originally posted by Angus
Okay, I just did the ctrl mouse wheel thing, and blew up the flags. They got blurry, but the one on the left tower (to the viewer) is red, and the one on the right is kind of aged ivory-coloured
It probably doesn't matter, but knowing Janny's penchant for detail, it might.
Talk about the Mistress of the Wild Goose Chase! What the heck are we playing at, anyway? I should probably just shut up until November 7, when I come out of my closet for food and sleep after finishing the book.
originally posted by Trys
quote:Why? Half the fun of posting advance artwork is to hear the speculation that it engenders. I wouldn't have even thought to look at the flags.What the heck are we playing at, anyway? I should probably just shut up until November 7, when I come out of my closet for food and sleep after finishing the book.
originally posted by Hunter
Hi Janny,
Are you able to confirm which direction the perspective of Wyntock Gate is painted from?
Looking at the map in the books, with the water behind, this would seem to be looking in a south easterly direction. Which would also support the view that the sea gate is the only other way into the Citadel. And is presumably on the far side of the citadel from this picture.
The main reason for the question is that the background looks like a magnificent sunset with the orangy/red glow on the water. Which would only occur if this was the view looking *west*.
originally posted by Hunter
More random thoughts.
- The burning buildings have a nice bright blue sky above them… the painting of Alestron looking at Wyntock has a very cloudy backdrop… one could almost say Misty… Rockfell and it's protections could equally qualify as a Fortress…
- The burning building has the same architecture as the foreground buildings near Wyntock. Is it automatically assumed that this is also a picture of Alestron?
- It may be the resolution, but I don't see *any* people in any of these paintings? No Alestronians (?) trying to defend, no Lysaer or Alliance forces Storming the Fortress…
- Given the size of the drake head Asandir is in on the UK cover of FP, the live drake on the ring is a whopping great animal…
originally posted by Angus
Hunter:
I would point out that you can have an orangy/red glow on the water at sunrise too, when looking East. I live on the St. Lawrence River, and when the morning is mostly clear but with light clouds, you can get everything from purple to red to pink to orange.
Trys:
Okay, okay. Of course this is fun (otherwise I wouldn't be doing this). I just know that Janny is going to blow our idle chat out of the water. My statement should have read "I" and not "we", as my statement was based on my own frustration at waiting so long for these books. I'm up to 15 years now waiting for each successive volume! Talk about a long cue! For fifteen years I have been guessing what this woman is going to do with these people, and for fifteen years I have gotten it wrong.
Thank God that I get it wrong! I wouldn't enjoy the books if I didn't.
"Red sky at morning, sailors take warning, red sky at night, sailor's delight."
Heard that one?
originally posted by Angus
Hmmm.
And Arithon is the great sailor…
originally posted by Derek Coventry
For sailors read shepherds in the English version Janny; and I'm really going to study your artwork hard to work out the viewpoint and Compass directions. Hunter has got me curious.
originally posted by Neil
In England it depends I suspect whether you live on the coast (although for an American in the small small UK perhaps *everywhere* would be "near" the coast?
For me, in England (my father and grandfather were fishermen on the North Sea):
"Red sky in the morning: sailor's warning; red sky at night, sailor's delight"
originally posted by PurplePenny
We also say it the other way around: "Red sky at night: shepherd's delight. Red sky at dawning: shepherd's warning". (In fact most people only say the "night" half!)
I've heard the "sailors" version in the UK too. It probably depends which part of the country you are from.
I wonder whether the saying works everywhere. The reason it does here in the UK is the direction of most weather systems so a red sky at night means that the clouds have passed and there is a clear sky behind, but a red sky at dawn means that the clouds, and the bad weather they contain, are on their way.
originally posted by PurplePenny
Neil types faster than I do 
originally posted by Angus
PurplePenny:
The saying does not work everywhere, especially here in the St. Lawrence Valley (Ontario, New York State, Quebec, etc.). Prevailing weather patterns for most of the interior of North America are West to East. A red sky at night usually means the storm clouds are just arriving, not going.
However, if we get an Eastern system coming at us against the pattern, that's when we are really get hammered by something nasty. It's usually the remains of a hurricane hitting us or a NorEaster, and they either come from the South or the East, or in between.
So maybe it does hold true, at least for the really bad stuff. Not for the regular storms, though. I don't know about elsewhere.
originally posted by Jo
Hi everyone
Been off the chat area for a while had a baby boy called Caden 02.03 so been a bit busy. Quickly reading the above I only knew the saying of red sky at night Shepherds delight etc so is it Arithon in trouble then as like you say he's a great sailor. My baby has sucked all my brain cells so having difficulty following everything at the momnet. Need it made nice and clear for me. I know its only speculating but its so much fun to guess what is going to happen and I am all out of guesses at the mo.
The reason I posted that old bit of lore - is that it is presuming a very great deal to say "this is a sunset, therefore a view of this vantage, (erroneously on the author's part) looking to the west…"
The view is accurate, the setting is not mixed up west/east, and, as the gryphon so aptly pointed out, this turbulent red sky could just as easily be dawn, facing to the east.
Keep Guessing!!! The symbology is what it will be - wait'll you see this book to really find out!
originally posted by Hunter
If I throw out the presumption that the light source is the sun, whether it's dawn, dusk or midday after a full lunar eclipse ( one of these soon after the return of sunlight might have been fun), I think this leaves two main potential sources of light.
Lysaer has featured as a major light source on the cover of Grand Conspiracy and Warhost. But that light has been pure white, Elemental light in a structured light burst. This cover has very orange light… it would also require Lysaer to be elevated to produce the required effect. If he really was godsent surely levitation wouldn't be out of the question, but no evidence of that to date and no indication Davien is keen to give him a lift as he has done with Elaira and Arithon.
Which leaves option 2… the wee beasty atop the ring in another graphic. Would not a flying Great Drake issuing a rather large mouthful of flame produce a similar effect? If you look at the Paravian sketchbook for Mathiell Gate into the inner citadel, it says "It was Paravian built to withstand drakefire, with a history extending back to the First Age.". If the graphic of the drake means we will see a live drake, and the action centers on Alestron, why not have one appearing on the horizon?
originally posted by Blue
What about Arithon going a little nuts with the Curse, and using the Iyats to goose a pack of Khadrim to go and char Lysaer? I think a Great Drake might be a little extreme; after all, what might motivate one to involve itself in a human conflict?
Khardim: Mmm-mmm! Delicious, nutritious, tastes JUST like chicken AND provides its own candle light for a romantic evening!
originally posted by Wendy Collett
Wow! That is some amazing artistry!
I'm still studying it to get my comments in order, but I DO have a little titbit to share in regards to the 'red sky' saying mentioned in earlier postings - there is an origin for it!!!
It goes back to 1883. There was just a small :P, volcanic explosion which I'm sure you've all heard about, the island of Krakatoa, which basically blew itself to pieces, and dumped a huge amount of ash and dust into the atmosphere.
It changed the world weather patterns for some considerable time, including as far away as England. (time of sailors, and pasturalists with their sheperd-kicks)
There is apparently an amazing set of paintings and drawings etc stored somewhere in the UK that are of these absolutely amazing red sunsets and sunrises, that are from that period of time.
I remember seeing a documentary on TV about them, that nobody in the 20th century could quite figure out why the colour scheme had been used by the artists of the day, until they looked at the world events, tracked down the date/year and wind patterns etc, and traced it all back to Krakatoa.
The TV doc made the claim that this is where the saying originated. Sounds reasonable, anyway.
As to the rest of the saying about the rest of the weather patterns being good or bad, don't know. The red/pink sky colour is almost always the effect of dust/smoke/dirt/whatever in the atmosphere, though, and something reflecting off of it, or the sun through it etc.
What I do know is that even now (at least) in the northern half of Australia, a red sky at night means a good day tomorrow, and a red morn means to battern down the hatches… Unless it is a bushfire at night, then start running, fast as you can!!!
originally posted by Wendy Collett
It's a good story, anyway.
Now - here is a link to what could be the origin instead. hehehe
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/red-sky-at-night.html