Name: Barnabas Collins Gender: Male Actual Age: Around 200 years old Added by Elf wannabe88
Apparent Age: Late thirties/Early forties Orientation: Heterosexual Appearance: Brown hair, brown eyes, average height, very oddly shaped bangs. Dresses in suits and, in lieu of a coat, wears a sort of cloak thing. Wears an onyx ring and carries a wolf’s head cane. Occupation: In 1795, he was involved in the family business, shipping. In the 1960s, Full time vampire. Mun: Elizabeth AKA elf_wannabe88 Journal: i_barnabas Fandom: Dark Shadows Taken From (point in canon): The séance in which Vicki Winters goes back in time Loss: His memories of Josette, his fiancée from 1795. He was madly in love with her and she was the unknowing catalyst for a series of dramatic and tragic events. He will remember the events, but he won’t be able to remember why they happened. Things that would normally remind him of Josette will still evoke emotion, but, again, he won’t know why. Personality: Barnabas Collins is, to put it mildly, a rather complicated fellow; being a vampire doesn’t help matters. Born to a wealthy upper class family in Maine during late 1700s, he bears all of the characteristics one would expect from a man of his upbringing: unfailing politeness, an air of intellectualism, and a strong sense of entitlement. In the 1960s, after escaping his coffin, Barnabas introduces himself to the descendents of his family, masquerading as a “cousin from England.” He is almost immediately accepted despite his occasionally unusual behavior. Because he lived in the 1700s, he prefers to live without electricity, phones, and cars. His immense charm and unfailing sense of decorum enable him to pass this off as a mere entrancement with the past, something which serves only to further endear him to the family. These “eccentricities,” along with his strong sense of propriety have led people to proclaim that it is “as if he were from another time,” without having any idea of how right they are. Behind this charming and pleasant exterior, however, there is a dark side. Almost absurdly demanding and calculating, Barnabas has a need to control everything and everyone and is most distressed when he can’t. Part of this stems from his need to keep his secret, of course, but he also tends to use people as pawns in his other schemes. His methods vary depending on the person involved and how much he cares for them, ranging from emotional manipulation, to mind control, to physical assault, and, on occasion, murder. Barnabas’s selective morality can best be summarized by saying that he thinks that people should get what they deserve. If Barnabas cares for, respects, and trusts a person he will avoid doing anything to harm them. He has even been known to go to great lengths to protect them. Conversely, if someone crosses Barnabas, most likely by threatening him or his loved ones, they can expect a particularly nasty form of vengeance. Of course, this attitude necessarily entails a certain amount of arrogance. Barnabas has no doubt that his assessments of people are the correct ones and, thus, no problem being judge, jury, and executioner. Even Barnabas’s positive feelings have been known to cause problems. Unfortunately, he tends to become rather fixated on his love interests. He has been known to stalk them, lurk outside of their windows, and generally obsess. Despite all of this creepy behavior, he genuinely cares for them and acts like a perfect gentleman in their presence. Although he once dabbled in brainwashing via his vampire powers, he would never overtly force anyone to do something against their will. That would be most ungallant. “She must come to me willingly” is his mantra and, after the failed brainwashing attempt, he has shown a great reluctance to use his powers to interfere with his love interest’s emotions, relying instead on his tremendous charm. Barnabas does feel a certain amount of remorse for his actions, particularly when they end up harming someone he is close to. When he first became a vampire, he was rather torn up about the whole concept of having to prey on other humans in order to live. As time went by, however, he got used to the idea and he generally won’t express emotion about killing unless it is someone he knows personally, although he still suffers from some degree of self loathing and angst. Despite these occasional pangs of conscience, Barnabas continues to place others in danger. With a few exceptions, the needs of Barnabas trump the needs of everyone else. When it comes to keeping his secrets, he will “do whatever is necessary.” Although he will do everything he can to avoid it, if faced with a decision that will either mean his destruction or great harm to a family member, he will “chose survival over sentiments.” History: Barnabas was born into the wealthy Collins family from Maine, sometime in the late eighteenth century. His parents, Naomi and Joshua Collins, had one other child, Sarah with whom Barnabas was very close despite their large age difference. In 1795, Barnabas became engaged to Josette du Pres, a beautiful French heiress. She arrived at Collinwood (the Collins family estate) with her father and her aunt for the wedding. Unfortunately, she also brought Angelique, a servant and, unbeknownst to anyone, a witch. This is unfortunate because, while in Martinique, Barnabas had a brief fling with Angelique. It is unclear whether or not he was already involved with Josette at this time. Upon her arrival at Collinwood, Angelique immediately attempts to rekindle her relationship with Barnabas. He refuses because of his relationship with Josette. This upset Angelique very much, very much indeed. She begins a campaign of witchcraft and destruction designed to bring Barnabas back to her. By use of her powers, she enlists the aid of the unwilling Ben Stokes, a Collins family servant particularly faithful to Barnabas. She causes Josette and Jeremiah, Barnabas’s uncle and best friend, to fall in love and, because of this, the two run away together and get married. When they return to Collinwood, Barnabas challenges Jeremiah to a duel and kills him. However, this does not work out as Angelique had planned. Barnabas was angry and hurt and wouldn’t do anything about it, but he was still in love with Josette. So, she inflicts Sarah with a mysterious illness. She then tells Barnabas that she can heal his sister. He promises to do anything she asks as long as she does so. Naturally, Angelique lifts the curse on Sarah and coerces Barnabas into marrying her. After their marriage, Barnabas discovers that she is the witch responsible for all his family’s tragedy and attempts to kill Angelique. Twice. It almost worked the second time, but she got better. And she had time to curse him, telling him that he would be the destruction of anyone whom he loved and who loved him. The curse resulted in Barnabas being bitten by (a hilarious rubber) bat and becoming a vampire. However, he appeared to have died, presumably from the plague. His father decides to hide his coffin in a secret room in the Collins family mausoleum in order to avoid a plague panic in the town. They spread the word that Barnabas went to England. The only people who know otherwise are Josette, Angelique, Naomi, and Joshua, When Barnabas awakens as a vampire he kills Angelique (who was in the tomb taunting him) for real this time, but her ghost continues to mess up his plans. In the mean time, Sarah spots him wandering around after he “went to England” and attempts to follow him. She ends up staying out all night in the rain, catches pneumonia, and dies. Eventually, Barnabas’s father Joshua finds out that Barnabas is a vampire. First he attempts to cure Barnabas. When that doesn’t work, he locks Barnabas up in a tower. When that ceases to work, he promises Barnabas that he will kill him. In the meantime, Naomi found out that Barnabas is a vampire and poisoned herself, but not before saying goodbye to Barnabas. Joshua eventually realizes that he can’t kill his only son and orders the coffin that Barnabas was sleeping in to be chained up and sealed in the secret room in the mausoleum. He stayed locked up there until 1966, when Willie Loomis, a ner-do-well loosely associated with the Collins family opened the coffin, thinking that it contained jewels. He became Barnabas’s first twentieth century victim, as well as his servant (slave). Barnabas made his way to the new House on the Collinwood estate and introduced himself as “a cousin from England,” who was named after and looked exactly like the original Barnabas Collins whose painting was hanging in the hall. Yeah, well, it’s a soap opera. No one is terribly bright. He meets Maggie Evans, a girl who looks exactly like Josette. And ends up…well, kidnapping her and trying to vampire-brainwash her into thinking she is Josette. Long story short (too late!), she escapes and ends up in a sanitarium being treated by Dr. Julia Hoffman. Dr. Hoffman develops a tremendous interest in the case and ends up going to Collinwood and offers to help turn Barnabas back into a human. She also hypnotizes Maggie, so that she remembers nothing of her ordeal. She begins a series of experiments that turn Barnabas partially human. The two strike up a rather unusual friendship and, eventually Julia falls for Barnabas. During this time period, Barnabas shifts his romantic attentions to the Collins family governess, Vicki Winters. She becomes very good friends with him and he becomes increasingly infatuated with her. He is able to spend more time and do more things with her as a result of Julia’s experiments. Because of this, he rushes Julia. This messes up the experiments and ages him his full 200 years, which he reverses by biting Carolyn Collins, who then becomes subject to his mind control powers. Julia Hoffman then threatened to leave and expose him and Barnabas spends a good deal of time trying to gain access to and destroy her records. Their little chessgame is interrupted by the main Collins family having a séance in order to contact Sarah Collins. This naturally, makes Barnabas nervous, so he attends it. During this séance, Vicki Winters is transported back to 1795 to witness Barnabas’s past and Barnabas was apparently whisked off to Paradisa. Relationships Canon Note that because Dark Shadows is a soap opera, these are just the main players in the show. If you think I'm going to list everyone involved, you're crazy. 1776 Naomi Collins: His mother. They were pretty close. Joshua Collins: His father. They had a rather strained relationship, but did care for each other. Jeremiah Collins: His uncle and BFF. They were close in age, so they acted more like friends than uncle/nephew. He married Josette while under Angelique's curse. Sarah Collins: His little sister. Barnabas was very fond of her and is still rather touchy about the subject. Josette (du Pres) Collins: His fiancee who later married Jeremiah. She is his loss. Angelique (Bouchard) Collins: ....it's complicated. Put simply: crazy vengeful ex. Ben Stokes: His servant. Ben was an ex-con and Barnabas was one of the few people who trusted him. Barnabas taught him to read. He served Barnabas loyally until Barnabas was locked up in the coffin. Before that Barnabas had arranged for his father to set Ben free. 1960sVictoria "Vicki" Winters: A governess for the modern Collins family. Barnabas is rather in love with her. Elizabeth (Collins) Stoddard: The matriarch of the current Collinwood family. Looks exactly like Naomi Collins Carolyn Stoddard: Elizabeth's daughter. Barnabas vamped her once. It was awkward. Roger Collins: Brother of Elizabeth, father of David. An amiable fellow who's rather fond of brandy. Looks like Joshua Collins. David Collins: Roger's son. He's still a kid and his curiosity has occasionally caused trouble for Barnabas. Nothing that can't be fixed by driving David a little crazy, though... Dr. Julia Hoffman: Doctor who originally came to investigate Barnabas. She fell in love with him. Willie Loomis: Barnabas's servant and first twentieth century victim.
