InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "ask me how I am..."

littleproblem (littleproblem) wrote,
@ 2010-08-04 02:59:00

NORTON, IRENE.

...And I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, Very truly yours,
IRENE NORTON, née ADLER.

CHARACTER.
CHARACTER'S FULL NAME: Miss Irene Adler. Mrs Irene Norton. The Woman.
BOOKVERSE: "A Scandal in Bohemia", from the Sherlock Holmes Collection.
AUTHOR: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

CHARACTER HISTORY: Irene Adler was born and raised in a small home in New Jersey in the year 1858. She grew up as an only child and her parents doted on her right from the start. They took great care in educating her into the perfect young woman: a healthy dose of both male and female education. She was tutored at home by both of her parents: her mother, the housewife, and her father, the lawyer. Her mother taught her how to read and write, mend clothes, do her hair and importantly, how to love. Her father taught her the importance of politics, philosophy and how to keep her cards close. She had piano and singing lessons starting from an early age, which inspired her to become a world-famous actress and opera singer. At the fresh age of eighteen, she began training as an actress and acquired multiple opera positions, attaining her childhood dream well into her mid-twenties, when she spontaneously decided to retire from the opera world and move to London.

Prior to that move, she spent her days in Warsaw as a member of the Imperial Opera and it was during this time that she made the acquaintance of Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond vom Ormstein, King of Bohemia; the twenty-five-year-old woman immediately won him over with her adventurous nature and her wit, which rivaled that of any man. She and Wilhelm (whom she fondly called Will) became lovers and following their secretive dalliance, she moved to London and took their private letters and a photographic keepsake of her time with the King: a very incriminating photograph. When King Wilhelm decided to marry the second daughter of the King of Scandinavia, a delicate flower of a girl by the name of Clothilde, he sought to steal the letters and photograph from Irene; she was the victim of multiple attacks: her home was ransacked, her luggage stolen while traveling, and often detained and searched. Wilhelm could not get them back from the clever Irene, so he hired Sherlock Holmes to acquire the photograph and letters from Irene.

She lived very quietly in London and only brought herself out to do her usual activities: singing at concerts, driving out at five every day (usually to see her beau, Godfrey Norton) and return promptly at seven for dinner. Norton visited her every day at least once. She met Godfrey Norton through a mutual friend and though it took some time for her to see Godfrey as a romantic identity, she realized very quickly that she had never wanted somebody like King Wilhelm. She realized that she didn't want some torrid love affair, but she wanted safety and security, which is what she had with Godfrey, who was dedicated to her and very loving. One day, Godfrey stormed into her place and they had a quick discussion: Godfrey wanted to marry, and now. Irene knew there was nothing to lose and everything to gain, so the two took separate cars to Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road, where the couple would be married.

Irene first met Sherlock on the occasion of her marriage, a shotgun occasion that took place one March morning. Unknowing of his true identity, she and her gentleman friend, lawyer Godfrey Norton, implored the disguised Holmes to serve as best man and witness to their civil ceremony. He acquiesced, and followed them to a place where the newly married couple parted ways, and then followed Irene to her home in St. John's Wood, a quaint little place called Briony Lodge on Serpentine Avenue.

Irene was actually at home when she once again met the ineffable Sherlock Holmes. Initially, she was tricked by his clever disguises but it was only when she realized she had revealed the secret location of the forbidden photograph that she had been duped by the cleverest detective in England. Though she was unduly impressed by the manner in which Sherlock had deceived her, she also realized what it was that Sherlock wanted, and packed up her possessions fled England with her husband, Godfrey Norton, never to return.

And thus Sherlock Holmes met the wittiest woman he would ever encounter.

CHARACTER APPEARANCE: Though she is hardly described in terms of her beauty, we can discern that Irene is a natural beauty, having the talent to "turn all the men's heads" merely in passing them by. She's described as dainty, a lovely woman, "with a face that a man might die for." Irene Adler possesses her father's dark, wavy hair (which she almost always keeps up in pins or a fashionable hat) and her mother's soft, womanly features. Of average height befitting a woman, she manages to deter any attention as she wishes, and command a room's concentration. She's small, but not frail, and though her voice is soft, she was once an actress and is capable of projecting her voice when need be.

CHARACTER PERSONALITY: Irene is a beautiful creature with more grace and kindness than Holmes initially suspected she might possess. For all of her beauty and delicacy, she is a cunning and very clever woman. She knows who to manipulate and how to manipulate them; she bested Sherlock Holmes, who had never before been bested by a woman, and it is for this reason that she has earned his lifelong respect. She has a social grace and a woman's wit superior to most men, and it is only her "low station" in life that prevented her from possibly becoming Queen of Bohemia. King Wilhelm admires her tenacity, cleverness and diplomacy. He calls her quick and resolute, and having "a soul of steel" and these are certainly not incorrect assessments. Irene possesses a quiet stateliness, but all the same she is intellectual and capable of stimulating conversation; she can be quite wordy when she wants to be. She's bright and quick on the uptake, and once she's set her mind to something, she follows through with it, and always keeps her word ("Her word is inviolate").

Holmes scorns the passionate nature of human, but Irene is fully capable of embracing it. It is her passion that attracted King Wilhelm back in 1883, and she has not changed in that aspect. She considers her time with King Wilhelm a precious memory that she would rather hold onto and, if she needs, she may use it as a weapon to protect herself. The fact that she protected the photograph for so long after the relationship harks to her nature as a woman: Holmes knew she considered this photograph her most treasured possession and relied upon her feminine nature to reveal the photograph's location. Despite being as careful, quiet and secretive as she was, Irene cannot shed her womanly nature, which is her ultimate weakness.

MISC.
CANON TIMELINE: Years after the events of "A Scandal in Bohemia".
AGE/BIRTHDATE: 30 /
ZODIAC:
OCCUPATION & POSITION: Refugee Liaison; Canon Corps.
SEXUALITY: Heterosexual.
HOME:
FAMILY: Mother and a father.
SKILLS:
ALIASES: Mrs Norton, Ms Adler
CONTACTS:
AMERICA:
Godfrey Norton, husband.
Mr Adler, father.
Mrs Adler, mother.

EUROPE:
King Wilhelm

OTHER:
Matilda Wormwood, CC director.