Rowley Jefferson

"A butt can't be cute, it's a butt."

- Rowley Jefferson

Rowley Jefferson was Greg Heffley's best friend and is a major character in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. He has protective parents who aren't fond of Greg's behavior, assuming that he is a bad influence. He is often seen as an anti-hero in the series, despite being the main character's best friend, as he often does idiotic things to get Greg in trouble while he gets off scot-free. Despite this idiotic behavior, though, Rowley always wishes the best for everyone.

Personality
"Zoo-Wee-Mama!"

- Rowley Jefferson

Rowley Jefferson is overweight, childish, overly affectionate to everybody (including strangers,) immature, naive, idiotic, ridiculous, ignorant, spoiled, meek and strong-willed.

Rowley is incredibly immature, as shown in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules. On his birthday, he gets a whole bunch of toys meant for children younger than him and a diary, titled "Sweet Secrets Diary," that was made for girls- however, he seems to be overjoyed by the presents. In a later scene, Greg looks at Rowley's "Sweet Secrets Diary", which he got beforehand in the book, and finds out he hardly puts anything "cool" in it; he doesn't even put Greg's name in it, which makes Greg wonder why he's even friends with him in the first place. Rowley's immaturity is once again shown in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days. In that book, he chooses a box of chocolate-covered raisins over a trip to the grand championship of Twisted Wizard 2; Greg saw this as a complete and utter waste of time as Rowley ignored the opportunity to win a million dollars. Rowley, in some ways, is also very ridiculous; his stupidity often lands Greg up in trouble that would have never happened if Rowley hadn't been involved. Rowley is also shown to have a great interest in world travel, as according to Rodrick Rules and The Last Straw, Rowley has been to South America, Europe and Australia. Rowley has very little willpower up until Dog Days, since Greg could convince him to do almost anything that he told Rowley to do.

Appearance
Rowley appears to be wider than Greg. He has 7 strands of hair, sticking downwards in a curved way. Rowley has never appeared with his mouth closed, leaving him with an open happy face, or an open sad face.

Interests
Rowley has strange interests for his age and gender. Rowley is hooked into a European singer, Joshie, which Greg stated was for six-year old girls. Rowley has said in the first book that he likes a single-panel comic, "Li'l Cutie," which Greg despises. In Dog Days, it is shown that Rowley actually doesn't like video games that much and only plays them because Greg forces him to.

Greg Heffley
Greg and Rowley were best buddies until the end of Dog Days, where their friendship apparently broke apart. During their time as friends, they did share some differences and had a complex relationship. Even though Greg had done malevolent things towards Rowley, like injuring him and getting him in trouble for something he didn't do, they still remained friends. Rowley liked to talk to Greg about his trips around the world, though Greg had completely no interest for his distant trips. Rowley also tried to copy Greg's habits in some ways, such as obtaining a diary, and copying Greg's "rival sporting colors". Rowley isn't "manly," and this trait had annoyed Greg several times. Greg often had a habit of using Rowley for his own schemes and desires. Rowley, in fact, started off as a pushover for Greg to manipulate, but in Dog Days, it is becoming evident that he is losing patience with Greg. This is proven by the fact that he and Greg got over a fight in Diary of a Wimpy Kid over a Safety Patrol dispute rather quickly, but in Dog Days, they fought and argued again; this fight broke them up as friends and left them separated for the entire summer. As shown by the argument, both he and Rowley are starting to hate each other's characteristics, and it is suggested that Greg and Rowley will no longer continue to be friends.

Robert Jefferson
Robert is fully capable of showing his serious demeanor to Rowley if the situation calls for it. However, Rowley and his father often both have a very good relationship, as implied in Dog Days. Robert usually shows none of his shrill behavior towards Rowley and they, in fact, share many of the same interests, such as tennis and watching movies.

Trivia

 * It is never revealed what country Rowley went to on his trip to South America in the main series, but the online book states that he went to Brazil for his trip to South America.
 * Rowley is ironically older than Greg, as his birthday takes place during the first semester of school. Despite being the elder of the two friends, Rowley is often the one that shows immature behavior.
 * In the online book, Rowley is said to own a Playstation with 32 games.
 * Rowley may have been based of a best friend Jeff Kinney once had.
 * Rowley shows the qualities of someone with Down's syndrome, although this is unclear as of yet.
 * Rowley has visited numerous places - he has visited Europe, Australia and South America.
 * In The Ugly Truth, which is the fifth book in the series, Rowley might act as the primary antagonist.