Shepard Book's Past

POSTED BY: ShanYu
UPDATED: Tuesday, October 5, 2004 03:24
VIEWED: 13785
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ZOID

Friday, September 24, 2004 2:10 PM

PurpleBelly:

You are, without a doubt, my favorite devil's advocate on these boards. You come at every assertion from such an oblique angle -- and yet pertinent to the topic -- that it's hard to respond to your critical observations. ...Let alone debate them.

In a role-playing game, I'd assign you the role of 'sniper'.

There's nothing about you on your profile page. I'm guessing British and male. You are well-spoken and analytical, and your grammar and spelling are precise, so I reckon post-educational and employed in a profession that requires mental acuity.

Would you mind telling us a little something about yourself? (You exasperating pain in the ass.... By which I mean you are accomplishing your goals.)

Respectfully,

zoid

P.S.
I believe that was "under 20 lines", so you should be able to respond to it...
_________________________________________________

"Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me." The Ballad of Serenity

Only 209 days, 15 hours, 2 minutes, and 57 seconds left until The BDM!

CYBERSNARK

Friday, September 24, 2004 2:30 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by PurpleBelly:
Quote:
Originally posted by ShanYu:
a high ranking officer with many talents

Isn't that an oxymoron?

*snicker*

I know at least one militarily experienced friend who would agree.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

PURPLEBELLY

Friday, September 24, 2004 2:33 PM

Zoid
Once BOFH. Early retirement because of ill-health. Explains a lot, but can you believe it?

ZOID

Friday, September 24, 2004 2:45 PM

Purp:

BOFH? Haven't heard that acronym on this side of the pond. Is that as in:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~bofh/bofh/genesis2.html ?

If so, I'd say that BOFH has considerably more joie de vivre than you've exhibited thus far. Now where'd I put that revolver?

END RUN,

zoid

PURPLEBELLY

Friday, September 24, 2004 3:20 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by zoid:
BOFH?

ACK

OT: as my mate FanPimp would say, We have franchising
http://www.clickandbuild.com/cnb/shop/cashncarrion?listPos=&op=catalog
ue-products-null&prodCategoryID=1

ZOID

Friday, September 24, 2004 3:48 PM

P'Belly:

So, replace my original 'mental acuity' with 'dogged perseverence and a keen sense of justice' and I pretty much guessed correctly.

The physician who certified your medical retirement pension wouldn't happen to have been Dr. "Purp" L. B. Lee, M.D., O.B.E., would it?

On a side note -- having nothing whatsoever to do with Firefly -- I'd purchase some of your wares, but I strongly suspect my credit card bill would reflect charges for a NAMBLA membership, cc: FBI.gov...

Ware-ily,

zoid

BEENWITHAWARRIORWOMAN

Friday, September 24, 2004 6:45 PM

Everyone seems to be assuming Book is telling the truth when he says things. I don't know that that's the case. Here's my theory, and it may come from watching too much Alias - I believe Book is the Alliance equivilant of the CIA - he was sent to find a) Simon/River or b) Mal, Serenity, et al. The wife and I are currently watching the series for the billionth time trying to find evidence (this is a new theory for me), but here's what I got so far:

- Book is always, especially at first, angling for one-on-one time with the crew during which he seems intent on feeling them out. His questions seem aimed at their motivations, what makes them tick, and especially at the relationships between the characters. This is what one does on a deep cover mission.

- Book knows things a simple preacher wouldn't. His ident card and subsequent VIP treatment. Nothing new to see here.

- "That ain't no shepherd." Also nothing new, but since spoken in the PRESENT tense from someone who knows lots of PRESENT information about the crew... it's a bit more sinister in this light.

- He won't kill anyone. Possibly religious motivation... but just as possible it's one of those rule things... deep cover officers can't kill either.

- The last bit of this isn't so much evidence as a continuation of the theory - he hasn't turned anyone in and if he were Alliance-type CIA, there are only two reasons for him not to: either he's after a bigger fish than Serenity affords him, or he's gone rogue. I'm leaning toward the rogue theory.

_____________________________________________
Have you seen what she wears? Forget about it!

BDJSB7

Friday, September 24, 2004 7:27 PM

Something that has only been mentioned by one post so far was the "half a hump" statement River was able to "see"... this is probably the most signifigant clue we have to go on. I think it enforces his ties to the Alliance... perhaps he was someone responsible for the capture or brutal torture of people... or perhaps some sort of judge. The judge thing is probably too obvious based on what was said, but the maniacal look he had at the time suggests a certain ruthlessness that he may have had to come to terms with at some point in his life. This is, however, in direct contrast to when he appears frightened or unsure of himself at times... but this could be testament to the fact that he has indeed faced those demons and prevailed.
Jubel may have recognised him, or, what I got out of it, was that he may have intiuted that he was "no shepard" based on his observations of the crew from earlier on. It is probably safe to assume he was spying on them from the time he arrived to the time he entered the ship.
I'm willing to bet that much of what he's told the crew is true, but we don't have any reason to believe him. The theory I stated, I believe, lets the truth stay intact, and provide motivation for the ways he reacts and so on. He may have once been a hardened criminal or someone who dealt with them regularly, a sherrif or judge perhaps (who may have used questionable methods)... but one who has tried to repent...
I would not be suprised if those sins were meant to come back and haunt him at some point... I guess only time (and Joss) can tell...

(unrelated: sorry for the long post, my first on these boards, glad to be part of the community)

BDJSB7

-Sheparding folks toward the best show in the 'verse as best I can... one box set at a time.

MICHIZURE

Saturday, September 25, 2004 1:01 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by beenwithawarriorwoman:
Here's my theory, and it may come from watching too much Alias - I believe Book is the Alliance equivilant of the CIA - he was sent to find a) Simon/River or b) Mal, Serenity, et al.

The biggest problem I have with this theory is that, if true, he's an incompetent bungler of a secret agent -- more comic relief than one of the Scary People.

Quote:
Book ... seems intent on feeling them out... This is what one does on a deep cover mission.

It is also consistent with the interests of a counselor, religious or otherwise.

Quote:
"That ain't no shepherd." Also nothing new, but since spoken in the PRESENT tense from someone who knows lots of PRESENT information about the crew...

... who was a whack-job who nevertheless considered himself a philosopher. Jubal Early was not a reliable witness.

Quote:
He won't kill anyone. Possibly religious motivation... but just as possible it's one of those rule things... deep cover officers can't kill either.

A deep cover agent can't blow his deep cover -- that's the only rule that makes sense. If "can't kill" is part of his persona, then he's not going to be unspecific about things like kneecaps: he won't show off his skills at all.

Next, why would a covert agent risk blowing his cover to assist (ineptly, I might add) another undercover agent with a possibly conflicting mission? Reasonably, he would either (1) pull rank on the fool and warn him off the higher priority operation, (2) offer some effective assistance in accomplishing his aims, or (most likely) (3) stay entirely out of the way, so as not to endanger his own mission.

Finally, a covert agent who was forced to flash his real ID (assuming he'd risk carrying such an incriminating document in the first place) would be pulled out immediately because his cover was blown -- not re-inserted in the hopes that somehow no one would notice.

Quote:
... if he were Alliance-type CIA, there are only two reasons for him not to: either he's after a bigger fish than Serenity affords him, or he's gone rogue.

... but his putative former employers wouldn't post a Wave to all Alliance forces requesting his apprehension on sight? Yes, there are reasons they might not -- but then Book shouldn't be willing to take that chance, either.

In short: if he's trying to hide the fact that he has Alliance connections, he's doing a rum job of it. That makes sense if it's something he just isn't particularly inclined to mention, but not if it's a critical part of his reason for being aboard.

--------
Kotoba yori tashika na koto michizure ni shite.

THERON

Saturday, September 25, 2004 6:18 AM

Hi everyone, I have had a theory about Book for a long time, I even mentioned it at the fan talk on monday at DragonCon. My friends had to make me bring it up, I hate speaking in front of people. It might go on for a bit so I apologize ahead of time. But now to the theory.

*pulls on bullet-proof vest and helment.* :)

I disagree with everyone that says Book was an Alliance/Independent anything (past or present) or in the witness protection plan or for that matter any of the theories that I have seen. Not that they are bad theories, just that they seem to predictable for Joss to use here, plus I have a short video clip of Tim Minear talking and saying that Book's past will be revealed and it isn't what we think it is. aka the military/intel/crime lord connection is that that means to me.

I think Joss used the illusionist's trick of distracting people from what he was saying and letting them think he was saying something else with it. I believe he gave us Book's real name and persona in the episodes, you just have to interpret them and realize what he is doing. To my knowledge he only named one character that never actually made a physical appearance in the show and that is who Book is.

In Jaynestown, Book tells River "You don't fix faith, it fixes you." Obviously, as many have pointed out, his faith has fixed or is fixing something with him that is very bad.

Shephard Book used to be known by the name of Shaun Yu.

(The irony of who started this thread and my theory does not escape me) :)

Take a look at the evidence from this point of view.

When River is reading minds in Objects in Space, Book says "I don't give half a hump if you are innocent or not." Someone mentioned his face at that time. To me, that is sadistic joy. He was taking a great deal of pleasure in doing what he was doing. And if he was torturing someone to meet the real them, then he wouldn't care if they were innocent or not.

If you were going to be a man that went around torturing people to meet the real them, then wouldn't you want to be the toughest, baddest person you could be? Hence the very high level of skill with martial-arts and firearms. Also, a large degree of knowledge about illegal matters can go hand in hand with how he gained that skill. Also, knowledge of illegal matters could be useful to a man who is a dictator, and one of the ways he got where he was at (ala Niska).

Being a dictator can be a dangerous occupation, people usually don't like you, especially if you run around torturing people. Knowledge of firearms and martial arts would be very useful to survival. Which leads into my next two points.

Book, in the course of torturing people, catchs and tortures a shepherd. But this man is not hiding anything, his faith sustains him and strengthens him. He is not putting on a mask but showing the world his true face. This rocks Book's world to the foundations. Here is a man who is not hiding behind a mask, who is the same on the inside as the outside. With the kind of philosophy Book had at the time, something like that would make me start questioning myself.

So what do you do if you are a dictator and you have suddenly had a life altering "change of perspective" and your feeling a lot of remorse for your past actions? You can't just walk away and send your holdings into anarchy or just as bad let another dictator take over. What you do, is turn your holdings over to someone or a group of someones who you can reasonably trust not to take to much advantage of your people and maybe even lift their lot in life. Who would that be? Why the Alliance of course, not the best option for sure, but better than just letting whoever can force his way to the top in the power vacuum you are going to leave take over. And what do you get besides a vacation to Southdown Abbey and spiritual enlightenment? Well how about access to advanced medical facilities at the drop of a hat, or of say, an identacard?

Many people in the show have remarked about the relationship between Jayne and Book. I believe

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