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cityofariel
Mar. 9th, 2013 01:42 pm→ IC
□ Name: Ryan Hardy
□ Journal: flawedhero
□ Series: The Following
□ Canon point: just after 1.06 "The Fall"
□ History: http://thefollowing.wikia.com/wiki/Ryan_Hardy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Following
□ Personality: Ryan is an intense, driven ex-FBI agent, a little damaged, an alcoholic, but basically a good person. His background is defined by tragedy. Both of his parents are dead -- his mother from leukemia at 14, his father, a cop, shot from stopping a convenience store robbery. His older brother, Ray, worked as a fireman, and was killed in 9/11. His first real girlfriend died too, murdered at 21 (not established in any episode, but stated by a writer here http://tvfilmnews.com/the-following-ryan-hardy-scoop-from-kevin-williamson/). Ryan, as a result, is standoffish, reluctant to really engage or connect with the people around him. He has a lot of fears and hang-ups associated with intimacy, and is prone to making the wrong decisions about relationships, especially when it comes to ending them.
The fact that he's no stranger to death makes him better at his job. He can handle walking into a bloodied crime scene; he can connect well with victims and survivors. He has a ruthlessly suppressed fascination with the line between life and death, the way death encroaches into life, and channels this into his constant drive to catch killers. Some of it is an effort to prevent conditions like what he has had, in his life; some of it is that he belongs on the line between life and death, that he has been touched too much by it to really fit in anywhere else.
Ryan's life took a turning point when he hunted a serial killer inspired by Edgar Allen Poe. He met a beautiful, engaging college professor, and her husband, who was handsome and charismatic and an excruciatingly talented teacher. And he got both of their help in analyzing the Poe contents of the crime scene. He described himself, later, as charmed and seduced by Joe Carroll, said professor, and by Claire, the wife. Over time, his suspicions were caught, and he came to the slow realization that this growing friendship was in fact with the serial killer himself. The FBI wasn't so convinced, but Ryan stalked Joe -- he followed him for months until he had enough evidence for an arrest. He became obsessive and intent, likely because of the way Joe had managed to worm himself close. Ryan takes poorly to feelings of betrayal. Falling in love with Claire, though -- that didn't stop, and after the trial and after the divorce went through, the two of them consummated an affair that ended when Ryan deemed himself too broken to sustain it.
Ryan has a broken heart. Literally, in fact; he has a pacemaker installed, in the stab wound where he was almost killed the first time he caught Joe Carroll. He can't go through too much strain without risking his life. It's a constant crippling factor in his pursuit of Joe, and, by metaphorical extension, in all of his life. Medical discharge from the FBI has left him in a years-long morass of personal angst.
He finds refuge in alcohol -- drinks down vodka like water, in the first episode, after he sees a particularly grisly suicide. In flashbacks, he refuses to get help, instead indulging in a spiral of self-destructive addiction that leaves in tatters all of his relationships. Not just a tendency of his, either; his sister is a recovering addict or alcoholic, it isn't mentioned which, so it's safe to assume that this kind of behavior runs in the family.
Ryan has an extremely strong conscience. This is more of a liability than an asset; his drive to do something, to help someone makes his failures cut all the keener, and leads him towards addiction as a way to drown out the world and as a way to punish himself. He is unworthy of true relationships, he will never find happiness, he has failed by allowing a killer to disable him physically. The key to Ryan, then, is the combination of self-hatred and conscience, the inability to turn away and get out of a bad situation even when it's killing him.
Now, Joe Carroll views Ryan as the main character of his next masterpiece. He plans to put Ryan through hell, force him to stay on his toes, investigate and hunt and save victim after victim until he is 'redeemed'. Ryan can't quit: he can't turn away and let Joe have free rein. Staying, and letting himself be exposed to the precisely targeted emotional trials that Joe sets up for him, is killing him and his broken heart. This is the situation he's stuck in, now, playing right on the halves of his personality: of life and of death, of good and of hate. It remains to be seen what of him will be left after it's all done.
□ Age: 40s
□ Gender: Male
□ Appearance: Thin-faced, handsome but a little bit gaunt; looks older than he is, is thinner than he should be. Often wearing a suit and tie, in a way that kind of hangs off of him.
□ Abilities/Powers: No powers. He's a badass normal with FBI training, which means a facility with hand-to-hand combat and experience with firearms. He's an FBI profiler, and a clever investigator.
□ Personal Items:
1 - Cell phone.
2 - Wallet.
3 - Gun.
□ First Person Sample: http://dear-mun.dreamwidth.org/6881979.html
□ Third Person Sample: http://treebizarre.dreamwidth.org/18291.html?thread=2178419#cmt2178419
□ Name: Ryan Hardy
□ Journal: flawedhero
□ Series: The Following
□ Canon point: just after 1.06 "The Fall"
□ History: http://thefollowing.wikia.com/wiki/Ryan_Hardy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Following
□ Personality: Ryan is an intense, driven ex-FBI agent, a little damaged, an alcoholic, but basically a good person. His background is defined by tragedy. Both of his parents are dead -- his mother from leukemia at 14, his father, a cop, shot from stopping a convenience store robbery. His older brother, Ray, worked as a fireman, and was killed in 9/11. His first real girlfriend died too, murdered at 21 (not established in any episode, but stated by a writer here http://tvfilmnews.com/the-following-ryan-hardy-scoop-from-kevin-williamson/). Ryan, as a result, is standoffish, reluctant to really engage or connect with the people around him. He has a lot of fears and hang-ups associated with intimacy, and is prone to making the wrong decisions about relationships, especially when it comes to ending them.
The fact that he's no stranger to death makes him better at his job. He can handle walking into a bloodied crime scene; he can connect well with victims and survivors. He has a ruthlessly suppressed fascination with the line between life and death, the way death encroaches into life, and channels this into his constant drive to catch killers. Some of it is an effort to prevent conditions like what he has had, in his life; some of it is that he belongs on the line between life and death, that he has been touched too much by it to really fit in anywhere else.
Ryan's life took a turning point when he hunted a serial killer inspired by Edgar Allen Poe. He met a beautiful, engaging college professor, and her husband, who was handsome and charismatic and an excruciatingly talented teacher. And he got both of their help in analyzing the Poe contents of the crime scene. He described himself, later, as charmed and seduced by Joe Carroll, said professor, and by Claire, the wife. Over time, his suspicions were caught, and he came to the slow realization that this growing friendship was in fact with the serial killer himself. The FBI wasn't so convinced, but Ryan stalked Joe -- he followed him for months until he had enough evidence for an arrest. He became obsessive and intent, likely because of the way Joe had managed to worm himself close. Ryan takes poorly to feelings of betrayal. Falling in love with Claire, though -- that didn't stop, and after the trial and after the divorce went through, the two of them consummated an affair that ended when Ryan deemed himself too broken to sustain it.
Ryan has a broken heart. Literally, in fact; he has a pacemaker installed, in the stab wound where he was almost killed the first time he caught Joe Carroll. He can't go through too much strain without risking his life. It's a constant crippling factor in his pursuit of Joe, and, by metaphorical extension, in all of his life. Medical discharge from the FBI has left him in a years-long morass of personal angst.
He finds refuge in alcohol -- drinks down vodka like water, in the first episode, after he sees a particularly grisly suicide. In flashbacks, he refuses to get help, instead indulging in a spiral of self-destructive addiction that leaves in tatters all of his relationships. Not just a tendency of his, either; his sister is a recovering addict or alcoholic, it isn't mentioned which, so it's safe to assume that this kind of behavior runs in the family.
Ryan has an extremely strong conscience. This is more of a liability than an asset; his drive to do something, to help someone makes his failures cut all the keener, and leads him towards addiction as a way to drown out the world and as a way to punish himself. He is unworthy of true relationships, he will never find happiness, he has failed by allowing a killer to disable him physically. The key to Ryan, then, is the combination of self-hatred and conscience, the inability to turn away and get out of a bad situation even when it's killing him.
Now, Joe Carroll views Ryan as the main character of his next masterpiece. He plans to put Ryan through hell, force him to stay on his toes, investigate and hunt and save victim after victim until he is 'redeemed'. Ryan can't quit: he can't turn away and let Joe have free rein. Staying, and letting himself be exposed to the precisely targeted emotional trials that Joe sets up for him, is killing him and his broken heart. This is the situation he's stuck in, now, playing right on the halves of his personality: of life and of death, of good and of hate. It remains to be seen what of him will be left after it's all done.
□ Age: 40s
□ Gender: Male
□ Appearance: Thin-faced, handsome but a little bit gaunt; looks older than he is, is thinner than he should be. Often wearing a suit and tie, in a way that kind of hangs off of him.
□ Abilities/Powers: No powers. He's a badass normal with FBI training, which means a facility with hand-to-hand combat and experience with firearms. He's an FBI profiler, and a clever investigator.
□ Personal Items:
1 - Cell phone.
2 - Wallet.
3 - Gun.
□ First Person Sample: http://dear-mun.dreamwidth.org/6881979.html
□ Third Person Sample: http://treebizarre.dreamwidth.org/18291.html?thread=2178419#cmt2178419
