Gideon is a Jansenist paladin who fights without killing, carries a golden shield and the last sacred host, and seeks to gather celestial hosts to help free Antiterra. His death is recorded in three incompatible versions.
| Type | Character (paladin) |
| Faith | Jansenism |
| Spanish entry | Gideon |
Appearance
A handsome, calm knight: dark hair, tanned skin, green eyes, neat beard. He wears a tricorn and overcoat suited to the era instead of armor, but always carries on his back a polished golden shield, somewhat anachronistic, compared to those of Achilles and Heracles. Since returning from death he looks a little paler, though warm to the touch, and carries a shadow of that passage.
Faith and conduct
He rejects the church: «Yo rezo a Dios, pero no al Dios que rezan acá, porque acá están todos podridos» (“I pray to God, but not the God they pray to here, because here they are all rotten”). Sworn to protect the unprotected, he fights only with the shield (perhaps a punch), never a lethal weapon. Off the field he is a diplomat. He gathered followers “in Los ingleses”.
Equipment
The golden shield; two more body shields; two full suits of armor; holy water; a rod of healing wounds; a composite longbow; and a consecrated (“holy”) sword. A “young liberator Mazur” asked him where the sword came from; “the mother” showed it to him in the cotton fields.
Role
- He handed over the Stone of the Apocalypse and, because of it, does not want to return.
- He carries the last sacred host, unique in the world; he was sent unknowingly to a safe post; in an emergency, his task is to close the doors.
- His shield is the sign that rallies his companions.
- He is placed on the island of Antigua with Cristina. Magda has died, and “Gideon was Magda’s” («Gideon era de Magda»).
Conflicting accounts
- One account records his death plainly: “The R.I.P. Gideon’s chest, who perished.”
- Another says he fell in an execution, was carried off buried by the masses and walked back, strengthened by the faith of the unprotected; he says he does not know how he came back to life.
- A third states that “Gideon decided not to revive”.
Open questions
- To whom, and on what terms, he gave the Stone of the Apocalypse; what “the doors” are.
- Where Los ingleses is; how many followers he gathered.
- Which church he calls rotten; where his armor is; who put the shield in the chest.
- What Magda was; whether “the mother” is his mother.