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Template:Passenger

Professor James Gellar is a Character in DEXTER. Gellar was a former Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Tallahassee, however he was fired for allegedly stealing an ancient Roman sword which belonged to John the Revelator. Gellar since then went underground, becoming invisible and unheard of until the recent Doomsday Killings began.

It turns out that Gellar is a devote End Times expert, having a website (www.beginning-of-the-end.com, link does not work specifically for the series) as well as a novel dedicated to explaining the End of Days from the Revelations and has a cult following. In reality, it was through Gellar's teachings that Travis Marshall carried on his mentor's work after taking his life by his own hand. He is the false main antagonist of season 6

Professor Gellar is portrayed by Battlestar Galactica star Edward James Olmos, whose involvement in this season is highly anticipated by many fans of his work as well as the Dexter series in itself. He has turned out to play the role of a character thought to be alive when in reality, he has been dead since before the season began.

Appearance

Professor Gellar is roughly in his late 50's to mid-60's, with fading dark hair with mostly grey coloring. He can pull off a fairly wide grin, likely fit with his personality and his clothes will most likely be that of professional attire, dress pants and a dress shirt as possible wardrobe choices.

He appears to have a large scar in the center of his chest, caused by possibly the sword he stole from the university. According to the dark passenger Gellar, it was Travis who killed him.

Personality

When Gellar was alive, he was a devoted ends time expert who believed he discovered the code to forcing the End of Days. He met with student Travis Marshall and took him under his wing. It was later revealed that his student murdered him with the sword belonging to John the Revelator. Whether or not Gellar has the same personality as the Dark Passenger version that Travis sees after his death is unclear. What is known are a few of his hobbies and traits.

Hobbies

Gellar is an avid painter and artist, both containing a book with detailed drawings as well as often seen working on various portraits of his victims. It was likely his artistic style that suggested the idea for the Four Horseman as well as the stitching in the body of Omar Rivera.

Traits

Gellar has a reputation as a man that likes younger women, such as seen with Clarissa Porter who was originally his teaching assistant. They were involved intimately for several months before he moved onto another young female. It was also deduced that Gellar was specifically interested in brunettes. This suggests that Gellar is a womanizer and feels the desire to be with a girl only for as long as he has interest in them.

Early life

YoungGellar

A photograph of a younger James Gellar shown on dry erase board

James Gellar was born sometime in the 1940's to early 1950's (if based on the actor's DOB, he would have been born on February 24, 1947) and most of his early life is a mystery. In reality, nothing prior to 2008 is known about his character though it is likely that Gellar has had himself involved with an obsession of the End of Days for most of his adult life. He has lived a long existence and has seen many things, events and possibly the darkest sides of humanity in his lifetime enough to fuel his obsession that comes late in his life.

James Gellar became a Professor at the University of Tallahassee in 1996[1] to teach "Religious Studies". In this time he had a teacher's assistant by the name of Clarissa Porter and formed a sort of relationship with her, at the same time working on a theory about an Early A.D. cult known as the Enesserrette, who believed that the Book of Revelations was more than just a biblical prophecy. They believed that it was actually some kind of code to physically bring about the End of the World. According to his notes, he deciphered the code as having seven steps that each required human sacrifice to trigger the end of days. Gellar kept notes on these steps drawn out in detail with photographs and personal writing in a leather bound book which later remained in the possession of his TA, Clarissa Porter.

DoomsdayPic3

Clarissa Porter posing for what is referred to on his site as "The Lamb"

File:TravisGellar2.jpg

For what the police believe as a "practice run" for the "Doomsday Tableaus", T.A. Clarissa Porter posed laying naked on the ground next to a dead lamb, with blood coursing out in a pool that she laid in. This situation took place in 2008 and got Gellar into some "hot water" with the University itself. He then started up his own site and wrote a few books regarding the end of the world, something student Travis Marshall took interest in and was even congratulated by his professor upon graduation at the University. Shortly thereafter, Gellar stole an ancient sword that is believed to have belonged to the actual John the Revelator, the man who wrote the Book of Revelations himself.

After being fired for this incident, Gellar vanished from public eye in what is called "going Underground". He took up residence within a ruined old church, where he cut most contact off with everyone else. That is except for one student, Travis Marshall who Gellar chose as the second witness in bringing the end of days. It is unknown how long Travis and Gellar stayed in contact but it is clear that their first event together occurred in 2011, which then resulted sparking the Doomsday Tableaus. Whether or not Gellar actually accompanied Travis at this point is speculative, as he was found dead after the fifth tableau by Dexter Morgan. Being dead for three years, he definitely wasn't responsible for the "Doomsday Killer" murders; rather his actions were "conjured" by Travis Marshall to justify the killings.

Plot

For information on the Dark Passenger version of Gellar, the man accompanying Travis Marshall through the course of Season Six, refer to this page.

Professor Gellar, as well as his follower Travis Marshall, make their initial appearance in Season Six.

Season Six

Professor Gellar's protege Travis Marshall began enacting the signs from the Book of Revelations. According to Travis, he intends to "finish" the work that they began. It may be likely that Gellar assisted Travis for some time but this is unclear. Gellar appeared to Travis in his mind, appearing to be a living person who appeared not unlike how Harry Morgan appeared to Dexter, leading Travis, who believed that he wasn't committing each kill, but Gellar was. When the sword of John the Revelator, an artifact stolen by Gellar, is believed to be the weapon used to kill Omar Rivera and later, Nathan RobertsMiami Metro Homicide begins to suspect Gellar as the Doomsday Killer and ultimately Travis as well, though according to any person that ever knew Gellar he disappeared three years prior to the events of these killings.

GellarDead

Dexter finding the corpse of Professor Gellar

Following the death of Trent Casey, Dexter (who was working with Travis Marshall to bring down "Gellar") arrives at Professor Gellar's Church ready to take him down at last. When he discovers Travis unconscious on the ground, he assumes that Gellar struck him and went into hiding somewhere within the church, so he begins to investigate. He manages to find a trapdoor at the altar that leads into a secret basement housing a freezer. As he opens the freezer, he discovers a sight he wasn't expecting... Gellar had been dead all along, with a large wound in his chest left to freeze in a cellar. And then he came to the realization that it must have been Travis who was responsible for all of these deaths. Dexter attempts to expose this truth to Travis, but Travis rejects the idea, convincing himself that Dexter killed Geller himself at that moment.

Gellar's hand was later used by Dexter to make a tableau of his own, ensuring that the police will be looking for Geller and Travis so that he can focus on finding Travis himself. Dexter used the blood from the hand to taint the water of a fountain and write "666" on the angel statue above it. Dexter also mentions that he disposed of Gellar's body by feeding it to alligators, similar to how he disposed of his earlier victims.

Trivia

  • Gellar is the only antagonist to be deceased since the beginning of the season in which he was antagonist. Gellar disappeared three years prior to the events of season six, so chronologically, he was killed by Travis around the time of Season 3. 
  • He is one of the two only antagonists who appear as a dark passenger in the series (the other being Brian Moser). Unlike Brian, Gellar appears exclusively as a passenger and is only seen otherwise in photographs or as a corpse.
  • He is the second antagonist to be killed by another antagonist (Travis Marshall). Lila West was the first antagonist in Season 2, to kill another antagonist (James Doakes),
  • Despite being dead at the start of season 6, he is still considered to be one of the main antagonists of the season, probably because he was the one who taught Travis about the Doomsday tableaus. He was also the one who initiated the first tableau, that did not directly relate to the Doomsday tableaus, with Clarissa Porter.
  • The discovery of Gellar's corpse may be a play on words of the French term Geler, which means "to freeze".
  • While technically a Dark Passenger, Gellar's actions suggest in hindsight that he was also an example of multiple personality disorder, able to take direct control of Travis and take action without his knowledge, such as when Travis woke up after spending the night with Erin Baer to find that Gellar had apparently tied her up while he was asleep so that she could act as the Angel of Death.

References

  1. Angel Batista in Episode 607: Nebraska
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