MAIN INDEX
Team Bartowski | Buy More | The CIA and Other Spies | FULCRUM | The Ring | Volkoff Industries | Everyone Else
open/close all folders
The Ring
The Ring
The Ring - a powerful multi-national criminal and terrorist organization hell-bent on something or other. They are led by the Ring elders. Their motives are unknown, but they have been sticking their hands in many different cookie jars - from creating their own Intersect, to the assassination of global leaders. To some extent, FULCRUM is seen to be reporting directly to them through a liaison, Vincent Smith.
They were captured at the end of Season 3 by Team Bartowski.
- Big Bad: For a good chunk of the show, they have been more or less the main bad guys.
- Elaborate Underground Base: They seem to have several of these.
- Manipulative Bastards: Whether it's people or information, their forte is manipulation.
- Nebulous Evil Organisation: Even after their capture, we still don't know what their goals were.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Their go-to method when someone becomes useless or too useful.
Leadership
The Elders
The Elders
The Elders are the high leaders of the criminal organization The Ring. From the shadows they were the backers behind FULCRUM and McTiernan Industries. All of the elders are high-ranking members of the CIA or the NSA. The Ring serves them for their personal interests.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: The Elders share equal power as leaders of The Ring. Presumably the Director is on par with them given how involved he is in overseeing all their operations.
- Chekhov's Gunman: They're first seen in "Chuck Versus the Predator" talking to Vincent after he survived an airstrike arranged by Orion. They later turn out to be the leaders of The Ring.
- Evil Old Folks: After The Reveal, most of them have been shown to be nothing but a bunch of helpless old farts.
- Greater-Scope Villain: FULCRUM was the main threat during the show's first two seasons only for the Season 2 finale to reveal that their parent organization is the Ring. As the leaders of the Ring, they're indirectly responsible for much of the threats of the show before they appear become the main threat in Season 3.
- They Who Must Not Be Seen: A good deal of their screen time includes their faces being completely shadowed out.
- The Man Behind the Curtain: The heads of one of the most dangerous and feared organizations in the world are just a bunch of weak geezers easily captured without a fight when forced out of hiding.
- Omniscient Council of Vagueness: Their main purpose consists of sitting at a board table in the shadows while spouting vague villainous dialogue.
- You Have Failed Me: They have an operative who was thwarted in smuggling a chemical weapons into the States killed for his failure.
The Director
The Director
Portrayed by Mark Sheppard
"Now, this is brazen."
The Director is the direct head of The Ring - of seemingly equal authority as The Elders, he is the driving force of many, if not all of their operations. He somehow obtained surveillance footage of Sarah's red test and was directly responsible for Shaw's Face–Heel Turn.
He was captured by Casey (who'd been demoted to a civilian at the time), who traded him to earn back his rank, a new Crown Victoria, and making Morgan an official spy of Team Bartowski.
- Affably Evil/Faux Affably Evil: It's hard to tell given that he's played by Mark Sheppard. His demeanor is always pleasant and civil, albeit blatantly snarky. While he's certainly ruthless, he's more pragmatic and goal-oriented than he is malicious.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: He and the Elders seem to share equal in power as heads of the Ring, though the Director is more hands on in running their operations.
- Briar Patching: While being held at gunpoint by Sarah and Chuck, the Director tells them that "obviously" spies of their caliber have figured out that the Ring is building an Intersect but that they'll never get the Cipher for it. Cue Chuck and Sarah forcing him to call his assistant to bring them the Cipher. After it's delivered to the CIA, they're able to determine that the Ring is behind in their version of the Intersect. Which is exactly what the Director wanted because now he knows how to perfect it.
- The Chessmaster: During his screen time the Director convinces Shaw to join his organization by showing him proof the CIA ordered his wife's assassination. Afterwards he had Shaw propose a break-in of The Ring's lair so he could stage the Director's Vigilante Execution and have the CIA confiscate the Cipher for his Intersect, knowing it'll be analyzed so Shaw can later hand over the intelligence the CIA gathered on its flaws, allowing the Ring to fix it. Essentially, his plan would've ended with him no longer on the CIA's radar, his greatest enemy turned to his greatest asset imbedded in the CIA, and a fully functioning Intersect at his disposal.
- The Corrupter: His brief time on the show consists of acting as the Devil on Daniel Shaw's shoulder, turning him from a paragon of heroism to a Fallen Hero hellbent on vengeance at any cost.
- Deadpan Snarker: Par for the course for someone played by Mark Sheppard, he's able to pull off some incredible sarcasm, even in the middle of a Mexican Standoff.Sarah: Okay, nobody move. We can all die here today.
Director: You can all die here today. Personally, I have dinner reservations. - Diabolical Mastermind: He's probably the straightest example of the trope in the show after Volkoff. From his secret lair, he oversees a covert multi-national criminal and terrorist organization complete with an army of evil spies, a worldwide web of information and high tech gadgetry such as a hyper-realistic holograms and his own Intersect. His secretary rattles off a list of nefarious deeds his organization is performing to him like a daily itinerary at an office job.Denise: Also, I spoke with Operative 6. They'll proceed with the coup in 15 minutes. The Spanish Ambassador also called back with the ransom offer. He wants to close by end of day tomorrow at the latest.
- Disc-One Final Boss: He's built up as the main leader of the Ring and he's responsible for Daniel Shaw's Start of Darkness. However, he only plays a role in two episodes before being arrested, leaving the Elders and Shaw as their Dragon-in-Chief as the final threat of Season 3.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Being the one who directs the Ring's operations, he's only ever referred to as the Director.
- Evil Brit: He speaks with a British accent and acts as the head of a massive criminal organization.
- Faking the Dead: He has Shaw stage a fake Vigilante Execution on him in order to continue his operations unimpeded. Unfortunately for him, he's quickly outed as alive and is captured shortly afterwards.
- Manipulative Bastard: Turns Shaw evil by revealing that Sarah killed his wife. Later, he manipulates Chuck and Sarah into handing over the Ring's Intersect data to the CIA so Shaw can then hand over their analysis on it, allowing the Ring to fix their Intersect.
- No Name Given: He is only ever referred to as The Director.
- Schmuck Bait: Easily pulls one on Chuck and Sarah, using basic reverse psychology to manipulate them into taking the cypher for his Intersect to the CIA, who then find out everything wrong with it, allowing the Ring to fix their Intersect's mistakes.
- We Can Rule Together: Shaw has been the Ring's greatest enemy for five years. After the Director obtains evidence that Shaw's wife wasn't killed by his organization, but by the CIA, he uses it to successfully convince Shaw to join the Ring.
Operatives
Daniel Shaw
Daniel Shaw
Portrayed by Brandon Routh
"Sometimes [Chuck] sounds like Bond, other times it's like a Jerry Lewis movie."
A special agent who worked for the CIA, Shaw specialized in Ring intelligence and was sent in as the supervisor of Operation Bartowski to make progress against The Ring. During his stay there, he developed a romance with Sarah, but it was ultimately short-lived after it was revealed that she killed his wife on the CIA's orders. What followed suit was a prompt Face–Heel Turn with a subtle form of a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
Mid-season, he was shot and killed by Chuck, but ultimately survived - cementing his status as the season's Big Bad. He was finally beaten and apprehended at the end of Season 3.
He makes a return during the fifth season, and reveals himself to be the Big Bad once again, having blackmailed Decker and Cunnings to be his mooks. His plan was to use the Omen virus to pilfer then destroy every government database in the world, and use the information to update his own Intersect and become America's single most valuable asset. He was however Out-Gambitted by Chuck, and later knocked out by Ellie.
- The Ace: One of the reasons why he's something of a Replacement Flat Character for Bryce at the beginning - he's pretty much ace at just about everything. Or it seems this way. Like Chuck, he's also shown to be more pacifistic and eccentric than Bryce.
- Anti-Hero: Starts off this way. He's mostly heroic but he will resort to unscrupulous tactics both to force Chuck to become a better agent and to destroy the Ring, like using Captain Awesome as a pawn when he's mistaken for CIA or trying to initiate Castle's self-destruct procedure while Chuck's trapped inside after the Ring infiltrates it.
- Anti-Villain: He's a Fallen Hero whose turn to darkness is prompted by discovering the CIA ordered his wife's death when they falsely believed she'd been turned to the Ring, and had Sarah Walker carry out the assassination as part of her Red Test without telling her any of the details. No matter how ruthless he becomes in pursuit of vengeance, he remains a Tragic Villain whose been shattered by the murder of the love of his life.
- Arch-Enemy: To Chuck. They both come from a similar background, both have a profound dislike of guns, both have feelings for Sarah, and both end up with an Intersect. Following Shaw's defection, he kills Stephen and attempts to kill Sarah several times as well. He also has one of his mooks manipulate Ellie into making it easier for him to break up their team and take over the CIA.
- Also showcased in that Shaw is the only character in the whole series that Chuck willfully shot to kill.
- And, he's also the show's most recurring villain, playing the part of Big Bad in the third season as well as the fifth and final.
- Despite all the similarities between him and Chuck, there is one key difference between them - that Shaw has lost his wife who was the love of his life. In other words, Shaw is essentially a character study to what Chuck himself might become were he to lose Sarah.
- Big Bad: Shares this spot with the Ring Elders in Season 3. And splits Big Bad duties for the first half of the final season, with Quinn taking over the last couple of episodes.
- Broken Ace: He's one of the CIA's best agents, introduced as heroic, handsome, a master planner, an expert fighter and described as both a "Superman" and American Hero. Then he finds out Sarah unknowingly assassinated his innocent wife on the CIA's orders and all the skills he possesses suddenly become threats to his former friends.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He is first introduced as a silent figure whom Beckman talks to as he walks away, and appears as a CIA agent targeted by the Ring not long after.
- Crusading Widower: Shaw loved his wife, Evelyn, very much and when he learns that Sarah was the one that killed her he devotes himself entirely to avenging her memory.
- Deliberate Injury Gambit:
- His Establishing Character Moment is giving Chuck a note, taking a pill then shooting himself in the chest. Once the Ring agent believes he's dead and leaves, Chuck reads the note and finds it's instructions revealing he's still alive and how Chuck can save him.
- Shaw pulls off a rare non-fighting example in "Chuck Verses the Subway". Chuck notices he has an Intersect and tries to prove this in front of the CIA by throwing a knife at him to prove the Super-Reflexes that the Intersect gives him. Shaw manages to turn this around by letting himself be impaled by the knife and uses this incident to prove that Chuck is insane.
- The Determinator: Not only does he survive a double-tap to the chest and falling into a river, but he also brushes off a rocket explosion with little more than a mild KO.
- The Dragon: As an agent for the Ring, Shaw acts as the right-hand man to its leaders, the Director and the Elders.
- Dragon Ascendant: The Ring is destroyed following Season 3 but Shaw returns as The Man Behind the Man for Decker during the first half of Season 5.
- Dragon-in-Chief: While Shaw is "only" an agent of the Ring, he's an infinitely greater threat than his bosses to the point where he best fits the role of the third season's Big Bad. Not only does Shaw's hero status make it easy for him to stage an attempted coup of the CIA and NSA, but his already considerable knowledge and fighting skills are bolstered when he becomes the show's second living Intersect.
- Dragon with an Agenda: He serves the Ring, but only to get revenge on Sarah for killing his wife and the CIA for ordering her assassination.
- Dragon Their Feet: Once the Director and the Elders are eliminated as threats, Shaw outlasts them to be the Final Boss of Season 3.
- It's Personal with the Dragon: Chuck has no connection to either the Director or the Elders, but Shaw is one person who can be considered Chuck's nemesis. Not only does Shaw repeatedly try to murder his love interest Sarah, but Shaw also personally kills Chuck's father in cold-blood, and is the only antagonist Chuck has outright tried to kill.
- Engineered Public Confession: Chuck thwarts Shaw's coup attempt by broadcasting his admission of murdering Stephen Bartowski and being part of the Ring to the assembled heads of the CIA and NSA.
- Even Evil Has Standards: In "Chuck Versus the Other Guy", Shaw drugs Sarah so she won't feel any pain when he drowns her. He also spares Chuck's life because he played no part in Evelyn's death and reveals he has kept Chuck's identity as the Intersect secret from his Ring handlers. Averted when he returns in "Chuck Versus the Subway", where all pretence of having standards disappear.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
- Having seen Chuck in action several times, and having had access to his psychological profile, Shaw is convinced that Chuck will never use lethal force for any reason — not even to protect someone he loves. When Shaw attempts to kill Sarah, he learns the hard way that Chuck's willing to make an exception just for him. What makes this conclusion particularly bizarre is that this is after Chuck has seemingly passed his Red Test.
- Despite the fact that Shaw knows that both Devon and Morgan are in on Chuck's double life, and that they're very close, Shaw never seems to take either of them into account while planning his master stroke against Chuck, Sarah, Casey and Beckman. Shaw gloats prematurely, and the B squad of Team Bartowski launches a rescue effort that takes him entirely by surprise.
- Evil Counterpart: To Chuck, as of "Chuck Versus the Living Dead". Their personalities and backgrounds are extremely similar. Shaw is an example of what would happen to Chuck if he were to lose Sarah, didn't have loyal friends like Casey and Morgan, and allowed his emotions to twist him.
- Face–Heel Turn: After learning that Sarah's red test was to kill his wife.
- Fallen Hero: He starts off as a heroic character willing to sacrifice his life if it means saving Sarah or destroying the Ring. Then the Ring reveals the truth behind his wife's death and Shaw becomes Chuck and Sarah's nemesis.
- Gambit Roulette: Most of his plans; see Omniscient Morality License below.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Of the Season 4 finale and the first half of Season 5. While he's the one who blackmailed Decker into hounding Team Bartowski, he doesn't personally get involved until "Chuck Versus the Santa Suit", after which he slips back into this role for "Chuck Versus the Baby", being the one who siccs Riker on Emma and Molly.
- Guile Hero: Before his Face–Heel Turn, he too was known for plans Crazy Enough to Work.
- Heartbroken Badass: He never got over the murder of his wife.
- The Heavy: He serves as this for Season 3. While the Director and the Elders are the actual leaders of the Ring, they're mostly kept in the shadows while Shaw actively propels the plot forward.
- Hidden Depths: He's apparently a spectacular cook. He managed to salvage Chuck's infamous chicken-pepperoni into something edible and in record time. Sarah is later seen buying him a Crockpot as a present.
- Knight of Cerebus: All of the light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek hijinks of the show come to a screeching halt after Shaw performs his Face–Heel Turn. While nearly every villain has their comedic moments, everything about Shaw is played for drama. In addition to being motivated by a genuine tragedy, Shaw performs some of the most heinous actions in the series like gunning down Stephen Bartowski in cold-blood in front of his son, trying to bomb a store full of civilians, and attempting to give Sarah a prolonged death via freezing.
- Leitmotif: Kettering, by The Antlers
- fitting song given his status as the show's Tragic Villain.- The whole song is played during the moment when Chuck kills him to save Sarah.
- Season 5 also makes The Ring's theme his official character theme.
- Love Makes You Evil: He loved his wife. When he finds out that his current lover Sarah was the one who killed her, he snaps.
- Made of Iron: Shaw consistently survives things that would kill anyone else.
- In "Chuck Versus the Other Guy", Shaw is shot several times in the chest and falls off a bridge into a river.
- In "Chuck Versus the Ring: Part 2", a missile explosion that hits the van directly in front of him tosses him through the air and he gets up with only minor injuries. Later, he gets smacked across the back of the head by Sarah with a metal beam which only knocks him out.
- The Man Behind the Man: In season five, it's revealed that he was the one giving orders to Clyde Decker in another attempt at taking over the CIA.
- Manipulative Bastard: He was always a little bit of this, but his post-Face–Heel Turn cranks it way up, willing to use even Ellie to hurt Chuck. He also expertly manipulates Chuck's deteriorating mental state caused by the Intersect to make him look insane in front of a CIA Tribunal and discredit Chuck's accusations that Shaw is a Ring agent.
- Never Found the Body: Morgan is astonished Chuck and Sarah take his death at face value when they were never able to check his pulse or recover Shaw's body.
- Not Quite Dead: He's assumed dead after being shot several times by Chuck and falling into a river where his body is swept away. Morgan lampshades his Never Found the Body death and the end of the same episode "Chuck Versus the Living Dead" confirms the Ring was able to save him.
- Omniscient Database: Has (had) access to the Ring Intersect.
- Omniscient Morality License: His plans tend to rely on an obscene amount of luck, and generally put Chuck in far more danger than someone with his lack of training is accustomed to.
- The Paragon Always Rebels: One of the best special agents the CIA ever had turns into one of their biggest threats when Shaw discovers that they manipulated him and murdered his wife.
- Rival Turned Evil: A variant on the theme. While they were a little too friendly to be really rivals, they were still competing for one woman's love and turned into each other's worst enemies.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He's spent five years trying to destroy the Ring because one of their agents murdered his wife, Evelyn. Then he finds out Sarah assassinated her—not knowing who her target's identity—on the CIA's orders because they falsely believed Evelyn had been turned by the Ring. The realization that he's been lied to and manipulated by the very people who murdered his wife causes him to snap and join the Ring. From then on Shaw is dedicated to destroying the CIA for ordering her death, murdering Sarah for carrying the assassination out, and killing Chuck for nearly killing him and exposing his villainy to the CIA and NSA just before his victory.
- Sanity Slippage: Upon finding out that his current lover killed his wife, he snapped, and could only cope with it through revenge and one power grab after another.
- Sink or Swim Mentor: He genuinely sees potential in Chuck as a spy but his training is quite unorthodox and he usually throws Chuck into the path of something lethal, expecting him to prove himself if he wants to survive.
- In "Chuck Versus Operation Awesome", he holds Casey and Sarah at gunpoint to prevent them from assisting Chuck because he wants Chuck to get out of the situation by himself.
- In "Chuck Versus First Class", he tricks Chuck into going on a mid-air mission on a plane specifically because there would be no way for Casey or Sarah to reach him if things go wrong. Although, it later transpires that he had a plan if things went wrong.
- The Stoic: Shaw mostly keeps his feelings close to the chest, believing that emotions can interfere with his spy work. Even after the devastating truth of his wife's death is revealed, everyone else takes his calm exterior as the professionalism of a true spy while Chuck is convinced he's emotionally Swiss cheese. Chuck is right as Shaw's calm demeanor hides a dangerously insane person consumed by vengeance.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Largely averted, although he did come in very conveniently after Bryce's death. While Word of God has it that the character was only created after Matt Bomer became unavailable, Shaw's relationships with the other characters is vastly different. And whilst their personalities are similar, both being a Romantic False Lead for Sarah who are aloof spies with hidden dorky qualities, the progression of their narratives diverge heavily since Shaw undergoes a Face–Heel Turn whilst Bryce made a Heroic Sacrifice because of his Undying Loyalty.
- Tragic Villain: The show's ideal example. He was an excellent agent and an overall good man. But, like Chuck, he was far too emotional when doing his job. It's also evidently clear that he loved his late wife as deeply as Chuck loves Sarah. Unlike Chuck, however, Shaw let his emotions, and his inability to cope with the past, control and ultimate destroy him. By season 5, he crossed the line with his Sanity Slippage.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: Discrediting the Intersect project was his first step in taking over the CIA and destroying it from the inside.
- The Unfettered: After his first attempt at getting revenge resulted in him nearly dying because he showed mercy and restraint, Shaw abandons all of his previous moral scruples in pursuit of vengeance.
- Villainous Breakdown: With his coup attempt of the CIA and NSA thwarted in the Season 3 finale, instead of going into hiding, he lures Chuck to the Buy More for one last chance of killing him by threatening to blow up the store and everyone in it.
- Villainous Crush: While he hates Sarah and wants her to suffer for what she did to his wife, some of his interactions with her imply that he still has some physical attraction to her.
- You Wouldn't Shoot Me: When Chuck has him dead to rights, Shaw brags about how Chuck won't shoot him and for good reason. Chuck hates guns and has never killed anyone before, even when his own life was in danger, resulting in a fist fight instead that ends with Chuck losing and Shaw taking Sarah hostage. The second time Chuck has him at gunpoint, with Sarah's life on the line, Chuck doesn't hesitate to empty his gun into Shaw, making him the only person in the entire show Chuck has ever shot and tried to kill.
Justin Sullivan
Justin Sullivan
Portrayed by Scott Holroyd
"Shaw, Bartowski's infiltrated the base."
Justin was a CIA agent and security coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, who truly worked for The Ring. He poisoned Awesome, and got close to Ellie to manipulate her into giving away her father's location. He was captured whilst escorting the Elders to safety.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Pretends to be Ellie's friend and confidant, when it truth he used her to lure Chuck into a trap and Stephen out of hiding.
- The Dragon: He's Daniel Shaw's right-hand man.
- False Friend: He presents himself as a friend and confidant to Ellie while merely using her to get her father out of hiding and planning to kill her family.
- Faux Affably Evil: Presents himself as a kind person when he's anything but.
- Jerkass: Once the veil is removed, he's revealed to be every bit the dick as expected.
- Manipulative Bastard: Efficiently manipulates Ellie's love for her father and paranoia of Casey to hurt Chuck.
- Smug Snake: Once he shows his true colors, he's little more than an arrogant sadist who overestimates himself and underestimates his enemies.
- Villain with Good Publicity: A respected CIA officer on the surface, he's an imbedded Ring agent.
Hugo Panzer
Hugo Panzer
Portrayed by Steve Austin
"Grrr."
A Ring operative who was transporting a lock-box key on a flight to Paris. He is an expert at close-range combat, and a master swordsman.
He was knocked out a total of three times by Chuck during the flight, and was apprehended in Paris. He returns in "Chuck Versus the Cubic Z", now allied with Alexei Volkoff.
- Affably Evil: When not on the job, he's actually a generally nice guy, "saving" Chuck from from an annoying woman by giving him the seat next to his, and offering to fix his pen. That said...he really likes his job.
- Badass Normal: Hugo is one of the few, if not the only guy to soundly beat Chuck (Whilst uploaded with the Intersect 2.0) in a fair one-on-one match.
- Bald of Evil: He's bald and he's quite evil.
- The Brute: Out of all the Ring operatives that Team Bartowski encounter, Hugo is by far the most physically imposing. Not surprising given he is played by Stone Cold Steve Austin.
- Butt-Monkey: He's knocked out a total of three times during his flight: First time, he's tranq'd by Chuck. Second time he's knocked out by falling luggage. Third time he's... knocked out by more falling luggage.
- Giant Mook: He's huge, with maybe only Leader and Yuri the Gobbler being bigger. No wonder Hannah thinks he's a wrestler.
- Master Swordsman: Hugo is said to be the greatest swordsman in the world. And true enough, Chuck (with the Intersect) could only beat him by burying him in falling luggage. ...Twice.
- Mook–Face Turn: Following The Ring's destruction, he was more than happy to ally himself with Alexei Volkoff.
- Say My Name"CAAAARMICHAAAEEEL!!!"
- Underestimating Badassery: In his second appearance he's not defeated by any member of Team Bartowski but by Big Mike mistaking him for a disgruntled customer. When Panzer threatens to hurt Morgan, Big Mike whips out a taser and knocks him out.
- Wrestler in All of Us: Subverted. Introduced as an expert in "close quarters combat", it turns out he's actually an expert with a sword. That said, Hannah guesses that he's a professional wrestler when boarding the plane.
