Shepherd Book's History
POSTED BY: Nyiri
UPDATED: Wednesday, December 28, 2005 17:52
VIEWED: 3695
PAGE 2 of 2
I agree with zoid.
I was going to post something to that effect last night (though not nearly as well thought out and pursuasive.)
I'd just like to add that I think it is far more likely for Book to still have his rank and the privilages that come with it after retirement if his occupation was 'legitimate'.
Also, zoid's ideas on why he left the Alliance and turned to Christianity seem far more viable to me. Were he an Operative, there are only two ways I can see Book leaving the Alliance:
1) It happened just like with the Operative in the BDM; Book saw something so horrific and wrong that he stopped believing and left the Alliance, in which case surely he would have been exiled by the Alliance and not recieved the attention he did when he got shot and needed a doctor.
2) He lost his belief after retiring as an Operative, but, as Book himself says, Operatives believe hard. He says that like he really means it, which suggests he either was an Operative or was involved in that side of the Alliance. But if he was an Operative and believed hard, what could he have seen that stopping him believing? Surely it would have to be something of monumental scale like the pax? But where could he have seen something like now he was no longer an Operative.
A military leader would not have to believe nearly as hard and still have knowledge about everything an Operative does. Therefore him being a high-ranking military leader and losing his faith in the Alliance is much more believable and realistic than him being an Operative who has lost his faith.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I don't think Book was an operative. I don't think he had any overdue library books either although that was a comical idea. Maybe he was a "key member of Parliament" that voted on the decision to use the Pax on Miranda and the result of that caused so much guilt it made him leave and enter the monastery. Or he could have been high ranking Alliance and possibly ran the Alliance operations for the Battle of Serenity Valley. He could have also been the one responsible for the destruction of Mal's homeworld, the moon Shadow, which the Alliance destroyed by orbital bombardment. Some strong kinda guilt drove Book.
Jaytee
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I think it is a mistake to try to link Book to the PAX, however linking him to Serenity Valley might not be one because, as has been pointed out before, he got decided to go on the ship after learning the name and he knew the significance of the name.
-
The way Book talks about believing hard makes me think was someone who believed in that way. Perhaps not an operative, but certainly someone who believed on an equal level.
I also don't see why he couldn't have been an operative, it would certainly have given him the ident-card he had and if his loss of faith is somehow related to Serenity Valley that would mean he lost faith towards the end of the war, ideal time for honorable retirement.
Of course the same argument can be said for being a military leader.
The thing is that what we know about Book is that he is a fighter, hand to hand or with a gun he's very capable of killing people and clearly had training to get that way. We also know that he can recognize the kind of a gun that put the bullet holes in people, the name of a crime boss, and the place a rocket shuttle is likely to dock.
None of that pins him down to any one job.
I personally believe that he was the kind of man who believed hard. I think he was the kind of man who killed and never asked why. (I believe it because of the way he talked about those things.)
Again that doesn't pin him down to any one job.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
JayTee wrote, in part:
Quote:
...He could have also been the one responsible for the destruction of Mal's homeworld, the moon Shadow, which the Alliance destroyed by orbital bombardment...
Ooh! Another favorite speculation of mine! I, too, believe that Shadow was destroyed, but by a different -- and simpler, more monstrous -- means than orbital bombardment.
In the series' pilot "Serenity", Zoe says "All those moons -- just like the central planets, they're as close to Earth-That-Was as we could make 'em: atmosphere, gravity and such..." Coupled with a reference to mid-bulk transport Serenity's engine having a "secondary grav boot", I think this particular future society's technology extends to the artificial manipulation of gravity.
Therefore, if all these "little moons" have an Earth-like gravity, it stands to reason that this is accomplished by means of gravity generators. The simplest means of destroying an entire planet's biosphere? Turn off the gravity generators. The planet's entire atmosphere would 'outgas' explosively, burning the land and boiling the sea by exposing them to hard vacuum. As an illustration: Were you to be exposed to hard vacuum without a spacesuit, your blood would 'boil' out of your eyes, lungs and skin because of your body's internal pressure, which equilibrates under Earth-normal atmospheric pressures. (NB: It is presumed possible to survive short periods of exposure to hard vacuum by wearing tight, form-fitting clothing, exhaling completely before exposure and keeping one's eyes and mouth squeezed tightly shut throughout the experience. Don't know what you'd get accomplished in such bodily configuration for the limited amount of time you'd be able to sustain it, but supposedly you'd survive with non-debilitating levels of hemorrhaging. Sumbuddy wanna sign up to be the guinea pig on that trial?)
Deactivating planetary grav generators would probably only be done as a last resort, and only on the most problematic planets, since all the terraforming would have to be reaccomplished, at a prohibitive expense. But it would be easier -- less of a burden on the Alliance's coffers -- than having to wait (several thousand?) years for radioactivity to clear from soils and atmospheres following a massive bombardment. ...Not to mention the expense of all the bombs necessary to wipe out an entire planet; those things don't grow on trees, you know. Much more cost-effective to just flip a switch and let atmospheric pressure and entropy do the rest...
I've come to the conclusion that this is why the Browncoats needed so desperately to hold Serenity Valley: It guarded the approaches to the otherwise impenetrable gravity generators for the entire planet. Once Gen. Wilkins' "deep flank maneuver" (according to the cutscenes from the series DVD) was successful in reaching the generators by the 'backdoor', Independent leadership had no alternative but to order their forces to lay down arms, or else see another planet destroyed, with loss of all terrestrial life in the process.
Thoughtfully,
zoid
_________________________________________________
"I aim to misbehave." -Capt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity, a.k.a. 'the BDBOF'
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME