Character Analysis
Just a Pretty Face
You know the saying "all that glitters isn't gold"? Well that pretty much sums up Hubert—in the nicest way possible.
It's not that he's a total loser, per say, but he definitely lacks a sense of direction. Dude's what you might call impulsive. For instance, as Edmund observes him in the streets of Acre, he says: "I could see the stages of Hubert's impulses, free to throw the stone in any direction, at any material or living thing. Or to keep it" (32.13). This sort of here-and-there attitude might work just fine in some settings, but when you're a squire fighting in a war—as Hubert is—it doesn't fly.
At first, Hubert is painted as Edmund's competition. When we meet him, he rides up to Edmund to bring him back to Sir Nigel looking like Prince Charming:
He wore new mail, the fabric of close-woven iron gleaming link to link. His helmet was stout bullock leather, and he worked to get it off, shaking his blond hair, sitting up. (6.41)
Dreamy, right? He might be capturing Edmund, but everything about this description suggests Hubert is far from bad news. Later, on the road to the Crusades, Hubert's kind of like a cork that refuses to sink. While Edmund is green as grass with seasickness, Hubert frolics about the ship having the time of his life: "Perhaps it was the sin of envy I experienced, watching Hubert rabbiting from stem to stern" (12.35). Yep, Hubert's that guy—handsome, happy, and pretty carefree.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Hubert also has a great sense of humor. While they're in camp, he amuses himself and everyone else with funny tricks and impressions of the other soldiers: "In the shade he would chirp, 'Who am I?' and do a killing mockery of Guy de Renne's upright posture, or Nigel's stiff-legged stride" (25.6). Because of course someone so handsome and generally happy in life also does spot-on impersonations and makes people laugh.
Okay, so what's the catch?
Hubert's likes to talk the talk. He makes lots of comments about killing infidels—and he's highly judgmental when Hubert chooses to chat with one at the water hole, rather than kill him in cold blood, saying, "that was your chance to run a pagan through the heart, and you traded by-your-leaves, like two wives at a fair" (25.55). But when push comes to shove, Hubert doesn't want to fight. He's all Crusades talk and no Crusades walk.
Nigel says that Hubert "has all the courage of a toad" (32.21). Why? Well, he can sense his weakness. He's not steady enough for war—and won't stand up to the pressure. When the prisoners are all killed, Edmund knows it, too:
I kept Hubert from seeing it, held his face away from the sight, although the sloppy crunch of blade and ax, and the smell of blood and fresh torn bowels could not be ignored. (33.21)
It isn't just Hubert's looks that are fair, but his personality, too. He's more medieval damsel in distress than knight in shining armor when the going gets tough. In fact, before the fighting is even over, Hubert asks to go home. Yep. He tells Nigel: "I will return to England. My father will pay you in gold for my passage" (34.21). It's pretty awkward, right? Hubert is one of hundreds of soldiers, and he ends up trying to use Daddy's money to get home. For shame.