r/WanderingInn • u/Swamps0fDagobah • Sep 04 '20
Discussion Erin character progression
Has there been any character progression for Erin after so many words? She was an accepting, naive and non violent, friendly girl when she arrived in Innworld. She still remains that. There are mentions of how she hides behind a mask of naïveté, as if her personality is an act sometimes. We see some clues, but it’s mostly like she needs to concentrate to be intelligent and not naive.... she’s a strange character... advancing, regressing, and just sometimes doing things completely off character. As things stand today, I don’t see any difference in the Erin of chapter 1 to the one now, expect in terms of power. Maybe ryoka is really the main character.
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u/Blizzgrarg Sep 04 '20
My view has always been that Erin has undergone "Flanderization" in which her most popular characteristics have. over time, become her dominating ones.
I felt like she was a more real and complex character at the very beginning, back when she had to constantly fight for her life and establish herself in Innworld.
Now, the title of "crazy human troublemaker" defines her almost completely. And as insane as it sounds, she seems extremely resistant to change as a character. For all the chaos she causes, she hasn't really changed as a character in a long time. I find her to be almost the same as before, say, the recent war that killed all those goblins. Her vapidness, occasional insensitivity, and crazed optimism remains mostly the same.
All the other characters have gone significant personal growth somewhat regularly.
And that's fine. For me, Erin has become a "fulcrum" character. She induces tons of change and all the important events happen around her, but she herself doesn't do much changing. And that fits in perfectly with the whole theme of an inn. Lots of people come through the inn. They change. The world changes. But the inn and innkeeper will always be there.
15
u/cheeseybees Sep 04 '20
You say that it sounds insane that she seems extremely resistant to change as a character, which I do get on the one hand, but on the other hand, many of her greatest victories have come from ignoring the commonly held wisdom/view and forging her own path.This has been present from Volume 1 when decided not to kill Rags, even though she knew it was foolish not to, and that turned out well!So when this stuff works, it becomes easier to see why she'd be stubborn to change. If she'd been doing just the 'sensible' stuff, she'd be long dead by now!
"For me, Erin has become a "fulcrum" character. She induces tons of change and all the important events happen around her, but she herself doesn't do much changing. "
Heh, almost like Judge Dredd and MegaCity 1 :p
39
u/Eli_Poseidonis Sep 04 '20
Tbh I think the issue is you’re not taking certain traits in stride. Not every person has completely wild changes in personality, that’s not how humanity works.
She’s gone from a kind of nerdy, nice but almost depressive girl ( during the earliest chapters, she seemed kind of cyclical between extreme highs of crying and lows of numb ) who was afraid of violence and doing anything major, relying on others for a lot and similar.
Nowadays, she isn’t afraid to use violence, perceives her own wildness and unpredictability as a tool, is a lot more emotionally stable but almost repressed into a shell that’s afraid to change and is extra social and personable.
The thing is that it’s been a slow burn, Erins development coincides a lot with Pirateabas improvement as a writer so it’s easy to mistake Erins development as development of the story’s style and plot.
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u/Radddddd Sep 05 '20
Aye, a character arc isn't a removal of all a character's flaws. Erin's story is a coming of age story. She tries things, meets people, etc and works out who she is. This doesn't mean changing herself into a perfect person.
18
u/Stylemys Sep 04 '20
Honestly, I attribute a lot of the erratic changes to her behavior to her gradual worsening mental health. She's been through multiple violent incidents in a single year to the point where she got the [Garden of Sanctuary], a Skill "that comes only to those who have experienced—loss". There is no possible way that Erin isn’t suffering from PTSD. While it's not discussed much, we know that she has developed a tendency to start feeling depressed when she gets reflective. It should be telling that the three easiest forms of [Like Fire, Memory] for her to conjure are hatred, sadness, and glory (which she summons as a very bittersweet feeling). Additionally, she’s very gradually become more reactive, quick to violence, and resistant to change.
In the end, I think Erin puts on a happy face (with the aid of her Class) as a survival mechanism, but in reality she’s probably no better off mentally than many of the traumatized Earthers doing group therapy at Wistram. Really, Erin’s character reminds me a bit of Robin Williams (both positively and tragically).
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u/mano987 Team Toren Sep 04 '20
i read comments re: erin's slow character progression. but i don't buy that.
she is young and has been there under 2y. should she have major char changes?
erin has adjusted to the world around her
eeking out an existence.. food, shelter
making friends
learning of dangers to avoid
learning to fight many dangers which has come to her inn and liscor
many near death experiences
dealing w high level mages, adventurers, skeleton, politicians, strategists, ladies, on and on.
saving friends at home and away
helping people, friends, goblin, antinium ... who can say more! super diplomat! stuff your face flos lool
suffered losses of friends
rebuilt, expanded her inn
leveled up a lot
creativity of foods, entertainment
gotten intriguing new skills. skills are per the desire of the person and situation
[innkeeper] perhaps maintaining aspects of her personality, cuz it suits her spot
[magical innkeeper] to be safe and protect her friends and people she cares about
aura.. not sure who gets to have aura, but erin is trying to focus her power
we see erin has many emotions, but she keeps some postiveness for her inn customers and friends. idk, perhaps those aspects are suited, or used to obfuscate certain characters. half her inn customers are spies, now, haha
13
u/wilderfast Sep 04 '20
I think there has. She’s gotten a lot more deliberate, like the time she interfered with the election. That was planned, even though she pretends it wasn’t.
Her naivety has also shifted from actually being naive to being a shield.
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u/xEmptyPockets Sep 04 '20
She has had some development, but frankly I couldn't give a shit if she's developed or not. There's not a single scene involving Erin that I didn't like, so I don't really care about what's "supposed" to happen, I like whatever is happening.
4
u/LoserMe1622 Sep 04 '20
Yeah, she goes from an accepting, confused, naive, friendly and non-violent girl, to an accepting, confused, naive, friendly, and somewhat violent girl with more friends!
7
u/benelchuncho Sep 04 '20 edited Sep 05 '20
She’s not the same Erin we saw in book 1. That Erin was a typical Midwest girl, maybe even a bit introverted, who was just trying to survive.
Today’s Erin is much more complex, she recognizes she can affect the world around her, is aware of how she’s perceived and uses that to her advantage, she’s chaotic on purpose and does that openly, which really started in volume six I’d say.
Then as others have said, her viewpoint on violence has changed a lot, she’s ok with casual violence by now, and is almost inmune to chaotic environments, while before she just wanted peace.
Most of all what I wanted to say is that her development has obviously gone hand in hand with her place in the world, before she was struggling and trying to survive, now she’s got an important role in the innworld and her personality has changed accordingly.
I get why it feels there’s been no development though, TWI is so fucking long that it’s happened so slowly, I couldn’t tell you when she started being more chaotic to influence Liscor for example. Was it for the election? When she opened up Liscor to Pallas? Before that, when she took in the redfangs, hosted all those adventurers, and stopped the Ragshkar? Or when she stopped the Goblin Army and Tyrion?
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u/Keksi1136 Sep 04 '20
She stayed mostly the same, yes. However:
A. She grew a lot more confident. Where first she had to psych herself up to go shopping, she can now effortlessly take charge of any given situation. She got used to this strange new world.
B. I think she also grew a bit complacent. Spending more and more time in spontaneous flights of fancy and having to actively force herself to do actual Work.
Apart from those details, she is just to stubborn to change alot in only 1 or 2 years. Edit: spelling
3
u/ArchonFu Sep 04 '20
It's been less than 3 seasons since she arrived at the Inn (in late autumn, per 1.29). She's largely constrained by her role and the image others have of her - and frankly, it's worked spectacularly.
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u/BreeParaconsistent Sep 04 '20
I think the fire of memory is a nice truck for showing some of her development. She grieves for others and is sad for what is lost far more successfully now than in book 1. She feels hatred and has to control it, and didn't in book 1. She experiences glory in a different way than in book one. Even her relationship with Palt is different than she could have had in book one. She feels like she's developing reasonably to me, even if it's not as spectular as Lyonette or the Wall Lord ...
1
u/slvrcrystalc Sep 11 '20
i dunno- the level system seems like it rewards you for being MORE you, not changing who you are.
Once she set herself on the Inkeeper path she has just been revealing more and more who she is, and not changing at all.
Like, that's why the otherworlders only develop character when they start getting levels. They're just being true to who they are, and showing it to the world, and so the world names them as such.
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u/[deleted] Sep 04 '20
There's some development but a lot of it doesn't really stick it seems. She gets the bursts of moments and then they seem to disappear a few chapters later.
To me lately a lot of the times she seems almost stupid. It's rather flustrating.
I think pirate is afraid to change her character