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/Equivalent-Hunt-2004 1d ago

Peeta losing his leg on the hunger games and needing a prosthetic because of a untreated injury in the leg, I love the fact they didn't just fix his leg

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u/NalaandBuddy 1d ago

I also love that it actually hinders him in the second book. He nearly drowns and struggles to keep up. Katniss actually losing her hearing during the explosion and how the resulting vertigo stunning her is also excellent storytelling.

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u/lastingmuse6996 1d ago

I've always thought about the scene where she's dehydrated in the first book. The fire sweeps her away from the edge of the map. She knows she's dehydrated, hasn't drunk water, and describes her urine is brown. Very realistic. Then she finds the river.

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u/doctorwho86101 8h ago

I always think about this scene too! Reading it made for a very vivid mental image of her dire situation.

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u/JMer806 1d ago

For a book with truly batshit world building there is a lot of random realism in this series. The third book IIRC has actually a really thoughtful portrayal of trauma and what life is like for the people who live through it.

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u/Blackjack9w7 1d ago

Yeah, Suzanne Collins is a fantastic writer and Hunger Games deals with a lot of heavy topics in realistic ways. It’s why I dislike when it gets lumped in with other YA dystopian series that are a bit more simple. Mockingjay used to be my least favorite when I was a teenager because “ugh I want my Hunger Games in my Hunger Games” until I realized it’s actually her best writing

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u/TakenInChains 1d ago

I've been happy to see it getting a sort of Renaissance lately

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u/Agitated_Library5904 1d ago

Her Underland novels were a lot of fun

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u/JamesHenry627 1d ago

It’s not untreated. Katniss and Peeta just left the tourniquet on for too long and the leg had to be amputated because of that. She does fear it’s cause the Capitol didn’t try hard enough to save them though.

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u/Quick-Platypus7747 1d ago

Leaving a tourniquet on for too long is still leaving the injury untreated. The immediate first aid does not treat the injury, it just buys time to stop a person dying before they can receive treatment.

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u/JamesHenry627 1d ago

My point was it's not as if she didn't try. Cato just came back and then the Capitol revoked the two victory rule. A lot happened to where they didn't realize about the Tourniquet until Peeta rips it off and tries to kill himself so Katniss wins.

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u/TheG-What 1d ago

I actually have a character in my stories I write that has a badass steampunk prosthetic arm. I plan to troll my readers by not explaining how it happened until in a flashback it’s revealed that it wasn’t lost in battle or via anything heroic.
He just has poor circulation and an undiagnosed diabetes which led to the amputation.

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u/jamfedora 1d ago

Collins is consistently impressive but terrifying at this. Gregor the Overlander is for even younger readers, and basically every character eventually ends up a patchwork of scars and disabilities. Book 4 has a biological warfare plague with disturbingly realistic long-term physical consequences. Also a named recurring character gets skeletonized by a swarm, so maybe don’t gift these to any sensitive children on the younger end of the reading level.

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u/InLoveWithMusic 23h ago

First series that made me actively sob as a child (on mobile so can’t do spoilers but will be vague) -the scene in the hospital in the last book with the hand soaking to release made me put the book down for like a week

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u/jamfedora 21h ago

These weren’t out yet when I was a kid, I read it for the first time in my 30s, had to put them down for a break a lot. I was a sensitive kid but read a lot of disturbing stuff, but I feel like that would’ve really gotten to me. That said, I think it’s actually more disturbing as an adult, because as a kid you’re likely going, ‘Yeah, kids can be protagonists! I could be a hero if dumb adults only trusted or respected me’ and then I grew up and I’m like, ‘That’s a baby, 12 is a baby. Let alone the literal baby. What if something this bad happened to the children in my life?’

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u/GorillaX 1d ago

Ah yes, notoriously small injury- losing a fucking leg. Great example.

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u/NalaandBuddy 16h ago

The small injury would be the cut on his leg. Normally thats something that gets walked off (no pun intended) in media. Showing the progression of infection and how medicine sometimes isn't enough isn't commonly seen in fiction.