The Sardonic Hero

I mention in a previous post that Heyer is one of the few romance writers who gives the "Bingleys" their own books. In a later post, I will address why having so many alphas floating about in romances isn't such a bad thing.

Here, I will address a third character type (between Bingley and Darcy) that isn't quite as prevalent as Darcy (or his more extroverted, business-oriented variation) but has a strong following: the witty or sardonic or faintly amused hero. 

There are number of heroines of this type as well. This post will tackle the male version. In The Crown, Antony, Earl of Snowden, falls into this category (but he also sleeps around with everybody and good heroes don't do this). 

Colin from Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn is a good hero who falls into this category, and some of the best scenes in the book are Colin's sheer amused astonishment at other people's idiosyncrasies. 

And Austen gave us Henry Tilney, who has been criticized as a spokesperson for his author but I think the critics fail to do Austen justice. She isn't channeling herself (completely) with Henry. She's also channeling the males she knows. A large number of her brothers fell into this category. 

Unfortunately, several writers have backed off from using the sardonic hero when offered the chance. Showalter made Torin a very boring alpha who fights people rather than the sarcastic computer programmer he behaves in other books. Lisa Kleypas usually falls back on domineering alphas. To be fair, I think she simply prefers writing about them. (She comes closest to an ironic male lead in Rainshadow Road.) 

But then irony is difficult, and sarcasm--as the online teaching manuals tell us--is very difficult to convey without being misunderstood. 

Those of us who love it, however, are always happy to see it, at least wrapped up in a friendly nature. 

(I'll be re-posting later about brooders, heroes with sardonic natures without the friendliness or at least, without the self-amusement.)