Characterization in a Nutshell
One of the great powers that makes the simile such a vital tool for the writer of fiction is its ability to convey the fundamentals of character in a single image. Take, for instance, the character of Lan. In one of the other books in the series, his face is described as being constructed of weathered planes and angles with cool blue eyes and gray hair. That’s all well and good, but all that physicality doesn’t quite hit the mark with as much as force as the descriptive prose found in this book, punctuated by a simile for the ages::
“Lan pursed his lips thoughtfully; it was the only expression on his face…Suddenly he burst out laughing; it looked odd, like a rock laughing.”
The Man Who Called Himself Bors
Appearing in the Prologue, you just know right away that this guy is going to be a real player on the down the road. But will be still even then be known as Bors? One gets the feeling that he will not. Something has changed the man who called himself Bors in a profound way and metaphor tells the story:
“Abruptly he felt his head grasped as though by a giant hand crushing his temples, felt himself being lifted, and the world blew apart in a thousand starbursts, each flash of light becoming an image that fled across his mind or spun and dwindled into the distance before he could more than barely grasp it.”
Look Before the Leap
Many of the metaphors which pop up in this book as well as the others in the series are of the variety that takes a certain well-known adage, maxim, proverbial saying or aphorism or whatnot and tweaks it just a little bit to give it new life. The philosophical wisdom remains pretty much the same, but the alteration of the details produces a new metaphorical frame:
“He peered into the darkness within the walls, feeling at his belt as if for the short sword and sword-breaker he had had to leave at the inn; servants did not go armed in Cairhien. `Jump in a hole without looking, and there'll be a snake in it every time.’"
Some Kind of Tired
With such a vast cast of characters, physical description is of utmost importance when it comes to delineation. It can be easy for an author handling such a population to get sloppy in those scenes that are not near the high end of magnitude and intensity. This is another great power of metaphorical language: just a few simple strokes and the differences among characters can starkly drawn:
“Egwene was sitting, watching the other two between her yawns. The night had grown late, well past the time she would usually be asleep. Nynaeve wore a face like week-old death, her eyes clamped shut as if she never meant to open them and her hands white-knuckled fists in her lap.”
Literal Magic
Magic and spells and all that sort of fantasy genre stuff strangely enough becomes a lot more interesting when it accidentally produces a literal result. In the instances, the thin line separating the literal quality of language from the figurative is made much clearer with the surprise being that line can get razor thin:
“He wished he could stop thinking, and before he realized it, the void had formed within him, making thoughts distant things, as if part of someone else. Saidin shone at him, beckoned to him. He gritted his teeth and ignored it; it was like ignoring a burning coal inside his head, but at least he could hold it at bay.”
