#this is about dustfinger and orpheus naturally

[maandarinee]

the Inkheart books ask the important questions: what if you could talk to your favorite blorbo? What if your blorbo thought you suck? What if your blorbo would like to see you dead?

#this is about dustfinger and orpheus naturally #inkheart #inkspell #inkdeath #Dustfinger #Orpheus #Orpheus inkheart #citrus talk.txt

[schleierkauz]

Cornelia Funke Q&A - 05.09.22

First of all, the audio quality was horrible this time. I tried my best to make out what Cornelia said but it was a struggle.

The Elephant in the Room/Those new Inkworld Covers

- See this post

- No, really, Cornelia hates them a lot and encourages us to complain to the publisher

The Color of Revenge

- The book is finished

- Direct quote from Cornelia:

"I admit, I'm very in love with this book. It will, in many ways, be different from the other Inkworld books since it takes places five years later and the two main characters are definitely Dustfinger and the Black Prince. 

That means there will be two story lines, two separate efforts to stop Orpheus' revenge. Dustfinger, Farid and Jehan (Dustfinger's stepson) will travel with the Strong Man. 

Meanwhile the Black Prince, along with Battista, will be with a young witch named Driope... who will... hm... probably explain why Fox has a fox pelt. So the fox will be mentioned but not- not in the way the cover seems to imply. The story will be about witches, good ones and evil ones, it will... I had so much fun finally getting more into the Prince's story, I wanted to do that since I wrote Inkspell. And now Nyame, which is his first name I hadn't revealed so far, will really be in the spotlight this time. Colors, too- are pictures more powerful than words? We will see... and I think the answer will surprise us all.

Part of the story will take place around Ombra, which looks a lot like Tuskany, where I live right now. Other parts will take place in South Tyrol, which we already know from Reckless.

I let the story surprise me. It went completely differently than how I initially imagined, that's always a good sign. There were plottwist I couldn't have predicted, I learned a lot, met characters I didn't know very well before... And I hope that I have another book in me because after this, there are still a thousand stories to tell. But that's how all my stories end, so... We'll see. I definitely wrote it with so so so much joy and I hope some of that joy will infect the readers once they have the book in their hands.

Of course (unintelligible) but there's also a lot of beauty and light... and many characters that we love."

(Translator’s note: I’m guessing she said something like “Of course the story will have dark moments”- but everyone talked over each other so I can’t hear her exact wording)

Reckless

- She is preparing Reckless 5, which she calls a huge challenge

- It will involve African fairy tales and Cornelia is realising how little she knows about African history so she's been doing a lot of research. Since she explored the Black Prince's roots in TCoR, she is looking forward to see possible parallels between the Inkworld and the Mirrorworld again

The Wild Chicks

- Cornelia has recently been made aware that The Wild Chicks are trending on Tiktok. She obviously had no idea. She heard that they are seen as idols because even 30 years ago they were growing their own food, saving chickens and featured lesbians

- The idea is to do something with those characters and environmentalism because it would fit very well but there are no concrete plans yet

- Of course there are also those scripts about the characters at 30. Plans have been changed - instead of a movie, Cornelia wants to turn it into a six part TV show. This would give every character room to breathe. Of course, there would be a book to go along with this

Misc.

- Cornelia wishes she was ginger. She doesn't want to dye her hair, she just wants to naturally be ginger. Maybe in the next life

- Cornelia talks about her Christmas project again. She wants all her artists to draw christmas trees which the writer's will then tell little stories about

- One of Cornelia’s next plans is to get environmentalists and artists together and come up with more hopeful narratives about the future of the planet. She is tired of apocalypse stories

- "The Green Kingdom" is finished and will be released next spring

- Cornelia's Italian is getting better and she hopes she will be able to do a few readings in Italian next year. She will be on stage in Germany next month for the first time since covid hit and is very excited about it

- If Cornelia had the chance to sit down and talk to any fictional character, she would like to choose the three musketeers or Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride

- Despite all the wonderful Italian food she's been eating, Cornelia remains loyal to the potato

- In Cornelia's experience, publishers often try to stop authors and illustrators from communicating directly because they don't want them to unionize. She encourages everyone to ignore this and talk to each other

#info #cornelia funke #reckless #inkworld #the color of revenge #tcor #i never remember which tags i use lmao #the wild chicks #die wilden hühner #inkheart #VERY interesting news this time #i was so excited to hear her mention battista.... my beloved.... #also YES i am SO ready to learn more about the prince let's GO #i realise that this is kinda short but they spent most of their time complaining about the cover designs hfdjkghfggf #it's so nice to hear cornelia speak #like about anything #u can tell that she really believes in everything she does and is so excited about it all i love her #and her little 'nech' every other sentence. we get it you're from hamburg #ok im gonna go outside now have a good day everyone

[painted-fanbird]

Thinking about the Inkworld trilogy and Mistborn Era 1, and how they handled books 2 and 3 and why I like the Inkworld better lol

Why compare them? Because Inkheart was the last series I read before Mistborn, and I adored it, but more relevantly they’re formatted similarly. both trilogies have first books that function as standalones, followed by two connected sequels turning them into trilogies

The actual analysis is under the cut both because of massive spoilers for both series, and because this is long and I’m not about to be clogging up your dashboard lol

I adored The Final Empire (book 1), but Well of Ascension (book 2) and The Hero of Ages (book 3) were both major misses for me. Though I didn’t love tWoA, I did find it generally fine. tHoA on the other hand I actively dislike. Contrasted to the Inkworld trilogy, where Inkspell (book 2) is actually my favorite! With Inkdeath (book 3) as my second favorite. Inkheart (book 1) comes in third, but I still love that book. The other two just speak to me XD

Inkspell expands on the loose ends left in Inkheart very naturally, and I love that! Inkspell opens with Dustfinger returning home, which works perfectly since he just vanished into the night at the end of Inkheart with Farid. It additionally sets up Orpheus, and once we’re in the Inkworld we meet up with the rest of our loose ends! Basta and The Magpie. Additionally, Inkspell has the advantage of the Inkworld being generally unknown to us the reader. Cornelia Funke has basically free rein to do what she wants as long as she doesn’t violate the whimsical, magical vibe she’s already established in Inkheart. Which she does not, and Dustfinger’s initial return to his world is literally my favorite scene in the whole book <3

tWoA, by contrast, doesn’t really do this imo. The biggest loose ends we’re left with in TFE are allomancy as a whole, the missing atium, and low key OreSeur specifically. tWoA chooses to focus on literally none of this in depth, instead focusing on the government and the Siege of Luthadel. Which is logical, obviously rebellion take overs will have some kinks they need to iron out, but it doesn’t pay any serious mind to what TFE set up and I find that to be a let down. We get a little bit of Allomancy exploration in Duralumin, but that’s it. The atium is relevant exclusively because the invading armies think Luthadel has it, but there’s no anything about it outside of that. OreSeur is just straight up dead! Though I did love Vin and TenSoon, that was my favorite part of the whole book <3

tWoA also squanders one of the things I adored about TFE, the character dynamics. The whole crew was so fun, and it was such a delight to see interact with each other and Vin. In tWoA they’re barely even there! Dockson, Kelsier’s best friend, has literally three scenes in the entire book. He dies in the third one. Clubs? Also has like three scenes, including where he dies. Ham is marginally more present, but Spook is only in like two scenes himself. We see the most of Sazed, which is cool because I like him <3 Instead of focusing on the crew, tWoA introduces new characters! Which are… hit or miss. Tindwyl and TenSoon and Allrianne my beloved <3 Then there’s Zane. Whom I can only describe as a Gary Stu and frankly I want to pick Sanderson’s brain and find out what the hell he was thinking when he made Zane because by all accounts he makes no sense lol

Inkspell and Inkdeath however, introduce new side characters without usurping the focus on the main cast. This is admittedly helped by Inkheart having a smaller cast in general XD But Dustfinger, Mo, Farid, Fenoglio, Resa, and Meggie if you squint (her squandered potential is another post lol) all remain major players, and continue to interact with each other like the did in book one. It’s great <3

tHoA is where things get particularly dicey for me lol. In tone and in plot. I just found it to be depressing, boring, and I do not like Ruin and Preservation. I don’t generally enjoy plots on a cosmic, god fighting scale to begin with, and I actively hate twist, “it was him all along!” villains. I find them to be boring, and feel that they remove agency from the villains prior to them. Also, I think they were set up poorly. If you removed them from the plot, literally nothing changes with TFE, and very little would change in tWoA. Not ideal for a villain you’re about to claim was here the whole time.

This book also continues the trend of no one talking to each other by scattering our protagonists to the four winds! Vin literally only talks to Elend, and maybe Ham once this book. Spook is in Urteau with Sazed, Breeze, and Allrianne, and his message never makes it to her. They literally don’t talk once and that’s a damn shame considering what they could have had. Tonally it’s just death and distraction all the way through, and that’s just,, blegh. No thanks.

Also everyone is so grim faced and boring, I hate this version of Elend, there’s no sass, no bite to him anymore. Just a grim and dutiful general who insists he’s struggles with doing hard things but then does them anyway. I also hate that his character arc goes unfulfilled! My man spends the entire book being worried about his inability to keep people safe, then he gets beheaded after watching an entire squad of soldiers get slaughtered by koloss. Like sure he saved the world but uhhhh yeah that’s not a satisfying conclusion. (Elend as a character was actually just generally not utilized well by the narrative imo. Raise your hand if you remember that this man was forced to sleep with a skaa girl at 13 years old she avoided romance because of it!)

Vin is also kind of boring, which is deeply upsetting because she was a fav in TFE and tWoA. She’s just so,, grim. And nothing else. It sucks. Also I don’t think her arc was done well here either. I love the idea of her finally coming to terms with the two parts of herself, but it felt forced! Vin spends basically no time as Valette after book 1, so it feels dragged out. We did not have to wait to book 3 to resolve this, we could’ve sorted this our way earlier lol

Also the whole thing with Sazed and the prophecy is just,, wut? I’m not a fan of the implication that Sazed is less of a man because he’s been castrated, and since I just generally don’t like Ruin and Preservation in general turning Sazed into god is just not where it’s at for me. It felt bizarre and out of place tbh

Inkdeath, on the other hand, does not have these issues. It’s villain, The Adderhead, was firmly established and was also the primary villain of book 2. He is not a god. He’s a king who was seeking immortality and was kind of foiled. A man, at his core lol. Tonally it is pretty grim at the beginning, but when Dustfinger is brought back, about 1/3 of the way through, the plot takes a notable hopeful upswing. Things aren’t easy, but they’re looking better now <3

I’ll also be the first to admit that Inkdeath’s clear cut happy ending is my preferred story ending lol, which is absolutely major points in its favor XD

I also think Inkdeath handles its characters well. Meggie and Farid do kind of end up on the side, but Mo, Dustfinger, and Resa all really shine. This opinion is helped by the fact that Mo and Dustfinger are my favorites, but I think it holds merit outside of that. They’ve been primary characters since book 1, are continuing to participate in the main plot together, and I find their arcs to be constant and wrapped up very nicely <3

TL;DR: I think tWoA and tHoA squandered their potential by introducing new plot threads instead of focusing on established loose ends, and committing several character assassinations by book 3. Inkspell and Inkheart did not do this, they followed up on their loose ends directly, kept the focus on the characters introduced in book 1, and did not go suddenly off the rails in the climax, instead ending with my preferred traditional fairy tale ending <3

#bird caws #mistborn #inkheart #the inkworld #mistborn spoilers #Inkheart spoilers #I think the main reason I’m so frustrated by tWoA and tHoA is because I wanted to like them! I still do! #I just #don’t #on the other hand #Inkheart my beloved <3 #I gotta have you rattling around in my brain more #you’re lovely and I’m super pumped for The Colors of Revenge! <3 #also I did not proof read this post #hopefully it’s coherent lol

[takahero]

in honour of finishing inkspell, here are some basta observations I picked up along the way. also, inkspell spoilers warning! i also have MANY MANY thoughts so i’d love to hear what you guys think to some of the questions raised

“He hadn’t changed: the same thin face, the same way of narrowing his eyes, and there was an amulet dangling around his neck to ward off the bad luck that Basta thought lurked under every ladder, behind every bush.” — pg.138

“Basta’s left hand was bandaged, Elinor noticed when he took his fingers away from her mouth.” — pg.139

“‘I’d have been here much sooner, believe you me, but they put me in jail for a while on account of something that happened years ago. No sooner was Capricorn gone than all the people who’d been too scared to open their mouths suddenly felt very brave.’” — pg.140 (see they never tell us WHY he was in prison, do they? the possibilities are endless. we know he committed atrocious things, like arson, but imagine if he got put in jail for something completely different…LOL)

“‘You wouldn’t believe how often I’ve told him there’s nothing to be ashamed of in going to jail, particularly when your prisons here are so much more comfortable than our dungeons at home.’” — pg.140 (OHHHTMGOD MEME IDEA)

“Basta flung his arm so roughly round Orpheus’ neck that his glasses slipped down his nose.” — pg.141

“‘Hold your tongue, Basta!’ Mortola interrupted him abruptly. ‘You’ve always liked the sound of your own voice.’” — pg.141

“‘Well, Silvertongue, I’m sorry it’s taken some time,’ he said in his soft, cat-like voice.” — pg.180

“‘My son always said revenge was a dish best eaten cold,’ observed Mortola.” — pg.181 (question. did basta find out about mortola’s true identity between inkheart & inkspell? do u think he realised it when mortola cried when capricorn died?)

“Basta passed a finger over his throat and winked at him.” — pg.186 (wink 2 LMAO)

“Basta bent down and picked up a rusty helmet lying at his feet. ‘What do you expect me to say?’ he growled, throwing the helmet back into the grass with a gloomy expression, and giving it a kick that sent it clattering against the wall. ‘Of course it’s our castle. Didn’t you see the figure of the goat on the wall there? Even the carved devils are still standing, though they wear ivy crowns now — and look, there’s one of the eyes that Slasher liked to paint on the stones.’” — pg.190

“‘So Basta was right after all. He’s dead, here and in the other world too.’” — pg.191 (interesting….so Basta knew Mortola’s plan wouldn’t work? he just wanted a ride home?)

“‘I’d really like to know what happened!’ he muttered. ‘I always said Capricorn wasn’t here, but what about the others?…What are we going to do if they’re all gone?’ Basta sounded like a boy afraid of the dark. ‘Do you want us to live in a cave like brownies until the wolves find us? Have you forgotten the wolves? And the Night-Mares, the fire-elves, all the other creatures crawling around the place…I for one haven’t forgotten them, but you would come back to this accursed spot where there are ghosts lurking behind every tree!’ He reached for the amulet dangling around his neck, but Mortola did not deign to look at him.

“‘Oh, be quiet!’ she said, so sharply that Basta flinched.” — pg.192

“‘You’re going to leave them here?’ That was Basta’s voice.” — pg.193 (at first I was like oh so he has a heart….but then he was mean to resa straight after this 🙄)

“‘Sorry, but he must have overlooked me, shut up in that cage as I was,’ purred Basta in his catlike voice.” — pg.377

“‘Wasn’t it Mortola who had you put in the cage to be fed to the Shadow?’ Basta just shrugged his shoulders and flung back his silver-grey cloak. Of course, he had his knife. A brand new one, it seemed, finer than any he’d ever had in the other world, and undoubtedly just as sharp.

“‘Yes, not very nice of her,’ he said as his fingers caressed the handle of the knife. ‘But she’s really sorry.’” — pg.377 (okay so it SOUNDS like he threatened/made some kind of bargain with his knife, but I strongly doubt that considering how afraid he seems of her?? i know he’s technically working for the adderhead but even by the end of the book, it seems he is far closer to mortola than adderhead. what is their relationship? or does he sincerely think she’s sorry/has deluded himself into believing such? UGH SO MANY QUESTIONS)

“Basta had always liked describing his own and other people’s abominable deeds in detail.” — pg.378

“‘But we’re not going to shoot you.’ Basta came a little closer to Fenoglio, his face as intent as that of a stalking cat.” — pg.378 …. living for all the cat references tbh

“‘He wants you to crawl on your belly to him, that’s what our noble lord and master likes. But never mind, he pays well!’” — pg.378 (yes basta all abt getting that bread LMAOOOO)

“He slowly drew the knife from his belt. Its blade was long and slightly curved.” — pg.379

“‘Hey Basta, I know you like the sound of your own voice.’” — pg.379 (AHAHAHAHA HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE CALLED OUT BASTA ON THIS NOW? IVE LOST TRACK)

“With a regretful sigh, Basta put the knife back in his belt. ‘Yes, very well, you’re right,’ he said in surly tones. ‘I need to take my time with this sort of thing. Questioning people is an art, a real art.’” — pg.380 (LMAOOOOOOO HE IS SUCH A DRAMA QUEEN)

“Basta. The same thin face, the same twisted smile. Only the clothes were different. Basta was no longer wearing his white shirt and black suit with the flower in his buttonhole. No, Basta now wore the Adderhead’s silvery grey, and he had a sword at his side. With a knife in his belt too, of course. But he was holding a dead chicken in his left hand.” — pg. 455

“‘Yes, they are!’ purred Basta. ‘The little witch, and the fire-eater into the bargain. It was well worth the wait. Even though I’ll probably never get that damned flour out of my lungs again.’” — pg.455 (ok….so who’s gonna draw basta sitting amongst the flour AAHHAHA)

“‘Servant? Who’s a servant here? Just listen to him. As bold as if he’d never felt my knife! Have you forgotten how you screamed when it cut your face?’” — pg.457 … don’t call basta a servant…..noted

“‘Oh, don’t look so disbelieving, little witch, I still can’t read and I don’t intend to learn, but there are enough fools around the place who can, even in this world.’” —pg. 457 (i wonder how much capricorn influenced basta’s views on reading. because capricorn said that he learnt how to read from a maid, right? so basta certainly wouldn’t have trash-talked reading in front of him. and even after living in OUR world for nine years, I’m still surprised that he never attempted to learn, given how dependent we are on it. anyway my headcanon is that he secretly wants to, but doesn’t want to give others the satisfaction of knowing they have something he doesn’t. also nobody he knows would be willing to teach him (unless he threatened them) bc of his obviously violent and short-tempered nature…and learning requires so much patience. still, though, would love a fic of basta being taught how to read in secret and having some kind of positive interaction)

“‘You’re even more talkative than you used to be, Basta.’ Dustfinger’s voice sounded as if he found this tedious.” — pg.458 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH IM DYING. honestly the animosity between them was just. A+++

“Basta was in an even worse state. He was sitting close to Mortola, his face so red and swollen that Meggie almost failed to recognise him. But he had escaped death once again. Perhaps the good-luck charms he always wore worked after all.” — pg.526

“The sunlight falling into the room made Basta’s face look like a boiled lobster.” — pg.575 

“Basta put his hand to the amulet hanging around his neck. It was not a rabbit’s paw, as he had worn in Capricorn’s service, but something that looked suspiciously like a human finger-bone.” — pg.581 (THIS STILL IRKS ME SO MUCH)

“The Piper straightened his back, as ready to attack as the viper on his master’s coat of arms…He was a good head taller than Basta.” — pg.582 WHY DO I KEEP FORGETTING HES NOT TALL LMFAO

“The two men were standing so close that the blade of Basta’s knife wouldn’t have fitted between them.” — pg.582 HAHAHAJAHAAJAHAHHAAHAHAHAH PKESJENE I LOVE THIS SO MUCH … IMAGINE BASTA SQUARING UP W HIS NOSE JUST SMACK BANG IN THE MIDDLE OF PIPER’S CHEST OR SOMETHING

“The Piper struck Basta in the face so hard that his head hit the door frame. Blood ran down his burned cheek in a trail of red. He wiped it away with the back of his hand. ‘Take care to avoid dark corridors, Piper!’ he whispered. ‘You don’t have a nose any more, but one can always find something else to cut off.’” — pg.582-583 THIS SCENE WAS SIMPLY……CHEF’S KISS

are you serious is he dead??? WHAT. okay I knew dustfinger’s love for farid would be the end of him and basta being the instrument to rip that away from him was totally heartrending. i WISH it had been more climactic? like dustfinger unleashing his fury and fighting basta, blind with anger and grief. THE DIALOGUE POTENTIAL BETWEEN THEM AS THEY FINALLY TALK ONE-ON-ONE, and then some revisiting of the scene where dustfinger has the opportunity to kill basta but AGAIN withholds because killing is not in his nature….THEN MO IN SHINING ARMOUR SWOOPS IN TO DO THE JOB

now, off to inkdeath!

#inkspell #inkspell spoilers #basta #inkheart trilogy #BASTAAAAAA

[bluejayfiredancer]

Hey, i was reading the previous ask on your blog and considered the last paragraph in your answer about the relationship between mo, resa, roxane and dustfinger. I find it very fascinating how cornelia made their chemistry, but what is your opinion if she did it on purpose or if it just kinda turned out that way?

Oh man, I honestly don’t know and I wonder about it too! The trilogy is pretty emotionally and morally grey for the target demographic so I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of it was thought out -- for example, with how Resa/Dustfinger was established from the very first book, and consistently carried over to the sequels. Cornelia could have dropped or minimized that thread, right? It’s complicated and flirts with unfaithfulness, yet she continued to reinforce and remind us of it, which I thought was unusual. 

I do think that perhaps some of it comes across as weirder than Cornelia may have intended... considering what little I know of how she handled LGBT themes before (spoiler: questionably), I doubt she was aiming to make Dustfinger and Mo as intimate as they were, especially since they’re married... but can you just No Homo away such a relationship? Like, it’s all so deliberate. The death-induced soul bond didn’t have to exist at all, it wasn’t part of the previously established lore, but Cornelia specifically made it a thing for the pair. Mo didn’t have to factor in at all. There could’ve been infinite other ways to resurrect Dustfinger with how the world works. Orpheus, Meggie, Fenoglio, Roxane, Farid -- any of them could’ve reasonably brought him back imo but Cornelia chose Mo. Did she not expect people to read into that? Was it only a long-winded way to involve Dustfinger in the climax? Who knows?

Resa and Roxane didn’t have to be friends or even interact, either, but here we are. (though Roxane’s lack of interaction with Mo obviously makes her the least involved quarter of the group, thus the link that probably just sorta happened) I’m thinking that the foursome is a natural culmination of the more conscious decisions Cornelia made for the separate pairs of them. When us readers can see the whole picture with all four of them, we go “hey, wait a minute. so Dustfinger and Mo are soulmates now but still happily married, and their wives are close too? where do they go from here?” and I’m guessing Cornelia didn’t think that far either. 

sorry I ramble so much but these four are v important to me

#asks #tardis-to-pendragon #dustfinger #roxane #resa folchart #mo folchart