Arvin Sloane and Pharoh

Alias. It's almost over. Five years. I thought I would share a quick thought about one of my favorite characters, Arvin Sloane. My sister and I have had many an argument over when this man is evil or not. I was always on the side of not. I know he's killed many people, lied, and committed treason, but he loves his wife and loves Sydney like a daughter. To that my sister always replied, "Who cares that he loves these people, he still is an evil man that does evil things." Maybe I just always like the bad guy. Maybe I just want to look for the best in people.


Upon watching the last two or three episodes, I have come to some new conclusions. Sloane's main obsession over the course of the show has been with this 15th century "prophet" named Rambaldi. I believe that Sloane has become obsessed and believes so strongly to such an extent that he has lost his bechirah (ability to choose and make decisions). Perhaps Rambali truly was a powerful entity with a prophetic power. If this is the case, and Sloane is part of his master plan, then Sloane cannot control his actions anymore because Rambali has chosen him.

I realized this when I thought about Pharoh's situation in Egpyt. The Torah mentions to us that G-d "hardened his heart". The reason being that G-d had his master plan that involved he Jews being in the land for a designated amount of time, ten plagues, all of that good stuff. Pharoh, having suffered enough after the first few plagues would have let the Jews go but G-d was not finished and had to harden his heart so that the plan could go on.

I am not equating Rambaldi with G-d.

However, because this is TV world, I can, within the story of Alias, believe in power of Rambaldi.
So Sloane may have killed Nadia but he would never be able to choose Nadia over Rambaldi. He is part of a plan that it outside the scope of his decisions.

Lindsey disagrees with me. Oh well. We'll have to see what happens in the next two episodes.


ID-CLASS: 30408-00811
PROFILE: SLOANE, ARVIN
Case File: MOSCOW-E640, TAIWAN-E630, BRASILIA-E651, MADRID-E645, BERLIN-E647, VIRGINIA-E641, MOROCCO-E650
Present Location: Los Angeles
Date of Birth: 10/31/50
Place of Birth: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 175
Sex: M
Race: Caucasian
Wife: Emily Sloane
Daughter: Nadia Santos
Mother's Maiden Name: Bishop

Training/Special Skills: World history, Linguistics
Languages: English, French, Hebrew, Spanish, Russian
Education: Doctorate in Linguistics, m. Finance
Experience: Recruit, 01-25-69.

Personal Details:
Obsession with Milo Rambaldi motivated him to commit many terrorist acts over four decades. Beginning over 30 years earlier when he joined the Army Corps of Engineers, he started on a long journey to discover Rambaldi's endgame and fulfill his personal vision. He continued to collect Rambaldi artifacts, and justify his actions when he found out that he is part of Rambaldi's master plans.

Spouse, Emily Sloane deceased in 2002, alive in 2003, and once again deceased in 2003. Had an affair with Irina Derevko and a relationship with CIA psychiatrist Dr. Judy Barnett. Believes himself to be Sydney Bristow's real father. Former head of SD-6, he turned himself in to the CIA, providing information that was used to dismantle more than two dozen terrorist cells. He also claims to have given up his Rambaldi lust and fashioned himself a philanthropist and humanitarian through Omnifam, a world health organization. Found out that he had a child with Irina Derevko, named Nadia Santos, whom he used to locate a Rambaldi artifact. He later saved his daughter from The Covenant, and convinced her to join his newly formed APO unit in Los Angeles.

He is now heading APO under the suspicious and watchful eyes of the CIA, Marcus Dixon, Sydney and Jack Bristow.