Firefly - Shepherd Book's Past?

Question

Does any1 watch the show firefly?

The shepherds past is pretty intriguing. What do people think it may be like?

I'm thinking he was an operative, like the one in serenity; i.e. a trained soldier, someone without a name, who, over time, began to question his actions.

He started to become less confident in the actions of his superiors, and then was forced to kill a man he had respect for or loved (?). The man was called Book, and he took his name,

What do people think that shepherd Book's past was like?

Answer 1

I watch Firefly! I <3 that show, my one roommate got me addicted to it, then we got our other roommate addicted, and I finally got my brother hooked on it...

I think he was an operative of some sort, probably something like you mentioned that he was forced to kill someone he didn't want to. And that he stole the identity of someone is pretty plausible...

Another possibility is that he was supposed to be undercover, and he just defected for whatever reason, while still pretending to the alliance that he was undercover (think Snape in Harry Potter - he worked for Voldemort, but then he decided he'd work for Hogwarts while pretending to Voldemort that he was still working for him). But, when the alliance saw his ID card in the one episode, they assumed he was still undercover so they didn't say anything or interfere unduly with his transportation.

The other possibility is that he was supposed to be a 'handler' of sorts for River, so that even if she escaped he could somehow reconnect with her and prevent her from doing too much damage, but that just didn't happen. This one doesn't work so well...