Mark’s answer to “Were you worried about making the MC Jorg so very young? He commits all these atrocities so why mak…” > Likes and Comments
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I agree with you completely, and frankly, I find it strange that this question comes up so often. Some of my friends whom I introduced to your Broken Empire series had the same problem. They couldn't accept a mature acting underage protagonist. But why? For God's sake, it's a fantasy book!
Barna, the reason has probably less to do with that it's fantasy.
You can't create a fantasy world with say magic for example, and not set any rules at all or set some and then disregard them. Similarly in the case of a 14 year old boy, because it's not foreign, we have certain expectations. We already have a set of predetermined limitations to what a human 14 year old is capable of. So we come into the book with this.. bias I suppose rooted in us. That is why it's disturbing and why the question often comes up. I appreciate the authors explanation though. I suppose many people can come to accept him and the reasons behind why he's so young make sense.
14 being considered young is also an artifact of our time and culture. During the Middle Ages, a boy at 14 would have been considered and treated as an adult. Given the world he lives in and the life he's had, the character didn't really seem like a stretch to me...
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Barna
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Mar 19, 2016 08:52AM
I agree with you completely, and frankly, I find it strange that this question comes up so often. Some of my friends whom I introduced to your Broken Empire series had the same problem. They couldn't accept a mature acting underage protagonist. But why? For God's sake, it's a fantasy book!
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Barna, the reason has probably less to do with that it's fantasy.You can't create a fantasy world with say magic for example, and not set any rules at all or set some and then disregard them. Similarly in the case of a 14 year old boy, because it's not foreign, we have certain expectations. We already have a set of predetermined limitations to what a human 14 year old is capable of. So we come into the book with this.. bias I suppose rooted in us. That is why it's disturbing and why the question often comes up. I appreciate the authors explanation though. I suppose many people can come to accept him and the reasons behind why he's so young make sense.
14 being considered young is also an artifact of our time and culture. During the Middle Ages, a boy at 14 would have been considered and treated as an adult. Given the world he lives in and the life he's had, the character didn't really seem like a stretch to me...
