= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
Viliam comments on Sidekick Matchmaking - How to tackle the problem? - Less Wrong Discussion
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (42)
Once I heard a debate about fantasy literature, how culture impacts the world building.
In Western fantasy -- think Tolkien's Middle Earth -- you have the good kingdom on one end of the map (their backs are protected by the ocean, they only have to fight on one front), the evil kingdom is on the other side of the map, the heroes fight and despite all the complications they ultimately win.
In Eastern European fantasy -- think Sapkowski's Witcher -- you have the more-or-less good kingdom in the middle, surrounded by evil kingdoms (often much larger) on all sides; victory is impossible, the heroes fight to survive yet another day, and they consider themselves lucky when they do.
I would add that in Russian fantasy -- think Lukyanenko's Night Watch -- the balance between good and evil is considered a fact of life and no one even tries to change it anymore, both live in the same kingdom; the good guys only wake up when the balance seems to shift too much on the side of evil.
So yeah, culture has an unconscious impact on optimism / pesimism.
I'd be careful drawing conclusions on this basis, as it's really easy to cherry-pick examples to support any kind of narrative you like. The West has written its share of dystopias and there are a lot of happy endings in Russian fairy tales.
It would be interesting to do a proper comparison -- e.g. between a compendium of Russian fairy tales and something like the Brother Grimm's collection of German fairy tales. The German fairy tales might well turn out to be darker.
I'm not sure about grand strategy, but I've definitely noticed that attitudes toward government, even that of the nominal good guys, are way more cynical in Eastern European (including Russian) fantasy. The arms of government it touches on often also strike me as more modern, involving things like special forces and organized espionage in otherwise medieval settings, but that might just be because I'm more used to the anachronisms in Western fantasy.
Suppose we live in a Nicht Watch kind of a fantasy - I actually ask you to consider it seriously, just leave Lukyanenko's specifics out as irrelevant - what would you ask a sidekick for?
In the Night Watch world, you either want to be a muggle (and hope you will not get accidentally killed by a vampire), or a very high-level good or evil mage, or work for the Inquisition. Low-level mages are just cannon fodder for the mage wars. The problem is, how do you become a high-level mage without being a low-level mage first?
In real life, I guess it means you either want to be a street-smart muggle without any political opinions or ambitions, or you want to work for KGB or its local equivalent.
In the first case, the best sidekick would be another street-smart muggle without political opinions or ambitions; and you would try to exploit the existing options to survive as conveniently as possible. In the second case, you want someone who also works for KGB, but is absolutely loyal to you.
You get born as one, of course.
Does this mean that a sidekick wouldn't be distinguishable from a servant?
Is a sidekick distinguishable from a servant?
(Is reminded about that dialogue between Mazarin and Rochefort :) in the sense that when a hero dies, there is a competent successor, yes. Also, a sidekick is not paid, except in moral fuzzies. And the servant, at the end of the day, is not obliged to be kind to the hero.
As who? As a wizard or as a muggle?
P.S. "Nicht Watch" -- translated as "No Watch" -- is a nice typo. We probably do live in such a world :-)
A mugglest muggle.
I'll take a wizard as a sidekick, then, please :-)
I am sorry, this is not what I asked.
What are you asking, then?
To solve what problem would you invite another human to your side?
I am not sure what are you getting at. If I am a muggle, I have the usual mundane muggle problems and would need help with exactly the same things as in the real world.
If, on the other hand, I'm planning to meddle in the affairs of wizards, I am not sure a (muggle) sidekick can help me with the fact that I'm crispy and good with ketchup.
Well, you see, I think the problem with Sidekick Threads is just that - people think sidekicks are a means to solve mundane muggle problems, their problems, like servants. Sidekicks are not that. They are people you trust, who agree with you that something needs doing. For example, my sister commissioned me to study roots of some plants the rhizosphere of which she wants to sieve for mites. That makes me her sidekick, because I see value in it, even if I would see more value in commissioning her to sieve mites out of my own samples.
People don't get sidekicks until a bit after they feel a visceral need to change something (which is why I think I'll quit LW soon - I don't see people who do want to change something here. (And you call us pessimists!))
Also, if the presence of actual vampires doesn't really shift your priorities much from your mundane muggle problems, then it is Lukyanenko's world, and not Tolkien's, which I consider the closer to reality and more useful parable.