Zil Sperry is a major antagonist in the Gone series books Hunger and Lies. He is the founder and first leader of the xenophobic hate group known as the Human Crew, made up of several children in the FAYZ without powers who wish to terminate everyone who received any kind of mutation. While he initially wanted to spread equality amongst everyone with or without abilities, this motivation soon devolved into desiring the death of anyone against him.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
In General[]
- The root cause of his hatred for Hunter Lefkowitz and all other children with powers came from jealousy, making his prejudice extremely hypocritical.
- Aside from Lance, he shows no care for any of his fellow Human Crew members despite many of them giving him their undying loyalty. He lost interest in his girlfriend Lisa due to her being unattractive to him, he considered Turk to be stupid and useless, and he was unbothered by the deaths of Hank and Antoine despite them previously being his friends.
- While he first started the Human Crew out of outrage after Hunter accidentally killed his friend Harry, this doesn’t necessarily mean Zil cared for him. It’s established that his main motivations for starting the Human Crew came from jealousy and xenophobia, so it’s likely he only saw Harry’s death as an excuse to hurt children with powers.
- He also never mentioned Harry afterwards outside of when he would use his death to villainise Hunter to the rest of the Human Crew, with his main focus being on retaining the respect they gave him.
- Although he initially showed some standards earlier on such as how he was reluctant to hang Hunter in Hunger and how he specifically tried to avoid bloodshed of anyone without powers throughout Lies, these were all subverted shortly before his death when he stopped caring about who he killed.
Hunger[]
- He, Hank, and Antoine stole Duck Zhang's pool after he had already gone through the effort of cleaning it. When Duck tried to fight back, Zil humiliated him and dunked him in the water.
- He accused his roommate Hunter Lefkowitz of stealing a piece of beef jerky despite having no evidence and attacked him with a metal poker in retaliation. This caused their mutual friend Harry to jump in between them the moment Hunter used his powers in self-defense, leading to Harry's accidental death.
- Zil blamed the entire incident on Hunter and took no responsibility for his role in the situation despite having been the one who resorted to violence first.
- He used Hunter's situation as a reason to rally together a group of similarly angry children to start the Human Crew and find Hunter.
- He and some other Human Crew members beat Duck Zhang with a baseball bat to interrogate him over Hunter's location even though there was nothing that indicated Duck knew where he was besides them both having powers.
- After finding Hunter, he and the Human Crew brutally attacked him, causing Hunter to receive permanent brain damage that affected his speech.
- He had his cronies fire at Duck Zhang after Duck accidentally stumbled on their interaction with Hunter, nearly killing him in the process.
- He attempted to lynch Hunter in a public display after giving him a sham trial, with it also implied that he planned to do the same with Astrid and Little Pete afterward.
Lies[]
- He intended to eventually kill every child in Perdido Beach with powers, in turn leaving himself in charge.
- He hid his supplies at the house belonging to a girl called Emily and her brother, desiring to kill them both once their usefulness had expired.
- He and a few members committed an armed robbery of a gas station, wounding one of Edilio's guards monitoring it and killing another.
- He started a fire in Perdido Beach that left many residents injured and homeless, possibly killing some, all so he could take over in the chaos and exterminate every mutated person in the town.
- Upon realizing his plan would fail, he tried to blame the entire thing on Caine Soren.
- When a crowd of children tried to escape during the commotion caused by the Gaiaphage, he and the rest of the Human Crew ruthlessly attacked them, no longer caring if they had powers, only whether they were loyal to him or not.
- He attempted to kill Dekka Talent before falling several stories to his death due to the recoil from his gun pushing him out of the range of her power.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- He cared about his older brother Zane who vanished due to being over 15 when the FAYZ started. In his internal monologue, he stated he wished Zane were still around despite knowing he wouldn’t have been on the Human Crew’s side.
- This care also extends to Lance, who was the only member of the Human Crew Zil still respected by the time of Lies, with it implied he saw Lance as a brotherly figure in Zane’s place.
- He has insecurities about being outshone by his older brother and potentially being rejected by the Human Crew that are played for sympathy, with him acknowledging his own moral regression but being unwilling to change as a result of his fears.
Trivia[]
- Zil Sperry is, alongside Penny and Lance, one of the three characters from the Gone series to be Near Pure Evil.
- Michael Grant has stated that the children in the Human Crew are based off members of Germany's Nazi Party, with Zil Sperry being an allegory for Adolf Hitler.
External Links[]
- Zil Sperry on the Gone Wiki.