One of the most important, if overlooked, stock characters in fiction — in particular, fantasy fiction — is “the fool.”
Shakespeare created perhaps the most well-known fool of all time in Falstaff, a character who appears in King Henry IV, Part One and Two, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Falstaff is a bumbling, fat, immoral, boastful ass.
Falstaff is ridiculous — even his name is a joke, a pun about sexual impotence. But his presence reinforces an uncomfortable truth: much of life is ridiculous.
Falstaff may be the most famous fool in literature, but he is far from alone.
For contemporary fantasy fans, perhaps the most well-known fool is Xena: Warrior Princess’s hapless Joxer.
Like Falstaff, Joxer has an incredibly high opinion of himself, seeing himself as a fierce and powerful warrior, when in reality he is klutzy and inept. He even famously sings his own theme song, “Joxer, the Mighty,” since no one else is singing it for him.
When we first meet him, he is trying to serve the evil Callisto, but quickly realizes he isn’t meant for evil, and thus afterward vows to only fight for good at Xena’s side, provided she allow him to do so.
Joxer is a fool, to be sure, but as an audience, we love him for all his endearing ineptitude, and sympathize with him for being a normal person at the side of extraordinary heroes, which is a feeling we all have in our lives at one point or another.
But like Shakespeare’s Falstaff, Joxer is very much more than just a clown: he is a fully fleshed-out character with feelings, and ultimately exhibits true heroism (at least on some occasions!).
Furthermore, for much of the series, he is in love with Gabrielle, Xena’s companion, and as often is the case in these tales, this love is unrequited. Instead of being yet another barb to use against him, the storyline is handled sensitively, and we as an audience feel that sting of unreturned affection.
In other words, when the jokes finally stop, Joxer performs one of the fool’s most important, and most classic, functions: to speak the truth — for, after all, it is Joxer who sees long before anyone else the most fundamental theme of the series, the depth of the love Xena and Gabrielle share.
Often it is only the fool who can speak the truth — for he is the only character unencumbered by social mores and has no status to lose. Furthermore, when words of true wisdom come from a character that the audience has previously dismissed, they have that much more of an impact.
No matter how many times we’ve seen the character of the fool, and no matter how many times we’ve previously dismissed him only to be surprised by his sudden truth-telling, we’re almost always surprised when it happens again.
Now that is a powerful archetype!
Another contemporary fool is Xander from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who for seven seasons was one of the few characters not to obtain superhuman powers, instead providing mostly mortal-strength punches during fights, and the always well-timed wise-crack before and after — often very wise wise-cracks.
In the seventh season, the evil priest Caleb notes that it is Xander who is “the one that sees everything,” who sees the strengths and weaknesses of all his friends, simply because no one is looking at him. When Dawn hears this, she even suggests this might be his long-searched-for superpower.
And when the character’s storyline darkened to the point where he could no longer be plausibly considered a fool, the series served up another clear-cut fool in the character of Andrew.
Andrew Wells (who was kind enough to lend his expertise to one of our Deadliest Fantasy Warrior articles) began as one of the more inept villains on Buffy known as the Trio, a group of three nerds determined to bring down Buffy.
But after his defeat as a villain, he joins the ranks of the good guys, even though he mostly serves as comic relief, a whiny wimp who would have been overshadowed in the presence of such heroism had it not been for his silly way of seeing the world.
Andrew is also sort on an inside joke: a dork who was obsessed with sci-fi and fantasy, one who could quote Star Wars or Lord of the Rings flawlessly at the drop of a hat, a devoted superfan of the sort that the show Buffy itself inspires.
But like Falstaff, Joxer, and Xander, Andrew could also possess a surprising degree of wisdom, usually at the most unexpected of times. When Anya dies, Andrew, who annoys people with his ridiculous lies, tells Xander a whopper: that she died saving his life (she didn’t). But in this case, it’s not ridiculous at all. In fact, it’s the perfect thing to say, lending comfort to a devastated lover.
The fool has been a constant of fantasy fiction for centuries, and all signs show that the archetype is not going anywhere. The fool can take many forms: a jester, a clown, a bombastically arrogant old man, or even a young gay super-nerd (and can I just say? A female fool or a “fool of color” would be nice to see for a change.)
So go ahead and laugh at that foolish person on the stage or the television. You’re supposed to. And why not? The fool is ridiculous.
But you just might feel a little foolish yourself when the laughter stops and you realize once again that the character you’d so quickly written off was ultimately the only one willing to tell you the truth.
Similar Posts:
- Review: BUFFY Season 8, Issue #31: Introducing Super-Buffy!
- Review: BUFFY Season 8, Issue #32: Superman Who?
- Deadliest Fantasy Warrior: Xena vs. Buffy
- Ted Raimi Interview: “We’re Living in a Golden Age of Fantasy Movies and TV”
- Review: BUFFY Season 8, Issue #28: Who Needs Magic When You’ve Got…Farming?
Well, if you’re looking for a woman “fool” archetype, you biffed it by forgetting one of the most memorable & lovable ones: Luna Lovegood.
Good one!
Joxer is also descended from another great fool, Gilligan. I remember staring at his goofy hat for half an hour before I finally remembered where I had seen it before!
Great article. :)
I think it could be argued that Anya was a female fool. And Harmony, during the final season of Angel. Both were funny, painfully blunt, and surprisingly wise at times. Harm certainly fit into the goofy-and-kinda-dumb mold.
I think the dearth of “fools of color” is partially just a lack of characters of color in fantasy fiction. Writers are afraid to create a fool of color if he or she will be the only person of color (of one of a small number) in that world for fear of being called a racist. This larger issue probably stems from the tradition of setting fantasy stories in worlds that are basically Medieval Europe, but that’s a discussion for another time.
Very perceptive about “fools of color,” and I agree completely.
As a devoted superfan of Buffy, I have one quibble: Dawn suggested that Xander’s ’superpower’ is to see what nobody else sees (in the episode where it’s suggested Dawn might be a potential) and Caleb’s comment is in reaction to that earlier exchange, so you had the order reversed.
Ah! Thanks.
OK… First off, love the article! The only nitpick I have is I too thought Andrew lied…. until I went back and played the scene slowly…. Anya pushed Andrew away and was sliced in half….so, she did actually save his life…. whether she really wanted to ? Debatable.
Lets not forget the ultimate fool ….Ralph Wiggum :)
You’re absolutely right! (But he’s not fantasy, alas)
Sadly…I know at least three Ralph Wiggums in real life lol
Interesting idea, and I agree that Xander, while not a classic fool, was “fool”-ish.
Joxer was an excellent character, but stilted just as he was breaking out in S5 (but then that happened a lot in that season). I doubt that the producers expected him to become so important when they introduced the character, but then I doubt they thought the same about Gabrielle as well.
Hating on Falstaff? I weep, gentlemen. You’ve made me weep.
Yes, there’s something extremely sad about my defending XENA while criticizing Shakespeare. Priorities, Brent, priorities!
Haha! :)
I know my opinion on this issue is unconventional, but I loathe Falstaff in I Henry IV. Personally, I think Falstaff weakens the plot of the play dangerously, but I know I’m in the minority in this. The problem with Joxer that Agent 86 sees is related to a problem with Xena and Hercules: both series are largely episodic with very little in the way of arcs and continuity stability. For Buffy, I did like both Xander and Andrew (although Andrew’s character was butchered on Angel).
Wait! Hold on! I must respectfully disagree. I think XENA at least had great character arcs. Xena and Gabrielle (especially) went through very very interesting changes — so much so that the show lost steam after the fourth season, because the characters had gone through so many changes.
But I don’t disagree with you about Falstaff. :-)
I have to agree with “The Editor” on this one.
Seasons 3, 4 and 5 of “Xena: Warrior Princess” were all story-arc based seasons (although the art of story-arc story-telling was better handled in seasons 3 and 4). And season 2 had its own min-arc starting with “Destiny” and involving Xena’s death. Season 6 also had a couple of mini-arcs with “Gabrielle’s trilogy” (Who’s Gurkhan, Legacy and Abyss) and the Norse trilogy.
And as the Editor mentioned, Xena and Gabrielle both had great character-arcs throughout the entire series - notably Gabrielle who developed from a farm-girl who dreamed of adventure to a battle-hardened warrior. Supporting characters like Ares and Callisto also got pretty substantial character-arcs, particularly Callisto with her whole “fathering and then being reborn as Xena’s daughter”.
I’m a fan of all three “fools”, but I also lament the lack of character development that Joxer received on “Xena: Warrior Princess”.
Joxer certainly had a number of episodes in which he could “shine” and develop (perhaps most notably, the season 4 episode “The Convert”), but the character development never “stuck”. In his very next appearance, Joxer would be back to his “default” persona, despite the fact that the previous episode strongly indicated that Joxer should have been fundamentally changed as a result of his experiences.
Rant aside, I did like the somewhat consistent development of his love for Gabrielle (Joxer’s scenes with Gabrielle in the season 5 episode “Eternal Bonds” were some of the best in the entire season 5), his relationship with Meg (although there was something of an “ewwww” factor since Meg was yet another identical Xena look-alike) and even his relationship with Xena (their few shared scenes in the season 6 episode “Soul Possession” are the only reasons to watch an otherwise dreadful episode).
Joxer’s death and the lack of a “funeral” scene or a “proper/final” good-bye was a great disservice to the character. Sticking Joxer’s body in some bushes to “collect later” was not a good way to say good-bye to the show’s third lead. At least Joxer got to return one way or the other in “Motherhood”, the aforementioned “Soul Possession” and “When Fates Collide”.
And bore I let my Xena preference show too much, I also highly enjoyed Xander and Andrew on Buffy (and Angel in the instance of Andrew). I was a little … miffed that Johnathan wasn’t the one who got to join the “Scooby Gang” since he’d been a regular from the very beginning and easily carried the episode “Superstar”, but I learned to appreciate Andrew. Xander was a great “every-man” character who got to “save the world” multiple times even though he lacked any super-powers.
The DVD commentaries are interesting about Joxer’s death — that basically they had a “death scene” written and decided it worked better to just have him…die. I’m not sure I agree. It’s not so much the lack of a funeral as the lack of a point.