Character Discussion – Shane Collins from Morganville

Posted by SarahBella in Character Discussion | 7 comments

Shane Collins is a somewhat atypical hero.  His mother and sister died at the hands of the Morganville vampires.  Good fodder for the fire right?  Unfortunately, you can’t win in a fight against the vampires.  But try telling that to Shane’s father, Frank.

Frank Collins is leading the rebellion against the vampires and expects Shane to follow in his footsteps.  Shane did, at first, but then he met Claire Danvers.  And then, his best friend became a vampire.  And now Shane is…  Shall we say, conflicted?  He still wants to avenge his mother and sister, but part of him acknowledges that, perhaps, not all vampires are all bad.

There is still an underground movement to destroy all vampires, and it wants Shane.  He just doesn’t want any part of it.  Shane realizes that a working relationship with the vampires could be mutually beneficial.

While Shane is sorting out his feelings for the vampires, he’s also falling further in love with his under-age girlfriend, Claire, which creates an entirely new dilemma for him.  Under-age girlfriend= jailbait.  Overly involved parents of under-age girlfriend = big problems.

Shane knows, almost from day one, that he’s attracted to Claire.  But he also knows that he’s something of a danger magnet, and he doesn’t want Claire getting caught in the crossfire.  He also knows that an eighteen-year-old dating a sixteen-year-old could be seen as amoral and as if he were taking advantage of Claire.  So he does his best to keep his distance.  When that proves impossible, he never loses sight of his number one goal – Claire’s continued safety, both physically and emotionally.

So, Shane Collins is brave (he stands up to the vampires), loyal (to his friends and girlfriend) smart, a good strategist, and loving (he’s friggedy cute with Claire).  He’s also hotheaded, short-tempered, prone to over reacting and sometimes a little chauvinistic.

He’s also my favorite character in the series.  He is frequently the catalyst for conflict and confrontation and without Shane the books wouldn’t be nearly as much fun or as consuming.

♥SB