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Most people are fitted with lead boots when they are just little kids and have to wear them all their lives. These lead boots are called A CONSCIENCE. I have none, so I can soar high above the heads of the normal crowd.
~ Brady, in his letter to Ret. Detective Hodges.

Brady Hartsfield, also known as Mr. Mercedes is the titular main antagonist of the Mr. Mercedes trilogy and its 2017 television adaptation.

Prior to the main events of the first novel, Brady stole a Mercedes-Benz and used it to murder eight individuals waiting for a job opportunity. And after the case has gone cold, he has sent a note antagonizing retired detective Kermit William "Bill" Hodges in his failure to catch him. He also represents himself with a twisted smiley face icon, eyes obscured by sunglasses and showing its teeth.

History[]

Background[]

Brady grew up with his mother Deborah Ann and his brother Frankie after his father had been killed in a tragic electrocution. Despite having funds from the insurance to keep them afloat, Deborah ultimately squandered much of the money. Things were made worse as Frankie choked on an apple slice and fell into a coma, eventually waking up brain-damaged. Eventually, unable to further put up with the stress of raising a mentally afflicted child, Deborah kicked Frankie's toy firetruck into the basement and nodded at Brady. Taking this cue, Brady kicked his brother down the stairs, killing him in the process. They covered up the incident by claiming Frankie fell, and remained fairly (and disturbingly) close, although Brady considered killing her many times.

Over the years, Brady tinkered with various gadgets and technology, developing remotes that could alter traffic patterns and capture PKE signals to unlock/relock cars (dubbed "Thing One" and "Thing Two", respectively). He used these to cause havoc and steal from others, getting a thrill out of the misfortune he caused. Eventually, he put these to use when, using one of his day jobs as a computer technician for Discount Electronix, he collected the PKE signal of affluent Olivia Trelawney's Mercedes-Benz and stole it. With said Mercedes-Benz, he drove into the City Center and attacked multiple persons awaiting potential job opportunities, killing eight in the process, including a mother and her baby. He wore a clown mask to obscure his identity and cleared away all DNA evidence with bleach. Brady abandoned the Mercedes with a smiley akin to what he would later use in his letter to Hodges.

At a later point, he disguised himself as Frankie and spoke to Olivia Trelawney over a social network site called Debbie's Blue Umbrella, a private site for allegedly stress-free chats without any pictures. However, by doing so, he encouraged Trelawney to stop taking her medication and planted a looping sound file called "SPOOKS" (consisting of a recording of screaming and a woman angrily accusing Trelawney of killing her child) that ultimately drove her to suicide out of guilt. Brady considered it a triumph and moved on, until the events of the novel.

Mr. Mercedes[]

Seeking to antagonize the detective who failed to solve the murder, Brady drops a letter in for Hodges, detailing his confession to the Mercedes killings (albeit with exaggerated and/or falsified details to throw Hodges off), in the hopes that the letter would drive Hodges to commit suicide (as the retired detective had considered). Unfortunately for Brady, Hodges decides to once again investigate the case, prompting Brady to take action. In the letter, Brady provided Hodges with a Debbie's Blue Umbrella account. In the game of cat-and-mouse that ensues, Hodges riles up Brady by accusing him of and mocking him for attempting serial confession. In revenge, Brady attempts to prepare poisoned hamburger meat to feed to the pet dog of Hodges' friend and ally Jerome. However, Deborah unwittingly prepares and consumed of the meat, dying from the inevitable poisoning. This prompts Brady to retreat from his home and seek a way to "go out in a blaze of glory".

Prior to the events of the novel, Brady had planned to attach homemade plastic explosives inside a vest and commit a suicide bombing, aspiring to take out as many people with him as he could. Once Hodges and his allies get closer to discovering his identity, Brady, feeling more vengeful due to his mother's death, plants an explosive in Hodges' car. The bomb kills Trelawney's sister Janey, who had developed a sexual friendship with Hodges and was taking his car while he looked over her mentally challenged niece Holly. Determined to go out in a bang after all this, Brady purchases a ticket to the 'Round Here concert at the performing arts center and reattaches the explosives from his vest into various pieces of a disguise, including a catheter and a cushion. Taking on the appearance of a bald, bespectacled man in a wheelchair, Brady attends the 'Round Here concert with full intent to blow up the numerous young female members of the audience, as well as himself, in his final "blaze of glory".

Hodges, Jerome, and Holly manage to decipher Brady's plot after they find his house and manage to access his computers. Taking the same Mercedes used for the murders, now cleaned up and in the possession of Holly's mother, the trio rush to the performing arts center to stop Brady. Ultimately, due to being the only one of the three Brady would not recognize, Holly makes her way inside and incapacitates Brady before he can set off the bombs hidden on his person. The trauma he endures in the process puts Brady into a coma. By the end of the novel, he awakens in a mental treatment ward, asking for his mother and suffering partial amnesia and mental damage.

Finders Keepers[]

Brady reappears in Finders Keepers, the sequel to Mr. Mercedes, as a hospital patient. Hodges periodically visits him, working under the suspicion that Brady is faking his brain-dead state. Brady seemingly demonstrates that he is still impaired, but a picture of Brady and his mother falling over arouses Hodges' suspicions. A nurse tending to Brady commits suicide, much in the same manner as Trelawney. Unfortunately, at the end, it is revealed that Brady is indeed faking. To make matters worse, he has developed telekinesis.

End of Watch[]

In the third and final novel, End of Watch, Brady is revealed to have developed mind control abilities, in addition to his telekinesis. Experimented upon by a corrupt doctor, Babineau, with experimental medications figured to have contributed to his newfound powers, Brady gradually improves upon his abilities by driving a nurse to suicide through mental pushes. Taken to the sense of "control" gained from this act, Brady gradually takes control of an elderly volunteer, Library Al, and the corrupt doctor, using their bodies as puppets for his own mind. With Babineau under his control, he uses the doctor's funds to purchase Zappits, a series of outdated, faulty, Game Boy-like devices. Tweaking the already-present hypnotic effects of the demo screen of the Fishin' Hole game, Brady implants messages and reaches out towards those who play the devices. He also spreads them out, primarily towards those who had attended the concert he failed to kill.

Under the guise of "Dr. Z" (Babineau) and "Z-Boy" (Al), Brady makes many efforts to drive people to suicide, in order to pull off a Jonestown-esque act of control and sadism. He succeeds with one of his surviving victims from the Mercedes drive-by, as well as her mother, and with the nurse that confronted him. Brady also tries to drive Jerome's younger sister, Barbara, into stepping in front of a truck, but she is pushed out of the way and only suffers a broken leg. Manipulating his former, fellow Discount Electronix employee, Freddi Linklater, Brady sets up a repeater and a website to spread the suicidal impulses and encourage others to join in. His manipulations through the Zappits succeed in killing a few, but Holly and Jerome, aided by Hodges and Freddi, cut off the repeater and the website. He also escapes his own body and completely takes control of Babineau's, after using Al to kill Babineau's wife and fake an attack on Babineau's life.

In the climax, Brady heads to Babineau's hunting retreat, Heads and Skins, in order to set off a larger chain of suicides through his primary Zappit. Hodges and Holly uncover his location, but Brady wounds and captures them. On the threat of killing Holly, Brady tries to force Hodges to subject himself to Zappit manipulation, only to have his concentration broken by Hodges' loud cell phone ringtone-which gives Hodges the opportunity to destroy the Zappit and cut into Brady's suicide scheme. Holly manages to recover and shoot Brady, forcing him out into the snow. Determined to kill them, Brady fails to notice Jerome arriving in a Tucker Sno-Cat, until he is bifurcated by the tread. Rendered helpless, Brady then is forced to commit suicide to end his suffering.

Personality[]

Brady is a demented and sociopathic person, encouraged by his mother's entitlement and considering himself free to do as he pleases due to what he has gotten away with. He also demonstrates nihilistic tendencies, believing there is no God in a world that "allowed" him to do what he has done and that everyone will just die and enter the same "darkness". This has led to emphasized sadistic and suicidal tendencies as well, given his final act of attempting to increase his kill count and add himself into the mix. In his other job as an ice cream man, Brady considers poisoning his supply and killing numerous children, but refrains due to concerns of being found out. Also adding to his character is a level of racism, especially directed at blacks such as Jerome, who he despises for "having a white person's name" and wants to see suffer.

Despite this, Brady seems to have some form of affection for his family. He considers Frankie useless and that killing him was a good idea, yet feels an "authentic" sadness when he recalls Frankie. He also seems to value his relationship with his mother Deborah and is disturbed by his indirect murder of her. However, this "affection" is suspect in itself, due to how often it seems Brady only cared for his family as much as they could and would benefit him in some way. Such as noted in how he used Frankie's memory and identity to push Olivia Trelawney to suicide and to claim he was attending the 'Round Here concert in memory of his "son". Or how he only seems to really care about his mother, inasmuch she can "help" him through incestuous relations. Nevertheless, Brady is plagued with headaches that arise from his situation, and they return in full force once he awakens from the coma.

Come End of Watch, however, Brady's sociopathic tendencies are greatly emphasized. Described in-text as an "architect of suicide" and "The Suicide Prince", Brady becomes obsessed with the "control" he feels from driving people to killing themselves. He is also shown to be absolutely remorseless and cruel in taking control of Babineau or Al, seeing them only as meat puppets and conduits for his "revenge".

Trivia[]

  • Brady’s appearance in the television series is very different from his novel counterpart, becoming a skinny pale man in the series instead of an overweight man with glasses.

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Novels/Novellas
Carrie: Carrie White | Mortimer Snerds (Chris Hargensen, Donna and Mary Lila Grace Thibodeau, Helen Shyres, Heather Shyres & Tina Blake) | Margaret White | Billy Nolan | Ralph White
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Christine: Arnie Cunningham | Christine | Repperton Gang | Roland D. LeBay
Pet Sematary: Wendigo | Church | Gage Creed | Rachel Creed | Timmy Baterman
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Dolan's Cadillac: Jimmy Dolan
It: It | Bowers Gang (Belch Huggins, Henry Bowers, Marcia Fadden, Patrick Hockstetter, Peter Gordon & Vic Criss) | Alvin Marsh | Butch Bowers | Richard Macklin | Tom Rogan | Christopher Unwin | Webby Garton
Misery: Annie Wilkes
The Tommyknockers: Tommyknockers | Nancy Voss
The Dark Half: George Stark
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Needful Things: Leland Gaunt | John "Ace" Merrill | Danforth Keeton III | Brian Rusk | Wilma Jerzyck | Nettie Cobb | Hugh Preist | Father Brigham (Father Meehan) | Reverend Rose
Gerald's Game: Gerald Burlingame | Moonlight Man | Tom Mahout
Dolores Claiborne: Joe St. George
Insomnia: Atropos | Crimson King
Rose Madder: Norman Daniels
The Green Mile: William Wharton | Percy Wetmore
Desperation: Tak | Sheriff Collie Entragian
The Regulators: Tak
Bag of Bones: Max Devore | Sara Tidwell | Roggete Whitmore
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon: God of the Lost
Dreamcatcher: Byrus | Mr. Gray
Black House: Charles Burnside | The Crow Gorg | Mr. Munshun
From a Buick 8: The Buick
Cell: Phone Crazies | Raggedy Man
Lisey's Story: Andrew Landon | Jim Dooley | Long Boy
The Gingerbread Girl: Jim Pickering
Duma Key: Perse | Undead Victims
Under the Dome: Jim Rennie | Junior Rennie | Phil Bushey | Leatherheads
1922: Wilfred James | Henry James | Shannon Cotterie
Big Driver: Lester Norville | Ramona Norville
A Good Marriage: Robert Bob Anderson
11/22/63: Lee Harvey Oswald | Frank Dunning
In The Tall Grass: Ross Humboldt | Cal Demuth
Doctor Sleep: The True Knot (Rose the Hat, Crow Daddy, Grandpa Flick, Barry the Chink & Snakebite Andi) | Andy Hallorann
Bill Hodges Trilogy: Brady Hartsfield | Morris Bellamy
Gwendy's Button Box: Richard Farris
The Outsider: The Outsider
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Short Stories
Cain Rose Up: Curt Garrish
The Mangler: Bill Gartley | The Mangler
The Boogeyman: The Boogeyman
Trucks: Westway Refrigerated Truck | Bulldozer
The Ledge: Cressner
Jerusalem's Lot: Philip Boone | James Boon | The Worm
Quitter's Inc.: Mr. Donatti | Quitters Inc.
The Crate: Crate Beast
Crouch End: The Children | The Goat with a Thousand Young
The Monkey: The Monkey
The Raft: Lake Blob
Word Processor of the Gods: Richard Hagstrom | Roger Hagstrom
Gramma: Gramma Bruckner
The Night Flier: Dwight Renfield
Low Men in Yellow Coats: Harry Doolin
Blind Willie: Raymond Fiegler
Why We're In Vietnam: Ronnie Malenfant
Lunch at the Gotham Café: Guy

Films
The Shining: Overlook Hotel (Lloyd, Lorraine Massey & Hotel Caretaker) | Jack Torrance
Creepshow: Creepshow Creep | Crate Beast | Nathan Grantham | Richard Vickers | Upson Pratt | Wilma Northrup
Cat's Eye: Cressner | Mr. Donatti | Quitters Inc. | Troll
Maximum Overdrive: Bubba Hendershot | Camp Loman | Happy Toyz Truck | Ice Cream Truck | M274 Mule | Vending Machine
A Return to Salem`s Lot: Judge Axle
Creepshow 2: Creepshow Creep | Creepshow Bullies | Lake Blob | Sam Whitemoon | The HitchHiker
Sleepwalkers: Charles Brady | Mary Brady | Sleepwalkers
Pet Sematary 2: Gus Gilbert | Renee Hallow | Clyde Parker | Zowie
The Mangler Trilogy: Bill Gartley | The Mangler | Lin Sue | The Mangler Virus
The Rage: Carrie 2: Rachel Lang | Mark Bing
Creepshow 3: Creepshow Creep | Rachel
The Dark Tower: Randall Flagg
It: Part One: It | Bowers Gang (Henry Bowers, Vic Criss | Belch Huggins & Patrick Hockstetter)
Pet Sematary (2019): Ellie Creed
It: Part Two: It | Henry Bowers | Tom Rogan
Doctor Sleep: The True Knot (Rose the Hat, Crow Daddy, Grandpa Flick, Barry the Chink & Snakebite Andi) | Overlook Hotel (Jack Torrance, Hotel Caretaker & Lorraine Massey)
The Boogeyman: Boogeyman

TV Series
The Stand: Randall Flagg | Harold Lauder | Julie Lawry | Nadine Cross | The Rat Woman | Trashcan Man
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Storm of the Century: André Linoge
Rose Red: Professor Joyce Reardon | Ellen Rimbauer
Under the Dome: Big Jim Rennie | Junior Rennie | Phil Bushey | The Kinship (Christine Price & Dawn Sinclair-Barbara)

Other
The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: Ellen Rimbauer

See Also
The Dark Tower Villains

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