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Sanderson Character Comparisons


NorthStar

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  • 4 weeks later...

Joel, Spensa, and David are all cut from the same cloth (dead dads, obsessed with a magic system they can't use, poor, rebellious but just successful enough to get away with it, and good leaders when given the chance), but have differing enough experiences and personalities that it's not too distracting. 

Spensa also has shades of Vin and Shallan in her, but not enough to be fully either. 

Melody from The Rithmatist is basically a non-traumatized Shallan (red-hair, overdramatic, artistic, has issues with her parents and older brother, and has NO idea how to "properly" use her power, but does great work anyways, whereas Megan takes Shallan's powers (and subsequent identity crisis) up to eleven. 

Lift is a talkative, pacifistic Vin in some ways. 

Mistborn Trilogy and Wheel of Time Spoilers:

Spoiler

Rand, Alendi, and Rashek are all similar in some ways, which is why the Mistborn Trilogy is a great chaser after reading WoT. 

Rand is who Alendi would have become had he stayed on his path (and had Rand's magic NOT driven him insane); while Rashek is who Rand had become and would have stayed had he not been brought back to sanity.

This also helps set up twists in Mistborn. Readers might more easily believe that Alendi is the Lord Ruler, given how they'd just seen Rand's own actions and how easy it is to descend into madness when the weight of the world is on your shoulders. They might more easily believe Vin is the Hero of Ages as a slight subversion ("It's a girl this time!") or twist ("instead of a farmer she's an urchin thief!"). Or they might believe that Elend is the Hero of Ages, due to the name similarity. Koloss will originally be compared to Trolloc, only to have the rug swept out from under the reader.

Overall it's a fun idea, but I'm not sure it'd work in actuality). 

Alcatraz is exactly what would happen if Lift wrote the Stormlight Archive (wacky, zany, crazy, with just enough of a plot to work; and just enough depth in the hero to know that most of it is a bluff). 

On 12/7/2019 at 10:17 AM, NorthStar said:

David Charleston and Mat Cauthon are surprisingly similar. They both have a sense of humor and tend to be impulsive and reckless. Anyone else have Sanderson character comparisons (any book)?

David and Wax. Both have strong senses of justice that border on obsession, are ACTUALLY obsessed with guns (and very, very skilled at using them);

Spoiler

have fought their lovers on opposite sides in a conflict (and have had them die in their arms), practically become gods at the end of their third books, if only for a bit, after facing the closest thing to god in their respective series;

they annoy their superiors with their success and recklessness, and most importantly HAVE HAD ISSUES WITH BRANDON WRITING THEIR SEQUELS (*cries in The Lost Metal and The Apocalypse Guard*)

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1 hour ago, Use the Falchion said:

David and Wax. Both have strong senses of justice that border on obsession, are ACTUALLY obsessed with guns (and very, very skilled at using them);

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have fought their lovers on opposite sides in a conflict (and have had them die in their arms), practically become gods at the end of their third books, if only for a bit, after facing the closest thing to god in their respective series;

they annoy their superiors with their success and recklessness, and most importantly HAVE HAD ISSUES WITH BRANDON WRITING THEIR SEQUELS (*cries in The Lost Metal and The Apocalypse Guard*)

Definitely agree!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Kelsier and Kaladin, but subverted. In some ways they are very similar (even to both of them having noble/lighteye heritage), but they react in an opposing manner to almost everything. Even their placement in their families is reversed; Kaladin is the eldest, while Kell is the younger brother. 

It’s almost like Brandon said, “how would Kell NOT react” and did that with Kaladin.

Note that Kell is psychopath, and thus has limited empathy; Kal, from the beginning, struggles with having too much of the same. (A surprising number of surgeons may be neurological psychopaths, according to some studies.) So it’s quite interesting to see the two of them because, in terms of backstory and life experiences, they are remarkably similar in many ways.

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4 hours ago, Kingsdaughter613 said:

Kelsier and Kaladin, but subverted. In some ways they are very similar (even to both of them having noble/lighteye heritage), but they react in an opposing manner to almost everything. Even their placement in their families is reversed; Kaladin is the eldest, while Kell is the younger brother. 

It’s almost like Brandon said, “how would Kell NOT react” and did that with Kaladin.

Note that Kell is psychopath, and thus has limited empathy; Kal, from the beginning, struggles with having too much of the same. (A surprising number of surgeons may be neurological psychopaths, according to some studies.) So it’s quite interesting to see the two of them because, in terms of backstory and life experiences, they are remarkably similar in many ways.

Amen to this!

People around them tend to become better than they were before, and they have a friend who knows Hoid (more on that in a moment) who is a Keeper of religions and cultures. Kelsier sacrificed his brother for his plan, while Kaladin's brother was the sacrifice for someone else's plan, despite all that Kal did to protect him. Kelsier's love interest was killed protecting him, while Kaladin's main love interests chose a different path than one with Kaladin. 

In regards to Hoid, Kelsier and Hoid have a very, very antagonist relationship. Kaladin and Hoid have a much healthier one. Not fully healthy, but it's net positive. 

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29 minutes ago, Use the Falchion said:

Amen to this!

People around them tend to become better than they were before, and they have a friend who knows Hoid (more on that in a moment) who is a Keeper of religions and cultures. Kelsier sacrificed his brother for his plan, while Kaladin's brother was the sacrifice for someone else's plan, despite all that Kal did to protect him. Kelsier's love interest was killed protecting him, while Kaladin's main love interests chose a different path than one with Kaladin. 

In regards to Hoid, Kelsier and Hoid have a very, very antagonist relationship. Kaladin and Hoid have a much healthier one. Not fully healthy, but it's net positive. 

Exactly! Their lives are so similar - in the exact opposite manner!

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