Are You Writing Serious Fantasy? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Nar · 09-07-2002, 09:49 AM

Bombur, welcome to the thread! Have a mug of ale on me: |_|) Yep, King John had the thankless task of mopping up after a profligate -- everyone likes a big expansionist spender, loot for all! No one ever likes the next guy who has to balance the books.

Magneto's a good example of an all too convincing villain, Anna, it's hard to resist his arguments, and his ... magnetism ... must ... resist ... I have to agree with Bombur, villains must be fictional, though I take your point about uncannily convincing arguments: how they work in practice is always the test-- but how can you know beforehand?

Eol: yes, I liked the Sheriff of Nottingham, in both story and all resulting movies: he's always fun. Furthermore, unless you jump up a level and say that the government of Nottinham (and ulimately Greater London) was so abusive it had to be resisted, can you really fault the sheriff for doing his job? Perhaps he was a bit too enthusiastic about be-handing hapless peasant poachers. Starving yeomen should be allowed to hunt game without losing body parts!

As I said on the other thread, LMP, although I certainly agree that orcs were not nice, particularly to captives, and that they preferred to remain so, I like Tolkien's generous characterization of them: he made the orcs understandable in their frusterations. An impersonal, purely hateful Ur-villain is awesome and stirring, but in a story, those generously detailed, all too 'human' villains can be as good or even better -- and better for your soul as a reader, by challenging your humanity.

[Edit, somehow I missed this first time round] NN10-- your nazzy mom, awww. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] I bet she was really dark and deadly!

[ September 07, 2002: Message edited by: Nar ]

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09-07-2002, 09:49 AM	#11
Nar Wight Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 228	Bombur, welcome to the thread! Have a mug of ale on me: \|_\|) Yep, King John had the thankless task of mopping up after a profligate -- everyone likes a big expansionist spender, loot for all! No one ever likes the next guy who has to balance the books. Magneto's a good example of an all too convincing villain, Anna, it's hard to resist his arguments, and his ... magnetism ... must ... resist ... I have to agree with Bombur, villains must be fictional, though I take your point about uncannily convincing arguments: how they work in practice is always the test-- but how can you know beforehand? Eol: yes, I liked the Sheriff of Nottingham, in both story and all resulting movies: he's always fun. Furthermore, unless you jump up a level and say that the government of Nottinham (and ulimately Greater London) was so abusive it had to be resisted, can you really fault the sheriff for doing his job? Perhaps he was a bit too enthusiastic about be-handing hapless peasant poachers. Starving yeomen should be allowed to hunt game without losing body parts! As I said on the other thread, LMP, although I certainly agree that orcs were not nice, particularly to captives, and that they preferred to remain so, I like Tolkien's generous characterization of them: he made the orcs understandable in their frusterations. An impersonal, purely hateful Ur-villain is awesome and stirring, but in a story, those generously detailed, all too 'human' villains can be as good or even better -- and better for your soul as a reader, by challenging your humanity. [Edit, somehow I missed this first time round] NN10-- your nazzy mom, awww. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] I bet she was really dark and deadly! [ September 07, 2002: Message edited by: Nar ]