To be fair, being fictional means they’re significantly less dimensional than real people and are incapable of holding secrets.
I mean there are real people I feel absolutely safe around, but they’re just normal people I know and have built trust with. There are no famous people I can say the same for because I don’t know them personally, even if they seem good on the surface. And for fictional characters like these, we “know” Aragorn is safe because he’s written to be benevolent, we’ve read his entire life, and the author’s dead so there’s no possibility for new material to change that perception.
Not because I think Steve would hurt anyone directly. But at any moment he may be like “would you like to see this deadly spider I’ve got in m’pocket?” And then pull out a spider that even spider scientists didn’t know existed or some shit. He would never let the spider hurt you, but you’d have a heart attack anyway.
The fact that they had to go to fictional characters is significant.
To be fair, being fictional means they’re significantly less dimensional than real people and are incapable of holding secrets.
I mean there are real people I feel absolutely safe around, but they’re just normal people I know and have built trust with. There are no famous people I can say the same for because I don’t know them personally, even if they seem good on the surface. And for fictional characters like these, we “know” Aragorn is safe because he’s written to be benevolent, we’ve read his entire life, and the author’s dead so there’s no possibility for new material to change that perception.
LotR should have started becoming public domain in America in 2023 btw
We’re in the LOTR community, the sample may be a little biased
Yes, but the person who responded to the question wasn’t in a LOTR community.
All the other people who answered weren’t posted here
I know, I’m just referring to this particular person’s response.
Good point!
Okay, real world examples from me (notably, a big dude, so y’know, probably not as in tune to things as I could be):
Bernie Sanders My brother My Uncle
… I… Really thought I’d have better options until I really started thinking about it
Yeah. Same issue here. So how about:
Bob Ross. Carl Sagan. Steve Irwin.
I’d swap Steve for Bernie.
Not because I think Steve would hurt anyone directly. But at any moment he may be like “would you like to see this deadly spider I’ve got in m’pocket?” And then pull out a spider that even spider scientists didn’t know existed or some shit. He would never let the spider hurt you, but you’d have a heart attack anyway.
also that 2 of them aren’t men
I would take “men” to just mean “male people,” since it’s not being asked in the context of a fantasy world.