Dumb as a box of rocks

Kitanna

Kitanna

New member
In Prince Caspian, and many other fantasy books, giants are usually pretty strong, but also pretty stupid. Is it some sort of unwritten law that if you are big and muscular you have to have a brain the size of a nut?

It makes me kind of sad that in Prince Caspian the gentle giant, Wimbleweather, who could be very effective in battle, is portrayed as a lumbering oaf. He screws up battle plans and his size makes him clumisy and he pretty much described as stupid. It happens again in The Silver Chair with the giants outside of Harfang. They throw rocks at each, hurt themselves, forget the pain they've just suffered, and do it all over again.

This is something that is featured in many fairy tales and fantasy novels. And it reminds how football players and other big athletes are offer portrayed in movies and books as being extremely stupid and having a one-track mind.

It's just something that bothers me because I have known many big, strong guys who played football or were wrestlers and other sports, who were very smart.

So why is it the bigger or stronger you are in a fairy tale, the dumber you tend to be?
 
Good point. It is annoying since big and dumb rarely go hand in hand, still I think giants are traditionally portrayed as dim witted. Look at the folk tales the Grimm brothers wrote, their giants are pretty unintelegent. We can go back even further to Norse mythology where the giants are routinely tricked and outsmarted by the gods.

I don't think Lewis was trying to make some sort of social commentary, but trying to hold with the typical mythology. For the most part it seems like the magical creatures in Narnia keep with their classical roles.
 
I would generally assume that in the case of giants, who are not merely "big, strong guys" but by definition enormously powerful, it acts as a compensating device. An opponent who was both incredibly large and intelligent would be a difficult prospect for any legendary hero to overcome.

Having said that, giants aren't always depicted as completely brain-dead, even in Narnia. The Silver Chair, for example, features the giants of Harfang; while they may not be intellectual heavyweights, they are at least of average mental ability.

Also - and I'd need to check my books to be sure - I seem to remember giants in Norse mythology being similarly 'normal' in terms of their relative aptitude at using their mind. Some are far more than that, and counted amongst the wisest of beings - Mimir, for example, who guarded the well of wisdom before Odin took his head as a source of sage advice. Loki was also technically a giant, and demonstrably clever; indeed, his whole character is founded in his ability to confound and manipulate others through his clever schemes.
 
When strength fails, you have to use brain-power to solve the problem. Many heroes have an intellectual struggle along their journeys and having to use their own minds to defeat giants emphasises the power of the human mind in succeeding or getting through one's quest.
 
You're all right,being big doesnt make you dumb. but slideyfoot is right. It would be a bit unfair to the main characters to pin them against someone large and smart. I mean. Only aslan or another person like them or the witch could beat something like that.
 
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