Folks frequent a mute fellow’s flat,
And speak, first of this, then of that.
They’re not buddies dear,
But he lends them an ear:
No one chats like a guy who can’t chat.
Author: oneparticularletter
Top Ten Favorite Fictional Characters, #2: Sir Lancelot
Top Ten Favorite Fictional Characters,#2: Sir Lancelot, The Once and Future King
The Once and Future King is one of those books that gives me something new in every phase of my life. Through it all, I have adored the Ill-Made Knight, the one who loathes himself and tries so hard to rise above it, who has impulses toward cruelty and swears never to let himself descend to it, who became the best knight and was cursed to uphold it, who did just two things wrong, and one made a son better than him and the other unmade his world. White makes him feel so real in his fractured beauty.
As the book notes, a dishonorable man might have just gone away with Gwenever, cut the knot that led to their ruin. Over time I’ve come to regard the Arthurian love triangle as a little bit tawdry, ignoble. But I understand, through the book, why it happened, and why he only ever loved three people (I allow for God) and together they ruined everything.
The Lord of the Rings
Long poems and songs tend to lurk
In JRR’s body of work.
The epic, the lay:
If he wrote today,
The editor might go berserk.
Top Ten Favorite Fictional Characters, #3: Prince Zuko
Top Ten Favorite Fictional Characters,#3: Prince Zuko, Avatar: The Last Airbender
I have to say either too little or too much. Suffice it to say that Zuko has my favorite redemption arc. His story is believable, enjoyable, full of moments of introspection and gorgeous competence. He’s such an angry kid, cast out by his father and still desperate to win back his love. (Rightly) proud, (tragically) driven, (understandably) furious, (in spite of everything) growing. ATLA is a very, very good show that holds up well for adults despite being a Nickelodeon cartoon. Zuko gets some of the best characterization in a stellar cast. Plus, Zuko time is Uncle Iroh time, and Uncle Iroh is his mentor/foil in the best way.
The Mouse and the Elephant: A Review Scheme
Media reviews of any length are going to get a new feature: X out of five little mice, and X out of five brave elephants.
The little mouse derives from a thing I heard once:
Inside each person is a little mouse. The mouse does not understand complexities; it only knows that when you are kind to it, it thrives and is happy, and when you are cruel to it, it shrivels and is wounded. Your self-talk showers it with goodness or pain. It is helpless; it is a captive of your soul; it doesn’t know any better, but seeks kindness and avoids punishment.
Thus, I use this to describe whether I found a piece of media comforting.
The brave elephant represents my opinion of the work’s quality. Whether it is of satisfying substance or not. It is partly inspired by the myth of elephants fearing mice, and partly by the parable of the blind men and the elephant:
Six blind people were led to an elephant and allowed to touch it. The first blind person touched its horns and said, “An elephant is hard and smooth, like a polished stone.” The second touched its trunk and said, “An elephant is firm and twisty, like a snake.” The third touched its ear and said, “An elephant is thin and floppy, like a rug.” The fourth touched its side and said, “An elephant is high and flat, like a wall.” The fifth touched its leg and said, “An elephant is round and sturdy, like a pillar.” The sixth touched its tail and said, “An elephant is loose and hairy, like a paintbrush.” Which of the blind people was right?
Thus, my opinions. I use the elephants to describe whether I thought a piece of media has substance or some subjective level of quality. I probably haven’t covered the whole elephant, but I can give my perspective.
Top Ten Favorite Fictional Characters, #4: Samuel Vimes
Top Ten Favorite Fictional Characters,#4: Sam Vimes, Discworld
Captain Vimes was my introduction to Pratchett’s fantastic concept of militant decency: the anger that is not the problem, but is the fuel to fix the problem, on matters of basic [human]ity. Sam is witty, tactically astute, tough, and his contributions to the Discworld timeline are all about expanding the definition of people and what people are protected by the law, be they constructs, vampires, or foreign countries. Vimes is so good. Not because he bears righteous fury with all the answers, but because he bears righteous fury that continuously learns. That accepts nothing less than justice, even for people that don’t usually fall inside the rules.
Some of my favorites are my favorites because I identify with them. I don’t identify with Sam Vimes, I couldn’t. I admire from afar, and sneakily try to emulate the highlights.
Top Ten Favorite Fictional Characters, #5: Londo Mollari and G’Kar
Top Ten Favorite Fictional Characters, #5: Londo Mollari and G’Kar, Babylon 5
Bound together because they’re amazing individually and sublime together. The evolution of these two characters and their relationship is one of the greatest achievements in the television I’ve seen.
Londo, a brazen imperialist languishing in a joke of an assignment because nobody wants to bother with him, and G’Kar, a firebrand facing down a war with nothing but his voice and the loyalty he has bought with his own blood—this is the stuff of epics. The give and take, the push and pull, G’Kar insistently buying Londo a drink in giddy hopes of a cessation of hostilities as Londo sits there meditating on the backstabbing attack he had personally arranged scant hours ago…it never stops being good. Londo’s businesslike walk into perdition and G’Kar’s gradual transformation beat against one another over, and over again. Londo’s best moments are the ones where he realizes how far he’s let everything go against G’Kar’s people, and G’Kar’s best moments are spitting defiance, sometimes literally, at the chains of Londo’s empire.
There are days when Londo and G’Kar carry the show. In Babylon 5’s stately, intricate storytelling, they inject boatloads of personality, successfully shining as both people and icons. The elevator sequence is one of the greatest scenes in television, fight me.
Top Ten Favorite Fictional Characters, #6: Emma Woodhouse
Top Ten Favorite Fictional Characters, #6: Emma Woodhouse, Emma
I identify with Emma. The favored child of British gentry and the queen bee of her social circle, Emma spends her days beneficently improving the lives of everyone around her. Emma is so full of great resolutions about how she’s going to improve herself as a person and make her world better, and she messes it up so many times. Emma is, of course, a spoiled girl in a provincial neighborhood engaging in meaningless, small-minded intrigue, but I think she’s a mirror for a disturbing number of my personality traits. She ends up happy, loved, and wiser than she started, and isn’t that something to aspire to?
Gone with the Wind
Scarlett, the belle with the beaux,
Knows self-preservation and clothes.
Her love marched to war:
She might have got more
From a man who would really propose.
Top Ten Favorite Fictional Characters, #7: Huttslayer Leia Organa
Top Ten Favorite Fictional Characters, #7: Huttslayer Leia Organa, Star Wars IV-VI
She shoots. She snarks. She scores. From the moment she pokes fun at Luke’s physique you know she’s going to be bad at the damsel in distress gig. Leia always knows the score and she’s not afraid of a little blaster fire. And she’s a real live princess! I can think of no better role model, even before she strangles a Hutt with her own slave chain and helps save the day. Her meditative moments in the Ewok village are among the oldest sticking movie scenes in my heart.
I will always wonder how Episode 9 would have been if she had been around to play the central point. (7 = Han, 8 = Luke, 9 = ??) It probably would have been terrible because the writing of those movies was catastrophically bad, but still, I wonder.