|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 7:27 am
Is it me, or do Eddings women characters seem to be a little similar? You have the pushy yet wise sorceress Polgara...and the pushy yet wise sorceress Sephrenia.
You have the young, beautiful and very spoilt Princess Ce'Nedra....And the young, beautiful and very spoilt Goddess Aphrael, reborn as Princess Danae.
You have the stalwart yet beautiful Liselle, cunning and intelligent...and then you have the cunning, stalwart, beautiful and intelligent Melidere.
And those are the only three types of women. Every female character seems to fall into the pushy yet wise section with no real exceptions. Now I love Eddings work, don't get me wrong, but I sometimes wish he'd write women who weren't all superior and pushy yet wise.
Any opinions?
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 11:09 am
Yeah, I think that's probably true, but you could almost say the same for the male characters. The reluctant hero, the wise old man, the battle ready warriors. I think it's just literary archtypes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 4:07 am
Lilabella Yeah, I think that's probably true, but you could almost say the same for the male characters. The reluctant hero, the wise old man, the battle ready warriors. I think it's just literary archtypes. If you think about it, you can usually find these same generic characters in almost every fanasy book... It's just cliche and authors make characters like this without even thinking about it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 11:44 am
ringwraith10 Lilabella Yeah, I think that's probably true, but you could almost say the same for the male characters. The reluctant hero, the wise old man, the battle ready warriors. I think it's just literary archtypes. If you think about it, you can usually find these same generic characters in almost every fanasy book... It's just cliche and authors make characters like this without even thinking about it. Yep, agreed biggrin
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 9:54 pm
You will find that with writers, they all seem to have the same type of characters, with slightly different adjustments.
I find it with every fantasy author I have ever read, and belive me, I own more than half of the fantasy section of any given book store.
I love eddings women though, I guess because I'm the "wise pushy" type. or so my hubby says.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2006 7:44 am
I agree that they seem similar--I haven't read the Elenium/Tamuli, but some of it could be attributed to the extreme differences of races in the Belgariad/Malloreon, I guess. Also, writers do tend to fall into patterns of writing that seem easiest, especially when they're writing something epic with lots of characters, where it's hard to be original.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 1:00 pm
He does that with all of his books. It's like that in the Dreamers as well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 10:42 pm
To me the Dreamers sounds like baby talk. Athulus felt that way too, but the dreamers much worse.
For a completly different take on things read Reginas Song.
It's refreshing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 10:05 pm
You know, in creative writing class they call fantasy novels formulaic for a reason: that's what it is. When someone picks up a fantasy novel they expect exactly what Eddings gives. Isn't there some quote by him about how all fantasy stories follow the same plot: reluctant hero meets other adventurers, refuses to be hero, finds magic doo-dad, kills big bad thing.
I think what's good about Eddings is that he knows he's doing something formulaic, but it's interesting. I like his character's bantering. I like stories where the fate of nations is decided between a few characters in a backroom (i.e. political intrigue).
But he -is- formulaic. It's a testimony to his skill that he's so open about it yet we keep reading. biggrin
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 14, 2006 1:26 pm
Vythirri You know, in creative writing class they call fantasy novels formulaic for a reason: that's what it is. When someone picks up a fantasy novel they expect exactly what Eddings gives. Isn't there some quote by him about how all fantasy stories follow the same plot: reluctant hero meets other adventurers, refuses to be hero, finds magic doo-dad, kills big bad thing. I think what's good about Eddings is that he knows he's doing something formulaic, but it's interesting. I like his character's bantering. I like stories where the fate of nations is decided between a few characters in a backroom (i.e. political intrigue). But he -is- formulaic. It's a testimony to his skill that he's so open about it yet we keep reading. biggrin Indeed, David Eddings (not forgetting Leigh who had a big influence in his storytelling even before she was officially acknowledged on the book covers) gives us exactly what we want to read. He takes a generic fantasy world and storyline and fills it with lots of interesting in-between bits such as the intrigue, character development and their relationships - these are the things that keep us reading.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Watching Eternity Vice Captain
|
Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 3:59 pm
I HAVE A WOMAN WHO ISN'T PUSHY AND SUPERIOR!!!! ALEAN THE MAID, KALTEN'S FIANCEE LOVER PERSON!!!!!!!! OH YEAH! I'M GOOD!!!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 7:55 am
If you go back to the Belgariad/Mallorean and compare all the Queens, none of them are the same, I love the contrast in the Queens <3
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 7:00 pm
That would be correct! That is what most people hate about David Eddings: All of his characters are same. His new series, though, is trying to stretch out into the unknown.
I haven't read the Diamond Throne, but I have read the Belgariad and Mallereon and...oh no, forgot the title. Someone's redemption? Althalus's redemption? *shrug* But all his characters copied another character. The main character was remarkably like silk, the goddes was remarkably like Polgara, the boy remarkably like whats-his-name. stressed *Needs to re-read books* Oh like, the boy in the Belgariad....something like....he had a mission so the guy named him....argh! Ya, him.
*Is starting to hate her post*
But....yeah. <_<
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 11:05 am
I believe all the women are similar but that makes sense because David's wife Leigh helped him develop all the female characters and societies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 7:54 am
Eddings does have a tendency to repeat character personalities in his books. Think about it-Sparhawk vs. Belgarath. Both wise, older, somewhat commanding but they're both near-identical father figures. Eddings is definitely removed from those authors whose books convey a "read one and you've read 'em all" feeling, but there are some repeating themes, elements, and personalities in there as well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
