| Abdi Howlwadaag | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abdi Howlwadaag | |
| Aliases: | Abdi Omar [1] |
| Continuity: | Castle Rock |
| Gender: | Male |
| Notability: | Main character |
| Type: | Businessman |
| Race: | Human |
| Location: | Somalia, Africa Jerusalem's Lot, Maine |
| Relatives: | Kalifo Howlwadaag Nadia Howlwadaag Reginald Merrill John Merrill Chris Merrill |
| Status: | Alive |
| First: | "Let the River Run" |
| Actor: | Barkhad Abdi Idiris Yusuf |
Abdi Howlwadaag is a fictional business owner and one of the main characters featured in the Castle Rock television series, which aired on Hulu. He appeared in the season two storyline, beginning with "Let the River Run". He was primarily played by actor Barkhad Abdi. Actor Idiris Yusuf played Abdi in flashback scenes.
Biography[]
Abdi Howlwadaag grew up in Somalia with his sister, Nadia. In 1993, when they were both still young teens, they bore unfortunate witness to the carnage wrought as a result of the Somali Civil War. Abdi managed to find himself an assault rifle, which he wanted to keep for home defense. When his mother, Kalifo saw this, she slapped him and took the gun away. Moments later, American soldiers scouted the back streets. When they saw Abdi and Nadia, they ordered them to get onto the ground. Kalifo ran out of the house in a panic, still carrying the gun that she took from Abdi. Abdi screamed at her to put it down, but one American soldier, Reginald "Pop" Merrill, reacted on instinct and shot her to death. [2]
Merrill was consumed with guilt and grief for gunning down an innocent. As a way of making amends for what he did, he secretly adopted Abdi and Nadia and brought them to the United States. It would be years before the siblings would learn that it was Pop Merrill who was responsible for killing their mother. Abdi and Nadia grew up with Pop's other adopted children, who were actually his nephews - Ace Merrill and Chris Merrill.
Living in the town of Jerusalem's Lot, Maine, Abdi became a business owner, and Nadia became a doctor. As years passed, Abdi eventually learned the truth about why Pop adopted the Somalians, but he chose to keep this painful detail from his sister.
Pop Merrill had purchased a tract of land which he gave to Abdi for the development of a shopping district for a Somali community. Abdi was always at odds with Ace, who disagreed with Pop for giving Abdi control of the shopping district. Tensions between the business rivals would become heated, and sometimes violent, resulting in Ace fire-bombing Abdi's house. [3]
One of Ace Merrill's tenants was Annie Wilkes, who had a teenage daughter named Joy. When Annie had a psychotic episode that resulted in her harming her daughter, Nadia intervened and had Joy stay with Abdi for a few days. Abdi reluctantly allowed Annie to meet with Joy for a limited period of time, and under his direct supervision. [4]
Abdi's life became truly bizarre after this. As it turned out, the spirits of a 400-year-old cult that had first colonized Jerusalem's Lot, were taking possession of various citizens, including Ace Merrill. They were biding their time until the town's 400th anniversary parade, at which point, they would resurrect their prophet, Amity Lambert. They used a statue of an unidentified "angel" to mesmerize all those who looked upon it. Abdi was fortunate in that he remained free of the mass hypnosis.
Abdi met up with others who had not been mesmerized, including Pop, Nadia, Annie Wilkes, and Georgia LaChance. They barricaded themselves inside Pop's shop, the Emporium Galorium, as cultists led by the possessed Ace Merrill surrounded the building. Nadia reminded Abdi of a game they use to play when they were children wherein they would jump train tracks just before the train arrived. Knowing the train schedule and that it would take at least half an hour for the train to pass, they concluded that this would be a good way to separate themselves from the mob - if they could get there in time. Pop, whose health was failing him, knew he would be a liability, so he elected to remain behind to distract Ace, giving Abdi and the others time to escape from the basement of the Emporium Galorium and get to the train tracks. The group had to fight their way past various cultists as the mob began storming the building, but they succeeded in escaping and making their way past the train tracks just as the train came along. [5]
Abdi, Nadia, Georgia, and Annie all worked on a plan to destroy the Marsten House, up on a hill above Jerusalem's Lot, which is where the cult had maintained its base of operations. While Annie and Georgia labored to get inside the house to rescue Joy Wilkes (who had been chosen to be the vessel for cult prophet Amity Lambert), Abdi and Nadi gathered up explosives, which they planted in a series of underground tunnels that ran beneath Marsten House. After Annie got Joy to safety, Abdi and Nadia detonated the explosives, destroying the house, and all of the cultists within. Unfortunately, one of the people inside the house was Pop Merrill. However, Abdi and Pop were able to exchange a few brief words with one another seconds before the bombs detonated. [6]
Notes & Trivia[]
- The character of Abdi Howlwadaag was created by showrunners Scott Brown and Dustin Thomason based on concepts originally developed by Stephen King.
- Abdi Howlwadaag is unique to the continuity of the Castle Rock television series. Abdi Howlwadaag has no direct counterpart of analog in any published Stephen King story.
- Abdi Howlwadaag appeared in nine out of ten episodes from season two of Castle Rock.
- Abdi Howlwadaag's foster foster, Pop Merrill, and foster brother John Merrill are characters who originally appeared in "The Sun Dog", which is a novella published in the anthology book Four Past Midnight in 1990.
See also[]
External Links[]
Appearances[]
- Castle Rock: Let the River Run
- Castle Rock: New Jerusalem
- Castle Rock: Ties That Bind
- Castle Rock: Restore Hope
- Castle Rock: The Laughing Place
- Castle Rock: The Mother
- Castle Rock: The Word
- Castle Rock: Caveat Emptor
- Castle Rock: Clean
References[]
- ↑ This was the original name of the character during production, but his surname was changed to Howlwadaag for the actual series.
- ↑ Castle Rock: Restore Hope
- ↑ Castle Rock: New Jerusalem
- ↑ Castle Rock: The Laughing Place
- ↑ Castle Rock: Caveat Emptor
- ↑ Castle Rock: Clean