Quinlan (The Strain)

Quinlan is a male character that features in The Strain.

Biography

Quintus Sertorius was a hybrid member of the Strigoi race who was born sometime around the year AD 40 during the reign of Emperor Caligula. During this time, the Ancient known as the Master who was several centuries young came to the Roman where he served as his advisor and was known as Thrax. In exchange, the Emperor offered the Strigoi young women to feed on with the Master stating that he only wanted virgin's to be given to him. Unknown to him, one of the women was pregnant at the time when he started to feed on her at which point he learnt of the pregnancy. Before he coulda cut, she attacked him and fled with the Master wanting her found and killed but she managed to evade capture. After being infected, the worms within her infected her child when she gave birth to him with the events leading to him becoming a Strigoi/Human hybrid who was one of the Born. As a Born, he gained all the strengths of his race but none of their weaknesses such as their vulnerability to sunlight and though he shared a telepathic link to his 'father' the Master he was not subject to the Ancient's control. In addition, he lacked the blood worms within his body which meant that whilst he fed on blood in others he was incapable of infecting them and spreading the Strigoi infection. By 58AD, he had been captured where he was in a feral state and used as a sideshow attraction as a human leech that was shown to others that paid to see him. One of his visitors was a woman by the name of Ancharia who specialised in Strigoi lore and purchased his freedom. She named him Quintus Sertorius where she began to rehabilitated him and educated him in order to train him to be a Strigoi hunter with her intending for Quinlan to kill his 'father' the Master. Two years later, the Master came upon them as he tracked them down in order to kill the Born. This forced Quinlan and Ancharia to evict their home where they went off on foot to another location. They stopped to rest in a cave when the Master arrived but rather than kill them he decided to trap the two of them inside of it. The Master's intention was to leave Quinlan with his mentor in the cave till the point he starved in order to force him to drain the blood from his foster mother for survival. This was to attempt Quinlan to question his affinity for humanity in regards to his true nature. Ancharia convinced Quinlan to feed from her in order to survive and continue the fight to kill the Master with him complying whereupon he gained the strength to escape from the cave.

In 1888, he operated in Victorian London where he remained in the shadows and in hiding as he continued his quest to kill the Master. Around this time, a woman by the name of Louisa had sought out Quinlan as she was familiar with the legends of the Strigoi. She had looked for him on behalf of her dying twin brother as he desired to live and thought the only way possible was to be beaten by a Strigoi. Louisa came to beg Quinlan for his aid but he refused and stated that such a thing was not possible. She then introduced Quinlan to her twin brother where he also encountered the woman's daughter Lydia. Upon her brothers death, Quinlan remained and kept her company where she used make-up to dress him up to appear human allowing him to attend the funeral. Lydia came to be fond of Quinlan where he would play games of hide-and-seek with her with the Born becoming attracted to Louisa. The pair came to be considered a family for Quinlan with him deciding to stay with them for a time. During an outing with Louisa, the pair came upon a group of Strigoi that were feeding on people in the alley. This led to Quinlan killing the Strigoi where he returned to his new adoptive home and determined that the Master was in the city. He armed himself with his blade and bade Louisa along with Lydia to remain in the home as he was determined to kill the Master where he confessed that he himself would die if he succeeded in his goal. He then departed and went into the Master's lair where he confronted his 'father' in a brutal battle. Quinlan managed to wound the Master but he relented in killing him as he feared to leave Louisa and Lydia behind. This allowed the Master to impale Quinlan whereupon the Ancient Strigoi decided to torture his 'son' by infecting his new family. Quinlan freed himself and quickly made his way to his adoptive home only to find that both Louisa and Lydia had been stung with them slowly being transformed into Strigoi. This forced him to kill the pair with him continuing his path of revenge against the Master.

During the battle, waves of Strigoi emerged with the resistance forces holding their ground until the Master arrived and used his innate sonic attack to paralyse them. Quinlan emerged to tackle the Master and forced him into the elevator which he destroyed when it reached the underground chamber. The Born and the Ancient continued their battle in melee combat with Quinlan being separated from his sword. Despite his efforts, Quinlan was overwhelmed by the stronger Master who felt confident at his impending victory. This offered Quinlan an opportunity to rip part of the Master's hosts throat causing the life fluids to ooze out as he was badly wounded. The angry Ancient responded by stomping his foot down on Quinlan repeatedly and finally killed Quinlan. Despite his efforts, nuclear warhead within the chamber was later detonated killing the Master thus ending the threat he posed to the world and securing Quinlan's final victory over his 'father'.

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Quinlan retained the inhuman features of the Strigoi with a decaying skin and bald head with his body lacking any hair.

Powers and abilities

As one of the Born, Quinlan was a hybrid that gained all the natural strengths of the Strigoi but none of their weaknesses. As such, he was stronger, faster and had far greater endurance when compared to a human. He also had no weaknesses of the Strigoi such as towards sunlight allowing him to operate in sunlight conditions. Quinlan though still faced the Strigoi hunger for blood that he drained from his feeder that he expelled from his mouth. Despite this being the case, he lacked the worms that were typical among the Strigoi which meant he did not infect those he stung with his stinger preventing a spread of the strain. Similar to other Strigoi, he shared a telepathic connection with his sire namely the Master but he was not subject to his control.

Notes

• Quinlan was created by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan.
• In the live-action television series, the character was portrayed by actor Rupert Penry-Jones.
• The events of the novel showed that Quinlan was working from the Ancients in the beginning whilst the television series substituted him for a new Born character called Vaun.

Appearances

• The Strain:

External Links

• The Strain Wiki Entry

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