#ralad

Brooke - my Ralad bard from a Deltora Quest-themed campaign. Her life goal is to teach mute/deaf/blind children alternative methods of communication like sign language and music-based languages. She is named after the music of a babbling brook.

SPOILERS AHEAD! SPOILERS AHEAD! SPOILERS AHEAD!

Episode 4: The Enigmatic Giant

So… the Shadow Lord is actually aware that the Topaze was stolen when Gorl was defeated? It’s nice. Makes the Shadow Lord more omniscient, fits with the anime idea that it is more an eldritch being than an over-powered evil sorcerer.

I like that we actually see rain and storms that early. If I remember well, we had to wait until book five to see rain in Deltora. But seriously, though, why put a rainbow there?

I really like the giant design. The reminiscence of his bird form as a humanoid, or how he disguises himself as a rock in front of the bridge, foreshadowing the transformation and that he is not really what he seems to be.

I also like how Kree seems to warn Jasmine that the giant isn’t as evil as they think. Kree must sense that he was a bird all along.

The giant making the hourglass appear from thin air is really ridiculous. There was no need for that. And the giant reaction at each good answer (screaming in pain/anger than being all happy and smiling) is quite weird. I understand maybe Thaegan created him so that he would feel pain whenever a victim escapes, but… at least, explain it.

So… they changed Barda’s riddle? Probably because of the translation of some idioms being impossible in Japanese? Or maybe they just wanted to emphasize the “numbers and math” idea prevalent in the two other questions? But outside of that, seriously Barda, you want to directly fight him after thinking for barely two seconds? Come on…

The sung poem is really funny and cheese. Seriously, it’s funny, it makes me laugh. Especially when Lief repeats it word for word, at the same rhythm, with the same intonations, as time runs out and he keeps this dead-eyed serious face… That’s really a joke. But I get it, the people of the show probably wanted to let time for the kids to discover themselves the answer… or maybe not, they were just being ridiculous.

I like how Lief’s option for being killed appear as these old-fashioned illustrations.

As someone said in the comments down the video, the “You’re free again” from Lief is unnecessary and not very logical compared to what the bird just told him. I guess it’s a translation problem.

The flashback of Kree’s family death is perfect – the corpses in the spider webs, the fact we don’t see Thaegan, making it creepy and sad without being gory or shocking – perfect.

They already reveal, or at least hint at the D’Or background? That early? Okay… Well, some may have thought the D’Or plot twist came a bit without warning in the books. I’m glad to see Jasmine’s ability to hear birds being used again. But why are the D’Or people not golden? And why are there Ralads with them? Especially when the team isn’t supposed to know about Ralads yet, especially Jasmine.

I like the Shadow Lord-marked rations, food bar stuff the Grey Guards are eating. It fits the book idea of the Shadow Lord being a modern and industrial evil.

Barda telling Lief that they mustn’t stray away from their quest and not save the Ralad… That’s inconsistent and hypocrite, given previously Barda was willing to forget going to the Dark and search the Topaze just to kill the Wennbar. Yeah, the Wennbar was following them but still, he chose to fight it because of his disdain for fleeing, and didn’t care one bit about the stones.

The fiery explosive stuff the Grey Guards own are confirmed to be the blisters… I really wonder how they’re going to explain the Gellick poison stuff.

 Episode 5: Nij and Doj’s Trap

Lief calls the explosive stuff “poisonous blisters”… When they are clearly explosive stuff!

The segment with Jasmine throwing things at the guards is… weird. And just slowing down the flight, and not a good move to pull off in real life.

Nij and Doj are supposed to be plump, isn’t it?

It’s nice to see the original wordplay with the quicksand warning sign in English.

I don’t remember Filli being scared in the book… if so, it’s a nice addition of the anime.

Filli is a girl? That’s a discovery.

I like how the illusion of Nij and Doj being broken reminds of two things. 1- it looks like the statics of a television going wrong, referring again to the technological/industrial idea of the Shadow Lord’s evil. 2- it reminds me of, yet again, the 3D covers of the book. Nice touch.

For as much as I like Jin and Jod’s house design, I don’t like their real form. They look too cartoony and cute for me. Even though they kept the major traits from the book, Jin and Jod were supposed to be ugly ogres, disfigured monsters. Not just mutated Pokemons. Even though I like the male monster design more than the female one (can’t remember who is Jin and who is Jod)

I like how Jin and Jod think of sharing their stew with their mother. Plus it strengthen the heroes suspicion of the existence of a passage in the quicksand.

No. Just… no… A magic stone-switch that illuminates the path in the quicksand? Please, no. And they don’t trick Jin and Jod but merely retract the bridge with another stone? It’s funny how they put an emphasis on intelligence with the mathematic stuff in the previous episode, but now reduce the tricks to merely “learn how to switch the button”.

I like the idea of Jin and Jod having special powers for being children and Thaegan but… I mean the fact they could create illusions was already enough, no? No need to fuse them into one giant monster just to create a more spectacular fight. What’s with the Japanese and their obsession with merging stuff together?

I really like Kree you know. Really.

And of course, Lief is the one putting the ointment on Jasmine’s arm. Suggestively. First the “don’t get a crush on me”, now that, huh? Well, at least they keep it subtle.

And Jin and Jod survive as… fire balls spirit thing. Now, that’s something purely Japanese here – it’s called “Hitodama”. In Japanese folklore it’s balls of fire that float in the night, said to be the aspect the soul of the deads take when it leaves their bodies. They are basically the Japanese equivalent of the European Will-o’-the-wisp. Personally, I don’t mind this addition, it fits the theme of European folklore and fairy tales prevalent in the Ruby Arc. I’ll buy it.

 Episode 6: The Monster in the Lake of Tears

“They had to sleep on the cold, hard ground, without the light or warm of a fire… that was especially difficult from Jasmine, who was still recovering from her wounds”. Narrator, dear… we are talking about a girl that lived alone in the Forest of Silence without the possibility to make herself a fire in her nest from seven years old to sixteen. And she said herself last episode her wound wasn’t that bad and a simple ointment would do the trick. Don’t try to turn Jasmine into a damsel in distress, please.

 What’s with the bloody rainbows? There wasn’t even any rain here!

Oh yes, they make Jasmine a damsel in distress.

So they stop by a little cabin and… take a bath? Oh, it’s to clean the wound, okay. Well, that makes sense. Even though it’s several days, maybe weeks since she was wounded – taking a bath now is a bit too late, don’t you think? But it brings a very good question: there isn’t any real mention of the heroes taking a bath, was there? They kept running around all this time… maybe they took a bath at Rithmere, and maybe at D’Or/Raladin, but still… that’s not much. (Note, it’s funny how in the comments people correct Lief: it’s not a log cabin, it’s a cottage with a thatched roof)

And now Barda knows about the Resistance all along… Seriously? Couldn’t you have kept the suspense a bit longer?

Oh I understand the bath now. Of course, it’s a Japanese anime – they wouldn’t miss the opportunity to make a girl bathe into a hot water bath.

And now Lief and Jasmine strongly believe in the Resistance and how it defended Raladin… when they just discovered its existence a few hours before. Seriously?

Well, Manus music is nice.

Uh, okay… the simple hole in the ground becomes an entire freaking staircase that moves on its own… I buy it, Ralads are great builders.

As someone pointed out in the comments, how can Manus laugh? He doesn’t have a voice.

Jasmine hasn’t healed still? Seriously? But I have to say that it’s nice to see Barda train Lief a bit more on the sword fighting. And of course Jasmine just calls it showing off and doesn’t take her part of the training… damn. Plus, Manus is looking at Lief and Barda fighting with lovers eyes. I don’t know with which of the two I ship him, but there’s a ship in the air.

So… at first they wanted Manus to stay at Raladin, and now they just take him away to guide them to the Lake when he doesn’t seem happy at all? What the fuck? You’re kidnapping him, people!  - Oh no it explains why he isn’t happy. It’s because he hasn’t told them. Okay, my bad.

It’s really funny because the way they pronounce “Soldeen” here is eerily similar to how English and/or Japanese people mispronounce the French “sardine”. Which is, a sardine.

Why are the Ralads so happy to let Manus go now? That’s some serious mood switch.

Now I know. It’s Manus X Lief. The Japanese turned the honorable “you saved my life so mine is yours” into a damn fantasy yaoi shipping!

So yeah, again we know already that the Lake is D’Or… they could be subtler. The plot twist was really good, why not keep it?

So now there’s big ass white venomous snakes in the lake? Okay.

Actually, there’s a question I kept asking myself with the book: if the creature in the lake are the people of D’Or… does this mean the D’Or were eating each other the whole time and killing each other? And in this episode, does that mean the heroes just killed three inhabitants of D’Or?

And now there’s just three little snake, and then it’s Soldeen directly? Okay…

Barda tells Lief to keep moving… and then freezes and wait. Well, maybe he was just protecting the Belt. But I have a hard time with the configuration of the Lake. Now the water is so thin they can walk on the earth underneath?

Well, Soldeen is cool. Generic, but cool.

 Episode 7: Sorceress Thaegan

There are toucans in Deltora? What? I mean, it’s not even in a jungle, it’s just a small wood here…

I don’t like the Lake in the anime. They made it too clean, not monstrous or ugly enough – it’s nearly beautiful.

The whole “topaze reminds Soldeen of his past life” moment is really good.

NOW THE D’OR PEOPLE ARE GOLDEN! Why weren’t they a few episodes before?

Yes… Lief is ready to sacrifice everything for Manus and Manus the same… I SHIP LIEF X MANUS!

I still can’t accept the gems in the anime are so small. That’s ridiculous. It’s not a magic stone, it’s a M&M’s!

So… I like Thaegan’s magic. I like her voice, her attitude, her actions, etc… But her appearance… No, just no. I get they couldn’t show her naked, and the dress isn’t a problem. But it’s the rest. The hair, the lips, the jewels… You know animators, Thaegan is supposed to be BEAUTIFUL. So why the bad make-up, and the bags under her eyes, and the gray hair making her look old, and these cheap ear-jewels that look like they were crafted by primary school children? The worst thing is that, on some drawings she is beautiful. If you pause at the right moment, you get what the animators were going for. But most of the time, it just doesn’t work.

Also… Am I the only one thinking that Thaegan looks like a “madam” or a lady of the night? I don’t know if the Japanese team wanted to make a comment with her about the women of loose moral and small virtue… given that you know, Thaegan had thirteen children, maybe with different fathers… I don’t know, I’m just wondering.

So, they changed the working of the magic armor. Her weakness is now that she drops her armor right before throwing a spell. Okay… the only thing that bugs me is that the time-window is really too short. Kree couldn’t have possibly made it right, or he got an insane luck. I still prefer when it was the tip of her finger that wasn’t protected.

And the ring with the Shadow Lord symbol seems now to be the source of her power… Meh, I don’t like it. In the books her power was merely “powered-up” by the Shadow Lord. Here it seems she got all of her powers from him.

So, Manus tries to play the flute to… distract her I guess? I mean, okay, it shows his bravery and gives him a role in the fight. Okay.

Thaegan’s face transformation. It’s something I think I should have discussed back in my book review: when I read that her beautiful face got replaced by a devilish one, like if she was removing a mask, I really thought she was taking off her face. Like a mask. That was cool. I realized later it was merely an image for how her face twisted and showed her true nature – like in vampire novels, when the peace and beautiful faces of the young dead turns into the hateful visage of a monster. I see the anime went with that – but they didn’t manage well to make clear the difference between her “beautiful” and “ugly” self, resulting in… a mixed bag. Also, why does she has no nose?

So… Thaegan turns into a tree before exploding? Okay… That’s weird, but okay.

Oh, I get now what they wanted to make Fallow. A ridiculous villain, pathetic sidekick. Someone funny. Seriously, if the Shadow Lord put someone like that in control of Del, I doubt he is really as cunning as it is presented. Also, noticing his long pointy nails I wonder if the animators weren’t trying to make Fallow the “effeminate villain” cliché. I mean… long hair, a long robe, pointy nails… At the same time, in the book, the royals were described as having long hair, makeup and dressing in robes, so maybe they just want to twist the typical royal outfit? I don’t know.

So… Nor the Shadow Lord nor Fallow know the appearance of the heroes… Yet there’s this rat that brings the ring to them. The rat seems to understand the Shadow Lord and obey him. He was there when Thaegan was defeated. Couldn’t he tell the Shadow Lord what he saw? I doubt the Shadow Lord is unable to speak with rats, after all he could make a snake and a toad speak.

Oh… they resurrect Thaegan through her ring. First of all, I like Thaegan and her children and I’m glad to see they’re recurring villains, but I know what’s waiting for them, and I know it’s bad, so maybe she should have stayed dead. Second of all: IF THE SHADOW LORD CAN RESURRECT PEOPLE WHY WON’T HE RESSURECT HIS OTHER GUARDIANS? Maybe he needs a piece of them, like the ring of Thaegan, so it gives a small excuse, but still. IF THE SHADOW LORD CAN RESSURECT THE DEADS, WHAT CAN BEAT HIM AND HIS ARMIES? SERIOUSLY? Third: they said before that one drop of blood was the only way to get rid of Thaegan “for all of eternity”. All of eternity, people. The Shadow Lord shouldn’t be able to bring her back, she is destroyed, gone forever.

Also, speaking of blood… Someone in the comments made a pretty good question. If only one drop of blood spilled on the ground can kill a witch, does it mean the Deltora-sorceresses don’t have their periods? Or are extra careful around this time?

Deltora Text no. 7: misc.

The second book of the Deltora Quest series, the book of Soldeen and of the ruby. And also the second book I read in chronological order.

SPOILERS AHEAD! SPOILERS AHEAD! SPOILERS AHEAD!

This book is the one that made me a Deltora fan. This is the book that kicked in my obsession. It is still my favorite book of the first series. 

I love everything in this book. Ogres that use illusions. Riddles and games. A wicked witch. A mother of monsters. It’s all so simple, but so efficient. The classical ideas and archetypes reused in a fresh way. This book felt much more like a fairy tale than a fantasy book, and that’s actually something I love with the Deltora books - the constant shifting between the fairy tale and the fantasy styles. The two naturally feed from each other, so it’s not a surprise that both meddle in such a wonderful way. 

Of course, Thaegan and her children are my favorites villains of the Deltora first series. I wish we knew Thaegan more in-series, but at the same time the fact that she is always talked about and rarely seen just makes her more threatening, in the same way that the Shadow Lord. 

Same thing for her monstruous children: I wish we saw more of them. Jin and Jod have settled and put in place their very clever and twisted trap to eat travellers - I can’t help but wonder what kind of life their siblings led. What kind of trap they used to gather their food, where did they live, what was their occupation? Seriously, I want more of them!

I can’t help but note that the Ralad seem like the prototype for the Pirra people of the second series. Marvelous pipe players that live hidden underground, and whose music is nearly magic in itself? Come on, Rodda clearly had something already. 

Also, for the first time I wondered about the D’Or people. I mean, the Ralad are the ruby tribe, of the ruby territory. But then what of the people D’Or, who are also a very specific ethny/tribe in themselves, and also live on the ruby territory? I did a bit of research and apparently it’s explained in additional series that the D’Or people are not originally from Deltora.

(I’ll have to read the additional series at one point. I want to read the Three Doors, but they don’t have it at my library, or my book shops… And I shouldn’t start buying everything online, the bills can easily pay and I can barely afford one book per three months)

Edit: Funny thing, the English noticed that “D’Or” means “golden” in French, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. You see, the adjective “golden” in French is “doré”. But here we have “d’or”, which literaly means “of gold”. So the city of D’Or literaly means “The city of gold”. But the French translators, understanding that D’Or was treated as a full name, had to use it in a very specific way. You see when you want to translate the “city of Del” you say “La cité de Del”. And when you say the “Del city”, you also have to translate it as “La cité de Del”. As a result, the city of D’Or has to be translated as “La cité de D’Or”, which literaly means “The city of Of Gold”. Which is kind of weird. 

But it gets easy if you forget the literal reading and interpret the “d’” as a nasal consonant used as a prefixe, like the “N’” and “M’” in many languages from the African continent. (M’Badon, N’Dakpé, N’Guessan…)

Edit 2: Forgot to mention, but I just realized that each book reflects the value of the stone it is all about. Here we have the Ruby, symbol of happiness. And of course, Thaegan, the villain here, is all about despair. Her purpose is to destroy beauty, crush hopes, and bring sadness and misery to everything. The Lake of Tears itself is described as filling the air with sadness and misery, bringing everyone to tears. 

Interestingly, some people like to interpret the whole Deltora Quest and the fight against the Shadow Lord as a metaphor for fighting against depression. 

Edit 3: I also forgot to mention, but it was funny to see that the Os-Mine Hills were mentionned as early as this book. 

(tap for higher res)

BEEN DOING SOME CONCEPT ART FOR THE SEVEN TRIBES (MOSTLY CLOTHES) AND I HAVENT BEEN POSTING THEM BECAUSE IT WAS NIGHT AND I HAVE BAD PHOTO SKILLS AT THE BEST OF TIMES

ANYWAY

Ralads!!

basically i am imagining them with beautifully bright and colourful clothing when they're chilling in Raladin, but probably have some more natural coloured clothes for when they are watching and stalking. i imagine them as incredibly innovator engineers and architects and they have good PPE and probably erect cranes at the drop of a hat