Goth Characters: 23 Iconic Guys, Girls, & Cartoons

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Meet goths from anime, Disney movies, animated shows, & more

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IN THIS ARTICLE

1 Eric Draven (The Crow)

2 The Goth Kids (South Park)

3 Sam Manson (Danny Phantom)

4 Abby Sciuto (NCIS)

5 Nancy Downs (The Craft)

6 Andrea (Daria)

7 Richmond (The IT Crowd)

8 Wednesday Addams (Wednesday)

9 Lydia (Beetlejuice)

10 Lisbeth (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo)

11 Jacqueline and Vince (Portlandia)

12 Debbie Hyman (American Dad)

13 Sleep (The Sandman)

14 Marceline (Adventure Time)

15 Joan of Arc (Clone High)

16 Janis (Mean Girls)

17 Blade (Blade)

18 Snape (Harry Potter)

19 Raven (Teen Titans)

20 Tia Dalma (Pirates of the Caribbean)

21 Alice (Resident Evil)

22 Selene (Underworld)

23 Helena Bonham Carter (Multiple Films)

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Co-authored by Sydney Bermudez and Eric McClure

Last Updated: February 25, 2026 Fact Checked

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Inspired by the punk movement, goth subculture is all about the dark and macabre. It’s a fashion aesthetic, a type of music, and even a literary genre! In this article, we’re going to look at some of the most infamous, notorious, and downright hilarious depictions of the goth subculture.

Famous Goth Characters

Important goth characters range from the absurd, like Richmond from The IT Crowd, to the poignant and moving, like Lisbeth from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Sometimes they’re just silly, like Marceline in Adventure Time. The most iconic examples include:

• Eric Draven (The Crow)
• The Goth Kids (South Park)
• Sam Manson (Danny Phantom)
• Abby Sciuto (NCIS)

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1

Eric Draven (The Crow)

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1. 
   Draven is the titular character of The Crow, a comic about a man who comes back from the dead to get revenge for his family. The 1994 film adaptation is the most popular and iconic iteration, where Draven was played by Brandon Lee (the son of Bruce Lee). It is cemented in pop culture as one of the coolest depictions of goth culture ever. It just checks all of the boxes. Clad in black? Yep. Spooky, scary attitude? For sure. White and black face paint? No doubt. The Crow rocks.

   • This was actually Brandon Lee’s last film. He was tragically killed on the set of the film when another actor fired an improperly loaded prop gun and accidentally killed him.
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2

The Goth Kids (South Park)

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1. 
   Their names are Henrietta, Michael, Pete, and Firkle, but they’re really just known as “the goth kids” on the show. The juxtaposition between the kids being…well, kids…and their total despair and depression is just so funny, and their eternal struggle against “posers” is also hilarious. Plus, they do that iconic hair flip thing! The hair flip is so goth!

3

Sam Manson (Danny Phantom)

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1. 
   Danny’s best friend, Sam, is a great depiction of what many goths are actually like. She’s often playful, extremely friendly, and tells the occasional joke—she just has a bit of a dark streak to her!

   • Sam is also a vegan (or as she puts it, “ultra-recyclo-vegetarian”). This is another great detail, since goth people tend to be very conscientious, and thus, are often vegan or vegetarian.
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4

Abby Sciuto (NCIS)

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1. 
   Played by Pauley Perrette, Abby Sciuto is the fun-loving forensic scientist with the NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) on the show of the same name. She’s another great depiction of IRL goths; she’s brilliant, hyper, goofy, and exceptionally clever. She just likes heavy metal, black clothes, and the goth aesthetic!

5

Nancy Downs (The Craft)

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1. 
   The Craft is kind of an entire film about goth kids, but Nancy Downs (played by Fairuza Balk) is probably the goth-iest of them all. With her blood-red lipstick, studded choker, terrible temper, and maniacal smile, she’s an excellent antagonist with a real flair for the dramatic.
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6

Andrea (Daria)

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1. 
   Voiced by Susie Lewis-Lynn (and later Janie Mertz), Andrea is Daria’s classmate. She’s a recurring background character, and she provides a lot of fun moments in the show. We don’t get to learn a lot about her, but her cynicism plays nicely as background texture for Daria’s nihilism.

   • Daria was kind of a goth show in a lot of ways. The show’s co-creator, Glenn Eichler, once said, “We didn't want to do a show about the misfits finding happiness through solidarity. We didn't want anyone finding happiness, period.” Hardcore, man.

7

Richmond (The IT Crowd)

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1. 
   Richmond Felicity Avenal (played by the hilarious Noel Fielding) had it all as a high-powered executive at Reynholm Industries. Then, he became a goth. This upset management so badly that he was banished to the IT Department, where he decided to set up shop in the server room. He has some of the show’s most hilarious moments, and the running gag about how he’s always “bumming everyone out” is one of the show’s funniest tropes.
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8

Wednesday Addams (Wednesday)

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1. 
   We could 100% have put every single member of the Addams family on this list, but Wednesday seems like the ideal representative of the crew. The modern depiction of Wednesday by Jenna Ortega was so hardcore goth that it actually created the impression that Ortega was a goth IRL.

9

Lydia (Beetlejuice)

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1. 
   Played by Winona Ryder in the 1988 film, Lydia is Beetlejuice’s bride-to-be and the only character who can see the ghosts of the Maitland family. Her unique ability to see ghosts is due to her depressive brand of gothiness, which really elevates her importance since Beetlejuice can use her as a bridge to come back to the real world. It’s one of the few pieces of media where someone actively being goth was a huge plot element.
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10

Lisbeth (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo)

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1. 
   As the titular character of the film/book, the audience immediately recognizes Lisbeth is someone not to be trifled with. The antisocial hacker with a calmly violent streak is just such a presence that it’s hard to not be unsettled by her. She’s also an incredibly dynamic character, and her actions become more and more interesting the more you learn about her as the plot unravels.

   • The film version of Lisbeth is much more “goth-y” than the book version. In the novel, she’s described more as a tiny punk with a short fuse. Still very much a goth, just not as escalated aesthetically as the film shows.

11

Jacqueline and Vince (Portlandia)

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1. 
   The recurring characters from the sketch comedy show Portlandia are goth satire turned up to a hilarious degree. They basically try to make every activity as goth as possible. From shopping at Bed, Bath, & Beyond to planning a “fun-eral” at SeaWorld, the two just turn every mundane moment into goth hilarity.
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12

Debbie Hyman (American Dad)

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1. 
   Steve’s on-and-off-again girlfriend (voiced by Lizzy Caplan) is potentially the best depiction of a goth character in an animated show. Her aesthetic is inspired by an authentic love with classical goth literature, and outside of her fashion choices, you’d never know otherwise that she’s goth.

13

Sleep (The Sandman)

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1. 
   Also known as Morpheus and The Sandman, Sleep is one of “The Endless”---god-like entities responsible for maintaining natural elements of the world (his siblings are Destiny, Death, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium). He’s got all of the goth hallmarks: big black hair, tons of brooding, and a deep fascination with staring longingly at people with a grimace on his face.

   • Sleep’s sister, Death, is also an incredibly cool goth character. Just look at her fit!
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14

Marceline (Adventure Time)

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1. 
   Marceline (voiced by Olivia Olson) is a goofy and playful 1,000-year-old vampire queen. She’s one of Finn’s best friends, so we get to spend a lot of time with her, which is awesome. She sort of moves around like a slinky, she cracks hilarious jokes, and she occasionally appears from the shadows to remind you she’s a vampire.

15

Joan of Arc (Clone High)

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1. 
   Voiced by Nicole Sullivan, Joan of Arc is an exact clone of the 15th century French general. Her character in Clone High is decidedly less-religous-fanatic-y than the real Joan of Arc, but she still brings some of Joan’s broodier traits to life with her neo-goth vibes.
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16

Janis (Mean Girls)

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1. 
   Everyone remembers Regina George and her posse as the fun secondary characters of Mean Girls, but Janis (played by Lizzy Caplan) and her friend Damian are arguably the best part of the film. Her sassy, hipster brand of goth is a fun riff on the traditional “brooding” goth archetype, and she has some of the best lines in the film.

17

Blade (Blade)

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1. 
   People don’t normally think about Blade (played by Wesley Snipes) as a “goth” character, but what else do you call a guy who never smiles, wears all black, and walks around talking about death and destruction?
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18

Snape (Harry Potter)

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1. 
   Professor Severus Snape (played by Alan Rickman in the films) is an enigmatic professor with one of the world’s most gothic haircuts. He also really embodies the snide and persnickety nature of how a lot of goths feel about mainstream society, despite sort of being in charge of everything at Hogwarts.

19

Raven (Teen Titans)

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1. 
   “What if we made a goth superhero?” That’s what Raven’s designers must have been thinking when they created her. She’s part human and part demon, so it’s natural that she has a bit of a gothic vibe to her. She’s also really funny in the TV show.
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20

Tia Dalma (Pirates of the Caribbean)

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1. 
   Played by Naomie Harris in the At the World’s End sequel, Tia is a beloved voodoo soothsayer who once loved Davy Jones. It’s implied in the films that she may have once been in a relationship with Jack Sparrow, too. She’s got this witchy island goth vibe that makes her exceptionally memorable as a character.

21

Alice (Resident Evil)

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1. 
   Alice (played by Milla Jovovich) was the protagonist of the 2002 film adaptation (she never appears in any of the games). She’s basically the perfect example of the “goth girl with a gun” trope, and boy does she pull it off in style.
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22

Selene (Underworld)

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1. 
   Selene (played by Kate Beckinsale) takes goth to a whole new level. She refuses to wear literally anything but black leather, and her skin is so pale she doesn’t even need to wear any face makeup to complete the look. Oh, and she’s a vampire assassin locked in an eternal war with werewolves, which is about as goth a job as you can get.

23

Helena Bonham Carter (Multiple Films)

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1. 
   Helena Bonham Carter might actually just be a goth queen IRL, so this is kind of cheating, but she does play some very iconic goth characters (despite, in her own words, not liking goth music or culture). Specifically, we want to give her props for the following masterful goth character performances:

   • Bellatrix Lestrange (Harry Potter)
   • Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd)
   • Marla (Fight Club)
   • Corpse Bride (Corpse Bride)
   • The One-Eyed Witch (Big Fish)
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