Holt Clayborn

"*It's not a war, Holliday. It's just a town filled with women who would have us both fight to the death.*"
―  Holt to Doc"*Holy War Part One*"
Sheriff **Holt Clayborn** is a recurring character in Season 4 of *Wynonna Earp*.

## History

### Season 4

In *Look at Them Beans*, the Sheriff interrupts Wynonna's public hanging top stop Chrissy Nedley and the rest of the civilians from killing her. He claims this is not how they handle things in Purgatory and helps Wynonna down only to arrest her himself as she needs a trial. She protests and so does Doc but Clayborn doesn't listen to them and drags Wynonna to the cells in the Sheriff's department. He places her in a cell next to another inmate, Casey, who Clayborn refers to by his inmate number. He forces Wynonna into the cell as they don't have enough holding cells for each person. She demands her one phone call but Clayborn ignores her and walks away.

Clayborn interrupts Wynonna who is going off to Casey about Clayborn to tell her that she has a visitor. The visitor is Waverly who is serving as Wynonna's council. Nedley wonders if the facility has an extra entry into the garden. Waverly goes head-to-head with Sheriff Clayborn only to be joined by a magistrate, Cleo Clanton, who isn't a legitimate judge. Cleo argues with Clayborn who thinks they need to handle things calmly. He requests to speak with her privately and Cleo concedes. He later goes along with Cleo's chili cook-off idea to give one prisoner a get out of jail free ticket.

At the cookoff, former Sheriff Nicole Haught explains to Wynonna that Cleo just arrived in town one day, named herself magistrate, and elected Clayborn as the new Sheriff. She didn't protest as she had other responsibilities. Clayborn and Nicole later converse tensely and there is an obvious tension between the two. So much so, that Nicole is spooked so Waverly tells her to go back to the homestead to check the traps. Clayborn stands off by himself as he watches the event.

In *Afraid*, Jeremy Chetri was sent in by Black Badge Division to be the Sheriff Department's Captain. Holt, also following his mother's instructions to not object, did not have a problem with handing control over to him unlike Cleo.

In *Holy War Part One*, Doc found him drinking at Glory Hole. During the confrontation, Holt implied that he wanted little to do with their century-long feud but had no choice.

In *Holy War Part Two*, Holt caught Rachel Valdez lurking around their home. He brought her to the station and called Doc for her. Determined to bury the hatchet with the Earps, he offered him a truce, with both parties agreeing to bring it up with the respective heirs — his mother and Wynonna. According to him, his primary motivators — aside from being tired of fighting his ancestors' battle — were his position as Detective where he felt he could do good and wanting to ask out an employee at the diner. Upon arriving home however, he found his mother dead, having been killed by Waverly Earp, and as the new Clanton heir, threatened to kill the sisters, only to be stopped by Doc's arrival. Doc convinced him to back down, only to be shot in the back and killed by Wynonna.

In *Better Dig Two*, he appears as a reaper blocking Wynonna and Rachel's way so they wouldn't escape. He later holds Rachel hostage as Wynonna prepares to face off against Clanton controlled Doc in a gun duel. The bullet then ricochets off from the force field around the circle and hits Holt in the head.

As an angel Waverly walks away from the ranch, Holt begs her to release him as he doesn't want this fate and she obliges, turning him and the other reapers into magpies.

## Appearances

 Holy War Part One:**Appears**
 Crazy:*Absent*

## Trivia

* Clayborn is the third Sheriff of Purgatory to be seen, following Randy Nedley and Nicole Haught.
* Though unknown why he went by Clayborn, the surname is likely a nod to Billy Claiborne, an American outlaw Cowboy alongside Ike Clanton (the basis of Holt's ancestor), who was present and had run from the shootout against Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday at the O.K. Corral.