The Gatekeeper

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🎇The Gatekeeper🎇

He/Him ⚙︎ Elf ⚙︎ Gatekeeper of Memories

Alton’s bf :]

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Introduction

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Appearance

Body

The Gatekeeper is a tall, slender elfin humanoid who stands at around six feet tall with a body-type in-between mesomorphic and ectomorphic (in other words: he’s fit but not extremely muscular) . His tall height is a stark contrast from his fae boyfriend’s small stature, making them a rather interesting visual pair. However, like Alton, it would be impossible to distinguish him from a normal human being (based solely on his appearance) if it weren’t for one peculiar trait; that, in his case, being his large pointed ears. If it weren’t for that, he would be able to pass as just another person. If, albeit, an oddly-dressed one.

But, ignoring Gatekeep’s strange sense of style for now, let’s get onto some of his other facial features.

He has big eyes that are normally half-way covered by droopy, tired-looking eyelids. At the bottom (not the sides) of each of these eyes are two small eyelashes that are separated by his Roman-styled nose. Just below is his mouth, with your everyday typical flat teeth and thin lips that are typically seen curved up into a small smile. All of these features are on the center of a rectangular head that is framed by ribbon-like forked tendrils and has a short patch of facial-hair on the bottom of the chin. Many have described him as plain-looking while others think of him as quite handsome, although nobody has said he appears unattractive or “ugly”, it really just depends on who you ask.

Briefly going back to the long tendrils of hair that frame his face, said tendrils are connected to slightly-overgrown bangs that cover a small portion of the very-top of his eyes. These bangs *then* connect to his hair; which is long and straight at the top but fanned out at the bottom, giving it a waterfall-like look.

The rest of his body is rather unremarkable, he has no other unique or distinguishing traits to set him apart from the rest of the crowd: no wings, horns, tail, fur, or some other out-of-this-world feature. Although, he *is* rather well-proportioned, he has the right amount of legs and torso and a (literal) good head on his shoulders. Which I suppose is something… but the *real* star of the show is his peculiar sense of style.

Clothing & Accessories

Gatekeep’s outfit in many ways reflects Alton’s, albeit with a unique “memory guardian” twist to it. A large, elaborate silk top-hat sits upon his head with a strip of velvet circling around the top of the base for the edge trim. The two ends of this strip is pinned together by a beautiful, old-fashioned brooch. A thin ribbon is tied in a bow above the main strip of velvet on the left side of the hat for purely aesthetic reasons. There are usually two feathers stuck in the two bands, said feathers typically being a droopy tail-feather from a peacock and a wing-feather from a golden eagle.

However, we haven’t even gotten to the strangest part.

The crown of his hat is unstitched, hanging on to the left side of the brim by a few threads, revealing an impossible array of springs and gears clicking away inside. Occasionally, even small amounts colorful (yet harmless) sparks spit out of the top and fade away into the air. This marvel is a result of Gatekeep being made of memories, his unusual origins causing him to naturally be a bit more magical than the average Joe.

Yet that isn’t the only thing caused by the various memories that make him up, as his suit coat is patched-together using different types of fabric. While this may seem unrelated, each patch represents a different memory that was used to create Alton Tower’s memory guardian. Gatekeep’s long coat tails have the same stitching and patches his suit jacket has, although his dress shirt and pants are plain with no patches or abnormal stitching. Around his waist is a fake-leather belt with an engraved brooch buckle that he occasionally switches out with one of his other old-timey brooches from his extensive collection of odd bits-and-pieces.

He’s a big fan of antiques, if you couldn’t tell.

He also wears boots that are slightly-shorter than knee-highs with a short heel to them and cris-crossed laces that exist solely to look pretty. He covers his hands with either a pair of nice formal dress gloves or a pair of less-elegant, stitched-together leather gloves. He usually wears the latter while working. Lastly, Gatekeep is always seen wearing some sort of bow-tie around his neck as his collection of ties is just as large as his collection of jewelry. However, he usually wears a tie that resembles Alton’s that Alton himself gave to him on one of their anniversaries.

Color Scheme

When it comes to colors, Gatekeep isn’t very spectacular, but what he lacks in vibrancy he makes up in the familiar feeling of comfort. He dresses in browns, warm oranges, and golden yellows; like trees in autumn. His skin is fair and his hair is a dark brown copper color, which compliments his hazel eyes greatly (his irises are brown in the center with a green outer rim, to be specific). He has pearly white teeth and uncolored nails, although they’re normally covered by his white (or brown, depending on the pair) gloves. His dress shirt is a pale, off-white color while the buttons are a shiny gold. His dress coat is made up of different shades of brown, amber, orange, and yellow that go together beautifully well despite the variety. The stitching that weaves itself throughout the coat is golden like his buttons, unlike the stitching on his work-gloves, which is black.

His lapels are outlined with gold and have a stripe pattern that alternates between dull orange and yellow while his cuffs are simply white with gold cufflinks. His pants are mud brown and tucked into his dark chocolate brown boots with gold laces. His top-hat is a similar color, but lighter with a golden brim. The peacock feather is a shimmery green-and-blue while the eagle feather is brown with a lighter tip and the velvet is dark lilac while the ribbon is grape-colored. The color of the brooch depends on WIP hitch one he’s wearing but the most commonly-used one has a golden rim and a citrine gem in the center. The machinery inside his hat is a mixture of gold, bronze, and brass with the occasional orange or yellow wire.

His belt is a medium brown with the brooch buckle that is normally fitted onto it having a gold rim with a smooth green emerald in the center. The second-most used buckle is almost exactly like the one on his hat, gold with a citrine gem in the center, just with a different rim design. His bow ties have many different patterns and come in various warm colors, but the one Alton gifted him is rather plain-looking and burnt orange in coloration.

Gatekeep’s blood and flesh is maroon while is tongue is a slightly lighter shade, the scleras of his eyes are white. Like I said before, he would be a rather unremarkable man if he didn’t have his suit.

Other Details

Gatekeep has a rather deep, yet soft, masculine voice. Although he rarely ever makes public appearances (or speaks, for that matter), he has the perfect voice for performances and he can easily raise it to gain the attention of park-goers during a show. Whenever in-public while not performing, he doesn’t carry himself with much confidence and has the air of a socially-awkward and shy man. He prefers to entertain the masses somewhere *far away* from them. However, when around those who he’s familiar with, he sits up straight and Carrie’s with him the confidence he lacks when around hundred of strangers.

He smells like lavender cologne with faint hints of metal from the machinery housed in his top-hat, he personally doesn’t like to smell so he picks out the strongest cologne possible to mask it.

Design Notes

* When distressed/frazzled/tired Gatekeep’s hair should be drawn as messy and disheveled (like Benjamin’s should be).
* When dealing with his coat, feel free to make his patches as complex or as simple as you want them to be and don’t be shy to make up your own patterns for the fabric (although the warm color scheme has to be consistent). His coat changes in appearance every day due to being made out of thousands of different memories so whatever you decide to make is completely plausible!
* His hair-tendrils always have to be forked, although there isn’t a set limit as to how many forks there should be (I usually do 1-2).
* Feel free to mess with the colors and shapes of the brooches, feathers, and velvet on his hat. The same goes for his bow-ties and belt. Gatekeep loves to accessorize!

Personality

* A great showman, loud and spectacular while performing and puts on a great show. However, when the curtains are closed he’s rather quiet and calm.
* He doesn’t make many appearances to the general public, having not been seen in a big event since the 2013 fireworks, and works more behind-the-scenes by storing memories and such. His boyfriend does the publicity stuff.
* Like Alton, he was created by the “energy” of something instead of being a normal creature (that being the memories generated by the park). Though the actual memories themselves brought him into existence and not Merlin.
* Memory-creation is Alton Tower’s “special” feature that no other park has. The unique energy the park’s rides holds is able to harness the power of the riders good memories and that makes them incredibly strong. That also makes them a prime target for those who seek out their power for malicious purposes, so that’s why they need Gatekeep (who also stores, sorts, and archives each and every memory in his expansive library). These memories are also able to fuel the Power of the Towers so Alton can get in on the the action as well.
* For years he was strict and all-business, never interacting with any of the guardians as he prioritized his work over making friends. However, as the years went by, Alton helped him shift out of that weird identity-less funk spawned creatures like him go through and eventually ended up helping him find his true personality and have fun. The reclusive and cold Gatekeeper of Memories became the jovial, sweet Gatekeep we know today. However, he still prefers to stay out of the guest’s line of sight than be always in the limelight, although he does enjoy making public appearances every now and again as he does love putting on a good show. He’s just not mentally prepared to do that 24/7.
* Loves the theater and acting,,, it’s his one of his all-time favorite things :]
* Alton and Gatekeep became a couple fairly recently, around 2017, and have been dating ever since (none of them have the courage to actually marry). They had been extremely close friends for a long time before that, though.
* He loves taking a peak at some of the memories he collects to just see how happy a park-goer was during their visit. It warms his heart to see the park be so loved.
* David? His beloved son. The Smiler? Horrible abomination that poses a threat to his work and needs to be destroyed.
* Gets flustered easily despite his relaxed and calm disposition.
* HAS to be left alone while working, if somebody’s bothering him he’ll get all stressed and won’t be able to focus on the task at hand. Distracted by noises very easily.
* Speaking of which: he very much dislikes loud noises. He has sensitive ears and he *will* cry if something loud catches him off-guard.
* Doesn’t like to be touched by people he doesn’t know/trust.
* Tight spaces stress him out and large crowds can do a NUMBER on him if he’s around them for an extended period of time, especially if he’s actually *in* the crowd.
* His job is stress-relief for him, he really does enjoy doing it. So much so that he stays awake for hours just sorting through the constant flow of memories coming in every day, Alton has to help remind him to rest and do something else for a little while.
* Suspected to be an elf of some kind like how Alton is suspected to be a fae.

History

* Gatekeep was brought to life in 1994 when Nemesis opened, fourteen years after Alton was created by Merlin. Nemesis started kicking memory-creation into full gear and Gatekeep quickly formed shortly after its opening from the excess memories the ride couldn’t use (with the help of Nemesis’s energy itself). He came into existence to help protect and store everything the rides couldn’t use, archive the rest, and that’s about it.

Relationships

Alton

*Boyfriend ⚙︎ Positive*

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David

*Son ⚙︎ Positive*

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Appearances

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Abilities

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Quotes

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Trivia

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Playlist

* Puttin’ On The Ritz - TACO

Gallery

Featuring AltonFeaturing Alton & Jackie