Aaron Hotchner

"I don't make deals, I'm the guy who hunts guys like you."

Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner is unit chief of Quantico's Behavioral Analysis Unit and the direct superior of all special agents.

Background
Hotch's mother was originally from Manassas, Virginia, and went to Mary Baldwin College. Hotch was a former profiler in the Seattle, Washington Field Office before transferring to Quantico. Previous to that, he was a prosecuting attorney. Hotch stated that his reason for joining the BAU was because he felt that, as a prosecutor, it was too late for him to do anything, but by joining the BAU, he has a chance to stop killers sooner. His struggles to maintain his family life have been an ongoing theme of the show. In the episode "Natural Born Killer," Vincent Perotta questions Hotch as to the meaning of "some people [from extremely abusive and violent households] grow up to become killers." Responding, Hotch says, "And some people grow up to catch them." This hints that Hotch might have been abused as a child, but the subject hasn't come up afterwards. In the episode Ashes and Dust, Hotch's father was revealed to have died from lung cancer.

Personality
Hotch's personality has changed very little over the course of the show. He has always been extremely serious, determined, and focused on his leadership of the team, never seeming to waver or lose sight of the task ahead, barely allowing his dry wit and humor to appear. However, the events surrounding George Foyet's final appearance did cause him to become temporarily single-minded and obsessive to the point where he would appoint Morgan as Unit Chief for a short period of time.

Outside work, specially while interacting with his loved ones, his seriousness abates and the more carefree, good-natured, and good-humored side of his personality shows up, transforming his countenance to a point that people who know him little get a hefty surprise.

On the Job
"I catch killers. I save lives. I'm a hero until my key hits my front door, and then I'm just the father and the husband who's never there."

Season One
In Extreme Aggressor, Jason Gideon returns to the team after a six-month sick leave and takes over Hotch's job as team leader. Hotch is tasked with the job of evaluating him and, after Gideon is able to save a girl from being killed, he believes that Gideon is well enough to rejoin the team. Gideon, however, takes the role of Senior Agent while Hotch regains the title as the team's leader.

In Compulsion, Hotch and his team search for a serial arsonist who has been terrorizing a college campus. Since most of the evidence from the crime scenes is burned beyond recognition, the team is forced to rely on psychological analysis to identify the unsub. Eventually, they discover that the unsub suffers from an obsessive compulsive disorder called scrupulosity focused on the number three. Hotch remembers that a girl named Clara Hayes who repeated one word three different times, kept turning her ring around in intervals of three, and was one of the students working on the three-body problem. While searching for Clara, Reid remembers that the third floor of the science building was under construction and Hotch heads there. When Hotch arrives, he finds Clara holding a lit flare and getting ready to throw it in a stuck elevator containing three students. He tells Clara that she need to resist her compulsions, but when she states that she cannot and prepares to throw the flare, Hotch shoots her in the leg, stopping her from killing the students.

In L.D.S.K., Hotch coaches Reid in firing a handgun, since Reid was barely able to pass his last firearms qualification test. He teaches Reid three steps that he learned with SWAT: front site, controlled trigger-press, and follow through. He then demonstrates the three steps by putting a bullet in the head of the human-outline sheet. Reid ends up failing his test. Later, the BAU is tasked with finding a sniper who has shot six people (one of them fatally) in three events occurring in a three-week span. Hotch, Morgan, Reid, and Detective Shea Calvin determine that a large handicapped space in a parking lot close to where the third shooting occurred is suspicious, since it is freshly painted and is a very long distance from the park building entrance. Hotch deduces that the sniper painted the handicapped space. After a fourth shooting occurs, the BAU deliver the profile. Hotch then asks Sergeant Weigart's permission to reenact the parks shootings to better understand the shooters M.O. During the reenactment, a police officer, Scott McCarthy, is shot and killed by the sniper. The team later realizes that the unsub may be a surgeon with a "Hero Syndrome" mentality. Hotch and Reid realize that their unsub is an ER official and, after talking with a nurse, is told that Phillip Dowd is the unsub. Dowd is able to take a security guard as a shield and holds several people in a waiting room hostage, including Hotch and Reid. Hotch asks Dowd for one favor before the SWAT bursts in a more than likely kills everyone inside: to attack Reid for getting him into the situation. Dowd approves and Hotch repeatedly kicks Reid until Reid grabs his leg: he had grabbed a gun that Hotch carried in his ankle. Reid promptly shoots Dowd in the head, just as Hotch had planned all along. Afterwards, Hotch explains his actions to Reid, to which Reid explains that he understands. Hotch allows Reid to keep the gun, stating that he had clearly passed his evaluation.

In Blood Hungry, Hotch and the BAU investigate two connected murders in Tennessee. The team is forced to investigate the murder without Gideon, who is on crutches due to a skydiving incident. At the funeral of the second victim, a local woman, Mary Mays, tells Hotch that she knows a man that fits the profile, named Oley Maynor. However, Oley is exonerated after being interrogated. After an elderly woman is killed and her grandson goes missing, Morgan and Elle quickly arrest a suspect, Mary's son Eddie, afterwards when he is identified. Hotch questions Eddie but is unable to get the boy's location from him. After realizing the control Mary had over Eddie's life, Hotch has Morgan and Elle investigate her house, and they find traces of blood and bleach. Discovering that Mary had stopped at one spot in town more than six times in one hour, Hotch decides to drive Mary to the location and engages her in a personal conversation to distract her. When they arrive, Hotch is able to convince her to show them where she was hiding the boy.

Season Three
In In Name and Blood, after having been suspended from the BAU for two weeks due to wrongfully releasing a spree killer, resulting in a murder-suicide, Hotch decides to transfer to another unit so he can be home more with Haley and Jack. However, he is conflicted with doing a job he is good at and being a husband and father. Hotch's transfer is later stalled in the system by Garcia, who then gets him brought back into the current case. After receiving a call at home, Hotch and Haley argue about his two commitments. Later, Hotch makes the decision to join the team on their case as it was pointed out to him that his transfer isn't in the system yet and he is still bound to the BAU. Along with Prentiss, who resigned, he rejoins the rest of the team, minus Gideon, in Milwaukee to solve the case. Hotch ends up being the one to disarm the unsub's son, who had gotten a hold of Morgan's gun from Prentiss. He later tells Section Chief Erin Strauss that the team needs to be left intact and that what makes her think he would ever consider leaving the BAU. Upon returning home, Hotch discovers Haley has left him and taken Jack with her.

In Birthright, he was served with divorce papers as he was leaving the office; he is seen signing them in a later episode. In Doubt, it was revealed that Hotch had previously worked as a prosecutor; more specifically, in Tabula Rasa, he indicated that he had been with the District Attorney's office.

Season Four
His hearing had been damaged as a result of a car explosion at the beginning of Season Four. The doctor warns him that if he isn't careful, he will go deaf, but instead, he goes along with the rest of the team to investigate a case. When a gun is fired near his ear in order to kill the unsub, it nearly causes him to lose his hearing permanently. In Paradise, he started to doubt himself when a suspect he previously interviewed turned out to be the unsub.

In Omnivore, Hotch travels to South Boston to visit an old colleague, Tom Shaunessy, who is dying from an unspecified disease. Upon arrival, Shaunessy informs him that he made a deal with an uncaught serial killer called the Reaper, whom they both pursued eleven years ago. The deal was that if Shaunessy stopped hunting for the Reaper, he in turn would stop hunting victims. However, the contract will expire when Shaunessy dies. Immediately after Shaunessy's death, the Reaper reappears, murdering a young couple. When Hotch and his team arrive to the crime scene, Sergeant Mike O'Mara informs them his belief that the unsub is a copycat killer, but Hotch notices that the young male victim is wearing glasses that belonged to the only man who survived an attack by the Reaper, George Foyet. After the Reaper kills another couple, Hotch admits that he has been profiling the case alone for the last ten years. The rest of the BAU listen to the profile and decide to release it. When Garcia tells Hotch that she cannot track Foyet, he gets a journalist named Roy Colson to give him Foyet's location, since he had previously interviewed Foyet for a book about the Reaper. When Hotch and Rossi visit Foyet, they tell him that the killer isn't a copycat, which Foyet claimed he already knew. Foyet then refuses accept police protection, citing that nobody can protect him. Later, Hotch receives a call from the Reaper, who offers Hotch the same deal that he offered Shaunessy, but Hotch refuses to accept. In response, the Reaper boards a city bus and murders everyone on-board. When Hotch and Rossi arrive at the scene, they find a series of numbers written in blood on the bus windows as well as the words "No deal", causing Hotch to believe the massacre was his fault. After the BAU realized that the numbers left behind match the apartment numbers of Foyet's addresses. A search of all three residences leaves O'Mara dead and Morgan wounded after an attack by the Reaper, as well as the discovery of huge amounts of blood belonging to Foyet. However, Garcia finds that one of the aliases Foyet used held a charge for sexual harassment, from which Hotch deduces that Foyet was the Reaper, then remembers that Roy was going to see Foyet. Tracking both down, Hotch and the others hold Foyet at gunpoint as he holds Roy hostage. Foyet is eventually goaded into lowering his gun and is taken into custody. However, by the end of the episode, Foyet escapes from prison.

At the end of the Season Four episode To Hell and Back, part 2, Hotch comes home to find that George Foyet, a.k.a. The Reaper, is in his apartment, waiting for him. Foyet, dressed in full regalia, points his revolver at Hotch stating, "You should have made the deal". The episode ends with the sound of a gunshot.

Season Five
Hotch is found alive at a nearby hospital, bloodied and unconscious, but alive. He had been held captive by George Foyet and tortured for several hours. Foyet had stabbed him nine times and dumped him off at a local hospital with Morgan's credentials. It had become clear in Haunted that Hotch was obsessed with capturing Foyet, an obsession which had his teammates concerned with his sanity and work conduct.

As of the episode Cradle to Grave, Hotch had come under fire from his superiors, who were now requiring him to justify all of his tactical decisions. This has caused him to put pressure on his subordinates, which is gradually creating tension among the team members. At the end of the episode, Hotch announces that he is stepping down as Unit Chief and promoting Morgan to temporarily take his place.

In The Eyes Have It, Hotch oversees Morgan's performance during his first case. Hotch is pleased with Derek's abilities to lead. Rossi offers the hypothetical question as to whether Morgan will be willing to step down if asked. While Derek is shown to his new office, Hotch is seen mulling over Foyet's criminal file.

In Outfoxed, Hotch and Prentiss visit Karl Arnold in prison to ask for his input on a current case. After the interrogation, Karl reveals that he has received communications from Foyet, and that he is planning to return to make a final stand against Hotch. Karl reveals several notes featuring Foyet's signature symbol, The Eye of Providence.

In 100, Hotch and the BAU concentrate all of their efforts on catching Foyet after getting a break in the case. During a stakeout at Foyet's apartment, the team realizes that Foyet had already fled and is after Sam Kassmeyer, the U.S. Marshal protecting Haley and Jack. The BAU go to Kassmeyer's house and find him critically wounded. Kassmeyer reveals that Foyet ambushed him and demanded to know the location of Hotch's family. Though Kassmeyer refused to talk, Foyet spotted his cell phone, which contained Haley's number. Reaching her, Foyet was able to convince Haley that he was another U.S. Marshal and that she should meet him at an unknown location. Kassmeyer apologized to Hotch for failing him before dying of his wounds. Garcia manages to get into Kassmeyer's cellphone, and Foyet answers Hotch's call to it; he reveals that he is watching Haley and Jack, then hangs up. The BAU later realize that Foyet, Haley, and Jack are all at the original Hotch residence. Then, Haley calls Hotch's cellphone and quickly realizes that Foyet tricked her. Hotch attempts to calm her down, but Foyet continues his taunts and reminds Hotch that if he had taken his deal, none of this would be happening. As Hotch apologizes for everything, Foyet kills Haley, but not before Jack is instructed by Hotch to "work the case with him", which gets him to leave the room. Hotch pulls up to the house and charges inside, gun drawn. He follows bloodstains upstairs and discovers Haley's corpse. Hotch then notices a shape behind a curtain and shoots at it repeatedly. Foyet falls forward, apparently dead, but Hotch realizes he is wearing a bulletproof vest. The two engage in a fistfight, which eventually ends when Hotch beats Foyet to death as the rest of his team arrives. Hotch then runs into his office, where he finds his Jack hiding. After the event, Strauss interviews the entire team to see if Hotch's actions were justified. When Strauss asks him why he killed Foyet, Hotch replies, "I know that he would have tried to kill my son, too." Strauss then decides that this reasoning was good enough.

He had (spiritually) told Haley that he would come back to the BAU, and when Rossi asks him if he "told her yet", Hotch replied, "I don't have to. She already knows.", referring to the fact that Haley had always known deep down that he wouldn't stop his work. Hotch says that he has known all along that he will never give up and his place is "fighting the bad guys." In Retaliation, he returned to duty, his former sister-in-law, Jessica Brooks, taking care of Jack while he's away.

Season Seven
In It Takes a Village, it was revealed that Hotch was assigned to temporary duty with an investigative task force in Pakistan during the period between Season Six and Season Seven. He returns to the team in order to help them investigate a case.

In Painless, Hotch finds out that Jack is having trouble with a classmate and, after asking him, he learns how Jack is trying to solve it by himself.

In The Bittersweet Science, Hotch meets a woman named Beth Clemmons while training for a triathlon and they start a conversation. She then invites him to go on a bike ride with her. However, Hotch is conflicted. Although he likes Beth, he believes it is too soon after Haley's death. However, Rossi eventually convinces him to go.

In Closing Time, Hotch and Beth are still training together for the marathon and, during their last training session, Hotch finally asks her out. When they return from the case, Hotch is told by Morgan that it was Valentine's day and went to Beth's house with flowers to ask her out that day. She accepts and kisses him to "get it out of the way" before things got awkward. The last is of them walking away holding hands.

In A Family Affair, Hotch eats with Beth at a café and tells her that he'd like her to meet Jack. At the episode's conclusion, he completes his marathon and meets up with Jack and the rest of the team. Beth later approaches him and Jack and he formally introduces her to his son. Jack and Beth take a liking to one another and Hotch escorts them away.

Season Nine
In The Inspiration, it is revealed that Hotch had been offered the position of BAU Section Chief, which had been left vacant after the death of Erin Strauss at the hands of John Curtis. Hotch mentioned it to his team and also stated that he was still unsure of what his decision would be. In the following episode, after Hotch and the BAU were able to conclude the current case, the Attorney General and his staff were so impressed that Hotch's name was pulled from the list of BAU Section Chief candidates so that he could remain with his team, much to his delight.

In Route 66, a teenage girl named Samantha Wilcox was abducted by her father, ex-convict Eddie Lee Wilcox, with the BAU being called in to assist in the case due to Eddie's criminal history. Hotch was reviewing the case with the team when he began to unwell, and eventually passed out. While in the ambulance, Rossi learns that Hotch was suffering from internal bleeding from the stab wounds he sustained at the hands of Foyet, and must have surgery. Rossi takes over the investigation, while Garcia stays at the hospital with Hotch. During surgery, the anesthesia causes Hotch to see Haley, who gives him advice on their son and encourages him to move on with his life.

In Gabby, after a four-year-old girl named Gabby Hoffer is abducted while under the watch of a relative, Sue Walsh, Garcia discovers that Sue made multiple calls to Ian Little, a suspect arrested in the case. Sue tells Hotch that she and Ian were dating, but she wouldn't let Kate, her cousin and Kate's mother, know since she hated Ian. Hotch, unconvinced by Sue's story, interrogates Ian and manages to get him to admit that he saw Sue kill Doug. Hotch then talks to Sue again and challenges her, provoking her into attacking him and confirming his suspensions that she is a sociopath. The team is eventually able to find and rescue Gabby.