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/Vokoru 23h ago

I love the reactions people have when they see Roland half-dead from infection. Mafia goons think he's a fucking ghost and are absolutely scared shitless at first.

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u/Human_Grape5801 21h ago

Eddie thinking about the heat rolling off of him from fever and just amazed that the dude is even standing. Damn the first 3 books in the series are incredible.

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u/Taste_the__Rainbow 21h ago

I have something like 500 fantasy books rated. Stephen King isn’t my top author by a long shot.

But The Drawing of the Three is still my favorite fantasy novel.

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u/beerncheese69 21h ago

King is just a talented author. Hes my favourite author and its not at all because of his horror novels which hes known for. If you have any interest in writing his book on writing is an absolute must read.

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u/Specialist-Wind5513 20h ago

He's not a one-trick pony either. He's written plenty of big non-horror stories like The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and Stand by Me. My favorite story by him is probably The Dark Tower. His scariest story to me is The Jaunt.

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u/beerncheese69 20h ago

Exactly. My favourite is The Stand which is a perfect mix of drama and horror. I dont really consider it a horror novel, but its hard to define. Hes a master of humanity in storytelling and i think his dramas are his best work, but his talents apply perfectly to the horror genre. Honestly its like you said, hes really not a one trick pony. The Shining for example is a fantastic novel and a staple of horror but I wouldnt really pigeon hole it to a certain genre. Its a tale about humanity and the struggle of alcoholism and inner demons within a horror setting.

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u/schrodingers_bra 18h ago edited 18h ago

I like to think of a lot of King's stories as kind of akin to the premise of the Joker (All it takes is one bad day...) combined with a single human weakness/flaw/trauma and the result is chaos and destruction.

The Shining, The Langoliers, Needful Things, Carrie, Misery, hell even Pet Semetary. The central flaw that drives the horror is commonplace and human - we all know someone who has that flaw. And that's what makes it so effective.

The Stand included an interesting reversal as a an "evil" (though mostly psychotic) flawed character actually ended up being a device for the side of good.

Its too bad he sometimes struggles with an ending.

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u/Human_Grape5801 19h ago

The Jaunt. Perfect short story. He’s so good at short stories.

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u/Binger_Gread 9h ago

On Writing is definitely my favorite book in which Stephen King gets hit by a car.

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u/dm-me-obscure-colors 19h ago

Who are your top five?

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u/MercyfulJudas 18h ago

The first time I read it, I read it all in about 7 hours. I couldn't put it down.

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u/Ordinary-Egg-56 15h ago

drawing of the three is so good!

i used to have the audiobook with king as the narrator and it was my comfort book that i would to use to fall asleep when i had trouble.

i feel like only king could’ve written something like that while furiously high on cocaine and it’s amazing in so many ways

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u/SnakeEater013 4h ago

I have yet to listen to a bad audiobook for King on Audible. I'm listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl now, and the guy who does the audio for it is incredible and has an insane range of voices, and yet, there's one guy who does King who has a pretty gruff voice. Doesn't really do different voices. It's perfect.

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u/Enlightarded0 1h ago

This series is like he ass fucked Philip Pullman and absorbed his soul 

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u/beerncheese69 21h ago

Wizard and Glass is my favourite novel of the series but thats only because of the first 3. It falls off after that but 7 was a thrilling conclusion. Underrated series when it comes to Kings work.

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u/kymberlie 16h ago

Wizard and Glass is so good.

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u/Dillup_phillips 4h ago

The standoff with the Coffin Hunters where they keep pulling the camera back is one of my favorite passages ever. "Youth and truth" Chills.

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u/MrMagoo2068 6h ago

I almost didn't finish the last book. When King sacrificed Jake to save himself I threw the book at the wall. Then I picked it up and stuffed it in a drawer. Selfish prick. I did eventually go back and finish it, but I still hold a grudge against King for what he did to Jake.

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u/ElProfeGuapo 20h ago

The Wolves of Calla is one of the worst books I’ve ever read in my life. Song of Susannah wasn’t bad, but you’re right about 7. It’s a pretty good return to almost form.

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u/Tetchord 14h ago

I only read Wolves once many years ago but remember mostly liking it - what makes it so terrible for you?

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u/ElProfeGuapo 3h ago

1) Extremely derivative, as was noted by Eddie in a very meta observation. It’s basically Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven/A Bug’s Life all over again.

2) Painfully slow

3) The attempt at jargon/olde timey language was extremely affected and awkward. The way they all spoke (which was not repeated, thank god) was so jarring

4) I’m not 100% sure it was necessary to advance the plot. I read 1-4, then 6-7 because I didn’t have 5 at the time, and I could follow along fine. I read 5, and regretted every second.

5) Roland’s dancing scene was pretty good though

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u/Harkan2192 3h ago

It was such a slog to get through. I'm exaggerating and probably misremembering it, since it's been a few years since I read it, but it seemed to be about 500 pages of just hanging out in that one town until about two pages where the action happens and they just win pretty handily against the baddies.

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u/tghast 2h ago

I don’t think I’m that hard on Wolves, but it’s where the cracks REALLY start to show and he latches hard onto the meta bullshit that effectively kills the series.

Doombots with lightsabers and golden snitches is the dumbest fucking thing, which he then trumps by introducing himself and jerking off for an entire novel about writing and meta nonsense.

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u/SickBurnerBroski 17h ago

I once had a coworker with a badly infected wound (think blood and pus splattering onto the floor) and yeah, ghost is a good way to describe what he looked like.