Hercule’s Hydrania
Bink was vulnerable to magic that didn’t hurt his body. (Xanth)
I really don’t understand this distinction. EVERY fatal flaw is part of the the character, including Kryptonite.
do you mean a character flaw that the person could overcome if he were a stronger person? Like John Proctor in *The Crucible *being brought to ruin by his own lust? (okay, that isn’t fantasy, but it does involve witches)
I think it’s a pretty clear distinction. An Achilles’ heel is a vulnerability cause by one certain area being vulnerable to any normal attack; examples being Smaug’s missing scale, the Deathstar’s ventilation port, and of course Achilles’ heel. The vulnerability in these cases is inherently part of the character’s body.
Kryptonite on the other hand is not a part of Superman. It’s a foreign substance that he is vulnerable to. If you have kryptonite you can easily defeat Superman; if not, he’s unbeatable. Examples of this kind of thing are vampires and sunlight or elves and iron. The sensitivity to the substance may be inherent to the character but the substance itself is external.
And I thought of another example of a character with an Achilles’ heel (albeit from a movie not a book). In The Specials, a comedy about a group of superheroes, Ms Indestructable had invulnerable skin and couldn’t be hurt by any attack. But another character said she knew her weakness and later during a fight between them, she punched Ms Indestructable in the eye - her invulnerability only protected the parts of her body covered by skin.
Samson.
Juggernaut’s helmet. Rip it off, and even someone with moderate psychic powers can beat him. Otherwise you pretty much can’t ( at least at the time ).
The sand storm vulnerability was really vulnerability to static electric fields - and “Shire-sized electric field” would do, apparently. And all sizes of shield were vulnerable to<Dr Evil>“lasers”</DE>.
SHAFT!
Damn right!
Who’s the man who’d risk his life for his brother man?
SHAFT!
Can you dig it?
Sorry, I’m still not seeing the distinction. Achilles wasn’t killed by his heel, he was killed by an arrow. His vulnerability to arrows in his heel was part of him, but the arrow itself was a foreign substance, and external. How is that different?
What about Green Lantern, invulnerable to most attacks, can be harmed by ordinary objects that are yellow in colour. Is that what you want or not?
IANtOP, but since that vulnerability is essential to the ring working, I’d say it qualifies.
Because in Achilles’ case, his heel was vulnerable to anything that would hurt a normal man. Kryptonite, on the other hand, normally doesn’t hurt humans at all; it’s the special nature of the Kryptonite that makes it special.
For a real world example, I recall reading that some tanks have had external fuel tanks to increase their range; a massive vulnerable point, which is why they are supposed to be dropped before a battle. Shooting a tank in the external fuel tank and immolating it would be like hitting Achilles in his heel. Destroying the same tank with an anti-tank weapon is like killing Superman with Kryptonite; you aren’t hitting a vulnerable spot, just using a specialized weapon.
Samson.
Dwimmerlaidk! What are we supposed to argue about now? :rolleyes:
Quick, say something about deists. Or compliment Peter Jackson. Something!
Elric without his demon sword Stormbringer eating souls is as weak as a kitten.
Ummmm . . . I liked your old username better ?
Actually, Kryptonite is radioactive, and is known to cause cancer in normal humans. You can handle it briefly with minimum risk, but you don’t want to be wearing any Kryptonite rings in the long term.
That’s why I said ‘normally’. It’s not all that radioactive, so occasionally waving it at Superman isn’t all that dangerous. Wear it all the time and you’re likely to regret it though.
How about an acquired vulnerability? Harry Potter’s scar seems to cause him incapacitating physical pain when Voldemort experiences strong emotions through several books in the series.
And it’s a quirk in Kryptonian physiology that makes them more vulnerable to K-radiation than humans.
Saying Superman’s kryptonite weakness is external to him, is like saying his powers are external, because they’re caused by yellow solar radiation.
The Puranic demon Hiranyakashipu recieved a boon from Brahma that he could not be killed “inside a house or outside, at day or at night, by man, god or beast, by any weapon, on the ground or in the air, etc.”. Solution: Visnu incarnated as Narasimha, half man - half lion, killed Hiranyakashipu with his claws in his lap, at dusk, on the doorstep.
I think this should qualify as an example of a bad case of “Achilles’ heel”, even though Hiranyakashipu’s weakness is not a point on his body, but rather the fulfillment of a - highly specific - set of circumstances.
This type of story is found in many different religious mythologies. In the old Nordic mythology the gods make all of the world swear that they won’t harm the god Baldur in any way - but they forget to ask the mistletoe. When the gods amuse themselves using the “invulnerable” Baldur for target practice, an arrow made of mistletoe is used, killing Baldur.