Crow Faux

 In construction 

"Carmichael, you are utterly delusional and depraved. You are nothing but a spoiled chlid throwing tantrum of being unable to find the Light Lord. Turns out that you are what you are looking for, and I guess the Light Lord will be even worse than the Dark One because people will be deceived by the glamous mask that hid your heinous nature!"

- Crow Faux berating Lord Helio, breaking their friendship.

Crow Faux, born Gabriel Van Tassel and also known as Karnival Zodiac, is one of the major antagonists in LOTM: Witnesses of Sleepy Hollow. He is one of the main antagonists in both LOTM: Witnesses of Sleepy Hollow - Harvest Saga and Zodiac Saga, being a major threat in the rest of the stories. He is also the secondary hero turned secondary antagonist in the upcoming LOTM: Witnesses of Sleepy Hollow Spin-Off - Prophecy of the Light Lord, as well as being a former friend to Carmichael Clearness, aka Lord Helio, before they were corrupted in different styles.

Karnival was the long lost elder brother of Katrina Crane, making him the brother-in-law of Ichabod Crane and the uncle of Jeremy Crane. Karnival was thought to be dead when he was just a toddler, but was found by Hubert Zodiac, a major servant to the Twelve Nethers, and he was found by Ara Astaroth after her fight with Moloch within Purgatory.

During his days under Hubert's raising, Karnival was tortured by the members of Leohart's Cult occasionally. Ara had awakened the Blackness inside Karnival by torturing him, and as time progressed, Karinval had his heart consumed by the Blackness. He soon turned into a Zodiac Demonic Wizard and fought against his former best friend, Carmichael, who had turned into Lord Helio due to another kind of corruptions caused by Ara and Melancholia. Both Crow and Helio soon turned into just two chess pieces that was overlooked by Moloch, Ara and Melancholia.

Karnival is also the founder of the Chaos of Zodiac and acted as the de facto leader of the Wild Card, a terrorist group that was founded by Nether Kaysie the Demon Princess. Becoming more and more power hungry, Karnival turned himself into Crow Faux, and he soon tried to take over the town of Sleepy Hollow for himself. Consumed by his inner darkness, Crow considered Helio as his sworn enemy after the corrosion inside his mind became worsen. Crow was also enraged when he saw Helio took over the Sleepy Hollow and built the Order of Flourish.

Driven by the jealousy that Helio had the Stone of Wisdom, something that Crow desired in order to reach full immortality, as well as driven by the anger that Helio controlled Sleepy Hollow as its dictator (no better than the British Army) via a secret organization, Crow became deluded and paranoid. He thought Helio was the one who make the Horseman of Death to kill Ichabod before making the Sisterhood of Radiant Church to betray and imprison Katrina into Purgatory, not knowing that it was all manipulated by Lady Van Tassel, his step-mother. After breaking his friendship with Helio, Crow had turned towards his path towards darkness.

Crow has the crystal of Nether Gleodon the Demon Prince which he later used during his fight against the Team Witness. Representing the very concept of darkness itself, Crow Faux is made for being a polar opposite of Lord Helio, who represent light. However, since both of them had been corrupted by their inner evil and became villains, it would be a great proof that both elementals of light and darkness shall cause horrid consequences if they were used in the wrong hand.

He is an OC Character created by Officer Candy Apple from CIS Production.

Introduction
Crow Faux, born as Gabriel Van Tassel and formerly known as Karnival Zodiak, was a former friend and later archenemy to Lord Helio, as the two became the Big Bad Ensembles alongside Phyllis Peach, who completely took over the roles of both of them by the end of the story, playing on the both sides. He was also the long lost elder brother of Katrina Crane, whom she thought she had lost him when she was young. Therefore, he was just another villain in the family unions of the Cranes, Van Garrets and Van Tassels appeared after Lady Van Tassel and before Jeremy Crane/Henry Parrish.

Being one of the most dangerous Zodiac Demon Enforcers ever recorded in the files of both Team Witness and the Order of Flourish ever, Crow was introduced as the secondary leader of the Wild Card, until he organized the Chaos of Zodia. Even from the beginning served both the Wild Card and the Chaos of Zodiac (mainly). It had no problems since both of those evil organizations, despite having their differences, served the Twelve Nethers and subsequently, Moloch himself, and had no bitter rivalry.

Since he was not made into a natural Zodiac Demon, only possessing a crystal to one of the Twelve Nethers, Crow still had his own old side inside his personality and did not lost his soul (although Peach was the only person who was a natural Zodiac Demon with her human aspects). However, Crow was no saints, either, especially after he fueled himself with his desire on the Stone of Wisdom. The desire had in turn blinded his judgement and permanently broke his friendship with Helio, who was ironically and pathetically fell under the same desire as well.

After becoming corrupted due to being envious that Helio got the Stone of Wisdom, as well as blaming the death of Ichabod and alleged death of Katrina on Helio, Crow broke their ties and eventually left him. They became bitter enemies as well, blaming each other to be the cause of the entire chaos. All of those greed and envy drove Crow back to Hubert, and he claimed that he will earn himself an opportunity to become a human host for one of the Nethers, eventually becoming a monster like Lady Van Tassel and realized the greatest fear of the latter's Crone Sister.

Much to Phyllis Peach's delight in an ironic manner, Crow never discovered the truth behind the Wiseman until his revelation. Even though he knew Helio and hated him, Crow failed to notice that the White Wizard and the Wiseman (who was his partner in crime and later promoted into his superior) are just two personas used by Helio himself to overlook Team Witness and Zodiac Nethers, respectively, showing some weakness on his judgements. Even though he had some suspicion on the Wiseman's true identity, Crow never had a chance to investigate it since he focused too much on killing Ichabod Crane.

Being a good friend of Abraham Van Brunt and supported his marriage to Katrina, Crow's rivalry on Ichabod was fueled secretly (also in a senseless manner) even before his corruption, since he thought Ichabod was the cause to make Katrina break up with Abraham and indirectly making him the Headless Horseman, unaware that it was Katrina who wanted to mend the consequences after killing Ichabod's former lover by accident.



Later, however, even after the truth behind Katrina was revealed, Crow still detested Ichabod pretty much like how he detested Helio after losing the Stone of Wisdom. It was out of nothing but jealousy. Revealing his warlock supremacy and aristocrat supremacy developed for many years after serving Moloch, Crow ranted at Ichabod that he was born in a family of magic while Ichabod, as a mortal man with no natural magical skills and was disowned by his family, so Ichabod deserved no place as Katrina's husband.

What was worse, Crow was enraged that he was inferior to Ichabod (or so he thought) as the latter had many friends and partners, while Crow had none. Even if Ichabod showed sympathy to Crow, it only made him more enraged, since Crow never believed anyone ever since Helio betrayed him for the Stone of Wisdom, unaware that he betrayed Helio in the same time for the same reason.

Phyllis Peach, in her point of view as an audience, rightfully revealed that both Helio and Crow are responsible for the malevolence surrounding the Stone of Wisdom, which made them both selfish since they had saw its ability to make them wiser and more powerful, though Peach said that out of hypocritical reasons, in order to justify her crimes of getting the Stone of Wisdom for herself. Maria Arzonia had realized this as well, and she said that Crow and Helio, despite all of their rivalry, had no difference on their personality. Maria also said that Crow's hatred towards Ichabod and Helio was meaningless, just like a child throwing his tantrum. Therefore, Crow failed to realize that he was not so different to Helio when he blamed the latter for his own misery and sorrow.

Wild Card Ability - Aces of Hearts
Before his defection and the foundation of the Chaos of Zodiac, Crow represented (and now claims that he still represents) the Ace of Hearts in the Wild Card Army, similar to Maria Arzonia who represents the suit of Hearts/Corazon in La Nueva Familia de Arzonia.

However, Crow has abilities to manipulate cards, unlike Maria who never have abilities like that. Maria uses card suits as her family executive's motif due to her casual poker game she often had with her old childhood friend, Mikan Tsumiki, when they were kids.

The wild card ability of Crow, known as the Aces of Hearts, is a collaboration of countless cards with the same pattern on it - the Ace of Hearts. Crow allows himself to use his cards to perform dark magic in many kinds, including the skills of Blood Magic, Telepathy, Magic Tricks, Card Darts and so on.

However, the major importance of the Aces of Hearts is that it could bind itself with a certain victim's heart, and the card will become as an equivalent to the said victim's heart. In another words, when Crow hits, squeezes or punches the card, the victims will feel pain inside their chest. When Crow stab through the heart on the card, or when he tear the card apart, the victim will die in process.

With the ability of his cards, Crow can also remove the hearts of his victims out from their body (even without killing them as long as he does not destroy the card that bind their lives). If Crow destroys the real heart to kill the victims, the victims' card will be destroyed as well. The only way to undo this effect was to get the card from Crow and make the victim to touch it, erasing the connections between them.

Quotes

 * "Believe me, if you want to become a king, you have to get rid of yourself from being merciful."
 * "Carmichael, I'm sorry. You're... a deflector that would send the future spinning into tragedy. And you're too weak, too foolish to understand it, to correct it."
 * "I can tell you, with the certainty of the magic, that failing to stamp out dissent completely now will result in the deaths of billions in the coming years. We stand on a tipping point where we can choose chaos or order."
 * "It's not like that. It's not about ambition. It's about the world, about tranquility. It's about building a different world."
 * "Being abandoned to my enemies, abandoned by one for whom I once had considerable affection and respect, was like being murdered… and surviving."
 * "You may call me Crow Faux. I shall be known only by my true name from now on."

Quotes to and about Crow Faux

 * "I was just thinking of... of what Crow sacrificed. At the end, there was a second when he just stopped fighting so he could warn Ichabod. I think he became Karnival again for a second before I… before I killed him." - Katrina Crane
 * "You talk big, but it sounds like nothing but an angry child throwing his tantrum." - Maria Arzonia
 * "This is the ultimate test of selflessness—whether you're ready to face unending emotional pain, true agony, to gain the power to create peace and order for billions of total strangers. That is the sacrifice. To be vilified by others, by people you know and care for, and for your personal sacrifice to be totally unknown to those billions you save, to do your duty as a Zodiac Demon Cultist. To do your duty for the good of the Master's will." - Nether Kaysie the Demon Princess 
 * "Your new existence has started, the Dark Lord." - Nether Sorensen the Demon Prince

Trivia

 * In an early concept, Crow Faux was supposed to redeem himself by the end of Harvest Saga, but that was scrapped and his role of villain was kept to open a chance to reprise his role in Zodiac Saga once again as one of the main villains.
 * Crow Faux is the first holder of a Nether Crystal revealed in the storyline, before two other villains; Gladius Grapefruit and Michael Langdon. Although Michael was introduced earlier than Crow, his Nether Crystal (the Crystal of Nether Sorensen the Demon Prince) was revealed much later than Crow.
 * Even so, Crow is the last of them to transform into his Nether Form.

António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar GCTE GCSE GColIH GCIC (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐ̃ˈtɔniu dɨ oliˈvɐjɾɐ sɐlɐˈzaɾ]; 28 April 1889 – 27 July 1970) was a Portuguese statesman who served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. He was responsible for the Estado Novo ("New State"), the corporatist authoritarian government that ruled Portugal until 1974.

A trained economist, Salazar entered public life with the support of President Óscar Carmona after the Portuguese coup d'état of 28 May 1926, initially as finance minister and later as prime minister. Opposed to democracy, communism, socialism, anarchism and liberalism, the ideology of Portugal was conservative and nationalist in nature under his rule. Salazar also promoted Catholicism, but argued that the role of the Church was social, not political, and negotiated the Concordat of 1940. One of the mottos of the Salazar regime was "Deus, Pátria e Familia" (meaning "God, Fatherland, and Family").

With the Estado Novo enabling him to exercise vast political powers, Salazar used heavy-handed censorship and a ubiquitous secret police to quell opposition, especially that related to the Communist movement. He supported Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War, and played a key role in keeping Portugal and Spain neutral during World War II. During his rule, despite the authoritarian regime, Portugal took part in the foundation of important international organizations. Portugal was one of the 12 founding members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in 1949, joined the European Payments Union in 1950, and was one of the founding members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in 1960, and a founding member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 1961. Under his rule Portugal also joined the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in 1962, and began the Portuguese Colonial War. The doctrine of Pluricontinentalism was the basis of his territorial policy, a conception of the Portuguese Empire as a unified state that spanned multiple continents.

The Estado Novo collapsed during the Carnation Revolution of 1974, four years after Salazar's death. Evaluations of his regime have varied, with supporters praising his regime's outcomes and critics denouncing its methods. However, there is a general consensus that Salazar was one of the most influential figures in Portuguese history. In recent decades, "new sources and methods are being employed by Portuguese historians in an attempt to come to grips with a dictatorship which lasted 48 years."

Aisin Gioro Puyi
Puyi or Pu Yi (simplified Chinese: 溥仪; traditional Chinese: 溥儀; 7 February 1906 – 17 October 1967), of the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan, was the last Emperor of China and the twelfth and final ruler of the Qing dynasty. When he was a child, he reigned as the Xuantong Emperor (Chinese: 宣統帝; Manchu: gehungge yoso hūwangdi) in China and Khevt Yos Khaan in Mongolia from 1908 until his forced abdication on 12 February 1912, after the Xinhai Revolution. From 1 to 12 July 1917, he was briefly restored to the throne as emperor by the warlord Zhang Xun.

In 1932 after the occupation of Manchuria, the state of Manchukuo was established by Japan, and he was chosen to become "Emperor" of the new state using the era-name of Datong (Ta-tung). In 1934, he was declared the Kangde Emperor (or Kang-te Emperor) of Manchukuo and ruled until the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1945. After the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, Puyi was imprisoned as a war criminal for 10 years, wrote his memoirs and became a titular member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the National People's Congress.

Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also romanized as Chiang Chieh-shih and known as Chiang Chungcheng, was a political and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China between 1928 and 1975.

Chiang was an influential member of the Kuomintang (KMT), the Chinese Nationalist Party, as well as a close ally of Sun Yat-sen's. Chiang became the Commandant of the Kuomintang's Whampoa Military Academy and took Sun's place as leader of the KMT following the Canton Coup in early 1926. Having neutralized the party's left wing, Chiang then led Sun's long-postponed Northern Expedition, conquering or reaching accommodations with China's many warlords.

From 1928 to 1948, Chiang served as chairman of the National Military Council of the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China (ROC). Chiang was socially conservative, promoting traditional Chinese culture in the New Life Movement and rejecting both western democracy and Sun's nationalist democratic socialism in favour of an authoritarian government.[citation needed] Unable to maintain Sun's good relations with the communists, Chiang purged them in a massacre at Shanghai and repression of uprisings at Kwangtung and elsewhere.

At the onset of the Second Sino-Japanese War, which later became the Chinese theater of World War II, Zhang Xueliang kidnapped Chiang and obliged him to establish a Second United Front with the communists. After the defeat of the Japanese, the American-sponsored Marshall Mission, an attempt to negotiate a coalition government, failed in 1946. The Chinese Civil War resumed, with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) led by Mao Zedong defeating the Nationalists and declaring the People's Republic of China in 1949. Chiang's government and army retreated to Taiwan, where Chiang imposed martial law and persecuted critics in a period known as the "White Terror". After evacuating to Taiwan, Chiang's government continued to declare its intention to retake mainland China. Chiang ruled Taiwan securely as President of the Republic of China and General of the Kuomintang until his death in 1975, just one year short of Mao's death.

Like Mao, Chiang is regarded as a controversial figure: supporters credit him with playing a major part in unifying the nation and a national figure of the Chinese resistance against Japan and the Allied victory of the Second World War, as well as his staunch anti-Soviet and anti-communist stance; detractors and critics denounce him as a dictator at the front of an authoritarian autocracy who suppressed and purged opponents and critics and arbitrarily incarcerated those he deemed as opposing to the Kuomintang among others.

Oda Nobunaga
Oda Nobunaga (織田 信長 Oda Nobunaga, June 23, 1534 – June 21, 1582) was a powerful daimyō (feudal lord) of Japan in the late 16th century who attempted to unify Japan during the late Sengoku period. Nobunaga is regarded as one of three unifiers of Japan along with his retainers Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. During his later life, Nobunaga was widely known for most brutal suppression of determined opponents, eliminating those who by principle refused to cooperate or yield to his demands. He was a skilled ruler and keen businessman and economic reformer, strategizing at both the micro- and macroeconomic scales. He was killed when his retainer Akechi Mitsuhide rebelled against him at Honnō-ji.

The goal of national unification and a return to the comparative political stability of the earlier Muromachi period was widely shared by the multitude of autonomous daimyōs during the Sengoku period. Oda Nobunaga was the first for whom this goal seemed attainable. Nobunaga had gained control over most of Honshu (see map below) before his death during the 1582 Honnō-ji incident, a coup attempt executed by Nobunaga's vassal, Akechi Mitsuhide. It is not certain whether Nobunaga was killed in the attack or committed seppuku. The motivations behind Mitsuhide's betrayal was never revealed to anyone who survived the incident, and has been a subject of debate and conjecture ever since the incident.

Following the incident, Akechi Mitsuhide declared himself master over Nobunaga's domains, but was quickly defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who regained control of and greatly expanded the Oda holdings. Oda Nobunaga's successful subjugation of much of Honshu enabled the later successes of his allies Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu toward the goal of national unification by subjugating local daimyōs under a hereditary shogunate, which was ultimately accomplished in 1603 when Tokugawa Ieyasu was granted the title of shōgun by Emperor Go-Yōzei following the successful Sekigahara Campaign of 1600.

Cao Cao
Cao Cao ([tsʰǎu tsʰáu]; Chinese: 曹操; 155 – 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde, was a Chinese warlord and the penultimate Chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty who rose to great power in the final years of the dynasty. As one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms period, he laid the foundations for what was to become the state of Cao Wei and was posthumously honoured as "Emperor Wu of Wei". He is often portrayed as a cruel and merciless tyrant in subsequent literature; he has also been praised as a brilliant ruler and military genius who treated his subordinates like his family.

During the fall of the Eastern Han dynasty, Cao Cao was able to secure the most populated and prosperous cities of the central plains and northern China. Cao had much success as the Han chancellor, but his handling of the Han emperor Liu Xie was heavily criticized and resulted in a continued and then escalated civil war. Opposition directly gathered around warlords Liu Bei and Sun Quan, whom Cao was unable to quell. Cao was also skilled in poetry and martial arts and wrote many war journals.

Chen Kuo-fu
Chen Guofu or Chen Kuo-fu (simplified Chinese: 陈果夫; traditional Chinese: 陳果夫; pinyin: Chén Guǒfū; 5 October 1892 – 25 August 1951), was a Chinese politician in the Republic of China. His surname is "祖燾", also called him "Guofu(果夫)".

He was born in Wuxing, Zhejiang, China (modern Huzhou). Chen Guofu joined the Tongmenghui in 1911. He participated in both the revolution against the Qing dynasty and the "second revolution" against Yuan Shikai. He restarted his political career in 1924, being nominated as member of the Kuomintang Central Audit, as well as head of the Department of Organization and president of the Central Financial Committee. Together with his younger brother Chen Lifu, he organized the CC Clique or Central Club Clique of the Kuomintang. He was chairman of the government of Jiangsu from 1933 to 1937. It was Chen who suggested to open the dikes of the Yellow River to halt the Japanese advance during the Second Sino-Japanese War; resulting in the 1938 Yellow River flood. He left for Taiwan in December 1948 and died there on August 25, 1951, in Taipei, Taiwan.

Kishou Arima
Kishou Arima (有馬 貴将, Arima Kishō) was a supporting character in Tokyo Ghoul. He was a Special Class Ghoul Investigator famously known as the CCG's Reaper (CCGの死神, Shīshījī no Shinigami). He was a prominent figure within the organization and was widely regarded as a genius. In the prequel spin-off Tokyo Ghoul: Jack, he is featured alongside Taishi Fura as a teen.

He garnered an impressive list of achievements during his eighteen years as an investigator, from leading the prestigious S3 Squad to single-handedly turning the tides of large operations. His lethal battle prowess earned him many names, including the White Reaper (白い死神, Shiroi Shinigami), among others.

However, beneath the surface, Arima was sided with ghouls as the mysterious One-Eyed King (隻眼の王, Sekigan no Ō). Conspiring with Eto Yoshimura, he gained the ownership rights of Ken Kaneki after the Owl Suppression Operation and mentored him in preparation to bestow the title to him after his death.

Varys
Lord Varys, also known as "the Spider", is a character from the A Song Of Ice And Fire novels and the Game Of Thrones TV series.

He is the enigmatic member of the small council and Master of Whisperers, or spymaster, for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms. He served for four kings before disappearing: Aerys, Robert, Joffrey, and Tommen, the latter for a short time. His outward manner is obsequious, mysterious, and squeamish. However, he is a master of disguise and can change his appearance, gait, smell, and costume to become unrecognizable.

Secrets are Varys's trade, and his skill at acquiring them has earned him a reputation for being seemingly omniscient. Crucial to his trade is a spy network of children that he refers to as his little mice (in Pentos) or little birds (in Westeros).

Varys's history of providing information to all sides, of aiding enemies, of pitting rivals against one another, and of manipulation to achieve his ends has earned him a reputation of being distasteful and untrustworthy among the nobles at court. In private, however, he claims to value order, stability, and peace above all, and professes loyalty to those who work for those goals as well. Lord Varys is not a true lord, having received the title as a courtesy for being a member of the small council. As the master of whisperers, he has the task of fostering division amongst the enemies of the Iron Throne, and gathering information on all that happens in the realm.

He is played by Conleth Hill in Game of Thrones.

Char Aznable
Char Aznable, born Casval Rem Deikun and commonly known by his alias of "The Red Comet", is the most prominent villain from the Universal Century (UC) timeline of the Gundam anime series. He is best known for being the eternal arch-nemesis of the original Gundam pilot, Amuro Ray. One of the Principality of Zeon's most top feared mobile suit ace pilots, Char is actually the son of Zeon Zum Deikun, the true founder of the Republic of Zeon, and is thus the true heir of Zeon. His nickname "The Red Comet" stems from, but for the personal trademark colors of his customized red mobile suit, and his ruthless high-speed attack tactics, with him notably destroying five Federation Magellan-class battleships at the Battle of Loum.

Char's role throughout the Gundam universe varies from different series. In Mobile Suit Gundam, he is one of the main antagonists of the series, clashing repeatedly with Amuro Ray and the White Base crew time and time again, all while carrying his own hidden agenda of revenge on the Zabi family. In Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Char becomes somewhat of an anti-heroic figure, helping to co-found the AEUG (Anti-Earth Union Group) resistance movement and later becomes one of its leading members, fighting alongside many of his former adversaries (including his arch-enemy Amuro Ray) against the Earth Federation's corrupt Titans task force and briefly the re-emerging Axis Zeon movement.

However, by the time of the movie Char's Counterattack, Char declares himself supreme leader of Neo-Zeon and becomes the main antagonist of the film, seeking to achieving his father's dreams of emigrating all of humanity into space by dropping asteroids onto Earth, and to settle his score with his nemesis, Amuro Ray, by fighting against him in a mobile suit duel for the last time.

Vautrin
Vautrin [vo.tʁɛ̃] is a character from the novels of French writer Honoré de Balzac in the La Comédie humaine series. His real name is Jacques Collin [ʒɑk kɔ.lɛ̃]. He appears in the novels Le Père Goriot (Father Goriot, 1834/35) under the name Vautrin, and in Illusions perdues (Lost illusions, 1837–43) and Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes (Scenes from a Courtesan's Life, 1838–44), the sequel of Illusions perdues, under the name of Abbé Carlos Herrera. In prison, he got the nickname Trompe-la-Mort (Dodgedeath or Cheats-Death), because he managed to avoid the death sentence repeatedly.

By the time the Comédie humaine series begins, Jacques Collin is an escaped convict and criminal mastermind fleeing from the police. The character first appears in the La Comédie humaine series using the name of Vautrin, so he is usually referred to in literary criticism under this name. Balzac was inspired to the character by Eugène François Vidocq (1775–1857) a former criminal who later became chief of the Paris police.

Little is known about Collin's early life. From the novels it can be gathered that he is born in or around 1779, has an above-average education and that he worked as an apprentice in a bank—a position his aunt Jacqueline had obtained for him. In the first decade of the 19th century he first came into contact with the criminal underworld. When a young Italian soldier that Collin was interested in committed a forgery, Collin took the responsibility and was sentenced to five years' hard labour in 1810. Several attempted escapes have increased the sentence to 20 years by 1818, when the first novel that includes him takes place.

In Father Goriot, set in late 1818/early 1819 (or 1819/1820 when later novels refer to the events), Collin lived under the name of Vautrin in the House Vauquer after an escape from the Bagne of Toulon in 1815. He is described as a cynical man, who likes to crack jokes, speaks rather intimately with everyone, and seems to know everything and have been everywhere. He also is very adept at repairing locks. However, the police are on his tracks: The chief of the Sûreté, one Bibi-Lupin, under the name of Gondureau, confronts two other inhabitants of the House Vauquer, telling them that Vautrin is really the escaped convict Jacques Collin, who functions as a banker and a confidant to the Parisian underworld. Bibi-Lupin asks them to help arrest Vautrin but they need proof that he really is Jacques Collin. He gives them a drug that will knock Vautrin unconscious, so they can search on his shoulders for the branded letters T.F., which stand for "Travaux [forcés]" and "Faussaire" ("hard labor" and "forger"). The plan works and Collin is arrested and imprisoned in Rochefort. Later, it is revealed that Collin escapes prison disguised as a guard escorting another prisoner.

Some years later, in the novel Illusions Perdues, one Abbé Carlos Herrera stops Lucien de Rubempré from drowning himself in the Charente. He strikes a pact with Lucien: He will make him rich and successful but Lucien has to obey him without questions. The novel ends there.

In Splendeurs et misères de courtisanes, beginning in 1824, Herrera and Lucien have moved to Paris. Here we quickly learn that Herrera is really Collin. Lucien falls in love with one Esther Gobseck and they lead a happy life, although only meeting at nights, for approximately five years, until the Baron Nucingen glimpses Esther and falls in love with her. Collin realizes that they can get a lot of money out of Nucingen if he becomes Esther's lover. The money would then serve Lucien to marry the rich, but plain Clothilde de Grandlieu. They get the needed million together, but Esther kills herself after having had to sleep with Nucingen in May 1830. Her suicide note is not discovered, money is missing from her house and Herrera and Lucien are arrested on suspicion of having killed her.

The police suspect Herrera of being Collin but can't prove it. Collin, pretending that he is Lucien's true father to explain his affection for the young man, plays the role of the priest so admirably that the judge is nearly convinced. When Esther's suicide note and testament are found, Herrera's and Lucien's liberation seems to be only a matter of formalities. But Lucien cracks under questioning and reveals Herrera's true identity. Lucien subsequently hangs himself, but not without retracting everything he said, leaving doubts about Herrera's identity again.

Three of Collin's former partners in crime are also in prison but Collin convinces them to treat him as Abbé Herrera. He learns from them that his friend Théodore Calvi is awaiting execution and that another of the men, La Pouraille, also has no hopes of escaping the death sentence. Calvi was Vautrin's lover in Rochefort and the two escaped together. Collin uses his ingenuity to twist the facts and prove Calvi innocent (even though Calvi is in fact guilty) and saves La Pouraille too. This involves giving himself up: like his historical model Eugène François Vidocq he offers to serve as an informer to the prosecutor. After he manages to treat the madness of one of Lucien's former mistresses (she became mad after learning about Lucien's death, as her last talk with Lucien was a row) with one of Lucien's love letters to her, his offer is accepted.

A small note informs us that Collin remained chief of the Sûreté for fifteen years and retired in 1845.