I’ve finished my Sharpe rewatches, so I’ll get back to more typical content soon, but I just think it’s great how even though Sharpe and Boromir are both proud, strong soldiers, you’d never mistake one for the other. Boromir has a huge, soft heart and is revered throughout two countries, but tends to be an outsider within the Fellowship. Sharpe has a massive chip on his shoulder and is reviled by many in the army, but is respected by his small group of riflemen. They’re background differences, but they come through in the writing and Sean’s portrayal of them both.
Yeah, Sharpe would have carried Pippin and Sam through the snow on Caradhras, but he wouldn’t have joked with them to put them more at ease. He’d have left that to Harper. Yeah, Boromir would have been outraged at the Prince of Orange’s orders at Waterloo, but he wouldn’t have lined him up in his sights. He’d have left that to Gimli.
One of my favorite tropes is character with a nasty toxic personality who tries very hard to do the right thing anyway
I like my protagonists sad, tired, bitter, fully convinced they will never get the recognition they deserve, but they still gotta get up in the morning and be a good person
it’s the difference between being a GOOD person and being a NICE person.
being a good person is something you do. It’s a choice you make, every day, and one you have to keep making.
One of my favorite parts about the Discworld books is that there’s several characters who are good but not necessarily nice. Vimes and Granny Weatherwax come to mind. They’re both good people - they struggle a lot with being good people - but they’re often not nice. Sometimes not very nice at all.
