Sebastien le Livre

Sebastien le Livre, primarily known as Booker, is a character in The Old Guard. In the film adaption, he was played by Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts.
==Canon Overview==
Booker was a criminal and forger; upon being arrested, he was offered a choice of prison or Napoleon's army. He fought in the 1812 French invasion of Russia, but deserted. When he was captured and hanged for his crime, he did not die, but pretended to be dead long enough for his captors to leave. Until Nile Freeman joins their team, he was the youngest known immortal, at just over 200 years old. 
Unlike the older members of the Old Guard, Booker is young enough to remember (and grieve for) his family. He mentions having had a wife and three sons. His youngest son was named Jean-Pierre and was the last of Booker's children to die, succumbing to cancer at the age of 42.
Promotional posters state Booker's birthdate as 1770.
==Fandom==
===Common Tropes===
* Booker whump
===Pairings===
Within a month of the film's premiere, the most popular pairing for Booker on Ao3 was the Booker/Joe/Nicky. This is still a pretty rare pairing in the fandom overall. Many Booker-centric works focus on his gen relationships with his fellow Immortals. Andy/Booker is a het rarepair. A pairing gaining traction in some parts of the fandom as of August 2020 is Nile/Booker.
==Fan Response to Booker's Story Arc== 
 
Fan reaction to Booker’s story arc in the Old Guard varies. 
Over the course of the film, it is revealed that Booker has sold out the rest of the members to the principle antagonists, and conspired and acted to help capture his fellow immortals. While he later seems remorseful and helps the other members of the Old Guard escape, the rest of the team must contend with Booker’s breach of trust. At the end of the film, Booker is told by the other members that they’ll meet up with him in 100 years; until then, he’s on his own. 
Fan responses to this betrayal arc and the consequences thereof have varied widely. Where controversy has arisen, it seems to be in regards to whether Booker's motivations and actions justify the choice of the rest of the Old Guard to temporarily remove him from the team; but, in general, fans recognize the moral complexity of the situation. 
Some fans feel that there was no 'right' way to handle things: 
 
One user who has created several pieces of meta on Booker writes: 
Another user mentioned that Booker's backstory was among his top favourite scenes from the film, and how Booker's interactions with Andy show that the two of them turned to unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with their respective grief. Tumblr post by 04hands, July 21 2020, Accessed August 14, 2020. Booker is suggested through the film to suffer from depression and alcoholism, stemming in part from guilt that he was unable to share his ‘gift’ with his own children, one of whom died from cancer and blamed him for not helping. 
One user writes that they understand why Booker betrayed the others: 
Some fans consider the 100 year ‘sentence’ too harsh, and are creating fanworks centered on reuniting Booker with the rest of the Old Guard before the ‘deadline’, or fics which ignore Booker's exile. Alternatively, some fans accept the period of exile but believe it would have a primarily negative impact on him. 
Other fans find Booker’s motivations sympathetic but hold the opinion that other Old Guard members were justified in their response. For instance, one fan writes: 
 
One piece of meta reframes the question of Booker’s exile in terms of larger themes present in the film. In the post, which discusses ephemeral relationships among the Old Guard and how the core team could be less alone, a user writes: 
There is some discourse about the way that fans have created works about Booker, and in particular how they contend with his betrayal of the group or his relationship with Joe and Nicky. By August after the film was released, one fan expressed concern that fandom's treatment of Booker might be problematic and feed into white victimization: that Booker was being infantilized by some fans to excuse his behaviour; that the fandom was pitting Joe and Booker against each other in ways that supported harmful stereotypes about men of colour; and that writers should evaluate their reasons for writing Joe/Nicky/Booker fic.
A humourous take on Booker's exile was written August 18th by fantasticbeastsandheretofindthem, and took the position that his 100 year exile was going to be nearly impossible to enforce in the modern world Tumblr post by fantasticbeastsandheretofindthem (Archived Version), August 18th 2020, Accessed August 29 2020.
==Notable Fanworks==
==Archives & Links==
* Booker | Sebastien le Livre works on Ao3
==References==
Category:The Old Guard Characters