Sons of Anarchy/Characters

SAMCRO - Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original

Clay Morrow

Played By: Ron Perlman
"Whatever you may think, the truth is everything I do is to protect what we got. It's never arbitrary. And it's never reactive. Been doing this for 30 years, I know a few things."

• Affably Evil/ Faux Affably Evil
• Badass Grandpa
• Big Bad: For season 4 so far.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Like everything with Clay, his standards are ass-backwards. He's all about selling guns, but considers a legitimate porn business to be 'dirty'.
• Expy: Of Claudius from Hamlet
• Fate Worse Than Death: Gets one of these courtesy of Jax when he strips Clay of his president's patch, effectively castrating the character.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Some of the club (especially Bobby and Piney) seem to feel this way about Clay getting in bed with the Mexican cartel in season 4.
• Karma Houdini: Clay has done some pretty horrible things over the course of the show, but whenever you think he's finally going to pay for his sins something ends up saving him.
• Manipulative Bastard
• Moral Myopia: Either this or a truly odd example of Even Evil Has Standards. While he has not problem running guns, or even drugs if it suits his agenda he objects to getting involved in the completely legal porn industry because it's "dirty".
• Kick the Dog: Read Moral Event Horizon above.
• Klingon Promotion: Probably how he took over the club from John Teller
  • Confirmed as of season 4.
• Outlaw Couple: With Gemma
• Sickbed Slaying: Subverted in the season 4 finale.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Season 4.
• Villain Protagonist: Pushed to the limit in season 4 to the point that a lot of the audience actively hates him now.

Jax Teller

Played By: Charlie Hunman
"SAMCRO's got to change to survive."

• Anti-Hero: Straddles the line between Type IV and V.
• Badass: In every fight he's been in, with two exceptions, he's absolutely dominated, even against a trained federal agent. The only exceptions are Clay, who fought him to a standstill, and Father Ashby, who handed him a brief but decisive beatdown.
• Mr. Fanservice
• Expy: Of Hamlet.
• Fake American
• Important Haircut: Not really important to him but more to the viewers who were surprised.
• Anti Heroic BSOD: After Abel is kidnapped.
• Warrior Poet
• Would Hit a Girl: not his wife, but Ima is another story.
• You Are Club President Now: In the season 4 finale.

Robert "Bobby Elvis" Munson

Played By: Mark Boone Junior
"When you want blind action, you go to Tig. When you want the truth, you come to me."

• Affably Evil
• Badass Grandpa
• Badass Beard
• Cool Old Guy
• Elvis Impersonator
• Hidden Depths: He bakes and is an Elvis impersonator (thus the nickname).
• Kavorka Man
• Only Sane Man: During Seasons 2 and 4.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Do not let the pompadour, the detailing on his jacket or the organic cooking fool you. Really. Don't.
• The Starscream: Fed up with the cartel situation calls on a vote to change SAMCRO's leadership.

Alex "Tig"/"Tigger" Trager

Played By: Kim Coates
"I'm gonna dunk my balls in your mouth. You're gonna gag. I'm gonna laugh. We'll be best friends forever."

• Blue Eyes: Has a very disconcerting set of pale blue ones.
• Comedic Sociopathy: In a resigned sigh, "This is why I beat up hookers."
• The Dragon
• Heroic Sociopath: x1000.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: Arguably, the whole club can be seen as this to each other to varying degrees but Tig and Clay are the best example other than perhaps Jax and Opie.
• Kavorka Man
• Pet the Dog: His adoration of Gemma and saving Chucky.
• Revenge Before Reason: When he thinks that the Niners shot Clay he rushes to exact revenge with no consideration of innocent bystanders, witnesses, how he is going to get away or whether the Niners are actually guilty.
• Too Kinky to Torture: He actually seemed to enjoy being beat up by those bounty hunters.
• Undying Loyalty: He may be a total psychopath, but he's loyal to the club almost to a fault. Letting himself get chased by police as a distraction while the others go to Ireland is a big example.
• Villainous Blue Screen Of Death: His guilt over accidentally killing Donna leads him to confess to Opie.
• Why Did It Have To Be Dolls: Yes, we said dolls.

Filip "Chibs" Telford

Played By: Tommy Flanagan

• Scottish Accent
• Dual-Wielding: Has been seen wielding two scalpels and wears a holster with two guns.
• The Medic
• Only Sane Man: In season 4 he emerges as the most grounded and no-nonsense member of the club.
• Scars Are Forever: Where he gets his nickname (Scottish slang)
  • Glasgow Smile: Half of it anyway.
• Violent Glaswegian

Piermont "Piney" Winston

Played By: William Lucking
"Your father saw this coming. He saw the feds, the Irish, guys like Zobelle. And he knew we were going to die bloody."

• Badass Grandpa
• Beware the Quiet Ones
• Cool Old Guy
• Drowning My Sorrows: Prone to bouts of depression in which he does this.
• Killed Off for Real
• Promotion to Opening Titles: In season 2.
• Unusual Weapon Wielder: His oxygen tank.

Harry "Opie"/"Ope" Winston

Played By: Ryan Hurst
"You know this club means everything to me, the only thing I ever wanted from the time I went here. But everything else, Donna... the kids, work, their all heading in the opposite direction, just can't hook shit up. Feel like I'm missin' on every front."

• Badass Beard
• Beard of Sorrow
• Expy: Started off as the Horatio to Jax's Hamlet, but sliding more into a Laertes sort of relationship with Clay/Claudius. By the end of Season 3 he's Jax's Horatio again
• Death Seeker: Becomes this after Donna's death. He appears to have gotten better.
• It's Not You, It's My Enemies: During an attempt to intimidate a judge into giving a favorable verdict in a case by threatening the judge's son, Opie suffers a Heroic BSOD that hints this may be why he's been distancing himself from his own kids when it becomes clear how little the judge cares for his own son.
• The Lancer: To Jax.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: In season 2.

Juan-Carlos "Juice" Ortiz'

Played By: Theo Rossi

• Butt Monkey
• Driven to Suicide: At the end of "Fruit for the crows".
  • Becomes Interrupted Suicide when the tree branch he is trying to hang himself from snaps.
• The Cracker: Played fairly realistically
• Death Seeker: Becomes this in Season 4 after being forced to become The Mole
• The Mole: Blackmailed by Roosevelt. Then by Potter.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: In season 2.
• Token Minority
• Too Dumb to Live

Kip "Half Sack" Epps

Played By: Johnny Lewis
"It's a little bit painful when I ride. Sometimes I feel it when I walk. Other than that, back to normal."

• Butt Monkey
• Chew Toy
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: The actor left because he was dissatisfied with how the character was being treated
• Killed Off for Real
• Scars Are Forever: His nickname refers to a war wound. A really nasty one.

Happy

Played By: David La Brava

• All Bikers Are Hells Angels: Played straight in real life. David La Brava is a Hells Angel.
• Career Killer: of the hitman type.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Happy is the club's go-to guy when they need to wring information out of somebody.
• Psycho for Hire

Bobby: What are we going to do, walk up to him in the middle of Main street and cut off his head?
Happy: Okay.

"Big Otto" Delaney

Played By: Kurt Sutter

• Butt Monkey
• Creator Cameo: Big Otto is played by Series Creator Kurt Sutter.
• Despair Event Horizon: In season 4 he lost an eye, his wife is dead, he is facing a death sentence or at least life in prison and then Potter leads him to believe that his club and friends have betrayed and abandoned him.
• Driven to Suicide: He is going to let the state do it for him. He will not appeal his death sentence and wants his execution date pushed forward
• Eyepatch of Power
• Genre Savvy: When Potter shows up a second time under his guise of "Sheriff Marcel" Otto calls the bluff: no sheriff has enough power to bug an infirmary room. When Potter tells him who he really is, Otto knows exactly what Potter wants and what he can do. Otto pretty much directs the rest of the conversation and Potter merely nods and agrees.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars Badass scar over his left eye.
• Turncoat: After Lincoln Potter convinces him that Bobby and the club have betrayed him, he agrees to testify against them.

Eric Miles

Played By: Frank Potter

• Badass Mustache
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass
• Killed Off for Real

Herman Kozik

Played By: Kenny Johnson

• Badass
• Deadpan Snarker
• Dropped a Bridge on Him

Phillip "Filthy Phil" Russell

Played By: Christopher Reed

• Big Eater
• The Big Guy: In size, if not function.
• Plucky Comic Relief

John Teller

Played By: Nicholas Guest
" On the fringe, blood and bullets are the rule of law and if you're a man with convictions violence is inevitable."

• Expy: of Hamlet's Father with the journal playing the role of his ghost
• Posthumous Character
• Warrior Poet
• Your Cheating Heart

SAMCRO Friends & Family

Gemma Teller Morrow

Played By: Katey Sagal
"I'm protecting the innocent. If I step on a few toes in the meanwhile, so be it."

• Berserk Button: Clay stepping out on her while on the road is one thing. Rubbing her face in it (or so she thought) is another.
  • When she realizes that Clay put out a hit on Tara she pulls a gun on him. It is scary to think of what she might do after Clay beat her up
• Evil Matriarch
• Expy: Of Gertrude from Hamlet. With a good deal of Lady Macbeth thrown in.
• Foe Yay/Les Yay: With Stahl. And a little with Tara.
• Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have!
• Hollywood Atheist: "Jesus is just the guy who mows my lawn".
  • Easy Evangelism: Averted and then subverted. She has been slowly reconsidering her life and lack of belief but it took a gang rape, the entire second season, talking things over with several people, a character that or may not be an angel nudging her to do it and she's still not all the way. And then when she does get convinced God is pushing her she thinks He's telling her to kill Polly.
• Mama Bear: Or Grandma Bear in the case of her grandson.
• Knight Templar Parent and Knight Templar Grandparent
• Manipulative Bitch
• Never Mess with Granny
• Outlaw Couple: With Clay.
• Pet the Dog
• Platonic Life Partners: She and Unser move towards this during the second season. By the end when she's on the run from the law this has pretty much become fact.
• Team Mom
• Woman Scorned: Clay made a suicidal mistake when he beat her up.

Wendy Case

Played By: Drea de Matteo

• Put on a Bus: to rehab.
• The Bus Came Back: In Season 4, clean and sober, and a lesbian.

Dr. Tara Knowles

Played By: Maggie Siff
"I have created this very serious life for myself. And when I'm inside it, I barely know myself."

• All Girls Want Bad Boys
• Break the Cutie: When the Galindo cartel breaks her hand, effectively ruining her medical career since she seemingly wont't be able to operate anymore. Borders on Despair Event Horizon.
• Broken Bird
• The Medic
• Hospital Hottie
• Sanity Slippage: Happens in season 4 after her hand is injured during her attempted abduction
• Took a Level in Badass: And at the same time Took a Level in Jerkass

Rita/Cherry

Played By: Taryn Manning

• Killed Off for Real
• Shallow Love Interest: For Half Sack, just how shallow is uncertain.

Donna Winston

Played By: Sprague Grayden

• I Just Want to Be Normal: What she wanted for her family. Didn't work out.
• Killed Off for Real
• Perpetual Frowner

Luann Delaney

Played By: Dendrie Taylor

• Porn Star with a Heart of Gold
• Killed Off for Real
• Stealing From the Till

Ima Tite

Played By: Kristen Renton

• Alpha Bitch
• Porn Star with a Heart of Gold: Averted. Ima is a scheming, manipulative bitch who seems to have a thing for bikers who have girlfriends or wives.
• The Vamp

Abel Teller

• Babies Make Everything Better: Not really. Jax and Wendy do try to make things better between them in the first season because of him but it doesn't seem to have worked out and Gemma and Tara seem to be the main caregivers.
• Ill Boy: In the first season
• Morality Pet: For Gemma

Lyla Winston

Played By: Winter Ave Zoli

• Porn Star With A Heart Of Gold
• Put on a Bus
• Replacement Goldfish: One interpretation of what she is to Opie. In season 4 she herself says that that's what she is.
• Shallow Love Interest: Another interpretation.

Chucky Marstein

Played By: Michael Marisi Ornstein

• A Date with Rosie Palms
• Catch Phrase: "I accept that."
• Chew Toy
• Plucky Comic Relief
• Stealing From the Till

Charming Police

Wayne Unser

Played By: Dayton Callie
" Can you at least pretend I'm a cop sometimes?"

• Berserk Button: Minor one: seeing Gemma has been beat up by Clay.
• Corrupt Cop: He has been covering for the Sons for decades and is almost a honorary member of the club.
• Deal with the Devil
• Despair Event Horizon: Between the end of Season 3 and the beginning of Season 4 when he loses his job. Gemma and Clay drag him back from it.
• Just Friends: It's implied a few times in the series that Wayne has a crush on Gemma. Gemma is aware of this as well, and occasionally uses it to manipulate Wayne into doing her bidding.
• Last Dance: He is dying of cancer and is spending what time he has left trying to protect Gemma and Tara.
• Platonic Life Partners: see Gemma.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: In season 3.
• Wild Card: He is becoming one for Clay. He will help Clay one moment and then sabotage him the next. He is no longer afraid of Clay and his real loyalties lie with Gemma and Tara.

David Hale

Played By: Taylor Sheriden
"I know the greater devil when I see it."

• Fair Cop
• Knight in Sour Armor
• Heroic Sacrifice
• Killed Off for Real
• Motive Decay: He's so obsessed with getting rid of the Sons of Anarchy he's willing to accept Ethan Zobell's help despite his otherwise incorruptible nature. One wonders if he remembers why he wanted to get rid of the Sons in the first place.

San Joaquin Valley County

'Vic Trammel

Played By: Glenn Plummer

• Corrupt Cop
• Dropped a Bridge on Him
• What the Hell, Hero?: to Jax, when he finds out the guns used to attack his prisoner escort came from the Sons.

Eli Roosevelt

Played By: Rockmond Dunbar

• Bald of Awesome
• By-The-Book Cop: with some Cowboy Cop thrown in.
• The Determinator
• Demoted to Dragon: To both Jacob Hale and then to U.S. Attorney Potter. He outgrows it.
• Hero Antagonist: Shaping up to be the straightest example of this.
• Jerkass: At first.

US Attorney Office

Lincoln "Linc" Potter

Played By: Ray McKinnon

• Badass Biker: Subverted. He drives a bike but hasn't been shown doing anything remotely badass.
• BeardOfMoralAmbiguity
• Big Good: Throughout season 4, Potter appears to be similar to Stahl, working the Sons of Anarchy for his own ends. When his RICO investigation is ruined by the CIA, however, he reveals his true colors by thanking Roosevelt for his hard work, covering for Juice with SAMCRO, and undermining Hale's development project -- not because any of this brings him anything, but because the CIA's interference has made things worse for Charming. He does what little he can to make them better as he goes.
• Bunny Ears Lawyer: Prone to philosophize and even does ballet moves on top of the table when left alone in his Secret Room. And eat candy while Otto reads the deal to sell out the club. And smoking while hanging upside down.
• The Chessmaster
• Consummate Liar
• Hell-Bent for Leather: His trademark leather jacket.
• Manipulative Bastard: Shaping up to be one.

ATF

June Stahl

Played By: Ally Walker

• Bi the Way
• Depraved Bisexual
• Fair Cop
• Foe Yay/Les Yay: With Gemma.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Karmic Death, following a Villainous Breakdown
• Killed Off for Real
• Manipulative Bitch
• Motive Decay: Her pursuit of SAMCRO begins as just a case. After Big Otto beats her up it becomes an obssession. Then it just descends into pure mindfuckery.
• Smug Snake

Josh Kohn

Played By: Jay Karnes

• Ax Crazy
• Hey, It's That Guy!: The Shield regular Jay Karnes.
• Killed Mid-Sentence
• Killed Off for Real
• Stalker with a Crush
• Yandere: Male version

League Of American Nationalists (L.O.A.N.)

Ethan Zobelle

Played By: Adam Arkin

• Big Bad: Of Season 2.
• The Chessmaster
• Corrupt Businessman
• Evilly Affable
• Evil Foreigner: Turns out he and Polly are from Budapest. Subverted in that both of them sound and act completely American. (Well, it could easily be Budapest, MO, or Budapest, GA.)
• He Who Fights Monsters: If he wasn't just selling Hale a line.
• Karma Houdini: Played with.
• Manipulative Bastard
• Pragmatic Villainy: Despite being an "American Nationalist", he's perfectly willing to work with the Mayans.
• Put on a Bus

A. J. Weston

Played By: Henry Rollins

• Bald of Evil
• The Brute
• The Dragon
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones
• Face Death with Dignity
• Killed Off for Real
• The Fundamentalist: Compared with Zobelle and fellow CoDragon Ule.
• Knight Templar
• The Starscream
• Those Wacky Neo-Nazis

Polly Zobelle

Played By: Sarah Jones

• Blondes Are Evil
• Dark Action Girl
• Karmic Death
• Killed Off for Real

True IRA

Jimmy O'Phelan

Played By: Titus Welliver

• Big Bad: Of Season 3
• Deadpan Snarker: "Thank goodness for the American justice system!"
• Evilly Affable
• Face Death with Dignity
• Glasgow Smile: Given one by Chibs before being killed
• Karmic Death
• Kick the Dog: His Wife Husbandry plan involving Chibs daughter.
• Killed Off for Real
• Manipulative Bastard

Fiona Larkin

Played By: Bellina Logan

• Badass
• Working with the Ex

Maureen Ashby

Played By: Paula Malcomson

• Badass
• Beware the Nice Ones
• Big Sister Complex
• Broken Bird

Father Kellan Ashby

Played By: James Cosmo

• Badass Preacher: Ashby is the only person in the series so far to hand Jax a decisive beating (before Jax got a hold of a gun to even the playing field).
• The Consigliere: To the True IRA Council
• Corrupt Church
• Heroic Sacrifice: He turns himself over to what is almost certainly his own execution in order to get Jax his son back.
• Redemption Equals Death: If indeed, as is implied Jimmy kills him
• Well-Intentioned Extremist

Cameron Hayes

Played By: Jamie McShane

• Despair Event Horizon

Edmond Hayes

Played By: Callard Harris

• Too Dumb to Live
• "Well Done, Son" Guy

Other Gangs

Ernest Darby (The Nordics)

Played By: Mitch Pileggi

• Bald of Evil
• Demoted to Dragon
• Even Evil Has Standards
• Hidden Depths: Joined the Nords in prison, and their ostensible leader outside Charming. While he's quick to use racial slurs at gang meetings, privately he's seen hitting on Gemma while acknowledging her Jewish ancestry, has hired Mexicans at his legitimate workplace, and refuses to vandalize the gym business of an old Jewish friend. The implications, overall, are that Darby's not even slightly racist, but is a Punch Clock Villain for a racist gang.
• Humiliation Conga
• Those Wacky Neo-Nazis

Laroy Wayne (The One-Niners)

Played By: Tory Kittles

• Bald of Evil
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Veronica.
• Pragmatic Villainy
• Scary Black Man
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Always wears striped shirts.

Viktor Putlova (The Russians)

Played By: Keith Szarabajka

• Evilly Affable
• Horrible Judge of Character: Really, Viktor? Really? You thought that trusting Jax after you tried to murder him was wise?
• The Mafiya
• Pragmatic Villainy
• Wicked Cultured

Henry Lin (Lin Triad)

Played By: Kenneth Choi

• Affably Evil
• Pragmatic Villainy

The Mayans

Marcus Alvarez

Played By: Emilio Rivera

• Badass
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones
• Evilly Affable
• Manipulative Bastard
• Pragmatic Villainy

Esai Alvarez

Played By: Kevin Alejandro

• "Well Done, Son" Guy

Hector Alvarez

Played By: Jose Pablo Cantillo

• Ax Crazy
• Chew Toy
• The Dragon: Briefly, for Hale.

Galindo Cartel

Romero ‘Romeo’ Parada

Played By: Danny Trejo

• Badass
• Big Bad subverted.
• Mole in Charge: He actually works for the CIA
• Ruthless Foreign Gangsters: Oh boy.

Luis Torres

Played By: Benito Martinez

• The Dragon
• Mole in Charge: He actually works for the CIA

Santo Rivera

Played By: Senen Reyes

• Bald of Evil
• The Brute

Citizens of Charming

Mayor Jacob Hale Jr.

Played By: Jeff Kober

• Corrupt Businessman
• Crouching Sleazeball Hidden Badass: He might be a sleazy, power-hungry jerk, but he did save Jax and Tara when he stabbed Salazar with a pen.
• Deal with the Devil: His deals with LOAN, but the rest of the time he's the devil himself.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones
• Manipulative Bastard
• Sleazy Politician

Elliot Oswald

Played By: Patrick St Esprit

• Deal with the Devil

Tristan Oswald

Played By: Liana Liberato

• Rape as Drama