Temperance Brennan's History
Temperance "Bones" Brennan is a forensic anthropologist and works at the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington, D.C. Brennan is described in the series as a leading authority in the field of forensic anthropology. Her character is very loosely based on author Kathy Reichs and the heroine in Reichs' crime novel series.
In the first season finale, Brennan stated that she was born in 1976, which would have made her either 29 or 30 (approximately the same age as Deschanel, who was born on October 11, 1976). In The Death of the Queen Bee (which aired nearly four years later), it is implied that her then-current age was 33 years, based on Brennan's identification of a former classmate from Burtonsville High School (presumably located in Burtonsville, Illinois) as the victim and statement that the classmate was 33. Brennan was part of the class of 94 in Burtonsville. (The Death of the Queen Bee). According to her high school online yearbook entry on Brennan, in her senior year, she was a member of the Chemistry Club and Math club, her interests were chemistry and mathematics, and she was a National Merit Scholar and an Academic All-Star.
In "The Woman in Limbo" it is revealed before her parents' disappearance she lived with her family in Chicago, Illinois. Although Brennan seemed to have a relatively normal childhood, her parents disappeared when she was 15 years old. Her older brother Russ, himself still an adolescent, was unable to care for her and she was put in the foster care system. By the time she started college she had been to twelve different schools and has specifically said that she hated the lack of consistency.
Brennan was left by her parents when she was a teenager causing her to bounce from house to house as a foster child. This could be one of the reasons for her lack of social skills. It was stated that she did not always have the most stable home growing up. This could be another reason why she threw herself into books. She felt safe and could rely on facts causing her to be anti-social. Her life as a foster child has impacted her a lot as it has shown from time to time. We learn a little more in The Signs in the Silence about her foster life. Being in foster care helped her connect to Amy/Samantha. It took her a little bit of time to remember what it was like. To be surrounded by strangers in an unknown place. This brought back memories to Brennan and we see this softer side as she becomes determined to find out what happened and to find Amy's real parents.
There has been contradictory evidence about her time in the system; in one episode, Brennan stated that her grandfather got her out of the foster system, but in a later episode, she indicates that she never knew her grandparents (possibly the two references are to two separate sets of grandparents, paternal and maternal). However, taking into consideration the fact that Brennan's parents had assumed new identities when she was three years old, the grandfather who had taken her in from her time in the foster system may not have been her biological grandfather.
Her time in foster care was quite traumatic and abusive; Brennan indicated that she was once locked in the trunk of a car for two days because she broke a plate, and in the episode "The Finger in the Nest", she reveals to Booth that she walked into her elderly neighbor's house to find the woman dead. In the same episode, she also mentions to Booth that her parents were very concerned about her afterward because she started faking her own death. In Season 2, she mentions that during her time in the foster care system, she kept a list of foster homes she had been kicked out of on the bottom of her shoe.
Brennan was inspired to be an Anthropologist by the film "The Mummy" as revealed in several episodes, notably in A Night at the Bones Museum. Brennan graduated from Northwestern University. In 1998 she joined Jeffersonian Institute. In 2003 Dr. Goodman hired Brennan as Head forensic anthropologist.
She has three doctorates, as referred to by Hodgins in the "The Parts of the Sum in the Whole", in anthropology, forensic anthropology, and kinesiology; it's implied that most of her work at the lab was related to either long-dead bodies of victims of genocide. Along with her work at the Jeffersonian Institute, Brennan is a best-selling novelist and writes about a fictional anthropologist, Kathy Reichs. Due to her book sales, Brennan is a very wealthy woman. She was told by her publisher that she would never have to work again, but she stays at her job at the Jeffersonian out of choice and love for what she does.
Also of note are Brennan's intimate knowledge and understanding of forensic anthropology and kinesiology, often being compared to the police detective Columbo for her seemingly unintelligent appearance toward suspects, which have given her an aptitude for gaining clues from the body movements of other people (The Woman in the Garden, The Truth in the Lye, The Girl with the Curl) and contribute toward her martial arts prowess, and she even advises Booth once how to win his fight against another Ultimate Fighting contestant in The Woman in the Sand'.
In season 5, "The Parts in the Sum of the Whole", Dr. Brennan reveals to Booth that she speaks six languages.
In season 8, "The Tiger in the Tale", Booth mentions to Sweets that Dr. Brennan once took peyote with Native Americans. In season 11, "The Senator in the Street Sweeper", Dr. Brennan is mentioned to be a member of the Green Party of the United States along with Hodgins.
She is a licensed hunter (she has licenses that allow her to hunt in four unspecified states). She claims that she hunts only for food,[1] though in the finale of Season 1, she declares that she has become a vegetarian after discovering how Vince McVicar murdered her mom Christine Brennan with a Spring-Loaded Captive Bolt-Stunner In one episode, The Man in the Morgue, it is said she is trained in three types of martial arts. In Aliens in a Spaceship, it mentions that Dr. Brennan was currently studying karate. The known list of Brennan's diverse talents is expanded in Double Trouble in the Panhandle, as it is revealed she is a trained amateur highwire performer.
In 2004 she met street artist Angela Montenegro in art gallery and they began their friendship. She later met FBI agent Seeley Booth on case of Gemma Arrington.
