Mason Gull

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Pure Evil
Full Name	Mason Gull
Alias	Opera Phantom Daniel Cronyn Phantom Dr. Daniel Cronyn Keith Miller
Origin	Endeavour
Allies	None
Powers / Skills	High intellegence Musical skills and knowledge Manipulation
Goals	Prove his genius to the world and take revenge for his imprisonment.
Moral Event Horizon	Murdering his mother for petty reasons. Starting a serial murder against those who had accused him (and their relatives and successors) based on his own created clef. Manipulating and deceiving the police. Strangling Evelyn Balfour due to being the daughter of one of the witnesses. Poisoning Grace Madison with devil's snare. Chaining Ben Nimno inside a basement and left him to die in dehydration. Torturing the real Dr. Daniel Cronyn with drugs until the time come to kill him. Kidnapping Debbie Snow as a bait for the police to rescue whilst he killed Dr. Cronyn.
Kill Count	5
Worst Crimes	Serial killing Matricide Child kidnapping Torture Assault against the police
Type of Villain	Arrogant Serial Killer

“	You think you're going to appeal to his nobler instincts, his better angels? He doesn't have any. The only thing I can tell you with absolute certainty is he will kill again.	„
	~ Dr. Daniel Cronyn to the police, describing the Opera Phantom.

“	You won't goad me into recklessness, Thursday. I'm serene, and I'll be remembered. (Thursday: A year or two. Maybe five. Comes to the annals of crime, you're nothing more than a footnote.) That's where you're wrong. Ten years- less, maybe - they'll certify me cured. I fooled them once. I can do it again.	„
	~ Gull preparing to murder Thursday.

Mason Gull, also known as Dr. Daniel Cronyn and the Opera Phantom, is an antagonist and serial killer in the Series 1 of Endeavour, serving as the main antagonist in its second episode, "Fugue".

Mason Gull was a musical prodigy institutionalized for committing matricide when he was fifteen. He spent ten years in the institution until he was released by faking being cured.

After that, Gull adopted what was known later the Opera Phantom persona (named by Peter Jakes based on the Phantom of the Opera) and became a serial killer, with his MO being based on famous opera to create his own treble clef, EGBDF, chosen from his victims' first name. His main intention was to to prove his genius to the world and take revenge against those whom he believed was responsible for his imprisonment, including those who testified against him.

He was portrayed by Geoffrey Streatfeild.

What Makes Him Pure Evil

• He was already a psychopathic person when he was a teenager. Ten years ago, he killed his own mother after believing she was having an affair with an American general who had lived with them temporarily.
• He pretended that he was cured by Dr. Daniel Cronyn's therapy for ten years. After he got released, he began to start a serial murder based on famous opera motifs in order to hunt down the witnesses that accused him of his matricide, including their relatives and successor (like Fred Thursday, who was also a police inspector like the late Inspector Foxley, who arrested Gull ten years ago). He did this both for revenge and for becoming famous.
• He abducted Dr. Cronyn, locked him up in his house and injected coccaine into him as torture. Meanwhile, Gull stole Dr. Cronyn's identity to misguide the police.
• Strangled Evelyn Balfour, daughter of one of the witnesses, to allude the ending of Othello.
• Poisoned Grace Madison to allude the ending of Lakme.
• Chain Ben Nimno in his own basement and left him slowly and painfully dehydrated to his death, in an allusion to Aida's ending.
• Attacked Morse in the library when the latter was in his investigation.
• Kidnap the 6-year-old Debbie Snow as a lure to distract the police, whilst he killed Dr. Cronyn with one last injection. He also disfigured Cronyn's corpse with acid, in an allusion to Snow Maiden's ending.
• Kidnap Faye Madision and trapped her in the attic, seemly alluding to the ending of Tosca, but turned out it was another trap for the police. His real aim was Fred Thursday, due to being an inspector just like the late Inspector Foxley who arrested Gull. It was an allusion to the Act 2 of Tosca, with Thursday being an equaivlance to Vitellio Scarpia in Gull's mind, and would be stabbed to death by Gull, alluding to Scarpia's death at Tosca's hands.

Trivia

• Throughout the episode, Gull showed no remorse of his crimes. Whilst impersonating as Dr. Cronyn, he not only expressed his admiration of the killer, but also proclaimed that the killer had no conscience and could never be redeemed. When the revelation of his identity theft was out, it's obvious that Gull was denying redeeming qualities and feeling proud of nobody but himself.
• Whilst Gull held some apparent respect and admiration to Morse's intellegence and skills, it was only out of purely self-serving and condescending attitude. Gull didn't kill Morse simply because he needed Morse to be his biographer of some sort, bearing witness and becoming impressed by his self-proclaimed glory.
• His torture of the real Dr. Cronyn and his dehydration of Ben Nimno are both considered to be amongst the most disturbing murders in Inspector Morse franchise.

External Links

• Mason Gull on the Villains Wiki