Talking About John
I've saved talking about writing John because in many ways he's the most complicated. John Sheppard is a pile of contradictions -- awkward and decisive, loyal and independent, connected and alienated. He's fascinating. He's also the main character, the first one in the credits, the main viewpoint character of the series.
And yet we know remarkably little about him before he came to Atlantis. He was a major. He'd served in Afghanistan, where some bad stuff went down and his friends were killed. He's divorced from Nancy, who seems to have nothing wrong with her. He's alienated from his father and his brother, while his mother is invisible. He has no one. He almost never talks about his life before Atlantis.
He is also, at the end of the series, remarkably unhappy.
Enemy at the Gate leaves John with nothing. He has no family, no kin. He has no relationship, no children, no parents. If Atlantis stays on Earth he's lost Atlantis too, the only place that he's really belonged. He will also inevitably lose the team. Ronon will return to fight the Wraith. Teyla will either return or find her own trajectory. Rodney and his girlfriend, Jennifer, will build their own lives. John has nothing. In many ways he may feel that he should have died in the battle with the hive ship. If he had given his life for his friends and for Earth, then his life would have been well lived. But will it be, left on Earth with nothing, with only the downward spiral toward Vegas!John ahead of him?
This, first of all, was where Melissa, Amy and I started. We have to do something about John. This is not the story of how John Sheppard outlived his life, how he was finally proved to be nothing at all while Rodney soared and Ronon and Teyla went on as though he'd never mattered. John needs a happy ending, or at least one that feels rich and suitable to the reader. Because we love him too much to leave him in this place.
John is the central character of Legacy, as he was in the show, and his plot arc is one of the thickest threads in the weave. When we pick him up, immediately after Enemy at the Gate, his life is in a downward spiral. He is losing everything he has left, inevitably and inexorably.
And yet. One of my favorite moments early in Homecoming is a scene I wrote where John shows a newcomer to Atlantis, Dr. Eva Robinson, the things he loves about this. Eva is a psychologist who has been brought in to replace (sadly miserably dead!) Kate Heightmeyer, to help with transition issues, and she's hearing everybody's worst experiences. John shows her what there is to love. The thing I adore about that scene is that John is still looking after his people, and in his incredible resilience he can still find things that make this worth it to him.
(This is a theme I hit a lot, isn't it? Carry the banner proudly in your own time, and love will make us strong....)
John hits the bottom in The Lost, which has that title for more than one reason. His mistake, his issues, have caused a situation that may cost Teyla and Carson their lives. And it's his fault. This is a survival situation, and once again, as in Afghanistan, he may be the only one who survives. He's stripped to the bone emotionally, struggling physically, with wounded people who are worse off than he. It's the testing point.
And also the turning point.
Whatever happens to him in the end of the series, it will be better than what could have been, better than the trajectory he was on.
But the question is bigger than John. Is it possible to have the world in which he could thrive? Atlantis returns to Pegasus. It's on the cover of Homecoming, so not much a spoiler. But can Atlantis be...what? Home? What is home?
The City of the Ancients, as they intended it, a sacrosanct citadel for their race? A military base in a distant galaxy? A struggling, quarreled over prize? A colonial bastion? A short lived dream of independence that will soon fall to the Wraith? The Wraith's final victory? Or a ruin beneath the sea, lost once again?
Can we imagine, can John imagine, something else? Something better? Does John, limited twentieth century man as he is, even see a solution that would be better? Can a home for him exist?
(I return to this too, but Lydias has the visions of others to lead him. John has nothing of the kind. Atlantis has lost its visionary leader.)
And so John's plot arc feeds into the main plot arc. What is the legacy of the Ancients? What is Atlantis' future? What is the future of the Pegasus Galaxy?
And how did it all come to rest on the toss of a coin, on John Sheppard's passage through a Stargate?
As Teyla says in Death Game, The story begins, as all stories begin, in the blue fire of a gate. There was a chair beneath the ice, and she woke at her son’s touch. There was a city beneath the sea, and she came to life when her son called her. All that ever was, still is. All that may be, yet may be.
Here are my earlier musings about Radek, Teyla, Todd and Sam.
And yet we know remarkably little about him before he came to Atlantis. He was a major. He'd served in Afghanistan, where some bad stuff went down and his friends were killed. He's divorced from Nancy, who seems to have nothing wrong with her. He's alienated from his father and his brother, while his mother is invisible. He has no one. He almost never talks about his life before Atlantis.
He is also, at the end of the series, remarkably unhappy.
Enemy at the Gate leaves John with nothing. He has no family, no kin. He has no relationship, no children, no parents. If Atlantis stays on Earth he's lost Atlantis too, the only place that he's really belonged. He will also inevitably lose the team. Ronon will return to fight the Wraith. Teyla will either return or find her own trajectory. Rodney and his girlfriend, Jennifer, will build their own lives. John has nothing. In many ways he may feel that he should have died in the battle with the hive ship. If he had given his life for his friends and for Earth, then his life would have been well lived. But will it be, left on Earth with nothing, with only the downward spiral toward Vegas!John ahead of him?
This, first of all, was where Melissa, Amy and I started. We have to do something about John. This is not the story of how John Sheppard outlived his life, how he was finally proved to be nothing at all while Rodney soared and Ronon and Teyla went on as though he'd never mattered. John needs a happy ending, or at least one that feels rich and suitable to the reader. Because we love him too much to leave him in this place.
John is the central character of Legacy, as he was in the show, and his plot arc is one of the thickest threads in the weave. When we pick him up, immediately after Enemy at the Gate, his life is in a downward spiral. He is losing everything he has left, inevitably and inexorably.
And yet. One of my favorite moments early in Homecoming is a scene I wrote where John shows a newcomer to Atlantis, Dr. Eva Robinson, the things he loves about this. Eva is a psychologist who has been brought in to replace (sadly miserably dead!) Kate Heightmeyer, to help with transition issues, and she's hearing everybody's worst experiences. John shows her what there is to love. The thing I adore about that scene is that John is still looking after his people, and in his incredible resilience he can still find things that make this worth it to him.
(This is a theme I hit a lot, isn't it? Carry the banner proudly in your own time, and love will make us strong....)
John hits the bottom in The Lost, which has that title for more than one reason. His mistake, his issues, have caused a situation that may cost Teyla and Carson their lives. And it's his fault. This is a survival situation, and once again, as in Afghanistan, he may be the only one who survives. He's stripped to the bone emotionally, struggling physically, with wounded people who are worse off than he. It's the testing point.
And also the turning point.
Whatever happens to him in the end of the series, it will be better than what could have been, better than the trajectory he was on.
But the question is bigger than John. Is it possible to have the world in which he could thrive? Atlantis returns to Pegasus. It's on the cover of Homecoming, so not much a spoiler. But can Atlantis be...what? Home? What is home?
The City of the Ancients, as they intended it, a sacrosanct citadel for their race? A military base in a distant galaxy? A struggling, quarreled over prize? A colonial bastion? A short lived dream of independence that will soon fall to the Wraith? The Wraith's final victory? Or a ruin beneath the sea, lost once again?
Can we imagine, can John imagine, something else? Something better? Does John, limited twentieth century man as he is, even see a solution that would be better? Can a home for him exist?
(I return to this too, but Lydias has the visions of others to lead him. John has nothing of the kind. Atlantis has lost its visionary leader.)
And so John's plot arc feeds into the main plot arc. What is the legacy of the Ancients? What is Atlantis' future? What is the future of the Pegasus Galaxy?
And how did it all come to rest on the toss of a coin, on John Sheppard's passage through a Stargate?
As Teyla says in Death Game, The story begins, as all stories begin, in the blue fire of a gate. There was a chair beneath the ice, and she woke at her son’s touch. There was a city beneath the sea, and she came to life when her son called her. All that ever was, still is. All that may be, yet may be.
Here are my earlier musings about Radek, Teyla, Todd and Sam.