Shepherd Book

Derrial Book
Derrial Book
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Preacher
Relatives	Unknown; "never married"

Derrial Book is a fictional character played by Ron Glass in the science-fiction/Western television series Firefly and its sequel movie, Serenity. He is a Shepherd — a kind of holy man or preacher — and provides frequent spiritual advice and perspectives for the crew of Serenity.

He is almost always referred to as "Shepherd Book", presumably an indicator of his status as a respected religious figure. Book is a Christian of an unknown denomination. The best clue to his religion resides in the original script for the pilot, Serenity, where we have this description:"We see, passing through frame, Shepherd BOOK. He's about sixty, weathered and worldly, with a quiet kindness in his eyes. Farmer stock, not a trace of bullshit and a workingman's hands. He drags a few boxes and suitcases on a sort of wheeled papoose, carries another suitcase in his hand. His clothes are plain and instantly identify him as some kind of protestant minister."

Throughout the series, he makes references to Christian theology and consults the Bible. Shepherd Book, in the pilot episode for the series, indicates he has been living in the Southdown Abbey. Throughout the series there are references to monks at the Southdown Abbey as well as Biblical referrals.

In the comic Serenity: Those Left Behind, Book expresses concern that he is being corrupted by living on Serenity and he leaves the ship. By the time Serenity begins, he has moved off the ship to the planet Haven. In the film, Book is killed by an Alliance soldier sent to destroy Haven after Serenity manages to shake an Alliance assassin known only as "The Operative". However, he was not a passive figure in the events leading up to his death; he defended Haven and "killed the ship that killed them".

Past

One of the most debated aspects of the show is Shepherd Book's secret past. He holds some sort of priority status within the Alliance (see below), and on numerous occasions has demonstrated a depth of knowledge in a number of fields one would not expect a clergyman to be familiar with, including space travel, firearms, hand to hand combat, and criminal activity.

In the episode "War Stories" he was able to keenly identify the specific firearm that was used to ambush Mal and Wash, including scope and ammo size. When inside Niska's space station with the others to rescue their captain, he seemed to be able to "kneecap" a man without much difficulty or aiming (He justifies his use of a firearm to Zoe by pointing out that the Bible is very specific about killing, but is 'somewhat fuzzy' on the subject of kneecaps).

In the fourteenth and final episode of Firefly, "Objects in Space", Simon berates the bounty hunter Jubal Early for assaulting Book, a Shepherd. Early only replies mysteriously, "That ain't a Shepherd." Early's implication that he knows something about Book's history is never explained, although in the DVD commentary Firefly creator Joss Whedon mentions this is due to Early's intuition and ability to quickly size people up. He also comments that Early's methods for dealing with each crew member are custom-tailored to their personalities. Early disposes of Mal in a straight-forward manner; Joss then notes that Early's method for taking out Book is equally straight-forward, alluding to a similarity between the two otherwise different characters. Earlier in the episode, a similarly inscrutable insight occurs when River Tam accidentally reads Book's thought: "I don't give half a hump if you're innocent or not! So where does that put you?" It is worth noting, however, that Joss's commentary during this scene states that River's perspective "is somewhat disassociative from reality".

Another hint to Book's mysterious past is shown in the episode "Safe". In it, Book is accidentally wounded. With Simon, the ship's doctor, kidnapped and Book's condition worsening, Mal is forced to seek help from an Alliance cruiser. The commanding officer, after tersely dismissing Mal, changes his attitude once one of his officers shows him Book's identity card. After seeing the information on the card, the commander immediately halts his admonishing of the Serenity crew. Though the exact information on the card is never shown, the crew does note that it affords Book access to the medical facilities on board. Upon returning to Serenity, Book states "It is good to be home." During the events of "The Message", he also displays a distinct knowledge of Alliance procedure, quickly working out that they are being pursued by an officer operating outside of his remit and are thus free to kill him without anybody being particularly bothered.

Though Book himself often hints at a dark past, he refuses to discuss it openly. When asked by Mal if he would like to explain the preferential treatment the Alliance gives him in "Safe", he responds, "I surely would, and maybe someday I will." However, in Serenity, Book seems more reticent to share. After Book describes the methods and mentality of an operative of the Parliament, Mal presses him for some explanation of his knowledge, but receives none:

Mal: It's of interest to me how much you seem to know about that world.

Book: Wasn't born a Shepherd, Mal.

Mal: You have to tell me about that someday.

Book: No, I don't.

The truth about Book's past may never be known, as Book perishes in Serenity, without ever revealing his secret.

The novelization of Serenity details the Operative's assault on Haven. During this time, Book shoots down an Alliance cruiser and the Operative disables him and orders Alliance soldiers to shoot him. There is a brief monologue which hints that the Operative knows something about Book that Mal and his crew do not. The Operative states that Haven is the last place he would've expected to find Book, and that his Shepherd's clothing is the last thing he would've expected Book to be wearing, based on what he's read.

Book's first name

During production of the film Serenity, Book's first name was Meria, and it appears as such in the documentary "Re-Lighting the Firefly". However, by the time the film was completed, Joss Whedon changed his first name to Derrial, which is the way it appears in all printed official works based on Firefly, (including the role playing game, the novelization, and the two Official Companion books written by Whedon) and Derrial is the name featured on his memorial in the film Serenity.

References

• Jamie Chambers (2005). Serenity: The Role Playing Game. US: Sovereign Games. ISBN 1-931567-50-6.
• Keith R.A. DeCandido (2005). Serenity. US: Pocket Books. ISBN 1-4165-0755-8.
• Joss Whedon (2005). Serenity: The Official Visual Companion. UK: Titan Books. ISBN 1-84576-082-4.
• Joss Whedon (2006). Firefly Official Companion, Volume One. UK: Titan Books. ISBN 1-84576-314-9.