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| “ | She's making it up! Again! | „ |
| ~ Leopold's comment on Joyce's story. |
| “ | I wouldn't pay much attention to what Joyce said if I were you. (Poirot: Indeed?) It was all a lot of hooey. Who on Earth would she seen murdered? I suppose you expect me to be all sad and boo-hooing about the place, but I'm not. I know she was my sister and all that, but I didn't really like her. | „ |
| ~ Leopold to Poirot after Joyce's funeral, hinting his true nature. |
Leopold Reynolds is a minor character of Dame Agatha Christie's Hallowe'en Party and its adaptations, and the second onscreen victim of the book.
He is the emotionless and uncaring brother of Joyce Reynolds, the first onscreen victim of the book, and blackmailed the culprits that killed his sister for increasing his pocket money. He was eventually killed because of his blackmailing.
In Agatha Christie's Poirot, he was portrayed by Richard Breislin. In the 2023 film adaptation, he was portrayed by Jude Hill.
Overview[]
Novel[]
At the first glance, Leopold was an emotionless child who only cares about himself rather than others, even including his siblings. He showed disdain over Joyce and did not try to hide the fact that he despised her, even in front of Poirot. He also refused to believe in her, even after her death, since everything she told (as he believed) were nonsense.
In the later part of the book and its adaptation in Agatha Christie's Poirot, however, it was shown that Leopold was no saint, either. According to Miranda Butler and Mrs. Goodbody, Leopold constantly seeked to pry into other people's secret by overhearing their conversations, and gained his pocket money through blackmailing them. Mrs. Goodbody also showed worry over Leopold's behavior, believing one day he would take part in creating dangerous weapons like atomic bombs.
During the second half of Poirot's investigation, Leopold was later killed by the culprit, being drowned in a lake just like Joyce was drowned within an apple-bobbing bucket. Poirot soon deduced that Leopold was taken out by the culprit when he discovered them killing his sister, but he did nothing rather than concealing the truth and blackmailing the culprit, resulting in his death.
Agatha Christie's Poirot[]
In the TV series adaptation, Poirot discovered Leopold's blackmailing deeds through his expensive new watch, which Leopold claimed he bought it through pocket money. It was also shown in a flashback that Leopold already saw his sister walking into the library with one of the culprits, but he did nothing but watching.
A Haunting in Venice[]
Leopold makes appearance in the 2023 film A Haunting in Venice, which is a loose adaptation of Hallowe'en Party.
In this adaptation, he is renamed as Leopold Ferrier, with his last name comes from Leslie Ferrier (who is presumably the basis of Leopold's father in this version). It remains to be seen whether this version of Leopold would take on an obstructive role of a blackmailer like his previous versions or not.
Trivia[]
- Leopold's characteristics bares some similarities to Louise Bourget, a minor character in Dame Christie's earlier novel Death on the Nile and the maid of its first victim, Linnet Doyle. Like Louise, Leopold also blackmailed the culprit for his own personal gain after seeing his sister being murdered, and he concealed the truth away from everyone in order to blackmail from the culprit continuously. They both ended up being just another victim as well after the culprit deemed them to be too much of a nuisance.
- However, while still being unsympathetic, Leopold Reynolds is much less villainous than Louise. It was because that Leopold never intentionally lied to Poirot about how he saw nothing, only stating he didn't feel sad about Joyce's death (particularly because he never liked her and he tried to exploit from her death). Louise, however, outright lied to Poirot that she saw nothing (though she was a very bad liar) when he asked her. As a result, while Leopold concealed the truth, he did not conceal his true feeling over his sister.
- Nevertheless, since Poirot did not suspect Leopold was a witness, he never asked Leopold if he ever saw his sister being murdered, only asking if she saw a murder (something she proclaimed not long before she was murdered). As a result, if Poirot asked if Leopold saw who killed Joyce, Leopold might have done the same thing as Louise did - lying to save himself and keep blackmailing the culprit.
- In the TV series, Leopold seemed to be much older than Joyce, while in the novel, he was stated to be Joyce's youngest brother. In addition, in the TV series, Joyce was stated to be adopted by Mrs. Reynolds, while in the novel, she was her biological daughter.
- Leopold is the youngest blackmailer in a novel by Agatha Chistie.
