loved first: Eilonwy. Prydain was not my first foray into Lloyd Alexander - I'd already read Prince Jen and The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian and The Arkadians before I picked them up. And - Alexander tends to write the same types over and over again, using variations in character and setting to explore new and different facets of them. The smart, mouthy, spunky girl who is often connected to magic, the fumbling brave good-hearted boy who is often connected to foolishness, the mountebank, the creaturely one. And Taran, while I love him dearly, is a fairly standard iteration of the Alexandrian male lead. But Eilonwy is something special. She's both more powerful than a lot of Alexander's girls, in that her magic can get Very Scary, and less - because she has a greater measure of uncertainty in her heart than they usually do. Alexander's girls tend to be insufferably sure and secure, which makes them harder to relate to. Eilonwy talks a big talk, but from the beginning you can see someone in her who does get frightened, who doesn't always know the answer but it going to try anyway - and that made little reader-me perk up her ears and open her heart!
love more now: Fflewddur, whose steadfast unassuming companionship and good mentoring heart I didn't value at near its worth until I grew up enough to be able to look at Taran and Eilonwy as the children they are, and marvel at Fflewddur's patience with them. I love the way he falls into step behind them, yielding dominance without a peep. It takes a great man to be able to follow where children lead.
don't get the love: truth told, Gwydion. He's great and everything, but my loins are not aflame.
nobody else gets the love: who do people not love in this series? Everybody gets loved!
love less now: Dallben. I used to think he was funny, now he actively hacks me off. It's the gender ideology - he's the only one who pushes that line of bullshit, and it's just so stupid and unnecessary and shut UP, Dallben, sheesh. We don't need to be told about the Big Essential Differences between girls and boys.
kiss: Taran, because you know he'd mean it with all his heart and body :)
be: what does it say about me that my first impulse is Achren? :) She can actually be fun to channel, if you need an infusion of badass in your mojo. More seriously, probably Adaon - but that might be why I never liked the guy all that much. He's too clearly designated as The One Y'all Should Strive to Be Like.
slap: I would do violence to Magg all day long, and lo it would be glorious.
pairing I love: Taran/Eilonwy, but increasingly for what it could be rather than what it canonically is. There's so much between them that canon doesn't resolve that's essential to the ship - I mean, the power dynamics alone!
pairing I don't: Achren/Gwydion seems to be a happy place for a lot of folks, but it leaves me cold. ymmv!
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Date: 2012-02-19 04:45 pm (UTC)love more now: Fflewddur, whose steadfast unassuming companionship and good mentoring heart I didn't value at near its worth until I grew up enough to be able to look at Taran and Eilonwy as the children they are, and marvel at Fflewddur's patience with them. I love the way he falls into step behind them, yielding dominance without a peep. It takes a great man to be able to follow where children lead.
don't get the love: truth told, Gwydion. He's great and everything, but my loins are not aflame.
nobody else gets the love: who do people not love in this series? Everybody gets loved!
love less now: Dallben. I used to think he was funny, now he actively hacks me off. It's the gender ideology - he's the only one who pushes that line of bullshit, and it's just so stupid and unnecessary and shut UP, Dallben, sheesh. We don't need to be told about the Big Essential Differences between girls and boys.
kiss: Taran, because you know he'd mean it with all his heart and body :)
be: what does it say about me that my first impulse is Achren? :) She can actually be fun to channel, if you need an infusion of badass in your mojo. More seriously, probably Adaon - but that might be why I never liked the guy all that much. He's too clearly designated as The One Y'all Should Strive to Be Like.
slap: I would do violence to Magg all day long, and lo it would be glorious.
pairing I love: Taran/Eilonwy, but increasingly for what it could be rather than what it canonically is. There's so much between them that canon doesn't resolve that's essential to the ship - I mean, the power dynamics alone!
pairing I don't: Achren/Gwydion seems to be a happy place for a lot of folks, but it leaves me cold. ymmv!