Regarding Tortall: Thoughts on Kel

Despite having read Song of the Lioness and The Immortals quartets numerous times and Tricksters quite a few times, I've only read Protector of the Small for the second time recently, just finishing the last book two nights ago. Why? Simply because when I first read PotS, at the age of twelve or so, Kel didn't interest me at all and so I never thought of giving it another go. Until now of course.

For the first... two and half parts of the quartet (so about half way into Squire) I still don't find Kel a particularly interesting character. It's actually not until a bit into Lady Knight that I finally start liking her and respecting her, but only in that one book. Overall I still think she's a bit too.... bland.




The thing about Kel is that all her problems are largely external. It's all other people not liking her because she's a girl, other people causing trouble for her, but she herself is very... sure of who she is. She wants to be a knight, she wants to protect people, and she does. Sure, she has a bit of a problem figuring out how in the beginning but she overcomes it quite easily. Sure she has difficulties keeping up with the boys (as Alanna did) but again, it's largely an external thing. She only internal problem she has is the issues with relationships and crushes and her feelings for Cleon, which eventually get smoothed over without much issue. Pretty much, to me, Kel doesn't seem to show much growth as a character in my eyes. She starts out wanting to be a knight to protect people, and that's what she ends up doing. Also - in terms of maturity growth, I think Neal is able to summarize why her growth seems so minimal. At the age of ten he tells her that she's the "oldest ten year old he's ever met" and that seems to tie in to her lack of growth - because truthfully, she doesn't need that sort of growth! And... well, it's not that interesting to read about now is it?

So, my critiques on Kel isn't because I don't like her. As a person I think she's great, she's a good role model to have, etc. etc. but it's just hard to relate to someone who is already somewhat kind of perfect in who she is and what she wants.

If we look at Alanna, Alanna had leaps and bounds of character growth. She went from "I want to be a kick-ass knight, screw the patriarchy, love is stupid, I'm gonna grow old and become a batty old cat lady to die a lonely death" (OK, not so extreme but you get my drift) and she comes out at the end surrounded by friends, engaged, comfortable with being a woman and a knight, and then later on a mother etc. Daine also grows from a shy, timid girl to someone with confidence in her abilities. Her growth isn't as drastic as Alanna, but it's a change, and it's a clear change from "..they're all going to hate me " to "best buddies with the strongest mage in Tortall yo!". And Aly... never really stops being spoiled but I appreciate Aly's growing understanding of the troubles her mother goes through, as well as the awareness she gains of herself. Aly's story is clearly one of a teenager coming to her senses. Kel has none of that. She starts out "I want to be a knight and protect people" and ends up "I want to be a knight and protect people".

I understand that Protector of the Small is largely about the issues with a female knight actually going through what it takes openly, without hiding it. It's largely a political book - hence why all the problems are external - and I like that. I like the messages and I think they're good, but it makes it hard to relate to Kel for me because she's already "perfect". She's reached her pinnacle of who she is and what she's going to do and it's hard to stand behind her and cheer her on because... what are we cheering her for? For becoming a knight? For fighting for women's rights? She's already got it all put together pretty darn well. Her lack of growth and struggle and the sureness of her own character just makes her seem like a place mat, just a convenient piece to give us eyes to the rest of the problems in the story but not to the person telling the story herself.

The reason I begin to take interest in her in Lady Knight is because we do get to see growth, or a sense of maturity that obviously wasn't there before. I know - you're probably like "see! Growth!" and yes! That is why I am saying I enjoyed her more in the last book of the quartet. It was fun seeing her lead the people of the Havens. It was fun watching her create plans to save her people. It was great seeing her turn into the commander that Raoul said she clearly was. This is also why I start liking Kel a bit more in Squire too. Although that is largely just due to Raoul guiding her, and Raoul is awesome so it's hard not to like Squire when Raoul is there. But I am digressing. The thing is in Lady Knight you finally get to see the culmination of "growth" which I had been looking for in the first two books of the quartet. You see her take the reigns, and you see her fitting in to the confidence she's always had but never realised or utilized just as well as she had now.

I love Kel at the end but I don't like her as a child because I can't relate to her. I can't relate to her as an adult either, but by then I don't expect her to have all these moments of "growth" that a kid should experience. I was never a child who knew what I wanted, and had such strong beliefs, I was like (and still am like) Alanna - confused and in the process of changing. Kel is just an alien to me when she's a page and a squire, but when she's 18 and confident I'm more like "yeah I can roll with that". As she's growing up though? Not so much.

So, what I'm trying to say is Kel as a person is a great person. I'd love to be friends with her, but truthfully I don't think I'd be able to. She's a bit too idealistic and I'd find myself rolling my eyes at her (as I did often in the book) a bit too often to be able to be best buddies. Sadly, as the main protagonist in the Protector of the Small series she doesn't cut it for me, and because this is her story it makes it hard for me to want to pick up this series as much as the other three Tortall series out there. I enjoyed the books, don't get me wrong, but they just don't have a strong grasp on me as the other books do.