By Suzanne

For a great history on the show, please go to this site.

Spencers, Cassadines, and Webbers

Luke is married to Laura, who is in an insane, catatonic state.  He has one son, Lucky, and a little girl, Lesley Lu (also known as Lulu).  His sister is Bobbie, a nurse at the hospital.  Laura also had a son named Nikolas, who was born when she was kidnapped by the Cassadines.  No one knew about him until he came to town in his teens.  Luke used to be a mobster and rapist, but somehow he has also always been a romantic hero.  He is what they generally call an anti-hero.  He lives on the edge and flaunts authority.

Lucky and Elizabeth Webber used to be a serious couple, but Helena Cassadine kidnapped Lucky for a year and tried to brainwash him, so that pretty much wrecked their relationship.  Elizabeth and Jason Morgan flirted for  awhile but never became a real couple. Elizabeth was married to Ric Lansing for a while, but his obsession with his brother, Sonny,  took over his life.  Elizabeth had been pregnant, but she miscarried, thanks to Faith pushing her down the stairs.  Ric blamed Sonny.  He kept Sonny's wife Carly prisoner in his panic room, hoping to steal her baby from her.  He drugged Elizabeth to keep her from having more children or from knowing about the panic room.  Elizabeth later slept with Zander Harris and had his baby, whom she named Cameron after Zander's father.  Zander and his father both died a few years ago.

Elizabeth was an artist, but now she is a nurse at General Hospital.  Her brother, Steven, is a doctor there, and her grandmother Audrey is a nurse there.  Lucky was a photographer, but now he is a cop.  Emily comes from the wealthy Quartermaine family, and she is a med student.  Nikolas' family was also rich but it's unclear now as to exactly how much money they have.  His family comes from Russian royalty but they are also of Greek descent.

Lucky, Elizabeth, Nikolas, and Emily used to hang out together and were known as the "Four Musketeers".  Emily used to have a crush on much-older Nikolas.  Later, after both had many relationships and matured, they fell in love.  Many things have kept them apart as they have become the hero and heroine of the show, always in peril from others.  Nikolas' grandmother Helena hates Emily and wants her dead; she has tried many times to kill her.  Emily was raped by a man named Connor who looked exactly like Nikolas.  He blamed Nikolas for the death of his crazy ex-wife, Mary, and fell for Emily.  Nikolas was put in prison for the murder of Helena, even though she didn't really die (he threw her off a cliff).  Lucky was in love with Emily for a while, but now it looks as if he and Elizabeth might be getting back together.

Stefan is not evil like the rest of his family but he sometimes does evil things.  He loves his nephew Nikolas and sometimes, Laura.  There is a long time feud between the Spencer and Cassadine families.  Nikolas is also a good guy.  Luke runs his own bar, Luke's.  Laura runs Deception Cosmetics.  Nikolas works for L&B records doing PR.  Stefan, Nikolas and Helena are very rich and run many businesses under the Cassadine Empire.  Stefan also helps to run GH.  Lucky is not working at the moment but sometimes he's an artist. 

Nikolas' aunt is Alexis Davis, a lawyer.  Helena killed Alexis' mother and often tries to kill her.  Alexis came very close to marrying Ned Ashton, a Quartermaine, but chickened out.  She married Jax breifly but they were only friends.  She was in love Sonny for a long time while she was his lawyer.  When he was briefly separated from his wife, they had a one-night stand, which resulted in her daughter Kristina (named after her dead sister).  Alexis was afraid that Sonny's mobster life would endanger Kristina, so she lied for years that Ned was the father (and Ned went along with it).  Alexis was also briefly involved with Cameron before he died.  Kristina got sick, so everyone found out the truth about Sonny being her parents.  Alexis married friend Ric Lansing in order to make a better case for custody of Kristina (but also because she had fallen for him), but Sonny won custody.  He allows Kristina to stay with Alexis but he frequently sees her, much to Alexis' chagrin and fear.

Bobbie Spencer is Luke’s close sister.  They grew up on the streets, not knowing their parents.  Bobbie was married many times, including to doctor Tony Jones.  She has an adopted son, Lucas.  Bobbie's daughter is Carly Corinthos.  Bobbie gave Carly up for adoption, but Carly tracked her down and it took a while before the two of them became close.  Carly recently found out that her father is John Durant, a Federal Prosecutor who makes his living going after mobsters.  This made things difficult for Carly, who was married to Sonny, a mobster.  Durant was only interested in bringing down Sonny, at first, but later he was glad to know Carly, too.  Steven Webber has worked with Durant in the past as a forensics expert.  When he first came to town, he and Durant kept their relationship a secret as he spied on Carly for Durant.  Steven developed feelings for Carly and he was a lot more honest than Durant, so he told her the truth.  He and Carly have become good friends, but she has resisted a romantic relationship with him.

Carly is still in love with her husband, Sonny.  They had a very tumultuous history, partly because Carly lies a lot.  She helped Alexis keep Kristina's paternity a secret, which was the final straw for Sonny.  Carly also has feelings for Lorenzo Alcazar, another mobster, who is in love with her.  Carly has two sons, Michael and Morgan.  Michael's biological father is A.J. Quartermaine, but Sonny adopted him.  Morgan is Sonny's son.  Carly and her sons live in an apartment building (Steven Webber also lives there).

The Quartermaines

The Q's are a wealthy family full of business people and doctors.; they quarrel a lot.  The patriarch is Edward, a blustery fellow who runs the family business ELQ.  He will stop at nothing to get what he wants and likes to throw his money around.  His sweet wife that everyone loves was Lila; she died in 2004.  Edward's son is Alan, chief of staff at the hospital.  Edward had two illegitimate children, Bradley Ward and Jimmy Lee Holt.  Bradley's son is Justus Ward, a lawyer.  He has worked for ELQ and also Sonny Corinthos  He and Edward didn't get along too well.  Edward treats his family badly.  He has always made Alan feel like a failure because he didn't go into the family business.  Justus is in love with Faith Roscoe, another mobster, whom he knew years ago.

Alan is married to Monica, another doctor.  Alan and Monica fought for many years and cheated on each other a lot but now they are more like a boring old couple.  They have two sons, Jason and A.J.  Alan thought that Skye was his daughter, but they found later she wasn't; however, they still tear her like she's part of the family. Skye was a character on All My Children and One Life to Live before coming onto GH.  She is in love with Luke and they have many adventures.  Tracy is Edward's daughter.  She is a selfish bitch and no one likes her, but they put up with her.  She is always fighting with someone for control of ELQ.  Her son is Dillon Hornsby.  He loves her but doesn't like her much, either.  Dillon is a film student.

Jason was the good son with a promising medical future until he got into a bad car accident with his brother A.J., who was driving drunk.  Jason had major brain damage and has been a different guy ever since.  A.J. did a lot of bad things and then left town after stealing from the family.  Jason, who had permanent amnesia as well, moved out of the house because he couldn't stand his family any more  He doesn't smile much, doesn't like liars, and isn't very trusting, but he is very loyal to his few close friends.  He got involved with mobster Sonny Corinthos and they have been friends, almost like brothers or father-son,  for a very long time.  He calls himself Jason Morgan now (Morgan was his grandmother Lila's maiden name). 

Jason was involved for a while with Carly, when she was involved with A.J.  Jason and Carly have remained good friends throughout many trials.  Jason was married briefly to Sonny's sister, Courtney, but she couldn't handle the mob life.  She had a tragic miscarriage as well.  Jason got involved with Sam while she was pregnant with Sonny's child, and they formed a family bond for a while.  Sam miscarried, but they fell in love.  Jason and Courtney still have ties, even though Courtney is involved wiht Jax and he is with Sam.

Ned is also Tracy's son and has been involved with ELQ for a long time.  He also has his own recording company, L&B.  He was married many times, but his favorite wife was Lois Cerullo.  Lois was from Brooklyn and fell in love with Ned while he was moonlighting as singer Eddie Maine.  Later, Lois left town with their daughter Brook Lynn because she didn't like the influence that the Quartermaines had on her family.  Lois and Brook recently came to town.  Brook is a singer/songwriter teenager; she would like her parents back together, but they don't want to reunite.  Lois has been involved with Lorenzo Alcazar.  Brook dated Lucas for a while, but she fell in love with Diego, a foster kid who turned out to be Lorenzo's son.

Emily is Monica and Alan’s adopted daughter.  Her mother died of breast cancer about the time Monica had the disease.  She had a drug problem in the past.  Her first love was rock singer Juan, but he didn't treat her well and then she fell for Zander, so Juan left.  They had a tortured history until his death.

The Corinthos Family and other mobsters

Sonny is a mobster, but a nice guy, basically. He was raised in a poor section of New York and his father left him and his mom early. Today Sonny has an on-again, off-again relationship with Mike Corbin, his repentant dad.  Mike's only problem nowadays is that he has a gambling problem so Sonny has often had to bail him out. When Sonny was young, his step dad Deke beat Sonny (and his mom) and left him a closet a lot, so he has some issues with violence. He also has issues with authority in general, and with police in particular. Sonny fought back early on and joined the mob and now he controls a large part of the eastern seaboard, or at least it seems that way, and part of Puerto Rico as well. Even though he is a mobster, he never is involved in drugs or prostitution, and he never does violence himself (to make him more sympathetic, I suppose). Sonny has had many relationships wiht women.  The woman from his past that was very special was Brenda.  They were a great super-couple and also a great triangle with Jax.   Sonny has had bouts of manic depression and has come close to suicide a few times when he has lost loved ones. He has lost many loved ones.

Sonny and Carly didn't used to like each other, but they had sex one night and it led to her being pregnant.  He convinced her to marry him, and they fell in love.  Carly miscarried but they stayed together for a long time and had more children.  There are many people in town either fear or respect Sonny. He has tried to make some good will by doing things like giving money to the Pediatric AIDS foundation. He owns some ELQ stock, too. 

Courtney is Sonny's half-sister, but they didn't grow up together.  She is a real heroine on the show and very able to defend herself with kick-boxing.  She can be very gullible and trusting sometimes.  She received millions of dollars for helping a rich old lady a few years ago and she has used that to fund a charity for foster children.  She sometimes takes in foster children.  She used to be married to A.J. and Jason, but now she is engaged to Jax.  Her father, Mike, worries about her often.

Ric Lansing is Sonny's half-brother (no relation to Courtney) and also didn't grow up with him.  He blames Sonny for the fact that he grew up with a cold, non-loving father.  The man had asked Sonny's mother to choose between Ric and Sonny, so she chose Sonny and left.  Ric thinks that Sonny caused the problems by pushing her down the stairs when she was pregnant with Ric, but Sonny remembers it as an accident.  Ric can be very twisted and obsessive, but he also has a good side.  He is district attorney of Port Charles and currently married to Alexis Davis.  What Ric wants more than anything else is to have Sonny love him and treat him as a brother, but Sonny hates him (and for good reason).

Lorenzo Alcazar came to town after Alexis killed his brother, Luis.  Luis was evil, but Lorenzo has more conscience and compassion.  He had studied to be a history professor but had to give it up to help run the family business (guns and drugs).  He loved his niece, Sage, until she murdered.  He fell in love with Carly and actively pursued her for a long time.  Lorenzo views Sonny as a crude, uneducated thug and they have had a long rivalry.  Lorenzo has done some things to make people hate him, but Carly and Lois have a soft spot for him.  Now he is trying to get to know his new-found son, Diego.

Faith is an evil mobster but she has moments of vulnerability and a lot of humor.  She tried to get control of Sonny's empire but failed miserably.  She has murdered a lot of people, including her own grandmother, but fell in love with Justus, who has tried to help her out with legal advice.  Faith recently went to prison but escaped and has kidnapped Kristina to get back at Alexis and Sonny.

Others

Mac Scorpio is the town's police chief.  He is a good person.  He used to be married to Felicia, a sometimes-private eye.  They have two daughters, Georgie and Maxie.  Georgie is in love with Dillon.  Sometimes Georgie and Dillon get into trouble, so Mac does not like Dillon too much and is always forbidding Georgie to see him.  Georgie and Maxie's real father is Frisco Jones, Tony's brother, who is a secret agent and never comes home.

Jasper "Jax" Jacks is a rich guy who makes a living taking over other companies.  He is handsome, charming, and romantic.  He and Sam were briefly involved, but she was just using him and lied to him a lot.  Jax is good friends with Ned and Alexis.  He and Skye used to be married and are good friends.  Jax wooed Courtney and now they are in love and making plans to be married. 

Sam used to be on the run and had many adventures (not all good); she worked on her own salvage boat for a while.  She fell in love with Sonny when he was separated from Carly, but he did not return the feelings.  She miscarried their baby and that hit her very hard.  She fell in love with Jason, but she has trouble trusting people.  She can be kind of a bitch and a liar, but she can also be nice.

Coleman is a really sleazy guy who runs the bar called "Jakes" that a lot of people hang out in (especially Carly and Jason when they want to play pool).  He used to run a strip club and has been involved in blackmail, kidnapping, and many other things.

Previous history

Back to the Main GH Page

Buy Soap Magazines
Go here for great news & scoops, photos and in-depth articles!

Soaps In Depth ABC

Soaps In Deph CBS

 

Soap Opera Digest

Soap Opera Weekly