The character's backstory is revealed piecemeal, primarily through the flashback scenes that appear in most episodes of the television series.
[3] After spending centuries hunting and killing to sustain himself, Knight rejected the vampire lifestyle, and became a homicide detective in the Metropolitan Police in order to redeem himself.
Trained as a knight under Sir Raymond DeLabarre, he was sent to Wales on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church to investigate pagan activities.
DeLabarre killed Gwyneth in order to quell a pending pagan revolt, and blamed Knight for her death.
His body is also very resilient to the elements, being immune to the effects of cold, poison, illnesses and diseases, and his heart beats only three times per 10 minutes.
Amongst the common vampire traits found in fiction, Knight does not possess the ability to shapeshift into a bat, and is not inclined to sleep in a coffin.
In the Forever Knight universe, vampires rarely stay more than a few years in one place in order to keep their true identities concealed.
This is met with amusement from other vampires, but LaCroix finds these thoughts unacceptable; this difference of opinions will be the source of great conflicts between the two over the span of the entire series.
Over the series Knight is seen with several historical figures such as Joan of Arc, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ludwig van Beethoven, Jack the Ripper, Grigori Rasputin and Adolf Hitler.
His long life also allowed him to master several languages in addition to his native French – Cantonese, English, German, Italian, Latin, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese.
His superior officer, Captain Joseph Stonetree, initially had misgivings about Knight, but tolerated him because he turned out to be an excellent detective.
Knight also re-establishes a friendship with Janette, who now runs a nightclub, called The Raven, which is frequented by both humans and vampires.
After the death of Donald Schanke in a plane accident, Nick is teamed up with Tracy Vetter, a recently promoted and capable detective who is often willing to take risks in order to prove herself.
Tracy is rushed to the hospital, but she was in critical condition and Nick considered turning her into a vampire, feeling guilty for what happened.
LaCroix raises the stake, and the camera focuses elsewhere, leaving the final fate of Nick deliberately ambiguous to allow for the series to be picked up and continued.