User Profile

This is a character journal for the RPG lawfulorder. If you are interested in learning more about roleplaying characters from the TV show Law & Order, see that community for details.

Name: Robert Goren, Detective First Class
Age: Late thirties
Squad: Major Case

Background: Robert's childhood was turbulent. His mother was diagnosed with adult-onset schizophrenia early in her twenties. Robert's brother, who is several years older, was put into foster care almost immediately after his birth. By the time Robert was born, however, his mother had managed to maintain her anti-psychotic usage for long enough to be allowed to keep him. Robert grew up very conflicted about his relationship with his mother. Her parenting was typical of someone battling schizophrenia. She would shower him with love one minute and fly into a rage at him the next, all without reason or cause. Robert developed a finely tuned awareness to when and how her mood or thoughts would change, learning to anticipate her anger or paranoia. This upbringing is likely a factor is his keen understanding of the criminally psychotic's mind.

Robert's father was sporadically involved in his life when he was young and when Robert was seven, his farther left for beer at the corner store and never came back, abandoning them both. One of his weaknesses is the trauma this event caused in his life and the scars it left him with. With his father gone, Robert formed a deep and strange relationship with his mother, often drawn into her delusions. He began to exhibit troubling behaviour as a result of this at school, to the alarm of his teachers and school counselour, who thought he might be suffering from a shared psychotic disorder. Persuasion from school authorities and threats of involving Social Services convinced his mother to send him away to a Catholic boarding school for boys on a scholarship during the latter half of high school. Robert alternated between unhappily missing his mother and being engaged in schoolwork, which became challenging for the first time.

When he graduated, Robert applied to NYU to be closer to his mother, although his relationship with her had forever changed. He still loved her but no longer shared in any aspect of her schizophrenia. Unfortunately, they never regained their former intimacy and Robert still carries a the wound of a child needing but not receiving his mother's love. This is, of course, pushed far back into his consciousness, to the point of being unrecognizable even to him. At NYU, Robert studied a variety of topics, unsure of what he wanted to do, but he kept coming back to psychology. After taking some courses in criminal psychology, he realized where his true skills in life lay and three months later had transferred to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Forensic Psychology.

After college, Robert decided to go overseas for a while before beginning his career in the US. His given reasons for this were to gain more experience and "see the world". In reality, he was struggling with his conflicted feelings over his mother at the time, having been forced to put her in an institution just a few months earlier. Unable to bear her accusations of betrayal when he went to visit her, his instinct was to gain distance and consequently, perspective. So he enlisted in the US Army and went to Germany and South Korea as a MP, learning German while he was away. When he got back, Robert was consumed with guilt in having left his mother so suddenly and for so long and began visiting her weekly. He still does this, in addition to calling her every day, although by now the guilt has subsided into a dull roar.

After coming back to the states, Robert began training to be a police officer for the NYPD. After doing his time as a street cop and making the rank of detective, he worked in the Narcotics division for four years. He ran three stings, which led to 27 arrests and convictions. After he became disillusioned with the Narcotics division, he joined the Major Case Squad, where he was assigned Alex Eames as his partner. The rest is CI history.

Personality: Robert is complex. He is a detail-oriented, hands-on person. He doesn't like to miss anything and takes the time (sometimes to other people's chagrin) of searching things out which appear random or trivial but are often the key to a case's solving. He is an intellectual and a master of understanding the thought processes of troubled people. He often creates an alternate personality for himself when dealing with suspects or witnesses to gain trust and confessions.

Beneath his professional self, Robert has an eccentric sense of humour. He likes to dance and he can be quite social, although when he is being truly himself in a social situation, he tends to feel a little awkward. There are very few people he is truly himself with. His partner, Alex Eames, is one of those people. So is his mother.

Because of his deep understanding of the psychopathic mind, Robert often feels that he walks a thin line between investigating criminal psychopaths and becoming one. Robert's dreams are sometimes terrifying alternate realities in which he was not sent away as a child and has instead grown into a monstrous, psychotic criminal. In these dreams Eames is often the one investigating his murders and he is grieved by the depth of her hatred for him.

Quirks/Weaknesses/Flaws: The one thing that can be said about Robert Goren, if nothing else, is that he is a man of many quirks. He has developed a style of talking to suspects and victims that throws them off guard, a style that often involves cocking his head, leaning to the side to address seated people, and following seemingly random things with his eyes. He has a fascination with classic, beautiful automobiles that dates back to his childhood. He likes to cook and can make bouillabaisse. He is left-handed and has a keen sense of smell. He is pro-choice when pushed to voice his opinions and does not vote for a specific party, but rather candidates with logical, appealing platforms.

Links that aided in the creation of this profile and provide further detail:
-A Robert Goren Bio from Apocrypha, a Law & Order Zine
-Wikipedia Entry for Robert Goren
-Requirements for a BA in Forensic Psychology from John Jay

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