Eddings Cliches

[Foxtale]

Okay then, here's the game. Point out Eddings cliches from all his books.

1. "I'm shocked at you. Shocked!"
Both in Redemption of Al, and Elder Gods (multiple times)

2. "without a hint of a smile."
Throughout the Elder Gods series and once in Redemption of Al. Sparhawk says something "without a hint of a smile" once as well.

3. The Stuck up Ruler
Aracia in the Elder Gods and <_< (I can't remember her name) from Redemption of Al. She was going to eat Eliar.

4. The little person who thinks ahead
Rabbit and Gher. That's fairly straight forwards.

5. A war of some kind.
The war in Redemption, a war in Elder Gods, a war in Tamuli and Elenium, in the Belgariad.

There must be more. I know it!

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

"Be Nice"

Must have been said about 20+ times in the Malloreon, Belgariad - made me want to reach through the page and throttle the dogooder towards the end..

 

[ladyflorange]

"Be Nice"

Must have been said about 20+ times in the Malloreon, Belgariad - made me want to reach through the page and throttle the dogooder towards the end..

Also in the Elder Gods and Redemption of Al I think. Reeeeally annoying!!

 

[nixie]

Don't forget "he's such a nice boy"

 

[Paradox 99]

He sort of says sort of quite a bit too. At least I sort of think he sort of does that.

 

[nixie]

Then theres *kiss..Kiss*

 

[Foxtale]

Then theres *kiss..Kiss*

Oh gods that was annoying! Is it only in the Elder Gods or is it elsewhere?

 

[Kynsilaukka]

I don´t mind of having multiple repeats inside one storyline, such as Belgarion-stories, as there the characters stay the same and in real life people adopt and keep to specific sayings too. But when the same sayings are cultivated through many storylines, well, that irritates me. I don´t remember a lot of it in Althalus, as I last read it years ago, but whilst reading Elder Gods -saga (Dreamers?) I just pretended the saying´s weren´t there and tried to avoid reading them.

It takes the edge of witty conversation! A joke that is funny from Silk´s mouth might be boring from Longbow´s...

 

[Foxtale]

But if you had heard the joke from Longbow before it came from Silk, would it still be Silk who is funnier?

There was another one I was reading today (paraphrased):

"How did you do that?" _____ said.

"Do you really want to know?" (OR "Trust me, you don't want to know.")

_____ gulped, "on second thoughts, I don't want to know."

Happens quite a lot surprisingly.

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

The truly cynical & disillusioned Eddings fan could say these repeats of sayings are a sign that his recent novels have just been "replace the names & hope no-one notices" efforts.... *whistles innocently*

 

[direghost]

"I'm sure there's something else every Eddings' character does," he said with sardonic wit.

 

[Kynsilaukka]

But if you had heard the joke from Longbow before it came from Silk, would it still be Silk who is funnier?

That´s quite a good question actually! In this case, anyway, it would be Silk who is funnier, as a joke that could fit Silk´s mouth would sound horrible from Longbow´s - and I dislike the hunter. Kheldar goes sometimes over the top, but in my opinion he is a hundred times better character. Perhaps it shows how paperback Eddings´ new characters have become: I can´t remember their names or personas or anything... Is it just me?

But in some other case, I would probably prefer the one I read first. A lot of the Eddings´ clichés are actually pretty witty, but as said before they get irritating while being repeated over and over and over and over...

Out of interest, what is the working 'schedule' for Eddings´ in English countries? I mean, how swiftly do their books follow each other?

 

[the_faery_queen]

using sentences again and again aren't really a cliche. but it is kinda odd if different characters in different books are speaking the same way.

tho i agree with the others for being cliches.

 

[Foxtale]

Using the same recycled characters over and over is kinda irritating. And the characters all use the same things. Oh, I remembered the girl in Althalus. It's Andine who's the pompous princess.

And then reading the Belgariad, OH MY GOD! CY'NEDRA IS ANDINE AND ARACIA!

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

Ironically, if it's done well (like Moorcock's "Eternal Champion") then it's ok.

Like everything else, you'll be forgiven for recycling characters if you don't tale the mickey.
Eddings, unfortunately, comes across as a man of few new ideas, rather than tweaking and reinvigorating old characters.

 

[alex22]

Has anybody noticed that more often than not Eddings neatly ties up every male character to a female?
Also, you might notice that the men are never really in control. If you look closely you'll realise that any men in a position of power are always being manipulated by the women in their lives.eg. Polgara and just about anyone, C'nedra and Garion, Poledra and Belgarath, Ehlana and Sparhawk etc...
I could go on forever with that, but you see what i mean.
Dont get me wrong, im all for strong female characters but i just wonder if Leigh Eddings isn't running the show at the Eddings residence?

 

[Kynsilaukka]

Has anybody noticed that more often than not Eddings neatly ties up every male character to a female?

Also, you might notice that the men are never really in control. If you look closely you'll realise that any men in a position of power are always being manipulated by the women in their lives.eg. Polgara and just about anyone, C'nedra and Garion, Poledra and Belgarath, Ehlana and Sparhawk etc...
I could go on forever with that, but you see what i mean.
Dont get me wrong, im all for strong female characters but i just wonder if Leigh Eddings isn't running the show at the Eddings residence?

I just started to wonder about the same thing, as I'm finally re-reading Althalus (in English this time, yey!!! A real yey is also that I've found already five Garions in the original language, as they unlike Althalus suffer from horrible translation...).

I think that in Garion-books this tieing a knot thing was done pretty neatly and seemed natural. The characters didn't get attracted to each other just because they were the different sex. I loved the way Garion and Ce'Nedra had this thing about to be going on, but then they were 'forced' to be engaged and that brought momentary frost to the relationship. Polgara and Durnik developed greatly, right from the beginning ("Wouldn't it be great if you married Durnik, Aunt Pol?"). It was such a great moment to have Poledra back... In Malloreon however, things didn't go as smoothly - or should I say, they went too smoothly. Still, I didn’t mind as I really felt for the characters and wanted them to be happy and so on blaah blaah...

In Althalus on the other hand, it is clear from the start 'til the end that Arya Andine will get Eliar and Bheid will get Leitha. Okay, I don’t remember what happens for them in the end of the book, but I’ve read enough Eddings' to suppose that they haven’t given these hints and nudge-nudges just for nothing. They’re too safe for that. (Don’t spoil me, if I’m wrong )

I am a blonde, I love happy endings more than anything. Legally Blonde is the best movie in the world just because it ends in the way it does. But my definition for happy ending isn’t get-married or get-to-a-nice-place-and-live-there-till-death-do-you-erase. I really hope Eddings aren't going to pair Longbow with anyone, not that I would care much as none of these post-Althalus characters (and when I say that, I really mean none after Althalus-the-thief, not the book (oh, I care for Emmy, too (not Dweia though))).

***

About this woman in lead –thing: well well, let's look at the real world. Wherever there's a strong female in a relationship (read: about every relationship), she is the one in control. And when there is a man in control, he is usually a very weak man who subdues a woman in order to prop up his own uncertain ego. Or then the woman is so in luuuv with the male, that she doesn't care come whatever. I'm not a feminist, but in my opinion that's how it goes. Of course, the men aren't subdued; they are fine with the situation for their own will, as are women in such a situation.

Oumaiguddaa, this is going to be a long message… Not much anymore! You've come this far, keep going!

But yes, I think the way how Eddings' females boss their flames is getting trite. It's always this dry sarcasm. “You will do as I say, we can fight about it, but you will do it in the end so could we skip the fight-part?” “Isn't he such a good boy” and so on. I love sarcasm, but it turns into ennui when every other statement is that. I think that's a bit of the Eddings' problem, too: no matter how hard the situation might be, the character lay back and drop sarcastic comments. “Oh look, I have a sword in my belly!” “At last I see signs of being sharp in you.” “I'm shocked at you. Shocked.” And then there's some deus ex machine that removes the sword and the wound and return the blood level and then the guys keep making more sarcastic comments. Ha ha ha how funny – not.

Also, is there any not-straight love activity in any of Eddings' books? In my opinion leaving homosexuality out is much better than including one stereotype to fill the contingency, but still I think it's pretty close-minded to fake that those kind of things don't exist. Don't get me wrong, I don't want any slash, but it seems that love's always mentioned as a girl-and-boy –thing in Eddings' books.

Also, Eddings seem almost incapable to make a girl and a boy friends. Fine, there is Adara and Garion, but they are cousins and are distanced as they grow up. I think a-girl-and-a-boy-as-friends –thing is underrated and underused in all kind of literature, as although birds of feather flock together, girls and boys make great friends. Or is it just me, as my dearest friend is a straight girl though I'm a straight guy? Anyways, in Eddings' books, it seems impossible that a character could have a friend from different sex. She's seem always either my-dearest-one's-friends and the other way around, except for the protagonist, to whom they are parts of the group…

Finally, sorry for writing such a long message. It got repetitive, must say, but I hope you didn't start to catch z's.

 

[alex22]

Finally, sorry for writing such a long message. It got repetitive, must say, but I hope you didn't start to catch z's.

What do you know, just like Eddings, only he didn't apologise.
Sorry Kynsilaukka, that comment was not directed at your message, it was just that your last sentence was easy to play with.

 

[Kynsilaukka]

What do you know, just like Eddings, only he didn't apologise.
Sorry Kynsilaukka, that comment was not directed at your message, it was just that your last sentence was easy to play with.

Haha, a good one!

 

[ladyflorange]

Everyone is 'advised', even when it's a completely inappropriate word to use! It REALLY bugs me!