The Sword and Laser discussion
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The Princess Bride
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TPB: Is there a Hero or Heroine?
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The webcomic Darths and Droids, which reimagines Star Wars as a D&D campaign, had a subplot where the characters played a Princess Bride campaign between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones (the comic assumes none of the movies exist). In the campaign, the players were Inigo, Fezzik, and Vizzini, with Westley and Buttercup being NPCs, which I think sums up the importance of everyone.(The guy playing Vizzini spent all of AotC plotting revenge against his fellow players for choosing to resurrect an NPC instead of him.)
Hero.You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
I'll take a swing at the whole questionable hero thing. It seems to me that flawed or questionable heroes is a longtime trend in story telling of all forms. Comics, movies, tv and books all have a increasing share of flawed heroes. Having a flawed hero makes the reader feel closer to the hero because neither are perfect. We all want to see someone succeed despite their faults. The closer the connection to the character the more involved we get with the story. Opinions?
Smrathburn wrote: "I'll take a swing at the whole questionable hero thing. It seems to me that flawed or questionable heroes is a longtime trend in story telling of all forms. Comics, movies, tv and books all have ..."I agree with you, nobody wants to see someone who is perfect or we wouldn't keep routing for the underdog
The book was written in the early 70s and popular culture at the time loved an anti-hero. The best way to describe the difference between a hero and an anti-hero is; Luke was the hero, Han was the anti-hero (especially because he shot first).So most, if not all of the main characters in the book are anti-heroes in one way or another. They are pirates or kidnappers. The "bad" guys are the legitimate rulers of a kingdom - a count and a prince.
On a completely off-topic note, am I the only one that thinks that "a anti-hero" sounds better than "an anti-hero"?
The obvious answer is Westley, but he displays many anti-heroic qualities. He is at times arrogant, stupid, dismissive, (add adjective here). Buttercup is also very anti-heroic.
My question is in three parts, pick one or all
1. Do we have a hero/heroine?
2. What other books have had similar questionable heroes?
3. Is it necessary for a fantasy novel to have a hero?