Clint Eastwood’s Gun: an Easter egg

A sweet little .44 Magnum makes an appearance in Silver Maiden.

Heroine Kaidlyn Durant and her companion find the weapon among the things of her deceased friend, Brutus, who left his bar to her in his will.

In an early draft, the S&W Model 29 was a separate weapon entirely: an Italian sidearm from the Second World War. Upon finding it, Kaid makes an antiquated and obsolete joke about soldiers laying down their arms.

It didn’t fit anything, and I couldn’t do that to Brutus’ memory.

He was one of my favorite side characters who commandeered the page without warning and blossomed into a feature-worthy hero.

Hell, I cried when I killed off Brutus. (uhh…spoiler?)

The scene where she discovers the weapon is the culmination of three things;

  • a tribute to Brutus’ age-appropriate manliness, which–let’s face it–Clint Eastwood was an epitome of
  • a weapon which stirs feelings of courage in Kaid during a so-called crisis of faith, when she basically wants to die
  • due to the fact that I watched a Dirty Harry movie when I was a small child and it stuck with me

The weapon simply fit the scene better. I like to think Kaid and her ilk are futuristic gunslingers with a big swinging 44 Magnum. A lot like Dirty Harry, but with fluffier monsters to track.

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