Profile

Raylan Givens is a Deputy United States Marshal, currently based in Lexington, Kentucky Miami, Florida. He wears a signature Stetson cowboy hat, has a high tolerance for alcohol, and has terrible judgment with women.

Originally from Harlan County, Kentucky, he is the son of Arlo and Frances Givens, and nephew of Frances’ sister Helen. Raylan’s childhood was significantly marked by violence and criminal activity on his father’s side; he left home at 19 ultimately to pursue a career in law enforcement in order to become the opposite of everything Arlo stood for. His mother died when he was young and Raylan remains fiercely defensive of her memory; his Aunt Helen was his protector against Arlo’s wrath, but their relationship turned bitter when Helen and Arlo ended up living together after Raylan moved out. For a brief period of time Raylan worked in a coal mine, until a mine collapse scared him off permanently. He had no intention of ever returning to Kentucky, until a "justified" (but premeditated) shooting forced him to transfer to the marshals office in Lexington.

Raylan is an expert in firearms and marksmanship, a master of the quick draw, currently issued a .45 Glock, and frequently under investigation for the use of lethal force. He is not above actively antagonizing his targets and often looks the other way on crimes outside his jurisdiction in order to aggressively pursue his fugitives, especially when the safety of his loved ones is in question. He is extremely intuitive when it comes to outlaws and his gut instincts are rarely wrong, owing to his upbringing on the edge of a criminal empire. It has been pointed out that Raylan is rarely much more than a coin toss away from becoming a dangerous outlaw himself.

Raylan used to be in an on-again, off-again relationship with his ex-wife Winona Hawkins; they are now off permanently but remain on good terms, particularly with regards to their daughter Willa. He has a soft spot for Ava Crowder, a (not so very) former flame, even after she became a felon and ultimately a federal fugitive herself. By far, however, Raylan’s most complicated relationship is with Boyd Crowder, a career criminal who grew up with Raylan and has proved himself both an invaluable friend and an infuriating nemesis. Boyd has saved Raylan's life on multiple occasions -- the first being the coal mine collapse when they were 19 -- and repeatedly assisted him with investigations, while slipping constantly out of the grasp of the Marshals Service himself. Despite the antagonism between them and Raylan's relentless fixation on putting Boyd behind bars, there is a deeply sentimental bond that has spared Boyd from a lethal bullet more than once. As Raylan himself explains, they dug coal together.