Portrait of a Character – Rebecca Shapiro
Rebecca Shapiro is more than just a fix for canon.
Because I had wanted to contradict canon and give Malcolm Reed a family and long-term descendants, Malcolm's son, Declan, would need a wife or at least a girlfriend or even a baby mama.
Actress, Rachel Weisz (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Rebecca is played by actress Rachel Weisz. I wanted a Jewish actress for this role, as Rebecca is somewhat traditional and is Karin and Ethan's younger daughter. Furthermore, I wanted Declan's decision to convert to her faith to be believable. I also like this actress; I think she's smart, and her choices are interesting ones.
Caring and up for anything, Rebecca is the true companion that Declan has been waiting for his entire life. His first marriage was horrific, as he explains in Faith. Rebecca is the person who heals him. In gratitude, although she never asks him to, he embraces her faith and converts to Judaism.
Declan Reed
Rebecca's only relationship is with Declan, who is about twelve years her senior. They meet at her elder sister, Alia's, Bat Mitzvah, which is a part of The Rite and referred to in Fortune. At that point, he is a young man; it's before he marries his first wife, Louise Schiller.
So after the last death in the preceding generation (Norri), Declan goes to Europe, partly to return to Oxford, where he is an artist in residence. He takes a side trip to Giverny to look at and paint Monet's water lilies. While there, he sees Rebecca and they become reacquainted.
So it's impossible for Rebecca to exist in the Mirror Universe, as Ethan does not.
"There is a saying in Judaism, let's see if I can get it right. It, um, it's that when Moses brought down the law from Mount Sinai, all of the Jews were there. Even the dead. Even the unborn, even the completely unknown and unfathomable, like Vulcan converts, and Jews from the Mirror Universe, all stretching, in a chain, through all of time. And you know something? I saw you there."
I really liked the idea of redeeming Declan in the same way that Lili redeems Malcolm, albeit sooner. I particularly enjoyed creating yet another reason why our universe and the Mirror are different – with no Ethan Shapiro on the other side of the pond, there is no Rebecca and, as a result, their deep future descendants don't exist, including Eleanor and Richard Daniels. Rebecca is the linchpin of all of that.
Review – The Rite
Portrait of a Character – Leah Benson
Review – Faith
Portrait of a Character – Linda Orenstein Shapiro
Review – Completely Hers
Portrait of a Character – Derek Kelby
Tags: Declan, Declan Reed, Ethan Shapiro, Jew, Jewish, Jews, Judaism, Karin Bernstein, Malcolm, Malcolm Reed, Star Trek, star trek fanfiction, star trek in between days, Star Trek: mirror universe, StarTrek, startrek fan fiction
Posted by jespah
Shuttlepod pilot, fan fiction writer, sentient marsupial canid.
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