The Elder

* JW4
* JW3

*"Your ring is gone, like the Elder before me. And if you came here thinking you could end this by killing me, then you are mistaken. My death will not change the outcome any more than you can change your nature. None of us can escape who we are, and no one escapes the Table. And the only way John Wick will ever have freedom or peace, now or ever, is in death."*
—Elder to John Wick[src]
**The Elder**, also known as **"The One who sits above the Table"**, was the enigmatic and all-powerful leader of the High Table who resided in the deserts of Morocco. The Elder is considered to be the most powerful individual in the international criminal underworld, and has a level of authority superior to those who have a seat at the Table. He is an antagonist in *John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum* and *John Wick: Chapter 4*.

## Biography

### *John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum*

*"Never seen a man fight so hard to end up back where he started."*
—Elder to John Wick[src]
On the run from the High Table following his killing of Santino D'Antonio, John Wick traveled to the Moroccan desert and followed the Canis Minor constellation to find the Elder in order to seek penance. After passing out from dehydration, John is found by some of the Elder's men and brought to his tent, where the Elder has John presented to him.

After John woke up, the Elder asked him why he wished to live to which John replied that it was because he wished to remember his late wife Helen. The Elder told him that his excommunicado status and bounty would be revoked on the sole condition that he kills Winston Scott, who had refused to show fealty to the High Table and give up his position as manager of the New York Continental, and that he will serve the High Table for the rest of his life.

The Elder has a board with a chisel and hammer on it handed to John and asked him to demonstrate his fealty. John then severed his finger with the chisel and gave his wedding ring on the finger to the Elder. His wound was cauterized to stop the bleeding. John reluctantly accepted the mission and was led into a room in the Elder's tent where a new suit is waiting for him to help him carry out the task.

### *John Wick: Chapter 4*

*"I'm afraid you've come a very long way for nothing."
"Yeah... not really."*
—Elder and John Wick[src]
After several months of recovery, John began his plan to dismantle the High Table. The first step was a visit to Morocco, where he encounters and dispatches the Elder's guards. John then finds that the previous Elder had retired and was replaced by another. When John requested the return of his wedding ring, the new Elder informed him, "Your ring is gone, like the Elder before me." He reminded John that killing him would only worsen his predicament and would end neither his excommunicado status nor his bounty of $15 million. When he told John that death was the only way for him to finally regain his freedom and find peace, and taunted that the hitman had come a long way for nothing, John stood up and shot the Elder in the head before making his way back to New York.

In retaliation for the Elder's murder, the twelve members of the High Table granted carte blanche authority to Vincent Bisset de Gramont to eliminate John. The Marquis's strategy involved a brutal crackdown on John's allies to isolate him and draw him out. Winston was declared excommunicado, and Charon, John's foster father Pyotr, and John's longtime friend Koji Shimazu were killed, all as a result of this campaign. John ultimately ended the threat posed by the Marquis by challenging him to a formal High Table duel. When John prevailed, he earned his freedom from any and all obligations to the High Table, which included its vendetta against him, but this came seemingly at the cost of his own life.

## Abilities

*"Complete a task for us, and your Excommunicado will be reversed. The open contract closed, you would be permitted to continue to live."*
—Elder to John Wick[src]
* **Master Networker**: As the most powerful individual of the underworld, the Elder has powerful connections throughout the globe and has the supreme authority to lift open contracts and revoke a person's excommunicado status.
* **Bilingualism**: The first Elder spoke English and Arabic.

## Trivia

* They are the main antagonist of the *John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum* and a posthumous antagonist of *John Wick: Chapter 4*.

## Gallery

The Elder is visited by John Wick in his camp in the Moroccan desertJohn Wick approaches a different Elder in his campThe Elder tarot card