Big Eater/Literature: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

* In [[Plautus]]'s plays, table-companions (a peculiar Roman institution, also called "parasites") are played as comically large eaters, making this [[Older Than Feudalism]]. Ergasilus in ''Captivi'', given the run of Hegio's kitchen, causes an uproar not unlike those common in ''The Slayers''.

* Mr. Vandemar, in ''[[Neverwhere]]''.

* {{spoiler|Miles Teg}} from ''[[Dune|Heretics of Dune]]'' undergoes a transformation that unlocks his [[Super Speed]] powers, and as a consequence, has to consume many, ''many'' normal human portions to satisfy his hunger. Justified as his metabolism is accelerated to compensate for the increased energy demands. This is commented upon with amazement by the people who observe him eat.

* Everyone likes to eat in ''[[Redwall]]'', but hares have it as a defining trait. To great comedic effect in most of the books. There's also a sequence in ''Salamandastron'' where two runaway [[Mook|Mooks]] try to keep up with the Abbeydwellers' eating, but since they're not used to eating so much, they make themselves horribly ill and have to be given a "fizzick" which makes them bring it back up.

** Causes something of a problem in another book; a horde of squirrels has agreed to help a hare find his platoon, but, in order, he:

*** Bitches, moans, and in general makes a whiny nuisance of himself over how hungry he is when the squirrels decide that since it was his bright idea to give three loaves to the owl, he can be one of the three poor schmucks who goes hungry until they can make more.

*** And finally, gorges himself on unripe apples, forcing the squirrels to give him a dose of their own brand of "fizzik" before they can move on.

* From the ''[[Wild Cards]]'' series of novels, we have Croyd "The Sleeper" Crenson, who can sleep for as little as a night or as much as several weeks/months. Upon waking, he is always a [[Big Eater]], to the point that there's a jingle about it, and people recognize him by his eating habits.

* ''[[Tales of MU]]'' has the burrow gnomes with eating habits inspired by the above-mentioned Hobbits, as well as Mariel the sylph who eats as much as four people in order to keep her hyper metabolism up.

* All the bird-kids in the ''[[Maximum Ride]]'' series have this, because of super-high metabolism to give them energy to fly. Amusingly, in the first young adult novel, they show up at a restaurant and start to order dinner, and the staff think it's some sort of prank.

* Most of the Brotherhood boys in J.R. Ward's ''[[Black Dagger Brotherhood]]'' series. Of particular note are Rhage (who is regularly described or insinuated to be the biggest eater, even amongst the brothers) and {{spoiler|Zsadist, as of book 3, ''Lover Awakened.''}} The latter is an especially fortunate development since the extreme and very detrimental opposite was the case beforehand. {{spoiler|In layman's terms, Z more than half starved himself for over a century, hating and outright not trusting any and all food he couldn't see whole or make himself, since he "didn't know if it was tampered with" otherwise. But thanks to his bonding with the aristocrat vampire Bella, he's since done a 180 and even adopted eating alongside Rhage.}}

* [[Geronimo Stilton]]'s cousin, Trap.

* The Librarian in the "Hard-Boiled Wonderland" segment of Haruki Murakami's ''Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World'' is one of these, to the point where most of her salary is used to pay for food. It is explained as an effect of her gastric dilation.

** Because he actually alternates between eating like a horse, and getting so wrapped up in what he's doing that he ''forgets'' to eat. So it comes to about even, overall.

* Zedd from ''[[The Sword of Truth]]''. Constantly hungry, and ''very'' skinny.

* In ''The Shattered World'', a thief who'd taken professional pride in his slender physique is cursed to be a [[Big Eater]] by a sorcerer he'd attempted to cheat. He downs a huge ale and a platterfull of meat before being thrown out of the bar puking, already feeling his perpetual hunger's return.

* The classic example of this in literature would be Falstaff in ''[[Henry IV]]'', who was always drinking, eating, or sleeping. He also was the namesake for the term ''falstaffian'' which is now used to describe these people.

* Fermín from ''[[The Shadow of the Wind]]'' blames his thin build to his incredible metabolism, which he displays throughout the book.

* Lieutenant Hélène Froissy, in Fred Vargas's thriller novels. She is seen eating a lot, and hides food wherever she can, including in the police station; the other policemen know this and use her food reserves as emergency supplies.

* Corwin from the [[Chronicles of Amber]], to the extent where his brother Random once snaps him out of an [[Achilles in His Tent]] sulk by showing up with a very large tray of food.

* Luke in ''[[Eight Days of Luke]]'', {{spoiler|which makes sense considering that he's really Loki, who once almost won an eating contest with the anthropomorphic personification of fire. Also, by the time the book opens he's been imprisoned for quite a while.}}

 

* The Orange Duke in Gianni Rodari's ''The Adventures of Cipollino''.

* ''[[Discworld]]''

* [[Mary Gentle]]'s recurring character Baltazar Casaubon seems to always have a snack at hand. And yes, he's fat... but, to paraphrase Gentle herself, it's more accurate to say that he's [[Stout Strength|a huge guy who happens to be fat]].

* Lula from the ''[[Stephanie Plum]]'' books is a very fat bounty hunter's sidekick, and is seen eating about half the time she's in the scene. Stephanie herself is one in regards to cake, but is only of average weight. Other big eaters in the series are Stephanie's sister Valerie (during pregnancy) and Bob, the [[Big Friendly Dog]] Stephanie and on-again-off-again boyfriend Morelli share.

* Caramon Majere during the ''[[Dragonlance]] Legends'' series, although he eventually gets back into shape.

* [[Oblomov]] himself and also Tarantyev's buddy Ivan Mukhoyarov (brother of Agafya), who likes to spend his money on delicacies instead of more visible luxuries (if only because people could get suspicious - as he says, they can't see what he has in his stomach).

* Nathaniel "Ned" Robbins in ''[[Jelly Belly]]'' starts out as this. His friends at summer diet camp are straight examples, especially Richard. And Richard's parents.