History Characters / TheBigLebowski

The narrator, who sees the story unfold from a third-party perspective. His narration is marked by a thick, laid-back Texas accent. He is seen in the bar of the bowling alley, and converses directly with The Dude on two occasions. He expresses admiration for the Dude and his ability to be "a man of his time and place", but disapproves of his use of profanity and laziness, and adds the qualifier "parts of it anyway" when concluding that he enjoyed the film. [[WrongGenreSavvy He is unaware]] that it isn't a western.

* HateSink: He's not exactly an endearing character. The other antagonists are often so bumbling and have plenty personality quirks that make them fun to watch, but the Big Lebowski is just thoroughly unlikable, [[spoiler:on top of being a phony millionaire.]]

* DirtyOldMan: He's married to a women easily young enough to be his granddaughter.

* {{Hypocrite}}: The crux of his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to the Dude is that where the Dude's a lazy slacker who hasn't accomplished anything, he is a successful SelfMadeMan who built everything he has himself despite being deprived of the use of his legs. [[spoiler:It turns out he just married into money and likes to act the role and completely messed up when he did have chances to make his own.]]

* {{Catchphrase}}: "Fuck it." His answer to any kind of adversity is to simply not care about it, an attitude that gets him criticized by both Walter and the Big Lebowski.

* KindheartedSimpleton: Played with. The Dude is ultimately rather kind-hearted and gentle-natured and has the appearance of just being a dimwitted deadbeat stoner and loser. However, he's not a straightforward example of either; while he's pleasant enough for the most part, he can be pretty snarky to those who get on his wrong side and can get quite snappish when the frustrations of his life pile up a bit too far (though in his defence, these are usually the result of frustrations and provocations that ''anyone'' would be driven to irritation by, and no one ever claimed the Dude was perfect). He's also not stupid -- he can be quite sharp when he actually focuses on something and has all the information he needs to put the pieces together [[spoiler: managing to solve the fundamental mysteries of the film -- that Bunny 'kidnapped' herself and that the Big Lebowski faked the ransom in the hopes that he could get rid of her and keep the money -- quite quickly at different points]]. But his years of casual drug use and his generally relaxed, indolent lifestyle mean that he's easily distracted and doesn't really bother to apply himself, making him look dumb to the people he encounters.

* CassandraTruth: Walter speculates what really happened throughout the movie and is right almost every time. No one believes him. "Am I wrong?" [[spoiler: The only things he wasn't right about was when he thinks the Big Lebowski isn't disabled and throws him on the floor and about Bunny [[FakedKidnapping kidnapping herself]], but that wasn't his idea anyway, and he was right that she was safe all along. And he was right that "that's not her toe, dude."]]
* CatchPhrase:

* CloudCuckooLander: Deconstructed. Walter is (supposedly) this because of years of mental trauma, thanks to Vietnam and years of living in an unhappy marriage. Not to mention, the other characters aren't just put off by his behavior. They think Walter is a psychopath who is going to snap and kill someone at any moment.

** As harsh as he is with his friends he also genuinely loves the Dude and Donny [[spoiler: tenderly comforting Donny as he's dying and being genuinely broken up after he's gone.]]

* PetTheDog: While he bullies and yells at Donny throughout the movie, Walter's genuinely calm and reassuring towards him after Donny gets caught up in the ambush that the Nihilists spring on the Dude and Walter. [[spoiler: He also comforts him when he dies]].

* StrawNihilist: He's closer to the ideal of {{Ubermensch}}, even if he's so blatantly incompetent that it's hard to see -- at least he genuinely doesn't care what others think of him, and does what he thinks is correct at any moment. [[LampshadedTrope And isn't a wannabe nihilist.]]

* {{Foil}}: To the Dude. [[spoiler: Both of them are functionally lowlifes who've accomplished nothing. The Big Lebowski just likes to ''pretend'' he isn't]].

* FemmeFatale: Has elements of one, being a mysterious beauty who gives the hero clues to solve the case. [[spoiler: In reality, though, there is no case to solve.]]

* {{Jerkass}}: She's generally condescending towards the Dude and speaks about everyone who isn't one of her artist buddies with disdain. [[spoiler: She even bluntly tells the Dude to his face that she has no interest in him as a person at all immediately after getting him to impregnate her.]]

* CatchPhrase: "We believe in nothing!" (which Uli pronounces "nossink!")

* GreaterScopeVillain: While [[spoiler: the Big Lebowski's scheme revolves around obtaining the money necessary to pay off Bunny's debt to Jackie Treehorn]], the Dude isn't invested in the situation enough to really care about trying to confront him.

* AntiHero: In the classic sense, he is a lazy stoner only vaguely interested in this mystery thing who doesn't do anything heroic at all. He is at least genuinely concerned about Bunny's well-being and is taken aback by some of Walter's shenanigans, [[EveryoneHasStandards which he tries to mitigate or rein in]].

* FreakyTechnoMusic: One of them shows up with a ghetto blaster at the bowling alley confrontation. Maude explains the nihilists used to be in a techno-pop band, something like third-rate Kraftwerk knock offs.

* AtLeastIAdmitIt: He somewhat sheepishly admits that he is indeed the "loser deadbeat that nobody gives a shit about" that the Big Lebowski wanted as his fall guy. Rather tellingly in a movie full of people who like to boast about being something they're not, this shows that the Dude has more self-awareness than most of the people around him.

* KindheartedSimpleton: Played with. The Dude is ultimately rather kind-hearted and gentle-natured and has the appearance of just being a dimwitted deadbeat stoner and loser. However, he's not a straightforward example of either; while he's pleasant enough for the most part, he can be pretty snarky to those who get on his wrong side and can get quite snappish when the frustrations of his life pile up a bit too far. He's also not stupid -- he can be quite sharp when he actually focuses on something and has all the information he needs to put the pieces together [[spoiler: managing to solve the fundamental mysteries of the film -- that Bunny 'kidnapped' herself and that the Big Lebowski faked the ransom in the hopes that he could get rid of her and keep the money -- quite quickly at different points]]. But his years of casual drug use and his generally relaxed, indolent lifestyle mean that he's easily distracted and doesn't really bother to apply himself, making him look dumb to the people he encounters.

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: He calls one of the two thugs a "Chinaman". Walter corrects him, saying that the preferred nomenclature is "Asian-American".

-->'''Jesus:''' "WOO! You got a date Wednesday, baby!".\\

* PrivateEye: An official one, unlike The Dude - he's been hired by [[spoiler:Bunny]]'s real family.

[[caption-width-right:350:"Ah hahahahaha! Wonderful woman. We're all, we're all very fond of her. Very free-spirited."]]

A [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar ‘Nam]] veteran (or so he claims, at least), the Dude's best friend and bowling teammate. Walter places the rules of bowling second in reverence only to the rules of his religion, {{UsefulNotes/Judaism}}, as evidenced by his strict stance against "rolling" on Shabbos. He has a violent temper, and is given to pulling out a handgun (or crowbar) in order to settle disputes. He says the UsefulNotes/GulfWar was all about oil and claims to have dabbled in pacifism. He constantly references Vietnam in conversations, much to the annoyance of the Dude.

** Donnie talking in general seems to annoy Walter, enough to tell him to "shut the fuck up" in response to anything he says.

* WrongGenreSavvy: He seems to think he's a brutally effective war veteran who is going to take the vast criminal conspiracy he and the Dude encounter apart effortlessly rather than the short-tempered idiot facing a group of small-time opportunists he actually is.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: For as much as he tries to appear to be genial and friendly, it's clear that Brandt does not like the Dude, Bunny, or maybe even the Big Lebowski himself. His first meeting with the Dude in particular is rife with condescension and rehearsed friendliness, with him even quietly mocking the Dude's "uhhh" stammer when he almost calls Mr. Lebowski "crippled".

* LargeHam: "WOO! You got a date Wednesday, baby!"

* HumbleGoal: "All The Dude wanted was his rug back." Which is weird because his rug was never stolen, it was just peed on. The only rug that was taken from him was the one ''he'' stole, later rightfully reclaimed by Maude, who won't return it as part of their bargain. If the Dude wanted his rug back, he could've just taken it to a cleaner and returned for it on Thursday of next week. But as Walter comments, [[ItsThePrincipleOfTheThing "this is about drawing a line in the sand."]]
** If he's having to postdate cheques for 69 cents, perhaps he doesn't have the funds to have it cleaned.

* ItsThePrincipleOfTheThing: This is why The Dude doesn't just get his rug cleaned after one of the thugs pees on it. Because it's about "drawing a line in the sand" and all about how "this aggression will not stand, man".
** As he's postdating cheques for 69 cents, perhaps he doesn't have the funds to have it cleaned.

* KindheartedSimpleton: Played with. The Dude is ultimately rather kind-hearted and gentle-natured and has the appearance of just being a dimwitted deadbeat stoner and loser. However, he's not a straightforward example of either; while he's pleasant enough for the most part, he can be pretty snarky to those who get on his wrong side and can get quite snappish when the frustrations of his life pile up a bit too far. He's also not stupid -- he can be quite sharp when he actually focuses on something and has all the information he needs to put the pieces together [[spoiler: managing to solve the fundamental mysteries of the film -- that Bunny 'kidnapped' herself and that the Big Lebowski faked the ransom in the hopes that he could get rid of her and keep the money -- quite quickly at different points]]. But his years of casual drug use and his generally relaxed, indolent lifestyle mean that he's easily distracted and doesn't really bother to apply himself, making him look dumb.

** The first scene features two from the Dude. When one of the punks is dunking the Dude's head in a toilet and shouting "where's the fucking money, Lebowski?!" the Dude answers "it's down there somewhere. Lemme take another look." Later, when the same punk asks "what the fuck is this" when he looks at the Dude's bowling ball, the Dude says "obviously, you're not a golfer."

* KindheartedSimpleton: Played with; the Dude is ultimately rather kind-hearted and gentle-natured (he can get snarky from time to time, but he means well at the end of the day and is the only one to show genuine concern and compassion for what might have happened to Bunny) but he isn't really stupid; he's actually quite sharp when he manages to focus on something, and manages to work out the Big Lebowski's scheme almost immediately when one of the key misconceptions he was working under is cleared up. However, his years of drug use and generally indolent lifestyle mean he's quite easily distracted and unwilling to apply his attention and intelligence to something if he doesn't want or have to, meaning he generally gives off this impression. Most of the people he interacts with clearly view him as a naive, burned-out dimwit.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:The whole kidnapping scam and Treehorn harassing the Dude was because Bunny decided to leave L.A. with some friends without telling anyone, and as far as we know she never finds out about any of it.]]

* KindheartedSimpleton: Played with; the Dude isn't really stupid (he's actually quite sharp when he manages to focus on something), but his years of drug use and generally indolent lifestyle mean he's quite easily distracted and he generally gives off this impression, and most of the people he interacts with clearly view him as a burned-out dimwit. However, he is ultimately kind-hearted and friendly; he's pretty much the only one in the film who shows any kind of genuine concern for what's happened to Bunny, and generally acts pleasantly towards people who aren't going out of their way to be jerks.

* DoingItForTheArt:[[invoked]] Treehorn waxes poetic about pornography.

** While it's PlayedForLaughs, him [[spoiler:dragging the [[SmugSnake Big Lebowski]] out of his chair to prove that he's not a cripple certainly counts.]]

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:Dragging the Big Lebowski out of his chair to prove that he's not a cripple certainly counts.]]

* WickedCultured: Consoles himself [[spoiler: or at least pretends to]] by listening to Mozart.