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Why Raoden Is So Cool


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Last week, while I was at school, someone in a class mentioned a character from a board game that he liked, and said that the character was realyl cool. I, without thinking, immediately responded with "I like Raoden better." I knew the character that he was referring to, and meant what I said, but when he asked me why, I was pretty much speechless. This is a thread where you can list any random reason that pops into your head why Raoden is cool.

 

To begin with, the world is his whiteboard.

 

His wife never has to worry about him complaining about a stubbed toe.

 

His kids don't need a nightlight, all they have to do is ask their dad to come read them a bedtime story.

 

Feel free to reply with any and all reasons why he's cool/awesome.

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Raoden has charisma. No, he has Charisma. No, he has CHARISMA.

The day they were giving out the charismas, he was struggling with Carrot to arrive first, and no one knows who won.

HE has so much charisma, that if he went into our world and run for the election with an independent party, he would become president with 100% votes. Even the republican and democratic candidates, in the secrecy of the urn, would vote for him, because he is that much of a leader. If would then move to sicily and get a private talk with mafia bosses; half an hour later, those bosses would be crying and swearing to never be nasty again. And then he would move to the middle east, and two days later israel and palestina would be signing a mutual agreement to everyone's satisfaction. And so on.

That's how he's awesome.

He has so much charisma, that you know he is awesome while you don't even understand why.

 

Because, really, he was cursed and sent into a city of crazy living dead, with no resources whatsoever, and he managed to convince those feral people wanting only to find some food to temporary placate their perennial pain to follow him, and he managed to convince them to give up their food, and there were many gangs trying to kill him and he managed to convince all of those gangs to side up with him.

All of this in a few weeks. With enough spare time to figure out how to fix the magic that got broken ten years ago. And then he trained his cursed followers in magic, and in one month they were skilled enough to repel an invasion of superpowered monks. And he fixed the curse.

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

 

  BRANDON SANDERSON

If I were to assign Raoden two defining traits, the first would be his ability to make the best of what he's given (as I've spoken of above.) The second, however, would be the personality trait he manifests in this chapter—his simple belief in the goodness of the human race.

I suppose this is a facet of his optimism. Raoden believes in people—he believes that, as a whole, they will do what is right. He believes that they are more rational than the nobility sometimes give them credit, and he believes that most men will do what is good if they are presented with all of the facts.

He really is a noble man. He's perhaps the only person I've written in a fantasy book who, from day one, actually deserved to be king.

http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=769#74

 

 

Raoden is an expert at manipulating his surroundings. This doesn't make him 'manipulative,' in my mind. (You can read about a REAL manipulator in my next book.) Raoden simply knows how to take what he is given and make the best from them. In a way, this is the soul of creativity. Raoden is like a master composer or an artist—except, where they take images or sounds and combine them to suit their needs, he takes the situation and adapts it to create something useful. Outside of Elantris, he took his father's edicts and turn them against the man. However, thrown into a terrible situation like the pit of Elantris, Raoden really has an opportunity to shine.

He's kind of like a magic unto himself. I've known people a little like him in this world—people who can defy convention and reality, and just make things work. Somehow, Raoden can make three out of two. He can take the pieces and combine them in new ways, creating something greater than most people thought possible.

When I got done with that book, I reacted against it by wanting to devise a plot that didn't depend at all on violence. ELANTRIS was the result. I wanted to tell a story about a hero who could succeed without having to beat up on the people who opposed him. I took away his physical abilities and his royal resources, leaving him with only his wits and his determination.

http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=769#48

 

From Brandon in the annotations. 

 

There's another in the WoA Annotations, but I just realized that they never got finished! I'll... have to get around to that. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Raoden has charisma. No, he has Charisma. No, he has CHARISMA.

The day they were giving out the charismas, he was struggling with Carrot to arrive first, and no one knows who won.

HE has so much charisma, that if he went into our world and run for the election with an independent party, he would become president with 100% votes. Even the republican and democratic candidates, in the secrecy of the urn, would vote for him, because he is that much of a leader. If would then move to sicily and get a private talk with mafia bosses; half an hour later, those bosses would be crying and swearing to never be nasty again. And then he would move to the middle east, and two days later israel and palestina would be signing a mutual agreement to everyone's satisfaction. And so on.

That's how he's awesome.

He has so much charisma, that you know he is awesome while you don't even understand why.

 

Because, really, he was cursed and sent into a city of crazy living dead, with no resources whatsoever, and he managed to convince those feral people wanting only to find some food to temporary placate their perennial pain to follow him, and he managed to convince them to give up their food, and there were many gangs trying to kill him and he managed to convince all of those gangs to side up with him.

All of this in a few weeks. With enough spare time to figure out how to fix the magic that got broken ten years ago. And then he trained his cursed followers in magic, and in one month they were skilled enough to repel an invasion of superpowered monks. And he fixed the curse.

WAIT. CARROT? you mean captain carrot of ankh-morpork!? We like the same authors.   :ph34r:  :ph34r:

Edited by redsword
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WAIT. CARROT? you mean captain carrot of ankh-morpork!? We like the same authors.   :ph34r:  :ph34r:

As a discussion goes, the chance of someone making a reference to terry pratchett approaches one.

I'm hardly the only estimator of sir pterry in thhis forum. In fact, I don't think it exist a fantasy-related forum where a significant amount of the posters aren't also pratchett fans.

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