Marlowe (30 Days of Night)

Marlowe is a fictional character in the graphic novel 30 Days of Night and its film adaptation.

Fictional character history

In the comic

Marlowe (alternatively spelt Marlow) is a vampire who organizes the attack on Barrow, Alaska, during the polar night in winter. His plan is to have a month of uninterrupted killing and feeding without the burden of sunlight. The premise of the story is that vampires live all over the world, hidden in the shadows and coming out at night to prey on humans.

Upon learning of Marlowe's plan, Vicente, the ruler of all vampires, becomes enraged at having spent decades trying to convince humans that vampires are not real only to have Marlowe's plan risk exposing them. He comes to Barrow and kills Marlowe himself before determining to eradicate all the humans in the village to eliminate potential witnesses.

In Dark Days it's revealed that Marlowe was the one who made Dane a vampire and that they were close friends.

In the film

The film version of Marlowe (played by Danny Huston) is almost similar as the graphic novel, except that he is the primary antagonist rather than a supporting one (Vincente does not appear in the film) but he does have more in common with Vincente. As in the comic, he is the sadistic leader of a group of evil vampires.

Marlowe manipulates a mentally ill drifter known only as The Stranger (Ben Foster), into killing all the dogs in Barrow because they do not want anyone to escape by dog-sled to warn the rest of humanity. Marlowe's agent is then arrested and taken into custody. While in the holding cell, he keeps taunting his captors, saying, "They are coming."

He is subsequently proven correct when Marlowe and his minions arrive and invade the village, mauling humans to death where they find them. Marlowe instructs his henchmen to take no prisoners and decapitate the humans they kill instead of turning them into vampires because he doesn't want competition, or the fledgling vampires to alert the world of the vampires' existence.

Eventually, Marlowe infiltrates the police station, where he finds The Stranger weeping in fear in a cell. Whilst Marlowe's female second in command, Iris, looks on indifferently, Marlowe crouches down and breaks the man's neck.

Marlowe and his horde encounter opposition from Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett), the town sheriff, and his estranged wife, Stella (Melissa George), who succeed in mortally wounding Iris. As she lies dying on the snow, Marlowe bends down beside her and puts her out of her misery by biting out her throat.

Eben and Stella, with the help of Eben's brother Jake, rally the villagers to war against Marlowe and the vampires. One of Marlowe's minions tracks the villagers to the utilidor, where Eben's deputy, Billy, is attacked. When Billy kills the vampire, he becomes infected and starts to turn. Eben decapitates him with the same axe he used to kill John Riis, the owner of the dogs. When Stella and a child are trapped under a wrecked SUV waiting for sunrise, Marlowe decides to burn the town to the ground, making it look like the citizens of Barrow died in an accident. Eben determines that the only way to defeat Marlowe is to become a vampire himself. He takes a sample of Billy's blood and injects it into his veins.

Eben then goes to challenge Marlowe. They engage in battle and, while Eben puts up a good fight, Marlowe eventually overpowers him. As the vampire pounces on his prey, Eben desperately aims a punch at Marlowe's head. The punch goes right through Marlowe's gaping mouth and out the back of his head, killing him instantly. The clouds part as the sun begins to rise and the vampires flee with the onset of dawn.

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