Gilmore Family | Stars Hollow | Yale | Chilton | Other Characters
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Christopher Hayden
Played by: David Sutcliffe
Lorelai's childhood love and Rory's father.
- Amicable Exes: For the most part of the series with Lorelai, despite not having been ever married. He eventually does end up being divorced twice, to two different women, both being the mothers of his daughters.
- Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Luke's and especially Max's Betty.
- Bumbling Dad: To Rory.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: To Lorelai's other Love Interest Luke. They are more likely to engage in fisticuffs.
- Disappeared Dad: For the most part.
- Extreme Doormat: Any time his parents or Lorelai's parents tell him to do something, he usually does it without much protest. He usually means well for Lorelai and Rory, but he doesn't seem to be able to stand up to their parents. Plus, when Sherry tells him she's pregnant, he's visibly torn between staying for Rory or returning to Sherry before caving in and leaving again. It's strongly implied from his conversation with Rory in "Fall" that even if he tried to convince Lorelai to let him help raise Rory, he wouldn't be able to change her mind and figured it would be easier to let her have her way.
- False Soulmate: He always strongly believed the he and Lorelai were soulmates, but in the end he had to painfully accept that they weren’t.
- Glorified Sperm Donor: He was rarely in Rory's life, largely due to Lorelai running away and breaking off contact, and because his parents directed his life to keep contact to a minimum as well as wanting to show her that he was stable enough to help. When Rory goes to see him in "Fall", she asks him about why he didn't to convince Lorelai to raise her together. He confessed that when he first saw how she held baby Rory, he knew there was no way he could get in between them. He knew that because she was so headstrong about her choices and because they were so young, he wouldn't be able to change her mind anyway and let her raise Rory alone.
- Humans Are Flawed: Christopher usually means well and is generally a nice guy, but can't seem to get a control over his life, is weak, easily manipulated and well, he and Lorelai tend to have a horrible timing, so his appearance usually make things worse. Rory at some point realizes it and tries to keep him from causing damage to her mother's life. Lorelai doesn't.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: In season 7, he becomes jealous of Lorelai's bond with Luke and takes some time apart from her including not returning her calls after Richard is hospitalized for a heart attack. He is then deeply affronted and refuses to let Lorelai explain when he shows up unannounced and finds that Luke has brought food to the hospital - which Luke never would have done if Christopher had actually been there supporting his family.
- Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: At the start of the series, Christopher is 32 - Lorelai's age - and is still struggling badly to make a successful business, despite not having to raise a child and coming from a very wealthy family.
- Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: Rich Suitor for Lorelai, with Luke being the Poor Suitor. It has to do more with the social standing than with the actual money, though. And in later seasons he gets filthy rich when he inherits his father's money. He spends a romantic getaway with Lorelai in Paris and uses his money to pull a Grand Romantic Gesture — they were hungry and couldn't find a place, so he pays a lot of money to have a romantic restaurant opened just for them.
- Romantic False Lead: For Lorelai: no matter how much he (and sometimes she) wished otherwise, it was always going to be Luke for her. Even acknowledged in-universe as such.
- Shotgun Wedding:
- Averted with Lorelai when she got pregnant with him when they both were teens; both their parents pushed hard for this, and he was willing, but Lorelai refused.
- He actually wanted to end his relationship with Sherry, but returned to her when he found out she is pregnant; they got married and had Gigi.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: With Lorelai, for more than twenty years. Eventually they get to get together and then split up for good.
- Unlucky Childhood Friend: He's known Lorelai since they were kids and genuinely does love her. He even proposed to her when she got pregnant, and they did get married in Season 7, but her heart ultimately lies with Luke. When Rory goes to notify him about the wedding, he tells her to send Lorelai his best wishes and that he's learned his lesson about letting her go.
- The series is born out of this trope - Christopher and Lorelai were very close as children, but Christopher is and was too much of a dumb and irresponsible man to really keep up with Lorelai.
- Unwitting Pawn: A lot of his actions towards Lorelai are largely triggered by suggestions from Emily, in an albeit misguided attempt to do right by Lorelai. For her part, she doesn't seem to begrudge his efforts, but she knows that he rarely did things of his own volition and mostly because the parents tell him to.
Jimmy Mariano
Played by: Rob Estes
Jess's absentee father. He walked out on Liz shortly after she gave birth to Jess, eventually settling in Venice Beach, California where he runs a hot dog stand named "Dante's Inferno" and lives with his girlfriend Sasha.
- Calling Parents by Their Name: Jess only ever refers to him as Jimmy.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Luke gives him a scathing speech for walking out on Liz and Jess. Jess also gives him one after leaving Stars Hollow and having no where and no one else to turn to besides him.
- Disappeared Dad: He had been absent from Jess's life for about 18 years.
- Like Father, Like Son: He's shown to have the same love for music and books as Jess.
- Multiple-Choice Past: In Jess's first appearance, Jimmy was said to have walked out on them two years before, but later episodes established he's been gone since Jess was a baby.
- Parent Never Came Back from the Store: The last time Liz and Luke saw him before the series started was when he left for the store to buy diapers.
- Visit by Divorced Dad: Jimmy appears randomly in Stars Hollow in season 3 to meet Jess for the first time. And later in the season, Jess makes his way to California after dropping out of high school.
Jason Stiles
Played by: Chris Eigeman
Richard's business partner and Lorelai's boyfriend for most of season four.
- Amicable Exes: Shares a sweet scene with Lorelai in A Year In The Life when he genuinely asks if she's happy and they tease each other with their childhood nicknames.
- The Bus Came Back: Digger returns in A Day in the Life at Richard's funeral. He and Lorelai are able to reconcile.
- Derailing Love Interests: Once he goes after Richard, Lorelai dumps him. He then squats at the Dragonfly, refusing to take no for an answer despite Lorelai breaking up with him, nearly ruining her budding relationship with Luke.
- Embarrassing Nickname: "Digger" Stiles. A lot of the characters call him that simply to annoy him.
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Most of the time his childhood is brought up, it's for laughs.
- Put on a Bus
- Third-Option Love Interest: For Lorelai.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: He and his father outright hate each other, and his team up with Richard was partly to get back at him. Given his dad later sues him and destroys his business, it's justified.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Nothing ever comes from the storyline dealing with Jason suing Richard.
Gil
Played by: Sebastian Bach
An older rocker who joins Hep Alien after Dave moves to California. Despite his age, he is just as capable of keeping up musically with his younger bandmates.
- Cool Old Guy: Something that both Brian and Zach had reservations about since they wanted the band to maintain a youthful image. Lane vetoed both of them and let Gil in the band due to his guitar-playing abilities.
- Happily Married: Married and with kids. In one scene, the characters were shocked to see Gil making out with someone, only to find out it's his wife.
- Nice Guy: The sweetest guy. It's part of what gets him in the band: Lane sees him with his family and genuinely thanking her for the opportunity and can't bring herself to reject him based simply on his age.
- Team Dad: An actual dad with two young kids. Not to mention, he is the oldest member in Hep Alien. Sometimes his fatherly instincts brush off on the band, to Zach's displeasure.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Generally serves this.
- Surfer Dude: Speaks like this.
Sherry Tinsdale
Played by: Mädchen Amick
Christopher's seemingly perfect new girlfriend and later fiancée. A glamorous, driven career woman who always insists on getting her way.
- Control Freak: To the point of scheduling giving birth.
- Determinator: She usually finds a way to get her own way no matter the circumstances, such as getting Rory to bond with her and trying to arrange every little detail of her pregnancy and birth.
- Family Versus Career: A career girl. The show does not treat it sympathetically.
- Missing Mom: Abandons Christopher and Gigi when Gigi is still a toddler because she was chasing a career opportunity in Europe. Though later she changes her mind and seeks a contact with her daughter.
- Put on a Bus: Despite only appearing in the second and third seasons, Sherry's impact is felt throughout the rest of the series.
- Schedule Fanatic: Scheduled her C-section, but goes into labor a week early. It upsets her very much, as she wrote it down.
- Shotgun Wedding: She and Christopher only return to each other and get married because Sherry discovers she's pregnant. It ends the way you'd expect it to.
Berta
Played by: Rose Abdoo
Emily's new maid in the revival, and the first of her maids to not get fired between episodes. She lasts the entire revival and is firmly in place with her entire extended family by the end.
- Ambiguously Brown: Rose Abdoo, who plays her (and who also plays Stars Hollow's resident mechanic Gypsy) is of part-Lebanese, part-Dominican ethnicity.
- Funny Foreigner: Berta doesn't even try to speak English, gradually moves her large extended family into Emily's house, and Emily has no idea what goes into her cooking (although since it's delicious, this is not a problem.)
- Mirror Character: To Nanny Soledad. They're both Latinas working for a wealthy Hartford family, dearly loved by one relevant member of the family they work for, and the person also knows their families.
- Spicy Latina: Averted. She's Latina but she's warm and friendly.
- The Unintelligible: Nobody in-universe knows exactly what language Berta speaks (best guess is one of the Iberian Romance languages) but her dialogue is subtitled for the benefit of the viewer. note
