#ivanhoe meta

[xenowlsome]

Listening to this on repeat currently and obviously I had to think abt ivanhoe and everyone probably figured out that I love to draw Rebecca/Brian parallels where none exist so: singing! And how they’re both.... constrained in their freedom to sing.

Because singing is such a big part of daily life in the Middle Ages - how are you gotta entertain yourself on a long journey or on a slow day or when you’re bored or <insert any other situation basically>? But judaism forbids women to sing within earshot of men who are not their direct relatives; and a knight templar is not supposed to sing anything but religious hymns (which is sort of understandable because soldier songs are probably too bawdy for a monastic order but still)

And for Rebecca it’s probably not too big a deal - it’s a matter of propriety, like not going out with loose hair - just inconvenient and annoying sometimes. For Brian though - he’s a nobleman with a noble’s education, so even if he’s not on Richard’s level he’s been taught to sing and compose songs himself from a young age (and if you accept my wild reasoning that he’s from Aquitaine - the land of troubadours - singing is probably even more of a thing for him), and it’s another small thing that got taken from him by the order but he probably resents it a bit more than others.

[xenowlsome]

Thinking about that half-meta I didn’t write about Rebecca and The Gaze and it’s kind of ironic how she’s accused of ~bewitching~ Brian but at the same time  brian has strabismus and throughout the ages it has been assigned the properties of the evil eye and people with strabismus were ostracized because it was assumed that they were capable of casting misfortunes on others and Hamsa - the hand of Miriam - has been used to ward off the evil eye...

[xenowlsome]

And also questions 1, 3, 11, 13, 17, 20, 22, 25, 29, 37, 39, 41 for Brian

1. what kind of clothing does your character like to wear? do they have a style? anything they avoid wearing? 

you’re not allowed to have a style in the templar order but brian probs appreciates linen clothing, especially in the palestine. besides that he has standard noble opinions on clothing except for like ankle-length bliauts beccause that’s a lot of material to get in the way of a fight

(brian was oppressed by not being born in the 14th century bc he didn’t live to see dagged sleeves and codpieces come into fashion he would have had a field day)

3. is your character more articulate in their thoughts than their words? if yes, do they do anything about that? do they care?

i actually think brian is LESS articulate in his thoughts! he’s someone who makes incredibly dramatic but well articulate speeches but in his head he’s just. screaming like a possum

11. how do they feel about casual endearments? (babe, etc)

he’d drop them ALL the time he’d be disgustingly sappy

13. what helps them fall asleep when they're having trouble doing so?

probably going for a late ride if he were allowed to

17. do they fidget? how and/or with what?

brian paces a lot when he’s agitated though it doesn’t have to be something upsetting (also leg jiggles bc that’s what i do)

20. do they like to keep plants/growing things in their space? 

he’d forget about them if he had a plant :( the solution here is to get succulents

22. when they speak, do they have a default tone of voice? if yes, do they try to change it? why?

he definitely has a “good little templar“ voice but besides that i’m not sure

25. do they keep books on their person? what kind?

oh no books are way to pricey and also huge

29. if they wear any, where did they get their jewelry?

everything he wears (cross, rings, fibulas) probably comes from the templar vaults bc they got donated lots and lots of expensive shit that would not always be in the form of coin

37. how would they pass the time on a train?

catch up on sleep, get extremely bored and try to chat with other passengers, get bored with them, go for a smoke

39. do they keep working even when their wrists start to cramp? if they do, do they give themselves a break when the work is done?

well when you’re fighting there’s no option to just... stop so. if brian is writing the main problem for him would not be wrists but his eyes, bc i headcanon that the longer he strains his eyes the worse his double vision gets, and the combination of that and the aging-induced onset of farsightedness does not make for a good experience

41. what's the silliest thing they've used magic to do? if they don't have magic, what's something silly they'd use it for if they did?

100% some stupid prank

[xenowlsome]

@sothatsagoodthing​ I sure do

so we don’t know how long brian’s been to england, but if my hc that brian was sent away from palestine after the 1193 elections of the grand master, he couldn’t have been there for much longer than half a year so any friendships he would have made there were most likely skin deep. nonetheless, the fact that brian and de bracy seem to have hit it off well shows that there was something to build on, because i doubt that brian at this point was in the mood for actively working on his relationships. they evidently have similar mindsets, probably similar interests, and kind of the same life path - both are younger sons (we’re obviously not told that but it Just Makes Sense), both rose to a high position through military skill (brian as a high-ranking templar and maurice as the leader of the Free Companions), both are opportunistic and with little scruple.

I think brian sees de bracy somewhat as a younger brother - both as a blood relation and as similar to many young men he saw accepted into the order (and then die). and though de bracy is an accomplished warrior in his own right he probably was sort of star-struck (i still cannot get over how scott made brian so famous “in-universe”; and de bracy was probably just the right age during brian’s first stint in the palestine to become a HARDCORE fanboy).

at the same time, brian probably had a slightly condescending attitude towards both de bracy and his free companions - both because he’s had to deal with mercenaries and everything they entail as a fighting force (i should find that chart i drew where i decided that he was a turcopolier - the brother who was in command of the hired troops - for a time), and because he does not have respect for anyone who has not fought in the palestine (professional deformation of character, if you will). and de bracy is not a person to take that lying down.

so, after this wall of text, i haven’t technically answered any of the question you asked (and i will probably make a separate post about adelaide // or not, so as not to spoil my fanfic)

- are they friends? kind of!

- do they regularly commit idiot schemes together? i don’t think they had enough time but they definitely would

- who has more braincells? honestly, I’m not sure I can judge that. i would say about equally but brian is more efficient in using his (though it only works when they are apart; under a certain distance the braincells deactivate themselves). also he definitely has more experience and book learning.

[xenowlsome]

Yeah okay i'm still thinking about ciaran hinds cutting right to the core of brian's character saying that by focusing on rebecca he tries to get back at ivanhoe (and also possibly isaac because he might remember him)

and this actually seems a pattern for him: he only really noticed ivanhoe after he defeated brian in that joust and i have outlined his reasons for hating ivanhoe in some other post in the past but a large part of his incandescent hatred is that ivanhoe's loyalty to richard and richard favoring and evidently caring about him make him a target for it. so the book's events are not the first time brian used a person as a proxy for his hatred (as well as punishing them for their loyalties).

(the unfortunate part for brian is, he keeps falling in love with them)

[xenowlsome]

Thinking about Rebecca and Brian and Ivanhoe and how if not for Isaac she would not have met them and how she is the only one of the three who has a visibly loving and caring relationship with her father - I made my opinion on Cedric’s parenting credentials clear before, and Brian and his father, I imagine, had a distant and even slightly cold relationship both by virtue of unmatching tempers and Brian’s place as a second son. 

I wonder if they looked at how Rebecca and Isaac hold onto each other and care about each other - which is not like. abnormal especially considering that they are each other’s only immediate family left but for someone who did not experience that kind of connection it definitely feels alien - and didn’t get... just a little bit jealous?

[xenowlsome]

I love the poetic irony (and this is probably intentional - scott can be faithful to history when he wants to) that Brian, member of an order whose original purpose was to protect pilgrims on their way to the holy land, first encounters his nemesis in-story in the guise of a palmer

(And then this Palmer acts as a guide - protector - to his party!)

[xenowlsome]

“Uses Rebecca to get at Ivanhoe” mr. Hinds thank u I love it when actors Get their characters

(The other half him was punishing Rebecca for helping Ivanhoe)