Victor Strand (Fear)

"The only way to survive in a mad world, is to embrace madness."

- Strand to Nicholas Clark

Victor Strand is a main character and survivor of the outbreak in AMC's Fear The Walking Dead.

Personality
Victor is a mysterious character who has acquired great personal wealth as immediately indicated by his suit and jewelry, then later by his gated coast-side estate, Aston Martin and luxury yacht. He appears to already have some knowledge of the outbreak and how it manifests itself in humans. It is unknown how long he was imprisoned at the temporary hospital set up in Raynard Community College before Nick arrived. He is calm and does not panic when confronting the walking dead, even when he was trapped at the end of a locked corridor as a herd approached. He appears to have adapted quickly to the new world, telling Nicholas Clark that the only way to survive a mad world is to embrace the madness.

Victor has a good sense of judgement, dismissing Douglas Thompson quickly as weak, yet believing that Nick has the skills to survive, identifying his heroin addiction as a precursor to the behavior necessary for survival.

He appears to have some elements of sociopath, such as lack of empathy when he refused to release the other hospital prisoners, when he mockingly upset Douglas further by making taunts regarding his wife with another man, and leaving Melvin Allen, who was being devoured, to die, telling him to keep the watch he used as a bribe. This is elaborated on as he seems very controlling on board of the ship, refusing to take in survivors he encounters at sea, claiming that his mercy quota has been filled and that it is his ship.

New Orleans, Louisiana
Early on in his childhood, Strand's mother had abandoned him and his father. His father was barely able to hold a roof over their heads due to making a living out of preaching at local strip-malls. Strand eventually worked his way through college to become a businessman where he was able to build his fortune through real estate investment and debt buying. He ended up suffering a massive financial blow after a large portion of his local investments in New Orleans were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. This led him to resort to money-theft schemes on random strangers. One of the victims of his money-theft was a powerful businessman like himself named Thomas Abigail. Thomas was impressed by Strand's scheme and, rather than turning him in, began a partnership and eventual romance with him.

Shortly after the outbreak began, Strand traveled to Los Angeles to close one of his big land deals. He had went against Thomas's wishes, who had pleaded for him not to travel and for the two to go into hiding instead.

Los Angeles, California
As the chaos in the city began to spiral out of control, Strand was able to bribe the military into ensuring his protection.

"Cobalt"
Victor Strand is seen at the beginning of the episode inside a cage in the hospital, talking to Douglas Thompson and giving him confidence. Agitated, Doug wrestles with the fence, forcing the soldiers to take him out. Strand later turns to Nick and asks about who he is.

Later on, the soldiers check the temperatures of the people in the cages. Strand's temperature is at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit while Nick is at 101.6. The soldiers try to remove Nick from the cage fearing that he might be turning. While Nick struggles, Strand talks to the commanding officer and asks him about the watch he gave him, which the officer likes. Strand then offers him a diamond cufflink so that they'll leave Nick in the cage, the officer agrees but only if he gives him the second matching cufflink. It is revealed by Strand at the end of the episode that he saved Nick because he needs his skills to help him escape. He shows Nick a key that he has acquired that will help them get out.

"The Good Man"
Victor and Nick make their escape with the soldiers are distracted taking down the captive walkers that Daniel Salazar has released and led to the entrance as a diversion. Running down the hallway, they are unable to escape the corridor due to the doors being electrically locked, but are found by Madison Clark, Travis Manawa, Daniel and Ofelia Salazar. They are saved by Liza Ortiz, who finds them and uses her card to open the door. Successfully escaping the facility, Victor has plans to find "Abigail" and leads the group back to his ocean front home where they can tend to the injured Ofelia. Nick talks to Victor, who is packing up a briefcase and preparing the leave, saying the the group cannot stay there when he leaves. Victor gazes through binoculars at the ocean and motions Nick to look also. As Nick sees a yacht in the ocean, Victor indicates that Abigail is his boat.

"Monster"
Victor takes command of the ship Abigail and offers it as temporary residence for the survivors as they hurriedly leave the coast, carrying Liza's body with them. He offers to take the group to San Diego and insists that the ship is his to do as he wants. He becomes agitated when he learns that Alicia has been keeping radio contact with strangers. His stance is that people can't be trusted in the current situation.

At the end of the episode he notices another ship approaching (presumably the one Alicia had contacted previously) and feels certain that they can not outrun it.

His communication with the other survivors is generally tense, to the point that he seems to avoid sleeping entirely. The only exception seems to be Nick, who he pays some attention to.

"We All Fall Down"
Victor will appear in this episode.

"Ouroboros"
TBA

"Blood in the Streets"
TBA

"Captive"
TBA

"Sicut Cervus"
TBA

"Shiva"
Strand will appear in this episode.

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Victor has killed:
 * Jake Powell (Indirectly Caused)
 * Miguel (Alongside Luis)
 * Vazquez (Alongside Luis)
 * Thomas Abigail (Out of Mercy)
 * Numerous counts of zombies.

Thomas Abigail
Thomas Abigail was, at first, a victim of Strand's money theft scheme. However, Thomas was impressed by Strand and the two eventually became business partners. Their working relationship eventually became romantic and they started dating.

Nick Clark
Strand is impressed by Nick. He tells Madison that she saw Nick's potential within five minutes of meeting him (adding that he saw it even though Nick was in the middle of withdrawal). He believes that Nick has what it takes to survive in the post-apocalyptic world, and he takes on a mentor role to Nick, encouraging him to do things such as going to land to retrieve Luis.

Madison Clark
Madison and Strand seem to have a strained relationship- mainly due to Madison not liking Strand 'using' Nick and Strand believing that Madison is blind to Nicks true potential.

Appearances
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Season 1

 * "Cobalt"
 * "The Good Man"

Season 2
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 * "Monster"
 * "We All Fall Down"
 * "Ouroboros"
 * "Blood in the Streets"
 * "Captive"
 * "Sicut Cervus"
 * "Shiva"

Trivia

 * The casting call for this character used the name Benjamin Booker. The casting call described Benjamin Booker as "African American. A self made man. Poor, blue collar background but he's educated and polished himself. Sophisticated and smart with a mysterious past."
 * The character's full name and background was revealed by showrunner Dave Erickson in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in September 2015.
 * He is the only main character in Season 1 who is not related to any of the other main characters.
 * He is the first LGBT character in Fear The Walking Dead.