Dark Shadows/Q

Quentin Collins (I)
In 1840, Quentin Collins was one of three brothers living at the gothic mansion known as Collinwood in the town of Collinsport, Maine. The favorite son of his mentally troubled father Daniel Collins, Quentin stood to inherit the entire family fortune. This position brought him into frequent conflict with his scheming brother, Gabriel (Christopher Pennock). Quentin was married to a woman named Samantha Drew, with whom he had a son named Tad.

While Tad was still a young boy, his father spent a great deal of time at sea. During this time, Quentin became close friends with a fellow seaman named Gerard Stiles (James Storm). While the two developed a deep friendship, Gerard secretly longed to be with Quentin's wife. At some point in 1839, Quentin had an affair with a woman named Joanna Mills. His wife Samantha eventually discovered the affair and secretly murdered Joanna, making it look as if she had taken her own life.

At one point, Quentin was committed to managing his family's business enterprises, but eventually forsook his professional pursuits in favor of studying the occult. Quentin also fancied himself an amateur inventor and used his knowledge of the occult to develop a device that he called his "Stairway Through Time". He persistently labored to build his staircase in a cellar room at Collinwood. It was Quentin's belief, that ascending the staircase could open a dimensional portal through which individuals could view and even interact with the future. What Quentin never realized however, was that his staircase also created a divergent parallel reality (this functioned as the genesis for several storylines which took place in parallel dimensions). Quentin's devotion towards his work gave Gerard the means by which to manipulate and ultimately betray him.

By 1840 Quentin's marriage with Samantha deteriorated even further, and she began spending more and more time with Gerard. Quentin meanwhile began having an affair with his son's governess, Daphne Harridge, the sister of Quentin's former lover, Joanna Mills.

Gerard meanwhile had fallen prey to the spirit of a disembodied warlock named Judah Zachery. Judah wanted revenge against the entire Collins family for sentencing him to death in the late 1600s. Judah's spirit took possession of Gerard Stiles and used him as a secret weapon against the Collins family. Working alongside a disreputable clergyman named Reverend Lamar Trask, Gerard convinced the local authorities that Quentin was a Satanist and that he had used his knowledge of the dark arts to murder a young woman named Lorna Bell, as well as his own brother-in-law, Randall Drew. Quentin was arrested and taken to prison. When his ailing father, Daniel, heard the news concerning Quentin's arrest, he changed his will leaving the entire Collins family fortune to Gerard Stiles.

With the aid of his brother Carl and his "distant" cousin Barnabas, Quentin escaped the gallows and eloped with Daphne Harridge. The two left Collinsport forever to make a new life for themselves.

Quentin Collins (II)
Quentin Collins was born in Collinsport, Maine in the year 1870. He was the youngest of four siblings which included Edward, Carl and sister Judith. Even as a child, Quentin was the black sheep of the family. He always believed the others to be overwhelmingly full of themselves was particularly cruel to Judith, who nursed a lifelong resentment of her brother.

Quentin's bad attitude towards his family followed him into adulthood and he despised the fact that his older brother Edward became the patriarch of the Collins family estate. Quentin did however maintain some positive connections while living at Collinwood. He carried on a love affair with the household maid, Beth Chavez and was very close to Edward's son, Jamison.

In the year 1896, Quentin Collins left Collinwood to find his fortune abroad. The others were more than just a little pleased to see him go and hoped that he would never return. The only one who genuinely mourned Quentin's absence was the child, Jamison. Quentin returned a year later, much to the surprise of everyone at Collinwood. Jamison had written him while he was off at sea that his grandmother, Edith Collins, was in failing health and would die soon. Quentin saw this as his opportunity to secure his share of the family inheritance. Upon arriving home, he immediately visited his grandmother and tried to win her over with his traditional charm, but Edith wasn't fooled. She knew that Quentin was only being nice to her because he wanted something - and Quentin always wanted something.

Another family member who was distraught by Quentin's return was sister Judith. She knew that Quentin's presence threatened her own aims when it came to the family fortune and offered him $1,5000 of her personal savings if he would agree to leave. Quentin countered that the only person who could get him to leave Collinwood would be Jamison, and assured her that if he asked him to go, he would obey the boy's wishes. Judith tried manipulating Jamison into asking Quentin to leave, but he refused to go along with her.