Harry D'Amour is a fictional occult detective created by author, filmmaker, and artist Clive Barker. He originally appeared in the short story The Last Illusion in Books of Blood Volume 6, an anthology written by Barker and published in 1985. D'Amour has appeared in other Clive Barker prose stories, as well as comic books published by Boom! Studios, and the 1995 film Lord of Illusions wherein the character is portrayed by actor Scott Bakula. Following this, the comic book adaptation of Barker's novel The Great and Secret Show depicts D'Amour as resembling Bakula. In 2012, the cover for Hellraiser #18 (published by Boom! Studios) used actor Thomas Jane as the model for D'Amour. In multiple stories, D'Amour is depicted as living in the same reality as Barker's popular creations the Cenobites and the Hell Priest (widely known to fans of the Hellraiser movie franchise as Pinhead).Barker, Clive. The Hellbound Heart (1986 novella).Barker, Clive. The Scarlet Gospels. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2015.Hellraiser #18 (2012), Boom! Studios.
D'Amour is a native of Hell's Kitchen in New York City. After serving as a police officer for years, he leaves that job to become a private investigator. After encountering demonic forces and fully accepting the existence of the supernatural, Harry studies occult texts and is mentored by Norma Paine, an elderly blind woman who can see ghosts and supernatural entities. He becomes widely known as an occult detective and expert in the supernatural. According to Clive Barker, D'Amour's destiny of repeatedly being pitted against evil forces is "karmic payback" for his own past sins. Due to his desire to protect not only the living but also any lost soul and spirit that suffers unjustly or is victimized, D'Amour describes himself as "a detective for the dead" in some stories. Though he regularly encounters violence, depravity, and moral compromise, D'Amour tries to uphold his own principles of morality.Barker, Clive. "The Last Illusion" from Books of Blood Volume 6 (1985).
Though he has a heightened awareness of supernatural forces and knowledge of the occult, Harry D'Amour does not generally practice magic or witchcraft and is usually depicted as having no direct magical abilities (except for some stories where he is granted supernatural power by others). During his investigations, D'Amour regularly carries a .38 revolver. Sigils and markers tattooed on D'Amour's body offer early warning of evil forces and some protection against magic.
Character conception and development In an interview with Fangoria, Clive Barker described Harry D'Amour as "this everyman who is drawn into the heart of darkness over and over again because of some karmic thing which he has no power over".Fangoria #138, 1994. In an interview with the Wired podcast The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy episode 151 (May 23, 2015), Barker said: "Harry is a film noir character in a way. He's a Philip Marlowe via Clive Barker. He's a down-at-the-heel, pissed-off, rather exhausted PI who's based in New York".The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy #151: "It's Finally Time to Say Goodbye to Hellraisers Pinhead" (May 23, 2015).
In the liner notes included with the director's cut of Lord of Illusions, Barker said: "I've travelled a long way with Harry D'Amour. He first appeared in a story I wrote almost a decade ago now, The Last Illusion. Since then, I've recounted his life and troubled times in two novels and some short fiction. I've not made the road very easy for him. His destiny, it seems, is to be in constant struggle with what might be loosely called 'the forces of darkness', though he claims he'd be quite content investigating insurance fraud. His reluctance is, I trust, part of his charm. He's not a Van Helsing, defiantly facing off against some implacable evil with faith and holy water. His antecedents are the troubled, weary and often lovelorn heroes of film noir - private detectives with an eye for a beautiful widow and an aversion to razors".Lord of Illusions - Collector's Edition, released December 2014.
In an interview with Bloody Best of Fangoria in 1993, Clive Barker spoke of his story "The Last Illusion" and its movie adaptation Lord of Illusions: "I've always loved illusionists. There's always a dark side, and illusionists present them to you. It's very much life-and-death illusion - you sawed the woman in half, but she's still alive. They're presented as breezy, funny, entertaining pieces - but, subtextually, they're stories of death and resurrection".Bloody Best of Fangoria Special, 1993.
While filming the adaptation Lord of Illusions, Barker considered actor Scott Bakula the perfect casting choice for Harry D'Amour. On the documentary "The Making of Lord of Illusions" included with the director's cut of the film, Barker said: "He's the Harry I've had in my head for 8 years - no word of a lie. When he stepped on set in costume for the first time, which happened to be into his apartment - the set for his apartment - I thought, 'This is wonderful - this is the man I've been writing about for 8 years'. And that's a real thrill to see an actor so beautifully embody somebody that you've been writing about for such a long time. It's a real thrill. I have to say, they used to say that thing on posters: 'So-and-so is so-and-so'. Well, Scott Bakula is Harry D'Amour, and it really sends a shiver down an author's back".Documentary - "The Making of Lord of Illusions", included with Lord of Illusions: Collector's Edition from Shout! Factory. Later in IDW Publishing's comic book adaptation of The Great and Secret Show, artist Gabriel Rodriguez designed D'Amour to look like Bakula. In the collected edition's afterword "The Great and Annotated Show", comic book scriptwriter Chris Ryall wrote "... there was only one way to portray D'Amour in the comics - namely, the same way he looked in the Lord of Illusions movie. This page garnered me more comments from fans than anything that occurred in any other issue. Everyone seemed very happy that D'Amour looked like he did".The Great and Secret Show comic book collected edition from IDW publishing (2016), Afterword: "The Great and Annotated Show" by Chris Ryall and Gabriel Rodriguez.
Fictional biography Prose continuity A native of New York City, Harry D'Amour is a police officer for some years before leaving the NYPD to become a private investigator. In the 1985 story The Last Illusion, Harry claims it took him "twenty years" to understand that murder can happen with any arbitrary motive and later says he hasn't prayed "in twenty years", but it is unclear if these two remarks are meant to be literal or are exaggerations.
The Last Illusion indicates D'Amour has little knowledge of the supernatural before he is hired by Lomax, a man who wishes evidence of his wife Mimi Lomax's adultery. The case leads D'Amour and a priest named Father Hesse to the Lomax house on Wyckoff Street in Brooklyn, NY. D'Amour and Father Hesse confront Mimi's lover, who reveals himself to be a demon. A battle ensues, resulting in multiple deaths and Mimi being lost to the "Gulfs" (a term some of Clive Barker's demons use to refer to Hell). Harry is traumatized by the case, developing a fear of stairs and no longer sure how he can remain safe if supernatural forces are real.
According to the 2015 novel The Scarlet Gospels, the Lomax case convinced Harry supernatural forces were real and not hallucination but was not his first encounter with a demon. The novel revises Harry's history, saying he had a few encounters with magic as a child, never understanding the truth of these incidents and "secret terrors" and forcing himself to forget and deny they occurred. According to the novel, D'Amour's first conscious realization of the supernatural occurs when he is a police officer and accidentally discovers a demon alongside his partner Sam "Scummy" Schomberg. The demon murders Schomberg and sexually assaults D'Amour before leaving. The trauma of this night leads D'Amour to leave the police force and become a private investigator. The Scarlet Gospels also focuses on his relationship with elderly blind medium Norma Paine, who D'Amour meets after coming to terms with the existence of the supernatural. Norma teaches D'Amour many things about occult magic and entities. D'Amour also meets tattoo artist Caz King who then put sigils on the detective's body to alert him to and/or protect him from supernatural threats.
Since Harry has no protective tattoos in his original story The Last Illusion and seems largely ignorant of the nature of magic and demons, the story must retroactively take place in-between his departure from the NYPD and the time he meets Caz King and Norma Paine.
The Last Illusion states that Harry D'Amour was married for a time but then divorced by his late twenties. It is not clear if the divorce occurred during his time with the NYPD or after he left.
The Last Illusion In the short story The Last Illusion in Books of Blood Volume 6, Harry D'Amour is introduced as a man in his thirties, a divorced private investigator living in New York City. His recent case at the Lomax house on Wyckoff Street in Brooklyn has shaken his views of the world and himself, as he now knows for certain that magic and demonic forces are real. The case also leaves Harry with a fear of stairs for some time.
A famous illusionist named Swann is killed. His wife Dorothea Swann learns of Harry D'Amour from news coverage of the Lomax case in Brooklyn. She hires D'Amour to protect Swann's body while she makes arrangements for cremation, believing her husband's enemies might interfere. D'Amour learns demons want to claim Swann's soul because years ago he made a deal with them, gaining real magic that he then used to become famous while pretending to only be a stage illusionist. Swann's attorney Butterfield convinces Dorothea to release D'Amour from employment. After speaking with Swann's aid Valentin, Harry decides to continue protecting Swann's body regardless of Dorothea's decision. After avoiding and then battling demons, D'Amour succeeds in cremating the magician's body before the demons can take the man's soul. Butterfield, revealed to be a demon, declares Hell won't forget or forgive Harry's actions and that they are enemies from now on. D'Amour answers, "I hope so". Following this, D'Amour regains confidence and decides to prepare for future encounters with the supernatural.
Lost Souls Harry D'Amour next appears in the short story Lost Souls, first printed in a 1985 issue of Time Out Magazine. Set near Christmas time, this story depicts the start of his relationship with Norma Paine, a blind old woman with an inner eye granting her the ability to see beings of the spirit world across great distances. It is also established that D'Amour has now faced the demons of the Gulf frequently. With her sight, Paine assists D'Amour in his hunt for the elusive demon Cha'Chat. Upon cornering the demon, it redirects him to "something wilder", another demon about to be born, before using the distraction to escape. D'Amour also meets Darrieux Marchetti, also known as the Cankerist, a theological assassin who seems to have a vague history with the detective. Marchetti banishes the demon before it can be born and D'Amour returns to Paine's apartment, awaiting his next encounter with Hell.
Books of the Art Harry D'Amour appears in Barker's Books of the Art trilogy of novels. In the first book, the 1989 novel The Great and Secret Show, he plays a small role. He returns as a major character in the second installment, the 1994 novel Everville. The third book has yet to be published.