Inkedblood

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905), El Dorado (1913), Sir Percy Leads the Band (1936)
By: Baroness Emmuska Orczy

Who he is: Sir Percival Blakeney is the most fashionable man in London. While he is a friend of the Prince, he is considered a bit dull-witted and the greatest fop of the time. But what people don’t know is that Sir Percy is none other than the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel, the leader of a band of Englishmen who risk their lives saving condemned aristocrats during the Reign of Terror from being led to the guillotine.

Strength: Aside from being physically strong, his will and endurance are also very strong. He can endure torture in the hands of the new Republic and still keep his keen wit. He is a master of disguise, his dandy facade being one of them. Deep inside, he cares greatly for human life, and puts great value on honor. His men are fiercely loyal to him, as he is to his men even at times when betrayal seems imminent.

Weakness: He may seem unaffected. And he may say his saving lives is just a sport, but we all know he’s just saying that. It is all a front to hide the true man underneath. The only one person who seems able to break this image of Percy is his wife, Marguerite. For a time, they were estranged due to certain issues linking Marguerite to the death of an aristocrat. But even then, Percy loved Marguerite very dearly.

What I like about him: Loyalty is a trait I value. And the loyalty of the Scarlet Pimpernel’s League to their Chief, and his loyalty to them, was something I loved very much. Trusting someone completely is hard, especially in this day and age when there’s always something in it for the other person. There’s always an ulterior motive. And loyalties tend to gravitate to the person who has more money to give. Then again, that type of loyalty isn’t loyalty, now is it?

As followers, we tend to want some control over our lives and actions. But in Percy’s case, his League follows him to the letter without knowing exactly what’s going to happen. And as leaders, we tend to junk followers at the first sign of disobedience. In Percy’s case, he will go through the plan expecting you to follow him despite your show of a tendency to disobey him. He will show you that he trusts you up to the last minute when you actually do betray him. And when that happens, he won’t scold you, saying that it is your life and it’s up to you how much worth you put in it. He’ll save you anyway. And your remorse for being disloyal to your Chief, who was loyal to you up to the end, will be the thing that brings you back to him.

You also can’t help liking a character with wit and skill. He had been stealing aristocrats from under the Republic’s noses for a long time, and he had been fooling the ton of London that he was nothing but a stupid fop. That’s skill and wit, and I like skill and wit.

Also, Percy’s contrast of being the sleepy-eyed unaffected dandy with the inane laugh, as well as the passionate man who was hopelessly in love with his wife, was a very good puller. There’s nothing like a good heart-wrencher to complete a hero’s profile. To illustrate what I mean, take this excerpt from The Scarlet Pimpernel:

Had she but turned back then, and looked out once more on to the rose-lit garden, she would have seen that which would have made her own sufferings seem but light and easy to bear–a strong man, overwhelmed with his own passion and his own despair. Pride had given way at last, obstinacy was gone: the will was powerless. He was but a man madly, blindly, passionately in love, and as soon as her light footsteps had died away within the house, he knelt down upon the terrace steps, and in the very madness of his love he kissed one by one the places where her small foot had trodden, and the stone balustrade there, where her tiny hand had rested last.