Lissa Dragomir

Do you get the feeling her car accident was no accident? But whatever the nature, it must be hard being the last pure-blood Dragomir (but apparently part-bloods abound). Add to that her "spirit" affinity, and the drain it puts on her, she's understandably needy. But do you think she's too ego-centric? Is she as good a friend to Rose and Rose is to her? Does her "fragility" lend her to deeper depressions? Especially when compared to the clove-smoking, boozing, flirting Adrian Ivashkov?

Sometimes, I really despise Lissa. When you're reading through the books, Rose has all these problems that she can't address to Lissa, because Lissa's always going on and on about her and Christian. I think, if she wasn't so self absorbed, she would have realized there was something brewing with Dimka and Rose. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Lissa, but sometimes I can... I don't know. Despise her, like I said. xD; I know its part of the guardians duty to protect their Moroi, but Lissa and Rose were friends first,ya know? Rose goes out of her way to make sure Lissa's safe, the least Lissa could do was put Christian aside for a moment or two and really have a sit down with her best friend. At times, I think its more Rose going out of her way for Lissa, than the other way around.

And you're right, Lissa is extremely needy. And clingy. But thats what makes the story so.. real, I guess. I know a lot of needy clingy egotistical people. xD;

I think Lissa can be a real brat at times. Rose is always thinking about her, but Lissa seems to barely think about Rose. I understand that Lissa has her own problems and they are big ones but it sucks that she can always count on Rose to talk to but it seems Rose cant talk to Lissa about her Problems which by the way seem to be cause by Lissa. Don't get me wrong i love Lissa, I just think shes a brat, but i know that if she wasn't then the story wouldn't be nearly as good. I also hope that Lissa gets over her brattness for two seconds and helps Rose save Dimitri

I agree with many of the sentiments posted here. Especially the one about Rose not being able to tell Lissa about her problems because it may upset "poor, fragile" Lissa. ARGH! When Christian entered the picture, Rose was tossed to the wayside and Lissa was all about her new boyfriend. I think Lissa has some good qualities, she's caring in the sense that she wants to heal people (like at the clinic). But she's selfish, too.

Like when she threw a fit because Rose was going to leave her to kill Dimitri? Yeah, I thoght she was a brat for that one.

Yep, that's a good example. Rose couldn't tell Lissa anything about that because it could be too upsetting.

But I felt, too, that even for "happy" stuff like when she was falling for Dimitri, or SPOILER ALERT! when she had sex with him...she couldn't share those experiences because Lissa was always too busy with her own crap be it Christian or practicing spirit. I found that pretty sad.

Do you suppose that Rose kept it from Lissa so she'd have something of her own? Her entire life is about Lissa and the Moroi. Maybe Rose kept Dmitri from Lissa not b/c she was unavailable but b/c Rose wanted a part of her life to not have to do with Lissa.

It's possible, but that wasn't the impression/feeling I got. I got the feeling that Rose wanted to share...kinda...but Lissa was always unavailable.

Honestly I think she needs to research her power and see if she can save Dmitri and THEN go after Rose...but that wasn't a poll option. Hee!

jedibarrister wrote:

Honestly I think she needs to research her power and see if she can save Dmitri and THEN go after Rose...but that wasn't a poll option. Hee!

I agree. It would hinder any sort of attempt to get Dimitri back if Lissa didn't even know how to save him, if she even can. Also she would just slow Rose down, Rose would have to be protecting Lissa and hunting down Dimitri at the same time...

That's why I voted for Lissa to stay behind. She's a bit of a burden. Now if Rose had to take anyone with her, it should be the likes of Christian because at least he can defend himself.

Or even another skilled dhampir, seeing as moroi have that whole issue with the sun.
Although, magical power (fire) might be a useful trade off for 12hrs of the day...

Right, another skilled dhampir. But where the hell is Rose going to find one of those? And don't suggest her mother. I'm not on board with that idea at all.

Haha don't worry that suggestion wouldn't sit well with me either. The only other thing worse than having an inept moroi with her would be to have her mother with her. Fights every other second wouldn't be terribly helpful to her either...

But now that you point it out I don't know where she would find another skilled dhampir that would actually go with her and not consider her mission reckless, pointless or just a complete lost cause...

I wonder who's left? Rose can't turn to a teacher since she "officially withdrew" from the Academy. There's Eddie, but he's not as good a guardian as Rose.

And I think part of the reason she feels slightly better about leaving Lissa is because she thinks maybe Eddie will be with her. Maybe?
...well, this is just a suggestion, might be a little awkward but, Tasha?

I mean she has the fire and whatnot, and she isn't one for following rules that much either, and we know she has feelings for Dimitri too (which might not be a good thing)...But I don't know.

Most Hero myths have the hero lose their mentor and then require them to continue to journey alone, into the belly of darkness, and rise up to the light and slay the beast. Think of Star Wars. Luke loses Obi-Wan, goes into the cave and loses the test, fights Vader alone and triumphs and becomes the hero he was meant to be.

Rose, for her Hero's Journey, must go alone.

[Moving over from Shadow Kiss]

I wonder how much of our perception of Lissa is colored by the therapist that Rose was seeing. It's odd how a Moroi wanted Rose to see other Moroi as selfish and the Dhampirs as overly selfless. It was good b/c you could tell that she was interested in her patient first and her culture second.

But other than Lissa being preoccupied by first love, and missing all the signs of Dmitri, what else did Lissa do that made her seem so selfish? Rose had always planned on going where Lissa went. They had talked about it often. So that Lissa chose to go to Court and the larger school really isn't all that selfish. It's not like the two girls hadn't discussed it before. Granted it's been a while since I read this book but what are the other indications?

I just think the fact that once Rose decided to do one thing for herself (go after Dimitri) and Lissa got all upset about it made her seem very selfish.
And although they talked about everything else for the most part and agreed on it, you could tell that Rose realized in some sort of way how sensitive Lissa was, which could have also kind of dug her own grave, allowing Lissa to ignore Rose's issue for so long...

hmmm

I like Lissa.. She DOES care a lot about Rose that's why she didn't want her to leave and remember when she *tries to think of word* used compulsion on everyone so they'd get off her back? Lissa has problems.. And I think she's an okay friend considering. It'd be hard to cope if your best friend in the whole world, the one who takes away the pain, leaves to go kill her lover that she NEVER told you about. Lissa's only human.. Okay, Moroi.
And what do you think of Taylor Momsen for Lissa?
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3151598592/nm0597410

I'm not a huge Lissa fan to be honest. I just find her needy, and quite annoying. Maybe if she grows more throughout the series I'll like her, but for now she rubs me the wrong way.

She's not too old to be Lissa, isn't she?Wait, she was born in 1993, so she should be at age 16, right?
But if i heard that one right, Wasn't Lissa supposed to be a Moroi with the descriptions of an Angel?

Maybe.. But makeup can do wonders.. I think she'd be a good one.. And do you think we'll even here from her that much in Blood Promise?

I agree with most of what has been said already. Lissa does seem clingy and fragile at times and though it seems that Rose does more for Lissa than Lissa does for Rose, we do see times when Lissa goes out of her way to protect her. I don't think she does it as often as Rose does because she knows Rose is tough and likes to protect herself. But we do know she's concerned for her. I can't remember which book it was in (I think Vampire Academy) when Lissa was all upset because "Rose was crying." She used to believe Rose was this emotionally strong person and suddenly a few weeks/months in the Academy had crushed her. We know how close Lissa is to Rose and how much she cares because she notices little things like that.
Yes, she didn't notice a few of the bigger things (ie. Dimitri) but with all the things she's going through I can't say I blame her. And the times when Rose and Dimitri were around each other were usually when Lissa wasn't, so it's not like she had to oportunity to observe them. She also doesn't have the special talent of going inside Rose's mind to find out what's been happening through the day/how she's feeling. Rose has a little advantage in that department.

However, I hate that Lissa was trying to take Rose's will away from her when she want to go after Dimitri in Shadow Kiss. I know she was probably thinking about Rose's safety, but that was crossing the line a bit. They're supposed to be Best Friends, and by Lissa using complusion on her (or trying to) it seemed (to me) as though Lissa was trying to enforce Moroi control over Dhampirs.