Logan Echolls - Background

Background

Described as Neptune High's "obligatory psychotic jackass" by Veronica's voice-over narration in the show's pilot episode, Logan was originally conceived of as the school's main bully and a teenaged nemesis for Veronica Mars. But as the show progressed during the first season, Veronica (and the viewers of the show) would discover that Logan was just a troubled teen, dealing with Lilly's murder and a hidden abusive home life.

Logan was the on-again, off-again boyfriend of the deceased Lilly Kane and close friends with Veronica Mars and her then-boyfriend Duncan Kane. Logan's life is torn apart when Lilly is murdered, and Veronica's father, former Balboa County Sheriff Keith Mars, accuses Lilly and Duncan's father, Jake Kane, of the crime. Logan is horrified by the accusation, and, when Veronica refuses to renounce her father, Logan quickly moves in to blackball her from the popular "09er" crowd. Logan confesses to the guidance counselor that he blames Veronica for Lilly's death, because she told Lilly about him kissing another girl, which was the reason they broke up at the time, and, had Veronica not done so, the two of them would have been together that day.

Logan's hatred for Veronica gradually disappears, but, when they first start dating, they keep it a secret from their classmates, due to Logan's popularity and Veronica's outcast status.

Logan Echolls is the youngest child in the Echolls family. His older half-sister (later retconned as his adopted sister) Trina left the family to pursue an acting career, with little success.

While Logan loves his mother, Lynn, his relationship with his abusive father Aaron is largely hostile, and the show alludes to a physically abusive relationship between father and son. This is first hinted at after Logan's bum fight video is leaked; Aaron confronts him about it, and Logan is shown to be incredibly nervous about his father shoving him on the couch. Later, in that same episode, the abuse is further revealed when, as punishment for publicly embarrassing him, Aaron beats Logan with a belt. Logan also reveals one incident from when he was ten, where Aaron gave him a bloody nose for spilling a milkshake in the car. Some episodes later, Logan's sister Trina sarcastically refers to Logan's claims of other abuse at Aaron's hands, including being burned with cigarettes and having his nose broken, accusations which Veronica overhears. Nonetheless, Logan's feelings toward his father are made ambiguous by the inherent parent-child bond, Logan's unusually deep capacity for love and loyalty, and Aaron's own complex character, which includes intermittent (and generally self-serving) attempts to support his children, and some degree of parental protectiveness (as seen, for instance, when he beats up one of Trina's abusive boyfriends).

Nevertheless, Logan receives little comfort from his mother, who turns to pills to distract herself from her husband's adultery and violence. Logan hides the truth of his home life from his friends at school, where he acts out his frustrations by bullying weaker students and flaunting his status as a member of the wealthy "'09er" community in front of less affluent students.

Ultimately, the Echolls family self-destructs when one of Aaron's sexual conquests, after seeing in the arms of yet another woman, stabs Aaron at a Christmas party, leading to the exposure of his chronic infidelity. His wife Lynn takes her revenge by leaking stories of Aaron's other affairs in order to further damage his public image and, when Aaron confronts her, vows to divorce him. When Aaron retaliates by threatening to use all of his resources to destroy Lynn's life if she leaves him, Logan sticks up for his mother and angrily tells Aaron that if he says another word to her, he will kill him. Lynn says she can't deal with her life the way it is anymore and drives to the Coronado Bridge, where her car is found abandoned; thus, the community assumes she jumped to her death, though her body is never found (most likely due to the fact that creator Rob Thomas wanted to leave the door open to bring the character back). Logan refuses to believe that his mother is dead, convinced she has only skipped town, so he hires Veronica to track her down. However, video footage shot by a freshman at their school shows what looks like someone jumping off the bridge at the time Lynn supposedly did so. Logan still refuses to believe it, and his hope is lifted when Veronica tells him his mother's credit cards are being used. It turns out that Trina is the one who's been using them, and Logan is heartbroken over this. With all hope of his mother being alive gone, Logan starts sobbing and falls to his knees as he cries on Veronica's shoulder while she hugs him.

His wife's apparent suicide shames Aaron so much that he retires from acting and concentrates on trying to save his disintegrating relationship with his son (although it is implied that this behavior is only an attempt to get money from Logan, to whom Lynn left all of her money). This uncharacteristic attempt at kindness fails, however, when Veronica Mars reveals that Aaron murdered Logan's girlfriend, Lilly Kane, in an attempt to retrieve tapes that he had made of himself and Lilly having sex.

After trying to kill Veronica in the Season One finale, Aaron goes on trial near the end of Season Two and mounts a successful defense. The defense blames Duncan for his sister's murder, denies the affair between Aaron and Lilly, and accuses Veronica of lying about Aaron's attempt to kill her. Logan bolstered the defense case when he bought the sex tapes of Aaron and Lilly earlier in Season Two - which had been stolen and put up for bid by Veronica's former boyfriend, Leo, one of Sheriff Lamb's deputies - and erased them to prevent them being posted on the Internet. Despite both Logan's and Veronica's testimony regarding the content of the tapes, their evidence is discredited, and Aaron is found not guilty on all charges.

Once acquitted, Aaron makes a last-ditch effort to reconcile with his son by forcibly reminding Logan that, as a free man, he now controls the family fortune. (Logan had gained power of attorney over his father's wealth while Aaron was awaiting trial.) Ominously, Aaron threatens to cut off his wayward son's finances but never has a chance to carry out his threat. In the Season Two finale, Duncan Kane, furious that his sister's murderer got away with the crime, arranges for actor Christopher B. Duncan's Clarence Wiedman, Kane Software's all-too obedient Head of Security, to murder Aaron in his hotel room.

In Season Three, Veronica uncovers the existence of Logan's older half-brother, the product of his terminally unfaithful father's affair with a flight attendant. Logan discovers his half-brother, Charlie Stone, when he enlists then-girlfriend Veronica's help investigating the disappearance of trust money left to him after Aaron's death. Aaron's relationship with Charlie is only through an agreement of payment that was set up through a children’s foundation, used as a front to keep Charlie's identity a secret from the public.

Logan eventually agrees to meet with his long-lost half-brother. However, Logan is tricked by a reporter who knew of the love child and acted as Charlie to get the insider's scoop for a Vanity Fair article; the story is ultimately dropped when Logan makes a pre-emptory appearance on Larry King Live and announces the scandal. Logan's real half-brother ignores all of Logan's calls, angered that Logan exposed him to media scrutiny and destroyed what normal life he may have had.

It is suggested that Logan's favorite movie is Easy Rider, as he has both Hannah Griffith and Veronica watch it with him and quotes it in his prize-winning essay.