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The Bagge family:

    Ma Bagge 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/140472b.jpg
Eustace, ya stupid boy!

Voiced by: Billie Lou Watt

Eustace's mother. Rather equally a Jerkass to her son as he is to Courage, she insults Eustace at every opportunity; and as a contrast to her son, she is nice to Courage. Occasionally she is the antagonist of a few episodes, especially when it has something to do with her wig-making company.


  • Abusive Mom: She and her favored son Horst mistreated Eustace.
  • Asshole Victim: Like her son, she is a frequent victim of this.
    • In the "McPhearson Phantom" she gets haunted by the phantom after the phantom found out her great-aunt was the one responsible for killing her husband. During the episode Ma was planning on working with the Phantom to injure her son in order to destroy their marriage. And despite not being responsible for the death of the Phantom's husband, she still thinks it was funny he died.
    • She gets devoured by the Sand Whale in "The Sand Whale Strikes". She explicitly stated she didn't care that her son got eaten, and mistreated Courage through the episode. Even Muriel is happy she's gone.
  • Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: The only time she shows some affection for her son is the end of her debut episode, despite being mean to him most of the time.
  • Bald of Evil: She's bald, but she covers it up with her wig.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: She hasn't appeared in any episodes after "Scuba Scuba Doo", which may have been because of her voice actress's death.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: She's the CEO of Growth Industries, and occasionally does things that are unethical and/or illegal for her company's sake. It helps having many people on her payroll.
  • Depraved Dwarf: She’s as mean as her son, and about the same height as Courage.
  • Does Not Like Spam: She hates chocolates.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She seems to like Courage. Downplayed after her debut episode when she becomes more of a Tsundere. For example in "The Sand Whale Strikes" she's initially friendly to Courage but then spends the rest of the episode mistreating him and even calling him "stupid dog".
  • Evil Matriarch: She is abusive to Eustace and favored his deceased older brother, Horst. It's implied that she's the reason Eustace is how he is.
  • Evil Redhead: Her red hair is actually a wig, but whatever.
  • Fiery Redhead: Well, she's bald but has a red wig. The "fiery" part still applies, though.
  • Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Much like her son, she has glasses and a Lack of Empathy.
  • Freudian Excuse: "McPhearson Phantom" implies her own childhood was pretty bad, too.
  • Gonk: "I'm ugly! UGLY! UGLY!"
  • Hate Sink: She is a greedy, selfish, slimy, abusive parent. The fact that she makes the audience feel sorry for Eustace, who is a Hate Sink in his own right, speaks volumes about how horrible she is.
  • Hypocrite: Makes fun of her son for being ugly and bald, even though she has the same problem and is aware of it. She also complains that Eustace never visits, even though he was currently visiting her.
  • Jerkass: She's just as nasty and unpleasant as Eustace himself, which explains where he got it from in the first place. In fact, she's such a jerk that Muriel of all people hates her and doesn't mind showing it.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Downplayed, but it's implied that she has a love-hate relationship with Eustace, in the rare moments when she's more kind/vulnerable in front of him. However, she prefers to show her "heart of gold" to her son's dog instead.
  • Lantern Jaw of Justice: She has a huge chin, minus the justice.
  • Miniature Senior Citizens: Much shorter than her son (who is not exactly young, either).
  • Misery Trigger: Losing her wig leaves her utterly distraught, capable of nothing but bawling about how she is now ugly because of her baldness.
  • Morality Pet: Seems to be this for her son Eustace. Ironically, since she's always mean to him.
  • My Beloved Smother: She treats Eustace like Eustace treats Courage. Probably just a coincidence.
  • Obnoxious In-Laws: To Muriel, so much that she's one of the few people Muriel openly dislikes.
  • Opaque Lenses: Much like everyone else in the series, her glasses completely obscure her eyes.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: She outlived her son Horst.
  • Parental Favoritism: She cared way more for Horst than Eustace.
  • Pet the Dog: Sometimes she does show her nice side around Courage. This honestly just makes her worse though, because she's more than capable of being a kind person to Eustace, but still treats him like crap just because he isn't Horst. Whenever she treated Courage kindly, she only did it in front of Eustace which hurt his feelings because she never treats him the same way.
    • In "Bad Hair Day", she does give her son a scarce Pet the Dog moment by giving him and Courage collector's item wigs after escorting them out of Growth Industries.
  • Pintsized Powerhouse: She's shorter than Eustace but also much stronger than him.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Her debut episode shows her being nice to Courage, when her later appearances seem to have her become harsher and more hostile toward him.
  • Uncertain Doom: It's never said for sure, but it's implied that she met her end in "Scuba Scuba Doo" when she got swept back by a tidal wave.
  • Unnamed Parent: Unlike her husband Ickett, her first name is never revealed.

    Ickett Bagge 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ickett_bagge.png
Voiced by: N/A

Euastace's deceased father.


  • Ambiguously Evil: We know next to nothing about his personality, but given that his wife and both their sons are huge Jerkasses, it would be totally unsurprising if he was also an unpleasant person. At the very least, we know he wasn't above stealing a sand-whale's accordion and leaving his family to deal with the consequences.
  • The Ghost: We only see a photo of him, but he never appears in-person, not even in any of Eustace's childhood flashbacks.
  • Noodle Incident: Long ago, he once stole an accordion from a Sand Whale, leading to an inter-family feud that lasted up to the present day.
  • Posthumous Character: Muriel outright states that he's "no longer with us", while Ma Bagge believes Eustace can't fill up his late father's shoes (both figuratively and literally).
  • Strong Family Resemblance: He looks exactly like Eustace, down to wearing the same clothes, except Ickett had a big white beard and wore no hat. He's also implied to have a bigger shoe size than Eustace, according to his widow. Eustace doesn't see any resemblance.

    Horst Bagge 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/horst.jpg
Voiced by: Peter Fernandez

Eustace's deceased brother.


  • The Ace: He seemed to have been the best at everything, which he liked to rub in Eustace's face.
  • Adventurer Archaeologist: He found a cursed golden hat on a remote island.
  • Aloof Big Brother: As seen in a flashback, he didn't ever allow his "useless" younger brother to accompany him on hunting trips.
  • Always Someone Better: To Eustace. He was favored greatly by his parents, and was an explorer who bested Eustace at everything.
  • Big Brother Bully: He turned his little brother into an asshole like him. He even gave him the nickname "Useless".
  • Cool Shades: Wears a pair of neat sunglasses.
  • Egomaniac Hunter: He was a hunter and outdoorsman. He would refuse to take Eustace along on his hunting trips.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Despite being a massive jerkass, he doesn't actually want his little brother to open the demonic box that he left him and hid the key in the one place he'd never look. It's only when Eustace uses a medium to contact him in the afterlife and makes it clear he will not take "No" for an answer and keep bothering him that Horst relents.
    Horst: You have been warned, brother.
  • Heroic Build: In contrast to the rest of his family being Noodle People, Horst had the muscular build you'd expect an Adventurer Archaeologist like himself to have.
  • Jerkass: Being rude, obnoxious, and self-centered seems to run in the Bagge family.
  • Jerk Jock: He was an athletic and muscular braggart and very mean to his skinny younger brother Eustace, calling him useless and not a real man like him. Though it seems that he was also more intelligent.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: It's implied he got along with his sister-in-law, hinting he wasn't totally devoid of empathy.
  • Lantern Jaw of Justice: Like the rest of his family, he has a large chin, minus the justice.
  • Posthumous Character: He's already dead when we first hear of him, although Eustace does contact Horst's soul in the afterlife through Shirley's seance ritual, talking to him like a phone conversation.
  • Sinister Shades: Like the rest of his family he wore glasses, and like the rest of his family he was evil.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: Less so than his brother. Horst looks almost like his dad, but with more muscle, a tan, and no beard.
  • Troll: He hid the key to his money box in the last place where Eustace would look: in his hat's brim.

Other:

    Nowhere Newsman 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/newsman.png
We interrupt this program to bring you: Courage the Cowardly Dog show!
Voiced by: Paul Schoeffler

The sunny, upbeat anchorman of Nowhere News. You'll know him as the guy who narrates the show's opening.


  • Character Narrator: He describes the premise of Courage the Cowardly Dog during every opening sequence.
  • Flat Character: He's not given much of a role beyond being the intro's narrator or an occasional reporter.
  • Kent Brockman News: Often appears to report on something unusual for local TV news.
  • Nerves of Steel: Even in a TORNADO he doesn't even do anything CLOSE to panicking.
  • No Name Given: He's never even addressed by any in-universe nickname, let alone by his real name.
  • Noodle People: Like nearly everyone else, his limbs and torso are long and thin.
  • The Pollyanna: He manages to remain cheerful in spite of the kinds of bleakness and disasters he has to report that only Nowhere would provide. The only time he's ever seen frowning is when he's affected by Dr. Zalost's unhappiness bombs in "The Tower of Dr. Zalost".
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: He wears a suit befitting an anchorman.

    The Computer 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_tumblr_lfgnvh8lvr1qbkno0_94.png
Voiced by: Simon Prebble, Paul Schoeffler (The Fog of Courage,) Jeff Bergman (Straight Outta Nowhere)

A helper who is also a bit of a jerk who Courage commonly goes to for advice on stopping the Big Bad of the episode. His advice for the most part works well, but his insults and sarcastic vibes gets contempt from Courage.


  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: This happens in "Mega Muriel the Magnificent", when a bolt of lightning temporarily gives him some mobility, allowing him to take over Muriel's body.
  • British Stuffiness: He speaks with a British accent.
  • Character Catchphrase: "You twit."
  • Covert Pervert: When Courage accidentally hits a key that presumably causes a bunch of websites with suggestive music to pop up, the Computer asks Courage to press it again after the former gets Muriel to leave the room. He also gets really flirty with Velma’s tablet in Straight Outta Nowhere.
  • A Day in the Limelight: "Mega Muriel the Magnificent" and "Hard Drive Courage".
  • Deadpan Snarker: He never misses an opportunity for dry sarcasm or sardonicism.
  • Evil Brit: He temporarily turns evil and goes berserk in "Mega Muriel the Magnificent".
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: A big part of the plot of "Mega Muriel the Magnificent", though he's not so much evil as he is misguided. The Computer possesses Muriel's body and performs various dangerous stunts on live TV to show Courage and the world how brave he is compared to organics, and when Courage repeatedly intervenes, he's utterly baffled as to why the dog would risk his life to stop him despite being scared of everything. The Computer believes that courage means having no fear, when in reality, courage is the ability to overcome your fear.
    Computer: I just don't understand you. You're afraid of your own shadow, yet you feel the need to risk your life to try to stop me. People are such puzzles.
  • Freak Out: In "Hard Drive Courage" when he gets a computer virus.
  • Good Is Not Nice: He gives advice to Courage, but he's not very nice about it.
  • Grand Theft Me: During "Mega Muriel the Magnificent", the Computer somehow gains the ability to upload his personality into a human body, and winds up possessing Muriel (he tried to possess Eustace first, but his body broke into pieces in the process).
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The end of his episode "Mega Muriel the Magnificent" particularly suggests this, as he sees Courage risking his life to save others in spite of his fears in a new light and writes a happy ending for Courage's memoirs without prompting.
  • Magical Database: Seems to have everything to know on how to help Courage defeat the monsters that invade their home. Keep in mind that Courage the Cowardly Dog had premiered when Googlenote  was still very new.
  • Poke the Poodle: He usually lobs insults at Courage when the latter asks for help, and yet the Computer still helps anyway.
  • The Smart Guy: Whenever Courage needs to figure out how to solve his problem of the episode, The Computer is the one to give him the answers.
  • The Smart One Turns Traitor: Fed up with being abused for answers by Courage and his disgust over the fears of organic creatures, The Computer decides to possess a human body, Muriel's to be precise, to prove his fearlessness and superiority in "Mega Muriel the Magnificent". When he's trapped and nearly dies while Courage manages to save him despite being his fearful self, The Computer has a change of heart and works with Courage willingly onwards out of respect.
  • Snarky Inanimate Object: The page image. For extra measure, he speaks with a dry English accent.

    Dr. Vindaloo 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1919e988_ff26_4daa_ac0d_72c9194704e2.jpg
Voiced by: Paul Schoeffler

Nowhere's resident "M.D. Quack". With poor medical skills and even worse observational skills, he tends to pass over clear problems (such as Muriel's massively swollen head) with his iconic "advice" of "just keep soaking it". He's also willing to pass out patient records in exchange for large sums of money as shown in "Bad Hair Day". He is shown having a lot of fancy stuff like a pet pink elephant and a submarine.


  • Absent-Minded Professor: More specifically, an absent-minded doctor.
  • Back-Alley Doctor: Lampshaded by Eustace. His knowledge and license seem questionable at best.
    Eustace: That darn doctor doesn't know what he's doing!
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows: They usually cover his eyes completely.
  • Bollywood Nerd: Though zigzagged because he's not very bright and probably not a real doctor.
  • Character Catchphrase:
    • "There is nothing I can do, nothing at all."
    • "There is nothing to worry about! But there is nothing I can do."
    • "Just keep soaking it."
    • "What is up with that?"
    • "This is the worst case of [disease that is clearly not what's happening] I've ever seen."
  • Cloudcuckoolander: He's extremely absent-minded and incompetent. His response to getting mauled by a Weremole Muriel is to state that it's a bad case of chicken pox.
  • Dressed to Heal: Though much of the time it feels that being dressed to give some useless advice and deny any possible solution would be more appropriate.
  • Einstein Hair: A doctor with gray Einstein-esque hair.
  • Funny Foreigner: He's a funny Indian Cloudcuckoolander who talks with a thick accent.
  • Genius Ditz: Despite all of his incompetence, he has occasionally been a great help.
    • In the episode "Invisible Muriel" he actually gives sensible advice to Courage, such as removing the invisibility stone to see if that'll make Muriel visible again, and when it's brought to him he figures out enough of its properties to know that it wouldn't work on dogs and make some headway in curing the condition, even if he discovered the actual cure by accident.
    • In "The Transplant" though he's responsible for transforming Eustace into a Kangaroo Monster in the first place, he transforms Courage into a Kangaroo Monster as well so that he can rescue Muriel and, at the end of the episode, successfully removes the shard of bone from Courage and returning him to normal with (almost) no side-effects.
    • In "Mondo Magic" while he admits there's nothing he can do, he correctly points out the cause of Muriel's transformation is black magic and his advice to Courage that "magic must be fought by magic" ultimately allows him to defeat the Monster of the Week.
    • In "Goat Pain" he points Muriel and Courage towards the magic spring to heal her injured back.
  • Leitmotif: His screentime is almost always accompanied by a sitar piece.
  • Mad Doctor: Sometimes. He ranges from "incompetent and unhelpful" to "batshit insane and grossly unqualified."
  • Mad Scientist: He did use an ancient creature's bone to try and turn Courage into a giant monster that could save Muriel. Most of the time however he doesn't have the brains to be a scientist.
  • Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: His degree explicitly reads "M.D. Quack". He is also awfully easy to buy off, as he was willing to the sell the secrets of his doctor-patient confidentiality regarding Muriel. In "The Transplant" he's willing to use the fossilized bone of a Kangaroo Monster (a kangaroo the size of a T-Rex) in back surgery.
  • Quirky Doctor: Dr. Vindaloo is a Funny Foreigner doctor who regularly underestimates every problem he encounters, using prolonged soaking in water as a cure-all for everything. He also owns bizarre stuff like a pet elephant and is occasionally seen doing things in his office like taking bubble baths and ripping his body hair off with a giant bandage.
  • Unusual Pets for Unusual People: Being a Funny Foreigner, he owns a pink elephant named Pinky that at one point he rode to the farm.

    Shirley the Medium 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shirley_0.jpg
Voiced by: Mary Testa

A Romani chihuahua who is a witch and fortune-teller. She offers help or sells magical objects from her trailer. She is able to place curses on those who cross her (usually Eustace), and Courage has to go find her in order to reverse them.


  • Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: She is a green-furred dog.
  • Anti-Hero: Shirley exacts cruel punishment upon those who've earned her ire, though she can also be very helpful if treated nicely.
  • Berserk Button: Being rude to her and swindling her are the two main things likely to enrage her.
  • The Cameo: Her final appearance in the series is a cameo in "Aqua Farmer", where she's seen among the audience at Wet World during the performance of Jojo the Dolphin.
  • The Cassandra: She often outright warns Eustace not to do something, but he never listens. That's why her catchphrase is pretty much telling him I Told You So.
  • Character Catchphrase:
    • "The stupid one, he (insert action Eustace shouldn't have done here), yes?"
    • "The stupid one, he's stupid, yes?"
  • Cultured Badass: She dishes out dangerous curses, talks to those on the other side, and can summon horrifying monsters from beyond all while playing jazzy tunes on her saxophone. In fact, she seems to channel some of her magic spells through said saxophone!
  • Deadpan Snarker: Often makes dry remarks toward Eustace about his stubbornness and disregard for her warnings.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: She goes as far as cursing anyone who is mean to her, although considering it's usually Eustace, it's kinda deserved. Doesn't excuse the fact that she curses Muriel at one point, however. To be fair, she often leaves a way for the curse to be undone and will not hesitate to undo the curse herself when she's convinced that her victims have learned their lesson.
  • Dogs Are Dumb: Inverted. She is rather intelligent. She's certainly smarter than Eustace, whom she refers to as "the stupid one".
  • Fortune Teller: Shirley the Medium is a witch and fortune-teller.
  • Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: One of the few cartoon animals in the show to wear a full set of clothes.
  • Good Is Not Nice: She can be very helpful until she's provoked into cursing the offender.
  • Great Gazoo: A female chihuahua who serves as a mystical fortuneteller.
  • I Told You So: "The stupid one, he (something she warned Eustace not to do but he did anyway), yes?"
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She is rather greedy for money, but also very helpful.
  • Karmic Trickster: She's normally a rather nice person when you stay on her good side, and often helps out Courage when he asks. However, if you're mean to her, she'll put a curse on you in a heartbeat, but she'll always leave a loophole for you to get out of them.
  • Magical Romani: She puts gypsy curses on Eustace whenever she's provoked enough.
  • Mundane Utility: At Courage's request, she uses her crystal ball to help him find a yoyo that he lost.
  • Seen It All: Nothing really seems to faze her and she often knows how to deal with a lot of supernatural things Courage faces.
  • Talking Animal: Unlike Courage, she always speaks in fluent English.

    Charlie the Mouse 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/charlie_the_mouse_5.png
Voiced by: Tom McKeon (most appearances), Peter Fernandez (Stormy Weather), John R. Dilworth (The Mask)

A large delivery mouse who is apparently friends with Courage.


    Mr. Frith 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/proffrith.jpg
Professor Frith, an archaeologist.
Voiced by: Simon Prebble

Another recurring character. A Top-Heavy Guy with a square jaw and a large mustache, which is red or white, depending on what character he's playing in the episode.


  • Aborted Arc: When Mr. Frith visits the Bagges during "King Ramses Curse," Courage nervously reminds his owners that the last they'd seen him, Mr. Frith (then a ship captain) and was last seen as a vending machine in "Klub Katz", making his current presence impossible. While this might've foreshadowed Mr. Frith's being a more dangerous presence, nothing comes of it and Negative Continuity prevails.
  • Commissar Cap: Sports this as a military or police officer.
  • Donut Mess with a Cop: In "Courage In The Big Stinkin' City", Courage throws a doughnut at him as a distraction.
  • Eye-Obscuring Hat: As a professor, he has a huge pith helmet that covers his eyes.
  • New Job as the Plot Demands: Every time this guy appears, he has a different occupation, and a slightly different appearance. Examples include being a police officer (in both Nowhere and New York City), an archaeology professor, a ship captain, a pilot, the mayor of Nowhere, a US Army general, and a park ranger.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Cookies as seen in "Courage Meets The Mummy", and doughnuts as seen in "Courage in the Big Stinkin' City".

    The General and the Lieutenant 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/captain_courage.jpg
The General
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lieutenant_imagejpg.png
The Lieutenant
Voiced by: Ron McLarty, Jeff Bennett (Straight Outta Nowhere) (The General), Chuck Montgomery (The Lieutenant)

A couple of US Army officers stationed in Nowhere. The General is another variation of the "Mr. Frith" characters, except his mustache is white instead of red. He's often seen talking to (and fighting with) his Lieutenant.


    The Three Government Ninjas 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ninja_feds.png
Number 1 and 3
Voiced by: Peter Fernandez

Three ninja-like federal agents who assist the General and the Lieutenant.


  • Affably Evil: After they once kidnapped Muriel (who turned invisible due to a magic gem), they try to reassure Courage that she'll be safe and okay.
  • Ambiguously Human: Aside from being government black ops guys they don't usually display any especially unusual behavior. However in The Last Of The Star Makers after being ordered to retreat all three retracted their limbs into their torsos, deployed four spindly wheels from their hips, and sped off like RC cars.
  • Captain Obvious: "And now he's running away!"
  • Chest Insignia: They have the numbers 1, 2, and 3 on their vests.
  • Cloudcuckoolanders: For special government agents, they are not very lucid (not that their commanding officers are any better).
  • Cool Shades: Fitting for secret agents yet for ninjas not so much.
  • Large Ham: They are as over-the-top as you would expect from movie-ninja stereotypes that they are parodying.
  • Leitmotif: A fast, trumpet-heavy tune plays whenever they show up.
  • The Men in Black: If the US government learns about an invisible old lady or a giant alien squid in the middle of Nowhere, they'll send in these guys to help them capture these strange beings.
  • McNinjas: They are American ninjas.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: They're fond of toast.

    Floyd 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/floyd.png
Voiced by: John R. Dilworth

A recurring character. A short, bald man.


    Parachute Lady 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1_75.jpg
Voiced by: Nancy Grabstein

Another recurring extra. A slim lady in a green jumpsuit.


  • Ambiguously Brown: Has tanned skin and black hair, but no defined ethnicity.
  • Awesome Backpack: She always wears a parachute.
  • Flat Character: She only appears sparingly for brief gag scenes.
  • Motor Mouth: She rambles on and on to the Mayan Mummy, so he parachutes out of the plane.
  • No Name Given: Just like the Nowhere Newsman, her actual name is never revealed.
  • Noodle People: She's drawn with a torso and limbs that are long and thin like most normal human characters on the show.

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