(Spoilers Through Name Of The Wind Only!!!)
If you’re reading The Name of the Wind and you find yourself growing annoyed with the character Denna you’re not alone. Hatred for Denna is practically a pastime for some fans. We’ve put together six reasons why Denna is the absolute worst…and one reason why she may not be as bad as you think.
Number 1 – All Women Hate Her
When Kvothe and Deoch are getting drunk at the Eolian Deoch states that “women hate Denna.” Well, 50% of our podcast crew is in fact female. So, we are apparently obligated to hate Denna as well. Deoch alludes to this being because “other women” are jealous of her. They envy the attention that she gets from other men. The problem with this line of reasoning is that it assumes that all “other women” are spiteful and petty. If “other women” is essentially all other women, then this is saying that “all women” are petty and territorial and only want relationships with women that they don’t find threatening. Of course, this isn’t true. We know many very attractive women with lots of female friends. We’re willing to bet that you do too. There are also several attractive female characters in the novel who don’t seem to have this issue. Of course, there are in fact women who do think this way. But, in our experience women who don’t “get along with other women” usually have issues because of their own poor attitudes and not because other women feel threatened by them.
Number 2 – She’s Not Like Other Girls
In a similar vein, Denna reminds us of a very common trope that comes up all too often with female characters in fantasy novels. One of those tropes is the “She’s Not Like Other Girls,” girl. This girls only redeeming quality is that she doesn’t act like “normal” women. C’mon authors. Are you trying to alienate 3.5 billion humans? What’s so wrong with “other girls,” that fantasy authors want to diss them so much? The “She’s Not Like Other Girls,” girl likes knives, and would never wear a dress. And because of that the male protagonist is instantly enraptured? Why do people seems to think that the way to write a strong female character is to make her pretty but otherwise remove all other traces of what is traditionally feminine?
Number 3 – She’s the Pedestal Girl
Another common trope that Denna reminds us of is what we call the “Pedestal Girl.” This character is the object of the male characters affections. The protagonist will spend precious paragraphs describing the nape of her neck. Everybody loves her. She can do no wrong. But, does she ever actually do anything right? This character trope is one where the character is defined by the ways in which the other characters react to her. But, in her own actions there really isn’t much to talk about. You spend the whole novel waiting for her to do something that would earn the worship that she receives. But, it never comes.
Number 4 – Kvothe is at his Worst When he’s with Denna
Kvothe is a great character. And one of the things that we love about him is his brash confidence. Kvothe is confident to a fault. But, when he is with Denna he turns into a weak and terrified boy. They might have charming conversations. They might flirt. But ultimately nothing is going to happen. They’ll go their separate ways without the romance having moved forward in any significant way. After several chapters of this a person can be excused for getting a little annoyed.
Number 5 – Denna Gets No Benefit From the Narrative
Look, Kvothe isn’t a perfect character. He’s brash, impulsive, and kind of a know-it-all. But, we accept it with him because we’ve spent the entire novel inside of his narrative. We understand why he can play complicated pieces of music on the lute even after breaking a string. We understand why he can’t keep his dates with Denna. But, we don’t know anything about Denna’s past. So, when she turns out to be an amazingly talented singer it doesn’t feel like it’s been earned. Perhaps there is a reason for the way that Denna behaves…perhaps there isn’t. But, we don’t know because this isn’t her story.
Number 6 – We Know that it Ends Badly
She hurt our boy. Of course, we don’t like her. We can’t overlook the fact that Kvothe isn’t with Denna now and he’s clearly heart broken over the whole thing. We knew this before we ever knew who Denna was. This can’t help but color our impression of her.
And One Reason Why Denna Isn’t As Bad As We Think…
Because, none of the statements above are actually about Denna. Think about it. These are the impressions that we get of Denna from other characters. These are the things that she reminds us of. But, are they really facts based on what we actually see from her?
Let’s go through them one by one. First, Deoch tells us that “women hate Denna,” but that’s not what we actually see. We really only see Denna have one interaction with another female character. That is Reta on the caravan from Tarbean to Imre. This character seems to be fond of Denna. As for the tropes of the “Pedestal Girl,” and the “She’s Not Like Other Girls,” girl, these are things that she reminds us of. But, it’s not Denna’s fault that Kvothe pines over her. And she doesn’t ever say anything negative about “other girls.” Denna does seem to bring out the worst in Kvothe. That one is true. But, that says everything about Kvothe and nothing about Denna. It’s also true that we know nothing about Denna. But, that doesn’t mean her behaviors aren’t justified. Kvothe also behaves strangely throughout the novel. But, we excuse his behavior because we have history with him. We know nothing about Denna. So, she doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt that Kvothe seems to have earned.
In summary, we still think that Denna is the worst. We still think that she’s dangerous. We’re willing to bet that the reason why she isn’t with Kvothe anymore is because she did something awful…like “bunny boiling” awful. And, some of her actions are so bizarre that it’s fair to question them. But, we’ve also come to realize that many of our opinions about Denna have less to do with her and more to do with what we are bringing to the table as readers.
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