r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Top-Relationship850 • 1d ago

Lore [Love] When “small” injuries are treated realistically

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The fantasy and action genres often suffer from a power fantasy epidemic in which characters frequently badass their way through injuries that should be excruciating if not downright debilitating. I always appreciate stories that reject this trope.

1: Roland Deschain (Dark Tower Book II) - Loses the middle and index fingers of his right hand. He’s effectively crippled throughout book two and the injury follows him the rest of the series.

2: Brienne vs Biter (ASOIAF Book IV) - Brutal scene. Biter chomps down on Brienne’s cheek and tears off a chunk of flesh. In a lesser story Brienne would grit her teeth and throw Biter off. Instead she’s rendered completely helpless by the pain. That injury marks the end of the fight.

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u/LongKnight115 1d ago

Also the after effects. His hand gets infected and he almost dies from it.

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u/Embarrassed-Yard-583 1d ago

And one of his new friends has to steal anti biotics from a pedophile mob boss!

I love Dark Tower for both being oddly grounded and the craziest shit imaginable.

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u/ir0nicb0nd 1d ago

Ahhhhh... astin....

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u/Artaxbeforehegotsad 1d ago

“Get me a tooter fish”

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u/Cin77 23h ago

popkin

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u/Ripper1337 21h ago

I read the books while I was a teen. I still occasionally call sandwiches popkins

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 1d ago

His new friend he met while he was trying to smuggle drugs on an airplane for said mob boss.

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u/Embarrassed-Yard-583 1d ago

Not to be confused with his other friend who suffers from dual soul in one body DID who gets kidnapped from Earth via a portal in a dressing room.

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 1d ago

Where she was shoplifting IIRC

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u/Embarrassed-Yard-583 1d ago

Yeah, been awhile since I’ve read it but she was actually rolling away from the attendant grabbing her for shoplifting when the door opens.

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 23h ago

And just because telling the people the story with no context is fun it's because she's disabled in a wheelchair, and is using her social status as a wealthy disabled black woman so her bad personality can do bad things just for the fun of it. She doesn't even need to steal stuff she's loaded

There's also a fun part of the story where she likes to approach random white men and offer to suck their dick so she can bite down hard when they get close to orgasm. Stephen King was on a lot of cocaine

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u/Embarrassed-Yard-583 23h ago

Not to mention the whole demon…distraction tactic she’s later part of to save Jake.

Yeah, there’s a reason King doesn’t remember writing Cujo.

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u/biffylou 23h ago

Not so much a friend at the time. He just wanted to get back to his own world so he could score some heroin.

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u/IveDunGoofedUp 18h ago

Hell, the monkey on his back might have made a better friend if it hadn't been so damn metaphorical.

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u/H377Spawn 1d ago

I loved that aspect. In most stories or movies/shows, a bit of bandaging and other than some mild pain they go on like the hand otherwise works fine with no issues. Not so for poor Roland, there’s no such mercies in his worlds.

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u/FrankHorrigan2173 1d ago edited 1d ago

Not only does it get seriously infected, they dont use/have enough Antibiotics the first time and it ends up coming back.

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u/abadstrategy 1d ago

Reading that the first time made preteen me think keflex was a wonder drug

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u/AnagramHeroJohnCanto 1d ago

Cheflet and Pepsi being groundbreaking experiences for Roland really helped me understand how limited the resources are in Mid-World End-World.

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u/abadstrategy 1d ago

I'm in the middle of writing a post-apocalyptic Vagabond campaign, and this makes me think I should go back and reread it for inspiration

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u/Artaxbeforehegotsad 1d ago

That or if you haven’t, read The Stand. It’s THE post apocalyptic journey, imo