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brightknightie) wrote2023-11-04 10:36 am
brightknightie) wrote2023-11-04 10:36 am
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The characterization implications of the D&DC kids' totemic items
I should be switching over to HL in my hobby time now (for HLH_Shortcuts!). But I've been pondering this one D&DC element for months, and thought I might give it a post as a last hurrah to my D&DC hobby-ing this summer and fall (pivoting to HL's turn for this winter).
What's this subject that's been curling up around my D&DC imagination for months? The symbolic/thematic resonance for character of each of the kids' totemic items.
What are these items? Well, on arrival in the Realm, each character immediately received a class designation, outfit, and magic item. We later learn that these items are called "weapons of power," come from the Dragons' Graveyard, can be recharged in the Hall of Bones, and are much desired by the big bad, Venger. (They are not all "weapons," as such, and, of course, per the Parents Television Council, were never used to directly harm any person.) The totemic items were designed from the very start to express something about each of the characters, but those expressions and connections also developed along with the characters through the episodes as executed over time.
Some are much more clear and effective than others. I want them all to be awesomely resonant, but...
Eric's shield wins characterization. The cavalier's griffon shield aptly ties into both his worst weaknesses (cowardice, selfishness, self-centeredness) and his best opportunities (courage, protecting others, putting others first) to overcome those weaknesses and eventually grow up to be the man we're all rooting for him to become. The shield, as an implement of protection, also has available resonances with the kinds of protection that Eric did (all that money can buy) and didn't (time, presence, acceptance) get from his parents, and then learns or doesn't learn to give others. Ten out of ten. No notes.
Hank's bow is a close second. The ranger's energy bow is the party's only ranged implement, and its distance coverage immediately represents his role as the forward-looking planner and leader, responsibly looking ahead not only within each adventure, but as the most tenacious of them all in his dedication to getting them home (the ultimate goal of their quest). At the same time, the long-range action of the bow clicks thematically with the characterization that Hank is by far the most aloof and distant of our gang; we actually know less about his background than any of the others, because he never once talks about himself or his family; and while he's going with Sheila (as they would have said), very few gestures or words ever differentiate his caring about any one of the group from the others, even her -- he clearly cares very much, but from seemingly more emotional and physical distance than the others.
Sheila's cloak sheds characterization shards. The thief's (rogue's) invisibility cloak is full of possible characterization resonances that I'm struggling to bring firmly into place for her character. Yes, she is a little on the shy side as well as deferential to authority, and invisibility at will can symbolize being a little retiring. But that could seem to discount that she is, canonically, firmly bold whenever her brother, friends, values, or innocent bystanders are threatened, with no pretextual reliance on her cloak for that. Having invisibility available can validly be interpreted as helping her be bolder, certainly, but that isn't really utilized on screen in a one-to-one way. More prominently in characterization, Sheila's greatest fear (per a magical test of their greatest fears, naturally) is being alone (autophobia); how does the invisibility cloak symbolically interact with that? Being invisible makes her one kind of alone (no one sees her), but not another (she still sees them)? Controlling her invisibility correlates with controlling her autophobia? She's the most nurturing character, and invisibility seems opposite to that... unless it represents others taking her (her nurturing) for granted? It's a puzzle. There's a lot there for Sheila and her cloak, but it all slips through my fingers.
Diana's pole/javelin/staff seems unfortunately one-dimensional for characterization. The acrobat's (monk's) magical javelin/staff/pole can change size (like the Monkey King's staff), heal itself if broken, and enhance her existing skills, which she earned as an Olympic-hopeful gymnast back on Earth. The pole/javelin definitely starts by representing her reliance on and amazing control of her own body and physical skills, which additionally ties in to her greatest fear, which is losing control of her body and those skills (as symbolized in the test of greatest fears by her becoming incredibly ancient and unable to physically help). So far so good, but... it doesn't go anywhere from there? What's the thematic flip side of the pole/javelin's symbology for characterization? This feels like a step down in available item!character resonances, and unfair to Diana. I need to ponder Diana and her staff/javelin/pole more, until I find something... richer?
Bobby's club is about the same. The barbarian's big, magical, wooden club is about half the height of the ten-year-old kid-brother who wields it, and it easily conveys that Bobby wants to be much bigger and stronger than he yet is. It's also blunt and noisy, as he already is. It coheres with his fear -- established by the previously mentioned test of greatest fears -- of not being taken seriously, of being perceived as a burdensome baby, as it lets him make himself impossible to overlook or ignore. Like Diana's javelin/pole/staff, though... that's it? A second layer seems missing. What are the other symbolic characterization opportunities of Bobby's club?
Presto's hat seems least resonant. Per the series bible, our wizard used to do slight-of-hand magic tricks (badly!) back home (that's how he got the nickname "Presto"), and now he can do real magic with his wizard's hat, which produces items on rhymed command, but the hat in the Realm is no more reliable than the illusions he did on Earth. And... that's it? That's all the hat contributes to characterization? Supposedly, Presto's biggest fear is being unable to see; that has no obvious characterization resonance with his hat. Presto's biggest storyline involves his unexplained connection (possibly a soulbond) to Varla; that has nothing character-wise to do with his hat, except that his hat makes him a magic user like her. What about the hat represents something about Presto's character...? The try-try-again approach? The make-do-with-what-you-have necessity?
Hmmmm. What do you think?
What's this subject that's been curling up around my D&DC imagination for months? The symbolic/thematic resonance for character of each of the kids' totemic items.
What are these items? Well, on arrival in the Realm, each character immediately received a class designation, outfit, and magic item. We later learn that these items are called "weapons of power," come from the Dragons' Graveyard, can be recharged in the Hall of Bones, and are much desired by the big bad, Venger. (They are not all "weapons," as such, and, of course, per the Parents Television Council, were never used to directly harm any person.) The totemic items were designed from the very start to express something about each of the characters, but those expressions and connections also developed along with the characters through the episodes as executed over time.
Some are much more clear and effective than others. I want them all to be awesomely resonant, but...
Eric's shield wins characterization. The cavalier's griffon shield aptly ties into both his worst weaknesses (cowardice, selfishness, self-centeredness) and his best opportunities (courage, protecting others, putting others first) to overcome those weaknesses and eventually grow up to be the man we're all rooting for him to become. The shield, as an implement of protection, also has available resonances with the kinds of protection that Eric did (all that money can buy) and didn't (time, presence, acceptance) get from his parents, and then learns or doesn't learn to give others. Ten out of ten. No notes.
Hank's bow is a close second. The ranger's energy bow is the party's only ranged implement, and its distance coverage immediately represents his role as the forward-looking planner and leader, responsibly looking ahead not only within each adventure, but as the most tenacious of them all in his dedication to getting them home (the ultimate goal of their quest). At the same time, the long-range action of the bow clicks thematically with the characterization that Hank is by far the most aloof and distant of our gang; we actually know less about his background than any of the others, because he never once talks about himself or his family; and while he's going with Sheila (as they would have said), very few gestures or words ever differentiate his caring about any one of the group from the others, even her -- he clearly cares very much, but from seemingly more emotional and physical distance than the others.
Sheila's cloak sheds characterization shards. The thief's (rogue's) invisibility cloak is full of possible characterization resonances that I'm struggling to bring firmly into place for her character. Yes, she is a little on the shy side as well as deferential to authority, and invisibility at will can symbolize being a little retiring. But that could seem to discount that she is, canonically, firmly bold whenever her brother, friends, values, or innocent bystanders are threatened, with no pretextual reliance on her cloak for that. Having invisibility available can validly be interpreted as helping her be bolder, certainly, but that isn't really utilized on screen in a one-to-one way. More prominently in characterization, Sheila's greatest fear (per a magical test of their greatest fears, naturally) is being alone (autophobia); how does the invisibility cloak symbolically interact with that? Being invisible makes her one kind of alone (no one sees her), but not another (she still sees them)? Controlling her invisibility correlates with controlling her autophobia? She's the most nurturing character, and invisibility seems opposite to that... unless it represents others taking her (her nurturing) for granted? It's a puzzle. There's a lot there for Sheila and her cloak, but it all slips through my fingers.
Diana's pole/javelin/staff seems unfortunately one-dimensional for characterization. The acrobat's (monk's) magical javelin/staff/pole can change size (like the Monkey King's staff), heal itself if broken, and enhance her existing skills, which she earned as an Olympic-hopeful gymnast back on Earth. The pole/javelin definitely starts by representing her reliance on and amazing control of her own body and physical skills, which additionally ties in to her greatest fear, which is losing control of her body and those skills (as symbolized in the test of greatest fears by her becoming incredibly ancient and unable to physically help). So far so good, but... it doesn't go anywhere from there? What's the thematic flip side of the pole/javelin's symbology for characterization? This feels like a step down in available item!character resonances, and unfair to Diana. I need to ponder Diana and her staff/javelin/pole more, until I find something... richer?
Bobby's club is about the same. The barbarian's big, magical, wooden club is about half the height of the ten-year-old kid-brother who wields it, and it easily conveys that Bobby wants to be much bigger and stronger than he yet is. It's also blunt and noisy, as he already is. It coheres with his fear -- established by the previously mentioned test of greatest fears -- of not being taken seriously, of being perceived as a burdensome baby, as it lets him make himself impossible to overlook or ignore. Like Diana's javelin/pole/staff, though... that's it? A second layer seems missing. What are the other symbolic characterization opportunities of Bobby's club?
Presto's hat seems least resonant. Per the series bible, our wizard used to do slight-of-hand magic tricks (badly!) back home (that's how he got the nickname "Presto"), and now he can do real magic with his wizard's hat, which produces items on rhymed command, but the hat in the Realm is no more reliable than the illusions he did on Earth. And... that's it? That's all the hat contributes to characterization? Supposedly, Presto's biggest fear is being unable to see; that has no obvious characterization resonance with his hat. Presto's biggest storyline involves his unexplained connection (possibly a soulbond) to Varla; that has nothing character-wise to do with his hat, except that his hat makes him a magic user like her. What about the hat represents something about Presto's character...? The try-try-again approach? The make-do-with-what-you-have necessity?
Hmmmm. What do you think?
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re. Sheila, a thief is often also a trickster character, and that ties in with the cloak and how Sheila often uses it, and we do see a playful, teasing side from her sometimes - when things aren't too awful.
I suppose Diana's name, the Olympics and the javelin all also link into classical mythology and therefore the part where she actually becomes a goddess at one point, even if only briefly.
Presto's hat is a difficult one, but he starts out as the Sorcerer's Apprentice in the first ep, and the hat is very symbolic of that, plus - it has been ages since I've watched any of this, so apologies if I'm misremembering - I think we're told more than once that he really hasn't begun to understand how to use the hat or what he's capable of, and I think that probably makes it harder to analyse here. I'd suggest there's probably something to do with knowledge and learning in there that either I'm not quite getting at or Presto never got to - he uses the hat via words, not magic tricks, despite his bit of sleight of hand as well. Glasses and tend to be associated with bookishness and that kind of thing, too.
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Definitely, you're spot-on that Diana's name links her to Greek Artemis/Roman Diana, which is super-cool in that they are goddesses of the moon (and the hunt), and Diana's dad is an astronomy professor (and her beloved Kosar is the son of an astrologer). I love that! Yet, item-wise, both of those goddesses wield bows, not staffs/javelins, I believe...?
You sent me to Wikipedia to double-check, and fwiw, I found these trivia tidbits:
- "Pole jumping competitions were known to the Mycenaean Greeks, Minoan Greeks and Celts. It has been a full medal event at the Olympic Games since 1896 for men and since 2000 for women."
- "A number of elite pole vaulters have had backgrounds in gymnastics, including world record breakers Yelena Isinbayeva and Brian Sternberg, reflecting the similar physical attributes required for the sports."
- "Javelins were also used in the Ancient Olympics and other Panhellenic games. They were hurled in a certain direction and whoever hurled it the farthest, as long as it hit tip-first, won that game."
- "Many African kingdoms have used the javelin as their main weapon since ancient times."
- "In Norse mythology, Odin, the chief god, carried a javelin or spear called Gungnir."
- "The quarterstaff is also mentioned in England's legend of Robin Hood."
(I bolded the two tidbits I most enjoyed learning!)Yes, agreed: you're right that TPTB likely meant both Presto's glasses and his wizard class, visually signaled by his hat, to imply that he is smart and/or studious. It would have been fun if an episode would have done more with that than the premiere did, building it out as a more unique, individual connection.
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Yeah, Hank and Sheila really seemed to have a lot of fill-in needed. I wonder if they left them blank-er on purpose because (the creators would think, in a biased way, of course) the kids watching would associate with them the most, thus overlaying their own backgrounds/thoughts/wants/needs?
I've been thinking that Diana was really the only one who actually brought a serious skill-set into the situation. She already was a gymnast. If she wasn't, would the staff have given her the ability to be gymnastic? (I mean, I suppose she'd have gotten a different 'weapon' if she wasn't already skilled.) But the others got personality-adjacent items, hers was personality and lifetime-earned skills.
(Like, was Hank already good at aiming, or did that come quickly after he got the bow?)
Poor Presto. I think they used his hat for comedy relief and lightness. So it would always be at odds with him. Although it did seem like sometimes the hat's answers were cryptic, even if they worked. Or maybe his rhymes were too obscure? Did he mostly ask for a thing to fix a situation, or a specific thing that he wanted? (And I imagine he was very worried about losing those glasses. Didn't see a lot of eye doctors in the realm. Maybe he could get another pair from the hat?)
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Presto's glasses & hat: Yes, it's overwhelming fanon (not canon) that Presto gets new glasses from his hat from time to time! Speaking as someone else with a very pronounced dependence on glasses, I don't mean to question vision loss as his greatest fear! Only that the hat fails in canon to strongly connect with this fear and make it more revelatory and layered about his character. As you say, his hat is mostly comedic. Yet... his hat does also seem to be their portable Convenient Plot Device, always able to pull them out of a jam when nothing else can, usually after a few false starts / jokes... he more often asks for a solution to a problem than a specific item, and, as you say, the wording matters for humor. Perhaps that "always comes through in a jam" element tells us something about Presto, as well as the "try, try again," but... I feel that the hat scores low as a characterization symbol, comparatively.
(Trigger warning for female biology? In my personal head!canon, Presto's hat has also been called upon to produce sanitary products for the girls, which must have been utterly mortifying the first time, but what else could they have done that first month in the Realm, not yet having met any Realm-native women who could advise them, and surely hoping hard to get home before they would need to ask anyone...? Unless Dungeon Master thought ahead and provided for that.)
Skill sets: There's no indication that Hank had archery experience before he got his bow. (There are a couple of tiny off-screen hints that TPTB may have originally intended Hank as an American-football quarterback.) Diana and Presto are the only ones whose physical Earth activities/skills directly impact their physical Realm activities/skills, as far as we know in canon. (Hank as a leader, Sheila as a nurturer, Eric as a whiner, Diana as someone who deflates arrogance, etc. ... I presume those were all in place back home. ;-) )
Blank slates: I do sometimes wonder whether the writers -- that is, the best of the writers! -- wanted to tell us more about the characters and were not supposed to, because it was just not the way things were done in that era, when re-run-ability was all. (I've read all the available scripts. There aren't a lot of "lost" references in the versions that have reached fans.) This show pushed the envelope so hard at its moment... In some ways, I imagine, our D&DC gang is an archetypal after-school-special cast for that era, and in my head, I fill in things from that template (for example, given after-school-special norms and what passed for diversity in the mid-'80s, I am positive that TPTB intention was that Sheila and Bobby are Catholic, Eric is Episcopalian, Presto is Jewish, and Diana and Hank are mainline Protestant, perhaps AME/Methodist and Presbyterian, respectively).