List of stock characters

A stock character is a dramatic or literary character representing a type in a conventional manner and recurring in many works. The following list labels some of these archetypes and stereotypes, providing distinctive examples.

Character Type	Description	Examples
A
Absent-minded professor	An absent-minded scientific genius	Professor Calculus, Julius Kelp, Emmett Brown
Action hero	A film hero protagonist with unrealistic physical resistance and fighting capabilities	John McClane; John Rambo, Casey Ryback
Alien invaders	Extraterrestrials who mount an invasion against Earth	War of the Worlds, Body Snatchers, Independence Day
Angry white male	A person typically known as having a traditional conservative viewpoint, especially in the context of U.S. politics, characterized by opposition to racial quotas, political correctness, affirmative action, and other liberal policies	William Foster in Falling Down, Walt Kowalski, Archie Bunker
Anti-hero	A cowardly, antisocial or honorless protagonist	Tony Montana, Faust, Falstaff
Archimime	A jester in Ancient Rome who imitated manners, gestures and speech of living and deceased famous people.
B
Bad boy	A roguish macho	Charlie Harper, Johnny Strabler, Jim Stark in Rebel Without A Cause
Battle-axe	A domineering, brash and brazen woman	Carrie Nation, Xena, Agnes Skinner, Mrs. Wolowitz, Norma Bates from Psycho
Bimbo	A dumb, pretty girl	Karen Smith (Mean Girls)
Black brute	An inherently violent black man	Jules Winnfield, John Shaft; Gus in Birth of a Nation
Blackface	A black person played by a white person	Tropic Thunder, Birth of a Nation, Soul Man
Black knight	Evil fighter antagonist	Darth Vader, Kas the Bloody-Handed, Mordred, Nazgûl
Blind seer	Blind or blinded fortune teller or prophet	Tiresias, Controller in Doctor Who: Bad Wolf, Muir in Snow White and the Huntsman
Blonde stereotype	A pretty, but stupid blonde	Blonde and Blonder, White Chicks
Boy next door	Average and nice guy	George Gibbs in Our Town
Breeches role	A role in which an actress appears in male clothing	Shakespeare in Love
Bug-eyed monster	Staple evil alien;	Formics
Byronic hero	A proud, moody and cynical man, yet capable of deep and strong affection	Childe Harold, Eugene Onegin, Rochester, Erik, V
C
Cat lady	Old woman overly concerned with her cats	Arabella Figg, Crazy Cat Lady
Conanesque	character inspired by Conan the Barbarian	Claw the Unconquered, Thongor of Lemuria
Contender	A competitive underdog	Rocky Balboa, Terry Maloy
Crone	Malicious old woman, often occult or witch-like	Elli, Baba Yaga, Wicked Witch of the West
D
Damsel in distress	A noble Lady in need of rescue, traditionally from dragons	Princess Peach, Princess Buttercup, Princess and dragon
Dark Lady	A dark, malicious or doomed woman	Lady Macbeth, Agatha Trunchbull, Annie Wilkes
Holmesian detective	A private or police detective who solves crimes by using logical deduction	Sherlock Holmes, Columbo, Hercule Poirot
Hardboiled detective	A gruff, tough and streetwise, but generally honest detective	Sam Spade, John Hartigan, Philip Marlowe
E
Elderly martial arts master	A wise, powerful man teaching his powerful craft to a young student. Often needs to be avenged	Keisuke Miyagi, Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, Pai Mei
Esper	A telepathic human	Lincoln Powell in The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester Akira
Essex girl	A promiscuous and stupid female (originally from Essex)	Amy Childs
Everyman	An ordinary individual	Everyman
Evil clown	An evil and chaotic clown	Pennywise, The Joker
F
Fall guy	A scapegoat
Farmer's daughter	A desirable and naive young woman. She is also described as being an "open-air type" and "public-spirited".
Femme fatale	A beautiful, but mischievous and traitorous woman	Ruth Wonderly, Xenia Onatopp, Poison Ivy
Feral child	A child who has lived from a young age without human contact	Atalanta, Enkidu, Hayy, Kamil, Lucan, Mowgli, Tarzan
Final girl	A "last girl standing" in a horror film	Laurie Strode, Sally Hardesty, Lila Crane
Fop	A foolish man overly concerned with his appearance and clothes	Max Downing
G
Gentle giant	A physically imposing but kind-hearted character.	Rubeus Hagrid, John Coffey, Fezzik, Hodor, Marshall Eriksen, Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men
Gentleman thief	A sophisticated and well-mannered thief	Arsène Lupin, A.J. Raffles, Simon Templar
Geek	A generally not athletic fan of super heroes, science fiction and fantasy, especially of Video Games, Comic Books, Films and Roleplaying Games.	Roy Trenneman, Sheldon Cooper, Steve Smith
Girl next door	An average girl with a wholesome conduct	Winnie Cooper, Betty Cooper
Grande dame	French for "great lady". A flamboyant woman, prone to extravagant and eccentric fashion. Usually a stereotype of an elderly high society socialite.	Constance in Gosford Park, Princess Dragomiroff in Murder on the Orient Express; Clara Cluck in the Disney cartoons; Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest
H
Hag	A wizened old woman, often a malicious witch	witch in Hansel and Gretel, Baba Yaga
Harlequin	A clown or professional fool	Till Eulenspiegel
Hawksian woman	A tough-talking woman, originally in a film by Howard Hawks	To Have and Have Not (film)
Hero	A powerful and morally integer protagonist, often on a quest	Luke Skywalker, John Carter of Mars, Neo (The Matrix), Harry Potter
Herr Pastor	An authoritarian pastor in an Ethnic German congregation
Hooker with a heart of gold	A prostitute with heart and intrinsic morality	Nancy (Oliver Twist), Fantine, Inara Serra, Ophelia in Trading Places, Belle Watling of Gone with the Wind
Hotshot	A reckless character known for taking risks.	Martin Riggs, Pete Mitchell (Top Gun)
I
Ingenue	A young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome	Ophelia, Cosette, Snow White, Belle, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty
J
Jewish lawyer stereotype	A Jewish lawyer that is clever, greedy, exploitative and dishonest	Maurice Levy (The Wire), David Kleinfeld in Carlito's Way Philip Stuckey in Pretty Woman
Jewish mother stereotype	A nagging, overprotective, controlling, smothering, and overbearing mother or wife	Kyle's Mom, Mrs. Wolowitz.
Jock (athlete)	A male athlete, often muscular, but not very smart	Tommy Ross, Luke Ward
Jester	A prankster or fool, originally one employed by a king (court jester)	Puck
Jewish-American princess stereotype	Materialistic and selfish Jewish girl with a pampered or wealthy background	Fran Fine, Princess Vespa in Spaceballs
K
Killbot	Usually large, menacing machines created to perpetrate murder	Sentinel (comics), Terminator, RoboCop
Knight-errant	A noble Knight on a Quest	Galahad, Sir Gawain, Solomon Kane
L
Legacy Hero	A hero who inherits or adopts the name and attributes of an already or previously existing hero	The Phantom, Green Lantern, Robin (comics)
Lipstick lesbian	Lesbian and bisexual women who exhibit extremely feminine gender attributes	The L Word
Little Green Men	Little humanoid extraterrestrials with green skin and antennae on their heads; known familiarly in science fiction fandom as LGM	The Great Gazoo; Martians in Martians, Go Home.
Loathly lady	A woman who appears to be hideous, often cursed	The Wife of Bath's Tale
Lone Vigilante	Loner who becomes a vigilante for Justice	Charles Bronson's Death Wish Movies, Dirty Harry, The Outlaw Josey Wales
Lovers	Main characters who deeply and truly fall romantically in love, despite the blocking effect of other characters. Often moonstruck, star-crossed lovers that are strongly fraternizing with the enemy.	Romeo & Juliet Tony and Maria (West Side Story) Buttercup & Westley in The Princess Bride
M
Mad scientist	An insane or highly eccentric scientist, often villainous or amoral.	Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Moreau, Rotwang, Emmett Brown, Girl Genius, Walter Bishop
Magical Negro	A black man with special insight or mystical powers coming to the aid of the white protagonist	The Defiant Ones, Bagger Vance, John Coffey in Green Mile, Max Perrello, God in Bruce Almighty, The Shining
Mammy archetype	A rotund, homely, and matronly black woman	Aunt Jemima, Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson and Constantine Jefferson in The Help, Aunt Chloe in Uncle Tom's Cabin, Aunt Lou in season three of Deadwood TV series, Ma Soupswill in Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Louise in Forrest Gump, Delilah in Big Jake, Calpurnia in To Kill a Mockingbird, Mammy Two Shoes in the Tom and Jerry series, Matilda "Tillie" Binks in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
Manic Pixie Dream Girl	Usually static characters who have eccentric personality quirks and are unabashedly girlish	Garden State, (500) Days of Summer
Marianismo	A female Hispanic American folk character celebrating feminine virtues like purity and moral strength
Martian	Dwellers on Mars. Often prone to invade earth.	Barsoom, H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, Mars Attacks Ice Warriors.
Mary Sue	A youthful but one-dimensional character with overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, often considered a stand-in for the author	Wesley Crusher, Bella Swan
Miles Gloriosus	A boastful soldier from the comic theatre of ancient Rome	Volstagg
Monster	A generic feral antagonist	Godzilla, Frankenstein's monster, King Kong
Mother's boy	A man who is excessively attached to his mother	Private Frank Pike, Howard Wolowitz in The Big Bang Theory, Eddie Kaspbrak in Stephen King's It
N
Nerd	A socially-impaired, obsessive, or overly-intellectual person. Often interested in doing well in school (academically and in terms of behavior) as well as reading books.	Martin Prince, Maurice Moss, Lisa Simpson, Sheldon Cooper and Leonard Hofstadter in The Big Bang Theory.
Nice Jewish boy stereotype	A studious, gentle and sensitive Jewish boy.	Joel Glicker
Noble savage	An idealized indigene or otherwise wild outsider with noble characteristics.	Chingachgook, Tarzan, Winnetou
O
Outlaw (stock character)	A romanticized, often charismatic or social bandit.	Robin Hood, Billy the Kid, Man with No Name, Josey Wales in The Outlaw Josey Wales
P
Paladin	A holy knight, a paragon of virtue and goodness.	Huma Dragonbane, Sturm Brightblade, Knights of the Round Table
Pantomime dame	A pantomime portrayal of female characters by male actors in drag.	Widow Twankey
Pet Negro	A beloved black person that a particular white person often pampers and parades as a special and distinct from other black people.	Arnold Jackson, "Big Mike" (The Blind Side), "Stephen" in "Django Unchained"
Petrushka	A Russian kind of jester.
Princesse lointaine	A romantic love interest and beloved sweetheart and girlfriend for a Knight-errant.	Dulcinea.
Professor	A common generic name for fictional characters who fill the role of doctors, scientists, or mad scientists.	Emmett Brown, The Professor (Gilligan's Island), Sherman Klump
R
Rake	A man habituated to immoral conduct.	Francis Charteris (rake), Lord Byron, Gully Foyle (The Stars My Destination).
Redshirt	An expendable character who dies soon after being introduced; this refers to characters from the original Star Trek television series, often from the security or engineering departments of the starship, who wore the red variation of the Starfleet uniform and whose purpose in the narrative was to serve as cannon fodder	Star Trek.
Reluctant hero	A person who doesn't seek adventure or the opportunity to do good, and often doubts his or her abilities to rise to heroism. However, circumstances inevitably result in the character's becoming a true hero.	Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins, Han Solo from the Star Wars series, Neo from The Matrix.
S
School diva	A well-liked or worshipped female student, who sees herself as an alpha female.	Blair Waldorf from the Gossip Girl TV and novel series, Regina George in Mean Girls, each Heather in Heathers, Angela Hayes in American Beauty
Secret identity	An alias a character may take so that he or she may act in secrecy.	Superman's alias Clark Kent, Spider-Man's alias Peter Parker, and Batman's alias Bruce Wayne.
Senex iratus	A father figure and comic archetype who belongs to the alazon or impostor group in theater, manifesting himself through his rages and threats, his obsessions and his gullibility.	Pantalone in Commedia dell'arte; Frank Costanza (Seinfeld)
Shoulder angel	A small angel representing conscience, in contrast to the shoulder devil representing temptation	Jiminy Cricket
Shrew	A woman given to violent, scolding, particularly nagging treatment	Kate (The Taming of the Shrew) Lois (Malcolm in the Middle)
Sidekick	A plucky but generally subordinate close companion of the protagonist	Robin, Dr. Watson, Sancho Panza, Ron Weasley, Little John
Sinnekins	Pairs of devilish characters who exert their perfidious influence on the main character	Flotsam and Jetsam, Hotep and Huy in The Prince of Egypt
Soubrette	A character who is vain and girlish, mischievous, lighthearted, coquettish and gossipy	Susanna
Southern belle	A young woman of the American Old South's upper class	Blanche Dubois, Scarlett O'Hara, Blanche Maxwell in Mandingo (film), Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly in Django Unchained, Mistress Epps in 12 Years A Slave
Space Nazis	Nazi-like antagonists in science fiction works	Patterns of Force, Iron Sky
Space pirate	Pirates in outer space who travel by spacecraft	Captain Harlock Sabalom Glitz
Spear carrier	A minor character who appears in several scenes, but mostly in the background	Momo (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
Spinster	An older, childless woman who has never been married	Miss Havisham
Spoiled child	A child who exhibits behavioral problems from overindulgence by his or her parents	Veruca Salt, Veronica Lodge, Dudley Dursley
Strawman	A symbol for people regarded as lacking needed qualities	Old Major and Benjamin in Animal Farm
Stupid superior	A superior who misuses his or her power - with or without an own agenda - and therefore endangers subordinates	Admiral Marcus (Star Trek Into Darkness), Dwayne T. Robinson in Die Hard
Superhero	An unrealistically powerful hero dedicated to protecting the public	Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, Avengers, X-Men, Green Lantern
Übermensch	A (often only seemingly) perfect human being, esp. the DC Comics character Superman	Superman, Captain America, X-Men
Supersoldier	A soldier who operates beyond human limits or abilities	Captain America; Soldier (1998 American film), Master Chief (Halo)
Supervillain	Antithesis to the Superhero	Lex Luthor, The Joker, Dr. Doom
Swamp monster	Humanoid creatures similar to fish or resembling living piles of swamp mire	Heap (comics), Man-Thing, Sludge (comics), Swamp Thing
Swashbuckler	A joyful, noisy and boastful renaissance era swordsman or pirate	El Aguila, Captain Jack Sparrow, The Crimson Pirate, Dread Pirate Roberts, Zorro
T
Tarzanesque protagonist or Tarzanide	A character raised in the wilds, often by animals, akin to Tarzan	Bomba, the Jungle Boy, Cave Girl, George of the Jungle, Jann of the Jungle, Jo-Jo, Congo King, Jungle King Tar-chan, Jungle Twins, Ka-Zar (pulp series), Ka-Zar (comics), Kona, Korak, Kulafu, Leela, Mowgli, Nyoka the Jungle Girl, Princess Pantha, Rima, Rulah, Shanna the She-Devil, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, Thun'da, Zago, Zembla
Tomboy	A girl with boyish and/or manly behavior.	Arya Stark, Juno MacGuff, George (Famous Five)
Tortured artist	A character who is in constant torment due to frustrations with art and other people.	Brian Topp
Town bully	A bully oppressing meeker residents of a town.	Biff Tannen, Nelson Muntz, Henry Bowers in It (1990 film)
Town drunk	A male in a small town who is drunk more often than sober.	Barney Gumble, Haymitch Abernathy, Otis Campbell
Tragic anti-hero	An anti-hero who (merely accidentally than intentionally) destroys his own happiness, and therefore often turns back to fighting the evil	Elric of Melniboné, Mr. Gold / Rumplestiltskin in Once Upon a Time, Anakin Skywalker, Severus Snape
Tragic hero	A hero with a major flaw that leads to his or her eventual death and downfall.	Sigurd, Boromir, Orpheus, Donnie Darko
Tragic mulatto	A mulatto who is sad or suicidal because he or she fails to fit in with white or black people	Judy Kovacs in the episode Are You Now or Have You Ever Been in the television series Angel, Eliza, Cassy, and Emmeline in Uncle Tom's Cabin
Travesti	Portrayal of a character in an opera, play, or ballet by a performer of the opposite sex	Edna Turnblad
Treasure guardian	A character who guards a valued treasure	Frodo Baggins
Tycoon	A person who wields considerable economic power, often acting at the expense of the less fortunate	Montgomery Burns, Scrooge McDuck, Ebeneezer Scrooge, Henry F. Potter
V
Valley girl	Affluent women or teenagers characterized by speaking Valspeak and a vapid materialism	Gretchen Wieners in Mean Girls, Hillary Banks
Vice	An allegorical evil part in medieval morality plays.
Village idiot	A person known locally for ignorance or stupidity. Often turns out to be very brave and good, and sometimes, underestimated (see Wise fool)	Neville Longbottom
Villain	An evil character in a story	Snidely Whiplash, Fu Manchu, The Master, Tempus in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Lord Voldemort, Palpatine, Professor Moriarty
W
Whisky priest	A priest or ordained minister who shows clear signs of moral weakness, while at the same time teaching a higher standard	Father Callahan, Elmer Gantry, Thoros of Myr
Whiteface	A performance in which a black person wears theatrical makeup to make themselves look like a white character	White Chicks, Watermelon Man, Miles Pope in True Identity, Bosola in The Duchess of Malfi, The Blacks (play)
White hunter	White big-game hunters in Africa	Allan Quatermain
Wise fool	A fool with an attribute of wisdom	Shakespearean fool, such as in King Lear, Stańczyk, Luna Lovegood
Wise old man	An elderly character who provides wisdom to the protagonist.	Albus Dumbledore, Yoda, Gandalf, Mickey Goldmill, Keisuke Miyagi
Y
Yokel	An unsophisticated country person	Rose Nylund, Cletus Spuckler
Youxia	A Chinese type of the Knight-errant	Li Mu-Bai, Fong Sai-yuk
Z
Zombie	Animated corpses prone to eating humans and thus spreading their condition. Often caused by Voodoo practices or viral agents.	Dawn of the Dead, The Walking Dead, 28 Days Later, Inferi

See also

• Commedia dell'arte
• Stereotype
• List of stock characters in military fiction