Remy’s answer to “Don't take this the wrong way, it's just a question. Red Rising is an "Over hyped" book I avoid be…” > Likes and Comments
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I get it, but to me, that is not nearly enough to define a character as a Gary Stu. Believe me, I've read some books with characters that would make you sick with how "perfect" they're depicted.
And Darrow is not who he is in the story because someone told him he's the chosen one. That scene is just someone saying what he needs to say to recruit him, to motivate him. He becomes who he is in the rebellion, precisely because of what he DOES in the first book, and not because of what he IS.
In my opinion, Red Rising is exactly about what you ask: a character proving with his actions why he's the right person to lead a rebellion. And Golden Son is about that character putting that rebellion in motion.
I suppose some might connect easily with the character than others, but to me it was way easier to identify with him than with some teenage girl with low self-esteem who is the chosen one just because. There are way too many of those around :P
Remy, I totally agree with your assessment. Darrow only thinks he is stronger or faster because people tell him he is, but the whole Talamanus Clan, and Ragnar, are all faster and stronger than he is and there are plenty more examples I could list, but they would be spoilers. We only ever hear from his view point, and everyone tells him he is great, and honestly that causes his mistakes. I find Darrow an incredibly flawed character, just not in the way that people expect and they for the most part they don't like that. Darrow thinks too highly of himself, he even did as a Red. "I'm a Helldiver, everyone depends on me, I'm the only one who can beat the Gammas." Dude is a naive narcissist, not "perfection."
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I get it, but to me, that is not nearly enough to define a character as a Gary Stu. Believe me, I've read some books with characters that would make you sick with how "perfect" they're depicted.And Darrow is not who he is in the story because someone told him he's the chosen one. That scene is just someone saying what he needs to say to recruit him, to motivate him. He becomes who he is in the rebellion, precisely because of what he DOES in the first book, and not because of what he IS.
In my opinion, Red Rising is exactly about what you ask: a character proving with his actions why he's the right person to lead a rebellion. And Golden Son is about that character putting that rebellion in motion.
I suppose some might connect easily with the character than others, but to me it was way easier to identify with him than with some teenage girl with low self-esteem who is the chosen one just because. There are way too many of those around :P
Remy, I totally agree with your assessment. Darrow only thinks he is stronger or faster because people tell him he is, but the whole Talamanus Clan, and Ragnar, are all faster and stronger than he is and there are plenty more examples I could list, but they would be spoilers. We only ever hear from his view point, and everyone tells him he is great, and honestly that causes his mistakes. I find Darrow an incredibly flawed character, just not in the way that people expect and they for the most part they don't like that. Darrow thinks too highly of himself, he even did as a Red. "I'm a Helldiver, everyone depends on me, I'm the only one who can beat the Gammas." Dude is a naive narcissist, not "perfection."
Now, I say he's a Gary Stu because the way he was chosen. Some old guy says this to him: “Darrow. Come here. Come.” He grabs my shoulder and pulls me in. “Others may have failed. But you’ll be different, Darrow. I feel it in my bones.”
...Really? Okay. I find that part to be very cliche. To me, as a reader and as a person, a character has to PROVE to me that they are the chosen one, not just because some random guy says he's the chosen one. I agree with Khanh about this. Let's say you and I were part of a rebellion and the 'chosen one' was picked because some guy said so. I would leave the rebellion because I don't want to follow a leader just because he was chosen. He has to prove it. Otherwise, I'm leaving.
Plus I felt that things were given to him on a silver platter. Why Darrow? Why not another person? Yeah, I get that his wife died, but there are a lot of other people who went through worse shit than he did. So why not them?
To sum it up, the series does show some promise, but I couldn't really connect to Darrow at all.
But I will agree that he does have potential and I'm sure in Morning Star he will win because lets face it, that's how it works in most rebellions. Most.
Thanks for giving your insight!