A fascinating chat about THE single most important aspects (for me) about any book, characters & characterization. While I concur characters don't truly have agency, that's certainly not how it feels sometimes for authors when we write them, lol! Loving this series about story analysis, and I am learning so much here! Can't wait for the next installment!

Who better to discuss character than a tweed-clad hero and his draconian Nemesis? Will the tweed be able to withstand the explosive fireballs? Watch to find out!

These videos are so good! Thanks for making them

About halfway through so far, and the "flat" vs "round" discussion reminded me of how people use the term character development when they mean character arc.

Yeah, The Land of the Thomas Covenant novels is a character in of itself.

Excellent character development in this episode. Is the nemesis actually the protagonist as well? Can a dragon be a main character? Can't wait to find out in future episodes! Great stuff as always!

Well, technically, if a flat character is one dimensional, a round character would be 2 dimensional. Otherwise, he would be a spherical character. There was something about context referenced but I might have skipped it...

Further to your comments on Jekyll and Hyde, we are a few episodes into Severance, and I'm seeing a lot of parallels already.

“Ah yes.” 🍿

You two sure are a couple of characters... 😅

Do you guys have a list of all the episodes or a playlist? I feel like I might be missing some or getting them out of order. lol.

This is where pretentious people like me start talking about James Phelan's split of characters into their synthetic, thematic and mimetic elements. The Nemesis (whichever you that turns out to be in the end) serves the synthetic function of being an antagonist, this is their role in the story. Thematically, they represent all that is wrong with the world, and for that one final added touch of roundness for their character, the Nemesis doesn't accept their role as a Nemesis but argues incessantly in favor of being the good guy, as real people are wont to do.

20:18

Another great video. For fans Star Trek and Star Wars, I always wonder why they think of Vader as a villain because it is revealed that Anakin is the ultimate hero at the end of episode 6. His sacrifice to figuratively and literally overthrow the Emperor completes the hero's journey. If I remember correctly, Lucas did invite Joseph Campbell to the premiere of Return of the Jedi. I will add that this series of How to Analyse Stories has been very interesting for sure.

I can't tell if AP is the hero because he's being blown out with the almighty shining light of God Himself, or if Phillip is the hero because he's American.