Alistair Lowe

Alistair Lowe (artbreeder)

> "He was one year younger than Hendry, a good deal more powerful, and a great deal more wicked." - Alistair Lowe (on himself)
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Alistair Lowe is the first character introduced in Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman's *All of Us Villains.* He is the current Champion of the Lowe family.

## Appearance

Alistair is described as looking not unlike his brother, Hendry, though he wears their features differently. He has pale skin, the fault of too much time indoors, grey eyes said to be the colour of cigarette ashes, and his hair-line comes down in a sharp widow's peak over his forehead. He always wears sweaters because he is perpetually cold.

## Personality

Alistair likes to be seen as the villain. In his words, he played the part perfectly "not because he was instinctively cruel or openly proud, but because, sometimes, he liked to…” Sharp-tongued and content being perceived as a monster, Alistair's faults lie in his studies and perception. He struggles with crafting curses and is constantly making mistakes, and because of this, he's often berated for it by his grandmother. Alistair feels the need to prove himself to his family, specifically the eldest Lowe woman, as he thinks he doesn't meet the expectations they have for him and doesn't want to be the first Lowe to fail in the tournament in decades. He's insecure in that he doesn't believe he's very good at anything unless he uses magick to achieve it—he would rather flay his own skin than face his grandmother's disappointment.

When it comes to the tournament, Alistair is not afraid of dying. Instead, he is afraid of losing his mind. The Lowe family victor's have always come back changed, broken in a way, and he doesn't want that fate.

## Biography

### Early Life

Alongside his elder brother, Alistair was homeschooled from a young age. His family wanted to keep their faces out of the public eye, fully aware of the town's animosity towards them. Before the tournament was announced to the public by *A* *Tradition of Tragedy*, the people believed the Lowe's were cruel because of their wealth and reclusively, but now they know the truth of the danger that lurks behind them, and why the town's mayor is willing to bend to their word.

### All Of Us Villains

Alistair and his brother sneak out after nightfall to get a drink at Magpie pub. There, they encounter Isobel Macaslan, another champion competing in the tournament. Alistair and his brother's photos are taken and published in the paper the next day.

Alistair believes his grandmother hates him because he is the family's best option in the tournament, but he's not good enough for that role. She puts him through tests that he sometimes fails, and her disappointment is grating. Prior to the Tournament, he ordered a number of spells from the local spell-makers to help him study, such as Focus Helper, Espresso Shot, and Distractions-Be-Gone. It is inferred, though never outright stated, that he has some sort of learning disability.

Approximately two weeks before the tournament, Alistair is sent to get a flask of high magick from the vault beneath the Lowe estate as a test from his grandmother. After realizing that he must use his own blood to open the door of the vault, he uses a spell meant for turning pages to slice back layers of his skin in order to open the door. Although he successfully retrieves a flask of magic from the vault, his grandmother is still disappointed in him, berating him for not having curses on him. She tells him to "use [the magick] to craft a Vintner's Plague," a spell "equivalent of a wicked hangover." Alistair describes it as "a petty curse by his grandmother's standards...but if she wanted it made with high magick [he] pitied the intended victim."

Later, after being healed by his brother, Hendry, Alistair crafts the spell his grandmother requested. Once it is evening, he goes to meet with the curse- and spellmakers of Ilvernath, carrying the Vintner's Plague. Alistair knows that these "guests" are only here because his grandmother threatened them. Each of the spellmakers gives Alistair a variety of curses and spells for the tournament. When one of the spellmakers presents spells that Alistair's grandma considers pitiful, she accuses him of not giving them the best they have to offer. When the spellmaker argues back, eventually attacking them, Alistair attacks back with the Vintner's Plague. The spellmaker ***almost*** dies quite gruesomely, because Alistair messed up the crafting of the spell.

## Skills and Abilities

Alistair is powerful, but he struggled with studying crafting spells. However, he is a very powerful caster.

## Trivia

* As a child, Alistair had once had lewd fantasies about a villain in a children's cartoon named Manticore. He wrote about it in his diary, which was later confiscated by the Curse Division.
* Currently, Gavin Grieve, along with Alistair Lowe, are the only confirmed LGBTQ+ characters in the series, besides Abigail and Pamela Blair, Finley Blair's moms, Liam and Kwane, Briony's old friends, and Elder Malvina Thorburn and her wife.