John Constantine

**John Constantine** (born 10 May 1982) is an exorcist, demonologist and petty dabbler of the dark arts. Raised by an abusive father who blamed him for the death of his mother in childbirth John grew up highly cynical and cunning, and developed an interest in the dark arts. In his teenage years he was introduced into the occult world by Anne Marie, learned various spells and became an exorcist with the hopes of one day using his powers to resurrect his mother and John became a respected legends among the dabblers of magic. However one night John attempted an exorcism on a young girl named Astra by summoning the demon Nergal, only for the demon to kill Astra and drag her soul to Hell, damning her for eternity, an action which damned John's soul for Hell upon death. Overwhelmed with guilt John initially retired but after hearing of a Rising Darkness from the angel Manny, he returned to face this threat with Manny giving him hope that should he succeed his soul may be spared eternal damnation.

## Biography

### Early life

John was born in Liverpool, but his mother died giving birth to him. This caused his father to develop a deep resentment of John, blaming him for his mother's death, and called him "Killer" his whole life. Additionally whenever his father came home from drinking at the bar he would hit John in the face and remind him his mother died because of him.

During John's teenage years, he met a nun named Anne Marie, who introduced him into the occult world. The two also became lovers. John then began reading every book he could find on the occult, learning how to conjure dead beings to one day conjure his mother.

John also became friends with Chas Chandler

He also had a brutal encounter with sorcerer Felix Faust which he survived but left Faust with a grudge again him, and also heard of the voodoo priest Papa Midnite. He also heard of Damien Darhk, leader of H.I.V.E., and came to fear him so much he considered leaving whatever city he was seeking to destroy a preferable option to fighting him.

### Visit to Lian Yu

Seeking an object called the Orb of Horus, an ancient spell book, John traveled to Lian Yu to retrieve it but was caught by Baron Reiter's men and interrogated, violently. Conklin interrupted the interrogation to tell Reiter of an A.R.G.U.S. communications device he found and accuses newcomer Oliver Queen of being a spy. Reiter presented Oliver with a map John possessed and after confirming his knowledge of their locations, John performed a spell to free himself from his handcuffs and held Oliver at gunpoint and used him as leverage to escape Reiter's compound. He had Oliver forcibly take him to the area he sought and performed a spell to uncover the hidden passageway, much to Oliver's shock. Once inside they explored the cave where John explained that there are areas of the world as old as it including Lian Yu, possessing things corrupt men aren't supposed to have such as Reiter. John eventually found what he sought and retrieved it but set off a trap which Oliver saves him from being killed by, insisting he's not one of Reiter's men. After exiting the cave John thanked Oliver for saving his life and broke off the crystal off the rod to give to Reiter, as the rod itself is what contains the magic. John also warned Oliver about Reiter, insisting his narcotics aren't his only interest for being on the island. As insurance John also used the rod to transfer a spell on his arm onto Oliver's torso, insisted he'd know what to do when the time came and on Oliver's request, John punched him out cold as part of his "escape" and left on his boat, but would keep in contact.

### Incident at Newcastle

A demon possessed a girl named Astra, the daughter of a friend of John's and he and his friends Anne Marie Flynn, Gary Lester, Ritchie Simpson, Judith and Chas Chandler attempted to stop it. John however decided to summon a more powerful demon named Nergal and extort him into dragging the lesser demon back to Hell, but unfortunately Nergal was able to seize Astra and killed her violently in front of everyone then pulled her soul into Hell damning her for eternity. This action severally traumatized John and he placed himself in Ravenscar Psychiatric Facility for the Mentally Deranged out of guilt. The rest of the crew also came to resent John, some more than others, but regardless his actions and Astra's death haunted them all for the rest of their lives.

### Restoring Sara Lance's soul

John received a call from his old friend Oliver Queen asking him to come to Star City to help him restore the soul of his friend Sara Lance which he accepted. He meets with Team Arrow and explaines that Sara needed a restoration of her soul, not an exorcism as her sister Laurel mistakes it for. John also comments on the number of pretty girls Oliver has surrounded himself with which makes them feel somewhat uncomfortable. He then uses a peacock feather to scratch an itch on his back, much to Felicity's confusion. John explains that the ritual will transport them to the "other side" where Sara's soul is trapped and transports himself, Oliver and Laurel. Upon entering the spirit world, in the shape of Nanda Parbat, John, Oliver and Laurel find the room where Sara is trapped in the Lazarus Pit. John holds off the spitit of a League of Assassins member, as Oliver and Laurel free Sara. All of them return safely with Sara restored to life. As John leaves, Oliver thanks him for his help but John also tells him he's had a dark feelings since being in town, Oliver confirms it as their newest problem Damien Darhk. John however warns Oliver to be careful around Darhk and advises he leave town, while he still can before departing.

## Personality

Having witnessed the horrors of the world John is very cynical and seemingly unconcerned with the value of human life, often deflecting his real feelings with sarcastic jokes even towards the possibility of his own death. Due to the number of people who have died around him John prefers to work alone and anyone he does work with, he avoids attachment so he won't be as hurt if they get killed.

John is also noted for being brutally honest with people and even angels, calling people he thinks are insane exactly as they are and never being shy of his opinion of the women he encounters. It's been shown a few times he openly expresses and attraction to Zed and after meeting Team Arrow he openly refers to all the women of the team, Laurel, Felicity and Thea as "pretty girls". This also causes Thea to develop an attraction to his, much to Oliver's concern.

Despite his apart bleak view of the world and cynicism John is a very honorable man as he is always there for the few friends he has, helping Chas to retrieve his daughter from Felix Faust and helping Oliver Queen to restore Sara Lance's soul.

## Powers and abilities

### Powers

* **Magic:** John is a master of the dark arts and a skilled exorcist. Since his teenage years, John has accumulated vast knowledge of magic, and the occult.
	+ **Exorcism:** John can exorcise spirits that are demonic or ghostly in origin from their hosts by chanting incantations.
	+ **Necromancy:** John mentioned that he mastered necromancy during his teenage years.
	+ **Pyrokinesis:** John can manipulate fire to a degree, through magic, as shown when he ignited his hands to scare off cultists.
	+ **Summoning:** John can summon various entities, and even control them.
	+ **Magic circles:** John uses magic circles that can be used as boundaries or traps for certain creatures.
	+ **Magical protection:** John has shown that he is resistant to many supernatural attacks, seen where he was unaffected by Manny's chronokinesis. He also used a magical circle to protect him and Liv from a powerful demon, and conjured a spell to protect himself from a Coblynau.
	+ **Telekinesis:** John once telekinetically closed and locked a door.

### Abilities

* **Occult knowledge:** John has acquired extensive knowledge of the supernatural.
* **Skilled detective:** John is a skilled detective, specializing in paranormal investigation.
* **Expert escape artist:** John has shown that he can effortlessly break free from hand cuffs, when being interrogated by Jim Corrigan.
* **Swordsmanship**: During a spiritual adventure to save Sara Lance's soul, John demonstrated a degree of swordsmanship, able to hold his own against a manifestation of a League of Assassins member. However, he was quickly pressured enough that he had to resort to magic to defeat his opponent.
* **Multilingual:** John can perform spells in Italian so it can be presumed he know the language fluently. It may also be presumed he knows Arabic, due to being able to read it

## Possessions

* **Lighter:** John uses a specific lighter to which he lights a cigarette. This particular lighter bears an Ace of Spades, possibly to show that he faces his conflicts by himself.

## Gallery

First look at Matt Ryan as John Constantine