"I need you by my side if I am to rekindle the faith." - The Guardian
Jaffa, known by his title The Guardian, was the leader of The Chosen, a cult worshipping the teachings of Zoot.
Personality
The Guardian's personality is that of extreme fanaticism. He may truly believe that he is serving the just cause by obeying, unconditionally the words of Zoot but oddly he sees no conflict in persecuting Trudy, who is the mother of Zoot's Child, Ebony who could be considered Zoot's consort, and Bray who is Zoot's brother.
The Guardian can go from compassionate and quiet to a furious fit of rage in seconds. He has no tolerance for deviance from his and the only philosophy that matters to him. He believes that he is truly doing the work of Zoot.
History
The Guardian was originally a Loco but after the tribe disbanded, he managed to form a new tribe called The Chosen with many former Locos. Under his leadership, they kidnap Brady and Trudy. Months later, Trudy returns to the Mallrats claiming The Chosen had fallen apart and had taken that opportunity to escape. While most of the Mallrats believed her, Cloe and May had their suspicions about Trudy as she seemed to have changed after returning. In reality, Trudy had been brainwashed and was secretly working with the still active Chosen, plotting the City's downfall. Not long after, The Chosen executed an invasion of the city which was successful. The Guardian moved The Chosen's headquarters to the Mall and had many of the tribal leaders taken away, such as Danni.
At first he names Trudy as the Supreme Mother based on the fact that she is, after all, the mother of Zoot's child, and Brady is to be a sacred child amongst the two. However, when Trudy finds out that the Guardian had been meeting with Tai-San in secret and comes onto him out of desperation, the Guardian banishes her and replaces her with Tai-San who becomes the next Supreme Mother.
As the Guardian comes to know Tai-San, he begins to respect her out of her purity and spiritual beliefs. Hoping to convert her, he meets with her privately to discuss spiritual matters and her views on things. Tai-San, noticing that the Guardian is developing an interest in her, uses this to her advantage by attempting to lead him astray and see the errors of his ways. Her attempts manage to get him to be confused on the way he feels towards her; thinking her to be the most pure out of all the Mallrats, and manages to get him to set up a sort of "date" where they go drinking in his room. All times she meets with the Guardian, he gets close to Tai-San, nearly or almost making physical contact with her, but all times he backs away and sends her away to pray with Zoot. The Guardian is quite fond of her and, although he would never admit it, he does like her, despite her being with Lex.
When the Guardian attempts to implode the mall with a bomb, killing everyone in it, there's only one thing to stop the action: to get the code from the man himself. When Bray appears on the scene, dressed like Zoot, he believes that he is Zoot that has finally come to his "shrine". However, "Zoot" says that he's unhappy with The Guardian, trying to destroy his sacred ground. Bray says to give him the code and put a stop to this, and the Guardian collapses to the ground, with Tai-San asking him what the code is. He first whispers "Six", and then "Six" and then, hesitatingly, "zero". Tai-San notices something is off and instead answers "Six", which proved to be the correct code. The bomb was diffused.
The Guardian is then taken captive and spends time in a cell, locked to himself apparently losing his mind. Tai-San makes an effort to feed him daily, three times a day, and she eventually passes this job onto Lex, who passes it onto Andy. When Andy takes the Guardian's ring, the Guardian tells him to get the key or he'll bite his hand off. Due to this and later encounters with the Guardian, Andy finds that the Guardian is far from insane, and is well aware of what is going on, terrifying anyone who sees him.
When he was released from the cell by Ned and put into a coffin, being taken to the hideaway of where Trudy and Amber were, he managed to kill Ned and run away, looking for Tai-San. His one-sided infautuation with Tai-San eventually lead him to begging her to join him to recreate The Chosen, again as the Supreme Mother. Tai-San explains that he must get away, to which he replies, "Yes. Far away. Together. You and I. Together. You must. I need you by my side if I am to rekindle the faith." When Tai-San expresses disapproval and rejection, he shouts at her, "Don't argue with me! I forbid you to argue!" She realizes his mental stability and apologizes, causing him to smile and say that they should go that night. Tai-San declares that she cannot, and leads him to come to the realization that they still need Brady to recreate the Divine Family. Tai-San agrees to deliver Brady to him and they can leave the next day. However, Tai-San tells the Mallrats of her plan to ambush The Guardian instead, and the next day, they manage to capture him yet again. Ebony urges the rest of the tribe to arrange an execution immediately -- all the while The Guardian tells Bray and Amber of Ebony's plan to set him free.
Later, Alice sneaks into his cell room to kill him, since he killed Ned, whom she loved. Luke appears on the scene, attempting to coax her into letting the Guardian out of the headlock she has him in, and to let him go. Alice yells that she must do this for Ned. She lets him go, and collapses to the ground, and Luke rushes to her aid. While doing so, the Guardian begins to choke Luke, telling him, "Thank you for saving my life."
The Guardian kidnapped Luke and offered him to rejoin The Chosen, attempting to leave on a boat for to a "safe-house for all the believers." Just then, the Technos planes invaded the city. The Guardian somehow was aware of their coming, having apparently seen something before he was recaptured by Mallrats, but for a time it was unknown how he truly knew this. In Season 5, he is seen with Alice and KC locked in a cage, having apparently been captured by the invading Technos and sold into slavery. His behavior suggests that he has indeed truly lost his mind and is every bit just as fanatical as he once was, praising Zoot and giving thanks for everything to Zoot.
In The Tribe: A New Dawn, The Guardian reappears alongside Eloise and the Zootists. Whether he escaped or was released is unknown. In The Tribe: A New World, it is revealed that when The Guardian told Lex that the "true bringers of Power and Chaos" were coming, he was not necessarily referring to the Technos.
Trivia
- In the first Season 2 pre-tribe episode, the Guardian was originally called Jaffa and was in the same class as Martin. He sat behind Trudy in class but she did not seem to remember or notice that he was in her class as revealed in Season 3 Episode 11 when she was confused at Ebony calling him Jaffa.
- It is mentioned in Season 3 Episode 11 that The Guardian used to be a Loco.
- The Guardian's code to diffuse the bomb in the Mall was "666", the sign of the Devil, Satan. This was probably intended as in The New Tomorrow, Zoot is seen as a Satan-like figure, thus making sense for the code to be as such.
- When The Guardian told Lex "the true bringers of Power and Chaos" were coming during the Techno invasion, it might suggest he had some inside connection to The Collective. As he ended up with Eloise and the Zootists on the Island, who closely worked under the instructions of Kami.