  |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
| “ | Quinn: WHY DID YOU HESITATE? Ryder: You're my father... my father. |
„ |
| ~ Ryder's last words. |
Ryder, later known as Baron Ryder, is a major antagonist in the AMC series Into the Badlands.
He is the son of Baron Quinn, the current Baron of Opium in the post-apocalyptic world known as the Badlands. He wishes to take the position from his father, but is not mentally or physically strong enough to kill him. After Quinn disappears, Ryder lies and claims he killed his father, making him the new Baron of Opium and becoming the primary enemy of rival Baron the Widow.
He was portrayed by Oliver Stark. As a child, he was portrayed by Adam Cameron.
Personality[]
As a child, Ryder's mother Lydia described him as being extremely sweet and kind, but following his kidnapping by nomad scavengers, he had three of his toes cut off, giving him extreme trauma and changing who he was. After this horrible event, Quinn began training Ryder extensively to be a ruthless leader just like him. While Ryder did become proficient in combat, he never developed the mental fortitude needed to kill his own father, instead deciding to plot against Quinn in secret. Ryder wants his fathers approval, and is jealous that Sunny has it while he does not. Despite this, Ryder did become ruthless towards those outside of his family, as he was shown willing to kill M.K. after he found him stealing a necklace from his room.
After becoming a Baron, Ryder was shown capable of acting as a leader, and was shown capable of being the ruthless leader that a Baron needed to be in order to lead in the Badlands, even going as far as to banish his own mother Lydia from the Armadillo Territory when she questioned his leadership. However, Ryder did still love his family, not wishing to see Lydia dead and showing great affection and love for his wife Jade. When Quinn resurfaced, he faces Ryder in combat and gives him the free chance to kill him in order to prove that Ryder is strong enough to be a Baron. But Ryder is not able to go through with it, telling Quinn in his final moments the true reason he never killed him was because he loved his father and wasn't willing to murder him.
Biography[]
Early life[]
As a child Ryder was nothing like his father Quinn, and would spend most of his time in his room playing with his rocking horse Ahab, to the point that he considered it to be his only friend. One day, a group of nomad scavengers kidnapped him and demanded an extremely large ransom to be paid by his father Quinn, under the threat that they would torture and kill him if the ransom was not paid. Quinn refused to pay it, instead sending his Regent Waldo to go and look for the nomads and rescue Ryder. When the ransom was not paid, the nomads cut off three of Ryder's toes and sent them back to Quinn and Lydia. Waldo and Quinn eventually did find the nomads, killing all of them and taking Ryder home to Lydia. After this event, Ryder's mind and body were never the same, and he began to train under Quinn to one day be his replacement. Ryder was present when Quinn, Lydia, and Waldo found Sunny as a child, and began training him to be the next regent after Waldo retired. Ryder became very jealous of Sunny due to the fact that he had Quinn's trust and respect, something Ryder was always fighting for. Ryder began to sleep with a Cog girl named Jade as a teenager, but they stopped seeing each other once Jade grew up, as Quinn decided to take Jade as his second wife after Lydia.
Plotting against his father[]
One day, Sunny is sent out on a mission to intercept a shipment of Cogs that was attacked by the Widow's forces. Sunny returns with a boy named M.K., the only survivor after the shipment was attacked by nomads. When Sunny reports that the Widow hired the nomads, Ryder tells Quinn he wants to directly retaliate against the Widow immediately, but Quinn disagrees at Sunny's suggestion, as there has not been a war in several years, and Quinn would like to keep it that way as long as possible. M.K. then becomes a Colt, a Clipper in training, during which he gets into a fight with another Colt over his necklace, a necklace which depicts the mythical city of Azra. Ryder sees Sunny confiscate the necklace, and later asks Sunny to hand it over to him, which Sunny complies. Ryder says that he is angry with the decision to not attack the Widow, but Sunny counters saying that Quinn had made up his mind. Ryder points out that it was actually Sunny who made the decision, whereas his father simply went along with it, which is what he always does. M.K. later attempts to break into Quinn's home to retrieve the necklace, Ryder catches him when he steals the necklace out of his desk, and takes him to the dungeon with the intention of executing him the next morning. M.K. manages to escape, and Ryder decides to tell everyone that he traded the necklace away, when in reality he plans to keep in and see if it can direct him to Azra in some way. Ryder is later tricked by the Widow while he is seeing a Doll prostitute, who he believes is a double-agent sent by the Widow, and she gives him information about a storage house of supplies that are crucial to the Widow's operation. In reality, there are no supplies there, and it is actually a trap that the Widow instructed the prostitute to tell Ryder about to lure him to his death. Quinn congratulates his son on having uncovered the supposed conspiracy, but still has Sunny go with him to stake it out.
Ryder and Sunny go to the storage house, and a group of nomads led by Hud ambush them, hanging Ryder by his neck with a chain, but they are quickly overpowered and killed by Sunny, who saves Ryder. Sunny is almost killed by the leader of the nomads, but he is saved by M.K. at the last minute, who was being held hostage by the nomads. Sunny and M.K. take Ryder back to Quinn's fortress to get treatment for his injuries, and Quinn is willing to give M.K. a second chance out of gratitude for saving Sunny and Ryder's life, pardoning him from trying to steal from Ryder. Lydia attempts to treat Ryder, but while he is still alive, he appears to be in a coma due to the trauma of being hung by his neck. The only two surgeons in the land were recently killed by Quinn when they uncovered that he had a tumor, something wanted to keep a secret so as to not be seen as weak, meaning there is nobody to treat Ryder. However, as Jade is a former Cog, she knows that the two surgeons had an adoptive daughter named Veil, who will be able to treat Ryder. She enlists Veil's help, and while Lydia is apprehensive in letting a Cog doctor treat her son, Veil informs them if she doesn't treat Ryder immediately, he will be dead by morning. Lydia relents and lets her operate on Ryder, and she manages to save him by releasing the pressure on his brain, which was made very swollen after he was hung by his neck. Once Ryder wakes up, Quinn proceeds to launch a counterattack on the Widow for trying to kill his son, and while he does best her in combat, she manages to escape being killed by him. Ryder then decides that he needs to take control of his father territory once and for all, despite his mother and Jade telling him otherwise. Lydia tells Ryder that he is not fit to lead, and that she knows this will cause a rift between them, but she would rather he live and despise her rather than have to see him get killed.
Not too long after this, Jade poisons herself and frames Lydia for it so she will be the only wife Quinn has, and while it's implied Ryder knows Lydia is innocent, he doesn't attempt to stop his father from banishing her as he is still angry over her having doubted his ability to lead, and was even the person who encouraged Jade to frame Lydia in the first place. Despite this, Ryder does give her a handful of wooden totems belonging to her father, a religious priest, so she may rejoin his group. Ryder later meets with Zypher, the Regent of rival Baron Jacobee, telling her he plans to take down Quinn himself, and that he wants to work with her and Jacobee in doing so. He is later taken to a secret location where the Widow and Zypher are present, and the Widow reveals that both he and Zypher want to kill their Barons and take control, and that she will help them in doing so. Ryder later takes the Azra necklace to Penrith, his grandfather and a Totemist priest, one of the few remaining religions in the Badlands. Penrith tells him that Azra was a place where Dark Ones, people who possessed dark chi powers known as the Gift, could be safe from the rest of the world. Ryder learns that M.K. is a Dark One, and that his father plans to make him the new Regent after discovering that Sunny was planning on running away with Veil, who was his secret lover. Later that night, Ryder, Jacobee, and Zypher confront Quinn in a marketplace thanks to the Widow setting up a meeting between all of them, but Quinn has brought M.K. with him, and intentionally cuts M.K., activating his Gift and causing him to kill Zypher and Jacobee. Quinn is ambushed and stabbed by Sunny, and presumably dies. M.K. is kidnapped after a group of Dark One Abbots suddenly arrive, having been informed of his existence by Penrith. The Abbots overpower Sunny and take M.K. to an unknown location. With everyone else gone, Ryder lies and tells the other Barons that he was the one who killed Quinn and Jacobee, making him the new Baron of both of their territories, and taking Jade as his wife and Baroness.
War with the Widow[]
Now considered to be the Baron of both Quinn and Jacobee's territory, Ryder becomes the primary enemy of the Widow, who wishes to take control of his oil fields and free all of the Cog slaves, wanting to create a world that is not built on slavery. Ryder and Jade rejoice at having finally being able to be together without Quinn's influence, and move into Quinn's old mansion. Ryder reminisces to Jade about how lonely his childhood was, his only friend being a wooden rocking horse, before he and Jade depart. The Widow attacks one of his opium shipments and kills all of the Clippers present, only letting Jade live so she can send a message back to Ryder that he must relent the oil fields or the Widow will take them by force. Ryder decides that he needs the other Barons support against the Widow, and reasons that he can gain in due to the fact that every other Baron relies on Cogs just like he does, and will want to go against the Widow's plan to remove the Cog trading system. Ryder then confides in Jade about his doubt in facing the other Barons, as he does not want them to discover that he did not obtain his position as Baron through defeating Quinn and Jacobee in combat, but rather taking credit for their deaths instead. Jade manages to ease his worries through the fact that none of the other Barons will have it out for him due to their mutual enemy in the Widow. Ryder then invites Lydia back, as she has recently been kicked out of her fathers religious group for breaking their holy code, and as such she has no place to go. Ryder asks if she would like to return and help, but she explains to Ryder that the reason she was kicked out was due to her having to fight nomads who attacked their group, and she had to retaliate violently, which went against their rules of never committing violence. She points out the Quinn protected the totemist from attacks by nomads, and Ryder should do the same, but he rebuffs her due to still being angry over her saying he wouldn't last without her, which he has so far proven wrong.
Ryder decides to call for a Conclave to be held, in which the Barons must meet under the promise that should a disagreement take place, it will not be resolved through direct combat at that date and location. All of the Barons meet at a third-party location alongside their regents and Clipper force. The Widow and Ryder both present their sides in the conflict, with Ryder defending his claim to the oil fields, and despite the Widow offering to no longer house runaway Cogs from other territories, she is voted against by the other Barons who plan to prosecute her for her attacks on Ryder. The Widow and her forces prepare for a fight, when the Conclave is suddenly interrupted by Quinn, who is there to prove that Ryder did not actually kill him and Jacobee, and that while Jacobee did die, Quinn survived his attack from Sunny and Ryder only took credit for it. A massive fight breaks out between Quinn's forces and the other Barons Clippers, which culminates in Quinn chasing Ryder down into a hedge maze where he corners him. Quinn notes the statue of Kronos behind Ryder, the titan who ate his children, bitterly saying he should have killed Ryder in infancy. Ryder then angrily says that the statue is not in fact Kronos, but Laocoön. Ryder tells Quinn he should have stayed dead, and that the world has been a better place without him. Ryder attacks Quinn but is quickly overpowered and disarmed by him. Quinn then gives Ryder his sword and tells him to strike him down, proving once and for all he has what it takes, but Ryder cannot bring himself to do it, prompting Quinn to angrily break his sword on the statue, frightening Ryder and prompting him to pick up the shattered blade. Quinn shouts at Ryder to kill him and take what is his, but Ryder hesitates too long, and Quinn stabs him in the chest. Quinn then demands to know why Ryder hesitated when given the chance to take the power that was always supposed to be his, only for Ryder to tell him in his last moments he couldn't kill his own father, which snaps Quinn out of his rage, making him realize he just killed his own son. Quinn cradles his body but has to leave to avoid being killed by the other Barons, leaving Jade to discover Ryder's body and mourn his death.
Despite being dead, Quinn begins to experience hallucinations of Ryder due to a combination of his tumor and deteriorating mental state. The hallucination of Ryder lambasts Quinn for killing him, saying that he shouldn't have been surprised that Ryder didn't want to kill him, because they were family, and Ryder loved him despite everything. While this is going on, Quinn has been keeping Veil and her newborn son Henry hostage, and has even developed a sick infatuation with Veil, and Henry as well, wanting to raise him as his replacement son now that Ryder is dead. Ryder's hallucination points out that Veil will never love Quinn as he actually murdered her parents long ago, and is holding her hostage, and that he is completely deluded if he believes that she cares about him. Quinn claims that Veil is pure unlike them, but Ryder says that if he threatens her son, then she will tell him the truth. Quinn takes Henry from his bed and begins rocking him while holding a knife, prompting Veil to burst into the room out of fear for Henry's life. The hallucination of Ryder tells Quinn that he must kill Veil and Henry, and that Veil doesn't actually care about him, she's only pretending out of fear for her life. Being the only one who can treat his tumor, Veil lies and tells Quinn he is recovering, and that while she did hate him once, she says her feelings have changed. Veil tells Quinn that Henry is their second chance, but the hallucination of Ryder says that Quinn doesn't deserve a second chance. Veil then kisses Quinn, finally getting him to relinquish Henry and let her feed him. The hallucination of Ryder then mocks Quinn, telling him that women always were his weakness. The hallucination of Ryder is seen one last time when Quinn is getting high on opium and watching old film footage, during which it appears in the footage briefly before walking away. The hallucination of Ryder does not appear again after this, and it is unknown if Quinn continues to experience visions of him. After his death, Jade succeeds him as the next Baron of the Armadillo Territory.
Powers & Abilities[]
- Martial Arts/Swordsmanship: While he is often outclassed by the likes of Quinn, the Widow, and Sunny, Ryder was shown to be proficient in combat when fighting against rival Clippers, and did manage to hold his own against Quinn briefly, even if he was quickly beaten by him. His killing of Quinn and Jacobee was also believed by the other Barons, suggesting that it was not considered unbelievable that he could defeat them in combat.
- Leadership: Once he assumed the position of Baron, Ryder was shown proficient in managing both the Armadillo and Pickaxe Territories, to the point that the other Barons were willing to ally with him against the Widow.
- Military/War tactician: During his conflict with the Widow, he was shown to be a clever strategist by calling the Conclave and putting the other Barons directly against the Widow rather than engaging in battle with her directly.
Quotes[]
| “ | Ryder: You need to reconsider your position. We have to move against the Widow. Sunny: Your father made his decision. |
„ |
| ~ Ryder's jealousy of Sunny. |
| “ | Sex isn’t the only thing you buy in a doll house. | „ |
| ~ Ryder expressing his sadism. |
| “ | This is what happens when we don't retaliate. People think you're weak and take advantage. | „ |
| ~ Ryder's ruthless nature. |
| “ | You never give anything. Every gift has a price. Every favor is a test. | „ |
| ~ Ryder to Quinn. |
| “ | The world was better without you. You should have stayed dead. | „ |
| ~ Ryder after seeing that Quinn is alive. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Ryder alludes to Red Boy from the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West, of which Into the Badlands is loosely based on.
- The Conclave that Ryder calls to defend his claim to the oil fields is the only Conclave called on-screen, and according to Waldo is the first one called in over a decade.
- It is possible that Ryder only wanted to become Baron so that he could marry Jade, as he did not kill his father even when given the chance by Quinn himself, and the only time that Ryder would not run away from dangerous situations was when Jade was in danger, such as when the Widow attack Ryder's oil refinery.
External Links[]
- Ryder on the Into the Badlands Wiki
[]
 Villains
| ||
|
Armadillo Territory Butterfly Territory Fox Territory Pickaxe Territory Other Territories Dark Ones The Black Lotus Other | ||