What Makes Lasting Fantasy - Part II

A little over a month ago, I started a mini blog series on what I think makes lasting fantasy. You can read Part I - A Clear Definition of Good and Evil over here.

Part II - Persistent Characters

While the story has to be well written, characters are what really draw people in. You can have all the action in the world, but if your characters are all one-dimensional twits, it will be hard to keep people interested. 

Let's look at Harry Potter, for example. When you think of the series, what comes to mind first? The battles? The storyline? Or do you immediately start picturing Harry, Ron, Hermione, Voldemort? 

Let's try it with Lord of the Rings, now. While the battles are awesome in that series, the characters are definitely front and center. 

A good fantasy novel not only allows us to align ourselves with good (or bad, if that's your thing), but it gives us a stake in the whole thing. We stick with the same characters throughout the book (or series). All of us develop our favorites, like we're following a sports team. A good example of that is the whole "Team Jacob" vs "Team Edward" thing (I'm totally "Team Charlie", by the way). In order to keep us hooked, we need that consistency to really invest ourselves emotionally in the books. 

I think that's one place George R. R. Martin has failed. I have not read his most recent book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, A Dance with Dragons, but I have read the others in the series. By the last book, I found my attention wavering. Martin has a habit of killing off his characters. He would build one up, get you attached to them, only to cut them down later on. It became very frustrating and was one of the reasons I stopped reading (you can read the other reasons here). 

This topic also brings up another point. To have persistent characters, you really need more than one novel. The most prominent works in fantasy are all series: Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, The Wheel of Time, McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. I'm having a very tough time thinking of a solo book that really stands out. 

Do you think persistent characters are needed to really get into a book/series? Who are your favorite characters? Do you know of a lasting fantasy book that defies the need for persistent characters across a series?

What Makes Lasting Fantasy: Part I

Today I'm going to start a five-part blog series about what I think makes a fantasy story that can stand the test of time. Most of the examples I'm going to refer to will be series, because those seem to be the ones that stand out the most.

Part I: A Clear Definition Between Good And Evil

I'm all for a good book that can blur the lines, but honestly, I haven't found one that I'd call a "classic" that can do it well. All of the books that I would call my favorites, the ones that I want to read again and again, clearly define who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. Some minor characters can waffle a bit and the main characters obviously make mistakes, but the protagonists and antagonists know their roles and stick to them.

Examples:

Harry Potter - Harry Potter is a classic example. Good guys: Harry, Ron, Hermione. Epic bad guy: Voldemort. There is no question throughout the entire series where these two parties fall. You know who the bad guy is and you know whose job it is to take him down.

Lord of the Rings - Again, a very clear definition. Good guys: The Fellowship, the elves, the Rohirrim, you name it. There are a lot of good guys in this series, and most of them are awesome.  Epic bad guys: Sauron, Saruman, the orcs, pretty much anything associated with Mordor.

Star Wars - Another perfect example. Good guys: The Jedi, the Rebels, Han, etc. Bad guys: The Sith, the Empire

Clear cut sides give us something to cheer for without fear of hitching our ponies to the bad guy in disguise.

Exceptions:
I honestly can't think of any really timeless fantasy books where there isn't an obvious "good vs bad" battle. I can think of characters who don't necessarily fall on one side or the other (Snape and Boromir for example), but no books. I initially thought of Frankenstein here, but decided against it in the end as most of the notion of the monster being bad comes from the movies, not the book itself.

 One of my most favorite movie scenes ever 

How many of your favorite books follow this rule? Can you think of any exceptions?

The Real Hero of Harry Potter

Harry gets all the credit. It is his story, after all, but who is the real hero of Harry Potter? For me, the answer is simple.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Without Hermione, both Ron and Harry would've been dead repeatedly. Not only that, but she held them together when they were ready to rip each other to pieces, acting as the glue in their little trio of heroes. Her powers of observation were unmatched and she was a mental sponge, absorbing all sorts of knowledge that kept them out of trouble numerous times. She was also the mastermind behind Dumbledore's Army, a group of children that played an absolutely crucial role in The Deathly Hallows. Not to mention that she took on one of the craziest, deadliest witches to ever live and didn't get herself killed. Those are just a small handful of the things she did to aid Harry on his quest to vanquish Voldemort and save the poor house-elves from their lives in slavery.

Who do you think is the real hero of Harry Potter? Harry? Hermione? Ron? Mrs. Weasley? Chime in!