Sonja Hemphill

Arol wrote:Hey, my impressions of Hemphill came from On Basilisk Station, where she came across as a opinionated egomaniac who had to have her own way, come what may and no matter who got hurt.

Probably worth noting: she never actually appeared in OBS, and even in OBS it was explicitly mentioned that Janacek was behind banishing Honor to Basilisk, not Hemphill.

roseandheather wrote:

Arol wrote:
Can’t say that I’m great fan of Hemphill.
Am presently re-reading the series, and have reached Field of Dishonor, and the Young court martial deliberation.
“…I will not vote to convict Lord Young of the capital charges against him, Sir…Whether he was legally within his rights to refuse Lady Harrington’s orders, or whether he was bound by his understanding of the situation to accept them is immaterial to that decision.
At the same time, I will not allow a man like Lord Young to escape punishment…Whether the legal right or wrong of his actions, they were inexcusable….”
In that one brief statement she’s shown herself not only to be totally untrustworthy; in that she’s broken her oath to be impartial and apolitical, but also a bad officer, in that she showed no consideration at all of the servicemen killed when Young turned tail.
I recall from my first read that DW rehabilitates her, in a later conversation with Honor, also with her innovative skill.

David Weber doesn't agree with you.

I'm not so sure that Sonja Hemphill needed rehabilitation. Consider this in a completely objective manner ...

At the turn of the 20th Century PD, Admiral Hemphill led the second school of tactical thought called jeune ecole, which theorized that the growing number of better weapons and technology would make the traditionalist view outdated and outmoded. With Admiral Hemphill's cousin (Admiral Janacek) as First Lord of Admiralty, the jeune ecoles were able to be in the top Navy positions. In particular, Admiral Hemphill received the chairwomanship of the Weapons Development Board, the body which oversees and directs all research and development for the RMN.

Consider human nature. Did she get that position via nepostism? Is she qualified? Does she belong? Is she right for the position? How many of her colleagues entertained those thoughts? Before Sonja and the jeune ecole's there was the traditional way of doing things. It was tried and true. Along comes an unproven quantity in the form of Hemphill who wants to depart from traditional thinking in favor of a completely different paradigm.

Opposing Hemphill is none other than Hamish Alexander, spearheading the traditionalist school of tactical thought in direct contention with Hemphill's jeune ecole. Hamish Alexander's thoughts had to have carried significant weight, being that he was the premiere tactician of the Kingdom.

Yet Hemphill had a vision, a vision to completely redefine tactical doctrine and warfare. Her thinking was radical, yet she believed in herself and her direction of R&D. Can you imagine Officer's Mess, social events and gatherings? I'm sure she took a beating. She had to don an egotistic air about herself to survive. She could not afford, the Star Kingdom could not afford, for Sonja Hemphill to become unsure about herself. She persevered. Perhaps there was a few false starts but her visions were instrumental to the Star Kingdom achieving victory. Even Honor had to get in Hamish's arse over his illogical resistance to change.

I can imagine the things said about her. She probably shed more than a few tears. She found strength in adversity.

Shannon had to endure State Sec. Sonja had to endure the state of traditionalists.

Perhaps the fact that she was drop dead gorgeous didn't make it easy to take her seriously.

She was a strikingly beautiful woman, with golden blonde hair and blue-green eyes.

Sonja is yet another of the characters I want to wrap up in an enormous hug. She's so terribly misunderstood and I love her so freaking much!!

(Seriously if I can't work for Estelle I would cheerfully go work for Sonja instead. No arm-twisting or bribery required. Especially if it got me a ground-floor look at the blossoming relationship between her and a particular Havenite tac witch...)

It really doesn't hurt that in my mind, she's played by Elizabeth Mitchell. Who is not exactly shortchanged in the gorgeous department, if you catch my drift.

roseandheather wrote:Sonja is yet another of the characters I want to wrap up in an enormous hug. She's so terribly misunderstood and I love her so freaking much!!

(Seriously if I can't work for Estelle I would cheerfully go work for Sonja instead. No arm-twisting or bribery required. Especially if it got me a ground-floor look at the blossoming relationship between her and a particular Havenite tac witch...)

It really doesn't hurt that in my mind, she's played by Elizabeth Mitchell. Who is not exactly shortchanged in the gorgeous department, if you catch my drift.

Yeah some of my dreams involving the honorverse involve me becoming some of my favorite Tabletop Scifi RPG characters and working with Sonja on a successor to the Rolands. (A lot of my Scfi RPG characters are naval officers who are as skilled at engineering or designing starships as they are at commanding them or better at engineering and design. Now if only there was an honorverse Tabletop RPG.)

Roguevictory wrote:

roseandheather wrote:Sonja is yet another of the characters I want to wrap up in an enormous hug. She's so terribly misunderstood and I love her so freaking much!!

(Seriously if I can't work for Estelle I would cheerfully go work for Sonja instead. No arm-twisting or bribery required. Especially if it got me a ground-floor look at the blossoming relationship between her and a particular Havenite tac witch...)

It really doesn't hurt that in my mind, she's played by Elizabeth Mitchell. Who is not exactly shortchanged in the gorgeous department, if you catch my drift.

Yeah some of my dreams involving the honorverse involve me becoming some of my favorite Tabletop Scifi RPG characters and working with Sonja on a successor to the Rolands. (A lot of my Scfi RPG characters are naval officers who are as skilled at engineering or designing starships as they are at commanding them or better at engineering and design. Now if only there was an honorverse Tabletop RPG.)

I have actually dreamed myself into the Honorverse at least once. (The contents of said dream are between me, my heart, and Augustus Khumalo. )

The beautiful thing about it is that it's somewhere I can go in my imagination whenever I like, whether I have copies of the books with me or not, because the characters are so embedded in my mind now.

But I hear that MWW was a gaming master in a previous life - perhaps you should chat with him about that??

When the Saganami Island Tactical Simulator came out I hoped an RPG would follow since to be the setting seems perfect for one, and has all of the information I think would be needed for to make an RPG and than some. Since it never happened though I'm guessing there's some very good reason not to that I'm missing.

Perhaps after the movie comes out or with it coming they'll change their minds though.

roseandheather wrote:Sonja is yet another of the characters I want to wrap up in an enormous hug. She's so terribly misunderstood and I love her so freaking much!!

(Seriously if I can't work for Estelle I would cheerfully go work for Sonja instead. No arm-twisting or bribery required. Especially if it got me a ground-floor look at the blossoming relationship between her and a particular Havenite tac witch...)

It really doesn't hurt that in my mind, she's played by Elizabeth Mitchell. Who is not exactly shortchanged in the gorgeous department, if you catch my drift.

Can I watch?

Roguevictory wrote:When the Saganami Island Tactical Simulator came out I hoped an RPG would follow since to be the setting seems perfect for one, and has all of the information I think would be needed for to make an RPG and than some. Since it never happened though I'm guessing there's some very good reason not to that I'm missing.

Perhaps after the movie comes out or with it coming they'll change their minds though.

All my RPG characters tended to be like Captain Zemet in action and thought. I miss those days. I can never find a good DM or GM anymore I would love to play one of Sonja's henchmen.

namelessfly wrote:

roseandheather wrote:Sonja is yet another of the characters I want to wrap up in an enormous hug. She's so terribly misunderstood and I love her so freaking much!!

(Seriously if I can't work for Estelle I would cheerfully go work for Sonja instead. No arm-twisting or bribery required. Especially if it got me a ground-floor look at the blossoming relationship between her and a particular Havenite tac witch...)

It really doesn't hurt that in my mind, she's played by Elizabeth Mitchell. Who is not exactly shortchanged in the gorgeous department, if you catch my drift.

Can I watch?

For God's sake, nameless, we've been over this before!

Only if you leave me space at the window!!

Yow wrote:

Roguevictory wrote:When the Saganami Island Tactical Simulator came out I hoped an RPG would follow since to be the setting seems perfect for one, and has all of the information I think would be needed for to make an RPG and than some. Since it never happened though I'm guessing there's some very good reason not to that I'm missing.

Perhaps after the movie comes out or with it coming they'll change their minds though.

All my RPG characters tended to be like Captain Zemet in action and thought. I miss those days. I can never find a good DM or GM anymore I would love to play one of Sonja's henchmen.

Mine tend to be much saner than Zemet though I did have a renegade admiral/starship designer who developed multiple personalities after being exiled and nearly executed by a nation whose military his family had served for centuries because he refuse to support the political candidate the rest of high command favored and destroying a ship from a mutinous fleet that was attacking his flagship.

Very few knew this though because the alter saw himself as a protector of the original personality and most of the few who were close to him before his exile and stayed in touch with him never interacted with the alter. personality,