This is not intended to be a serious, scholarly paper. 

Sympathetic Questions
By Elise

     Why are so many of us drawn to the character of Nicholas de Brabant in 
Forever Knight?  What is it about this eight hundred year old vampire that 
attracts us and holds our attention?  It is a certainty that the actor who plays 
Nick, Geraint Wyn Davies, is a very handsome fellow, but is that the only reason 
so many of us follow the show?  Could the sex appeal of the main character (and 
other characters) account solely for the reaction this show has induced in its 
fans?  Is that why we chat endlessly about the show, write stories of our own 
(stories which number in the thousands), create fan clubs not merely for the 
actors, but also for the fictional characters as well?
       Or is it that, amazingly, we feel a deep sympathy for the character of 
Nicholas Knight?  Yes, we feel sympathy for a character who, historically, has 
been considered an evil, demonic force of hell itself.  The vampire is a monster 
designed to prey upon the blood of us poor mortals, to suck our very souls from 
our bodies as well.  Haven't such beasts tempted mortals to join them in an 
eternal damnation?  And yet we do feel sympathy, a kinship, with Nick Knight. 
Why?  Have we descended so far into sin and inequity that we have forgotten our 
childhood religious training?  Have we become jaded to violence through the real 
world around us to such a degree that we simply accept Nick Knight and the evil 
world in which he lives?
     Who can deny that Knight has a past filled with evil, dark deeds, many of 
which are best left unknown?  He has confessed, and we have - through flashbacks 
- been witnesses to some of those sins.  Is there even one of the Ten 
Commandments he has not broken?  Willingly?  Again and again? 
       If he is, as he states, a creature of immense evil, why then do we feel 
sympathy for him?  Shouldn't we, instead, shun and fear him?  Shouldn't we abhor 
the people responsible for setting such a fiend before us in the guise of a 
hero?  Perhaps we should, but we don't.  We can't.  
      We can't because Nick Knight is too human.  He is too much like us, and if 
we condemn him, we must condemn ourselves.  His character is a symbol for our 
own daily struggles to do what is right.  We see him as a man who made an 
inconceivably horrendous mistake- but still just a mistake.  Knight deeply 
regrets his past actions and continually strives to atone for his sins.  He 
yearns for forgiveness and does everything in his power to find his path back to 
grace.  That is what makes him human.  This is what earns him our sympathy.  
Knight's eternal struggle with himself and his own nature - not his vampiric 
nature but that of the man - is what bonds us to him for we, too, struggle with 
ourselves each and every day.  Knight's struggles are divided into light and 
dark only.  There are no gray areas for him.  He will not allow himself to see 
gray.
     The character of LaCroix, his master, personifies the struggles with his 
darker nature.  LaCroix, like a devil sitting on his shoulder whispering impure 
thoughts in his ear, urges Nick to throw off his mortal bonds.  He preaches a 
world of sensual pleasures and selfish indulgences.  How many of us have fought 
this very temptation?  To do something just because we wanted to do so and the 
consequences be damned?  LaCroix demands Nick's total obedience, and in return 
he promises eternal youth, joy, and delight.   He represents Nick's id, and as 
we mortals do, so does Nick struggle to subdue and contain his id.  How ironic 
that the master vampire's name means "light."
     On the opposite side, Nick must struggle with his super-ego.  Natalie, 
whose name means "birth," urges him to give up the blood, a symbol for the 
vampiric world.  Nick joyfully embraces Natalie, her love for him, and their 
combined attempt to "cure" or save him from the darkness.  But, like all of us, 
Nick cannot stand up for long to the super-human demands made by his super-ego.  
He backslides into that seductive world causing additional stress on his 
relationship with Natalie and emotional distress for himself.  Together, Nick 
and Natalie, fail to realize that Nick's darkness is the natural darkness within 
all men not simply the evil of the vampire-beast.
     Nick's salvation can come only from within.  Likewise, his damnation comes 
from within as well.  He alone has the power to save or damn himself.  Like all 
of mankind, Nick is given free will and must choose for himself.  He must learn 
to accept the dark "light" within himself as represented by LaCroix; however, in 
order to do so, he must follow the guidelines established for him by Natalie and 
become "reborn" through his own faith.
     Perhaps this whole television show is a Christian parable attempting to 
lead us back to the church.  Many religious themes such as sin and atonement, 
salvation and faith are prevalent throughout the series.  Also, the names of the 
characters tend to lend themselves to such an interpretation.  
     Lucien LaCroix, the light, is a facsimile of Lucifer.  Both names have the 
same meaning; both individuals fell into darkness through excessive pride; both 
serve the same function in offering up temptations.  
     Natalie Lambert functions as Nick's guide back to the salvation he so 
desires.  Since her name means "the birth of the lamb," is she there to lead 
Nick back to the salvation promised by Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God?   For 
those who would dismiss this idea off-hand, I should like to point out that in 
her work, Natalie is assisted by Grace.  Surely the religious connotation of her 
co-worker's name cannot ignored.  Now, coupled with this fact, is Grace's last 
name: Balthazar.  For those of you who are not familiar with the Christmas 
story, Balthazar was the name of one of the three Wise Men who sought out the 
Christ child.
     Let us not forget the dichotomy of the main character's name.  "Nicholas" 
is the name of a saint, one who is loved the world over by children.  
Ironically, it is the name by which the evil LaCroix calls Nick Knight.  "Nick," 
on the other hand, is another name for Satan, and it is the name by which 
Natalie Lambert calls our hero.  Is the main character intended to be a saint or 
a devil?
     I have no answers for the questions I have asked, nor do I pretend to have 
them.  I raise them because I feel there must be something deeper, or a 
semblance of something deeper, within the premise of Forever Knight.  The 
character's names and their resemblance to Freud's theory of the ego/id/superego 
can surely be no coincidence, nor can the Christian elements abounding within 
the story.  
     Perhaps one of you has other ideas on this matter and would be willing to 
share.

Elise
Ejdeal@sga.quik.com