In Station Eleven, Mandel exhibits Tyler Leander’s (the Prophet)’s response to the Georgia Flu pandemic in three disparate sections: the beginning (ch. 10-12), middle (ch. 19-24), and end (ch. 48-52) of the novel. Fusing these sections reveals a character who responds to the pandemic by forging a new identity – “the Prophet.” The Prophet can easily be interpreted as a classic “strong male” figure who asserts dominance over the actions and thoughts of others. Yet, a more thorough understanding of his character requires examining the connection between his past and present. Shaped by his childhood powerlessness, the Prophet asserts control over others and adopts religion to explain both his actions and the operations of his surroundings. By connecting Tyler’s past and present, Mandel crafts a holistic character.

As a child at the beginning of the pandemic, Tyler was vulnerable. As Kirsten notes in the moments following the Prophet’s death, he “had once been a boy adrift on the road” (274). As a young child following a single mother, Tyler feels frustrated by the inexplicable collapse of the previously recognizable world. At the airport, he “wore a sweater of Elizabeth’s that went to his knees, the increasingly filthy sleeves rolled up” (228). His attire reveals his inability to control his life. When the battery to his “Nintendo console” dies, he is once again powerless and can only cry “inconsolably” (219). Tyler’s sense of powerlessness during his childhood catalyzes his transformation into the Prophet – a figure of power. 

The Prophet responds to the pandemic by acquiring control over others. To the townspeople at St. Deborah by the Water, mere references to his actions elicit fear. When Kirsten asks Maria and Alissa about two members of the Symphony who have resided in the town, the latter appears “so pale” and has to be asked to exit the room (52). The former hesitates before “whisper[ing] close to Kirsten’s ear” a brief, two-sentence response. This is followed by a request: “stop asking questions and tell your people to leave here as quickly as possible” (52). Maria and Alissa are not the only townspeople who are afraid to discuss the Prophet. Eleanor displays similar reservations when Kirsten repeats the same inquiries. She answers that the Symphony members have gone to “the Museum of Civilization,” and Kirsten notices that her careful pronunciation of “museum” resonates with “the way people sound out foreign words of whose pronunciation they are uncertain” (115). The fear that the townspeople display demonstrates the full control that the Prophet wields over their behavior. 

Beyond controlling the content of what they say, the Prophet also dictates the townspeople’s ability to speak. When he asks them whether they have considered “the perfection of the virus,” his audience questions his claim in “a ripple of murmurs and gasps” (61). However, Kirsten observes that “the prophet raised a hand and they fell silent” (61). With a single gesture, the Prophet quenches the townspeople’s expressions of skepticism. The contrast between the subtlety of his movement and the scale of his results establishes his authority. The Prophet responds to the pandemic by acquiring control over the townspeople at St. Deborah by the Water. However, his influence is not limited to the town.

When Kirsten listens to him speak, she feels that “something in his tone made [her] want to run” and that each word he spoke was like “a trapdoor” (60). Later, when the Symphony tries to leave the town, they worry that the Prophet might inflict harm on them: “would the prophet send men after them, or had they been allowed to leave?” (112). Fast forward to Year Fifteen, Jevaan treats Edward’s wife. The Prophet has shot her in the leg for refusing to participate in his polygamy. All Edward can say is that “the Prophet happened” (245). Edward’s failure to elaborate suggests the prevalence of similar incidents. The Prophet’s reliance on guns to compel obedience demonstrates the urgency of his need for power. By determining the behavior of others, Tyler domesticates what had previously been an uncontrollable environment. While the progress of the pandemic remains out of hand, he gains power over its people. 

To justify his questionable actions in response to the pandemic – shooting, polygamy, suppressing speech – the Prophet foreground his religious ideology. When Sayid expresses skepticism over his practice of polygamy, he notes that “all of our activities [...] and suffering [are] all part of a greater plan” (262). By locating his actions under a divine plan that is intended to support humanity’s advancement, the Prophet establishes himself as an agent of God. The morality of his position in turn justifies his immoral actions. He claims that his role instructs him to reconstruct life on earth. Earlier in the novel, a fleeing Eleanor admits to the Symphony that the Prophet purports to be “guided by visions and signs” and has had “a dream where God told him he was to repopulate the earth” (116). The religious scaffolding he constructs around his behavior enables Tyler to justify his immorality. In this context, polygamy does not indicate infidelity or the objectification of women; rather, it provides a divinely endorsed mechanism for reconstructing a fallen world. Similarly, Tyler’s power is not unfounded. It constitutes a process for elevating the relics of the world. Tyler’s metamorphosis into the Prophet in response to the pandemic leads to his use of religion to justify his actions.  

The Prophet also implements religion to explain the inexplicable changes occurring during the pandemic. He indoctrinates his followers that “the virus was the angel” and that the names of its survivors “are recorded in the book of life” (257). He compares the Georgia Flu to the outbreak of 1918, claiming that it is “a perfect agent of death” who arrived “like an avenging angel, unsurvivable, a microbe that reduced the population of the fallen world” to “cleanse the earth” (61). By establishing a dichotomy of “good versus bad” under the framework of the New Testament – the “avenging angel” versus the “fallen world” – the Prophet simplifies the complex elements in his surroundings into two categories. Thrust amid the inexplicable workings of the pandemic, he sought explanations through religion. 

Ultimately, Tyler’s response to the pandemic probes the question that Kirsten proposes in the moments following his death – “who are you?” In three postmodernist snapshots, Mandal craft Tyler's response to the question -- a transformation from a position of weakness of one of power. Through Tyler, Mandel explores the concept of identity. What is the self? What role does the environment play in shaping the self? Under her pen, Tyler is not only a Machiavellian Prophet, but a paradigm for individuals who grapple with their identities and seek to reconcile with a rapidly changing world.