This explains a lot about Book's philosophy and his interactions with the crew. As a result, he didn't agree with everything they did but he could still sympathize with them. Being responsible for so much bloodshed already, Book saw no need to add to it further. He grappled with the crime and violence that surrounded him but still grew close to the crew of Serenity and was there for them.
Shepherd Book was a complicated man with a troubled past, but he found solace in religion and always did what he felt was right. Madeline Matsumoto-Duyan is a writer and lifelong fanatic from Southern California. When she isn't writing or working on personal projects, she enjoys reading, singing, playing piano and ukulele, or binge-watching Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Marvel movies. Share Share Tweet Email 0. Despite that, he remained a regular presence during the crew's adventures - often serving as a spiritual and moral guide.
Along the way, however, it was gradually revealed that Book had an antithetically intimate knowledge of criminal organizations and military strategy. He was also an extremely capable fighter and an expert marksman. The mystery surrounding Shepherd Book deepened even further when it was revealed that he had a high level of clearance within The Alliance.
In Firefly 's makeshift series finale, Book is also recognized as a threat and more than he seemed by Jubal Early - with the bounty hunter declaring, " That ain't a Shepherd ". Serenity served to leave that particular mystery unanswered. Even the character's dying breath was used to deny Mal and the audience the truth of his past. As a result, theories abounded for many years. The most prevalent of them was that he'd been an Operative of The Alliance, similar to the one played by Chiwetel Ejiofor in the movie.
The truth, however, was definitively revealed in the comic book, Serenity: A Shepherd's Tale. The story revealed that Book had actually been born Henry Evans. Raised in an abusive home, music served as his childhood solace. 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. In four short years, he orchestrated a "meteoric" rise through the Alliance ranks and was selected for the officer corps from the law enforcement on Jiangyin.
He used brutal beatings on captured Independence members—men and women alike—which impressed his superiors. After six years, he was an officer aboard the I. Cortez , where he directed the final movement of an Alliance operation to ambush Independence transports on a massive scale: six installations on different planets and at least one space-borne transport convoy were raided by Alliance forces at the same moment, but each was ambushed.
It was the "single greatest disaster in Alliance history". The most prominent loss was the destruction of the I. Alexander and the loss of all 4, souls aboard; elsewhere, about soldiers were captured. Book was immediately discharged without trial and thrown into an escape vessel in disgrace.
He lived as a derelict for six years after until he experienced an epiphany about his place in the universe while staring into a bowl of chicken soup. He was suddenly seized with purpose, and joined the Southdown Abbey where he remained for a decade, until he finally chose to leave the abbey—on good terms and with encouragement—and become a missionary.
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Improve this answer. Thanks, this is great. Maybe Early had had prior interactions with Shepherd?
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