Shepard Book

POSTED BY: jaglee
UPDATED: Friday, November 9, 2007 19:01
VIEWED: 19942
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FASTMOVER

Wednesday, January 10, 2007 11:39 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Rae:
Good point. Remember in the pilot, when the guy (can't remember his name) was on board Serenity, and reported them to the feds. Books says "The guys I was supposed to protect..."

Rae Y

The quote was along the lines of, "I beat senseless the man I swore to protect." You could read it cryptically, but I think that as a Shepard he has taken a vow to protect all people, regardless of who they are or past sins.

Now, taking the earlier idea that he was onboard to monitor the Tams for the Alliance, maybe he was actually monitoring them for someone else who wanted River. That could be why he didn't turn them over to the Alliance all those times and even protected them. If the Alliance wanted River so badly as an assassin, then I'm sure there were many other "interested parties" who would have use for her.

Still, what we see of Book in the BDM really discounts any possibility that he was part of some sinister plot against the Tams.

I am evil, I am sly, and if you get eaten no one will cry.

ORANGEHAT

Thursday, January 25, 2007 10:41 PM

Ahhhh Book. The man with the secrets. I don't think he could be a companion for the simple fact that he and Jayne have a conversation involving abstinence and we find that Book is veeeeeeery religious.(Of course it could be a ruse, a deliciate surrealism he portrays to his ship mates to hide his motives whatever they are..) Though I would like to find out more about him, I don't usually give his character a lot of thought which is one of the reasons I concluded that his character at one point was/is meant to be important. He's supposed to seem like the normal one, level headed and good with God but I'm sure there's some dark secret buried in his past that caused him to repent his evil ways and follow a more virtious path. Perhaps he was closely tied to the Tams somehow and upon realizing what his government was doing to these innocent children he found a way to escape (or retire) or perhaps he goes under the pretense of working but is really hiding along with the Tams. I'm not sure how easy it is for an Operative to retire considering how cut throat the inner workings of the alliance are.

That nerdy hat

TAKEMEFLYING

Friday, January 26, 2007 2:08 PM

If Book were an ex-Operative, he would be in hiding from his old employers - it simply isn't the kind of job that one retires from - and so the ident card that got him such good care from the Alliance would have been a good fake (a la Jason Bourne).

I rather think he is more likely to be ex-law enforcement; it would explain his knowledge of arms and combat, Niska's reputation, Womack's stepping outside of procedures, Early's comment. The same way that policemen or soldiers will protect their own, even retired, his ex-cop ident card might afford him some care from the Alliance (possibly with the twisted thought he might be undercover).

Assuming he retired after coming face to face with the injustice either in the system or his unflinching adherence to the letter of the law, it would explain the overheard thought ("I don't give half a hump if you're innocent or not. So where does that put you?") and how troubled he is by having 'fallen in with criminals' and 'watched the captain shoot the man I swore to protect (another lawman)'. I think he did his best to leave behind and even forget the cops&criminals world within the abbey - he turned away from the world and towards his faith. He thought he had grown strong enough to make a difference on the outside, and within two days is confronted full force with the very things he ran away from.

Well, it's an interesting story anyway... *tries to shake off the plot-bunny at her ankle*

ORANGEHAT

Thursday, February 1, 2007 3:04 AM

Man!!! I had a CRAZY brain wave brought on by the very famous movie Pulp Fiction! If ya'll remember near the end in the cafe we have Samuel L Jackson and he starts in with the bible verse and starts explaining to the fellow at gun point about who he is; the shepard, the rightious man..blah blah whatever the other ones were. Finally he says I'm trying so hard to be the Shepard. Que the light flickin on. Book here could have some basis. He does some dirty work experiences (samuels words) a miracle and realizes its time to flip his life around. To guide those who have followed down his once damned path to rightousness and all the other just things the bible has to teach (apparently). I could be way off but when hit with the thought I decided to share it in hopes of it going away :P

That nerdy hat

MISTERSOLIDUS

Thursday, February 1, 2007 2:04 PM

I think he might've been a middle man. He helped the Alliance at one point, but never really joined them.

Thats my thought at least...

DREAMWALKER

Monday, March 12, 2007 6:04 AM

Book must have had considerable power within the Alliance at some point. Remember the reaction the Alliance people gave when they checked his ID in Safe. If he was just some minor government funtionary than I don't think he would have that level of respect after he left office. My theory is he was either an Operative, which is the more unlikely of my two ideas given that Operatives are brainwashed into blindly believing Alliance Dogma (like the guy in the BDM), or else he was a high ranking Alliance official who got out after he saw too many terrible things or may have done some terrible things. I can't think of a better way to try to find redemption than turning your back on a life like that and becomimg a man of God.

Wash: This landing is gonna get pretty interesting
Mal: Define "interesting".
Wash: Oh God, of God, we're all going to die?

CERES

Thursday, March 15, 2007 12:45 PM

I'm half way through reading 'The Killer Angels' which Joss has said inspired him to write Firefly. This is from memory 'cause I haven't got the book with me at the moment, but there's a high ranking officer who's been accused of cowardice. He took his men out of a difficult battle situation without checking with the senior officer first. Most of his comrades know he's innocent but the press vilified him and their story has gone down as the true one. It's commented that his only hope now is to die bravely to rescue his reputation. I wondered if that could've been the inspiration behind Book's story, even if it doesn't follow it exactly.

.........................................

You can question the meaning of life on a floaty
island of your own for a while.

SPACEANJL

Thursday, March 15, 2007 2:36 PM

Richard Brooke Garnett.

Maybe Book got religion in prison? My thoughts on him are - high-ranking, but possibly bent, cop. Maybe IA or military police. Knows about Operatives, but perhaps not too happy at having to work with them.

OLMERCBEAR

Saturday, March 17, 2007 5:36 AM

The man with a Past. That's our Sheppard. Important. Yes. To who is the question. Alliance, Blue Sun, Congress, Parliment. We may never know. We may find out, but...

Something I just noticed while rewatching "OoG" yet again. The scene when River speaks with Book while he is in his quarters, praying. And her words of 'comfort' concerning the way that everyone is going to die.

Look at Book's face, watch how he is behaving. This is Not a man who is afraid of the unknown. This is the look of a man who has been onship, in the Black, when the hull has been breached, life support is failing and the air supply is running out. Book Knows what is going to happen. And he is Very afraid. And he is finding No words of comfort in the Good Book.

So, my take on Book's background indicates that at sometime in his life, whether as a travelling Sheppard, a Soldier, Operative, Young Child of Colonist Parents, or what have you, he came very close to dying under the same circumstances that the Serenity is now in. And as in all traumatic incidents, the effects will be with him all his life.

Makes you wonder what was so important that he could bring himself to get Back on a spaceship.

6IXSTRINGJACK

Saturday, March 17, 2007 6:23 AM

He used to work for Fox....

'nuff said.

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." http://www.myspace.com/6ixstringjack

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