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So it turns out one of the producers from the upcoming Wheel of Time television series (are we still calling these things "television" when they aren't airing on actual broadcast television?) is also working on an adaptation of The Last Herald-Mage.
First off, while I was previously not at all interested in the Wheel of Time adaptation, I am now very invested in whether it turns out to be any good.
Second, I know Vanyel is Mercedes Lackey's special boy, but I'm not actually sure The Last Herald-Mage is a good place to start with a Valdemar adaptation.
Talia is far from my favorite Valdemar protagonist (I don't have anything against her, she's just kind of bland compared to everyone else) but the Arrows trilogy was a really effective way of introducing Valdemar as a setting. Part of this is simply because Lackey doesn't really bother to explain concepts she's already introduced in earlier books; despite the fact that Magic's Pawn is the earliest book chronologically to feature Heralds, it makes only a passing attempt to explain what a Herald is.
But there's also a mostly unspoken rule in fantasy worldbuilding that you don't introduce a concept with its exception. For example, if there's an entire monastic order that takes a vow of silence, you don't introduce the reader to that order through the one monk that talks. There are some ways around this, usually in the case of concepts that the reader almost certainly has prior knowledge of (dragons, dwarves, etc.), but for the most part it's a rule you want to stick to.
Talia, while she has a few quirks that distinguish her from the others, is a largely archetypal Herald. She was Chosen by a Companion at the usual age for such things, her Gift--while rare--awakens under more-or-less expected conditions, she went through the standard Collegium education as well as the same circuit internship as most of the rank-and-file Heralds, and she has no prior knowledge of any of these things--meaning that as they're explained to her, they're explained to the reader as well.
Vanyel, on the other hand, is not an archetypal Herald. His Gifts would have probably stayed dormant his whole life, if utterly unprecedented circumstances hadn't awoken them. His Choosing also occurred under traumatic and unprecedented circumstances. His training as a Herald took place before the Collegium existed. His training as a mage didn't even occur under the Heralds, instead taking place outside the borders of Valdemar and in a completely different school of magic. War and political upheaval either kept him assigned to the capital or used as artillery on the border, so it's not like he was riding circuit either.
And to top it all off, he was the last Herald-Mage--once he died, there were no mages in Valdemar for the next several hundred years.
So. A Valdemar TV series starring Vanyel would be an almost textbook case of introducing a concept with its exception.
That said, it looks like the people involved in this adaptation picked The Last Herald-Mage because they wanted to pitch a fantasy series with a gay lead, which I can respect. And it opens up some interesting possibilities for pushing those boundaries.
You see, while the explicit rules banning queer characters from appearing on TV have been more or less lifted (except for whatever the fuck is going on over at Disney), there are newer, less explicit rules. Queer characters on TV usually take one of two forms:
Which would be cool.
Of course, it's entirely possible that the Wheel of Time show turns out to be a bit shit and I'll be faced with the prospect of a Valdemar show getting botched by the same people. But I'm cautiously optimistic.
(Extremely long post about how they should hire Jim Henson's Creature Shop for the Companions and other nonhumans to follow.)
First off, while I was previously not at all interested in the Wheel of Time adaptation, I am now very invested in whether it turns out to be any good.
Second, I know Vanyel is Mercedes Lackey's special boy, but I'm not actually sure The Last Herald-Mage is a good place to start with a Valdemar adaptation.
Talia is far from my favorite Valdemar protagonist (I don't have anything against her, she's just kind of bland compared to everyone else) but the Arrows trilogy was a really effective way of introducing Valdemar as a setting. Part of this is simply because Lackey doesn't really bother to explain concepts she's already introduced in earlier books; despite the fact that Magic's Pawn is the earliest book chronologically to feature Heralds, it makes only a passing attempt to explain what a Herald is.
But there's also a mostly unspoken rule in fantasy worldbuilding that you don't introduce a concept with its exception. For example, if there's an entire monastic order that takes a vow of silence, you don't introduce the reader to that order through the one monk that talks. There are some ways around this, usually in the case of concepts that the reader almost certainly has prior knowledge of (dragons, dwarves, etc.), but for the most part it's a rule you want to stick to.
Talia, while she has a few quirks that distinguish her from the others, is a largely archetypal Herald. She was Chosen by a Companion at the usual age for such things, her Gift--while rare--awakens under more-or-less expected conditions, she went through the standard Collegium education as well as the same circuit internship as most of the rank-and-file Heralds, and she has no prior knowledge of any of these things--meaning that as they're explained to her, they're explained to the reader as well.
Vanyel, on the other hand, is not an archetypal Herald. His Gifts would have probably stayed dormant his whole life, if utterly unprecedented circumstances hadn't awoken them. His Choosing also occurred under traumatic and unprecedented circumstances. His training as a Herald took place before the Collegium existed. His training as a mage didn't even occur under the Heralds, instead taking place outside the borders of Valdemar and in a completely different school of magic. War and political upheaval either kept him assigned to the capital or used as artillery on the border, so it's not like he was riding circuit either.
And to top it all off, he was the last Herald-Mage--once he died, there were no mages in Valdemar for the next several hundred years.
So. A Valdemar TV series starring Vanyel would be an almost textbook case of introducing a concept with its exception.
That said, it looks like the people involved in this adaptation picked The Last Herald-Mage because they wanted to pitch a fantasy series with a gay lead, which I can respect. And it opens up some interesting possibilities for pushing those boundaries.
You see, while the explicit rules banning queer characters from appearing on TV have been more or less lifted (except for whatever the fuck is going on over at Disney), there are newer, less explicit rules. Queer characters on TV usually take one of two forms:
- The character is in a stable relationship from before the start of the series.
- The character starts a relationship at some point during the series, but with a side character who only appears occasionally.
Which would be cool.
Of course, it's entirely possible that the Wheel of Time show turns out to be a bit shit and I'll be faced with the prospect of a Valdemar show getting botched by the same people. But I'm cautiously optimistic.
(Extremely long post about how they should hire Jim Henson's Creature Shop for the Companions and other nonhumans to follow.)
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Date: 2021-08-22 05:06 pm (UTC)Seriously, Valdemar and film/tv rights had never even crossed my mind as ever being in the realm of possible.
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Date: 2021-08-22 05:12 pm (UTC)