So, I did the Väinämöinen reading this week, and I loved it (epic poetry not in prose - yay!) but I found myself running into the same old problem again:
If you’re this all-powerful mage, why don’t you just mop the floor with everybody?
See, this happened in a BBC show called Merlin, too. It’s a great, very cute little retelling of the Arthurian legends where Arthur is still a prince, Uther has outlawed magic, and Merlin becomes the manservant of Arthur. He’s informed by a dragon of his destiny to serve Arthur and protect him so he can become the Once and Future King and return magic to the land, and eventually the two become bros. But while the show ends its first season with Merlin basically getting power over life and death itself (within some rules) that’s basically as epic as it gets. Oh yes, Merlin has some other fantastic moments, but they’re not nearly satisfying enough. It’s either Merlin alone with just the bad guy in a cave, or being secret so no one knows he saved their butts, or Merlin is disguised as an old man.
Like, no. Just no.
I want an all-powerful mage who is also one bad ass mother fucker. I want him to look at a field of enemies and just go - “hah, right, later” and call fire down from heaven to decimate the field and destroy all his enemies.
Okay, I understand that someone who is all-powerful all the time with no conflict makes for a boring story. But come on! If you tote the main character as the most powerful sorcerer to ever walk the earth, he shouldn’t get taken out by an arrow to his shoulder. Not even near his heart! Instead he falls into the ocean and can’t save himself. Really? I understand adding drama and conflict, but completely ignoring the canonical facts about your character in order to do it - without any stated legitimate reason - is just infuriating.
There is nothing wrong with a character who blows through the opposition every now and then. Nor if he does so on a fairly regular basis. Heck, that’s all Liam Neeson’s character does in Taken, and that movie was highly successful!
I just want my characters who have badass potential to be badass, is that too much to ask?
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