Rick Sanchez

Rick is a genius scientist, capable of creating complex scientific inventions, including brain-enhancing helmets, dream-invading devices, portals to several different dimensions, cloning technology, cybernetic implants, various energy weapons and force fields, and the world's first amusement park inside the body of a living human. His brilliance can be muddled by his jaded personal views and his alcoholic tendencies. Rick is easily bored and does not do well with routine. When his curse removing store in the episode "Something Ricked This Way Comes" started requiring real work, Rick simply lit the whole store on fire and abandoned it. He regularly goes to other dimensions to harvest resources and will often willingly kill aliens to get them. He is willing to be extremely brutal such as when people betray him or his life or those close to him are in danger. He is usually portrayed as homicidal and having a large disregard for life, enough that he came close to bombing the world with neutrinos while drunk. He was shown to find killing fun during the Purge and was even willing to kill Morty's half-Gazorpian son due to the child's danger to everyone and unstable nature.

This does not make him completely heartless, however, as he has been shown to be shocked, startled or annoyed by the loss of life that he deems unnecessary, foolish, or unreasonable. He was annoyed at Morty for letting Fart live, resulting in a chase with local police that cost many bystanders their lives. In addition to that, he was panicked when Unity destroyed an entire city that Rick thought still had people in it since he was unsure if Summer and Morty were there or not. He also was shocked and upset by people he was close to dying or nearly dying, such as when Mr. Poopybutthole was shot and he ran to his side in fear for the latter's life. When Bird Person was killed by Tammy, Rick flies into a rage, mowing down multiple Federation troops. In "Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate", Rick gasps when seeing Jerry being shot several times, and left mutilated. During the time of the Festival, he only watched the killing for a few short seconds before becoming overwhelmed by the violence and vomiting. Later, when helping Arthricia get revenge against the upper class, he felt he had done enough killing and began to find it gratuitous. In the past, Rick was a "hero" like Space Beth but eventually stopped, deeming it a “phase”. In Unmortricken, upon witnessing the death of his uncle, Slow Mobius, an enraged Rick would attack his uncle's murderer, later killing him.

Contrary to popular belief, Rick is not a nihilist. Although his commonly-stated viewpoint on life may be the typical nihilistic idealism that "nothing has meaning", he doesn't always put his money where his mouth is. Rick expresses love and emotion for his family and lovers on an almost episodic basis. Plot relevant instances include "The ABC's of Beth", which proves his fatherly love for Beth and "Auto Erotic Assimilation", where he's being dumped by Unity made him depressed enough to cry. Rick frequently reminds people that he's above everything that could hold meaning or value to him and made "I don't give a fuck!" his new catchphrase in "Ricksy Business", but this is all a mask. Rick is shown to care about maintaining relationships with others and holds a sentimental value of his family.