P L A Y E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Your Name: Sar
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fisher_queen
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: hahahah far from that.
Email + IM: aislin.cross@gmail.com, AIM: maidrostall plurk: combeferret
Characters Played at Ataraxion: Combeferrebut_civilization
C H A R A C T E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Name: Charles Darnay/Evremonde
Canon: A Tale Of Two Cities Musical
Original or Alternate Universe: Original Universe
Canon Point: Post Rescue from La Conciergerie Prison. Like literally. He'll have JUST been chloroformed by his supposed friend. Sydney Carton's far far better thing turns out kinda fucked up here, considering Lucie's pretty much just screwed at this point.
Number:RNG
Setting:
Musical: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities_(musical)#Plot
Novel(Same story, more detailed): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities
History:
(A Tale of Two Cities takes place during the American and French revolutions, and the French one is of particular importance when it comes to understanding Charles's story and what happens to him. More information on the French Revolution's Reign of Terror that directly affects Charles can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror )
Charles Darnay was born Charles Evremonde, and grew up an aristocratic, rich son, who was expected to take over his family's fortunes and position in Paris someday. However, watching his father and uncle, along with the other aristocrats in Paris, and seeing the way that all of them treated the poor infuriated Charles, who, unlike the other members of his family actually had a heart, despite being a bit spoiled by his upbringing.
It can be surmised that Charles had experienced a good deal of his family's behavior by the time he was a young man, and it was certainly horrible enough that not only did he not wish to take part in it, he also wished to essentially divorce himself from his family, and the life of an aristocrat in France entirely. It was this desire that caused Charles to discard his family name, taking his mother's maiden name of D'Aulnais, anglicizing that to Darnay, and setting off for England to create a new life around 1775.
On the voyage to England, Charles met Lucie Manette and helped her to care for her ailing father, Dr. Mannette, who had just been 'recalled to life' after spending eighteen years of his life imprisoned in the Bastille. The novel surmises that they spent the voyage getting to know each other and doing a bit of flirting, though both of them went on to their lives, for the most part, once they had reached England.
Charles had quite a lot to do in those five years, settling in as an emigre, establishing himself as a french tutor, and, apparently, on at least one occasion, traveling back to France to visit his family, God knows WHY, but headcanon suggests that this may have happened upon his father's death. By 1780, at any rate, his uncle was his only relative left alive, and upon his return to England from a visit with him, Charles was charged with treason against the English crown, specifically of passing information on troop movements to the Americans. In the midst of the American revolution. This was, naturally, a trumped up charge, mostly orchestrated by his uncle the Marquis, who had always hated Charles, well, since he'd gotten old enough to have opinions about Things, and seeing a chance to get him out of the way, attempted to frame him.
Lucie and Charles's paths crossed again as Charles was tried for treason, and she was asked to speak about his behavior on the passage from England. This is also where Charles and Lucie both met Sydney Carton, the assistant to the barrister assigned to defend Charles. Oddly, most of this trial for treason stemmed from the fact that Charles was French.
Equally oddly, Charles and Carton looked alike. They looked a lot alike. They looked so much alike in fact, that the one witness standing between Charles and freedom mistook Carton for Charles in court, prompting the jury to declare Charles innocent and free to go on with his life.
Charles was pleased to do this, for the most part, throwing himself into spending more time with Lucie now that their paths had crossed again. Unfortunately for him, Sydney Carton had also taken an interest in Lucie, and started hanging around as well. At first, Carton attempted to make friends with Charles on the basis of 'if he likes me, he'll put in a good word for me'. Which did not, actually work out that well, as Lucie fell for the less drunken, proper, more refined specimen of masculinity that Charles presented.
Charles began courting Lucie and had plans to propose when he received a letter from home containing a horrible secret. His father and uncle were the ones responsible for putting Dr. Mannette in the Bastille all those years ago. Before he asked Lucie to marry him, Charles tried to tell Dr. Mannette the truth about who he was, realizing that using the version of his mother's name had lead him to deceive both of them about who he really was. Dr. Mannette, knowing how much they were in love, refused to listen to Charles's admission of his identity until the day of the wedding itself, and everything went along well for a while. The Darnays had a daughter, Little Lucie, and Carton essentially became a member of the family, because that's not at all being a creeper, or something. Charles put up with this because his wife and daughter adored the man, and seemingly tried to be friendly with the lawyer who he really, really, did not understand.
Everything was peaceful for a number of years until Charles received a note from Paris. Essentially, his uncle had been murdered for being his asshole self and someone finally got sick of it, his uncle's steward, Gabelle, was now in huge trouble for basically doing the man's bidding all these years, and somebody had to come and fix all of this. Somebody meaning the new Marquis, who was already regarded as a coward for having fled France in the first place. And by fixing, he essentially meant taking control of the lands in France.
Considering that the French Revolution is a thing, this was a really, really stupid thing to do, but Charles felt honor bound to return to Paris and try to make things right. Unfortunately, it was about late 1791-early 1792 when he arrived, and he almost immediately was thrown into La Force prison under the Decree of 17 December 1791. Essentially this decree meant that aristocrats and those who did not sympathize with Republican ideals should have gotten the hell out of France by now and faced death by staying.
For someone from a family as well known as Charles had? Yeah, he pretty much got off the boat and out of his carriage and dragged to prison for being an aristocrat. And he got to hang around there for a year and three months, until Lucie, Carton and Dr. Manette arrived in Paris to try to secure his release.
Charles was tried for the first time in France, and Dr. Manette's influence got him off of those charges but, almost immediately after they were dropped? he managed to get arrested again, most likely under the Law Of Suspects, which essentially ordered the arrest and condemnation of all found to have acted against the French republic, or to have been a tyrant in the years before.
In his new trial, essentially given the day AFTER his arrest, because of how high profile Charles was, and the Evremonde family's crimes were, three people speak against him. The deFarges, revolutionary leaders, and, shockingly, his father in law. Dr. Manette had left a written testimony in the walls of the Bastille,speaking of a rape and double murder that he witnessed. One comitted by Charles's father and uncle. The testimony condemned ALL Evremondes, and their descendants, meaning that Charles COULD be tried, and found guilty for his family's crimes, which happened in relatively short order, as he was packed off to Le Conciergerie prison to face its guillotine the very next day.
That night, in prison, awaiting his execution, Charles's thoughts were with his family, especially with his daughter, while he prayed not for himself, but for her not to become scarred and bitter by losing him in this way. He could accept that death for himself and was prepared to face judgement for the crimes he had had no part in, and had fought to end, but he had a hard time bearing the thought of what it would do to his family.
Around the time he about finished with those thoughts, Charles had a visitor. Sidney Carton, remember, they both looked insanely similar, showed up, started ordering Charles to switch clothes with him, and, when Charles protested, chloroformed him, so that he could take his place at the guillotine for Lucie's sake. Unfortunately, something incredibly bizarre that no one could possibly have begun to wrap their heads around happened next and Charles was transported to the Tranquility, where he'll be waking up completely and utterly confused.
Welcome to the Future? Sorry your far far better thing got wrecked there, Carton!
Personality:
To start out, let's look at a few appropriate lyrics that work well to establish Charles, shall we?
BARSAD:
There's a Marquis quite grand, with a nephew he can't stand, so good-hearted any normal chap would hate him
CARTON:
Why should you treat the man like that?
Just because he's better than you?
He can't help it.
Those lyrics tend to start out establishing one of the main facets of Charles' character. Because he serves as a foil to the drunken, cynical Sydney Carton, Charles naturally is something of his opposite and is, in contrast to the other members of his aristocratic family, a good person, and a decent one, who seems to strive to help others and definitely shows concern for them on many occasions.
Take, in point, a scene near the beginning of the show. Carton has just won Charles's first trial, securing his freedom and innocence, and insists on dragging him out to the pub to celebrate. As Carton informs a shocked Charles that the pub is basically his second home, Charles wonders, out loud, if this is any sort of life for him, expressing concern for a man that he barely knows, and has, really, just met for the first time.
Charles also goes on to become very angry when a drunken Carton makes seeming advances on Lucie Manette, a friend from his first voyage to England, when he helped her care for her ailing father, Dr Manette, stating that he "Won't have the young lady spoken of in such a manner". He is rather firm about this, while still remaining perfectly polite, choosing to stalk out of said pub instead of hitting Carton or throwing something at him, which he probably deserves, prompting Carton's Reflection, where he thinks about the fact that Charles is better at being a human being because of him.
Another facet of Charles's personality can be seen in his past. When he is able to understand the crimes of his aristocratic father and uncle, and the abuses they have heaped upon the poor of France, including the relatives of Madame duFarge, he chooses to leave France, and begin a new life, renouncing his fortune, to begin again as a simple French tutor.
Admittedly, it can be argued that he's run away from his family rather than taking more of a stand in France, but it is a dignified enough way for Charles to clearly point out that he does NOT want any part in anything his family has done, and that he is done with all of them and simply wants a chance to begin life over on his own terms. While he seem to sympathize with the poor, it is not exactly the sort of thing that'll help him much.
If he had really stayed and tried to fight against his enormously powerful family, what chance would Charles have really had? Not exactly a good one considering that after his return to France in 1780, his uncle the Marquis has him framed for treason (which, given his emigre status in England, means that he can be held, and tried for such a thing, in particular, of betraying England by reporting troop numbers to the Americans, in the middle of the American revolution)the moment he gets back to England, literally the moment he steps off the boat. So in a sense, his choice to leave is really fairly pragmatic and about the best one he could make under the circumstances.
Later on throughout the musical, Charles is seen falling in love with Lucie, who he is extremely nervous around and spends the space of a few years tiptoeing around it before asking her to marry him, showing that he is a bit shy with women and betraying his in-experience with them. Again, this is something that is a bit odd in an aristocratic young man of his age, and points to his moral compass. While his family could have bought him any prostitute in Paris, or his name could have allowed him to compell whoever he wanted into bed, it does not seem likely that he would be SO shy of Lucie, for so many years, if that had happened. This, and his stated hatred for the family he has denounced suggests that he has not followed their ways, being too honorable to do so. He is also honorable enough to offer his father in law the truth of his heritage well before his marriage, though Doctor Manette will not have him speak of that until the morning of the wedding itself. The point is that he wanted to.
Perhaps most importantly, Charles demonstrates nobility when he is approached by a letter from an old servant and friend of the Evremonde family who is searching for the Marquis (now Charles), and is in need of his aid. Instead of hiding behind his new life and staying comfortably in England, Charles makes the journey back to Paris, hoping to right the wrongs of his family. He acts with a great deal of naivety in this, as well, considering that the French Revolution is happening around him, but when he sees a friend in need, he cannot stop to consider whether or not this is practical or sane, and when he sees a chance to begin writing his wrongs, he certainly wishes to change it, seemingly because it is the right thing to do, as opposed to simply wishing to change the opinion of a family who has been proved irrelevant to France, and entering the very dangerous streets of Paris on a matter of conviction alone.
Overall, Charles's nobility, determination to make up for the past, and naive, almost too trusting qualities lead him into a lot of trouble, but he possess, and could use all of these abilities for good if they are harnessed appropriately.
Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations:
Charles is a standard human, if a noble one, and has no special abilities as such beyond being well educated for a frenchman of his day. He will likely face disadvantages when it comes to the technology he is not used to dealing with. His tendency to naivity can, also, cause all sorts of problems, given enough time.
Inventory: Honestly? Charles isn't arriving with very much. He'll be showing up with his shirt, breeches and shoes, which smell like prison, considering he's been hanging out in there a while, and Sydney Carton's battered coat and hat. That probably smell like ancient whiskey no less. Yeah. He's going to love being half dressed and filthy in front of women. Not quite as bad as being naked in front of them when he shows up at first but this is the kind of thing that would seriously bother him.
Appearance: Honestly, all that novel canon has to say about it is that he and Sydney Carton resemble each other a great deal, and musical canon tends to relegate that to the two men having similar hair color and height, with Charles dressed in finer, better fitting clothing that he takes better care of than Carton tends to take of his clothes. Charles generally pays more attention to his appearance as a whole.
He'd never step out in public less than perfectly dressed, with his hair properly groomed, his cravat nicely tied, and his clothing clean and well pressed. So, generally, he has the appearance of someone who takes great pride in his appearance in public. Charles comes from an aristocratic family, and, while he has denounced his title, he certainly has a bit of money he's inherited, and it shows in his clothing. He also has a bearing that suggests aristocrat, as much as he has denounced his past, and tends to carry himself like a gentleman.
Based on the show itself, he seems especially fond of brocades and tends to look really good in gold and blue. He has dark hair that he wears brushed back into a low queue and he has brown eyes, and high cheekbones and is quite pretty.
I'll be using Simon Thomas, who played him in the PBS concert special. Sadly, he doesn't look very much like James Barbour as Carton but I suppose if it's dark in jail and you're squinting and just looking for a head to chop off, and the guys are the same height it doesn't matter THAT much, really. That and there are like no pics of Aaron Lazar in the role, who at least was closer physically to Barbour.
Have a pic?
[Uh, he's the one getting hauled off there looking terrified, yeah. Not that I blame him.]
Age: 36
AU Clarification: N/A
S A M P L E S
Log Sample:
The tube retreated as the glass walls did the same, and Charles Darnay found himself sprawled on his knees before his mind had any moment to consider what was going on. His first thought, as ridiculous as it was, was that he had been wearing a cravat in prison, during his final moments of consciousness. When Carton had swapped clothes with him, he had not bothered ripping it off. His second was that the cravat, along with all his clothing, and the coat and hat Carton had shoved at him were gone, and his third was how bright it was and how much his head ached.
As Charles tried to focus, he recalled the scent filling his cell, the cloth shoved at his mouth, Carton's insistence he obey him in everything and frowned, fully opening his eyes to stare around him at a mass of bodies, many in a state just like his own, dripping with the blue goo that had been trapped around him in the canister, as naked as he was, some seeming as confused as he was now.
In many ways, but for that brightness, and the fact that there were women there, it might have been just one more day in La Force; he had seen men left naked there before, and feared the day it would be him, huddled somewhere, but that had never come. This was too bright to be either his cell there, or the one they'd moved him to await execution, where Carton had come to him and... Had he been killed then, in La Conciergerie, with the lawyer attempting to spare him the indignity of the guillotine itself, or spare the deFarges and Jacobins the satisfaction of seeing the last Evremonde's head be firmly separated from his...
No. No certainly, not the last, and Charles jerked up, long before he was ready to, swaying on his feet as he scanned the crowd of others waking here. That look in the Madame's eyes as he had been condemned, and in her husband's as he'd been dragged to his new cell had said it all. She would not stop with him, and how could he have trusted Carton if the man had wasted time for matters of his comfort, when there were other, more important ones at hand.
"LUCIE!" He shouted, and the words, coming out of a throat rubbed very raw, by whatever that thing shoved back in it had been, came out more roughly than he'd hoped for as he looked for either of his Lucies, his beautiful wife, with her bright hair, or her miniature, praying neither of them would be here.
"Please can someone...I do not mind dying." He added, the accent he had tried to downplay rising in a time of such great need as this. "But someone here might tell me, confirm, that they have not been killed as well? My family..." Carton himself, prompted a little voice inside his head, and he was forced to add him to the questioning. "My...friend? Can it be found out if they are here or they still live? Is there much hope for them?"
Was there much hope for any of them now? As the room continued to spin, and his head continued to ache, he scanned the crowd, heart beating faster as he lost control of English, and the aristocratic accent he had worked to hide much of his life not only came out, but did so full force.
He did not mind being alone here, in this world after death, but God, please God, let no one else he had known join him here.
Comms Sample:
[All right. Well. He has somehow made it through the process of being shuffled along to gather his clothes, which smell like prison, and Carton's, which smell like whiskey, and Charles is hardly sure which is worse, though he takes a certain perverse comfort in the latter, or he would if he had some idea of what was really going on. When the feed opens, he is starring into it, taking a few moments to gather his thoughts. He realizes it is on, but...as far as what to say...The expression in his eyes is particularly shell shocked at first, and he is ducking his head after about a minute of this.]
I...forgive me. We have nothing like this where I am from, and men have never even heard of... I'm certain I'll adjust in time if all of you will just bear with me as I...
[Charles is pausing again, appears to be considering what to say, and then laughs, trying his best to be friendly, and to put a brave face on things.]
Well! In other situations like this, I found myself quite alone. It's been a while since I've been around people and I think I'm out of practice. If this ship IS to be my new home, and all of you my new neighbors, I suppose we ought to get to know each other.
[Here is a moment Charles has not considered before. The matter of his name and which to use now. Does he invoke his family's sins and own them, and what's happened to him? Does he lie? Cease to make things an issue?
Among the Frenchmen here, it's hard to say how one Marquis who wanted to escape it ought to fare, and it's been some time since he has even remotely liked him, but is it lying to conceal the truth? Well, no more lying than he's done before at any rate, and his tentative smile grows a little as he looks straight into the camera, taking a deep breath.]
My name is Charles Darnay. Is there somewhere less awkward we might meet in person?
Your Name: Sar
OOC Journal:
fisher_queenUnder 18? If yes, what is your age?: hahahah far from that.
Email + IM: aislin.cross@gmail.com, AIM: maidrostall plurk: combeferret
Characters Played at Ataraxion: Combeferre
but_civilization C H A R A C T E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Name: Charles Darnay/Evremonde
Canon: A Tale Of Two Cities Musical
Original or Alternate Universe: Original Universe
Canon Point: Post Rescue from La Conciergerie Prison. Like literally. He'll have JUST been chloroformed by his supposed friend. Sydney Carton's far far better thing turns out kinda fucked up here, considering Lucie's pretty much just screwed at this point.
Number:RNG
Setting:
Musical: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities_(musical)#Plot
Novel(Same story, more detailed): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities
History:
(A Tale of Two Cities takes place during the American and French revolutions, and the French one is of particular importance when it comes to understanding Charles's story and what happens to him. More information on the French Revolution's Reign of Terror that directly affects Charles can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror )
Charles Darnay was born Charles Evremonde, and grew up an aristocratic, rich son, who was expected to take over his family's fortunes and position in Paris someday. However, watching his father and uncle, along with the other aristocrats in Paris, and seeing the way that all of them treated the poor infuriated Charles, who, unlike the other members of his family actually had a heart, despite being a bit spoiled by his upbringing.
It can be surmised that Charles had experienced a good deal of his family's behavior by the time he was a young man, and it was certainly horrible enough that not only did he not wish to take part in it, he also wished to essentially divorce himself from his family, and the life of an aristocrat in France entirely. It was this desire that caused Charles to discard his family name, taking his mother's maiden name of D'Aulnais, anglicizing that to Darnay, and setting off for England to create a new life around 1775.
On the voyage to England, Charles met Lucie Manette and helped her to care for her ailing father, Dr. Mannette, who had just been 'recalled to life' after spending eighteen years of his life imprisoned in the Bastille. The novel surmises that they spent the voyage getting to know each other and doing a bit of flirting, though both of them went on to their lives, for the most part, once they had reached England.
Charles had quite a lot to do in those five years, settling in as an emigre, establishing himself as a french tutor, and, apparently, on at least one occasion, traveling back to France to visit his family, God knows WHY, but headcanon suggests that this may have happened upon his father's death. By 1780, at any rate, his uncle was his only relative left alive, and upon his return to England from a visit with him, Charles was charged with treason against the English crown, specifically of passing information on troop movements to the Americans. In the midst of the American revolution. This was, naturally, a trumped up charge, mostly orchestrated by his uncle the Marquis, who had always hated Charles, well, since he'd gotten old enough to have opinions about Things, and seeing a chance to get him out of the way, attempted to frame him.
Lucie and Charles's paths crossed again as Charles was tried for treason, and she was asked to speak about his behavior on the passage from England. This is also where Charles and Lucie both met Sydney Carton, the assistant to the barrister assigned to defend Charles. Oddly, most of this trial for treason stemmed from the fact that Charles was French.
Equally oddly, Charles and Carton looked alike. They looked a lot alike. They looked so much alike in fact, that the one witness standing between Charles and freedom mistook Carton for Charles in court, prompting the jury to declare Charles innocent and free to go on with his life.
Charles was pleased to do this, for the most part, throwing himself into spending more time with Lucie now that their paths had crossed again. Unfortunately for him, Sydney Carton had also taken an interest in Lucie, and started hanging around as well. At first, Carton attempted to make friends with Charles on the basis of 'if he likes me, he'll put in a good word for me'. Which did not, actually work out that well, as Lucie fell for the less drunken, proper, more refined specimen of masculinity that Charles presented.
Charles began courting Lucie and had plans to propose when he received a letter from home containing a horrible secret. His father and uncle were the ones responsible for putting Dr. Mannette in the Bastille all those years ago. Before he asked Lucie to marry him, Charles tried to tell Dr. Mannette the truth about who he was, realizing that using the version of his mother's name had lead him to deceive both of them about who he really was. Dr. Mannette, knowing how much they were in love, refused to listen to Charles's admission of his identity until the day of the wedding itself, and everything went along well for a while. The Darnays had a daughter, Little Lucie, and Carton essentially became a member of the family, because that's not at all being a creeper, or something. Charles put up with this because his wife and daughter adored the man, and seemingly tried to be friendly with the lawyer who he really, really, did not understand.
Everything was peaceful for a number of years until Charles received a note from Paris. Essentially, his uncle had been murdered for being his asshole self and someone finally got sick of it, his uncle's steward, Gabelle, was now in huge trouble for basically doing the man's bidding all these years, and somebody had to come and fix all of this. Somebody meaning the new Marquis, who was already regarded as a coward for having fled France in the first place. And by fixing, he essentially meant taking control of the lands in France.
Considering that the French Revolution is a thing, this was a really, really stupid thing to do, but Charles felt honor bound to return to Paris and try to make things right. Unfortunately, it was about late 1791-early 1792 when he arrived, and he almost immediately was thrown into La Force prison under the Decree of 17 December 1791. Essentially this decree meant that aristocrats and those who did not sympathize with Republican ideals should have gotten the hell out of France by now and faced death by staying.
For someone from a family as well known as Charles had? Yeah, he pretty much got off the boat and out of his carriage and dragged to prison for being an aristocrat. And he got to hang around there for a year and three months, until Lucie, Carton and Dr. Manette arrived in Paris to try to secure his release.
Charles was tried for the first time in France, and Dr. Manette's influence got him off of those charges but, almost immediately after they were dropped? he managed to get arrested again, most likely under the Law Of Suspects, which essentially ordered the arrest and condemnation of all found to have acted against the French republic, or to have been a tyrant in the years before.
In his new trial, essentially given the day AFTER his arrest, because of how high profile Charles was, and the Evremonde family's crimes were, three people speak against him. The deFarges, revolutionary leaders, and, shockingly, his father in law. Dr. Manette had left a written testimony in the walls of the Bastille,speaking of a rape and double murder that he witnessed. One comitted by Charles's father and uncle. The testimony condemned ALL Evremondes, and their descendants, meaning that Charles COULD be tried, and found guilty for his family's crimes, which happened in relatively short order, as he was packed off to Le Conciergerie prison to face its guillotine the very next day.
That night, in prison, awaiting his execution, Charles's thoughts were with his family, especially with his daughter, while he prayed not for himself, but for her not to become scarred and bitter by losing him in this way. He could accept that death for himself and was prepared to face judgement for the crimes he had had no part in, and had fought to end, but he had a hard time bearing the thought of what it would do to his family.
Around the time he about finished with those thoughts, Charles had a visitor. Sidney Carton, remember, they both looked insanely similar, showed up, started ordering Charles to switch clothes with him, and, when Charles protested, chloroformed him, so that he could take his place at the guillotine for Lucie's sake. Unfortunately, something incredibly bizarre that no one could possibly have begun to wrap their heads around happened next and Charles was transported to the Tranquility, where he'll be waking up completely and utterly confused.
Welcome to the Future? Sorry your far far better thing got wrecked there, Carton!
Personality:
To start out, let's look at a few appropriate lyrics that work well to establish Charles, shall we?
BARSAD:
There's a Marquis quite grand, with a nephew he can't stand, so good-hearted any normal chap would hate him
CARTON:
Why should you treat the man like that?
Just because he's better than you?
He can't help it.
Those lyrics tend to start out establishing one of the main facets of Charles' character. Because he serves as a foil to the drunken, cynical Sydney Carton, Charles naturally is something of his opposite and is, in contrast to the other members of his aristocratic family, a good person, and a decent one, who seems to strive to help others and definitely shows concern for them on many occasions.
Take, in point, a scene near the beginning of the show. Carton has just won Charles's first trial, securing his freedom and innocence, and insists on dragging him out to the pub to celebrate. As Carton informs a shocked Charles that the pub is basically his second home, Charles wonders, out loud, if this is any sort of life for him, expressing concern for a man that he barely knows, and has, really, just met for the first time.
Charles also goes on to become very angry when a drunken Carton makes seeming advances on Lucie Manette, a friend from his first voyage to England, when he helped her care for her ailing father, Dr Manette, stating that he "Won't have the young lady spoken of in such a manner". He is rather firm about this, while still remaining perfectly polite, choosing to stalk out of said pub instead of hitting Carton or throwing something at him, which he probably deserves, prompting Carton's Reflection, where he thinks about the fact that Charles is better at being a human being because of him.
Another facet of Charles's personality can be seen in his past. When he is able to understand the crimes of his aristocratic father and uncle, and the abuses they have heaped upon the poor of France, including the relatives of Madame duFarge, he chooses to leave France, and begin a new life, renouncing his fortune, to begin again as a simple French tutor.
Admittedly, it can be argued that he's run away from his family rather than taking more of a stand in France, but it is a dignified enough way for Charles to clearly point out that he does NOT want any part in anything his family has done, and that he is done with all of them and simply wants a chance to begin life over on his own terms. While he seem to sympathize with the poor, it is not exactly the sort of thing that'll help him much.
If he had really stayed and tried to fight against his enormously powerful family, what chance would Charles have really had? Not exactly a good one considering that after his return to France in 1780, his uncle the Marquis has him framed for treason (which, given his emigre status in England, means that he can be held, and tried for such a thing, in particular, of betraying England by reporting troop numbers to the Americans, in the middle of the American revolution)the moment he gets back to England, literally the moment he steps off the boat. So in a sense, his choice to leave is really fairly pragmatic and about the best one he could make under the circumstances.
Later on throughout the musical, Charles is seen falling in love with Lucie, who he is extremely nervous around and spends the space of a few years tiptoeing around it before asking her to marry him, showing that he is a bit shy with women and betraying his in-experience with them. Again, this is something that is a bit odd in an aristocratic young man of his age, and points to his moral compass. While his family could have bought him any prostitute in Paris, or his name could have allowed him to compell whoever he wanted into bed, it does not seem likely that he would be SO shy of Lucie, for so many years, if that had happened. This, and his stated hatred for the family he has denounced suggests that he has not followed their ways, being too honorable to do so. He is also honorable enough to offer his father in law the truth of his heritage well before his marriage, though Doctor Manette will not have him speak of that until the morning of the wedding itself. The point is that he wanted to.
Perhaps most importantly, Charles demonstrates nobility when he is approached by a letter from an old servant and friend of the Evremonde family who is searching for the Marquis (now Charles), and is in need of his aid. Instead of hiding behind his new life and staying comfortably in England, Charles makes the journey back to Paris, hoping to right the wrongs of his family. He acts with a great deal of naivety in this, as well, considering that the French Revolution is happening around him, but when he sees a friend in need, he cannot stop to consider whether or not this is practical or sane, and when he sees a chance to begin writing his wrongs, he certainly wishes to change it, seemingly because it is the right thing to do, as opposed to simply wishing to change the opinion of a family who has been proved irrelevant to France, and entering the very dangerous streets of Paris on a matter of conviction alone.
Overall, Charles's nobility, determination to make up for the past, and naive, almost too trusting qualities lead him into a lot of trouble, but he possess, and could use all of these abilities for good if they are harnessed appropriately.
Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations:
Charles is a standard human, if a noble one, and has no special abilities as such beyond being well educated for a frenchman of his day. He will likely face disadvantages when it comes to the technology he is not used to dealing with. His tendency to naivity can, also, cause all sorts of problems, given enough time.
Inventory: Honestly? Charles isn't arriving with very much. He'll be showing up with his shirt, breeches and shoes, which smell like prison, considering he's been hanging out in there a while, and Sydney Carton's battered coat and hat. That probably smell like ancient whiskey no less. Yeah. He's going to love being half dressed and filthy in front of women. Not quite as bad as being naked in front of them when he shows up at first but this is the kind of thing that would seriously bother him.
Appearance: Honestly, all that novel canon has to say about it is that he and Sydney Carton resemble each other a great deal, and musical canon tends to relegate that to the two men having similar hair color and height, with Charles dressed in finer, better fitting clothing that he takes better care of than Carton tends to take of his clothes. Charles generally pays more attention to his appearance as a whole.
He'd never step out in public less than perfectly dressed, with his hair properly groomed, his cravat nicely tied, and his clothing clean and well pressed. So, generally, he has the appearance of someone who takes great pride in his appearance in public. Charles comes from an aristocratic family, and, while he has denounced his title, he certainly has a bit of money he's inherited, and it shows in his clothing. He also has a bearing that suggests aristocrat, as much as he has denounced his past, and tends to carry himself like a gentleman.
Based on the show itself, he seems especially fond of brocades and tends to look really good in gold and blue. He has dark hair that he wears brushed back into a low queue and he has brown eyes, and high cheekbones and is quite pretty.
I'll be using Simon Thomas, who played him in the PBS concert special. Sadly, he doesn't look very much like James Barbour as Carton but I suppose if it's dark in jail and you're squinting and just looking for a head to chop off, and the guys are the same height it doesn't matter THAT much, really. That and there are like no pics of Aaron Lazar in the role, who at least was closer physically to Barbour.
Have a pic?
[Uh, he's the one getting hauled off there looking terrified, yeah. Not that I blame him.]
Age: 36
AU Clarification: N/A
S A M P L E S
Log Sample:
The tube retreated as the glass walls did the same, and Charles Darnay found himself sprawled on his knees before his mind had any moment to consider what was going on. His first thought, as ridiculous as it was, was that he had been wearing a cravat in prison, during his final moments of consciousness. When Carton had swapped clothes with him, he had not bothered ripping it off. His second was that the cravat, along with all his clothing, and the coat and hat Carton had shoved at him were gone, and his third was how bright it was and how much his head ached.
As Charles tried to focus, he recalled the scent filling his cell, the cloth shoved at his mouth, Carton's insistence he obey him in everything and frowned, fully opening his eyes to stare around him at a mass of bodies, many in a state just like his own, dripping with the blue goo that had been trapped around him in the canister, as naked as he was, some seeming as confused as he was now.
In many ways, but for that brightness, and the fact that there were women there, it might have been just one more day in La Force; he had seen men left naked there before, and feared the day it would be him, huddled somewhere, but that had never come. This was too bright to be either his cell there, or the one they'd moved him to await execution, where Carton had come to him and... Had he been killed then, in La Conciergerie, with the lawyer attempting to spare him the indignity of the guillotine itself, or spare the deFarges and Jacobins the satisfaction of seeing the last Evremonde's head be firmly separated from his...
No. No certainly, not the last, and Charles jerked up, long before he was ready to, swaying on his feet as he scanned the crowd of others waking here. That look in the Madame's eyes as he had been condemned, and in her husband's as he'd been dragged to his new cell had said it all. She would not stop with him, and how could he have trusted Carton if the man had wasted time for matters of his comfort, when there were other, more important ones at hand.
"LUCIE!" He shouted, and the words, coming out of a throat rubbed very raw, by whatever that thing shoved back in it had been, came out more roughly than he'd hoped for as he looked for either of his Lucies, his beautiful wife, with her bright hair, or her miniature, praying neither of them would be here.
"Please can someone...I do not mind dying." He added, the accent he had tried to downplay rising in a time of such great need as this. "But someone here might tell me, confirm, that they have not been killed as well? My family..." Carton himself, prompted a little voice inside his head, and he was forced to add him to the questioning. "My...friend? Can it be found out if they are here or they still live? Is there much hope for them?"
Was there much hope for any of them now? As the room continued to spin, and his head continued to ache, he scanned the crowd, heart beating faster as he lost control of English, and the aristocratic accent he had worked to hide much of his life not only came out, but did so full force.
He did not mind being alone here, in this world after death, but God, please God, let no one else he had known join him here.
Comms Sample:
[All right. Well. He has somehow made it through the process of being shuffled along to gather his clothes, which smell like prison, and Carton's, which smell like whiskey, and Charles is hardly sure which is worse, though he takes a certain perverse comfort in the latter, or he would if he had some idea of what was really going on. When the feed opens, he is starring into it, taking a few moments to gather his thoughts. He realizes it is on, but...as far as what to say...The expression in his eyes is particularly shell shocked at first, and he is ducking his head after about a minute of this.]
I...forgive me. We have nothing like this where I am from, and men have never even heard of... I'm certain I'll adjust in time if all of you will just bear with me as I...
[Charles is pausing again, appears to be considering what to say, and then laughs, trying his best to be friendly, and to put a brave face on things.]
Well! In other situations like this, I found myself quite alone. It's been a while since I've been around people and I think I'm out of practice. If this ship IS to be my new home, and all of you my new neighbors, I suppose we ought to get to know each other.
[Here is a moment Charles has not considered before. The matter of his name and which to use now. Does he invoke his family's sins and own them, and what's happened to him? Does he lie? Cease to make things an issue?
Among the Frenchmen here, it's hard to say how one Marquis who wanted to escape it ought to fare, and it's been some time since he has even remotely liked him, but is it lying to conceal the truth? Well, no more lying than he's done before at any rate, and his tentative smile grows a little as he looks straight into the camera, taking a deep breath.]
My name is Charles Darnay. Is there somewhere less awkward we might meet in person?
