Mordred - and his complex personality

[Matt]

Letti:

First I couldn't handle Mordred character but page by page I loved (the character) more and more. It was so complex... and interesting.
How he loved and hates Roland at the same time... how powerful and fragile he was.

**obviously story ending spoilers in thread**

There has been a lot of talk about spider boy, what he was for and what he wasn't.

I have read a lot of opinions on him from "weak as hell" to "super baddy written very well"

What is your official opinion about the child king that wasn't?


This thread has been merged by ~maerlyn

[Hannah]

I always thought he was a little bit pointless. But, I'm not a deep thinker or anything and I tend to think of things at face value. He got rid of Randall Flagg (supposedly), so I guess that was his purpose? I don't know.

[Matt]

I wondered that myself, if it was just going to be hard for SK to bring Flagg and Roland to the same place again and needed an arch baddy to finish him off.

I tend to agree though. This baby thing carried through the books from #3, always on everyones mind and then there was a bit of an anti climax.

It was one of the plot points I was really interested in for years.

[Daghain]

I wasn't a big fan of Mordred, but I kind of felt sorry for him to. I think part of his appeal is that, no matter how rotten and nasty you think he is, you keep getting these glimpses of how he's always an outsider, like if someone just was nice to him he might not be so evil.

But yeah, I don't think he was necessary to the story.

[Hannah]

Poor Mordred. So lost. So alone.

(I hated him. Stupid little Chap.)

[Matt]

I wasn't a big fan of Mordred, but I kind of felt sorry for him to. I think part of his appeal is that, no matter how rotten and nasty you think he is, you keep getting these glimpses of how he's always an outsider, like if someone just was nice to him he might not be so evil.

But yeah, I don't think he was necessary to the story.

Its weird because no matter how much I hated him, or thought he was a wimp, I did feel sorry for him being outside the katet.

If that is the reaction King wanted, he totally got me.

[Daghain]

Yeah, that whole scene where he's listening in on them and lamenting the fact that he's always on the outside. That did it.

[ZoNeSeeK]

I think mordred was another element in the whole father-son theme King has running through the series with Roland, and because of this was supposed to be a more effective weapon against the gunslinger than anything purely material. And if you think about it, he was the most dangerous adversary as he

Spoiler:

dispatched Flagg effortlessly and killed off Oy aswell. The chapters where he becomes a potential threat and is hunting whats left of the ka-tet in my opinion was when the entire quest was on very dangerous ground.

[Daghain]

Hmm, makes you wonder if King was trying to contrast Roland's biological son with his adopted son in some way.

*slips off to read Freud*

[ZoNeSeeK]

The series is full of polarity - Detta and Odetta, White and Red, Mordred and Jake, the roont twin and their healthy counterpart in WotC.

[VolsToTheWall]

^^Not a Mordred fan, but then again, one of the things I just got over and accepted. Kinda hard to please everyone all the time, even the junkies like myself, or maybe even harder to please I should say.

[Daghain]

The series is full of polarity - Detta and Odetta, White and Red, Mordred and Jake, the roont twin and their healthy counterpart in WotC.

A very good point!

[Bethany]

To me Mordred reeked of soap opera drama. You know, two characters do something they're not supposed to, a PREGNANCY occurs and all kinds of drama revolves around the PREGNANCY. Then the writers are stuck with a baby, an unfortunate side effect of pregnancy, and having to deal with a new character is now where near as fun or exciting.

[MonteGss]

I never had any problem with Mordred. He was a punk-ass (like Jonas ) and a good "evil" character for the book. Obviously, Flagg and his twinners were much better characters but I thought the Little Spider-Punk was alright.

[She-Oy]

To me Mordred reeked of soap opera drama. You know, two characters do something they're not supposed to, a PREGNANCY occurs and all kinds of drama revolves around the PREGNANCY. Then the writers are stuck with a baby, an unfortunate side effect of pregnancy, and having to deal with a new character is now where near as fun or exciting.

Gawww, yes. I can totally see Marlena giving birth to the mutant kid or some such on Days of Our Lives.

[Mordred Deschain]

Well, I think I'm awesome!!! Just shoulda' been smarter than my daddy of the white!

[Brice]

[Mordred Deschain]

Oh, and stop calling me "the chap"! That was soooooo pre-birth!!

[Letti]

First I couldn't handle Mordred character but page by page I loved (the character) more and more. It was so complex... and interesting.
How he loved and hates Roland at the same time... how powerful and fragile he was.

[CyberGhostface]

I hated Mordred. Probably the worst character in the entire Dark Tower series, and I would argue King's entire canon as well.

[Letti]

And do you hate him so much because of the thing he had done to Flagg?

[jayson]

As I said in the other thread, in my view, because of his unique parentage, Mordred was born evil, but not entirely evil. Becuase the CK is a much more powerful being than Roland, the evil side of Mordred was stronger, and guided much of his brief existence. I do think he was capable of love in some sense of the word, but the part of him that was fueled by hatred was significantly stronger.

[CyberGhostface]

And do you hate him so much because of the thing he had done to Flagg?

That's part of it, (a large part probably) but I don't think its the sole reason. After all, I liked Eddie a lot and I didn't hate Pimli for killing him. In fact, Finli and Pimli were probably the best out of all the characters introduced in 5-7.

But there was nothing in my mind to like about Mordred. He was just poorly written with the writer's intentions clearly stamped all over his face.

The idea of the new character gaining credibility by knocking off a pre-existing one is just so cliched and pathetic it makes my stomach heave. I've seen it done before a couple of times in television and comics, but King is the first one who actually did it in an adult novel that I read, so kudos to him for that.

[Matt]

Hmmmm...personally, I believe Roland could have turned Mordred to the white if he would have talked to him a bit.

Seemed to me the character struggled with his "destiny" throughout his short life. I'll never forgive him for what he did to Oy though.

[Letti]

Hmmmm...personally, I believe Roland could have turned Mordred to the white if he would have talked to him a bit.

A bit???