The Magnificent Seven Character Sketches

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Transcript of The Magnificent Seven Character Sketches

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A U T H O R E D B Y :

Organization

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The The The Magnificent Magnificent Magnificent

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Below are some brief character sketches of the Seven. The ages given are those most often attributed to them by fan fic writers.

Only Nathan's age (27) was ever revealed in the series.

Warning: Contains some spoilers!

Relative Ages (oldest to youngest): Josiah, Chris, Buck, Nathan, Ezra, Vin, JD

Relative Heights (tallest to shortest): Buck, Josiah, Nathan, Chris, Vin, Ezra, JD

The Leader

Gunfighter Chris Larabee is haunted by the brutal murder of his wife and 5-year-old son at the hands of a paid killer, hired by an obsessed and demented former lover. Little else is known about his background, except that he lived in Indiana as a very young man. Chris is possibly the most unstable of the group, a heavy drinker prone to bouts of rage and depression. Nevertheless, his

position as the dynamic "Leader" of the Seven is unquestioned.

LARABEE, CHRIS: Facts

We know nothing about Chris’s background or family. The earliest reference we have is that he was in Indiana when he was seventeen and took part in a log-splitting contest (The Collector). Whether he lived there or was passing through is unknown. He started building the reputation he has when he arrives in Four Corners in his youth. Sometime in his youth, he got involved with Ella Gaines. They had a tumultuous relationship that fed on the inherent wildness in both of them. She describes him then as

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“rowdy and ready to fight” with “bar scrapes every night” and prone to calling out any man who looked sideways at her (Obsession). Chris says the two of them were out to kill themselves back then. He broke with Ella out of self-preservation and met Buck immediately afterwards, about twelve years before the Seven meet in Four Corners.

The gentlest period of Chris’s life came when he met, courted, and married Sarah Connolly. Her father distrusted Chris’s wildness (Vendetta), but Sarah married him, anyway, and they built a small horse ranch together outside Eagle Bend (Nemesis). Chris says Sarah taught h im the “pleasures of home and family” (Obsession). When she and their son were murdered, it plunged Chris back into a footloose existence in which his reputation as a gunfighter is cemented. His life in the three years since their deaths seems largely purposeless until he joins with the rest of the Seven in Four Corners.

Chris is the natural leader in any situation by force of personality and conviction. He has a strong sense of right and wrong and intervenes when he sees injustice or uneven odds (Ghosts of the Confederacy; One Day out West; Inmate 78; Chinatown). He’s a skilled gunman who is confident in his abilities, but is neither arrogant nor ready to fight, die, or kill without need (Love and Honor). He wears only one gun and shoots with his right hand, but can shoot with his left when wounded (Witness). The overwhelming personal drive in his life is to find out who killed his family and why. Discovering one answer in Nemesis, he later learns another in Obsession when he again meets Ella Gaines.

Chris is around forty years old. He’s six feet tall with fair, straight hair and dark green eyes. He’s usually clean-shaven, but has a mustache in Chinatown. He sometimes looks in need of a bath, with lanky unwashed hair hanging over his face. He wears somber colors for the most part—black, dark blue, gray, black and white striped shirts—but not always dark ones; he wears a white shirt in Inmate 78 and sometimes wears a light beige one. A long black duster and black denim pants, a black gun belt studded

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with silver conchas, wide-brimmed black Californio hat, and spurs comprise his usual look. He occasionally wears a short black jacket rather than the duster, or a striped serape Josiah gives him in One Day out West.

He rides a black gelding and wears his gun high on his right side. His Colt has an identifiable mark on the bone grip (Inmate 78), but we don’t learn what it is.

Physical Description: Blond hair, green eyes, tall with a slim, athletic build, Age: 35-45.

Quotes:

[TO BUCK]: "I make a point of knowing who's in town. Live longer that way."

Mary Travis: "I was only trying to scare the bad element away from this town."

Chris: "Lady, I am the bad element."

[ABOUT LOSING HIS SON] Billy Travis: "Bet you've never been scared." Chris: "You'd lose that bet. It was after I lost someone real special. Someone a lot like you. Most scared I've ever been was having to go on without him. Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is to keep on living."

[TO WICKES] "Mister, you better git before I do something you'll regret."

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The Sharpshooter

Quiet and unassuming, ex bounty hunter Vin Tanner was orphaned at the age of five and subsequently lived with at least two Native American tribes (Kiowa and Comanche). He is a "Sharpshooter" and a skilled tracker. He carries a $500 bounty on his own head after being framed for murder by an outlaw named Eli Joe, who was subsequently killed by Chris Larabee before he could be persuaded to clear Vin's name. Vin speaks at least three languages and is a talented poet, but cannot read or write.

TANNER, VIN: Facts

Facts known about Vin’s past: he’s a Texan, having spent enough time there to acquire the accent. His mother died of putrid fever (diphtheria) when he was five. He says she was spunky and a fighter. She told him always to remember he was a Tanner, and that’s the gospel he’s tried to live up to ever since (The Collector). Nothing else is known about his family or how or where he grew up; his father is never mentioned. He can’t read or write (Achilles), so had little, if any, schooling. He was a buffalo hunter “until the buffalo done run out” (Ghosts of the Confederacy), living with an unnamed tribe of Indians while buffalo hunting (Manhunt). He directly mentions living with Comanches and Kiowa (Sins of the Past). He knows some native language (Ghosts of the Confederacy; Manhunt). When the buffalo grew scarce, he became a bounty hunter (Ghosts of the Confederacy). During his time as a bounty hunter, he visited Purgatorio, Mexico, in pursuit of outlaws (Safecracker). While he claims not to know any Spanish in Safecracker (“What’s no bueno mean?”), he speaks it fluently in Penance.

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There’s a five-hundred dollar bounty on his head for killing a farmer called Jess Kincaid in Tascosa in the Texas Panhandle, a murder for which he was framed by Eli Joe when he was attempting to bring Joe in (Ghosts of the Confederacy) on what was probably his last job as a bounty hunter. He mentions his intention to clear up that business (Ghosts of the Confederacy; One Day Out West; The New Law), but never gets around to doing anything about it during the show’s run. A wanted poster on him surfaces in Jericho (Inmate 78). His hopes of taking Joe to Tascosa to prove his innocence are destroyed when Joe comes after

him and Chris is forced to kill Joe to save Vin’s life (Sins of the Past). When he meets the rest of the Seven in Four Corners, he’s working as a swamper in Virgil Watson’s hardware store for five dollars a week.

Vin is in his mid- to late-twenties. He’s around 5’10-5’11 with a slender build. He has a tendency to lean, conveying the sense of a slight curvature of the spine. He dresses like a mountain man in buckskins and calico shirts, and wears spurs. He occasionally wears a bright red or blue shirt, but other times is more somberly dressed. He often wears a wildrag knotted around his neck. His hat is a clay-colored slouch with crossed acorns decorating the hatband. His hair is light brown and wavy, worn long to his shoulders. He’s often unshaven, but usually clean.

Vin says he gets nervous in company (The Trial), but he has a dynamic personality with staunch ethical beliefs. He’s often talkative (Ghosts of the Confederacy; Working Girls; Manhunt; Penance, etc) despite fanon painting him as laconic. He writes poetry and is embarrassed about his illiteracy, ultimately asking Mary to teach him to read and write (Achilles). He has natural leadership qualities and a decisive personality, which puts him in charge whenever Chris isn’t available (The Collector; Inmate 78), and he takes the initiative in trying to prove Josiah’s innocence in Penance. He’s a superb tracker and a sharpshooter with a rifle.

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He rides a blazed face black gelding and wears his mare’s leg in a specially designed holster tied down on his right side.

Physical Description: Brown hair, blue eyes, slight build, average height. Age: 24-28

Quotes: Watson: "You walk off with that rifle and you're fired." Vin: Hell, I'm prob'ly gonna get myself killed. Now I got to worry about a new job, too."

[ABOUT THE PRICE ON HIS OWN HEAD]: "Since I didn't do it, I decided not to stick around for the hanging. Wound up with a hefty bounty on my own head. So I figure if a friend collects, I get the last laugh."

[ABOUT BEING A BOUNTY HUNTER] "But if a man's wanted alive or dead, mite bit easier if he's dead. You lie in wait. You take him down. You get paid for him being dead. Same as Lucius Stutz. I'm just saying, with a gun like this, and so much money, might make a monster out of any man."

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The Preacher

The "Preacher" – Josiah Sanchez is the son of Catholic missionaries and is himself a defrocked priest. He has a sister who is severely mentally ill, a fact known only by Vin Tanner. Obviously extensively-traveled and well-educated, he has dedicated himself to seeking spiritual Truth. Although seemingly calm and soft-spoken, Josiah can be moved to violence with little provocation.

SANCHEZ, JOSIAH: Facts

Josiah was “a preacher once” but he “had a little trouble turning the other cheek” (Ghosts of the Confederacy). He grew up the son of a missionary, living with his family in various places: some years were spent in India (Safecracker) and some in San Francisco, where he learnt Chinese as his father ministered to that community (Chinatown). Although his father is dead, Josiah continues to have conflicted feelings about him and their relationship. In Manhunt, he tells Ko-Je he resented his father for not, as Josiah saw it, practicing what he preached, and says he now regrets those feelings, having gained insight over the years. In Penance, a darker view of his father emerges as the man who drove his daughter Hannah into permanent psychological breakdown. Josiah’s deepest unease rests with his abandonment of his sister.

Josiah now eschews formal religious practice, but is nevertheless a deeply spiritual man. He draws faith not only from his own brand of Christian belief, but from his studies with a Cherokee shaman and with a group of Buddhists, as well as pretty much anywhere he finds inspiration. When he decides to stay in town upon their return from the Seminole village, it’s because he believes the rough inhabitants need him (One Day out West); when Marshal Bryce later establishes laws designed to curb the wilder elements, Josiah leaves, saying there won’t be much for “an old reformer” like him to do (The New Law).

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Josiah continually walks a tightrope strung between the pull of spirituality on one side and his temptation to fleshly pleasures on the other. He’s fond of both women and drink. While he doesn’t appear to have many romantic liaisons in town, he does drink regularly and, when depressed, heavily, often with a dark effect. In Serpents, when entrusted with the ten thousand dollars, he struggles with the temptation it arouses in him; his dream while sleeping on the money is of an idyllic setting with scantily clad women waiting on him.

Josiah was already acquainted with Nathan when the others arrive in town. He appears to be living at an abandoned ruin of a mission rather than in town, and it’s never said how he and Nathan became friends or how long he’s been in the area (Ghosts of the Confederacy).

Josiah is the eldest of the Seven, in his forties. He’s the third tallest, standing 6’2”—shorter than only Nathan and Buck—and, while not heavily muscled, is the strongest. He tells Nathan he could break his back, and Nathan says he knows that’s true (The Collector). When he’s riled, none of the Seven is able to physically restrain him (Penance) and he can be an impetuous force (The Collector). His short, wavy hair is gray, his eyes pale blue, and he has a mustache. He’s intellectual and well-read, prone to quoting not only Scripture, but a wide variety of poets and writers from different eras. He rides a sorrel gelding and is left-handed, wearing his gun on his left hip.

Physical Description: Greying hair, blue eyes, tall and imposing with a solid muscular physique. Age: 45-55

Quotes: "I was, uh... I was a preacher once, but, uh... had a little trouble turning the other cheek."

"I'm a spiritual man. [TAKES A LONG DRINK FROM A BOTTLE OF

WHISKEY] Sometimes I turn to the wrong kinds of spirits."

[TO MAUDE] "Uh, ma'am. I do believe I'll die if you leave."

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The Healer

Born into slavery, the "Healer" Nathan Jackson learned his medical skills as a stretcher bearer during the Civil War. His mother committed suicide when he was seven after discovering she was pregnant by a white man who had raped her. Despite bearing the emotional and physical scars of a harsh and brutal past, Nathan is gentle and compassionate, and the most even-tempered of the

Seven. He has a romantic relationship with Rain, a black woman adopted by the Seminole tribe.

JACKSON, NATHAN: Facts

Nathan tells Rain he was born on a slave plantation outside Atlanta, Georgia, in

1839, the only one of the Seven for whom we have a date of birth (Penance). When he

was seven years old, his mother killed herself upon finding she was pregnant by the

overseer, who had coerced her into allowing him to use her. On the day she died,

Nathan, his father and siblings were all sold “down the river” to a plantation in

Alabama. Only later was Nathan told his mother was dead, and he doesn’t learn the

circumstances until he meets his father in The Trial. During his trial, Obadiah says his

wife killed herself nineteen years ago, which makes Nathan presently twenty-six years

old and the date 1865 (The Trial). While that date works for the pilot and the band of

Confederate soldiers in tattered uniforms still wandering around, it doesn’t fit with the

years of the weapons and styles of dress the characters wear—nor, for that matter,

account for the year or so that’s passed since the pilot—so it can be accepted or not.

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Other facts we know about Nathan: he ran away from the slave plantation sometime before the war and managed to get to the north and freedom. During the war, he worked as a stretcher bearer for the Union army, where he used his time to learn as much about healing as he could (Ghosts of the Confederacy). He hasn’t seen his father for years and has had no contact with him when they meet in The Trial. Nathan still regrets his father wouldn’t try for freedom with him when Nathan ran away from the plantation (The Trial). Nathan and his father both use the surname “Jackson,” which was the name of one of their

owners when Nathan was possibly in his teens. Mister Jackson selected Nathan to be his sparring partner in sword practice; since the man used bare blades, Nathan was forced to learn to defend himself quickly and acquired enough skill to teach Buck the rudiments in preparation for Buck’s duel (Love and Honor). It’s never explained why Nathan continued to use his master’s name after he gained his freedom.

While Nathan and his father both refer to other children in the family (The Trial), we never learn anything about them or what happened to them after they were all sent to Alabama when Nathan was seven. His past has affected Nathan in understandable ways, making him leery, amongst other matters, of allowing himself to love Rain since everyone he’s previously loved either died or was sold away (Penance). He’s immediately attracted to Rain, however, when they meet in the Seminole village and still has strong feelings for her when she comes to town to visit him a year or so later in Penance even though he’s not yet ready to get married and settle down. Since there are few other black people seen in Four Corners, Nathan has little outlet for romantic dalliances even if he were so inclined. Nathan had been resident in the town for at least a year before the others arrive, working as the healer (Witness).

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He had already met Josiah and was friends with him (Ghosts of the Confederacy), though we don’t know how long they knew each other.

Nathan is the tallest of the Seven at about 6’4”, with a slender build. His primary interest is in healing, and he takes every opportunity to gather medical knowledge (Obsession). He also pulls teeth when needed (The New Law). He can read, which presumably he learnt after running away to freedom. He’s ethical and compassionate, but sometimes censorious of behavior he doesn’t approve of (mostly Ezra’s). He shoots well, but his preferred weapons are knives; he wears three in a sheath strapped to his back. When possible, he uses his knives to wound rather than kill (One Day Out West; The New Law; Vendetta).

He rides a bay gelding and wears his gun on his left hip; being right-handed, he uses a cross draw, the only one of the Seven to do so. He carries his medical instruments in a white canvas shoulder bag he wears across his chest in the first season (One Day Out West, seen when he’s tending Judge Travis), but has a proper black doctor’s bag in the second season (Vendetta, when he tends John Nichols in the hotel).

Physical Description: Black hair, brown eyes, African American, tall and solidly built. Age: 27-35

Quotes: "Them's Rebs up there. That makes it my fight."

[TO EZRA, WHO’S TRYING TO TEACH ETIQUETTE TO WORKING GIRLS (FOR A FEE, OF COURSE!) SO THEY CAN GET

MARRIED TO WEALTHY MEN] "You know, it take a bold man to talk about dignity when he's trying to sell women off like they're cattle.

"Ezra: “I’ll ignore that.”

Nathan: “You better do that. How else you gonna sleep at night?”

"Josiah can get very Old Testament on occasion."

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The Gambler

The "Gambler" Ezra Standish is a cardsharp and a con artist, as is his mother, Maude, who left his upbringing mostly to relatives and with whom he has a volatile relationship. It is not known which, if any, of Maude's five former husbands is Ezra's father. Ezra is undoubtedly the most intelligent of the Seven, and also the one most concerned with appearance and manners. He makes no apologies for his considerable skill as a con artist.

STANDISH, EZRA (P.): Facts Facts known about Ezra: his mother is Maude Standish, a gambler and con woman who taught him everything he knows and continues to give him sometimes harsh lessons. No father is ever mentioned, though his mother has been married five times (The Trial). His mother often left him with aunts and uncles when he was growing up, taking him with her only when she needed his help in a con. He displays bitterness about his upbringing even while also clearly loving his mother (Witness). His accent and his mother’s indicate Southern origins, but a specific location can’t be identified. His actual surname might not be Standish as he was possibly using a different one when he fell afoul of Judge Travis in Fort Laramie (One Day out West); see Simpson and Smith. No middle name is ever mentioned and he might or might not have one. When pretending to be a lawyer to elicit information from a crook, he introduces himself as Ezra P. Standish, but he says the “P” stands for “Persuasive” (Lady Killers), so he might have made it up entirely; in Wagon Train, he tells Eugene

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his middle name is “Resourceful.” Judge Travis gives him a pardon for the unnamed offense he committed in Fort Laramie in exchange for agreeing to be a peacekeeper in town for thirty days (One Day out West). When the thirty days are finished, he stays on, much to his own confusion and consternation.

Cons he mentions having run: he “did a turn as a preacher once” (Ghosts of the Confederacy), and he and Maude did the “cotton gin con” in Chicago (Witness); he also says he’s used laudanum to affect the outcome of horse races in the past, the way Pace McCormick does (Penance). He spends the

first several episodes living cheaply and saving every cent he can to buy a saloon of his own, which he finally manages in Sins of the Past, only to be put out of business immediately by his mother in a graphic lesson on “good” business practices (buy a property only using other people’s money; buy when it’s depressed, build it up, sell when it’s booming). While he doesn’t try again to own a business in town, the idea remains attractive to him; he’d like to join his mother in an offered partnership in her new casino in Saint Louis if only he had the stake (Serpents).

He knows how to handle a cannon, shooting one off twice; he doesn’t say how he acquired this specialized skill (Ghosts of the Confederacy; The New Law). He’s also adept with a sword (Love and Honor) and twice drives a stagecoach (Witness; Achilles). He can speak at least some Spanish (The New Law).

He’s the second shortest of the Seven at about 5’9, and is around twenty-five to thirty years old. He has thick brown hair that sometimes appears sandy and sometimes reddish. When it’s a little longer on top in the later episodes, it curls. His eyes are a clear green. He likes to be clean-shaven and is usually scrupulously groomed and well dressed, unless on the trail, where he gets as dust-covered as everyone else. When he’s unshaven, it usually indicates difficult circumstances or emotional distress (Ghosts of the Confederacy; Serpents). He has a gold tooth on the right upper side.

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He dresses like a gambler, favoring well-tailored, often colorful tailed jackets over patterned brocade vests. He almost always wears either a necktie or a cravat and is the only one of the Seven to wear rings and stickpins. His hat is a black “gambler’s” style with a curled brim. He’s an excellent shot and often carries three guns: a Remington in his belt holster, a Colt Richards conversion in a shoulder holster, and a derringer on a sleeve-rig. He’s ambidextrous; he writes, eats, and shoots with equal

facility with both hands. He rides a chestnut gelding in the first season and a sorrel gelding in the second. His belt holster is light brown with carved decoration.

Physical Description: Brown hair, pale green eyes, short stature with a trim, athletic build. Age: 28-35

Quotes: [AFTER SHOOTING SIX BULLETS THROUGH THE SAME HOLE] Chris: “First bullet was louder than the other five.” Ezra: “What are you attemptin’ to suggest?” Chris: “The first bullet was real. The rest were blanks.” Ezra: “Well, sir... I abhor gambling and as such, leave nothin’ to chance."

[AFTER JUDGE TRAVIS ORDERS J.D. TO LOCK HIM UP] "Well, sir, now that we are rid of that loathsome curmudgeon, you may effect my emancipation." J. D.: "Huh?" Ezra: "Let me out."

[TO HIS MOTHER, AFTER SHE TELLS HIM SHE RAISED HIM TO DO BETTER THAN JOIN THE RANKS OF THE

EMPLOYED]"R-raised me? Did you say, ‘raised me’? Come on, now, Mother. You didn't raise me as well as a, as a stray cat raises a litter. You, you dumped me. Remember? At every aunt and uncle's house you could find. Unless, of course, you needed me -- for a con."

[TO JOSIAH, ABOUT TRUST] "See, it's just that, um, all my life I've always gotten that… look, you know, that tilt of the head, that - that question in the eye - can I trust him? You know, I always… hoped that… my - friends… knew me better."

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The Scoundrel

Rogue and "Scoundrel" Buck Wilmington is the son of a prostitute and a long-time friend of Chris Larabee. Fun-loving and good-natured, Buck is a ladies' man who loves all women equally. He is also a surrogate big brother to JD Dunne. Buck is quick to laugh, but is capable of violence when he is pushed too far.

WILMINGTON, BUCK: Facts

Facts known about Buck: his mother was a prostitute whom Buck considers a “saint.” He says he was brought up among whores, which might indicate his mother worked in a brothel. His upbringing gave him a great deal of respect for women (Working Girls; Lady Killers). His father is never mentioned. Buck was a lawman (One Day out West) at some point and is averse to wearing a badge by the time the Seven meet (One Day out West; The New Law).

He met Chris approximately twelve years before the Seven gather. Buck was attracted to Sarah Connolly, but holds no grudge about her choosing to marry Chris. Buck either worked with Chris on his horse ranch near Eagle Bend or was around sufficiently during Chris’s marriage to be familiar to young Adam as seen in a happy and affectionate memory-vision of Chris’s. He and Chris went together to Mexico to sell horses, and it was Buck who talked Chris into staying away the fatal extra night during which Chris’s house was burned and his family murdered (Nemesis). Buck carries some guilt about that night although Chris doesn’t appear to, saying it was his choice to stay with Buck rather than head home.

Chris and Buck appear to have woven in and out of each other’s lives during the past few years. They don’t, as Chris puts it, always see eye to eye, but they stand with each other regardless (Love and Honor). Buck’s most apparent feature is his attraction

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to women. He spends much of his time sparking women and has continual affairs with them. He’s willing to take as long as it needs to win a woman’s favor (The New Law), though he’s interested only in having a good time with no commitment or responsibility (Sins of the Past). He falls in love for the first time in Serpents when he meets Louisa Perkins, but it’s left uncertain at the end whether they’ll marry or not, as marrying her would require Buck to leave town and go on the road with her. Buck is one of the tallest of the Seven at around 6’3”, with a slim lanky body and long legs. He’s probably nearing forty, around the

same age as Chris or slightly younger. He has thick dark brown hair, a mustache, and dark blue eyes. His personality is warm and caring. He’s sociable and affable unless faced with someone who crosses his ethical lines (Working Girls; Love and Honor; Lady Killers), when he becomes a stern and implacable foe. He’s a loyal friend, and is fun-loving, always ready for a joke and laugh, though not a buffoon. Buck takes JD under his wing and teaches him survival tactics in the West. He gets along with all of the others without noticeable friction except occasionally with Chris, though their enduring friendship is a testament to their closeness. He rides a gray gelding and wears a single holster with his gun on his right.

Physical Description: Dark brown hair, blue eyes, very tall with a trim build. Age: 35-45

Quotes: Buck: "There gonna be ladies where you're goin'?" Chris: "I imagine so." Buck: "Then imagine I'm in!" [ABOUT BEING IRRESISTIBLE TO THE LADIES] Buck: Animal magnetism. I read about it in a magazine. It's- it's- it's a power I've got no control over. Once women get a whiff of it, what can I do? J.D.: Take a bath? "Seems to me a man'd remember an ugly, one-eyed coward six-and-a-half-foot tall with no hair and a sissy hat." "You are crookeder than a yellow-bellied snake making his way through a prickly pear patch!"

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The Kid

The illegitimate son of a chambermaid, Easterner JD Dunne is the "Kid" of the Seven. He came west following the death of his mother and is probably somewhere in his late teens. JD is an accomplished horseman, having taught himself to ride while working as a stable boy on the large estate where his mother was employed. He volunteered to take on the job of town sheriff when

no one older or wiser was willing to do it.

DUNNE, JD (JOHN): Facts

Facts known about JD’s background: he grew up somewhere in the east on a large estate where his mother was a chambermaid and he was a stable boy. His father is never mentioned. His mother died sometime in the year previous to his arriving in town. She had been saving money to send him to college but there wasn’t enough, so he took the money and headed west instead. He arrives on the stage carrying nothing but an English-style saddle and disembarks in Four Corners on an impulse: he jumps from the stagecoach, saying, “This is what I came west for,” as Chris and Vin are heading for the cemetery to free Nathan. He buys a horse and attempts to join the men on their way to the Seminole village the dawn after his arrival in town (Ghosts of the Confederacy). JD’s first name is John (Achilles), but it’s not known if “JD” stands for “John Dunne” or if he has a middle name that begins with “D.”

JD is a good shot and holds his own in fights after an initial settling-in period in the Seminole village. Even while wounded, he twice participates in a fight, first offering crucial support in Safecracker during the final fight and later saving Ezra’s life in Vendetta during the gun battle. Although no longer officially the sheriff after Judge Travis hires all Seven to protect the town, JD often carries out the more routine duties of a sheriff, such as standing guard in the jailhouse (Nemesis; Manhunt; Obsession) and

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informing a family of their daughter’s murder (Penance).

He’s enthusiastic, often cocky and impulsive, unendingly energetic. He tells bad jokes badly (Inmate 78) and reads dime novels (Nemesis). He speaks with a certain amount of poor grammar and doesn’t always understand what Ezra says (One Day out West; Sins of the Past; Serpents). He’s naive; Maude twice cons him in a small way: tells his fortune then performs a rite to lift the “curse” she sees ahead for him (Witness) and teaches him a “method” for winning at the roulette table in her hotel that actually makes him lose all his money (Sins of the Past). Until Lady Killers, he appears not to have had sex despite his protestations (Working Girls) to the contrary.

He’s about eighteen or nineteen. He’s the shortest of the Seven at about 5’8. He has longish black hair, large dark hazel eyes, thick black eyebrows. He’s often unshaven and sometimes scruffy looking. He wears a bowler hat because it’s what Bat Masterson wears (Ghosts of the Confederacy; One Day out West) and tends toward brown tweed suits and vests with plain or striped shirts. He uses cuff links rather than buttoned cuffs (Safecracker).

He rides a bay gelding and wears a double holster with twin Colt Lightnings.

Physical Description: Black hair, hazel eyes, short stature, average build, the smallest and youngest of the Seven. Age: 17-20

Quotes: "I hear you fellas are headed for a fight. My name is JD Dunne, and I can ride. Whoa. And I can shoot."

[TO CHRIS]: "A man comes to you because he respects you. Because he'd be proud to work with you. This is how you treat him?"

J.D. tells a joke: "A three-legged dog walks into a saloon, right? And walks right up to the bartender and he says "I'm looking for the man who shot my paw!"

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"And so it ended in that the cruel

ironic hand of death encircled the killer in flames, as it had done to Chris

Larabee's wife and child so many years before. Yet, was it the end, or would

Chris Larabee ride again with the hard, complex men he'd come to know? Gunmen

like Buck Wilmington. And Vin Tanner, the bounty hunter with the price on his

own head. The gambler Ezra, or the greenhorn JD. Nathan, both healer and

destroyer. And Josiah, placing his faith only in God and his gun."

Disclaimer:

The information in this document was retrieved from Blackraptor Magnificent Seven site

at http://www.blackraptor.net/m7fic/contents/seven/seven.htm and from Zeke Black's

"Magnificent Seven Handbook" at http://zekeblack.slashcity.org/m7/m7people.html

Used with permission.

No infringement upon the copyrights held by CBS, MGM, Trilogy Entertainment Group, The

Mirisch Corp, TNN, Showtime or any others involved with this production is intended.