The Shepherd

POSTED BY: ShadoworBust
UPDATED: Friday, October 21, 2005 00:55
VIEWED: 19132
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SHADOWORBUST

Friday, February 25, 2005 3:58 AM

I was watching the episode Serenity the other day, and I noticed, that the Shepherd never actually says his name.

Quote:
Book. I'm called Book.

Now, it's a mite thin by some's reckoning, but I figure that Book could be an alias. Anyone else notice this?

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"As surely as the bullet rips through the victim's flesh, organ, and bone, it shatters the image of the man who pulled the trigger." -Max Payne

THEGREYJEDI

Friday, February 25, 2005 4:04 AM

I thought he said something like "Paul Book." Mayhaps I are wrong.

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TLACOOK

Friday, February 25, 2005 4:24 AM

nope. Just "Book" and definitely an alias.

ROCKETJOCK

Friday, February 25, 2005 6:07 AM

It's an old principle in magic. Never give your true name. If someone asks who you are, say something like "I'm called..." or "people call me..." True names have power.

The Lone Ranger thought a lot of it too. Whenever traveling in disguise on the old radio show, he'd never actually lie about his name (he was a good guy, good guys don't lie.) If asked, he'd say something like "Some folk call me Tex", or whatever.

Not that I think Book's practicing magic. Although he might qualify as some kind of Ranger. Special Forces, maybe...

"You know what the definition of a hero is? It's somebody who gets somebody else killed." -- Zoe

THIEFJEHAT

Saturday, February 26, 2005 1:04 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by RocketJock:
It's an old principle in magic. Never give your true name. True names have power.

OMG I never noticed that he never actually stated his name. He does say exactly "I'm a Shepard from the Southdown Abbey....Book....I'm called Book" and never at any other time in the remaining episodes does he make mention of a name again.

The only indirect event would be of course his Ident card. But again, we do not see it.

I'm a huge fan of the Books of Magic comic series and when I realized he never gave up a true name I about jumped out of my seat at my keyboard! You're right though, magic isn't a variable in Firefly. But it makes a great parallel to his shadowy past that is continually eluded to.

This just added another small gem into the beautiful artwork that is the Firefly Pilot! I love the pilot!

INEVITABLEBETRAYAL

Saturday, February 26, 2005 1:12 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by ShadoworBust:
I was watching the episode Serenity the other day, and I noticed, that the Shepherd never actually says his name.

Quote:
Book. I'm called Book.

Now, it's a mite thin by some's reckoning, but I figure that Book could be an alias. Anyone else notice this?

The issue isn't what his name is. Is what his identity is. The "I'm called" thing is just Joss's westerny-speak. It's littered all over the series. You may have noticed it from the more obsessive types on the board.

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I wish I had a magical wish-granting plank.

INDIGO

Saturday, February 26, 2005 2:10 AM

Quote:
It's an old principle in magic. Never give your true name. If someone asks who you are, say something like "I'm called..." or "people call me..." True names have power.

Fellow magic user RocketJock?

I agree though, magic and any supernatural isn't a part of the Firefly-verse as I can remember. Though I suppose, Book and religious belief come close?

My thought is that this man has tied his current identity, his "new" life (since the Abbey), to his talisman... his Book. He has become the wandering mendicant, the Shao-Lin priest, the "Man-with-No-Name". One of the first things that religious/spiritual questors do is give up thier name/identity and become a "tabula rasa" to the world - a blank slate that the rest of thier experiences gets written upon.

I used to be confused, now I'm just not sure.

EMBERS

Saturday, February 26, 2005 2:23 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Indigo:
My thought is that this man has tied his current identity, his "new" life (since the Abbey), to his talisman... his Book. He has become the wandering mendicant, the Shao-Lin priest, the "Man-with-No-Name". One of the first things that religious/spiritual questors do is give up thier name/identity and become a "tabula rasa" to the world - a blank slate that the rest of thier experiences gets written upon.

except of course for his 'ident-card'
which magically earns the respect of the Alliance
giving him priority emergency health care...

INDIGO

Saturday, February 26, 2005 2:44 AM

Quote:
except of course for his 'ident-card'
which magically earns the respect of the Alliance
giving him priority emergency health care...

Yep, hence my basic... oh, I don't know... leeriness toward him. A complex and intriguing character to be sure.

I used to be confused, now I'm just not sure.

SHADOWORBUST

Saturday, February 26, 2005 3:01 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by InevitableBetrayal:
The issue isn't what his name is. Is what his identity is. The "I'm called" thing is just Joss's westerny-speak. It's littered all over the series. You may have noticed it from the more obsessive types on the board.

_______________________________________________
I wish I had a magical wish-granting plank.

I know that there's a lot of 'westerny-speak' in Firefly, but there's not often that Joss has someone say their name like that, when it's really thier name. There's more ways to say it that's a lot more like in the old west.

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"The two saddest people in the world are those who grow up too fast, and those who stay young too long. The former misses the transition that explains everything, and the latter miss what may yet come." -Jack T. Ripper, fictional musician

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