Mortaine’s Blog

Wow. Last night’s ER really got to me. I mean, it’s pretty common for me to dream about something from a movie or TV show, but last night, I had 2 dreams. In dream #1, my husband was dying of some illness, and he was going to die soon and I had just a few days left with him. In dream #2, I was dying of some illness, soon, with just a few days left. In the second dream, I kept trying to talk to my husband about what was happening, and what I wanted him to do, when I was gone, but in the end I had to just do those things for myself.

Honestly, when a fictional character I care about– really, really care about– dies, I often do cry, and feel sad, and sometimes even mourn. I mourned the ending of Mercedes Lackey’s books Magic’s Pawn and of Magic’s Price, because I really cared about Tylendel and Vanyel (Tylendel dies in Magic’s Pawn, and Vanyel, the hero of the trilogy, dies in Magic’s Price).

But I also mourn for those who don’t die. For me, the saddest thing about dying is the people who love you and care about you who have to go on without you. The greatest love in my life is my husband, so for me, this echoes most in the life-partners, spouses, and great loves of these dying characters. In Romeo and Juliet, for example, Romeo doesn’t want to live without Juliet, and vice versa. Such a sweet tragedy, but what about those great loves who survive each other?

Those are where the real tragedy, the real sadness is for me. A great example of this, by the way, is in the Kathryn Rusch fantasy series “The Fey.” In books 1 and 2, a small island is invaded by the Fey, a group of magic-wielding, ruthless conquerors. In Book 1, the prince of the island ends up betrothed to the daughter of the conquering king, as a way to seal the peace between their peoples and end the war quickly. He loves her, and she loves him, in one of those terrific “love at first sight” kinds of moments.

In Book #2, they have a son. As in many fantasy novels, their kid is completely unrealistic. The son is exchanged for a changeling by the Fey– his “double” is stupid and lacks any real will or personality. His real self is way too insightful for a young boy (we’re talking 5 years or under).

Also in Book #2: the king of the island is murdered by the king of the Fey. The prince and his wife are coronated, but during the coronation, the Fey princess (now queen of the island) is murdered. She’s also near her due date for her pregnancy.

OK, so here’s my point: By the time they get to her death, it’s too early for me to care much about her– her story and her personality have not been developed well enough for me to want to know her, or to care that she’s dead. But her husband, the prince (now king) of the island– I care about him. He’s had more “face time” with the reader, and I know him better. So, when I was sad and upset that the princess had been murdered, I was mostly sad and upset because he was hurt and would have to go on without the great love of his life, not because she was so lovable as a character.

BTW: The rest of the novel, and Book#3 pretty much suck from that point out (I can’t speak for the rest of the series, as I haven’t read them), especially because the daughter turns out to be just as too-insightful as a 3 yr-old as her brother was. Unrealistic children have no place in fantasy novel. If a kid talks like an adult, is as insightful as an adult, and can fly a starship into a starbase of drones (Anakin), then he or she does not belong in a child’s role in the story. You can’t skip them ahead to adulthood without aging the adults around them, so either keep them away from being active participants in the story, or write them as real children (observe a child you know well, and notice not just the smart and clever stuff, but also all the other stuff, including the way they still have to learn everything).