FILE #007: Zacharias ''Zach'' Summers

Name: Zacharias James Summers ''Zach'' (based on an old character with the same name)
Date of birth: 1 March 1998
Age: 21
Height: 175cm
Nationality: English of Dutch descent
Hometown: Bibury, Gloucestershire, England (born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Languages: English, Dutch
Eye colour: Dark green
Hair colour: Dark blond
Skin colour: Slightly tan
Distinctive features: Two tragus piercings, a dark scar from shoulder to elbow
Personality in a few words: A lazy and annoying skeptic who likes picking fights but is actually a good friend.
Family: Deceased (lives in an orphanage)
Issues: Paranoia, anger management issues, psychosis

Detailed information

Favourite music: Nirvana, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots
Favourite movies: Casablanca, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring
Favourite TV series: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Cheers, The Office
Favourite foods: Pork pies, strawberries, cheesecake
Hobby: Rugby, tennis

Character history

COMING SOON

The creative process

The idea of the Zach/Justin/Ernie trio was a mix of two things: firstly, they were part of Nathan's friend group (although Justin was originally Zeke and Ernie was Luke) in the original Lapin tähdet and they were kind of left out when Dani and Max became more important as characters. Secondly, after I finished reading Harry Potter, I had completely fallen in love with the minor Hufflepuffs and liked the idea of Zacharias Summers, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Ernie Macmillan being a tight-knit trio. That's where their new names came from, if it wasn't obvious already.
   As for Zach, his core personality is somewhat based on whatever little we saw of Zacharias Smith in Harry Potter. Because his first version didn't have a personality at all, it was simultaneously difficult and easy to start building up his character. Difficult in the sense that there was nothing to go on with, but easy in the sense that everything could be made from scratch. I always imagined him as the lazy one of the three, the one who's just annoying and a stone cold sceptic. He picks fights easily and doesn't really let his feelings show and he's easily triggered, angry even.
   Zach's appearance is based a lot on how I imagined him after I came up with his personality traits. Height-wise, he's the middle one of the group; I wanted them all to be distinctively different in terms of height. I also imagine he'd be the most muscular one of the three, but not overly so. I've always seen him with dark (dirty?) blonde hair, slightly tan skin and dark green eyes. He's definitely the kind of person who makes a messy hair look like it's messy on purpose.
   A lot of Zach's issues stem from the fact that he doesn't have parents; they died in a car crash when he was younger, so he doesn't really even remember them anymore. He's lived in an orphanage for most of his life, which makes him all the more on edge and kind of unsure, since his situation is so different. I've always seen him as a very angry person, so him having anger management issues made perfect sense. He's definitely paranoid as well. As for the psychosis-storyline, I'm not entirely sure how to incorporate that into the story, but I have an idea that involves a gun (yes, I just wrote that).
   Before I talk more about the trio and their relationships, there's something else I want to say about Zach before I forget. So, the first version of him was created for Lapin tähdet, as I mentioned before. I then remade him into the first version of Sunset Bay, where he had the power of phasing (maybe, I just started thinking about that and suddenly I'm not sure about this at all). But the most developed version of him (if excluding the most recent version) came to life in another universe called Hopeakukat (Silver Flowers, basically), in which the main focus was a school where normal humans and supernatural creatures went together. Zach was one of the so-called ''normies''.
   Okay, before this drags on for another three years, I'll take a look at the trio. They're best friends for life, but obviously there's more there than just that. I've always imagined Zach as asexual (self-insert, much?) and the first more developed version of him was actually aromantic as well. However, I desperately wanted to give him a love interest, so naturally Justin became it. I love the idea of Zach having a crush on Justin but hiding it until he just... can't anymore. And Ernie would absolutely notice it way before either of them. Fun fact is that Justin was Zach's love interest first and Ernie's later. I kind of see Justin as being the only person Zach's ever had real romantic feelings for, so I'm thinking he might be demiromantic.