Sanctuary

Sanctuary is a Canadian science fiction-fantasy television series, created by Damian Kindler.

 WARNING!

''This article might have a spoiler! This is a potentially bad thing. Be careful reading on, in case you are not well versed in the continua, or not caught up!''



Overview
Sanctuary focuses on Abnormals which are basically what normal people call monsters. Abnormals are explained by genetic mutations, evolution, gene therapy, cloning, etc. A few of the confirmed Abnormals from the show are vampires, werewolves (more specifically Class Nine Hyper Accelerated Proteans--HAPs), Bigfoot, Medusa, the Mothman-like Lepidoptera, Merfolk, various species of lizard people, Nubbins (think evil tribbles), elementals, giants, Suki (think Godzilla), giant sand rays, various insectoid creatures, fairies, pixies, The Morrigan from Arthurian legends, people that become invisible, psychic spiders, Kali, humanoids that can 'fold' themselves to fit through cracks or tiny pipes, basilisks, pteranodons, and many, many other humanoid and non-humanoid creatures.

The Sanctuary Network is a worldwide organization that provides safe harbor for Abnormals who are pursued and/or persecuted by humans. It provides many Abnormals help in containing and controlling various powers, and it also houses Abnormals that are too dangerous to be allowed to mix with humans. The Sanctuaries study and catalog Abnormals, and does much conservation work to maintain and support wild populations. Known locations of Sanctuaries are the primary one in Old City on the North western coast of the United States, Tokyo in Japan, Beijing in People's Republic of China, New Delhi in India, Cairo in Egypt, Moscow in Russia, Mumbai in India, New York City in the U.S., Sydney in Australia, London in the U.K., Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Lagos in Nigeria, Berlin in Germany, Asuncion in Paraguay, Grozny in the Chechan Republic, and an unnamed Sanctuary in Norway.

The Sanctuary Network maintains a small, but well-equipped paramilitary force that even has access to some warships. It is a secret that is known to the heads of most world governments and at least some U.N. officials. It is seen as a neutral party in world conflicts, and members have unprecedented levels of freedom of movement in many areas of the world.

Helen Magnus
Dr. Helen Magnus, more often called Magnus on the show, is the primary character in Sanctuary. She is 157 years old when the first season begins. She is the daughter of Victorian era doctor and researcher, Gregory Magnus. Through his influence she was allowed to attend university and medical school at Oxford. She was the only woman there at the time, but did manage to befriend four other students--James Watson, Nigel Griffon, Nikola Tesla, and John Druitt to whom she was engaged.


 * These friends formed a group called The Five. At some point during their time at Oxford, Magnus obtained a vial of pure vampire blood, known as the source blood. Each of them injected the blood, and developed Abnormal traits.
 * Magnus' Abnormality is longevity and apparent eternal youth.
 * Nigel Griffon could become invisible at will.
 * John Druitt developed teleportation, longevity, and insanity.
 * James Watson's already genius level intelligence expanded to immeasurable.
 * Nikola Tesla unknowingly had vampire ancestry, and the source blood activated those genes giving Tesla vampiric traits.

Magnus largely holds to Victorian morals; or at least, as much as she ever did. She speaks much more formally than the other characters, is always seen fully clothed, and greatly dislikes missing afternoon tea. She is also a very good shot, hand to hand fighter, practical jury-rigger, strategist, and all around scientist. She is a pragmatic idealist. She is also very tough, and nearly fearless. Her relationship with all characters other than her father and the members of The Five, is very practical. While it is clear that she cares about each of them, she is not physically demonstrative and is not afraid to tell them exactly what they have done wrong. She is also not reluctant to tell them they have done a good job--when they have by her high standards.

Her relationship with The Five is more complicated. She clearly still has much heartache over John Druitt's insanity. This did not stop her from attempting to kill him--on more than one occasion--in order to end his now over one hundred year long murder spree. At the same time, she still longs for a way to cure him. With Nikola Tesla there is much Unresolved Sexual Tension, which is displayed through witty banter, the occasional hand brush, and many at least half-hearted attempts by Tesla to obtain a kiss.

Will Zimmerman
Dr. Will Zimmerman is also a primary character in Sanctuary. He is a forensic Psychiatrist and is new to the world of Abnormals, being recruited by Magnus in the first episode. His mother was killed by an Abnormal when he was eight. He had denied the reality of the memory, and devoted his adult studies to the human mind and how easily we can mistake illusion for reality. He adapted quickly to the world of Abnormals, and has provided many invaluable insights and actions to the Sanctuary team. He is at times sarcastic, and frequently uses terms popular on the Internet in his speech. He is not afraid to call Magnus on something he sees as wrong, which she appreciates, though their working relationship is normally very smooth. He has shown definite interest in women, but has never shown definitive dislike of men. He has however, made it clear that he is not attracted to most Abnormals.

Henry Foss
Henry is a self proclaimed geek and techno-wizard. He attends comic cons with Bigfoot, as Bigfoot can openly attend as himself. He also likes to surf. He designs, operates, and maintains the Sanctuary's security and defense systems. Henry uses the word 'Dude' very often. He loves video games, comic books, electronics of all kinds. He generally gets along very well with all the other members of the Sanctuary family, with the exception of Nikola Tesla who annoys him (much like he does everyone else other than Helen Magnus). Henry is generally very nice, though he is capable of a healthy level of snark. He has very little dating life, and is actually pretty naive in that area as demonstrated through both of the relationships he has been shown in during the series. He is at the low moderate level of capability when it comes to handling himself in a fight with guns or hand to hand. He is much stronger and faster as a werewolf, though he still rarely changes. He is allergic to Nubbins and possibly other small furry animals. His relationship with Bigfoot is something like Bigfoot is a much older brother or that really cool uncle who aides in all your Bad Ideas as a kid.
 * He is a class nine, Hyper Accelerated Protean (HAP), more traditionally known as a werewolf. Sanctuary werewolves do not seem to have any ties to the cycle of the moon, and though they may have a period of less ability to control their transformations, with practice they are in full control of when, where, and for how long they transform and their actions while transformed.  They can with a great deal of concentration or at times of great stress access some of the powers of their transformed selves, such as the increased strength. Henry was rescued from the moors of England as a very small child. His family had been slaughtered. He has been raised as a human, and actively suppressed his werewolf side through medication until recently. When the medication no longer worked, he considered having surgery to remove parts of his pituitary and pineal glands to forever suppress his werewolf side. He was afraid of losing control after the transformation and hurting someone. After gaining control he has become comfortable with his heritage. Werewolves are extremely rare in Sanctuary, having been hunted very near to extinction. Henry had never met another werewolf in his entire life until one of the third season episodes.

Biggie
Biggie, Bigfoot, Big Guy, Neanderthal. This character has many nicknames, but has never been officially named, possibly due to a tribal aversion to true names. He has been at the Sanctuary since 1951. He collapsed in front of a church with multiple gunshot wounds. Magnus was called by the local priest, and saved his life. Afterward, he refused to leave, and she gave him a job as her chauffeur, handyman, bodyguard, and butler. He is highly intelligent and assists Magnus with surgeries. He seems to have been some kind of medicine man among his people, as he is able to produce various herbal cures and remedies. One of these is able to somehow prevent a person from dying on the table during surgery after Magnus ran out of modern options. He has never visited his people since his arrival and states that he is an outcast of some sort. He has stated that his people only mate once every five years, but this could have been stated in jest, as he has a wicked sense of subtle humor. He has a still hidden in the basement of the Sanctuary and has been producing whiskey for over forty years without the humans and more human-looking members of the Sanctuary knowing about it. He always dresses neatly, and though he does often make grunting sounds or roars he is very plain spoken in English.

He is very much a mother hen to all the others in the Sanctuary, especially Henry and to a lesser extent Magnus. He makes sure that everyone is eating regular meals and not sleeping slumped at desks. He is not above eye-rolling over stupid questions and what he considers childish antics, such as the others' tendency to chatter excitedly and in minute detail over their latest Abnormal encounter outside of the Sanctuary. He travels with Henry for vacations to places like Comic Con where he can blend in.

Kate Freelander
Kate is first introduced at the end of the first season as a Cabal contract operative. She fails to complete a job for them, and is targeted to be killed. She is captured by the Sanctuary, and eventually joins their side. She is good with the physical operations, such as hunting and capturing Abnormals. She has experience with and contacts in the underworld. She has a brother who has a gambling problem, but he was literally Put On A Bus after a couple of appearances. Her father was a bank robber who was killed in a bombing when she was young. Her mother moved the family to India to be with extended relatives after her father's death, but Kate apparently only stayed there for a few years.

After an initially adversarial relationship with the other members of the Sanctuary, Kate has become a member of the family. She is something of a slob with an always messy room. Her attitude is to never take guff from anyone over anything, so she often comes across as confrontational. She is however, very loyal. She always calls Henry by the nickname Hank. It seems that she has UST toward Henry that he seems to be oblivious to.

Ashley Magnus
Ashley is the daughter of Helen Magnus and John Druitt. She was originally conceived in the 1880's, but was 'frozen' whether externally in a cryo unit of some sort or within Magnus herself it is not stated clearly. She was twenty-three when the first season began. She is extraordinarily gifted in the realms of hand to hand combat and weapons usage. She inherited her father's killer instinct and lacked a sense of proper behavior. She and her mother frequently argued over her ideas of 'monster hunting' versus her mother's views of study and aide to Abnormals. She was kidnapped by the Cabal and injected with the source blood and various other chemicals, which subsumed her identity and made her a superabnormal killing machine entirely controlled by the Cabal. She was able to overcome this for just a few moments--just long enough to teleport herself and the last remaining superabnormal into the deadly effects of the EM shield, shredding them both.

Nikola Tesla
A member of The Five, Tesla is described as being an acquired taste. His personality is rather caustic. Most of Tesla's speech consists of snark and condescension, with liberal flirting added in when dealing with Magnus. His specialties include anything to do with electricity and biology. He is a half-vampire, and is extremely hard to kill. On the show he has been electrocuted, thrown off a thirty story building, stabbed through the heart with a wooden spike, tied up with no food or water for nine days, had his blood sucked by a full vampire followed by being hurled down a deep shaft which broke almost every bone in his body, and had a fist and arm sized hole teleported out of his abdomen. Sunlight does not effect him, garlic, holy water, and crucifixes are likewise not harmful to him. He cannot transform into a bat, though he can jump very high and has claws in his vampire form. He does not age, and thanks to a medication designed by Magnus he has no need for human blood. He loves wine, which does not make him drunk. He is highly annoyed by most vampire myths, and by any disparaging remarks made about vampires.

He accidentally de-vamped himself during a fight to de-vamp some vampires he had created, but was unable to control. He has developed magnetic powers since then, and is still not nearly as mortal as a normal human as the nine days without food and water happened after his de-vamping. He later was re-vamped through the application of blood from a vampire queen.

John Druitt
John Druitt was another member of The Five. He developed teleporting and longevity after his injection with the source blood. It also destabilized his mental facilities, and attracted an energy based Abnormal to him. This being is pure evil and when not possessing Druitt attempted to kill everyone in Old City. He actually manages to suppress much of the creature's murderous intent. Instead of killing all of London, he became Jack the Ripper. For a while he was aiding the Sanctuary. Tesla had tortured him with electricity, which had beaten back the creature's control of him. He was Helen Magnus' fiance at one point, and still loves her with the little remaining sanity he has. The more he teleports the stronger the creature becomes. The EM shield protecting the Sanctuary facilities was designed to keep him out.

Declan MacRae
Declan is the new head of the UK Sanctuary located in London. He replaced James Watson. He operated out of the Old City Sanctuary for a while after the attacks by the superabnormals destroyed much of the UK Sanctuary. He is very good at managing the politics inherent in the Sanctuary Network. He gets along with most others equally well.

In Badfic
There are many, many Sues in Sanctuary badfic. The Sues are particularly fond of being werewolves and the daughters of various canon characters. There are also many bad slash fics that feature non-con with Henry or Will as the target. The Sanctuary verse is populated by many genius characters with various specialties, a recurring and serious problem is the characters being portrayed as seriously lacking in intelligence. Finding out that Will is some sort of Abnormal, and always has been is popular, and occasionally well done. Attempting to write Tesla's unique blend of snark and condescension usually results in spectacular failure. Shipping Henry and Ashley, even though they were raised together is usually accomplished in a squicky manner.