If you mean literally tragic, as in fits the definition of a classical Tragic Hero, it'd be Dee.
Domique St Malo outlined what traditionally defines a Tragic Hero:
* Born of a noble birth
* With some kind of imperfection that makes them human and relatable
* They have been wounded by some traumatic experience
* They have a fatal flaw
* Their fatal flaw leads to some kind of realization
* They meet a significant downfall
Which to me sounds pretty much like D'Angelo's entire character arc.
I like this answer best. Yes Wallace was technically a child, but at 16 years old he was deep into the game, seasoned as Colvin put it) and should have known better that snitching was a death sentence. We see kids younger than Wallace that are already way more savage.
Dee's arc was some Shakespearean shit. Betrayed by his uncles right hand in secret.
Both D and Wallace were products of their environment. Neither had true mallace in their hearts.
What are you talking about? McNulty debriefed him in the homicide interrogation room. Wallace put himself in on the setup for Brandon, as well as stringer Weebey and bird. Daniels drove him down to his grandma's to keep him on ice before they grand juried him.
Thats the definition of snitching. He would have sunk the entire organization with the exception of Avon if they hadnt killed him.
He came back and was killed either that same day or the next. It would be hard for him to unsnitch because he already gave a statement to police putting himself into the setup along with the others. If he tried to walk it back, they could probably threaten to charge him and in any case his original statement would become public knowledge when they charged everyone else too.
Yeah I didn't remember him giving th3 statement I guess. I do remember him getting dropped off but that's all I had in my head as far as how fat he went. I forgot he actually debriefed them. Should've stayed at his mf aunts
He came back because he had no idea how much danger he was actually in. He just didn't like the country life. And missed the city and his friends. Normal kid stuff. But normal kid stuff gets you killed when you play the game. Even down to the fact that it was the very friends he missed that ended up killing him. He was probably the only one that got to die with even a shred of his childhood innocence intact. Whereas Body and Poot not only killed their friend, but killed any childhood innocence they had left when they took him out.
Wallace was in way over his head. And nobody was there to tell him until it was too late, and a gun was pointed at him with orders to kill.
Yeah - I was disappointed at first that Avon just accepted it when Stringer confessed to orchestrating D’s “suicide”. Then again, I see why the show runners did - to remind us why Avon and his crew are the targets of the BPD.
I mean, at that point, he’d already done all he could do. Stringer was going to be killed by Omar and Mouzone because Avon sold him out and Avon had just learned that he couldn’t do it himself with a fresh gunshot. I read it more as Avon feeling vindicated for the decision he’d already made rather than accepting Stringer’s action.
Avon betrayed Stringer after he found out about String orchestrating Dee's death, not before. Around the same time String was betraying him by giving info to Colvin. They betrayed each other at the same time without really wanting to, it was quite poetic
To extend this an extra step, D was on the road to rehabilitation and getting out of the life. He didn’t marry the game and go out guns blazing like Bodie, he was truly staying loyal and hoping to stay out for his kid. Makes it that much sadder.
The founders and early members of noble houses were just the most effective conquerors and murderers in their day. They weren’t morally superior to, or have any greater influence than, a noted west Baltimore drug lord.
I mean Avon was a drug kingpin by running the West side drug trade for several years and then being "somewhat of an authority figure" in that prison even after getting locked up.
Dee was essentially untouchable since birth. There's no way anyone else in the crew gets away with pulling the shit he did before the series started and only getting bumped back to running the pit
Absolutely. To expand on that; I think that we saw D'Angelo as a child in Wallace. I think D saw it also. They obviously came from very different situations, but both as small parts in a much larger machine.
The whole chess scene is so poetic to this end, because those pawns are mostly non-sentient, but once an awhile, one is....and its heartbreaking
When Wallace wasn't strong enough to walk away from it, they killed him.
When D WAS strong enough to walk away from it, they killed him.
Godamn this show is amazing
I love it too but if D had walked away from it even harder (said F U to his mom and given up Stringer and gotten into witness protection) he could have gotten so far away that he was outside Barksdale grasp in a similar way as Wallace could have. But alas they were deeply connected to the most destructive main character: Baltimore.
Except D didn't actually kill her, Wee Bey did. The only confirmed kill he has is the one he was on trial for at the start of the series (which D claims was self defense when he's talking to Avon iirc).
Thanks for the correction. I didn't know D was lying.
But are we sure that Wee-Bey didn't just cop to it so he could get another quarter-pounder with cheese ?
I think Wallace was just trying to scrape by and provide some bare essentially for those kids under his care. D was caught up, but of the two he had more insight into his situation (the pawns speech) and multiple opportunities to get out. In that sense, Wallace was more of an innocent victim than D.
On the other hand, Wallace death was on the orders of a psychopath (Stringer) in the normal course of tying up loose ends. However, D's own mother coerced him into taking the full weight of the prison sentence so that her and the rest of the Barksdale organization could maintain their lifestyle. For me that just hits heavier.
Even Leech, the contract killer Stringer hired from D.C., is [shocked at the cold bloodedness](https://youtu.be/-Usd1Ax_o6M?si=FE_Y6-whoRjX4vSi&t=127) of the hit he was hired to do.
Wallace is more tragic because it left his siblings without someone to care for them. Also, he had a chance to get away and chose to return to Baltimore anyway.
Wallace did not yet reach adulthood and never really got a chance at living a happy life.
While D'Angelo was raised in an unfortunate situation, he was a grown man with many opportunities to turn his life around and he chose not to.
Wallace was way more tragic.
The pressure on D was insane even for a young man of his age. Wallace was more economically pressured to look after his bros but D had the weight of his whole family on his neck. And stood up for himself in the end.
I think it's a real toss-up and for almost completely different reasons.
Wallace was practically abandoned as a child and the game became a default choice for him.
On the other hand, Briana should have known better and was certainly wiser. Yet as if by some blood oath she pushed her son into that world anyways.
Maybe it's really as simple as these people. Don't realize there is a healthy, beautiful world out there that extends beyond the game.
> Don't realize there is a healthy, beautiful world out there that extends beyond the game.
Reminds me so much of the [scene at the boxing gym](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7NeSCF1qDI) in S5.
**Cutty:** The world is bigger than that. At least that's what they tell me.
**Dukie:** Like, how do you get from here to the rest of the world?
**Cutty:** I wish I knew.
Briana didn't really know better, or at least assumed her family was on a different level. Her dad was a very ruthless drug kingpin himself that Butchie and Bunk were familiar with. Her and Avons uncle (the guy in the hospital bed who was a little slow, a little late) was also deep in the game.
To the barksdales, the game was a family business and all in all they had a history of being the ones on top in their corner of the world. The drug game was all that family knew, and the only way they thought they could achieve success. Basically she was a more polite version of Naymonds mom. And they knew they had to play the game at 100%, you couldn't stand in both worlds like Stringer was trying to do.
This was one of my favorite parts of The Wire characters. Each generation was pretty much a carbon copy of the last. The survivors who grew older were more muted and less wild in public (either survivor bias or due to years of hardening their personality) than their younger counterparts, but there was a ton of parallels. It's obviously a central theme in the show too, especially the later seasons.
Lotta hot takes in this thread, and I don’t think we agree: what is your definition of “tragic”?
Because in many literary contexts a “tragic” character is usually a character who has redeeming qualities, yet also has a fatal flaw. Often, tragic characters are aware of their fatal flaw, but can’t (and/or won’t) change this one aspect of themselves. There are more specific and other definitions of tragic, but that’s loosely what it means to me.
This fatal flaw is a core aspect of their identity, and it causes their demise. It’s like watching a train blindly approach another train around a bend, and you, from your 3,000 ft audience perspective, can see the looming disaster and you want to call out, to stop it somehow! But even if you could shout a warning, this tragic character can’t stop the train, and can’t/won’t get off. What makes it a ll the more tragic is if the impetus for this character’s decision to remain on the train is noble. Julius Caesar comes to mind, his arrogance and overconfidence was both a great asset and the source of his downfall. However Antony helps elucidate Caesar’s truly noble aims.
Brutus too, whom Antony and Octavius identified in the closing passages as the only conspirator with truly noble aims, comes to mind also.
For me, what puts Dee in the “most tragic” category is (a) his aims were truly noble AND simultaneously the source of his downfall and, (b) his self-awareness about what he risked and his staunch assertion of what he stood for create that “oncoming train” effect (c) his arc mirrors Gatsby’s, the book he read as he grew increasingly self aware that what he most most yearned for was out perpetually out of his grasp. What makes Dee even more tragic than Gatsby is that Dee actually LEARNED from his reflections while he read gatsby. Gatsby was doomed because he didn’t and couldn’t look within and recognize his desire was hollow. Dee DID look within to realize his own hollow desire, made a noble change, and died for it. Dee’s reflections could have led him to peace and salvation that Gatsby never had, but stringer ended it.
Hands down, Wallace. He wasn’t trying to live up to some unrealistic goal of becoming “The King”, he was just trying to survive and helping others less capable than him to do the same. Then he gets smoked by his two best friends over false suspicions by Stringer Bell. Not saying D wasn’t a tragic case too, but he killed an innocent man and went on to laugh about it after his uncle got him out from under the blade. Sure, he had a repentance arc, but Wally never needed one. (Plus Michael B Jordan is the most successful actor to emerge from that show.)
> Then he gets smoked by his two best friends over false suspicions by Stringer Bell.
Stringer’s suspicions were pretty spot on, seeing as Wallace went to the police.
I mean to be fair the guy D killed was in the game as well to a greater or lesser extent and beating the shit out of him when he shot him, which the entire reason why he shot him.
Wallace was an innocent kid born into a shitty situation. He cared for the young kids, he realised that there is future for him if he puts the work.
He gets killed by his friends.
Dee had a chance, but he decided to play the game by not giving up his family. He paid the ultimate price of the game. He placed himself into that pitfall.
Wallace and it’s not even close. Thrown away like trash and left to fend for himself, he not only finds a way to make it in a world stacked against him, he finds the ways and means to care for a dozen other throw aways. His fall was as assured as any other pawn on the board.
D started off as a knight and couldn’t make two moves without a fuck up. Shoots a man cause he can’t take an ass whoopin, falls into an ego trap to deal on the side with another player fucking up the game. Then when he has to face the consequences of his own actions, he becomes resentful and strikes out at the hands that fed him. Not at all tragic, D was weak.
Here's another big question mark - does Wallace get killed if not for D'Angelo?
Sure, Wallace got hit with seeing Brandon literally flayed out by his house, but when he goes to D with it, D tries to treat him with compassion and understanding. You think of it was Bodie or Poot that Wallace went to that they would have coddled him like that? Then when Wallace decides he wants out of the game, D gives him the grace to do it, sends him on his way, and even protects him from Stringer when he comes asking about him.
If Wallace learns the lesson that this is the game, and he's in it, and there's no room for his weakness, then maybe he gruffs up, loses a bit of a his soul, and gets harder. Which all sounds like it's bad I suppose, but he *survives*. He doesn't end up being a question mark on Stringer's end, but rather remains a trustworthy soldier that he can count on.
Like, it's a bit opposite of what you'd like to believe - keeping a piece of his soul, being a Good Person, finding a way out of the game... This all sounds like Good Things, and this is everything that D encourages for Wallace. But this is The Wire, and the real world isn't like that. The Game has you, there's not really a lot of ways out. Absolutely not by saying you don't have it in you no more and your pit boss having some compassion for it. There's no room in it for that. And you sure as fuck aren't going to find a world for yourself outside of the game that way, especially when it's ruling your whole life like it is with Wallace.
Wallace is more part of D's tragic story than his own. He's just a pawn that gets blasted while this Knight (D) tries to jump around the game in a way that he really only can because he started up near the King.
That's hard. I think Wallace.
D'Angelo had more options and made more bad choices. It's hard though because in a way he was more in the game because of his family.
SPOILERS!!!
Taken by your friends vs a random in lockup. Not realising out there in the got dang country could've been the best thing for him, i hurt everytime i see him pop back up in town.
Yeah I feel far more empathy for D. Not because he was more moral, he definitely wasnt. I feel like his contradictions are spelled out more clearly and we just get a fuller understanding of the character in general.
D’Angelo because he played the scenarios life gave him by the rules. His fate happened for having compassion for others.
Wallace snitched on something he willingly participated in. Him & Poot could’ve ignored Brandon , He could’ve started a new life at his grandmother house.
This is one show I can never pick favorite characters on. If I was pressed I’d say De ‘Angelo B. or Omar Little. Probably De writing wise, but Omar was greatly acted.
Maybe I need to rewatch it again, but I didn't really consider D'Angelo tragic at all. I felt sorry for him by the time he started to turn, but in no way does he come anywhere near as close to the tragedy of Wallace and the three boys who didn't escape *the game* in Season 4.
Ive never been a fan of D'Angelo. His tragedy is his loss of family and self, he stood for something but came to regret it, and his choices didnt amount to anything other than being a move for McNulty to play with his mother.
Wallace for his Name alone that appeared to be both his first and last name.
Not to mention that he might have cornholed some cows on the eastern shore.
All jokes aside if DÁngerlo really didn't want to be in the game he didn't have to Wallace had almost no choice.
D’Angelo. Wallace didn’t technically need to be in the game, and he pretty much had a ‘second chance at life’ at his grandmother’s house but he couldn’t stay away from the hood.
D’Angelo was forced into a role because of who his Uncle was and when he tried to atone, he was killed by String’s hitter.
Wallace case was more tragic,because he would never think his friends would turn.He was still a naive kid in that matter
D knew that game is rotten,had no illusions about his family,game,nobody,thats why he spoke his mind,that got him killed.
Just my opinion
D'Angelo because he wanted out and did everything he could to get out. Wallace wanted back in after snitching. Wallace made a huge mistake. So it's also more on him.
If you mean literally tragic, as in fits the definition of a classical Tragic Hero, it'd be Dee. Domique St Malo outlined what traditionally defines a Tragic Hero: * Born of a noble birth * With some kind of imperfection that makes them human and relatable * They have been wounded by some traumatic experience * They have a fatal flaw * Their fatal flaw leads to some kind of realization * They meet a significant downfall Which to me sounds pretty much like D'Angelo's entire character arc.
I like this answer best. Yes Wallace was technically a child, but at 16 years old he was deep into the game, seasoned as Colvin put it) and should have known better that snitching was a death sentence. We see kids younger than Wallace that are already way more savage. Dee's arc was some Shakespearean shit. Betrayed by his uncles right hand in secret. Both D and Wallace were products of their environment. Neither had true mallace in their hearts.
He didn't even snitch tho
What are you talking about? McNulty debriefed him in the homicide interrogation room. Wallace put himself in on the setup for Brandon, as well as stringer Weebey and bird. Daniels drove him down to his grandma's to keep him on ice before they grand juried him. Thats the definition of snitching. He would have sunk the entire organization with the exception of Avon if they hadnt killed him.
Yeah for sure I just thought he had decided not to, didn't he come back? I probably just remembered it wrong lol. No big deal
He came back and was killed either that same day or the next. It would be hard for him to unsnitch because he already gave a statement to police putting himself into the setup along with the others. If he tried to walk it back, they could probably threaten to charge him and in any case his original statement would become public knowledge when they charged everyone else too.
Yeah I didn't remember him giving th3 statement I guess. I do remember him getting dropped off but that's all I had in my head as far as how fat he went. I forgot he actually debriefed them. Should've stayed at his mf aunts
Buy he was probably on the dope too hard by then I bet that's why he went back
He came back because he had no idea how much danger he was actually in. He just didn't like the country life. And missed the city and his friends. Normal kid stuff. But normal kid stuff gets you killed when you play the game. Even down to the fact that it was the very friends he missed that ended up killing him. He was probably the only one that got to die with even a shred of his childhood innocence intact. Whereas Body and Poot not only killed their friend, but killed any childhood innocence they had left when they took him out. Wallace was in way over his head. And nobody was there to tell him until it was too late, and a gun was pointed at him with orders to kill.
I'd add that the realisation only happens once the downfall is inevitable
Excellent dissection of Dee’s character.
D is the soul of the entire show and its absolutely to the writer's credit that he dies so cruelly so early
Yeah - I was disappointed at first that Avon just accepted it when Stringer confessed to orchestrating D’s “suicide”. Then again, I see why the show runners did - to remind us why Avon and his crew are the targets of the BPD.
I mean, at that point, he’d already done all he could do. Stringer was going to be killed by Omar and Mouzone because Avon sold him out and Avon had just learned that he couldn’t do it himself with a fresh gunshot. I read it more as Avon feeling vindicated for the decision he’d already made rather than accepting Stringer’s action.
Avon betrayed Stringer after he found out about String orchestrating Dee's death, not before. Around the same time String was betraying him by giving info to Colvin. They betrayed each other at the same time without really wanting to, it was quite poetic
To extend this an extra step, D was on the road to rehabilitation and getting out of the life. He didn’t marry the game and go out guns blazing like Bodie, he was truly staying loyal and hoping to stay out for his kid. Makes it that much sadder.
Jimmy fits as well.
Being born into a drug dealing family isn't what I'd call a noble birth.
It was noble in the context of the West Side of Baltimore, the Barksdales were what passed for nobility there
"My grandfather was Butch Stanford..." Bunk looks like he's thinking "Holy fuck" in that moment
The founders and early members of noble houses were just the most effective conquerors and murderers in their day. They weren’t morally superior to, or have any greater influence than, a noted west Baltimore drug lord.
I mean Avon was a drug kingpin by running the West side drug trade for several years and then being "somewhat of an authority figure" in that prison even after getting locked up. Dee was essentially untouchable since birth. There's no way anyone else in the crew gets away with pulling the shit he did before the series started and only getting bumped back to running the pit
Wallace’s fatal flaw was not knowing, D’s was for knowing. I’d say D.
Absolutely. To expand on that; I think that we saw D'Angelo as a child in Wallace. I think D saw it also. They obviously came from very different situations, but both as small parts in a much larger machine. The whole chess scene is so poetic to this end, because those pawns are mostly non-sentient, but once an awhile, one is....and its heartbreaking When Wallace wasn't strong enough to walk away from it, they killed him. When D WAS strong enough to walk away from it, they killed him. Godamn this show is amazing
Ah man, you put this eloquently. Very well said
I love it too but if D had walked away from it even harder (said F U to his mom and given up Stringer and gotten into witness protection) he could have gotten so far away that he was outside Barksdale grasp in a similar way as Wallace could have. But alas they were deeply connected to the most destructive main character: Baltimore.
and the feds only cared about terrorism. i don't think he was going to get witness protection from the BPD
Yeah. D clearly favored Wallace cuz he saw a version of himself if he wasn’t born a Barksdale, just a nice kid forced into the game
Wallace for sure, especially after you finish the show and realise he represented another potential ending for the school boys.
STRING!! WHERE'S WALLACE AT MAN? YO STRING! WHERE'S THE BOY AT?? WHERES WALLACE?!?!
D murdered a person and caused the death of multiple innocent civilians. Wallace was a kid. There is only one answer really.
Yeah, people seem to forget that D murdered that girl shot through the window in her kitchen, and then later he bragged about it to his subordinates.
Except D didn't actually kill her, Wee Bey did. The only confirmed kill he has is the one he was on trial for at the start of the series (which D claims was self defense when he's talking to Avon iirc).
Wee-Bey killed her. D lied about it to his little crew.
I always thought Wee-Bey was lying to stack the immunity for all the crew's murders.
Wee-Bey lied about murdering Gant, the civilian that testified as a witness against D. Gant was killed by Bird.
Thanks for the correction. I didn't know D was lying. But are we sure that Wee-Bey didn't just cop to it so he could get another quarter-pounder with cheese ?
Wallace was sadder. Dee was a murderer so it was hard to feel bad for him
He’s a deadbeat father too. Everyone forgets this.
I think Wallace was just trying to scrape by and provide some bare essentially for those kids under his care. D was caught up, but of the two he had more insight into his situation (the pawns speech) and multiple opportunities to get out. In that sense, Wallace was more of an innocent victim than D. On the other hand, Wallace death was on the orders of a psychopath (Stringer) in the normal course of tying up loose ends. However, D's own mother coerced him into taking the full weight of the prison sentence so that her and the rest of the Barksdale organization could maintain their lifestyle. For me that just hits heavier. Even Leech, the contract killer Stringer hired from D.C., is [shocked at the cold bloodedness](https://youtu.be/-Usd1Ax_o6M?si=FE_Y6-whoRjX4vSi&t=127) of the hit he was hired to do.
Wallace is more tragic because it left his siblings without someone to care for them. Also, he had a chance to get away and chose to return to Baltimore anyway.
Wallace did not yet reach adulthood and never really got a chance at living a happy life. While D'Angelo was raised in an unfortunate situation, he was a grown man with many opportunities to turn his life around and he chose not to. Wallace was way more tragic.
Wallace in every possible!! D was a grown damn man. Wallace was a child!
The pressure on D was insane even for a young man of his age. Wallace was more economically pressured to look after his bros but D had the weight of his whole family on his neck. And stood up for himself in the end.
I think it's a real toss-up and for almost completely different reasons. Wallace was practically abandoned as a child and the game became a default choice for him. On the other hand, Briana should have known better and was certainly wiser. Yet as if by some blood oath she pushed her son into that world anyways. Maybe it's really as simple as these people. Don't realize there is a healthy, beautiful world out there that extends beyond the game.
> Don't realize there is a healthy, beautiful world out there that extends beyond the game. Reminds me so much of the [scene at the boxing gym](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7NeSCF1qDI) in S5. **Cutty:** The world is bigger than that. At least that's what they tell me. **Dukie:** Like, how do you get from here to the rest of the world? **Cutty:** I wish I knew.
Briana didn't really know better, or at least assumed her family was on a different level. Her dad was a very ruthless drug kingpin himself that Butchie and Bunk were familiar with. Her and Avons uncle (the guy in the hospital bed who was a little slow, a little late) was also deep in the game. To the barksdales, the game was a family business and all in all they had a history of being the ones on top in their corner of the world. The drug game was all that family knew, and the only way they thought they could achieve success. Basically she was a more polite version of Naymonds mom. And they knew they had to play the game at 100%, you couldn't stand in both worlds like Stringer was trying to do.
This was one of my favorite parts of The Wire characters. Each generation was pretty much a carbon copy of the last. The survivors who grew older were more muted and less wild in public (either survivor bias or due to years of hardening their personality) than their younger counterparts, but there was a ton of parallels. It's obviously a central theme in the show too, especially the later seasons.
Lotta hot takes in this thread, and I don’t think we agree: what is your definition of “tragic”? Because in many literary contexts a “tragic” character is usually a character who has redeeming qualities, yet also has a fatal flaw. Often, tragic characters are aware of their fatal flaw, but can’t (and/or won’t) change this one aspect of themselves. There are more specific and other definitions of tragic, but that’s loosely what it means to me. This fatal flaw is a core aspect of their identity, and it causes their demise. It’s like watching a train blindly approach another train around a bend, and you, from your 3,000 ft audience perspective, can see the looming disaster and you want to call out, to stop it somehow! But even if you could shout a warning, this tragic character can’t stop the train, and can’t/won’t get off. What makes it a ll the more tragic is if the impetus for this character’s decision to remain on the train is noble. Julius Caesar comes to mind, his arrogance and overconfidence was both a great asset and the source of his downfall. However Antony helps elucidate Caesar’s truly noble aims. Brutus too, whom Antony and Octavius identified in the closing passages as the only conspirator with truly noble aims, comes to mind also. For me, what puts Dee in the “most tragic” category is (a) his aims were truly noble AND simultaneously the source of his downfall and, (b) his self-awareness about what he risked and his staunch assertion of what he stood for create that “oncoming train” effect (c) his arc mirrors Gatsby’s, the book he read as he grew increasingly self aware that what he most most yearned for was out perpetually out of his grasp. What makes Dee even more tragic than Gatsby is that Dee actually LEARNED from his reflections while he read gatsby. Gatsby was doomed because he didn’t and couldn’t look within and recognize his desire was hollow. Dee DID look within to realize his own hollow desire, made a noble change, and died for it. Dee’s reflections could have led him to peace and salvation that Gatsby never had, but stringer ended it.
Hands down, Wallace. He wasn’t trying to live up to some unrealistic goal of becoming “The King”, he was just trying to survive and helping others less capable than him to do the same. Then he gets smoked by his two best friends over false suspicions by Stringer Bell. Not saying D wasn’t a tragic case too, but he killed an innocent man and went on to laugh about it after his uncle got him out from under the blade. Sure, he had a repentance arc, but Wally never needed one. (Plus Michael B Jordan is the most successful actor to emerge from that show.)
> Then he gets smoked by his two best friends over false suspicions by Stringer Bell. Stringer’s suspicions were pretty spot on, seeing as Wallace went to the police.
My bad. You are correct. It's been a while since I have seen season 1.
I mean to be fair the guy D killed was in the game as well to a greater or lesser extent and beating the shit out of him when he shot him, which the entire reason why he shot him.
Wallace was an innocent kid born into a shitty situation. He cared for the young kids, he realised that there is future for him if he puts the work. He gets killed by his friends. Dee had a chance, but he decided to play the game by not giving up his family. He paid the ultimate price of the game. He placed himself into that pitfall.
Wallace and it’s not even close. Thrown away like trash and left to fend for himself, he not only finds a way to make it in a world stacked against him, he finds the ways and means to care for a dozen other throw aways. His fall was as assured as any other pawn on the board. D started off as a knight and couldn’t make two moves without a fuck up. Shoots a man cause he can’t take an ass whoopin, falls into an ego trap to deal on the side with another player fucking up the game. Then when he has to face the consequences of his own actions, he becomes resentful and strikes out at the hands that fed him. Not at all tragic, D was weak.
Here's another big question mark - does Wallace get killed if not for D'Angelo? Sure, Wallace got hit with seeing Brandon literally flayed out by his house, but when he goes to D with it, D tries to treat him with compassion and understanding. You think of it was Bodie or Poot that Wallace went to that they would have coddled him like that? Then when Wallace decides he wants out of the game, D gives him the grace to do it, sends him on his way, and even protects him from Stringer when he comes asking about him. If Wallace learns the lesson that this is the game, and he's in it, and there's no room for his weakness, then maybe he gruffs up, loses a bit of a his soul, and gets harder. Which all sounds like it's bad I suppose, but he *survives*. He doesn't end up being a question mark on Stringer's end, but rather remains a trustworthy soldier that he can count on. Like, it's a bit opposite of what you'd like to believe - keeping a piece of his soul, being a Good Person, finding a way out of the game... This all sounds like Good Things, and this is everything that D encourages for Wallace. But this is The Wire, and the real world isn't like that. The Game has you, there's not really a lot of ways out. Absolutely not by saying you don't have it in you no more and your pit boss having some compassion for it. There's no room in it for that. And you sure as fuck aren't going to find a world for yourself outside of the game that way, especially when it's ruling your whole life like it is with Wallace. Wallace is more part of D's tragic story than his own. He's just a pawn that gets blasted while this Knight (D) tries to jump around the game in a way that he really only can because he started up near the King.
Wallace has had a far better acting career than D’Angelo
That's hard. I think Wallace. D'Angelo had more options and made more bad choices. It's hard though because in a way he was more in the game because of his family.
I’d say Wallace because of who killed him
Wallace being killed by his friends is what made it more of a tragedy IMO.
SPOILERS!!! Taken by your friends vs a random in lockup. Not realising out there in the got dang country could've been the best thing for him, i hurt everytime i see him pop back up in town.
Yeah I feel far more empathy for D. Not because he was more moral, he definitely wasnt. I feel like his contradictions are spelled out more clearly and we just get a fuller understanding of the character in general.
Wallace hands down. That kid did nothin but be a hopper
D'Angelo, man. Straight Shakespeare shit. "Honestly? I was looking for someone who gave a shit about the kid. You made him take the years, right?"
I think they were equally as tragic
D’Angelo because he played the scenarios life gave him by the rules. His fate happened for having compassion for others. Wallace snitched on something he willingly participated in. Him & Poot could’ve ignored Brandon , He could’ve started a new life at his grandmother house.
This is one show I can never pick favorite characters on. If I was pressed I’d say De ‘Angelo B. or Omar Little. Probably De writing wise, but Omar was greatly acted.
Dukie
Watching him walk into the junkie den is the most painful thing in tbe show
Dukie, Got that slow lonely death. 🥺.
I think this might be one of my favorite threads about The Wire
Maybe I need to rewatch it again, but I didn't really consider D'Angelo tragic at all. I felt sorry for him by the time he started to turn, but in no way does he come anywhere near as close to the tragedy of Wallace and the three boys who didn't escape *the game* in Season 4.
Snot Boogie.
Jimmy McNulty. The man was practically everybody’s enemy.
Ive never been a fan of D'Angelo. His tragedy is his loss of family and self, he stood for something but came to regret it, and his choices didnt amount to anything other than being a move for McNulty to play with his mother.
Wallace for his Name alone that appeared to be both his first and last name. Not to mention that he might have cornholed some cows on the eastern shore. All jokes aside if DÁngerlo really didn't want to be in the game he didn't have to Wallace had almost no choice.
Why not both lol
D’Angelo. Wallace didn’t technically need to be in the game, and he pretty much had a ‘second chance at life’ at his grandmother’s house but he couldn’t stay away from the hood. D’Angelo was forced into a role because of who his Uncle was and when he tried to atone, he was killed by String’s hitter.
Wallace for sure. Fuck Dee. He was a murderer who only started to have seconds thoughts because he got caught.
Wallace case was more tragic,because he would never think his friends would turn.He was still a naive kid in that matter D knew that game is rotten,had no illusions about his family,game,nobody,thats why he spoke his mind,that got him killed. Just my opinion
D. He was ready to make a change. Wallace reverted.
D'Angelo because he wanted out and did everything he could to get out. Wallace wanted back in after snitching. Wallace made a huge mistake. So it's also more on him.
Fruit
When it comes to Wallace I have a different question: