History Characters / GlassOnion

* InformedAttribute: Is touted as incredibly smart by the film's narrative, yet is depicted making several ''glaringly stupid'' errors in judgement throughout the film, the last of which results ''directly in her death'' at Miles' hands, though to be fair, it makes sense considering how arrogant she was. Conversely, her main claim to brilliance as presented by the film is her writing the initial ([[ObliquelyObfuscatedOccupation and unspecified]]) idea for Alpha on a napkin, a napkin which allegedly proves her to be a genius and Miles a fraud.

* SelfMadeMan: Downplayed. The group's members are legitimately talented and built up their careers with their skills, but because of their modest backgrounds they had to rely on help from Miles' wealth and connections to get their careers going. Before they met him, they were all working dead-end jobs. Even with his backing, only Lionel and Claire (the ones most directly reliant on Miles for funding) actually appear to have any degree of competency, as Duke's streaming career is tanking and he's been pushing into the Alt-Right market to compensate, and Birdie grossly mismanaged her sweatpants line by using sweatshop labour and has to be constantly managed by her assistant to prevent her tweeting slurs. It's only Andi who's genuinely able to build a profitable business, and even she was unable to prevent said business being taken from her by shady moves from Miles.

* WeaponBasedCharacterization: He's a bumbling, excessive loudmouth who put a lot of unnecessary engravings and decoration on his Tokarev, a weapon notorious for having some batches with substandard safeties.

* AmbiguouslyGay: She's not at all interested in any of the men, but she swoons around Andi.

* TakeThat: While it's hard to pin down any one person to make her an example of NoCelebritiesWereHarmed, she's very clearly an unflattering parody of hypocritical politicians who claim to be left-leaning while secretly in bed with conservatives.[[note]]Her closest analogue would probably be Joe Lieberman, another prominent politician from Connecticut who started out progressive but became increasingly right-leaning in his later years, to the point where he (like Claire) eventually ran as an independent. He was even briefly floated as a running mate for John McCain in a bipartisan bid, but Republicans freaked out when the info leaked and McCain went with Sarah Palin instead.[[/note]]

* TakeThat: While it's hard to pin down any one person to make her an example of NoCelebritiesWereHarmed, she's very clearly an unflattering parody of hypocritical politicians who claim to be left-leaning while secretly in bed with conservatives.[[note]]Her closest analogue would probably be Joe Lieberman, another prominent politician from Connecticut who started out progressive but became increasingly rightward in his later years, to the point where he (like Claire) eventually ran as an independent.[[/note]]

** It's implied that she was just as ambitious and ego-driven as Miles -- heck, she had a journal called "Notes for Future Biographers" when she was ''six''. The difference between her and Miles is that she actually had the genius to back it up and (almost) none of the recklessness.

* FatalFlaw: His lack of imagination and foresight prove to be his undoing.

** He's a talented guitar player, though if one pays attention, he misplays several chords, [[FridgeBrilliance which is one of the first hints Miles isn't who he says he is.]]

* InformedAttribute: Is touted as incredibly smart by the film's narrative, yet is depicted making several ''glaringly stupid'' errors in judgement throughout the film, the last of which results ''directly in her death'' at Miles' hands. Conversely, her main claim to brilliance as presented by the film is her writing the initial ([[ObliquelyObfuscatedOccupation and unspecified]]) idea for Alpha on a napkin, a napkin which allegedly proves her to be a genius and Miles a fraud.

* BasedOnAGreatBigLie: Miles has built a reputation for being a groundbreaking genius. [[spoiler:The truth is that he is a complete buffoon whose ideas are stupid at best and dangerous at worst, and who owes all of his success to Andi -- whose company he stole and took all the credit for.]]

* ConspicuousConsumption: Miles ''oozes'' this. Virtually every corner of his mansion is filled with artworks and artifacts that belonged to famous people, such as a Matisse, a Rothko, and (allegedly) Paul [=McCartney=]'s guitar and the Mona Lisa. In addition, he's commissioned various people such as Serena Williams for personal training and Philip Glass for the Hourly Dong. However, this also showcases how he's RichInDollarsPoorInSense - the Rothko is hung upside down and he's being absolutely ''fleeced'' by the people he commissioned.

** Alongside the cocktail napkin he [[spoiler:supposedly]] created Alpha on is a picture of himself hanging out with his friends at the original Glass Onion, implying that at least ''some'' part of him genuinely misses the good ol' days.

* FatalFlaw: Arrogance. Even at a young age, she always envisioned that she was going to be prominent, which is why she started writing a diary of herself, not because of wanting to keep memories of her day-to-day life, but because she was aiming to one day give it to the writers of her biographies (plural!). Afterwards, she would meet with Miles Bron and the rest of the Disruptors, where due them all having lower levels of intelligence than her, she would always see herself as the smartest person in the room, which inflated her ego even more. She disregarded her sister Helen's warnings about the Disruptors because she thought she had them all on check. When she found her napkin which proved her being right after the trial, she didn't give it to the authorities right away because she wanted to rub it in to the ones who betrayed her beforehand; and when she met with Miles as he visited her home she thought that she had the situation under control, which is why ultimately she didn't notice that Miles was trying to kill her, only realizing it after she was already drugged.

* AnimalMotifs: Birds, unsurprisingly. Her full name is '''Birdie Jay''', she's constantly making social gaffes with her 'tweets', she shows up at the dock in Greece wearing a feather-patterned sundress and a gold feather necklace, Miles' murder mystery has her killing Miles with a Jayhawk brand crossbow, and she owns a famous jewel called the Wren Diamond. Fitting, considering her role as a beautiful yet [[IncrediblyLamePun flighty]] member of Miles's crew.

** As a former model who enjoys flashy attention-getting clothes, the film alludes to her as a bird displaying its plumage. She's also frequently in trouble for her thoughtlessly offensive [[IncrediblyLamePun Tweets]].

* WhiteShirtOfDeath: When she gets shot, there is red over her white shirt and blazer. Turns out to be subverted when it's later revealed to be hot sauce.

* AbusiveParents: She's not the warmest or most supportive mother, even slapping Duke across the face just for talking back to her. As awful as Duke is, she interrupts him while livestreaming over ''laundry'', disrupts the team's attempts to solve the puzzle box, possibly just to mess with him.

** He's a far-from-flattering riff on Creator/JoeRogan, Andrew Tate (downplayed, due to Tate's conversion to Islam changing his worldview on many things he's said), and Matt Forney among others – being a bald, muscular, "men's rights activist" and social media influencer with a tendency to peddle AllNaturalSnakeOil. [[spoiler:His desire to get a late-night spot on Miles' new network "Alpha News" also seems to be a dig at Dan Bongino, though the movie was written before Dan was suspended from [=YouTube=].]]

** He's a far-from-flattering riff on Creator/JoeRogan, Andrew Tate, and Matt Forney among others – being a bald, muscular, "men's rights activist" and social media influencer with a tendency to peddle AllNaturalSnakeOil. [[spoiler:His desire to get a late-night spot on Miles' new network "Alpha News" also seems to be a dig at Dan Bongino, though the movie was written before Dan was suspended from [=YouTube=].]]

* AttentionWhore: He always butts into conversations in the loudest and most showy manner, indicating that he has a compulsive need to be the center of attention. A most prominent example is him rudely interrupting Duke's reminiscing about how his CoolCar, [[spoiler: though it's also Miles clumsily trying to cover up his murder of Andi.]]

* BorrowedCatchphrase: [[spoiler:During his VillainousBreakdown, he mirrors Helen’s usage of the word "shitheads".]]

* TheSociopath: [[spoiler: Miles fits a number of criteria for a low-functioning sociopath. He is superficially charming, has a colossal ego and sense of self-importance, is obsessed with sounding smart and dazzling people but has almost no actual knowledge of things he talks about, is a compulsive and very audacious liar, has absolutely terrible impulse control, is extremely reckless and takes stupid risks for bad reasons, has almost no capacity for genuine friendship and will turn on even old friends the moment it benefits him and is able to lie, manipulate, endanger others and even commit murder with no hint of remorse.]]

* SympathyForTheDevil: Downplayed; even before the major reveals of the movie, there are plenty of reasons to find Miles a deeply unlikeable and unsympathetic person. However, there is a scene alone with Blanc where he ruefully notes that Andi was always the one person who was willing to tell him the truth, and since becoming a fabulously wealthy tech innovator, he is only ever surrounded by fawning yes-people who will just tell him what they think he wants to hear or who will hate him if he doesn't dish out money to them that they feel entitled to, and he has no real friends or honest relationships with anyone, just people who owe him or want things from him. While there are reasons to doubt his sincerity, [[spoiler: not least the fact that it turns out he murdered Andi himself]], it nevertheless does suggest a certain rather pitiful sense of isolation and loneliness to the man.

* TooDumbToFool: [[spoiler: Miles' stupidity actually works to his advantage as Blanc is used to dealing with devious criminals who exercise caution and isn't prepared for someone who acts seemingly entirely on impulse and is too stupid to take even basic measures to cover his tracks, working to find the killer because he struggles to believe that anyone could make the mistakes Miles did.]]

* AmbiguouslyEvil: He works for Miles, [[spoiler: the main villain of the film]], and his behavior is definitely suspicious but he doesn't do anything directly evil so it's hard to say where he lands on the good/evil scale.

* BrainlessBeauty: Birdie is a famous and beautiful former model who is so gaffe-prone that her assistant can't trust her with a phone in case she posts an offensive slur out of sheer ignorance and lack of thought. [[spoiler:That same stupidity led to her using an infamous sweatshop to manufacture a line of designer sweat pants simply because that's what she thought the term 'sweatshop' meant a place that made sweat pants.]]

* WardrobeFlawOfCharacterization: Claire has a tendency to look messy and frazzled no matter the environment. She solely wears unflattering beige, her eyeshadow smears quickly on the island, and her hair is usually frizzy if not a straight-up rat's nest. [[WordOfGod Johnson himself]] said his direction for her outfits was for them to be the embodiment of a "sad trumpet noise". It sets her apart from the more glamorous Disruptors, and she clearly has a chip on her shoulder about it.