Geoffrey Tolwyn
Geoffrey Tolwyn is a male video game character who features in Wing Commander.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Geoffrey Tolwyn, Bt. was a male human born in 2612 as the only son of a British baronet where he grew up as part of the last remaining vestige of nobility in the world. He lived during an era of relative peace where he served as a citizen of the Terran Confederation. He attended the 'Confederation Navy Academy and graduated during a time when many in the Confederation were questioning the very necessity of the armed forces and when Confederation senators were looking to bolster their votes by cutting "wasteful" military programs; all during the slow, steady build of tensions between the Confederation and the Kilrathi Empire. Tolwyn was assigned as a special operations officer straight out of the Academy after a run-in with a Senator over a controversial bill to close the Academy in which Tolwyn brought up ugly personal motive for the senator's blockage of a new starfighter program to replace the aging "Wildcat" medium fighter.
He took the transport from Earth and on 2634.120 Tolwyn reached Johnson Island instructed to report to Lieutenant, Richards, who landed 2 hours later. On their way to the flight desk, he was filled with awe seeing the array of the strike force. Vance took an envelope from the main desk at the flight operations office. Geoff was a little disturbed with the inquisitive look from a marine sergeant, but he finally stiffened, acknowledging (with an apparent difficulty) that the ensign was his superior. Vance sighed reading the orders, and transmitted his confusion to Geoff. He knew that Richards would tell in time, and just followed him to the base officer's club for a drink. Geoff brought 2 beers and waited as Vance sipped his beer scanning around. Richards told him to call him Vance when drinking together off duty, the first time he was allowed the privilege since graduation, and said that new orders wait them there. Just then they were approached by Winston Turner, whom he knew as being early retired with other professors; the coincidences made Geoff suspect that he was connected to their mission. He was relieved to hear that his fate was not to be banished to a remote outpost, but thinking that he was attached to an intellectual who was near retirement was not encouraging. Discussing the recent political situation, Geoff expressed his belief that the Varni should have taught them that the Kilrathi can attack without a warning. Geoff served as the "administrative assistant" of the team, and often quarreled with Vance, as both wanted to be top dog.
They ended up at the Hell Hole, the capital of the Landreich, looking for a pilot who would take them inside Kilrathi territory. On 2643.170 they met Hans Kruger at the bar. Geoff didn't talk and thought that despite his cockiness, the pilot was totally inexperienced. Winston explained that it was one of the reasons why he hired that pilot, and also told him how he failed to be accepted to the Academy years ago. Exiting the bar, Geoff noticed a change in Winston's movements, to be followed by a shootout: gracefully Winston pulled his blaster and shot a Sarn hitman who was after Kruger, a scene that Geoff did not expect to see from the "old prof. Winnie". Turner ordered him to take 200 from his pocket and pay the bar for damages and burial. Geoff did so and realized it was first time he witnessed a violent death, smelled blood and saw a dead body. He sensed the fear all around the bar, and Turner surprised him once more, as he left without bothering to look back. He expressed his surprise to Vance, who called him idiot, as there had been rumors circulating about Turner's 'commando stuff' he did in the past, and Geoff started to believe them.
They begun their investigation on Gar's Emporium. There, a Kilrathi and a Jarma lizard attempted to pick Vance's wallet; Geoff shot them and the Kilrathi lost a hand right before nailing Vance. A Haggan then slithered up and offered them 50 credits for the body. It secured a grudging friendship between the two young officers.
It is stated several times in the novels that Tolwyn is a widower, with two sons who were lost in the course of the war. The name of his wife is still in dispute; End Run gives her name as Elizabeth, while in Fleet Action the same author calls her Clara. To complicate matters further, in Action Stations his fiancee's name is given as Rebecca. However, it is stated in End Run that he met his future wife at a party at the Academy, whereas in Action Stations his engagement was one arranged by his family, so it's possible that that arranged engagement was broken off at some point, paving the way for Elizabeth/Clara. The fact that she met him at the Academy raises the possibility that she may have been a Navy officer as well.
Kilrathi War
Afterwards, the Confederation was engaged in a longstanding conflict against the Kilrathi. During the Kilrathi War, the then Ensign Tolwyn served as a fighter pilot and fought from the cockpit of a Wildcat where he only had barely 500 flying hours under his belt. He participated in the Battle of McAuliffe where he survived both of his sorties which included a fight against the then Crown Prince of Kilrah. His opponent later committed suicide over the shame of being beaten by a mere human whilst Tolwyn received a promotion to Lieutenant where he was given command of a frigate. After that point, he experienced a meteoric rise through the ranks where he rose in prominence in the Navy between 2639 to 2654. This saw him rising from Lieutenant Junior Grade to Commodore in the span of 15 years where he came to develop as many enemies as friends amongst the Admiralty. It was noted that in the 2640's that his wife and sons had been killed in a Kilrathi raid.
Tolwyn held the rank of Vice Admiral and served in Confederation High Command where he had a chance to prove himself as a force commander. In that capacity, he sent a top priority message to TCS Tiger's Claw warning about massing Kilrathi battle fleets in the Firekka system. He came to command the carrier and its battlegroup through a number of harrowing engagements with the Kilrathi. After the completion of this task, Tolwyn was promoted to Rear Admiral and command of 14th Fleet. After the destruction of the Claw he believed that Blair was guilty of treason but because of lack of evidence he was convicted only for negligence. He announced to Blair that the court demoted him back to Captain. He also insisted that he resigned from the Confederation Navy but Blair refused and instead he had him transferred to Insystem Security.
In 2661, Tolwyn's flagship, TCS Concordia (CVS-65), a Confederation-Class Dreadnought, was commissioned. Now with a ship, Tolwyn's command was shunted to 3rd Fleet and to the front lines of the war. With his flag in Concordia, Tolwyn spent the next decade plus on the spearhead of the Confederation's war efforts, battling in multiple theaters of the war, in both Vega and Enigma Sectors. In 2664, Tolwyn was reunited with Christopher Blair - this time under much more adversarial circumstances - and they fought together, albeit grudgingly, during the most dangerous campaigns of the war. Tolwyn commanded the fleet during the Battle of Earth, and won the battle which was mankind's most perilous hour. However, the fleet he inherited after the battle was worn and dangerously thinned, and Tolwyn was reduced to sending decades-old light carriers to battle the Kilrathi in engagements that before would have required full fleet carriers. Towlyn was transferred off the Concordia shortly after the battle of Earth to head the Terran Confederation Navy's Weapons Development Program at Jupiter Station. While he was away, the Concordia was fighting a rearguard action in the Vespus system when it took torpedo hits to its engines, causing it to fall out of orbit. The Concordia crashed into the massive ocean of Vespus, taking almost all her crew with her. Colonel Christopher Blair located the wreck and reported to Tolwyn that it was a 'total loss'.
In 2668, the Confederation managed to conduct hard strikes against the enemy and even achieved some major victories. Admiral Tolwyn was the first critic of the peace armistice extended by the Kilrathi. He authorized an attack on a Kilrathi carrier shortly after learning about the cease fire and this brought to him a humiliating court martial. Tolwyn was declared guilty of disobedience for breaking General Order number 2312A, ordering suspension of all hostilities. This newfound freedom was actually orchestrated by the Confederation Military Chief of Staff so that Tolwyn could build a team that could infiltrated deep into Kilrathi space and uncover evidence that the armistice was indeed false.
In 2669, the Behemoth Project was tested. One of the largest space faring structures ever built by the Confederation, its major weapon, a planet-killing superconducting particle beam cannon, was successfully deployed against the test planet Loki VI. However, a Kilrathi spy in the fleet leaked the weak points in Behemoth's defenses to the enemy, and a massive Paktahn bomber strike on the weapon destroyed it, along with Tolwyn's hopes of saving the Confederation. Fortunately, General James "Paladin" Taggert's Temblor Bomb program, the second Confed superweapon program and truly the Confederation's last hope for victory, was successfully deployed against the Kilrathi and saved the human race from annihilation. As a result, Taggart was elected to the Confederation senate after the war.
Black Lance
After the end of the Kilrathi War in 2669, Tolwyn, burning with humiliation from Behemoth's destruction, was assigned to command of the Strategic Readiness Agency and promptly converted the agency into his personal fief. He was brought into the Agency's two-decade-old Black Lance project and found that he had a personal skill for misappropriating funding from other projects to fulfill the Black Lance's agenda. Tolwyn's fanatical personality had found his ultimate fulfillment: the "perfection" of humanity into a fighting force unparalleled in the galaxy. By 2674, the biogenic plague intended to destroy the unworthy was prepared and test runs were made against planets in the Border Worlds, but before the plan could fully unfold (which included war with the Border Worlds), Colonel Christopher Blair - operating with Border Worlds forces - uncovered Tolwyn's plot and revealed it to the Senate in an impromptu but impassioned speech. It was during this Senate hearing that Tolwyn was to be given the position of "Space Marshal" (the highest rank in the Confederation military, equivalent to a Fleet Admiral or Grand Admiral) and a decision would be made on whether to declare war on the Border Worlds. With Blair's intervention, the senate voted against war in an impressive landslide. Tolwyn was arrested and arraigned on charges relating to crimes against humanity.
After being found guilty on all charges stemming from the Black Lance conspiracy, convicted and stripped of rank, Geoffrey Tolwyn committed suicide in his prison cell on the eve of his execution in 2674, believing he had failed humanity. His sentence differs slightly in the novelization of Wing Commander IV with him being given life imprisonment as opposed to execution. Tolwyn hangs himself in both versions.
Overview
Personality and attributes
By the time of the Kilrathi War, he was noted to had been 43 years old.
According to one account, he was a British baronet who grew up as part of the last remaining vestige of nobility. It was remarked that the Tolwyn family had many that served in the military with this spanning fifty generations long. It was said that they had 1,000 year tradition of serving in the army, navy and airforce of Britain and the space forces of the Confederation.
He was noted to have had a nephew named Kevin Tolwyn who came to be an ace fighter pilot.
It was shown that he had an antagonistic relationship with Christopher Blair.
Powers and abilities
As a member of the Terran Confederation, he came to serve in the Space Force and Navy service branches where he came to attain the rank of Space Marshal. He was also noted to had been involved in the Strategic Readiness Agency that he converted into his own fiefdom.
Secretly, he was also the leader of the terrorist organisation known as Black Lance.
Notes
- Geoffrey Tolwyn was created by Chris Roberts where he featured in the setting of the Wing Commander universe.
- In Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, Tolwyn was portrayed in the live-action cutscenes by actor Malcolm McDowell.
In other media
Television
- In Wing Commander: Academy, Geoffrey Tolwyn made a number of appearances in the animated series where he was voiced by actor Malcolm McDowell.
Films
- In Wing Commander, Tolwyn made an appearance in the 1999 live-action film where he was portrayed by actor David Warner. As an Admiral, Tolwyn became Chief of Fleet Operations of the beleaguered Vega Sector, the third most senior officer in the Confederation Navy and one of the three most important men in the Confed war effort but also its primary strategic architect.[1] As an Admiral, Tolwyn was assigned on TCS Concordia a Confederation-class Dreadnought along with its battle group, consisting of TCS Bracher, TCS Cahillier, TCS Sommeria, TCS Toacka and TCS Walleyer. Now with a ship, Tolwyn's command was shunted to 3rd Fleet and to the front lines of the war. With his flag in Concordia, Tolwyn spent the next decade plus on the spearhead of the Confederation's war efforts, battling in multiple theaters of the war. Sometime around 2654 Tolwyn was recalled from the Concordia to brief the Joint Chiefs and the Confederation Senate on the state of the war. During his stay in Titan Base he gave an interview to Davis Davis of Jubilee. He received the last message from the Pegasus Station and the warning that the Kilrathi got the Navcom A.I. with the coordinates to Sol Sector. However Richard Bellegarde reported that the fleet is spread out all over the sector and can't get before the Kilrathi earlier than 42 hours. The TCS Tiger Claw was also in the sector but beyond communications range. Tolwyn's only hope was the civilian ship, the Diligent, captained by James Taggert, which carried replacement pilots Blair and Marshall to the Claw. Taggart was a Commodore of the Confederation Naval Intelligence, reporting directly to Tolwyn, to whom Tolwyn had given a family heirloom to give him authority to other captains. Tolwyn ordered Blair to deliver an encrypted communications chip to the captain of the Claw Jason Sansky. He assigned Sansky to go to the Charybdis quasar and gather any information possible about the Kilrathi.
Appearances
- Wing Commander II:
- Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger:
External Links
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