My headcanon is extremely similar: I don't see a way that Alfred would be willing to so completely destroy/disappear Thomas unless he had another heir to step in. Possibly if Alfred had a brother with sons? But Thomas having a younger brother seems much more likely. (It also makes me wonder who this younger brother is--presumably Alfred had no doubt that he would be willing to take over as heir.)
Similarly, Thomas having an elder brother just makes too much sense for me to headcanon differently. That his career path was originally going to be the clergy makes a lot of sense with what we see of his level of education and religious feeling. (It also explains why he went to Eton and then presumably Cambridge, as to the best of my knowledge first sons weren't sent away to school in the period--public school/university was professional training, and first sons already had a set job to do.) I also tend to headcanon that the elder brother was significantly older, possibly from a different marriage (that Alfred then didn't cut off)--that way Thomas has some kind of caregiver/role model when he's young (who, crucially, has some kind of power to stand up to Alfred--I can't see his mother having any power in this regard, for instance), and possibly is the one to convince Alfred to send Thomas to Eton in the first place. That, plus the fact that he would've been away at school throughout much of his early life, plus the fact that he was never meant to be the heir, (plus of course his irrepressibly stubbornness), lets me understand the canon relationship we see between him and Alfred in the flashbacks.
All of which is an extraordinarily long-winded way of saying, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Thomas is fascinating in this way, because while we know so little we gets hints to so much (as opposed to Miranda, about whom we get nothing that isn't about Thomas. SIGH).
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Date: 2018-12-08 04:51 pm (UTC)Similarly, Thomas having an elder brother just makes too much sense for me to headcanon differently. That his career path was originally going to be the clergy makes a lot of sense with what we see of his level of education and religious feeling. (It also explains why he went to Eton and then presumably Cambridge, as to the best of my knowledge first sons weren't sent away to school in the period--public school/university was professional training, and first sons already had a set job to do.) I also tend to headcanon that the elder brother was significantly older, possibly from a different marriage (that Alfred then didn't cut off)--that way Thomas has some kind of caregiver/role model when he's young (who, crucially, has some kind of power to stand up to Alfred--I can't see his mother having any power in this regard, for instance), and possibly is the one to convince Alfred to send Thomas to Eton in the first place. That, plus the fact that he would've been away at school throughout much of his early life, plus the fact that he was never meant to be the heir, (plus of course his irrepressibly stubbornness), lets me understand the canon relationship we see between him and Alfred in the flashbacks.
All of which is an extraordinarily long-winded way of saying, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Thomas is fascinating in this way, because while we know so little we gets hints to so much (as opposed to Miranda, about whom we get nothing that isn't about Thomas. SIGH).