title: Bran Stark

text: After Theon Greyjoy captures Winterfell, Osha helps Bran and his younger brother Rickon go into hiding. To cement his claim on Winterfell, Theon has two orphan boys killed and their bodies burned, and passes their charred corpses off as Bran and Rickon. After Theon's men betray him and Winterfell is sacked, Bran, Rickon, Hodor, Osha and their direwolves head north to find his older brother Jon Snow for safety.


title: Bran Stark

text: Bran and his group encounter Jojen and Meera Reed, two siblings who aid them in their quest. Jojen shares Bran's "greensight" and tutors him in his prophetic visions. After coming close to the Wall, Osha departs with Rickon for Last Hearth (to keep him safe) while Bran insists on following his visions beyond the Wall. Bran and his group encounter Sam and Gilly, who try to persuade Bran not to venture beyond the Wall, but Bran claims it is his destiny and leaves through the gate with Hodor and the Reeds.


title: Bran Stark

text: During their travels beyond the Wall, Bran and his group stumble across Craster's Keep, where they are captured and held by Night's Watch mutineers, led by Karl Tanner. Night's Watchmen led by Jon eventually converge on Craster's Keep, but Locke, an agent of Roose Bolton, pretending to be a new Watch recruit, finds Bran first and takes him hostage. Bran wargs into Hodor and snaps Locke's neck. The group then continues on without telling Jon, who Jojen claims would stop them. Bran eventually reaches the heart tree but is set upon by wights outside the entrance. Jojen is killed in the attack, but the Children of the Forest lead Bran and his company safely into a magic cave, to meet the Three-Eyed Raven. The Three-Eyed Raven declares that Bran will not walk again but will fly, instead.


title: Bran Stark

text: As part of his training, Bran is shown several visions of the past, including Ned Stark and Howland Reed confronting Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Gerold Hightower at the Tower of Joy, and sees how the Children of the Forest injected one of the First Men with dragonglass in a ritual to create the Night King, the first White Walker, as a defense against the other First Men. However, the Three-Eyed Raven is always quick to withdraw Bran from the visions, warning that he may become trapped in them if he stays too long. Growing bored with his slow progress, Bran enters a vision on his own and witnesses the Night King in the present day, who sees Bran and marks him, making the Three-Eyed Raven's cave vulnerable to the White Walkers' magic.


title: Bran Stark

text: The Three-Eyed Raven enters Bran into another vision of Winterfell's past to impart all his knowledge, but before the transfer is completed the White Walkers attack the cave, killing the Three-Eyed Raven, Summer, and the Children of the Forest. Bran, still caught in the vision, wargs into Hodor through the latter's younger self (named Wylis), and he and Meera flee as Hodor carries Bran's unconscious body out of the cave. Meera carries Bran into the forest, while Hodor gives his life to hold back the cave door against the army of wights until they overwhelm him. Bran witnesses how his accidentally linked Hodor's past and present mind, inducing a brain damaging seizure in young Wylis and causing him to repeat Meera's command to "hold the door" over and over, until he can only slur the word "Hodor".


title: Bran Stark

text: After the wight army catches up to them again, Bran and Meera are rescued by Bran's uncle Benjen Stark, who had been killed by the White Walkers several years prior but was revived by the Children. Benjen whisks the duo to safety and advises that Bran is now the Three-Eyed Raven and must learn to control his powers before the Night King attacks the Seven Kingdoms. Benjen leaves Bran and Meera at the weirwood in the Haunted Forest, as the Wall's magic prevents the dead (and therefore, Benjen) from passing it. Bran touches the weirwood and witnesses the rest of the vision of Ned Stark at the Tower of Joy. He discovers that Lyanna Stark died giving birth to Rhaegar Targaryen's son Aegon, whom Ned found and raised as Jon Snow at Lyanna's dying request.


title: Bran Stark

text: Bran returns to Winterfell, which has been rebuilt and reoccupied by the remaining Starks. Jon Snow has traveled to Dragonstone to meet with Daenerys Targaryen, after which he is finally reunited at Winterfell with Sansa and Arya, who are both concerned by Bran's knowledge about their tribulations following Ned's execution. Littlefinger gives Bran a Valyrian steel dagger (the one used by Bran's would-be assassin in season one), which Bran passes to Arya. Meera leaves Winterfell to return to Greywater Watch; Bran's indifference to her departure makes her realize that Bran "died" in the Three-Eyed Raven's cave. For that reason, Bran remains aloof from his siblings as well. He uses his greenseeing abilities to discover Littlefinger's betrayal of Ned. When Sansa confronts Littlefinger about his treason towards House Stark, Bran corroborates the accusations leveled against him, and Arya executes Littlefinger at Sansa's command.


title: Bran Stark

text: Samwell Tarly arrives in Winterfell and comes to visit Bran. Bran tells Sam his discovery that Jon is the bastard son of Rhaegar and Lyanna, but Sam mentions a former High Septon's record of annulling Rhaegar's marriage to Elia Martell so that he could marry Lyanna. Bran uses greenseeing to confirm that the marriage took place, and then revisits the vision of the Tower of Joy, discovering that's Jon's real name is Aegon Targaryen. Bran declares that Jon is therefore the heir to the Iron Throne.


title: Bran Stark

text: Bran is reunited with Jon when he returns to Winterfell with Daenerys Targaryen and her forces. Bran reveals to them that the Night King has reanimated Daenerys' dragon Viserion and used it to breach the Wall. Bran urges Sam to tell Jon the truth of his parentage, upon which Jon abdicates his claim in favour of Daenerys'. Jaime later arrives at Winterfell to aid in the fight against the dead, but Bran does not reveal Jaime's role in crippling him.


title: Bran Stark

text: At the war council before the battle against the dead, Bran explains that the Night King desires to create an endless winter and will try to kill him during the battle, due to his ability to hold humanity's collective memories. He convinces the council to let him wait in the Godswood as bait for the Night King. Theon, who has returned to Winterfell to fight the dead with his men, offers to defend Bran, and Jon and Daenerys plan to hide in wait to attack the Night King when he emerges. The Night King eventually breaches the castle and approaches Bran, killing Theon in the process. He is about to kill Bran, but Arya intervenes and manages to stab the Night King with the Valyrian steel dagger, eliminating the Night King as well as all the other White Walkers and undead he resurrected.


title: Bran Stark

text: Westeros is left without a ruler when, after Daenerys successfully wrests King's Landing from Cersei Lannister, she proceeds to burn the surrendered populace of the city, during which Cersei is also killed. Jon fails to dissuade Daenerys from further destruction and ultimately assassinates her. He is arrested. Weeks later, Tyrion Lannister proposes choosing Bran as the new king before a council of the lords and ladies of Westeros. He reasons that it would make a good story to unite the people, suggesting that future kings be elected by the lords of Westeros rather than inheriting the crown. When Tyrion asks Bran if he is willing to be king, Bran replies, "Why do you think I came all this way?" The council holds a vote and all agree except for Sansa, who instead requests the North's independence. Bran agrees, being stylized as Bran the Broken, King of the Six Kingdoms. He appoints Tyrion as his Hand of the King. Later, Brienne, Bronn, Davos, and Sam form Bran's Small Council. It is revealed Bran has decided to exile Jon to the Night's Watch for killing Daenerys as a compromise. As Jon leaves, he apologizes to Bran for not being there for him, but Bran responds, "You were exactly where you were supposed to be." Bran tasks himself with finding Drogon.


title: Topshop

text: TOPSHOP (originally Top Shop) is a British fashion brand for women's clothing, shoes and accessories. It was part of the Arcadia Group, controlled by Sir Philip Green, but went into administration in late 2020 before being purchased by ASOS on 1 February 2021. It now operates via the ASOS website and app, as well as being sold in Nordstrom stores in the US and Canada and on Nordstrom.com. TOPSHOP previously had around 510 shops worldwide.


title: Topshop

text: Topshop started as a brand extension of the department store Peter Robinson in the 1960s and originally sold fashion by young British designers, such as Mary Quant and Stirling Cooper. Peter Robinson was a women's fashion chain that had been acquired by Burton in 1946. Topshop was founded in 1964 as Peter Robinson's Top Shop, a youth brand within the Sheffield branch and also had a large department in the Oxford Street shop. This was high fashion for the "young and different generation" as "The Times" put it in 1965, and the department stocked garments by names such as Mary Quant and Gerald McCann. By 1966, it had a branch in the Peter Robinson store in Norwich.


title: Topshop

text: Peter Robinson's Top Shop buyer Diane Wadey had an eye for young talent and introduced Royal College of Art graduate Jane Whiteside to Jeff Cooper and Ronnie Stirling. The Stirling Cooper brand they created soon had its own sections in Top Shop shops in London and Sheffield, as well as being stocked in Peter Robinson stores in Norwich and Bristol. Other brands stocked at Top Shop included Jeff Banks, French Connection and Radley Cooper.


title: Topshop

text: In 1973, parent company Burton Group launched a major expansion of its womenswear division, splitting Top Shop by Peter Robinson into two chains to be known as Peter Robinson and Top Shop. It was announced that while Peter Robinson would target the over 25s market, Top Shop would focus on the age range from 13 to 24, with Ralph Halpern directing the new venture. By 1974, Peter Robinson had been reduced from 22 stores to six, while Top Shop was developing independently (still retaining the one co-branded shop in Oxford Street) and was described as "highly profitable". Its key retail rivals included Miss Selfridge and the Way In boutique arm of Harrods. Within two years, Top Shop had 55 standalone branches, with more to come according to an article in "The Times". Fashion editor Prudence Glynn described it as having a: "sharp definition of purpose". It made profits of £1m that year. By 1978, Top Shop accounted for a third of Burton's operating profits.


title: Topshop

text: Also in 1978, Burton embarked on a drive to win a larger share of the men's fashion market in the midst of declining sales of men's tailoring, launching the Topman brand along similar lines to its women's retail arm. It was described by an executive as: "more of a 'brother to Top Shop than a son of Burton'." The following year, Burton announced sales and profits up by 30 percent in womenswear, with Topman also being cited as highly profitable. By the start of the 1980s, the brand was being referred to as Topshop.


title: Topshop

text: In the 1980s, Topshop struggled to maintain its profile as a fashion brand, but by the late 1990s it began undergoing a revival. The brand pioneered online fashion, launching UK's first online fashion store for Topshop This turnaround is often credited to the promotion of Jane Shepherdson as brand director. Having begun her career as a buyer, she rose through the ranks at the company. When she took on brand direction, Topshop had an annual profit of £9 million; by 2005 it was making over £100 million annually.


title: Topshop

text: Under her tenure, Topshop became a key sponsor of London Fashion Week, sponsoring its Newgen arm that supports emerging British designers from 2002 and the Fashion East initiative – which acts as a bridge between London's fashion colleges and the Newgen scheme – a year later. This sponsorship continues and since 2005 it has been part of the London Fashion Week catwalk schedule.


title: Topshop

text: In December 2012, Philip Green sold a 25% stake in Topshop and Topman to the US-based private equity group Leonard Green and Partners for US$805 million. Under the terms of the deal, Arcadia retained Topshop's flagship Oxford Street shop (said to be worth between £400 and £500 million). Green said that the deal would enable Topshop to speed up its expansion, particularly within the US.


title: Topshop

text: In 2015, Topshop started collaborating with the online retailer Zalando and began selling their merchandise in their shops. Advertisements featuring model Cara Delevingne were broadcast in Germany, Switzerland and France.


title: Topshop

text: Topshop has been among the UK chain shops to work with high-fashion brands on capsule collections. In 1994, it launched a collection with Red or Dead. It continued to work with designer talent, such as former Clements Ribeiro assistant Markus Lupfer – described in 1999 as "so hot he's practically steaming" – also working with, among others, Hussein Chalayan, Tristan Webber and Tracey Boyd. Typically, such ranges sold out quickly, and attracted column inches in the fashion press.


title: Topshop

text: In May 2007, British supermodel Kate Moss, designed her first collection for the brand. The appointment of Moss was announced just before the departure of Shepherdson for Whistles. In the same year, artist Stella Vine designed a limited edition range inspired by her artworks. These included T-shirts, vest tops, and T-shirt dresses, with the labels designed in pink glitter. "The Guardian" commented that "the fact that the range of T-shirts she has recently designed for TopShop – emblazoned with slogans like Breaking Up With Her Boyfriend – are flying out, speaks volumes for her public support."


title: Topshop

text: In 2014, Beyoncé signed a deal to launch an activewear brand with Topshop. The 50-50 venture was initially called Parkwood Topshop Athletic Ltd and was scheduled to launch its first dance, fitness and sports ranges in autumn 2015. In November 2015, it was revealed that the brand would launch in April 2016. The brand was later revealed to be called Ivy Park.


title: Topshop

text: Arcadia Group went into administration at 8pm GMT on 30 November 2020. On 25 January 2021, ASOS said it was in "exclusive" talks to buy Arcadia's Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands out of administration, though it only wanted the brands, not the shops. A consortium including Next had earlier dropped a bid to buy Topshop and Topman; interest in Arcadia operations had also been expressed by Mike Ashley's Frasers Group, a consortium including JD Sports, and online retailer Boohoo.


title: Topshop

text: On 1 February 2021, ASOS announced it had acquired the Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands out of administration for £265 million, paying an additional £65 million for current and pre-ordered stock. ASOS will keep 300 employees on as part of the deal but will not keep any of the brand's stores, putting 2,500 jobs at risk. In July 2021, it was announced that Nordstrom had acquired an unspecified minority stake in the Topshop Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT businesses from ASOS, with the intention of selling the brands online and instore across North America


title: Topshop

text: Topshop had around 510 shops including those that are franchised; over 300 shops were located in the UK. It had operated across 37 countries and via online operations in several markets.


title: Topshop

text: Topshop began planning its expansion to the United States in the mid-2000s and was tipped to open in New York as early as 2007. Currently it operates via a website and sells in Nordstrom shops. A small number of wholly owned shops were located in major cities. On 5 November 2014 it opened a flagship shop in New York City, located on Fifth Avenue. The shop was the largest international site, and second only to the Oxford Street, London shop in square footage. This was its second shop in New York City, the first having opened on Broadway in 2009. On 23 May 2019, Arcadia filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in the United States and announced that all 11 US freestanding Topshop stores would be liquidated and closed; however, Topshop would continue to sell its merchandise exclusively at Nordstrom locations.


title: Topshop

text: Topshop announced a five-year international expansion plan in early 2011, planning to open new shops across Asia, Australia and the US as well as seeking opportunities in Europe. Although the Japanese flagship shops launched in 2006, all 5 shops in Japan shut in 2015. In 2013, parent group Arcadia began stepping up its franchise deals, announcing a planned 150 new shop openings with partners in Canada, Australia and Vietnam, to include Topshop and Topman shops.


title: Topshop

text: In November 2012, Topshop launched its first shop in South Africa. In April 2013 a Topshop-Topman shop launched in Cape Town, at the V&A Waterfront. On 24 October 2013, Topshop opened a concession at Galeries Lafayette in Paris, its first outlet in France.


title: Topshop

text: Topshop expanded into Australia in 2011, with shops in New South Wales and Victoria. In 2013 it opened a shop in Brisbane's CBD in a location previously occupied by Borders. However, in mid-2017 Topshop's Australian operations went into voluntary administration. By mid 2019, only Sydney's Market Street store remained opened, after the closure of stores at Westfield Bondi Junction and Melbourne's Emporium earlier in the year. In March 2020 Topshop closed its final Australian store, 11 years after its initial launch.


title: Topshop

text: In 2015, Topshop opened a flagship shop in Auckland and 10 months later a shop in Wellington. The company has had a presence in New Zealand since 2010, opening a small concession within a department store in 2010. Located on Auckland's Queen Street, the flagship shop sold out of some of its ranges before it had opened. In September 2017, the franchise went into receivership and both shops closed on September 28, 2017.


title: Topshop

text: Topshop had originally expanded into Singapore since 2000 with the outlet opening at Orchard Road. On 17 September 2020, all stores were eventually closed down citing losses, before the acquisition by ASOS in February 2021.


title: Topshop

text: Many of the stores are closed worldwide due to the acquisition by ASOS such as Israel, Philippines, Hong Kong, Egypt, Indonesia, Netherlands, Singapore, Thailand and United Kingdom. Other areas that are likely to close down will be Malaysia, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain.


title: Topshop

text: Topshop has been criticised for its overseas sourcing policies and its tax arrangements. In December 2007, the Edinburgh branch was targeted by student campaigning network People & Planet for allegedly using cotton picked by "slave labour".


title: Topshop

text: In December 2010, some 200 campaigners staged a sit-in that closed Topshop's Oxford Circus shop, and in Brighton a number of protestors glued themselves to the branch windows. Other high streets in towns and cities across Britain saw similar protests in a day of action by UK Uncut against corporate tax arrangements. Two months later, police arrested a man for writing "pay your taxes" in washable ink on the wall of a Topshop branch in Colchester.


title: Topshop

text: In July 2013, the singer Rihanna won a lawsuit against Topshop to prevent it using her image unofficially on a T-shirt. The lawsuit was launched on the premise that Topshop customers would assume Rihanna endorsed the company, that would lead to a false representation of her celebrity image and increased tensions with her then endorsement deal with River Island, a high-street rival. Judge Justice Birss agreed that customers would likely be deceived into believing it had the singer's approval. Topshop launched an appeal to the High Court, accusing Rihanna of wrongfully advocating that: "only a celebrity may ever market his or her own character" and Judge Justice Birss of misreading the law on "celebrity merchandising". The appeal was rejected unanimously at the Court of Appeal in London on 22 January 2015


title: Topshop

text: In July 2015, Topshop has been criticised for its mannequins which some judged as too skinny. After a customer complained on Facebook, the fashion chain stopped using its tall and skinny female shop mannequins. Its also been criticised in October 2018 for removing an in-store pop-up in its London flagship store that was used to promote feminism with publisher Penguin after only being up for 20 minutes. The fashion retailer had agreed to host the pop-up with Penguin, to help launch the book Feminists Don't Wear Pink (And Other Lies), written by Scarlett Curtis, with products for sale supporting the UN charity Girl Up.


title: Topshop

text: In May 2016, the UVW union organised a large protest outside Topshop's Oxford Circus store attended by Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP. It was the headlining event in a national "day of action" involving 16 other Topshop stores around the country, supported by various trade unions and activist groups, calling for the Living Wage and dignified treatment of outsourced cleaners being victimised for trade union activity. Two weeks earlier, an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons supported by 11 MPs noted:"that contract cleaners employed at Topshop stores by the contractor Britannia Services Group are paid below the living wage, forcing hard-working staff into debt and poverty; believes that there is no excuse for profitable multi-national companies which provide huge payouts to shareholders refusing to pay decent wages; fully supports cleaners contracted to work at Topshop stores who are unionising, protesting and campaigning for the living wage; is extremely concerned by reports that these staff are being victimised and bullied for asking for a decent wage; further believes that it is utterly disgraceful for the Arcadia Group, which owns Topshop, or its contractors to punish staff for asking for decent wages"


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: Professional wrestler Roman Reigns (Joe Anoaʻi) debuted on the WWE main roster in November 2012 (having performed in its developmental system since 2010) as part of a faction called "The Shield" and was well-received by critics. Support began to dwindle upon Reigns's transition to a heroic main event singles act in 2014, largely due to his perceived forced push. This would manifest itself in Reigns main eventing four consecutive editions of WWE's premier annual pay-per-view event, WrestleMania, while being booed in all four appearances.


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: Wrestling journalists have offered both praise and criticism for Reigns, noting both his talent and WWE's apparent attempts to conceal fan hostility towards him. David Shoemaker of "Grantland" wrote in 2016 that Reigns was the company's "most despised wrestler" in over 25 years. Fans have taken issue with Reigns over various reasons: his perceived special treatment, real-life demeanor, wrestling moveset, speaking skills and character presentation. After Reigns was suspended for drug use, Yahoo! Sports pondered whether he is "the biggest failure in professional wrestling history". In 2016, Reigns was voted the Most Overrated by "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" readers as well as the Most Hated Wrestler of the Year by "Pro Wrestling Illustrated" readers, a first for a heroic character since the award was devised in 1972. Into 2017, WWE continued trying to establish Reigns as a megastar despite audience rejection. "Pro Wrestling Torch" critics, including editor Wade Keller, have said that company chairman Vince McMahon is engaged in a "war on fans".


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: Anoaʻi himself has suggested that there is jealousy from fans over his "major success", mocked those who question if he deserves his fictional role, discounted critiques from non-wrestlers, and declared that he will not change to appease his critics. Retired wrestler and Anoaʻi's childhood idol Bret Hart stated that he believes WWE themselves have "ruined" the Reigns character by utilizing bad storytelling and poor writing, and blames the company's leaders primarily for Anoaʻi failing to reach his potential.


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: Anoa'i saw an improved reception from critics from summer 2020 when he turned heel and took on the "Tribal Chief" persona, leading the Bloodline faction. By late 2021, however, complaints of overexposure and staleness began to resurface in the wrestling media.


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: While in NXT (the new developmental system) during 2012, Reigns' character was described as a "businessman" who was "always dressed to impress" and viewed himself as "the most valuable commodity in WWE".


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: Reigns debuted to the main roster as part of The Shield on November 18, 2012 at Survivor Series. After transferring to WWE's main roster, his character was changed to the "powerhouse" and "heavy hitter" of The Shield, as well as an "exceptional athlete". Noted as the least talkative of The Shield members, Reigns' character was tweaked from "the quiet muscle" to being an "ultra-confident" source of leadership with "quiet strength" in mid-2013. CM Punk alleged in an interview that he was constantly reminded to make Reigns look "really, really strong" despite The Shield being booked to lose to Punk at the 2013 event. In 2013, Reigns was voted the Most Improved by "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" readers.


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: During the 2014 Royal Rumble match on January 26, the live crowd cheered for Reigns over eventual winner Batista despite Reigns being a villain. Anoaʻi later acknowledged the reaction as "a cool situation". In mid-2014, Stone Cold Steve Austin said he saw great potential in Reigns while David Shoemaker of "Grantland" wrote that Reigns had "mystery and intensity" as well as "superstar written all over him".


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: After The Shield disbanded for the first time, Reigns (unlike the other former Shield members) retained much of The Shield's aesthetic including ring attire, a very slight remixed version of the group's theme music and ring entrance. From December 2014 to January 2015, Reigns' positive crowd reactions were diminishing. Reigns' win of WWE's 2014 Superstar of the Year Slammy Award garnered surprise to the point of accusations of vote-rigging, although both Dave Meltzer and "Pro Wrestling Insider" alleged the fan vote was legitimate. Writers from the "Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter" criticized Reigns in 2014 and 2015, for a "very limited" in-ring moveset, "forced promo delivery" and a "petulant and annoyed" attitude ill-befitting of a top fan favorite. Fellow professional wrestler Mikey Whipwreck said Reigns was "trying to be like John Cena", who was "very polarizing".


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: At the 2015 Royal Rumble on January 25, Reigns was booed heavily after his victory despite portraying a heroic character. In February on "WWE Raw", Paul Heyman praised Reigns as better than "any other guy in history", which garnered negative reactions as Heyman stated esteemed wrestling figures, including Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and John Cena, were inferior to Reigns. By March, Anoaʻi altered his character's physical appearance by wearing contact lenses in order to have blue eyes. From late 2014 to early 2015, various critics raised concerns that Reigns, despite being "not fully ready", was "being pushed too hard, too soon" while WWE tried to make him their next "flagship star", "no matter how fans reacted". Anoaʻi reacted by saying that he only entertained criticism of his wrestling by people that were involved with wrestling, discounting negative opinion by critics that "weren't wrestlers" and who wouldn't understand how to "lock up". Going into WrestleMania in 2015, Dave Meltzer said that Reigns was the least over WrestleMania main eventer ever. At WrestleMania 31 on March 29, "Pro Wrestling Torch" described Reigns as needing security for his entrance while receiving "universal boos" and middle fingers. Reigns was unable to defeat Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship after Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and pinned Reigns to win the world title. Rollins received positive reactions for his victory despite being a villain. Despite the fan backlash in early 2015, critics praised Reigns' performances at Fastlane, WrestleMania 31 and Extreme Rules as exceeding expectations while the negative reactions continued at Money in the Bank and SummerSlam.


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: In late 2015, critics described WWE presenting Reigns' character as a "hard-luck underdog" chasing the world title, with WWE having "spent an overwhelming amount of time" on Reigns, "bending over backwards to create new obstacles for him to overcome ... at the expense of almost everyone else on the roster". In November 2015, Reigns received a "mixed, at best" reaction upon winning and losing his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the 2015 Survivor Series event after Sheamus, another villainous character, cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to defeat Reigns, a move made to try and get Reigns over with the crowd, and a positive reaction on winning his second world title at the "Raw" after on December 14, although a "WrestleView" writer reflected that "it's been downhill ever since" for Reigns from then until March 2016. In 2015 and 2016, WWE has reportedly taken several measures to hide fans' disapproval of Reigns, including confiscating anti-Reigns fan signs, editing out anti-Reigns fan signs for photos on their website, muting hostile crowds (including at WrestleMania 32) and piping in canned cheers during Reigns' appearances.


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: In 2016, Reigns main evented the first seven WWE pay-per-view events (before the brand split started) and was booed in all of them: Royal Rumble, Fastlane, WrestleMania 32 (which ended with a chorus of boos when Reigns won his third world title), Payback, Extreme Rules, Money in the Bank and Battleground. CNET described a "fan rebellion" against WWE "moving heaven and earth" to make Reigns "the face of the company ... for the next decade"; while "many fans are aware" that former Shield member Dean Ambrose "is the true dark horse, both on camera and behind the scenes". ESPN described that "WWE started building Roman Reigns as the next great hero of the company about 18 months ago", but Reigns instead became "the most despised wrestler WWE has had since it turned Sgt. Slaughter into an Iraq-sympathizing traitor in 1990". Leading up to WrestleMania 32, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Rikishi and Hulk Hogan have encouraged WWE to turn him into a villain. Meanwhile, during interviews promoting WrestleMania 32, Anoa'i acknowledged the fan backlash, but declared that WWE is a "kids show" and that he was not wrestling to impress "grown men" who boo him. He defiantly told his critics that he would not believe any of their negative opinions of him. As for his detractors, Anoa'i told them to "continue to be ready to boo. You're going to be mad a long time. I'm not going away".


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: On the "Raw" after WrestleMania 32, Reigns declared that he was now not a "bad guy" nor a "good guy", but "The Guy", which supposedly indicated a morally ambiguous character turn, but this went nowhere. In April, "Pro Wrestling Dot Net" reported that WWE "went out of their way to use [the charity] Make A Wish in hopes of getting [Reigns] over as a good guy". As soon as broadcasting for Payback on May 1 stopped, Reigns reportedly turned on the crowd, yelling angrily at them. Also in May, Dave Meltzer said WWE wanted Reigns as "the guy who does the charity work, so he has to be positioned as a babyface" (the heroic character), adding that WWE's "new gimmick" was positioning that people actually "really like" Reigns and only boo because "it's fun to boo him", which Meltzer said was "absolutely not true" in reality. Critics wondered if WWE was "leaving money on the table" by not slotting former Shield teammate Seth Rollins as a fan favorite and Reigns as a villain, as fans were cheering Rollins and booing Reigns. In June, Reigns wrestled against Rollins at both Money in the Bank and the next night on "Raw", where Reigns played a villain in the first match and a fan favorite in the second, while on the next night on "Raw" during his promo he told the fans who were booing him to "shut their mouths". Reigns' wellness policy suspension on June 21 resulted in "Yahoo! TV" urging WWE to "quit pretending he's some kind of lovable underdog" with a villain turn for Reigns, after wasting a "dozen" chances "since the boos first reigned" at the 2015 Royal Rumble.


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: As soon as Reigns returned from suspension in July and leading into SummerSlam, writers from the "Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter" wrote that "Raw" was "still the Roman Reigns Show", "with him necessarily closing out the show with the last laugh" (post-SummerSlam, ""Raw" is Roman" continued). Also in August, Anoa'i no longer wore the contact lenses, again changing the Reigns' character look. Although Reigns dropped from world title contention to being United States Champion in September, he remained unable to connect with fans. Nonetheless, calculated efforts to garner crowd support persisted. Wade Keller of the "Pro Wrestling Torch" said that WWE was damaging its product by associating Reigns with "really good" and "popular" performers in a "hapless attempt" to get him over. "Pro Wrestling Dot Net" columnist Jason Powell said that McMahon's "obsession" with generating support for Reigns had handicapped Seth Rollins, whom fans wanted to see as a fan favorite in May, but was kept as a villain to oppose the heroic (and thoroughly booed) Reigns until a "horrible" turn into a fan favorite in September. In November, Fin Martin of "Power Slam" remarked: "Vince [McMahon] has successfully trained or retrained most of his audience to consume what he is serving. Roman Reigns being the exception, of course. It says something that fans will cheer Shane McMahon's toe-curlingly naff attempts at pro wrestling in the ring and his entrance dance ... yet they won't cheer for Reigns, no matter how heroically he is portrayed". As a result of his achievements in 2016, despite topping "Pro Wrestling Illustrated" ("PWI") annual "PWI 500" which is mainly about kayfabe results, Reigns was voted by "Pro Wrestling Illustrated" readers as Most Hated Wrestler of the Year, a first for a heroic character since the award was devised in 1972. "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" readers instead awarded Reigns the 2016 Most Overrated award. Reigns had finished in second place for Most Overrated in both 2014 and 2015. In January 2017, "Pro Wrestling Torch" began their weekly "Monday Night Reigns-o-meter", which monitored his "ability to beat the odds and come out on top".


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: Going into 2017, WWE continued to edit reactions for Reigns, one example being after he lost the United States Championship to Chris Jericho, when an audience member was shown live jumping for joy at the result, but when WWE showed replays of Reigns' loss they showed a clip of the same fan looking unhappy. Veteran wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin and "Pro Wrestling Torch" editor Wade Keller criticised Reigns' attitude in mainstream interviews, specifically Reigns stating that he "just" worked 9-to-5 before becoming a professional wrestler as well as flaunting his financial prospects within WWE, with Austin saying Reigns has "got to watch" what he says and needs to be "smarter" while Keller saw him as "trying to impress the people interviewing him" and "not thinking about the fans who are paying the money for the seats". Keller also scolded Reigns and WWE for publicly claiming they are happy with any crowd reaction for Reigns, whether positive or negative, describing such statements as "insincere" and "spin" since they "turn the volume down; they seek out fans who are cheering him; they doctor footage to make it seem like fans are cheering him when they're not ... they manipulate in every way that they can to make it seem like he's not getting a negative reaction".


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: In the 2017 Royal Rumble match on January 29, Reigns entered as the surprise last entrant despite losing a WWE Universal Championship match against Kevin Owens earlier that night. Fans had anticipated other surprise entrants including Finn Bálor, Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura and Kenny Omega—international media outlets noted that this drew "This is bullshit!" chants from the live crowd and even more boos when he eliminated The Undertaker. Reigns was still booed after eliminating villain wrestlers Chris Jericho and Bray Wyatt. Stone Cold Steve Austin believed that Reigns was the "set up guy" and "did a favor" to help Randy Orton by letting Orton eliminate him to win the Royal Rumble. The following night on "Raw", the villainous Braun Strowman received a "Thank you Strowman!" chant for costing Reigns his WWE Universal Championship match at the Royal Rumble. This chant was repeated after Strowman cost Reigns a match on the February 6 episode "Raw", with Tom Colohue of "Pro Wrestling Torch" writing that Strowman's vendetta against Reigns may have "accidentally turned" the villain into a fan favorite. In February 2017, Meltzer said it was "obvious" that WWE's push of Reigns "will never end". Later that month, wrestling podcaster Peter Rosenberg lamented that—unlike the similarly powerful Hulk Hogan—Reigns "doesn't show vulnerability, ever".


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: On March 5 at Fastlane, Reigns defeated Strowman and became the first man to successfully pin him in WWE. Although the match itself was praised, this booking choice was poorly received by critics, who agreed that, despite adding nothing to Reigns' reputation, the match's ending would severely hurt Strowman's "unstoppable beast" image, "undid" all the momentum Strowman had acquired during the previous months and might even damage his career and future in WWE. Many believed that a better, more logical booking move would have been for The Undertaker, who was heavily rumored to face Reigns at WrestleMania 33 after Reigns eliminated him during the Royal Rumble match, to interfere in the match, causing Reigns to either win by disqualification, thus letting Strowman remain unpinned, or lose because of The Undertaker, thus still looking strong. The rumor did end up being true and Reigns and The Undertaker had a face-off on the March 6 episode of "Raw", hinting a confrontation at WrestleMania 33. The crowd chanted "Roman sucks!" loudly during both Reigns' entrance and the face-off between the two, but when releasing the video on their YouTube channel WWE edited the audio to make those chants inaudible, which led to many media outlets reporting and criticizing the edit. Wade Keller of "Pro Wrestling Torch" noted that "the crowd popped" for Shawn Michaels when he came out for a promo with Reigns on the March 13 episode of "Raw", but then booed Michaels after he endorsed Reigns, who would again be beaten down by Strowman to the delight of the crowd. Keller's colleague Tom Colohue noted that "everybody wants [Reigns] to fail", but applauded his "simple, effective promo" that was "probably the best work Roman's ever done on the mic".


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: In March 2017, Dave Meltzer reported that WWE's long term plans ("which obviously could change") for 2018's WrestleMania 34 was to "once again build for a year and have the big coronation" for Reigns, who would still be a heroic character "between now and then" and beat Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship "to fully replace John Cena as the face of the company", while the "idea" for Lesnar's role "for this year now" was "to become a monster, be unbeatable, run through everybody, beat them with one "F-5" and then lose to Roman Reigns". At WrestleMania 33 on April 2, Reigns was booed before, during and after the main event (his third WrestleMania main event in a row), which saw Reigns beating The Undertaker, who seemingly retired (although he eventually returned). Before the match, "Pro Wrestling Insider"'s Dave Scherer predicted that if Reigns beat and retired The Undertaker, then "the fans that hate him will hate him forever". Critics reported that after the match, WWE "did clearly turn down the sound" from the audience "and then they hit the pyro", but boos were still heard during a break in Reigns' music being played. On the "Raw" after WrestleMania, Reigns was loudly booed and the crowd microphone volumes were turned down when he appeared, but multiple chants of "Delete", "Fuck you, Roman", "You suck", "Asshole", "Roman sucks", "Shut the fuck up" and "Go away" were still heard before Reigns chose to speak. After that segment, WWE commentators labelled the post-WrestleMania 33 crowd as "non-traditional WWE fans" who may cheer for those they normally boo and boo those they normally cheer "all in the name of fun", which echoed similar comments a year prior for the post-WrestleMania 32 crowd. "Pro Wrestling Torch" editor Wade Keller wrote that these comments would anger fans as "genuine dissatisfaction with the product is reframed by Vince McMahon's propaganda machine" – Undertaker received the usual reaction from fans, as did Reigns, just more intensely. Following Reigns' victory over The Undertaker and given that Reigns was reportedly selling more merchandise than any other full-time WWE wrestler (John Cena, who sold more, was considered a part-timer), "Forbes" writer Blake Oestriecher declared Reigns as "indeed the new face of WWE, one who could remain in that spot for the next decade".


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: Great Balls of Fire saw a post-match attack by Reigns after he lost an ambulance match to Strowman, which was widely described as the protagonist Reigns attempting to murder the villainous Strowman. As a result, there has been some speculation on whether or not this angle was a double turn (where Reigns and Strowman swap roles as the hero and the villain), with Reigns being described as a "sore loser" attacking Strowman, who won fairly to the stipulation, to the point of attempted murder. However, nothing of this sort ultimately came to fruition and Reigns was even awarded a WWE Universal Championship shot at SummerSlam with speculation that the plans for Reigns to face Lesnar at WrestleMania 34 had been changed. At the event on August 20, Lesnar retained the title by pinning Reigns in a match also involving Strowman and Samoa Joe. Meltzer claimed that the plans for the Lesnar–Reigns match at WrestleMania 34 were scrapped, but after seeing Reigns get pinned by Lesnar, he stated that the plans might still be in place. In September on "Raw", both (storyline) general manager Kurt Angle and commentator Corey Graves described Reigns as a wrestling "icon". At No Mercy, Reigns defeated John Cena, seemingly ending Cena's full-time wrestling career as this was seen as a "passing of the torch" moment in which Reigns had indeed replaced Cena as the face of the company. During the match, Reigns was booked to kick out of four "Attitude Adjustments" (one of which was off the top rope) and then defeated Cena with two spears. In October 2017, Reigns was revealed as the highest rated wrestler in the "WWE 2K18" game. GamesRadar+ wrote that "this is likely a call made by WWE ... rather than [game] developer 2K" and that by ranking Reigns higher than historic wrestlers "in their prime" like the 1997 version of the Stone Cold Steve Austin character, Reigns is being treated as the "greatest wrestler of all-time".


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: In a December 2017 interview, Anoaʻi called himself "the best performer, in-ring, in the world right now". In response, Brian Campbell of CBS Sports wrote that Anoaʻi "isn't even the best performer in his own company" and "wouldn't even finish in the top five" in the world. Meanwhile, fellow wrestler Kenny Omega commented that "it sounds so ridiculous" and that there was "no possible way" Anoaʻi believed what he said. Also that month, WWE vice president Triple H said regarding Reigns: "I think he is one of the best that WWE have right now ... the truth is, and some people will listen to this and want to argue against it, but honestly most of the people who argue against it aren't qualified to make that argument. I am".


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: In March 2018, Reigns said regarding his reception that "everyone wants to see you do good, but not too good"; and that there is "possible jealousy" from fans regarding his "major success". Before WrestleMania 34 in April 2018, Reigns said that he would not try to change for anyone that did not like him. Reigns' main event match with Lesnar at WrestleMania 34 was resoundingly rejected by the crowd, as Reigns was booed while the crowd played with beach balls and instead chanted "CM Punk", "Boring" and "This is awful!" Troy L. Smith of Cleveland.com concluded that this match was the worst ever WrestleMania main event due to the "utter disdain" it produced, with there never being a more "disinterested" crowd for a WrestleMania main event. Meltzer wrote that Reigns' loss was "done for sympathy for Reigns when it was over to make him a babyface as they concentrated on showing him all beaten up".


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: On April 30, the go-home edition of "Raw" before Backlash, Reigns was met with great hostility from the crowd in Montreal. Reigns was heavily booed, in contrast to his rival Samoa Joe, who received overwhelming cheers despite being portrayed as a heel. At Backlash, a large number of the crowd in New Jersey reportedly walked out of the arena during Reigns' match with Joe, a match Reigns was booked to win. Brian Campbell and Adam Silverstein of CBS Sports wrote that it was "just impossible to ignore how poorly WWE continues to treat its own fanbase ... this has escalated to the point where the psychology and storyline simply makes no sense in ways that can't be good for business". Meltzer described that "lots of people were leaving" during Reigns' match and that the crowd was chanting that the match was boring. "Pro Wrestling Dot Net" editor Jason Powell described WWE Chairman Vince McMahon as "completely insane when it comes to his obsession with Reigns being his company's top babyface" when the "definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results". Powell went on to mock WWE's "frequently repeated line about how WWE listens to its fans" and another WWE claim that "any reaction is a good reaction". Meltzer said that the character of Reigns was being modeled after Daniel Bryan's, with the similar storyline that WWE "management is screwing him over and that's why he's not the champion", and that despite fans not buying this storyline, no one in WWE had a better idea for Reigns.


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: At Money in the Bank, Reigns' match with Jinder Mahal was widely rejected by crowd in Illinois. Within the first two minutes of the match, once again, chants of "CM Punk" and "Boring" were heard. The crowd continued to ignore the match by playing with beach balls, performing the Mexican wave, and continued chants of other wrestlers names, booing officials who confiscated the beach balls, and continued negative chants about the match. Every other match on the card, however, was comparatively well received. In July 2018 on "Raw", Reigns told fans who "boo", "hate", or claim that he "is being crammed down our throats" to "learn to like it or close your mouth." Meanwhile, Wade Keller of "Pro Wrestling Torch" criticised Anoa'i for arguing that he deserves his push due to hard work and winning many titles. Keller pointed out that Anoa'i "doesn't work harder than dozens of other colleagues, yet he acts as if he's special", and that Reigns' title wins were "granted by Vince McMahon." At Extreme Rules, Reigns again received overwhelming boos while his opponent Bobby Lashley was wildly cheered. Lashley received wild cheers for his victory over Roman, as well as chants of "Thank you Lashley!"


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: In August 2018 at SummerSlam, the audience started out giving Reigns a fairly mixed reaction during his entrance. Following Braun Strowman's announcement of his plan to cash-in post match, the crowd cheered. A brief chant of "Let's go Roman/Roman Sucks" filled the arena at one point, followed by chants of "You both suck" directed at both Lesnar and Reigns. When Reigns pinned Lesnar to win the WWE Universal Championship, the crowd cheered.


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: The following night on "Raw", Reigns was again booed early in the show, but received a mixed reaction for suggesting that he defend his newly-won championship against Finn Bálor later that night. After beating Bálor, Reigns was again heavily booed by the crowd, which increased in intensity after the match when Braun Strowman attempted to cash in his Money in the Bank title shot. The subsequent Shield reunion and attack on Strowman was positively received by the Brooklyn audience, but was viewed by many as a cheap attempt to garner positive reactions for Reigns. At Hell in a Cell, Reigns defended his Universal Championship against Braun Strowman, during which Reigns was booed heavily while the villainous Strowman was wildly cheered by fans. The match was victim to high controversy, with the first incident being when special guest referee Mick Foley counted Reigns down for a three count, but instead of Strowman getting the victory, the pinfall was simply ignored, with the second being when the match ended in a no contest after interference from a returning Brock Lesnar. After the match ended, the network stream abruptly ended with many saying this was done to avoid broadcasting the heavy boos from fans with many taking to social media claiming that chants of "Bullshit!" and "We want refunds!" along with heavy booing broke out as Reigns, Strowman and Lesnar all had walked to the back.


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: On the October 22, 2018 episode of "Raw", Reigns announced that he was re-diagnosed with leukemia after 11 years and would be taking a hiatus to treat it. As a result, he relinquished the Universal Championship, ending his reign of 64 days. Reigns initially received a mixed reaction upon entering the arena, but was welcomed with a positive reception as well as chants of "Thank you, Roman!" after his announcement of leukemia was made. Reigns made his return on the February 25, 2019 episode of "Raw" to announce his leukemia was in remission, where he received a huge ovation from the crowd. On the following episode of "Raw", Reigns would reunite with The Shield, leading to a match between Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley and Baron Corbin at Fastlane, which The Shield would win in Reigns's first match since his leukemia diagnosis. Both times, Reigns would be met with cheers. At WrestleMania 35, Reigns defeated Drew McIntyre in his first singles match since October 2018. However, he would be met with a mixed reaction by the crowd, with "Pro Wrestling Dot Net" writer Jason Powell stating that an estimated "70 percent of the fans booed Reigns while only 30 percent cheered for him before the match." He would also describe the match as "disappointing".


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: Reigns was drafted to the SmackDown brand during the 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-up. On the April 16 episode of "SmackDown". Reigns attacked Elias and Vince McMahon upon his arrival, with WWE's announcers describing Reigns as "SmackDown’s greatest ever acquisition", as well as the future of SmackDown and WWE. Reigns' acquisition was met with positive reactions. Reigns participated in a six-man tag team match along with Ambrose and Rollins against Corbin, Lashley and McIntyre in the exclusive pay-per-view show, WWE The Shield's Final Chapter on April 21. The match, which The Shield won, was also billed as both the stable's final match and Ambrose's final match with WWE. Reigns was met with cheers during the match. During the following months, Reigns feuded with Shane McMahon, receiving lukewarm crowd reactions. Reigns lost some of the matches against Shane but managed to defeat McIntyre. This sparked criticism among journalists who claimed that if the company was trying to make Reigns the franchise player, losing it to McMahon (who is not a full-time wrestler) hurt his aura even more. Journalist Jason Powell mused that McIntyre seemed to be "just another guy they are feeding to Reigns rather than someone they have a real plan for."


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: After WrestleMania 35, Reigns was kept out of the title scene and involved in various other feuds. The most notable of these feuds were the ones with Daniel Bryan and Erick Rowan in the summer of 2019 and then one with Baron Corbin towards the end of 2019 and into 2020. In an interview with AOL.com in October 2019, Reigns stated he enjoyed not being in the title scene and working with wrestlers he might not have otherwise had a chance to work with. In the same interview, Reigns mentioned he appreciated the renewed crowd support in the wake of leukemia diagnosis (the revelation of which Reigns said was like "lifting a billion pounds of weight off my chest"), as well as stating just getting to be inside the ring was "like being in a title match". “Before it was always, ‘I want to be on top and I need to stay at the top,’ but for me, there was just something about this year where participation was like being in a title match,” Reigns said. “There’s just been something very poetic about just being there, being healthy enough to be there, being able to participate and be present, bonding with my friends, creating for the live crowd.”


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: After ending his feud with Corbin in February 2020, Reigns went back into the title picture to challenge Goldberg for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 36. However, right after the COVID-19 pandemic started in mid-March 2020, Reigns pulled out of the match. There was speculation that it was due to Reigns having health concerns or having a falling out with WWE, but in an interview with The Hindu, Reigns explained it had nothing to do with personal health problems or any issues with WWE but rather the fact his wife was expecting twins. Reigns was off of WWE programming for five months following the withdrawal.


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: On August 23, 2020, at SummerSlam, Reigns returned to WWE programming. Within a week, Reigns won the Universal title for a second time at Payback and turned heel for the first time since 2014, aligning himself with Paul Heyman. He has since then branded himself as The Tribal Chief. The first part of this storyline saw him force Jey Uso (his real-life cousin) to eventually come to his side, in a months-long feud where Reigns beat Uso at every turn. Reigns' and Uso's work was praised by critics, which eventually led to Reigns adopting the catchphrase, "acknowledge me!"


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: Reigns' heel championship run has been praised by critics. In November 2020, John Bradshaw Layfield said on WWE's "The Bump" that Reigns was the most compelling character he has seen on wrestling television in twenty years. In May 2021, Cageside Seats called the Reigns story "heads, shoulders, knees and toes above anything else in WWE". At Money in the Bank, the first WWE pay-per-view since the WWE resumed touring after taking a break due to the pandemic, the crowd booed Reigns. He also was awarded with "Wrestling Observer Newsletter"'s Best Gimmick award and Sports Illustrated's Wrestler of the Year award in 2021.


title: Persona and reception of Roman Reigns

text: By the end of 2021, some critics began to complain that Reigns' new character had grown stale, with Sam Fels of "Deadspin" writing that "WWE has built no credible challengers for him". Fans also expressed annoyance that WWE relied on older, part-time wrestlers such as Edge, John Cena and Brock Lesnar to challenge Reigns for his universal title, while neglecting younger and full-time talent. Chris Rolling of "Bleacher Report" editoralized that although Reigns was "still an awesome character and heel", his championship reign had become "boring" and he was "overexposed" at the expense of other wrestlers. Brent Brookhouse of "CBSSports.com" wrote that Reigns had "run out of steam" because WWE had "failed to build up compelling opponents".


title: The Wretched (film)

text: The Wretched is a 2019 American supernatural horror film written and directed by the Pierce Brothers. It stars John-Paul Howard, Piper Curda, Zarah Mahler, Kevin Bigley, Gabriela Quezada Bloomgarden, Richard Ellis, Blane Crockarell, Jamison Jones, and Azie Tesfai. The film follows a defiant teenage boy who faces off with an evil witch posing as the neighbor next door.


title: The Wretched (film)

text: "The Wretched" had its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 19, 2019, and was released in drive-in theaters and through Premium VOD on May 1, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic limiting the amount of films in theaters, it became the first film since "Avatar" (2009) to top the box office for six consecutive weekends.


title: The Wretched (film)

text: In 1985, Megan arrives at the home of the Gambels to babysit their daughter Ashley. As she enters the basement she finds Ashley being eaten by an inhuman creature. Terrified, she stumbles trying to escape, but Mr. Gambel purposely shuts the door on her. A strange sign is then etched on the door.


title: The Wretched (film)

text: In the present Ben Shaw comes to live with his father Liam as his parents are in the middle of a divorce. Liam gives Ben a job working at the marina, where he befriends Mallory. During his shift, he notices Liam kissing a co-worker named Sara. In the woods, Dillon, the son of Liam's neighbor Abbie, finds a tree with the same symbol seen as that at the Gambel house. He hears what sounds like Abbie's voice coming from the tree, calling to him before Abbie appears behind him. They bring a buck home that they hit, and later that night, something crawls out of the buck's corpse.


title: The Wretched (film)

text: Ben investigates strange noises he hears on the roof. He follows the sounds to Abbie's house, but all he finds is an animal. He catches a glimpse of a witch on the porch, but cannot be sure what he saw due to Abbie's husband Ty turning on the porch light. Ben befriends Dillon and makes him promise to tell Ben if he sees anything strange around his house. That night, Abbie goes to check on her infant son Sam (Dillon's younger brother) in his crib. However, she finds that he had disappeared, replaced by a bundle of sticks. She is then attacked by the witch. Ben comes home late at night and notices Abbie walking into the forest with a child.


title: The Wretched (film)

text: Ben returns home late one night to find Dillon hiding in his house, claiming that there is something wrong with his mother. Abbie comes looking for Dillon, threatening Ben and attempting to get into the house. Ty comes and takes Dillon home. Dillon tells Ty that Abbie is acting weird, but Ty dismisses his concerns. Ben is also concerned that something strange is happening with Abbie. At work, Ben learns that Dillon never showed up for his sailing lesson. When he goes to Dillon's house, Ty denies that he even has a son. Later, Abbie whispers something demonic to Ty that makes his ears bleed. She then takes a shower and her body starts to decay.


title: The Wretched (film)

text: Ben is suspicious and reads about a witch that is known for wearing the skins of victims and "feeding on the forgotten". He confides in Mallory, but she does not take him seriously. She slips a taunting note under Abbie's door. Ben sneaks into Abbie's cellar and finds a picture of the family with Ty's face scratched out, along with a picture of Mallory and her sister Lily. He realizes by the picture that the witch is after Lily next. He calls Mallory to warn her that Lily is in danger, but Mallory does not remember her sister. Ben rushes to save Lily, but is too late, as the witch has pulled her into her demonic, semi-underground tree. He tries to pull Lily out, but their grip is broken and he gets knocked out after falling back and hitting his head on a rock. Upon returning home, he finds that Liam has called the police due to Ben being missing. Ben attempts to explain what is happening with the neighbors, but is accused of being on drugs. Ben confides in Sara but notices flowers decaying, and realizes she is the witch inhabiting Sara's skin. When she tries to attack, he slashes her arm, but the witch makes it look like he attacked Sara for no reason. He is taken into custody. Ben sees Sara whispering in the officer's ear. He tells his dad that Sara is the witch and pleads with Liam to check the neighbors' cellar. Instead of taking Ben to the station, the officer attempts to drown him at the beach until a dog attacks. The officer shoots the dog and then himself as he realizes that something is controlling him to kill Ben. Meanwhile, Liam finds the dead bodies of Ty and Abbie at their house. Demonic Sara attacks Liam and is nearly about to kill him, but Ben arrives and shoots her with the officer's gun. The witch crawls out of Sara's corpse and goes after Ben, but he takes Liam to the safety of his father's car as their house burns down. When a picture of Ben and his family burns, Ben suddenly remembers that he has a little brother, Nathan, implying the witch had made Ben forget about him.


title: The Wretched (film)

text: Ben and Mallory go to the tree to rescue their siblings. As Ben rescues Nathan and Lily, Liam arrives and rams his car into the witch. Unfortunately, they are too occupied with Liam's injuries to finish off the witch permanently, although they do burn her lair to the ground. Afterwards, Ben and Nathan are leaving to return to their mother's house. Liam says he will stay with his brother while he heals from the witch's attack. Ben and Mallory kiss goodbye, and she puts a flower in his hair before leaving to give sailing lessons. Ben notices the flower is fake, implying that the witch is now possessing Mallory, who is alone in the middle of the lake with three young children.


title: The Wretched (film)

text: Composer, and childhood friend of the Pierce Brothers, Devin Burrows composed the film's score. According to Burrows in a 2020 Nightmare on Film Street interview, he visited the film's shooting locations prior to principal photography, to work the natural influence and inspiration into the music. The trio also worked together on the Pierce Brothers' 2011 film "Deadheads".


title: The Wretched (film)

text: The film premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 19, 2019. It also screened at the Traverse City Film Festival, and at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. It was released in selected theaters (mainly drive-ins), and through Premium VOD in the United States on May 1, 2020. The film was released in cinemas in the Netherlands on June 25, 2020.


title: The Wretched (film)

text: "The Wretched" grossed $1.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $2.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $4.3 million.


title: The Wretched (film)

text: Due to limited theater exposure and few films playing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, "The Wretched" was #1 at the box office in its opening weekend, earning $65,908 from 12 theaters. The film finished first again the following weekend with $69,608 at 19 theaters, for a 10-day running total of $165,294. The film remained in first the following four weekends, making $91,975 from 21 drive-in theaters in its third, $215,836 from 59 in its fourth, and $181,000 from 75 in its fifth. It became the first film to top the box office five weekends in a row since "Black Panther", which opened in February 2018, although it was noted that "Trolls World Tour" would have likely come in first over the course of its release had its weekly grosses been made public.


title: The Wretched (film)

text: The film then made $207,212 from 99 theaters and crossed the $1 million mark, topping newcomer "Becky" by $1,415 to remain in first for the sixth straight weekend (the first film since "Avatar" in 2009 to do so). It was finally dethroned in its seventh weekend, finishing third, behind "Becky" and "Infamous" with $148,583.


title: The Wretched (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads, ""The Wretched" stirs up a savory blend of witch-in-the-woods horror ingredients that should leave genre fans hungry for a second helping from writer-directors Brett and Drew T. Pierce." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100 based on 15 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: The Wretched (film)

text: Jeannette Catsoulis of "The New York Times" gave the film a largely positive review, writing, "Blessed with shivery setups and freaky effects—here, skin-crawling is literal—"The Wretched" transforms common familial anxieties into flesh, albeit crepey and creeping." Geoff Berkshire of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote, "What the Pierce brothers lack in flavorful storytelling or compelling characters, they almost entirely make up for in good old-fashioned atmosphere and suspense. "The Wretched" rarely surprises, but it's well-crafted enough to get under your skin anyway, with an able assist from the creepy camerawork of cinematographer Conor Murphy and unsettling score by Devin Burrows."


title: The Wretched (film)

text: Writing for RogerEbert.com, Simon Abrams gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars, saying that "unlike "Stranger Things", "The Wretched" is a little too cute about teen angst, and not light enough on its feet to make you want to root for its ostensibly typical adolescent."


title: The Office (American season 4)

text: The fourth season of the American television comedy "The Office" premiered in the United States on NBC on September 27, 2007, and concluded on May 15, 2008. The season consisted of 9 half-hour episodes, and 5 hour-long episodes to comprise the 19 total episodes of material created. "The Office" is an American adaptation of the British TV series of the same name, and is presented in a mockumentary format, portraying the daily lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictitious Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. The season was originally set to include 30 episodes, but due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, production was called to a halt, in result, the season was shortened to 19 episodes. It stars Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, and B. J. Novak, with supporting performances from Melora Hardin, Ed Helms, Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Creed Bratton, Kate Flannery, Mindy Kaling, Angela Kinsey, Paul Lieberstein, Oscar Nunez, Craig Robinson, and Phyllis Smith.


title: The Office (American season 4)

text: This season marked the departure of Karen Filippelli (Rashida Jones) as a regular character, although she appeared for a few seconds in the first episode, "Fun Run" and in the tenth episode, "Branch Wars", as the regional manager of the Utica branch. Relationships again emerged as the main theme of the season, with Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and Pam Beesly's (Jenna Fischer) rising, and Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and Jan Levinson's (Melora Hardin), as well as Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) and Angela Martin's (Angela Kinsey) declining. Technology was another prevalent theme as the office staff struggled with initiatives introduced by Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak) to modernize the company.


title: The Office (American season 4)

text: The fourth season of "The Office" aired on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. (Eastern) in the United States. The season marked a slight drop in ratings compared to the previous two seasons. Critical reception to the season continued to be largely positive. The season was released on DVD by Universal Studios Home Entertainment in a four-disc box set in the Region 1 area on September 2, 2008. The DVD set contains all 19 episodes, as well as commentaries from creators, writers, actors, and directors on some of the episodes. It also contains deleted scenes from all of the episodes, as well as bloopers and other promos.


title: The Office (American season 4)

text: The fourth season of the show was produced by Reveille Productions and Deedle-Dee Productions, both in association with Universal Media Studios. The show is based upon the British series created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, both of whom are executive producers on both the US and UK versions. "The Office" is produced by Greg Daniels, who is also an executive producer and the show runner. All the writers from the previous season returned, with the writing staff consisting of Daniels, Michael Schur, Lester Lewis, Mindy Kaling, B. J. Novak, Paul Lieberstein, Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupnitsky, Jennifer Celotta, Brent Forrester, and Justin Spitzer. Schur, Lieberstein and Celotta were co-executive producers; Kaling, Eisenberg and Stupnitsky were producers; Novak and Lewis were supervising producers; and Forrester was a consulting producer.


title: The Office (American season 4)

text: This season featured 19 half-hour segments which were combined and aired to produce 14 distinct episodes, directed by 11 directors. Greg Daniels, Craig Zisk, Ken Whittingham, Paul Lieberstein, Jason Reitman, Joss Whedon, Paul Feig, Julian Farino, Jeffrey Blitz, Randall Einhorn, and Tucker Gates each directed episodes during the season, with Feig and Whittingham directing multiple episodes. Although "The Office" was mainly filmed on a studio set at Valley Center Studios in Van Nuys, California, the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, where the show is set, was also used for shots of the opening theme.


title: The Office (American season 4)

text: Originally, NBC ordered a full season of 30 episodes. After 12 episodes were filmed, production was suspended due to the effects of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on November 5, 2007. Filming of "The Office" immediately halted on that date, as Steve Carell, who is a member of the WGA, refused to cross WGA picket lines. Members of Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West voted to end the 100-day strike on February 12, 2008, and writers were allowed to return to work on the same day. The WGA allowed for show runners to return to work on February 11, in preparation for the conclusion of the strike. The show runner for "The Office", Greg Daniels, returned on February 11, and the show's writers returned to work on February 13. The duration of the strike resulted in a script of a Christmas-themed episode being discarded, as production of the episode was due to start the week that the strike began. The basic premise of the Christmas episode, which revolved around the German folk character Belsnickel, was later purposely recycled and reused in the ninth season entry "Dwight Christmas".


title: The Office (American season 4)

text: Many characters portrayed by "The Office" cast are based on the British version of the show. While these characters normally have the same attitude and perceptions as their British counterparts, the roles have been redesigned to better fit the American show. The show is known for its generally large cast size, with many of its actors and actresses known particularly for their improvisational work.


title: The Office (American season 4)

text: The fourth-season premiere "Fun Run" received a 5.1/12 share in the Nielsen ratings among viewers aged 18 to 49, meaning that 5.1% of viewers aged 18 to 49 watched the episode, and 12% of viewers watching television at the time watched the episode. "Fun Run" attracted 9.7 million viewers overall. Both of these figures built upon the marks set by the third-season finale "The Job". In the weeks following "Fun Run", "The Office" never received more than nine million viewers. After the Writers Strike, "The Office" once again eclipsed the nine million viewers mark, when the episode "Dinner Party" received 9.3 million viewers. The episode "Chair Model", the second episode to be released after the end of the strike garnered 9.9 million viewers, a high for the fourth season. While the episode "Job Fair" received the lowest number of viewers for the season, at 7.2 million, it and the episode following it, the season finale "Goodbye Toby", both scored the highest viewer percentage increase among digital video recording users for their respective weeks.


title: The Office (American season 4)

text: The season ranked as the seventy-seventh most watched television series during the 2007–2008 season, with an average of 8.04 million viewers; this marked a decrease in ranking and viewership from the previous season, which had ranked as the sixty-eighth most-watched series.


title: The Office (American season 4)

text: The fourth season received critical acclaim. Travis Fickett, a reviewer from IGN, praised both the writing and the acting of season 4. When speaking of the season finale "Goodbye Toby", Fickett went on to say "It's a great episode that ends a great season. There are more than a few questions raised that will have us eagerly tuning in when the show returns in the fall." Aubry D'Arminio praised the season, but she also showed disapproval at what she felt was a lack of use for some of "The Office"'s supporting cast in the episodes directly following the Writers' Strike, saying "I just feel a bit sad that, minus Leslie David Baker's Stanley, these excellent actors/characters haven't been highlighted nearly enough since the series' return in April." In a comprehensive review of the fourth season DVD, IGN reviewers Travis Fickett and Phil Pirrello both believed "this season to be one of the show's best, [but felt] that 14 episodes across four discs gives way to crowding, especially when the season tries to tackle Jim and Pam dating, Angela and Dwight breaking up, Andy and Angela dating by way of awkward silence, Michael and Jan breaking up, Toby leaving the office and a new love interest for Michael joining the cast." Fickett and Pirrello gave the season a total score of 8 out of 10.


title: The Office (American season 4)

text: "The Office" received eight nominations at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards. The show's producers received a nomination for "Outstanding Comedy Series", while Paul Lieberstein and Paul Feig both received nominations for "Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series", for the episodes "Money" and "Goodbye, Toby", respectively. For his portrayal of Michael Scott, Carell received a nomination for "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series", and for his portrayal of Dwight Schrute, Wilson received a nomination for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series". Dean Holland and Dave Rogers both received a nomination for "Outstanding Picture Editing For A Comedy Series (Single Or Multi-camera)" for their work on "Goodbye, Toby", while Ben Patrick, John W. Cook III, and Peter J. Nusbaum were all nominated in the "Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (half-hour) And Animation" category for their work on the episode "Local Ad". For the episode "Dinner Party", the creative writing team of Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg received a nomination for "Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series".


title: The Office (American season 4)

text: In the following table, "U.S. viewers (million)" refers to the number of Americans who viewed the episode on the night of broadcast. Episodes are listed by the order in which they aired, and may not necessarily correspond to their production codes.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Oxygen toxicity is a condition resulting from the harmful effects of breathing molecular oxygen () at increased partial pressures. Severe cases can result in cell damage and death, with effects most often seen in the central nervous system, lungs, and eyes. Historically, the central nervous system condition was called the Paul Bert effect, and the pulmonary condition the Lorrain Smith effect, after the researchers who pioneered the discoveries and descriptions in the late 19th century. Oxygen toxicity is a concern for underwater divers, those on high concentrations of supplemental oxygen (particularly premature babies), and those undergoing hyperbaric oxygen therapy.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: The result of breathing increased partial pressures of oxygen is hyperoxia, an excess of oxygen in body tissues. The body is affected in different ways depending on the type of exposure. Central nervous system toxicity is caused by short exposure to high partial pressures of oxygen at greater than atmospheric pressure. Pulmonary and ocular toxicity result from longer exposure to increased oxygen levels at normal pressure. Symptoms may include disorientation, breathing problems, and vision changes such as myopia. Prolonged exposure to above-normal oxygen partial pressures, or shorter exposures to very high partial pressures, can cause oxidative damage to cell membranes, collapse of the alveoli in the lungs, retinal detachment, and seizures. Oxygen toxicity is managed by reducing the exposure to increased oxygen levels. Studies show that, in the long term, a robust recovery from most types of oxygen toxicity is possible.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Protocols for avoidance of the effects of hyperoxia exist in fields where oxygen is breathed at higher-than-normal partial pressures, including underwater diving using compressed breathing gases, hyperbaric medicine, neonatal care and human spaceflight. These protocols have resulted in the increasing rarity of seizures due to oxygen toxicity, with pulmonary and ocular damage being mainly confined to the problems of managing premature infants.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: In recent years, oxygen has become available for recreational use in oxygen bars. The US Food and Drug Administration has warned those who have conditions such as heart or lung disease not to use oxygen bars. Scuba divers use breathing gases containing up to 100% oxygen, and should have specific training in using such gases.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: The effects of oxygen toxicity may be classified by the organs affected, producing three principal forms:


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Central nervous system oxygen toxicity can cause seizures, brief periods of rigidity followed by convulsions and unconsciousness, and is of concern to divers who encounter greater than atmospheric pressures. Pulmonary oxygen toxicity results in damage to the lungs, causing pain and difficulty in breathing. Oxidative damage to the eye may lead to myopia or partial detachment of the retina. Pulmonary and ocular damage are most likely to occur when supplemental oxygen is administered as part of a treatment, particularly to newborn infants, but are also a concern during hyperbaric oxygen therapy.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Oxidative damage may occur in any cell in the body but the effects on the three most susceptible organs will be the primary concern. It may also be implicated in damage to red blood cells (haemolysis), the liver, heart, endocrine glands (adrenal glands, gonads, and thyroid), or kidneys, and general damage to cells.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: In unusual circumstances, effects on other tissues may be observed: it is suspected that during spaceflight, high oxygen concentrations may contribute to bone damage. Hyperoxia can also indirectly cause carbon dioxide narcosis in patients with lung ailments such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or with central respiratory depression. Hyperventilation of atmospheric air at atmospheric pressures does not cause oxygen toxicity, because sea-level air has a partial pressure of oxygen of whereas toxicity does not occur below .


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Central nervous system oxygen toxicity manifests as symptoms such as visual changes (especially tunnel vision), ringing in the ears (tinnitus), nausea, twitching (especially of the face), behavioural changes (irritability, anxiety, confusion), and dizziness. This may be followed by a tonic–clonic seizure consisting of two phases: intense muscle contraction occurs for several seconds (tonic phase); followed by rapid spasms of alternate muscle relaxation and contraction producing convulsive jerking (clonic phase). The seizure ends with a period of unconsciousness (the postictal state). The onset of seizure depends upon the partial pressure of oxygen in the breathing gas and exposure duration. However, exposure time before onset is unpredictable, as tests have shown a wide variation, both amongst individuals, and in the same individual from day to day. In addition, many external factors, such as underwater immersion, exposure to cold, and exercise will decrease the time to onset of central nervous system symptoms. Decrease of tolerance is closely linked to retention of carbon dioxide. Other factors, such as darkness and caffeine, increase tolerance in test animals, but these effects have not been proven in humans.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Pulmonary toxicity symptoms result from an inflammation that starts in the airways leading to the lungs and then spreads into the lungs (tracheobronchial tree). The symptoms appear in the upper chest region (substernal and carinal regions). This begins as a mild tickle on inhalation and progresses to frequent coughing. If breathing increased partial pressures of oxygen continues, patients experience a mild burning on inhalation along with uncontrollable coughing and occasional shortness of breath (dyspnea). Physical findings related to pulmonary toxicity have included bubbling sounds heard through a stethoscope (bubbling rales), fever, and increased blood flow to the lining of the nose (hyperaemia of the nasal mucosa). X-rays of the lungs show little change in the short term, but extended exposure leads to increasing diffuse shadowing throughout both lungs. Pulmonary function measurements are reduced, as noted by a reduction in the amount of air that the lungs can hold (vital capacity) and changes in expiratory function and lung elasticity. Tests in animals have indicated a variation in tolerance similar to that found in central nervous system toxicity, as well as significant variations between species. When the exposure to oxygen above is intermittent, it permits the lungs to recover and delays the onset of toxicity.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: In premature babies, signs of damage to the eye (retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP) are observed via an ophthalmoscope as a demarcation between the vascularised and non-vascularised regions of an infant's retina. The degree of this demarcation is used to designate four stages: (I) the demarcation is a line; (II) the demarcation becomes a ridge; (III) growth of new blood vessels occurs around the ridge; (IV) the retina begins to detach from the inner wall of the eye (choroid).


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Oxygen toxicity is caused by exposure to oxygen at partial pressures greater than those to which the body is normally exposed. This occurs in three principal settings: underwater diving, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and the provision of supplemental oxygen, particularly to premature infants. In each case, the risk factors are markedly different.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Exposures, from minutes to a few hours, to partial pressures of oxygen above —about eight times normal atmospheric partial pressure—are usually associated with central nervous system oxygen toxicity and are most likely to occur among patients undergoing hyperbaric oxygen therapy and divers. Since sea level atmospheric pressure is about , central nervous system toxicity can only occur under hyperbaric conditions, where ambient pressure is above normal. Divers breathing air at depths beyond face an increasing risk of an oxygen toxicity "hit" (seizure). Divers breathing a gas mixture enriched with oxygen, such as nitrox, can similarly have a seizure at shallower depths, should they descend below the maximum operating depth allowed for the mixture.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: The lungs and the remainder of the respiratory tract are exposed to the highest concentration of oxygen in the human body and are therefore the first organs to show toxicity. Pulmonary toxicity occurs only with exposure to partial pressures of oxygen greater than , corresponding to an oxygen fraction of 50% at normal atmospheric pressure. The earliest signs of pulmonary toxicity begin with evidence of tracheobronchitis, or inflammation of the upper airways, after an asymptomatic period between 4 and 22 hours at greater than 95% oxygen, with some studies suggesting symptoms usually begin after approximately 14 hours at this level of oxygen.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: At partial pressures of oxygen of —100% oxygen at 2 to 3 times atmospheric pressure—these symptoms may begin as early as 3 hours after exposure to oxygen. Experiments on rats breathing oxygen at pressures between suggest that pulmonary manifestations of oxygen toxicity may not be the same for normobaric conditions as they are for hyperbaric conditions. Evidence of decline in lung function as measured by pulmonary function testing can occur as quickly as 24 hours of continuous exposure to 100% oxygen, with evidence of diffuse alveolar damage and the onset of acute respiratory distress syndrome usually occurring after 48 hours on 100% oxygen. Breathing 100% oxygen also eventually leads to collapse of the alveoli (atelectasis), while—at the same partial pressure of oxygen—the presence of significant partial pressures of inert gases, typically nitrogen, will prevent this effect.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Preterm newborns are known to be at higher risk for bronchopulmonary dysplasia with extended exposure to high concentrations of oxygen. Other groups at higher risk for oxygen toxicity are patients on mechanical ventilation with exposure to levels of oxygen greater than 50%, and patients exposed to chemicals that increase risk for oxygen toxicity such the chemotherapeutic agent bleomycin. Therefore, current guidelines for patients on mechanical ventilation in intensive care recommends keeping oxygen concentration less than 60%. Likewise, divers who undergo treatment of decompression sickness are at increased risk of oxygen toxicity as treatment entails exposure to long periods of oxygen breathing under hyperbaric conditions, in addition to any oxygen exposure during the dive.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Prolonged exposure to high inspired fractions of oxygen causes damage to the retina. Damage to the developing eye of infants exposed to high oxygen fraction at normal pressure has a different mechanism and effect from the eye damage experienced by adult divers under hyperbaric conditions. Hyperoxia may be a contributing factor for the disorder called retrolental fibroplasia or retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in infants. In preterm infants, the retina is often not fully vascularised. Retinopathy of prematurity occurs when the development of the retinal vasculature is arrested and then proceeds abnormally. Associated with the growth of these new vessels is fibrous tissue (scar tissue) that may contract to cause retinal detachment. Supplemental oxygen exposure, while a risk factor, is not the main risk factor for development of this disease. Restricting supplemental oxygen use does not necessarily reduce the rate of retinopathy of prematurity, and may raise the risk of hypoxia-related systemic complications.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Hyperoxic myopia has occurred in closed circuit oxygen rebreather divers with prolonged exposures. It also occurs frequently in those undergoing repeated hyperbaric oxygen therapy. This is due to an increase in the refractive power of the lens, since axial length and keratometry readings do not reveal a corneal or length basis for a myopic shift. It is usually reversible with time.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: A possible side effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy is the initial or further development of cataracts, which are a increase in opacity of the lens of the eye which reduces visual acuity, and can eventually result in blindness. This is a rare event, associated with lifetime exposure to raised oxygen concentration, and may be under-reported as it develops very slowly. The cause is not fully understood, but evidence suggests that raised oxygen levels may cause accelerated deterioration of the vitreous humour due to degradation of lens crystallins by cross-linking, forming aggregates capable of scattering light. This may be an end-state development of the more commonly observed myopic shift associated with hyperbaric treatment.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: The biochemical basis for the toxicity of oxygen is the partial reduction of oxygen by one or two electrons to form reactive oxygen species, which are natural by-products of the normal metabolism of oxygen and have important roles in cell signalling. One species produced by the body, the superoxide anion (), is possibly involved in iron acquisition. Higher than normal concentrations of oxygen lead to increased levels of reactive oxygen species. Oxygen is necessary for cell metabolism, and the blood supplies it to all parts of the body. When oxygen is breathed at high partial pressures, a hyperoxic condition will rapidly spread, with the most vascularised tissues being most vulnerable. During times of environmental stress, levels of reactive oxygen species can increase dramatically, which can damage cell structures and produce oxidative stress.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: While all the reaction mechanisms of these species within the body are not yet fully understood, one of the most reactive products of oxidative stress is the hydroxyl radical (), which can initiate a damaging chain reaction of lipid peroxidation in the unsaturated lipids within cell membranes. High concentrations of oxygen also increase the formation of other free radicals, such as nitric oxide, peroxynitrite, and trioxidane, which harm DNA and other biomolecules. Although the body has many antioxidant systems such as glutathione that guard against oxidative stress, these systems are eventually overwhelmed at very high concentrations of free oxygen, and the rate of cell damage exceeds the capacity of the systems that prevent or repair it. Cell damage and cell death then result.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Diagnosis of central nervous system oxygen toxicity in divers prior to seizure is difficult as the symptoms of visual disturbance, ear problems, dizziness, confusion and nausea can be due to many factors common to the underwater environment such as narcosis, congestion and coldness. However, these symptoms may be helpful in diagnosing the first stages of oxygen toxicity in patients undergoing hyperbaric oxygen therapy. In either case, unless there is a prior history of epilepsy or tests indicate hypoglycaemia, a seizure occurring in the setting of breathing oxygen at partial pressures greater than suggests a diagnosis of oxygen toxicity.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Diagnosis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in newborn infants with breathing difficulties is difficult in the first few weeks. However, if the infant's breathing does not improve during this time, blood tests and x-rays may be used to confirm bronchopulmonary dysplasia. In addition, an echocardiogram can help to eliminate other possible causes such as congenital heart defects or pulmonary arterial hypertension.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: The diagnosis of retinopathy of prematurity in infants is typically suggested by the clinical setting. Prematurity, low birth weight, and a history of oxygen exposure are the principal indicators, while no hereditary factors have been shown to yield a pattern.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: The prevention of oxygen toxicity depends entirely on the setting. Both underwater and in space, proper precautions can eliminate the most pernicious effects. Premature infants commonly require supplemental oxygen to treat complications of preterm birth. In this case prevention of bronchopulmonary dysplasia and retinopathy of prematurity must be carried out without compromising a supply of oxygen adequate to preserve the infant's life.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Oxygen toxicity is a catastrophic hazard in scuba diving, because a seizure results in high risk of death by drowning. The seizure may occur suddenly and with no warning symptoms. The effects are sudden convulsions and unconsciousness, during which victims can lose their regulator and drown. One of the advantages of a full-face diving mask is prevention of regulator loss in the event of a seizure. Mouthpiece retaining straps are a relatively inexpensive alternative with a similar but less effective function. As there is an increased risk of central nervous system oxygen toxicity on deep dives, long dives and dives where oxygen-rich breathing gases are used, divers are taught to calculate a maximum operating depth for oxygen-rich breathing gases, and cylinders containing such mixtures should be clearly marked with that depth.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: The risk of seizure appears to be a function of dose – a cumulative combination of partial pressure and duration. The threshold for oxygen partial pressure below which seizures never occur has not been established, and may depend on many variables, some of them personal. the risk to a specific person can vary considerably depending on individual sensitivity, level of exercise, and carbon dioxide retention, which is influenced by work of breathing.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: In some diver training courses for these types of diving, divers are taught to plan and monitor what is called the 'oxygen clock' of their dives. This is a notional alarm clock, which ticks more quickly at increased oxygen pressure and is set to activate at the maximum single exposure limit recommended in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Diving Manual. For the following partial pressures of oxygen the limits are: 45 minutes at , 120 minutes at , 150 minutes at , 180 minutes at and 210 minutes at , but it is impossible to predict with any reliability whether or when toxicity symptoms will occur. Many nitrox-capable dive computers calculate an oxygen loading and can track it across multiple dives. The aim is to avoid activating the alarm by reducing the partial pressure of oxygen in the breathing gas or by reducing the time spent breathing gas of greater oxygen partial pressure. As the partial pressure of oxygen increases with the fraction of oxygen in the breathing gas and the depth of the dive, the diver obtains more time on the oxygen clock by diving at a shallower depth, by breathing a less oxygen-rich gas, or by shortening the duration of exposure to oxygen-rich gases. This function is provided by some technical diving decompression computers and rebreather control and monitoring hardware.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Diving below on air would expose a diver to increasing danger of oxygen toxicity as the partial pressure of oxygen exceeds , so a gas mixture must be used which contains less than 21% oxygen (a hypoxic mixture). Increasing the proportion of nitrogen is not viable, since it would produce a strongly narcotic mixture. However, helium is not narcotic, and a usable mixture may be blended either by completely replacing nitrogen with helium (the resulting mix is called heliox), or by replacing part of the nitrogen with helium, producing a trimix.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Pulmonary oxygen toxicity is an entirely avoidable event while diving. The limited duration and naturally intermittent nature of most diving makes this a relatively rare (and even then, reversible) complication for divers. Established guidelines enable divers to calculate when they are at risk of pulmonary toxicity. In saturation diving it can be avoided by limiting the oxygen content of gas in living areas to below 0.4 bar.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: The presence of a fever or a history of seizure is a relative contraindication to hyperbaric oxygen treatment. The schedules used for treatment of decompression illness allow for periods of breathing air rather than 100% oxygen (oxygen breaks) to reduce the chance of seizure or lung damage. The U.S. Navy uses treatment tables based on periods alternating between 100% oxygen and air. For example, USN table 6 requires 75 minutes (three periods of 20 minutes oxygen/5 minutes air) at an ambient pressure of , equivalent to a depth of . This is followed by a slow reduction in pressure to over 30 minutes on oxygen. The patient then remains at that pressure for a further 150 minutes, consisting of two periods of 15 minutes air/60 minutes oxygen, before the pressure is reduced to atmospheric over 30 minutes on oxygen.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Vitamin E and selenium were proposed and later rejected as a potential method of protection against pulmonary oxygen toxicity. There is however some experimental evidence in rats that vitamin E and selenium aid in preventing "in vivo" lipid peroxidation and free radical damage, and therefore prevent retinal changes following repetitive hyperbaric oxygen exposures.


title: Oxygen toxicity

text: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia is reversible in the early stages by use of break periods on lower pressures of oxygen, but it may eventually result in irreversible lung injury if allowed to progress to severe damage. One or two days of exposure without oxygen breaks are needed to cause such damage.