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oyceterJust finished rereading Hobb's Assassins trilogy, and now I have that strange achy feeling that comes of leaving a fictional universe I've dwelt in for a while. Very desperately want to start rereading Fool's Errand right now, just so I can return to the Six Duchies and Fitz.
I've only read the trilogy once before, and that was a while ago. Plus, when I read them the first time, they were spaced out by publication dates. Now, I'm remembering many things I'd forgotten, like how cool Kettricken is. I just read the Tales of the Slayers comic, and one of the stories has a Slayer in a white dress with her sword at her side, blond hair in a braid. And that's the picture I have of Kettricken defending Rippon. And I love Patience. Still don't really like Molly much until she gets together with Burrich, I think because her demands of Fitz seem petty sometimes next to all the court politics he's dealing with. But that's not really her fault. And I'm still amazed at how young Fitz sounds in this series, especially when compared to Tom Badgerlock of the Tawny Man series. He's impulsive and reckless and often thoughtlessly cruel. But I love him anyway.
And of course, the Fool.
Watching Pirates of the Caribbean and reading this again made me think about the fool archetype and why it hits such a nerve in me. My bulletproof kink, if you will.
To me, a Fool in media/literature is a person who first and foremost has the uncanny ability to be a complete random factor, to switch thoughts and moods and sides in the blink of an eye. Like the Fool in tarot, he (and most of the ones I can think of off the top of my head are male) is innocent, but because of this, often reckless and impulsive, given to following his instincts, be they right or wrong. As Rachel Pollock says in 78 Degrees of Wisdom, "The Fool bears the number 0 because all things are possible to the person who is always ready to go in any direction. He does not belong in any specific place; he is not fixed like the other cards. His innocence makes him a person with no past, and therefore an infinite future. Every moment is a new starting point."
For me, this perfectly summarizes the essense of the Fool archetype -- he is the thing outside of destiny and fate, and while that can make him weak, it also gives him power. He's often not very good by himself in the normal order of things, but when released, he can be the small pebble that starts an entire chain of events. The Fool can make such a difference precisely because he is outside the order of things, and thus, can play with the very warp and woof of destiny in a way that the threads woven into the tapestry cannot.
In folklore, the Fool and the Trickster are often one and the same. But the Trickster adds a bit to the Fool archetype, something that I think is an important secondary characteristic -- humor. Characters like Spider and Coyote survive not through their intrinsic goodness, but through their wiliness and their wits. And quite often, by the skin of their teeth. Like the Fool of tarot, who is often pictured dancing alongside the edge of a cliff, they skirt danger because they are too naive/innocent and too reckless to listen to the risks involved. Or perhaps they do realize the risks, but choose to discard them anyway, another trait that screams of foolishness. And because of their foolishness, they land in some pretty bad situations at times. But then, they always manage to find a way out, often with a smile on their face or with the last laugh.
In the books and TV shows I watch, I've noticed my tendency to be drawn to Fool characters because of their sense of humor and because of their complete disregard for the rules. But because archetypes are usually pretty boring to watch without personal characteristics, I've noticed that often, the Fools in pop culture often have something else with their Fool traits, often a hidden vulnerability that's buried deep underneath the stinging humor. Some I can think of off the top of my head:
- the Fool from Robin Hobb's books. Obviously, a fool by trade. The Fool goes through guises and names like masks, and his scathing tongue and wit leave no one alone, especially Fitz. But as Fitz so often comments in the books, the Fool can't really defend himself physically, and thus must do so with his head. Paradoxically, the Fool is also the White Prophet and Fitz is his Catalyst... in this sense, it seems Fitz is more the Fool because he, simply by existing, makes crossroads in fate, makes choices possible where there were no choices before. Yet, the Fool also guides him in this and uses Fitz to jog destiny from its well-worn course. And then, the Fool is strangely vulnerable and young at times, but he shields these traits so well that Fitz can't even tell half the time when the Fool is joking or not.
- Spike, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Spike's the vampire who is vicious and blood-thirsty, but also cares about random human things like Manchester United. I know lots has already been said on the topic of Spike and the Fool, but I believe most of all the Spike is a Fool not because of the truth hidden in some of the random words he throws out to insult people, but because he changes things. No vampire or demon was even supposed to be able to think of wanting a moral compass, but Spike did. He teamed up with Buffy and company in season 5, albeit reluctantly. He did things that a vampire wasn't supposed to do, like burning the Annointed One, because he is a Fool and because he embodies the randomness and the whimsy that the Fool does.
- Diarmuid, from Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry. Even though Darien is the character who truly embodies the random nature of the Wild Hunt and of the importance of choice and free will, Diarmuid is the one who lives it. He's the wild prince who never quite does what anyone expects of him. He'll risk his life for a beautiful girl, and he'll cede his kingship because he wants to be free to go to taverns at night. Yet, under all his seeming insouciance is a heart that truly cares about things. But like he says to Sharra, he'll always move to a different beat. He'll fulfill expectations not by fulfilling the terms, but by completely bypassing them, by tearing the rule book to shreds. And because of this, he's the one who can cooly walk up to a battle that is not his and take someone else's death. By doing so, Diarmuid frees Arthur and Guinevere from the dreadful cycle of fate and destiny that they have been going through for ages, and he gives them a happy ending. And it's completely fitting that he begins this act of sacrifice by dedicating the battle to his favorite bar.
Others I can kind of stick in the Fool mold would be Cpt. Jack Sparrow from PotC, Jack O'Neill from Stargate for his humor and his sometimes inability to follow military rules, Hamlet and Ophelia when they are mad (or pretending to be), some parts of Delirium from Sandman, except she's not aware or cutting enough, Lestat from Anne Rice's books. I can't think of very many female fools for some reason. The closest I got was Ophelia... Delirium fits partially, but she's a little too muddled for a mocking Fool.
Personally, I love this type of character because of the juxtaposition of humor and heartache, for the feeling that the jokes are hiding deep emotion, and because I love how they often challenge the rules of the world and succeed in doing so. I love them because they are random, and as the random factor, they let us all be free. Their place in stories for me often seems to be saying that nothing is completely foreordained, because any moment, this fickle creature can sweep in and change everything.
I've only read the trilogy once before, and that was a while ago. Plus, when I read them the first time, they were spaced out by publication dates. Now, I'm remembering many things I'd forgotten, like how cool Kettricken is. I just read the Tales of the Slayers comic, and one of the stories has a Slayer in a white dress with her sword at her side, blond hair in a braid. And that's the picture I have of Kettricken defending Rippon. And I love Patience. Still don't really like Molly much until she gets together with Burrich, I think because her demands of Fitz seem petty sometimes next to all the court politics he's dealing with. But that's not really her fault. And I'm still amazed at how young Fitz sounds in this series, especially when compared to Tom Badgerlock of the Tawny Man series. He's impulsive and reckless and often thoughtlessly cruel. But I love him anyway.
And of course, the Fool.
Watching Pirates of the Caribbean and reading this again made me think about the fool archetype and why it hits such a nerve in me. My bulletproof kink, if you will.
To me, a Fool in media/literature is a person who first and foremost has the uncanny ability to be a complete random factor, to switch thoughts and moods and sides in the blink of an eye. Like the Fool in tarot, he (and most of the ones I can think of off the top of my head are male) is innocent, but because of this, often reckless and impulsive, given to following his instincts, be they right or wrong. As Rachel Pollock says in 78 Degrees of Wisdom, "The Fool bears the number 0 because all things are possible to the person who is always ready to go in any direction. He does not belong in any specific place; he is not fixed like the other cards. His innocence makes him a person with no past, and therefore an infinite future. Every moment is a new starting point."
For me, this perfectly summarizes the essense of the Fool archetype -- he is the thing outside of destiny and fate, and while that can make him weak, it also gives him power. He's often not very good by himself in the normal order of things, but when released, he can be the small pebble that starts an entire chain of events. The Fool can make such a difference precisely because he is outside the order of things, and thus, can play with the very warp and woof of destiny in a way that the threads woven into the tapestry cannot.
In folklore, the Fool and the Trickster are often one and the same. But the Trickster adds a bit to the Fool archetype, something that I think is an important secondary characteristic -- humor. Characters like Spider and Coyote survive not through their intrinsic goodness, but through their wiliness and their wits. And quite often, by the skin of their teeth. Like the Fool of tarot, who is often pictured dancing alongside the edge of a cliff, they skirt danger because they are too naive/innocent and too reckless to listen to the risks involved. Or perhaps they do realize the risks, but choose to discard them anyway, another trait that screams of foolishness. And because of their foolishness, they land in some pretty bad situations at times. But then, they always manage to find a way out, often with a smile on their face or with the last laugh.
In the books and TV shows I watch, I've noticed my tendency to be drawn to Fool characters because of their sense of humor and because of their complete disregard for the rules. But because archetypes are usually pretty boring to watch without personal characteristics, I've noticed that often, the Fools in pop culture often have something else with their Fool traits, often a hidden vulnerability that's buried deep underneath the stinging humor. Some I can think of off the top of my head:
- the Fool from Robin Hobb's books. Obviously, a fool by trade. The Fool goes through guises and names like masks, and his scathing tongue and wit leave no one alone, especially Fitz. But as Fitz so often comments in the books, the Fool can't really defend himself physically, and thus must do so with his head. Paradoxically, the Fool is also the White Prophet and Fitz is his Catalyst... in this sense, it seems Fitz is more the Fool because he, simply by existing, makes crossroads in fate, makes choices possible where there were no choices before. Yet, the Fool also guides him in this and uses Fitz to jog destiny from its well-worn course. And then, the Fool is strangely vulnerable and young at times, but he shields these traits so well that Fitz can't even tell half the time when the Fool is joking or not.
- Spike, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Spike's the vampire who is vicious and blood-thirsty, but also cares about random human things like Manchester United. I know lots has already been said on the topic of Spike and the Fool, but I believe most of all the Spike is a Fool not because of the truth hidden in some of the random words he throws out to insult people, but because he changes things. No vampire or demon was even supposed to be able to think of wanting a moral compass, but Spike did. He teamed up with Buffy and company in season 5, albeit reluctantly. He did things that a vampire wasn't supposed to do, like burning the Annointed One, because he is a Fool and because he embodies the randomness and the whimsy that the Fool does.
- Diarmuid, from Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry. Even though Darien is the character who truly embodies the random nature of the Wild Hunt and of the importance of choice and free will, Diarmuid is the one who lives it. He's the wild prince who never quite does what anyone expects of him. He'll risk his life for a beautiful girl, and he'll cede his kingship because he wants to be free to go to taverns at night. Yet, under all his seeming insouciance is a heart that truly cares about things. But like he says to Sharra, he'll always move to a different beat. He'll fulfill expectations not by fulfilling the terms, but by completely bypassing them, by tearing the rule book to shreds. And because of this, he's the one who can cooly walk up to a battle that is not his and take someone else's death. By doing so, Diarmuid frees Arthur and Guinevere from the dreadful cycle of fate and destiny that they have been going through for ages, and he gives them a happy ending. And it's completely fitting that he begins this act of sacrifice by dedicating the battle to his favorite bar.
Others I can kind of stick in the Fool mold would be Cpt. Jack Sparrow from PotC, Jack O'Neill from Stargate for his humor and his sometimes inability to follow military rules, Hamlet and Ophelia when they are mad (or pretending to be), some parts of Delirium from Sandman, except she's not aware or cutting enough, Lestat from Anne Rice's books. I can't think of very many female fools for some reason. The closest I got was Ophelia... Delirium fits partially, but she's a little too muddled for a mocking Fool.
Personally, I love this type of character because of the juxtaposition of humor and heartache, for the feeling that the jokes are hiding deep emotion, and because I love how they often challenge the rules of the world and succeed in doing so. I love them because they are random, and as the random factor, they let us all be free. Their place in stories for me often seems to be saying that nothing is completely foreordained, because any moment, this fickle creature can sweep in and change everything.
(no subject)
Wed, Aug. 6th, 2003 03:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Wed, Aug. 6th, 2003 08:53 pm (UTC)Fascinating material in there, particularly the idea that the dichotomy of the Fool/Trickster means that s/he can change gender at will! Sorry to keep bringing Hobb back in, but that immediately resonated with the Fool, who has various identities (metaphorical shapeshifting) and identities of different gender. And it was lovely how there was an inclusion of Asian mythology, which didn't cross my mind before. Can't believe I didn't think of the kitsune in context of the Fool/Trickster.
(no subject)
Wed, Aug. 6th, 2003 09:30 pm (UTC)And I forgot the best one... Dru although she fits even better as The High Priestess perhaps.
"When I was growing up in Korea in the 60s, I had an uncle who was a terrible man, but a wonderful storyteller, and so I heard more than my share of instructive and cautionary folktales. He told most of these stories as personal anecdotes or claimed they were things that had happened to near or distant relatives. . . . [He] refused to offer an interpretation, claiming that if he could simply tell me the meaning, the story itself was unnecessary. But the truth is that we tend to make meanings out of stories—personal meanings that often do not conform to the stories' (or the storyteller's) rhetorical purpose. Great folktales like 'Beauty' and 'Shimchong' survive precisely because they can serve a multitude of rhetorical purposes and yet also have rich layers of meaning to offer."
— Heinz InsuFenkl
The Blind Man's Daughter
(no subject)
Thu, Aug. 7th, 2003 12:33 am (UTC)I read the paper last night. Great work! I have some thoughts but I'm in the mulling phase right now... wanted to let you know tho'.
(no subject)
Thu, Aug. 7th, 2003 01:49 am (UTC)Thoughts always highly appreciated =).
(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 8th, 2003 01:45 am (UTC)No need to think about this is if you're in post-dissertation burn... it'll hold for later. Always good to have juicy topics on the back burner anywhoo.
(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 8th, 2003 04:37 am (UTC)I got into the entire anime/manga fandom after my first experience with fandom in XF, so I knew slash existed. And there was a giant yaoi/anti-yaoi (slash/anti-slash) perpetual flamewar going on in my fandom, which first sparked my interest in the subject. Anyway, I very much see the phenomena of shonen ai as being the flip side of the coin or the twin of slash here. I think Allison mostly sees shonen ai as sexually transgressive because of the basics -- homosexual acts, female gaze as opposed to male gaze, and the fact that the shonen ai manga were the ones who first broke the "bed scenes" barrier in manga publishing. I think Moto Hagio was the first to draw two people in bed together, obviously having sex, no matter what the gender. The fact that they were two young boys made it even more transgressive...
Not sure if I'm answering your question at all, sorry!
Yes, as Yulunggul
Fri, Aug. 8th, 2003 05:52 am (UTC)Does other stuff.
It's all terribly Ovid Metamorphosis.
Or Gaiman's Harlequin Valentine, where the sad eyed beloved becomes the trickster. The trickster the lover.
The holy fool.
Q, the ST:NG one, not the Bond one. What was he said, “If only I’d known, I’d have appeared as a woman.”