I Liked You First

female awesome meme: females in literature [8/20] ↝ emilia di carlo (kingdom of the wicked by kerri maniscalco)

Rose Hathaway is so compelling for me as a main character because she is the embodiment of the sidekick trope. She exists for the purpose of the quintessential hero character, Lissa Dragomir. This is quite literally stated by herself and others multiple times. Her unequivocal purpose/life mission is to stand by Lissa’s side and to protect Lissa. That’s her driving force for the majority of the series, that’s her purpose (in fact it’s very anti-American and I think that’s what makes VA a great series for explaining the importance of cultural relativism, but that’s a post for another time). Aside from the obvious “she exists to support the protagonist” aspect of Rose, she completely embodies all the typical elements/stereotypes we have come to associate with sidekick characters. Messy homelife, feeling unwanted/neglected by her parental figures, comic relief, a penchant for sarcasm, a knack for getting into trouble, sometimes morally questionable. She’s the Maya Hart, the Pacey Witter, the Stiles Stilinski, the Sam Puckett, etc.

Lissa, on the other hand, totally has what the tiktokers call “main character energy.” She’s nice, normal, relatable, morally sound. We meet her shortly after a devastating family tragedy (think about how often a hero’s journey begins with some sort of family tragedy), and she’s special. She is the last of the dragomir line and therefore there’s all this new responsibility that she has to handle and a title she has to live up to. She can’t seem to specialize in anything but ends up finding out she specializes in the very rare “spirit” (reminds me a lot of Tris Prior being divergent). In every sense of the word, Lissa is the chosen one. Not to mention, all the shit that happens in the first book happens to her. She gets sent the dead animals and the threatening messages and is the one that’s abducted and attracts the attention of the mysterious new guy and has a sexual awakening, blah blah blah you get my point. Lissa is the typical choice for a series protagonist and Rose, with her trouble maker tendencies and deflective sarcasm and solid comedic timing, is exactly who you would peg for the trustworthy sidekick. But Richelle Mead took the typical secondary character and made it her story. This is the sidekick’s story, told entirely from the sidekick’s first person pov. The story isn’t about the princess, it’s about her fucking bodyguard. And at the end of book 3, in what is probably one of the most satisfying moments in the series, Rose leaves Lissa’s side, therefore rejecting her role as sidekick, and is honest about something that she wants that has absolutely nothing to do with Lissa.  

(also, to be clear I love Lissa as a character, this is in no way an anti-lissa post, it’s an appreciation post for someone in YA actually doing something original in a very cliched genre)

favorite vampire academy characters (1/5) : rosemarie hathaway

stalking jack the ripper -> thomas cresswell

Headers: Stalking Jack the Ripper Series.