Po (and Brigan)

When things around you are alternatively swirling and slugging, and you're feeling the nigglings of unhappiness, there's only one thing to do.

Talk in bookspeak. :)

I've been writing too many review-y posts and there are tons of Graceling reviews already out there - so I'll just say that I loved Graceling. It was good, not as good as Fire, to me, because even Kristin Cashore admitted that it had some obvious marks of being an author's first published novel. But. It is a fantasy book - but not the sort of hardcore fantasy books or one with too much magic in it - with a strong, likeable female lead who journeys to make a difference in her medieval world - for good. And romance. Don't ever forget the romance. So, I still reread it all the time.

Therefore, just to cheer me up, this post shall be all about PO!

Do not proceed if your name is not Ho Hui Jan. This is purely for her benefit - she thinks I'm in love with a tellytubby. 

I love Po. He's the seventh prince of the kingdom of Lienid - which, by the way, is a really beautiful island I would kill to live on if it actually existed - and do you know how refreshing it is to read about a seventh prince? Usually when you read about princes, they're always either the heir to the throne or weighed down with responsibilities, or want to be, but Po has six older brothers, and he's not ambitions one bit.

I'll admit, I was kinda apprehensive about him before reading the book, because of his name. Like, Po? What kind of name is that? Prince Po does not at all sound as wonderful as Prince Brigandell, for example, and besides, 'po' means 'butt' in German. But then I found out that Po's real name is Prince Greening Grandemalion, and immediately that makes you think, hey, Po's not so bad. Po was nicknamed after the po tree, a tree in Lienid which has leaves that turn silver and gold in the fall.

Po is a Graceling, so his eyes are differently coloured. One is gold and one is silver, hence his nickname. Po's supposed to be handsome, (who wouldn't be with gold and silver eyes), dark haired, and, well, very handsome. He has this ooberly hot way of attempting a lazy, arrogant look, always standing with his arms crossed and eyes half open. As a Lienid, he wears ten rings, one for each of his family members, and one his own, the ring of his princehood. The pattern of his particular ring is the same pattern he has tattooed onto his upper arms. He wears his shirt unbuttoned at the neck, sleeves rolled up to elbows, but he also looks finee shirtless. :D

How to proceed without leaking spoilers? Impossible.

Po's Grace makes him an unparalled fighter, bested only by Katsa. It's really sweet that he doesn't mind being beaten by her, resorting to icing his wounds instead so that he can be in good shape for her to beat him up yet again. Oh, this is hopeless. Po's really the sweetest, most romantic, funniest male lead you could ever find, and you'd only understand why if you read how he spoke yourself. Po shines. He just does. And his Grace makes him a very unique character.

Therefore I cannot believe how Kristin Cashore can be as heartless as she proved to be in the book. Still, we all know she doesn't have a problem with torturing her characters. D:

Anyway, I have not forgotten Brigan. Brigan is still my grey-eyed prince, and Po is my (haha!) gold-and-silver-eyed prince. Though, technically, Po's eyes only changed colour when he was a baby or a toddler, so he was a born a grey-eyed prince, anyway. Another reason why I like Lienid. Almost everyone there is dark-haired and grey-eyed. And there are seven princes!

I don't know who I like better. They're different. Brigan is grave and burdened and an insomniac, the kind that goes dashing off on a horse leading an army into the wilderness for days and days without returning, whereas Po is amused, teasing, loves beautiful sights more of a hand-to-hand fighter than a swordsman. Sadly, though, I have a very definite picture of only Brigan in my head. He's a younger version of Aragorn, dark-haired but not with long hair, he's tall and thin, stubble, no beard, always dressed in black, silver-lined mud-splattered riding clothes with boots (in case you didn't know, that's a telltale Aragorn feature) and a sword at his waist. Whereas I can't really picture Po, seeing as I have no LOTR character to compare him to. Haha.

Gael García Bernal. He should play Brigan.

P.S. Brigan may have his Aragorn-ish-ness on his side, but Po has a castle on a cliff overlooking the sea, whereas Brigan doesn't even have his own house.

*Edit

I forgot to mention Brigan's inscrutable voice, his mental closedness, his unreadable face, the way he smiles quietly up at the night sky, how he rubs his hair when he's tired, or just the adsfjaoiudra things he says. Or when he strangles his brother and snarls at people who keep on trying to molest Fire. Brigan always smells of the cold, too. Haha can't believe I forgot that.

This is no longer Hui Jan's fault. I'm just getting carried away.