John Black (fiction)
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| John Black | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Drake Hogestyn as John Black |
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| Days of our Lives | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Drake Hogestyn (1986-2007, 2008-) Robert Poynton (1985-1986; while bandaged) |
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| First appearance | 1985 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Created by | Sheri Anderson Thom Racina and Leah Laiman |
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| Profile | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Aliases | The Pawn Roman Brady (while programmed by Stefano) John Stevens Father John Black |
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| Gender | Male | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Owner Basic Black and philanthropist, former ISA agent | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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John Black (real name Forrest Alamain, birth name Ryan Brady) is a fictional character from the television drama Days of our Lives played by actor Drake Hogestyn since 1986. Although he was briefly off screen at the end of 2007, he returned January 2008 to the role he created. From 1985 to 1986, the character was played by Robert Poynton, but was known strictly as 'The Pawn' and his face was never shown.
[edit] Fictional character history
John came to Salem not knowing who he was. He simply was The Pawn. After unraveling the bandages from his extensive plastic surgery, he came up with the name John Black. He took a job in hospital security and found a friend in Dr. Marlena Evans. Marlena tried to help John Black regain his memory through hypnosis. Some people speculated that he could actually be Stefano DiMera, who had the money and means to create a drastic physical transformation if he wanted one. When Marlena got a peek at John's tattoo, she was shocked. It was a phoenix, and she thought he could indeed be Stefano as others suspected. Later after seeing before and after surgery photos, Marlena realized that he could be her presumed dead husband, Salem police detective Roman Brady. Although John couldn't remember his past he knew he loved Marlena and believed she was his wife. Later that year, Marlena and "Roman" renewed their wedding vows. Shortly before Christmas in 1986, Marlena was presumed dead. In 1988 he became involved with Diana Colville, but it ended when it was discovered that Diana had accidentally shot him. She was so overwhelmed with guilt she left town.
In 1990 while trying to help exonerate his "sister", Kayla Brady, of the murder of Marina Toscano, he met and got close to Marina's sister Isabella Toscano. It was eventually revealed that Isabella, and not Kayla, was the one who had killed Marina. He was forced to arrest Isabella who was later cleared of all charges due to self-defense. Later that year it was determined that Isabella was the daughter of his long-time nemesis Victor Kiriakis. In 1991 his presumed dead wife Marlena returned after a five year absence, while the real Roman escaped his jungle prison. "Roman" and Roman ran into each other in Mexico while searching for Marlena's former captor. In the end it was determined that "Roman" was actually Forrest Alamain, brainwashed by Stefano DiMera to think he was Roman Brady. He then decided to use the name John Black permanently.
The truth about John being Forrest Alamain came out when John burst in on his 'brother' Lawrence about to seduce Carrie Brady. John was violently angry at Lawrence, who had raped Jennifer Horton and Lawrence pleaded with him not to hurt his own brother. Later, with his life back on track, or so it seemed, John and Isabella (who was very pregnant) were married after she gave birth to their son Brady Black in the church. When the happy couple returned from their honeymoon they found that Isabella had inoperable pancreatic cancer. She died later that year in John's arms.
After his wife's death, John began an affair with Marlena. The affair was found out by Marlena's daughter Sami Brady when John and Marlena could not control their sexual urges and lost control on the conference room table. That night Belle was conceived. Marlena gave birth to the daughter she believed was Roman's. It was soon discovered by Sami that John, not Roman, was the father. John soon fell for Kristen Blake, but when it was discovered that she was Stefano's ward, Stefano then tried to kill John to stop Kristen from being with him. Kristen was betrothed to Count Antony DiMera, but much like he had done with Roman and Marlena, that did not stop John from trying to steal another man's woman.
John arrived at Maison Blanche, a DiMera family house, when Stefano sent him puzzle pieces of the estate. Stefano then locked John in the dungeon and began brainwashing him again. John was able to escape when Celeste Perrault released gas into the dungeon and set fire to the mansion.
It was then discovered that John had been a Roman Catholic priest and Kristen soon broke off their relationship. Soon after a mysterious man named Gabe began visiting John and John soon learned that Gabe was an angel. Harboring feelings for Kristen, John sought to be released from his priestly duties. But first, "Father John" had to perform an exorcism on Marlena after she had been possessed by the devil. After the exorcism, John was released from his priestly vows and he and Kristen renewed their romance, even though he knew he still had strong feelings for Marlena.
During an extended trip to Aremid, John was tried and convicted of Tony DiMera's "murder" and was sentenced to the gas chamber. The gas had already started to rise when Tony's journal was found which exonerated John by revealing that Tony had actually killed himself. It would later be discovered that the man who had killed himself was really Tony's cousin Andre DiMera, posing as Tony; Eventually, it would be discovered that Andre was actually alive, and had faked his death. John's luck did not take a turn for the better after that, as Stefano captured John while he was looking for a kidnapped Marlena in Paris. Stefano sentenced John to die by the guillotine. Luckily he was saved at the last second by his aunt, Vivian Alamain.
Kristen was pregnant by John, although she lost the baby in Paris, so she faked her pregnancy and had a look-alike, Susan Banks, give birth and tried to pass the child off as John's. Marlena discovered a letter Kristen had been hiding in which John stated how much he loved Marlena. John thought he was married to Kristen, although it was Susan who participated in the ceremony, and was raising Susan's child unbeknownst to him.
John found out about Kristen's lies at his wedding to Susan. Of course, he didn't know it was Susan at the time. After the wedding, Marlena and John went to the penthouse where they declared their undying love for each other and made passionate love. Then Roman returned the day of John and Marlena's wedding. He had an incurable disease which he had gotten as a result of nuclear war. Marlena felt very guilty because it was her affair with John that had caused Roman to leave Salem and take on this risky mission. Stefano said he had the cure, so he took Kristen, John, and Hope to the jungle somewhere, where they successfully found the cure for Roman.
They brought the cure back right in time to interrupt Roman's wedding to Marlena. Not long after this, Kristen was found dead in the pool. John felt very guilty and blamed himself. As it turned out, the woman dead in the pool was Penelope, the fourth Banks triplet given up for adoption. Kristen was shipped off to the evil kingdom where Susan had to stay. No one in Salem knew this.
John then decided to continue with his search for his past. So, he went to Lugano, Switzerland where he was a priest. He discovered that he might be connected to Princess Gina Von Amburg, whom the presumed dead Hope Williams Brady impersonated for four years after the real Princess Gina died. His friendship with the "swamp girl", who turned out to be Gina's daughter Greta Von Amburg, affected his relationship with Marlena.
John and Marlena were married and went on their honeymoon in Hawaii. The happiness lasted only briefly as Gina got hold of John and turned him back into an "evil" John. While evil John, he slept with Gina numerous times. Stefano found them, tossed him overboard and left him for dead. Marlena found him washing up on the beach and he was saved. He had no memory of his time as evil John, but it soon became obvious once Hope turned up pregnant that John was believed to be the father. Luckily for John, his relationship with Marlena was strong enough to weather that storm, and when it was discovered that Bo Brady was really the father of Hope's son Zack Brady, everyone was relieved.
After Tony DiMera revealed himself to be alive and returned to Salem, John found a letter from Daphne DiMera that referred to John as Tony's half-brother. DNA testing and research through the international intelligence community ultimately revealed that Daphne was John's biological mother. Unbeknownst to the Salemites, Philomena Alamain was Daphne's sister, and John had been legally adopted by his maternal aunt to be raised as Forrest Alamain so that Stefano would not discover that Daphne had been unfaithful to him; the identity of John's biological father is unknown. The primitive genetic tests a decade earlier had been unable to show that Lawrence was really John's cousin instead of his brother.
When John's friends in Salem began being killed off by the Salem Stalker, John was determined to find the killer. He ignored all the evidence that pointed toward Marlena as the killer, and was convinced that his half-brother Tony was behind it all. He was devastated when Marlena was arrested and then later gunned down by the police on top of the Salem police department. He soon became convinced that there was something more going on, and ended up on the island of Melaswen, where he was reunited with all his lost friends, and his beloved Doc. John managed to survive the escape from the island only to be devastated anew as he learned Marlena was again presumed dead. He was also severely injured in the rescue, and began secretly stealing pain medication (as well as obtaining it through other illegal means) to keep the pain at bay.
John got over his addiction and moved on with Kate Roberts when a miracle happened and both Roman and Marlena returned from the dead. Although John had recently proposed to Kate, they broke off the engagement to return to their newly returned spouses. John rescued amnesia-stricken Marlena from Alex North, her long-lost, abusive husband from many years ago. John and Marlena are working on getting their relationship back on track. John was shot by his step-brother EJ Wells, and was in a coma until May 29, 2007. Shortly after emerging from his coma, he was at the police station to confront EJ Wells when he was arrested. Before he died from the hit and run accident that cost him his life he made peace with Sami that hated him for destroying her father and mother's marriage. On October 12, 2007 John was the victim of a hit and run. His fate is unknown as is who did it or why, and while Stefano has referred to what happened as John being "struck down by an unknown assailant" it has yet to be determined as to whether John's accident was a deliberate act of violence or a random hit and run. John was rushed to the hospital and into surgery, but had suffered massive internal injuries, and Marlena and his loved ones were crushed to learn he would not survive. On October 17, 2007, John passed away in the hospital surrounded by friends and family, with Marlena urging him to "rest" and telling him, "I'll see you in forever." John died peacefully in Marlena's arms.
As has happened on several occasions in Salem, people rarely die and stay dead. On January 8, 2008, EJ discovered John in the basement at the DiMera mansion. Stefano has brought him back to life and is programming him to be the perfect soldier once again. Eventually, EJ revealed to Marlena and Hope that John was indeed alive, confirming Marlena's suspicions brought on by Krystal. He helped them get into the DiMera mansion with a warrant, and, with Bo and Roman distracting Stefano and Rolf, Marlena and Hope snuck into the basement to find John alive, in a chair, being fed information through a headset. After Hope went to get Bo, Marlena removed John's headset, and looked him in the eyes. However, he did not recognize her as his memories had been erased by Rolf. She told him that she was his wife, and that his name was John.
In February 2008, John's story was retconned and his parentage changed. Originally told to be the bastard son of Daphne DiMera, his story was rewritten and John became the bastard son of Colleen Brady and Santo DiMera. Colleen claimed to have left Santo and given birth to John, whom she named Ryan Brady, and immediately put up for adoption.
While the character has been retconned numerous times, John possesses numerous skills and attributes acquired both as Stefano's Pawn and Roman Brady which include but are not limited to: armed and unarmed combat mastery, business expertise, assassination, thievery, infiltration, piloting, special warfare, survival, police and espionage tactics, medical and legal expertise, and formal ISA training via the Roman "program". He has also, on one occasion, dodged a bullet at will.
