Edith's Family Secret

[Joeytrom]

SPOILER:


In 1897 it's established that Barnabas' secret being a vampire & chained in the secret room in the mausoleum was passed on the death bed of the head of the family to their heir. (Joshua-Daniel-son-Edith).

Barnabas meeting Edith on her death bed prevented her from telling Edward and the secret passed into history.  I was wondering a few things about this in regards to the original timeline:

I think from what we see of Edith in 1897 that she managed to last until Edward arrived and told the secret to him (As we saw, he got there only a few minutes after Barnabas and with no Barnabas there originally, Edith was still coherent at that point).

What do you think of these scenario's that may have happened?:
- Edward wrote the secret off as nonsense and never mentioned it again.
- Edward went to the mausoleum to verify what Edith said and was too scared to ever mention it ever again to anyone.
- Edward believed what Edith said and did passed it to Jamison, who obviously didn't believe it as he didn't pass it to his wife or Elizabeth

Also..after the events of 1840, is it possible that in the revised 1897, that a time travelling Barnabas greeted a 90 plus Daphne or Letiticia on her deathbed instead of Edith?

[MagnusTrask]

I guess I don't care about spoilers anymore.   I really want to see this piece of DS, and spoilers may be the closest I get.   BC is so riveting when my tapes start later on, still early in 1897, that this must be a great period.

[Nelson Collins]

It's been a few months since I saw the eps in question, but from what I recall, Edith was so delirious after seeing Barnabas, that Edward was not able to get a straight answer out of her regarding the secret.  He certainly hides it well if he was told.

I have not progressed very far into 1897 - is this the story where at one point Barnabas' true nature is discovered and he is staked, then turns up alive, claiming the the "vampire" Barnabas was not the real one, thus averting any further vampiric suspicion?  If so, then surely would Edward not at some point mentioned this family secret?

[MagnusTrask]

The family obligation was to mind the crypt, wasn't it, to keep BC chained up?    Once he's loose and then staked, the secret is obsolete.

[Brandon Collins]

SPOILERS:

I have not progressed very far into 1897 - is this the story where at one point Barnabas' true nature is discovered and he is staked, then turns up alive, claiming the the "vampire" Barnabas was not the real one, thus averting any further vampiric suspicion?  If so, then surely would Edward not at some point mentioned this family secret?

Yes. That's basically what happens.

The family obligation was to mind the crypt, wasn't it, to keep BC chained up?    Once he's loose and then staked, the secret is obsolete.

Yes. but Joeytrom's statement was that if Barnabas had've never traveled back in time and basically scared Edith out of her mind, then she would've likely told Edward the secret.

What do you think of these scenario's that may have happened?:
- Edward wrote the secret off as nonsense and never mentioned it again.
- Edward went to the mausoleum to verify what Edith said and was too scared to ever mention it ever again to anyone.
- Edward believed what Edith said and did passed it to Jamison, who obviously didn't believe it as he didn't pass it to his wife or Elizabeth

I don't think that Edward would've just written off what Edith told him. He seemed very devoted to her, from what I can recall and he would've prided himself on knowing something that the others in the family didn't (by which I mean that he would've waved it in their faces, pompously). I also, therefore, don't think that he would've just went to the mausoleum to verify what she said, because to completely verify it he would've have to opent he coffin, thus releasing Barnabas. It's possible that he just saw Barn's coffin and was terrified after that, but I don't think that happened either.

In the original timeline, what probably happened is that either Edward, Jamison, or Jamison's wife died somewhere outside of Collinwood or Collinsport before they could tell the secret to the next of kin who needed to know it.  If this is really what happened, then it explains why the present day Collinses didn't know about Barnabas when he showed up claiming to be a "cousin from England," not to mention the way Joshua doctored the history only helped Barnabas' cause.

[MagnusTrask]

Yes. but Joeytrom's statement was that if Barnabas had've never traveled back in time and basically scared Edith out of her mind, then she would've likely told Edward the secret.

It was Nelson I was answering, but since I'm not totally sure what he meant, my answer may not apply.  

[Lydia]

Perhaps Edward died during World War I and Jamison was in France at the time.  Or maybe Jamison died during World War II and Roger was in the South Pacific at the time, belting out "There is Nothing Like A Dame!"

[Jackie]

To answer the question, I pick - Edward wrote the secret off as nonsense and never mentioned it again.

That scene where Barnabas meets Edith, who reveals he is the secret, is one of my most favorite episodes!! It's so well done by both characters.  I made a slide show of it. Here it is:

[Nelson Collins]

SPOILERS:


Yes. but Joeytrom's statement was that if Barnabas had've never traveled back in time and basically scared Edith out of her mind, then she would've likely told Edward the secret.

oops, I didn't think about it that way! 

In the original timeline, what probably happened is that either Edward, Jamison, or Jamison's wife died somewhere outside of Collinwood or Collinsport before they could tell the secret to the next of kin who needed to know it.  If this is really what happened, then it explains why the present day Collinses didn't know about Barnabas when he showed up claiming to be a "cousin from England," not to mention the way Joshua doctored the history only helped Barnabas' cause.

hmmm, since in the original timeline the secret did not survive to the present the yes, what you or Joeytrom suggest must be the case.

Although there could have been any number of reasons why the secret didn't make it to Elizabeth.  Edith could have continued to tease the family and still died without passing it on, or it could have made it as far as Jamison and died with him due to a sudden death by accident or dying suddenly while  Elizabeth was not around for some reason (sent away from Collinwood to have her out of wedlock baby in secret perhaps?)

[Brandon Collins]

MB made an interesting point in another topic, the one titled "i'm doing 1840...finally". It's one of the more recent posts in the topic, his latest one anyone.

Basically, they're talking about how Edith is killed in 1840, which breaks the continuity of Edith being very old and alive in 1897, but because the writers were writing the series from the POV of Barnabas and his timeline--that Barnabas traveled to 1840 after 1897, and therefore it came AFTER 1897 in Barn's personal timeline--that this is perhaps why they made this mistake.

This made me think of an interesting point in that, since in the DS world, Barnabas traveled to 1897 first, where Edith was alive, then traveled to 1840, where Edith was younger and alive, then was killed, perhaps because of Barnabas traveling back to 1840 in the first place. It's all very confusing, I know, but the basic point of my idea is that in 1897 Barnabas scared Edith to death before she could tell anyone the secret, then when he went back to 1840, possibly causing Edith to be killed just because of his preseance, that this is why the secret was never told. Not only did Barnabas scare her in 1897, but he inadvertantly caused her death in 1840, thus preventing a future Edith from telling the secret in 1897.

Of course, this really relies on possible parallel times--for instance: Barnabas starts in the future of the parallel universe that has the 1840 events in it, and since Edith was killed when she was young in this time, the secret never got told to anyone. But when he traveled from this present day time to 1897, he went into the 1897 of the regular time band, where Edith never died at the hands of Gabriel, and Barnabas instead had to scare her to death and prevent her from telling his secret, in case he returned to the present of the regular time band.

Also, this would require the two time bands to be very closely related and running together concurrently.

Hopefully this came across more clearly than it seemed in my head. This crap really gets convoluted when you get into the stink of it.

[Lydia]

Brandon, you've given me a nice vision of myriad bands of time in which Edith keeps meeting up with Barnabas and saying, "Oh, no, not again."

[MagnusTrask]

The 'bands of time' Brandon talks about can get confused with Parallel Time, when this is about destroyed and recreated time-lines within the same time-band (RT).

 

[Nelson Collins]

Brandon, you've given me a nice vision of myriad bands of time in which Edith keeps meeting up with Barnabas and saying, "Oh, no, not again."

LOL!  Just imagine what trouble the chraracters would have been like if Douglas Adams HAD written for the show!!!

[Brandon Collins]

lol Confusing, huh? Magnus' got it pegged. I'm afraid I probably wasn't using the correct terminology, but what he said pretty much gives what I said a little clarity.

[Willie Loomis]

The family obligation was to mind the crypt, wasn't it, to keep BC chained up?    Once he's loose and then staked, the secret is obsolete.

because (and i don't know why i know this) you can't exist twice in one time.   therefore, if barnabas went back to 1897, he's not in the coffin.   would be impossible