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| “ | There are worse things than death, Miss Stern. | ” |
~ North to Alex Stern | ||
Bertram Boyce North (also known as The Bridegroom) is a Gray and New Haven's most notorious ghost story, known for reputedly killing his fiancée Daisy Fanning Whitlock and then himself in the offices of his family's factory that had once stood barely a mile from Yale University.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Bertram Boyce North was born in the early 19th century to a wealthy family in New Haven, Connecticut. His family made their profit in manufacturing, specifically in the carriage-making industry, with their business North & Sons.[1]
1854[]
At some point, North met Daisy Fanning Whitlock. In 1854 Bertram proposed to Daisy with an emerald ring and the pair got engaged. North had no knowledge of Daisy's ability to see Grays. That same year, North's family business North & Sons opened a new carriage factory that was more modern than any other business.
North and Daisy visited the business in the office of North & Sons Carriage Factory. North felt triumphant at his success, in his business, but also in securing Daisy to be his bride as she was the best of all the women in New Haven. Looking out his office, he spots Daisy's maid Gladys O'Donaghue strolling idly outside, giving them privacy as a lenient chaperone. Flirting with Daisy, North pulls his fiancee closer. He suggests that after the wedding they might go to Maine for their honeymoon instead of Paris, if only to avoid the long sea voyage. Daisy convinces him otherwise, acknowledging that while yes they have time to do anything, she wants to travel the world with him as lovers before she's a full-time mother and hostess. In love and suitably convinced, North agrees and kisses Daisy.
The pair were interrupted by a creak by the stairs, but when they turned, North saw nothing there even as Daisy gasped. North suddenly felt pain as he was possessed by a panicking spirit. North, who didn't have the power Daisy had to control the soul and its anger, was overcome by the Gray. When North regained awareness, he would realize he was dead and a Gray—having passed through the Veil with no real idea of what happened at the moment of his death.[2]
North's family buried him in Evergreen Cemetery.[2] To the public, the mysterious motives of the perceived murder-suicide made the North-Whitlock murder a thing of urban legend,[3] especially as North haunted Daisy's mausoleum in the Grove Street Cemetary as penance for not protecting her from her death.[2] North became known as the Bridegroom to Lethe House delegates to avoid using North's true name. The New Haven public considered North the city's most notorious ghost.
At some point in which North was assimilating to being dead and a Gray, he also learned about the Ancient Eight. He doesn't seem surprised by the arcane practices of the Yale's secret societies and even demonstrates some familiarity with the aspects and operations of each House.
Ninth House[]
Early on in the fall semester, North notices Darlington taking notes around his family's old carriage factory which since became a mechanic's shop. He correctly deduces that Darlington must have been investigating the Bridegroom murder. North wonders at Darlington's findings, but he cannot go to Il Bastone to see Darlington's notes because of the wards.[2]
The night of Tara Hutchins' murder, Alex Stern spots North at the scene of the crime with a group of Grays who were drawn to the tense situation. Alex would spot North again near the scene of the crime in the morning when most Grays had gone away. At some point, North observed that Tara had a tattoo on her arm with an inscription from Scroll and Key.[3]
When Alex was attacked and held down by a gluma, North tackled the gluma off of her. He slammed the gluma into a streetlight and then through the walls of a building. Despite its struggle, North won the fight and Alex was able to get to safety at the Hutch, where Pamela Dawes healed her. To get her attention, North followed Alex to the Hutch and came into contact with the Hutch wards. Dawes would inform Alex that something is brushing up the Hutch wards and when Alex looked downstairs in the alley, North looking back up at her.[4]
The next morning, North followed Alex and Dawes to the Wolf's Head tomb, understanding that Alex was attempting to establish a communication link between them. The Wolf's Head tomb isn't warded against Grays as to allow a greater connection beyond the Veil and flow of magic. North reacted with shock and dismay when Alex wrapped Wolf's Head president Salome Nils in a choke hold and threatened her to give them the key to the temple. After Alex secured the key, North entered along with the girls into the temple, which had a stream of water bisecting the room as a kind of symbolic river Nile. North in particular kept a safe distance between him and the sarcophagus that was placed by the back wall.[2]
Listening as Alex and Pamela talked about the rite, North obediently stood on the western shore as Alex Stern was then ritualistically drowned. Now in the borderlands, North meets Alex halfway in the river telling her that they were in the Egyptian borderlands and they don't have time to waste. Alex asked North to look for Tara Hutchins in the afterlife and ask her what she was doing with the Ancient Eight societies. North tells her that he'll need something with Tara's effluvia—saliva, blood, perspiration. Alex agrees and in return, North asks her to investigate who killed his fiancee.[2]
Annoyed at Alex's skepticism to his request, North claims his innocence of his alleged crime and that he cannot find her anywhere in the afterlife, believing that she blames him for her death. Alex asks why he thought she could solve an unsolved cold case and North informs her that he saw Darlington investigating the old crime scene. He believes that Alex can figure out what Darlington found. North then denies seeing Darlington anywhere in the afterlife ,'“Even the dead don’t know where Daniel Arlington is."[2]
To close the deal, the Bridegroom and Alex clasped each other's hands and spoke their true names—North becoming offended at Alex's glib quip at his family name. Gripping her hands, North recites an excerpt of Idylls of the King and Alex recognizes that Tara Hutchins had a tattoo of a line from the poem about Arthurian legends, Rather die than doubt. The poem was inscribed all over the walls of Scroll and Key. Finished, North bowed and informed Alex to bring an object of Tara's to a body of water and he will come to her. Alex turned to leave, but was overwhelmed by the sudden tide. Knowing he couldn't help her, North informed Alex that if she wanted to live, she had to fight.[2]
The next day, Alex and North made their way to Tara's apartment on Woodland Street. North watched as Alex used a mirror compact to disguise herself to the officer guarding the building. Alex made her way through Tara's apartment, eventually entering the bathroom where she found Tara's retainer. North was skeptical of the choice, but Alex was confident that Tara had an attachment with the object. Alex dropped it into a sink filled with water so that North could grab it from his side. Alex turned to go, only to be met with a huge man wearing mechanic overalls—later discovered to be Lance Gressang. Thinking that he was a gluma, North quickly went to tackle the man, only to ineffectively pass through him. North was helpless as Lance slammed Alex against the window, strangling her. With her left hand extended, Alex split her consciousness to hook North's spirit to her own. North struggled but Alex easily overpowered him and she quickly felt North's limber strength through her own body. North's energy and strength allowed her to keep fighting even as her ribs broke. Detective Turner then arrived, pointing a gun at Lance only for him to seemingly vanish into the mantel. North then exited from Alex's body, resuming his usual form, and stared at her with fright and resentment. Alex shortly told him to take the retainer and find Tara.[5]
At Il Bastone, North appeared in the water's surface of the Crucible, startling Alex as she was healing. At her surprise, he reminded her that they can communicate through any pool of water. Behind North, Alex could see the borderlands, dark, shadowy and different from the Egyptian borderlands she'd been in. North asks how she was able to harness his strength and Alex told him she didn't know. North informs her that, in doing so, he was able to see when Alex killed Len Beacon, Ariel Harel, and the other men at Ground Zero. North had met them in the afterlife. She reproached him, telling him to focus on finding Tara rather than her enemies. However, the three men found North using the scent of Alex's power and the deepened the bond between them. Alex apologizes for taking over at the apartment, but North dismisses her apology, and says it wasn't entirely a bad experience. Alex invites him in, and although hesitant, North is persuaded, especially as Dawes drops off food. North digs into Alex's meal, unaware of that Alex could see his memories. When she finally returned to consciousness, Alex quickly expelled North from her body and Il Bastone.
The next morning, North went to the JE dining hall to talk to Alex. Spotting him, Alex went to the JE common room bathroom and filled up the sink to talk. North grimly said he couldn't find Tara anywhere. Alex confirmed Darlington was investigating his case and that she'll check for his notes at Black Elm tomorrow. North prodded Alex on what she saw in his head the day before. Alex didn't answer fully, but asked if he ever found Gladys O'Donaghue behind the Veil. North was surprised, saying that she was interviewed by the police, but that Gladys didn't even witness the crime. North pushed further for what Alex saw in his head, but Alex simply pulled the plug on the drain.
North tries to talk to Alex after Blake Keely attacked Il Balstone and tried to kill her, but Alex began avoiding North, asserting to him that the deal was off. [6] When Alex finally emerges from the Hutch to attend her Spanish class, North follows her. In an attempt to communicate with her, North briefly possesses Alex in her English class, writing down a series of years on her notes: 1854 1869 1883. North was apologetic but still trying to communicate with Alex as she left class and was roped into a conversation with Tripp Helmuth. North was left outside of Il Bastone due to the wards, but was summoned by Alex into Il Bastone's bathroom after she filled the sink with water and drew blood from her forearm. When Alex asks how he knew that the death of Daisy created a nexus, North revealed that he couldn't find Tara anywhere despite her retainer, similar to how he couldn't find Daisy or Gladys O’Donaghue. North posits that whatever big thing happened in Daisy's death, happened again with Tara. Thinking for a moment, Alex sends North to find the other girls on the list beyond the Veil.[7]
When North reports back to Alex at Vanderbilt Hall, he informs her that none of the lost girls could be found beyond the Veil. Knowing that she'll be confronting Sandow, North offers her his strength. At the university president's office, Sandow asks Alex what she wants in exchange for her silence on his actions, instead Alex curses him out. Dumping the Starpower in his mouth, he attempted to halt Alex's movement. However, North's presence helped Alex resist the magical compulsion. To their confusion, Marguerite Belbalm entered the office and was able to resist the dean's Starpower. Belbalm reveals that she can see North within Alex and that she has the same powers as Alex. Her familiarity with North clues Alex in to the fact that Belbalm is actually Daisy Fanning Whitlock. Bebalm reveals what actually happened the day of the supposed murder-suicide and expresses her discontent at North who continued to ignore the existence of Gladys O'Donaghue's body even as lifetimes passed.
Daisy goes to consume Sandow's soul and was unbothered by Sandow's death words. However, Sandow's death words affected North and he was effectively banished away from the office and Alex. He was able to return when Alex used her powers to summon the grays of New Haven to her aid. North protested when Alex went to cast Daisy's soul out, trying to defend her, but was vetoed by Alex and the other lost girls who were consumed by Daisy. North stood still as the other Grays surged toward Daisy and vanished with the blue Wheel of fire. Belbalm's body collapsed into ash and North futilely tried to gather it up, only for it to blow away in a breeze. After a moment, Alex asked North to check the hallway and see if its clear, needing to make sure there were no witnesses to her presence in the office. North agreed and after a while, returned to signal the hallway's emptiness.
Personality[]
In life, North was a privileged businessman with a very narrow-minded view of the world. He followed and perpetuated the period-typical sexism of the early 19th century, believing that Daisy was at times too intelligent for a lady. He valued people and things that would further his social and financial status and thus held an indifference toward those he considered not worth his time.
In death, North has unlearned at least some of these preconceptions as he saw how the world changed around him. As a Gray, North is focused on his unfinished business; he is determined to find some justice for Daisy and has cultivated a fierceness to the point that he is feared by other Grays. Notably, North has kept his sense of 19th century manners.
Physical Description[]
Bertram Boyce North was classically handsome. He had dark eyes and black hair swept back in a wave, with a face described as sharply lined and elegant. As a Gray, he appears with a gunshot wound to the chest.
Powers & Abilities[]
“He was an actual haunter, a Gray who could pass through the layers of the Veil and make his presence felt, rattling windshields and setting off car alarms in the parking garage that stood where his family’s carriage factory had once been—and where he’d killed his fiancée and then himself. ”
Relationships[]
Daisy Fanning Whitlock[]
| “ | North: I didn’t know she was capable of such things. I never knew she had such a heart. Alex: You never knew her at all. |
” |
~ North and Alex Stern, on his relationship with Daisy Fanning Whitlock | ||
Alex Stern[]
| “ | This is not the pact I would have chosen, nor are you the partner I would have sought, but we will both make the best of it | ” |
~ Bertram Boyce North, agreeing to team up with Alex Stern (Ninth House Chapter 12 Winter) | ||
Trivia[]
- North talks with an accent of the 1800s New England, with broader vowels and, according to Alex, like a Kennedy. He is also prone to speaking more old fashionably.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
TBA
References[]