LogFAQs > #970136773

26. Tim Hunter & Molly O'Reilly

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/1/9/AAS3NhAAD_Dv.jpg https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/2/0/AAS3NhAAD_Dw.jpg

So, this one's cheating a little bit. I made this list of 52 before we'd actually met Molly in the campaign, but I knew she had to fit in somewhere, but also didn't want to bounce anything out... so here she is! Sharing a spot with Tim, as is proper.

Tim and Molly are particularly difficult to rank, and to explain why, I'll have to start at the beginning. When the idea for Bloodfruit as a fairy came about, the first thing I personally had to do was determine Bloodfruit's backstory, and doing THAT required research. Specifically, research on the apperances of the Fair Lands as they appear in DC Comics, primarily through a series called the Books of Magic.

The Books of Magic started out as the stories of Tim Hunter being taken through time, through the various realms, all under a prophecy that he was to become the greatest and most powerful magician of all time. One of his first stories involved him visiting the land of Faerie and almost getting tricked into being trapped there by Queen Titania. The later spinoffs, the Books of Faerie went more into the history of Queen Titania, her husband King Oberon, and the general layout of the Fair Lands overall. And I fell in love with it immediately. The original Books of Magic was perhaps my favorite comic I've read, or damn close to it, and Books of Faerie were just as gorgeous.

The Books of Magic were later expanded beyond their initial four issues into a full series, and that series revolved around Tim's various relationships, adventures, and so forth. He went to not just Faerie, but to Hell as well and much, much more. He dealt with all sorts of creatures and phenomena, but one of the most consistent people in his life was Molly O'Reilly, his on/off girlfriend who went along with him, got trapped in Faerie for a bit, developed some fire magic of her own before losing it, and I could go on and on about how good Books of Magic is.

Oh, by the way, Tim is the secret bastard son of Titania, queen of the fae and sworn enemy to Bloodfruit. That's a whole other story.

ANYWAY, MOVING ON. The reason ranking these two is so hard right now is because I went into this game with more bias toward the two than to any other characters in the campaign. Every PC has about 2-4 characters they're tied to in their own backstory. With Bloodfruit, it's Titania (sworn enemy), Tim and Molly. Tim and Molly were her two closest friends growing up in Faerie, but unlike her, they were not from Faerie, and eventually had to leave back to London. Bloodfruit herself could not leave so easily... until the day she did. And in a world of man where Bloodfruit had no way of actually contacting Tim and Molly, she ended up lost in London's slums, simply surviving until she reached Checkmate.

After so, so very long trying to find her closest friend, Bloodfruit finally comes across... Happy. Tim's fictional friend turned real, loyal creature. It would be a few weeks more before she finally met up with Tim in Time in a Bottle! Briefly!

You see, part of the reason ranking Tim is as hard as it is is because Scar knows how important Tim & Molly are to Bloodfruit's story, and dangles just little bits of interaction in front of her at a time. With how brief the interactions have been, it's difficult to justify a higher ranking than this, despite the fact that I know, ultimately, Tim and Molly both are going to be top 10 characters for me.

Tim is the Harry Potter before Harry Potter with unlimited magical potential, and Molly is the spunky and joyful lass at his side that could probably still kick his ass, magic be damned. The Tim we see now though is one struggling. His magic's almost all gone, he only has one spell left before being found by the looming Spectre. Molly too has found herself magicless, with little mean to defend herself in a terrifying magic-dominated world. This ranking is ultimately just a marker for now of everything I can't wait to see from the two of them.

Hint for #25: This character has already been mentioned in at least one other write-up