Maybe it was an expression of Book’s self-loathing and guilt.
So after posting, I go read on wiki
So apparently I am wrong, and Whedon does have some plans to reveal some of Book’s past. Apparently he has also confirmed that Book was an Operative - if Ron Glass is to be believed. It is conceivable that Glass made that up himself, but doubtful given what is stated above.
I still don’t see a cite for how long he was in the monastery (which is what I was searching for).
But I was right about one thing – Derrial Book is a pseudonym he took on after joining the priesthood.
About a year or so ago, a comic book detailing Book’s past was announced. The title is supposed to be “The Shepherd’s Tale.” Nothing else seems to have happened since then. Ron Glass was asked about it at DragonCon earlier this month, and he hadn’t heard anything either, but he seemed to still think that it is going to happen someday. He also mentioned that Book’s name as we know it is not his real name, and that the name he is using it the name of someone he killed.
It’s also not clear who the “you” is in Book’s thought. The assumption is that he’s thinking about River, but there’s no particular reason for that. At the time, he talking with Jayne, and not really interacting with River at all. The thought makes more sense if he thinking about Jayne, and whether Jayne had sold them out - he doesn’t care if Jayne’s innocent of that particular crime or not, he still knows that Jayne’s essential character is crooked and untrustworthy. The line could be intended to demonstrate that even though Book acts friendly to Jayne (more so than anyone else on the ship) he doesn’t actually like him, and is only civil because of some sort of moral/religious obligation to treat him decent.
Since Kingspades already brought up crackpot theories…
I like the one that says that Book is the Operative from the movie (albeit older) and the reason he quit is shown there.
Given what’s been posted about the plot of the comic, this couldn’t be (add to that that there didn’t seem to be any time-traveling in the Firefly-verse, too) ; but I like the theory anyway.
And of course, the other hint that hasn’t been mentioned is from “Objects in Space” where Jubal Early looks at the unconscious Book and dismissively says, “That ain’t no Shepard.” Early is a counterpart of River–someone apart from humanity who understands things that no one else does and misunderstands things everyone else does. So he can see past Book’s surface.
And the “I don’t give half a hump if you’re innocent or not. So where does that put you?” line comes as River is wandering the ship, observing the secret sides of the crews…she sees Wash and Zoe make love, Mal’s musings, Jane’s “confession”, and she sees Book as he was before he got religion.
Or it could be just the opposite: I don’t care whether you’re innocent or not, because either way you’re subject to God’s grace and can be saved.
Possibly, but if that were the case, you’d think he wouldn’t sound so pissed off about the idea.
That was my assumption too - actually, he’s thinking quite nice thoughts, but twisted into apparent malevolence by River’s nuttery.
I’m interested to note the assumption that when River hears Jayne and Book’s thoughts in “Objects in Space”, everyone’s assuming that the thoughts Jayne and Book are having are about her. I always assumed that Book’s “I don’t give half a hump if you’re innocent or not. So where does that put you?” was in reference to Jayne, and Jayne’s betrayal of the Tams. Huh.
I can understand that as seeing Book before he got religion, though.
The one thing I don’t think that I understand about Book as an operative is how upset Book is at the end of the pilot, when he’s talking to Inara. He doesn’t seem like someone who’s seen death before. He’s shaken to his core in a way that we never see again in the series. That doesn’t jive with an ex-operative, in my mind.
If Book were an operative, though, and learned or gained something that gave him real leverage over the Alliance government, then “got religion” and resigned, it might explain his security clearance. Likewise, if he saved the Alliance in a particularly spectacular way, a grateful government might have allowed his retirement without having him, you know, executed.
It does with someone who’s genuinely trying to escape a violent past, but sees himself as backsliding as soon as he returns to the real world.
My own notion about the words River ‘hears’ Books saying in OiS is close to Camus’ thought - that it was an echo of something he had said once, or frequently, in his dark past. It might have been his attitude to everyone he came across during missions as an Operative, or used during interrogations.
Alternatively, if he had been a corrupt cop like the ones they tangled with in ‘The Message’, it might have been his guiding light in a different way - he didn’t care if people were innocent, only if it suited his own interests to use the law against them. Another possible theory.
Hey, some people come to Grace easily & joyfully, some come kicking & screaming.
Lucy Lawless was asked if Xena would go to Hades or the Elysian Fields/Heaven, she replied “The Elysian Fields but she’ll have to be dragged in kicking & screaming because she thinks she deserves Hell.”
The operative angle is one I’ve heard a lot of, and I’d like to offer my devil’s advocate / two cents to it.
I liken it to saying that the evil principal in Buffy had to be a vampire. I say this because, in season one, pretty much all we saw of the show was vampires. Thus, evil? Vampire.
We saw only the Operative as someone of great and mysterious butt-kicking power that wasn’t somehow insane, but it was only, what? Half a season of shows? We had / have no idea what else is present in Joss’ 'verse. I’d like to think that, given an entire multi-season set of options, Book could’ve been all sorts of things. We just end up saying ‘Operative’ because it’s what we’ve seen.
And no, I’m not suggesting Book was a vampire. Although that would’ve been funny, all things considered…
But the principal didn’t act like a vampire. (Besides, there weren’t only vampires. Plenty of demons and werewolves too.) On the other hand, Book’s demeanor, the hints at his character, the way the Alliance acts toward him, all mirror the Operative in the movie. It fits the available facts. Sure, had the series continued we might have gotten more facts that contradict the comparison, but we can only go on what we have and acknowledge that without more facts or Word of God it’s only speculation.
Maybe he was just a very strict middle-school teacher.
All students in his class were sure to do their homework if they appreciate their kneecaps.
My opinion has been that he may be a high ranking intelligence agent and not necessarily an “Operative”
He was Nancy’s personal astrologer.
Or the equive in that system.
Just a guess …
I think Book was a high-level operative (maybe or maybe not an “Operative”) who, for reasons of his own, resigned one day. He went back to his apartment to pack up his things, and was knocked unconscious by covertly administered knockout gas.
When he woke up, he was in a monastery that looked like an oddly modernistic Village…