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Defilers! I'll... cut you into nothing! I'll feast on your brains. I'll swim in lakes of your own blood!
―Matthias Pavayne[src]

Matthias Pavayne was an 18th century doctor known as the Reaper who haunted the Wolfram & Hart Los Angeles branch.[1]

Biography[]

Life[]

He was a an 18th century European aristocrat. As a doctor, he was nicknamed the "Reaper" for performing unnecessary, often fatal, surgeries on his patients. When word spread of his unorthodox practices, he escaped to California. His arrival coincided with a rash of brutal, ritualistic murders; pieces of the victims placed in such a manner that suggested an intimate knowledge of the dark arts.[1]

The murders continued for nearly twenty years until 1791 when representatives from Wolfram & Hart were looking to build a new branch in what would eventually become Los Angeles. However, a Spanish mission was already resting on the site their seers recommended, and they needed an appropriate sacrifice to deconsecrate the ground. Pavayne's blood suited the needs of the situation, and Wolfram & Hart killed him.[1]

Haunting[]

From that point on, Pavayne's ghost haunted the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram & Hart. He stole the soul of any employee that died in service of the company, tortured them until he had his fill, then sacrificed them through a portal to hell he had opened to circumvent having to go himself.[1]

In October 2003, Pavayne turned his attention toward sending Spike, who was trapped in a ghost-like state, to hell in his place. Pavayne tortured him with ghosts as the Angel Investigations team raced against time to attempt an experiment that would make Spike corporeal. However, just as Pavayne was about to send Spike to hell, Spike learned how to manipulate his environment so he could fight back against Pavayne. He managed to keep the doctor occupied until the corporealization machine was complete.[1]

Resurrection[]

Pavayne threatened to kill Fred before Spike could use the machine, Spike instead sacrificed his chance to become corporeal by throwing Pavayne into the machine, restoring him to a solid form. With Pavayne in an apparently immortal, but otherwise physically human body, Angel subdued him and arranged for Pavayne to be kept in a special containment unit. The unit was a small oubliette which left Pavayne in suspended animation with just enough room to stand. He was unable to move, speak, or affect the world around him, his only reprieve from the torment being a window of the corridor outside his cell.[1]

After the Fall of Los Angeles, the Wolfram & Hart building that contained Pavayne disappeared.[2]

Powers and abilities[]

When he was reverted to human form, he was deprived of these abilities and kept on a cocktail of drugs to keep him in suspend animation. Previously, his knowledge of the dark arts allowed him to display the following:[1]

  • Immortality Pavayne's knowledge allowed him to sustain himself even after his physical death.[1]
  • Illusion casting: His skill in the dark arts allowed him to project the illusion that he was not actually present in the Wolfram & Hart offices even when trained mediums were searching for him. He could generate illusions of his past victims to torment his present ones.[1]
  • Damnation inducement: He could send his victims to hell in his place while he remained on Earth, although he could only send the deserving to hell.[1]
  • Perception manipulation: He could manipulate his victims' perceptions of reality so that, for example, Spike believed he had been genuinely injured and was temporarily deprived of his clothing despite the fact that, as a ghost, he couldn't get injured.[1]
  • Willpower: Matthias can use his willpower to affect the living world. He was able to summon up enough willpower to choke Fred, implying that he needs a strong concentration or an intense fury thanks to his murderous instincts to make it, similar to the ghostly Spike when trying it with objects.[1]
  • Death inducement: He could also kill psychic mediums like Claire, who tried to contact him.[1]
  • Strength: He could also enhance his physical strength so that he could overpower a vampire of Spike's age in combat, although his actual combat skills were relatively limited.[1]

Gallery[]

Behind the scenes[]

Appearances[]

References[]

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