Henry Jekyll

## Dr. Henry Jekyll

Jekyll's first appearance.

> *"Even **I** have monstrous things about me!"*
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> *"Oh, sure, right."*
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> *"Don't give me that! You haven't seen me before my morning cup of tea!"*
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> - Jekyll and Jasper (Ch2, p27)
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Henry Jekyll is the main character of The Glass Scientists, founder of The Society for Arcane Sciences, and the Senior Neoalchemist of the Society. By day, he runs the Society and maintains relations with London's upper crust, but by night, he doubles as his alter ego, Edward Hyde, manifestation of what he believes his inner 'evil' to be, a part of himself he doesn't yet fully understand.

## Appearance

Henry's design is based mostly on the 1920 silent film adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, primarily John Barrymore's Jekyll's hair.

He has wavy dark brown hair with neatly kept sideburns, and his forelock tends to cover his right eye. He has amber red eyes and an aquiline nose, as well as thick eyebrows with notably arched tails. He most often wears rich tailored clothes in black, white, and red with gold accents, most often a white high collared shirt with its collar tucked under a red cravat, a red double breasted waistcoat with gold buttons, black slacks, and dress shoes. In public, he also additionally wears a black cloak with gold buttons, a black top hat with a red ribbon, and white spats over his shoes, as to give the utmost impression of high society.

In his first appearance, Jasper notes that he smells distinctly of peppermint. This may be attributed to the fact that he was Hyde not minutes before, and may have wanted to smell a little less like the East end.

## Personality

Henry Jekyll is a generally secretive and cautious man. He has earned the status of socialite, thanks to the lessons in etiquette afforded to him by his best friend(love intrest), Robert Lanyon. Charismatic and silver tongued, he's incredibly reputable within the community as a gentleman doctor and philanthropist - a reputation he is very fearful of losing for his own (or Hyde's) carelessness. He always keeps not only his own image in mind, but that of the Society and its members, for any little sordid secret could cost them all everything.

Thus he tries to balance keeping order and his interpersonal reputations, balance his responsibilities as an authority figure and liable party as the Society's founder, while still maintaining his reputation as a trustworthy and approachable help within the Society. This, of course, only succeeds to varying and often declining degrees.

In private and familiar company, he's often one for jokes and the arts, still polite and often maternal, though as shown with Rachel's introduction for example, he's definitely not too posh to poke fun or enjoy a laugh if he's able. He values his friends dearly, and though he keeps many secrets from everyone, including them, he cares deeply about what they think of him, and truly does it out of care (and of course, caution), believing it for the best.

## Trivia

* Jekyll tends to get very little sleep, not only due to being a severe insomniac, but also due in part to him letting Hyde out late into the night.
* He's in fact noted to take rather poor care of his health in general, having a meal-skipping problem that's often left to Hyde to make up for.
* He went through a period of deep depression and alcoholism before creating Hyde, a difficult and still worrying time that Lanyon and Rachel both helped him through to the best of their abilities.
* Jekyll often day-drinks, preferring to drink red wine (which appears to be a type of cabernet sauvignon).
* He has a distinct admiration for the supernatural, and notably, werewolves.
	+ A past lover of his, Morcant, a werewolf he met in his freshman year of college, comes up from time to time as a significant figure of his past. He seldom speaks about her, not even and especially to Lanyon, but has shared about her in confidence to Rachel.
* Jekyll had an interest in science from the time he was a child, inspired by stories about Frankenstein. The original memoire still means a lot to him as an inspiration as an adult..
* There are rumors around the Society that Jekyll and Hyde are having an affair, what with how Hyde is constantly seen slipping in and out of Jekyll's office.

## Quotes

> *"Well, what if I told you there was a place just for people like you? A place where you could share your passion for rogue science without fear, free from the tyranny of the mob **and** the judging eye of the academy?"*
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> - (Ch2, p5)
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> *"So, it's like a club for mad scientists?"*
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> *"I prefer **rogue** scientists. Takes the edge off of it."*
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> - Jasper and Jekyll (Ch2, p6)
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> *"But that doesn't matter now. The Society lives or dies by **my** reputation. If I'm seen there - if I make one single mistake - everyone here goes straight to hell with me."*
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> - (Ch2, p36)
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> *"Ah. And will I ever be able to eat alone again, or is that right out?"*
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> *"Do you want these people's money or not?"*
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> *"sigh... I suppose I do."*
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> - Jekyll and Lanyon (Ch3, p11)
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> *"This is a serious question. When was the last time you slept?"*
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> *"I don't remember!"*
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> - Lanyon and Jekyll (Ch5, pg5)
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## Gallery

1. ↑ Question Meme answer posted September 7th, 2015 on the official Glass Scientists Tumblr.