Lit Apropos of Nothing - ACKBAR IN CAPITALS - The Lit Forum Social Thread, v2.0.15

They're not needless, though. Pretty much everyone who appears is serving a purpose. It's just a big story.

 

Why sir, are you suggesting that Star Wars has extraneous characters? Because Ackdool will have his day, I assure you. Oh, yes.

 

Yeah, this. Every character becomes relevant again, even if it is 3 novels later. It's great payoff.

 

...that's pretty original there, Salvatore.

 

Every character being important is a bit of an exaggeration. In fact, I'd never want to read a novel, or even a long series, with over two thousand named characters that all serve an integral part of the plot. ASOIAF has tons of characters whose general purpose is to fill in the background, and very little more; the thing is, that's something that's needed. Not every character should be important. Even in fiction, not everything can revolve entirely around our heroes (unless your name is Caine, in which case, you get a free pass).

Sometimes Random Joe is just Random Joe. But Random Joe has a reason to exist, even if everyone around him is doing much more important things. Of course, I think the Wheel of Time series goes way overboard around the middle when it comes to featuring characters that aren't necessary. Random Joe can easily overstay his welcome.

 

I can't help myself and not be reminded of this.

 

I guess from his perspective, that makes sense. It just seems he was working off a perspective from the comics that (most of?) the rest of us didn't have. I had thought he was a veteran as well.

Thanks for asking, btw. I don't recall Karps mentioning the comics much in his old interviews... he was always trying to sell the "new" Darth Bane.

 

Still, I'm not sure his perspective makes a huge amount of sense. Bane is presented as an outsider, sure, but when he arrives on Ruusan in JvS he registers surprise, first, that Kaan is a Lord ("Lord Kaan? Kaan calls himself a Lord?") and then even *more* surprise that the mewling, defeated Sith at his feet is a Lord, also. ("One Lord to another? Is everyone a Lord, now?") The only way that works is if he's of some kind of "Old Guard" and the whole "equality" schtick is something new and unfamiliar to him. I.E. the Brotherhood has only recently established itself after a coup that's seen a smaller group of Lords (including Bane) cast down from power.

And, I mean, Drew actually changes all that dialogue in PoD... which suggests he realised what it implied, and that it flew in the face of his making Bane the newcomer and the Brotherhood a long established ruling order.

That said, I'm grateful he answered the question.

Karpyhsyn aside and back to social thread stuff....

Guyzzzz.... you guyzz.... had a dream which had you all in! Well, some of you in. Though you all looked like your forum avatars, rather than real people. Which should have tipped me off that it was a dream, but it didn't. Anyway, we were part of a large crowd of people throwing a Doctor Who themed party for the Queen, but then one of the Daleks revealed that some people in the party were plotting to kidnap her. So I called an emergency meeting of you people, only to find out that like 3/4 of you were in on the plot. And then there was a massive battle in and around Council housing with giant mecha and dragons, in which I knocked out Darth Maul (TCW version) and then sliced his lightsaber into small chunks with karate chops -- energy blade included. I'm still not sure how that worked.

 

So. Obvious question.

Who was in on the plot?

 

I'm not entirely sure, though Havac and Coffee stand out.

Coop definitely wasn't, because he wasn't in the meeting, and I had to convince him to call the loyalists to arms once I discovered the treachery.

To be honest, the cast wasn't especially consistant. You'd sort of just appear and I'd act like you'd been involved all along, even if you hadn't. Y'know, dream stuff.

 

The worst part is the changed dialogue in that scene. Instead of "is everyone a Lord now?", which is a great line, the dying Sith calls him "Lord Bane", and Bane gets to sneer and say, "that's Darth Bane".

 

No Mon Cal admiral in a white uniform with an adorable face?

--Adm. Nick

 

I almost never have dreams (or almost never remember having them, whatever), but when I do, they're always incredibly surreal. The first dream I ever remember was about my father trying to kill me with poisonous Dr. Pepper... that would turn you into a half-lizard.

For a better, more recent example, the last dream I remember: the year is 2030 (don't ask me why I remember that). For some reason, Hitler's brain (think Futurama) has been preserved, and he is now undisputed dictator of Earth. Also, there are both random space ships and dragons flying around. I'm apparently an assassin. I begin by infiltrating Hitler's evil Castle of Doom (yes, he had a castle, and yes, there was lightning) with a zip line (this has some basis in reality, as I used to do that a lot). From there, I scale the castle, armed only with a knife, and, for some reason I'll never truly be able to fathom, a sponge (maybe to soak the water out of Hitler's jar? Seems like it would be easier to just dump it, but I didn't write it). I don't remember the exact sequence of events, but I know I managed to get in, and I know I had a run in with Genghis Khan. Then I woke up. I really wanted to know how it ended.

I've gotta stop listening to crazy avant-garde music before going to bed.

 

No Roose Bolton/Gimli?

And that's a better dream than mine. I ended up randomly dreaming about an old flame of mine. Ended up feeling kind of depressed when I woke up.

 

I care little for either Doctor Who or the Queen, but as long as I was dressed, I'm happy.

Which raises a question...did I just look like Tycho generally, or did I look like Tycho in a perpetual state of being pistol-whipped?

 

Don't be jealous.

Havac ended up doing a suicide run, and Coffee's dragon got shot out of the sky. I assume she perished.

So, really, my subconscious was just keeping the rest of you safe!

There were no puns at all, I'm afraid.

You looked like Tycho generally. There was no pistol-whipping.

Well, I suppose there might have been. I lost track of you once we got to the epic battle stage. I was preoccupied with the giant robots and the buildings falling down everywhere.

 

This talk of visualizing a user based on their avatar has inspired me to choose something a bit more human. Hence, eyeball stalk Residents dude.

 

Giant robots? What sort? And if I was present, was I my new icon of Luke and Mara, making me two characters, was I only one of them, or was I the KDY symbol I used to use?


Bleh, I hate the "Is my package here yet?" game. Especially when I don't have a tracking number.

 

If I had the money for a Bounty Hunter or PI, I'd probably spend it on a second order instead.