Family Guy/Characters

A dramatis personae for Seth MacFarlane's animated comedy series, Family Guy.

The Griffin Family

Peter Griffin (born Justin Peter Griffin)

An obese father from Rhode Island who's mentally retarded. Used to work at a toy factory before the owner of the plant died, then worked as a fisherman for a couple of seasons, and now works a desk job at a brewery. Voiced by Seth MacFarlane, using a voice that sounds like Archie Bunker's, only whinier.

• A Lighter Shade of Black: He's an abusive dad to his kids, Meg in particular, but he's generally not as bad as Lois can get about this. His abuse hems more in an Obliviously Evil direction contrasting Lois's targeted barbs.
• Abusive Dad: He wasn't always like this in early seasons, although now he's a lot worse than the Jerkass version of Homer Simpson. However, he didn't become a full on abusive dad until Seth MacFarlane left as the showrunner, whereas in seasons 4 and 5, his abuse towards Meg could be considered joking around with her (even if Meg didn't think so).
• Acrofatic: Despite being the heaviest out of the Griffin clan, Peter can still do anything.
  • Though the extent of what he can do and how flexible he is very much Depending on the Writer.
• Alcoholic Parent: He goes into Alcohol-Induced Idiocy quite often, leading to several shenanigans.
• The Alcoholic: Can often be seen at the Clam.
• All Women Are Prudes: A believer of this trope. Lucky for him, he's married to an aversion (who even oddly agrees with him about the trope).

"You know what really grinds my gears? This Lindsay Lohan. Lindsay Lohan with all those little outfits, jumping around there on stage, half-naked with your little outfits. Ya know? You're a... You're out there jumping around and I'm just sitting here with my beer. So, what am I supposed to do? What you want? You know, are we gonna go out? Is that what you're trying to - why why are you leaping around there, throwing those things all up in my, over there in my face? What do you want, Lindsay? Tell me what you want. Well, I'll tell you what you want, you want nothing. You want nothing. All right? Because we all know that no woman anywhere wants to have sex with anyone, and to titillate us with any thoughts otherwise is - is just bogus."

• • Quite ironically, the show depicts women in the opposite.
• Always Second Best: To his sister, Karen Griffin.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Before evolving into a deliberately abusive one.
• American Accents: See the section on Boston for details.
• Annoying Laugh: Peter has an incredibly annoying laugh.
• Attention Deficit...Ooh, Shiny Red Ball
• Author Avatar: Has shades of this for Seth MacFarlane, mostly revolving around his projects and taste in pop culture.
• Ax Crazy
• The Big Guy: Peter is the largest, strongest and heaviest compared to the rest of the Griffin Family.
• Bigger Is Better in Bed: Averted hard. Stewie is more well endowed than him.
• Brilliant but Lazy: Frequently suggested to be his main problem. When Peter puts his mind to it, he can be very crafty and pull off amazing feats. Though unless there's fun, beer or money involved, he rarely puts his mind to anything.
• Bumbling Dad: In the earlier seasons, Peter did seem to try to do the best for his kids, even if it never turned out right.
• Character Development: Mild but there. He was a proud anti-vaxxer in "Hot Shots" but after getting measles, which he'd never been vaccinated against, he hates anti-vaxxers come "Fecal Matters".
• Chubby Chaser: Despite his bashing on overweight women, he and Lois grow much closer when she becomes overweight.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Attacked his own reflection because he thought Lois was flirting with it.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Many comments he makes hints that he was molested a multiple of times in his youth.
• Depending on the Writer:
  • Exactly how dumb he is varies wildly. Sometimes he can barely read, other times he's of average intelligence, he just doesn't apply himself.
  • How much of a jerk he is can also vary. Sometimes there are lines even he won't cross and he genuinely loves his family. But it's just as likely that he's the Unfettered and will gladly endanger/abandon his family for whatever prize he can.
• Depraved Bisexual: Despite being married to Lois, he's had an abusive relationship with the bull who sexually assaulted him.
• Depraved Kids' Show Host: Downplayed. He qualifies in the sense that he's an absolute moron with no sense of what to show kids on air (such as encouraging violence and showing pictures he and his friends took of Lesbian butts) and isn't at all sympathetic towards helping his audience.
  • Though he does make a memorable (if slightly ambiguous) comment about being able to have any three year old girl he wants.
• Dirty Old Man: Comic Book Time makes the "old" part somewhat ambiguous but he enjoys perving on women who are his daughter's age.
• Disability as an Excuse For Jerkassery: Uses his mental retardation to get away with lots of jerkassery.
• The Ditz: Peter really ain't smart at all.
• Domestic Abuser: Played for Laughs most of the time, and Lois tends to give as good as she gets.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: Whenever someone gives him advice. Brian and Meg are frequently left speechless by the sheer Insane Troll Logic of it.
• Dumbass Has a Point: When Quagmire makes a move on Meg, Peter instantly wants to intervene but Lois keeps telling him to but out until Quagmire and Meg go away from the weekend. No surprise that Peter is giddy about holding this over Lois.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Despite Lois coming from a very rich family, Peter didn't marry Lois for her inheritance though he always thought it would be a huge perk.
  • Though he loves KISS, he would have rather Lois been honest with him that she didn't know about them rather than pretending she loved them as well.
  • For all of Peter Griffin's many flaws; misogyny, racist and homophobic remarks, emotional abuse of his children; not even he can tolerate Donald Trump, whom he even acknowledges as being very similar to him. Even Peter Griffin thinks that the office of the President of the United States must be treated with more respect than Trump awarded it.
  • Despite his racist and homophobic comments, he's clearly neither of those, being hugely offended when he's accused of being one or the other.
  • Despite all that Peter does to Meg, she is his little girl. He is horrified when he sees her more vulgar moments and will protect her from errant wieners.
  • While he generally goes along with what Quagmire does, sometimes even he is disgusted by some of Quagmire's perverted tendencies.
• Expy: Peter has a lot in common with Homer Simpson, except he’s much more stupid, abusive, reckless and fatter than him. They get along quite well in the crossover.
• Faux Affably Evil: Depends on the episode, where he varies from this to Affably Evil to just Neutral Good or True Neutral.
• Fat Bastard: He's fat, obnoxious, abusive to Meg, and doesn't care who he screws over to have a little fun.
• Fat Idiot: Fat, check. Idiot, check.
• The Fool
• Freudian Excuse: After being mercilessly bullied by his old sister growing up, he treated Meg the same way she treated him.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: When Cleveland left, he took up this role.
• Gasshole: Enjoys farting.
• Genius Ditz: He's a very skilled musician and pop culture aficionado.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Depending on his mood, he can go from happy and calm to angry and aggressive.
• The Hedonist: "I need money for bourbon and anime."
• Heroes Want Redheads: Although he's faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar from being a hero, he is married to Lois.
• Hidden Depths:
  • As said under Literal Minded, would you expect him to know about Venus?
  • It's suggested a few times that he actually knows a fair bit about classical education and history but he generally has no interests in displaying it.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: After insisting that Angela conduct a background check for illegal immigrants employed at the brewery, it's found that he's an illegal Mexican immigrant.
• Hypocrite:
  • He claims an eight year old is too old to be peeing his pants yet he frequently pees his own pants. He even casually admits to wetting the bed in the same episode he made the claim!
  • For all his Crazy Jealous Guy tendencies, he has no issue flirting with other women in front of Lois, sometimes even shoving her aside. And it's frequently mentioned that he's engaging in multiple extra-marital relations.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • "Men aren't fat, only fat women are fat." Said to a fatter (though still much thinner than him) Lois.
  • He's outraged that Homer Simpson strangles his son. And while, yes, that is appalling, Peter hasn't exactly treated his children any better. Homer only strangles Bart due to his Hair-Trigger Temper whenever Bart (often deliberately) pisses him off, while Peter usually does it For the Evulz.
• Identical Grandson: He is one to his myriad of famous ancestors.
• Idiot Houdini: Which Meg hangs a lampshade on, outright saying he belongs in jail.
• Informed Attribute: His being retarded. While he's very clearly an idiot, it's hinted this is more due to his Attention Deficit...Ooh, Shiny Red Ball attitude and his inability to take things seriously. When he puts his mind to it, he can be quite crafty and devious.
• Innocently Insensitive: Even when not being a Jerkass, his brainlessness often leads him to act offensive or hurtful to others. He has even lampshaded that he doesn't really listen to himself talking half the time.
• Insane Troll Logic: In one episode he renounces alcoholism. He takes crack as a substitute. Brian calls him out on this.
• Iron Butt Monkey: Likely to balance out his numerous Karma Houdinis.
• I Am Not Shazam: Peter often calls characters in movies or films by the title of the movie or film in question, such as Scrubs, Black Scrubs, Jaws, and Bigger Jaws.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Hinted at. Despite all his adventures, he's painfully aware of the fact that he is blue-collar Jaded Washout who has left no meaningful legacy, hence his attempts to constantly rise to a bigger station.
• It Amused Me
• It's All About Me: He's always been selfish but he was much more well intentioned the majority of the time in the first three seasons. Following the show being Uncanceled, all he can think about is himself.
• Jaded Washout
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold --> Flanderization --> Jerkass
  • Depending on the Writer he can revert back to being a Jerk with a Heart of Gold or act outright Faux Affably Evil or worse (though he has been more consistently sympathetic as of recently).
• Jerkass Has a Point: Who the fuck starts a conversation with "Hey you ever accidentally masturbate to young pictures of your mom?" Answer: Glenn Quagmire.
• Karma Houdini: He's gotten away with murder, arson, child abuse, spousal abuse, animal abuse, fraud and theft. If the show was realistic, which it isn't, Peter would be deemed a unfit father and would be in jail.
  • Idiot Houdini: Of course that and many examples can be owed more to his stupidity than his callousness. Given his character it's hard to tell on occasion.
    • That's Seth's explanation for the insensitivity he displayed in "When You Wish Upon a Wienstien."
• Lack of Empathy: Throughly unable to see things from someone else's point of view, mocks everything about them, and his apologies are pouty and insincere at best.
• Like a God to Me: What he thinks of Kiss.
• Literal Minded: After hearing the old saying of women being from Venus, he tells Chris to buy a girl environmental attributes associated with the planet.
• Multiple Choice Past: His childhood. He's usually written as being the only child of Thelma and Francis and a bastard. Yet he's had no less than six siblings introduced over the course of the show all of whom look very much like him and are all older than him meaning that they're all logically bastards of the same man who fathered Peter.
• Never My Fault: As Brian lampshades, who the hell buys a novelty fire extinguisher?
• Obfuscating Stupidity: While a genuine retard, he's smart enough to rob banks while dressed up as obscure presidents so no one can report him to the cops.
• Offscreen Villain Dark Matter: It's frequently asked how he can afford to pay for all his vehicles and schemes. "Meg Stinks" shows that he robs banks to pay for all of his shenanigans.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: His full name is Justin Peter Lowenbrau Griffin Sr.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Outlasted Bertram who was born from sperm that he donated. Going by some jokes, he also outlived Peter Griffin Jr. (whom he shook too hard), a daughter (that Meg killed), and Dave Griffin (whom Stewie killed in the womb).
  • In Quentin Terentino's version of "Peter Gets Fired", Angela kills his family, setting up Peter's Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Papa Wolf: He gets really hostile towards Quagmire when he tries to have sex with Meg once she turns 18. This is especially jarring when he's usually ignoring or flat-out abusing her. With a few exceptions.
  • When Donald Trump sexually assaulted Meg, Peter had no issue getting into a fistfight with the President of the United States.
• Person of Mass Destruction: The trails of destruction he's left in his wake are truly quite impressive.
• Psychopathic Manchild: He can be quite childish, like the time he got all pouty when Lois wouldn't allow him to buy any candy.
• Sir Swearsalot: He uses the same foul language in every episode of the show.
• Skewed Priorities: Several episodes mention that the family is in dire financial troubles with Peter commenting that if he received years of worth of pay without taxes it would barely aid their situation along with him suffering panic attacks as a result of this. Despite this, Peter frequently robs banks for large sums of money that he uses solely to pay for his shenanigans.
• The Sociopath: Evolved into this sometime around Season 7 to 10.
• Straw Character: He's the show's first choice for a backwards-thinking conservative who needs to learn a lesson.
  • Straw Misogynist: Peter Griffin may not be a racist or a homophobe but he is very much the worst kind of misogynist, viewing women as objects to be used, discarded and easily replaced without a second thought and scoffing at the idea that they could defy gender roles and become lawyers, doctors and the like.
• Strong and Skilled: Years of chicken fights have turned him into a dangerous Combat Pragmatist who will remorselessly use his bulk and the environment to his advantage.
• Strong Family Resemblance: To his father Irish town drunk, Mickey McFinnigan.
• Stout Strength: Peter is fat and very strong. He almost has Super Strength as he's able to rip flesh and meat off skulls with no trouble.
• Teeny Weenie: Even at full hardness, he's shorter than an inch long Mike & Ike candy. In one episode, he had a dick-measuring contest with Stewie, and Stewie won.
• Too Dumb to Live: On which "Petarded" hangs a lantern.
• Took a Level In Dumbass: He is much stupider than he was in the early seasons.
  • Took a Level In Jerkass: Not to mention a heck of a lot nastier (for one thing, he is now intentionally abusive).
• Took a Level In Kindness: Peter can be the worst father ever to his family, but despite his unintelligence, slothfulness and alcoholism, he does learn from his mistakes from the end of almost every episode. For example, Peter was protecting Meg from having sex with Quagmire when she turned 18. He is much nicer to Chris and Stewie since he doesn’t abuse them as much as Meg. He even apologizes for the chaos and misery that he’s caused around Quahog. This is only depending on the plot of an episode of Family Guy because Peter is mostly a buffoon. From Season 14 onwards it's been more consistent.
• Troubled Abuser: Meg begins to view him as such following "Peter's Sister". Yes Peter is cruel, sometimes even sadistic, but he has a Dark and Troubled Past that broke him when he was young. His sister bullied him, his father despised him, he was unpopular in school and was molested on more than a few occasions.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Ugly Guy to Lois' Hot Wife.
• Unconfessed Unemployment: In the pilot.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Light example in earlier seasons. Taken Up to Eleven later on.
• Villain Protagonist: May very well be considered this on his worst days.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: During the events of "Super Griffins".
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: During the early seasons, Peter is shown wanting respect from his father Francis. He even hires a band to play sappy Sitcom music for his moment. Francis eventually admits that he does love Peter, he just doesn't like him.
  • This trope is played straight when he gains the approval of his biological father.
• With Friends Like These...: Something Quagmire violently calls him out on in "Brian's a Bad Father".
• Would Hit a Girl: Aside from his physical abuse to Meg, he has gotten into fistfights with Lois. He also beat up Lucy from Peanuts once.
• Would Hurt a Child: In a cutaway gag, he beat up Lucy from Peanuts for taking the football from Charlie Brown.

Lois Griffin (née Pewterschmidt)

A woman from the richer side of Rhode Island that teaches piano lessons to children. Voiced by Alex Borstein, she has a very nasally voice that can rival both Sandy Cheeks and Fran Drescher's.

• Action Mom: She can hold her own against Stewie.
• Abusive Parent: Has done Emotional Abuse towards Meg for quite some time, once even hinting for Meg to commit suicide with pills.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Same evolution as Peter albeit to a slightly lesser extent.
• Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: In "Better Off Meg", Lois is damn-near inconsolable when she thinks Meg is dead.
• Berserk Button: She does the groceries. No one else.
• Bi the Way: In response to Peter's All Women Are Prudes rant above, she delivers this line:

Lois: He's right, women are such teases! That's why I went back to men.

• Big Beautiful Woman: When Peter gets a vasectomy in "Sibling Rivalry" and loses his sex drive, Lois eats until she's as big as him. After a heart attack though, she gets liposuction at the end.
• Big Good: For the Griffin family.
• Break the Cutie: Happens often. Notably in the Christmas special.
• But for Me It Was Tuesday: Her prank on Joyce Chevapravatdumrong. Justified since it was 20 years ago and Lois wasn't punished for it.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: If another girl so much as talks to Peter, Lois is liable to lose it.
• Deadpan Snarker: Most notably to Peter.
• Depending on the Writer: It varies wildly based on the stories' needs how attractive Lois is.
• Distaff Counterpart: Is almost (d)evolving into this in later episodes, a lot of her role consisting of joining Peter in giggling over immature gags or even sharing similar sociopathic tendencies. The extent of this is Rule of Funny however.
• Expy: Lois has a lot in common with Marge Simpson. Since they are both hot wives married to idiotic husbands. However, Lois is a much more snarkier, liable, self-centered and callous while Marge is a much more quieter, motherly, hard-working and selfless Crazy Prepared parent.
• Extreme Doormat: Peter constantly demeans her yet she always forgives him. And whenever her father demeans Peter, she never stands up for him.
• Evil Redhead: "Evil" is probably a strong word, but she can be as awful as her husband at her worst.
• Fiery Redhead: Redheaded and outspoken.
• Flanderization: Originally a genuinely compassionate Mama Bear whose occasional bouts of self righteousness and impulsiveness led to Not So Different moments involving her husband, in later seasons she is almost as selfish and hypocritical as Peter. Especially towards Meg, who she seems to outright hate, and sometimes towards Peter.
  • For the most part her entire persona is based on Rule of Funny or Depending on the Writer (even more so than the majority of the cast). Whether she is genuinely wiser or basically a Distaff Counterpart to Peter pretty much depends on where the gag takes her.
• Forgot About Her Powers: Despite the Griffins being in a perpetually dire financial situation, Lois never asks her father for money, who would give it to her.
• Freudian Excuse: A throwaway line implies that her hatred of Meg comes from Lois having been a contender for the Women's US Olympic Swim Team only to be kicked off when she was found to be pregnant.
• Hot Mom: A source of quite a few jokes (and episodes) is how Peter managed to marry the rich, beautiful, talented Lois Pewterschmidt.
  • This forms the basis of Brian's Armor-Piercing Question to Meg in "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven" to snap her out of being a hardcore Christian. If God exists and is so merciful, why does she take after her fat father instead of her smoking hot mother?
• Hypocrite:
  • She calls Peter out on being a terrible husband and father. She's an Abusive Parent, sometimes even worse than he is, and is physically violent towards Peter on multiple occasions.
  • Her view on Brian's dates. She mocks Brian for dating idiots and complained about Lauren Conrad out smarting and correcting her. She mocks him dating young bimbos yet laughs at his dating the 51 year old Rita.
  • As Meg bluntly calls her out on, Lois is almost unbearably sanctimonious yet has done acts far more depraved than Meg.
• I Surrender, Suckers: Lois is about to be taken in for shoplifting in "Breaking Out is Hard to Do." She goes to get her purse...and makes a vehicular escape.
• Informed Attractiveness: While many episodes make a point of how sexy Lois is, others will go out of their way to lampshade out old and unappealing she is. Made worse is that she does have a Strong Family Resemblance to Meg who's considered the most hideous human being to ever exist.
• It's All About Me: Several characters accuse Lois of having an ego the size of a moon.
• Jerkass: She started out as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold but by the end of season 8, her callousness is comparably worse than Peter's, because although Peter dwells on the edge of Comedic Sociopathy, he is obviously too stupid to know any better and can never really grasp any Aesops that are thrown his way for long (although he does have his Pet the Dog moments), but Lois obviously knows better and yet acts meanly in more insidious ways.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: At least prior to season 8, she would occasionally show that she cared about her family. After she Took a Level In Jerkass, though, her good side became much less prominent, but she still shows it from time to time.
• Lack of Empathy: At her worst. She can be even worse than Peter in this regard.
  • It's become something of a running gag to mention that Meg was entirely unplanned for and was almost aborted. During her second pregnancy (again unplanned for due to a broken condom) Lois apparently drank and smoke a lot in lieu of an abortion but stopped halfway which is why Chris is so stupid. She also used marijuana while pregnant with Stewie which is why he's so intelligent.
• Mama Bear: But sometimes also Abusive Mom.
  • In an early episode she compares herself to an eagle. Beautiful to look out but mess with one of her children and she'll rip your *explicit* out.
  • Take into account the Halloween Episode, where, after an older kid steals Stewie's candy, she makes him give Stewie his candy back... then makes him give Stewie his own candy, and tells the kid's mother to also give her 80 bucks. The fact that Stewie is visibly disturbed by this makes it even more of a Crowning Moment of Funny.
  • She threatened Quagmire after he attempted to sleep with Meg now that she was 18, saying she'd cut his penis off and feed it to Brian if he goes near Meg again.
• Ms. Fanservice: She dresses revealingly or in underwear in some episodes.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Lois's reaction to Meg calling her out on Not So Above It All below in the episode "Seahorse Seashell Party."
• Not So Above It All: Meg has called her out on the fact that she is generally no better than a drug addicted whore who has let both Bill Clinton and Gene Simmons "go to town on her".
• No Sympathy: Outright laughs off Peter's claim that Angela raped him, claiming men can't be raped by women.
• Really Gets Around: Implied in her younger days. She was called "Loose Lois" for a reason.
• Rebellious Princess: Sort of; she's from an EXTREMELY rich family but chose to marry low-class yokel Peter for love.
• Redhead in Green: She is a Fiery Redhead who wears green.
• Super Strength: During the events of "Super Griffins".
• Temporary Bulk Change: In "Sibling Rivalry", Peter gets a vasectomy that causes him to lose his sex drive. Lois begins overeating as a result until a night of "fat sex" leads her and Peter to like her being fat. As a result, Lois begins eating even more until she has a heart attack and liposuction to become thin again.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Hot Wife to Peter's Ugly Guy.
• Wants a Prize For Basic Decency: Best seen in "Customer of the Week" but it's a trait of hers to want praise for the most basic acts.
• Women Are Wiser: Most of the time, anyway.
  • It DEFINITELY applies with respect to intelligence... she is smarter than Peter by leaps and bounds. The moral component of that trope is where the grey area comes in, and even then Peter hardly prevails here.
    • Even with her own flawed moments and Taking Several Levels In Jerkass, Peter has only had moral ground over her once in twenty years. He savoured it well.
• Your Cheating Heart: In "Bri, Robot."

Megatron/Megan "Meg" Griffin

An average teenager with average teen problems. Probably the only normal one of the family. Although lately, she's so psychologically screwed up that she's basically Walking Dead Baby Comedy. Voiced by Mila Kunis.

• A Lighter Shade of Black: Meg is a borderline psychopathic stalker but is the closest thing her family has to a decent person.
• Ambiguously Bi: French-kissed Connie and asked for permission to think of her in the tub.
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: Expected that the robbers in "The Griffin Family History" to sexually assault her. When they didn't, she forced herself on one of them causing him to file sexual assault charges against Meg.
• Ax Crazy: Can go into this with her disturbing Yandere tendencies.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Meg Griffin has been described by Brian as "far sweeter and kinder than the typical American girl" and has put up with a lot of abuse these past couple of years. However under the right circumstances, Meg could unleash her repressed rage on anyone that pisses her off enough or have prison life turn her into hardened badass that her whole family is DEATHLY afraid of.
• Bi the Way: Asking Connie if she can think about her while taking a shower.
• Blind Without'Em: Stewie breaks Meg's glasses because he hates to be watched while he sleeps. We even see how bad her vision is when Stewie does a vision test and holds an undetermined object (which appears very blurred out).
• Born Unlucky: It varies from episode to episode, but if a character falls victim to slapstick comedy, chances are it’s going to be Meg.
• Brainy Brunette: Apparently, she's very good at anatomy. She even got an internship and saved Peter's life with her skills. It was also mentioned that she gets good grades in school.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: Though granted it's FAR more justified in later episodes.
• Brief Accent Imitation: In the episode "Crimes and Meg's Demeanor", Meg pokes fun at Lois' thick New England accent:

Meg: I know what you're gonna say, and I know how you're gonna say it. Lois: Oh, really? Meg: Yep. (imitating Lois) "I don't wantcha drinkin' or ya life's gonna go down the crappah." Lois: (laughs) Say, that's really good. I mean, I sound nothing like that. But it's a fun character.

• Broken Bird: Some episodes depict her being both emotionally fragile and disturbed, derived from a desperation for love and attention.
• Butt Monkey: At first was merely a Bratty Teenage Daughter indirectly humiliated by her family's well intentioned bumbling or quirkiness. This evolved into the entire universe growing a profound hatred of her, with practically everyone - even her own family - showing a casual disregard for her well-being.
  • Fortunately it is starting to get toned down (there are maybe three prominent examples that spring to mind in season, and two of them aren't really that horrible; in one they aren't overly rude, in the second it was kind of Hypocritical Humor (Peter is worried about the guy doing his wife, yet has no problem with him nailing his teenaged daughter, which is arguably worse).
  • In a recent episode, Meg's mention of her teacher "rubbing her shoulders for 45 seconds" is taken seriously and Lois is shown to be quite concerned.
    • Though when her story gets worse, Lois doesn't quite focus on what Meg's saying.
  • In the South Park parody episode Cartoon Wars, she is the only character without dialogue.
• Characterization Marches On: In earlier episodes, while still somewhat luckless, Meg was a far less exaggerated punching bag. She was actually a primary target of concern and affection from her parents, most of her abuse stemming from their inadvertent and non discriminate bumbling. This was actually taken to the point of affecting her demeanor, often acting like a somewhat self absorbed and manipulative Daddy's Girl.
• Chew Toy: Yes, plenty of fans enjoy Meg's Butt Monkey status.
• Emo Teen: very much so, though she has good reasons for it
• Even Nerds Have Standards: Neil Goldman is apparently so hideous that not even someone as desperate for attention as the glasses-wearing outcast Meg would want him.
• Extreme Doormat: Until she Took a Level In Badass.
• Fat Girl: Supposedly.
• Friendless Background: Depending on the episode, she's occasionally depicted as having no friends. This becomes downplayed later on in the show, as she is more often than not shown hanging with the nerdy, unpopular clique of girls.
• Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook: In the episode "Dial Meg for Murder."
• Heroic Sacrifice: Of a non-lethal variety. She decides to take the abuse her family dishes out because without it, they would be at each other's throats nonstop (save for Brian).
• Hypocrite: In "The Kiss Seen Around the World", Meg states that Neil is unable to be kissed by anyone (even by his own father). This is coming from the girl who is rejected by pretty much any guy she talks to.

Tom Tucker: Thank you Meg. I guess beggars can be choosers.

• I Just Want to Have Friends: Often wants to be accepted by the popular crowd.
• Informed Deformity: Meg is seen as being absolutely hideous by pretty much every character, save for her Abhorrent Admirer. On some level, the show seems to acknowledge it as it's become a Running Gag in later seasons that Meg has had a lot of abortions.
• Kavorka Man: Depending on the Writer she's often shown getting dates like it's nothing.
• Meganekko
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Despite looking like a slightly heavier than average teenage girl, Meg can brutalize people much larger than her.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Lois did intend to name her "Megan", but Peter decided that "Megatron" was cooler.
• Master Actor: She was the Countess Margaret Woolworth Carrington von Schumacher Chanel Astor Livingston Compte de Saint-Exupery Mountbatten Windsor Armani Roosevelt Von Trap wykenhamp Hearst Montgomery Rothschild Johnson & Johnson Twillsworth Dolce Gabana Von Zweiger II Montgomery de LaRoche Geico Vanderbilt Lannister van Burean Butterworth How I Met Your Mother Wrigley Louise-Dreyfus Ludwig Morgan Stanley Dumont Lamborghini Forbes higbee Winthrop Chanel Remy Martin Fitzwilliam Kennedy Motel Six Fairchild Brook Pritzker Davenport von Stolen Monty Python Ellisworth Aston Martin Haverbrook Ziff Launder Hilton DuPont Kinkaid Winslow Coors Oviatt Marlborough Pembroke Huffington Bush Mellon Sinclair Mellencamp Starbucks van Dyke III Montgomery Marriott Barrington Chadsworth Big League Chew Chesterfield Kensington Boothbishop Longbottom Nottingham Meisterberg Burgermeister Tudor Hapsburg Rockefeller Onassis.
• Nice Girl: Despite her flaws, Meg is generally a pretty good girl.
• Not So Above It All: Meg sometimes makes fun out of other Griffin members when the situation calls for it e.g. Chris being made fun for Lois being in a porno by other schoolkids and Meg joins in. She also salvaged upon a brief moment Brian was "the New Meg". Although it could be her trying to fit into a crowd.
• The Other Darrin: Meg was voiced by Lacey Chabert in Season 1 and 2. Funnily enough, it's only after she was replaced by Mila Kunis that people started having irrational hatred towards her.
  • This is occasionally lampshaded with Stewie and Brian commenting that Meg sounded different early on.
• Out of Focus: Not as bad as Chris but noticeable. To the point that when introducing his family to Homer Simpson, Peter only thinks he has to introduce himself, Lois, Stewie and Brian.
• Parental Favoritism: Subtle but there. If Chris is facing trouble from his peers, it falls to Stewie and/or Brian to deal with it. If Stewie faces trouble, the responsibility is solely Brian's. If Meg faces trouble however, Peter and Lois drop everything and are ready to do just about anything to inflict punishment onto the one responsible.
• Phrase Catcher: "Shut up, Meg."
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's able to curb stomp people much bigger than her.
• Stalker with a Crush: If you are male and was nice to her, you will probably regret it.
• Stocking Filler: In "Halloween on Spooner Street", Meg goes to a costume party as a "slutty cat", wearing an outfit that consists solely of a cheap cat mask, a tube top, a short skirt and fishnets.
• Stepford Smiler
• Strong Family Resemblance: Has Peter's hair colour but Lois' facial structure.
• Teen Pregnancy: Throwaway jokes establish that she's had more than one. She gave birth to at least one child.
• This Loser Is You: An unpopular social outcast with barely any friends, she's this for the teenage audience.
• Took a Level In Badass: She seems tougher ever since her post-prison psychotic episode.
• Took a Level In Kindness: Par occasional Yandere traits, Meg has far less bratty or self centered traits than in earlier seasons.
• Tsundere: She showed some tendencies of this towards Neil Goldman early on, namely in the episode "The Kiss Seen Around the World".
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Meg unleashes a HUGE one on Chris, Lois, and Peter during a hurricane in "Seahorse Seashell Party". This is the hurricane three-parter when The Cleveland Show, Family Guy, and American Dad aired back-to-back. Compared to Cleveland Junior calling out the rest of the Tubbs on ignoring the National Weather Service, and Francine calling out Stan on how he made things infinitely worse with his idiotic actions that nearly killed the family, Meg has done the longest series of pointing out the hardest flaws out of three characters.
  • She calls Chris a douchebag who only treats her like crap because Peter and Lois do it and that he is not a good brother to her. She calls Lois a horrible, condescending mother who has the nerve to point out every flaw Meg has, despite generally being no better than a drug-addicted whore whom has spent the past 17 years trying her best to destroy Meg from day one when she should've been protecting her and acting like a mom. Meg admits she'd prefer to never see Lois again once she turns 18, and this reduces Lois to tears. She calls Peter an uneducated, selfish drunk who is unable to provide for his family and terrorizes the community on a daily basis with his psychotic antics. He goes out of his way to shove Meg's face in his ass and fart in it, and Meg comments that if anyone in the outside world got a good idea of how Peter treats her, he'd be in jail. At first, Peter is just giggling at Meg's words, until he realizes she's criticizing him, which leads to Chris and Lois ganging up on him, and being reduced to tears like Lois was. However, Meg watches as the rest of the family immediately turn on one another now that their flaws have been brought to clarity, and realizes that without her acting as a lightning rod for their aggression, the Griffins would more or less turn on one another like a pack of wolves. So she apologizes and states that everything was her fault, sacrificing her chance to finally break free of her torment for the sake of keeping the family together. Brian calls her a noble human being for making such a sacrifice.
• The Unfavorite: Part of the Butt Monkey thing above; Peter and Lois even apparently agreed that if they could only save two of their kids in a crisis, Meg is the one who gets screwed over.
  • And of course, when Lois has to save Joe from falling to his death:

Joe: Pretend I'm your child, Lois! (Lois starts losing her grip.) Joe: NOT MEG! NOT MEG! (Lois slowly pulls him up to safety.)

• • It's implied once that the family's abuse towards Meg Griffin is really the only thing that kept the family together. See "The Reason You Suck" Speech above for more details.
• "Well Done Daughter" Girl
• Wolverine Claws: During the events of Super Griffins. Actually, her fingernails only grow a few inches and it doesn't hurt anyone beyond a small ouch.
• Yandere: Shows instances of this. Whenever a guy actually shows her any kindness, she'll become creepily obsessed with him, as Brian has learned the hard way.

Christopher Cross "Chris" Griffin

A lax and lazy teen who is childish for his age. Voiced by Seth Green.

• A Date with Rosie Palms: It is implied Chris frequently masturbates and he even goes as far as openly talking about it in conversations that just don't need it. In the "Road to the Multiverse" episode, the introduction of dog Chris shows him licking himself under the table.
  • His frequent masturbation is taken Up to Eleven in the "German Guy" episode where it is shown that Chris masturbates so much that his entire blanket became hard as a rock and then shattered to pieces when Lois drops it on the floor. Lois also comments that because she washes Chris clothes so often from his masturbation habits that the washing machine has, somehow, gotten pregnant in spite of all science.
  • During an episode where Peter drinks Red Bull, he becomes so hyperactive he sets fire to a cow when milking it. Cut to Chris, who'd previously been offered some, running in the background with his crotch on fire.
  • Masturbating takes up so much of his mental energies that when chemically castrated, he becomes a straight A student.
• Acrofatic
• Annoying Younger Sibling: His level of annoyance towards Meg can range from simple pranks to bullying.
• Author Avatar: Occasionally acts as rather blatant avatar for voice actor Seth Green. Each of the Star Wars parodies ends with him and Peter breaking character to debate over their VAs' shows.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Hinted to be the reason for his crush on Lois as she's the only family member to consistently treat him well while everyone else alternates between bashing on his intelligence or just plain ignoring him.
• Bigger Is Better in Bed: To quote Brian, "That thing should be hanging in a deli."
• Big Little Brother: He's younger, slightly taller, and chubbier than Meg.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He comes off as a Kindhearted Simpleton but he can be hit with the Jerkass Ball quite often.
• Book Dumb
• Brick Joke: Him being big even at his birth. At first a cutaway gag, it turns out he was so large he "dragged half of Lois out with him". Lois required extensive reconstructive surgery and has been told it'll be lucky if she lives past 50.
• Cloudcuckoolander: He's the goofiest of the Griffin kids with his immaturity and foolishness.
• Caught with Your Pants Down
• Deadpan Snarker: Occasionally and surprisingly.
• Depending on the Writer:
  • Does he have friends or not?
  • Is he aware of Herbert's crush on him?
  • How nice he is varies quite a bit based on what the plot needs. Sometimes he's genuinely a Kindhearted Simpleton, other times he's a full-on Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who will fly off the handle at the tiniest provocation.
  • Sometimes he's so dumb that he'll read "Good morning, everyone. The student council meeting..." as "God movement, angle bird. The stagnant cancer muting...". Other times, he's clever enough to run several businesses single handed.
• Disproportionate Retribution: When he gained pyrokinesis during Super Griffins, he sets a kid on fire for calling him by a mocking nickname.

Chris: You remember that time you called me "Chris Gristle"? Hector: I think so. Chris: Well burn for it!

• The Ditz
• Dumb Blonde: A male example. He can be as stupid as his father and he has blond hair.
• Fat Idiot: Like his father, though he doesn't usually cross into Psychopathic Manchild or Fat Bastard as frequently as his father does and usually comes across as childlike at certain points.
• Flanderization: Chris's slowness, the Evil Monkey, masturbation, and Herbert's obsession with him became his defining traits. Though the Evil Monkey was eventually done away with.
• Freudian Excuse: Played for Laughs. He wanted a ferret instead of a dog.
• The Generic Guy: Other than being an idiot, doesn't have too much of a personality or outstanding quirk, like the rest of his family (yes, even Meg has been more fleshed out).
• Kiddie Kid: Chris was like this oh-so-much before the show's initial cancellation. Later seasons slowly made it more inconsistent, as he can either be childish or a Hormone-Addled Teenager depending on the episode.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Several episodes have implied that he's not biologically related to Peter. Other suggest he was adopted.
• Nice Guy: He can be the second-nicest Griffin next to Meg.
• Never My Fault: Many times. The standout is probably his and Meg's subplot in "Save the Clam".
• Out of Focus: He's the least seen character. Note how much smaller his folder is compared to the other members of his family.
  • To the point where until Season 10, Joe seriously thought his name was "Caleb." In the finale of Season 18, Peter thinks his name is "Keith."
• Parental Incest: It's hinted several times that he has a crush on Lois.
• Playing with Fire: During the events of "Super Griffins".
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: The show treats him much better than it does the other jerks. Often Lois will brush off or look the other way when Chris does something simply because he's Chris and a nice guy. Many of the things he's been forgiven for would cause Lois to completely lose it if Peter or Brian did it.
• Took a Level In Jerkass: Starting around season 8 or 9, he took several. He'll fly off the handle at anyone (particularly at Brian) for the flimsiest of reasons. Became worse in Season 11.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Frequently.

Stewart Gilligan "Stewie" Griffin

A perpetual one year old with a lust for world domination. Hates Brian (the hatred wavers from episode to episode) and really wants to kill Lois. Voiced by Seth MacFarlane.

• Affably Evil
• Always Someone Better: To Brian. Whenever Stewie takes a stab at something Brian does, he always outshines him.
• Ambiguously Bi: While he has plenty of hints of homosexuality, he also displays a healthy amount of attention to girls.
• Anti-Hero: Type IV. Was originally a Villain Protagonist, but became an Anti-Hero as the series progressed.
• Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other:
  • In "New Kidney in Town" when Brian plans to save Peter by giving up his kidneys that will result in Brian's death, after Stewie kidnaps him to keep him alive, he becomes heartbroken while stating "I don't want to lose anybody".
  • In "Point of Stew", "The New Adventures of Old Tom" and "Stand by Meg" he seems to genuinely care about his older siblings and clearly worries about them showing suicidal tendencies. He also orders Herbert to stay away from Chris.
  • Subverted with Lois. "Stewie Loves Lois" makes clear that he will always end up loathing her. There's only reason that he wants her to stay alive.
• Ax Crazy: Mainly prior to the Revival, but it's still there.
• Badass Adorable: Given the show's art style, "adorable" might be pushing it, but he's a capable Child Prodigy.
• Badass Gay: He's a badass and definitely not straight.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Olivia.
• Breakout Character: With Brian to the point that the show could be called "The Stewie and Brian Show". He's also the only child that Peter thinks he has to introduce to people and Peter has often named Stewie as the new lead of the show if he dies.
• Berserk Button: Don't mess with his beloved teddy bear, Rupert, just DON'T.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He may have Took a Level In Kindness, but don't let that fool you.
• Big Damn Villains: For season nine.
• Brainy Baby
• Catch Phrase: "Victory is mine!" was his for a least the first few seasons.
• Character Development: Stewie used to be a one dimensional character early in the show's life with his shtick being on world domination, killing Lois, and having a love/hate relationship with Brian. As the series went on, Stewie slowly shed his "taking over the world and kill Lois" persona and became more of a general jerkass to everyone while harboring some feelings towards his family, especially Brian, but will try to not admit it. If anyone puts a member of his family in danger, Stewie will go all out to kill the would be attackers.
• Companion Cube: His teddy bear Rupert whom he treats as his life partner.
• Creepy Child: At first. He slips into it every now and then but now he's clearly just doing it as an act.
• Cultured Badass: Doesn't know as much culture as Brian but is certainly more badass.
• Deadpan Snarker: Not as noticeably so as Brian, but he has his moments.
• Depending on the Writer:
  • He's obviously a genius but how smart he is depends largely on the episode's plot.
  • While he's usually a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, to Brian anyway, he can sometimes be a full-on Jerkass.
  • If he's challenged to a fight, there's a 50/50 chance whether he'll throw himself into battle or be a Paper Tiger.
• Depraved Bisexual
• Disguised in Drag: Stewie disguises himself as a girl in "Go, Stewie, Go!".
• Enfante Terrible: He frequently kills people without a second thought.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Averted so very, very, hard; he would often try to kill Lois.
  • He does seem to have a good relationship with Chris, though.
• Even Stewie Has Standards: While it’s true that Stewie have attempted to take out his mom, Lois, but he was outraged that his evil clone went on a killing spree, as seen in "The Hand That Rocks the Wheelchair".
• Furry Reminder: Every once in a while we get a reminder that Stewie is just a baby.
• Future Loser: In The Movie.
• Gadgeteer Genius: He converts many of his toys into diabolical inventions.
• Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: In "Family Gay", Stewie goes on several rants about how homosexuality is wrong and an affront to the Bible. Brian calls him out on unbelievably hypocritical this is.
• Heel Face Turn: Sort of, since he became less of a Villain Protagonist as the series progressed.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Brian. As said below, there are some hints that Stewie would like to do away with the "Hetero" part of that statement.
• Incompatible Orientation: Occasionally demonstrates that he may have a crush on Brian.
• Jerkass: Less and less after each season, however.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Currently. This is best shown in his relationship with Brian.
• Lack of Empathy: In the early seasons.
  • He gets better in later seasons.
• Made of Iron: He can take a lot of punishment for a one year old.
• Mad Scientist: Stewie invented several futuristic machines, such as a time machine, a transporter or a device that allows him to travel between parallel universes.
• Manipulative Bastard
• Meet Your Early Installment Weirdness: He comments on how he was more evil and had more gadgets in the past while Brian comments on how he hasn't said "Victory is mine" in many years.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Stewie can brutalize adults 20 times his size.
• My Own Grandpa: When his ancestor (Leonardo Da Vinci) was killed, he was forced to take his spot.
• Never My Fault: When Brian lost out on Carolyn because of Stewie's bad advice, Stewie claimed it was Brian's fault for not accepting responsibility.
  • In general, this is Stewie's worst trait. He constantly gives advice on a multiple of scenarios to multiple people then denies any responsibility when they inevitably backfire because Stewie didn't think his advice through to the long term.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: He's a certified genius but whenever he tries to rub shoulders with the upper-crust, his command of intelligence and higher vocabulary is shown to be quite lacking compared to actually educated people.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Barring flash forwards, Stewie will always be one. He and Brian lampshade it on occasion. It's most notable in "Sibling Rivalry" where Stewie hasn't changed a bit after (at least) nine months and later again in "Road to the North Pole" where Stewie hasn't aged despite the story taking place over two years.
• Not So Above It All: Often tries to show how shallow Brian truly is but usually only succeeds in showing his own shallowness.
• Oedipus Complex: Inverted. He wants to kill Lois, and has had some friendlier moments with Peter, including the whole of "The Courtship of Stewie's Father".
• One of the Boys: A Gender Inverted Trope. He's very comfortable in a dress. Brian even calls him all the worst parts of a girlfriend.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Saved Lois's life in the Season 9 opener on this logic.
• Parental Neglect: Seems to suffer from it the most out of all the Griffin kids. It's no surprise then that he regards Brian as more of a father to him than Peter ever was.
• Pet the Dog: Subverted in the season 9 premiere. He saves Lois from getting killed by Diane, only because he wants to be the one to kill her.
  • Played straight at times especially with Brian, bonus points for Brian being a dog.
• Ping-Pong Naivete: Is just as likely to be well-versed in how society works as he is to ask Brian the most basic of questions.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse
• Psychic Powers: During the events of "Super Griffins".
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Though it can switch back and forth at the drop of a dime, he's usually the Sensitive Guy to Brian's Manly Man.
• Smart People Speak the Queen's English: Possibly. There's some controversy over whether his accent is Received Pronunciation or Boston Brahmin.
• Strong as They Need to Be: He can be picked up and tossed like a football just as likely as he can break someone's arm.
• Stable Time Loop: Due to an accident with time travel, Stewie caused the Big Bang.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Invoked when he snipes Diane, who's about to kill Lois.

Stewie: If anyone is going to take that bitch down, its gonna be me!

• Token Evil Teammate: Exaggerated at first, then Inverted as the series progressed. An exaggerative example in early seasons, being a cartoonishly villainous mastermind amidst a whimsical sitcom family. As his personality softened and his family became more sociopathic however, it's almost become completely reversed.
• Too Kinky to Torture: In "Peter's Two Dads", Stewie talks to his teddy bear, Rupert, about being spanked by Lois when he comes to this. He then requests a series of acts performed on him before realizing what a serious problem this is.
  • Stewie: I feel terrified, brutalized, and humiliated, and… and… and alive. My god, I never felt alive in years. Rupert… you know. I think perhaps on maybe one of those people… who… gets a jolly out of being hit.
• Took a Level In Kindness: In comparison to his role as Token Evil Teammate in early seasons, some consider him the most likeable member of the family after they all Took a Level In Jerkass.
• Unexplained Accent: Eventually explained as an act he's putting on as part of his Inferiority Superiority Complex. His real voice is somewhere between Quagmire and Roger.
• Unknown Rival: Lois is largely ignorant of Stewie's attempts to kill her.
• Villain Protagonist: In early seasons. However, it still shows up from time to time.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Brian.
• The Watson: Whenever Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness is used, he's likely to ask Brian what it means.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Big time.

See-n-say: The cow goes, SHAZOO! Stewie: ... it most certainly does not.

• Would Hit a Girl: He has tried to kill Lois several times, and he headbutted Meg in "Chap Stewie".
• Yandere: The main reason why he can't keep a potential relationship together, he either scares them away, or in the case of Olivia, murders them.

Brian Griffin

Talking dog. A cynical, world weary Deadpan Snarker and a foil for Stewie and Peter. Voiced by Seth MacFarlane using his natural speaking voice.

• Aesop Amnesia: Season 2's "Brian in Love" resolves his feelings for Lois with their deciding to stay friends in a fashion that one reviewer called "a perfectly believable and somewhat heartfelt earnest manner". Compare this to Season 6's "Play It Again, Brian", where he tries to force himself on Lois and, when confronted by a rightfully angry Peter, defends his actions and says Peter doesn't deserve her.
• Anti-Protagonist Morality: Nothing ever goes right for Brian and whatever he gets called out for is likely to be something that others would get away with scot-free.
• Author Avatar: Seth MacFarlane himself admitted that Brian reflects most of his political views. This was extremely prominent in season 7.
• Barefoot Cartoon Animal: When Brian wears clothes, his outfits typically don't include shoes.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Something Brian struggles to learn. He can easily find a more sophisticated and refined if he leaves the Griffin house, but he'll only be treated as a mindless dog in those environments.
• Belief Makes You Stupid: A firm believer in this. Considering that most of the painfully idiotic Quahog at least identifies as Christian, it's not hard to see how he came to this conclusion.
• Beware the Nice Ones: It takes a while to bring it out, but an angry Brian is not a pleasant sight.
• Brilliant but Lazy: Very lazy but he is the smartest member of the family after Stewie. When he puts his mind to it, he can indeed be a great writer and is skilled enough to help Stewie run multiple businesses.
• Butt Monkey: Nowhere near as big as Meg, but things never seem to turn out right for Brian, especially post-Season 7.
• The Chew Toy: Generally starting in Season 8, people frequently don't respect him, and given his douchebaggery, no one can blame them.
• Commander Contrarian: Lois calls him out on this behaviour. He may be a genuine Democrat but what he really likes is arguing and controversy.
• Deadpan Snarker: Seth MacFarlane even describes Brian's humor to be as dry as the martinis he drinks.
• Did Not Get the Girl: Tries and fails numerous times to get back with Jillian. And she’s far from the only girl he’s dated.
• Everyone Has Standards: Brian actively hates religion and the religious. That said, he also believes in freedom of religion and doesn't think anyone should be punished for their beliefs. It also appears he can enjoy the Bible as a work of literature, being knowledgable about the various Books, and enjoys Christian art.
• Fan Nickname: Brian is referred among his haters (and even some fans) as "The Liberal Douche".
• Fatal Flaw: Pride. He tends to double down or obsesses over bad decisions/hobbies he's not good at.
• Feigning Intelligence: After Stewie, he's probably the smartest member of the Griffin family but he often tries to pass himself off as more well-read than he is.
• Flanderization: He started out as merely a talking dog with some human traits (for instance while he buried things in the yard, he used a shovel) he's now a human trapped in a dog's body.
• Flat Earth Atheist: Despite the appearances of God and Jesus on Earth in the show, Brian is a staunch atheist. Stewie even points out that Jesus crashed on their couch for a week.
  • Nay Theist: Brian hates God, so he prefers Cessation of Existence.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • Given that he didn't start dating hot morons until after the show was revived, his new dating habits could be attributed to Pearl's death, as he would rather enjoy meaningless sex with idiotic partners rather than forge a genuine connection and go through that same pain again. Ironically, he'd meet two other women whom he'd form a connection with, Jillian and Rita, but he lost both of them because A: he didn't want to make a commitment with Jillian, and B: he cheated on Rita and tried to poorly rationalize it as a good thing.
  • Quite a lot of Brian's quest for fame and success stem from the fact that he is a dog and that despite how smart he is, people will shove that fact in his face the second he says something they don't like (usually when he outsmarts them and/or points out their prejudices/moral failings) and treat him like garbage for it. Little wonder he wanted to stay in the universe run by sentient dogs.
  • "Who's Brian Now?" reveals quite a few insights into his Feigning Intelligence and disdain for religion. His first family, who treated him like a pet and second-class citizen, were a religious group of Know-Nothing Know-It-Alls. After seeing how they treated him, it's clear where he picked up his personality and what drove him to hate Christianity.
• Funny Animal
• Furry Confusion
  • Furry Reminder: Brian is colour blind. It's why he's bad with red lights, he doesn't know what red is.
    • Furry Denial: From around Season 5 onwards, Brian went from a dog with human traits to a human in a dog disguise.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Stewie. Though Stewie has shown signs of being bisexual.
• In the Blood: When forced outside and to live like a dog, Brian reaches newfound levels of inner peace.
• Interspecies Romance: Brian has several of these with humans.
• Iron Butt Monkey: A particularly hardy one. He seems to fall victim to prolonged and graphic beatings with disturbing frequency.
• Irony: Seth MacFarlane uses his natural speaking voice for a character that's not human (even though Brian hardly, if ever, acts like a dog. In the rare times he does, it's wooden and unconvincing — i.e., when he barks).
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he can be a Jerkass on occasion, he still has more moments of clarity than most of the other Griffins. In "Fecal Matters", Stewie's "You Are Better Than You Think You Are" speech can essentially be boiled down to this.
• Like a Weasel: His most common method of picking up women in later seasons. In "Peter's Got Woods" he meets a beautiful black woman and tries to curry her favor by getting Chris' school renamed for Martin Luther King Jr. In another episode, when a woman says magicians turn her on, he immediately blurts out "I'm a magician!"
• Mommy Issues: Possible explains his weakness for women.
• Morality Pet: A literal one to Stewie.
• Motive Decay:
  • In early seasons Brian wants to date a woman of depth and substance, having gotten tired of Brainless Beauties who have no idea what he's talking about when he wants to have meaningful conversations. Later on, the Griffins (Lois especially) make fun of him for dating nothing but said Brainless Beauties and Quagmire even calls him out on this in his "The Reason You Suck" Speech from "Jerome Is The New Black" (with Quagmire pointing out his hypocrisy by stating, "Yeah, I date women for their bodies, but at least I'm honest about it...") Not to say that he still end up in dates with women of depth that end badly, most notably Carolyn and Ida, the former who Cleveland snagged, and the latter who turned out to be Quagmire's dad post-sex change.
  • A lot of his motives in life have devolved to the fact that he wants to be acknowledged as an equal in spite of being a dog.
• My Instincts Are Showing: Brian acts like a human for most of the time, but sometimes he shows dog traits; for example, he will chase balls, is attracted to the sound of dog food in a bag, and is terrified of the vacuum cleaner.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: To the average buffoon in Quahog, Brian is a genius. To anyone with a bit more higher education, Brian is, at best, a Small Name, Big Ego writer.
• Off the Wagon: But occasionally ends up back on it.
• Only Sane Man: Mostly in the earlier seasons. It still pops up every now and then, but he's often just as zany as the others.
• Parental Substitute: Towards Stewie at times. So much so that Stewie's greatest subconscious fear is disappointing Brian.
• Perpetual Frowner: In early episodes, Brian was rather stoic and humorless, rarely changing demeanor outside to give advise to Peter or the odd dry quip. As he developed in later episodes he becomes more emotional.
• The Pornomancer: Brian tries to be romantic, but invariably most of his encounters are quickies and one-night stands with women he barely knows, often brainless beauties (i.e. Jillian and the nameless blonde who mispronounced "escargot" and "Chablis" in "Brian Wallows, Peter Swallows"), as pointed out by Quagmire in his rant against Brian (with Quagmire pointing out that, yes, he goes after airheaded women too, but he doesn't put up a pseudo-intellectual front to get in their pants the way Brian does).
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one to Connie at the prom after she insults Meg.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Jack Daniels liquor.
  • As well as Martinis.
• Snarky Non-Human Sidekick
• Super Speed: During the events of "Super Griffins".
• Talking Animal: Though the why and how of this is never explained.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: When he first learned that Quagmire hated him, Brian went to great lengths to try and patch things up. When that failed, Brian fought fire with fire.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Quagmire accuses Brian of this in his famous rant, citing the fact that Brian is trying to steal Lois away from Peter, the man who saved his life and gave him a good home.
  • The silly thing is this got resolved long before this episode came about, so Quagmire really just bringing up old information. Exactly how did he know about that anyway?
  • Actually Brian had indicated lingering feelings for Lois on several occasions afterwards.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: The idea early on obviously was that he was Peter's best friend, but by season 9 the only long-term positive interaction he has is with Stewie, and it's their friendship that results in The Road to..." episodes.
  • Although it's not to the same extent, he often shows a lot of kindness towards Meg too.
• We Are as Mayflies: He's aware that his lifespan is shorter than that of a human. Stewie absolutely hates this fact.
• Welcome to Hell: When some Halloween pranksters dye his fur magenta, he gains the sympathy of the Pink Panther.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: This was more of an issue in earlier seasons, but now Brian is almost universally silently treated like a human by family and strangers alike, with occasional amusing Furry Reminders.
• What You Are in the Dark: "Hot Pocket-Dial" gives him the opportunity to destroy Peter and Quagmire's friendship but Brian is surprisingly sympathetic to Quagmire and encourages Peter to be the bigger man.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Something of a Running Gag that started around Season 12. He keeps thinking that This Is Reality and that life doesn't conform to the tropes of movies and sitcoms. If he were on any other show but Family Guy, he might be right. Instead life does conform to the tropes of movies and sitcoms and he's a Butt Monkey.

The Neighbors

Glenn Quagmire

A sexaholic navy vet that flirts with every hot woman (even teens) in rather disturbing ways. Voiced by Seth MacFarlane.

• Acquired Poison Immunity:
  • He's been maced/pepper sprayed so many times he's developed an immunity.
  • He indulges in autoerotic asphyxiation so much that he recovers instantly from chocking.
• Anything That Moves: Well, anything female. He'd apparently do a transsexual, provided she was post-op. He's even hit on Meg with the line "Hey Meg, 18 yet?"
  • Lampshaded by himself when he was about to fuck the corpse of a hooker Stewie sniped only to stop and ask himself if he actually was mentally ill.
  • Revealed in "Jerome is the New Black," to because when Quagmire reveals that his sex addiction was the result of his true love — Cheryl Tiegs — breaking up with him. See Cerebus Retcon below.
  • "Fighting Irish" features him celebrating his one thousandth sexual conquest, him explicitly confirming that this does not translate to a thousand women. And his one thousandth sexual conquest is a stuffed large mouthed bass.
• At Least I Admit It: He claims this is what elevates him above Brian. He arguably turns this into a Deconstructed Trope as he does all manner of things that are far worse than Brian yet is utterly callous in doing them. Then "Quagmire's Mom" revealed that he doesn't admit it at all. He blames it all on his mother.
• Big Brother Instinct: In, "Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q", he did not take his sister's abuse from her boyfriend Jeff very well.
• Black Comedy Rape: "Roofie Coladas" are apparently a staple drink he buys women.
• Bunny Ears Lawyer: He's a pretty competent pilot and he does take his job seriously.
• But You Screw One Goat!:
  • Possibly, due to this line spoken while discussing jury duty:

Quagmire: Yeah, that's what separates us from the monkeys. That and the armed guards at the zoo. Man, they got some sexy monkeys down there.

• • He's done it with a giraffe, too.
• The Casanova: Does it really need to be said?
• Car Fu: He rammed his sister's abusive boyfriend into a tree.
• Catch Phrase: "Giggity-giggity-giggity-goo!"
  • "OH!"
    • "Heh-heh...aaaall riiiight."
• Cerebus Retcon: Season 8's "Jerome is the New Black" revealed the reason why Quagmire is a sex maniac: The one woman he truly loved — Cheryl Tiegs — walked out on him before he could confess his love to her, and now he aimlessly has sex to fill the void she left behind. It's actually not all that surprising when you look back on three previous episodes: "Emission Impossible" (Quagmire has a Cheryl Tiegs poster on the door of his refrigerator), "Barely Legal" (Quagmire gives Meg his favorite book, "The Missing Piece" by Shel Silverstein, stating that he reads it whenever he feels like he's missing that one piece in his life that made him whole) and "Perfect Castaway" (where he mentions that if he was blind, "every woman he did would be Cheryl Tiegs").
  • If thats the case, that ironically wouldn't make him any different then Brian (See his entry)
• Chivalrous Pervert: Averted hard. More of a dangerous pervert due to his questionable methods of seducing women (though he refuses to have sex with Meg until she turns 18 and immediately went flaccid when he tried to have sex with Lois while Peter had amnesia and ironically was becoming more like Quagmire as a result, and Lois said she trusted Quagmire as seen on "Big Man on Hippocampus"). It's been toned down following the 2017 revival of #MeToo, as the show staff have opted to make him more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
• Corrupt the Cutie: Okay, he was pretty damn corrupt to begin with, though was notably the most laid back and happy-go-lucky of Peter and his friends. His role as a Self-Deprecation avatar however has gradually evolved him into a much more cynical character (he has gained an outright Hair-Trigger Temper around Brian).
• Cool Old Guy: Once you take into consideration that he's 61.
• Create Your Own Villain: His infamous rant against Brian steadily caused Brian to hate Quagmire just as much as Quagmire hated him.
• Deadpan Snarker: Following The Cleveland Show premiering, he responds to Peter's antics with biting sarcasm.
• Depending on the Writer: The writers can't seem to make up their minds on whether Quagmire is a Lovable Sex Maniac with a heart of gold or not.
• Easily Forgiven: Peter and Cleveland don't hold lusting/sleeping with their wives against him.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • He won't take advantage of Meg when she is extremely vulnerable.
  • He also won’t accept domestic abuse of women. Just look at what happened to Jeff when he thought he can abuse Brenda, Quagmire’s sister.
  • For all his perverted tendencies, having sex with his transgender father is a bit too much for him. And even he needs a few nights off from perving every now and then.
  • Though he didn't care too much when Brian died, it's also been shown that he thinks killing Brian is a bit too much, or at least, killing him because his TV pilot was subject to Executive Meddling was too much.
• Flanderization: Around Season 9, he became a full on Jerkass sex freak with no redeeming qualities and a Hair-Trigger Temper.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: When facing two decades in jail for statutory rape, he claims that his mother's sexual deviancy warped his worldview. The judge says that, while Quagmire's story is a sad one, it doesn't excuse his crimes.
• Gratuitous Japanese: In the Halloween episode, when he tricked Peter and Joe into thinking he was possessed by his kamikaze pilot ancestors.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Seems to have developed this around Brian, who constantly manages to inadvertently offend or infuriate him immensely, often leading to a rather vicious verbal (and sometimes physical) beatdown by Quagmire. Ironically the odd occasion Brian genuinely lashes at him, he is more passive aggressive.
• He Who Fights Monsters: His established hatred for Brian has led to Quagmire developing increased aggressive and occasionally outright violent tendencies over petty (and often inadvertent) offenses from the latter, as well as a similar bouts of snobbish preachiness as his nemesis.
• Hypocrite:
  • Calls out Brian for lusting after Lois, his best friend's wife. He's dug through the Griffin trash for Lois's toenail clippings and tried to get with Lois when Peter had amnesia. Note: He tried to get with Lois during Peter's amnesiac episode after his rant to Brian. "Hot Pocket-Dial" takes it one step further as it confirms that Quagmire is, like he called out Brian for being, in love with Lois.
    • Let's also remind ourselves that Quagmire ruined Cleveland and Loretta's marriage by sleeping with the latter.
  • Calls Brian out for abandoning her son. Ignoring the fact that Dylan chose to leave Brian to take care of his mother (and the two still maintain a friendly relationship), Quagmire ran away from three children of his in the span of a minute.
  • For all his perverted tendencies, he's appalled by anyone else having a long sexual history.
  • In "The Heartbreak Dog", he condemns Brian for harmlessly kissing Bonnie in a drunken moment of sympathy. What's the very next thing Quagmire does? Hit on and objectify Bonnie.
  • For all that he wanted a spin-off, he loves harping on Cleveland for his show's failure.
  • Looks down on Brian's virtue signalling. Quagmire constantly lies to women and pretends to be someone he isn't. "No Giggity, No Doubt" featured him engaging in nothing but virtue signalling.
• Informed Attribute: It's said that he volunteers at the homeless shelter, something that's never shown.
• The Jailbait Wait: While Quagmire has had sex with underage girls as young as twelve, he's apparently willing to wait for Meg. More than almost anyone else on the show, he also seems to genuinely care for her, much more so than her own family, everyone else in Quahog, and the universe at large.
  • Possibly a set up for Wife Husbandry?
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's kinda become one. He grew attached to his illegitimate daughter, and, during his infamous rant against Brian, revealed that he works at a soup kitchen to help the homeless (though we've never seen evidence of this). He also gave said daughter up when he realized she would be happy, and he expressed disapproval when Peter pretended to be crippled (in the Star Wars special).
• Karma Houdini: Any functioning society would place Quagmire in jail for life. But the worst he's gotten is a scolding by Peter and Lois for nearly having sex with Meg.
• Karmic Transformation: After years of mistreating women, "Valentine's Day in Quahog" sees him become one. He decides to just become a lesbian.
• Kavorka Man: To the extreme.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: Murdered his sister's abusive boyfriend.
• Morality Pet: Meg seems to be the only one to bring out his somewhat noble aspects. There's also his sister Brenda.
• Last-Name Basis: The only one who actually calls him "Glenn" is Lois.
• Lovable Sex Maniac: When he's not being the Kavorka Man.
• Older Than They Look: "FOX-y Lady" reveals that Quagmire is in fact 61 years old.
  • Which leads to a bit of Fridge Horror when you remember that he was at Peter's prom, considering he's 20 years older than Peter and Lois.
• Parental Incest: Wants to have sex with his daughter, and has had sex with his mother and transgendered father.
• Papa Wolf: He does genuinely care for his sister Brenda's well being, and is willing to even murder her fiancee if it at least stops said fiancee from harming her permanently. Not that said fiancee didn't deserve it.
  • Also barely contains his fury at Brian for accidentally mistaking his niece for a boy, as she lost all her hair through chemotherapy. One gets the impression that if it wasn't Christmas and they were in line to see Santa, Quagmire would have beaten the living daylights out of Brian.
  • Towards Courtney in "No Giggity, No Doubt" when he finds out she's his daughter. Though Peter, ultimately correctly, believes that it's just an act that he feels he's obliged to perform.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: Virtually every reason that the show gives for why Brian sucks; such as perving on married women; is framed as a reason why Quagmire is so lovable.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In the episode "Jerome is the New Black," Quagmire gives a spectacular one to Brian, who has spent the entire episode trying to be his friend. It helps that the points he makes are quite valid as they were based on complaints viewers had been making about Brian for a good while. However this also had the effect of making Brain look more sympathetic especially considering later episodes.

Quagmire: OK. I'll tell ya. You are the worst person I know. You constantly hit on your best friend's wife, the man pays for your food and rescued you from certain death, and this is how you repay him? And to add insult to injury, you defecate all over his yard. (getting angrier) and you're such a sponge. You pay for nothing — you're always like "Ooh, I'll get you later," but later never comes. And what really bothers me, is you pretend that you're this deep guy that loves women for their souls, but all you do is date bimbos. Yeah, I date women for their bodies, but at least I'm honest about it. I don't buy them a copy of The Catcher in The Rye and then lecture them with some 7th Grade interpretation about Holden Caulfield is some profound intellectual, he wasn't. He was a SPOILED BRAT. And that's why you like him so much — he's YOU. GOD, you're pretentious. (brimming with indignation) And you delude yourself by thinking you're a great writer, even though you're terrible. You know, I shoulda known Cheryl Tiegs didn't write me that note... she woulda know there's no "A" in the word "definite." And what I think I hate most about you, is your textbook liberal agenda. How we should (mockingly) "Legalize Pot, maaan..." How big business is crushing the underclass, how homelessness is the biggest tragedy in America... well what have YOU done to help?! I work down at the Soup Kitchen, Brian... never seen YOU down there... you wanna help? GRAB A LADLE. And by the way, driving a Prius does not make you Jesus Christ. Oh, WAIT — you don't believe in Jesus Christ, or any religion for that matter... because "religion is for idiots." Well who the HELL are YOU to talk down to anyone?! You failed college TWICE, which isn't nearly as bad as your failure as a father — how's that son of yours you never see? But you know what? I could forgive all of that... all of it... if you weren't such a BORE. That's the worst of it, Brian. You're just a big, sad, alcoholic BORE. Sigh... Well, see ya, Brian. Thanks for the fucking steak.

• Refuge in Audacity: Many of his rants (see Self-Deprecation and "The Reason You Suck" Speech). In addition to the other examples under this character sheet, Quagmire has complained about never being given his own spinoff unlike Cleveland, to which Peter in response lampshades that Quagmire is a convicted rapist.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When he aggressively beats the living daylights out of Brian:

Quagmire: "If I ever see you anywhere near my house, I'll BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF!!! NOW LAY THERE AND DIE, YA PIECE OF CRAP!!!"

• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: "Giggity-giggity-giggity-gone!"
• Series Continuity Error: Quagmire is shocked to find that he has an infant daughter, yet "Peter's Got Woods" revealed that Quagmire actually knows he has illegitimate children somewhere in the world (including a 20-year-old Spanish man who lives with his mom) and another episode had him in a kindergarten class with children that are biologically his. Then again, it's also probable that he is shocked that someone actually left the baby at his doorstep.
• Self-Deprecation: Starting in Season 7 he has started voicing multiple critisms from fans about the show, including jibes at Peter's Jerkass antics, darkly offensive humor and Conway Twitty. Not to mention nearly everything Brian says or does around him manages to piss him off. Arguably also played for irony, since the person chosen to voice against such standards is, well, Quagmire.
• Shadow Archetype: Despite how much he denies this, he's Brian's.
• Sitcom Arch Nemesis: Seems to be evolving this way against Brian. While more a one-sided animosity the majority of times early on, Brian has gradually given more retaliation to Quagmire's bitterness towards him, reaching to the point of a rather even handedly vicious Escalating War in "Tiegs For Two".
• Stalker with a Crush: He may go after any attractive woman that catches his eye, but several episodes show that he has a unhealthy obsession with Lois.
• Straw Hypocrite: Most things he professes to hate Brian for are things he's even more guilty of. If anything, he might have just chosen a few things at random to justify an Irrational Hatred of Brian.
• Took a Level In Badass: When he took on his sister's abusive boyfriend in "Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q", and rammed him into a tree with his car!
• Wants a Prize For Basic Decency: Inverted. Among the many reasons he gives for hating Brian is that Brian defecates on Peter's lawn, something that every dog in history does.
• You Are What You Hate: Ever since his infamous rant against Brian, he's slowly devolved into a worse version of him.

Cleveland Brown

A caring guy that talks slow due to a head trauma. Is now divorced from his wife for being too nice. Was voiced by Mike Henry until 2021. Voiced by Arif Zahir from thereon out.

• AcCENT Upon the Wrong SylLABle: Has a tendency to talk like this, stressing the "e" of words so much that it sounds like a "u".
• Acrofatic
• Butt Monkey: His house is often destroyed by Peter's antics, leading him to fall while in his bathtub.
• Catch Phrase: "Oh, that's nasty." and "No, no, no, no, no, NO!!".
• Critical Research Failure: He's surprisingly ignorant of many things. He thinks penguins are a type of bug and views it as impossible that, under any circumstances, a human being could live beyond 65 years old.
• Extreme Doormat
• The Friend Nobody Likes: They once left him mid-sentence because of how boring he was being.
• The Generic Guy: Cleveland doesn't have much of a personality to being with, but this is more prominent when we compare him to the Psychopathic Manchild Peter, the Lovable Sex Maniac Quagmire or the Handicapped Badass with Large Ham tendencies Joe. Since becoming a lead character, he has gained brasher wackier tendencies but still seems toned down in comparison.
• Glory Days: Often mourns his lost show.
• Motor Mouth: In one cutaway gag, Cleveland used to work as an auctioneer (who have to be motor mouths as per their job description) until he got hit in the head and now speaks slowly as a result.
• Never Live It Down: No one will let him forget that he once had his own show that since been cancelled.
• Only Sane Man: Or at least the closest thing to one in the series.
• Perpetual Poverty: Frequently shown to be in a dire financial situation.
• Punny Name: Named after a professional U.S. Football team, the Cleveland Browns.
• Spin-Off: The Cleveland Show.
• Token Minority: The only black guy in his group of white friends.
• Took a Level In Badass: He used to be a Extreme Doormat but after he found out Loretta had slept with Quagmire and Peter then taught him anger, he has become very confident and unafraid to stand up for himself.

Joe Swanson

A paraplegic cop that lost the ability to walk after falling off of an orphanage roof during a pursuit. Has a wife, Bonnie, who was pregnant for almost ten years. Voiced by Patrick Warburton.

• The Artifact: The 9th season premiere is the first time in years we've seen him actually do cop stuff. For the most part it's been dropped in favor of him being the Angry Wheelchair Dude.
• Artistic License Biology: In real life, paralysis is the result of damage to the spinal column. In the show, the condition is often treated as a problem with his legs.
• Awesomeness By Analysis: Can do this on occasion. He's a police officer. It's part of the job.
• Berserk Button: Don't assume the wheelchair defines who he is.
• Butt Monkey: He's a magnet for cripple jokes.
• Curb Stomp Battle: When he regained his legs, he took own Peter, Quagmire and Cleveland single handed and won without getting a scratch.
• Depending on the Writer: Whether he can get an erection.
• Dirty Cop: Numerous examples, almost always to allow his close friends – namely, Peter and Quagmire – to get away with everything, from abuse to pedophilia. The most recent example involved their arson of Goldman's Pharmacy (to help Mort Goldman collect an insurance settlement).
  • He also conspired to aid Quagmire in murdering his sister's abusive boyfriend, then covered it up while also joining the guys in robbing banks.
• Even the Guys Want Him
• Everyone Has Standards: He may be a Dirty Cop on occasion but he's furious at the Southern Sheriff disgracing the police force and imprisoning people on trumped up charges.
• Flanderization: From a Handicapped Badass to a walking crippled joke.
• Good Parents: The only genuinely kind and caring parent in the neighbourhood. He once even supported Chris during one of Peter and Lois's fights.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Since the show was uncancelled.
• Handicapped Badass: He's the best fighter of the group, though he later became weaker.
  • In "Da Boom" he was partially vaporized leaving him stuck on his driveway unable to move around. A giant mutated rat comes along his response "bring it on!" He won.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice
• Large Ham: Being played by Patrick Warburton helps.
• Logical Weakness: Perhaps the reason for his Badass Decay. People have realized that he's much less of a threat if he isn't in his wheelchair.
• Restraining Bolt: If not for his wheelchair, his sheer athleticism would lead him to abandon Bonnie and his friends while turning him into a complete Jerkass who talks down to everyone.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: As an officer of the law, he's initially against Quagmire's plan to kill his sister's abusive boyfriend. But after seeing for himself what a monster the guy is, his immediate response is, "...let's waste this dick."
  • In the Season 10 episode "Thanksgiving", we learn that several years ago Joe let a thief go when it turned out the man was homeless and had stolen food in order to feed his family.
• Super-Persistent Predator: When he sees a fugitive, nothing can deter him.

Bonnie Swanson

Joe's wife. Has been pregnant for almost ten years. Later gave birth in Series 7. Voiced by Jennifer Tilly.

• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: "Foreign Affairs" showed that she was ready to leave Joe and have an affair with a Frenchman, because she was "bored of Joe". A handicapped Frenchman at that. Joe convinced her to stay of course.
• Buxom Is Better: She's consistently drawn with a larger chest than other female characters.
• Hot Mom: Even while she was pregnant, she was noted for having a nice body.
• Longest Pregnancy Ever: Finally resolved in Season 7. It's even lampshaded on more than a few occasions. Case in point:

Bonnie Swanson: I won't have my baby as long as he's [Glenn Quagmire] around! Peter Griffin: Okay, first off, Bonnie, you've been pregnant for, what, six years? Either have the baby or don't! Second of all, Quagmire's a nice guy, he's just a little messed up!

• Most Annoying Sound: James Woods actually punched her in the throat due to how irritating he found her voice.
• Took a Level In Jerkass: Probably the worst case in the show. She started out as a loving wife and mother before later turning into a drug-running criminal who cheats on her husband and is actively trying/plotting to kill him.

Extended family

Carter Pewterschmidt

Lois's wealthy father who hates Peter. Voiced by Seth MacFarlane.

• Born in the Wrong Century: In all likelihood however, he simply outlived the right century for his racist mindset.
• Enemy Mine: On many occasions he has teamed up with Peter.
• Grumpy Old Man
• Jerkass: Especially to Peter.
• Laughably Evil: There's little, if any, redeeming qualities about him. That doesn't stop him being hilarious.
• Not So Different: He starts showing some similarities to Peter's personality, particularly around the seventh or eighth season.
• Obnoxious In Law
• Politically-Incorrect Villain: It's not too hard to tell that he has a very 1950s mindset when it comes to minorities.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Not quite to Peter's extent but he is very childish and impulsive.
• Rich in Dollars, Poor In Sense: When he temporarily lost everything, he was shown to be incapable of taking care of himself.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money: His answer to fixing everything.
• Took a Level In Dumbass: Carter grew more childlike as the seasons went on in nearly the same way as Peter. While some of his actions are somewhat understandable (not knowing how to have fun at a strip club due to being married for so long for example), but he also resorts to childish actions when it comes to making Peter upset, such as getting heavy machinery to destroy a park bench because he thought it would make Peter upset after Peter said he kind of liked it.
• Villain Has a Point: For all his faults, there's very little counter argument to be made to his claims that Peter is an irresponsible Man Child who is a bad husband and father.

Barbara Pewterschmidt

Lois's mother and Carter's wife. More tolerant of Peter than her husband.

• Gold Digger: She has been portrayed as one, though other episodes portray her as having married for love.
• Humble Beginnings: Unlike her husband, she wasn't always rich (though she is Jewish). This is a likely explanation as to why Lois chose to live a middle-class lifestyle.
• Hypocrite: She considered it unforgivable that Carter cheated on her, even though she herself has done the same to him. Given that she cheated on Carter in a flashback in a much earlier episode, this seems to be the case of a Continuity Snarl.
• Jewish Mother: Though she doesn't have the personality you might expect.

Francis Griffin

Peter's devout Catholic stepfather. Voiced by Charles Durning.

• And There Was Much Rejoicing: Brian and Lois cheered when he died.
• The Fundamentalist
• Grumpy Old Man
• Jerkass
• Killed Off for Real
• Obnoxious In Law

Jasper

Brian's gay cousin. Like him, he's also an antropomorphic dog. Voiced by Seth MacFarlane.

• Camp Gay: Doesn't even start to describe him. He speaks with a lisp, he has a pink tank top, and he wears a golden earring.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Disappeared after the gay marriage episode, due to his unpopularity with the viewers.
• Speech Impediment: He has a stereotypical gay lisp.

Quahog 5 News

Tom Tucker

One of the anchors for the local Quahog TV station. He is an egotistical man obsessed with his mustache. His son suffers from having an upside-down face and is currently being terrorized by the Evil Monkey. Meg briefly had a crush on him. Voiced by Seth MacFarlane.

• Alliterative Name
• Companion Cube: His moustache.
• Deadpan Snarker: Often about the ridiculous aspects about the fictional universe.
• Depending on the Writer: Whether his moustache is real or not.
• I Coulda Been a Contender: Between James Woods talking him out of it and being cocked out of his skull all the time, he lost his chance to make it in Hollywood.
• Jerkass
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his ego, Tom is definitely not evil like how Diane turned out to be. (He WAS accused of murder, but was innocent the whole time.)
• Karma Houdini: Even though he was innocent of the murders, his attempt to get Diane fired for her age was still a bit of an asshole move. He was briefly sent to jail, but got out in short order and reclaimed his job.
• Kent Brockman News
• Likes Older Women: He briefly dated Peter's mother. But strangely enough, he pushed to get Diane fired because she was too old.
• Porn Stache: Which is actually the property of the network (he has to give it back when he's fired).
• Small Name, Big Ego
• Write Who You Know: Tom is partially modelled on real life anchorman John Beard of Fox Los Angeles O&O KTTV. Ironically, however, in real life, Beard is actually a very competent, very professional anchorman, and in fact, it was this professionalism which actually cost him his job there, when KTTV management fired him in 2007 over disputes on what he would report on during the station's main newscasts, with Beard wanting to do more hard news and the management wanting him to do more celebrity fluff. Beard ended up going to work at NBC affiliate WGRZ in Buffalo, NY, as their morning and midday anchor, in effect, working in a media market with a job that amounted to a career downgrade. Far from being egotistical, however, Beard was more than willing to accept the position if it meant not having to compromise his journalistic integrity.

Diane Simmons

The other anchor for Quahog News and the host of the trashy talk show Diane. She and Tom frequently argue with one another on air, sometimes resorting to physical violence. Early in the show, she played the role of Anna in Peter Griffin's "production" of The King and I. She served as the primary antagonist of the ninth season premiere. Having been dumped by her lover James Woods, she planned on murdering him and framing Tom Tucker, who successfully had her replaced with a younger anchor. Her plan nearly succeeded, but she unintentionally revealed herself to Lois. She was shot by Stewie before she could silence her and plummeted off a cliff to her presumed death. Her replacement is a new blonde anchor named Joyce. Voiced by Lori Alan.

• Actor Allusion: This isn't the first time Lori Alan played a woman who ended up murdering her lover. Unlike The Boss, however, her reasons were more petty and far less sympathetic. Also qualifies as Harsher in Hindsight.
• All for Nothing: James Woods was resurrected, and Tom Tucker was acquitted.
• Big Bad: Of the Season 9 premier.
• Christmas Cake: The reason Tom had her replaced and James Woods dumped her.
• Disney Villain Death: Though it's plausible she bled out from her gunshot wound.
• Disproportionate Retribution: She killed James Woods because he dumped her, and framed Tom Tucker for it because he planned to have her be replaced as news anchor.
• He Knows Too Much: The reason why she murders Muriel Goldman and part of the reason she murdered Priscilla.
• Hidden Villain: During the ninth season premiere.
• Kent Brockman News
• The Killer Becomes the Killed: Successfully framed Tom for her crime and would have killed Lois, who discovered that she was the killer, had Stewie not sniped her off from the tower of the mansion.
• Killed Off for Real: Granted, she deserved it.
• Psychotic Smirk: She gives one to Lois when she found out she's the killer.
• The Reveal: It turns out that she turned evil after Tom Tucker and her lover James Woods turned against her; the former had her replaced with a younger host, and the latter left her because she turned forty.
• Walking Spoiler: What one final episode will do for a character.
• Woman Scorned
• Xanatos Speed Chess: After her initial plan to kill James Woods went pear-shaped, the rest of "And Then There Were Fewer" is her desperately trying to course correct and silence witnesses.

Joyce Kinney (Chevapravatdumrong)

The newest team member of the Quahog 5 News and Dianne's replacement after her failed murder plot.

• Blondes Are Evil
• Everyone Went to School Together: Revealed to have went to the same high school as Lois.
• Formerly Fat
• Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Tom let her do the news alone once. She did in her bedroom surrounded by all her stuffed animals.
• Revenge: Lois wasn't very kind to her in high school embarrassing her in front of the whole facility. She still carried the grudge into her career and used Lois newfound stargaze of her to get any scandalous information and air it on the news.

Tricia Takanawa

The Asian reporter. Voiced by Alex Borstein.

• Flat Character: Speaks in an utterly emotionless tone.
• Token Minority

Ollie Williams

Weatherman for the local news station. Voiced by Phil LaMarr, he has a loud and quick voice.

• Beige Prose
• No Indoor Voice: Except when stoned out of his mind.
• Scary Black Man: Well, as scary as any man is who can't seem to stop yelling.
• Terse Talker: Revealed to be due to extreme alcoholism.
• Token Minority

Other recurring characters

Jillian Russell

Brian's girlfriend during season 5. Voiced by Drew Barrymore.

• Ascended Extra: She was supposed to be a one-shot character, however, they liked her character so much that they decided to make her a regular.
• Brainless Beauty: Low in intelligence, but making up for it with her attractiveness and friendly disposition.
• Dumb Blonde: She is blonde and about the dumbest.
• Girl Posse: Has a group of not-so-bright gal pals that Brian tries to hang out with at one point. They all make her look like a grad-student by comparison.
• Hidden Depths: There are moments where she isn't as dumb as she seemed. Like in "Movin' Out (Brian's Song)", when Brian admitted that he didn't want to make a commitment with her, she realized all the signs were there.

Jillian: Oh my god, I never felt so stupid in my life! Brian and Stewie: (surprised) Really?

• Interspecies Romance: With Brian.
• Literal Minded
• Nice Girl: Has a group of not-so-bright gal pals that Brian tries to hang out with at one point. They all make her look like a grad-student by comparison.
• You Sound Familiar: Drew Barrymore had previously voiced Mrs. Lockhart in "Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High".

Mr. Weed

Previous owner of the toy factory where Peter used to work at before he died. Voiced by Carlos Alazraqui.

• Ambiguously Gay: Heavily implied but never outright confirmed.
• Killed Off for Real

Bruce the Performance Artist

Recurring character with many jobs. Voiced by Mike Henry.

• Ambiguously Brown
• Camp Gay
• Catch Phrase: "Oh nooooo! and "I knooooow!"
• Nice Guy
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Implied in "Petergeist".
• Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?

Ernie the Giant Chicken

A recurring gag character who shows up to fight Peter in a usually five minute brawl. Voiced by Danny Smith.

• Arch Enemy: To Peter.
• Cloning Blues: One episode hints that he was the failed result of a cloning project.
• Determinator: What does it take to kill this guy?
• Disproportionate Retribution: This whole fight started because Ernie gave Peter a bad coupon.
  • Eventually they manage to reconcile. Until Peter's offer to pay the check for their dinner out...
• Feathered Fiend
• Implacable Man: The stuff he's gone through have a few questioning whether he's even mortal.
• Made of Iron: No matter how many times he gets badly beaten, he always comes back.
• Psycho Prototype: It's hinted in one episode that he was the result of a botched cloning attempt that resulted in a violent chicken/human hybrid. Reinforced when Peter tells its creator, Dr. Hartman, after learning this that they need to have a little talk.
• Serious Business: Strikes an amnesiac Peter for mistaking the type of grass Ernie is working on.

Dr. Elmer Hartman

The Griffins family doctor. Voiced by Seth MacFarlane.

• Depending on the Writer: Sometimes he's a qualified, if sub-par, doctor. Sometimes he's a qualified professional. And sometimes he's a quack.
• Running Gag: He'll say something that sounds like it's bad news for his patient, then immediately reveal he was talking about an unrelated matter ("That liver's got to come out...of the microwave, or it'll dry out!").
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He's hinted to be the one who created Ernie the Giant Chicken.

Death

The Grim Reaper.

• Ambiguously Jewish: He's got a Jewish Mother, anyway.
• Brother Chuck: Wasn't seen again after season 5. Took part in a fairly recent episode, but it remains to be seen if he becomes a recurring character again.
• Deadpan Snarker: Mainly as Norm MacDonald.
• Death Takes a Holiday: Part of a first-season episode.
• Disappeared Dad: Makes an off-hand comment about his dad not being around anymore.

"Man, I wish Dad was still dead."

• The Grim Reaper
  • Don't Fear the Reaper: He's a pretty nice guy, if a bit of a loser.
• I Love the Dead: How he lost his virginity. It Makes Sense in Context
• The Other Darrin: Norm MacDonald provided his voice in "Death Is A Bitch", but he has since been voiced by Adam Carolla.

Mayor Adam West

The eccentric mayor of Quahog. Voiced by Adam West.

• Actor Allusion: In one episode, it's shown that he's afraid of zombies. This is likely a reference to Zombie Nightmare, a cheesy Canadian movie where West's character gets killed by zombies.
  • Also averted: The creators wanted to avoid any Batman references in regards to Mayor West because he is supposed to be a different person. Played with in "Inside Family Guy" where Adam West, the actor, does a Batman reference. Adam West, the character, never made one.
• Adam Westing: Obviously.
• Cloudcuckoolander
• Cool Uncle: Seemed to be one to the Griffin kids.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: When he kills the Noid.
• The Character Died with Him: Two years after the real Adam West passed away, Mayor West is revealed to be dead. The episode that acknowledges this, "Adam West High", even renames the high school in his honor.
• The Danza: Mayor Adam West is voiced by... surprise, surprise, Adam West himself.
• The Jailbait Wait: He falls in love with Meg, but is willing to wait until she's mature enough for a full romance.
  • He also does this to shield her from a potential erupting scandal. He didn't want her to have to endure constant scrutiny.
• Killed Off for Real: See The Character Died with Him.

Angela

Peter's boss at Pawtucket Brewery. Voiced by Carrie Fisher.

• Aw, Look — They Really Do Love Each Other: With Peter.
• Bad Boss: When she sexually harasses Peter. Usually she's a reasonably Benevolent Boss.
• Jerkass Ball: In "Peter-assment", she sexually harassed Peter, despite usually being a Reasonable Authority Figure.
• The Character Died with Her: After Carrie Fisher’s death, Angela appeared in a few Season 16 episodes before being revealed as dead in "Pawtucket Pete".
• Smug Snake: When harassing Peter.

Connie D'Amico

The popular girl at Meg's high school, who often teases and torments Meg.

• Alpha Bitch: A more popular girl who looks down on Meg.
• Bullying a Dragon: Even after Meg develops a criminal record (albeit a small one), Connie still insists on bullying her. It does not end well.
• Butt Monkey: Yeah, she's a complete bitch, but so far, Brian has brutally deconstructed her to her face, Chris has publicly humiliated her, Peter has repeatedly bashed her face into a fire extinguisher, and Meg beat the living hell out of her for all the shit she's done to her. Oh, and Stewie got her arrested for pedophilia. And after she and her friends humiliated Meg, Lois got Quagmire to molest them all.
• Demoted to Extra: Used to appear on a regular basis, now she only get very short appearances, usually once per season. This is mostly due to the fact that Connie appears in Meg centered episodes.
• Flanderization: Originally she was just the popular Libby character who would make fun of Meg for her efforts to try to fit in with the popular kids. But nowadays she goes out her way to tease Meg even if Meg is just minding her own business. And her bullying tactics have gotten needlessly cruel over the years.
  • Justified / Shown Their Work: A lot of actual Real Life bullies are very much the same.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: She's an absolute bitch to Meg, even after Meg showed her the cuts she deliberately gave herself as a result of Connie's cruelty towards her.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: Her luck runs out in "Connie's Celica" when Lois gets her expelled for her bratty attitudes.
• The Other Darrin: She was voiced by Fairuza Balk in earlier appearances and Lisa Wilhoit in later appearances.
• Out of Focus: She disappeared for five seasons.
• Too Dumb to Live: Despite all the punishment she received from the Griffins as a result of her bitchy behavior towards them, and especially towards Meg (which includes getting the crap beaten out of her twice), she still continues to act like a jerk.
• Ungrateful Bitch: Even after Meg helped her out to restore her status at school, she only thanked Meg halfheartedly at best.

Neil Goldman

The school nerd and classmate of Meg, whom he has a crush on. Son of Mort. Voiced by Seth Green.

• Abhorrent Admirer: To Meg, who keeps rejecting him.
• Casanova Wannabe: In "Fistful of Meg," he tells a bully that he has "the scoop on the local babe scene." Additionally, it is revealed in "The Kiss Seen 'Round the World" that he is delusional and oblivious to the fact that his appearance is reviled by everyone (even his own father), believing himself to be "eye candy."
• Demoted to Extra: Used to appear a lot in the first three seasons. However, after the show was brought back, he only gets occasional cameos, and spends entire seasons without being even mentioned. Stewie even lampshades the unlikeliness of seeing both he and his father in the same scene.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Debatable. Some of the things he did to try and win Meg affection were underhanded and downright depraved.
• Extraverted Nerd: He's outgoing and laid-back.
• Hollywood Nerd
• Missing Mom: Muriel was killed by Diane Simmons in the Season 9 premiere. Though "Follow the Money" implies that he doesn't even seem to care that she's no longer alive.

Evil Monkey

A monkey with a menacing glare and pointing finger who lives in Chris's closet. Voiced by Danny Smith.

• Cerebus Retcon: Originally a purely comedic character, he was given a backstory, reasons of why he acted that way and the ability to speak.
• Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: He often points an accusing finger to Chris.
• Not So Different: When the Evil Monkey was introduced to the family, they discover that he isn't that much different from the rest of them having suffered a cheating wife and being sacked from his job. Chris doesn't buy the story but he learns to trust him over time and even considers the monkey to be a better father than Peter when it comes to life's problems or help with homework.
• Put on a Bus: After "Hannah Banana" he moved from Chris' bedroom to Jake Tucker's bedroom, and wasn't seen again.
  • The monkey did make a comeback later on. He appears with Peter to save Cleveland and his friends from being raped by a group of men in The Cleveland Show
• Start of Darkness: According to Chris he turned bad after he caught his wife in bed with another monkey.

Mort Goldman

The owner of Goldman's pharmacy. A walking Jewish stereotype. Voiced by John G. Brennan.

• All Jews Are Cheapskates: Can go two weeks wtithout opening his wallet.
• Ascended Extra: Was originally a Satellite Character to his son Neil but he quickly eclipsed Neil in appearances.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He may act nerdy but he's not afraid to stand up for himself.
• Jewish Complaining
• Moral Myopia: He understands "Buy One Get One Free" when someone else does it. But when it's suggested that he does it, he has no idea what Peter is talking about.
• Sixth Ranger: To Peter's gang.
• Terrified of Germs: Among many other things.

Herbert

The local pedophile who lusts after Chris. Voiced by Mike Henry.

• Dark and Troubled Past: Is a WWII veteran who survived a POW camp.
• Depraved Homosexual: Comes with being a pedophile who mostly lusts after boys.
• Dirty Old Man: There is a reason why he is called "Herbert the Pervert".
• Guile Hero: Occasionally.
• Last-Name Basis: His name is John Herbert.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Though a questionably canon episode hints that his name might actually be Roy Mitchell and he's hiding from "all sorts of nonsense from three towns over."
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He may be a pedophile and likes to secretly stalk Chris but too be fair, he’s definitely not a psychopath and isn’t mean to him at all.
• Paedo Hunt: He mostly targets Chris.
• Shotacon: Usually with Chris.
• Stalker with a Crush: To Chris, who he sometimes spies on.
• Took a Level In Badass: During his battle with Franz Gutentag.

Opie

Peter's mentally challenged co-worker at the brewery.

• A Date with Rosie Palms: Was fired when it was discovered he was constantly masturbating behind his desk.
• The Ditz
• Fish Eyes
• Inspirationally Disadvantaged: No, not at all.
• Intelligible Unintelligible: Revealed to be due to excessive drinking.

Greased-up Deaf Guy

A deaf guy who runs around in his underwear while covered in grease. He first appeared at a picnic held by Peter's company, where one of the activities was trying to catch him. Due to his greasiness, this is very hard to do. He apparently used to be a lawyer.

• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: He's a guy, he's deaf, and he's greased up.

Penelope

Stewie's "soulmate", who demands him to kill Brian.

• Badass Adorable
• Combat Pragmatist
• Evil Versus Evil: How her stint with Stewie ends.
• Karma Houdini: Big time.
• Lady Macbeth
• Little Miss Badass
• Shadow Archetype: She's what Stewie would have become without Brian acting as a Morality Pet.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Kills a kid just for pushing Stewie.
• Yandere

Olivia Fuller

• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Stewie gets her to agree to a date by treating her like garbage.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Stewie.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She first appears as a very cute talented baby but is quickly revealed to be a remorseless diva.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Rachael MacFarlane using her Hayley voice.
  • Which given the relationship between her and Stewie is a case of Incestuous Casting or Father, I Want to Marry My Brother since both characters are infants depending on how you choose to look at it.
• It's All About Me
• Unexplained Recovery: Stewie locks her in a cardboard house which he sets fire to yet she reappears none the worse for wear years later.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Stewie. But since they're both one year old, they have no idea what sex is which only causes more confusion.

James Woods

• Adam Westing: One certainly hopes so.
• Aesop Amnesia: He was twice defeated by being lured under a box via a trail of candy. Peter instantly lampshades that they need to remember this.
• Arch Enemy: Becomes one to Peter and Brian.
• Back From the Dead: As a celebrity, he has access to top-notch medical equipment such as draining the Life Energy from a 17 year old girl into his corpse, revitalizing him.
• Broken Pedestal: Before he revealed how insane he was, Peter was a gigantic fan of his.
  • His real-life counterpart seems to be for the show's production team, whose political policy leans to the left, after Woods became an ardent Donald Trump supporter. They even renamed the high school.
• Famed in Story: Quahog named their high school (before it was renamed after the late Adam West) and their forest after him.
• Snap Back: He really did try to become a born again Christian and do good in the world but being killed and brought back put an end to that. Possibly he learned that his ex Diane set it all up, but apparently didn't learn from his mistakes.

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