Friday, February 10, 2017

Space princesses

Goodreads sent me a new question asking me about my favorite fictional couple.  I decided it was John Carter and Dejah Thoris.

I like space princesses.

What can I say--I grew up on Star Wars.  Every American boy of a certain age wanted to be one of two things when he grew up: a Jedi knight, or an archaeologist.  And I'm pretty sure Leia in her golden bikini jump-started an awful lot of puberties back in the day.  (R.I.P., Carrie.)

But Leia wasn't coupled with the hero.  She was into Han Solo, and he was the anti-hero.  Poor Luke ended up alone.  :S  So, for the Goodreads question, I went with a space princess who did end up with the hero.  And, frankly, Dejah Thoris is more fascinating anyway, what with her being a red-skinned Martian and running around naked all the time.  Burroughs describes her thusly:

And the sight which met my eyes was that of a slender, girlish figure, similar in every detail to the earthly women of my past life... Her face was oval and beautiful in the extreme, her every feature was finely chiseled and exquisite, her eyes large and lustrous and her head surmounted by a mass of coal black, waving hair, caught loosely into a strange yet becoming coiffure. Her skin was of a light reddish copper color, against which the crimson glow of her cheeks and the ruby of her beautifully molded lips shone with a strangely enhancing effect.
She was as destitute of clothes as the green Martians who accompanied her; indeed, save for her highly wrought ornaments she was entirely naked, nor could any apparel have enhanced the beauty of her perfect and symmetrical figure.

John Carter, you lucky devil.  :D

Having said all that, I doubt I'll ever write any such characters.  The "space princess" archetype would be difficult to pull off nowadays.

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