History Characters / Legion2017

* HighClassGloves: After she becomes Charles' fiancée, she wears green gloves as she's leaving the hospital to add flair to her splendid attire. As the future wife of an affluent Englishman, the gloves reflect her new social status.

* IJustWantToHaveFriends: He's so desperate to befriend other mutants that when he finds one in Morocco with [[PsychicRadar Cerebro]] (which he assembled with own hands in order to search for mutants globally), he travels halfway across the world just to meet a fellow telepath. He even ignores how [[QuakingWithFear afraid]] he was when he first sensed Farouk's mind, which should've been a warning to Charles that Farouk is extremely dangerous. Creator/HarryLloyd [[https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/legion-cements-charles-xavier-and-gabrielles-tragic-love-story-and-davids-doomed-fate clarifies]] on the loneliness that his character feels:

* RuleOfSexy: After Creator/HarryLloyd was [[https://collider.com/harry-lloyd-legion-season-3-interview-charles-xavier/ given the part]] of Charles Xavier without having to go through the audition process, the actor was informed by Creator/NoahHawley that he would get to [[https://ew.com/tv/2019/02/07/legion-harry-lloyd-professor-xavier/ keep his hair]] instead of aiming for the iconic bald look of the comic book character. Just like with Creator/JamesMcAvoy in the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'' (who was also instructed to [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/x-men-star-james-mcavoy-705595/ not shave his head]]), the bigwigs at the studio wanted the younger Professor X to be [[PrettyBoy attractive]], and Lloyd's casting was obviously inspired by how [=McAvoy=]'s role was originally depicted.

* IJustWantToHaveFriends: He's so desperate to befriend other mutants that when he finds one in Morocco with Cerebro, he travels halfway across the world just to meet a fellow telepath. He even ignores how [[QuakingWithFear afraid]] he was when he first sensed Farouk's mind, which should've been a warning to Charles that Farouk is extremely dangerous. Creator/HarryLloyd [[https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/legion-cements-charles-xavier-and-gabrielles-tragic-love-story-and-davids-doomed-fate clarifies]] on the loneliness that his character feels:

--->You're right, it's my fault. I've been naïve. [...] See, I came here for friendship. Because I've been to war, David. I've seen what people do. But this Farouk, he... He's a monster.

* WideEyedIdealist: He's idealistic compared to the more cynical Gabrielle, and he later admits to David that he's naïve.
-->'''Charles''': We can change.\\

** The series takes place in an AlternateUniverse which is separate from the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'', so the Charles Xavier portrayed by Creator/HarryLloyd has a different life from the Creator/PatrickStewart-Creator/JamesMcAvoy [[Characters/XMenFilmSeriesProfessorCharlesXavier version]]. He's a full-blooded Englishman instead of being half-British, half-American, he was a young adult instead of a child during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and fought as a British army officer, plus he got married and had a son instead of remaining a bachelor and childless. The most glaring deviation is that he never establishes the X-Men.

* SmallRoleBigImpact: He's only featured in 3 episodes out of 27, but because he's the show's UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom, his act of meeting Farouk in Morocco and then fighting him on the astral plane is the root cause of his son David eventually following path towards supervillainy and then destroying the world. In the series finale, Charles assists in generating an AlternateTimeline by negotiating a truce with Present Farouk and convincing David to accept it.

* AdaptationalBackstoryChange:
** In the comics, David Haller was born in Israel as the illegitimate son of Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller. He was an only child and was raised by his single mother. In the show, David Xavier was born in America as the legitimate son of Charles Xavier and his wife Gabrielle. He was given up for adoption when he was still a baby and was taken in by the Haller family, where he grew up with two adoptive parents and an adoptive sister.

* BrokenBird: Because she's a Romani Holocaust survivor who had witnessed her entire family being slaughtered by Nazis and she was also a prisoner in a concentration camp, she is ''extremely'' pessimistic. Although she's not suicidal, her conversation with Syd strongly hints that she feels that she's merely existing (rather than truly living) because of a basic survival instinct, but otherwise she's not keen about life. Gabrielle loves her husband Charles and their infant son David, and Charles has provided them with a lovely mansion in a safe, idyllic suburb, yet her new comfortable environment cannot erase the horrors that she has endured, nor heal the psychological wounds that they've inflicted.

* BrokenBird: Because she's a Romani Holocaust survivor who had witnessed her entire family being slaughtered by Nazis and she was also a prisoner in a concentration camp, she is ''extremely'' pessimistic. Although she's not suicidal, her conversation with Syd strongly hints that she feels that she's merely existing (rather than truly living) because of a basic survival instinct, but otherwise she's not keen about life. Gabrielle loves her husband Charles and their infant son David, and Charles has provided them with a lovely house in a safe, idyllic suburb, yet her new comfortable environment cannot erase the horrors that she has endured, nor heal the psychological wounds that they've inflicted.

** The series takes place in an AlternateUniverse which is separate from the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'', so the Charles Xavier portrayed by Creator/HarryLloyd has a different life from the Creator/PatrickStewart-Creator/JamesMcAvoy version. He's a full-blooded Englishman instead of being half-British, half-American, he was a young adult instead of a child during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and fought as a British army officer, plus he got married and had a son instead of remaining a bachelor and childless. The most glaring deviation is that he never establishes the X-Men.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: After [[spoiler:Amy's body was taken over by Lenny due to Farouk's machinations, David is furious and confronts Farouk with this. Farouk in return replies that he thought that this would make David happy. As Farouk inhabited David's mind for almost 30 years, he also knew that David sometimes wished for Amy to die.]]

* MindOverMatter: David displays a more crazed and destructive variant of telekinesis similar to Literature/{{Carrie}} or [[Manga/{{Akira}} Tetsuo]]. [[spoiler:However, once he frees his mind from Farouk, he can use telekinesis more calmly and efficiently.]]
* MindRape: David is a powerful telepath, allowing him to invade the minds of other people and hurt them mentally.
** In Chapter 18, he [[spoiler:tortures Oliver, still believing that he is possessed by Farouk, to learn where Syd is]].
** In Chapter 19, he [[spoiler:mentally [[LaserGuidedAmnesia blocks a part of Syd's memories]] after she tried to shoot him, and then in her confused state has mental sex with her. It's her calling him out on that, that makes him stop insisting for a moment that [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil he is good]]]].

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: In Episode 5, after [[spoiler:he escapes from the Astral Plane with Lenny's help]], he arrives at Summerland showing more confidence and cockiness, with some dangerous KubrickStare and able to stand up more to everything, and is even more upfront with being with Syd, [[spoiler:even creating a room in the Astral Plane where they can touch and sleep together for the first time]]. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by Melanie, which remarks that David looks, sounds and acts different, less "fragile". [[spoiler:These are all {{foreshadowing}} signs that David's mind is being co-piloted by Lenny/The Devil With Yellow Eyes.]]
* ParentalAbandonment: [[spoiler:His biological parents gave him away for adoption. His adoptive father died before the series, but what happened to his adoptive mother is not known, as she is nowhere to be seen or even mentioned in the present.]]
* PhysicalGod: The head of Division 3 outright calls him one in Chapter 3, when describing his power potential.

* RealityWarper: When he and Syd switch bodies in Chapter 1, she loses control of his powers, seals herself and the other patients at Clockworks inside their rooms, and ''removes the doorways''. Not just the doors, but ''completely walling them in''. [[spoiler: Poor Lenny gets {{Telefrag}}ged in the process.]]

* {{Sadist}}: In Chapter 18, [[spoiler:David realizes that he takes pleasure in imagining how he can kill Farouk. Farouk in the same episode also makes Syd believe that when David killed and tortured others, he visibly enjoyed it.]]

* SplitPersonality: As Cary points out, though, David suffers from literal schizphrenia - ''split mind''. The Shadow King was inside David for 30 years. David also created a "rational" mind that helps him sort things out when he is stuck in a mental prison the Shadow King put him in. [[spoiler:Then there are the other personalities he talks to...]]

* TalkingToThemself: [[spoiler:David has multiple personalities in his head that "advice" him, them being the titular Legion. While in Season 1 his "rational mind" helps him in a positive way, in Season 2 it's portrayed as very disturbing when he is confronted by Division 3 and they see him talking to these personalities of his.]]

* {{Teleportation}}: Best demonstrated in Chapter 3, when he teleports himself, Melanie, and Ptonomy out of the chamber where they normally handle their memory work. He can also teleport things (and presumably people) away from himself, as he did with the machine in Chapter 2. [[spoiler: Amy remembers David being able to suddenly appear in places he shouldn't have, such as turning up outside after she left him in the bath.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: Over the course of the first season he learns how to control his powers. [[spoiler: By the end, he's able to non-lethally take down a platoon of Division 3 troops [[PowersDoTheFighting with a swipe of his hand]], and manages to almost defeat the Shadow King on his own.]]

* LackOfEmpathy: He ruthlessly exploits Switch's TimeTravel ability (which is ''extremely'' taxing for her body) to the point where her teeth are falling out, she experiences RapidAging, and by "Chapter 26", she's dying. He has zero regard for her well-being, and he continues to insist that she uses her power to help him even though she desperately needs to rest. Charles disapproves of David treating Switch like a tool instead of a person.

* GreaterScopeParagon: He was the one to defeat the Shadow King three decades ago, to the point where the latter is still in a weakened state even after feeding off of David's abilities for 30 years. In the series finale, it's hinted that Professor X will open that school he's so famous for...

* InTheBlood: In "Chapter 22", he expresses his concern that his telepathic ability might be passed down to his infant son, knowing full well how isolating and dangerous it can be.
-->'''Charles''': What if I pass it on to him? And he ends up like me?

* AntagonisticOffspring: Sydney seems very hostile towards her mother, probably due to her coldness during Syd's childhood. She tries to seduce one of her partners by switching bodies with her unconscious mother, seemingly unconcerned that this crosses boundaries both against the boyfriend and against her mother. She is also very hostile against the maternal Melanie when it comes to David, though Melanie wisely refrains from responding in kind.
** Averted in "Chapter 25", [[spoiler:when Syd, freshly erased from both her body and her original personality, re-lives her life in the astral plane with Melanie and Oliver.]]

** The series takes place in an AlternateUniverse which is separate from the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'', so the Charles Xavier portrayed by Creator/HarryLloyd has a different life from the Creator/PatrickStewart-Creator/JamesMcAvoy version. He's a full-blooded Englishman instead of being half-British, half-American, he was a young adult instead of a child during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and fought as a British army officer, plus he got married and had a son instead of remaining a bachelor and childless.
** Once the AlternateTimeline kicks in near the end of "Chapter 27", Charles is committed to being a FamilyMan and take care of David. This is a big change from the previous timeline where he gave up his son for adoption.