There is a distressing tendency in adventure fiction for the Hero's True Love to be nothing more than a trophy. She gives the hero something to aspire for, and gives the Evil Overlord someone to use as a hostage, but that's it. In the typical story she spends most of her time waiting around for the Hero to rescue her. If she had some kind of useful skill, she might be able to avoid capture, or effect her own escape in a way that does not depend on womanly wiles. The True Love is that category of protagonist whose main role is that of love interest for the hero or heroine. This does not preclude military skills, but then again it doesn't preclude the True Love from being an architect, painter, chef, house husband, etc. DISCLAIMER: The use of masculine/feminine pronouns and assignment of gender roles is not intended to preclude a reversal of gender roles. It is, however, intended to offend clueless Web TV types who think that this list bears any relation to the way I treat women in real life. |
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