Firely-- Inara Backstory

[Jeffr0]

This may be old news, but...

Inara may be on the run because of her use of illegal anagathics.

Notice how all her peers are in their 40's? See the episode where she's looking at the syringe? She the movie where her friend is amazed at her depth of experience? Catch the line where she says "we're all running away from something?"

Cool. Yet probably another Traveller gimmick showing up in the best TV show ever made....

 

[selunatic2397]

Neat catch Jeffr0, thanks for sharing!

 

[Jeffr0]

She could be thinking, "all that $$ for the drugs and now it doesn't matter anymore...."

Yeah... I thought that, too, when the guy told me this theory.

I'll be watching carefully the next time I see a scene of her with an "old friend."

 

[kafka47]

Inara as a 90 year crone, now, that is something that would be truly interesting, as she seems to be in bed with the Alliance some of the time and then there is the whole relationship with Book that went beyond the whole Mary Magalene thing. Perhaps, she was the head of the Operatives and that is why she was also spared. Interesting, wheels within wheels...

 

[Jeffr0]

Other folks have suggested that the Companion's Guild are like Herbert's Bene Gesserit.

How did a bunch of whores get so much clout, anyway? There's got to be more to it than just prostitution.

I bet Inara and co. have a collection of... samples... from their clients. Remember how Inara always goes on about how she chooses her clients. (Gag!) Oh yeah... the Companions pick their men folk... but not for the reason the men folk think!

 

[parmasson]

^ I don’t know if they are quite that conspiratorial.

My take…
1. Turn it into a religion of sorts with temples and all the other stuff.

2. Get enough powerful people on your side (using sex) and they can pass a law that makes your organization powerful. After a time you become powerful both in law and in fact.

 

[BillDowns]

Originally posted by Kurega Gikur:
The Little Black Books, accept no substitute. t5(LBB3.14)

Gives it a whole new flavor

 

[kafka47]

Originally posted by Jeffr0:

How did a bunch of whores get so much clout, anyway? There's got to be more to it than just prostitution.

Firefly makes it quite clear the Guild is not just a bunch of whores. Plus, Sex has always been about Power, don't you know that.

Originally posted by BillDowns:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Kurega Gikur:
The Little Black Books, accept no substitute. t5(LBB3.14)

Gives it a whole new flavor </font>[/QUOTE]Interestingly, in the Swycaffer Universe of the Concordant the group of Professional Naval Assassins, I mean, troubleshooters, is called the Black Book (no pun intended).

 

[Plankowner]

I think Joss Whedan was going for more of a Geisha feel to Inara and her Companions. Fits into that Sino-American mixture that the entire series is filled with.

Geisha were very well respected and the profession was considered honorable. Not all Companion visits are about sex. I believe that Inara even says that in the episode where Jane becomes a folk hero.

 

[parmasson]

“Geisha were very well respected and the profession was considered honorable. Not all Companion visits are about sex. I believe that Inara even says that in the episode where Jane becomes a folk hero.”

Yes, I am sure some visits are about smuggling, or gathering clandestine intelligence.

 

[Renard Ruche]

In the episode where they go to protect the whore-house run by a friend of Inara's, the friend makes a statement to the effect that Inara could have been a/the high-priestess. She doesn't go into to much detail, but I seem to recall that it 'felt' like Inara left of her own volition. Not sure, have to dig out the dvd. Maybe she just decided to go on a 'walk-about' to find out what she wanted. In the movie, she is back at the main temple (iirc), so I don't think that she left under some kind of cloud.

hmmm....maybe she was on a fact-finding mission of some kind, seeing the state of the outer planets for possible establishment of temples/houses, checking in with other companions/agents. let's her get away and think, but allows her to keep her status as a companion and a valuable resource to the companion hierarchy (whatever it is).

 

[Ben W Bell]

Originally posted by thrash:
Morena Baccarin said (in a Serenity panel at Dragon*Con) that Joss Whedon told her exactly why Inara left the chapter house, and that it has colored and informed her performance from the beginning.

She didn't say what it was, however.

I'll note that when Inara gets out the syringe and considers it, the crew is waiting to see whether the Reavers will attack them:

"INT. INARA'S CHAMBER - CONTINUING

"Inara digs out a small, hidden box. She opens it. Inside is a modern syringe gun, smaller than the one Simon used on River, and a vial of black liquid. Unmarked.

She stares into the box."

It seems unlikely that she is looking to prolong her life at this point.

Whedon himself has stated, it was either in an interview or a commentary maybe the commentary, that the syringe has nothing to do with suicide but has to do with something else and Inara's past.