Deathwave 201
| Deathwave 201 | |
|---|---|
| 'Tribal' character | |
| First appearance | Tribal: Bloody Beginnings |
| Created by | Tony James Nelson II |
| In-universe information | |
| Aliases | 201 |
| Species | Young Deathwave |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Engineered guard; incomplete Deathwave unit |
| Affiliation | Nebu The Doctor’s program |
Deathwave 201, often called simply 201, is a fictional character in Tribal: Bloody Beginnings by Tony James Nelson II. He is one of the engineered killers created through the Deathwave line, but unlike Deathwave 47, he is explicitly identified as the incomplete one. The manuscript presents him as dangerous, disciplined, and already deeply weaponized, while still making clear that he is not yet the final form the Doctor considers ideal. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
Deathwave 201 appears as part of the armed structure surrounding the proctor and Alpha’s inner world. He wears a red cape, black armor, and the blank, trained bearing of someone shaped for violence rather than ordinary life. At the same time, the book deliberately contrasts him with Deathwave 47, establishing 201 as a younger or lesser version of the same broader project. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}
Overview
Deathwave 201 represents an unfinished stage of the Deathwave program. He is not treated as weak — far from it — but the novel marks him as distinct from the fully realized terror embodied by Deathwave 47. This makes him important as both:
- a functioning killer in the present story,
- and a window into how the Doctor’s weapon-making process scales from “dangerous” to “monstrous.”
He is best understood as a near-finished blade that still has not become the Doctor’s idea of perfection.
Biography
Place in the Deathwave line
The manuscript’s clearest description of 201 comes when Thirty-Two sees him standing apart from the trainees near Alpha’s platform: “Red cape. Black armor. Face empty. The incomplete one. Number 201. Not the real Deathwave — the one from the file, the completed one, the one who'd been conditioned since age two.” This line is the core of his page. It tells the reader exactly what he is, what he is not, and why he matters. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}
This framing makes 201 part of the same engineered line as 47, but still beneath him in rank, development, or completion.
Presence at Alpha’s platform
Deathwave 201 is present during the major confrontation scene with Alpha, the Bote, the Commander, the Harpies, the trainees, and Rimitorry. He stands near Alpha’s raised platform rather than among the ordinary warriors, which suggests a special place in the inner hierarchy of controlled violence. He is not one of the eager, untested boys in formation. He is already something else. :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}
The manuscript’s placement of him beside power rather than inside the crowd reinforces his role as a specialized asset rather than a conventional soldier.
Contrast with Deathwave 47
Deathwave 201’s identity is defined partly through comparison. The text goes out of its way to say he is not the real Deathwave — not the completed one, not the fully conditioned masterpiece. This does not erase 201’s importance. Instead, it gives him a very specific role in the lore: he is the visible reminder that the Deathwave program produces tiers, and that the Doctor distinguishes sharply between usable and perfected. :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}
Later descriptions of Deathwave 47 as the Doctor’s greatest creation help sharpen 201’s position even further. 201 is dangerous enough to stand at Alpha’s side; 47 is dangerous enough to define the standard. :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7}
Personality
The manuscript gives Deathwave 201 very little overt emotional interiority, which is appropriate for what he is. He is described in stripped-down terms: empty-faced, armored, controlled, and incomplete. That lack of expressive individuality is itself part of his characterization. He feels like someone whose personhood has been filed down to make room for function. :contentReference[oaicite:8]{index=8}
If Deathwave 47 reads like a finished machine, 201 reads like a machine still being assembled — stable enough to deploy, but not yet complete enough to terrify the room in the same mythic way.
Abilities and traits
- Member of the Deathwave line
- Trained engineered combatant
- Wears black armor and red cape :contentReference[oaicite:9]{index=9}
- Positioned among Alpha’s inner controlled weapons
- Incomplete compared to Deathwave 47 :contentReference[oaicite:10]{index=10}
The manuscript does not, in the cited sections, give a full blow-by-blow display of 201’s combat ceiling. What it does give is enough to establish his category: he is beyond the trainees, beyond ordinary guards, and close enough to Alpha’s core circle to matter.
Relationships
The Doctor
The Doctor is the architect behind the Deathwave line, and 201 exists as one of its unfinished products. Even when 201 is not directly discussed at length, his entire identity is inseparable from the Doctor’s program of conditioning and weapon manufacture.
Deathwave 47
Deathwave 47 is the most important comparison point for Deathwave 201. The manuscript explicitly distinguishes 201 from the completed Deathwave and makes clear that 47 is the benchmark he has not reached. :contentReference[oaicite:11]{index=11}
Alpha
Alpha keeps Deathwave 201 close enough to his platform that his placement itself becomes narrative information. 201 is not random muscle. He is one of the weapons kept near the throne. :contentReference[oaicite:12]{index=12}
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Two is the observer through whose narration Deathwave 201 is introduced in the cited scene. The introduction is tellingly clinical: Thirty-Two reads 201 not as a boy or man first, but as a category of danger and incompleteness. :contentReference[oaicite:13]{index=13}
Role in the story
Deathwave 201 serves several important narrative functions in Tribal: Bloody Beginnings:
- He expands the Deathwave mythology beyond a single unit.
- He shows that the Doctor’s creations exist on a scale rather than as one-off anomalies.
- He helps visually reinforce Alpha’s control over engineered violence.
- He provides a stepping-stone comparison that makes Deathwave 47 feel even more ominous.
Themes
Deathwave 201 is closely tied to several of the novel’s major themes:
- Engineered identity
- Incomplete weaponization
- Perfection through dehumanization
- Hierarchy within manufactured violence
Trivia
- Deathwave 201 is explicitly called “the incomplete one.” :contentReference[oaicite:14]{index=14}
- He wears a red cape and black armor. :contentReference[oaicite:15]{index=15}
- The manuscript says he is not the real Deathwave and distinguishes him from the completed unit. :contentReference[oaicite:16]{index=16}
- Deathwave 47 is described elsewhere as the Doctor’s greatest creation, reinforcing 201’s lower tier. :contentReference[oaicite:17]{index=17}