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The Grace Family
General
- Badass Family: They all work together to get through the land of faeries.
- Experienced Protagonist: By the second series, when Nick tells the Grace kids about seeing faeries, they calmly assess the situation with Mallory even tying her hair up and grabbing a rapier all prepared to set out as if she was going to the grocery.
- Family Theme Naming: While their middles names aren't ever used in the series it's, Evan, Everett and Eva.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Word of God confirms that this was to base the children off of the ones in faerie tales.
- Sibling Team: The Grace children are this.
Jared Evan Grace
Played by: Freddie Highmore (film), Lyon Daniels (TV series)
A young boy with a bit of a temper, who's not adjusting well to his parent's divorce and their subsequent move. He's the one to come across the field guide and begin their adventures.- Always Identical Twins: Jared and Simon. He actually uses this to his advantage especially when tricking the faeries. He did this to the elves saying they had to let him go when they give their word that they would not hurt Jared when he addresses himself as Simon.
- Big Brother Instinct: It's never full confirmed who is older, but Jared always looks out for Simon, and he usually tries to hold in his anger when around his gentler twin. When Thimbletack first pranks lead to Simon's tadpoles being frozen into cubes and his mice go missing, even Jared claims he would never go that far to hurt his brother and tries to comfort him afterwards.
- Clear My Name: This happens a lot to Jared throughout the books, having faeries commit tricks that he gets blamed for. Many don't believe him when he tries to explain the situation because of his temper and the fact that he just moved away from his life, and even his siblings point this out when he tries to say that he didn't cause the trouble.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Compared to his siblings who have a special thing, Jared wonders if he's any good at something and is frustrated at feeling useless during their adventures, especially when Simon and Mallory can show off their abilities. At the end, he settles on drawing, just like his great-great uncle Arthur.
- Everyone Has Standards: While he loses his temper around easily, he would never get to the point where he'd actually hurt his family members which Thimbletack tries to use against him when they first arrive at their new home.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Outside the faerie world, he's more foolish compared to his more responsible twin Simon.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Most of this is due to him trying to deal with his parent's divorce.
- The Hero
- Identical Twin ID Tag: He wears loose fitting clothing and a red hoodie, while also messing up the bit of his hair that sticks up.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Often comes across like this, but Jared does have a softer side. He does everything he can to protect his family, and gets pretty protective of Simon in particular if something bad happens to his pets.
- Point of View: Most of the story revolves around his perspective of events.
- Red Is Heroic: He usually wears a red hoodie when not in school, although that may be because he's read that red is a good protection against faeries.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: More angry and a bit violent compared to his more reserved and quiet twin.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Implied in the last book, when Jared reflects that his dad was always too busy talking about himself and his movies to think about or spend any time with his family. It's implied to be why the Graces divorced, and Jared is filled with anger issues. It's also why he's able to realize his "dad" in Mulgarath's lair is a fake. Much as he wishes his dad would say that he wants nothing more than to be a family, he knows it's something he'd never actually say.
Simon Everett Grace
Played by: Freddie Highmore (film), Noah Cottrell (TV series)
Jared's identical twin brother, who's soft-spoken and a great animal lover. While he doesn't agree with his twin most of the time, he is more open to the new world revealed to them and is excited to meet the new creatures.- All-Loving Hero: Simon, to contrast Jared. There's not a single animal Simon wouldn't gladly pet, play with, or take home; whether normal or supernatural, organic or clockwork.
- When a faerie pretends to be Jared which causes him to pull a knife on it, the school instead sees Jared pulling a knife on a child leading to him getting a suspension. As he confides what he saw to Simon, Simon offers to swap clothes with Jared and even change his hair so the adults wouldn't tell the difference between them and he'd take the blame. Despite his brother's very thin temper, he does care for Jared when he knows he's been wronged.
- Always Identical Twins: Simon and Jared. This actually confuses Mulgarath's underlings as they mistake Simon as the "not Jared".
- Big Brother Instinct: It's never confirmed who's the older twin, but when Simon is certain Jared doesn't deserve the blame for something, he will stand up for his twin and sometimes even offers to switch places so the adults couldn't tell them apart.
- Determinator: Despite being exposed to dragon venom and suffering a possibly broken arm, Simon still aids Byron in the fight against the mother dragon and carries on with Mallory and Jared to Mulgarath's lair.
- Friend to All Living Things: As some of his previous tropes have illustrated. However, sometimes, this does nearly get him in trouble, especially when visiting their aunt Lucinda, who's Sprite friends offer Simon some of their food and he was very close to eating.
- Identical Twin ID Tag: Simon's hair is more well kept and the way he dresses is more neat and reserved compared to his brother.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Loves animals and fae creatures, to the point that he will try and take some of them back home with him.
- Nice Guy: Simon doesn't have a mean bone in his body. He won't even harm spiders, and he'll try and adopt any creature he comes across, leading his siblings to sigh in exasperation most of the time. So when he forces himself to stomp on and kill the dragon babies to distract the mother from killing Byron, even Jared is stunned at Simon's actions.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Bryon is fighting off a dragon and looks like he's about to die, Simon tearfully, but angrily stomps on the dragons babies heads to get its attention. Jared even says that Simon never killed anything, not even spiders.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Kind and quiet, compared to the anger prone and sometimes violent Jared.
Mallory Eva Grace
Played by: Sarah Bolger (film), Mychala Lee (TV series)
The eldest of the Grace siblings, and has a passion for fencing that often comes in handy. She's usually the one to be the most skeptic about the world of faeries, and argues constantly with Jared.- Arbitrary Skepticism: Despite the fact that she can interact with a strange and magical world, most of the time she tries to play them off or ignore a lot of Jared's advice.
- Big Sister Bully: Downplayed. Mallory isn't overly mean to the twins, but she's pretty tough with them too.
- Big Sister Instinct: As much as she argues and fights with her brothers, she would not hesitate to protect them if the situation called for it. In The Ironwood Tree, Mallory was kidnapped because a kid had told her that her brothers were in trouble, so she went off to find them. Also, on more than one occasion, she uses her rapier to slash at anything that could harm her siblings. Unarmed, she punches a goblin that was menacing Jared.
- Damsel in Distress: Most of the time she's in distress, it's usually due to the fact that she refused to listen to Jared's advice.
- In The Ironwood Tree, she gets kidnapped by dwarves, who dress her up and put her inside a glass case.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: She wields a mean rapier that slices as any nearby enemies coming towards her or her brothers.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Mallory hates dresses and loves fencing, but she has long hair that she pins back with barrettes, and it's implied that she wore a padded bra during a fencing competition to impress a boy she likes.
- Traumatic Haircut: In the first book. She cries for her mom to just cut her hair from the metal bedposts when they can't untie it. Afterwards Jared even feels bad although he didn't commit the prank because he knew Mallory liked her long hair.
Helen Grace
Played by: Mary-Louise Parker (film), Joy Bryant (TV series)
Jared, Mallory and Simon's mother, who is never really around due to work, and worries over how Jared is taking the move and her divorce with his father.- Adaptational Badass: In the movie adaptation, she actually fights alongside her children when they're defending the house from Mulgarath's henchmen.
- Locked Out of the Loop: The kids keep their encounters with faeries from her but when things start getting too big to keep under wraps anymore they agree to tell her to truth. Sadly by then it's too late to save her from being abducted.
- Parental Obliviousness: Averted. The kids' misadventures with the neighbouring fearies frequently have them out till all hours and Helen guesses that they're hiding things from her.
- Struggling Single Mother: She tries to be there for her kids, but most of the time is off doing work and worries over Jared since divorcing her husband, but doesn't know how to deal with his temper.
- Damsel in Distress: In the final book, Mulgarath kidnaps her.
Richard Grace
Played by: Andrew McCarthy
The father of Jared, Mallory and Simon, however he's divorced from his wife and not seen until the final book. However, it's actually Mulgarath using his shifting powers to look like him. Jared believes that he'll call back, but he never does.- Disappeared Dad: He and his wife are apparently not on speaking terms.
- It's All About Me: It's implied that the reason why he and his wife are divorced is because he spends most of his time thinking about himself. It is also because of this lack of family time that Jared is having anger issues. When Mulgarath impersonates him Jared remembers that his father could never tell who was Simon and that Mallory was the one who fenced.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Jared believes his dad will call soon to hang out or just come back to them. It looks like he's been kidnapped along with their mother in the final book but it's just Mulgarath taking his form.
The Spiderwick Family
Arthur Spiderwick
Played by: David Strathairn
A painter who stumbled upon the world of faeries and created a field guide about every creature he encountered. This unfortunately put the fae's world at risk to Mulgarath and he was spirited away to the Elves realm where he remained the same age for years.- Died in Your Arms Tonight: In the final book, he's allowed to see Lucinda one last time, and chooses to vanish from the world as he steps out of the Elve's realm and gives her a final hug before disappearing forever.
- My God, What Have I Done?: His reaction once he realizes just how potentially dangerous his field guide is to the world he uncovered and studied.
- Selective Obliviousness: When Jared finally meets Arthur Spiderwick, the man insists Jared can't be his great nephew since he's only been with the elves for several months, and his daughter isn't old enough to have children his age. Jared half-suspects that Arthur is choosing not to connect the dots because facing the fact that it's really been decades since he was imprisoned by the elves, and his daughter has become an old woman would be more than he could bear.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: He wears a round pair of spectacles.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He wrote the field guide so it could help normal people avoid faeries, but once Mulgarath and other sprites catch word of how it details all of the creatures' weaknesses, he becomes targeted.
Lucinda Spiderwick
Played by: Joan Plowright
Arthur's daughter, who's now an old woman living in a nursing home and being cared for by her Sprite friends. Even though many years have passed, she still loves her father.- Daddy's Girl: She and her father had a close bond, and it still remained even as she grew old and Arthur was trapped in the Elves realm.
- Food Chains: She's cared for by her Sprite friends who give her their food to eat. This causes her to be unable to consume human food.
- Maiden Aunt: She's old enough to be the Grace kid's grandmother, but she's their great aunt.
Fae Folk
Thimbletack
Played by: Martin Short (film), Jack Dylan Grazer (TV series)
A brownie who lives in the Spiderwick mansion, a great friend to Arthur's and looked after the place once Lucinda was moved out. He usually provides clues or tips to the Grace siblings, and sometimes slips into his boggart form when angered.- Cassandra Truth: Thimbletack warns the Grace children to get rid of Arthur's field guide at the end of the first book, since nothing but misfortune ever fell upon those who owned it. The children (mostly Jared) don't listen, much to their misery.
- Chameleon Camouflage: He can practically turn invisible whenever he wants, and only showing his true form when he wants.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: He doesn't go crazy, but he does start losing his temper as the years go on and Lucinda hasn't returned back to the house. He starts feeling resentful looking over and protecting a home that will never be occupied again and turns into a boggart as a result. Until the Grace family shows up.
- Jekyll & Hyde: His friendly, helpful brownie form vs. his house-trashing, prank-pulling boggart form.
- Our Fairies Are Different: Brownies are no bigger than your hand, have faces round and wrinkled like walnuts, and like to dress in musty old doll's clothes. They also transform into boggarts if taken advantage of or otherwise ill-used.
- Rhymes on a Dime: His brownie form rhymes at almost all times.
- Scavenged Punk: Thimbletack provides the page image. As a brownie, he lives in the walls and steals human items for his home. Drawn by Tony DiTerlizzi, it looks very cool.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Crackers and honey in the movie.
- Undying Loyalty: He does everything he can to keep Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide away from the goblins and other prying eyes.
Hogsqueal
Played by: Seth Rogen
A hobgoblin who was captured by Mulgarath's group and freed by Jared and Mallory. He provides the two the gift of the "sight", and appears every now and then to either provide help or mischief.- Changed My Mind, Kid: Hogsqueal in the last book. He betrays the kids for Mulgarath, yet he's the one who kills the ogre when he turns into a bird.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Hogsqueal. Had Jared not freed him, he may not have been around to eat Mulgarath in the end.
- Our Goblins Are Different: Hogsqueal the Hobgoblin looks like a cross between a toad and a leaf-nosed bat. Like the goblins, he doesn't have teeth, but seems to prefer to use human baby teeth he steals from under pillows. His appearance still invokes "creature of the night" like regular goblins, but he isn't as scary or feral.
- Super Spit: He can gift people the Sight once he spits in their eyes.
- Stock Animal Diet: Hogsqueal loves to eat birds. He also likes cats... but can't bring himself to eat one that has similar eyes to him.
- Theme Naming: Hogsqueal the Hobgoblin
- Unusual Euphemism: In the books, Hogsqueal is prone to using these.
Sprites
Small faeries who take the forms of plants and flowers.
- Our Fairies Are Different: Sprites are most like the classic "tiny, friendly, insect-winged pixie" variety of Victorian faeries, often dressed in little leaves and bits of fruit. However, even they can accidentally ruin a human's life without meaning to by offering their heavenly faerie food, which, to them, is just regular food.
- Food Chains: If you eat food from their realm, you can no longer consume human food ever again. However, they don't know the difference, and nearly tempt Simon into eating their fruit.
The Elves
One of the most powerful fae groups around, and aren't the ones you want to take lightly.
- Adapted Out: They are not present in the film, nor even mentioned.
- Green Thumb: They have control over the vines in their groove and can easily trap someone with them without even moving.
- I Gave My Word: The elves. They consider it a point of pride that when they give their word, they always keep it, no matter how distasteful it is to them. (That said, be careful what you make them promise and/or how they word their promise, because they're not above a little Loophole Abuse.)
- Our Fairies Are Different: The elves are beautiful, haughty, immortal, and in sync with nature. However, their regality, Blue-and-Orange Morality, and tendency to hold mortals in their realm where it's a Year Outside, Hour Inside makes them most like the The Fair Folk of English folklore, or the beautiful and godlike Tuatha de Danann of Irish mythology.
- Plant Hair: Not exactly plant but the skin growths on their foreheads highly resembles leaves.
Other creatures
The Dwarves
They make an appearance during "The Ironwood Tree", creating weapons for Mulgarath's army.
- Adapted Out: They are not present in the film, nor even mentioned.
- Clockwork Creature: Dwarves have a passion for building these, wanting creatures as long lasting as they are.
- Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Mostly averted, but given how homogynous more dwarves appear in most fairy tales anyway... They're small and thin, with puffy beards that cover most of their bodies, and noses that cover most of their faces. They're master stone and metal craftsmen that can make intricate metalwork trees and leaves as beautiful as the real thing, and clockwork animals that're as lifelike as organic ones. They're also completely immortal, and want to replace the decaying, dying organic world with their own stone and metal creations of everlasting beauty.
- Too Dumb to Live: As Simon points out dwarves plan to replace the plants with ironwoods and animals with clockwork creatures so if they succeed they will all starve and suffocate. Given that their food is made out of regular plants and animals he's right. Dwarves don't listen and claim that their creations are better than the ones of nature.
- Weird World, Weird Food: They are about to prepare for the twins turnip with spiders. Dwarves claim it's tasty, heroes never find out because they escaped.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Despite promising to reward the Dwarves with the promise of giving them a world where they could build all of their machines freely, Mulgarath takes their weapons and then orders his soldiers to kill them.
Antagonists
Red Cap
Played By: Ron Perlman
The leader of Mulgarath's army of goblins. Unlike his henchmen, he wields a small sword and wears clothes.
- Ascended Extra: Gets much more screentime in the movie than in the book. He's also even given a name, whereas he's basically a nameless goblin amongst Mulgarath's henchmen.
- Cool Sword: Uses one to order other goblins around.
- The Dragon: To Mulgarath.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: He wears a red captains cap.
- King Mook: To the other goblins.
Mulgarath
Played by: Nick Nolte (film), Christian Slater (TV series)
The main villain of this series, a huge ogre who will do anything to get his hands on Arthur Spiderwick's field guide so he could rule all of the others in his realm.- Ax-Crazy: Mulgarath is short tempered and very bloodthirsty.
- Bad Boss: Very harsh to this own subordinates.
- Big Bad: He's the main villain of the Spiderwick Chronicles.
- Bitchin Sheeps Clothing: Sometimes.
- Eaten Alive: After turning into a sparrow and trying to fly off, Hogsqueal catches him and eats him alive.
- Faux Affably Evil: Downplayed He will put on a polite facade when he wants something, but is normally completely unpleasant.
- Genius Bruiser: He may be very physically powerful and imposing, but what makes him truly dangerous is combining that with strategy.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Mulgarath is very easy to set off.
- I Control My Minions Through...: Mostly Fear, Power, and Sadism.
- Jerkass: He's very unkind.
- Lack of Empathy: Cares about no one but himself
- Sadist: One notable instance of this is where he captures a bunch of fairies and slowly drowns them for seemingly no other reason.
- Shapeshifting: His main ability that he uses to trick others to do his bidding, or disguise himself. When he turns into a sparrow and tries to fly off, he gets caught by Hogsqueal and eaten.
- The Sociopath: Lack of Empathy, lies, an inflated ego, fake emotions to manipulate others, etc..
Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles
Nick Vargas
- The Big Guy: He's fat for his age, and prefers to stay inside playing videogames.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Like Jared, but this time it's because his dad remarried.
Laurie
- Fangirl: For faeries. She even gets excited when she meets the Grace kids.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: She wears rectangular shaped glasses and is a huge fan of faeries.
- Youthful Freckles: Has freckles across her face and shoulders.
Creatures
Taloa
A Nixie who Nick and Laurie saves, who has been separated from her sisters and wishes to return to them.
- Rhymes on a Dime: How she speaks for she is not meek.
