| Tobias Matthews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Main aliases: | Toby, | |
| Species: | Vampire | |
| Place of origin: | England | |
| First seen in: | The Heart that Lives Alone | |
| Appearances: | Pandora, Heart and Soul, Displacement Activity, The Darkest Hour, Desperately Seeking Santa, All Through The House, The Anniversary | |
| Main actor: | Hugh Skinner | |
Tobias 'Toby' Langston Matthews was a vampire and the boyfriend of Dorian Gray.
Biography[]
Tobias Langston Matthews was born in England at some point in the late 1690s to early 1700s, to what is presumably a upper class family. He became fascinated with the circus and in 1724 befriended a performer named Ivor. He was fatally wounded by a siren and Ivor revealed himself to be a vampire, siring him and spending the next night teaching Toby how to survive. He then left Toby however, and the young vampire left home. (Heart and Soul)
He became aware of Dorian Gray from stories throughout London and after The Picture of Dorian Gray was published, though he largely dismissed the rumours. However over the next several decades he heard more stories and came to suspect that he did truly exist. In the 1920s he met a young servant named Sara, who found him drinking from a victim and instead of being scared helped him dispose of the body. The two became good friends and, wanting to give her some form of security, married her. The two lived happily up until her death.
In 1976 Toby tracked Dorian down, stalking him and trying to figure out whether he's a real immortal. He discovered that a lover of Dorian's had been possessed by an entity, who then killed Dorian before Toby killed the woman. Assuming Dorian was truly dead he left. (The Anniversary)
By 1986 he had entered a relationship with a young woman, and he reunited with Dorian at a party in Whitby. He initially dismissed Dorian and left the party, in order to see if he would fight for his attention. After a few meeting he took him home, killed his girlfriend and convinced Dorian to enter a relationship with him. He taught Dorian how to paint, which he used to paint Toby's portrait which surprised Toby once he saw it. (The Heart that Lives Alone)
During their relationship, Toby's memory was being stolen by the Greek goddess of memory known as Mnemosyne. Dorian sacrificed ten years of his memory to free Toby from the goddess. At the anniversary of their relationship Toby convinced Dorian to record a confession, with Toby talking about how he first met Toby in 1976. (The Anniversary)
After seeing his portrait, he decided to he couldn't see the beauty of life anymore and wanted to die. Travelling back to Whitby they went to the beach and he decided to see the sunrise one last time. He died while telling Dorian that he loved him. (The Heart that Lives Alone)
In 2014, Dorian had a Tarot reading and one of his cards was the lovers' card. The Tarot deck then resurrected Toby. (Pandora) Soon he was reunited with an old friend Ivor (who was also a vampire) and told Dorian of how he had been sired in 1724. He went to a circus where he met Ivor, and was then attacked and fatally wounded by The Siren. Ivor, in order to save his life and conceal the existence of The Siren, converted Toby. Toby then helped to defeat The Siren and saved Dorian in the process. He then killed Ivor. (Heart and Soul) Victoria Lowell invited him and Dorian to a gallery opening as cover for her plans. (Displacement Activity) He didn't know what to do to help Dorian when he was poisoned, but wanted to stay with him when Dorian's older self caught up with him. Dorian tried to stop him loving him in order to stop the older Dorian. (The Darkest Hour)
He bit Simon Darlow making him tell him why he was looking for Dorian. He then made him forget. He later rescued Dorian when Santa Claus attacked him. Santa later decided to take Toby's organs instead. (Desperately Seeking Santa) He wanted a PlayStation for Christmas and got one as well as a key to the attic from Dorian as a sign of trust. He took Dorian to the Brigadoon hotel which had different eras on each floor. There they had dinner, which revealed that as a vampire, Toby did consume normal food. It was also learnt that he loved pudding and wanted to have a fringe in 2016. While trying to survive the different situations in the hotel, they met Teddy Quigley and found their way through the hotel. They eventually found the suite where The Man Upstairs lived. The Man Upstairs offered to give back Dorian's soul, in exchange for letting him occupy Dorian's body temporarily to leave the hotel. Dorian agreed and together, the two escaped the Brigadoon hotel. After returning home and having sex, Toby revealed to Dorian that he was in fact the Man Upstairs. It was him who had resurrected Toby and placed Dorian's soul in him. Then, in the Brigadoon hotel, when Dorian's soul was returned to him, he had entered Toby's body instead and Toby was lost. (All Through The House)
When Dorian was in a psychiatric hospital, he imagined Toby to be a neurosurgeon called Matthew Tobias who wanted to perform a modern version of a Lobotomy. When Dorian's "Mother" consented he performed the operation, which seemingly lead to Dorian's death. (Ever After)