Ireth
Myth Weaver
This may get to be a long post, so please bear with me. I'm having a bit of trouble with the characterization of one of the protagonists in my novel Summer's Blood, and how that affects the other characters' interaction with him.
The main character in question, Vincent, hates the Fae because of multiple negative encounters with them, mainly involving attempts to kidnap his daughter, or to hurt him and his brother. Vincent sees most if not all Fae as "cradle-robbing, self-centered, hedonistic eldritch abominations," among other colorful insults. For the most part, he's correct. The Fae as a whole are largely selfish pleasure-seekers, and many of them are not adverse to stealing human children or taking human lovers or spouses. The Seelie Court are generally nicer to mortals than the Unseelie (unless provoked into treating them otherwise), but very few would fall under the human category of "good". At best they're more like Lawful Neutral. There is one Fae I'd call an exception to the rule, and he is another prominent character in the novel whom Vincent has to learn to get along with. The two have a bit of a history of antagonism, but despite his flaws the Fae is a pretty decent person.
My main issue here is with handling Vincent's hatred of the Fae and how that affects his interactions with the aforesaid "exception to the rule". I anticipate some of you might suggest presenting a moral such as "the Fae can be both good and bad, just like humans," but... no, they're not much like humans at all. Their ideas of "good" and "bad" are far removed from anything a human would identify with. The division between Seelie and Unseelie is not nearly as simple as "nice" vs. "nasty"; many Fae can and do switch back and forth between Courts at their leisure without altering their characters one bit. I hesitate somewhat to use the word bigot with regards to Vincent, as that to me has connotations of hypocrisy and unjust intolerance, and his hatred is pretty justifiable in my opinion given what the Fae have done and tried to do to him and his family. I do want him and the one Fae he's traveling with to eventually become friends, but I severely doubt that will affect his view of their whole kind. What are your thoughts on this?
The main character in question, Vincent, hates the Fae because of multiple negative encounters with them, mainly involving attempts to kidnap his daughter, or to hurt him and his brother. Vincent sees most if not all Fae as "cradle-robbing, self-centered, hedonistic eldritch abominations," among other colorful insults. For the most part, he's correct. The Fae as a whole are largely selfish pleasure-seekers, and many of them are not adverse to stealing human children or taking human lovers or spouses. The Seelie Court are generally nicer to mortals than the Unseelie (unless provoked into treating them otherwise), but very few would fall under the human category of "good". At best they're more like Lawful Neutral. There is one Fae I'd call an exception to the rule, and he is another prominent character in the novel whom Vincent has to learn to get along with. The two have a bit of a history of antagonism, but despite his flaws the Fae is a pretty decent person.
My main issue here is with handling Vincent's hatred of the Fae and how that affects his interactions with the aforesaid "exception to the rule". I anticipate some of you might suggest presenting a moral such as "the Fae can be both good and bad, just like humans," but... no, they're not much like humans at all. Their ideas of "good" and "bad" are far removed from anything a human would identify with. The division between Seelie and Unseelie is not nearly as simple as "nice" vs. "nasty"; many Fae can and do switch back and forth between Courts at their leisure without altering their characters one bit. I hesitate somewhat to use the word bigot with regards to Vincent, as that to me has connotations of hypocrisy and unjust intolerance, and his hatred is pretty justifiable in my opinion given what the Fae have done and tried to do to him and his family. I do want him and the one Fae he's traveling with to eventually become friends, but I severely doubt that will affect his view of their whole kind. What are your thoughts on this?