Jesse Custer

The couple met in 1973 when Christina, encouraged by the Vietnam War-protesting group she was traveling with, spat in the eye of the first soldier she saw returning from overseas.

Their happiness was short-lived, as Christina's grandmother tortured and cut out information from his mother finally locating their whereabouts in 1998 with the intention of bringing young Jesse home.

9 yr old Jesse was taken back to the family home and introduced to his malicious, intelligent, yet decrepit Grandma, who began to teach him to both love and fear God.

Whether this spirit is a genuine manifestation of the Western hero or simply a coping mechanism spawned from his movie-watching history with his father is uncertain.

The two fell in love as kids, along with Jesse and Tulip's friend, pursued a life of crime, stealing expensive cars without getting caught.

By a well-timed coincidence, Tulip had hitched a lift with an Irishman named Proinsias Cassidy after having just bungled her first job as an assassin.

The death of the townsfolk and the rumored appearance of a stone-faced, dual-pistol wielding cowboy brought the involvement of both local law enforcement and the FBI.

Jesse explained to her the events of his childhood, the murder of his father at the hands of Jody, and the real reason why he had to leave her five years before.

The following day, God visited Tulip's corpse and returned her to life, commanding her to persuade Jesse to give up his quest.

Meanwhile, John Wayne's spirit slowly convinced the devastated Jesse to fight back against his captors and finally collect on all the pain they had caused him throughout his life.

to a bloody pulp, set fire to Grandma's clan, and battled Jody in a final showdown, eventually breaking his back, strangling him to death and reclaiming his father's Zippo lighter.

dead, and Grandma was killed when the burning house ignited her oxygen tank, sending her rocketing into the sky like a fiery comet.

The secret society was headed by a pope-like figure named Allfather D'Aronique, and his right-hand man, The Sacred Executioner, a German military expert referred to as Herr Starr.

Jesse rescued Cassidy, but not without incurring Starr's wrath and inadvertently helping to elevate him to the level of All-Father of the Grail.

Starr found him, and used his Grail authority to order a massive military support, eventually deploying a nuclear strike.

Attempting to flee the blast in a private jet, Jesse was thrown from the plane after ordering Cassidy not to risk his life saving him.

Initially, he had no memory of what happened after Cassidy dropped him, and it would not be until later that he remembered: God appeared and explained that He saved Jesse to show that He loves him and that he should abandon his quest.

Believing that Tulip had made her peace and moved on, Jesse temporarily put his quest for God on the back burner and found himself in a small town named Salvation.

The town was being abused by a local meat industrialist, a diminutive man named Odin Quincannon, and his band of thugs.

After escaping Oatlash, Jesse confronted the tiny businessman who attempted to blow up the town during a storm, but was struck by lightning before doing so.

This realization started Jesse on the road to forgiving Tulip, a process he began by setting out to learn what happened between her and Cassidy.

Through another well-timed prompt from The Duke's spirit, Jesse realized he was going to get back on the job he set out to do, and to bring the girl he loved to meet his mother.

Jesse found a homeless woman who was an old acquaintance of Cassidy's and discovered the fullness of his sins, including violence against women, theft, prostitution, murder, and addiction.

Ashamed that he still couldn't bear the risk of hurting her, he sedated her and left her in a hotel room while he took care of business, knowing this would be the final betrayal and that she would not forgive him a second time.

Jesse eventually forced Cassidy to fight him, meaning to show his former friend what it feels like to be as vulnerable as all the women he had abused.

When Jesse, showing signs of recognizing and being uncomfortable by the similarities, once again turned away, Cassidy accused him of not following his own code, that he wouldn't stand by his friends when they really need it ("it's not so easy... when they're stuck on the road to hell, is it?").

As he died in flames, Jesse was shot by a sniper hiding on a rooftop under order from Herr Starr – who had been watching the whole fight with glee.

Tulip arrived in time to kill Starr, but not to save Jesse, who had died instantly, covered in the ashes of his best friend.

When his soul merged with the angel-demon entity Genesis, her powers were focused into what Jesse Custer would refer to as "The Word of God".

He would regularly reappear to give Jesse general advice and notably telling him to leave Salvation because he's just treading water.