Bio - Malcolm Reynolds
Name: Malcolm Reynolds
LJ: cptmalreynolds
Played by: Nathan Fillion
Canon Break: TBD
Bio:
DOB: September 20, 2486
Current Age: 33
Birthplace: Shadow
Position on Serenity: Captain
War Record: Volunteered for the Independents, and stationed with the 57th Overlanders. Was brevetted a Sergeant just before the battle of Serenity Valley, commanded over five thousand at one time.
Bio:
“You don’t know me, son, so let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you’ll be awake, you’ll be facing me, and you’ll be armed.” - “Serenity, Pt 2”
Mal’s come pretty far since his birth on Shadow, where he was raised by his mother and a bunch of the ranch hands. It’s implied that Mal’s mother was both a very tough lady (to run an entire ranch by herself) and a very religious lady (seeing as Mal was more religious than most when he entered the war). Her lessons must have sunk in, as Mal still remembers most of the ranching advice she gave him, and until Serenity Valley, carried a cross around his neck and inspired his troops with “sermons and stories of honor and glory” (as Tracey puts it in “The Message”).
It was while serving in the war that he met Corporal Zoe Alleyne, one of the few women in their unit - the 57th Overlanders, Balls and Bayonets Brigade. Zoe became his right hand, and her pragmatism and knowledge of the military combined with his sheer dumb luck and talent for brilliant maneuvers got her and Mal through six years of war together. They ended up being the only ones left out of their entire unit by the end of the war - after the bloodbath of Serenity Valley.
And that’s really where you get to the heart of Malcolm Reynolds, seeing as he left his in that Valley. He and his soldiers held the Valley for a good month and a half, including two weeks after the Independent High Command gave it (and them) up for dead. His squadron was dying around him, the Alliance was still taking potshots at them, and his commanders abandoned him. It was enough to make Mal lose every bit of faith he’d ever possessed - for what kind of God could allow a travesty like Serenity Valley to happen?
After spending an unspecified amount of time in an Alliance detention camp after the war, he and Zoe shipped out together, trying to get as far from the Alliance as they could. It was love at first sight when Mal came across an old Firefly-class transport while looking for a ship to call his own. He bought her, named her Serenity after the Valley he still couldn’t get out of, and he and Zoe shipped out across the galaxy. They found themselves a pilot (Wash, who Zoe married despite Mal‘s feelings on the matter); a genius mechanic (Kaylee, who Mal hired in some rather interesting circumstances); a mercenary (Jayne, who was staring at them from the wrong end of a gun), and a high-class Companion (Inara, who despite having told Mal not to call her a whore, still hears it from him).
Mal was doing fairly well for himself when Serenity stopped for passengers on Persephone one day in 2517. A Shepherd called Book joined the crew - annoying Mal to no end due to the man’s religious beliefs. A man named Dobson - he doesn’t stay too long - came aboard as well. And then there was Simon Tam, a wealthy doctor with a mysterious bit of luggage: a large crate the boy barely let out of his sight. When Dobson was revealed to be an Alliance mole, Mal opened the crate to find Simon’s 17-year-old sister, River. The girl was a fugitive from the Alliance, and well - any chance to stick it to the Alliance was good enough for Mal. He agreed to harbor them, and set off on the run.
It’s been a busy year for Mal - what with running from Reavers and bounty hunters, getting attacked by assorted psychotic lowlifes, landing himself in a sword duel, a crew member who double-crossed him, various gunshot wounds, and even getting inadvertently married once. But he takes it in stride . . . at least they’re still flying, still one step ahead of the Alliance.
As he says, it’s not much, but it’s enough.
Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds is the Serenity's captain. He has a sharp sense of humour and yet suffers under the belief that the destruction of the existing political and social institutions (i.e. the Alliance) is necessary for future improvement of life the universe and everything. His opposition to the unification of the planets was met with failure and he and Zoe (his right hand girl) are members of a lost cause that fought a sort of rebel Anti-Alliance - and lost.
Mal was rasied by his mother on their ranch (on the planet Shadow). He always considers that ranching is a good life and with 40 ranch hands, they must have been fairly prosperous.
Mal was is a former Sergeant who (while most of the comrades in his position chose life under the law of the victorious "Alliance") refused to settle down in a regime that he despised and instead, travelled to the "less civilized" distant planets, where the Alliance's grasp is less firm.� He chose to do this in the Serenity, a Firefly class transport ship.
His home was destroyed (presumably in the war a few years earlier) and he now meanders the galaxy looking for paid legitimate (and not so legitimate) jobs for his bloody ugly space transport ship, Serenity. His crew are a rag-tag group of misfits more closely allied to the crew of Moya than the Enterprise. For these and many other reasons, Mal doesn't trust anyone.
He's a much maligned dude, prone to tantrums of nastiness and rudeness. Zoe once explained to Simon why he is like this:
"In the war to unit the planets, the battle of Serenity was among the most deadly and decisive. Located on Herra, the valley was considered a key position by both sides and was bitterly fought over. The independent faction with sixteen brigades and 20 air tanks held Alliance forces at bay for almost two months until superior forces.....
Battle of Serenity"He (Mal) was my sergeant. Commander of 30 young grunts. ..... Three days in, there were so many officers dead, he commanded 2000! He kept us together, kept us fighting, kept us sane. By the time the fighting was over, he had maybe 400 still in tact. I said the fighting was over, but you see they left us there. Wounded as sick and as near to mad as could still walk and talk - both sides left us there while they negotiated the peace...... for a week. And we kept dying. Mercy, forgiveness, trust...... those are things he left back there. What he has now is the ship. The ship and us on it."
Writing Sample - Never Forgotten, Never Forgiven
LJ: cptmalreynolds
Played by: Nathan Fillion
Canon Break: TBD
Bio:
DOB: September 20, 2486
Current Age: 33
Birthplace: Shadow
Position on Serenity: Captain
War Record: Volunteered for the Independents, and stationed with the 57th Overlanders. Was brevetted a Sergeant just before the battle of Serenity Valley, commanded over five thousand at one time.
Bio:
“You don’t know me, son, so let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you’ll be awake, you’ll be facing me, and you’ll be armed.” - “Serenity, Pt 2”
Mal’s come pretty far since his birth on Shadow, where he was raised by his mother and a bunch of the ranch hands. It’s implied that Mal’s mother was both a very tough lady (to run an entire ranch by herself) and a very religious lady (seeing as Mal was more religious than most when he entered the war). Her lessons must have sunk in, as Mal still remembers most of the ranching advice she gave him, and until Serenity Valley, carried a cross around his neck and inspired his troops with “sermons and stories of honor and glory” (as Tracey puts it in “The Message”).
It was while serving in the war that he met Corporal Zoe Alleyne, one of the few women in their unit - the 57th Overlanders, Balls and Bayonets Brigade. Zoe became his right hand, and her pragmatism and knowledge of the military combined with his sheer dumb luck and talent for brilliant maneuvers got her and Mal through six years of war together. They ended up being the only ones left out of their entire unit by the end of the war - after the bloodbath of Serenity Valley.
And that’s really where you get to the heart of Malcolm Reynolds, seeing as he left his in that Valley. He and his soldiers held the Valley for a good month and a half, including two weeks after the Independent High Command gave it (and them) up for dead. His squadron was dying around him, the Alliance was still taking potshots at them, and his commanders abandoned him. It was enough to make Mal lose every bit of faith he’d ever possessed - for what kind of God could allow a travesty like Serenity Valley to happen?
After spending an unspecified amount of time in an Alliance detention camp after the war, he and Zoe shipped out together, trying to get as far from the Alliance as they could. It was love at first sight when Mal came across an old Firefly-class transport while looking for a ship to call his own. He bought her, named her Serenity after the Valley he still couldn’t get out of, and he and Zoe shipped out across the galaxy. They found themselves a pilot (Wash, who Zoe married despite Mal‘s feelings on the matter); a genius mechanic (Kaylee, who Mal hired in some rather interesting circumstances); a mercenary (Jayne, who was staring at them from the wrong end of a gun), and a high-class Companion (Inara, who despite having told Mal not to call her a whore, still hears it from him).
Mal was doing fairly well for himself when Serenity stopped for passengers on Persephone one day in 2517. A Shepherd called Book joined the crew - annoying Mal to no end due to the man’s religious beliefs. A man named Dobson - he doesn’t stay too long - came aboard as well. And then there was Simon Tam, a wealthy doctor with a mysterious bit of luggage: a large crate the boy barely let out of his sight. When Dobson was revealed to be an Alliance mole, Mal opened the crate to find Simon’s 17-year-old sister, River. The girl was a fugitive from the Alliance, and well - any chance to stick it to the Alliance was good enough for Mal. He agreed to harbor them, and set off on the run.
It’s been a busy year for Mal - what with running from Reavers and bounty hunters, getting attacked by assorted psychotic lowlifes, landing himself in a sword duel, a crew member who double-crossed him, various gunshot wounds, and even getting inadvertently married once. But he takes it in stride . . . at least they’re still flying, still one step ahead of the Alliance.
As he says, it’s not much, but it’s enough.
Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds is the Serenity's captain. He has a sharp sense of humour and yet suffers under the belief that the destruction of the existing political and social institutions (i.e. the Alliance) is necessary for future improvement of life the universe and everything. His opposition to the unification of the planets was met with failure and he and Zoe (his right hand girl) are members of a lost cause that fought a sort of rebel Anti-Alliance - and lost.
Mal was rasied by his mother on their ranch (on the planet Shadow). He always considers that ranching is a good life and with 40 ranch hands, they must have been fairly prosperous.
Mal was is a former Sergeant who (while most of the comrades in his position chose life under the law of the victorious "Alliance") refused to settle down in a regime that he despised and instead, travelled to the "less civilized" distant planets, where the Alliance's grasp is less firm.� He chose to do this in the Serenity, a Firefly class transport ship.
His home was destroyed (presumably in the war a few years earlier) and he now meanders the galaxy looking for paid legitimate (and not so legitimate) jobs for his bloody ugly space transport ship, Serenity. His crew are a rag-tag group of misfits more closely allied to the crew of Moya than the Enterprise. For these and many other reasons, Mal doesn't trust anyone.
He's a much maligned dude, prone to tantrums of nastiness and rudeness. Zoe once explained to Simon why he is like this:
"In the war to unit the planets, the battle of Serenity was among the most deadly and decisive. Located on Herra, the valley was considered a key position by both sides and was bitterly fought over. The independent faction with sixteen brigades and 20 air tanks held Alliance forces at bay for almost two months until superior forces.....
Battle of Serenity"He (Mal) was my sergeant. Commander of 30 young grunts. ..... Three days in, there were so many officers dead, he commanded 2000! He kept us together, kept us fighting, kept us sane. By the time the fighting was over, he had maybe 400 still in tact. I said the fighting was over, but you see they left us there. Wounded as sick and as near to mad as could still walk and talk - both sides left us there while they negotiated the peace...... for a week. And we kept dying. Mercy, forgiveness, trust...... those are things he left back there. What he has now is the ship. The ship and us on it."
Writing Sample - Never Forgotten, Never Forgiven