15th September 2004, 12:00 PM
The thing I don't like about huge series is they sorta kill what I might have loved about a character. Lord of the Rings for example takes an awesome character through a major story ark, and then ENDS that character's story with dignity and grace. I haven't read many of today's huge fantasy series, but it seems to me they sorta lock their characters into an "infinite now". The character is never really allowed to end, just keep on going, learning the same exact lessons over and over. It's the same thing that killed comic books (that and overcrowding the SAME universe with so many heros and villians as to make it laughable and really hard to take seriously, see Justice League Unlimited for the ultimate expression of that, I mean really, EVERY new plot creates so many plot holes like "Wait a miniute, if the world is being taken over completely, why aren't the atlantians, the ape people, and the amazons taking them on in their own way, I'm almost certain they would have issues with their respective kingdoms being under attack"). What I mean by this is that Super Man, for example, is not allowed to die. He doesn't need to die, really, but his story is just one massive climax from start to end. All sense of structure is lost when there's no real central plot, no matter what enemy he's fighting, there's just another right around the bend that'll totally make that last major battle worthless in the sense of the story. Even when he DID die, nothing came of it. He just got brought back to life and killed the guy who killed him without even the slightest bit of change in his character. It's things like that that make me not read comic books any more.
That's the problem with series. Sure, it's nice to get hooked on a character, but they ALL need to have a major climax in their personal story and be allowed to retire. That's what makes a good story truly good. If Aragorn was STILL running around (after resigning his kingdom to be ruled by yet another steward, sorta killing the entire point of the whole thing) slaying orcs and maybe over-throwing even more looming threats, from new Dark Lords to an enigmatic youth attempting to unmake the world by harnessing the eternal flame that resides in the center of the world, well, yes they could make the invididual stories "good", but it would sorta kill the character of Aragorn. No longer has he gone on his grand quest and attained his destined end, now he exists in an everlasting "present" that will never end, and the entire battle for Middle-Earth's significance has been totally nulled out by the coming of "even greater threats". Do you see what I'm saying son? Now, if you will excuse me... *uses super camel powers to save old people in a cave and provide them with fresh water*
That's the problem with series. Sure, it's nice to get hooked on a character, but they ALL need to have a major climax in their personal story and be allowed to retire. That's what makes a good story truly good. If Aragorn was STILL running around (after resigning his kingdom to be ruled by yet another steward, sorta killing the entire point of the whole thing) slaying orcs and maybe over-throwing even more looming threats, from new Dark Lords to an enigmatic youth attempting to unmake the world by harnessing the eternal flame that resides in the center of the world, well, yes they could make the invididual stories "good", but it would sorta kill the character of Aragorn. No longer has he gone on his grand quest and attained his destined end, now he exists in an everlasting "present" that will never end, and the entire battle for Middle-Earth's significance has been totally nulled out by the coming of "even greater threats". Do you see what I'm saying son? Now, if you will excuse me... *uses super camel powers to save old people in a cave and provide them with fresh water*
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)