Paul Charteris

Paul Charteris is a human member of the Followers in Dreamwave's Generation 1 continuity. He appears exclusively in the Keepers Trilogy.

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Paul Charteris defies defines the archetype of the pretty boy action hero.

Paul Charteris is a plainclothes detective with the NYPD Vice Squad. In his 11 years on the force, he's bounced between departments, including Vice, Homicide, and finally Major Crimes.

He joined the Followers, a secret society that gathers information of the Transformers on Earth, following a traumatic encounter with Starscream shortly after the Transformers' arrival on Earth.

Paul is a severely lapsed Catholic.

Paul Charteris was 41 in October 2002, and a teenager in 1984. Whups, that doesn't add up...

History

Backstory

Paul was a teenager studying to be a priest in St. Michael's seminary in 1984. When the Transformers appeared Paul underwent a "crisis of faith," unable to accept the Vatican's re-interpretation of scripture to allow for the existence of life on other planets. Lacking the strength to weather this apparent invalidation of his beliefs, but unable to admit it, Paul experienced bucketloads of teenaged angst mixed with Catholic Guilt.

When Starscream questioned a priest at St. Michael's, seeking to understand the motivations of religious humans, Paul overheard their shielded conversation. Father Simon's frank assessment that Paul was going to fail in his struggle caused Paul (who was severely sleep deprived and overwrought) to attempt suicide. Starscream saved his life, then told him God did not exist -- except in his own reflection.

Paul left seminary, subsequently joining both the New York Police Department and the Followers, which offered a different way to confront the object of his fears.

In October 2002, on orders from the Followers, Paul left his job without warning to attend a goodwill event with the Autobots in Ginza, Tokyo.

Events of the Keepers Trilogy

Hardwired

Paul was among the humans caught in Megatron's surprise assault, and subsequently transported to Labyrinth by the Keepers.

Once there, Paul met Melody Harcourt, a fellow Follower whose sexual advances he repeatedly rebuffed because she wore a figurative neon sign over her head proclaiming 'damaged goods' in sans-serif italics.

Together they were the only two of the 212 human abductees unwilling to use the Keepers' Paradise Room to explore their greatest memories and fantasies. When the nature of the room changed, exposing worst memories and deepest secrets, Paul was tricked into re-experiencing his confrontation with Starscream by one the of the Keepers' thralls. He also witnessed the death of Melody's sister.

Paul and Melody are keen observers of behavior, and it was Paul that deduced the Keepers' true intentions towards the Transformers.

When Labyrinth was destroyed, Paul returned to Earth along with his fellow abductees and the hastily-decamping Keepers. They arrived in Las Vegas.

Annihilation

Paul and Melody were captured by the New Vegas Police Department. Starscream (who had taken over Las Vegas in their absence) wished to know about the Keepers. Paul is very wary of this police-force turned Decepticon Militia, especially the shifty Chief Carl Lomax.

Starscream recognized Paul from their much-earlier meeting and, aware he was a Follower, wanted him to deliver an offer of alliance to the organization. Paul was unable to convince Starscream of the Keepers' threat due to his ongoing mental breakdown. He was separated from Melody when she attacked Starscream and was sentenced to death.

After being debriefed by the Followers' leader, Paul was sent back to Las Vegas to evacuate the other Followers in the city in advance of a military strike. This plan went to hell when the military moved in early, and Paul learned Melody had been horribly altered to serve as a vessel for one of the Keepers. Discovering from Chief Lomax (revealed to be a fellow Follower) that most Followers were already fleeing the city, Paul decided to kill the altered Melody instead.

Paul attacked the Keepers at the Seven Wonders and More Casino, shooting Melody's body and injuring several more before being fatally wounded. His actions managed to distract the Keepers from the incoming nuclear missile until it was too late for them to stop it. He died in the arms of a Keeper whose body Melody had seized control of.

Paul's quest to save Melody's soul should perhaps be termed a 'qualified success.' Though both were much happier and well-adjusted, having worked through many of their respective issues by their final moments, they were still dead.

Associated Characters

Father Simon

A good-willed but perhaps excessively frank Catholic priest that instructed Paul as a teenager. He has a sharp mind, capable of trading barbs and rhetoric with Starscream. He considers Paul the exception that proves the rule -- that humans are capable of adapting to changes in their world.

Wendy

Paul's ex-girlfriend, a MBA from Harvard. She broke up with him in a note, telling him he was a hollow shell of a man.

She wasn't wrong.

From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.