Helen Magnus

"I'm not so common (chuckles evilly)"

- Helen Magnus, in her psychotic state, taunting Will

Helen Magnus is the lead character and main protagonist in the SyFy channel series, Sanctuary. In "Requiem," the ninth episode of Season One," Helen was the main villainess.

She is played by Amanda Tapping, who also played Naomi on Supernatural.

Magnus and Will are on the Sanctuary submarine, Nautilus, on a mission after receiving a distress call from a mermaid named Sally. Once they find the merfolk, they are all massacred, including Sally. During this mission, Magnus begins feeling unwell; experiencing headaches, spasms in her hand, and a nosebleed. After these symptoms appear, it is discovered that Magnus is infected with a parasite in her brain, and she and Will find the same parasite in Sally. The parasite eliminates the logic part of the brain and turns those infected into violent killers, which is what happened to the merfolk. The same thing begins to happen to Magnus, as she later knocks out Will and wants to go deeper into the ocean.

Will finds himself tied to a chair while the infected Magnus berates him; accusing him of profiling her and lying to her. Will acquiesces to Magnus' maniacal demand to go deeper, but he later frees himself and attempts to lock her into the flooded section, but is unsuccessful. Will points a gun at Magnus, but knowing that he won't shoot her, the evil Magnus taunted him by telling him not to miss. At that moment, Magnus takes the gun from Will with the intent of shooting him, but Will had removed the magazine. Magnus takes the sub even deeper, but Will manages to lock her in and shut the oxygen off, a call back to the opening scene. Of course, Will does this to get the parasite out, which happens after Magnus loses consciousness. After the parasite is freezed, Will revives Magnus, who is fully back to normal.