David Eddings' major female characters

[ghost8772]

or need actually. most average women do not like the idea of being"pawed" they need the look but don't touch attitude. any males who take that attitude are branded fools by mainline society.

[JagLover]

I think David Eddings tends to put women on a pedestal and it gets a bit sickly in his later books ("universal sisterhood of women" in the Tamuli ).

With the exception of Ce'Nedra as a young girl. The female characters are morally better than the men, admired even worshipped at times.

[Tribble]

Just something I remember from Rivan Codex ... David Eddings in it likened himself to Belgarath and Leigh to Polgara ...

Favourite female characters ... hmmm

For what it is worth ...

Liselle - too young for Silk, but pretty smooth none-the-less
Polgara - I loved the character from the first moment in Pawn of Prophecy ...
Mirtai - a strong warrior who wasn't afraid to show her softer side when talking about her past
Danae/Flute/Aphrael - I just liked her ... she was manipulative and annoying ... but I liked her anyway (probably because some also call me annoying)
Poledra - she had to give up her husband and children to undertake a momentus task. She had to watch her husband go mad with grief at her apparent death ... her husband and daughter grow apart ... one daughter got married then grew old and died ... and her other daughter get married ... the strength she must have had

[pieoholic]

Originally Posted by devilsgrin

Aphrael!!!! Dears gods i hate her! One of THE most annoying characters in any Eddings book... in fact she is one of the main reasons i mostly detest the Tamuli (there are some good bits).
Zandramas certainly is not a nice woman! She's a cold-blooded killer, who never once does anything either remotely redeemable, nor anything particularly momentous... ooh she can turn into a dragon - cheesy!

Yes thank-you I absoultely HATE her!!! I've read 17 chpts of the Tamuli and half the time I want to throw the book against the wall, the other half I'm bored, although occasionally I laugh. She is so bloody annoying! This is a common interaction between Sparhawk and Danae:

Danae: Sparhawk I think your an idiot, but you still love me right?
Sparhawk: Of course!

And I hate this idea that women need to 'modify' men to make them better husbands and that all men are useless at romance and need to be 'convinced' they love a woman. One scene that irrated me was:

"A few days before, Sparhawk had idly wondered where he had made the mistake that had permannently attached his wifes's affection to him. He realised that this scruffy-kitten was Talen's mistake. Sparhawk mentally shrugged. Talen would make an adequate son-in-law - once Danae had trained him."

Talen is awesome, he doesn't need training to be her husband, if she loved him she wouldn't 'train' him..she'd love him the way he is, maybe help him with some of his bad habit/annoying traits, but not train him, that sounds barbaric. And it doesn't matter what he wants, she wants him so she's going to make him want her.

But they aren't all like that, and some men can be just as manipulating, they play at the womens game while pretending to be useless.

[kirgi08]

Lady Tamazin and Prala.Tamazin for her wisdom and Prala for her fire and not being a spoiled brat like Ce'Nedra was at the start.'08.

[LittleSparrow]

I think Taiba is a really strong character.

I think also Dweia/Em from The Redemption of Althalus is a strong woman. You might not think so because she obviously takes pride in being famous, beautiful and worshipped and tends to preen and "be bossy" as someone commented, but I think it is really good that his characters are mutli-dimensional. A really stong female character who is always right and never vain or preening or overly-righteous is just as cliched as a woman who is the opposite.

Also I think that you are noticing all these flaws in his female characters because this is your focus, his male characters are equally "flawed" or one dimensional, with the exclusion of the protagonist and a few other almost-main characters that he has obviously chosen to develop. For example Lelldoran and Mandorallen do not have much depth to their characters and Eliar (Redemption of Althalus) is a completely sterotypical, one dimensional "big, strong dumb" man, and is in fact quite "weak" in the sense that he is easily ordered around by the other characters.

If you took the time to analise all the characters I think the only discrepency you would find between the sexes is that his main character is always a man - which is fair enough, because it is only natural for a male author to feel more comfortable and more knowledgable with portraying the thoughts and emotions of a male.

I think Edding's books are meant to be read for the humour, adventure and great battle scenes (Redemption of Althalus has the best battle scenes - how come no-one mentions this book??? Its fantastic!) not for the depth of character and social meaning.

[Manarion]

I'd have to say Sparrow is right-though I've yet to read the Redemption of Althalus. Never been able to find it anywhere.




But yes, while characters like Ce'Nedra and Polgara ARE willful, spoiled, and stubborn, you really can't rule out others.....such as Sephrenia, Porenn, and assorted others I can't really think of right now.



Essentially, I found his characters, in one way or another, to be human. How interesting is Superman or Wonder Woman, honestly?

[X'Nedra]

I don't see it as woman hating in the way the characters are written. I see it as well rounded characters with both good and bad characteristics.
When reading, I find that the "flaws" lead me to a deeper understanding of the characters and what's going on under the surface.

Yes, they annoy the crap out of me sometimes, but quite frankly if I had to spend that long, sleep deprived and cramped in with those people they'd irritate me also - I think it's realism, and not necessarily an inherit dislike of women.
Also, let's not forget that Leigh had a major part in writing the characters. I have often speculated, while reading these series, that they have been based on people close to the authors whom they both love dearly.