[Netty]

Have we forgotten someone? hmm maybe the main character of the book? lol :D

Yes, I know Cadvan is spunky, spunky, spunky and everybody loves him. *points to Mrs Cadvan* ...and that Dernhil is a sweetie pie.*hears everyone sigh*....but what about Maerad?

After all the things that she has been through, Maerad still manages to have a sort of grace and natural poise?? (I can’t think of the word). I mean if I had to stay and fight evil wights or if hulls attacked me I would most certainly go crazy.

...and then she has all the stuff surrounding the Treesong and everything that has to do with her being 'the fated one' and saving the lands from the dark. To carry that kind of responsibility at what? sixteen, seventeen? ...It takes a lot of courage and determination.

Cadvan...should also be included in the thread...one because he is spunky and two because he plays one of the most important roles in Maerads life. She has an amazing reliance on him to help her carry on with the quest (which is shown in the third part of The Riddle) and teach her practically everything about life.

btw I just found the word 'procrastination' when I was reading...It is the first time I have ever seen it in a book... is just suprising to find it in a fantasy novel. :p
Thanks Alison!

[Silvia]

yes i did think of making a maerad thread but at the time i had just made the dernhill and that was enoguh for that time hehehe. i personally like maerad the best.

[soul_elements]

I guess we generally forget to make threads about the main characters as we read about them on every other thread. :) So Maerad ... Alison, what does Maerad look like to you? I've seen the Maerad on the Australian versions of the books and she's always hooded or covered somehow so you can't see her features properly (that's only from my memory so don't take my word for it). And on the American verson (The Naming) she's got brown hair. Or something like that.

I think Ali describes her as having pale skin (compared to the Pellinor people) and dark hair and striking blue eyes (like Hem). I always visualise characters when I read about them so I imagine her to be of average height (on the smallish side, actually) but she carries herself really well to make herself taller than she actually is. Prominant cheekbones and blood-red lips (bit of a Snow White with the pale skin and dark hair, hey?).

Did I mention really beautiful? So beautiful that she doesn't even realise it herself.

[soul_elements]

PS: Why is it that the main characters have to be good-looking for us to admire them? Does this reflect our attitude, values and beliefs about heroes/heroines and beauty? :confused:

Just a note.

[yodee]

I wonder what the darkness inside Maerad is, is it the third part of her? :confused:

[Gemini]

I think it refers to what Sharma said "i'm within every human heart" or something. Also numerous times bards have mentioned the dark within themselves, i think that every bard has a "dark" side, as apart of the balance

but what i'm more curious about is what Maerads third true name is

[Mrs. Cadvan]

Congrats on making this thread, Netty!
I agree that with sexy sexy Cadvan, Maerad can tend to be overlooked. I actually really like her, which i think is testimony to Alison's writing skills; often I end up bored with the main character, and wanting to hear lots more about secondary characters.
Maerad is a very strong lead character, very well humanised (if that's a word) with emotions and feelings that make her very believable. She is also developed realistically and with patience, as people do in real life. Her fear of men is interesting, and I hope I'm right in thinking that Cadvan is gradually helping her to overcome that. :D

[alison]

Me, I love Maerad! (But I would...) Yes, very pale skin, blue eyes, black hair, and quite short. I imagine she has quite delicate features, but actually I have no very precise picture of her, or any of my characters, which I why I'm so fascinated by what other people imagine. Yes, she is beautiful (she's a heroine, after all :) ) but I don't think conventionally so. I do have a very detailed idea of her inner life, which is really quite complicated.

Yes Gemini, the dark ("choose the Dark Side, Luke!") is in everyone. That's actually something that I, aside from my author hat, think is true; absolutely everyone can do terrible things, and also our faults can also be our virtues. The Bards, because they are so distrustful of Elementals, are going to link the darkness in Maerad with her Elemental heritage; but that's something beyond Light and Dark...

[Suzie]

"i'm within every human heart"

could this be a metaphor thing. like in LOTR when that thing says it cant be killed by a man but then it was killed by a woman?(or was it frodo) so that sharma may be in every HUMAN heart but not every ELITHU heart(if they even have one)

[alison]

You're onto something there, Suzie. One of the things being worked out through the books is this idea of good and evil being qualities that are inherently human inventions; they don't apply to the Elidhu, who are, in human terms, amoral (which is why Bards don't trust them).