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"I am the Killer Supreme!"
"But have you actually killed anyone?"
Sanguine questioning Scapegrace's abilities, Skulduggery Pleasant: Dark Days
Vaurien Scapegrace
Scapegrace Zombie
Character Information
Taken Name Vaurien Scapegrace
Species Human (Zombie)
Gender Male (Brain was transplanted into Female body temporarily
Birth Unknown
Age Unknown
Magic Adept, Zombie
Faction The Revengers' Club (formerly)
Titles Killer Supreme, Zombie King, The Dark and Stormy Knight
Location Ireland

Vaurien Scapegrace is a wannabe serial killer, wanted in five different cities around the world for attempted murder. He sees himself as the man to make murder into an art form, calling himself the "Killer Supreme". He is first introduced in the first chapter of the second book where he is being apprehended by Valkyrie Cain and Skulduggery Pleasant. He is an Adept, but his ability is never mentioned.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Vaurien Scapegrace

Scapegrace, pre-zombification

Before he became a criminal he owned a pub in Roarhaven. He had several "friends" that "enjoyed" his company to gain advantage of him and his pub. However he lost it in a card game to Hieronymus Deadfall. The exact circumstances of his leaving the city are unknown but he seems to have angered his friends so far they will want to kill him when he returns.

Crimes[]

Playing With Fire[]

In his very first appearance he causes Valkyrie Cain to almost fall off a tower in an attempt to kill her. He starts to monologue his entire evil plot and history to her. However she manages to knock him back with magic and to get back onto the balcony. A short fight ensues and when it looks like he has the upper hand Skulduggery comes to the rescue. He is then apprehended by them.

He is later interrogated by Valkyrie, Skulduggery and Tanith Low on the whereabouts of the Torment. He is resistant at first however he believes it when he is told that Tanith could suck his brain out and tells them what he knows. He is then taken with them to Roarhaven. He lures them into a trap by leading them to his former pub. Some of his acquaintances are there that want to kill him, whom he tells they must kill Valkyrie and Skulduggery first in order to do so.

However they manage to knock out their opponents and soon retrieve Scapegrace, who has tried to run away but was slowed down considerably by his shackles. He then reveals the secret entrance to the Torment's dwelling under the pub. He is chained to a pipe and left alone while Skulduggery and Valkyrie go inside. He breaks free and tries to run away again when he sees the Torment threatening the two with a gun. He watches the scene play out and hopes the Torment will prevent them from getting to him again. But it doesn't pan off as expected and he is once again apprehended by Skulduggery.

Return of the Diablerie[]

During a relocation he was forgotten at a roadhouse and ran away. He was later apprehended for a crime he didn't commit.

In their attempt to steal the remains of the Grotesquery, Skulduggery and Valkyrie free him from his cell at the Sanctuary. He is to serve as a distraction while they break into the Repository. At first he thinks they want to execute him but they soon explain to him that that is not case. After he runs into the wrong direction and has Skulduggery explain the way out for him he is soon chased by two Cleavers. They beat him up severely and re-arrest him.

Later Valkyrie is forced to share a cell with him. It is revealed that the fingers of his left hand and probably some of his ribs were broken by the Cleavers. He then attempts to kill Valkyrie but after a fight he is defeated and rendered unconscious by her when she tied him to the bed with his bandages. He convinces her to take him with her when she breaks out, stating that four eyes see more than two. He follows her for a few minutes but departs when Mr. Bliss is trapped by the symbol.

The Revengers' Club[]

Scapegrace is recruited by Billy-Ray Sanguine to join the Revengers' Club, or as Scapegrace calls it, the Vengeance Brigade. Early on, Sanguine finds out that he isn't actually a serial killer and kills him. Dreylan Scarab then brings him back to life as a zombie and makes him build up a zombie army. All of the zombies except Thrasher and Scapegrace eat a human, so they go on a rampage at the Midnight Hotel. Scapegrace says to Valkyrie he can't feel pain, but when he is burnt, he starts screaming, only to stop screaming when Valkyrie questions him if he really can't feel pain. The two zombies escape and go into hiding. Skulduggery doesn't bother to look for them because they are "no threat".

Scapegrace often wears car fresheners around his neck to stop himself smelling as he slowly decays.

The Remnant Outbreak[]

Scapegrace now addresses himself as "The Zombie King". However, he wants to change back to a normal human. He tries the funeral directors that are next to Skulduggery's house, but is rejected by both. Skulduggery's car then passes by him, and Scapegrace hides. He thinks about a doctor name Kenspeckle Grouse, who can cure him. He thinks that he can get the information of where Grouse is now that he knows where Skulduggery lives.

Scapegrace later on sets up an auction at his old bar in Roarhaven. A few people, including Tesseract attended. Tesseract gets into an argument and kills everyone except Scapegrace. He forces the information out of him. Skulduggery finds out and captures Scapegrace and Thrasher. Scapegrace persuades Skulduggery to see Grouse and make him turn back to human. If Grouse couldn't, he and Thrasher would be killed. This could not happen however, as Grouse was killed. Caelan then lets them out of the Cinema, where the two escape.

Rise of the Death Bringer[]

Scapegrace plays a small role in Death Bringer although it does aid the story. He now spends his time in an ice cream van with a penguin on top called the Penguinmobile. Thrasher (Gerald) and Scapegrace have difficulty keeping hungry children at bay in their new mode of transport, it's only benefit keeping both zombies from decomposing. The name of their new vehicle is decided by Clarabelle(now with blue hair), who they meet searching for Dr. Nye. Scapegrace has to make a group of zombies to take to the Requiem Ball, where the Death Bringer (Melancholia St Clair) shall be performing the Passage. However, they stay below ground in the caves at Gordon's home, but being made of magic the gang of zombies are picked off by the monsters there. Only Scapegrace and Thrasher are left when Valkyrie, Melancholia and the White Cleaver find them at a black oasis. Scapegrace attacks the three only to be decapitated by the White Cleaver. A horrified Thrasher rushes to his aid and weeps over his body. It soon becomes apparent that Scapegrace's head is still conscious and can continue to talk, frightening Valkyrie. Thrasher immediately retrieves Scapegrace's head and runs away with it.

Kingdom of the Wicked[]

Scapegrace, now living inside a jar carried about by Thrasher, visits the Irish Sanctuary in Roarhaven to see Doctor Nye about returning them to life. In return, Scapegrace offers Nye the opportunity to study the body of the White Cleaver. Nye agrees and brings them to his lab, where Scapegrace encounters Billy-Ray Sanguine, the man who killed him so that Dreylan Scarab could turn him into a Zombie. Sanguine is at first scared to death refusing 'on principle' to converse with a severed head in a jar. However they eventually end up playing I spy. Valkyrie later encounters Scapegrace and Thrasher after Nye has transferred their consciousnesses into new bodies. However Nye had misinterpreted their wishes and transferred Scapegrace into a female body, much to Scapegraces' horror.

Last Stand of Dead Men[]

Scapegrace now lives in a female body and is being trained in martial arts by Grandmaster Ping. Thrasher begins to develop romantic feelings for Scapegrace despite Scapegrace's insistence that he is still a man. Scapegrace and Thrasher return to Roarhaven to fight for justice. Upon their return, Scapegrace and Thrasher adopt the vigilante personas of The Dark and Stormy Knight and their sidekick, The Village Idiot. Scapegrace vows to track down the missing Dimensional Shunter Silas Nadir and he and Thrasher don their masks to track down the Shunter, running into trouble along the way.

The War Between The Sanctuaries[]

Scapegrace and Thrasher, while out searching for justice and Silas Nadir, spot Madame Mist talking with a Shunter and watch as she vanishes, supposedly travelling to an alternate dimension. The Dark and Stormy Knight and The Village Idiot tackle the Shunter to the ground and intend to question him but the man reveals himself to be another Dimensional Shunter, and not Silas Nadir. The man tells them that if they have been spying on Madame Mist, then they haven't got long to live and that she will hunt them down. Scapegrace insists he has only been trying to find Nadir in the name of truth and justice. The man threatens to kill them and they flee, Scapegrace throwing his mask away in the process.

In his pub, Scapegrace meets Mud, Shun and Bagatelle, whom have come to warn them about crossing Madame Mist and Creyfon Signate — the Shunter they ran into the night before. In their intimidation attempts, Mud and the others attack Scapegrace and Thrasher who fight valiantly but are ultimately rescued by a returning Grandmaster Ping, who confesses his love for Scapegrace.

Skulduggery, Valkyrie Cain's Reflection, Fletcher and the remaining Dead Men find Scapegrace, Thrasher and Ping in The Torment's old cellar home (now the Knight Cave), dancing to music. When Scapegrace notices them, he greets them and explains what he has been doing in his absence. Grandmaster Ping tries to explain to them that he and "Miss Scapegrace" are in love but Scapegrace denies his claims.

Skulduggery asks if they can use the cellar as a base to plan their attack on Ravel in the town centre and Scapegrace willingly obliges.

Following Ravel's unveiling of Roarhaven City, Scapegrace tells Stephanie to let them help, so that Scapegrace can prove himself as one of the good guys. Stephanie tells him they won't listen to her.

The Battle Of Roarhaven[]

When night falls on the first day of Warlock attacks, Scapegrace and Thrasher become their vigilante alter egos once more to help ward of the Wraiths attacking the city. Grandmaster Ping joins them to help out but the trio end up having to be saved by Sheriff Dacanay when Ping runs off. Dacanay suggests they get to safety but upon hearing that Clarabelle is in danger and the Sheriff is preoccupied with a child in jeopardy, he and Thrasher run to the fountain. Scapegrace and Thrasher intend to distract the Wraiths but are almost killed, only to be saved by the Black Cleaver. Scapegrace, Thrasher and an overly grateful Clarabelle barricade themselves in an empty building. Clarabelle tells Scapegrace that he is her hero and he has a moment of personal triumph and validation, only for it to be ruined by Thrasher who he orders to "stand over there and don't speak for the rest of the night".

It is implied that Scapegrace and the others move towards the sanctuary and away from the wall along with the rest of the Roarhaven citizens.

The Dying of the Light[]

Clarabelle, Scapegrace and Thrasher live together in a small house near the pub they manage. Near the end of the book Scapegrace and Thrasher help defeat Darquesse by entering Merryn-ta-Uul and activating the Merryn sigil.

Resurrection[]

They are mentioned by Reverie Synecdoche, who says that they are happy together managing the pub. "Scapegrace is still oblivious, Thrasher is still besotted, and Clarabelle loves them both without measure."

Personality[]

During the course of the series, it is conclusive that Vaurien is very clumsy and sloppy with his "murders". He builds up a very impressive self-introduction, describing himself as 'the killer supreme', but does not live up to his stakes as he is shown to be a coward. He bluffs a lot.

Scapegrace also has the inability to cope with his zombified state and the fact that he will eventually decompose and "die" a second time and tends towards using things such as freezers and car fresheners to keep himself from smelling awful and rotting away. He takes his aggressions out on poor Thrasher who only lives to serve his master in an attempt to save him from himself.

But Scapegrace seems to have a soft spot for Clarabelle, as he ran to her rescue during the battle of Roarhaven. And soon after, he starts to soften towards Thrasher as he can no longer summon his anger. This is because he misses his old body.

Scapegrace was brave when he volunteered to go to the Necropolis, and starts being his old arrogant self once back in his original body. When Thrasher falls in battle, Scapegrace starts lamenting why he hadn't been better to Thrasher, and cries over his friend's body. But when Thrasher came back to life, Scapegrace insisted that what he said was nothing important.

Trivia[]

  • Scapegrace's magical discipline prior to his death remains unknown, though according to his Battle Card, he was an Adept. Derek Landy says that Scapegrace's discipline was too much for him to handle, so he didn't use it. Scapegrace, for his part, refuses to tell Thrasher when the latter asks him about it in 2013.
  • He and Remus Crux were the only members of the Revengers' Club who weren't successful mass-murders, though in his case, he ended being killed and resurrected as a zombie.
  • Vaurien is a French word translating to "ruffian" or "scoundrel". Scapegrace is an archaic English word that means essentially the same thing, so both of Scapegrace's names are synonymous for villain.

Appearances[]

Playingwithfire
Facelessones
Darkdays
MortalCoil
Death Bringer
Kingdom of the Wicked Front Cover
Last Stand of Dead Men Cover
The Dying of the Light Cover
ResurrectionMentioned
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