History Characters / TheThirdMan

* TheCynic: He winds up as one at the end.
* TheProtagonist
* TheOnlyBeliever: Everyone, including Anna, Harry's lover, believes immediately that he is capable of smuggling peniciline and killing children, Holly is the only one who has trouble believing his OldFriend could do that.

* TheMobBossIsScarier: He refuses to divulge any useful information out of fear for his personal and his family's safety. [[spoiler:When he does finally give information to Anna and Holly, he is killed.]]

* TheEnforcer: [[spoiler:For Harry Lime.]]

* TheChessmaster: He runs UsefulNotes/{{Vienna}} like he owns it, and [[spoiler:would've gotten away with it, too, had the police not chased and cornered him by spotting him in the open]].
** Just to show how good Lime is at this: Joseph Harbin was an [[EvilMinion orderly who stole penicillin for Lime]], defected and went to the authorities. Major Calloway is a ByTheBookCop investigating Lime as the Ringleader of the operation. Lime kills Harbin and [[DisposingOfABody uses Harbin's body as the body]] [[FakingTheDead they buried at Lime's grave after his supposed accident.]] Major Calloway closes the case after the death of the ringleader smuggler, assuming Harbin has run away because there is no body, leaving Lime free to smuggling.
** When Harry meets Holly at the AmusementPark, it is Holly who wants to speak with Harry privately. Harry suggest the FerrisWheelDateMoment Ferris Wheel. When Harry and Holly are at the top, we discover that Harry exploited this trope because he wants to deliver Holly an ImpliedDeathThreat menacing him with a DisneyDeath because HeKnowsTooMuch.
* TheDreaded: Lime appears to have this reputation in Vienna.
* TheOnlyBeliever: Everyone in the movie can see Holly is a Manchild, Major Calloway wants him out ot Vienna as soon as possible, Anna laughs when Holly talks him about love and Crabbin regrets inviting Holly to a conference, but when Harry is trapped and wounded, he trust Holly to do him a MercyKill.
* ShadowArchetype: Harry is a ManipulativeBastard and Holly is his UnwittingPawn, his SpannerInTheWorks and his TheOnlyBeliever. In the last minutes of his life, Harry will be LuredIntoATrap by Holly and their roles will swap like an HourglassPlot.
* TheSociopath: Shows no remorse for all of his horrible actions, not even for when he [[spoiler:throws an old man out of a window to his death]].
** Averted, or at least played with at the end. [[spoiler:He's visibly distressed when running from the police, and especially when he feels he has to shoot Sgt. Paine.]]

* IdiotBall: Holly catchs and holds every single idiot ball this movie throws at him, except when his OldFriend makes an ImpliedDeathThreat on a FerrisWheel and [[CharacterDevelopment when Anna passes him at the cemetery and he doesn't follow her]].

* IdiotBall: Holly catchs and holds every single idiot ball this movie throws at him, except when his OldFriend makes an ImpliedDeathThreat with a DisneyDeath and Holly firmly holds the wagon he is, and [[CharacterDevelopment when Anna pass him on the cementery and he doesn't follow her]].

* UnwittingPawn: Everyone can see Martins is this for ManipulativeBastard Harry Lime, but Martins takes all the movie to realize it.

* AscendedFanboy: He likes Holly Martin's books, and his sincere admiration for him is the cause Holly Martins manages to stay in Viena, [[SpannerInTheWorks frustrating]] [[ThresholdGuardian Major Calloway desire to send Holly home as soon as posible]] and allowing [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Holly discover the truth]]:

* AscendedFanboy: He has read Holly Martin's works:

--> [[DamnedByAFoolsPraise That's what I like about them]] [[note]]( [[AirportNovel Holly Martin's Western Novels]])[[/note]], sir. [[SoOkayItsAverage You can pick them up and put them down any time.]] ]]

* LowestCommonDenominator: He is a fan of Holly Martin's books, and the movie shows him as a KindheartedSimpleton

[[caption-width-right:350: '''Dr. Winkel:'''[[note]]German pronunciation, making it a “V”, not a “W”[[/note]] ...*{{Beat}}*... '''V'''[[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY inkel]] ]]

[[caption-width-right:350: '''Dr. Winkel:'''[[note]]German pronunciation, making it a “V”, not a “W”[[/note]] ...*{{Beat}}*... [[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY '''V'''inkel]] ]]

* DidntSeeThatComing: Harry can manipulate the police because he is TheChessmaster, and can manipulate Holly and Anna because he is a ManipulativeBastard, he could have gotten away with it if Holly didn't chose that exact time to become an adult.

** When Harry meets Holly at the AmusementPark he wants to speak with him privately. Harry suggest the FerrisWheelDateMoment Ferris Wheel. When Harry and Holly are at the top, we discover that Harry exploited this trope because he wants to deliver Holly an ImpliedDeathThreat menacing him with a DisneyDeath because HeKnowsTooMuch.

** Just to show how good Lime is at this: Joseph Harbin was an [[EvilMinion orderly who stole penicillin for Lime]], defected and went to the authorities. Major Calloway is a BytTheBookCop investigating Lime as the Ringleader of the operation. Lime kills Harbin and [[DisposingOfABody uses Harbin's body as the body]] [[FakingTheDead they buried at Lime's grave after his supposed accident.]] Major Calloway closes the case after the death of the ringleader smuggler, assuming Harbin has run away because there is no body, leaving Lime free to smuggling.

* InHarmsWay: He's actively discouraged from investigating [[PosthumousCharacter Harry Lime's]] death.

* MoralEventHorizon: Holly [[spoiler:executes his mentor and best friend, having never killed anybody before]].

* {{Western}}: Holly Martins' stories are of the cowboys, cattle rustlers, and corrupt sheriffs of the Old West.

->'''Played by:''' Alida Valli

* EvilIsSexy: Holly most probably sees her as this, and it is implied that they might cultivate some sort of romance in the future. [[spoiler:This doesn't pan out, and Anna walks out on Holly.]]

* TheWoobie: She's humiliated by the police, who search her apartment and her personal belongings when they suspect her of hiding evidence. Anna's one true love is [[spoiler:hunted down and killed by her friend]], Holly. And she will [[spoiler:probably be deported back to Czechoslovakia to face Soviet law]].

* PetTheDog:
** Calloway looks out for [[TheProtagonist Holly]] and Anna numerous times in the film.
** He agrees to [[spoiler:give safe passage out of Vienna for Anna]]. However, she [[spoiler:incriminates herself when she warns Lime of the police's prescence, which leads to a chase, Sergeant Paine's death, and Harry Lime's unceremonious execution]].

* BigNameFan: Downplayed. He's merely an unknown officer stationed in Europe, and he's a very big fan of [[TheProtagonist Holly Martin's]] work.
* CaptainOblivious: Doesn't understand Holly Martins' sarcasm.

* ShooOutTheClowns: He's [[spoiler:shot dead by [[BigBad Harry Lime]] right before [[TheProtagonist Holly]] executes Lime]].

* AffablyEvil: It helps that he's played by Orson Welles, but he's significantly less sympathetic than [[Film/CitizenKane Charles Foster Kane.]]

* BigBadFriend: [[spoiler:Duh.]]

%%* DrugsAreBad: He doesn't care about this. He kills and leaves hundreds of ''children'' sickly or even catatonic.

* EvilIsSexy: To some viewers, apparently.

* RootingForTheEmpire: A common side-effect of watching him work.

* [[TheSociopath The Sociopath]]: Shows no remorse for all of his horrible actions, not even for when he [[spoiler:throws an old man out of a window to his death]].

* WouldHurtAChild: His drug-dealing activities render many children dead or dying.

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: He started out as a loveable rogue, where his schemes while illegal, were mostly harmless -- like a gambling den. [[spoiler: Then he stole penicillin, watered it down and sold it on the black market, indifferent to death he caused.]]

* WateringDown: He dilutes penicillin to the point it [[spoiler:can easily render children catatonic]].