#book versus show

[beyondmistland]

Do you think the Greens were improved in the TV show, Alicent, Aemond and Aegon?

I have mixed feelings about the Greens in HOTD.

Aemond: I very much like that they changed Aemond from an idiotic blood knight to a seething cold ham who’s studied history and philosophy. It makes Aemond more of a genuine threat to the Blacks, better ties into the show’s theme of second sons living in the shadow of their older brothers, and makes him a better foil to Daemon. Oh, and it leaves room for escalation whereas book!Aemond went straight to premediated murder from page 1.

Aegon II: I love how they’ve given depth to Aegon by making him the victim of parental neglect and abuse as evinced by his hedonism, loneliness, lack of ambition, desire for validation, and self-loathing. It really paints him as a self-aware lovable loser…which makes the showrunners’ insistence on using Mushroom’s version of events (albeit somewhat modified thankfully) all the more baffling. In his own scenes, Aegon comes across as quite sympathetic so making him an off-screen rapist and supporter of violence against children introduces a type of tonal whiplash that for me just doesn't work.

I’m especially disappointed because its obvious Tom Glynn-Carney has put a lot of thought into Aegon II, from ad-libbing the “do you love me” line to his short hair being a sign of alienation and rebellion.

Alicent: I enjoyed Olivia Cooke’s performance (case in point, I prefer the show version of Aemond losing his eye and its aftermath) but at the same time I feel the showrunners’ attempts to make Alicent more sympathetic to most people came at the cost of her book counterpart’s ambition and agency, which was replaced with neuroticism and victimization that doesn’t entirely work (case in point, the disgusting Larys foot fetish scene).

Helaena: She’s barely a character even by F & B’s low standards but suffice to say the show completely revamped her character to better explain Jaehaera and while I’m not entirely against that I don’t like the fact Helaena’s ONE major action as queen (helping her mother convince Aegon to offer peace terms to the Blacks) is skipped over nor do I like how a number of her scenes revolve around prophetic foreshadowing that doesn’t really help us better understand her character beyond the fact she’s clearly neurodivergent.

Daeron: They. Didn’t. Once. Mention. Him.

Otto: In the first half of the season, Otto comes across as someone with both good and bad qualities but in the second half he’s pretty much a mustache-twirling villain. Also, for a guy whose supposed to be famous for his learning Otto sure isn’t funny.

Criston: The ingredients for a great character were there but they rushed things. Also, he isn’t an incel.

If I missed anyone, please let me know.

Thanks for the question, @cynicalclassicist

[heretherebedork]

https://twitter.com/SHlNSUN/status/1720791876742381862?t=5eCiQacQZ4vYA8HabuEp3A&s=19

Omg???

Welp, that would have been interesting to include and changed a lot of the dynamics.

Too bad the show didn't really do anything with it at all.

Could have been interesting, honestly. Very interesting.

But that's the problem with the pair branding and the way it invaded the show. They were unable to break up those pairs in the messy ways they needed to add that kind of backstory.

Boston and Top couldn't have a real romance because that would have been a threat to the specific branding they have for the actors and the way they need to be viewed.

But, man, imagine what could have been? If Boston had genuinely gone after Top out of love? If Top had broken his heart and the show had given us that? If we'd seen that Boston wanted to be monogamous but felt it was just leading to betrayal so he never did?

It could have made his relationship with Nick even more meaningful as well as shaping why Boston feels so casual about having Top betrayal Mew. Because of course it was going to happen and why not with him?

Oh and it could have added so much depth to Mew and Boston's interactions to understand that Top actually betrayed them both and that their pain is more similar than different. And it would have been more judgement on Mew's judgemental habits and his style of forgiveness as well.

The depth we could have had and didn't get... alas.

[egophiliac]

Hi it's just to let you know that the official romanization of Revaan's name is Raverne ! Also they have romanized Baul's name to Baur !

Twst coming back at us again with the least expected romanization! thank you everybody (oh god my inbox) (no it's great, I literally asked for this and the reactions have been INCREDIBLE, thank you all!)

I do like Raverne though, I think it's got a nice fancy sound to it! (I had kinda suspected it was going to be an R instead of an L, so the fact that it's SO close to Laverne except for that is hilarious to me personally.) and Dragoneye Duke is honestly probably the best translation for his title, I wasn't envying the localizers that one. :') Baur instead of Baul I was NOT expecting, but in retrospect I think his name's supposed to be a reference to the Bauru crocodile, so that actually makes way more sense!

someone else also said Meleanor has become Maleanor, which is the REALLY weird one to me, because I was so surprised it was written as Mel instead of Mal in the first place?! oh god no I can't decide which one I like better. 😭 (I wonder if they might change it to Mal...they have made romanization changes before) (like I remember House of Distraction being corrected to House of Destruction in Playful Land) (I did check and she's still Mel for now, but I dunno, they might Mal her up and some point and save me from having to make a decision about which one to use) (HECK I CAN'T DECIDE)

uhhhh thank you for letting me ramble about anime names, let's just say MONOGRAMMED SWEATERS FOR EVERYONE

[anders-hawke]

colin 🤝 anthony: making an heir in s3

[northern-passage]

I came across the character Branwen* in my most recent play-through and was curious if she's supposed to be Inuit or not? It was just a bit unclear since she has a chin-stripe tattoo, a Welsh name, and comes from Gael (which I'm under the impression is supposed to be Norse inspired?) Neither the Welsh/Celts or Norse had tattoos like these and the imagery of such comes from the appropriation of Inuit kakiniit. It's unfortunately common, especially in the fantasy genre, think Yasha from Critical Role, and I wouldn't really blame you for not yet knowing better. Misguided or not, it's very damaging since these tattoos are a closed practice, and Inuit have asked us not to use them for non-indigenous characters. Some other cultures have similar tattoos, but these are specifically what are appropriated from in the "Norse aesthetic".

This could be a great opportunity to represent a community that's regularly misrepresentationed and appropriated from in the genre, though! I don't believe you had any ill intentions, if this is a mistake you've made, since you've done really well about a lot of other things so far.

Also, I've done a lot of research on the topic for my own world building and I can try to help if you have any questions!

Here's a list of Inuk creators and artists from my own following (on TikTok specifically):

kadlun

willow.allen

notdayle

shinanova

And fairy.gothparent (not indigenous) has some really educational content on the subject also!

I'm sorry I've misread or misinterpreted anything, and I hope none of this came off as aggressive! I'm just genuinely curious and want to help others do better!

hi :-) no worries, you are not aggressive at all. Branwen is not meant to be Inuit, nor is she meant to be Welsh or Norse. Gael and Adrania are just Fantasy Lands with their own lore & culture-- but with that being said, i am fully aware that the setting for TNP is very much giving medieval Europe, hahahaha. regardless, when i choose names they are mainly just because i like them, so i wouldn't put too much stock in them when reading.

same thing when i designed Branwen, the tattoo was mostly for the aesthetic and because i liked it. i was aware of a few different types of indigenous tattoos (like the Māori tāmoko as well as the Inuit kakiniit) at the time i chose the thick, solid line because i was purposefully trying to avoid conflating it directly with those indigenous tattoos. you're the first person to point this out to me and i appreciate it and it has made me reevaluate my decision to give her such a distinct tattoo. i wanted tattoos to be a big part of Gaelish culture & planned for them to be made with heavy lines & geometry, but in the end a lot of the designs are all over the place (Merry's are way more modern due to basing some of the designs around nautical/sailor tattoos with only a few geometric designs, while Lea's are strictly geometric runes meant for their alchemy)

i absolutely want to avoid misrepresenting these tattoos, especially since it was never my intention for this character to be interpreted as a part of any of the mentioned indigenous groups. this is a good reminder for myself that my work does not exist in a vacuum and regardless of my intentions, the names i choose & the designs i make still reflect my own personal biases and have implications outside of my story.

i appreciate you messaging me and sharing resources. and i always want to encourage people to do so! especially because in my worldbuilding for Gael and Adrania i am pulling inspiration from a lot of different places and a lot of other fantasy media. i've always intended for Adrania to be a "melting pot," with a lot of different influences as in-game cultures converge around their ports & trade routes, but that can also lead to me unintentionally harming real world groups & cultures in my interpretations. as much as i want to "build from scratch" it's just not possible, i will always be influenced by the society i live in, hence me including the tattoo to begin with because you're right, i have seen similar designs in other fantasy media & just didn't think much about it.

going forward i'll most likely just remove that tattoo from Branwen's design, and maybe give her a neck tattoo instead 🤔 just something different to distinguish it from those indigenous designs.

[ghostshipglamour]

Okay i’m (relatively) new to the fandom so apologies if it was covered before but i’m curious:

[lumenalumia]

opinions? pjo disney

"gods and demigods dynamic"

one thing I found made me 'fear' the gods as a reader was seeing the way Annabeth or Chiron or Grover would address gods. I am sort of missing the use of 'lord' to refer to the gods or 'sir'.

I love the dynamic of the trio but then when they are introduced to gods so far, Annabeth has sort of become the god resistant one rather than Percy - whose real character charm is that he isn't afraid, even when its stupid - and that makes him braver in a way? Does it make sense that I feel as though some of Percy's strengths are being showcased through the other characters more to create a different dynamic. Also, them not bowing to Percy sort of signalled to me that they wouldn't respect or fear him or have much of an opinion at all about his godly parent, which has always impacted and been part of Percy's fitting in at camp as he ages through the books.

I am looking for productive discourse and fan theories. Shows have different executions and so I suspected things that were plot relevant would be distributed across the episodes, like I am hoping happens in the case of ambrosia. In a TV Show, writers make decisions so that audiences usually 'world' 'plot' 'monster of the week' relevant info in the episodes that are closer to the climax or based around that information.

HATE WILL BE REPORTED. I hate that I even have to include this sentence.

[sunsetcougar]

With the release of the PJO show, I’ve noticed something.

I’ve been seeing people saying that the book appearances of the characters are no longer canon because of the show, and it’s genuinely baffling to me that they think that. I see it as a sort of Spider-Man situation, they’re the same people but in different universes. It’s like how Spider-Man in any given comic run is not the same as the Spider-Man in the Tom Holland movies, but they’re both Spider-Man and one existing does not make the other any less canon. They’re just different canons that exist simultaneously

Personally I’m loving seeing people draw both the show and book versions of the characters and not excluding one for the other, because both versions of the characters deserve to be recognized and loved

[queer-ragnelle]

starz was going to give us a gawain camelot as complex as flint black sails but no reviewers had any fucking taste. camelot was “forgettable” but you can’t stop talking about mists of avalon? shut all the way up. robbed. i’m taking it personally.

[mischas]

I'm on my third rewatch of the O.C. since it aired and I'm finally coming to grips with the way the showrunners did Marissa dirty. I think Mischa Barton should get some kind of back pay for hazardous duty for enduring the show...

It's completely messed up that she was the actual age of the character she was playing, while everyone else was playing younger, was far more experienced in life and in acting. It was messed up that she was in a relationship with her older male co-star and that was just OK with everyone. It was messed up that the writers seemed to go out of their way to create "make Marissa miserable" story lines that drove away Mischa's fans from the show...just messed up.

Anyway, love your blog.

Thanks for sending this in :))) I appreciate it. Sometimes I feel like I'm in an echo chamber of how horrendously the character and her actress were treated in tandem so it's nice when people reach out and feel similarly and remind me I'm not the only one who thinks this is bullshit. Like, I do love many parts of the show so much, but holy fuck was it a shit show on both sides of the camera.

ETA: I will say that MB fans were ride or die Marissa fans. They held on for 3 years of the character being tortured and were extremely over it all when TPTB did what they did and vowed not to watch anymore. It's what got the show finally cancelled (despite what TPTB says about 325 being the only reason they could even make a final crap season). That last season basically lost half their viewership.

[ghost-proofbaby]

To be loved is to be changed. Wow. Deep. You have such a way with words and I hope you see that talent

oh nonnie i appreciate it but that line is most definitely not mine 😭 im not sure exactly who the original author was but it was a super popular tiktok trend (or at least all over my fyp haha) a couple months ago! the line just really stuck with me because, yeah, that’s exactly what love is. 🖤

[steelycunt]

how do you think r and s would treat their books? like in terms of annotations and how much they would preserve the book. would they dog ear pages? would they crack the spine? etc xx

hello bab!! fun question!! i reckon s would take very good care of his books. in general i always imagine him being extremely clean + neat + organized. he was not raised in a household that would let him get away with dog-earing the corner of a page and i imagine it stuck whether he liked it or not. it would just not be the natural way he would treat a book. on the other hand i think r would see annotating a book and dog-earing pages as all part of showing it love! he comes from a house where everything is a little battered and worn and used-looking, so a well-loved book to him is one that visibly wears its use, including breaking the spine so he can hold it more comfortably :-)

[manichewitz]

Frodo in the first book: omg who is this creature following us…i keep seeing his small glowing eyes peeping out of the shadows…so weird…guess we’ll never know what that’s about

Frodo in the first movie: Gandalf i think something’s following us

Gandalf: yeah that’d be Gollum. lol

[desidarling123]

Ever get in ur feels abt that one clearly-deleted SAB S2 scene from the bloopers where Kaz is telling Jesper "Fifth Harbor is our future"

OUR FUTURE *OUR FUTURE*

BITCH IM GOING FERAL

(honorary) brothers and now business partners abt to take over ruling ketterdam TOGETHER!!

SHOW!KAZ HONEY UR DOING SO GOOD MWAH

I could write a 5000 word essay on how much I love Show!Kaz and Show!Jesper's dynamic it's crazy

[frecht]

did i ever post the list of things i was manifesting happening while im in ireland. i feel like it is happening bit by bit

[nklsdttr]

* to tell you the truth , i feel like the m*kaelsons should have been stated to be older than they were in the show ??