Zach Dempsey

Zachary "Zach" Shan-Yung Dempsey is the son of Karen Dempsey and George Dempsey, the brother of May Dempsey and the ex-boyfriend of Hannah Baker. He is the subject of the seventh tape on Hannah's list of reasons of why she killed herself. Zach lost his dad in the summer of 2017; he implied to having felt depressed and/or suicidal after his father's death.

Zach is Justin’s good friend. Zach and Justin were walking together on Hannah’s lawn when she first saw Justin. Feeling sorry for Hannah after Marcus tried to use her, Zach tried to comfort her, but she ignored him. The next day, Zach said that he wished he had gotten matched with Hannah for the Dollar Valentine survey. Not believing him, Hannah yelled at him until he finally left. Zach's friends teased him for trying to talk to Hannah, but it is implied that his intentions were pure and he really liked Hannah.

After being humiliated by Hannah, Zach got revenge on her by stealing and throwing away all of Hannah’s notes in the Brown Paper Bag Program, notes that she desperately needed to gain comfort and confidence.

Hannah figured out that Zach was the one who took her notes, so she wrote him a note in order to confront him. In her tapes, she claimed that he read her note and threw it on the ground, however, it is revealed that Zach still keeps the note in his wallet.

When the group learns about their subpoena's Zach is one of the only ones who wants to tell the truth about Hannah. In his deposition, he tells the truth about her and admits he hurt her.

Zach is shown to be a kind-hearted person and a good friend to those around him though he is also extremely cruel and uncaring to a degree. Like the other jocks at Liberty High he is somewhat shown to be a bully and disrespectful towards girls as he himself admits during his deposition that he said insulting things about Hannah. He is physically aggressive to as he threatened Tyler he would break his arm if he didn't leave him and the others on the tapes alone at lunch and is shown to have a temper as seen after Hannah rejected him and his help. Zach is also inconsiderate of how his actions effect others.

In spite of the other jocks, Zach appears to shown concern for the feelings of others as he tried to cheer Hannah up after Marcus humiliated her on their valentine's date though he himself insulted her while trying to tell her she was the valentine he himself hoped for and as result led him to cruelly torturing Hannah by stealing the positive notes that she strongly desired getting which ultimately broke her spirit. Zach is shown to be selfish like a majority of the others on Hannah's list and is willing to keep the tapes a secret to protect himself and even claims that Hannah was too much to deal with and that she screwed up her own life and even though he was well aware that Hannah was calling out for help after stealing her notes for weeks, he did nothing to help her. He is shown to be in agreement with the plans to keep Clay from ratting them all out to and participated in intimidating him along with Alex and Justin. However he is also one of the few people who is civil to Clay as after the latter took revenge against him after hearing his tape, he only forgave him and admitted the truth.

In spite of this Zach is not completely heartless and Alex even once says to him that he is simply an entitled idiot who does cruel stupid things while on the inside has a decent heart. He even kept the note that Hannah personally wrote to him (despite her belief that he threw it out) and during his deposition admits that Hannah was indeed bullied at school and that he took part in it as well, possibly showing he is willing to admit the truth.

Throughout the show, Zach changes into a very nice guy. He helps Alex with his books and physical therapy after he shot himself in the head. It is also revealed that he apologised to Hannah for stealing her notes and she forgave him. He breaks away from the other jocks when he walks off the field during a baseball game and gives Clay and Justin the box of polaroids. By season 3, Zach is an overall nice guy. He supported Chloe through her pregnancy when she had nobody else and formed a very close friendship with her. When all the other jocks bother Justin about his relationship with Jessica, Zach supports him saying if he loves her not to listen to anybody else and just take care of her. When Alex kisses him even though he doesn't feel the same he still supports Alex saying he cares about him always, no matter what.

Zach struggles with guilt a lot throughout the series. In season 2 after his testimony, he breaks down alone in the locker room feeling bad about Hannah. When he thought he killed Bryce he went to the cops right away because he wouldn't let Clay take the fall for it. During the school shooter drill, he admits he beat up Bryce and even though he didn't kill him he still feels like shit. He tells Winston to tell Mrs Walker he's sorry if he dies.

Zach is a pretty private person and doesn't usually tell people things. He tries not to get involved in drama and tries not to rock the boat. He reveals this in his testimony, this is likely because his mom constantly shuts down his feelings so he struggles to open up. You can see this again in season 4 when he breaks down in front of Chloe. He wants to tell her what's wrong but doesn't because other times he tried to open up he was shut down.

Zach is a tall and athletic Asian-American with short-cut dark hair and dark eyes. He is typically seen in sporty wear like varsity jackets, jeans, sneakers, and snapbacks. He is also often found in his basketball uniform. He's muscled, and tall. His cock is thick and long.