SPOILERS Igorth Character Dithcuththion!
- Thread starter Tonyblack
- Start date
Honestly, the Igors never really "came to life" for me until I heard Stephen Briggs' voicings of them starting with TFE. Planer's voicing of Igor in CJ didn't do the type justice. His Igor sounded spiteful, slow and reactionary. Once Briggs started voicing them they developed that droll, slightly condescending personality and subtle wit that heightened their appeal. I wonder whether Briggs and Pterry ever talked about the Igor "character type" and speech patterns while PTerry was writing TFE, because the Igor dialogue and character is so much better in TFE (and later books) than it is in CJ.
I really enjoyed the Igors and Igorinas as a consistent running joke through the latter half of the series. They do seem to epitomise all 'mad scientist's assistants' throughout literature. Again, though, it's pretty typical Pratchett to view the story from the POV of the assistant rather than the protagonist and it's something I haven't seen much from other authors who treat such characters as a mere assistant there to do his (or her) bidding.
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Hmm. For the past few years, I've been studying the various tools of planning a story (e.g. beat sheets, outlines, POVs etc.), and I can say that what Terry did here was very clever.
Rather than writing an entire story from the POV of the protagonist (or the assistant, or anyone), Terry alternated scenes - or a sequence of scenes - between characters. Let's take Snuff as an example: the first scene is from Vetinari's POV, then we switch to Vimes, later on to Willikins, and so on.
The scenes, furthermore, alternate between three structures:
1. goal - conflict - setback;
2. reaction - dilemma - decision; or
3. both together.
GCS is simple. You start with the character's goal (what does he want to achieve?), the conflict (what's stopping him?), and the setback (how does achieving the goal set him back?)
For instance, Vimes wants to avoid going to the country. The conflict is with Vetinari and Sybil. The setback is that the people in the Watch are giving him a hard time.
Second, you have reaction - dilemma - decision. How does the character (Vimes) react to this "ribbing"? He takes it in stride. Vimes's dilemma is how to deal with the conflict: He sulks and bridles, for the look of the thing. His decision, ultimately, is to go along with it.
A scene can be either GCS or RDD, or both together. When they are both together, they develop a character and show him in a new light. So we see a scene (or two, or three - whatever) from Vimes's POV, then from Willikins's, etc. etc.
Giving the POV to more characters make the story more complicated, naturally.
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As for the Igors, I liked them just fine. As Pterry began to set more stories in Uberwald and surrounds, the Igors became an inevitable part of the landscape. After all, Uberwald was a homage to the campy horror films of the 50s, so an Igor was vital (pardon the pun).
I have a feeling that Pterry liked Igor after his first appearance in CJ, and so kept him on for TFE and the rest of the series.
Rather than writing an entire story from the POV of the protagonist (or the assistant, or anyone), Terry alternated scenes - or a sequence of scenes - between characters. Let's take Snuff as an example: the first scene is from Vetinari's POV, then we switch to Vimes, later on to Willikins, and so on.
The scenes, furthermore, alternate between three structures:
1. goal - conflict - setback;
2. reaction - dilemma - decision; or
3. both together.
GCS is simple. You start with the character's goal (what does he want to achieve?), the conflict (what's stopping him?), and the setback (how does achieving the goal set him back?)
For instance, Vimes wants to avoid going to the country. The conflict is with Vetinari and Sybil. The setback is that the people in the Watch are giving him a hard time.
Second, you have reaction - dilemma - decision. How does the character (Vimes) react to this "ribbing"? He takes it in stride. Vimes's dilemma is how to deal with the conflict: He sulks and bridles, for the look of the thing. His decision, ultimately, is to go along with it.
A scene can be either GCS or RDD, or both together. When they are both together, they develop a character and show him in a new light.
So we see a scene (or two, or three - whatever) from Vimes's POV, then from Willikins's, etc. etc.Giving the POV to more characters make the story more complicated, naturally.
=============================
As for the Igors, I liked them just fine. As Pterry began to set more stories in Uberwald and surrounds, the Igors became an inevitable part of the landscape.
After all, Uberwald was a homage to the campy horror films of the 50s, so an Igor was vital (pardon the pun).I have a feeling that Pterry liked Igor after his first appearance in CJ, and so kept him on for TFE and the rest of the series.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Too crazy or too unethical? Even when they work for mad scientists, the traditionalist Igors seem to have a strong moral code, or least one that reflects the lore of Uberwald. They;'ll work for a mad scientist who wants to reanimate the dead, but they balk at working for those who wish to destroy or enslave others. I think even the werewolves' Igor in TFE meets this standard because, after all, the "Game" is a more civilized form of hunting and, for the most part, the Universal movie monsters of Uberwald don't wish to enslave or massacre humans or dwarfs--just scare them enough to keep them in line.
I think even the Igor of Thief of Time is a moral being. He may not have actually known that the clock he was building with Jeremy would actually stop time. But even if he did, he really didn't know that this purpose was part of the Auditors' plot (notice that Igor totally disappears from the story the moment the clock "ticks").
Too crazy or too unethical? Even when they work for mad scientists, the traditionalist Igors seem to have a strong moral code, or least one that reflects the lore of Uberwald. They;'ll work for a mad scientist who wants to reanimate the dead, but they balk at working for those who wish to destroy or enslave others. I think even the werewolves' Igor in TFE meets this standard because, after all, the "Game" is a more civilized form of hunting and, for the most part, the Universal movie monsters of Uberwald don't wish to enslave or massacre humans or dwarfs--just scare them enough to keep them in line.
I think even the Igor of Thief of Time is a moral being. He may not have actually known that the clock he was building with Jeremy would actually stop time. But even if he did, he really didn't know that this purpose was part of the Auditors' plot (notice that Igor totally disappears from the story the moment the clock "ticks").