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Doctor Helen Magnus is an English-born physician and scientist specializing in a variety of medicine and biological sciences. Over 274-years-old and 'blessed' with apparent eternal youth thanks to a vampire blood-based serum, she is the founder and elected leader of the Sanctuary Network.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Helen Magnus was born in the middle of the 19th century [6] to Gregory Magnus and Patricia Heathering.[7] Her father was regarded as a controversial medical researcher of his time, and exposed his daughter to his profession when she was a child.[8] Louis Pasteur, a close friend of Gregory, was her godfather.[9]

Helen Magnus 19th century

Helen Magnus in the 19th century.

She was an intelligent young woman, unwilling to accept the limitations for women of her era. When Helen reached the age of ~25-years-old [10], after she had been repeatedly denied entrance into a London school, stopping her from being able to gain the degree she needed to become a practicing medical doctor, Gregory introduced her to the secrets she believed he was hiding from her beneath their house, bringing her into the world of abnormals.

Years later, Helen was allowed the opportunity to study at the University of Oxford. While there, Magnus was essentially isolated as she was the only female student at the school. Despite this, Helen was able to earn the respect and friendship of four fellow male students. All of them became dear and close friends of Magnus's who held a greater respect for her than any other men (especially of that era), and it was with them that she formed the Five.

The Five[]

Sometime in the early / mid-1880s, Helen Magnus formed the Five, a group of extraordinary minds that included herself, James Watson, John Druitt, Nikola Tesla, and Nigel Griffin.[11] Like herself, the others could be considered geniuses ahead of their time, and in this group Magnus and the others felt like they were a part of something more.

In the Spring of 1886, Helen Magnus was able to acquire a sample of pure, untainted vampire blood before the species was exterminated by the Church. Magnus devised a serum from the blood that was discovered to possess unique properties and the group's curiosity about humanity's potential to evolve led them to each take an injection of the blood. Magnus volunteered to go first, to make sure the serum was safe despite her friends' warnings that the side effects of the blood were completely unknown. Magnus survived the injection, though the awakening of her longevity abnormality was quite painful. The other members then took an injection of the blood and also gained their own unique abilities. It is unknown if the other members of the Five were aware of abnormals beforehand.

To her great regret, her lover and fiancé, John Druitt's exposure to the source blood had the unforeseen side effect of driving him insane and led to the creation of the most notorious killer in history - Jack the Ripper. Magnus tried one last time after the rest of the Five had given up on Druitt to appeal to his better nature and to accept her help. However by this time Druitt's insanity had all but consumed the man he once was and he tried to attack Magnus, forcing her to defend herself and leading him to vanish from her life for a long time.

Though the Five would never admit it, Helen Magnus could be considered the group's de facto leader. This is mostly because she is able to keep them in line and keep them focused on the bigger picture. Each man respected her enough to know not to make her mad. In early 2009, James Watson and John Druitt hinted to Will Zimmerman she may have been their leader when they jokingly asked him what it's like to follow the orders of a woman without having lived through the traditions of the 19th century.

Leader of Sanctuary[]

For over 120 years [12] (ultimately giving five lifetimes to her work resulting from time travel [13]), Helen Magnus has run the Sanctuary Network, where she tracks, protects and learns from the extraordinary and / or paranormal creatures that inhabit our world. She serves both as head of house of the Old City Sanctuary, and as elected head of the global Sanctuary Network.[14]

Web Series[]

Part One[]

Episode 0x01 - "Webisode 1"
to be added
Episode 0x02 - "Webisode 2"
to be added
Episode 0x03 - "Webisode 3"
to be added
Episode 0x04 - "Webisode 4"
to be added

Part Two[]

Episode 0x05 - "Webisode 5"
to be added
Episode 0x06 - "Webisode 6"
to be added
Episode 0x07 - "Webisode 7"
to be added
Episode 0x08 - "Webisode 8"
to be added

Season 1[]

Episode 1x01 - "Sanctuary for All, Part I"
to be added
Episode 1x02 - "Sanctuary for All, Part II"
Helen and John

John Druitt and Helen Magnus in her study.

In early 2008 while working on a case involving the abnormal boy Alexei, Helen Magnus was confronted with her former fiancé and father of her daughter, John Druitt. He had managed to infiltrate the Old City Sanctuary by pretending to be unconscious in order to get to Magnus.

While Druitt, like the rest of the Five, had gained some form of longevity, he had recently relapsed with a disease that his own source blood-altered physiology couldn't handle. Only Magnus's pure longevity-causing blood could cure him, as it had in the past.

Helen Magnus however did not want to cure him in the beginning because she believed it would only prolong his suffering with his insanity and tried to offer him help first; not liking that John Druitt had teleported Ashley Magnus away from her and into the SHU with a dangerous giant lizard creature in hopes of getting her to comply. This was a perfect example of how deranged Druitt had become if he was putting his own daughter in harms way. Druitt became enraged when Magnus revealed that she never told Ashley the truth about who her father was; letting her believe he was dead.

In the end, Helen Magnus appeared to relent and fetched a pure sample of her blood for John Druitt to inject. Satisfied, Druitt took the injection but moments later Druitt's power began to turn on him. Magnus had poisoned him, although she obviously felt sorry for her action. But Druitt was not going to go quietly as he looked her in the eye and said "The Five... the others... will come" before teleporting away with the belief that his old comrades would avenge him. Magnus however thought he wouldn't survive for very much longer and would die. (It wasn't until later on in Rome that she learned he wasn't dead as she had initially expected.[11])
Episode 1x03 - "Fata Morgana"
to be added
Episode 1x04 - "Folding Man"
to be added
Episode 1x05 - "Kush"
to be added
Episode 1x06 - "Nubbins"
to be added
Episode 1x07 - "The Five"
to be added
Episode 1x08 - "Edward"
While Helen and Ashley are at the indoor shooting range performing target practice, Helen tries to open a dialogue between her and her daughter. Ashley initially rebuffs her before both start to admit emotional truths.
Episode 1x09 - "Requiem"
to be added
Episode 1x10 - "Warriors"
to be added
Episode 1x11 - "Instinct"
to be added
Episode 1x12 - "Revelations, Part I"
to be added
Episode 1x13 - "Revelations, Part II"
to be added

Season 2[]

Episode 2x01 - "End of Nights, Part I"
to be added
Episode 2x02 - "End of Nights, Part II"
to be added
Episode 2x03 - "Eulogy"
to be added
Episode 2x04 - "Hero"
to be added
Episode 2x05 - "Pavor Nocturnus"
to be added
Episode 2x06 - "Fragments"
to be added
Episode 2x07 - "Veritas"
to be added
Episode 2x08 - "Next Tuesday"
to be added
Episode 2x09 - "Penance"
to be added
Episode 2x10 - "Sleepers"
to be added
Episode 2x11 - "Haunted"
to be added
Episode 2x12 - "Kali, Part I"
to be added
Episode 2x13 - "Kali, Part II"
to be added

Season 3[]

First half[]

Episode 3x01 - "Kali, Part III"
to be added
Episode 3x02 - "Firewall"
to be added
Episode 3x03 - "Bank Job"
to be added
Episode 3x04 - "Trail of Blood"
to be added
Episode 3x05 - "Hero II: Broken Arrow"
to be added
Episode 3x06 - "Animus"
to be added
Episode 3x07 - "Breach"
to be added
Episode 3x08 - "For King and Country"
to be added
Episode 3x09 - "Vigilante"
to be added
Episode 3x10 - "The Hollow Men"
to be added

Second half[]

Episode 3x11 - "Pax Romana"
to be added
Episode 3x12 - "Hangover"
to be added
Episode 3x13 - "One Night"
to be added
Episode 3x14 - "Metamorphosis"
to be added
Episode 3x15 - "Wingman"
to be added
Episode 3x16 - "Awakening"
to be added
Episode 3x17 - "Normandy"
to be added
Episode 3x18 - "Carentan"
to be added
Episode 3x19 - "Out of the Blue"
to be added
Episode 3x20 - "Into the Black"
to be added

Season 4[]

Episode 4x01 - "Tempus"
Helen in 1898

Future-Helen Magnus in 1898 London.

In early-2011, Helen Magnus follows Adam Worth back in time through his time portal and pursues him throughout London in 1898 to stop him from curing his daughter Imogene Worth, who is naturally meant to die in the timeline from a rare form of Leukemia. During her pursuit, Magnus tries her best to avoid encountering her past self and is ultimately successful, albeit coming extremely close to getting caught by Past-Helen a few times. Despite this however, Magnus ends up completely failing to stop herself from also encountering Past-James Watson, who quickly discovers that she is from the future and promises to keep quiet for the sake of preserving the timeline. When Future-Adam tries to kill Future-Helen after she tracks him down to his small lab, he accidentally kills Imogene instead, restoring the natural order of the timeline. After killing Future-Worth from early-2011, to avoid herself inadvertently changing the timeline by her mere presence in the past with her sheer knowledge of future historical events, Magnus accepts the advice she was given from Past-Watson and ends up supposedly taking a long "vacation" in a known secluded part of the world; hiding on a mountain top in Nepal for the next 113 years before she can resurface and rejoin the timeline to help Will in the present dealing with the mass amounts of Hollow Earth abnormals invading the surface from the three caldera sites.
Episode 4x02 - "Uprising"
to be added
Episode 4x03 - "Untouchable"
to be added
Episode 4x04 - "Monsoon"
to be added
Episode 4x05 - "Resistance"
to be added
Episode 4x06 - "Homecoming"
to be added
Episode 4x07 - "Icebreaker"
to be added
Episode 4x08 - "Fugue"
to be added
Episode 4x09 - "Chimera"
to be added
Episode 4x10 - "Acolyte"
to be added
Episode 4x11 - "The Depths"
to be added
Episode 4x12 - "Sanctuary for None, Part I"
to be added
Episode 4x13 - "Sanctuary for None, Part II"
Helen

Helen Magnus in early 2012.

It is revealed that Helen Magnus had instead been secretly working with several important figures of the 20th century, including Albert Einstein and Buckminster Fuller amongst others, in order to build a new Underground Sanctuary.

Personal life[]

It is revealed that Helen Magnus is very wealthy and goes to a villa she owns on Capri, near Naples, every seven years for a long weekend.[15]

Hobbies[]

Helen Magnus has a known affinity for aviation, so much so that she owns a private fleet of several helicopters [15] and planes [16] [13] [17]. She is seen in a photograph to have, at the very least, met historical flight figure Amelia Earhart. In Magnus's entire flight career for the last hundred years or so she has only ever been in three crashes; one of which she was a passenger. All three accidents however were not the direct result of pilot error, but that of abnormal interference beyond her control.[16] [15] [18]

(According to Amanda Tapping, Helen Magnus plays the piano, though she is unsure of when Helen may find enough down time to play the instrument as a way to relax.) [19]

Education[]

Aside from primarily being an M.D., she also holds a Doctoral degree (D) in Teratology (T), Cryptozoology (C), Xenobiology (X), and Biology (B) according to the letters printed on her Sanctuary business card.[20] [21]

Graduate school and medical board certification / licensing wasn't easy to come by for Helen Magnus as she had to constantly fight against the social era she lived in and the stigma of her father working on "outlandish case studies".

The influence of Gregory Magnus's connections and reputation initially helped allow her to gain massive amounts of medical and scientific knowledge (something that was odd for a woman of that time period). That however wasn't enough for her to gain entrance into the Royal College in London. Though Helen had passed the entrance exam three separate times with the highest marks possible, the Board repeatedly denied her entrance; Helen only tolerated taking the exam three times as getting into the London school was something she absolutely needed to do in order to gain a degree to legally practice medicine anywhere in Europe. Severely frustrated, she went and sought council with her father about her situation, adamantly refusing to take the exam for a fourth time. Gregory noted that she knew more about the subject matter than the professors writing the tests, and saw this constant denial for his daughter to have a career as a medical professional as a way for the Board to punish him for his fringe work rather than it being a grievance against her specifically. At her insistent plea to get some standing in the medical and scientific community, Gregory officially brought Helen into his world of studying abnormals.[22]

At the University of Oxford in the late-1800s, she was one of the first woman to ever attend the institution, however, it was initially under the pretense that she could only audit classes as no women were allowed to enroll at the time; a rule she railed against with a vengeance.[23] It wasn't until the year 1921 (as seen in the opening title sequence) that she was able to officially graduate with her M.D. certificate.

During Helen Magnus's time reliving the past, to build credit to the name 'Helen Bancroft', she went through graduate school again.[3] By the year 1916, she had:

  • Graduated from the University of London with a Doctor in Science degree in Medical Science; becoming a visiting professor there.
  • Gained a PhD in Global Health from the University of Lahore in Pakistan; becoming the professor of Global Health at Lahore, its Executive Director of Health Science, and their Director of Medical Fellowship.
  • Became an honorary professor at the University of Queensland in Australia.

During the summer semester of 1948, she taught a Fellowship course at Black Mountain College in North Carolina to share an office with Buckminster Fuller.

Age[]

The injection of the source blood serum occurred in the Spring of 1886, making Helen Magnus's physical age that of essentially being 35-years-old for the rest of her seemingly eternal life.[23]

Age chart
Date
Details
Source
27 August 1850 Helen Magnus is born.
Spring 1886 [23]
3x08 Sanctuary IMDb 20
1x07
Helen Magnus is 35-years-old when the source blood serum is created by the the Five and injected into her left arm by Nikola Tesla.
Episode 3x08 - "For King and Country"
Episode 1x07 - "The Five"
November 1888
On1 revolver unk 2
Helen Magnus is 38-years-old when John Druitt kills Molly and she cryogenically preserves the embryo she is carrying.
Episode 0x01 - "Webisode 1"
Episode 1x02 - "Sanctuary for All, Part II"
Early 1898
S04 e0401 01 131802330543 Magnus, back in 19th-century London.
Helen Magnus is 47-years-old during the events of investigating the Spring-heeled Jack case with James Watson.
Episode 4x01 - "Tempus"
1908
3x08 Sanctuary IMDb 4
Helen Magnus is 57/58-years-old when the Five hunt down Adam Worth.
Episode 3x08 - "For King and Country"
5th & 6th June 1944
S03 e0317 03 130584142909 Helen Magnus, seen here during World War II.
Helen Magnus is 93-years-old during the events of D-Day in Normandy, France.
Episode 3x17 - "Normandy"
1985 Helen Magnus is 134/135-years-old when she saves an 8-year-old Will Zimmerman from a giant lizard creature. Episode 1x02 - "Sanctuary for All, Part II"
Early 2008
1x01 Magnus checks on Will after her car hits him.
Helen Magnus is 157-years-old at the beginning of season 1.
Episode 1x01 - "Sanctuary for All, Part I"
Early 2008
1x02 Will talks with Magnus
Helen Magnus reveals herself to Will Zimmerman as being 157-years-old.
Episode 1x02 - "Sanctuary for All, Part II"
Early 2008
S01 e0107 02 129046079726
Helen Magnus is said to be 157-years-old by Ashley Magnus.
Episode 1x07 - "The Five"
27 August 2008 Helen Magnus turns 158-years-old.
Early 2009
1x13 Magnus and Druitt find out Ashley's out of bed
Helen Magnus is 158-years-old at the end of season 1.
Episode 1x13 - "Revelations, Part II"
Early 2009
2x01 End of Nights (1) colt commander 2
Helen Magnus is 158-years-old at the beginning of season 2.
Episode 2x01 - "End of Nights, Part I"
Late June 2009 [24]
2x08 Sanctuary IMDb 1
Helen Magnus references herself to Will Zimmerman as being 158-years-old.
Episode 2x08 - "Next Tuesday"
27 August 2009 Helen Magnus turns 159-years-old.
Early 2010
2x13 Sanctuary IMDb 1
Helen Magnus is 159-years-old at the end of season 2.
Episode 2x13 - "Kali, Part II"
Early 2010
S03 e0301 03 129046284280
Helen Magnus is 159-years-old at the beginning of season 3.
Episode 3x01 - "Kali, Part III"
Early 2010
3x08 Sanctuary IMDb 22
Helen Magnus declares to Will Zimmerman that she is 159-years-old.
Episode 3x08 - "For King and Country"
27 August 2010 Helen Magnus turns 160-years-old.
8th October 2010
3x18 Sanctuary IMDb 10
Helen Magnus is 160-years-old during the time dilation field event in Carentan, France.
Episode 3x18 - "Carentan"
Early 2011
3x20 Sanctuary IMDb 1
Helen Magnus leaves from the year 2011 at the age of 160-years-old (roughly more than half a year before her 161st birthday that year) to travel back through time to the year 1898; forcing herself to relive 113 years of her life.
Episode 3x20 - "Into the Black"
Early 1898
Helen in 1898
Helen Magnus is 160-years-old while chasing Adam Worth through London.
Episode 4x01 - "Tempus"
During Helen Magnus's 113-year-long time travel through the past between 1898 and 2011, on August 27th she turned:
  • 161-years-old in 1898.
  • 162-years-old in 1899.
  • 163-years-old in 1900.
  • 164-years-old in 1901.
  • 165-years-old in 1902.
  • 166-years-old in 1903.
  • 167-years-old in 1904.
  • 168-years-old in 1905.
  • 169-years-old in 1906.
  • 170-years-old in 1907.
  • 171-years-old in 1908.
  • 172-years-old in 1909.
  • 173-years-old in 1910.
  • 174-years-old in 1911.
  • 175-years-old in 1912.
  • 176-years-old in 1913.
  • 177-years-old in 1914.
  • 178-years-old in 1915.
  • 179-years-old in 1916.
  • 180-years-old in 1917.
  • 181-years-old in 1918.
  • 182-years-old in 1919.
  • 183-years-old in 1920.
  • 184-years-old in 1921.
  • 185-years-old in 1922.
  • 186-years-old in 1923.
  • 187-years-old in 1924.
  • 188-years-old in 1925.
  • 189-years-old in 1926.
  • 190-years-old in 1927.
  • 191-years-old in 1928.
  • 192-years-old in 1929.
  • 193-years-old in 1930.
  • 194-years-old in 1931.
  • 195-years-old in 1932.
  • 196-years-old in 1933.
  • 197-years-old in 1934.
  • 198-years-old in 1935.
  • 199-years-old in 1936.
  • 200-years-old in 1937.
  • 201-years-old in 1938.
  • 202-years-old in 1939.
  • 203-years-old in 1940.
  • 204-years-old in 1941.
  • 205-years-old in 1942.
  • 206-years-old in 1943.
  • 207-years-old in 1944.
  • 208-years-old in 1945.
  • 209-years-old in 1946.
  • 210-years-old in 1947.
  • 211-years-old in 1948.
  • 212-years-old in 1949.
  • 213-years-old in 1950.
  • 214-years-old in 1951.
  • 215-years-old in 1952.
  • 216-years-old in 1953.
  • 217-years-old in 1954.
  • 218-years-old in 1955.
  • 219-years-old in 1956.
  • 220-years-old in 1957.
  • 221-years-old in 1958.
  • 222-years-old in 1959.
  • 223-years-old in 1960.
  • 224-years-old in 1961.
  • 225-years-old in 1962.
  • 226-years-old in 1963.
  • 227-years-old in 1964.
  • 228-years-old in 1965.
  • 229-years-old in 1966.
  • 230-years-old in 1967.
  • 231-years-old in 1968.
  • 232-years-old in 1969.
  • 233-years-old in 1970.
  • 234-years-old in 1971.
  • 235-years-old in 1972.
  • 236-years-old in 1973.
  • 237-years-old in 1974.
  • 238-years-old in 1975.
  • 239-years-old in 1976.
  • 240-years-old in 1977.
  • 241-years-old in 1978.
  • 242-years-old in 1979.
  • 243-years-old in 1980.
  • 244-years-old in 1981.
  • 245-years-old in 1982.
  • 246-years-old in 1983.
  • 247-years-old in 1984.
  • 248-years-old in 1985.
  • 249-years-old in 1986.
  • 250-years-old in 1987.
  • 251-years-old in 1988.
  • 252-years-old in 1989.
  • 253-years-old in 1990.
  • 254-years-old in 1991.
  • 255-years-old in 1992.
  • 256-years-old in 1993.
  • 257-years-old in 1994.
  • 258-years-old in 1995.
  • 259-years-old in 1996.
  • 260-years-old in 1997.
  • 261-years-old in 1998.
  • 262-years-old in 1999.
  • 263-years-old in 2000.
  • 264-years-old in 2001.
  • 265-years-old in 2002.
  • 266-years-old in 2003.
  • 267-years-old in 2004.
  • 268-years-old in 2005.
  • 269-years-old in 2006.
  • 270-years-old in 2007.
  • 271-years-old in 2008.
  • 272-years-old in 2009.
  • 273-years-old in 2010.
Early 2011
4x02 Sanctuary IMDb 2
Helen Magnus is 273-years-old when she eventually returns back to the same point in time in the year 2011 when she rejoins the Sanctuary at the end of 4x02 a few hours after her 160-year-old self went through the portal in 3x20.
Episode 4x02 - "Uprising"
27 August 2011 Helen Magnus turns 274-years-old.
Early 2012
4x13 Sanctuary IMDb Dr
In a deleted scene, Abby Corrigan believes Helen Magnus is currently 161-years-old until Will Zimmerman lets her in on Magnus having time-travelled; adjusting her age to actually be 274-years-old instead.
Episode 4x13 - "Sanctuary for None, Part II"

Note: This table is a list of events where Helen Magnus is physically seen depicted within that timeframe with known ages/dates. For mentioned events, please reference the timeline.

To help clarify, for current and future birthdays on August 27th, she will now turn i.e.:

  • 274-years-old in 2011 instead of 161.
  • 275-years-old in 2012 instead of 162.
  • 276-years-old in 2013 instead of 163.
  • 277-years-old in 2014 instead of 164.
  • 278-years-old in 2015 instead of 165.
  • 279-years-old in 2016 instead of 166.
  • 280-years-old in 2017 instead of 167.
  • 281-years-old in 2018 instead of 168.
  • 282-years-old in 2019 instead of 169.
  • 283-years-old in 2020 instead of 170.

Character and traits[]

Helen Magnus is bold and straightforward, brave and no-nonsense, yet she remains proudly true to her formal Victorian English sensibilities. Stemming from her British roots, she is a person who prefers to stay busy and can only tolerate a "long weekend doing nothing" once every seven years.[15]

Helen Magnus's past is long and colorful, as one would expect from a life lasting 274 years. However, she proves that living forever is not the best of things and finds it hard at times, calling longevity a curse [25] and admits that "dinner parties are hell" [9] as she can't relate to anyone. She has had to bury countless friends, colleagues, and lovers, making her somewhat reluctant to let new people into her heart as she's learned to not get too close to people anymore over the course of the last century. On more than one occasion, Magnus has searched for a way to try to reverse the effects of the source blood as she is so often tired of outliving the one's that she loves.[26]

As a physician and scientist, while some of her procedures and treatments may occasionally be considered controversial by some and or unheard of, Helen Magnus does adhere to the Hippocratic Oath. While she studies and treats a wide range of abnormal beings, she does not use that knowledge for ill-purpose acts such as like the Cabal who try to create and or modify creatures (something Magnus is adamantly against). Magnus is very cautious with genetic treatments, especially with her uneasiness to 'fly blind' without having the creator and or also the creator's research and notes to follow [7] [27] considering the possibility that her attempts to undo what has been done may accidentally kill the subject outright.[28]

Altered physiology[]

Presumably due to the affects of the source blood giving her a unique blood chemistry, besides having longevity, Helen Magnus seems to require a lot less of certain things than a normal human being does to still be able to properly function. This includes:

Category
Details
Sleep Helen Magnus frequently stays up very late at night [29], saying that she rarely sleeps unless her patients do too.[30] She also doesn't sleep when she becomes aware of a particularly worrisome detail of a situation the Sanctuary has currently found itself in.
Warmth Helen Magnus is seen to be able to tolerate being exposed to cold temperatures better (both air and water).[31] [16] [9] [15] [32]

(Note: 'Resistance' to cold temperatures may actually be an inherited trait instead of being source blood derived, as both Gregory Magnus and Ashley Magnus are known to have survived cryopreservation without any issues; whether accidentally caused by being out in freezing environmental conditions as an elderly adult [7] or intentionally induced in a controlled laboratory setting as a six to seven week-old embryo.[31])
Food Occasionally, when stressed or very busy working on a demanding issue, Helen Magnus is seen to intentionally forgo / accidentally forget [27] to eat regular meals; eating very little to nothing at all for an extended period of time lasting for several days up to a week.[33] She survives mostly off of a cup of tea here and there.[28]

Other physical traits Helen Magnus has gained from the remnants of source blood that still lingers in her system include:

Trait
Details
Increased strength Helen Magnus is able to easily hold her own against regular humans, even when outnumbered more than two to one; often overpowering them and rendering them unconscious in a few seconds.[17] She can also stand against those with abnormalities, though she does sometimes struggle in a one versus one scenario, usually getting knocked around a bit before eventually figuring out how to 'win' against her opponent.[34] [35] [36] [3] (Note: Her knowledge of anatomy and physiology as well as her level of fight training are a major component in her encounters as most of the regular humans she faces are either caught unaware and or are also lacking in proper self-defense techniques.) [27] [18] [37] [2] [38]
Enhanced healing factor While nowhere near as instant as a vampire, Helen Magnus is seen to recover from injuries / physical trauma at a faster rate compared to regular humans, notably with very minimal to no visible scarring left behind on her skin afterward once a flesh wound has healed.[39] [38] [40] Noteworthy afflictions she has rebounded from include three separate traumas to the brain [9] [41] [2] and organ failure caused by severe radiation poisoning. [34] [42] [37] [43] [44]
Adaptive metabolic system Not only does it slow to allow Helen Magnus to eat less at times, but it also speeds up to allow her the ability to stave off the effects of being exposed to certain compounds / ailments to a greater degree and for a lot longer than a normal human; giving her a higher tolerance level before eventually succumbing albeit to lesser overall effects.[40]
Heightened immunity Helen Magnus seems to have an incredible resistance to viral (and assumedly also bacterial) pathogens. This is a trait that is known to be shared amongst other members of the Five, specifically James Watson and John Druitt.[23] [45]

Languages[]

1x13 The group looking at the Key map

Helen Magnus and James Watson decipher Gregory Magnus's key map that's written in Latin.

Helen Magnus is knowledgeable in a vast number of languages, including:


Languages chart
Language
Details
Source
English Native / first language (inherent British variant). All episodes
Italian Audibly understands and verbally speaks. Episode 1x07 - "The Five"
Latin Fluent in, being that she is a medical doctor / scientist and it's her father Gregory Magnus's favorite language. Episode 1x13 - "Revelations, Part II"
Helen Magnus reveals to Will Zimmerman the phrase she taught Ashley. Episode 2x03 - "Eulogy"
Arabic Audibly understands. Episode 2x01 - "End of Nights, Part I"
Zulu Audibly understands and verbally speaks. Episode 2x11 - "Haunted"
Japanese Audibly understands and verbally speaks. Episode 2x12 - "Kali, Part I"
Henry Foss requests Helen Magnus to be on standby as an interpreter. Episode 4x10 - "Acolyte"
Hindi Can audibly understand, verbally speak, and has knowledge of its ancient Urdu dialect. Episode 2x12 - "Kali, Part I"
Episode 2x13 - "Kali, Part II"
Episode 3x01 - "Kali, Part III"
Cuneiform Able to read and translate the ancient Sumerian symbols. Episode 3x06 - "Animus"
Episode 3x09 - "Vigilante"
Episode 3x14 - "Metamorphosis"
Able to read and translate Praxian lexicon that closely resemble ancient Sumerian Cuneiform. Episode 3x06 - "Animus"
Episode 4x09 - "Chimera"
Cambodian Audibly understands and verbally speaks. Episode 3x08 - "For King and Country"
Norwegian Verbally speaks.[46] Episode 3x09 - "Vigilante"
Sanguine vampiris script Able to read and verbally translate. Episode 3x16 - "Awakening"
German Can audibly understand and identify its Bavarian dialect(s). Episode 3x17 - "Normandy"
French Audibly understands and verbally speaks. Episode 3x17 - "Normandy"
Spanish Audibly understands and verbally speaks. Episode 4x10 - "Acolyte"

Weapons and fighting[]

On more than one occasion she is shown to be skilled in hand-to-hand combat.

Helen Magnus is abundantly seen to be very comfortable in holding and being adept at using a wide variety of weaponry, including but not limited to:

Pistols[]

Semi-automatic pistol
Used in mass majority of episodes. Go-to sidearm / weapon of choice. Is usually concealed carried in Helen Magnus's 'gun bum'. She also has them hidden around her rooms in her properties.
Semi-automatic pistol (tranquilizer bullets)
Episode 1x06 - "Nubbins"
Photo season 01 12 129054168964 The Sanctuary team confronts a furry threat in ''Nubbins
Helen Magnus switched from live-ammo to tranquilizers to take down the nubbin predator on the Lophelia.
Episode 2x10 - "Sleepers"
S02 e0211 05 129046256908
Helen Magnus uses tranquilizers against the trust-fund vampires.
Revolver pistol
Episode 1x02 - "Sanctuary for All, Part II" (flashback)
On1 revolver unk 2
Helen Magnus threats John Druitt with her gun, hoping to dissuade him from killing Molly. As Molly's throat is slashed, Magnus discharges her firearm at Druitt as he teleports away; grazing his right cheek.[47]
Episode 3x08 - "For King and Country" (flashback)
3x08 For King and Country unk revolver
In a 1908, Helen Magnus arms herself with her personal handgun as the Five investigate Adam Worth's warehouse.
Episode 4x01 - "Tempus"
Sanctuary 401 Tempus (13)
In 1898, Future-Helen Magnus uses the weapon against Future-Adam Worth. Past-Helen Magnus discretely reaches for it as a form of self-defense during a threatening situation involving John Druitt, but devastatingly finds it has gone missing from its drawer; Future-Helen Magnus had just previously 'borrowed' it from her.
Episode 4x13 - "Sanctuary for None, Part II" Though not used in combat, the same revolver seen in Episode 4x01 - "Tempus" (potentially also the same weapon seen in Episode 1x02 - "Sanctuary for All, Part II" as well as in Episode 3x08 - "For King and Country") is seen temporarily handled again by Helen Magnus during a brief moment of reflection in her study shortly before the Hollow Earth insurgent infiltration and subsequent self-destruction of the Old City Sanctuary.

Shotguns[]

Lever-action shotgun
Episode 0x07 - "Webisode 7"
0x07 Helen shoots down The Morrígan
Helen Magnus uses a a heavily modified Winchester Model 1887 to take down the Morrígan, who were floating in the main lab. Instead of firing a projectile, it let out some sort of non-lethal sonic / EMP / energy pulse.
Episode 1x03 - "Fata Morgana"
1x03 Fata Morgana f1
The same scene from the webisode was reused / recreated.

Knives[]

Scalpel
Episode 0x05 - "Webisode 5" to be added
Episode 1x03 - "Fata Morgana" to be added
Episode 1x10 - "Warriors" While not used as a weapon, it is a type of knife/blade that she is quite deft at using. Helen Magnus proceeds to use the medical tool to operate on her afflicted father; removing the scarab from the back of his neck, reverting his persona from Charlie to Gregory Magnus.
Fixed blade knife
Episode 2x05 - "Pavor Nocturnus" Helen Magnus carries the weapon as personal defense while traversing the post-apocalyptical version of Old City in the Guardian's timeline. She eventually attaches it to a pole, creating a spear.
Diving knife
Episode 2x08 - "Next Tuesday"
S02 e0208 05 129046232658
Helen Magnus uses the tool several times during her time trapped in the decommissioned bore-hole of an abandoned oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
Folding knife
Episode 2x10 - "Sleepers" Helen Magnus initially struggles to pull out the knife strapped to her left ankle and uses it to free herself as well as Will Zimmerman and Kate Freelander from their rope confines.
Butterfly knife
Episode 4x01 - "Tempus"
Sanctuary 401 Tempus (5)
At the London Sanctuary, James Watson inspects the weapons that were confiscated by Scotland Yard from Future-Helen Magnus.
Episode 4x04 - "Monsoon" During a pat-down, Nicholls finds the weapon strapped to Helen Magnus's left thigh.
Switchblade knife
Episode 4x01 - "Tempus" Future-Helen Magnus throws the weapon into Future-Adam Worth's right leg just above the knee, hobbling him and causing him great pain.

Improvised melee weapons[]

Spear
Episode 2x05 - "Pavor Nocturnus" Helen Magnus uses the pointy weapon she stuck together against pale-faces in the Guardian's timeline.
Staff
Episode 3x07 - "Breach"
3x07 Sanctuary IMDb 9
Helen Magnus uses the thin metal pole against Adam Worth after he throws it to her.
Chain
Episode 3x07 - "Breach" Helen Magnus uses a length of metal chain as a whip against Adam Worth, wrapping it around her body.
Hammer
Episode 3x07 - "Breach" Helen Magnus uses the discarded tool she found in the warehouse against Adam Worth, hitting him several times with it.
Baton
Episode 3x07 - "Breach" Helen Magnus makes and uses a makeshift baton out of metal pipe against Adam Worth.
Episode 4x01 - "Tempus" Future-Helen Magnus makes and uses a makeshift baton out of metal, ~wood, and cloth against John Druitt.
Rock
Episode 3x16 - "Awakening" Helen Magnus uses the large piece of loose stone rubble as a tool to bash the crystal structure encasing Afina to break it open; allowing her access to take a blood sample and save Nikola Tesla's life by re-vamping him with it.
Broken metal bar
Episode 3x16 - "Awakening"
3x16 Sanctuary IMDb 3
Helen Magnus stabs Afina with the weapon after she broke it off of a pedestal.

Heavy weapons[]

RPG Launcher
Episode 3x01 - "Kali, Part III"
3x01 Kali (3) m72 LAW
While riding in a small tender boat owned by Edward Forsythe, Helen Magnus uses the M72 LAW launcher to fire upon the lead Sanctuary ship; destroying its navigational/weapons tower which prevents Terrance Wexford from locking missiles directly onto Big Bertha, causing him to fire blindly at her location.

Rifles[]

Lever action rifle
Episode 3x07 - "Breach" (flashback)
3x07 Sanctuary IMDb 3
In 1908 at the quarry, Helen Magnus shoots at Adam Worth a few times with a Winchester Model 1894; hitting him once.[48]
Episode 3x08 - "For King and Country" (flashback)
3x08 Helen after shooting Adam in the shoulder

Praxian energy weapons[]

Whip
Episode 3x11 - "Pax Romana" Helen Magnus disarms Fallon of her weapon, taking it from her, and proceeds to point it at Ranna Seneschal.
Vaporizer
Episode 4x01 - "Tempus" Helen Magnus picks up the weapon Future-Adam Worth dropped, and vaporizes him with it.

Tranquilizer weapons[]

Airsoft rifle (tranquilizer darts)
Episode 3x14 - "Metamorphosis"
S03 e0314 06 130437045643 The Sanctuary team rolls into action in 'Metamorphosis
Helen Magnus uses medically modified tranquilizers to hunt down an escaped Will Zimmerman in the form of a cillobar.
  • All sorts of tech gizmos that Henry Foss whips up in his weapons lab.
  • She was able to create a bomb / explosion out of lit stores of jet fuel.[38]
  • Used the automated assist mechanism to kill intruders.[3]

With a brief glance, Helen Magnus can specify weapons, such as Starstreak missiles.[49]

Vehicles[]

Helen Magnus possesses is the ability to operate almost any type of vehicle; she is able to drive/pilot:

Land vehicles[]

Car
Episode 1x01 - "Sanctuary for All, Part I"
1x01 Magnus checks on Will after her car hits him.
Helen Magnus is driven by Bigfoot in her Mercedes around Old City in her pursuit of Alexei. During a chase down an alleyway, Bigfoot accidentally hits Will Zimmerman with her car. Magnus gets out to look at him. Realizing he'll be okay, Bigfoot and Magnus drive off and Magnus spends a couple hours at the hospital morgue. Once Magnus finishes, she runs into Will and hands him her card. Later that night, Bigfoot and Magnus take her car to pick up Will at his apartment building and return to the Old City Sanctuary.
Episode 1x11 - "Instinct" Offscreen, Helen Magnus drove herself in her Mercedes to the shipping warehouse that imported a Blattella asahinai sapien. This is evident by seeing her car parked outside the building alongside the retrieval van (Henry Foss) and Ashley's motorcycle.
Episode 2x01 - "End of Nights, Part I" Helen Magnus and Will Zimmerman drive a convertible BMW to Martin Wood's residence in nearby Vancouver, Canada. Unfortunately, Kate Freelander kidnaps him and a car chase ensues, ending at a loading dock area on the bank of river. Kate then steals the car Magnus was driving; later that night while in the car, Kate was then shot at by the Cabal.
Episode 2x09 - "Penance"
2x09 Sanctuary IMDb 3
Helen Magnus patrols in her Mercedes a condemned area with Will Zimmerman looking for any sign of Kate Freelander and Jimmy who failed to meet up at the rendezvous point and are currently missing following an ambush.
Episode 2x10 - "Sleepers" Helen Magnus drives her Mercedes across the river to New City along with Will Zimmerman and Kate Freelander to rescue Nikola Tesla from the trust-fund vampires; parking on the street just outside the high-rise apartment building.
Episode 3x05 - "Hero II: Broken Arrow"
S03 e0305 03 129046328973
Helen Magnus drives her Mercedes to check up on Will Zimmerman and Kate Freelander who were ambushed by Virgil St. Pierre's goons as they drove the box van to an offsite location. Magnus then tracks down Kate who's now wearing Walter's suit.
Episode 3x19 - "Out of the Blue" Helen Magnus escapes suburbia via Will Zimmerman's BMW; driving herself and Will off a seaside cliff to reject the psych worm's dream world.
Episode 4x12 - "Sanctuary for None, Part I" After Captain Franklin is blackmailed by Will Zimmerman to set up Helen Magnus, Magnus flees the trap via a Chrysler 300; a car chase subsequently occurs as she is closely pursued by Will on motorcycle.
Van
Episode 1x04 - "Folding Man" Helen Magnus drives the Sanctuary retrieval van to the Neptune Cannery at the docks in Old City. After letting Will Zimmerman and Ashley Magnus out of the vehicle to pursue Malcolm Dawkins on foot, she drives the vehicle around the property and positions it backed up to a wall that Malcolm runs right into; ending the chase in his capture.
Episode 4x06 - "Homecoming"
S04 e0406 08 131973753553 Henry and Magnus face Abnormal danger.
Helen Magnus and Henry Foss use the Sanctuary mission van to follow along and investigate the less-than-upfront plan that Bruno Delacourt and Sheila Delacourt have to rescue orphan abnormal children from black market profiteer Finn Noland.
Episode 4x10 - "Acolyte" Helen Magnus and Kate Freelander flee along with Bigfoot in a the suicide bombers' panel van from the implosion of the Gran Atlante Hotel located just outside of Buenos Aires. They end up still caught by the blast, blowing the van over on its side.
SUV / Truck
Episode 2x03 - "Eulogy" (Flashback) On 4th October 1957, Helen Magnus is driving a stick shift vehicle around the desert near Albuquerque, New Mexico on a quest to return a Shaman's ashes.
Tank
Episode 3x17 - "Normandy"
Sanctuary 317 tank
On 5th June 1944, Helen Magnus pilots an appropriated German tank along roads in Normandy, France. When stopped at a Nazi checkpoint, she fires the tank upon the guard booth, destroying it.
Motorcycle
Episode 4x12 - "Sanctuary for None, Part I"
S04 e0413 09 132284515406
At the end of the car chase when Helen Magnus's Chrysler 300 gets boxed in by Will Zimmerman, after a short fist-fight, Magnus escapes capture and arrest by acquiring Will's motorcycle and accelerating off down the road.

Watercraft[]

Submarine
Episode 1x09 - "Requiem"
Nautilus submarine 01
Helen Magnus and Will Zimmerman travel in the Nautilus to the Milwaukee Deep in the Bermuda Triangle just north of Puerto Rico following up on a distress call by Sally's family. After Magnus becomes infected with an undersea parasite and almost sunders the vessel, Will saves her and the sub, and the pair travel back to the port of San Juan.

Aircraft[]

Rotorcraft
Episode 2x08 - "Next Tuesday"
2x08 Sanctuary IMDb 2
Helen Magnus and Will Zimmerman charter a helicopter from New Orleans and fly out to an abandoned oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico to capture a Vampyroteuthis infernalis. During take off on their return trip, a southern hemispheric sea scorpion sabotages the aircraft's engines, causing the helicopter to crash. Magnus and Will then spend a good chunk of time climbing over the wreckage before blowing it up to get the two fighting abnormals away from them.
Episode 2x13 - "Kali, Part II"
2x13 Magnus and Henry prepping to fire the sonic weapon
Helen Magnus and Henry Foss use the Sanctuary helicopter Talon to try to subdue Big Bertha with an LRAD device. In failing to lock on to Bertha, Henry uses the device to hit Edward Forsythe's ship, severing his connection to Bertha.
Episode 3x01 - "Kali, Part III"
3x01 Sanctuary IMDb 16
After Terrance Wexford deposes Helen Magnus as head of the global Sanctuary Network and angers Big Bertha into creating a massive tidal wave, Magnus uses the Talon to block Wexford from shooting Bertha with missiles and attempts to use the aircraft to coax Bertha back into the water. Unfortunately, Bertha emits an EMP burst that hits the Talon, causing Magnus to crash at sea.
Fixed-wing aircraft
Episode 4x04 - "Monsoon"
Sanctuary 404 (5)
Helen Magnus flies to Comoros Airport on Grande Comore just off the coast of Mozambique, Africa to meet with Richard Feliz. While there, her brand new jet she just bought is stored in a hanger. During a hostage situation, Chesky and Jonesy try to hijack the plane. Once the jets' defense measures activate, the pair decide to hit it with an EM pulse to disable the feature, however, instead it causes the plane to explode; killing the two men and sending Magnus, Charlotte Benoit, Feliz, and Brad Sylvester flying backwards on the tarmac.
Episode 4x07 - "Icebreaker" Helen Magnus and Will Zimmerman fly out on a joint mission to meet with the London Sanctuary team to investigate an icebreaker in the Barents Sea carrying Hollow Earth abnormals. Unfortunately, a severe snowstorm hits and the pair are grounded at Longyear for many hours before they can take off. When the weather clears and they finally arrive at the stranded vessel, they find migoi impersonating them.
Episode 4x10 - "Acolyte" Helen Magnus flies herself in a jet from Old City to Buenos Aires to meet up with Kate Freelander, Will Zimmerman, and Declan MacRae in their effort to save Bigfoot and stop an Hollow Earth abnormal attack on the SCIU summit meeting being held at the Gran Atlante Hotel.

Technology[]

Helen Magnus is technologically savvy:

  • Able to use and repair a range of analogue and digital devices.
  • Familiar with the Sanctuary's computer system.[50]
  • Can perform piggy-backed hacks.[51]
  • Can get severely damaged and parted computer systems to operate again powered with car batteries.[26]
  • Able to boost a crashed helicopter's radio distress signal using the inside walls of the borehole of an abandoned oil rig.[15]
  • Can send a long-wave transmission out of old disused radios attached to solar panels.[49]
  • Can quickly figure out the UI of both Praxian [52] [44] [50] and vampire technologies.[36]
3x18 Magnus working on the time node

Helen Magnus replicating Adam Worth's time node out of scraped parts from old household appliances.

One of Helen Magnus's most impressive talents is the ability to recreate tech devices after only seeing and handling them for a brief period of time: she was able to have Henry Foss recreate the stunner weapon she encountered in the Guardian's alternate timeline.[26] When Magnus and Will Zimmerman were trapped in Carentan, she was able to successfully recreate a jerry-rigged version of Adam Worth's time nodes to nullify the time dilation field even though she never actually physically spent time working on one of Worth's nodes (Henry Foss and Nikola Tesla did; whom the audience can infer relayed their findings to her).

Art[]

3x19 Magnus and her paintings put together

Helen Druitt looks at the "complete pattern" of her paintings after Will Zimmerman assembles them together.

In an implanted perfect dream world, Helen Druitt is an at-home freelance painter who doesn't show her work publicly at art galleries, but instead prefers to sell her work privately to buyers through her agent.[2]


Relationships[]

John Druitt
Magnus+druitt1

Helen Magnus and John Druitt in a rare moment of peace.

Helen Magnus was briefly engaged to John Druitt, her lover and first patient. She had a daughter with him, Ashley, who was originally conceived in late 1888. She froze the embryo for almost a century before loneliness and the thought that Druitt was gone for good allowed her to carry her to term. It is implied on more than one occasion that she was once very much in love with him and those feelings continue to haunt her emotionally. However his activities as "Jack the Ripper" and his betrayal of her trust has remained a source of terrible pain.

Ashley Magnus
Helen brought Ashley to term to be a companion to help combat the overbearing weight of eternal loneliness that she was experiencing due to having lived for so long [31]; after having continually witnessed people that she loved and cared about die.[9] Helen loved her daughter with all her heart, and was very protective of her. Even though Helen needed Ashley to fulfill a vital and dangerous role within the Sanctuary Network for Helen's work, Helen candidly admitted to Ashley that she can't bear to see her hurt. This had previously led Magnus to keep certain details from Ashley, such as the identity of her father.[53] Ashley's sacrifice was possibly the most terrible pain that has ever happened to Magnus, rivaled only by John Druitt's betrayal, even making her try to find a way to end the eternity of her life.[26]

Will Zimmerman
After saving his life when he was an 8-year-old boy, Helen Magnus had kept a long-distance watch over Will Zimmerman into adulthood. She anonymously funded his scholarship to Harvard University, and has now become his mentor. Even though he irritates her at times, she regards him as her protégé and friend who she has been grooming as her replacement as head of the Sanctuary Network should her eternal life come to an unexpected end.

Henry Foss
Helen Magnus took charge of Henry Foss when she found him as an orphan boy on the moors. Realizing he was a HAP, she helped him suppress his abnormal nature until he was ready to embrace it as an adult. Though initially raising him like a son alongside her daughter Ashley, their adult relationship goes beyond being just that of mother and son. They have a profound respect for each other bundled in a complex blend of closeness and professionalism. During their time in Praxis, Magnus is seen to behave as a knowing parent towards Henry when she had tasked Kate Freelander to make sure he didn't get distracted by technological things.[44] While infiltrating a SCIU facility (Area 51), Magnus became very visibly upset when she thought she had lost him to a creature through a dimensional rift (reacting to having potentially just lost a second child); once Nikola Tesla had finally returned him to her, she was seen not wanting to physically let go of Henry.[54] Magnus is seen to off-and-on tease Henry, preying on his gullibility to easily believe her word about historical events and places, such as the real location of Area 51, about the true nature of The Pentagon [54], and Henry's continued outspoken hope for the existence of extraterrestrial aliens. When Henry starts to recount a wild dream he had involving his girlfriend Erika Myers dressed as Princess Leia and him using his lightsaber (his wording easily inferable to be a possible sexual fantasy), Magnus lets out a shocked gasp and stops him before he could say more.[50] This familial closeness between her and Henry means that Magnus the would presumably fill the role of being a grandmother figure to Henry's unborn daughter Alice.

Bigfoot
Bigfoot has been with Helen Magnus for the last third of her long life, and has become one of her most trusted companions and a dear friend.

Nikola Tesla
Tumblr m2dq37OSSl1qiargco1 500

Helen Magnus smiling at Nikola Tesla in Episode 3x06 - "Animus", after almost being blown up by the holographic map's particle accelerator.

Helen Magnus's relationship to Nikola Tesla is very complex and at times has been difficult; although she acknowledges his genius and clearly enjoys their verbal sparring, his continuous amorous and sexual advances have gotten on her nerves for decades. But Magnus really enjoys that relationship more then she is willing to admit. Like most others who knew him, she considered him "an obnoxious ass" back in their University of Oxford days, but she didn't, however, give up on him, helping him realize that his aspirations of ancient vampire grandeur were doomed to fail. After the disappearance(s) of John Druitt their relationship develops; she comforts him when he is 'de-vamped' and even kisses him in the main lab during the abnormal insurgency invasion of the Old City Sanctuary. However, despite their differences, they both love each other deeply even though they both loath to admit.

James Watson
Another member of the Five, Helen Magnus and James Watson were very close partners. Watson helped Magnus conduct research and run the original sanctuary in London,[42] eventually being given the reigns to the UK Sanctuary when Magnus left England for Old City to start a new sanctuary there. Magnus and Watson cared deeply for one another; being one another's trusted confidants.[55] In the early 1940s John Druitt suspected out of jealousy that Magnus and Watson had become a romantic couple, becoming filled with rage at the thought of his best friend sleeping with his ex-lover that he still has feelings for.[56] Potentially due to Watson's limited mobility later in life, Magnus had been known to visit him in London every so often.[23] While a past brief sexual relationship between the two hasn't been confirmed to the audience, fans do otherwise consider Watson to be an Uncle / Godfather figure to Magnus's daughter, Ashley.

Romances[]

Of Helen Magnus's countless amounts of friends and lovers over the years, there are only a handful of known people with which Magnus has had romances with, as well as interests in:

John Druitt
John Druitt is Helen Magnus's former fiancé, whom she loved with her entire being [16] while at the University of Oxford, and biological father of her daughter Ashley Magnus.

James Watson
James Watson was Helen Magnus's close partner, trusted confidant, and potential lover during the early 1940s.[56]

Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla is Helen Magnus's longtime best friend [54] with whom Helen has had several dates with. The two of them had a supposedly good time together while in Vienna during the Springtime of an unknown year.[50] (Amanda Tapping believes they may have been together at one point.[57])

Amelia Earhart
(Amanda Tapping says that Helen Magnus and Amelia Earhart were in some sort of relationship; always believing that they were buddies.) [58]

Charlotte Benoit
Charlotte Benoit is a potential brief one-time lover Helen Magnus had. All that is known for certain is that Helen and Charlotte shared a couple of kisses. It is unknown if Helen took up Charlotte's offer to stay with her for a longer period of time.[38]

Olaf Von Ausburg
Olaf Von Ausburg is a suggested past lover who invites Helen Magnus over for a relaxing weekend getaway, though she declined his offer due to emotional distress surrounding Ashley Magnus's upcoming birthday.[15]

Eric
It is unknown if Helen Magnus and Eric had any sort of relationship outside of a professional one, but she did exhibit a mix of sorrow and admiration for the man shortly after his death; enough to lead viewers to believe they were close on some level. Will Zimmerman had candidly asked her if he was reading into a personal relationship between her and Eric based on her quiet emotional reaction over his death. She brushed the inquiry off, covering with: "I don't want to see a sacrifice go to waste". However, her mournful looks, tone of voice, and her trying to reaffirm to Will with a following nod that it was only just 'that' suggests that she cared more about the man than just her simply being sad over losing him due to her having liked his positive personal view on abnormals.[29]

An unnamed Romanian Lupus Wrangler
When Will Zimmerman first arrived at the Old City Sanctuary, Ashley Magnus recounted a time when she and her mother along with a bunch of nervous locals (one of which "who seriously looked like Adrien Brody" caught her eye) had bagged and tagged a werewolf den during the summer of her 18th birthday (year 2002). When Ashley had gushed over the memory of the attractive man, Helen Magnus had tried to temper Ashley's unfiltered blathering to which Ashley responded by looking up at her, letting out: "You thought he was hot, too.".[21]

Other friendships, acquaintances, and connections[]

Helen Magnus personally knew many great figures of history, including H. G. Wells, and Jules Verne, as well as U.S. presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Warren G. Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and at least one of The Beatles. She was aboard the Titanic when it hit an iceberg and sank in 1912 afterward saved by Molly Brown [15], and was in the room when the Nazis surrendered at the end of World War II, mainly because Eisenhower refused to be in the same room as Alfred Jodl. There are also pictures of her with Albert Einstein, Amelia Earhart, Mahātmā Ghandi, and Martin Luther King Jr..[59]

Notes[]

Birthday[]

Helen Magnus's birthday of August 27th is directly based off of Amanda Tapping's August 28th birthday, just moved slightly earlier to occur on the day before.

Hair style and color[]

Due to Amanda Tapping's prior acting role as lead character Samantha Carter in the massively popular Stargate franchise, the premise for Sanctuary was to try to make Helen Magnus look completely different, to not be a Sam Carter 2.0 just with an English accent. While it did cause some fan disturbance, Amanda had decided to grow out her hair from her iconic short blonde pixie cut / bob. During the web series, she wore a raven colored black wig. During the reshoot and TV Series pick-up, she had actually dyed her hair dark brunette throughout the entire run of the show.

Sanctuary S1 D2 002 4

In Episode 1x05 - "Kush", when Helen Magnus call's Ashley Magnus's cellphone from the satellite phone after the crash, the contact photo on the screen is a beautiful shot of Magnus smiling at the camera. In reality, the phone Emilie Ullerup is using is actually owned by Martin Wood. Behind the scenes, Amanda had called his phone from hers, having the contact name on his phone simply changed from "Amanda" to say "Mom" instead. This photo was taken by Martin while they were sitting at a restaurant for dinner right after Amanda had dyed her hair dark for the series.[60]

Some real world parallels between both Amanda and Helen do exist, such as the decision for Magnus to be a natural blonde who dyes her hair brunette later in life. It's unknown if Magnus's daughter Ashley was always intended for the character to be cast as a blonde, confirming the heredity. Emilie Ullerup who plays Ashley (who won the role by beating out several other actresses due to her impressive ability to pick up fight choreography almost instantly) is a natural blonde herself, and thus, so is Ashley by default (Magnus being a natural blonde may possibly be partially due to this fact to keep continuity).

Hair color chart
Date
Details
Source
1850 ~ 1908
3x08 Sanctuary IMDb 5
3x08 Sanctuary IMDb 4
It is unknown exactly when Helen Magnus had started to dye her hair brunette. In the series, Magnus is seen to have been continuously her natural blonde self until at least 1908.[42]
Across multiple flashbacks
1st January 1930
Sanctuary S1 D2 002 8
In the photo of Helen Magnus with Albert Einstein, it's very hard to tell, but Magnus may be sporting a short dark flapper bob underneath her hat.
Season 1 opening title sequence
1st - 4th July 1933
Sanctuary S2 D1 004 11
Helen Magnus is standing next to Amelia Earhart before Amelia participates in the National Air Races in Los Angeles. Due to the photo being taken in broad daylight as well as it being on a grey scale, it's difficult to say exactly, but Magnus's hair does seem to be a 'light' shade (possibly ranging in color from dirty blonde, to red, or light brown).[61]
Season 2 opening title sequence
6th June 1944
S03 e0317 03 130584142909 Helen Magnus, seen here during World War II.
During her involvement of D-Day in World War II, Helen Magnus had dyed her hair a dark shade of red.[62]
Episode 3x17 - "Normandy"
6th February 1945
Sanctuary Season 3 Disc 1 002 17
Helen Magnus has brunette hair while posing next to Mahātmā Ghandi in Dehli, India.
Season 3 opening title sequence
4th October 1957 Helen Magnus has long brunette hair while in / near Albuquerque, New Mexico to return a Shaman's remains to a local Native American tribe. Episode 2x03 - "Eulogy"
25th March 1965
Sanctuary Season 4 Disc 1 002 31
Helen Magnus with her usual dark brunette color is seen in a photo walking next to Martin Luther King Jr. during the march to the state capitol at Montgomery, Alabama.
Season 4 opening title sequence
1987
Amanda (Helen) with Olivia (Ashley)
Helen Magnus has brunette hair based on the photo of Helen with a young Ashley around age ~3-years-old.
All opening title sequences
Early 2008 to early 2009
Sanctuary IMDb Poster Cast
Helen Magnus is brunette.
Season 1
Early 2009 to early 2010
Sanctuary IMDb Publicity 10
Helen Magnus is brunette.
Season 2
Early 2010 to early 2011
Sanctuary 3 DVD Cover Art
Helen Magnus is brunette.
Season 3
Trip through the past Being that Nikola Tesla couldn't tell Past-Helen or Future-Helen apart in 1901 and 1902, Future-Helen must have adopted Past-Helen's blonde hair to impersonate herself. Episode 4x13 - "Sanctuary for None, Part II"
Early 2011 to early 2012
NUP 145662 0703 595
Helen Magnus is brunette.
Season 4
(Speculation / Fan Theory: To keep Helen Bancroft's identity separate from Helen Magnus, whatever hair color Magnus had, Future-Helen might have adopted the opposite for Bancroft in an effort to help not blow her cover. This could mean that Future-Helen was actually blonde for a very long time until fairly recently; until right before she rejoined her original timeline in early-2011 in which she would have finally begun to dye her hair brunette again. Alternatively, Future-Helen as Bancroft may have intentionally made sure to always copy the same hair color as Magnus in order to insure Magnus's natural history in case someone had accidentally recognized her and or as mentioned earlier, for Future-Helen to continue to be able to impersonate her Past-Self at any given point in time (avoiding a repeat incidence of Episode 4x01 - "Tempus" where both Past-James Watson and Past-John Druitt immediately noticed her change in hair color). It's hard to say for certain as to which scenario is the most plausible, as according to Abby Corrigan and Will Zimmerman, there are apparently no historical photos whatsoever of Helen Bancroft in existence for them to reference in order to visually confirm her identify as actually having been Future-Helen.[3])
  • Character Error: In Episode 2x09 - "Penance", Jimmy played by Michael Shanks (Amanda Tapping's long time co-star on Stargate SG-1) makes an in-joke saying "I love the hair" to which Helen Magnus thanks him for it. It's a reference to Amanda changing hairstyles between series (short blonde to long brunette). In-universe however, it makes zero sense as from character history, Magnus has had her same long dark hair for well over the last fifty plus years prior to then, easily since before whenever Jimmy was born.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Episode 3x03 - "Bank Job"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Episode 3x19 - "Out of the Blue"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Episode 4x13 - "Sanctuary for None, Part II"
  4. Helen Magnus's longevity was activated in the Spring of 1886, halting her cells from continual aging.
  5. As of Helen Magnus's birthday on August 27th, 2011.
  6. Wagner, Curt (September 6, 2010). Exclusive from inside 'Sanctuary': Helen Magnus turned 160 on Aug. 27. RedEye. Tribune Company. Retrieved on August 6, 2011.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Episode 1x10 - "Warriors"
  8. Sanctuary Cast, Dr. Helen Magnus. Syfy. Retrieved on August 6, 2011.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Episode 1x09 - "Requiem"
  10. Episode 0x06 - "Webisode 6" An adult Helen Magnus is upset that the Board had cut her father Gregory Magnus's membership from the institution. Gregory tells Helen that the Royal College had tried to rescind his membership for a decade now. In Webisode 5, a ~15-year-old Young Helen overhears two Victorian doctors tell Gregory that the Board had started to reach their limits with him.
  11. 11.0 11.1 Episode 1x07 - "The Five"
  12. Episode 3x12 - "Hangover"
  13. 13.0 13.1 Episode 4x03 - "Untouchable"
  14. Episode 3x02 - "Firewall"
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 15.7 Episode 2x08 - "Next Tuesday"
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Episode 1x05 - "Kush"
  17. 17.0 17.1 Episode 4x10 - "Acolyte"
  18. 18.0 18.1 Episode 3x01 - "Kali, Part III"
  19. YouTube - Amanda Tapping VIP Panel Armageddon Expo in Auckland 2011. Minute Mark:17:53-18:51.
  20. Episode 0x01 - "Webisode 1"
  21. 21.0 21.1 Episode 1x01 - "Sanctuary for All, Part I"
  22. Episode 0x06 - "Webisode 6"
  23. 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 Episode 1x12 - "Revelations, Part I"
  24. Ashley Magnus's 25th birthday is said by Helen Magnus in Episode 2x08 - "Next Tuesday" to occur imminently on the upcoming Tuesday, hence the titular name of the episode.
  25. Episode 0x07 - "Webisode 7"
  26. 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 Episode 2x05 - "Pavor Nocturnus"
  27. 27.0 27.1 27.2 Episode 2x10 - "Sleepers"
  28. 28.0 28.1 Episode 4x08 - "Fugue"
  29. 29.0 29.1 Episode 1x06 - "Nubbins"
  30. Episode 1x03 - "Fata Morgana"
  31. 31.0 31.1 31.2 Episode 1x02 - "Sanctuary for All, Part II"
  32. Episode 4x07 - "Icebreaker"
  33. Episode 2x03 - "Eulogy"
  34. 34.0 34.1 Episode 3x07 - "Breach"
  35. Episode 3x14 - "Metamorphosis"
  36. 36.0 36.1 Episode 3x16 - "Awakening"
  37. 37.0 37.1 Episode 3x09 - "Vigilante"
  38. 38.0 38.1 38.2 38.3 Episode 4x04 - "Monsoon"
  39. Episode 2x02 - "End of Nights, Part II"
  40. 40.0 40.1 Episode 4x11 - "The Depths"
  41. Episode 2x07 - "Veritas"
  42. 42.0 42.1 42.2 Episode 3x08 - "For King and Country"
  43. Episode 3x10 - "The Hollow Men"
  44. 44.0 44.1 44.2 Episode 3x11 - "Pax Romana"
  45. Episode 1x13 - "Revelations, Part II"
  46. Note: Spoken dialogue isn't real Norwegian. Amanda Tapping was unknowingly given random gibberish to say by Christopher Heyerdahl's father during prep work for the episode.
  47. This same November 1888 flashback scene was originally seen at the beginning of Episode 0x01 - "Webisode 1".
  48. This flashback scenario is shown across two episodes, in which it is first seen briefly in Episode 3x07 - "Breach" and expanded upon in Episode 3x08 - "For King and Country".
  49. 49.0 49.1 Episode 3x18 - "Carentan"
  50. 50.0 50.1 50.2 50.3 Episode 4x09 - "Chimera"
  51. Episode 4x02 - "Uprising"
  52. Episode 3x06 - "Animus"
  53. Episode 1x08 - "Edward"
  54. 54.0 54.1 54.2 Episode 4x05 - "Resistance"
  55. Episode 4x01 - "Tempus"
  56. 56.0 56.1 Episode 3x17 - "Normandy"
  57. YouTube - Amanda Tapping Fan Expo 2012 Minute mark 1:43 - 1:51. Amanda Tapping mentions her belief about Helen Magnus and Nikola Tesla's relationship as she explains their kiss seen at the end of Episode 4x13 - "Sanctuary for None, Part II".
  58. Photo in season 2 opening credits.
  59. A different person appears on a photo with Helen Magnus in the opening credits of every season.
  60. Mentioned during the commentary track for the episode.
  61. Considering that Helen Magnus was edited in, it's likely that Magnus's hair was brown as Amanda Tapping had to dress in that outfit and pose for the photo which would have occurred after her hair had been dyed brunette for the show.
  62. Amanda Tapping wore a red wig as tribute to her grandmother who colored her hair red during World War II.
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