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fdc16d7
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All medieval and classic cultures of the ancient world, including those on which Tolkien modeled his elves, routinely exposed their young and marriageable women to the fortunes of war, because bearing and raising the next generation of warriors is not needed for equality-loving elves. Equality-loving elves. Who are monarchists. With a class system. Of ranks. Battles are more fun when attractive young women are dismembered and desecrated..
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tolkien
peter-jackson
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John C. Wright |
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d6dbc76
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Phaethon asked: "Do you think there is something wrong with the Sophotechs? We are Manorials, father! We let Rhadamanthus control our finances and property, umpire our disputes, teach our children, design our thoughtscapes, and even play matchmaker to find us wives and husbands!" "Son, the Sophotechs may be sufficient to advise the Parliament on laws and rules. Laws are a matter of logic and common sense. Specially designed human-thinking v..
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John C. Wright |
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af66f46
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On THE AMBER SPYGLASS: "If this plotline was a motorist, it would have been arrested for driving while intoxicated, if it had not perished in the horrible drunk accident where it went headlong over the cliff of the author's preachy message, tumbled down the rocky hillside, crashed, and burned."
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literature
philip-pullman
plotting
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John C. Wright |
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93f5088
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But when the wizard is onstage as the main character, you have to adopt what I call the Jack Vance Rule. I call it this because Jack Vance is the first author successfully and adroitly to have applied this rule in his The Dying Earth. The Jack Vance Rule is: (1) The wizard has to be able to do something unusual, or else he is not a wizard, (2) he cannot do everything, or else there is no drama; therefore (3) the story teller has to communic..
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literature
wizards
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John C. Wright |
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436c519
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Imagine the same scene in HAMLET if Pullman had written it. Hamlet, using a mystic pearl, places the poison in the cup to kill Claudius. We are all told Claudius will die by drinking the cup. Then Claudius dies choking on a chicken bone at lunch. Then the Queen dies when Horatio shows her the magical Mirror of Death. This mirror appears in no previous scene, nor is it explained why it exists. Then Ophelia summons up the Ghost from Act One a..
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shakespeare
literature
his-dark-materials
philip-pullman
plotting
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John C. Wright |
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81499b0
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You all think I am a coward, when all I am is polite.
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John C. Wright |
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59033db
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Everyone loses in war, even the winners.
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John C. Wright |
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73deddc
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I will grant you three wishes, but do not ask for immortality without asking for eternal youth.
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John C. Wright |
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9835897
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Comedy is easy. Intrigue is hard.
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John C. Wright |
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37eeb9a
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Were I a real master of intrigue, I would not have the reputation for being a master of intrigue.
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John C. Wright |
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13a4e99
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War is murder, king-sized.
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John C. Wright |
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9f339e4
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Come on, Amelia. We are not really British. We do not have to look down our noses at honest labor.
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John C. Wright |
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fd76b79
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There is no magic, only mysteries explained, and mysteries unexplained.
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John C. Wright |
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54dff16
|
Merlin and Solomon can tell you how well the wise and learned can withstand the foolishness of love!
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John C. Wright |
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77b1aca
|
No harder than walking a tightrope over a pit. A deep pit. Filled with sharks. Radioactive sharks.
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John C. Wright |
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5d7cc45
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Ripples on a pond cannot touch a bird hovering above it.
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John C. Wright |
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c869cbf
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Sometimes the best in people comes out during emergencies. Sometimes not.
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John C. Wright |
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8596a1d
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Death was soon and growing sooner.
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John C. Wright |
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9b34859
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It is amazing how well the worst ones think of themselves, and how little the best ones do.
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John C. Wright |