Leo Walker

Leo Walker Leo takes Colby to Dorian Island because he wants her to feel connected to where she came from. That's what makes his part in Dark Shaman so rough. He isn't dragging her into the woods to investigate a monster. He's her boyfriend, he's worried about her, and he thinks this trip might help her understand a part of herself she's never really felt connected to. Major spoilers for Dark Shaman #1–4, including Leo's ending. He's an accountant, not a supernatural expert. He's also Seminole, while the history they're confronting belongs to Colby's Timucua ancestry. When things start falling apart and everyone wants answers, Leo makes that distinction himself. These aren't his people's traditions, and he can't just explain somebody else's spiritual world because he's Native too. I appreciated that. He cares about her heritage without pretending that makes him qualified to handle what they've awakened. At first, he's doing the things you'd expect from somebody trying to look after the person he loves. He wakes Colby from her nightmares. He checks on her when she falls out of bed. He tries to bring her back when she disappears into these memories that nobody around her understands. Then people start dying, the island freezes over, and the situation gets far beyond anything he can fix by being reassuring. He keeps trying anyway. When he and Colby reach the museum, Leo kicks the door open. When she collapses during another vision, he gives her chest compressions and rescue breaths. She wakes up talking about another lifetime, while he's still trying to get across that she wasn't breathing and he couldn't find a heartbeat. They're experiencing the same emergency from completely different places. She's remembering who she used to be. He's trying not to lose who she is now. Once Colby understands that she was the chief whose brother became the Shaman, Leo helps her get ready to face him. He doesn't suddenly acquire powers or become some legendary warrior. He gets an axe. He gives her a smaller one. When she explains that the feathers and metal she's wearing help her reach those old memories, he accepts that and asks what she needs. Colby tells him he should stay back. Leo won't. He admits he doesn't know how she can beat the Shaman, but he believes she can, and he's staying with her. That choice matters even more after we've watched Ray leave his girlfriend behind to try to escape by boat. Leo is terrified too. He just won't leave Colby to face this alone. And he doesn't get rewarded with a last-minute escape. He fights the attacking panthers with his axe, but they badly injure him. Colby begs the Shaman to let him go. The Shaman claims the souls of the people he kills, and Colby realizes what that would mean for Leo. So she kills Leo herself. The comic is explicit about why: by claiming her lover's soul, she spares him the drifting eternity the Shaman would impose. Leo doesn't get back up. Colby protects him from something worse, but she still loses him. That's the part of Leo's story that stays with me. His contribution is ordinary human loyalty in a situation where ordinary people have almost no chance. He supports Colby before he understands what's happening, helps her when he finally does, and stays when she gives him permission to leave. The ending makes that loyalty hurt instead of turning it into an easy victory.