The Marker
- "A marker is no small thing, John. For a man to grant a marker to another, is to bind a soul to a blood oath."
- —Santino D'Antonio to John Wick[src]
Markers are a blood oath between two individuals. Markers are also formally witnessed or recognized; they are not just any blood oath.
History[]
John Wick: Chapter 2[]
John Wick's blood oath coming from Santino D'Antonio.
When John Wick wanted to leave the assassin life behind to marry Helen, he was assigned an "impossible task" by his then employer Viggo Tarasov. In order to succeed, he gave a blood oath to Santino D’Antonio, the influential son of and later brother of one of the 12 members of The High Table, in return for his aid. (At the time the marker was given, D'Antonio senior, the art collector, was the representative for the Camorra at the High Table.)
After John came back from retirement to seek vengeance on Viggo and his son Iosef, Santino called in the oath. Desiring to take his sister's place at the table, D’Antonio had John assassinate her to satisfy his commitment. Afterward, Winston Scott compelled D'Antonio to acknowledge the Marker's fulfillment.
After John had $14 million bounty placed on him and was labeled excommunicado from the Continental Hotel, Winston gave John a Marker for future use. It is unclear whose marker that is.
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum[]
Before he became officially excommunicado, John went to New York Public Library to retrieve a rosary as well another marker from a book where he had been hiding said relics. First, he went to the Ruska Roma to meet with his mother figure, The Director, who begrudgingly agreed to help him travel to Morocco after John presented the rosary. Once he arrived in Morocco, he met with Sofia Al-Azwar and showed the marker that she gave him following his help in rescuing Sofia's daughter many years ago. Despite Sofia's best efforts to disregard the marker, she reluctantly accepted arranging a meeting between John and her former boss, Berrada, who John believed could give him some guidance.
Once John and Sofia succeeded in fighting their way out of Casablanca, they go to the desert and John stamped his blood into the marker prior to returning it to Sofia, who left him in the desert in hopes that he could find the Elder, the highest-ranked member of the High Table.
John Wick: Chapter 4[]
While confronting Koji Shimazu at the Continental Hotel in Osaka, Caine asked why Koji Shimazu was helping John Wick who doesn't have a marker on Koji. Koji simply told Caine that there are other debts more important than markers.
Function[]
- "You dishonor the marker, you die. You kill the holder of the marker, you die. You run, you die."
- —Winston to John Wick[src]
A marker is a small round metal object indicating the debt of a blood oath between two individuals. Opening in the middle to reveal a divided surface, the debtor presses a bloody thumbprint on one side to commit an oath is owed, while the borrower likewise presses their bloody thumb to the other side to indicate when an oath has been fulfilled.
Records of blood oaths are registered and tracked by The Continental, under the supervision of Winston. He tracks the issuance and redemption of blood oaths in his own leather-bound record book.
Markers are considered to be the ultimate last resort solution for any favor, due to its extreme regulations. A marker-giver, has the full right to do any actions he/she deems necessary to threaten/force the person who made a blood oath to do any task the marker-giver deems them to do. Santino D'Antonio sets John Wick's house on fire, and yet Winston simply says "he has full rights to do so". Even if a marker-holder is Excommunicado, the marker-giver is still obligated to help them and they cannot kill the person who they gave the marker to.
Trivia[]
- The Latin words "Quod Debitum Sanguine" carved on blood markers means "blood debt".
- It's never revealed who the marker that Winston gave John belongs to and it is never seen or mentioned again.