Carnivale

Occupation: Hitman and bodyguard

Personality type: homicidal

Signature style: scary

Seen by others as: scary

Weaknesses: a lack of imagination

Strengths: the ability to figure out lots of ways to kill people. Also, doesn't scare easily

Varlyn backstory: Varlyn "Bird Dog" killed his sister at the age of 9, when he deliberately overturned a Ferris Wheel car, causing her to fall to her death. He killed his grandfather a few years later. Since then he took up murder for hire for the Milwaukee mob.

Varlyn Stroud is a convict. His original biography gives insight into his criminal past and names Stroud's sister Clara as his first murder. When Clara was nine years old, Stroud deliberately upset a Ferris wheel car so Clara fell to her death. Stroud's second murder was his grandfather three years later, which he covered as a hunting accident. Having possibly committed over a dozen contract-killings, Stroud was never convicted of murder, yet still spent most of his life in prison on a variety of charges. Stroud's story arc in the series begins in season 2 when he hears Brother Justin's radio sermon. Made Brother Justin's apostle in a subliminal message, Stroud escapes prison to find and bring Henry Scudder to Brother Justin. Stroud first tracks Scudder's old life and later follows the route of the carnival. With Ben's unintentional aid, Stroud finally finds the man he is looking for. After delivering Scudder to Brother Justin, Stroud becomes his security manager, which significantly hinders the carnival's aim to kill Brother Justin.