Atherton Wing was a young nobleman on Persephone who had hired Inara Serra on multiple occasions. Some of which, he proposed a more permanent arrangement with her. At a fancy ball, he accepted an unwitting challenge from Malcolm Reynolds to a duel after Mal struck him when he treated Inara as a whore; Mal justified this action—despite him often insulting Inara's profession himself—by saying that he only disrespected Inara's profession, while Wing's comment showed disrespect to Inara herself.

Wing was known on Persephone as a master swordsman, to which Mal was unfamiliar, but he was defeated due to Inara's intervention. Inara distracted Wing long enough for Mal to disarm Wing and injure him with his own sword, sparing Wing's life to add to the humiliation—although Mal noted that he was merely 'alright' when he poked Wing with the sword. In anger, Wing threatened Inara with physical and professional harm, swearing that she'd never work again, but Inara told him that in reality, he was the one in trouble: Wing now had a black mark in the Companion books and would be henceforth unable to hire any Companions.

Behind the scenesEdit

Atherton was portrayed by Edward Atterton.

AppearancesEdit

• Firefly – "Shindig"