Lanfear As Tragic

[Codes87]

I've re read the series a few times, and my take on Lanfear is of a more tragic figure. Yes, she's power hungry, selfish, arrogant, and a hundred other things. 

 

Seeing her story however makes me think. We have a wildly talented and intelligent lady, as powerful in saidar as a woman can be. She's passed over for a third name over and over. And becomes even more bitter, twisted, and hungry for the power she's denied. She becomes consumed by her rage and power hunger. Lews Therin becomes a stand in proper for everything she hungers for.

 

Even when she's offered redemption she can't see past who she hungers to be, to what she could be (something even greater than a world queen etc). I always found that sad, a tragic waste of her potential on an impossible standard of power. Thoughts?

 

[Figs and Mice]

She is certainly an "interesting" character.  And more nuanced than the other Forsaken.  But tragic ?

 

I mean , a lot of serial killers have messed up childhoods...but I wouldn't say that makes them tragic. Except in so far as any human failing that leads to widespread harm to innocents is tragic in itself. 

 

Depends how you define it , I guess.

[Codes87]

True, and I'm not saying as a person she's tragic. I'm more saying her potential and it's wasting was tragic.

[Mailman]

  On 2/27/2025 at 12:09 AM, Codes87 said:

I've re read the series a few times, and my take on Lanfear is of a more tragic figure. Yes, she's power hungry, selfish, arrogant, and a hundred other things. 

 

Seeing her story however makes me think. We have a wildly talented and intelligent lady, as powerful in saidar as a woman can be. She's passed over for a third name over and over. And becomes even more bitter, twisted, and hungry for the power she's denied. She becomes consumed by her rage and power hunger. Lews Therin becomes a stand in proper for everything she hungers for.

 

Even when she's offered redemption she can't see past who she hungers to be, to what she could be (something even greater than a world queen etc). I always found that sad, a tragic waste of her potential on an impossible standard of power. Thoughts?

 

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All the forsaken were intelligent and talented. But I think with the exemption of Ishy (the true believer) they all made the move to the shadow for mostly selfish reasons.

[Samt]

What do you mean by tragic?  In a general sense, bad people doing bad things is tragic since it would be happier if they did good things. But I don't think that is really very interesting in terms of analysis.

 

If you mean tragic in the specific tragic hero sense, Lanfear fails to meet that archetype in lots of ways.  Tragic heroes are generally good people who make tragic mistakes that lead to downfall and disaster.  Lanfear is selfish and evil.  

[Dedicated]

I came here in ready to shut down this point, but there may be more to consider than I realized. Thanks for sharing. 

[Leala]

  On 2/27/2025 at 6:54 AM, Figs and Mice said:

She is certainly an "interesting" character.  And more nuanced than the other Forsaken.  But tragic ?

 

I mean , a lot of serial killers have messed up childhoods...but I wouldn't say that makes them tragic. Except in so far as any human failing that leads to widespread harm to innocents is tragic in itself. 

 

Depends how you define it , I guess.

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This is my take on it too, even with the serial killers' childhoods perspective. 

 

There are definitely points in her story that can be viewed in a sympathetic lens, but her actions and reactions to those story points are what makes her irredeemable, in my opinion.  Let's not forget, she's the one who took all that intelligence and potential, then decided to run with it for her own twisted and selfish reasons.  For literal ages.  Honestly, it's the obsession that scares me the most with her.

[Sabio]

I wouldn't call her tragic since she pretty much willingly brought this all on herself.  Even at the end her reason for wanting the DO dead was simply to be free of her punishment and take his place.  She simply wants power and greatness.  Even her love of LTT was described as with possessiveness and jealousy that was near to madness.