✞ History! ✞

[flambeauyant]

BACKGROUND:
Sadly there are no wiki pages that cover everything that well, so forgive me for writing it all out here. I will try to keep it brief but informative.

To understand Flambeau’s History I will be writing his history down through each episode that he has been in. In the original books, the man was a thief and con artist who Father Brown continued to run into time and time again. Over all of their interactions the good Father ended up redeeming the man and turning him to the side of lawful good. Flambeau turned into a stunning detective that Father Brown sometimes assisted on cases. The two of them became good friends.

The television series so far seems to be going with that same concept, but slower and not quite in the same way. Flambeau is what most would say, Father Browns Arch Enemy, though maybe just in the start. After some time their interactions turn more towards “Friends” as Father Brown continues to try to save the man's soul and Flambeau continues to seek out the Fathers help.

Because of the old book series not being one to give a great many details, the only thing I am picking up from it that has yet to be mentioned in the TV series is tht Flambeau is not his real surname. He was originally given the name of Hercule Duroc. “Flambeau” was a name he gave himself and that caught on with the Law. The word is French for Flaming Torch, which is something to light one's way, or Illuminate the Darkness.

Because I am doing his history through each episode, it will not be chronological, but most of his history does slowly trickle through each episode.

The Blue Cross: (S01E10)
Father Brown receives a mysterious note slipped through his door, simply giving him a riddle. “To catch a thief, look to the cross.” Wondering what it meant he checked the church, finding a embroidered handkerchief next to a holy relic of a cross. A warning and a calling card of the well known thief, Flambeau.

We find out that it was all his master plan to steal the cross, but he didn’t just want to take it, he wanted to embarrass the church in doing so. Furthermore embarrass and ruin Father Brown. He could have stolen the cross at any point he wanted, but instead he wanted to play a mind game. To have a challenge.

We find out in this episode that Flambeau never knew his own father, as he was sent away to the Great War (World War I), there, in an act of cowardness the man tried to desert the army, being captured by his own side and shot by firing squad. Deserters were punished. Flambeau found out that Father Brown had been a soldier in Flanders at that time. Only 17 and not a Chaplain at that point, but he had been there. Flambeau had fallen from the eyes of the Catholic God by this point, upset over it all, thus targeting Brown and the Church, demanding that he be cleansed of all Sins in the eye of the Church.

The Church could have stopped them from killing his father, and he demands Brown to agree to that, which he does. The entire event was simply Flambeau needing to be acknowledged by the Father for what had happened. In the end he escaped the law and got away, assumed dead.

We also find out from his accent that he is from Champagne-Ardenne in Northeastern France.

The Mysteries of the Rosary: (S02E05)
We see much more of the man in this episode, as he has a very high interest in religious relics, and the subject of the story is about an ancient Rosary that has been lost for five hundred years. The rosary is made of Emeralds and pearls and is invaluable. It is said that those who held it were able to cure all ailments and heal all wounds. Even Father Brown was expecting to run into Flambeau on this case, only because it sounded like the kind of thing he would want to steal.

When Flambeau does show up, he states that he’s turned over a new leaf and was actually hired by the Vatican to help look for the Rosary. That he was interested in working WITH the Father to investigate. While all of the Father’s friends warn him that Flambeau is still a villian and is clearly lying and can not be trusted, Father Brown is one to always see the good in people. He is still very firm on the idea that the man can be saved.

As the adventure goes on we find out that he is indeed lying to the Father and just wants the rosary because it’s an interesting challenge and a priceless religious relic. Even then the Father works with him to search for it. When they find it, the true bad guy shows up to fight them for it. Flambeau takes a bullet to the arm, grabs the rosary and runs just as the Police show up, escaping with the relic.

In the end he shows up to the church and asks for help and sanctuary from the Father, who does bandage him up. You can see that the Father is still trying to figure this man out. He tries not to harm people, but he will betray them, but then return to them as if seeing forgiveness, yet he wants none. He says he is a Darkness where the Father is Light. He tells the Father to forget his salvation, for he is too far gone for that.

Leaving in a rush at that, the Father chases him but can not find him. Flambeau left the priceless rosary hanging on the mans bike outside, where he knew the Father would find it. Yet again giving up his fortune for the Challenge only.

The Judgement of Man: (S03E10)
In 1943, while the Germans were rounding up the Jewish, a deal was made by a man to take the holy art found in homes in order to sell them later for a high price. Some of these paintings were bought by the Vatican years ago.

The holy painting “The Judgement of Man” was put on display by the very man who made a cheap deal back in the war. It was insured for one million pounds. Flambeau is determined to steal that painting just to ruin this man. As he tells the Father “Sometimes it is personal.”

We find that Flambeau was dating a woman named Rebecca at that time. Her father owned the painting that was taken. When it was taken her father and mother were herded off to camps where both died painfully and separated from each other. Rebecca too was torn from Flambeau’s arms and sent to a camp. He thought she died there.

His ingenious plan to get the painting almost works, though Father Brown did foil that for him in the very end, just barely outsmarting the thief this time.

The Daughter of Autolycus: (S04E05)
In 1931, Flambeau had a Daughter named Marianne Delacroix. Deciding that she would be better off not being around him he sent money to the mother several times a year, assuring that his daughter had all the chances in the world to live a full and comfortable life. All he asked was a photograph of her each year. Marianne grew up to be a very well educated and surprisingly brilliant young woman, who actually figured out her her mysterious benefactor was. Her father. She found as much information on him, but never reached out to him.

A man named Nero Hound too learned that Flambeau had a daughter. Having a score to settle with the famous Thief he kidnaps his daughter from Oxford and sends him a picture, requesting a jewel to be brought to him for her life.

That Jewel is a blessed cross from the pope himself, being sent to the Queen as a royal gift. Being transported by two Bishops and a royal guard, it has a long presession across the country before it’s gifted to her Royal Majesty.

Unable to steal it on his own he asks Father Brown to assist him in the crime by simply not turning him in. Unfortunately Father Brown already warned the police about Flambeau being around. When the Father finds out that the man's Daughter is in danger, he gets his friends to make an unlikely group of people to try and take it. Surprised by the help, he actually seems grateful.

There are a lot of mishaps on the way to getting it, but in the end Father Brown comes through for him. Hound is taken down and tied up, Flambeau is shot and wounded, his daughter is interested in knowing him, and Father Brown is determined to save this girl from Flambeau. Reminding the man of what he is, he pleads for him to turn over a new leaf and spare his daughter. Instead, he and his daughter drive off together.

He does stop however, when he realizes how much she is looking forward to working WITH him, thieving like he does for a living. He stops the car, tells her to get out at gunpoint, and rejects her to try and save her his type of life. As he leaves with the cross he stops later to check it. In the end the girl kept the cross and turned it in to help Father Brown, and Flambeau drives off laughing at how his daughter outsmarted him.

In this episode we learn about what year the series takes place, as this is for the Queen of England's coronation, which historically took place in 1953, putting a year to the series at last. With that in mind and his daughter being born in 1931 and taking the actors age into account, I’ve used it to claim he’s 45 years old and born in 1907. (Year and age for RP purposes)

The Penitent Man: (S05E15)
Flambeau is captured and put into prison, accused of Murder! While there his sentence is to be hung as soon as possible, so of course he’s allowed confession. He requests Father Brown to come and hear him out.

When the Father gets there he reveals he allowed himself to get caught. The whole thing is a farce. The man was never murdered and he needed to get into the Prison in order to find some lost treasure hidden away by the original architect. A holy amulet. Father Brown thinks this is a terrible idea, but it’s clear that he is intrigued to help find this amulet.

In order to clear his name of the murder, the ‘murdered’ man is supposed to step up before the hanging and say he was just missing and his wife didn’t see what she thought. However, his wife murders her husband anyhow and demands to Flambeau to get the coin and give it to her in order to be freed. Thus Father Brown and his trusty group of friends have to solve the REAL murder before time is too late.

They find the coin in the confessional of the prison, and with Father Brown as his hostage, he outsmarts the guards and warden and escapes through the sewers with Brown and another man. In the end he escapes from prison with the medallion only to be shot and sent over into a ravine. It was later revealed that he survived with the coin took the bullet for him. He sends it in the mail to Father Brown, saying it was worthless to him now.

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I will be bringing Flambeau into the game from around the time after he escapes but before he drops the package into the mail for the Father.