Main Character
Name	Aaron Hotchner
Gender	Male
Birth Date	November 2, 1965[1]
Family	Haley Hotchner (ex-wife; deceased) Jack Hotchner (son) Jessica Brooks (sister-in-law) Sean Hotchner (brother)[2]
Job	BAU Unit Chief
Rank	Supervisory Special Agent
Specialty	Profiler
Status	Alive
Portrayed By	Thomas Gibson
First Appearance	Extreme Aggressor

"I don't make deals, I'm the guy who hunts guys like you."

Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner is unit chief of Quantico's Behavioral Analysis Unit and the direct superior of all special agents.

Contents 1 Background 2 Personality 3 On the Job 4 To Hell and Back 5 Season Five 6 Season Seven 7 Notes 8 References

BackgroundEdit

Hotch's mother was from Manassas, Virgina and went to Mary Baldwin College. Hotch was a former profiler in the Seattle, Washington Field Office before transferring to Quantico. Previous to that, he was a prosecuting attorney. His struggles to maintain his family life have been an ongoing theme of the show. In the episode "Natural Born Killer," Vincent Perotta questions Hotch as to the meaning of "some people [from extremely abusive and violent households] grow up to become killers." Responding, Hotch replies, "And some people grow up to catch them." This hints that Hotch might have been abused as a child, but the subject hasn't come up afterwards.

PersonalityEdit

Hotch's personality has changed very little in the course of the series. He has always been serious, determined, and focused in his leadership of the team, never seeming to waver or lose sight of the task ahead, barely allowing his dry wit and humor to appear. However, the events surrounding George Foyet's final appearance did cause him to become temporarily single-minded and obsessive to the point where he would appoint Morgan as Unit Chief for a short period of time.

Outside work, specially while interacting with his loved ones, his seriousness abates and the more carefree, good natured and good humored side of his personality shows up, transforming his countenance to a point that people who knows him little get a hefty surprise.

On the JobEdit

After a two-week suspension for releasing a serial killer, Hotch requested a transfer by Erin Strauss, who was pressuring him for such a request. This pleased his wife, until Agent Morgan begged Hotch to come help on a case in Milwaukee and, while he was packing up his desk, Garcia handed him the case file and lied to him, telling him that his transfer was held up and that JJ wanted him to have the file.

Hotch decided to stay with the BAU against his wife's wishes; when he returned to Virginia, his wife and son were gone. In episode 311, (Birthright), he was served with divorce papers as he was leaving the office; he is seen signing them in a later episode.

In episode 301, (Doubt), it was revealed that Hotchner had previously worked as a prosecutor; more specifically, episode 319, (Tabula Rasa), indicated he had been with the District Attorney's office. His hearing has been damaged as a result of a car explosion at the beginning of Season 4. The doctor tells him that if he isn't careful he will go deaf, instead he goes on a case and a gun is fired near his ear which nearly causes him to lose his hearing permanently (The Angel Maker). In episode 404, (Paradise), he started to doubt himself when a suspect he interviewed turned out to be the Unsub.

To Hell and BackEdit

At the end of the Season Four episode To Hell and Back, part 2, Hotch comes home to find that George Foyet (The Reaper) is in his apartment. He had been waiting for Hotch. George, dressed in full regalia, points his .44 Magnum at Hotch stating, "You should have made the deal"^[3]. The episode ends with the sound of a gunshot.

Season FiveEdit

Hotch is found alive at a nearby hospital, bloodied and unconscious, but alive. He had been held captive by George Foyet and tortured for several hours. Foyet had stabbed him 9 times and dumped him off at a local hospital with Derek Morgan's credentials. It had become clear in "Haunted" that Hotch was obsessed with capturing Foyet, an obsession which had his teammates concerned with his sanity and work conduct.

As of the episode Cradle to Grave, Hotch had come under fire from his superiors, who were now requiring him to justify all of his tactical decisions. This has caused him to put pressure on his subordinates, which is gradually creating tension among the team members. At the end of the episode, Hotch announces that he is stepping down as Unit Chief and promoting Derek Morgan to temporarily take his place.

In The Eyes Have It, Hotch oversees Morgan's performance during his first case. Hotch is pleased with Derek's abilities to lead. Rossi offers the hypothetical question as to whether Morgan will be willing to step down if asked. While Derek is shown to his new office, Hotch is seen mulling over George Foyet's criminal file.

In Outfoxed, Hotch and Prentiss visit Karl Arnold in prison to ask for his input on a current case. After the interrogation, Karl reveals that he has received communications from George Foyet, and that he is planning to return to make a final stand against Hotch. Karl reveals several notes featuring George signature symbol, The Eye of Providence.

In episode "100," Hotch is frantic when George Foyet captures Hotch's ex-wife and son. Hotch tells Jack to "work the case with him." This is a game the two of them play where Jack hides in Hotch's office. In this case, it is a code telling Jack to hide from Foyet. He engages in an intense battle with Foyet and beats Foyet to death. He faces an inquiry about this attack. He is cleared due to the fact that since Foyet killed Haley, Hotch's ex-wife, Hotch believed whole-heartedly that if Foyet got up from the floor he would have killed Jack. Jack is safe, having hidden in Hotch's office in a chest next to Hotch's desk.

He had (spiritually) told Haley that he would come back to the BAU, and when Rossi asks him if he "told her yet", Hotch replied, "I don't have to. She already knows.", referring to the fact that Haley had always known deep down that he wouldn't stop his work. Hotch says that he has known all along that he will never give up and his place is "fighting the bad guys." In Retaliation, he returned to duty, his former sister-in-law, Jessica Brooks, taking care of Jack while he's away.

Season SevenEdit

In It Takes a Village, it was revealed that Hotch was assigned to temporary duty with an investigative task force in Pakistan during the period between Season Six and Season Seven.

In Painless, Hotch finds out that Jack is having trouble with a classmate and, after asking his kid, he learns how Jack is trying to solve it by himself.

In The Bittersweet Science, Hotch meets a woman named Beth Clemmons while training for a triathlon and they start a conversation. She then invites him to go on a bike ride with her. However, Hotch is conflicted. Although he likes Beth, he believes it is too soon after Haley's death. However, Rossi eventually convinces him to go.

In Closing Time, Hotch and Beth are still training together for the marathon and, during their last training session, Hotch finally asks her out. When they return from the case, Hotch is told by Morgan that it was Valentine's day and went to Beth's house with flowers to ask her out that day. She accepts and kisses him to "get it out of the way" before things got awkward. The last is of them walking away holding hands.

In A Family Affair, Hotch eats with Beth at a café and tells her that he'd like her to meet Jack. At the episode's conclusion, he completes his marathon and meets up with Jack and the rest of the team. Beth later approaches him and Jack and he formally introduces her to his son. Jack and Beth take a liking to one another and Hotch escorts them away.

NotesEdit

• His sidearm is a Glock 17, with a 26 backup at his ankle.
• Hotch met his wife, Haley, at a theater group, which he joined to get close to her.
• He is left-handed, a trait that he shares with Penelope Garcia.
• Despite being left handed, he carries his sidearm and backup with his right hand.
• He became a lawyer, following in his father's footsteps, and wanted for his younger brother to do the same.
• His first case as the lead profiler in the BAU was that of the Boston Reaper in 1998 (Omnivore).
• His favorite thing to listen to is the Beatles' White Album ("Just because Manson hijacked it doesn't mean it has to be ruined for the rest of us"). ("The Performer")
• The character was named after A.E. Hotchner, an American novelist, biographer, and editor who, like Hotch, also went to law school.

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ Machismo (He leaves his birthday party and the show states is El Día de los Muertos in Mexico), Nameless, Faceless (ER chart states he's 43 and it's a 2009 episode, however he states he was a high school junior in the spring of 1988, when he met Haley, then a tenth grader, in The Fisher King, part 1)
2. ↑ The Tribe
3. ↑ George had previously told Hotch over the phone that he would stop hunting "them" if the FBI would stop hunting him.