Perrin Aybara: The character

[Jak 0' the Shadows]

I never liked Perrin and I downright hated faile. what made Perrin so annoying to me was his unrelenting desire to do the right thing- that's unnatural! and the worse thing is that he usually managed to do so or he whined about not knowing what to do or how to do it. Mat and Rand on the other hand feel much more realistic on that aspect: Mat is a good man and he usually does the right thing but on the way he drinks gambles and curses a lot- that makes him human. Rand makes the bad choise half the time and when he does the right thing its hardly recognized by others and his guilt and frustration aloow us to identify with him0 and the most important thing is that they don't think things as much as Perrin, they ACT, even if it sometimes leads to disaster- that's what makes them human. Besides, no 20 years old think about things as much as Perrin, young people have a tendency to act recklessly.

 

the only time I felt I understood Perrin and his motives was when Faile was kidnapped- yes he was insufferable and yes it was one of the most boring sagas in the series but I could relate to perrin because he did all the bad choices he didn't try to be noble and a saint all the time- in fact, he stopped carrying about what's going on around him all together- AND IT MADE SENSE: the woman he loved (god knows why) was kidnapped, he doesn't know when will be the next time he sees her- if ever- and nothing else seems important compare to this.

 

To me, perrin was always one of the least accomplished character of RJ

 

You are seriously going to dislike a character because he was trying to be a good person? An unrelenting desire to do the right thing is unnatural? No. It is perfectly natural, we do not always accomplish this and neither does Perrin, but the desire is perfectly natural. 

 

 

 I don't know what you mean by 'whinge' but Perrin does not whine... The most ignorant of your statements was that he was 'whingeing' :P

 

Indeed...how ignorant of Elan to hit the nail on the head.

 

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whinge

 

Uh no, he did not complain fretfully... no. As I explained before, he did not want leadership and there is nothing wrong or weird about that. He did not want it for reasons already mentioned. If you can quote the 'souce' (see what I did there :P) material and I cannot refute it or put it in context then you will have proved you point, until then he did not hit anything on the head. 

[Suttree]

 

 I don't know what you mean by 'whinge' but Perrin does not whine... The most ignorant of your statements was that he was 'whingeing' :P

 

Indeed...how ignorant of Elan to hit the nail on the head.

 

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whinge

 

Uh no, he did not complain fretfully... no. As I explained before, he did not want leadership and there is nothing wrong or weird about that.

 

Usually would never go with argumentum ad populum but feel safe doing so here. You may be the first poster I have ever seen at DM or Theoryland who has taken the above stance. If there is one thing that can't be argued it's that he complained in a fretful manner about leadership and Faile's capture over the course of multiple books. Not wanting leadership and not whinging about the situation are two vastly different things.

[Sabio]

Perrin was great until he met Faile and became the depressed and obsessed Perrin.  His story line with learning the wolf dream and his refusal to be a leader did drag out a bit too long IMO.  But I feel like once he accepted who he was he became likeable again.

[Jak 0' the Shadows]

 

 

 I don't know what you mean by 'whinge' but Perrin does not whine... The most ignorant of your statements was that he was 'whingeing' :P

 

Indeed...how ignorant of Elan to hit the nail on the head.

 

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whinge

 

Uh no, he did not complain fretfully... no. As I explained before, he did not want leadership and there is nothing wrong or weird about that.

 

Usually would never go with argumentum ad populum but feel safe doing so here. You may be the first poster I have ever seen at DM or Theoryland who has taken the above stance. If there is one thing that can't be argued it's that he complained in a fretful manner about leadership and Faile's capture over the course of multiple books. Not wanting leadership and not whinging about the situation are two vastly different things.

 

Again, quote the source material or else you have NO evidence to substantiate you claim. 

[Mr Ares]

 

 

Elan come on man even I am not that focused on Egwene hate. Mowbray raised some pretty neat points there and you have to grant it. I ave personally strongly disliked ok hated his story arc since LoC but that is why I hated Faile so much. She had destroyed a perfectly good character. I also have to agree wit the characterization aspect. It has been one of the main strengths of the books. On thhe whole a good post.

some characters started off badly in the series and became better and better as it goes on.

 

In perrin's case it's the complete opposite. The first 4 books were very good. It went downhill from there.

 

I have never seen a grown man whinge and moan as much as perrin. 'Oh i dont want to be a leader waah, my beautiful faile, she's gone, the shaido took her waaah etc etc.

 

It was frankly nauseating to read

 

You misunderstand Perrin, I don't think you get his character. I don't know what you mean by 'whinge' but Perrin does not whine. He does not want to be a leader. What is wrong with that. I don't either. He is thrust into a role of leadership that he does not fully understand. He has Berlain on one side who destroys his reputation with the people he grew up with. He has old friends who are bowing and scraping and acting like they don't know him because of this leader role. He just wants to be a normal smith, he would be content to have a quiet life with his wife. The most ignorant of your statements was that he was 'whingeing' :P about Faile being kidnapped. Are you serious? Have you ever loved someone? And know to the depths of you soul that if you lost them you wouldn't be able to bear it? On the contrary, he didn't whine, he pursued. He fought a mini war for her. He killed for her. While trying to find the woman he loved who was taken from him, her clothes cut off, to him it might have looked like possible rape, he disgusted himself by giving into the temptation to torture a captive. He was finally so disgusted at himself and his weapon that he abandoned it. This wasn't a 'whinge and moan' story, this was compelling and I don't know why you didn't see it.    

Whether or not you want to be a leader is beside the point - if you have leadership thrust upon you, how do you react? Part of how Perrin reacted was with a lot of complaining, and many people found it annoying - as the definition provided is "to complain in an annoying way" then Perrin thus fits the definition perfectly.

 

If you can quote the 'souce' (see what I did there :P)

Misspell source? Not entirely sure that's something to boast about, but go ahead, if it makes you feel better.

[Drohana88]

Bottom line? RJ made an absolute MESS of Perrin's character in Books 8-11, and against all odds BS was able to write the character incredibly well and bring him back from narrative abyss.

[Sabio]

BS I feel did a lot better with Perrin then RJ did and RJ did a lot better than BS with Mat.  My feeling of Perrin under RJ was at first he was sort of dull then he became all moody and depressed.

[Monetherian]

I would probably have no issues what so ever with any of Robert Jordan's characters if they weren't depicted as being so absurdly stupid/slow witted. They nearly always draw the wrong conclusions do the wrong thing and so on, its not just the slightly wrong headed and illogical ones either. Say there where 10 bad choices the tenth being the worst, then that's the one which..

 

I am currently re-reading The Path Of Daggers and tbh I doubt if I will be able to get thru it. I have barely made it 20 minutes into the first chapter about Perrin and here I am adding this reply..

[jack of shadows]

the path of daggers is almost as bad as crossroads of twilight,

*sigh*,faile is captured is this book,the beginning of perrin's dreadful,

never ending "rescue" mission.

[JamesBrown]

I would probably have no issues what so ever with any of Robert Jordan's characters if they weren't depicted as being so absurdly stupid/slow witted. They nearly always draw the wrong conclusions do the wrong thing and so on, its not just the slightly wrong headed and illogical ones either. Say there where 10 bad choices the tenth being the worst, then that's the one which..

 

I am currently re-reading The Path Of Daggers and tbh I doubt if I will be able to get thru it. I have barely made it 20 minutes into the first chapter about Perrin and here I am adding this reply..

 

I'm curious if you can give an example of someone making the worst of ten choices.

[solarz]

 

I would probably have no issues what so ever with any of Robert Jordan's characters if they weren't depicted as being so absurdly stupid/slow witted. They nearly always draw the wrong conclusions do the wrong thing and so on, its not just the slightly wrong headed and illogical ones either. Say there where 10 bad choices the tenth being the worst, then that's the one which..

 

I am currently re-reading The Path Of Daggers and tbh I doubt if I will be able to get thru it. I have barely made it 20 minutes into the first chapter about Perrin and here I am adding this reply..

 

I'm curious if you can give an example of someone making the worst of ten choices.

 

 

I think a lot of readers suffer from the narrator syndrome: they forget that the characters in the book are not aware of everything that's happening in the world, or what other characters' innermost thoughts and feelings are.

 

For example, it doesn't really matter how crazy Rand gets, us readers never expect him to actually become a danger to his friends, as we get to see his innermost thoughts and his struggles with the voices in his head. However, other characters, such as Perrin, have no awareness of this. As far as they know, Rand is getting more and more crazy everyday, and any moment now he's going go Kinslayer on everyone, so they would be quite wary of even talking to him, nevermind asking him for help.

 

In my latest re-read of the series, I'm currently on book 7. From what I remember, Perrin's arc did drag on more than was necessary. However, this re-read has also given me new appreciations into Perrin and Faile's relationship, which I didn't have before. So who knows, maybe when I do get to the kidnapping, I will see it in a different light.

[Sabio]

Ughhh Perrin and Faile and the non stop why is she angry with me and I don't want to hurt her. She smells hurt I don't understand why.   GAHHHHHHHHH

[solarz]

Ughhh Perrin and Faile and the non stop why is she angry with me and I don't want to hurt her. She smells hurt I don't understand why.   GAHHHHHHHHH

 

Welcome to married life? :)