- “I am more than beast. I am the One Who Will Lead.”
- ―Harth Fray[src]
Harth Fray was a vampire master who lived in the 23rd century, and the twin brother of the Slayer Melaka Fray. He was sired by the lurk Icarus, but became his sire’s master.
Biography
Harth grew up in Versi, a ghetto-like district in the city of Haddyn, with his older sister Erin and twin sister Melaka. At the age of fourteen, Harth went with Melaka on one of her grabs, and the twins were attacked by the lurk Icarus. Melaka tried to fight Icarus off, only to be thrown off the building’s rooftop, while the lurk fed on Harth, killing him.[1]
Because he was the twin brother of the Slayer, Harth inherited her natural precognitive abilities, having the instinctive knowledge of how to become a vampire during the attack, siring himself in his last moments.[2] Thanks to this ability, he then became known as the One Who Will Lead, the undisputed vampire master of Haddyn.
For four years, Harth gathered a number of talismans through Gunther. These talismans would allow him to perform a ritual to raise the Old Ones Neauth, whose womb would serve as a gateway between Earth and a demon dimension. This action did not sit well with two of the Old Ones: Boluz and Vrill, who hoped to unleash apocalypse but on their own terms and schedules. They sent the demon Urkonn to train Harth’s sister in the ways of a Slayer, and she subsequently defeated Harth’s attempt at ending the world.
Harth allies with the Black Hope.
Later, Harth came to ally himself with the mysterious “Black Hope”: a centuries-old Willow Rosenberg apparently gone dark once again. Together they conspired to bring 21st century Slayer Buffy Summers to their time. Although, Willow told Harth that doing so would end their reality, while telling Melaka that Buffy’s return to her own time that would end their reality. In the end, he attempted to rebel against Willow, but she ensured that Gunther would seek vengeance on Harth after his failed assassination attempt. With Harth only playing as a minor pawn, Dark Willow was killed by Buffy, who returned to her own time, and Haddyn appeared to continue existing.[3]
Powers and abilities
Harth possessed all of the powers and abilities of an ordinary vampire, such as superhuman strength, speed, agility, durability, accelerated healing, and immortality. He also possessed the memories of past Slayers inherited through his twin sister, which allowed him to know how to be sired in the first place.[2] Harth was one of the very vampires to know how to assume a human appearance, whereas most of vampires had long forgotten it.[4]
Harth also was able to predict his enemies’ strategies based on his Slayer memories. After robbing the collective power of all active Slayers from Buffy Summers,[5] he also had their combined strength, as well as the psychic connection with the line, which eventually caused his demise as he wasn’t able to process it. Such power made his dusting happen slower than it normally world, and his death allowed his power to flow back to its previous owners, including his twin sister’s Slayer memories.[6]
Appearances
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