(no subject)

[kippurbird]

I went to my NaNoWriMo Thank God it's Over party last night whereupon several things happened.

First I may have volunteered to be the Municipal Liaison for West Los Angeles next year.

Second someone wanted to know if I was the Kippur. The one who did the Eragon Sporkings as I had written Kippur on my name tag. Yes, I am no longer Kippur, but the Kippur. They also mentioned that I had been brought up on the NaNo boards in a discussion on the Inheritance series.

Scanning through it I noticed that a few people were glad the book had come out because it meant that there would be more sporkings.

I'm internet famous? :D

Comments

[swankivy.livejournal.com]

HAHA! Isn't it funny to be recognized in person? It's happened to me too, but not for Eragon-related stuff.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Your essays were discussed too, quite heatedly.

[swankivy.livejournal.com]

Not surprised. (Any idea where they did so? I might actually already know about it, but I like to know where I'm mentioned. Though people for some reason always seem to think I'm a dude based on those essays.)

I've been recognized "from the Internet" I think like four times. What was funny is it happened independently twice on the same day once.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Here's the thread. (http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fans-and-critics/threads/16069) And yes, they thought you were a dude.

I've been recognized on several different forums - like the dragon cave ones (where I get my dragon eggs) as the Kippur, but that was the first time in real life that it's happened.

[ashen_key]

Yay you!

And I must admit, I, too, am looking forward to the sporkings.

[swankivy.livejournal.com]

I laffed when they were bickering over who was better, you or me. Heh.

Thanks for the link. Added it to my famousness page.

[hekateras.livejournal.com]

Internet famous? You certainly are. :D You get brought up on TV Tropes often enough, as well.

Now go and do those new sporkings, dammit. XD

...You know, concerning Eragon, something I thought about when I read The Name of the Wind recently. (Awesome book!) (Minor spoilers!)

The main character is Kvothe. Technically, he has all the markings of a classic Mary Sue. He has extraordinarily bright red hair (with dark-haired parents, no less), vivid green eyes that sort of change tone depending on his mood, he is an absolute child prodigy at everything he tries, from music to acting to science to magic, gals fall for him left and right, and he even discovers the True Name of the wind essentially by accident, quite similar to Eragon's initial "Brisingr!" Also like Eragon, he has a single target sexuality, only having eyes for a particular girl.

...And yet, he doesn't feel at all like a Mary Sue (to me at least). Why is this? It's because the author isn't afraid to take those traits to their logical conclusion and let Kvothe be human. They same every flaw is the extension of a virtue, and that's how it feels here. Kvothe's flaws aren't "flaws" in the sense of being technically bad but never being punished by the universe, as Eragon's so often are. He actually has genuine flaws that, despite his talents, often cripple his efforts, flaws that follow very naturally from who and what he is. For example, his stage upbringing causes him to jump to the wrong conclusions about what a master magician wants him to do to prove himself (in other words, Wrong Genre Savvy). Due to his gypsy origins, he's ignorant of the upper society world, not to mention confident/arrogant, and underestimates the ways in which a rich noble's son can ruin his life, which leads to genuine problems, including a brush with death. His cunning decision to use a painkiller before a whipping leads to him being distracted and brain-addled when the after-effects set in, making him lose access to something very precious and get on the really bad side of an otherwise decent teacher. (And having, in the long run, even greater consequences.) And of course, when tragedy hits him, all his wit and talent does nothing to shield him from the trauma, and he spends several years essentially catatonic. He feels human and genuinely endearing and engaging, and all because the author isn't afraid to let his actions have natural consequences, both good and bad.