Shepherd Book
Shepherd Book is a male television character who features in Firefly.
Contents |
Biography
Henry Evans
When Book was accidentally wounded, Mal was forced to seek medical help from an Alliance cruiser. The commanding officer, after tersely dismissing Mal, changed his attitude once one of his officers shows him Book's identification. Though the exact information on the card was never shown, the crew did note that it afforded Book urgent and immediate access to the medical facilities on board, as well as free passage for Serenity without the expected inspection. (Episode: Safe)
Overview
Personality and attributes
He made numerous references to Christian theology and consults the Bible.
Powers and abilities
Book displayed a working knowledge of high-powered weaponry. (Episode: War Stories)
He holds some sort of high priority status within the Alliance, and on numerous occasions has demonstrated a depth of knowledge in a number of fields one would not expect a clergyman to be familiar with, including space travel, firearms, hand-to-hand combat, and criminal activity.
Notes
- Shepherd Book was created by Joss Whedon where he was portrayed by actor Ron Glass and featured in the setting of the Firefly universe.
- In the Firefly: The Official Companion Volume One, Glass commented, "The thing that was galvanizing for me was the characters, so the environment was secondary. I was happy to see how Book would unfold in that kind of environment and it worked really, really well... Though rather mysterious, it was absolutely clear that he had had a very full life before he went off to the monastery and took on that responsibility. I loved the fact that he could save your soul but he could also kick your ass. That's a really great combination to play."
- In the Firefly DVD commentary, Whedon stated this was due to Early's intuition and ability to quickly size people up. He also commented that Early's methods for dealing with each crew member are custom-tailored to their personalities. Early disposes of Mal in a straightforward manner; Whedon then notes that Early's method for taking out Book is equally straightforward, alluding to a similarity between the two otherwise different characters.
- On the , Glass revealed
In other media
Comic Books
- In Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale v1 #1 (2010), the character featured in the setting of the novel written by Joss and Zack Whedon that was published by Dark Horse Comics. According to it, Book was born Henry Evans who as a young boy lived in dread of his highly abusive father. He would listen to music to take himself to a peaceful place in his mind, only to be beaten. Ten years after leaving home, he had established himself as a successful thief adept at avoiding law enforcement, but this was not what he had envisioned for himself. He was then recruited by the Independence Movement after a representative became impressed at Evans' excellent combat potential. In four years he honed his fighting skills, easily defeating heavily-armed federal agents single-handedly. Evans was not known among his Independence peers to attend their meetings, but he showed up for one and there he volunteered to take part in a highly-sensitive mole operation. Since the Independence organizers had learned that the Alliance was creating warships, they plotted to plant a long-term mole to rise through the ranks of the Alliance and subvert them at every turn. Henry's left eye was extracted and replaced with a biorobotic camera and transmitter, which would provide excellent surveillance. To join the Alliance, he needed a new identity. So he lured an unsuspecting young man named Derrial Book into an alley, murdered him with a garrote, and took on this name permanently.
Appearances
- Firefly:
External Links
This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.
