Howard Greenhill

Howard Jacob Greenhill is a primary antagonist of Red Star. He is the father of Richard Greenhill Camacho and the younger brother of Stuart Greenhill. The sixth-born of eight children, Howard was born into the prestigious Greenhill family and worked for his family's farm in South Sunnyvale, Texas until he was in his thirties, when he chose to distance himself from his deranged, lycanthropic older brother, Stuart -- the Greenhill family's tyrannical patriarch -- and settled on a much smaller farm on the outer edge of upper Sunnyvale. It was there that he encountered Margo McCormick, a former neighbor with an admiration for Howard's family. When Margo accidentally became pregnant with Howard's child, the two begrudgingly arranged a marriage and later gave birth to their only son, Richard. Howard was especially cruel and hateful towards his child, which only worsened after Richard is infected with lycanthropy. He forced Richard to work night and day on their farm while he himself worked as a construction worker another county.

Biography
Being a younger sibling, Howard was often harassed by his older siblings as a child. The only one of his siblings who was somewhat engaging toward him was Stuart, even though a lot of Stuart's "games" involved annoying harassment. When Howard was eleven years old, there was a series of brutal slaughters in their livestock fields by an unknown animal. A fifteen-year-old Stuart and the younger Howard went out on a hunting mission to find the animal and kill it -- however, what they encountered instead was a rogue werewolf, which viciously attacked the two brothers. Howard's torso and right arm were severely scarred by claws and branches, but he was not bitten -- Stuart, on the other hand, was brutally mauled after attempting to shoot the creature, and a frightened Howard ran for his life, leaving Stuart behind. Howard returned to his family, traumatized, and while a mass hunt was conducted for Stuart, they were ultimately unable to find him. It was days before Stuart eventually returned, now a werewolf himself and incredibly unstable as a result. Howard, traumatized after the attack, quickly developed a fear of his brother, who made his lycanthropy well-known to the Greenhill family and used his status as a way of maintaining authority over even his parents. Stuart later secured his seat as the family patriarch, dethroning his father and disregarding his older brothers.

It wasn't until Howard was well into his thirties that he mustered the courage to distance himself from Stuart and moved to nearby Sunnyvale. Although Stuart was initially enraged, he eventually allowed Howard to leave after Howard explained the profits from his own farm products would continue to benefit the Greenhill family as a whole. However, this created a greater rift between the two brothers, and Stuart's grudge toward Howard only intensified. Howard moved into the previously uninhabited Blackwater Clearing on the outer edge of Sunnyvale, and quickly built his own house and established his 40-acre farm behind it. In 1969, Howard encountered his old neighbor, Margo McCormick, who had a notorious admiration for the Greenhill family. With no immediate family and nowhere else to go, she offered to help Howard with his work, and he allowed her to do so. Within a few months, Margo was pregnant with Howard's child, and with no other choice, the two begrudgingly arranged a marriage. In the spring of 1970, Margo gave birth to their only son, Richard Greenhill -- a scrawny, unhealthy child who nearly died in his first few days of life. Richard eventually pulled through, however, but Howard paid little to no attention to his son, whom he viewed as a burden.

Richard was neglected by both of his parents from day one, and the child quickly learned how to behave through Howard's physical and verbal abuse and severe punishments. When Richard turned three, Howard began teaching him how to operate the farm in order to take the load off of his own back. By the time Richard was five, the boy was fully operating the farm by himself, and Howard, relieved of his duties, took up a job as a construction worker in Kaufman County.

Howard was initially incredibly disapproving of Richard's friendship with Scott Camacho, but after realizing that the interaction between the two increased Richard's motivation and performance, he allowed it to slide.

He did not learn of Scott and Richard's romantic relationship until shortly after their high school graduation, when he discovers Richard's stash of love letters while searching through his desk. This being the last straw for Howard, Richard is essentially quarantined in the Greenhill house as he and Margo determine what to do with him -- they consider conversion therapy, but ultimately decide to ship him off to live on the Greater Greenhill Farm permanently.

Despite Howard's efforts, Richard manages to escape the house with Scott in the middle of the night -- but not before Howard hears them. He runs outside and fires his hunting rifle in the direction of the fleeing car, shooting three bullets through the back window and causing one to graze Scott's shoulder. Howard then gets into an intense fight with Scott's father, Rodney, which escalates into a physical fight in which Howard attempts to stab Rodney -- and later Kelly when she intervenes -- with a pocket knife. Police break up the fight before Rodney is seriously wounded, and Howard is immediately directed to a nearby police station, while Margo flees the scene in Howard's truck.

Howard is later charged with a variety of crimes, including assault, attempted murder, and destruction of property, and is sentenced to over 30 years in prison. In 1994, Howard gets in a physical fight in the prison cafeteria with another prisoner, the latter of which ends up stabbing Howard to death using a shard of glass from a broken light fixture. Richard, being the last known person in Howard's family, is contacted, but Richard expresses no interest in funeral preparations.

Trivia

 * Howard is deeply terrified of werewolves. However, he is not as scared of Richard considering his meek and submissive personality, and rather feels disgusted whenever he is even in his son's presence. He has rarely seen Richard's wolf form because he refuses to look at it. It isn't until Richard accidentally breaks Howard's arm that Howard begins to grow genuinely terrified of him.