Characters You Care About

[Child of Immanuel]

Shall we talk about Murdo next? The first two times I read Iron Lance, I didn't identify with Murdo at all. His anger at being left behind seemed very cliche, and it gave me the mindset of "cliche" throughout the book. The third time, however, something clicked (I don't know where or what) and I found myself enjoying the book intensely.

[dgan]

COI, do you have a little brother? LOL. That's what Murdo reminded me of - was every little brother in the whole world. Brash, brainless (at first), and hopelessly dedicated to his family.

[mattortega]

i thought pity of murdo, but in summary he was a stubborn man that payed for his mistakes.. unfortunately his descendants didnt learn from him..

[DanTheMan]

I liked Murdo, although it's been a while since I read that book. *thinks about picking it up again* It does seem that his descendants didn't learn like they should have. I hope I can learn from my parents' mistakes!

I think I started caring about Murdo after his awful time in Jerusalem. And then also when he has the vision of the Black Rood. It's great that Lawhead allows his characters to be jerks at times, and then they change and improve.

[kg00ds]

Well I haven't started reading SOA yet and I just started the Celtic Crusades. So far I have read PC, Byzantium, and Patrick.

In PC my favorite characters were Talesin, Charisa, and Merlin. In the first few chapters I fell completely "in love" with both Talesin and Charisa (merlin's mom-sorry if I got it wrong, I haven't read it in awhile) their experiences just hit home with me: falling in love, loosing loved ones, finding ones way in life, anyway I really liked them. But, Merlin was my absolute favorite. I think this was because Lawhead's story made him more down to earth.

In Patrick I loved Patrick, a young man constantly learning how little he really knows. I can definitely relate. I also liked Cadoc, I could really relate to his freindly nature.

In Byzantium I liked Aidan, but I agree with those who say he became much more likeable later in the story. In fact I do not think I really liked him until he set his freinds free from the mines. However, I loved all of the "vikings" who he seemed to influence. Especially,his owner. Likewise, I loved Dugal from the beggining. I guess it was because he was a warrior/good ole boy. His freindship with Aidan reminded me of freindships I have had. I wish I would have seen more of him in the book. Also, I read Patrick before I read Byzantium and as a result, not thinking about the many years in between the two stories, I thought Bishop Cadoc was the same person as the druid Cadoc, patrick's friend/mentor. To me the thought was an awesome one so I payed alot of attention to his character. I liked the idea of one of the cele de being a recognized Bishop.Lastly, I also liked the sailing savy preist from the beggining of the book. I think many of Lawheads smaller characters are memborable and well crafted.

Last but not least I am only up to ch 3 in the first book of the Celtic Crusades and so far I do connect with Murdo but only in one way: I can relate with the experience of others telling you you cant do something.

[DanTheMan]

Whoah (or is it woah?), that's a lot of smilies! Speaking of Cadoc in Byzantium, I think I liked him when - oh, wait, the starter of this thread may not have read that far. Well, it's somehwere in the middle of the book that I thought Cadoc was really cool for what he did. (Get reading, bard!)

[Tegid]

Okay, I've now finished it, and thank you for not spoiling that for me. And it's perfectly clear just what you meant about Cadoc and why, and I agree.

The real reason I started this thread with Aidan is that I was having a hard, slow time getting into the book because of Aidan's character. The things you folks said here were a big help in breaking up that logjam for me. It is now that I'm done reading it that I'm able to appreciate or even see aspects of his character that I completely missed while first going through it.

One thing that I've been thinking about today was the role Scop played in his life. It's interesting that Scop was responsible for watering not just one but two entirely different seeds in Aidan. Of course, there's the obvious one where he smeared Aidan's face in the despairing and faithless condition he himself had fallen into, and which he assured Aidan would sooner or later be his as well.

A little more subtle to me, though, was Scop's instrumentality in the hands of a divine Providence in bringing Aidan to who he became at the very end of the story. In the days before Scop turned his back on the God he was sure had turned His back on him, he (as Ceawlin) had a measure of success laboring in the difficult field that was his lot; Helmuth believed in Ceawlin's God. A chain of events can be traced from that start which reached to the very end of the book where it resulted in an important change in Aidan's heart.

It was the prayer connection that brought Aidan and Helmuth together as student and teacher. How significant could a 'small' thing like learning the Danes' tongue be? If Aidan hadn't learned it, he could very well have been just another slave left behind when the warriors started on their voyage. And his relationship with Gunnar, and Gunnar's and Harald's ability to learn about Aidan's God, would have been much less than it was if they didn't have a common tongue. And what impact would that lack have had on the meeting that took place at the close of the book?

Sure, those things could have been made to come about in another way, maybe, but this was in fact how it all did happen in the story; it's as though God's hand can be traced in using Scop to save Aidan from Scop.

[Child of Immanuel]

dantheman said:

Whoah (or is it woah?)

It's whoa!

[dafyd]

I've got to say again there is no person in a book I ever cared so much about like Merlin. I can't say why but I've just started to reread the Pendragon Cycle today and maybe I can tell you more when I finished the 2nd part. Maybe it's because he suffered so much for the summer kingdom. No idea why .

[Messenger of Eden]

I love many of SRL's characters. Aidan not so much. I have to say, I thought he was immensely stupid to be so angry at God about not dying in Byzantium like he saw in his vision. (Did it never occur to the man that he might visit Byzantium more than once? What a stupid reason to be so mad at God!!)

Murdo I loved. I thought he was very real, very dedicatred, and yet he saw the world as a youth would.

My all time favorite though is Lewis/Llew. Yep. He's the best. I have never been so devastated over a fictional character as I was at the end of that series, when he returned to our world and had to cope with returning to his old self. That series is always hard for me to recover from, yet I feel it's the very best one. I love it!!

[DanTheMan]

I have to agree with you both on Merlin and Llew. Both are awesome characters. Perhaps it's because they basically gave their lives for what the world in which they lived.

[kg00ds]

Here, here, right ye are! Now! Let's have another drink. -
To Merlin and Llew! (To Merlin and Llew the Pub patrons echo.)

now how bout a song

[DanTheMan]

Let's leave the songs for the Bards and Hobbits, if you don't mind. I know I'm sure you don't want me singing to y'all!

[DanTheMan]

Speaking of characters we care about, are there any in Hood that you care about?

[dgan]

Honestly, at this point there are not any that strike me as characters I have a fond attachment to. That is not to say I am not keenly INTERESTED in them, though, which is two different things...at least to me.