John Mitchell

"Do you people have any f*cking idea who I am?! My name is John Mitchell, and I've killed more people than you've met!"

―To a group of vampires

John Mitchell, or more commonly known as simply Mitchell, was a legend.

Irish by birth, he was originally bitten during the First World War by Herrick when he stumbled upon him and several other vampires who were picking through piles of bodies for anyone living to feed on. Mitchell agrees to become a vampire on the condition that Herrick spares the lives of Mitchell's men. In 1969, Mitchell held Josie hostage following he and Herrick's murder of two women in a neighboring flat. After fearlessly confronting him about his lack of desire to kill, he spares her life. Josie would subsequently help Mitchell go clean for a while and the two dated for a time.

In his early years as a vampire, Mitchell was quite a hero among those that knew him. Stories of his exploits are still spoken of among the vampire clan in Britain. These seem to be a cause of great guilt for Mitchell who asks Herrick in "Episode 1.5" to stop their retelling, preferring for himself to be forgotten. It is revealed in Episode 2.8 that Mitchell is 116 years old, and like all vampires is immortal unless killed (According to the discussion in The Wolf-Shaped Bullet this can include suicide). Although he can survive daylight, his eyes are overly-sensitive to natural light, prompting him often to wear sunglasses outside in the daytime. Mitchell has attempted several times to abstain from drinking blood (one attempt was a New Year resolution for 2000, with the aid of a fellow vampire called Carl). At this time, Mitchell showed an extreme addiction to blood, as well as heightened aggression, lack of control and extreme panic due to blood withdrawal.

Mitchell's personality is laid-back and exceedingly cool, with an easy sense of humor and striking good looks he effortlessly charms people, though the menacing violence of his vampirism is never far under the surface. He favors a 'rock n roll' style, dressing in clothes such as leather, jackets with upturned collars and skinny jeans and nearly always wears cut-off gloves as vampires are always cold. Despite his appearance, his age has lent to him a fatherly quality that he displays in his friendship with George and Annie and is apparent in his taste for the classic films, comedy and music of his 'youth.'

In the finale of the third series Mitchell told Annie that she was the love of his long life. He is then staked by George on his request, as he feels that if he continues to live he will only go on to kill more innocent humans. George is initially reluctant to carry out the act on his best friend, but when an Old One, Edgar Wyndham, came to visit the group with the intention of 'recruiting' Mitchell as his attack dog, he staked Mitchell to prevent his friend being used in this manner.

History

Early Life

Mitchell befriended the werewolf George after saving him from a trio of vampires who beat him up. He looks out for him, particularly around the full moon and they moved into a rented house together in an effort to live more like ordinary people. They soon realized it was haunted by Annie who Mitchell recognized as a ghost and 'kindred spirit.' The trio bond over their shared condition as outcasts, neither fitting into a supernatural or a human world.

Series 1

Infuriated with himself after 'converting' fellow hospital employee Lauren into a vampire (as covered in both the pilot episode and Episode 1.1), Mitchell decided to give up the blood and attempts 'Being Human' once more. At several points, he faced a conflict of emotions as he decides whether to 'convert' people around him to prevent their deaths. After converting the child of a neighbor for this reason, Mitchell becomes convinced that vampirism can be a force for good and agrees to rejoin the vampire clan, and its leader Herrick's shadowy plans for their exposure to the world. It is in this time he re-encounters Josie who is terminally ill. When the sinister plans of Herrick are revealed, Mitchell rebels and is mortally wounded but saved again by Josie who gives him her rejuvenating blood.

Series 2

In series 2, Mitchell has become the new "king" of the vampire clan in Bristol, hiding evidence of their feedings, rebuilding their human front and intending to wean them off blood, although his activities are hampered by their blood lust. He recruits his vampire friend Ivan to be a role-model for abstention but being unable to completely forsake blood after so long, Mitchell allows him to feed in secret. He thus faces a spiraling series of 'compromises' to his values in taking up responsibility for the other vampires. Beginning a new relationship with a human doctor, Lucy, Mitchell decides to relinquish command to Ivan. However after the

deaths of the vampire clan by an explosion at the funeral parlor, and subsequently discovering that they have been betrayed by Lucy, Mitchell realizes that he has wasted his time trying to hide his blood lust and goes on a frenzy with Daisy, newly-widowed from Ivan. After brutally killing the coroner Quinn, Daisy and Mitchell attack and kill a train carriage full of people in an arbitrary retaliation against humankind. 20 people are murdered, the media calls it the "Box Tunnel 20 Massacre".

Crazed with blood, Mitchell pays a last visit to George and Annie at the house, warning George to stay away from cities in the future, indicating plans for the unleashing of a vampire-led genocide on the world. While searching for Lucy he has a confrontation with the priest Mark at the hospital chapel, who reminds him that George saw him as a good man worth saving when he was injured and inadvertently reveals Lucy's connection to the organisation that seeks to 'cure' George, Nina and Annie. Finding the organisation's headquarters, Mitchell kills most of its members and confronts Lucy, countering her claims that he and his kind are evil with the theological argument that God made them just as he made mankind and by pointing out that she killed despite having a choice, but he does not kill her. Enraged that Kemp cast Annie into the afterlife, he nearly kills him but stops when George demands that he not do so in Annie's name. After the events at the 'Facility' he leaves Bristol with George and Nina to live in a cottage in the countryside and 'lay low.' He later shows mercy to Lucy when she shows up at the cottage looking for forgiveness and grief when she is then killed by Kemp.

Series 3

When Mitchell enters Purgatory to rescue Annie - following a terminally ill patient at the hospital where George and Nina now work through the Door after his demise -, he learns that the time and date of his death has been confirmed, and he will be killed by a werewolf at some unspecified- but apparently not-too-distant- future date, although he later comments to Annie that he doesn't believe a word of what he heard. Although haunted by both the 'prophecy' of his death and the continued police hunt for the person responsible for the 'Box Tunnel 20' massacre, Mitchell rejected an offer to depart Britain to live with the vampire 'Old Ones', commenting during a talk with permanently teenage vampire Adam that his friends help him remain clean as their goodness inspires him by forcing him to think about the disappointment they would feel if he succumbed to his thirst. After a confrontation with vampire 'fan' Graham, Mitchell tried to tell Annie the truth about the tunnel massacre, but Annie simply told him that whatever he had to tell her didn't matter, assuring him that all she wanted was the man he was now and that what he'd done in the past didn't matter compared to what he'd done for her and George, the two subsequently kissing. Although Annie tries to find ways for their relationship to become physical at first, Mitchell admits that he actually prefers their current bond, as sex has always been about violence rather than love with him, and he prefers for his relationship with Annie to be 'pure' and apart from that.

Despite some tension with werewolf vampire-hunter MacNair due to Mitchell's concerns regarding the 'prophecy' of his death- although he claims to Annie that he doesn't believe in fate-, Mitchell and MacNair reached a certain understanding when they worked together to save George and Nina from a group of vampires, although MacNair still feels that Mitchell's sins will catch up to him eventually. When Herrick returns to life, Mitchell initially attempts to stake him- particularly after Cara stakes herself before she can tell Mitchell how she and Daisy brought Herrick back-, but is convinced by George to let Herrick live on the grounds that he deserves the same chances everyone has given Mitchell. When Annie learns about Mitchell's role in the massacre, she tearfully convinced him to allow himself to be arrested, Mitchell going along with it to prove his love for her even as he tries to escape being processed due to the risks if his true nature is exposed.

Although Herrick released Mitchell- revealing in the process that his resurrection was aided by the fact that he was torn apart rather than just being staked-, Mitchell finally staked Herrick when he concluded that he had seen and done enough in his life. With the news that another man had been framed for the Box Tunnel Twenty he returned to the house to ask George to kill him, recognizing that whoever had set up that frame would want a favor later and wanting to free his friends of the taint he had brought to their lives. He is finally killed by George in an act of mercy when the vampire Old One Edgar Wyndham attempts to recruit Mitchell as an 'attack dog' for future use. Mitchell's legacy lived on, as he was mentioned many times during Series 4 and when Annie went to Purgatory, a future version of Eve told Annie that "they're waiting for you", referring to Mitchell, George and Nina.

Abilities

Like other vampires, Mitchell has enhanced strength and smell. Due to his advanced age, Mitchell is stronger than younger vampires. He has shown enough strength to overpower an adult man with one arm, easily lifting and carrying him across the room but he's apparently susceptible to normal pain ie. when punched or kicked in the shins. In the pilot (which is considered canon?) he shows superhuman speed. He is capable of gaining the upper hand in a fight against Thomas McNair, who is an exceptionally skilled fighter and Vampire hunter. Though it appears that he is slightly weaker when he abstains from drinking blood, he can survive without it. His eyes turn completely black when he has blood-lust or when he wills it. He is not reflected in anything "silver-backed", making him invisible in mirrors and on camera, but is reflected in transparent surfaces such as windows. Mitchell is also immortal unless killed by staking, loss of blood or decapitation. Although he can survive daylight, his eyes are overly-sensitive to natural light, prompting him to wear sunglasses whenever outside in the daytime.

Victims

During his years as a vampire Mitchell has killed a lot of people. He is responsible for the deaths of: Arthur Hanley, Sally, Lauren Drake, a soldier in a bar in Glasgow in 1932, countless members of the CenSSA, Chief Constable Wilson, the victims of the Box Tunnel 20 Massacre:

Lia Shaman
Donna Whycliffe
Glenn Moorham
Mary Finchly
Matthew Nelson
Dean Brocten
Victoria Abbotts
Lisa Scally
Dawn Green
Andrew Driecoll
Robbie Jenkins
George Franks
Edith Horson
Brian Smallbridge
six unnamed victims

and many more. He also turns Bernie and Lauren into vampires.

Quotes

George Sands (speaking about Mitchell and the other vampires): I'd forgotten what they were like. The others. They're predators. Every inch of them is just hunger and fury. The energy it must take him, every minute, not to be like that... (Flotsam and Jetsam)

George Sands (to Mitchell): I think you've grown attached to her and it's clouding your judgement (about Annie - Ghost Town)