History Headscratchers / AnitaBlake

** A lot of writers (and actors, too) treat their characters like real people. It's a way to keep them real on the page (or screen), make them seem less like mobile props just there to serve the story. A lot of authors have had moments where they wanted a story to go in a particular direction, only to realize the characters won't bend that way, and a lot of actors have moments where they realize that their character would never say or do something the story requires of them. Hamilton may take it UpToEleven, but it's hardly uncommon.

** With the latest book (''Bullet'') and a brand new CharacterDerailment on Richard's part, they're chummy again. And by 'chummy,' I mean Richard has finally joined the Cult of Anita, and is now comfortable- after '''five books''' of vitriol- with worshiping her and throwing his own emotional (and sexual) needs aside for a grand ol' time of MarySue-ish one-way monogamy.

* Anita's PowerCopying 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 (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.

** It's a ridiculous GodModeSue power, but as of ''Bullet'', it seems to be explained. If I understand correctly (1) Anita is an exceptionally powerful necromancer; (2) the vampires have said many times that you must never never bring a necromancer into a triumvirate or make one a human servant, or they will gain terrible powers; (3) part of that seems to be PowerCopying; (4) Anita's beast powers are a result of her PowerCopying the Master of Beasts, a super-vamp who has power over all weres. Apparently, his powers work about the same as hers.

** It wouldn't be in character at all. I was more commenting on how LKH's attempt to make Anita even more of a ''MarySue'' than she was has shifted her from 'Not Terribly Effective Hero" to ''NiceJobBreakingItHero''. She probably doesn't realise this.

** The series is awful, but that particular quirk is over-justified, if anything. Sleeping with Anita is a power up for supernaturals, plus she has the magic power of making people fall in love with her, plus she has large breasts. Yes, she's a pain in the rear, but I could see a bunch of people deciding to hold their nose and go for it and/or being sucked into her MarySue magic. (In the first few books, Jean Claude is running a game on her at least at first, and Richard, well, who can explain love?).

* As mentioned in the main page under HollywoodLaw, the various vampires and werewolves and other supernatural creatures (except for demons) are all supposed to be taxpaying US citizens,yet Jean-Claude regularly has people summoned to his presence by the expedience of sending a heavily armed thug (Anita) or a powerful vampire (Asher) to retrieve them, often against their will. That's kidnapping. But no one ever thinks to call the cops afterward. Likewise, the entire idea that a vampire or werewolf has to get "permission" from the local vampire lord or werewolf pack leader before moving into a new territory is also a violation of civil rights. One can imagine a vampire or werewolf who is new to the Saint Louis area, and who has been harassed and/or threatened because they didn't get approval first suing Jean-Claude or Richard Zeeman for their entire net worth because of civil rights violations. Why is this never brought up?

** Anita killed Gabriel and ran Elizabeth off, the wereleopards 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.

*** "I couldn't help myself; I apologize for that one," after a 'jab' that was noting that, yeah, she's not the only one to get inspiration from a dream, and knows what a good number of the audience was thinking. Also, upon watching that...she said she's not a pedophile as a very clear message for her agent to give to people who wanted her to write tween books (10-11 by their definition), and then suggesting that the 10- and 11-year-olds would move on to ''Literature/AnitaBlake'', or '''''MerryGentry'''''. She didn't want to expose little kids to sex.

** A lot of writers (and actors, too) treat their character's like real people. It's a way to keep them real on the page (or screen), make them seem less like mobile props just there to serve the story. A lot of authors have had moments where they wanted a story to go in a particular direction, only to realize the character's won't bend that way, and a lot of actors have moments where they realize that their character would never say or do something the story requires of them. Hamilton make take it UpToEleven, but it's hardly uncommon.
* Wolves are monogamous how can a large group of people with a strong link to wolves accept that their queen is...[[MyGirlIsASlut well]]?

** A fair point until about Incubus Dreams or so (and probably explained by Anita's denial issues) but given the accelerated healing Anita now has, any kind of internal birth control might go badly, and the patch or shot might not work. Getting her tubes tied is possible, but while we know lycanthropes can get vasectomies, like with the internal birth control we don't know what the healing factor might do if she gets her tubes tied.
* Blake's idea of sanitation after magically-induced sex with multiple strangers is a wet nap. How does that get anyone close to clean?

** Actually that's somewhat of a simplification of what's happening. It's not the power of a deity but rather the faith and belief of the person themselves that counts. There is mention in the books of a yuppie warding off a vampire... with his wallet (because he worships/has faith in/whatever the power of the almighty dollar). Moreover, as it's a matter of 'true' faith simply joining a religion would be a meaningless act as far as the power of it was concerned - it's not about lipservice it's about what's inside. It's somewhat of a parallel to magical ability. Moreover, there are many creatures that exist in the universe that predate the rise of any modern religion as well as, you know, coming from various religions. Lastly, it's something the books only lightly touch upon. It's possible that religion is on the decline... because it's pretty darn easy to know who is truly faithful and who is merely paying lip service. Similarly, the book talks about a vampire church - thus some religions may be dying only to be replaced or stand side by side with new ones.

** This Troper has a theory that someone's said something to Hamilton about the fact that her SelfInsert has had sex with a sixteen year old boy, and she may be halfheartedly attempting damage control. In a recent appearance on a panel in Chicago, she, somewhat out-of-nowhere, insisted that she would never write YA because she's "not a pedophile." '''Wot?''' What does that have to do with YA Fiction? [[SarcasmMode Charmingly,]] she then followed this up with a dig at the Twilight series- I can't even ''stand'' Twilight, but even '''I''' think it was uncalled for and petty.

** Its both a MoralEventHorizon on Anita's part and ValuesDissonance. The different kinds of were groups dont function like human society. Democracy is nice but vampires and weres can be controlled by anyone more powerful. That Werelion Pride was functionally useless, requiring protection just to keep from being taken oven by other Werelions. In a world where AsskickingEqualsAuthority they sucked. Anita had the protection removed after the Rex had betrayed her, leaving Her and most of the Vampires to die rather than cheat on his wife. Thats another problem as monogamy isnt something that lions have. If anyone else has been leader of that Werelion Pride they likely would have a harem of woman, like real lion prides. Basically the guy was TooDumbToLive as a werelion.
* 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.

** It seems off though that every other physical 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.

** Hamilton apparently likes her men as they appear on the covers of romance novels, and isn't going to let a little thing like realism get in her way. ... Normally that last bit wouldn't come out so snarky, but y'know... [[AcceptableTargets it's Laurell Hamilton]].
** It's strange, but I have a brunette male friend who has arm and leg hari but no chest hair beyond a treasure trail, so maybe it can happen?

** It's a ridiculous GodModeSue power, but as of Bullet, it seems to be explained. If I understand correctly (1) Anita is an exceptionally powerful necromancer; (2) the vampires have said many times that you must never never bring a necromancer into a triumvirate or make one a human servant, or they will gain terrible powers; (3) part of that seems to be PowerCopying; (4) Anita's beast powers are a result of her PowerCopying the Master of Beasts, a super-vamp who has power over all weres. Apparently, his powers work about the same as hers.
** She's got so many different sources of power at this point, it's hard to keep them straight. First, there's her "own" powers, the stuff she gets from the necromancy, the zombie animation, and the basic level of witch training she's recently had. Also, at least by the current book, Anita seems to basically be a lynchothrope, and a pan-ware at that ever since being scratched by a pan-ware; she doesn't actually change, although she's come close a few times, but she carries many strains of it, and has many of the characteristics of it (fast healing, requires heat to heal, craves flesh, ect) and she gets some of those mystical abilities. It's mentioned she's not the only person to be a carrier without actually turning, although it's very rare. She's also the human servant of a vampire, and so she has a lot of his powers, and she gets powers from being linked to Richard (she started showing some warewolf-ish powers even before she was infected because of that). And she gets control of whatever vampire powers are used on her. And she has other sources of power that derive from those; the munin came from her link with Richard and her control of the undead, but now that's become a whole separate source of power itself; the ardor came from her human servant stuff, but the power she drains from that feeds into all of her other powers and makes them stronger. Take all that, mix and match, and add a good dose of heroic willpower, and she can basically do anything.

** Swanmanes are addicted to BDSM sex so no change there but their King now has to tithe power to Anita. Werehyenas took over 50 casualties in a battle against Chimera, who was in town to 'court' Anita and bought the wereleopards with him and also brought traitorous werewolves into the pack.
** 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.
** Incidentally, in the werelions first appearance they are explicity said to be a member of a group composed of very small groups of animals who have moved to St. Louis because there are so few of their kind there. Anita demands a lion to feed from, the Rex gives her several choices, which Anita rejects for being too weak. The Regina is not strong and the Rex rules in conjunction with his brother, which is somewhat indicative that he is not either. So, they moved to St. Louis and deliberately started a small, low powered pack to live in peace and quiet. Anita invites vicious Mob enforcers to take over their pack instead of protecting them.
** The werewolf pack no has a slutty lupa who is slowly driving the Ulfric insane and getting him into fights which aren't his. Little to no change. Richard has banned vengeance for crimes before his tenure as Ulfric, so all the female werewolves have to be one big happy family with the abusive male werewolves, except for the two that Anita killed, plus the remaining leopards, who used to rape the female leopards as punishment. They are now allied with the vampires and get called on to provide security everytime Jean Claude has visitors. And they have to volunteer to work a hotline for all the weres who are too useless to look after themselves. Maybe slightly improved conditions for the pack as a whole.

* 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.

* Ok, so back in Killing Dance. After spending the entire book berating Richard to give in to his beast and be as vicious as she is, he finally does it. Yes he got icky, smelly, nauseating shapeshifter goop all over her in the process. Alright, I can understand how that would gross a girl out. He unintentionally conveyed cannibalistic urges to her. Fine, I can understand how that would freak a girl out too. What this troper can not understand is why if you're so freaked out, sickened, and repulsed by nauseating shapeshifter goop and unwanted cannibalistic urges, your very first impulse is to go run to a vampire and stuff his penis into your mouth. That's the first sexual act Anita performs for JC. Call me nutty, but that just never made a whole lot of sense to me. And to this day people still ''defend'' her, like somehow it was Richard's fault that Anita betrayed him and went to slobber down Jean-Claude's pole(amongst other things) after he finally did what she was constantly badgering him to do. Keep in mind, that Jean-Claude is for all practical intents and purposes a walking corpse. So she ran off to fellate cold, dead penis. Clearly she couldn't have been ''too'' sickened/traumatized/repulsed by the experience with Richard could she? And then adding insult to injury, when Richard is very understandably is angry about her betrayal she has the nerve to point her gun at him and go into '[[AxCrazy I'm a stonecold killer and i'll even kill you and sleep like a baby afterwards]]' mode on him. For mercy's sake, you just finished blowing(amongst other things) another man, and you can't even let Richard vent a little on the furniture? What the hell, hero? It used to upset me, but after Richard's epic CharacterDerailment, it doesn't even matter anymore.

* IJBM that in one of the post-Shark-Jumping novels, Jean Claude has to ask Anita for permission to have sex with Asher. Let me say that again: ''permission''. Mind you, this is a 400 year old vampire asking permission to sleep with someone he has been in love with for longer than Anita has been alive. Now, granted, it makes sense that he would have a discussion with her about taking another lover because that's what a polygamous couple ''should'' be doing--being honest. But permission? I find that incredibly insulting for Jean Claude, even if he himself doesn't see it that way. I hate that he stopped being a ManipulativeBastard and turned into Anita's booty-on-the-side when she's not boinking every other thing with a penis--[[spoiler: and as of ''Bullet'', she has now included vaginas as well.]] Jean Claude is a grown damn vampire and he should not have had to grovel at her feet to ask to be in a relationship that existed way before her sarcastic ass came in the picture. And furthermore, it's ridiculous considering Anita has so many partners at this point in the series that I literally cannot name them all and Jean Claude doesn't even sleep around so taking Asher to bed with him is far more reasonable than what Anita does on a daily (and sometimes, hourly) basis.

** Isn't Asher the vamp that more-or-less lost his free will because he's now Anita-powered? The one who can't hardly feed or dress himself without asking for permission? I've not touched the series since ''ObsidianButterfly'' came out in paperback, so I may be misremembering, but if that's the vampire, then it's less that Jean-Claude needs permission than Asher the half-burned doll needs permission.

* [dr] Have you ever noticed that when Anita is travelling around alone, nobody who is outside the list of main characters, except for bad guys notice her? So she is walking around and everybody SHOULD know her face, but most do not stop and watch her walk by. It really gets on my nerves because she is a big-shot celebrity and nobody really gives her the attention she deserves... and I guess people noticing her is overshadowed by "The author over-amplifying the details of characters". So nobody stops and stares at her, while she is staring at somebody else to see every damn detail. This includes the Harlequin, where they are at the theatre. Nobody crowds her. And after the movie, a couple come to Anita and Nathaniel, but do not notice Anita as Marshal Anita Blake, just some girl.

* In Narcissus in Chains it's mentioned that Micah is as short as Anita is. I'm having trouble finding out Anita's exact height, but the comic database lists her as 5'2", which is ''very'' short for a grown man like Micah. Yet his height (or lack thereof) doesn't seem to be remarkable, let alone a focus of angst the way Anita does for her own height.

* Does this woman ever get her period? I mean, she apparently has sex multiple times a day and seems prone to marathon magical orgies. . .

** The leopard pard (pack) was demoralized and abused into utter submission by their evil leader. Once Anita killed him, there was no one was wasn't such a broken abuse survivor they could actually take over and lead (the only one who tried emulated the abuser's example, then broke down completely once Anita established dominance over him.) Somewhat UnfortunateImplications, but understandable.

*** "I couldn't help myself; I apologize for that one," after a 'jab' that was noting that, yeah, she's not the only one to get inspiration from a dream, and knows what a good number of the audience was thinking. Also, upon watching that...she said she's not a pedophile as a very clear message for her agent to give to people who wanted her to write tween books (10-11 by their definition), and then suggesting that the 10- and 11-year-olds would move on to ''AnitaBlake'', or '''''MerryGentry'''''. She didn't want to expose little kids to sex.

** Because they're human, too. It'd be the same reason Nikolaos couldn't control the wererats. Also, courtesy of TheOtherWiki, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_Wolf#Social_structure "While most breeding pairs are monogamous, there are exceptions."]]

* IJBM: Jean-Claude is {{Costume Porn}} guy. Every time he can, he's dressing as many people up like dolls as possible. It's clear that he likes high quality clothing and knows a lot about it. So why is the lace he picks out constantly refereed to as "scratchy" or "not soft?" One of the marks of high quality lace is that it's soft to the touch and won't abrade skin. It's probably just poor research but it still bugs me.

*** ''Humans are generally monogamous'' are we? Or is it just our society and culture that has made us this way? There have been numerous societies throughout history that have been happily polygamous or bigamous, including a few that still exist in the Middle East. And don't forget that it has only been about fifty years since ''free love'' was a thing in America; it failing to take hold is not definitive proof of how naturally monogamous humans are, as things like religion, STDs and the conservative values of the time all had a hand.

* Leopards are powerful, deadly predators. So why are the people who can turn into leopards such helpless weenies? Why do they ''need'' Anita to protect them? They're the ones with the fangs and claws!

* So Richard got added because Anita was "becoming too attracted" to Jean-Claude, who LKH didn't like much, at the time. Richard's character got raped because he was based on LKH's ex, who she hates now. She went with Jean-Claude as the "main" pairing for Anita because of reasons. What I want to know is, if you create a character whose species is necromancer, who is inherently attracted to the dead, and you create an attractive, sex-god of a vampire...why the fuck are you surprised when she's attracted to him?! Especially if you're as unhealthily invested in your characters as LKH seems to be. So fucking much of this could all have been avoided if LKH had just, IDK, killed Jean-Claude off while she still hated him. Or just accepted that Anita would be attracted to him, and went with that. Also? What happened to Nathanial being the submissive to end all submissives?

** I thought that was mentioned in one of the first books. It isn't done because reanimated witnesses are already worse at accurately remembering things than living witnesses, and the more brutal or painful their death the worse this factor gets, compounded with the snag that if someone is shot in the dark or stabbed in the back or poisoned or killed in some other way that doesn't give them a good look at their killer they wouldn't be able to add any useful information anyway.

** It was the last straw for this troper. That was the point when Anita became just another exploitative, domineering supernatural ruler who only helps those she rules to the extent it benefits her.

** She started taking birth control a few books in, although I think a missed period was once a source of drama for a bit? (Someone correct this if I'm wrong.)

* Does this woman ever get her period? I mean, she apparently has sex multiple times a day and seems prone to marathon magical orgies. . .