Figures from Fringe - Borderline cases of the FBI

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This is a listing and description of the characters in the US television series Fringe - Borderline Cases by the FBI . The characters are divided into main and secondary characters.

main characters

Olivia Dunham

regular universe before timeline change
In the regular universe, Olivia Dunham is a successful, dedicated FBI agent from Boston, Massachusetts. In the course of the investigation into Flight 627, she was assigned to the newly established Fringe Division and is henceforth responsible for investigating puzzling cases. At the same time, however, it turns out that her colleague and secret lover, John, is implicated in the conspiracy behind the cases, the so-called "Scheme". When Olivia tries to arrest him, John is fatally wounded, which subsequently weighs on Olivia. Only slowly does she open up to her colleague Peter Bishop. Olivia's mother Marilyn died when Olivia was a small child, but she has a sister named Rachel and a niece named Ella, with whom she also shares her apartment. Olivia is an analytical, but at the same time intuitively inferring investigator who is emotionally very reserved. In the course of her investigation into the "schema," she learns that while she was a child she participated in experiments conducted by Walter Bishop and Dr. on a military base in Jacksonville, Florida. William Bell were carried out. Olivia and other children were given a drug called cortexiphane, which was supposed to induce superhuman abilities in them. In the adult Olivia these manifest themselves among other things in a form of supernatural perception and a latent ability to switch between her universe and the parallel universe. Since the end of season two, Olivia has been trapped in the parallel universe, where she is brainwashed by order of the US Secretary of Defense Walter Bishop to convince her that she is the Olivia of his universe. However, her subconscious tries to convince her in the form of Peter's visions that she comes from the other universe. Finally, with the help of Kernal Phillip Broyles, she manages to escape to her original side. Here she learns that Peter has started a relationship with Fauxlivia in the meantime. This plunges the FBI agent into an emotional crisis, from which she emerges. At the end of season 3, she and Peter finally find each other. In the meantime, Olivia has spent 48 hours with Dr. William Bell's spirit within; their own brain is inactive. However, after Bell disappears, she has no extensive memories of it.
regular universe after timeline change
She gets Walter out of the mental hospital without Peter's support. At the same time, Olivia is still without a boyfriend. After her mother died, Nina Sharp worried about her and Rachel.
Parallel universe before timeline change
The Olivia Dunham of the parallel universe ("Fauxlivia", in the German dubbing also "Bolivia") also works for the Fringe Division of their universe, which is subordinate to the US military. So this Olivia is more of a soldier than an investigator and believes that the other universe poses a threat. In contrast to Olivia in the regular universe, she acts much more emotionally and likes to be cheeky towards friends and enemies. In her universe, she has a relationship with the virologist Frank Stanton. Her mother is still alive while her sister Rachel died in childbed (as did her daughter). Unlike the Olivia of the regular universe, this Olivia never took part in experiments as a child. Since the end of the second season she has been working as a double agent in the regular universe on the orders of her superior, Secretary of Defense Walter Bishop, where she secretly takes the place of her counterpart. To maintain her camouflage, she kills a civilian. She is in command of the shapeshifters who infiltrate the regular universe on behalf of the defense minister of her universe. Despite her existing relationship in her universe, she begins a relationship in the regular universe with Peter, who is also from her universe, and ultimately even becomes pregnant by him. Like her late sister Rachel, she is infected with the VPE virus ( viral propagation eclampsia ); the resulting eclampsia kills mother and child at birth. Because she is kidnapped and the pregnancy is accelerated until the birth, the virus cannot multiply and the mother and child can survive. She returns to service after giving birth. There she notices Walternativ's attempt to destroy the other universe with the help of the machine. She then breaks into the Department of Defense and tries to stop the machine. She fails to do this and is placed under arrest.

Walter Bishop

regular universe before timeline change
Walter Bishop is a highly intelligent scientist with an intelligence quotient of 196 who, together with his colleague Dr. William Bell conducted experiments in frontier science on behalf of the US government. Much of the cases currently being investigated by the Fringe Division are at least indirectly related to Walter's research. However, Walter's son Peter suffered from a genetic disease and died at the age of seven. At around the same time, Walter had discovered access to a parallel universe and opened a portal to it after the death of his son. There he wanted to heal Peter of the Other Universe who was suffering from the same disease. During the transition, however, the serum was destroyed, so that Walter was forced to take Peter with him into his universe to heal him there. Time was pressing. When returning to the regular universe, however, the portal was destroyed, so Peter had to stay. Walter's wife Elizabeth, informed of her son's death and the fact that living Peter was not her own son, later committed suicide. Walter soon realized that as a result of his opening of the access to the parallel universe a conflict with the same threatened, after all he had taken the son of his twin on the other side ("Walternative"). Bell therefore removed parts of Walter's brain at Walter's request, so that Walter could no longer remember how he had opened the access to the parallel universe. After Walter's laboratory assistant Karla Warren was killed in an accident, Walter was admitted to a mental hospital where he spent the next seventeen years. Only after the establishment of the Fringe Division was Walter conditionally released from the institution and has been at the Fringe Division's side since then as a scientific advisor, although legally under the tutelage of Peters. Because of the brain surgery performed by Bell, Walter is still a brilliant scientist, but his social behavior is similar to a form of autism and he is often downright helpless in everyday life without outside help. He has lost almost all sense of shame and has a cow named Gene in his laboratory. For a long time, Walter was reluctant to tell Peter the truth about his origins. When Peter finally finds out about it, the two of them break temporarily. After Bell's death, Walter took over the management of Massive Dynamic from him by will . In 2036 he will have to sacrifice himself to free the world from observer.
Parallel universe before timeline change
The Walter Bishop of the parallel universe (from Walter also "Walternativ", in the English original called "Walternate") was originally just like its counterpart from the regular universe, a brilliant scientist who worked on behalf of the US government. His son Peter also suffered from a genetic disease, but he managed to develop a cure. However, since he was distracted by the presence of an observer at the crucial moment, he did not notice anything. The Walter of the regular universe, who observed his counterpart after the death of his own son, then opened a portal into the other universe, but was forced by a combination of unfortunate circumstances to bring him into his own universe in order to heal him there. Badly hit by the loss of his son, “Walternativ” devised a plan to take revenge. Among other things, he created the shapeshifters who, as his agents, infiltrate the regular universe and carry out his commands there. In the present, "Walternativ" has risen to the position of Secretary of Defense of the USA and thus the Commander-in-Chief of the Fringe Division , a special unit that has much more power and options than the Fringe Division in the regular universe (which is subordinate to Homeland Security ). For a short time he succeeds in bringing his son back into his own universe. However, when he realizes that his father intends to connect him to a machine with which he could wipe out the other universe, Peter returns to the regular universe. However, "Walternativ" manages to capture the Olivia of the regular universe and to brainwash her to convince her that she is the Olivia of his own universe. Meanwhile, the Olivia of his universe takes the place of her counterpart in their universe on his behalf. In contrast to Walter of the regular universe, “Walternativ” is not only a brilliant scientist, but also an authoritarian, ruthlessly calculating tactician. His primary goal is to preserve and save his universe. For this he is ready to sacrifice everyone around him. Towards the end of Season 3 he manages to activate the world machine in his universe with the help of the genes of Peter's baby and Olivia of the mirror universe. He is consciously ready to destroy the entire other universe and kill all people there.
regular universe after timeline change
Walter is no longer able to participate in field incidents due to his classification with the FBI, so Olivia Dunham is now supported by Astrid Farnsworth, who was still working as Walter's laboratory assistant before the timeline change. Walter often has hallucinations of a man who also haunts Olivia in her dreams. After a series of suicide attempts, Olivia reveals her visions to Walter and presents him with a self-painted picture of the man who turns out to be Peter. Since the timeline change was that Peter would not be rescued from Reiden Lake by September, he never existed beyond childhood. Peter succeeds in integrating himself back into the current timeline, but it takes a while before Olivia, and above all Walter, remember Peter.

Peter Bishop

regular universe before timeline change
died as a child. Thereupon his father got the Peter of the parallel universe on his side.
regular universe after timeline change
died as a child.
Parallel universe before timeline change
Peter Bishop is originally from the parallel universe, but knew nothing about it for much of his life. Just like his counterpart from the regular universe, this Peter suffered from a genetic disease as a child. After Peter of the regular universe died, his father, Walter, traveled through a self-created portal into the parallel universe in order to at least save Peter there. Unfortunately, an incident occurred and Walter was forced to take Peter with him into his universe, as healing was only possible there and time was of the essence. Originally, Walter intended to bring Peter back after his healing. This did not happen, however, as the transport unit was destroyed when Walter and Peters returned to the regular universe. So Walter passed Peter off as his own son. However, due to his work and his feelings of guilt, Walter had little time for his "son", so that he became increasingly estranged from him. As an adult, Peter, who has an intelligence quotient of 190, led an unsteady life for a long time, frequently changing his whereabouts and occupation and was also involved in criminal machinations. During this time he had no contact at all with his "father", who spent seventeen years in a mental hospital. It was only when Walter was recruited as a scientific advisor as part of the founding of the Fringe Division that the FBI tracked down Peter and got him to take over the guardianship of Walter. Since then, Peter has also worked as a consultant for the Fringe Division . In contrast to Walter, Peter is a pragmatist and skeptic and often comments sarcastically on the ideas and leaps of thought of his "father". At first he only had a friendly relationship with Olivia, from which more developed. Over time, Peter and Walter grow closer, but the relationship between the two suffers a severe setback when Peter learns that he comes from the parallel universe and that Walter is not his real father. Peter's actual father, the Walter of the parallel universe ("Walternative"), brings him back home shortly afterwards, but Peter realizes that his father intends to connect him to a machine with which he wants to wipe out the regular universe. Peter then returns to the regular universe and begins a relationship with Olivia, without realizing that she has been secretly replaced by her counterpart from the parallel universe.
Parallel universe after timeline change
The adult Peter was removed from the memories and actions by the observers, so that he died as a child of the consequences of his illness. However, there are always traces of the adult Peter breaking through, which at first only Olivia and Walter recognize, but do not understand.

Phillip Broyles

regular universe before timeline change
The Homeland Security agent is leading the US government's investigation into the "scheme". He loves to move on the floor of the politically powerful, but he finds his real challenge in finding out what is behind the inexplicable events that have recently occurred in many places around the world. For this purpose he puts together a team consisting of Agent Olivia and the father-son team Walter and Peter. But in doing so he makes enemies of those in power who want to prevent what is behind the "scheme" from coming to light. He is a very serious and often grouchy figure, but he often stands up for his team. Broyles is divorced and only has contact with his children. Sanford Harris, Mitchel Loeb, and Senator VanHorn were all friends with Broyles, but Broyles soon discovered that you can't always trust your best friends.
Parallel universe before timeline change
Again, Broyles heads the Fringe Division , but reports directly to Secretary of Defense Walter. Accordingly, his appearance and that of the entire unit appear much more military. In contrast to the rest of his unit, he is informed about the swapped Olivia and is the first to discover that her memories come back after her brainwashing - but since she saves his family at the same time, with whom he still lives together unlike "our" Broyles, he gets into a loyalty conflict. After helping Olivia to return to her own universe, he is killed and presented to Broyles from the regular universe.
Parallel universe after timeline change
Broyles still lives here and also runs the Fringe Division. Since the circumstances of Olivia's escape, without Peter's "apparitions", were different.

Astrid Farnsworth

regular universe before timeline change
holds the rank of Federal Agent with the FBI and assists Agent Dunham. She spends most of her time in Walter's laboratory at Harvard University, helping him with his experiments. Although the doctor constantly forgets her name and out of necessity gives her names that sound similar (such as Asterix, Astro, Astral, Asteroid, Estrich, Aspirin or Tarragon) and has already anesthetized her, she is still in awe before his performance and is satisfied with her position, as she has a good relationship with Walter in her private life. She is fluent in Latin and has a good knowledge of computers and encryption codes.
Parallel universe before timeline change
Since she is not needed here to look after Walter, she can, depending on her talents, be employed as an analyst, who is often involved in missions from the Fringe headquarters via radio. She is a soldier and also a little more sarcastic than her counterpart in the other universe.

Lincoln Lee

regular universe before timeline change
works as an agent for the FBI, but as such has no contact with the Fringe Division until he is called on a case in mid-season three. He is then informed about the division's activities and offers to be available to assist in the future.
regular universe after timeline change
joins the Fringe Division at the beginning of the fourth season after the death of his partner Robert Danzig. He has no memory of his mission before the timeline change.
Parallel universe before timeline change
is the colleague of Olivia and Charlie in the parallel universe. His late father was a lawyer and knew "Walternativ". Lincoln suffers severe burns during a mission, but they heal completely after a long stay in a high pressure chamber. In addition to being a good leader, Lincoln has a basic knowledge of science. After Agent Broyles disappears, he becomes the new head of the Fringe Division of the parallel universe. In the end, he also confesses his love to Bolivia.
Parallel universe after timeline change
Since Broyles did not die while Olivia escaped, he does not run the Fringe Division and continues to work as an agent. During an operation he is shot.

Nina Sharp

regular universe before timeline change
is COO of the company Massive Dynamic , the leading company in science and research and has been inaugurated in the "scheme" for a long time. She was also very close to William, who also helped her to the position in his company, as she previously helped him convince investors to join Massive Dynamic. When Walter switched to the other universe at that time, Nina wanted to stop him and reached out her right arm to him. The gate closed and Nina lost her arm. Bell developed a cybernetic arm prosthesis for her, with which Nina can continue to lead a normal life. Olivia is initially very suspicious of her, but Nina can ultimately win her trust. However, at first it was sometimes not entirely clear whether Nina was actually giving the FBI all the information she had at her disposal.

In 2036, the aged Nina shot herself in the head in order not to reveal anything to Windmark.

Charlie Francis

regular universe before timeline change
was one of Olivia's closest friends at the FBI who helped her with the interrogation and investigation. He and Olivia were so close that he sometimes broke the law for her and trusted her in principle. Charlie was also Broyles' right-hand man, but like Peter was very skeptical about frontier science. He is killed by a shapeshifter in the first episode of the second season. He takes part in the team's investigation as Charlie, until Olivia exposes him and kills him. Charlie leaves behind his wife Sonja, with whom he was also considering having a child. He appears again in the eleventh episode of the second season, as this episode was produced together with the first season, but was only broadcast during the second season.
Parallel universe before timeline change
is here, as in the regular universe, an important member of the Fringe Division and also a good friend of Olivia, but also of Lincoln. He also still owns the "arachnids" because "Walternativ" did not remove them. Unlike "our" Charlie, "Scarlie" is not married.

John Scott

regular universe before timeline change
Agent John Scott was Olivia's secret lover. In pursuit of a suspect, they become infected with a chemical that begins to break down their tissues. To save him, Olivia locates Peter and gets Walter out of the psychiatric ward. In fact, Walter can save John, but Olivia then finds out that John is probably working against the FBI. When she is chasing him in the car, he accidentally rushes into a construction site and dies at the scene of the accident. Later on, Olivia keeps having visions of him, as his memories get stuck in Olivia's head as she “taps” into John's memories in Walter's laboratory. So Olivia finds out that John was not a traitor at all, but made his own secret research into the "scheme". John's body is in a Massive Dynamic laboratory because the scientists there are extracting information from a chip implanted in John's hand.

Minor characters

The watchers

(Eng. "observer")
According to the September observer, they are a future possibility for people. Due to technological advances, they are able to travel through time. The observers are the scientists of this culture; they observe - or monitor - certain events, the implications of which appear to be important to one or more future events. They also pay special attention to Walter and Peter. Whether the observers are able to travel between the universes is open; however, they are sighted in both universes. The observers are usually pale, bald and are characterized by a weak sense of taste, which leads them to spice food. The observers sometimes have a strange technology at their disposal, but they also resort to pencil and notepad. The observers not only observe, but also intervene when things do not develop as they "should" (following a basic assumption in physics that Werner Heisenberg formulated: "What you investigate, you change").
September has a special meaning: Walter is obliged to him because at the time, when Walter and Peter returned from the parallel universe, he saved their lives, which is why he apparently also enjoys Walter's trust.
In 2015 they take over the world and subdue the world population. All departments of the state are under their constant observation.

In the last episode, however, it becomes clear that after a plan by September and Walter succeeded, the Observer never existed.

Dr. William Bell

regular universe before timeline change
He was Walter's former partner and founder of Massive Dynamic . Due to frequent changes between the universes, he has suffered physical damage and remains in the parallel universe. He can be seen for the first time in the finale of the first season, where he receives Olivia in his office in the World Trade Center, which was never destroyed in the parallel universe. In the finale of the second season he sacrifices his life to enable Walter, Peter and the swapped Olivia to return to the regular universe. However, he can contact Walter again because he injected Olivia with a so-called "soul magnet" at the first meeting. So his soul can live in Olivia for a few days.
Parallel universe before timeline change
The William of the parallel universe died young in a car accident.
regular universe after timeline change
He developed cancer and allegedly died in a car accident. However, this is still alive and slows down the cancer by injecting Cortexiphan. At the end of the fourth season, he and the Fringe team meet. He is the boss of David Robert Jones and has the same plans as him, the destruction of both universes to create a new one.

The shapeshifter

(English "shapeshifter")
Shapeshifters are machines designed by William Bell. Using a special technology, they can take on the appearance of the people they murdered. There are several of these shapeshifters in the series. You can first recognize them by their mercury blood and only kill them with a shot in the head. One episode shows them being born. One of the shapeshifters is tasked with killing Olivia. After failing to do this in the form of various people (including a nurse), he kills Charlie at the beginning of the second season and takes his form. That way he can get close to Olivia without any problems. However, the attack fails, the shapeshifter is exposed and finally killed.
In the fourth season new shapeshifters appear whose bodies consist of organic and mechanical parts (human-machine hybrid). Your commander appears to be Dr. To be David Robert Jones.

Dr. David Robert Jones

is very familiar with the field of biotechnology, the development of biotechnical weapons.
Regular universe before timeline change
Olivia gets to know him when she visits him in the maximum security prison in Frankfurt to get important information from him. He allows his people to teleport him out of prison, which, however, seriously worsens his health. Since he used to be a scientist at Massive Dynamic and could never really cope with his dismissal, he wants to switch to the parallel universe to get revenge on William Bell. When he opens the portal and walks through it, Peter Bishop closes it again. Jones is horribly torn in two and dies.
Regular universe after timeline change
During the fourth season, Jones reappears because Peter did not exist and therefore did not kill him. It turns out that he is responsible for the new breed of shapeshifter (human-machine hybrid). Now it is also clear that he is in league with Nina Sharp and Philip Broyles of the parallel universe. In return, Broyles receives a drug that keeps his sick son Christopher alive. Nina Sharp and Phillip Broyles eventually go to jail. Jones also tries to destroy both universes to create his own universe. Jones' leader is William Bell, who the Fringe team meets at the end of season four. In the penultimate episode of the fourth season, he dies again.

Thomas Jerome Newton

is found by the shapeshifters in our universe. He works for “Walternativ” and commands the shapeshifters here. Newton is also knowledgeable about brain surgery and is also demonstrating his skills. After supporting “Bolivia” in our universe for a while, he is caught by the FBI and commits suicide in prison.

Rachel Dunham

regular universe before timeline change
is the sister of Olivia and the mother of Ella. After separating from her husband, she and Ella move into Olivia's apartment. Her sister is helping her through the divorce. Olivia has supposedly always envied her that Rachel could do something with two men at the same time. Rachel becomes increasingly concerned about Olivia, believing the job at the FBI is too tough for her. Rachel befriends Peter Bishop in the first season.
regular universe after timeline change
still lives with her husband and raises the children Ella and Eddie with him.
Parallel universe before timeline change
Rachel from the parallel universe passed away giving birth to her daughter.

Ella Dunham

regular universe before timeline change
is the daughter of Rachel and the little niece of Olivia. She lives with her mother and aunt in an apartment and has a good relationship with Peter, Walter and Astrid. Her father tried in vain to challenge her custody.
regular universe after timeline change
lives with her brother Eddie with her mother and father.
Parallel universe before timeline change
Ella from the parallel universe died when she was born.

Henrietta "Etta" Bishop

regular universe after timeline change
is the daughter of Peter and Olivia. She was abducted by them when the Observer came to power in 2015. She has not seen her parents since then. In 2036 she works with her colleague Simon Foster as a fringe agent. The two set out to free the old Fringe team from the amber. Because they are able to defeat the observer with the help of a machine. There she meets her parents for the first time in a long time. In episode 4 of the fifth season, she is shot dead by Captain Windmark.

Sam Weiss

is a highly intelligent bowling lane owner who, on behalf of Nina, is supposed to help Olivia to regenerate after a car accident. He's helped Nina cope with her prosthetic arm before, but Olivia can't get used to his treatment methods. She is still recovering. It later turns out that he wrote the book "The First People". It is also known that his family has accumulated considerable knowledge of the machine and the two universes for many generations.

Mitchell Loeb

is a double agent who works for ZFT. He kidnaps Olivia, who manages to escape. After Olivia shoots his wife Samantha, the FBI manages to catch him.

Sanford Harris

is a former friend of Broyles who works in the civil service and wants revenge on Olivia for bringing him to court for sexually assaulting three women. He tries to hinder the work of the Fringe Division by all means. He also works for ZFT. Sanford dies when a pyrokineticist sets him up in flames.

Brandon Fayette

is a childish-looking but leading Massive Dynamic scientist. His parallel universe version works for “Walternativ” and is very unscrupulous. There he is a senior scientist at the Department of Defense and thus instrumental in finding ways and means to win the war between the universes. After changing the timeline, a shapeshifter from Dr. David Robert Jones replaced. However, this is killed by "Walternativ".

Frank Stanton

is an epidemiologist and partner in the parallel universe of "Bolivias". He separates from her when he learns that she is pregnant from Peter.

December

is an observer who is in close contact with September and also observes the Fringe Division.

Genes

is a cow in Walter's laboratory. Walter insisted on getting a cow, since cows differ from humans only in a few genetic traits and they can therefore be used perfectly as laboratory animals. Gene is lovingly cared for by Walter and sometimes also by Astrid.

September (Donald)

September is the observer who saved Peter Bishop's life in 1985. In the new timeline, that one plot was removed in September, causing complications. September is called Donald in his human form and has a son named Michael. September / Donald developed the plan to drive the observers from the earth.

At the end of the series, September / Donald dies fighting the watchers.

Michael

is the son of September / Donald. Michael (who doesn't have a name there yet) can already be seen in the first season. There, however, it does not take up any place in the follow-up plot. In the final season, Michael saves the world from the observers.

Captain Windmark

acts as the leader of the observers who will rule the world in 2036. In the fifth season he kills Etta.

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