History Characters / ReservationDogs

The group member most determined to leave the rez for California, as it was Daniel's unrealized dream.

* MinorLivingAlone: She becomes the sole resident of her house following [[spoiler:Mabel's death.]]
* ParentalAbandonment: Her mother died in a car accident when she was little, and her father was always absent. She's never known her father's identity, as her grandmother didn't want to talk about it. Later she learns he's white and still living. She meets him, initially to just get information Elora needs for getting her college financial aid. He tells her about his relationship with her mother and apologizes for not being there in her life, with them bonding somewhat. Elora also meets her half-siblings and promises she'll visit them.

* LadySwearsalot: Almost every other word out of Willie Jack's mouth is an F-bomb, even when addressing elders.

* NeverBareheaded: Almost always seen wearing some kind of hat.

The sweet and mild-mannered group member.

!!Daniel

* TeenPregnancy: Her teenage son Bear has reached the same age she was when she had him. She doesn't want him to become a teen parent like her.

* BreakingTheCycleOfBadParenting: In her youth, her life goal was to raise a family and be a better mother than hers was. She became a wonderful mother, but losing her daughter caused her to be a neglectful guardian to Elora.

* DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou: Averted. Though Mabel disliked him and he was reluctant to take Elora away from her people, he acknowledges that these are not excuses for being a deadbeat dad.

* GoodParents: Willie Jack calls her parents this by name when announcing their anniversary to everyone in the church basement.

!!Uncle Charley

!!Daniel Sr.

!!Hokti

* BoyishShortHair: Jackie, a tomboy ActionGirl who's OneOfTheGuys in her gang, has hers cut very short.

* ChubbyMamaSkinnyPapa: Big and Bev get together in the third season. He's one of the slimmest men in the cast, while she's the largest.

* TheTeetotaler: After his psychedelic adventure in the woods with Big and Deer Lady, he quits drugs.

* MyGreatestFailure: He feels he failed Maximus, by not helping him when he suffered SanitySlippage. When Cheese starts isolating himself from his friends it worries him, Irene, and Brownie enough to intervene so he doesn’t end up like Maximus.

* CrazySurvivalist: Maximus's ranch home is protected by trip wires. He stays off the grid as much as he can.

* CityMouse: Jackie hates her "boring" new rural life, not content with simply relaxing and doing nothing like her gang members. She's such a city girl that she's never even made frybread before. In time she befriends people there and soon grows to like the rez though.

Hokti's spirit guide.

* IWasQuiteALooker: In his youth, Bucky was a charismatic, handsome, magnetic pretty boy. Now he’s aged and surly.

* CityMouse: Jackie hates her "boring" new rural life, not content with simply relaxing and doing nothing like her gang members. She's such a city girl that she's never even made frybread before.

A "City Indian" whose mother sent her to the reservation to live with her aunt.

!Others

[[folder:Big]]
!!Officer Big Hill

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->'''''Deer Lady:''''' ''So, I guess what I am saying is be good. Fight evil. You do that, and you'll never, ever have to see me again.''
->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/ZahnMcClarnon and Bodhi Okuma Linton (young)

A nobly-intentioned but bumbling tribal cop.

* ChubbyMamaSkinnyPapa: Big and Bev get together in the third season. He's one of the slimmest men in the cast, while she's the largest.
* CluelessDetective: His EstablishingCharacterMoment is missing the Dogs stealing a truck because he was too busy watching a conspiracy theory video on his phone. The few times he actually solves a crime, he mostly just gets lucky.
* ConspiracyTheorist: He buys into JFK/moon landing conspiracies and believes sugar was invented to kill Native Americans.
* HairstyleInertia: Flashbacks show young Big with the exact same hair and braids he has as an adult.
* ILetGwenStacyDie: He's bottled up and placed the blame solely on himself for [[spoiler:the motorcycle deaths of his two friends.]]
* ItsAllMyFault: Blames [[spoiler:Cookie's death]] on himself because he wasn't able to convince her drunk boyfriend [[spoiler:to stop driving, leading to their fatal crash.]]
* MyGreatestFailure: [[spoiler:He saw Cookie the night she died and tried to pull her and her boyfriend over after realizing both were intoxicated, but he was too late and they crashed.]]
* OddFriendship: Big the tribal cop forges a friendship with Kenny the meth head drug dealer when they're taken hostage by the [[TheKlan The Order of the Midstreamers]] while tripping on psychedelics.
* OnlyKnownByHisNickname: Is only ever called "Big," which is likely a nickname. [[FreezeFrameBonus Eagle-eyed viewers]] will see that the surname on his nametag is "Hill."
* RaisedByGrandparents: Flashbacks show he was raised by his grandmother until her death.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: He has some real guilt about his failures. But despite them, Deer Lady still says he's being good.

[[folder:Mose and Mekko]]
!!Mose and Mekko

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->''"I'm Mose, and that's Mekko[=/=]Two little Natives like you start with a sequel"''
->'''Portrayed by:''' Lil Mike and Funny Bone
A pair of rap-spitting brothers who bike through the neighborhood.

* NiceGuy: They're always chipper and friendly whenever they roll up.
* ThoseTwoGuys: The pair provide commentary on the feud between the Reservation Dogs and the NDN Mafia.

[[folder:Kenny Boy]]
!!Kenny Boy

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->''"Hoka hay. It's Lakota for 'tis a good day to die.'"''
->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/KirkFox
The meth head owner of the local scrapyard who loves native cultures.

* AffablyEvil: He is a dangerous criminal, but he is never without his friendly demeanor, even in his worst moments.
* ForeignCultureFetish: He is really into all native cultures, regularly spouting phrases and references to peoples that the locals have nothing to do with. It's revealed that he does know what tribe's land he's on, and deeply respects indigenous land rights.
* GettingHighOnTheirOwnSupply: Kenny Boy appears to have no problem drinking some of the drugged soda, despite that meaning there's less to sell to his customers.
* HiddenDepths: Despite his usual demeanor, he respects indigenous people and the Deer Lady considers him a good person and knows him from previous experience. [[spoiler:He becomes a supporter of the teens as they try to do good for healing and their community.]]
* OddFriendship: Kenny the meth head drug dealer forges a friendship with Big the tribal cop when they're taken hostage by the [[TheKlan The Order of the Midstreamers]] while tripping on psychedelics.
* PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: Kenny is a Caucasian guy who believes himself to be Native and acts in a performative way as such, including insisting on the usage of kinship terms with Muscogee neighbors and applying war paint when going on an adventure.
* TheTeetotaler: After his psychedelic adventure in the woods with Big and Deer Lady, he quits drugs.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: He doesn't think he's good, but his trying is sufficient for Deer Lady to protect him.

[[folder:Fixico]]
!!Old Man Fixico

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->''"A lot of rain headed this way. Metaphorically."''
->'''Portrayed by:''' Richard Ray Whitman and Josiah Wesley Jones (young)

An elderly medicine man whose table is set up outside the IHS clinic.

* BigManOnCampus: His popularity in high school is augmented by being a trainee in traditional medicine already, with Maximus feeling that some worship Fixico like a Pope.
* ClashingCousins: He and Maximus were cousins and they had a rough falling out in the 70s.
* LastNameBasis: None of the teens know his first name since he's only ever referred to as (Old Man) Fixico. Even in his youth, his friends called him by his surname.
* PassingTheTorch: He feels his death is nearing, but there's no one to pass his medicinal knowledge to. [[spoiler:Willie Jack takes up the torch.]]
* SnakeOilSalesman: Downplayed. While it's not confirmed that any of his medicine is ''fake'', he doesn't have anything for something as simple as a stomachache.

[[folder:Bucky]]
!!Buchanan "Bucky"
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[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote: Bucky as a teenager ]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9533d3d1_f503_4ce4_b760_ad5f55aaebc9.jpeg]] [[/labelnote]]

->''"Well, we're just men, you know? We don't know everything. We make mistakes and... We don't know ''shit!''"''
->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/WesStudi and Mato Wayuhi (young)
A petty criminal with an interest in science.

* TheBroCode: Had a minor but long-standing grudge against Brownie, who had sex with his at-the-time ex-girlfriend.
* HiddenDepths: He's a copper thief who's first introduced sleeping on a sidewalk bench but he also has an interest in string theory, or at least a New Age-like version of it.
* RelationshipRevolvingDoor: His wife's kicked him out three times in the past month.
* MyGreatestFailure: He feels he failed Maximus, by not helping him when he suffered SanitySlippage. When Cheese starts isolating himself from his friends it worries him, Irene, and Brownie enough to intervene so he doesn’t end up like Maximus.
* SnakeOilSalesman: Believes that hanging up copper sculptures and wearing copper bracelets will protect him from disease and plans to sell these to other people.

[[folder:Deer Lady]]
!! Deer Lady

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->''"You take care of yourself. And keep being good."''
->'''Portrayed by''': Creator/KaniehtiioHorn and Georgeanne Growingthunder (young)
A guardian spirit of women and children who kills bad men.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Before she was the Deer Lady, [[spoiler:she was a regular Kiowa child forced into an Indian residential school who suffered physical and psychological abuse at the hands of the Catholic administrators. She witnessed the same happen to her friend, who would later be killed by the school offscreen.]]
* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: The young Big (and later Bear) is clearly startled when he realizes who she is, but she's nothing but friendly to him.
* GuardianAngel:
** Seems to fill this for Big, looking out for him when he's a kid and later saving him from the Midstreamers.
** She later becomes this to Bear offering him pie and a ride home.
* FriendToAllChildren: Per her legend, she's kind to Big when he's a child and later to Bear.
* HeroicSeductress: Uses her charms to seduce men, but only those with ill intent.
* HumanoidAbomination: Albeit a fairly benevolent deer-humanoid abomination, as long as you're a good person.
* MarkOfTheSupernatural: Has hooves instead of feet, which she makes no effort to conceal.
* RealAfterAll:
** Big is genuinely shocked when he realizes Kenny not only can see her, but knows her from previous experience.
** Bear is stunned to learn that she's real after seeing her hooves.
* PassingTheTorch: Implied, as the Deer Lady legend has existed in Native American cultures for ages, while [[spoiler:this Deer Lady was born a human less than a century ago.]]
* TranshumanAbomination: Before becoming a cloven-hooved vigilante spirit, [[spoiler:Deer Lady was a normal human girl from the Kiowa tribe.]]
* VigilanteWoman: She kills bad men (and women) herself, extrajudicially.
* WasOnceAMan: She was originally [[spoiler:a 20th century girl in a [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors residential school]].]] She gained her powers when she ran away and received help from a deer spirit.
* WeaponSpecialization: The only weapon she ever uses is a two-pronged bone that she wields as a knife.

[[folder:Bev]]
!! Beverly "Bev"
->''"I got a niece. Shit's hard. I'm not her mom, but I got to be one to her."''
->'''Portrayed by''': Creator/JanaSchmieding
Jackie's aunt who she moves in with. She's the IHS receptionist.

* ApatheticClerk: She's the clinic's receptionist and is decidedly unenthusiastic about customer service.
* ChubbyMamaSkinnyPapa: Bev and Big get together in the third season. She's the heaviest cast member, while he's one of the slimmest.
* OralFixation: Usually seen chewing gum.
* ReallyGetsAround: Based on her extensive lanyard collection, she's snagged with a ton of host tribe members at IHS conferences. She's entirely unashamed of her promiscuity.

* {{Nephewism}}: Lives with his uncle Charley.

* DrivenToSuicide: Revealed to be the cause of his death.

* AHeroToHisHometown: He has a lot of fans on the reservation though he seems to be only moderately successful.

* MySisterIsOffLimits: Would fight with his friend Rodney for dating Cookie.

->'''Portrayed by:''' Lily Gladstone

* WickedCultured: Bone Thug Dog is a skilled painter.

* MagicalNativeAmerican: Parodied. He's a spirit warrior who offers guidance to our heroes, but he's more of a doofus than anything else. He's most often encountered snacking or relieving himself.

* TheLeader: What he considers himself to be, though his friends laugh at the designation. He decides how to spend their savings and is the one to get jumped by the NDN Mafia.

* ThoseTwoGuys: They provide commentary on the feud between the Reservation Dogs and the NDN Mafia.

* CatchPhrase: "My name's Cheese. My pronouns are he, him, and his."

* {{Nephewism}}: Lives with his uncle Charley.

[[folder:Rita Smallhill]]

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The only white member of the gang.

* HiddenDepths: Despite his usual demeanor, he respects indigenous people and the Deer Lady considers him a good person and knows him from previous experience.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote: Buckyas a teenager ]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9533d3d1_f503_4ce4_b760_ad5f55aaebc9.jpeg]] [[/labelnote]]

->'''Portrayed by:''' [[Creator/GrahamGreeneActor Graham Greene]] and Isaac Arellanes (young)

* StoppedCaring: Tries to claim this, but Coach Bobson believes she still cares.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: Her uncanny resemblance to her mother is remarked upon multiple times.

[[folder:Teenie Postoak]]

[[folder:Cookie Postoak]]

[[folder:Mabel Postoak]]

Elora's biological father Rick and half-siblings Ally, Marty, and Megan.

* DisappearedDad: Elora never saw him or knew his name until Season 3.

* SixthRanger: She occasionally helps out the Rez Dogs. [[spoiler:By the time the Dogs leave for California, the two gangs appear to have buried the hatchet.]]

!!Officer Big

->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/ZahnMcClarnon

* ParentalAbandonment: Her mother died in a car accident when she was little, and her father was always absent. She's never known her father's identity, as her grandmother didn't want to talk about it. Later she learns he's white and still living.
* RaisedByGrandparents: She lives with her mean grandmother Mabel because her mother passed away when she was very young.