History Characters / Downfall

[[index]]
Characters/Downfall2004 is for the 2004 German historical war film depicting the final ten days of Adolf Hitler's rule over Nazi Germany in 1945.

Characters/Downfall2009 is for the 2009 indie video game by Harvester Games and for its 2016 remake.
[[/index]]

Characters.DownfallFilm is for the 2004 German historical war film depicting the final ten days of Adolf Hitler's rule over Nazi Germany in 1945.

Characters.DownfallVideoGame is for the 2009 indie video game by Harvester Games and for its 2016 remake.

Characters.DownfallVideoGame is for the 2009 indie video game by Harvester Games and for it's 2016 remake.

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This is the character sheet for the German UsefulNotes/WW2 movie ''Film/{{Downfall}}''. The movie has become famous in the internetland for the long-living Website/YouTube Meme ''WebVideo/HitlerRants'' (which now has [[Characters/HitlerRants its own character page]]) it has given birth to. Tropes listed here are related to the original movie only. Tropes for UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler should only reflect his character as seen through this movie.

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!''Film/{{Downfall}}''

[[foldercontrol]]

!!Hitler and his inner circle

[[folder:Adolf Hitler]]
[[quoteright:297:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/UnterHitlerTraan_9096.jpg]]

->''"Von allem Anfang an bin ich nur verraten und betrogen worden!"''
->''"From the very beginning, I have been cheated and betrayed by everyone!"''

->''"Das war ein Befehl! Der Angriff Steiner war ein Befehl!"''
->''"That was an order! Steiner’s attack was an order!"''

->'''Portrayed by:''' Bruno Ganz

The principal character of the movie, Austrian-born UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler rose to power in his adopted Germany as Führer in 1933 with a promise to bring Germany back to [[YeGoodeOldeDays its glory days]] when it ruled much of the world. As of the movie's span, however, Hitler has become a shrunken, near-defeated shell of a man who would ultimately put a bullet through his skull on April 30, 1945.
----
* ArmchairMilitary: Hitler directs the final stand of the Wehrmacht from the comfort of his bunker. Every conference scene shows Hitler ordering units that effectively no longer exist.
* AteHisGun: Though we only get to hear it, Hitler kills himself by shooting a bullet into his own brain.
* BadBoss: While he can be nice to the people daily around him, he has zero sympathy for his {{Mooks}}.
* BelievingTheirOwnLies: For a good part of the film, he holds on to his delusions of winning the war and creating his ideal world. It's when these delusions start to break that he really begins to lose it.
* BeneathTheMask: Traudl mentions how he can at one moment be pleasant, and the next moment say/scream such horrible things. Eva responds “You mean when he’s the Führer?” , so she seems to believe at least some part of his public self is a mask.
* BerserkButton: Disobeying him in any way. Subverted when Speer openly admitted to deliberately disobeying Hitler's orders ''to his face.'' Hitler is naturally shaken, but simply lets him leave.
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: Preferred a bullet through his head to suffering worse at the hands of the Soviets.
%%* BigBad
* BigDamnKiss: He plants on Eva's face after she tells him she won't leave the bunker for the Alps. It's an ''unbelievably'' awkward, both in-universe and out. Burgdorf's face is priceless.
* BreakTheHaughty: His last days as the ruler of Germany already had his mental state slipping. But, after a continuous stream of bad news over the course of several days, Hitler realizes how hopeless things are for him.
%%* TheCaligula
%%* ChewingTheScenery
* DrivenToSuicide: After realizing, once and for all, that the war is truly lost, Hitler puts a bullet through his own head, off-screen. It's treated less as a DespairEventHorizon and more like he's [[DefiantToTheEnd denying the Allies the satisfaction of killing him]].
%%* FauxAffablyEvil
* FriendToAllChildren: He and the Goebbels kids seem to really like each other. In fact, he’s so friendly he’s happy to have kids and teenagers die en masse for him as ChildSoldiers. TruthInTelevision on both counts; Hitler was known to be genuinely fond of kids while still, in the final days of the war, sending thousands of them off to die.
%%* HotBlooded
* {{Hypocrite}}: Wants the Germans to keep fighting till the bitter end in horrible conditions, while he himself stays in the relative comfort of his bunker without firing one single bullet against the enemy.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Germany exists for him, not the other way around.
* IrrationalHatred: Averted. There’s surprisingly little references to his ideology of racial superiority. It primarily comes up during a dinner conversation about “the weak” somehow being a threat to “the strong”, and thus in need of extermination.
* KickTheDog: When he orders his own pet dog Blondi to be poisoned.
%%* LargeHam
* LickedByTheDog: Licked by the Goebbels kids and Traudl.
* MagneticHero: Glance through the rest of the characters. Most of them have UndyingLoyalty to him.
%%* ManipulativeBastard
* MayDecemberRomance: When they marry, Hitler is 56 and Eva is 33.
%%* AMillionIsAStatistic
* MoodSwinger: As mentioned by his secretary, he can be perfectly polite one moment, and terrifying in the next.
%%* TheNapoleon
* NiceToTheWaiter: He treats his secretary and most of the low-rung workers with surprising kindness. This manages to make his outbursts even more terrifying.
* NeverMyFault: Hitler blames his generals, his staff, and finally the entire German populace for failing him and losing the war. He never blames himself. His dying words of how it's his "destiny" to be hated the world over is one last moment of contempt for those who have "failed" to see his vision.
* SayMyName: “FEGELEIN! FEGELEIN! FEGELEIN!”
* SingleTear: Sheds these after Speer admits to disobeying him.
* SmugSnake: Hitler claims to have conquered "all of Europe" despite his generals, but it’s obvious it goes [[GeneralFailure the other way around.]]
* TheSociopath: To CardCarryingVillain levels. During a dinner he calmly discusses with Goebbels about how sympathy for the weak is a primal sin.
** He really did say that, or at least something along those lines: "Life is granted only to those who fight the hardest. It is the law of life: Defend yourself! The time in which we live has the appearance of the collapse of this idea of helping the weak." (Hitler's Table Talk)
%%* StrawNihilist
* SurroundedByIdiots: Believes this to be so. If anything, his inner circle is just more grounded in reality than he is.
* TakingYouWithMe: Hitler would rather see all of Germany burned to the ground than not executing his vision.
* ThatsAnOrder: “Steiner’s assault was an order!” In general, Hitler is unwilling to tolerate any kind of opposition to his will, even if his orders are impossible.
* YouHaveFailedMe: He orders several people to be killed as traitors, even though they were given orders that were impossible to carry out.
* VillainousBreakdown: Every now and then, he'll get some piece of bad news and fly off the handle in a long-winded rant. [[WebVideo/HitlerRants One of them ended up becoming a popular meme]]. Eventually, he's had so many that even he admits that Nazi Germany is finished.
* VillainProtagonist: While he's shown to have a human side, Hitler is still an irrational, condescending, spiteful madman who has no problem sacrificing millions of people for his ideals, or blaming everyone save himself for his own failures. He also refuses to listen to objections to his orders of any kind, and believes having sympathy is a weakness.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: The more it becomes clear that he's losing the war, the more unhinged he becomes. He even issues orders to his troops that are literally impossible to follow, either because they rely on units that don't exist, or are such overwhelming odds that they might as well ignore them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Eva Braun]]
[[quoteright:220:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Eva_Braun_Der_Untergang_34_3268.jpg]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Juliane Köhler

->''"Er ist der Führer! Er weiß, was richtig ist!"''
->''"He is the Führer! He knows what is right!"''

Hitler's long-time mistress, whom he met when she was a photographer, and wife for all of forty hours before she committed suicide with him. Throughout her stay in the bunker only she had the gall to force her companions to party even as Berlin bears the brunt of a Soviet attack.
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* BodyHorror: She wants to be "a pretty corpse", and therefore opts for poison instead of guns.
%%* DrivenToSuicide
* DumbBlonde: Has the appearance, at least.
* LifeOfTheParty: Though it's all a mask. She's trying to lift up everyone's spirits, but it's hopeless.
* LoveMartyr: Quite literaly.
* MayDecemberRomance: When they marry, Hitler is 56 and Eva is 33.
* PleaseSpareHimMyLiege: Begs on her knees Hitler to spare Fegelein.
* StepfordSmiler: Even as the bunker is literally shaking from the Soviet shells, [[ScrewTheWarWerePartying she tries to smile and dance]]. Eventually, even she can't maintain the smile any more.
* UndyingLoyalty: Too bad in this movie it’s not a positive character trait.
* UnholyMatrimony: With Hitler.
* UnequalPairing: Hitler is the Führer. She doesn’t even officially exist.
* WhileRomeBurns: She tries to enjoy the parties that the Nazis throw in the bunker. When the shelling gets too close, even she has to face reality.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Joseph Goebbels]]
[[quoteright:210:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/UnterGobels2_232.jpg]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Ulrich Matthes

Hitler's most loyal supporter and head of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, largely responsible for Nazi Germany's policy of antisemitism. After Hitler's suicide, Goebbels was appointed Chancellor, only to commit suicide the next day with his wife Magda after poisoning their six children.
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%%* DrivenToSuicide
* EvilCripple: One of his legs was shorter than the other.
%%* {{Gonk}}
* KickTheDog: Explains to Mohnke (with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face) that he doesn't give a shit about the Germans senselessly dying.
* KubrickStare: Gives a rather intense one while saluting Hitler's funeral pyre.
* MoralMyopia: Cares greatly about his beloved children while sending thousands of other children to their deaths, knowingly and he couldn't care less.
* NeverMyFault: Seriously believes that the German people have it coming to them for following the Nazi party and blames them for choosing this path. [[SarcasmMode Surely none of the blame can be found with people giving them orders then.]]
* NoSympathy: As he so eloquently explains to Mohnke, even mocking the Germans who are willing to die for Hitler.
%%* ProfessionalButtKisser
* PsychoSupporter: Embraces all of Hitler’s mad delusions and ideologies.
* UglyGuyHotWife: His wife is considerably more attractive than him.
* UndyingLoyalty: While others try to leave the sinking ship, Goebbels wants to hear none of it.
* VillainousCheekbones: To the point where he is sometimes called [[Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse Skeletor]].
* WrongGenreSavvy: He believes in HeroicSpirit.
* YesMan: So much. In one scene you can spot even Krebs rolling his eyes while Goebbels allegorically kisses Hitler’s butt.
* YouAreInCommandNow: After Hitler's suicide. He wasn't in command for long, though; he too committed suicide shortly after Hitler did.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Magda Goebbels]]
[[quoteright:260:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/UnterVrouwGobels_809.jpg]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Corinna Harfouch

Joseph's wife and a staunch supporter of Hitler, to the point of abandoning all sense of morality in exchange for complete obedience.
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* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Her moral code is not like ours. She even believed that killing her children so that they didn't have to live in a world where Jews, homosexuals and other minorities were equals was ''merciful''.
%%* DrivenToSuicide
* TheFundamentalist: She refuses to let her children live in a world without National Socialism.
%%* IceQueen
%%* LadyMacbeth
* NervesOfSteel: Plays solitaire after killing her children.
* NotSoStoic: While normally quite the IceQueen, there is a scene where she begs Hitler to flee Germany. When he refuses, she starts hysterically crying.
* ObliviouslyEvil: She honestly believes in National Socialism and thinks she’s doing the right thing [[OffingTheOffspring saving]] her kids from the horrible fate of living in a world without it.
* OffingTheOffspring: During the film’s perhaps most depressing scene.
* PsychoSupporter: For Hitler. It's all about supporting him with blind obedience.
* TheSociopath: Moreso than Hitler.
%%* TheStoic
* SubordinateExcuse: She seems much more emotionally invested in Hitler than her husband. It's TruthInTelevision, too.
* UndyingLoyalty: Though it's portrayed as a character flaw at just how insane she is.
* VillainousBreakdown: Falls down on her knees and begs Hitler to escape from Berlin instead of committing suicide. When turned down, she breaks down in hysteric crying and has to be dragged away by Günsche. In contrast, [[FaceDeathWithDignity she shows no fear or sadness while calmly waiting for her husband to shoot her.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Goebbels Children]]
[[quoteright:348:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/20sala_xl_8603.jpg]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Aline Sokar, Amelie Menges, Charlotte Stoiber, Gregory Borlein, Laura Borlein, Julia Bauer

The six sons and daughters of Joseph and Magda Goebbels, from eldest to youngest: Helga, Hilde, Helmut, Holde, Hedda and Heide.
----
%%* {{Cheerful Child}}ren
%%* ChildrenAreInnocent
* GenreSavvy: It's more explicit in the extended cut, but Helga has some idea of what's going to happen to them.
* InfantImmortality: Averted. Like many other child characters in the film, they die on-screen.
* KickTheDog: They’re the dogs that get kicked.
* ParentalBetrayal: Leads to OffingTheOffspring.
* WarIsHell: In case the audience didn't yet get the message.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Albert Speer]]
[[quoteright:213:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4531175252_76734eba2c_3428.jpg]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Heino Ferch

->''"Sie sollten auf der Bühne stehen, wenn der Vorhang fällt."''
->''"You should be on stage when the curtain falls."''

An architect, Minister of Armaments and War Production, and a friend of Hitler, responsible for bringing to form many of his most ambitious infrastructural projects. Unlike Hitler, however, Speer at least believes that Germany should have a future even if defeated, begging him to spare their nation his suicidal ravings. After Hitler's death Speer served his twenty-year prison sentence before traveling the world writing memoirs about his life with Hitler until he died in September 1, 1981.
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* AntiVillain: He's still a Nazi, but he at least acknowledges that the war is long over, and that Germany should surrender and have a future, even if it means sacrificing the Nazi version of it.
* DefectorFromDecadence: While he still considers himself Hitler’s true friend, he admits to disobeying his orders because he found them lunatic and inhuman.
* EtTuBrute: After his confession, Hitler refuses to say farewell to him, shake his hand or even look at him in the eye. When Speer leaves the room, Hitler is shown shedding ManlyTears. However, he doesn't have him executed and lets him go.
%%* NiceGuy
* OnlySaneMan: The first one to consider an unconditional surrender to the Soviets and the other Allies, and tries to talk Hitler out of his suicidal ScorchedEarth policy.
* TokenGoodTeammate: Unlike most of the turncoats who abandon Hitler to save their own skin, Speer disobeys his orders out of a wish to save civilian lives and to give Germany a future after the war.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler]]
[[quoteright:281:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Himmler_4457.png]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Ulrich Noethen

Leader of the Schutzstaffel (SS), the Nazi Party's {{Praetorian Guard}}s, and the man responsible for establishing the notorious concentration camps. By the end of the war, however, he is secretly planning to forge a peace deal with the Allied Forces (naturally, Hitler is less than pleased when news reached his ears). Unfortunately, the British would have none of it, and his only option left is either face court-martial for his crimes, or take the easy way out with cyanide -- which he did on May 23, 1945.
----
%%* AffablyEvil
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: His ultimate fate.
* DrivenToSuicide: When it becomes clear that the Allies want nothing to do with him, his only options are court martial or death. He chooses the latter via cyanide capsule.
* EtTuBrute: Unlike Speer, he attempts to jump ships out of selfish interests. When Hitler learns about it, his reaction is much more severe and he wants Himmler dead.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: In an exercise of {{Realpolitik}}, he believes the Allies want to keep the former Nazi regime in power to prevent the Communists from taking over. It escapes him that after all the horrendous crimes they've committed, any human of normal moral code wouldn't consider co-operating with the Nazis for a split second.
%%* FourEyesZeroSoul
* TheQuisling: Tries to become this to the Allies. [[DrivenToSuicide They’ll have none of it.]]
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Naturally, Hitler is pissed off, to say the least.
* SkewedPriorities: His biggest concern for meeting Eisenhower is to whether greet him with the Nazi salute or shake his hand.
%%* TheStarscream
* TurnCoat: He tries to turn himself into the Allies, if only to save his own life. Keyword being "tries;" they refuse to listen.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hermann Fegelein]]
[[quoteright:294:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thomas_kretschmann_der_untergang_downfall_hermann_fegelein_1335.jpg]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/ThomasKretschmann

An SS general and Himmler's adjutant. Fegelein is disliked within the bunker by being a petty opportunist, having married Eva Braun's sister Gretl just to climb up the social ladder (and even then he still ReallyGetsAround), and being lukewarm to Nazi ideology (besides a brief stint on the Soviet front). Naturally, this makes him easy prey for Hitler's rage when the latter learned that Himmler was [[TurnCoat secretly forging a peace deal with the Allies]], and just when Fegelein was preparing to leave Germany, he was caught and summarily executed on April 28, 1945.
----
* AmbitionIsEvil: Not interested in the Nazi ideology or serving his country, but advancing his own position. Fegelein was deeply disliked by many both in RealLife (Speer described him as one of the most disgusting men in Hitler’s circle) and to some extent in the movie (Burgdorf calls him a careerist at his face.)
* AntiVillain: A Nazi, an opportunist, a deserter... and a young man who just wants to live, unlike his lunatic fellow men determined to die for a crazy ideology.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Amongst the inner circle of the Nazi elite. Likely because he isn't as insanely deluded nor so blindly committed.
* DisappearedDad: He becomes this to his yet unborn daughter.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Upon realizing he’s about to be executed, he buttons up his jacket and salutes Hitler.
* FamousLastWords
-->"Heil Hitler!"
* GoldDigger: Fegelein married Eva Braun's sister Gretl only to get closer to Hitler. Their relationship is left un-discussed in the movie, as she is never seen. However, he is shown to really be fond of at least Eva.
* HandsomeLech: There's a reason he's called the "Playboy of the Third Reich”.
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The real Fegelein didn't become Himmler's adjutant for being a nice person. Among his real-life war crimes were the deaths of 17,000 Soviet Jews in Byelorussia (Belarus).
* IHaveAFamily: Not spoken by him, but by Eva on his behalf while she begs Hitler to save his life. It doesn’t work.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Has shades of this.
* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Or for a career. Interestingly both he and Magda arranged themselves into a political marriage to get closer to Hitler. Only Magda did it [[MyCountryRightOrWrong out of passionate loyalty]], while Fegelein simply climbs the ladders of the party that happens to be in power.
* OnlySaneMan: Takes no part in Hitler’s delusions, nor has any interest in dying for Nazism. He also tries to convince others to come to their senses, with little success.
* PetTheDog: He’s honestly concerned about Eva’s safety, and begs her to escape Berlin with him. He also implores Hitler's secretaries to flee Berlin because the war is already lost, but they refuse to believe him.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Attempts it. It doesn't end well.
* TragicVillain: He knows that the Nazis are going to lose the war in a matter of days and wants to get away from their messy demise, but his Nazi comrades, and Hitler, make things difficult for him to leave.
* YourCheatingHeart: Being married doesn’t stop him from being found in a prostitute’s bed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel]]
[[quoteright:263:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/keitel_5867.jpg]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Dieter Mann

Head of the ''Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (effectively making him the war minister) and one of Hitler's most prominent yes-men. He signed the documents that accepted France's surrender and declared Germany's surrender. Despite being the third in the German chain-of-command (behind Hitler and Göring), Keitel's job eventually devolved into applying his signatures to various papers, including a decree that condemned millions of Soviet P.O.W.s and civilians to brutality by their German captors. After being ordered to regroup with Admiral Dönitz, Keitel began to grovel before him just as he did before Hitler. He was hanged on October 16, 1946 (like a criminal), after being denied by the Allies a request to be shot by firing squad (like a soldier).
----
* GeneralFailure: Subverted. He seems well aware of Germany's military situation and begs Hitler to order their remaining units to retreat in the face of overwhelming odds.
* YesMan: Despite being aware that the war is lost, he refuses to disobey Hitler, as he'll be dismissed along with Germany's best officers like Rundstedt and Guderian.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Martin Bormann]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Thomas Thieme

Head of the Party Chancellery and Hitler's private secretary. By the end of the war, Bormann controlled all information that came to and from Hitler's headquarters, allowing him to wield enormous power within the Third Reich. On April 23, Göring sent a telegram to the Führerbunker asking if he was to take command of the Reich, a rather reasonable move as Hitler had all but completely cut himself off from governing and Göring was his designated successor. However, Bormann got hold of the telegram first, and was able to paint it as a coup, though this may have been an attempt to get Hitler to leave the capital. After Hitler's suicide, Bormann fled the bunker. His fate was uncertain for many years (some believing he escaped to South America), but his remains were eventually found in a Berlin subway station.
----
* ArchEnemy: Himmler despised him; the feeling was mutual.
* TheManBehindTheMan: Slowly, Bormann assumed tremendous power by controlling all messages that went to or from Führer headquarters.
* VillainousBreakdown: In the uncut version, when Speer goes to the bunker for the last time, Bormann grabs him and begs him to convince Hitler to leave Berlin.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Mathias Gnädinger

One of the lesser characters in the movie despite being Hitler's NumberTwo, having been the founder of the Gestapo, the Nazi SecretPolice, and leader of the Luftwaffe (air force). His relationship with Hitler, however, started to sour due to incompetence in the battlefield, and was subsequently fired when he sent a telegram to Hitler asking him to bless him as his successor upon learning of his impending suicide. He was subsequently captured by the victorious Allies and found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but chose to bite a cyanide pill before he faced the gallows on October 15, 1946.
----
* DemotedToExtra: In the movie. Despite being one of the most prominent Nazi officials, he doesn't get a single word.
%%* FatBastard
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: In his only scene, he is calmly checking his watch.
* YouAreInCommandNow: Averted. Upon learning of Hitler's intentions to remain in Berlin, he sends a telegram asking to take command of the crumbling Third Reich. While Hewel tries to say this is a justified action, given how fragile their communications system is, Bormann and Goebbels paint it as being an opportunity for a coup. This causes Hitler to fly into another rage and eject him from every office.
[[/folder]]

!!The bunker staff

[[folder:Traudl Junge]]
[[quoteright:269:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/large_downfall__blu-ray3x_4716.jpg]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Alexandra Maria Lara

The viewpoint character of the movie, Traudl was the youngest of Hitler's private secretaries at age 22 and oblivious to all the crimes Hitler and his lackeys did in the name of National Socialism. In three years' time, she witnesses Hitler's slow descent to madness and ultimately suicide. After several interrogations by the Soviets, from which she learned of Nazi atrocities on their homeland, she was let go to live a quiet life until her death on February 10, 2001, but not before telling her story to the world, some of which would make it into this very movie.
----
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: [[http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/Traudl_Junge_November_1945.jpg The real Traudl was a bit more homely]].
* AudienceSurrogate: An inexperienced new arrival in Hitler’s circle, level-headed and innocent of the horrid crimes most of the cast has committed.
* BookEnds: The real Traudl, aged 81 and months near her death, was given interviews on the beginning and end of the film.
* BrainyBrunette: Brunette and brainy enough to score a job as the secretary of the most important man in the Reich. Though in this company merely being of normal sanity places her above her surroundings. Unfortunately it doesn’t help her [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter judge of character]].
%%* BreakTheCutie
* BrownEyes: Brown-eyed and down to earth.
%%* CurtainsMatchTheWindow
* FriendToAllChildren: Befriends both the Goebbels children and later Peter.
* HeelRealization: Until her dying day, Traudl never forgave herself for not seeing Hitler as the monster he was. To quote an interview with the RealLife Traudl at the end of the film...
-->"Of course the horrors, of which I heard in connection of the Nuremberg trials, the fate of the six million Jews, their killing and those of many others who represented different races and creeds, shocked me greatly, but at that time I could not see any connection between these things and my own past. I was only happy that I had not personally been guilty of these things and that I had not been aware of the scale of these things. However, one day I walked past a plaque that on the Franz-Joseph Straße (in Munich), on the wall in memory of Sophie Scholl. I could see that she had been born the same year as I, and that she had been executed the same year when I entered into Hitler’s service. And at that moment I really realized that it was no excuse that I had been so young. I could perhaps have tried to find out about things."
%%* NiceGirl
%%* PluckyGirl
* SexySecretary: In all innocence, as she’s clearly “a good girl”.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: In reality, she and other secretaries were raped and abused by Red Army soldiers. The director decided this would far too bleak to depict or mention to end a movie already stuffed to the brim with human misery, and instead went with an ambiguous RidingIntoTheSunset ending.
* SupportingProtagonist: Arguably this to Hitler, the real main character. However, the movie BookEnds with an interview of the real Traudl, and her fate during the war is the carrying plot thread.
%%* TokenGoodTeammate
* UndyingLoyalty: Upset by people abandoning Hitler and determined to stay with him till the end.
* WhatBeautifulEyes: [[http://www.world-war-2-diaries.com/image-files/traudl-junge-downfall.jpg Just]] [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111101172005/hitlerparody/images/thumb/b/bd/TraudlTooMuch.jpg/497px-TraudlTooMuch.jpg look]] [[http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110410123749/hitlerparody/images/e/e2/Traudl.jpg into]] [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111023022617/hitlerparody/images/thumb/c/c3/Downfall-1.jpg/663px-Downfall-1.jpg them.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Otto Günsche]]
[[quoteright:218:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Otto_Gnsche_HD_6228.jpg]]

->''"Wir können den Gruppenführer Fegelein nirgendwo finden. Er ist nicht in der Bunkerlarge."''
->''"Gruppenführer Fegelein is nowhere to be found. He's not in the bunker."''

->'''Portrayed by:''' Götz Otto

An SS Major and Hitler's personal adjutant. As one of the saner characters of the movie, all he did was stand by and wait for Hitler's orders, including having to cremate his body. He was later captured by the Soviets and served a decade in prisons in Moscow and Bautzen (East Germany), during which time he wrote his own account of life with Hitler, specifically prepared for JosephStalin. He died peacefully on October 2, 2003.
----
* AdaptationDyeJob: He was blond in real life, but the film gives him black hair.
* BattleButler: By the definition of being an adjutant, i.e. a soldier servant to a superior officer, in his case to Hitler.
* NiceGuy: Generally friendly and helpful, especially to Traudl and Gerda.
* OneHeadTaller: Compared to ''everybody'' else, but especially [[TheNapoleon Hitler]].
* PunchClockVillain: Isn’t shown to be AxCrazy or a passionate Nazi like many of the other bunker inhabitants. In RealLife he was never found guilty of war crimes besides simply serving on the front lines, which was naturally expected of him.
%%* TheQuietOne
* TheReliableOne: Doesn’t stand out much, but is often present, silently waiting for orders in the background, and in the end is trusted with the important task of destroying Hitler’s body after his suicide.
%%* TheStoic
* UndyingLoyalty: Among those who stay with Hitler till the end. Near the end he joins in the Mohnke's group of survivors, and when the group votes for what to do Günsche is among those who vote for dying before dishonor. Yet when the surrender is declared he declines from committing suicide.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:General der Infanterie Hans Krebs]]
[[quoteright:263:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/500px-generals_discuss_krebs_3_3544.png]]

->"''Die neunte Armee ist nach Norden bewegungsunfähig! Die Feindkräfte übersteigen unsere Mannschaften um ein zehnfaches!"''
->"''The 9th Army is unable to move to the North! The enemy outnumbers us ten to one!"''

->'''Portrayed by:''' Rolf Kanies

Infantry general of the Wehrmacht Heer (Army) and Chief of the Army General Staff. Krebs was pretty much Hitler's military arm during the last days of Nazi Germany, ordering around officers on the front lines to fight till the very end, and subsequently presided Fegelein's court-martial. After Hitler's suicide, he and Burgdorf stayed behind and together committed suicide on May 2, 1945.
----
* AffablyEvil: A Nazi... and quite polite.
%%* DrivenToSuicide
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Burgdorf
* NiceGuy: Polite and soft-spoken.
%%* PrettyLittleHeadshots
%%* RedOniBlueOni: The blue to Burgdorf’s red.
* SuicidePact: He and Burgdorf shoot themselves together.
* UndyingLoyalty: Stays in the bunker until everyone else has left.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:General der Infanterie Wilhelm Burgdorf]]
[[quoteright:232:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/burgdorf_5099.png]]

->"''Mein Führer, ich kann nicht zulassen, dass Sie die Soldaten, die für Sie verbluten (beleidigen)!"''
->"''My Führer, I cannot let you insult the soldiers who bleed and die for you!"''

->'''Portrayed by:''' Justus von Dohnányi

Chief Adjutant of the Wermacht Heer during the closing days of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. As a veteran of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, Burgdorf was passionate about preventing a repeat of Germany's humiliation after that war, and thus sworn fealty to Hitler, including having to facilitate the suicide of UsefulNotes/ErwinRommel as punishment for an assassination attempt on Hitler. At the war's end he and Krebs handled Fegelein's court-martial, and both also committed suicide on May 2, 1945.
----
%%* DrivenToSuicide
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Krebs.
* HonorBeforeReason: Remembers Germany’s humiliating surrender after WWI and rather commits suicide than goes through it again.
%%* HotBlooded
* INeedAFreakingDrink: Often seen drinking alcohol.
* MotorMouth: When angered speaks fast, furiously and in high pitch.
%%* PrettyLittleHeadshots
%%* RedOniBlueOni: The red to Krebs’ blue.
* SuicidePact: He and Krebs shoot themselves together.
* UndyingLoyalty: Stays in the bunker until everyone else have left.
* WithDueRespect: During his most famous VillainousBreakdown Hitler accuses the army for his loss, calling them cowards and traitors. Burgdorf stands up to Hitler, declaring this to be outrageous and that he cannot accept Hitler insulting the soldiers. No other character dares to speak to Hitler in such manner.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Generaloberst Alfred Jodl]]

->"''Steiner konnte nicht genügend Kräfte für einen Angriff lancieren."''
->"''Steiner could not mobilize sufficient forces for the assault."''

->'''Portrayed by:''' Christian Redl

Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command, deputy of Wilhelm Keitel, and one of Hitler's most loyal generals. At the end of the war he was found guilty by the Nuremberg Trials of committing crimes against peace, waging wars of aggression, war crimes, and crimes against humanity (including deportation of Danes and Jews to concentration camps) and was hanged along with Keitel on October 16, 1946.
----
* BaldOfEvil: Bald and a Nazi. Not eviler than the rest, though.
* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: Averted. He offers reasonable counter arguments against Hitler's ludicrously delusional orders. Hitler is not amused.
* MyCountryRightOrWrong
-->"You are a soldier! You have sworn loyalty to the Führer!"
* UndyingLoyalty: Despite arguing with Hitler, he refuses to consider abandoning him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Heinz Linge]]

->'''Portrayed by:''' Thomas Limpinsel

Adolf Hitler's personal valet, attending to all the Führer's personal matters. He is first shown welcoming Traudl and the other applicants for the position of secretary to the Wolf's Lair, and remains at Hitler's side even as they're confined to the bunker. He spent ten years in Soviet captivity and died on March 9, 1980.
----
* DeadpanSnarker: He has his moments.
-->'''Albert Speer:''' ''[while Hitler is having a meltdown]'' I must speak with the Führer.
-->'''Heinz Linge:''' I'd wait a minute if I were you.
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: The look on his face when he's delivering a report indicating that Himmler has attempted to surrender.
* UndyingLoyalty: As Hitler's valet and an SS officer, he remains by Hitler's side to the very end.
[[/folder]]

!!Battle for Berlin

[[folder:Ernst-Günther Schenck]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Christian Berkel

Professional doctor and SS colonel. As one of the more honorable characters of the movie, he left a comfortable desk job to participate on the Soviet front to earn his own chips the hard way. During Hitler's last days he volunteered to work as a doctor on the bunker area. He was captured then subsequently released by the Soviets, and later told his story to American historian [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_P._O%27Donnell James O'Donnell]]. He died peacefully on December 21, 1998.
----
* {{Badass}}: Walks across no-man's-land under Soviet fire to get into the abandoned hospital.
%%* BaldOfAwesome
%%* HerrDoktor
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Shenck is portrayed as the [[EvenEvilHasStandards most heroic character]] in the film, conveniently glossing over his RealLife involvement in human experimentation that claimed 370 concentration camp detainees. The director justifies this by claiming it's a case of ShownTheirWork instead: according to him, the accusations against Schenck aren't particularly believable.
* HonorBeforeReason: Wants to help the civilians even when it puts himself into immediate danger, and when it’s against the orders.
%%* TheMedic
* OnlySaneMan
--> '''Hewel''': "Why do you want so much to live?"
--> '''Schenck''': "Why do you want so much to die?"
%%* PunchClockVillain
%%* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight
[[/folder]]

[[folder:General Helmuth Weidling]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Michael Mendl

A General of the Wermacht Heer. Having led the Nazis to the front lines of the Soviet front, he would spend the last days of Hitler leading Berlin's LastStand against the Soviet counterattack. He was also forced to keep mum about Hitler's suicide to all Soviets save JosephStalin himself, and was also forced to break out the news of Germany's surrender. He died in exile in Soviet Russia on November 17, 1955.
----
* ArmchairMilitary: Averted, his command post is only one kilometer from the frontlines. He does ''not'' appreciate being accused of cowardice by the higher-ups that are sitting around comfortably in the bunker.
* BadassGrandpa: Visibly one of the oldest senior staff and he leads his troops by example.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: He protests his case with Hitler to avoid being executed. Nice job breaking it, [[FateWorseThanDeath you're now in charge of defending Berlin in a hopeless fight]].
* FateWorseThanDeath: Considers being put into the lead of the defense of Berlin to be this.
* HeroicBSOD: Collapses after commanding the remaining German soldiers to surrender.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: He's the one that finally surrenders to Zhukov, knowing that enough is enough.
%%* OnlySaneMan
* PunchClockVillain: Apparently fights for his country and people, not Hitler or the Nazi ideology. He’s also considerably more worried about the wellbeing of civilians and his men than Hitler and the top dogs.
%%* ReasonableAuthorityFigure
%%* TheStoic
* YouAreInCommandNow: He’s not happy about it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Wilhelm Mohnke]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' André Hennicke

Brigadier General and one of the original 120 members of the SS during its inception in 1933. He came to the attention of Nazi leaders for the way he performed his duties in France during the opening days of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII[[note]] This included the mass murder of British prisoners of war who were shoved into a barn and machine-gunned to death. Mohnke refused to take prisoners as this would only slow up his advance. he repeated this action - freequently - in Russia.[[/note]], he was eventually transferred into Berlin to personally lead the portion of the city's LastStand within the vicinity of Hitler's hideout. After the war's end he was imprisoned by the Soviets for a decade before returning to Germany, where he spent the rest of his life as a truck dealer until his death on August 6, 2001.
----
* BadassBaritone: Perhaps not quite baritone, but distinctively soft and pleasant anyway.
* FrontlineGeneral: Like Weidling, he's shown at an observation post overlooking an intersection that's being fought over and witnessing the poorly-equipped Volkssturm dying senselessly.
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: As with Schenck, some critics accuse the film of portraying him in too heroic light while forgetting his war crimes; again the director answers he doesn't believe in the accusations.
* OnlySaneMan: Of the same kind as Weidling. In the end, when many others commit suicide, he leads the surviving bunker members to attempt to break through the encircling Soviet troops.
%%* PunchClockVillain
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Goebbels keeps sending him unarmed ChildSoldiers. He tries to stop it.
* SenselessSacrifice: Is against using the Volksturm volunteers for this reason.
* TheStoic: The most stoic of them all. Doesn't as much as flinch when Goebbels shouts at his face he doesn't care about the dying ChildSoldiers.
* UndyingLoyalty: Played with. During the movie he plays the role of a OnlySaneMan who's concerned about saving lives from the SenselessSacrifice that the Battle for Berlin is. Near the end he leads a group of survivors, who argue about what to do. A vote is called, and Mohnke votes for dying. Yet when the surrender is announced, he doesn't commit suicide.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Peter Kranz]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Donevan Gunia

A fictional character and a child soldier who gleefully serves the Hitler Youth during the last days of Hitler. His role is primarily to serve as the face of the suffering German citizenry.

The character is clearly inspired by [[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zNSVZLLsoFY/UGccOcnpnXI/AAAAAAAADU8/KYaL80hv7QM/s1600/Fuhrer+Shaking+Hands+with+Hitler+Youth+Soldiers.jpg a picture of Hitler shaking hands with child soldiers]] in last days before Berlin's fall.
----
%%* ActionSurvivor
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Is ashamed of his UsefulNotes/WorldWarI veteran father, who tries to order him and his [[ChildSoldiers Nazi Youth friends]] to give up fighting or even employ a modicum of sense in defending their position, as their cause is lost, and more importantly because [[JustAKid they’re just kids]] who can’t do any real good in a battle.
* BittersweetEnding: Survives the war, but his parents and friends are dead.
%%* BreakTheCutie
* CanonForeigner: To real history; all other main characters are {{Historical Domain Character}}s.
%%* {{Child Soldier|s}}
* DadTheVeteran: His father is one.
* HarmfulToMinors: He’s not having a very normal childhood.
* HeartwarmingOrphan: Becomes this for Traudl.
* JustAKid: Subverted. He comes to realize he really is just a kid who has no place in battle, and runs back home to parents... [[KilledOffForReal only to find them shot to death]].
* AMillionIsAStatistic: Peter’s function as a character is to give a face and a name to the civilian suffering so much discussed by those in the command.
* RidingIntoTheSunset: Bicycling into the blooming springtime countryside with Traudl.
[[/folder]]

----

* BelievingTheirOwnLies: For a good part of the film he holds on to his delusions.

* MayDecemberRomance: When they marry, Hitler is 56 and Eva 33.

* TakingYouWithMe: Trying to take Germany with him.
* ThatsAnOrder: “Steiner’s assault was an order!” In general Hitler is unwilling of tolerating any kind of opposition to his will, even if his will being carried out proves to be impossible.

* MayDecemberRomance: When they marry, Hitler is 56 and Eva 33.

%%* WhileRomeBurns

* YouAreInCommandNow: After Hitler's suicide.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Her moral code is not like ours.

* TheFundamentalist: She refuses to let her children live in a world without National Socialism

* PsychoSupporter: For Hitler

%%* UndyingLoyalty

* OnlySaneMan: The first one to consider an unconditional surrender to the Soviets and the other Allies and tries to talk Hitler out of his suicidal ScorchedEarth policy.
* TokenGoodTeammate: Unlike most of the turncoats who abandon Hitler to save their own skin, Speer disobeys his orders out of wish to save civilian lives and to give Germany a future after the war.

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: In an exercise of {{Realpolitik}}, he believes the Allies want to keep the former Nazi regime in power to prevent the Communists from taking over. It escapes him that after all the horrendous crimes they've committed, any human of normal moral code wouldn't consider co-operating with them for a split second.

* TheQuisling: Tries to become this to the Allies. They’ll have [[DrivenToSuicide none of it.]]

* TurnCoat: He tries to turn himself into the Allies, if only to save his own life.

%%* TheFriendNobodyLikes

* AteHisGun: Though we only get to hear it.

%%* BreakTheHaughty

* IrrationalHatred: Averted. There’s surprisingly little references to his idelogy of racial superiority. It primarily comes up during a dinner conversation about “the weak” somehow being a threat to “the stong”, and thus in need of extermination.

* SurroundedByIdiots: Believes to be so.

* ThatsAnOrder: “Steiner’s assault was an order!” In general Hitler is unwilling of tolerating any kind of opposition to his will.

* GeneralFailure: Subverted. He was not a field commander, and he did voice his opposition to Operation Barbarossa, insisting it would end in disaster. The spectacular initial successes helped undermine Keitel's authority with Hitler.
* YesMan: Even midway through the war, he refused to speak up to Hitler. When Luftwaffe Intelligence picked up vast numbers of Soviet fighters ready for deployment, Göring insisted they were merely dummies and Keitel ''still'' agreed with this bogus claim.

Adolf Hitler's personal valet, attending to all the Führer's personal matters. He is first shown welcoming Traudl and the other applicants for the position of secretary to the Wolf's Lair, and remains at Hitler's side even as they're confined to the bunker.

!!Battle for Berlin

[[folder:Ernst-Günther Schenck]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Christian Berkel

Professional doctor and SS colonel. As one of the more honorable characters of the movie, he left a comfortable desk job to participate on the Soviet front to earn his own chips the hard way. During Hitler's last days he volunteered to work as a doctor on the bunker area. He was captured then subsequently released by the Soviets, and later told his story to American historian [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_P._O%27Donnell James O'Donnell]]. He died peacefully on December 21, 1998.

%%* NiceToTheWaiter

* SmugSnake: Hitler claims to have conquered “all of Europe” despite his generals, but it’s obvious it goes [[GeneralFailure the other way around.]]

* VillainousBreakdown: Every now and then, with one of them becoming a popular meme.

%%* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity

Head of the Party Chancellory and Hitler's private secretary. By the end of the war, Bormann controlled all information that came to and from Hitler's headquarters, allowing him to wield enormous power within the Third Reich. On April 23, Göring sent a telegram to the Führerbunker asking if he was to take command of the Reich, a rather reasonable move as Hitler had all but completely cut himself off from governing and Göring was his designated successor. However, Bormann got hold of the telegram first, and was able to paint it as a coup, though this may have been an attempt to get Hitler to leave the capital. After Hitler's suicide, Bormann fled the bunker. His fate was uncertain for many years (some believing he escaped to South America), but his remains were eventually found in a Berlin subway station.

->''"Das war ein Befehl! Der Angriff Steiners war ein Befehl!"''

[[quoteright:277:http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/hitlerparody/images/e/ef/Alfred_Jodl_HD.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120805131341]]