Lincoln Albert Loud, is a fictional character and the main protagonist of The Loud House franchise and was created and designed by Chris Savino. The character has been voiced by numerous child actors due to them aging out of the role, notably Grant Palmer, Collin Dean, and Asher Bishop. Lincoln was portrayed by Wolfgang Schaeffer in A Loud House Christmas and The Really Loud House.

Lincoln first appeared in the series pilot created by Savino and released by Nickelodeon which later being given a 13-episode pickup. Lincoln is the main character of the series, which revolves around his chaotic everyday life as the middle child and only son in a large family with his eleven sisters living in the fictional town of Royal Woods in Michigan, USA.

The character has received a universally positive reception, with Grant Palmer winning a Young Artist Award for his role as Lincoln in 2017, and Asher Bishop nominated for an Emmy Award for his role as Lincoln in 2022.

Development

The character’s name was from E Lincoln Avenue in Royal Oak where the show’s creator Chris Savino grew up, the character of Lincoln Loud is loosely based on Savino himself and his own experiences growing up in a large family.[4] Early in development, Lincoln was going to be depicted as a humanoid rabbit in a family of rabbits, but this was terminated when an executive, Jenna Boyd asked Savino to make him human. This original concept was later used in the Season 3 episode “White Hare”. Savino pitched the idea of the Lincoln Loud-focused The Loud House to Nickelodeon in 2013 as a 2+1⁄2-minute short for their annual Animated Shorts Program, which was soon ordered into a series, and expanded to become a multimedia franchise of film and television.

Characterization

Lincoln is an 11-year-old boy (12-year-old season 5 onward and The Really Loud House) with white hair who is the middle child and the only son in the Loud family. Lincoln has a passion for comic books, especially his favorite superhero Ace Savvy who has a playing card theme as well as secret agent David Steele. Lincoln is also the family nerd along with Lisa. He is also, however, the primary leader of his ten sisters, as he typically plans schemes, strategies, and “operations” for better convenience, as well as to help others, that the girls more often than not follow. Lincoln has other talents, including cooking, playing video games, performing magic tricks, and coaching his younger sister Lola to prepare her for her pageants. Lincoln wears an orange polo shirt, blue jeans, gray socks, and white sneakers. Lincoln often breaks the fourth wall by talking to the audience about living with all of his sisters and considers himself the “man with a plan.” He tries to give helpful advice concerning sibling relationships. For the first four seasons, Lincoln attends Royal Woods Elementary School with his younger sisters Lucy, Lana, Lola, and Lisa and is a 5th grader there. In “The Loudest Thanksgiving”, it is revealed that Lincoln is vulnerable to tryptophan which causes him to fall asleep before Thanksgiving dessert is served. In “Schooled!”, Lincoln starts attending Royal Woods Middle School and transitions to 6th grade. As of that episode, Lincoln attends school with his older sister Lynn.

Portrayal

Lincoln Loud is voiced by Sean Ryan Fox in The Loud House television pilot “Bathroom Break!!”, Grant Palmer in S1E1A–S1E22B, Collin Dean in S1E23A–S3E18A, singing voice by Jackson Petty in S3E17, Tex Hammond in S3E18B–S4E21B, Asher Bishop in S4E23A–S6E3A, and Bentley Griffin in S6E4–Present and the Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl video game, while Wolfgang Schaeffer portrays Lincoln in the 2021 live-action television film A Loud House Christmas and the 2022 television series The Really Loud House.

Reception

Critical Response

The character of Lincoln Loud has received a universally positive critical reception, with the first actor Grant Palmer to voice the character, winning a Young Artist Award for the role in 2017, and the sixth actor, Asher Bishop, nominated for an Emmy in 2022.

Comics Beat praised Lincoln’s role as a protagonist in depicting “the lone middle boy adrift in a sea of ten sisters, show the realities of coming of age in America,” as he “subtly explores and subverts standard tropes of animated sitcoms”. While comparatively comparing Lincoln to SpongeBob SquarePants, praising how “like the underwater fry-cook, Lincoln Loud quickly grabbed the attention and viewership of young audiences”, Comic Book Resources negatively described the character and his extended family as “one-note stock characters”.

Stephanie Snyder from Common Sense Media praised the casting of Wolfgang Schaeffer as Lincoln Loud and that of his siblings in The Really Loud House as “sure to capture the hearts of young viewers who already loved The Loud House as they see the characters come to life.”