# Craziest character, Fantasy and Sci-Fi



## Nikitta (Nov 18, 2006)

I doesn't look like this has been discussed here earlier - at least not this year.

I would like to know who you consider the craziest character, whether in Fantasy or Sci-Fi, and I'd also like to see if you can beat the one I will start out with.

Please include what book the character is from and give a short description of the world she or he lives in.

I'll start out with Prince Melyobar from The Quicksilver Trilogy by Stan Nicholls.

Prince Melyobar is from a world where magic is very central for a lot of things to work. What quality of magic you can afford shows whether you're rich or poor.

Two kingdoms are at war, on and off, all of the time. The king of one of these is magically kept in a state of neither being alive nor dead, leaving his son, Prince Melyobar, in an odd position of power while not being a king.

Prince Melyobar believes that Death is a real, physical entity who likes to disguise himself as a human, just to cath the prince. Therefore, he doesn't dare standing still, so his whole palace flies and is constantly on the move with some lesser palaces following (costing a noticeable part of the kingdom's budget to run with all the magic it takes). Countless of others also follow, by horse when possible, or by foot - so if the prince wants to take his palace through a place where there is a village, then it's just too bad for that village.

Prince Melyobar constantly suspect random people of being death in disguise, so he has them arrested and tortured. He is mostly unaware of anything apart from his constant flight from Death.

At some point he decides that since Death likes to disguise as a normal person, the best way to keep Death from hiding is to kill all people in the kingdom, thus giving Death no one to hide between.


Can anyone top that one?


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## Mouse (Nov 18, 2006)

Does it have to be from a book? Cos I'd say Stark from Farscape was pretty mad!


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## Marky Lazer (Nov 18, 2006)

Bernard the Magic Sword.


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## nixie (Nov 18, 2006)

Kruppe from Erikson's Malazans, Bugg from Malazans


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## Talysia (Nov 19, 2006)

Scarpa from Eddings' Tamuli series was pretty mad.


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## Nikitta (Nov 19, 2006)

Mouse said:


> Does it have to be from a book? Cos I'd say Stark from Farscape was pretty mad!



No, it doesn't have to be from a book, but *please* add a short describtion of the character and possibly the world he or she is in. Threads with people just mentioning names aren't much fun and I don't think I'm the only one who hasn't read or seen all of the books and shows that people in here mention - or am I?


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## Thadlerian (Nov 19, 2006)

The Bursar of Unseen University, from _Discworld_, by Terry Pratchett.

The setting is a sprawling, smelly, hostile metropolis, on a flat world carried on the back of a turtle. The Bursar was a normal, friendly man, doing his job as an economic overseer at the UU. Then the new Archchancellor, Mustrum Ridcully set up his regime of strict exercise, shouting and crossbow practice at the Bursar's desk.

At the current time, the Bursar has well passed beyond the borders of "incurably mad". The only way to keep him generally sane, is to feed him pills made of poisonous frogs. He will then _hallucinate_ being sane.


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## Sketti (Nov 19, 2006)

Gollum. 'Nuff said.  I don't think I need to describe him


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## j d worthington (Nov 20, 2006)

There are quite a few choices for this one, as sff seems to lend itself to such characters; but I'd have to seriously consider Moorcock's Prince Gaynor the Damned for the title. First appearing (if I recall correctly) in *The Queen of the Swords* (1971), Gaynor has cropped up in several of Moorcock's other novels since. As he is an incarnation or aspect of the Eternal Champion, he moves not only hither and thither through time, but through countless realities. However, he is an aspect of the Champion that betrayed the Cosmic Balance (though loving it more than anything) and thereby distorted or destroyed not only worlds but entire universes, and damned himself to an eternity of battling that which he holds dearer than any other thing, desiring death but always with the knowledge that that death will only mean he will soon be playing out the same role in another reality, betraying himself as the Champion's other aspects, yet unable to prevent it, for that first act of betrayal set the pattern for him not only for the future, but for the past, of a million million worlds. This makes Gaynor both quite mad, a fearsome antagonist, horrific, even evil ... and yet pitiful, as he is forced time and again to betray his better nature and attempt to destroy all hope wherever he goes. Because of his nature he, like Erekose, remembers all his lifetimes; but he also bears them physically, as his very flesh writhes within its suit of armor, in constant change from one form to another, never having a true form of his own. He remains one of the most imaginative of Moorcock's creations, and symbolically one of the most powerful.


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## Talysia (Nov 20, 2006)

Oops, sorry! Should've put a description.
Well, Scarpa from David Eddings' Tamuli series was the son of a prominent - and somewhat deluded - sorcerer, only he had delusions far beyond his abilities. Vain and power-hungry, he tried to get the Bhelliom (a magic gem with great power) to satisfy his own desires. He was actually deranged, although he could pass for sane at times, if not for the rambling speeches and childish attitude to everything. At one point, he dances around with a cheap brass crown on his head, crying "I am the emperor! They must obey me!" and flecks of spittle on his lips. (although I may have got the context wrong - it's been a while since I last read it.)
The only things he cared about were the things he'd do when he was emperor (ie, how he would treat women, how people should treat him), his desire to dominate everyone, and his beard. I think his madness was caused by his mistreatment as a child, although this is only hinted at during one of his ravings.
Actually, in the same story was a character called Ogerajin, who was probably madder (in the clinical sense, at least), but his was the result of a disease.


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## Joel007 (Nov 20, 2006)

> The Bursar of Unseen University, from _Discworld_, by Terry Pratchett.


 
Definately the Bursar! He hallucinates that he can fly, except when a wizard hallucinates that, he _does_ fly. I also love the idea that the pills make him hallucinate that he's sane, which is what most people do


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## Urien (Nov 21, 2006)

Whoops wrong thread...


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## Nesacat (Nov 27, 2006)

Having just read Nanny Ogg's Cookbook, I'm going to vote for her and incidentally here's the recipe for those Dried Frog Pills the Bursar takes:

*The frogs have been removed as its inclusion would result in a) cruelty to frogs and b) outbreaks of homicidal sanity amongst the readers.

0 frogs
1 small egg white
30g icing sugar (sifted)
1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon rum flavouring
1 teaspoon green food colouring

Carefully take NO frogs, and do not dry them. Whisk the egg white until stiff. Gradually beat in most of the sugar using a wooden spoon. Sift in the cinnamon, add the rum flavouring and the colouring and stir until well blended. Add enough of the remaining sugar to form a mixture that doesn't stick to the fingers when patted. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper, roll the mixture into pea-sized balls, place them on the tray and leave to set for 8 hours.

Take one whenever the world gets too much, or when the voices tell you too.


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## Delvo (Nov 27, 2006)

Boba Fett, as described in the comic books and novels featuring him and sometimes other bounty hunters, as spinoffs from "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back"...

He's the best at what he does, which includes not only catching often-dangerous bounties but also defeating other bounty hunters who try to take them from him or kill him. But he's always depicted as so cold and calculating that it's like he feels nothing or never allows himself to act on feelings, either positive or negative. He doesn't spend his money on anything but more work equipment and such, and he doesn't spend his time any any personal pursuits instead of just more work So, what's the point of any of it? Nothing really makes him happy or pleases him, so there's no motivation; he seems to just keep drifting along on the same job just as an old habit because he's got nothing better to do.


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## K. Riehl (Nov 27, 2006)

Two stand out for me: Adept Havelock from Donaldsons- Mirror of Her Dreams
and A Man Rides Through. 
In a world where the images in a mirror can be used to translate to other worlds or to bring creatures and destruction into the "real' world. To see your own image can destroy the mind. Havelock saw himself and went crazy but fights on through the madness to protect the realm.

The second is the mad Dworkin from Zelazny's Amber novels. The man who imposed order out of chaos. The strain can be quite overwhelming


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