Rupert of Hentzau!
Jul. 30th, 2012 10:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerJust finished reading Rupert of Hentzau, the sequel to The Prisoner of Zenda. Do not approve of the ending at all and will be extremely upset if Kim comes to the same end in Sherwood Smith's Dobrenica books.
Fortunately, this seems unlikely.
One thing I admire about the portrayal of Rupert of Hentzau: delightful though the character is - even the other characters, whose lives he comes so near to ruining - can't help but admire him - Hope never backs away from the fact that Rupert's basically a sociopath. He's brave and charming because he doesn't give a fig what his actions cost anyone; much as he'd like money and power, at base he's driven by the desire to be entertained, and he carelessly ruins lives to do so.
This ought to be so much more off-putting than it is. I kept hoping against hope that he could have a change of heart - after all, that's what charming badasses generally do in modern books! - because just think what he could accomplish if he stopped being evil!
Actually, we know exactly what Rupert could accomplish if he were a good guy. If he were an honorable man, he would be - as the text points out - very much like Rudolf Rassendyll.
JUST IMAGINE IF THEY TEAMED UP. RURITANIA COULD CONQUER HALF OF EUROPE.
Except that would be evil, so they wouldn't.
Heroes are so constrained in their actions. There's not a lot of scope for their boldness until the villains show up to test their mettle. No wonder Rupert never turned good: he would have been so bored.
Fortunately, this seems unlikely.
One thing I admire about the portrayal of Rupert of Hentzau: delightful though the character is - even the other characters, whose lives he comes so near to ruining - can't help but admire him - Hope never backs away from the fact that Rupert's basically a sociopath. He's brave and charming because he doesn't give a fig what his actions cost anyone; much as he'd like money and power, at base he's driven by the desire to be entertained, and he carelessly ruins lives to do so.
This ought to be so much more off-putting than it is. I kept hoping against hope that he could have a change of heart - after all, that's what charming badasses generally do in modern books! - because just think what he could accomplish if he stopped being evil!
Actually, we know exactly what Rupert could accomplish if he were a good guy. If he were an honorable man, he would be - as the text points out - very much like Rudolf Rassendyll.
JUST IMAGINE IF THEY TEAMED UP. RURITANIA COULD CONQUER HALF OF EUROPE.
Except that would be evil, so they wouldn't.
Heroes are so constrained in their actions. There's not a lot of scope for their boldness until the villains show up to test their mettle. No wonder Rupert never turned good: he would have been so bored.
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Date: 2012-07-31 04:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-31 04:35 am (UTC)...but as a modern reader, I could not find it in my heart to look down on Rassendyll for doing so. The real king is way too dead to care! And everyone else would benefit!
But by the end of Blood Spirits the situation in Dobrenica isn't really analogous to anything in the Ruritania books, so I don't think we need to worry too much on that account, at least.
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Date: 2012-07-31 05:00 am (UTC)