Sober-suited banker Benny Higgins is no Mel Gibson but he could turn out to be more influential to the independence movement than Braveheart ever was.
For those who don't feel an emotional tie to the rest of the United Kingdom, uncertainty over Scotland's economic future has been the obstacle that kept many from buying into the vision of Nicola Sturgeon and her nationalist predecessors.
Alex Salmond's White Paper gave bold reassurance based on an oil-rich future that even in the absence of plummeting prices would lack credibility in a world whose mantra is carbon-neutral.
But with Higgins at her socially distanced side, Sturgeon will feel her government is no longer scraping the bottom of the oil barrel.
This is a bona-fide heavyweight of international finance who is prepared to explain without hyperbole how Scotland might pay its way by borrowing and attracting foreign investment.
That in itself does not make the case for independence - but it does look like we are about to have a mature conversation at last about how much we are prepared to borrow, how we would bear that burden and for how long. How much would it have cost an independent Scotland to pull out the economic 'bazooka' as Westminster has done? We need to know.
Higgins' group argues for Scotland to seek out international investors whose values fit with our own. That is easier said than done. Sturgeon usually has a lot to say on international affairs, from the Catalan referendum to Black Lives Matter - but she is quiet when it comes to protesters facing water cannons in Hong Kong.
There's a good reason for that, and it's that countries of a similar size to Scotland, in the Balkans for example, count heavily on FDI and loans from China.
This is just the start of the debate, but hopefully now it can take place without blue facepaint and misty eyed renditions of Flower of Scotland.
