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lastvoyages
Jan. 27th, 2013 10:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fancy_pantsUser Name/Nick: Rei
User DW:
AIM/IM: SchmooeyFoo, Plurk is ImpureTale
E-mail: jacqui.larson84@gmail.com
Other Characters: The Marquis de Sade, Mozenrath, Top Dollar, Rumpelstiltskin
Character Name: Dr. King Schultz
Series: Django Unchained
Age: 50
From When?: After his death in the film.
Inmate/Warden: Warden - Schultz, while having certain moral failings, tends to have more good to outweigh the bad. His success will be in his willingness to do good out of what he views as a spiritual obligation. It's a debt that he doesn't believe he will ever repay, but this is not reason enough for him to quit. When he's there, he's there for the long haul.
Item: It appears to be a pocket watch, but when it needs to tell him something the hands will point in certain directions, or pictures will appear in the cover opposite the clock face, or the engraving on the outside will change.
Abilities/Powers: He is a doctor, worked for a time as a dentist and presumably received schooling in his home country. His skills in those areas would reflect the limitations of his time, however. He is also a skilled marksman and remarkably quick for a man his age.
Personality: The doctor's gift of gab is probably his most notable quality. He is a man who knows the truth behind the "catching flies with honey" philosophy, and for this reason and several others, he is exceptionally talkative. Despite that English is not his first language (nor his second, likely), he is given to extreme verbosity. Part of this is a disarming mechanism -- when he speaks, people are given to listen, though persons of limited intellectual weight have labeled him something of a "fancy pants" because of this, and it is easy for persons such as that to quickly become frustrated with his banter. It has gotten him out of several scrapes and usually grants him the opportunity to get the drop on someone. He's also a fine negotiator, catching many tiny details most people miss and not easily outwitted. Beyond even his need to use this skill for business, he's talkative because he's a lonely person and engages people, even a single person, to break the silence and solitude. Until his alliance with Django, he did not travel often with company, and so he uses conversation as a way to get as much as he can from each little encounter. He is often observed as delighted to have someone to talk to and amenable whether company is prolonged or ways are parted.
His generally amiable nature conceals his ability and willingness to kill in the blink of an eye, often without batting an eyelash, though this is mostly seen in the context of his job as a bounty hunter. When it comes to said work, Schultz only takes bounties with a Dead or Alive status, because he is confident that if he kills a target he will get his bounty, whereas taking them alive (when they're likely to be executed anyway) invites far too many potential complications. His preference is to approach his prey under a guise of some sort, preferring not to even leave them thinking he's pursuing them. His general appearance as a dentist and a gentleman, with his trained horse and his dentist's cart (with that ridiculous bouncing tooth on top), tends to disarm many. He is the picture of harmlessness, a relatively well-off foreigner who comes off as generally ignorant of the harsher realities of the frontier, and this kind of cunning is what he prefers to employ. One can imagine he put these methods to work even when he worked as a dentist: his casual, friendly manner and quick, unpredictable hand completing his tasks with all the efficiency of tearing away a band-aid (if such a thing were to have existed back then), earning him the reputation of being the most "painless" of dentists, as advertised on the side of his cart.
Schultz is also the kind of person who, even in his work, would sooner come to harm, himself, than risk being impolite...with few, if any, exceptions. Even people that threaten him are given a chance to change their minds before he will defend himself, and when he does he skirts the line between "efficiency" and "going too far." In the film we are shown very few instances where he will ignore or outright reject manners or local custom or convention, and those are in instances where the individual that demands them offends him beyond reason. Even then, he does not resort to vulgarity and (until he outright kills someone) only removes himself from manner and convention so far that it preserves his personal space. The only time he outright snaps at anyone is in a moment of extreme emotional upheaval, and afterward he is visibly embarrassed by his response, and as politeness would dictate, he removes himself to collect his wits.
It is perhaps appropriate to identify Schultz as something of a romantic. He is moved to help Django to find and rescue his wife, Broomhilde, because of her name seeing it as his duty as a German to help a real life Sigfried to complete his quest. He likes the idea of serendipity, things happening when they are meant to happen, because with all of the terrible things he sees in the world, it helps to preserve his sense of optimism. This moment in the film is one of several that suggests a strong kinship with his home country and culture -- as a German he has come over at a time when Germany is not yet an independent nation in the way that it is now, and has only in recent years made attempts to form a united confederation of states. Its legitimacy is in its infancy, and Germans in general have much to prove. Schultz finds it important to identify strongly with his roots and to carry those things with him in America.
Killing is, as mentioned before, something that comes with seeming ease. If he holds a warrant for the dead or alive apprehension of a criminal, he has few, if any compunctions when it comes to ending their lives. Some might even assume it is simple for him because a criminal wanted dead or alive generally deserves the price they have on their heads and will give him reason enough to complete his work. His film shows that this is far from simple, as he still displays a willingness to kill a wanted man, even in front of his own children -- possible evidence that this was a man reformed. When there is a reward on the line he seems to be able to allow himself not to ask hard questions. There's some paradox in his character in that, while Django calls this behavior "getting dirty" for the sake of the job, he is at first unable to tolerate it when Django similarly "gets dirty" in order to play his role as a black slaver convincingly, and afterward he only quietly disapproves, which perhaps reveals him to be too soft-hearted to antagonist Calvin Candie. It is safe to assume that he began to confront this duplicity on his part toward the end of the film and this may be an issue he struggles with while on the Barge.
That said, despite his willingness to kill with a warrant in his hand, his more ethical side is shown in how much he openly detests the notion of slavery and feels guilty to have been compelled to take advantage of it in order to acquire Django, the only person he could find who could identify a set of targets he pursued. His dislike of the institution as a whole nearly blows their cover on numerous occasions. When he should have been playing the role of a rich man looking to get into Mandingo fighting, he displayed more than once a general hesitance, if not inability, to cope with the "sport"'s violent nature -- he feels guilty that his refusal to break character led to the death of a man he could have and very nearly saved. Most people that catch him in a more melancholy mood may read him for a penitent man, but not bitter. He genuinely believes there are things he should attempt to atone for, not because he deserves it but because the people that he has wronged deserve his effort. On the other hand, he may not be quick to trust that genuinely evil people can be saved, but he wants to be a believer. He would welcome reason to believe.
Barge Reactions: On the Barge, Dr. Schultz will have much to marvel at, from the technology to the variety of people. An optimist and again a romantic, seeing so many people there, many of whom are not even human, will surprise, certainly, but he will have little reason to deny that what he sees is real. He is already dead when he comes here and will be mostly all right with that, so the visions before him, while sometimes seemingly impossible, just tell him there are greater wonders in the universe than he could have imagined. He believes Django would have done right and hope things will have gone for the better for him, but he won't know for certain. The floods and breaches will initially be quite startling for him, but he will probably see purpose in them, or choose to take purpose from them. Overall, as he enjoys travel anyhow, he will find the Barge more exciting than frightening or dismal. If he can pass along some of that optimism to an Inmate, all the better.
History: Movie Synopsis at the Wiki
Sample Journal Entry: (Standard "Just got here" entry, another example of his voice can be found at his voice test here)
So very strange to speak into a book and trust that others shall hear me. Nevertheless, I'm not one to allow my own ignorance of new technology to get in the way of good manners. How do you do, fellow travelers? [It's odd to be introducing himself indoors; he doesn't have a hat to remove, and so his fingers just hover near his temple for half a second before he drops his hand entirely.] I am Doctor King Schultz, formerly a dentist by trade, and I will be rambling with you a ways if you should care to have me.
This place leaves me thinking of a tale from my home country, known to many but popularized in the writings of the Brothers Grimm, of a brave knight called Tannhäuser, denied absolution by the Pope for spending a year taking in the sights and the rides on the Mount of one Lady Venus. Shaming the knight, he held a dead branch aloft and declared God would not forgive him his transgressions until leaves sprang from the lifeless object and sent the dejected knight away from him. That very same day, the twig did grow leaves, and the Pope, too late, learned with greater clarity the mercy and forgiveness of God, the lesson to never turn away a sinner repentant. Too late, as I said, for Tannhäuser returned to the mountain believing his evils irreconcilable and there remains until Judgment Day.
I bring this up because it seems to me that he could have, perhaps, used a place such as this. [He shrugs] Or perhaps he has; as I understand it, time can be a little too clever, here. He performed good deeds once before; perhaps he would only require the opportunity to do so again.
Sample RP: The Pub. Schultz removed his hat as he passed inside in a simple, smooth motion, allowing it to rest against his chest. The doors swung shut behind him, obscuring him from that painfully beautiful sky and the cold with it. At this time of night the room was lit brighter than he expected it would be, especially since he saw almost no candles. Progress. Technology. Night time could be day time to the eye in this place, he was certain. And the music -- he heard instruments, the low thrum of a man's voice singing, but he saw no musicians.
He had asked for proof of redemption, but such wonders he had to see as he waited. Rooms far too large to fit in a ship. A ship. Stars that flowed like river water. Now? Proper German beer, he hoped. Someone had mentioned this place was well-stocked, and nearly twenty years from Dusseldorf, if he found himself once again disappointed, he might lose faith in all things. God, redemption, his own existence. Out of sheer dejection.
He was not disappointed, the young lady -- no hair, with fee eyes -- behind the bar seemed to know precisely what he was thirsty for. A sip, enough for the bubbles to tickle his whiskers, for that first spread of warmth in his belly, and all was confirmed. There was a God, while once dead he was now truly alive, and perhaps -- just perhaps, he might see a man redeemed after all.
"Prost," he murmured, holding the mug up to her in toast.
Special Notes:
User DW:
AIM/IM: SchmooeyFoo, Plurk is ImpureTale
E-mail: jacqui.larson84@gmail.com
Other Characters: The Marquis de Sade, Mozenrath, Top Dollar, Rumpelstiltskin
Character Name: Dr. King Schultz
Series: Django Unchained
Age: 50
From When?: After his death in the film.
Inmate/Warden: Warden - Schultz, while having certain moral failings, tends to have more good to outweigh the bad. His success will be in his willingness to do good out of what he views as a spiritual obligation. It's a debt that he doesn't believe he will ever repay, but this is not reason enough for him to quit. When he's there, he's there for the long haul.
Item: It appears to be a pocket watch, but when it needs to tell him something the hands will point in certain directions, or pictures will appear in the cover opposite the clock face, or the engraving on the outside will change.
Abilities/Powers: He is a doctor, worked for a time as a dentist and presumably received schooling in his home country. His skills in those areas would reflect the limitations of his time, however. He is also a skilled marksman and remarkably quick for a man his age.
Personality: The doctor's gift of gab is probably his most notable quality. He is a man who knows the truth behind the "catching flies with honey" philosophy, and for this reason and several others, he is exceptionally talkative. Despite that English is not his first language (nor his second, likely), he is given to extreme verbosity. Part of this is a disarming mechanism -- when he speaks, people are given to listen, though persons of limited intellectual weight have labeled him something of a "fancy pants" because of this, and it is easy for persons such as that to quickly become frustrated with his banter. It has gotten him out of several scrapes and usually grants him the opportunity to get the drop on someone. He's also a fine negotiator, catching many tiny details most people miss and not easily outwitted. Beyond even his need to use this skill for business, he's talkative because he's a lonely person and engages people, even a single person, to break the silence and solitude. Until his alliance with Django, he did not travel often with company, and so he uses conversation as a way to get as much as he can from each little encounter. He is often observed as delighted to have someone to talk to and amenable whether company is prolonged or ways are parted.
His generally amiable nature conceals his ability and willingness to kill in the blink of an eye, often without batting an eyelash, though this is mostly seen in the context of his job as a bounty hunter. When it comes to said work, Schultz only takes bounties with a Dead or Alive status, because he is confident that if he kills a target he will get his bounty, whereas taking them alive (when they're likely to be executed anyway) invites far too many potential complications. His preference is to approach his prey under a guise of some sort, preferring not to even leave them thinking he's pursuing them. His general appearance as a dentist and a gentleman, with his trained horse and his dentist's cart (with that ridiculous bouncing tooth on top), tends to disarm many. He is the picture of harmlessness, a relatively well-off foreigner who comes off as generally ignorant of the harsher realities of the frontier, and this kind of cunning is what he prefers to employ. One can imagine he put these methods to work even when he worked as a dentist: his casual, friendly manner and quick, unpredictable hand completing his tasks with all the efficiency of tearing away a band-aid (if such a thing were to have existed back then), earning him the reputation of being the most "painless" of dentists, as advertised on the side of his cart.
Schultz is also the kind of person who, even in his work, would sooner come to harm, himself, than risk being impolite...with few, if any, exceptions. Even people that threaten him are given a chance to change their minds before he will defend himself, and when he does he skirts the line between "efficiency" and "going too far." In the film we are shown very few instances where he will ignore or outright reject manners or local custom or convention, and those are in instances where the individual that demands them offends him beyond reason. Even then, he does not resort to vulgarity and (until he outright kills someone) only removes himself from manner and convention so far that it preserves his personal space. The only time he outright snaps at anyone is in a moment of extreme emotional upheaval, and afterward he is visibly embarrassed by his response, and as politeness would dictate, he removes himself to collect his wits.
It is perhaps appropriate to identify Schultz as something of a romantic. He is moved to help Django to find and rescue his wife, Broomhilde, because of her name seeing it as his duty as a German to help a real life Sigfried to complete his quest. He likes the idea of serendipity, things happening when they are meant to happen, because with all of the terrible things he sees in the world, it helps to preserve his sense of optimism. This moment in the film is one of several that suggests a strong kinship with his home country and culture -- as a German he has come over at a time when Germany is not yet an independent nation in the way that it is now, and has only in recent years made attempts to form a united confederation of states. Its legitimacy is in its infancy, and Germans in general have much to prove. Schultz finds it important to identify strongly with his roots and to carry those things with him in America.
Killing is, as mentioned before, something that comes with seeming ease. If he holds a warrant for the dead or alive apprehension of a criminal, he has few, if any compunctions when it comes to ending their lives. Some might even assume it is simple for him because a criminal wanted dead or alive generally deserves the price they have on their heads and will give him reason enough to complete his work. His film shows that this is far from simple, as he still displays a willingness to kill a wanted man, even in front of his own children -- possible evidence that this was a man reformed. When there is a reward on the line he seems to be able to allow himself not to ask hard questions. There's some paradox in his character in that, while Django calls this behavior "getting dirty" for the sake of the job, he is at first unable to tolerate it when Django similarly "gets dirty" in order to play his role as a black slaver convincingly, and afterward he only quietly disapproves, which perhaps reveals him to be too soft-hearted to antagonist Calvin Candie. It is safe to assume that he began to confront this duplicity on his part toward the end of the film and this may be an issue he struggles with while on the Barge.
That said, despite his willingness to kill with a warrant in his hand, his more ethical side is shown in how much he openly detests the notion of slavery and feels guilty to have been compelled to take advantage of it in order to acquire Django, the only person he could find who could identify a set of targets he pursued. His dislike of the institution as a whole nearly blows their cover on numerous occasions. When he should have been playing the role of a rich man looking to get into Mandingo fighting, he displayed more than once a general hesitance, if not inability, to cope with the "sport"'s violent nature -- he feels guilty that his refusal to break character led to the death of a man he could have and very nearly saved. Most people that catch him in a more melancholy mood may read him for a penitent man, but not bitter. He genuinely believes there are things he should attempt to atone for, not because he deserves it but because the people that he has wronged deserve his effort. On the other hand, he may not be quick to trust that genuinely evil people can be saved, but he wants to be a believer. He would welcome reason to believe.
Barge Reactions: On the Barge, Dr. Schultz will have much to marvel at, from the technology to the variety of people. An optimist and again a romantic, seeing so many people there, many of whom are not even human, will surprise, certainly, but he will have little reason to deny that what he sees is real. He is already dead when he comes here and will be mostly all right with that, so the visions before him, while sometimes seemingly impossible, just tell him there are greater wonders in the universe than he could have imagined. He believes Django would have done right and hope things will have gone for the better for him, but he won't know for certain. The floods and breaches will initially be quite startling for him, but he will probably see purpose in them, or choose to take purpose from them. Overall, as he enjoys travel anyhow, he will find the Barge more exciting than frightening or dismal. If he can pass along some of that optimism to an Inmate, all the better.
History: Movie Synopsis at the Wiki
Sample Journal Entry: (Standard "Just got here" entry, another example of his voice can be found at his voice test here)
So very strange to speak into a book and trust that others shall hear me. Nevertheless, I'm not one to allow my own ignorance of new technology to get in the way of good manners. How do you do, fellow travelers? [It's odd to be introducing himself indoors; he doesn't have a hat to remove, and so his fingers just hover near his temple for half a second before he drops his hand entirely.] I am Doctor King Schultz, formerly a dentist by trade, and I will be rambling with you a ways if you should care to have me.
This place leaves me thinking of a tale from my home country, known to many but popularized in the writings of the Brothers Grimm, of a brave knight called Tannhäuser, denied absolution by the Pope for spending a year taking in the sights and the rides on the Mount of one Lady Venus. Shaming the knight, he held a dead branch aloft and declared God would not forgive him his transgressions until leaves sprang from the lifeless object and sent the dejected knight away from him. That very same day, the twig did grow leaves, and the Pope, too late, learned with greater clarity the mercy and forgiveness of God, the lesson to never turn away a sinner repentant. Too late, as I said, for Tannhäuser returned to the mountain believing his evils irreconcilable and there remains until Judgment Day.
I bring this up because it seems to me that he could have, perhaps, used a place such as this. [He shrugs] Or perhaps he has; as I understand it, time can be a little too clever, here. He performed good deeds once before; perhaps he would only require the opportunity to do so again.
Sample RP: The Pub. Schultz removed his hat as he passed inside in a simple, smooth motion, allowing it to rest against his chest. The doors swung shut behind him, obscuring him from that painfully beautiful sky and the cold with it. At this time of night the room was lit brighter than he expected it would be, especially since he saw almost no candles. Progress. Technology. Night time could be day time to the eye in this place, he was certain. And the music -- he heard instruments, the low thrum of a man's voice singing, but he saw no musicians.
He had asked for proof of redemption, but such wonders he had to see as he waited. Rooms far too large to fit in a ship. A ship. Stars that flowed like river water. Now? Proper German beer, he hoped. Someone had mentioned this place was well-stocked, and nearly twenty years from Dusseldorf, if he found himself once again disappointed, he might lose faith in all things. God, redemption, his own existence. Out of sheer dejection.
He was not disappointed, the young lady -- no hair, with fee eyes -- behind the bar seemed to know precisely what he was thirsty for. A sip, enough for the bubbles to tickle his whiskers, for that first spread of warmth in his belly, and all was confirmed. There was a God, while once dead he was now truly alive, and perhaps -- just perhaps, he might see a man redeemed after all.
"Prost," he murmured, holding the mug up to her in toast.
Special Notes:
