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Messages - Snark Knight

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76
DF Spoilers / Re: A Curious Speculation From Cold Front
« on: June 12, 2022, 09:27:40 PM »
Quote from: Conspiracy Theorist on June 12, 2022, 06:14:29 PM
This means that it’s return could be requested at any time. I suspect that will occur when the Merlin tries to appoint a new Black Staff claiming Eb is no longer physically fit to wield it, and won’t against Harry. He needs only a Council majority.

Is it actually awarded by Council vote? The senior council would have to vote on it secretly, since the Blackstaff's very existence isn't even acknowledged to all the membership.

I seem to remember something about the blackstaff choosing the successor - although it was ambiguous whether that meant the office-holder or the artifact itself. If the staff itself is semi-sentient and choosing the wizard, it might not give a damn for political niceties like "is the wizard actually a member of the White Council".

77
DF Spoilers / Re: Other Whamp houses?
« on: June 12, 2022, 12:09:02 AM »
Quote from: g33k on June 11, 2022, 08:09:14 PM
AFAIK, all Hunger Demons feed off negative emotions.
I think some sort of variant (that could feed off positive emotions) would be a very cool thing... but that's kind of the mortal schtick.  We are uplifted and empowered by our love, by our joy.

I think there was a WOJ that it might be possible for a whamp to feed on positive emotions, but they'd probably start to get 'sparkly'.

Their dietary preferences aren't ingrained, after all - Madrigal proved that by feeding on fear instead of lust. Presumably if they're willing to put enough effort and trial & error into it, other emotions beyond the big three negative ones are possible, with positive ones likely being much more difficult to change their attunement to.

It's probably not an accident that the big three are roughly opposite to the three virtues embodied in the Swords, though.
Lust vs Love.
Despair vs Faith.
Fear vs Hope.

I wonder if Skavis and Malvora tend to lose a lot more of their youth to never activating their powers than Raiths do ... I'd say a majority of people don't have their first sexual experience as true love (as much as they might be confused about that at the time), but blundering into scaring someone to death or tweaking them into despair enough to commit suicide would be rarer.

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DF Spoilers / Re: King Arthur's Scabbard
« on: June 03, 2022, 06:05:20 PM »
Quote from: Conspiracy Theorist on June 03, 2022, 04:54:03 PM
The swords do no change shape either, they change form. The Sword of Faith has moved more into the spiritual and away from the physical, but it is still a Sword. Nick has also had it since the time of Christ.

Michael did say they had records of the other two besides Excalibur being reforged at some point in the KOTC's history, though. They may have changed shape somewhat then.

But I agree with the core point. Nic probably got his coin and the noose direct off Judas' body and has been holding it ever since.

79
DF Spoilers / Re: Adaptation Do's and Don'ts
« on: May 23, 2022, 05:08:21 AM »
Quote from: Conspiracy Theorist on May 22, 2022, 01:16:16 PM
Morgan is supposed to be of Welsh descent about 200 years old, (the surname is a giveaway)so not really appropriate, he isn’t from Chicago, and it’s a failure to address that issue which is the problem. Besides setting up an recurring antagonist as black I found problematic, same if they tried it with Rudy.

Morgan's national background wasn't particularly fundamental to his character though, despite the name's Welsh roots. And in fairness to the original show, whether related to the casting or not, they did tone down his antagonism - he was still strict and suspicious, but without the seeming personal hatred of Harry. 

Granted I saw the series before finding the books, but "rational hardass" vs. "rabid" seems like a good adaptation change to me. A show would struggle with keeping a significant supporting character just an irrational persecutor for as long as it took the books to explain that behaviour.

80
DF Spoilers / Re: Adaptation Do's and Don'ts
« on: May 18, 2022, 07:12:27 PM »
Quote from: Yuillegan on May 18, 2022, 06:36:03 AM
Sadly, my expectations are not high given the studio it is with and their track record.

Oh, is there something solid about a studio? I thought we were just speculating Amazon because Prime has been on a bit of a SFF binge.

81
DF Spoilers / Re: Adaptation Do's and Don'ts
« on: May 17, 2022, 06:58:30 PM »
Quote from: Conspiracy Theorist on May 17, 2022, 06:04:47 PM
Agree with Avasarala on the Expanse, initially appalled, but it really worked.

Especially that they used adding an earlier story for her to introduce the OPA's interest in stealth materials right from the very beginning.  A nod to the readers who understood the significance, and a clever twist on all the viewers who didn't and thought it was a red herring for the season 1 plot instead of a Chekov's Gun for four seasons later.

82
DF Spoilers / Re: Adaptation Do's and Don'ts
« on: May 17, 2022, 04:20:49 PM »
In terms of taking lessons from some other adaptations ...

I think the fan base generally understands a TV adaptation has to be streamlined. That's OK, it's going to happen. But if you're going to add significant arcs of new non-book material, it had better 1) clearly do something for the narrative or characterization that the cut stuff didn't work at 2) be done well.  An example of done well would be The Expanse bringing in Avasarala from the start - that introduced one of the fan-favourite characters earlier than in the books, but had her doing things around the book events that largely made sense for what her job would have entailed even if unseen on page. An example of doing additions poorly would be whatever the hell the suicidal warder arc in wheel of time was going for - that bogged down a lot of run time for some exposition that wasn't terribly urgent and could have been covered in a short dialog.

Most especially don't edit fan-favourite protagonists to make them much less likeable so they don't overshadow the producers' favourite characters, or to add unearned "gritty" (again, wheel of time).

83
DF Spoilers / Re: The Law and novella
« on: May 17, 2022, 03:51:52 PM »
Quote from: g33k on May 16, 2022, 07:57:11 PM
And where's the "Jim lies" bit?  Not that I disbelieve you... I just didn't see it.

I don't have the link anymore, but in one of his appearances he mentioned there were a very small number of occasions where he had to lie in Q&A's to avoid spoilering things he had planned. I understood that as mostly applying to situations where declining the question would have been a big hint in and of itself.

84
DF Spoilers / Re: The Law and novella
« on: May 16, 2022, 01:47:09 PM »
There was a WOJ about he's done with surprise family relations as of Thomas, Eb and Maggie.

Anything could have been one of the necessary lies to protect a narrative surprise, but that seems like an odd one to actively mislead on rather than just evade.

85
DF Spoilers / Re: The Law and novella
« on: May 13, 2022, 01:41:52 AM »
Quote from: Conspiracy Theorist on May 12, 2022, 07:19:35 AM
What they did with Bob in the show cut quite badly across the books, especially Dead Beat.

It wasn't what I'd call a faithful adaptation, sure. But the actor and the writers got the sarcastic essence of the character down right, and changing his origin story from the book version of a spirit into a condemned human ghost wasn't anywhere near the worst thing the tv adaptation did.

86
DF Spoilers / Re: The Law and novella
« on: May 11, 2022, 01:14:41 AM »
Quote from: Mira on May 10, 2022, 11:01:08 PM
They have done well with The Expanse, but have diverted some from the novels.. However that might be because one of the actors wanted to leave.

That was picking up an existing show that already had three seasons of faithful book adaptation on another network, though, not original.

And specifically, he got fired for metoo stuff.

87
DF Spoilers / Re: The Law and novella
« on: May 10, 2022, 01:47:48 PM »
Quote from: TrueMonk on May 07, 2022, 08:23:04 PM
I am going to go with the positive: maybe it is because there are negotiatings for a high quality series on Amazon prime (if that is the name of their streaming service). And this is part of those negotiations. I have not followed the news about the lord of the rings series, but it sounds like they take it serious.

Their adaptation of Wheel of Time wasn't exactly confidence-inspiring (sure, a lot of the source material aged poorly as modern values are concerned, but a lot of the changes that had nothing to do with that aspect were for the worse).  I hope they don't get Dresden Files.

88
DF Spoilers / Re: Little Things [spoilers]
« on: May 06, 2022, 02:53:31 AM »
Quote from: Mira on May 05, 2022, 04:06:35 PM
Cats can be very fast, however I'm surprised that he didn't toy with any of them first.

Makes me wonder about the theory someone mentioned of Mister being a malk scion in service to Lea as an explanation for his unusual size and continuing vitality in old age. That would certainly account for him being smart like that.

89
DF Spoilers / Re: Little Things [spoilers]
« on: May 05, 2022, 02:44:52 PM »
Quote from: morriswalters on May 03, 2022, 11:25:27 PM
Well I said I wouldn't buy it.  Kindle solved that problem.  Download a sample for free. The sample is the story.

Nice.

Anyone else have comments on the rest of the anthology, though? Worth / not worth?

90
DF Spoilers / Re: Harry still hosts Lasciel's Shadow
« on: April 28, 2022, 08:07:26 PM »
Possible, but I'm not convinced the smell of brimstone was even so external as anything still riding in Harry's passenger seat.

Soulfire and Hellfire are two sides of the same coin - I think that was Harry on the verge of corrupting Uriel's gift simply out of his own wrath and Winter's influence over how to express it, and the Knights were deployed to get him to step back from that brink.

Pretty sure something 'cheated' to arrange Harry's failure to get a shield up and Rudolph's semi-accidental trigger finger in order to provoke him to such a reaction, too. That might have given Uriel the leeway to move pieces to save Harry's soul.

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