Fandom Overview: The Eagle (2011)

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The Eagle is a 2011 film adaption of Rosemary Sutcliff's The Eagle of the Ninth (1954). It follows centurion Marcus Aquila and his slave Esca as they go in search of a missing eagle standard.



Full Plot Summary

In 140 AD, twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland, young centurion Marcus Aquila arrives from Rome to solve the mystery and restore the reputation of his father, the commander of the Ninth. Accompanied only by his British slave Esca, Marcus sets out across Hadrian's Wall into the uncharted highlands of Caledonia - to confront its savage tribes, make peace with his father's memory, and retrieve the lost legion's golden emblem, the Eagle of the Ninth.

(courtesy of IMDB)

MAIN CHARACTERS

Marcus Flavius Aquila	Esca Mac Cunoval
Marcus is a Roman centurion. His father was in command of the Ninth Legion when it disappeared so their family name is somewhat tarnished. Because of this Marcus works very hard and takes his duties very seriously. He requests a post in Britain and takes charge of an auxillary cohort but is injured in a battle with a local tribe. Sent to recover with his Uncle, he is then medically discharged. It's after that he decides to go in search of the Ninth and the missing eagle.	Esca is from the Brigantes tribe and the son of a clan chieftain. Their clan revolted against the Romans and lost, leading to the death of the rest of his family, the all-but wiping out of his clan, and his enslavement by the Romans. He is forced to face a gladiator in games at Calleva but stoically refuses to fight. He almost dies before the spectating Marcus persuades the crowd to save him. He is then bought by Uncle Aquila to be a body slave for Marcus. He sees himself as honour-bound to serve Marcus since Marcus saved him.

SIDE CHARACTERS

Uncle Aquila	The Seal Prince	Guern
Uncle Aquila is Marcus' uncle and was a senior commander in the Roman army in his day. He has since retired to Calleva where he is a magistrate. He is very fond of Marcus and fairly supportive of his hijinks. Only the best uncles buy you slaves!	The Seal Prince is the second-in-command of the Seal People, one of the northern tribes Marcus and Esca encounter. He and his father (the chieftain) are the main antagonists of the film. He is sometimes known as Liathan, who is his equivalent in the book.	Guern was a legionary of the Ninth and served under Marcus' father. He and a small group of others survived the final battle and have since gone native. He reassures Marcus that his father went down honourably, points him in the direction of the Seal People, and help our heroes later in the film.

Cottia	Cub	Placidus
Cottia is a character from the book who disappointingly didn't make it in to the film. Luckily there is fic that corrects this oversight. She is British but lives with her Romanised aunt and uncle who try and bring her up the 'civilised' way (try being the operative word as she is not a big fan). She lives next door to Marcus & Uncle A and in the book she and Marcus get married after he returns from the North.	Cub is a wolf pup from the book that Esca brings back from a hunt for Marcus. Like Cottia he isn't invited on the great road trip up North. Yes I have uploaded and posted a picture of a wolf cub for you. You're welcome.	Placidus is a Roman tribune who rubs Marcus up the wrong way. He comes to dinner and says mean things about Marcus' dad. This inadvertently stokes Marcus' desire to go a-questing.

SHIPS

The biggest ship in this fandom is Marcus/Esca because a) the whole film is one torrid bromance and b) there are literally no female characters at all. Also semi-popular is the OT3 of Marcus/Cottia/Esca (which is basically what the book ships whether Sutcliff meant it to or not). There are also other permutations of the three of them together and Liathan turns up from time to time.

Sometimes elements of the book pop up in movie-verse fic (see: cottia, cub) but it's also worth noting that book has its own fandom so if you prefer the original canon or just want to read even more fic that is totally an option. The tags on AO3 are a bit weird, with no less than four different ones for Eagle-related stuff, but a good place to start for book!fic would probably be here.

RESOURCES

ninth_eagle (active)
eagleslave (not so active)
eagle_bigbang
eagle_rbb

The film's official site
Hilarious Pictorial Summary of the Film
The kinkmeme's delicious account (the meme itself is pretty dead)

Corrections/additions welcome :)