Random Thoughts on Methos & Tony

[ithildin]

Pondering the dynamics for fic, and reading all the awesome discussion going on at amonitrate's. So some random thoughts, sort of 'thinking out loud'.

I think Tony is Charlotte's Byron. Obviously it's not totally analogous, but I think there are some definite similarities between her relationship with Tony and Methos' with Byron. Tony is called 'the De Vinci of our age'. He's a 'rock star' even before he becomes Iron Man. A genius with questionable morals. Despite his failings, the people who love him do so despite his shortcomings.

I think Methos will realize that Tony reminds Charlotte of Jack Sparrow, her late husband. I think there are similarities between the two characters, don't know about anyone else [g]

Being close to Tony paints a big target on the backs of people close to him now he's publicly known as Iron Man.

Methos would have been happier with the old Tony, not the new one with a mission to save the world. Men like that get people killed, and he doesn't want Charlotte to be one of those people.

Tony and Methos. Two incredibly strong personalities, intelligent, don't always play well with others or share well. And the snark... Gah!

Comments

[rodlox.livejournal.com]

"what say you?" what say I? I say I say I say, I say you've hit all the nails on all their heads.

I think that, as much as Methos doesn't like being near people with targets on their backs*, he equally-so doesn't like Charlotte being at that level of risk either.

* = of course, the Old Man's also said "how many people have stood on the same stage as Julius Caesar and the Rolling Stones?"
so, either he was a bit more outgoing at those points in his life, or he stepped into the limelight to protect someone else from said limelight.

does that make sense?

ps: just recalled the "angry adolescence" line...think he'll congratulate Stark on growing up? :D

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

[nods] I'm sure one of his arguments is going to be the very public aspect of what she's planning, and yet, he didn't seem to have any objections to Byron's very public profile. And we know Claudia Jardine is quite famous as well. So it's not unusual for immies to have public profiles in the modern world. But I think it's something of a case of 'do as I say, not as I do' [g] It's always different when it hits close to home.

[rodlox.livejournal.com]

:)

>yet, he didn't seem to have any objections to Byron's very public profile.
my Methos muse says,
"Number one - yes, he was incredably charismatic; that didn't make Byron any less of an idiot. Number two - Byron should be an object lesson in What Not To Do."

actually, he had several objections to Byron..."you're not listening, I don't want a tombstone" being one of them.

but yeah, "not as I do" indeed.

and of course its different when it hits close to home - he likes Charlotte a lot more than he liked Byron, for one thing.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

But those objections weren't about his being famous. They were about everything else [g]

[amonitrate.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, I think Stark is going through his angry adolescence right now. I think he was a child before Afghanistan.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree with that.

[rodlox.livejournal.com]

hm...so, if he's still in his angry adolescence right now, does that mean that he's at the same emotional level as Kronos?

[amonitrate.livejournal.com]

well, no. not quite that angry.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Heh.

He's definitely at a crossroads. And there's a fine line between helping the helpless and vigilantism. As angry as he is, it wouldn't take much to push him across the line.

[amonitrate.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd say he's pretty much over the line, by definition. He just doesn't see anything wrong with it, because clearly no one else is taking care of it.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

It sort of reminds me of Forever Knight and Nick in some ways. Let's see how many fandoms I can drag into this discussion [g]

[dejla.livejournal.com]

That makes a lot of sense. People change or they don't. He's never had to look at himself and at life before--he was the golden boy, more interested in what he wanted to do at the moment than in anything else.

And then he got a shock. He got the life-changing shock, and it changed him.

Kronos never got the shock. He never stopped living in what the past had been like. He didn't change.

[dejla.livejournal.com]

And the same with Byron--Byron never got to the point where he changed. He stayed the same. Methos didn't.

I can't tell, exactly, whether Cassandra was the shock or whether she was the last straw--but at that point, Methos wanted to change.

And, after all, the psychiatrist can't change the light bulb unless the lightbulb really wants to be changed.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

And of course, he's mortal, so if he's going to change, he needs to do it a far more speedy fashion..

[dejla.livejournal.com]

Very true. Immortals have a longer grace period, but I think that it's possible that character could become a habit--like an old record, where the needle wears the groove deeper and deeper, or like a river cutting the Grand Canyon. There might be a point where an Immortal would find it nearly impossible to change, even if he wanted to. That might be Methos' worry about Duncan, that Duncan might get trapped into his habits and not be able to survive because he hasn't changed.

Going back to Tony--he's still going through the life-shocks, of course. First his capture, his near-death and his dependence on a machine for his life (which he gets reminded of more than once), and then the betrayal of a man who was probably like a beloved uncle. As well as the realization that he is alone, except for Pepper, and he nearly kills her because of his attempts to atone for his mistakes.

He's on the wildest roller coaster he's ever been on, and he can't get off. No wonder he didn't stick to the script. This is the one thing he's done so far that he is really honestly proud of, after having been ashamed of his previous acts.

And of course there has to be an element in there of 'why me'. Why did he survive and not Yinsen--why did this happen to him and make him have to look at himself. He was pretty happy with himself before and now all that happiness is shattered. But he's Tony Stark and he can't let people in public see that he's shattered.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Very well put. There's definitely a healthy dose of survivor's guilt going on. And I doubt he's sleeping well, so throws himself into building and creating as a shield from having to think about what happened.

[dejla.livejournal.com]

Yep. And when he gets to the point where he feels like sex--there's the thing in his chest. That would cause a lot of difficulties--unless he can figure a way of brushing it off.

I'm going to have to figure out how that works with Bruce, it occurs to me...

[dejla.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. Sounds like you've got the nail on the head there.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I've been doing lots of mulling :)

[dejla.livejournal.com]

And very good mulling, it is, too.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Heh. I never feel very good at the whole meta thing, so thanks :)