Difference between revisions of "David Haller"

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"And he asked him: What is thy name? And he saith to him: My name is Legion, for we are many." -- Mark V.9

David Haller is a broad-spectrum psi who has been diagnosed with a condition known as Dissociative Identity Disorder since the age of 13, and as such is eminently qualified for his position as the most recent in a long line of slightly cracked student counselors at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

Details

Real Name: David Charles Haller

Codename: Legion

Aliases: Jim (primary); Jack, Cyndi, Davey (alters)

First Appearance: January 14th, 2006

Date of Birth: May 7, 1982

Place of Birth: New York, New York

Citizenship: American

Relatives: Benyamin Haller (uncle, deceased), Rebecca Haller (aunt, deceased), Charles Xavier (father), Gabrielle Haller (mother), Andrew Shomron (guardian, deceased), maternal grandparents (disowned by)

Education: GED, sporadically pursuing psychology courses at The New School

Relationship Status: In a strange and elaborate dance with Snow Valley's Betsy Braddock, which was revealed to the public in the most unfortunate way possible.

Occupation: Student counselor at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters

Team Affiliation: X-Men

Biography

Childhood

Haller had a typical childhood until the age of 7, when his parents were killed in a suicide-bombing of their hotel when on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Haller was then relegated to the care of his maternal grandparents for some months until Andrew Shomron (brother to Daniel Shomron, an associate of Gabrielle Haller's, and a friend of the family) assumed guardianship. Later it was discovered that the time spent with his grandparents established the foundations of Haller's later dissociative disorder as their harsh treatment of Haller's introversion and "excessive" grief over his parents' death lead to the defensive creation of the happier, more socially acceptable persona that later became known as Davey.

Manifestation

At the age of 10 Haller was caught in the middle of a convenience-store holdup one night as he and Andrew were returning from a visit to a friend's house. In the restroom when the three gunmen arrived, Haller startled them by opening the door and caused one of the gunmen to open fire. Haller, shielded by his guardian's body, suffered only a bullet to the arm. Andrew, however, was killed instantly. Pain, terror and rage catalyzed his psionic powers, and the resulting manifestation destroyed the convenience store and killed the three gunmen, two clerks and one other customer. Overwhelmed by the death of his guardian and the horror of physically and psychically annihilating six people, Haller's mind shattered. By the time rescuers pulled him from the rubble the boy was catatonic. His grandparents placed him in a long-term care facility.

Muir Island and Xavier's

At the age of 13 Haller's powers again began to manifest in reality in the form of telekinetic and pyrokinetic fits. Seeing this as the final straw, his grandparents disowned him. His aunt Gabrielle, now assured the boy was a mutant, contacted Charles Xavier for help. Charles succeeded in extricating Haller from the institution the boy was sent to the Muir Island Research Facility for a brief time. Several weeks of psychic coaxing saw Haller out of his coma, but it was discovered that the trauma of his manifestation had resulted in Dissociative Identity Disorder (also called DID, once known as Multiple Personality Disorder). During the initial months of recuperation Haller bonded with Moira MacTaggart, who had only a year before lost her son Kevin.

Once Haller stabilized he was transferred to Xavier's in order to continue treatment with Charles. With the assistance of a personal caretaker Haller remained at the school until he was 16, at which point he was deemed well enough to continue treatment for his DID with more specialized therapists. However, because of the complications associated with his powers and mental illness it was deemed best for Haller to spend this time in the care of Muir Island.

Therapy continued apace for a number of years. Then, for reasons originally cited only as "a psychological reconfiguration," at the age of 19 Haller's DID began to spiral out of control. A year later, after several increasingly violent incidents with his telekinesis which resulted in third-degree burns, numerous fractures and blunt-force trauma, Haller was once again forced to turn to Charles for help. Unknown to both men, the psychic-inhibitors placed around Haller's TK had the unintended side-effect of artificially restraining the personalities that held them. Although Davey continued to emerge, manifestations of Jack and Cyndi grew less and less pronounced. His brief, failed attempt at out-patient treatment at the age of 18 notwithstanding, he was not formally released until he was 20.

Post-Muir

After his convalescence and release from Muir, Haller spent three years drifting around the United Kingdom working as a volunteer in various asylums. Due to his own experiences and the training received under Charles Xavier, Haller proved exceptionally adept at working with the mentally ill. However, despite his natural talent the work took its toll. In the winter of 2005, physically and emotionally burned out, he contacted Charles, who arranged for him to assume position as the latest in the long line of student counselors at Xavier's, supporting and eventually replacing the overworked Wanda Maximoff. Haller arrived at the school in early January of 2006. In addition to his staff duties, Haller began to pursue psychology courses at The New School.

As a result of a relapse brought upon by his actions in The Rictor Effect in July of 2006 Haller temporarily removed himself from position as school counselor. The hiatus lasted until Charles gently nudged Haller's shattered self-confidence back into some approximation of whole by requesting his assistance with the new arrival Yvette Petrovic.

The X-Men

Though initially leery about joining the team due to his history of mental instability, Haller's assistance was required to combat Chthon in Head Like A Hole. It marked Haller's first willfully offensive use of telepathy and the beginning of his involvement with the team.

Haller's telekinesis remained locked until The Rictor Effect, during which his assistance was required to hold back the tsunami in San Diego. By ripping off the inhibitors Haller succeeded in helping to avert the immediate threat, but released the latent personalities of Jack and Cyndi. In their attempt to escape the possibility of re-imprisonment the two alters assaulted Cable, Phoenix, Polaris and Rogue before they could be pacified by Juggernaut. It was the first time Haller had ever worn team leathers.

After a period of voluntary inactivity for fear his obvious instability threatened the team, Haller reenlisted after he was forced to test his limits under pressure when Pete Wisdom utilized borderline blackmail to scrape up another telepath for Operation: Xorn.

Five Against One

Early in 2007 Haller discovered his mentor, Charles Xavier, was in fact his biological father by the woman Haller had until that time believed to be his aunt, Gabrielle Haller. This fact had been kept hidden from Haller for fear that it would destroy his tenuous grip on sanity. This fear proved to be 100% correct. The alter Jack responded with escalating violence against both Jim and the professor. A dinner meeting with his mother proved the last straw, and Haller's fractured psyche finally split entirely, revealing the source of the conflict.

David's original manifestation hadn't merely killed six bystanders, but lead to the absorption of the psyche of one of his assailants -- a 17 year old named Jemail Karami, the man who had shot and killed David's guardian only moments before. During the violent schisming of David's psionic abilities, Jemail found himself in possession of the aspect the traumatized boy couldn't bear to have: telepathy. Locked inside David's mind for years and completely isolated from the world, Jemail slowly began to utilize his power by effecting repairs on David's mind until Charles located the boy and drew him out. It was Jemail who received the training Haller would later put to use in his vocation of telepathic therapist.

All was relatively calm until David began recovery in earnest around the age of 18, when David's brain became unable to sustain the presence of two strong, coherent personalities. Erring on the side of survival, David's mind chose the strongest of the psyches: Jemail. David's own mind slowly began to disintegrate. In order to preserve both personalities, Charles was eventually convinced to knit the two psyches together to form the composite entity who came to call himself Jim -- a solution which nearly killed him, as the event became the catalyst for Jack's original rebellion.

The poison drawn out into the open, David finally gained the opportunity to confront Jemail, his victim, partner and parasite. After a great deal of drama, both men finally resolved their issues and once more reintegrated into Jim.

Afterwards

Since Five Against One, cooperation amongst the alters has greatly increased, particularly between rivals Jim and Jack. Alexander's Wall showed Haller's alters now able to formulate strategy and coordinate attacks, albeit with the occasional snarky commentary.

While still unable to refer to Charles as anything but "the professor," Jim has finally succeeded in calling Gabrielle "Ima" -- Hebrew for mother.

Voices in David's Head

Alters

Haller's mind was once broken into many ego states, but has now resolved into only four:

Jim: The telepathic core-personality that is a gestalt of David Haller and Jemail Karami, created with the assistance of Charles when Haller was 18. The two are now so thoroughly blended the distinction between the two component personalities is occasionally unclear even to Haller himself.

Jack: Mid-30s/early-40s, aggressive, and the holder of Haller's macro-telekinesis. Jack is an introject, an internal representation of an abuser, and yet perversely is also Haller's primary defender. His fine-control is almost nonexistent, but he is quite gifted at shielding. He responds to threats of physical danger or when Haller feels anger he cannot express as himself. He is co-conscious with Jim, but loathes him. He is Davey's closest ally.

Cyndi: 16 years old, sarcastic and assertive, the holder of Haller's micro-telekinesis (which most often manifests itself as pyrokinetic activity). She has a quick temper but forgives easily, and strongly associates herself with her ability to create fire. She is often triggered by social situations which Haller feels himself unequipped to handle. Of the three alters, Cyndi is the most cooperative with Jim.

Davey: 10 years old, powerless, and the "first" alter. Davey is self-serving, manipulative, and extroverted -- the things that David as a child felt he could not be. Davey would once act out in the form of screaming, physical violence and vandalism, but after a decade of therapy has mellowed to simple obstinacy. He is most often triggered by Haller's desire to escape from adult responsibilities or difficult emotions. Jim cannot remember or control what happens when Davey is out.

Jemail Karami

Not a fragment of David, but a person in his own right -- once. An Iranian national born November 21st, 1975, Jemail's Baha'i family immigrated to the New York to escape persecution from the Shi'ite majority -- only to see Jemail's father killed as a result of the 1979 Iranian hostage situation. This early loss cultivated in Jemail a vicious hatred of white America. This hatred escalated from petty theft, vandalism, beatings, and finally culminated in an attempt at armed robbery when he was 17. Riven with guilt once he came to understand the true scope of what his actions had done, both to him and to his victim, he survived in David's mind for years after his physical death until circumstances forced him to merge with his "host" to become Jim.

Jemail was 5'7", speaks Khaliji (Arabic) and some Farsi, and is solely responsible for Jim's smoking habit. His mother, still alive and ignorant of her son's fate, is Safa Karami.

Physical Characteristics

Height: 6'4"

Weight: 165lbs

Eyes: Blue right eye, brown left eye (Jim); grey (Jack); green (Cyndi); blue (Davey, David)

Hair: Black, feared sentient

Other Features: While normally heterochromatic, depending on which personality is in control Haller's eyecolor changes due to a rapid increase or decay of the melanin in his eyes, which is a product of psychosomatic interaction between his state of mind and his own body. As a consequence of uncontrolled fits of pyrokinesis Haller has very visible scars running up the back of his right hand and arm, as well as several less obvious ones across his body.

Powers

Haller is theoretically a broad-spectrum psi, but his traumatic manifestation schismed his powers into the two most basic expressions: psychically affective (telepathy) and physically affective (telekinesis, subdivided into macro- and micro- scale). Because of David's inability to cope with the psychological ramifications these powers were allotted to other personalities; the core personality did not come into possession of any powers until eight years after his initial manifestation.

Telepathy: Trained by Charles and experienced in the rebuilding of his own mind, Haller's area of speciality is psychic reconstruction. A high ability to multi-task and thus perform functions like the psionic switchboard during missions is an unforeseen benefit of his disorder. He is adept at mimicking and customizing techniques demonstrated to him, and extremely talented at adaptation as necessity requires. Though powerful, psychological inhibitions restrict his range to 1-2 miles at best and he is psychically numb to any but the extremely familiar. Despite this introversion the intuitive nature of his approach to telepathy allows him the atypical ability to communicate with those speaking in languages other than his own -- useful for face-to-face communication, but no help when it comes to speaking, reading or learning the language itself. Only Jim has use of Haller's telepathy.

Macro-TK: Telekinesis affecting objects visible to the eye, controlled by Jack. By far the least developed aspect of Haller's powers, a combination of mental inhibitions and genuine inexperience restrict him from complex manipulation, handling simultaneous multiple targets, or, under normal circumstances, affecting objects larger than around the size of a bus. It is notable that the physical limitations are far less severe when in the area of instinctive defense, as demonstrated by Haller's participation against the tsunami in The Rictor Effect. He is best able to affect objects already in motion; imminent action is often characterized by the disturbance of nearby objects as his less refined telekinesis begins to "leak". The power is usually characterized by poorly-directed hurling or smashing of objects or short, sharp bursts of concussive force. However, Jack displays an unexpected talent for shielding.

Micro-TK: Telekinesis on the molecular level, wielded by Cyndi. Most often it manifests as pyrokinesis -- not because it's limited to that, but because that is simply the controlling alter's preference of manifestation. While Cyndi's fine control exceeds Jack's, emotional upset or simple boredom tends to result in unwitting spontaneous combustion. Occasionally this occurs slightly too close to the non-fireproof Haller.

Trivia

The telepathic personality, Jim, is the only one who smokes. His brand of preference is Marlboro.
Though he loathes the professor, Jack sometimes listens to jazz because Charles once suggested it as a way to mellow out.
After an attempt to telepathically force-integrate with Cyndi, Cyndi retaliated by seizing control, getting a tattoo and burning down a nightclub. To this day Jim still cannot remember these events.
Haller participated in a public search and rescue operation for a British Alzheimer's patient in the spring of 2004, which attracted the attention of Magneto. He was courted briefly as a possible resource, but declined. Due to the commonality of his power and his various restrictions Magneto deemed him not useful enough to pursue.
As revealed in The Enemy Within, Haller was at the Muir Island Research Center with Moira during the events of X2.
The reason why Jim has the "atypical" ability to telepathically understand those speaking languages other than English is due to the fact his player was unaware this was not common practice in X-Project and found out only after multiple instances of use. As retconning was useless, his player decided he was just special. Jonothan Starsmore is currently the only other telepath to display similar ability.
Haller claimed his codename in response to Jack's final taunt to him during the sudden relapse brought on by the The Rictor Effect: So smile and say it with me now, "Jim": My name is Legion, for we are many.