The Destruction of Shadow

POSTED BY: ncbrowncoat
UPDATED: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 23:58
VIEWED: 10979
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NCBROWNCOAT

Thursday, February 7, 2008 4:39 AM

Ok, I'm just speculating here but the time line for the destruction of Shadow, Mal's home planet is not apparent.

I'm just guessing when I say that I think the destruction occurs during the battle of Serenity Valley.

When we see Mal in the beginning of the pilot episode he still has all his belief intact and is inspirational to his troops and still fairly confident in the Independent cause. If his knew his home planet had been destroyed I don't think he would still be that cocky and more likely would be more vengeful toward the Alliance at that point. All of that has changed by the end of that scene (the outtake, where Mal is very disillusioned).

My theory is that the destruction of Shadow occurred late in the war, most likely right after the Battle of Serenity Valley. The Alliance, faced with a group of Independents that wouldn't lay down arms when their High Command told them to, thought they could force a surrender of the holdouts by doing the worst, most horrible thing in the world. Destroying a whole world just to show their might.

Just imagine the psychological damage to those resisting if the Alliance destroyed Shadow and them let the surviving Independents on Hera know it. Imagine the survivors not only starving and surrounded by the dead and dying but all of a sudden they find out that the Alliance has shown no pity to non combatants and have destroyed a whole planet.

Of course there is no way we'll ever know for sure unless Joss someday lets us in on ALL the Firefly/Serenity secrets in his brain.

What do you think?

http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/

ECGORDON

Thursday, February 7, 2008 5:03 AM

Do we really know that Shadow was destroyed? Perhaps the ranch where Mal and his mother lived and worked was destroyed, but the whole planet?

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

NBZ

Thursday, February 7, 2008 5:22 AM

Its in the notes in the (Serenity?) Visual companion - where Joss laid out his vision of everything.

NCBROWNCOAT

Thursday, February 7, 2008 5:40 AM

But he didn't tell us when it occurred. That's bothering me. For some reason (fic maybe?) I need to know when it happened.

http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Thursday, February 7, 2008 6:13 AM

In the Vis Comp, but it's not with me now.

Mal volunteered as a result of the bombing of Shadow.
It was a pre-emptive move on the part of the Alliance. They didn't want it to be available to the Independents. Alliance assumed the response would be nil, not inciting rabid volunteerism.

As I understand, Shadow was made uninhabitable early in the war, very early.

NBZ

Thursday, February 7, 2008 2:18 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by jewelstaitefan:
In the Vis Comp, but it's not with me now.

True

Quote:
Mal volunteered as a result of the bombing of Shadow.
It was a pre-emptive move on the part of the Alliance. They didn't want it to be available to the Independents. Alliance assumed the response would be nil, not inciting rabid volunteerism.

As I understand, Shadow was made uninhabitable early in the war, very early.

Hearsay.

It may be true, but it is not written anywhere by Joss and co. the closest he got to any specifics was "...five years gone he found his homeworld destroyed, his army beaten...". (Just need a "My Name is Maximus Decimus Meridius..." moment there)

If you look at the still hopeful Mal at the start of the pilot - he is still someone who believes they can erm... well if not win, then atleast hold. It may be just bluster to try to motivate the troops, or he may actually believe it himself.

If he does believe (which is more likely as that would make the stand down order all the more devastating), I would say Shadow is still there at that point. Or, he does not know yet.

There is every chance the high command gave the stand down order after hearing of Shadow's destruction - the price was suddenly too high. A bit like Japan after they got nuked in WW2.

CHRISISALL

Thursday, February 7, 2008 2:27 PM

Is it wrong that the title of this thread made me think it was about the old series UFO?

Strakerisall

AGENTROUKA

Thursday, February 7, 2008 2:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by nbz:

There is every chance the high command gave the stand down order after hearing of Shadow's destruction - the price was suddenly too high. A bit like Japan after they got nuked in WW2.

I'd say in a verse that spends decades trying to make lifeless worlds inhabitable in the first place - a humanity that has experienced the loss of living space when they used up the Earth - it is not very likely that they would make an entire planet uninhabitable for the purpose you claim.

It makes more sense to me that the destruction of Shadow was the driving force behind Mal's almost feverish need to win. I do not think that he was still 100% in those first scenes. He's determined, fearless, yes. But that doesn't translate to healthy and hopeful. He's already a mess there, just too busy and too much in the "right" environment to appear so.

When the leadership of the Independents surrendered, they may well have done so for sound reasons: to prevent more bloodshed that would inevitably still end in defeat. Mal's bitterness may easily stem from the fact that they took away the only thing that still made sense to him: fight. Not for anything in particular but in order not to lose to the monsters that destroyed his home.

I don't think there is a need to make the Alliance any more monstrous than some of its members already are. Or to attribute Mal's hollow anger post-Valley to things other than the obvious.

NBZ

Thursday, February 7, 2008 3:12 PM

You misinterpret that bit (or I wrote it badly...)

I am not comparing the destruction of Shadow with the nuking of Hiroshima, Nagasaki.

I am not claiming a purpose for the actions. Just saying that it happened. Which according to Joss' notes did. Is that canon? depends on who you're asking but I do take it as that. The why and the how are not as important as the what in this discussion. No need to get stuck on how monstrous the act was.

I am comparing the responses to what happened.

/I am taking a fictional world far too seriously

PS they did not use up the earth - it could no longer support the numbers. Big distinction.

PPS What about Mal in DU Khang (The Message)? Still reeling from an earlier loss of a homeworld? Possible, but not how I see things.

ASARIAN

Thursday, February 7, 2008 3:32 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:

Is it wrong that the title of this thread made me think it was about the old series UFO?

Is it wrong that the title of this thread made me think of the Shadow War? :)

--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam

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