Roy Gardner by Rebekah Walton

A character often overlooked in the Anne of Green Gables series is Roy Gardner, Anne’s perfect man. In the Kevin Sullivan movies, they disregarded him entirely and add in a Morgan Harris. It was obvious they did not understand why Roy Gardner was included in the Anne series. There are other adaptions of Anne which included Roy but, did not understand who he was suppose to be including the web series adaptations Green Gables Fables and Project Green Gables. Both of these portrayed Roy badly, and allow the audience to see this the relationship between Anne and Roy as a bad thing. This is not the case. It is important that Roy Gardner and his relationship with Anne be portrayed correctly as I believe LMM was trying to make a point by showing Anne in a relationship with Roy. Roy is not just a love rival to Gilbert for Anne.  The BBC tv series of the 1970s, did an okay impression and explanation of Roy, but, I think they lacked in making us fall in love with Roy. Roy should be by all accounts a second male lead.

Anne is proposed to by many men throughout the series, but the most important two men who proposed to her were Roy Gardner and Gilbert Blythe. Roy Gardner is about as important as Mr. Collins is to the story of Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Collins allows Elizabeth to confirm her convictions about marriage that she will only marry a man she loves. Roy Gardner on the other hand, is the character who reveals to Anne that she cannot marry a man who does not have the same humor as her. There is nothing initially wrong with Roy Gardner, the audience or the reader only dislikes Roy because of their affection for Gilbert. This is what's wrong with the two webseries that include Roy:

Roy  vs.                          Gilbert 

         

Both of these actors lacked in looks and character to Gilbert. Roy only lacks in humor to Gilbert, not in looks. As the audience, we should find Roy objectively more handsome than Gilbert. Not to mention, we should find Roy romantic. It is like those second lead guys in kdramas which everyone finds more objectively handsome than the male leads. Now, maybe I shouldn't blame the webseries too much because they did not have a lot of money coming to them and they had already picked Gilbert before they went looking for Roy. 

It is critical to cover why Roy Gardner is important to the story of Anne Shirley Blythe, and what he adds to the story.

For the Kevin Sullivan films,

The issue about giving Anne a second love interest that is not Roy Gardner, means that you are changing Anne’s character.

Anne would have never gone for Gilbert if she had not first dated Roy Gardner. Anne gets upset with Dianna over marrying Fred at first, because Fred is nothing like the man Dianna imagined marrying when they were children. Roy Gardner is to me a significant part of the story, because this is why I felt so close to Anne growing up and reading these books, this is why I defended Anne against my siblings and why at times, I am exactly like Anne.

 Anne would have never gone for anyone that wasn’t her romantic type before she realized that is not what she wanted. Before Roy, she wanted one type of man in her life, and often in the world today we are told (as girls) that our perfect man does not exist. But, that is not what Anne learned, she didn’t grow up and learn that her dream guy did not exist, instead, she found her dream guy and realized that she did not truly want to marry him. That is completely different. In this way, we can see two women who learned the same lesson but, one had to learn it by trial and error and the other learned the easy way. Dianna learned that she did not care for her dream guy when she fell in love with Fred, but Anne had to learn that Roy, her dream guy, was no longer what she dreamed of after he proposed to her.

Morgan Harris who they used as a fill in character for Roy Gardner in the Kevin Sullivan movies doesn’t really work as a replacement for Roy Gardner at all. Anne would have known that she didn’t want to marry Morgan Harris, unless she had already changed who she wanted in life. Morgan Harris is guy Anne barely knows when he proposes, Roy Gardner and her had been dating for two years when he proposed. Morgan Harris was not Anne’s ideal man and did have a sense of humor and did not write and quote poetry. Anne would have never considered Morgan Harris in the books. Morgan Harris would have been as disregarded by Anne like Billy Andrews was when had his sister proposed for him to Anne.

 Anne was very much attached to her idea of the perfect man. In fact, let’s look at what really happened with Gilbert and Anne during the first proposal.

Right after the first proposal which both Phil and Anne knew was going to happen, this happened: (Anne had been trying to avoid being proposed to by Gilbert.)

Anne did not answer. At that moment she wished Phil were a thousand miles away.

"I suppose you've gone and refused Gilbert Blythe. You are an idiot, Anne Shirley!"

"Do you call it idiotic to refuse to marry a man I don't love?" said Anne coldly, goaded to reply.

"You don't know love when you see it. You've tricked something out with your imagination that you think love, and you expect the real thing to look like that. There, that's the first sensible thing I've ever said in my life. I wonder how I managed it?"

The problem with Anne is that she thinks that she wants to marry this perfect guy. So, when she finds the perfect guy and chooses not to marry him it becomes more impactful than finding just another guy who wanted to marry her. Anne turned down many men who proposed Gilbert and Roy were not the only ones.

In the Book of Revelation chapter, Anne realized what her love for Roy Gardner truly was as Gilbert is dying.

Oh, what a fool she had been not to realize what the bond was that had held her to Gilbert -- to think that the flattered fancy she had felt for Roy Gardner had been love. And now she must pay for her folly as for a crime

 

People may wish to think that even if Roy did not exist Anne would have still realized her love for Gilbert when Gilbert was dying. But, I would argue that Gilbert would have not been in such a serious state of sickness if it were not for Roy. Gilbert had given up all hope of marrying Anne, because of Roy. And we can see clearly from how fast he recovered later, that Gilbert’s will to live had a lot to do with if he would survive scarlet fever. When he had no will to live, Gilbert was on his deathbed. So, if Roy did not exist Gilbert would have not given up the will to live earlier and he wouldn’t have been deathly sick. Instead, Gilbert would have recovered earlier and been about and around before Anne heard about him ever being sick. Anne may have realized later the fact she loved Gilbert, but, it may have been much later in life.

 Just listen to Gilbert explain how he survived after the second proposal:

"I have a dream," he said slowly. "I persist in dreaming it, although it has often seemed to me that it could never come true. I dream of a home with a hearth-fire in it, a cat and dog, the footsteps of friends -- and YOU!"

Anne wanted to speak but she could find no words. Happiness was breaking over her like a wave. It almost frightened her.

"I asked you a question over two years ago, Anne. If I ask it again today will you give me a different answer?"

Still Anne could not speak. But she lifted her eyes, shining with all the love-rapture of countless generations, and looked into his for a moment. He wanted no other answer.

They lingered in the old garden until twilight, sweet as dusk in Eden must have been, crept over it. There was so much to talk over and recall -- things said and done and heard and thought and felt and misunderstood.

"I don't see how you could keep on loving me when I was such a little fool," said Anne.

"Well, I tried to stop," said Gilbert frankly, "not because I thought you what you call yourself, but because I felt sure there was no chance for me after Gardner came on the scene.

But I couldn't -- and I can't tell you, either, what it's meant to me these two years to believe you were going to marry him, and be told every week by some busybody that your engagement was on the point of being announced. I believed it until one blessed day when I was sitting up after the fever. I got a letter from Phil Gordon -- Phil Blake, rather -- in which she told me there was really nothing between you and Roy, and advised me to `try again.' Well, the doctor was amazed at my rapid recovery after that."

Gilbert, was sick in bed and read a letter from Phil Blake telling him to try again and he immediately got better from his fever.

"But I'll have to ask you to wait a long time, Anne," said Gilbert sadly. "It will be three years before I'll finish my medical course. And even then there will be no diamond sunbursts and marble halls."

Anne laughed.

"I don't want sunbursts and marble halls. I just want YOU. You see I'm quite as shameless as Phil about it. Sunbursts and marble halls may be all very well, but there is more `scope for imagination' without them. And as for the waiting, that doesn't matter. We'll just be happy, waiting and working for each other -- and dreaming. Oh, dreams will be very sweet now."

Gilbert drew her close to him and kissed her. Then they walked home together in the dusk, crowned king and queen in the bridal realm of love, along winding paths fringed with the sweetest flowers that ever bloomed, and over haunted meadows where winds of hope and memory blew.

Roy Gardner description in the book:

 “Tall and handsome and distinguished-looking – dark, melancholy, inscrutable eyes – melting, musical, sympathetic voice – yes, the very hero of her dreams stood before her in the flesh. He could not have more closely resembled her ideal if he had been made to order."

I have always imaged Roy Gardner as Cary Grant: (if, Cary Grant had no sense of humor)

This was Anne’s ideal perfect man but, he did not have something that she realized  that she really wanted and that Gilbert had, her sense of humor. Roy Gardner is overly serious.

‘‘But then, Gilbert could see a joke. She had once told Roy a funny story -- and he had not seen the point of it. She recalled the chummy laugh she and Gilbert had had together over it, and wondered uneasily if life with a man who had no sense of humor might not be somewhat uninteresting in the long run. But who could expect a melancholy, inscrutable hero to see the humorous side of things? It would be flatly unreasonable.’’                                         

                                         -Anne’s thoughts about Roy vs. Gilbert before Roy’s proposal.

‘‘I was swept off my feet at first by his good looks and knack of paying romantic compliments; and later on I thought I MUST be in love because he was my dark-eyed ideal."

                                                              -Anne’s thoughts about Roy after his proposal

Eventhough, Anne with an E had such great potential and yet failed to follow the book and characters at all from the book series, that show's fans are right about one thing: If the show had a Roy Gardner which so far it does not, Timothee Chalamet would make a great Roy Gardner. He has a good look for Roy Gardner and I could imagine him quoting poetry to Anne by firelight. In fact, I might consider making that fmv if no one else does. Anne and Roy Gardner.

You might ask me, what is the real difference between the looks of Gilbert Blythe and Roy Gardner. According to the books, Gilbert was tall and broad shouldered and had brown curly hair and hazel eyes. He had a splendid chin according to Anne. In other words, Roy Gardner had black hair (which does not have to be curly), and Gilbert Blythe has brown hair that has to be curly. More Roy Gardner suggestions are: BooBoo Stewart, Charles Melton, and James Reid.

(Speaking of Booboo Stewart there is a Filipino actor that really looks similar to him...Gil Cuerva, with long hair just look him up and compare to Booboo Stewart.)

If Anime continued with Anne’s story and made Anne of Anvolea and Anne of Island, Roy Gardner would probably look similar to Laurie from  the Little women anime.

Now, for a moment compare those actors to the ones that played Gilbert. I love Jonathan Crombie and I think he did play a good Gilbert. And the anime version of Gilbert was pretty good as well. The BBC Christopher Blake as Gilbert was an okay actor but, I would also loved to see what Robin Halstead did with the part in the prequel to Anne of Anvolea. But, this description easily fits Rhys Matthew Bond, Colin Firth, and Jonah Hauer-King, and/ or Orlando Bloom.

Also, I do not mind Lucas Jade Zumann, he looks like he could be  younger version of Jonathan Crombie. (Another reason why I am so upset that Anne with an E did not follow the books at all, that show had good potential with great actors.)

But, regardless Roy Gardner is an important character in the books and should be treated as such in adaptions to the story. And I wish more series would focus on the importance of Roy Gardner to the story. In fact, if I made a series about Anne, I would start with Anne of Anvolea and Anne of Island and make hundreds of women and girls fall in love with Roy Gardner. Gilbert Blythe is awesome but, he was clearly made for Anne, while Roy is the ideal guy that we fall in love with in our dreams.