Tough Traveling: Large Man

The Thursday feature "Tough Traveling" is the brainchild of Nathan of Review Barn, who has come up with the excellent idea of making a new list each week based on the most common tropes in fantasy, as seen in The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynn Jones. Nathan has invited anyone who is interested to come play along, so be sure to check out the first link for more information. Compulsive list-maker that I am, I'm very excited to take part!

This week's tour topic is: Large Man

LARGE MAN…He is very calm, very strong, and not at all stupid. In some cases he will have been a BLACKSMITH, which accounts for the ease with which he severs the chains in the Galley.

Okay, so I was completely stuck for the theme for this week. I tried googling for ideas. And let's just say, I hope no one else made the same mistake I did with the search term "fantasy large men". Yeah, I don't recommend that at all. You would not believe the results that came up. Not what I had in mind.

So I'm afraid I'm going to have a rather weak list this week. The thing is, the LARGE MAN (who is also sometimes a blacksmith) feels like it has come up a lot in the books I read, but I can never remember, as this character is so often in the background, "just some guy" the main characters happen to meet, who might not even be named. A few on my list are going to be more prominent and better known large men instead, even if they don't really fit the description.

Red Country by Joe Abercrombie
Lamb is Shy South's cowardly old stepfather, a big man but also quiet and taciturn. The two come back from town one day to find their farm burned to their ground, and Shy's two young siblings Ro and Pit stolen away. Their journey to get the children back brings out a whole new side in Lamb, and we discover he has actually been hiding a bloody past of his own. If you've read The First Law trilogy before this, you're in for a treat!

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
Martin's series is peppered with freakishly large men (and women, in the case of Brienne of Tarth). We have the Clegane brothers, Ser Gregor and Sandor who are both huge and heavily muscled, the former who is nicknamed "The Mountain" because of his enormous stature. We also have Hodor, of course. Well over seven feet tall, it has even been suggested by Osha that he might have some giant's blood in him.

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Speaking of giant's blood, we move on to a character who actually is half-giant. Rubeus Hagrid is the son of a human and a giantess, and at age six he was able to pick up his father and put him on top of the dresser if he annoyed him. Plus, every one of these Tough Traveling posts requires Harry Potter, so glad I was able to get it in for this week.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
The Horneater called Rock is Kaladin's fellow bridgeman in Sadeas' army whose real name is so hard to pronounce that everyone just calls him by the nickname. He is also a large man. He is described as nearly seven feet tall with thick limbs and a powerful torso. Despite his size, others around him are generally not intimidated by him because of his jovial nature. He is quick to laugh and is well-liked. He likes to cook and refuses to fight because being a soldier is not considered reputable in his culture.

The Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence
Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath travels with his band of gritty brutes, with Brother Rike being notably one of the larger and more blood thirsty members of his gang. There's even a great quote about his size: "Most men have at least one redeeming feature. Finding one for Brother Rike requires a stretch. Is 'big' a redeeming feature?"

Tough Traveling: Invisible Colleges (Or Hard-to-Reach/Difficult to Gain Admission)

The Thursday feature "Tough Traveling" is the brainchild of Nathan of Review Barn, who has come up with the excellent idea of making a new list each week based on the most common tropes in fantasy, as seen in The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynn Jones. Nathan has invited anyone who is interested to come play along, so be sure to check out the first link for more information. Compulsive list-maker that I am, I'm very excited to take part!

This week's tour topic is: Invisible Colleges

Invisible College is used for training WIZARDS and usually occupies a prim site in some major CITY…

But Nathan has taken pity on this week and made things a bit easier, opening up the topic to any school in fantasy that is difficult to reach or gain entrance to. Thank you, Nathan! Because I was starting to get a little nervous here...

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Let's see how many weeks the Harry Potter books will show up in these Tough Traveling posts! Again I'm choosing another book from the series I haven't done yet though, because while obviously Hogwarts is the obvious one here, I picked Goblet specifically since it's the first book to also feature students from other wizarding schools around the world. Who can forget Krum from the Durmstrang Institute or Fleur from the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, competitors at the Tri Wizard Tournament. Just like Hogwarts, I assume these wizarding schools are also cloaked in some way or are located in some remote place.

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
Every child in Gavaldon knows the story of the School for Good and Evil. Two children are kidnapped from their homes every four years, never to be seen again. One child is always beautiful and good, the other one an outcast and strange. They say a mysterious schoolmaster takes them to this fabled and magical place where storybook heroes and villains are made. The "good" kid gets to take classes in Princess/Prince Etiquette and Animal Communication while the "bad" kid gets dumped in classes like Uglification, Death Curses and Henchmen Training. (Review)

Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher
The Academy is the foremost school in Alera. To attend, prospective students would have to be able to afford the fees or find a patron who would support them. In the first book, Furies of Calderon, the main character Tavi's life's dream was to study here, and in the end is granted a scholarship. In Academ's Fury, Tavi learns the lesson of "Be Careful What You Wish For" when he realizes the cruel and petty ways at the Academy, but he's stuck here for now.

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
Continuing with the theme of "protagonists who desperately want to get into a particular school of magic but can't", we have sixteen-year-old Joel Saxon who more than anything wants to be a Rithmatist -- but because a tragedy made him miss his inception ceremony, that path is closed to him forever. Being the son of the school's chalkmaker, Joel was still able to attend the prestigious Armedius Academy, but he must watch with envy from afar as the chosen Rithmatist students get to study the magical art of creating chalk-drawn lines, circles and figures called Chalklings. (Review)

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
"The University! I had come to think of it in the same way most children think of the Fae court, a mythical place reserved for dreaming about. A school the size of a small town. Ten times ten thousand books. People who would know all the answers to any question I ever asked." Well, Kvothe does eventually get his wish and attends the University, under extraordinary circumstances -- his young age was factor, and the University ended up paying him to attend rather than the other way around. So, maybe GETTING in for him wasn't an issue, but STAYING in certain was. He constantly had money issues and struggled to pay tuition, and he was always on the verge of being kicked out due to his penchant for getting into trouble.

LAST MINUTE ADDITION!

The Magicians by Lev Grossman
I'm actually reading this book now, and what do you know, it's about an unseen school of magic. A very secret, very exclusive school of magic, hidden by a number of concealment spells. Located in upstate New York, the Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy is a place where the aspiring young magician can receive a rigorous education in the practice of modern sorcery. I haven't gotten very far in this book yet, but so far it's great. The book has been described to me as "what would happen if a regular person went to a school for magicians and experiences all the things one would at a regular college" - you know...sex, drugs, booze, friendship, boredom and the like.

Tough Traveling: Dark Lord

The Thursday feature "Tough Traveling" is the brainchild of Nathan of Review Barn, who has come up with the excellent idea of making a new list each week based on the most common tropes in fantasy, as seen in The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynn Jones. Nathan has invited anyone who is interested to come play along, so be sure to check out the first link for more information. Compulsive list-maker that I am, I'm very excited to take part!

This week's tour topic is: Dark Lord

There is always one of these in the background of every Tour, attempting to ruin everything and take over the world  He will be so sinister that he will be seen by you only once or twice, probably near the end of the Tour…

Thank you, Nathan, for finally giving us an easy one. Dark Lords (and Ladies) run rampant in fantasy and science fiction, and what I tried to do with my list was think outside the box a little and aimed to mix some of the obvious classic ones in with others who might not be that well-known. As usual, I only list the books I've read, but I still had to cut myself off at ten. Here they are, listed in no particular order of importance or evilness...
 

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling - Lord Voldemort
Still, let's just get the big You-Know-Who out of the way right off the bat. I have a feeling the boy wizard once known as Tom Marvolo Riddle who eventually became the infamous Lord Voldemort is going to be appearing on many Dark Lord lists today. I am also sure Harry Potter is going to show up a lot more on these Tough Traveling posts.

The Iron Wolves by Andy Remic - Orlana
One of the handful of Dark Ladies I can think of, Orlana the Changer is evil incarnate, a inhuman entity in a sexually attractive woman's body. Cold and sadistic, she commits all sorts of monstrous deeds on her victims just for the fun of it. She is best known for turning the bodies of men and animals inside out and splicing them together to form new nightmarish creatures, and for sacrificing innocents to birth the Mud Orc army she'll need to take over the world.

Star Wars novels by various authors - Sith Lords
Always lurking in the background waiting to ruin everything and take over the galaxy? So sinister and evil that he'll only be glimpsed on screen a handful of times if we're lucky? Pretty much every Sith Lord and Darth that ever existed fits this archetype. A few Star Wars books that I've enjoyed which focus mainly on the "Dark Lord" include the Darth Bane trilogy by Drew Karpyshyn and Darth Plagueis by James Luceno.

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien - Sauron
Here we have another heavy hitter in the world of Dark Lords, one who I'm sure needs no introduction. The lord of the rings and creator of the One Ring was also the lieutenant of another notorious Dark Lord, Morgoth, whom I would have included in this list as well if I'd actually managed to get through The Silmarillion in its entirety.

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff - Shogun Yoritomo

Stormdancer is a coming-of-age story about a young girl and her fight against a despotic Shogun. Yoritomo is a monster who uses violence, torture and threats to control the population of Shima. With the Guildsmen standing with him behind his tyrannical rule, he chokes the land with the lotus industry, killing slaves to grow the destructive crop and continue making war on his enemies.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan - The Dark One
The head bad guy in Wheel of Time, the Dark One has many names including the Father of Lies, Lord of the Grave and Sightblinder, but his true name is Shai'tan, though it is said to be dangerous to use it. The characters in the series know him to be an ancient, power and evil force, the embodiment of destruction and chaos. 

Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind - Darken Rahl
Come on, with a name like Darken Rahl, he's gotta be evil. Indeed he is the primary antagonist for the Sword of Truth series, said to be a vicious man and ruthless wizard. He likes to rule with an iron fist, has an unquenchable thirst for revenge and has no qualms about using torture to get what he wants. Obsessed with world domination, his pastimes include building an army and hunting down confessors.

The Emperor's Knife by Mazarkis Williams - Pattern Master
The Cerani Empire is held in the grip of terror by an epidemic. The plague, which strikes young and old and rich and poor alike, causes geometric patterns to appear and spread across the skin until the victim dies in agony, or worse, becomes a mindless minion controlled by an unknown and mysterious enemy, the Pattern Master.

Children of Fire by Drew Karpyshyn - Daemron
Long ago, a great warrior called Daemron was was chosen by the gods to lead the war against the Chaos spawn. Daemron, however, grew corrupted and the savior of the world instead became its destroyer. He was thwarted in the end, banished and sealed behind barrier called the Legacy. Now the Legacy weakens, and Daemron grows strong enough again to cast his essence into the world.

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson - The Lord Ruler
Known as the divine and invincible "Sliver of Infinity", the Lord Ruler's reign is filled with red skies and falling ash, and enslaved Skaa are forced to live in misery and fear. At the beginning, no one knows who he is or where he came from, just that the world has sucked ever since he installed himself as a deity and assumed absolute power over the Final Empire.

Man, a lot of these were hard to write without revealing massive spoilers. I'm looking forward to seeing others' Dark Lord lists.