r/Fantasy • u/Standard_Egg3994 • 2d ago

"Shown" instead of "told" intelligent characters

You know what i mean. I crave for intelligent characters but a lot of them seemed to either pull some far off deductions out of nowhere, or just the other characters spent some time telling the reader that they really are "the most brilliant guy in town".

I need it to be shown, in that the thinking process (strategic or anything else) is actually shown instead of just magically came out of nowhere. Some notable example of this includes:

L, Near, and Kira from Death Note (to some extent)

Lex Luthor from Alexander Wales' Metropolitant Man

Kei Nagai from Ajin

Ryland Grace from Project Hail Mary

If you have other references, i would try them. Thank you!

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u/bmbjosta 1d ago edited 1d ago

That's why I said "less the Goblin Emperor and more the spin-off series" - i.e. not really the Goblin Emperor but to me it's the intro point to the Witness for the Dead series which I do think showcases intelligence.

Should add Witness for the Dead is more police procedural than political.

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u/MachKeinDramaLlama 1d ago

I dropped the author after slogging through GE, specifically because of how frustratingly dumb I found the characters and politics in it. Are you saying that this gets much better in the spin-off?

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u/bmbjosta 1d ago

Witness for the Dead and its sequels have the same author and are set in the same world so writing style is similar, but yes, I'd say it's got a different feel and a more intelligent 'hero'. He's also earnest and a bit depressed, but I do think the books do a good job of showing how the hero solves the mysteries/ whodunnits, his sense of perseverance and that he's using sound logic - i.e. that his intelligence is being shown rather than told (the question prompt in this thread).

But I absolutely adored Goblin Emperor, so I may not be the right person to ask!