Ben Fairchild

 

Full Name: Benjamin Michael Fairchild

D.O.B.- 5/19/77 -

Sign: Taurus

Birthplace: Surrey, U.K.

Brought Up In: Surrey, U.K. / Paris, France

Sex: M

Race: W

Height: 6'2" (1.88 m)

Hair: Brown/ Black

Eyes: Blue

Ancestry: English w/ some Irish, French, and Jewish/Polish descent

Religion: Catholic

Occupation: Buisnessman

Relationships

*Spouse- Lena Moreau

*Other Partners, sexual, etc.- Michelle Emery

*Parents- Robert & Jennifer Fairchild

*Children- Cassandra

*Brothers- Oliver, Garen

*Sisters- Melanie, Lily, Wendy, Nani, Beth

*Closest Friends- Roger Bishop; John Hill; Kelsey Morgan; Richard Tudor

*Other Family, etc.- Cousins: Rufus & Rebecca Fairchild; Uncle & Aunt: Eddie & Elizabeth Fairchild

 

 

 

Character Analysis

Ben serves as SWACIT's main, and most complicated, antagonist. Born to Robert and Jennifer Fairchild, he is the sixth child of eight. In an otherwise warm and loving household, Ben remains a victim of self-imposed alienation. He sees himself as excluded from his brothers and sisters, who, he feels, come in sets (Oliver & Beth, Nani, Lily, & Wendy, and Mel & Garen). At first, his idea of alienation from his family is imagined and misplaced, but, in time, becomes realized, as he is cold, selfish, and often cruel towards everyone around him, including those he loves best (namely, his mother and his sister, Melanie).

 

The factor that further pushes him away from people is his overplayed sense of both moral and social superiority, a flaw that toes the line on egomania. Despite that, he has very little self-esteem when it comes to how he treats his family. It is a vulnerability seen only on occasion... and probably only by his girlfriend, Lena, and his sister, Mel, whom he seems to worship.

 

His love for Mel (his only younger sister) is one that is frighteningly intense, often bordering on obsessive. Throughout the series, he is completely enamoured by her, even while he treats her harshly, and sees her as a beacon of purity. A purity which he feels is tarnished both by the friends she has and her involvement with Adrien Carter, whom he degrades for being Jewish (never mind that Ben and Mel have some Jewish ancestry). His jealousy of Adrien, Alan, Geoff and Mel's other friends manifests itself into Ben's larger than life antagonism. An antagonism so violent and hateful, that it eventually leads Melanie to (for a time) split up with Adrien.

 

Ben forms a ring of friends that eerily mirrors Melanie's. Roger, John, Kelsey, and Richard (and his other minions) are always more than happy to aid in the harassment of Mel and her friends.

 

Ben is distanced even further from his family when he transfers to a boarding school in France at the age of fourteen. At his school, he meets Lena de Morangias, the only person with whom he shares a healthy romantic relationship. Their romance began when they are both fifteen, Ben returning to Fairchild Manor only for Christmases and summer vacations. At seventeen, both entered Sorbonne University in Paris, sharing an apartment together for two years until Lena, having finally met his family and seen the way Ben treats them, left him. Ben, having earned a business degree and having lost his girlfriend, returned home to take his place in the family business and resume his place as the villain in everyone's lives.

 

 

But Roger and John's murder of Gael Torres is the breaking point in Mel and Ben's relationship. An ultimate sort of betrayal as Melanie is convinced that Ben, while he may not have had a part in it, still might have known that something horrible was going to happen. For more on Ben and Mel's relationship, see Ben & Mel.

 

Ben, despite his love and vulnerability, is a villain and readily acknowledges himself as one. He is, when it comes to those he hates, prejudiced, a sadist and a megalomaniac.... and is damn proud of it.

 

"~No one knows what it's like to feel these feelings... like I do... and not blame you. And no one bites back as hard on their anger, none of my pain and woe can show through...- "Behind Blue Eyes", The Who

 

Quotes

 

The redhead stumbled forward into Mel, who helped steady him. She glared up at her older brother. " Don't you have anything better to do than to skit Alan?"

 

"Not at the moment." Ben smiled viciously. "Oi, Hart, since it seems that you do wear the same pair of jeans everyday, I was just wondering... do you just have one pair of kegs as well and just wash them out every night?"

 

Ben's boys laughed as Alan turned so red, it seemed almost farcical.

 

There was something about seeing Alan, red-faced and looking like he wanted to evaporate, that put Geoff into more or less a killing mood. Without thinking twice, he hoisted Ben up by the shirtfront. "I'm going to knock the ten bells out of you, you scumbag."

 

Ben grinned. "Always so defensive. How very gallant."

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Ben sneered. “Nice boots, Hart. Where’d you pick them up, Good Will?”

Alan’s ears turned red.

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(when Alan comes to live with the Fairchildren)

"Oh, good, shall we begin the processing? You can disinfect him. I have a hose and de-lousing powder in the back garden. In the meantime, I can sort and catalog all his belongings."

 

Despite knowing that Ben wasn't even half-serious, Alan still moved back a step, his face brilliantly red, and tightened his grip on his small suitcase.

 

Geoff looked up at Ben like he was the lowest possible form of parasite, something unspeakably nasty...something that might give you, say, amoebic dysentery or malaria.

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(Having cornered Gael in the barn)

"Everyone knows you're boned up for that Mick trash."

Gael felt his insides twist with anger.

"Everyone...but him of course..." Ben smirked. "He isn't nearly as intuitive as Mel says he is. Of course, it doesn't really matter if he knows or not, does it? He isn't a buggering little queer like you... so, he wouldn't be interested in what you have to offer anyway."

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Ben rolled his neck around to stare at Adrien coldly, with the congealed hate that a person might have when they see a rat that they’ve been trying to kill for a very long time.

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"I wasn't talking to you, Carter!” Ben hissed, standing up to face him. The tear on his shirt blossomed with another stain of fresh blood. “Have I ever once in all my life given a flying fuck about what you thought?"

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To Ben, Mel’s friends weren’t people, they were Its. Blurs of color. Crayons that Ben and his friends felt shouldn’t have been included in the box in the first place.

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“Now what are you gonna do, Hart?” Ben grinned. “You want to hit me, is that it? Be all noble? Go on then. Hit me. What’s the matter, Hart?” Ben’s expression molded into one of mimicked wholesomeness. He pressed his palms together in mock prayer and stared at Alan with supplicating eyes. “You just weren’t brought up that way?”

 

This time, Alan’s face turned rather red, and Geoff shoved Ben’s steepled fingers away.

 

“Watch it,” Geoff warned, deadly quiet.

 

Ben rounded on him, eyes glinting with something akin to amused anger. “Oh, now see. You don’t get to touch me ever. If I want to pick at the orphan…I get to. You know why?” He gave Geoff what could’ve passed for a friendly smile, that is, if it hadn’t come from Ben. He leaned in a bit closer as if it were some wonderfully gleeful little secret. “Because I want to.”

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(After Mel beats on him, thinking he was responsible for Gael's death)

Adge grabbed hold of Mel and held her back. She didn’t struggle, but rather sank into him, still staring up at Ben, her tears streaking the blood on her face. “You murderer.” She sobbed.

 

“Oh, yeah, you would think that.” Ben hissed, completely livid at her accusation.

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(Watching Ben introduce himself to Kate froma distance)

Geoff: Oh, God... Ben's warming up to her. Eugh, I can only imagine. 'Why don't we get together some time, have lunch? Maybe spend some time together counting my money?'"

Alan: If that doesn't work, he could always show her his collection of infidel skulls. That's always a laugh.

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(Ben gives Mel a present)

It was a small locket, heart-shaped, but round and full, not flat, like other lockets she'd seen. The front was an iridescent, wine-red enamel set into silver, with delicate sterling feet and baroque curlicues creeping over it's edges to hold it there. In the center of the red was a miniscule daisy, with a tiny black diamond dotting the place where each petal should be. From behind the flower, at least two dozen thin, dark lines stemmed, spreading out from the center, making the faux blossom seem like a tiny, black sun or bursting supernova.

 

It never failed to marvel Mel how, as much as Ben hated her taste, he knew it so well. Still, there was a Victorian darkness to it, like something out of Stoker, that suited her brother somehow, and she twined her fingers around the pendant, liking the subtle weight of it. She smiled, oddly touched.

 

Ben looked somewhat encouraged by her enigmatic smile. "When I saw it, I wanted you to have it." He said, studying her reflection critically. "I thought it'd be perfect."

 

"It's beautiful." she assured him and her small smile grew. "It's really beautiful... thank you."

 

He looked embarrassed. "I wanted you to have it." He reiterated, quietly.

 

"Thank you." She said again, and finally noticed the hand on her shoulder. Kindly, she laid her hand over his, allowing him to take a gentle hold of it.

 

For a moment, a brand of relief coursed through her... but in the next, a clench of pain replaced it. How nice it would be if it were always like this, she thought. If he could stay that awkward man who handled her with kindness instead of becoming the spiteful monster she knew,

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Ben played tennis the way he did most other things-- that is to say, fiercely. He played with unsettling lupine grace, sending constant feral smirks across the net at whoever was playing him. He was a powerful player and a violently competitive one at that, and Melanie always seemed an ill-chosen opponent against him, even to those who had already seen her one up her brother at the game.

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Adrien: That was nice of him.

Geoff: Yeah, especially for someone who probably wanks off to thoughts of crippling you.

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If Mel had anything to hand to Ben, it was his remarkable talent for finding her when she least wanted to be found.

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(Taunting Geoff about Alan)

Ben: Have you ever stopped and thought about what that must have been like? That first burst of air after suffocating for those long, long minutes. It must've been like...being born. A climax of sorts. Having your life given back to you. Do you think that every time he gasps-- every time he gets out of the pool, every time he finishes a run or a fuck... instinct makes his body remember? Or maybe each new breath he's drawn since then has been just as good as that first one... an eternal airgasm. No wonder he's so cheerful.

 

Geoff: You're fucking sick.

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(Ben and Mel are having it out at each other)

She blew up. “You get out!” She took a steadying breath. “I don't know who the fuck you think you are, but I swear to God if you ever touch me like that again, or hurt any of them, I will wait until you are asleep and I will kill you.”

 

Ben stared at her, as if struck momentarily dumb. Then a slow, creeping smile came to his face, stretching more and more with taunting, showing his top row of too-white teeth. “Mel, you surprise me...” He smirked, knowing always just how to get to her in the worst ways, “…you're more my sister than I thought.”

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Mel: You have everything, Ben. That's your trouble.

Ben: And your trouble is that you have everything, but get off on pretending that you don't.

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"You had your fairytale, Mel... all you ever needed me for was to be your villain."

 

"Ben, that's not true."

 

"That's what you always made me. I'm the villain, Mel. Everything that makes you sick inside with dread... that's me. I got handed the responsibility of making all your lives as miserable as I can... how lucky can I be?"

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Ben had a way of staring at you if he hated you, a way that suggested he was refraining from tearing your throat out with his teeth; condescending, as if you weren't worth that sort of effort. His wolfish face remained perfectly still, unruffled and calm, and he just stared. When those blue-grey eyes got fixed on you, it sent a surprising, gagging coldness through you, like accidentally swallowing an ice cube and getting it caught somewhere along the way down.

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Ben- You're very nice for a dancer.

Lena- Know many, do you?

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“Batty Benny.”

“Don’t fucking call me that.” Ben hissed, his cheeks flushing puce…a color one’s face rarely turns unless affronted by a much-resented nickname that one hasn’t heard in a rather long while.

Oliver smiled kindly. “Oh, go on, Ben, lighten up.” He gave Ben’s shoulder a brotherly squeeze and Ben jerked away, as if afraid of being infected by Oliver’s cheeriness.

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"It'll be a miracle if all five of you make it to twenty-five. That's what you get... for all being so fucking wonderful."

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She sunk into the armchair behind her, elbows on thighs, face in her hands, and, for not the first time in his life, Ben wondered why so many of the talks shared between he and Mel seemed to always end in crying.

 

"Oh, God, don't do that." And as many times as it had been, he still didn't know how to handle her when she got so emotional.

"Don't..."

 

Mel braved, what Ben assumed was, a resentful glare up at him, and just her face gave him the urge to do something... to either slap her or hug her. How she could still look so perfect like that, face tear stained and eyes muddied, was an absolute wonder. She was just one of those few people who could cry beautifully, something Ben was positive he certainly could not do. Though he had no idea...and there honestly were not many witnesses that could bear testimony... Ben had the feeling that he and tears were not a handsome combination. More like a ruddy-squashed-combination...something involving angry shades of pink and a running nose. The way all people cry, he figured, all normal people. And that was his trouble... he had an abnormal sister... and he didn't know whether to hate or worship her for it.

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Mel- It's just hit me... like someone just snapped a rubber band against my forehead... I'm the dumbest person I know.

Adrien- No you're not.

Mel- Oh yes I am.

Adrien- I think Ben might give you a run for your money.

Mel- No... he's not dumb, that's what frightens me. Ben's a lot of things, but he isn't stupid. He's a clever, evil, manipulative biased prick... but he isn't stupid.

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Links:

Ben & Mel

Ben & Lena

Ben & Oliver

Ben & Jen

Ben & Michelle

Ben & Mel + Adge

Ben & Alan

Ben & Kate