Scythe Morrison is a former scythe, a former member of the Toll's inner circle, and a current resident of Wolf 1061c.
Biography[]
Scythe
Chosen by his mentor for being strong and good-looking, Scythe Morrison was ordained at Harvest Conclave, Year of the Ocelot, (before Scythe Anastasia). After he was ordained Morrison was quickly ostracized from the rest of the scythedom and was viewed as a joke.
Thunderhead[]
Morrison attempts to charm Scythe Anastasia during multiple conclaves, failing each time
During the bid for a new high blade, Morrison seconds Scythe Curie's nomination for High Blade in an attempt to impress Anastasia.
Morrison inadvertently gives Scythe Anastasia the idea of an inquest, by pointing out that Scythe Goddard's original body only remains as a head which Anastasia reasons is not enough to qualify Goddard for the positon.
Morrison ends up eating dinner with Scythe Curie’s supporters by taking credit for the idea of the inquest, though he is not taken seriously.
The Toll[]
At some point Morrison takes up residence at Grouseland, and arranges for his parents to reside with him.
When Scythe Goddard returned from Endura, Morrison quickly installs sapphires to his robe to signify an allegiance with the new order. This effectively made him neutral, distancing himself from the old-guard while being dismissed by the new-order.
Morrison is sent by Goddard on a mission to glean the Toll (Greyson Tolliver), with Morrison being chosen due to his ability to glean with his bare hands. To accomplish the mission, Morrison goes undercover as a pastry chef working for the Toll. After a failed assassination attempt, Morrison strikes a deal with the Toll for his safety in return for being a bodyguard. Morrison gets brought into the Toll's inner circle. He agrees mainly to save his own life, but in part because he wishes to make something of himself and earn respect, even if it's from Tonists.
Morrison has frequent conflicts with Sister Astrid, another member of the Toll's inner circle, over differentiating beliefs and practices.
Morrison is often brought along with The Toll whenever The Toll meets with sibilant Tonist sects, during which Morrison is used as an intimidation tool.
Jerico and Anastasia arrive at the Cloisters and are brought into the Toll's inner circle. The group goes to meet Scythe Alighieri to retrieve incriminating evidence against Goddard, though Morrison does not meet Alighieri himself.
When the inner circle discusses how to react to scythe actions and carry out the Thunderhead's plan for gleaned tonists, Morrison is used to intimidate Curate Mendoza into leaving the inner circle due to the curate's conflicts with the Toll.
Once the inner circle reaches the Atoll, Morrison struggles with deciding whether he should board one of the rockets, but ultimately he chooses to throw his scythe ring into the ocean and board a rocket. Before he does however, he makes amends with Sister Astrid, accepting that even if he can't understand her actions, he can still respect her. He ends up boarding the same rocket that Loriana Barchok does, and they comfort each other through their shared terror.
He abandons the identity of Scythe Jim Morrison, asking Loriana to call him Joel (his birth name).
Gleanings[]
In the short story Cirri, it is mentioned that he and Loriana became a couple and were the third pair to have a child[1]
Personality[]
He isn't particularly intelligent as scythes go, trying to go through life with his good looks. He likes to stand out and hates being ignored.
When the Gleaning quota was lifted he enjoyed the perks of being scythe with minimal effort. He watched reruns of mortal games, where he knew who won, because he hated not knowing.
When servicing the Toll for two years, he wasn’t the same man anymore. In Chapter 38 of “The Toll” he wanted to defend the Toll to his last, as he had promised to do. But, found out it was Scythe Anastasia, and now he was little more than a stammering imbecile, which he always felt around Anastasia. He also doesn’t want to stand up to Scythe Anastasia.
“He might have seemed confident to others, but the truth was he'd never made a decision that he hadn't come to regret on some level--which is why he often let decisions be made for him.” Yet the one decision he never regretted was serving the Toll, and he had finally learned to like games where the outcomes were still unknown.
Physical description[]
Scythe Morrison is good-looking and charming. Tall, very muscular, cut, and imposing figure. Known as the heartthrob of the MidMerica Scythedom by Rand, because his trading card has a high value among schoolgirls. And, when defending the Toll he looks intimidating.
Gleaning method[]
Scythe Morrison specializes in gleaning without using any weapons, only using his bare hands and brute force. He came up with the technique from watching mortal day football games. This isn't a common way of gleaning for a scythe to primarily use, as noted by Goddard in The Toll.
Relationships[]
- Scythe Anastasia - At first Morrison tries to impress Scythe Anastasia constantly, because he thought she was going places and hoped to be pulled along in her wake. He was little more than a stammering imbecile, which he always felt around Anastasia.
- The Toll/ Greyson - The first time they meet, he was attempting to kill Greyson. Greyson figures out Morrison is a scythe, stabbing him in the eye with a fork. Greyson got into Morrison's mind, throwing him off his mission, and making a deal to be his protector. Morrison does a good job protecting him and never regrets the decision to join Greyson.
- Sister Astrid - She is the only one who has issues with him, but thry have a tolerant relationship with each other.
- Loriana - When Morrison arrived at the Atoll he was a bit annoyed by the fact Loriana didn’t say “scythe” plurally, because he hated being ignored. Morrison introduced himself as Jim before correcting to say Joel when entering the colony ship. Loriana comforted Joel as he was afraid to leave Earth, even holding his hand during take off. In Gleanings it was confirmed they were the third couple on the ship to have a child. Their daughter’s name is Alethea-Mariela. Joel and Loriana are opposites, beyond being a scythe and Nimbus agent respectively; Joel hates being ignored and is rather unintelligent, while Loriana doesn’t care and is smart.
- Other scythes: Rand didn't think highly of Morrison, calling him the 'heartthrob' of the MidMerican Scythedom. Goddard viewed him as useful by his gleaning style. He is not respected by the other Scythes[2]
Appearances[]
- Scythe (mentioned only, not by name)
- Thunderhead
- The Toll
- Cirri (mentioned only)
Quotes[]
- "I'm a pastry chef. The only weapon I wield is an eggbeater."
- "Hey, stop being such a ... hard ass."
- "So you think I'm good-looking?"
Trivia[]
- Guessing that Morrison was 19 in the Thunderhead and 22 at the end of The Toll. Doing some math - the journey takes 41.4 to arrive at Wolf 1061c, his daughter will be 29 - he was 34 when he had her, and 63 when arriving on the planet.
- Neal Shusterman visited Graceland and found it surreal and overblown. In The Toll, Scythe Morrison wanted Graceland, but since it was already taken by another Scythe, he settled for Grouseland, which is a real historic site.[3]