The Best Written Character in Fiction
Midius. Midius, Midius, Midius, O how I hope to capture a fraction of your essence in my own meager literary vessel one day. Stormlight Archive has dynamite condensed in character form, with some characters being so explosively vivid that they can only be included in a fraction of the amount of pages as other characters, not only because he eclipses them and dulls their shean, but because they will literally burn the brains of the reader by sheer spice. But just like all characters, before you can inject true character into them and give them life, you need a structure, a blueprint to start. In this article, we will go step by step through those blueprints to truly understand Wit (The more common nickname of Midius).
The Backstory: Almost every good story does not start at the very beggining of someones life. Thus, a set of events need to bring the person to where they are in the story, both physically, but perhaps more importantly were their emotions, strengths, and flaws are. Wit was one of sixteen who sought to destroy Adonalsium, and thus shatter the Cosmere into the many dimensions that it currently has. As a result, each of the members of that team were greeted deific powers, except for Wit, who refused the bulk of the power, only accepting the immortality and turning the rest into perfect memory and what is essentially plot armor. From that point until the present, he has wondered the Cosmere, with a soul-sense always guiding him to the person or place who needs him most. He does not posses immense power; but he truly lives up to his name, with an immense degree of knowledge and guile allowing him to give people the tools they need to form a truly great story. He has a perfect memory, and uses that to memorise each of the people he has helped, catologing their stories and often retelling them.
His introduction to the plot: He is, at first, a superficial character; he appears as the jester for the court of Alethkar, with the job of insulting rivals so that the king doesn’t have to. He thus immediately is quite funny, and absolutely roasts people, for example: “Your face defies description, but only because it nauseated all the poets. Theologians use you as prook that God exists, because such hideousness can only be intentional.” However, this comedic relief facade slowly fades, as he begins to unexpctedly show up, giving pep talks to different characters before disappearing into the night. This is the image painted by the first book, and by this point he is already endearing and comes of as the classic element of the heroes journey, the “Mentor.” But, in the first prologue…
The truth of his tongue: In every epilogue, we get a monologue of his about how to create fiction, how he engineers the mindset that maximises the receivers engagment, why novelty is beyond skill, how tempering expectation is the key for impact and how to exceed a promise without lying. He talks about how it is not how much the audience likes art as much as long as it is hated, because art not hatable cannot be good, that hate cannot detract from a work but only add. But the best monologue of all, and the one I would use for speech meet, is the pages 1214 and 1215, where he talks about writing as using the same dirty tricks of a street fight, where he talks about the perfect lie being worse than a flawed one, where he says this quote: “The challenge, is to make everyone believe you have lived a thousand lives, make them feel the pain you have not felt, make them see the sights you have not seen, and make them know the truths you do not know.” All of these killer monologues add an immense context and flavor for the stories that he tells other characters, and by extension, the stories he tells you. HE. IS. CHARISMA!
The Stange Heart: A good character one who the reader can empthasize with. The perfect character, Wit, empthasizes with you. At the end of Oathbringer, aside from giving another killer monologue, he also goes and consoles a girl whose mother died in the Thaylen siege. He breathes life in a doll to achieve the immposible: Bring a girl from the grip of death’s mourning in mere moments. He is the kindly grandfather who makes you feel warm. He is the trickster who brightens your day. He is the once to admit his flaws so you don’t have to.
Wit is my favorite character in fiction, and it his rare appearances leave you hungry for the next one, driving you to buy the next book and unlock the next revelation of the infinitely layered demigod. The Chase summary is this: Wit is the kind of character who offers transitory quality scene by scene, while also adding an absurd degree of emotional depth and abstract sensation into the fabric of those around him. I’ll leave you with one last Rythm of War quote for the road, one final sample to invite you to further experience: “‘What game do you want to play here?’ ‘A game of sense.’ …’What?’ ‘Sense Odium. The only kind I have is nonsense. Well, and some cents, cents are nonsense here too–so we can ignore them. Scents are mine aplenty, and you never care for the ones I present. So instead, the sense that matters is the sense Dalinar sensibly sent you.’ ‘I hate you.’ ‘Rayse, dear,’ Wit said, ‘you’re supposed to be an idiot. Say intelligent things like that too much, and I’ll need to reevaluate.”