Richard Melior

"You are not to look the master in the eye."This article contains spoilers! Please, refrain yourself from reading its content if you haven't read Skulduggery Pleasant: Resurrection.

Richard Melior is a doctor, and a former member of the Anti-Sanctuary. He is a Neoterric, with abilities similar to Vitakineticism, and the husband of Savant Vega.

Biography

As a child, Melior was a bully and often hurt people. To make up for this, he became a surgeon in the Johns Hopkins mortal hospital in Baltimore.

Resurrection

Melior is first introduced early in the book. He is first brought up by Skulduggery Pleasant, who explains to Valkyrie that Temper Fray was able to pass on Richard's name to Skulduggery as an anti-Sanctuary operative and Neoteric. As he is one of their few leads, Skulduggery and Valkyrie go to his house and attempt to interrogate Richard, who has apparently just awoken and is going through his morning routine. Richard doesn't take kindly to their entrance through the window, and knocks them back out it through a wave of energy. He leaves out his front door to join Lethe's team, which teleports in with Nero (made up of Lethe, Nero, Memphis, Smoke, Razzia, and Destrier). After a brief fight between Lethe and Skulduggery, Lethe pulls off Skulduggery's jaw and remarks that Richard could potentially put Skulduggery back together and even "do more." However, he adds that Richard could probably kill Skulduggery as well, and commands him to do just that. But just before Richard reaches Skulduggery, Fletcher teleports in and intervenes, resulting in him, Valkyrie and Skulduggery going to Reverie Synecdoche's clinic to be healed and Lethe's team disappearing back to their hideout.

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Magic

Despite having first been referred to as being similar to a Vitakinetic, Richard is a Neoteric, although with stronger powers and several different abilities. His full abilities are never stated; however, he does explain one.

It seems that he has the power to take pre-existing life force from one or more people and transfer it to another, thereby giving him the ability to bring people back from death. Time and how far gone a person is does affect this, however. In the operating room, Richard explains, he is able to take a small amount of his own life force and give it to a person who dies on his table, with no ill effects (although he must give himself time to replenish his life force- a few days- to be able to do it again without injury). But a person who is dead for several years or longer would require a full life force, or more, to resurrect. (For example, to bring back Abyssinia, two life forces at a minimum were needed; upon her resurrection it was revealed that she required two and a bit of a third.)

Other abilities include a wave of energy that he can emit, knocking back anyone around him, as well as the usual Vitakinetic power of repairing wounds.

Description

Physical

Richard Melior is described as having short black hair with an "expensive haircut" and a closely trimmed beard.

Personality

Although Richard attacks Valkyrie and Skulduggery in his first introduction, he is revealed later on to actually be a fairly kind person, only wanting to heal others. However, he's very dedicated, and is implied to be a loyal, loving partner by his desperation and hard attempts to get his husband back. He is willing to give the sacrifices needed to resurrect Abyssinia if it means he could see his husband again.

Trivia

• "Melior" is Latin and translates to "better". Perhaps Melior chose this name after deciding not to hurt people anymore and become a surgeon.

Appearances