Thoughts on Luck

[col_porridge]

I only read the first two ringworld books and reviews have not motivated me further. However, I think the most unexplored concept in the book is the funny plot twist about "the luckiest girl". Now I know a book based on the character would be the opposite of exciting (....ummmm wow the idea bored me so much i can't even think of an adjective to describe it) but I think a series based on the interplay of that singular character with multiple storylines and heroes with her as an overall shadowy evil would be so plot twisty a pretzel would look and say "ummmmmm... I'm confused".

I dunno what do you think?

 

[The Judge]

That was the part of Ringworld I had most trouble accepting, and to me it seemed an enormous get-out clause for allowing any kind of weird rescue/incident no matter how implausible, just because she is super-super-lucky. She was also unbelievably stupid, which irritated the hell out of me -- just what we need in a novel, another beautiful dim woman. So, no, I wouldn't want to read anything else with her in it.

 

[chrispenycate]

Of course Teela's stupid. It couldn't be any other way. She might well have the potential for high intelligence, but can never attain it due not only to the lack of any stimulus that could bring it to the fore (if she wished (for some reason) to become a famous author she would sit behind a keyboard, or whatever interface is current by then, and the first attempt would be an instant best seller, or masterpiece depending on what was required to move her on to the next step in her life. She needs a degree? Fill in the questions at random, instant perfect score), but she has no more 'free will' than a Pak protector, for the opposite reason. She might believe that she makes decisions, choices in her life, only mildly influenced by other people; actually the Luck decides everything (and furthermore decides for a huge number of other beings who may or may not have come in contact with her).

She is driven by fate worse than any Greek tragedy, any hero in a poorly-written fantasy caught in a prophecy. And, suggests the 'luck' hypothesis, so is everyone else, even here in the past, generating the future world in which she can be born.

She can't be 'evil' any more than she can be good. Rather than a thread in the weave she is the personification of the pattern, looking human but in fact only the operating point of practically unlimited forces.

 

[neopeius]

Very well said. Teela is an annoying, dumb character, but there's no way around it.

Of course, Niven doesn't have a lot of good female characters--his protagonists are mostly him (Lucas Garner being a nice exception). On the other hand, I liked Jordan in Protector.

Niven thinks the lucky people make stories boring in the future, but I'd be interested in seeing the full results of the luck gene some 1000 years in the future...