It's really, really, really interesting to hear what other people think of Archie, actually, and I'm really glad that I'm not the only one who's struck that ther'es something rather off-kilter about all those fics where Archie is the total pillar of mental health and Horatio is manic-depressive crazy.
Which isn't to say that Horatio isn't kind of nuts, but yeah.
I've been thinking a lotabout the subject of Archie's family recently -- like you point out, it's hard to think of any guy who wasn't rock-stable to start with surviving Simpson and prison, and the most likely reason for him to be that way would be because of a good, family loving, but it's interesting.
Because, I mean, there's that comment he makes to Horatio while he's showing him the lower decks. My hearing might be faulty, but doesn't he say something like, "As my father explained to his gillie, [insert stuff about how you can't kill a king.]" And assuming that they had him use gillie ~ the OED definition, that sort of suggests that Archie's father is no longer with his mother.
And then there's the fact that by confessing himself up to be a muniteer in the end, he's not exactly doing wonders for his name. Which suggests -- since we know that he has a father on land and alive in The Duel -- that he's valued the good he could do for Horatio's career/future against whatever shame his family might suffer and decided that Horatio is more important.
Which is totally understandable, but really, the combination of all suggests that Archie's character might stand up to some interesting family exploration. Any recommendations for fic about this? I've been looking for a good, thoughtful, convincing writeup of this sort on Archie, but I haven't come across it yet.
Also, re: Archie's Navy qualities. Yeaaaaaaah. I've been trying to write Archiefic recently, so I've been wondering how good a first lieutenant Archie would make for Horation in a LKU. He would have done his damndest, I'm sure, and he certainly seems bright enough to do all the work -- but man, he just seems a hell less suited for a lifetime of second-fiddlehood than Bush.
There's also this desperate quality to a lot of the couragethat he does show. I mean,he doesn't have Horatio's brain-driven, "this is what must happen for us to win" courage or Pellew's "this is how we will stand and bear until we die" courage or Bush's cool, impassive courage. There are, as you point out, moments when Archie is enormously brave, but sometimes -- I wonder how much of his respone to fear-provoking circumstances is kind of a panicky overreaction to all the terrible things that he's suffered and had to submit to. And hunh.
I bet that you could write a nifty little fic talking about how deeply and to heart Archie takes Horatio's little GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF MAN speech to him at the bridge. Like, contrast how Archie has that panic attack there to how calmly he goes to his death in Kingston? And use Horatio as the pivot-point.
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branchandroot
this is quite possibly incoherent. *_*
Date: 2006-01-14 10:46 pm (UTC)It's really, really, really interesting to hear what other people think of Archie, actually, and I'm really glad that I'm not the only one who's struck that ther'es something rather off-kilter about all those fics where Archie is the total pillar of mental health and Horatio is manic-depressive crazy.
Which isn't to say that Horatio isn't kind of nuts, but yeah.
I've been thinking a lotabout the subject of Archie's family recently -- like you point out, it's hard to think of any guy who wasn't rock-stable to start with surviving Simpson and prison, and the most likely reason for him to be that way would be because of a good, family loving, but it's interesting.
Because, I mean, there's that comment he makes to Horatio while he's showing him the lower decks. My hearing might be faulty, but doesn't he say something like, "As my father explained to his gillie, [insert stuff about how you can't kill a king.]" And assuming that they had him use gillie ~ the OED definition, that sort of suggests that Archie's father is no longer with his mother.
And then there's the fact that by confessing himself up to be a muniteer in the end, he's not exactly doing wonders for his name. Which suggests -- since we know that he has a father on land and alive in The Duel -- that he's valued the good he could do for Horatio's career/future against whatever shame his family might suffer and decided that Horatio is more important.
Which is totally understandable, but really, the combination of all suggests that Archie's character might stand up to some interesting family exploration. Any recommendations for fic about this? I've been looking for a good, thoughtful, convincing writeup of this sort on Archie, but I haven't come across it yet.
Also, re: Archie's Navy qualities. Yeaaaaaaah. I've been trying to write Archiefic recently, so I've been wondering how good a first lieutenant Archie would make for Horation in a LKU. He would have done his damndest, I'm sure, and he certainly seems bright enough to do all the work -- but man, he just seems a hell less suited for a lifetime of second-fiddlehood than Bush.
There's also this desperate quality to a lot of the couragethat he does show. I mean,he doesn't have Horatio's brain-driven, "this is what must happen for us to win" courage or Pellew's "this is how we will stand and bear until we die" courage or Bush's cool, impassive courage. There are, as you point out, moments when Archie is enormously brave, but sometimes -- I wonder how much of his respone to fear-provoking circumstances is kind of a panicky overreaction to all the terrible things that he's suffered and had to submit to. And hunh.
I bet that you could write a nifty little fic talking about how deeply and to heart Archie takes Horatio's little GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF MAN speech to him at the bridge. Like, contrast how Archie has that panic attack there to how calmly he goes to his death in Kingston? And use Horatio as the pivot-point.