Nathan Fairfax
Nathan Fairfax was a young, troubled, dark-haired man who was gifted with the ability to perceive the thoughts and memories of others. To activate his gift, Nathan merely had to make just the slightest of physical contact with the subject in question (2).
Nathan’s power first came into being when he was twelve-years-old. In the 7th grade, he could read the thoughts of the school bullies who would routinely beat him up on the playground (3). Unable to deal with the constant barrage of ambient thoughts and memories, Nathan ran away from home. He isolated himself from humanity and lived in flop-houses and missions for many years.
On December 21st, 1991, Nathan Fairfax came to Collinsport. Looking for work, he loitered around the properties of Asulon Studio and the Old House on the Collinwood estate. Wandering near the cliff’s edge of Widows' Hill, he found a woman named Victoria Winters teetering off the edge. Nathan rescued her from certain doom, and instantly became aware of her surface memories. Two thugs, seeking to break into the Old House had recently attacked her, and Vickie fell near Widow’s Hill in her attempt to escape. He learned of Vickie’s contact to a man named Barnabas Collins. Nathan brought Vickie to Barnabas who had taken his own steps towards stopping the would-be burglars (1).
Through Barnabas, Nathan met his servant, Willie Loomis. Nathan spoke to Willie about job prospects, and Willie recommended that he should try to gain employment from the Grimm sisters, Allie and Thenno.
On December 26th, Nathan met with the Grimm sisters, who agreed to let him work for them as a handyman. One of Nathan’s primary functions was to root out all of the snakes that had been accruing in the gardens surrounding the studio. Nathan was amazed to discover that the Grimm sisters created elaborately realistic sculptures that could be found all across the property (2).
When he wasn’t working for the Grimms, Nathan would hang out with Willie Loomis. Nathan confided in Willie and revealed that he had telepathic powers. Willie became characteristically nervous about this and it wasn’t long before Nathan’s presence caused him to have a more direct altercation with Barnabas Collins. Barnabas, in the throws of his vampiric blood-lust, attacked Nathan. From this contact, Nathan learned that Barnabas was a vampire. The following morning, Nathan broke into the cellar of the Old House and opened Barnabas’ coffin, prepared to destroy him. Willie rushed in and convinced Nathan that Barnabas was on the verge of finding a cure for his condition. Nathan decided to let the matter drop, but was still committed to making sure that Barnabas would not feed on any more innocent lives.
That same evening, Nathan’s life became even more surreal. Returning to Asulon studio, he noticed a large stone pillar preparing to topple over onto Thenno Grimm. Nathan pushed her out of the way as the column came crashing down. As soon as he made contact with her, Nathan learned that both Allie and Thenno were actually immortal creatures known as gorgons – mythological monsters who could turn a human being into stone merely by looking at them (3).
Notes
Nathan Fairfax is a character exclusive to the comic book series and has never appeared in the television program.