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Character Background
Pre-Canon
By the start of Deadwood, Al Swearengen is already growing old, having established himself as the most prominent saloon operator in the Dakota Territory's Deadwood camp in the late 19th century. Canon leaves most of the events of his earlier life vague.
He may or may not have been born in England, but if so he immigrated to the United States as a young child and ended up in Chicago. There his mother abandoned him at an orphanage before heading south to work as a prostitute. Conditions at the place were squalid, and Al eventually left, being taken in by a family whose son suffered from epileptic fits. The two boys seem to have been very close; decades later, Al still refers to him as his "brother" and shows particular sympathy for a preacher who shares the same ailment.
After the boy's death, Al parted from his adoptive family and began making his own way in the world. Likely he became experienced dealing in spirits, women, and games of chance while still in Chicago, as, when discovery of gold in Dakota's Black Hills prompted a rush of pioneers to the area, he leapt at the opportunity to head out and open his saloon. After gathering prostitutes and supplies (and knifing a policeman who tried to extort him in the process), Al went west to become one of the earliest settlers in the burgeoning Deadwood camp. The town, located on Indian territory, lacked law or government and existed under constant threat of being attacked by natives or broken up by the United States military.
Season 1
Yet, at the open of Deadwood's first season, the camp seems increasingly likely to be annexed by the U.S., and Al has positioned himself as perhaps the most powerful man in town. He controls the lone functioning saloon, a substantial amount of real estate, and the local opium trade, as well as facilitating robbery and scams that would be illegal anywhere else. He is viciously defensive, even paranoid, in protection of these interests, knowing that nothing is secure until Deadwood operates under color of law.
Swearengen is initially set up as the series's main antagonist after he scams Brom Garrett, a wealthy New Yorker, into buying a worthless gold claim, then has the man killed when he questions the deal. The claim, however, proves to be a bonanza. While Al seeks to swindle it back before Brom's wife Alma can discover its value, events in the camp force his focus elsewhere: He organizes the town's response first to the murder of Wild Bill Hickok, then to an outbreak of smallpox. Finally, when word of a new treaty with the Sioux makes Deadwood's legitimization look imminent, Swearengen gives up entirely on recovering the claim, deciding that the violence required would put the camp's legal status in peril.
Instead, he turns to preparing the camp for annexation. He takes the lead in setting up a local government, which exists primarily to collect bribe money to be paid to territorial officials. When one of these, Magistrate Claggett, seeks to extort him over the warrant for his murder of a police officer in Chicago, Swearengen instead recruits Claggett's own bagman to slash the man's throat. At the same time, he presses Seth Bullock - a much more righteous figure, who'd helped to protect Alma Garrett from him - into becoming the town's sheriff and the public face of the camp. Bullock eventually agrees, and the season closes with the town inching towards stability.
Season 2
Several months later, as Al prepares for the official incorporation of Deadwood into the Dakota territory, he is stricken by a severe case of kidney stones. After initially refusing medical case, he barely survives, suffering a minor stroke in the process of passing them.
Swearengen's illness provides an opportunity for outside forces to begin gaining purchase within the camp: One, a representative of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, seeks to frame Alma Garrett for the murder of her husband and claim her gold for his family in New York. Another, working for the wealthy mining tycoon George Hearst, enlists Swearengen's primary competition, Cy Tolliver, to buy up claims for his employer and replace the leader of the camp's Chinese population (and Al's opium contact), Mr. Wu.
Fortunately, Al recovers in time to prevent any of these plans from going through entirely. He refuses to cooperate with the Pinkertons' scheme to frame Alma out of personal hatred for the Agency and, after intercepting their telegraphed instructions, blackmails their agent into fleeing the camp. He is then able to negotiate favorable terms for Deadwood's annexation by Dakota, which, though it does not keep Hearst from purchasing most of the gold claims in the area, does prevent his men from inducing a panic to sell over fear of local titles being invalidated.
Finally, after Hearst arrives in person, Swearengen meets with the man to persuade him to use Mr. Wu to procure Chinese workers for his mines. Al's henchmen then join Wu in murdering Hearst's former Chinese contact Lee, thus securing Wu's position in the camp. Wu pledges loyalty to Swearengen for his aid, and the final papers legitimizing Deadwood are signed...but, with Hearst's control of most of the local gold now legalized, the balance of power in the town has begun to shift.
Season 3
Deadwood's final season centers on the conflict between George Hearst and the town's interests. While the camp prepares for its first elections, Hearst seeks to force Al into helping him purchase the Garrett gold claim. However, his initial show of power - staging the murder of union organizers from the mines in Al's Gem Saloon - only serves to set Swearengen against him. Al responds to the killing by cancelling the election speeches as a display of his own local clout, and, in a fit of temper, Hearst has one of his henchman seize Swearengen and chop off the middle finger of his left hand.
Swearengen is stunned at being taken by surprise in this fashion and, unable to see Hearst's long-term plan, hesitates from moving against him again for some time. Only as it gradually dawns on him that Hearst's machinations are largely the result of personal boredom does he begin to answer the violence against him: first, by allowing one of his own toughs to beat Hearst's bodyguard to death in the street, then by interrogating and killing an agent Hearst sends to negotiate with him.
Events in the camp soon come to a head. Hearst calls in a mass of Pinkertons to stir up trouble, then arranges for a force of U.S. soldiers to participate in and potentially rig the territory elections. He also stages an attempted shooting of Alma Garrett, forcing Al to offer her shelter within the Gem. When this attack does not prompt Alma to sell, Hearst finally has her new husband Ellsworth murdered...only to have Trixie, one of the Gem's whores, shoot him in revenge. Al is pressed to put together a militia along with Wu in case the conflict turns to open war between Hearst and the camp.
Yet, in the end, Alma at last gives in and sells her gold mines, prompting Hearst to agree to leave town. He insists, though, that the woman who attacked him be killed before he departs. Al is unwilling to give up Trixie, whom he's strongly, almost romantically attached to, but he simply chooses to suffocate another of his prostitutes who roughly resembles her, passing the woman off as Trixie to Hearst.
Hearst falls for the ruse and departs, and Al, along with the rest of the camp, awaits the results of the elections without satisfaction or any certainty about the settlement's future.
By the start of Deadwood, Al Swearengen is already growing old, having established himself as the most prominent saloon operator in the Dakota Territory's Deadwood camp in the late 19th century. Canon leaves most of the events of his earlier life vague.
He may or may not have been born in England, but if so he immigrated to the United States as a young child and ended up in Chicago. There his mother abandoned him at an orphanage before heading south to work as a prostitute. Conditions at the place were squalid, and Al eventually left, being taken in by a family whose son suffered from epileptic fits. The two boys seem to have been very close; decades later, Al still refers to him as his "brother" and shows particular sympathy for a preacher who shares the same ailment.
After the boy's death, Al parted from his adoptive family and began making his own way in the world. Likely he became experienced dealing in spirits, women, and games of chance while still in Chicago, as, when discovery of gold in Dakota's Black Hills prompted a rush of pioneers to the area, he leapt at the opportunity to head out and open his saloon. After gathering prostitutes and supplies (and knifing a policeman who tried to extort him in the process), Al went west to become one of the earliest settlers in the burgeoning Deadwood camp. The town, located on Indian territory, lacked law or government and existed under constant threat of being attacked by natives or broken up by the United States military.
Season 1
Yet, at the open of Deadwood's first season, the camp seems increasingly likely to be annexed by the U.S., and Al has positioned himself as perhaps the most powerful man in town. He controls the lone functioning saloon, a substantial amount of real estate, and the local opium trade, as well as facilitating robbery and scams that would be illegal anywhere else. He is viciously defensive, even paranoid, in protection of these interests, knowing that nothing is secure until Deadwood operates under color of law.
Swearengen is initially set up as the series's main antagonist after he scams Brom Garrett, a wealthy New Yorker, into buying a worthless gold claim, then has the man killed when he questions the deal. The claim, however, proves to be a bonanza. While Al seeks to swindle it back before Brom's wife Alma can discover its value, events in the camp force his focus elsewhere: He organizes the town's response first to the murder of Wild Bill Hickok, then to an outbreak of smallpox. Finally, when word of a new treaty with the Sioux makes Deadwood's legitimization look imminent, Swearengen gives up entirely on recovering the claim, deciding that the violence required would put the camp's legal status in peril.
Instead, he turns to preparing the camp for annexation. He takes the lead in setting up a local government, which exists primarily to collect bribe money to be paid to territorial officials. When one of these, Magistrate Claggett, seeks to extort him over the warrant for his murder of a police officer in Chicago, Swearengen instead recruits Claggett's own bagman to slash the man's throat. At the same time, he presses Seth Bullock - a much more righteous figure, who'd helped to protect Alma Garrett from him - into becoming the town's sheriff and the public face of the camp. Bullock eventually agrees, and the season closes with the town inching towards stability.
Season 2
Several months later, as Al prepares for the official incorporation of Deadwood into the Dakota territory, he is stricken by a severe case of kidney stones. After initially refusing medical case, he barely survives, suffering a minor stroke in the process of passing them.
Swearengen's illness provides an opportunity for outside forces to begin gaining purchase within the camp: One, a representative of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, seeks to frame Alma Garrett for the murder of her husband and claim her gold for his family in New York. Another, working for the wealthy mining tycoon George Hearst, enlists Swearengen's primary competition, Cy Tolliver, to buy up claims for his employer and replace the leader of the camp's Chinese population (and Al's opium contact), Mr. Wu.
Fortunately, Al recovers in time to prevent any of these plans from going through entirely. He refuses to cooperate with the Pinkertons' scheme to frame Alma out of personal hatred for the Agency and, after intercepting their telegraphed instructions, blackmails their agent into fleeing the camp. He is then able to negotiate favorable terms for Deadwood's annexation by Dakota, which, though it does not keep Hearst from purchasing most of the gold claims in the area, does prevent his men from inducing a panic to sell over fear of local titles being invalidated.
Finally, after Hearst arrives in person, Swearengen meets with the man to persuade him to use Mr. Wu to procure Chinese workers for his mines. Al's henchmen then join Wu in murdering Hearst's former Chinese contact Lee, thus securing Wu's position in the camp. Wu pledges loyalty to Swearengen for his aid, and the final papers legitimizing Deadwood are signed...but, with Hearst's control of most of the local gold now legalized, the balance of power in the town has begun to shift.
Season 3
Deadwood's final season centers on the conflict between George Hearst and the town's interests. While the camp prepares for its first elections, Hearst seeks to force Al into helping him purchase the Garrett gold claim. However, his initial show of power - staging the murder of union organizers from the mines in Al's Gem Saloon - only serves to set Swearengen against him. Al responds to the killing by cancelling the election speeches as a display of his own local clout, and, in a fit of temper, Hearst has one of his henchman seize Swearengen and chop off the middle finger of his left hand.
Swearengen is stunned at being taken by surprise in this fashion and, unable to see Hearst's long-term plan, hesitates from moving against him again for some time. Only as it gradually dawns on him that Hearst's machinations are largely the result of personal boredom does he begin to answer the violence against him: first, by allowing one of his own toughs to beat Hearst's bodyguard to death in the street, then by interrogating and killing an agent Hearst sends to negotiate with him.
Events in the camp soon come to a head. Hearst calls in a mass of Pinkertons to stir up trouble, then arranges for a force of U.S. soldiers to participate in and potentially rig the territory elections. He also stages an attempted shooting of Alma Garrett, forcing Al to offer her shelter within the Gem. When this attack does not prompt Alma to sell, Hearst finally has her new husband Ellsworth murdered...only to have Trixie, one of the Gem's whores, shoot him in revenge. Al is pressed to put together a militia along with Wu in case the conflict turns to open war between Hearst and the camp.
Yet, in the end, Alma at last gives in and sells her gold mines, prompting Hearst to agree to leave town. He insists, though, that the woman who attacked him be killed before he departs. Al is unwilling to give up Trixie, whom he's strongly, almost romantically attached to, but he simply chooses to suffocate another of his prostitutes who roughly resembles her, passing the woman off as Trixie to Hearst.
Hearst falls for the ruse and departs, and Al, along with the rest of the camp, awaits the results of the elections without satisfaction or any certainty about the settlement's future.