Zoë Warren: Most Mysterious Character?
POSTED BY: zoid
UPDATED: Friday, May 21, 2004 20:31
VIEWED: 7756
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Fellow Browncoats:
Good morning. It's Monday, the first day of my 'weekend' and for most of you, the first day back at the grindstone. I hope it goes tolerably.
As I reflect on Firefly -- something I do a lot, obviously -- it occurs to me that perhaps the greatest mystery of the show is the one not readily apparent as a mystery. I'm talking about the motivations and history of the show's one steadfast character, Zoë Warren. I get the feeling that Joss might possibly be pulling a little sleight-of-hand here. Please allow me to digress slightly, in order to illuminate my assertion.
My father, when I was a lad, used to 'rassle' around with me, much to my childish delight. He'd get on his knees to equalize our heights and then 'slap-box' spar with me, ostensibly just playfully; but those lessons a father teaches a son invariably prove useful in real-life situations later. While it may seem like I'm meandering a bit, here's the point: He'd strike a fighting stance, then say, "You see this hand? You see this hand?" bluffing with his right; then he'd sneak in with his left, delivering a light tap to my cheek and say, "This is the one you've gotta watch out for."
So maybe, by showing us all those other gravid mysteries of Book and River, Blue Hands and Reavers, Joss is saying, "See this hand?". What if Zoë -- seemingly the least mysterious character on the show -- is the "one you've gotta watch out for"?
People have noted the ostensible wardrobe mistake of having Zoë wearing the 'wedding necklace' prior to having met Wash. Is it possible that it was not a mistake at all? Perhaps she was married and widowed previously, still wearing the necklace from mourning, or from a desire to avoid unwelcome advances. Back in the day, I knew lots of women who -- though unmarried -- bought a wedding ring to wear to clubs so they could drink in peace with their friends (pick-up lines are the most disgraceful things about the average male, not so?). I've also been giving some thought that the necklace may symbolize a different form of bondage than marriage, and that her continued wearing of it is a symbol of her hard-won freedom from that bondage. But it's probably just a silly notion of mine; there's certainly no evidence to support.
There's more to the 'Zoë Mystery'. Why is she so faithful to Mal? We may reasonably presume that the horrendous circumstances of the Battle of Serenity Valley have formed a bond between them. But what was the crystalizing event that made them inseparable? Many men at arms have been through the fire together, but few will form so strong or lasting a bond. Whatever that critical event was, how will it affect future actions, and ultimately the outcome of the series?
We are given glimpses of most of the other characters earlier homes or formative years. We know Mal was reared on Shadow, on a large cattle ranch. We know Wash's original home was a place so smoggy (cough, Los Angeles, cough) that he became a pilot just to see the stars. We know that River and Simon grew up in affluent surroundings on a hospitable planet. Conversely, we know that Jayne was brought up poor and rough on some backwater chunk of matter. We know Kaylee grew up on a similar backwater, the mechanic daughter of a mechanic. We may reasonably assume that Inara was initiated on Sihnon at a very young age, being educated in Guild schools until she came of age (in the Firefly 'verse what, 12?) and then became a sexual servant exclusively to the rich and powerful of society (ponder on this, if you will). We know virtually nothing of substance about Book's formative years, because that's his mystery ("See this hand?").
With Zoë however, why do we know nothing more about her childhood/formative years? Joss seems to have gone out of his way to deliver evidence of even Jayne's and Wash's; why not Zoë's, if everything's on the up-and-up? I've got some suspicions, but no proof, so I'll not further enumerate them, for now. But that's precisely what I'm talking about: Zoë i
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You might not be wrong, Zoid. I'd like to add a little something off the cuff, since I only have a moment. Wonder if the black corded necklace isn't necessarily a marriage thing at all, but a reminder of her experiences in the war? Aside from the bed-time scenes with Wash, the only time we ever see her without it - including pre-Wash - is during the war itself, when she's wearing the red neckerchief that seems to have been part of the Independent uniform... something constricting around the neck...
Hmmm...
~A~
El Jefe Magnifico's Mistress... of Communications and Harems... 
...I'm still free,
You can't take the sky from me.
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Very interesting point Zoid. I had wondered several times why we have absolutely no backstory on Zoe. Sure we know she has been w/ Mal since the beginning of the War, or possibly earlier. Their bond transcends a war buddy relationship or even a friendship. What exactly is it that binds these two together so closely? What would make Zoe so loyal to Mal that it causes problems in her marriage (War Stories).
I am not sure that Joss is trying to pull a fast one though by trying to distract us w/ River's & Book's mysterious pasts. I think that River and what was done to her is pivotal to the Firefly story. Book is an enigma. I think that Zoe is supposed to be that strong silent type who has that past she doesn't talk about because she either doesn't want to or doesn't need to.
"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."
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I don't know if lines cut from scripts are considered canon or not but in the Heart of Gold script there is a clue to Zoe's past that got cut.
It's the end of the arguement/discussion she and Wash are having about a baby.
WASH
And this beautiful baby of ours, you
don't mind that it's going to grow up
on a spaceship?
ZOE
Worked fine for me.
I've always found it interesting that Zoe grew up on a ship and ended up fighting for the independents. Seems to me most people who weren't tied to a planet would consider themselves somewhat above and beyond concern over the war....
Anyway, don't know if it's canon but it does give some background to Zoe.
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Wonderful Zoe questions. The surprise-left theory is very juicy.
Some thoughts: "Warren" isn't canon, that I know of, and I pay really close attention to all things Wash and Zoe. Somebody put it up on the IMDB over a year ago and now that's a reference, when there's no show/script reference that confirms it. Same for Jerry Lee (tricky!) and Washburn. Nathan Fillion referenced "Washburn" and I'm inclined to believe him, but he specifically left out whether or not it was a first or last name. I'm not saying it won't come to pass that Warren is the name of names, but it's not canon now and I'm irrationally vehement about it.
I'm also inclined to agree with Astriana about the necklace, with one caveat: she tranfered meanings as part of transfering her loyalty. It was a symbol she chose before or during the war, that meant loyalty for her. As she transferred that loyalty from one thing to another, she changed the meaning of the necklace. I can see her telling Wash "this is an important symbol to me. I have had it for a long time. And now it is significant because I say it binds me to you." It's a little like wearing your grandmother's wedding band or something-- it's not specifically for you, but you imbue (dun dun dun) the item with your meaning.
I think the critical event is the war and specifially, the Battle of Serenity. If Mal were commanding some vast number at the start and down to just the hundreds by the time they were rescued, I'd think it would be instinctual level coping that would keep Zoe loyal to him. I know that's not a precise enough answer. Don't you just ache to see the scene specifically-- with all the blood and gore and tears and heart? I do.
As for where she's from-- she's from space. I think that that is so interesting about her. Even though we don't know what ship, where, when or anything, she claims she grew up fine on a space ship. Which could, not coincidentally, be one of the reasons she stays with Mal-- he seems very up front about getting a ship and getting out into the black. Perhaps, among other things, she sees sticking with him as an opportunity to be a spacer again.
I'm going to keep thinking about her being the one they'd need to watch out for. My first reaction is gut, like, 'naw, Zoe doesn't play.' But then little molecules of doubt creep in; she's quiet and deadly.
Very excellent thread.
I'm a dying breed who still believes, haunted by American dreams. ---Neko Case
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pretentious wrote:
Quote:
I don't know if lines cut from scripts are considered canon or not but in the Heart of Gold script there is a clue to Zoe's past that got cut.
It's the end of the arguement/discussion she and Wash are having about a baby.
WASH
And this beautiful baby of ours, you
don't mind that it's going to grow up
on a spaceship?
ZOE
Worked fine for me.
I've always found it interesting that Zoe grew up on a ship and ended up fighting for the independents. Seems to me most people who weren't tied to a planet would consider themselves somewhat above and beyond concern over the war....
Anyway, don't know if it's canon but it does give some background to Zoe.
I think script lines that have been deleted should probably not be considered canon -- strictly because JW specifically deleted them. What are the possible reasons for their deletion? 1.) They were inaccurate/false for the character; 2.) They were too accurate and gave away too much of the big story arc before JW was ready to do so; 3.) They were too long to put in the episode and so were cut.
Without going into my usual needless, long-winded detail, if you consider a deleted line canonical, you stand serious risk of misleading yourself, when JW warned you away from that danger by cutting the line.
It is, however, slightly less dangerous (and ergo, more fun) to consider the line a clue. The problem is, what kind of ship did Zoë grow up on, presuming JW didn't cut the line simply because it was wrong? Was it a luxury liner? A cruiser like Dortmunder? A cargo ship? ...A slaver?
Just telling us she grew up on a ship is similar to telling us she grew up on a planet, without giving any more detail. We may safely assume that everyone -- including us -- grew up somewhere. The circumstances of that 'somewhere' are the bits that are missing from Zoë's story. We've pretty much got those details on everybody else, except in those cases wherein the characters' 'mysteries' preclude us from knowing the details (Book and to a lesser extent Inara).
All of which brings me back to the suspicion that Zoë -- even though she seems the least mysterious of all the Firefly characters -- has a mystery as well, and because it's so meticulously concealed, that it may be the most (startling/heart-rending/shocking/gruesome?) of them all. Then again, maybe there is no mystery, and it's all just a figment of my overactive imagination, huh? Maybe Joss just ran out of things to do and thought, "Hmmm, I really need a ninth character, eight just aren't enough. I know, I'll just kludge a totally one-dimensional cardboard character on, since I'm so tired of writing meaningful and involved relationships."
Ohhh, my droogies... I don't think so.
Respectfully,
zoid
_________________________________________________
"History may say I saved River; but it's not like that. No, that's not it at all. I saved my sister."
- Simon Tam, M.D., husband and father of 4, Jiangyin; from A Child Shall Lead Them: A History of the Second War of Independence Wilkins, Richard
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I'm leaning in the direction that Zoe and the growing up on the ship line was cut because Joss changed his mind about her growing up on a ship. I have a few reasons for this, some of them actually make a little sense. This is just one of them because I'm starving so gonna cook supper, but is the most sensical one.
If Zoe grew up on a ship then what's she doing as an Infantry Private in the Independents army? By growing up on a ship, be it a smuggling ship, Alliance Cruiser, what have you she'd know a fair bit about shipboard systems even if she was never formally trained on them. She's not stupid and she seems inquisitive enough to have picked up some shipboard information if she grew up on one. Now would that make her a pilot? Not necessarily but if the Browncoats had a Navy then she'd be a prime recruit for being in it based on her background.
Now of course we've never seen direct evidence of a Browncoat Navy but there had to be one. Otherwise the War wouldn't have lasted 5 years. The South didn't have much of a Navy in the Civil Wat and they lasted 5 years, but they also didn't have to worry about airmobile attacks, space to ground bombardments, air power, etc. If the Independents didn't have a Navy at all the War would have lasted just as long as it took to move Alliance divisions from one planet to another and crush them in turn, at their leisure.
Durning the Civil War, hell even during WWII if someone came from a sea background the Navy wanted them, they simply took to the training better even if they weren't a full fledged crewman of a ship. Doubt the 'Verse would be any different.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"
My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html
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Maybe Zoe is the reason Mal aquired Serenity. If she did grow up on board a ship Zoe would probably have told Mal all about it while they as they waited for another battle to start or counted the cost of one just fought. her reminising about the freedom of space might have been what hooked Mal on the idea.
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Did anyone else notice how much Zoe knows about medicine? In Ariel she doesn't have to look at her arm while Mal does when they are stealing from the alliance hospital. Also, in Objects in space she takes the bullet out of simons leg with no difficulties even though simon told her what to do. Even in Serenity she is the one to speak up and say they are delivering plasma and other medical supplies to whitefall. She just seems to know more than the average person about medicine. I just found this to be odd.
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As far as her medical skills I think that's basically what she picked up during the War. She and Mal are the only survivors of their platoon and during the time all those folks were being shot she'd have been in close contact with wounds and know the basics of treating them.
As far as surgery, yeah she needed Simon to help her with that, but for common, non-lifethreatening wounds she'd be able to manage fine I reckon with just her War experience.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"
My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html
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