Richard Cole

Richard Cole is one of the major protagonists in The Power of Five dark fantasy novels by Anthony Horowitz.

Origins
Richard Cole was born in the UK in the 1970s and he had an aptitude towards journalism which he pursued at university. He studied geography and politics, and learned about maps. Although he wanted to live in London, he ended up living in York, which he described as really dull. Richard hated his job, mainly because at his interview, he'd run over the editor.

Anyway, Richard was working in York and he was twenty-eight in 2005, when one day Richard got a visit from a young boy named Matt who said he had a story to tell.

Raven's Gate
Richard had complained about his dull life and boring job to Matt so he got excited when Matt said he now had a story. However, within five minutes of listening to Matt, he got bored and exasperated, with all the talk of dark magic and witchcraft. Matt's story was that he had been sent to a rural home as a punishment by the government and he had been sent to a coven of witches.

Matt sounded desperate but Richard kicked him out, refusing to believe magic or anything else. Matt supposed if he had been in Richard's place he wouldn't have believed it either. However, Richard mulled it over and thought some things in the story made sense, such as the abandoned nuclear power plant named Omega One, and Lesser Malling town with its general oddities. So Richard set out after dinner at the pub to drive through the power plant's grounds, and then he suddenly heard someone calling for help, even though his windows were down. Richard pulled over and saw Matt almost drowning to death in a bog. He got a rope and dragged Matt from the bog, and to his disbelief, saw two giant Rottweilers who had been chasing Matt. Richard saw they were too vicious to handle so he threw a lighter at them, burning them alive.

Richard took Matt to his apartment and got Matt a shower. He then got dinner for him and they talked about the events. Richard believed terrorism was more likely than witchcraft, so he went to see Sir Michael Marsh, a government minister, and found Sir Michael to be extremely unhelpful. So, Richard took Matt to see Susan Ashwood, an insane medium, and Richard took an immediate dislike to Susan, calling her mad. However, Susan did give them one helpful direction, she told Richard to go and see Professor Sanjay Dravid at the Natural History Museum. Richard half-heartedly called Professor Dravid when he and Matt returned to York but Richard hoped Dravid would say no. However, to his dismay, the Professor actually invited them to London and they got a chance to finally meet him. He was the most helpful and sane person they had met so far and he told them - in Richard's view - an insane story about demons taking over the world from the past, who were defeated by Five supernatural children. Matt just didn't understand what this had to do with him but then, when the Professor disappeared to get his keys, he realized he was one of the children! Then the Professor returned, wounded with a stab wound in his neck. He died soon after, telling Richard of the Five. Richard had his world thrown out of proportion as the dinosaur skeletons in the building were possessed by dark magic and got animated, trying to kill them. Despite seeing all this madness going on, Richard was very calm, rationalizing the dinosaur skeletons were blind and needed sound to attract them. He lured himself over to a far corner to lure the dinosaurs away from Matt, which worked, although the dinosaur skeletons destroyed themselves in an effort to kill Richard. He was imprisoned under a ribcage, and presumed dead, but this was not the case. In reality, Richard was captured by Jayne Deverill, Matt's evil guardian, and her henchman Noah, who took Richard to the Omega One station to be chained up.

So, Matt was bought in one night and met Richard, relieved that Richard was alive. Sir Michael had actually betrayed Matt by revealing himself as the lead witch of the coven. He prepared to free Chaos and the Old Ones. However, Sir Michael's sacrifice was stopped by Matt, who worked out how to control his powers. He managed to only release Chaos, who killed Sir Michael and destroyed the coven, and then was banished back to Hell.

On the way out, Richard was attacked and almost killed by Jayne Deverill who was insane with rage. She tried to strangle Richard, but he knocked her back into a vat of acid in self-defense. Richard told Matt not to look as he watched Jayne burn to death in a gruesome manner.

The two made it out of the plant in the underground river, and the power plant exploded. Richard scanned the papers keenly for news on the incident, but found nothing to his disappointment. He got a visit then from Fabian, an agent of the Nexus, who said that he had been told not to publish the story Richard sent them. However, even though Richard was infuriated, he wisely accepted Fabian's life-saving money and offer of a new school for Matt. Richard was also told about a second Gate in Peru, to his dismay, and Richard vowed to never get mixed in with magic. However, Matt said it was his destiny now, him and the other four Gatekeepers.

In Peru
One day four months later, Richard was visited in his flat by Susan Ashwood and Fabian, just when he had come home early from work, having sacked his own job and deciding to stay with Matt, based on argument the two had that morning. Matt hated his new school because the boys and teachers were all bullies. However, Matt chose not to go to Peru, despite Fabian's insistence, and Richard agreed. He watched a DVD about the unearthing of the Diary of Saint Joseph, then he dismissed Susan and Fabian from the flat.

Meanwhile, Matt's brainwashed aunt, Gwenda Davis, was hitchhiking North to York. She bashed a driver's head in when he stopped to give her a lift, and then narrowly avoided killing Matt's entire school. Matt had evacuated them all because of a premonition he had moments before. This got the Nexus back into it, and they summoned Richard and Matt to London. Richard was able to find out a bit more about Fabian, that his previous claim of marriage was a lie. Richard then attended the meeting of the Nexus, amazed at how many famous people were present, such as the chief of police, Tarrant, and Nathalie Johnson. Richard was disappointed when everyone chose to go to Peru, and Tarrant got them fake identities and passports to let them in. Richard waited impatiently while the Nexus urged Matt to meet William Morton, a bookseller, and the meeting ended bad when Morton was stabbed in the back. Another buyer, Diego Salamanda, wanted the Diary of Saint Joseph that Morton had, and that Diary was why the Nexus sent Matt to meet Morton.

Richard went with Matt to the airport in Lima, Peru, and were met by a man who claimed to be Fabian's chauffeur. Almost immediately they were ambushed. Richard was immediately grabbed, and to his shock, his driver abandoned them. Richard yelled at Matt to run, and that was the last he saw of Matt for almost a month, while Matt met Pedro and tried to survive.

Meanwhile, Richard was taken to a safehouse with his attackers, who he actually found out were on his side. The attackers were all Incas, and they wanted Matt, because they were his allies. So, Richard was ashamed for telling Matt to flee, but the Incas treated him well, taking him to their legendary city, Vilcabamba. It was high up in the mountains and Richard hated heights so he almost threw up coming down the cliff.

Finally, Richard met Matt, weeks later, when he arrived in Vilcabamba under Inca protection. So they joined in a meeting with the prince of the Incas, who liked Richard. Richard and Matt with Pedro attended a party where Richard thanked Pedro for protecting Matt.

Now they prepared to visit Professor Joanna Chambers, a white professor who lived in Peru who knew all about the history and the Nazca Lines, an ancient artefact. Richard was called into a meeting with the Inca prince and soothsayer, where he was thanked for helping Matt, and said he had been chosen to protect the Gatekeepers. Richard believed otherwise, it was chance, but he was given an Invisible Sword by the Inca prince, a golden spear, which would be literally invisible to any security guard or enemy, and he would have it always, but one day Richard would regret having it and curse the soothsayer for giving it to him.

At Professor Chamber's house, she explained the Nazca Lines to Richard, and seemed to take a liking to him. When they went out at night to explore the Nazca Lines, she and Richard got talking over astronomy and the Lines whereas Pedro and Matt got jumpy and scared of some external threat, turning out to be possessed condors attacking them, narrowly missing killing them all.

Richard later broke into Salamanda's headquarters with Matt and Pedro, to stop Salamanda opening the Gate. Richard saw there that Fabian was a traitor to the Nexus and an associate of Salamanda's. Richard was extremely shocked by this. He realized the chauffeur had been with Salamanda and Fabian had tried to get Matt killed. Then Captain Rodriguez, an evil policeman, came in and recognized Richard, trying to kill him. However, the policeman was crushed to death by the ceiling before he could kill anyone. Richard then learned there was another mobile home in the desert Salamanda was in. So, to his disappointment, Matt and Pedro went off with Atoc, an Inca, to stop Salamanda.

However, when Professor Chambers whisked Richard off at three in the morning to save Matt and Pedro, Richard saw the whole desert uprooted. He found Matt, almost dead, with Pedro with a broken ankle. Richard grabbed Matt and ran to hospital. There, he waited at Professor Chamber's house, refusing to eat, until Pedro realized his power was radiesthesia, the healing power, and came to heal Matt.

Three days later, Matt told Richard to his shock, that they lost and the Old Ones were here in the world.

London and Scarlett Adams
Some days later, they were joined by Jamie Tyler and his brother Scott, the other two Gatekeepers. Scott was a sociopath and refused to mix with them because of his torture by the evil Nightrise Corporation. Richard doubted Scott but never believed he would sell them to the Old Ones. Meanwhile, Jamie filled them in on the history of the Old Ones and their war with the Five, because he had actually gone back in time to be there.

Months later, a schoolgirl went missing for two days in a London church - the same church Matt had disappeared in for a few minutes. Matt knew she had gone through a door which was a portal for the Five to use. However, Scarlett Adams, the Fifth Gatekeeper, ended up in the Ukraine and escaped evil monks in league with the Old Ones. Richard knew it was the last Gatekeeper, and set off for London, booking plane tickets for them.

Richard was visited by a young man from Peru that night, who had been sent by the Old Ones to give the Five the Diary. He had been brainwashed of his guilt for helping Salamanda unlock the Gate. Richard was then shocked when he just handed over the Diary, even more so when the messenger was killed by zombies who also wounded and killed Professor Chambers. Richard then mourned over the professor's death with the others.

When Matt suggested splitting up Jamie and Scott so Pedro could heal Scott, Richard was the only one on Matt's side.

Richard pretended to be Jamie and Matt's teacher when he took them to Miami, then onto London.

However, the moment they got to London, Scarlett left London for Hong Kong. One of the Old Ones was waiting to split them up and he caused a pileup wounding their driver. Richard realized the man before them was one of the Old Ones, meeting the enemy for the first time. Then Richard told Matt not to use his powers and fight the creature. He told him to wait for the police. Then they went to Scarlett's to find she had left already.

Hong Kong
The Nexus called another meeting, and it was decided they go to Hong Kong, but not by the door portals. Because they would be watched by the Old Ones. So, they flew in. They got welcomed by the Triads, the last people Richard expected. The Triads gave Matt a test, a sword ladder, to climb, which horrified and disgusted Richard. However, Matt was the first person to climb the sword ladder successfully. Richard hated the Triads and would rather abandon the Old Ones and the Triads to function by himself.

Almost immediately, they were betrayed by the Triads' sailor, and gunned at by the Old Ones and police. Matt got imprisoned and Jamie and Richard set off for him. They finally met Scarlett, who was with Matt. She was able to use her weather-controlling powers to protect them from the typhoon which was destroying Hong Kong. She got them into the temple, but Scott and Pedro burst through the door, finally uniting the Five. However, Scott saved Jamie from an assassin's bullet, and it hit Scarlett in the head. Richard grabbed Scarlett, and ran through the door with her. All the Five followed and Hong Kong got destroyed.

In the future
Now, Richard was in Egypt, and he was disappointed by the teleportation. Instead of flashing lights or magic, it was just darkness. Unknown to him, it was a ten-year imprisonment in Limbo, while the world got from bad to worse and every city got bombed, and most of humanity got slaughtered by the Old Ones. Richard saw one of the Old Ones, a shape-changer, which got sliced in half by enemy forces. These enemy forces rescued Richard and Scarlett, who got healed by a surgeon. One of the Nexus, a man named Albert Remy, was at the Cairo offices with them and he welcomed them and told Richard of all the tragedy which had happened.

Richard then realized their commander, Tarik, was in fact an evil man corrupted by war, and a child abuser, using young boys as soldiers. So Richard committed his first murder and decided to kill Tarik for abusing the survivors. He switched the bomb installed by Tarik in his Jeep, and put it on Tarik's Jeep instead. Tarik wanted to kill Field Marshall Karim el-Akkad who ruled Cairo, and was with the Old Ones, but he wanted Richard and Scarlett to be suicide bombers. So Richard watched with satisfaction as Tarik's Jeep blew up, killing Tarik.

Richard set off through the Middle East to Dubai, with Scarlett, running into Martins, a disgruntled pilot whose friend was under execution by Sheik Rasheed. Richard and Scarlett infiltrated the sheik's palace and Scarlett beat him at bingo, impressing him. Richard then got Martins' friend out of prison by urging the sheik's depressed wife to do it for him. Then they escaped the sheik's men and flew to Antarctica, where Scarlett had been having a dream where Matt met the Five and told them to go to Antarctica.

Richard fought in the battle against the Old Ones on the ice plain of Oblivion with the World Army, but most of them got slaughtered. Matt cracked an ice sheet to protect the survivors from the enemy. Then a man, Omar, arrived from Oblivion telling them Scott wanted to defect to them. Richard saw a trap and told Matt not to go. But Matt had read his life story in the Dreamworld, and he knew it was destiny, so he went and was sold by Scott to the Old Ones. Him and Richard were captured.

Whereas Matt was taken to be humiliated and tortured forever, Richard was first just left to rot in a cell. However, the second chairman of Nightrise came to take Richard to Matt's execution. Richard could not stand the twisted sight, so he drew the Inca dagger, finally realizing its purpose, and committed his second murder, by killing Matt, although it was a mercy killing, to save him from the pain.

Richard noted Matt now found peace in his death. However, an earthquake happened and the chairman screamed to kill Richard, but Richard broke the chairman's wrist, and then a stalagmite fell on the chairman, impaling him. Richard escaped the prison and stumbled out when it all collapsed. He saw Scott dead too, but curiously enough, Scott was also present, alive. Because the original Scott and Matt had returned to kill the Old Ones. Now Richard bonded with the past Matt, and saw it was really the same Matt he had known.

Richard knew the Five's work was over and he let them go to the Dreamworld after a final meal. Then he went back with the other survivors - Lohan, the Triad leader, and an English villager, Holly - and got back to London with them. Richard became very good friends with Holly and he went to find a new town with her. They were joined by the Traveller and his friends. Then they settled down in a little village and were slowly joined by more of humanity and it kept going until society was back to normal.

Richard lived out the last of his days in peace and had an unknown wife, and a son, whom he named Matt in memory of the Gatekeeper. However, Holly told him one day they would both join the Five n the Dreamworld, indicating the Dreamworld is the Afterlife.