The Book of Three

He has his mother's eyes...no wait, wrong series. It occurs to me that in all my fic I have never, not once, speculated on his parentage. I guess because their unknown-ness is such a major plot point, but now, suddenly, the wheels are turning.

Beautiful page! I'm glad of the update, though I understand your stress.

I like to think Taran was just some random villager's kid. Maybe his father was one of one of the local cantrev lord's men. A foot soldier, a grunt, but a good man and proud of the work he did, and his wife was proud of him. But then they both died in the slaughter Dallben describes in The High King. Sad, but hardly a great, extraordinary tragedy, at least not in poor, war-torn Prydain. Alexander's whole point is that nobility is grown with a person's character, not present in them with a gentle birth. Most of his worst characters are nobility or high-ranking servants.

A bit sad Eilonwy's weakness is getting cut. I don't think it is a concession to convention. At this point in the story, Eilonwy trying to do more than she can feasibly do is as much a part of her character as rushing into a thorn bush is part of Taran's. She's brave and smart and capable--but she's so desperate to prove herself as such that she overreaches. As you point out, she's lived in a castle, while Fflewddur is a warrior of some renown and Taran is used to strenuous physical labor. It also gives Taran (and Fflewddur) lovely opportunities to be nice to her. While sexism is irritating, chivalry is not.

It's not completely cut. I'm just doing some trimming for time/space, and some of that is the part they hoist her onto Melyngar. But she's still the first to tire, grow almost ill from exhaustion, etc. And honestly, I haven't even done the page yet. It could change. I'm just concerned about the pacing a little bit.

She's still ticked off with him.

In the text she is the first to tire and they do wind up putting her on the horse, which I think is a mildly disappointing concession to convention on the author's part. For practical reasons of efficiency I'm going to truncate some of the next stage of the journey, and that part's going to be almost axed...accusations of bowing to my own idealogical notions might not be unfounded. Though to be fair, of the three of them, she'd be the most unused to long-endurance physical exertion.

I used to scratch him up in every panel but I start to forget those details until we get a close-up. Nice to have the chance to throw it back in.