#routley

I love Abijah as a villain because, one, his seemingly boundless brutality and sadism, and two, the fact that he's fully aware that he's a monster, and he's totally shameless about this.

So I'm just posting and speculating for fun. This is a small theory, but I think it would be interesting if each of the four men were from each country in the British Isles.

So we already know that Fowler is from Ireland, but we don't know about Violet's, Skeffington's, and Routley's origins aside from the fact that they're most likely from the British Isles. Usually, you can tell where someone is from by their surnames, not always, but usually; however, I don't think that will help us in this case. The reason why I don't think the mens' surnames will give clues on where they're from is because I don't think they're using their real names.

The reason I think those names are aliases rather than their actual names is due to the timeframe and historical context. There is no way around the late 16th century to early 17th century would an Irish child be named Abijah Fowler; he would have most likely been named after his paternal grandfather if he was the oldest son, and it would be an Irish Gaelic name, along with his surname also being Irish Gaelic.

It also makes sense that the men are not using their birth names as they are participating in the black market.

However, I think I can at least make an educated guess on where each the men could be from.

Violet - I think he's English, I also think he was somewhat of the leader in that group. Violet was referred to as "old Violet," which could mean he's an old friend or he was possibly very elderly, maybe the eldest out of the four men.

It would make sense if he was the eldest, considering in the flashback he seemed very easy to kill. I also want to bring up that Fowler genuinely seemed upset about Violet's death and looked like he was genuinely going to kill Mizu for it. I believe each of the four men came from harsh upbringings, like Fowler, and I think Violet was likely the first to go into that sort of black market lifestyle and took the other three men under his wing. It's likely Violet took Fowler in after he lost his sister and thought him everything he knew.

It's a bit tricky to figure out Skeffington and Routley, especially if the surnames do turn out to just be aliases. So, let's look at the names from a more metaphorical lense instead.

Skeffington - so when I do a quick Google search of the name Skeffington, its meaning has roots in the words 'sheep' and 'farmstead', which you'll find a lot of both in Wales. A bit on the nose, to be honest.

Routley - looking into the meaning of the surname, Routley was a bit more difficult as apparently to some sources, the meaning is lost, but according to ancestry, the surnames can be associated with the term 'cliff', and Scotland makes 60% of cliffs in Britain. RIP Welsh Routley theory, you will be missed

Another thing is that I believe that Skeffington will be the most sadistic, as someone on another post pointed out that Skeffington can also be referred to as Skevington, which is also the name of a torture device know as Skevington's daughter. His last name having ties to the term sheep can also be used to foreshadow his personality as a wolf in steep clothing, someone who's a mindless sheep (a blind follower), or even a sheep in wolves clothing because deep down he's a coward.

As for Routley, I can assume he's probably the youngest out of the four. Also, let's be honest, many of us believe he's either Mizu's father, or if you believe in the European mother theory, then most would believe he's at least her uncle because of the 'pretty eyes' comment. It's very likely that Routley will be the most significant target to Mizu, and he'll play a big part in season 2. Which might mean Mizu be half of

In all seriousness, it could be possible that each for four are from one of each country in the British Isles as during that time frame it could be beneficial for the group for one person to know Welsh, another to know Irish Gaelic, and another to know Scottish Gaelic. I also want to point out that, apparently, the surname Violet comes from the term 'pathway', I guess Violet painted the pathway for the other three men to join him.

just a quick theory on what the symbolism between the four white men in BES is in this photo, and what I think they will be like in season 2.

warning: spoilers for Blue Eye Samurai

What if Skeffington and Routley have families? What if one of them is a bad person turned good person, trying to atone for his sins?

When Mizu first mentions the Four White Devils she envisions them as demonic shadows and she probably doesn't expect any of them to have human emotions.

But we (the audience) already know that at least one of them has a compassionate side. And that's Fowler.

Remember how he mentioned his sister and famine in Ireland? Yes, even someone as evil as him had a loved one at some point of life. He loved his sister to the point of feeding her with his own blood to keep her alive. Actually, if you listen carefully to everything he said in episode seven, you may even reach the conclusion that his current devilish personality is not (entirely) his fault.

Which of course is NO excuse for what he does NOW (just like Taigen's dad drinking is no excuse for Taigen to act like shit - it helps us understand his behavior, but it's no excuse, not until he apologizes properly).

Anyway, whatever his motivation might be, Fowler is clearly a bad person and it makes Mizu's revenge easy in season one (from a moral point of view).

But for season two I’d like to see something different. Fowler called Skeffington and Routley “the absolute worst” and I’m on board with the idea to make them even WORSE psychos than what we’ve already seen… but it doesn’t mean their situation cannot become complicated.

Have you seen Kill Bill? If so, you might remember Vernita – that dark skinned chick the Bride murdered. Her case was really interesting, because she had a family and a KID. That didn’t earn her ANY mercy from the Bride, but from the audience’s point of view getting the bloody business done in front of the little girl was pretty savage.

Go to your room, honey! Mommy and her friend are busy trying to kill each other!

I think it would be interesting to watch in Mizu doing something simiar. And it makes perfect sense, because Fowler suggests that Skeffington and Routley are the discreet kind. You know what discreet criminals do? They blend in. And the best way to do it is to get yourself a proper wife and if you add cute kids to the formula, you’re on the highway to become the sweetheart of the society.

That would… well, maybe not STOP Mizu, but it could become the source of huge mental struggles for her. Because, yeah, destroying her maybe father, COULD result in robbing a completely innocent family of a bread provider, potentially even making them end up in the streets.

We know perfectly well that Mizu doesn’t like hurting innocent people. And she’s already had an opportunity to learn that revenge is not always easy – like in episode four, when Madame Kaji explained to her, that she cannot simply murder a powerful mob boss, because his lackeys will come and do the retaliation in form of a mass murder.

(But hey, if you are Mizu, you can always slaughter the dude’s entire army, so no worries).

So, the situation in which Skeffington or/and Routley would have a family (perhaps even Mizu’s half sibling!) could complicate things A LOT for our murderous protagonist.

And it would be even MORE interesting If one of the White Devils met her after having some sort of atonement arc. Remember: Fowler haven’t seen those dudes in ten years. At least that’s what the plot implies – though he might be in some contact with them, because someone GOT him the guns from England, and he seems convinced that they are both in London. But anyway, there is a chance, he doesn’t know them THAT well anymore.