Fringe/Characters/Other
Other Characters
Miscellaneous Characters
Characters who play important roles in the story, but do not belong in any of the above categories.
Sam Weiss
Sam Weiss VII
Portrayed by Kevin Corrigan
First Appearance: Season 2, Episode 2: "Night of Desirable Objects"
An enigmatic bowling alley owner and acquittance of Nina Sharp. He helped rehabilitate Olivia so she may regain her ability to walk after her initial universe jump, and the two quickly established a friendship. He is, however, one of the most enigmatic characters in the series and no one knows who he truly is, and what side he's playing for - if any.
It is revealed in "The Last Sam Weiss" that he is in fact, the seventh in a long line of "Sam Weisses", who have all been keepers of the knowledge found in an ancient manuscript left behind by the First People.
Tropes associated with Sam:
- Action Survivor
- All There in the Manual: He himself is the manual for technology millions of years old, and hundreds of million years ahead of its time.
- Badass Beard
- Cool Old Guy
- Chekhov's Gunman: Originally introduced as a simple bowling alley owner who knew more than he let on. That is, of course, until we learned that "Walternate doesn't trust him."
- "A DEMON'S TWIST RUSTS" is an anagram. When re-arranged, you get "DON'T TRUST SAM WEISS"
- The author of The First People, Seamus Wiles, is once again an anagram of Samuel Weiss when re-arranged.
- The truth is, Sam's great great grandfather, the second Sam Weiss, was the only who wrote the First People books.
- In a neat twist that doesn't involve weird parallel universe's, when we first meet Sam Weiss in the bowling alley, he is seen wearing a t-shirt with a logo that will later be revealed as the logo of Violet Sedan Chair , Walter's favorite band and home of his hero, Roscoe Joyce.
- Somewhat unrelated, but Violet Sedan Chair is also an anagram for "Olive can read this." What's with Sam and anagrams?
- Deadpan Snarker
- Mysterious Past
- Mysterious Watcher
- The Obi-Wan
- Older Than They Look: "I'm older than I look. I barely remember my childhood. I'm also taller than I appear."
- Seen It All: Appears to know a lot more than he lets on.
- Secret Legacy: The Weiss family have been keepers of the knowledge of the First People for generations. Sam has accumulated the knowledge of his past six predecessors.
- Someday This Will Come in Handy: Who knew that working at a bowling alley will end up saving his and Olivia's life from a lightning storm!
- Trickster Mentor: Especially with his Mr. Miyagi schtick at the beginning of season 2. Having Olivia tie and untie bowling shoes get her walking and using her gun properly after her accident. He also taught Nina how to use her robot arm by making her eat french fries.
- His trick with the business cards initially seemed like a random gimmick, but in the end it helped her get over Charlie's death by spelling out the first thing he told her on the job: "You're going to be fine."
- One could also assume that randomly visiting her in the middle of the night for a game of Clue counted as giving her a hint for a case.
- Wild Card: AND HOW!
- After the recent ad, a lot more people are starting to jump on the train of "not trusting Sam Weiss".
John Scott
John Scott
Portrayed by Mark Valley
First Appearance: Season 1, Episode 1: "Pilot"
An FBI special agent who was for a time Olivia's partner and lover. However, during the pilot episode incident, he is killed, and seemingly mistaken for a traitor and double agent.
A good deal of the first season was focused surrounding the mystery behind his death, and who he was truly working for. In truth, he was an NSA agent who was infiltrating ZFT.
Tropes associated with John:
- Aborted Arc: We'll never learn what Scott and his accomplices were up to regarding ZFT.
- Double Agent
- Hallucinations: For pretty much the entirety of Season 1, John Scott is this.
- Hey, It's That Guy!: Christopher Chance once infiltrated ZFT!
- Killed Off for Real
- Living Memory
- The Mole
- Posthumous Character: Mostly
- Spirit Advisor
- We Hardly Knew Ye
- Well-Intentioned Extremist
Thomas Jerome Newton
Thomas Jerome Newton
Portrayed by Sebastian Roché
First Appearance: Season 2, Episode 10: "Grey Matters"
Leader of the Shape Shifters, and primary villain of Season 2. During Olivia's first meeting with William Bell, she was warned about Newton and was instructed to stop his revival, but ultimately failed.
He later begins assembling a force of Shape Shifters and in an effort to recover pieces of Walter's brain to re-construct a portal between the worlds, and in Season 3 was seen to be assisting Fauxlivia with her mission, much to his dismay. He committed suicide after he was caught by Peter, so as not to reveal any information.
Tropes associated with Newton:
- Affably Evil: Surprisingly, is quite polite and pleasant to those who aren't his enemies or obstacles.
- Badass
- Big Bad: Of Season 2.
- The Dragon: To Walternate.
- The Chessmaster
- Combat Pragmatist
- Evil Brit
- Enigmatic Minion
- Evil Genius
- Fake Brit: Sebastian Roché is French.
- Fan Boy: Confesses to being a U2 fan. Supposedly, one of the few bands he likes Over Here.
- Pulling Themselves Together: His frozen head is reattached to his body.
- Shout-Out: A Name's the Same shout out to David Bowie. "Thomas Jerome Newton" was the name of the character portrayed by Bowie in the 1976 adaptation of The Man Who Fell to Earth.
- Undying Loyalty: Is shown to be extremely protective and loyal to Walternate. A close friendship between the two is even hinted at times.
The Man In The X T-Shirt
The Man in the X T-Shirt
Portrayed by Ulrich Thomsen
First Appearance: Season 3, Episode 19: "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide"
A mysterious individual whom Peter, Walter and Bell ran into on board a zeppelin within Olivia's mind. Unlike her other mental projections, this man apparently had a sense of self as well as awareness of what was going on; compared to her other mental manifestations who just kill everything in sight, he was much more focused on just escaping the zeppelin.
Later, when Olivia recovered - albeit not remembering most of what happened, this man's image invaded her mind. She claimed she had no idea who he is and never met him before, but said that "I think that he's the man who's gonna kill me."
The two-part Season 4 finale reveals that the X symbol is actually William Bell's signature, meaning that this man was some sort of entity who was inhabiting Bell's mind, not Olivia's. Who or what he still is, or his true connection to William Bell, is unclear.
Tropes associated with the mystery man:
- Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Somewhat hinted at - he might not even be a real character on the outside. The truth is, the guy was just flying around locked in a Zeppelin within Olivia's mind, which is suggested even further with what Peter said earlier: "I'm pretty sure there's a good reason why we can't enter each other's minds. What if we kick something loose in there?" There's a good possibility that this man is exclusive within Olivia's mind, and that Peter effectively set him loose aboard the Zeppelin.
- Chekhov's Gunman: David Robert Jones's agenda, September's warning to Olivia, and September himself getting shot? Word of God says it's all somehow connected to this guy.
- From the looks of it, he has more of a connection to William Bell than to Jones. The X on his t-shirt is of the same design on William Bell's killer nanites.
- Driving Question: Just who the hell is this guy?
- Fan Nickname: Is usually referred to as "Mr. X", "Zeppelin Man", or "Man X."
- Hidden Villain
- Mystery Magnet
- One-Scene Wonder
- Twist Ending
- Wild Card
- Wham! Episode: He single-handedly created a standard Character Development driven story into this.
Canaan
Canaan
Portrayed by Max Arciniega, Tim Guinee, Kirby Morrow (pictured left)
First Appearance: Season 4, Episode 17: "Everything In Its Right Place"
The first human-based shapeshifter created by Jones. He was, essentially, a failure - he can't hold a single form for too long, nor can he survive without a form. After he was tossed away by Jones, he survived by preying on rapists and serial killers as they were preying on their victims - rescuing them, and taking on the offender's form in the process. Following a nice lecture from Lincoln after he was captured, he completly defected and helped apprehend "Meana". He's currently working with Walter and Peter to find a way to stop Jones.
Tropes associated with Canaan:
- Actor Allusion: A Serial Killer Killer minion that is/was blindly loyal to the Big Bad. One of the people to play Canaan is Kirby Morrow who voiced Teru Mikami on Death Note.
- Bad Powers, Good People
- Broken Bird: He's always hated himself for "not being special". Being dubbed a failure by Jones hit him hard.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: For a good while, he still believed that Jones would come through for him, and "fix him."
- Crisis of Faith: He seriously starts to question his standing after Meana sends Maddox to kill him.
- Defector From Decadence
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose In Life
- The Dog Bites Back
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: He constantly has to change forms in order to survive, meaning he has to kill. He tries to justify this by doing away with serial killers and rapists.
- I Just Want to Be Special: invoked almost word-for-word.
- Meaningful Name
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: The first shape shifter not to be a bad guy.
- Not So Different: he and Lincoln.
- Odd Friendship: with Lincoln.
- Serial Killer Killer: Considering he can't survive in a single form for too long, he really doesn't have any other choice.
- Shadow Archetype: To Lincoln. They both lost someone they loved and they both feel as though the world has passed them by. Canaan's story helps Lincoln figure out what he needs to do with his life.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Lincoln calls him out on his blind faith in Jones right after Maddox was sent to kill him (And ended up killing the alternate Lincoln...).
Henry Higgins
Henry Higgins
Portrayed by Andre Royo
First Appearance: Season 3, Episode 1: "Olivia"
A taxi driver in the alternate universe. Despite thinking Olivia was crazy at first, he ends up becoming one of the few allies she had Over There. Ever since meeting her, he's unwittingly become involved with the war between the two universes.
Tropes associated with Henry:
- Delivery Guy: Helps deliver Fauxlivia's baby with Lincoln. Not a typical example as he doesn't panic and actually seems to know what he's doing.
- Fish Out of Water: Needless to say, he's now in-deep with Walternate's schemes.
- Heroic Bystander
- The Everyman
- The Taxi
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right
- Shout-Out: Another Name's the Same, this time to Professor Henry Higgins in Pygmalion and the musical adaptation, My Fair Lady.
Edward Markham
Edward Markham
Portrayed by Clark Middleton
First Appearance: Season 1, Episode 14: "Ability"
The owner of a shady used bookstore, Markham is one of in a long line of Peter's "contacts". He first revealed the existence of Seamus Wiles' "The First People" to the Fringe Division, in exchange for "protection."
Tropes associated with Markham:
- Bookworm
- The Smart Guy
- Only Sane Man
- Properly Paranoid: The information that he read in The First People freaked him the hell out - he's been hiding the book ever since.
Rachel Dunham
Rachel Dunham
Portrayed by Ari Graynor
First Appearance: Season 1, Episode 11: "Bound"
Olivia's sister and Ella's mother. She came to temporarily live with Olivia after some troubles occurred regarding her marriage.
Tropes associated with Rachel:
- Audience Surrogate
- Brother Chuck: She just sort of disappeared after the season 2 part one finale.
- The Everygirl
- Lethal Chef: She's a pretty terrible cook.
- Stepford Smiler
Ella Jae Blake
Ella Jae Blake
Portrayed by Lily Pilblad, Emily Meade (future)
First Appearance: Season 1, Episode 11: "Bound"
Rachel's daughter. She came to live with her mother at Olivia's place for a while after Rachel's marriage turned sour. She's developed something of a bond with Olivia, and to an extent, Peter and Walter.
Tropes associated with Ella:
- Blatant Lies: She's quite the little liar.
- Brother Chuck: She too dropped off the radar very quickly into Season 3. (And that was just a phonecall)
- She appears in the Season 3 finale grown up. Apparently she was just on a bus.
- Cheerful Child: She objected to Walter's story not because it had her mother drowning in a coffin but because it wasn't accurate.
- The Cutie
- Deadpan Snarker: For a 9-year old, she is snarky!
"Maybe you should teach me algebra." (after listening to Walter's singing)
- Future Badass
- Genre Savvy
- Little Miss Badass: In the Bad Future, she is a trainee Fringe Agent. She doesn't do anything badass but has the attitude for it.
- Only Sane Man: She was arguably the only person who remotely made any sense out of Walter's story.
- Fridge Brilliance: Her logical mindset in the face of the bizarre does suggest she'll make a good Fringe agent one day, doesn't it?
- Shipper on Deck: She quietly opposes her mother being in love with Peter despite the Ship Tease.
- Took a Level in Badass: During the season 3 final's Bad Future segment, she's just been promoted as a Fringe Agent.