everythingheard

#EVERYTHINGHEARD   —   An indie & private multimuse blog featuring canon and original characters.
   _{written by  RAPH  (21+, est)}   

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BRUCE BANNER

robert bruce banner was born on thursday, december 18, 1969. as he grew up, he started going exclusively by his middle name. during his youth, he had an estranged relationship with his father, brian banner, believing that he was never able to impress him. he met betty ross while at harvard university, where they fell in love.they graduated soon after and moved on to willowdale, virginia, while working together at culver university as instructors, where bruce specialized in nuclear physics, biochemistry, and was a member of the bio-science department. he was also involved in praised work on anti-electron collisions and gamma radiation, which led to him being named one of the foremost geniuses of his entire generation. while working on his gamma ray experiments, he was unable to visit his father, and ultimately missed his passing. throughout his career, bruce obtained seven ph.ds.following the september 11 attacks, general thaddeus ross was commissioned by the united states armed forces to rekindle project rebirth from the 1940s, in order to create more super soldiers akin to captain america. ross enlisted bruce into the bio-tech force enhancement project due to his prowess in biochemistry and radiation, but elected not to inform him that his task was to recreate the original super soldier serum, and also chose not to divulge the serum's true properties to him. instead believing he was recreating a serum designed to prevent radiation poisoning, bruce chose to substitute the original formula's vita radiation with gamma radiation.having successfully recreated a super soldier serum with military scientists utilizing this exchange, he was administered a myostatin primer designed by betty that allowed his cells to absorb radiation temporarily and, believing that his serum was designed for radiation resistance, decided to test it on himself. wishing to impress general ross (who happened to be betty's father), he upped the dosage of the gamma radiation.bruce was doused with an immense amount of gamma radiation, but the serum's effects, along with betty's primer, caused him to transform into a giant, green-skinned, muscle-bound titan with incredible strength, but who posed little intelligence and was driven by fits of extreme anger. now an enraged, nearly mindless creature, he destroyed the lab, injuring betty, crushing general ross' arm, and killing two scientists and an army officer.in the wake of the accident, the military closed the lab building for a year and shut down the entire project. having managed to revert back to his human form, he tried to visit betty while she was in the hospital, but her father forced him to leave. it was there that ross admitted to bruce that the project was developed for military offense, and informed him that if he did not allow his monstrous form to be used as a weapon in combat, then troops would come after him.three days after the accident, ross met him in the destroyed lab, offering to take him to another workplace in maryland to perfect the serum. however, he refused and blamed himself for all the people he hurt, including betty. bruce ran off, hiding inside the janitor's room and using the clothes available for disguise, which prompted ross to make good on the prior threat and order troops to chase after him, only to find that he had managed to escape. now a fugitive of the united states army, he went on the run.for five years, he remained on the run from the united states army. broken and alone, he tried to contact betty via email, but the contact was intercepted by the military unbeknownst to him and she never received it. seeing no end to his run from ross and filled with hatred over what he had become, bruce went up to the top of a mountain in alaska to take his own life. he fired a bullet into his mouth, only to transform and spit it out.with nothing left to do but move forward, bruce chose to live a discreet life in south america while secretly communicating with samuel sterns, a cellular biologist and grayburn college professor, to help him find a cure. however, when ross sent a team led by emil blonsky, a former special-ops commander of the british royal marines, to apprehend bruce, he was forced to return to new york city. he reunited with betty, who helped him locate sterns, but was captured shortly thereafter at grayburn college. blonsky, who had received a variant of the super soldier serum, was administered bruce's gamma-irradiated blood, transforming him into a beast called abomination. this new threat forced ross to allow bruce to turn into hulk and battle abomination, before allowing bruce to escape.on the run once again, bruce focused on helping people. however, when the asgardian god of mischief loki attacked s.h.i.e.l.d., bruce was personally recruited by natasha romanoff to aid tony stark in tracking down the tesseract. thus, he joined the avengers during the battle of new york, assisting them in defeating loki and the chitauri, ending their invasion.bruce became good friends with tony during this time, and relocated to avengers tower, free to live his life without apprehension. in the wake of the hydra uprising, the avengers regrouped once more to battle the ever-growing threat of hydra, successfully capturing baron strucker. with the scepter in their custody, he assisted tony with creating ultron, an artificial intelligence peacekeeping program. ultron, programmed to protect earth at all costs, deemed humanity and the avengers as the world's greatest threat and focused on annihilating them. bruce and tony then created vision, a synthezoid made from vibranium, as a deterrent to ultron, and participated in the battle of sokovia to dismantle ultron's threat. however, while hulk was in still in control, he took the quinjet, keeping the stealth mode on so he wouldn’t be tracked.during his interstellar travel, hulk came across a wormhole that caused him to crash on the planet sakaar. there, hulk made sure that he would not switch back to bruce by avoiding anything that could calm and reawaken his other self. for two years, hulk's consciousness grew as he became a gladiator for grandmaster and was soon revered as a beloved champion. however, when thor arrived on sakaar, hulk fought against bruce's old friend in the arena. in the wake of their fight, thor informed hulk that asgard was under threat due to hela's return. despite hulk's protest, bruce managed to retake control of his body, agreeing to help thor and asgard. while witnessing the asgardians in peril, bruce reluctantly transformed back into hulk and aided them in their fight, defeating fenris and allowing them to board the spaceship the statesman. hulk witnessed as ragnarök was fulfilled and asgard was destroyed, and elected to stay with the asgardians as they decided to travel to earth.unfortunately, the statesman was attacked by the black order, who massacred half of the passengers. hulk fought their leader thanos, who quickly defeated him before heimdall used the bifrost bridge to transport him to the new york sanctum. there, bruce was finally able to regain control; he warned stephan strange, tony and later steve rogers of thanos' upcoming arrival. unwilling to risk transforming into hulk again and losing control, bruce opted to operate a hulkbuster armor to aid the avengers in the battle of wakanda. although he and his allies managed to kill off thanos' forces, thanos personally arrived in wakanda to retrieve the mind stone. when he realized how dire the situation was, bruce attempted to transform into hulk again, but found that hulk was this time unwilling to comply. thus, thanos effortlessly subdued bruce and completed the infinity gauntlet, wiping out half of the universe's population. having survived the snap, bruce joined the avengers on their trip to the garden, where thanos was finally killed.after the snap, bruce went to mexico and worked with tony to break down the barriers that made he and hulk view one another as enemies, until they became a bonded unit who could work together and respect one another almost seamlessly. in 2023, he rejoined the avengers to help them use pym particles and the quantum realm to travel through time to alternate universes. after traveling back to the battle of new york in an alternate 2012, bruce successfully acquired the time stone and returned to the present. using the nano gauntlet, he then used the stones to initiate the blip, resurrecting all the lives claimed by the snap, albeit injuring his right arm in the process. after participating in the battle of earth, he attended tony's funeral before he sent steve back in time to return the stones to their respective universes.in 2024, along with carol danvers, bruce was called upon by wong to aid in investigating the mystical ten rings which shang-chi had harnessed. later, after his cousin jennifer walters came into contact with his blood and gained the ability to transform into she-hulk, he aided her in managing her new abilities.

BRUCE WAYNE

bruce thomas wayne was born into the wealthy family of thomas and martha wayne in gotham city, new york. he originally grew up in wayne manor until he was six, after which he and his parents moved into wayne tower after thomas decided to turn the manor into an orphanage during his mayoral campaign. wherever bruce went, the family’s butler and bodyguard, alfred pennyworth, was always close behind to keep an eye on him.at age ten, his parents were brutally gunned down by an unnamed killer. although alfred suspected that the gunman was an assassin sent by carmine falcone, an infamous crime lord who operated within gotham city, he could never confirm it. regardless, the event drastically changed bruce's life forever.he was thirteen when he first discovered the abandoned wayne terminus train station located underneath wayne tower. he chose to keep its existence a secret, although alfred eventually became aware of its existence. when he was sixteen, bruce received his driver's license and began driving a vintage sports car that sparked his interest in working on automobiles.at seventeen, he returned to gotham city for the summer after completing his junior year at boarding school abroad. while initially unsure of how to spend his free time, he decided to take up street racing by using the vintage car he had received the year prior. through this, he met dex starling, a fellow street racer, who introduced him to her group of friends who were also involved in racing. wishing to keep his identity a secret, bruce instead went by the alias “paul.”his street racing activities eventually led him to cross paths with another seventeen year old named edward nashton who, after nearly being killed during one of the group's illegal street races, decided to get revenge by planting a bomb on dex’s car, causing it to explode. she was almost engulfed in the flames before bruce kicked in the window and saved her. he left the scene before the gotham city police department (gcpd) arrived, but not without first taking a piece of evidence from the car bomb. dex never found out that “paul” was actually bruce wayne.after running tests on the piece of evidence, bruce realized that someone had planted the bomb in an attempt to specifically target dex. however, due to his inexperience and lack of proper training, he was unable to identify edward as the culprit. it was because of this experience that he decided to give up street racing altogether. it was also at this time that alfred surprised bruce by revealing that he knew about both the terminus' existence and bruce’s nighttime street racing. alfred proceeded to tell him that instead of running from what happened to his mother and father in the past, he should find “something to run towards.” it was in that moment that he decided to start training to avenge his parents' murders. he would not come into contact with dex or edward again for over a decade.the following year, bruce graduated from boarding school at the top of his class. he then spent the next ten years attending multiple colleges around the world and constantly switching universities based on the field he was interested in. he studied multiple different branches of science including biology, chemistry, and physics.while traveling abroad, bruce also studied various styles of martial arts from masters in multiple countries. from each teacher he learned many defenses and tactics, which turned him into a truly dangerous fighter. in addition, he trained in a form of base jumping.upon his return to gotham after years of training, he began to formulate a plan of how he would go about stopping crime in the city. bruce then designed a protective tactical suit that resembled a bat, based on the horde of them that resided in wayne terminus, which he turned into the batcave. as one of his first investigations, he managed to stop an explosives ring run by piggy porcello, an enforcer who worked for oswald cobblepott, a ruthless lieutenant of the falcone crime syndicate.in the midst of this case, he reunited with dex, who was working for porcello at the time because he had control over her father. as batman, bruce managed to set dex and her father up with new lives in metropolis. batman met with dex one last time before they parted ways; she never learned that batman was actually bruce wayne.while he hid his actions from alfred at first, it wasn't long before alfred managed to figure out what he was really doing at night. while alfred initially tried to persuade bruce to become more active in the day-to-day operations of wayne enterprises, he refused and instead had alfred manage the company, creating a bit of a rift between the two. despite alfred's best efforts to manage wayne enterprises, it began to suffer due to bruce’s focus on fighting crime.over the course of his first year as a vigilante, the batman formed a close working relationship with the gcpd, in particular the young lieutenant jim gordon, who he even came to call a friend. the duo placed a spotlight on top of an abandoned skyscraper that would shine a bat-shaped shadow on the clouds, signaling batman to come to gordon's aid.during the next few months, word quickly spread that there was a vigilante brutally stopping criminals across the city, which helped instill fear into gotham's underworld. however, as bruce began to spend more time focused on being batman, he grew nihilistic and obsessed with the idea of stopping criminals through fear and intimidation. towards the end of that first year, batman came into contact with a serial killer known as the joker, and was even stalked by him at a public event as bruce wayne. the joker was later defeated by batman and incarcerated at arkham state hospital.bruce’s second year as batman brought with it a new case involving a villain dubbed the riddler. it was this investigation that revealed the truth about the murder of his parents (orchestrated by falcone, just as alfred has suspected), and led him to cross paths with the mysterious catburglar selina kyle. the riddler was revealed to be edward nashton, who bruce aided the gcpd in apprehending; however, he discovered that the riddler had stationed car bombs around gotham and cultivated an online following that planned to assassinate mayor-elect bella reál. although the bombs destroyed the seawall around gotham and flooded the city while the riddler’s followers attempt to kill reál, they were stopped by batman and selina. it was during his recovery efforts in the city that bruce realized he could do much more good by inspiring hope and not just fear, giving him a new perspective on his future crimefighting endeavors and who he is as bruce wayne.

BUCKY BARNES

  1917    james buchanan barnes is born on march 10, 1917 to george and winnifred barnes and became the elder brother of rebecca barnes a few years later.  1921-1927    the barnes children tragically lose both of their parents; their mother passes away in1921 and their father dies in an accident in 1927. bucky is separated from rebecca, who's sent to boarding school while he's adopted by his paternal uncle and aunt. bucky grows up to be an overachiever, which includes being an excellent athlete who also excels inside the classroom.  1930    in elementary school, bucky meets steve rogers when he steps in to defend the other boy from bullies who are trying to steal his money. the two become best friends and stick together for many years, with bucky continuing to defend steve from the bullies attempting to take advantage of steve's short height and small build.  1941    the united states enters world war ii after the attack on pearl harbor, and bucky and steve both agree to enlist in the u.s. army. while bucky is recruited, steve is denied (though he continues to make attempts). bucky then trains with the 107th infantry regiment and gains the rank of sergeant.  1943    after spending a night in june with steve and a pair of young women at howard stark's 1943 stark expo, bucky is deployed along with the 107th to europe. however, in october, bucky and his unit are captured by the nazi science division known as hydra as pows, forced to build weapons and ammunition. in november, steve leads a breakout of the hydra facility, having become enhanced thanks to the super soldier serum. steve also rescues bucky, who has been experimented on by hydra scientist arnim zola.  1944    having officially become captain america, steve forms the howling commandos, and bucky serves as the elite unit's sniper. working with steve, the howling commandos take down several of hydra's installations and facilities across europe, including the red skull's plan to detonate a norse runestone, along with several other machines of war zola had created, using the power of the tesseract.  1945    during a mission to hijack a hydra train and capture dr. zola, bucky is believed to have been killed in action, having fallen from the train and presumedly to his death. however, thanks to zola's experiments, bucky survives his fall and is found by hydra, though he lost his left arm. He's also subsequently turned over to hydra's siberian facility and held prisoner. zola is later freed and recruited by *s.h.i.e.l.d. and the ssr. as a result, zola continues his experiments on bucky while secretly rebuilding hydra as well. zola gives bucky a new cybernetic arm and, in order to erase his memories as bucky barnes and remold him to their liking, hydra frequently uses a memory suppressing machine to perform electroconvulsive therapy, which inflicts serious brain damage on him. with his limbic system severely compromised, he loses access to his memories prior to the experiments while becoming hyperaware of his environment and highly susceptible to commands. he's also indoctrinated to hate the west and is provided with mental implants during sensory deprivation, molding him into the perfect assassin. this is how hydra creates the winter soldier.  1951    receiving vast training from both hydra and the soviet union in conjunction with being a super soldier, bucky becomes a formidable fighter and an even more ruthless killer. with his body at beyond the peak of physical perfection and his arm at the highest level of weaponized technology, bucky is put to use as hydra's personal weapon for many years. in 1951, the winter soldier is sent on a mission to aid soviet troops in the korean war, which is where he encountered the us secret super soldier isaiah bradley. while bradley destroyed bucky's metal arm, both survived their brawl.  1963    hydra sends the winter soldier to carry out nearly two dozen assassinations over a 50-year span, and the assassination of president john fitzgerald kennedy is one of the most notable. it's also during this period that he meets natasha romanoff, who's part of the black widow ops program. he helps train her in combat while she's undergoing espionage training at the red room academy. they fall in love, and bucky often sneaks into her sleeping quarters to be with her. their relationship doesn't last, however, as after an incident during an assassination operation which leads to concern that his emotions might "lead him astray," hydra begins keeping bucky frozen in suspended animation between missions and wiping his mind painfully after all ensuing assignments.  1991    other prominent targets of the winter soldier include howard and maria stark. the brainwashed bucky brutally kills the couple, while making it look like it was a car accident.  2009    the winter soldier is sent to kill a nuclear scientist who's being escorted by natasha, now operating as black widow. devoid of his memories, he attacks his target without hesitation; he manages to kill the scientist by shooting a round through natasha's stomach while she covers him.  2014    bucky is activated by hydra's alexander pierce to take out s.h.i.e.l.d. director nick fury. while bucky is unsuccessful, this signifies the beginning of hydra's emergence from the shadows to take over s.h.i.e.l.d. in earnest. steve becomes aware of the winter soldier's existence after the attempted murder of fury. eventually, steve and bucky cross paths and trade blows in washington d.c. during their fight, steve manages to take off the winter soldier's mask, revealing his true identity. while this is a shock for captain america, it likewise brings up long-buried memories bucky had forgotten, leading to pierce ordering bucky's mind to be wiped again. when captain america and his allies attempt to stop hydra, the winter soldier is sent to kill steve. after a brutal brawl, captain america gets through to bucky, who begins to remember who he was before hydra. after the battle, bucky saves steve before going off on his own. while he does go back to the hydra site where he had been routinely brainwashed, he decides not to kill the scientists, no longer wanting to be a part of any more bloodshed. he then visits the captain america exhibit at the smithsonian, confirming the validity of his returning memories.  2016    despite his seclusion in romania, bucky is framed for a bombing in vienna during the signing of the sokovia accords, which killed several including king t'chaka of wakanda, the father of the black panther. in truth, it's all part of a larger plot by baron helmut zemo to get revenge on the avengers. despite the ensuing worldwide manhunt for the winter soldier, captain america finds bucky first, and bucky confirms that he remembers who he is and his relationship to steve. as such, captain america determines to protect bucky and clear his name. however, the creation of the sokovia accords makes this difficult, as the avengers' actions must now be sanctioned by the united nations. captain america, falcon, and bucky are all captured and taken to the joint counter terrorist centre building in berlin, which is when psychiatrist theo broussard questions bucky to determine his mental state. however, broussard is replaced by zemo. creating a blackout, zemo uses the secret trigger words to control winter soldier, learning not only about bucky's mission in 1991, but also the location of the hydra site in siberia. he then orders the winter soldier to kill anyone that gets in his way and to escape in a helicopter, which would have made him look even more guilty for the vienna bombing. after some conflict with tony stark, sharon carter, and natasha, steve, and sam wilson manage to leave the facility with bucky, whose programming eventually wore off. bucky reveals zemo's apparent plan, involving the activation of the other winter soldiers that hydra had created. as a result, captain america calls clint barton for help, who picks up wanda maximoff and ant-man to help take down the assassins. however, they're all stopped at the airport by iron man and a collection of like-minded heroes who've chosen to support the sokovia accords. after a massive brawl, steve and bucky are the only two to make it out, charting a course for siberia. once steve's allies are apprehended, iron man suspects bucky's innocence, and he follows steve and bucky to siberia (with the black panther secretly following iron man). once he arrives, tony offers to help steve and bucky, and the three of them venture into the facility to discover that zemo has killed the other assassins. his real goal is to break the avengers apart as revenge for the loss of his family in sokovia during ultron's attack. after showing tony footage of bucky murdering his parents, tony becomes enraged, determined to kill the winter soldier. in the end, steve and bucky incapacitate tony, but not before bucky loses his metal arm in the resulting battle. because black panther witnesses the entire event and learns of zemo's true plot, he offers asylum to bucky, promising to keep him safe and to also use his nation's resources and science to try and remove all the programming hydra left in the winter soldier's head.  2018    black panther's sister and head scientist shuri manages to rehabilitate bucky, and he's allowed to freely move about wakanda, living in a nearby village and being referred to as "the white wolf". when earth is under attack by the forces of thanos, the avengers choose to make their last stand in wakanda, and the black panther calls bucky to join the fight, offering a new vibranium arm to replace the one iron man destroyed. however, due to thanos' victory in gaining all the infinity stones, he snaps his fingers and half of all life in the universe is erased; bucky is one of the casualties.  2023    bucky returns with everyone else who vanished when the surviving avengers gain the infinity stones using time travel. he subsequently joins the heroes in the final fight for earth against thanos' army until iron man's sacrifice stops thanos.  2024    bucky receives a conditional pardon from the u.s. government, forgiving him of his past actions as the winter soldier provided he attend mandatory therapy sessions. bucky agrees, attempting to atone for his sins.

EDDIE BROCK

JAIME REYES

jaime reyes was born to alberto and rocio reyes, a couple from mexico who moved to palmera city. during his childhood, jaime was also close to his family; this included his uncle cesar reyes (also nicknamed rudy for his friends), his grandmother elena leal, and his younger a sister milagro (whom he nicknamed "mili"). after graduating from high school, jaime left palmera city to continue his studies at gotham university. there, he spent a lot of time studying, unaware of the difficulties his family suffered during his absence, although they never told him so as not to distract him. when he was twenty-two, he graduated from college with a bachelor's degree in sociology.when jaime returned to palmera city, he was happily received by his family, who were thrilled that he was the first one in the family in to graduate from university. however, his excitement didn't last long when his parents finally had to reveal to him that they were on the verge of losing their home due to a rent increase, and that his father had suffered a heart attack. setting aside his dream of attending law school to help their family, jaime joined milagro working at the mansion of victoria kord, the ceo of kord industries. when he happened to catch sight of victoria once day, he wanted to introduce himself since he knew of her work. instead, he ended up stumbling upon victoria and her bodyguard carapax being confronted by jenny kord, victoria’s niece and the daughter of ted kord, victoria’s brother who mysteriously disappeared, leaving victoria to take over his company. jenny was upset that victoria planned to reactivate the omac (one man army corp) project that her father had shut down years ago. when carapax got too close to jenny, jaime stepped in, resulting in victoria firing he and milagro. impressed by his nerve, jenny gave jaime her number to interview about another job at kord industries. after a heart-to-heart talk with his father over his future and in regards to the family, jaime was encouraged to take jenny up on her offer.jaime arrived at kord industries to meet with jenny, only to have her push a box into his hands and make him promise not to open it. after returning home, though, he gave into his family's pressure to peek inside, and discovered a technological beetle within. it quickly activated and launched itself at jaime. he then began to symbiosis with the beetle, manifesting a beetle-shaped cybernetic armor.when jaime returned to kord industries to find jenny for answers, he ended up using his new abilities to rescue her from victoria's armed forces. afterwards, she informed him that the scarab was a sentient weapon that had willingly chosen him to be its host. with the help of rudy, jaime and jenny broke into kord tower to retrieve a smartwatch that once belonged to jenny's father ted, but were attacked by carapax, who now had an omac prototype infused in his body. the scarab, revealed to be named khaji-da, helped jaime to defeat carapax before the three managed to escape to jenny's childhood home.there, jenny used ted's watch to activate his secret laboratory, and revealed that ted was originally a vigilante named blue beetle. ted had spent his life studying khaji-da, though he was never able to bond with it, before mysteriously disappearing and leaving his company in victoria's hands. when they noticed victoria's helicopter flying toward jaime's home, jaime summoned khaji-da and returned to protect his family. as they escaped, his father suffered a cardiac arrest and died, distracting jaime and allowing carapax to capture him. jaime was then taken to an island fortress in cuba, where he was strapped to a machine that downloaded information from khaji-da to the omacs. while unconscious, jaime saw a vision from his father, who encouraged him to embrace his destiny as the new blue beetle. it was then that jaime awakened and escaped as carapax's omac suit activated and evolved into a more powerful form.jenny and the reyes family decided to use ted's bugship and its weapons arsenal to storm the island. jaime reunited with his family, then encountered carapax and battled him. jaime nearly killed carapax, who he believed had murdered rudy, before khaji-da revealed to jaime memories of carapax's enslavement by victoria for the omac experiments, including carapax's mother's death at victoria's hands, leading jaime to spare him. struck by jaime's empathy, carapax rebelled against victoria and set his omac suit to explode, destroying the island as well as himself, taking victoria with him as vengeance for his mother. after the reyes family escaped from the island, they took time to properly mourn jaime's father.in the aftermath, jenny became the new ceo of kord industries and promised to repair the damage caused to the reyes family, helping them rebuild their home. now, jaime operates as the new blue beetle while also working as a legal assistant for one of kord industries' lawyers to aid his family financially, and with the hopes of eventually attending law school in gotham city.

JOHN CONSTANTINE

john constantine was born on may 10th to thomas constantine and mary ann quinn. although he was originally a twin, his brother was stillborn; he’s also the sibling of cheryl constantine, now deceased. burdened with the ability to perceive the true visage of monsters (most notably angels and demons) on the mortal plane, his visions haunted him from very early on in his life. even everyday activities could torment him with glimpses of dark, supernatural entities. upon learning of his “affliction,” constantine’s parents drilled into his head that the visions he saw weren’t real, and pursued more forms of therapy for him than he can count. each time, these efforts escalated: medications with horrible side-effects that seemed to do little morphed into electric shock treatments that did even less. by the age of thirteen, constantine had adopted his father’s smoking habit as a coping mechanism, which worsened until he was polishing off two packs of cigarettes a day by the time he turned fifteen.it was also at fifteen that, after years of emotional trauma as a result of both his visions and his parents’ attempts at intervention, he ultimately decided to commit suicide. officially dead for a mere two minutes, paramedics managed to revive him after cheryl discovered his body and called for help. despite the brief period of his death, it felt like an entire lifetime had passed before constantine’s heart began to beat again, as if time in hell was different. shortly afterwards was the first time he met lucifer, a fallen angel and the ruler of hell, who informed him that because he had technically taken his own life, his soul was now damned to return to hell once more when he truly died for real.now armed with his visions and having witnessed hell and demonology alike, he began to study the paranormal. although relieved that he wasn’t crazy as he had previously believed, constantine was forced to grapple with the fact that everything he saw was real. creating contacts among the paranormally inclined, he learned all he could about magic and the various ways he could utilize his abilities. eventually, determined to avoid the sentencing of his soul, he decided to become an exorcist and occult detective, using his knowledge and power to send “misbehaving” half-demons back to hell in an attempt to redeem himself.however, by the age of forty-one, constantine was diagnosed with lung cancer. in an ironic sort of way, he had killed himself all over again.with only a year left to live, his efforts to save his soul needed to be redoubled. this was railroaded by the appearance of angela dodson, an l.a.p.d. detective who asked for his help in investigating the supposed suicide of her twin sister, isabel dodson. initially reluctant, constantine agreed after realizing that half-demons were after angela. she revealed to him that isabel had possessed true sight, just as he did — and so did she, though she had repressed it.the case led them to unravel a plot hatched by lucifer’s son, mammon, as well as the half-angel gabriel, to bring mammon to their dimension to undermine lucifer. isabel had become involved when mammon attempted to possess her, leading her to take her own life in order to stop him from doing so. during a final confrontation, constantine slit his wrists and allowed himself to bleed out in order to summon lucifer to collect his soul; this allowed him to issue a warning about mammon and gabriel so that lucifer could put a stop to mammon’s scheme and save angela, who had been possessed by mammon.in return for his help, lucifer granted him a favor. to lucifer’s surprise, instead of asking for his own life back, he requested that isabel’s soul be released from hell and brought into heaven. after granting the favor, as lucifer tried to drag constantine to hell, constantine was redeemed by his self-sacrifice and began to rise into heaven. infuriated by the idea of losing constantine's soul, lucifer healed his wounds and cured him of his cancer so that he might live again. lucifer insisted that constantine would eventually screw up, proving that his soul truly did belong in hell - and lucifer would be there to collect when he did.now, constantine continues his crusade, though more out of a desire to protect others than to elevate his own soul (even if he’s slow to admit it).

LEX LUTHOR

alexander joseph “lex” luthor, jr. was born september 28 in metropolis, delaware to alexander luthor, sr., an east german-born billionaire petrochemical and heavy machinery developer, and vanessa luthor, who died in childbirth; he was subsequently named after his father. while the family's company, lexcorp industries, was in fact named after lex's father, the elder luthor began to claim at investor pitches to have named it after his son as well, to appeal to sentiment. many found the catchphrase he adopted soon after adorable: “write checks for lex!” it's said that luthor sr. brought the company to success through sheer grit and ferocity. he had the motto “offense wins games,” thereby earning himself an immense fortune and becoming a rags-to-riches millionaire. indeed, some would claim that referring to luthor sr. as a “good businessman” was not unlike calling napoleon bonaparte a “competent conqueror.” as luthor sr.'s business expanded, he continued to portray himself to fresh, youthful investors as an adoring father building a legacy for his son. they responded fondly, which he used to his advantage.however, while publicly popular and affable, luthor sr. was a very cruel and despicable man behind closed doors, abusing lex physically, verbally, and emotionally. over time, lex realized that the quieter and more agreeable he was, the fewer reasons his father could find to beat him, though luthor sr. didn't always require a reason. regardless of how hard lex prayed for rescue, help never arrived. this induced a traumatized lex to gain a militantly misotheistic view of god, believing that if he were omnipotent, then it would be logically impossible for him to be omnibenevolent and vice versa, thereby solidifying his belief that power cannot be innocent.by age sixteen, the wunderkind lex was left with the legacy of lexcorp as its only heir shortly after his father passed away unexpectedly. he took control of the business and successfully transformed it from a petrochemical and heavy machinery dinosaur into a cutting-edge fortune 500 technology giant, and considerably expanded the already massive wealth inherited from his father to levels that made him one of the wealthiest men in the world. in fact, the very considerable business achievements of his father paled in comparison to the astonishingly prolific accomplishments of the younger luthor, who thus became the youngest person ever to be named fortune's “businessperson of the year” and included in fortune's list of “the world's 50 greatest leaders.” lexcorp also grew to be one of the top three charitable corporations in america. among other things, lex also inherited his father's world-famous collection of meteorite crystals, which, as he would later learn, included kryptonite minerals.in his early twenties, he hired mercy graves to act as both his bodyguard and personal assistant. over time, they became extremely close, and she was perhaps one of the only people he trusted completely. she shared many of his beliefs concerning metahumans, believing in his visions for the future. she grew invested in lex's projects not just as part of her employment, but also on a personal level.when he was in his mid-twenties, he became acquainted with amanda waller, a high-ranking united states government official and the director of the advanced research group uniting superhumans (argus). he grew familiar with waller's organization and her idea for task force x, a government-sanctioned expendable black-ops unit that enlisted incarcerated supervillains to undertake high-risk, covert missions in exchange for commuted prison sentences. lex held multiple reservations about task force x, though he never revealed its existence to the public, just as waller requested.shortly after his twenty-ninth birthday, a kryptonian prison frigate called black zero appeared over metropolis, captained by general dru-zod. a kryptonian terraformation machine, which was used to convert a planet's atmospheric composition and topography to replicate environments suitable for kryptonians, called a world engine, was dispatched to the indian ocean, on the opposite side of earth. gravity pulses were sent through the earth, causing immense destruction to the surrounding area, while increasing the mass and density to the planet. the first blast was powerful enough to shatter windows, lift cars, and destroy airborne vehicles. the following pulses caused most of the damage, lifting objects and people into the air before slamming them into the ground with incredible force. most of said objects were then crushed and dissipated.superman, backed by the united states military, arrived and battled general zod and his army. this led to zod's death and the destruction of black zero, and the rescue of earth. soon, it became known as the “black zero event,” the first major battle to occur between extraterrestrial beings in the modern world. it also revealed the existence of the kryptonians, specifically superman. in order to commemorate all of those fallen in the tragic event, heroes park was established on the epicenter of what was left after zod's terraformation attack, with a massive silvery statue of the alien hero superman being built as well, in honor of the extraordinary heroics that he displayed while helping save earth from the malevolent, invading kryptonians.however, there were those who viewed superman's residence on earth as the instigator for the attack from zod, and it was postulated that if there'd been no superman, earth would've been safe. during the disaster, lives were lost as many people were buried under the collapsed buildings. the trains stopped running, and the cell towers were all destroyed. lex was one of those who adopted a critical eye towards superman and the potential for others like him following the black zero event. it angered him that people were quick to hail superman as a god-like hero, going as far as to build statues in his likeness, when so many had died and important technologies had been destroyed. additionally, with lex's perspective that no one can be all-powerful and all-good, if superman was as powerful as he seemed to be, then superman must not be completely benevolent. that, in and of itself, was concerning; someone with that sort of strength wasn't to be trusted.following the aftermath of the black zero event in metropolis, lexcorp financially supported reconstruction efforts in the city as part of lex's philanthropic efforts. lexcorp became one of the few companies that stayed in metropolis after a wave of companies abandoned the city, with local politicians and media personalities calling those who left traitors. however, inspired by lex and his perseverance, several companies in the city chose to stay, or to reverse their retreats, and other companies that had never been there before even decided to relocate to metropolis.approximately two weeks after the black zero event, lex was part of a charity auction at the hotel grand lux made to benefit the victims of the disaster. it was there that lex and mercy first made the acquaintance of bruce wayne from gotham city who, like them, would be auctioning off a bit of his time for the winning bidder. however, they had a rocky initial encounter when lex focused on inquiring about the technology that had been lost due to the damage to wayne tower as opposed to merely discussing the human victims, which bruce found to be in very poor taste. lex thought it would be odd for him not to take advantage of the opportunity to hear about wayne enterprise's tech, and found bruce to be too sensitive.shortly before the release of his company's revolutionary new operating system lex/os, lex was approached by reporter ron troupe from wired for an interview, and agreed to meet him for fifteen minutes at the opulent royal penthouse suite at the park metropolis downtown. lex was then promptly interviewed on a number of subjects, including superman and the gotham city vigilante batman. it can be read here.after the company hanford technologies was successfully exposed for the illegal arms trafficking of kryptonian weapons on behalf of its ceo mark hanford by daily planet reporter lois lane, lex arrived at a construction site of the company. there, he announced that lexcorp industries was purchasing all of hanford's holdings (including the site), as well as retaining all of hanford's employees, as he believed that the employees should not suffer from the immoral actions of their former ceo.as he continued funding the rebuilding of metropolis, lex also invested in new buildings to draw tourism to the city, and had the lexor hotel built. indeed, due to his actions, some began to claim that lex was as much a hero to metropolis as superman himself. lex, however, dismissed the comparison, claiming that the alien superhero was a figure too mysterious and controversial for him to be a good comparison. however, in light of superman's debut, lex said that recognizing the significance of the “ordinary” citizens of metropolis (such as rescue workers, first responders, and countless others who also helped save lives in the black zero event) had become more important than ever.at his lexcorp facility, after admitting to mercy that while he not knowing much about superman was completely true, he was “working on changing that.” in fact, he was using a private room with cctv screens (displaying the corpse of general dru-zod, zod's scout ship, and a kryptonian dna double helix) to study further about krypton.lex had also become interested in discerning more information about batman. to witness the elusive vigilante in action, he contracted a criminal known as firefly to burn down a merchandise warehouse in gotham city. prior to the evening when firefly would act, he set up another cctv at the warehouse beforehand, in order to watch events unfold. as lex expected, batman intervened before the fire even began.with this information, lex began to learn everything about batman, as well as superman (notably their alter-egos, powers, abilities, physical and emotional weaknesses, relationships, and psychological profiles). eventually, his interest expanded to the existence of other metahumans: the immortal amazon demigoddess wonder woman (a world war i era photo of whom, together with steve trevor's team, he obtained with facial recognition software), the atlantean aquaman (footage of whom he found in the pacific with the nsa's uuv drones), the speedster flash (footage of whom he obtained from a central city pharmacy's security camera), and the technologically enhanced cyborg (footage of whom he obtained from a video log on the s.t.a.r. labs database).the longer he studied superman, the more convinced lex became that the truth needed to come out, and the world needed to know it: superman was either not as powerful as given credit for, or not as good as everyone believed. it was dangerous to continue on any differently. if superman wasn't all-powerful, then people were placing their hopes in someone who could or would ultimately fail them (metropolis in particular was growing complacent). and if superman wasn't all-good, then the kryptonian could turn on the human race at any moment and use their prior adoration against them. however, and perhaps most strongly, lex also loathed the notion of the world celebrating a lie. his own opinions would mean little; what he needed was for the world to witness the crumbling of the superman facade, and he'd set it into motion himself before it was too late.

PETER PARKER

peter parker was born august 10 to richard and mary parker. he was orphaned when his parents died, and he later lived in queens, new york city with his uncle ben and aunt may. he was bullied throughout school, though he made friends with his next-door neighbor, mary jane watson, who he met when he was six years old. in high school, he became best friends with harry osborn, the son of norman osborn, the founder of oscorp, as well as gwen stacy, who he and harry were introduced to by mary jane. although peter developed a crush on gwen, he found himself too tongue-tied at the notion of asking her out to actually go through with it.

ISSUE #1: ENTER SPIDER-MAN!

"who am i? are you sure you want to know? the story of my life is not for the faint of heart. if somebody told you it was a happy little tale, if somebody told you i was just your average, ordinary guy without a care in the world, somebody lied. truth is, it wasn't always like this. there was a time when life was a lot less complicated."

during his senior year, on a school field trip to a laboratory at columbia university, an escaped genetically altered “super” spider bit peter on his hand, bonding spider dna with his own, changing his life forever. after suffering a night with intense fever and pain, peter awoke the next day completely transformed. he acquired a muscle-bound physique and a variety of abilities such as wall-crawling, web-shooting, increased agility, and a precognitive “spider-sense."he no longer needed his thick-rimmed glasses, and could sprint fast enough to catch the speeding school bus when it left without him in the morning. during lunch hour that day, peter discovered his organic webbing, accidentally shooting it from his wrists. he also unwittingly tapped into his increased sensory abilities to catch mary jane when she slipped on a puddle in the cafeteria. later, when flash thompson, a classmate who instigated a majority of the bullying against peter, attempted to rough him up, he was able to use his newfound spider-sense, superhuman speed, and strength to easily turn the tables. however, as he continued his discovery of his new powers, he attracted the suspicion and curiosity of his aunt and uncle.emboldened by his abilities, peter finally worked up the courage to ask gwen on a date, which she accepted (despite the inquiry’s awkward delivery). hoping to further impress her, peter found an ad in the newspaper for a car, as well as another ad offering $3,000 in prize money for anyone who could survive three minutes in a wrestling ring with the champion bonesaw mcgraw - funds he could use to buy the vehicle. he designed a rudimentary blue and red costume for the event. the night of the fight, he informed his aunt and uncle that he was going to the library, but uncle ben intercepted peter and offered to drive him himself.uncle ben dropped peter off at the library, not far from the wrestling event. before peter could leave the car, ben attempted to offer kind advice, knowing peter was going through difficulties at school. also not pleased by peter's fight with flash, ben tried to instill a responsible mindset in peter. reacting defensively, peter rejected ben’s words, and stormed out of the car, expressing impatience and frustration. ben, clearly disheartened by peter's reaction, told his nephew that he planned on picking him up at 10 p.m.in his homemade spider suit, peter entered the wrestling match, where he was insulted and pelted with popcorn by spectators as bonesaw joined the ring. nonetheless, he managed to pin bonesaw in less than three minutes, beating the advertised challenge. the event promoter, however, would only pay peter $100 of his $3,000 prize money. angered, when peter witnessed an armed robber stealing from the promoter, he allowed the robber to escape, despite pleas from a police officer and the injured promoter himself to intervene. however, peter's proud comeback was short-lived.arriving at the library just at 10 p.m. to meet uncle ben, peter discovered the street filled with bystanders and paramedics: his uncle had been carjacked and fatally shot in the chest. peter watched ben perish in his arms, leaving him heartbroken. enraged, peter donned his spider costume once again, using his powers to locate and chase after the carjacker. using his webs to swing from building to building, peter caught up with ben’s stolen vehicle, and forced the suspect to crash into a pier warehouse. when peter finally confronted the gunman inside the warehouse, he was stunned to discover that it was the same man whom he had allowed to go free after robbing the wrestling promoter. startled by peter’s anger, the robber tripped backward out of one of the warehouse’s second story windows, falling to his death on the dock below. afterwards, peter found solace on a distant rooftop before returning home and comforting a grieving aunt may.as the weeks passed, peter was inundated with regret over his actions the night ben was killed, and guilt over the last real conversation they had shared together. however, after a talk with may, she told him that she missed her husband, but she knew ben was so proud of peter, and that peter wouldn’t let him down. realizing that the best way to honor his uncle was to use his powers for good, peter designed a new, improved spider suit from drawings he created in his sketchbook and began using his powers to fight crime throughout new york city as a masked vigilante called spider-man.

ISSUE #2: SPIDER-MAN VERSUS THE LIZARD!

“spider-man wasn’t trying to attack the city, he was trying to save it.”

now that he was starting to return to his old self, peter finally had his first true date with gwen. while having dinner with her family, he discovered that her father was police captain george stacy, who harbored a dislike of the new vigilante hero. later that night, peter decided to reveal his identity as spider-man to gwen who, to his relief, affirmed his course of action and supported him.however, captain stacy wasn’t the only one not endeared to spider-man. j. jonah jameson, the editor and publisher of the daily bugle, began a smear campaign against the wall-crawler. even so, peter got a job at the paper by taking photos of spider-man for them to use for their stories, though he tried to reason with jameson about spider-man’s intentions all the while. continuing his superhero career, spider-man quickly earned a mythic status among the people of the city, garnering admiration from the citizens. nevertheless, the police still felt bothered by his motives.as months passed following ben’s death, peter missed his uncle more and more. deciding to spend time in the office ben had at the house, he stumbled across old papers of his father’s ben had saved, some of which were published works about cross-species genetics that had been written with dr. curt connors. gwen, who was currently interning at oscorp, had previously mentioned a dr. connors, who worked there; intrigued by the notion of speaking with a scientist who’d worked with richard parker, peter asked her to introduce them.upon meeting dr. connors, who had only one arm, he and peter discussed connors’ research. when peter showed connors some of the unfinished work his father had done on a “decay rate algorithm,” connors was shocked to discover that it worked as a missing piece in his experiments on regenerating limbs.in the following weeks, after now seeing success with his lab rat experiments using lizard dna thanks to the decay rate algorithm, connors' superior, rajit ratha, demanded that connors begin human trials immediately. connors refused to rush the drug-testing procedure and put innocent people at risk, causing ratha to fire connors. in an act of desperation, connors tried the formula on himself. after passing out, he awakened to find his missing arm had regenerated. however, the side-effects of the formula soon became clear, as connors morphed into a violent, humanoid reptile.determined to intercept ratha, who was about to commence human trials, on the williamsburg bridge, connors caused destruction and danger to other commuters. spider-man quickly arrived to save the people on the bridge from connors' attack. still uncertain of spider-man’s true motivations and hoping to catch connors, who was dubbed the lizard, police started a manhunt for both of them. peter, who had discovered the lizard’s plan to turn all humans reptilian by releasing a chemical cloud from oscorp’s tower, had arrived at the scene to stop him; however, the police cornered him before he could intervene, leading captain stacy to discover that spider-man was actually peter. reluctantly, captain stacy let him go to stop the lizard. gwen created an antidote in the oscorp lab, which spider-man then dispersed, restoring connors and his victims to normal, but not before the lizard fatally wounded captain stacy.

ISSUE #3: RISE OF THE GREEN GOBLIN!

“whatever it is, somebody has to stop it.”

a few months later, peter, gwen, harry, and mary jane graduated from high school; peter was relieved to learn in the aftermath that he’d received a scholarship to columbia university, as he never could have afforded the tuition otherwise. after the ceremony, norman osborn congratulated the four friends, though he spent more time talking to and praising peter than he did his own son. later, peter moved into an apartment with harry, while he kept his vigilante duties a secret from his friend.it wasn’t long before a new masked face appeared, although as a menace to the city, not a hero. operating under the guise of the green goblin, several attacks were made only to be foiled by spider-man, until after one confrontation, the green goblin suggested they work together. peter refused, despite the goblin’s prediction that there was nothing that people liked more than seeing a hero fail, and that they would turn against him one day.a few days later, the green goblin started a fire in a crowded apartment building to lure spider-man into a trap. spider-man saved a baby from the inferno, but returned to the blaze at the call of one remaining tenant. however, the green goblin revealed himself as the last “victim,” and when spider-man refused a proposal to team up one final time, the two engaged in a fight, during which spider-man sustained a deep cut on his left arm from one of the goblin's weapons. with the goblin's arsenal, he gained a slight advantage, but spider-man finished the fight and escaped, leaving goblin in anger from spider-man's choice to refuse him.afterwards, peter raced back to attend his own thanksgiving dinner where gwen, mary jane, harry, norman, and aunt may were in attendance. he bandaged his injured arm, but norman appeared to take a keen interest in peter’s wound, which peter brushed off as the result of falling from his bike.

ISSUE #4: THE DEATH OF GWEN STACY!

“no matter what i do, no matter how hard i try, the ones i love will always be the ones who pay.”

later that night, the green goblin attacked aunt may directly, forcing her into the hospital and terrifying her. the next day, determined to hurt peter, the goblin captured gwen and answered her phone when peter called to check in on her. the goblin then invited peter to the roosevelt bridge, where he was holding gwen and a trolley car full of children captive. spider-man arrived on the scene, but was forced to make a decision between saving gwen or the kids, both of whom were suspended by the goblin's super strength. spider-man acted decisively, able to catch both gwen and the trolley. holding the trolley by its suspension cable, spider-man told gwen to climb down until a freight barge could catch them both on the water below. however, the goblin continued to terrorize spider-man, knocking gwen from the suspension cable so that she fell to her death.after the barge managed to catch the trolley, the goblin dragged spider-man to an abandoned hospital on the shore nearby with his glider. the two fought once again, until the goblin threw a pumpkin bomb at spider-man’s face, injuring him horribly before the goblin continued the previous assault. it wasn’t until the goblin taunted him about gwen’s death that spider-man’s will returned and he started to fight back, gaining the upper hand.now beaten down, the goblin revealed himself to be norman osborn, and attempted to beg for mercy, saying that he considered himself a father to peter. peter retorted that he already had a father: ben parker. angered, norman used a remote to call his glider in an attempt to impale peter; however, peter dodged the incoming blades, leading the glider to skewer its owner. just before norman died, he asked peter to never tell harry the truth about who he’d been, and peter agreed. in his singed and torn spider-man suit, peter brought norman’s body to the osborn estate, where harry stumbled across the scene, leading him to assume that spider-man had killed his father.

ISSUE #5: REGRET TURNS TO RAGE!

“spider-man killed him, aunt may.”
“spider-man? i don't understand, spider-man doesn't kill people. what happened, peter?”
“i, uh. he was — i thought that you'd feel — he deserved it, didn't he?”

as he neared the end of his first year at columbia university, peter found it more and more difficult to handle his double life, as its demands and his grief over losing gwen made it an increasing burden. precariously struggling to balance his crime-fighting duties with his normal life, peter often found the latter taking a back seat. he lost his second job at a pizza place and faced financial difficulties as a result, and struggled to maintain his physics studies at school. following norman’s death, harry became ceo of oscorp, and still held his grudge against spider-man; this caused a rift between him and peter, as harry assumed that peter knew spider-man’s identity but was shielding the vigilante. meanwhile, mary jane had become a stage actress, but peter’s repeated failures to see her newest play due to his obligations as spider-man left her irritated with him. however, when he ultimately revealed his identity as spider-man to her, such vexation softened.one day, when spider-man saw a cloud of dust form into a person who then broke into an armored car, he landed inside and tried to punch the culprit, who appeared to be made of sand. however, his arm went straight through the man’s stomach. when the two realized that the vehicle was about to crash due to their fight, the man fled while spider-man managed to save the two drivers. when he jumped out, the man, who the media dubbed the sandman in the aftermath, was nowhere in sight.the following morning, a detective called and asked him to go down to the police station, where peter and aunt may were informed that the police got the facts wrong surrounding uncle ben's death, and that he was actually murdered by someone different than they’d originally believed: the true killer was the accomplice of the thief at the wrestling event, flint marko.the officer pulled out a picture of marko, and peter instantly recognized him as the sandman. angered by this revelation, peter stormed back to his apartment, where he waited for any news of the sandman on his police scanner, eager to confront him. then, mary jane arrived, telling peter that may had called her about what happened and she wanted to support him through it; however, he informed her that he didn't need help. she tried to make him understand that everyone needed help at some point in their lives, even spider-man, though he was unreceptive to her advice.when news of the sandman committing another robbery finally arrived a few days later, spider-man located and battled him in a subway tunnel. there, he revealed his identity to the sandman and accused him of murdering ben. overcome by feelings of anger and grief over losing his uncle and gwen, peter opened a pipe, releasing water that reduced the sandman to mud and washed him away, seemingly killing him.peter visited aunt may that night to tell her that spider-man had killed flint marko. however, may was disturbed by this instead of pleased, to peter’s dismay. when he questioned her about it, she replied, “neither your uncle nor gwen would want us living one second with revenge in our hearts. it’s like a poison, it can take you over. before you know it, it turns us into something ugly.”ashamed now of his actions and what gwen would think of him were she still alive, peter began to question whether he was capable of being a hero any longer. with so much uncertainty and pain, he found that his powers seemed to have stopped working; this convinced him that it was time to give up being spider-man.

ISSUE #6: SPIDER-MAN NO MORE!

“am i not supposed to have what i want, what i need? what am i supposed to do?”

focused completely on his normal life, peter began to excel in his physics studies. for a major paper, he decided to write about the research of brilliant scientist dr. otto octavius, his idol. harry, in an attempt to mend the awkwardness between them, offered to introduce him to octavius, who worked at oscorp’s research division; peter eagerly accepted. immediately upon meeting, octavius and peter found in one another a kindred spirit. their friendship grew, and octavius invited peter to oscorp to view the unveiling of his new sustained fusion experiment: a set of artificially intelligent mechanical arms that were impervious to heat and magnetism.however, when the big day arrived, the experiment overloaded and became unstable. octavius refused to halt it, with devastating results: his wife was killed, and the neural inhibitor chip which prevented the advanced ai of the arms from influencing octavius's own mind was destroyed, leaving the arms fused to his spine.uncontrolled, the tentacles began to corrupt octavius's mind in the following days, playing on his vanity and ego, and he decided that he must complete his experiment at any cost. as a result, jameson named him doctor octopus for the daily bugle’s reports. in an effort to finance his experiments, doctor octopus began robbing banks.disturbed by the fate of doctor octopus and the parallels he saw in their losses, peter’s guilt over the role he felt he played in both his uncle and gwen’s deaths started to consume him once more. during his next visit with may, he confessed that he was somewhat responsible for uncle ben's death. although may was initially upset, she and peter later reconciled, and she told him of the hope that spider-man brought to others in spite of what dreams he may have to sacrifice.in the meantime, doctor octopus completed rebuilding his reactor and needed one final item: the tritium to fuel it. he went to harry for it, who agreed to hand it over in exchange for doctor octopus capturing spider-man.

ISSUE #7: THE CLONE PARADOX!

“i can’t tell you everything. i mean, there’s so much to tell.”

unbeknownst to peter, he and gwen’s old biology professor, dr. miles warren, had a secret: warren, who also worked at oscorp as an expert on cloning, wanted to create a clone of gwen. clandestinely infatuated with her ever since she was a student in his class, he couldn’t cope with her death and planned to “bring her back.” oscorp was in possession of gwen’s dna from her time there as an intern, which made it easy for him to access it. warren blamed spider-man for gwen’s death, and planned to rewrite her memories to use against him in revenge.after months, warren finally succeeded in his endeavor. a perfect clone of gwen stacy was created, though she harbored none of her memories about her life prior. knowing that there would be consequences were his actions uncovered, warren kept her hidden in his private lab at oscorp, and he failed to reveal to her the truth about her past so that she wouldn’t attempt to leave, as well as to make it easier to alter her memories for his own benefit.however, during one of peter’s visits to oscorp with octavius prior to the latter’s transformation into doctor octopus, gwen caught sight of him on a camera in warren’s lab. seeing him prompted her genuine memories to return, and she realized that she had to escape. following doctor octopus’ departure from oscorp, though, peter visited much less frequently, unwittingly limiting gwen’s opportunities for escape.that was, until harry approached him with some concerns about oscorp’s image. following the catastrophe with doctor octopus, oscorp’s reputation had taken a hit, and the company couldn’t afford more negative press any time soon. it had been brought to harry’s attention that warren may be conducting off-the-books research; he didn’t want to accuse the scientist without proof and he didn’t fully trust anyone to investigate aside from peter. glad to help his friend and continue mending the rift between them caused by spider-man, peter agreed to look into the matter by acting as an interested student visiting oscorp.once he began to visit the building more often, gwen waited for the perfect chance to escape. warren was rarely in the private lab when peter came by, and he certainly would never bring anyone into it; one day, however, it finally happened. while warren was with gwen, she took the opportunity to whack him with a metal tray and steal his keycard. making her exit from the private lab, she caught up with peter - who was stunned and confused to see her. nevertheless, he helped her leave oscorp before warren awoke to stop them.back at peter’s apartment, she explained everything to him. he wasn’t sure what to think or feel - if she was a clone, was she truly gwen? it bewildered him. still, peter allowed her to stay with him, and with gwen’s very existence, as well as knowledge of warren’s projects, they were able to prove to harry the reality of warren’s secret work.

ISSUE #8: THE OCTAVIUS-OCTOPUS POLARIZATION!

“you once spoke to me about intelligence. you said it was a gift to be used for the greater good. these things have turned you into something else — don’t listen to them.”

while peter was preoccupied with exposing warren and reuniting with gwen, doctor octopus continued to hunt spider-man in order to obtain the tritium he needed. while gwen and peter sat in a coffee shop and awkwardly parsed through their relationship, doctor octopus approached. advised by harry that peter was the key to finding spider-man, doctor octopus destroyed the shop in an attempt to injure and interrogate him. however, peter regained his spider-sense at just the right moment to throw gwen and himself out of the way of a taxi thrown through the shop’s large glass front window.realizing that gwen was truly herself and that she believed in him in spite of all that happened while she was gone, peter's powers fully returned. donning his costume, he engaged doctor octopus in a battle, which started off at the top of a clock tower and then on top of a train. during the battle, doctor octopus managed to destroy the brakes to the train, forcing spider-man to rescue the runaway vehicle. spider-man managed to stop it before it could plunge over the end of the track. he nearly fell in the aftermath, but the people on the train caught him and saw him without his mask on.they agreed to keep his identity a secret and tried to protect him from doctor octopus, but his mechanical arms were too much for them. weak from his exertions, spider-man became dizzy and fainted; he was then captured by doctor octopus and delivered to harry. after harry handed over the tritium, he finally unmasked spider-man - and was stunned to discover that his sworn enemy was his best friend. spider-man awoke and tried to convince harry to reveal doctor octopus’ whereabouts so he could stop the reactor, which would destroy the city were it completed, yet harry couldn’t move past his shock. it was only when gwen arrived at the osborn estate with mary jane that harry was convinced to give peter doctor octopus’ location.with the necessary information, spider-man found doctor octopus in an abandoned warehouse on a waterfront pier, where he'd restarted his fusion experiment. after battling with doctor octopus, spider-man managed to stun the villain with an electric shock. then, peter revealed his true identity and pleaded with doctor octopus to stop the machine. returned to his senses by the shock and determined to end his experiment before it caused more harm, doctor octopus used his mechanical arms to collapse the floor of the building, drowning the device at the cost of his own life.

ISSUE #9: THE RETURN OF SPIDER-MAN!

“it's me, peter parker! your friendly neighborhood — you know. i've come a long way from being the boy who was bitten by a spider. back then, nothing seemed to go right for me, and now, people really like me.”

with his powers back and gwen alive again, peter took up the mantle of spider-man once more. he resumed protecting the city, and found that his “web block” failed to return. although peter as spider-man had initially been viewed as an outlaw and vigilante by the authorities, he had gradually become respected by the nypd and nyfd, as well as the citizens of new york city, despite jameson continuing to label him a masked menace in the daily bugle newspaper.reconciling with harry proved difficult, yet happened more quickly now that peter was able to offer his side of the story. this was further aided by harry’s discovery of norman’s hidden green goblin arsenal at the osborn estate, saving peter from breaking his promise never to reveal norman’s secret to harry.peter also met another familiar face, albeit one he had never expected to see again: the sandman, aka flint marko, who had managed to slowly reassemble himself after his fight with spider-man. marko explained that ben's death was an accident that haunted him and that he'd only joined the robbery to earn money to pay for his daughter’s doctor bills; peter forgave marko, saying, “i’ve done terrible things, too. i forgive you,” before allowing marko to escape.now, peter continues to serve the city as spider-man, his identity secret from all but a chosen few. he plans to become an experimental physicist after graduating from columbia university, a goal which seems more feasible since the police have begun helping him instead of hindering him.

STEVE TREVOR

diana rockwell, the future mother of steve trevor, was born and raised in omaha, nebraska. when the united states army chose to send an officer to fort sill in lawton, oklahoma, who stopped by diana’s farm to ask directions — that man happened to be lieutenant ulysses s. trevor, and the rest is history. after steve was born, diana and ulysses didn’t stray far from the midwest, and they raised him in enid, oklahoma.if anyone understood steve’s dedication to his career with the air service, it was his parents; after all, steve’s father had been a soldier in the army, too, just like his son was after him, while his mother poured all she had into running trevor ranch. however, while working on multiple projects at once, steve received the unfortunate news that something has happened to his father. steve rushed to his father’s side, but didn’t arrive in enough time to say goodbye. in front of the casket at the funeral, steve apologized to his dad for failing to be there for him.by the time he was twenty-five, steve served as a united states army air service captain; he found that not only did he love flying, but he was an extremely gifted pilot. at the start of world war i, he also became a spy for british intelligence. while on a mission in an ottoman empire base when he was thirty-four, he managed to steal a notebook containing the gaseous toxicology research of dr. isobel maru, also known as doctor poison, a notorious scientist.the notebook detailed a new, deadlier form of mustard gas which could annihilate the allied forces, and win the war for the german empire. steve commandeered a plane from the base to escape with the information; however, he was shot down in the open sea. upon crash-landing near the island of themyscira, he was saved from drowning by the amazon princess, diana. as he came to, she asked steve if he was a man, since diana had never come across a male before in her life. though somewhat confused, steve affirmed that he was, rhetorically asking if he looked like one. then, steve aided diana and the amazons in defending the beach against a german invasion force, during which he took down a german soldier and used his rifle to shoot at least two others.after the battle, he was put on trial in front of the amazons and questioned. the lasso of truth compelled him to reveal his mission and the fact that he was a spy, despite his attempts to resist revealing classified information.realizing that he was no threat to them and that ares, the ruthless god of war, had likely returned to the world once more, hippolyta, queen of the amazons, decided that one of them should safely escort steve back to london and on a mission to stop ares, with a contest to be held to determine who among them should be worthy of that task. diana wanted to be the one to escort steve, but hippolyta forbade her from doing so, feeling it was her duty as a mother to protect her daughter from the dangers of the outside world. however, diana wore a helmet, hiding her face as she battled and defeated the other amazons in the competition. after she was announced the victor, diana revealed her face and was awarded a suit of armor before being granted permission to leave with steve.when they arrived in london, steve accompanied diana through the streets while explaining the new sights to her. along with his secretary, etta candy, they bought diana new clothes to help her blend in. steve then delivered doctor poison’s notebook to his superiors at high command, but they refused to act on the information, which angered diana. however, the two decided to travel through a german occupied area known as no man’s land to complete the mission themselves. rallying a group composed of steve’s friends sameer, charlie, and chief, to accompany them (who later became known as the wonder men), they set off with the backing of sir patrick morgan, an advocate member of the british war council.the following day, steve, diana and the wonder men reached no man's land. steve, along with his team, assisted diana as she blocked the bullets of enemy soldiers with her bracelets and her shield, enabling them and the troops located nearby to advance. they continued to aid diana as they fought off the german soldiers at the nearby belgian village of veld, which had been invaded. after liberating the village from german occupation, a local took a photograph of steve with diana and his team.to get close to doctor poison, steve infiltrated a gathering of germans during a gala, but was unable to complete his goal due to diana’s insistence that general ludendorff of the imperial german army, who was present, must be ares; she also entered the gala against steve’s orders with the intention of killing ludendorff, but steve stopped her before she could blow their cover. in the aftermath, it came to light that it was in fact sir patrick morgan who was ares in disguise. steve and the wonder men were then separated from diana while she fought ares to destroy the destructive gas he planned to utilize to destroy the human race.when diana realized that ares was not the sole cause of the war but a mere instigator, her faith in humanity was shattered. determined to act, steve said goodbye to her before giving her his watch (his most valuable possession, gifted to him by his father). he then boarded the plane storing the gas, fought and defeated two german soldiers, and then flew as high as he could. steve drew his pistol and shot the gas, igniting it and destroying the plane to prevent its distribution, resulting in his own death. his sacrifice sparked diana’s understanding of the good in humans among the bad, leading her to then defeat and destroy ares.in 1984, sixty-five years after steve’s death, diana comes into contact with a dreamstone, a citrine stone that was created by the god of treachery and mischief, dechalafrea ero, with the power to grant any wish that was made in its presence. unknowingly, diana made a wish for steve to come back to life, which was granted. after they reunited, diana guided him around to show him what the world had become.later, they infiltrated the company of maxwell lord, an opportunistic television personality and oil tycoon who had taken the dreamstone with plans to use it as a means to his own ends. however, when they found the dreamstone, they discovered that it had crumbled. thereafter, steve flew diana to egypt in a stolen smithsonian jet to stop maxwell - but diana’s strength suddenly began to fade, and she was shot while trying to reach maxwell. upon returning to washington d.c., diana and steve uncovered new and devastating information about the dreamstone: if a wish was made upon it, it asked for a price.after learning that maxwell was at the white house, steve tried to stop him from escaping again while diana held off dr. barbara ann minerva, also known as the cheetah, who had obtained superhuman cheetah-based powers and was working with maxwell. despite their efforts, steve and diana failed. amidst the destruction of the city, steve eventually persuaded diana to undo her wish, so that she could regain the strength the dreamstone had taken in exchange for his life. they embraced for a final time before diana ran to face maxwell, renouncing her wish. steve's soul disappeared as diana's power returned, enabling her to save the world once more.in the modern day, following the creation of the justice league* and diana’s emergence to the world as wonder woman, she was granted a gift from the restored gods: steve trevor, brought back to life and speaking of ares’ return and a purpose - they must once again stop him.reunited once and for all, diana and steve began tracking down ares using diana’s resources, which reported sudden acts of violence in greece. she was then confronted by deimos, ares’ son and the god of terror, who had been sent by his father to take her down and bring her remains to him. she ultimately defeated deimos, but before she could extract any information from him with the lasso of truth, deimos turned to ashes, leaving behind his helmet and a medallion that diana recognized as that of tartarus, the underworld. following this, diana and steve traveled to greece, where they found a militant stronghold composed of members of the cult of ares. it was at this particular location that ares was about to make a blood sacrifice, which would open the doors to tartarus in the hopes that its ruler, hades, would break the iron bands that kept ares from his godly power. diana and steve attempted to stop the sacrifice from taking place, but ares summoned winged creatures to keep the two intruders at bay.diana told steve to stop ares while she fought them off, but when diana was overpowered by one of the winged creatures, steve chose to save diana instead, bringing her to a nearby hospital where she recovered. meanwhile, in the chambers of tartarus, ares convinced hades to break the iron bands, enabling him to use his powers at their fullest once again. having healed, diana and steve then traveled to washington, d.c., where ares summoned his demonic hordes at the lincoln memorial to wage war with all mankind. they were hopelessly overmatched until they saw the amazons arrive on the shore, who began to deal with ares’ army of undead amazons fighting under his control – which included alexa, who informed her sister, artemis, of a mystic chant that would break ares’ control over the other undead amazons.diana, in the meantime, fought ares by herself, drawing him to the reflecting pool of the lincoln memorial, lassoing him and causing one of his own lightning bolts to strike him, stunning him long enough for her to behead him. thus, diana stopped him for good. with ares now permanently in tartarus and no longer in control, his demonic hordes vanished, the amazons returned to themyscira, and diana and steve reunited at the reflecting pool.finally able to return to themyscira, diana found herself longing for the very world she had once turned her back upon. seeing this, hippolyta believed it was time to reopen channels of communication, and named diana their ambassador to the outside world, allowing her to fulfill her wish only on the grounds that she would visit home often. diana eagerly accepted and became an official ambassador, with steve as her liaison to the government when he regained his military position.

VENOM

BEN MATTHIAS

BERNIE HAYES

DAVID COLLINS

david never knew his parents. abandoned before he was two years old, he moved from foster home to foster home until he was eighteen years old, never remaining in one place for too long. some of the homes were nice, but others were awful - the one he stayed in the longest, when he was fourteen, was the worst. david had always been a bit of a troublemaker (getting into mischief and staying out later than he should), though he grew significantly worse after the abuse he suffered there.you do whatever you have to in order to survive: that was a lesson that never left him. with no family, and friends that came and went as quickly as each of his foster families, he learned to look out for himself, no matter what. as soon as he turned eighteen, david set out on his own. he worked in construction for a while, before joining the army. with a sense of listlessness and a lack of goals to work for, he figured the military might give him a kind of routine that meant something. for all of his loner tendencies, he wanted to help people, protect them. perhaps being a soldier was a way to do that.david wasn’t entirely wrong about that. although he found that being a soldier wasn’t exactly what he had pictured, it did give him a routine and a job that he grew extremely adept at. and it gave him his first real friend: caleb peterson. while the two served together, they grew extremely close, almost akin to brothers. caleb would tell david stories about his family back home; instead of feeling envious of what caleb had that he never did, it gave him hope. there were other kind people like caleb in the world, and families like the one he had always dreamed of having. maybe someday, he’d find one, too.david’s friendship with caleb also helped him to be more open to other people, and he soon met many others he came to call his close friends. still, the bond between him and caleb was stronger than anything he’d ever had before.everything changed for the worse as quickly as it had changed for the better. one day in combat, he was wounded when shrapnel lodged in his spine. although he underwent multiple surgeries, david found himself in constant, nearly unbearable pain. as the first month dragged by, he began to wonder if life would be worth living at all anymore, if this was what he had to look forward to.that was when he was approached by major carver, who was affiliated with a private military company called the kpg corporation. they were in the process of conducting an experiment that involved a procedure that would turn off his pain receptors and allow him to consciously regulate the flow of adrenaline in his body. carver explained, “the idea being that if we can get soldiers to control their fear responses, push their adrenaline when they need it, we’ll lose less men.” david had been selected as a prime candidate for the medical experiment, which they were calling project aegolius: he was an ideal soldier, well-liked by everyone, and had demonstrated high levels of empathy towards both his fellow soldiers and civilians. he was already prepared to commit, but when caleb told him that he’d decided to work with project aegolius, as well, that cemented the decision all the further.initially, it appeared that the procedure went perfectly. when he awoke, he was able to shut off his pain as easily as flicking a light-switch. however, that wasn’t the only thing david had shut off. everything felt muted, his emotions diluted. it was difficult for him to feel any of the empathy anymore that had made him the good man chosen for project aegolius to begin with. the only person david still felt anything towards was caleb.the scientists only irritated him, studying him like he was no longer a real person. one day, when one of the most condescending scientists referred to him as “the subject” while within reach, he snapped the guy’s neck. it was like hitting a bug with a flyswatter: an annoyance had been taken care of. others with the kpg corporation didn’t see it that way. instead, they grew concerned at david’s lack of emotion over the incident, and took to isolating him all the further.he was only allowed out in the field with caleb, since they knew he would listen to his friend. this seemed to keep him in-line, until a mission went south. caleb was fatally wounded, and as he lay dying in his friend’s arms, he made david promise that he would check on his family, and tell each of them that he loved them and was thinking of them until the very end. it was the first time since the procedure that david had felt any kind of grief, and it was almost consuming.in the aftermath, he informed major carver that he needed to visit caleb’s family. when this was denied, he began to experience another sensation for the first time since the experiment: anger. david wasn’t an animal to be kept behind bars and studied, and they couldn’t force him to break his promise to his friend. if they wouldn’t allow him to leave, he’d have to make them let him.after a few weeks of subdued behavior, the scientists began to let their guard down around him, a mistake which cost them their lives. after killing the scientists and soldiers who attempted to stop him from escaping, david set the kpg facility on fire, burning the bodies inside, but not before he snagged the dogtags of one of the soldiers: a man named david anderson collins.and so, david became david anderson collins, letting the military believe he died in the fire while he uses the identity of another soldier who happens to share his first name. however, he carries with him one side-effect of the experiment that he doesn’t want, one that major carver is terrified of: “david has a neurological condition, designed to protect him and the experiment. if he feels like his identity may be compromised, he’s programmed to clean up all loose ends. i doubt he could stop himself now, even if he wanted to.”

J. DANIEL ATLAS

JAMES CONRAD

JOSHUA FARADAY

joshua faraday never knew who his father was. oh, he asked his mother, elizabeth faraday, on multiple occasions, yet every explanation she gave him was more fantastical (and clearly fictional) than the last. one time, the man was a prince from a foreign land who was forced to return home by the king, and another, he was a spy who was on the run because his identity had been compromised so it wasn’t safe to return home. although joshua often allowed her to spin such tales without rebuttal, he never received much in the way of an answer when he did attempt to push back. eventually, he tried to accept that he’d never know the truth; either his father was dead and it was too painful for his mother to speak about, or his father was so despicable that she couldn’t bear to tell him, and he didn’t particularly care for either of those options.following the passing of his grandmother when he was six years old, he and elizabeth moved into the home of her father, josiah faraday. from the very beginning, josiah didn’t veil his dislike for joshua in the slightest. although joshua wished to garner his grandfather’s affection, it seemed impossible to do so. no matter what he did, he was met with a cold and disdainful apathy that was in such sharp contrast to elizabeth that he began to wonder how josiah could actually be elizabeth’s father (if his seemed not to exist at all, perhaps she had been given the wrong one). still, he never faltered in his endeavors to break past josiah’s contempt.one night, joshua discovered just how much of an exercise in futility it all had been. when he awoke to the sound of his mother and grandfather talking, he did his best to listen in. “he’s no grandson of mine,” josiah hissed through clenched teeth. “hell, you’d be better off if he’d never been born at all.” after that, joshua stopped trying.still, he loved his mother, and it was obvious to anyone who knew them just how much he took after her. they were both vivacious and irrepressible, with a penchant for telling stories or hearing new ones themselves. things were always tense at home with josiah’s disapproval looming like a tangible shadow, but joshua simply tried to block it out.when he was twelve, elizabeth fell ill. her sickness stretched on for months, with little sign of improvement. worse, josiah was bringing in very little as far as funds were concerned - and doctors were far from cheap. determined to help, joshua decided to earn money to pay for the visits himself. thus, he began running errands and doing jobs for people around town.since the saloon nearest to the faraday house was always bustling, he found it an excellent venue for soliciting jobs from its patrons (many of whom were there to relax and didn’t wish to be bothered with simple tasks - or were too drunk). that was where joshua got his first taste of gambling with cards. although he couldn’t play, they caught his attention right away and, whenever he could spare a moment, he would watch. over time, he silently devised strategies that would be useful for winning, as well as ways to play a better hand (including how to cheat). eventually, joshua used some of the money he’d earned to join a game, and the men let him, if nothing else for the amusement of it. for him, the stakes were high, but the potential payout was worth the risk.he won his very first round - and he kept winning. soon, gambling became joshua’s primary means of earning money to care for his mother, not errands. he liked the sense of power he felt whenever he fanned out a hand between his fingers; in a way, they were akin the subtlest weapon one could use. the cards could cut a man down just as easily as build him back up, and he could use them as distractions from his own schemes or draw attention away from them, depending on the moment’s necessity. for a boy who’d felt ineffectual against so much in his life, those cards were a salvation.they were interesting to look at, too (at least, the nice decks were). the designs on the backs could be colorful or monotone, and joshua enjoyed surveying the options in the nearby store window. his favorite thing that didn’t actually involve playing cards, though, was regaling his mother with tales about how he’d made his money that day, and pretending that he still attended school. he never told her the truth - he was dubious that she’d approve of gambling. instead, joshua made up fun little stories about small errands or jobs that he knew would make her laugh or smile.however, his successes at the saloon weren't smooth sailing. not everyone liked losing money to a kid. after he was beaten up one evening following a game and his winnings stolen, he started to vary which establishments he visited in town and when. joshua was still targeted by losers bitter at being outsmarted by a now-thirteen year old, but it was less often since his winning streak wasn’t constantly rubbed in their faces; plus, one of the saloon owners taught him magic tricks he could do with the playing cards, and he began using them as a distraction when tempers flared in his direction.the doctor and various remedies couldn’t keep his mother alive forever, though, and she eventually succumbed to illness. joshua was devastated at the loss, and left alone in the world. he didn’t even entertain the notion of remaining with josiah; even if he was allowed to stay with his grandfather, he would’ve refused. it was better to be alone than with someone who despised you. with the little bit of money he had left, joshua purchased a horse for transportation. he also stole a pack of those fancy playing cards from the general store before he left batesville behind for good.as he traveled in the aftermath, not every saloon found amusement in allowing a teenager inside; thus, joshua supplemented his earnings by joining up with small bands of men who would do “jobs;” they were usually illegal, and usually ended in a firefight. it was through these experiences that he grew more adept with a gun. still, he only agreed to assignments that didn’t harm uninvolved parties.joshua was a quick study, and taught himself everything he needed to know to survive in violent environments. however, he garnered a distaste for these undertakings once he realized how easy it was for innocent people to get hurt. one of the most egregious instances of this occurred when he’d been hired, along with a few others, to “convince” a man who owed another a significant amount of money to pay up; after the confrontation escalated into a shootout, the man’s father stepped in to save him from one of joshua’s bullets, and died. even though joshua swore that it would never happen again, instances like that inevitably piled up, and so did his guilt. he began having nightmares about the people he’d killed and, once it became too intolerable, he’d drink until he was so blackout drunk that when he passed out, he didn’t dream at all.eventually, he made gambling his primary source of income, though he would accept other jobs intermittently when they came around. throughout those years, joshua didn’t stay with any one group too long, though. he was unpredictable, even to himself, and most couldn’t keep up with him or didn’t like trying. he was okay with that, though; the more he drifted, the less chance there was to grow attached to anyone he could lose.that was, until 1879.after a chance encounter with sam chisholm, a famous u.s. marshal, joshua was recruited by he, emma cullen, and teddy q to liberate the town of rose creek from robber baron and gold-mining tycoon bartholomew bogue, who had seized control and enslaved the residents as cheap labor for his mine. alongside new comrades vasquez, goodnight robicheaux, billy rocks, jack horne, and red harvest, they entered rose creek and eliminated twenty-two blackstone “detectives” hired to guard the town. joshua was surprised by how well their new group of seven worked together; it was a feeling he’d never experienced before.chisholm guessed that they only had a week before bogue's men arrived to deal a swift and violent retribution. some of the townspeople fled, but most stayed, determined to fight for rose creek. the seven freed the men held at the mine, taking the explosives stockpiled there and spending what little time they had fortifying the town and training them to shoot (difficult a task as that was).when bogue's army attacked rose creek, most of them were quickly killed by various traps, explosives, and ambushes prepared by the team. as the battle raged on, joshua was wounded by mccann, one of bogue’s men, who was in turn killed by vasquez; the defensive line collapsed, and bogue and his remaining men started firing a gatling gun from a hill leading into the town, killing many of the townspeople and even their own mercenaries.realizing they were outgunned, the team evacuated the survivors to the burnt-out church and mounted a last stand. horne protected a wounded teddy from gunfire, but was killed by denali, bogue’s comanche enforcer, who was later taken out by an enraged red harvest. robicheaux and billy were killed by a second round of gunfire while covering joshua, as he made what he believed to be a suicidal charge up the hill to destroy the gatling gun with dynamite, leaving bogue with only two men left. chisholm confronted them and easily gunned down the two remaining mercenaries, before disarming bogue by blasting the gun out of his hand. a wounded bogue retreated into the church, where emma shot bogue dead.despite his extensive injuries and his prior resignation of death, joshua was discovered barely alive and rushed back into rose creek. although recovery was slow and painful, the townspeople were more than willing to accommodate him throughout as a show of gratitude for his part in defeating bogue.

LARS PINFIELD

LAWRENCE GORDON

divergences

  THE PATH OF ABSOLUTION.    this path diverges from the events of saw vii and sees lawrence escape completely from his entrapment. after his leg has sufficiently healed, he returns home to alison and diana. while he has greatly changed due to his experience and nearly losing her, he and alison decide to divorce; although he loves her, he was never in love with her, and she deserves better. their relationship bears the strain of this for a time, but eventually grows into one that's quite amicable. lawrence no longer works at angel of mercy hospital and has instead transferred to saint eustace hospital. eventually, he begins attending a support group for survivors of the jigsaw killer at the behest of diana, though he rarely shares or engages with the group. on this path, lawrence wishes to see jigsaw's legacy destroyed, and hates him for the trauma alison and diana endured. at the end of saw vii, he discovers mark hoffman's identity as the new jigsaw killer, and teams up with a few other members of the support group to murder him and put an end to jigsaw's games forever. whether adam survives may depend on the timeline of whoever i'm writing with; regardless, lawrence does return to try to save him.  THE PATH OF ASSISTANCE.    i don't buy that, as we see lawrence in saw, he would ever work with jigsaw. while the experience of the game does change him, he would never forgive jigsaw for endangering alison and diana's lives and putting them through the trauma they endured. he might be grateful in a strange way if it only involved him, but it does not and that's where my problem with the reveal that lawrence has become jigsaw's assistant lies. the route to him becoming a better man would never be worth what his family was subjected to in his eyes. in addition, in saw vii, although lawrence is supposed to prove that jigsaw's methods can produce "success" and believe in those methods now himself as a result, we see that this version of lawrence has instead lost his family entirely, the very thing he was supposed to be bent on saving, but somehow also believes the experience made him a better person? it makes very little sense. however, this path does follow the events of saw vii more closely. after passing out from blood loss during his escape, lawrence is rescued and cared for by jigsaw, who still sees him as an example of a successful case. by the time lawrence is well enough to return home, jigsaw has convinced him to act as an assistant in certain future endeavors as a way to ensure that alison and diana will never be targeted again; in addition, due to a combination of stockholm syndrome and trauma, lawrence does believe there's some good in what jigsaw does because of the change he sees in himself, which is how he's able to justify his own actions. lawrence and alison still divorce as they do in the other path, though he cares deeply for her and their daughter, whose life he's very involved in. after jigsaw's death, lawrence is tasked with watching over jill tuck, which he does until her death at the hands of mark hoffman. he then kills mark with the help of assistants of his own that he has recruited. whether adam survives may depend on the timeline of whoever i'm writing with; either lawrence convinces jigsaw to free adam, or he's unconscious for too long and adam dies.

lawrence gordon was born in allentown, pennsylvania to douglas and eleanor gordon. although stable from the view of an outsider, lawrence's childhood was less than happy; douglas was an emotionally abusive husband and father, while eleanor died of cancer when lawrence was only eight years old. throughout his young life, douglas withheld not only affection from him, a decision rooted in the desire to ensure that he didn't grow up to be "too sensitive," but even certain essentials such as new clothing and school supplies. from the age of nine, lawrence was expected to work for, or justify, everything that he had despite the fact that douglas could easily afford to provide them. still, not even this was enough to satisfy douglas, who took every opportunity to teach him to be "tough"; once, when his pet cat was too sick to recover, douglas wouldn't allow him to take the animal to the vet, and forced him to put it out of its misery himself.so it was that for lawrence, school was akin to a refuge. he loved learning, and he made friends easily (though he never invited them over, uncertain of how his father might behave and unwilling to take the risk). hoping to keep the reality of his homelife a secret out of a misplaced sense of shame, he grew adept at feigning his own contentment; no one seemed to suspect that he was anything other than the bright, charismatic, well-adjusted student he portrayed himself to be.the year before he graduated from high school, at the recommendation of one of his teachers, he began volunteering at the local hospital alongside his usual parttime job. there, he often assisted with filing, typing, and answering phones, though there were times when he checked on patients and delivered their meals. after spending so much of his life forced by his father to accept, or even contribute to, death and pain, lawrence found the idea of dedicating his adulthood to doing the opposite appealing.with the aid of scholarships received due to his good grades and volunteer work, he attended indiana university's school of medicine. there, he received a medical oncology degree, inspired by his mother and her battle with cancer. shortly afterwards, he started what became an immensely successful career at the angel of mercy hospital.when he was twenty-nine years old, he met alison. she was beautiful and intelligent, and lawrence cared for her deeply. a year after they were married, they had their daughter, diana.although he continued his career on an upward trajectory, lawrence became more and more disillusioned with his job as the years went by. day in and day out spent informing patients of how long they had left to live, doing what he could to ease their suffering while not always able to do so, watching them die after they passed months in his care - there were moments when it felt nothing short of devastating. alison implored him to attend therapy and learn a healthy method of coping, yet the notion of revealing parts of himself that he had long kept locked away disgusted him. instead, lawrence slowly began to detach. at first, it was only from his patients, who he had once allowed himself to know too closely. he remained an excellent doctor, yet he didn't permit himself to think of them much outside of the realm of treatment; each patient was merely a number. then, it started to seep into his relationship with his family.lawrence had spent his entire life working for as long as he could remember, and as his emotions towards alison shut down, he dove deeper and deeper into his work once more. although their relationship strained, he didn't wish to lose her from his life despite what she thought. however, he did little to rectify the situation, which didn't escape the notice of diana. lawrence and his daughter were very close despite the fact that work often took precedent over his time; the two played games together in the evenings, read books, and talked about whatever she liked. he was the person she trusted the most, her protector. nevertheless, as she reached the age of ten, she grew fearful that lawrence would someday disappear into his work completely and abandon their family.regardless of his love for diana, lawrence began to hate the numbness he had grown so accustomed to in his life. he did want to feel something - just perhaps not too much. that was when he met carla at work. she was beautiful and exciting, yet not so much that he feared garnering strong feelings for her. the two met up a few times, though he hated another sensation this gave him almost as much as the numbness: guilt.shortly after lawrence turned forty, he was unexpectedly questioned by detective david tapp and detective steven sing, two homicide detectives who worked for the metropolitan police department. they asked him about his whereabouts on the previous night between 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock, informing him that a penlight with his fingerprints had been found at the crime scene of one of the deadly games set up by a wanted serial killer known as jigsaw, who used these lethal traps to test his victims' will to survive. reluctantly, lawrence revealed that he had been with carla at the time of the murder, who confirmed his story. detective tapp, however, remained unconvinced of lawrence's innocence, and had lawrence watch the testimony of heroin addict amanda young, the only known survivor of one of jigsaw's traps, who had been forced to kill and disembowel a man to obtain a key to free herself from a reverse beartrap strapped to her face. tapp's distrust of lawrence eventually grew into obsession when sing died in one of jigsaw's traps shortly afterward, resulting in tapp's discharge from the police force. convinced now that lawrence was the killer, tapp rented a run-down flat across from the gordons' apartment and focused on observing him for the next five months.although lawrence became aware of tapp's observations, he continued his life as normal. however, as those first five months came to an end, he ultimately put a stop to his relationship with carla during a meeting at a hotel. on the way back to his car, he noticed the flash of a camera before reaching his vehicle and realizing that he was trapped in the parking garage. during his repeated attempts to make a call for help on his phone, he was snuck up on and subdued.upon waking hours later, lawrence found himself chained to a pipe in a large, dilapidated bathroom across from a photographer named adam. between them was the corpse of an apparent suicide victim holding a revolver and a microcassette recorder. both men found a tape in their pockets, and adam retrieved the recorder. adam's tape urged him to survive, while lawrence's tape ordered him to kill adam by 6 o'clock, or alison and diana would be killed. after adam found a bag containing two hacksaws inside the toilet, they tried to saw through their chains, before adam's saw broke. it was then that lawrence realized that the saws were not intended for the chains, but to cut off their feet. although he couldn't be sure, he suspected that their kidnapped must be the jigsaw killer.following cryptic clues left by jigsaw, lawrence discovered a box containing two cigarettes, a lighter, and a one-way cellphone. he recounted his abduction in the parking garage to adam, who recalled his own abduction when he returned home to find a puppet in his darkroom.it was then that alison, held at gunpoint, called the cellphone and warned him not to believe adam. adam then admitted to lawrence that he was paid by tapp to spy on him, and revealed his knowledge of lawrence's affair with carla. while he deduced that the affair was the reason why he was being tested, adam found a photo of alison and diana's captor whom lawrence recognized as zep hindle, a hospital orderly.at 6 o'clock, zep, seeing that lawrence still hadn't killed adam, moved to murder alison and diana, but alison freed herself and fought him off. the struggle attracted tapp's attention, and he managed save alison and diana before chasing zep to the sewers, where he was shot in the chest. lawrence, who could only hear the gunshots and screaming over the phone, was shocked and lost reach of the cellphone. in desperation, he sawed off his right foot so that he could reach the corpse's revolver and shot adam, though intentionally only hit the other man's shoulder. zep then entered the bathroom to kill lawrence but adam, who had played dead from the shot, bludgeoned zep to death with a toilet tank lid. after promising to return for adam, lawrence crawled out of the bathroom to find help while adam searched zep's body for a key. instead, he found another tape, which revealed that zep was just another victim of jigsaw, following rules to obtain an antidote for a slow-acting poison in his body.then, the corpse in the room rose; it was revealed to be john kramer, the real jigsaw killer. john told adam that the key to his chain was in the bathtub; it had gone down the drain when adam had first awoken and drained the water. adam attempted to shoot john with zep's gun, but john electrically shocked him through his chain and left adam to die.

will it be the path of absolution or the path of assistance? make your choice.

RAPUNZEL

king frederic and queen arianna of the kingdom of corona were anticipating their firstborn when, very late in her pregnancy, the queen fell ill with what would surely result in her death, as well as her child's. fearing the death of his love, the king dispatched multitudes of soldiers and villagers alongside the populace to search for a rumored magic flower, created by a single drop of sunlight, with the potential to heal illnesses.after much searching, the flower, long hoarded by a woman named mother gothel, who used it to keep herself young by singing a special incantation to it, was miraculously located and boiled into medicine to cure the queen. with the help of the flower, the queen made a full recovery and soon gave birth to a healthy baby girl, named rapunzel who, unlike her brunette parents, had beautiful, golden hair. to celebrate her birth, a floating lantern with the emblem of the sun was released into the sky amongst the people of corona. this happiness did not last long, however. determined to retrieve the flower that kept her young and alive for hundreds of years, mother gothel broke into the castle late one night and sang the song to rapunzel's hair. discovering that rapunzel's hair retained the flower's healing powers, gothel attempted to cut a piece off for herself, only to find that the lock lost its magic and became brown. frustrated and desperate, gothel kidnapped the princess and fled to her tower, hidden within an alcove deep in the forest. to protect rapunzel's hair, gothel raised rapunzel as her own daughter and taught her to sing the flower's song. to further ensure her magic supply was plentiful, gothel continuously brushed the hair to further its growth. although rapunzel wished to leave the tower as she became older, gothel warned her of a dangerous world beyond the tower walls, full of selfish people that desired to steal her hair and abuse her power.meanwhile, the kingdom searched far and wide for their missing princess, but to no avail. as a result, each year on rapunzel's birthday, the king, queen, and the entire kingdom released thousands of lanterns into the night sky, in hopes that one day, their lost princess would return.while in the tower alone one night, rapunzel encountered a baby chameleon at the window that was being followed by a venomous snake. the chameleon was bitten and died from poisoning, though rapunzel was able to both rid the tower of the snake and revive the deceased chameleon with the power of her hair. the chameleon seemed to be alone in the world, something rapunzel related to, as gothel would frequently leave her alone in the tower for long periods of time. rapunzel named the chameleon pascal, and to remedy their mutual loneliness, kept him by her side as her companion.for years after her abduction, rapunzel remained fascinated by the annual lights and, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, asked for permission to leave the tower and investigate them. gothel refused, saying the outside world was too dangerous for her. meanwhile, the thief flynn rider stole rapunzel's intended crown from the palace; he then abandoned the stabbington brothers, his partners, while being relentlessly pursued by royal guards. flynn discovered and took refuge in the tower, where rapunzel knocked him out with a frying pan and hid him in a closet. when rapunzel attempted to show him to gothel as proof she could defend herself, gothel angrily berated rapunzel and again refused to let her leave the tower. hatching a plan, rapunzel instead asked for new paint as a gift, sending gothel on a three-day journey to retrieve it.unaware of its true significance to her, rapunzel hid the crown and struck a deal with flynn, promising to return it in exchange for taking her to see the lanterns, which he agreed to. along the way, they stopped at the snuggly duckling pub. there, menacing thugs tred to capture the wanted flynn, but rapunzel charmed them into revealing their softer sides. when royal guards arrived, the thugs helped her and flynn escape. meanwhile, gothel had become suspicious and returned to the now empty tower, where she found the crown. she set out to find rapunzel, allied with the stabbington brothers.during their escape from the pub, flynn and rapunzel became trapped in a fast-flooding cave; believing they would suffocate, flynn revealed his true name to her, eugene fitzherbert. however, rapunzel used the magic glow of her hair to reveal a hidden exit beneath the water, and they escaped. that night, gothel found and confronted rapunzel alone, giving her the crown and telling her to test eugene's loyalty.the next morning, rapunzel and eugene entered the kingdom and attended a festival in honor of the "lost princess". after a day of celebration, they sailed onto the lake to watch the release of the lanterns. having fulfilled her dream, rapunzel gave eugene the crown. when eugene saw the stabbington brothers across the way on the shore, he went to apologize and offer them the crown. instead, the brothers tied him to a ship with the crown, tricking rapunzel into believing that he had abandoned her. they pretended to try to capture rapunzel, but gothel staged a fake rescue by knocking them out, and took the heartbroken rapunzel back to the tower.eugene was arrested upon reaching shore, but escaped with the help of the pub thugs. meanwhile, rapunzel realized she has subconsciously incorporated the kingdom's standard, a golden sun, into her artwork throughout her life. realizing that she was the "lost princess" the festival and lanterns were for all along, she confronted gothel, and refused to ever allow gothel to use her hair again. it was then that eugene arrived at the tower and called to rapunzel. her hair was lowered to him, but upon climbing up, he found her bound and gagged before gothel fatally stabbed him from behind. gothel attempted to drag rapunzel away; she resisted, but then promised to go willingly if allowed to heal eugene. eugene, realizing rapunzel would spend the rest of her life in captivity if she did so, cut off her hair before she could heal him. gothel suddenly aged rapidly, then fell from the tower and turned to dust.rapunzel was mourning eugene's death when one of her tears, which still had some of the flower's magic, revived him. in the aftermath, rapunzel was reunited with her birth parents and took her rightful place as princess of corona once more.now, as rapunzel adjusts to life as a princess, she receives help from pascal and her lady-in-waiting, cassandra. she tries her best, and despite having a loving family and supportive circle of friends, rapunzel feels overwhelmed at times with the amount of responsibility that comes with being a princess. she also struggles with her relationship with her father, who fears that rapunzel's desire to explore the world will lead to her falling into harm's way, much like she did eighteen years prior, when she was kidnapped by gothel.

TRAPPER

WILL TURNER

william turner jr. was born the only son of the pirate william "bootstrap bill" turner in glasgow, scotland. however, will's father was absent during his early childhood, so he was raised by his mother in england. he grew up believing his father was a merchant seaman, a "good, respectable man who obeyed the law." when his father sent him an aztec medallion, he thought it was just an exotic trinket that his father had picked up on his travels and rarely went without it, as it was the only tangible connection he held to the man aside from the letters he sometimes received; eventually, those ceased entirely.after his mother died, will began looking for his father while wearing the gold medallion, soon boarding a british merchant vessel that traveled to the caribbean sea. however, the ship was attacked by pirates, and he was left the only survivor. lying unconscious on a piece of driftwood, he was spotted by young elizabeth swann aboard the hms dauntless. told to care for the half-drowned boy by her father, governor weatherby swann, she was left to watch over will as lieutenant james norrington's men of the british royal navy set about searching the wreckage for more possible survivors. will roused in time for he and elizabeth to introduce themselves before he lapsed back into unconsciousness. she then noticed the medallion around his neck, and she became worried that he was a pirate. fearing that norrington would have him hanged if the medallion was discovered, she took it before will was taken below decks. while he thought the medallion was lost during the rescue, she kept the medallion in her possession.after arriving in the town of port royal, both governor swann and elizabeth moved into a grand mansion while will was apprenticed to john brown, a local blacksmith. for the next eight years, he and elizabeth maintained a strong friendship. he also became proficient at his trade, and it could be said that he carried out many, if not all, of the duties neglected by his often drunk master. will forged a number of swords, and practiced with them for hours at a time at the smithy. after the attack he survived, he developed a hatred towards pirates, and wanted to be able to best one in single combat should the opportunity arise.eventually, he had his chance when the pirate captain jack sparrow attempted to evade arrest in port royal, will engaged him in a duel, though jack ultimately bested him by cheating. even so, his efforts stalled jack long enough for norrington to arrive and carry out an arrest (though his master was credited for that, too).from jack, will learned the truth about his lineage: his father was the pirate "bootstrap bill" turner, who served aboard the *black pearl *when it was commanded by jack. despite jack's comments that bootstrap was "a good man," will remained deeply conflicted over the fact that his father was a pirate. jack also told him about how, when first mate hector barbossa and the crew mutinied and marooned him, only bootstrap defended him and was killed for it. however, prior to bootstrap's betrayal, the crew had looted a chest of aztec gold, which had resulted in them becoming undead and unable to feel physical pleasure. it was only after they had thrown bootstrap overboard that they learned how to break the curse: they needed to return all of the gold pieces, and each pirate who took the gold had to make a blood offering as a form of repayment. because bootstrap only had one child, barbossa had decided to track down and kidnap the child in order to lift the curse.seeing the piece of aztec gold elizabeth had taken from will and believing her to be the daughter of bootstrap bill, barbossa kidnapped her. determined to rescue her, will formed an alliance with jack to defeat barbossa and helped him escape from prison. together, they commandeered a ship and recruited a crew in tortuga. they then sailed to isla de muerta, where barbossa had taken elizabeth; however, unbeknownst to will, jack intended to use him to bargain back the black pearl. when will learned of his role in lifting the curse, he instead bartered himself to barbossa to free elizabeth and the crew. in the end, jack and will succeeded in lifting the curse; jack killed barbossa, and the pirate crew was defeated. jack was re-arrested upon their return to port royal and scheduled for execution, but will attempted to rescue him from the gallows. they were quickly subdued by redcoats, but will refused to abandon jack. elizabeth intervened and saved will by vouching for him and jack. will was pardoned, while jack escaped by falling off the rampart and into the bay, where the black pearl awaited.for some time, will resumed working in john brown's blacksmith shop, but not for long. shortly after the battle of the isla de muerta, he and elizabeth were summoned by jack to tortuga. there, they met at the faithful bride tavern, where jack told the pair about st. piran's blade, a supposedly magical sword which he accidentally sent to the bottom of the sea by sinking the ship which carried it. after an adventure to retrieve it, will and elizabeth persuaded jack to give them the magical blade so they could display it somewhere safe.later, when the infamous undead pirate jolly roger attempted to take over the caribbean, will sided with jack and the forces that were opposing him.however, for aiding in jack's escape, will and elizabeth were ultimately arrested by lord cutler beckett, a man made wealthy and powerful by profits from the east india trading company. beckett threatened will and elizabeth with execution for their affiliation with jack, but offered clemency if will could find jack's compass for beckett's use. this magical compass would allow beckett to find the heart of davy jones, a supernatural force condemned for eternity to captain the flying dutchman. beckett also possessed a letter of marque with which he intended to recruit jack as a privateer.thus, will began his hunt for jack and the black pearl. he found the crew captive on pelegosto, a cannibal-inhabited island. they escaped, after which jack agreed to give will his compass if he helped him find a key, though he had no idea what it unlocked. jack sought out tia dalma, a voodoo priestess who took a particular interest in will, proclaiming he had a "touch of destiny." dalma told them that the key was to the dead man's chest containing the heart of davy jones. jack had once struck a bargain with davy jones to raise the black pearl from the ocean bottom and to make jack captain for thirteen years, after which jack would then serve aboard the dutchman for a century. when jones attempted to collect on this deal, jack reneged on the bargain.the crew started searching for jones, and will soon found himself stranded on a wrecked vessel that jack claimed was jones' ghost ship, the flying dutchman. when the real flying dutchman suddenly arrived, jack attempted to barter will to davy jones to repay his blood debt, but jones refused, saying one soul was unequal to another. instead, he kept will as a "good faith" payment and demanded an additional ninety-nine souls; otherwise, jack would be forced to surrender or face the kraken.now an indentured sailor aboard jones' ghost ship, will unexpectedly met his father, "bootstrap bill" turner. when will challenged davy jones to liar's dice, betting his soul against the key to the dead man's chest, bootstrap joined in and purposely lost to save his son from eternal enslavement. with bootstrap's help, will stole the key from jones and escaped in a longboat, vowing to one day free his father. a passing ship rescued will, but jones summoned the kraken to destroy it. will survived and stowed back aboard the dutchman, now headed for isla cruces where the dead man's chest containing jones' heart was buried.on isla cruces, will was reunited with elizabeth, who had escaped jail and joined jack's crew. also present were jack and former commodore james norrington, who had also joined the crew. after they located the chest, will, jack, and norrington each claimed the heart for their own purposes. norrington ultimately stole the heart and the letters of marque, escaping just as davy jones' crew attacked.the black pearl fled, outrunning the flying dutchman, but davy jones again summoned the kraken. will led the crew in temporarily fending it off, gaining enough time to abandon ship. when elizabeth realized that jack was the kraken's sole prey, she distracted him with a passionate kiss while handcuffing him to the mast. from the longboat, will and the crew watched the kraken drag the pearl and jack down to davy jones' locker.in the aftermath, will, elizabeth, and the crew sought refuge with tia dalma. however, will and the crew agreed to attempt to rescue jack from the locker. to help them, tia dalma resurrected barbossa to join the endeavor.will next found himself in singapore with elizabeth, barbossa, tia dalma, and the black pearl crew. there, they attempted bargain with sao feng, the pirate lord of the south china sea, for the navigational charts leading to world's end and davy jones' locker, so that they could rescue jack. will had already attempted to steal the charts, but was captured. ostensibly, the group's mission was to rescue jack from the locker but, like the others, will had a secret motive: to retrieve the black pearl and free his father from davy jones. when the east india trading company soldiers attacked sao feng's bathhouse, feng struck a bargain with will: jack sparrow in exchange for the black pearl. now in possession of the map, will and the others journeyed to world's end on feng's ship, sailing over an enormous waterfall into the locker. there, they found jack aboard the pearl. jack set sail with them, although he and barbossa disputed who was captain. during the trip back, will learned that elizabeth had sacrificed jack to the kraken, and that was why elizabeth had been distant and despondent: she believed that her unrelenting guilt over causing jack's doom was her burden alone to bear. will told her that they couldn't lack trust in one another or make their choices alone.however, feng ultimately betrayed will in lieu of another bargain with lord beckett, though beckett then double-crossed feng. feng then offered barbossa the black pearl in exchange for elizabeth, who he mistakenly believed was the sea goddess, calypso. elizabeth was stunned to learn that will had betrayed jack to achieve his goal, and she agreed to feng's terms in exchange for the crew's safety. jack tossed will in the brig, but he soon escaped. still plotting to obtain the pearl, will left a trail of bodies for lord beckett to follow to shipwreck cove, the brethren court stronghold. jack caught him, but surprisingly handed will his magical compass before pushing him overboard. clinging to a floating barrel, will drifted towards beckett's ship, endeavour.will was then exchanged for jack during parley with beckett and davy jones. elizabeth told will she now understood the burden he bore, but having been aboard the dutchman, she believed bootstrap could no longer be saved, although will disagreed. when barbossa released calypso from her human form, will told her that davy jones betrayed her to the first brethren court. this caused her to turn her fury against both the pirates and jones, forming a giant maelstrom.during the ensuing battle, will defended elizabeth from davy jones. he stabbed jones, but jones remained unharmed and instead mortally wounded will. jack, who now possessed jones' heart, guided will's hand to stab the heart and kill jones. bootstrap then carved out his son's heart and placed it in the dead man's chest, resurrecting will as the flying dutchman's new immortal captain. now under will's command, the flying dutchman resurfaced, and the crew reverted back to human form. will commanded the dutchman against the endeavour and, combining the firepower of the black pearl and the flying dutchman, destroyed the endeavour, killing cutler beckett. the remaining armada retreated without a fight.now a psychopomp, will realized that he was bound to ferry the souls of those who died at sea to the next world. bootstrap bill decided to remain on the crew with his son but elizabeth, a mortal, was unable to accompany them. thus, will entrusted the dead man's chest containing his beating heart to her care.now, as captain of the flying dutchman, will has become immortal, but is only allowed on land one day every ten years; thus, while he's charged with the sacred task of collecting all the souls who die at sea and ferrying them to the worlds beyond, he also searches for poseidon's trident, a mythical relic that supposedly holds the power to break his curse.

ANTHONY BRIDGERTON

born in the summer of 1785 to viscount edmund bridgerton and his wife, viscountess violet bridgerton, anthony bridgerton was destined to eventually take on his father’s role and inherit the title of viscount. however, despite what was considered “usual” for those with their place in society, edmund and violet were involved parents who raised anthony without the aid of nurses or nannies. although he was exceptionally close to both of them, anthony developed a special relationship with his father. even when anthony was an infant, edmund would take him on long walks across the fields of kent, talk to him of poetry and philosophy, and read him bedtime stories. anthony wasn’t to remain an only child for long, though; when he was two years old, his brother benedict was born – as well as what came to be a bridgerton tradition of naming each of their children after the letter of the alphabet corresponding to the order of their birth, for next came collin when anthony was six, and daphne when he was eight.regardless, while anthony was aware that edmund loved all of them equally, he liked to think to himself that he and his father continued to share a special relationship. he felt that this was affirmed when, on his eighth birthday, edmund gifted anthony the bridgerton pocket watch, given to him by his father on his eighth birthday. it meant so much to anthony that he slept at night with the pocket watch cradled against his chest; he adored his entire family, but edmund was his world and everything he aspired to be.at thirteen, anthony left his parents and siblings (including the newly born eloise) to attend eton college, just as edmund had before him. while he pursued his education for the next five years, francesca was added to the bridgerton brood that first year, and gregory the fourth. he enjoyed spending time with his brothers and sisters when he returned home on holidays, as well as his mother, yet it was edmund he was most excited to make proud with his excellent marks and other accomplishments.it was when anthony was seventeen that he first learned of the bridgerton curse; not that it was called that aloud when edmund’s younger brother, hugo, died unexpectedly, of course. now that he was older, he realized that bridgerton men seemed to die unusually young, often prior to reaching the age of forty. regardless, anthony didn’t worry about his father, who was strong and the picture of health. edmund bridgerton could never be felled by something so intangible.after graduating from eton at the age of eighteen and securing acceptance to oxford (where edmund had also attended, naturally), anthony returned home for the summer to discover that violet was pregnant yet again with she and edmund’s eighth child. although he couldn’t imagine wanting to have so many children himself in the future, he was glad to prepare to welcome another sibling along with the rest of the family. thus, the holiday for his first semester at oxford was spent doting on his mother, going riding and playing games with his brothers and sisters, and spending as much time with edmund as possible.however, that idyllic summer would also change everything for anthony forever. at the age of thirty-eight, edmund bridgerton suddenly collapsed while on an outing with eloise, never to awaken again.doctors tried everything to explain what might have been the cause, settling on the bee sting he had apparently suffered while out with eloise that morning. regardless of the explanation, anthony couldn’t accept that; he had witnessed edmund stung by bees in the past without any negative reaction to be seen.edmund’s death rocked the entire family, yet devastated anthony in a way different from his other siblings. edmund had been the center of his world, his inspiration, the man he had always believed was untouchable – and now he was gone. still, anthony immediately moved to comfort his brothers and sisters and violet, who was still pregnant. he consoled each and every one of them until the day’s end, when they all finally retired to bed. it was then that he returned to his father’s room, where the body still lay, and simply stared for hours. when he finally left the bedroom, he did so with a new vision of his own life, and an understanding of his own mortality. edmund bridgerton had died before reaching forty, and anthony couldn’t imagine ever surpassing his father in any way, even in years. the bridgerton curse was real, and if edmund had succumbed to it, he surely would, as well.only eighteen and now considered viscount anthony bridgerton, the head of the family, anthony stepped into the role with a sense of duty. before leaving for oxford, he assured violet and the others that he would care for them as edmund would have wanted, even as he completed his education. true to his word, he even left oxford to return home for the birth of hyacinth, the final bridgerton child, when he was nineteen.while at school, he became roommates with simon basset, son of the duke of hastings, as well as best friends. although he took part in his studies, he also spent a majority of his time with simon: playing practical jokes on one another, gambling at gentlemen’s clubs, drinking heavily, and indulging in indiscriminate promiscuity with anyone who struck their fancy. it was far from the sort of behavior edmund would have approved of, but if anthony only had twenty more years to live, he supposed he might as well enjoy it while he could.upon turning twenty-two and graduating from oxford, simon set off to travel the world, and anthony returned home to step fully into his role as the new viscount. perhaps he had been reckless the past four years, yet he didn’t wish to dishonor his father’s legacy by failing the family and the people who counted on him as a landowner. it wasn’t long before violet began her far from subtle attempts to marry him off to an eligible young lady, leaving him lists on his desk in the study as to who might make a proper match, and inviting those whose names were upon them to social events she knew he was bound to attend. regardless, anthony has managed to evade her efforts for six years; what’s the purpose of marrying only to die and leave a grieving widow behind? while respectable (mostly) in a majority of other ways, he continues to enjoy the intimate company of anyone he likes with little concern as to who knows and how much they know. he’s aware that this frustrates his mother endlessly, and convinces her to a point that he isn’t committed enough to the bridgerton name to provide an heir – it’s also landed him the unsavory reputation as one of the worst rakes in london.

BILBO BAGGINS

bilbo baggins was born on september 22, in the year 2890 of the third age. he was the only son of bungo baggins and belladonna took. in hobbiton, bungo constructed a spacious and luxurious hobbit-hole for belladonna, which they named bag end. the family moved to their new home, where bilbo would spend much of his life.as a young hobbit, bilbo was curious and eager for news of the outside world, and the wizard gandalf took interest in this unusual quality in bilbo during his visits to the shire. bilbo loved watching gandalf's fireworks, practicing his rock-throwing skills, and staying out past bedtime searching for elves. when bilbo was thirty-six years old, bungo passed away, and his mother belladonna followed eight years later when bilbo was forty-four. thus, bilbo became his own master and spent the next seven years living alone in bag end. during this time, he grew fond of his life as a wealthy bachelor, and acquired a reputation for respectability that the neighbors admired.at the age of fifty, he was hired as a "burglar", despite his initial objections, on the recommendation of gandalf by thirteen dwarves led by their king in exile, thorin oakenshield. the company was on a quest to reclaim the lonely mountain and its treasures from the dragon smaug, which had been stolen from them. the adventure took bilbo and his companions through the wilderness, to the elven haven of rivendell, and across the misty mountains. it was there, after escaping from goblins, that he met gollum and acquired a magic ring that allowed him to turn invisible (the one ring, though he was unaware of it at the time). his journey with thorin and the dwarves then continued via a lucky escape from wargs, goblins, and fire to the house of beorn the shapeshifter, through the black forest of mirkwood, to lake-town in the middle of long lake, and eventually to the mountain itself.as the group's burglar, bilbo was sent down the secret passage to the dragon's lair. there, he stole a golden cup and took it back to the dwarves. smaug awoke to instantly notice the theft, and a draught of cold air from the opened passage. he flew out, nearly catching the dwarves outside the door, and ate their ponies. bilbo and the dwarves hid inside the passage before he returned to smaug's lair again to steal some more, but the dragon was now only half-asleep. wearing his magic ring, bilbo was invisible, but despite his stealth, smaug smelled him at once. bilbo had a riddling conversation with smaug, and noticed that the dragon's armor had a gap. he escaped the dragon's flames as he ran up the passage, and told the dwarves about what he had noticed. an old thrush overheard him, then flew off to tell bard in lake-town.upon realizing that lake-town must have helped bilbo, smaug flew off in a rage to destroy the town; later, the dwarves and bilbo learned that smaug was killed in the attack. the dwarves reclaimed the lonely mountain, and upset bilbo by refusing to share the dragon's treasure with the lake-men or the wood-elves. bilbo then found the arkenstone of thrain, the most precious heirloom of thorin's family, but decided to hide it. thorin called his relative dáin to bring an army of dwarves before fortifying the entrance to the mountain hall, where they were besieged by the wood-elves and lake-men. bilbo tried to ransom the arkenstone to prevent any fighting, but thorin saw his attempt at peace as betrayal, and banished bilbo. when dain finally arrived, the army of dwarves faced off against the armies of elves and men. as battle raged, a host of goblins and wargs arrived to take over the mountain now that smaug was dead. the armies of elves, men, and dwarves, with the help of eagles and beorn, defeated the goblins and wargs. however, thorin was fatally wounded; bilbo remained by his friend's side and two made peace before thorin's death. in the aftermath, bilbo accepted only a little of the treasure which was his share, though it still represented great wealth for a shire hobbit. bilbo returned to his home in the shire to find that several of his relatives, believing him to be dead, were trying to claim his home and possessions.after buying back his possessions with the money earned on his adventure, bilbo retreated home to mourn his lost friends, and to begin his book: there and back again. only a few years passed before gandalf and balin visited to catch up and share news of middle earth.although bilbo had returned safely to bag end and continued to live in relative comfort, bilbo’s life was not quite the same as it had once been. his sudden return after having been thought dead lost him some of the neighbors’ respect and he was later thought of as an oddity, and there were many talks and false rumors circulated about his affairs and doings. the worst of these problems came from the sackville-bagginses, who were angry that they were not able to possess bag end when he was thought to be dead. this jealousy and anger increased when bilbo adopted his second-cousin-once-removed frodo (a brandybuck on his mother's side) as his heir presumptive.bilbo ignored these things said about him and avoided the sackville-bagginses as much as he could, even using the ring once to hide from them. bilbo was very generous with his money and most people were willing to forgive him for his oddities. he had many friends, especially amongst the gamgees, whom he consulted frequently on landscaping and on the growing of vegetables. his good friend the gaffer even allowed him to tutor his son samwise gamgee. bilbo taught him to read and write, and even taught him various bits of poetry and told him tales of the elder days. and yet, he slowly began to become weary of his settled and sheltered life at bag end.bilbo was the bearer of the one ring for six decades, ignorant of its significance. however, by ta 3001, the ring had begun to affect him. he did not appear to have aged at all, although he felt older and thin inside. he decided that he wanted to partake in one more adventure before he found a place to settle down and finish his book.on september 22, a farewell birthday party was held in his honor, where he announced his intention to leave the shire, to the shock of his family and friends. immediately afterward, he put on his ring and disappeared, as a joke on his neighbors. he returned to his house where he was confronted by his friend gandalf, who persuaded him to leave the ring for frodo. the two then bade each other goodbye, and bilbo left the shire for his journey.

FARAMIR

divergences

  MEETING WITH FRODO, SAM, AND GOLLUM    i follow the novels in this element of faramir's story instead of the films. while faramir does interrogate gollum, he insists that his men not cause the creature severe harm, and also refers to gollum by the given name of smeagol, as frodo does. i think this is an important element of faramir's original characterization; he's very gentle and compassionate, despite the fact that he's willing to turn to violence when necessary. he doesn't treat gollum with physical cruelty, though he does openly vocalize that he dislikes gollum, threatens gollum, and warns frodo that gollum isn't trustworthy. in addition, the fact that faramir follows frodo's lead and calls gollum "smeagol" is an apt demonstration of the respect that he has for frodo as someone his brother had sought to defend.  REACTION TO THE RING    faramir has a deeper understanding of the ring and its power than boromir did due to his lessons with gandalf. thus, he knows that the ring can't be used for good even if that was the intention and, as in the books, although he is tempted byt it, he never truly thinks of turning the hobbits and the ring over to denethor. faramir is enticed by the ring, but is able to resist it better than some others are - not because he's stronger than they are, but because he's better informed, and he has experienced the prophetic dreams that told him of frodo's importance more frequently than boromir did. in addition, a key point of faramir's character is his lack of interest in glory and his selfless nature. what drives him most is devotion to his people, and when he knows that he can't genuinely use the ring to save them, it gives him the strength to push back against the idea of taking it.

faramir was born in the year ta 2983 to denethor ii and finduilas, daughter of adrahil of dol amroth. the following year, his grandfather ecthelion ii died and faramir's father, denethor, succeeded him as the ruling steward of gondor.when faramir was five years old, finduilas died. her death caused denethor to become detached from his family. the relationship between faramir and boromir, who was five years older, grew much closer and greater in love. despite the obvious way that denethor favored boromir over faramir, there was no jealousy or rivalry between them. boromir protected and helped him, and faramir looked up to his older brother. although the siblings were very similar in appearance, especially with their intense grey eyes, it was not so in personality. boromir was defined to be the more daring one, as well as the more fearless and strong warrior. faramir’s boldness was incorrectly judged less due to his gentle nature and love of lore and music.it was this interest that formed a friendship between faramir and gandalf the grey, and he learned all that he could from gandalf’s wisdom and mentoring. denethor did not approve of faramir as the "wizard's pupil", however, for he neither trusted nor liked the istar.faramir's leadership, skill-in-arms, and swift but hardy judgment proved handy on the battlefield. during the war of the ring, he was the captain of the rangers of ithilien, who often skirmished with allies of sauron in that province. faramir valiantly defended gondor from the enemy, but did not enjoy fighting for war’s sake.in june of 3018, sauron's forces attacked osgiliath under the command of the witch-king, whose presence caused the soldiers to flee across the anduin. when the last bridge was destroyed, boromir and faramir were upon it. with two others, they swam ashore and managed to drive the orcs back from the anduin's west shores.the night before the assault on the city, faramir had a prophetic dream in which a great wave covered all the land as darkness fell, with a voice out of the west speaking a riddle: "seek for the sword that was broken: in imladris it dwells; there shall be counsels taken stronger than morgul-spells. there shall be shown a token that doom is near at hand, for isildur's bane shall waken, and the halfling forth shall stand."it came to faramir twice more, and once to his brother, and the brothers described it to denethor, who only replied saying only that imladris was an elvish name for rivendell, home of elrond. although faramir was eager to go for gondor’s sake, denethor refused to allow it, instead sending boromir despite boromor's dubiousness about the trip. boromis arrived in time for the council of elrond, and joined the fellowship of the ring.on february 29, 3019 at midnight, faramir, who was on guard duty on the western shore in osgiliath, waded down to a boat floating down the anduin river. to his grief, it contained the dead body of his brother, which was pierced with many wounds. in it lay boromir's sword, broken, but there was no sign of the great horn of gondor, which he and his father had heard distantly blowing to the north three days prior.during a battle with southrons, faramir, who had taken over his brother's position as the captain of the white tower, encountered the hobbits frodo baggins and samwise gamgee, recognizing them to be the halflings his dream spoke of. after the skirmish, faramir questioned frodo about boromir's death and sought answers as to its circumstances. he then decided to take the pair to henneth annûn.en route, faramir continued questioning frodo confidentially, and based on frodo's answers and his own intuition, determined that frodo was carrying a great evil weapon of the dark lord of the enemy: the one ring. faramir had learned of it from his lessons with gandalf as a child, and was aware of its potential for corruption and power. however, rather than take it for himself or gondor, he assured frodo he would never use such as weapon.faramir ate with frodo and sam, and listened to frodo's tales of their journey up to that point, and in turn told the hobbits of gondor's decline. during their discussion, sam accidentally revealed boromir's desire for the one ring, and the role it had played in boromir's death. still, despite the hobbits’ fears, faramir remained true to his vow, for he was wise enough to realize that such a weapon could not be used for good. with this knowledge, he also realized the almost insurmountable temptation his brother had surely faced.on the very same night, gollum was spotted fishing in the forbidden pool next to henneth annûn -- an act punishable by death. however, faramir listened to frodo’s pleas to spare gollum’s life, though he felt that the creature was only trouble. after giving frodo and sam provisions, he sent them on their way to continue their quest. at their parting, faramir warned frodo of gollum's treacherous nature, and that the path gollum had proposed (cirith ungol) had an evil reputation of old.faramir and his company retreated to cair andros, an island in the river anduin that guarded the northern approaches to minas tirith. after noting that the sky was now covered in complete darkness, faramir sent his company south to reinforce the garrison at osgiliath while he and three of his men rode to minas tirith directly. along the way, they were pursued by the nazgûl, riding fellbeasts. although faramir attempted to defend his men, if gandalf had not arrived to intervene, they would have surely perished.arriving at minas tirith, faramir reported to denethor and gandalf of his encounter with frodo and sam. denethor was angered that faramir had not brought the ring to gondor, wishing aloud that faramir had died instead of boromir, since denethor believed that boromir would have brought the enemy’s weapon to him.denethor sent faramir to hold western osgiliath against the hosts of the enemy that outnumbered their own greatly. although faramir disagreed with his father’s strategy, he agreed to go.after a day of fighting, the witch-king's army overwhelmed the men of gondor and won osgiliath. faramir drew back to the causeway forts, the defense of which lasted another day, with many of the defenders being wounded or killed. faramir decided to stay with the rear guard in order to make sure that the retreat over pelennor fields would not turn into a rout. as the force neared minas tirith, it was overtaken by orcs and haradrim, and faramir was gravely wounded by a poisonous arrow. fortunately, gandalf and faramir's uncle, prince imrahil of dol amroth, led a cavalry sortie that successfully covered the retreat. imrahil bore faramir back to denethor, telling him that his son had done great deeds.regretting that he had thanklessly sent his son off in needless peril without his blessing, denethor began to believe that the ring was captured and the end was near. thus, he ordered his servants to build a funeral pyre for both him and his son. despite the protests of the hobbit peregrin "pippin" took (serving the steward in payment of boromir's death) that faramir was still alive, denethor continued with his plans and released pippin from his service.horrified, pippin went to alert gandalf and beregond, one of the tower guards. beregond, who loved faramir enough to abandon his post and risk his life protecting him, stopped the servants from lighting the pyre, killing several. pippin then returned with gandalf, and intervened by taking faramir off the pyre as faramir moaned out to his father in his fevered dreams. denethor took out a knife, trying to take faramir back, but beregond placed himself in front of faramir. seeing that he could not win, denethor lit the pyre and laid himself down upon it, burning himself alive.afterwards, faramir was laid in the houses of healing. his wound from the haradrim arrow, along with weariness and grief concerning his constantly strained relationship with his father and the black breath of the nazgûl (who had hunted faramir ever since he had left ithilien), all contributed to his near-death. after the battle, aragorn came and revived him. when he awoke, faramir immediately recognized aragorn as his rightful king.before aragorn left to lead the soldiers to the black gate, he commanded the warden of the houses of healing to have faramir remain resting for at least ten days. after éowyn arrived also, faramir told her of his dream of the downfall of númenor, and that the darkness threatening to overtake middle-earth reminded him of the great wave that swallowed the island. still somehow, a hope and joy welled in faramir's heart. the two were later informed by an eagle that sauron had fallen for good, and that aragorn would return as king.faramir briefly served as the ruling steward of gondor, and began preparing the city for the king's arrival. on the day of the king’s official coronation on may 1, faramir surrendered his office, which was represented by the white rod of the steward, kneeling as he did so. aragorn however, gave the rod back, announcing that as long as his line would last, faramir and his descendants would be stewards of gondor. after faramir had asked the people of gondor if they accepted aragorn as their king (which they did), faramir took the crown of gondor out and aragorn was crowned king elessar by gandalf.aragorn also appointed faramir as the prince of ithilien, and beregond as the captain of his guard, the white company. as prince of ithilien, faramir became one of gondor's two highest-ranking nobles, as well as king elessar's chief commander. his duties also included acting as resident march-warden of gondor's main eastward outpost, rehabilitating the lost territories, as well as clearing it of outlaws and orcs and cleansing the morgul vale of evil remnants. in addition, faramir fulfilled the traditional role as steward by acting as the king’s chief counsellor and ruling gondor in the king's absence.

JACE WAYLAND

PETER PEVENSIE

peter pevensie lived in london, england until he and his younger siblings, susan, edmund, and lucy, were evacuated to the countryside by train because of the air-raids of world war ii. there, the children stayed at an old mansion belonging to professor digory kirke. the house had extensive grounds, but there were many rainy days that were dreary. the professor's house was also often toured by visitors, and the housekeeper, mrs. macready, led them on tours. macready disliked children in the first place, but especially when she was leading visitors through the house.deciding to explore the house one such day, they all split up, and when lucy came back, she claimed to have been gone for hours. everyone thought she was playing a game, but when she insisted, they followed her to a wardrobe kept all by itself in a spare room upstairs. despite her claims that it was a doorway to a land called narnia, it turned out to be a perfectly ordinary wardrobe, and peter encouraged her to forget her joke.the next day, it was still raining, and a game of hide and seek was started. moments later, edmund and lucy came to find the others, with lucy once more insisting that there was a country inside the wardrobe, and that edmund had been in there, too. however, edmund said he had just been teasing her, at which point lucy became upset, and rushed from the room. peter told edmund off for it, and expressed fears that there might be something wrong with his youngest sister. during the night, peter and susan became so worried about her that they decided to go and speak to the professor about it.the professor didn’t turn out to be the help that they expected, but help of a different sort. he worked with them to establish that lucy was, and always had been, more truthful than edmund, and that she was not mad, which you could tell by talking to and looking at her; therefore, she had to be telling the truth. peter and susan were stunned at this, and peter pointed out that if what she said were real, she would have had to have been there for ages, but lucy had had no time to go anywhere. the professor suggested that another world would likely run on its own time, while a young girl would not likely come up with that idea on her own. so, peter made sure that edmund left lucy alone about it, and the subject was not spoken of at all.one day, when the children heard macready approaching with a tour group, they speedily headed as far back into the house as they could. macready seemed to be following them until eventually, the only place left to go was into the spare room where the wardrobe was. it was edmund who urged them all inside the wardrobe to hide, but when the four of them looked around, it was snowing. when everyone realized at once that this was the world lucy had found beforehand, peter was the first to apologize for not believing her.putting on some of the coats that they found in the wardrobe, they set out to explore the forest. edmund made a comment about which direction they should be going, revealing that he had indeed been there before. peter was angry with his brother, calling him a poisonous beast, but said nothing further. no one spoke to edmund, and susan changed the subject by asking where they were going, and peter decided that lucy should lead.lucy led them to the home of mr. tumnus, a faun whom she had previously met, only to discover that he had been arrested by the secret police of the white witch. she explained that he had been arrested because of her, and peter agreed that they would do whatever they could to help him.just outside tumnus's house, a talking beaver, whom they called mr. beaver, found them and took them to his dam. once there, he and mrs. beaver told them about a prophecy, which said that two sons of adam and two daughters of eve would sit on the four thrones at cair paravel, and bring an end to the witch and her never-ending winter.however, edmund ultimately betrayed his siblings while they were listening to this, leaving the beavers’ dam to join the white witch. mr. beaver explained what had happened, and that the only person who could help edmund now was aslan, the great lion, who was waiting for them at the stone table. peter wanted to save all his siblings, so he agreed to go.on their way to the stone table, peter received his sword, rhindon, and shield from father christmas when he visited the four children and the beavers. this was a sign that the white witch's power was finally weakening, and that aslan was truly in narnia.after the siblings arrived at aslan's camp, it came under attack by two wolves from the witch's secret police, and aslan encouraged peter to fend them off. in the process, peter slew the wolf captain maugrim, for which aslan knighted him sir peter wolf's-bane, and he became the first member of the most noble order of the lion.peter commanded the initial formations of aslan's army throughout the battle of beruna, during which peter personally dueled with the white witch herself, until aslan finished her. soon after, the battle was won, and the narnians were victorious.after the battle, peter and his siblings were taken to cair paravel, and crowned by aslan as the new monarchs of narnia. peter became high king peter the magnificent, lord of cair paravel, and emperor of the lone islands, with each of his siblings sharing the throne. the ancient golden age prophecy had come to fruition, marking the final end of the long winter, and the beginning of narnia's golden age.in narnian-year 1015, the four pevensies, now adults, hunted an enigmatic white stag, which led them back through the wardrobe, and into their own world, where they became children once again, disappearing from narnia. the children told professor kirke all about what had happened, and hesitantly asked if he thought they would ever be able to get back to narnia. he assured them that they would, as long as they didn't try to get there.one year later, in 1941, peter had trouble adjusting to his life in england again, where he held no authority and where no one listened to him. he tended to get into fights, which often ended with edmund having to pull him out of them. however, the pevensies were drawn back into narnia, due to an emergency call. the telmarine prince caspian x had blown queen susan's horn (one of her gifts from father christmas), and brought the pevensies back into the narnian world. they discovered that the telmarines had invaded the country, and forced the narnians into hiding; however, caspian wanted to defeat his usurping uncle miraz and allow narnians to live freely again.although in narnian time it had been over a thousand years since peter's reign as high king, the narnians all respected his title (as aslan said, “once a king or queen of narnia, always a king or queen of narnia.”). thus, the pevensie children ultimately helped caspian defeat miraz during the narnian revolution. peter aided majorly in this by dueling with the tyrant. after the war was won, caspian was crowned king of the telmarines, while peter and his siblings became rulers of narnia once more.

EDGIN DARVIS

for the first decade or so of edgin darvis' life, it was relatively unremarkable, though far from comfortable. his father, corvin darvis, worked as a bard, performing regularly at the tavern in their small village, just like his father before him. however, unlike their ancestors, corvin wasn't a gifted musician; mediocre and with little skill in engaging a crowd, he never garnered much success. as he grew older, edgin wondered why corvin never wanted better for their family, or to try something new.when edgin was thirteen, a tribe of orcs raided the village. his parents were killed when their cottage was invaded, yet he was spared when a group of harper agents arrived to aid the townsfolk. he was struck by the kindness of the harper who saved him, and henceforth viewed them as heroes.shuffled from one family in the village to another for the next few years, edgin loathed the pitying faces that always met him, and the inevitability of being handed off to someone else when times grew tough. eager to set out on his own, he began play the lute and sing in town for some coin — and he was good. once he graduated to performing in local taverns, edgin started making his own way; while he might certainly find success as a bard with his charisma and showmanship, part of him wondered what it might be like to become a hero, to protect faerûn as a harper.when he met zia, the two quickly fell in love and married. she encouraged him to join the harpers, even after she became pregnant with their daughter, kira. shortly before kira was born, edgin took the harper's oath and joined the group.during his time as a harper, edgin often utilized his charisma to act as a spy, and defended faerûn from "creatures, crooks, and cretins." however, most of the rewards of his occupation weren't tangible ones, a fact which began to frustrate him. he wanted zia to have a better life, and for kira to grow up with more than he had.on a mission one day, edgin and two of his fellow harpers captured a red wizard of thay (notoriously known as a cruel slave owner, demonologist, and arcane experimenter) inside a lair filled with treasure. even a single trinket from inside would have allowed edgin the chance to move his family to a bigger home, to better provide for them, and to ensure kira any future or education she desired. the temptation won out, and he stole a single gold token; it was a fateful decision.unbeknownst to him, red wizards mark their treasures, and by tracing the gold, four accomplices of the red wizard rode into targos one night and came to his cottage seeking revenge. however, edgin was away, so they attacked zia instead, but not before she was able to hide kira in a hidden compartment in the wall. when edgin returned home, he found zia on the floor, dying. condemning himself for his selfishness, he abandoned his oath to the harpers, and burned his book of the harper code upon zia's funeral pyre: he would be a hero no more. nevertheless, the harpers continued to keep an eye on him.suddenly a single father and penniless, edgin struggled to take care of kira alone in the following few months. then, down on his luck, edgin had a chance meeting with the exiled elk tribe barbarian holga kilgore. after kira took a shine to her, edgin and holga struck up a sort of comradery that grew into a deep friendship.with someone to watch kira, edgin attempted to return to his prior work as a performer to earn money. however, he found that every instance he took the stage, it would only remind him of playing for zia before he joined the harpers; memories of his wife bleeding on the ground would flash through his mind until he suffered a complete panic-attack. without coin or any other means of earning it, edgin and holga turned to thievery, though only at the expense of those he believed deserved it. eventually, their little band expanded to include the rogue and con-man forge fitzilliam, and sorcerer simon aumar. although forge pushed for bigger and better heists, edgin refused to participate in any endeavor that placed innocents at risk. still, even during the jobs that allowed him the chance to aid others, he continued to balk at being called a hero — he knew that he was anything but.while celebrating a score at the tavern in targos one night, a mysterious figure calling herself lady sofina approached the team. she wanted to hire them to help her steal the treasures of korinn's keep, a harper storehouse that only a harper could enter — like edgin. he refused, until forge promised that they would find there a tablet of reawakening, a magical relic capable of resurrecting one deceased soul, even one killed as zia had been. against his better judgement but with hopes of restoring zia to life, edgin relented. he left kira, now nine, with a friend in targos, promising it would be their last robbery. despite his excitement, he didn't tell her of the tablet for fear of getting her hopes up only to dash them later if he failed.
thus, edgin led the team to the keep and gained admittance by using his old harper pin. as soon as they entered, sofina grabbed what looked like a red horn, and edgin went for the tablet. however, an alarm was triggered, summoning harper guards whom sofina struck with lightning, to edgin's dismay. she then cast the spell "time stop," trapping the guards, holga, and edgin while she, forge, and simon made their escape. before the three fled, edgin managed to throw the tablet to forge and beg him to take care of kira. once the spell expired, edgin and holga were left at the scene of the crime and arrested.edgin and holga were incarcerated in the revel's end prison in the frozenfar. they spent their days doing hard labor, and edgin passed the little free-time they had by singing and learning to knit.after two years of imprisonment, edgin and holga were brought before the absolution council to be considered for a pardon. unwilling to risk spending another two years away from his daughter, he and holga enacted a successful plan of escape. fleeing on foot, they stole horses and rode to targos to check on their old cottage. it was boarded-up, but edgin at least managed to retrieve his lute. trying the tavern next for word of forge and kira, they learned that forge was now lord of neverwinter and had revived the brutal and bloody tournament known as the high sun games.upon their arrival at castle never, edgin discovered the shocking truth: forge had used his partnership with sofina to betray them at the keep and garner his position, then raised kira as his own while lying to her that she had been abandoned by her father and holga in exchange for riches. sofina, who was actually a red wizard, secretly arranged to have edgin and holga executed, though the two managed to escape.edgin and holga decide to rob forge's vault and bring kira home during the upcoming high sun games, needing the tablet to prove their innocence to kira and resurrect edgin's wife. after tracking down simon to help, he also aided them in recruiting doric, a druid, whose forest community was fighting forced logging ordered by forge. utilizing her shapeshifting abilities, doric infiltrated forge's castle, and found that the vault had magical defenses that simon couldn't disable; however, simon suggested they find a magic relic, the helm of disjunction, to help him do so. after discovering that xenk yandar, a paladin, knew where the helm was, they set out to locate him.
after xenk aided them in retrieving the helm, simon was dismayed to realize that he had difficulty mastering the helm's power; they decide to instead use a teleportation staff given to holga by her ex-husband to enter the vault during the games. however, the group was captured and forced to participate in the games before they managed to escape the stadium. after doric discovered that forge had loaded the treasure onto a boat and was preparing to flee, they stole the boat and rescued kira from forge after he threatened her life.
as they escaped, the group realized that sofina organized the games to draw a massive crowd in order to turn them into an undead army using the red horn she had stolen at the harper's keep. circling back, they transported forge's stolen riches out of the boat with the teleportation staff and spread them across the city using a hot-air balloon, drawing the people out of the stadium before sofina's spell could take effect.
enraged, sofina attacked the group, but simon managed to master his magic and nullify sofina's time-stop spell, allowing kira to use an invisibility pendant edgin and holga gave her as a child to place an anti-magic bracelet on sofina. although sofina was attacked by doric and then crushed by falling debris, holga was also fatally injured. pushing past his grief over zia's loss, edgin used the tablet to bring holga back to life, accepting that he wanted to bring back his wife only for his own sake while holga had become a true part of their family. now restored to power, the old lord of neverwinter declared the team heroes of the realm, while xenk sent forge to revel's end.

ENZO ST. JOHN

enzo st. john was abandoned as a child in 1876, with no idea who his real family was. by the age of four, he was forced into the workhouses. by fourteen, he was living out on the streets, fighting for scraps to survive.in 1903 in southampton, england, enzo contracted consumption. in a desperate attempt to save his own life, he tried to board a ship on which a doctor, who claimed to have reached a breakthrough in curing consumption, was traveling to new york, hoping to receive some sort of help. he was denied passage, but a woman who introduced herself as lily helped him aboard the ship so that he could see the doctor. however, to enzo’s dismay, the physician turned out to be a charlatan. close to delirium, he was confused when lily then gave him her blood - an act which, unbeknownst to him, could turn him into a vampire just like she was. he died of consumption before the ship docked in manhattan harbor, triggering the transformation. before he awoke in transition, lily and her traveling companions killed everyone aboard except the charlatan doctor, leaving him to enzo so he could complete his change. by the time he regained consciousness, lily was gone.glad to be alive yet furious that he had been abandoned in this confusing new vampire state, he attempted to live his life as normally as he possibly could. at the beginning of world war ii, he enlisted in the army in eastern europe; he would drain the blood of those fighting on the side of nazi germany to quench his thirst, and give his own blood to wounded ally soldiers to heal them.these deeds didn’t go unnoticed: a doctor named whitmore realized enzo’s true nature. the founder of a secret group called the augustine society, whitmore and the other members were aware of the supernatural, and were especially interested in vampires and the magic and science behind their enhanced senses and abilities. highly qualified doctors in the group experimented on vampires, and intended to use what they learned in their research to benefit humanity, such as using vampire blood to cure fatal illnesses. however, in order to accomplish this goal, the doctors captured and tortured vampires by doing experiments on them to test their theories.dr. whitmore captured enzo, and shipped him overseas in a coffin and forced him to endure his torture and experimentation for ten years. enzo remained a prisoner of the augustine society, and was used as an experiment in the laboratory at the whitmore house. in 1950, a young scientist named maggie james was responsible for the study of his behavior, and took copious notes about him. throughout their interactions, maggie was kind to enzo, and he realized that she was unaware of the torturous experiments performed on him. he didn’t have the heart to tell her, and wanted only to enjoy her company. over time, he fell in love with her. eventually, when she did discover the truth, she couldn’t bear it; tearfully, she apologized to him and quit her position. enzo never saw her again.in 1953, damon salvatore was imprisoned by augustine, and enzo reached out a hand of friendship to the young vampire. together, they would talk about many things to keep their hope of escape up (a favorite subject was the revenge they would seek after they broke free; they agreed they would murder all of the whitmores, except for one in each generation so that they could keep reproducing and the two of them could continue tormenting them thus indefinitely.) enzo planned to have damon take his ration of blood for a year so that he would be stronger, and assist in their escape. during the annual new year's eve party at whitmore, damon broke free of his chains and attacked everyone but, in the chaos, a fire began. enzo was still stuck in a cage laced with vervain, and while damon attempted to free his friend, it was to no avail. fearful that augustine would take him back, damon turned off his emotions and abandoned him. enzo continuously screamed for damon to either help him or come back and kill him so that he wouldn’t suffer being burned alive, but he was left amid the flames.although enzo wasn’t burned alive, perhaps his true fate was worse. one of the augustine members returned to whitmore house, and rescued enzo from the blaze. thus, he found himself a prisoner of augustine once more.in the 2010s, the new head scientist at augustine, dr. wes maxfield, grew more lenient with enzo. when he needed a task completed by someone of a more “supernatural” bent, he would release enzo from the basement of whitmore, but only after injecting enzo with a poison that would give him an excruciating death in twenty-four hours if he didn’t return for the antidote. enzo loathed being controlled in such a manner, yet at least this way, he was able to go outside for the first time in almost seventy years.one such “task” involved rescuing aaron whitmore, the nephew of dr. maxfield, who was being held by a group of vampires as leverage to discover the truth about augustine and whitmore house. however, amid the rescue, enzo was shocked to discover that damon was one of the vampires involved in the kidnapping. enzo angrily attacked damon, taunting him on how easy it was to abandon him and “live a merry life.” it was then that his body began to give into the poison, though damon ultimately saved him by breaking into dr. maxfield’s lab and injecting enzo with a random amount of syringes labeled “antidote” until one seemed to work. despite damon’s attempt at redemption, even allowing aaron to escape so he could gain access to the lab, enzo rebuffed his pleas of forgiveness.as he tried to acclimate to a new, modern world, enzo did some research and discovered that damon had killed off all the whitmores (except for one in each generation so that they could keep reproducing) like they had agreed to do after escaping back in the 1950s. upon coming to terms with damon’s abandonment of him, enzo forgave him: then, the two killed aaron and later, dr. maxfield.his revenge complete, enzo finds that he’s in a world that is somewhat foreign to him after being locked in a dark basement for over seventy years, but he’s ready to find out what it has to offer.

KLAUS MIKAELSON

niklaus mikaelson, nicknamed klaus, was raised as the son of mikael, a viking warrior and wealthy landowner, and esther, a witch, after the two moved to the new world following the devastation of their home village by a plague. however, esther hid the truth from them both: klaus was actually the product of an affair between her and ansel, the alpha of a nearby werewolf pack. as a result, klaus’ six brothers and sisters (freya, finn, elijah, kol, rebekah, and henrik) fathered by mikael were really his half-siblings. mikael believed his beloved first-born daughter, freya, was a victim of the disease from which they had originally fled, unaware that she was taken by esther's sister, dahlia, as payment for a fertility spell to let esther have children.as a human, klaus was full of love and wanted to be loved in return. he grew up close to his family, with the exception of mikael. a violent and strict man, mikael was inordinately hard on klaus, abusing him under the justification that his punishments would make klaus stronger. nonetheless, mikael was only ever disappointed in everything klaus did, beating him regularly.one day, esther found a young klaus in the woods where he was hiding from mikael. his mother gave him a necklace she’d made for him, saying it would protect him and remind him that she would be with him always and forever. however, he later discovered that the necklace made him weak, not strong; as the result of a spell she’d placed upon the necklace, his physical strength was weakened and his anger suppressed when he wore it, as she didn't want him to be strong and potentially kill somebody, which would trigger the werewolf gene and reveal her infidelity.one night, when klaus and his youngest brother, henrik, went to see the werewolves in the neighboring village shift under a full moon, henrik was killed by one of the transformed wolves. devastated at the loss of another child, mikael convinced esther to use her magic to protect their remaining children. upon mikael's request, esther performed a spell, called the immortality spell, which transformed klaus, his siblings, and his step-father into original vampires, the first vampires to exist, and progenitors to the vampire species.when klaus made his first human kill, his werewolf gene was activated and he became a vampire and werewolf hybrid, thus revealing esther's indiscretion. soon after becoming a hybrid, mikael had elijah help him restrain klaus, and esther used her dark magic to place a curse on him which forced his werewolf side to lie dormant, and then rejected him, calling him a monster. mikael then hunted down and killed klaus’ biological father and his entire family. klaus was wracked with pain in the face of esther’s abandonment and the loss of his real father he never had the chance to know, a sensation only heightened by his vampirism. filled with unbearable grief, he murdered his mother in retaliation and framed mikael for the act.after esther’s death, his family scattered and klaus stayed behind with rebekah to bury her. rebekah promised to never turn her back on him like esther did, and so did elijah, finn, and kol. they swore to each other they would all stay together always and forever. however, mikael’s hatred for klaus led him to chase his step-son with the intention of ending his life, as well as those of any other mikaelsons who stood in the way. with mikael as the only being alive who could kill them, they covered their tracks well and ensured that they stayed two steps ahead.while fleeing from mikael, klaus ran with his siblings for a significant amount of time, feeding on people along the countryside but always careful to hide the bodies. unsure of where they were going, kol brought up the idea that maybe they should split up so as to better avoid their father. finn agreed with the idea, tired of the killing and running, taking no pleasure in their descent into vampirism. elijah, however, was quick to remind his siblings of their vow to remain together always and forever.eventually, they came upon a caravan filled with fine clothing that had belonged to their most recent kills. rebekah suggested they steal the clothes and pose as the victims, since they’d been heading to a nearby castle. when they found a servant from the castle hiding in the bushes nearby, a man who’d been escorting the cart to its destination, he told them he could help them in their potential ruse. they put it to a vote, whether they should let him live. kol and elijah wanted to kill him, while finn and rebekah wanted to spare him. ultimately, klaus had the deciding vote: he voted to spare him. the servant, lucien, presented them to count de martle, who owned the castle, after helping the mikaelsons blend in and present themselves as nobles; their plan worked, and they were welcomed into the court. shortly after their arrival, klaus met the count's daughter, aurora de martel, and the two fell in love.their relationship continued until one night, she saw him and rebekah feeding together, a sight which terrified her. later, klaus wrote her a letter explaining his family's unique condition; she not only accepted him regardless, but wanted to understand him. their bond deepened when aurora told klaus that her mother died when giving birth to her, a fact that filled her with guilt; wracked with guilt about killing his own mother - and unable to tell anyone about it - he revealed the truth to her. they consoled one another and, wanting them to be together forever, aurora begged klaus to turn her into a vampire, but he refused. she was determined regardless, and after tricking rebekah into giving her some of her blood, she jumped from a window to her death, which completed her transition into a vampire. although he’d wished to save her from the life he was cursed with, part of him was happy to have forever with the first person who’d ever known everything about him and loved him in spite of it.a short time later, an upset finn informed his siblings that the villagers had begun talking about demons feeding on human blood. the mikaelsons realized they’d been exposed, and that their father would surely be his way. klaus went to fetch aurora to accompany them as they left the castle; however, she suddenly announced that she didn't love him after all and that he was a monster, irrevocably breaking his heart. however, none of it was true: unknown to anyone, elijah had overheard klaus’ confession to aurora about the reality of their mother’s death, and had compelled aurora to be repulsed by klaus in revenge. now burdened by the notion that he was irredeemable, klaus and his siblings ran from their father, left france, and settled in tuscany.over the following centuries, klaus lived many lives: an english nobleman in 1492, a wealthy businessman who helped build the city of new orleans in 1720, and everything in-between. however, his primary goal became seeking a method to break the curse which suppressed his werewolf side. the losses and cruelty he had suffered left him willing to reach any lengths necessary to do so, even sadistic ones (which, in certain cases, he came to enjoy). in 1933, when he discovered august müller, a vampire, had been massacring innocent werewolves as well as spreading beliefs about the purity of species (i.e. that vampires are the apex predators), klaus ruthlessly killed august and his followers. despite this, he spared august's wife and children.klaus’ relationship with his siblings grew more and more strained over time. he was certain that they couldn’t truly love him; he wasn’t fully their brother, and he believed himself every bit the monster his mother had originally seen him as. thus, before they could decide to leave him, he forced them away with his vitriolic behavior.eventually, in the 21st century, he discovered a way to break the curse. it involved a ritual and the deaths of uninvolved parties, yet he followed through with it regardless, and became a genuine vampire-werewolf hybrid. among supernatural beings, klaus is considered ruthless and immensely powerful, and the tales of his cruelty are shared particularly among vampires and werewolves. however, he still has an appreciation for wolves, as well as for warlocks and witches; he’s not above working with them if it’s for their mutual benefit.now, klaus usually resides in new orleans, one of the few places where he ever felt truly happy. he holds an uneasy alliance with marcel gerard, an old friend, who leads a secondary coven of vampires within the city. his relationship with his siblings is still splintered, though he’s slowly rebuilding with elijah, who refuses to ever give up on him - always and forever.

LANDO CALRISSIAN