Post by Jade4813 on Jul 11, 2012 15:01:12 GMT -5
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name | Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth |
Aliases | None |
Species | Human |
[tr][td]Age [/td] [td]65[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Date of Birth [/td] [td]April 8, 1957[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Place of Birth[/td] [td]Southwark, South London[/td] [/tr]
[tr][td]Current Occupation[/td] [td]Butler, Wayne Manor[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Former Occupation[/td] [td]Soldier[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Citizenship [/td] [td]British; United States[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Legal Status [/td] [td]No criminal record[/td][/tr][/table]
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
[tr]Height | 6’0” |
Weight | 160 |
Hair | White/Grey |
Eyes | Blue |
Physical Description | Alfred is an austere, dapper older gentleman. He is always dressed in a suit, and it is entirely possible he doesn't even own casual attire. Or pajamas. Bruce suspects he even showers fully clothed, as he has never been seen in a state of deshabille. |
FAMILY
Significant Other | None |
Children | None |
Father | Jarvis Pennyworth |
Mother | Margaret Pennyworth |
Brother(s) | Wilfred Pennyworth |
Sister(s) | None |
Other Family | Bruce Wayne (in spirit) |
GENERAL OVERVIEW AND PERSONALITY
- Alfred is Bruce Wayne's butler, guardian, and, above all, his friend.
- Alfred is a kind, wise man. He's a wonderful listener, empathic, and extremely intelligent, with a tactical mind and good advice. By the same token, he's cynical and jaded, and can be quite snarky when given a reason to be. Despite his loyalty to the Batman, he's also one of the few people in the world with the strength of will, and the resolve, to look Bruce in the eyes and tell him when he's wrong.
- Despite Bruce Wayne's lifelong rebellion, frequent departures from home, and obsession with justice that leads him down a dark path, Alfred never loses faith in his master.
- He has a flair for both sarcasm and fatherly banter.
HOBBIES AND INTERESTS
- Alfred butles like nobody's business. He can butle the everloving crap out of you and leave you wanting more.
- In his down-time, Alfred browses for new recipes and first-aid techniques. One never knows when one will be called upon to prepare a menu for a party of 70 or re-attach a severed limb. A good butler is always prepared for any eventuality.
- Alfred is an expert player of both chess and pool. He refuses to divulge just how he came to have such skill at the latter. He regularly engages in games of the former with Bruce, and they are fairly well matched. He occasionally trounces Bruce at chess, however, just to remind his ward of who's really boss. (It is entirely possible that Bruce allows Alfred to so trounce him, just to remind Alfred that he knows who's really boss.)
KNOWN POWERS
Alfred is human and, as such, has no superpowers. However, his skills at the following should be considered powers, in his opinion:
- Tea Sense: Alfred always knows when someone is in the Batcave, and he always knows when someone needs a hot cup of tea and biscuits. It might be a sixth sense. It might be the security cameras. It's probably a sixth sense.
- Butlering: Alfred is a butler. His father was a butler, and his brother still is a butler, and he was trained very well. Just as the Batman is a master of many martial arts, Alfred is a master of any and all domestic endeavors. Washing, ironing, dusting, mopping, cleaning, baking, cooking, frying. You name it, Alfred can do it. Bruce spends his time doing sit-ups and fighting crime. Alfred spends his dusting and making tea. How's that for a comparison?
- First Aid: Being a military medic has given Alfred not only a lot of knowledge about how to treat wounds, but also a lot of experience under duress, and knowledge of certain immediate treatments for the type of injuries that he needs to handle on a routine basis. He's had a lot of practice, and he's read a lot of books. He could probably be a doctor by now! But he's a butler. By choice.
- Sage Advice & Empathy: Alfred isn't a licensed psychologist or therapist, but over the years he has developed a sense of calm and an aura that tends to make people open up to him. He listens, and that means a lot to the kind of people that Bruce tends to attract. He knows what to say, when to say it, and when not to say anything at all. Though most often his advice isn't followed, most people end up kicking themselves soundly because they did not heed his words.
- Espionage & Military Skills: Few people know that Alfred was not a butler his entire life, and those who do tend to forget the fact. (He is just so good at what he does that it's hard not to imagine he sprung forth from the Earth one day, fully formed and attired in a perfectly-pressed suit, duster in one hand and cup of tea in the other.) However, he was once a soldier and spy. He has retained much of that knowledge and experience. He can shoot firearms effectively, and be quite the tactical mind and sneaky person when he needs to be. Any skills a spy or soldier would have, Alfred has; it's just that he can only be so effective with them, due to his age. He's not a young man anymore, you know!
- Tea & Biscuits: Alfred does not fool around with making tea and biscuits. He makes real tea, like British people make tea, and he bakes those biscuits himself, and you better recognize how damn awesome his biscuits are. He will sic the Bat on you. He will.
- Access to Wayne Fortune: He may only be the Butler, but that comes with a capital B, buddy! Once, he had sole access to the Wayne fortune, when Bruce was presumed dead, and he remains Bruce's most trusted ally. If he needs to, he can access the fortune (along with owning many shares of WayneTech stock). Large amounts of money are, of course, subject to Bruce's approval, but Bruce lets Alfred do pretty much anything he wants because when you have a Butler that awesome, why wouldn't you? Anyway, Alfred rarely needs more money than what he gets paid as a retainer. Seriously, most people would kill for his salary.
- Ridiculously Connected: Alfred not only knows the Wayne Family (when Bruce chooses to work with other heroes in his auspices as Batman), but he also worked for the Royal House of Britain and, though he left, he did so in great standing with that family. He also had contacts in MI5 and the British military, not to mention the circles run by rich socialites' servants, like him. Never underestimate the knowledge that can be attained through servants' gossip.
- Protected: Alfred is protected. It's sort of how one is protected by the Mob, except in his case, it involves one of the most skilled people in the world watching his back. Batman would do things in Alfred's defense that he probably wouldn't do for other superheroes or lovers. Hurting Alfred, or even attempting to, is a good way to get yourself on a hit list you really don't want to be on.
WEAKNESSES
Alfred is human and doesn't have a weakness, per se. He does, however, have the following:
- Old: Alfred is well beyond his prime. Most of his physical skills just aren't viable when applied to levels necessitated to compare with the younger generations. Though he's in excellent shape for someone his age, he suffers from occasional arthritis, and none-aggressive old-people stuff. He's only sixty-five, though. He's not that old. He can still open a can 'o whupass if he needs to. When armed with the right tools, dustbunnies fear him the world over.
- Target: Being the Batman's closest emotional tie, and being the butler and surrogate father to one of the richest men in the world, brings with it the threat of being a target of those people who want to hurt Bruce (or Batman, but only if they know his secret identity).
- Obsessive-Compulsive: You can't be a good butler without being a little obsessive-compulsive. Alfred believes everything has its place and that it should go there. (Even Bruce.) If he sees something out of place, he will put it where it belongs, even if it's out of his way. (Especially Bruce.) He won't if his life is in danger... but he might come back later because it nagged him. And when something nags Alfred, he's not above nagging those around him. (Particularly Bruce.)
- Grief: Alfred loves Bruce dearly - more dearly than perhaps even Bruce realizes. He thinks of Bruce as a son. He constantly frets over Bruce's well-being, and suffers emotionally when he sees him hurt - whether physically, emotionally. or psychologically. However, being British and being Alfred, he keeps his grace under pressure, and all that grief is repressed. It causes him great amounts of stress, but he is good enough at hiding it that even Bruce fails to notice most of the time.
HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth was born in Britain. As a young man, he was quite intelligent, resourceful, and very intuitive of other people's needs. He was also responsible, and always had good advice to give.
He served in the British military for a time as a medic, due to his minor background in the medical sciences in college. After his tour was over, he got involved in the spy world, and made a good undercover agent, for a few short years. He didn't see much action, but was very useful in social situations, proving to be able to keep his grace under pressure, as the saying goes.
Once his few years in the spy world ended, he replaced his father, Jarvis, and joined his brother, Wilfred, as a servant of the Royal House of Britain. His father had gone overseas to the United States to serve the Wayne Family. When Jarvis died, Alfred was faced with the choice: stay with the Royal Family, or move to the U.S. and replace his father once again.
Respecting his father's last wishes, he did the latter, and joined the Wayne Family, just as Thomas and Martha had young Bruce. During his service to the Wayne family, Alfred became a valued member of the household. It was he who taught Bruce how to deal with schoolyard bullies in a tactical, intelligent way, rather than with brute force, and it was he who drove the young Master around, and who helped him with his homework, and tutored him in the unconventional.
Thomas and Martha had trusted Alfred with the guardianship of their young son, in the event of their demise, and so he inherited the rest of the parental duties when tragedy took the elder Wayne's away one fateful night. The rest, as they say, is history. As Bruce grew, he became more bitter and jaded and driven, but Alfred never stopped caring for him or watching out for him.
When Bruce vanished for seven years and was declared dead by Wayne Enterprise's CEO in order to claim his shares, this plan was thwarted because Bruce left everything to Alfred. After Bruce returned from his training in the League of Shadows, he told Alfred that his goal was to become a symbol to frighten the mobsters and criminals of the city, reasoning that as a man he could be defeated but a symbol would be incorruptible and eternal. Alfred insisted he do so with as much planning and foresight as possible. It was a piece of advice that Bruce would take... quite literally. Alfred helped Bruce arrange the order of the tools necessary for Bruce to become Batman that he could not acquire from Wayne Enterprises - such as the components of the cowl - also encouraging him to feign a social life to deflect attention from the idea that he could be Batman.
Alfred continues to act as father figure to Bruce, no matter how dark he gets, and will likely "adopt" other heroes into the fold, should anyone follow in Batman's vigilante footsteps. He is, without a doubt, the most important part of Bruce's life (though he does fret about what will happen to his charge, once he is gone, and wishes Master Bruce would find a nice young woman who could help him from being consumed by darkness and vengeance). Despite all of Bruce's faults and flaws, he remains forever the proud mentor and caregiver, always easy with his advice, calm with his critique...and present with a tray of tea and biscuits.