My essay

Dan Tersigni
12-13-2010

The Fall and Rise of Count Gavin

For all of you Star Wars fans (like myself) out there, you might have noticed how important it is for the main character in the movies to change. Take Anakin Skywalker for example. He starts out as a Jedi and goes to the dark side. Like Anakin, Gavin, one of the main characters in this book, has also changed. By the end of the Blood Red Horse, by K.M. Grant, Gavin has changed from a brat to a loving brother.

In the beginning of the Blood Red Horse, Gavin is described as a big fat brat. For example, Gavin threw Will in the horse trough after he said that Will was a flea on a dragon. Gavin almost kills Hosanna by running him to the ground. He doesn’t think about anybody but himself.

During the Crusades, Gavin also acts like a brat. Gavin has one of the women from Acre read one of Will’s letters and pronounce their dad’s name. “How dare you allow one of those women to read Ellie’s letter and pronounce our father’s name! Get out, get out before I punch you!” (pg. 135) Gavin disrespects his dead father and humiliates Will by associating with the people of Acre, their enemies. Gavin also spends all of his spare time gambling and drinking and losing his horses…… he is an idiot!

However, Gavin changes from a brat to a loving brother. He loses his arm protecting Will and at the end of the book he says, “I give you William, Earl of Ravensgarth, a true earl, a true brother, and a true son to our father.”(pg. 276) This statement shows that Gavin has changed.

While Gavin is a brat at the beginning of the book, he changes to a loving brother by the end. Just the opposite of the Star Wars’ hero, Gavin changes from Darth Vader to Anakin Skywalker: “from light to dark, rise to fall and back again.”(jacket cover, The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader) Change is important because it lets us grow in many ways.