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The problem was the longer the secondary's stuck around the more Mary Sue they became Isaac Send a noteboard - 30/03/2013 09:10:57 PM

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View original postPolgara, Ce'Nedra, and later in his other well-known series Sephrenia, Ehlana, and Aphrael have a heavy flavor of Mary Sue to them which seems more clear when you recall that Leigh Eddings is credited as co-author to both series.




View original posti.e. the non-Mary Sue ones. The Queens of the West all had strengths and weaknesses...maybe not Porenn, but she was cool in any case. Liliana was an empty-headed Arend, but a kickass doctor. Adara had a dry sense of humor.

Porenn is probably the most human of them, deliberate caricatures never become someone's Sue or Stu. The main irritating difference is that every female character who gets developed either has a horrible flaw that makes them repulsive as a Sue or gets turned into a Sue. The character development in the books isn't exactly noteworthy to begin with but the female characters are always worse. When they do get a chance for growth its usually either trivial or Sue-esque. Adara's the only genuinely sympathetic character who never does this and she exists in the series strictly to let Garion and Hettar develop, her motivations are never explored besides her obsession with a homicidally-obsessed prince. If they'd broken that, by having Hettar reject her while she's wounded and thinks she's dying, as they did with Brand's son, or had Hettar tell her after she was better "I didn't want to hurt your feelings at the time, you're a nice gal but I don't give a fuck about you" it might be different, buts its like David Eddings didn't think he could write a decent female character so he handed them off to his wife or just wrote cliche garbage up on them.

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
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This message last edited by Isaac on 30/03/2013 at 09:12:35 PM
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I was doing a reread of The Belgariad, and while I like it... - 27/03/2013 06:00:11 PM 1106 Views
Interesting. I certainly wouldn't make that comparison... - 27/03/2013 09:30:33 PM 879 Views
About Ce'Nedra - 28/03/2013 01:26:43 PM 834 Views
I guess, but they also learn not to take her too seriously at times like those. - 30/03/2013 09:18:10 PM 727 Views
True, but the fact that they indulge her at all irritates me - 31/03/2013 03:18:37 AM 784 Views
I think you're forgetting David wasn't the only Eddings writing those books - 29/03/2013 05:14:55 PM 792 Views
I liked the "secondary" female characters a lot, actually - 30/03/2013 06:50:07 PM 720 Views
The problem was the longer the secondary's stuck around the more Mary Sue they became - 30/03/2013 09:10:57 PM 756 Views
Yeah, the Hettar thing was pretty random, wasn't it - 31/03/2013 03:20:22 AM 749 Views
Mostly just undercooked - 31/03/2013 04:48:48 AM 695 Views
True, although I feel Polgara (in her own series) and Aphrael hold up well enough even in rereads. - 30/03/2013 09:12:31 PM 786 Views
Polgara the Sorceress was maybe a bit late, but Aphrael is a ffair example - 30/03/2013 10:16:26 PM 974 Views
Fair enough. - 31/03/2013 12:53:19 AM 868 Views
Re: Fair enough. - 31/03/2013 05:44:09 AM 873 Views
I wonder how many participants we would get for an Eddings reread... - 01/04/2013 12:10:00 PM 958 Views
He's a good reread, I just started back up - 01/04/2013 01:38:33 PM 831 Views
I started my reread of Polgara and the first few chapters are awful - 13/04/2013 09:36:01 PM 848 Views
Hm. - 13/04/2013 11:45:32 PM 814 Views
Re: Hm. - 14/04/2013 01:17:13 AM 1067 Views
Re: I was doing a reread of The Belgariad, and while I like it... - 20/04/2013 04:36:03 AM 1014 Views

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