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Butch

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"A guy from Southie with a chipped front tooth, a bad background, and a host of addictions he hadn't been able to master until he met her.

Plus there was all the Omega shit."

-Butch's view of himself[1]

A former cop, Butch is a half-breed vampire member of the Black Dagger Brotherhood in the series of the same name by JR Ward and is one of the main characters in the fourth book, Lover Revealed. He's mated to Marissa, the half-brother of Jo Early and Manny Manello, and is best friends with his Brothers Rhage and Vishous.

Biography[]

Butch came about after his mother, Odell O'Neal, had an affair with a vampire doctor. He was raised human alongside his five half-siblings. However, his step-father, Edward O'Neal suspected Butch was not his. Mr. O'Neal also seemed to suspect or know that the reason his wife drifted away from him was because of the affair. Consequently, his stepfather blamed him for all of it, and emotionally and physically mistreated him his entire life. He spent most of his youth being beaten and berated by his step-father.[2]

When he was twelve years old, he was the last person to see his fifteen-year-old half-sister, Janie O'Neal, alive before she unwisely got into a car with some boys. Later, she was found dead behind his school, beaten, raped, and strangled. In memory of her, he tattoos tally marks on his lower back every time a year passes, feeling partially responsible for what happened.

After Janie O'Neal's death, his stepfather stopped hitting him, believing that he intentionally lured Janie into that car in order to get revenge on his abusive father because Janie was his favorite. In order to protect his remaining children, Eddie stopped hitting him and was wary of the boy. Consequently, his half-siblings weren't sure who was responsible for Janie's death. They noted their father's fear of him, so they kept him at an emotional distance. As a result, he was further isolated from the concept of family. This created an unfulfilled longing in him to belong somewhere and to someone who would really love him.[3]

His desire to be considered useful and to protect those who could not protect themselves led him into a career in law enforcement. Unfortunately, he also had a terribly bruised and battered sense of self-worth that ate away at him from the shadowy corners of his mind. This led to a vicious cycle of self-destructive behavior. He began drinking in his teens and became a Scotch swilling alcoholic as an adult. He sometimes snorted cocaine, and within a short period of time after joining the Caldwell police he became jaded and devoid of motivation. He was known to rough-up suspects[4] and relied upon his fists to handle most problems. He took pleasures where he could, often having casual sexual encounters with women and taking no precautions to safeguard his health.

It was around this time that he became involved with the Brotherhood, by accident. He had known Beth from work since she was a reporter at the time for the Caldwell Courier Journal. He had become attracted to her and while pursuing a relationship with her, he encountered Wrath, who was guarding her and the accidental entanglement would change the course of his life forever.

As he becomes involved with the Black Dagger Brotherhood, he meets Marissa through Beth.[4] They meet several times and slowly build a relationship. Marissa's brother, Havers, is completely against it and conspires to keep them apart by having the staff work with him to derail his phone calls and messages to her. Despite his best efforts, Butch can't seem to let her go and begins to display typical male vampire bonding traits, such as disproportionate aggression towards other males around her and a lack of sexual desire for any other woman. He even produces the bonding scent whenever she is around, something of which a human should be incapable.

Vishous, his best friend and roommate, notes the strange behaviour and it occurs to him that Butch may have vampire ancestry. When it turns out Butch does in fact have a connection to the line of Wrath, the brothers offer him a chance to undergo a vampire conversion, which involves draining him of almost all his human blood and replacing it with vampire blood.[5] He agrees to the conversion, miraculously survives the change, and undergoes a typical male vampire transition. When Butch awakens, the sun burns him and his interest in Marissa has become a bond. The Brothers then induct him into the Brotherhood in 2007.[6]

The Omega managed to capture him and attempt to turn him into one of them, by surgically putting a piece of them inside him. When he was rescued, he was taken to Havers' to be quarantined because of his symptoms, which appear to only affect him and no one else. After the piece of the lesser is removed, he developed the unique ability to turn Lessers into dust by inhaling them, interrupting the cycle of the Omega's power and thus diminishing his strength. The evil essence makes him incredibly sick and Vishous is the only one who can purge the taint from his body.

One of the ancient chronicles contains a prophecy revealing that Butch is the Dhestroyer meant to bring about the end of The Omega:

"There shall be one to bring the end before the master, a fighter of modern time found in the seventh of the twenty-first and he shall be known in the numbers he bears. One more than the compass he hath perceives though mere four points to make at his right. Three lines has he, two scores on his fore, a single black eye, in one well will he be birthed and die." [2]

Devina chooses Butch as her way of getting close to the Brotherhood and to do so, she poses as a childhood friend of Janie's, pretending to be an assault victim to play on his hero complex. They connect over a shared love of designer clothing, but Butch isn't tempted by her seduction.[7]In The Sinner, it is discovered that Butch, Jo, and Manny all share the same father, Robert Bluff. They are all distantly related to Wrath.   

Personality[]

Butch is a devoted Catholic[8] with a blue-collar worker attitude. When he was a teenager, he began doing drugs, including cocaine and stealing cars. As a cop, he would still do drugs and other shady activities, but drew the line at accepting bribes of either money or sex.[2]

TV Show Adaptation (2025)[]

Butch


Butch as portrayed in the 2025 TV series Portrayed by Michael Roark.

A serial adaptation of these novels was optioned by Passionflix. Season 1, consisting of 6 episodes, was released in 2025 Called The Black Dagger Brotherhood.


Physical Description[]

After his change, he's 6'7" and 260 lbs. He has dark brown hair[9], is bowlegged,[10] and there's a chip in one of his front teeth; it's implied that it was from his father's abuse.[3] He wears a heavy gold cross that Fritz procured for him[11] and has a gravelly voice.[2] His nose is bumpy from having been broken too many times.[3]

The pinky on his right hand is stiff and curled up tight against his palm.[12] He has a tattoo of black tick marks counting the years since the death of his sister, Janie, in the small of his back. [3] Above that, Marissa's name is carved into his back in Old English lettering. Like the rest of the Brotherhood, he wears his mark on his left pectoral. His voice is gravelly, but especially so in the morning.[2]

Skills[]

  • Homicide investigation[4]
  • Building model rockets.
  • After Beth, he's the best pool player in the mansion.[13]
  • Breaking and entering[14]

Abilities[]

  • Due to an incident with the Omega, he is able to inhale/ingest the essence of Lessers in order to kill them.[2]
  • He is able to sense when Lessers are around.[2]
  • He cannot dematerialize.[15]

Relationships[]

Devina[]

Butch and Devina first meet in The Sinner. Devina is aroused by Butch consuming lessers, and regards his evil aura as her twin. She feels very strongly towards Butch in that short time. When Vishous uses his power to help Butch remove the evil, she is disgusted. She pretends to be someone from Butch's childhood to get close to him. She uses a ploy of being abused by a man to pull at Butch's heart-strings, while trying to covertly seduce him. When this doesn't work, Butch and Devina have a deep conversation about relationships and love. Devina later saves Butch from The Omega by destroying her brother. She explains to butch that she saved him, solely because of his consoling words about the nature of love. She tells Butch that they're even now and will be on different sides going forward, as she now takes over The Omega's role.

José de la Cruz[]

Police partner. He still misses his old partner, which is the only part of his human life that he regrets having had to leave behind the way he did. Sometimes he thinks about reaching out to him, but it's complicated.[16]

Jo Early[]

Half-sister. They share the same Father. [7] Butch immediately regards Jo like a sister.

Manny[]

Half-brother. He gets on well with his half-brother since they're so much alike.

Marissa[]

shellan, Butch still occasionally struggles with feeling unworthy of his bonded shellan and due to his Catholic beliefs, he gets caught up in the virgin-whore dichotomy and worries that he sullies her when they're intimate. He sees the way she throws into her work at Safe Place and it reminds him of the way he was when he worked as a cop, which makes him both proud of and worry over her. They're thinking about having young, but haven't decided anything yet.[17]

Phury[]

Best friend. they share a love for fashion and treat it as a friendly competition to see who can one-up the other.[18] Phury was often the target for Butch & Vishous shenanigans with their potato launcher

Syn[]

Butch and Syn have a tense relationship once the Band of Bastards joins the brotherhood. Because of Syn's history, he is known for killing humans. As such, when humans start to die, Syn is first suspected by Butch both when vampire females are murdered, and when human men are killed. Syn admits to all of it, even though he hasn't killed any vampires or humans recently. Butch knows that Syn is lying about killing them and does his duty as a homicide detective to find the real culprits. Syn tackles The Omega to save Butch and in turn, Butch protects Syn from The Omega. There's a sense of respect between them after saving each other.

Vishous[]

Best friend/brother. His best friend and the brother of his heart, Butch and Vishous have a relationship that goes deeper than anything either of them ever believed possible. Although at one point V thought he was in love with him, Butch never repudiated V for it.

Trivia[]

  • He lives in the Pit with Vishous and their shellans.
  • He is a Red Sox fan.[4]
  • Since he grew up in Boston, he has the accent.
  • He's slightly dyslexic.[18]
  • His favourite show is Columbo or ESPN.[18]
  • In 2006 he quit smoking. [2]
  • He doesn't like chocolate.[9]
  • He attends midnight mass, sitting in the back row and wearing a Red Sox cap. He used to attend Our Lady[8], but now attends St. Patrick Cathedral.[19]
  • His weapon of choice is a 40mm Glock.[18]
  • He can bench press 600 lbs.[20]
  • After the transition, his right pinky is locked in a curled position [2]
  • He wears Aqua di Parma.[21]
  • At Butch's mating ceremony, Vishous carved both A's of Marissa's name into Butch' back and his hand shook the whole time.[10]
  • His greatest fear is that he's not the man Marissa believes him to be.[18]
  • He's a little superstitious.[22]
  • Back in Boston, he used to steal cars. [23]
  • He drives a Lexus.[19]
  • Lagavulin scotch is his preferred drink.[4]
  • He builds models to relax and Phury paints them.[18]
  • His favourite spot to feed from is the left side of Marissa's neck.[24]
  • When he's about to discuss something of significance, he tends to crack his knuckles.[25]
  • He and V built a potato launcher with knowledge Butch gained at camp as a kid,[26] which they used to break Phury's bedroom window twice.[27]
  • He snores like a wounded badger.[28]
  • Butch used to do cocaine, even as a cop.[2]
  • He uses common Catholic phrases such as "Holy Mary, Mother of God."[2]
  • One Halloween, he dressed up as Gianna Versace.[29]
  • His wardrobe includes:
    • Formal wear: Tom Ford, Gucci, Mattin Dingman, Brunello Cucinelli, Vuitton, Hermès, Zegna, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Isaiah, Canali, Valentino Turnbull & Asser[2][18]
    • Casual wear: Pal Zileri, Izod, Etto, Diesel, Nike, Ralph Lauren, Affliction, and Lochcarron of Scotland[18]
    • Shoes: blood-red Ferragamos, Gucci loafers[2], and Tod[18]
    • Underwear: Emporio Armani boxer briefs[18] and silk socks[2]
    • Jewelry: 49 watches including an Audemars[1] Piaget and a Corum Golden Bridge Tourbillon Panoramique watch[18] and platinum cufflinks[25]
  • Member of the Survivors' Club
  • He had a 92% success rate at solving homicides with the Caldwell Police Department.[30]
  • He learned breaking and entering from Balthazar[14]
  • Butch and Vishous received a shout out from Curt Schilling, a famous Boston Red Sox's pitcher, courtesy of Lassiter as an apology.[31]

Appearances[]

References[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Blood Kiss, Ch. 3
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 Lover Revealed
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lover Revealed, Ch. 34
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Dark Lover
  5. ↑ Lover Revealed, Ch. 38
  6. ↑ Lover Revealed, Ch. 48
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Sinner
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lover Revealed, Ch. 41
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lover Revealed, Ch. 40
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lover Unbound, Ch. 1
  11. ↑ Lover Revealed, Ch. 23
  12. ↑ Lover Revealed, Ch. 42
  13. ↑ Lover Enshrined, Ch. 4
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 The Sinner Ch. 42
  15. ↑ Lover Unbound, Ch. 50
  16. ↑ Butch. "Ask a Brother." Caldwell Courier Journal. Vol I, Issue 1. March 5, 2019
  17. ↑ Beth. "Missive From the Mansion." Caldwell Courier Journal. Vol I, Issue 3. December 3, 2019
  18. ↑ 18.00 18.01 18.02 18.03 18.04 18.05 18.06 18.07 18.08 18.09 18.10 Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider's Guide
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Blood Kiss, Ch. 13
  20. ↑ The Shadows, Ch. 42
  21. ↑ Lover Avenged, Ch. 2
  22. ↑ Blood Kiss, Ch. 35
  23. ↑ Lover Revealed, Ch. 16
  24. ↑ Blood Kiss, Ch. 21
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Lover Unbound, Ch. 18
  26. ↑ Lover Awakened
  27. ↑ Lover Unbound, Ch. 7
  28. ↑ The Beast, Ch. 15
  29. ↑ Beth. "Missive From the Mansion." Caldwell Courier Journal. Vol I, Issue 8. October 1, 2019
  30. ↑ Blood Truth Ch. 6
  31. ↑ The Sinner Ch. 64
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