Quinn

**Quinn** was a Baron of the Badlands. He was the main antagonist of Season one and two of Into the Badlands. He was the husband of Lydia, the late Beatrice, and was betrothed to Jade. With his first wife Lydia, he was the father of Ryder. His signature weapon was the Modified European Longsword.

## Character description

*“Ruthless, enigmatic, shrewd and charming, Quinn is the Badlands’ preeminent Baron. A former Clipper, Quinn secured his position the old-fashioned way: he killed for it, murdering the very Baron who trained him. Given his own trajectory, it’s not surprising that Quinn spares no expense to ensure the satisfaction of his Clippers, who constitute the largest, best-trained and best-outfitted army in the Badlands. For three decades, Quinn has consistently outflanked and outmaneuvered his fellow Barons to keep the upper hand. But the political winds are shifting and Quinn is no longer a young man; his aura of invincibility is fading. However, Quinn will not go down without a fight and his desperation to maintain control makes him even more dangerous.”*l
## Personality

Being one of the most powerful barons in the Badlands Quinn is incredibly ruthless and egotistical in his approach to politics. Despite his formidable status as a fighter and warrior leader Quinn is an old man and his years have begun to wear on him. Ever since his tumor was first discovered by Veil's father, Quinn has slowly begun to lose his mind and has begun to see visions and voices through the madness that plagues him. In his madness he even slaughtered his own son and has killed numerous people just for slighting him in the least . It has also been shown that Quinn has developed a very nihilistic nature and has let people try to kill him, most likely from his insanity or it is from the guilt that he secretly possesses for banishing Lydia and murdering his son?
Despite his general dislike for Ryder, Quinn has shown that he did care about him and was distraught when he killed him. He also holds feelings of love for his former wife Lydia as she was the one who supported him the most in his reign as Baron.

## Early Life

While the subject of Quinn's childhood and rise to power have been largely untouched subjects in the TV show, a series prologue comic released by AMC's "Into the Badlands" website provides a decently constructed backstory for this complex character.

Quinn was a young Cog tasked with working in the fields and tending to the Baron's private gardens, alongside his father. His mother is not in the picture for unknown reasons, but his father is shown to be a very meek and caring man, who tries to raise Quinn to be a good Cog, mind his place and keep his head down.

From an early age, Quinn refused to accept his fate as a member of society's lowest class; even going as far as to insult his father directly for being weak and sheepishly obedient to a system built on their suffering. Nonetheless, his father tries hard to protect him and keep him in line. –– One day, Quinn and his father are tending to the harvest in the Baron's private gardens and come across beautiful ears of corn. Quinn steals one, causing the Baron's Clippers to later accost he and his father, as their delivery to the kitchens was short. Of course, Quinn is caught by the Baron's Regent, Corro, and threatened with a whipping. His father steps in and lies to Corro, insisting that as Quinn's father, his son was obeying his orders to steal from the garden. Although Corro acknowledges he knows this is a lie, he proceeds to beat Quinn's father to death, forcing him to watch. This event is shown as a part of Quinn's main motivation to take power and become strong. Sometime after his father's murder, he confronts his Baron directly, demanding he be taken on as a Colt, which his Baron refuses, citing that he is too small and impudent to be a part of his fighting force. As usual, Quinn persists. Finally, the Baron agrees to let him demonstrate his skills in the ring; hoping to end Quinn's bothersome persistence, he pits him against the biggest Colt in the ranks. Quinn defeats him, but when his opponent is on his last legs, he fails to deliver the final blow, looking to the Baron for permission. The Baron cheers for him to end the fight and Quinn kills the Colt, gleefully awaiting the Baron to deliver on his promise. Instead, the Baron congratulates him on his victory and orders Corro to have the help to give him a bath and a hot meal, then send him back to work in the fields. When Quinn tries to hold the Baron accountable for his 'promise,' he gives Quinn the words upon which he built his barony, that "power is not given, it is taken." And tells him the reason for him still being unworthy of a position as one of his Colts, is that he didn't take initiative and kill his opponent, he asked for permission. Sometime later, Quinn plots to persuade the Baron once and for all that he is worthy. In town, finds Corro with a Doll and murders him, taking his severed head back to the Fort with him. He crashes the Baron's family dinner, and hurls the severed head onto the table. Instead of being angered at the assassination of his Regent, the Baron at last sees Quinn's savagery and potential and makes him a Colt, beginning his rise to power.

## Skills/Abilities

Often leaders aren't exceptional fighters and rely on far stronger and able soldiers to do their bidding, not so with Quinn. We see when he does fight he is unrivalled and is never convincingly defeated in the show, even by Sunny. His first duel is with the Widow as revenge for attempting to kill Ryder, while not displaying the grace and finesse of the Widow he was more than her match, with second to none swordsmanship coupled with brute force and a berserker attitude where he will even grab a sword head on at the blade to gain an advantage. His pain tolerance and resilience is second to none, surviving somehow from seemingly mortal wounds at the cost of his enemies not cutting him to pieces to make sure he is finished. In his duel with Sunny in the season 2 finale he displays more agility than previously and fights with a pair of sai for a time, demonstrating more than being just raw power. His weapon of choice is the broadsword, even with his lunacy he has many loyalists, it's hard to say if it's Quinn's strength and ruthlessness inspiring them or scaring them into unquestionable loyalty.

* **Hand-to-hand combat/Martial arts**: As previously stated, Quinn's skill in combat is mostly unrivaled. He is the only character in the series to have the upper hand in all of his fights, even with The Widow and Sunny. His brutal and ruthless attitude carries into his clipper force, which is the largest, strongest, and most feared in all of the Badlands.
* **Swordsmanship/weaponry**: Quinn is the only non-gifted character in the whole series to not lose one sword fight (when he was not affected by his migraines or already injured). He almost killed The Widow, held his own against Sunny even while injured, and even was able to fight Baron Jacobee while killing Jacobee's clippers during the same fight when he was outnumbered.
* **Pain tolerance**: Quinn was shown being able to fight with Sunny quite well while being injured. He has been stabbed multiple times but still managed to live and keep his rule.
* **Maneuverability**: While not being able to be as acrobatic as Sunny or Minerva due to his larger size, Quinn is able to move quickly and evade and block many attacks from his opponents and often faster than his enemies.
* **Master of manipulation**: He is able to manipulate many people into fighting for him, fighting someone else for him, or to just do whatever he wants. He has shown on many occasions to mentally strain Lydia, Veil, Ryder, Jade, even sometimes Sunny.
* **Businessman/Powerful ruler**: Quinn has demonstrated that he will do whatever it takes to keep whats his or get what he wants, even if it means killing or harsh punishment. He took Minerva's oil fields by force and forced his cogs to work hard on the poppy fields as well as keeping his clipper force extremely disciplined. His rule was never questioned and whatever he said went. Due to his ruthlessness and lack of care for others, many people refused to disobey him or cause him to be skeptical. He was also able to rule over two territories and was still able to keep control of both for a good period of time.
* **Military/War preparation**: Having the largest and most aggressive clipper force, and even greatest regents in not only Sunny but also Waldo in his prime, Quinn didn't have to worry about attacks from other barons as much because they respected him and did not risk attacking his territory. However, Quinn still was mastermind and worked out many plans to use against his enemies. While maybe not being as strategic or realistic in war tactics, like The Widow or even Baron Chau, Quinn's brutal force and fearless wave of clippers was enough to keep his enemies at bay.

## Trivia

* Quinn has small yet easily visible spikes protruding from either edge of his sword, making it the most unique blade design seen to date.
* His first kill as a Clipper was a rival Regent, seeing how Regents are often the most skilled fighter a Baron has command of, this is an extraordinary feat for a new Clipper.
* Quinn has a habit of saying "hmm" in most of his sentences, giving him a slightly inquisitive manner of speaking.
* Quinn used to be a cog before becoming a baron, this was confirmed by Baron Chau in "Palm of the Iron Fox" when she and Minerva were trying to come to a conclusion before the conclave.
* Despite being a former cog, Quinn shows no interest in liberating cogs or giving them a fair life. He is as ruthless and power hungry as any of baron, probably even more so.
* He is the only character on screen who has had 3 wives (Lydia, Beatrice and Veil). He was a father to Ryder and Henry (adoptive) after presuming the death of Sunny, his real father: he wanted both of them to become his successor.

## Gallery

Quinn's appearance in Season oneQuinn with his Regent Sunny and ClippersQuinn's appearance in Season two
## Appearances

Season 1
* "The Fort"
* "Fist Like a Bullet"
* "White Stork Spreads Wings"
* "Two Tigers Subdue Dragons"
* "Snake Creeps Down"
* "Hand of Five Poisons"

Season 2
* "Tiger Pushes Mountain"
* "Force of Eagle's Claw"
* "Red Sun, Silver Moon"
* "Palm of the Iron Fox"
* "Monkey Leaps Through Mist"
* "Leopard Stalks in Snow"
* "Black Heart, White Mountain"
* "Sting of the Scorpion's Tail"
* "Nightingale Sings No More"
* "Wolf's Breath, Dragon Fire"

## References

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