Edward Fairfax Rochester

00I. full name Edward Fairfax Rochester
0II. canon or original Jane Eyre
III. years of age 39
0IV. orientation (optional) Straight
00V. social status High Class or Elite. He owns an airline, so I don't know where that would put him on the social status scale exactly XP Yols can decide where she wants him ^^
0VI. occupation CEO of British Airways

00I. play by Liam Neeson
0II. body type Edward is average-to-tall, but athletically built; broad in the chest and shoulders from playing lots of rugby as a teenager.
III. height 5'10
0IV. eyes color A very dark brown, almost black, but not a dead sort of colour. Edwards eyes often reflect his very passionate and emotional personality.

00V. description Edward comes from money, owns an airline, and thus dresses like money (expensive suits and all), though he does so with disdain. He feels it was the desire to keep up the family fortune and the social status that made his father and his brother push him into a disastrous first marriage. So, while he dresses the part, he dislikes it greatly, and it shows in his physical demeanor. His posture is very closed off, and face always seems stuck in a scowl, though most of his employees will tell you that he's quite reasonable, even kind, though emotionally distant in all other respects.


After a fire destroyed his home (Thornfield Manor), Edward was left permanently scarred, with burns over his face down to his left arm. His eyes and left arm were badly hurt when a plank of would fell on him as he was trying to make his way out of the burning mansion, and he now has minimal periphery vision and is missing his pinkie and ring finger. As a result, he keeps both hands in black leather gloves at all times (the left has the pinkie and ring fingers stuffed so no will notice the injury to the hand). Because of his physical injuries, Edwards tends to shy away from human sight or contact. He keeps his face and hand turned away from people or, stays in the shadows, if there are shadows to be found. Even before the fire, Edward wasn't exactly a handsome man, but his features were regular, if plain, and though he didn't really consider himself good-looking in any respect, he at least didn't detest it, as he does now with what it has become.

00I. overall personality Edward is gruff, sarcastic and sardonic. He doesn't like suck-ups, gold-diggers, and people who feign compliments to get people to like them, and he makes sure they know that, with a short but cutting remark and silent dismissal of that person. He's also a very emotional man and has heavy mood swings that often turn most people off. He's had a lot of trouble in his life, and this translated into some self-loathing and a strong to desire to stay away from Thornfield's oppressive atmosphere and the memories that always make him so miserable.

Despite his moodiness and general unaproachability, Edward is a good man, fair and generous, and people who know him will whole-heartedly vouch for him if asked. Edward wanted to be nothing like the father and brother he had no love for, and strove to become a different man from them, to distance himself from their legacy. He is also honest and bound by duty and obligation. If he has promised something to someone, it will get done, guaranteed.

0II. strengths Edward can see easily through people and their pretensions. He is also fair and honest, and honour-bound to keep promises. These traits make him a good businessman, but not a cruel or greedy one.
III. weaknesses He is moody, and quick to anger. His bursts of temper or severe depression are almost bipolar in nature, and often frighten people. Needless to say, his temper in general is very short.
0IV. goals Rochester just wants to start his life again after the fire basically wiped everything clean for him. Most of all, he wants to get his Jane back.

00I. notable family & friends Most of Edward's immediate family are dead. His mother, Elizabeth died in childbirth just after he was born, and his father and Brother (Richard Sr. and Jr.) died when he was in his twenties. He had a wife, Anette Mason, who died in the fire that left him scarred, and a young ward, Adele, the daughter of a lounge singer he had an affair with who abandoned the child with him claiming she was his daughter. Rochester has taken care for the girl ever since, but he has never bothered to verify the girl's parentage. It didn't matter much to him, and she seemed too different from him to be his daughter, bright and and fair in appearance where he is dark and brooding. His only other "family" is Jane Eyre, a tutor of Adele's with whom he fell in love, though she left him after she discovered his "secrets".

0II. overall history Edward was born in London, the second son of Elizabeth and Richard Rochester. His brother, Richard Jr. was 12 years old. Elizabeth's pregnancy was unexpected, and at 39, it proved a very difficult nine months for both mother and child, and she died from complications after the birth, leaving Edward in the care of his father and brother. Edward's childhood was normal and uneventful, for the son of the vice president of British Airways (he'd worked his way up the corporate ladder as a young man). He became the CEO of the airline when Edward was just four years old, and Richard Jr. was immediately set to be groomed to succeed his father. Edward, meanwhile, went to good private schools, and attended a prestigious boarding school for his high school years, though wasn't expected to follow his father and brother, being just the second son. Nonetheless, Edward graduated high school with honours and attended Oxford, doing a business degree.

Towards the end of his fourth year, Edward was taken to Jamaica by his father and brother over Christmas, where he met one of his father's business associates, Roger Mason, and Mason's daughter, Annette. Annette was intelligent and beautiful, and Edward fell for her quickly. Both families were thrilled, and they were married a year and a half later. The marriage was a happy one at the beginning as the spent their time on Annette's family estate in Jamaica, but it quickly became apparent that she had serious mental health issues. Annette admitted to Edward in private that she had been diagnosed schizophrenic as a teenager, and that it was a hereditary condition on her mother's side of the family. Her family as well as his had chosen to keep the diagnosis from him in the hopes that their union would form stronger business ties between the two families. The medication that Annette had been on up until that time was starting to lose its effectiveness. Before Edward could confront his father and brother about their deceit, they were killed when their private jet crashed on their way to a business meeting in Russia. So Edward, not yet 30, was left the sole heir to the family fortune and new CEO of British Airways. Unwilling to abandon Annette in a psychiatric facility, he furnished the attic at Thornfield manor for her and hired a live in nurse to take care of her. This was all done in secret to prevent "crazy woman" rumours from spreading around the now defenseless Annette.

Thornfield became almost unbearable for Edward with all its secrets, so he threw himself into his work running the airline, taking any excuse to travel, spending as little time at home as possible. He also went through several short lived affairs with pretty girls who took his mind off of his problems. One of these girls was Celine Veron, a Parisian lounge singer to whom Edward became very attached to. He let himself believe she cared for him, until the night he caught flirting with another man, telling him that her current lover was "Ugly, but very rich, and very inclined to spend it on me." Angry, and full of self-loathing, Edward took a flight back to London the next night, leaving her a note wishing her luck with her new beau. A little over 5 years later, Celine came to Thornfield with a young child, stating that it was Edward's and that she could no longer care for the child properly. Not really sure if she was speaking true or not, Edward agreed to take the child regardless, and Adele began living at Thornfield. She proved a flighty, spoiled child who reminded Edward nothing of himself or his family. He considered that Celine had lied to him about Adele's parentage, but he did not particularly care. The child had been left to him, and he would see it it that she was cared for properly. When Adele turned 10, and it was clear that school life was not suiting her well, Edward decided to hire a tutor over the summer to help her.

And so, Jane Eyre came to stay at Thornfield. Honest and plainspoken, Edward was drawn to her, and he considered her his kindred soul, someone like him, unable and unwilling to hide behind pretenses. They talked often, and Jane proved intelligent, and more than able to keep up with him. He fell in love with her, and, after a very elaborate plot, he and Jane agreed to marry. However, on the wedding day, Annette's brother interrupted the service to reveal his sister's existence. Edward had no choice but to tell Jane the truth, after which she left, unable to continue living with him in what was pretty much an adulterous relationship. Rochester became despondent after she left. He shut himself away whenever he was not working, and sent Adele away to a boarding school for the year.

Six months after Jane left, a fire destroyed the manor and Edward was badly injured. He was attempting to rescue Annette, who had started the fire and had ended up on the top floor balcony. When she saw Edward approaching, she jumped and was killed instantly. Edward then attempted to make his way out of the burning building, but the stair case collapsed under him, and a beam landed on his face. He recuperated for another year before coming across an article in the Times about Jane's new-found success as an artist in New York. It was then that he decided to fly down there and find her for himself.


III. sample post

Edward watched the sky float past him through the window of his jet. In his good hand he clutched the article he had cut out from the Times. It was what had revitalized him after the fire, set him on this journey across the ocean to New York.

He was like a little boy on Christmas day, the morning he read that little snippet in Entertainment column about a young emerging painter from England making a name for herself in the galleries of New York.

"Jane, ah Jane. You would become so successful. You with your pathetic church-mouse modesty, taking awards and praise from people who get paid to make or break you." Edward smiled wistfully to himself, trying to imagine the modest little art tutor running in high-class circles, cavorting with egos that would have crushed her if she hadn't been such an intelligent little minx.

"Well." he thought to himself, "Hopefully the girl will realize that anyone with half a mind would give her unmitigated praise, and she should expect nothing less from them." He shut his as the clouds merged into fuzzy blobs passing through his shot periphery vision, and slept for the remainder of the flight into JFK airport.

"Sir," a voice urged him awake as he felt his ears popping. "We're about land sir, should I gather your bags?" It was his steward, who had insisted on coming down with him to New York City. Edward stretched and sat up in his chair. "No, Walter, I'll take the bags myself. I don't know how long I'll be here, so you best catch the next flight home, unless you want stay here away from your wife for as long as I fancy it.. I'll pay you for your trouble whatever you decide." Before the steward could reply, Edward slipped several hundred pound notes into his jacket pocket. It was a lot of money, but Edward was a wealthy man, and he wasn't about to force his employee to pay out of his pocket for his Master's whims. Evidently Walter agreed, and bowed out of cabin to arrange his own things while Edward got his carry-on case ready.

SYR INTEGRA of CAUTION 2.0 created this, modified by Yols with Shakespeare lines.