Guest Post by Rabia Gale – Beyond Farm Boys: Different Kinds of Fantasy Protagonists

Siri Paulson here. I’m excited to introduce you to Rabia Gale. As a fellow indie SF&F author, she’s good at thinking outside the box, and she’s here to discuss books that do exactly that…

 

The good-hearted farm boy (or sheep farmer’s daughter or assistant pig keeper) destined to save the world is a fantasy staple. And as much as we love these wide-eyed youngsters and enjoy their journeys, it’s nice to see a different kind of fantasy protagonist from time to time.

Someone, say, who is not as much of a blank slate or fantasy trope. Luckily for us, the genre has grown enough to include a more varied cast. Let’s dig in and see what other sorts of leading men and women fantasy has to offer us. 

The Older Protagonist

Time was that the only role an older person could play in a fantasy was that of Wise Mentor. Now, people beyond the age of thirty can find themselves in starring roles. Such is the case with Master Li in Barry Hughart’s fantastic China-inspired Bridge of Birds and Sam Vimes, Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.

Parents Can Be Heroes, Too

Parents, take heart. No longer are you doomed to be killed by the Dark Lord’s minions or branded as insensitive and oppressive jerks. You, too, can have adventures. 

Seraph (from the Raven Duology by Patricia Briggs) is a middle-aged mother of older children. Luckily for her kidnapped husband, she and their children have awesome powers. This family saves the world—together.                             

The Good Guys Don’t Always Have to Be Good

The lovable thief and the clever conman now star in their own adventures—and grow through them. Examples include Scott Lynch’s Locke Lamora (The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies) and Terry Pratchett’s Moist von Lipwig (Going Postal and Making Money).

Accountants Are Encouraged to Apply

Fantasy protagonists don’t have to be wizards or warriors in training, nor are they stuck with stock fantasy jobs like blacksmith or barmaid. Nowadays, fantasy characters can be glassmakers, newspaper reporters, customs officials, architects, and more, thanks to increasing diversity and expansion of secondary-world economies.

Heroes With Disabilities

I like that characters with disabilities are getting more airtime in fantasy. The protagonist of Carol Berg’s The Daemon Prism is a blind sorcerer in a world where magic and sight are inextricably tied. Nicholas Weal in Blake Charlton’s Spellwright is dyslexic—not a good thing when all magic is text-based and misspelling has disastrous consequences.

My favorite disabled character is Miles Vorkosigan from Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series (yes, I’m cheating here and going into science fiction). Because of a chemical attack on his pregnant mother, Miles is stunted with brittle bones. He remains one of the most compelling characters in the genre.

Who are your favorite atypical fantasy protagonists? Let us know in the comments!

 

Cover of Rainbird by Rabia GaleA halfbreed in hiding. A world lit by a dragon’s eye. The sabotage that threatens them both. Rabia Gale’sRainbirdis available now from the major ebook retailers.

Rabia Gale breaks fairy tales and fuses fantasy and science fiction. She loves to write about flawed heroes who never give up, transformation and redemption, and things from outer space. She grew up in Karachi, Pakistan and now lives in Northern Virginia. Visit her online at http://www.rabiagale.com.

13 Comments:

  1. Thanks for having me, Siri. 🙂

  2. Speaking of characters with disabilities, the MC in JV Jones’ The Barbed Coil has Tinnitus, which I always found interesting. And then of course the famous example of Tyrion from A Song of Ice and Fire…

    Jacqueline Carey’s Phedre is a bit different too…

  3. I had to look up what tinnitus is. *grin* How does this condition come into play in the story?

  4. Tyrion is one of my favourite characters, along with Miles. There’s just something about the short cocky ones…

    Most of the examples I can think of come from SF, not fantasy:

    Elizabeth Moon’s Speed of Dark has an autistic protagonist, though I’ve not read it. So does Diane Duane’s YA fantasy novel A Wizard Alone. Blindsight by Peter Watts features a group of people who are all disabled in some way and have been chosen for a space mission [i]because of[/i] their disabilities.

    Elizabeth Bear’s Jenny Casey trilogy is about an aging ex-soldier who was given cybernetics after a battlefield explosion years ago, but now her cybernetic parts are winding down. If she wants new ones, she’ll have to go to the army she turned her back on — and they won’t give her anything without a price…

    Anyway, thanks for the post, Rabia — my TBR list has just gotten longer!

    Siri

  5. I love this! It’s always bothered me when story protagonists seem picture-perfect and don’t have to deal with real-life issues. It’s fun and fresh to hear about stories with atypical heroes/heroines. Thanks, Rabia!

  6. I haven’t finished it yet, but am reading Riveted by Meljean Brooks. Okay, it’s paranormal romance, which a bit of a jump from your fantasy/sci-fi post, but the hero was terribly injured in an explosion and now has prosthetic legs, one prosthetic hand, and a special ocular lens that replaces his eye that was destroyed. The story is set in a steam-punk world where these prosthetics are incredibly sophisticated, but they’re clearly not flesh. Now…and bare with me here, it is a romance…one of the most interesting things she’s done with the character so far is describe how no woman wants to sleep with him, because his metal legs disgust them. He’s hired women twice, and neither time was successful or satisfying.
    I can’t wait to read how Ms. Brooks works through this, and already it’s fascinating to me that she’s playing with our expectations of what a romantic hero might look like.

  7. Oh, and nice job with the post, Rabia!
    😉

  8. LOL–yes those short, cocky ones are great, aren’t they? They might become a genre trope soon!

    Yes, SF seems to do better than fantasy when it comes to disabled characters. Maybe it’s because technology helps SF characters compensate for their weaknesses, whereas fantasy worlds tend to be more idealized or brutal for such types of protagonists?

  9. Liv, that sounds fascinating. I’m not a big romance reader, but I just might have to check that out!

    Siri

  10. Liv, funny you should mention Riveted, because its cover caught my eye and I’ve been meaning to check it out. It’ll be interesting to see how far Ms. Brooks will take the hero’s disfigurement and its effect on his life. Many times when authors give their characters scars, they’re more cosmetic than anything else. It feels like a cheat to me.

    I’ve often wondered why fantasy–with all its wars and lack of medical care and technology–doesn’t have more protagonists with missing limbs, lost teeth, and smallpox scars! 😀

  11. You’re welcome!

    Siri has some good examples from SF, too.

  12. Great post, Rabia! I haven’t read much fantasy in the past and am just now getting into it. I’ll be checking out some of those you mentioned. Very interesting!

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