I'll believe it when i see it.

 

This would be awesome. People on the internet, and sites like Reddit especially, have a tendency to fanatically worship anything they like and not acknowledge flaws. If this question did get asked, I'd predict a legion of fanboys flaming you, and then a desultory, contemptuous response from Rothfuss. But it should be asked anyway.

 

My guess is that there won't be much of a connection, if any.

I'd love to see this one asked. Maybe it'd even get him spluttering a bit.

I think this one has been sort of answered recently - maybe in the same interview where he disparaged people who didn't like Denna. I don't remember much about his answer, so possibly it wasn't that interesting.

Hope he answers this one too. Though it seems like Kvothe is going to endure some monumental failures in the next book. He pretty much has to in order to get from the high-flying Kvothe of Wise Man's Fear and the present-day Kote.

 

- Do you ever get tired of fans obsessing about your books to the stage they try to figure out the theory behind the magic in your universe? Or do you enjoy that?

- Did you mean to write Denna as a little bit of a cunt or did her character just evolve that way?

 

This needs to be asked. I'll fucking do it myself if none of you will.

 

QFT. None of the good questions ever get answered/upvoted in reddit AMAs. The top comment will be along the lines of "I don't have a question, just wanted to say how awesome your books are!!!111!!!1!""

 

/tencharacters

 

Rothfuss AMA started 2 hours ago in r/fantasy.

I've asked 4 questions: the one about Names and Sympathy, the one about the Adem, the one I posted on his blog on the Machine Gun Q&A, and this:

I'm going to hold back on asking more questions for now, lest I look like a spammer.

 

I upvoted your questions, so hopefully they go to the top.

So far there have been a lot of retarded questions, but some decent ones too. Hopefully this turns out to be an enlightening AMA.

 

Some fun questions/answers there.

Here are a bunch as I read through the thread. Question in BOLD and Rothfuss in italics:

I've heard people refer to Kvothe as a Mary Sue, how do you feel about this?

I could give a fuck. They can think Kvothe is a dolphin if they want, it doesn't make them right.

What medium fits your books the best? What obstacles would that medium present?

TV series would be better than movie. It allows more room for Character development.

Do you think there are sufficient hints in The Name of the Wind and Wise Man’s Fear for a smart reader to deduce (or land upon by sheer inspired luck) major plot points of Doors of Stone? Or are we missing vital information that would make any reader extremely unlikely to guess what’s coming next?
(Remember me?)

Yes.

If the story was told inside of Denna's perspective, I wonder if people would hate Kvothe the way that they hate her.

Heh. I think so.

As the trilogy is nearing completion, do you have any ideas forming about what you are going to write after?

Yeah. I'm thinking it might be fun to do a little urban fantasy. It would be nice to write some nice, short books for a change. 100-120K. Something full of sex and violence and cussing and weregoats.

Are their any African Americans in your books?

No. There isn't an Africa or America in my books, either.

Do we know which country Kvothe's inn is located in (Vintas maybe?)

I know. You probably don't.

 

I lol'ed.

/10char

 

Thanks, Taure. Now we know that Rothfuss remembers you. I was wondering about that. :awesome

 

Lol, he systematically avoided my questions. Every question around them is answered XD Not sure if it was because he remembered me or if it was because the type of question that they are is the type that requires him to actually do more than stand there and let fanboys worship him.

In the words of some redditor, in response to this exchange:

 

He has a point though. It must be very fucking frustrating to spend the first third of your book giving your character challenges and flaws only to have people jump up and say "MARY SUE! MARY SUE!" because they have no idea what that type of character is.

Goddamnit now I'm going to be dreaming about this...

 

I would have liked to ask him why Felurian's sentences rhyme and aren't capitalized, or why neither she nor Kvothe ever get sore from all their "activities," even though Rothfuss prides himself on verisimilitude. Unfortunately, I didn't find out about the session until the day after....

 

Both relate to how the realm of fae is otherworldly and dream-like.

 

Well, tough. Thing is, no matter how much time he spent on it, if the character ends up looking too good to be true then its a goddamn Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu. There are a lot of fanfic writers out there who have spent an incredible amount of time developing OC's and shit, but DLP has allways been the first to point out if they're Mary sues. I'll hold Rothfuss to the same standard and I personally find Kvothe to be a Gary Stu(of the highest order in fact). I could give a fuck about his feelings on the matter.

On the other hand, its also true that his world-building, plot, Magic system, etc are top notch. There isn't a single doubt about it. that is what makes the story great for me.

If you want a counter example, take the wheel of time series. Rand Al Thor is basically Jesus in that series, but I still wouldn't call him a Gary Stu. An emo at times, sure. Gary Stu, no. And that's another thing that bothers me about the series. He could've at least tried to deviate from the Aiel. He even included a tree.

 

Is being a Mary-Sue such a terrible thing? Kvothe as a character is built to be an epic character. Legends aren't made from just average people. Even in real life the myths and giants of the past are the extraordinary people in history.

I'll be the first to admit Kvothe's sex appeal is played up a bit much. It wouldn't be completely shocking for him to be a ladies man but it is a bit much at times.

 

Having a Gary Stu character takes a lot away from the reading experience. Simply put, the parts where the Gary Stu development takes place are tedious to read. There are several parts of the first book where I took a day or two break from reading the book. And its not just the sex appeal or the perfectness of the character, in fact the very definition of a hero is that he will have some form of above average characteristics. Its the whole package. Its the way he fits into the story. I'm afraid I can't explain more clearly.

That was the reason I gave a counter example. Rand Al Thor basically has a Harem of 3 women. He's the next coming of Jesus. He's the most powerful character in a series that spans more than 10 books. He still manages to fit in (Although, I was afraid this wouldn't happen before the last 2 books came out ).

To be quite honest, Paolini's first book with all its cliches was more of a Page-turner than Rothfusses's first book. At least for me, it was. I'm sure a lot of you have found it the other way round. Point is, a book is far more interesting to read without any Gary Stu characters.

After all the above is said and done, let me repeat again that Rothfusses's series is still very much awesome.

 

Perhaps. I do see the point of it... It could be quite tedious to read about success after perfect success. But I think the only thing that outshines Kvothe's own ability to succeed is his life's story ability to shit on him in big ways. I'm not sure I would believe a character could actually survive Pat's tale if they weren't a Gary Stu.

At the very least it would much less entertaining (for me) because you'd have to read more about lucky circumstances that saved Kvothe than his own smarts. I personally find that character more interesting. If he kept overcoming things from pure luck I would get bored (not that a fair amount of luck wasn't also involved).

Lastly, I second the outstanding world building. It's a lost art.