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Character Role Analysis

Jopling and Henckels

Jopling and Henckels are both antagonists in the sense that they're the people after our protagonists. However, as we watch these two chase Zero and Gustave around Zubrowka, we see that our heroes' enemies are quite different.

Let's start with Jopling. He is a mean dude, a thug who isn't afraid to cut off fingers or heads or even strangle people in the sanctity of a confessional. He is a bad man who will use any means to carry out the wishes of Dmitri, his employer.

Henckels is a different breed. He too wants to hunt down Gustave, but he's on the side of the law. He, like Gustave, uses obsessively polite language, even when asking for the surrender of Gustave and Zero on the Zubrowka Alps. He's kind: He repays Gustave's kindness by helping Zero with his papers. He's a man of honor… which is probably why, at the film's end, he seems to have been stripped of his power.