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| Thea in Blue Moon |
Statistics
Full Name: Theodora Athena Marahn
Age: 13 (Books 1-3); 14 (Book 4); 15 (Book 5); 16-17 (Book 6)
Gender: female
Affiliation: Good
Birthday: October 13, 2000
Best Friends: Jack Brigham; Videl Mansarson; Andrew Riddle; Dara Osahan
Love Interests: Jack Brigham; Daietri
Hair:Dirty blonde (Books 1-3); black (Books 4-6)
Eyes:bright green
Height:starts 4'10''; ends 5'3''
Height:starts 4'10''; ends 5'3''
Orientation:straight
Notable Quotes:
Notable Quotes:
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| Thea in Book 2 |
Book 2: [talking to Rani] "Promise not to leave me."
Book 3: "My mother named me Theodora after the Byzantine empress. She also named me Athena after the goddess of wisdom. Apparently, I'm not Thea Fossil. But I'm definitely not Thea Marahn."
Book 4: [talking to Neidra] "You don't tell the truth. You never tell the truth. You're a lying harlot who killed your husband just so you could get a little bit of power."
Book 5: [talking to Rani] "Give me revenge."
*This post contains spoilers for "The Emerald Chronicles". Read with caution.*
The Inspirations for Thea:
Thea is one of my most original characters, but I was still inspired by quite a few characters/actresses I've come across, mostly while making my "trailers" for "The Emerald Chronicles", in particular, three. Here they are.
3. Cassie (Dakota Fanning) from the film Push (2009)
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| Dakota Fanning in Push, a huge inspiration for Thea in the fourth book of "The Emerald Chronicles" |
Cassie, the clairvoyant thirteen-year old from the superhero movie Push gave me inspiration for an older Thea, especially and specifically for the fourth book, when Thea is realizing her growing independence. Cassie's wardrobe also inspired some of Thea's clothing choices that would match her rebellious personality.
Cassie also introduced me to the idea of changing Thea's hair color. When I started writing the first drafts for "The Emerald Chronicles", Thea and Rani were not related, and the fact that their eyes were the same color was pure coincidence. Thea had blonde hair then, but when I made the decision to make Rani Thea's father, I thought it strange that he would have black hair and she would have light hair. When I was making the trailer for the fourth book, when I was about halfway through the third (at the end of this one, Thea finds out that Rani is her father), I used a lot of clips from Push. Cassie's pink hair pushed me along with the idea that Thea's hair color is actually black. The idea shifted into its own backstory relating to Rani and Thea's mother, Annabelle, and those two's passionate, impossible, brief, and cataclysmic relationship.
2. Gilsa (Ruby O'Leary) from the TV show Vikings
Gilsa inspired the Thea from the third book. In this book, Thea is slowly recovering from a physiological and physical tragedy that took place at the end of the second book. She spends most of
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| Thea in Book 3, portrayed by Ruby O'Leary |
her time in Niriket, bonding with Rani and learning the ways of the world that are unknowingly part of her ancestry. During this time, Thea acts much more shy, quiet, and dependent than she will in any of the other books. For such a timid Thea, I took inspiration from Gilsa, the shy, gentle daughter of a chieftain that would eventually die from disease at a tragic young age. Gilda had such an innocent persona about her, I immediately connected with her for Thea. Her appearance was shockingly like what I'd imagined Thea looking like, particularly her facial shape and upturned nose. It is between Gilsa and Lizzie Samuels (see below) that I got the most physical inspiration for Thea.
Gilsa not only gave me an idea for Thea's personality and physiognomy, but she also gave me a look at some of the clothing that would inspire Niriket, particularly dark shades. Although I eventually changed Niriket from a medieval atmosphere that reminded me too much of Asgard to a gothic-steampunk parallel world, Gilsa's appearance continuously affected how I wrote Thea. The scene in which Rani braids Thea's hair was influenced by Gilsa's blonde plaits, and Gilsa's long, long hair inspired Thea's, which would eventually be cruelly cut off in the fourth book.
1. Lizzie Samuels (Brighton Sharbino) from The Walking Dead
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| Brighton Sharbino from The Walking Dead (also the black and white gif above) |
I came across Lizzie Samuels after I wrote the first four and a half books, when I was starting to make a trailer for the entire "The Emerald Chronicles". As soon as I found her, a zing of happiness hit me, because I felt like I was looking at and listening to exactly what I had imagined as Thea. Brighton, who plays Lizzie, even has bright green eyes. When I began to edit the first book, Blue Moon, I began to use Lizzie the most for inspiration. In The Walking Dead, Lizzie has a tragic backstory and really a tragic story in general, which could relate to Thea's-- Lizzie is also slightly crazy and wild, which paralleled to how Thea acted at the beginning of Blue Moon. Brighton gave a powerful performance to Lizzie, and everywhere from her voice to her actions gave me a strong basis to go on for when I was editing Thea.
Several of the Lizzie scenes in The Walking Dead helped me re-write Thea in the editing process for Blue Moon. In one scene, Lizzie is yelling at Carol for killing a zombie, and screams over and over, "What if it was me? What if I had died instead?" This scene inspired the one in which a severely injured Thea is screaming at Rani, "What if I had died?", when she is realizing that he hadn't died when they'd been both taken prisoner for the Imeldi. Another scene I used for inspiration happens which Lizzie accidentally calls Carol "mom", and Carol tells her never to call her that. In a similar encounter in the second book, Thea accidentally calls Rani "daddy". Rani, trying to pull away from Thea in order to fend away Neidra and Myrinea's suspicions, rebukes her for saying that and orders her to never do so again.
Changing Thea: The Editing Process for Blue Moon
Unlike Rani and Videl, Thea stayed much the same during the re-writing process. Her character wasn't originally an Avengers character or a psychopathic murderer, or any other hard aspects to overcome. The challenge in re-writing Thea came more in her voice. "The Emerald Chronicles" take place either third person, or in first person perspective of Thea. I tend to have a huge vocabulary, and considering that I'm currently almost five years older than Blue Moon, I realized how much I needed to change Thea's voice. I had to go from an older teenager's vocabulary and reactions to diving back
deep and remembering how I acted and sounded as a thirteen-year old.
But Thea's personality wasn't at all like me, so I had to completely create her at the same time as creating her voice. I had to re-create her temper, her wildness, and her original dependability on Rani. I think the thing I had to change the most was Thea's vulnerability and her innocence. Thea breaks down a lot in Blue Moon, because I tried to reflect how damaged she's become from the onset of her mother's death, and the tortures she has to live through in the course of the novel (and novels). Instead of standing up to Rani, like she did in the original draft of Blue Moon (and certainly does in the proceeding novels), she often quails to him quicker than she learns to, but at the same time, turns to him as a sort of protector. There are two potent scenes from Blue Moon that reflect this aspect of Thea's personality the most. One takes place in Chapter 13, when Rani's purposeful goading reduces Thea to an almost crazed fit of tears as she deals with the loss of her mother:
“Thea, look at me,” says Rani in an extraordinarily gentle voice, hardly more than a whisper. I begin to pull away, hard, but he keeps his hand on my shoulder.
“Let go of me!” I exclaim, trying to get his arms away from me, but he just holds onto me tighter, putting a hand on top of my head. I’m still crying, taking hoarse deep breaths,
trying to stop. “I won’t cry,” I sob, “I won’t, I won’t, I won’t!
“You have been dreaming of your mother again, haven’t you?” he murmurs, looking down at me. I want to look away, but I can’t. His eyes are warm and kind.
“No, I won’t tell you! I won’t tell you!” I scream, and begin to beat on his chest. “Go away, go away!”
“Finally,” he says, not letting go, “Finally, you are acting like a child instead up putting up a shield in front of your emotions."
“RANI!” I scream, and tear away from him. But then, I lose my balance, and fall to the ground. My head strikes the wood plank so hard, I see stars. For a few minutes, I just lie there, crying, closing my eyes tightly and curling up. I feel the heat of the jungle on my face, and hear the agents and fighting and tropical birds. But I don’t want to feel or hear anything. “I...I want to go home!”
The other takes place in chapter 35, when Thea thinks that Rani doesn't care about her, and that the one person she'd counted on to be there for her isn't there at all:
“Fools need a knight to lead them to court, and you are the biggest fool I've had the misfortune to meet...Don’t mistake necessity for caring,” he says, “And don’t make the even greater mistake of playing with power when you have yet to understand it.”
With a flick, he turns the doorknob that she had tried and failed to open.
“R-Rani!”
He turns around, and when he stalks back to her, she instinctively backs up. “And give me back my dagger, little girl,” he growls.
“Then wh-what will I fight with?” she asks as he viciously wrenches the misericorde from her trembling hands.
“I’m sure you’re powerful enough to fight the monsters with your bare hands,” he snaps back, “Now go back with the others and make a fool of yourself. It’s the only thing you seem to be successful at.”
He bangs the door behind him. Thea breaks down and cries again.
Both depict Thea as a childish, almost weak character, which is certainly what she seems to be in Blue Moon. But this was purposeful, because Thea's character development will change dramatically in the third and fourth books as she matures and becomes more independent and learns to fight for herself instead of relying on others to fight for her.
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