He's the man we love to hate, the one who always shows up just when Biggles and his friends least expect him ("like a confounded jack-in-the-box"), the one who never seems to be able to kill Biggles, even in Baltic where he actually has Biggles in a front of a firing squad. (Really, Erich? Are you just that incompetent or just that sentimental?)
In Flies East, the first book where Biggles meets him, Erich is described as tanned, wears a monocle, and walks with a limp. Oddly enough the limp and the monocle (as well as the cigarette holder he uses to smoke) seem to gradually disappear over time, although his hatred of Biggles doesn't (or at least up until the point when they bury the hatchet in the appropriately named Biggles Buries A Hatchet.)
Erich claims in Looks Back that he was also in love with Marie as Biggles was (isn't that just the greatest coincidence ever? And really, why didn't he just take her and have done with it and save us all--and Biggles--the agony and heartache?)
Is anyone a secret Erich fan? Would the series be different without him? Or do you hate him beyond belief? Share the love/hate in the comments below!
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I am definitely quite a fan of dear Erich. I certainly don't hate him, and every book he appears in has that little something extra.
ReplyDeleteIt is also interesting to watch the way he and Biggles interact, and the way Biggles changes, from Biggles being afraid of him in 'Flies East' through a variety of emotions to Biggles eventually telling him what he ought to do in the later books. And eventually rescuing him (much to Algy's obvious disapproval).
I always wondered if he really would have had Biggles shot, in 'Baltic', had Ginger not miraculously materialised with a achine gun.
There are certainly times in some of their early encounters, such as '& Co' when EVS appears quite, well, I wouldn't say kindly towards Biggles, but not out-and-out hating him.
I really don't know why WEJ felt the need to turn Erich into a good guy. I feel like he was much more interesting as the ultimate baddie. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteBut Biggles was so determined to redeem him :-))))
ReplyDeleteI guess WEJ didn't have much choice...
I like von Stalhein's character, and I think he's just the sort of strong, respectable foe that the Biggles series needed - someone who represents a believable menace to our heroes (I do believe that, especially in time of war, he would not have hesitated to kill them being on opposite sides), but who has his own code of conduct and eventually winds up being a kind of "frenemy" post WWII ("dear old Erich"), and right at the end, an ally.
ReplyDeleteThere are some Continental precursors to EVS in the British adventure hero genre, such as Chauvelin in The Scarlet Pimpernel, but I think EVS is the much better and less cartoonish baddie! (though the US musical of the Scarlet Pimpernel elevated Chauvelin to slightly more EVS-like heights.) In later years, the most EVS-like figure around in popular culture seems to be Magneto of the X-Men (also an "Erik"), but give me EVS any day. Just as Biggles is not a cardboard cut-out hero, EVS is not some caricature villain. Certainly I would consider him indispensable to the Biggles series and the enjoyment of all readers :)
I seem to remember reading somewhere that Biggles regarded Erich as the anti-Biggles, so someone who was like him, but just working for the wrong side. I must say on some level this is true; Erich has his codes and morals just as Biggles does, and even though he hates Biggles to bits he can be made to see reason (as in Foreign Legionnaire where he momentarily teams up with Biggles)
ReplyDeleteInteresting to think that Erich probably regards Biggles as the anti-Erich!
He's a great character. Somewhere along the line I think we established that his limp didn't actually disappear. It features fairly regularly, but does seem to be selective when it wants!
ReplyDeleteMaybe he got used to acting the limp and sometimes slipped back into character without noticing.
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