Ralph Fitzpatrick

Ralph (full name Ralph Fitzgerald) is the brother of Merthin and one of the main villains in the live action series "World Without End". Though he starts out as a decent enough individual, following his apprenticeship to Sir Roland he steadily becomes a crueler and more unpleasent person.

He is portrayed by Oliver Jackson-Cohen.

History
Ralph first appears in the series premiere engaged in a practice spar with his brother Merthin, who he beats with ease. Later the two siblings father is arrested and hanged for treason, forcing them to seek out a master to apprentice themselves to. Sir Roland (the same man who had their father arrested and hanged) decrees that the two siblings must fight and that the first one to draw blood becomes his apprentice. Ralph wins the fight and is made Sir Roland's apprentice. Afterwards he adjusts to his role fairly well, among other things flirting casually with another man's fiancee and being quite inclined to do Sir Roland's dirty work. This ultimately includes enforcing the Queen's order to cease in the rebuilding of Kingsbridge's only bridge into the town. When one of the workers vocally condemns Ralph's actions against his own town, Ralph kills him on the spot, though he also seems to be somewhat unnerved by what he has just done.

Following the above Ralph is put in charge of a neighboring farming village, and denies Wulfric his father's land and inheritance out of spite for Wulfric's previously attacking him. Wulfric's lover Gwenda attempts to win it back, only for Ralph to trick her into having sex with him under the false promise that he will return Wulfric's land if she indulges him. He does not. After overhearing Annet (Wulfric's former Fiancee) making dismissive comments about him, he rapes her in retaliation. He also takes wool from Kingsbridge to support the war with France, ignoring the townspeople's protests and punching his own brother repeatedly when he tries to stand up to him.

He is later arrested for his raping Annet, and is found guilty. Though he is to be hanged (and also castrated beforehand), he is saved from death by the arrival of King Edward III, who offers to pardon any criminal who agrees to fight for him in his war against France. Not surprisingly, Ralph agrees.



Personality and Traits
Even before becoming clearly villainous, Ralph always seemed to be possessed of some level of arrogance, as shown with his gleefully besting his brother again and again during their practice spar. Notably though he seemed to also care about his brother, as it was suggested that he wanted Merthin to know how to fight properly. Following their being forced to fight for the right to become Sir Roland's apprentice, the two brothers do not see each other again for years. Subsequent interactions between the two siblings are typically hostile and unpleasent, including when Ralph savagely beats his own brother later on.

After becoming Sir Roland's apprentice Ralph's arrogance increases, to the point that he openly flirts with the fiancee of a married man and later cruelly denies Wulfric his inheritance out of spite for Wulfric's attack on him. His capacity for cruelty is also shown when he murders an innocent man simply for condemning him, though notably here he seems to be somewhat unsettled by what he has just done. He also earlier expressed doubt at the plan of ordering Kingsbridge's population to cease in their attempts to build a new bridge, suggesting he still has some measure of loyalty to his old town. This is later disproven however when he casually commits what amounts to theft of the town's wool for the war and savagely beats his own brother when he tries to stand up to him. He also tricks Gwenda into having sex with him and later rapes Annet simply because she wounded his pride, showing that whatever moral standards he may have had previously have by this point been abandoned, especially when he refuses to accept responsibilty for his actions and instead attempts to lie his way out.