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Gormenghast characters
13 years ago
I hope someone on here has read and/or watched Gormenghast or this journal is going to be a bit pointless.
Anyway, for a personal project I want to come up with appropriate anthropomorphic of all the major characters from the first two Gormenghast novels. I've come up with a few, got some others I'm not sure about and some I'm completely stumped
easy:
Gertrude (the countess): Bison. bulk, sense of quiet strength which is frightening if roused, the constantly attending birds put one in mind of cattle egrets and oxpeckers, massive mound of curly hair. This is probably the one I'm most certain of
Swelter (the chef): Pig. Hard to argue with. probably a domestic breed with great rolls of fat and mean little tusks.
Prunesuqallor (The Doctor): Zebra. He's frequently drawn and described as horsy, and I like the standing up striped hairdo the TV series used for him, plus the striped zebra puts one more in mind of the fussy vanity inherent in the character than a regular horse would.
Bellgrove (the headmaster): Lion. Again the descriptions in the book leave very little room for anything else, the word Leonine is used more than once.
Harder:
Steerpike (the Usurper): I'm not sure on this, he's cunning and malicious so perhaps a fox, or a weasel. Perhaps an ermine, or maybe a mongoose, the smaller mustelids seem appropriate. A rat might work too, or even a monkey.
Flay (the mansearvant): tall, angular and immensely loyal, but ungroomed and ragged. For the loyalty and servitude, a dog is the natural choice, for physical reasons a wolfhound seems to fit better than anything else.
Irma Prunesquallor (the doctors sister): I'm thinking a long necked somewhat goofy looking bird, or possibly a gazelle of some kind.
Fuisha Groan: I'm drawn to a bear for this one. Sorta hard to pin down, but she's big in stature and emotion, broad of face, but desperately lonely and unable to fit in. A solitary brooding bear seems to fit.
Lord Sepulcrave: I think I'm locked into an Owl for this simply because of what happens with his story. If not then it has to be a mournful animal, but very slightly built. A dog breed doesn't really work because of their association with servitude. A tortoise?
Barquentine/sourdust (keepers of the Lore): diminutive, ornery, bearded. a bad tempered little terrier works for this I think but I'm open to ideas.
Pretty much no idea:
Titus: he's ostensiably the main character but buggered if I know how to fit his character to an animal. Earl by birth, yearning for a freedom he is not allowed, desperate for escape. Young (late teens by the end of the second book), fairly skinny. I'm open to ideas really.
The Thing: symbolic of freedom and self determination, a wild-girl who lives in the forests and is glimpsed in the tree tops. Speed, acrobatics, athleticism, anarchy, disrespect, danger, freedom.
Cora and Clarice Groan (the Twins): identical twins with less than one brain between them. Single minded, dull witted, resentful, petty. And apparently very hard to fit to an animal.
Nannie Slagg (the Nurse): tiny, frail, quavering. Always in a flap. described as bird like a lot but I'm not sure I could make that work, birds are hard to project emotions onto.
I think that's it for the main cast. Even if you haven't read the books or seen an adaptation, any inspirations that come to you based on my descriptions would be most appreciated
Anyway, for a personal project I want to come up with appropriate anthropomorphic of all the major characters from the first two Gormenghast novels. I've come up with a few, got some others I'm not sure about and some I'm completely stumped
easy:
Gertrude (the countess): Bison. bulk, sense of quiet strength which is frightening if roused, the constantly attending birds put one in mind of cattle egrets and oxpeckers, massive mound of curly hair. This is probably the one I'm most certain of
Swelter (the chef): Pig. Hard to argue with. probably a domestic breed with great rolls of fat and mean little tusks.
Prunesuqallor (The Doctor): Zebra. He's frequently drawn and described as horsy, and I like the standing up striped hairdo the TV series used for him, plus the striped zebra puts one more in mind of the fussy vanity inherent in the character than a regular horse would.
Bellgrove (the headmaster): Lion. Again the descriptions in the book leave very little room for anything else, the word Leonine is used more than once.
Harder:
Steerpike (the Usurper): I'm not sure on this, he's cunning and malicious so perhaps a fox, or a weasel. Perhaps an ermine, or maybe a mongoose, the smaller mustelids seem appropriate. A rat might work too, or even a monkey.
Flay (the mansearvant): tall, angular and immensely loyal, but ungroomed and ragged. For the loyalty and servitude, a dog is the natural choice, for physical reasons a wolfhound seems to fit better than anything else.
Irma Prunesquallor (the doctors sister): I'm thinking a long necked somewhat goofy looking bird, or possibly a gazelle of some kind.
Fuisha Groan: I'm drawn to a bear for this one. Sorta hard to pin down, but she's big in stature and emotion, broad of face, but desperately lonely and unable to fit in. A solitary brooding bear seems to fit.
Lord Sepulcrave: I think I'm locked into an Owl for this simply because of what happens with his story. If not then it has to be a mournful animal, but very slightly built. A dog breed doesn't really work because of their association with servitude. A tortoise?
Barquentine/sourdust (keepers of the Lore): diminutive, ornery, bearded. a bad tempered little terrier works for this I think but I'm open to ideas.
Pretty much no idea:
Titus: he's ostensiably the main character but buggered if I know how to fit his character to an animal. Earl by birth, yearning for a freedom he is not allowed, desperate for escape. Young (late teens by the end of the second book), fairly skinny. I'm open to ideas really.
The Thing: symbolic of freedom and self determination, a wild-girl who lives in the forests and is glimpsed in the tree tops. Speed, acrobatics, athleticism, anarchy, disrespect, danger, freedom.
Cora and Clarice Groan (the Twins): identical twins with less than one brain between them. Single minded, dull witted, resentful, petty. And apparently very hard to fit to an animal.
Nannie Slagg (the Nurse): tiny, frail, quavering. Always in a flap. described as bird like a lot but I'm not sure I could make that work, birds are hard to project emotions onto.
I think that's it for the main cast. Even if you haven't read the books or seen an adaptation, any inspirations that come to you based on my descriptions would be most appreciated
The Thing - Spider monkey? They get some really good speed in the treetops and can be hard to spot. They don't like humans and will try hit them with tree branches and shit XD
The Twins - Maybe sloths? I know they're most slow physically rather than mentally but people often relate the physical appearance to the mentality.
Nannie Slagg - you'll want something small and excitable but probably with an annoying pitch/shriek, maybe a marmot? They aren't really frail but they're very loud and vocal and squeek quite harshly if they think a predator is nearby.
The monkey for the Thing is something I considered but it comes unfortunately close to the Monkey Steerpike has in the later part of the story. It's definitely the closest in personality, but then you lost the solitary nature since monkeys are pretty social. Maybe something like a wild cat would work, they're solitary, illusive and deadly when cornered. something with a delicate feminine face.
Sloths is a fun idea, but they're a bit amiable for the twins who are pretty unpleasant people. Any animal known for it's stupidity would work. come to think of it, pigeons might be perfect, they're wide eyed and thought of as dumb and they constantly coo to themselves, and like most birds they look a bit psycho. chickens could work too.
A small primate could actually work for Nannie Slagg, some of them look like they're on the edge of a stress induced heart attack. I worry it could be too cute and not wizened enough.
I know it seems like I've shot everything down that you siggested but it's actually been really helpful, thanks