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brightknightie) wrote2019-10-19 08:37 pm
brightknightie) wrote2019-10-19 08:37 pm
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HL's Ceirdwyn in canon
I rewatched HL's "Take Back the Night" last night. I was newly struck by how very little we learn about Ceirdwyn. Granted, her story arc utility is to play back to Duncan parts of his own story so that he can achieve his pivot to inviting Anne back into his life. Despite appearances, it's not actually about Ceirdwyn. And yet...
What do we learn about her?
In the time of Boadicea:
Ceirdwyn was a warrior, and part of an allied Celtic/Pictish tribe if not herself Iceni. Ceirdwyn was a good friend of a couple we meet briefly, a heavily pregnant woman and her husband, a warrior. Ceirdwyn buried them in a somewhat unlikely -- because she was the sole survivor of the massacre, and the level of work for her alone would have been intense -- but all the more touching recreation of a certain very famous British archeological site.
In the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie:
Ceirdwyn was already previously (and enthusiastically) acquainted with Duncan, who greeted her by her given name, though she was then going as Flora MacDonald. She seems to be the proprietor of an inn or hostelry of some kind, but it's odd that it is (1) completely built of stone, and (2) so very, very spacious, inside and out. I find myself constructing that the buildings must have belonged to another purpose, whether fortifications for church or nobility, before passing into her hands. In this period, she expresses solidarity with the cause of the monarchical restoration, which is essentially synonymous with Scottish independence, but wisely counsels against revenge. And when Duncan has done what he does in this period, you remember, wallowing in revenge in the brutal killing of the English brutal killers, she tells him he needs a taste of life; sex between them is strongly implied.
In the present:
Ceirdwyn is married to a man named Steven (or Stephen?), who has just been offered an opportunity of some kind in Spain and wants to move there to take advantage of it. She doesn't want to move; she expresses reluctance to leave their friends and says their life is in Paris, and other opportunities will come. He makes a cheap shot -- but perhaps a justified one -- at her immortality. They argue in a restaurant, and he is murdered by thugs when he goes to fetch their car. We learn that they live in a multi-story townhouse or apartment, decorated with cacti and some art in "southwestern" color schemes, no photos. They have wine/liquor and glasses meant for such in their home. They were together 15 years, and he'd been "just out of school" when she met him. When she goes hunting revenge, she paints her face as in Boudicca's day, and she wears her husband's leather jacket until she lays it on his grave. Duncan greets her in a way that may imply that he knows she currently lives in Paris, but it doesn't have to imply that; later conversation reveals that he doesn't seem to know anything of her current life with her husband.
What don't we learn?
We don't learn:
What do you think? What else do we learn, or not learn? And does she have any other canon appearances or references that I'm forgetting...?
Addendum, Sunday evening: Ceirdwyn's entry on the HL Wiki
What do we learn about her?
In the time of Boadicea:
Ceirdwyn was a warrior, and part of an allied Celtic/Pictish tribe if not herself Iceni. Ceirdwyn was a good friend of a couple we meet briefly, a heavily pregnant woman and her husband, a warrior. Ceirdwyn buried them in a somewhat unlikely -- because she was the sole survivor of the massacre, and the level of work for her alone would have been intense -- but all the more touching recreation of a certain very famous British archeological site.
In the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie:
Ceirdwyn was already previously (and enthusiastically) acquainted with Duncan, who greeted her by her given name, though she was then going as Flora MacDonald. She seems to be the proprietor of an inn or hostelry of some kind, but it's odd that it is (1) completely built of stone, and (2) so very, very spacious, inside and out. I find myself constructing that the buildings must have belonged to another purpose, whether fortifications for church or nobility, before passing into her hands. In this period, she expresses solidarity with the cause of the monarchical restoration, which is essentially synonymous with Scottish independence, but wisely counsels against revenge. And when Duncan has done what he does in this period, you remember, wallowing in revenge in the brutal killing of the English brutal killers, she tells him he needs a taste of life; sex between them is strongly implied.
In the present:
Ceirdwyn is married to a man named Steven (or Stephen?), who has just been offered an opportunity of some kind in Spain and wants to move there to take advantage of it. She doesn't want to move; she expresses reluctance to leave their friends and says their life is in Paris, and other opportunities will come. He makes a cheap shot -- but perhaps a justified one -- at her immortality. They argue in a restaurant, and he is murdered by thugs when he goes to fetch their car. We learn that they live in a multi-story townhouse or apartment, decorated with cacti and some art in "southwestern" color schemes, no photos. They have wine/liquor and glasses meant for such in their home. They were together 15 years, and he'd been "just out of school" when she met him. When she goes hunting revenge, she paints her face as in Boudicca's day, and she wears her husband's leather jacket until she lays it on his grave. Duncan greets her in a way that may imply that he knows she currently lives in Paris, but it doesn't have to imply that; later conversation reveals that he doesn't seem to know anything of her current life with her husband.
What don't we learn?
We don't learn:
- What Ceirdwyn or her husband do for a living in the present day.
- What skills or interests Ceirdwyn has, besides being a warrior, possibly managing an inn, and maybe raising cacti.
- Who any of her teachers or students have been, if any.
- Anything of her first meeting with Duncan, except that it was before that flashback and apparently had a very friendly conclusion.
- Anything about the "friends" and "life" in Paris that she was reluctant to give up.
- What kind of opportunity her husband had been offered.
What do you think? What else do we learn, or not learn? And does she have any other canon appearances or references that I'm forgetting...?
Addendum, Sunday evening: Ceirdwyn's entry on the HL Wiki