Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

The Sweet Sixteen round of our March Madness Tournament of Characters is now open for you to vote on your favorite SF&F characters! The victors are eager to begin, and the fallen live only on the overhead dome.

Vote for your favorite literary characters:
Favorite SF&F Characters from Literature, 4th round

Vote for favorite movie & television characters:
Favorite SF&F Characters from Movies & TV, 4th round

So, get voting, and I'll collect the results Wednesday (March 28). May the odds be ever in your favor.

The brackets so far:
Tourney of SF&F Literary Characters
Tourney of SF&F Media & TV Characters

You may have noticed I shortened the round from 7 days to 5. According to Survey Monkey, all the responses came in the first 3 days of the last round, so I thought I'd tighten it up a bit. (And while there's certainly no Law of Madness that requires the tournament end in March,...)

The literary ones I could still pick without too much angst but the media ones were impossible!

Andrea wrote: "The literary ones I could still pick without too much angst but the media ones were impossible!"

There can be only one.

G33z3r wrote: "There can be only one."

Hmmm. Should have nominated Connor MacLeod.

Han vs Data was the toughest choice for me.

OK, the contests have ended, and victors are gulping mead in the tavern while the losers float outside the airlock door.

In the Literary Tourney, it was a good to be King, but even better to be a Wizard, as both Gandalf & Harry advanced with Arthur. Granny finally gets sent home to bake cookies.

On the Movie & TV side, things were a lot closer, with three of the four contests decided by a single point: Han had the easiest time of it, While Mr. Spock, Yoda & Buffy just squeaked by.

The updated Brackets:
Tourney of SF&F Literary Characters
Tourney of SF&F Media & TV Characters

The semi-final round begins tomorrow.

King Arthur over Bilbo? Which Pendragon book(s) have you guys been reading?

G33z3r wrote: "King Arthur over Bilbo? Which Pendragon book(s) have you guys been reading?"

Told ya not to include him. He has as unfair advantage. ;-)

What the !@%@! Mr. Spock over Wolverine? Yoda over Darth Vader? SSIIIIIGGGGHHHH....

King Arthur vs Tyrion, Yoda vs Buffy...those would make some freaky crossovers. I like how the other literary one turned out to be a battle of the wizards (old man vs young kid), interesting coincidence.

Bobby wrote: "What the !@%@! Mr. Spock over Wolverine? Yoda over Darth Vader? SSIIIIIGGGGHHHH...."

I was actually surprised Wolverine hung on so long. I didn't realize the character (Hugh Jackman's I presume) was so popular.

You were cheering for the dark side?

Bobby wrote: "G33z3r wrote: "King Arthur over Bilbo? Which Pendragon book(s) have you guys been reading?"
Told ya not to include him. He has as unfair advantage. ;-)"

But,... I can't even think of what book makes him so... attractive. Mallory? Tennyson? Twain? Stewart? Bradley? Most of the works I can think of don't even concentrate on Arthur; they're about Merlin or Gwenevere or someone even more removed (Sir Boss!).

Wolverine also has a strong, if not stronger, comic book following. Many Sci-fi/fantasy folks, like myself, have a strong affinity for comics as well. I don't really care about Jackman's portrayal. I go back to Claremont/Byrne's portrayal. And you know, what's great about Wolverine is that he's dark but he's not a bully. I would wager that's what makes him a good guy and not a villain. He fights FOR people who are not as strong as he is, he doesn't seek to crush them becuz they're weaker. I think that's almost always the difference between a hero and a villain.

G33z3r wrote: "But,... I can't even think of what book makes him so... attractive"

Must admit I've always been sort of neutral about Arthur so I can't answer that, but I thought the word "attractive" was an interesting choice given our previous discussion about Snape, or say why Darth Vader or Thomas Covenant made it in. We've got villains and anti-heroes in this list. Maybe the word is just "interesting".

While Harry Potter is a good guy and someone I might not mind having as a friend, I don't find him that interesting since, well, he's just a good guy. Now Merlin on the other hand, is mysterious, he's good, but sometimes sort of evil, you're never really sure of his motivations (kind of the views people had of magic back then) which makes me want to read more about him.

Or if you take Raistlin vs Caramon (the latter not even nominated, not even Tanis), the conflicted wizard would certainly have a better backstory than the simple kind-hearted warrior (and yes, I read their origin duology, in fact I found Raistlin more intriguing when I wasn't in his head and didn't know what he was thinking, so I was voting for the original trilogy version of Raistlin).

I guess I vote for the ones that interest me more, that have more dimension to them, as opposed to the ones I like.

Of course with Arthur vs Bilbo is was a case of neutral vs like so I went with the like :)

G33z3r wrote: "Bobby wrote: "G33z3r wrote: "King Arthur over Bilbo? Which Pendragon book(s) have you guys been reading?"
Told ya not to include him. He has as unfair advantage. ;-)"

But,... I can't even think of what book makes him so... attractive. Mallory? Tennyson? Twain? Stewart? Bradley?"

Perhaps Python?

King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king.
Dennis: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
Arthur: Be quiet!
Dennis: You can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!
Arthur: Shut up!
Dennis: I mean, if I went around saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!
Arthur: [grabs Dennis] Shut up! Will you shut up?!
Dennis: Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system!

Must admit the Holy Grail is pretty much the only Monty Python movie I can tolerate.

Bobby wrote: "Wolverine also has a strong, if not stronger, comic book following. Many Sci-fi/fantasy folks, like myself, have a strong affinity for comics as well. I don't really care about Jackman's portrayal...."

I didn't care much about the movies. It wasn't Jackman's fault, but the scripts were always terrible (except for X-Men First Class in which Wolverine only made a brief cameo). But I really liked him back in the funny book days. The Claremont/Byrne days were great, but to me the defining Wolverine was the miniseries with pencils by Frank Miller: