What other characters or stories do you think influenced the author of "Bookworm"
-
I've been thinking this for a while but I can see some very close similarities to several other stories and characters in Bookworm. The most prevalent of those would be Ferdinand. I think that he came from 2 distinct characters in a couple of very popular SCI-FI and Fantasy stories.
Basically, Ferdinand screams Vulcan from "Star Trek". He has a very logical mind and very rarely ever shows any emotion. It really has to be something pretty striking for him to even crack a smile. Even an evil one, and he only gives those out when he's being either especially cruel or devious.
Secondly, he reminds me a lot of Snape from "Harry Potter". He is every bit the consummate potions master as the black clad wand wielding professor from that story. Not to mention that Ferdinand is also quite the potions master in his own right.
What do you all think? Are there any other similarities in some of the other characters or story points in the "Bookworm" story?
-
@lighthawk96
Interesting question. One way to answer might be to tease apart what genres have influenced Bookworm. Off the top of my head, I see:- Isekai - these are so numerous that we'd really have to decide which sub-(sub-sub-sub-)genre of Isekai Bookworm belongs to. Thoughts?
- Rags-to-riches - I don't know if Horatio Alger can count as an influence after over a century but Bookworm definitely gave me the distinct impression of Ragged Dick, especially the first three novels.
- Magic School (presumed) - You mentioned Snape above and I think, depending on how the Royal Academy plays out, it is very likely that there is some Harry Potter influence.
- Whatever genre Dr. Stone is part of - Does it have a name?
But there's certainly more than that - those are just the ones I can easily pick out.
-
@unknownmat
I agree. It's a hard disection and I picked Ferdinand because I had been think about his character for a while, but I definitely see a lot of different influences in "Bookworm". You could even look at Sylvester like Richard the Lionheart who had 3 lions as his symbol for his flag. Sylvester rides a three headed lion feabeast. Stuff like that. -
*Sylvester and Ferdinand talking in a dark room
S:Ferdinand! Are you still hating Veronica that much. After all this time???
Ferdinand: Always! -
I literally have no idea, and don't really care about it... i like my Book-a-worm as is...
-
@lighthawk96 said in What other characters or stories do you think influenced the author of "Bookworm":
Basically, Ferdinand screams Vulcan from "Star Trek". He has a very logical mind and very rarely ever shows any emotion. It really has to be something pretty striking for him to even crack a smile. Even an evil one, and he only gives those out when he's being either especially cruel or devious.
Secondly, he reminds me a lot of Snape from "Harry Potter". He is every bit the consummate potions master as the black clad wand wielding professor from that story. Not to mention that Ferdinand is also quite the potions master in his own right.I agree. I think Ferdinand is Legolas-Snape from planet Vulcan.
As far as other influences, it is really hard to tell because the story is so unique. Maybe dungeons and dragons influenced it quite a bit but more of the roleplay and less of the number crunching.
We do know that the author said that she designed the setting first and then came up with 5 stories that she wanted to tell and that she is stringing them all together to create the series. I feel like the author is writing different parts of her personality as characters; specifically Myne (generally) and Elvira (fangirling for Ferdinand or maybe not her personality but other girls fangirling for that kind of character)...
-
@Svent
That's an interesting way to look at it because I can definitely see where you're coming from with that analogy. It makes sense that the author would insert part or parts of herself in the story to make telling it somewhat relatable to themselves. -
I'm not sure Ferdinand is based on other characters per se; as his personality is totally consistent with internalizing the abuse of his background, where perfection was his only shield from Veronica who had so much power over him. with a geeky obsession with magical items research which he justifies to himself as useful has allowed himself to indulge in it.
His annoyance with Slyvester is due to the hypocrisy of Veronica tampered with the fact it seams Slyvester showed kindes to him anyway.
-
Ferdinand has also something of Reinhard von Lohengramm to me, but it is very subtle as if the author met the character (or someone similar) and kept him at the very back of her mind.
