I know nothing of this book, but the words "blood prophet" and "scars" made me think of another book I read years ago. Pattern Scars it was called, I think. Of course I could find the link...
Ha, oh my god, it was a Golden Age! May we all live long enough to become what annoyed us. :)
You know, I spent way too long this morning thinking about Anakin, and I've decided he only wishes he could be a Speshal Snowflake. Hear me out: the problem with the prequels (or one of many) is that there is no real main character. It's kind of an unconvincing mashup between Anakin's trajectory (which should be an inverted monomyth, but really isn't), Obi-won's trajectory (which should be a claustrophobic pas de deux between master and apprentice, but really isn't), and whatever the fuck is supposed to be happening with Padme (from elected queen to death by childbirth? I guess?). I feel like a real big Snowflake has be the center of the show, the person who is on everyone else's mind all the time. Anakin's gone some snowflakiness, like the midochlorians thing, or winning that stupid podrace, but I feel like that's just table stakes to be a main character? Sort of?
Speshal Snowflakes bend the plot to their wills and needs, but I don't see that happening w/ Anakin on the scale it does with, say, Luke. People sacrifice themselves right and left for Luke, and so much just drops in his lap, even when he's demonstrably incompetent. Like, I always thought it was funny when Jabba makes fun of Luke for declaring himself a Jedi, because Jabba's not wrong: Luke fucks up that entire rescue, because its the worst plan ever. But everyone's like, Thanks Luke!!! at the end. (Have you ever seen Galaxy Quest? The scene where the second in command saves everyone, and then they immediately start exclaiming, "The Commander has saved us!!" is a great bit about the Snowflake and how s/he always gets the credit.)
Anyway, blah blah blah. I've finally decided to get excited about the new Star Trek, because my son was like, I really want to go, will you take me? So even if I get my heart broken (again) it'll be a really great experience doing the whole pre-release excitement thing with the boy.
I agree with the comment about Anakin. The closest he ever really comes is the whole Padme thing. How about Kirk, at least in the new Star Wars movies?
Totally. He especially has that falling upwards thing down pat. There's no reason Bruce Greenwood should see any kind of potential in this stupid, brawling townie, and his handling of the Kobayashi Maru just looks like a dickmove. Spock really should be in charge, and that he recuses himself because of his emotional reaction, please. Overly emotional reactions are precisely what Kirk is lauded for. And old Spock's monologue about how great Kirk is total Snowflake fodder. Spock knows damn well this isn't the same person.
Haha, there really is a Scooby Doo vibe to LotR. Sauron's motivations are really problematic to me, because I simply don't see what he gets out of ruling the world. He makes it all night and burnt, so he's not, like, having wild sex parties with platters full of bacon or whatever it is autocrats do these days. It's just POWER RULE THEM ALL.
Bilbo really isn't a snowflake, more like a fool (but in a Shakespearean way). Frodo is a lot closer. He gets really snowflake like in Mordor, hanging out with Smeagol and Sam. All the other two think about is him, and it makes me nuts that he's always condescending to tell Sam he can't handle the ring. Sam CAN handle it, demonstrably so, because he did carry the ring when he thought Frodo was dead. Anyway.
I would bet a lot of those serial characters are big ole snowflakes. Encyclopedia Brown? Uh huh. Jack Ryan from the John Clancy novels is a huge snowflake. Every single main character in a Michael Bay movie is a speshal snowflake, especially Shia La Beouf.
Oh, it's totally the influence of the ring. But I would argue that Snowflakes can have good, world specific reasons for why they're Speshal, like Meg in this book, or Frodo, but they're still Speshal Snowflakes. They're just waaaaaay better than the ones who just get authorial pixie dust sprinkled all over them.
Holy shit do I want a Sauron sex and bacon party now. For sure if I turned safe search off I could find such a thing, no problem. O, the Internet. And it's true what you say about Napoleon and the Ceasars. Sauron doesn't have a body though, does he? My Tolkien lore is a little rusty.
So I went and looked it up. Sauron's body was destroyed when Numenor was swamped at the end of the Second Age, and he was incorporeal for the next millennium or so. When he took form again, he was unable to be anything but ugly and misshapen (like his sooooooul), but is described as roughly man-sized and -shaped, albeit with only nine fingers. Just like Frodo in the end AH DO YOU SEE. Before Numenor sinking, even when he was back cozying up to Morgoth in the First Age, he was described as beautiful and almost shining. I think it's probably Tolkien invoking the story of Lucifer, whose name of course means light, up until the whole rebellion in heaven.
//end massive nerding
Also I love the Bloggess inordinately! Peter Jackson takes a lot of liberties with LotR, one of them being the body of Sauron. I don't personally feel this way, but I have some friends who fly into rages about the changes Jackson made. I don't like when I accept the stuff from the film as canon just because I can't remember. Also, I fly into rages about what he did with The Hobbit (that book being much closer to my heart), so I get where the rage comes from.
Totally fun thread! Booklikes is fine and all, but that you can't see in the feed the conversations occurring makes it that much harder to just jump in and have a chat.
Ooo, Dr Manhattan is an interesting case. I love how he's so powerful he could just fuck everyone and everything up casually, and whether he's a hero or a villain is not an answerable question. Man, cranky ole Alan Moore was on fire there for a while.
Yeah, Tolkien is just chock o block with Christian allusions. Apparently he was really careful with his dates, like you can figure out exactly on what day significant events happen, and those tend to correlate with the liturgical calendar. It's like Easter eggs for the devout. GET IT??? hahaha
http://booklikes.com/the-pattern-scars-caitlin-sweet-martin-springett/book,7350767
You know, I spent way too long this morning thinking about Anakin, and I've decided he only wishes he could be a Speshal Snowflake. Hear me out: the problem with the prequels (or one of many) is that there is no real main character. It's kind of an unconvincing mashup between Anakin's trajectory (which should be an inverted monomyth, but really isn't), Obi-won's trajectory (which should be a claustrophobic pas de deux between master and apprentice, but really isn't), and whatever the fuck is supposed to be happening with Padme (from elected queen to death by childbirth? I guess?). I feel like a real big Snowflake has be the center of the show, the person who is on everyone else's mind all the time. Anakin's gone some snowflakiness, like the midochlorians thing, or winning that stupid podrace, but I feel like that's just table stakes to be a main character? Sort of?
Speshal Snowflakes bend the plot to their wills and needs, but I don't see that happening w/ Anakin on the scale it does with, say, Luke. People sacrifice themselves right and left for Luke, and so much just drops in his lap, even when he's demonstrably incompetent. Like, I always thought it was funny when Jabba makes fun of Luke for declaring himself a Jedi, because Jabba's not wrong: Luke fucks up that entire rescue, because its the worst plan ever. But everyone's like, Thanks Luke!!! at the end. (Have you ever seen Galaxy Quest? The scene where the second in command saves everyone, and then they immediately start exclaiming, "The Commander has saved us!!" is a great bit about the Snowflake and how s/he always gets the credit.)
Anyway, blah blah blah. I've finally decided to get excited about the new Star Trek, because my son was like, I really want to go, will you take me? So even if I get my heart broken (again) it'll be a really great experience doing the whole pre-release excitement thing with the boy.
Bilbo really isn't a snowflake, more like a fool (but in a Shakespearean way). Frodo is a lot closer. He gets really snowflake like in Mordor, hanging out with Smeagol and Sam. All the other two think about is him, and it makes me nuts that he's always condescending to tell Sam he can't handle the ring. Sam CAN handle it, demonstrably so, because he did carry the ring when he thought Frodo was dead. Anyway.
I would bet a lot of those serial characters are big ole snowflakes. Encyclopedia Brown? Uh huh. Jack Ryan from the John Clancy novels is a huge snowflake. Every single main character in a Michael Bay movie is a speshal snowflake, especially Shia La Beouf.
Holy shit do I want a Sauron sex and bacon party now. For sure if I turned safe search off I could find such a thing, no problem. O, the Internet. And it's true what you say about Napoleon and the Ceasars. Sauron doesn't have a body though, does he? My Tolkien lore is a little rusty.
//end massive nerding
Also I love the Bloggess inordinately! Peter Jackson takes a lot of liberties with LotR, one of them being the body of Sauron. I don't personally feel this way, but I have some friends who fly into rages about the changes Jackson made. I don't like when I accept the stuff from the film as canon just because I can't remember. Also, I fly into rages about what he did with The Hobbit (that book being much closer to my heart), so I get where the rage comes from.
Ooo, Dr Manhattan is an interesting case. I love how he's so powerful he could just fuck everyone and everything up casually, and whether he's a hero or a villain is not an answerable question. Man, cranky ole Alan Moore was on fire there for a while.
Yeah, Tolkien is just chock o block with Christian allusions. Apparently he was really careful with his dates, like you can figure out exactly on what day significant events happen, and those tend to correlate with the liturgical calendar. It's like Easter eggs for the devout. GET IT??? hahaha