The trouble with Harry

[pippin_999]

Kneasy:
> >Genuine question.
> >Can anyone think of a story of this genre where *the* main character
> >is the sharpest knife in the cutlery drawer, a fantasy lead who's, say,
> >the equivalent of Sherlock Holmes in whodunnits?  

Mike:
> Ged.
> 
> Though it takes a while.

Pippin:
Ged is not *the* protagonist of 'The Tombs of Atuan' or 'The Farthest Shore'
and he's not the sharpest character in 'A Wizard of Earthsea' so I'm not sure he
counts. At various times in the saga, he's virtuous, magically gifted, intellectually
brilliant and the main character, but never all of them at once.

A protagonist who is unquestionably virtuous, magically gifted and
intellectually brilliant would not be a hero anyway -- he'd be a god! Or a
Gary Stu. 

Pippin