Of Deux Ex Machina and Mary Sues

Let me get one thing clear first off. I like Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Trilogy. It's a great, entertaining series that I wouldn't keep reading if I didn't thoroughly enjoy it. This is not intended to excuse me for what I am about to say. Let me insist that having flaws does not make a work of fiction bad, nor do I think I could do any better.

That said, I could say a lot of things about Inheritance. I'm currently about halfway through the final book (at least, as far as I know it's the final book). But then I would delve far too greedily and deep into a topic that could go on for very, very long, as it could for any fiction series. Fantasy in particular seems to be particularly vulnerable to stereotypes, reverse stereotypes (where a plot thread or character is introduced just to be different, and usually ends up being its own stereotype, ie the Brave and Strong princess), and plot holes. Fantasy books are just complex enough to do that, and since modern fantasy has originated almost entirely from the work of one author to revive mythology, the Tolkien comparisons and accusations will abound. Luckily every generation brings in new great fantasy, so every new writer can expect to be accused of copying Jordan and Salvatore as well.

One more caveat before I get into a specific analysis. Christopher Paolini is a very good writer. This used to not be the case. The quality in writing between Eragon and Brisigner has changed immensely. The books are now engaging, clever, dramatic, and articulate without bombarding the reader with big words and archaic expressions shoehorned in (not too much, anyway). His frame-by-frame action sequences are still somewhat stilted, but I can attest to those being very difficult to write, and the only person to truly master it that I have read is R.A. Salvatore.

Ok, here's the analysis. And by the way, minor spoilers ahead. Not huge ones, I'm only halfway through, but be ye warned. If you haven't read the final book, you're probably still safe to read this. I'm going to look at a particular character one could accuse of being either a Mary Sue or a Deus Ex Machina. For those unfamiliar with the terms--A Mary Sue is a term originally used of fanfiction, to describe an author inserting themselves into a character, and hammering down your throat how talented and likeable that person is. However, the term is often (perhaps mistakenly) used to apply to pretty much any poorly written character that comes across as too powerful or whom the author seems determined to make us like. A Deux Ex Machina is an "act of God" that steps in to save the day whenever necessary, while being strangely absent at many other points in the story where it would have come in handy.

Believe it or not, I said Mary Sue, yet I'm not going to talk about Eragon. I'm not even going to talk about Arya, as much as I'd love to. No, I'm going to talk about a drop-in-and-drop-out character named Angela. Angela is a gypsy of some sort. I'm pretty sure she's human, since it doesn't say otherwise. She can read the future--she was originally introduced that way. If you've only seen the movie, she's the fortune teller in the random tiny floating town with the beads, weird accent, and no real purpose and a penchant for speaking in the third person.

Angela can use magic. Better than most humans. Better than most elves, who are the best magic-users in the realm. Better than Eragon, who is supposed to be one of the best magic users as well. Angela can use a sword. Better than elves, who are also the best swordsmen. Better than Eragon. Better than Arya, who repeatedly beats Eragon just to make sure we know how superior she is to him, and thus the perfect match for him! (Don't go down that path, Michael. Blogger doesn't have the storage space to cover an Arya rant). Angela even (spoiler) possesses a sword capable of cutting through anything. She just has it. Always has, as far as we know. Didn't mention it until the fourth book. Hasn't offered to use it on the unbeatable dragon, or the other unbeatable dragon.

Yet Paolini really, really wants to make sure we like her. She is given all the witty little liners. She says so many demeaning, trivializing things to the main characters, you would think she's an Aes Sedai from Jordan's Wheel of Time. She could care less about the dangers of the main plot. She seems to like the main characters alright, but in an off-hand kind of way. She's basically a housecat.

Yet, twist! Despite how trivial and uncaring she seems, she's really powerful and awesome! At certain points, she steps in after being absent for hundreds of pages and saves the day! Then goes back to knitting. How awesome! She doesn't even care the world's going to end! She has the power to do pretty much anything, but doesn't because she's got knitting to do! Don't you just love her? Isn't she just so mysterious and aloof?

I'm going to make a Tolkien comparison here. I am not accusing Paolini of copying, though I'm guessing it was an inspiration. Copying is not a bad thing. Fantasy as a genre exists because of the works of other people--Tolkien's entire genius was to build off of existing stories. But my comparison is to show one example of many where Paolini has tried to achieve something Tolkien did, but just missed the mark. This is where most of Inheritance's problems lie. Paolini's original ideas are great. His unique characters like Nasuada are great. But the elements he borrows from others aren't bad because he borrowed them, they are bad because he misses why they were so great in the original.

Tom Bombadil is a Deux Ex Machina. For those only familiar with the LotR films, Bombadil was a figure the group met between Hobbiton and Bree, who welcomed them to his home and saved them from the Barrow-wights, ancient undead spirits from which Pippin got the blade he used to kneecap the Witch-King. Bombadil shows up when the party sings his song, defeats the invincible wights, and saves the day. One may ask, why doesn't Bombadil go all Derry-Doll on Sauron himself? But like the question "why didn't the eagles fly the ring into Mt. Doom", this actually has a legitimate answer. (Mordor has a freaking air force of Nazgul, one does not simply fly into it).

Bombadil is not human. He's not elf or wizard either. There is no one else like him. He is unique. He is friends with a living tree and married to a river. He is a force of nature as much as anything else. As a force of nature, Bombadil is not only obligated to be somewhat neutral, but he is powerless outside of his own forest. That is his domain--I'm not even sure if he can leave it. So while he would love to help the party out, he can't. Even though the Ring does not affect him (he is not drawn to it and he can even see those wearing it), he cannot understand its importance and would probably lose it if Frodo gave it to him.

As a force of nature, Bombadil can be of infinite power without breaking the plot of the story. Like a well-timed blizzard, his power can save the day when it needs to, yet leave no one asking why it didn't hit the main bad guy and end the adventure. His limitations are very real and provide a legitimate reason why he doesn't help out more.

Angela has no such limitations. There is no reason why she should be so powerful, but since she is, there is no reason why she shouldn't do more to help. Thus the aloofness which is designed to make us love her makes her unforgivably sadistic. Thousands die because the affairs of the world don't matter to her. She claims to care about Eragon, yet she rarely offers her massive power to aid him. This is not the likable, witty character Paolini seems to have intended. This is great power with no responsibility. Paolini, please, do your own thing. Stop trying to make us like characters by emulating tropes that have worked for other writers. Because all it takes is one tiny difference to take a likable stereotype and turn it into an unlikable one.