Duke l'Orange

Previous leader of the Brotherhood

Name: Duke l'Orange

Sex: Male

Age: 28 upon leaving Puckworld. 31 at the beginning of the Brotherhood fics.

Rank: Previous leader of the Brotherhood of the Blade. Position now uncertain, but carries a lot of authority. Almost like a co-leader.

Appearance: Duke is a full-blooded grey, and as such is quite dark. He is tall, with a slim but strong frame. Distinguishing marks - he's got 'em all! The most noteable one is the eyepatch over his right eye - it covers a cybernetic eye, which can be seen as a red spot in the patch. He has a sweep of hair (which appears to defy gravity), which is the same colour as his feathers, with a premature white streak in it. And then there's the cute mafia-boss rats tail at the back... ;) His remaining eye is brown, and his beak has a few chips out of it - that, along with the eyepatch, is a fair indication of the sort of life he's led.
Duke carries himself straight, and he seems to gravitate betwen swaggering and slinking when he walks, depending on the situation he's in.

Attire: Deep purple / maroon bodysuit with a strap with two pouches slung around his left shoulder. Deep purple boots, golden belt, and of course that eyepatch, the latter which he never seems to remove.

Weaponary: Always carries his bronze saber with him, but will use a pucklauncher / blaster / gun / whatever's handy where the situation requires it. Equipment includes at least one set of lock picks, his grappling hook, and probably a whole variety of stuff we don't know about...

Accent: Keltorian (a.k.a Brooklyn accent)

Personality: Duke has a natural ability with the saber, and a fearlessness in battle which is rarely matched. Personality-wise, Duke l'Orange is somewhat of an enigma. We rarely hear anything about his past, which is dissapointing because he probably has some colourful tales to tell. With the physical scars he bears you would expect him to be emotionally withdrawn, but he actually has a wicked (and occassionally ghoulish) sense of humour, with a penchant for bad puns, and is quite casual and even kind as a rule. Perhaps the greatest enigma of all is that, although Duke is, or was a thief (even he's not sure if he is or not), he has an incredible sense of loyalty and responsibility to his team-members. Wildwing trusts him, and leans on his support a little. Duke is the oldest and most experienced member of the team (sometimes you get the feeling he is laughing inwardly at the rest of them), and second-in-command, but for some reason he doesn't have any desire to be the leader of the Mighty Ducks. Not his cup of tea. ;)
He is often the moralistic centre of the team - where the others, including Wildwing, often just want to get the job done and get out, Duke will fight for anyone not getting a fair go. Duke, you might say, is an honourable thief - a trustworthy thief. This unusual attribute could only come from one so closely entwined with the Brotherhood.
Another apect of Duke's personality, and I believe a weakness, is that he is somewhat a flirt - a sucker for the female form. Fortunately this trait isn't allowed free reign on Earth - the only two female ducks on the planet are Tanya, who is kind of married to her work, and Mallory - and whenever she and Duke get together, watch the sparks fly! Duke detests Mallory's hardness, impatience and distrust of him, and Mallory detests anyone who she sees as not being morally decent - and a thief, even if he's an ex-thief, dosn't rate highly in her books.
Duke did "go straight" for a while, but that reckless thief is still inside of him, constantly waiting to break free. His enjoyment when he puts his thieving skills to use is evident. Given half a chance, he may just return to his old ways. That chance will come upon the Duck's return to Puckworld. Perhaps it's only a matter of time.

History: I'm not going to set any limits here - different versions of how Duke joined the Brotherhood abound, and as he himself seems to have nothing to say on the matter, I'll just tell you what I know for sure.
Duke grew up in a well-off family in the Upper East Keltor district. He had one brother, Rance l'Orange, who would later join the police force. In his late teens, Duke ran away from home and joined the Brotherhood of the Blade. Why he did this no-one knows, because he never talks about that, or any other aspect of his past for that matter.
In the Brotherhood, he met and became good friends with Ernie Falcone, another junior. Together they swiftly worked their way into the Saber Student rank. Both were in their early twenties by this time. The leader of the Brotherhood, looking for a promising apprentice, spotted the pair sparring one day in the practice room, and took an interest in both.
After the next Trials, he announced his decision - to take on not one, but two apprentices, with the eventual aim of selecting the best of the two as leader. At this stage it was thought by most that Falcone would be the one chosen, because at this stage he applied himself more to his lessons and showed more talent for fighting than Duke. It was a revelation for Duke the day the leader took him aside and said he wanted to take him, not Falcone as leader. His reasons were simple - he considered Duke to have a better personality for leadership than Falcone, who had an occasional selfish or mean streak. Duke began applying himself, for the first time believing he had a shot at leadership.
The leader discovered that he had terminal cancer soon after, and on his deathbed made his announcement - that the next leader of the Brotherhood would be Duke l'Orange.
After the old leader's death, there was a dangerous animosity between Duke and Falcone. Sometime during this period, Duke l'Orange lost his eye: exactly how he will not say. It is thought that Falcone had something to do with it - but they're the only ones who know, and neither will tell.
Only a few months before the Saurian invasion, he also suffered the humiliation of getting arrested for the first time. By his own brother. [Some family reunions they must have! ~L] Needless to say, he escaped at the first opportunity.
Duke was twenty-seven when the Saurians invaded Puckworld, and he deserted the Brotherhood and became a kind of lone rebel - fighting against the saurians, but not with the rebellion. He focused on helping the survivors of the attack, using his thieving skills to steal supplies from the Saurians, then redistributing it amongst the poor. He became something like a Puckworld version of Robin Hood. Of course, Duke was eventually caught by the Saurians and put in a work camp. Three months later he escaped with the aid of Canard. He had been chosen by the Rebellion as one of a group of elite fighters to be sent on a mission to destoy Dragaunus. The rest is histroy.

Likes: His saber (and if anyone even thinks "Sigmund Freud", I'll yell aloud!), thieving, his reflection ;), making up spur-of-the-moment plans which usually change when he's surrounded by drones, making bad jokes... hmm, and women. Yeah, definitely the latter.

Dislikes: Ernie Falcone (well, wouldn't you?), being accused of things he didn't do, people who stick their beaks into his business, lack of freedom, and police. The latter may just be a reflex, though. ;)

Overheard:

---"Hey, take it easy, you could put someone's eye out with that thing!" :::pauses::: "I should know..."

Said of him:

---Leila: "His ego's so big it's got it's own zip code..."

Other: Plays centre in the Mighty Ducks; jersey number 13 (tell me that's not intentional...)

Well, you could head back to The Brotherhood of the Blade, if that's where you came from, or...
...You could go back to the profile page.

Email me at:
Leila_deSilver@hotmail.com

This character copyright © 1995 Walt Disney Company
And so's the picture, too. So NO STEALING! WE'RE the thieves, NOT you! ;-)

NOTE: Thanks should go to Kelly (a.k.a Majik) for her input. Whether she knew about it or not... ;)

I made the page, so nyah! ;-P

Most recent revision Tuesday, 22 September 1998

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