History Headscratchers / AnitaBlake

* Shouldn't the local and federal government be at least a bit disturbed by Anita's actions? Admittedly this is only working with knowledge of the books going up to ''Danse Macabre'' but Anita should still be a U.S Marshal and yet she has gotten herself heavily involved in supernatural politics, can be considered an accessory to at least a few murders and is on very good terms with an assassin. You would think that she would realize that the Justice Department might be a bit uneasy if they ever found out.

** So...Anita should go off herself (because moving would ''just'' move the problem). Do you really think it would be in-character for her to do so? More likely she'd BSOD and repress, methinks. Also, it would have a chance of hurting/killing Jean-Claude or Richard, so call it a gender-flipped AlwaysSaveTheGirl. Or she hasn't thought of it in those terms, because a master of planning she is not.

** Anita killed Gabriel and ran Elizabeth off, the wereleopard now have two new very submissive females, two apathetic 'alphas' and two enthusiastic rapists added to the Pard. There is no suggestion that Anita protects the female leopards from sexual assault, she hardly notices them. Certainly when she conspired to kill the Lions Rex, she asked the new Rex-to-be not to kill the lions who had jobs as it would cost money. She did not stand up for the lionesses even after being explicitly told that it is standard for them to be raped during a takeover.

** The vampires do have more protection from internal threats with no Nikolaos, but older stronger vampires are constatly attacking the city with accompanying deaths. Jean Claude is really the only beneficiary. When Nikolaos was in charge, he was the one performing sexual favors on demand, now Anita does that and he reaps the benefits.

** In order: What you said about taking life force actually is a viable explanation for the first few. Healing is putting energy into the person (usually), and sex is a close connection--that idea's been around for a while. Stronger the bond, easier to move. Mind rape works because life energy has the taste of the person to it, which is how I interpret the scenes where Anita magically senses her lovers. At the bottom of Anita's life energy is a frikkin' ''ocean of rage''. She's just putting a few cups--or gallons, not like anyone would notice what's missing from the ocean--of that into her attacks. No one else had figured it out because [[RealityIsUnrealistic crazy shit happens]] on a quantum level [[LampshadeHanging or something]][[hottip:*:Seriously though, we are still making scientific discoveries in every discipline, and Anita states that there are so few animators that ''every'' animator shows up for ''every'' animator's funeral. Not a whole lot of people to work through it, very few notes to compare.]]. I don't recall three marks=no diseases ever being stated, but if it were, lycanthropy is an exception to the rule of no-diseases because it's useful/supernatural. No, because Richard's wereanimal and Jean-Claude's animal to call is specifically a wolf (presumably ''canis lupus''), not any canine (which would be a family, and include way too many species). She's still a necromancer because that's what she was born, the rest is training and [[MegaManning gaining]]. And anyway, that's what she's famous for. Oh, and what she's been thinking of herself as for years.

** It seems off though that every other psysical aspect is described in lavish detail, down to eyelashes and the ''stitching'' on clothing, and like this has been forgotten. Especially since most of the men are shapeshifters- as in fur-bearing.

* Anita's MegaManning of abilities. Has it been said WHY she keeps stealing abilities from people? I mean, as far we know, she's specifically a BlackMagicianGirl necromancer. This was not only her greatest power but also her species for Christ's sake. Her gaining a vampire servant? Okaay, I chalked that up to rare, but hey she IS a necromancer, and What's His Face is dead. It seemed semi-logical. Draining the life out of a vampire? Technically, raising the dead requires her to put life/magic into corpses anyway so it was reasonable enough. Hell, as creepy as it was/is, her developing and feeding the ardeur through vampires (instead of [[strike:every man]] [[strike:everything breathing]] {{anything that moves}}) made sense even if it was weird on several levels. But healing folks through sex, calling jaguars, leopards, lions, tigers and men ([[IncrediblyLamePun oh my!]]) and effectively [[MindRape mind raping]] people? Where is that covered in necromancy and [[GodModeSue why has NO ONE ELSE in over FOUR MILLION YEARS figured out how to do all of those things and more?]] Besides the fact that she can now do practically everything under the sun and necromancy most definitely isn't everything under the sun (nor is it really [[BlackMagic under the sun]]), there's also her physical parameters. To my knowledge, Anita is Jean-Claude's human servant with three marks in her. While the final one will make her more or less immortal, shouldn't the other three have made her proof against pretty much ALL diseases including lycanthropy? Hell, if she gained the ability to call animals thanks to Richard and Jean-Claude, shouldn't she have been calling wolves, dogs, bears and other types of canines? Which brings me to something else that just occurred to me: if a necromancer's greatest power is over the dead, then why do people still refer to Anita as one? At this point, she's closer to a witch or enchantress.

* Anita's MegaManning of abilities. Has it been said WHY she keeps stealing abilities from people? I mean, as far we know, she's specifically a BlackMagicianGirl necromancer. This was not only her greatest power but also her species for Christ's sake. Her gaining a vampire servant? Okaay, I chalked that up to rare, but hey she IS a necromancer, and What's His Face is dead. It seemed semi-logical. Draining the life out of a vampire? Technically, raising the dead requires her to put life/magic into corpses anyway so it was reasonable enough. Hell, as creepy as it was/is, her developing and feeding the ardeur through vampires (instead [[strike:every man]] [[strike:everything breathing]] {{anything that moves}}) made sense even if it was weird on several levels. But healing folks through sex, calling jaguars, leopards, lions, tigers and men ([[IncrediblyLamePun oh my!]]) and effectively [[MindRape mind raping]] people? Where is that covered in necromancy and [[GodModeSue why has NO ONE ELSE in over FOUR MILLION YEARS figured out how to do all of those things and more?]] Besides the fact that she can now do practically everything under the sun and necromancy most definitely isn't everything under the sun (nor is it really [[BlackMagic under the sun]]), there's also her physical parameters. To my knowledge, Anita is Jean-Claude's human servant with three marks in her. While the final one will make her more or less immortal, shouldn't the other three have made her proof against pretty much ALL diseases including lycanthropy? Hell, if she gained the ability to call animals thanks to Richard and Jean-Claude, shouldn't she have been calling wolves, dogs, bears and other types of canines? Which brings me to something else that just occurred to me: if a necromancer's greatest power is over the dead, then why do people still refer to Anita as one? At this point, she's closer to a witch or enchantress.

*** But usually there aren't. There are at most a couple a few weeks--sometimes days--in between books, and exposition makes it pretty clear that "rogering" is all she's been doing in the meantime.

**** She's a USMarshal, and we see maybe a week of her life in any given book, where there can be a few ''months'' in between.

*** ThisTroper couldn't even finish ''Incubus Dreams.'' It was ''that'' bad. Every time it looked like we were ''finally'' going to get some sort of supernatural mystery going...like, you know, the ''series is supposed to be bloody well ABOUT''--here came the ''ardeur'' and we have Anita rogering herself silly with her male harem. How does that woman make a living, anyway? When was the last time she raised a zombie, or executed a vampire?

*** Oh, don't get this troper started on ''Incubus Dreams'' or there will be another gigantic paragraph about the horrible CharacterDerailment. But "Anita Blake: Village Bus" is even better than the other FanNickname "Anita Blake: Vampire Humper" so thank you kindly for that.

** EW! I never thought of that! Thanks for the FridgeHorror. :/

* Before this troper begins, a warning: [[YourMileageMayVary Your Mileage is More Than Likely Going To Vary No Matter How Delicately I Try To Put This]]. Upon browsing through Hamilton's newest atrocity ''Bullet'', this troper came upon a section that is without a doubt the worst, most offensive, most unacceptable CharacterDerailment in all her years of reading and watching television. The excerpt in question is the chapter where Richard, Jean Claude, Anita, and Asher are all in a bedroom together for some reason and decide to all have sex. No, I mean ''all'' of them. Allow me to show you the quote that tore [[WallBanger my brain in half]]: ''"Good," Richard said, and he stepped back from the other man. "Now I'm going to beat you [Asher] while Jean Claude fucks Anita and you get to watch, and then I'm going to fuck her while Jean Claude fucks you." I would have protested, or complained, but honestly, it worked for me.'' I...I don't even know where to begin with what was wrong with that. Honestly. I didn't think the Anita Blake series could sink any lower and now it has. I will probably suffer InternetBacklash for this but I don't even care at this point because this is the worst thing that I have ever read in this series and that's saying something. Why? Because this is just pure utter defilement of Richard Zeeman's character. If there is a worse example of BiTheWay, then this troper just hasn't seen it before. Is this troper the only one who remembers how Richard's heterosexuality used to be a source for compelling storytelling ala tension between the triumverate and conflict within the Thronnos Roke clan? Clearly, Laurell K. Hamilton has just given up on her own goddamn writing because by magically making Richard bisexual, she has reduced him to nothing more than her own personal FetishFuel {{Fanservice}}. The scene in that excerpt is ''pointless'' titillation for the masses. I am not upset because Richard is bisexual now--I am upset because it serves no purpose except to fulfill Laurell K. Hamilton's YaoiFangirl bedroom desires. If Richard's sudden change in sexual preferences or experiences was legitimate CharacterDevelopment as in he realizes how his perceptions of love have changed, I'd be perfectly fine with it. It would actually show a step in the right direction if Richard became less homophobic. But that's not what this scene is. This scene is just an example of how this series had degenerated from something smart, witty, and steamy into lazy, manufactured smut just to sell a book. Furthermore, I think she has wasted a perfectly good opportunity to do something worthwhile with the concept of bisexuality, or simply a man stepping outside of his own comfort zone in the bedroom with people he genuinely cares about, but I'm sure that's already understood since Hamilton couldn't write a believable polygamous relationship if her life depended on it. But that's just my opinion. I'm going to go back to the first nine novels and [[DisContinuity pretend this never fucking happened.]]
** Please see the following [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztS9qKN-rfY video]], which is pretty much [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Tropers/Kyoko this troper's]] abridged version of what happened to Richard during ''Bullet''.
** No InternetBacklash here- you're just putting into words how MANY of the former readers feel about this. Thank you, angry Troper!
** I'm surprised you made it all the way to Bullet before you found an out of character moment large enough to be a {{Wallbanger}}. I only made it to Incubus Dreams before I realized the awesome was never coming back. But yes, I agree with you. Anita Blake is really two different series. Pre Obsidian Butterfly is "Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter". Post Obsidian Butterfly is "Anita Blake: Village Bicycle" or perhaps "Anita Blake: Village Bus" since everyone has a ride ''at the same time''!
*** Oh, don't get this troper started on ''Incubus Dreams'' or there will be another gigantic paragraph about the horrible CharacterDerailment. But "Anita Blake: Village Bus" is even better than the other FanNickname "Anita Blake: Vampire Humper" so thank you kindly for that.

** If we go at it logically, he had just saved her life, so technically she shouldn't complain too loudly. Given that it's Anita, [[HairTriggerTemper whom that wouldn't exactly bother,]] I'd say it was because she didn't fully understand. Once she figures out it allows him ''in her head''--which, given she was surprised he got in her dreams, hadn't registered yet--she hits him at the next reasonable opportunity. She Then tells him, in no uncertain terms, to back off. Anita was ''very'' upset about it.

* Someone once posited to me that Anita Blake was kind of like [[TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]] for women. Upon this woman's advice, I began to read this series. I have since cut all contact with the woman in question after she informed me that the series gets better after Narcissus In Chains.
** It Just Bugs Me that this counts as a JBM.

** Fair enough.

** Fair enough.

** They're occasionally referred to as "bare," which I always took to mean hairless. For the females and those of Belle Morte's line, shaving makes sense, and for the werecreatures...well, I've always figured that goop was sticky. In other words, "Ow...''ow''...'''ow'''. Screw it, I'm getting rid of this stuff."

** If we go at it logically, he had just saved her life, so technically she shouldn't complain too loudly. Given that it's Anita, [[HairTriggerTemper whom that wouldn't exactly bother,]] I'd say it was because she didn't fully understand. Once she figures out it allows him ''in her head''--which, given she was surprised he got in her dreams, hadn't registered yet--she hits him at the next reasonable opportunity. Then she tells him, in no uncertain terms, to back off. Anita was ''very'' upset about it.

** It seems off though that every other psysical aspect is described in lavish detail, down to eyelashes and the ''stitching'' on clothing, and like this has been forgotten. Especially since most of the men are shapeshifters- as in fur-bearing.

** I think that falls under the law of conservative detail.

* Hamilton constantly puts he menfolk in little booty shorts. Men have body hair. It's just how it is. This is never even mentioned in passing, though- NO ONE seems to have any. Anita herself never even mentions shaving her legs. Is everyone in the Anitaverse going in for full-body electrolosis, or is this just another one of those Mary/Gary Stu-ish details?

* In Guilty Pleasures, Anita is basically told that Jean-Claude has permanently magically altered her very being in a way that vampires use to make someone there slaves, and she's not even a little upset about it.

* So how about that jerkass Rex of the werelions? He wants to [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure share power]] among the pride and remain [[HappilyMarried faithful to his wife]]. God, [[SarcasmMode what a dick]]! Anita should threaten to use her Magical Rufies to rape him and then invite [[TheMafia Chicago werelions]] to murder his family. [[IfICantHaveYou That'll fix his ass]].

** It's not a woman thing. It's an Anita thing. She said way back in the series that men are like ducklings and they impress on their first lover. That's why Richard likes it rough, because he impressed on Raina (? The first lupa of the werewolves). Hamilton's views on sex and sexuality are hardly indicative of women as a whole.

** It's not a woman thing. It's an Anita thing. She said way back in the series that men are like ducklings and they impress on their first lover. That's why Richard likes it rough, because he impressed on Raina (? The first lupa of the werewolves). Hamilton's views on sex and sexuality are hardly indicative of women as a whole.