What are your favorite FUNNY scenes / things from MN?

"Reflect" on Stephen Donaldson's other epic fantasy

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Linna Heartbooger
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What are your favorite FUNNY scenes / things from MN?

Post by Linna Heartbooger »

I had no idea that SRD was capable of the kind of sustained lightheartedness that he shows throughout MN. (though I shoulda guessed) It's such ironic, twisted comedy.

Here's one of my favorites that made me bust out laughing in a moment of suspense:

Terisa is reaching out to Havelock as she faces Eremis, Gilbur, and Vagel. She feels the moment of translation - whew, surely Havelock will now translate her enemies away to Orison and insanity, when:
"Hee-hee!" a thin voice crackled. "Wait for me, Vagel! I'm coming."
And Adept Havelock comes running out of the mirror wielding a feather-duster. Yet Vagel quails before him! I love it.

Someone else go next!
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Post by IrrationalSanity »

I wrote a supplement leading up to that scene from Havelock's point of view. The site I originally posted it on isn't up any more, but maybe I can re-post it here, or on another site...
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Post by matrixman »

I was quite tickled by this moment from Chapter 39 of A Man Rides Through:
In a moment, Terisa found herself being offered a charger so big that she couldn't see over its back. Oh, shit, she muttered to herself. That was one thing she had learned in Mordant, anyway: after some practice, she was now able to say oh, shit without sounding like she expected to have her mouth washed out with soap. If she fell off that beast, she might take days to hit the ground.
(I only know that passage so well because I dissected that chapter.) :P
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Post by StevieG »

IrrationalSanity wrote:I wrote a supplement leading up to that scene from Havelock's point of view. The site I originally posted it on isn't up any more, but maybe I can re-post it here, or on another site...
I'd be interested in reading it...
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Re: What are your favorite FUNNY scenes / things from MN?

Post by Krazy Kat »

Lina Heartlistener wrote:I had no idea that SRD was capable of the kind of sustained lightheartedness that he shows throughout MN. (though I shoulda guessed) It's such ironic, twisted comedy.

Here's one of my favorites that made me bust out laughing in a moment of suspense:

Terisa is reaching out to Havelock as she faces Eremis, Gilbur, and Vagel. She feels the moment of translation - whew, surely Havelock will now translate her enemies away to Orison and insanity, when:
"Hee-hee!" a thin voice crackled. "Wait for me, Vagel! I'm coming."
And Adept Havelock comes running out of the mirror wielding a feather-duster. Yet Vagel quails before him! I love it.

Someone else go next!
Yeah, just finished reading the prologue and was laughing at the way Geredan is portrade. I'm really going to enjoy reading Mordant's Need, for sure!
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Post by Avatar »

Yeah, a lot of the scenes with Geraden are funny.

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Post by Cameraman Jenn »

I find the scenes when Eremis takes Terisa back to his rooms and Geraden keeps running interference. Soooo funny. Every part of that is amusing from the huge bas relief of Eremis himself portrayed on his own chamber door. What a maroon.
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Re: What are your favorite FUNNY scenes / things from MN?

Post by High Lord Tolkien »

Lina Heartlistener wrote:I had no idea that SRD was capable of the kind of sustained lightheartedness that he shows throughout MN. (though I shoulda guessed) It's such ironic, twisted comedy.

Here's one of my favorites that made me bust out laughing in a moment of suspense:

Terisa is reaching out to Havelock as she faces Eremis, Gilbur, and Vagel. She feels the moment of translation - whew, surely Havelock will now translate her enemies away to Orison and insanity, when:
"Hee-hee!" a thin voice crackled. "Wait for me, Vagel! I'm coming."
And Adept Havelock comes running out of the mirror wielding a feather-duster. Yet Vagel quails before him! I love it.

Someone else go next!
Wow, I had the exact opposite reaction.
I thought it showed how unbalanced and yet how much a powerful threat Havelock is.
It was an odd moment but i found little humor in what you quoted.
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Post by Shuram Gudatetris »

I have no idea what is posted before this. I skipped it all. I am currently in the middle of a re-read and its been quite some time, so I don't want to spoil anything! Sorry if it has already been posted, but I laughed heartily when I read this:

(Terisa has just recently been attacked in the middle of the night. Lebbick is harassing Ribuld and Argus.)

"Let me get this straight. He fought the two of you away from the door long enough to break it open. He got as far as the doorway to the bedroom. He knocked one of you out and disabled the other. Then he panicked and ran away. Doubtless he was terrified by how easily you were overcome. Maybe everybody who serves the King is like you. I'm surprised he didn't die of fright."
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Post by Avatar »

:lol: I remember laughing at the one too.

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Post by Cameraman Jenn »

Me three! Oh and I remember sniggering when they found the direction marker from Argus blatantly peed in the snow.
Now if I could just find a way to wear live bees as jewelry all the time.....

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Post by Shuram Gudatetris »

This is might make me sort of evil for finding this funny, but I LAUGHED. I think this was awesome:

(Master Quillon is leading the effort to rescue Terisa and Geradan after they were buried under a massive pile of stone rubble.)

Glancing around the pile, he recognized the other mirrors as they were put to work. Only two of them were as large as the one he and Master Barsonage held, but they had all been intelligently chosen: none were flat; none none showed any scenes where the sudden appearance of huge heaps of rock would do any damage. The only possible exception was the glass Master Eremis employed with the flustered assistance of a young Apt. It reflected a gigantic and ravenous sluglike beast, with fangs that looked poisonous and malign eyes. The guards around Eremis shoveled rubble straight into the creature's face.

The creature appeared to be roaring in fury.




Oh shit, I laughed heartily just typing that up!
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Post by Shuram Gudatetris »

Geraden has just managed to alter the Image of a mirror he didn't even create. Nothing like this has EVER been done in the history of Imagery.

"Don't flatter yourself," Havelock advised sententiously. "If you think I'm going to kiss your boots again, just because you can do a little trick like that, you're full of shit."
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Post by Jody »

:lol: Liked that one too!! :biggrin:
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Re: What are your favorite FUNNY scenes / things from MN?

Post by Linna Heartbooger »

High Lord Tolkien wrote:
Lina Heartlistener wrote:I had no idea that SRD was capable of the kind of sustained lightheartedness that he shows throughout MN. (though I shoulda guessed) It's such ironic, twisted comedy.

Here's one of my favorites that made me bust out laughing in a moment of suspense:

Terisa is reaching out to Havelock as she faces Eremis, Gilbur, and Vagel. She feels the moment of translation - whew, surely Havelock will now translate her enemies away to Orison and insanity, when:
"Hee-hee!" a thin voice crackled. "Wait for me, Vagel! I'm coming."
And Adept Havelock comes running out of the mirror wielding a feather-duster. Yet Vagel quails before him! I love it.

Someone else go next!
Wow, I had the exact opposite reaction.
I thought it showed how unbalanced and yet how much a powerful threat Havelock is.
It was an odd moment but i found little humor in what you quoted.
Yeahh... after thinking about your comment, I see what you mean. It is actually pretty disturbing if you think about it in a serious way.

Maybe I was thinking about things from the perspective of the insane guy, and enjoyed the fact that Havelock got to experience the gut reaction, "YEEEeaaahh, I'm gonna git 'im."

Shuram- awesome ones... and yes, I loved the juxtaposition of various mirrors put to work w/ Eremis' mirror with the "ravenous sluglike beast"!
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Post by Cambo »

Pretty much everything Havelock ever says had me chuckling. Lebbick had some fine moments as well.
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Post by Avatar »

He did, but I never thought of him as particularly funny, I must say.

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Post by Cambo »

Avatar wrote:He did, but I never thought of him as particularly funny, I must say.

--A
He became much less amusing as the extent of his plight became apparent. He becomes a truly tragic character.

But his inital scenes amused me in the same way as the boot camp scenes in Full Metal Jacket (only two things come out of Texas!) :lol: He has a certain acerbic wit that tickles me.
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Post by Iolanthe »

I just finished these. Amongst many passages both funny and moving, I loved this, probably because it was so unexpected:

Strugging mightily, the champion forced open the monster's evil teeth and staggered between them.
Immediately, he wrenched off his helmet and flung it aside. For a while, he stood gasping as if he had come close to suffocation. Then he pressed several studs down the sides of his armour, and all the metal folded away and fell to the ground, leaving him dressed in what may have been his underwear.

"God-rotting suit,"he panted harshly. "Ox-supply gave out. Like everything else".
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Post by Linna Heartbooger »

Yeah, that one is really great Iolanthe...

Cambo, when I was reading things Havelock said, I was convinced he was intentionally being funny...
"People without hope not only don't write novels, but what is more to the point, they don't read them.
They don't take long looks at anything, because they lack the courage.
The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience, and the novel, of course, is a way to have experience."
-Flannery O'Connor

"In spite of much that militates against quietness there are people who still read books. They are the people who keep me going."
-Elisabeth Elliot, Preface, "A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael"
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