Is Thomas Covenant the most frustrating "hero" ever?

[zoran]

Originally Posted by ElJayDee

I read all 6 Covenant novels quite a few years ago and found him to be the most frustrating character I have ever followed. the first three I found readable but frustrating and the second three seemed almost to be masochism.
I do understand that his failure to do the decent thing relates to his failure to come to terms with his recovered health, but you would think he could have at least got something right, even by accident.
I would truly like to understand what people like about the series that they can re-read it many times. I still have the full first and second chronicles and maybe someone can convince me to re-read them with a different mindset.

Look, I realy like this character, because it has complexity AND because he doesn't allways do the right thing. That's plain realistic - NO ONE does the right thing all the time.

For me, most frustrating characters are those "super - goody- heros" that allways do the right thing.

[dreir]

Yeah, in no way is TC the most frustrating hero ever. If you doubt that, check out Nevare in Robin Hobb's Soldier Son trilogy. And I'm a fan of hers. And many other fans agree with me.

TC is in my opinion one of the most realistic heroes ever protrayed. I know some of us have trouble emphatising with him, but here's a tip. Imagine yourself having leprosy (god forbid) and then put through the things he's had to endure. You'll see that all his actions become completely logical.

Btw, I'm currently on book 2 of my (xth) reread of the first chronicles

[El Dirko]

Originally Posted by dreir

Yeah, in no way is TC the most frustrating hero ever. If you doubt that, check out Nevare in Robin Hobb's Soldier Son trilogy. And I'm a fan of hers. And many other fans agree with me.

TC is in my opinion one of the most realistic heroes ever protrayed. I know some of us have trouble emphatising with him, but here's a tip. Imagine yourself having leprosy (god forbid) and then put through the things he's had to endure. You'll see that all his actions become completely logical.

Btw, I'm currently on book 2 of my (xth) reread of the first chronicles

Ha ! I had totally forgotten how annoying Nevare was. Probably blanked it out...

Best wishes,
Dirk

[Talentlesshack]

Thomas Covenant is an arse, but the beautiful thing about Donaldsons character is he is a mirror for every negative emotion/impulse in the reader. For example in a world free of consequence people will more often than not indulge there baser desires, Thomas rapes a girl and manipulates people and shirks every responsibility. At nearly every turn in the books he makes bad choices, choices that oft bear bitter fruit and all the time he hobbles around the land with guilt boring through his guts like drill. On top of that he can not reconcile the concept of the land to his own diseased world. He is a cripple both emotionally and physically and the really scary part is that the leprosy was for his I think just a symptom and not a cause of his inward turmoil.

[TheTomG]

It's been a LONG time since I read the books, and I did read them only once, both trilogies. I don't really remember the stories I have to admit, it's been decades, but I do remember my exasperation and frustration with the character.

My take on it is this - I liked the flaws, I liked the humanity (I do despise goody-two-shoes whiter-than-white heroes), and I think being a bit frustrated with him was fine, but ultimately I would have liked the stories to be shorter as a result, to move more quickly through the character's evolution. Now, I might feel differently if I read them today (and re-reading them is something I will have to do), but that was how I ended up feeling, that I liked the stories I just felt it left me frustrated with the character for too long.

That said, I did finish reading them, so it couldn't have been THAT frustrating

[JulioM]

Anyone read the whole third series? I read 'The Runes of the Earth', found it a bit turgid and started reading the first series again