A question to all Laurell K Hamilton / Anita Blake fans out there...

[sgorny]

As anyone who sees this knows, I've been in a reading frenzy since the beginning of the year. With the writers strike, you'd have thought I'd have gotten caught up on my TiVo (Ugly Betty, nip/tuck, & Heroes are the three main ones, haven't watched any episodes this year), but I've been deep in another obsession, and voraciously reading the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series.

But I was thinking just last night, that one of the characters Narcissus in Chains seemed to have no real purpose in the story to me, or maybe I'm just reading so fast that I missed it.

What purpose/part did Gil the werefox have to do with anything? He seemed to just spend his time terrified, huddling in a corner, or wherever he was. I don't even remember anything being mentioned about what happened to him at the end of the story.

What was the point of that? *confused* Most of the characters I can remember being introduced before either played some integral part to the fic, or if it seemed slight, their part was at least wrapped up.

Or did I just miss something?

Comments

[pixie117.livejournal.com]

I believe Gil comes into play in a later book, but I could be wrong (I am only at Incubus Dreams). However, with the way she writes (I read her blog), she may have intended him to play a bigger role, but then changed her mind since she tends to get her ideas as she goes for lesser characters and has said she has put characters in and then later realized they weren't going to be as big of a role or maybe they are even bigger then she thought. For instance, did you know she originally planned on killing of Jean-Claude in Circus of the Damned? Could you imagine what the series would have been like then? And Micah was only supposed to be a minor character in one book, but she keeps him. So she doesn't always know her full plan for the series, things just happen as they happen.

[qafhappy.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. And I'm up to "Incubus Dreams" now, too! I'm upset that I forgot my book for the first time today, and it just *happens* to be a slow day, and I'd finally have time to read it at work.

And I got a beautiful bookmark as a birthday present from bliss_, and left it in the book, and my boy kitty loves to chew on things and play with anything dangly, so I'm hoping he doesn't find it. But it's on top of my printer, on my little rolling desk, so I'm crossing my fingers he stays off!

[pixie117.livejournal.com]

You are going to beat me then! I am so busy with graduate school, it is taking me much longer to read then normal. I am mostly through Incubus Dreams though. I also try to slow down because as with her other series, I hate waiting for the next book to come out (since it takes over a year), so I try to pace myself so I always have another book to read. I have a feeling I can't do that forever though :)

[etharei.livejournal.com]

I've learned to not think too much about the purpose of minor characters in the ABVH books :P Wait 'till you get to the later books, I've kind of lost track of a number of vampires. I think Gil is mentioned at some point after NiC, though. Maybe LKH changed her mind but developed a new story to reuse him in later on.

[in-the-tropics.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, you know, I can't remember Gil much at all. I mean, I know who he is, but I honestly cannot recall what part he plays later on. I've found that Anita Blake will do that, introduce a character, who really only seems to mill around in the background.

Now, am I the only one who thinks Nathaniel and Jason should do a joint-strip to "I'm bringing sexy back"???