The Eagle of the Ninth

Fandom
Name:	The Eagle of the Ninth
Abbreviation(s):
Creator:	Rosemary Sutcliff
Date(s):	1954-1990 (novels); 2011 (film)
Medium:	Novel, Film Adaptation
Country of Origin:	UK
External Links:	at Wikipedia (book); at Wikipedia and IMDb (film);
	Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
	Contents 1 Series; 2 Fandom; 3 Notable Fanworks 3.1 The Eagle of the Ninth; 3.2 Frontier Wolf; 3.3 The Lantern Bearers; ; 4 Galleries 4.1 The Eagle of the Ninth; 4.2 Frontier Wolf; 4.3 The Lantern Bearers; ; 5 Archives, Communities, and Resources; 6 References;

The Eagle of the Ninth is the first in a series of historical novels by Rosemary Sutcliff set in Roman Britain and the Dark Ages, loosely linked by a dolphin signet ring belonging to the Aquila family handed down from generation to generation. There are eight books in the series. Although aimed at young adults and children, the quality of the writing and exploration of her subject matter also appeal to adults; Sutcliff once said she wrote "for children of all ages from nine to ninety."

The Eagle of the Ninth books feature deep male friendships that lead easily to a slashy interpretation. More than one young slasher loved the books before they knew slash even existed. The fanfiction produced by the fandom is mostly m/m slash and gen, but there is a little het to be found, as well as some Marcus/Esca/Cottia threesomes.

The Eagle of the Ninth was filmed in 2011 as The Eagle. It stars Channing Tatum (Marcus Aquila), Jamie Bell (Esca) and Donald Sutherland as Uncle Aquila.

For a list of related fandoms, see List of Military Fandoms.

Series

All links lead to Wikipedia.

The Eagle of the Ninth (1954) (Marcus, Esca, Cottia)
The Silver Branch (1957) (Justin, Flavius)
Frontier Wolf (1980) (Alexios, Hilarion, Cunorix)
The Lantern Bearers (1959) (Aquila, Flavia, Ambrosius, Artos, Ness, Flavian)
Dawn Wind (1961)
Sword at Sunset (1963) - also an interpretation of Arthurian Legend (Artos, Guenhumara, Bedwyr, Gault, Levin)
Sword Song (1990)
Shield Ring (1956)

Fandom

The fandom was traditionally a very small Yuletide fandom. Some works were also archived at the Slash Cotillion archive. The livejournal community sutcliff_fics was founded in April 2006 by Jay Tryfanstone, and was probably the earliest Sutcliff community on LJ. The fandom grew rapidly after the release of the film. There is some overlap between book and film fandom, with some film verse fic writers including characters from the book not found in the film.^[1]

The most popular source from the series is The Eagle of the Ninth, but Frontier Wolf has also become relatively popular since the release of The Eagle film. There are also multiple fanworks for Sword at Sunset, The Lantern Bearers and The Silver Branch, as well as occasional fanworks for other novels in the series.

Notable Fanworks