Tracking down Marcus's bracelets

[sidleypkhermit]

I guess this is an ideal post for the comm, since tumblr kept glitching and refusing to reblog this post with my best guesses at answering the costuming questions! So, Ben Daniels gave us a close-up of his wrist getting the character tattoo drawn on. As Jez points out, he tagged #stbenedict, suggesting that that's the saint shown on his silver medallion.

In the full tweet, he's also tagged the Twitter account of M. Cohen Designs and Laura Downes Jewellery. It looks like the blue beads (with what Jez identifies as a Greek evil eye in the middle) are from this Laura Downes collection. For the US costume hunter, I've seen lookalikes of this style at Michaels craft stores for a couple bucks.

The piece above the blue beads is a little trickier, but:



Sharpening the image of the zipper-looking chain thing, I believe what we're looking at is the Woven Double Stack Mini Skull Bracelet, available to the public for a mere $450. The skull, of course, is a timeless symbol of mortality and reminder to the pious that human life is transitory and only the divine is eternal. Where and from whom Father Marcus picked up a $450 goth designer bracelet -- apparently between seasons 1 and 2 -- is an exercise for the reader.

Comments

[starrylizard]

This rocks! Thanks! Do you know what the tattoo means by any chance?

[theexorcistmod]

I think the tattoo is a barrel of a gun. Not sure what it is supposed to mean, maybe that Marcus is God's loaded gun? Or something similar?

[starrylizard]

Ooh I like that idea. :-)

[theexorcistmod]

According to people on the discord, it was mentioned in one of the episodes in season 1:) Oh, and it should be that he's the Church's smoking gun.

[sidleypkhermit]

Could it also be related to his parents' death? He says to Peter that he sees that when he closes his eyes -- his father murdering his mother, and then his seven-year-old self killing the dad with his own hunting rifle. I think that moment is so foundational and ever-present for him, that's the first thing I would associate with his gun barrel tattoo.

But I think it can be both, and maybe more. (I'd definitely be interested to hear more of what you mean by the "smoking gun".)

[theexorcistmod]

I think the smoking gun thing was mentioned in one of the episodes, but I'm not sure, I need a re-watch and a notepad to go with it, lol.

My personal theory for the smoking gun is about how the demon in 1x10 baited Marcus, telling him that the church just used him to kill, that practically Marcus was a hired gun and that he didn't have any problem with that. The exact words are:

"Why do you think the church took you in? Because of your potential? Or because they saw a scared, troubled child, and knew that all it would take was one little push to make you kill and kill again?"
"It didn't take much convincing."
"That's your legacy."

So maybe Marcus sees it the same way?

[sidleypkhermit]

Oh, true. Wait, somewhere he actually calls himself "the gun". Here we go:

"You know what I felt? Relief. ‘Cause for the first time in my brief but very long life, I had a purpose. I was the gun, and the Church was the hand, and the words were true."

That really gets me in the feels. He always saw himself as an instrument. Now in S2 he's starting to get a chance to open up and to want things as a person... But that brings its own challenges.

[jezrana]

Thanks for putting this together! You reminded me I meant to look up what Benedict is patron of--turns out it's a lot, but among other things he's the patron of people in religious orders and protection against witchcraft. The traditional Benedict medal also apparently includes Latin initials for phrases like "Let not the dragon be my overlord" and "Begone Satan, do not suggest to me thy vanities". So, overall, a very appropriate saint and medal for an exorcist to be wearing.

As for the evil eye, my main association with it is charms sold by the Greek Orthodox church near me, but it's a thing in a bunch of different cultures. I wonder if it was picked for Marcus just because of its association with protection against evil, or if there's a particular story behind how he got it.

No ideas on the skull bracelet except that maybe it's a gift or a memento. The thought just occurred to me that maybe it belonged to one of the Regos (although I can't recall either of them wearing a bracelet) and now I made myself sad.

[sidleypkhermit]

The thought just occurred to me that maybe it belonged to one of the Regos (although I can't recall either of them wearing a bracelet) and now I made myself sad.

Oh noooo now I'm sad too. T_T