The Sentinel/Jim Ellison - Fanlore

The Sentinel/Jim Ellison


Name: James J. Ellison
Occupation: police detective
Title/Rank:
Location: 852 Prospect Ave., Apt. 307, Cascade, WA 98765, USA
Status:
Relationships: father, William; younger brother, Steven; cousin, Rucker Ellison; ex-wife, Carolyn Plummer
Other: also known as Enqueri (to the Chopec tribe with whom he lived in Peru)[1]

Date of birth: September 14, 1957[2] OR 1962[3]
Height: 183cm
Weight: 90 kg
Eyes: Blue

S.I.N.: 014-405-89 [4]
Languages Known: English, Quechua (the language spoken by the Chopec)
Click here for articles related to this site on Fanlore.

Contents

Jim Ellison is a main character on the television show The Sentinel, played by Richard Burgi. Jim is a "Sentinel," or a person with super senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste). As a police officer, Jim uses his superpower to fight crime, guided by his unofficial partner, Blair Sandburg, the other half of the popular slash pairing Jim/Blair. Most of the fanfic and fannish discussion centers around his Sentinel abilities, his work as a detective, and the relationships in his life (or lack thereof.)

Background

Childhood

Jim and his younger brother, Steven, were raised in or near the fictional show setting of Cascade, Washington, USA, by their father, William Ellison; their parents are divorced. William was a successful businessman; Jim and Steven grew up in an affluent, but emotional distant atmosphere. William was a perfectionist and demanded excellent grades and behavior from his sons.[5] Jim's mother is either named Mary Margaret or Grace, according to prop photographs, leading some fans to believe that Steven's mother is different than Jim's. A housekeeper, an Asian woman named Sally, was a part of the household as well.

Jim caught his first criminal at age 10, when he found the body of his childhood mentor and subsequently identified a serial strangler. Recovered repressed memories suggest that Jim's super senses were active at this time, but that he pushed them into dormancy because of the disapproval of his father, who didn't want his son to be "different."[6] Fanon says that Jim's dad didn't "want him to be a freak" - a phrasing used often in fanfic. Canonically, Jim does not reconcile with either his brother or his father until events transpire to force him to at least be civil. Fanon holds that Jim turned his back on anything to do with his family, including inheritances, trust funds, etc.

Military Service & Time in Peru

It is implied that Jim joined the army at an early age in order to escape his emotionally oppressive household. He became involved in covert operations and is canonically a captain and a Ranger at the time he's stranded in Peru.

Jim was the only survivor of a plane crash on March 4, 1988 which left him stranded in the jungles of Peru. He spent the next 18 months until his rescue living with the local Chopec tribe, creating and led a militia to hold the Chopec Pass and thus fulfill his orders. At this time, his super senses came online for the first time in his conscious memory. They went dormant again when he returned to the U.S. and remained so until the start of the show five years later.[7]

Many fans have used this information as a well-spring for fic, ranging from "the Army wants Jim back because they found out he's a Sentinel" to his presumed knowledge of how to survive torture, being in the wild without much supplies, etc.

Law Enforcement Career

After his recovery from Peru, Jim returned to his native Cascade and left the army to join the police force. He worked for a time in Vice, where he was mentored by Major Crimes detective Jack Pendergrast. Jack disappeared mysteriously three years before the show's start (a crime which was later solved when Blair helped Jim to recover repressed hypersensory memories). Shortly thereafter Jim was transferred to Major Crimes under the supervision of department head Simon Banks.[8] During the show, Jim holds the rank of detective.

Jim's first appearance in front of Simon has him dressed completely different from the Jim shown in later episodes -- Jim's wearing an earring, sporting a mustache, and his choice of clothing is more suited to someone working undercover than Major Crimes. Some fans use Jim's choice of appearance at this time as canon evidence to support the theory that Jim is more open-minded than he appears.

Romantic Life

Jim was briefly married to forensic analyst Carolyn Plummer of the Cascade Police Department. They divorced two years before the start of the show.[9] The divorce was amicable and they remain friends. Carolyn moved to San Francisco between seasons 1 and 2.

His luck with women continues to be bad, however. Among the worst: his instant, pheromone-driven attraction to a beautiful thief, which gave rise to a host of fic where Jim's ability to control his sexual impulses is nil due to pheromones, the combined scent of Blair, or just an over-saturation, period.

Home Ownership

After receiving a secret lump sum from his covert ops paycheck, Jim purchased his spacious apartment, commonly known as "the loft."[10] The loft provides the setting for much of the show. In the fourth episode of the show Blair moved into the spare bedroom promising to stay for only one week, but he never left.[11] Presumably, Jim is too polite to mention it. Blair's residency in Jim's home is often the subject of fic, as Jim once (canonically) boxed up everything Blair owned and threw him out. It's also not clear in canon whether Jim also owns the building his loft resides in; some fanon has him owning the whole building. A map of the loft (as well as the Cascade PD) is available on a fan site, Chaomath.

Special Powers

Jim's super senses often help him in his police work; he is able to see small details, overhear conversation without use of listening devices, track criminals, and perceive other helpful information. His super sight also seems to give him perfect aim. [12] However, these senses don't seem to stop Jim from dropping his gun repeatedly. Some fic challenges have been made where Jim's senses are the point of the challenge, whether they be the subject of Blair's testing, some known drawback, or Jim's use of said senses to fight crime. Much discussion has also been made regarding just how far Jim's senses extend.

Drawbacks

  • Zone out factor: To zone (out) is to become so focused on one sense that one becomes oblivious to the others. Particularly intense sensory experiences can induce a zone.[13] This common Sentinel affliction can put them in dangerous situations. Blair is capable of gently talking Jim out of zones.
  • Sensory loss: On multiple occasions, Jim has completely or partially lost one or more of his senses. The problem is generally solved when he deals with an emotional problem.[14]
  • Sensory spikes: Jim has been known to suffer from sudden, intense, uncontrollable increases in sensory sensitivity, usually accompanied by a splitting headache; this is also a result of unprocessed emotional trauma and/or the resurfacing or repressed memories.[15]
  • Drug reactions: Common medications can have unexpected effects on Jim's senses, including enhancing, confusing, and incapacitating him.[16] He is also resistant to sedation.[17]

Refinements

With Blair's help, Jim has discovered several methods for controlling or refining his supersensory powers. These include:

  • Dialing down: A method of pain control that involves consciously picturing a dial and then turning that dial toward a low setting. [18] The term "dialing down" (and its counterpart "dialing up") is commonly extended in fanon to mean the conscious control of the sensitivity of any sense.
  • Piggybacking: Using one sense to assist another, or pairing senses to improve the information gained from both. [19]

Mysticality

Jim's superpowers seem at various times to be scientifically explicable genetic mutation (Blair describes them as a "genetic advantage") and to be part of a larger scheme controlled by some kind of Powers That Be. Mystical aspects to the powers include:

  • Jim's unusually strong protective or territorial instinct, especially when it comes to his home city, a trait he shares with the ancient Sentinels of yore.
  • Visions in which Jim receives cryptic messages related to his senses. These visions take place in the jungle (referred to by fans as "blue dreams" because they are filmed through a blue filter). Jim is usually represented by his spirit animal, a black jaguar (described as a panther in the show). Blair is eventually also represented by a spirit animal, a wolf. In these dreams, Jim sometimes speaks to Incacha, the Chopec shaman who helped him in Peru. Canon shows the jaguar transforming into a human form in the spirit realm, presumed to be the Primal Sentinel by fans.
  • The loss of Jim's powers when he first returns to Peru, and their subsequent return when he makes a "leap of faith" in a vision. He then somehow gains jungle war paint in real life.[20]
  • A strange attraction/repulsion relationship with another Sentinel, Alex Barnes, who encroaches on his territory (and in his visions, in the form of a spotted jaguar).[21] Fanon holds that this attraction/repulsion will hold true for any Sentinel approaching Jim in his defined "territory" of Cascade.
  • The existence of, and the particularly intense visions experienced by both Sentinels in, the Temple of Light, an ancient temple in Peru dedicated to Sentinels.[22]
  • Jim's miraculous resuscitation of Blair after a vision where their spirit animals merge.[22]

Personality

Jim is portrayed as an upstanding paragon of justice with an unshakeable sense of right. He can tend to be set in his ways and standoffish. His reserve can make him seem unemotional, but he is affectionate and loyal with his closest friends. His MBTI personality type is most likely ISFJ. He has a dry sense of humor and can carry on a conversation about philosophy when need be. He can become very protective of his space and the people he's charged to defend; Blair once described him as "territorially threatened to the point of paranoia," which Jim found hurtful.[23]

Fandom Reaction

As a character, Jim suffered a lot from fannish Hero Bashing.

Within the Jim/Blair sector of the fandom, some fans self-identifed as "Jimbabes" or "Blairbabes" in the late 1990s. Fannish opinion diverged on whether Jim was a natural top or a natural bottom. Meghan Black established a popular page called Born to Bottom, listing her favorite "bottom!Jim" stories, which served as the inspiration for similar recs pages in other fandoms.

Canon or Fanon

  • Name - James J. Ellison. Popular fanon consensus is that the "J" stands for "Joseph". Called Jimmy by his father, he prefers to be called Jim.
  • Family relationships - Canon shows that Jim has a tense relationship with his father, William [5] and that he was estranged from his brother, Steven, for fifteen years. Both relationships are canonically reconciled[6] [5]. Whereabouts of Jim's mother is unknown in canon. Fanon has developed these relationships into varying degrees of extremes, usually showing Jim's family as being disapproving of his relationship with Blair, often to the detriment of said family ties.
  • Jim stops breathing when he is in a deep zone-out - Pure fanon. The biggest canonical danger from a zone-out appears to be that Jim loses his ability to sense anything else but what he's focused on -- like whether a garbage truck is headed for him because he focused on a Frisbee's flight.
  • Blair physically grounds Jim's senses - Again, fanon; "grounding" is never mentioned, and the two men don't touch each other more than usual.
  • Jim can tell if people are lying by listening to their heartbeat/Jim can pick out a specific heartbeat in a crowd - In the series, Jim is shown listening to people's heartbeats, but the canon shows only that he can tell if someone's sleeping or tense.
  • Jim was a medic in the Army - Canon; specific mention of his being a medic is made. As a Ranger, he would have also been trained in first aid and how to stabilize someone under battle conditions until help arrived.[24]
  • Jim was a loner and a hard-ass before Blair met him - Canon shows that he was a loner and hard-ass before he met Jack Pendergrast, his first partner in the Cascade PD. Jack taught him what being a partner meant. Jim was friends with Simon Banks before he met Blair, and he had other friends. He was still friendly with his ex-wife when the series starts.[25]
  • Jim told Blair to 'check his humanity at the door - Blair used that phrase, although Jim didn't disagree.[26]
  • Jim needs Blair to be nearby or else he can't use his senses well - Fanon; Canon shows Jim uses his senses plenty of times without Blair in range, including several undercover assignments where Blair couldn't be near Jim even if he wanted to be.[27][28] [29] [30]
  • Jim can sense ghosts - Canon has Jim seeing a ghost[31], but whether this is strictly Sentinel-sense related is debatable. Real life accounts of ordinary people sensing ghosts abound.
  • Jim calls Blair 'Chief' - Canon, but Jim's use of the nickname is not exclusive.
  • Jim's Cascade PD Sweatshirt - Nowhere in the show is Jim shown owning said sweatshirt, much less that the Cascade PD has any for sale. Fanon has Blair borrowing it constantly.
  • Jim's role as Blair's "Blessed Protector." - In the tag for Cypher, Blair teases Jim with that title, but it's not referred to again in canon. Fanon has developed this role into a full-fledged position, complete with jealousy, rage, and consequences.
  • Jim's not open-minded - This is a point of debate among fans. His experiences with living with the Chopec imply a degree of willingness to adapt; he's willing to listen to Blair's myriad theories, even if he sometimes disagrees with them. At the same time, he's a detective, trained to look for factual evidence, something Blair doesn't always have to give.
  • * Jim drops his gun a lot - The show seemed to favor Jim using hand-to-hand combat over using his gun.

Notable Fanworks

Fanfiction

  • Speranza, writing as Francesca, wrote The Nature Series, which explores a growing connection between Jim and Blair, both as lovers and as Sentinel/Guide.

Fan Art

-more-

Vids

-more-


Notes & References

  1. ↑ Season 3, episode 1, "Warriors"
  2. ↑ Season 3, episode 9, "Red Ice"
  3. ↑ Season 3, episode 17, "Remembrance" (implied)
  4. ↑ The 1957 birthdate, height, weight, eye color, and S.I.N. are briefly displayed on a page from a database in season 3, episode 9, "Red Ice." Questions about the birth date, among other quirks (actor Richard Burgi's height, according to IMDB, is actually 187 cm), cast doubt on the validity of this information. Eye color, at least, is independently verifiable.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Season 2, episode 23, "His Brother's Keeper"
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Season 3, episode 17, "Remembrance"
  7. ↑ Season 1, episode 1, "The Switchman"
  8. ↑ Season 2, episode 3, "Deep Water"
  9. ↑ "Season 1, episode 3, "Killers"
  10. ↑ Season 2, episode 15, "The Secret"
  11. ↑ Season 1, episode 4, "The Debt"
  12. ↑ See season 1, episode 1, "The Switchman", in which he shoots a bullet down the barrel of another gun, among others.
  13. ↑ In season 1, episode 1, "The Switchman" and season 1, episode 7 "Rogue", Jim zones on the color red.
  14. ↑ See season 1, episode 3, "Killers," in which he begins to completely lose various senses for random temporary periods of time, as a result of his grief at the death of an ex-partner. In season 2, episode 12, "Blind Man's Bluff" he loses his sight as a reaction to a drug, but regains it eventually, arguably after dealing with feelings of tension and worry relating to his ability to function in a weakened state and Blair's subsequent temporary but traumatic debilitating psychosis. In season 2, episode 1 "Flight" and in season 3, episode 1 "Warriors" he reverts to normal human sensory ability; both times he seems to be questioning whether or not he wishes to remain The Sentinel.
  15. ↑ Season 3, episode 18, "Love Kills".
  16. ↑ In season 1, episode 6, "Night Train," an over-the-counter cold remedy causes Jim's senses to go "haywire"; notably, he becomes oversensitive to light and sudden sound. Illegal drugs also have strange effects. He faints after getting a whiff of opium in season 3, episode 18, "Love Kills" and is blinded by contact with the fictional drug Golden in season 2, episode 12, "Blind Man's Bluff."
  17. ↑ This is a plot point in season 2, episode 15 "Secret". Blair points out the possible problems this could cause (e.g. if Jim ever needs surgery), but no resolution is given (although Jim does end up in the hospital several times with no apparent problems).
  18. ↑ Season 2, episode 2, "Out of the Past"
  19. ↑ In Season 2, episode 13, "Hear No Evil", Jim uses his extra sensitive hearing to help him "see" a deal going down in a darkened warehouse.
  20. ↑ Season 2, episode 1, "Flight."
  21. ↑ Season 3, episode 23, "Sentinel Too Part 1."
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Season 4, episode 1, "Sentinel Too Part 2."
  23. ↑ Season 3, episode 22, "Night Shift."
  24. ↑ Spare Parts
  25. ↑ Nightowl's "Canon? Or Fanon?" page
  26. ↑ Cypher episode transcript Jim: "Murder victims tend to get the best of us. You got to learn to separate yourself." Blair: "Oh, yeah. Right. Just check my humanity at the door?" Jim: "Whatever it takes to stay present. What if the killer had still been at the scene, hmm? If your emotions are in the way, you're useless, potentially dangerous. Now, if you're going to hang with cops, you got to learn to do the right thing 'cause your life and the lives of many others are going to depend on it."
  27. ↑ Inside Man transcript
  28. ↑ Vendetta transcript
  29. ↑ Prisoner X transcript
  30. ↑ Kat's Canon vs. Fanon page
  31. ↑ The Waiting Room
Retrieved from "http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Sentinel/Jim_Ellison"