I’m back with this fun feature! Tough Travels is a weekly meme hosted by Nathan at Fantasy Review Barn and entails making lists about topics chosen from The Tough Guide to Fantasyland. Make sure to go and check other people’s posts: as I’ve learned last week, they are a pretty great bunch of bloggers! :)
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This week’s feature is MISSING HEIRS, which occur with great frequency. At any given time, half the countries in Fantasyland will have mislaid their crown princess/prince.
Aragorn from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: let’s get the obvious one out of the way. Aragorn, heir to the throne of Gondor, is a noble warrior – but he’s also somewhere around 80 years old by the time Frodo gets to meet him, though he looks much younger. I never quite understood his feelings of guilt but they seem to be the reason for his absence. Very handsome.
- Celaena Sardothien from Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series: I haven’t read Heir of Fire yet (I’ve managed to avoid spoilers so far, I hope I manage to do so until I get my hands on the book), but I’m pretty sure she’s a Fae princess, thought lost and dead by her people. She’s also a kick-ass assassin – have you noticed that there’s “ass” in “assassin”? (my review)
Prince Yarvi from Joe Abercrombie’s Half a King: he’s a great character! Nearly killed by his uncle and then enslaved and sold to row on a galley, Yarvi is a survivor. I love how he evolved and grew! See my review here.
- Daenerys Targaryen from George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire: I feel like she’s not so much lost as misplaced – it’s hard to be really lost when you’ve got a great army and three dragons tagging along, no?
- Lan Madragoran from Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series: he’s the only surviving heir to the kingdom of Malkier. He also has a number of really cool names: Lord of the Seven Towers, Defender of the Wall of First Fires, Bearer of the Sword of the Thousand Lakes, and so on. And I really liked the beginnings of his story with Nynaeve (And there it goes – I just read a spoiler concerning THAT particular story. Goddammit.). I really have to finish this series before I do more irreparable damage.
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Who are your favourite lost rulers?
What handsome prince or lovely princess have I forgotten to include in my list? :)