John Redgrave

John Redgrave (often referred to by his surname) is the main antagonist of ''Balthazar. ''He is an ancient vampire and the sire of Balthazar More.

Physical Appearance
Redgrave is described as being very handsome and debonair, with dark gold hair, hazel eyes that appear almost gold and tanned "golden" skin. He is not particularly tall or muscular, but still very attractive and alluring. Redgrave is described as having a strange accent, a mixture of British, American and various others. This is likely due to the fact he has lived for so long, in so many different places.

Background
Balthazar mentions that Redgrave is over two thousand years old and originally went by another name, before he began calling himself John Redgrave. His country of birth is not revealed; his native language, which Balthazar states he refused to learn, his very old and possibly a dead language, given that Balthazar does not recognize it. Therefore, his country of origin may not even exist anymore, due to his being born so long ago.

Redgrave became a vampire at some point, forming his own tribe. He sired a number of vampires, including Lorenzo and Constantia. In 1640, Redgrave was living in a Puritan colonial village in America with Constantia, who was posing as his sister. Redgrave took a liking to a young Puritan girl named Charity More, whilst Constantia was attracted to Charity's older brother Balthazar. Redgrave tried to seduce Charity and they were seen down near the river together; although Balthazar believed Redgrave extracted no more than a kiss from Charity, Balthazar's father was furious. The townspeople had also grown suspicious of Redgrave. Before skipping town however, Redgrave, at Constantia's request, went to the More house one night and murdered most of the inhabitants, turning Balthazar into a vampire. He also kidnapped Charity, and Balthazar's love interest Jane and forced the newly risen Balthazar to choose who would become a vampire. Balthazar reluctantly made Charity into a vampire, but Redgrave, rather than let Jane go, killed her by snapping her neck without a second thought. Balthazar and Charity became members of Redgrave's tribe, with Charity becoming Redgrave's lover. Balthazar left the tribe in 1776, but Redgrave occasionally encountered him.

Balthazar
After learning of the unique properties of Skye Tierney’s blood – as a psychic, Skye’s blood allows vampires who drink it to vividly relive memories of their human lives and thus is highly addictive and sought after - Redgrave travels to Darby Glen, seeking to enslave her and use access to her blood to bend other vampires to his will. This way, he will have control not only over his own tribe, but dozens, perhaps even hundreds of other vampires, even expressing a desire to become the new vampire prince: the first in over a century.

Redgrave’s plans are thwarted by the efforts of Balthazar, who rarely leaves Skye alone. Skye is also constantly surrounded by students and teachers at her local high school, and not even Redgrave is brazen enough to attempt to abduct her so publically. Redgrave does attempt to break into Skye’s home with his tribe to abduct her, but flees after being attacked by a wraith, leading him to believe the house is haunted; hence, he avoids trying to break into Skye’s home again. Redgrave approaches Skye both at Café Keats and at her Homecoming Dance, attempting to persuade her to come with him willingly, claiming he would allow her to live in comfort for the rest of her life. He also states that she would only be safe with him, as many other tribes now know of Skye’s existence and would seek to simply bleed her dry, fighting each other and killing any humans who get in the way. Skye, however, refuses to trust him, and is rescued by Balthazar at the Dance, though Redgrave reminds her that he will simply take her by force and will not treat her so kindly in that case. Redgrave also kills Lorenzo in anger after he betrays him and tries to take Skye for himself, as his intention is to keep Skye alive to harvest her blood.

After being reunited with Charity, she tells Redgrave of ways to repel wraiths, allowing Redgrave and his tribe to enter Skye’s home and kidnap her, with Redgrave using his mind control powers to force her to come with them without a fight. Redgrave allows Charity to drink some of Skye’s blood; a decision that ultimately leads to his downfall. Redgrave becomes irritated when Charity does not heed his command to stop drinking and forcibly takes her off Skye, stating that from now on, no one is allowed to touch Skye without his permission. Skye is able to escape from them and flings herself into the nearby river, swimming to safety; Redgrave is initially reluctant to follow her due to vampires’ discomfort of crossing running water, and he is also interrupted by the arrival of Balthazar, Craig Weathers and Britnee Fong (unbeknownst to Redgrave, he had been betrayed by Constantia, who tipped Balthazar off). After a fight, Redgrave was seriously injured by Balthazar, temporarily incapacitating him, but pointed out that whilst Balthazar was trying to kill him, Skye was still out there and likely in danger of freezing to death. The ploy works, as Balthazar spares Redgrave to go and rescue Skye, giving Redgrave time to recover. He and his tribe set off after Skye in their van, soon catching up them and cornering them.

Charity arrives, wielding a large knife and apparently intent on killing Balthazar, who is powerless to stop Redgrave from taking Skye as it is. As Redgrave gloats over his apparent victory, Charity suddenly swings the knife and decapitates Redgrave, as drinking Skye’s blood had reminded her of her happy human life and the close bond she used to share with Balthazar, as well as Redgrave's role in destroying that. Due to his age, Redgrave’s body and head crumble to dust, leaving no trace of the would-be vampire prince.

Personality
Redgrave acts the part of a suave gentleman, but beneath this, he is vicious, cruel, selfish and lusts for power. Redgrave seems to like nothing more than dominating and controlling other people, as shown by his treatment of Balthazar, Charity and Constantia, and by the 21st Century, his ambition is such that he seeks to become a vampire prince, ruling over potentially hundreds of vampires using Skye's blood. He rivals both Charity and Charlotte Bethany in his propensity for cruelty - whilst Mrs Bethany mainly kills out of pragmatism and has some sense of morality and empathy for others, Redgrave has been known to kill simply for his own amusement or to torment his enemies. Balthazar describes Redgrave as "the darkest vampire he had ever met". Redgrave has no qualms about harming or killing humans, in fact seeming to enjoy killing or torturing others; he also kills even when it is not necessary to do so. He even kills animals in the most brutal way possible. Redgrave also sees no ill in enslaving Skye and putting the residents of Darby Glen in grave danger by luring more vampires there. He mocks Balthazar for retaining 'human' traits, such as compassion and selflessness, believing that whilst Balthazar still "acts human" he has no hope of defeating him, and arrogantly believing himself to be superior for rejecting such traits. He seems to enjoy bending others to his will and 'corrupting' them, tending to bring out the worst in his followers.

Redgrave likes to get his own way and does not tolerate subversion among his followers. What he cannot win through guile or manipulation, he will take through force. He can be rather charming and flirtatious, and uses this to full advantage in luring both men and women to him and persuading them to do his bidding. Redgrave's charm and ability to manipulate others is such that even Skye remarks that, had she not already been aware of his true nature, she would've trusted him without question. Balthazar also mentions that, in spite of his arrogance, Redgrave is usually logical, and will not intentionally put himself in danger if he does not believe it to be of high worth to him (though he will happily endanger others to fulfil his goals), and he demonstrates himself to be a shrewd and cunning man. His ego does, however, lead to hik overlooking or underestimating certain people or outcomes, which can severely backfire on him.

The only thing Redgrave truly fears are wraiths, which, like many vampires, he holds a deep-rooted terror of. However, he even seems to overcome this somewhat after learning there are ways to repel wraiths, though without the protective items, he quickly flees from a wraith's attack. Redgrave is only defeated due to his own arrogance and underestimation of Charity's continuing love for her brother.

Constantia
Redgrave appears to be quite close to Constantia, with the two having a lot in common. She is also one of his oldest and seemingly most loyal companions, though Constantia later reveals to Balthazar that she has actually resented Redgrave for centuries for forcibly making her a vampire, and that's she's just very good at hiding her true feelings. This would appear to be true, as Redgrave never appears to suspect that Constantia is plotting against him and trusts her. Given Constantia's comments about her transformation and her obvious beauty, it is possible that Redgrave took a liking to her the way he did with Charity and turned her to be his companion and to try and break her will. It is never explicitly implied or stated that they were ever lovers though - at the very least, they were apparently not in a sexual relationship by the time they met the More siblings. Redgrave liked Constantia enough to grant her request to make Balthazar a vampire to be her new mate, and trusted her enough to reveal the extent of his plans for Skye to her and entrust her with bringing Skye to him. He also admires her cunning and love of carnage. Constantia seemed to be Redgrave's second-in-command in all but name, with he having no idea up to his death that Constantia had betrayed him.

Balthazar More
Redgrave sired Balthazar mostly as a favour to Constantia, but he seemed intrigued by the young man himself. Redgrave's feelings towards Balthazar are not entirely clear, though it is obvious that he enjoys tormenting Balthazar and playing mind games with him, attempting to break his resolve not to become a monster. Redgrave derides Balthazar's moral code and value of human life, frequently mocking him for it. He seems to find Balthazar's hatred of him and attempts to kill him amusing or irritating more than anything, though he becomes increasingly resentful of Balthazar's defiance of him and defending of Skye. Redgrave never sought Balthazar's death for most of his vampire life, presumably finding him too amusing and not viewing him as a serious threat, but when he interferes with his plans for Skye, Redgrave seems utterly unmoved by the prospect of killing his own progeny. However, he does attempt to persuade Balthazar into joining with him, though this is probably out of his desire to corrupt and dominate Balthazar, this gaining another follower, rather than any personal fondness for him.

Charity More
Redgrave lusted after Charity, presumably because of her beauty and innocence, in spite of the fact she was only fourteen when they met - a testament to Redgrave's depraved nature and lack of morality. Redgrave seduced Charity when she was human and seemed pleased that Balthazar chose to turn her into a vampire. He made Charity his lover and completely broke down her sanity and willpower, influencing her to give into her darkest desires and follow his example of killing indiscriminately. It is unclear how consensual their relationship was, given that Charity was only fourteen when it first began, was severely traumatised and Balthazar's statements that she initially flinched at Redgrave's touch, but over time she seemed to form some kind of twisted attraction to him.

Redgrave seemed fond of Charity, with them being in an on-off relationship for nearly four centuries and him placing a great deal of trust in her. He seemed to view her as a pet rather than a true equal though, admiring her bloodlust and enjoying her submissiveness towards him. Given the nature of their relationship and Redgrave's own incredibly self-centred personality, it is highly unlikely he ever felt anything close to real love for Charity, merely using her for his own gratification. Redgrave arrogantly assumed that she would always be in enthralled to him and that her desire for vengeance against Balthazar and loyalty to himself were her priorities, but he underestimated Charity's love for her brother and her subconscious hatred towards Redgrave for destroying her life, a miscalculation that proved fatal.

Skye Tierney
Redgrave mostly views Skye merely as a means to an end. He initially treats her with charm and politeness, but becomes far more aggressive in his interactions with her out of impatience. Redgrave appears to have some respect for Skye's steadfastness and boldness, and also appears to be superficially attracted to her, flirting with her and subtly suggesting they become lovers, but he does not care about Skye as a person in the slightest and only seeks to use her blood to gain power for himself. He makes it plain that if Skye will not join him willingly, he'll have no concerns with using violence, threats or sheer force to make her his.

Powers and Abilities
Redgrave, possibly due to his great age, is an exceptionally powerful vampire. In addition to the usual abilities of vampires, which are enhanced in his case, he is also capable of using mental influence on humans to subdue them and obey his commands, which he himself states few vampires are capable of doing. Being a sire, he can also enter the dreams of the vampires he's transformed.

Quotes by Redgrave

 * "I don't have to kill you to get what I want. It follows, therefore, that your best chance at staying alive is simply to give me what I want."
 * Balthazar's been poisoning your mind against me, hasn't he? He has his grudges. And his reasons, I suppose. But you must have learned by now that, when it comes to the world of vampires, good and evil can become rather...relative." 
 * "[...]There's a particular sweetness in bending someone's will that mere force cannot possess. The deaths of the More family? A night's entertainment. Slowly turning Charity into my most devoted progeny? Unending bliss."
 * "Do you really think you can escape? Silly girl. Don't you understand? You belong to me."

Appearances

 * Balthazar

Trivia

 * The name John is Hebrew in origin, meaning 'Yaweh/God is gracious'. It is a very common name in English-speaking countries.