Tragi-Cool Characters in Sci-Fi and Fantasy

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Trapper
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Post by Trapper »

Fingolfin, Turin, and Feanor in Tolkiens Silmarillion.
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Post by DukkhaWaynhim »

Until we found out he survived / was redeemed, Saltheart Foamfollower was the epitome of tragi-cool.

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Post by stonemaybe »

The book and author escape me just now....! um, and the character 's name!

Something sci-fi about the shrike and the timetombs and stuff?

Anyway, the priest guy that gets the cruciform creature attached to him that makes him immortal but he's trapped in the forest that burns forever so for years he's burned alive while nailed to a tree as well i think, but the weird cruciform thing keeps bringing him back to life so he can burn to death again. as far as I remember, he's pretty cool about the whole nasty experience too.
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Post by Damelon »

Stonemaybe wrote:The book and author escape me just now....! um, and the character 's name!

Something sci-fi about the shrike and the timetombs and stuff?

Anyway, the priest guy that gets the cruciform creature attached to him that makes him immortal but he's trapped in the forest that burns forever so for years he's burned alive while nailed to a tree as well i think, but the weird cruciform thing keeps bringing him back to life so he can burn to death again. as far as I remember, he's pretty cool about the whole nasty experience too.
Don't have the book in front of me, but I believe that's Paul Dure from Dan Simmons' Hyperion.
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Post by stonemaybe »

Don't have the book in front of me, but I believe that's Paul Dure from Dan Simmons' Hyperion.
That's the one!
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Post by Damelon »

I liked the Consul's tale the best, myself, in Hyperion.
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Post by danlo »

Hyperion spoiler
Spoiler
even though he is killed and ressurrected numerous times, he's alive at the end of the series! 8O
fall far and well Pilots!
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Post by Wyldewode »

Wow. . . You've mentioned Tolkien, and never even nominated poor Frodo! I think he gave up an awful lot in order to save the world. . . and in the end I don't know that he is truly ever rewarded. He gets to go to the Grey Havens, and perhaps he finds happiness and peace there. But what a noble thing--surely he is a tragi-cool character! :)
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Post by ur-monkey »

Jon Remillard and Dorothea MacDonald in Julian May's Galactic Milieu Trilogy. (Jack the Bodiless & Diamond Mask) :( 8)
Quin, suffering from total amnesia, slowly discovers himself possessed of inexplicable abilities as his world expands...

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Post by stonemaybe »

And perhaps Madam Guderian and Claude in the saga of the Exiles same author. Though they're not really cool I suppose!
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Post by ur-monkey »

No, but they're certainly cooler than most 130 year olds! ;)

Then of course, there's poor old Dennis/Fury...
Quin, suffering from total amnesia, slowly discovers himself possessed of inexplicable abilities as his world expands...

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Post by Durris »

The Fionavar Tapestry (Guy Gavriel Kay) teems with such characters:

Kevin Laine (though from his own perspective, his fate was eucatastrophic, not tragic)
Prince Diarmuid
Finn
Darien
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Post by Trapper »

ur-monkey wrote:Jon Remillard and Dorothea MacDonald in Julian May's Galactic Milieu Trilogy. (Jack the Bodiless & Diamond Mask) :( 8)
I echo this post ad infinitum.
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Post by danlo »

Cripes! I haven't mentioned Nyle from Mordant's Need yet! 8O :oops:
fall far and well Pilots!
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