Aloysius Pendergast | |
---|---|
First appearance | Relic |
Last appearance | The Obsidian Chamber |
Created by | Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child |
Information | |
Gender | Male |
Occupation | Special agent with FBI |
Title | Dual Doctor of Philosophy (Classics and Philosophy) |
Spouse(s) | Helen Pendergast |
Children | Tristram Pendergast, Alban Pendergast |
Relatives | See The Pendergast family |
Aloysius Xingu Leng Pendergast is a fictional character appearing in novels by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. He first appeared as a supporting character in their first novel, Relic, and in its sequel Reliquary, before assuming the protagonist role in The Cabinet of Curiosities.
Pendergast is a special agent with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He works out of the New Orleans, Louisiana branch of the FBI, but frequently travels out of state to investigate cases which interest him, often those appearing to be the work of serial killers.
Aloysius Xingu Leng Pendergast was born circa 1960 and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. Pendergast retains his Southern manners and mellifluous Deep Southern accent. He studied Anthropology at Harvard University (graduating summa cum laude) and received a dual Doctor of Philosophy degree in Classics and Philosophy from Baliol College, part of Oxford University in England .
Pendergast once served with the U.S. Special Forces in the elite "Ghost Company", a spiritual successor to the "Blue Light" detachment (now Delta Force) with Michael Decker and Howard Longstreet, his superiors at the FBI, and Proctor, his bodyguard and chauffeur. The symbol for this company was "a ghost on a blue field, decorated with a star throwing a thunderbolt at a cat's eye with the number nine as its pupil, symbolizing the nine lives [its] members [...] were alleged to have..." The motto was "Fidelitas usque ad mortem" (Loyalty unto death). Most of his military records are classified and unknown.
A number of years before the series began, Pendergast was married to Helen Esterhazy Pendergast. She was presumed killed in a hunting accident while in Africa (mauled by a lion), but reappears in the so-called Helen Trilogy.