I’m really, REALLY tired of hatred against Eleanor. I have enough. No one is trying to understand her. Are there fans still objective about her ?
But that’s just it – I do understand Eleanor. I do get why she does the things she does. I understand her logic and reasoning, her history, what drives her. And I still don’t like her. The more I understood her, the less I liked her, TBH.
Also I think the fans are intelligent enough to recognize that you can appreciate a well written, well acted character without actually liking Eleanor as a person.
This is so true.
I don’t hate her, and I do think I understand her actions, but honestly I don’t like her in the third season at all. Loved her in the first two though. (Don’t think I’ve said that on here before). I think Hannah New does a good job; mostly I think the writing for her character in season 3 is what bothers me.
Hannah New does a great job with the character. I wanted to like Eleanor but she just wouldn’t let me. LOL! It’s like she’d win five points with me and then lose ten. There’s ambition which is cool but then there’s “screw everyone and anyone to get what I want” which isn’t cool.
“Screw everyone and anyone to get what I want” is a theme with a lot of characters on the show, but most of the others get a bit of heart thrown in (Or what they want ends up benefiting enough others that they aren’t quite so reprehensible.) Eleanor’s had some good moments but maybe not enough to emotionally connect?
That’s true. LOL! But understanding the other characters helped to soften their edges for me. Like Flint. In season 1, I thought he was cold-blooded and power hungry, out to rule his pirate kingdom with an iron fist. But understanding his past really humanized him. In an instant, he becomes a tragic figure who has done it all for love. That makes me root for him. Max – she is trying to rise above the crap hand she’s been dealt in life and to answer to no one but herself. Vane – he wants to live free. He’s a very straight forward character. All things people can relate to. But Eleanor has just been “I want power and I will destroy anyone, even those I care about, to get it”. That dehumanizes her (to me) and makes it hard for me to care about her.
I’ve always kind of felt that we might be underestimating just how badly traumatized Eleanor was by her mother’s death. I think the Rosario Raid (and the possibility of a repeat) scares her more than possibly anything else, and that, coupled with her anger and grief over her father’s death, kind of makes her more understandable, at least for me, in Season 3. She’s not just after power, or at least not for its own sake. She’s always wanted legitimacy, so that she can make Nassau a safe place to live, free of that threat. Part of it is proving her father wrong/proving that she’s every bit as good as the son he wanted, sure, but a big part of it is her trying to make sure that what happened to her mother never happens to her, and since Rogers seems to be the only guarantee of that at this point, she’s willing to play nice and to try to shore up his rule.
Meg's Mumbles 