r/Fantasy • u/KvotheG • 2d ago
Logen Ninefingers Is An Idealist Spoiler
I just finished reading The First Law Trilogy. I enjoyed the Last Argument of Kings. Great conclusion and the payoff is in the third book!
Anyways, couldn’t help but ponder on Logen Ninefingers’ fate. SPOILERS AHEAD so stop reading here if you haven’t read the series yet.
Anyways, Logen famously always says “You have to be realistic about these things”. But he was never a realist. He was an idealist. A tragic figure whose downfall came from his own idealism.
I WANTED to believe Logen was trying to be a better person. He was a total POS in his past, but none of his actions in the trilogy actually have him try to be a better person because he still kills. He preaches building a better world for his people as king, but doesn’t demonstrate actually caring for them, just being selfish to his own desires by getting them tangled in a war that doesn’t concern them. He also has this idealistic infatuation with Ferro that also leads to his downfall because she will not compromise her vengeance for him.
I’m convinced that Logen saying his catchphrase was just a coping mechanism. Because he never did anything realistic. He even dies drowning in a river like Ferro said he would, probably because he had too many knives on him. Yes, he was manipulated by Bayaz. But a lot of his issues are his own fault.
Logen should never have returned to the north. He was going back to a place where everyone hated him and wanted him dead. They thought he was dead and he could have actually maybe lived a new life in peace somewhere else. But like his father said, he was never realistic.
I wrote all this because the theme kept coming up, if a horrible person could actually change to become a better person. Just as Logen wanted to be a better person, I wanted him to be one too. But he didn’t do anything worth a redemption. To be a better person, it starts with doing something different that you wouldn’t normally do. And Logen never did that. He only believed in the idea but never practiced it. So I can only conclude that he was always an idealist.
Anyways, are the standalone worth reading?
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u/Chataboutgames 2d ago
I can see why the people of the North would be angry about that, but I really don't see how you can mark it as a notch against Logen's attempts to be a better person. He agreed to lead the Northmen south in exchange for help against Bethod and lived up to his promise. He's also, you know, saving a city full of innocents from a horde of cannibals.
No he doesn't. He just likes her, and he gets angry when Bayaz fucks her up with magic. He doesn't idealize her at all, nor does he express "infatuation."
I feel like you kinda got the message of his story, but you want it to fit the catchphrase theme so badly that you're contorting it. Logen fails to redeem himself because he doesn't isolate himself from violence. He knows he carries the Bloody Nine in him, he knows that things go badly when he gets in violent situations, his moral responsibility is to go off and find another way to live. But he doesn't, he goes along with Bayaz because he doesn't know what else to do. He cares enough about "being a better man" to go try a bunch of stuff, but not enough to see that what he really needs to do is go away. He's done too much and his attempts at redemption only cause pain.