My favorite bard characters
The new Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves movie and The Witcher has popularized the fantasy character class of bard.
A bard, in fantasy settings and historically, was usually a storyteller, or a minstrel who would tell stories in song. In fantasy settings they are usually minstrels. In Nordic culture a skald was the term for a storyteller (usually a highly creative and very prized slave).
Here is a top ten list of my favorite fictional bards.
13. Bonus: Loki: I'll start with number 11. Bonus: Loki. There is a viking skald in Loki: Agent of Asgard that is revealed to be Loki in disguise. So Marvel's Loki goes on this list. Loki is believed in by Asatru people so this entry is specifically in regard to Marvel's Loki. He also gained the title "God of Stories."
12. Morpheus AKA Dream of The Endless AKA The Sandman. Morpheus is The Lord of Dreams in Roman mythology and in Neil Gaiman's the Sandman . In The Sandman he is also known as The Prince of Stories.
11. Lucien The Librarian and Cain and Abel from The Sandman by Neil Gaiman. Lucien was changed to Lucienne for The Sandman Netflix series but they're pretty much the same character. Lucien is the keeper of the largest library in the multiverse and was also the host of the horror anthology comics Tales of Ghost Castle. I'm sort of cheating a little here by mentioning Lucien and Cain and Abel since they're not actually bards but I love horror hosts.
Cain, Abel, Lucien, Eve (Raven Woman), Destiny (Destiny of The Endless), The Hecate (The Three Witches), and The Mad Mod Witch (The Fashion Thing) all started as horror hosts for DC's horror anthology comics. I'm reserving this spot for Lucien, Cain, and Abel. Hosts of Tales of Ghost Castle (which only ran for three issues), The House of Mystery (DC's oldest comic), and The House of Secrets (Spin-off of The House of Mystery and comic where we first get introduced to the concept of Swamp Thing).
Before Neil Gaiman used these characters in The Sandman they told scary stories in DC's horror anthology comics which were DC's answer to EC's Horror anthology comics which brings us to...
10. The Crypt Keeper, Vault Keeper, and Old Witch. The Crypt Keeper hosted the Horror anthology comics Tales from the Crypt. The Vault keeper hosted Vault of Horror. And the Old Witch also told scary stories for EC comics. The Crypt Keeper hosted HBO's Tales From the Crypt TV series as well as Tales from the Cryptkeeper animated series. Season 2 of Tales from the Cryptkeeper was co-hosted by The Cryptkeeper, Vault Keeper, and Old Witch. They also collaborated as hosts for the joke book called Jokes from the Crypt. Again, I admit I am sort of cheating here by listing horror anthology hosts instead of actual bard characters so this is the last Horror anthology hosts for the list.
9. Peter Vincent in the 1985 film Fright Night, the 1988 film Fright Night: Part 2 and the Fright Night comic books. In Fright Night Peter Vincent is a has-been horror movie actor who now hosts a late night TV show where he shows his old movies.
Peter Vincent meets a teenage boy whose neighbor turns out to be a real vampire and Peter overcomes his own cowardice to become the hero he always pretended to be. Though Peter Vincent was originally just a stage name the character eventually embraces it to become a hero and protector of the innocent.
In the comic books Peter Vincent continued to host his late night horror movie TV series while working in secret to help Charley thwart the forces of evil. I consider Peter Vincent to be a contemporary bard character.
I would put Peter further on the list at number 3 perhaps but I left him at number 9 because he is an unconventional addition to this list.
8. Evyn AKA Shadow from the novel The King's Shadow.
Evyn wanted to be a bard but was mutilated in a brutal attack His tongue was cut out and he was left mute. His own uncle sold him into slavery. But thanks to fate's benign intervention Evyn was able to learn to read and write so he was able to become a storyteller as a scribe and eventually became an adopted son of the king.
7. Gabrielle from Xena: Warrior Princess. Gabrielle was Xena's travel companion and very likely love interest (Lucy Lawless, the actress who played Xena) believed they were practically married in the end.
Xena: warrior Princess was the spin-off of Hercules the Legendary Journeys. I have often described The Witcher as being a gender inverted Xena: Warrior Princess.
Gabrielle was a novice bard who wanted to write about Xena's adventures and to eventually go on those adventures, herself.
Just as I sort of perfer Jaskier with longer hair, I actually liked when Gabrielle's hair was cut short later on in Xena.
6. Essi Daven. I'm a little confused to if Priscilla (Callonetta) from the Witcher video games and Essi Daven from The Witcher novels are supposed to be the same character or not. Essi was from The Witcher novels. I suspect they are the same character but I've seen arguments that they are different enough that they count as separate characters.
But I have also seen people try to claim that Jaskier and Dandelion are different enough to count as different characters as well and Jaskier definitely is Dandelion. Dandelion was just what he was called in the English translations of the novels and in the English language video games.
Essi is a woman bard from The Witcher who was very much in love with Geralt though Dandelion (Jaskier) had feelings for her. Sadly she eventually died of smallpox. The burden of living in a medieval-esque society.
Dandelion was in love with her.
5. Priscilla AKA Callonetta is a woman bard from The Witcher video games. A rival and romantic interest to Dandelion (Jaskier). Possibly the same character as Essi Daven but some Witcher fans have argued that they are not the same character so I am listing them separately.
4. Edgin. Edgin is a character from Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among thieves. In fact he is the main protagonist. He is a "Harper" that has fallen from grace. A Harper is a spy that poses as a bard to gain info and to stop criminals. So he is a bard but he used his status as a bard to work as a spy, hence the term "Harper."
Later he got a little greedy and it cost him dearly but he and his band of misfits set out on a quest to set things right.
3. Fflewddur Fflam. I hate the character's name but love the character. The version in the Disney film The Black Cauldron is very different from the book character, including being much older, but I still found him to be an enjoyable character. He is a classic bard with a bit of a mysterious past.
In the books he's actually a king of a small kingdom but prefers life as a wandering bard. It makes him sound a bit like a role playing game character.
2. The Storyteller. This character's name is not actually given but he was a mysterious (possibly not entirely human) traveling storyteller, with a talking dog that appeared every week on Jim Henson's The Storyteller. He was portrayed by John Hurt and the dog was voiced by Brian Henson (Son of Jim Henson).
There was a spin-off called The Storyteller: Greek Myths.
John Hurt's portrayal of The Storyteller may have been why he was chosen to voice Morpheus AKA Dream of The Endless AKA The Sandman for a scrapped episode of Batman The Animated series.
Currently Neil Gaiman is involved with a revival of The Storyteller in development by the Henson company where he hopes to explore The Storyteller's own mysterious backstory.
1. Jaskier (Translates from Polish to Buttercup) / Dandelion.
Jaskier is the bard companion of Geralt of Rivia AKA The Witcher (Monster Hunter) from The Witcher novels, short stories, comics, Netflix series, and video games. In the English language versions of The Witcher novels and The Witcher video games he was known as Dandelion. But in The Witcher Netflix series and in the original Polish he was known as Jaskier which directly translates to Buttercup.
Whatever you call him, Jaskier is a great character. He is the companion of Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher and he is also his own well-developed character. By season 2 Jaskier had evolved from the slightly-conceited rock musician-esque bard into a compassionate freedom fighter who smuggled people to safety.
I absolutely love Joey Batey's portrayal of Jaskier as well as his incredible singing voice as the character.
And though there has been some criticism over his look in season 2, I actually think he looks better with longer hair.
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Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves is MOSTLY safe!
No v* in the movie, but there is a scene where several people foam at the mouth quite intensely. Visual and some choking sounds, only lasts a couple of seconds.
(Minor Spoilers!)
This happens at the climax of the movie when the villain channels a red mist into a room full of people
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SDCC: First ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves’ Trailer Released
SDCC: First ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves’ Trailer Released
San Diego Comic-Con has finally arrived, with major film announcements set to land over the weekend. The news is already starting to pour out of the convention, but easily the biggest thing to get excited about so far is the first trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves.
The first teaser trailer for the Dungeons & Dragons movie puts the comedic tone in the spotlight, making it clear…
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