Cedric Damm

Cedric Damm is a beaver and one of the three victims of serial killer Orin Draftwell (The Cartographer) in We Can Fix Pawbert. A maintenance technician with over thirty years of service, Damm is murdered in S02E11 "The Cartographer" for his alleged role in a past incident that resulted in civilian deaths.

Background

Cedric Damm worked in city infrastructure maintenance for over thirty years, spending his career servicing the underground systems that keep Zootopia running. Fifteen years prior to the events of the episode, he was investigated for falsifying safety reports on the Rainforest District drainage system. A subsequent flooding incident killed three mammals. The official investigation cleared Damm and blamed contractors and weather conditions.

Series History

Season 2

S02E11 "The Cartographer"

The episode opens with Damm's final moments. He emerges from a maintenance tunnel entrance in an industrial area of the Canal District, locking the heavy door behind him after another routine shift. Walking toward his car---the only vehicle left in the parking lot---he senses something wrong in the quality of the silence.

A calm, methodical voice addresses him from the darkness, confronting him about the Rainforest District flooding fifteen years ago. The voice accuses him of falsifying safety reports that led to three deaths, observing that while the investigation cleared him, "we both know the truth."

The Cartographer's philosophy is made clear in this encounter: the city is a system, and Damm was "supposed to be a safeguard" but became "a flaw." Before Damm can escape, a figure emerges from behind his vehicle and kills him.

Damm's body is later found dumped at an old Lynxley operational site---a location used for "handling problems" in the 1970s. This pattern of using historical Lynxley locations as dump sites triggers ZSI's involvement and brings the BAU back to Zootopia.

The Investigation

When the BAU arrives to profile the killer, they identify Damm as part of a victimology pattern. All of the Cartographer's targets were mammals involved in incidents that resulted in civilian deaths but were cleared by official investigations. Spencer Reid notes that Damm's case involved the flooding deaths of three mammals after drainage systems he inspected failed.

Tara Lewis observes that the killer targets mammals who "escaped accountability---or who he believes escaped accountability." The key insight is that the Cartographer doesn't know whether his victims are actually guilty; he cares about "perceived guilt" and the "narrative he's constructed."

Legacy

Damm's murder, along with those of Mark Bandit and Fawnley Creighton, ultimately leads ZSI and the BAU to identify and capture Orin Draftwell. The case also uncovers Draftwell's extensive files on Lynxley family operations, including documentation that leads to the discovery that Soren is still alive.

Key Quotes

Trivia

• Damm is the only one of the Cartographer's victims shown on-screen at the moment of his death.
• The Cartographer's accusation about falsified safety reports may or may not be accurate---part of the horror is that Draftwell didn't care about actual guilt, only perceived guilt.