tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3764159777348916628.post773311064346546347..comments2024-02-18T00:11:11.490-08:00Comments on Heroines of Fantasy: Ruminations on reconciliation and the demise of the absolute...Heroines of Fantasyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07169664399606524540noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3764159777348916628.post-62738330262346744582012-11-12T08:28:16.933-08:002012-11-12T08:28:16.933-08:00Mark here.
I think CS Friedman has done a nice jo...Mark here.<br /><br />I think CS Friedman has done a nice job with darker main characters. My contention is all too often the evil for the sake of evil comes off as carboard thin in the exchange. We just finished reading The Crucible in class. Outside of the political applications of Miller's play, I have always been intrigued by the monodimensional portrayal of the Devil in the Puritan story. Even my most conservative students found the narrow-minded, limited, fear-mongored interpretation flat and ultimately uninteresting. When that happens in fiction, I think we get second rate stories.Heroines of Fantasyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07169664399606524540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3764159777348916628.post-59082946221552692812012-11-12T07:42:00.477-08:002012-11-12T07:42:00.477-08:00I've always found darker heroes to be more int...I've always found darker heroes to be more interesting, as well as villains owning several shades of gray. Although I can read books without even subtle shifts over the good v bad line, I can't write them. <br /><br />Karin--I think you will find Wait (in Beyond the Gate) interesting. :)<br /><br />As we've been told in many-an-article and panel session: Everyone is the hero of their own story. I can't think of any character aside from Dr. Evil who is evil for evil's sake, and even he has a back story!<br /><br />We might have had this conversation in here before, but I find that the only pure evil characters tend to be those of some sort of faerie--beings made of evil. And while Sauron seems to apply, it's the Sauron we get to in the LOTR books that has evolved into that, but if you read any of the evolution stuff Peter Tolkein and Guy Gavriel Kay put together after JRRT's death, you see another such backstory in which Sauron, like any other villain, is the hero of his own story.<br /><br />Interesting...I wonder if anyone can come up with truly evil characters.Terri-Lynnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11468004163467894720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3764159777348916628.post-42221224450188872402012-11-12T05:42:23.984-08:002012-11-12T05:42:23.984-08:00Wow, Mark! You're never at a loss for deep th...Wow, Mark! You're never at a loss for deep thoughts, are you? Have you been smokin' some of that recently-made-legal weed? ;)<br /><br />Defining morality is an essential part of the human journey, and I think that's one of the reasons why we are so caught up with the question of how 'best' to do it in fantasy. (And isn't identifying a 'best' practice in itself setting up an absolute?)<br /><br />Me, I like the villains who are evil for the sake of evil. In a world where racial cleansing is still alive and well, human trafficking a profitable business, and 14-year-old girls can get shot for going to school, I'd say we still have a few things to learn about the concept of evil. <br /><br />But I also very much like to see villains who are complex humans driven to do bad things. I like the anti-heroes who are occasionally uncertain of themselves. I like the good guys who have a bad streak, who make stupid mistakes, who don't always live up to expectations. Every combination we can think of enriches our characters and our stories. <br /><br />Thanks for another great post, Mark! Looking forward to seeing what other people have to say about this one...Karin Rita Gastreichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13788750258292938903noreply@blogger.com