Trailer for Revenge (Book #6)

Trailer- Revenge (Book 6)

The time has come. When I start a new book, I usually make a video/trailer to start it off, to get me into the general mood to write. As Book 6, Revenge, started to roll around, I made a trailer a few months ago. But it was over-long, and the videos and dialogue didn't really tell the story of what Revenge is going to be.

So I made a new one.

The second trailer is half as short as the first one, but it packs more of a punch.  I found an actress that fit perfectly with Thea and her final character development, and used a lot of her scenes for Thea in the trailer. The dialogue is more constant and fits more with the chaotic, life-or-death atmosphere Revenge perpetuates, and its quicker pace allows the viewer more of an intense blood-pumping viewing of how the story will carry out.

The trailer contained scenes and dialogue from the following movies/TV shows:

• The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013)
• Dracula: The Dark Prince (2013)
• Camelot  (TV show)
• Only Lovers Left Alive 
• Game of Thrones (briefly)
• Teen Wolf (briefly)
• Vikings (TV show) (briefly)
• Vampire Diaries (briefly)
• Once Upon a Time (TV show) (briefly)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (briefly)
• Crimson Peak (briefly)
• Thor: The Dark World 

The trailer also finalizes Thea's (the main character's) final transition from a dependent 13 year-old child to a fierce 17 year-old warrior. 

This first video is the trailer for the first book (although it includes characters from the third and fourth books accidentally), and Thea's character in it juxtaposes with the second video, the trailer for Revenge. 

Re-Inventing the Characters: Rani Marahn

Rani Marahn

Statistics
Full Name: Rani Marahn  

Age: 803 when the series starts 

Gender: male

Affiliation: Good (temporarily bad in Book 4 under Neidra's influence)

Birthday: January 1210
Best Friends: Roath Marahn and Lee Brigham 

Love Interests: Annabelle Campbell; Eala 

Hair:black

Eyes:bright green
Height:6'3''

Orientation:straight
Notable Quotes: 

Book 1: [talking to Eala]“I have not yet decided if I can be her father...I have a kingdom that is

falling into chaos. My daughter knows not who I am, and that may be for the best. Already, she has become prey to the supernatural forces that crawl after her in jealousy. It is no accident the Imeldi attacking her family and killing her mother.”
Book 2: [talking to Thea] "I cannot always promise your safety, I cannot always promise your happiness, and I cannot promise that you will always like my actions. But this I can promise you: I am not going to abandon you, kitten. I may leave for long periods of time, but never will I forever leave you." 
Book 3: [talking to Thea] "If you allow this hurt and this pain and this anger to fester inside you, you will destroy yourself....But Thea, my darling, I don't want you to go down that particular path... I don't want you to end up like me." 
Book 4: [talking to Neidra] "I am no man, witch...I am a father." 
Book 5: [talking to Thea] "There is strength in family and strength in friendship. There is strength together. But when you feel lost, you can't rely on others to help find you. When you feel lost, it's time to go find yourself."  

*This post contains spoilers for "The Emerald Chronicles". Read with caution.* 

The Inspirations for Rani

When "The Emerald Chronicles" were an Avengers fan fiction I wrote for fun, Rani was originally the figure of Loki, the god of mischief. He has gone completely in another direction now, and his personality is almost the negative image of Loki's so that only the basest "skeleton" features of Loki's are the same as Rani's now. I was inspired by other characters to help me create Rani, and all were portrayed by Tom Hiddletson, who I have for some reason always seen as the complete embodiment of Rani.



3. Loki (from the Marvel Cinematic Universe) 

Loki in The Avengers (2012)

Because everything about Rani, including his name, was Loki, there are certainly some aspects of the god of mischief left behind in Rani. These are mostly things I could not take out without changing giant plots from "The Emerald Chronicles. 
Here are some of the "skeletal" things that Rani has kept from his original namesake: 

• Tiny bits of his magic: Rani can influence minds, change his change his appearance like Loki, as well as possess powers with ice. But Rani's ice powers are joined by other powers Loki does not, namely telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and the ability to slightly shift the wind. Rani can also see things that are normally protected with invisible magic and draw in strength from others around him, but unlike Loki, he cannot make doubles of himself.
• His dagger: Both Rani and Loki use a dagger to fight. But Rani's arsenal also includes a slender sword, a long knife, and a set of Niriketian pistols.
• His relationship with his father: Loki and Odin have a strained relationship, as do Rani and Gunther, but for very different reasons. Loki's hatred for his father is because of past mistruths and the shadow of an older brother, but Rani's stems from Gunther's tyrannical overpowering of and infidelity toward his mother. 

Here are some of the characteristics I change the most from Loki (these certainly aren't all of them). 

• Sarcasm: Loki is extremely sarcastic (it's one of the reasons he's so awesome) and is often the comic relief in the Thor films. Rani is extremely not so. He is rarely sarcastic, and usually only when he's angry- he states what he means and leaves it at that. 
• Smiling: Rani doesn't smile. Like really, he scarcely shows his teeth. When I edited Blue Moon at about the fifth time I literally went through and deleted places where he smiled, laughed, or otherwise found humor in any situation
• Rani is actually a good character. Unlike Loki, who is either the actual villain of the MCU movies or a dubious ally, Rani is actually totally on the side of the angels. He doesn't always have the exact same moral code as his friends, but he's definitely an actual good-intentions character than Loki. 

2. Thomas Sharpe (from Crimson Peak)

It was about the same time that I was changing Niriket from fantasy-medieval to more gothic-steampunk when I watched Crimson Peak, a gothic romance directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, and (naturally) Tom Hiddleston. I was deeply inspired by Thomas Sharpe, Hiddleston's character, for re-developing Rani. Unlike Hiddleston's other characters, Thomas had an innocence about him, and although Rani is less than innocent in basically every aspect, it brought a new light to a character that had always been thought of as dark. 
I was inspired by the gothicism of the movie and its characters too. I used a lot of character design and costume design from Crimson Peak to Niriket, including architecture. Allerdale Hall, the main setting in the movie, was a huge inspiration for Neidra's gothic mansion, since the Niriketian palace more borders medieval than Neidra. 


1. Adam (from Only Lovers Left Alive)

If there was a fictional character that inspired me most for Rani, it's Adam, the depressed musician (and vampire) from Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive. I haven't actually seen the entirety of the movie, but I've been exposed to enough of it to know that Adam and Rani share a lot of characteristics. 
It was Adam's general aura that drew me to him as a character and model for Rani. Adam has a blunt, foreboding, and stealthily silent attitude about him that I took and applied to Rani. Adam is also rather quiet, choosing more to listen that to be listened to, and although Rani has more leadership qualities about him, Rani's quietness stemmed from Adam. I modeled much of Rani's dialogue after Adam's way of speaking, but kept Rani's more fiery interior that bubbles up when pushed too far- while Adam is stoically still and silent when furious, Rani tends to lose his temper more readily. 
But Adam's appearance is perhaps what influenced me the most. Originally, Rani looked precisely like Loki, but when I was exposed to Adam's character, I saw the opportunity and inspiration to change it up. While Loki's hair is greased back and never in his face, Adam's (and Rani's) hair is a wild mane of thick black hair that often covers his eyes. I thought this suited Rani's personality more, as well as his less-pale complexion and aura of a "silent hunter" more than Loki.