The Color of Magic - Is Rincewind a Hero?

[Angie]

Does anyone think Rincewind is a hero? What is a hero to you?

[Jon]

I think he's a hero in spite of himself. Not by any effort of his own; just the situations he gets placed into and his efforts to escape them.

[Amy]

This is a great question - and a natural for this book.
In the two Discworld novels I've read so far, a discworld hero seems to be what I would call a mercenary. Heroic acts involve winning fights and staying alive for an extended period of time.
By the Discworld criteria, Rincewind is not a hero.
Personally, I don't believe in heroes; I think it is a limiting concept. It either requires a standard of behavior that very few can meet, or a lowering of the standard to a meaningless level to 'create' more heroes.

I only believe in heroic behavior. Two important elements to heroic behavior are risk and choice. What are you personally risking, and do you have any legitimate choices?

I wiah I had my copy of the book with me to review some of the scenes, but from what I can recall, Rincewind's actions were not terribly heroic in The Color of Magic. He did not have a choice; he had to help Twoflower to stay alive.

I think Rincewind became more heroic as the story progressed through The Light Fantastic, but I'm not sure that I would consider him a hero.

Who are some other possibly heroic characters in The Color of Magic? I'm thinking about Twoflower and the Luggage. I'll have to think for a while about this.

This question is complicated for me because I just finished Neverwhere - so my inclination is to compare Rincewind and Richard Mayhew as heroes, but that's beyond the scope of this discussion.

[Samsara]

I don't think Rincewind is a hero; I think he's just an ordinary guy trying to get by, and that's why we love him. There's a very real touch to him, as much as we all think we would be heroic in certain situations, the reality is that most of us would look for a way out first, choosing to 'fight' rather than 'flight' only if we absolutely had to. I think he does some heroic things sometimes, as does Twoflower in his very sweet naive way.

[Angie]

I think that hidden inside Rincewind is a hero. It always seems to be there but never really comes out. He always wants to run from a scene but once he gets through it I think he realizes he can do it but is lazy. I remember this one part where Rincewind talked about boring and adventures and that he preferred being bored. I think he is just lazy.

A hero to me is one who believes in his or herself and eventually Rincewind will get there. To think about what makes a hero is hard.

I also think the luggage is a hero like Amy. The luggage is so loyal. And ready for anything.

[Elizabeth]

I think Rincewind has the potential to be a hero, and is either lazy or tells himself he's lazy because he's afraid of failure.

He didn't give in to Death coming (yet again) to harvest his soul even when he was in a difficult situation and it would have been the easiest escape route. There may be a spark of something heroic in Rincewind, but for the most part, he strives for mediocrity (or less) and usually doesn't do much better than that, unless it's by accident or with a lot of help.

[Rich]

Rincewind is the reluctant hero or hero by accident. He does not intend to do heroic things -- since they scare the crap of out him -- but is forced into doing them. Having the Luggage helps I think.

[Amanda]

Rich wrote: "Rincewind is the reluctant hero..."

Precisely the words I was going to use! History would remember him as a hero (if, indeed, it remembers him at all!) Like many of our heros however, Rincewind is just a man doing what he needs to do to get by (ie. survive), and if we could see all of our heros in their moment of glory, they probably wouldn't look quite so heroic afterall.

The Universe conspires to thrust heroism upon him despite his cowardice and he is forced to react to survive. So perhaps not a hero in spirit, but of actions...an accidental hero.

Great question Angie.

[Valerie]

Ah, Rincewind. I think that despite his best efforts to avoid any form of heroism, his actions most often lend themselves toward heroic results.

I absolutely love the scene toward the end of the book where his Krullian captors clearly perceive him as a large threat, meanwhile he is basically cowering in fear.