Best Bard Books / Films

[ClarkKent07]

So after much debate and deliberation, I've decided to go with Treantmonk's control bard for my next character and am looking for good books/movies that highlight bard characters.

Two of my favorites!

Bard - by Keith Taylor
Great book that really shows the powerful and cunning side of the bard.

The 13th Warrior
Antonio Bs character as well as Herger both strike me as bardlike.

Any others?

[DonDuckie]

300, the bard is just another soldier with an above average vocabulary.

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny - they strike me as quite adventurer-like bards.

[Rory]

The Gamers: Dorkness Rising

"Hide behind the mound of bards!"

(warning: spoof movie, the bard is the punchline)

[Marius Castille]

Bard - by Morgan Llywelyn

very good Celtic historical novel

[Anonymous Visitor 163 576]

The riddle master of Hed series.

[Anonymous Visitor 163 576]

And Allan a'Dale, from Robin Hood

[Hobgoblin Shogun]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10iLSNnR6OY&feature=c4-overview-vl&l ist=PL236603A3EBC6D2CE

[Silas Hawkwinter]

Fisher Kel Tath seems all kinds of awesome, although he doesn't get much "screen time" in the books.

[Cult of Vorg]

Anything by Charles de Lint..
Mercedes Lackey's Bedlam Bards series.
Six-string Samurai..

[Mikaze]

I'm not sure how well it's aged, but Gossamer Axe?

[MC Templar]

Antonio Bandaras in 13th Warrior?

[eakratz]

Glen Cook's Dread Empire series has Mocker, who is bard-like. Not story-teller bard but infiltrator/charmer.

I don't know how well these hold up, the the old Forgotten Realms Azure Bonds trilogy features bards (1st ed style).

[Valkir]

Two movies:
El Mariachi
Desperado

[ClarkKent07]

Good stuff, keep em coming.

[Backfromthedeadguy]

It may sound strange but I've read that Gandalf was actually a high lev bard and not a straight up wizard like Saruman (Radagast was a druid of course). It makes a lot of sense because he seemed to spend a lot of time trying to entertain people and was the ultimate diplomat and adviser. He wandered around instead of cloistering himself away in an ivory tower like Saruman. He also did things a straight up wizard would avoid, like use a sword almost as much as he used magic.

[Courtney D]

Lawhead's Taliesin was good when I was 13. I have not read it since. It might hold up and it might not.

[Beopere]

Kvothe from Name of the Wind. The character is actually based on a bard the author played. Quite a fun book too.

[Claxon]

Not that the character gets a great deal of pagetime but Thom Merrilin of the Wheel of Time series of books is what I picture a bard being like (without the magic).

[Atarlost]

I always suggest Henry V.

Also, the Treeantmonk Controller concept doesn't really work well. You don't have the CMB for maneuvers with a whip. The net thing might work, but for the most part you're probably better off with caster feats if you want to go high charisma.

[Epic Meepo]

I don't have anything to contribute to this discussion.

I just want to observe that "Best Bard Books and Films" would be an awesome name for a bookstore that also sells DVDs.

[Vod Canockers]

Disney's Robin Hood (Allan-a-Dale narrates).

[TempusAvatar]

The Muppet Movie?

[Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan]

Paul Bettany as Chaucer in A Knight's Tale

Porthos from the Three Musketeers, I'm particular to Alan Hale Sr. and Jr. when they played him, as well as Oliver Platt's rendition.

Ignoring his racial background completely, Tom Bombadil (or Tim Benzadrine for the Harvard Lampoon lovers) from Lord of the Rings is clearly a Bard to me. Although probably more of an AD&D Bard to be fair.

Bing Crosby as the Connecticut Yankee

Danny Kaye as Hubert Hawkins in The Court Jester.

It could be a stretch, but how about Gunga Din? Clearly a support character, but he also blows the bugle at the end of the movie, the poem itself would not imply he is a bard.

I would have sworn there was a Bard type in Ivanhoe, but it escapes me just who it might have been? Was Allan A Dale a character in Ivanhoe as well? The story does overlap with Robin Hood a bit.

Ever watch Zulu? It's anyone's guess who exactly is the Bard, but when the Zulus are chanting, and the Welshman (as well as some foreigners from England) sing a rousing song to the tune of men of Harlech.

[Deyvantius]

How can anyone discuss bards without pointing out Finder Wyvernspur in the "Azure Bonds" trilogy for Forgotten Realms. The only "True Bard" as described in D&D that I've ever read about in print.

[Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan]

Several have mentioned Ahmad ibn Fadlan, the character Antonio Banderas plays in 13th Warrior.

My own pseudonym, Zahir, is a character I play in our Kingmaker campaign, somewhat modelled after Banderas' portrayal, but probably more modelled after the actual historical character. You did realize he was an actual guy right?

Anyways, I wanted to mention this, in order to mention a similarly interesting historical character who could easily be done as a Bard/Chronicler. That is Sir Richard Burton, who led a wonderfully diverse life of exploration, learning, and no small amount of physical hardship and combat. In my mind, a perfect model for a Bard/Explorer.

Anyways, give his Wiki article a read.

[rknop]

(Thread necro alert.)

Atarlost wrote:

I always suggest Henry V.

Of course, he's so eloquent because his lines were written by The Bard....