Flight of the Heron plot idea

[luzula]

I just had an idea: could I manoeuvre Keith into the Jacobite army and Ewen into the Hanoverian one?

And I think I can: actually there was a prominent Wyndham politician who was a Jacobite, so it's quite plausible that Keith's family could have been Jacobite. What if Keith's father on his deathbed extracted a promise from Keith that he would support a Jacobite rising? Keith himself might have mixed feelings about this, but when he is so conveniently captured at the outset of the Rising, there's an excellent opportunity to follow his family tradition and his father's last wish and join up.

As for Ewen, I don't think I can maneuver him into the Hanoverian army as long as he is a Cameron chieftain. But what if he were a younger son without land of his own? I mean, Alan Breck Stewart was in the British army before Prestonpans, probably just as a job and a way to gain experience, and Cluny McPherson had a commission in the British army before he changed sides (there are more examples). So it's not unreasonable.

I have not yet thought further about this in terms of engineering interesting plot situations where Keith and Ewen could meet--any ideas? : D

Comments

[garonne]

Haha, fascinating idea. At first glance I find it kind of hard to imagine, maybe because I associate Keith and Ewen's personalities with the "personalities" of Whiggery and Jacobitism respectively. But I would love to see what you would make of it in a fic!

ngineering interesting plot situations where Keith and Ewen could meet

So at the start of the story they are both officers in the Hanoverian army in this scenario? And then when the rising breaks out, Keith chooses the Jacobite side and Ewen doesn't? So I guess they would have an opportunity to meet as colleagues, e.g. at Fort Augustus or Fort William, before Keith is captured? Or maybe they are both captured, and Ewen becomes a parole prisoner while Keith declares himself a Jacobite?

[luzula]

I mean, Ewen would still be a Jacobite, and would agonize over whether it's right to throw over his commission and desert like Alan Breck Stewart did, but I expect he would do so eventually. He would hardly fight against his clan in the long run! And yeah, he and Keith could in theory meet as colleagues in the beginning.

Keith would be deeply conflicted in this scenario. I imagine he might be cynical about the whole thing and not really belong to either political party, and of course ambitious in the military, but with an extra wallop of "if I don't join up with the Jacobites I'll be betraying my family history and my father's last wishes".

I guess in the end they might both end up on the Jacobite side and it would be more of a brothers-in-arms thing.

[garonne]

Aha, I did not realize that Ewen was still a Jacobite. So is there some period where they are in conflict because one of them has already deserted and not the other? Sounds like it would put them in a much more painfully emotional conflict than in canon, if they are both agonising over the same thing but making different decisions...

[luzula]

Yeah, I guess they'd be sharing the same sort of agonized decisions! But it would be nice with some period where they're enemies, too, because I do like that dynamic...and also it would be nice with some sort of duty-vs-love dilemma. Those are very possible when two people are on the same side, as well.

[cahn]

Ahahaha I love the idea of them switching places, so to speak! And the different reasoning they would have that would still lead to them being all conflicted and angsty :D

[luzula]

Thanks! I did write another story where they switched places, or rather, both their fates and the course of history were reversed. But this one offers other interesting possibilities--and of course, them being conflicted is a key component. : D