Harkfast Q5

clash_bowley

Did you empathize with any of the characters in the book? Who were they?

Apocryphal

Somewhat with both Ruan, who is a gormless youth, and with Harkfast, who is arranging the board like a real gamer, and to the Roman character whose name excapes me, but who seemed out of his element yet still tried to do his best by what he thought was right. As for emphathizing, I mean yes, I could see where they were coming from. I didn't particularly identify with any of them, nor do I normally need to do so to enjoy a book. I'm not quite sure which you're asking about - maybe the latter is really symphathy? Didn't feel sympathy.

RichardAbbott

Hmmm, good question. Not really, I guess. I did feel sympathy for Ruan's plight at first, forced to flee from his home and family, and I liked the way he was drawn into the druidic world. But not long after that it seemed that he wasn't actually going to turn out any different from the rest (maybe a case of the abused becoming the abuser?) and by the end I wasn't at all convinced that his future kingdom - presupposing it ever happened - would be a great moral step forward for Scotland! So I suppose I kind of lost interest in him.
I did like some of the lesser characters and the particular niches they inhabited, and felt that the social landscape that he was moving over was more interesting in many ways than the central individuals themselves

NeilNjae

The characters didn't seem like well rounded people. Ruan was arrogant, Harkfast even more so. The others were there to be servants, and that's all they were.

clash_bowley

I agree most with @RichardAbbott's take. If anyone in this story made me feel empathy it was a few of the lesser characters, but probably if they had been fleshed out they would have been just as dour and bleak as the main characters.