Baron Rivers

Baron Rivers, also referred to as Baron (or Mr. Rivers by Molly) is a reoccurring character in the SHTM series, debuting in ParaMollnan. Prior to his death; he was a poet, and a poetical critic, he was known for writing dark pieces of literature- and often was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. After his death, Baron is forced to roam as a ghost, and is chained to another ghost- the ghost of George Braddock- whom Baron frequently argued with when he was alive. George also first appears in that same installment.
Background:
Baron Rivers was born on January 14th, 1805 in London, England. Not much is known about his family, other than his father was a schoolteacher. He wanted to educate his son with severity; and it really showed through his adulthood. Baron was placed in his father's English/Literature class in 7th Grade, and other than feeling embarrassed, he felt connected to the lessons that his father would teach- especially in poetry. Something in the subject just made him understand the world.
In his 30's or 40's, he had begun to read the gothic literature of Edgar Allan Poe; and as he was doing so, it aspired him to write his own gothic literature. His first formal writing was "The Hanged"; the story of a teenage girl, barely surviving through the Salem Witch Trials. As an author, Baron liked to emphasize the concept of death. The first sentence in his book, "Death is the inevitable, we cannot escape it, even if we try", resonated with him the most, as well as his readers. 
The novel became a hit, and as such, Baron published other works of historical gothic fiction; as well as writing his first literary critique, "Nevermore", a poetical critique, as well as literary analysis on Poe's famous work; "The Raven". Baron claims that although "The Hanged" resonated the most with his readers, "Nevermore" was his favorite to write, because not only did it have positive reviews from critics and scholars alike, but it was his favorite to write. "Simply analyzing Poe's text was enough to send shivers down my own spine...well...when I still had one.", he claims to Molly in one installment, "He was my idol, and a high inspiration for most of my work. The intellect and severity in which I had written that book was like a furious fire had burned inside of me, and I hadn't felt that way about my writing before...I knew it was destined to be a hit."
Baron was right, as the critique was his best seller, and it was through that book that Baron had gotten his first love letter.
A couple of years had gone by through the release of his critique, and Baron was in his 60's. He was tired, anguished, and ready to retire from writing, when he had gotten a letter from a young woman by the name of Maria Leife, who had a dream to become an aspiring novelist. He had gotten a copy of "Nevermore" sent to his poorly built house, and Baron was surprised to see a thoughtfully written love letter nestled into the first page, instead of his own words. Since then, the two had started a romance, and even once in his life, he and Maria were at a literature ballroom, when they started dancing immediately. You could say everything was perfect; but there was one tiny problem...
Before writing to Baron, Maria was in an unhealthy relationship with a cranky drunkard named George Braddock. George would yell at Maria because of his constant drunkeness, and Maria thought it was healthy for them both to get a divorce. Baron found out about George through Maria, and said to her in comforting words, that she didn't deserve to go through that relationship and she should stay close to him. As said to Molly by his ghost, Baron had an unhealthy relationship with George as well, they were constantly fighting and bickering over who was a better match for her. Maria's brain ticked a wire, and she suddenly became very violent, to the point where she would smash her own windows, as said by Baron in a short story by Bluey for her LA assignment; "the windows were shattered, allowing the wind to wail and moan around the house like a lost soul". She felt as if the only way out of this relationship was to murder the two men; and one night in 1869, she had her chance. 
One night, George and Baron were invited to Maria's estate, claiming that she and Baron were "getting married", when Baron knew nothing about her saying ANYTHING about this event. The two men unknowingly wandered in, feeling rather suspicious. In the same short story; Baron describes the night he and George were killed as "an awfully dreadful night; the maiden (Maria)'s vast mansion, usually brimmed with light, was now dark and dank. It seemed as if I walked with the foe (George), the air seemed to have a chill". Because of the shattered windows, the wind crept through the house, allowing it to come inside. Baron said that while walking inside the house, he hesitated for a moment, "suddenly allowing the wind to blow at the long grey locks about my head". Out of the darkness, Maria stood with a dagger in hand, and Baron was absolutely terrified, but George was the opposite, he composed his terror, gritting his teeth. Maria then lunged at George first, and the two fought for a while, her dagger eventually scarring his left cheek while fighting. After some struggle, she stabbed George, and lunging, attempted to stab Baron with that same dagger, ultimately failing, stabbing him in the right side of his chest. The two men had fallen upon the floor, as soon as they both fell to the ground, George immediately dropped dead. In his final moments, Baron observed that George had been stabbed multiple times in the chest, causing his death. Suddenly, he jerked, moaning in pain, looking at his own body to discover that some of his own blood had been splattered on his ascot, which was now dried up. He then discovered that his chest grew crimson red with his own blood, and grew scared, angry and saddened all at once. He had wanted to write about how Maria had betrayed him, thinking he would survive the gruesome encounter. Unfortunately, that never happened, because seconds after discovering his own body smothered with blood, Baron Rivers had fallen dead. He had died in Maria's house, right next to George. After his death, Baron swore he could've heard crying- most likely from Maria. After both of the men died, Maria bound the two corpses with yards of heavy metal chains, binding them to their waists and elbows. She didn't do this to George- most likely because Maria loved Baron more than anything- she threw his long curly hair over his lifeless face, and buried the binded corpses in an unmarked gravesite. 
A day after they were buried, the two bickering men were forced to roam the Earth for eternity as ghosts, both suffering from a different fate. George is damned to stay connected towards Baron at all times- repenting for the times that the two were fighting over for Maria's attention like fools. As for Baron, he didn't need to be a ghost, but he chose to be one anyway, because he had felt doomed and restless without being with Maria. Their legend was heard by the faculty at Spirit Halloween, turning them into animatronic counterparts. They later came to the facility during the events of ParaMollNan.
During his lifetime, he had been friends with multiple writers and scholars, these being Wilfred Rinkley (business partner and detective story author), Marquis Bachmann (novelist and storyteller, played the piano as a side hustle) and Marlin Gadrow (College friend of Baron's, mythologist, writer, scholar of Greek and Roman Mythology). But the most unlikely friendship he had ever had in his life was with the friendship of Duke Clarke Hammel, a royal duke who enjoyed his storytelling and personality. As revealed in Battle Of the Bones, the duke had sent Baron a soft black cloak as a gift for coming to his castle, but ultimately, Baron declined the gift, saying that he had "more important matters to attend to". As a ghost, he regrets it because after that, he had never seen the duke again.
Appearances of this character are listed below....
ParaMollNan:
Baron isn't seen first thing in the installment, but three new arrivals happen to arrive at the facility in ParaMollNan (Toothy the Clown, the two Linked Together ghosts and Judge Hopkins). When the inhabitants look at the door, nobody seems to have arrived. Menacing Molly shrugs it off, saying they might have got scared and ran away, while Cerberus forces Molly to go into the 2023 dorms, because the new arrivals may be ghosts, and Molly could talk to them due to her "I see dead people, I see ghosts" policy. Sighing in irritation, Molly follows Cerberus's directions and goes into the dorm (after stopping to get a drink from her own 2017 dorm).
When Molly comes to the door, she hears a strange noise coming from the dorm. Not like a bang or a crash, but two voices. They weren't talking but moaning, as if like a ghost would in a horror movie. In between the moans, a soft masculine voice and a deep voice moan the name "Maria" (George's ex; Baron's future wife if she hadn't murdered him). Molly becomes confused, so she opens the door, and sees a terrible sight unfold before her. In the room were two pale white male ghosts; seeming as if they died in their 60's. They seemed to be linked/binded together at the waists and elbows. Their skin color was the same, and they both had piercing, soulless black eyes with green/yellow pupils. Shocked at the gothic girl who came into the room, the two ghosts fade away, disappearing, but Molly begs for them to stay, so they slowly reappear. The one on the left is shorter than the one on the right, having cuts and scars of multiple origins, as well as bloody gauze wrapped around his left wrist. It's collar is placed as normal, and it wore a white waistcoat and pants, an ascot, and a loosely tied greyish-blue bow around it's neck. It had black polished shoes, and it's chest was splattered with blood. It also had knotted, curly cream colored hair that ended to about it's shoulders. The one on the right is even worse in appearance, being taller than then one on the left. The attire was the same, the suit, shoes, everything, except for some differences. The ghost on the the right does not have any scars whatsoever, and it did not have a bow over it's neck. It's hair was somewhat curly, somewhat straight, and it had a salt white color to it. It's collar, unlike the on on the left, kicked up towards his neck, and swayed a bit in the wind. Its chest was also splattered with blood, both the ghosts had stab wounds. When Molly suddenly asks their names, the first one to ever speak is the one on the right, the taller one. He claimed that they were "Linked Together", which Molly states she can see due to their current predicament and the name on the box, however she wanted their real names before they died, since they were ghosts. The taller ghost claims that in life, he was Baron Rivers, a writer and poetic extraordinaire. He later introduces the one on the left as George Braddock. Molly's mother, Dahlia, was an avid fan of Baron's and read his poetic critique on "The Raven". Baron recalled that he recognized Dahlia, saying that she was "an avid fan of mine". 
When Molly brings up the stab wounds upon their chests, George severely hesitates, moaning in pain and saying "I don't want to talk about it." (This isn't the first time we see George being ignorant/arrogant, as seen in Battle Of the Bones), leaving Baron to tell the story of their deaths on his own. Molly then states that since Baron was a poet/writer in life, he must be a magnificent storyteller, to this, Baron blushes(?), saying "Thank you, you are too kind". Somewhat going off of the inspiration from Bluey's LA Assignment (a poem that Baron would write about his death), he rambles on about the relationship between him and Maria/George, describes the night he and George were killed, and why they both are chained, condemned to roam the earth as ghosts. George abruptly interrupts, calling their deaths "horrible", and Baron tiredly states (with George, yet again, interrupting) that if they aren't brought any peace in their circumstances, then the two ghostly men would roam the Earth for eternity, to never find rest or peace, before both of them moan sadly. After hearing this, Molly declares that something needs to be done, not only for them, but for the entire facility. 
When Addison Wilcott, Gale Temper and Will Bones intrude to look for Judge Hopkins, he runs away to his hometown of Blithe Hollow, leaving Molly to plead for volunteers to go with her to stop him from wreaking havoc. Molly ushers George and Baron to join her, to which George declines, but Coraline Jones asks if they REALLY want to go, because they don't have to if they don't want to. Barons seeks this as an opportunity to forget about the predicament he is in, and to at least have some peace of mind, so he says yes. 
When on the plane to Massachusetts, Addison sits next to Baron and George. She seems visibly freaked out at first because of the bloody chests+they are already dead, but Baron, in a formal and gentlemanly manner says to not be afraid of him or George, putting his transparent hand, clasped with George's wrist upon the seat to them. On the ride, Addison talks about her dead parents (this was all I had after ParaMollNan became cancelled in late 2023).
Battle Of the Bones:
TBA
Molly's Mansion
TBA
Appearance:
Baron's appearance went through multiple changes before his final design, conjured up in October of 2023. 
His first beta design (October-November 2022) was not entirely different from his final/canon design. Baron's eyes bags were more detailed, as wrinkles are present on his pale white face, showing how much he had aged from wandering the Earth restlessly for the last 153 years. Like George, his skin is a clear, yet pallid white. His eyes have a red "slit" line under them, being heavily inspired by the horror film "Crimson Peak". 
His hair is described as being curly, and "snow white", that feels freely, ending at about the tops of his shoulders. He wears a dirtied white suit with pants, which are just as dirty and changed in color, and unlike George, who's undershirt collar is placed as normal, Baron's collar is uneven and kicks up towards his neck. He used to kick up his collar in life to look like a "professional" writer, such as Shakespeare, or any other author of the era Baron had died in. Over his shoulders, buttoned, is a cloak of soft black velvet. The old design for Baron says nothing about his footwear, but we can assume he wore hard leather shoes, as did most men in the Victorian era. He has chains wrapped around his waist, along with his right arm and elbow, which he complains about, since Bluey confirmed Baron, when writing, was right-handed. 
Baron's next design went into effect as of late 2022. His attire is the same, however he ditches the black cloak, and his wrinkles had disappeared, Bluey saying "it was easier to determine". As for the cloak disappearing, Bluey wanted the stab wound to appear more and "pop" from his entire body, which is mostly white. His clothes are a dirtied color of white, now having a waistcoat, pants, and the same black leather shoes as the previous design did. His hair color and everything else is the same, including the placement of his chains. 
He has a now visible brown vest with darker brown buttons on it, and he now has a waistcoat, with ruffles coming from the sleeves (possible from his undershirt). Upon his chest is dried blood, and a deep red gash can be spotted, deep into the middle of his chest. This was probably where Maria had stabbed him, before it was moved to another side of his chest in another later design. Blood can be seen as splattered onto his ascot, as well as a dried dripping effect up until the first button of his vest, showing that his blood had drained out of him, even onto his own clothes.
The next redesign of Baron took place in late July of 2023, shortly before the ParaMollNan project was cancelled for good. He still retains his tall height, the placement of his stab wound is the same, only now his hair seems more flowing