The Dealer (Deep Purple)

NAME/ORIGIN
Character name	The Dealer
Song/Album	"Dealer"/ Come Taste the Band
Act	Deep Puple
Writer	Tommy Bolan and David Coverdale
Release Date	1975
ABILITIES
Powers	-Ability to take souls "He'll... steal your soul away" "Running from The Dealer/ Tryin' to save your soul" -Cause blindness (that looks white instead of black) "When you're snowblind"  -Place fire inside a person (in the space where the soul had been?) "I can feel the fire coming from inside you" "I've been burned before" (which implies The Dealer is overcome-able) -Cause feeling of hunger (or this is a side effect of the soul being gone) "Ain't no mercy in the hunger"
Skills	Stealth "He'll creep behind you like a hunter"
Attributes	- Vengeance-oriented  "If you fool around with The Dealer/ Remember soon, you'll have to pay" -Merciless "Ain't go mercy in the hunger" -Adaptable; tunes his approach to the individual; perhaps there is more than one, even one per victim: "YOUR Dealer keeps you begging for more" (emphasis mine) -Destroys self-confidence, cause self-doubt "You're a fool to yourself"
Vulnerabilities	His power is broken, ironically, by his victims capitulation to the idea that he is all-powerful. Once that happens, the Virgin Mary can intercede "Madonna can hold you/ But if you DON'T understand/ There's NOTHING She can do for you." This implies that, if you DO understand, there is SOMETHING she can do for you-- presumably, retrieve your soul (emphases mine)
Formidability	-More powerful than The Virgin Mary (see above) "Madonna can hold you/ But... there's nothing She can do for you." -Silences all the victim's attempts at resistance "If the bluebird plays the eagle/ He finds his song will turn to stone"
Attractiveness	-High. His victims become addicted to his presence "Your Dealer keeps you beggin' for more." -Falsely promises peace "In the beginning, all you wanted/ Was the calm before the storm"
Source	N/A
Goals	To obtain his victims' addictive loyalty, then to take their souls
POSSESSIONS
Weapons	N/A
Amulets	N/A
Objects	N/A
Clothing	N/A
Vehicles	N/A
Dwelling	N/A
Milieu	N/A
BIOGRAPHY
Gender	Male
Age	N/A
Physique	N/A
Ethnicity	N/A
Origin	N/A
Ancestry	N/A
Profession	Dealer, presumably of drugs... but also of souls? (who buys from him?)
Education	N/A
SES	N/A must get some money from drug sales, but mostly traffics in souls.
Relationships	N/A (those who buy the souls he collects?)
Pets	N/A
PERSONALITY
Morality	Entirely self-absorbed. Exists only to gather souls.
Intro/extrovert	Extrovert. Is extremely charming.
Intelligence	Must be high, to outwit a divine being
Emotions	Detached. May enjoy getting souls, but mostly does this out of need, like a "hunter."
Sanity	High. Is planful and methodical
Enemies	The Virgin Mary
Narrative Function	Antagonist
Other Notes	In the song, the speaker warns a potential victim, presumably another man, about The Dealer. He says he has been burned before, so we can assume his soul was in The Dealer's clutches (during which time he was burning, hungry, and blind), but he got it back through the intervention of The Virgin Mary. He tells this story and perhaps we see it unfold as a flashback. He says this soul-retrieval was possible only once he, paradoxically, gave in completely to The Dealer. Rather than have the potential victim go through all that, he urges the person not to fool around with The Dealer to begin with. He may start this conversation with the potential victim because the man was hitting on his girlfriend, so he tells him "I don't want no one messing with my woman." But he realizes the man is stronger than he is, and admits it, saying "I don't see nobody fooling with you." Still, he continues, if he thinks he's tough, well, he's nothing compared to The Dealer. If you "fool around" with that individual, well, soon, you'll have to pay. Here, he goes on, let me tell you my story about my encounter with The Dealer...