Characters 101 – Captain Ternep

Each month this blog will feature a character from one of the SFF productions.  This month we’ll take a look  at one of the memorable comic characters from Destiny III (and Destiny: the Mini-Series) – Captain Ternep, played by the wonderful and hilarious Ryan Segovich.

Captain James Jonathon William Ternep II, is an officer in the Liliyan Navy charged with hunting down and capturing pirates.  He’s not a very clever man, and actually seems very boastful and somewhat arrogant, but he’s funny and is well matched with his nemesis – a female pirate known as The Great El Banyo.

History

In the movie we don’t really know much about him, other than that he’s a captain and soldier who chases pirates, commands a ship, and has trouble keeping a crew.  The purpose of his character was to provide comic relief and a method of transportation for Melantha and her friends to get them to the island of Valdrondez to rescue her children.  They had to disguise themselves as men to get on board because Ternep – who’s ship was the only one in the harbor at that point – followed the Navy code and didn’t allow women on his ship as crew.  Although, he probably would have made an exception since he only had a crew of one at the time.

It’s very clear in the movie that there’s some sort of back story with Ternep and El Banyo and I always felt like the main characters were stepping into another story for a few chapters before jumping back into their own adventure.  So I’ve done some further work on his character since then and actually figured out what their story (Ternep and El Banyo) is. 

Ternep is the middle son of a large and illustrious military and naval family including two admirals. He never really wanted to be in the Navy, but he wasn’t given a choice since he was raised to be in it.  He is one of seven children and has three brothers and three sisters.  He also has a scary grandmother who is the matriarch of the sailing clan and was married three times to different sailors including one of the admirals.  So Ternep goes through the training, his family buys him a commission as a Captain as well as a ship, and he sets out to sea.  He’s determined to make his family proud and do the best job he can even if he doesn’t really like his job.  Hunting down pirates seemed like a good niche because if things do go right, he can always blame them. 

Pirates love to make fun of his name, especially El Banyo who routinely calls him Turnip Boy.  Although he comes from a long line of famous sailors, they’re mostly through his mother’s side of the family.  His father’s family was less illustrious, though not shunned or anything, so all of his brothers use their mother’s maiden name to move up the ranks more quickly.  Ternep is not ashamed of his father or his family name and doesn’t care to move up the ranks, so he keeps it – much to the relief of his mother’s family who are able to avoid a lot of embarrassment.

Appearance

Ternep is tall and slender, but stronger than he looks.  He has wavy blonde hair and bright blue eyes.  Although he wears the standard black and gold uniform of a captain in the Liliyan Navy, he adds some flair with accessories including a blue and green plaid sash and a ridiculously big hat with pink feathery fluff to match his vest.  He looks silly, but has the kind of personality that actually makes the hat work.

Personality

The best word to describe him is bravado.  Ternep has very low self-esteem due to his family situation – he’s kind of the family joke, and he doesn’t get along with any of them except his sweet younger sister.  He covers his insecurity with bravado and is determined that if he’s going to be laughed at anyway he’s damn well going to give them a good reason, and if he can embarrass his family even a little along the way than so much the better.  Go big or go home is a good way to put it, especially since he hates going home. 

He would actually make a good captain if he believed in himself a little, but since he doesn’t he’s pretty bad.  He treats his crew pretty well and can gain loyalty from them if they stay with him long enough to see that, but most of them can’t stand working for a buffoon and leave as soon as they can, so he’s perpetually short staffed.

He has delusions of grandeur – honestly believing that he can become famous if he can capture or kill an infamous pirate like El Banyo.  He seeks fame and fortune to validate his existence, and can be very materialistic, always wanting to try new fashion trends or fads – the more impractical the better.  He’s very eccentric and likes to own strange things.  His favorite thing is Percival, a glass “dippy bird” that he views as a sort of pet.  It sits on his desk and he can stare at it for hours.  He finds it very calming to watch the bird drink again and again. 

Raised as a gentleman, Ternep can display manners as well as anyone else of his rank or in his family.  However, only shows respects to those who have earned it or who respect him.  Playing the buffoon is actually a good way to tell who the real idiots are.  Although he is a gentleman (and a gentle man a lot of the time), he doesn’t adhere to all the gentlemanly traditions regarding women.  He doesn’t respect all women simply because they’re women and if a woman hits him, he will damn well hit her back (unless he was being a cad and truly deserved it).  He would never rape a woman, but he would never rape a man either – he believes in the true equality of humans regardless of race or gender.  However, since that doesn’t jive with the party line of his family or the Navy who reveres women while at the same time infantilizes them - viewing them as delicate creatures who are less intelligent (with a few major exceptions among the nobility and of course the Queen and Princess), he doesn’t say what he believes, just what he knows people want to hear.  When he does speak up about his beliefs on equality, he is laughed at since he is generally seen as an imbecile.

But no matter how silly or strange he may seem, when his back’s against the wall or his crew is in danger is when he really shines.  The man behind the comic façade emerges and he actually becomes rather dashing.  Suddenly he takes charge, fights really well, and his plans actually work due to his determination to protect his life and the lives of those he cares about.  He can open a can of Whoop-Ass on his opponents when they least expect it.  He’s probably bi-polar now that I think about it, considering that he does suffer from periods of depression too.

He also doesn’t like the sight of blood.  He doesn’t faint or anything, but it makes him nauseous.

Abilities

As a navy officer, he learned to fight.  Given his family, he actually learned to fight growing up.  The sword is the primary weapon used in the Navy for a solider, but Ternep is more than a little clumsy.  He wasn’t all that tall growing up, but he had a sudden growth spurt when he was sixteen and grew a full foot taller in less than a year.  The sudden change in height made him have trouble with physical coordination and he still suffers from being clumsy and ungraceful.  He’s a terrible dancer, of course, but he’s also not very good at duels.  Running, jumping, leaping, fighting all rely on good coordination which he lacks.  So he’s a pretty bad swordfighter.

However, he’s a very good marksmen when he’s standing still and is a great shot with a pistol and an even better shot with a crossbow.  Unfortunately crossbows aren’t used at sea much, and pistols are seen as more of a pirate’s weapon and less honorable than a sword, so he doesn’t really use them much.  However he does tend to win darts whenever he plays.

As part of his clumsiness, he has trouble adjusting to land or sea when he’s been too long on one or the other.  He gets seasick on land if he’s been sailing for a long time, and landsick at sea if he’s been living on land too long.  In both cases he has trouble staying on his feet for a few days depending on how long it’s been.  His gets used to the rhythm of the sea and it takes a while for that to change, making him more clumsy then usual and vice versa for when he’s been on land.  It’s very unfortunate.  Maybe he has too much ear wax or is prone to ear infections and that affects his equilibrium.  Hmm…I need to think about that.

Again, when his back is against the wall he’s able to hold fast and his shear determination and force of will keep his clumsiness in check.  However he can’t sustain that kind of amazing coordination and skills for very long because his bad self-esteem tends to get the best of him in the end. 

Relationships - Allies & Enemies

I’m only going to cover his relationships with the people in the movie, but know there are other characters, like his niece Arista Carthos, that he has interesting and often complex relationships with.

First Mate Bob is his first mate (obviously) and is actually called “First Mate Bob” because there have been a few other Bobs on the ship over the years like “Chef Bob”, “Doctor Bob”, “Gunner Bob”, and “Bob, the Powder Monkey” (also known as Monkey Bob).  First Mate Bob is his longest serving crew member – which is how he became First Mate – and has been with Ternep for twelve years.  Bob knows that for all his eccentricities Ternep can be a good leader and is fair to his crew and treats them well.  Ternep risked his own life to save Bob more than once and because of that Bob will always be loyal to him.  Also, Bob just thinks he’s fun and gets along with him really well.  He respects the real Ternep – the insecure man under the bravado and false arrogance – and makes it his mission in life to help bring that Ternep to the surface.  He is basically the smart sidekick to the silly hero.

Ternep, in turn, respects and values Bob as not only his First Mate but also his best friend and Bob is the only one who Ternep really listens to.  If anyone tries to tell him his plan won’t work or that he’s being a stupid jackass, Ternep will yell at them and then ignore whatever they said would work better – except for Bob.  If Bob points out flaws in a plan and suggests alternatives, Ternep will listen to him and often follow his suggestions.  And if Bob tells Ternep that he’s being a stupid jerk about something then Ternep with listen and try to change his behavior because he knows that Bob wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true. 

The Great El Banyo is his nemesis.  She is a feisty, fiery red-haired pirate who is just as eccentric as Ternep.  As the most infamous female pirate in the world, Banyo is a fierce fighter and a tough opponent.  Ternep has been trying to capture her for years and she always slips away.  They have clashed swords and words dozens of times, and both of them genuinely enjoy the fights and confrontations. 

El Banyo is an extreme feminist in a lot of ways, always railing against the male-dominated elite and how women are poorly treated.  She seems to hate men and has an all female pirate crew –the only one in the world.  To her, most men are scum – stupid, pathetic, and lecherous.   Considering her past and the fact that she’s beautiful, curvaceous, and extremely busty you can kind of understand why she thinks the way she does.  She not only hates men who abuse women, she also hates men who are complete suckers for a pretty face and the women who use their bodies to get what they want from men.  She’s very opinionated, much like Ternep, but unlike Ternep she’s not afraid to tell people what she thinks.  In fact, she shouts it the world as loud and often as possible.

There are some men she does respects – the kind who treat women as true equals and don’t view her as either a stupid bitch or a sexy slut (she isn’t stupid, isn’t a slut at all, and doesn’t dress sexy, hating to wear dresses or skirts – however, she is a bitch and proud of it).  Ternep is one of them.  He treats her as a true equal and pursues her more often than other pirates because he likes the challenge.  He does actually have a crush on her, but has never made a pass at her or anything – not because he’s afraid of getting killed for it (which he would be), but because he doesn’t flirt with anyone.

No woman has ever been able to seduce him because he never responds to flirtation, however overt it may be.  Some people think he doesn’t like women in that way, but the truth is that he’s shy around ladies when he thinks about romantic possibilities and his self-esteem is so low that he genuinely believes that no woman would ever actually want to date him, therefore any woman who flirts overtly enough for him to notice most likely trying to trick him.  He’s terrible with the ladies when he’s in a social situation like a ball or dinner party, never knowing what to say, but with Banyo it’s different.  There are no romantic possibilities with her because she’s the enemy.

He never gets tongue-tied around Banyo because he sees her as a pirate first and a woman second.  She knows that and respects him for it since he’s one of the only men who see her that way.  Although she would never willingly admit it, she has a big crush on Ternep.  They are well matched in a lot of ways, including their flamboyant wardrobes and eccentric behaviors.  In the movie they fall in love and get married in the end; in the books they get together but don’t actually get married.

Paco the Taco and Nina the Fajita are Banyo’s first and second mate and he treats them like he treats every other pirate – male or female – they’re the enemy.  Paco is a huge flirt and initially had a crush on Ternep, but he was no fun to flirt with so she ended up having a crush on First Mate Bob.  Bob isn’t into her (he’s actually gay), but they do become good friends and end up opening a restaurant together in the movie.  Nina is not a flirt at all and is Paco’s opposite in many ways, and ends up taking over as leader of Banyo’s crew when Banyo eventually retires.

Melantha, Elaina, Maggie, Molly, and May are the heroes in Destiny III who end up as his crew in exchange for a ride to Valdrondez.  He treats them like he treats any of his crew and doesn’t really get to know then very well.