#ClericWeek

#ClericWeek

#ClericWeek  

Who is your favourite Cleric in Fiction andy why?

For me this is hard. There are a lot of characters i really like that are highly defined by their faith but they are not Clerics/Divine Spellcasters in that sense. In all the media i consume Faith Magic in a DnDish sense isn’t really happening at all. I was thinking of Gandalf but he doesn’t count. All my favourite Anime doesn’t have that stuff and so, coming up blank, i walked over to my bookshelf and low and behold i found someone: 

Melisandre of Asshai

31 thoughts on “#ClericWeek”

  2. Does he throw Faith Magic around? 

    That is really the problem. That stuff doesn’t happen a lot. Otherwise i would just have named Father Forthhill. (Michael is a Paladin)

  3. I’m not sure Melisandre is a divine cleric. I think she’s actually an arcane warlock. (Edit to add: That’s my opinion; in terms of the books, she is presented very cleric-like.)

    Anyway, favorite fictional cleric? Does the friar in Ladyhawke count?

  5. Stephanie Bryant definetly a valid point. I am in team Stannis so i give her the benefit of the doubt. 

    It works both ways for sure. 

  10. I am in the same boat. I don’t enjoy spell lists in general. I want to have the ability to make up what it is I want to do but then have to deal with circumstances that either allow it or make it a challenge to perform it. That seems to be the idea in the Priest and the Mage, and I took the same route with my Anticleric.

  11. Divine-magic-wielding-semi-fighter-but-not-quite-paladin is a pretty narrow category and not widely reflected in fiction or legend. Even the historical sources that presumably inspired the tropes tend to be a little more violent than their station would suggest, like Odo, Earl of Kent and Bishop of Bayeaux, and Geoffery de Mountbray, Bishop of Coutances, who were both ordained but fought in battles at the time of William the Conqueror (Odo in fact being William’s half-brother, which I didn’t know until I looked him up just now).

  13. Most recognizable “clerics” in “literature” are going to come from D&D novels (hence Cadderly & Verminard).  I myself really liked the clerics of Tyr portraid in the Pool of Radiance novel (and that was maybe the only thing I liked).

    Possibly Kalanthes in the Dark Horse Conan comics?  Though again, the line between “cleric” and “white wizard” (or whatever) is fuzzy. 

  14. Priests of Sigmar from Warhammer were always fun since they need to beat someones ass to gain divine favor, though I never read about a specific Priest of Sigmar.

  15. Oh, another historical precedent: there are many, many, many stories from the Christian side of the Crusades of priests accompanying warriors into battle with holy relics (often fragments of the True Cross) and then victory in battle being credited to miracles.

  16. Oh, and as for why I like Kalanthes… dude is awesome. Really, truly cares about people and his friends, but doesn’t let their horrible deaths get in the way of doing what needs to be done to fight back the darkness.

  17. Could it be that Evil Clerics (of Demons) happen much more? We just don’t go there first when we think about it because we are used to the good/neutral Cleric from our parties more?

  18. Why, Chryses of Chryse, of course

    Hear me, Apollo, with thy bow in hand,

    That honour’d art in Tenedos and Chryse,

    And unto whom Cylla great honour bears,

    If thou accepted hast my sacrifice,

    Pay th’ Argives with thy arrows for my tears.

    His prayer was granted by the deity;

    Who with his silver bow and arrows keen,

    Descended from Olympus silently

    In likeness of the sable night unseen.

    His bow and quiver both behind him hang,

    The arrows chink as often as he jogs,

    And as he shot the bow was heard to twang,

    And first his arrows flew at mules and dogs.

    But when the plague into the army came,

    Iliad, Book 1

  19. Brother Avelyn in Salvatore’s Demon Wars saga was great, though they function partly as monks.

    I’d also second the clerics in the Pools Of early series of TSR novels

  20. Archbishop Turpin, from Chanson de Roland.

    Deadly wounded by FOUR ARROWS in the middle of HIS CHEST, with his last breaths, on foot, he took down FOUR HUNDRED enemy horsemen.

    (earlier that day, he blessed the whole army with one prayer).

    While reading that at school, I realized where a lot of the best parts of D&D came from.

  27. Oh? What makes a cleric then? Tuck’s devoted (more or less) to God, and in early versions of the Ronin Hood story he fought with sword & shield, which became a staff later. Granted he doesn’t cast any spells.

  29. The cleric is someone who performs miracles. Catholic saints are clerics, classic prophets are clerics.

    Tuck types are priests in a non supernatural setting and “translated” in a magical fantasy I tend to “read” them more as faithful warriors and rogues.

  30. In Dresden Files, Michael Carpenter wields a blade made from one of the three nails of the cross. (Yes, THAT Cross.). What makes the Knights of the Cross interesting is that MC is such a loving family man (and a totally righteous Christian paladin) that it is such a nice contrast that his companions include (but are not limited to) an Old Japanese Samurai and a Russian Atheist.

    I feel ready to explode, but…. no spoilers. Read Skin Game! It’s awesome.

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