History Characters / KnivesOut

* IrrationalHatred: His animosity towards Walt seems to co e out of nowhere as he denounces Walt’s importance in the family business with disdain and enjoys Walt getting fired out of petty spite.

* CardCarryingVillain: Ransom seems to know full well what a colossal prick he is and makes no effort to hide it or improve, treating it like a badge of honor.

* EnemyMine:
** He's unquestionably a [[HateSink massive douchebag]], but teams up with Marta -- someone he'd normally be just as much of a {{jerkass}} to as anyone else -- because he ''hates'' his family.

* ProppingUpTheirPatsy: [[spoiler:Ransom Thrombey Drysdale, the BlackSheep of the rich Thrombey family, is the only one to help the late Harlan Thrombey's nurse Marta after the family turns on her for inheriting the estate. Marta believes she accidentally overdosed Harlan, but Ransom switched her medicines to get her to kill him and lose the inheritance he was told she'd be getting. As such, under the pretense of allyship, Ransom gets Marta's account of the events but learns his murder attempt using her failed due to her choosing the correct medicine. Ransom thinks quickly and continues to let Marta think she is guilty, yet encourages her to fight for the inheritance while he secretly goes to destroy the proof of her innocence so his plan to discredit her and get back the family money can still go through. Ransom's guilt isn't unraveled or suspected until Harlan's toxicology report is shown to detective Benoit Blanc and proves Marta administered the correct medicine.]]

* FatalFlaw: GlassOnion shows that Blanc has a need to challenge his mind, and as such, despite shining when dealing with complicated mysteries, things that are simple, such as social deduction games and the [[spoiler: central mystery of that film]] often puzzle him more than anything complicated, simply because he refuses to apply Occam's Razor until it's almost too late.

** In ''Glass Onion'', he jokingly references the film ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact''.

** While Richard and Donna are racist, and the rest are somewhat terrible in some way all of them (except his parents which is no surprise for his racist mom) seem to look down on Jacob for his far-right views.

* FreudianExcuse: Downplayed but Harlan does admit he could have made more of an effort to nurture his intellect rather than always butting heads with him and what we see of his parents doesn't imply the most loving of environments to grow up in and the rest of the family seems determined to scold him for behavior they also display, just less openly, while also having encouraged his worst impulses. All things considered, it's no surprise Ransom ended up as rotten as he did.

A real estate mogul who is Harlan's eldest child and only daughter, and Richard's wife.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: It's easy to miss, but in the first flashback scene where Ranson grabs his jacket and storms out of house, he gently touches Nana's arm while going out the door. Nana then asks if he's leaving. It's noteworthy that Nana does not respond to any of the other family members, not even Meg when she makes an effort to talk to her. All of Nana's future statements involve mentioning Ransom. It's possible Ransom actually cared for her and showed her some kindness over the years, even a little, since taking the time to do that on his way out is more than the rest of the family bothered to do and is out-of-character for him. Of course, that doesn't mean she's going to cover up for him...

* MoneyDumb: Joni has been embezzling an extra $100,000 per year from Harlan, and he gives her one more check as well as a year's worth of Meg's tuition. Trooper Wagner also mentions she's a popular Instagram Influencer. Despite this, [[spoiler:she reveals to Meg that she is broke and can't pay her tuition. One wonders where all the money went]].

* CreativeSterility: His BlackSheep status among Harlan's issue is his lack of ambition to create anything for himself, instead preferring to leech off the success of his father's books. While the other Thrombeys are supported in some way by Harlan, they all pursued their own path. Walt, on the other hand, is permanently stuck in his father's shadow, and everyone (including Harlan himself, implicitly) looks down on him for it. In his defense, he does sometimes try to take initiative within this role, negotiating for adaptions and the like, but his father never lets him take too much power over his life's work.

* ManlyGay: Benoit Blanc is a SouthernGentleman shown to have a male partner in Glass Onion, and the [[https://www.newsweek.com/rian-johnson-glass-onion-knives-out-mystery-benoit-blanc-sexuality-gay-1768365 director confirms he's gay.]]

* BerserkButton: ''Glass Onion'' reveals that he has [[EnragedByIdiocy a very low tolerance for stupid criminals]]. He's ''very'' annoyed upon piecing together that [[spoiler:Miles Bron killed Duke not through any complex scheme, but by simply pouring pineapple juice in a glass and giving it to Duke, lying that Duke mistakenly took Miles' glass despite Miles giving the glass to Duke in front of everyone]]. And he's even further frustrated upon learning that [[spoiler:Miles' one crime with any real panache, causing a blackout across the island and shooting Helen in the dark, wasn't even an idea he came up with on his own, but given to him by Blanc himself]], angrily calling the culprit a dimwitted, brainless jackass.

--->'''Philip''': You're not in the bath again, are you?
--->'''Blanc''': ''No.''

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: It's easy to miss, but in the first flashback scene where Ranson grabs his jacket and storms out of house, he gently touches Nana's arm while going out the door. Nana then asks if he's leaving. It's noteworthy that Nana does not respond to any of the other family members, not even Meg when she makes an effort to talk to her. All of Nana's future statements involve mentioning Ransom. It's possible Ranson actually cared for her and showed her some kindness over the years, even a little, since taking the time out to see to it she actually gets a piece of cake is more than the rest of the family bothered to do and is out-of-character for him. Of course, that doesn't mean she's going to cover up for him...

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: It's easy to miss, but in the first flashback scene where Ranson grabs his jacket and storms out of house, he gently places a plate of cake in Nana's hands while going out the door. Nana then asks if he's leaving. It's noteworthy that Nana does not respond to any of the other family members, not even Meg when she makes an effort to talk to her. All of Nana's future statements involve mentioning Ransom. It's possible Ranson actually cared for her and showed her some kindness over the years, even a little, since taking the time out to see to it she actually gets a piece of cake is more than the rest of the family bothered to do and is out-of-character for him. Of course, that doesn't mean she's going to cover up for him...

Meg's mother and Harlan's widowed daughter-in-law, Joni is a famous lifestyle guru.

* HiddenDepths: Despite having been cut off financially by Harlan earlier that day, she is willing to go up and check that he's alright after hearing a heavy thump from his room above hers and thinking that he may have fallen. She also seems genuinely concerned about Meg's college fund above all, despite the fact that it was her who endangered it in the first place.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Puts on airs of being an enlightened bohemian, but when the chips are down the real entitlement and nastiness comes through. Also, a subtle example at the beginning; she claims that her company, Flam, promotes spirituality and a break from modern consumerism and ego... but it's clearly all about selling people unnecessary stuff, and notice how subtly tetchy she gets when Lt. Elliot doesn't seem to recognise it. She also justifies forcing her daughter to join them in their attempt to discredit and ruin Marta by claiming that they need to protect "their" inheritance, but of all the Thrombey clan she is probably the ''least'' entitled to anything (being that she is not actually a blood family member).

* LikeMotherLikeDaughter: Both Joni and her daughter are rather strident BourgeoisBohemian types who, for all their pretences regarding left-wing politics and new age culture, are clearly not that different from the more conservative and more openly backstabbing side of the family when the crunch time comes - though Meg at least regrets it and is being manipulated by her mother.

* UpperClassTwit: Comes across as this, with his only known job having been a summer working as Harlan's research assistant. [[spoiler:In truth, he's actually very intelligent and clever, using his knowledge of murders to frame Marta for Harlan's death. The only thing that undoes his plan is Marta being a better nurse and person than he gave her credit for.]]

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Subverted. Multiple characters believe he was masturbating in the bathroom when he was overhearing the argument between Harlan and Ransom. A flashback shows he was not, rather he was looking at his cell phone.

* BaritoneOfStrength: Blanc's Southern accent blends extremely well with Creator/DanielCraig's natural deep voice.

* BadassBaritone: Blanc's Southern accent blends extremely well with Creator/DanielCraig's natural deep voice.

-->'''Blanc:''' An envelope full of cash showed up at my apartment yesterday with a newspaper clipping of Thrombey's death.\\

'''Blanc:''' ''[mildly exasperated, holding his thumb and finger apart as far as possible]'' An envelope ''full'' of ''cash''.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Clearly has no problem letting Harlan's family know they're screwed; the will is iron-clad and they don't have any legal recourse. His contempt for them is obvious. If Marta needs a good honest lawyer who's in her corner, she won't have to look far.