Kevin's Watch

Just a thought....

In WGW, both TC and LA go for weeks without having a bath. Considering they wear boots, they sure must have had smelly socks. I wonder how the Giants and Haruchai put up with them

Maybe they just wore thongs. I would.

Spring wrote:Maybe they just wore thongs. I would.

Yes, but if you've read the books, you'd know they don't wear thongs, they wear heavy boots.

We don't see them going to the toilet much either...so I wonder, have they just got great bladder control or is there something else going on there...some subliminal message SRD has planted and we've all missed!

djaef wrote:

Spring wrote:Maybe they just wore thongs. I would.

Yes, but if you've read the books, you'd know they don't wear thongs, they wear heavy boots.

I know, I was joking.

SRD must have found it unimportant.

or maybe they washed them?

thongs? i would expect that Thomas wore tighty whities. i would like to imagine Linden in a thong, walking away from me.

Each night before sleeping you take off the boots and hang the socks out to dry (or have 2 pair and rotate them). You can reasonably wear one pair for several weeks using this method. Tried and true by yours truly! Although, washing is certainly preferred....

Or, perhaps these are such mundane (and assumed tasks) that they were not noted in the books. That is my best guess.

Yeah, OK. I'll shut up now and stop trying to be funny

Acctually this was brought up once before (by me); wondering about things like bowell movents and the like.

Things like cloths changing, bathrooms and others, are usually ignored in most fantasy; probebly becasue it would just take away from the story (imagine how long they would be if verypit stop, and laundry wash was writen out)

I do remeber LA and TC wasing themselves in Glemmermere; and didn't Linden get a bath aboard Starfare's Gem?

It's not just in fantasy that bowel movements are ignored. Excretion is seldom relevant to the plot of a novel — though some writers drag it in by the heels even where it's not relevant.

In Book I of Gulliver's Travels, which is fantasy by any reasonable definition, an important plot point turns on Gulliver's urination; and in Book III, the School of Political Projectors had discovered how to identify traitors by the properties of their stool. And in Ancient Evenings, Norman Mailer posited an entire system of magic based on excrement, and fathered it on the ancient Egyptians. Such cases are rare, but probably not much rarer in fantasy than in other categories of fiction.

As for washing in WGW, every time there was a sun of rain, TC and Linden took a shower for two whole days. How much cleaner can you get?

There is one mention in Runes of Linden's use of the "facilities" - while she was in Mithil Stonedown, IIRC.

I'll have to remember to use something like that in my writing when I finally start my epic fantasy. "Yeggast, the evil Angmar's desipicable messenger, was found decapitated whilst squatting in the fields."

most fiction ignores common problems; eating, sleeping, body waste, reloading of guns. most don't want to bog down the story. but every time i see a movie where there are guns i always wonder why the good guys don't pick up the guns laying about.

danlo wrote:I'll have to remember to use something like that in my writing when I finally start my epic fantasy. "Yeggast, the evil Angmar's desipicable messenger, was found decapitated whilst squatting in the fields."

That sounds like a good opening sentence to me.....

IT would be resonable to assume that say, during the Quest in LFB, everytime they stopped for the night, the Horses were fed, a fire was started, ad a latrine dug, I realize it doesn't have to be written. I'm not out there looking for details on peoples bodily functions.

What about feminine hygene? Surly LInden would have wanted her underwear washed fairly often.

In all of fantasy there are very few examples of a female character mentioned to have a period, even and especially when said character has been for months in a situation where a period would have been highly impractical. Bathroom breaks in a forest are nowhere near as inconvenient as a period has the potential to be. For example, Linden would have found herself stuck in the Land without a single hygiene pad, tampon, or a painkiller pill, and the natives weren't exactly the most helpful kind. Then later she would have become familiar with Giantish methods of handling a period. She would most likely had to cut down some Giant-size pads and wash and dry them so she could use them again later in the journey.

No, I wouldn't have wanted to read about that however realistic it would have been..

sgtnull wrote:but every time i see a movie where there are guns i always wonder why the good guys don't pick up the guns laying about.

Me too, and they never pick up spare ammo aswell.

they do pick up the spare ammo...you just dont' see them.

Nerdanel
would hurtloam work for Linden's periods?