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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 18401" data-attributes="member: 63">Gary, though I think you're misinterpreting me a little, I will say again that I must disagree with you.  I do not advocate anachronistic puns or allusions, but I do think it is very important to have humor in one's stories, particularly in high fantasy adventure.  Yes, pure silliness is worthless in the long run, but a good fun story has mix humor and drama, or else it becomes either tedious or vacuous.As three examples each of high fantasy adventure at its best and worst, consider:Good example--Star Wars.  In Star Wars, Han Solo is always ready to crack a joke, or make fun of a badguy.  There isn't too much humor there, but a little bit here and there keeps the action fun, even though the subject matter is rather dark.  Even though there's a huge evil empire out to destroy them, the party doesn't go about things gloomily.  When they're all stuck in the garbage masher, they make a few jokes at each other's expense, to lighten the mood.  Having a crap monster isn't very dramatic--it's there for comedic effect.Even better example--Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  Almost all the scenes with Henry Jones are hilarious.  He's an old gentleman who, despite the danger around him, does not get flustered.  His anti-dramatic solutions are such a counterpoint to the way Indy works that it makes things funny.  But the humor makes the movie great; it doesn't ruin it.Bad example--However, as an example of this gone horribly wrong, we have Star Wars: Episode One: The Phantom Menace.  Here, jokes were thrown in just to be jokes, just to be silly, rather than working in the framework of the storyline.  Jar-Jar is just pointless, as are half the aliens in the pod race.  The humor falls flat, because it doesn't mesh with the story in any way.Good adventure humor has to either be based on something going on in the story, or it has to be a light-hearted (but not flippant) component of the story.  Though I will agree that you should not make a major villain be humorous, a comical henchman can act as a counterpoint to reinforce the seriousness of a main villain.</blockquote>

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