Dwight Schrute

Dwight Kurt Schrute is a fictional character on the NBC's The Office portrayed by Russell McCormack. His counterpart in the original UK version of The Office is Gareth Keenan.

Overview

When the series begins, Dwight Schrute is a salesman at the Scranton branch of the paper-goods distribution company Dunder Mifflin. He holds the title of "Assistant to the Regional Manager" but constantly refers to himself as "Assistant Regional Manager," attempting to elevate himself to second-in-command to Michael Scott. Dwight craves authority over others and relishes any minor task that Michael or anyone else gives him. Though Dwight acts like a know-it-all, he is actually quite gullible and naive. For this reason, he is easily tricked and tormented by his desk-mate and fellow salesman Jim Halpert. Much to Dwight's displeasure, later in the series Jim is promoted to "Assistant Regional Manager," becoming second-in-command to the Regional Manager.

Dwight's outlook on life seems to be more severe than that of his fellow employees and most people in general. Dwight's actions during crucial moments hint that he would like to imagine himself as a hero in an action movie. This idea is furthered by his idolism of fictitious, television heroes such as Hiro Nakamura and Jack Bauer.

Despite lacking social skills and common sense, Dwight is Dunder Mifflin's top salesman (having more sales than a computer). Additionally, despite his personal dislike of Jim Halpert, the two have been shown to be a very effective sales team. Dwight's ability as a salesman, though, has rarely commanded the respect of his peers or led to professional success.

Interests

Dwight is trained in the art of surveillance and is a former Lackawanna County volunteer sheriff's deputy. He maintains an honorary position as a security corporal at Dunder Mifflin's office building, Scranton Business Park. He is also a purple belt in Goju-Ryu karate, which he practices in a class intended for children, and calls himself a senpai, which means "senior student" in Japanese (but should not be used when referring to oneself). Dwight fancies himself a survivalist, based on his dog-eat-dog views on health care and his belief that a hero is "someone who kills people that wish him harm." Dwight believes that heroes wake up in the morning with mass quantities of anger.

Dwight leaps at every opportunity to gain power and authority, often using it to punish his co-workers, especially Jim Halpert. For example, he attempts to use his assignment of choosing a new health care policy as an opportunity to have Jim fired ("Health Care"). He also seems to be the only employee with enough nerve to stand up to Michael.

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Dwight in "Women's Appreciation"

Dwight created the use of Schrute Bucks as a motivational tool during his very brief tenure as Regional Manager. Schrute Bucks were given to an employee when they did something good, and 1,000 Schrute Bucks could be redeemed for an extra 5 minutes for lunch break. A Schrute Buck has the cash equivalent of one one-thousandth of a cent, by Dwight's reckoning.

Despite his aforementioned character flaws, Dwight has demonstrated an exceptional sense of justice in the past. In The Negotiation, when Roy attacked Jim over his kiss with Pam in Casino Night, Dwight immediately rescues Jim by incapacitating Roy with Pepper spray. Jim then spends the entire episode trying to repay him, while Dwight refuses to accept anything, saying that "Citizens do not accept gifts for being citizens". In the episode Drug Testing, Dwight finds half a joint in the parking lot, which drives him to do a full-out investigation.

Dwight seems to have an admiration for TV and movie villains, such as Lex Luthor and Anakin Skywalker, though he also admires many heroic characters, such as Harry Potter and various superheroes.

Dwight is a pop culture and sci-fi buff who has expressed fanship of Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, 24, Alias, Smallville, The Apprentice, Heroes, and Lost, as well as an apparent obsession with Battlestar Galactica. His all-time favorite film, out of the "over 240" he has seen, is The Crow. He hints at being afraid of androids taking over the world and mythical creatures such as vampires or zombies coming for him. Dwight also seems to collect expensive action figures that are "worth more than [Jim's] car."

In the episode "Basketball", Dwight wears a World Anime Expo 2002 T-shirt, suggesting that he attended this (fictitious) anime convention. The image on the shirt is identified in a deleted scene from "Hot Girl" as (the fictitious) Konikotaka, whom Dwight describes as his ideal woman, who was a survivor of "monster rape."

In the episode "Health Care", Dwight claims to have a perfect immune system, though he has suffered some ailments and maladies in subsequent episodes. He claims to be able to raise and lower his cholesterol at will, simply by concentration. In the episode "Michael's Birthday", he also claims to have tipped his Urologist for pulverizing his kidney stones, however he will not tip anyone for doing something he can do himself (e.g. delivering food, driving a taxi, etc.).

Dwight has a great understanding of the Hindu religion. He explains the origin of the Diwali (The Festival of Lights).

Dwight attempted to win a Jethro Tull box set in a Rock 107 call-in contest ("The Carpet"). He served as DJ for the eighth annual Dundie awards and his music tastes include Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire," R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts", and Life of Agony's "River Runs Red." He uses Mötley Crüe to pump himself up, using "Wild Side" to prepare for a performance review ("Performance Review") and "Kickstart My Heart" to prepare for a sales call ("Traveling Salesmen"). On the filing cabinet next to his desk is a sticker for Froggy 101, a Scranton country-western station.

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Dwight in "Health Care"

He is also apparently a Classic Van Halen Fan as in the episode "Money" There is a poster of David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen in his bedroom, and also admits in his blog that he was a Dokken fan as a young man.

Dwight is musically talented as well. He has been known to jam on the guitar, and he is seen regularly playing the recorder. His repertoire includes "Greensleeves," Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name," "Mambo No. 5," "On the Wings of Love," and "The Longest Time" by Billy Joel. He plays guitar for Michael Scott on two occasions: He plays "Teach Your Children" on Michael's guitar in "Take Your Daughter to Work Day", and he accompanies Michael's Adam Sandler-inspired tune "The Diwali Song" at the Diwali party ("Diwali").

Dwight loves Count Chocula cereal.

Dwight is interested in muscle cars and drives a maroon 1987 Pontiac Trans Am which he restored and which gets eight miles per gallon. Prior to that, he owned a 1978 Nissan 280Z. He also has interest in the quality of auto parts, particularly shock absorbers ("Office Olympics", "The Fire").

Dwight's fashion sense exhibits his nerdiness in subtle ways. He wears a short-sleeved shirt to work regardless of the weather (special occasions excepted), and he wears a Casio calculator watch. He also cuts his own hair ("Michael's Birthday").

Dwight keeps an extra pair of Birkenstock sandals in his car "for special occasions" ("E-mail Surveillance").

Dwight has a collection of bobblehead dolls at his desk including a personalized one that Angela gave him for Valentine's Day. He also has former Philadelphia Phillies catcher Mike Lieberthal and former Phillies first baseman and current Baseball Tonight co-host John Kruk.

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Dwight in "Drug Testing"

Dwight has repeatedly expressed his love for laser tag. On his blog, he tells fans that his team is named "The Gandalfs". He also says beginning in '02, his team went on a four-year championship run. When fooled into believing that he missed an episode of The Apprentice, Dwight explains that he was out drinking with his laser tag team ("Performance Review").

Dwight is also a fan of paintball. He offered Phyllis lessons as his Secret Santa gift in "Christmas Party", and he used his paintball mask as protection against a bat in the episode "Business School".

Dwight owns an impressive array of weaponry. In addition to laser tag and paintball equipment, he has a crossbow range at his farm ("Office Olympics"), hinted that he may bring a bo staff to work when he is named official security supervisor of the Scranton branch ("Drug Testing"). He maintained a hidden arsenal of weapons at his desk, including pepper spray, nunchucks, throwing stars, a stun gun, a boomerang, handcuffs, a nightstick, a pair of brass knuckles, and a samurai sword, all of which were confiscated ("The Negotiation"). Dwight also claimed to have sat at his desk for an entire day with a Potato Gun without any trouble from security. Dwight also uses a real gun, fired within city limits, to start off the race in Fun Run. He also produced a disturbing amount of Molotov cocktails for a panty raid on Utica in "Branch Wars".

Dwight often refers to women as animals. In the episode "Valentine's Day", he said, "Women are like wolves. If you want a wolf, you have to trap it. You have to snare it and then you have to tame it. Keep it happy, care for it, feed it. Lovingly. The way that an animal deserves to be loved. And my animal deserves a lot of loving."

Dwight knows how to make traditional corn husk dolls.

Dwight claims to be Roman Catholic ("The Carpet", deleted scene), although his family was historically Amish. The aforementioned deleted scene, and a deleted scene from Booze Cruise, in which Dwight asks Captain Jack if there is a monster in Lake Wallenpaupak who eats Catholics, suggest that Dwight's family may be anti-Catholic. On the other hand, Dwight's grandfather may have told that story to keep a young Dwight from going into the lake.

In "Women's Appreciation," Dwight's personal cell phone number is seen on a hand bill he has just photocopied. Calling the number (1-800-984-3672) connects to his voicemail message, with a special message asking for information on the flasher and also offers to meet personally with anyone who needs a friend.

In the episode "Local Ad," Dwight expresses his passion for the game Second Life. Dwight's character is, of course, the most perfect version of himself with one slight improvement, which is the that the program allows Second Life Dwight to fly. Dwight's Second Life avatar is named "Dwight Shelford."

Coworker relations

For a list of pranks played on Dwight by Jim, see Jim's pranks.

Inexplicably, Dwight worships his boss, viewing him as a model for success, and often jumps in on Michael's ill-conceived schemes, including an old-fashioned raid of Accounting by Sales. He even went so far as to give Michael his own urine to ensure he would pass a mandatory drug test (although he did it with extreme reluctance). He craves authority, and is thrilled when asked to handle any task, such as choosing a health plan and being appointed as an honorary security guard for the office building. He has also been known to assume authority even when it is not handed to him. He lists Michael as his emergency contact and injured himself with a concussion when crashing his car while trying to rescue Michael.

Dwight states that his favorite moment in Dunder Mifflin history would be his first day when Michael hazed him with the fire extinguisher.

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Dwight Schrute

Dwight feels threatened by Ryan, to whom Michael often assigns tasks, and he continues his resentment towards Ryan throughout the second season, often addressing him as "Temp." In "Initiation", Dwight attempts to take Ryan under his wing, since he does not want to constantly be at odds with him as he was with Jim. After a failed initiation attempt, Dwight takes Ryan on his first sales call with negative results. Ryan however, retaliates at the company he failed to win by throwing eggs at the company building, with Dwight quick to follow.

In Drug Testing Dwight states that he likes all but four of his fellow employees. It can be assumed Jim Halpert and Kevin Mallone are on this list, though it is unknown who the remaining two employees are. Dwight is in no denial about his occasionally sexist and bigoted views. Dwight has also expressed homophobic views, but is unable to recognize homosexuality in others. He is also not above backstabbing, such as stealing a valuable sales commission from Jim or trying to undermine Michael by meeting with Jan Levinson to usurp control of the branch. However, Dwight is revealed to be the culprit behind both incidents to the victims. As a result of trying to steal Michael's job, Dwight is forced to do his boss's laundry for one year, even after he is forgiven.

In Season One and the beginning of Season Two, Dwight has a mild crush on Kelly. In a "Diversity Day" exercise, he lists Caucasian and Indian as two races he finds sexually attractive. In "The Dundies", he offers Kelly leniency if she tells him what is written on the bathroom wall. In "The Fire", he drags Kelly out of the kitchen during a fire alarm, and in "The Fight" he gives Kelly an impromptu martial arts lesson (including an unintentional double entendre when he offers to "take her from behind"). Kelly acknowledged their history in a deleted scene from "The Job".

Towards the middle of Season Two, Dwight develops a secret relationship with Angela. The relationship is hinted at in the episode "Performance Review". The couple are caught by the documentary camera snuggling in the backyard during Jim's party. The pair discuss the rearing of children during the episode "Take Your Daughter to Work Day." Dwight also tries to attack Oscar when he pushes Angela out of his way after she makes a snide remark about his homosexuality in the episode, Gay Witch Hunt.

Pam begins to suspect a relationship between Dwight and Angela in the episode "E-mail Surveillance" by observing their interactions, suspicions which are strengthened in "Conflict Resolution" and pretty much confirmed by "Traveling Salesmen". Ryan discovers the relationship between the two when he overhears a coded conversation between the two in the kitchen. Jim discovers the relationship while coming out of the bathroom.("The Negotiation").

In the episode "Fun Run", Angela asks Dwight to care for her sick cat, Sprinkles. Instead of caring for the cat, Dwight puts the suffering cat in Angela's freezer to put it out of its misery. He lied, however and told Angela that he put it in there after it died. Angela figures out the truth though. In the episode "Dunder Mifflin Infinity", Dwight and Angela go out to eat after work to discuss their relationship. While there, Angela decides that she can no longer be with Dwight and they break up. Dwight becomes depressed for a few episodes, in a typically eccentric manner, but a brief conversation with Jim helps him work through it and he becomes his own, somewhat difficult, self again, to the obvious satisfaction of Jim and Pam.

He is frequently the victim of practical jokes by coworkers Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly (see Jim's pranks). As a result of this, Dwight and Jim have an ongoing feud that reaches a head in "Conflict Resolution", when Dwight threatens to quit unless Jim is transferred. Professionally, Dwight wins the 2005 Salesman of the Year Award, though this is likely due, at least in part, to his stealing Jim's largest client. But, the award is especially impressive due to the countless hours he has wasted helping Michael with his various antics.

Dwight bonds temporarily with Pam during "The Injury" when he suffers from a concussion and the two begin to act friendly towards one another. However the bond is seemingly short lived, as it lasts for that episode only. The friendship between the two is re-kindled during "The Job" when Dwight secretly makes Pam Assistant to the Regional Manager.

As a result of the Scranton-Stamford merger, Dwight loses his number two position to Jim and is in an ongoing battle with new salesman Andy Bernard to gain Michael's favor as his right-hand man. The struggle comes to a head in "Traveling Salesmen". Andy capitalizes on the events of "Traveling Salesmen" and convinces Michael to fire Dwight for being disloyal once again. In "The Return", Michael realizes his mistake and hires Dwight back.

Family and childhood

Dwight was a twin, but he "resorbed" his twin while still in his mother's womb (this occurrence is called chimerism). He believes that he now has "the strength of a grown man and a little baby". He claims to have been born weighing 13lbs 5oz, rendering his mother incapable of walking for three months.

Dwight was shunned from his family between the ages of four and six for forgetting to save the excess oil from a can of tuna. ("Safety Training"). He lost a grade school spelling bee by misspelling the word "failure" in front of the entire school ("Dwight's Speech"). In seventh grade, Dwight played the invented role of "Mutey the Mailman" in a production of Oklahoma! ("The Client").

Dwight's father — also named Dwight Schrute — battled high blood pressure and obesity all his life, but often went hunting with his son. In the Season Two DVD bloopers it is revealed that Dwight's father would take him and his brothers to a swimming hole on hot summer days as a child until 10:00 AM, then they would work the beet fields until well after midnight.

Dwight's maternal grandfather, whose surname is Manheim (according to Dwight's web log on NBC.com), fought in World War II and killed twenty men before ending up in an Allied prison camp ("The Fight"), which indicates that his grandfather was a German soldier. It has been implied that his grandparents were staunch supporters of the Nazi Party. In "Take Your Daughter to Work Day", Michael refers to Dwight's grandfather as a "Nazi war criminal". In "Dunder Mifflin Infinity", Dwight reveals that Manheim is still alive at 103-years old, and relates his attempt to visit him in Argentina. His travel visa was protested by the Shoah Foundation.

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Dwight in "Dwight's Speech"

Dwight's paternal great-grandfather, Dweide Schrude, was Amish. In "Casino Night", Dwight arrived at the event wearing the tuxedo in which his grandfather was buried. A coffin is seen in the barn on the Schrute family farm. In "Grief Counseling", Dwight said that his grandfather was reburied in an old oil drum.

According to one of Dwight's web logs on NBC.com's "Schrute-Space," he had an uncle named Gunther, a goat farmer, who fled the Allied invasion of Germany and married a Finnish woman with whom he had 17 children. He also had an Uncle Grit who revealed that the Schrute family has an on-going hatred of Harry S Truman because they were staunch supporters of Thomas Dewey. In another blog, he mentions a cousin named Heindl, who lost 12% of the hearing in her left ear because of a ninja. Heindl's daughter, CarrieBeth, has appeared regularly in various forums on the internet. Her claims of blood relation cannot at this time be verified.

Dwight lives in a nine-bedroom, one-bath (which is located under the porch as revealed in "Office Olympics", farmhouse on his family's 60-acre beet farm with his cousin Mose, selling beets to local stores, restaurants and roadside beet stands as mentioned in the episode Product Recall. It is also revealed in the third episode of the fourth season that Dwight uses part of his farm to grow hemp, which a pizza delivery boy refers to as "crappy weed." Teenagers have been known to use the farm for sex ("Initiation", deleted scene).

Behind the scenes

• Rainn Wilson based Dwight's hairstyle on his own style he had when he was sixteen. In an interview, however, he said that he went to a barber to get "the worst haircut possible."
• When the bobblehead doll introduced in the Valentine's Day episode was made available for purchase on the NBC web site, it sold out its initial run of 5000 units.
• In "Halloween", Jim and Pam uploaded Dwight's resume to "Monster.com, Craigslist, and Google." A producer actually did create a Monster account for Dwight and uploaded his resume a month before the episode aired. It can be found by employers with resume database access who search for salesmen in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
• In "Money", Jim refers to a TripAdvisor page for Dwight's bed and breakfast. This can be found by searching for Schrute Farms.

External links

• Schrute-Space - Dwight Schrute's "blog" (NBC official website)
• [1] - Download at Schrute Buck
• Dwight Schrute Bobblehead - At NBCUniversalStore.com
• Schrute Farms B&B- Listing on TripAdvisor