilly's murderer. But, nope, Celeste still hates Veronica with a burning passion and will make it constantly clear.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Her last appearance in the actual series was "Donut Run", meaning that she was never shown reacting to Duncan's flight, Aaron Echolls' trial or murder, or anything else. While The Bus Came Back for the film, she only appears for a single scene.

Casablancas Family

Richard Casablancas

Richard "Big Dick" Casablancas

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/richard_9.png

Portrayed By: David Starzyk

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

"We used to compete to see who could make him cry first."

The Bus Came Back: Twice. He returns to see Dick in Season 3, and he's back as a regular in the Hulu revival.
Even Evil Has Standards: Downplayed. He didn't intend for anyone to be killed in the bombings, but money comes first.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: He is first stabbed with his own samurai sword, before being beheaded.
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Before Season 4, he was not a "good" guy, what with all of the white collar crime and evading the law. But he did turn himself in and was trying to make amends with his son in season 3. Come Season 4, he is bombing properties in order to get residents to sell them so he can build condos. Though he didn't intend for people to be killed, he wasn't too torn up about it, either.
Laser-Guided Karma: Try to short change a guy who is privy to all of your criminal activity? Lose your head.
Meaningless Villain Victory: The town ultimately implemented his coveted repeal of rent control, causing prices on the boardwalk to skyrocket. However, he's already been murdered by the cartel when this happens, so he can't enjoy it.
Morally Bankrupt Banker: Variant, he runs a callous housing scam and is generally an asshole.
Off with His Head!: The Mexican cartel decapitate him.
Same Character, But Different: In his last appearance in the series, he had a change of heart, came back to the U.S., and was shown being at least somewhat responsible and apologetic for his youngest son's suicide and his abusive, bullying behavior. In Season 4, though, he's arguably much, much worse, as he straight up conspired to commit a bombing and, when that actually happened (although no one was supposed to die), it didn't stop him.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Cassidy "accidentally" reveals his housing scam.
Smug Snake: Constantly sneering.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: A villainous variation of this. Big Dick is responsible for the Sea Sprite bombing, but the plan was for the bomb to go off overnight with no casualties. Instead, it goes off in the middle of the day and results in multiple casualties. This, in turn, inspires the majority of bombings that followed at the hands of Penn Epner, including the one that kills Logan Echolls.

Kendall Casablancas

Portrayed By: Charisma Carpenter

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Logan: You ever think about just getting a job?

Kendall: This is my job.

2x07 Nobody Puts Baby In A Corner

Dick and Beaver's gold-digging stepmother, who spends time by seducing teenage boys like Logan. She's smarter than she lets on though, and has mysterious ties to the "Fighting Fitzpatricks" - this girl's got a massive secret identity.

Adoptive Peer Parent: Kendall Casablancas, the gold-digging Trophy Wife of real estate mogul Dick Casablancas, has stepsons 7 and 9 years younger than she. She also sleeps with one of her stepsons' friends. And her oldest stepson (though he could have been joking), after his dad's large-scale fraud is exposed and is forced to flee the country, brings Kendall a bag full of new lingerie while telling her that she'll have to earn her upkeep "some other way".
Belligerent Sexual Tension: With just about anybody she's romantically involved with, but especially Logan and Keith.
Brainy Brunette: It becomes apparent early on that she's Obfuscating Stupidity and is not the ditzy trophy wife she appears to be.
Con Man: How she manipulated her way into Neptune's upper classes by taking someone else's name, and also when she became the public face of the incorporation scheme Cassidy takes over after his father absconds.
Dark Mistress: For Liam Fitzpatrick, Neptune's head mobster; they've had a relationship for years, even after her marriage to Dick Snr. and she took the fall for him once upon a time. She is also a downplayed version to her current husband, as she helps him with the fraud.
Deadpan Snarker: One of the immediate ways to tell that Kendall is no Brainless Beauty is how quick-witted she is.
Dead Person Impersonation: Her real name is Priscilla Banks; she assumed the identity of a younger girl from her school who died in a car crash.
Dropped a Bridge on Her: Kendall seems like she's shaping up to be a large part of Season 3 in the first episode, when she gets abruptly killed by her gangster ex.
The Gwen Stacy: To Keith, as he drives her killer to see her.
Gold Digger: As she tells Logan, she wants to be wealthy and doesn't care what she has to do or who she has to sleep with to make it happen.
Meal Ticket: Kendall, a young hot ex-professional cheerleader marries the elder Dick Casablancas, and when he flees the country to avoid prosecution for real estate fraud, she tries to make her casual sex relationship with her step-son's rich friend more of a Sugar Daddy thing, despite his being several years younger than herself. Didn't work.
Mrs. Robinson: She has sex with Logan, and he's heavily implied not to be the first. She also makes a pass at Cassidy (which he turns down) in "The Quick and the Wed".
Ms. Fanservice: Something she activly embraces. She works hard to keep her body in shape and wears clothing to show it off.
Never a Self-Made Woman: Although Kendall is a very skilled criminal and con artist, she directly says to Logan that marrying rich men is her job, and she never wants to work. For instance, she marries Dick Snr for his money, and she becomes a millionaire because Cassidy makes her his front woman of his company.
Never Found the Body: Although Fitzpatrick shoots her, we only see it from the other room (where Keith is), so the possibility is Left Hanging that she isn't really dead, but it seems pretty unlikely.
Obfuscating Stupidity: In the beginning she appears to be your standard dim trophy wife, but she really, really isn't.
Outlaw Couple: She's involved in a romantic and professional relationship with notorious criminal Cormac Fitzpatrick.
Rags to Riches: Married rich in Dick Casablancas having previously been very poor.
Really Gets Around: So much so that everyone actively mocks her for it.
Rich Bitch: Kendall is constantly rude, abrasive, and manipulative, along with marrying for money, not love, to Dick Snr.
Trophy Wife: A pretty obvious one for real estate mogul Dick Casablancas. His first wife (and mother of his two sons) is his own age but currently lives in Europe, Kendall is a younger swimsuit model. However, this backfires on him when she hooks up with Dick Jr.'s friend Logan while he's away, although Dick Sr. never finds out. Also, it's later revealed that she's Obfuscating Stupidity somewhat, as she's working with the Fitzpatrick crime family and "Kendall" is a fake identity she took from a dead woman.
The Vamp: She's sexy, she knows it, and she's dark and dangerous.
Wicked Stepmother: Subverted. This was theorized as a motive for the bus crash that nearly killed her stepsons Dick and Cassidy too, but it was disproven. But she's still not particularly nice to them.

Echolls Family

Aaron Echolls

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vm_aaron_2703.jpg

Portrayed By: Harry Hamlin

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Aaron: We told your mom that we were all gonna get dressed up in costume as our favourite animal. You remember her animal?

Logan: Yeah, it was a mermaid.

Aaron: When she realized we played a trick on her, no one else had gotten dressed up… [fondly] she wore that costume around for the rest of the day anyway.

Logan: Yeah, I remember that day. On the way home I spilled a milkshake in the Beamer and you gave me a nosebleed.

1x13 Lord of The Bling

Logan's father, a famous actor, with an image as a wonderful family man - hiding the man who beats his son and cheats on his wife. Shows love for his family, but his extreme violence and cruelty overpowers it.

Abusive Dad: He routinely abuses his son - a trait that seems to run in the Echolls family, seeing that Aaron's father, too, used to beat him.
Asshole Victim: He beats his son for minor offenses and regularly cheats on his wife. Plus, he smugly gloats to Veronica about how he got away with Lilly's murder. By the time Clarence Weidman kills him, it is pretty clear he deserves it.
Big Bad: Of the first season, as he's the man who murdered Lilly.
The Casanova: He constantly chases women. At a single Halloween party, he slept with 3-4 different women.
The Fighting Narcissist: Aaron is an extremely aggressive physical fighter and a highly narcissistic actor.
Freudian Excuse: He mentions that his own father beat him and his mother, as he does to Logan and his wife, in the episode before it's revealed that he killed Lilly.
Hair-Trigger Temper: He beats Logan for completely minor offences and his wife.
Humiliation Conga: After Aaron Echolls is revealed as Lilly's killer in the first season finale. Keith and Aaron are slugging it out, but Aaron points out Veronica is locked in a fridge surrounded by flames, and as Keith goes to rescue her, Aaron uses this as a getaway. Having stolen Veronica's car keys, he hops in the car and has a look of relief, but that changes when he hears growling from the backseat. Veronica's pitbull, Backup, bites Aaron's arm and after a struggle, Aaron just manages to escape, stumbling into the street only to get mowed down by a flower delivery truck with a lily pictured on the side. Veronica, having escaped the burning fridge, tells the truck driver to call 911 and moments later, Aaron is arrested for Lilly's murder.
Jerkass: He has not one redeeming quality.
Karmic Death: Aaron Echolls's defense rested on 1. discrediting Veronica, Keith, and Logan's testimony and 2. pinning the murder on Lily's runaway brother, Duncan. This works. So Duncan sends Clarence Wiedman to kill him.
Karma Houdini: subverted - he gets acquitted at the trial, only to be assassinated by Clarence Weidman on Duncan's orders.
Karma Houdini Warranty: Aaron Echolls manages to worm his way out of being convicted for Lilly Kane's murder and is cleared of all charges. He spends the next several days celebrating in a high-class hotel and even taunts Veronica (who he previously tried to kill too to cover it up when she found out he did it) about it before he is assassinated by Clarence Wiedman on orders of Lilly's brother Duncan.
Large Ham: Considering he is an actor, it is no surprise he indulges in hamming it up sometimes.
Narcissist: He watched his own movies, all the while commenting how attractive he is in them.
Nice Character, Mean Actor: He's known for playing action heroes and family men, in real life he's an abusive, cheating bastard.
Not Me This Time: He is one of the suspects for the bus crash in season 2 since he had motive to kill Veronica as a witness and the explosive came from a stuntman he used to work with. Turns out it's not him. It's Cassidy, who was targeting a different group of witnesses.
Papa Wolf: He beats up his daughter's abusive boyfriend. This does not extend towards his son.
Screw the Rules, I'm Famous!: Riches is nothing unusual in Neptune, but Aaron is an Oscar-winning actor and uses this to its full effect when he goes on trial for killing Lilly.
The Sociopath: He killed Lilly Kane and feels no guilt for it, and he regularly threatens Logan and Veronica after it.
Torture for Fun and Information: Aaron Echolls is introduced, in his very first episode, beating his son with a belt, and is eventually revealed to be the killer of Lilly Kane, so you don't want to admire anything about him. But in "Hot Dogs", we find out that Trina, Aaron's daughter, is being abused by her boyfriend. In a scene that has quite a bit of Fridge Horror to it, but is undeniably kind of hilarious, Aaron kicks the daylights out of the kid, singing along with the tune of "That's Amore".
Turns Red: He's quite a capable fighter even when hurt.
Tranquil Fury: While he's kicking the shit out of Trina's abusive boyfriend, he only raises his voice once, and that's it.
Troubled Abuser: Aaron abuses his son. We learn later that his father was also an abusive alcoholic who beat his mother in front of him and put out cigarettes in his hands.
Villain with Good Publicity: Well, he's a famous - and famously attractive - actor, what do you expect?
Would Hurt a Child: Overlaps with Would Hit a Girl; he kills Lilly Kane after she stole the sex tapes.
You Are What You Hate: He absolutely loses it on Trina's abusive boyfriend because his own father was abusive. He's still regularly abusive to Logan, though, and in complete denial about it.

Lynn Echolls

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lynn_30.png

Portrayed By: Lisa Rinna

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Logan's mother and wife to Aaron.

Alcoholic Parent: She is shown drinking heavily to ignore her husband beating his son in the next room.
Broken Bird: By Aaron's abuse of both her and Logan and his infidelity.
Driven to Suicide: She ultimately decides to jump off a bridge when Aaron's Domestic Abuse gets too much.
Never Found the Body: Logan thinks she might still be alive because her body was never recovered. However, when he hires Veronica to track her down, it turns out it was just Trina using her old credit cards.
Parental Neglect: She tries to pretend like Aaron isn't physically abusive to Logan.
Stacy's Mom: She's kept her looks thanks to plastic surgery. Logan's leery eyed friends aren't afraid to tease him about the things they'd like to do to her.
Useless Bystander Parent: Logan's mother Lynn is very aware that her husband Aaron is a violent abuser who beats his son with a belt. She tries to ignore it by drinking extensively. She later commits suicide after Logan threatens to kill Aaron.

Trina Echolls

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/trina.png

Portrayed By: Alyson Hannigan

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

"The play is my master and I am its whore!"

2x09 My Mother The Fiend

Aaron's adopted daughter, a somewhat vapid aspiring actress with a serious case of Daddy-worship, whose main goal is to further her career without actually working.

Attention Whore: Described as such in-universe.
Logan: But if you're coming home who will play "Dead Hooker Two" on "CSI" this week? How will you get your attention fix?
Cool Big Sis: When she's not being a Jerkass, she does try and help her brother out.
Daddy's Girl: She has no love for her stepmother, but adores Aaron who is nothing but gentle and supportive towards her – which is why she disbelieves Logan's stories of their father's abusive ways until she sees firsthand what he's capable of after he thrashes her abusive boyfriend.
Deadpan Snarker: She's still no match for her younger brother, though.
Fame Through Infamy: Trina's most prominent quality, especially in her Season 2 appearance. She adores her father, but she runs the media circus around his trial like a champ.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's generally vapid and petty, frequently belittling Logan and dismissing his claims of their father's abuse. Though Trina does try to be there for him when the chips are down and after their father is arrested, and she's generally kind to Veronica despite the latter's turbulent relationship with the rest of her family.
Parental Favoritism: Aaron adores her and tolerates Logan.
Pet the Dog: She's one of the few 09ers to be consistently nice to Veronica, even in Season 1 when she and her father are the town pariahs.
Prom Baby: Actually referred to as such, word for word.
Spoiled Brat: Essentially, when she shows up, she wants money and that's all.
Stepford Smiler: The "empty inside" version.

Hearst College

Students

Stosh "Piz" Piznarski

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vm_piz_6389.jpg

Portrayed By: Chris Lowell

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | Veronica Mars (film)

"I think that's half of life, just knowing the difference."

3x10 Show Me The Monkey

Wallace's new roommate at Hearst, deeply into music, and has a blatant crush on Veronica - which she takes forever to notice.

Betty and Veronica: The Betty (kind, normal, innocent) to Logan's, ahem, Veronica (bad, dangerous), for Veronica's Archie.
Disposable Fiancé: He's Veronica's longest and most stable relationship by The Movie, but it's pretty clear that it's not going to last by the time Veronica gets back to Neptune and Logan.
Embarrassing First Name: Doesn't like being called Stosh.
The Generic Guy: He was much less interesting than Duncan or Logan.
Informed Ability: In the first episode of season 3, he walks into his dorm with a lacrosse stick, gloves, and helmet. This is never mentioned again.
Naïve Newcomer: To the whole Neptune system and especially to Veronica.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Stosh, but everybody calls him "Piz".
Pitbull Dates Puppy: He's the puppy to Veronica's pitbull.
Replacement Goldfish: A meta example to Duncan.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Subjective; it was widely rumored that Piz was created to fill the void with the loss of Duncan (who was written out when the creator decided to shift away from the original love triangle and give Veronica more options).

Parker Lee

Portrayed By: Julie Gonzalo

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

"Oh my God! Are you one of Mac's friends? Well come on in, sister! Mac's friends are my friends!"

3x01 Welcome Wagon

Mac's beaming bubbly blonde roommate, whose perk quickly turns to fury after being drugged and raped in the season premiere.

Amicable Exes: When she reappears in Season 4, she is quite happy to see that Logan and Veronica are together and getting married.
Ambiguously Bi: Shows no inhibitions about changing in front of complete (female) strangers and has some Les Yay moments with Veronica and Mac.
The Bus Came Back: She briefly reappears in Season 4 for Veronica and Logan's wedding.
Break the Cutie: She suffers this when she is raped and her hair shaved. She gets better, however.
Defiled Forever: Having previously really got around, she struggles with this feeling after being assaulted. (However, this became an Aborted Arc soon after her and Logan's relationship took off.)
Genki Girl: Constantly perky and upbeat prior to being raped.
Nice Girl: She immediately insists on becoming friends with Mac and Veronica, both of whom are varying degrees of aloof. She eventually breaks through their shells and they get much closer to her.
Odd Friendship: Perky, bubbly Parker, meet your roommate, the stoic, nerdy Mac. Despite this, the two become very close, with Mac even giving her a Declaration of Protection when she gets close to leaving Hearst from the trauma of her rape.
Really Gets Around: Or, as Mac put it, "One Woman Red Light District". She quits this after she's raped as she's traumatized.
Romantic False Lead: She and Logan get together midway through Season 3, but their relationship has long since been over by the movie, and it's never mentioned again. She does appear in Season 4, over a decade later, and gives her blessings to Logan and Veronica getting married.
Took a Level in Badass: Goes from being an understandably traumatized survivor of a brutal rape to being the one to save Veronica's life by confronting said rapist.
Traumatic Haircut: Literally. Her rapist shaves her head.

Lilith House

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

A feminist group dedicated to "taking back the night" while a rapist attacks women on the campus of Hearst College.

Hate Sink: Wanting Hearst College to be a safe place for young women is good, right? Nope. Lilith House are bad; there's tons of And That's Terrible.
Sinister Sorority Sisters: Lilith House are a Straw Feminist sorority that pretend to be feminist and open-minded but is in fact trying to frame the fraternity of Hearst College for a series of brutal rapes happening on campus, by shaving their members' heads, which stops the actual rapist from getting caught. They also perform an Ass Shove on Chip Diller, the fraternity's head, hide weed for their sorority mother, and run scams to get free food from campus.
Straw Feminist: A whole group of them who rape Chip and invent the head-shaving.
Straw Hypocrite: You might think their feminist goals would align them with Veronica, but nope: they are responsible for framing several characters, and assaulting one of the worst frat bros.

Mercer Hayes

Portrayed By: Ryan Devlin

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

A Hearst College student, DJ, friend of Logan's, who runs an underground gambling ring and also happens to be the Hearst College rapist.

The Bus Came Back: Briefly in Season 4, to establish that Veronica got him nailed for the Hearst College rapes.
Big Bad: Of the Hearst College rapist storyline.
Chekhov's Boomerang: His radio show is mentioned to exonerate him, before it comes out that this is actually a massive lie and blows his alibi.
Clothing Reflects Personality: One of the main hints that he's the rapist is that he wears the Iconic Outfit of Alex in A Clockwork Orange to a Halloween party.
For the Evulz: Could've had consensual sex with a woman, just chose not to, both because he seems to enjoy it that way and because he couldn't be bothered.
Hate Sink: He is an utterly despicable rapist with no good qualities at all, and no real motive.
I Shall Taunt You: Is constantly throwing his trip with Logan to Mexico in Veronica's face, implying that something terrible happened that Logan was a part of, mostly just to mess with Veronica when she finds out about his underground gambling ring.
He-Man Woman Hater: Goes along with him being a rapist, but also goes to great lengths to demonstrate that he could have consensual sex, he just chooses not to.
Serial Rapist: He turns out to be the one raping and shaving women on campus.
Walking Spoiler: It's very difficult to talk about any part of his identity without revealing that he's the Hearst College rapist.

Moe Flater

Portrayed By: Andrew McClain

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Veronica's RA who sometimes gets pretty spacey. He's also revealed to be helping Mercer drug, rape, and shave the women of Hearst College.

Ambiguously Gay: He shows zero interest in women especially any women that he drugs, but he still does so for Mercer.
Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Played with. He and Mercer were part of the "Prisoners' Experiment" at Hearst College - he was the prisoner and Mercer was the guard.
Beneath Suspicion: Even Veronica takes a drink from him after being attacked and nearly raped by Mercer.
The Dragon: To Mercer. He drugged his victims but didn't participate in the rapes.
Hidden Villain: Even when Veronica has realised that Mercer is the villain, she is completely unaware that Moe is helping Mercer and is mostly just relieved that he "intervened".
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For Michael Cera's character, Dean, who was intended to be the Hearst College rapist from Season 2 until he wasn't able to return for Season 3.
Walking Spoiler: VERY hard to talk about his character considering how little screen time he gets in comparison to his relevance to one of the main plots of Season 3.

Faculty

Dean O'Dell

Dean Cyrus O'Dell

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cyruso27dell_243x304.jpg

Portrayed By: Ed Begley Jr.

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

The dean of Hearst College until his death in the middle of Season 3.

Cool Old Guy: Despite being the dean, he eats in the food court, watches boxing, is pretty accessible to the students, and gets along with people like Veronica and Weevil who are, to an extent, pariahs.
Deadpan Snarker
Death by Recognition: The Dean of Heart College gives us a "What are you doing here?" The next time we see him, he's dead.
Reasonable Authority Figure

Dr. Hank Landry

Hank Landry

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/landryhank.jpg

Portrayed By: Patrick Fabian

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Veronica's Criminology professor.

Cool Teacher: Many of the female college students in his class think he's hot. Everyone else finds his class fun and enjoyable. Even under suspicion from Veronica and her father as the possible murderer of Dean O'Dell, he still helps Veronica get an internship with the FBI.
Wrongful Accusation Insurance: After being accused of Dean O'Dell's murder.

Tim Foyle

Portrayed By: James Jordan

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Landry's TA.

Ambition Is Evil: His desire to get a job at Pepperdine University drives his entire plan.
Beard of Evil: He sports one, though it's much more likely that it was done to distinguish his actor who also played Lucky in Season 2.
The Bus Came Back: In Season 4, although mostly for a cameo.
Complexity Addiction: Which Veronica recognizes and actually gets him caught in the end.
Disproportionate Retribution: He kills the Dean to frame Dr Landry...just because he was denied a good reference for s job.
Evil Is Petty: All because of one bad reference.
Foil: To Veronica, as his Punny Name suggests.
Meaningful Name: Foyle.
Punny Name: On tin foil, too.
Xanatos Gambit: His whole Evil Plan runs on one, crossing over with Disproportionate Retribution.

Characters / Veronica Mars

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Mars Investigations

Veronica Mars

Portrayed By: Kristen Bell

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

Keith Mars

Portrayed By: Enrico Colantoni

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

Neptune High

Students

Wallace Fennel

Portrayed By: Percy Daggs III

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

Duncan Kane

Portrayed By: Teddy Dunn

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Logan Echolls

Portrayed By: Jason Dohring

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie

Portrayed By: Tina Majorino

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

Richard "Dick" Casablancas II

Portrayed By: Ryan Hansen

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Veronica Mars (film)

Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas

Portrayed By: Kyle Gallner

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Jackie Cook

Portrayed By: Tessa Thompson

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Meg Manning

Portrayed By: Alona Tal

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | Mr. Kiss and Tell

Lilly Kane

Portrayed By: Amanda Seyfried

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Madison Sinclair

Portrayed By: Amanda Noret

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | Mr Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

Gia Goodman

Portrayed By: Krysten Ritter

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | Veronica Mars (film)

Troy Vandergraff

Portrayed By: Aaron Ashmore

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Carrie Bishop

Portrayed By: Leighton Meester (series), Andrea Estella (film)

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | Veronica Mars (film)

Stu 'Cobb' Cobbler

Portrayed By: Martin Starr

Appearances: Veronica Mars (film)

The PCHers

Eli "Weevil" Navarro

Portrayed By: Francis Capra

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

Eduardo “Thumper” Orozco

Portrayed By: James Molina

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Felix Toombs

Portrayed By: Brad Bufanda

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Faculty

Van Clemmons

Portrayed By: Duane Daniels

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)

Mallory Dent

Portrayed By: Sydney Tamiia Poitier

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Neptune Sheriff's Department

Sheriff Don Lamb

Portrayed By: Michael Muhney

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series)

Leonardo "Leo" D'Amato

Portrayed By: Max Greenfield

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | Veronica Mars (film)

Deputy Jerry Sacks

Portrayed By: Brandon Hillock

Appearances: Veronica Mars (series) | The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line | Mr. Kiss and Tell | Veronica Mars (film)