Vidar

Vidar
Biographical information
Species:	Warlock
Status:	Deceased
Relationships
Friends	Joanna (formerly)
Appearance
Portrayed by:	Matt Frewer
Portrayed by:	Matt Frewer
Seasons:	1
Seasons:	1

Vidar was a warlock and a friend of Joanna Beauchamp during the time of the Salem Witch Trials, but their friendship fell apart when he revealed to the Puritans that her daughters, Freya and Ingrid, were witches.

Biography

Witch trials

Not much is known about Vidar, except that he was likely one of the witches who fled Asgard after the revolt against King Nikolaus failed.

Back in the XVII^th century Salem, Vidar was a friend of Joanna Beauchamp and one of the witches hiding in town. However, as the witch hunt grew stronger, Vidar began to fear that his life was in danger, and noticed how Joanna's two daughters, Ingrid and Freya, had grown reckless with their use of magic. So, to prevent the witch hunters from discovering his secret, he informed the Puritans of Joanna's daughters' identities, which led to their execution. When Joanna discovered what was happening, she rushed to save her daughters, but arrived too late. Furious, she attacked Vidar, and seemed as though she was prepared to kill him. However, Vidar begged for mercy, which Joanna responded she would give him, and so, she instead burnt his ear as a token of her wrath.

Getting revenge

At some point, Vidar came upon Athena Browning, who had been living under the alias of Penelope Gardiner. Knowing that Vidar, like herself, had a grudge against Joanna Beauchamp, Penelope invited him to work with her in order for them both to enact their revenge; Vidar, to get back at her for attacking him after he had turned Ingrid and Freya in to the Puritans, and Penelope to get payback for Joanna killing her father, Archibald, after Ingrid was accidentally killed during a confrontation between Wendy and Archibald.

The two used their shape-shifting abilities to great affect, with Penelope killing Bill Thatcher and attacking Maura Thatcher while shape-shifted to look like Joanna, ensuring that Maura would later identify Joanna as her attacker and her husband's killer. Meanwhile, Vidar stole various possessions of Joanna's, including her hairbrush, from which he took her hairs to create an energy talisman to siphon away Joanna's magical strength. He then used his shape-shifting abilities to impersonate Principal Redmond, who was planning on acting as a character witness for Joanna's murder trial. While in Redmond's form, he lures Joanna and her lawyer and friend, Harrison Welles, to Redmond's home for dinner, where he attempted to use the energy talisman to kill her. He managed to go as far as to burn Joanna's own ear off in retribution for what she did to him during the Salem Witch Trials; However, while he was distracted by torturing her, Harrison threw the talisman into the fire, returning Joanna to full strength and allowing her to heal herself before incapacitating Vidar enough that she could easily kill him by stabbing him in the chest with a fireplace poker. However, before he died, he revealed to Joanna that he wasn't the only shifter, and that he was working for another one who was actually the one who set her up. Joanna demanded that he tell her who the other shifter was, but Vidar died before she could get the answer.

Personality

Not much is known about Vidar's personality, but he did demonstrate a willingness to do whatever was necessary to save himself from harm or death, even if it meant turning in the daughters of his friend to the witch hunters to avoid being caught himself, in the case of Freya and Ingrid during the Salem Witch Trials. However, despite this survival instinct, he was not above working with others to achieve his goals, as he demonstrated when he joined forces with Penelope Gardiner in order to enact revenge on Joanna Beauchamp.

Powers and abilities

As one of the witches who fled Asgard, Vidar was "cursed" with immortality. However, he did not seem to be an especially powerful witch, preferring to betray his own kind to save himself, rather than protecting himself from the mere mortals who were hunting witches.

• Spellcasting and Potion-brewing are among Witches' common abilities.
• Immortality: Vidar could not die of natural causes or of old age, but could be killed.
• Telekinesis: Vidar was able to move objects with his mind.
• Shapeshifting: Vidar was able to shift his appearance to pass as someone else, which made Joanna think he was the Shifter.

Relationships

Enemies

• Joanna Beauchamp: Before being enemies, the two of them were friends, having surely known each other ever since their escape from Asgard. But back in Salem during the Witch Trials, Vidar saw how "reckless" Joanna's daughters were with their magic. Fearing for his own life, as he was not truly immortal, Vidar decided to out Ingrid and Freya as witches to the Puritans so as to not be caught and punished as a witch himself. This led to an intense falling out between the two former friends, which ended with Joanna burning off Vidar's ear as a token of her anger.

Allies

• Athena Browning/Penelope Gardiner: She and Vidar formed an alliance in the present day based on their mutual loathing of Joanna Beauchamp, against whom both Penelope and Vidar sought revenge for her past actions against them. The two worked together and utilized their shape-shifting abilities to frame Joanna for murder before Vidar attempted to kill her. When Vidar was killed by Joanna, their alliance was broken.

Miscellaneous

Gallery

Notes

• In Norse mythology, Vidar is one of the sons of Odin, the King of the Gods. He is the God of Silence and Vengeance, which echoes his desire for revenge in the TV series.