| “ | I believe in a place between heaven and hell. Between the living and the dead. A glorious place with everlasting rebirth, perhaps even salvation. Do you believe in such a place? Well, there is a price to pay for such a passage. As there is with all things. I know that you will pay it easily. | ” |
| — Victor to Brona[src] | ||
Victor Frankenstein is the 'not so mad-scientist' of the series, who from a young age has been fascinated by life and death. Due to his years of research, he has discovered a way to reverse death thus creating his first subject the Creature, and then others.
Appearance and Personality
Dr Victor Frankenstein is perceived by some as being a tender, gentle soul who is fascinated by life and death. He is considered to have the soul of a poet when it comes describing his feelings towards the subject. He is highly intelligent and is capable of kindness, but at times displays a darker nature in that he is arrogant and openly disdainful towards others, perceived to have a cold, or "bloodless" approach to certain situations. He has dedicated himself to researching what makes something live, and has sacrificed everything for his scientific pursuit.
Victor is an attractive man with dark hair, blue eyes (that are frequently red-rimmed) and a thin body; he is in his twenties. He is addicted to morphine due to being dosed with a cocaine solution to treat his asthma which he suffered from as a child. This is first seen in Season 1: Episode Possession. Through Season 2, it is seen more often as he speaks about his addiction with Malcolm and Vanessa. By the Season 2 Finale, he cannot find veins in his arm so has moved to injecting into his hand (Also appears to be slowly losing his sanity, as he has lost Lily and his experience at Evelyn Poole's house seems to have pushed him over the edge).
History
Victor Frankenstein was born into a wealthy family. Suffering from poor health, he spent his time with his mother, who gave him a passion for literature until she died, and the young Victor developed a morbid curiosity about death mechanisms. At an appropriate age, he began to attend college where he and fellow student Henry Jekyll began research frowned upon by the faculty. Abandoning his studies, Frankenstein refines his experiments and manages to revive a corpse. Disgusted by the creature he has created, Victor flees, leaving his creation at the mercy of his own misery[1].
Arriving in London, he started working at the morgue of a resurrectionist so he can resume his studies and experiments with fresh corpses. In this period he revitalizes a second creature, better than the first, which is named Proteus after a Shakespearean character. While Victor is intent on dissecting an arm at the slaughterhouse of the resurrectionist, he is approached by Sir Malcolm, Miss Ives and Ethan Chandler who ask him to do an autopsy on a mysterious corpse, which immediately captivates the young surgeon's attention. Following, the young doctor was invited to join the group, bringing benefit to the fight against the evil creatures with his medical knowledge, because according to Sir Malcolm, Victor is not afraid to lift the skin and watch underneath it. While Victor is increasingly integrated with the group, his first creation returns and kills Proteus in a fit of jealousy, threatening Victor to make his life a living hell and forcing the doctor to create for him an immortal bride.
Victor then feels compelled to fulfil the wishes of the Creature, moved by fear and guilt. Once discovered that Ethan Chandler's lover Brona Croft is close to death due to tuberculosis, Victor gives her a gentle death and bring her to his lab, where he prepares the woman to be revived thanks to unknown procedures which include, among other things, the use of electricity caused by a massive storm[2]. Once awakened, Victor deceives the woman making her believe to be his cousin Lily Frankenstein and the Creature fiancée. During their time together, Victor falls in love with "Lily", even confiding in Vanessa asking her advice in matters of love. Although the two consummate a loving relationship, Lily has other projects and teams up with Dorian Gray, breaking Victor's heart. Meanwhile, Evelyn Poole's enchantment thrives on Victor as well, causing him to have visions of his three creatures accusing him of unspeakable sins. This pushes Victor to recklessly take refuge in drugs again[3].
Weighed down by grief of loss and guilt, Victor contact his old colleague and friend Henry Jekyll to help him destroy Lily, thus preventing the woman to commit other murders, as Victor feels responsible for the actions of the monster he created[4].
Skills and Abilities
- Medicine: Frankenstein is a trained doctor, knowledgeable in several fields of medicine including pharmaceutical and psychological disorders. He is capable a treating people for wounds and illness, prescribing drugs and performing blood transfusions. He acknowledges however that Haematology isn't his field, but still possess some skill in that field as well.
- Surgical skills: Frankenstein is first and foremost a trained surgeon, capable of performing operations and autopsies. His surgical skills are best shown in his creation of the Creature whom he literally stitched together from different body parts.
- Scientific knowledge: Although his doctorate is in medicine, Frankenstein's knowledge extends to other sciences. He has a particular interest in electrical engineering as a means to artificially drive the bio-electrical processes in body tissue.
- Marksmanship: Although starting off with no skills in combat, in "Possession" Frankenstein asks Ethan to teach him to shoot, and he begins to show progress. As such he managed to kill a few infected vampires in the skirmish.
Related Page
Appearances
- Season 1
- S1, Ep1: Night Work
- S1, Ep2: Séance
- S1, Ep3: Resurrection
- S1, Ep4: Demimonde
- S1, Ep6: What Death Can Join Together
- S1, Ep7: Possession
- S1, Ep8: Grand Guignol
- Season 2
- S2, Ep1: Fresh Hell
- S2, Ep2: Verbis Diablo
- S2, Ep4: Evil Spirits in Heavenly Places
- S2, Ep5: Above the Vaulted Sky
- S2, Ep6: Glorious Horrors
- S2, Ep7: Little Scorpion
- S2, Ep8: Memento Mori
- S2, Ep9: And Hell Itself My Only Foe
- S2, Ep10: And They Were Enemies
- Season 3
- S3, Ep1: The Day Tennyson Died
- S3, Ep2: Predators Far and Near
- S3, Ep3: Good and Evil Braided Be
- S3, Ep5: This World Is Our Hell
- S3, Ep6: No Beast So Fierce
- S3, Ep7: Ebb Tide
- S3, Ep8: Perpetual Night
- S3, Ep9: The Blessed Dark
Memorable Quotes
Victor Frankenstein: I would never chart a river or scale a peak to take its measure or plant a flag, there's no point. It's solipsistic, self-aggrandizement. So, too, those scientists who study the planets seeking astronomical enlightenment for its own sake; the botanists studying the variegation of an Amazonian fern; the zoologists caught up in the endless fascination of an adder's coils; and, for what? Knowledge for its self alone? The elation of discovery? Plant your flag on the truth. There is only one worthy goal for scientific explanation: piercing the issue that separates life from death. Everything else, from the deep bottom of the sea to the peak of the highest mountain on the farthest planet, is insignificant. Life and death, Sir Malcolm, the flicker that separates one from the other, fast as a bat's wing, more beautiful than any sonnet...that is my river, that is my mountain. There I will plant my flag.
Sir Malcolm Murray: You sir have the soul of a poet.
Victor Frankenstein: And the bank account to match.
Victor Frankenstein (to Proteus): My mother taught me many things. Among the most useful is that one must always have Shakespeare at hand.
Victor Frankenstein (to Proteus): As you grow up, you’ll learn we all do things that cause us shame. Sins we have committed.
Victor Frankenstein (to the Creature): You seek to threaten me with death? If you seek to threaten me, threaten me with life.
Victor Frankenstein (to Abraham Van Helsing): I was cursed with poetry very young. Creates extremely unrealistic expectations.
Victor Frankenstein (to Abraham Van Helsing): Do you believe in fate? I don’t mean justice. I mean retribution. Facing the consequences of your actions that have produced catastrophe. A sin that is everlasting, one that you have made immortal. There is a line from Shelley that haunts me, a single line from Adonais. I cannot get it out of my head. ‘No more let life divide, what death can join together.
Victor Frankenstein (to Henry Jekyll): When we were in school we dreamed, you remember, of walking into the Royal Society together with our triumph of presenting our evidence with a glorious flourish. And how all those who had hated us, and laughed at us, would be silenced. And we, heroes both, would conquer the world and beat back death. I have conquered death. And have created monsters. None more so than the man who sits before you.
Victor Frankenstein (to Henry Jekyll): If you cannot endure the nightmare, you should not lie down for the sleep.
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