Walter Longmire is a fictional character created by American author Craig Johnson (b. 1961).
64-439: Longmire is the title character of Walt Longmire Mysteries , a series of western mystery novels first published in 2004. The novels were adapted into Longmire , a crime drama television series which premiered in 2012 and was developed by John Coveny and Hunt Baldwin. Longmire is portrayed by Australian actor Robert Taylor . Walt is a native of Durant, Wyoming , the county seat of fictional Absaroka County, named after
128-408: A Mexican drug cartel, which ultimately costs the life of one of his deputies and the grievous injury of another. In Spirit of Steamboat , Walt flashes back to Christmas Eve 1988 (during his second month as sheriff) when he helps Lucian and a World War II veteran of the 38th Bombardment Group transport an injured girl (the sole survivor of a car accident) from Durant to Denver during a snowstorm in
192-547: A daughter, Lola Longmire Moretti. In The Western Star , it is revealed that Walt and Martha first got pregnant in 1972, but they lost the baby in a first-trimester miscarriage. Walt's closest friend and confidant is Henry Standing Bear. They have been friends since they were 12 years old, and both served in Vietnam (although Henry was a member of the United States Army Special Forces , while Walt
256-466: A decommissioned North American B-25 Mitchell . In Any Other Name , Walt investigates the suicide of a Campbell County Sheriff's Investigator at the request of Lucian and Sheriff Sandy Sandburg, which nearly causes him to miss the birth of his grandchild in Philadelphia. In Dry Bones , Walt deals with the discovery of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton on Native American land within his county and
320-456: A deep distrust of those particular law enforcement officers. It is eventually revealed that Walt's best friend Henry Standing Bear hired Cheyenne mercenary Hector to take care of Beck, but Hector didn't kill him. Throughout the third season, Henry is facing murder charges in Beck's death, but Walt realizes that his deputy Branch Connally's nemesis David Ridges, recently killed in a struggle with Walt,
384-418: A golf course; thanks to the surprise help of Walt's longtime nemesis Jacob Nighthorse, the case is dropped. As sheriff, Walt carries an Colt Government Model in .45 ACP and a Winchester Model 1894 in .30-30 as his primary weapons, and drives a Ford Bronco as his duty vehicle. He does not own a cell phone (although he will on numerous occasions borrow one from his deputies or Henry) and takes his calls on
448-447: A land line at home or in the office, or over the radio in his vehicle. At the end of the series, Walt decides to retire as sheriff and encourages his daughter Cady to run for sheriff in his place. Instead, Walt begins a search for Lord Anson Hamilton's buried treasure which Lucian Connally claimed to have found before his death. In the series' final scene, Walt is shown to finally own a cell phone of his own as he commences his search. In
512-635: A language other than English. Members of the Crow Tribe also live on the reservation. The tribal and government headquarters are located in Lame Deer , where they host the annual Northern Cheyenne powwow . Traditional Cheyenne spiritual culture, like most traditional Indigenous spiritual ways, values the peoples' connection to their landbase, and sees the land itself, as well as special sites like Bear Butte , as sacred. Numerous Cheyenne work as foresters and fire fighters. This spiritual perspective
576-758: A leave of absence). During his career, Walter becomes well-respected not only by his county but also by the Wyoming State Attorney General's Office (including the Attorney General, Joe Meyer, himself), the DCI, and even the Governor of Wyoming . It is later mentioned, somewhat jokingly, that if a police officer is murdered in Wyoming, Walt Longmire is on the case. As sheriff, Walt carries an M1911A1 in .45 ACP (the same one he used in
640-507: A man named Miller Beck. During his own investigation into his wife's death, Walt learned that Beck was hired to kill Martha, and then he was killed shortly thereafter to prevent him from talking to Walt. In "High Noon", Walt gets a drunken confession out of Barlow Connally, who admits to killing his own son and having Martha murdered; in the ensuing confrontation, Walt fatally shoots Barlow, avenging his deputy and his wife. In "Highway Robbery", Walt asks out Dr. Donna Sue Monaghan ( Ally Walker ),
704-585: A man with a dubious past and a gift for making enemies, after he allegedly burned down their barn and killed their horses for the insurance money. In Hell is Empty , Walt becomes lost in the Bighorn Mountains with a federal prisoner/serial killer. This book was later adapted into the Longmire season two episode "Unquiet Mind". In As the Crow Flies , Walt assists the newly appointed chief of
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#1732801740830768-595: A psychiatrist who works for the VA in Sheridan, Wyoming . Walt's closest friend and confidant is Henry Standing Bear. They have been friends since they were 12 years old. When Cady was born, Walt appointed Henry her godfather. Shortly before the show's timeline begins, Walt hired Vic Moretti, a former Philadelphia PD homicide detective, as a deputy sheriff. The two are believed by many to be having an affair, including at one point Vic's husband, Sean Keegan ( Michael Mosley ). In
832-608: A significant departure from the books, on the show, Walt's wife Martha did not die from cancer. Although she was diagnosed with the disease, in the TV series she was murdered, and the associated details are slowly revealed over several seasons, significantly affecting Walt's relationships with his deputy Branch and the Connally family. While the TV series portrays Vic as being interested in Walt, her feelings are not reciprocated like they are in
896-489: A strong sense of duty and justice, Walt is a throwback to the iconic lone hero of classical westerns. He is an able detective with a knack for finding the truth behind various crimes committed in his county. As the series starts in 2012, Walt is slowly coming out of a deep grieving period where he delegated most of the day-to-day police duties to Deputies Branch Connally ( Bailey Chase ), Archie "The Ferg" Ferguson (Adam Bartley), and Victoria "Vic" Moretti ( Katee Sackhoff ). This
960-544: A total of 444,157 acres (1,797.44 km ). Those Cheyenne who had homesteaded east of the Tongue River were relocated to reservation lands west of the river. The Northern Cheyenne flag is blue with a white symbol in the centre. Lame Deer, Montana , with about 4,000 residents, of which 92% are American Indian, is the capital of the Northern Cheyenne nation. Chief Dull Knife College is located there. To
1024-501: Is actually the killer. Using forensic evidence recovered from Beck's body and Ridges' car, Walt is able to clear Henry's name and prove that Ridges was the true killer. In the aftermath, Branch is murdered by his own father after learning that the man had hired Ridges to kill Martha in order to give Branch an advantage in his ultimately failed run for sheriff. In 2015, after killing Barlow Connally ( Gerald McRaney ) on his own front porch, Walt spends six weeks on administrative leave while
1088-585: Is also where some Cheyenne attend public school or live for work. Major employers within the community that contribute to the economy on the reserve include St. Labre Indian School, power and construction companies, the federal and tribal governments, farming and ranching, small businesses, and the education system. Known in Cheyenne either as Notameohmésêhese or Notameohmésėhétaneo'o meaning "Northern Eaters" or simply as Ohmésêhese / Ôhmésêheseo'o meaning "Eaters". Lesser northern bands (not represented in
1152-568: Is approximately 40 miles (64 km) east of the site of the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn . In March 2013, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe had 12,266 people enrolled citizens, of which about 6,012 resided on the reservation, with approximately 91% of the population Native American (full or part blood quantum ) and 72.8% identifying as Cheyenne. Slightly more than a quarter of the population five years or older spoke
1216-646: Is approximately 690 square miles (1,800 km ) large. It is home to approximately 6,000 Cheyenne people. The reservation is bounded on the east by the Tongue River and on the west by the Crow Reservation . There are small parcels of non-contiguous off-reservation trust lands in Meade County, South Dakota , northeast of the city of Sturgis . Its timbered ridges that extend into northwestern South Dakota are part of Custer National Forest and it
1280-459: Is complicated by Branch running against Walt in the upcoming sheriff election. Walt is investigated by Denver PD Detective Fales ( Charles S. Dutton ) for the murder of Miller Beck, a meth-head suspected of murdering Walt's wife, Martha. It is revealed that Fales is pushing the case of Beck, a drug-using suspected mugger and killer, so hard because of Fales' own experience with a small-town sheriff, whose racism and abuse of authority left Fales with
1344-724: Is established that Walt is a college graduate and Vietnam War veteran, and has been the Absaroka County Sheriff since the early 1980s. However, on the TV show, no mention have been made or alluded to of a college though it indirectly alludes to him being a military veteran, able to make an appointment at the VA with psychiatrist Dr. Donna Sue Monahan, without providing any details of when or where he served. Walt's age has been established multiple times, via his having graduated from high school in 1981 and having been friends with Henry since they were 12 years old, 38 years earlier. In
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#17328017408301408-558: Is evident in traditional communities like Lame Deer and Birney and when the 2006 vote on development coal and coalbed methane on the reservation split along modernist vs traditional lines. A historical buffalo jump, burial sites of Cheyenne chiefs and spiritual leaders, the site of Custer 's last camp before the Battle of the Little Bighorn , the Cheyenne Indian Museum, Ten Bears Gallery, St. Labre Indian School , and
1472-408: Is her knight in shining armor . The title character need not be the subject of the title in a strict grammatical sense: Uncle Tom is considered the title character of Uncle Tom's Cabin and Lee Marvin is often described as playing the title character in the film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance , as his character (Liberty Valance) is named in the title, even though the grammatical subject of
1536-703: Is no formal, prescriptive definition of a title character or title role , but there are general standards accepted by tradition. The title character need not be literally named in the title, but may be referred to by some other identifying word or phrase, such as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit , Simba in The Lion King , Aang in Avatar: The Last Airbender , Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland or more vaguely, as in
1600-456: Is some ambiguity in what qualifies as one. Examples in various media include Figaro in the opera The Marriage of Figaro , Giselle in the ballet of the same name , the Doctor in the TV series Doctor Who , Dr. Gregory House of the TV series House , Harry Potter in the series of novels and films , and Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet in the play Romeo and Juliet . There
1664-688: The James Bond novels and films The Man with the Golden Gun and Dr. No ,. The protagonist and antagonist can arguably both be title characters, as in the films Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster or Smokey and the Bandit . In the novel and TV series Shogun , the feudal lord Toranaga is the title character, but the protagonist is John Blackthorne . In the 2003 revival of August Wilson 's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom , Whoopi Goldberg had
1728-614: The Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation Tribal Police, Iraq War veteran Lolo Long, with the investigation into the death of a young woman who fell from a cliff with her child in her arms, while simultaneously preparing for Cady's wedding. In A Serpent's Tooth , Walt deals with a multi-state polygamous cult when he tries to help a Mormon "lost boy" that leads to Big Oil , the Central Intelligence Agency , and
1792-702: The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities . It is member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium and American Association of Community Colleges . Northern Cheyenne Tribal School is the reservation's tribal school located in Busby, MT. The reservation is the recipient of a 2010 Promise Neighborhoods grant from the United States Department of Education , through
1856-577: The film of the same name , or Thomas More in the play A Man for All Seasons . Although it is common for the title character to be the protagonist, it is not unusual for the principal antagonist or a key secondary character to be named in the title instead. Examples of titular antagonists include Sauron in the book and film series The Lord of the Rings , Count Dracula in Bram Stoker 's Dracula , or Francisco Scaramanga and Julius No in
1920-589: The 1950s. The Busby White River Cheyenne Mennonite Church is located in Busby. In 1976 the reservation had 2400 people and Marie Sanchez was the Chief Judge. Ashland, Montana , is to the east. In 1884 a Catholic boarding school, the St. Labre Indian School , was established there. The 460 residents of Ashland are about 75% American Indian. They are also very active in basketball. When Busby became part of their district, they had notable rivalry basketball games in
1984-784: The Ashland Powwow are sites of special interest in the Ashland area. The Northern Cheyenne are related to the Southern Cheyenne , who are located in Oklahoma . Following the Black Hills War and earlier conflicts in Colorado (see Sand Creek Massacre and Washita Massacre ), the Northern Cheyenne were forcibly moved to Oklahoma and restricted to lands of their southern relatives. Unable to acclimate swiftly to
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2048-512: The Council of Forty-Four): Chief Dull Knife College , originally named Dull Knife Memorial College , is an open admission Native American tribal community college and land grant institution . It is located on the reservation, in Lame Deer, and has a current enrollment of 141 students. On average, more than half of the graduates move on to four-year colleges. The college is accredited by
2112-486: The Desert , or the imaginary 6-foot rabbit Harvey in the play and film of the same name . The general noun phrase "title character" can be replaced with a descriptive noun or phrase which is then further described using the adjective "titular". For example, the title character of Dracula can be referred to as the book's "titular vampire", the title character of Hamlet is the "titular prince of Denmark" , and
2176-594: The Marine Corps) as his primary weapon, and drives a pickup truck that he calls the Silver Bullet (or just Bullet). Walt is a widower; Martha, his wife, died of cancer (in the books; in the TV series she was murdered in Denver, Colorado, while suffering from cancer). With Martha, he had a daughter, Cady, who is now an attorney in Philadelphia. In As the Crow Flies , Walt mentions that he dated Martha before he
2240-547: The Marines, Walt spent some time working at an oil rig in Anchorage, Alaska , before returning home to Wyoming, where he was hired by Sheriff Lucian Connally as a deputy sheriff in 1972. Walt was elected as the Absaroka County Sheriff after Lucian all but threw the race and decided to retire. In the first book, The Cold Dish , Walt is mentioned as having been the sheriff of Absaroka County and plans to run for re-election again
2304-546: The Season 6 finale Walt and Vic finally realize and admit their feelings for one another, and begin a relationship. Walt's relationship with the Cheyenne Nation is strained, but he is still liked by many members of its community. In the series, Walt is assisted with his duties by three deputy sheriffs. After Branch's death, Walt hires Zachary Heflin, but fires him after he assaults a rejected deputy applicant who
2368-650: The Sheriff of Absaroka County since at least 2005; his immediate predecessor was Sheriff Lucian Connally ( Peter Weller ), the uncle of Branch. In 2010, Walt arrested Malachi Strand ( Graham Greene ), the Chief of the Cheyenne Reservation Tribal Police , for extortion; he also has an adversarial relationship with the current CRTP Chief, Mathias ( Zahn McClarnon ), although the two have a bond of mutual respect. Laconic and introspective with
2432-494: The TV series, Walt has been forced to use deadly force on a number of occasions. Walt was married for 25 years to Martha Longmire, with whom he has a daughter, Cady ( Cassidy Freeman ), an attorney. Martha was diagnosed with cancer in the late 2000s/early 2010s, and died in 2011. Although Walt let everybody (including Cady) assume it was the cancer that took her life, Martha was murdered in an apparent mugging in Denver , Colorado, by
2496-459: The books. Instead, the TV series has Walt slowly recovering from losing his wife, unable or unwilling to maintain a relationship with a woman called Lizzie Ambrose, before finally showing enough interest in a member of the opposite sex to actively court Dr. Donna Sue Monaghan. Only as the show draws to a close does Walt start a relationship with Vic. In the books, Absaroka County sees five murders in 24 years. The TV series sees 27 confirmed murders in
2560-471: The death is investigated by the FBI ; Walt is cleared of any criminal charges in the death in the end. Having learned that Barlow was responsible for Martha's murder, Walt appears to finally find a sense of peace during this time. A number of weeks later, Walt learns that he is being sued for wrongful death by Barlow's estate. This is revealed to be a plot by prosecutor Tucker Baggett to take Walt's property and build
2624-471: The doctor that Vic was pregnant, but lost the baby after being stabbed during the confrontation with Tomás Bidarte. As of Any Other Name , neither Walt nor Vic knows that the other is aware of the pregnancy, but in Dry Bones , Vic reveals that she knows Walt had been told. To date, Walt has appeared in these books: Absaroka County native Walt Longmire is the well-respected sheriff that resides there. When
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2688-650: The early 1880s, many families began to migrate south to the Tongue River watershed area and established homesteads in the northern edge of the Powder River Basin , which they considered their natural home. The Northern Cheyenne were allies of the Lakota in the Black Hills War of 1876–1877. The United States government established the Tongue River Indian Reservation, which consisted of 371,200 acres (1,502 km ) of land, under
2752-457: The executive order given by President Chester A. Arthur on November 16, 1884. The boundaries originally did not include the Cheyenne who had homesteaded further east near the Tongue River, therefore those people who had were helped by the St. Labre Catholic Mission. This changed though when on March 19, 1900, President William McKinley extended the reservation to the west bank of the Tongue River, for
2816-422: The following year. He investigates the murders of two white teenagers who had been found guilty, but not severely punished, for raping a local Indian girl, Melissa Little Bird. In Death Without Company , Walt investigates the death of a Basque woman who was, for a few hours in the 1940s, married to Lucian before her family had the marriage annulled. During his tenure as sheriff "of the least populated county in
2880-549: The heat of western Oklahoma ( Indian Territory at the time), having to grow their food instead of hunting or gathering as were their ways, and the brutal conditions in the barracks where they were held, the northerners quickly began dying. In desperation, a small band left the reservation and headed north in 1878, an odyssey that came to be known as the Northern Cheyenne Exodus . The Northern Cheyenne briefly settled around Fort Keogh ( Miles City, Montana ). In
2944-430: The late 1940s and on. Birney, Montana , population about 100, 86% Indian, is south of Lame Deer and Ashland. Part of Birney, "White Birney", lies south of the reservation. Colstrip, Montana , is a neighboring industrial city devoted to coal mining and electrical generation. Located 20 miles north of the reservation, it has a population of about 2,300 residents, of which approximately 240, or 11%, are American Indians. It
3008-648: The least populated state in the union", five murders have occurred in Absaroka County, with three of them taking place since 2004 (in The Cold Dish and Death Without Company ). In Kindness Goes Unpunished , Walt visits his daughter Cady in Philadelphia, where he joins forces with the Philadelphia Police Department to investigate an assault on Cady that has left her in a coma. In Another Man's Moccasins , Walt investigates
3072-500: The local Boys & Girls Clubs of America . The St. Labre Catholic boarding school is also on the reserve and educates children in pre-K-12. It serves nearly 450 students and embraces the North American culture while also celebrating catholic faith and educating children. They integrate North American culture within the school curriculum allowing for formal education to take place in addition to cultural education. Along with
3136-567: The murder of a young Vietnamese woman, which reminds him of his first murder investigation – the death of a prostitute outside of Tan Son Nhut Air Base by an American officer in 1968. In The Dark Horse , Walt goes undercover as an insurance investigator from Billings, Montana , in Campbell County, Wyoming (at the unofficial request of the Campbell County Sheriff), to determine if a woman truly murdered her husband,
3200-462: The piece. The title of the work might consist solely of the title character's name – such as Michael Collins or Othello – or be a longer phrase or sentence – such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or The Adventures of Tom Sawyer . The title character is commonly – but not necessarily – the protagonist of the story. Narrative works routinely do not have a title character and there
3264-496: The play An Ideal Husband , which ostensibly refers to the character Sir Robert Chiltern. A title character is typically fictional, such as Alice in the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland , Robinson Crusoe in the book of the same name or Jean-Luc Picard in the TV series Star Trek: Picard ; but can be a non-fictional dramatization, such as Annie Oakley in the musical Annie Get Your Gun , Erin Brockovich in
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#17328017408303328-813: The real-life Absaroka Native Americans , the Absaroka Range , and the 1930s effort to declare a U.S. state called Absaroka out of territory from three existing states. Longmire attended the University of Southern California , where he played offensive lineman for the USC Trojans and graduated with a degree in English literature . He then served in the Marine Corps and completed boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island and Officer Candidates School at Marine Corps Base Quantico . He
3392-427: The school, this facility also runs a Shiloh Youth Group Home, Childcare Center, Community Outreach Services, Elderly Outreach Services, and a Work Incentive Program. These programs along with the school aim to educate the community members ad provide them with skills in order to become independent in any way they need. There is also a St. Labre museum which houses important Cheyenne artifacts and aims to display history of
3456-523: The series begins, it is believed by most that his wife, Martha Longmire, died of cancer. His father was a rancher who managed the stables of Absaroka County's most wealthy family, the Van Blarcoms. He is a graduate of Durant High School Class of '71, and his football jersey still hangs in the school's trophy case. In their 20s, he and Henry worked at Prudhoe Bay Oil Field in Alaska . Walt has been
3520-622: The subsequent death of the property's owner, resulting in a joint investigation with the FBI under the scrutiny of the newly announced deputy United States attorney for the district of Wyoming . In the middle of the investigation, Walt learns that his son-in-law, Officer Michael Moretti, was killed in the line of duty in Philadelphia; although he desperately wants to fly east and assist in the investigation, he remains stuck in Durant to complete his own case (however, he does allow Vic, Michael's sister, to take
3584-505: The title character of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the "titular wizard". Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation The Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation ( Cheyenne : Tsėhéstáno ) is the federally recognized Northern Cheyenne tribe and a Plains tribe . The Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation is reservation located in southeastern Montana , that
3648-457: The title is the person who shot him. The concept of title character may be interpreted to include unseen characters , such as Godot in Waiting for Godot , Rebecca de Winter in the 1938 novel Rebecca , or Jason Bourne in the 2012 film The Bourne Legacy . Status as the title character has been attributed to named objects, such as the bus in the film and musical Priscilla, Queen of
3712-478: The title role of Ma Rainey, but the lead was Charles S. Dutton as Levee. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , the Wizard of Oz is the title character, but is a minor supporting character. In the musical Bye Bye Birdie , Conrad Birdie is the title character, while Albert Peterson is the protagonist. In the video game The Legend of Zelda , the title character Princess Zelda is the damsel in distress and Link
3776-417: The two first seasons alone. In 2012, the first Annual "Longmire Days" was held in the city of Buffalo, Wyoming , celebrating the series and local community. Title character The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of
3840-554: The west is Muddy, Montana , with about 600 residents, 94% American Indian, and further west Busby, Montana , with about 700 residents, 90% American Indian. Busby was the site of the Tongue River Boarding School, opened in 1904. The school would later become quite active in basketball , with their team playing a winning game against the Harlem Globetrotters and winning a state championship in
3904-419: Was a Marine MP), where they were both highly decorated. When Cady was born, Walt appointed Henry her godfather. After Cady is assaulted in Philadelphia, Vic (who was assisting the police in the investigation) and Walt have sex. In the aftermath, Walt mentions that he has had sex with only six women in his life. The two continue their relationship after returning to Durant; in A Serpent's Tooth , Walt learns from
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#17328017408303968-524: Was assigned to the 1st Marine Division as a military police officer, and served in country at Tan Son Nhut Air Base during the Vietnam War . He served in the Marines for four years, and earned, among other decorations, the Navy Cross , Silver Star , Bronze Star , and Purple Heart . After serving in Vietnam, Walt spent six weeks assigned as security at Johnston Atoll . Upon his discharge from
4032-512: Was drafted, and that their relationship resumed after he came home from the war. The two eloped and were married by a justice of the peace in Miles City, Montana , when her father refused to pay for a big church wedding. In the same book, Cady marries Philadelphia Police Officer Michael Moretti, the brother of Walt's undersheriff, Vic Moretti, on the Rez; Michael and she had been seeing each other since Kindness Goes Unpunished and engaged since The Dark Horse . In Any Other Name , Cady gives birth to
4096-412: Was stalking him. In addition, Deputy Sheriff Eamonn O'Neill was on loan from Cumberland County to assist the office when both Walt and Branch were otherwise occupied, leaving Vic to run day-to-day affairs. Ruby (no last name specified) runs the sheriff's office and serves as dispatcher. Among the key differences between the books and the TV series are the character's age and backstory. In the books, it
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