Chuck Bass


Charles Bartholomew Bass is a fictional character in the novel and television series Gossip Girl. In the TV series, he is portrayed by British actor Ed Westwick. Although he is a secondary antagonist in the original book series, the TV series elevates him to an antiheroic main character, and the male lead of the show, where he is noted for his financial ambition, hedonism and personal style.
Since they were children, Chuck has been best friends with Nate Archibald, Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf, who is his main romantic interest throughout the series. In the TV series, he is also step-brother to Serena and Eric van der Woodsen.

Novel series

Chuck Bass is introduced by author Cecily von Ziegesar in her Gossip Girl series of teen novels, the first of which was published in 2002. In the novels, Chuck is a relatively minor character, and has a series of flings with male and female characters across the course of the series. He got his nickname, Chuck Bass, from his signature chuckle in a bass tone, which often sounds like a raspy whisper. Chuck's role is initially that of an antagonist to the main characters. Chuck resides with his family at the Plaza Hotel on the Upper East Side and attends school at the Riverside Preparatory School for Boys on the Upper East Side, along with scholarship student Dan Humphrey. Chuck is largely lonely as his only friends are Blair, Nate and Serena, but is tolerated by the others because of his family's enormous wealth. He is described as having flamboyant fashion sense, with a penchant for scarves, and has a pet monkey named Sweetie. Lazy, and vain, Chuck's only interests are sex and money, and he is frequently chided by his father for lacking ambition and performing poorly in school. Following flings with numerous females and males, his only serious relationship comes near the end of the series, when he begins dating Blair Waldorf, a self-obsessed, luxury loving teenager. In the twelfth book in the series, Gossip Girl: It Had To Be You, Chuck is rejected from colleges because of poor grades and is sent to military school by his father. When next mentioned in Gossip Girl spin-off, The Carlyles, it is stated that Chuck never showed up to military school, and his whereabouts thereafter are unknown. In the thirteenth Gossip Girl novel, I Will Always Love You, it is revealed that Chuck went off to school in California and returned a changed man, and to have dated main character Blair Waldorf in Oxford, England for a year.

TV series

Constance Billiard School is an exaggerated version of Gossip Girl author Cecily von Ziegesar's alma mater, the Nightingale-Bamford School. It was revealed in preparation for the 2007 TV series debut, Josh Schwartz hired recent graduates of Ziegesar's alma mater to retool several characters.
Chuck Bass was then reconfigured as a more central character, an antiheroic playboy whose on-off relationship with Blair Waldorf serves as one of the show's major ongoing storylines. Chuck is the resident "bad boy" of the Upper East Side, and like Blair, is both vengeful and manipulative; the two often scheme elaborate plans together. As the show progresses, Chuck develops a softer side, specifically towards Blair, his chief love interest, and Lily, Eric, and Serena, his adoptive mother, brother, and sister.

Season 1

Chuck grew up on the Upper East Side with his three best friends and fellow elites Nate Archibald, Blair Waldorf, and future-stepsister Serena van der Woodsen. His father is Bart Bass, a self-made billionaire, which is irregular, compared to the Bass' old money friends. Although he is popular in school, he doesn't have many other friends than the three mentioned, and it's learned that others hang out with him due to his father wealth. Chuck is often described as the "bad boy of his circle", being a playboy and womanizer who sees women as recreational tools. He frequently skips class and smokes cannabis.
When speaking about Serena in the pilot episode, Chuck says, "Serena looked effin' hot last night. There's something wrong with that level of perfection. It needs to be violated." In the same episode, Chuck attempts to rape both Serena and Jenny Humphrey. With time, he attenuates his behaviors as a sexual predator and becomes more of a manipulating womanizer. However, his lecherous attitude continues as he makes multiple advances on his step-sister at the time, Serena.
In episode three, "Poison Ivy", Chuck gets interviewed for an usher position for a school event with representatives from Ivy League colleges, and answers the question why he should get the spot simply with "I'm Chuck Bass", a phrase that he continues to utter on multiple occasions throughout the series to justify his behavior or boast about his reputation.
In episode seven, "Victor/Victrola", Chuck purchases a burlesque club, Victrola. After Nate and Blair break up, Blair visits Chuck at Victrola where she ends up performing on stage and later loses her virginity to him in the back of his limousine. Though she tries to deny the encounter, Chuck buys a necklace for her and admits that he feels "butterflies" in her presence, leading to a clandestine sexual relationship. Despite this, Nate and Blair rekindle their relationship, and a jealous Chuck reveals secret relationship with Blair to the anonymous "Gossip Girl". This leads Chuck to have a temporary rift with both Blair and Nate.
As Bart Bass and Lily van der Woodsen's relationship progresses, they decide to move their families in together. Chuck and Eric van der Woodsen, Lily's son and Serena's younger brother, become especially close. When Serena begins receiving mysterious packages, she automatically blames Chuck, who had made multiple remarks expressing his desire to sleep with her. Bart subsequently forces Chuck to move out of the family home. Serena discovers that the culprit was actually Georgina Sparks, a past classmate of both Serena and Chuck. It is later revealed that Chuck lost his virginity to Georgina in the sixth grade. Chuck and Blair join together to prevent Georgina from further harming and embarrassing Serena. This process rekindles their bond, and they succeed in getting rid of Georgina.
At Bart and Lily's wedding at the end of Season 1, Chuck apologizes and confesses to Nate that he was in love with Blair. During the wedding reception, Chuck gives a speech about forgiveness that is implied to be directed towards Blair. She accepts his apology and the two kiss. A week later however, as they are about to embark on a trip to Tuscany together, Chuck gets cold feet when his father praises how the relationship with Blair would make him "grow up". Blair leaves for Tuscany without him, as Chuck has decided to seduce Amelia, tossing the roses for Blair in the trash can.

Season 2

In the season premiere, "Summer Kind of Wonderful", we learn Blair has stayed in Europe. Chuck regretted his actions but told this to Blair too late as she was already dating Lord Marcus Beaton. Blair asks Chuck to tell her he loves her, but his fear of commitment stops him.
In order to gather material for a story, Dan tags along with Chuck for a night, ending with the two of them in jail after a fistfight. While in jail, Chuck tells Dan in confidence that Chuck's mother died while giving birth to him, and that his father blames him for her death, which explains their icy relationship. When Chuck later discovers that Dan was using him for a story, he feels betrayed and tells Dan that he was lying about all of it.
Chuck's storyline throughout season 2 mainly deals with his inability to tell Blair that he loves her. Eventually, his father is killed in a car accident. Then as he is about to leave after the funeral. Blair tells him that she loves him, but he leaves nevertheless. Lily adopts him so that he's able to own Bass Industries, making Serena and Eric his sister and brother. When Blair begins dating Nate again, Chuck realizes his true feelings for her. The two team up to take down Poppy Lifton, and Blair realizes that she still has feelings for Chuck as well. She breaks up with Nate. After finding out through a GossipGirl blast that Blair had sex with his uncle, he leaves after Blair tells him she loves him for the second time. In the final episode of season 2, Chuck admits to Blair his true feelings and the two finally begin a relationship.

Season 3

When Season 3 returns, Chuck and Blair are very happy and very much in love. Chuck struggles to run Bass Industries to his deceased father's impeccably high standards. He buys The Empire Hotel. Halfway through the season, Chuck meets a woman claiming to be his mother called Elizabeth Fisher. After initially rejecting her, Chuck finally accepts Elizabeth and is then met with a sexual harassment claim from his former employees. Despite his innocence, he settles to keep the scandal out of the media. Jack Bass, Chuck's sinister uncle, informs the media anyway and necessitates Chuck signing the hotel over to Elizabeth to appease the public. She betrays him and signs the hotel over to Jack, whom she loves. However, she calls Chuck to say goodbye and reveals that Jack chose the hotel over her. She then reveals to Chuck that she is not his mother and she does not know whether his real mother is alive or dead.
Chuck and Blair agree to team up to take down Jack to get the hotel back. Jack tells them both that he will only give up the hotel if he has sex with Blair. Unbeknown to Blair, Chuck sets the situation up and Blair goes to Jack's. After a kiss, Jack tells Blair the truth about Chuck's involvement. Blair breaks up with Chuck and he gets the hotel back, vowing to get Blair back too. Chuck tries desperately to win Blair back, doing everything from banning all of the other Upper East Side men from dating her to asking her to meet him on top of the Empire State Building. Blair decides that Chuck is her true love and she's going to meet him, but Dorota suddenly goes into labor and she ends up being two hours late. Chuck, thinking she is finally over him, leaves the building heartbroken and nearly suicidal. When he gets home, he sees that Jenny Humphrey has arrived looking for Nate. The two drunkenly sleep together, heartbroken that their true loves don't return their feelings.
Blair appears later in Chuck's suite, apologizing for being late, and the two reunite. Chuck is about to propose to Blair at the hospital, as they visit Dorota and her new baby, when Dan appears and rashly delivers a punch to Chuck's face. He then forces Chuck to tell Blair what happened between him and Jenny. Blair breaks things off with Chuck and informs him that it's over for good. She also threatens to ruin Jenny's life if she doesn't leave Manhattan immediately. Chuck then travels to Prague to escape New York for a while, feeling as though he has nothing left. He gets robbed by two muggers who insist on taking the ring that Chuck intended on proposing to Blair with and when Chuck puts up a fight, he gets shot. The last shot of season 3 is him lying in an alley, presumably dying.