MovieChat Forums > The Pillars of the Earth (2010) Discussion > the Real villain of this

the Real villain of this

posted 11 years ago by anthonynorris-783-181359
3 replies | jump to latest

Prior Philip he has no loyalty to anyone, just HIS cathedral.
He is willing to accept Wallerian's help in becoming prior, but feels that Wallerian is evil to want Philip to help him become Bishop.
He turns on the Bishop 's plan just because he thinks he can make a better deal with the Hammelieghs, and in the book he is very satisfied that "a lowly monk who didn't even know to wear a clean robe to see the king" was able to outsmart two Bishops. And he knew that the Earl 's kids were living in the castle, he didn't warn them or move to protect them from William.
In the book he wanted Stephen to be king, not because he thought it was the right thing but because it would be better for the church, and of course him and his Priory. Later when the king does not rule in Philip ´s favor he is thrilled when Stephen loses the Battle of Lincoln, now he is even putting His Priory over the church as a whole.
When he decides he wants Jack as a monk he is quick to use Jack's fight with Alfred as an excuse to force Jack to become a monk, even though Jack has turned down being a monk before and has no desire to be a monk.

Philip is a sociopath, a narcissist, or just a plain old the end justifies the means villain.

[–] VaticanAssassinWarlock 10 years ago

This strikes me as a pretty poor understanding of the character (in the series, I haven't read the book). Philip is shown to be weak and foolish, but also honest and pious. He is very conflicted and the series charts his characters growth from the first episode to the final one. He is responsible for a lot of the bad events, but he is aware of this, and he works hard to try and do the right thing also.

[–] longcooljolie 10 years ago

OP, I thought this was a good analysis of Prior Phillip. Before I read Pillars, I had no idea that monks in the dark ages were so powerful and "political." And yeah, Phillip was no saint. He also kept cheating about the holy relic artifact for his church and then commissioned Jack's sham crying Virgin Mother statue.

One of the things that makes Ken Follett such a great writer is that he paints his characters with several shades of grey.

[–] Zanza8 10 years ago

Philip's character in the book was captured very well in the series. He was honest and pious, and also very proud and he knew he was making a deal with the devil when he worked with Waleran. He was also adept at politics and had no qualms about using people to the church's advantage, but he definitely wasn't a villain. As the Bible says, you will know the tree by its fruit. Philip's fruit was a thriving cathedral city where once there had been an out of the way village with a crumbling church. He was something of a benevolent tyrant, but people were happy and prosperous under his rule.

http://thinkingoutloud-descartes.blogspot.com/