Ben Fairchild

Benjamin Michael "Ben" Fairchild, born May 19th 1976, is the fifth child and second son of Jennifer and Robert Fairchild and heir to 1/9 of his family's fortune. He is the younger brother of Oliver, Beth, Lily, and Wendy, and the elder brother of Mel and Garen. Though the middle child, he succeeds his father as the CEO of the family business. At 28, he is the second youngest president in the history of Fairchild Hotels, behind his grandfather Jack (who became president at 21).

Growing up in Thorn, Surrey, he formed passive-aggressive friendships with Roger Bishop, John Hill, Noah Logan, and Kelsey Morgan. Together, they engaged in delinquent behavior and often bullied the friends of Ben's sister, Mel. The tension mounted when Melanie began dating Adrien Landau, whom Ben was very prejudiced against (Adrien is Jewish). Ben and Mel continued to have a very strained relationship until their late twenties.

Highly intelligent and fluent in French, Ben enrolled at La Sorbonne in 1994, earning his Master's in Business Management. In Paris, he met longtime girlfriend Lena Moreau. The two dated for nearly five years... until the death of Gael Torres at the hands of Ben's friends. Lena, who had been close to Gaél, broke it off with Ben a few months after the funeral, not sure she wanted to be involved with him anymore despite his complete innocence in the crime. The two were eventually reunited in 2005 and began their relationship again, now as two people more mature than they had been as teenagers/young adults. The two eloped that December. Together, they went on to have a daughter, Cassandra (b. 2008), and a son, Julian (b. 2010).

Sorry for his part in what happened to his sister's friend, Ben eventually apologized to Mel and the two formed a tenuous reconciliation. Ben still refuses, however, to apologize to Adrien or any of the other friends that he had bullied.

Early Life
Ben was born at East Surrey Hospital, Redhill, Surrey at around 3:00 am, May 19th, 1979, after twenty seven hours of labor. From the start, he was an independant and often envious child. He intensely disliked not being the eldest and constantly felt the need to compete with his elder siblings, particularly Oliver, who (being five years older) regarded this with patient amusement. He was often snipish and bossy as a child and could not abide being teased. As in his adulthood, Ben was much closer to his mother than his father as a small child.

From the get go, he disliked Mel's friends and was indignant whenever his parents babysat them. Around this time, he began to really push Mel (only a toddler) away, resenting that she preferred her new friends to him. Around the age of 9, Ben became friends with Roger Bishop and John Hill and, liking the attention they afforded him, began to become more manipulative and vain. He and his friends began bullying Mel and her's shortly after, which was regarded as no more than basic childhood rivalry (it was regarded by The Swaciteers as almost something of a game and was often incorporated whenever they played pretend) until, at the age of 11, Ben accidently broke Alan's arm. This prompted an immediate shift, with Ben and his friends suddenly becoming objects of extreme distrust. Figuring they may as well live up to their new reputation, Ben and his friends began dabbling in delinquency. In the first chapter, he and Roger are seen experimenting with pilfered cigarettes at age 12.

Physical Description
Like the rest of his family, Ben is described as being very attractive. He is the tallest of his siblings (the same height as his father) and, like the rest of the family, has very dark, wavy hair. He is the only one of his siblings to have inherited his maternal grandfather's piercing, blue eyes. At twelve, he is described as having "all the suntanned, fine-boned cruelty of an preadolescent boy too aware of his own latent good looks".

He is very particular about his appearance and is a meticulous dresser (in a way Geoff describes as being very "Patrick Bateman-esque").

Personality
Ben's personality is mess of contradictions. Unlike the rest of his family, he is deeply God-fearing, yet is a practitioner and (let's face it) enhusiast of pre-marital sex, drinking, and gambling. He's a practical realist, and yet allows personal grudges to dictate his life for far longer than necessary. He can be level-headed and focused, but also has an explosive temper. He is often cold and astonishingly cruel, yet has a capacity for tenderness for the ones he loves (though he isn't terribly competant at showing it). While something of a misanthrope, he remains fiercely loyal to his family -- often to an overprotective degree. While the compass of his sexual morality doesn't exactly point north, he is extremely romantically fidelious and is a surprisingly considerate and affectionate partner.

He's also very self-confidant (except in his relationship with his family). While charming and gregarious with business associates, he is mostly an introvert and rarely (rarely) opens up to anyone. When confronted with sadness or loss, he turns to drinking. As a drunk, he is vulnerable and childlike, ready to spill his guts to whomever has the patience to listen.

As the sucessor to his father's company, he's utterly driven by success. His girlfriend Lena aptly points out that his favorite thing in the world is "advancement". With his sharp, Machiavellian mind, he truly excels at business. He's tenacious, often bordering on power-hungry, and doesn't much care whether he's feared or admired (as long as it's one of the two). It's possible that he strives so hard to prove his competancy to his family, with whom he has always like the unfavorite (a self-fulfilling assessment since his cruelty and coldness only alienate him further from them). He isn't keen on sharing his money, but loves spending it. He always has to have the best of everything and loves showing off. Gifts, when he gives them, are always top of the line.

"We're both stubborn and we both have tempers. We both manipulate. If there's something we want, we find a way to get it. Doesn't make us bad people... a little selfish perhaps, but... we just see life as a game we love to play. The difference is... Ben cares much less about hurting people along the way."

- Lena Moreau, on where her and her boyfriend's personalities differ

Ben is extremely judgmental and often makes bigoted remarks. His targets are mainly Adrien (for being Jewish), Gaél, Nikolaj, and his cousin Rufus (for being gay). Whether his attacks come from genuine deepseated prejudices or jealousy for the people whom he believes have supplanted his place in the life of his sister/family is up for debate.

"Mel... I have friends, you know? Friends like Adrien and Gael and Rufus... I have Muslim friends and black friends and purple friends… you get the point. But never, once, in the time I've known him... has Benjamin ever been anything but civil to them. Friendly, even. So, he's lying to one of us. If he's lying to me, it means he really is a bigot. If he's lying to you... it means he's such a coward he would rather pretend to be something despicable than admit that he’s hurt."

- Lena, coming to the conclusion that her boyfriend might just be batshit

Ben treats Geoff and Alan just as poorly as he treats Mel's other friends, but that might just be incidental. While a racist and homophobe, Ben, ironically, is in no way a sexist. Consistently throughout the series, women are the only ones he seems to deem worthy of his trust and respect (things he doesn't give lightly). In fact, he seems to deeply dislike other men, though this might be because he always feels the need to compete with them. He does, however, have a bad habit of setting the women in his life up on pedestles, setting personal expectations that are almost impossible for anyone to acheive.

He does have a sense of humor, which is always snarky and deadpan.

Etymology
Ironically, Benjamin is one of the few characters in the book to have a Hebrew name. The literal translation of the name Benjamin is "son of right", often interpreted to mean "son of my right hand". The right side is often associated with strength and virtue (the word sinister deriving from the Latin word for left). The root for right is identical to the root for south and so the name also can be directly translated as "son of the south". In the Bible, Benjamin (originally called "Benoni" by his mother, meaning "Son of my sorrow") is the youngest son of Jacob and Rachel and the founder of one of the twelve Tribes of Israel. Ben is also the name of the title character of Doris Lessing's 1988 horror novel The Fifth Child, a story taking place in suburban England, in which a couple's unexpected fifth pregnancy produces a monstrous creature whose alien and violent presence has destructive consequences on his family. Ben Fairchild is also his parents' fifth child.

Michael is likewise a Hebrew name, roughly translating to the rhetorical question "Who is like God?" In Hebrew tradition, Michael is one of the seven archangels, serving as a warrior and advocate for Israel. In the New Testament, he is the field commander of the Army of God. Saint Michael is the only archangel to be recognized as such by both Jews and Christians.

The names Ben, Mel (Ben's sister), and Jen (Ben's mother) are assonants, all sharing a short "e".

Appearances

 * Somewhere a Clock is Ticking
 * Book 2
 * "Paper Tigers"
 * Book 4 (as a baby)