#And about Crozier's initial lack of involvement in Hartnell's redemption too

[saints-who-never-existed]

I've been chewing on this wonderful post for days now. It's taken me that long to figure out what I want to say about it and what I want to say actually concerns Crozier more than Fitzjames.

To be more specific, it's that final line concerning the two of them - "Fitzjames is not truly loved by the people he surrounds himself with in the same way Crozier is." - that's been rattling around in my head most of all. And I think it's been rattling around so consistently because I don't know that I believe it to be true.

I think Crozier shares many of the same flaws that Fitzjames has - that misplaced trust, that naivety, that misjudgement of character. And I don't believe, in the end, that he's truly loved by the people he surrounds himself with all that much more than Fitzjames is.

Now, that's not to say that Crozier is not loved and trusted by those around him... Blanky loves and trusts Crozier to the ends of the earth. Jopson is so devoted to him that'll he'll drag himself through agonies and hells both real and imagined just to get near to him. And Crozier has the love and staunch loyalty of good boys like Hartnell too.

But at a base functional level, the love that Crozier gets is no better than that which Fitzjames does, even if that love is truer and more plentiful, generally speaking.

It's still fleeting and it still doesn't make a difference in the end.

Crozier's abandonment to his fate is still proposed and discussed just like it was for Fitzjames but whereas in Fitzjames' case the idea is quashed immediately, in Crozier's it's actually followed through on.

Little protests in Crozier's favour, of course, but I think it's very telling, very damning even, that he speaks practically rather than personally as he does so. He mentions Crozier's leadership, his knowledge of the land and the Netsilik tongue but says nothing of the man's character.

Even staunchly loyal Little doesn't want to save Crozier because he truly loves him. He wants to save Crozier because he needs him and that's not the same thing at all.

In my opinion Dundy’s entire role in the narrative is to draw attention to Fitzjames being a poor judge of character, or rather, valuing and prioritizing a kind of relationship that would serve him in the Civilized World that falls apart as the men start to shed their ties to England to focus on survival. It’s interesting to me that historically Fitzjames handpicked the Erebus lieutenants— it seems a smart move for a voyage to a dangerous remote location to surround yourself with people you like and trust, so you’d expect that the people Fitzjames picked would remain loyal to him until the end. But that isn’t what happens. If you accept that Dundy was leading Little in the conversation where he first proposes leaving the sick behind (and Little does look at Dundy several times as though they’ve previously discussed this) Dundy was willing to leave Fitzjames behind to die when he was sick. Kinda cold given the length of their knowing each other and Fitzjames’ campaigning to get him his position. But it makes sense that a relationship built on mutual self-interest would crumble under the weight of individual survival needs.

I also keep thinking about Fitzjames suggesting Des Voeux as somebody they can trust during “Terror Camp Clear”. Des Voeux??? Really??? But he’s another one of the ones Fitzjames handpicked. There’s a naiveté to it, the assumption that the mutual self interest, this “I got you a job so now you’re loyal to me”, is the same as legitimate trust or friendship. It’s Fitzjames’ first “more than god loves them” at Franklin all over again, his misplaced belief that what will get them through this is the same thing that got them into this, the hierarchy and political connections between people. In the end, for all that he’s charming and politically successful, Fitzjames is not truly loved by the people he surrounds himself with in the same way Crozier is.