If you just had to be one of the good guys fighting against evil in one of these universes, which would it be and why?
I’m Harry Potter all the way. Perhaps it’s my agnostic soul that doesn’t respond to Narnia and Middle Earth, but the Potter-verse just seems a lot more “real” to me and one that has the greatest internal logic. There’s a damned near total lack of nuance in Narnia- you know from jump which characters are and aren’t evil and none are a little of each- while Star Wars- eh, too routine guerilla rebellion.
I’d go with Star Wars. Galaxy far, far away and all that. There’s the added bonus - that you don’t have to be a good guy. You could always be a bounty hunter or a smuggler or something cool and semi-evil. Plus, if you were a good guy, you’d get your own X-wing, an R2 unit, and a babe in a metal bikini.
Also routine guerilla rebellion good; house-elf rebellion meh.
Harry Potter. I love the LOTR, and Tolkein’s world is amazing, but I don’t think I’d want to live there. While it would be fun to have a lightsaber and all that jazz, if I was a Harry Potter hero, I could do magic, and that is way cooler than any of the other stuff.
Totally LOTR…just so I could ride my own Mumakil. (I know they’re owned by evil creatures in ROTK, but I’d steal one.)
2nd choice HP, but I’d want to be evil instead of fighting it. Either that or Ron Weasley’s love-slave. <insert drooling smiley here> Or maybe both…why not??
Narnia’s too preachy, and Star Wars is too flashy and soulless. (Although I wouldn’t mind owning a nightclub on Coruscant.)
Although I detest the books, it would have to be Harry Potter, because it’s the only one in which I wouldn’t be on the side of “evil”. I (naturally) would support Sauron and Morgoth; Narnia is a bit more tricky, because I like Aslan, but I would still feel honour-bound to support Jardis against Peter, Miraz against Caspian, and Calormene against Narnia - as Edmund says, it’s the “least phoney” of the countries mentioned. Star Wars, I don’t know that well, but I would certainly fight against anyone who has Yoda, Jar-Jar, and the Ewoks on their side. Voldemort, although he’s adequately charismatic, is the only Dark Lord of the four that’s actually unpleasant as well.
I can see reasoning for supporting Jadis against Peter (since mere humanity as a qualification for rulership seems about as sensible as some watery bint’s aim), and I can see Calormen against Narnia - but what would compel you to support Miraz against Caspian? Miraz seems a pretty straight-forward usurper in the Grand Vizier style.
OK, this one is perhaps not so obvious, and has required a little thought. My initial “gut feeling” to support Miraz was mainly based on the end result - “ethnic cleansing” is probably too strong an expression for it, but the Telmarine population of Narnia who don’t support Caspian are forcibly relocated at the end of the book, they’re compelled to leave the places where their families have lived for hundreds of years by an alien conquering army. On Mizar himself, I don’t recall if there’s any independent confirmation that he murdered Caspian’s father (whose name escapes me for the moment - was he also called “Caspian”?), or if we just have Cornelius’ word for that - similarly, we don’t know that he intended to murder Caspian. If either of those facts had independent confirmation, then I’d naturally accept that he should be deprived of the throne. That being said, he behaves honourably (if agressively, but war has been declared on him) in the scenes we observe directly; he accepts Peter’s challenge, and fights fairly, for example.
I would support a “legal” challenge by Caspian (involving a fair trial of Mizar for the alleged murder of his brother) for the throne of a Narnia in which the existing, established Telmarine population were permitted to live - with, of course, a recognition of the rights of the indigenous Narnians. I find it difficult to support him in what is effectively a military coup d’etat against his uncle, whose reign is legitimate if the allegation of murder is untrue, and extremely difficult to support his actions (or, rather, the actions of his regime) after Mizar’s murder. “Removal” of one’s political opponents, even if the place to which they’re exiled isn’t particularly unpleasant, is not the behaviour of a just ruler.
I guess Middle Earth. I’d be a ranger. I am compelled to continue reading the HP books because I have a bad narrative habit and need a fix about when JKR manages to put out the next book but I’ll be relieved when we get the story over and done with. Narnia, I just can’t take Aslan seriously any more, and Star Wars wouldn’t work because I’d look crap in a spangly bikini. Though I suppose if I could be the female equivalent/accomplice to Han Solo I’d be in. Only if I get to shoot first, though.
It’s a tossup between Harry Potter and Middle Earth for me.
Harry Potter Pros:
-Get to do magic.
-It’s an animistic universe, in which everything is alive. That’s pretty cool.
Harry Potter Cons:
-The main sport makes no sense.
-THE GOOD GUYS KEEP DYING. I’d wanna be a good guy, but they’ve got a pretty crappy survival rate. And being a bad guy is worse: the good guys condemn you to eternal torture at the hands of soulsucking demons.
Middle Earth Pros:
-Incredibly beautiful world.
-Good guys only die if they need to in order to redeem previous villainy. Since I don’t plan on being villainous, I’ll come out all right.
Middle Earth Cons:
-The magic rules suck, compared to Harry Potter. What, like nine people get to be wizards, and they only get to cast spells like once every six months or something? That’s dumb.
-No indoor plumbing.
Anyway, my answer is Middle-earth. There’s a lot need for hard-working peopple and a lot of economic opportunities following the Second War of the Ring. Plus, I can introduce running water again. What more do I need?
Granted, I might well be tempted to go with Narnia. It’d be a toss-up depending on which era of Narnia I could visit.
Ha! I am really sorry, but “Ha!”
Bolding by me, of course.
Harry Potter makes no sense at all; so much less than the others. Yeah, it’s “more internally consistent,” if you assume that all the characters are really, really stupid. I mean, Voldemort makes Emperor Palpatine (even RotJedi Palpatine) look like a brilliant strategist. And let’s not even go into Albus “the Blind” Dumbledore
Magic is composed of bunch of dog latin which does whatever the plot requires of it. It has no other purpose and does nothing else.
Legal challenge. Yep, because of that trustworthy, ever-dependable Narnian legal tradition of independant investigation and peaceful transfer of power.
Whether they were evil or not, they supported an apparently unlawful insurrection. Forcing them to move out is pretty nice, historically speaking. It’s not like it isn’t fairly common.
My best friend and I have been writing for well over a year , a FanFic of sorts set in Middle Earth, using some of Tolkein’s characters with a healthy helping of our own original characters. It is where I escape to when real life becomes too much for me. I am working on a nice ElfSmut scene right now , as a matter of fact.
So yeah… Middle Earth allllllllllllllllllllllll the way !
For Middle Earth, i’d have to be a guy. A girl isn’t really much use there and I’m not going there to have babies and stuff, so let me be a man and I’d go there.
I’d love Harry Potter because I could still live in this world, as well - the Muggle World.
Narnia is nice, too…I can’t think of any particular reason I’d want to go there, though, other than talking animals.
Star Wars universe sounds like a lot of fun, and I could be a female Jedi.
But really, I’d want to go to Prydain, after the war, and help rebuild.
