Ask a Magician: Questions from Non-Book Readers, Answers from Book Readers

[ElectricBoogaloo]

We have similar threads like this for Game of Thrones and Outlander, so I thought it might be useful for The Magicians too. Sometimes non-book readers have questions about the books but don't want to be spoiled, so here is the place to ask!

 

Book readers, please use the quote function to quote the question you are answering and be sure to put your answers under the spoiler tag. This allows non-book readers to find out the answers to their questions without being spoiled about everything else asked in the thread.

 

For example:

 

Quote

What is Quentin's favorite color in the books?

 

Blue

[grandemocha]

Oh, this is a great idea!! I have a question!

 

Is the relationship between Alice and Quentin believable? As in is it built up well and regarded as a solid relationship, or is it rushed? Does she just act as a replacement for Julia? I'm curious as to how it'll be tackled in the show.

[Crim]

Oh, this is a great idea!! I have a question!

 

Is the relationship between Alice and Quentin believable? As in is it built up well and regarded as a solid relationship, or is it rushed? Does she just act as a replacement for Julia? I'm curious as to how it'll be tackled in the show.

 

I did not enjoy the first book, so my answer might be facetious. She is not a replacement for Julia, except in terms of being his only friend, and he doesn't pine for her. There is nothing romantic between them, Quentin is attracted to almost anything with tits, and then

they have sex while they are foxes. No, literal foxes. Her smell drives him crazy and they mate.

I'll give you a moment to process that in terms of the "believable" label. Once started, their relationship is serious;

Quentin goes to her home, meets her horribly dysfunctional parents; they stay together after graduation, living with the other Physical Kids, but Quentin is just adrift with no plans for the future. Then it all goes to shit.

 

Now, more spoilers, to give you an idea where Quentin is, emotionally, at that point in the books and how it all goes down.

He drunkenly cheats on her, is angry that she is making him feel guilty by existing, then is angry when she cheats on him too, so angry he is resentful when the guy she slept him saves his life, but sort of relieved that she is now as much of a dirty cheater as he is and he doesn't have to feel anything but righteous anger anymore (his voice is.. not pleasant), and he realizes that he loves her a lot as she is fighting the villain and dies to save everyone. He is alone and numb and wallows in self-pity for awhile.

Then suddenly Julia joins the main story with Eliot and Janet; this is the end of book 1. If you now wonder if Quentin's old feelings for Julia are revisited in book 2, well, duh.

 

As to how rushed it is, it's hard to say because the pacing of the first book is so accelerated: it burns through all their time at Brakebills, post-graduation time, an entire adventure in Fillory, and the fallout from that; months of character development and interactions are covered in a paragraph. The progression is there though. It's just that the show can't do this, unless it does a montage with voice overs or some such.

 

Also, since all this second paragraph happens some time after graduation and living in the "real world", this might not come up for awhile. I wouldn't be surprised if the show stretched their school years for many episodes, especially as it is already covering part of book 2 with Julia's story. (Also, it would be more expensive to film/CGI Fillory than the current sets, and it would change the tone and even genre of the show.)

Edited February 10, 2016 by SilverStormm
Tagged

[stillshimpy]

Is the relationship between Alice and Quentin believable? As in is it built up well and regarded as a solid relationship, or is it rushed? Does she just act as a replacement for Julia? I'm curious as to how it'll be tackled in the show.

 

 

I have a slightly different answer than Crim does and I stand almost alone in having enjoyed the first book, although it was (by a lot) the least successful of the books.

 

I think that Quentin's relationship with Alice is structured into the books reasonably well.  It doesn't feel shorthanded or rushed, she's mentioned a lot long before anything occurs.  I think readers are probably aware that Quentin has an interest in Alice long before Quentin is, but Alice in the books is very shy and gentle.  Yes, they do actually get together because the entire class has been turned into a series of animals as part of a very involved test and it just doesn't come off as freaky, it's primarily funny, because book Quentin is startled by how insanely attracted to Alice he is in fox form....which if you think about it is sort of funny....he finally realizes that Alice is a fox when she's...a fox.

 

But it never comes off as a replacement for Julia and here's why Julia is barely in the first book.  Her Hedge Witch story is told in the second book and beyond we simply know she there,  Quentin -- who is a teenage boy and yes, a lonely one who is easily attracted to a pair of legs and a smile -- does have a giant crush on her, but he is not actually aware that she suffering.  He doesn't make some decision to not tell the dean her mindwipe didn't work.  He only thinks he saw Julia at the test, they never interact there and then when she doesn't show up in his class, he thinks nothing more about it....until he finally goes on a break (and Brakebills time passes differently than real-world time)....encounters her while home and she's a fucking scary mess, chain-smoking, weird, different at one point she essentially attacks him and it's only then that Quentin realizes that she was there, that the mindwipe didn't take and ....he promptly tells the Dean.  

 

So in the books, Quentin's relationship to Julia is sort of different.  

Edited February 10, 2016 by stillshimpy
Tagged

[Meredith Quill]

Mod Note:

 

Readers,

 

Please spoiler tag your replies in their entirety. That way there can be no accidental/unintentional spoilage for any non readers who come in wanting the answer to a different question.

 

Thanks

[stillshimpy]

Cool, changed my spoiler tags so there wouldn't be spoilers within spoilers, within spoilers.   It was like a hall of mirrors, only with tags in there. 

[Crim]

Yeah it would be great to get some world building info on if there's any rules about magic use in the Muggle world or not. At this point it comes across as half baked. Magicians learn magic at Brakebills or if they get kicked out or rejected they end up as Hedge Witches and ... unknown what or where they go from there.

Do classically trained/ self taught magicians have covens where they cast higher order spells? Do either side have a over reaching agenda? Global conquest? Accumulation of magic/power?

 

Taken from the episode 4 topic, because it is not episode-related. In the books, Brakebills fits the worst take on college: you graduate and... nothing. Nothing at all. You are not prepared for life. There are no rules, no agenda, no cause to align with, to care about, to work towards. It's in no way like Harry Potter, where there is job counseling and there are actual jobs in a magic world with its own infrastructure; Brakebills graduates live in the normal world. Magicians as a whole are very rich, and individuals are taken care of financially, no matter what they do. Magicians who have to or want to live in the normal world, like Emily, are given a cushy job in a firm with magician funds; she doesn't have to know anything, have skills, do anything to keep it except keep her cover by actually going to work. The adults we see are busy with caustically pointless research (i.e. academic research grants), and it's mentioned that the ones that do get involved in muggle affairs seem to do it as a game (and not in the fun way; think psychopathic hedge fund managers too rich to even be motivated by the money anymore). It's a wasteland. It's why everyone, not just Quentin, is eager to go to Fillory when there is a chance: they hope they actually have something to do there.

Spoiler tagged to be safe, but it's just world building and a bit on Emily (which is only a spoiler if the show revisits her character).

Edited February 12, 2016 by SilverStormm
Please tag replies in full

[wayne67]

Taken from the episode 4 topic, because it is not episode-related. In the books,

Brakebills fits the worst take on college: you graduate and... nothing. Nothing at all. You are not prepared for life. There are no rules, no agenda, no cause to align with, to care about, to work towards. It's in no way like Harry Potter, where there is job counseling and there are actual jobs in a magic world with its own infrastructure; Brakebills graduates live in the normal world. Magicians as a whole are very rich, and individuals are taken care of financially, no matter what they do. Magicians who have to or want to live in the normal world, like Emily, are given a cushy job in a firm with magician funds; she doesn't have to know anything, have skills, do anything to keep it except keep her cover by actually going to work. The adults we see are busy with caustically pointless research (i.e. academic research grants), and it's mentioned that the ones that do get involved in muggle affairs seem to do it as a game (and not in the fun way; think psychopathic hedge fund managers too rich to even be motivated by the money anymore). It's a wasteland. It's why everyone, not just Quentin, is eager to go to Fillory when there is a chance: they hope they actually have something to do there.

Spoiler tagged to be safe, but it's just world building and a bit on Emily (which is only a spoiler if the show revisits her character).

 

Well that just makes what I suspected worse.

The whole magical community is suffering from ennui. That would mean the Beast is literally the only thing to stimulate Magicians to do anything and most of them can't or won't be bothered to do anything about it. 

Edited February 12, 2016 by SilverStormm
Non readers should tag anything that could be considered spoilery to other non readers in their replies

[stillshimpy]

This is just a reply to your tagged info, Crim, but my reply has additional spoilers: 

 

That's a big part of the plot of the first book though.  "Hey, magic! Wow! Awesome!! Now anything is possible, anything at all!"   and then it explores the ramifications of having literally anything you could want as being easily attainable.  That removing goals for which people have to strive, things that are beyond reach and the only way to get them is to keep pushing yourself....actually removes an essential part of us.  It has the Brakebills kids turning into complete jackasses after graduation, with the mother of all existential dilemmas "What's it all for, man? Which just sort of annoyed the shit out of me,

 

It was a theme that the books explored repeatedly though when we meet Alice's freaky parents in their created historical worlds and complete and utter disenchantment with life because they're bored.  That when anything you can imagine is within grasp if you know the right hand movements, one has fewer animating forces in life, propelling them forward.  I didn't really buy it, personally.   Stories about immortality always play with that notion also, the vampire or immortal who just craves death and is completely detached from existence because we need peril , we need desire, we need to have to exert effort.  Blah blah.  Blah blah.

 

Then Grossman finally had some fun with the notion with the Walkabout between worlds he sends Josh on and eventually, he just basically wanted to meet a nice girl, have some babies, etc.  That he'd done the magical whirlwind tour and mostly just wanted the stuff that had made people content throughout history: Human connection./

Edited February 11, 2016 by stillshimpy

[Lemur]

Well that just makes what I suspected worse.

 

Yes and no.

 

In the final push to get them out of Brakebills, there is a lot of talk about what their classmates will be doing once they graduate.  Some are doing legit stuff, like going on to grad school in magic or going for a legit BA or going to work for the Wizarding Court - yes, there is a Wizard Court - or doing other, worthy pursuits.  Some are indeed pursuing totally useless pursuits like Alice's parents.  It's really just Quentin, Eliot, Janet and Josh who turn into characters from a Bret Easton Ellis novel. Alice tries to motivate Quentin, but to no avail.

[queenanne]

Just tossing in that these are big helps for me with regards to remembering what went on, thanks guys.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Someone said that Kady isn't in the books, so is Hanna in the books? If so, who does Hanna contact in Marina's group to get help with the spell she and Julia do?

[Crim]

So when Marina puts a red X on the magical tattoos, what exactly does that do? Julia and Hanna still had the ability to do magic, so does the red X magically remove their knowledge of spells they already learned with Marina's witches? I'm also curious as to who authorizes the magic tattoos in the first place. Is it just a thing that Marina's group does? Like if Julia and Hanna had successfully created their own little group, would they be able to bestow the magic tattoos and also use the magic red X?

There are zero spoilers in this, just world building the show skipped (at least at the moment), but putting the tag as per the thread policy.

The stars are levels, so any group can bestow them, and anyone can ask for a confirmation that the person wearing them can actually do the stuff the stars would indicate. As to what they do, as seen in the previous ep scene when Julia tried to get the other group to show her their spells, they are like a business card. She couldn't show them, so she did that spell instead. Think of Julia's stars like a diploma received at the end of each school year; Marina ripped them to pieces, but Julia still graduated, she just can't use that on her CV. She could instantly get new stars somewhere else though, since she has what it takes to receive them. It's possible the show has a slightly different view on this, I suppose, since in the books there is no Marina, no red X; maybe the red X marks Julia as a cast out and it's impossible for her to just pick up as if nothing happened.

 

Someone said that Kady isn't in the books, so is Hanna in the books? If so, who does Hanna contact in Marina's group to get help with the spell she and Julia do?

The Marina group itself is show-only and Julia's arc is very different. Hanna could in fact be a version of a book character, but only if the show decided to change Julia's story, not just add a new chapter at this time. Since Julia's backstory was in book 2, all Julia season 1 stuff could be added to introduce her as a main character earlier, and then season 2 covers book 2, and all characters she meets now are show-only. There is no way to know until the end of this season or unless the show runners talk in an interview about show!Julia (which maybe they did, because I'm not up to date with this).

Edited February 23, 2016 by Crim

[Lemur]

The Marina group itself is show-only and Julia's arc is very different. Hanna could in fact be a version of a book character, but only if the show decided to change Julia's story, not just add a new chapter at this time. Since Julia's backstory was in book 2, all Julia season 1 stuff could be added to introduce her as a main character earlier, and then season 2 covers book 2, and all characters she meets now are show-only. There is no way to know until the end of this season or unless the show runners talk in an interview about show!Julia (which maybe they did, because I'm not up to date with this).

 

I think they're running The Magicians concurrently with Julia's part of The Magician King, so theoretically, 

the showdown in Ember's Tomb and the resulting aftermath would be happening just about at the same time as the Murs safehouse and the encounter with Reynard the Fox.

[Crim]

^ It does seem that way, except for the part where nothing we see resembles Julia's back story in The Magician King, so I wonder if her story will end up at the same place at the books. Maybe there is no such encounter, or maybe it's the result of a spell she randomly finds (that would be lame though...) Btw, I saw an interview with Stella Maeve and she mentioned having fun recently filming a scene where she flies, which sounds like that very last scene of book 1, so that's in season 2. Since Julia is already a co-lead, the show can run her story up until that moment, instead of Ember's Tomb - not that there would be more than an episode or 2 between those, with the pacing the show has at the moment.

[paramitch]

My take on Alice and Quentin's romance:

 

I think it's actually fairly well-built and explored, even if Quentin's kind of an unappreciative ass to her occasionally in book one. But as he gets to know Alice, we get to know her as well, and she really is a fascinating and strong character -- she's much more than she seems.

 

 

Well that just makes what I suspected worse.

The whole magical community is suffering from ennui. That would mean the Beast is literally the only thing to stimulate Magicians to do anything and most of them can't or won't be bothered to do anything about it. 

 

I disagree. 

I think that it's more as Stillshimpy pointed out, the deliberate exploration of youth there, and that the young magicians who are experiencing that ennui (well, them and Alice's awful parents), especially since they are primarily so insufferable after graduation simply because it's kind of a rite of passage. Graduating with magic is every bit as confusing in some ways as graduating with a degree in ancient Norse poetry. They have no idea what to do with themselves, and since nobody's making them choose or pushing them forward, they just wallow in decadence for awhile and end up having to be saved from that (and from themselves).

But, as Lemur put it, we do find out in book 1 that the rest of the magical world has a variety of real, bona fide jobs, projects, networks, and options. What's interesting to me about what we hear of the outside wizarding world is that there's this division between magicians exploring magic as a science and potential benefit to humanity, and those exploring it simply as an outlandish and almost unimaginable art form.

 

Someone said that Kady isn't in the books, so is Hanna in the books? If so, who does Hanna contact in Marina's group to get help with the spell she and Julia do?

 

Neither Kady, nor Hannah, Marina, or Pete are actually in the books. 

 

^ It does seem that way, except for the part where nothing we see resembles Julia's back story in The Magician King, so I wonder if her story will end up at the same place at the books. Maybe there is no such encounter, or maybe it's the result of a spell she randomly finds (that would be lame though...) Btw, I saw an interview with Stella Maeve and she mentioned having fun recently filming a scene where she flies, which sounds like that very last scene of book 1, so that's in season 2. Since Julia is already a co-lead, the show can run her story up until that moment, instead of Ember's Tomb - not that there would be more than an episode or 2 between those, with the pacing the show has at the moment.

 

I disagree, so I'll address it below:

 

For me, Julia is still following the rough outline of her early journey in The Magician King: She's confronted Quentin, lost her boyfriend, and traded sexual favors for magical knowledge with Pete. Her early scenes with Marina as she hurtled through magical knowledge were very book-parallel, and to me, aside from the sudden and recent Marina dangers, Julia is currently still squarely in the 'seeking' stages of her magical explorations, trying to amass knowledge and knowledge-stars. It's just that the show has made this more linear by putting consistent characters into the mix to interact with Julia while she does so.

And while it wasn't something that happened in the book, I do think Hannah's death and Marina's dangerousness may now finally send Julia off on her road trip to discover all the magic she can, sometimes in dark, gritty and depressing places.

I don't think the flight has to be the final scene from Book 1 -- Julia would have probably learned to fly a lot sooner than that. But it could be -- I'm excited to see what happens and where they leave us at the end of Season 1.

Edited February 25, 2016 by paramitch

[Lemur]

My take on Alice and Quentin's romance:

 

I think it's actually fairly well-built and explored, even if Quentin's kind of an unappreciative ass to her occasionally in book one. But as he gets to know Alice, we get to know her as well, and she really is a fascinating and strong character -- she's much more than she seems.

 

 

 

I disagree. 

I think that it's more as Stillshimpy pointed out, the deliberate exploration of youth there, and that the young magicians who are experiencing that ennui (well, them and Alice's awful parents), especially since they are primarily so insufferable after graduation simply because it's kind of a rite of passage. Graduating with magic is every bit as confusing in some ways as graduating with a degree in ancient Norse poetry. They have no idea what to do with themselves, and since nobody's making them choose or pushing them forward, they just wallow in decadence for awhile and end up having to be saved from that (and from themselves).

But, as Lemur put it, we do find out in book 1 that the rest of the magical world has a variety of real, bona fide jobs, projects, networks, and options. What's interesting to me about what we hear of the outside wizarding world is that there's this division between magicians exploring magic as a science and potential benefit to humanity, and those exploring it simply as an outlandish and almost unimaginable art form.

 

 

Neither Kady, nor Hannah, Marina, or Pete are actually in the books. 

 

 

I disagree, so I'll address it below:

 

For me, Julia is still following the rough outline of her early journey in The Magician King: She's confronted Quentin, lost her boyfriend, and traded sexual favors for magical knowledge with Pete. Her early scenes with Marina as she hurtled through magical knowledge were very book-parallel, and to me, aside from the sudden and recent Marina dangers, Julia is currently still squarely in the 'seeking' stages of her magical explorations, trying to amass knowledge and knowledge-stars. It's just that the show has made this more linear by putting consistent characters into the mix to interact with Julia while she does so.

And while it wasn't something that happened in the book, I do think Hannah's death and Marina's dangerousness may now finally send Julia off on her road trip to discover all the magic she can, sometimes in dark, gritty and depressing places.

I don't think the flight has to be the final scene from Book 1 -- Julia would have probably learned to fly a lot sooner than that. But it could be -- I'm excited to see what happens and where they leave us at the end of Season 1.

 

I mostly agree, though 

I remain completely optomistic we'll see Murs. Because how the hell do you set up the major conflicts for the second book without what happens at Murs? It's the catalyst for everything.

[paramitch]

I mostly agree, though 

I remain completely optomistic we'll see Murs. Because how the hell do you set up the major conflicts for the second book without what happens at Murs? It's the catalyst for everything.

Lemur, oh, goodness, hell yeah!

 

I absolutely think we must, must see Murs and Julia's adorable gang, Pouncy, Asmodeus, etc. Absolutely. I hope I never came across as arguing against that. I fully support the show including the group and characters and can't wait to see how they do it. I loved those characters beyond the telling.

[Machiabelly]

The recent recap mentioned the backstory for the Russian professor. Enlighten me please

[ElectricBoogaloo]

How long are students usually at Brakebills? I'm assuming at least three years since this is Margo's third year going to Magical Burning Man, but I'm just curious if Margo and Eliot will be graduating/leaving at the end of the school year or if they will be around longer for Quentin/Alice/Penny's second year.

 

I have heard some of the characters refer to the first years and they also used some word for the non-first years (upperclassman?) but they didn't refer to the older students as second years or third years so I wasn't sure how many years the students are normally there. I also remember that in the first episode, Eliot pointed out two students who were the only ones left in their class which means there are at least three years of students (first years, the tiny class, and Eliot/Margo's class).

[paramitch]

The recent recap mentioned the backstory for the Russian professor. Enlighten me please

 

Professor Mayakovsky is directly tied to the core story in very interesting ways. He is the professor that had the affair with Emily Greenstreet, the female student who tried to make herself more beautiful, and who inadvertently caused the death/niffin transformation of Alice's brother Charlie. He was then basically exiled to Antarctica ("Brakebills South") by Brakebills to teach in a more secluded situation that only included brief contact with classes of students.

 

 

How long are students usually at Brakebills? I'm assuming at least three years since this is Margo's third year going to Magical Burning Man, but I'm just curious if Margo and Eliot will be graduating/leaving at the end of the school year or if they will be around longer for Quentin/Alice/Penny's second year.

 

In the books, my memory is that Brakebills is a standard 4-year university, whereas the TV version seems to be a 3-year grad program, which compresses events as well as aging the students.

 

In the book, and soon/ASAP (I'd bet dollars to donuts) on the show -- Quentin, Penny and Alice are advanced forward beyond the other freshmen by a year once they demonstrate a certain amount of proficiency (and with a compressed and grueling study program). In the book, Eliot and Janet/Margo (and Josh, not included in the show so far) are still ahead of Quentin/Alice/Penny and end up graduating before them, but we basically just fast-forward to when Quentin and Alice rejoin them after graduation.

Edited March 2, 2016 by paramitch

[Lemur]

Professor Mayakovsky is directly tied to the core story in very interesting ways. He is the professor that had the affair with Emily Greenstreet, the female student who tried to make herself more beautiful, and who inadvertently caused the death/niffin transformation of Alice's brother Charlie. He was then basically exiled to Antarctica ("Brakebills South") by Brakebills to teach in a more secluded situation that only included brief contact with classes of students.

 

 

 

In the books, my memory is that Brakebills is a standard 4-year university, whereas the TV version seems to be a 3-year grad program, which compresses events as well as aging the students.

 

In the book, and soon/ASAP (I'd bet dollars to donuts) on the show -- Quentin, Penny and Alice are advanced forward beyond the other freshmen by a year once they demonstrate a certain amount of proficiency (and with a compressed and grueling study program). In the book, Eliot and Janet/Margo (and Josh, not included in the show so far) are still ahead of Quentin/Alice/Penny and end up graduating before them, but we basically just fast-forward to when Quentin and Alice rejoin them after graduation.

Also, to further elaborate on Prof. Mayakovsky, or Mr. Funny Laffs, as Q refers to him ... 

He also has a very important part to play in the larger story that we can't even begin to touch on. Suffice to say he is a wizard of immense power.

 

In the books, the standard Brakebills student has a five year course of study.  Fifth years are referred to as Fins for reasons unknown other than the insular culture of a super secret institute of magical higher learning that has kept itself hidden for centuries.  It's like a micro-culture unto itself.

[Machiabelly]

Thank you Lemur and paramitch.

 

A Fin is common oldietime slang for a five dollar bill, so maybe from there...Yiddish for five I think

[Lemur]

Thank you Lemur and paramitch.

 

A Fin is common oldietime slang for a five dollar bill, so maybe from there...Yiddish for five I think

 

That would make sense, Machiabelly.  Thanks for the insight.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I am one of those weird people who prefers to read the book AFTER I watch the tv show/movie, so I am planning to get the first book in the series next week. I know some people mentioned earlier in the season that we saw stuff from the second book too (Julia's hedge witch/non-Brakebills magic stuff?), so is it safe for me to read the second book too and not be spoiled for S2?

[Arutha2321]

@ElectricBoogaloo Short answer: No.

 

Long answer: 

Not really. Julia's story forms about a third of the second book's story and it's interspersed throughout the second book, and ends just about where the TV's version does. However, the story of the other ones is completely new.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Thanks! I will have to be patient and wait until next year (!) to read the second book.

[kat165]

Is Alice a niffin like her brother was or does it make any difference that she still had a bit of godpower left in her when she burned up? Which her brother didn't have. Was this covered in the books? I don't mind spoilers. I don't know when I will have the opportunity to read the bks so I'm not opposed to spoilers. Thanks! (and thanks for pointing out this thread, EB.)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

2 hours ago, kat165 said:

Is Alice a niffin like her brother was or does it make any difference that she still had a bit of godpower left in her when she burned up? Which her brother didn't have. Was this covered in the books? I don't mind spoilers. I don't know when I will have the opportunity to read the bks so I'm not opposed to spoilers. Thanks! (and thanks for pointing out this thread, EB.)

 

Spoiler

If I recall correctly, in the books Alice was just a regular niffin. The godpower didn't make her niffin any different.

[Hanahope]

And right now I think it's up in air of whether she's a niffin , since her body died.  And there was no 'god power' in the books that I recall.

[kat165]

Thanks, EB. So was the Alice burn-up/death scene that we saw in the show portrayed differently from the book?

Thank you, Hanahope. I am thinking too she is not quite niffin or one at all because her "death" was so different from her brother's - as portrayed in the show.

[Hanahope]

On 27/02/2017 at 2:06 AM, kat165 said:

So was the Alice burn-up/death scene that we saw in the show portrayed differently from the book?

Spoiler

So in book 1, when the group attacked the Beast only one had a kako demon (Q, I think - the others had used/wasted them in other non-beast attacks), which was used against the Beast, but failed.  Alice then did a spell that was too powerful and turned her into a niffin, which killed the Beast, but then she just poofed away, she didn't try to attack the others (at least I don't recall that).  We don't hear from Alice again until book 3 when Q works to bring her back (and she wasn't very happy about it).

Edited February 28, 2017 by SilverStormm
Please spoiler tag answers in here, thanks.

[kat165]

Thanks, Hanahope. I think in the show too one or two of them had already used their kako demon and weren't able to use it on the beast. I think Q was the only one who released his at that point, but his didn't work??

[Hanahope]

53 minutes ago, kat165 said:

Thanks, Hanahope. I think in the show too one or two of them had already used their kako demon and weren't able to use it on the beast. I think Q was the only one who released his at that point, but his didn't work??

Spoiler

Yeah, 2 of them had released them on other events that didn't appear completely necessary, and another released one accidently.  So Q had the only one against the beast, which wasn't enough.

[ElleMo]

I am afraid to read through this thread because I don't want any spoilers.  Book readers -- is the series close to the books at this point.  I'd like to read it, but since I started the series first, I don;t want to be spoiled if it is still close to the books.  But if it is no longer following the paths of the books, I'd like to read them now rather than wait for the series to end. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

6 hours ago, ElleMo said:

I am afraid to read through this thread because I don't want any spoilers.  Book readers -- is the series close to the books at this point.  I'd like to read it, but since I started the series first, I don;t want to be spoiled if it is still close to the books.  But if it is no longer following the paths of the books, I'd like to read them now rather than wait for the series to end. 

First of all, do not be afraid to read through this thread because anything spoilery should be spoiler tagged in order to keep you from accidentally being spoiled!

The short answer to your question is that at this point, the show has diverged a lot from the books (to the point where they're almost completely different now).

I read the books right after S1 so I don't remember all the details, but from what I recall, S1 and the first book lined up pretty closely. S2 and S3 have not followed the books as closely. There were some elements they used from the books like Eliot/Margo/Quentin becoming kings and queens of Fillory, the quest for the seven keys, Fillory being invaded, a boat trip, trying to restore magic, etc. but there are so many things that are different that they feel like completely different entities.

To me, S1 was a fairly close adaptation of the book (but with some noticeable changes) while S2-S3 are more like a show that has taken the characters from the books and a few storylines and then run in a different direction.

Based on the preview for this week's episode, it looks like the show might be bringing in a storyline from the third book before this season ends. I think if they do include that, it will be the last big element from the books that they haven't done yet that could logically/realistically put into the show.

FYI - the second book deals a lot with Julia's time as a hedge witch so I think if they wanted to, they could try to incorporate that into S4 either as flashbacks or if they gave some of that story to a different character. The only other big storyline that I think they could use from the books in the future is about Quentin. In the third book:

Spoiler

Quentin gets kicked out of Fillory permanently and becomes a teacher at Brakebills.

[ElleMo]

9 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

First of all, do not be afraid to read through this thread because anything spoilery should be spoiler tagged in order to keep you from accidentally being spoiled!

The short answer to your question is that at this point, the show has diverged a lot from the books (to the point where they're almost completely different now).

I read the books right after S1 so I don't remember all the details, but from what I recall, S1 and the first book lined up pretty closely. S2 and S3 have not followed the books as closely. There were some elements they used from the books like Eliot/Margo/Quentin becoming kings and queens of Fillory, the quest for the seven keys, Fillory being invaded, a boat trip, trying to restore magic, etc. but there are so many things that are different that they feel like completely different entities.

To me, S1 was a fairly close adaptation of the book (but with some noticeable changes) while S2-S3 are more like a show that has taken the characters from the books and a few storylines and then run in a different direction.

Based on the preview for this week's episode, it looks like the show might be bringing in a storyline from the third book before this season ends. I think if they do include that, it will be the last big element from the books that they haven't done yet that could logically/realistically put into the show.

FYI - the second book deals a lot with Julia's time as a hedge witch so I think if they wanted to, they could try to incorporate that into S4 either as flashbacks or if they gave some of that story to a different character. The only other big storyline that I think they could use from the books in the future is about Quentin. In the third book:

  Reveal hidden contents

Quentin gets kicked out of Fillory permanently and becomes a teacher at Brakebills.

Thanks.  I think I will get the books when I have a chance.

[festivus]

16 hours ago, ElleMo said:

I am afraid to read through this thread because I don't want any spoilers.  Book readers -- is the series close to the books at this point.  I'd like to read it, but since I started the series first, I don;t want to be spoiled if it is still close to the books.  But if it is no longer following the paths of the books, I'd like to read them now rather than wait for the series to end. 

They are on a key quest in the second book but I think it's different enough from the show. You might want to wait a few more weeks to read that one though.

I would read them. The first season mostly stuck to book one and Julia's story in book two but with some differences. I like the show's characters better just because they are way more fleshed out and Quentin is so much better, he's kind of a drip in the books although he gets better as they go along. What I like better in the books is some of the descriptions of the fantasy elements which the show is not going to have the budget to do. Book spoiler:

Spoiler

I'm still hoping they find a way to do the house of mirrors that Quentin makes in the third book, that was one of my favorite things.

I don't know at this point how much of the show is going to stick with the plot of the third book, but I'd say some of it because I see them setting up things now that I think they'll do next season. But I don't think they'll stick exactly to book three but there are a couple of spoilers there that I think they're going to use so you might want to wait on reading the last book.

[Hanahope]

My favorite part of the third book is

Spoiler

the heist job

, so I'd love to see that used at some point.  I don't see how that could be in this season, so maybe next.

But otherwise, echo the above.  Book 1, you've seen, as well as most of book 2.  Whether much of book 3 gets used, is up in the air, but I still think its worthwhile reading it because they way the show has executed the various plot points has been fairly different in most cases, and very good.

Edited April 3, 2018 by Hanahope

[CigarDoug]

On 2/10/2016 at 4:26 PM, stillshimpy said:

Cool, changed my spoiler tags so there wouldn't be spoilers within spoilers, within spoilers.   It was like a hall of mirrors, only with tags in there. 

My God, it's full of TAGS!