Tropes

[holdouttrout]

Okay, you know the trope about the war-hardened soldier who just wants to grow peas/smuggle/drink and get old and definitely doesn't want to go save the world, right? Think Han Solo, or even the Wizard in the new, not-great Oz movie. Or Madmartigan.

That's the trope. Where are the women? I can think of one example (kinda) in a Patricia C. Wrede book (Caught in Crystal, where the main character is sought out because she went on a pretty interesting trip when she was young that seems to have some ramifications in the present.). I'm actually pretty sure there are more, but I'm drawing a blank.

I also looked on TV Tropes, but I don't think I have the right name for the trope--and I'm definitely NOT talking about the Lovable Rogue or The Lancer, although those could be combined with this one.

Halp.

Comments

[pepper-field.livejournal.com]

Is it weird that I think I'd know more about who Katniss is if it wasn't a first-person book?

I think that makes sense. We know who Katniss thinks she is, but we don't see her from an outsider's perspective so much. I think first-person is very biased (which is lots of fun to write, of course).

I have a notion that Elizabeth Moon has been an asshole on the internet at some point, but I did love Hunting Party, and the two sequels. It's all about the tough (usually) older women being friends and kicking ass.

[lolmac]

Katniss is one of the best examples of the Unreliable Narrator I've ever encountered.

I think she does make a quite adequate Retired Badass -- starting in her teens, true, but a key element of her character is that she had to do everything starting way too young, including get old and tired and jaded.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

That's true. Actually, she pretty much starts out jaded.