The Art of Allusion

Tags

avengers, baroness emma orczy, j.r.r. tolkien, marvel, selay'uu (sort of), star wars, story dynamics, the lord of the rings, the scarlet pimpernel, the silmarillion, worldbuilding

In literature, allusion is a reference to something that will be familiar to the audience; anything from a turn of phrase to a cultural icon, or even a mention of a familiar food. Allusion is a tool, used to anchor the readers and story in a certain time and place. It is also useful in creating its homophone: the illusion of a larger world.

Places like the galaxy far, far away and Middle-Earth are chock full of things that we never see, but are alluded to; “strong enough to pull the ears off a Gundark”, for instance, or “Ancalagon the Black.” Each of these allusions gives us a tiny amount of information about the subject. We know that Ancalagon the Black was a dragon. They also hint at things; Ancalagon the Black must have been a very nasty dragon to merit the nickname “the Black,” and for Gandalf to mention him at that point in the story, he must have been familiar even to hobbits. This gives Ancalagon a bit of a reputation. Having read the Silmarillion, I don’t recall seeing what Ancalagon did, exactly. I do remember Glaurung–also a nasty piece of work–but he wasn’t technically a dragon, he just took the shape of one. Unlike many of the throw-away references in The Lord of the Rings, we didn’t learn much about Ancalagon in the Silmarillion. We didn’t learn anything more about Gundarks until the Clone Wars (which some people don’t accept as canon.)

Throw-away references that may or may not be built on later are important. While the reader probably won’t mentally flag them “THIS IS IMPORTANT!” unless they are a major fan of the book or the series, they do create the illusion that there’s a bigger world off-screen or off-page, and if you do bring them back later, it will be an “oh. OH!” moment for the reader as they recall that you slipped it into the text earlier. (Here’s a hint: if it is important to your plot in any way, slip it in early and bring it up at least once before you need it. That way it won’t fall on your readers’ heads out of a blue sky. That tends to drive people away.)

These allusions are also marvelous in creating a character with a past. Like the infamous tomato sauce incident (I thought I told you not to experiment in the kitchen, Will! The New World hasn’t been discovered yet!), or the moments when Halt or Crowley mention something that happened in their youth without telling the full story, these allusions also broaden a character, just as they broaden a world. You create jucier characters, which readers love, that way. It’s a win-win situation all around.

Would Araluen be so interesting if we weren’t curious about what might be lurking in Russia (the John R. Flanagan equivalent of it)? Okay, maybe that wasn’t a good example. 😛 But would the oliphaunts have made such an impact if we hadn’t been already curious about Harad, after Gandalf mentioned it and that it was nearly always warm there? Would we have been so eager to find out what happened at Budapest? What about Halt and Crowley’s friendship and how they became friends, or why Marguerite was acquainted with Chauvelin at all?

Insert random reference that builds into your world here.

Your readers will love you.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

Remember how I made you ride the Cyclone at Coney Island?

Yeah, and I threw up?

This isn’t payback, is it?

Now why would I do that?

(Virtual chocolate for anyone who knows that quote!)

Silliness, Part Two

Tags

bbc merlin, completely random posts, confusing nonsense, extremely random posts, humor, insanity, j.r.r. tolkien, rambling musings, randomness, silliness, the chronicles of narnia, the hobbit, the lord of the rings

Does anyone remember A Random Story, that silly take-a-turn writing piece I did back in January with two friends to pass the time as we headed back from the March for Life?

Well, here’s some more! With thanks to everyone at Mockingjay14’s birthday party. (The first part is mine, the second is Iris‘… it was her sister’s birthday party, anyway. 😉 ) Everyone took a turn at writing a little more onto a story, and each paragraph represents a different writer. Enjoy the silliness!

---

Once upon a time in a room full of dead ferns a man in black rose from purple moss and strode purposefully away. He threw a black sword into the black air with a black scowl and proclaimed, “WOOF!”

No, really, that wasn’t what he actually said… what he actually said was, “I summon thee, Dark One,” after which a cloaked figure appeared. The man was surprised by the Dark One’s short stature, and when he threw back his cloak, he turned out to be…

Bilbo in disguise! He was quite grumpy because he had lost all of his pocket-handkerchiefs. He had been searching for one when he had…

fallen down a cliff, meanwhile hitting his head, passing out, and rolled into the purple moss. He happened to be allergic to it, so…

his whole face swelled up, and he began to notice that it was becoming hard to breathe. So, he threw himself down, and took a nap.

Then, when he woke up, he suddenly felt an urge to eat circus peanuts when he saw…

an elephant who wanted peanuts as well. The elephant said, “I DON’T LIKE PURPLE!”

Bilbo ran away from the elephant because it was scaring him, but it chased him! Then a flying figure appeared above Bilbo. It was…

Fledge, with Merlin, Frodo, and Cor and Corin on his back and all of them were having a huge argument. Bilbo and everyone else…

decided to get as far away as possible. On the way, they ran into Tauriel. She saw Bilbo and said, “Aww, you poor little hobbit. Here, let me help.” Then she healed Bilbo, and they set off for the Shire. But if they ever got there or not, we’ll never know.

---

Author’s note: Erm… sorry about this. It’s been in my drafts for months. About five months, in fact. Apparently I lost it in my drafts–you’re just super fortunate I finally found it again. Always good for a laugh, right?

Thanks for reading, and God Bless! (Merry Christmas!)

 

TCWT December 2014: Learning from the Masters

Tags

a tale of two cities, blogging, brian jacques, c.s. lewis, charles dickens, dee henderson, fahrenheit 451, g.a. henty, irene hannon, j.r.r. tolkien, lord of the rings, madeleine l'engle, ray bradbury, redwall, sir arthur conan doyle, story dynamics, teens can write too blog chain, the silmarillion, writing

We’re back again!

I am so sorry, I’m posting this a day late. I had planned to schedule it, but… well, let’s just say that though I know better than to excuse myself to my instructors at college, you guys might actually forgive me if I say that work and college conspired to destroy ANY plans I had for this week. AT ALL. Also, late happy St. Nicholas’ Day and on time happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception!

I know it’s been a while since I posted for the Teens Can Write Too blog chain, but I had good excuses. Crazy college and a new job made me take a hiatus from blogging for a while. I kind-of almost want to change to a history major, but I’m going to hang on with what I have now–I figure that if I want a history degree later, I can get a history degree later by transferring credits and attending part-time. Besides, I don’t think you need a degree to go to history conventions and get in on that conversation. History people are awesome.

Well, that’s enough about that.

On to the prompt!

Over the years, I have learned a lot, mainly by following the example of other authors. Remember how there’s that annoying little thing where your writing tends to mimic the style of the last author you read? Well, that’s part of it. But only part of it.

From The Lord of the Rings and the Redwall series, I learned about style and pacing. In Redwall, the style is very concrete, and the pacing is quick; when you get to the crises of the books, it’s a hard-hitting series of events leading rapidly up to the climax. The Lord of the Rings is paced slower and has a bit more of an ornate style. I have had my style compared to Tolkien’s *glares at Iris, sitting in the audience*, but I tend to prefer Jacques’ pacing.

From Irene Hannon, Dee Henderson, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle I learned the value of not broadcasting your plot twists all over the place. Normally I have intuitions about whodunit, but in these cases I could not see the villain until he was right in my face. Genius.

From G.A. Henty, I learned that it’s okay to take detours. (Okay, Tolkien does that too, but I read Henty first.) Adding in side plots to prolong a quest+character development for side characters=an equation for 300 pages of a good read. (Don’t hate on me. 50k is all well and good, but I like books that are 150k or 200k, even. I read The Lord of the Rings in nine days straight and actually finished reading The Silmarillion.)

From A Tale of Two Cities, I learned the value of keeping up with history and using a cultural and historic background to my advantage. Realism is the name of the game, and while you’re simulating realism, it helps to be knowledgeable about the real history behind it.

From Fahrenheit 451 I learned the importance of keeping calm through criticism. (Don’t ask me how; that’s just the lesson I took away from it. I pick up on odd things sometimes.) I’m not used to being criticized in a negative light. If you’ve been reading my blog, and especially the comments on the posts, it’s only been once or twice that I haven’t received abject praise. I don’t know if that’s because I’m good at what I do or if I have a feel for what my audience likes or if they just can’t find anything to criticize. But it’s hard to be criticized since I’m so used to praise. I just have to find out what’s relevant, and not let the rest get to me.

From C.S. Lewis and Madeleine L’Engle, I learned that it’s okay to write the tough books, the ones that might get you hated on. You might be shocked to see how much criticism gets to me, even if you’ve known me forever, but I learned from reading Lewis’ and L’Engle’s works that you have to just kick fear in the teeth and write it. You’ll be surprised by how much support you garner.

You have to write the book that wants to be written, and if it’s too difficult for adults, write it for children. ~~ Madeleine L’Engle

5^th – http://thelittleenginethatcouldnt.wordpress.com/

6^th – http://nasrielsfanfics.wordpress.com/

7^th – https://erinkenobi2893.wordpress.com/

8^th – http://introspectioncreative.wordpress.com/

9^th – http://semilegacy.blogspot.com/

10^th – http://kirabudge.weebly.com/

11^th – http://whileishouldbedoingprecal.weebly.com/

12^th – http://randomosityofeden.wordpress.com/

13^th – http://musingsfromnevillesnavel.wordpress.com/

14^th – http://www.alwaysopinionatedgirl.wordpress.com/

15^th – http://www.juliathewritergirl.wordpress.com/

16^th – http://miriamjoywrites.com/

17^th – http://horsfeathersblog.wordpress.com/

18^th – http://unironicallyexcited.wordpress.com/

19^th – http://theboardingblogger.wordpress.com/

20^th – http://stayandwatchthestars.wordpress.com/

21^st – http://unikkelyfe.wordpress.com/

22^nd – http://fantasiesofapockethuman.blogspot.com/

23^rd – http://lilyjenness.blogspot.com/

24^th – http://oliviarivers.wordpress.com/

25^th – [off-day]

26^th – http://butterfliesoftheimagination.wordpress.com/

27^th – http://missalexandrinabrant.wordpress.com/

28^th – http://www.pamelanicolewrites.com

29^th – http://jasperlindell.blogspot.com.au/

30^th – http://maralaurey.wordpress.com/ and http://theedfiles.blogspot.com/

31st – http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com/ (We’ll announce the topic for next month’s chain.)

Oh, are you still here?

I apologize again for posting late. Don’t stick around here, though! Head right over to the next blog and don’t miss out on their post!

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

The Most Memorable Movie Soundtracks

Tags

brave, captain america: the first avenger, cressida cowell, disney, dreamworks, frozen, how to train your dragon, j.r.r. tolkien, pixar, rigoletto, rise of the guardians, star wars, the avengers, the lion king, the lord of the rings, the prince of egypt, the war of the vendee

Hello, everyone! I don’t think anyone has done this one yet, so here we go. 😉

I will try not to do too many musicals–I am rating these movies for instrumentals or choral pieces which aren’t intended as “songs” sung by the characters to the audience. I may or may not decide to write up a Most Memorable Musicals list at some point in the future. Or I might just hand that one off to my good friend Iris. Hmmm, now there’s a thought… ;-P

Sadly, this list will have to be limited to movies I have seen…

Honorable Mention: Rise of the Guardians. Though I’ve heard this movie bashed for its “forgettable” soundtrack, the sounds of the movie did complement the story very well, highlighting its wonder-filled and hopeful aspect. For sheer enchantment, I’d rank it higher on my list than Frozen, but its soundtrack, while imaginative and beautiful, is somewhat predictable. Memorable? Yes. But mostly because of the association with the characters.

EDIT: On second thoughts, I have to add the “Fivel” movies An American Tail and Fivel Goes West to this list, under the honorable mentions clause. Why are there so many animated movies on this list anyway? *sigh*

10. Frozen. Yes, this one only made the lowest ranking on this list. (So what?) I know you Frozen lovers out there are probably mad at me for this, but first and foremost, it’s a musical, and its biggest strength is in its big musical numbers (not the best thing for a musical, which should be able to back up its musical numbers with instrumental tracks, like The Prince of Egypt does.)

9. Brave. This one is on the list because Celtic music. I have no other explanation. (Also, it’s a mom and daughter story, though I would have loved to see them take more time with Merida and Elinor’s relationship, maybe even have them show a little more remorse for losing their tempers with one another… yeah. If I had written Brave, things would have probably had a lot more drama and a lot less angst and rebellion, which might–might–have made a better story.)

8. The Lion King. Yeah, I know there are haters out there, but while the songs/musical numbers aren’t my favorite songs of all time, I do love this movie’s instrumental soundtrack. (How sad is it when one is reduced to watching Disney movies for the soundtracks only?)

7. Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers. These two ranked about equal on my list (except The First Avenger gets slightly more kudos than The Avengers, mainly due to its amazing theme pieces, but I couldn’t leave The Avengers out either…) The First Avenger was a triumph. It had a lovely vintage/retro feel to it. It was historically accurate without being corny or biased against the age it simulated. WWII technology was pushed without looking like something out of a pulp sci-fi novel. As a war movie, it is sympathetic and watchable. As a superhero movie, it’s a triumph, with a better plot and storytelling than Thor and (don’t bash me, Iron Man fans!) more heart than Iron Man. And it has a soundtrack to match.
The sounds of the movie tended more toward unobtrusive than loud or invasive, which makes it sound typical of its era. The main theme has a patriotic, triumphant sound without being stereotyped. And, perhaps most incredible of all, the composers and filmmakers knew when to leave a scene quiet (the ambiguous, ominous sense just before the train scene? Brought on by an absence of music.)
The Avengers had a good soundtrack as well. It sounds like a spy movie. It also sounds like a superhero movie. It has an alien invasion, but it doesn’t sound like an alien invasion movie, which was a good choice–portals rather than spaceships cuts new ground, after all. The sense of deep menace at points in the movie was amazingly well done. (COULSON!!!)

6. The Prince of Egypt. This movie has one of the most haunting soundtracks I have ever heard. The songs are pretty good, too, but in general… the way themes were used puts this on my list of all-time-favorite movies.

5. The Lord of the Rings. Howard Shore is on my permanent list of composers whose work to check out continuously. Not only did his theme for the Uruk-hai stick in all of our heads, but the background pieces he worked on instilled fear, or hinted at joy. Shore did an incredible job with the main themes, making minor themes into major ones or playing them slower and faster, re-mixing them brilliantly into something that was familiar but at the same time new.

4. The War of the Vendee. This movie is the Holy Grail of Christian indie movies. With a cast of all homeschooled children (not one actor above high school age, I believe), beautiful writing, incredible visuals, and marvelous acting, this movie is the sort of movie that all indie movies should be. The composer (whose name I can’t remember right now–bah!) is a protege of John Williams and in the music community is considered to be the next John Williams. There’s a story behind this–the director, Jim Morlino, met the composer, who was interested in Mr. Morlino’s work and said that he would love to provide the music for their next movie. So there you have it–one of the best soundtracks ever.

3. Star Wars. Even people who haven’t seen the movies know the soundtracks. Really. Who doesn’t occasionally hum the Imperial March at their dad (or the President, who probably thinks it’s funny too)? And who doesn’t know the theme music? (John Williams, we laud thee.)

2. Rigoletto. This one probably goes out to a limited audience. It’s a sort-of musical distributed by Feature Films for Families, with a relatively small fandom. It earned its spot on this list because though it is a musical, the instrumental parts are pure enchantment. If you haven’t seen it go check it out; I recommend it very highly. Especially this track.

1. How to Train Your Dragon, both the original and sequel. How to Train Your Dragon was perhaps the most ear-enchanting movie of the year it came out. Its soundtrack, unlike some of the other soundtracks I’ve heard, did not sound remotely like a rip-off of something else. This soundtrack brought the island of Berk to life, evoking soaring feelings to match the soaring of a dragon’s wings. I don’t know about anyone else, but I expected the soundtrack of the sequel to be more of the same.
It was not.
It went far beyond that.
How to Train Your Dragon 2 took the soundtrack from the original and played with it so it read as the same and yet new, original, and unexpected. Parts of it are deeply touching, while others carry an incredible thrill. None of HTTYD 2 disappointed at all, but the soundtrack has to be right up there alongside Dreamworks’ greatest triumphs.

So there you have it, my Top Ten Memorable Movie soundtracks. Do you agree? Disagree? Are there movies I’ve missed putting on this list that should have gotten better treatment (such as Disney movies that, again, I don’t really care for and only watch for the music)?

Anyway, thanks for reading and God Bless!

The Best Blogging Buddies Award

Tags

authors, awards, bbc sherlock, blogging, c.s. lewis, catholic culture, christianity, chronicles of narnia, diamond, disney, dreamworks, frozen, guitar, j.r.r. tolkien, lord of the rings, madeleine l'engle, music, owl city, rise of the guardians, star wars, the last battle, the lion king, thomas jefferson, writer, writing

Hey, there’s not actually a picture for this one? Hmmm… 😛

Instead, you can enjoy looking at my beloved dog (who passed away a few years ago… :’-( )

HEEEEEERRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE’S DIAMOND!

Okay, so Miko over at The Legendary Miko nominated me for this one. Thank you so much! 🙂

And apparently, this is a new award, and I’m the third recipient in the chain! Exciting! 😀

Okay, now to review the rules…

1) You must make a post to show your award on your main blog.

2) You must tag the person who nominated you in your post.

3) You must nominate all of your best buddies, and those whom you want to become best buddies with, who, to your knowledge, have not been nominated, for this award.

4) You must ask your buddies at least 15 questions on your post.

5) You must answer all of the questions your buddies ask you. On your post.

On to the questions!

1) What is your favorite TV show? I’m Sherlocked. No more to say. 😛

2) First song that pops into your head right now? “Fireflies” by Owl City. (My sister is a big fan.)

3) What are three guilty pleasures of yours? Fanfiction (technically), hot cocoa (I can’t often seem to actually finish a full mug), and reading C.S. Lewis when I’m supposed to be reading Faulkner (honestly, I need to find a new short story!)

4) Chipotle, Subway, Taco Bell, or McDonald’s? I’m going with Subway. I’ve never been to Taco Bell, and I’ve only ever had a hot cocoa at McDonalds. I got tired of Subway back in January, but that’s that. It’s been a while.

5) What is one thing that not many know about you? Well, Iris was surprised to learn that I play guitar. Other than that, I don’t advertise that I write much, except online. Since that’s the exception, though, and everyone here knows that I write, I don’t think anyone on here knows that I like to carve toy daggers out of wood. (I should post some pictures of them some time…)

6) If you could choose anyone, who would you pick as your mentor? Fictional or real-life? Well, for fictional characters, I’d love to have Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon as my mentor, though it would also be awesome to be mentored by Doctor John Watson. 😉 And real life mentors… Thomas Jefferson and my history professor at the private college I used to attend. *sniffle*

7) If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to? Ironic, I just got this question on another blog award… If I could really change my name, I’d like to change my universe as well… does that count? 😛

8) Where’s Waldo? Up in a tree. He’s in time-out and I won’t let him down… Never mind. 😛 (Who’s Waldo?)

9) What is your ideal boyfriend/girlfriend? Yikes. What a question… My ideal boyfriend will be a Christian, chivalrous, and kind. Other than that, well, I suppose I’ll have to wait to meet him. 😉

10) What color socks are you wearing? At the moment? No socks. Soon? Probably tan or gray. Wool is the best!

11) Blue or Black pens? Both! You see, I write with blue pens on even-numbered days, and black ones on the odd… Just kidding. I like to write with black and then do the primary edits in blue before typing everything up, tweaking as I go. (I like to print final drafts in purple. Unfortunately they don’t let you do that in college. :-S )

12) What’s the best book you ever read? The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien and The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis. Runners up: Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet, Tolkien’s Smith of Wooton Major and Leaf by Niggle, and Lewis’ Space Trilogy. (Just finished them and I’m in heaven!!! I should totally review them!!!)

13) What would you choose to be your last meal? I don’t care what it would be, so long as it wasn’t cream of wheat, and was with friends.

14) If you were given the option to choose your death, how would you die? I would prefer to die defending my friends and/or my country. (Though I doubt that’s exactly what you wanted…) I wouldn’t care about the nonsense “go out in a blaze of glory” so long as I was doing that. (I’m not Eowyn, in case you were under the delusion that I am. 😛 )

15) What is one thing you wish you’d never heard/learned? Certain non-canon couples… Ugh. (That’s not the only thing I wish I’d never heard about, but you only asked for one! ;-P)

Here we go with my questions:

1. If society was clipped up Divergent-style and you had to pick a faction, which of these factions would you choose: Truth Seekers (scholars, archaeologists and explorers), Protectors (military and police forces), Aristocracy (leaders and rulers), or Underworld (spies, black-ops units)?
2. Are you more like Sherlock or Mycroft Holmes? (Be honest and objective! :-P)
3. For the library aficionados, what book do you not own that you would like to read again?
4. If you could re-write any pop culture catchphrase, which one would you re-write and what would it mean in its new form? 😉
5. What’s your number one underdeveloped character in a published work? (I mean, who is your favorite character that you wish the author had developed more?)
6. Frozen or Rise of the Guardians? Why?
7. Tangled or Brave? Why?
8. Do you prefer birdwatching or stargazing? Why?
9. Favorite Lion King character and song!
10. When you’re about to leave the house, what’s the first thing you grab?
11. Do you prefer the forest, mountains, or ocean?
12. Do you sing in the shower?
13. Gardening or fiber crafts (sewing, knitting, embroidery, crochet) or sports? Favorite sport?
14. Do you have a particular official spot where you hang out with friends? (Mine was the library in my hometown. Now it looks like being Barnes&Noble, since it’s close to the university…)
15. Apples, oranges, grapes, or strawberries?

And now, I hereby nominate (in no particular order):

Iris, partly because she’s awesome and partly because I miss her.

Sarahtps, because awesome lists and fun photography. 😉

Proverbs31teen, because of Superhero Sundays. 😀 (She was the one who REALLY got me started on the Avengers!)

IcedMocha34, because she’s awesome and totally deserves it. 🙂

Roo, because I know her on Nanowrimo and she’s awesome. 😉

Superseaturtle (well, that’s what I know her as… ;-P) because she welcomed me to the Lego Star Wars Gallery, which is where I got my start on the web, and because she’s doing Nano this year–yay!

Andrew, whom I also know from Nano. 😛

FrenziedMythology, again from Nano, better known as Gandalf or the Panda of Awesomeness. 😛

C.N. Goodhue, aka Cedric of Chessington, who I first knew on the Lego Star Wars Creations gallery and who I’ve been having some trouble staying in contact with… :-S

Truthwillwin1. All of us need a bit more political incorrectness in our lives. 😉

Robyn Hoode, because… well, Minions for one thing. ;-P I just got nominated by her for another award, too. 😛

Professor V.J. Duke, for punchiness and dadblamery.

Sheikah, for her beautiful artwork.

Coruscantbookshelf (aka Rosalie), because she got me started blogging in the first place. 😉

Erin of Laughing at Live Dragons (we have to differentiate here, for obvious reasons. 😛 )

Eric, because Lord of the Rings! *happy sigh*

Wow. That’s a lot of people. 😛 But I was restricted on the other one by the fact that I couldn’t nominate boys for it. 😛 (It says “Sisterhood” right in the award name! 😛 )

Anyway, thanks for reading, congrats to the nominees, and God Bless! 😉

The Villains’ Table: Antagonists Who Made the Biggest Impression On Me

Tags

baroness emma orczy, brian jacques, c.s. lewis, castaways of the flying dutchman, disney, disney fairies, j.m. barrie, j.r.r. tolkien, lord of the rings, peter pan, redwall, return to neverland, secret of the wings, star wars, the chronicles of narnia, the clone wars, the pirate fairy, the scarlet pimpernel

Hello, and welcome to another list! This time, we are discussing the Top Ten Villains who Made an Impression on Me.

I mentioned in my TCWT post that I was thinking of posting this. Well, here it is, realized. 🙂

1. Tash, The Last Battle, The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. Basically the demonic opposite of Aslan, Tash was a four-armed beast with a vulture’s head and demanded human sacrifice of his worshipers.  Honestly, if Tash was not the father of lies (and desensitization), who’d want to serve him?
2. Darth Sidious, The Return of the Jedi, Star Wars. Was there ever any quibbling? This villain is something of an archetype, but oh Force, he pulls it off with charisma. Darth Sidious made an impression on me, mostly because he was THE villain, back in the day when I was wide-eyed and clutching my teddy bear as I watched The Return of the Jedi for the first time. I mean, most villains want the hero dead. Sidious wanted Luke’s soul. How creepy is that?!
3. Gabrielle Damien (Mademoiselle Guillotine), A&E’s Scarlet Pimpernel trilogy, based on the books by Baroness Orczy. Both blatant and shockingly vile, Mademoiselle Guillotine has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. What earns her a place on this list, though, is her hatred for Catholicism and disrespect for the sacred, coupled with her utter disregard for human life or dignity. Surprisingly enough, Damien was shot by the series’ main villain, which redeemed him, slightly, in my eyes. (That alone should tell you exactly what I think of Damien.)
4. Maguda Razan, The Angel’s Command, Castaways of the Flying Dutchman trilogy, by Brian Jacques. She was a sort of mafia-boss-slash-mother-of-evil-slash-abomination. Think Sidious’ insanity crossed with the White Witch and then throw in a splash of Tash, and you have Maguda Razan. She kidnapped Ben basically because she wanted to feed off of his nightmares and the memories of his time on the Flying Dutchman years before.
5. Shift, Ginger, and Rishta Tarkaan, The Last Battle, Narnia. Shift and his cadre of liars made a special impression on me. I was as enraged by their deceptions as the heroes of the story were (after reading the book, I had a dream where I was chasing Shift through Narnia, walloping him with a frying pan. I have counted it as one of my sweetest ever.) Their respective, well-deserved deaths (claimed by Tash, losing the power of speech, and claimed by Tash) were received by me with vindictive feelings of justification.
6. The White Witch, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Narnia. The White Witch was a conniving deceiver, and I still think she hasn’t been portrayed correctly on screen. In the old BBC movies, she looked overdone (though that’s due to the style of the times), and her acting seemed overly dramatic. However, she was the better of the two portrayals, in my opinion. (Those movies also had the perfect Peter, too… *sigh* In fact, all of the Pevensies, Jill, and Eustace were perfectly casted. It’s the costume design and the special effects that I have problems with.) The White Witch in the new movies seems a bit too exotic for the role. (I have not seen the new movies. But from what I have seen, this is what I think.)
7. Moriarty, Sherlock, based on the books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Moriarty is one of those generic villains who wanted the hero dead in the original. However, his intellect earned him a spot on this list even before the BBC series. Andrew Scott’s acting brings the character of Moriarty to new levels; from mere brilliant criminal mastermind, he goes to total insane psychopath, playing a game against Sherlock. The biggest difference between Moriarty and Sherlock is that Sherlock has a reason to live, while Moriarty is “bored” by life, and his only reason to live is to play the game. (Also, is he coming back in Season Four?!)
8. Cluny the Scourge, Redwall. He was the Redwall villain. He made a big impression on me mostly because he was almost like an orc only he was a rat, and I was eleven, I think. It was the more kid-friendly version of orcs, actually. 😛
9. Grima Wormtongue, The Two Towers, Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Sauruman was an also-ran, competing for this spot, but though he managed to nearly permanently wreck the Shire, it was Wormtongue I felt made the bigger impression. There’s something in the human psyche that despises a truth-twister, and as a truth-twister Wormtongue definitely qualifies.
10. Captain Hook, Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie. There was no way I was going to leave the number one villain of childhood off this list. (Sid, aka The Destructive Kid Next Door, from Toy Story was the only other person I’d consider for this spot, and he comes nowhere near to what I felt from Hook.) Hook was scary. He wanted to kill Peter. He was able to use Peter’s cockiness against him. That’s what I liked about him as a kid.
    Pros as a teenager/young adult: Hook is the most sympathetic villain you will come across in children’s literature. He is wonderfully fleshed out, and even has more backstory than Peter, though parts of his past are shrouded in mystery. Since Peter symbolizes the innocence and wonder of childhood (in my fanfiction re-telling of Peter Pan I go so far as make him a metaphor for fairytales and the far reaches of the imagination,) Hook thus symbolically, by extension, wants to do away with the innocence and wonder and imagination of childhood. Yet he still feels bad about it! (“No little children to love me.”)
    And last but not least, for a word about Hook in The Pirate Fairy. In my opinion, Hook (played by Tom Hiddleston) was the best part of The Pirate Fairy. Without him, it would have been just another Disney fairy movie, (No offense, Secret of the Wings), with its corresponding message of “follow your heart”, “believe in yourself”, and “have faith” (well, scratch that last one, it’s actually from Return to Neverland.) IS THERE ANYBODY ELSE IN ALL THE WORLD WHO WANTS TO SEE A REMAKE OF Peter Pan, only with Hiddleston as Hook and Asa Butterfield as Peter?! (And a properly vindictive Tinker Bell, from which Disney has recently strayed?!)
    Anyway, Tom Hiddleston played a thoroughly entrancing Hook, making us feel like he was a good guy who’d fallen in with bad companions, until the turn-about near the end, when he shocked us by the fact that, though he is able to believe enough to fly (grown-ups flying is still really nausea-inducing for me, unless it’s the Return to Neverland version of Wendy; in my opinion, it detracts from the mystique it should have–Disney, please do your research!), he is the mastermind of the pirates’ plan.
    The other thing I’d love to see with Hook would have to be a story where he ends up helping Peter, Wendy, Michael, John and the Lost Boys to save Neverland (or helps Wendy, Michael, John, and the Lost Boys to rescue Pan.) Actually, this is the plot of the latter part of the retelling I’m working on, though it would be nice to see other people’s takes on it as well. 😉
11. Captain/Admiral/Grand Moff Tarkin, Star Wars. No, actually, there is no number eleven. 😛 Tarkin is just the runner up. As is everyone else after him on the list. Tarkin struck me as evil because he’s a sociopath who doesn’t care who gets in his way, and he will stop at nothing to see the Jedi removed from military service (mainly because of their MORALS, which is vile in the extreme,) and vilified as well, if possible. Tarkin is a good example of why, after the Clone Wars began, for the Jedi there was really no good way out. They are keepers of the peace, not soldiers, as Master Windu explains, but once they’ve begun as a part of the fighting, they are no longer able to withdraw, due to people like Tarkin, who would gladly perpetrate all kinds of atrocities if the Jedi were to leave the field of war. Also, the war has horrible effects on their young (Ahsoka Tano’s inability to relax, for one, and Barriss Offee’s fall for another), and not just on their young: Pong Krell, a full Jedi Knight, is allured by the power the Dark Side offers and falls. (In fact, Obi-Wan and Anakin’s journey is actually a microcosmic allegory for what is happening to the Jedi as a whole. Ever since Qui-Gon’s death, Obi-Wan has been doomed to failure with Anakin by both his own promise to train Anakin and his [often conflicting] oath to serve the Republic and Jedi Order. Obi-Wan’s unwillingness to talk about his emotions, furthered by Anakin’s tendency to throw it back into his face when he summoned up the guts to do so, exacerbated the problem, sending them, inextricably linked, in a downward spiral, which ended with Anakin’s fall, which wounded Obi-Wan in a way that he never recovered from. Similar things happened with the Jedi Order and the crippled, failing Republic.)
12. Pong Krell, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Yes, most of my villains are from Star Wars or Narnia, I’m well aware. -_- This guy is the reason why the Jedi were vilified in the latter years of the Clone Wars. As explained above, he sold out his loyalties to the Republic and Jedi Order in the hopes of gaining a place in what he believed to be Dooku’s “New Order”. In the process, a bunch of clones were murdered, including Waxer, the trooper who befriended the little girl (Numa) back in Season One. (I am still in shock from Waxer’s death. And it’s been almost two full seasons since Umbara!) Umbara was an attempt on the Clone Wars writers’ part to show the darker side of war, and was the first incident of friendly fire actually shown on the Clone Wars. Man, did they nail the story. :’-( (I totally wanted to see Obi-Wan finding out about Krell’s treason and come and fight him and be incredibly awesome and do some tail-kicking, but it didn’t happen, and I guess the episode was more effective this way. However, there was a darker side to the clones taking Krell down; they proved that clones could, in fact, defeat Force Users, even those of dubious alignment.)
13. Sauruman. He laid waste to the Shire, desecrating something we held sacred. And he was killed by Wormtongue, partially redeeming the Rohan traitor.

So, there’s my list of Top Ten Villains who made an impression along with three runner-ups. (Sorry Dooku did not make it onto the list, he’s awesome and I love to write him, but he didn’t make nearly the impression on me that even Cluny did.) I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

TCWT: Beginnings and Endings (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BILBO AND FRODO!)

Tags

a swiftly tilting planet, a wind in the door, a wrinkle in time, beginnings, book reviews, brian jaques, c.s. lewis, castaways of the flying dutchman, catholic culture, creative writing, endings, j.r.r. tolkien, john flanagan, lord of the rings, madeleine l'engle, ranger's apprentice, reading, redwall, reviews, robert louis stevenson, star wars, the chronicles of narnia, the hobbit, time quintet, treasure island, writing

Hello, everyone!

Now, before I get into the TCWT post, I want to just make one little announcement.

Today is the shared birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins! *confetti flies everywhere* Happy birthday to the Ringbearers!

Okay, now that I’ve said that… 😉

Beginnings and endings. Now this reminds me of a paper I wrote in high school! Which will never see the light of day until it gets a boatload of revising. So don’t ask. Or you can ask, but be prepared for it to not happen for a very, very long time.

Specifically, my favorite beginnings and endings.

Let’s do this by series.

First of all, favorite beginnings and endings for The Chronicles of Narnia.

1. The Magician’s Nephew, both as a beginning to the series, and its own beginning and ending. This. Book. Rocked.
   First of all, we have the story of how Diggory and Polly met, and the fact that they were sent into Narnia by a ruthless pseudo-scientist/magician who was also partly insane (wouldn’t any number of YA authors just love to try their hand at a plot this juicy nowadays?!), but it’s not just that that makes the book great. It foreshadows World War II and people like Mussolini, Stalin, and Hitler. (I would not be surprised to hear that Lewis did not approve of the US’s alliance with the USSR. Good grief, I don’t approve of it. And I’m American.)
   *cough* Anyway…
   Well, this book as a whole is the beginning of Narnia and the Chronicles of Narnia series. But its opening, while modest, is no less of a favorite for me. And its ending! The hiding of the magic rings (we’ll get to Tolkien and the rest of the Inklings later, I promise!), the cure of Diggory’s mother, and the promise of hope.
2. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. The book that began it all. Seriously. Was ever story so well encapsulated? It wraps itself up very well, and smaller elements that were included (especially the Professor, who is–guess who? Diggory Kirk [yes, that is really his last name!], all grown up! and Susan’s horn, which becomes a major point in the plot of Prince Caspian.)
3. The Horse and His Boy. Unlike the rest of the Narnia stories, this one actually does not have anything to do with “our world”, unless you count the presence of the Pevensies (SPOILER! 😛 Who cares, anyway?! Most of you have already read all of the Chronicles of Narnia!) The ending is good, okay, but it’s the ending I really love. This is the one Narnia book that describes Archenland, and it tells us about the people of Archenland, and gives a very satisfying ending.
4. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Okay, yes, I love pretty much all of the Narnia series, but Dawn Treader stands out among the Narnia books. Again, the beginning is not nearly as euphoria-inducing as the ending is. It appears that Lewis may have been playing with the idea of the Seven Friends of Narnia at this point–of course, though, at this point only Lion, Witch, Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and Dawn Treader were written, which means that Diggory was only a flight of imagination, and Polly probably hadn’t ever (in Lewis’ mind) come into Narnia at all yet. The three aforementioned books were intended to be a trilogy, complete in themselves, and it seems that Lewis didn’t plan to write any more books. However, step back and take the series as a whole. If you read them in Narnian-time order, not writing order, then by the end of Dawn Treader there are seven friends of Narnia. (Susan hasn’t left the group yet, remember.) And Dawn Treader and The Last Battle are the most similar in style, and ending as well. Coincidence? Most likely not.
5. The Last Battle. If I have to pick one favorite Narnia book, it is this one. (Dawn Treader is a close second.) First of all, the opening is riveting. An impostor Aslan? Narnia’s King captured? WHAT?! IT DOESN’T EVEN BEGIN IN “OUR WORLD”?! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?! *squees*
   Seriously, though. ❤
   This Narnia book raises the stakes like no other. (I plan on making a list of the top villains who made an impression on me, to show you what I mean.) However, this book is also probably the one which is hardest for a child to read. (You’ve been warned.) It is both heartbreaking, exciting with its call to war, the rage against the lies… It is a true emotional rollercoaster. This one, more than any other of Lewis’s books, made me understand what “passion” really meant. More than any other book, really.
   And now, for the ending. While some people are upset that Susan didn’t get to the “True Narnia” in Aslan’s Country at the end of the series (read more about that here, and I highly recommend the rest of his blog for thought-provoking stuff on theology and popular culture!), I was both saddened by the fact that Susan had made herself not to believe in Narnia (which was, by the way, a recurring theme throughout the book–which is why, now, whenever I hear anyone say anything REMOTELY smacking of “We’re out for ourselves!” [*cough cough* “The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs!”], I always throw a fit and demolish their argument in a blaze of righteous flurry and the occasional lightsaber-to-their-newspaper), and gladdened by the fact that by the very fact of her leaving the Friends of Narnia she was given a second chance. The problem, really, that we’re talking about here, is the bland/blase reaction of the remaining Friends of Narnia to her exclusion. But you’ll just have to read Malcolm’s post, linked in above, if you want to know what Lewis’s thoughts on the whole “Problem with Susan” issue was. I’m not giving it away to you! You wouldn’t go find his completely awesome blog otherwise!
   Anyway, back to the ending, proper. It is, in my opinion, a very satisfying close to the series. It was a blissful, happy, euphoric ending. It echoed the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse to Tridentine Rite lovers like me). In fact, I am thinking about making myself a T-Shirt that says “The Rapture only happens to people who loved The Last Battle!” (DISCLAIMER: The author of this post does not believe in the Rapture as preached by certain Christian sects. She does, however, believe that reading The Last Battle will bring you pretty freaking close!)

Sadly, I have not read Lewis’s Space Trilogy often enough to include it in the runners. I haven’t even finished it. :’-( Still, enjoy my dear friend Rosalie’s description of Dr. Ransom here. ;-P *notices some people in the crowd gawking at the picture* *bangs them on the head with a newspaper* READ THE DESCRIPTION! NO GAWKING AT THE PHOTO!!! (I don’t care HOW attractive you may find Ewan McGregor, keep the fawning off my blog!)

Next up: Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet!

A Wrinkle in Time begins with the cliche beginning “It was a dark and stormy night.” It doesn’t stop there, though. It makes it its own. And in the end, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which vanish in a gust of wind.

However, A Wind in the Door gets the top place on this list, I think. It begins with “There are dragons in the twins’ vegetable garden.” and ends with the unforgettable:

“You were gone long enough. Did you count the stars or something?”

“We don’t have to count them,” Meg said. “They just need to be known by Name.” Calvin’s eyes met hers for a long moment and held her gaze, not speaking, not kything, simply being.

Then she went up to Charles Wallace.

Seriously! BEST. ENDING. EVER!

A Swiftly Tilting Planet, both beginning and ending, is tied up in Mrs. L’Engle’s adaption of St. Patrick’s Breastplate, called “Patrick’s Rune” in the story:

In this fateful hour
I place all heaven with its power
And the sun with its brightness
And the snow with its whiteness
And the fire with all the strength it hath
And the lightning with its rapid wrathAnd the winds with their swiftness along their path
And the sea with its deepness
And the rocks with their steepness
And the earth with its starkness,
All these I place
By God’s almighty help and grace
Between myself and all the powers of darkness.

Does that give you goosebumps? It does to me!

And finally, for the Hobbit  and the Lord of the Rings books. Now, I think that, while LotR’s beginning was interesting enough, it’s not quite the same as Hobbit‘s. “In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit.” How’s that for a great opening? It certainly gets questions started as to what a Hobbit is and why it lives in the ground! However, since Hobbit is the prequel to LotR, it makes a lot of sense that way. Frankly, though Hobbit‘s ending is satisfying enough, LotR’s is, in my opinion, the stronger of the two. Both bring about great changes in the world of Middle-Earth. Hobbit sees the return of the King Under the Mountain and the cities of Dale and Esgaroth, while LotR has no less than the return of the King Elessar to both Gondor and Arnor, and the destruction of the One Ring and the overthrowing of Sauron to boot!

In Hobbit, it was Bilbo’s poem that made the greatest impression on me.

Roads go ever on and on
Over rock, and under tree
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass, and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.

Roads go ever on and on,
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that have a-wandering gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows greenAnd trees and hills they long have known.

And in LotR, Frodo sums it up best: “We set out to save the Shire, Sam, and it has been saved; but not for me.”

In the end, both the Bagginses go into the West with the Elves, in search of Valinor, and Sam returns home to his wife and children. “Well, I’m back.”

Note to Ranger’s Apprentice fans:

I am so sorry, but RA is not eligible to run. Like the Space Trilogy, I haven’t read it enough to know the beginnings and endings very well.

Now for Brian Jaques’ work.

I especially love Mariel of Redwall for its beginning and ending. The book begins with an amnesiac Mariel arriving on the coast of Mossflower country, promising (as Liam would say) the search for the truth about her past. And it closes with the defeat of Gabool and the departure of Mariel and Dandin to go in search of adventure. However, The Legend of Luke and Martin the Warrior, not to mention Mossflower, were close seconds: Legend of Luke for its opening and closing sequences, detailing the building of Redwall Abbey, Martin the Warrior for its description of Martin’s barely-existent childhood and (SPOILER ALERT!) the cheek to kill off a character we really loved to drive Martin southward, toward Mossflower Country, and Mossflower for the arrival of Martin at Kotir in Mossflower and the closing defeat of Tsarmina, who had enslaved the woodlanders.

And as you’re probably already tired of this, I think I will stop after just one more.

Castaways of the Flying Dutchman trilogy.

WHY MR. JACQUES!? WHY!? *bursts into tears*

Each of these books is complex, detailed, involves a much intenser battle between good and evil (sometimes more openly manifested!) than the Redwall books, and remains vivid in the imagination for days and years afterward. (Why do you think I keep on forgetting and naming yet another protagonist “Ben”?! Hint: It’s not just Obi-Wan’s doing! *Obi-Wan shoots an annoyed glance in my direction*) It’s like… gah! I don’t know what to compare it to! Think Jedi Apprentice (Melida-Daan specifically), only little Obi-Wan has a dog and his destiny is tied to the sea, and gaaah the feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelsss…. *breaks down crying* *Obi-Wan relents and comes over to pat me on the back*

Okay, bad comparison. Let’s see. I think the closest I can get is it’s a bit like Treasure Island (which had a marvelous ending in its own rite,) a bit like what Star Wars would have been if the story centered around Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon had survived to train Anakin, and the sorrows the Elves must face when the younger Children of Illuvatar die. It also has strong resonances with Ranger’s Apprentice (shut it with the whatever-apprentice similes, Erin, before you burst into tears again!) It’s the only series with a ‘young’ protagonist (SPOILER the protagonist is eternally fourteen) I’ve ever read where the hero had no permanent mentor. Sure, he has a mentor/father figure who dies, but after that other people mentor him as well… sort of.

The thing about these books is that the endings are always both sweet, and at the same time, heartbreaking, since Ben and Ned (that’s Ben’s telepathic friend, the dog) must wander the world constantly, helping those they come across, and they can’t let anyone know that they’re immortal. I just want to give them both a great big hug.

*sigh* Excuse me, please. I just wanted to make myself reread all those books. (Dare I say, oops?)

Thanks for reading (and especially for sticking through until the end!), and God Bless!

Book Review: “Ranger’s Apprentice Series Book One: The Ruins of Gorlan” by John Flanagan

Tags

book reviews, characters, editing, humor, j.r.r. tolkien, john flanagan, long rants, lord of the rings, ranger's apprentice, reviews, writing

Where to begin…

Okay, let’s start with the fan-rave.

First of all, I have been back and forth over the entire length of Wilderland, and I have never encountered characters quite like those of Ranger’s Apprentice. (Cookies for everyone who gets the reference in that sentence. And not the follow-your-computer-creeper kind, the yummy kind… only they’re virtual. Sorry.)

By order of appearance (Morgarath, you aren’t eligible, since you’re a villain):

• Will. Will is the main character, and it’s basically his coming-of-age story. However, Will is the sort of person (rather like Hiccup from How To Train Your Dragon) who has to fight to be a hero. It doesn’t come naturally to him. What does come naturally to him?
  Curiosity. Friendship. And, often getting him into trouble, intuition, a quick mind, and a sharp tongue.
  Will isn’t your average fearless fantasy hero. He gets jittery at times, all right. He has a hyperactive imagination. And, when he’s under pressure, he snaps at people, sometimes very bitingly indeed. He’s a bright boy, but he needs a guiding hand, and he’s nearing the age when he has to leave the life of a castle ward. Deep down inside, I think that Will is plagued by the feeling that he’s useless, and more than anything else, he needs a purpose in life.
  Will is an orphan, but that didn’t define his character; it was merely part of his backstory and gave Will’s character depth without dominating his character. This is especially incredible, seeing that orphaning your characters is often a path directly to the realm of the Mary Sue. Will is an orphan, but there is much more to him than just that.
  (I refer to Will, Gilan, Jack Frost, Obi-Wan, Garen, Hiccup, Peter Pan, John Watson, Merlin, and the collective heroes of several of my stories as “my boys.” Being one of “my boys” guarantees getting hugged a lot, and used for an example in blog posts frequently. Several characters from Lord of the Rings would be “my boys” too, but they’re all too mature and dignified. 😉 )
• Horace. The Ruins of Gorlan isn’t just Will’s coming of age story. It’s also Horace’s. Horace was an orphan and castle ward alongside Will, and he and Will consistently picked on each other throughout their respective childhoods. However, Horace isn’t an archetype bully. Battleschool helps Horace to reach his potential, and also partially takes away his enmity toward Will, and they leave their differences behind them and become friends after saving each other’s lives.
  Though Will and Horace are roughly the same age, it’s hard to always remember that. Sometimes, seeing that Horace is so much taller and broader than Will, people assume that Horace is much older, and the audience occasionally thinks that as well. And when Will mouths off at Horace, you get the impression that he’s the elder. However, Will isn’t actually “more mature” than Horace at the beginning of the book. They’re equals, but in different ways, if that makes sense.
• Halt. Oh. My. Goodness. I’ve bitten off more than I can chew here, I think. How to describe Halt?
  Well, Halt… is Halt. He’s taciturn and strong-willed, and does not bare his heart to anyone, ever. He never says exactly what he means when it comes to how he feels; you have to read between the lines.
  Halt is his own person. He has his own style. And I think that frankly, whichever actor who they picked to play him getting the character down would be the biggest roadblock they’d come across if they ever tried to make the series into a movie.
  Halt, as Gandalf or Mr. Beaver would say, isn’t safe, but he is trustworthy. And that’s probably the best way anyone will ever come up with to describe him.
• Tug. No, Tug isn’t a person. He’s Will’s pony. (If you make a Brony joke in the comments, I will find you. But you won’t see me. You won’t even know I’m there, until I brain you with my frying pan, and you’d better count yourself lucky I wasn’t using my bow.) Ranger horses are a breed apart, as Horace remarks toward the end of the book. They’re extremely intelligent, loyal, and brave animals, even if they are on the small side.
  Tug isn’t just a horse, though. He has a personality, and a mind of his own. Not that he ever rebels against what Will wants to do, he just has opinions. And, like Bill, the pony from Lord of the Rings, he shares them.
  Ranger horses are trained to communicate with their riders when someone or something else is approaching, to only allow people they know to mount them, and to stay where their riders tell them to. Each Ranger horse has a code word that basically asks for the horse’s permission before they accept a new rider, as Will finds out the first time he mounts–or tries to mount–Tug. Without a polite “Do you mind?”, Tug will just buck you off. And Tug is fast. Tug would give his life to protect Will. It’s not surprising that, after a while, Rangers start to hold whole conversations with their horses, is it?
• Baron Arald. (Okay, this one is out of order, but cut me some slack!) The Baron of Redmont Fief is a kindly man who loves a good joke, but unfortunately for him, everyone always seems to take him seriously. If only the common folk of his fief would realize that he was only joking!
• Gilan. Gilan, or Gilan Davidson as I’ve heard him referred to, was Halt’s first apprentice, and a rarity among the Rangers; not only does he use the two knives and the bow, but also a long sword. Gilan often acts flippant, but under that humorous exterior, he is always thinking ahead and watching out for danger. (If you’ve heard me talk about Xanatos as a good character rather than a villain, or if you’ve read certain stories with a good version of Xanatos, you’ll have a good idea of what Gilan is like, but only what he is like. You have to read the books to actually get Gilan. Frankly, Gilan, Tug, Halt, and Will are all contenders for the title of my favorite character of all time. Gilan is the only one of “my boys” who doesn’t try to push me away or act shocked when I hug him. Which makes him very good to cry on, as well. 😛 )

Now, for the story. While the Wargals are basically just hairy versions of orcs and the Kalkarra might be likened to the Nazgul (I, however, think the Kalkarra are more like the Balrog), this story isn’t just a rip-off of the Lord of the Rings. For instance, the Wargals are far more primitive than orcs and are completely dependent on Morgarath’s will to act. On their own, if they have no motivation, they will mill about harmlessly. But more than that, the story centers about Morgarath’s desire for revenge on certain people, the ones who were most instrumental in thwarting his takeover before. Since it has not been thousands of years since his previous attempt to take over, his revenge is more direct and immediate than a general desire to wipe out the Heir of Isildur and break the back of Elendil’s line. Much of the story, however, deals with Will’s training and his and Horace’s struggles with the common problems all young people face while growing up. The final third of the book, though, is a satisfying package as the hunters become the hunted and, despite their fears, the central cast of the book go after the Kalkarra. (No spoilers!)

Much of the story is driven forward by the interaction between the characters (which is as it should be, but sadly, in so many works, often isn’t), and there are drawbacks and consequences if we lose, and the battle isn’t determined only by the central factors. By this, I mean there are factors outside the control of either combatant, and they do play in, which is all too rare in much of fantasy. There are setbacks, and some setbacks are caused by the characters’ mistakes; actions have consequences and so on.

On the other hand, there are a few moments in which the heroes get rather brutal, but I think that that is understandable, if not acceptable; Halt lives in a harsh world, and he wants the other characters to be able to survive in it as well.

The humor is clean, and unexpected. I found myself laughing out loud several times while reading the book, which I normally don’t do. I chuckle and giggle; I don’t laugh aloud much.

After reading the book twice, there are a few problems with John Flanagan’s writing that I noticed. For instance, there were a few confusing shifts in the point of view he was using (ex., leaping from Will’s thoughts to Halt’s in a rather distracting manner), and there were a few elements that were not tied in as well as I would have liked, but all in all, the book was a good read. And, for those of you considering reading the series, don’t let those problems turn you off! They virtually disappear by the next book, The Burning Bridge. And the series does get better as you go along. *wink* *wink*

The one thing that really bugs me is (small spoiler!) Will and Alyss’s kiss at the end. If you read the first book alone, it just doesn’t seem to belong. In the context of the series, it fits in well enough, but I still think it could have been integrated better.

The only sad thing about this book and series is that it is so freaking hard to even attempt fanfiction with it. (Those among you who read this blog often will know that I am an avid writer and connoisseur of all things fanfic, especially song fiction and dark one-shot AUs.) All the loose ends are generally tied up very neatly, and it’s hard to envision, sometimes, what they’d be doing outside the confines of the books. It does, however, offer up some marvelous tidbits that would make for wonderful character-examining one-parters. (Such as the scene at the end of The Kings of Clonmel… *sobs*) The sad thing about Ranger’s Apprentice fanfiction is that, since it’s a young reader’s series, the majority of the fanfiction often ends up populated by one-dimensional OCs, or worse, Mary Sues. Some of it doesn’t even get Will’s way of thinking and personality right, and that is, to me, pretty much unforgivable. It’s sad. Even sadder are the stories where everything bad happens to Will and it really breaks him down and completely takes him out of character. Those stories just don’t make sense to me. (I’m not a fan of one-man-against-the-world fanfiction, in case you didn’t know that. Especially when it comes to Ranger’s Apprentice, which is, as I’ve noted before, very much driven by characters’ interaction and friendship.) There are even *shudders* Halt haters out there. How is such a thing possible, I ask you?!

However, there are a few people out there who write marvelous shorts for it.

I’m going to shut up now.

So, the overall verdict is:

• Marvelous characterization
• Incredible handling of otherwise-overused plots and elements, turning them over into something unexpected and brilliant
• Well-written character interaction
• A generally bright (non-depressing) atmosphere
• Lovely humor
• Setbacks are used effectively
• Some moments which I would rate PG-13, but fortunately the morality is absolute and not protagonist-centered *throws up* Protagonist centered morality… yuck.
• A few writing/editorial errors, but nothing that warrants stopping reading in my opinion.

I definitely recommend reading the books. While they are not by any means giants of fantasy, they are well worth reading.

Versatile Blogger Award: Some Thoughts on Worthy Womanhood

Tags

beauty and the beast, bible, cinderella, disney, j.r.r. tolkien, proverbs chapter 31, tangled, the hunger games, the silmarilion

By the Two Trees of Valinor! It’s another blog award! This one from Proverbs31teen. Thank you so much, dear!

Apparently this one is simple. Seven random facts. And then nominate other bloggers. 😉 Someone should start one of these awards where the acceptance post has to have a newly-written short story or something. 😛 Just for variety. I AM NOT STARTING ONE, THOUGH. Goodness, no. I already awarded to everyone I can think of in very recent history… that, and my awardees probably all have lives of their own and procrastinate on these nearly as much as I do. 😛

Now, because I realized I had never looked up the verse behind Proverbs31teen’s username, I decided to do so today. (The other reason why I didn’t know already is because I am notoriously bad at remembering verse numbers. I’m better at noticing background material than verse numbers.) Proverbs chapter 31 is the last chapter in the book of Proverbs. Specifically, it is the advice Lemuel, king of Massa, was given by his mother and recorded for readers of the future. She begins by warning him against reckless actions (such as drinking,) because he is his people’s hope, and calling on him to stand up for his people and help the needy. Then she proceeds to tell him what the ideal of womanhood is.

When one finds a worthy wife, her worth is far beyond pearls.

Her husband entrusts his life safely to her; in her he has a worthy prize.

She goes on to say that the ideal woman is diligent and hardworking, does her duties well, is pure and honest, and does not go in for idle pleasure. Which makes us girls think, wow, what standards! and ask ourselves if we are living up to them.

To everyone who reads this, I have a challenge. This challenge is to look up Proverbs Chapter 31 and break down your favorite female characters to see if they measure up. Does Katniss Everdeen ever stop to ask if she’s being diligent? Did Cinderella use her new-found affluence to aid the impoverished? Did Rapunzel try to make Eugene better? What about Belle? What is this “something more” that she wants, really?

However, you must bear in mind that this applies not only to married women, but unmarried ones as well. Also, you really have to read in between the lines to understand it fully. Today, we talk more plainly than the various writers who put pen to paper under divine inspiration to make up the bible did. Rather than saying exactly what they mean, they use imagery as metaphor. Thus, a “lamp burning brightly after dusk” means that the lady of the house is still keeping busy, no matter how late the hour she stays up to. And the fact that “Her husband sits at the gates of the city with the elders” means not just that he’s influential or works actively with the others in the city council, but that his wife encourages him to aim high and supports him in his endeavors and even tries to make him better by her own efforts. (Which is undeservedly resented, these backward days.)

A quick caveat: I read the chapter in the New American Bible and it… well, it just seems incomplete. (Yes, I do despise this particular translation. Grrr.)

And now, for the actual award stuff!

1. I do occasionally swear by the Two Trees of Valinor. (If you do not know what that is, then you really need to read The Silmarillion.)
2. Most people I know tell me “you think too much!” every once in a while, despite the fact that I think it put my IQ in the gifted range…
3. I have a tendency to ramble on posts. (Hence the fact that this is not just a simple acceptance post.
4. I can’t find my headband. Thus, my hair is in my face.
5. I love hot cereal, but I love muffins even more.
6. Right now, my biggest concern is getting my spot in the Orientation Days for college… though, thanks to bureaucracy, it looks like I will be missing out. Thank you to whoever had that bright idea that required all this Social Security/federal loan/paperwork stuff!
7. My second biggest concern is finding a part time job. :’-(

Yes, my life sucks right now. It would be nice if someone could invent the next-generation version of Turbo Tax to help people get in their schooling paperwork on time.

Now, I would like to nominate Robyn Hood because she is a wonderful blogger and honestly, I can’t think of anyone else who I haven’t just nominated… :’-(

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

Archivist of Selay’uu’s Journal: Welcome to Camelot

Tags

bbc merlin, humor, j.r.r. tolkien, lord of the rings, selay'uu, star wars, writing

Yesterday (Tuesday) was exciting! Exciting, complex, and busy, as a matter of fact. And I’ve only just begun my internship. If every day is like today, I will never be bored while I’m in Camelot.

Early in the morning, I got up and went to say my last goodbyes to my favorite people. Though I’ll be in and out of the chateau fairly frequently, this is probably the last good talk I’ll have with them in a while. Faramir, being the gallant person he is, offered to carry my suitcase down from my room for me. I’ve never been able to really say no to him, so I let him do it. It seemed to make him happy, and I could tell his wife approved, so I guess it’s a win-win situation all around.

We got to the war room (which is one of the names we call the experiment room; the others are, in no particular order, the testing place, the disaster area, the mess-which-it-is-forbidden-to-clean, and that-which-shall-not-be-named, among others.) It’s a huge, long room that seems to extend the whole length of the house, in the old section of the house that has not been built over in centuries. There are a few doors along the sides, each leading into a different room. It may have been used for a hallway once, or it may have been a gallery of some sort, and there’s evidence in a few places of demolished interior walls, but now it’s just called the experiment room. It is the one room in which we are allowed to do anything we like, anything at all, so long as it doesn’t hurt another person. It’s not a lab, so you’re free to safely blow stuff up there. (I’ve had to practice my magic and Force talents there, since they can be unintentionally destructive.) It’s a great place to perform unpredictable experiments. It’s the one place where paintball wars and indoor archery tournaments and other tournaments, the kind where we partner up and ride at the ring on our partners’ shoulders, are permitted, and sometimes we even strip long pieces of the wallpaper off, when we’re in bad moods. One time, Iris and I painted it all zebra stripes and then blamed Horace. Good times… Anyway, it’s also the only place indoors where we are permitted to begin tessering procedures, or to portal into other worlds, except in the case of invasion or emergency (such as the Harry Potter fiasco.) Pfft, what am I saying? An invasion is practically an emergency! If the Harry Potter lot break too many walls, then we could end up with a broken space-time continuum, or the barrier between matter and energy could be destroyed, which would force a rapid leap forward in intellectual evolution for the human race to survive at all. (Complex Doctor Who stuff, ask Iris.)

There was no hitch in portaling to Camelot. I found myself in Albion, a few miles out from Camelot. I could see the city’s spires in the distance. I began to head toward the city; before I could get far, Merlin, who had probably been waiting, came out to meet me, and we headed back towards Camelot together. The country surrounding Camelot is picturesque in the extreme. The deciduous forests are interspersed with pine and spruce; the terrain is somewhat rocky, but nothing I’m not accustomed to, what with all the hiking I do.

Camelot is a busy city, and it’s not nearly as dirty or squalid as some people seem to think that it should be. The people are welcoming (most of the time,) and when we walked by there was nobody in the stocks (I’m sure all of my readers wanted to know about that!)

Anyway, Merlin introduced me to Gaius. (He’s a nice man, he only pretends to be cantankerous.) And then, we all got down to work. At least, we tried to…

We were in the middle of reading the treatise on the origins of magic and the history of magic theory when Merlin was called away. Arthur was going to have him clean up the stables, and I sort-of just trailed after him. It was sort-of my fault what happened next, as well.

I startled Merlin. And he blew up the stables accidentally by accident. (Sir Leon was not too happy about that.)

It just happened that there was cake for desert at lunch. They brought in five big ones–everyone just happened to be eating lunch at the same time, together… and I blew up a cake in the Prat’s face accidentally on purpose. (This time, Sir Leon was amused.)

Then Merlin and I went back to studying. Gaius had some wisdom to offer (he told us that to be a knight is not the only honorable calling), and I pranked Kilgarrah with a typo turkey, and got to visit Balinor, and it was just epic! ^_^ I’m writing about it all in my journal–I will post about it as soon as I can get a decent Internet connection. Hopefully I will be able to post without having to use the free Wi-Fi at the tavern where Merlin never goes. Well, if Merlin and I can get my service to work, I shouldn’t have to.

[Archivist’s note: Tonight I’m posting from in Gwen’s room. She doesn’t–technically–have Wi-Fi, but for some reason this is a mobile sweet spot. Thanks for reading, all!]